Yesterday.
We woke in the morning, and sat and waited for Mara and Mark to return from a wedding. Once they were back, we went to lunch with some of the Baha'is that are serving here (names forgotten). After we stuffed ourselves with good food, potato chips, ice cream, cake and tea, we went out to Bahji. Bahji for me was a trip to the Shrine of Baha'u'llah and the visitor's center. There's also a lovely mansion that I completely forgot about while I was there. Way to be a good Baha'i, Kristen. : ) For more info on Bahji, Google it. (By the way, I think it is really interesting that to google is an English verb). It was windy and chilly and the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, besides being a spiritual retreat, also convienantly provided some shelter from the elements. Again, it was an awesome experience, but I feel no real need to blog about it here. After, we went to the Visitor's Center, where I had hot chocolate and stamped my prayerbook with the Bahji stamp. : ) Later that night, we had dinner out at Fresco's. You may have guessed, we had pizza. The night before, I made pancakes for dinner. Those were awesome. We went to the talk that appeared on Mara's blog, and then we watched some more firefly.
Today, I woke up late. After loafing around, and reading Italo Calvino's novel, If on a winter's night a traveler, we went out to lunch. And boy, was that stupid. It started raining while we were on our way there, and by the time we arrived, we had all silmutaneously come to the same conclusion that we needed to just sit in the car. It was raining, REALLY raining. And then, shortly after our decision, it was hailing, too. And it was cold. So, we got out, managed to get our umbrellas out too, ALL of which were in the trunk, and we ran across the rather high puddles that were being perpetually thrown from the gutters of the street towards our knees. Lunch was great. Great enough that we decided not to go to Druze Village. Or, really, we were wet enough, and it was late enough, that we decided not to go. We returned here, and that was it. Here I am. Hm. More fun than that, though, is that today is Mara's birthday! Here she is:
At her birthday lunch:
I googled Bahji and was delighted at the images that came up. . . I am the one, after all, who took a whole course this semester on gardens, and loved it! (Did I ever tell you that someone in my class used the Baha'i temple near Chicago as an example of a Persian-influenced garden?) I'm sorry to hear the weather wasn't better, because the gardens look beautiful in the pictures.
Happy Birthday to Mara!
That dog below is nothing but phugly! gross! :)
Yay Hayley! We need more friendly Hayley (and other friends) comments.
My sister's so pretty! It doesn't look like it's raining...