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LES TERRES DE L’INCONNU
« La plus belle chose que nous puissions expérimenter, c’est le mystérieux.
Là se trouve la véritable source de l’art et de la science. »
Albert Einstein
« Regardez! ….Nous avons fait la découverte d’empreintes de pas étranges sur les rivages des Terres de l’Inconnu. Pour découvrir leur origine, nous avons étudié avec attention plusieurs théories scientifiques susceptibles de nous aider. Et, après bien des efforts, nous sommes enfin parvenus à identifier l’origine de ces traces… Ce sont les nôtres! » *
L’esprit humain aime et redoute à la fois, le mystérieux, l’inexplicable, l’inconnu. Les traces de pas que l’on voit sur ces rivages, qui s’arrêtent soudainement, puis reviennent, en témoignent. Peu d’humains s’aventurent profondément dans ces Terres austères.
L’Inconnu est un endroit dangereux pour vivre… confortablement. Il ne garantit pas le succès de vos efforts pour élucider ses secrets. Souvent, il ne tient pas ses promesses et vous déçoit. Mais parfois aussi, avec l’aide précieuse de l’imagination et de la curiosité, il peut changer notre compréhension du monde et de l’univers, quelque fois pour le mieux…
Patrice photographiste
* Inspiré d’une idée de Arthur Eddington, astrophysicien, contemporain de A. Einstein.
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The Lands of the Unknown
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and science.
Albert Einstein
”Look! … We have discovered strange footprints on the shores of the Lands of the Unknown. To discover their origin, we have carefully studied several scientific theories that could help us. And, after much effort, we finally managed to identify the origin of these traces ... They are ours! "*
The human mind simultaneously loves and fears the mysterious, the inexplicable, the unknown. The footprints we see on these shores, which suddenly stop and then come back, as a witness to this. Few humans have ventured deep into these austere lands.
The Unknown is a dangerous place to live… comfortably. It does not guarantee the success of your efforts to elucidate its secrets. Often, he doesn't keep his promises and disappoints you. But sometimes also, with the precious help of imagination and curiosity, it can change our understanding of the world and the universe, sometimes for the better ...
Patrice photographiste
* Inspired by an idea of Arthur Eddington, astrophysicist, contemporary of A. Einstein.
This large circular structure is located next to the fortress of Sacsayhuamán. The function of this construction is not fully elucidated, but among the plausible theories is the hypothesis that it was a water reservoir.
DHV_0585_D28 NIKKOR
I made the story of the cruel Dr. Schwarz in 2013. What a surprise! The villagers told me the story of the owner of this house. He was murdered in 1970, and the murder has never been elucidated. He was murdered in the woods and for money. He was an employee of the Communist Air Force. He was not a soldier.
www.flickr.com/photos/131238258@N03/21603341543/in/album-...
A few of you (not many) expressed interest in the genesis of yesterday's abstract, so I thought I'd post the original, boring SOOC version shown here of a macro daisy and a few balloons against a typical northwoods landscape. A rather natural transformation, no?
[Yesterday's shown in comments for quick reference.]
The beautiful and highly distinctive Pin-tailed Manakin is endemic to the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil, where it is not rare but the species is nonetheless highly prized by birdwatchers, especially as its unusually quiet vocalisations can render it unobtrusive, making encounters much less frequent than with other manakins that occur in the same region. The male Pin-tailed Manakin is one of the most unmistakable and prettiest of manakins, and even the female is difficult to confuse given that it shares the male’s ‘unusual’ head shape and ‘pin-tail’ central rectrices. The species prefers humid forest, woodlots and mature second growth, perhaps most frequently in valleys. Its systematic relationships have only recently been elucidated, although its uniqueness has long been recognised by taxonomists. However, some facets of the Pin-tailed Manakin’s life history, especially its breeding biology and diet, are still relatively poorly known. birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/pitman1/cur/introduction
This beautiful male was photographed at Tapiraí - São Paulo. Wishing everyone a Peaceful Thursday and for those who celebrate a Peaceful Thanksgiving!
Thanks a lot for your visits, comments, faves, invites, etc. Very much appreciated!
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Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Lettice has not long returned from a trip to Paris which she took with her fiancée, Sir John Nettleford-Huges and his widowed sister, Lettice’s future sister-in-law, Clemance Pontefract. Lettice went to Paris to attend the ‘Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes’* which is highlighting and showcasing the new modern style of architecture and interior design known as Art Deco of which Lettice is an exponent, however Sir John was going for very different reasons of his own. His involved him attending the exhibition with Lettice in the mornings, before slipping away discreetly and meeting up with his old flame, Madeline Flanton in the afternoon. Old enough to be Lettice’s father, wealthy Sir John was until recently still a bachelor, and according to London society gossip intended to remain so, so that he might continue to enjoy his dalliances with a string of pretty chorus girls of Lettice’s age and younger. After an abrupt ending to her understanding with Selwyn Spencely, son and heir to the title Duke of Walmsford, Lettice in a moment of both weakness and resolve, agreed to the proposal of marriage proffered to her by Sir John. More like a business arrangement than a marriage proposal, Sir John offered Lettice the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of his large fortune, be chatelain of all his estates and continue to have her interior design business, under the conditions that she agree to provide him with an heir, and that he be allowed to discreetly carry on his affairs in spite of their marriage vows. He even suggested that Lettice might be afforded the opportunity to have her own extra marital liaisons if she were discreet about them.
Busy in the Cavendish Mews kitchen, Edith, Lettice’s maid, is arranging a small selection of dainty canapés onto a white gilt edged plate in the kitchen to serve to Lettice and her soon to arrive guest, when she hears the mechanical buzz of the Cavendish Mews servant’s call bell. Glancing up she notices the circle for the front door has changed from black to red, indicating that it is the front door bell that has rung.
“Oh he must be here!” she murmurs. “And not before time too, thank goodness!”
Quickly whipping off the starched white apron she is wearing to protect her black moiré* evening uniform with her hand stitched lace collar and matching cap, she hurries from the kitchen into the public area of the flat via a door in the scullery adjoining the kitchen, snatching up her elegant starched frilled cap from hook by the door as she goes. She hurriedly affixes the cap over her blonde waves, pinned in a chignon** at the nape of her neck as she walks into the entrance hall.
The front door buzzer goes again, sounding noisily, filling the atmosphere with a jarring echo. Edith glances towards the etched glass drawing room doors which stand slightly ajar, but there is no usual call from her mistress, and her face crumples as she considers this lack of interest in who is ringing the front doorbell. Her black low heels sink into the thick and luxurious Chinese silk carpet laid out before the front door. “I’m coming. I’m coming.” mutters Edith under her breath. She pats her cap and the hairpins holding her blonde waves self-consciously as she goes, hoping that she looks presentable as she opens the front door.
“It’s only little me, dear Edith.” Gerald simpers as he stands on the doorstep outside.
“Oh Mr. Bruton, Sir!” Edith gasps as she ushers Lettice’s oldest childhood chum and best friend through the door with a sweeping gesture. “Thank goodness you’re here!”
Gerald is a member of the aristocracy like Lettice, and the two grew up on adjoining estates in Wiltshire. However, although also being a member of the landed gentry Gerald’s fate is very different to Lettice’s. He has been forced to gain some independence from his rather impecunious family in order to make a living. Luckily his artistic abilities have led him to designing gowns from a shop in Grosvenor Street, a business which, after promotion from Lettice and several commissions from high profile and influential society ladies, is finally beginning to turn a profit. As Lettice’s oldest friend, Gerald is usually the person she turns to in a crisis, and she telephoned him earlier in the day at his Grosvenor Street atelier, imploring him to come around for cocktails and canapés that night before supper.
As he shrugs off his luxurious Astrakhan coat*** into the maid’s waiting arms, he glances at Edith. “That bad, is it, Edith?”
“Well, Mr. Bruton,” Edith says, folding the silky fur coat over her arms and reaching out to accept Gerald’s smart beaver fur top hat****. “I wouldn’t say it’s that dire, Sir.”
