Manny Kagan

Cheers,

Dreams Come True

Actually, it was not our dream; but rather, our desire to see our granddaughter and her parents in Portland, Oregon, which brought us here to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the new year, 5783. Our granddaughter recently turned two, and we have not seen her since last December. We had the opportunity to spend time together and for her to get to know her grandparents and for us to have the joy of her company.

The title of today’s essay actually came from the name of a rose. Within walking distance of their home are four neighborhood rose gardens, and the roses are in bloom. What a delight for the eyes and nose. There are so many names and varieties. There is obviously a good reason why Portland is called The City of Roses. I photograph roses all the time. They grow in front of our house, in our neighborhood, and in the Rose Garden in Golden Gate Park. I am fascinated by their beauty and never paid attention to their names. In Portland, I encountered Dreams Come True, Coral Cove, Apricots N’ Cream, Hot Cocoa, Sentimental, Elle and many others.

Online I found the fascinating history of roses, and how the new varieties are constantly developed. Since I am only sharing with you three roses here, you will be able to find more on my new website, thehealingimages.com.

Enjoy and Share!

Cheers,

How to Ask for Forgiveness,
and from Whom

Many years ago as a teenager, I did or said something which upset my mother. I knew that I was wrong, but kept quiet. The next day, my father suggested that I should ask her for forgiveness. “But Mom forgot about it already”, I responded. “Yes”, father said, “but you still carry guilt inside yourself. It does not matter what you think right now, you should still ask for forgiveness.” It took me years to accept my father’s advice, but now I freely admit my faults and shortcomings and ask for forgiveness.

During Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), which falls on Wednesday, October 5^th, during the services in the Synagogue, I am going to read from the prayer book during the whole day, with many prayers asking God for forgiveness. However, before we deal with God, we address our requests for forgiveness to the people in our lives. Therefore, I use this opportunity to ask for your forgiveness for anything I knowingly or unknowingly did or said. Thank you in advance.

After being forgiven, it is a good idea to enjoy bouquets of flowers.

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Cheers,

Happy Birthday!

On Monday evening, September 26, Jews and anyone else who follows the tradition set up in the Torah, are going to celebrate the birthday of the first man – Adam. He turns 5,783 and this day in the Jewish Calendar is called Rosh Hashanah, which translates to “head of the year”.

This holiday is the start of the cycle, which ten days later is followed by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. And five days after that on the eve of October 9^th, is the start of Sukkot. The holiday cycle ends with Simchat Torah, on October 18^th. On that day, the last chapter of the reading from the Torah scroll is followed by the new one – Bereshit. “At the beginning of God’s creation of the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1)” the old cycle is followed by the new one. From the moment of the Creation of our world (some claim that this actually happened much earlier than 5,783, and the day in the Torah represents an epoch), Jews follow well established traditions.

One of them on Rosh Hashanah, is to eat a slice of an apple, dipped in honey and to wish each other Shana Tovah U’Metukah – A Good and Sweet Year!

I photographed these apples with my camera recently, at my friends’ house in Sebastopol.

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Cheers,

There’s Gold In Them There Hills

No, the title is not a misspelling. In the Appalachian dialect, Them there means those. The phrase is attributed to an Italian immigrant, Felix Pedro, who after several years of searching, found gold in the Tanaha Hills, not far from Fairbanks in 1902.

There were eight gold rushes in Alaska. One of the largest was in 1882, when two prospectors, Richard Harris and Joe Juneau found in a creek now called Gold Creek, that had rocks covered with gold deposits. The discovery led to the formation of the Alaska Treadwell Gold Mining Company, which employed as many as two thousand people. In twenty years, the boom was so great that US Congress moved Alaska’s capital from Sitka to a new place named after the first discoverer, Joe Juneau.

Nowadays, out of the six modern large-scale hard rock mining operations in Alaska, four produce gold. Juneau is still the capital of Alaska. It is the second largest city in the United States by the area. Our ship arrived there at night; however, we were not allowed to go ashore. Here are three images that I took from the ship at night.

Enjoy It and Share Love.