POHON MEMBENTUK KALIMAT SYAHADAT.

"Cabang2 trees that line to form a sentence in Arabic letters confirming the Oneness of Allah (swt) and his prophet Muhammad (PBUH)." Read: 'La ilaha Illahau Muhammad-ur-Rasulullah' There is no god but Allah (swt) and Muhammad (PBUH) is His messenger. "


He said this is a scene disebuah farms in Germany. Many German people after seeing this miraculous event so embrace Islam and that the German government put steel fences around it to prevent people visited and witnessed the miracle is. "


But, none of situs2 it gives the address of the place and no other photo of that picture taken from the corner / other angle. This is because the image is the original oil painting on a canvas. To further make you believe, look at the upper right corner, you can even see the wrinkles of the canvas. Canvas is not stretched properly. But the picture was not entirely visible. This is the full picture.

The Laser-Sculptured Buddha

This Buddha image is supposedly carved out of the cliff face by laser beams. However, close up work with a good telephoto lens - or binoculars - will soon show that the gold outline is actually millions of small golden tiles placed into hand hewn crevices. The truth is probably that the image was projected onto the cliff face to allow the Thai craftsmen to see where they should be sculpting, without having to stand back and admire their work too often.

Whatever! It is a magnificent - and very different - Buddha image than those normally seen in Thailand.

At the Laser Buddha area there are some nice gardens and a few superb specimens of trees. There is a good view point for taking photographs, but do not be afraid to experiment in order to get some 'different' photos of this magnificent laser Buddha.

Blue Spring Beauty

Mount Bromo

Hot Water Bottle

The first house where I lived in Wales did not have central heat, or even automatic hot water. The UK in the winter can be incredibly damp and cold, and you get chilled to the bone. Aside from being almost fully clothed when I went to bed, I found that the best solution to keeping warm was a hot water bottle. I would stick it at the foot of the bed as I was getting ready for bed, and by the time I jumped in, the area where my feet were was all nice and toasty. As I fell asleep, I’d move the bottle around so it would warm my back and then my front. I haven’t had a hot water bottle since then, but recently bought one because my back was hurting. I remembered what a wonderful simple little item this is, and have been using it for a few weeks. I find that I can turn the heat down lower when I go to bed and stick my bottle at the bottom of the bed like I did in Wales. I played around with making a cover for it using an old cashmere sweater. Now it will be doubly nice! You can find the old-fashioned red hot water bottles at any drugstore.

Inspirational Photos

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Thundersnow!

Sometimes when we get a fast-moving snowstorm, like we did today, we also get thunder and lightening along with it. A huge flash of light and then some incredible thunder! Can I just tell you how much Connor hates thunder? Today’s snow is very wet and heavy snow and when I was walking Connor earlier this evening, I could hear the thud of big wet clumps of snow falling from the trees. This is the kind of snow that takes the power lines down.  But not here… not yet!

Art by Leonceo!

I want to thank Leonceo Omar Bennett for creating this image art for me. I love this. Thank you.

Books on Tuesday

Hideously, I had jury duty yesterday, along with 900+ of my fellow Baltimoreans. Since my number was towards to the very bottom of the list, I had to do a lot of sitting around and waiting. I finished my first book before lunch, and so needed to find something to occupy the rest of the day.

I stopped in a little used bookstore and spotted the perfect book: Nancy Lancaster: Her Life, Her World, Her Art.  I knew reading this book would transport me out of the jury waiting room and into a country house in Virginia and then over to England. I am not yet finished with this book, but am finding it totally fascinating. I only wish they had a family tree to I could get everyone straight! Here’s a great piece from Southern Accents (RIP) about Nancy Lancaster’s houses.

Today, I found a copy of “The Englishman’s Garden” by Alvilde Lees-Milne, whom I wrote about here. In this book, 33 Englishmen talk about the gardens that they’ve created, many times without help from a large staff or even a single gardener. The book is filled with images in black and white and in colour.

It’s nice to be transported through books!

To Natural Hair:

Art work by Love Sugar

Photographer’s Rights

As a blogger, I am constantly taking pictures of things that attract my attention. When I am in a shop, I always request permission to take photographs, informing the shop owner or manager that I write a blog and that I’d like to take some pictures and include them on my blog, along with a link to their shop. If the shop owner is smart, they will let me take pictures, because it’s free publicity for them.

It is very rare that my polite request is refused. If it is, then it’s not a place where I want to refer people. My feeling is that if the owner/manager is difficult about this request, then they might be problematic in other ways.

