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W9 and I walked over to watch the nature center bird feeders. We surprised the Cooper's Hawk and he surprised us.
"Among the bird world’s most skillful fliers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds. You’re most likely to see one prowling above a forest edge or field using just a few stiff wingbeats followed by a glide. With their smaller lookalike, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawks make for famously tricky identifications. Both species are sometimes unwanted guests at bird feeders, looking for an easy meal (but not one of sunflower seeds)." allaboutboids
Venice is composed of more than a hundred tiny islets, packed closely together around canals. The city is in a lagoon, protected from the sea by a long strip of land called the Lido. Venice is famously sinking. Every year high water levels (acqua alta) threaten the city's fabric, and it has long been feared that the beautiful city will one day disappear beneath the water. Many ideas (and funds) have been put forward to protect the endangered heritage site, but the problem is a complex one and 'solutions' such as those to construct a giant water-gate are controversial.
For centuries Venice was a republic of immense power; controlling trade routes in the Adriatic, and waging successful wars with rival states. Ruled by a doge, who had his powers controlled by a cabinet, Venice was a proud and rich republic, known as la Serenissima, the most serene. Every year the Doge would take part in a symbolic ceremony, the Marriage of the Sea, to celebrate Venice's mastery over the ocean. Like most great powers, however, Venice's glory was followed by a decline. La Serenissima lost her chattels in wars, and the city's trade routes declined in importance. By the eighteenth century, Venetians was already seeking profits from the tourist trade, leasing fine palazzi to foreign travelers.
Chefchaouen is an ancient city in the Rif mountains of north central Morocco. It's famously known as "The Blue City" due to the use of a pure blue color on the walls of the buildings and passage ways.
10-horsepower, two-cylinder Rolls-Royce motorcar 1905
Built in Hulme, Manchester, this is one of the earliest Rolls-Royce motorcars. It is the result of a remarkable partnership.
Henry Royce was an expert engineer, Charles Rolls was a motoring pioneer and businessman. When Royce showed his experimental motorcar to Rolls here in Manchester in 1904, Rolls-Royce was born.
The duo were committed to constant improvement, leading to famously smooth and powerful cars
For the Macro Mondays theme: knolling. It is 3in wide.
Knolling is the process of arranging similar objects in parallel or at 90 degree angles as a method of organisation. The term was first used in 1987 by Andrew Kromelow, a janitor at Frank Gehry's furniture fabrication shop. At the time, Gehry was designing chairs for Knoll, a company famously known for Florence Knoll's angular furniture. Kromelow would arrange any displaced tools at right angles on all surfaces, and called this routine knolling, in that the tools were arranged in right angles—similar to Knoll furniture.
I feel like a failed "knoller". The smaller pearls wouldn't line up straight and the other beads differed in size so it was also difficult to line them up in a straight line.
HMM and happy new week!
Thanks for visiting. I am very grateful to those who take the time to comment or fave.
The Basin Stone is a natural weathered outcrop of millstone grit high up on Walsden Moor and is within Langfield Common. It has a distinctive anvil shape, or giant stone mushroom, but its name comes from the fact that it has a small basin in its top that usually holds water. It is a locally famous historic site that has been used as a natural pulpit by itinerant preachers like John Wesley, as well as for other large political gatherings , most famously a large Chartist meeting on 18th August 1842.
It is now a remote spot situated on high moorland with views down to Todmorden and Walsden below.
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I've always loved aspects of the Bauhaus movement of the 1920's. They famously encouraged their students to experiment with art and they gave us Dutch Angles, basically diagonal images (its not a modern SL thing at all) amongst other things. When I saw this headpiece by Azoury it reminded me instantly of the Bauhaus photos where they re-imagined stage costumes.
⦿AZOURY - Uninvited
At the Enchantment Event November2022
Creator's Flickr
⦿UNHOLY - THE SYCOPHANT
Creator's Flickr
⦿.:SOUL:. - Tattoo: Swallow: LobeLines Thick (50L for this weekend only! Fatpack offers different affects)
Creator's Flickr
⦿.:SOUL:. - Tattoo: Swallow: LobeLines Thick (50L for this weekend only! Fatpack offers different affects)
⦿[ContraptioN] - Seven Sights Blindfold *???*
⦿- TRIGGERED - - Be Bad Collar (Legacy/Perky)
⦿Badwolf - Ram Septum
⦿L'Emporio&PL::*Boran*:: -Hands rope-Legacy Meshbody f.
⦿Lilithe' // Alcmene Tattoos - Fresh - arms [NO FADE]
⦿^^Swallow^^ - Pixie Gauged S Ears (f) 2.0
Head: Lelutka Avalon
Body: Legacy female
Pose: My own
Shape: My own
Scenic framing of the Colossi of Memnon with the Theban mountain visible in the background.
These colossal statues depict Pharaoh Amenhotep III seated on a throne and facing eastwards towards the Nile.
Each about 18 meters (60 feet) high and weighs approximately 720 tons. They were originally around 21 meters with the crown and carved from a single block of quartzite sandstone, quarried at el-Gabal el-Ahmar near modern-day Cairo and transported over 600 miles to the ancient site of Thebes at the entrance of his mortuary temple in Luxor. This journey was a significant feat of ancient engineering.
They originally served as guardians to the entrance of Amenhotep III's vast mortuary temple, although very little of the temple remains today being largely destroyed by an ancient earthquake.
The Colossi of Memnon have remarkably endured for millennia. One of the statues was famously known as the "Vocal Memnon" in antiquity due to a phenomenon where it was said to "sing" at sunrise, a sound attributed to the effects of temperature changes on the damaged stone.
The Colossi are a prominent historical landmark and a significant archaeological site on the west bank of Luxor, offering a glimpse into the grandeur of ancient Egyptian architecture and beliefs.
Earning international acclaim, Joan Miró's work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride. In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting and photography methods as a way of supporting bourgeois society, and famously declared an "assassination of painting" in favour of upsetting the visual elements of established painting.
Viva Surrealism !!
Another view of the captive Tawny Owl, taken in light rain and poor light. Tawny Owls can famously turn their head through 270 degrees and look behind them.
Thank you for looking.
The Lemonheads
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPwM2kjAguI&feature=related
There's something of an accidental coincidence about the the titles of two of the pictures I released tonight. Both titles come from the lines of songs, this one from The Lemonheads 'If I Could Talk I'd Tell You' and the other Simon and Garfunkel's 'Old Friends' from which the title of their great album Bookends is taken. The coincidence lies in a bit of music trivia where The Lemonheads breakthough single, and probably most successful song 'Mrs Robinson' is, of course, a cover of a Simon and Garfunkel song which famously featured on the soundtrack of The Graduate starring Dustin Hoffmann. I've only just realised the link myself and thought it was interesting that pictures of trees were also in fact connected by a branch of the musical family tree.
Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs Robinson www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvlTn5xnozE&feature=related
The Lemonhead's Mrs Robinson www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvMFm5nKeUc
Every year around the 15th of January, like clockwork, the famous Humpback whales of Samana arrive, having traveled all the way from the North Atlantic to relax and frolic in the warm waters of the Caribbean, a bit like you and me!
Of course it’s not just vacation time for them, they are also here to mate and give birth to their 1.5 ton calves which can often be seen next to their mothers, consuming up to 50 gallons of rich milk (50-60% fat) daily. Calves born here were likely conceived here the year before, as the gestation period is 11.5 months.
Humpbacks feed almost exclusively in the summer months when they can be found in the northernmost and southernmost cold arctic waters, rich in krill, plankton and small fish. Krill, tiny crustaceans found in abundance in the world’s cold waters, and plankton are filtered through an array of balene plates found in the whale’s upper mouth. Humpbacks are ‘Balene’ whales, which feed by taking in huge gulps of sea water and pushing the water back out through the balene filter system in a process called ‘filter feeding’. The krill and other food is trapped by the filtration system consisting of bristles between the plates. Balene was once more commonly called ‘whalebone’, famously used in corset stays and petticoats when these were fashionable. Humpback whales rarely feed at all during the winter months, generally surviving on their fat reserves during the time they can be found in the Bay of Samana.
Civita di Bagnoregio is an outlying village of the comune of Bagnoregio in the Province of Viterbo in central Italy. It lies 1 kilometre east of the town of Bagnoregio and about 120 kilometres north of Rome. The only access is a footbridge from the nearby town, with a toll introduced in 2013. Due to the toll, communal taxes were abolished in Civita and nearby Bagnoregio. Due to its unstable foundation that often erodes, Civita is famously known as "the dying city".
