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As seen from the South Tower Observatory of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo, Japan.
as I had said before, the squirrel who wins the fight, gets to the nuts .-) the price is posing for the photos
As always, your likes, comments and feedback are much appreciated.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
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As winter wears down and spring is around the corner, the nudibranchs and other small critters are appearing on the reef.
As time goers on and this life becomes more normally normal I have found that I am getting more comfortable with who I am and in turn that makes me more liable to post photos like this and others I have done over the past year because I am happy with who I have become and how I look.
Yeah I know its shallow to a degree to rate ones self on how we look but this was only a dream not so many years ago for me.
All those times I looked at girls, actresses and models wishing I could be like them but knowing {thinking) that it was a pure fantasy, But here I am being that woman.
Ok Its not a perfect passable image at times but its darn close at times and that is more than good enough for me .
Not too easy to shoot this pretty wildflower, as it is always hidden beneath the umbrella.like leaves... But you can get it if your hold the top leaves out of the way. Interesting Wikipedia notes about this plant...that I had not seen for some years...happy to see it today....when I found several large patches of it in a nearby park.
"Mayapple
Podophyllum peltatum - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-246.jpg
Podophyllum peltatum[1]
Podophyllum peltatum.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
(unranked):Angiosperms
(unranked):Eudicots
Order:Ranunculales
Family:Berberidaceae
Genus:Podophyllum
L.
Binomial name
Podophyllum peltatum
L.
Synonyms
Anapodophyllum peltatum Moench
Podophyllum is an herbaceous perennial plant in the family Berberidaceae, described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753.In the past, several species were included in the genus, but all but one have been transferred to other genera (Dysosma, Pilea, and Sinopodophyllum).The one remaining species is Podophyllum peltatum, with common names mayapple, American mandrake, wild mandrake,[6] and ground lemon.7 It is widespread across most of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada.
Mayapples are woodland plants, typically growing in colonies derived from a single root. The stems grow to 30–40 cm tall, with palmately lobed umbrella-like leaves up to 20–40 cm diameter with 3–9 shallowly to deeply cut lobes. The plants produce several stems from a creeping underground rhizome; some stems bear a single leaf and do not produce any flower or fruit, while flowering stems produce a pair or more leaves with 1–8 flowers in the axil between the apical leaves. The flowers are white, yellow or red, 2–6 cm diameter with 6–9 petals, and mature into a green, yellow or red fleshy fruit 2–5 cm long.
All the parts of the plant are poisonous including the green fruit but once the fruit is yellow it is safe to eat minus the seeds.
The substance they contain (podophyllotoxin or podophyllin) is used as a purgative and as a cytostatic. Posalfilin is a drug containing podophyllin and salicylic acid that is used to treat the plantar wart.
They are also grown as ornamental plants for their attractive foliage and flowers.
Though the common name is mayapple,it is the flower that appears in early May, not the "apple". The fruit or "apple" is produced early summer and ripens later in summer.
Many species of plants have mycorrhizae to assist with nutrient uptake in infertile conditions. Mayapple plants are considered obligately dependent upon such mycorrhizae, although it may also be facultatively dependent upon rhizome age and soil nutrient levels.Plants are commonly found infected by the rust Allodus podophylli, appearing as honeycomb-patterned orange colonies under the leaves, and yellowish lesions on the upper surface.
Toxicity
The unripe green fruit is toxic. The ripened yellow fruit is edible in little amounts, though when consumed in large amounts the fruit is poisonous. The rhizome, foliage and roots are also poisonous. Mayapple contains podophyllotoxin, which is highly toxic if consumed, but can be used as a topical medicine.
Medicinal use
Mayapple has been used by American Indians as an emetic, cathartic,and antihelmintic agent.They also boiled the poisonous root, and used the water to cure stomach aches.[citation needed] The rhizome of the mayapple has been used for a variety of medicinal purposes, originally by indigenous inhabitants and later by other settlers.
Mayapple can be also used topically for warts, and two of its derivatives, etoposide and teniposide, have shown promise in treating some malignant neoplasms."
As I have said many times...photography is Hell! No...please don't all rush to console me at once. :-)
A portrait of actress Natasha White as Cora Pearl (described as "the Grand Horizontal who took Paris by storm with her Theatre of Lust"...so not head of the local Women's Guild I'm guessing?) in 'Five Clever Courtesans' from Cabinets of Curiosity at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe.
