The weather here in Maine has been ever changing this winter. We have had above freezing temperatures and then they have plummeted to extremely frigid bone numbing temperatures. Last week the temperatures rose again to the mid 50's F or about 12-14 Celsius with torrential downpours.

The ice on the rivers started to break up and flow towards the sea. I saw a video of this river and it was nothing but huge ice cakes flowing downriver. I knew that there would be some left along the shore and decided it might be a great place to get a shot of Ralph for the group this week.

Ralph does not like getting his picture taken, but he is very good about getting up on things if I ask. I can then take his leash off of him and he will reluctantly pose for me. He can move around but knows to stay on the pedestal until he is released. Such a good boy.

We had another few very cold days, so I had another go at photographing frozen bubbles. I like the feather-like crystals in this one. Hopefully the coldest days are behind us though!

A keen 1st Officer gives the cockpit windows a freshen up during aircraft turnaround in the below freezing temperatures on F-HNCO Airbus A321-251N (MSN 9131) La Compagnie at Glasgow EGPF/GLA on 2nd January 2021. The aircraft was picking up Glasgow Celtic football team to Dubai.

Leeds Liverpool Canal near Hall Lane ,Maghull, Merseyside, UK on 18th December 2010.

Taken around 09.00hrs. Temperature -4 Degrees C.

 

The heavy snow overnight made for a festive photo opportunity early the next morning for those who were brave enough !

 

This was the first day of freezing temperatures which continued for 10 days in Merseyside, UK over the Christmas Holidays in 2010.

During this period some of the coldest temperatures on record for this region were experienced.

On the coldest night of the Holidays,the temperature fell to -17.5 degrees C which felt much more Siberia than Sefton !

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12031709Y

 

Invierno Deciembre 2010 en El pueblo Maghull cerca de Liverpool 10km Norte de ciudad.

El temperaturas muy bajo , tiempo congealacion Nieves Durante de la noche.

Yo tuvo opportunidad un foto festivo Navidad.

Espero que les guste !

Fox sparrow eating seed in the feeding area cleared of the deep snow. Home, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. 22 April 2023

 

The snow was all gone but a sudden snowstorm brought over a foot of snow on the 18th and 19th of April. Here is what I wrote on FB: 'I checked the live bird migration map this morning and weather conditions. Seems like it snowed at least from S. Dakota to here. I also looked at maps to try to figure out the bird radar locations.

In spite of the wintry conditions, there was a large number of birds that left the area of Aberdeen, SD (where there is a big wildlife refuge) around 10 pm, and went generally NW, a bit over Bismark but mostly Minot, where activity peaked around 2- 3 am , 4 to 5 hours later to slowly disappear over the border into SK. I think the birds have to be strong flyers, likely cranes or waterfowl, but I am puzzled as to why they would migrate in a snowstorm with the ground covered with snow and freezing temperatures. It's not like they will have an easy time of finding open water and food when they get here....'

For that matter, the night before there was certainly a large migration of Fox Sparrows and Juncos as I had 3 fox Sparrows in my yard and people seem to have reported lots around Regina. We even had an Orange-crowed Warbler. We also had 4 Yellow-rumped warblers the day before.

I get that it's the right time of year and the winds are suitable but am surprised that the birds are not apparenlty being deterred by the weather. Well, the snow started melting on the 21st but in the morning the ground was still 100 % snow cover. On the 21st, open patches were visible at the bse of some trees and under spruce Much more open by the end fo the afternoon with the street 98 % clear. I must have been worried for nothing. Even the Yellow-rumps nd RCKI seem to be ok.

This man-made wall of water is four stories high and diverts water from a tributary of the Deschutes River, just minutes away from downtown Bend. It is not easily accessible, and I ended up walking about 300 yards atop a slippery water flume to get to this secluded spot. A cautionary warning to those who might be tempted to venture here, this area appears to be a gathering and sleeping place for Bend's homeless and transient population. The freezing temperatures kept people away this morning, but there is evidence of a number of people calling this area home. For safety reasons I will not be going back.

 

For daily photos, updates and musings on all things photography - please like my Facebook page via the link below.

 

www.facebook.com/thuncherphotography

 

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Best viewed in Lightbox, click on image to view Hi-Res version. © All rights reserved. Please do not use or repost images, sole property of Thūncher Photography.

2-2-2012

Whiskey Creek has stayed open all winter because of the mild temperatures this year. I woke up this morning to -10F (-23C) with a wind chill of -32F (-36C). Above freezing temperatures will return on Sunday. The Department of Natural Resources have closed many ramps going onto lakes as they have had so many calls for rescuing people who have went through the ice with their vehicles.

After 35 hours of sub-freezing temperatures (we are still officially in summer) and at least 18 hours of falling frozen precipitation, my plants (tree, shrubs, veggies, grass, and wild flowers) took a major hit. This tumbleweed had a half inch of ice around each branch. This coating probably insulated it from the colder air.

 

Picture of the Day

The early morning sun casts its first rays of light over Raritan Bay as an eastbound local to New York makes its way over NJ Transit's Raritan River Drawbridge. A new lift bridge is scheduled to replace the existing swing span which suffered severe damage during “Superstorm Sandy”. The frozen shores of Raritan Bay are results of the below freezing temperatures in New Jersey during the past few weeks.

 

NJT 7212 @ River Drawbridge, Perth Amboy, NJ

NJTR ALP-46 4623

_2050480-D-S

A "field of crystal" at Shawangunk Grasslands. Every tree, every blade of grass was encased in a layer of ice. Melting snow followed by overnight freezing temperatures created this incredible sight.

  

The Northern Lights dance above the snow-covered trees and mountains of Alaska's great wilderness. This 10 second long-exposure was captured during one of the more active sequences seen that night from freezing temperatures high up on a peak near Chena Hot Springs, outside of Fairbanks, Alaska.

 

With the simple composition and lack of man's presence, this one turned out to be one of my favorites from the whole trip!

 

After getting this shot, I headed inside the little yurt we had access to at the top of the mountain to warm up a bit. I had to chuckle (to myself of course) as I entered and saw a scene with hoards of Japanese tourists huddled around the heaters with one valiantly trying to scrape all the ice that had frozen onto his camera lens. Needless to say, there were plenty of challenges in shooting scenes like this in 25 below.

I was commissioned by The National Theatre of Scotland to shoot the promotional image for their upcoming co-production with The National Theatre of China: three world premieres by contemporary Chinese playwrights. They asked also whether I would model for the image, with my half-Chinese heritage (a Chinese father and Scottish mother) seeming quite apt. Having dusted off the rarely-used tripod, we conducted the shoot under the bridge of Glasgow Central station, in near-freezing temperatures and to the surprise and amusement of passers-by.

 

Details of the shows at New Plays from China.

 

Glasgow, 2013.

 

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This image from a location made famous by the incomparable Carl Heilman II, from the ledges on the south face of Mt Van Hoevenberg. The high peak is Algonquin, NY's second highest peak, and the small peak at mid-right is Mt Jo. Left of Algonquin are Colden and Marcy.

 

Henry Van Hoevenberg was a self-taught electrical engineer who sought refuge from New York City lung problems in the Adirondacks. Mt Jo was named after Josephine Schofield, his fiancée, who died shortly before they were to be married. Henry Van Hoevenberg built the original Adirondack Lodge (later changed to the phonetic 'Loj').

 

If you are a fan of winter sports, the north slope of Mt Van Hoevenberg is the site of the Lake Placid Olympic bobsled run.

 

Brutal morning though ... high winds and near freezing temperatures.

 

Click for the HiRez goodness...

Guemes Channel. Dakota Creek Industries.

"At the heart of this program is a unique, low-impact sustainable boat that will be among the most environmentally friendly and technologically advanced fishing vessels in the world. This innovative “green” boat is being specifically developed for the Alaska cod hook-and-line fishery. "

bluenorth.com/home/#/fishing/fishing-vessels

 

"This longliner is specifically developed for the Alaskan cod fishery and is designed by Skipsteknisk AS in Norway. This new ST 155L design has a moon pool in the center line for one fish to be caught at a time through the internal haul station, which is a first in the United States. The vessel will efficiently utilize proteins onboard- the fish wastage that is commonly ground up and discharged overboard. The internal haul station allows for the release of non-target species, as well as the crew to accomplish their work inside the boat without being exposed to rough seas or freezing temperatures and with no more risk of falling overboard during hauling."

dakotacreek.com/project/fv-blue-north-freezer-longliner-v...

Steuben County, Indiana.

 

I can't seem to get enough photos of pitcher plants!! I really like the deep shades of red that the pitchers take on among the ones that survive the snow and freezing temperatures of winter. With spring, those older pitchers will die off and new green ones will replace them.

Trichocera hiemalis (Trichoceridae)

 

Wintermücke

Die kleine, zierliche Art ist sehr kältetolerant und bis zum Gefrierpunkt aktiv dank eines natürlichen, Glyzerin-ähnlichen „Kälteschutzmittels“ als Blutbestandteil. Und gut zu wissen, sie haben kein Interesse an menschlichem oder anderem Blut, ihre Ernährungsweise ist wohl weitgehend unbekannt.

Stativ, Fokusschiene, Stack aus 42 Einzelbildern

 

winter midge, winter cranefly

This small, diminutive species ist very cold-tolerant and active till down to the freezing temperature due to a glycerin-similar cyroprotectant blood component. And good to know, they are not interested in human or other blood, their feeding habit is widely unknown.

tripod, focus rail, stack of 42 images

 

I was taking pictures of wild cherry blossoms when suddenly this butterfly appeared and sat on the very blossoms I was photographing. It stayed sipping for a few seconds then took off out of my range.

 

I noticed it was looking somewhat tattered. These butteries hibernate overwinter in the cracks of trees and can survive below freezing temperatures. This one is likely one of these.

 

From one web source, Nature North: "Adult mourning cloak butterflies emerge from their winter hibernation and seek each other out for mating in the spring. In forested habitats, males will perch in sunny glades and wait for females to flutter by. After a brief aerial courtship the pair will mate. The females lay bunches of eggs (30-50?) together on a single tree or shrub, in a mass that surrounds a twig. The butterflies probably die soon after mating and egg laying, having spent as much as 10 months as adults, a long life for a butterfly."

 

Image taken in Torbay NL

  

One of the great things about taking pictures from my kayak is that it allows for a very low perspective on some species which would be very difficult to achieve otherwise, as in this picture of a small Western Painted turtle sunning on a log.

 

All constructive comments are appreciated. TIA.

 

(Wikipedia) - The painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They have been shown to prefer large wetlands with long periods of inundation and emergent vegetation. This species is one of the few that is specially adapted to tolerate freezing temperatures for extended periods of time due to an anti-freeze like substance in their blood that keeps their cells from freezing. This turtle is a member of the genus Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle family Emydidae. Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 15 million years ago. Three regionally based subspecies (the eastern, midland, and western) evolved during the last ice age. The southern painted turtle (C. dorsalis) is alternately considered the only other species in Chrysemys, or another subspecies of C. picta.

Sunset over the western seas from the mountain Suilven (The Pillar) in the far North West Highlands of Scotland.

 

My mate Andy (the photographer in shot to the right) and I had a 'wild' camp on top of the mountain after the weather forecast said perfect conditions, clear blue skies, light winds, temperature of 5C. The reality was different. Winds gusting to 50mph/80kph, freezing temperatures, and the cloud and mist soon rolled in until you couldn't see 10 yards/10 metres. It was a wild night. Suilven (pronounced Sooliven) is one of Scotland's most remote mountains: a 7 mile/11 km hike on rough tracks and peat bogs carrying 55lb/25kg packs then a very steep climb up the Bealach Mòr. My torn Achilles tendon (which the doctor said needed complete rest and no mountain climbs), is now a wee bit sore. No pain, no gain.

Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 9V-SKF.

 

Spotting session at the TWA Hotel in JFK. Feb 14 2020. Cold winter day but with beautiful light. I couldn't feel my feet after a couple of hours of being outside taking pictures during freezing temperatures.

On my feed, I have often waxed poetry about White Sands, which I had first visited when it was still a National Monument. Sheer white sand dunes of the type found in White Sands National Park take on otherworldly hues at the magic hours of sunrise and sunset. And since the park is open only from an hour after sunrise to an hour before sunset, the only way to experience the magic hour is to camp between the dunes. Doing so requires contending with freezing temperatures and billowing winds, desert bugs and wildlife, and lack of any water. But the reward is the ability to shoot at the golden hours.

 

After grabbing dinner, it is time to take up the camera and shoot the dunes before night sets in. And while the evening light brings on yellow, and later pink hues on the sand, I prefer shooting the dunes before sunrise when the dunes take on a blue tone reflecting the deep blue desert sky of New Mexico. It also helps that the winds blowing through the night ensure that the fresh ripples in the sand constitutes a new canvas ready for another day of painting by the light.

 

Even though I have been there twice, this place has enraptured my heart so much that I would never refuse another night of camping in the dunes.

 

White Sands National Park

NM USA

Les tours de Castillon sont un site archéologique situé à Paradou (Bouches-du-Rhône) sur la chaîne de la Pène (massif des Alpilles). Le site a été habité entre le IIe siècle av. J.-C. et le XVe siècle, avec un maximum de population entre les XIIIe et XIVe siècles. Il a ensuite été abandonné par ses habitants qui sont allés peupler le nouveau village à quelques centaines de mètres plus au nord, dénommé aujourd'hui Paradou.

 

Des fouilles archéologiques récentes ont permis de reconstituer l'histoire de cet oppidum. Le site peut être visité aujourd'hui. On y observe la présence de trois tours encore debout datant du Moyen Âge et qui marquaient les limites de la ville ancienne. Le rempart a disparu dans sa quasi-totalité. Des fouilles archéologiques y ont été menées entre 1986 et 1990 et ont révélé l'existence de cet oppidum très détérioré par le temps et les fouilles clandestines1.

 

Histoire

Antiquité

 

Le site des tours de Castillon a dominé durant des siècles une vaste étendue marécageuse, dénommée les marais des Baux et dont il constituait la frontière nord. Son emplacement par rapport à ce marais n'est pas anodin. Il se situe au-dessus d'un point de franchissement des marais, le pont Saint-Jean2, sur le chaînon de collines de La Pène, à 41 mètres d'altitude.

 

Propriété des seigneurs des Baux au Moyen Âge, le site est habité depuis bien plus longtemps2. Les premières traces d'occupation semblent remonter au IIe siècle av. J.-C.1, même si des tessons retrouvés pourraient être plus anciens de deux à trois siècles. L'oppidum n'est fortifié qu'à partir du IIe siècle av. J.-C., période à laquelle il s'entoure d'un mur en brique crue sur un socle de pierres sèches large de 1,50 mètre3. Le parement en grand appareil est postérieur à ce premier rempart mais date approximativement de la même période ou au plus tard de la période augustéenne1. Contre le rempart, des cases à brique crues sur solin de pierres sont appuyées. Le rempart a beaucoup souffert. Ses blocs ont été prélevés au Moyen Âge pour permettre la construction de divers ouvrages. On considère qu'il devait se trouver deux portes au castrum, au nord et au sud, même s'il n'a pas été possible d'en apporter la preuve à ce jour4. Les pierres utilisées viennent probablement des Alpilles. Il s'agit d'un calcaire burdigalien typique des Baux ou du Montpaon4. Le premier rempart devait être en briques crues, comme le mur des maisons du castrum, tandis que le second rempart, de moindre qualité, était fait d'adobes.

 

Il existe des traces d'un incendie qui a probablement détruit le village entre la fin du IIe et le début du Ier siècle. Toujours est-il que, s'il a sans doute été inhabité à ce moment, le site compte à nouveau une certaine population au début de l'époque romaine1.

 

Une chaussée antique a été repérée par des vues aériennes mais n'a pas encore été datée, même si on peut sans doute l'estimer d'époque romaine4.

Moyen Âge

Quartier d'habitation médiéval.

 

À l'origine propriété de l'abbaye de Montmajour, le site des Tours de Castillon devient possession du seigneur des Baux entre le XIe siècle et le XIIe siècle5. Le site permet de par sa position d'être en communication permanente avec le château des Baux et de contrôler la voie de communication traversant le marais des Baux et menant à la plaine de la Crau. Les sources écrites mentionnent le château au XIIe siècle. Aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles, un rempart enserre la colline. Les angles sont dans un premier état occupés par des tours carrées renforcées par la suite par des tours curvilignes et des lices en avant6. Un petit quartier d'habitation a été fouillé entre 1986 et 1990. Dans cette zone, l'habitat prend de l'ampleur au XIVe siècle et subit de nombreuses modifications durant son occupation. Des silos, des caves et des citernes ont été identifiées. L'abandon est opéré progressivement dans les dernières années du XIVe siècle7.

 

Nécropole

La nécropole découverte sur le versant sud-est du site des tours de Castillon, regardant vers les marais des Baux, a révélé la présence de cinq corps sans doute datés du Moyen Âge. Seuls les sexes de trois de ces corps ont pu être identifiés : il s'agit de deux hommes et d'une femme. Les corps étaient à l'intérieur de sépultures en decubitus dorsal, les bras en adduction et les jambes en extension. Ce sont tous des adultes, entre 21 et 45 ans et ils mesurent entre 1,61 cm et 1,73 cm, ce qui constituent des tailles élevées8.

Provence (/prəˈvɒ̃s/, US: /proʊ-/; French: [pʁɔvɑ̃s]; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm, pronounced [pʀuˈvɛnsɔ]) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east, and is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south.[1] It largely corresponds with the modern administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and includes the departments of Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, as well as parts of Alpes-Maritimes and Vaucluse.[2] The largest city of the region is Marseille.

 

The Romans made the region the first Roman province beyond the Alps and called it Provincia Romana, which evolved into the present name. Until 1481 it was ruled by the Counts of Provence from their capital in Aix-en-Provence, then became a province of the Kings of France.[2] While it has been part of France for more than five hundred years, it still retains a distinct cultural and linguistic identity, particularly in the interior of the region.[3]

 

History

Main article: History of Provence

See also: Lower Burgundy

Prehistoric Provence

 

The entrance to the Cosquer Cave, decorated with paintings of auks, bison, seals and outlines of hands dating to 27,000 to 19,000 BC, is located 37 meters under the surface of the Calanque de Morgiou near Cassis.

 

A bronze-age dolmen (2500 to 900 BC) near Draguignan

The coast of Provence has some of the earliest known sites of human habitation in Europe. Primitive stone tools dating back 1 to 1.05 million years BC have been found in the Grotte du Vallonnet near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, between Monaco and Menton.[4] More sophisticated tools, worked on both sides of the stone and dating to 600,000 BC, were found in the Cave of Escale at Saint Estėve-Janson, and tools from 400,000 BC and some of the first fireplaces in Europe were found at Terra Amata in Nice.[5] Tools dating to the Middle Paleolithic (300,000 BC) and Upper Paleolithic (30,000–10,000 BC) were discovered in the Observatory Cave, in the Jardin Exotique of Monaco.[6]

 

The Paleolithic period in Provence saw great changes in the climate. Two ice ages came and went, the sea level changed dramatically. At the beginning of the Paleolithic, the sea level in western Provence was 150 meters higher than today. By the end of the Paleolithic, it had dropped to 100 to 150 metres below the sea level today. The cave dwellings of the early inhabitants of Provence were regularly flooded by the rising sea or left far from the sea and swept away by erosion.[7]

 

The changes in the sea level led to one of the most remarkable discoveries of signs of early man in Provence. In 1985, a diver named Henri Cosquer discovered the mouth of a submarine cave 37 metres below the surface of the Calanque de Morgiou near Marseille. The entrance led to a cave above sea level. Inside, the walls of the Cosquer Cave are decorated with drawings of bison, seals, auks, horses and outlines of human hands, dating to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC.[8]

