Saw grass bends slightly as a

gentle breeze caresses its long

green blades.

Feelings of peace and tranquility

fill my soul, as I enjoy the

splendor of the scene before me.

All the world is alive and

encompassed in this special

moment in time.

Excerpt of "A Moment in Time." by MaryGrace Patterson

San Diego’s Balboa Park is the largest cultural complex west of the Mississippi River. The park encompasses over 1,200 acres and is larger than San Francisco's Golden Gate Park (1,107 acres) and New York's Central Park (843 acres). Established in 1868, the park came into prominence with the arrival of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. The park has everything for everyone from museums, theaters, animals, architecture, flora and sports facilities.

Recently the park has undergone a major renovation to prepare for the centennial celebration of the Panama-California Exposition that the park hosted in 1915 and 1916 to honor the completion of the Panama Canal. It was that exposition that put San Diego on the map (at the time the population of San Diego was only 40,000 as opposed to San Francisco’s 420,000) and established Balboa Park as a treasured landmark.

The park you see today almost did not happen. For the Panama-California Exposition in 1915 only four permanent structures were built while the rest were just merely facades, temporary structures built from hemp, staff plaster and horsehair, to be torn down after the exposition. Fortunately the city leaders were wise to heed the advice of former President Theodore Roosevelt when he stated: “It is so beautiful that I wish to make a plea: that you keep these buildings here permanently.”

I took this blue hour shot of the Plaza de Panama, which was the hub of the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exposition and today still is hub of activity for the park. I think this photograph is a great way to “reflect” back on 100 years of Balboa Park’s beauty and culture.

Happy New Year my Flickr friends!

Happy Travels in 2015!

One more photo in the comment section.

All Rights Reserved. Photos and Text ©Sam Antonio Photography 2015

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Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is located across False Creek from Downtown Vancouver, under the south end of the Granville Street Bridge. The peninsula was once an industrial manufacturing area, but today it is now a hotspot for Vancouver tourism and entertainment. The area has received much acclaim in recent years for its buildings and shopping experience. The area was named after Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville. The island is home to 275 businesses and facilities that employ more than 2,500 people and generates more than $215-million in economic activity each year. Granville Island provides amenities such as a large public market, an extensive marina, a boutique hotel, the Emily Carr University of Art and Design (named in honour of the artist), Arts Umbrella, False Creek Community Centre, various performing arts theatres including Vancouver's only professional improvisational theatre company Vancouver Theatresports League, the Arts Club Theatre Company and Carousel Theatre, fine arts galleries, and variety of shopping areas. The Granville Island Public Market features a farmers' market, day vendors, and artists offering local Vancouver goods. There are 50 permanent retailers and over one-hundred day vendors in stalls throughout the market selling a variety of artisan cottage-industry foods and handmade crafts on a rotating schedule. [source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Island]

Vancouver, officially the City of Vancouver, is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada, and the most populous city in the province. The 2011 census recorded 603,502 people in the city, making it the eighth largest Canadian municipality. The Greater Vancouver area of around 2.4 million inhabitants is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country. Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada; 52% of its residents have a first language other than English. Vancouver is classed as a Beta global city. The City of Vancouver encompasses a land area of about 114 square km, giving it a population density of about 5,249 people per square km (13,590 per square mi). Vancouver is the most densely populated Canadian municipality with over 250,000 residents, and the fourth most densely populated such city in North America behind New York City, San Francisco, and Mexico City. The original settlement, named Gastown, grew up on clearcuts on the west edge of the Hastings Mill logging sawmill's property, where a makeshift tavern had been set up on a plank between two stumps and the proprietor, Gassy Jack, persuaded the curious millworkers to build him a tavern, on 1 July 1867. From that first enterprise, other stores and some hotels quickly appeared along the waterfront to the west. Gastown became formally laid out as a registered townsite dubbed Granville, B.I. ("B.I" standing for "Burrard Inlet"). As part of the land and political deal whereby the area of the townsite was made the railhead of the CPR, it was renamed "Vancouver" and incorporated shortly thereafter as a city, in 1886. By 1887, the transcontinental railway was extended to the city to take advantage of its large natural seaport, which soon became a vital link in a trade route between the Orient, Eastern Canada, and Europe. As of 2014, Port Metro Vancouver is the third largest port by tonnage in the Americas (displacing New York), 27th in the world, the busiest and largest in Canada, and the most diversified port in North America. While forestry remains its largest industry, Vancouver is well known as an urban centre surrounded by nature, making tourism its second-largest industry. Major film production studios in Vancouver and Burnaby have turned Greater Vancouver and nearby areas into one of the largest film production centres in North America, earning it the film industry nickname, Hollywood North. [source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver]

Built in 1914 at no. 911 Wellington Street East.

"This is a Prairie-style single-story residence, noticeably located at the south-west corner of Wellington and Woodward in the city’s east-central area. It encompasses part of Lot 15, Plan 568 and Lot 29, Plan 930. GIS coordinates: 705,711.336 5,154,111.585 Meters

This handsome, distinctive, well maintained home is the best example of a Prairie-style residence to be found in Sault Ste. Marie. It is an elegant Craftsman style bungalow with a variety of gently pitched roof slopes and a small hipped dormer. The eaves are deep and bracketed. The columns are plain with square abacuses and no base. The inclusion of classical modillions in a residence is rare in Sault Ste. Marie and to Prairie-style homes. A variety of rustic building materials have been utilized: stucco, wood, brick and stone. The window groupings consist of both casement and sash with inner muntin bars. Those windows on the front have been replaced with modern aluminum windows but the windows around the sunroom on the east side and those on the partial second floor are original. Many of the original storm windows are stored in the garage. Craftsmanship in the building is excellent yet simple and functional. Even the interior fireplace sports hand-carved brackets of similar design to those supporting the overhanging exterior eaves. With the exception of the kitchen and bathroom, the main floor rooms are still finished with the original oak trim and floors. An old photo of the house indicates that cedar shingles once adorned the roof.

This residence was constructed, in its present form, in 1914 for Richard H. Carney who was District manager for Canada Life Assurance Co. It was the Carney family who was responsible for construction of the Carney Block on Queen St. It thus reflects the affluence of an upper middle class business family which was profiting from the Clergue industrial expansion of the day. A 1914 date and initials of the stone mason builder may be found in the basement wall mortar between the sandstone pieces. It is likely this sandstone was quarried from the locks as was typical for the day. This house was purchased in 1939 by the MacIntosh family who owned it until 2004.

The key exterior features that embody the heritage value of 911 Wellington St. E. include:

- Variety of gently pitched roof slopes provide horizontal emphasis reflecting the Prairiestyle bungalow

- Clerestory lighting that provides light to a half story loft

- A hipped dormer and deep bracketed eaves

- Columns with abacuses and no base but adorned with modillions

- Rustic building materials including stucco, wood, brick and stone

- Original casement windows with sash and inner muntin bars on the sunroom (east side)

and on the half story loft

- Home and property have been well maintained in traditional style with little change to

the exterior

- An interior with oak trim, baseboards and flooring unchanged save for the kitchen and

bathroom

- A beautiful fireplace with brackets supporting the mantle matching those under the

eaves on the exterior

- The best example of a classical Prairie-style residence in Sault Ste. Marie distinctively

located in a prominent east-central location

- A residence which reflects the affluence of a prominent Sault business family built

during the heyday of the Clergue industrial empire" - info from the Sault Ste. Marie Municipal Heritage Committee.

"Sault Ste. Marie (/ˈsuː seɪnt məˈriː/ SOO-seint-ma-REE) is a city on the St. Marys River in Ontario, Canada, close to the Canada–US border. It is the seat of the Algoma District and the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants of the area, call this area Baawitigong, meaning "place of the rapids." They used this as a regional meeting place during whitefish season in the St. Mary's Rapids. (The anglicized form of this name, Bawating, is used in institutional and geographic names in the area.)

To the south, across the river, is the United States and the Michigan city of the same name. These two communities were one city until a new treaty after the War of 1812 established the border between Canada and the United States in this area at the St. Mary's River. In the 21st century, the two cities are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 on the Michigan side, and Huron Street (and former Ontario Secondary Highway 550B) on the Ontario side. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.

French colonists referred to the rapids on the river as Les Saults de Ste. Marie and the village name was derived from that. The rapids and cascades of the St. Mary's River descend more than 6 m (20 ft) from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes. Hundreds of years ago, this slowed shipping traffic, requiring an overland portage of boats and cargo from one lake to the other. The entire name translates to "Saint Mary's Rapids" or "Saint Mary's Falls". The word sault is pronounced [so] in French, and /suː/ in the English pronunciation of the city name. Residents of the city are called Saultites.

Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River First Nation reserves, and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the city is bordered by an unincorporated portion of Algoma District, which includes the local services boards of Aweres, Batchawana Bay, Goulais and District, Peace Tree and Searchmont. The city's census agglomeration, including the townships of Laird, Prince and Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional and the First Nations reserves of Garden River and Rankin, had a total population of 79,800 in 2011.

Native American settlements, mostly of Ojibwe-speaking peoples, existed here for more than 500 years. In the late 17th century, French Jesuit missionaries established a mission at the First Nations village. This was followed by development of a fur trading post and larger settlement, as traders, trappers and Native Americans were attracted to the community. It was considered one community and part of Canada until after the War of 1812 and settlement of the border between Canada and the US at the Ste. Mary's River. At that time, the US prohibited British traders from any longer operating in its territory, and the areas separated by the river began to develop as two communities, both named Sault Ste. Marie." - info from Wikipedia.

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' The writing on the wall. '

.....Banksy's latest work appeared last week in a street in north London, on the side wall of a pharmacy !

.....Banksy is the well-known, pseudo-anonymous and elusive English graffiti artist ( whose identity is still uncertain ) and is famous for his artworks in a distinctive stencilling technique, which encompass topics such as politics, culture and ethics.

..........His works have sold for hundreds and thousands of pounds and have attracted many Hollywood celebrities !

..........( Essex Road - London.)

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,093 feet or 1,857 meters).

The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon National Park, the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument, the Hualapai Indian Reservation, the Havasupai Indian Reservation and the Navajo Nation. The surrounding area is contained within the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of the preservation of the Grand Canyon area and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery.

Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. While some aspects about the history of incision of the canyon are debated by geologists, several recent studies support the hypothesis that the Colorado River established its course through the area about 5 to 6 million years ago. Since that time, the Colorado River has driven the down-cutting of the tributaries and retreat of the cliffs, simultaneously deepening and widening the canyon.

For thousands of years, the area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans, who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon a holy site, and made pilgrimages to it. The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon_National_Park

Grand Canyon National Park is a national park of the United States located in northwestern Arizona, the 15th site to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often considered one of the Wonders of the World. The park, which covers 1,217,262 acres (1,901.972 sq mi; 4,926.08 km2) of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties, received more than 4.7 million recreational visitors in 2023. The Grand Canyon was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. The park celebrated its 100th anniversary on February 26, 2019.

Source: www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm

Entirely within the state of Arizona, the park encompasses 278 miles (447 km) of the Colorado River and adjacent uplands. Located on the ancestral homelands of 11 present day Tribal Communities, Grand Canyon is one of the most spectacular examples of erosion anywhere in the world—a mile deep canyon unmatched in the incomparable vistas it offers visitors from both north and south rims.

Additional Foreign Language Tags:

(United States) "الولايات المتحدة" "Vereinigte Staaten" "アメリカ" "米国" "美国" "미국" "Estados Unidos" "États-Unis" "ארצות הברית" "संयुक्त राज्य" "США"

(Arizona) "أريزونا" "亚利桑那州" "אריזונה" "एरिजोना" "アリゾナ州" "애리조나" "Аризона"

(Grand Canyon) "جراند كانيون" "大峡谷" "גרנד קניון" "ग्रांड कैन्यन" "グランドキャニオン" "그랜드 캐니언" "Гранд-Каньон" "Gran Cañón"

Built in 1914 at no. 911 Wellington Street East.