The play was all about five famous courtesans from throughout history being brought back to life (by the Power of Venus) and sharing their experiences.
You can see two other shots of Natasha which I took on the Royal Mile at these links:
As you can see, the sleepy little fishing village doesn't have very much of a skyline, but the sky lights up with rich brilliant colors when the end of a day nears.
As I said, I have a few Skipper heads laying around, so I did a couple more short hair cuts. I do like both, but I think I really like the assymetrical short cut better. I figure I can keep these heads and change them onto my other Skipper's Liv body so she can play with different styles. Or, I thought I could turn the one on the left into a boy by removing the lipstick and lashes and putting the head on a male body. What do you think?
As per contest guidelines, here's an image of all pieces necessary to build Ailun, Sureka, and Danmar or the Kaita Senta, though some pieces were not required for the latter. I think you can tell where it got complicated... but I like how it worked out. Ailun's simple torso and limbs provided the perfect base for Senta's torso, while the others provided enough pieces to fill in the gaps.
If I happen to win the contest and BobtheDoctor is building my Kaita or anyone else wants to try, I have shots of the skeletons of Sureka, Danmar, and Senta available on request. Just so you know.
As winter brings the cold and rain I look forward to getting home and relaxing with a glass of red in front of my blazing wood burner. It keeps the whole house very warm through the cold dark nights.
As I watched Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’ memorial service at the Lincoln Memorial for the over 400,000 Americans who have died of COVID-19, I was overwhelmed. I hadn’t felt this sense of humanity in four years, and I didn’t know how to process it. My body had forgotten what it felt like. It suddenly occurred to me, Donald Trump’s depravity and lack of empathy had held me hostage during his presidency. And, like those held against their own will by terrorists or bank robbers, now that it’s over, it will take time to adjust—to get back to any semblance of well-being and trust. That feeling of “fight or flight” and the level of cortisol in my body will not go away immediately. It is going to take me time to heal.
But the new year has brought little relief so far. There are people who don’t think I—we were ever held hostage. Georgia’s Republican Congresswoman and QAnon conspiracy adherent Marjorie Greene has already filed articles of impeachment against President Biden for misusing his power as Vice President when his son, Hunter Biden, served on a Ukrainian energy company’s board. She’s the representative who wears facemasks that say “Trump Won” and “Stop the Steal.” And, even though former President Trump has left Washington, she continues to peddle his lies. Millions of Americans still believe he won the election. Despite the facts, MAGA is still alive.
Before his term ended, the House voted to impeach Trump for the second time for inciting the insurrection at the Capitol that killed five people, including a Capitol Police officer. Every Democrat representative plus a record ten Republicans voted to impeach him. But, suddenly, the GOP is talking “unity” as a way to ignore his actions. They have appropriated the word President Biden has used as a building block for his new administration and reframed its meaning. Biden is searching for enough common ground to pass legislation that will end the pandemic, ease people’s economic struggles, deal with climate change, and repair America’s international policies. He has no illusions we will all be singing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KumbayaKumbaya.
Republicans are using the word to sidestep the transgressions of last four years and their role in perpetuating them. Texas Senator Ted Cruz said an impeachment trial after Trump has left office is “vindictive” and “punitive.” “We’re in the middle of twin crises,” he stated, “a global pandemic and an economic crisis with millions of people out of work. But, instead of focusing on those jobs, the Congressional Democrats seem obsessed with their hatred for Donald Trump.” Cruz speaks as if he’s always believed in the primacy of Americans’ welfare.
Both Cruz and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley voted to reject the lawful Electoral College tallies hours after the insurrection. Many of Cruz’s former aides were “disgusted” by his actions. Amanda Carpenter, who worked for the Senator, said, “she could have never envisioned that the political career of a legal scholar with a reverence for the Constitution would ‘culminate in a stand to potentially cancel votes in a way that defied any standards of federalism and constitutionalism.’”