Civita is situated in the valley of the badlands (Valle dei Calanchi), a region east of Lake Bolsena and west of the Tiber Valley, in the municipality of Bagnoregio. It consists of two main valleys: the Fossato del Rio Torbido and the Fossato del Rio Chiaro. Originally these places might have been easier to reach and were crossed by an ancient road that linked the Tiber Valley to Lake Bolsena.
The morphology of this region was caused by erosion and landslides. The territory is made up of two different formations of rocks, different in chronology and constitution. The most ancient formation is that of clay; it comes from the sea and forms the base layer which is particularly subject to erosion. The top layers are made up of tuff and lava material. The fast erosion is due to the streams, to atmospheric agents but also to deforestation.
Civita, which is inhabited by only 16 people, is situated in a solitary area and it is reachable only by a reinforced concrete pedestrian bridge built in 1995. The bridge is generally restricted to pedestrians, but to meet the requirements of residents and workers the Municipality of Bagnoregio issued a statement that these people may cross the bridge by bike or by motorcycle at certain times. The reason for its isolation is the progressive erosion of the hill and the nearby valley which creates the badlands; this process is still ongoing and there is the danger that the village could disappear. This is why Civita is also known as "The Dying Town".
Civita di Bagnoregio was founded by the Etruscans more than 2,500 years ago. Formerly there were five city gates to access the ancient town of Civita, nowadays instead, Porta Santa Maria (known as Porta Cava, as well) is the main gateway of the city. It is also possible to enter the town of Civita from the badlands valley through a tunnel carved into the rock.
The layout of the whole town is of Etruscan origin, based on a cardo and decumanus orthogonal street system according to the Etruscan and Roman use, while the entire architectural cladding is of medieval and Renaissance origin.
There are numerous traces of Etruscan civilisation in Civita, especially in the San Francesco Vecchio area: a little Etruscan necropolis was found in the cliff located in the area below Belvedere di San Francesco Vecchio. The cave of St Bonaventure (where it is said that Saint Francis healed the little Giovanni Fidanza, who later became Saint Bonaventure) is also an Etruscan chamber tomb.
The Etruscans made Civita (whose original name is unknown) a flourishing city, thanks to its strategic position favourable for trade and thanks to its proximity to the most important communication routes of the times.
Many traces of the Etruscan period are still suggestive spots: the so-called Bucaione, for example, is a deep tunnel that goes through the lowest part of the city and gives access to badlands valley directly from the town.
In the past, many chamber tombs were visible. They were dug at the base of Civita’s cliff and nearby tuff walls and, over the centuries, they were destroyed by several rockfalls. Indeed, the Etruscans themselves had to face problems of seismic activity and instability, like the earthquake of 280 B.C.
When the Romans arrived in 265 B.C., they took up and carried on the rainwater drainage and the stream containment works that were first started by the Etruscans.
Civita (or City) was the birthplace of Saint Bonaventure, who died in 1274. The location of his boyhood house has long since fallen off the edge of the cliff. By the 16th century, Civita di Bagnoregio was beginning to decline, becoming eclipsed by its former suburb Bagnoregio.
At the end of the 17th century, the bishop and the municipal government were forced to move to Bagnoregio because of a major earthquake that accelerated the old town's decline. At that time, the area was part of the Papal States. In the 19th century, Civita di Bagnoregio's location was turning into an island and the pace of the erosion quickened as the layer of clay below the stone was reached in the area where today's bridge is situated.
Bagnoregio continues as a small but prosperous town, while the older site became known in Italian as La città che muore ("The Dying Town"). Civita di Bagnoregio has only recently been experiencing a tourist revival.
CNN in January 2020 associated the "over-tourism" with the mayor deciding to charge a minor fee for entry, which increased publicity and subsequently attendance. CNN also noted that the town had more feline inhabitants than its 12 human residents.[4]
The only access is a footbridge from the nearby town, with a €1.50 toll introduced in 2013 and increased in August 2017 to €3 on weekdays and €5 on Sundays and public holidays.[1] Civita had 40,000 visitors in 2010 and was estimated to attract 850,000 visitors in 2017. Due to the toll, communal taxes were abolished in Civita and nearby Bagnoregio, making Bagnoregio the only town in Italy without communal taxes.
Sign next to sculpture said the following:
Molosian Hound
Hellenistic realism extended to the expressive portrayal of animals as well as humans. Many bronze animal sculptures of this period are only known to us through Roman marble copies.
The Molossi inhabited ancient Epirus (now northwest Greece and Albania). Molossian hounds were related to the modern mastiff and were famously fierce. They were often used as guard dogs by herdsmen and for household security in cities. Aristophanes, the fifth-century comic dramatist, speaks of the hazards of trying to get past a doorway guarded by a Molossian dog, while the infamous Athenian statesman and general Alcibiades is said to have kept one with a docked tail.
This dog once wore a collar. Its gaping jaws show powerful teeth, but the relaxed pose and upward gaze give it an obedient air. Five other versions of this sculpture, all found near Rome, are thought to be Roman copies of a lost Greek bronze original, probably from the 2nd century BC. This version is sometimes known as the 'Jennings Dog', because it was once owned by Henry Constantine Jennings (1731 - 1819), who bought it in Rome in the late 1750's.
The manor house of Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire, England. Isaac Newton was born here on Christmas Day 1642 (Old Calendar).
Part of 1665 and 1666 were spent back here because Cambridge University was closed by the bubonic plague. Those years of ‘lockdown’ were, for Newton, a tranquil time of great creativity.
He developed his mathematics and invented the calculus. At one of the windows at far right he projected sunlight from a hole in the blind into a small room where he examined with prisms the composition of colour and light.
Most famously he is said to have been prompted to ponder the nature of gravity after being struck by a falling apple while in the (foreground) orchard. A pleasant myth that rather trivializes Newton’s achievement. The concept of gravity extending to the moon and beyond - a force acting at a distance throughout the universe - took him years of intensive work to develop into a rigorous mathematical theory. Nonetheless, some of its foundations were laid in the little village of Woolsthorpe.
Agapetus of the Kiev Caves or Agapetus of Pechersk was an Orthodox Christian saint and doctor, as well as a monk in Kiev Pechersk Lavra. He was born in Kiev and was taught and admitted to monastic vows by Saint Anthony of Kiev. Agapetus famously provided free medical services for poor people. He also healed grand prince Vladimir II Monomakh.
Buried in the Near Caves of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. Canonized by the Orthodox Church as a saint.
Since 1998, the Church of Saint Agapit Pechersky has been operating in Kyiv on Shuliavka; since 2006 in the newly built wooden church on the territory of Pushkin Park.
Well I am most thrilled to say it’s another first for these pages and boy what a scoop it is!!
What you are looking at there folks is a genuine Sky Harvester, or an Awyr Cynaeafwr as they are called here in greenest Wales. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Wales, this small and sparsley populated land, is not just a world leader in this kind of green technology, but decades ahead of the rest of the field.
The drivers of these high-tech gizmos are locally known as ‘Mad Maxers’ and this one here, he’s about to turn left and head towards those clouds you see there. When he gets directly below, he will extend those telescopic side arms upwards and they will in effect, snag the cloud which is then dragged back down to earth and then towed off to a Cwmwl Ysguboe for storage. These Cwmwl Ysgubors or ‘Cloud Barns” are, as you can imagine, enormous great affairs, but as you would expect from the creators of such advanced tech, great care has been taken to blend them into the countryside by making them look like hills. They can be seen throughout my landscape photos and I could easily point them out, but unless you have a keen trained eye - one like mine, you would mistakenly think you are just looking at an ordinary hill. Sigh. I know, I know ….frustrating right…. What can I say……apart from this is why Wales is so hilly - cloud barns.
In times of severe drought, the cloud barn is opened up and a cloud towed out to the brown and parched field. It is then caused to dissolve in effect through vibrational frequency undulation - but not another hi-tech gizmo, oh no, the method employed here is traditional and hands on. The entire inclusive green community will turn out men, women, children, babes in arms, grandmas and grandpas, and they will sing as one, as only a Welsh choir can sing and as they do they march bravely into the cloud voices undulating as they sing the song “the green green grass of home” which was famously introduced into the world psyche by the Welsh fertility god, boombox, Vegas blue rinse babe magnet, and some might say pop-singing Priapus incarnate, the icon and indisputable true King of all Wales by both birth and deed, the living legend that is - (put your hands together and have your underwear at hand) - Mr ….. Sir …..Tom …… Jones! And, as the inclusive eco friendly community choir close the song down, the cloud in effect melts and hey presto! We have rain, and of course, a very wet inclusive choir and re-greened agricultural field.
