I like to pursue the experience of seeing Horsetail Fall each year. A client of ours not long ago dismissed it as something to the effect of "everyone pursuing the same shot". That's fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it got me wondering why I disagree, and what has driven me to pursue the event maybe 80-90 times over the past couple of decades. It's never the same twice, but it's more than that. A lot more.

 

A lot of people pursue the sight of Horsetail Fall each year. The phenomenon requires a lot of variables to line up, so it may only be dramatic on one or two nights each year. Sometimes there's only a wet spot on the rock illuminated with sunset light, other times there's a small amount of water, but it only gets a weak glow of color as the sun fades behind thin haze as it sets.

 

On the best of nights there's a strong flow cascading over the lip or El Capitan, and the full force of the sun lights up the water through clear skies to the west. The waterfall becomes a shining beacon of sunlight, shimmering as it cascades down the granite surface. It looks white hot at first, difficult to look at when the water catches and transmits enough of the sun. Then there's an increasing amount of color, as the sun sets through thickening atmosphere and blue light is scattered, leaving warmer tones. Yet as the coloration starts, the intensity is still very high, like vigorously splashing molten copper. Water splashes as it cascades, and the droplets create a scintillating effect of liquid molten sunlight. This is the part that's utterly spectacular, leaving witnesses with jaws agape, oohs and ahhs coming from the spectators below. The effect is most analogous to the shimmering corona present for a few minutes during a total solar eclipse, something that many people travel the world over and over to see and experience again. On one hand seeing the sun's corona revealed is a combination of coincidence and physics, but it can trigger awe with a healthy dose of dopamine, endorphins, and who knows what else, an intense natural high that may be unmatched in the viewer's prior life experience. So it's little wonder that many people with the means pursue that experience over and over again. At its best and most intense, Horsetail Fall, if you're in the right place to get the full force of intense transmitted sunlight, produces that effect.

 

The next phase is when the color peaks in Horsetail Fall, the sun is in its final orange phase, and the water resembles hot lava in color. If someone unmasked you in that spot in exactly that moment, you could be convinced that it IS hot lava, the eruption spewing droplets of red hot Pele's tears as it falls. It's awesome, but if you were waiting for color and didn't pay attention to the prior phase because your neighbor was chatty, you missed the main event. Clever photographers will go to great lengths to try to get an unusual angle on the waterfall, to capture a unique composition. If you're standing at a right angle to the light going through the waterfall, getting some reflected color but not the scintillating light coming through small droplets, sure, you may have captured a pretty picture, but sorry, if it happened at all, you may have missed the most intense part of the experience.

 

The final phase is when the color starts to fade, and the setting sun might cast a more magenta to red tone on the water. In some years, especially when there's low water flow, this is the best that it gets in five nights of trying.

 

In later dates in February, the sunlight will have a shadow creeping up from below, leaving intense light mainly on the upper portion of the waterfall.

 

The event typically ends in the spectators cheering and clapping, a release of energy they accumulated during the various phases of the spectacle.

 

There are probably multiple reasons why someone might not get why Horsetail Fall is something to experience. One category is people who chased it and either it didn't happen, or it wasn't that great. Fair enough, sorry you missed it. It's a bit like chasing a solar eclipse that ends up impeded by clouds. It could feel like a waste of time, and you may wonder why people put themselves through the hassle.

 

Another category of unimpressed people may be photographers who flit around the country or world like butterflies, collecting places but never stopping to truly experience them. Lori and I traveled to Turkey in 2010, but we spent over 3 weeks there and spent a lot of time driving around the countryside staying with locals. We wanted to experience the country and meet the people, not just blow through it collecting postcard shots. Our favorite experiences are from when we left a hole in our itinerary and had locals recommend where we should go. And the time when no one spoke English while our rental car broke down for several hours. Travelling the country and photographing/seeing many sites was great, the people and experiences were priceless.

 

Similarly for many of the most spectacular moments we experience, often with little warning, it's most compelling to remember to experience the full impact, not just photograph the pretty colors or the unusual weather. Often we run into conditions that boggle the mind, and contain a range of light that the photographic process, without the full intensity of the sun, will never fully contain or convey. Moments that we never could have possibly anticipated, when nature is just showing off how it can exceed what we've experienced before. The first thing I do in these circumstances is to observe, "No one will ever believe this!" Because it's true. And I point out the when they're post-processing the images, if they upload an image and at least some people don't reply with "fake", "over-processed", "oversaturated", or now "AI", then they've failed to convey even a fraction of what they've seen. We also try to encourage people to learn how to automate their exposures with an interval timer, so they can experience the moment as well. Or take lots of different compositions at various times as conditions evolve, but also pause, look up, and notice, and experience the awe.

 

For me that's the draw. The experiences. The photographs are just a way to share some small fraction of what we experienced.

 

Back to Horsetail Fall... one of the biggest challenges is trying to post-process the results to reflect the full range of light, to try to include as much of the extreme contrast as possible, without washing out the intense color. I'll probably have to take several passes at the images, and gradually improve them over time. And they probably won't have an appropriate impact without a searing light source, a very bright and high contrast display, or a massively bright light shining directly on a metal print (does someone print on copper?). It'll never match the original event. You can't contain the sun, and re-emit it on command. But perhaps some fraction of the awe can be communicated, and even if not, we'll always have the experiences. And that's what I'm in this for... the doing, the experiencing, and sharing what I can to people who perhaps can't get out as often as we do and see as much of the ridiculous beauty that occurs, whether there's anyone there to see and record it or not.

 

See you in 5-6 weeks, Horsetail Fall!

Mural entitled "Transitional State" by Josh Scheuerman aka @jscheuerman, seen at 7651 South Main Street in Midvale, Utah.

 

Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee

(Continuation of story which begins with the first upload entitled Portugal)

 

We took the ferry across the Straits of Gibraltar and when we entered the city of Tangiers, a whole new exotic world opened before our eyes. I had first seen Moorish architecture in the Algarve. In the beginning, this landscape can appear foreboding and menacing. Later it becomes mysterious and welcoming.

 

The street signs were all in French and Arabic. Not really a surprise, but I was once again reminded of my poor language skills. Helping Marvin navigate would be difficult for me, but I conjured up some bold confidence that worked for a short while.

 

It was still early in the afternoon so we decided to press on to Fez and spend the night there. Soon we were in the middle of an open road with no towns in sight. That was a rather welcome sight. Navigation was easier I thought but then remembered that we had no local currency. I mentioned this to Marvin and he brushed off the fact saying that surely a town would appear soon where we could exchange money.

 

The day went along and no towns appeared on the horizon. The sun was quickly going down in the sky. The arrow of the fuel gauge had also dipped dangerously low. In the age of no international credit cards this was a very serious problem as we had read that the Moroccans would only do business in dirhams.

 

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man on a motorcycle pull up along side our car. He was smiling and waving. He began to speak and when he did his first question was, “Are the two of you Americans?” I was dumbfounded. We were in a Volkswagen with Portuguese license plates. We had been away from America so long we had almost forgotten that we were Americans. How did he know?

 

He continued to yell and screamed that he loved Americans because his brother had gone to school in America and we were very kind to him. He asked where we were staying and we shook our heads. I then blurted out that we had failed to get dirhams and that we were low on gas.

 

He screamed back to follow him and he would help us. Soon we were pulling into a gas station and we could talk in a normal tone. His brother owned the gas station but our new friend would pay for our tank to be filled up. We could repay him the following morning after we exchanged currency. We then followed him to a lovely hotel and said good-bye until the morning. It was our first of many warm experiences with Muslim hospitality.

 

The image is of the oldest medina in the world at Fez. It was named a United Nations World Heritage site just before we visited there.

 

To see more pics from this day and other fox photos please check out my album entitled "foxes" at www.flickr.com/photos/black_cat_photography/albums/721577...

 

All comments regarding this picture, subject, composition, etc are welcome and appreciated. TIA.

A very, very long time ago I posted a shot entitled Emergence (flic.kr/p/2hWPoqh). In it I gave a brief overview of the South Chicago and Indiana Harbor Railway. I haven't paid hardly any attention to the Short Line since then, inflicted with yet another case of "don't pay attention to what's in my backyard" syndrome. But recently I've been realizing how much I've missed out on by not paying much attention to the railroad.

 

Flash forward to about a month ago, I heard the strangest claim that these guys had stored all their power with little chance of taking them out, which led me to investigate them around the same time I started looking for B09, another recent way-late-to-the-party instance.

 

Thankfully, it didn't take very long to realize that my assumption was correct in this certainly NOT being the case.

 

These guys are the absolute last thing I'd expect to see moving around on a Saturday morning, but to prove me wrong, here is the railroad's own #31 dropping down to street level with three coil cars for eventual forwarding to the BRC right across the NS from here. It goes without saying that the lead pictured here, which heads west into the railroad's dinky yard and shops in the East Side neighborhood of South Chicago, has become quite jungly as of late.

 

With all of that being said, I've began looking for these guys as much as I humanly can with daylight rapidly dwindling day to day. Expect much much more of them, along with some very long descriptions of the history and operations of this fascinating railroad.

Mural entitled "Ascending" by INSANE 51 aka @insance51 for Bright Walls 2022, seen at 175 West Pearl Street in Jackson, Michigan,

 

Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee.

Mural entitled "The Ascension" by Candy Kuo aka @itscandykuo for Paint Memphis 2021, seen at 660 South B.B. King Boulevard in Memphis, Tennessee.

 

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee

 

This the best rendition of the painting I have at this time even with hours of photoshopping. If I get a better image, I'll update this. Here are the Emails we exchanged:

  

I received this Email 051609

 

Dear Mr. Strain,

 

My name is Elizabeth R. My mother had one of your paintings entitled "There Is A Boy Who Loves Me". When she passed away in 1996, the painting was given to her sister who lives in Dallas, Texas. She has the painting hanging in her den and I told her I would do some research regarding the artist. And I looked you up on the internet.

 

The painting was done in 1968. You have signed it on the front and there is a letter attached to the back of the painting. I think my mother may have purchased this piece of art while she was living in Corpus. She had it on an easel for as long as I can remember. She lived in Victoria, Texas and that is where I was born. She loved the painting and I can just see it right now.

 

I thought maybe you could tell me something about the painting. My aunt is 85 years old and is not able to remove it from the wall unless she has help.

 

I would like to know if the painting is an original or a print? there is not a number in the right hand corner of the painting; just your signature.

 

I will do more research on the painting but if you could email me any more information regarding this piece of art, I would surely appreciate it.

 

Thank you so very much. I surely did enjoy enjoy reading your biography. I am presently living near LG, Texas.

 

Elizabeth R.

 

The same day, I got another Email from Elizabeth:

 

Dear Strain,

 

I just spoke with my aunt and she did tell me the contents of the letter that came with the watercolor and ink painting.

 

It says that you came upon a young lady in the road and all she said was that there is a boy who loves me. She is wearing a white dress and she is barefoot and she has long hair and there is a house in the background.. I am sure you will remember this painting and maybe give me more information.

 

Thank you again.

 

Elizabeth R.

 

The same day, I sent this response to Elizabeth:

  

Hi Elizabeth ... I just don't remember the picture. I do remember the title. I traveled a lot into Mexico when I was working in the Rio Grande Valley and I was much intrigued with the responses of the more primitive poverty stricken people of La Frontera. I do remember a little girl saying that to me in Spanish. I smiled and thought she didn't know what to say to a stranger, so she just said the most important thing in her life that day. I did a number of versions as I recall. The actual incident took place as I was driving south from Mier toward Reynosa on the Mexican side. The little girl (grade school, perhaps third grade) was standing on the school ground of a most unusually shaped school building. I stopped to sketch and she came up to watch. That was the only thing she said, although I tried to talk to her. Later I used her as a person standing in front of an unusual home I sketched in Falfurrias, Tx.

 

I think if I could see even a poor grade photograph of the watercolor, I'd be able to tell you all about it. What your aunt has is an original, because I never went into the print business. If it's the watercolor I did of the little girl in front of the original school where I met her, I think it's one of my better watercolors and your mother paid a whopping price for those years probably as much as $60 to $75 ... LOL ... If I could get a good resolution photograph of it, I'd love to put it on my sebsite.

 

I'm doing almost entirely computer art now and having a ball. As you probably know, my website is www.billstrain.com and my main thing going now is the first selection on that site with the word Flickr in it. That's where I do a daily blog of art, humor and narrative. I have as many of my old originals on the Flickrsite as anywhere under the set name of "Blasts from the Past."

 

I look forward to hearing from you. You might want to change my Email to bill.strain@yahoo.com. That's where I get most of my mail. This address is the old original one that we set up with the old website. Thanks for you inquiry and ..

 

Best wishes from Sherry and Bill in Kerrville

 

Still on the 16th, this Email from Elizabeth:

 

Hi Bill,

 

Thank you so much for your reply. I read your email to my aunt, who does not own a computer and never will, and she gave me a more detailed description of the painting. there is a one story house in the background and to the left of the house appears some black crosses maybe 5; look like crosses. then the little girl is standing on some stones and there appears to be more stones that could have been from a stone wall. She says the colors are magnificent!!! she just loves the painting.

 

She has a friend who will be returning to town around the 25th and he will come over and take a picture of it digitally and he can email you a picture. Then perhaps you will remember the painting. She is thrilled that I heard from you and will be glad to have her friend take a picture. I am thrilled that it is an original.

 

My aunt had it put into a different frame and she sees it every day all day when she is in her den. She acquired the painting about 11 years ago.

 

Thank you so much for the information and you will be hearing from me when her friend can send you the photo.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

Elizabeth R.

  

Then this Email came from Paul, actually 3 Emails each with a different JPEG of the watercolor. It was from these three JPEGs I got the image posted. I'll keep this updated until we get the best results we're going to. So another magic "BLAST FROM THE PAST" ... lol

  

From Paul: Sorry for the reflection. I couldn't see it until I got home and downloaded them onto my computer.

 

I'm sending the three best. Will try again, but am traveling till next week.... Have Jean remind me when I get back.

 

Sending them separately.

  

Paul

 

Here's my Email to Elizabeth after I saw the painting and was able to remember it:

 

Hi Elizabeth,

 

I got three photographs from Paul and he will try for more quality when he returns from a business trip. I worked a couple of hours trying to restore the color and detail, but the reflections were too strong.

 

That IS the primary painting I remember. I conisder it one of the top twenty paintings I've ever done. And that's the school I told you about and a caricature of the young gangly girl I talked to that day. I felt pretty special that she had shared with me something she probably didn't even share with her parents ... LOL ... for fear they'd cut off the possibility of a friendship with the boy.

 

I have an 13 x 18 inch scanner and could scan that watercolor without taking it out of the frame, if anyone is ever in the Kerrville area. I can't remember the size of the actualy painting, but I could do it in two or three scans and then patch it together and provide you with a CD and the potential for having prints made for the family or anyone you wanted to give them to.

 

If Paul is able to get a better quality photograph, I'll put it on my Flickrsite and add it to the "Blasts from the past" set and that one really is a blast from the past. On my website with my conventional art I have a publication "Nueces District Clerk's Journal" or something to that effect and a similar composition is in black and white on the cover. Also from the same era is one I called "Coronado's Child" of a little boy sitting on the edge of where a sidewalk ends in front of an abaondoned old church in Mier, Mexico. During those years I did a lot of sketching up and down the Rio Grande, Camargo, Mier, Rio Grande City, Roma, San Ignacio and even up to Laredo.

 

Well, it's been a hoot and I thank you for making it possible...grin. I'll wait for Paul's next effort and we'll talk some more.

 

Best wishes and ...