Senator Hawley gave a fist pump in support to rioters as he walked the grounds of the Capitol that day. After his actions, his hometown newspaper called him on his behavior. The Kansas City Star stated in an editorial, “No one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible for Wednesday’s coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol than one Joshua David Hawley, the 41-year-old junior senator from Missouri, who put out a fundraising appeal while the siege was underway.” Hawley’s mentor, former Republican Senator John Danforth, said, “I thought he was special. And I did my best to encourage people to support him both for attorney general and later the U.S. Senate and it was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life.” By ignoring his actions, Republicans become complicit in them.
Both Cruz and Hawley want to run for president in 2024. And both are drooling over at the 70+ million voters who cast their ballots for Trump last November. By supporting Trump’s “stolen election” lie and by supporting his call to storm the Capitol, they have put their interests ahead of the country’s. Worse, they have supported an insurrection against the Constitution they have sworn to uphold. This is sedition, not unity.
Trump has needed enablers like Cruz and Hawley. They and other GOP leaders are the choirboys and choirgirls spreading his gospel of nativism, White supremacy, and economic good fortune for the rich. They perpetuate his lies and alternate truths. Or worse, they look the other way. In doing so, they are just as responsible for over 400,000 Americans lost to COVID and the millions who have lost their jobs and their businesses. And now, with both the executive and legislative branches in the Democrats’ hands, all of a sudden, they’re talking unity? It’s an empty attempt to avoid their responsibilities to the American people.
Every false prophet has their supplicants to sing their praises. This isn’t about the crucifixion of Donald Trump. This is about his deification. He’s no god and doesn’t deserve the perks. He denounced the science of the pandemic, and Americans have died because of it. His lies incited others to storm the Capitol. And people died because of it. So before we can contemplate unity, those who supported these mistruths must take responsibility and be held accountable for their actions.
Ephesians 4:25 says, “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.” Privately, many Republican legislators abhor Trump’s presidency and what he stood for. If the Senate vote to convict him was private, they would find Trump guilty. But since the vote is public, no Republican has the fortitude to speak up. Some, like Cruz and Hawley, are in it for themselves. Others, like Greene, are conspiracy addicts. And some fear for their safety and the safety of their families. Continuing this charade will hurt all conservatives and destroy the Constitutional thread that binds us as a people.
For more than a decade, honest and fruitful debate in Congress has been impossible. If we really want unity, then stop the destructive partisan rhetoric and let’s begin this administration as members of one American body. I’m pissed the new year still feels like 2020. Donald Trump may no longer be president, but he still has his hands on the bully pulpit. I’m tired of being held hostage by him and the likes of Cruz, Hawley, and Greene (and let’s not forget Mitch McConnell). It’s all about power and control. And none of it is about the welfare of Americans. Trumpism has become a systemic problem. Lies built upon lies left uncontested by the party of Lincoln. Like unity, ending MAGA distrust and conspiracy theories will be a long process. Republicans, you have the power to do it. You just don’t have the courage.
Feel free to pass this poster on. It's free to download here (click on the down arrow just to the lower right of the image).
See the rest of the posters from the Chamomile Tea Party! Digital high res downloads are free here (click the down arrow on the lower right side of the image). Other options are available. And join our Facebook group.
Follow the history of our country's political intransigence from 2010-2020 through a seven-part exhibit of these posters on Google Arts & Culture.
#651: As of 8/18/19, under Flickr's popularity rankings of my 1800+ pics, this is listed as #651 in "interestingness."
VIDEO AT: youtu.be/YV_UlpWpgLM
As I've described in a newly-added Update at the top of my Flickr profile page (www.flickr.com/people/99244229@N04/), I recently had an opportunity to be back in full make-up and out in public en femme. This pic is the 56th in a new series from public en femme activity in 2019, and comes from May 8.
As usual, I really enjoy color-coordinating attractive/sexy/cute outfits, and this one features:
* a lovely long "dusty pink" layered-cut wig bought from Forever 21;
* Forever 21 blush faux-suede 5.5"-block-heel peeptoe slingback shooties;
* Charter Club pink/ivory-ish "sand peach combo" floral-printed mid-rise 23"-long capri skinny pants, from Macy's;
* a Forever 21 blush soft-knit v-neck shirred-waist long sleeve bodysuit;
* a mauve velvet pants belt;
* a blush velvet handbag;
* a light pink floral-print neck scarf;
* a light pink necklace and wrist watch;
* pink and rose gold bracelets; and
* rose gold rings & gold earrings.
