I can’t believe how this world changed! Terrible!
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Tag Archives: thoughts
One photo and one quote
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Human beings are the only animals of which I am thoroughly and cravenly afraid..
Work and paradise
When I took photos below I thought:
“Even in paradise somebody is always working!
Without work there is no paradise on the Earth!”
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Two moments
When I noticed this guy he was at a long distance from me. I was able to shoot only two photos below.
Do these pictures tell you anything?
How would you describe (title) them?
Enjoyment?
One with nature?
Please let me know.
Thank you!
#1
#2
Whose world is it?
WHOSE WORLD IS IT?
OURS!
MINE!
OH, YEH?!
Queens gallery
Every photo you take communicates something about a moment in time – a brief slice of time of where you were, who you were with, and what you were doing.
I would add to the quote above: “…what you thought and/or felt at that moment”.
Today I added the page “Queens gallery”. You can see it HERE. Click on the first photo and you’ll see all of them in proper sizes and colors.
I mentioned several times in my posts that we can find beauty everywhere. It is inside us and outside. There are wonderful sunrises and sunsets everywhere. There are beautiful plants, flowers, animals, birds, parks, wonderful buildings in every big city or a small town.
Beautiful nature and beautiful people are everywhere!
I hope that you’ll like something in my photos shot in Queens.
Please take a look and let me know what you liked.
Thank you!
PAINTING by JF
Who am I tonight?
Who am I tonight?
Definitely a man of 80+ years old. Retired long time ago.
I know that I love people, animals, birds, fishes (especially well prepared).
I love nature, food, exercising, doing a lot and doing nothing.
I love to think and to meditate.
Reading is huge part of my life.
In this blog I write, show you my photos and paintings, share quotes I like.
Who am I tonight?
Please read or reread my post A MIRACLE?!
Can it be that I am a writer?
I hope that all of you are very kind.
Best to you!
Who created symmetry (2)?
Not long ago I published the post WHO CREATED SYMMETRY?
I expressed there several original thoughts about symmetry.
One of them: “As a rule beauty is not symmetrical.”
Another: “… symmetry … shows limits of human imagination.”
Please read more in this old post and then take a look at the picture below.
What’s your opinion?
Expression
Painting by JF 2/5/2015
Get a feeling of Sergei Yesenin’s poetry
Sergei Yesenin
I decided to write a short story about Sergei Yesenin, a great Russian poet. I love images and music of his poems from my childhood.
Once he met a girl. Her name was Isadora Duncan. Then his life drastically changed. I am going to write about it later.
In the meantime I want you to get a feeling of Sergei’s poetry
Below is one of his poem translated by Alec Vagapov.
Please let me know if you like it.
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We’ll depart this world forever, surely,
To repose in peace and quite. Oh, my Lord!
Maybe, I shall also have to duly
Pack my things preparing for the road.
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Oh, my birch-tree woods! Amazing pictures!
Oh, my dear land! My sandy plains!
In the face of crowds of mortal creatures
I’m unable to conceal my pains.
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I’ve been filled with love and admiration
For the things embodying the soul.
Peace to aspens, lost in contemplation,
Spreading branches, staring at the shoal!
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I have thought in silence days and hours,
I have written songs. And I don’t grieve.
I am happy in this gloomy world of ours
To have had a chance to breathe and live.
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I am happy, I have kissed a woman,
I have slept in grass and flower-bed,
And I never, like a decent human,
Hit a dog or kitten in the head.
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The unknown land! No blooming pictures!
No amazing fields of wheat, so fine!
Hence, before the crowds of mortal creatures
I have always shivers down the spine.
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In that land, I know, there won’t be any
Fields of wheat that shine like gold at night
That’s the reason why I love those many
Living with me in this country-side.
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Thoughts and feelings
Image
America and capitalism (facts and thoughts)
On 1/3/2015 I published “HOW BAD ARE AMERICA AND CAPITALISM?”
The post received many comments. Surprisingly, nobody told that capitalism is bad or that America is a bad country.
However, many comments are heartfelt and very interesting.
Today I want to respond to Carl D’ Agostino (you can find full text of his comments in the post “HOW BAD ARE AMERICA AND CAPITALISM?”). I will respond only to his most important thoughts.
He wrote: “Most of the condos you speak of are investment property from rich South Americans or French Canadians. There is great wealth here but over 50% south Florida residents at minimum wage and poverty level. This place will implode: not enough water, electricity, more people getting welfare help than paying into system to support it”.
