"The oldest tree in Bátaszék," a majestic Downy Oak in Bátaszék, Hungary. "The tree dates back to the 1600s, during the Turkish occupation. German settlers built a chapel behind the oak in 1754 to give thanks for surviving the plague of 1738." 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Csodálatos Magyarország

“Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.” — Pablo Casals, 1876-1973. Georgian-French classical pianist Khatia Buniatishvili performs George Frideric Handel, Minuet in G minor, composed c. 1720. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️

My immigrant family in San Francisco, in the early 70s. Parents arrived as refugees fleeing Russian forces that crushed '56 Hungarian Revolution, welcomed with open arms and empathy in the United States, to start a life anew. The America I will forever cherish and love. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️

Been in a terrible rut on Bluesky lately. I hate-post my unbridled anti-Trump sentiment late into the night, then wake up and delete my angst-fueled posts. Rinse & repeat. Screaming into the void does little to move the needle. Will try to maintain decorum and stay positive. 🕊️

“For most of history, anonymous was a woman.” ― Virginia Woolf, 1882-1941. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Classic Literature

The ethereal, breathtaking landscapes of Danish realist painter, Peder Mørk Mønsted, 1859-1941. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 The Gallerist©️

“The first half of life is learning to be an adult - the second half is learning to be a child.” ― Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Michael Lankford | Existential Literature, Art, Music and Film

“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.” ― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, 1922. Yeol Eum Son performs II. Andante, Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 21. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️

Marc Chagall, The Circus Rider, c. 1927. Oil on canvas. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Soul Space | The Art Institute of Chicago

"The transition between summer and autumn in the Netherlands. Our first autumn colours usually happen at the end of September, but autumn goes all the way into late November." 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Text and Photo by Albert Dros©️

Piet Mondrian, Amaryllis, 1910. Watercolor on paper. 🙏🏼🌎🕊️ 📷 Painting and Fine Arts | Private Collection

"The Kako River in Guyana winds through the country’s most pristine and culturally rich regions. Its waters are dark and tannin-rich, and its course is dotted with smooth jasper stones, which inspired its name, Kako, meaning jasper in the Akawaio language." 🕊️ 📷 Rajkumar Singh

"Most letters from a parent contain a parent's own lost dreams disguised as good advice." — Kurt Vonnegut, Letter to his daughter, Nanette, 1972. When your dad happens to be legendary American author, Kurt Vonnegut. 😂 🙏🏼🌎🕊️ 📷 From Letters of Note©️

"If there is a problem, fill out complaint form, and place it in an envelope addressed to the name of the hospital in which you were born." This remains one of the truly great works of satire, from the always whimsical @theonion.com. ✈️😳😂 #Kafka #Absurdism

Ivan Aivazovsky, Venice, 1874. Oil on canvas. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Painting and Fine Arts | Dolmabahçe Palace, Istanbul

"Born on this day in 1844, Mór Kallina, one of the most important architects of the 19th century. He moved to Budapest from Moravia, Czechia, and shaped the city's image with iconic, Neo-Renaissance buildings that still define the capital's skyline today." 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Lelépő©️

Croatian cellist Stjepan Hauser performs Benedictus, A Mass For Peace, Sir Karl Jenkins. This mass was written by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins and dedicated to the victims of the 1999 war in Kosovo. May peace prevail in our hearts, in Ukraine, Gaza, and around the globe. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️

Today is the 530th day since my father’s passing last April. With so much tumult and turmoil around the globe, really missing his calm, guiding voice today. Szabolcs Soby Kalman on stage in a theater production in San Francisco, 1963. 🤍🕯️🕊️

Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907. Oil on canvas, with gold leaf. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Neue Galerie, New York

"I haven’t seen deer with such huge antlers anywhere in the world, like here in Mongolia with the Tsaatan people. They bond with them, and use as transportation through vast marshlands." Photographer Daniel Kordan in Taiga, Khuvsgul, Mongolia. 📷 Dòmhnall Óg | No Ordinary Eyes

Carlo Maratti, Portrait of a Young Man, 1663. Oil on canvas. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Painting and Fine Arts | Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

War in Ukraine, genocide in Gaza, crumbling democracy stateside. Some days, it's hard to post at all, feeling increasingly detached & despondent. All I can offer is the Arts; a fleeting moment of respite. Marie-Elisabeth Hecker performs Antonín Dvořák, Cello Concerto. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️

Hubert Robert, The Old Temple, 1787. Oil on canvas. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Painting and Fine Arts | Art Institute of Chicago

“If there were a little more silence, if we all kept quiet...maybe we could understand something.” ― Federico Fellini, 1920-1993 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Poetic Outlaws | Federico Fellini, La Dolce Vita, 1960.

