View allAll Photos Tagged Commitment
A residential pool is a commitment to maintain for life. Water is heavy and expensive to filter daily. The only alternative is to remove the entire pool. How much do you think that would cost?
GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March Rally at Lincoln Memorial Lower Steps in Washington DC on Friday morning, 28 August 2020 by Elvert Barnes Photography
Visit Commitment March website at nationalactionnetwork.net/commitment-march-on-washington-dc/
Elvert Barnes 57th Anniversary of 1963 March on Washington COMMITMENT MARCH docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/57MOW2020
The answer to the question “Should I do it?” is simple: No one has an obligation to another person, no matter what level of commitment in a relationship, to participate in any sexual activity that causes pain, discomfort or distress.
People can discuss desires honestly and be open to sexual exploration, yet be clear about what crosses the line and is not acceptable.
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You are here: Home / Life / “Should I Do It?” To Women Who Struggle with Porn-Driven Sex
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img code photo ... Etching by Daniel Hopfer (c. 1470-1536) of “The Lovers,” from Wikimedia Commons
msmagazine.com/blog/files/2011/07/500px-The_Lovers-202x30...
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“Should I Do It?” To Women Who Struggle with Porn-Driven Sex
July 2, 2011 by Robert Jensen
msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/07/02/%E2%80%9Cshould-i-do-...
Usually I address my writing about pornography to men, who are the majority of the consumers of sexually explicit material. But after a recent conversation with a woman friend, I was reminded of how often women who raise concerns about the sexism of pornography are discounted as being overly sensitive, prudish or unable to see things objectively. Since I’m a man, you can be assured–of course!–that I am not overly sensitive or prudish, and that I’m completely objective. So, if you are a woman who is struggling to get your partner to understand your concerns about pornography, I suggest you send this essay to him with a note at the top that says, “It’s not just women who think pornography is sexist.” Then add a note at the bottom that says, “You shouldn’t have had to hear it from a man to take me seriously.”
First, to give credit where credit is due: Everything I know about pornography I learned from women or discovered because of the feminism I learned from women. From the feminist anti-pornography movement that emerged in the 1970s and ‘80s, I learned to critique the system of male dominance and my own place in it. So, there is little that is original in this essay, but much that is important to keep saying.
When I present the radical feminist critique of pornography in public, I am often approached afterward by women with some version of this question:
....My husband/boyfriend/partner wants me to do [fill in the blank with a sex practice that causes pain, discomfort or distress for the woman]. I love him, and I want to be a good partner. Should I do it?
The “it” can be anything, but common requests include ejaculating on her face, anal sex, a threesome with another man or woman, rough sex or role-playing that feels inauthentic to her. Again, not all women reject those practices, but for many they are unwanted.
The answer to the question “Should I do it?” is simple: No one has an obligation to another person, no matter what level of commitment in a relationship, to participate in any sexual activity that causes pain, discomfort or distress. People can discuss desires honestly and be open to sexual exploration, yet be clear about what crosses the line and is not acceptable.
Because I’m a man, women sometimes assume I can also provide a simple answer to their next question, “Why does he want to do that to me?” There is a simple, though not pleasant, answer rooted in feminism: In patriarchy, men are socialized to understand sex in the context of men’s domination and women’s submission. The majority of the pornography that saturates our hyper-mediated lives presents not images of “just sex,” but sex in the context of male dominance. And over the past two decades, as pornography has become more easily accessible online and the sexual acts in pornography have become more extreme, women increasingly report that men ask them to participate in sex acts that come directly from the conventional male-supremacist pornographic script, with little recognition by men of the potential for pain, discomfort or distress in their women partners.
The third, and most challenging, question is: “Why can’t he understand why I don’t want that?” The strength of sexual desire plays a role, but here the answer is really about the absence of empathy, the lack of an ability to imagine what another human being might be feeling. Pornography has always presented women as objectified bodies for male sexual pleasure, but each year pornography does that with more overt cruelty toward women. The “gonzo” genre of pornography, where the industry pushes the culture’s limits with the most intense sexual degradation, encourages men to see women as vehicles for their sexual pleasure, even depicting women as eager to participate in their own degradation.
After more than two decades of work on this subject, I have no doubt of one truth about contemporary pornography: It is one way that men’s capacity for empathy can be dramatically diminished.
To make this point in talks to college and community audiences, I often suggest that “pornography is what the end of the world looks like.” By that I don’t mean that pornography is going to bring about the end of the world, nor do I mean that of all the social problems we face, pornography is the most threatening.
Instead, I mean that pornography encourages men to abandon empathy, and a world without empathy is a world without hope.
This is why pornography matters beyond its effects in our private lives. Empathy is not itself a strategy for progressive social change, but it is difficult to imagine people being motivated to work for progressive social change if they have no capacity for empathy. Politics is more than empathy, but empathy matters. Empathy is a necessary but not sufficient condition to do work that challenges the domination/subordination dynamic of existing hierarchies–work that is crucial to a just and sustainable future.