This particular pic is a snap taken from a video made at home. The full video (2019-05-08 video3) is now posted on my YouTube channel at youtu.be/YV_UlpWpgLM. Please check out the video there, and comment/fave here if you like what you see.
More about this and other 2017-19 pics has been written up in my profile or "About" page here on Flickr.
Let me know your thoughts... :-)
strobist info: SB-900 & SB-600 camera right, bare, triggered with PocketWizards (miniTT1 w/AC3 and FlexTT5s).
Post-processing done with Capture NX2 (w/Color Efex Pro 3), and Photoshop CS5.
More of my work can be seen at BlueCityPhotography.com and www.facebook.com/bluecityphotography
... andam cada vez mais atrevidos.
Vou ver hoje de manhã e estava um todo repimpado no meu vaso de hortenses...
Brief History of Maryborough.
This fertile area of Queensland was the fifth area to be settled when it was still part of NSW. The first settlement in QLD was at Redcliffe (and later Moreton Bay) as a convict colony in 1824. This was followed by white settlement at Ipswich in 1842 and further inland in the mountains at Warwick in 1847. The NSW government sent explorers to the Mary River area in 1842 which was when the river was named. Then in 1847 inland from the Mary River a town was surveyed but not gazetted until 1849. It was Gayndah which now claims to be the oldest town in QLD. The establishment of Gayndah is remarkable given transport difficulties. Near the coast Maryborough was the site of a wharf for pastoralists in 1847 and later a small town was created in 1850 making Maryborough the fifth settlement in what is now QLD. The first land sales at Maryborough were in 1852 although a general store had opened before this time on leased land in 1848. The new town of Maryborough was sited on the Mary River which rises near the Glasshouse Mountains inland from the Sunshine Coast. It generally flows northwards to enter the sea a few miles downstream from the town of Maryborough. The Mary River was named after Lady Mary Lennox the wife of the Governor of NSW Charles Fitzroy. The little town struggled to establish itself but once QLD got independence from NSW in 1859 Maryborough began to grow more quickly as free white settlers spread around the new colony. The delays in growth were partly caused by local Aboriginal resistance to the white pastoralists. Between 1847 and 1853 twenty eight white settlers were killed by Aboriginal people. A white massacre of around 100 Aboriginal people in the early 1850s brought some calm to the area and broke the resistance of the Gubbi Gubbi people. The Gubbi Gubbi people were called the Gin Gins by white settlers hence the name for that town north of Maryborough. Like so many Australian towns Maryborough’s growth was fuelled by mining discoveries. Maryborough was declared an official QLD port in 1859 and the first ship load of immigrants disembarked directly at Maryborough in 1860. Most were female and instead of obtaining work as servants immediately accepted offers of marriage from the men of the district. Maryborough became a municipality in 1861. It soon had a Customs House, a Courthouse and School of Arts but it really grew with the discovery of gold inland at Gympie. Maryborough served as the pot for goods going to and from Gympie from 1867 onwards. The QLD Land Acts of 1867 also opened up the pastoral leasehold lands to farmers for the first time. The main crops grown were maize and sugar. At about the same time as the Gympie gold rush Maryborough got its first sugar mill, a timber mill and John Walker of Ballarat opened a foundry and engineering works to produce mining equipment just as he had done previously in Ballarat. The port expanded and the town grew. A new Post Office (1869), hotels and general stores opened to cater for the miners and the townspeople. By 1871 Maryborough had 3,500 residents with its own newspaper’s, churches and schools. The wider district population was 9,000 people. By 1876 the population had swelled to 5,700 people. The first railway opened in Maryborough in 1881 when a line connected the port with Gympie gold fields.
Maryborough South Sea Islander Hospital. The Kanaka indentured labour system was introduced to QLD in 1863. The Polynesian Hawaiians called themselves kanakas. This was the term used in the 19th century to cover the South Sea Islander indentured labourers. Most who came to the Maryborough region (and Bundaberg too) were from the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu). Some Islanders were also taken as indentured labourers to Chile, to Canada, to California and to Fiji. The arrival of the first indentured islanders coincided with the beginnings of
the sugar industry in the Maryborough region. Sugar is a very intense labour crop and in the USA, the Caribbean and
South America African slaves were used for such work until the mid-19th century. The Americans had their tragic Civil War to end slavery there. British colonies were not allowed to have slaves by the 1830s century including all of the Australia colonies. African slaves were gradually freed in the Caribbean and elsewhere in the mid-19th century. South America had its slaves all freed by the 1870s. Although descendants of the South Sea Islanders like to refer to themselves as the Sugar Slaves this term would be highly offensive to all descendants of African slaves of the Americas and Caribbean. Indentured labour was a common labour system in the 19th century and continued into the 20th century. In Australia the Commonwealth government ran a similar indentured labour scheme for young British men who wanted to be farm labourers. They served a three year term, with no pay until they had completed their indenture, and they needed government permission to buy work boots or any other item. In SA this scheme was known as the Barwell Boys (Barwell was the SA premier at the time) scheme but it operated in WA and other states too. This indentured labour system ended in 1925.
So when the indentured South Sea Islander trade was established in Queensland in 1863 the first labourers were covered by the 1861 Masters and Servants Acts. (All colonies – and later states- had such acts which controlled labour relations right through to the 1980 and 1990s when anti-discrimination and equal opportunity acts watered them down.) Queensland acted quickly after 1863 and introduced the Polynesian Labourers Act in 1868. Amongst the many clauses of the act was the establishment of inspectors of conditions on plantations where South Sea Islanders were indentured. They weighed food rations, inspected housing and clothing. The act was also designed to protect the Islanders’ basic rights and to stop the “kidnapping” of Islanders. All ships captains had to ensure that there was no coercion and that the Islander’s recruitment was consistent with the QLD Polynesian Labourers Act. Although white settlers and Islanders died of fevers and tropical diseases frequently in the Maryborough area it had one of four Islander Hospitals erected by the QLD government in the early 1880s to help alleviate disease and death among the Islander populations in QLD. The first inspector for the health conditions of the Islanders began work in Maryborough in 1875.Their complaints about the conditions under which Islanders lived led to the opening of the 50 bed Maryborough Pacific Islander Hospital and doctor’s residence. Islanders had a higher death rate from disease than whites and extra health care was needed. Thus the Maryborough Hospital opened in 1883 to improve health conditions but it closed just five years later. Like other Islander hospitals it was funded from the wages due to dead Islanders. These wages were diverted to state government coffers. Attached to the hospital was an Islander cemetery which was formally established in 1891 but was used for interments whilst the hospital existed. A total of 363 Islander patients died at the hospital and were presumably all buried in the cemetery. The Maryborough Pacific Islander Hospital buildings were removed in 1892 and some equipment moved to the Maryborough Hospital which established a separate Kanaka ward. The site of the Pacific Island Hospital and cemetery was left vacant until sold off as vacant land in 1911. A controversy arose a couple of years when the Maryborough Council was considering allowing building on the former site. Action were than taken to have the site declared a heritage area. The outcome for this has not yet been decided. If building approval were to happen one can only hope that a suitable memorial and monument is placed there to remind everyone of Maryborough’s role in the South Sea Islander traffic. The site is near Tinana 5 kms west of Maryborough.
The first South Sea Islander labourers arrived at the port of Maryborough in 1867 on the schooner Mary Smith. All were male and found employed straight away with the Maryborough Sugar Company. They were paid £6 per year (paid at the end for the three year contract) compared with a white labourers who would have received up to £30 a year. The Islanders also were fed and housed which the white labourers were not. The Maryborough Sugar Company also paid for the voyage to and from the South Sea Islands. When the Mary borough Pacific Islander Hospital closed in 1888 it was partially because the number for South Sea Islanders was declining in the district. Numbers continued to fall in the 1890s as sugar profits declined. Then all South Sea Islanders were covered by the “White Australia Acts” of the new Federal Government in 1901. At that time the Islander population in Queensland was at its peak with around 9,000 Islanders. Commonwealth legislation banned recruitment from 1904 and started deportation in 1906. By 1908 7,000 Islanders had been deported and about 2,000 were allowed to stay on in Australia because of marriage or health or other issues. Over the life time of the South Sea Islander trade around 60,000 Islanders had been brought into Queensland and of those about a quarter were employed in the Maryborough district.
