A few nice christian singles images I found:

Christmas in jewish quarter / Navidad en el cayo judío

Image by . SantiMB .
Torà, Lleida (Spain).

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ENGLISH
The town of Torà is located at the foot of the mountain range of the Aguda, between the Llobregós river and the watercourse of Llanera. The Llobregós goes from east to the west, forming a spit that stretches slightly perpendicular in the northern limit of the Segarra, with landscaping, topographic, geologic and gastronomical characteristics different from the rest of the region.

Throughout the line that forms this river, during 10th century, it existed the border between the Christian counties and the Islamic world. To the north, the Christians; to the south, the Saracens. Also it distinguishes clearly two landscapes; in the part of above, forests and isolated country houses; in the part of down, where it is based most of the present population, it extend the smooth cerealistic undulations of the Segarra.

The town of Torà is the most important and dynamic locality of these contours fruit of its industrial growth, thing that has not made him lose the aspect eminently agriculturist and cattle farmer of typical town of the Segarra. Torà has its origin at medieval time, the narrow alleys of the old district, places setting of porches, quiet and calm, they are a clear testimony.

The old Jewish quarter of Torà is located in what is now Carrer Nou, in the very centre of the old part of the village. Access to this area is through two portals. One is located in the Plaça de l’Església and the Portal Nou provides entry from the Plaça del Pati. This area is surrounded by small squares, narrow streets and very steep alleys that help recreate the atmosphere of the medieval village.

Close by, we find the old bakery, which now houses the bread museum. The first businesses of Torà were established in its Jewish quarter We know this from the entrances to some of the houses that still maintain the specific typology of the medieval Jewish shops, with the entrance on the left and the counter on the right of the facade for serving clients from inside the shop.

The lintels of many houses also serve as valuable material witnesses to the presence of the Jewish population. Some houses still bear the engraved symbol of Christ with the date and name of the owner. According to some historians, this identified Jews who had converted to Christianity.

A number of wealthy families lived in the Jewish quarter of the village, including the Baron of Morrocurt, and the Mujal and Aldabó families. The donations of the latter served to set up the wheat shop or “poor people’s shop” and the village Hospital.

Sources: www.lleidatur.com/ing/culturajueva.html

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CASTELLANO
La villa de Torà se encuentra situada al pie de la sierra de la Aguda, entre el río Llobregós y la riera de Llanera. El Llobregós va de este a oeste, formando una lonja que se estira ligeramente perpendicular en el límite septentrional de la Segarra, con unos rasgos paisajísticos, topográficos, geológicos y gastronómicos diferentes del resto de la comarca.

A lo largo de la línea que forma este río, durante el siglo X, existía la frontera entre los condados cristianos y el mundo islámico. Al norte, los cristianos; al sur, los sarracenos. También distingue claramente dos paisajes; en la parte de arriba, bosques y masías aisladas; en la parte de abajo, donde se asienta la mayoría de la población actual, se extienden las suaves ondulaciones cerealísticas de la Segarra.

La villa de Torà es la localidad más importante y dinámica de estos contornos fruto de su crecimiento industrial, cosa que no le ha hecho perder el aspecto eminentemente agrícola y ganadero de típica villa de la Segarra. Torà tiene su origen en época medieval, los callejones estrechos del barrio viejo, cubiertos de porches, silenciosos y tranquilos, son un claro testimonio.

La antigua judería de Torà se localiza en la actual calle Nueva, en pleno núcleo antiguo de la población. Se accede a ella por dos portales, uno situado en la plaza de la iglesia y por el portal Nuevo, con entrada por la plaza del Patio. Está rodeada de plazuelas, calles estrechas y callejones de fuerte pendiente, que recrean el ambiente de la antigua villa medieval.

Muy cerca encontramos el viejo horno comunal, que hoy alberga el museo del pan. En el barrio judío de Torà se estableció el primer comercio de la población. Dan fe de ello las entradas de algunas casas que todavía conservan la tipología propia de las tiendas medievales judías, con el acceso a la izquierda y el mostrador a la derecha de la fachada para servir a los clientes desde dentro de la tienda.