And that is why, generally speaking, Welsh people are such unbelievably fabulous singers with voices like angels, because from the earliest age, they have learned to sing in the clouds……
Just taking a trip around the garden with the camera to try for a bee on the echinops, I spotted a hummingbird hawk moth hovering around the purple verbena.
It was so elusive that I set the camera on burst and finished up with around 100 frames.
I found online that its wingbeat is up to 70 beats per second allowing it to fly up to 12 mph. I didn't hear the hum or see any 'loving dogfight' which apparently occurs when a male has sniffed out a partner.
Legend has it that spotting a hummingbird hawk-moth is considered a good omen – a small eclipse of the orange and brown moths was famously seen flying over the Channel on D Day in 1944. I found this info on more than one website but to me it does sound a tad fanciful....
I was tagged by the the famously beautiful Oakley Foxtrot to do this bare face challenge. She caught me just as I was trying out a new skin, LOL. The only enchancers I kept on are considered genetics.
No makeup, no lashes & No photoshop.. if the enhancer is apart of your "genetics" it's allowed. I've tagged a few people I wanna see do it too. If you were tagged already, DO IT lol jk you don't have to.
The lake is volcanic in origin, filling an enormous caldera formed in an eruption 84000 years ago. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and Aldous Huxley famously wrote of it: "Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing".
The sharp tops of Mt. Athabasca and Hilda Peak caught my eye while driving the Icefields Parkway. The pointier the better eh! The famous Athabasca glacier is on the other side of them.
"Athabasca is derived from a Cree word meaning “where there are reeds.” This word was first used by fur-traders to describe northeast Alberta’s Athabasca Lake and ultimately found its way to the lake’s source in 1898 when Normal Collie, Herman Wooley and Hugh Stutfield christened the peak. Upon completing the first ascent of Mount Athabasca, Collie famously remarked: “The view that lay before us in the evening light was one that does not often fall to the lot of modern mountaineers. A new world was spread at our feet; to the westward stretched a vast ice-field probably never before seen by human eye, and surrounded by entirely unknown, un-named, and unclimbed peaks.” The glaciated expanse discovered and described by Collie was the Columbia Icefield. Covering an area of about 325 square kilometers, this icefield is the largest in the Rocky Mountains."
On-Top.ca
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
The Bass Rock, situated only two miles east of North Berwick and one mile off the mainland, has famously been described as "One of the Twelve Wildlife Wonders of the World" by David Attenborough. Today, the spectacular volcanic plug is the home to approximately 10% of the world population of North Atlantic gannets with over 80,000 nests. Note the white 'topping' on the Rock.
The Bass Rock is also known to have served as a useful place of imprisonment, during the early 15th century after King James imprisoned political enemies there. However James I was not the first to inhabit this historical island. Above the castle, situated on the gentler slope to the south of the island, was a small chapel, built around 1491. This chapel, known today as St Baldred's, was used as a retreat for prayer and meditation by Baldred, a monk of Lindisfarne, who had been sent tothere in the 8th century in order to convert his irreligious beliefs to Christianity.
Civita di Bagnoregio is an outlying village in central Italy. The only access is a footbridge from the nearby town. Due to its unstable foundation that often erodes, Civita is famously known as "the dying city".
A boxer (Danny Carter) after he'd been K'O'ed by Andy Keates. Not helped by punches like this one here: www.flickr.com/photos/sophiethesax/52539101995/in/photost...
The look on his face says it all. He collapsed shortly after this photo and had to be given air and medical assistance for some time within the ring. Thankfully, he was okay.
(For those who don't understand the reference, boxer Barry McGuigan's dad famously sang Danny Boy (the "Northern Irish anthem") for him before his world championship fight back in 1985 versus Eusebio Pedroza.)
Brand new mono edit for Dec 2022
I was lying on my back on the prairie, shooting across the length of my body as Coyote came in close to investigate. Coyote responses here are highly variable. Some run away - fast. Some are wary, but go about their business. And some exhibit curiosity.