Love from Sherry and Bill

Yet another entry in my imaginary album entitled "why we have no nice things". Model Jill proposed this pond session several months ago at a point when the water was still freezing cold. Nothing we could do at the time, but the creative seed was firmly planted. Months later and the end of summer is at hand. The days are hot and the pond water warm. Our moment had finally arrived. Jill donned an old dress from a thrift store and gamely waded into the water. Rural ponds seem idyllic in theory, but are actually quite unsettling when one contemplates actually entering one. The water is a slimy shade of opaque yellow-green. It immediately discolors anything it touches with little chance of said thing every coming clean again. And then there's the ooze of muck at the bottom. Jill said her feet sank ankle deep into this morass before finding something of a stable base layer. Insects buzzed about and there was the constant fear of snapping turtles, leaches and water snakes. The concept was a fashion shoot of sorts, trending more toward dark glamour. Jill somehow maintained her composure as we worked, looking outwardly serene as if standing in a pond was an everyday occurrence. We achieved some wonderful shots in the process. But I kept thinking about the darker aspects of ponds, and became intrigued watching the change in Jill's demeanor between takes. She would take a few cautious steps in one direction or another so we could change the background or lighting. In these moments I could see her anxiety rising as each step resulted in a near fall. For me these unguarded (and quite unanticipated) moments seemed far more compelling than what we had set out to do. I played up on the backlighting that caused the water to appear black. The effect put me in mind of the La Brea tar pits. Or that weird transformative effect when food coloring is added to a bowl of water.

Painting entitled "My Lebanon" at an exhibition in Cambridge earlier this year. The note by the artist said, "The woman is crying 'Lebanon, my beloved country'. Her hair is the colour of the national flag -- green, white and red. And her tear is the word word Lebanon in Arabic". Very smart work, I thought.

Mural entitled "Gilded Lady" by Tristan Eaton aka @tristaneaton seen at 27th and Fifth Avenue in New York, New York.

 

Flickr member Trish Mayo has an interesting insight into the subject of this mural. See www.flickr.com/photos/obsessivephotography/52778363320

 

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee.

Mural entitled "Ta Tanka" by Wes Abarca aka @wes7svn, seen at 7662 South Main Street in Midvale, Utah.

 

Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee

Mural entitled "Winter in Utah" by D A A S aka @daas, seen in the mid-concourse tunnel at Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee.

rules don't apply to us.

Mural entitled "Seven Sharks" by Hilton Aves aka @artisthiltonaves, seen at 710 NW 5th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

 

Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee

The rendering of your emotional highway has no barriers?

what do your deepest fears cross and encounter?

is there cherishment upon the way that feeds your heart?

picking moments with which the Soul is eaten, in part

is it the deliverer, the healer, the persecutor impart

 

smoothly surfaced into the light of day passing

a room, destiny, space, in time, rivers flowing

still in mind, awakening the emotive checklist of strife

recording movements and controlling daily schedules

watching every living matter, is this what you call life??

 

bear in mind what you simply cannot bear to face

with eyes closed, the entitled apparition becomes real

a chest note unspoken, which designs a noted bas-relief

filled with emotional spirit and natural purulency

go beyond the norm, look further afield, inherit more belief

 

taking your hand, reinvigorating this life shared

second to none and afraid no more, seize the willowed moment!

behold the veranda of opportunity and purest veracity

entering such a thalamus of hidden and untold dreams

here we feel the world in our hands within plentiful capacity

 

there is no wrong in a oneness of love, a oneness of spirit

where Nature is present, life abounds in surviving heartbeats

theurgic possibilities astride hermetic touches advancing

where breaths become deeper and silently longing

forever becomes the present of predestined-eternity's glancing

 

we are the insight of ourselves when open to heavenly calling

into our destiny we strive purely, future surrendered today

as the past catches up with the forgiveness of time itself

we're bold enough to go where our resistance never dared step

a shell of time, and only time will tell where we may tread ourself

 

are we to remain in fate's shadow, or shall we reflect glory -

on our own offering of light and illumination unto our present?

leaving a prosaic society aside, let your spirit touch it's potential

realise and embrace it, share and reach the four corners of your soul

such propensity of jubilant goodness within every heart existential.

 

by anglia24

13h35: 20/02/2008

©2008anglia24

A color variation for a red fox...

 

To see more pics from this day and other fox photos please check out my album entitled "foxes" at www.flickr.com/photos/black_cat_photography/albums/721577...

 

All comments regarding this picture, subject, composition, etc are welcome and appreciated. TIA.

 

To see my pictures on flickr river - please visit www.flickriver.com/photos/black_cat_photography/popular-i...

 

... in Brugge.

 

Last August, in Bruges, visitors could cross the water on his installation entitled BRUG (The Bridge) by Jarosław Kozakiewicz.

With the many bridges that span the canals in the city centre and link neighbourhoods with each other, BRUG is a contemporary interpretation with another function.

Instead of bricks and cobblestones, the artist uses metal profiles and canvas to create a bridge on which you can cross from one side of the canal to the other.

 

I waited until one of the many canal boats passed under it...

 

Thank you for your time and comments, M, (*_*)

  

For more: www.indigo2photography.com

 

Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

 

Hats off to the special and entitled for whom collective benefits are a concept unknown.

Mural entitled "'Til Death Do Us Part" by DFace aka @dface_official, seen at 26 Crowndale Road, St Pancras, Camden, London, England.

 

Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee

Mural entitled "Tres Reinas" by Lola Goce aka @lulagoce for Blkout Walls 2023, seen at at 2501 Cass Avenue in Detroit, Michigan.

 

Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee.

Mural entitled "Dadstrength" by Joe Miller aka @thejoemiller seen on the wall of the North Flats Apartments at Honore & North Avenue in the Wicker Park area of Chicago Illinois. The mural depicts the artist's brother and niece.

 

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee

Anselm Kiefer: A Monograph by Dominique Baqué (Thames & Hudson, 2015).

 

Chapter 2 of this wonderful and comprehensive introduction to the work of Anselm Kiefer is entitled: "Painting After Auschwitz". Here we get to the heart of what drives this most philosophical of artists.

 

Born in Donaueschingen, Germany, in March 1945, just months before the end of World War II, Anselm Kiefer inherited a destroyed world. This fact has shaped his thinking and turned his artistic endeavours into a personal crusade to make his country face up to the horrors of its past.

 

How could the most scientifically, culturally, and artistically literate people have embraced a theology with murderous intent at its heart? Pagan though it may have been, Naziism was without doubt a pure theocracy of Aryan purity, and its largest supporter base was the so-called German Christians (the state Lutheran Church along with conservative Catholics). The fact that many Christians have long been attracted to authoritarian politics is a sad reality. [It may have something to do with a belief in a version of God as Cosmic Dictator who requires absolute obedience lest one be condemned to an eternity in Hell.]

 

Kiefer began studying law at university, but also read widely in German philosophy and literature. It wasn't long though before he simply felt compelled to produce works of art as his primary expression. He first came to attention with a controversial series of photographs of figures in "sacred" German landscapes making the Nazi salute. Clearly these photographs were inspired by the great Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). Then came a series of impasto paintings that trace a line between the great German thinkers of the past (including Martin Luther) right the way up to the SS murder-concentration-camps such as Auschwitz.

 

In 1992 Kiefer moved, as if in exile from his homeland, to the south of France to set up his studio La Ribaute in Barjac. eschaton-foundation.com/

The new Kiefer installation at MONA is a copy of part of this studio.

 

Anselm Kiefer is the most philosophical of painters and possibly the most ancient (in the Jungian sense) of all contemporary artists. One of the great influences on the later part of his career, attempting to answer the questions of how a holocaust of such magnitude as World War II could happen, is a book published quietly two decades ago by a relatively unknown art historian. It is The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press, 2002) and it demonstrates categorically how much of the ancient world of truth and prejudice continues to live on in the present. It is a powerful book and continues to sit in prominent place on my desk, and one to which I return over and over again.

Anselm Kiefer, “The Shape of Ancient Thought”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lwuFq5_6c0&t=2894s

 

One final comment of Kiefer's painting. He works is a variety of materials that are plastered over his canvases. They are works literally designed to fall apart. This notion of temporality is very important to his vision. Nothing in history stays the same, and this is both a relief and a warning. A relief in that as Gandhi said, "Tyrants will rise and fall, but truth lives forever." A warning, in that we must always be attentive to the fact that the same fascist impulses that motivated the Nazis are barely a scratch away from the surface of our current political reality.

 

A comprehensive introduction to Anselm Kiefer:

gagosian.com/artists/anselm-kiefer/

 

Anselm Kiefer - The German painter and sculptor - New Documentary

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGkyVUuRly8&t=3230s

 

Mural entitled "The Last Butterflies Ballet" by Mantra aka @mantra, seen at 2713 Commerce Street in Dallas, Texas.

 

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee.

Mural entitled "Access2Excess III" by Bond Truluv aka @bondtruluv for the aWall Mural Project, seen at the Jose Diego Middle School at 3100 NW 5th Avenue in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami, Florida.

Excerpt from www.mtr.com.hk/en/customer/community/art_archi_hku_our_me...:

 

Art in station architecture

 

Artwork Title:

Our Memories of the Western District - HKU

 

Artist Name:

Photo winners from local community and MTR Corporation (Hong Kong)

 

Artwork Location:

HKU Station - Concourse

 

Form of Artwork:

Digital Printing on Glass

 

Artwork Completion Date:

December 2014

 

Artist's Concept:

The photographic competition entitled "Our Memories of the Western District" was the inaugural activity of the West Island Line Community Art Programme. Unique images of the HKU area were captured by local residents and the winning photographs from the champion, 1st runner-up, 2nd runner-up and merit award recipients were selected as the theme images for use in HKU Station. These photographic images were then pixelated using thousands of images collected from the community and then combined with monochrome graphics to create a panoramic collage, reflecting the uniqueness and culture of Western District with traditional buildings and daily life of the local community.

Entitled ‘Beauty,’ this is an artwork by Olafur Eliasson from his exhibition “In Real Life” at Tate Modern. A curtain of fine mist is sprayed from the ceiling and lit by a spotlight. I wanted a shot with a single person as it emphasises the contemplative feel the work gave me. My favourite piece from this superb exhibition.

Mural entitled "Here or There" by Erick Dominguez aka @tutodartist, seen at the RC Cola Bottling Plant at 2308 NW 5th Avenue in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami, Florida.

 

Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee

Statue entitled ‘Kanklininkas’ near the castle in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second city, of a man playing the kanklės, a traditional Lithuanian plucked string musical instrument, of the zither family. It was sculpted by Robertas Antinis. I cannot find a date of completion.

From my set entitled ‘Sumac”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157607186471302/

In my collection entitled “The Garden”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760718...

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac

Sumac (also spelled sumach) is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. The dried berries of some species are ground to produce a tangy purple spice often used in juice.

 

Sumacs grow in subtropical and warm temperate regions throughout the world, especially in North America.

 

Sumacs are shrubs and small trees that can reach a height of 1-10 meters. The leaves are spirally arranged; they are usually pinnately compound, though some species have trifoliate or simple leaves. The flowers are in dense panicles or spikes 5-30 cm long, each flower very small, greenish, creamy white or red, with five petals. The fruits form dense clusters of reddish drupes called sumac bobs.

 

Sumacs propagate both by seed (spread by birds and other animals through their droppings), and by new sprouts from rhizomes, forming large clonal colonies.

The drupes of the genus Rhus are ground into a deep-red or purple powder used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine to add a lemony taste to salads or meat; in the Turkish cuisine e.g. added to salad-servings of kebabs and lahmacun. In North America, the smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), and the staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), are sometimes used to make a beverage, termed "sumac-ade" or "Indian lemonade" or "rhus juice". This drink is made by soaking the drupes in cool water, rubbing them to extract the essence, straining the liquid through a cotton cloth and sweetening it. Native Americans also used the leaves and berries of the smooth and staghorn sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures.

 

Species including the fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica), the littleleaf sumac (R. microphylla), the skunkbush sumac (R. trilobata), the smooth sumac and the staghorn sumac are grown for ornament, either as the wild types or as cultivars.

 

The leaves of certain sumacs yield tannin (mostly pyrogallol), a substance used in vegetable tanning. Leather tanned with sumac is flexible, light in weight, and light in color, even bordering on being white.

 

Dried sumac wood is fluorescent under long-wave UV light. Mowing of sumac is not a good control measure as the wood is springy resulting in jagged, sharp pointed stumps when mowed. The plant will quickly recover with new growth after mowing. See Nebraska Extension Service publication G97-1319 for suggestions as to control.

 

At times Rhus has held over 250 species. Recent molecular phylogeny research suggests breaking Rhus sensu lata into Actinocheita, Baronia, Cotinus, Malosma, Searsia, Toxicodendron, and Rhus sensu stricta. If this is done, about 35 species would remain in Rhus. However, the data is not yet clear enough to settle the proper placement of all species into these genera.

 

What’s with this recent entitlement-culture and dilution of artist recognition across social media?⠀

⠀

I can attest to the effort, time and hardship invested by photographers to capture the images they do. It’s not a bad thing, we do it because we love it and because it challenges us but the images we share don’t come easy. This is why it’s hard for us when we see our carefully shot and carefully finished image somehow becoming someone else’s image. To re-edit and use however they choose.⠀

⠀

Finding a photo online, dropping it in a bucket of saturation then warming up your keyboard ready to thank everyone for admiring your ‘new image’ isn’t photography and it’s not ok.⠀

⠀

“I’m a skilled connoisseur and I’m just as entitled to use the photo as you are”. I’m sorry but, no. You’re not.⠀

⠀

Let’s shift the culture back to what’s right, stop supporting the cheaters and go back to encouraging talented artists to continue creating amazing work for the rest of us to enjoy. ⠀

⠀

⠀

⠀

#Photography⠀

A model locomotive by Hornby entitled 'Queen Elizabeth II'. This was a Hornby Collectors' Club special edition model from a few years ago. I chose this to be a little different as I suspect there will be a large number of chess pieces, playing cards, coins and stamps this week. The portion of the locomotive shown is exactly 3" long.

 

A focus stack of 23 images lit by natural window light and processed in Helicon Focus. Global adjustments in Lightroom. Dust and speck removal in Photoshop. Conversion to mono using Silver Efex Pro.

 

Many thanks to everyone who views, faves and comments on this image and the others in my photostream. HMM to everyone!

From my set entitled “Roses”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157607214064416/

In my collection entitled “The Garden”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760718...

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose

 

A rose is a perennial flowering shrub or vine of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species. The species form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp thorns. Most are native to Asia, with smaller numbers of species native to Europe, North America, and northwest Africa. Natives, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and fragrance. [1]

 

The leaves are alternate and pinnately compound, with sharply toothed oval-shaped leaflets. The plants fleshy edible fruit is called a rose hip. Rose plants range in size from tiny, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach 20 metres in height. Species from different parts of the world easily hybridize, which has given rise to the many types of garden roses.

 

The name originates from Latin rosa, borrowed through Oscan from colonial Greek in southern Italy: rhodon (Aeolic form: wrodon), from Aramaic wurrdā, from Assyrian wurtinnu, from Old Iranian *warda (cf. Armenian vard, Avestan warda, Sogdian ward, Parthian wâr).[2][3]

 

Attar of rose is the steam-extracted essential oil from rose flowers that has been used in perfumes for centuries. Rose water, made from the rose oil, is widely used in Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine. Rose hips are occasionally made into jam, jelly, and marmalade, or are brewed for tea, primarily for their high Vitamin C content. They are also pressed and filtered to make rose hip syrup. Rose hips are also used to produce Rose hip seed oil, which is used in skin products.

 

The leaves of most species are 5–15 centimetres long, pinnate, with (3–) 5–9 (–13) leaflets and basal stipules; the leaflets usually have a serrated margin, and often a few small prickles on the underside of the stem. The vast majority of roses are deciduous, but a few (particularly in Southeast Asia) are evergreen or nearly so.

 

The flowers of most species roses have five petals, with the exception of Rosa sericea, which usually has only four. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink, though in a few species yellow or red. Beneath the petals are five sepals (or in the case of some Rosa sericea, four). These may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. The ovary is inferior, developing below the petals and sepals.

 

The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip. Rose species that produce open-faced flowers are attractive to pollinating bees and other insects, thus more apt to produce hips. Many of the domestic cultivars are so tightly petalled that they do not provide access for pollination. The hips of most species are red, but a few (e.g. Rosa pimpinellifolia) have dark purple to black hips. Each hip comprises an outer fleshy layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 "seeds" (technically dry single-seeded fruits called achenes) embedded in a matrix of fine, but stiff, hairs. Rose hips of some species, especially the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) and Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa), are very rich in vitamin C, among the richest sources of any plant. The hips are eaten by fruit-eating birds such as thrushes and waxwings, which then disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some birds, particularly finches, also eat the seeds.

 

While the sharp objects along a rose stem are commonly called "thorns", they are actually prickles — outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue of the stem). True thorns, as produced by e.g. Citrus or Pyracantha, are modified stems, which always originate at a node and which have nodes and internodes along the length of the thorn itself. Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it. Some species such as Rosa rugosa and R. pimpinellifolia have densely packed straight spines, probably an adaptation to reduce browsing by animals, but also possibly an adaptation to trap wind-blown sand and so reduce erosion and protect their roots (both of these species grow naturally on coastal sand dunes). Despite the presence of prickles, roses are frequently browsed by deer. A few species of roses only have vestigial prickles that have no points.

 

Roses are popular garden shrubs, as well as the most popular and commonly sold florists' flowers. In addition to their great economic importance as a florists crop, roses are also of great value to the perfume industry.

 

Many thousands of rose hybrids and cultivars have been bred and selected for garden use; most are double-flowered with many or all of the stamens having mutated into additional petals. As long ago as 1840 a collection numbering over one thousand different cultivars, varieties and species was possible when a rosarium was planted by Loddiges nursery for Abney Park Cemetery, an early Victorian garden cemetery and arboretum in England.

Twentieth-century rose breeders generally emphasized size and colour, producing large, attractive blooms with little or no scent. Many wild and "old-fashioned" roses, by contrast, have a strong sweet scent.

 

Roses thrive in temperate climates, though certain species and cultivars can flourish in sub-tropical and even tropical climates, especially when grafted onto appropriate rootstock.

 

Rose pruning, sometimes regarded as a horticultural art form, is largely dependent on the type of rose to be pruned, the reason for pruning, and the time of year it is at the time of the desired pruning.

 

Most Old Garden Roses of strict European heritage (albas, damasks, gallicas, etc.) are shrubs that bloom once yearly, in late spring or early summer, on two-year-old (or older) canes. As such, their pruning requirements are quite minimal, and are overall similar to any other analogous shrub, such as lilac or forsythia. Generally, only old, spindly canes should be pruned away, to make room for new canes. One-year-old canes should never be pruned because doing so will remove next year's flower buds. The shrubs can also be pruned back lightly, immediately after the blooms fade, to reduce the overall height or width of the plant. In general, pruning requirements for OGRs are much less laborious and regimented than for Modern hybrids.

 

Modern hybrids, including the hybrid teas, floribundas, grandifloras, modern miniatures, and English roses, have a complex genetic background that almost always includes China roses (R. chinensis). China roses were evergrowing, everblooming roses from humid subtropical regions that bloomed constantly on any new vegetative growth produced during the growing season. Their modern hybrid descendants exhibit similar habits: Unlike Old Garden Roses, modern hybrids bloom continuously (until stopped by frost) on any new canes produced during the growing season. They therefore require pruning away of any spent flowering stem, in order to divert the plant's energy into producing new growth and thence new flowers.

 

Additionally, Modern Hybrids planted in cold-winter climates will almost universally require a "hard" annual pruning (reducing all canes to 8"–12" in height) in early spring. Again, because of their complex China rose background, Modern Hybrids are typically not as cold-hardy as European OGRs, and low winter temperatures often desiccate or kill exposed canes. In spring, if left unpruned, these damanged canes will often die back all the way to the shrub's root zone, resulting in a weakened, disfigured plant. The annual "hard" pruning of hybrid teas, floribundas, etc. should generally be done in early spring; most gardeners coincide this pruning with the blooming of forsythia shrubs. Canes should be cut about 1/2" above a vegetative bud (identifiable as a point on a cane where a leaf once grew).

 

For both Old Garden Roses and Modern Hybrids, any weak, damaged or diseased growth should be pruned away completely, regardless of the time of year. Any pruning of any rose should also be done so that the cut is made at a forty five degree angle above a vegetative bud. This helps the pruned stem callus over more quickly, and also mitigates moisture buildup over the cut, which can lead to disease problems.

 

For all general rose pruning (including cutting flowers for arrangements), sharp secateurs (hand-held, sickle-bladed pruners) should be used to cut any growth 1/2" or less in diameter. For canes of a thickness greater than 1/2", pole loppers or a small handsaw are generally more effective; secateurs may be damaged or broken in such instances.

 

Deadheading is the simple practice of manually removing any spent, faded, withered, or discoloured flowers from rose shrubs over the course of the blooming season. The purpose of deadheading is to encourage the plant to focus its energy and resources on forming new offshoots and blooms, rather than in fruit production. Deadheading may also be perfomed, if spent flowers are unsightly, for aethestic purposes. Roses are particularly responsive to deadheading.

 

Deadheading causes different effects on different varieties of roses. For continual blooming varieties, whether Old Garden roses or more modern hybrid varieties, deadheading allows the rose plant to continue forming new shoots, leaves, and blooms. For "once-blooming" varieties (that bloom only once each season), deadheading has the effect of causing the plant to form new green growth, even though new blooms will not form until the next blooming season.

 

For most rose gardeners, deadheading is used to refresh the growth of the rose plants to keep the rose plants strong, vibrant, and productive.

 

The rose has always been valued for its beauty and has a long history of symbolism. The ancient Greeks and Romans identified the rose with their goddesses of love referred to as Aphrodite and Venus. In Rome a wild rose would be placed on the door of a room where secret or confidential matters were discussed. The phrase sub rosa, or "under the rose", means to keep a secret — derived from this ancient Roman practice.

 

Early Christians identified the five petals of the rose with the five wounds of Christ. Despite this interpretation, their leaders were hesitant to adopt it because of its association with Roman excesses and pagan ritual. The red rose was eventually adopted as a symbol of the blood of the Christian martyrs. Roses also later came to be associated with the Virgin Mary.

 

Rose culture came into its own in Europe in the 1800s with the introduction of perpetual blooming roses from China. There are currently thousands of varieties of roses developed for bloom shape, size, fragrance and even for lack of prickles.

 

Roses are ancient symbols of love and beauty. The rose was sacred to a number of goddesses (including Isis and Aphrodite), and is often used as a symbol of the Virgin Mary. 'Rose' means pink or red in a variety of languages (such as Romance languages, Greek, and Polish).

 

The rose is the national flower of England and the United States[4], as well as being the symbol of England Rugby, and of the Rugby Football Union. It is also the provincial flower of Yorkshire and Lancashire in England (the white rose and red rose respectively) and of Alberta (the wild rose), and the state flower of four US states: Iowa and North Dakota (R. arkansana), Georgia (R. laevigata), and New York[5] (Rosa generally). Portland, Oregon counts "City of Roses" among its nicknames, and holds an annual Rose Festival.

