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with the Jamal of Allah...
The world is darkness, ilm, knowledge, is its light.
The one for whom knowledge prevailed over the desire of their nafs, (the base self of three, Ammara, Lawamma - repentant, Mutma’inna - contented) that knowledge is of benefit and why would it not be?
It closes the doors of Creation and opens the Door of Allah, the greatest door of all.
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra)
Malik - II
I was in my room listening to a new track that happily found its way to me Friday night - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip7oYH_h3ck - when Malik came into my head. I know I’m in a state anyway when I hear songs that once would make me dance under skies now make me weep.
The story I had written about him on my return two weeks ago - www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/52435600567/in/datepos... - was the sweetest thing I had written in I don’t know how long. I must have read it over a dozen times.
My writing is so serious these days. I am hard on myself, people say. Writing about a child revealed the softness of my heart to me.
It was my last day in Damascus. I told the street kids I would have lunch with them in a park. That was different. Normally I just bought something for them and they all dispersed. Heading in different directions where they might earn a lira or two from their fellow Syrians whose hearts possessed the softness of clouds jami’an, in totality.
After I ordered the food I told them I needed to get something to eat too. I didn’t want a shawarma or a burger.
“I’ll pick up the thin bread with the za’tar and muhammara,” I said to them forgetting its name in Arabic. I signaled to Malik.
“Come with me,” and told the other boys we would meet in 15 minutes.
It wasn’t a green park. It was a place with benches and some trees bang in the middle of the Old City. With beautiful couplets written around it by famous poets about the city and how they expressed only one thing; Ishqi Damashq, Damascus is my love.
Malik was my favourite of them all. He was the first kid I had encountered on the previous trip. He was unforgettable clearly, he had been popping in and out of my head since I returned. At first I thought it might make the others feel bad, my preference, but then it was Allah Subhanahu who said:
تِلۡكَ ٱلرُّسُلُ فَضَّلۡنَا بَعۡضَهُمۡ عَلَىٰ بَعۡضࣲ
These are the Messengers, We have preferred some of them over others.
Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 253
And then He said it again about rizq, sustenance:
وَٱللَّهُ فَضَّلَ بَعۡضَكُمۡ عَلَىٰ بَعۡضࣲ فِی ٱلرِّزۡقِۚ
And Allah has favored some of you over others in provisions.
Surah An Nahl, Verse 71
But this time He also said:
فَمَا ٱلَّذِینَ فُضِّلُوا۟ بِرَاۤدِّی رِزۡقِهِمۡ عَلَىٰ مَا مَلَكَتۡ أَیۡمَـٰنُهُمۡ فَهُمۡ فِیهِ سَوَاۤءٌۚ
أَفَبِنِعۡمَةِ ٱللَّهِ یَجۡحَدُونَ
But those who were favored would not share their wealth with those whom their right hands possess so that they might become equal in this respect.
Then is it the Favor of Allah they deny?
Surah An Nahl, Verse 71
As Malik and I headed towards the shop where they sold what I wanted, I saw another boy carrying a large sack. He was collecting garbage. I asked him to join us. I had seen children do that in the Old City and they were the ones I ran to, to give money or buy something to eat.
I had read once that Ghaus Pak (ra) as a young man had to peruse through garbage to find food and I never forgot it. Sometimes he didn’t even do that so other Friends of God could take something instead of him. Because they weren’t allowed to ask anyone for anything. He was the reason I sought garbage collectors in any city to give them anything I was granted the ability to give.
Once I saw a little girl bent over so low from the weight of the bag she was carrying, I thought she would fall over. I had asked her what she wanted to eat. There was a restaurant selling food but all she asked for were fries. I kept pushing her to get something else but that’s all she took from me. A little bag of French fries.
That’s the thing about the Syrians. Old or young. They are not tam’an, greedy. If offered anything, they only take what they need. Bi hasbi ahtiyaaj, according to need. Qari Sahib had recently pointed out that greed was the first bait of Iblis’. That’s what he had said to the Prophet Adam (as). Eat this! What you’re not supposed to eat. It will make you immortal.
The boy was older than Malik but not by much. He was maybe 12. As we walked by my hotel, I said Salam to an old woman who always sat outside it. She smiled at me. Its amazing, that feeling, of being known as the one who might give something. Something that is actually so insignificant in absolute terms that it by no means deserves recognition.
Once an old woman hunched over with poverty kissed my hand just because I walked up to her. Another followed me to kiss me on my forehead, uttering prayers because I gave her what was a dollar. I just stared at her. Everything about Damascus left me feeling amazed.
I was a little ahead of Malik as we turned a corner. I looked back and saw him making some gesture to her, then running to catch up with us. A second later, the old woman was shouting something as she walked towards him. She was so upset her voice was breaking.
She tried to tell me what he said but I didn’t understand. It was obvious though. Clearly Malik had done something that she thought was obscene. I looked at him in genuine surprise.
“Mada qulta laha?” What did you say to her?
He stared back at me and said nothing. That might have been because I was speaking Fusha and he didn’t know it.
I repeated myself a little firmly, making the question obvious by pointing in her direction. What did you say?
We both looked back at the woman as she continued to shout. I looked at Malik disapprovingly, a tone that is a shackle of my nafs I am desperately and literally dying to shirk.
“Hada laysa jayyad Malik,” I said softly. This is not nice. “Qul laha ana asif.” Say to her I'm sorry.
Before I had even finished my sentence, expecting to have to convince him, Malik was sprinting towards her. By then she had turned back, probably to go sit on her spot in the street again.
“Ana asif,” he yelled. “Hajja! Ana asif.”
I laughed out loud and I think even my heart smiled.
The obedience of the child is the most beautiful thing to see. More beautiful than anything else that I have seen. That obedience that holds the key to absolutely everything throughout one’s life, to witness its possession as an act of worship because its reason is only love, its beyond magnificent.
And we all possess it, till we lose it and then crave for it again.
The older boy whose name was Hamze didn’t want to come to the park. He didn’t have time I guess. He took his food and headed off. Again I had tried to buy him multiple things and he had wanted only one. I bought my bread and Malik and I started walking towards the park.