 

The end of the Paleolithic and beginning of the Neolithic period saw the sea settle at its present level, a warming of the climate and the retreat of the forests. The disappearance of the forests and the deer and other easily hunted game meant that the inhabitants of Provence had to survive on rabbits, snails and wild sheep. In about 6000 BC, the Castelnovian people, living around Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, were among the first people in Europe to domesticate wild sheep, and to cease moving constantly from place to place. Once they settled in one place they were able to develop new industries. Inspired by pottery from the eastern Mediterranean, in about 6000 BC they created the first pottery made in France.[7]

 

Around 6000 BC, a wave of new settlers from the east, the Chasséens, arrived in Provence. They were farmers and warriors, and gradually displaced the earlier pastoral people from their lands. They were followed about 2500 BC by another wave of people, also farmers, known as the Courronniens, who arrived by sea and settled along the coast of what is now the Bouches-du-Rhône.[7] Traces of these early civilisations can be found in many parts of Provence. A Neolithic site dating to about 6,000 BC was discovered in Marseille near the Saint-Charles railway station. and a dolmen from the Bronze Age (2500–900 BC) can be found near Draguignan.

 

Ligures and Celts in Provence

Between the 10th and 4th century BC, the Ligures were found in Provence from Massilia as far as modern Liguria. They were of uncertain origin; they may have been the descendants of the indigenous Neolithic peoples.[9] Strabo distinctly states they were not of Celtic origin and a different race from the Gauls.[10] They did not have their own alphabet, but their language remains in place names in Provence ending in the suffixes -asc, -osc. -inc, -ates, and -auni.[9] The ancient geographer Posidonios wrote of them: "Their country is savage and dry. The soil is so rocky that you cannot plant anything without striking stones. The men compensate for the lack of wheat by hunting... They climb the mountains like goats."[11] They were also warlike; they invaded Italy and went as far as Rome in the 4th century BC, and they later aided the passage of Hannibal, on his way to attack Rome (218 BC). Traces of the Ligures remain today in the dolmens and other megaliths found in eastern Provence, in the primitive stone shelters called 'Bories' found in the Luberon and Comtat, and in the rock carvings in the Valley of Marvels near Mont Bégo in the Alpes-Maritimes, at an altitude of 2,000 meters.[12]

 

Between the 8th and 5th centuries BC, tribes of Celtic peoples, probably coming from Central Europe, also began moving into Provence. They had weapons made of iron, which allowed them to easily defeat the local tribes, who were still armed with bronze weapons. One tribe, called the Segobriga, settled near modern-day Marseille. The Caturiges, Tricastins, and Cavares settled to the west of the Durance river.[13]

 

Celts and Ligurians spread throughout the area and the Celto-Ligures eventually shared the territory of Provence, each tribe in its own alpine valley or settlement along a river, each with its own king and dynasty. They built hilltop forts and settlements, later given the Latin name oppida. Today the traces 165 oppida are found in the Var, and as many as 285 in the Alpes-Maritimes.[12] They worshipped various aspects of nature, establishing sacred woods at Sainte-Baume and Gemenos, and healing springs at Glanum and Vernègues. Later, in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, the different tribes formed confederations; the Voconces in the area from the Isère to the Vaucluse; the Cavares in the Comtat; and the Salyens, from the Rhône river to the Var. The tribes began to trade their local products, iron, silver, alabaster, marble, gold, resin, wax, honey and cheese; with their neighbours, first by trading routes along the Rhône river, and later Etruscan traders visited the coast. Etruscan amphorae from the 7th and 6th centuries BC have been found in Marseille, Cassis, and in hilltop oppida in the region.[12]

 

Greeks in Provence

Main article: Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul

 

Remains of the ancient harbour of Massalia, near the Old Port of Marseille

Traders from the island of Rhodes were visiting the coast of Provence in the 7th century BC. Rhodes pottery from that century has been found in Marseille, near Martigues and Istres, and at Mont Garou and Evenos near Toulon. The traders from Rhodes gave their names to the ancient town of Rhodanousia (Ancient Greek: 'Ροδανουσίαν) (now Trinquetaille, across the Rhône river from Arles), and to the main river of Provence, the Rhodanos, today known as the Rhône.[14]

 

The first permanent Greek settlement was Massalia, established at modern-day Marseille in about 600 BC by colonists coming from Phocaea (now Foça, on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor). A second wave of colonists arrived in about 540 BC, when Phocaea was destroyed by the Persians.[15]

 

Massalia became one of the major trading ports of the ancient world. At its height, in the 4th century BC, it had a population of about 6,000 inhabitants, living on about fifty hectares surrounded by a wall. It was governed as an aristocratic republic, by an assembly of the 600 wealthiest citizens. It had a large temple of the cult of Apollo of Delphi on a hilltop overlooking the port, and a temple of the cult of Artemis of Ephesus at the other end of the city. The Drachma coins minted in Massalia were found in all parts of Ligurian-Celtic Gaul. Traders from Massalia ventured inland deep into France on the Rivers Durance and Rhône, and established overland trade routes deep into Gaul, and to Switzerland and Burgundy, and as far north as the Baltic Sea. They exported their own products; local wine, salted pork and fish, aromatic and medicinal plants, coral and cork.[15]

 

The Massalians also established a series of small colonies and trading posts along the coast; which later became towns; they founded Citharista (La Ciotat); Tauroeis (Le Brusc); Olbia (near Hyères); Pergantion (Breganson); Caccabaria (Cavalaire); Athenopolis (Saint-Tropez); Antipolis (Antibes); Nikaia (Nice), and Monoicos (Monaco). They established inland towns at Glanum (Saint-Remy) and Mastrabala (Saint-Blaise.)

 

The most famous citizen of Massalia was the mathematician, astronomer and navigator Pytheas. Pytheas made mathematical instruments which allowed him to establish almost exactly the latitude of Marseille, and he was the first scientist to observe that the tides were connected with the phases of the moon. Between 330 and 320 BC he organised an expedition by ship into the Atlantic and as far north as England, and to visit Iceland, Shetland, and Norway. He was the first scientist to describe drift ice and the midnight sun. Though he hoped to establish a sea trading route for tin from Cornwall, his trip was not a commercial success, and it was not repeated. The Massalians found it cheaper and simpler to trade with Northern Europe over land routes.[16]

 

Roman Provence (2nd century BC to 5th century AD)

 

Triumphal Arch of Orange, first century AD

 

The Roman arena at Arles (2nd century AD)

 

The baptistery of Fréjus Cathedral (5th century) is still in use

In the 2nd century BC the people of Massalia appealed to Rome for help against the Ligures. Roman legions entered Provence three times; first in 181 BC the Romans suppressed Ligurian uprisings near Genoa; in 154 BC the Roman Consul Optimus defeated the Oxybii and the Deciates, who were attacking Antibes; and in 125 BC, the Romans put down an uprising of a confederation of Celtic tribes.[17] After this battle, the Romans decided to establish permanent settlements in Provence. In 122 BC, next to the Celtic town of Entremont, the Romans built a new town, Aquae Sextiae, later called Aix-en-Provence. In 118 BC they founded Narbo (Narbonne).