In my post I wrote about Hollywood in Florida. We rented apartments here in winter only from working Americans for the last 13 years. All of them have houses or apartments in other places. During last 10 years many our friends retired and bought apartments here. Today we know more than 500 people in the area who worked hard and now enjoy life here. I mentioned in my earlier post occupations of some of them. Today I want to add: construction workers, mechanics, office managers, nutritionists, artists.
I agree that many Florida residents are at poverty level and getting welfare. However, during 40 years of life in America I observed that people on welfare live better than we lived in the Soviet Union.
We have many people on welfare in our area in Queens. They have free apartments, free medical help, food stamps. Many of them have home attendants who cook for them, clean apartments, do laundries, go with them to stores or for walks.
These people in our area are very happy.
I have only to add three important points here:
1. None of them use drugs.
2. None of them worked in the USA (they came in the country at old age). I don’t believe that it is fair to give them benefits that Americans who worked here all their lives don’t have.
3. The system that allows more people to be on welfare than to work is not capitalism.
Carl also wrote: “The right to vote here is an illusion of democracy. The capitalist megacorps and megabanks run everything and are creating subsistence living here. Your country’s slogan “all power to the workers” sounds good to me. Of course no communist country has initiated that part of change and power switch.”
I was extremely surprised that Carl said: “Your country’s slogan “all power to the workers” sounds good to me” (Carl knows that I was born and lived in the USSR).
How long can people deny facts? Does not everyone know that promise is not a reality? Don’t you remember: “Read my lips” or “You can keep your plan”?
There was never “all power to the workers” in the Soviet Union. It would be very bad if it was because when the USSR was born majority of population were peasants.
A very small group of people seized power and for many years terrorized population of the country. Millions of innocent people were executed and died in Stalags. You can read about it HERE.
I am sure that you also know about repressions in China and Cuba.
Now about “megacorps and megabanks run everything and are creating subsistence living here.”
Are not large and small corporations creating millions of jobs? Are not many people on welfare live on money these corporations pay in taxes? Are not millions of people who invested their money in Microsoft, IBM, Google, Facebook and many other corporations became rich?
I don’t believe that capitalism is a perfect system but I don’t know a better system. I don’t believe that we have a capitalistic system in America today. I think that we have a terrible hybrid of capitalism and socialism and this system leads the country in the wrong direction.
I don’t believe that America is a perfect country. It has racists of all colors, some corrupt and incompetent leaders, gangs, drug addicts, haters of police and the country, many people who want to have everything without working hard to get it.
However, I am sure that every system can be improved and that people of each country can have better lives if they choose and support good leaders and make sure that all elected officials do what is good for the country.
Quotes to think about
People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives.
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime.
The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.
Quotes of Larry Winget
“Be authentic. Don’t try to be someone you aren’t. You’ll hate yourself for it & the effort to maintain the facade will exhaust you. BE REAL! Many won’t like the real you but that’s better than having people adore the person that isn’t you at all.”
“I have discovered there are only a handful of good ideas in the whole world. You already know them. You have heard them your entire life. Here are some of the main keys to being more successful:
Take personal responsibility.
Things change, so be flexible.
Work smart and work hard.
Serve others well.
Be nice to others.
Be optimistic.
Have goals; want something big for yourself.
Stay focused.
Keep learning.
Become excellent at what you do.
Trust your gut.
When in doubt, take action.
Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.
Enjoy all you’ve got.
Above all keep it simple.”
“Nobody ever wrote down a plan to be broke, fat, lazy, or stupid. Those things are what happen when you don’t have a plan.”
“Your thoughts, your words, and your actions created the life you are living. You create your results—no one else.”
“Success comes from what you do, not from what you say you are going to do.”
“Make yourself happy and surround yourself with people who are cool with that.”
Sharing news and thoughts
1. Creativity and learning make people happy.
2. During my morning walk I saw in the distance three princesses, zoomed and shot them (not with a gun). See the photo below.
PRINCESSES by JF
3. I added several posts to the page “Travel”.
Among them are reblogs of posts of very talented bloggers Antonio Violi (SIRACUSA, ORTIGIA) and Victor Tribunsky (PETRA IN JORDAN).
Both posts have wonderful photos and stories.
I will add more posts to this page this week.
4. So far I made all my digital paintings using a paint program on my PC. But a couple of days ago I found that there are many other free programs for painting and photo editing. Today I am starting to learn one of them. Be ready for new paintings (it’s not a threat!).
5. I am going to add more paintings to the page “My paintings and tests”. Hopefully, all of you will test YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF PAINTING AND PAINTINGS.
Several Voltaire quotes.
From Wikipedia: “François-Marie Arouet …; 21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire…, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day.”
Below are several Voltaire quotes I selected for your consideration.
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PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS 