RIP Betty White (1922 - 2021)

Betty Marion White Ludden (January 17, 1922  - December 31, 2021).

Betty Marion White Ludden was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on January 17, 1922. She had an amazing career in movies and television that spanned a whopping 70 years. She passed away in her sleep at her home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood, California, on December 31, 2021 at the age of 99 less than three weeks before her 100th birthday.

White is well known for her sitcom roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970 - 1977) and as Ellen Jackson Harper in the first two seasons of Mama's Family (1983 - 1984). She is perhaps best known for her role as Rose Rylund in the series The Golden Girls (1985 - 1992).

Betty White with The Golden Girls (1985-1992) co-stars
Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur, & Estelle Getty.

Rest In Peace....and thank you for being a friend.

Central Powers Soldiers Celebrating Hanukkah on the Eastern Front in 1916

Jewish soldiers of the Central Powers of the German and Austrian-Hungary Empires
celebrating Hanukkah together on the Eastern Front in 1916 during the middle of World War I.
Photo courtesy of the S. Ajnwojner Collection at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Photographer unknown.

This outstanding historical group photo shows a gathering of Jewish soldiers of the World War I Central Powers serving in the armies of the German Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire celebrating the eighth day of Hanukkah (Wednesday, December 27, 1916) somewhere on the Eastern Front in Poland (or possibly Ukraine) in what was then the Russian Empire.

Since Jewish soldiers were scattered in relatively small numbers throughout the forces and there were so few Feldrabbiner (Field Rabbis) to serve them, the men would often have to travel a long way to celebrate their major festivals in heterogeneous groups like this one.

The Hanukkah Menorah in the center is being held by both a German Landsturm soldier on the right and a Austro-Hungarian soldier on the left to show the unity of the two empires placed on top a pile of snow with the Hebrew inscription "Hanukkah, 1916" written in coal.

On the left side of the Menorah is a Austro-Hungarian nurse who has the red and white Austrian ribbon for the Decoration for Services to the Red Cross on her coat. On the right side of the Menorah is a German volunteer field rabbi one of about 30 such individuals to serve with the German armies during World War I -- the Star of David can be seen on his field cap.

An estimated 100,000 German Jewish military personnel served in the German Army during World War I, of whom 12,000 were killed in action and an estimated 35,000 received accolades for their service -- including 18,000 were awarded the German Iron Cross. In the Austro-Hungarian army its estimated that about 300,000 Jewish men served with distinction.

Posted here on this site in eternal memory so that these men and their service and loyalty to their countries shall never be forgotten.

For all my Jewish readers worldwide, I would like to wish all of y'all a Chag Hanukkah Sameach!

Night Sky Photography -- 12-24-2021 -- Planets With Comet Leonard In Southwestern Sky On Christmas Day!

Good Evening & Merry Christmas 2021, Y'all!

This evening, following the traditional family gathering, I journeyed out to the nearby baseball field to capture a Christmas Day photo of the three planets, Venus, Saturn, & Jupiter lined up in the southwestern evening sky an hour after sunset.

In addition to the planets, and the bright stars Fomalhaut and Altair, I was just barely able to capture the nearby nucleus of the Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) just above the horizon.

Comet Leonard last passed by our planet about 80,000 years ago and made its closest approach to Earth on Sunday, December 12, when it came within 21 million miles.

The comet was discovered on January 3rd of this year by astronomer Gregory J. Leonard of the Mount Lemmon Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. The comet will disappear forever as it travels even further into space after it passes by Earth and leaves our Solar System traveling at approximately 158,084 miles per hour -- or more than half the distance between our Earth and the Moon (238,900 miles).

If y'all would like to witness this once in a lifetime celestial event for yourself, then you're in luck. Comet Leonard will appear in the night sky in both hemispheres until the end of December. However, the comet's nucleus is not visible to the naked eye without the aid of a telescope, binoculars, or camera lens.

As you can see in the photo, I was barely able to capture the nucleus as it appears very light blue against the dusk. I could not capture the comet's tail properly with the lens I had unfortunately. All the same, I'm proud that I was able to get this shot for y'all.

I hope y'all enjoyed this evening's night sky offering, my little Christmas present for y'all. Have a wonderful Holiday Season and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear!

Merry Christmas To Y'all!

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David), to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapping him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was in the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known to us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wonder at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

~The Book of Luke, 2:1-20 (King James Version)

To all my readers I wish each and every one of y'all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the Lord show you blessings this holiday season, and never forget the real reason for the season.

My Awesome Trip To Colorado (Day Four/Part Two): The Manitou Cliff Dwellings & Goodbye to Colorado 11-07-2021

The Manitou Cliff Dwellings in Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Well folks, now comes the final post about my amazing trip to Colorado and the final place I visited: the famous Manitou Cliff Dwellings on U.S. Highway 24 in Manitou Springs.

The Manitou Cliff Dwellings are a privately-owned tourist attraction consisting of reconstruction of ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings. The Ancestral Puebloans lived and traveled the Four Corners area of the Southwestern United States from 1200 B.C. to A.D. 1300. Some of the building materials were taken from a collapsed Ancestral Puebloan site near Cortez in southwest Colorado, shipped by railroad to Manitou Springs, and reconstructed in 1904 into their present form as Ancestral Puebloan-style buildings. The park was opened to the public in 1907.

Despite the fact these particular cliff dwelling structures are not actual ruins, the care done to make them look historically accurate is pretty amazing. Me and Alex had a blast the hour-and-a-half we visited the site following our visit to the Garden of the Gods park.

The Manitou Cliff Dwellings park also includes a wonderful museum and gift shop with many outstanding exhibits.

The following are the photos I took of my visit to the site with my youngest brother, Alex.

The Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum & Gift Shop.

The Manitou Cliff Dwellings Gift Shop had loads of wonderful
souvenirs.

Yours truly standing in the parking lot with the mountains in the

background. The last photo of the last full day of my Colorado
trip. Photo taken by my brother, Alex.

And with that my friends, the last full day of my awesome trip to Colorado came to an end.

I spent the remainder of that Sunday evening hanging out with my brothers and their family, mostly playing card games and enjoying the remainder of my time with them.

My only regret on the trip was not being able to take the hike up Pike's Peak this time around, although I hope to eventually do so on a future trip -- God willing.

So the next day, Monday November 8th, after saying goodbye to everyone, my sister-in-law, Shanna, drove me the two hours to Denver International Airport where I once again braved air travel (again my thanks to the professionals at Frontier Airlines!) and a three hour time jump back to Charlotte. I left Denver about 3:00 PM and returned to Charlotte at a little after 8:00 PM, losing an extra couple of hours.

Perhaps the thing that tripped me out the most about my return wasn't just the fact that I regained the three hours between time zones from Mountain to Eastern, but the fact that the weekend I was there Daylight Saving Time ended and there went another hour of sunlight.

Also having spent four full days at a higher altitude than the place I'd grown up and lived my whole life, I spent most of the evening and some of the next morning readjusting to "normal" air pressure. Needless to say my ears popped and squeaked more than a couple times. Ouch!

And that folks concludes my series about my awesome trip to Colorado and the sites that I saw while I was there. Between those and the time I spent with my birthday boy brother, Roy, and younger brother, Alex, and the family out there, I have no regrets and lots of good memories -- which I was more than happy to share with y'all here.

Please let me know what you think of my trip in the comments section below, and I hope y'all enjoyed taking this trip with me. Have a wonderful Holiday Season and Merry Christmas to y'all!