“Malik,” I said to him smiling. “Kem fuloos fi jaibik kul youm?” How much money is in your pocket every day?
He looked up at me.
“How much?” I repeated my question. “Kun sadiq.” Be honest!
“10,000 lira,” he said immediately. That was 2 dollars, 45o Pakistani Ruppees. “Laysa kul youm.” Not every day!
As I munched on my bread, I said to him from the corner of my eye.
“I saw a little girl the other day. She was telling her friend, she had 50,000 lira in her pocket.” 10 bucks!
He didn’t blink an eye. Just lifted his chin up. “The little girls,” he said without an iota of resentment, “they give them more.”
It was so honest I burst out laughing.
To prove to me he was telling the truth, he pulled out some crumpled notes in his hand. They were all small denominations, old, dirty. I felt bad for my survey-esque idiotic question.
I put my hand on his head and smiled at him. He wanted shoes. I needed to find a way to have someone buy them for him when I was gone. Shopping for kids was not my forte.
Then Malik started something saying to me. I focused on his words to catch the meaning. He kept saying Pakistan. I stopped walking so I could get what he meant. Then when he moved his hand like a plane, I understood.
“Take you with me to Pakistan?” I asked, resuming our walk. “But what about your mother?”
I had thought Malik was an orphan. Most of the boys who sold roses on the street were.
“Maatat,” he said. She died.
I thought I was misunderstanding him so I asked him again.
Maatat, he repeated.
My heart sank.
“And your father?” I asked hopefully.
“He left,” he said.
“So do you see him?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“Then who do you live with?” I asked.
“A’mmi,” he replied. My uncle. Maternal. “Wa akhi.” My brother.
“Ok,” I said feeling happy he had a brother. Then I smiled at him making the same gesture with my hand of a flying plane,
“If you leave with me, then he will cry, your brother.” I put my hands to my eyes and started making boohoo sounds.
“Wayn Malik,” I said pretending to sob, “Wayn Malik?” Where did Malik go?
He laughed and I kept doing it and he kept laughing. I could see in his face though, he didn’t want his brother to cry.
Of course he wanted a tab or a phone and I told him he has to wait till he’s older. I wished I could tell him that this obedience he possessed, he would be robbed of it the day the machine came into his hands. But I didn’t have the vocab.
We arrived at the park. I had finished my food by then. We sat on benches and the boys inhaled their sandwiches and fries. We didn’t chat. We didn’t understand each other enough to have a conversation. Cats jumped up to snatch their food and we laughed. Then I said goodbye and we parted ways.
Of all the things that changes the condition of the human heart, from hard to soft, from cruel to kind, sohbat, company, is the most effective and it is the easiest. It carries the lightest burden and diminishes the possibility of munafiqat, hypocrisy. It doesn't eradicate it because hypocrisy, Ghaus Pak (ra), says, is with one's own self, but it dissipates it.
Best of all it brings happiness because the companionship of a friend, as Maula e Kayinaat (as) says, is the greatest treasure of all. However long spiritual paths traverse before they move on. I knew all that in theory but in Damascus, I saw it change me.
I felt nothing but elation all the time. Day in and day out my nafs was mutma’inna, only content. In perfect alignment with my qalb, the heart within the heart that is the seat of recognition of my Lord and my batin, the inner self, Allah’s Secret within me. And this was in the company of strangers, not even friends.
Softness is the gift of the Ahl e Bait, the family of Nabi Kareem (is it any wonder that Allah sends greetings and salutations upon him continuously). They are its mabda’a, origin. And Bibi Zainab (as), her presence in the city overwhelms everything else. Just like Allah Ar Rahim’s Mercy prevails over everything.
Thousands upon thousands of Names and Attributes, countless really as each Abid, worshipper, comes up with their own in expression of their love for Him. Still, for everyone one dominates all the others. For the good as well as the defiant!
وَرَحْمَتِى وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَىْءٍۢ ۚ
My Mercy encompasses everything
Surah Al Araaf, Verse
Tafseer e Jilani
Wa rahmati wasi’at kulla shayan: My Mercy encompasses every single thing from the Al Muta’een, the obedient ones and the Al A’sieen, the sinners and others from amongst them.
And so an Urs begins. Of my Master who is the Master of all Spiritual Masters, who allows me a form of nearness to him that few possess. A connection through words he spoke and others wrote, that sooner or later bring clarity into my veiled, clouded, forgetful, too easily deceived existence.
At sunset on a Sunday, we mark our grateful happiness with the first word that celebrated the dawn of the Quran and was gifted to the Conveyer of its hidden meanings and its message:
Iqra! Read…
237. There is nothing like Him because there is no shay’, thing, except Him
لَیۡسَ كَمِثۡلِهِۦ شَیۡءࣱۖ
وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِیعُ ٱلۡبَصِیرُ
There is not like Him anything,
and He (is) the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.
Surah Ash-Shura, Verse 11
Tafseer e Jilani
Laysa kamislihi: There is nothing like Allah Subhanahu…
Shayin: which exists in its presence or is similar in its reality and proof and it means for sure by this (following) example that nothing is like Him is His Essence i.e. There is nothing that can be compared to His Essence so how can anything other apart from Him be like Him?
When it is said in Arabic, “There is no one stingy like you,” it doesn’t mean that you are stingy (it means that you are not stingy) and its purpose of being said is negating count as related to Allah Subhanahu in general and this negation of count is for emphasis and for certification so now it is proved that nothing is present except for Him and there is no stability for anyone except with Him. (Shayin here means that there is in fact no thing except Him).
Wa: And when this has been proved then this is also apparent that indeed,…
Huwa As Sami’ul Baseer: He is by His Essence Al Munhasir, The Exclusive One, exclusively holding the attribute of hearing and seeing and the gathering of all attributes of His Essence in perfection, encompassing all their effects in the two Realms of Ghaib, Unseen and Shahadat, Witnessing.
Subhan Allah!
