photo rights reserved by B℮n

Located in northern Finland, the Korouoma Nature Reserve is an impressive area known for its deep gorge, steep rock walls and beautiful waterfalls. The reserve is a popular destination for nature lovers, hikers, climbers and adventurers. One of the most striking features of Korouoma is the 30 kilometer long gorge, which in some places is more than 100 meters deep. This gorge was created by glacial erosion during the last ice age and is surrounded by imposing rock walls of limestone and quartzite. In winter, the waterfalls along the gorge freeze, creating a spectacular ice climbing paradise for experienced climbers. In addition to the breathtaking gorge, the Korouoma Nature Reserve also offers several hiking trails and viewpoints where visitors can enjoy panoramic views of the surrounding wilderness. There are several marked trails that vary in length and difficulty, allowing both novice and experienced hikers to find something to suit their level. The reserve is also home to a rich variety of flora and fauna, including rare plants, birds and mammals. It is an excellent place for bird watchers, with chances to see birds of prey, owls and other bird species. It is a true treasure for nature lovers and a must-visit destination for anyone who wants to experience the breathtaking beauty of the Finnish wilderness.

A hike to Korouoma in the snow is an enchanting experience that takes you deep into the winter wilderness of Lapland. During the winter months, Korouoma transforms into a fairytale landscape covered in a thick layer of snow, making it an idyllic destination for adventurous hikers and nature lovers. One of the highlights of the walk to Korouoma is the Koronjää. A beautiful circular walk of about 12 km along an impressive ice wall that is created by the freezing of water that seeps from the rock walls. This ice wall can reach enormous dimensions and is a spectacular sight, especially in winter. As you walk through the snow-covered paths of Korouoma, you will be surrounded by serene silence and breathtaking views of snow-capped trees, frozen waterfalls and glittering ice formations. One of the five ice formations is the Mammuttiputous - the Mammoth Fall is one of the most popular climbing spots at Korouoma. The wide frozen fall offers several climbing routes of various levels of difficulty. The right side of the icefall is some 50 metres high. The brook that creates the ice originates on the slopes of Yli-Voho Hill. Most of the brook's clear water comes from a spring, which gives the ice sheet its distinct blue colour. This winter, the middle section of the wall turns into an ice cave that lends itself to an adventurous overnight stay. The white splendor of nature creates a magical atmosphere that enchants your senses and lets you experience the beauty of winter in a unique way. It is important to wear warm clothes and suitable footwear as temperatures in Lapland can be very cold during winter. Despite the challenges of winter conditions, a hike to Korouoma in the snow offers an unforgettable experience full of adventure, wonder and the chance to enjoy the untouched beauty of the Finnish wilderness in its most magical season.

Het Korouoma Nature Reserve, gelegen in het noorden van Finland, is een indrukwekkend gebied dat bekend staat om zijn diepe kloof, steile rotswanden en prachtige watervallen. Het reservaat is een populaire bestemming voor natuurliefhebbers, wandelaars, klimmers en avonturiers. Eén van de meest opvallende kenmerken van Korouoma is de 30 kilometer lange kloof, die op sommige plaatsen meer dan 100 meter diep is. Deze kloof is ontstaan door glaciale erosie tijdens de laatste ijstijd en wordt omgeven door imposante rotswanden van kalksteen en kwartsiet. In de winter bevriezen de watervallen langs de kloof, waardoor ze een spectaculair ijsklimmenparadijs vormen voor ervaren klimmers. Naast de adembenemende kloof biedt het Korouoma Nature Reserve ook diverse wandelroutes en uitkijkpunten waar bezoekers kunnen genieten van panoramische uitzichten op de omliggende wildernis. Wij kiezen voor een wandeling naar de Koronjää. Een mooie rondwandeling van zo'n 12 km langs een indrukwekkende ijsmuur die ontstaat door het bevriezen van water dat van de rotswanden sijpelt. Eén van de vijf ijsformaties is de Mammuttiputous de Mammoth ijsval. De brede bevroren val biedt verschillende klimroutes met verschillende moeilijkheidsgraden. De rechterkant van de ijsval is zo'n 50 meter hoog. De beek die het ijs creëert, vindt zijn oorsprong op de hellingen van de Yli-Voho-heuvel. Het meeste heldere water van de beek komt uit een bron, waardoor de ijskap zijn opvallende blauwe kleur krijgt. Terwijl je door de besneeuwde paden van Korouoma loopt, word je omringd door een serene stilte en een adembenemend uitzicht op met sneeuw bedekte bomen, bevroren watervallen en glinsterende ijsformaties. Het reservaat herbergt ook een rijke verscheidenheid aan flora en fauna, waaronder zeldzame planten, vogels en zoogdieren. Het is belangrijk om warme kleding en geschikt schoeisel te dragen, omdat de temperaturen in Lapland tijdens de winter erg koud kunnen zijn. Ondanks de uitdagingen van de winterse omstandigheden, biedt een wandeling naar Korouoma in de sneeuw een onvergetelijke ervaring vol avontuur, verwondering en de kans om te genieten van de ongerepte schoonheid van de Finse wildernis in haar meest magische seizoen.

The difficulty with color is to go beyond the fact that it's color – to have it be not just a colorful picture but really be a picture about something. It's difficult. So often color gets caught up in color, and it becomes merely decorative. Some photographers use [ it ] brilliantly to make visual statements combining color and content; otherwise it is empty.

~ Mary Ellen Mark, Mary Ellen Mark : 25 Years by Marianne Fulton , ISBN: 0821218387 , Page: 5

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P.S.

● Non-HDR-processed / Non-GND-filtered

● Black Card Technique 黑卡作品

I need to add squirrels to the menu for hawk owls, I thought they only went after voles. Today on my walk at Creamer's I came across a hawk owl that had killed a squirrel.

It happened right next to the main walk trail that was very busy on a Sunday afternoon. When a lot of people where near he'd fly away. But patience paid off as he really wanted that squirrel and he'd return when few were around.

He had great difficulty carrying the squirrel, it was obviously the limit of his carrying capacity. But after many tries, he got it off and away he went.

I had difficulty IDing this little bird, so I enlisted the help of fellow Flickreenos, Maureen Sullivan and Don Delaney, who said it was a Willow Flycatcher. I also have an article about birds from Vallecito, where our place is in Anza Borrego Desert, which lists the Willow Flycatcher as one of the migrating birds through the area.

From the USGS site I read that the southwestern Willow Flycather (Empidonax traillii extimus) was placed on the federal Endangered Species list in 1995.

Willow Flycatcher

Empidonax traillii

Member of the Nature’s Spirit

Good Stewards of Nature

Story here.

Strobist: Quadra "A" head in the MaxiLite, camera left and high, f/22. SB-28 lying on the ground to the right, 1/2 power. The ambient is around f/18. Exposure is f/5 using the Singh-Ray Vari ND filter. Triggered by Skyport.

PP in LR4/CS6

Explore #160, November 29, 2012

The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.

Jim Rohn

One of several empty billboards on the drive into Atlantic City

Mountains

Captured high in the mountains in April on our Costa Rica photo tour. This little guy may be molting, as he seems to be missing his tail feathers. He didn't seem to have a lot of difficulty flying though.

Thank you for your visit and any comments you care to make. They are truly appreciated.

© Dennis Zaebst All Rights Reserved

I had difficulties with Nanami for a while. I quess it was just the fact that she's more beautiful than cute.But when I now redressed her with more casual clothes and stopped being afraid to mess her curly long hair, I love her again ^^ Funny how simple the solution can be.

These pics were taken just supaquick because the sun was already going down. That's why her clothes are so wrinkled too :<

To be honest, i had alot of difficulties to sketch. Dezio always has alot of character in his letters. How his stuff combines elements from western and eastern calligraphy with classical graffiti. Playful with lots of life and fun to watch.

This had me choked for a bit. Throwing outlines in the bin and scratching my head. At one point i decided to use watercolours, a medium i've been using alot lately. This opened the gates for me. I like watercolour because of the rich colours. You can put the brush against the paper and just let it flow, no corrections. I decided to sketch this straight to paper with alot of darker colours, with a hint of reds and purples for warmth. The main focus is ofcourse still on the letters and flow.

The chinese coin certainly isn't an element that's new for you, but i felt it would be in place with the rustic coloring.

"Difficulties mastered are opportunities won."

// Winston Churchill

Tifa: And, we're back on Madmen* after some technical difficulties**. Tifa Lockhart here with Madman. Grendel is out on assignment.

Madman: War in the store?? That's right, folks are fighting over those essentials that are hard to get.

Tifa: But first, Paprihaven is not the only community suffering. While we are facing a war, Coopers Town is dealing with a pandemic that has strained their resources. We have with us, live from Coopers Town, Judy Goldfarb with Sky News.*** Judy, thank you for joining us. What is Coopers Town's biggest challenge during this pandemic?

Judy: Thank you Tifa. We have a bit of a store war over here as well. An elderly lady started to beat a fellow shopper with a leek. Apparently had this poor lad stepped too close to her turf and she felt the need to fend him off. So I'd say social distancing has become a real problem.

