Windows: Jail with a View

El Morro Fortress, San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico

I Could Live Here: Pastels

Somewhere on the way from Johannesburg to Cape Town, South Africa

I Could Live Here: Roses

Roubaix, Franschhoek, South Africa

I Could Live Here: Governor's Palace

The Governor's Palace, Colonial Williamsburg, VA, USA

My NY, NY: Xmas

Xmas at the Rockefeller Center, Manhattan, NY

My NY, NY: Queensboro Bridge

Queensboro Bridge between Manhattan & Queens, NY

My NY, NY: Manhattan Bridge

Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn side, NY

My NY, NY: Empire State Building

Sunset on 34th Street and Park Avenue. View of the Empire State Building, Manhattan, NYC

My NY, NY: Foggy East

Fog over the East River, NY, NY

My NY NY: Manhattan Bridge

Manhattan Bridge, NY, NY

My NY, NY: Sunrise in the City

View from the Manhattan East Side: Sunrise in Queens, NY

A ~ Z of Marvelousness: Z is for Zucchini

Zucchini

• The marvelously versatile Zucchini is from Italy. The French call it "courgettes" and in South Africa they're picked very young and called "baby marrows".
• The Zucchini plant grows extremely fast and if you plant two Zucchini seeds, you should be able to have enough Zucchini for family of four for a season. 
• I can't wait to take pictures of the beautiful yellow Zucchini flowers and make a yummy Zucchini Flower Tempura afterwards (hopefully from this little seedling on the picture).
• Here's a couple more recipes: Zucchini Bread and Zucchini Fries

A ~ Z of Marvelousness: Y is for Yoga

Yoga

"Yoga is a way to restore our lost wholeness, our integrity as complete human beings, by unifying the personality around a center that is silent and unbounded." Alistair Shearer in his translation of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

A ~ Z of Marvelousness: U is for Unbounded

Unbounded

A ~ Z of Marvelousness: T is for Tango

Tango

• Aahhh, the marvelous Tango....was first danced more than a hundred years ago in Argentina and Uruguay and soon spread to the rest of the planet.
• I took this picture in La Boca, Buenos Aires, where the Tango is everywhere...
• As teacher Cacho Dante says: "The tango is a feeling that is danced. That's why it is not choreographed, though it can have sequences, like all feelings. You can dance love, rage, happiness, pleasure, every mood. The tango is not a dance to demonstrate ability but rather an interpretation of feeling. It is not just moving your feet and posturing. The tango is Argentine, but it belongs to all those who understand its feelings and its codes.

A ~ Z of Marvelousness: O is for Oldies

Oldies (Old Pictures)

• I love old pictures...
• This is my mom, on her wedding day in 1965. She looks so happy and beautiful.

A ~ Z of Marvelousness: M is for Murals

Mural ~ the Apotheosis of Washington

• The marvelous “Apotheosis of Washington”,  in the eye of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, was painted in 1865 by Constantino Brumidi. 
• The mural depicts George Washington rising to the heavens in glory, flanked by female figures representing Liberty and Victory and surrounded by six groups of figures. The mural is suspended 180 feet above the Rotunda floor and covers an area of 4,664 square feet.
• It took 11 months to finish.
• Apotheosis means “the raising of a person to the rank of a god, or the glorification of a person as an ideal”. 
• George Washington was honored as a national icon in the nineteenth century.

A ~ Z of Marvelousness: K is for Keys

PianoKeys

“The pianokeys are black and white

but they sound like a million colors in your mind".

- From "Spiders web” ― Maria Cristina Mena

A ~ Z of Marvelousness: J is for Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons ~ Sacred Heart

• This marvelous steel heart, tied up with a gold ribbon, is by one of my favorite sculptors -  Jeff Koons - and it was part of the "Jeff Koons on the Roof" exhibition on the roof garden of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 2008.

A ~ Z of Marvelousness: I is for Ivy

Ivy

• Frank Lloyd Wright is attributed with saying "Doctors bury their mistakes, architects cover them with ivy…” Ivy might not be the focal point in many gardens but it’s always a crowd-pleaser ~ a good way to “green up” just about anything.
• The climbing ivy that graces buildings has a long history of medicinal use. Herbalists used it to treat arthritis, bronchitis, dysentery, and whooping cough. It even helped for skin problems like eczema and sunburn. Ivy might reduce stretch marks.
• Ivy symbolizes friendship, fidelity, and affection.
• How marvelous is that?
• I took this picture in Portsmouth, NH, USA