For women who want to communicate their need for sexual integrity to partners, and for men who want to transcend the pornographic imagination and empathize with their partners, the feminist critique offers a critique of male dominance and a vision of equality that can help. Instead of turning away from the unpleasant realities about how pornography is made, rather than ignoring the inhumanity of the images, rather than minimizing the effects of men’s use of pornography–we should face ourselves and face the culture we are creating.
As long as we turn away from that task, the pornographers will continue to profit. We need ask what their profits cost us all.
Etching by Daniel Hopfer (c. 1470-1536) of “The Lovers,” from Wikimedia Commons
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.....item 2).... Ms. Magazine blog ... msmagazine.com/blog ...
You are here: Home / Health / The I-Don’t-Wanna-Use-Lube Blues
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img code photo ... Liquid Personal Lubricant
msmagazine.com/blog/files/2011/10/lube.jpg
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The I-Don’t-Wanna-Use-Lube Blues
October 3, 2011 by Heather Corinna
msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/10/03/the-i-dont-wanna-use-...
Q: Why don’t I produce enough natural lubricant during sex? There is nothing wrong with me physically. I’m 34 now, but I’ve always been like this! I’m envious of women that talk about how wet they get. Men always ask me why I don’t get that wet. I feel like something is wrong with me. I don’t want to depend on KY for the rest of my sex life. There has to be a solution other than use lubes!!!! From my understanding there are glands near the entrance of the vagina that are supposed to produce lube to help the penis enter the vagina. I don’t think mine work!!! Doctors just say use lube. Help!!!
Every now and then, when I find this concern in my inbox–essentially, this notion that wanting or needing an additional lubricant is some kind of personal failure, or that going without one has some sort of elevated status–I just sit here and scratch my head. Because I see people getting really upset over something they don’t have to.
I certainly get women having issues about vaginal dryness: that’s common, particularly when we’re talking about vaginal sex and heterosexual women. (And I’d put little stock in what a guy tells you about it per his previous female partner; let’s listen to what women have to say for themselves.) But the idea that people are constantly flooding the bedroom with vaginal lubrication every time they have sex just isn’t based in reality.
I also get why people have the idea sex should somehow be movie-screen seamless all the time, at any time, without making any adaptations–there are a lot of sources that enable those unrealistic ideas. But in fact, women’s pleasure during partnered sex, particularly as something separate from men’s pleasure, is something that has really only started to be widely addressed in the last 100 years. Historically and even now, a whole host of sexual norms based primarily on cultural ideas of men’s ideas and wants have meant that a lot of women have had a lot of not-at-all pleasurable sex.
Sexual lubricants are nothing even remotely new. They couldn’t always be purchased in stores, but for as long as people have been having genital sex, people have used all manner of things as a sexual lubricant: butter, oils, honey, saliva, animal fats and guts–you name it, if it’s slippery, it’s probably been used as a lube.
Here’s the part I don’t get: If a lubricant makes sex feel better, why not use it?
There are likely any number of things you do in your life that aren’t “natural” or organic. It’s likely that not all of your clothes are homemade ones created with organic fibers, for instance, and that you eat foods with preservatives or flavor enhancers. I might better understand this attitude about lube coming from die-hard naturists, but more often than not, I’d say that the women who send me lube worries are fine with every other aspect of their lives being less-than-100-percent-organic.
Let’s take this idea about “natural” sex to its logical conclusion. That would also mean going without most methods of birth control, protection from sexually transmitted infections or reproductive health care. Heck, it would mean not using the Internet to ask me this question in the first place. I think it’s reasonable to presume, then, that if and when a vagina is not lubricated enough, or at all, then one could conclude that the “natural” thing is for vaginal entry to just be uncomfortable or painful. And that maybe then, it’s “natural” for some kinds of sex you want to engage in for the sake of pleasure not to be pleasurable at all.
And I just don’t buy that way of thinking.
It is normal for women to sometimes not be wet enough for comfort and pleasure throughout all of a sexual endeavor; and for some women, it’s normal all or most of the time. We do have glands which produce vaginal lubrication when we are aroused, but how much we produce tends to depend on a lot of different factors: Not only does lubrication vary from woman to woman, but we won’t always produce the same amount every day, every year, every decade, in every relationship or in every sexual situation. How lubricated we are also is related to our fertility cycle and the chemical changes in our bodies: When we’re most fertile, our cervical mucus is very thin, fluid and slippery. During pregnancy, women often have increased amounts of vaginal discharge.
Vaginal dryness can also occur for other common reasons, including: medications (such as contraceptives, antidepressants or allergy medicine); smoking; health issues (like diabetes, hysterectomy, pregnancy, yeast or bacterial infections, sexually transmitted infections or allergies); dehydration; cancer treatments; low or decreased libido; not having sex as often as you’re used to; menopause or perimenopause; stress, fatigue, depression or anxiety; and chemical sensitivities to things like detergents.