Madman: Leaks!? Like news leaks? What?

Tifa: Leeks! It's a vegetable. So, Judy-

Madman: How do you beat a person with a leaky vegetable? So, anyway, Judy-

Tifa: -... *sigh*

Madman: - given that you are in Coopers Town which is famous for its equestrian heritage and this segment features a hospital, do you think there's any validity to some people preferring to say "horse spittle" instead of "hospital"?

Tifa: No one says that! Only you!

Madman: I'm people!! Judy, if you wouldn't mind answering my question...

Judy: *strained laughter* … Very amusing I'm sure Mr Madman.

Madman: So, do you?

Judy: Oh, you were serious. Well no. I can't say we do. Unless you're in kindergarten and just learnt how to play with words.

Tifa: Ooohh, BURN! Okay, let's-

Madman: Now, jestaminnit!!! I-

Tifa: My turn, Madman! I think we've exhausted the "horse spittle" angle of this news topic, as compelling as it was. Now, Judy, you mentioned social distancing. Is that a voluntary community effort in Coopers Town or is it mandated? And I'm curious as to what the Coopers Town political structure is. I was looking at photos and see you have a royal palace. Is Coopers Town under a monarchy?

Madman: Cause our leadership is a mess right now!

Judy: There, there Mr Madman. Well Tifa, it's both. Since the Sindys in our town demanded social distancing from the Barbies long before the pandemic broke out, they lived by that rule anyway. While the Barbies needed some involuntary guidance from the government. The royal palace? Oh, the palace yes. It's regally royal alright, but doesn't really rule.

Tifa: It sounds like there may be discriminatory practices against Barbie in Coopers Town. We'd love to dig a bit deeper there but we're up against the break so we'll sadly have to stop.

Madman: Been a hoot, Suite Judy Black Specs, let's do it again! Don't be a stranger though you couldn't be stranger than me! 🎵🎤Strangers in the night exchanging glances, wondering in the night 🎶

Judy (thinking) Gasp!!! What did the young madperson call me?! Quick, I have to come up with a comeback fast so I seem jolly and prepared...

Tifa: Aaaand, that's our cue!

Madman: 🎵🎤What were the chances we'd be sharing love 🎶

Tifa: Thank you all at home for watching Madmen on PRPN and-

Madman: 🎵🎤Before the night was throoooouuuuugh!! 🎶

Tifa: -thank you Judy Goldfarb from Sky News in Coopers Town for joining us. We give you the last word.

Judy: My pleasure dear and Mr Mad-as can-be-Man. It's been most interesting. I'd like to give one last shoutout for PRPN appearing on Sky News next week when we learn more about the war. Don't miss that!

Madman: 🎵🎤Strangers without malice, seeking romances, with Judy in the palace, long slow dances, next weeeeeeeek!! 🎶

*cut to commercial*

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* The Madman editorial news program on Channel 35! Last seen way back in number 1282!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/39095659414/

** There were technical difficulties as Coopers Town is forever 80s...

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/49916862422/

*** See the svelte and sophisticated Judy on Sky News in Coopers Town!

www.flickr.com/photos/135742756@N07/49676797806/

This was a photo collaboration with Sky at CooperSky! Co-scripted and imagined. 😊 😊

Just over 30 minutes into our hike up the trail, as we approached The Old Man, we had a sense of the level of difficulty the climb would present.

I have a liking for brickwork and Manor farm, about a couple of miles from home, is a relatively new farm house, the whole place was very tidy and very impressive. I liked the cable carrying pole, but had difficulty placing it but I felt that it gave an end of the line feel, to the image and isolated the farm.

We have been busy medically for a couple of days and will now try to catch up with comments, end of rant.

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With 910 holding the main, westbound 909 slows to enter the passing siding at Pembine with SD40-2 774 and GP38-2 797 for power. 909 was extremely difficulty to catch in daylight at Pembine as per the timetable he couldn't arrive before 8:30 PM.

3601

REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS

Coucher de soleil, Sainte-Flavie.

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

Photo taken close to REFORD GARDENS. (Sainte-Flavie)

Mrs Elsie Reford loved those beautiful sunsets.

Reference: Elsie's Paradise, The Reford Gardens, Alexander Reford, 2004, ISBN 2-7619-1921-1, That book is a must for Reford Gardens lovers!

''I shall always, all my life, want to come back to those sunsets.'' Elsie Reford, July 20, 1913. (page 25)

" It is just after 8 o'clock and I am sitting in front of my big window with the gorgeous panorama of a glorious afterglow from a perfect sunset. There is every hue of blue on the water of 'the Blue Lagoon' while Pointe-aux-Cenelles is bathed in pink and crimson and the dark hills of the north shore seem no further than two or three miles distant. I don't think in the whole world at this moment there could be anything more beautiful." Elsie Reford, June 2, 1931. (page 81)

Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.

''One thing I can do that no one else can is to pass the love that I feel for this place and this woman'' Alexander Reford

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

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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

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.

Despite all the difficulties of this month, I've managed to make my 3rd and final entry to FebRovery, and I'm very happy to share it with you!

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"Proteus" was designed by military engineers and adopted by research centres on various, far from the Earth, planets to serve as a highly mobile tanker for transporting valuable substances that were found there with the purpose of making breakthroughs in different scientific fields. This type of Planetary Rover is based upon Monster Truck construction, its chassis and grand passability. The vehicle is under the operation of two pilot-spacemen and there are two steering wheels for each of them. The cistern has thick sides and a lot of sensors that transmit the information about the condition of the substance straight to the cockpit, because some of them are extremely reactive...and in order not to shake them up, the elaborate suspension plays right into scientists' hands!

The Difficulties In Providing Veruca Salt With A Glass Elevator - by Northside Jim

TLDR: The risk to an injured Piping Plover stuck north during migration is starvation in the deep winter (food source freeze). Piping Plover can be trapped safely in the nesting season when they are healthy and on a nest. Trapping them in the wild in the winter when they are injured is the opposite and can easily result in worse injury and often death. Piping Plover can sometimes be rehabilitated in the nesting season on their nesting grounds. The opposite is true in the winter as there are no good release options. Releasing them into winter has poor survival rates, holding them in captivity for the winter has poor survival rates, and flying them on a plane to the Bahamas is untested and very risky.

Lots of folks who have visited Holgate this fall have met a very special little lady: Veruca Salt.

Veruca is a banded, breeding, female Piping Plover. She sadly suffered an awful series of of tragedies this summer when she attempted to nest at Island Beach State Park, just barely seeing her chicks through to fledge, and then losing the last one right before the official fledge date. She had a rough go of it in the 2018 season.

But come late summer, she appeared ready to head off to the Bahamas to rest for the winter and hopefully to return next spring to give it another go.

Unfortunately, it’s now December and she’s still in New Jersey: specifically, hobbling around Holgate on Long Beach Island with both an injured foot and an injured leg.

She looks fat and strong, and she forages and flies just fine. But for whatever reasons, most likely related to the injury, she is choosing to stay put. And while it stinks to see any animal hobbling around on one leg, that is actually not the thing that is most worrisome and problematic about her situation.

What is most worrisome is that her foraging will likely freeze up later this winter and she’ll starve. While it’s still not too late, she needs to head south. Sooner rather than later. Injured legs heal but starvation is irreversible.

There is a good chance she will get a move on if the weather gives her the right incentives. She is being monitored closely, both formally and informally, but day after day, she seems perfectly content to stay at Holgate. I certainly understand. But it would seem she needs to go. Yet still… she is choosing this place to stay.

So the big question: “Is there anything that can be done for her?”

Of course. There are many things that can be done; some smart, some not so smart, some too risky, and some unnecessary. Some which might help, and some which are an almost guaranteed death sentence for her. All of the right people have all of the options and are watching her closely as her life unfolds, watching the clock, and weighing the risks.

But because she is a critically endangered species of the utmost importance on the state and federal levels, whatever is done for her must have the absolute best chance of her long term survival. No unnecessary risks can be taken because the consequences are too great. She could die very, very easily through hasty action. Veruca Salt belongs to a protected, endangered species, and the people who have spent their lives learning how to help them know all too well the risks of hasty intervention.

Many of those risks are not obvious to the rest of us. Nor is the (current) lack of urgency and the wisdom of patience and thoughtful, experienced caring in this situation.

Lucky for Veruca she is in a very rare, Federal Wilderness area, managed by an extremely experienced Refuge staff, in a State with extreme dedication to and experience with Piping Plovers, and where we have some of the greatest minds in plover handling & science working today. And because of the difficulties and complexities in making the right decision for how best to help her, all sorts of others have been drawn into the conversation for consultation. Veruca Salt is probably the most considered, discussed, and loved Piping Plover on the planet right now.

Her plight is difficult to watch for anyone; certainly most difficult of all for those few people with the knowledge, experience, ability, responsibility, and authority to actually do the things that will have the best chance of resulting in her long term survival.