I get along famously with dogs, including wild ones, but this really was too close: one step closer and it would have been inside my minimum focus point with that lens. But I sure enjoyed the two of us putting our heads together that day and deciding we could share the big, open prairie.
This ends a brief set featuring the wild canids in my area. More fall wildlife coming, though, including migratory birds, and animals with antlers. Stay tuned!
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Cascade Mountains - Jackson County - Oregon - USA
Habitat : Forests
Food : Birds
Nesting : Tree
Behavior : Aerial Forager
Conservation : Low Concern
"Among the bird world’s most skillful fliers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds. You’re most likely to see one prowling above a forest edge or field using just a few stiff wingbeats followed by a glide. With their smaller lookalike, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawks make for famously tricky identifications... Dashing through vegetation to catch birds is a dangerous lifestyle. In a study of more than 300 Cooper’s Hawk skeletons, 23 percent showed old, healed-over fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the furcula, or wishbone."
- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology
Frames, as photographers we look to find them and use them to our advantage as viewers we find them everywhere we look but sometimes never see them. This shot depicts the left chute of Kakabeka Falls if you are viewing down river and the first viewing platform that you will encounter entering the park. These Falls are an underrated gem that should not be missed, they are the second largest in Ontario famously called the “Niagara of the North”, so if traveling past Thunder Bay making your way west do yourself a favor and stop here for a few minutes to observe natures beauty.
I took this on Sept 23rd, 2021 with my D850 and Tamron 24-70 f2.8 G2 Lens at 24mm, 2s, f7.1 ISO 64 processed in LR, PS +Topaz ,and DXO
Disclaimer: My style is a study of romantic realism as well as a work in progress
..... especially if Dracula is out tonight.
Looking along Grape Lane in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England near to the harbour.
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage
The town's maritime heritage is commemorated by statues of Captain Cook and William Scoresby. The town also has a strong literary tradition famously in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula
Emigrant Creek - Jackson County - Oregon - USA
Habitat : Forests
Food : Birds
Nesting : Tree
Behavior : Aerial Forager
Conservation : Low Concern
"Among the bird world’s most skillful fliers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds. You’re most likely to see one prowling above a forest edge or field using just a few stiff wingbeats followed by a glide. With their smaller lookalike, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawks make for famously tricky identifications... Dashing through vegetation to catch birds is a dangerous lifestyle. In a study of more than 300 Cooper’s Hawk skeletons, 23 percent showed old, healed-over fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the furcula, or wishbone."
- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology
A sensation of luminosity adds another dimension to this UNESCO World Heritage O-Torii gate in late afternoon. It famously appears to float in the sea and is the symbol of Miyajima. One of the most photographed sites in Japan, the gate was rebuilt a number of times between the 9th and 19th centuries.
In the rather steep, and with some of the highest steps I've ever come across, central stairs of the medieval castle Glimmingehus.
Glimmingehus is a late medieval castle built 1499-1505 in what was then Denmark and now Sweden. It was built for Jens Holgersen Ulfstand, by the master builder and stonemason Adam van Düren (who also did some of the decorations inside the castle). Adam was most likely from Westphalia but worked for several decades in Denmark and Sweden, perhaps most famously at Lund cathedral.
The house is one of most well preserved medieval castles in Scandinavia - but due to the lateness of the building date it soon went out of fashion and was subsequently turned into a grain storage. It was donated to the Swedish state in 1924 and turned into a museum.
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
Famously delivered quote by Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in the movie Tombstone.
He looks like nature's cuddly monster to me.
I'm such a big fan of black on black.
Rumoured to be the world’s busiest, this intersection in front of Shibuya Station is famously known as ‘The Scramble’. It’s an awesome spectacle of giant video screens and neon, guaranteed to give you a 'Wow – I'm in Tokyo!' feeling. People come from all directions at once – sometimes over a thousand with every light change – yet still manage to dodge each other with a practiced, nonchalant agility.
Read more: www.lonelyplanet.com/japan/tokyo/sights/neighbourhoods-vi...
Have a great weekend friends. Will catch up with your work soon
Mousehole is a picturesque fishing village on the south coast of Cornwall, just a few miles west of the market town of Penzance. The village has a rich history and was famously sacked by the Spaniards in July 1595 when the entire village, apart from one house, was burnt to the ground. That house still stands today.