The Port of Maryborough.
The town actually began with a wharf as once prospective settlers learned that the River Mary was navigable white pastoralist and cotton and maize farmers moved into the district upstream from around 1848. Then in 1859 as the colony of Queensland was created from New South Wales a new international port was created at Maryborough. The town had moved from West Maryborough to the present site. Consequently the first Customs House was erected in 1861. In 1860 the first vessels arrived at the port of Maryborough direct from Europe with a load of immigrants. In 1869 nearly 7,000 immigrants had landed in Maryborough and by 1878 nearly 16,000 had landed here. In fact between 1860 and 1900 around 22,000 immigrants arrived directly in Maryborough from England and Europe. Maryborough also had a coastal steamer service to Brisbane and Rockhampton. From 1867 it also handled all the goods going into and the gold coming out of the goldfields at Gympie. In the last quarter of the 19th century the port of Maryborough handled saw timber, sugar, wool, meat, gold, maize, etc. Before the end of the 19th century when river ports like Maryborough were about to be forgotten because they could not handle larger steamers its imports and exports were roughly in balance in terms of value. The most valuable exports were: gold, silver, copper, fruit, hides and skins, sugar and wool. Of these the most valuable were sugar £50,000, raw and refined, followed by silver/lead £33,000, gold/silver £9,000 and skin/hides £8,000.
Among the early immigrants were shiploads of German settlers from 1860. As the numbers grew the first Lutheran pastor arrived in 1864 followed by a second in 1867. These and later pastors came from Germany or Denmark, mainly the Schleswig district, which was occupied by Germany from 1864 after it defeated the Danes. Between 1860 and 1891 around 180,000 immigrants arrived in Queensland with an assisted government passage and some rights to lease land. Around 16,000 were non British mainly Germans, Danes, Norwegians and Swedes. Other Australian colonies only gave assisted passages to British immigrants except for Tasmania and Queensland. Most of the non-British immigrants were German but the QLD government’s agent I Germany also recruited Scandinavians, Swiss etc. Queensland became the colony with the greatest number of Danes and it had almost as many Norwegians and Swedes as NSW. Some of these non-British immigrant’s landed in Maryborough with the first ship load arriving in March 1871 on the Reichstag from Hamburg. The Scandinavians especially settled at Tiaro and Tinana near Maryborough, around Bundaberg, Pialba at Hervey Bay and in other places like Kingaroy where Sir Jo Bjelke-Petersen lived. The town of Eidsvold, near Gayndah is a Norwegian name and it was established by the Archer brothers from Larvik in Norway. As most of the Scandinavians were Lutheran (but some were Catholic), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish names are often linked to the Lutheran churches of the Maryborough district. Some Scandinavian names (mainly Danish) of Maryborough early settlers include the Jocumsen, Claussen,Madsen, Kehlet, Weinberg, Okeden, Boge, Möller, etc. Many Danish and other Scandinavian names can also be found in the Polson cemetery at Pialba Hervey Bay such as Christensen, Hansen, Mortensen, Nielsen, Petersen, Thomsen etc.
As posted on photojunkie.ca
www.photojunkie.ca/archive/2006/03/embrace/
Two of my favorite locals Isto and Ica
As a tribute to my Mother I created some cookies based upon her favorite chocolate – M&Ms. She’s the type of mom who put up with my creative errors in the kitchen, from breaking eggs on the floor and not in a bowl and cooking pasta by adding it to cold water and then boiling. She put up with it all and never really complained; simply cleaned up my messes, smiled and helped me decipher some of her handwriting on old faded recipe cards.
So for the entire Moms, Moms to be, grandmothers and great grandmothers I thank you for your patience, dedication and loving guidance that you’ve given family members over the years. This recipe is a special thanks to my Mom for giving me the desire to excel and the love to work magic with food. Enjoy
Momma Kay’s M&M Crispies
•1 cup packed brown sugar
•½ cup granulated sugar
•½ cup butter
•½ cup butter flavored vegetable shortening
•¼ cup crunchy peanut butter
•2 eggs
•1 ½ tsps natural vanilla
•2 cups all-purpose flour
•1 cup Bisquick
•1 ½ cups Honey Bunches of Oats (Or similar cereal)
•1 tsp baking soda
•¼ tsp salt
•2 cups M&M’s (1/2 cup extra to eat as needed)
Heat Convection oven to 325˚ F (350˚ F Conventional). Use Teflon coated air bake pans, ungreased.