I’ve recently had several conversations with people on the beach who are quick to ask what seems like the obvious question: “why don’t the feds just grab her and fix her leg?” The simple answer is that it is not that simple. Fortunately, the people monitoring her understand from experience all the reasons why it’s not as simple as it appears on the surface, and have ideas and strategies to mitigate some of the risks.

The first problem is the trapping: trapping a healthy, flighted bird with an injury like Veruca Salt’s in the wild has an extremely high probability of making the injury much worse, or even adding another injury to her predicament. Or, equally bad, terrorizing her to the point where she dies of heart failure or aborts the migration she needs, and perhaps is just about, to make. That’s not theoretical, but statistical. At best, it could easily spook her off the habitat she has chosen for her recovery where she is making decent progress to some place less ideal and far more dangerous for her.

We’re lucky to have Michelle Stantial in New Jersey as she is an incredibly skilled and experienced trapper. Yet she knows first hand the world of difference between trapping healthy birds on the nest in summer (which is how PIPL are studied) and trapping injured birds in the wild in the winter. They are not same thing at all. They are opposites in terms of potential risks and rewards.

The second, really, really important, problem is what to do with her if she is actually trapped. She is not necessarily treatable. A big strike against her is that she is injured, but not injured enough.

She has a flag band on her injured leg and there is no doubt that removing the flag would increase the chance of, and probably speed of, any recovery. But the actual injury above the knee, and the extent of the foot injury, is unknown. They could be two separate injuries, as in a Ghost Crab attack where small beach nesting birds get both legs damaged at the same time. It is unknown what the injuries are, if they are treatable, or even if they require treatment. Again, luckily, we have the expertise of Dr. Erica Miller in New Jersey who is actually a master of tiny-splints in the event they do go ahead with trapping.

But the most difficult aspect is that the timing is off. Just as it is very safe to trap a nesting Piping Plover in summer, but very difficult and dangerous to trap one in winter, it is also much easier to rehabilitate one successfully in the summer and very difficult to do the same thing in the winter.

The trouble is migration. If she were to go to rehab now, there are really only two options: a.) let her go in the middle of winter which has an extremely high and well understood probability of being a death sentence, or attempting to hold her until spring which also has an extremely high and well understood probability of being a death sentence. Both are generally considered high risk, if not outright unwise. (Note the same is true with our other summer nesting species like Osprey. Fledgling Osprey who get found injured in the fall, and go to rehab, getting released late in the migration season, have extremely poor survival rates.)

Put another way, the extreme risks of attempting a winter rehab/release are well known to have a low probability of success. Her ability/desire to get herself south is totally unknown and could very well be her best option. Some would make the case it would be a fool’s gamble for that reason alone.

There actually is a third, crazy, option, which our very own Christina Davis is advocating for in the event a trapping is attempted: rehab her and then fly her to the Bahamas on a plane (or even drive her to the Carolinas) and release her there. This is probably the best theoretical option, but mostly because it is so unheard of. The truth is (forgetting the unbelievable expense) is that the whole experience might be too disorienting; and what we know about how poorly they do in captivity suggests she might not even survive the flight.

It is super sad to watch her, as it is watching any animal with an injury. I was motivated to write by a friend who saw her a few times and assumed because she was still there that no one cared. The exact opposite is true. The monitoring and plan for getting Veruca Salt back to Island Beach State Park next summer is probably the biggest thing happening in New Jersey wildlife right now.

The character Veruca Salt once famously said (Tim Burton version): “Make time go faster, Daddy!” It is tough to watch her predicament drag on.

But she still has some time. For me (and I’m no authority), my favorite option is that she moves south soon, weakens slightly, and becomes a significantly better candidate for trapping, rehabilitating, and releasing successfully.

It is difficult to watch her out there in this highly unusual situation. But I know firsthand how many smart people are working on this, and am comforted by their deep experience, their proven skill, and their wisdom. All of the risk here is in acting too soon and too hastily; not in acting too late and too thoughtfully.

These 1,500 words are meant to set out some basic and very specific facts for those interested in Veruca Salt’s situation and her future; as this is a very easy and totally-understandable situation to see backwards from the reality: to see a lack of action as a lack of caring, a lack of progress as a lack of effort, silence as a lack of vigorous discussion.

I’m super sorry for you Veruca, super sorry for everyone who sees this bird and feels sad, super sorry for everyone who feels angry because they don’t know how many people are working on helping this one, very special, animal, or don’t understand just how tough a real solution is, and super sorry for whoever has to make the final, tough calls on this as winter approaches.

RFTNS is cheering you all on.

I’ll close by noting that it’s curious that her namesake, Veruca Salt, is synonymous with the perils of a lack of patience. Godspeed, Veruca Salt!

exit63.wordpress.com/2018/12/03/the-difficulties-in-provi...

My wife planted lavender some years ago and now the plant is thriving and huge. It smells really good and bees love it. All day long, there is activity on the lavender, which makes it a good place to practice insect macros. But it ain't easy. Bees do not remain on one flower for very long, so there is a certain amount of luck involved in achieving focus and clicking off a shot before the busy yellow and black critter flies off to the next flower. Of roughly 500 shots, this was the only one that I felt was sharp enough to keep. And even then, it's not a good shot in terms of its composition. I just have to keep at it, I guess.

Of all difficulties which impede the progress of thought, and the formation of well-grounded opinions on life and social arrangements, the greatest is now the unspeakable ignorance and inattention of mankind - in respect to the influences which form human character.

Whatever any portion of the human species now are, or seem to be, such, it is supposed, they have a natural tendency to be: when the most elementary knowledge of the circumstances in which they have been placed, clearly points out the causes that made them what they are.

- John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women ( 1869 )

Caswell Bay. Gower Peninsula. Wales. August 2020.

This was the first time I saw the relatively new 'Surfability' people in action. They provide inclusive surfing lessons and experiences. This includes people who otherwise might not be able to enjoy this activity, such as some people with disabilities and learning difficulties. They have some specialist equipment, that can be seen here, such as beach access wheelchairs and tandem surfboards.

kid's do not try this at home....

One of the primary difficulties faced in the USSR's espionage efforts was the issue of extraction. Realistically, covert operations consisted far less of silent executions and far more about successfully retrieving and extracting valuable information. Losing covert agents to capture slowed these efforts, and ensuring a compromised agent was still able to extract with their information was deemed important to Soviet research.

R&D in this area ranged from new techniques in dead-drops and disguises, advanced insertion and extraction strategies, and new covert tactics, as well as a veritable gambit of gadgets and weapons. In the weapon field, particular effort was put into concealable, compact weaponry to aid in agent survival. These weapons were not designed as much to be covert in usage, as to be covert in storage until such a time as they were needed. One of these, the Chertenok project, sought to provide a PDW weapon which could meet the minimum combat needs of an agent on the run, yet could be broken into smaller parts and stored. It could be broken down into the stock, the receiver, and the barrel. The magazine served as the majority of the grip, and the use of an optic was optional, allowing the break down PDW to be easily stored. The Chertenok was also designed with the latest in Soviet recoil mitigation technologies to provide a solid combat platform, while being chambered in reverse engineered 5.7 armor piercing round. The project did not reach fruition until 1990, one year before the Union's collapse, and ultimately was never put into use, as far as any official records show.

A shot from the erupting volcano in Eyjafjallajökull on 17.04.2010. Ligtnings striking the ash plume over the crater.

The volcano story of Iceland 2010 has not been written YET. Beginning with the friendly tourist volcano in Fimmvörðuháls on 21 March and spewing it's lava until 13. April,

www.flickr.com/photos/skarpi/4524700066/in/set-7215762371...

The day after Eyjafjallajökull blasted it's cap and lasted to 23. May with the evil ash cloud shutting down flight in Europe, and causing difficulties for farmers on the south coast of Iceland.

Now, a new volcano is about to blast in Grímsvötn/Gjálp, meltint glacier flod is rising in Gígjakvísl. Grímsvötn erupted in 1996 causing a flod to sweep the highway and bridges away. In 2004 it erupted again, but not with any mass destruction. It will be interesting to follow this one.

Contact me at: skarphedinn.thrainsson@gmail.com regarding publication requests.

All rights reserved - Copyright © Skarphéðinn Þráinsson

"The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path."

Jim Rohn

View On Black

Have a great day!

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Last Saturday Metroline Ashton depot had again got themselves in some difficulty with many cancelled, or as TFGM put it suspended, journeys. 16 late afternoon and evening journeys on the 216 alone were cancelled along with the last hourly 230 through Littlemoss, wasn’t the golden rule, always run the last bus if nothing else. I really find it difficult to believe that after almost a month under TFGM control an operator can simply cancel journeys at will for two Saturdays in a row and TFGM ignore it as teething troubles, no contingency planning and bad management springs to mind.

Anyway, that aside for the second week running just four, First bus E400’s, I think with First drivers were drafted in and helped on the 216 from Picadilly to Ashton, obviously 4 were nowhere near enough looking at the number of lost journeys.

Proving someone had their eye on the ball this week, quite full First bus 33854 Ashton bound on a 216 runs in tandem with quite empty Metroline, but former Stagecoach Enviro 400, TEH134, MX62GNP also on a 216 to Ashton, the third is Ashton bound SA15VML another former Stagecoach vehicle but admittedly the 231 runs through Droylsden Littlemoss before it will reach Ashton bus station sometime after the 216.

“The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.” ~ John Rohn

Kind of fun to take the "road less traveled" from time to time and go to a place that provides at least a temporary escape from the hustle & bustle of daily life....nourish the soul; it's good for you & everyone else you come into contact with :-)

Hope everyone has a wonderful, safe, & enjoyable weekend...many thanks for all your visits & kind words!!!!!

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Worldwide, 55 million people are living with Alzheimer's and other dementias.

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disease and the most common form of dementia. Dementia is not a specific disease. It's an overall term that describes a group of symptoms.

In the later stages of the disease, a person with Alzheimer's may not remember familiar people, places or things. Situations involving memory loss and confusion are extremely difficult for caregivers and families, and require much patience and understanding.

What are the signs of age-related dementia?

Memory loss, which is usually noticed by someone else.

Difficulty communicating or finding words.

Difficulty with visual and spatial abilities, such as getting lost while driving.

Difficulty reasoning or problem-solving.

Difficulty handling complex tasks.

Difficulty with planning and organising.

Looking for information or advice about dementia or Alzheimer's? Call the Dementia Helpline free on 0800 888 6678 for support from our dementia specialist Admiral Nurses. The Helpline is open from 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Got back from my trip this afternoon.

I signed up for Push round 10 before I left, but wasn't able to upload my shot while I was away, and of course, I've left my card reader behind, and the cord to connect my camera to my computer is broken (which is why I bought the card reader in the first place) so long story short, I can't upload my photos. Womp womp. So here's an old self portrait to tide me over until I can make it out to B&H.

Hoping to catch up on your streams this week!

Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century, the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as military barracks with a large garrison. Its importance as a part of Scotland's national heritage was recognised increasingly from the early 19th century onwards, and various restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half.

As one of the most important strongholds in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle was involved in many historical conflicts from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century to the Jacobite rising of 1745. Research undertaken in 2014 identified 26 sieges in its 1,100-year history, giving it a claim to having been "the most besieged place in Great Britain and one of the most attacked in the world". Few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century when the medieval defences were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The most notable exceptions are St Margaret's Chapel from the early 12th century, which is regarded as the oldest building in Edinburgh, the Royal Palace, and the early 16th-century Great Hall, although the interiors have been much altered from the mid-Victorian period onwards. The castle also houses the Scottish regalia, known as the Honours of Scotland, and is the site of the Scottish National War Memorial and the National War Museum of Scotland. The British Army is still responsible for some parts of the castle, although its presence is now largely ceremonial and administrative. Some of the castle buildings house regimental museums which contribute to its presentation as a tourist attraction.

The castle, in the care of Historic Environment Scotland, is Scotland's most and the United Kingdom's second most-visited paid tourist attraction, with over 2.2 million visitors in 2019 and over 70 percent of leisure visitors to Edinburgh visiting the castle. As the backdrop to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo during the annual Edinburgh Festival, the castle has become a recognisable symbol of Edinburgh in particular and of Scotland as a whole.

The castle stands upon the plug of an extinct volcano, which is estimated to have risen about 350 million years ago during the lower Carboniferous period. The Castle Rock is the remains of a volcanic pipe, which cut through the surrounding sedimentary rock before cooling to form very hard dolerite, a type of basalt. Subsequent glacial erosion was resisted by the dolerite, which protected the softer rock to the east, leaving a crag and tail formation.

The summit of the Castle Rock is 130 metres above sea level, with rocky cliffs to the south, west, and north, rising to a height of 80 metres above the surrounding landscape. This means that the only readily accessible route to the castle lies to the east, where the ridge slopes more gently. The defensive advantage of such a site is self-evident, but the geology of the rock also presents difficulties, since basalt is extremely impermeable. Providing water to the Upper Ward of the castle was problematic, and despite the sinking of a 28-metre deep well, the water supply often ran out during drought or siege, including during the Lang Siege in 1573.

Archaeological investigation has yet to establish when the Castle Rock was first used as a place of human habitation. There is no record of any Roman interest in the location during General Agricola's invasion of northern Britain near the end of the 1st century AD. Ptolemy's map of the 2nd century AD shows a settlement in the territory of the Votadini named "Alauna", meaning "rock place", making this possibly the earliest known name for the Castle Rock. This could, however, refer to another of the tribe's hill forts in the area. The Orygynale Cronykil of Andrew of Wyntoun (c. 1350 – c. 1423), an early source for Scottish history, names "Ebrawce" (Ebraucus), a legendary King of the Britons, as having "byggyd [built] Edynburgh". According to the earlier chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 – c. 1155), Ebraucus had fifty children by his twenty wives, and was the founder of "Kaerebrauc" (York), "Alclud" (Dumbarton) and the "Maidens' Castle". The 16th-century English writer John Stow (c. 1525 – 1605), credited Ebraucus with building "the Castell of Maidens called Edenbrough" in 989 BC. The name "Maidens' Castle" (Latin: Castra or Castellum Puellarum) occurs frequently up until the 16th century.[16] It appears in charters of David I (r. 1124–1153) and his successors, although the reason for it is not known. William Camden's survey of Britain, Britannia (1607), records that "the Britans called [it] Castle Myned Agned [winged rock], the Scots, the Maidens Castle and the Virgins Castle, of certaine young maidens of the Picts roiall bloud who were kept there in old time". According to the 17th-century antiquarian Father Richard Hay, the "maidens" were a group of nuns, who were ejected from the castle and replaced by canons, considered "fitter to live among soldiers". However, this story was considered "apocryphal" by the 19th-century antiquarian Daniel Wilson and has been ignored by historians since. The name may have been derived from a "Cult of the Nine Maidens" type of legend. Arthurian legends suggest that the site once held a shrine to Morgain la Fee, one of nine sisters. Later, St Monenna, said to be one of nine companions, reputedly invested a church at Edinburgh, as well as at Dumbarton and other places. Similar names are shared by many other Iron Age hillforts and may have simply described a castle that had never been taken by force or derived from an earlier Brittonic name like mag dun.

An archaeological excavation in the early 1990s uncovered evidence of the site having been settled during the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age, potentially making the Castle Rock the longest continuously occupied site in Scotland. However, the extent of the finds was not particularly significant and was insufficient to draw any certain conclusions about the precise nature or scale of this earliest known phase of occupation.

The archaeological evidence is more reliable in respect of the Iron Age. Traditionally, it had been supposed that the tribes of central Scotland had made little or no use of the Castle Rock. Excavations at nearby Dunsapie Hill, Duddingston, Inveresk and Traprain Law had revealed relatively large settlements and it was supposed that these sites had been chosen in preference to the Castle Rock. However, the excavation in the 1990s pointed to the probable existence of an enclosed hill fort on the rock, although only the fringes of the site were excavated. House fragments revealed were similar to Iron Age dwellings previously found in Northumbria.

The 1990s dig revealed clear signs of habitation from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, consistent with Ptolemy's reference to "Alauna". Signs of occupation included some Roman material, including pottery, bronzes and brooches, implying a possible trading relationship between the Votadini and the Romans beginning with Agricola's northern campaign in AD 82, and continuing through to the establishment of the Antonine Wall around AD 140. The nature of the settlement in this period is inconclusive, but Driscoll and Yeoman suggest it may have been a broch, similar to the one at Edin's Hall near Duns, Scottish Borders in the Scottish Borders.

The castle does not re-appear in contemporary historical records from the time of Ptolemy until around AD 600. Then, in the epic Welsh poem Y Gododdin there is a reference to Din Eidyn, "the stronghold of Eidyn". This has been generally assumed to refer to the Castle Rock. The poem tells of the Gododdin King Mynyddog Mwynfawr, and his band of warriors, who, after a year of feasting in their fortress, set out to do battle with the Angles at "Catreath" (possibly Catterick) in Yorkshire. Despite performing glorious deeds of valour and bravery, the poem relates that the Gododdin were massacred.

The Irish annals record that in 638, after the events related in Y Gododdin, "Etin" was besieged by the Angles under Oswald of Northumbria, and the Gododdin were defeated. The territory around Edinburgh then became part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, which was itself absorbed by England in the 10th century. Lothian became part of Scotland, during the reign of Indulf (r.954–962).

The archaeological evidence for the period in question is based entirely on the analysis of middens (domestic refuse heaps), with no evidence of structures. Few conclusions can therefore be derived about the status of the settlement during this period, although the midden deposits show no clear break since Roman times.

The first documentary reference to a castle at Edinburgh is John of Fordun's account of the death of King Malcolm III (1031–1093). Fordun describes his widow, the future Saint Margaret, as residing at the "Castle of Maidens" when she is brought news of his death in November 1093. Fordun's account goes on to relate how Margaret died of grief within days, and how Malcolm's brother Donald Bane laid siege to the castle. However, Fordun's chronicle was not written until the later 14th century, and the near-contemporary account of the life of St Margaret by Bishop Turgot makes no mention of a castle. During the reigns of Malcolm III and his sons, Edinburgh Castle became one of the most significant royal centres in Scotland. Malcolm's son King Edgar died here in 1107.