But for people your age, the most common reason for vaginal dryness is a plain old lack of high sexual arousal or desire: not being as turned on as you could be. Sometimes, we’re just not feeling it with a partner. It’s also possible what you think is a lot of sexual arousal may not be so much after all–it may just be the most you’ve experienced so far, and as your life goes on and you have new attitudes and experiences, you may well discover you can be a lot more aroused.
So, what would I suggest as a plan of action for persistent vaginal dryness that’s got you so upset and doesn’t seem to be about a health issue?
...1)..See if using lube helps, and if so, use it when you need to. Not using lube, or feeling frustrated and disgruntled about using lube, are only going to be more ways to keep yourself from self-lubricating (stress inhibits arousal, after all). Alternately, take a break from the kinds of sex where you don’t feel lubricated enough.
...2)..See a health care provider who is a full-time sexual healthcare provider, not a general family doctor.
...3)..Do the best you can to be honest with that provider and fill them in on your health history–as well as the current status of your relationship and how you feel about your sexuality and sex life–in as much depth as possible.
...4)..Try what they suggest, be that a switch in a medication, a visit to a nutritionist, more masturbation, talk therapy, drinking more water, really only having sex when you are VERY aroused and that’s what you want, taking some time away from intercourse or, most likely, using lubricant as needed. Your doctor may even suggest using a vaginal lubricant daily, even if you aren’t having sex that day.
...5)..In the midst of all of this, whatever the result, take a look at your own body image, sexuality and gender issues. If you have ideas like that being dry sometimes isn’t feminine or womanly, like you’re “less of a woman” because you’re not dripping wet 24/7, or that something is wrong with your body for most likely functioning normally, see if you can’t work on ditching those ideas. It might help to remember that not all women have vaginas in the first place: Being a woman or feminine isn’t only about body parts.
Of course, if you just do NOT want to use lubricants, you don’t have to. That is likely to make some kinds of sex, or sex sometimes, less pleasurable or more uncomfortable. It also can mean things like winding up with UTIs or other infections more frequently. But if you feel better with those risks, you get to make that choice. Again, at times when you’re not lubricating, you also have the option of simply not having the kinds of sex where you need lube added, such as oral sex.
But it shouldn’t crush your ego to need or want lube, any more than it should crush your ego to need or want a haircut, salt on your food or to live in a decent neighborhood. Adding something to increase our enjoyment has nothing to do with our self-worth or with “succeeding” at sex. And using lubricant–whether it’s a need or a want–or being dry sometimes does not make a woman any less of a woman, does not make anyone less sexy, does not mean something is wrong with your body or your sexuality. Is a man not a man because he isn’t erect on demand or all the time? No? (Hint: Your answer should be no.) Well alrighty, then.
Speaking of men, I get letters from men saying they don’t like wetness. I get the same letters when it comes to dryness. However, I can’t recall a single time when I have ever gotten a letter from a man who has a problem with using lube himself or with a partner (perhaps in part because plenty of men use it for their own masturbation). So, when I hear someone tell me what “men” love, it’s always filtered by the knowledge that there are no absolutes with anything to do with sex. People of all genders like and dislike many different things.
Lube feels good. I don’t know about you, but one big reason I engage in sex is to feel good. That strikes me as perfectly harmonious. I don’t feel like I’m failing in any way when my partners and myself are feeling really good and sex rocks.
Obviously, you get to make up your own mind here and make your own choices. But I’d suggest that no matter what choice you make, an attitude adjustment on this stuff–not just on lubricant, but on not comparing oneself to other women and on realistic ideas about sexuality and the way your body functions–is going to benefit you. Most of what I hear in letters like this is that the attitudes expressed and the stress they create are getting you down far more than the issue of lubrication. And I’d say it’s certainly natural to change our attitudes or ideas for the sake of a healthier sexuality and self-esteem and a sex life we enjoy more.
Adapted from a post originally published at Scarleteen.com.
Have a sex, sexual-health or relationships question you want answered? Email it to Heather at sexandrelationships@msmagazine.com. By sending a question to that address, you acknowledge you give permission for your question to be published. Your email address and any other personally identifying information will remain private. Not all questions will receive answers.
Photo from Fickr user Lil’ Latvian under Creative Commons 2.o.