238. Whether willing or unwilling, everyone is in a state of praise of Allah
وَلِلَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ طَوْعًۭا وَكَرْهًۭا
وَظِلَـٰلُهُم بِٱلْغُدُوِّ وَٱلْـَٔاصَالِ ۩
And to Allah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and (so do) their shadows in the mornings and in the afternoons.
Surah Ar Rad, Verse 15
Tafseer e Jilani
Wa: And how can he focus upon and how can he worship anything except Allah Al Haqq, The Truth, given that indeed, there is no deity to worship except Allah and there is only Him and there is nothing except for Him, because…
Lillahe: for Allah, Al Mutta’assil, The One who is the source of everything in existence, attributed by His Everlastingness, He is Everlasting in His Own Self and not like other things which exist from the shadows of what is vanishing in its own reality.
Yasjudu: He prostrates i.e. he is in humility and in surrender …
Man fis samawaati: whoever is in the heavens i.e. in the Realm of the Names and Attributes which are known by the Al Ayaan e Saabita, all things that are in the Knowledge of Allah…
Wa: and whoever is in the Earth…
Al ardi: i.e. the realm of nature from the shapes and infrastructures which are reflected (and appear) from the Names and Attributes…
Tau’an: (some prostrate) willing, inclining with love (towards Him) with knowledge and insight…
Wa karhan: (and others prostrate themselves before Him) by force with hesitation and disobedience.
Wa: And also surrender to Him…
Dilaluhum: their shadows i.e. the necessary requirements of their existence (air, food, water etc) and what comes upon them as ambiguities…
Bilghudu: in the mornings i.e. the first appearance and emergence…
Wal aasaal: and in the evenings i.e. the time of disappearance and ending.
Exquisite!
249. No difficulty comes upon us except what is decreed by Allah Subhanahu
قُل لَّن یُصِیبَنَاۤ إِلَّا مَا كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَنَا هُوَ مَوۡلَىٰنَاۚ وَعَلَى ٱللَّهِ فَلۡیَتَوَكَّلِ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ
Say, "Never will befall us except what has decreed Allah for us, He is our Protector."
And so on Allah the believers put their trust.
Surah At Taubah, Verse 51
Tafseer e Jilani
Qul: Say, O Akmal ar Rusul, O Messenger who perfects the Messenger-hood (Allah sends greetings and salutations upon him and his family), to those who find their pleasure in, God forbid, mocking you, who are hypocrites, (say to them) according to your unveiling and your witnessing…
Layyuseebana: no adversity will ever come to us from traumas…
Illa ma kataballah: except that which Allah has written, Al Muqaddir, The One who has the power to destine death and sustenance and all other deeds and states and all the continuous occurings in the Realm of the Unseen as well as the Realm of the Witnessing, i.e. the world…
Lana: for us and Allah chose for us from His Ever Present Knowledge because…
Huwa: He Himself is…
Maulana: alone our Protector and Controller of all our matters that He does to us, according to what He has confirmed in His Ever-Present Knowledge, without exchange and without amendment.
Wa: And there is no option for us except Raza, being pleased with that which happened to us and that which is happening and will happen from what He has fated for us so that’s…
Alallahi: in Allah Subhanahu and no one else except Him in all causes and means because everything is returning towards Him, just as their origin initially itself is also from Him…
Falyatawakkalil Mo’minoon: so the believers should place their trust in Allah’s One-ness and the extension of the Secrets of His One-ness upon the sheets of all His Creation.
255. Allah Subhanahu does not wrong people, they wrong themselves
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا یَظۡلِمُ ٱلنَّاسَ شَیۡءࣰا وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱلنَّاسَ أَنفُسَهُمۡ یَظۡلِمُونَ
Indeed, Allah does not wrong people in anything, but the people themselves wrong.
Surah Yunus, Verse 44
Tafseer e Jilani
Inallaha: Indeed Allah, Al Muta’azziz, The Only Dominant One, with His Mantle of Adma, Majesty and Kibriya, Pride…
La yadlimun naasa: is not unjust to people, Al Mustawajjibeena, the ones who became deserving of punishment and exemplary retribution…
Shay’an: in anything which comes to them from Him…
Wa lakinnan naasa: but the people, An Naseen, the ones who are forgetful of where to use the blessings given by Allah to them, (are forgetful) of what those blessings were created for…
Anfusahum yadlimoon: only they themselves are unjust by spending the blessings on the opposite of His Command and the opposite of what purpose those blessings appeared from Him so that they become deserving of intense dislike and revenge.
253. Why did you not prostrate when commanded? And Iblis answered, “I am better than Him.”
قَالَ یَـٰۤإِبۡلِیسُ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَن تَسۡجُدَ لِمَا خَلَقۡتُ بِیَدَیَّۖ أَسۡتَكۡبَرۡتَ أَمۡ كُنتَ مِنَ ٱلۡعَالِی
قَالَ أَنَا۠ خَیۡرࣱ مِّنۡهُ خَلَقۡتَنِی مِن نَّارࣲ وَخَلَقۡتَهُۥ مِن طِینࣲ
He said, "O Iblis! What prevented you from prostrating before the one whom I created with My Hands?
Are you too arrogant or are you of the exalted ones."
He said, "I am better than him. You created me from fire and You created him from clay."
Surah Sad, Verse 76
Tafseer e Jilani
Then when at the time Iblis refused his, the Prophet Adam (as), obedience and his honouring even though the Command came from Allah and was compulsory:
Qala: He, Allah Subhanahu, said, with anger at him, calling out to him, asking him the reason for his refusal…
Ya Iblis: O Iblis, Al Mustakbir, the one whose desire for pride (not even in possession of it) overcame the Command, the one who turned away from Our Order…
Ma manaka an tasjud: what prevented you for prostrating i.e. what was the thing that stopped you from the prostration of honouring…
Lama khalaqtu bi yadihi: the one who I created by My Hand and to whom I gave form by My Authority in accordance with My Form and with the perfection of My Strength and Control so he could be My Mirror and be able for My Friendship and My Viceregency.
