Venus passes in front of the Sun

Observers in North America will see the transit in the evening on June 5, 2012, through sunset, so you want to have a clear western horizon.
Transits of Venus occur in pairs that are eight years apart: the previous transit was in June 2004, and the next pair of transits will occur in December 2117 and December 2125.
Do not look directly at the sun!

not a coincidence

This is aviarian contempt...COI

USWNT's Alex Morgan

A superb striker on the soccer field....and off!

(Pic from her official web site.)

Catch the fever...uh for soccer!

the Third Army Prayer and Christmas Greeting

The prayer was printed on one side with the holiday greeting on the other. Patton had 250,000 copies distributed among his troops.

ps. my father served under Patton in 3rd army but he remained state side due to a disabiling injury during live fire training.

scripture

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.


jpr: Plus it's all free!!

A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever by Keats

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old, and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink....


jpr: least we forget the soul.

oldest sailing ship

Her Majesty's Ship Victory was Admiral Horatio Nelson's Flagship in the Battle of Trafalgar. She was a 100 gun "First Rate" vessel. Construction began on July 23,1759 and she slipped down the ways on May 7, 1765. She is now on display in No.2 Drydock at Portsmouth's Royal Navy Dock Yard. She is believed to be seaworthy.

Milky Way

Our galaxy is far larger, brighter, and more massive than most other galaxies. From end to end, the Milky Way's starry disk, observable with the naked eye and through optical telescopes, spans 120,000 light-years. Encircling it is another disk, composed mostly of hydrogen gas, detectable by radio telescopes. Engulfing all that our telescopes can see is an enormous halo of dark matter. While it emits no light, this dark matter far outweighs the Milky Way's hundreds of billions of stars, giving the galaxy a total mass one to two trillion times that of the sun. Indeed, our galaxy is so huge that dozens of lesser galaxies scamper about it, like moons orbiting a giant planet.

As a result of its vast size, the Milky Way can boast at least one planet with intelligent life. Giant galaxies like the Milky Way and the nearby, even larger Andromeda galaxy possess the power to create and retain a rich supply of iron, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, and other elements heavier than helium. Forged by the Milky Way's abundant stars, such heavy elements are the building blocks of terrestrial planets.

                     Arrow points toward the center of the galaxy.

Sure On This Shining Night by James Agee

Sure on this shining night
Of star made shadows round,
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground. 
The late year lies down the north.
All is healed, all is health.
High summer holds the earth. 
Hearts all whole.
Sure on this shining night I weep for wonder wand'ring far
alone
Of shadows on the stars.

Chelsea FC

Just champions of Europe...an amazing, unlikely story in sport.

dark chocolate

Fighting Tooth Decay. Say what? No, it’s true. An extract of cocoa has recently been found to be more effective than fluoride in keeping your teeth healthy.

 Keeping Your Ticker Healthy. Pick the dark chocolate and you have a dietary supplement that will improve your coronary circulation.

Making You Smarter. Dark chocolate is rich in flavanols that improve the circulation of blood around your body, including the brain – fighting mental fatigue, making you more alert and generally making you a more efficient thinker. For this reason, chocolate is one of the smartestfoods we know.

 Stop Your Tension Going Hyper. A study from the University Hospital of Cologne found a link between polyphenol-rich (dark) chocolate and lowered blood pressure. A heavenly reason to eat chocolate when you’re stressed – as long as it’s the right kind, of course.

Sonnet II

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow

And dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field,

Thy youth’s proud livery, so gazed on now,

Will be a tottered weed, of small worth held.

Then being asked where all thy beauty lies—

Where all the treasure of thy lusty days—

To say within thine own deep-sunken eyes

Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise.

How much more praise deserved thy beauty’s use,

If thou couldst answer "This fair child of mine

Shall sum my count and make my old excuse"—

Proving his beauty by succession thine.

    This were to be new made when thou art old,

    And see thy blood warm when thou feel’st it cold.

jpr: our children are  only beautiful even when they turn forty!

Amy Adams

American actress in Irish made film "Leap Year" which is most enjoyable.

Who killed Cock Robin?

I, said the Sparrow,with my bow and arrow,

I killed Cock Robin.

Who saw him die?

I, said the Fly,with my little eye,

I saw him die.

Who caught his blood?

I, said the Fish,with my little dish,

I caught his blood.

Who'll make the shroud?

I, said the Beetle,with my thread and needle,

I'll make the shroud.

Who'll dig his grave?

I, said the Owl,with my pick and shovel,

I'll dig his grave.

Who'll be the parson?

I, said the Rook,with my little book,

I'll be the parson.

Who'll be the clerk?

I, said the Lark,if it's not in the dark,

I'll be the clerk.

Who'll carry the link?

I, said the Linnet,I'll fetch it in a minute,

I'll carry the link.

Who'll be chief mourner?

I, said the Dove,I mourn for my love,

I'll be chief mourner.

Who'll carry the coffin?

I, said the Kite,if it's not through the night,

I'll carry the coffin.

Who'll bear the pall?

We, said the Wren,both the cock and the hen,

We'll bear the pall.

Who'll sing a psalm?

I, said the Thrush,as she sat on a bush,

I'll sing a psalm.

Who'll toll the bell?

I said the Bull,because I can pull,

I'll toll the bell.

All the birds of the air

fell a-sighing and a-sobbing,when they heard the bell toll

for poor Cock Robin.

Blood Mountain

The Cherokees and the Creeks fought at Blood Mountain for sacred religious reasons. The Cherokee’s held more belief in the Nun’ne’hi, or  the "People Who Live Anywhere”. They were a race of Spirit people who lived in great townhouses in the side of mountains. 

Holy Merde!

 Sun Spot #1476's photo was taken by a hand held camera this past May 10th in Paris.
 Sacre bleu she is big!

Eggs Benedict XVI

 – Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Alois Ratzinger (1927) now has a Germanic version of the original Eggs Benedict named after him. Rye bread and sausage or sauerbraten replace the English muffins and Canadian bacon.

It's that time in Appalachia

Just about any rod will work in these pools where the trout sit.

A Cradle Song by Padraic Colum

O men from the fields,
Come gently within.
Tread softly, softly
O men coming in!
Mavourneen is going
From me and from you,
Where Mary will fold him
With mantle of blue!
From reek of the smoke
And cold of the floor
And the peering of things
Across the half-door.
O men of the fields,
Soft, softly come thro'
Mary puts round him
Her mantle of blue. 

jpr: a favorite of the Irish

LANDMARK HOUSES

The 'Landmark Houses' program was envisioned for Lower Mill Estate, in the Cotswold Water Park in Engand.  A number of architects were asked build site-specific homes for England's landed gentry.  Each one is unusual, unique and thoroughly one-of-a-kind.  http://www.lmearchitecture.com/houses.htm

Criminal birds are everywhere

"Birds aren't born good....they are turned good by society!" C.O.I

King tut

  Digital reconstruction of the boy king's face.

Research revealed that the 19-year-old pharaoh likely died of a combination of malaria and a degenerative bone disorder in his left foot. That would explain why about 130 canes and walking sticks were found in Tut’s tomb. He also had a cleft palate. A previous examination had also revealed a broken leg, probably from a fall.

Martin Clunes

                                                              Wife Phillipa on the right.

most unusual Carnival

The town of Ivrea, about 40 minutes north of Turin, holds one of Italy's more unusual carnival events - an orange-throwing battle. . The core celebration centers around the locally famous Battle of the Oranges. This involves some thousands of townspeople, divided into nine combat teams, who throw oranges at each other.

One of the citizens is elected Mugnaia. The legend has that a miller's daughter once refused to accept the "right" of the local duke to spend a night with each newly wed woman and chopped his head off. Today the carriages represent the duke's guard and the orange throwers the revolutionaries. 

The origin of the tradition to throw oranges is not well understood, particularly as oranges do not grow in the foothills of the Italian Alps and must be imported from Sicily. In 1994 an estimate of 265,000 kilograms (580,000 lb) of oranges were brought to the city, mainly coming from the leftovers of the winter crop in southern Italy.

time for joy

“Joy is the serious business of Heaven.” ~ C. S. Lewis

Shared joy is double joy. Shared sorrow is half sorrow..    Swedish proverb quotes

I sometimes wander whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy. C. S. Lewis

Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love. Mother Teresa

Joy, has no cost. Marianne Williamson

This world, Chesterton tells us, is a strange and wondrous place, containing beauties far too deep for words, of which our jaded souls have sadly forgotten. We have taken beautiful things—like friendship, and true love—and have devalued them with the carelessness and monotony of modern life. But the “creeds” and “rules” of Christianity, says Chesterton, are really at heart a way of reminding us of the lost beauty of life. Chesterton is famous, he reminds us that the seemingly onerous rules of Christianity were not meant to devalue life and its pleasures, but instead to fill us anew with the true joy of living.

jpr: the most miserable unhappy soul is constructed without joy or hope..how truly sad.