Many times, I walk or drive through neighbourhoods and take pictures of every house on the block. I can certainly understand someone being a little nervous about having a stranger take a picture of their house, but I am not out front with a tripod and a huge telephoto lens. I am always careful to be on public property as I am taking a picture of what I can see from that vantage point. If I want to get a close up of some detail, I use my telephoto setting on my camera and use the highest resolution for the shot. That way, I can edit it later without losing detail. The other day, I took a picture on a public street of something that was in full view of the public and I was assaulted because a person didn’t think I should have taken the picture. They tried to take my camera from me. I knew my rights as a photographer and objected strongly.

If you’re out and about photographing houses, landscapes, fashion and style or even your dinner, you should read and know your rights as a photographer. You can find a PDF of them here. And here’s a good article, also in a PDF, that explains in some detail what you can and cannot do, both while shooting pictures, and after you’ve shot them.

The law in the United States of America is pretty simple. You are allowed to photograph anything with the following exceptions:

• Certain military installations or operations.

• People who have a reasonable expectation of privacy. That is, people who are some place that's not easily visible to the general public, e.g., if you shoot through someone's window with a telephoto lens.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read through the Photographer’s Rights. You never know when the information might come in handy.

Featured Reader - LaRisha!

Q: What is your hair story?  What kind of hair styles have you rocked, before embracing your natural hair?  

A: Throughout the mid-80s to late-90s, my hair was chemically tainted from perms, s-curls, leisure curls, and relaxers. In 1998, after my first big trim, I tried to grow it out and wear my hair natural, but being afraid of “the big chop”, half my head was curly and half was chemically straight and limp. Ewwwwwwwww.

In 1999, I got inner-locs twice. First time, I took them out, my hair pressed out beautifully and it was long. Second time, I left them in too long, and I broke off a lot of my hair. Still afraid of a big chop, in 2000, I started getting it relaxed again, got trims and started wearing it in cute roller sets (think Whitney in the 90’s). Relaxers finally ruined my scalp completely, so I started transitioning again by using this mixture – LIV leave-in crème, ProStyle Gel, and water and scrunching my hair into these pretty cool waves and curls. As the transition progressed, I started getting creative with the curly/wavy styles. I started putting my hair in medium braids at night, and I would use jeri curl rods to curl the braids tightly. When I take the braids and curls out, it would make the cutest style (think 1930s).

One day, after getting my hair pressed, I saw how badly uneven and broken my ends were, it was horrible. So finally, I did THE BIG CHOP! And, boy it was liberating. I was chemical-free!!! I wore it in a bob cut. It was so cute when pressed, but it felt so good to wash it and wear it wavy/curly knowing that this was ALL MY NATURAL hair!  I’ve been wearing it natural ever since.

Q: When and why did you decide to start wearing your hair naturally?

A:  I’ve been wearing my hair naturally on and off, but went permanently natural in the early 2000s. Chemicals were killing my scalp and ruining my hair. I always loved the look of curly hair on black women (i.e. Lark Voorhies from Saved by the Bell was my inspiration), I desired to rock that look one day.  I didn’t know my hair could really do it.

Q: Did you have any big fears about going back to your natural texture?
A: Not really. I didn’t know my hair was naturally curly and wavy, so I embraced it.  Only thing I feared was losing a lot my hair from the breakage after washing it. When my hair finally got to its total natural state, my curls got real coily and tight, and they would get tangled a lot. I had to learn to be real careful when I comb my hair out.

Q: What are three products you can't live without for nurturing/styling your hair?
A:  Essential oils (Castor at the moment), Aloe Vera Gel, A good deep conditioner (using Aubrey’s at the moment)

Q: What would you say to someone who's thinking about embracing their natural hair, but scared about being rejected in various parts of their lives?
A: Look at the millions of beautiful and prominent women who are embracing their natural hair, and say to yourself “hey, this is me – take it or leave it. I’m awesome, confident, and this is part of my heritage”. There are so many ways to wear your hair as a natural woman. You can be wild and free, or neat and chic, so don’t be afraid, there is a personal style for every natural woman. If one regimen doesn’t work, try the next.  Don’t give up. You just have to be willing to accept that being natural is a trial and error process. Not all regimens work the same, but it’s worth it when you find the right one or few.

Q: How can we keep up with you and your journey i.e. blog, twitter, facebook, fotki, tumblr, personal or professional website? (Optional)
A: www.rishabelle-summersoul.blogspot.com

The House of 100 Years

Several friends sent me the link to this amazing story, so I thought I’d share it with you.

The French house untouched for 100 years

By Hugh Schofield  BBC News, Moulins

A late 19th Century town-house in central France that was sealed up for more than 100 years has finally been opened to the public in accordance with its owner's last wishes.

Louis Mantin was an aesthete and gentleman of leisure who bequeathed his opulent home to the town of Moulins on condition that a century later it be a museum. After he died in 1905, the mansion was closed up and fell into dilapidation. Now thanks to a €3.5m ($4.7m; £2.9m) refit funded by local authorities, it has been returned to its original pristine state.

The result is a remarkable time-capsule, combining rich fin-de-siecle furnishings, archaeological curios, skulls and other Masonic paraphernalia, a collection of stuffed birds, as well as the latest domestic gadgets such as electricity and a flushing loo.

Born in Moulins in 1851, Mantin had an undistinguished career as a civil servant, but at the age of 42, he inherited a fortune from his father and thenceforth dedicated his life to pleasure, science and the arts. First of all he had his mansion constructed in the centre of Moulins on the site of a former palace of the dukes of Bourbon, the local rulers who were heirs to the French and Spanish royal houses. Then he decorated the house with imported tapestries, paintings and porcelain.

He commissioned sculptures and wood-carvings, and on the top floor installed his personal museum of Egyptian relics, Neolithic oil-lamps, prehistoric flints and medieval locks and keys.

The house was gradually forgotten by the world, but not by locals

Mantin only had a few years to indulge his aesthetic fantasies. Knowing that his death was approaching, he made a will in which he made sure his treasured house would be saved. "In the will, he says that he wants the people of Moulins in 100 years time to be able to see what was the life of a cultured gentleman of his day," said assistant curator Maud Leyoudec. "A bachelor with no children, he was obsessed with death and the passage of time. It was his way of becoming eternal."

Some confusion surrounds the exact terms of the will. According to local people, Mantin specifically said that the house should be locked up for a century and then opened up to the public. However the truth is less sensational, if only slightly. In fact, Mantin stipulated simply that in 100 years time the mansion should be a museum. He said nothing about what should happen in between.

The fact that the house was totally abandoned was thus not a predetermined condition - it was just what actually took place.  "The house was gradually forgotten by the world. But not by the people of Moulins," said Mantin's great-niece Isabelle de Chavagnac.

As well as electricity, the house had modern bathrooms

"Here everybody was waiting for the day when a 100 years would have passed and the house would be opened once again. It is odd how the collective memory of a place never dies."  Curiously it was Isabelle de Chavagnac - as one of Mantin's last known descendants - who played a key role in getting the house re-opened.

Under the will, the house would have reverted to her had it not been turned into a museum once the century had passed. She had no desire to take the possession of the house. Quite the contrary, she wanted Mantin's wishes to be fulfilled. But by threatening to exercise her right in law to take back the mansion, she forced the local authorities to act. They found the money to renovate, and the house opened at the end of 2010.

Five years late, but no-one is counting.

For a short video of the house from the BBC, click here.

Link of the day - Franchesca's Headband/Necklace

Franchesca found a great accessorie online. It is a bendable necklace that can also be worn as a headband.

Necklace/Headband

Franchesca's Blog

What Time Is It?

I generally wear a man’s watch, finding it’s easier to glance at and check the time. It’s usually a cheap model, since I figure I will drop it or break it and drown it. It always has a stripey grosgrain band from Brooks Brothers, in some combination of cheery colours.

I saw that J. Crew is selling a Timex watch for $98. It’s about as plain as can be and doesn’t even have J. Crew’s name plastered all over it. But it’s $98! You can buy an identical watch at your local drugstore, or at Target for about $30. J. Crew does have grosgrain watch straps, and they’re $12, which is less than Brooks Bros.

Would you get your plain Timex from J. Crew or Target?

Link of the day - Baby Kenzo looking fab!

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Wedding Styles by Twist & Curves

 Twist and Curves Natural Hair's Photos
- Bridal Expo and Photo shoot
Styles by Maria Thompson

J. Peterman’s Back

But I am probably the last to know the news. J. Peterman expanded too quickly a few years ago, and then went into bankruptcy in the late days of the last century. Their wonderful catalogue is on-line again, with the funny, quirky stories about each of the items. One of the sections of their website is the One-of-a-Kind pieces, so naturally, that was where I went first.

If you know me, you know I love silverware of all types, so was fascinated to see that they had some interesting sets.   These fruit knives from France for about $300. Or this set of 91 pieces for just $4740! In addition to collecting silver, I also collect gloves… I love long gloves that don’t leave my wrists bare and I have gloves in a rainbow of colours, figuring that I will lose a few each winter. But I’d try hard not to lose one of this set. In the one-of-a-kind section, I found this great old cloche. I have a couple of these, which will be making an appearance on my Etsy site shortly. Love this set of French buckets. I’d plant them full of geraniums for the summertime! I am glad to see Peterman back. Take a look at their catalogue, here.