Astakbarta: Did you desire to become arrogant from the obedience of Our Command and follow Our Order…
Am kunta: or you considered yourself…
Min A’lieen: of the exalted ones, Al Mutafawwaqeena, the ones made higher than you, so much so that your nafs, self, has made you so that you cannot surrender before Allah and be obedient to Him?
And after the accursed one heard this from Subhanahu, such an address, consisting of all kinds of wrath…
Qala: he said, the accursed one, after choosing the second option for the refusal…
Ana khairun minhu: I am better than him in form and physical material because…
Khalaqtani: You created me by the Perfection of Your Authority…
Min naar: from fire and it is the better element and it is higher in value and place…
Wa khalaqtahu min teen: and You created him from clay and it is the lower element and it is not valuable and it is of a lower place. And the command of prostration for the higher and better before the lower and worthless is not suitable and not according to Your Solid Wisdom.
256. And everyone followed Iblis except one group
وَلَقَدۡ صَدَّقَ عَلَیۡهِمۡ إِبۡلِیسُ ظَنَّهُۥ فَٱتَّبَعُوهُ إِلَّا فَرِیقࣰا مِّنَ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِینَ
And certainly, Iblis’ opinion about them had been right for they followed him,
except a group of the believers.
Surah As Saba, Verse 20
Tafseer e Jilani
Then said Subhanahu taking an oath…
Wa: upon Himself…
Laqad saddaqa: indeed he, Iblis, authenticated…
Alayhim: upon those, Al Haalikeen, the ones who destroy themselves in the maze of khusraan, losses and kufraan, denial and ingratitude…
Iblis: the enemy for them, persistent, permanent in enemity with them from the beginning of their creation…
Dannahu: his belief, which was what he thought to be true for them when he said to their father, the Prophet Adam (as),
لَأَحۡتَنِكَنَّ ذُرِّیَّتَهُۥۤ إِلَّا قَلِیلࣰ
I will surely destroy his offspring except a few – Al Isra, 62
Tafseer e Jilani
La ahtanikanna durriyaatahu: Iblis said: I will make them wayward and trap them with vulgarity and by alluring them to do something wrong so that I can erase their names from the book of believers. So how can they become of the Arifeen, the ones who recognize Allah and the Al Mukaashifeen, for whom everything unveils, Al Mushahideen, the witnessing ones because what they are made from and their foundation, it demands different kinds of corruption and various kinds of sin and waywardness.
And for me there are many opportunities (through these demands) to create paranoia for them and allure them till they become misguided from the straight path of guidance and the way of correctness…
Illa qaleela: except a few amongst them for indeed they are Sabitoon, steadfast on what they are set up on. I have no power to persuade them towards wrongdoing because they are Muwwayadeen, assisted by You and they are Muwwafiqeen, granted ability by Your Power.
And he said:
وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَكِرِينَ
and you will not find most of them grateful - Surah Al Araaf, Verse 17
Tafseer e Jilani
La tajidu: You will not find, Ya Muizzu, O You who is The Bestower of Honour to everybody else in in humiliation and The One directing the astray to the Right Path…
Aksarahim Shakireen: most of them to be grateful when they will return towards, (they will be not be) the grateful ones, spending from what You bestowed them of blessings on what You commanded them not to do.
And he said:
وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمۡ وَلَأُمَنِّیَنَّهُمۡ
"And I will surely deceive them and surely arouse desires in them – An Nisa, Verse 119
Tafseer e Jilani
Wa laudillanahum: And I will surely deceive them by different deceptions and whisperings of doubt and paranoia from the Way of Your Tauheed, One-ness…
Wa layumanniannahum: and I will arouse desires in them by their concerns with their livelihood in this place of deception (the world) with hirs, greed and tool al amal, never ending hopes and all types of desires of their nafs, their egos, which arise from lust and (seeking of) pleasure.
And much else apart from this. And after that he misguided them from the path of Shukr, Gratitude and Imaan, faith…
Fattaba’uhu: they followed him, ungrateful and denying of the blessings and Al Munim, the Bestower of those Blessings, all of them…
Illa fareeqan min al Mo’mineen: except a group from the Mo’mineen, the believers, Al Mu’qineena, possessing certaint in the Tauheed, the One-ness of Allah, Al Musaddeqeena, attesting to His Prophets, Al Muttadakkireena, taking warning that he is their enemy forever so they turned back from him and from his persuasion by deception so they remained Saalimeen, secure, from his persuasion to deceive.
257. The ones who have imaan and taqwa, there is good in the world for them and they will be paid back with rewards without account
قُلۡ یَـٰعِبَادِ ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ رَبَّكُمۡۚ لِلَّذِینَ أَحۡسَنُوا۟ فِی هَـٰذِهِ ٱلدُّنۡیَا حَسَنَةࣱۗ
إِنَّمَا یُوَفَّى ٱلصَّـٰبِرُونَ أَجۡرَهُم بِغَیۡرِ حِسَابࣲ
Say, "O My slaves those who believe!
Be mindful of your Lord. For those who do good in this world is good,
Only will be paid back in full the patient ones their reward without account."
Surah Az Zumar, Verse 10
Tafseer e Jilani
Qul: Say, Ya Akmal Ar Rusul (Allah sends blessings and salutations upon you since the beginning of everything), O Messenger who completes the Messenger-hood, give this message on Our Behalf, calling out to the selected sincere amongst my Servants…
Ya ibadi: O My Worshippers, by attaching them with His Essence making them special and honouring them…
Alladina aamano: those who attained to faith from amongst you in the One-ness of My Essence and My Appearance according to My Affairs and My Ever changing-ness in accordance with My Names and Attributes, the requirement of your faith is taqwa, mindfulness, from the demands of your desires…
Ittaqu Rabbukum: be conscious of your Lord and stay away from what is forbidden by Him and what He has ordered prevented for you and characterize yourself with His Commands and know that He…
Lilladina ahsanu: for the ones with spiritual excellence and beautiful regard with Allah…
Fi hadihi duniya: in this world, which is the place of gaining lessons and choosing…
Hasana: there is goodness, multifold and more than a thousand times more than that in the Hereafter which is the
Dar al Qarar, the abode which is forever so take heed, O people of vision, both inner and outer.