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JAPAN (June 22, 2022) U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Tyler Somers, a machine gunner with 3d Battalion, 2d Marines fires an M2 machine gun during Exercise Shinka 22.1 at Combined Arms Training Center, Camp Fuji, Japan, June 22, 2022. Shinka exemplifies a shared commitment to realistic training that produces lethal, ready, and adaptable forces capable of decentralized operations across a wide range of missions. 3/2 is forward deployed in the Indo-Pacific under 4th Marines, 3d Marine Division as part of the Unit Deployment Program. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Michael Taggart) 220622-M-EJ408-1087
** Interested in following U.S. Indo-Pacific Command? Engage and connect with us at www.facebook.com/indopacom | twitter.com/INDOPACOM | www.instagram.com/indopacom | www.flickr.com/photos/us-pacific-command; | www.youtube.com/user/USPacificCommand | www.pacom.mil/ **
While moving from Chicago to Jacksonville, I spared some time for a “Traincation” out west with some must-have shots in mind. Watching Amtrak’s southbound Coast Starlight surf the Pacific from Jalama Beach could not have been left out. Even devoting nearly a full day of precious vacation time for the shot was well worth it.
March 6, 2022
Lompoc, California
In recent years, the great Brooklyn Bridge — long written about, photographed, painted, walked, biked and driven over; even sailed under — has become a gallery for thousands of padlocks known as love locks.
Some are engraved with initials, names and dates. Some have that information inscribed upon them, passionately, with a Sharpie. Some carry little pictures of New York landmarks like the Empire State Building. Most tell nothing about who put them there, or why.
“The lock signifies the commitment,” some say. “It will be a reminder every time we even see the bridge, let alone walk across it, that there was this one day when we decided that our love was so important.”
Unfortunately, reality must intrude, as it so often does. Love-struck couples’ feelings may or may not last forever, but their locks will definitely not. The Department of Transportation clips locks on the bridge every few weeks and has taken away 9,000 in the last 11 months. A spokesman for the agency said crews cleaned the bridge twice a week and removes locks as needed.
GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March Rally near Lincoln Memorial at Constitution Gardens North off Henry Bacon Drive, NW, Washington DC on Friday morning, 28 August 2020 by Elvert Barnes Photography
Visit Commitment March website at nationalactionnetwork.net/commitment-march-on-washington-dc/
Elvert Barnes 57th Anniversary of 1963 March on Washington COMMITMENT MARCH docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/57MOW2020
GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March Rally at Lincoln Memorial Lower Steps in Washington DC on Friday morning, 28 August 2020 by Elvert Barnes Photography
Visit Commitment March website at nationalactionnetwork.net/commitment-march-on-washington-dc/
Elvert Barnes 57th Anniversary of 1963 March on Washington COMMITMENT MARCH docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/57MOW2020
Some dear friends of mine. I really feel like this image celebrates love and the calm soft moments it fosters.
Strobist: SB-80DX bounce into umbrella above center.
Nikon D90 | Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 D | 1/200 sec | f/2 | ISO 200
GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March Rally at Lincoln Memorial North Elm Walkway, NW, Washington DC on Friday morning, 28 August 2020 by Elvert Barnes Photography
Visit Commitment March website at nationalactionnetwork.net/commitment-march-on-washington-dc/
Elvert Barnes 57th Anniversary of 1963 March on Washington COMMITMENT MARCH docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/57MOW2020
La vida es pura circunstancia.No tengo ninguna duda de ello.
Enamorado quedo,Florencia.
Vuelvo en un rato. ;)
Recomiendo : View On White
GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March Rally at Lincoln Memorial Lower Steps in Washington DC on Friday morning, 28 August 2020 by Elvert Barnes Photography
Visit Commitment March website at nationalactionnetwork.net/commitment-march-on-washington-dc/
Elvert Barnes 57th Anniversary of 1963 March on Washington COMMITMENT MARCH docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/57MOW2020
March is Women's History Month
The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of women whose commitment to nature and the planet have proved invaluable to society.
The bronze stauette was created by Hal Lincke of Evergreen, Colorado. It's original title is Saturday Morning. See: www.linkesculpture.com/about-harold.html
Aspect ratio: 3:2.
All images in this portfolio are copyright protected (© HY-TEC Images). The materials contained may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or downloaded in any manner. All rights are reserved. Copying, altering, displaying or redistribution of any of these images without written permission from the Artist is strictly prohibited.
This is The Temple in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. "The Temple has served as a center for Atlanta's Jewish cultural, educational and social activities since its construction in 1931. It is the home of the city's oldest Jewish congregation -- the Hebrew Benevolent Society, established in 1860 to serve the needs of the local German-Jewish immigrants. Operating from various rented rooms and halls, the congregation built its first permanent synagogue in 1875 in downtown Atlanta.
Twice, first in 1902 and again in 1930, overcrowded facilities prompted the Reform Judaism congregation to build a new home. At the time of its construction, the current Temple was one of only a few synagogues in the state, which in 1926 had only 22 Jewish congregations and 13 synagogues. During the era of the Civil Rights struggle in the South, the Temple's rabbi, Jacob Rothschild, became an outspoken supporter of equality for all of Atlanta's citizens. On October 12, 1958, white supremacists bombed the northern side of the Temple in response to the rabbi's support of the Civil Rights movement.