“But?” Gerald asks, persisting with Edith, encouraging her complete her unspoken thoughts as he hands her his grey dyed kid leather gloves.
“Well Miss Lettice just hasn’t been herself since she came back from Paris. I am a bit worried, Sir. She isn’t behaving like she usually does.”
“Such as?”
“She seems distracted by something, Sir, and whatever it is, it’s eating away at her. She hasn’t touched her paints to start the designs for Mrs. Hatchett’s commission, even though Mrs. Hatchett sent across her portrait to Cavendish Mews whilst Miss Lettice was away, so that it would be here upon her return.”
“That does sound serious.” Gerald opines with an eyebrow cocked in concern.
“She’s quite off her food. I can’t even tempt her with one of my home-made sponges. She hasn’t taken any calls since her return, and told me to tell any visitors that she is indisposed currently.” Edith goes on. “You’re her first friend that she has contacted, Sir.”
“Well thank goodness for that!” Gerald replies, as he tugs on the collar of his dinner jacket. “I’d best see what your mistress is all about then!”
“Oh thank you, Sir!” Edith exclaims. “I hope you’ll help her in her troubles, whatever they are. I’ll be in with the canapés shortly.”
“Hullo Lettice darling! It’s just me!” Gerald calls as he walks into the drawing room where Lettice sits in her usual black japanned, rounded back, while upholstered tub armchair next to the telephone. “I came here as soon as I could get away, after your surprise telephone call, my darling.”
Gerald observes his best friend with a concerned look. Although arrayed in a beautiful rich pink salmon satin evening frock of his own design, with a plunging V-neck and an asymmetrical draping hem, Lettice’s face looks wan and pale, and there are dark circles under eyes, which usually sparkle like Kashmir sapphires*****, but tonight appear dull and almost a blueish grey.
“Unfortunately, Lady Bessom simply would not leave today until she had picked my designs for her daughter’s wedding frock completely apart!” Gerald leans down and embraces his best friend, who returns his hug, but as he holds her, she feels fragile in his arms. “Goodness knows why she wants to engage a couturier, if she already knows what she wants. Better she employs a court dressmaker who will make what she wants without question,” he prattles on awkwardly as he glimpses the large green bottle of Gordon’s Dry Gin****** on the low black japanned coffee table, with her glass already half empty. “Rather than me, who only wants the best for poor Edwina. I don’t want to send the mousy little creature down the aisle in a frock that not only looks out of fashion, but draws attention to every physical flaw in the poor girl’s figure.” He releases Lettice, who does not respond to his remarks, so he finishes up, “It would look bad for the House of Bruton too.”
Without waiting to be asked, Gerald assumes his usual seat opposite Lettice, sinking into the comfortable, thick white floral embossed upholstery of Lettice’s companion tub armchair.
“Well,” Gerald goes on with a deep sigh. “You obviously haven’t called me over to talk about the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes******* and how you found it. Although I hope you found some inspiration my darling.”
“Oh yes, plenty.” Lettice replies, breaking her unusual silence with her rather laconic and uninspired reply.
Gerald looks dubiously across at his friend.
“I’ve had Moaning Minnie on the telephone to me the last few days,” Gerald says dourly, referring to their mutual friend, London banker’s wife, Minnie Palmerston by her nickname. “She thinks she’s put her foot in it again, since you won’t see her or return her telephone calls.”
“Minnie always thinks she has put her foot in it.” Lettice replies without enthusiasm.
“That’s because she usually has,” Gerald quips. “Although not with you and I Lettice darling.”
“Mmmm…” Lettice murmurs, picking up her dainty glass with its long stem and draining the contents of gin and tonic – likely more of the former and less of the latter judging by the quality of the sheen of the clear liquid as it disappears down her throat.
Just at that moment, Edith slips into the dining room of Cavendish Mews by way of the green baize door that leads from the service part of the flat, carrying her completed plate of dainty savoury canapés. She walks across the room and into the drawing room where she stands before the fire, between Lettice and Gerald. “I thought you could do with these, Miss.” She slides the ruffle edged plate onto the table. “it might help line your stomach, Miss.” she adds in concern, turning her head slight towards Gerald with a meaningful look, who nods surreptitiously back at her.
“Thank you Edith, but I’m really not that hungry.” Lettice replies.
“Well, you’ve nothing whatever in your stomach, so I suggest you at least try a few to help sop up some of your gin cocktails, Miss.”
“Err, yes. Thank you, Edith.” Gerald pipes up quickly as the maid wades into murky waters with her mistress, in an effort to avoid her being barked at by an out-of-sorts Lettice, or worse. “We’ll take it from here. Thank you.”
“Very good, Sir.” Edith bobs a quick curtsey and retreats.
As soon as he knows Edith has retreated to the kitchen through the green baize door, Gerald says, “Alright Lettuce Leaf! Out with it!” He hopes that he can break her funk, at least a little bit, by using his childhood nickname for her, which he knows she hates.
“Don’t call me that Gerald! You know how I hate it!” she replies, admittedly not with her usual vigour, but at least with a little bit of energy.
“That’s better.” Gerald smiles. “So, what is it that was so ghastly about your trip to Paris that it has you looking so bloody******** and in such a god awful funk?”
“I’m not in a funk!” Lettice responds in a churlish fashion.
Gerald simply gives her a withering look as he pours them both a small amount of gin into their glasses and adds more carbonated tonic water from the clear glass syphon than Lettice has been adding to her own drinks.
“Those are rather over the top, aren’t they?” Gerald nods in the direction of a vase of red roses, white asters, pink oriental lilies and purple irises towering over the telephone on the small table beside Lettice’s armchair.
“They’re from John.” Lettice replies in a languorous fashion.
“Was it Sir John?” Gerald asks directly, returning the syphon to the tabletop, before setting back in his seat languidly with his glass in one hand, and one of Edith’s canapés in the other. As he bites into the dainty puff pastry decorated with tiny herb sprigs and a tiny cherry tomato he adds, “Edith is right you know, Lettice darling. You should have one of these, they are delicious, and have a rather delectable creamy cheese filling.”
Encouraged, Lettice snatches one off the plate and grabs the stem of her glass. When she pulls a face after tasting the gin and tonic in her glass, she puts both down again, and reaches for the bottle of Gordon’s to add more gin to her glass.
“Ahh-ahh!” Gerald replies, snatching the bottle away quickly before she can reach it. “Not until you tell me what is going on.” He persists. “So, it was Sir John then!”
Lettice sighs. “No, it wasn’t.” She sighs more deeply. “Well yes it was, but not entirely. There are a number of things that have come to light,” She huffs. “Or rather haven’t come to light, that have put me out-of-sorts.”
Keeping the bottle out of harm’s, and Lettice’s way, by slipping it onto the seat beside him, Gerald goes on, “I’m listening then.”
Lettice takes a bite out of the canapé in her left hand and chews her mouthful rather indolently before explaining.
“Well, in one respect it was John who upset me.”
“What did he do?”
“Well, when I agreed to marry him, he promised me that he would never do anything to shame me.”
“And he did?” Gerald asks. When Lettice nods shallowly, he presses, “What did he do?”
“Well, Clemance organised the most marvellous picnic in the Tuileries Gardens********* for us. She wanted me to meet some of her Parisian friends, the Duponts, who were lovely.”
“However?”
“However, John also invited that woman, Mademoiselle Flanton, the actress from Cinégraphic********** to join us, along with some of her ghastly and gauche theatrical friends.”
“But you knew that Sir John was going to meet this Mademoiselle Flanton, whilst you were in Paris. He told you that he would, right from when you first mentioned going to the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes at the Savoy*********** months ago.” Gerald says before finishing off the rest of his canapé.
“I know he did.”
“For all his faults,” Gerald defends Sir John. “And god knows he has many of them, he’s never tried to hide them from you. In fact, from all you’ve intimated to me, he’s been very up front about them right from the very beginning.”
“Knowing about them, and having them flung in your face are two quite different things.” Lettice retorts.