…
Innama yuwaffas sabiroon: Only the steadfast are given in full as the Al Mutahammiloona, the ones who carry their burdens with the different kinds of difficulties and toiling with patience in the practice of Imaan, faith…
Ajrahum: their reward and in abundance upon them will be goodness and different kinds of recompenses and honours…
Bighairi hisaab: without count, for all of it and exceeding it, with no possibility of measure and enumeration and without any number, merely by His Bounty for them and His Honour upon them.
And in a hadith, endless salutations and greetings of Allah upon the one saying it:
“Fixed will be the scales on the Day of Judgement for the people of Sala’t, those who established their prayers and Sadaqa, those who gave charity beyond what is obligated and Hajj, the ones who performed the pilgrimage and they will be given their reward for it.
But there will be no scales for the Ahl al Bala, the people who faced afflictions. Instead poured upon them will be rewards.
Until they will intensely desire, the Ahl al Afiyat, the people who lived life without suffering in this world, wishing that their bodies had been cut with scissors in the world, after they see what the people who faced afflictions will be taking as their rewards.”
يَقُولُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى:
"ابْنَ آدَمَ، اطْلُبْنِي تَجدني، فَإِنْ وَجَدْتَنِي وجَدْتَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ، وَإِنْ فُتُّكَ فَاتَكَ كُلُّ شَيْءٍ،
وَأَنَا أَحَبُّ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ".
Says Allah Ta’ala:
“O Children of Adam (as)! Seek me and you will find me.
So if you find Me, you will find everything.
And if you miss this seeking, you will lose everything.
And I should be most beloved to you of all things.”
Urs Mubarik Ya Ghaus ul Muazzam :)
A ghist sign in San Francisco, California, uncovered when an adjacent building was torn down. I can only make out the words "Milk" and Contented Cows".
Most of the lion's were sleeping, but this young male was somewhat interested in us as we passed by on the vehicle at the game park.
Taken near Johannesburg, South Africa.
not happy/contented with a simple go right or left arrow, i had to add a couple more options ~grin~
scavchal4
assignment52-412012
in retrospect, i think i should have taken this pic head-on instead of just a little to the right but then i would have been smack in the middle of a fairly busy 3 way intersection, which would have been hazardous to my health ~grin~
can i use this for scavenger4 fluorescent or is it not quite so??
ODT directions
Went for walk with friend and his new rescue greyhounds this afternoon, bitterly cold wind, we rewarded ourselves by nipping into the Golden Rule, very fine real ale pub, also a dog friendly place. Pleasant couple of hours catching up with chum and having the dogs there, spent good part of afternoon beer in one hand and happily snoozing dog with head in my lap, which is not a bad way to whittle away an afternoon off... Here's Starsky making himself comfortable. Later on he was snuggled up next to his master, head poking through crook of friend's arm, snout on his lap, but sadly none of those pics I tried to get when he was like that came out, which is a shame as it was adorably cute.
I wish you all a very fulfilled and contented New Year with my thanks to everyone who has helped to make this one good. Flickr members are so supportive and do much to enhance my wellbeing for which I am very grateful. Special thanks too to group administrators who work so hard on our behalf. I won't be getting round to giving individual Happy New Year wishes as I got too exhausted with the Christmas ones but the thoughts are always there. Thank you for your best wishes.
Many thanks for your friendship, comments, invites and good wishes. Also thank you to those who have made me their contact. Due to poor health, eye problems and low energy I regret I can't take on any new contacts but nearly always manage to reply to your comments.
I am getting too many requests from those unknown to me to look at a picture, via flickrmail. If you want me to see a picture then leave me a comment and I will go to your site. I can only respond to flickrmail from my contacts, friends, those who comment on my photos or those with whom I am in regular contact.
One invite welcome-more, too many. I send my best wishes to you all.
1. Contented Cat, 2. Window , Window on the Wall , Who's the Fairest of Them All ?, 3. Hi ! Happy Caturday !, 4. Happy Furry Friday Flickr Friends !, 5. Stevie, 6. Rum Tum Tugger, 7. When You're Down~~~~~~~~ Look Up, 8. Stevie Nicks,
9. My" Cute as a Kitten" Look, 10. Miss Stevie Nicks, 11. Afternoon Nap, 12. Whisker Wednesday ( Holiday Edition ), 13. Comfy Cat, 14. Happy reallyyyyy Furry Friday !, 15. Pretty Girl , All will be well ~~~~UPDATE ~Thurs.2/24, 16. Stevie Girl will need surgery ~~ Scheduled for Wed.2/23,
17. Monday Monday ~~~~~~~~~~~, 18. TNT, 19. He that has a great nose, thinks everybody is speaking of it. :), 20. Tongue Tuesday-Miss Stevie Edition, 21. Caturday ? Cool ! Have a Happy :D !, 22. Bless All Creatures ,great and small~~~~~~, 23. The Gift of Love, 24. Rum Tum Tugger,
25. When The Deep Purple Falls~~~~~~~~~, 26. *** Miss Stevie ***, 27. Tail Shot :D, 28. Seriously Stevie, 29. Tete-A-Tete, 30. Truffles, 31. Happy Whisker Wednesday, 32. Growing Boy :),
33. Rum Tum Tugger, 34. Today's Tugger !, 35. Miss Stevie, 36. Away in a Manger, 37. Love to my Aunty Sue , from Stevie ~~~ Purrrrrrr , Purrrrrr :), 38. Happy Whisker Wednesday, 39. Young cat! If you keep Your eyes open enough, Oh, the stuff you will learn! The most wonderful stuff!, 40. Miss Stevie Nicks,
41. *** Rum Tum Tugger ***, 42. *** Miss Truffles ***, 43. Where are you , Santa ? I'm Waiting !, 44. Crystal Visions, 45. Happy Furry Friday, 46. My Dramatic Look !, 47. Stevie Nicks, 48. Nose to Tail :) Happy Furry Friday !,
49. Truffles, 50. Textured Tugger, 51. Smoke gets in your Eyes, 52. Baby Brows, 53. Rum Tum Tugger, 54. Whisker Wednesday, 55. Tongue Tuesday ? ! LOL !, 56. I'm a Kitten , being Cute is my job !!! :),
57. Consciousness: that annoying time between naps, 58. BE MINE v.2, 59. Was just looking-honest, 60. Happy Furry Friday, 61. *** Smile ***, 62. Rum Tum Tugger, 63. Tongue Tuesday~~~~ Baby Edition, 64. Wonder,
65. Whisker Wednesday-Miss Stevie in Sepia, 66. Sunshine of my Life, 67. Monday Morning Cuddles, 68. Whisker Wednesday :) !, 69. I see a Pretty Kitty ツ, 70. The Tugger, 71. Monday ,Monday~~~~~~~~~~~~, 72. Eye Spy Blue Sky
Created with fd's Flickr Toys
File name: 07_11_001197
Title: The Contented Gardener
Creator/Contributor: Vibert, J. G. (Jehan Georges), 1840-1902 (artist); L. Prang & Co. (publisher)
Date issued: 1861-1897 (approximate)
Copyright date:
Physical description note:
Genre: Chromolithographs; Portrait prints
Location: Boston Public Library, Print Department
Rights: No known restrictions
Stevie is doing well :)))))))))
Staying on the med regimen , and doesn't have to see Vet for another 4 weeks :)
File name: 07_11_001196
Title: The Contented Gardener
Creator/Contributor: Vibert, J. G. (Jehan Georges), 1840-1902 (artist); L. Prang & Co. (publisher)
Date issued:
Copyright date: 1877
Physical description note:
Genre: Chromolithographs; Portrait prints
Location: Boston Public Library, Print Department
Rights: No known restrictions
Contentedly looking out to sea...
Never realized how much I stand like my dad!
Thanks to Mason for some help ;-) and to Mom for taking the picture in the first place!
Holga 120N : Fuji NPS 160
Hat Mae Lam Phung, Rayong, Thailand
I found this happy guy on a beach, popular with Thai tourists, as Rayong is about a 2 hour drive from Bangkok.
He took his deckchair and plotted up in the morning sun to catch a few rays, Thai people look on this behavoir as very strange.
A contented Friesan cow, doing what cows like best, munching fresh pasture on a sunny day.
Llarge sterling silver band textured with a subtle star-embossed surface. The concave tin is set into the silver as if it were a gem. The band is invisible double wire riveted AND silver soldered onto the setting. The round face is 3cm diameter (1.1/4 inch).
I came down the elvator from my hotel room and suddenly I was in the middle of a bride's photoshoot.... I got kinda stuck there and well... since I like photos and I wanted to capture Madrid what better opportunity than now to get a peek into the personal lives of local people LOL... One of the members of the wedding party let me go ahead an take a couple of pictures since he knew I was stuck there for a few minutes LOL... pretty woman and really cute kids.. a nice moment for them all.
. . . A few of the deer that frequent the cabin! I set out hay and they bed down and sleep here all night. This shot was taken from the upstairs bedroom window.
File name: 10_03_002215a
Binder label: Thread
Title: Pish-Tush. Our great Mikado, virtuous man, when he rule our land began, resolved to try a plan whereby each wife should be contented. So his decree was, it is said: 'My subjects all must use Coats' thread because it is,' the decree read - the best that's been invented.' [front]
Created/Published: N. Y. : Donaldson Brothers
Date issued: 1870 - 1900 (approximate)
Physical description: 1 print : chromolithograph ; 12 x 7 cm.
Genre: Advertising cards
Subject: Men; Fans (Accessories); Thread; Cotton
Notes: Title from item.
Collection: 19th Century American Trade Cards
Location: Boston Public Library, Print Department
Rights: No known restrictions.
Lady Mary Templetown and Her Eldest Son
West Building, Main Floor—Gallery 59
•Date: 1802
•Medium: Oil on Canvas
•Dimensions:
oOverall: 215 × 149 cm (84⅝ × 58 11/16 in.)
oFramed: 246.7 × 179.1 cm (97⅛ × 70½ in.)
•Credit Line: Andrew W. Mellon Collection
•Accession Number: 1937.1.96
•Artists/Makers:
oArtist: Sir Thomas Lawrence, British, 1769-1830
Overview
Like Reynolds and Romney before him, Lawrence preferred the “higher” genre of history painting but, through talent and necessity, became a portraitist. He was enormously successful in his own lifetime, was knighted in 1815, and elected president of the Royal Academy in 1820.
Although unschooled, Lawrence had a great natural gift for fluent linear rhythms and for the dramatic uses of light and color. Composed, gentle, and serene, Lady Templetown is a woodland goddess of otherworldly proportions. The purity and simplicity of the sitters’ costumes draw the pair into a sympathetic unity that is further enhanced by the surrounding darker tones of the broadly rendered landscape. Lawrence animated the paint surface with accents of vibrant red in Lady Templetown’s earrings and necklace, her son’s cheeks, and in the landscape.
Lawrence’s idealized presentation of his sitters in an expressive, theatrical landscape epitomizes the romantic style of portraiture. But Lawrence, like Reynolds, was also a passionate student of the classical past. His ideas on beauty were adapted from Aristotle’s Poetics. He participated in the project that brought the Parthenon sculptures—the Elgin marbles—to England and owned a vast collection of old master prints.
Provenance
Painted for the sitter’s husband, John, 2nd baron (later 1st viscount) Templetown [1771-1846], Castle Upton, County Antrim; by descent to Henry, 4th viscount Templetown [1853-1939], Castle Upton; acquired c. 1890 by Baron Alfred Charles de Rothschild [1842-1918], London;[1] by inheritance to his illegitimate daughter, Almina Victoria, Countess of Carnarvon [c. 1877-1969], London; purchased 1923 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold June 1923 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.
[1]The Rothschild provenance information was kindly provided by Michael Hall, curator to Edmund de Rothschild; see his “Rothschild Picture Provenances” from 1999 and letter of 27 February 2002, in NGA curatorial files, in which he cites relevant documents in The Rothschild Archive, London.
