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“She has a quiet confidence that screams loud. She is humble, but strong. She is stable, but rebellious. She is giving, but not naive. She chooses her battles wisely. She'll stay silent until it's time to fight...and when that time comes; she will fight and she will win!
Lough Tay is a small but scenic lake set in the Wicklow Mountains in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies between the mountains of Djouce and Luggala, and is most easily viewed from above, from the R759 or the Wicklow Way as it descends past the J. B. Malone memorial. J.B. Malone was one of the founders of the Wicklow Way. It is fed by the Cloghoge River, which then drains into Lough Dan to the south.
The northern coastline forms part of an estate belonging to the Guinness family; it is edged with a beach of startlingly white sand, the dark peaty water and the white sand create a striking similarity to a pint (a glass) of Guinness.
Sorry but I was so childishly pleased to photograph this bird that I have posted another image of him I was lucky to find this Wryneck again and improve on my last nights images After a couple of hours looking , Out he popped and I had a great 1/2 hour taking photos as he fed in front of me . Wrynecks feed mostly on Ants and unlike other woodpeckers they are seen mainly on the ground, They are Scarce in the UK .
3 recent shots of juvenile birds
dendrocopos major
grote bonte specht
pic épeiche
Buntspecht
Pico Picapinos
Picchio rosso maggiore
Pica-pau-malhado-grande
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04-May-2022: about turism: my perplexities towards a future with more and more bans and more and more over-taxes.
Lake Bohinj and the much more famous Lake Bled are close (less than 20 km) but the second has a mass tourism now rooted, while the first is expanding its tourist reception in recent years, coming out (unfortunately) from the shadow of Bled, that was a lightning rod for peaceful and symbiotic nature lovers.
I am totally against mass tourism because it transforms a relaxing resort into an area where it is difficult even to access it.
Around Lake Bled, even at a certain distance, there are only paid parking lots, which come to cost 6 euros per hour (about the most decentralized and in May...) that, certainly, leave perplexed about the "tourist selection" that "they" would like to implement (high-end tourism) and, in general, certainly drive away the tourist in search of nature and not restaurants, bars, concrete lake-front and crowd baths.
The naturalist tourist should not feel like a tourist in Nature, which is a single great asset of humanity and that only administratively is divided between various Countries, while in Bled, as in Rimini or Cortina d'Ampezzo, they make you feel not only tourist, but also guest, sometimes unwanted if you spend little.
As tourism increases, so do the bans, because unfortunately mass tourism includes many people who don't know anything about Nature and generally only go to very touristy places to make themselves of...people, sowing dirt and ignorance wherever they move.
The imposition of prohibitions/bans to limit the "damage from mass tourism" affects everyone indiscriminately, including locals and naturalists who have always had a symbiotic relationship with these places, thus making them become inhospitable, at least to those seeking pure contact with nature itself.
Of course this happens all over the world, but it should be condemned.
We already pay State taxes for the maintenance of the slice of Nature that falls within our administration, tourist surcharges, exploiting market laws that should be verified and contained, are for the most part unconstitutional, as well as several prohibitions that deprive access and use of public property.
With the money that the tourist municipalities pocket they could very well implement a targeted prevention (controls by foresters, cameras, ad hoc fences for areas subject to micro-pollution...) rather than closing everything and then de-empowering themself on the maintenance of roads and areas (more and more numerous), thus going to save further, starting from the basic taxes that we pay to also have access to given areas.
I can understand that you tax parking at high altitude to maintain the roads, but the amount of the payment should be directly proportional to the expenses that must be incurred to ensure accessibility, not by putting prices at random and with increases of 200% from one year to the next.
I have always appreciated the fact that Slovenia, thanks also that it is not densely inhabited and has a modest tourism (except precisely Bled, Postojna Caves and the Coast), guarantees a wide accessibility and use of its territories and I hope it can continue, limiting the prohibitions and parking lots everywhere.
Have just been to Sidmouth in East Devon for a very quick 24 visit for some family business. En route we stopped off at Lyme Regis. I have this in mind for a long exposure sunrise one day but it also seemed to work well here with a fresh breeze and nice light.