 

Roses are occasionally the basis of design for rose windows, such windows comprising five or ten segments (the five petals and five sepals of a rose) or multiples thereof; however most Gothic rose windows are much more elaborate and were probably based originally on the wheel and other symbolism.

A red rose (often held in a hand) is a symbol of socialism or social democracy; it is also used as a symbol by the British and Irish Labour Parties, as well as by the French, Spanish (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Portuguese, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Brazilian, Dutch (Partij van de Arbeid) and European socialist parties. This originated when the red rose was used as a badge by the marchers in the May 1968 street protests in Paris. White Rose was a World War II non violent resistance group in Germany.

Roses are often portrayed by artists. The French artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté produced some of the most detailed paintings of roses.

 

Henri Fantin-Latour was also a prolific painter of still life, particularly flowers including roses. The Rose 'Fantin-Latour' was named after the artist.

 

Other impressionists including Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne have paintings of roses among their works.

Rose perfumes are made from attar of roses or rose oil, which is a mixture of volatile essential oils obtained by steam distilling the crushed petals of roses. The technique originated in Persia (the word Rose itself is from Persian) then spread through Arabia and India, but nowadays about 70% to 80% of production is in the Rose Valley near Kazanluk in Bulgaria, with some production in Qamsar in Iran and Germany.[citation needed]

 

The Kaaba in Mecca is annually washed by the Iranian rose water from Qamsar. In Bulgaria, Iran and Germany, damask roses (Rosa damascena 'Trigintipetala') are used. In the French rose oil industry Rosa centifolia is used. The oil, pale yellow or yellow-grey in color, is sometimes called 'Rose Absolute' oil to distinguish it from diluted versions. The weight of oil extracted is about one three-thousandth to one six-thousandth of the weight of the flowers; for example, about two thousand flowers are required to produce one gram of oil.

 

The main constituents of attar of roses are the fragrant alcohols geraniol and l-citronellol; and rose camphor, an odourless paraffin. β-Damascenone is also a significant contributor to the scent.

 

Quotes

What's in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet. — William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet act II, sc. ii

O, my love's like a red, red rose/That's newly sprung in June — Robert Burns, A Red, Red Rose

Information appears to stew out of me naturally, like the precious ottar of roses out of the otter. Mark Twain, Roughing It

Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses. — James Oppenheim, "Bread and Roses"

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose — Gertrude Stein, Sacred Emily (1913), a poem included in Geography and Plays.

 

@ Entitled "Back to Supersonica"

Lockheed VC-140B JetStar ( L-1329 ) • cn 5044

• REG : 62-4200

• RMK : Part of boneyard project titled "Black to Supersonica"

 

@ History Aircraft :

• 1962 : was built and still wears very distant USAF markings with reg 62-4200

• 1977 : It was withdrawn to AMARC in Tucson AZ

• 20XX : This rather unique Jetstar entitled 'Back to Supersonica' was painted by Andrew Schoultz and display at the "Pima Air Space Museum" as part of the "Boneyard Project" Artist paintwork.

Mural entitled "The Path We Came" by 蔡陈林 (Chenlin Cai) aka @chenlin.cai for Shine on St Pete, seen at 1975 3rd Avenue South in the Palmetto Park area of St Petersburg, Florida.

 

Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee

billbarber.blogspot.com/

From my set entitled “Boats and Ships”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/3206986832/in/set-7215...

In my collection entitled “Transportation”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215761271...

In my photostream

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/

 

Cordova Lake in the City of Kawartha Lakes is about two hours northeast of Toronto. Karen the kids, the grandkids and I rented a cottage at Cordova Lake for the first week of August. This is the second year we've been there.

 

Condensed from "History of Cordova Village and Cordova Mines"

www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=...

It’s unsure just who discovered gold at Cordova Mine, but the property eventually came into the hands of H. Strickland. In 1897 it was acquired by The Cordova Exploration Company, in 1897, and was worked between 1898 and 1903. In 1911, it was purchased by Cordova Gold Mines Ltd. The mine site included housing as well. Its head office was in Toronto. The mine shut again in 1917 when it was again reopened under the ownership of Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada (COMINCO). It remained open only until 1940, and has been closed since

 

www.clrm.ca/cottages_haliburton_kawartha/cordova_cottage....

Cordova Lake is just 15 minutes north of Highway 7 so is very easily accessible. Explore the surrounding area and visit the delightful riverside town of Campbellford to the south, take a drive to Bon Echo Provincial Park or visit the ‘rocks that speak’ in Petroglyphs Provincial Park. And if you haven’t visited Kingston or Ottawa, it’s an easy day trip to both.

 

From Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawartha_Lakes,_Ontario

The City of Kawartha Lakes (2006 population 74,561) is a city in east-central Ontario, Canada. Although designated as a "city", it is a largely rural area. The municipality is named for the Kawartha lakes ("Kawartha," shortened from Gaa-waategamaag, means "shining waters" in the Ojibwe language).

 

The main population centres are:

 

* Omemee

* Lindsay

* Fenelon Falls

* Woodville

* Bobcaygeon

 

The municipality was created in 2000 by the Progressive Conservative government of Ontario through the amalgamation of the constituent municipalities of the former County of Victoria, and officially came into effect on January 1, 2001.

 

In a close vote (51% for, 49% against), the citizens of Kawartha Lakes voted to de-amalgamate in a November 2003 local plebiscite, but the provincial and municipal governments have not taken any steps since the vote to initiate de-amalgamation.

 

I've included links to Cordova Lake cottage rentals, not because I want to rent you cottages, but because the ads feature great pictures of the lake and of cottage exteriors and interiors.

www.atthecottage.com/forrent/cordova/index.html

www.clrm.ca/cottages_haliburton_kawartha/cordova_cottage....

www.start.ca/users/mharris/waterfalls/cordova-falls.html

toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/vac/843395047.html

 

www.imagekind.com/member/image.aspx?IMID=b2b84f4b-3a9a-40...

     

Our latest piece entitled 'Busy being lazy' came about as we were taking part in a battle on stencil forum Cut n Spray and the theme for the battle was 'lazy'. Since this is a theme that is close to my heart i thought i'd try to muster the necessary effort to take part. The theme could be interpreted however you liked as long as there was a stencil on the final design.

 

After sitting around thinking/playing Black Ops for a while inspiration finally struck. From there it was a question of motivation and logistics. Thankfully i managed to save myself from terminal apathy and get myself to the hardware shop to buy the necessary bits and pieces. Working with plywood is quite fun although perhaps i should have got something slightly thicker than 4mm as problems started to arise when i was knocking the nails in as some of them would go straight through the wood. After a little trial and error i managed to get all the nails in and then came the thread...

 

Threading the nails was certainly something of a challenge (especially considering my earlier problems with anchoring the nails properly) but after the appropriate amount of swearing I finally managed to get it all attached properly. Now i just need somewhere good to get it installed and transport it there safely...

 

Hopefully we'll be in with a chance of winning the competition with 'Busy being lazy' as surely it's a truly inspirational piece? I'll keep you updated as to the outcome...

 

Cheers

 

id-iom

billbarber.blogspot.com/

From my set entitled “Boats and Ships”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/3206986832/in/set-7215...

In my collection entitled “Transportation”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215761271...

From my set entitled “Jamestown”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157606230698243/

In my collection entitled “Virginia: Beach, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown: May 2008”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760622...

 

Reproduced from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Virginia

Jamestown (originally also called "James Towne" or "Jamestowne") is located on the James River in what is currently James City County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The site is about 40 miles (62 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean and the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay and about 45 miles (70 km) downstream and southeast of the current state capital city of Richmond. Both the river and the settlement were named for King James I of England, who was on the throne at the time, granted the private proprietorship to the Virginia Company of London's enterprise.

 

The location at Jamestown Island was selected primarily because it offered a favorable strategic defensive position against other European forces which might approach by water. However, the colonists soon discovered that the swampy and isolated site was plagued by mosquitoes and tidal river water unsuitable for drinking, and offered limited opportunities for hunting and little space for farming. The area was also inhabited by Native Americans (American Indians).

The 3 points of Colonial Virginia's Historic Triangle, Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown are linked by the National Park Service's scenic Colonial Parkway.

The 3 points of Colonial Virginia's Historic Triangle, Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown are linked by the National Park Service's scenic Colonial Parkway.

 

Despite inspired leadership of John Smith, chaplain Robert Hunt and others, starvation, hostile relations with the Indians, and lack of profitable exports all threatened the survival of the Colony in the early years as the settlers and the Virginia Company of London each struggled. However, colonist John Rolfe introduced a strain of tobacco which was successfully exported in 1612, and the financial outlook for the colony became more favorable. Two years later, Rolfe married the young Indian woman Pocahontas, daughter of Wahunsunacock, Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, and a period of relative peace with the Natives followed. In 1616, the Rolfes made a public relations trip to England, where Pocahontas was received as visiting royalty. Changes by the Virginia Company which became effective in 1619 attracted additional investments, also sowing the first seeds of democracy in the process with a locally-elected body which became the House of Burgesses, the first such representative legislative body in the New World.

 

Throughout the 17th century, Jamestown was the capital of the Virginia Colony. Several times during emergencies, the seat of government for the colony was shifted temporarily to nearby Middle Plantation, a fortified location on the high ridge approximately equidistant from the James and York Rivers on the Virginia Peninsula. Shortly after the Colony was finally granted a long-desired charter and established the new College of William and Mary at Middle Plantation, the capital of the Colony was permanently relocated nearby. In 1699, the new capital town was renamed Williamsburg, in honor of the current British king, William III.

 

After the capital was relocated, Jamestown began a gradual loss of prominence and eventually reverted to a few large farms. It again became a significant point for control of the James River during the American Civil War (1861–1865), and then slid back into seeming oblivion. Even the Jamestown Exposition of 1907 was held elsewhere, at a more accessible location at Sewell's Point, on Hampton Roads near Norfolk.

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and her consort Prince Phillip inspect replica of Susan Constant at Jamestown Festival Park in Virginia on October 16, 1957

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and her consort Prince Phillip inspect replica of Susan Constant at Jamestown Festival Park in Virginia on October 16, 1957

 

Beginning in 1893, 22.5 acres of the Jamestown site were acquired by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. A crucial sea wall was built in 1900 to protect the shoreline near the site of James Fort from further erosion. In the 1930s, the Colonial National Historical Park was established to protect and administer Jamestown, which was designated a National Historic Site. The U.S. National Park Service acquired the remaining 1,500 acres (6.1 km²) of Jamestown Island through eminent domain in 1934.

 

For the 350th anniversary in 1957, Jamestown itself was the site of renewed interest and a huge celebration. The National Park Service provided new access with the completion of the Colonial Parkway which led to Williamsburg, home of the restored capital of Colonial Williamsburg, and then on to Yorktown, the other two portions of Colonial Virginia's Historic Triangle. Major projects such as the Jamestown Festival Park were developed by non-profit, state and federal agencies. Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Prince Philip attended. The 1957 event was a great success. Tourism became continuous with attractions regularly updated and enhanced.

 

The two major attractions at Jamestown are separate, but complementary to each other. The state-sponsored Jamestown Settlement near the entrance to Jamestown Island includes a recreated English Fort and Native American Village, extensive indoor and outdoor displays, and features the three popular replica ships. On Jamestown Island itself, the National Park Service operates Historic Jamestowne. Over a million artifacts have been recovered by the Jamestown Rediscovery project with ongoing archaeological work, including a number of exciting recent discoveries.

 

Early in the 21st century, in preparation for the Jamestown 2007 event commemorating America's 400th Anniversary, new accommodations, transportation facilities and attractions were planned. The celebration began in the Spring of 2006 with the sailing of a new replica Godspeed to six major East Coast U.S. cities, where several hundred thousand people viewed it. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip joined America's festivities on an official state visit to Jamestown in May 2007.

Mural entitled "A Life of Gold" by @ivanroque for "Wallpapered City," seen at 2310 North 68th Street in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

 

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee

(My most explored photo of all time!)

 

* © Martin Ujlaki - All rights reserved / Tous droits réservés *

 

Inaugurated on October 18, 2000, this monument entitled "Women are Persons!" is a tribute to Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edwards. Known as the Famous Five, these women won the "Persons" Case, a 1929 court ruling which legally declared women as persons under the British North America Act and made them eligible for appointment to the Canadian Senate

 

The larger-than-life sculptures by Edmonton artist Barbara Paterson were donated to the Government of Canada by the Famous 5 Foundation. They show the five women celebrating their important legal victory in characteristic poses. An empty chair adds an interactive feature to the monument that invites passers-by to join the group. The newspaper with the headline "Women are Persons" that Nellie McClung is holding reflects some of the actual headlines of newspapers of the day.

 

Nellie L. McClung (1873-1951), novelist, journalist, suffragette and temperance worker. She was a member of the Alberta legislature, the only woman on the Dominion War Council, and the first woman on the CBC Board of Governors.

 

Irene Parlby (1868-1965), suffragette and politician. She was elected president of the women's branch of the United Farmers of Alberta in 1916 and became a member of the Alberta legislature in 1921. She was still a member of Parliament at the time of the Persons Case.

 

Emily G. Murphy (1868-1933), instigator of the Persons Case, writer, and first woman magistrate in the British Empire. She pioneered married women's rights, was National President of the Canadian Women's Press Club 1913-1920, vice-president of the National Council of Women and first president of the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada.

 

Henrietta Muir Edwards, (1849-1931), journalist, suffragist and organizer, fought for equal rights for wives, mothers' allowances and women's rights. She started the Working Girls' Association in Montréal in 1875, a forerunner of the YWCA. Later, while living in Alberta, she compiled two works on Alberta and federal laws affecting women and children.

 

Louise McKinney (1868-1931), politician and temperance campaigner. She was president of the Dominion Women's Christian Union and elected to the Alberta legislature in 1917 as representative of the non-partisan league.

 

- - -

  

Inauguré le 18 octobre 2000, ce monument intitulé «Les femmes sont des personnes!» rend hommage à Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney et Henrietta Muir Edwards. Ces cinq femmes, mieux connues sous le nom des « Cinq femmes célèbres », ont gagné l'affaire « personnes », un jugement de 1929 qui reconnaissait l'existence des femmes en tant que personnes selon l'Acte de l'Amérique du Nord britannique et les rendait admissibles à être nommées au Sénat du Canada

 

Les sculptures plus grandes que nature, oeuvre de l'artiste Barbara Paterson, d'Edmonton, ont été offertes au Gouvernement du Canada par la fondation Famous 5. Elles représentent les cinq femmes célébrant leur victoire juridique historique dans des poses caractéristiques. Une chaise vide fait partie de l'oeuvre et constitue un élément interactif qui invite les passants à se joindre au groupe. Le titre «Les femmes sont des personnes», sur le journal qu'arbore Nellie McClung, représente bien le type de manchettes qu'on pouvait lire à l'époque.

 

QUI SONT LES CINQ FEMMES CÉLÈBRES (de gauche à droite sur la photo, source :Archives nationales du Canada) :

 

Nellie L. McClung (1873-1951), romancière, journaliste, suffragette et militante au sein du mouvement de tempérance. Députée à l'Assemblée législative de l'Alberta, elle fut la seule femme à siéger au Dominion War Council et la première femme à faire partie du Conseil des gouverneurs de la Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

 

Irene Parlby (1868-1965), suffragette et femme politique. Elle fut élue en 1916 présidente de la section féminine de la United Farmers of Alberta et, en 1921, députée à l'Assemblée législative de l'Alberta. Elle siégeait encore au Parlement au moment de l'affaire « personnes ».

 

Emily G. Murphy (1868-1933), instigatrice de l'affaire « personnes », écrivaine et première femme à siéger comme juge municipale dans l'Empire britannique. Elle a revendiqué les droits des femmes mariées, a été présidente nationale du Canadian Women's Press Club de 1913 à 1920, vice-présidente du National Council of Women et première présidente de la Federated Women's Institutes of Canada.

 

Henrietta Muir Edwards, (1849-1931), journaliste, suffragette et organisatrice, lutta pour l'égalité des droits des femmes et des épouses, et pour les allocations familiales. En 1875, à Montréal, elle fonda la Working Girls' Association, qui deviendrait un jour la Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). Plus tard, lorsqu'elle habitait l'Alberta, elle compila deux recueils de lois provinciales et fédérales concernant les femmes et les enfants.

 

Louise McKinney (1868-1931), femme politique et militante de la tempérance. Elle présida la Dominion Women's Christian Union et fut élue à l'Assemblée législative de l'Alberta en 1917 comme représentante de la ligue non partisane.

 

Here is a new piece entitled The Sovereign Sweat.

 

I've been trying my hand at some Photoshop painting techniques over the last little while, something I haven't done in over a year since the Blind series in 2007. This poster design is influenced by old school movie posters, painted by people like Drew Struzan, Richard Amsel and Bob peak, as well as the James Bond book covers created by Michael Gillette.

 

Here is a detail.

 

I had lots of fun doing this piece, and might explore the style a bit more once I get my footing. I'm sure this poster will land in the Signalnoise Store at some point.

 

©2009 James White. All rights reserved.

www.signalnoise.com | Signalnoise Store.

From my set entitled ‘Sumac”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157607186471302/

In my collection entitled “The Garden”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760718...

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac

Sumac (also spelled sumach) is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. The dried berries of some species are ground to produce a tangy purple spice often used in juice.

 

Sumacs grow in subtropical and warm temperate regions throughout the world, especially in North America.

 

Sumacs are shrubs and small trees that can reach a height of 1-10 meters. The leaves are spirally arranged; they are usually pinnately compound, though some species have trifoliate or simple leaves. The flowers are in dense panicles or spikes 5-30 cm long, each flower very small, greenish, creamy white or red, with five petals. The fruits form dense clusters of reddish drupes called sumac bobs.

 

Sumacs propagate both by seed (spread by birds and other animals through their droppings), and by new sprouts from rhizomes, forming large clonal colonies.

The drupes of the genus Rhus are ground into a deep-red or purple powder used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine to add a lemony taste to salads or meat; in the Turkish cuisine e.g. added to salad-servings of kebabs and lahmacun. In North America, the smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), and the staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), are sometimes used to make a beverage, termed "sumac-ade" or "Indian lemonade" or "rhus juice". This drink is made by soaking the drupes in cool water, rubbing them to extract the essence, straining the liquid through a cotton cloth and sweetening it. Native Americans also used the leaves and berries of the smooth and staghorn sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures.

 

Species including the fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica), the littleleaf sumac (R. microphylla), the skunkbush sumac (R. trilobata), the smooth sumac and the staghorn sumac are grown for ornament, either as the wild types or as cultivars.

 

The leaves of certain sumacs yield tannin (mostly pyrogallol), a substance used in vegetable tanning. Leather tanned with sumac is flexible, light in weight, and light in color, even bordering on being white.

 

Dried sumac wood is fluorescent under long-wave UV light. Mowing of sumac is not a good control measure as the wood is springy resulting in jagged, sharp pointed stumps when mowed. The plant will quickly recover with new growth after mowing. See Nebraska Extension Service publication G97-1319 for suggestions as to control.

 

At times Rhus has held over 250 species. Recent molecular phylogeny research suggests breaking Rhus sensu lata into Actinocheita, Baronia, Cotinus, Malosma, Searsia, Toxicodendron, and Rhus sensu stricta. If this is done, about 35 species would remain in Rhus. However, the data is not yet clear enough to settle the proper placement of all species into these genera.

 

Mural entitled "Urban Serenity" by Cheri Lee Charlton aka @chersugarlee, seen at 522 Lincolnway in LaPorte, Indiana.

 

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

 

Edit by Teee

From my set entitled “Escarpment” (under development)

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157608204080206/

In my collection entitled “Halton”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760820...

In my photostream

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/

 

Reproduced from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Escarpment

The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in the United States and Canada that runs westward from New York State, through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. It is composed of the Lockport geological formation of Silurian age, and is similar to the Onondaga geological formation, which runs parallel to it and just to the south, through the western portion of New York and southern Ontario. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff over which the Niagara River plunges to form Niagara Falls, for which it is named.

 

The Niagara Escarpment is the most prominent of several escarpments formed in the bedrock of the Great Lakes. It is traceable from its easternmost point in New York State, starting well east of the Genesee River Valley near Rochester, creating one large and two small waterfalls on the Genesee River in that city, thence running westwards to the Niagara River forming a deep gorge north of Niagara Falls, which itself cascades over the escarpment. In Southern Ontario it stretches along the Niagara Peninsula hugging close to the Lake Ontario shore near the cities of St. Catharines and Hamilton and Milton where it takes a sharp turn north toward Georgian Bay. It then follows the Georgian Bay shore northwestwards to form the spine of the Bruce Peninsula, Manitoulin, St. Joseph Island and other islands located in northern Lake Huron where it turns westerwards into the Upper Peninsula of northern Michigan, south of Sault Ste. Marie. It then extends southwards into Wisconsin following the Door Peninsula and then more inland from the western coast of Lake Michigan and Milwaukee ending northwest of Chicago near the Wisconsin-Illinois border.

 

In February 1990, the Niagara Escarpment was designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, making it one of 12 in Canada. Development and land use adjacent to the escarpment is regulated and the biosphere protected by the Niagara Escarpment Commission, an agency of the Ontario government.

  

From my set “Coleus”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157607213883496/

In my collection entitled “The Garden”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760718...

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENZZ262&q...

 

Solenostemon is a genus of perennial plants, native to tropical Africa, Asia, Australia, the East Indies, the Malay Archipelago, and the Philippines. They are commonly known as Coleus, a name which derives from an earlier classification under the genus name Coleus, species of which are currently included in either Solenostemon or another genus, Plectranthus.

 

Many cultivars of the southeast Asian species Solenostemon scutellarioides have been selected for their colorful variegated leaves, typically with sharp contrast between the colors; the leaves may be green, pink, yellow, maroon, and red (somewhat resembling the unrelated caladium). The plants grow well in moist well-drained soil, and typically grow 0.5-1 m tall, though some may grow as tall as 2 meters. Coleus are typically grown as ornamental plants. They are heat-tolerant, though they do less well in full sun in subtropical areas than in the shade. In cultivation in temperate areas, they are often grown as annuals as they are not hardy and become leggy and unattractive with age. In bright hot areas, the colors of the plant will typically be more intense in shaded areas than in full sun, and the plants will require less water there. Coleus also make low-maintenance houseplants, and can often be propagated by clipping a length of stem just below the leaves and putting the stem in water to root. The plant's flowers grow on a stem above that stem's leaves, and tend to be purple and quite small in comparison to the leaves. The plant is not generally grown for its flowers.

 

One disease that can affect coleus is downy mildew. This mildew appears on the leaves making the plant look dirty because it is brown in color. The organism is called Peronospora sp. and can also result in curled leaves. The leaves also twist. Sometimes symptoms are not found on leaves which make the disease harder to control.[1] Another disease is Impatiens necrotic spot virus which causes brown or yellow spots on leaves, rings, black or brown stem discoloration, and brown leaf veins. It is a virus that causes plants to die. The disease is spread by an insect called a thrips that develops the disease from an infected plant and carries it to an uninfected plant. It only takes a few of these insects to infect a whole greenhouse. [2]

 

There are two ways to propagate Coleus. Seeds are inexpensive and easily obtainable. Sprouts can show color in as little as two weeks. Alternatively, cuttings can be taken.