Associated Names
•Carnarvon, Almina Victoria, Countess of
•Duveen Brothers, Inc.
•Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.
•Mellon, Andrew W.
•Rothschild, Alfred Charles de
•Upton, George Frederick, 3rd viscount Templetown
•Upton, Henry Edward Montagu Dorington Clotworthy, 4th viscount Templetown
•Upton, Henry Montagu, 2nd viscount Templetown
•Upton, John Henry, 1st viscount Templetown
Exhibition History
•1802—Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1802, no. 5, as Portrait of Lady Templeton.
•1979—Sir Thomas Lawrence 1769-1830, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1979-1980, no. 17, repro.
Technical Summary
The medium-weight canvas is twill woven; it has been lined, but the tacking margins survive intact. The present stretcher is presumably larger than the original stretcher as there is an eighth of an inch of unpainted canvas visible along the top and right edges. The ground is slightly off-white, thinly applied. The painting is executed both thinly and thickly, with impasto especially evident in the whites; Lady Mary’s gown and veil are broadly handled, but more worked than the background, with the shadows painted both under and over the white; much of the foliage is quickly and drily painted. The heads have been heavily reworked by the artist, and the smooth paint in these passages masks the prominent weave of the canvas. Lady Mary’s right arm has been repositioned, as has the ribbon on her cap. The paint is abraded in places, and some of the impasto has been slightly flattened during lining. There is a prominent craquelure and discolored though not extensive retouching, especially disfiguring in the child’s dress. The natural resin varnish has discolored to a moderate degree.
Bibliography
•1799—Farington Diary, 5: 1759 (21 March 1802), 1773 (3 May 1802) and 6:2291 (7 April 1804).
•1802—Monthly Mirror, 13 May 1802: 310.
•1802—Morning Chronicle, 3 May 1802.
•1802—True Briton, 3 May 1802, 2 June 1802.
•1913—Armstrong, Sir Walter, Lawrence. London, 1913: 166.
•1941—Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 104, no. 96, as Lady Templeton and Her Son.
•1942—Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 241, repro. 16, as Lady Templeton and Her Son.
•1949—Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 120, repro.
•1954—Garlick, Kenneth. Sir Thomas Lawrence. London, 1954: 60, pl. 48.
•1960—Cooke, Hereward Lester. British Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Eight in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 22, color repro.
•1963—Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 320, repro., as Lady Templetown and Her Son.
•1964—Garlick, Kenneth. “A Catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings and Pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence.” Walpole Society 39 (1964): 185, 306.
•1965—Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 73, as Lady Templetown and Her Son.
•1968—European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 64, repro., as Lady Templetown and Her Son.
•1975—European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 190, repro.,as Lady Templetown and Her Son.
•1975—Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 531, color repro.
•1984—Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 368, no. 517, color repro., as Lady Templetown and Her Son.
•1985—European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 222, repro.
•1989—Garlick, Kenneth. Sir Thomas Lawrence: A Complete Catalogue of the Oil Paintings. Oxford, 1989: no. 760, repro.
•1991—Kopper, Philip. America’s National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 89, color repro.
•1992—Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 156-158, repro. 157.
•1992—National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 154, repro.
•1998—Adler, Shane. “Whiteness.” In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:939.
From British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries:
1937.1.96 (96)
Lady Mary Templetown and Her Eldest Son
•1802
•Oil on Canvas, 215 × 149 (84⅝ × 58⅝)
•Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Technical Notes
The medium-weight canvas is twill woven; it has been lined, but the tacking margins survive intact. The present stretcher is presumably larger than the original stretcher as there is an eighth of an inch of unpainted canvas visible along the top and right edges. The ground is slightly off-white, thinly applied. The painting is executed both thinly and thickly, with impasto especially evident in the whites; Lady Mary’s gown and veil are broadly handled, but more worked than the background, with the shadows painted both under and over the white; much of the foliage is quickly and drily painted. The heads have been heavily reworked by the artist, and the smooth paint in these passages masks the prominent weave of the canvas. Lady Mary’s right arm has been repositioned, as has the ribbon on her cap. The paint is abraded in places, and some of the impasto has been slightly flattened during lining. There is a prominent craquelure and discolored though not extensive retouching, especially disfiguring in the child’s dress. The natural resin varnish has discolored to a moderate degree.
Provenance
Painted for the sitter’s husband, John, 2nd Baron (later 1st Viscount) Templetown [1771-1846], Castle Upton, County Antrim; by descent to Henry, 4th Viscount Templetown [1853-1939], Castle Upton. Alfred Charles de Rothschild [1842-1918], Halton, near Tring; bequeathed to his daughter, Almina Victoria, Countess of Carnarvon, Highclere Castle, Hampshire; purchased by (Duveen Brothers), London after the death of Almina’s first husband, George, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, in 1923, and sold through their New York branch June 1923 to Andrew W.Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, by whom deeded December 1934 to The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh.
Exhibitions
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1802, no. 5, as Portrait of Lady Templetown. Sir Thomas Lawrence 1769-1830, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1979-1980, no. 17, repro.
Lady Mary Montagu (d. 1824), only daughter of John, 5th Earl of Sandwich, married John Henry, 2nd Baron Templetown, in 1796. She had four sons: Henry, born in November 1799, who is depicted here; George, born in 1802; Arthur, born in 1807; and Edward, born in 1816. Her husband was created a viscount in 1806.