In a large mixing bowl combine sugars, butter, shortening, peanut butter, eggs and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until light and airy. Add flour, Bisquick, cereal, baking soda and salt. Beat at low speed until soft dough forms, Remove from mixer and stir in M&Ms.
Place dough into a separate bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours or overnight if preferred. Take a 1-2 oz muffin scoop and scoop out rounded balls of dough and place flat side down on tray at least 3 inches apart.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely before storing if any are left to put away!
As early as 19th century, the Peak attracted prominent European residents because of its panoramic view over the city and its temperate climate compared to the sub-tropical climate in the rest of Hong Kong. The sixth Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Richard MacDonnell had a summer residence built on the Peak circa 1868.Those that built houses named them whimsically, such as The Eyrie, and the Austin Arms. See First houses on the Peak.
These original residents reached their homes by sedan chairs, which were carried up and down the steep slope of Victoria Peak. This limited development of the Peak until the opening of the Peak Tram funicular in 1888.
The boost to accessibility caused by the opening of the Peak Tram created demand for residences on the Peak. Between 1904 and 1930, the Peak Reservation Ordinance designated the Peak as an exclusive residential area reserved for non-Chinese. They also reserved the Peak Tram for the use of such passengers during peak periods. The Peak remains an upmarket residential area, although residency today is based on wealth.
#152: As of 9/20/18, under Flickr's popularity rankings of my 1200+ pics, this is listed as #152 in "interestingness."
I've been engaging in some short, private crossdressing opportunities at home recently, after acquiring and trying out some new clothes, shoes, and accessories. This is the 254th pic posted from this recent CD activity, and taken just last month.
As usual, I really enjoy color-coordinating attractive/sexy/cute outfits, and this one features a low-neckline Project Runway rose gold satin cami (from JC Penney); a Dolce Gabo "rose creme" lace jacket w/ velvet tie belt, & a Halogen "pink foil" pleated maxi skirt (both from Nordstrom Rack); rose gold Chinese Laundry ultra-high-heel pumps (from Macy's); gold metallic fishnet stockings; plus a Liz Claiborne mini-satchel handbag (from JC Penney), earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings, all also in rose gold.
More about this and other new 2017 pics was written up recently in a descriptive Update provided in my profile or "About" page here on Flickr. It details some choices made for these 2017 pics.
Let me know your thoughts... :-)
As the cars were leaving the show field at the end of the four day fall meet of the Antique Automobile Club of America, October 2009.
Designed by engineering prodigy Mikhail Shastin and his design bureu the Avtomat Shastin model 1991 was the most advanced rifle Russia has ever produced.
Design
- Utilises a balancing system which virtually eliminated felt recoil and muzzle rise.
- Composite grip hand guard and folding stock which is more durable than wooden furniture of past rifles.
- Modern rear mounted aperture sight which are faster to train than a traditional open rifle sight.
- 30 round magazine with windows allowing the soldier to see how much ammunition is left in the magazine.
- Muzzle brake to further reduce recoil.
- Semi, full auto and three round burst capability.
- Can fire both 5.45x39mm and the larger 7.62x39mm rounds.
Performance
- fire rate of 1000 rounds per minute (3 round burst) 600 rpm (Full auto)
- Field tests revealed the weapon to be exeptionaly accurate in all fire modes and performance is consistent in adverse conditions.
Calibre
- 5.45x39mm
- 7.62x39mm
Shakespeare observed this phenomenon/behavior and created a character, Touchstone the Fool, almost 500 years ago. Psychology explains it in the four stages of competence and more recently as the Dunning-Kruger effect.
As the day wears on the shadows are lengthening in the busy evening rush-hour with people wanting to get home. Here in Nottingham a long queue has formed to catch the bus to Gedling in the shape of a former London Leyland Titan with possably the next on the 50 Service behind it..
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I was originally enrolled into the GETTY IMAGES collection as a contributor on April 9th 2012, and when links with FLICKR were terminated in March 2014, I was retained and fortunate enough to be signed up via a second contract, both of which have proved to be successful with sales of my photographs all over the world now handled exclusively by them.
