MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD!
What a special season to celebrate the arrival of Jesus to the earth!
This is the 43rd Christmas since our marriage that we are celebrating!
Category: Marland
40TH YEAR CELEBRATION FOR BANGLADESH IS TODAY! The day when the liberation war with Pakistan ended. I was 23 years old and I don’t recall seeing it in the news, but I am enjoying visiting in this country. Two of my grandsons were born here in Bangladesh. It is interesting that I am almost as old as Pakistan and my sons are almost as old as Bangladesh. Both of my sons have spend time working here in this country filled with many friendly hospital Bengalis. It is a country of 150 million people with 15 million living in the capital of Dhaka. At least 88% of the people are Muslim. With time constraints in today’s schedule I didn’t have time to locate photos of the National Flag, Flower, Bird, or Animal. Of course the Bengal Tiger has eluded me! I once took a photo of a tiger’s track that the guide thought was maybe less than an hour old! I decided to post this photo which not only was handy in my flash drive, but showed the friendliness of Bengalis in this village near Mymensingh. We have visited this village twice this year.
Alice on the left; Katriel standing; Moriah sitting; Marland sitting on the right.
TODAY WAS A BUSY DAY DELIVERING CINNAMON ROLL CHRISTMAS WREATHS TO OUR NEIGHBORS. I started at 11:30 am and took an hour off for supper and stopped at 7:15 pm. I was unable to deliver to 3 of the 31 apartments, until Friday. Then I headed out to deliver some more to our U.S. friends. I kept one rickshaw wallah busy for over an hour with this last venture. I had started the day at 5 am, with a morning walk, and then an hour of football and some shopping, so I was ready to drop into bed.
Alice Assembling Wreaths Final Touches Marland With Finished Product
HERE I AM ENJOYING A BANANA AND BREAD TO GIVE US ENERGY FOR THE NEXT MATCH. The Remian Raiders call me “coach.” I am actually more of an encourager and photographer.
HERE I AM GIVING INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE THE SOCCER MATCH! It was the first time I played since March 22, when I had hurt my foot.
I HAD A FUN DAY TAKING FRIENDS TO MIRPUR, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
I found a friend!
I FOUND SOME FRIENDS IN THIS BENGALI VILLAGE.
MARVIN, ALICE, MYSELF AND MARGARET ENTERING BAILOR VILLAGE IN MYMENSINGH.
HERE I AM WITH SHAHEEN, OUR HOUSEHELPER AND HER TWO CHILDREN. Alice and I had been invited to share Iftar with them.
Pinky, Shaheen, Sultan, and Me
I AM TRYING TO BLOW OUT MATCH WITHOUT BLOWING OUT THE BIRTHDAY CANDLES. Seth also had a birthday this week. The circle of sweet cinnamon rolls took the place of a cake!
HAPPY 63rd BIRTHDAY TO MYSELF, Sil Byler, Ida Marie Miller, Darlene Stoner, Orville Wright, and President Bill Clinton! It is also World Photography Day! “World Photography Day is observed on August 19 each year. The day originates from the invention of the Daguerreotype, a photographic process developed by Louis Daguerre which was announced by the French Academy of Sciences on January 9, 1839. A few months later, on August 19, 1839, the French government announced the invention as a gift to the “Free World.” This info came from mbp.com.ph
From http://wright.nasa.gov/orville.htm: “January 30 1948: Orville Wright died in Dayton, Ohio, at the age of 76, thus ending his 28 years as a member of the NACA. NASA was created from NACA 10 years after Orville’s death. In his lifetime, the speed of the airplane had been increased from 0 mph to almost 1,000 mph.” So I shared a birthday with Orville though he died in January the year I was born. I also piloted a two-seater Luscombe in Canada for almost 400 hours from 1984- 1992, so we have something else in common.
I enjoyed a great Bengali breakfast of beef curry, vegetable curry, and nan ruti. This was followed by a nice visit at Coffee World with my friend, Ellis. The mocha and strawberry frappe were tasty.
A big thanks to all my friends who wished me “Happy Birthday” and one even hoping I live to be more than 100 years old!! Thanks for making my day special. My wife is also fixing me a special meal this evening consisting of hamburgers and potato wedges!!
My wife also made me a special jello cake which is pictured below. She decorated it with chocolate chips and peanut M & M’s (one of my favorite candies).
IT SURE LOOKS LIKE BAILEY GOT A CLOSE CAPTURE OF MY EYEBALL! Maybe an optometrist could check it out and save me a visit?
The Camerist's Collection 