“Ahh yes.” Gerald opines, reaching for another canapé. “I did notice how piqued you were at Sylvia’s house party at ‘The Nest’ when he arrived with Paula Young, even after he’s told you that she was going to be there.”
“They played handies************ right there in front of me!”
“Who? Sir John and Paula? I thought they did much more than that, that weekend, Lettice darling.”
“Don’t be so obtuse, Gerald!” Lettice snaps. “I meant John and that awful, vulgar Mademoiselle Flanton! They entwined fingers like lovers right in front of me on the picnic rug! Goodness knows if Clemance or the Duponts saw it. I doubt Clemance did, but if the Duponts did, they were at least too polite to pass comment.”
Gerald raises his half drunk cocktail, “God bless the Entente Cordiale*************.”
“This is no time to be glib, Gerald darling!” Lettice scolds. “It was most embarrassing and distracting.”
“I’m sorry Lettice darling.” Gerald apologises. “I didn’t mean for it to come across like that. I’m as horrified about the business with Mademoiselle Flanton as I am about that of Miss Young. At least Miss Young and Sir John conducted their affair behind closed doors as it were, at Sylvia’s, with probably a very understanding and accepting select group of people. Behaving that way in public is atrocious! That must have been quite awful for you, poor darling!”
“It was Gerald darling! Quite awful!”
Lettice drains her glass and holds it out to Gerald to replenish.
“No, Lettuce Leaf!” Gerald replies, moving protectively between Lettice and the bottle of gin nestled on the seat beside him. “I told you, not until you tell me everything that is upsetting you! If you have any more, you’ll get tight**************, and when you get tight, you get nonsensical, and I can’t make out anything you say properly. If you want me to help you, or my advice,” He wags a finger admonishingly at her. “You’ll not be like your errant fiancée and hold to your promise and tell me all!”
“Oh Gerald!” Lettice mewls as she sinks back into her seat deflatedly. “You really are beastly sometimes!”
“Don’t be a spoiled young flapper and tell me what else happened.” Gerald persists.
“Well, besides the hands incident at Clemance’s picnic, and the fact that John did what he told me he was going to whilst we were in Paris, and left Clemance and I at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts together, bold-faced lying to his sister about where he was going, whilst he pursued a secret tryst with Mademoiselle Flanton, he also subjected me to an evening of cocktails at her Parisian apartment.”
“But I thought Sir John had been clear about both of those things at the Savoy too, Lettice darling. You told me that was what he was going to do.” Gerald shakes his head with a lack of comprehension. “I don’t understand.”
“Well, it wasn’t just the evening that was tiresome and humiliating for me.” Lettice goes on, taking up a small canapé of sauteed and honey glazed carrot cut into a heart shape. “I’m sure everyone there knew about John and Mademoiselle Flanton’s history together, and the rekindling of their acquaintance,” She shudders as she utters the last word with vehemence. “And I was seen as just the poor little unsuspecting wife-to-be, an innocent jeune fille à marier*************** plucked from the British aristocracy, with no idea about who was who, or what was what.”
“Well, if it wasn’t that alone, what was it, Lettice darling?”
“It was Mademoiselle Flanton herself.” Seeing Gerald’s look, imagining the French actress throwing herself flagrantly in front of Sir John in Lettice’s presence, Lettice quickly elucidates, “Oh nothing like that Gerald darling! No, it was what she told me!”
“What she told you?”
“Yes,” Lettice replies laconically. “During the evening, Mademoiselle Flanton appraised me of some things that now have me wondering.”
“Wondering about what?”
“After Mademoiselle Flanton learned, or rather read, of John’s and my engagement, and she reconnected with John on this trip to Paris, he told her about all that beastly business with Selwyn and how he had dissolved our understanding after proposing to Kitty Avendale, the diamond mine heiress.”
“Well, I think that is rather beastly of Sir John! Such pillow talk!” Gerald retorts hotly, quite forgetting that not all that long ago, he and his lover, West End oboist Cyril, were involved in pillow talk revolving around Lettice and Sir John’s relationship. “I would be most offended too!”
“No, it wasn’t that, that upset me, Gerald.”
“Then what was it?”
“Well, after he did this, Mademoiselle Flanton told me that out of her own piqued interest, she had her secretary do some minor investigations into the alleged engagement.”
Gerald chokes on his mouthful of gin and tonic, spluttering and coughing violently. Struggling to regain both his breath and composure, he manages to ask, “Alleged engagement?”
“Mademoiselle Flanton made me question what I have been shown by Lady Zinnia. Mademoiselle Flanton’s secretary did some digging around and she noted something I hadn’t even considered. Apparently there has been no announcement in The Times, or any other British newspaper about Selwyn’s engagement. Don’t you find that a little odd?”
Still catching his breath, Gerald takes another slug of his gin and tonic before saying, “I do. The Duchess, Lady Zinnia, is a woman of many pretentions. There is no way that she would let such an advantageous match pass by unnoticed, especially considering her original idea had been to marry Selwyn off to his cousin and join two powerful British dynasties.” He pauses and considers. “But how do you even know that what Mademoiselle Flanton claims is true? It isn’t like either of us have been reading the marriage announcements.”
“I know, Gerald, and I certainly haven’t, but I know someone who reads them religiously.”
“Not Sadie?” Gerald asks, referring to Lettice’s mother, Lady Sadie.
“No,” Lettice elucidates. “Margot’s mother, Lady de Virre. She never fails to find out who has become engaged to whom, so when I came home from Paris, I telephoned her, and she told me that she hasn’t seen a thing about the engagement.”
“Intriguing.” Gerald remarks, taking a deep breath, as much out of shock as to help him regain his composure.
“But wait, there is more yet to tell, Gerald.” Lettice says, her voice rising with excitement, her body pulsating with a sudden energy that has been lacking before now. “What Mademoiselle Flanton’s secretary also told her mistress, was that based upon her investigations, Kitty Avendale only arrived in Durban last year not long after Selwyn did. No-one had ever heard of her o seen her before that time, anywhere. For the heiress to a diamond mine, that seems a more than a little odd too, don’t you think, Gerald?”
“I do.”
“I suggested to her that perhaps Mr. Avendale had only made his money recently, but then Mademoiselle Flanton told me that there is apparently no father with a diamond mine!”
“What?”
“Exactly! Her secretary found the only Australian man with a surname of Avendale was a jockey of some kind who was caught race fixing**************** when he deliberately lost the Durban Handicap*****************. There is something decidedly fishy going on here, and I suspect Lady Zinnia’s hand in it.”
“But you said that Lady Zinnia showed you pictures of Selwyn and Miss Avendale tougher, with an engagement announced beneath it, Lettice.”
“Well, Mademoiselle Flanton made me question what I have actually been shown. She made me wonder whether I have been shown the whole truth, or only a half – something redacted – or worse yet, something fabricated by Lady Zinnia.”
“Well, she was always a vicious viper, that one,” Gerald gasps. “Selwyn always told me that what she wanted, she always got in the end, by hook or by crook.”
“Tell me, do you ever hear from Selwyn any more, Gerald darling?”
“No, Lettice darling, but I just assumed that he stopped writing to me because he knows that you’re my best friend, and it would have been indelicate for him to write to me after breaking your heart.”
“What if it was the other way around, Gerald darling?”
“Whatever do you mean, Lettice?”
“What if he stopped writing to you because I broke his heart when he read about my engagement to Sir John, and he didn’t want to talk to you any more because you are my best friend?”
“Do you suspect Sir John’s involvement too? You could break your engagement with him you know. It’s your prerogative.”
“I know I can, but… well… no.” Lettice admits. “I don’t suspect John’s hand in this anywhere. Mademoiselle Flanton is very protective of John. I think if he had done something nefarious, she wouldn’t have believed it, and she certainly wouldn’t have told me what she did that night. I don’t suppose you could get Selwyn’s current address from your club? You once told me that you two were members of the same club here in London.”
“We were,” Gerald says, blushing as he speaks. “But I’m afraid I’m not a member of the club any more, Lettice darling. You see, I was banned for not paying my membership and letting it fall so far in arrears. At the time I was rather short you know, trying to set up my atelier in Grosvenor Street, which wasn’t cheap, so I rather let it go, as I had to so many of life’s little pleasantries. Then, when I had enough money to pay my debts, I saw no reason to rejoin a club that is only for men, and more sporting men at that. I’d met Hattie and Cyril by that stage and made more friends through her than I ever did at that damn club, that I just simply never paid. I doubt they would let me even try and contact Selwyn through them. I am sure I am persona non grata****************** to them now.”
“Oh Gerald darling! What am I going to do? I don’t want to break my engagement to John, and hurt his pride or the feelings of Clemance, particularly if I have no call to withdraw from our arrangement. Also, it would only enrage Pater and Mater would be fit to be tied.”
“But you said that they were lukewarm about the engagement.”
“Initially yes, but lately they have come around to it, and seem quite happy. If Mater was willing to come up to London to help me shop for a wedding frock.”
“Direct more like.” Gerald quips disgruntledly. “Considering she won’t consider me as the designer of it.”
“Well, you know what I mean, Gerald darling, and I’m still chipping away at her on that. Anyway, if she was willing to come up to London, she can’t be against it.” She wrings her hands after depositing her empty glass on the tabletop. “What am I to do, Gerald darling? You’re my best friend, my oldest chum! You’re the only one of my close friends I’d dare turn to right now who doesn’t have an invested interest in me breaking it off with John. You’ll be honest with me, and give very sound advice.”
“Well, I’m flattered you think that Lettice darling. Let me think.” He then fishes out the bottle of Gordon’s and holds it across the table between he and Lettice for her to take.
She shakes her head in return. “I need a clear head to think, Gerald darling.”
Gerald fixes himself another grin and tonic, this time with more of the former than the latter as he allows all of Lettice’s revelations sink in. He sists in silence, sipping his drink for a while, and the room becomes enveloped in a thick, yet anticipatory and charged silence as Lettice sits opposite him. At length he speaks.
“How willing are you to go, regarding this investigation into the truth, Lettice darling?” he asks seriously.
“I’ll do whatever it takes, Gerald.” Lettice says with resolve.
“Even if it may take a few months or more?”
“I don’t care how long it will take if I can discover the truth. I won’t be able to sleep properly until I do.”
“Well, I hope that isn’t quite true, Lettice darling,” Gerald remarks, giving her a doleful look as he does. “As it may take six months or more, and you’ll have to do some manoeuvring and procrastination of your own that may take a bit of effort.”
“I told you, Gerald darling,” Lettice reiterates. “I’ll do anything.”
“Then, would you get Leslie involved?”
“Leslie? As in my brother, Leslie?”
“Yes.”
“No. He’s against John’s and my engagement, even though he pretends to the contrary. He doesn’t think I know he’s lying when he tells me how happy he is for me, but he is. I’ve known him all my life. Besides, he is Mater’s favourite, and she would wheedle anything I confide in him about all this out of him, and then she’s be off to attack Lady Zinnia, which would only make things worse if it turns out all to be for naught.”
“Hhhmmm…” Gerald muses. “That’s probably quite wise, Lettice darling. A clear heard is good for your thinking.” He taps the edge of his own partially empty glass. “Then are you willing to get your own hands dirty?”
“Dirty? How do you mean, Gerald?”
“Well, I was only mentioning Leslie because before he took a more active role in the estate as the heir to Glynes, he worked for the Foreign Office, and I thought he might have had some sleuthing contacts.”
“I don’t want him involved, Gerald. Only you know, and I intend to keep it that way.”
“Then we two are going to have to hire a Pinkerton*******************.”
“A Pinkerton!” Lettice gasps. “Is that really necessary, Gerald darling?”
“I’m afraid so, Lettice darling.” he replies. “No-one else, outside people in the Foreign Office, will be able to sleuth out the truth for you. It won’t be cheap. Pinkertons are expensive.”
“I can afford it.” Lettice replies with steely resolve.
“And as I said, they may take a few months or longer before they find out what is what, and who was involved, so you are going to have to buy time.”
“Buy time?”
“No matter who pressures you, you are going to have to drag your feet about getting married, and it seems to me that with Sadie and Clemance Pontefract involved now, things are moving a little faster than they were before their involvement.”
“Well, I should be able to convince John. He’s in no hurry to get married, but Mater and Clemance won’t want too long an engagement. Clemance has already scolded both John and I about being glacially slow in making our plans.”
“Then you are going to have to steel yourself against the pressure, Lettice darling. If you really want to know the truth, and make sure that you aren’t making a mistake by marrying Sir John, when Selwyn may yet be waiting for you, you will have to stall for time.”
“Then if that is what I’ll do. But how?”
“Throw yourself into your work. Edith tells me you’ve done nothing about the designs for Dolly Hatchett’s Queen Anne’s Gate******************** townhouse redecoration. That will be a good start. If you are too busy to make important decisions, then even at their most fervent, neither Sadie nor Clemance can progress without you. Put your foot down about Sadie’s decision not to let me make your wedding frock. We all know how stubborn she can be. That will give us time too.”
Lettice smiles at Gerald, a beaming and genuine smile. “Thank you for helping me with this, Gerald. I knew you were the only one to assist me.”
Gerald holds out his hand to Lettice, who grasps it firmly in return. “Of course! You’re my best and oldest chum! I’d do anything to help you and support you!”
*Moiré, is a textile with a wavy (watered) appearance produced mainly from silk, but also wool, cotton, and rayon. The watered appearance is usually created by the finishing technique called calendering. Moiré effects are also achieved by certain weaves, such as varying the tension in the warp and weft of the weave. Silk treated in this way is sometimes called watered silk. Rayon moiré was a popular choice for the black evening uniform for female domestics between the wars, as it gave the elegant appearance of silk, and looked very smart with the white lace cuffs and collars of such uniforms.
**A chignon is a classic, versatile hairstyle characterized by a low bun or knot of hair, typically worn at the nape of the neck, though it can also be a more general term for hair wrapped at the back of the head. The name "chignon" comes from the French phrase "chignon du cou," meaning "nape of the neck," where the hairstyle is traditionally positioned. This elegant and refined style has been around for centuries.
***An Astrakhan coat is a fur coat or jacket made from the tightly curled fleece of the newborn Karakul lamb. This distinctive, looped material, also known as Persian lamb fur, creates a glamorous, warm, and luxurious garment often in black, grey, or golden yellow. Astrakhan coats were worn in London during several periods, most notably as part of Victorian and Edwardian high fashion, in the 1860s and 1870s, again from 1890 to 1908, and into the early Twentieth Century, with renewed popularity in the 1920s and 1930s and again in the 1950s and 1960s. The luxurious fur was used for full coats, as well as collars and trims, fitting with the ornate aesthetic of the late Nineteenth Century and the trends of the early Twentieth Century.
****Old top hats were historically made from animal products, most notably the felted underfur of beavers, which was the preferred material for early top hats. As beaver fur supplies declined and alternatives became available, the high-quality, shiny material known as silk plush replaced beaver fur as the favoured material for the best top hats. Other animal furs used included camel and vicuña, and later, the fur of rabbits was used to create a material called "Melusine" for some modern top hats.
*****Pale blue sapphires from India are known as Kashmir sapphires. They are very rare, and are known for their velvety, cornflower-blue colour, not typically a pale hue. Whilst the term "Kashmir" refers to their origin, the characteristic colour associated with these precious stones is a rich, intense blue, not pale.
******Gordon's London Dry Gin was developed by Alexander Gordon, a Londoner of Scots descent. He opened a distillery in the Southwark area in 1769, later moving in 1786 to Clerkenwell. The Special London Dry Gin he developed proved successful, and its recipe remains unchanged to this day. The top markets for Gordon's are (in descending order) the United Kingdom, the United States and Greece. Gordon's has been the United Kingdom’s number one gin since the late Nineteenth Century. It is the world's best-selling London dry gin.
*******The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts was a specialized exhibition held in Paris, from April the 29th (the day after it was inaugurated in a private ceremony by the President of France) to October the 25th, 1925. It was designed by the French government to highlight the new modern style of architecture, interior decoration, furniture, glass, jewellery and other decorative arts in Europe and throughout the world. Many ideas of the international avant-garde in the fields of architecture and applied arts were presented for the first time at the exposition. The event took place between the esplanade of Les Invalides and the entrances of the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, and on both banks of the Seine. There were fifteen thousand exhibitors from twenty different countries, and it was visited by sixteen million people during its seven-month run. The modern style presented at the exposition later became known as “Art Deco”, after the exposition's name.
********The old fashioned British term “looking bloody” was a way of indicating how dour or serious a person or occasion looks.
*********The Tuileries Garden is a public garden between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde in the first arrondissement of Paris. Created by Catherine de' Medici as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564, it was opened to the public in 1667 and became a public park after the French Revolution. Since the Nineteenth Century, it has been a place for Parisians to celebrate, meet, stroll and relax.
**********Cinégraphic was a French film production company founded by director Marcel L'Herbier in the 1920s. It was established following a disagreement between L'Herbier and the Gaumont Company, a major film distributor, over the film "Don Juan et Faust". Cinégraphic was involved in the production of several films, including "Don Juan et Faust" itself. Cinégraphic focused on more experimental and artistic films.
***********The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by Carte's family for over a century. The Savoy was the first hotel in Britain to introduce electric lights throughout the building, electric lifts, bathrooms in most of the lavishly furnished rooms, constant hot and cold running water and many other innovations. Carte hired César Ritz as manager and Auguste Escoffier as chef de cuisine; they established an unprecedented standard of quality in hotel service, entertainment and elegant dining, attracting royalty and other rich and powerful guests and diners. The hotel became Carte's most successful venture. Its bands, Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band, became famous. Winston Churchill often took his cabinet to lunch at the hotel. The hotel is now managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. It has been called "London's most famous hotel". It has two hundred and sixty seven guest rooms and panoramic views of the River Thames across Savoy Place and the Thames Embankment. The hotel is a Grade II listed building.
************The phrase "play handies" to mean couples holding hands started around 1910. An earlier related phrase, "playing hand," referring to holding a hand of cards, was documented in the 1890s. In 1936, a different meaning emerged for the term "handies" as a word for a charades-like game played with hand gestures, a usage documented by the Chicago Tribune.
*************The Entente Cordiale was a set of agreements signed by France and the United Kingdom on April the 8th, 1904, to resolve colonial disputes and foster a closer working relationship, marking the end of a long history of imperial rivalry and isolation. While not a formal military alliance, the agreements paved the way for future cooperation and helped form the Triple Entente, which played a significant role in the dynamics leading up to World War I.
**************To get tight is an old fashioned term used to describe getting drunk.
***************A jeune fille à marier was a marriageable young woman, the French term used in fashionable circles and the upper-classes of Edwardian society before the Second World War.
****************We usually think of match or race fixing as a modern day thing, but one of the earliest examples of this sort of match fixing in the modern era occurred in 1898 when Stoke City and Burnley intentionally drew in that year's final "test match" so as to ensure they were both in the First Division the next season. In response, the Football League expanded the divisions to eighteen teams that year, thus permitting the intended victims of the fix (Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers) to remain in the First Division. The "test match" system was abandoned and replaced with automatic relegation. Match fixing quickly spread to other spots that involved high amounts of gambling, including horse racing.
*****************The Durban July Handicap is a South African Thoroughbred horse race held annually on the first Saturday of July since 1897 at Greyville Racecourse in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Raced on turf, the Durban July Handicap is open to horses of all ages. It is South Africa's premier horse racing event. When first held in July 1897, the race was at a distance of one mile. The distance was modified several times until 1970 when it was changed to its current eleven furlongs.
******************“Persona non grata” is a Latin phrase meaning “unwelcome person.” As a legal term, it refers to the practice of a state prohibiting a diplomat from entering the country as a diplomat, or censuring a diplomat already resident in the country for conduct unbecoming of the status of a diplomat.
*******************A “Pinkerton” is a private detective, and refers to the Pinkerton Detective Agency, founded by Allan Pinkerton, known for its historical role in labour disputes and spying. For decades after Allan Pinkerton's death, his name became a slang term for any private investigator, regardless of whether they worked for the Pinkerton Agency or not. Today, the agency (now simply called Pinkerton) focuses on risk management, intelligence, and security services.
********************Queen Anne’s Gate is a street in Westminster, London. Many of the buildings are Grade I listed, known for their Queen Anne architecture. Simon Bradley and Nikolaus Pevsner described the Gate’s early Eighteenth Century houses as “the best of their kind in London.” The street’s proximity to the Palace of Westminster made it a popular residential area for politicians.
This 1920s upper-class drawing room is different to what you may think at first glance, for it is made up entirely of 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
On Lettice's table are two glasses which are hand spun artisan pieces made from real glass which I have had since I was a young teenager. I bought them from a high street shop that specialised in dolls and dollhouse furnishings, including miniatures. They are amongst the first real artisan pieces I ever bought. The bottle of Gordon's Gin is another artisan piece made by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire, with so much attention and detail paid to the period lable. For this scene, I have taken a piece of Lettice’s tea set, which is a beautiful artisan set featuring a rather avant-garde Art Deco Royal Doulton design from the Edwardian era called “Falling Leaves”, and turned the sugar bowl into an ice cube bowl. The glass comport is made of real glass and was blown by hand is an artisan miniature acquired from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The ice cubes, the soda syphon and the savory hors d'oeuvres on the plate also comes from Beautifully handmade Miniatures.
The very realistic floral arrangement to the right of the photo is made by hand by Falcon Miniatures who specialise in high end miniatures.
Lettice’s drawing room is furnished with beautiful J.B.M. miniatures. The Art Deco tub chairs are of black japanned wood and have removable cushions, just like their life sized examples. To the left of the fireplace is a Hepplewhite drop-drawer bureau and chair of black japanned wood which has been hand painted with chinoiserie designs, even down the legs and inside the bureau. The Hepplewhite chair has a rattan seat, which has also been hand woven. To the right of the fireplace is a Chippendale cabinet which has also been decorated with chinoiserie designs. It also features very ornate metalwork hinges and locks.
On the top of the Hepplewhite bureau stand three real miniature photos in frames including an Edwardian silver frame, a Victorian brass frame and an Art Deco blue Bakelite and glass frame.
The fireplace is a 1:12 miniature resin Art Deco fireplace which is flanked by brass accessories including an ash brush with real bristles.
The carpet beneath the furniture is a copy of a popular 1920s style Chinese silk rug, and the geometric Art Deco wallpaper is beautiful hand impressed paper given to me by a friend, which inspired the whole “Cavendish Mews – Lettice Chetwynd” series.
The greatest mystics have not been heretics but Catholic saints. In them “natural mysticism” which, like “natural religion,” is latent in humanity, and at the certain point of development breaks out in every race, came to itself; and attributing for the first time true and distinct personality to its Object, brought into focus the confused and unconditioned God which Neoplatonism had constructed from the abstract concepts of philosophy blended with the intuitions of Indian ecstatics, and made the basis of its meditations on the Real. It is a truism that the chief claim of Christian philosophy on our respect does not lie in its exclusiveness but in its Catholicity: in the fact that it finds truth in a hundred different systems, accepts and elucidates Greek, Jewish, and Indian thought, fuses them in a coherent theology, and says to speculative thinkers of every time and place, “Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.”
-Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, E. P. Dutton and Company (New York) pp. 105–6.
After I took this shot, I was stunned at the result. The way the patterns of light mixed with the textures of the concrete amazed me. I took several more shots from the same spot, but none had the same grainy feel to it. I guess because this was at 1600 ISO. Most of the others were at 100 ISO.
Taken during a night shoot under the Esplanade Bridge.
(edit)
This one hit #1 on Explore!
Esplanade, Singapore
2007
| Arjun Purkayastha • travel & fine art photography • | Facebook page |
Retour dans la vallée | Zurück im Tal.
2018 ©MichelleCourteau
Same place, direction towards Grenoble valley.
ps/the dark halo on top -left & right- is a mystery to me, can someone elucidate it?
Was on my way home from running errands and spotted this. When I went around the block to take some pictures a fellow pulled up and he elucidated that he’s the owner and they’re
taking it down to build a whole new house. The lot is less than a half/quarter of a mile from the lake, so I’d imagine it’s prime real estate!
Windows, or rather the lack of windows, for Window Wednesday. Context of size coming up next.
Memories of December 7
Dec 7, 2019
Akatsuki was launched in May 2010 and arrived at Venus on December 7 that year. On the hopeful day, Akatsuki failed its first attempt of orbit insertion to become an orbiter around Venus, and started the journey around the Sun again. Over the next 5 years, all the people involved were in the depths of despair, and we clenched our teeth keeping our spacecraft safe. Akatsuki's second attempt of orbit insertion was successfully done on December 7, 2015. We and Akatsuki reached this December 7, 9.5 years after its launch and 4 years after its successful observations. Elucidation of the superrotation mechanism, the main scientific goal of Akatsuki project, would be achieved in the near future. We would like to continue operation of the spacecraft in future as we thank heaven for our very lucky spacecraft.
Masato Nakamura, Project manager
This is a view of a chunk of Precambrian layers along the Colorado River. Mostly there are Precambrian layers in this part of the River. Metamorphic Schist (including Vishnu and Brahma) and Precambrian Granite (including Zoroaster). The Precambrian layers are over 1billion years old. I believe this is Vishnu Schist with intrusive veins of Zoroaster Granite. Any clarification or correction will be appreciated.
[edit] Additional elucidation from Mike Beauregard:
showing metamorphosed bedded black shale with injections of younger pink granite and white quartz veins, all of which is folded. [end edit]
I went on a non-motorized Raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon with Arizona Raft Adventures from May 16 through May 31. Four Oar rafts, a Dory, and a paddle raft.
AZRA has perfected Colorado River / Grand Canyon rafting. The guides were great, the food was great. Other than the weather, the experience was great.
I went with the idea that this was not a photo adventure. I was going to enjoy the experience and the ride. So I don't have photos of our put in at Lee's Ferry. But you know that you can't get that photo bug out of your system. I did not take my good cameras. This is a nice little Olympus TG-5. Everything takes a beating on a trip like this. It came out a little worse for wear but held up like a champion. On a trip like this you get sand in places you never knew you had places.
GRCA1919
P5230231 acd1-SharpenAI-Focus
This was spotted in the Arroyo at De Anza Mobile Homes, by Lee Jaffe until which time my eyes were glued to Ruby-throated Hummingbird candidates.
I was thinking that the two tone bill makes this a male, but I have to admit that I have not seen it written anywhere, so hopefully someone can elucidate.
(From Aramaic: “to study”)
Is part of the Talmud (collective essay contains the writing of rabbinic discussions on matters pertain Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history) that mainly focuses on elucidating and elaborating the opinions of the Tannaim – Jewish scholars from the first and second century. The Gemara in the Bavli Talmud is written in Mishnaic Hebrew (also called Late Rabbinic Hebrew) while the commentaries are in Babylonian Aramaic (very profound and difficult to grasp). For those who are curious to expand their knowledge see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud
I have four folders of images:
_D3S5635-_D3S5642 (8 images) took extras
_D3S5643-_D3S5648 (6 images) lost count and lost track
_D3S5649-_D3S5655 (7 images)
_D3S5656-_D3S5662 (7 images)
Initially, I processed them all together in Lightroom 5. Created a panorama that I was not satisfied with. I made a few attempts at it.
Then, I enlarged the Preview on my desktop of the images, which allowed me to assemble them in four folders.
I created individual panoramas for each folder.
Then I made a single merged panorama of the individual panoramas, in each folder.
This is the end result.
The purpose was to achieve the usual horizontal panorama, but a panorama of the sky was necessary.
I made all of these incremental adjustments, using an LED head torch (LED head-mounted flashlight). I was guessing at the amount of overlap, to enable me to stitch the images together.
Note: This photo was aired during WIN News weather presentation, on channel 7 9HD, 30 September 2024. Video can be seen here- cassidyphotography.net/my-elucidation/
A gentle reminder about copyright and intellectual property-
Ⓒ Cassidy Photography (All images in this Flickr portfolio)
cassidyphotography.net/photography-portfolio/landscape/au...
Potter's Wax Museum
St. Augustine, FL
Tycoons. Robber Barons. Conquer Capitalists. Every American era bears the indelible marks of those seemingly built to succeed within the up for grabs world of the free market. They are simultaneously hated and admired, condemned and praised. Regardless of opinion, they define the world around them. All built financial empires. A portion of those built communities, schools, churches, or parks as well. Henry Morrison Flagler dedicated the last thirty years of his life, as well as half of his fortune, to building an entire state. Florida’s emergence from swampy backwater to the tourist icon that it is today is due to the daring, persistence, and generosity of a single man.
Henry Morrison Flagler was born January 2nd, 1830 to Reverend Isaac Flagler and Elizabeth Ann Caldwell Harkness. The Flagler family, originally spelled Flegler, hailed from the southwestern corner of Germany known as the Palatinate region. The family being of moderate means, Henry struck out from New York to Republic, Ohio in 1844. It was a small town of roughly 1,000 individuals, but familial connections led to a job at a general store. His talent and work ethic blossomed, and he turned a $5 a month job in $12 a month within ten months. It was the beginning of a financial success thread that would run the length of his life.
A few changes of scenery found Henry in Bellevue, Ohio working for the Harkness side of his family in the mercantile business. By 1852 he had become a partner and expanded the business to include grain trade. It was during this period that he married his first wife, Mary, daughter of Mr. Harkness, and became acquainted with a man destined to play a leading role within his life, John D. Rockefeller.
Dedication, creativity, and foresight marked the steady rise of Henry’s professional life. However, the 1860 salt strike led to his only failure as a businessman. He made his way to Saginaw, Michigan and found himself within an industry requiring intimate knowledge and skill which he did not possess. This risk ended in debt which would require a few years to overcome. But overcome he would.
In 1867, he joined the partnership of Rockefeller and Andrews and immersed himself in the oil business. His was the domain of transportation. Pennsylvanian oil was shipped to Cleveland to be refined and then hauled further down the line to New York to be sold. Flagler was adept at arranging favorable deals with the railroads, even to the extent of levying taxes against competing oil refineries when they used the railroads. These taxes were paid to Standard Oil unbeknownst to the competitors.
Shrewd would be an apt description of Flagler. Cutthroat, as his crowd was often labeled, would not. He simply made the best business decisions for his firm. And, at times, for others. Flagler was fond of a specific German bakery in Cleveland, the owner of which sold the bakery to try his hand at the oil refining business. Upon discovering this tidbit of information, Flagler bought the refinery from the German. Rather than merely hand over the money for the refinery, Flagler gave something of his far more valuable; financial advice. The German allotted a portion of the money to relieve debts, but took the rest in stock of Standard Oil, along with a position within the company. His salary grew to $8,000 a year as he climbed to superintendent and his stock boomed from $2,500 to $50,000. That’s a lot of brot!
The winter of 1883-84 introduced Flagler to Florida, a relationship within which both were reborn. At this time, Florida was a spot visited by the northeastern high society and recommended by doctors to alleviate pulmonary disorders. To arrive in St. Augustine, which is where Flagler passed his first visitation, required a train, a cab, a ferry, a cab, a train, and another cab. To elucidate further, that process simply described the Jacksonville to St. Augustine stretch. However, Flagler saw immense potential.
A fortune had already been made. Enough wood was in the shed to keep generations warm. However, at age 53, Flagler embarked on an odyssey few would dare. He knew the heart of the matter was access. Make the trip to Florida less complicated, and its natural abundance would sell itself. A narrow-gauge line between Jacksonville and St Augustine existed, but it was incompatible with the larger gauge lines spawning across the country. When the owners wouldn’t heed his advice to make the necessary changes, Flagler bought the line and made the changes himself. It was now one simple ride from the northeastern commerce hubs to St Augustine.
The enigmatic, scenic city of St Augustine had grandeur enough to entice a visitation from the yanks up north, but Flagler felt the visitors needed a dwelling equal to the uniqueness of its historical setting. Andrew Anderson agreed. He and Flagler made acquaintance in the winter of 1884-85. Anderson, a Princeton grad, believed adamantly in the potential of his hometown. Together, they gave birth to the concept of the Ponce de Leon hotel. Flagler delegated the local details to Anderson and returned north.
Flagler was an innovator in the business world. His intelligence and creativity led him to build a financial empire that is still reigns today. The Ponce de Leon, however, was not business. It was art. He selected two nascent architects to bring classic grandeur and eloquence to the resurrection of the nation’s oldest city. Thomas Hastings and John Carrere both studied at Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Thomas was born in New York. John in Rio de Janeiro. They had a perfectly suited blend of classical training with new world innovation to deliver the masterpiece which Flagler envisioned. He shipped them off to Spain. The roots of their inspiration needed to draw their sustenance from the original source. The young architects remained faithful to the coquina shell concrete and hanging balconies traditional of St Augustine, the rotundas and frescos of Europe, and infused new electric lighting to make the hotel simultaneously an ode to the past and a beacon of the future.
After the Ponce de Leon, Alcazar, and the Cordova in St Augustine, Flagler pressed southward to build hotels in Ormond and Palm Beach. Ever the diversified venture capitalist, he began a steamer service along the Halifax river which gave easier access to northern markets for the citrus industry. A stronger economy would give rise to a more vibrant community, thus strengthening the appeal of his next luxurious hotel. Or were his intentions driven by a different motive?
On the shores of Lake Worth in Palm Beach, the Royal Poinciana was constructed. A sprawling wonder of its time, the hotel accommodated two thousand guests, stood six stories high, and sat upon thirty-two acres. It was during the construction of the Royal Poinciana that another interesting insight into the mind and heart of Flagler was presented. The winter of 1894-95 brought with it a freeze that devastated the local crops. Sensitive to the cries of the resident farmers, Flagler came to their aid financially. Intrigued, he sent his man James E. Ingram south to survey the extent of the freeze. Ingram discovered crops entirely untouched. He returned from Miami with an invitation from Mrs. Julia D Tuttle beckoning Flagler to put his resources to work along the shores Biscayne Bay. Never an idol man, the railroad pushed southward.
While the north of Florida displayed Flagler’s good taste, the south of the state showcased his grit and breadth of vision. In Miami, he went far beyond building a sole hotel. He laid out streets, built water works, an electric light plant, as well as home for the workers. All of which allowed the population of Miami to triple within four years of Flagler’s arrival. It is no overstatement to say that he gave Miami its start. Where the mainland ends, however, Flagler’s imagination set sail.
In a southwestern arc, the Florida Keys adventure into the divide between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico for approximately 128 miles. It was through these Florida Straits that Flagler was at his most daring. The Panama Canal had just been completed. Key West provided the deepest port south of Norfolk, Virginia. If the Keys could be bridged, trade via the Panama Canal would make Key West the southern hub of international commerce. It was under the influence of this dream that Flagler and his men braved numerous difficulties and overcame various setbacks.
The undertaking was immense. Coastal waters were not only bridged, but dredged, as well, to the tune of 75 miles of bridges and 49 miles of dredging. Concrete was mixed on barges then placed into position via boom derricks. Supplies, including water and food, were brought from the mainland to the floating camps in which the laborers lived. One can imagine the scene being as absurd as the endeavor was daring. A total of four hurricanes hit, claiming 130 lives, but after eight years of construction the first passenger train arrived January 22nd, 1912 in Key West.
The Flagler namesakes within the state of Florida include a museum, a university, a beach, and a county, amongst countless others. Such homage was well earned. Flagler’s expenditures within the state declare why. The hotels collectively racked up a $12 million-dollar tab. The railroad system to Homestead tallied another cool $18 million, while the Key West extension alone bore a $20 million-dollar hole in the man’s pocket. $50 million in total! Meanwhile, his estate was valued at $100 million. Whether you believe his investment to have been of a business, legacy, or altruistic nature, the fact remains that Florida owes much to tycoon who began his professional life as a five dollar a month store clerk.
The end came quickly. Flagler died in May 20th, 1913 after a brief illness. It is difficult to believe that a man who island hopped upon an iron horse died of anything but his own accord. Flagler could have done no less than relinquish the grip upon one life to heed the call of the boundless possibilities beckoning from the unknown beyond.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aQgwAfTMXQ
This is a shot of kirito that I forgot that I took when I went to hawaii last november. I have another SAO pic that I took yesterday that i'll upload later on this week so stay tuned...
It's a thin layer that separates most of us from light. Not just literal light... metaphorical light... burning or soothing light... spiritual light. I feel like I'm in the dark more often than I have any right to be. Whether I'm confused or confounded, perturbed or irrational, there's almost always some type of veil interfering with my reception. Like those codgers and imbeciles that adorn themselves with tin foil hats to deter being located by "grays". But I've been working to tear that layer from between myself and the outside. Bettering my intent, enlightening myself, opening myself to others in both confidence and empathy. Trying to educate myself and to get around to doing things that other people only ever talk about... to better my relationships with family, with my spouse, myself... with God. I simply don't want the barrier anymore. I see the light... it's piercing cascade of elucidation and warmth. I'd like to let it get to me without interference... real or imagined. It's warm and has purpose.
"I feel that life will never end where the heart lays in the dark ground
Where love leans like a crack in the heart... in the heart
I've seen all things rise to fall into dust
Into the flare that turns us pale..."
Suddenly I was startled by a hoarse shout that froze me immobile. It was her, dressed in a dark-printed blouse covered with queer patterns that flowed down her over-ample bosom, straining at the end of the porch and glaring me through with those small, close-set eyes that never seemed to blink.
In the only exception I can remember (except maybe during the eclipse of ‘71 when she went as far as the roadside), Widow Wakely shuffled down through knee high grass to stand before me, hands fisted as her side, plump wrinkly skin the color of prunes. She proceeded to warn me never to try and enter that building without further elucidation. Saying that if I did, she could never forgive me for the consequences. A glance at the aged and rusty, yet still sturdy looking padlock on the front, seemed to punctuate her point nicely as she pulled her lips down, and tightly across her gums in a horrible skull-like grimace and told me to go. Ever since that day, with its cold wind and low, black-bellied clouds pressing down on the ridge like a portent of things to come, I was both frightened and drawn by the odd little building behind the main house.
We're here visiting Life in a crack
The double helix describes the appearance of double-stranded DNA, which is composed of two linear strands that run opposite to each other, or anti-parallel, and twist together. Each DNA strand within the double helix is a long, linear molecule made of smaller units called nucleotides that form a chain. The chemical backbones of the double helix are made up of sugar and phosphate molecules that are connected by chemical bonds, known as sugar-phosphate backbones. The two helical strands are connected through interactions between pairs of nucleotides, also called base pairs. Two types of base pairing occur: nucleotide A pairs with T, and nucleotide C pairs with G.
The double-helix model of DNA structure was first published in the journal Nature by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, based upon the crucial X-ray diffraction image of DNA labeled as "Photo 51" from Rosalind Franklin in 1952 .
The realization that the structure of DNA is that of a double-helix elucidated the mechanism of base pairing by which genetic information is stored and copied in living organisms and is widely considered one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century.
Memories of December 7
Dec 7, 2019
Akatsuki was launched in May 2010 and arrived at Venus on December 7 that year. On the hopeful day, Akatsuki failed its first attempt of orbit insertion to become an orbiter around Venus, and started the journey around the Sun again. Over the next 5 years, all the people involved were in the depths of despair, and we clenched our teeth keeping our spacecraft safe. Akatsuki's second attempt of orbit insertion was successfully done on December 7, 2015. We and Akatsuki reached this December 7, 9.5 years after its launch and 4 years after its successful observations. Elucidation of the superrotation mechanism, the main scientific goal of Akatsuki project, would be achieved in the near future. We would like to continue operation of the spacecraft in future as we thank heaven for our very lucky spacecraft.
Masato Nakamura, Project manager
I was born in Ballville Twp., OH, during 1948 and I grew up there, graduating from Ross High School in 1966. The township was founded in 1822, over 125 years before I came into the world.
This image introduces the Ballville Series actors who, In what follows, will endeavor to represent many salient moments in the lives of local residents, [without textual elucidation] replaced by "with caption statements". Please feel free to comment upon anything you think you seem to recognize.
New style Stormtroopers
He pointed out that everyone who comes into contact with a child is a teacher who incessantly describes the world to him, until the moment when the child is capable of perceiving the world as it is described. According to don Juan, we have no memory of that portentous moment, simply because none of us could possibly have had any point of reference to compare it to anything else. From that moment on, however, the child is a member. He knows the description of the world; and his membership becomes full-fledged, I suppose, when he is capable of making all the proper perceptual interpretations which, by conforming to that description, validate it.
For don Juan, then, the reality of our day-to-day life consists of an endless flow of perceptual interpretations which we, the individuals who share a specific membership, have learned to make in common.
The idea that the perceptual interpretations that make up the world have a flow is congruous with the fact that they run uninterruptedly and are rarely, if ever, open to question. In fact, the reality of the world we know is so taken for granted that the basic premise of sorcery, that our reality is merely one of many descriptions, could hardly be taken as a serious proposition.
Fortunately, in the case of my apprenticeship, don Juan was not concerned at all with whether or not I could take his proposition seriously, and he proceeded to elucidate his points, in spite of my opposition, my disbelief, and my inability to understand what he was saying. Thus, as a teacher of sorcery, don Juan endeavored to describe the world to me from the very first time we talked. My difficulty in grasping his concepts and methods stemmed from the fact that the units of his description were alien and incompatible with those of my own.
Was on my way home from running errands and spotted this. When I went around the block to take some pictures a fellow pulled up and he elucidated that he’s the owner and they’re taking it down to build a whole new house. The lot is less than a half/quarter of a mile from the lake, so I’d imagine it’s prime real estate!
Windows, or rather the lack of windows, for Window Wednesday. Context of size coming up next.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad5TszNUVYI
Would you believe that the last five pics of mine including this one were all taken in the same spot? They were all taken in this bucket lid. Its weird how they look so different because of the different lighting/colors/composition.
btw the face is another modded angry clone head like my recent endor rebels pic
Fire for Inspiration, Water for Consecration, Air for Actualisation and Earth, Earth always embracing and creating Continuation, around and about within and without Spirit grants gateways to Illumination, Elucidation and to Interpretation…
Fire heats Water rises in Air and vast lands are All One windswept Earth and we Stellar Shimmers and Star Heirlings are full of vital Spirit seeking Ignition, Inspiration and Completion of our glorious Elemental Extraction Extension and Contraction.
© PHH Sykes 2022
phhsykes@gmail.com
The Blackhouse, Arnol
42 Arnol, Bragar, Isle of Lewis, HS2 9DB, 01851 710 395
www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/the-bla...
The Manege is a former riding hall for the Imperial Horse Guards fronting on Saint Isaac's Square in Saint Petersburg. It was built in 1804–07 to Quarenghi's austere Greek Revival design, one of his last commissions. It replaced a disused canal connecting the Admiralty to the naval warehouses. The Horse Guards Boulevard takes its name from the building.
Today`s Manege Central Exhibition Hall is the largest display space in central St. Petersburg. Manege offers innovative ways for visitors of all ages to engage with contemporary and retrospective art through its exhibitions, workshops and lectures, film screenings, concerts and many more.
After a major refurbishment in 2013-2016, which included the installation of state-of-the-art exhibition facilities and the updating of its cultural programme, Manege is now one of most in-demand venues for displaying world-class art. New curatorial projects showcase local and international art; an educational programme is aimed at both adults and children; the space serves as a forum for socializing and professional exchange in the cultural realm. All this, taken together with Manege's unique location in the very heart of the city, has made Manege a key point of attraction on the city’s creative map.
The exhibition hall occupies the building of the historical riding hall - or the manege - of the Horse Guards regiment (architect – Giacomo Quarenghi, 1807). Over the course of the 19th-20th centuries, in parallel to the dramatic changes in local history, the building of the manege had undergone a series of major changes. The timeline below elucidates the most important steps in the story of how a historical riding hall has become one of the city’s leading exhibition venues.
Two statues, of the antique heroes Castor and Pollux, known together as "the Dioscuri" (sculptor – Paolo Triscornia) are brought from Italy and placed on pedestals on either side of the entrance portico. The figures are miniature marble replicas of the ancient statues that form the composition Fontana dei Dioscuri in front of the Quirinal Palace in Rome. With the instalment of the Dioscuri, the construction of the manege, according to Quarenghi’s design, is complete.
O, Child of Buddha Nature, your present perception can, like a catapult, in an instant, cast you into the most awesome states; either blissful or full of suffering. Therefore, now [it is critical that] your perceptions are not colored by either attachment or aversion.
3rd Chapter - An Elucidation of the Intermediate State of Rebirth from the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
From the popular anime, Sword Art Online. I made this fig a few months ago, but never got around to photographing it. Season two of SAO is on now and premiering every saturday, at anilinkz.com/series/sword-art-online if you wanna watch too.
Fire for Inspiration, Water for Consecration, Air for Actualisation and Earth, Earth always embracing and creating Continuation, around and about within and without Spirit grants gateways to Illumination, Elucidation and to Interpretation…
Fire heats Water rises in Air and vast lands are All One windswept Earth and we Stellar Shimmers and Star Heirlings are full of vital Spirit seeking Ignition, Inspiration and Completion of our glorious Elemental Extraction Extension and Contraction.
© PHH Sykes 2022
phhsykes@gmail.com
The Blackhouse, Arnol
42 Arnol, Bragar, Isle of Lewis, HS2 9DB, 01851 710 395
www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/the-bla...
Fire for Inspiration, Water for Consecration, Air for Actualisation and Earth, Earth always embracing and creating Continuation, around and about within and without Spirit grants gateways to Illumination, Elucidation and to Interpretation…
Fire heats Water rises in Air and vast lands are All One windswept Earth and we Stellar Shimmers and Star Heirlings are full of vital Spirit seeking Ignition, Inspiration and Completion of our glorious Elemental Extraction Extension and Contraction.
© PHH Sykes 2022
phhsykes@gmail.com
The Blackhouse, Arnol
42 Arnol, Bragar, Isle of Lewis, HS2 9DB, 01851 710 395
www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/the-bla...
My impressions of gidyea scrub on Mt Arthur station, Barcaldine, Queensland. Gidyea trees are a species of Acacia - often referred to as the stinking Acacia. It's a very hard wood, used extensively for rural fence posts (it is resistant to termites) and camp fire fuel. Aborigines used Gidyea trunks to make boomerangs. Some other early pioneer's impressions from the "The Queenslander", of September 1907 are as follows:
"The gidyea tree is an indicator of rain. About two or three days previous to rain a peculiar and unpleasant smell arises from it which produces symptoms of nausea to any person in close proximity to it. I have often wondered what chemical properties the tree possesses that the atmosphere so effects. I have discussed the matter with several persons, but without elucidation. Perhaps the exact chemical, if it could be discovered, might prove of value." Others describe the smell as similar to rotten onions, others love the smell.