 

The Roman general Gaius Marius crushed the last serious resistance in 102 BC by defeating the Cimbri and the Teutons. He then began building roads to facilitate troop movements and commerce between Rome, Spain and Northern Europe; one from the coast inland to Apt and Tarascon, and the other along the coast from Italy to Spain, passing through Fréjus and Aix-en-Provence.

 

In 49 BC, Massalia had the misfortune to choose the wrong side in the power struggle between Pompey and Julius Caesar. Pompey was defeated, and Massalia lost its territories and political influence. Roman veterans, in the meantime, populated two new towns, Arles and Fréjus, at the sites of older Greek settlements.

 

In 8 BC the Emperor Augustus built a triumphal monument at La Turbie to commemorate the pacification of the region, and he began to Romanize Provence politically and culturally. Roman engineers and architects built monuments, theatres, baths, villas, fora, arenas and aqueducts, many of which still exist. (See Architecture of Provence.) Roman towns were built at Cavaillon; Orange; Arles; Fréjus; Glanum (outside Saint-Rémy-de-Provence); Carpentras; Vaison-la-Romaine; Nîmes; Vernègues; Saint-Chamas and Cimiez (above Nice). The Roman province, which was called Gallia Narbonensis, for its capital, Narbo (modern Narbonne), extended from Italy to Spain, from the Alps to the Pyrenees.

 

The Pax Romana in Provence lasted until the middle of the 3rd century. Germanic tribes invaded Provence in 257 and 275. At the beginning the 4th century, the court of Roman Emperor Constantine (280–337) was forced to take refuge in Arles. By the end of the 5th century, Roman power in Provence had vanished, and an age of invasions, wars, and chaos began.

 

Arrival of Christianity (3rd–6th centuries)

There are many legends about the earliest Christians in Provence, but they are difficult to verify. It is documented that there were organised churches and bishops in the Roman towns of Provence as early as the 3rd and 4th centuries; in Arles in 254; Marseille in 314; Orange, Vaison and Apt in 314; Cavaillon, Digne, Embrun, Gap, and Fréjus at the end of the 4th century; Aix-en-Provence in 408; Carpentras, Avignon, Riez, Cimiez (today part of Nice) and Vence in 439; Antibes in 442; Toulon in 451; Senez in 406, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux in 517; and Glandèves in 541.[18] The oldest Christian structure still surviving in Provence is the baptistery of the cathedral in Fréjus, dating from the 5th century. At about the same time, in the 5th century, the first two monasteries in Provence were founded; Lérins, on an island near Cannes; and Saint-Victor in Marseille.

 

Germanic invasions, Merovingians and Carolingians (5th–9th centuries)

 

King Boson and San Stephen (fragment of fresco at Charlieu Abbey)

Beginning in the second half of the 5th century, as Roman power waned, successive waves of Germanic tribes entered Provence; first the Visigoths (480); then the Ostrogoths; then the Burgundians; finally, the Franks in the 6th century. Arab invaders and Berber pirates came from North Africa to the Coast of Provence in the beginning of the 7th century.

 

During the late 7th and early 8th century, Provence was formally subject to the Frankish kings of the Merovingian dynasty, but it was in fact ruled by its own regional nobility of Gallo-Roman stock, who ruled themselves according to Roman, not Frankish law. Actually, the region enjoyed a prestige that the northern Franks hadn't, but the local aristocracy feared Charles Martel's expansionist ambitions.[19] In 737 Charles Martel headed down the Rhône Valley after subduing Burgundy. Charles attacked Avignon and Arles, garrisoned by the Umayyads. He came back in 739 to capture for a second time Avignon and chase the duke Maurontus to his stronghold of Marseille.[19] The city was brought to heel and the duke had to flee to an island. The region was thereafter under the rule of Carolingian Kings, descended from Charles Martel; and then was part of the empire of Charlemagne (742–814).

 

In 879, after the death of the Carolingian ruler Charles the Bald, Boso of Provence, (also known as Boson), his brother-in-law, broke away from the Carolingian kingdom of Louis III and was elected the first ruler of an independent state of Provence.

 

The Counts of Provence (9th–13th centuries)

 

The Catalan Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Provence, in the Castle in Fos, painted by Marià Fortuny (Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi, on deposit at the Palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Barcelona).

 

The Coat of Arms of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona and his descendants, who as Counts of Provence ruled Provence from 1112 until 1246

 

Coat of Arms of the Counts of Provence of the House of Valois-Anjou, who ruled Provence from 1246 until it became part of France in 1486

Three different dynasties of Counts ruled Provence during the Middle Ages, and Provence became a prize in the complex rivalries between the Catalan rulers of Barcelona, the Kings of Burgundy, the German rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Angevin Kings of France.[clarification needed]

 

The Bosonids (879–1112) were the descendants of the first King of Provence, Boson. His son, Louis the Blind (890–928) lost his sight trying to win the throne of Italy, after which his cousin, Hugh of Italy (died 947) became the Duke of Provence and the Count of Vienne. Hugh moved the capital of Provence from Vienne to Arles and made Provence a fief of Rudolph II of Burgundy.

 

In the 9th century, Arab pirates (called Saracens by the French) and then the Normans invaded Provence. The Normans pillaged the region and then left, but the Saracens built castles and began raiding towns and holding local residents for ransom. Early in 973, the Saracens captured Maieul, the Abbot of the Monastery at Cluny, and held him for ransom. The ransom was paid and the abbot was released, but the people of Provence, led by Count William I rose up and defeated the Saracens near their most powerful fortress Fraxinet (La Garde-Freinet) at the Battle of Tourtour. The Saracens who were not killed at the battle were baptised and enslaved, and the remaining Saracens in Provence fled the region. Meanwhile, the dynastic quarrels continued. A war between Rudolph III of Burgundy and his rival, the German Emperor Conrad the Salic in 1032 led to Provence becoming a fiefdom of the Holy Roman Empire, which it remained until 1246.