"This is a Prairie-style single-story residence, noticeably located at the south-west corner of Wellington and Woodward in the city’s east-central area. It encompasses part of Lot 15, Plan 568 and Lot 29, Plan 930. GIS coordinates: 705,711.336 5,154,111.585 Meters

This handsome, distinctive, well maintained home is the best example of a Prairie-style residence to be found in Sault Ste. Marie. It is an elegant Craftsman style bungalow with a variety of gently pitched roof slopes and a small hipped dormer. The eaves are deep and bracketed. The columns are plain with square abacuses and no base. The inclusion of classical modillions in a residence is rare in Sault Ste. Marie and to Prairie-style homes. A variety of rustic building materials have been utilized: stucco, wood, brick and stone. The window groupings consist of both casement and sash with inner muntin bars. Those windows on the front have been replaced with modern aluminum windows but the windows around the sunroom on the east side and those on the partial second floor are original. Many of the original storm windows are stored in the garage. Craftsmanship in the building is excellent yet simple and functional. Even the interior fireplace sports hand-carved brackets of similar design to those supporting the overhanging exterior eaves. With the exception of the kitchen and bathroom, the main floor rooms are still finished with the original oak trim and floors. An old photo of the house indicates that cedar shingles once adorned the roof.

This residence was constructed, in its present form, in 1914 for Richard H. Carney who was District manager for Canada Life Assurance Co. It was the Carney family who was responsible for construction of the Carney Block on Queen St. It thus reflects the affluence of an upper middle class business family which was profiting from the Clergue industrial expansion of the day. A 1914 date and initials of the stone mason builder may be found in the basement wall mortar between the sandstone pieces. It is likely this sandstone was quarried from the locks as was typical for the day. This house was purchased in 1939 by the MacIntosh family who owned it until 2004.

The key exterior features that embody the heritage value of 911 Wellington St. E. include:

- Variety of gently pitched roof slopes provide horizontal emphasis reflecting the Prairiestyle bungalow

- Clerestory lighting that provides light to a half story loft

- A hipped dormer and deep bracketed eaves

- Columns with abacuses and no base but adorned with modillions

- Rustic building materials including stucco, wood, brick and stone

- Original casement windows with sash and inner muntin bars on the sunroom (east side)

and on the half story loft

- Home and property have been well maintained in traditional style with little change to

the exterior

- An interior with oak trim, baseboards and flooring unchanged save for the kitchen and

bathroom

- A beautiful fireplace with brackets supporting the mantle matching those under the

eaves on the exterior

- The best example of a classical Prairie-style residence in Sault Ste. Marie distinctively

located in a prominent east-central location

- A residence which reflects the affluence of a prominent Sault business family built

during the heyday of the Clergue industrial empire" - info from the Sault Ste. Marie Municipal Heritage Committee.

"Sault Ste. Marie (/ˈsuː seɪnt məˈriː/ SOO-seint-ma-REE) is a city on the St. Marys River in Ontario, Canada, close to the Canada–US border. It is the seat of the Algoma District and the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants of the area, call this area Baawitigong, meaning "place of the rapids." They used this as a regional meeting place during whitefish season in the St. Mary's Rapids. (The anglicized form of this name, Bawating, is used in institutional and geographic names in the area.)

To the south, across the river, is the United States and the Michigan city of the same name. These two communities were one city until a new treaty after the War of 1812 established the border between Canada and the United States in this area at the St. Mary's River. In the 21st century, the two cities are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 on the Michigan side, and Huron Street (and former Ontario Secondary Highway 550B) on the Ontario side. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.

French colonists referred to the rapids on the river as Les Saults de Ste. Marie and the village name was derived from that. The rapids and cascades of the St. Mary's River descend more than 6 m (20 ft) from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes. Hundreds of years ago, this slowed shipping traffic, requiring an overland portage of boats and cargo from one lake to the other. The entire name translates to "Saint Mary's Rapids" or "Saint Mary's Falls". The word sault is pronounced [so] in French, and /suː/ in the English pronunciation of the city name. Residents of the city are called Saultites.

Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River First Nation reserves, and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the city is bordered by an unincorporated portion of Algoma District, which includes the local services boards of Aweres, Batchawana Bay, Goulais and District, Peace Tree and Searchmont. The city's census agglomeration, including the townships of Laird, Prince and Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional and the First Nations reserves of Garden River and Rankin, had a total population of 79,800 in 2011.

Native American settlements, mostly of Ojibwe-speaking peoples, existed here for more than 500 years. In the late 17th century, French Jesuit missionaries established a mission at the First Nations village. This was followed by development of a fur trading post and larger settlement, as traders, trappers and Native Americans were attracted to the community. It was considered one community and part of Canada until after the War of 1812 and settlement of the border between Canada and the US at the Ste. Mary's River. At that time, the US prohibited British traders from any longer operating in its territory, and the areas separated by the river began to develop as two communities, both named Sault Ste. Marie." - info from Wikipedia.

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Bagan is located on a broad plain along the Irrawaddy River some 500 km (311 mi.) north-northwest of Yangon, in the Mandalay Region, Myanmar. It became the capital of the Pagan Kingdom, which grew to encompass nearly all of present day Myanmar from the 9th to the 13th centuries. During that period some 1,000 stupas, 10,000 small temples, and 3,000 monasteries were built on the Plain of Bagan. Mongol invasions caused the kingdom to collapse in 1287. Subject to more than 400 earthquakes since 1904, much of Bagan's architecture has been lost.

In 2019, Bagan was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Covering an area of 50 sq. km (12,369 acres), UNESCO notes that the site includes "3,595 surviving monuments" including the Ananda Temple. It was built in 1105 by King Kyansittha (ruled 1084-1112/13). The temple features four standing Buddha images made of solid teak wood 9.5 m (31 ft.) tall. Each image faces one of the four cardinal directions. This south facing image appears to be broadly smiling when viewed from a distance, but does not when viewed up close as seen here.

Orchids encompasses about 6–11% of all seed plants. All orchids are perennial herbs that lack any permanent woody structure. Epiphytic orchids, those that grow upon a support, have modified aerial roots that can sometimes be a few meters long. In the older parts of the roots, a modified spongy epidermis, called a velamen, has the function of absorbing humidity.

© all rights reserved

Please take your time... and enjoy it large on black

Gezellig. The word gezellig encompasses Dutch culture. It goes beyond its literal translation of ‘cosy, quaint or comfortable’, and can also be used to describe having coffee with a friend, reading a good book or spending time with family. Though Amsterdam is not a particularly snowy city, it does tend to snow for a few weeks in the winter. During this time, you might fall off of your bike and public transport might stop running but hey, Amsterdam sure does look gezellig. So bundle up, go outside and play in the snow! Need a place to play? Visit the canals at the Jordaan, it's looks gorgeous in the snow. When it gets too cold Amsterdam offers a limitless supply of restaurants, cafes and bars, somewhere around 1500, where you can get warm! The words, bar and cafe are usually used interchangeably. The distinction is mostly seen in the title or layout of a place. Every street side, corner, canal, nook and cranny has something to offer your taste buds and mood. It is this concept that each cafe or bar tries to express in its own customized way. With going out for a coffee, beer or Dutch gin being an almost daily routine, the locals keep the example of how to enjoy the city alive. The Schaper-Café here above is a reasonably spacious local brown café in ann odd corner of town, crammed in just above the Jordaan. It's a couple of doors along from former premises of Bert's Bierhuis.Though in an unusual spot, it's a bare 50 metres from Singelgracht. Around the entrance is some lovely etched glass, the boards of the floor are bare and broad. The bike of the café customer is totally covered with snow. It just stopped snowing. It is the first time in four years time that the Netherlands received so much snowfall. According to the National weather center KNMI. In some parts of the north of Holland lies between 7 to 9 inches of snow. The last time this occurred was in 2005. Normally the Netherlands get no more than between 3 and 5 inches of snow.

This weekend we walk around the canals and made some photos of the snow in of our neighborhood. We went shopping downtown for Christmas. When it snows it’s light dusting and really beautiful. Photo of a bike covered with snow at Schaper-Café taken at Tweede Hugo de Grootstraat in Amsterdam. The temperature is cold outside but the bike owner is sitting in the warm Schaper-Café. More snow expected these coming days. It's a handheld streetshot taken at 1/30s, ISO400 and F2.0 .

Amsterdam zat helemaal vast door zware sneeuwval. In korte tijd viel er 10 tot 15 centimeter sneeuw. In combinatie met de avondspits was daar geen sneeuwschuiver of strooiwagen tegen opgewassen. Heel Nederland werd afgelopen week getrakteerd op een dik pak sneeuw. Dit leverde voor het verkeer de nodige overlast op, maar er was ook veel plezier in Amsterdam. Kinderen in de Jordaan grepen de kans met beide handen aan en gingen sleetje rijden. In en rond de hele stad stonden woensdag lange files door zware sneeuwval. Op de rand van de Jordaan geleden in m'n buurt heb je Café Schaper. Misschien meer nog dan in de Jordaan, vind je hier het oorspronkelijke Amsterdamse leven. Een echt Mokums eetcafé met bijpassende hartelijke bediening. Je kan hier even bijkomen van zwoegen door de sneeuw en de kou. Een heerlijk buurtcafé in Westerpark. Altijd gezellig, goede sfeer en een goede hap voor niet teveel geld. Ook heel leuk tijdens voetbalwedstrijden!!! Het was net gestopt met sneeuwen. De sneeuw zorgde zoals gebruikelijk ook voor gezellige taferelen. Zo lang als ik me kan heugen word ik blij van sneeuw. Ziet deze besneeuwde fiets er niet mooi uit? De eigenaar van deze fiets zit nog lekker warm in Café Schaper. In ieder geval wordt het een glad en koud ritje naar huis. Volgens mij is beter om de fiets te laten staan en naar huis lopen.

nrhp # 85003543- Belltown Historic District- The Belltown Historic District encompasses the historic commercial and industrial main village of East Hampton, Connecticut. Settled in the 18th century, the community flourished in the 19th century as a center of bell making, with numerous firms engaged in the trade. The town center is reflective of this 19th-century success, with a broad diversity of period architecture, as well as surviving elements of the bellmaking industry. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The area that is now East Hampton was settled in 1739, and was incorporated in 1767. The town's economy was at first largely driven by shipbuilding and related interests, centered at Middle Haddam on the Connecticut River, but these were in decline by the early 19th century. William Barton, a native of Bloomfield, Connecticut, arrived in East Hampton in 1807, bringing with him the specialized knowledge of working brass for the manufacture of bells. He established a foundry, where he trained a whole generation of bellmakers whose work would fuel the town's economy. The Bevin Brothers, among those he trained, were the first to apply water power to the process, damming Pocotopaug Brook for the purpose. Their business continues to be a major presence in the town. By 1860, Belltown had 23 men listed as bell manufacturers.[2]

The historic district has a spider-like configuration, anchored by a stretch of Main Street between West High and Edgerton Streets. Fingers of the district extend off of a number of side streets, which are typically lined with residential and industrial buildings. The district covers 145 acres (59 ha), and includes 145 contributing buildings, in a diversity of 19th-century architectural styles. Prominent elements include the surviving mill complexes of the bell makers and associated businesses, as well as four churches. There are also several industrial archaeological sites in the southern part of the district, where early and failed bellmaking businesses were once located.

from Wikipedia

© all rights reserved

Please take your time... and enjoy it large on black

Gezellig. The word gezellig encompasses Dutch culture. It goes beyond its literal translation of ‘cosy, quaint or comfortable’, and can also be used to describe having coffee with a friend, reading a good book or spending time with family. Though Amsterdam is not a particularly snowy city, it does tend to snow for a few weeks in the winter. During this time, you might fall off of your bike and public transport might stop running but hey, Amsterdam sure does look gezellig. So bundle up, go outside and play in the snow! Need a place to play? Visit the canals at the Jordaan, it's looks gorgeous in the snow. Walk around the Jordaan district in the evening and you’ll probably to notice something missing: curtains! The Dutch are masters of cosy interior design and have no problem showing off their work of art. Want to make your home gezellig? Buy loads of candles, plants, funky light fixtures and adopt a few pets. For nice interior design boutiques, check out the Negen straatjes - Nine Streets district. It is the first time in four years time that the Netherlands received so much snowfall. According to the National weather center KNMI. In some parts of the north of Holland lies between 7 to 9 inches of snow. The last time this occurred was in 2005. Normally the Netherlands get no more than between 3 and 5 inches of snow. It does occasionally snow in Amsterdam in December, but that almost always means just a light dusting. If you think the city is attractive in dry weather, just wait until you wake up one morning to see it covered in a thin coat of fresh snow. With the canals in the city and occasional high winds, there can be a nip in the air, but packing gloves and a scarf should keep you warm enough.