A hundred years ago Mousehole was a bustling port, crowded with local fishing boats, landing pilchards. Each year, early in November, timber beams are laid across the narrow harbour entrance, to protect the village from the worst of the winter gales. Even so waves can still be seen breaking over the harbour wall at high tide on a strong southerly wind.
Mousehole today has retained much of its old world charm. Local cottages, built from finely grained Lamorna granite, huddle together around the inner edge of the harbour and its bustling narrow streets are filled with small shops, galleries and cafes.
Adapted from cornwalls.co.uk
A view from Panajachel toward the west end of Lake Atitlán.
Lake Atitlán (Spanish: Lago de Atitlán, [atiˈtlan]) is a lake in the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre mountain range. The lake has a maximum depth of about 340 metres (1,120 ft) and an average depth of 220 metres (720 ft). Its surface area is 130.1 km2 (50.2 sq mi). It is approximately 18 km × 8 km (11.2 mi × 5.0 mi) with around 20 km3 (4.8 cu mi) of water. Atitlán is technically an endorheic lake, feeding into two nearby rivers rather than draining into the ocean. It is shaped by deep surrounding escarpments and three volcanoes on its southern flank. The lake basin is volcanic in origin, filling an enormous caldera formed by an eruption 84,000 years ago. The culture of the towns and villages surrounding Lake Atitlán is influenced by the Maya people. The lake is about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west-northwest of Antigua. It should not be confused with the smaller Lake Amatitlán.
Lake Atitlán is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and is one of Guatemala's most important national and international tourist attractions. German explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt called it "the most beautiful lake in the world," and Aldous Huxley famously wrote of it in his 1934 travel book Beyond the Mexique Bay: "Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing."
—from Wikipedia
The largest living rail in the world, endemic to New Zealand. Considered extinct until it was famously rediscovered in the Murchison Mountains in 1948. The wild population remains in the Murchison Mountains; the species has been translocated to predator-free offshore islands and mainland sanctuaries, and recently reintroduced to northwest Kahurangi National Park. Note distinct iridescent plumage, white undertail, and huge bright red conical bill that extends onto the forehead. Often heard giving a quiet hooting contact call, or a muted boom. Australasian Swamphen (Pukeko) can look similar, but Takahe are much larger, can’t fly, and have no black on wings or back. (eBird)
63 cm; stands c. 50 cm tall; male 2250–3250 (2673) g, female 1850–2600 (2268) g. (Birds of the World)
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What a thrill to see this beautiful endangered rail so early in our visit to New Zealand. Safely translocated to a predator-free island, the family is safe to roam with other native birds. Interesting to watch him using his feet to pull up and eat grass. Being in a safe environment, we could get very close to these wonderful birds.
Tiritiri Matangi, New Zealand. February 2024.
Roadrunner Birding Tours.
‘Among the bird world’s most skillful fliers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds. You’re most likely to see one prowling above a forest edge or field using just a few stiff wingbeats followed by a glide. With their smaller lookalike, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawks make for famously tricky identifications. Both species are sometimes unwanted guests at bird feeders, looking for an easy meal (but not one of sunflower seeds).’
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk
Larger view:
This is a picture I took a few years ago of Harlaxton Manor. You may recognise this place for it's appearance in a number of films, more famously for the remake of the Haunting Starring Liam Neeson, Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta Jones, and Owen Wilson. I have never been into the grounds or the house itself as it doesn't seem to be open to the public very often. However there are a few open days throughout the Summer Holidays and I only work a few miles away, so I may be tempted to visit soon.
My beloved Galactic Dance image which was shot at the summit of Mount Cook (www.flickr.com/photos/jaydaley/14975211327/) was captured while my camera was perched on the face of the mountain capturing this very star trail while the 5 of us romantically sat inside the amazing Plateau Hut and drank the night away under candle light.
This epic star trail was almost bought undone by the natural phenomena that I was so ecstatic to witness and capture. The curtains of beautiful pink and yellow light blended together in this trail to give a dull sort of brown tinge through the bottom half of the nights sky.
Thankfully I was able to delete those frames without too much consequence and retain New Zealand’s famously clear night sky.
I have also heavily cropped the image to reduce the spins over-bearing impact on the foreground and image it-self.
Standing at the summit of such a giant mountain and watching such an immense universe spin past really is an observation and study into the scale of the world around us.