Los dindeles de muchas casas son también un valioso testimonio material de la presencia de los judíos en la población; en algunos casos todavía tienen grabado el símbolo de Jesús, sigla según algunos historiadores de los judíos conversos, además de la fecha y el nombre del propietario.

Residieron en la judería familias acomodadas de la población, como el barón de Morrocurt, los Mujal o los Aldabó, éstos últimos fundadores con sus donativos de la tienda del trigo o de los pobres y del hospital de la localidad.

Fuentes: www.turismesegarra.com/pobles/tora.asp, www.lleidatur.com/esp/culturajueva.html

The sound of water / El sonido del agua

Image by . SantiMB .
El Generalife, Granada (Spain).

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ENGLISH
It occupied the slopes of the Hill of the Sun (Cerro del Sol), from which there is a complete view over the city and the valleys of the rivers Genil and Darro. There are different interpretations of the meaning of its name: the Governor’s Garden, the Architect’s (alarife) Garden, the Vegetable Garden of the Gypsy Festivity Organiser, etc. The Generalife became a leisure place for the kings of Granada when they wanted to get away from the official affairs of the palace.

It was built in the 13th century and it was redecorated by the king Abu I-Walid Isma’il (1313-1324), as it is explained by an inscription that dates from 1319. This means that the Generalife was built before the Comares Palace. In spite of it being very close to the Alhambra and the close relationship between the two complexes, it is considered to be outside the city. A rebellion against Mohammed V even broke out in the Alhambra while he was in the Generalife.

Nowadays the Generalife is formed by two groups of buildings connected by the Patio of the Irrigation Ditch (Patio de la Acequia).

Nevertheless it is difficult to know what the Generalife originally looked like, as it has been altered and rebuilt at different moments throughout the Christian period. These changes were at first necessary due to the sorry state of deterioration and neglect that was the result of the late Muslim period and later on they changed its layout and distorted many of its features.

In the Generalife there is no kind of decorative excess or points of interest in its architecture. Unlike the Alhambra, all the buildings of the Generalife are quite solid, but in general poor and simple. This indicates an intimate and peaceful atmosphere that the kings were looking for when they retired to these gardens to rest. There are only some decorative motifs of plasterwork, which are not very varied, but are exquisitely fine and tasteful.

Source: www.alhambradegranada.org/historia/alhambrageneralifeintr…

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CASTELLANO
Ocupa las pendientes del Cerro del Sol, desde el que se abarcan toda la ciudad y los valles del Genil y del Darro. Del significado de su nombre existen distintas interpretaciones: Jardín del Intendente, del Arquitecto (alarife), Huerta del Zambrero, etc. El Generalife se convirtió en lugar de recreo para los reyes granadinos cuando éstos querían huir de la vida oficial del palacio.

Se construyó a mediados del s. XIII, y según reza una inscripción de 1319, el rey Abu I-Walid Isma’il (1313-1324) lo redecoró, lo que lo hace anterior a la construcción de Palacio de Comares, A pesar de su proximidad a la Alhambra y de su estrecha relación entre ambos conjuntos, se consideraba fuera de la ciudad, incluso estalló una rebelión en la Alhambra contra Mohamed V mientras éste se encontraba en el Generalife.

En la actualidad, el Generalife está formado por dos conjuntos de edificaciones, conectados por el Patio de la Acequia.

Sin embargo, es difícil saber el aspecto original del Generalife, ya que ha ido sufriendo modificaciones y reconstrucciones durante toda la etapa cristiana, en un principio necesarias debido al estado de deterioro y abandono en que se encontraba en la última etapa musulmana, pero que posteriormente perturbaron su disposición y desfiguraron muchos de sus aspectos.

En la construcción del Generalife no podemos encontrar ningún tipo de exceso decorativo, ni grandes actuaciones arquitectónicas. Al contrario que en la Alhambra, toda la edificación del Generalife, aunque sólida, es en general muy pobre y muy simple, lo que señala el aire de intimidad y de sosiego que buscaban los monarcas al retirarse a descansar entre sus jardines. Únicamente encontramos motivos decorativos de escayola poco variados, pero de extremada fineza y buen gusto.

