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Oh hi. This is grainy as the f-bomb. Let me explain:
So. I ran out of hard drive space and haven't edited photos for over a month. I never realized how in love I am in RAW. This is effing JPG and you can tell because of how grainy and unsharp everything is.
Anyway. I figure I should upload something... Even though I am running Windows 7 for kicks and don't have any of my RAW software installed... (I should get on that and check out the hyperthreading on this Core i7 biznatch.) Kevin renewed my Flickr account for Christmas and I've been a lazy girl to get things together.
Happy Inauguration Party. Happy birthday to me. Happy pager duty on the eve of my birthday. Happy belated new year - welcome to the year 2009!... And of course, congratulations on finding out the true identity of Big Foot. (I forgot that the wide angle does that...)
See you all soon. I have hard drive space now!
We were happy to have our vehicle washed at the Heritage Christian School car wash; students raising money to fund a trip to Vancouver Island
So, the Sun inside the clouds here on Earth should in theory burn the whole place down right? Well, not so if the Earth was flat and if the Earth's flat then what else have "they" or should I say the gatekeepers of knowledge been lying about? This should not be happening and it should definitely not be so small. But here it is and I can't explain it to you, someone needs to explain why the Sun is in the clouds. ⛅❓ @ufosightingsfootage #ufosightingsfootage #ufosfootage #suninclouds #sunincloud #thesun #sun #sunshine #whyissuninclouds #ufo #realufo #thesunisinacloud #nibiru #planetx #flatearth #theflatearth #theearthisflat #fourcornersofearth #conspiracytheory #flatearther #flatearthers #realflatearth #ufodisclosure #aliendisclosure #ufosarereal #ufologyresearch #ufology - www.ufosightingsfootage.uk/2019/04/explain-how-the-sun-ca...
Explaining the towel: while it may seem a strange accessory to some of you, any local looking at this picture would immediately realise there was a baby tied to the young woman's back :-)
Explainer: While I wish I could fully dress, wig-up and make-up regularly, those days are rare. So I post these AI renderings. FYI: the photos are AI generated, from actual photos of me, enhanced slightly with FaceApp and then dressed from outfits I see and love on the interweb. Enjoy them or not! I do, that's all that matters! Love, Crystal
If you are interested in my works, they are available on Getty Images.
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一張真正的照片無須說明,亦無法被文字語言所框限。
A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.
～Ansel Adams
His Holiness Younus AlGohar explains the main reason one practises a religion and why pure spirituality is what we need today.
Main points:
- The knowledge that comes from God is true knowledge, but when knowledge about God is coming through a religion, it is censored. Different religions were all sent by God, but they have different perspectives of God.
- Christianity’s image of God is painted with the colour of love. They don’t talk about hellfire, they talk about hop. They say that if you believe in Lord Jesus, all your sins are gone. Muslims on the other hand are scared of God. A Muslim doesn’t talk about God’s love. Either he talks about torment of the grave, burning in hell or virgins of paradise.
- True knowledge about God will come from somebody who has seen God, who is is able to talk with God. God speaks to him and he speaks to God. Then in that friendship, God will reveal the ultimate truth upon him.
- Does God love everybody? If he loved everyone, then why are some people suffering so much in this world? If God loved everybody, they would be good. God’s love would change a human being; one who God loves cannot remain to have hatred. God created human beings for different purposes. Some of the human beings are destined to burn in hellfire and this is because God wants it that way.
- Since spirituality became absent in these religions, they became a problem. If you have God’s love, you are better than those who have a religion but still they don’t love God. The problem with religions is that anyone can join them, regardless of whether they are hell-bound, heaven-bound or predestined loving souls. When bad people joined religion, issues arose within the religion.
Read the transcript by clicking the link below:
www.theawaitedone.com/articles/2016/06/25/primary-objecti...
Psalm 112:1 assures us: “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!” “Greatly delights” translates Hebrew words that can be literally rendered, “takes the highest degree of pleasure.”
Hebrew parallelism uses the first line to explain the second. Thus, the person who fears and reverences God is the person who “greatly delights” in his will and word. Such a person is “blessed” by our Lord.
Obedience to God is the necessary precondition to understanding the ways of God. Oswald Chambers: “All God’s revelations are sealed until they are opened to us by obedience. You will never get them open by philosophy or thinking. Immediately you obey, a flash of light comes.”
Obedience does not earn God’s revelation–it positions us to receive it. That’s because faith in God, like any relationship, requires a commitment that transcends the evidence and becomes self-validating.
It is illogical to insist on proof for that which can only be experienced. You cannot prove you should attend a particular college or take a particular job until you do. You cannot prove you should get married until you get married. Some categories of truth are relational by definition. They cannot be understood until they are experienced.
If we view Scripture as advice we can accept or reject rather than divine commands we must follow, we will never comprehend its depths. But if we decide to obey God’s word, we will then understand his word.
Do you expect to meet God today?
Consider another factor: Perhaps the religious leaders failed to hear new revelation from God because they did not expect new revelation from God. It had been so long since they’d heard a true prophet that they limited God’s truth to what they already knew.
We can make the same mistake.
If we read the Bible but our lives are no different, we have not truly heard from God. If we pray and remain the same, we have not truly prayed. We cannot encounter the living Lord of the universe and be unchanged.
A young pastor once complained to Charles Spurgeon that few people were responding to his sermons.
The “Prince of Preachers” asked him, “You don’t expect people to respond every time you preach, do you?”
The young man assured him that he did not.
“That’s why they don’t,” Spurgeon replied.
Do you expect to meet God today in his word and worship? Do you expect him to answer your prayers and to move in power? Do you expect him to do in our world what he did in the biblical world?
“The three most terrible truths of our existence”
Hurricane Michael shows us that we need more of God than most of us have experienced. To experience all of God there is, we must understand his ways and know his provision.
Here’s the good news: To the degree that we obey his word, we can fully understand his ways. To the degree that we expect him to provide, we can truly know his provision.
Last week, we had no idea the hurricane would be so devastating. What don’t we know about next week?
Anne Lamott: “If I were going to begin practicing the presence of God for the first time today, it would help to begin by admitting the three most terrible truths of our existence: that we are so ruined, and so loved, and in charge of so little.”
When we face circumstances beyond our control, we have three options: We can continue to fight as though we are in control, give up and accept what comes, or work alongside the One who is in control. Only one brings true peace.
Choose wisely.
-Jim Denison
The work of ESA's 'Mars Yard' for planetary rover testing, part of ESTEC’s Planetary Robotics Laboratory, explained to visitors during the Sunday 4 October 2015 ESTEC Open Day by Gianfranco Visentin, head of ESA’s Automation and Robotics section (far left).
Credit: ESA-G. Porter CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Danielle Paterson and Harrison Cole in 'Guy Fawkes It Up!" by Laughing Mirror theatre company, at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
The play was directed by Chad Porter. I know both Harrison and Chad from last year's Fringe when they were in 'The Baffling Adventures of Question-Mark Man'.
I cannot explain why there is a brick wall in our house. This is the front entrance to the house. I like it, but don’t get it! I actually got to meet the man who built it 25 years before I moved in. Wish I had thought to ask him. ODC: brick
Christof: "We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented, it's as simple as that." The Truman Show, movie by Peter Weir, starring Jim Carrey. 1998.
AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4E PF VR on Nikon 1 J5 using FT1 adaptor. 60 frame focus stack shot as JPEG Basic Small with Nikon Z6 and AF-S Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G.
The Jack of Diamonds
“As a jewel thief, you go for the challenge. It's dangerous, it's glamorous, there's an adrenalin rush."
MK
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It was an early morning in mid-October when my twin sister woke up in her bed, only to discover that someone had burgled her room, taking away the jewels she had been wearing out the night before.
The burglary wasn’t a straightforward occurrence, but rather a culmination of several diverging paths crossing
Allow me to explain…
^^^^^^^^
That October my 15-year-old twin sister was invited to attend a very formal evening affair with a classmate (Kimber) and her wealthy parents.
My sister got herself all dolled up, slipping into her really beautiful ultra-soft high-necked silk gown of deep violet: A sheer bodice with long cuffed sleeves, ending in sweeping fashion with a pleated skirt.
She had winningly worn out the gown only a fortnight ago at our aunt's black tie-only wedding held at the fashionable Ischoyd Park House and Grounds.
As she had at the wedding, with her silk gown, my sister added on her favorite rhinestones: wildly sparkly long wide rhinestone filled ‘Y’ shaped necklace, matching long rhinestone earrings, her 7-strand diamond bracelet, and 4 rings from her large collection.
Her hair was held by a pair of our mum’s fancy clips which contained real chips from man-made diamonds, they looked very pretty, allowing her long natural ginger hair to fall curling down behind her back.
Though Mum had allowed her to wear the pricy clips to the wedding, there was some argument over her wearing them at a function where she would be out alone. My sister won that argument.
To complete the elegant ensemble she was wearing silver satin pumps and carried a black satin clutch purse.
She looked smashing and I told her so as she was heading out, and as hoped, receiving a warm bear hug for my words, her gown chinchilla soft in my arms.
Our parents were also out for one of their long weekends, so I spent that first evening alone watching movies on the Telly.
^^^^^^^^^^^
As it happened that evening a movie was on about a jewel thief who calls himself the “Ace of Diamonds.”
As the thief went about his business, it didn’t escape me that my twin sister, who was out in public wearing her fetching silk gown and loaded down with dripping rhinestones, (not to mention mom’s glimmering clips) looked like she would have fit right in as a potential target of the thief.
I actually was beginning to be a bit on edge that my cute sister would possibly be in danger of suffering a similar fate while gallivanting out and about, all dressed up like those girls being robbed in the movie.
I uneasily shifted my position on the couch as I pictured in my mind the perils she could encounter if an inept thief thought all my Twin’s jewels were the real thing.
Which, real life is not a stretch of imagination that a thief wouldn’t know the difference, right?
Not that she was that gullible, but I know she got rather heady by all the young males giving her pawing attention at the Ischoyd Park wedding.
The place had a lot of outdoor gardens containing a multitude of dark nooks and crannies.
So I could, and did, imagine her losing guard by swooning over a handsome young con man, whose intentions centered on her jewels, who managed to lure her off outside alone into those gardens.
As I fantasized, I could picture my twin sister in her beautiful gown, her rhinestones flickering, diamond chip hair clips shimmering, suddenly cringing when she realized he had led her into a trap and into the clutches of her “admirer’s” waiting ruffian friends.
Rough grasping Lads who looked with bug-eyed amazement over what had just been caught in their net, demanding more than the lovely lass just be handing over her satin purse.
As she balked, they would then pounce and strip down their slippery squirmy victim, head to toe, of all her valuables, leaving her shivering, hair in her face, wearing nothing more than her long thin white silk slip, if even that!
Having those those overactive, imaginative, concerns on my mind made me happy to finally hear the key turn the lock around ten
Sis came swishing(and glittering) into the room to say hello and tell me about the party.
Sounded to me like it had been a brilliant night for her. I wished I had been invited along also. Better than sitting alone at home.
As she was prattling on, I saw her eyes kept drifting towards the Telly, finally, she broke off her recount as something the thief was doing really caught her eye.
She quizzically asked whatever was I watching?
Her eyes lit up with interest as I explained what the movie was about, and teased her that she appeared to be a prime target for the movie’s antagonist. Then I teased by wondering out loud if that thought had ever occurred to her this evening.
She flicked her earrings, teasing me back, then said…
“No idea what you're in about me lad..no one was thieven tonight!”
She then just smiled, chirping, while her eyes were on the screen.
“0ui’ does sound like a fun movie then. Let me just get out of this and I’ll join you”
I secretly was happy she was now home safe and secure, but as I watched her gown swishing with fetching provocation along her figure while she went upstairs, I still had my lingering thoughts over her fate if a jewel thief indeed would ever target her.
^^^^^^^^^^
Not long after she went upstairs I heard her come quickly back down and felt her plop down beside me on the couch.
She was comfortably wearing her long-sleeved chocolate satin PJs.
I did a double take, she still had on her ultra glittery necklace. And her finger still had on one of her pretty rhinestone rings.
I was curious at the time why she had changed into her satin pjs, and left the necklace on, was she still teasing me? Was she expecting me to say something?
We watched on, my sister had her eyes glued to the screen, absentmindedly playing with her sparkling necklace.
At one point the movie thief was himself admiring a diamond necklace worn by a well-dressed-up lady.
I looked down at my sister, now cuddled in beside me.
I was feeling a bit piqued, thinking how pretty the necklace looked on her, when suddenly my sister blurted out…
“You know at the party tonight there was this smarmy bloke who took a great deal of interest in me, then as we talked, he suddenly appeared to have lost all interest. Weird huh?”
“Yes. Weird he took an interest in you atoll luv…”
I teased, receiving a poking for my witty efforts, after tussling a bit, we both went back to watching the movie.
My mind drifted back over to why had the bloke approached my sister only to abruptly leave her. Was it an innocent act, or a sinister one?
The movie ended and, on a rather silly note I thought. Yawning, I was thinking of calling it a night and heading up to bed.
But there was a second movie of a similar vein as the previous was playing next. As the preview was shown. I felt my sister snuggling in even closer.
“Looks interesting, let’s watch it and see if it is any good?”
The movie was Italian. With English subtitles.
Titled “Perras Callejetas” it concerned a group of lady thieves.
It was a fun watch.
The gang at one point in the movie infiltrated an upper-class restaurant and began robbing the patrons of their wallets and some rather pretty jewels.
My sister, who had been half asleep, jumped and held onto me. As I placed a hand around her shoulder she mumbled.
“That startled me, if that lot had been
to the party I was at tonight, they would have made a bloody killing.”
I lifted her necklace…
“If that had happened. It’s a good thing you were only wearing rhinestones…”
She looked up at me, her heavily mascara-lined eyes blinking sleepily, taking her necklace from my hand,
“Oh no, you bet they would make me hand mine over …. And mum’s clips, that would never do. Of course, you’d protect me if that happened wouldn’t you?”
I chuckled as I assuredly stroked her arm.
“Yes If I was there. I would twit!”
She looked up into my face, holding her necklace.
“That reminds me. I was having issues with the clasp. Here be a luv and help me.
She turned around and lifted her hair, the ring on her finger flashing.
I located the clasp and pried the stubborn bugger open, then handed it back to her.
She took it in her hand and pecked me on the cheek, then yawned, and started to speak before it was done.
“T-Thanks, I m getting tired. Good movie, fun watching those thieves at work. Thinking I’ll be heading off to bed now.”
She rose,
“Sweet dreams.”
“Sweet dreams luv…”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
She went upstairs, and I turned back to the movie, hoping for another jewellery heist like the one at the restaurant.
But I found it hard to focus as my eyes began drooping.
^^^^^^
My sister and I were at our kitchen table. I was wearing my bathrobe, my sister her satin pajamas, and her rhinestones.
Female thieves dressed as jesters came in and started to rob the people sitting at the other tables that suddenly were in our dining room, I recognized them as being the same guests from my Aunt’s summer black tie wedding.
The thieves got to our table and my Aunt, wearing an A-line white satin gown with rhinestone trimmings, started to hand over her pearls. An argument broke out as the thieves told her they wanted diamonds and not pearls and my Aunt said she had to go to my sister’s room to change into them…
My Aunt got up and I saw my sister sitting on the couch.
She is again wearing her alluring violet gown, she is also wearing diamonds all along her figure.
As I watch, helpless to help her, hands begin reaching out, locating and removing her diamonds, and placing them into a basket that is being held out from the Telly screen, all except for the diamond clips.
Then the cat was made to hand over her pearled collar.
At this point, I knew I was dreaming and told myself to wake up. We don’t even have a cat.
^^^^^^
When I woke from my dream at 2:00 am it was to a staticky Telly screen.
I shook my head, rose, and went up to bed.
Reaching the top stair I saw my sister had left her bedroom door ajar.
Still half asleep, the dream lingering, I just had the compelling urge to look inside her room to make sure she was indeed ok and not being tied up and robbed of her jewels ( a stark image of which was imprinted on my mind)
I peered in, and suddenly I was wide awake, of course, she was ok, but in the moonlight streaming through her window I could see my sister’s richly clad figure, half covered by the satin sheets, laying deeply asleep on her bed. Her shiny back was facing her vanity.
The vanity had her jewel case sitting off on one side, where jewelry was just sparkling.
Uncannily this looked like the scene in the earlier movie when the jewel thief entered his vulnerable sleeping victim’s room.
I saw that her glamorous necklace was curled up on top of the jewel case lid, the the wide end of the necklace was hanging out over the edge, glittering itself up a storm.
I remembered my sister commenting on how fun it was watching the movie Thieves at work.
I was thinking it may be fun to see her reaction after a burglar did his…
A warm tingling rush of adrenaline swept over me at the thought of doing a burgle. The idea of stealing the rhinestones from m my sister’s room was like the feeling I had had when I watched it happening in the movie, but tenfold better seeing the opportunity unfold now in real life.
It was indeed an arousing feeling that one would assume any cat burglar worth his salt had when seeing a sleeping lady’s diamonds, invitingly laid out in the open.
Unwilling to suppress my urge, I quickly went to my room and grabbed a few things.
Then thinking as I thought a jewel thief would, I snuck back and crept ever so softly as I stole into my sister’s room.
Looking around like it was my first time there. I had brought a small torch but decided I didn’t need to use it. The moon was providing enough light to see by.
She looked so very vulnerable, fast asleep, wearing her shiny satin pjs, I saw her equally shiny gown reflected in her vanity mirror as it hung from the back of her bedroom door.
I saw diamonds glittering from her antique vanity. I observed her jewellery case sitting upon it.
Her back was still facing the vanity. This should not be difficult atoll.
I went to her vanity, one eye on her, the other on her jewelry case, my heart thumping with increasing force as I got closer, hoping she did not wake and catch me in the acte before I had had my fun.
I lifted her black satin clutch purse and opened it, carefully laying it back down on the satin sheets of my victim’s bed, it sat there daringly close to her back.
I then eyed the jewel case containing the sleeping girl’s jewels.
I carefully scooped up her necklace, which blazed into a stormy fire, dangling it over my sister’s sleeping form as I was admiring the total allure, and then I slipped it into her purse.
I slowly opened the wooden top lid of the 2 drawer case. Here lay the rest of the glittering rhinestones my sister had been wearing out, now fully exposed, crying out to be taken.
Slowly, carefully I silently extracted each glimmering piece as I thought how pretty each had looked when she wore them out.
I then opened both drawers and removed the glittering trinkets they contained.
In my mind I imagined the jewellery was real, worth a mind-blowing amount.
I took everything, not just what she had been wearing out that evening.
What proper thief wouldn’t?
She stirred in her sleep, and I froze. She flipped over and I snatched up the purse just in time, her nose came so very close to hitting it.
Still, in her sleep, she rubbed that nose with a satin sleeve, But her eyes did not even flutter open.
When she settled back down(and my heart came back down from up my throat) I continued on with my work. Setting the now weighty purse next to her jewel case.
When I had finished looting her rings from the bottom drawer I closed the case, I took out of my pocket a playing card, the Jack of Diamonds. And placed it inside where her rhinestones had been.
Then I did a quick Look around for any stragglers. I spied only the one…
Emboldened, I knelt next to her bed.
As she was rubbing her nose I saw she was still wearing her real diamond-looking rhinestone ring.
In for a penny….
And that hand, half covered by her satin pj sleeve, was mere centimeters away.
I touched her soft sleeve, but she did not budge. I peeled it back and then lifted her warm finger with as delicate a touch as my trembling excited fingers could muster.
Still nothing from my happily slumbering victim.
Slowly I worked off the conveniently loose ring with a subtle dexterity, holding my breath.
It finally came off and I exhaled while
plopping the stolen jewel on top of the sparkling stash already inside the purse.
I felt that if she had still been wearing her necklace I would have welcomed the challenge, my victim was that much out of it.
I rose, Then picked up the now much heavier purse and backed out of my victim's room, looking around.
I saw her white A-line satin gown with rhinestone trimmings hanging in the corner. My sister’s debutante gown. Then I realized I had not found her pearls.
I sighed, having mixed emotions about trying vs not trying to locate her too real pearls.
Truth be told, I had no idea where she kept them.
I suppose a real thief would have seen the white gown, read the clue realizing its significance, and been able to find where she kept her pearls based on experience in such matters as to where females like to hide jewellery in their room.
But this burglar was not that well-practiced, getting sleepy and needed a bed. Her “diamonds” would be it for me.
I did stop at her door, watching my victim sleep as I contemplated my deeds while fingering the far too-soft gown hanging there.
I pictured my sister as she had been prettily dressed up in silk and flashy jewels that evening, how people must have eyed, even briefly, her richly decorated figure.
I found myself wondering if that was how real Cat Burglars sought out their prey beforehand, by looking for ladies and girls provocatively dressed up like my twin had been, except wearing real diamonds, then followed a jeweled-up girl home, creeping in and out of the shadows like a cat.
It was both an enticing, as well as stimulating, idea to ponder over.
Was it possible that is what the weird bloke who had approached my sister was thinking?
Maybe he spotted the diamond chip hair clips and got in closer to see if the rest of the jewels my sister was wearing were the real thing? Then he got a closer look and realized not. Was he a thief, or just some gigolo looking for wealthy girls to meet their Mums?
An unlikely scenario, but an intriguing titillating pondering nonetheless.
I closed her door, and stealing back downstairs to the study, hid her now weighty clutch purse behind some books.
Then stole back upstairs to my room, where falling into sleep, figured I would be wakened in the morning by my sister angrily demanding I return her jewels.
Instead, I was roughly shaken awake a few hours later by a frantic, albeit cutely satin pj clad, sister telling me she had been robbed last night!
Woken from a deep sleep I had actually forgotten my exploits.
I told her she was only having a bad dream from watching those movies.
She squealed ..,
“It’s not a dream. Come I’ll show you!”
By then I had remembered what I had been up to in her room earlier, and that she was telling the truth.
Playing dumb I got up and had her show me what she was on about.
Taking me to her room she showed me her empty jewel case.
Quivering she looked up at me…
“I never heard a thing, took everything they did!”