I was pleasantly surprised at Sidmouth, lovely location and I have shots to share from there too.
I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend, I will catch up with you all x
Tarnished, but I just picked up piano again recently. For macro Mondays. jspianolab.com/piano-guild/
Not sure but think these are probably mountain ash berries. If not the ID would be appreciated.
The mixed color combinations caught my eye.
Snow still falling off an on here with snow covering the ground, but pleased more signs of Spring are showing up daily. Yes!
Nothing like what many in CA and other parts of the country are suffering thru. Keep warm, safe and well.
……It may be a solitary existence but it will never run short of water to drink! (well hopefully). Another misty Tarn Hows shot from our Cumbrian October break. Press 'Z' for a closer look. We put our Christmas tree up today - it also sits in water but not quite as a big a supply as this tree gets! Wishing you all a good run up to the festive break - stay safe. Alan:-)………
For the interested I’m growing my Shutterstock catalogue regularly here, now sold 101 images :- www.shutterstock.com/g/Alan+Foster?rid=223484589&utm_...
©Alan Foster.
©Alan Foster. All rights reserved. Do not use without permission.……
...but I think it's a wild artichoke.
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Ich weiß nicht, was es ist, aber ich mag es
... ich glaube, es ist eine wilde Artischocke.
I'm sorry, but I am never taking off this chest piece by :Static:, get it now at Abnormality!
~
☾ Hair: Monso- Gara Hair - Collabor88☾ Top: Gorsimi - Synkka Set
☾ Glasses: Vae Victis - Praestess - TWS
☾ Eye Makeup: KiLLJOY - Celestial Shadows - Abnormality
☾ Collar: VoluptasVirtualis - Amaranth Collar
☾ Finger Dips: STOIC - INKED
☾ Chest Piece: :Static: - Heart of the Void - Abnormality
“I was going to kiss him, and I was going to regret it. But at that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care.”
SMALL HOUSE
Small house, but throw a ball through it some time
and it becomes quite large. See all those metres,
aren’t they ours? And stroll perhaps as if
you don’t know where you’re going: space is
stretching out and yawns between the walls. Behold:
the wandering that binds the rooms together
has been painted white. There are some stairs,
a hat stand in the cupboard, doors. As if
by accident it lies there like a country
lane, where roads determine goal and starting
point and not the other way around. If you
go out for bread and then return you’ll see
that we can organise a picnic. Quick!
Go now! The shrinking can’t be far away.
Mark Boog
Translation: Willem Groenewegen
I’m on a quest to photograph the covered bridges in Connecticut. Figured it had to be a few in my part of the state and sure enough this one is really not very far from where I grew up. None of us knew it existed until Google gave us the location. Probably no more than 15 minutes from my parents house. Can’t wait to photograph it with snow.
DOC has changed this area, but I found it easier to access than in years past. Hokitika Gorge. It's still slick.
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Other items used...
Head: Lelutka Ryn
Body: Legacy
Rings: CULT - Emily Rings
Glasses: A&D clothing - Glasses -Lennon- Dark
Hat: STOIC - Beret
Our first snow of the winter, but more slush and wet than anything else. My enthusiasm waned quickly.
HFF!
The Mourning Doves are a common sight in my yard. They are one of the few birds which often get overlooked. But every once in a while one will pose extra nice - and I can'tr help but notice how pretty they actually are.
When I look closely at this one, I do believe he's smiling just a little for the camera.
** Please note there is a second photo in the Comments section.
but the closest scrutiny of the photogenic drawing discloses only a more absolute truth, a more perfect identity of aspect with the thing represented :-)
Edgar Allen Poe
HFF! Justice Matters! Indct Trump!
peony, 'Krinkled White', j c raulston arboretum, ncsu, raleigh, north carolina
Crazy Tuesday theme: two of a kind, but not the same.
Thanks for taking time to fave, comment and look at my work. I really appreciate.