Although arrests were made, no one was ever convicted of the bombing. While Rabbi Rothschild's commitment to social justice angered some, many more were outraged at the bombing. An outpouring of support came from around the world to help reconstruct the damaged portions of the Temple." www.nps.gov/nr/travel/atlanta/tem.htm.
Making a commitment to a color palette and slowly coming out of the awkward teenager phase. I guess that's what blooming is...
I'm sure there are dozens of great analogies comparing kids and their fleeting interests in activities but Tae Kwon Do really does seem to be sticking, and we couldn't be happier. It's a great physical activity, teaches them discipline, and doesn't seem to pose much of any risk for concussion. Well, the turkey's just committed to two more years and to getting their black belts!
Another day, another candid encounter in Stockbridge. This gent cuts a determined figure: #WiredIn with over-ear headphones, square-jawed concentration, and a purposeful gait that says “don’t interrupt the mission.”
The hoodie signals team loyalty (St. Louis Blues, no less), while those low-slung camouflage cargo trousers suggest readiness for whatever the day — or night — might throw his way. Is he heading to the gym, the garage, or someone’s flat with takeaway and intent? We don’t know. But he’s carrying it all like a man with a plan.
And just to add fuel to the fantasy: those deep cargo pockets may be full, but the tote bag says sensitive multitasker with reusable values. Camouflage and contradictions — just how we like them.
Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.
CYCLOPS, 2016
Craig Chapple
Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
From the plaque:
Formerly trained as an architect at Yale University but with a deep commitment to creating art, Craig Chapple has pursued both architecture and the visual arts simultaneously throughout his career. Craig’s work is born from the synergy of these two disciplines, producing work that focuses on the overlap of the line, pattern, texture and process. He works in analog and digital practices in drawing, painting and sculpture.
Cyclops is a singular object on the landscape as well as a singular frame of the landscape. Made up of 25508-meter long tapering planks held in the shape of an inverted cone around a central opening for the user to occupy . These planks are fastened to each other at the innermost diameter and held upright by a 150 mm steal ring beam at the outer diameter.
At first approach, Cyclops is an object on the landscape, seen as a clear , platonic form. Through its transparency and porosity, however, it is an object one that is also dynamic and changing, blending with the environment.
By entering the central 1.5 m opening at the bottom of the cone, the user enters into a different relationship with the object and the landscape. By experiencing it from the inside-out, the object acts to frame the surrounding landscape and sky for the viewer in this same dynamic , temporal way by blending the man-made, platonic clarity of the frame with the organic and natural.
The viewer plays the central role of the work in rediscovering the relationship between the object, the frame and the natural landscape.
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From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
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Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
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LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
Olympus OM10/ 50mm f1.8
Fujifilm Superia 200
Evening hangout at Nasi Kandar Haji Ali. The taste of the rice with friend chicken poured with varieties of spicy kuah(soup) just made my evening. Nyum!
Preparing healthy meals is a big commitment in these days when so many unhealthy, low-cost choices surround us. We have meatless meals regularly. Today's healthy choice was a veggie pizza with very little cheese. The basil leaves and tomatoes are from our garden. I also added red onion and kalamata olives. Half of the pizza had a basil pesto sauce, and the other half had only chopped fresh garlic for the sauce. Without a heavy sauce, the flavor of the fresh veggies really stands out.
Photos Taken by Edwin Ladd - Mr Ladd Media the Official Photographer for West Midlands PA Awards 2023 held at The Grand Hotel, Birmingham on 15th July 2023. #WMPAA23 #MrLaddMedia #PAforum
A celebration now into our 7th year recognising the hard work, commitment, passion and support of the West Midlands Executive & Business Support Community
pa-forum.co.uk/pa-awards-2023-finalists/
West Midlands PA Awards organising committee:
▪ Daniel Skermer, Founder, PA Forum, West Midlands & East Midlands PA Awards
▪ Fay Gleeson, Executive Personal Assistant, SCC
Chris Anderson, Project Manager, University of Warwick
▪ Linda Leggett, Executive Assistant, Phoenix Medical Supplies Limited
▪ Julie Pettigrew, Executive Assistant, Jumar
▪ Mel Bates, Executive Assistant, PA Forum & Elite EA
Host:
▪ Adam Joyce
Special Guest Judges
▪ Chris Pardoe, PropRec Search
▪ Kathleen Drum, Executive Support Media
▪ Lindsay Taylor, Your Excellency Limited.
