via Provence Mon Amour

Braids

(from a Fb page... forgot to write which one!)

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I do always try to put the source and/or photo credit when I can... something that's geting harder with the multipliation of image sites. Having no luck with trying to find the origin of the photo above (google: "llama pink cottage llama in front thatched roof" ), BUT... I did find this!

from 4 feet 2 mouths: Cozy Cafayate (by Carmen)

Just no braided thatch! 

Madona

Gustav Klimt
Mother and Child (detail from The Three Ages of Woman), c.1905

Far Island

"Blackhouses of old - the traditional homes of Lewis crofters"

From Chris Duff's blog Northern Reaches.

X-FLARE! Big sunspot AR1520 unleashed an X1.4-class solar flare on July 12th. Because the sunspot is directly facing Earth, everything about the blast was geoeffective. For one thing, it hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) directly toward our planet. According to a forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CME will hit Earth on July 14th around 10:20 UT (+/- 7 hours) and could spark strong geomagnetic storms. Sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend. Geomagnetic storm alerts: text, voice.

The explosion also strobed Earth with a pulse of extreme UV radiation, shown here in a movie recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:

The UV pulse partially ionized Earth's upper atmosphere, disturbing the normal propagation of radio signals around the planet. Monitoring stations in Norway, Ireland and Italy recorded the sudden ionospheric disturbance.

Finally, solar protons accelerated by the blast are swarming around Earth. The radiation storm, in progress, ranks "S1" on NOAA space weather scales, which means it poses no serious threat to satellites or astronauts. This could change if the storm continues to intensify. Stay tuned.

Beauty

via

Birthday

 
 
(✿◠‿◠)❀  ♫ ❤ FELIZ ANIVERSÁRIO!!! ❤ ♫  ❀(◠‿◠✿)

for Son¹, in Paris

Ah, that boson!

Whether "God "or "God-d___" particle, an amazing moment and a beautiful mandala!

Ah, the God Particle. There are two important things to consider here. Remember this search resulted in the propagation of ultra-paranoid conspiracy theories that the activation of the Large Hadron Collider would somehow manufacture mini black holes and the Earth split apart or be devoured. The point being: another theory of fear-based projection bites the dust. Second, there is no religious implication to the naming of this enigmatic subatomic thingamabob. The actual name comes from a proposed title for a book by Leon Lederman, who suggested the particle should be called the “god damn particle” because no one can find the gd thing. Publishers rejected his offensive title and soon thereafter, the media grabbed onto the God Particle label and ran with it. Physicists, including Higgs - a devout atheist - despise the moniker. So as physicists search for the how and why of the Big Bang, no surge in religious enthusiasm should be construed to be accompanying this discovery nor for any of the subsequent revelations. After all, the fact that the big bang took place whatever conjectured millions, billions, trillions of years ago remains inconvenient to the Biblical assessments of the age of Creation.

     — Philip Sedgwic, Celestial Cattywumpus ~ 5 July 2012 newsletter

An image of what is likely the Higgs boson, or God particle, evidenced by electron decay inside the Large Hadron Collider's ATLAS experiment, observed in May 2012 
— from

Sun Flaring

"ALMOST X-FLARE: Big sunspot AR1515 erupted on July 2nd at 10:52 UT, producing an M5.6-class solar flare that almost crossed the threshold into X-territory. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:
 ...

A pulse of x-rays and UV radiation from the flare illuminated Earth's upper atmosphere, producing waves of ionization over Europe. Such waves alter the propagation of low-frequency radio transmissions. In Lofoten, Norway, Rob Stammes recorded the ionospheric disturbance using a 60 kHz receiver: data.

The eruption also hurled a CME into space, but not directly toward Earth. The south-traveling cloud could deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetosphere on July 4th or 5th. Stay tuned for updates. [SDO movie]"

click on image to download

from Spaceweather.com

Green Green Garden

Pretty cool!
And, if we put some wheels on, it can be turned to get sun on all the sides.

via

Kirby Dancin'

Cute.

From: Anikaos.com

Kirby Dance - Nintendo

The Famous Kirby dance right back at ya, made in
japanese emoticons style, such a lovable character

Kirby Nintendo	(>'-')> <('-'<) ^('-')^ v('-')v <('-'<) ^( )^ (>'-')> ^(^-^) <("<) (>")> (^'.'^) (>")> <(' . ')> (>")> <("<) <(^_^)> (>")>
(>")> ^( '' )^ <("<) <("<) (>")> (>")> ^( '' )^
(>'-')> <('-'<) ^('-')^ v('-')v <('-'<) ^( )^ (>'-')> ^(^-^)>
(>';'> <( )> <';'<) (>';'> <( )> <';'<) (>';'> <( )> <';'<)
<(^.^<)^( ^.^ )^(>^.^)>v( ^.^ )
(>^-^)> <(^-^<) (A^-^A) (v^-^v) (A^-^)> <(^-^A) (v^-^)> (v^-^)> (-_-)
<(^-^<) ^(^-^)^ (>^-^)> <(^-^)>
<(^_^)>    <(^_^<)    --(^_^\)     \(^_^)\      |(^_^)| /(^_^)/        (/^_^)--   (>^_^)>    (/^_^)--        /(^_^)/     |(^_^)|    \(^_^)\      --(^_^\)    <(^_^<)     (><)     <(^_^)>    (><)    <(^_^)>     (>^_^)/      (>^_^)\       \(^_^<)        /(^_^<)     \(^_^)/     /(-_-)\    <(^_^)>

Cycles*

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Solstice

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via

Update:

via

See more

Us-niverse

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Babythings

With a grandchild on the way, the first, naturally mind and eyes turn to babythings.

A lovely "moon crib" from Crème Anglaise.

Venus Transit

Transit of Venus | exploratorium.edu/venus

To see on site:

Exploratorium ~ Venus Transit

Gate of Fire

Gate of Fire / Ring of Light
June 4, 2012 ~ Anular Eclipse

From Slooh

Baby Boy!

It's a boy!
Just heard from BelleFille³ that the Baby will be a boy, as my son and she were desiring.

♥

Ríu Ríu Chíu

I first heard it many years ago on my beloved cassette (cassettes! that many years!) by The Waverly Consort.
No youtube for them, but this, different, does well.

Little People

A grandchild, the first for both families, should be premiering in October!
Son³ and BelleFille³ are ecstatic!

A cute image of "Things in Store"  brought by a friend on Fb, and then, with a little research, from the original site.

It started out as Kamasutra para Pápas; the original, but much less funny, Baby Sleeping Positions.

Baby Sleeping Positions

from How to be a Dad