When the portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1802, Farington noted that it was among the five favorite pictures that year.1 The Monthly Mirror described it as “a highly successful picture of a beautiful woman. It possesses very eminent beauties of softness, clear and simple colour, natural grace, and bright effect.”2 The True Briton acclaimed it, together with two other of Lawrence’s female full lengths, as “beautiful proofs of his taste in representing the female character,”3 but observed in a later notice of the picture that although “the face of Lady Templeton [sic] is touched with admirable delicacy. We wish the Artist were not so fond of scattering milky scintillations about his Pictures, as they tend to give them a broken frippery aspect.”4
In spite of awkwardnesses in the proportions of Lady Templetown’s thigh and of her two-year-old son’s head—emphasized in the case of the latter by the contrast between the heavy reworking of the head and the facility with which the body was completed—the portrait is elegantly conceived. The curvilinear pose, which flows rhythmically from the gently inclined head to the sharply expressive drapery folds falling over the knee, is taken up in the romanticized background, upon the details of which Lawrence has lavished much attention. This setting is no backdrop, but a sylvan world that the sitters seem to inhabit; Sir Michael Levey has suggested that: “Some echo of an old master religious composition may be behind the design; e.g. a treatment of the Education of the Virgin theme. The effect is not unlike that of a contented Hagar with her son in the wilderness. “5
This portrait and two others were on loan to the artist from Lord Templetown at the time of Lawrence’s death in 1830.6
Lawrence painted two other portraits of Lady Templetown. A miniature showing her in the same pose and costume, but at half length, is inscribed on the reverse as executed for Lady Templetown;7 an unfinished head, finished by another hand, is in a different pose, facing the spectator.8 A copy of the head of Lady Templetown, by Lawrence’s pupil William Etty, is in the City Art Gallery, York.
Notes
1.Farington Diary, 5: 1773 (3 May 1802).
2.Monthly Mirrory 13 May 1802,310.
3.True Briton, 3 May 1802.
4.TrueBriton, 2 June 1802.
5.Levey 1979, 41.
6.Garlick 1964,306.
7.Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 25 June 1968, under no. 55. The miniature was later sold with a firm attribution to Lawrence at Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 16 November 1976, no. 62.
8.Garlick 1964,185.
References
•1802—Farington Diary, 5: 1759 (21 March 1802), 1773 (3 May 1802).
•1802—Morning Chronicle, 3 May 1802.
•1802—True Briton, 3 May, 2 June 1802.
•1802—Monthly Mirror, 13 May 1802,310.
•1804—Farington Diary, 6:2291 (7 April 1804).
•1913—Armstrong, Sir Walter. Lawrence. London, 1913: 166.
•1949—Mellon 1949: no. 96, repro.120.
•1954—Garlick 1954: 60, pi. 48.
•1964—Garlick, Kenneth. “A Catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings and Pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence.” The Walpole Society 39 (1964): 185,306.
•1976—Walker 1976: no. 531, color repro.
•1989—Garlick 1989: no. 760, repro.
A contented vixen... squinting in a shaft of late evening sunlight.
Shot at Minsted near Midhurst and processed in Color Efex Pro 4.
These photos were taken 2 days ago on the way up Saddle Mountain. This Golden Orb was contentedly on its web in the morning sunlight. It is possible for them to reach almost 10 inches across the leg span, but this spider is around the 8 inch counting its legs. I think they are cute - I like them. Some information about this weaver spider:-
Golden-Orb Spider (Nephila pilipes)
The family of Orb-Weaver Spiders is unusual in showing a marked size difference between the two sexes. The bodies of the males are only 6mm long but the females are giants, with bodies up to 60mm long and leg-spans reaching 200mm or more. The female can be 600 times bigger than the male. Populations living further from the equator tend to be smaller, possibly because of the shorter growing season.
The females build large webs, in open areas often high in forests. The web is a vertical oval made up of a golden spiral bridged by colourless radiating threads; the oval is suspended by colourless threads from the surrounding vegetation (or structures) which may be meters away.
These spiders eat flies, beetles, butterflies and other flying insects that become ensnared in their webs. Leftovers of meals, such as the exoskeletons (skins) of insects are left hanging in the web (and are visible in the photograph).
E.J. Banfield, a naturalist who lived on Dunk Island in Queensland, wrote in 1918 about indigenous people using these webs for fishing. “The end of a stick was twisted in the web to attach the web to it, then the stick was waved about to spin the web into a single line about a metre long. The spider was squashed onto the end of the line and trailed in the water. Fish that attacked the bait became attached by their mouths and were taken. The breaking strain of the line was estimated at about 0.3kg but this was of no real consequence because the fish that were being caught were only about 4cm long. However, the method was successful enough to yield 17 fish in 10 minutes of observation.”
Spider silk is highly elastic and very strong for its weight. Different types of silk are exuded from different glands in the abdomen. In the web of the Golden-Orb Spider, the golden spiral is sticky but other threads are not. Silk is exuded as a liquid but quickly solidifies, remaining highly elastic and very strong for its weight. Because of these unique properties, many laboratories are working on production of this silk by genetic engineering.
Reproduction in the Orb-Weaver Spiders is not a straightforward affair. The web is occupied by a single female and several hopeful males. Although it might not be true of Nephila pilipes, in the related species, Nephila plumipes, 60% of males are eaten during or after sex! It appears that the larger males are more likely to be eaten, which probably explains their small size. However, males that have been eaten generally have copulated for longer, so that more of their sperm fertilize eggs. These males leave more offspring, passing on more genes into the next generation and contributing to their biological success.
In Nephila fenestrata, some males copulate with females that are preoccupied with feeding. These males are even more successful because they have long copulations while the female is eating, thereby transferring more sperm. Not only this, but they survive the event to defend the female from fertilization by other males as well as having the opportunity to mate again!
The female digs a pit in the ground into which she deposits the fluffy yellow egg sac and covers it with soil and leaves. After hatching, the spiderlings quickly make their way up trees and other structures.
This species was first described by the Danish entomologist, Johan Fabricius, in 1793. A pupil of Linnaeus, the Swedish scientist who devised the basis of modern biological classification, Fabricius went on to become a professor at the University of Kiel (which was in Denmark at that time), publishing several important works on insects.
The Golden-Orb Spider is found in the northern parts of Australia as well as in South-East Asia and in the Papua-New Guinea region.
County Kilkenny, Ireland.
© All Rights Reserved.
Do not use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my permission.
TO VIEW MY PERSONAL GALLERIES ON PBASE, CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW.
To view my galleries with Kilkenny Photographic Society, click on the link below.
The blacksmith showed us his wares, some of which requires an impressive amount of work. See for example the chain mail vest he made. He also told us how much he enjoys working in his smithy, in a quiet natural setting. He feels contented.
...quiet, of course, until he starts working. He also loves making a lot of noise!