Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II ………………

born August 4, 1961, is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as the junior United State Senatorfrom Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned after his election to the presidency in November 2008.
A native of Honolulu, Hawai, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard LawSchool, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004.
Obama served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he ran for United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Democratic primary and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 general election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009.
As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009. On October 8, 2009, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In March 2010, he signed the Patient Protection and Affordabl Care Act into law, a piece of major comprehensive health care reform legislation. In foreign policy, Obama began a gradual withdrawal of troops from Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, and signed an arms control treaty with Russia.

Pls visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/37017699@N08/sets/72157624417469356/ for my Flicker gallery of Obama.......

THE SEASONS OF LOVE

A relationship is like a garden. If it is to thrive it must be watered regularly. Special care must he given, taking into account the seasons as well as any unpredictable weather. New seeds must be sown and weeds must be pulled. Similarly; to keep t he magic of love alive we must understand its seasons and nurture loves special needs.


The Springtime of Love

Failing in love is like springtime. We feel as though we will be happy forever. We cannot imagine not loving our partner. It is a time of innocence. Love seems eternal. It is a magical time when everything seems perfect and works effortlessly. Our partner seems to be the perfect fit. We effortlessly dance together in harmony and rejoice in our good fortune.



The Summer of Love

Throughout the summer of our love we realize our partner is not as perfect as we thought, and we have to work on our relationship. Not only is our partner from another planet, but he or she is also a human who makes mistakes and is flawed in certain ways.
Frustration and disappointment arise; weeds need to be uprooted and plants need extra watering under the hot sun. It is no longer easy to give love and get the love we need. We discover that we are not always happy, and we do not always feel loving. It is not our picture of love.
Many couples at this point become disillusioned. They do not want to work on a relationship.
They unrealistically expect It to be spring all the time. They blame their partners and give up.
They do not realize that love is not always easy; sometimes it requires hard work under a hot sun. In the summer season of love, we need to nurture our partners needs as well as ask for and get the love we need. It doesnt happen automatically.

The Autumn of Love

As a result of tending the garden during the summer, we get to harvest the results of our hard work. Fall has come. It is a golden time‐rich and fulfilling. We experience a more mature love that accepts and understands our partnerʹs imperfections as well as our own. It is a time of thanksgiving and sharing. Having worked hard during summer we can relax and enjoy the love we have created.


The Winter of Love

Then the weather changes again, and winter comes. During the cold, barren months of winter, all of nature pulls back within itself. It is a time of rest, reflection, and renewal. This is a time in relationships when we experience our own unresolved pain or our shadow self. It is when our lid comes off and our painful feelings emerge. It is a time of solitary growth when we need to look more to ourselves than to our partners for love and fulfillment. It is a time of healing.
This is the time when men hibernate in their caves and women sink to the bottom of their wells.
After loving and healing ourselves through the dark winter of love, then spring inevitably returns. Once again we are blessed with the feelings of hope, love, and an abundance of possibilities. Based on the inner healing and soul searching of our wintery journey, we are then able to open our hearts and feel the springtime of love.

:John Gray, Men are from Mars & women are from Venus

The Journey

Half the world is sleeping,

half the world's awake

half can hear their hearts bea

thalf just hear them break

I am but a traveler, in most every way

Ask me what you want...to know

What a journey it has been

And the end is not in sight

But the stars are out tonight

and they're bound to guide my way

When they're shining on my life

I can see a better day

I won't let the darkness in,

what a journey it has been.

I have been to sorrow

I have been to blissWhere

I'll be tomorrow,

I can only guess

Through the darkest desert

Through the deepest snow,

Forward always forward, I go..

What a journey it has been

and the end is not in sight

But the stars are out tonight

and they're bound to guide my way

When they're shining on my life

I can see a better day

I won't let the darkness in,

what a journey it has been...

Forward, always forward..

.Onward, always up...

Catching every drop of hope

In my empty cup

What a journey it has been

And the end is not in sight

But the stars are out tonight

and they're bound to guide my way

When they're shining on my life

I can see a better day

I won't let the darkness in,

what a journey it has been......

Lea Salonga…..

Limitless Sky.....

web post.....

Apple....................

The apple species Malus domestica in the rose family (Rosaceae) . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans.

The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor is still found today. There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples, resulting in a range of desired characteristics. Cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock.

At least 55 million tons of apples were grown worldwide in 2005, with a

value of about $10 billion. China produced about 35% of this total.

The United States is the second-leading producer, with more than 7.5% of world production. Iran is third, followed by Turkey, Russia, Italy and India.

Trip to Koggala & Madolduwa- Tribute to Mr. Martin Wickramasinghe

Martin Wickramasinghe, is one of sri Lanka's greatest authors and interllectals.He started to write in his language, sinhala at the age of 13 yrs and continued to write in both sinhala and english until the age of 86 yrs.

Martin Wickramasinghe was born on the 29th of May in the year 1890 in the Southern village of Koggala, bounded on one side by the reef – fringed sea, and on the other by the large lake into which the numerous tributaries of the Koggala Oya drain.

the House in which he was born in Koggala ...........................

The landscapes of the sea, lake studded with little islands, the flora and fauna, the forested hinterland, and the changing patterns of life and culture of the people of the village were the background of his early years, that Martin Wickramasinghe later immortalized in his novels and short stories and autobiographical writings.


Martin Wickramasinghe died on the 23rd of July 1976. His works have been translated and published in English, Hindi, Tamil, Russian, Chinese, Romanian, Dutch, German, French and Japanese languages.