Such a great pose!

Arches and a portion of a ceiling inside the Pink Mosque, with elaborate geometric decorations.

Some of the elaborate tilework inside the Pink Mosque. #iran #shiraz #travel #photography

A muqarnas filling the arch over a doorway. There are hundreds of honeycomb-like cells painted in varied geometric patterns in yellow, black, blue, green, red, and pink.

A maqarnas over a doorway at the Pink Mosque in Shiraz. You see smaller versions acting as squinches beneath domes--our guide just referred to all of these honeycomb structures as "squinches"--but they can also be very large and elaborate, like this one. #travel #photography #iran

Three large stone bluffs. There is a large cross-shaped relief cut into the bluff on the right, with a small door in the center. People standing beneath show how large the tomb is.

One of the four imperial tombs at Naqsh-e Rostam, not far from Persepolis. This is believed to be the tomb of Xerxes; the people standing below give you some idea how huge these tombs are. #iran #photography #travel

Stone tomb atop a series of stone steps with blue sky in the background

The mausoleum of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae. There’s nothing for miles in any direction except wheat fields and a few shepherds. And many souvenir stands. Alexander the Great burned Persepolis but left this tomb intact. #travel #photography #iran

A series of fountains descending from a white palace in the background, with trees on either side and mountains in the background.

Fountains in the Shazdeh Gardens near Kerman, Iran. These gardens are especially magical because outside the walls are miles of bleak, rocky desert in every direction. It's like a portal to another world. #iran #photography #travel

An ornate highly decorated pavilion behind a pool of blue green water. There is a large porch in the center and smaller porches to each side, each with columns and surrounded by colorful tiles.

More pictures from Iran from 2015: the pavilion in the Eram Gardens in Shiraz, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The current gardens and buildings date from the Qajar dynasty in the 19th century. The Qajars loved their ornamentation! #iran #photography #travel #shiraz

A dome and the supporting squinches, in elaborate patterns of turquoise, cream, and black.

And this dome at the Jameh Mosque in Kerman is very different from the two I posted from Isfahan. (Sorry the picture is a little blurry ☹️) 2015 #travel #photography #iran #kerman

An elaborately patterned dome in gold and blue, with portions of a supporting arch with deep blue tile. Light in the shape of a peacock's tail comes from an opening at the top of the arch.

The dome in the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque in Isfahan-very different from the Jameh Mosque dome. This mosque was originally used by members of the royal family. The opening at the top of the dome is designed to create that peacock tail effect of the light. (2015) #iran #travel #photography #isfahan

Looking up at dome surrounded by columns and arches. The dome features elaborate patterns in brick.

Looking up at one of the domes in the Jameh Mosque, Isfahan, Iran, in 2015. #photography #travel #iran #isfahan

I've realized that all I need to do to help the markets return to some kind of reality-based valuations is to put some of my money back in. The corrections would ensue immediately!

Interior of a mosque. The walls are brick and stone, and a dome overhead is supported by the honeycomb shapes of a squinch. An arched doorway with a grate is straight ahead.

The Jameh mosque in Isfahan-my favorite of the many mosques I visited. It's very old--the main structures date from the 11th c. The honeycomb structure of the squinch supporting the dome is a simpler version of the ornate muquarnas you see over doorways everywhere. #photography #travel #iran

A man in a dark robe walking through a courtyard. The walls and floor are sand-colored brick. Curtains hang from three tall archways.

The courtyard of the Zein-o-din caravanserai, about 60 kilometers from Yazd, Iran. Outside it's flat, hot, rocky desert; inside there is cushioned seating, refreshments, and Western-style toilets (which were much appreciated by the women in our group.) #photography #iran

A bearded street musician playing a ney anban (instrument similar to bagpipes). He is seated on a stool, with a concrete wall behind him and hexagonal tiles on the pavement beneath his feet.

More of my visit to Iran: a musician in the Armenian quarter in Isfahan, playing the neyanban, a kind of bagpipe. #photography #travel #iran

A teenage boy in Yazd, Iran, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He is carrying two loaves of flatbread in one hand, while looking at the phone he holds in the other.

Another picture from Iran, 2015: In Yazd, a teenage boy coming back from the bakery. #photography #travel #iran

A young woman working in a ceramics shop in Isfahan, Iran. She is sitting with knees up, painting a bowl. Her feet are bare.

Another picture from Isfahan in 2015: a young woman working in a ceramics shop. I loved that I was able to catch glimpses of daily life in Iran. #travel #photography #iran

A group of schoolgirls in blue outfits with white headscarves being splashed by a fountain in Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan, Iran.

Schoolgirls in Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan, Iran. I spent two weeks traveling around Iran in 2015--it was one of the best trips I've ever taken. (And I don't suppose I'll ever be able to go back now.) Wonderful people, wonderful food, amazing history. #photography #travel #iran

Wait--Trump is actually paying for them? That can't be right!

OMG, I have been thinking of that episode a lot recently. I had no idea other people found it as haunting as I did.

Also multiple copies of several books I bought repeatedly because I forgot I already had them (and I couldn't have found the original copies even if I remembered having them.)

M11 bus on the west side of Manhattan, with the bottom half of the bus obscured by a bank of filthy snow

Tenth Avenue Freeze-out. #photography #newyork #snow

Friends of mine who don't live in NYC don't really understand when I tell them I'm still traumatized by it. The empty streets, the morgue trucks, the ambulance sirens wailing all night long. Knowing people who died, who had to say goodbye to family by iPad before being intubated. The isolation.

Charlotte Bronte was actually killed by pregnancy, rather than tuberculosis. She married her father's curate after her three siblings died, and died herself less than a year later, probably from hyperemesis gravidarum, when she was about four months pregnant.

And I am so grateful for the sense of wonder these accomplishments provide, which is a balm in these wounded times. When I took astronomy in college, we learned about black holes but they were just "a theory" and the photo of Pluto in the textbook was a pixelated blob. Now telescopes in space!

Black car on the Upper East Side of Manhattan surrounded by and covered in frozen snow that will not melt before July.

Weeks after the big storm in NYC and I've just learned the word "snowcrete" for snow that's frozen so hard you'd need a jackhammer to dislodge it. (Like this poor car on the Upper East Side.)

On the plus side, no melting means no flooded slushy gutters to soak my feet with icy water.

It seems to be a thing now. I have Spectrum and I notice this a lot on regular cable channels.

"Whatever happened to Michelle Malkin?" is a thought that has crossed my mind never.

Already 2025 is starting to feel like a more innocent time...

Similar story! On my father's side, one ancestor came to Jamestown in the 1620's. My mother came from Ireland in the 1950's. An American story.

No links to Canada, alas. But I do have an Irish passport.

Juvenile king penguin with fuzzy brown feathers stands upright surrounded by adults lying prone on the sand.

And the kids manage to stay awake when all the grownups are sacked out!