▪ Joanne Manville, Joanne Manville Virtual Assistance
▪ Amanda Johnson, VACT
▪ Hana Gray, The Office Management Group
▪ Lizebeth Koloko-Green, ANWOW
▪ Nick Elston, Forging People
▪ Katie Bott, Medefer
Headline Sponsors:
▪ PropRec Search
Category Sponsors & Partners
▪ ORS UK
▪ Amplify, NEC Group
▪ The Grand Hotel
▪ Turkish Airlines
▪ CHS
▪ Ashorne Hill
▪ IHG UK&I Managed Hotels
▪ VOCO, St. Johns, Solihull
▪ SCC
▪ CMA Video
▪ Mr Ladd Media
▪ Savient Limited
▪ Corporate Traveller UK
▪ Luxury Live Music c/o Mr & Mrs Grey
▪ Marabou Media
▪ Sounds Commercial
▪ Boxxedup
▪ Eventologists
________________________
#MrLaddMedia
Want Edwin Ladd - Mr Ladd Media at your next event?
Contact: Edwin Ladd
Mob:07828 475 591
Email: info@mrladd.co.uk
Apparently this church was rescued from closure by nuns from Tennessee in the USA.
Some years ago the Dominican Friars in Ireland announced they had embarked on a process of reorganising its commitments in Ireland because of falling numbers and would be withdrawing from Limerick. As a result of their decision St Saviour’s Church, Glentworth Street, which has an 800-year association with Limerick, was due to close but thanks to the Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia it will remain operational as a church.
On the 4th. of July 2016 the last Mass held by the Dominican Order took place. Soon after the Limerick Diocese took over the running of religious services with a Mass at 1pm each day while the nuns moved into the building later in the summer of 2016.
This Gothic Revival Church, though much altered from the earlier Gothic designs of the James Pain, has a strong presence in the area. It was begun for Prior Fr. Joseph Harrigan and consectated 6th July 1816. The repairs and alteration in 1860 were carried out by J.J. McCarthy. The contractor for that work was John Ryan. The architectural composition and carved limestone detailing, which is a composite of Pain's original design and later alterations, most notably that of William Wallace in the 1860s, is testimony to the skill of the architects involved and the craftsmanship of the artisans involved in its construction.
Wallace heightened the exterior and interior by 20 feet with the addition of a clerestory and rose window in the 1860s. George Goldie designed a new chancel, high altar, reredos, tabernacle and east window between 1863-66. The sculptor for the altar was Bolton of Worchester; the sculptor of the reredos was Patrick Scannell of Cork Marble Works. The stained glass was by William Wailes of Newcastle. In 1870 Goldie and Child remodelled the interior and exterior and the work was supervised by Maurice Alphonsus Hennessy, CE, Limerick. The builders were McCarthy and Guerin. In 1896 and 1899 the stalls and the railings to the Sacred Heart Chapel were designed by George Coppinger Ashlin. In 1927 the communion rails and gates were designed by Ashlin and Coleman.
The church terminates the view from Pery Square to the east, while the south elevation facing onto Dominick Street dominates the view from the east. At any point on Baker's Place the contribution of this limestone church to the streetscape is further enhanced by the Tait Memorial Clock and the former priory, now the Mid-Western Health Board Offices on Pery Street. Saint Michael's Church of Ireland Church, which terminates the view of Pery Street to the west, adds to the prominence of these ecclesiastical buildings within the Georgian district of Pery Square.
The UK government is joining forces with Global Citizen + CHIME FOR CHANGE to bring global attention to the issue of girls’ education.
On 7 July, we will host the Girls’ Education Forum bringing together governments, private sector stakeholders, civil society partners and education champions to drive the implementation of Global Goal 4 to achieve universal, quality education.
Attendees will also include returned volunteers and representatives fromVoluntary Services Overseas, a leading international development organisation funded by the UK government as part of International Citizen Service.
The benefits of educating girls are overwhelming, yet 63 million girls remain out of school. What’s more, many of those in school are not getting the quality education they deserve and are dropping out.
New commitments will be secured which will contribute to improving girls’ learning; ensuring that even the poorest and most marginalised girls have the opportunity to learn; and helping girls get a secondary education.
The UK has helped 11 million children get an education in the last 5 years, training 177,000 teachers, building classrooms and ensuring the poorest girls and boys have school bursaries and textbooks. This work will continue with a commitment to help 11 million girls and boys gain an education by 2020.
Picture: David McClenaghan/VSO
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Foreign, no. 1522/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Paramount / Parufamet. Publicity still for The Freshman (Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor, 1925).
American actor, comedian, director, producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer Harold Lloyd (1893-1971) is best known for his silent comedies. He ranks alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as one of the three most popular and influential comedians of silent film. Between 1914 and 1947, Lloyd made nearly 200 comedies, often as a bespectacled 'Glass' character, a resourceful, success-seeking go-getter who was perfectly in tune with the 1920s-era United States. His films frequently contained 'thrill sequences' of extended chase scenes and daredevil physical feats. A classic is Lloyd hanging from the hands of a clock high above the street in Safety Last! (1923).
Harold Clayton Lloyd was born in 1893 in Burchard, Nebraska, the son of James Darsie Lloyd and Sarah Elisabeth Fraser. In 1910, after his father had several business ventures fail, Lloyd's parents divorced and his father moved with his son to San Diego, California. Lloyd had acted in theatre since a child, and in San Diego, he received his stage training at the School of Dramatic Art and began acting in one-reel film comedies around 1912. Lloyd worked with Thomas Edison's motion picture company, and his first role was a bit part as a Yaqui Indian in The Old Monk's Tale (J. Searle Dawley, 1913). At the age of 20, Lloyd moved to Los Angeles and took up roles in several Keystone comedies. He was also hired by Universal Studios as an extra . Lloyd began collaborating with his friend Hal Roach who had formed his own studio in 1913. They created Will E. Work and then Lonesome Luke, variations of Charles Chaplin's Little Tramp character. In 1914, Lloyd hired Bebe Daniels as a supporting actress. The two were involved romantically and were known as The Boy and The Girl. In 1919, she left him after it became apparent he was unable to make a commitment, and she pursued her dramatic aspirations. Later that year, Lloyd replaced Daniels with Mildred Davis, whom he would marry in 1923. By 1918, Lloyd and Roach had begun to develop a new character beyond an imitation of his contemporaries. Harold Lloyd would move away from tragicomic personas, and portray an everyman with unwavering confidence and optimism. The persona Lloyd referred to as his 'Glass' character was a much more mature comedy character with greater potential for sympathy and emotional depth and was easy for audiences of the time to identify with. To create his new character Lloyd donned a pair of lensless horn-rimmed eyeglasses but wore normal clothing. Previously, he had worn a fake moustache and ill-fitting clothes as the Chaplinesque Lonesome Luke. In August 1919, while posing for some promotional still photographs in the Los Angeles Witzel Photography Studio, he was seriously injured holding a prop bomb thought merely to be a smoke pot. It exploded and mangled his right hand, causing him to lose a thumb and forefinger. The blast was severe enough that the cameraman and prop director nearby were also seriously injured. Lloyd was in the act of lighting a cigarette from the fuse of the bomb when it exploded, also badly burning his face and chest and injuring his eye. Despite the proximity of the blast to his face, he retained his sight.
Beginning in 1921, Harold Lloyd and Hal Roach moved from shorts to feature-length comedies. These included the acclaimed Grandma's Boy, which pioneered the combination of complex character development and film comedy, and the highly popular Safety Last! (Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor, 1923), which cemented Lloyd's stardom, and Why Worry? (Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor, 1923). Lloyd and Roach parted ways in 1924, and Lloyd became the independent producer of his own films. These included his most accomplished mature features Girl Shy (Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor, 1924), The Freshman (Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor, 1925) - his highest-grossing silent feature, The Kid Brother (Ted Wilde, J.A. Howe, 1927), and Speedy (Ted Wilde, 1928), his final silent film. Welcome Danger (Clyde Bruckman, 1929) was originally a silent film but Lloyd decided late in the production to remake it with dialogue. All of these films were enormously successful and profitable, and Lloyd would eventually become the highest-paid film performer of the 1920s. Although Lloyd's individual films were not as commercially successful as Chaplin's on average, he was far more prolific (releasing 12 feature films in the 1920s while Chaplin released just four) and made more money overall ($15.7 million than Chaplin's $10.5 million). The huge financial success of Welcome Danger proved that audiences were eager to hear Lloyd's voice on film. Lloyd's rate of film releases, which had been one or two a year in the 1920s, slowed to about one every two years until 1938. The films released during this period were: Feet First (Clyde Bruckman, 1930), with a similar scenario to Safety Last which found him clinging to a skyscraper at the climax; Movie Crazy (Clyde Bruckman, 1932) with Constance Cummings; The Cat's-Paw (Sam Taylor, 1934), which was a dark political comedy and a big departure for Lloyd; and The Milky Way (Leo McCarey, 1936), which was Lloyd's only attempt at the fashionable genre of the screwball comedy film. However, his go-getting screen character was out of touch with the Great Depression movie audiences of the 1930s. As the length of time between his film releases increased, his popularity declined, as did the fortunes of his production company. His final film of the decade, Professor Beware (Elliott Nugent, 1938), was made by the Paramount staff, with Lloyd functioning only as actor and partial financier.