Fuente: www.alhambradegranada.org/historia/alhambraGeneralifeIntr…

Spinners on the Great Lawn

Image by Ed Yourdon
This is where Filthy Pierre decided to burn a cross on Easter Sunday … which, as I vaguely recall, occurred during our sophomore year. I don’t know if anyone ever found out why he did it — it may have been a protest against the Pope, or Catholics, or all Christians, or perhaps just a way of thumbing his nose at the authority figures at MIT.

Anyway, we all assumed that the Easter Sundayt prank was the reason that Filthy Pierre disappeared from campus … though there were rumors that he had found a way to import cheap textbooks from Hong Kong, which violated some copyright restrictions, and which eventually attracted the attention of the police…

Note: for some reason, this photo was published in a Jul 2, 2011 blog titled "Nice Christian Singles photos."

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It was a lifetime ago that I stumbled off a Greyhound bus in downtown Boston, a clueless 17 year old kid with two suitcases that held all my worldly possessions. I dragged them out to the street (no roll-aboard suitcases in those ancient times), and asked a taxi driver to take me to an address in Cambridge that I had scribbled on a scrap of paper: 77 Massachusetts Ave.

"Aye," the driver muttered, in a dialect that never did become familiar during the next several years. "SebendySebenMassAve."

When he dropped me off, I noticed two things. First, enormous stone steps leading up to the entrance to an imposing granite building. And second, a long line of scraggly, sloppily-dressed young men stretching from the building’s entrance down toward the street where the taxi had dropped me. Aha, I thought: I’m not the only one who forgot to fill out the official form requesting a dorm room.

Welcome to MIT.

I waited in line for two hours before being assigned temporarily, with two other equally absent-minded, newly-arrived MIT students, to sleep on mattresses in an East Campus dorm room that had initially been assigned as a "single" room to an understandably annoyed fellow from Cincinnati. One of the other temporary misfits, whom we immediately nicknamed "Filthy Pierre," had just arrived from Paris with nothing but one large, heavy duffel bag that he dragged into the room. Its contents consisted of miscellaneous telephone parts, which he dumped on the floor and kicked under the bed before wandering out of the room to explore Boston. (He had not showered in weeks, and he was eventually expelled for burning a cross on MIT’s Great Lawn on Easter morning. But that’s another story.)

Thus began my four-year experience at what many still consider America’s premiere scientific/engineering university. That I survived and graduated is a minor miracle; and while I’ll hint at the adventures along the way, in this Flickr set, you’ll have to look elsewhere for the details…

I continued to live in Cambridge for a couple of years after I graduated; took a couple of graduate courses in AI and computer science, taught a couple summer MIT classes to innocent high school students (one of whom challenged me to write the value of pi on the blackboard, to 100 places, from memory – which I did), took full advantage of MIT’s athletic facilities, and 25-cent Saturday-nite movies at Kresge auditorium, which always featured the enormously popular RoadRunner cartoons, and occasionally walked through the same halls and pathways that I had first explored as an overwhelmed undergraduate student. But then I got a new job, moved to New York City, got married, settled down, and began raising family. After that, I typically travelled to Boston two or three times a year on business trips, but never seemed to have time to come back to MIT for a casual visit.

But one of the advantages of a near-fanatical devotion to the hobby of photography is that you begin to appreciate that all of the experiences you internalized and took for granted need to be photographed — for posterity, if nothing else. Some of my most vivid memories of MIT, which we took for granted – like the huge,red, neon, flashing/pulsating "Heinz 57" sign out on the northern edge of the (Briggs) athletic fields — are gone. Some of the legendary professors and deans have died and commemorative plaques have been erected in their honor. And there’s a whole lot of new stuff – mostly new buildings and laboratories, whose specific purpose is a mystery to me – that I just have to shrug and accept.

But the basic campus is still there. And the memories are just as vivid as they were, so many years ago. I can’t say that I captured them all in this Flickr set; the photos were taken at sunset one evening, and dawn the following morning. But they’ll give you an idea of what it was like, a long long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away … and what it’s still like today.