This weekend we walk around the canals and made some photos of the snow in of our neighborhood. When it snows it’s light dusting and really beautiful. The steep bridges over the canals in Amsterdam are really slippery. ...especially for cars. The best way to travel in the snow is by bicycle, tram, walking or better by sleds. Last night extreme temperature of -9 degrees Celsius. This is rare since the winter has not yet started. The heavy snowfall is too bad for ice skating. Photo taken here at Bloemgracht in Amsterdam. More snow expected these coming days. It's a handheld streetshot at 1/30s, ISO640 and F2.0 .

Koning Winter tast diep in de buidel. Woensdag 15 december 2010 was het al snijdend koud met extreem lage temperaturen en veel wind. Nu is de wind omgewisseld voor sneeuwval bij nog steeds ver onder normale waarden op de thermometers. Het levert ons van alles op. Overlast, maar zeker ook winterpret en prachtige plaatjes. Een record is het niet, maar met de komst van sneeuw aan het einde van november, valt de winter vroeg. Heel Nederland werd afgelopen week getrakteerd op een dik pak sneeuw. Dit leverde voor het verkeer de nodige overlast op, maar er was ook veel plezier zoals hier in Amsterdam. De sneeuw zorgde zoals gebruikelijk ook voor gezellige taferelen. Zo lang als ik me kan heugen word ik blij van sneeuw. Kinderen in de Jordaan grepen de kans met beide handen aan en gingen sleetje rijden. In de stad reden auto's stapvoets. Op sommige plekken kwamen automobilisten zelfs helemaal niet meer vooruit. Het vliegverkeer op Schiphol wordt ernstig gehinderd door sneeuwval. Volgens de luchtverkeersleiding was er slechts één baan beschikbaar. Nee, we zijn het niet meer gewend? We zijn de afgelopen 10 jaar misschien gewoon sufgeluld door klimaat terroristen die ons voorgespiegeld hebben dat er nooit meer winters zullen komen en ook nog eens dat dat allemaal onze eigen schuld is ook nog. En nu één klein beetje zonne-inactiviteit en húp het is ineens gewoon weer winter...

A region of contrasting scenery ... the Illawarra encompasses a strong rural and industrial past..

© all rights reserved

Please take your time... and enjoy it large on black

Gezellig. The word gezellig encompasses Dutch culture. It goes beyond its literal translation of ‘cosy, quaint or comfortable’, and can also be used to describe having coffee with a friend, reading a good book or spending time with family. Though Amsterdam is not a particularly snowy city, it does tend to snow for a few weeks in the winter. During this time, you might fall off of your bike and public transport might stop running but hey, Amsterdam sure does look gezellig. So bundle up, go outside and play in the snow! Need a place to play? Visit the canals at the Jordaan, it's looks gorgeous in the snow. Walk around the Jordaan district in the evening and you’ll probably to notice something missing: curtains! The Dutch are masters of cosy interior design and have no problem showing off their work of art. Want to make your home gezellig? Buy loads of candles, plants, funky light fixtures and adopt a few pets. For nice interior design boutiques, check out the Negen straatjes - Nine Streets district. It is the first time in four years time that the Netherlands received so much snowfall. According to the National weather center KNMI. In some parts of the north of Holland lies between 7 to 9 inches of snow. The last time this occurred was in 2005. Normally the Netherlands get no more than between 3 and 5 inches of snow. It does occasionally snow in Amsterdam in December, but that almost always means just a light dusting. If you think the city is attractive in dry weather, just wait until you wake up one morning to see it covered in a thin coat of fresh snow. With the canals in the city and occasional high winds, there can be a nip in the air, but packing gloves and a scarf should keep you warm enough.

This weekend we walk around the canals and made some photos of the snow in of our neighborhood. When it snows it’s light dusting and really beautiful. The steep bridges over the canals in Amsterdam are really slippery. ...especially for cars. The best way to travel in the snow is by bicycle, tram, walking or better by sleds. Last night extreme temperature of -9 degrees Celsius. This is rare since the winter has not yet started. The heavy snowfall is too bad for ice skating. Photo taken here at Bloemgracht in Amsterdam. More snow expected these coming days. It's a handheld streetshot at 1/4s, ISO400 and F2.0 .

Koning Winter tast diep in de buidel. Woensdag 15 december 2010 was het al snijdend koud met extreem lage temperaturen en veel wind. Nu is de wind omgewisseld voor sneeuwval bij nog steeds ver onder normale waarden op de thermometers. Het levert ons van alles op. Overlast, maar zeker ook winterpret en prachtige plaatjes. Een record is het niet, maar met de komst van sneeuw aan het einde van november, valt de winter vroeg. Heel Nederland werd afgelopen week getrakteerd op een dik pak sneeuw. Dit leverde voor het verkeer de nodige overlast op, maar er was ook veel plezier zoals hier in Amsterdam. De sneeuw zorgde zoals gebruikelijk ook voor gezellige taferelen. Zo lang als ik me kan heugen word ik blij van sneeuw. Kinderen in de Jordaan grepen de kans met beide handen aan en gingen sleetje rijden. In de stad reden auto's stapvoets. Op sommige plekken kwamen automobilisten zelfs helemaal niet meer vooruit. Het vliegverkeer op Schiphol wordt ernstig gehinderd door sneeuwval. Volgens de luchtverkeersleiding was er slechts één baan beschikbaar. Nee, we zijn het niet meer gewend? We zijn de afgelopen 10 jaar misschien gewoon sufgeluld door klimaat terroristen die ons voorgespiegeld hebben dat er nooit meer winters zullen komen en ook nog eens dat dat allemaal onze eigen schuld is ook nog. En nu één klein beetje zonne-inactiviteit en húp het is ineens gewoon weer winter...

Whistle Lake. Anacortes Community Forest Lands.

The Community Forest Lands cover nearly 2,800 acres within the City of Anacortes. They encompass a mosaic of forest, wetlands, lakes and meadows coupled with the broad based desire of local citizens to act as stewards for this environmental and recreational resource.

There are 50 miles of multiple use trails in the forest lands. All trails are open to hikers, bicycle & horse riders. - ACFL

The Monument and Preserve encompass three major lava fields and about 400 square miles (1,000 km2) of sagebrush steppe grasslands to cover a total area of 1,117 square miles (2,893 km2). All three lava fields lie along the Great Rift of Idaho, with some of the best examples of open rift cracks in the world, including the deepest known on Earth at 800 feet (240 m). There are excellent examples of almost every variety of basaltic lava, as well as tree molds (cavities left by lava-incinerated trees), lava tubes (a type of cave), and many other volcanic features.

. . . Exploring the Reality . . .

Chapter: Controlling and Training Higher-Level Men

" Tips for Controlling a High-Quality Man Without Eroding His Ego or Diminishing His Quality."

☑ How do you get him to surrender you?

☑ How to make him chase your game instead of you having to chase his game?

SMV (Social Market Value) encompasses various aspects, and while you may excel in all of them, engaging in strategic maneuvers with higher-level men will make them more likely to surrender to your game.

Remember, just being beautiful isn't enough, your lower intelligence, charisma, and skills won't succeed in making him chase and surrender to your demands.

It's obvious that he's of a higher level, and you attract him because of his superiority. You want to win someone better than you, so you must accept the fact that your lower SMV can't beat him. Therefore, choose one of your SMV aspects to make him surrender - having options of higher-level men in your inventory now is key. Don't rely solely on him.

A superior man may not surrender to you solely based on your attributes—beauty, sex appeal/skills, personality, reputation—but rather because he refuses to lose you to another superior. He tolerates you not because of your qualities (inferior to his) but because he cannot bear the thought of losing you to a man superior to him.

Key 1

He won't surrender you for your qualities. Instead, he'll tolerate your game because he can't tolerate other men, especially if they're superior to him. He'd do anything to avoid the pain of losing. ( It's not about accepting your lower qualities that aren't as good as his.)

Key 2

Narcissistic or arrogant people often struggle with jealousy. They can't stand seeing others succeed, possessing true happiness that comes from being happy with someone who's better than them. They'll do anything to stop that from happening. They might even agree to pursue someone of lower status just to avoid losing her to a better man. (This works in case he doesn't know her yet or hasn't lived with her for so long that he's really bored with her./ But in the cases where he has been with her until a bad impression and hatred has developed, he won't pursue her again, no matter if she pairs with someone better than him.)

This is the strategy of a clever woman determined to win the game. She dates a higher-status guy but doesn't play by his rules fairly like other women of lower status treat him. By staying on top, she pressures him to play along with her games and put in effort, even though he's much better.

Pick an option. Choose from 3-4 options and decide who you're going with:

1st

Top-notch guy (Best)

2nd, 3rd

High quality guys who are a step down but still ahead of you.

4th

High quality guy who is the lowest of the bunch but still higher than you.

ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ

1st - The TOOL

☑ To be used to tame 2 and 3 to be under your control.

☑ Top-notch guy

2nd, 3rd - The TARGET

☑ Your real target, the guy you really want.

☑ High quality guys who are a step down but still ahead of you.

4th - The Troublemaker

☑ The troublemaker is to be used to punish your target when he's being stubborn towards you.

☑ High quality guy who is the lowest of the bunch but still higher than you.

" Your target will get annoyed when you pretend to be more interested in and prioritize the 4th over him. To avoid the negative feelings caused by annoyance, he tends to give you what you want more easily to escape the annoyance he faces. "

ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ

The show you will do

☑ Pretending to pursue 1

☑ Pretend to focus on 1

☑ Spend time with 1

☑ Be busy with 1

☑ 2 and 3 will interest you more than before.

☑ They will be better and more adaptable to your game than before.

☑ They will accelerate themselves to make you like them and increase their commitment to you more than before.

☑ They will allow you to control them more easily and compete to win against 1, to feel victorious and consider themselves successful and superior to 1.

P.S.

" These strategies mostly work with WINNER-type men, but they don't work with most Heroes as most heroes are of the loser type. They are broken and fragile easily under stress and negative impressions, often breaking down and fleeing from all Arenas. They can't endure and lack the resilience needed for competition. Just seeing the competitor in front of him, he dropped his weapon and fled, even though he didn't know whether his opponent had learned to fight or not.

If you encounter a hero, don't pressure him into competing or fighting - just let him go, as these men are easily discouraged. Not only does he refrain from fighting his opponents, but he also won't push through every obstacle that life throws your way while journeying with him. He doesn't even fight for his own happiness and well-being. Simply let him go. There's no need to force it. Find a new winner-type to fill the void."

ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ

Unveiling the Truth: Behind the Curtain of the Show

" Why doesn't she pick 1 when they spend a lot of time together? "

Because 1 is her bonus. She knows well that 1 cannot be controlled and will never choose her. He won't choose her because he has too many choices of women who are much better than her and are still chasing his games as he wishes. So, 1 is her bonus in life, he cannot be the real man she can truly possess and rule.

ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ

. . . Letting go . . .

" The strategy of defying nature and cheating the game involves practicing and controlling until exhaustion sets in. Eventually, you'll come to realize that for all these years, you've been manipulating and controlling nature, twisting it from what it should be. It becomes tiring, and you yearn to stop and rest. You crave some time to relax and allow life to take its natural course without interference.

Even though relinquishing control often leads to unfavorable outcomes, and sometimes even dire ones, there is a certain peace in surrendering to the laws of nature. Stop controlling and cheating, embrace natural living, accept its unfavorable results, and release the beasts you've confined into the wild to live freely without your control. This can bring a sense of fulfillment to you eventually, at least for a while."

ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ.-:**★**:-.ღ

Shenandoah National Park encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the U.S. state of Virginia. This national park is long and narrow, with the broad Shenandoah River and valley on the west side, and the rolling hills of the Virginia Piedmont on the east. Almost 40 % of the land area has been designated as Wilderness and is protected as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Pictured is the view from Crescent Rock Overlook around sunset.

Photo by Kevin Borland. Portions of text derived from Wikipedia.

The Studenica Monastery (Манастир Студеница/Manastir Studenica) is a 12th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery situated 39 kilometres (24 mi) southwest of Kraljevo and 40.9 kilometres (25.4 mi) east of Ivanjica, in central Serbia. It is one of the largest and richest Serb Orthodox monasteries.

Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the medieval Serb state, founded the monastery in 1190. The monastery's fortified walls encompass two churches: the Church of the Virgin, and the Church of the King, both of which were built using white marble. The monastery is best known for its collection of 13th- and 14th century Byzantine-style fresco paintings.

Studenica was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia, and in 1986 UNESCO included Studenica monastery on the list of World Heritage Sites, with the description:

The Studenica Monastery was established in the late 12th century by Stefan Nemanja, founder of the medieval Serb state, shortly after his abdication. It is the largest and richest of Serbia's Orthodox monasteries. Its two principal monuments, the Church of the Virgin and the Church of the King, both built of white marble, enshrine priceless collections of 13th- and 14th-century Byzantine painting.

Edo Castle, also known as Chiyoda Castle, is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. It is located in Chiyoda in Tokyo, then known as Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate here. It was the residence of the shogun and location of the shogunate, and also functioned as the military capital during the Edo period of Japanese history. After the resignation of the shogun and the Meiji Restoration, it became the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Some moats, walls and ramparts of the castle survive to this day.

However, the grounds were more extensive during the Edo period, with Tokyo Station and the Marunouchi section of the city lying within the outermost moat. It also encompassed Kitanomaru Park, the Nippon Budokan Hall and other landmarks of the surrounding area.

Accounts of how many armed men served at Edo Castle vary. The Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines Rodrigo de Vivero y Velasco gave an eye-witness account in 1608–1609, describing the huge stones that made up the walls and a large number of people at the castle. He claimed to have seen 20,000 servants between the first gate and the shogun's palace. He passed through two ranks of 1,000 soldiers armed with muskets, and by the second gate he was escorted by 400 armed men. He passed stables that apparently had room for 200 horses and an armory that stored enough weapons for 100,000 men.

My photo was chosen as the cover photo for the group Secondlife: Art Encompassing.

Thank you!

Maui is an island in the Central Pacific, part of the Hawaiian archipelago. Sprawling Haleakala National Park encompasses the island’s highest peak, volcanic Haleakala, as well as the pools and waterfalls of Ohe’o Gulch, accessed via scenic, winding Hana Highway. The island's 30 miles of beaches include golden-crescent Kapalua, sheltered from strong currents by lava-rock promontories.

Experimental landscape. Agricultural fields with approaching storm, near Emerald, Nebraska. I'm trying to encompass more sky without sacrificing breadth of horizon; a two-image vertical pan stitched in ps.

(Img0134_DM200807_126_2_flkr.jpg) © All rights reserved.

Built in 1914 at no. 911 Wellington Street East.

"This is a Prairie-style single-story residence, noticeably located at the south-west corner of Wellington and Woodward in the city’s east-central area. It encompasses part of Lot 15, Plan 568 and Lot 29, Plan 930. GIS coordinates: 705,711.336 5,154,111.585 Meters

This handsome, distinctive, well maintained home is the best example of a Prairie-style residence to be found in Sault Ste. Marie. It is an elegant Craftsman style bungalow with a variety of gently pitched roof slopes and a small hipped dormer. The eaves are deep and bracketed. The columns are plain with square abacuses and no base. The inclusion of classical modillions in a residence is rare in Sault Ste. Marie and to Prairie-style homes. A variety of rustic building materials have been utilized: stucco, wood, brick and stone. The window groupings consist of both casement and sash with inner muntin bars. Those windows on the front have been replaced with modern aluminum windows but the windows around the sunroom on the east side and those on the partial second floor are original. Many of the original storm windows are stored in the garage. Craftsmanship in the building is excellent yet simple and functional. Even the interior fireplace sports hand-carved brackets of similar design to those supporting the overhanging exterior eaves. With the exception of the kitchen and bathroom, the main floor rooms are still finished with the original oak trim and floors. An old photo of the house indicates that cedar shingles once adorned the roof.

This residence was constructed, in its present form, in 1914 for Richard H. Carney who was District manager for Canada Life Assurance Co. It was the Carney family who was responsible for construction of the Carney Block on Queen St. It thus reflects the affluence of an upper middle class business family which was profiting from the Clergue industrial expansion of the day. A 1914 date and initials of the stone mason builder may be found in the basement wall mortar between the sandstone pieces. It is likely this sandstone was quarried from the locks as was typical for the day. This house was purchased in 1939 by the MacIntosh family who owned it until 2004.

The key exterior features that embody the heritage value of 911 Wellington St. E. include:

- Variety of gently pitched roof slopes provide horizontal emphasis reflecting the Prairiestyle bungalow

- Clerestory lighting that provides light to a half story loft

- A hipped dormer and deep bracketed eaves

- Columns with abacuses and no base but adorned with modillions

- Rustic building materials including stucco, wood, brick and stone

- Original casement windows with sash and inner muntin bars on the sunroom (east side)

and on the half story loft

- Home and property have been well maintained in traditional style with little change to

the exterior

- An interior with oak trim, baseboards and flooring unchanged save for the kitchen and

bathroom

- A beautiful fireplace with brackets supporting the mantle matching those under the

eaves on the exterior

- The best example of a classical Prairie-style residence in Sault Ste. Marie distinctively

located in a prominent east-central location

- A residence which reflects the affluence of a prominent Sault business family built

during the heyday of the Clergue industrial empire" - info from the Sault Ste. Marie Municipal Heritage Committee.

"Sault Ste. Marie (/ˈsuː seɪnt məˈriː/ SOO-seint-ma-REE) is a city on the St. Marys River in Ontario, Canada, close to the Canada–US border. It is the seat of the Algoma District and the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants of the area, call this area Baawitigong, meaning "place of the rapids." They used this as a regional meeting place during whitefish season in the St. Mary's Rapids. (The anglicized form of this name, Bawating, is used in institutional and geographic names in the area.)

To the south, across the river, is the United States and the Michigan city of the same name. These two communities were one city until a new treaty after the War of 1812 established the border between Canada and the United States in this area at the St. Mary's River. In the 21st century, the two cities are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 on the Michigan side, and Huron Street (and former Ontario Secondary Highway 550B) on the Ontario side. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.

French colonists referred to the rapids on the river as Les Saults de Ste. Marie and the village name was derived from that. The rapids and cascades of the St. Mary's River descend more than 6 m (20 ft) from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes. Hundreds of years ago, this slowed shipping traffic, requiring an overland portage of boats and cargo from one lake to the other. The entire name translates to "Saint Mary's Rapids" or "Saint Mary's Falls". The word sault is pronounced [so] in French, and /suː/ in the English pronunciation of the city name. Residents of the city are called Saultites.

Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River First Nation reserves, and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the city is bordered by an unincorporated portion of Algoma District, which includes the local services boards of Aweres, Batchawana Bay, Goulais and District, Peace Tree and Searchmont. The city's census agglomeration, including the townships of Laird, Prince and Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional and the First Nations reserves of Garden River and Rankin, had a total population of 79,800 in 2011.

Native American settlements, mostly of Ojibwe-speaking peoples, existed here for more than 500 years. In the late 17th century, French Jesuit missionaries established a mission at the First Nations village. This was followed by development of a fur trading post and larger settlement, as traders, trappers and Native Americans were attracted to the community. It was considered one community and part of Canada until after the War of 1812 and settlement of the border between Canada and the US at the Ste. Mary's River. At that time, the US prohibited British traders from any longer operating in its territory, and the areas separated by the river began to develop as two communities, both named Sault Ste. Marie." - info from Wikipedia.

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Slowenien - Kamnik

Kamnik (pronounced [ˈkáːmnik]; German: Stein or Stein in Oberkrain) is the ninth-largest town of Slovenia, located in the traditional province of Upper Carniola (northern Slovenia). It is the seat of the Municipality of Kamnik, which encompasses a large part of the Kamnik Alps and the surrounding area. The town of Kamnik has three castles as well as many examples of historical architecture.

History

The name Kamnik was first mentioned in the 11th century. The first time it was mentioned as a town was in 1229, when it was an important trading post on the road between Ljubljana and Celje. This makes the town one of the oldest in Slovenia. In the Middle Ages, Kamnik had its own mint and some aristocratic families among its residents. The town was among the most influential centers of power for the Bavarian counts of Andechs in the region of Carniola at the time. The only remnant of the Bavarian nobility are the two ruined castles which are both strategically built on high ground near the town center. The Franciscan monastery built in the town itself is a testament to its importance. The building is well preserved and has undergone extensive renovation in recent years.

Historical suburbs of the town include Šut(i)na (German: Schutt), Na Produ (Slovene: Na produ), Novi Trg (Novi trg, German: Neumarkt), Pred Mostom (Pred mostom, German: Vor der Brücke), Graben, and Podgoro. In 1934 the following formerly independent settlements were annexed by Kamnik: Fužine (German: Fuschine), Žale (in older sources also Žalje, German: Sallenberg), Zaprice (German: Steinbüchel), Kratno, Pugled, Zgornje Perovo (German: Oberperau), Spodnje Perovo (German: Unterperau), Bakovnik, and the lower part of Mekinje.

Most of the old town center is built in an Austro-Hungarian style. Most of the facades have been renovated in recent years but the process is still ongoing.

Mass grave

Kamnik is the site of a mass grave from the period immediately after the Second World War. The Cuzak Meadow Mass Grave (Slovene: Grobišče Cuzakov travnik) is located in the southeast part of the town, in a grassy area encircled by a road on the premises of the Svit factory. The grave contains the remains of several hundred soldiers and civilians, mostly Croats but also some Serbs, that were murdered on 11 May 1945.

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Kamnik include:

Fran Albreht (1889–1963), author

France Balantič (1921–1943), poet

Jurij Japelj (1744–1807), philologist

Rudolf Maister (1874–1934), military leader

Elizabeth S. Selden (1887–1970), dancer and writer

Jakob Savinšek (1922–1961), sculptor and illustrator

Bojan Kraut (1908–1991), engineer

Marjan Šarec (born 1977), politician and actor

(Wikipedia)

Kamnik (deutsch Stein in Krain) ist der Namen einer Stadt südlich der Steiner Alpen in der Republik Slowenien. Sie ist Hauptort der Gemeinde Kamnik.

Lage

Die Stadt liegt im Norden Mittelsloweniens. Der Stadtkern liegt etwa 24 Kilometer nördlich vom Zentrum der Hauptstadt Ljubljana (Laibach). In der Stadt fließen die beiden Flüsse Nevljica und Kamniška Bistrica (Feistritz) zusammen.

Geschichte

Der Name Kamnik wurde erstmals im 11. Jahrhundert erwähnt. Die erste urkundliche Erwähnung als Stadt erfolgte im Jahr 1229, als sie ein wichtiger Handelsposten an der Straße zwischen Ljubljana und Celje war. Damit ist die Stadt eine der ältesten in Slowenien.

Im Mittelalter gab es in Kamnik eine eigene Münzstätte und unter seinen Bewohnern lebten einige Adelsfamilien. Die Stadt gehörte damals zu den einflussreichsten Machtzentren der bayerischen Grafen von Andechs in der Region Krain. Der einzige Überrest des bayerischen Adels sind die beiden Burgruinen, die beide strategisch auf einer Anhöhe in der Nähe des Stadtzentrums errichtet wurden. Das in der Stadt selbst errichtete Franziskanerkloster zeugt von seiner Bedeutung. Das Gebäude ist gut erhalten und wurde in den letzten Jahren umfassend renoviert.

Zu den historischen Vororten der Stadt gehören Šut(i)na (deutsch: Schutt), Na Produ, Novi trg (Neumarkt), Pred mostom (Vor der Brücke), Graben und Podgoro.

Im Jahr 1934 wurden folgende ehemals selbständige Siedlungen von Kamnik annektiert: Fužine (Fuschine), Žale (in älteren Quellen auch Žalje, deutsch: Sallenberg), Zaprice (Steinbüchel), Kratno, Pugled, Zgornje Perovo (Oberperau), Spodnje Perovo (Unterperau), Bakovnik und der untere Teil von Mekinje.

In Kamnik befindet sich ein Massengrab aus der Zeit unmittelbar nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Das Massengrab der Cuzak-Wiese (slowenisch: Grobišče Cuzakov travnik) befindet sich im südöstlichen Teil der Stadt Das Grab enthält die Überreste mehrerer hundert Soldaten und Zivilisten.

Sehenswürdigkeiten

Kamnik hat einen mittelalterlichen Stadtkern. Die schönste Straße der Stadt heißt Šutna, sie ist mit charakteristischen Aushängeschildern und anderen Handwerkszeichen geschmückt. Dort steht die Kirche der Unbefleckten Empfängnis mit einem gotischen Glockenturm.

Sehenswürdigkeiten sind unter anderen die Ruine der Burg Mali grad (Kleinfeste) mit der erhaltenen Burgkapelle, die oberhalb der Stadt gelegene Burgruine Stari grad (Oberstein) sowie die Bibliothek des Franziskanerklosters Kamnik mit etwa 10000 Büchern.

In der Burg Zaprice (Steinbüchel) befindet sich ein Heimatmuseum.

Südlich der Stadt befindet sich als bedeutender Ausflugsort ein Park mit Arboretum auf dem Gelände des ehemaligen Schlosses Volčji Potok (Wolfsbüchel), das nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg gesprengt wurde.

Sehenswürdigkeiten in der näheren Umgebung:

Berglandschaft Velika planina

Sport

Kamnik war Austragungsort der Berglauf-Weltmeisterschaften 2010 und der Berglauf-Europameisterschaften 2017. Zudem werden die Berg- und Traillauf-Europameisterschaften 2026 im Kamnik ausgetragen werden.

(Wikipedia)

Built in 1914 at no. 911 Wellington Street East.

"This is a Prairie-style single-story residence, noticeably located at the south-west corner of Wellington and Woodward in the city’s east-central area. It encompasses part of Lot 15, Plan 568 and Lot 29, Plan 930. GIS coordinates: 705,711.336 5,154,111.585 Meters

This handsome, distinctive, well maintained home is the best example of a Prairie-style residence to be found in Sault Ste. Marie. It is an elegant Craftsman style bungalow with a variety of gently pitched roof slopes and a small hipped dormer. The eaves are deep and bracketed. The columns are plain with square abacuses and no base. The inclusion of classical modillions in a residence is rare in Sault Ste. Marie and to Prairie-style homes. A variety of rustic building materials have been utilized: stucco, wood, brick and stone. The window groupings consist of both casement and sash with inner muntin bars. Those windows on the front have been replaced with modern aluminum windows but the windows around the sunroom on the east side and those on the partial second floor are original. Many of the original storm windows are stored in the garage. Craftsmanship in the building is excellent yet simple and functional. Even the interior fireplace sports hand-carved brackets of similar design to those supporting the overhanging exterior eaves. With the exception of the kitchen and bathroom, the main floor rooms are still finished with the original oak trim and floors. An old photo of the house indicates that cedar shingles once adorned the roof.

This residence was constructed, in its present form, in 1914 for Richard H. Carney who was District manager for Canada Life Assurance Co. It was the Carney family who was responsible for construction of the Carney Block on Queen St. It thus reflects the affluence of an upper middle class business family which was profiting from the Clergue industrial expansion of the day. A 1914 date and initials of the stone mason builder may be found in the basement wall mortar between the sandstone pieces. It is likely this sandstone was quarried from the locks as was typical for the day. This house was purchased in 1939 by the MacIntosh family who owned it until 2004.

The key exterior features that embody the heritage value of 911 Wellington St. E. include:

- Variety of gently pitched roof slopes provide horizontal emphasis reflecting the Prairiestyle bungalow

- Clerestory lighting that provides light to a half story loft

- A hipped dormer and deep bracketed eaves

- Columns with abacuses and no base but adorned with modillions

- Rustic building materials including stucco, wood, brick and stone

- Original casement windows with sash and inner muntin bars on the sunroom (east side)

and on the half story loft

- Home and property have been well maintained in traditional style with little change to

the exterior

- An interior with oak trim, baseboards and flooring unchanged save for the kitchen and

bathroom

- A beautiful fireplace with brackets supporting the mantle matching those under the

eaves on the exterior

- The best example of a classical Prairie-style residence in Sault Ste. Marie distinctively

located in a prominent east-central location

- A residence which reflects the affluence of a prominent Sault business family built

during the heyday of the Clergue industrial empire" - info from the Sault Ste. Marie Municipal Heritage Committee.

"Sault Ste. Marie (/ˈsuː seɪnt məˈriː/ SOO-seint-ma-REE) is a city on the St. Marys River in Ontario, Canada, close to the Canada–US border. It is the seat of the Algoma District and the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants of the area, call this area Baawitigong, meaning "place of the rapids." They used this as a regional meeting place during whitefish season in the St. Mary's Rapids. (The anglicized form of this name, Bawating, is used in institutional and geographic names in the area.)

To the south, across the river, is the United States and the Michigan city of the same name. These two communities were one city until a new treaty after the War of 1812 established the border between Canada and the United States in this area at the St. Mary's River. In the 21st century, the two cities are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 on the Michigan side, and Huron Street (and former Ontario Secondary Highway 550B) on the Ontario side. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.

French colonists referred to the rapids on the river as Les Saults de Ste. Marie and the village name was derived from that. The rapids and cascades of the St. Mary's River descend more than 6 m (20 ft) from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes. Hundreds of years ago, this slowed shipping traffic, requiring an overland portage of boats and cargo from one lake to the other. The entire name translates to "Saint Mary's Rapids" or "Saint Mary's Falls". The word sault is pronounced [so] in French, and /suː/ in the English pronunciation of the city name. Residents of the city are called Saultites.

Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River First Nation reserves, and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the city is bordered by an unincorporated portion of Algoma District, which includes the local services boards of Aweres, Batchawana Bay, Goulais and District, Peace Tree and Searchmont. The city's census agglomeration, including the townships of Laird, Prince and Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional and the First Nations reserves of Garden River and Rankin, had a total population of 79,800 in 2011.

Native American settlements, mostly of Ojibwe-speaking peoples, existed here for more than 500 years. In the late 17th century, French Jesuit missionaries established a mission at the First Nations village. This was followed by development of a fur trading post and larger settlement, as traders, trappers and Native Americans were attracted to the community. It was considered one community and part of Canada until after the War of 1812 and settlement of the border between Canada and the US at the Ste. Mary's River. At that time, the US prohibited British traders from any longer operating in its territory, and the areas separated by the river began to develop as two communities, both named Sault Ste. Marie." - info from Wikipedia.

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Graffiti wall art is a powerful form of self-expression and urban beautification. It has evolved from a rebellious act to an admired art form celebrated worldwide. In this guide, we’ll explore the essence of graffiti wall art, its significance, and tips for creating stunning pieces.

What is Graffiti Wall Art?

Graffiti wall art refers to artistic designs, symbols, or messages created on walls, typically in urban areas. It encompasses various styles, ranging from:

Tagging: Simple, stylized signatures or initials.

Throw-Ups: Bubble letters or quick designs.

Murals: Large, detailed compositions that tell stories or convey themes.

Street Art: Intricate pieces blending graffiti with fine art techniques.

Information by:

dayzerart.com/blog-graffiti/graffiti-wall-art-guide/

An all encompassing view of Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Here's another fisheye view of this ride that I've posted.

Technical blah blah blah: Processed in LR3b2

I'm now on Twitter at @CodyWDWfan

Flickriver is a great way to check out my recent and most popular Disney photos!

Walt Disney World > Magic Kingdom > Tomorrowland > Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

The modern-day département of Allier is technically part of Auvergne, which encompasses the large mountainous area in the center of France. However, historically, it used to be the duchy of Bourbonnais, located just between Auvergne and Burgundy —two powerful neighbors. The duchy may have been quite smaller than such neighbors, it nevertheless was the fief of the Bourbon family, which gave many kings to France, reigned over other European countries and still is the royal house of Spain.

When you drive on the small back roads of France, you often see those enticing brown “heritage” signs that alert you to the nearby presence of an old church, a castle or another place of interest. I routinely complain about not having the time to do all those certainly very interesting détours. However, that day (the EXIFs tell me it was June 30, 2023), I decided to follow the brown sign that pointed me to the village of Meillers, and I was not disappointed, as my short visit to the local parish church, dedicated to Saint Julian, proved quite interesting indeed.

Saint-Julien is concerned by a restoration project funded by the Fondation du Patrimoine, for which I work as a pro bono photographer.

The nave. Historians tell us that at the beginning, the church was only roofed. The vault and the bell tower were added around 1150 (while the original church was built during the mid-1000s). This is probably why the transept arches that support that bell tower have become somewhat bent under a weight not originally factored in.

Tuscany is a region in central Italy that encompasses 8,900 square miles and is known for its landscapes and history. In fact, it is regarded as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. Within Tuscany are some of the most visited areas in Italy. On my recent trip to Italy, I was fortunate enough to visit and photograph one of those areas, namely the region of Val d'Orcia. This beautiful location is well known for its countryside and rolling hills, its farmlands and vineyards, and its farmhouses and villas. One of the spots that I fell in love with is the location known as The Villa. We visited it twice during our stay there, both times at sunrise. The first morning, we were shut out with clouds, so the sun did not make an entrance. The scene was so iconic that we visited it again, even though it was not on our planned itinerary. At first, we thought the clouds would cause a repeat performance of our first day, but patience prevailed and the sun finally broke through to show us this beautiful scene.

Scarborough Castle is a former medieval Royal fortress situated on a rocky promontory overlooking the North Sea and Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. The site of the castle, encompassing the Iron Age settlement, Roman signal station, an Anglo-Scandinavian settlement and chapel, the 12th-century enclosure castle and 18th-century battery, is a scheduled monument of national importance.

Fortifications for a wooden castle were built in the 1130s, but the present stone castle dates from the 1150s. Over the centuries, several other structures were added, with medieval monarchs investing heavily in what was then an important fortress that guarded the Yorkshire coastline, Scarborough's port trade, and the north of England from Scottish or continental invasion. It was fortified and defended during various civil wars, sieges and conflicts, as kings fought with rival barons, faced rebellion and clashed with republican forces, though peace with Scotland and the conclusion of civil and continental wars in the 17th century led to its decline in importance.

Once occupied by garrisons and governors who often menaced the town, the castle has been a ruin since the sieges of the English Civil War, but attracts many visitors to climb the battlements, take in the views and enjoy the accompanying interactive exhibition and special events run by English Heritage.

Archaeological excavations in the 1920s produced evidence which suggests a hill fort was built on the headland where the castle now stands. Finds were dated to between 900–500 BC, part of the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age. Among finds dating back about 3,000 years, a Bronze Age sword, thought to have been a ritual offering, is on display in the castle exhibition.

A 4th-century Roman signal station, one of several on the Yorkshire coast, was built on the headland at the cliff top. The station was to warn of approaching hostile vessels, and took advantage of a natural source of fresh water which became known as the "Well of Our Lady". The remains of the signal tower were excavated in the 1920s revealing it to be square in plan around a small courtyard. It measured about 33 metres across and was built of wood on stone foundations with a gatehouse and an outer ditch.

The Anglo-Saxons built a chapel on the station site around the year 1000, the remains of which are still visible. This is reputed to have been destroyed during the invasion of Harald Hardrada in 1066. A much later Icelandic poem claims that a Viking settlement around the harbour was burnt down in 1066 by Hardrada's forces, who built a large bonfire on the headland to supply burning brands to hurl at the villagers below. However, there is no archaeological evidence of such an event, nor any of the Viking presence. The first evidence of the harbour settlement coincides with the establishment of the stone castle around 1157–1164. This grew from a small settlement around a wooden fortress which the stone castle replaced.

William le Gros, Count of Aumale, a powerful Anglo-Norman baron and grand-nephew of William the Conqueror, built a wooden fortification after his receipt of the Earldom of York, from King Stephen in 1138, granted as reward for his victory at the Battle of the Standard. Aumale may have re-founded the town of "Scardeburg", though there is little evidence of this. As with other castles, there would have been at least a small settlement nearby. Some information on the establishment of the castle has survived in the chronicle of William of Newburgh, a monk who in the 1190s wrote about its foundation. The castle had a gate tower, curtain wall, dry moat and chapel. This motte and bailey castle subsequently disappeared, with only the small, raised mound of the motte visible in the inner bailey today.

The fate of the original fortifications is unclear. Henry II ordered that all royal castles be returned to the Crown. He had a policy of destroying adulterine castles, built without royal permission, during Stephen's chaotic reign. Initially, Aumale resisted the call to hand over Scarborough, which he had built on a royal manor, until Henry's forces arrived at York. The wooden castle vanished – William of Newburgh, writing near the time, claimed that the structure had decayed through age and the elements, battered beyond repair on the windswept headland. Later interpretations view this as implausible and argue that Henry wanted to stamp his mark on Scarborough, by demolishing William's fort and creating a much stronger stone complex.

From about 1157, Henry II rebuilt the castle using stone. Much of the building work occurred between 1159 and 1169, when the three-storey keep was built and a stone wall replaced the wooden palisade protecting the inner bailey. By the end of Henry's reign in 1189, a total of £682, 15 shillings and threepence had been spent on the castle, of which £532 was spent between 1157 and 1164. Henry's average annual income during his reign was about £10,000. The castle became a strategic northern stronghold for The Crown. Henry II granted the town that had grown up beneath the fortress, the title of Royal Borough.

While Richard I (reigned 1189–1199) had spent nothing on the castle, his brother King John (reigned 1199–1216) ensured that it was a comfortable residence for himself and his retinue. John's rule was strongly opposed by the northern barons, so the castle at Scarborough was fortified as a strategic stronghold. John visited the castle four times during his reign, and spent a considerable sum on the castle. He built the curtain wall on the west and south sides during 1202–1212, and a new hall called the "King's Chambers", later Mosdale Hall. In total, John spent £2,291, three shillings and fourpence on the castle. This included £780 that was earmarked for repairing the roof of the keep in 1211–1212; John spent more on the castle than any other monarch. The Pipe Rolls, records of royal expenditure, show that John spent over £17,000 on 95 castles during his reign spread, and Scarborough received the most investment.

Improvements continued under Henry III (reigned 1216–1272). By this time, Scarborough was a thriving port, and though he never visited the castle, Henry spent a considerable sum on its upkeep. Around 1240–1250, he installed a new barbican consisting of two towers flanking the gateway, with another two towers protecting the approach. These were completed in 1343, although have been much-modified since. At this time, the castle was a powerful base which an unscrupulous governor could abuse: Geoffrey de Neville, who was governor for 20 years in the 13th century, used the garrison to seize port goods. Since governors were not required to reside in the castle, they often pocketed funds rather than used them for repairs. By the mid-to-late 13th century, the defences were decaying, floorboards rotted, roof tiles were missing and armouries bare of weaponry. Corruption continued among the castle's custodians, who acted with impunity as the castle was outside the jurisdiction of the borough. In the 1270s, governor William de Percy blocked the main road into Scarborough and imposed illegal tolls.

Despite its decline, in 1265 the castle was committed to Prince Edward, later Edward I (reigned 1272–1307), who held court there in 1275 and 1280. In 1295, hostages from his campaigns to subjugate Wales were held at the castle.

Piers Gaveston besieged, 1312

Henry de Percy, who occupied the castle from 1308, had a bakehouse, brewhouse and kitchens built in the inner bailey. and the castle was once again made into a major fortification. Edward II (reigned 1307–1327) imprisoned some of his Scottish enemies there in 1311. In 1312 he gave Isabella de Vesci the castles of Bamburgh and Scarborough. The castle was considered to be the natural place for the king's favourite knight, the Gascon Piers Gaveston, to seek sanctuary when pursued by the barons who had imposed the Ordinances of 1311. The Ordinances were imposed to curb the King's power, and the barons saw Gaveston as a threat to their interests. Sir Robert Felton was governor of Scarborough Castle in 1311 and was slain at Stirling in 1314. In April 1312, Edward made Gaveston the governor of Scarborough Castle, but his tenure would be brief. In May, the Earls of Pembroke and Warenne, together with Henry de Percy, besieged and took the castle. Despite its strong defences, it fell quickly due to lack of provisions. Gaveston was promised safe escort from the castle, but on the journey south was captured by the Earl of Warwick and killed. Scarborough fared little better; Edward punished the town for not supporting Gaveston by revoking its royal privileges and placing it under the direct rule of appointed governors.

Further assaults and decay, 1318–1635

At the time of the Hundred Years War (1337–1453), Scarborough was an important port for the wool trade, so was attacked several times by enemy forces. With rumours of a French invasion, a 1393 inquiry into the state of the castle led to repairs being carried out in 1396 and 1400. Henry VI (reigned 1422–1461; 1470–1471) ordered major repairs between 1424 and 1429. Richard III (reigned 1483–1485) was the last monarch to enter its grounds. He resided at the castle in 1484 while forming a fleet to fight the Tudors, a struggle he lost along with his life the following year.

After assaults by forces from France and Scotland in the early 16th century, in 1536 Robert Aske unsuccessfully tried to take the castle during the Pilgrimage of Grace, a revolt against the Dissolution of the Monasteries and Henry VIII's (reigned 1509–1547) break with the Roman Catholic Church. Repairs were made in 1537, and in 1538 some of the lead of the towers was used by the keeper, Sir Ralph Eure (Evers), to make a brewing vessel; Eure reported that some of the walls had fallen down. In 1557, forces loyal to Thomas Wyatt the younger, who opposed Mary I (reigned 1553–1558) and Catholicism, took the castle by entering disguised as peasants. Their leader, Thomas Stafford, held the castle for three days, and was subsequently executed for high treason on Tower Hill.

Civil War sieges, 1642–1648

Main article: Great Siege of Scarborough Castle

In September 1642, at the outbreak of the English Civil War (1642–1651), Sir Hugh Cholmley occupied the castle as a Parliamentarian loyal to Oliver Cromwell but swapped sides in March 1643. The castle was refortified on Cholmley's orders, including the establishment of the South Steel Battery for artillery. After Cholmeley's defection, the castle, with its garrison of 700 Royalist soldiers, the town and its strategic supply port were on the side of Charles I. (reigned 1625–1649) The Parliamentarians saw Scarborough as a valuable Royalist target because it was the only port not under their dominion.

On 18 February 1645, Sir John Meldrum took the town from the Royalists, cutting off any escape routes by land or sea and delivering the port for Parliament. The same day, Cholmley retreated into the castle and refused to give in, so the Parliamentarians prepared for what would be a five-month siege – one of the most bloody of the Civil War, with almost continuous fighting. The Parliamentary forces set up what was then the largest cannon in the country, the Cannon Royal, in the 12th-century St. Mary's Church below the castle, and proceeded to fire 56–65 pounds (25–29 kg) cannonballs that pounded the castle's defences. In turn, the church was extensively damaged over the three days of fighting. The bombardment partially destroyed the castle keep, but the outer walls were not breached. The Parliamentary forces were unable to take the castle and there followed a period of particularly bloody hand-to-hand fighting around the barbican gateway in which Sir John Meldrum was killed.

By July the tide was turning in the Parliamentarians' favour: bombardment, scurvy, lack of water, perhaps a shortage of gunpowder and the threat of starvation and only 25 men fit to fight meant that the castle surrendered on 25 July 1645. Only about half of the original 500 defenders emerged alive. Subsequently the castle was repaired and rearmed for Parliament with a company of 160. Matthew Boynton, the castle's new governor, declared for the king on 27 July 1648 when the soldiers went unpaid. This led to a second siege which brought the castle back under Parliamentary control on 19 December, when the garrison was defeated as much by the oncoming winter as by the Parliamentary forces. The castle changed hands seven times between 1642 and 1648. The castle was later used as a prison for those who were deemed to be enemies of the Commonwealth of England, the country's brief period of republicanism; the shell of the keep survives, minus the west wall, which was destroyed in the bombardment. The castle was returned to the Crown following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

The castle was used as a prison from the 1650s, and the garrison increased in 1658, and in 1662 it returned to the Crown. George Fox (1624–1691), founder of the Religious Society of Friends was imprisoned there from April 1665 to September 1666 for religious activities viewed as troublesome for Charles II (reigned 1660–1685). The castle declined again: James II (reigned 1685–1688) did not garrison it, he gambled that its defences would be sufficient to resist any Dutch invasion, but the town was seized for William of Orange during the Glorious Revolution that ousted James.

The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, a series of uprising aimed at restoring the Catholic House of Stuart to the throne, saw the castle refortified with gun batteries and barracks for 120 officers and men by 1746. The keep was used as a powder magazine, storing gunpowder, and the South Steel Battery was rebuilt. A barracks, containing twelve apartments accommodated 120 soldiers. Three batteries were built to protect the town and harbour. Two faced south and the other was on the north side of the castle yard. In 1748, the Master Gunner's house was constructed and served as accommodation until the early 20th century and today hosts the exhibition on the castle. The castle saw no action during this time. Later still, the threat of French invasion during the Napoleonic Wars led to the permanent establishment of a garrison, which remained until the mid-19th century; French prisoners were held at the castle during 1796.

During the First World War, Scarborough was used for British propaganda purposes after the bombardment of the town by two warships of the German Empire, SMS Derfflinger and SMS Von der Tann, on 16 December 1914. The raid killed 19 people and damaged the castle's keep, barracks and curtain walls. The castle was severely damaged by the hail of 500 shells directed at it and the town. The barracks were demolished due to the extensive damage wrought by the bombardment. In the Second World War, the castle served as a secret listening post.

The castle's location takes advantage of a naturally defensive site on a headland with steep cliffs, 300 feet (91 m) high, on three seaward sides. The promontory is joined to the mainland by an isthmus, where a ditch or moat was cut, and a wall or palisade with a gatehouse built on the southwest landward side. The stone curtain wall dates from the late 12th and early 13th centuries when it was strengthened by the addition of twelve round towers at intervals on its 230 yards (210 m) length. The wall does not surround the inner buildings of the castle. The entrance consists of a barbican, or fortifications to protect the gateway, completed in the 14th century and flanked by two half-circular towers on high ground. Modifications to the barbican have removed evidence of a portcullis and its grooves. The barbican stands in the place of a 12th-century fortification built close to the remains of an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon chapel.

Beyond the main gateway, a stone bridge, built between 1337 and 1338, to replace two drawbridges, leads to the baileys or courtyards. It leads to the inner bailey, which was used for workshops, offices, a kitchen, and a storage area. Usually a castle's inner bailey is accessed through the outer bailey. However, the opposite is the case at Scarborough.

The 86-foot-tall (26 m) 12th-century keep and the castle's 150-foot-deep (46 m) well lie within the inner bailey. The keep, with its entrance on the first floor, survives as a shell, with the west wall, interior floors and roof missing, as a result of bombardment in the 17th century. With its sloping plinth to aid defence, flat roof and four turrets, this square four-storey building was over 100-foot-tall (30 m). The walls range from 11 to 15 feet (3.4 to 4.6 m) in thickness, the west wall being strongest, and there are several windows, some blocked up along its length. The corners have decorative rounded mouldings. There are the remains of a hearth in the west wall on the first floor, which comprised a single Great Hall, where the occupants ate and often slept. The second and third floors were each divided into two rooms for important visitors or the governor, and the basement was a storage area. Late 20th-century resistivity surveys of the inner bailey have traced the outlines of more 12th-century buildings.

The baileys are separated by a stone wall, ditch and bank, with two defended gateways. The larger outer bailey would have seen entertaining events staged, vegetables grown, and animals kept; there was a graveyard and St. Mary's Chapel, which has completely disappeared, though the remains of the old Anglo-Saxon chapel on the site of an old Roman signal station can still be seen. A 12th-century medieval building, 100 feet (30 m) in length, stood in the outer bailey to accommodate royal visitors. It consisted of a long hall and private chamber with a fireplace used by the monarch, and rooms for preparing and storing food. The building was demolished sometime before a survey of 1538, which makes no mention of it: only the foundations, excavated in 1888, remain.

In the outer bailey, a building named the "King's Chambers" or Mosdale Hall, after a 14th-century governor responsible for upgrading it, is an example of how the castle has been altered over the years. Originally built in the 13th century and upgraded by Mosdale after 1397, the two-storey building adjoining the curtain wall was converted to red-brick barracks in the 18th century. After being badly damaged by German shelling in 1914, the building was demolished. The red brickwork is clearly visible next to the much earlier outer stone wall, as viewed from Scarborough's South Bay. The 13th-century Queen's Tower, in the wall nearby, also had different uses: initially luxurious accommodation with private latrines, a porch and large windows with bay views were added in 1320. Two of these windows were later blocked up and one was changed to a cupboard with a rubbish chute. The Master Gunner's House, built in 1748, served as accommodation until the last on site caretaker, Hudson Rewcroft, retired in 1965. His nephew, Ted Temple shares his story of being the last resident of The Master Gunner's House in the Scarborough Review of June 2017, page 12

During the second half of the 19th century the castle became a tourist attraction. The foundations of a medieval hall were excavated in 1888, and an 1890 photograph shows visitors using the grounds to practice archery. By 1920, the site was taken into public ownership by the Ministry of Works. The demolition of the 18th-century barracks exposed the medieval foundations of Mosdale Hall, which can still be seen. The castle site, a scheduled ancient monument managed by English Heritage since 1984, is host to various events, usually in summertime, such as pirate and Robin Hood-themed activities and an annual Kite Festival. The castle grounds are reputed to be haunted – by three ghosts, among them a Roman soldier. The 18th-century Master Gunner's House, now a museum, has an exhibition whose centrepiece is a Bronze Age sword discovered in 1980. English Heritage invested £250,000 in making the site a tourist attraction. A visitor centre provides admission to all extant remains, and has an exhibition of artefacts from the site and viewing platforms.

A grove of aspen trees is encompassed by a fence just east of Kenosha Pass - Bailey, CO

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Here is a widefield image from several months ago partially encompassing the dusty constellations of Perseus and Taurus. This region contains the two well known objects M45 "The Pleiades" and NGC1499, the California Nebula. The faint dust in this image is known as ISM, Interstellar Medium and is composed of ionic, atomic, and molecular gases. This region is in fact different than the integrated flux nebula seen in the previous Andromeda/Triangulum image. The IFM is much brighter than the IFN. It is also more brightly illuminated by neighboring regions. There is not a whole lot of information available on these faint regions of dust however they can be studied closely through various sky surveys before you plan an imaging session.

The light frames listed below are referring to how many exposures of the deep sky object were taken and also the length of each exposure which are used for stacking in the program pixinisght, the dark, flat, and bias frames are calibration frames which help to eliminate different types of noise, vignetting, and dust on the sensor. It requires many hours of work to produce just one astrophotography image.

Information about this image

camera: unmodded T3i

ISO:1600

Exposures: 102 x 100s

Darks: 5 ugh, mishap

Bias:450 frame master

Flats:35

Lens:SMC Pentax M* 50mm F1.7 stopped to F4

SQM: 21.1

Seeing: 3/5

Transparency:3/5

Calibrated and partially processed in Pixinsight and finished off in Photoshop CC 2017.

The Uyghur Khaganate (744-840 AD) encompassed an area of some 3,100,000 sq. km (1,200,000 sq. mi.), stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the east to what is today eastern Kazakhstan in the west and from Siberia north of Lake Baikal to the Gobi Desert in the south. The capital, Kharbalgas (Ordu-Baliq), was established along the Orkhon River in what today is Arkhangai Province, Mongolia. It was totally destroyed by the Yenisei Kyrgyz (an ancient Siberian people) as the khaganate fell in 840, and was never rebuilt. Ruins at the site of the capital are seen here. The remains of Kharbalgas (elevation 1,400 m, 4,593 ft.) lie 28.5 km (17.7 mi.) north-northwest of Kharkhorin, the capital of Kharkhorin Sum (Kharkhorin District) in Övörkhangai Province. The site is in the in the Orkhon Valley National Park and the UNESCO World Heritage Site (area 1,220 sq. km, 471 sq. mi.) inscribed in 2004 as the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape. Kharkhorin lies 318 km (198 mi.) west-southwest of Ulaanbaatar.

The Linyphiidae is the worlds second largest spider family encompassing 4538 species in more than 601 genera. The highest diversity is found in the northern temperate regions. In these regions as well as in the arctic regions spiders of this family dominates the spider fauna. The jumping spiders (Salticidae) is an even larger family but they generally require warmer conditions than the linyphiids and for this reason they are less well represented in the cooler regions. Linyphiids are found worldwide in all terrestrial biotopes and is perhaps the most widely distributed spider family. They range in size from very small to medium (1-8.5 mm body size). Most species are found at ground level but they occupy a very wide array of habitats. The members of the family build a sheet web sometimes dome shaped. The web has no retreat and the spider always hang inverted below the sheet. Larger species in particular sometimes add irregular vertical snares acting both as sheet suspension strands and barrage balloon wires impeding the flight of insects. When insects strike the vertical snares they fall down on the sheet and the spider rush to bite the prey through the sheet web. Many species disperse by air and the phenomenon of ballooning is very noticeable in this family when very dense populations try to balloon at the same time. The spiders climb up high in the vegetation and point the spinners toward the sky. In this position they let out some strands of silk and eventually the wind will lift the spiders up in the air. Often they only manage to fly a short distance but they will keep trying sometimes resulting in a layer of shimmering silk covering the vegetation. Ballooning takes place usually in late summer. Ballooning may result in spiders literally raining from the sky. Erigone atra is a very common aeronaut in late summer in some areas and on several occasions I have experienced specimens landing in my hair at short intervals, for example while I was sitting in my garden

The building encompassing 37, 39 & 43 Gertrude Street are emblematic of the Fitzroy neighbourhood stock of mid 1800 construction.

The different range of restoration and colour treatment caught my eye.

Gertrude Street runs from Nicholson Street in the west, across Brunswick Street, to Smith Street in the east.

The street was voted the second coolest street in the world according to TimeOut in 2022.

Fitzroy Gertrude Street began in optimism in the 1850s and developed into a respected residential and commercial precinct, fell on bad times in the 1890s depression and became synonymous with crime, poverty, gangs, prostitutes and seediness in the years following the First World War.

Fitzroy boasting the coolest street in the world, Fitzroy is Melbourne's oldest suburb.

3km north-east of the Central Business District in the City of Yarra, it covers 100ha and is the smallest and most densely populated area outside the CBD.

Welcome to orange week!

For my video; youtu.be/DRG5YxSeTt8

Upper Lynn, British Columbia, Canada,

Waterfalls and pools in Lynn Canyon Park.

Lynn Canyon Park is a municipal park in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia. When the park officially opened in 1912 it was only 12 acres in size, but it now encompasses 617 acres

It looks like I am stuck on Mac Lake skies for a series. I'm all about skies and the lake is a great place for them. I will do another walk at McIntosh Lake this afternoon but will I see skies that send a warning like this. It's wide open over the lake that is good spot to view full skies especially when they are streaming from the Rockies and the Divide. Perhaps skies this afternoon? I'll be adding this to my Clouds and Sky album. No blank sky is in this view; a lot of streaming that day but less wet than expected. These kinds of skies should really hurry us inside but I like them. The Rockies foothills are visible under this wall of clouds while the high Rockies are hidden. Today, the high peaks are all white and there are plenty of weather panics on TV to scare the feeble. Their job is to spread fear and viewership. Would that folks afraid of snow simply leave Colorado and not return to smoke.

Our autumn raced by too quickly, probably because of the several record high months served up by the fossil fuelers, their Kochstaff and all their Bozostan followers. This sky was in the cool month of May, 2015 and we were yet to suffer the string of the warmest world record months. We are now into the 2016, "Year of the Crash," brought to us again by the unrestricted Wall Street 1%ers. The crash should turn back industrial pollution for a spell. It's only the people who will suffer.

Without HDR, I used two layers and expanded them both to separate the clouds and sky tones. I usually bracket the exposure speeds and select the definitive exposure in Lightroom depending upon the highlight and shadow gamuts.

Balmoral Castle is located 9 miles west of Braemar and has been serving as a private residence for the British royal family since the mid-19th century. The castle is nestled amidst the stunning landscapes of the Scottish Highlands, surrounded by lush forests, rolling hills, and the rushing River Dee. Originally purchased by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1852, the Balmoral Estate encompasses expansive gardens, woodlands, and manicured grounds, which are open to the public during certain times of the year - Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK

Cotton hoer near Clarksdale, Missisippi, photographed by Dorothea Lange for the United States Farm Security Administration in 1937. My colorization of the original picture in the New York Public Library archive.

"The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was a New Deal agency created in 1937 to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression in the United States. It succeeded the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937).[1]

The FSA is famous for its small but highly influential photography program, 1935–44, that portrayed the challenges of rural poverty. The photographs in the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Photograph Collection form an extensive pictorial record of American life between 1935 and 1944. This U.S. government photography project was headed for most of its existence by Roy E. Stryker, who guided the effort in a succession of government agencies: the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937), the Farm Security Administration (1937–1942), and the Office of War Information (1942–1944). The collection also includes photographs acquired from other governmental and non-governmental sources, including the News Bureau at the Offices of Emergency Management (OEM), various branches of the military, and industrial corporations.[2]

In total, the black-and-white portion of the collection consists of about 175,000 black-and-white film negatives, encompassing both negatives that were printed for FSA-OWI use and those that were not printed at the time. Color transparencies also made by the FSA/OWI are available in a separate section of the catalog: FSA/OWI Color Photographs.[2]

The FSA stressed "rural rehabilitation" efforts to improve the lifestyle of very poor landowning farmers, and a program to purchase submarginal land owned by poor farmers and resettle them in group farms on land more suitable for efficient farming.(Wikipedia)

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve encompass three major lava fields and about 1.036 km2 of sagebrush steppe grasslands to cover a total area of 2.893 km2.

Elevation : 1.800m

All three lava fields lie along the Great Rift of Idaho, with some of the best examples of open rift cracks in the world, including the deepest known on Earth at 240m. There are excellent examples of almost every variety of basaltic lava as well as tree molds (cavities left by lava-incinerated trees), lava tubes (a type of cave), and many other volcanic features.

The Monument and Preserve contain more than 25 volcanic cones including outstanding examples of spatter cones.

The 60 distinct lava flows that form the Craters of the Moon Lava Field range in age from 15,000 to just 2,000 years. It's active and geologists believe that will have again activity in the next 1.000 years. It had periodic activity almost every 2.000 and the last eruption was before 2.000 years...

Far on the backround is the "Big Southern Butte"

Shaded water park and play area on the North West side of Elizabeth Quay.

(Wikipedia).

Elizabeth Quay is a mixed-use development project in the Perth central business district. Encompassing an area located on the north shore of Perth Water near the landmark Swan Bells, the precinct was named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II during her Diamond Jubilee.

The project includes construction of an artificial inlet on what was previously the Esplanade Reserve, and modifications to the surrounding environs including Barrack Square, with the project opening nine sites for potential development. Completed facilities were initially projected to include 1,700 residential apartments, 150,000 square metres (1.6 million square feet) of office space and 39,000 square metres (0.42 million square feet) of retail space.

Planning Minister John Day and Premier Colin Barnett turned the first ground at the Esplanade Reserve on 26 April 2012, and Barnett announced the name "Elizabeth Quay" on 28 May 2012. Construction of the inlet and associated infrastructure were completed in January 2016, ahead of the Perth International Arts Festival and Fringe World. The quay was officially opened on 29 January 2016. Construction of the associated buildings will be completed at varying times thereafter, with the first – The Ritz Carlton Hotel and an adjacent residential tower – opened on 15 November 2019.

Description

The Elizabeth Quay precinct is centred around an artificial inlet that opens to the Swan River at its south. At the eastern side of the mouth of the inlet is an islet, which contains the Florence Hummerston Kiosk (which hosts a hospitality complex), the Bessie Rischbieth statue and a playground, and is connected to the eastern shore by a short bridge and to the western shore by the longer Elizabeth Quay Bridge, a pedestrian and cycling bridge which spans the mouth of the inlet.

On the eastern shore are 24 public short stay moorings for recreational boats, as well as the Meet Our Australian Sailor sculpture on the south-eastern shore near the islet. The eastern side contains a 28-storey Ritz Carlton hotel and an adjacent residential tower, as well as two smaller buildings containing food and beverage outlets. The north shore, designated "The Landing", features the sculpture Spanda at its centre, with a carousel immediately west of the public artwork. Directly north of The Landing, across Geoffrey Bolton Avenue which bisects the area from west to east, is the 19-storey Nine The Esplanade office tower development (scheduled for completion in 2025), with the 29-storey Australian headquarters of Chevron Corporation located in the north-east of the precinct. To the north-west, adjacent to the Nine The Esplanade development, is an empty lot yet to be developed as of February 2025; this lot has been slated for the future 56-storey Fifteen The Esplanade mixed-use development.

The western shore features the Elizabeth Quay Jetty for Transperth ferry services to South Perth as well as commercial moorings. To the north-west is a shaded water park and play area and a building containing public toilets and a food and beverage outlet, with the mixed-use EQ West development consisting of two towers (52-storeys and 25-storeys, under construction as of February 2025) taking up the rest of the precinct to its west and south-west. The art piece First Contact stands on the south-west shore, near the western entry to the Elizabeth Quay Bridge.

1 WTC as seen from the terrace of 4 World Trade Center at sunset.

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There are some nights so magical and special, so all-encompassing in their scope that it feels impossible to relay their magnitude.

Last night was one of them.

This is one of the photos I took last night as I watched one of the most stunning sunsets paint itself across the sky from a terrace on the top of 4 World Trade Center.

I was up there to take night photos of 1 World Trade Center and hadn't even seen the sky until I made it up to the 57th floor unfinished terrace. For a few seconds, it scarcely seemed real, as if the giant hand of an artist had crafted a colorful composite to serve as a background for the majestic 1 World Trade Center.

When I was asked to take photos to accompany an upcoming article about the World Trade Center for the Guardian, I was honored and also a bit curious about how I would feel photographing such an iconic symbol of strength built upon the hallowed, sacred ground of loss, and despair.

I have written about September 11th a few times on this blog usually accompanying photo-sets that remain a bit too emotional for me to view to this day: 1) The opening of the 9/11 Memorial, 2) In remembrance - The World Trade Center Memorial , 3)Tie a Ribbon of Remembrance - Public Art and the World Trade Center. Since 2001, the site has largely remained a solemn place of reflection for me and many New Yorkers.

Touring the site initially a few weeks ago was a cathartic experience in retrospect. What once felt like a deep abyss of despair has been partially transformed into a powerful site of strength demonstrating New York City's tenacity and ability to regrow while in deep remembrance.

And so, last night I stood high up on a terrace of 4 World Trade Center looking out towards 1 World Trade Center which rose up in front of me like a phoenix as the sun spilled across the sky, and I smiled with happy tears in my eyes.

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Information about my New York City photography book which is releasing in stores and online in the autumn of 2014 (including where to order it):

NY Through The Lens: A New York Coffee Table Book

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View my New York City photography at my website NY Through The Lens.

View my Travel photography at my travel blog: Traveling Lens.

Interested in my work and have questions about PR and media? Check out my:

About Page | PR Page | Media Page

To use any of my photos commercially, feel free to contact me via email at photos@nythroughthelens.com

View On Black

Kabah encompasses about 1,000 acres on fertile farm lands dotted with temples, palace, and dwelling places, most built from 700 to 1000 A.D. (Terminal Classic Period).

Kabah consists of 3 main groups of temples: the East Group (which is the only group currently excavated), the Central Group, and the West Group. The East Group rises from a massive platform with 2 prominent, probably administrative, buildings called the Codz Poop (Palace of the Masks) and the Palace, this building.

Pottery evidence indicates that the Mayans occupied Kabah from the Late Pre-Classic Period (800 B.C - 100 A.D.), but did not urbanize until 600 A.D.

Kabah reached its peak during the Terminal Classic Period (800 - 1000 A.D.). The Itzaes from Chichen Itza later conquered Kabah and occupied it for a little while before permanently abandoning it.

The Taj Mahal is located on the right bank of the Yamuna River in a vast Mughal garden that encompasses nearly 17 hectares, in the Agra District in Uttar Pradesh. It was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal with construction starting in 1632 AD and completed in 1648 AD, with the mosque, the guest house and the main gateway on the south, the outer courtyard and its cloisters were added subsequently and completed in 1653 AD. The existence of several historical and Quaranic inscriptions in Arabic script have facilitated setting the chronology of Taj Mahal. For its construction, masons, stone-cutters, inlayers, carvers, painters, calligraphers, dome builders and other artisans were requisitioned from the whole of the empire and also from the Central Asia and Iran. Ustad-Ahmad Lahori was the main architect of the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal is considered to be the greatest architectural achievement in the whole range of Indo-Islamic architecture. Its recognised architectonic beauty has a rhythmic combination of solids and voids, concave and convex and light shadow; such as arches and domes further increases the aesthetic aspect. The colour combination of lush green scape reddish pathway and blue sky over it show cases the monument in ever changing tints and moods. The relief work in marble and inlay with precious and semi precious stones make it a monument apart.

The uniqueness of Taj Mahal lies in some truly remarkable innovations carried out by the horticulture planners and architects of Shah Jahan. One such genius planning is the placing of tomb at one end of the quadripartite garden rather than in the exact centre, which added rich depth and perspective to the distant view of the monument. It is also, one of the best examples of raised tomb variety. The tomb is further raised on a square platform with the four sides of the octagonal base of the minarets extended beyond the square at the corners. The top of the platform is reached through a lateral flight of steps provided in the centre of the southern side. The ground plan of the Taj Mahal is in perfect balance of composition, the octagonal tomb chamber in the centre, encompassed by the portal halls and the four corner rooms. The plan is repeated on the upper floor. The exterior of the tomb is square in plan, with chamfered corners. The large double storied domed chamber, which houses the cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, is a perfect octagon in plan. The exquisite octagonal marble lattice screen encircling both cenotaphs is a piece of superb workmanship. It is highly polished and richly decorated with inlay work. The borders of the frames are inlaid with precious stones representing flowers executed with wonderful perfection. The hues and the shades of the stones used to make the leaves and the flowers appear almost real. The cenotaph of Mumtaz Mahal is in perfect centre of the tomb chamber, placed on a rectangular platform decorated with inlaid flower plant motifs. The cenotaph of Shah Jahan is greater than Mumtaz Mahal and installed more than thirty years later by the side of the latter on its west. The upper cenotaphs are only illusory and the real graves are in the lower tomb chamber (crypt), a practice adopted in the imperial Mughal tombs.

The four free-standing minarets at the corners of the platform added a hitherto unknown dimension to the Mughal architecture. The four minarets provide not only a kind of spatial reference to the monument but also give a three dimensional effect to the edifice.

The most impressive in the Taj Mahal complex next to the tomb, is the main gate which stands majestically in the centre of the southern wall of the forecourt. The gate is flanked on the north front by double arcade galleries. The garden in front of the galleries is subdivided into four quarters by two main walk-ways and each quarters in turn subdivided by the narrower cross-axial walkways, on the Timurid-Persian scheme of the walled in garden. The enclosure walls on the east and west have a pavilion at the centre.

The Taj Mahal is a perfect symmetrical planned building, with an emphasis of bilateral symmetry along a central axis on which the main features are placed. The building material used is brick-in-lime mortar veneered with red sandstone and marble and inlay work of precious/semi precious stones. The mosque and the guest house in the Taj Mahal complex are built of red sandstone in contrast to the marble tomb in the centre. Both the buildings have a large platform over the terrace at their front. Both the mosque and the guest house are the identical structures. They have an oblong massive prayer hall consist of three vaulted bays arranged in a row with central dominant portal. The frame of the portal arches and the spandrels are veneered in white marble. The spandrels are filled with flowery arabesques of stone intarsia and the arches bordered with rope molding.