On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being officially rolled out in December. ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015 and has smoothed out the upload process considerably.
These days I take a far more leisurely approach to my photographic exploits, and having moved from professional Nikon equipment to consumer bodies and lenses, I travel light less constraints and more emphasis on the pure capture of the beauty that I see, more akin to my original persuits and goals some five decades previously when starting out. I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 21.062+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on August 8th 2017
CREATIVE RF gty.im/823789628 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 2,810th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Zero metres at 10:46am on March 11th 2012 off New Lane and Saltgrass Lane, in Keyhaven (formerly known as Meeching), a town in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England.
There are around seven species of Swans, of the family Anatidae within the genus Cygnus.
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Nikon D7000 260mm 1/250s f/22.0 iso200 -0.7EV Exposure Compensation. Raw L 4928x3264 image size (14 bit) Handheld with Nikkor VR Vibration Reduction enabled. Auto Focus mode AF-A. Dynamic AF-Area mode. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto Active D-lighting. Colour space Adobe RGB.
Nikkor AF-S 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR. Jessops 72mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D11 battery grip. My memory 32GB class 10 20MB/s SDHC. . Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit
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LATITUDE: N 50d 42m 59.56s
LONGITUDE: W 1d 34m 36.45s
ALTITUDE: 0.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 46.20MB
PROCESSED FILE: 13.21MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.4 24/11/2016). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
The countryside outside London is any landscape photographer's fantasy come true.
I took this picture in Salisbury plains from a moving bus on the way to Stonehenge. It had been raining and clouds were even more beautiful than they normally are. I miss driving on my own, setting up a tripod where ever I wanted and taking much better pictures of this heaven on earth. Maybe one day I would return...
As the sun rises up over the Central Western town of Parkes, classic streamliners 42103 and 4204 sit awaiting for passengers to board on 8L42 Blue Suede Express back to Sydney.
Lachlan Valley Railway in partnership with TrainLinkNSW run two trains to the regional centre to celebrate the annual Elvis Festival
As you may know, my primary source when preparing a trip to discover the most fascinating Romanesque monuments in France (and elsewhere) is the Zodiaque collection of books, published between 1950 and 2000 by the Benedictine monks of La Pierre-qui-Vire in Burgundy, under the ægis of (and with photographs by) my mentor Dom Angelico Surchamp, osb. The Languedoc roman volume in that collection mentioned this isolated church of which I had never heard but which was conveniently located right next to the spa resort of Lamalou-les-Bains in the département of Hérault.
I say “conveniently” because, to tell you the truth, the real, primary purpose for which I drove down to Languedoc in November 2022 was not to photograph Romanesque churches (although that would obviously be a welcome complement), but to bring my beloved Revox B77 Mark II tape deck to a competent “fixer” who lived in a village not far from Lamalou. Months ago, I had stupidly broken one of the façade switches, and now the sick boy had to be taken to a healer to be fixed. And while the artisan was doing his thing on the Revox, I got to drive around and see beautiful old stones...
Back to the main matter, the church we are visiting today was built on the remains of an early Christian sanctuary built around the late 300s on the Gallo-Roman site of Rhèdes (traces of it have been found by archæologists). Then, in 551 (there is a most rare written trace), a new church was ordered to be built over the primitive one by “a King of France” whose name is not mentioned —and of course, “France” did not exist as such at that time.
That church was then donated to the Benedictine abbey of Villemagne at a date unknown, but it is mentioned in the last will and testament of Guillaume, viscount of Béziers and Agde († 990 AD), and again in 1153 as a priory of Villemagne.
Stylistically, the church we see today belongs to the First Romanesque Art of the 11th century, but there are indications of an earlier construction date for some parts of it, probably around Year 1000 or even before that milestone. It is a simple yet ample church, very old but beautifully preserved and restored, with none of the absurd excesses of the 19th century. It has been listed as a Historic Landmark since 1880 and the acoustics are so good there are many concerts of all kinds of music during the Summer season. It has been deconsecrated at some point but I haven’t found the exact date.
The remarkable medium to large apparel and the two-tier bench running around the sides of the nave are reminiscent of monuments older than Year 1000, but that remains my personal assessment, as there is no written or other evidence backing it up.