Malcolm's youngest son, King David I (r.1124–1153), developed Edinburgh as a seat of royal power principally through his administrative reforms (termed by some modern scholars the Davidian Revolution). Between 1139 and 1150, David held an assembly of nobles and churchmen, a precursor to the parliament of Scotland, at the castle. Any buildings or defences would probably have been of timber, although two stone buildings are documented as having existed in the 12th century. Of these, St. Margaret's Chapel remains at the summit of the rock. The second was a church, dedicated to St. Mary, which stood on the site of the Scottish National War Memorial. Given that the southern part of the Upper Ward (where Crown Square is now sited) was not suited to be built upon until the construction of the vaults in the 15th century, it seems probable that any earlier buildings would have been located towards the northern part of the rock; that is around the area where St. Margaret's Chapel stands. This has led to a suggestion that the chapel is the last remnant of a square, stone keep, which would have formed the bulk of the 12th-century fortification. The structure may have been similar to the keep of Carlisle Castle, which David I began after 1135.

David's successor King Malcolm IV (r.1153–1165) reportedly stayed at Edinburgh more than at any other location. But in 1174, King William "the Lion" (r.1165–1214) was captured by the English at the Battle of Alnwick. He was forced to sign the Treaty of Falaise to secure his release, in return for surrendering Edinburgh Castle, along with the castles of Berwick, Roxburgh and Stirling, to the English King, Henry II. The castle was occupied by the English for twelve years, until 1186, when it was returned to William as the dowry of his English bride, Ermengarde de Beaumont, who had been chosen for him by King Henry. By the end of the 12th century, Edinburgh Castle was established as the main repository of Scotland's official state papers.

A century later, in 1286, on the death of King Alexander III, the throne of Scotland became vacant. Edward I of England was appointed to adjudicate the competing claims for the Scottish crown, but used the opportunity to attempt to establish himself as the feudal overlord of Scotland. During the negotiations, Edward stayed briefly at Edinburgh Castle and may have received homage there from the Scottish nobles.

In March 1296, Edward I launched an invasion of Scotland, unleashing the First War of Scottish Independence. Edinburgh Castle soon came under English control, surrendering after a three days long bombardment. Following the siege, Edward had many of the Scottish legal records and royal treasures moved from the castle to England. A large garrison numbering 325 men was installed in 1300. Edward also brought to Scotland his master builders of the Welsh castles, including Thomas de Houghton and Master Walter of Hereford, both of whom travelled from Wales to Edinburgh. After the death of Edward I in 1307, however, England's control over Scotland weakened. On 14 March 1314, a surprise night attack by Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray recaptured the castle. John Barbour's narrative poem The Brus relates how a party of thirty hand-picked men was guided by one William Francis, a member of the garrison who knew of a route along the north face of the Castle Rock and a place where the wall might be scaled. Making the difficult ascent, Randolph's men scaled the wall, surprised the garrison and took control. Robert the Bruce immediately ordered the slighting of the castle to prevent its re-occupation by the English. Four months later, his army secured victory at the Battle of Bannockburn.

After Bruce's death in 1329, Edward III of England determined to renew the attempted subjugation of Scotland and supported the claim of Edward Balliol, son of the former King John Balliol, over that of Bruce's young son David II. Edward invaded in 1333, marking the start of the Second War of Scottish Independence, and the English forces reoccupied and refortified Edinburgh Castle in 1335, holding it until 1341. This time, the Scottish assault was led by William Douglas, Lord of Liddesdale. Douglas's party disguised themselves as merchants from Leith bringing supplies to the garrison. Driving a cart into the entrance, they halted it there to prevent the gates closing. A larger force hidden nearby rushed to join them and the castle was retaken. The 100 English men of the garrison were all killed.

The 1357 Treaty of Berwick brought the Wars of Independence to a close. David II resumed his rule and set about rebuilding Edinburgh Castle which became his principal seat of government. David's Tower was begun around 1367, and was incomplete when David died at the castle in 1371. It was completed by his successor, Robert II, in the 1370s. The tower stood on the site of the present Half Moon Battery and was connected by a section of curtain wall to the smaller Constable's Tower, a round tower built between 1375 and 1379 where the Portcullis Gate now stands.

In the early 15th century, another English invasion, this time under Henry IV, reached Edinburgh Castle and began a siege, but eventually withdrew due to lack of supplies. From 1437, Sir William Crichton was Keeper of Edinburgh Castle, and soon after became Chancellor of Scotland. In an attempt to gain the regency of Scotland, Crichton sought to break the power of the Douglases, the principal noble family in the kingdom. The sixteen-year-old William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas, and his younger brother David were summoned to Edinburgh Castle in November 1440. After the so-called "Black Dinner" had taken place in David's Tower, both boys were summarily executed on trumped-up charges in the presence of the ten-year-old King James II (r.1437–1460). Douglas' supporters subsequently besieged the castle, inflicting damage. Construction continued throughout this period, with the area now known as Crown Square being laid out over vaults in the 1430s. Royal apartments were built, forming the nucleus of the later palace block, and a Great Hall was in existence by 1458. In 1464, access to the castle was improved when the current approach road up the north-east side of the rock was created to allow easier movement of the royal artillery train in and out of the area now known as the Upper Ward.

In 1479, Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, was imprisoned in David's Tower for plotting against his brother, King James III (r.1460–1488). He escaped by getting his guards drunk, then lowering himself from a window on a rope. The duke fled to France, then England, where he allied himself with King Edward IV. In 1482, Albany marched into Scotland with Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III), and an English army. James III was trapped in the castle from 22 July to 29 September 1482 until he successfully negotiated a settlement.

During the 15th century the castle was increasingly used as an arsenal and armaments factory. The first known purchase of a gun was in 1384, and the "great bombard" Mons Meg was delivered to Edinburgh in 1457. The first recorded mention of an armoury for the manufacture of guns occurs in 1474, and by 1498 the master gunner Robert Borthwick was casting bronze guns at Edinburgh. By 1511 Edinburgh was the principal foundry in Scotland, supplanting Stirling Castle, with Scottish and European smiths working under Borthwick, who by 1512 was appointed "master melter of the king's guns". Their output included guns for the Scottish flagship, the "Great Michael", and the "Seven Sisters", a set of cannons captured by the English at Flodden in 1513. Sir Thomas Howard, England's Lord Admiral, admired their graceful shape and brilliant finish, declaring them the most beautiful [cannon] for their size and length that he had ever seen. From 1510 Dutch craftsmen were also producing hand culverins, an early firearm. After Flodden, Borthwick continued his work, producing an unknown number of guns, of which none survive. He was succeeded by French smiths, who began manufacturing hagbuts (another type of firearm) in the 1550s, and by 1541 the castle had a stock of 413.

Meanwhile, the royal family began to stay more frequently at the Abbey of Holyrood, about 1 mile from the castle. Around the end of the fifteenth century, King James IV (r.1488–1513) built Holyroodhouse, by the abbey, as his principal Edinburgh residence, and the castle's role as a royal home subsequently declined. James IV did, however, construct the Great Hall, which was completed in the early 16th century. His daughter Margaret Stewart was lodged in the castle with her servant Ellen More.

James IV was killed in battle at Flodden Field, on 9 September 1513. Expecting the English to press their advantage, the Scots hastily constructed a town wall around Edinburgh and augmented the castle's defences. Robert Borthwick and a Frenchman, Antoine d'Arces, were involved in designing new artillery defences and fortifications in 1514, though it appears from lack of evidence that little of the planned work was carried out. Three years later, King James V (r.1513–1542), still only five years old, was brought to the castle for safety. Upon his death 25 years later, the crown passed to his week-old daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots. English invasions followed, as King Henry VIII attempted to force a dynastic marriage on Scotland. When the English burnt Edinburgh in May 1544 the gunner Andrew Mansioun firing from the castle destroyed an English cannon placed to bombard the forework. In 1547 disaffected members of the garrison who resented Regent Arran came to Norham Castle and offered to let the English in.

Refortification in 1548 included an earthen angle-bastion, known as the Spur, of the type known as trace italienne, one of the earliest examples in Britain. Brunstane Castle the home of the traitor Alexander Crichton was demolished to provide building materials. The Spur may have been designed by Migliorino Ubaldini, an Italian engineer from the court of Henry II of France, and was said to have the arms of France carved on it. James V's widow, Mary of Guise, acted as regent from 1554 until her death at the castle in 1560.

The following year, the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, returned from France to begin her reign, which was marred by crises and quarrels amongst the powerful Protestant Scottish nobility. In 1565, the Queen made an unpopular marriage with Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, and the following year, in a small room of the Palace at Edinburgh Castle, she gave birth to their son James, who would later be King of both Scotland and England. Mary's reign was, however, brought to an abrupt end. Three months after the murder of Darnley at Kirk o' Field in 1567, she married James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, one of the chief murder suspects. A large proportion of the nobility rebelled, resulting ultimately in the imprisonment and forced abdication of Mary at Loch Leven Castle. She escaped and fled to England, but some of the nobility remained faithful to her cause. Edinburgh Castle was initially handed by its Captain, James Balfour, to the Regent Moray, who had forced Mary's abdication and now held power in the name of the infant King James VI. Shortly after the Battle of Langside, in May 1568, Moray appointed Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange Keeper of the Castle.

Grange was a trusted lieutenant of the Regent, but after Moray's murder in January 1570 his allegiance to the King's cause began to waver. Intermittent civil war continued between the supporters of the two monarchs, and in April 1571 Dumbarton Castle fell to "the King's men". Under the influence of William Maitland of Lethington, Mary's secretary, Grange changed sides, occupying the town and castle of Edinburgh for Queen Mary, and against the new regent, the Earl of Lennox. The stand-off which followed was not resolved until two years later, and became known as the "Lang Siege", from the Scots word for "long". Hostilities began in May, with a month-long siege of the town, and a second short siege in October. Blockades and skirmishing continued meanwhile, and Grange continued to refortify the castle. The King's party appealed to Elizabeth I of England for assistance, as they lacked the artillery and money required to reduce the castle, and feared that Grange would receive aid from France and the Duke of Alba in the Spanish Netherlands. Elizabeth sent ambassadors to negotiate, and in July 1572 a truce was agreed and the blockade lifted. The town was effectively surrendered to the King's party, with Grange confined to the castle.

The truce expired on 1 January 1573, and Grange began bombarding the town. His supplies of powder and shot, however, were running low, and despite having 40 cannon available, there were only seven gunners in the garrison. The King's forces, now with the Earl of Morton in charge as regent, were making headway with plans for a siege. Trenches were dug to surround the castle, and St Margaret's Well was poisoned. By February, all Queen Mary's other supporters had surrendered to the Regent, but Grange resolved to resist despite water shortages within the castle. The garrison continued to bombard the town, killing a number of citizens. They also made sorties to set fires, burning 100 houses in the town and then firing on anyone attempting to put out the flames.

In April, a force of around 1,000 English troops, led by Sir William Drury, arrived in Edinburgh. They were followed by 27 cannon from Berwick-upon-Tweed, including one that had been cast within Edinburgh Castle and captured by the English at Flodden. The English troops built an artillery emplacement on Castle Hill, immediately facing the east walls of the castle, and five others to the north, west and south. By 17 May these batteries were ready, and the bombardment began. Over the next 12 days, the gunners dispatched around 3,000 shots at the castle. On 22 May, the south wall of David's Tower collapsed, and the next day the Constable's Tower also fell. The debris blocked the castle entrance, as well as the Fore Well, although this had already run dry. On 26 May, the English attacked and captured the Spur, the outer fortification of the castle, which had been isolated by the collapse. The following day Grange emerged from the castle by a ladder after calling for a ceasefire to allow negotiations for a surrender to take place. When it was made clear that he would not be allowed to go free even if he ended the siege, Grange resolved to continue the resistance, but the garrison threatened to mutiny. He therefore arranged for Drury and his men to enter the castle on 28 May, preferring to surrender to the English rather than the Regent Morton. Edinburgh Castle was handed over to George Douglas of Parkhead, the Regent's brother, and the garrison were allowed to go free. In contrast, Kirkcaldy of Grange, his brother James and two jewellers, James Mossman and James Cokke, who had been minting coins in Mary's name inside the castle, were hanged at the Cross in Edinburgh on 3 August.

Nova Scotia and Civil War

Much of the castle was subsequently rebuilt by Regent Morton, including the Spur, the new Half Moon Battery and the Portcullis Gate. Some of these works were supervised by William MacDowall, the master of work who fifteen years earlier had repaired David's Tower. The Half Moon Battery, while impressive in size, is considered by historians to have been an ineffective and outdated artillery fortification. This may have been due to a shortage of resources, although the battery's position obscuring the ancient David's Tower and enhancing the prominence of the palace block, has been seen as a significant decision.

The battered palace block remained unused, particularly after James VI departed to become King of England in 1603. James had repairs carried out in 1584, and in 1615–1616 more extensive repairs were carried out in preparation for his return visit to Scotland. The mason William Wallace and master of works James Murray introduced an early Scottish example of the double-pile block. The principal external features were the three, three-storey oriel windows on the east façade, facing the town and emphasising that this was a palace rather than just a place of defence. During his visit in 1617, James held court in the refurbished palace block, but still preferred to sleep at Holyrood.

In 1621, King James granted Sir William Alexander the land in North America between New England and Newfoundland, as Nova Scotia ("New Scotland"). To promote the settlement and plantation of the new territory, the Baronetage of Nova Scotia was created in 1624. Under Scots Law, baronets had to "take sasine" by symbolically receiving the earth and stone of the land of which they were baronet. To make this possible, since Nova Scotia was so distant, the King declared that sasine could be taken either in the new province or alternatively "at the castle of Edinburgh as the most eminent and principal place of Scotland."

James' successor, King Charles I, visited Edinburgh Castle only once, hosting a feast in the Great Hall and staying the night before his Scottish coronation in 1633. This was the last occasion that a reigning monarch resided in the castle. In 1639, in response to Charles' attempts to impose Episcopacy on the Scottish Church, civil war broke out between the King's forces and the Presbyterian Covenanters. The Covenanters, led by Alexander Leslie, captured Edinburgh Castle after a short siege, although it was restored to Charles after the Peace of Berwick in June the same year. The peace was short-lived, however, and the following year the Covenanters took the castle again, this time after a three-month siege, during which the garrison ran out of supplies. The Spur was badly damaged and was demolished in the 1640s. The Royalist commander James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose, was imprisoned here after his capture in 1650.

In May 1650, the Covenanters signed the Treaty of Breda, allying themselves with the exiled Charles II against the English Parliamentarians, who had executed his father the previous year. In response to the Scots proclaiming Charles King, Oliver Cromwell launched an invasion of Scotland, defeating the Covenanter army at Dunbar in September. Edinburgh Castle was taken after a three-month siege, which caused further damage. The Governor of the Castle, Colonel Walter Dundas, surrendered to Cromwell despite having enough supplies to hold out, allegedly from a desire to change sides.

After his Restoration in 1660, Charles II opted to maintain a full-time standing army based on Cromwell's New Model Army. From this time until 1923, a garrison was continuously maintained at the castle. The medieval royal castle was transformed into a garrison fortress, but continued to see military and political action. The Marquis of Argyll was imprisoned here in 1661, when King Charles II settled old scores with his enemies following his return to the throne. Twenty years later, Argyll's son, the 9th Earl of Argyll, was also imprisoned in the castle for religious Nonconformism in the reign of King James VII. He escaped by disguising himself as his sister's footman, but was recaptured and returned to the castle after his failed rebellion to oust James from the throne in 1685.

James VII was deposed and exiled by the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which installed William of Orange as King of England. Not long after, in early 1689, the Estates of Scotland, after convening to accept William formally as their new king, demanded that Duke of Gordon, Governor of the Castle, surrender the fortress. Gordon, who had been appointed by James VII as a fellow Catholic, refused. In March 1689, the castle was blockaded by 7,000 troops against a garrison of 160 men, further weakened by religious disputes. On 18 March, Viscount Dundee, intent on raising a rebellion in the Highlands, climbed up the western side of the Castle Rock to urge Gordon to hold the castle against the new King. Gordon agreed, but during the ensuing siege he refused to fire upon the town, while the besiegers inflicted little damage on the castle. Despite Dundee's initial successes in the north, Gordon eventually surrendered on 14 June, due to dwindling supplies and having lost 70 men during the three-month siege.

The castle was almost taken in the first Jacobite rising in support of James Stuart, the "Old Pretender", in 1715. On 8 September, just two days after the rising began, a party of around 100 Jacobite Highlanders, led by Lord Drummond, attempted to scale the walls with the assistance of members of the garrison. However, the rope ladder lowered by the castle sentries was too short, and the alarm was raised after a change of the watch. The Jacobites fled, while the deserters within the castle were hanged or flogged. In 1728, General Wade reported that the castle's defences were decayed and inadequate, and a major strengthening of the fortifications was carried out throughout the 1720s and 1730s. This was the period when most of the artillery defences and bastions on the north and west sides of the castle were built. These were designed by military engineer Captain John Romer, and built by the architect William Adam. They include the Argyle Battery, Mills Mount Battery, the Low Defences and the Western Defences.

The last military action at the castle took place during the second Jacobite rising of 1745. The Jacobite army, under Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie"), captured Edinburgh without a fight in September 1745, but the castle remained in the hands of its ageing Deputy Governor, General George Preston, who refused to surrender. After their victory over the government army at Prestonpans on 21 September, the Jacobites attempted to blockade the castle. Preston's response was to bombard Jacobite positions within the town. After several buildings had been demolished and four people killed, Charles called off the blockade. The Jacobites themselves had no heavy guns with which to respond, and by November they had marched into England, leaving Edinburgh to the castle garrison.

Over the next century, the castle vaults were used to hold prisoners of war during several conflicts, including the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the American War of Independence (1775–1783) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). During this time, several new buildings were erected within the castle, including powder magazines, stores, the Governor's House (1742), and the New Barracks (1796–1799).

19th century to the present

Drawing of the castle surrounded by crowds

King George IV waves from the battlements of the Half Moon Battery in 1822, drawn by James Skene

A mass prison break in 1811, in which 49 prisoners of war escaped via a hole in the south wall, persuaded the authorities that the castle vaults were no longer suitable as a prison. This use ceased in 1814 and the castle began gradually to assume a different role as a national monument. In 1818, Sir Walter Scott was given permission to search the castle for the Crown of Scotland, believed lost after the union of Scotland and England in 1707. Breaking into a sealed room, now known as the Crown Room, and unlocking a chest within, he rediscovered the Honours of Scotland, which were then put on public display with an entry charge of one shilling. In 1822, King George IV made a visit to Edinburgh, becoming the first reigning monarch to visit the castle since Charles II in 1651. In 1829, the cannon Mons Meg was returned from the Tower of London, where it had been taken as part of the process of disarming Scotland after "the '45", and the palace began to be opened up to visitors during the 1830s. St Margaret's Chapel was "rediscovered" in 1845, having been used as a store for many years. Works in the 1880s, funded by the Edinburgh publisher William Nelson and carried out by Hippolyte Blanc, saw the Argyle Tower built over the Portcullis Gate and the Great Hall restored after years of use as a barracks. A new Gatehouse was built in 1888. During the 19th century, several schemes were put forward for rebuilding the whole castle as a Scottish baronial style château. Work began in 1858, but was soon abandoned, and only the hospital building was eventually remodelled in 1897. Following the death of Prince Albert in 1861, the architect David Bryce put forward a proposal for a 50-metre keep as a memorial, but Queen Victoria objected and the scheme was not pursued.

Edinburgh Castle, waxed-paper negative by Thomas Keith, c. 1855. Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library, Washington DC

In 1905, responsibility for the castle was transferred from the War Office to the Office of Works, although the garrison remained until 1923, when the troops moved to Redford Barracks in south-west Edinburgh. The castle was again used as a prison during the First World War, when "Red Clydesider" David Kirkwood was confined in the military prison block, and during the Second World War, when downed German Luftwaffe pilots were captured. The position of Governor of Edinburgh Castle, vacant since 1876, was revived in 1935 as an honorary title for the General Officer Commanding in Scotland, the first holder being Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Cameron of Lochiel. The castle passed into the care of Historic Scotland when it was established in 1991, and was designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1993. The buildings and structures of the castle are further protected by 24 separate listings, including 13 at category A, the highest level of protection for a historic building in Scotland, and special care was taken when installing 31 kW solar panels on the roof of the War Memorial, obscured by its parapet. The Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, a World Heritage Site inscribed by UNESCO in 1995, is described as "dominated by a medieval fortress".

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Copyright © 1979-2020 Marco Francini

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"Zia Caterina"

la tassista dei bambini

Firenze

Toscana

Italia

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Zia Caterina, al secolo Caterina Bellandi, è nata a Prato il 6 marzo 1965. Potete vederla girare per le strade di Firenze sul suo taxi colorato, pieno zeppo di giocattoli, fiori, foto e pupazzi. Non c’è da sbagliarsi: è quella col grande cappello fiorito e le vesti variopinte – un mix di Mary Poppins e Patch Adams -, è quella che trasmette un’allegria contagiosa, irrefrenabile.

Tra cartone animato vivente e personaggio di un film della Disney, Zia Caterina però non è stata sempre così, ci è diventata, perché talvolta il grande dolore può trasformarsi in forza e per contrapposto generare la voglia di vivere e di far vivere gli altri. Qualcosa che riesce a pochi, ma chi ci riesce diventa, solo per questo, un essere fuori dal comune, eccezionale, appunto. Il grande dolore di Caterina si chiamava Stefano, il suo compagno morto di tumore ai polmoni. Aveva un taxi che si chiamava Milano 25. Prima di morire le ha detto: “Tu sarai Milano 25, me e il mio lavoro” e lei, spaventata ma decisa, ha cominciato questo lungo viaggio senza sapere nulla, desiderosa soltanto che Milano 25 continuasse a vivere attraverso le vite degli altri. Ha ereditato il taxi come un dono d’amore e ne ha fatto una vera e propria magia, un piccolo incanto che oltre a svolgere il normale servizio pubblico, offre corse gratuite per l’ospedale a favore dei bambini malati di tumore e dei loro familiari.

Zia Caterina chiama i bambini “i suoi supereroi”, li dipinge sul taxi e li trasforma in personaggi da fumetto dotati di superpoteri che li rende invulnerabili. E sono veramente supereroi questi bambini che tutti i giorni sfidano mali crudeli affrontando dolori atroci e una vita insopportabile, senza mai perdere la voglia di vivere, sempre nella ferrea determinazione a sconfiggere la morte con cui sono costretti a convivere ogni giorno. Perché i supereroi dei fumetti non esistono, no, ma esistono quelli della vita, deboli fisicamente eppure dotati dentro d’una forza spaventosa che li spinge avanti. Sono i veri, unici, supereroi di questo mondo, i modelli a cui dovremmo tendere. Sono loro, non quelli che appaiono, quelli che sono.

Ma perché Caterina si fa chiamare Zia Caterina?

“È un desiderio che ho da sempre. La Zia è la persona più vicina alla mamma che può viziare e non ha il compito di educare. Ho sempre desiderato essere una mamma, chioccia e protettiva. Tutti i bambini del mondo sono i miei figli perché sono i bambini che non ho mai avuto.” Be’, c’è da aggiungere altro?

In realtà, nonostante appaia fresca, spontanea ed estroversa, Zia Caterina nasconde una sorta d’intima timidezza. Ha sempre amato il cappello perché aiuta a comunicare e ad avere meno paura dell’altro, di chi non si conosce, trasmette, secondo lei, l’impressione di diversità. Ha iniziato col cappello. Poi il mantello l’ha indossato dopo l’incontro con Patch Adams che voleva dei clowns per il viaggio che avrebbe fatto con lui: invece del naso, che non le appartiene, ha preferito il mantello in modo da creare la giusta dose di magia. I bracciali, le collane e tutti gli ammennicoli appesi sono pezzettini delle persone che incontra e che porta sempre con sé. Il primo campanellino che ha messo al collo è stato per ricordare le collezioni di campanelle che aveva suo padre.

Nel giugno del 2018 zia Caterina è stata anche premiata col Fiorino d’oro. La risoluzione era stata adottata all’unanimità dal Consiglio Comunale di Firenze perché: “era necessario riconoscere l’impegno con il quale da 16 anni ‘Zia Caterina’ dedica il suo tempo e la sua vita a svolgere un delicatissimo servizio rivolto ai piccoli bambini affetti da patologie oncologiche, trasformando un brutto e doloroso momento in un viaggio ricco di sogni dove ogni bambino, salendo su questo magico taxi entra in un mondo fantastico e si trasforma in un supereroe dove non c’e’ posto per la paura. La sua è una storia d’amore. Il senso della sua solidarietà è anche trasmettere alle persone l’amore nonostante le difficoltà che si possono incontrare nella vita”

[da "Tuscany People", testo di Tommaso Baldassini]

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Aunt Caterina, aka Caterina Bellandi, was born in Prato on March 6, 1965. You can see her wandering through the streets of Florence in her colorful taxi, chock full of toys, flowers, photos and puppets. There is no mistaking it: she is the one with the big flowered hat and colorful dresses - a mix of Mary Poppins and Patch Adams -, she is the one who transmits a contagious, irrepressible joy.

[from "Tuscany People", text by Tommaso Baldassini

Does anyone else have difficulty photographing Grey Partridges? Their status as a gamebird has probably made them very wary of man but in my experience they are almost hysterical in comparison with grouse. I still see them quite regularly in the Pennines but I rarely get a chance to point a camera at one as they are invariably running or flying away. This morning started just the same when I saw two Grey Partridges running down the road in front of me before they flew over a wall. As luck would have it there was a gate, and as I paused there they were, and hanging around long enough for a photograph from the car window.

The male is on the left and you can just see the chestnut horseshoe mark on his belly. The female does all the incubation and chick rearing by herself so is much more cryptically plumaged.

The Latin and Greek word for Partridge is Perdix, but this apparently comes from the Greek verb perdesthai, meaning to break wind. Most sources suggest it is the whirr of the wings that gave rise but the call could also be a plausible reason. For Grey Partridge the call is supposed to sound like a cork twisting in a bottle but the flaw is that in Greece the Chukar is the common partridge, and that bird calls its name.

Another film shot -- this one from my Mamiya medium format camera. This was taken a few weeks ago. I did manage to take a couple shots with my D300 this past week. The only problem is that I dumped a cup of coffee onto my MacBook Pro on Tuesday (four weeks before my first final). So I'm currently without a hard drive to download my photos onto (and without Photoshop).

Keep your fingers crossed for my laptop.

One of the difficulties at the Bisti Badlands is that there are no developed trails. One of the benefits of no trails is that - if you see something in the distance - you simply hike to it. Unless you arrive after a night of 2 inches of rain and minor flash-flooding that causes significant detours.

I saw this feature in the distance, approached, and stood amazed as it towered above me.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

Silhouetted, so had real difficulties bringing out the colour and tones, yet again! If anyone has any suggestions as to how to do this without getting the grainy effects that can be seen if this is enlarged. The bird was flying behind trees, hence the unfocused branches in the foreground.

Coleton Fishacre is a stunningly beautiful place with paths right down to the coastline of South Devon. Near Dartmouth.

Lots of peregrines around, all along the coast of the South Hams. Mostly feeding young on the cliffs. Saw them every day we were there, from Salcombe around to Coleton.

My first post in some time. I will admit to having some difficulty finding personal inspiration amid the current chaos.

This is a repost of a photoshop project I did a few years ago. A digital manipulation of a vintage WWI photo of a brigade of soldiers from Brown County, Wisconsin USA. My maternal grandfather (William) is seated front row, one o'clock (I have tagged him with a yellow dot). The original photo was taken at Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, KY USA. The map is from a vintage US Government book on the war showing the world battlefronts in the year 1918 (I sphereized it in PS to make it look like a globe).

My reasons for this repost are two-fold:

1) to take advantage of the more recent upload size - zoom in to see the faces. The photographer did a great job with the original photo.

2) ALSO going on in the world at the time was the LAST pandemic - the "Spanish Flu". As it happened, my grandfather entered late in the war. He contracted the flu while at Camp Taylor. As such he did not travel overseas with his unit. By the time he was well, the war was over. Had he traveled with his unit, he may not have come back. THUS, I may owe my existence to the flu pandemic of 1918-19.

Another interesting bit about the photo - I shared it with the local historical society. In doing so, I came to find that the uncle of a friend/neighbor is seated to the immediate right of my grandfather. An incredible coincidence. My friend and I have shared many laughs about that and hope that they were friends too.

They got through their trials and I guess we will too, one way or another.

Stay safe out their Flickrinos and keep posting your insprirational photos. I know I need them right now.

Excerpt from historicplaces.ca:

Description of Historic Place

35-43 Duke Street, is known as Sandyford Place, and is situated at the corner of Duke and McNab Streets, in the City of Hamilton. The four, three-storey limestone townhouses are each three-bays wide. The property was designed in the Renaissance Revival style and constructed between 1856-58.

The exterior of the property and scenic and aesthetic character of the building are protected by an Ontario Heritage Trust conservation easement (1979). The building was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1975. The property is also designated by the City of Hamilton under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (By-law 75-237).

Heritage Value

Located at the corner of Duke Street and McNab Street in downtown Hamilton, Sandyford Place benefits from its context in one of the city's oldest areas. Situated within blocks of notable historic buildings in Hamilton such as Whitehern, Church of the Ascension, St. Paul's Presbyterian Church and the Bank of Montreal building, Sandyford Place evokes the scale and aesthetic qualities of pre-confederation Hamilton. Now located in a mixed area of high-rise apartments, office buildings and detached Victorian houses, Sandyford Place maintains a strong presence on Duke Street surrounded by mature trees, a small rear garden and parking area.

Sandyford Place is associated with Peter Hunter, an early resident of Hamilton, the city's early economic development, Scottish stonemasons and noted local builder Donald Nicholson. The property was originally part of a farm owned, since 1824, by Peter Hunter Hamilton, the younger half-brother of City founder George Hamilton. Peter Hunter Hamilton first surveyed the property for development in the 1840s, but did not develop it until the 1850s, when the quickly expanding city encroached upon his land. In the 1850s, the City of Hamilton experienced great economic prosperity, with the population rising from 6,800 to 27,500 between 1846 and 1858.

Sandyford Place's style and building material reflect the many Scottish stonemasons working in Hamilton at that time. At one time the area around Sandyford Place had many other examples of terraced houses constructed in a similar style, including Burlington Terrace, built in 1856. Local builder and architect Donald Nicholson built Sandyford Place to cater to the growing mercantile class of the city. However, as the economy of the city failed in the 1860s, Sandyford Place had difficulty attracting wealthy tenants. It wasn't until the 1870s that economic recovery brought a lawyer, manufacturer, wholesale grocer and merchant to live at Sandyford Place. The houses remained as single units until 1908, when 39 Duke Street was divided vertically into three apartments. The other houses were divided into apartments in 1924, 1931 and 1934 respectively. They remained rental apartments until they were developed into 12 condominiums shortly after 1979.

Sandyford Place is an example of the Renaissance Revival style used in the form of urban terraced houses. The architectural style, quality of the masonry, attention to detail and proportioning, make this building unique. The three-storey limestone building is based on the Palazzo Renaissance form, set on a high basement with slightly projecting side wings, each comprising one row-house set on a foundation of rough-faced ashlar. The building has tall chimneys, a shallow roof and two bay-window roof dormers. The main façade is characterized by limestone ashlar, rusticated quoins, pick-faced stone dressing, a bracketed cornice and square and segmental pedimented double-hung six over six windows. Consoles surround each window and sidelights and transoms surround each of the four front doors, access to which is gained through separate stone stairways. The facade is ashlar giving the building a Georgian appearance, however, details and decorations are influenced by Italian Renaissance Revival architecture. One specific Italian Renaissance element is the Piano Nobile proportions, which distinguishes the main floor by large, high windows elevated off the ground by a raised foundation. At the rear of unit 43 there is a Queen Anne style two-storey bay window of red brick, capped with a third-floor dormer with a Palladian window, added in c. 1900. This addition contrasts the rest of the building, making the rear elevation more stylistically eclectic. The conversion into condominiums added balconies, along the length of the rear elevation, and an enclosed stairwell was added at the rear linking the balconies.

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements that contribute to the heritage value of the Sandyford Place include its:

- Renaissance Revival architectural style features

- Piano Nobile proportions

- pavilion plan

- tall chimneys

- shallow-pitched roof

- attic-storey dormers

- raised basement

- stone stairs leading to the front entrances

- projecting end wings

- rusticated quoins

- pick-faced stone dressing

- bracketed cornice

- square and segmental pedimented windows

- double-hung six over six sash windows

- consoles over the façade windows

- Queen Anne style two-storey bay-window at the rear

- ashlar façade

- location in one of Hamilton's oldest neighbourhoods

- location within blocks of notable historic buildings such as Whitehearn, Church of the Ascension, St. Paul's Presbyterian Church and the Bank of Montreal building

- proximity to mature trees and a small garden

a Challenging topic still having difficulty focusing....

It wouldn't surprise me if Great Carolus Linnaeus had difficulty in pronouncing the English 'th'. His tongue like that of many non-native speakers was not subtle enough - hairy, as it were - for that sound. There is of course a story to why I think this...

It has everything to do with how Linnaeus first describes this pretty Common Fleabane, Pulicaria dysenterica. In the Flora suecica (1745) his description includes the interesting observation that our Fleabane saved the lives of many Russian soldiers in the Russo-Persian War (1722-1723). They used it as a medicine against dysentery. How exactly it's not said: it might have been through oral ingestion or else by way of its smoke; whatever the case, either the fleas (Pulex) or their effects - bacillary dysentery caused by transmitted Vibrio cholerae - were stymied in their run.

Whence Linnaeus's knowledge? Well, from one James Francis Edward Keith (1696-1758), a Scottish mercenary who fought for Prussians and Russians and anyone who'd have him. You get the picture: 'Keith' must've been a problem for Linnaeus to pronounce; perhaps he never met the man and only corresponded with him. In any case, his Flora suecica prints the General's name as 'Keit.

As far as I know, Keith did not take part in that Russo-Persian War; but he did play a heroic role in the Russo-Turkish War of 1741-1743. I wouldn't be surprised if his experience with our Pulicaria derives from that exercise and not from the earlier one. Possibly Linnaeus got that wrong as well, or otherwise Keith told him what he'd himself heard about the Persian expedition.

Here in the peaceful Hortus Botanicus this afternoon I saw this pretty Lasioglossum - Hairy- or Rough-Tongued Bee - calceatum on Bright Yellow Fleabane. Look at it's pretty reddish abdomen (and let's not be reminded of the less than savory sanguinary effects of dysentery).

The greatest difficulty spiritually is to

concentrate upon God, and His bles-

sings are what make it so difficult.

Troubles almost always make us look

to God, but His blessings tend to divert

our attention elsewhere.

~Oswald Chambers

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"Something about these words of Os-

wald Chambers seem to ring so true

much of the time.....do you see it too?

When I read them, I immediately knew

they were written for me!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wishing all My Friends a Sunday filled

with good things from Above! Love You

All!"

~Mary Lou

Not so sure that I like the processing :/

Also, does anyone know how to post picture thumbnails like for an sooc in the new flickr? I couldnt find how to anywhere and had to switch to the old flickr so that I could :S

Hope you all have an amazing weekend!!

Im done school for the summerl! :D