HFF! An oldie but a goodie and a small reprieve from all this hot weather, even if it is just a visual cool down! It was a beautiful ice storm that we had that year and finally when it stopped I remember I just HAD to get out and explore. We got lost and I couldn't even begin to try and remember how we got to this barn now. It's a beautiful one. I hope everyone has a great weekend!
But it is an art for all that :-)
Walker Evans
Justice Matters! No one is above the law!
Chimney Rock and Cliff, Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico
Ghost Ranch is a 21,000-acre (85 km2)[1] retreat and education center in Rio Arriba County in north central New Mexico, United States. It is about 65 miles northwest of Santa Fe and 14 miles from Abiquiu, the nearest community. In the later 20th century, it was the summer home and studio of artist Georgia O'Keeffe, as well as the subject of many of her paintings. It often serves as a location for movie production. Ghost Ranch is owned by the Presbyterian Church (USA) and leased to and managed by The National Ghost Ranch Foundation, Inc.
Ghost Ranch is known for a remarkable concentration of fossils, most notably that of the theropod dinosaur Coelophysis, of which it has been estimated that nearly a thousand individuals have been preserved in a quarry at Ghost Ranch.[2]
Edensor (pronounced ‘Enzer’) is a small but pretty village situated within the grounds of the Chatsworth House estate in the Peak District National Park.
The original village was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, at which time it was located along the River Derwent, where the buildings were visible from Chatsworth House. This view displeased the then Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish, however, and between 1838 and 1842 the entire village was dismantled. Many of the residents were moved to the nearby Chatsworth villages of Beeley and Pilsley, and the planning and building of a new village, over the brow of a hill and out of sight of Chatsworth House, was managed by the famed architect Sir Joseph Paxton.
Only one of the houses, Park Cottage, was allowed to remain in its original position, reputedly because its elderly tenant at the time did not want to move and the Duke took pity on him.
The village is made up of a charming, slightly eccentric mixture of different house styles, from Tudor to Norman, with Swiss-style cottages and Italian-style villas. Rumour has it that the architect who worked with Paxton to produce the designs for the houses, John Robertson, presented the Duke with a selection of house styles to choose from at a time when he was particularly busy, and the Duke – rather distractedly – chose ‘one of each’.
The original church of St Peter’s dated back to the 12th Century. However, in the mid-19th Century it was rebuilt and expanded for the 7th Duke of Devonshire, and its beautiful spire now dominates the skyline. The churchyard contains a number of graves of the Chatsworth’s Cavendish family, including a memorial to Kathleen Kennedy, sister of the former US president John F Kennedy, who was the wife of William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington. The churchyard also contains the grave of Sir Joseph Paxton, the famous architect of the Crystal Palace in London.
"She was peering over the bench, trying to sneak up behind him, but ended up giggling when he obviously noticed her presence. Walking around to the end of the bench, she crawled over the arm and up towards him like a cat."
You may disagree but I see the purple gallinule as a larger version of the painted bunting, i.e., a bird with a "coat of colors". Both species are really beautiful.
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Thanks for visiting and for your faves and comments.
I'll have a few final sunset shots from Ross tomorrow, but this one marks the end of our current exploration into the origins of the Ross Bridge and its astounding art. I hope that I have convinced you these carvings are NOT the work of a madman who made bizarre grotesques as mere decoration.
I realise that is the way most people have seen the Ross Bridge art, if they have even bothered to look at the bridge too closely. We all know how often the tourist experience is one viewed through the lens of a few selfies. Very often we are not actually "present" when in tourist mode. That's a tragedy in my view. I dare say quite a few locals still scratch their heads about the meaning of the bridge too.
But this work is far from meaningless. I hope I have shown that. But more than this, it is a call to recognise that no matter how dark our history may have been at times, the chance for redemption and renewal is there.
But, and this is a very important "but" that the Prophet Daniel from Ross wanted us to hear: We cannot renew ourselves as children of the light until we face our deeds as children of the darkness. There is no forgiveness without repentance if I can put it in distinctly Christian terms.
Daniel Herbert did not believe in cheap grace. His freedom was bought with a heavy price, but in the end he died a free man, a man whose conscience was clear.
"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" - Matthew 25:23.