Claude Monet, Asters, 1880. Oil on canvas. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Painting and Fine Arts

"Netherlands, Overijssel region." 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Photo Emy Leompescu©️ | Ancient Forests

“First keep peace with yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.” — Thomas Kempis, 1380–1471 South Korean-German classical violinist Clara-Jumi Kang performs Melodie dell’Orfeo from Christoph Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice, composed in 1762. May peace be with you. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️

A kis poszáta (Lesser Whitethroat) balancing on a branch in the Hungarian countryside. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Photo by Károly Nagy©️ | Erdei Utakon

"No day shall erase you from the memory of time." — Virgil, The Aeneid, 19 BCE September 11, 2001. ❤️‍🩹🕯️🕊️ 📷 Spencer Fincht©️ | National September 11 Memorial & Museum, New York City

"Violence never really deals with the basic evil of the situation. It is always a descending spiral leading nowhere. This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn’t solve any problems." — Martin Luther King Jr., 1967 🙏🏼🌎🕊️

"The Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan." 🙏🏼🌏🕊️ 📷 Photo by Fabrizio Fortuna©️ | Minimalist Photography

"A lush, mysterious forest near the Rhine river in Brohl, Germany." 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Photos by Lothar Sturmberg©️ | Ancient Forests

Some days are undeniably *Charles Darwin* days. 😳😱😂 📷 From Cheerful Nihilism

Born on this day, September 10, 1843. Luigi Monteverde, Swiss painter, 1843-1923. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Virtual Art Museum

"Love is the energizing elixir of the Universe, the cause and effect of all Harmony." — Rumi, 1207–1273 Dutch classical pianist Nikola Meeuwsen performs II. Andantino, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 9, composed in 1777. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️

Albert Bierstadt, A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie, 1866. Oil on canvas. 🙏🏼🌎🕊️ 📷 Brooklyn Museum©️

"Lunar Eclipse Totality... in Irbil, Iraq." 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Photo by Kurdish photographer, Darya Kawa©️.

"Inscriptions on 19th-century residential buildings in Budapest often greet their inhabitants & visitors. Typically in Latin, Salve! or in Hungarian, Isten Hozott! (Welcome). Üdvözlégy (Hail to thee) at the entrance of Vörösmarty út 38 is unique." 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Buildings Tell Tales

Born on this day, September 8, 1838. Ramón Tusquets y Maignon, Spanish painter, 1838–1904. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Virtual Art Museum

"Peace demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience." — Thomas Merton, 1962 Chinese-American pianist Yuja Wang performs Adagio sostenuto, Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2, composed in 1901. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️

Born on this day, September 7, 1833. Sophus Jacobsen, Norwegian painter, 1833-1912. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Virtual Art Museum

😳😂 📷 From David Kessler | History for the Witty

Born on this day, September 6, 1836. John Atkinson Grimshaw, English painter, 1836 -1893. A Moonlit Road, 1880. Oil on board. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Virtual Art Museum

"Trump Says U.S. Military Has ‘Never Fought to Win’ Since World War II." — New York Times headline Shameful, unspeakable desecration of our armed forces by the sitting president, insulting the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation. ❤️‍🩹🪦🕊️

Imagine my absolute delight, as I scrolled through my favorite philosophy site, Philosophy Matters, this morning, only to bump into my fake "Trump riffing on Kant" post from last week. 'Tis truly an honor, even if the meme mostly remains anonymous to the wider audience. 🤔😳😂

“How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense." — Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis, 1915. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Humanity & Peace

"John and Mary never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met." ✍️🏼😳😂 #OldieButGoodie 📷 From Mike Girsback | History for the Witty

“Simplicity, patience and compassion are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.” — Lao Tzu, 6th century BCE Ukrainian concert pianist Anna Fedorova performs Larghetto from Frédéric Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 2. 🙏🏼🌏🕊️

"The birth of morning clouds at the Rhine River, Switzerland." 🙏🏼🌍🕊️ 📷 Photo by John Anthony McConkey©️ | Cloud Appreciation Society

“The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.” — Thich Nhat Hanh Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Requiem in D minor, K. 626, 'Lacrimosa,' composed in 1791. 🙏🏼🌍🕊️