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The wind blew peacefully through the trees. Birds chirped, squirrels chattered, and the sound of leaves falling could be heard in the thick, beautiful forest of southern Lenfald. Bits of red and orange were beginning to appear in the treetops. The forest was changing, green was giving way to red.
Sir Glennian reflected on this as he and his companions treaded, almost silently, on the old forest road. So many things had happened recently, the once peaceful land of Roawia was now aching with the pains of conflict and turmoil, and the only plausible outcome seemed to be war. Loreos, only few miles walk southward, was now threatening invasion. Green did indeed seem to be giving way to red.
Sounds of people now reached Sir Glennian’s ears, and he saw they had almost reached their destination. As he came around a bend in the path, he saw it, not a hundred yards ahead of him. A deep hole had been dug in the center of the path, nearly fifteen feet deep, and men could be seen swarming around it.
“Foreman!” Sir Glennian shouted.
All the workers turned and noticed their visitors, and a stout man in a green cloak turned to greet them. He had a thick, curly, brown beard covering his smiling face, which was topped with thick, curly, brown hair.
“Ah, you are here at last!” He greeted them. “We have made much progress on the work. As you can see, the hole is over a dozen feet deep. Just an hour ago the blacksmith arrived with the spikes that will be stuck in the bottom. Then we will cover it with branches spread over with dirt, and the next Loreesi scum who comes through here-”
He broke off with a large wave of his hand, indicating the destruction the Loreesi would face.
Glennian nodded. “Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
He looked forlornly down the path. Somewhere in that direction was a great desert…one in which war was brewing, a war that, he feared, Lenfald could never be completely ready for.
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Well, I was going to enter this into the last Lenfald LC, but I obviously didn’t finish it in time. Congrats to Gary and Paul on the wins! ;)
Soli Deo Gloria! :)
The Château de Chenonceau is a French château spanning the river Cher, near the small village of Chenonceaux, Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire Valley.
The estate of Chenonceau is first mentioned in writing in the 11th century. The current château was built in 1514–1522 on the foundations of an old mill and was later extended to span the river. The bridge over the river was built (1556-1559) to designs by the French Renaissance architect Philibert de l'Orme, and the gallery on the bridge, built from 1570 to 1576 to designs by Jean Bullant.
An architectural mixture of late Gothic and early Renaissance, Château de Chenonceau and its gardens are open to the public. Other than the Royal Palace of Versailles, it is the most visited château in France.
The château has been designated as a Monument historique since 1840 by the French Ministry of Culture. Today, Chenonceau is a major tourist attraction and in 2007 received around 800,000 visitors.
In the 13th century, the fief of Chenonceau belonged to the Marques family. The original château was torched in 1412 to punish the owner, Jean Marques, for an act of sedition. He rebuilt a château and fortified mill on the site in the 1430s. Jean Marques' indebted heir Pierre Marques found it necessary to sell.
Thomas Bohier, Chamberlain to King Charles VIII of France, purchased the castle from Pierre Marques in 1513 and demolished most of it (resulting in 2013 being considered the 500th anniversary of the castle: MDXIII–MMXIII), though its 15th-century keep was left standing. Bohier built an entirely new residence between 1515 and 1521. The work was overseen by his wife Katherine Briçonnet, who delighted in hosting French nobility, including King Francis I on two occasions.
In 1535 the château was seized from Bohier's son [fr] by King Francis I of France for unpaid debts to the Crown. After Francis' death in 1547, Henry II offered the château as a gift to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who became fervently attached to the château along the river.[8] In 1555 she commissioned Philibert de l'Orme to build the arched bridge joining the château to its opposite bank. Diane then oversaw the planting of extensive flower and vegetable gardens along with a variety of fruit trees. Set along the banks of the river, but buttressed from flooding by stone terraces, the exquisite gardens were laid out in four triangles.
Diane de Poitiers was the unquestioned mistress of the castle, but ownership remained with the crown until 1555 when years of delicate legal manoeuvres finally yielded possession to her.
After King Henry II died in 1559, his strong-willed widow and regent Catherine de' Medici forced Diane to exchange it for the Château Chaumont. Queen Catherine then made Chenonceau her own favourite residence, adding a new series of gardens.
As Regent of France, Catherine spent a fortune on the château and on spectacular nighttime parties. In 1560, the first-ever fireworks display seen in France took place during the celebrations marking the ascension to the throne of Catherine's son Francis II. The grand gallery, which extended along the existing bridge to cross the entire river, was dedicated in 1577. Catherine also added rooms between the chapel and the library on the east side of the corps de logis, as well as a service wing on the west side of the entry courtyard.
Catherine considered an even greater expansion of the château, shown in an engraving published by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau in the second (1579) volume of his book Les plus excellents bastiments de France. If this project had been executed, the current château would have been only a small portion of an enormous manor laid out "like pincers around the existing buildings."
On Catherine's death, in January 1589, the château went to her daughter-in-law, Louise of Lorraine, wife of King Henry III. Louise was at Chenonceau when she learned of her husband's assassination, in August 1589, and she fell into a state of depression. Louise spent the next 11 years, until her death in January 1601, wandering aimlessly along the château's corridors dressed in mourning clothes, amidst sombre black tapestries stitched with skulls and crossbones.
Henri IV obtained Chenonceau for his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées by paying the debts of Catherine de' Medici, which had been inherited by Louise and were threatening to ruin her. In return, Louise left the château to her niece Françoise de Lorraine, at that time six years old and betrothed to the four-year-old César de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme, the natural son of Gabrielle d'Estrées and Henri IV. The château belonged to the Duc de Vendôme and his descendants for more than a hundred years. The Bourbons had little interest in the château, except for hunting. In 1650, Louis XIV was the last king of the ancien régime to visit.
The Château de Chenonceau was bought by the Duke of Bourbon in 1720. Little by little, he sold off all of the castle's contents. Many of the fine statues ended up at Versailles.
In 1733 the estate was sold for 130,000 livres to a wealthy squire named Claude Dupin. His wife, Louise Dupin, was the natural daughter of the financier Samuel Bernard and the actress Manon Dancourt, whose mother was also an actress who had joined the Comédie Française in 1684. Louise Dupin was "an intelligent, beautiful, and highly cultivated woman who had the theatre in her blood." Claude Dupin, a widower, had a son, Louis Claude, from his first wife Marie-Aurore de Saxe, who was the grandmother of George Sand (born Aurore Dupin).
Louise Dupin's literary salon at Chenonceau attracted such leaders of the Enlightenment as the writers Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Fontenelle, the naturalist Buffon, the playwright Marivaux, the philosopher Condillac, as well as the Marquise de Tencin and the Marquise du Deffand. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was Dupin's secretary and tutored her son. Rousseau, who worked on Émile at Chenonceau, wrote in his Confessions: "We played music there and staged comedies. I wrote a play in verse entitled Sylvie's Path, after the name of a path in the park along the Cher."
The widowed Louise Dupin saved the château from destruction during the French Revolution, preserving it from being destroyed by the Revolutionary Guard because "it was essential to travel and commerce, being the only bridge across the river for many miles."
In 1864 Marguerite Pelouze [fr ], a rich heiress, acquired the château. Around 1875 she commissioned the architect Félix Roguet to restore it. He almost completely renewed the interior and removed several of Catherine de' Medici's additions, including the rooms between the library and the chapel and her alterations to the north facade, among which were figures of Hercules, Pallas, Apollo, and Cybele that were moved to the park. With the money Marguerite spent on these projects and elaborate parties, her finances were depleted, and the château was seized and sold.
José-Emilio Terry, a Cuban millionaire, acquired Chenonceau from Madame Pelouze in 1891. Terry sold it in 1896 to a family member, Francisco Terry. In 1913, the château was acquired by Henri Menier, a member of the Menier family, famous for their chocolates, who still own it to this day.
During World War I Gaston Menier set up the gallery to be used as a hospital ward. During the Second World War, the château was bombed by the Germans in June 1940.[20] It was also a means of escaping from the Nazi-occupied zone on one side of the river Cher to the "free" zone on the opposite bank. Occupied by the Germans, the château was bombed by the Allies on 7 June 1944, when the chapel was hit and its windows destroyed.
In 1951, the Menier family entrusted the château's restoration to Bernard Voisin, who brought the dilapidated structure and the gardens (ravaged in the Cher flood in 1940) back to a reflection of its former glory.
Chenonceaux is a commune in the French department of Indre-et-Loire, and the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France.
It is situated in the valley of the river Cher, a tributary of the Loire, about 26 km (16 mi) east of Tours and on the right bank of the Cher.
The population of permanent residents hovers about 350, but there is a large influx of tourists during the summer months because the village adjoins the former royal Château de Chenonceau, one of the most popular tourist destinations in France. The château is distinctive in being built across the river. The village is also situated in Touraine-Chenonceaux wine-growing area, and bordered on its northern edge by the Forest of Amboise.
Name
The difference in spelling between the Château's name (Chenonceau) and the village (Chenonceaux) is attributed to Louise Dupin de Francueil, owner of the château during the French Revolution, who is said to have dropped the "x" at the end of its name to differentiate what was a symbol of royalty from the Republic. As a result of her good relations with the village, the Château was spared the iconoclastic damage suffered by many other monuments during the Revolution. Although no official sources have been found to support this claim, the Château has ever since been referred to and spelled as Chenonceau.
Mme Dupin hosted the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Chenonceau as tutor to her children, and among her descendants was the writer George Sand, born Aurore Dupin.
Philibert de l'Orme (pronounced [filibɛːʁ də lɔʁm]) (3-9 June 1514 – 8 January 1570) was a French architect and writer, and one of the great masters of French Renaissance architecture. His surname is also written De l'Orme, de L'Orme, or Delorme.
Biography
Early career
Philbert de l'Orme was born between 3 and 9 June 1514 in Lyon. His father was Jehan de L'Orme, a master mason and entrepreneur, who, in the 1530s, employed three hundred workers and built prestigious buildings for the elite of the city.[3] When Philibert was nineteen he departed Lyon for Italy, where he remained for three years, working on building projects for Pope Paul III. In Rome he was introduced to Cardinal Jean du Bellay, the Ambassador of King François I to the Vatican, who became his protector and client. Du Bellay was also the patron of his friend Francois Rabelais. In about 1540 de l'Orme moved to Paris, and was soon occupied with royal projects.
Royal architect of Henry II (1548-1559)
On April 3, 1548 he was a named architect of the King by Henry II. For a period of eleven years, he supervised all of the King's architectural projects, with the exception of changes to the Louvre, which were planned by another royal architect, Pierre Lescot. His major projects included the Château de St Maur-des-Fossés, the Château d'Anet, the Château de Chenonceau in the Loire Valley; the royal Château de Madrid in the Bois de Boulogne; the Château de Vincennes, and major modifications to the Palace of Fontainebleau.
He also made a reputation as a writer and theorist, and as an innovator in building techniques. He invented a new system for making the essential wooden frameworks for constructing stone buildings, called charpente à petits bois, which was quicker and less expensive than previous methods and used much less wood. He demonstrated it before the King in 1555, and put it to work in construction at the new royal Château de Montceaux and at the royal hunting lodge La Muette [fr] in the Forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Out of favor - architectural theorist (1559-1563)
The death of Henry II of France on July 10, 1559 suddenly left him without a patron and at the mercy of rival architects who resented his success and his style. Two days later, on 10 July, he was dismissed from his official posts, and replaced by an Italian artist and architect, Francesco Primaticcio, whose work was much in fashion. He had joined a religious order, and decided to turn his attention to meditation, scholarship and writing. He made another trip to Rome to inspect the new works of Michelangelo. Beginning in 1565 wrote the first volume of a work on architectural theory, which was scientific and philosophical. It was published in 1567, and was followed by new editions after his death in 1576, 1626 and 1648.
Royal architect again (1563-1570)
Under Charles IX and Catherine de Medici, he returned to royal favor. He was employed on the enlargement of the Chateau of Saint Maur (1563) and, along with Jean Bullant, on additions to the Tuileries Palace (1564). He died in Paris in 1570, while this project was underway.
Reputation
In the 17th century, during the period of Louis XIV style that followed his death, his reputation suffered. The grand stairway that he built at the Tuileries Palace was demolished in 1664, as was his Château de Saint-Léger in 1668, to make way for classical structures. In 1683, he was denounced by François Blondel of the Royal Academy for his "villainous Gothic ornaments" and his "petty manner". Nonetheless, his two major theoretical works on construction and design continued to be important textbooks, and were regularly republished and read.
His reputation rose again in the 18th century, through the writings of Dezallier d'Argenville, who wrote in 1787 that he had "abandoned the Gothic covering in order to redress French architecture in the style Ancient Greece." D'Argenville wrote the first biography and catalog of works. Though few of his building survived to be studied carefully, later important academic works on de l'Orme were written in the 19th and 20th centuries by art historians including H. Clouzot and Anthony Blunt.
One of De l'Orme's primary accomplishments was to change the way architects trained and studied. He insisted that architects needed formal education in classical architecture, as well as in geometry and astronomy and the sciences, but also needed practical experience in construction. He himself was an accomplished scholar of ancient Greek and Roman architecture, as well as a humanist scholar. He argued that architects needed to be able to design and manage every aspect of the building, from the volumes to the lambris to adding up the cost, making detailed three-dimensional drawings of vaults, judging if wood was dry enough, and knowing to stop digging the foundation when the first sand was encountered. He had scorn for those architects who could design a facade but had no knowledge actual construction. His opponents scorned him for his background as the son of a masonry contractor. He was referred to by Bernard Palissy as "The god of the stone masons", which deeply offended him.
His other major accomplishment was to resist the tendency to simply copy Italian architectural styles; he traveled and studied in Italy, and borrowed much, but he always added a distinctly French look to each of his projects.
The first major building of de l'Orme was the Château of Saint Maur (1541), built for the Cardinal Jean du Bellay, whom de l'Orme had met during his time in Rome. Its plan showed the influence of the Italian villas; and, like the Italian buildings, it was decorated with frescoes.
Much of his work has disappeared, but his fame remains. He was an ardent humanist and student of the antique, he yet vindicated resolutely the French tradition in opposition to Italian tendencies; he was a man of independent mind and a vigorous originality. His masterpiece was the Château d'Anet (1552–1559), built for Diane de Poitiers, the plans of which are preserved in Jacques Androuet du Cerceau's Plus excellens bastimens de France, though only part of the building remains. His designs for the Tuileries (also given by Androuet du Cerceau), begun by Catherine de' Medici in 1565, were magnificent. His work is also seen at Chenonceau and other famous châteaux; and his tomb of Francis I at Saint Denis Basilica remains a perfect specimen of his art.
The most easily viewed work of de l'Orme in Paris is the court facade of the Chateau d'Anet, which was moved to Paris after a major portion of the chateau was demolished, to illustrate for students the major works of the French Renaissance. It is attached to the front wall of the chapel of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and is visible from Rue Bonaparte.
Partial list of works
Château de Saint-Maur (1541), demolished in 1796
Tomb of François Ie in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, Paris (1547)
Château d'Anet (1547-1555), built for Diane de Poitiers. Only one wing remains.
Plans of the Chapel of Saint-Éloi, Paris (1550-1566), (Long attributed, but not documented. Only a portion of the facade remains)
Attribution du château d'Acquigny
Facade of the residence of the Vicomte of the Duchy of Uzès (attributed)
Completion of Sainte-Chapelle at the Château de Vincennes (1552)
Château de Villers-Cotterêts, southern portion( 1547-1559)
Chapel of the Château of Villers-Cotterêts (1552-1553)
Royal Château of Saint-Léger-en-Yvelines (demolished)
Château de Meudon (attributed)
Château de Montceaux
Château de Thoiry (1560s)
The bridge upon which the Château de Chenonceau is constructed
Portions of the Louvre
Portions of the new Chateau of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Portal of Château d'Écouen, now the National Museum of the French Renaissance (mid 16th century). The wing he designed was destroyed in 1787, but vestiges are displayed inside the Chateau.
Roofs of the towers of the Château de Bonnemare.
I saw this bear as a 1 year old cub with it's mother in 2014 making it about 3 years old now. He has the same dark eye patches as he did as a first year cub, but he has developed dark legs now too. He is a male since in some of my shots I can see that his testicles have dropped and are evident from the rear. He seems to be doing just fine on his own, but it was clear that he was constantly on the lookout for danger. He is digging for clams in the same area as he practiced with his mother 2 years ago.
Image - Copyright 2016 Alan Vernon
Winter storm Vulcan did not live long and prosper, but it did live long enough to dump over a foot of snow on Western NY. I went up the the LA&L the next morning in hopes of getting the road train popping through drifts at the grade crossings. The road power was used to put the previous days inbound train away in the yard and then the crew on the road power headed off to clean out switches along the line. I couldn't wait around for the train to leave. When I left home to go to work later that morning at 11am, I could see that the outbound road trains cars were still parked in Lakeville.
Soldier is watching how the Chinook unload his sling while they dig foxholes. On the fars left there are more soldiers digging, the brownout make them disappear.
This is the first of five photos that are inspired by the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.
Easy come, easy go
[to be read aloud and rapidly - like a sports commentator]
And here we are again for tonights final round of GoT - that famous "Game of Treasure", our treasure hunt.
Well, and there they go on the left, the brave islanders, digging for the treasure,
handing over the gold bars...
They are working away quickly - but wait, what is that?
A Marderian soldier is stealing the gold! They are forcing the natives to work for them!
My goodness, there is no end to Marderian evilness.
Passing the ingot to the next Marderian player, moving midfield.
And the gold is gone!
This came quite unexpectedly for Mardier - pirate Henry was taking a shot here.
Excellent move for the pirates. The pirates now in the lead.
But no - Mardier is back and more evil than ever.
The pirates have lost the gold and it all goes to Mardier again.
We all know the Marderian motto:
"No need to be nice on the way up
'cos we're not going down"
This is exciting, it is the second half in this final game and Mardier has got the gold.
Which means Mardier is not broke and will continue in the GoT league in the upcoming season.
Well they will surely give Eslandola, Oleon and Corrington a hard time...
But again "no" - Mardier is hit from behind by another pirate. And Mardier is going down after a wonderful "thud".
I heard a whisper "for Brickwall" - I suspect this guy is one of Brickwall Jones' nephews.
And here we are - the pirates are back in the game. Excellent thudding there from Captain Redbeard.
The higher they come, the hardier they fall in Mardier.
What is this?
There must be some disagreement within the pirate team?
One of them is pretty tied up at the moment.
Has he been double crossed by one of his red-bearded mates?
No, Eslandola is back and they are striking with a vengeance!
They are sweeping the ground from pirates and they have taken the gold!
The Eslandolean flag is waving all over the place. And the crowd is cheering!
What a great match, tonight. Certainly no disappointment for the international spectators.
And on the right I can see Colonel Brickinson. Brickinson is leading his team to victory.
Nobody expected the Eslandolean army.
They have been using their chief weapon: surprise. Surprise and cleverness.
And I wonder where they got the information that brought them here just in time for the final moments of the game.
The ingots are piling up for Eslandola. So the score is Mardier: 0, Eslandola: 542!
Aaaaaaaaand the game is over!
A big win for Brickinson's team tonight - and they are celebrating!
The champagne is flowing as the gold is being shipped to Pontelli.
I can see the other Eslandolean leaders on the side cheering.
That is it for Mardier. They are broke and won't be able to afford the license for the next season.
I can see the debt collectors gathering at the side of the field and the first vultures have started to circle in ...
We had the 1st glimmer of spring like weather today, the high was @ 65 F. I had the windows open, lunch on the back porch, and instead of getting grumpy with my dog and kiddos for dragging tons of mud into the house, I kicked off my shoes and squished my toes in the cool, thick, wonderful stuff...and it felt so damn good!
It'll be back to below freezing temps soon, this was just a wild beautiful spring teaser. So I tried to savor every minute of it.
Paleontologists identify a dinosaur bone still mostly encased in mudstone at one of the quarries in the Cretaceous Cloverly Formation on the Warm Spring Ranch just outside Thermopolis, Wyoming. The quarries are part of the Wyoming Dinosaur Center .
So... this is my first attempt using smoke bombs. It came out better than I thought, considering I finished up the shoot pretty frustrated. It was also chilly out and I was being eaten by mosquitos before Nathan and I lit the bombs. (The smoke shooed them off).
Mannnn, imagine how good it'd look if I had the Mark iii. Poor baby.
Side note: My lungs were pretty unhappy to be sitting so close to the smoke... Hoping they don't end up suffering more than they had to...
Of the series I talked about here.
The whole series was inspired by this Brooke Shaden's image.
Model in this picture is Iván, the boyfriend of a good friend of mine.
Texture by Smoko-Stock
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De la serie de la que hablé aquí.
La serie completa está inspirada en esta imagen de Brooke Shaden.
El modelo en esta foto es Iván, el novio de una buena amiga mía.
Textura de Smoko-Stock
I am now back in Australia and after digging deep into my wardrobe here (and it is very deep!) I found this dress from years ago and would you believe it fits better now than it did then. Time for another airing!
»Kreideschrift« means something like “chalk typeface”. They intentionally added noise and irregularities here.
Digging for fishing bait, the elusive Lugworm, and if you are lucky, Ragworm
I have done it, it's back breaking.
Sheringham beach, North Norfolk.