View large and, as always, thanks for looking!
taken and uploaded by KHWD
want to see more images or read the blog?
www.motorhome-travels.net/post/blog-181-trip-50-a-landmar...
this is the trip where a child looked at our motorhome and asked his mum can i have an icecream as our van so looks like an icecream van , so funny
🌳 Shady Trees Along the River Cam: A Riverside Reverie
Walking beside the River Cam is like stepping into a living painting—especially when the sun filters through the canopy of trees that line its banks. Here’s a guide to some of the most scenic, shade-dappled stretches:
🌿 Grantchester Meadows
- Tree Types: Overhanging willows, alders, and poplars create a dreamy, dappled light.
- Atmosphere: Quiet and pastoral, with cows grazing and punts gliding by.
- Highlights: Pink Floyd famously wrote a song about this spot. It’s ideal for picnics, sketching, or simply lying back under the trees and watching the river drift.
Callie came to me as a kitten in 2006 and has been a great companion all these years, flying with me to the Philippines in 2014, to Russia in 2016 and to Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria in 2019-21. She is a very intense but sweet cat.
I remember back in 2014/15 as my 20 year old Angus was approaching his end, I asked the vet how to find a new cat to live with a calico since they were famously difficult. That vet suggested a one year old very sweet, not very smart and very amiable male cat.
Well, when I went to the shelter in Denver to see some kittens, Pearl adopted me, LOL. A very strong personality, a female and a black cat like my Angus. It took a few months for Callie to accept her arrival, but it turned out to be a good choice. They get along very well.
The manor house of Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire, England. Isaac Newton was born here on Christmas Day 1642 (Old Calendar).
Part of 1665 and 1666 were spent back here because Cambridge University was closed by the bubonic plague. Those years of ‘lockdown’ were, for Newton, a tranquil time of great creativity.
He developed his mathematics and invented the calculus. At one of the windows at far right he projected sunlight from a hole in the blind into a small room where he examined with prisms the composition of colour and light.
Most famously he is said to have been prompted to ponder the nature of gravity after being struck by a falling apple while in the (foreground) orchard. A pleasant myth that rather trivializes Newton’s achievement. The concept of gravity extending to the moon and beyond - a force acting at a distance throughout the universe - took him years of intensive work to develop into a rigorous mathematical theory. Nonetheless, some of its foundations were laid in the little village of Woolsthorpe.
Cilla was a famous Liverpool lady who shot to fame in the 60s when she worked in the famous cavern club Liverpool famously where the Beatles play thanks for looking paul
famously used as a location in Kevin Kostner's "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves" although the Roman Wall is around 180 miles north of Sherwood Forest
Lounge at the Arbisteatern (The Arbis theatre) in the city of Norrköping, Sweden. It is the oldest amateur theatre stage in the country, famous for productions where professional actors and amateurs work together. Built in 1864, it opened in 1865. Several famous actors and actresses have made their debut or performed on the stage early in their career, most famously Zarah Leander.
Pai Canyon or Kong Lan (famously known as Kong Lan in Thai) is described in some tourist brochures as Thailand’s answer to the Grand Canyon. To say that’s stretching a point would be putting it mildly. Pai Canyon geological and topographic features are quite stunning. This unique geographical area has been formed by continuous erosion over decades until reaching the current condition. The carved narrow ledges and slabs that have survived the erosive actions of the elements have steep 30 meters deep cliff drops and a series of narrow walkways cut on the ridges of giant rock walls that snake out into the densely forested valley.
I was parked in the mobile blind watching a few jays and a group of Quail. While waiting for something to move into good light, a squirrel gave a series of alert calls. This caused pretty much all wildlife to head for cover. Ten seconds later this one landed.
Emigrant Creek - Jackson County - Oregon - USA
Habitat : Forests
Food : Birds
Nesting : Tree
Behavior : Aerial Forager
Conservation : Low Concern
"Among the bird world’s most skillful fliers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds. You’re most likely to see one prowling above a forest edge or field using just a few stiff wingbeats followed by a glide. With their smaller lookalike, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawks make for famously tricky identifications... Dashing through vegetation to catch birds is a dangerous lifestyle. In a study of more than 300 Cooper’s Hawk skeletons, 23 percent showed old, healed-over fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the furcula, or wishbone."
- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology