Charles I in Three Positions, Anthony van Dyck, 1636, oil on canvas

My Autumn So Far

Red Admiral

A morning glory folded in on itself

Sumac leaves turning

Spirals from gourd vine that had taken over the garden.

A rose water stained by the previous nights rain.

Chinese lanterns.

CSI Disney

J'adore

Mother Goose & Grimm

A Glorious Pile of PaintThei

Thierry Ysebaert

WAY OF TEA

WAY OF TEA
Originally uploaded by ajpscs

Japanese Tea Ceremony

By the 16th century, tea drinking had spread to all levels of society in Japan. Sen no Rikyu, perhaps the most well-known—and still revered—historical figure in tea ceremony, followed his master, Takeno Jōō's, concept of ichi-go ichi-e, a philosophy that each meeting should be treasured, for it can never be reproduced.

His teachings perfected many newly developed forms in Japanese architecture and gardens, fine and applied arts, and the full development of chadō, "the "way of tea". The principles he set forward—harmony (和 wa), respect (敬 kei), purity (清 sei), and tranquility (寂 jaku)—are still central to tea ceremony.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Tilda

"A dame? I’d so much rather be a knight. It would, of course, be a great honor to be asked whether one would. I don’t know. But I think Sir Tilda sounds so much better."
- Tilda Swinton

Sometimes Its Hard to be a Straightman

"Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it."

— Maurice Sendak

The temporary state of utter okay.

Let's Sink Another Drink

this day

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Heyulp! I'm Sinking

On the Road to Dystopia

There is a sound in this house.

It is night time. To help her sleep, my sister has turned on the mega fan in the hallway. It is loud.

Very loud.

Have you ever watched any of the old Flash Gordons? The black and whites?

The fan sounds like one of those ships landing on the planet Mongo, glorious sparkler driven engines coming to an abrupt stop upon hitting the rocky surface. Except this sound does not stop.

All night it drones on, inveigling its way into my dreams like a Burroughs novel bleeds onto the page. My mind plays movies of dystopian machine ruled planet in which I struggle to survive in a world man made. Vivienne Westwood has provided my wardrobe. Trent Reznor the soundtrack. The director is obviously obsessed with Metropolis.

I could turn the damned thing off.

But then sis couldn't sleep.

Maybe I should just jump ship.

Tighten Up

Smooth Operator Mullet

Ghostly Dust

What's lighting up nebula IRAS 05437+2502? No one is sure. Particularly enigmatic is the bright upside-down V that defines the upper edge of this floating mountain of interstellar dust, visible near the image center. In general, this ghost-like nebula involves a small star forming region filled with dark dust that was first noted in images taken by the IRAS satellite in infrared light in 1983. Shown above is a spectacular, recently released image from the Hubble Space Telescope that, although showing many new details, has not uncovered a clear cause of the bright sharp arc. One hypothesis holds that the glowing arc was created by a massive star that somehow attained a high velocity and has now left the nebula. Small, faint IRAS 05437+2502 spans only 1/18th of a full moon toward the constellation of the Bull (Taurus).


From NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day