In my head, I had a vision which made me say…
“So that smarmy bloke was up to something.”
She looked at me very wide-eyed as she recalled the incident at the party.
“O my Lord, do you really think he had something to do with this? Mum will kill me, he nicked her clips!”
That realization, had her coming into my arms. I soothingly patted her back.
“At least they didn’t nick your pearls. “
With worried eyes, she looked up at me and moved to her wardrobe, opening it she pulled a case from a drawer.
She opened the case and looked inside, seeing her pearls were still there. Then she looked up at me with an interrogating suspicion in her eyes ….
“Lad, just how did you know that?!”
^^^^^^^^^^
Thus the first time I did a role play as a jewel-hunting Cat Burglar was achieved.
Fini
^^^^^^^^^
Perras Callejetas clip
youtu.be/vaz9Nn90UIg?si=6xxpQcddmC9l4NoF
Burglary Clip
For centuries, the former royal abbey of Saint-Denis illuminated the artistic, political and spiritual history of the Frankish world.
The abbey-church was designated a "basilica" in Merovingian times. In the 12th century the abbot of Saint-Denis, Suger, still qualified it in his works as a "basilica". This qualifier was applied from the 4th century to churches whose floor plans were the same as those of Roman civic buildings with three naves, used for trade and the administration of justice. They were often erected outside towns and over the tomb of a saint. They were the site of a major pilgrimage and often the cause for the development of a neighbourhood or borough, like the town of Saint-Denis, which developed around the abbey and its economic potential.
Basilica is also an honorary title given to all kinds of churches, of all eras, that were the seat of a major pilgrimage. Only a cathedral is of superior rank. In 1966, the basilica was elevated to cathedral status, a name derived from "cathedra", meaning the seat of the bishop, the head of the diocese located there. A copy of the throne of Dagobert, the original of which is in the Cabinet des Médailles of the Bibliothèque Nationale, is currently used by the bishop as an episcopal see.
The first building rises from the tomb of Saint Denis, a missionary bishop who died under the yoke of Roman rule in the second part of the 3rd century. The body of the saint attracted many princely burials around him from the late 4th century. Besides a partly Carolingian crypt, the remains of the building consecrated in the presence of Charlemagne in 775, the basilica preserves the testimony of buildings that were decisive for the evolution of religious architecture: the façade (1135-1140) and the apse (1140 -1144), the work of abbot Suger, which constitute a hymn to light, a manifesto of new early Gothic art; other parts of the present church built in the time of Saint Louis from 1230 to 1280 are a testimony of the heyday of Gothic art, known as "Rayonnant", such as the exceptionally vast transept accommodating the royal tombs.
A place of remembrance from the early Middle Ages, the Dionysian monastery was able to link its fate to that of the monarchy, gradually asserting itself as the privileged tomb of the royal dynasties, taking advantage of the cult of Saint Denis. Forty-two kings, thirty-two queens, sixty-three princes and princesses and ten men of the kingdom rest in peace there. With over seventy recumbent effigies and monumental tombs, the royal necropolis of the basilica is today the most significant group of funerary sculptures from the 12th to the 16th century in Europe.
But the basilica of Saint-Denis was not the "graveyard of the kings" from the beginning of the Frankish kingdom as qualified by a chronicler of the 13th century. Until the 10th century, the abbey was in fierce competition with many other cemeteries, especially with Saint-Germain-des-Prés. At the accession of the Capetians in 987, its role as a royal necropolis gradually became confirmed and most sovereigns were buried there until the 19th century; although, for political, religious or personal reasons, some kings, like Philip I in 1108, Louis VII in 1180, Louis XI in 1483, Charles X in 1836 and Louis-Philippe in 1850, would be buried in other places. Louis XVIII, who died in 1824, was the last king to be buried in the basilica.
Throughout history the Frankish kings were always in search of legitimacy, which partly explains their will to be buried with the relics of Saint Denis, Rusticus and Eleutherius (all three having been martyred together). By way of their powers, the kings thought they had acquired power and protection during their life, particularly for their battles, and for going directly to Paradise.
The rallying cry of the knights on the battlefield in the 12th and 13th centuries, "Montjoie Saint Denis!", inscribed on the scarlet banner, interspersed with the golden flames of the famous oriflamme of Saint-Denis, became the motto of the kingdom of France, which was thus placed under the protection of the titular saint of the kingdom, Saint Denis. This standard is a beautiful image of the personal union between the abbey, the patron saint and the king. This ensign was always raised in time of war by the rulers who came to collect it from the hands of the abbot on the altar of the holy martyrs. It is one of the major objects of the mediaeval epic around which a first national sentiment formed. A 1913 copy, little conform to the original, remains in the basilica.
The Hundred Years' War, the Wars of Religion and political unrest contributed to the decline of the royal abbey of Saint-Denis long before the Revolution precipitated matters. In 1793, revolutionaries attacked the symbols of the monarchy, but the basilica escaped total destruction. In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the restoration of the building. Then Louis XVIII restored the role of necropolis to the abbey. The restoration work continued throughout the 19th century and was conducted, in particular, by architects François Debret and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc from 1846.
2 - A royal monument
Burials before the 13th century
The rich and influential Parisian noblewoman, Saint Geneviève, showed special devotion to Saint Denis. She undoubtedly had the tomb of Saint Denis expanded or had a building built around it in 475. The development of a vast necropolis, which extended well beyond the church, in the 6th and 7th centuries, led to expanding the church.
Many high-ranking figures, mostly women, were then buried "ad sanctos" as close to the saint as possible. The discovery in 1959 of the sarcophagus of Queen Arnegunde, daughter-in-law of Clovis, who died around 580, shows the power of attraction of the sanctuary in this early period. The jewellery associated with her burial is kept in the Musée d'archéologie nationale du Domaine de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Fifty years later, in 639, King Dagobert was the first Frankish king to be buried in the basilica of Saint-Denis. Some Merovingians and Carolingians were buried there, such as Charles Martel, Pepin the Short and Emperor Charles the Bald.
Dagobert distinguished himself by making generous donations to the abbey and legend has it that he created the Saint-Denis fair that was held each October and was a great source of wealth for the monastery.
Charles Martel died in 741. Even though he was only the Mayor of the Palace he was given a prestigious burial, opposite the great King Dagobert. He thus enabled his family, the Pippinids, future Carolingians, to rise to the ranks of the greatest noblemen. His recumbent effigy, created in the 13th century, shows him crowned as the Capetians considered him as the ancestor of the great Carolingian dynasty.
Pepin the Short, the son of Charles Martel, was anointed by Pope Stephen II at Saint-Denis in July 754, thus sealing the alliance between the Frankish kings and the papacy. He was the first Frankish sovereign to be crowned as the image of God on earth in the image of king David. On this occasion he had the church rebuilt along the lines of the Roman buildings known as basilicas. Featuring a wooden ceiling, dozens of marble columns and decorated with thousands of oil lamps, for the first time it was combined with a crypt that housed the relics of Saint Denis until the 12th century. A few remains of this Roman-style martyrium, decorated with paintwork imitating marble, can still be seen.
Recumbent effigies said to be commissioned by Saint Louis
Louis IX (Saint Louis), who was canonised in 1297, was called a "superman" by the pope. A man of great faith, this king was particularly attached to Saint-Denis. He continuously strengthened the basilica’s role as a royal necropolis. The series of 16 recumbent effigies, said to be commissioned by Saint Louis in around 1265, is the largest funerary sculpture series of the European Middle Ages. Today 14 of the original sculptures remain. They are placed in both arms of the transept, virtually in their old locations evidenced by 18th-century engravings.
The mediaeval effigies, said to be commissioned by Saint Louis, are designed on the model of the statue-columns that decorate church portals. In the 13th century, they were among the first funerary sculptures made for the abbey of Saint-Denis. Previously, only the engraved stone slabs arranged on the floor near the altar marked the location of the royal tombs. The reorganisation of the necropolis, launched by the Capetian rulers, led to the discovery and transfer of the remains of the 16 sovereigns, buried between the 7th and 12th centuries. Their bones were then placed in boxes above which 16 recumbent figures with idealised faces were installed, a majestic expression of the royal function. The mode of representation of these sculptures is relatively uniform. The sovereigns wear a crown and carry a sceptre. These recumbent effigies, which were originally painted in bright colours, are dressed in the fashion of the 13th century. They are not represented dead; they have their eyes open to the eternal light. They assert belief in the Resurrection. They are turned towards the east, towards the sunrise, the image of Christ whose return they await.
But the layout desired by the Capetian rulers was also political. Through this grandiose setting, Louis IX developed the myth of monarchical continuity between the Merovingians, Carolingians and Capetians and aimed to link his family to Charlemagne, the most impressive figure in mediaeval monarchical ideology.
The inscriptions on the new tombs identify the kings and queens and clarify the genealogies. In the Middle Ages, in the centre of the transept, the gilded silver tombs of Louis VIII and Philip Augustus, the grandfather of Saint Louis, victor of the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, had the places of honour. The central tomb of the series is that of Louis VIII, the father of Louis IX. Indeed, according to the Dominican Vincent of Beauvais, an intimate of Saint Louis, the mixed blood of the Carolingians and Capetians flowed in the veins of Louis VIII as his mother, Isabella of Hainaut, was of Carolingian ancestry. It thus symbolises, in the Capetian family, "the return to the throne of the race of Charlemagne". Indeed, in the 11th century, Saint Valery had prophesied that the Capetian kingdom could only be maintained up to the seventh king, which was precisely Philip Augustus, father of Louis VIII.
This series was completed in around 1280 by erecting a magnificent tomb of goldsmithery in honour of Saint Louis, "the most beautiful tomb in the world" according to his chronicler Guillaume de Nangis. It was destroyed, as well as the other goldsmithery tombs, during the Hundred Years' War.
Thus the accomplishment of this sculpted series ensured the title of royal necropolis to Saint Denis, to which its abbots had long aspired, and offered the Capetian dynasty a legitimacy and prestige that it had hitherto been lacking.
A Japanese Flickr friend, Samuel Seta, explains:
"Sasuke Inari jinja" We read the name of this shrine like this.
"Sasuke" is a name of a certain male.
"Inari" derives its name from abundant harvest of "ine" (rice plant).
Also, it is the other name of fox.
This kind of shrine is almost made for abundant harvest of grain.
name of "Sasuke" derives from the name of the builder himself. Suke was his name when he was in youth.
He is well known as the name of " Minamoto Yoritomo", general leader of Samurai.
He united Japan into one in 12th century.
After his success of uniting Japan, he built this shrine as a thanksgiving for help to his god.
The first "Sa" means helping.
Fox had been believed as a kind of angel which brings prayer of havest to the god of grain.
As for the connection between a man named "Sasuke" & god of grain,
I think I may have confused a few people with yesterday's image. I apologize. I posted it with only the title "Platform 9 3/4s". Never thought to explain it given the Harry Potter coverage. Sometimes I'm too geeky. Apologies to everyone who didn't get it. Some people did get it though, and I think some that did get the reference believed it was a joking reference.
I wasn't joking. That is Platform 9 3/4s. Honest. The real thing.
I took that shot in King's Cross Station, which is the train station where J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, has Harry and his friends leave from at the start of each year to travel to Hogwart's School of Wizardry and Witchcraft.
That column is the actual column you see in all the Harry Potter films and read about in the books. When Harry and the Hogwart's students from London leave for their year at Hogwart's they run "into" that brick column. It's a sort of gateway to a special train platform that's hidden in another "dimension" so normal non-magical people (called "muggles") can't see it. The platform is number "9 3/4s" as it lies 3/4s of the way from platform 9. Actually, I think J. K. Rowling called it that because it's just a more interesting name than Platform 9 1/2 or Platform 9A (there actually is a 9A and a 9B Platform in the real world so that really wouldn't have worked).
However there was a problem that was only discovered after the books were published. The column to Platform 9 3/4s is in the older part of King's Cross. The problem is: the older part of King's Cross only goes up to Platform 8. Platforms 9 through 11 are in a modern addition to King's Cross and look nothing like the older section.... and there are no brick columns. As well, Platform 9 lies on the other side of the ticket booth behind a security wall. The kids of Hogwarts couldn't get to the platform without "muggle" tickets, and even if they did their parents definitely couldn't have accompanied them as they do in the books. I suppose magic could have solved all that though.
So the film crew had to fudge it and pretend the landing between Platform 4 and 5 is where Platform 9 3/4's is. And frankly, who's to say that the Wizards didn't add it to King's Cross magically but get the platform location wrong? ;-)
The management of King's Cross didn't have it so easy, though. When the books became popular they were inundated with thousands of children who wanted to see Platform 9 3/4s, but where do you hang the sign?? If in the old section it would be wrong (and goodness, think of all the little children who would be so confused by that encounter they could never again navigate their way through a British Train Station! ;-). Unfortunately, there was nothing to hang a sign on in the new wing, and you couldn't let any kids past the security to see it anyway! So a compromise was come to: Management found a quiet little archway next to the entrance to the new wing where they could hang the sign. Technically it's close to being the right location, but it's not in the new spiffy, steel and glass wing that has no brick columns and it's outside the security area. To finish it off they also took one of the station luggage carts the Hogwarts students use in the books and mounted the rear section to the wall so it looks like it's "passing through" the wall on its way to Platform 9 3/4s.
Hence the title of this shot: "Platform 9 3/4s Official Location"