In 1937, Harold Lloyd sold the land of his studio, Harold Lloyd Motion Picture Company, to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The location is now the site of the Los Angeles California Temple. Lloyd produced two comedies for RKO, A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob (Richard Wallace, 1941) with Lucille Ball, and a Kay Kyser vehicle, My Favorite Spy (Tay Garnett, 1942) which must have looked good on paper but went nowhere at the box office. He retired from the screen until an additional starring appearance in The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (Preston Sturges, 1947), an ill-fated homage to Lloyd's career, financed by Howard Hughes. This film had the inspired idea of following Harold's Jazz Age, the optimistic character from The Freshman into the Great Depression years. Diddlebock opened with footage from The Freshman (for which Lloyd was paid a royalty of $50,000, matching his actor's fee) and Lloyd was sufficiently youthful-looking to match the older scenes quite well. Lloyd and Sturges had different conceptions of the material and fought frequently during the shoot. The finished film was released briefly in 1947, then shelved by producer Hughes. Hughes issued a recut version of the film in 1951 through RKO under the title Mad Wednesday. Lloyd sued Howard Hughes, the California Corporation and RKO for damages to his reputation "as an outstanding motion picture star and personality", eventually accepting a $30,000 settlement. In October 1944, Lloyd emerged as the director and host of The Old Gold Comedy Theater, an NBC radio anthology series, after Preston Sturges, who had turned the job down, recommended him for it. The show presented half-hour radio adaptations of recently successful film comedies, beginning with Palm Beach Story with Claudette Colbert and Robert Young and ending in June 1945 with an adaptation of Tom, Dick and Harry, featuring June Allyson. The show was not renewed for the following season.
Harold Lloyd remained involved in a number of other interests, including civic and charity work. He appeared as himself on several television shows during his retirement, such as Ed Sullivan's variety show Toast of the Town (1949 and 1958). He appeared as the Mystery Guest on What's My Line? (1953), and twice on This Is Your Life: in 1954 for Mack Sennett, and again in 1955, on his own episode. In 1953, Lloyd received an Academy Honorary Award for being a "master comedian and good citizen". He studied colours and microscopy, and was very involved with photography, including 3D photography and colour film experiments. He became known for his nude photographs of models, such as Bettie Page and stripper Dixie Evans, for a number of men's magazines. He also took photos of Marilyn Monroe lounging at his pool in a bathing suit, which were published after her death. In 2004, his granddaughter Suzanne produced a book of selections from his photographs, Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3D! Lloyd also provided encouragement and support for a number of younger actors, such as Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, and particularly Jack Lemmon, whom Harold declared as his own choice to play him in a movie of his life and work. In the early 1960s, Lloyd produced two compilation films, featuring scenes from his old comedies, Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy (Harold Lloyd, 1962) and The Funny Side of Life (Harry Kerwin, 1963). The first film was premiered at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival, where Lloyd was fêted as a major rediscovery. The renewed interest in Lloyd helped restore his status among film historians. Lloyd and Mildred Davis had two children together: Gloria Lloyd (1923–2012) and Harold Clayton Lloyd Jr. (1931–1971). They also adopted Gloria Freeman (1924–1986) in 1930, whom they renamed Marjorie Elizabeth Lloyd but was known as Peggy for most of her life. Lloyd discouraged Davis from continuing her acting career. He later relented but by that time her career momentum was lost. Davis died from a heart attack in 1969, two years before Lloyd died at age 77 from prostate cancer, at his Greenacres home in Beverly Hills, California. He was interred in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. In 1990, Kevin Brownlow and David Gill produced the documentary, Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius. Composer Carl Davis wrote a new score for Safety Last! which he performed live during a showing of the film with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to great acclaim in 1993. The Brownlow and Gill documentary created a renewed interest in Lloyd's work in the United States, but the films were largely unavailable. Criterion Collection has since acquired the home video rights to the Lloyd Library, and has released Safety Last!, The Freshman, and Speedy.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
Before anything can get done in regards to this camera, I first need to get things out of the way, the big one being grad school apps.
That's UP's scanning electron microscope, for failure analysis and metalography research. It also has a Polaroid 545 attachment, which makes it super cool.
Polaroid TLR, FP 100C, f/3.5, 1/30s
I've been fairly inactive on Flickr for quite some time now due to other commitments. I've not stopped shooting in the meantime though and have several thousand unprocessed shots to trawl through.
I came across this file tonight, taken in March 2012. I've tried night shoots at this location several times and not always come up with the goods, often due to condensation on my lens. I've since learned to overcome such issues. My camera now gets treated to a thick, cozy neck snood and either a disposable heat-pack or if it's really cold, with high humidity, I turn to a telescope heater, powered with a 7AH battery pack!
The main reason that I'm uploading this is because this is a shot that looked ok on the back of my camera, as a jpg, but I was disappointed with on the big screen. It was resigned to the cyber bin, that is until I ran the RAW file through RAW conversion in CS6, lightened the exposure, tweaked the white balance and added a couple of subtle vignettes with curves adjustments in CS6.
I take a mixture of long exposures and multiple exposures for this kind of scene, depending on what I want to achieve with the image. This was a single 32 minute exposure and luckily, there was only one subtle plane trail to edit out.
Despite some banding in the shadows, I'm amazed at what CS6 Raw converter can pull out of a RAW file.
ISO 100
F/ 5.6
32 minutes