 

In 1112, the last descendant of Boson, Douce I, Countess of Provence, married the Catalan Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, who as a result became Raymond Berenguer I, Count of Provence. He ruled Provence from 1112 until 1131, and his descendants, the Catalan counts ruled in Provence until 1246. In 1125, Provence was divided; the part of Provence north and west of the Durance river went to the Count of Toulouse, while the lands between the Durance and the Mediterranean, and from the Rhône river to the Alps, belonged to the Counts of Provence. The capital of Provence was moved from Arles to Aix-en-Provence, and later to Brignoles.[20]

  

The Church of Saint Trophime in Arles (12th century)

Under the Catalan counts, the 12th century saw the construction of important cathedrals and abbeys in Provence, in a harmonious new style, the romanesque, which united the Gallo-Roman style of the Rhône Valley with the Lombard style of the Alps. Aix Cathedral was built on the site of the old Roman forum, and then rebuilt in the gothic style in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Church of St. Trophime in Arles was a landmark of Romanesque architecture, built between the 12th and the 15th centuries. A vast fortress-like monastery, Montmajour Abbey, was built on an island just north of Arles, and became a major destination for medieval pilgrims.

 

In the 12th century three Cistercian monasteries were built in remote parts of Provence, far from the political intrigues of the cities. Sénanque Abbey was the first, established in the Luberon 1148 and 1178. Le Thoronet Abbey was founded in a remote valley near Draguignan in 1160. Silvacane Abbey, on the Durance river at La Roque-d'Anthéron, was founded in 1175.

 

In the 13th century, the French kings started to use marriage to extend their influence into the south of France. One son of King Louis VIII of France "the Lion", Alphonse, Count of Poitou, married the heiress of the Count of Toulouse, Joan. Another, Louis IX "the Saint" of France or Saint Louis (1214–1270), married Marguerite of Provence. Then, in 1246, Charles, Count of Anjou, the youngest son of Louis VIII, married the heiress of Provence, Beatrice. Provence's fortunes became tied to the Angevin Dynasty and the Kingdom of Naples.[21]

 

The Popes in Avignon (14th century)

Main article: Avignon papacy

 

The façade of the Palais des Papes.

In 1309, Pope Clement V, who was originally from Bordeaux, moved the Roman Catholic Papacy to Avignon.[22] From 1309 until 1377, seven Popes reigned in Avignon before the Schism between the Roman and Avignon churches, which led to the creation of rival popes in both places. After that three Antipopes reigned in Avignon until 1423, when the Papacy finally returned to Rome. Between 1334 and 1363 the old and new Papal Palaces of Avignon were built by Popes Benedict XII and Clement VI respectively; together the Palais des Papes was the largest gothic palace in Europe.[23]

 

The 14th century was a terrible time in Provence, and all of Europe: the population of Provence had been about 400,000 people; the Black Plague (1348–1350) killed fifteen thousand people in Arles, half the population of the city, and greatly reduced the population of the whole region. The defeat of the French Army during the Hundred Years' War forced the cities of Provence to build walls and towers to defend themselves against armies of former soldiers who ravaged the countryside.

 

The Angevin rulers of Provence also had a difficult time. An assembly of nobles, religious leaders, and town leaders of Provence was organised to resist the authority of Queen Joan I of Naples (1343–1382). She was murdered in 1382 by her cousin and heir, Charles of Durazzo, who started a new war, leading to the separation of Nice, Puget-Théniers and Barcelonnette from Provence in 1388, and their attachment to the County of Savoy. From 1388 up to 1526, the area acquired by the Savoy was known as Terres Neuves de Provence; after 1526 it officially took on the name County of Nice.

 

Good King René, the last ruler of Provence

 

Detail of the Burning Bush triptych by Nicolas Froment, showing René and his wife Jeanne de Laval

 

The Chateau of René in Tarascon (15th century)

The 15th century saw a series of wars between the Kings of Aragon and the Counts of Provence. In 1423 the army of Alphonse of Aragon captured Marseille, and in 1443 they captured Naples, and forced its ruler, King René I of Naples, to flee. He eventually settled in one of his remaining territories, Provence.

 

History and legend has given René the title "Good King René of Provence", though he only lived in Provence in the last ten years of his life, from 1470 to 1480, and his political policies of territorial expansion were costly and unsuccessful. Provence benefitted from population growth and economic expansion, and René was a generous patron of the arts, sponsoring painters Nicolas Froment, Louis Bréa, and other masters. He also completed one of the finest castles in Provence at Tarascon, on the Rhône river.

 

When René died in 1480, his title passed to his nephew Charles du Maine. One year later, in 1481, when Charles died, the title passed to Louis XI of France. Provence was legally incorporated into the French royal domain in 1486.

 

1486 to 1789

Soon after Provence became part of France, it became involved in the Wars of Religion that swept the country in the 16th century. Between 1493 and 1501, many Jews were expelled from their homes and sought sanctuary in the region of Avignon, which was still under the direct rule of the Pope. In 1545, the Parliament of Aix-en-Provence ordered the destruction of the villages of Lourmarin, Mérindol, Cabriéres in the Luberon, because their inhabitants were Vaudois, of Italian Piedmontese origin, and were not considered sufficiently orthodox Catholics. Most of Provence remained strongly Catholic, with only one enclave of Protestants, the principality of Orange, Vaucluse, an enclave ruled by Prince William of the House of Orange-Nassau of the Netherlands, which was created in 1544 and was not incorporated into France until 1673. An army of the Catholic League laid siege to the Protestant city of Mėnerbes in the Vaucluse between 1573 and 1578. The wars did not stop until the end of the 16th century, with the consolidation of power in Provence by the House of Bourbon kings.

  

View of Toulon Harbour around 1750, by Joseph Vernet.

The semi-independent Parliament of Provence in Aix and some of the cities of Provence, particularly Marseille, continued to rebel against the authority of the Bourbon king. After uprisings in 1630–31 and 1648–1652, the young King Louis XIV had two large forts, fort St. Jean and Fort St. Nicholas, built at the harbour entrance to control the city's unruly population.

 

At the beginning of the 17th century, Cardinal Richelieu began to build a naval arsenal and dockyard at Toulon to serve as a base for a new French Mediterranean fleet. The base was greatly enlarged by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV, who also commissioned his chief military engineer Vauban to strengthen the fortifications around the city.

 

At the beginning of the 17th century, Provence had a population of about 450,000 people.[24] It was predominantly rural, devoted to raising wheat, wine, and olives, with small industries for tanning, pottery, perfume-making, and ship and boat building. Provençal quilts, made from the mid-17th century onwards, were successfully exported to England, Spain, Italy, Germany and Holland.[25] There was considerable commerce along the coast, and up and down the Rhône river. The cities: Marseille, Toulon, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence, saw the construction of boulevards and richly decorated private houses.

  

Marseille in 1754, by Vernet

At the beginning of the 18th century, Provence suffered from the economic malaise of the end of the reign of Louis XIV. The plague struck the region between 1720 and 1722, beginning in Marseille, killing some 40,000 people. Still, by the end of the century, many artisanal industries began to flourish; making perfumes in Grasse; olive oil in Aix and the Alpilles; textiles in Orange, Avignon and Tarascon; and faience pottery in Marseille, Apt, Aubagne, and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie. Many immigrants arrived from Liguria and the Piedmont in Italy. By the end of the 18th century, Marseille had a population of 120,000 people, making it the third largest city in France.[24]

 

During the French Revolution

Main article: French Revolution

Though most of Provence, with the exception of Marseille, Aix and Avignon, was rural, conservative and largely royalist, it did produce some memorable figures in the French Revolution; Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau from Aix, who tried to moderate the Revolution, and turn France into a constitutional monarchy like England; the Marquis de Sade from Lacoste in the Luberon, who was a Deputy from the far left in the National Assembly; Charles Barbaroux from Marseille, who sent a battalion of volunteers to Paris to fight in the French Revolutionary Army; and Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (1748–1836), an abbé, essayist and political leader, who was one of the chief theorists of the French Revolution, French Consulate, and First French Empire, and who, in 1799, was the instigator of the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire, which brought Napoleon to power.

  

La Marseillaise 1792

Provence also produced the most memorable song of the period, the La Marseillaise. Though the song was originally written by a citizen of Strasbourg, Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792, and it was originally a war song for the revolutionary Army of the Rhine, it became famous when it sung on the streets of Paris by the volunteers from Marseille, who had heard it when it was sung in Marseille by a young volunteer from Montpellier named François Mireur. It became the most popular song of the Revolution, and in 1879 became the national anthem of France.

 

The Revolution was as violent and bloody in Provence as it was in other parts of France. On 30 April 1790, Fort Saint-Nicolas in Marseille was besieged, and many of the soldiers inside were massacred. On 17 October 1791 a massacre of royalists and religious figures took place in the ice storage rooms (glaciere) of the prison of the Palace of the Popes in Avignon.

 

When the radical Montagnards seized power from the Girondins in May 1793, a real counter-revolution broke out in Avignon, Marseille and Toulon. A revolutionary army under General Carteaux recaptured Marseille in August 1793 and renamed it "City without a Name" (Ville sans Nom.) In Toulon, the opponents of the Revolution handed the city to a British and Spanish fleet on 28 August 1793. A Revolutionary Army laid siege to the British positions for four months (see the Siege of Toulon), and finally, thanks to the enterprise of the young commander of artillery, Napoleon Bonaparte, defeated the British and drove them out in December 1793. About 15,000 royalists escaped with the British fleet, but five to eight hundred of the 7,000 who remained were shot on the Champ de Mars, and Toulon was renamed "Port la Montagne".

 

The fall of the Montagnards in July 1794 was followed by a new White Terror aimed at the revolutionaries. Calm was only restored by the rise of Napoleon to power in 1795.

 

Under Napoleon

Napoleon restored the belongings and power of the families of the old regime in Provence. The British fleet of Admiral Horatio Nelson blockaded Toulon, and almost all maritime commerce was stopped, causing hardship and poverty. When Napoleon was defeated, his fall was celebrated in Provence. When he escaped from Elba on 1 March 1815, and landed at Golfe-Juan, he detoured to avoid the cities of Provence, which were hostile to him, and therefore directed his small force directly to the northeast of it.[26]

 

19th century

 

Marseille in 1825

Provence enjoyed prosperity in the 19th century; the ports of Marseille and Toulon connected Provence with the expanding French Empire in North Africa and the Orient, especially after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

 

In April–July 1859, Napoleon III made a secret agreement with Cavour, Prime Minister of Piedmont, for France to assist in expelling Austria from the Italian Peninsula and bringing about a united Italy, in exchange for Piedmont ceding Savoy and the Nice region to France. He went to war with Austria in 1859 and won a victory at Solferino, which resulted in Austria ceding Lombardy to France. France immediately ceded Lombardy to Piedmont, and, in return, Napoleon received Savoy and Nice in 1860, and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and Menton in 1861.

 

The railroad connected Paris with Marseille (1848) and then with Toulon and Nice (1864). Nice, Antibes and Hyères became popular winter resorts for European royalty, including Queen Victoria. Under Napoleon III, Marseille grew to a population of 250,000, including a very large Italian community. Toulon had a population of 80,000. The large cities like Marseille and Toulon saw the building of churches, opera houses, grand boulevards, and parks.

 

After the fall of Louis Napoleon following the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War barricades went up in the streets of Marseille (23 March 1871) and the Communards, led by Gaston Cremieux and following the lead of the Paris Commune, took control of the city. The Commune was crushed by the army and Cremieux was executed on 30 November 1871. Though Provence was generally conservative, it often elected reformist leaders; Prime Minister Léon Gambetta was the son of a Marseille grocer, and future prime minister Georges Clemenceau was elected deputy from the Var in 1885.

 

The second half of the 19th century saw a revival of the Provençal language and culture, particularly traditional rural values. driven by a movement of writers and poets called the Felibrige, led by poet Frédéric Mistral. Mistral achieved literary success with his novel Miréio (Mireille in French); he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1904.

 

20th century

Between World War I and World War II, Provence was bitterly divided between the more conservative rural areas and the more radical big cities. There were widespread strikes in Marseille in 1919, and riots in Toulon in 1935.

 

After the defeat of France by Germany in June 1940, France was divided into an occupied zone and unoccupied zone, with Provence in the unoccupied zone. Parts of eastern Provence were occupied by Italian soldiers. Collaboration and passive resistance gradually gave way to more active resistance, particularly after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 and the Communist Party became active in the resistance. Jean Moulin, the deputy of Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free France resistance movement, was parachuted into Eygalières, in the Bouches-du-Rhône on 2 January 1942 to unite the diverse resistance movements in all of France against the Germans.

 

In November 1942, following Allied landings in North Africa (Operation Torch), the Germans occupied all of Provence (Operation Attila) and then headed for Toulon (Case Anton). The French fleet at Toulon sabotaged its own ships to keep them from falling into German hands.

 

The Germans began a systematic rounding-up of French Jews and refugees from Nice and Marseille. Many thousands were taken to concentration camps, and few survived. A large quarter around the port of Marseille was emptied of inhabitants and dynamited, so it would not serve as a base for the resistance. Nonetheless, the resistance grew stronger; the leader of the pro-German militia, the Milice, in Marseille was assassinated in April 1943.

 

On 15 August 1944, two months after the Allied landings in Normandy (Operation Overlord), the Seventh United States Army under General Alexander Patch, with a Free French corps under General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, landed on the coast of the Var between St. Raphael and Cavalaire (Operation Dragoon). The American forces moved north toward Manosque, Sisteron and Gap, while the French First Armored Division under General Vigier liberated Brignoles, Salon, Arles, and Avignon. The Germans in Toulon resisted until 27 August, and Marseille was not liberated until 25 August.

 

After the end of the War, Provence faced an enormous task of repair and reconstruction, particularly of the ports and railroads destroyed during the war. As part of this effort, the first modern concrete apartment block, the Unité d'Habitation of Corbusier, was built in Marseille in 1947–52. In 1962, Provence absorbed a large number of French citizens who left Algeria after its independence. Since that time, large North African communities settled in and around the big cities, particularly Marseille and Toulon.

 

In the 1940s, Provence underwent a cultural renewal, with the founding of the Avignon Festival of theatre (1947), the reopening of the Cannes Film Festival (begun in 1939), and many other major events. With the building of new highways, particularly the Paris Marseille autoroute which opened in 1970, Provence became destination for mass tourism from all over Europe. Many Europeans, particularly from Britain, bought summer houses in Provence. The arrival of the TGV high-speed trains shortened the trip from Paris to Marseille to less than four hours.

 

At the end of the 20th century, and the beginning of the 21st century, the residents of Provence were struggling to reconcile economic development and population growth with their desire to preserve the landscape and culture that make Provence unique.

 

Extent and geography

 

The Roman Province of Gallia Narbonensis around 58 BC

The original Roman province was called Gallia Transalpina, then Gallia Narbonensis, or simply Provincia Nostra ('Our Province') or Provincia. It extended from the Alps to the Pyrenees and north to the Vaucluse, with its capital in Narbo Martius (present-day Narbonne).

 

Borders

In the 15th century the Conté of Provence was bounded by the Var river on the east, the Rhône river to the west, with the Mediterranean to the south, and a northern border that roughly followed the Durance river.

 

The Comtat Venaissin, a territory which included Avignon, and the principality of Orange were both papal states, ruled by the Pope from the 13th century until the French Revolution. At the end of the 14th century, another piece of Provence along the Italian border, including Nice and the lower Alps, was detached from Provence and attached to the lands of the Duke of Savoy. The lower Alps were re-attached to France after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, but Nice did not return to France until 1860, during the reign of Napoleon III.[27]

 

The administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur was created in 1982. It included Provence, plus the territory of the Comtat Venaissin around Avignon, the eastern portion of the Dauphiné, and the former county of Nice.

 

Rivers

 

The Rhône at Avignon

The Rhône river, on the western border of Provence, is one of the major rivers of France, and has been a highway of commerce and communications between inland France and the Mediterranean for centuries. It rises as the effluent of the Rhône Glacier in Valais, Switzerland, in the Saint-Gotthard massif, at an altitude of 1753 m. It is joined by the river Saône at Lyon. Along the Rhône Valley, it is joined on the right bank by Cévennes rivers Eyrieux, Ardèche, Cèze and Gardon or Gard, on the left Alps bank by rivers Isère, Drôme, Ouvèze and Durance. At Arles, the Rhône divides itself in two arms, forming the Camargue delta, with all branches flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. One arm is called the "Grand Rhône"; the other one is the "Petit Rhône".

  

The Gorge du Verdon.

The Durance river, a tributary of the Rhône, has its source in the Alps near Briançon. It flows south-west through Embrun, Sisteron, Manosque, Cavaillon, and Avignon, where it meets the Rhône.

 

The Verdon River is a tributary of the Durance, rising at an altitude of 2,400 metres in the southwestern Alps near Barcelonette, and flowing southwest for 175 kilometres through the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Var (départements) before it reaches the Durance at near Vinon-sur-Verdon, south of Manosque. The Verdon is best known for its canyon, the Verdon Gorge. This limestone canyon, also called the 'Grand Canyon of Verdon', 20 kilometres in length and more than 300 metres deep, is a popular climbing and sight-seeing area.

 

The Var River rises near the Col de la Cayolle (2,326 m/7,631 ft) in the Maritime Alps and flows generally southeast for 120 kilometres (75 mi) into the Mediterranean between Nice and Saint-Laurent-du-Var. Before Nice was returned to France in 1860, the Var marked the eastern border of France along the Mediterranean. The Var is the unique case in France of a river giving a name to a department, but not flowing through that department (due to subsequent adjustments to the department's boundaries).

 

The Camargue

With an area of over 930 km2 (360 mi2), the Camargue is Western Europe's largest river delta (technically an island, as it is wholly surrounded by water). It is a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons or étangs, cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes which are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area.

 

The Camargue is home to more than 400 species of birds, the brine ponds providing one of the few European habitats for the greater flamingo. The marshes are also a prime habitat for many species of insects, notably (and notoriously) some of the most ferocious mosquitoes to be found anywhere in France. It is also famous for bulls and the Camargue horse.

 

Mountains

 

Vallon de Mollières, Mercantour National Park.

 

Alpilles landscape near Le Destet.

By considering the Maritime Alps, along the border with Italy, as a part of the cultural Provence, they constitute the highest elevations of the region (the Punta dell'Argentera has an elevation of 3,297 m). They form the border between the French département Alpes-Maritimes and the Italian province of Cuneo. Mercantour National Park is located in the Maritime Alps. On the other hand, if the département Hautes Alpes is also considered as part of the modern Provence, then the alpin Écrins mountains represent the highest elevations of the region with the Barre des Écrins culminating at 4102m.

  

View of Mont Ventoux from Mirabel-aux-Baronnies.

Outside of the Maritime Alps, Mont Ventoux (Occitan: Ventor in classical norm or Ventour in Mistralian norm), at 1,909 metres (6,263 ft), is the highest peak in Provence. It is located some 20 km north-east of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the Drôme département. It is nicknamed the "Giant of Provence", or "The Bald Mountain". Although geologically part of the Alps, is often considered to be separate from them, due to the lack of mountains of a similar height nearby. It stands alone to the west of the Luberon range, and just to the east of the Dentelles de Montmirail, its foothills. The top of the mountain is bare limestone without vegetation or trees. The white limestone on the mountain's barren peak means it appears from a distance to be snow-capped all year round (its snow cover actually lasts from December to April).

 

The Alpilles are a chain of small mountains located about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Avignon. Although they are not particularly high – only some 387 metres (1,270 ft) at their highest point – the Alpilles stand out since they rise abruptly from the plain of the Rhône valley. The range is about 25 km long by about 8 to 10 km wide, running in an east–west direction between the Rhône and Durance rivers. The landscape of the Alpilles is one of arid limestone peaks separated by dry valleys.

  

Mont Sainte-Victoire, painted by Paul Cézanne

Montagne Sainte-Victoire is probably the best-known mountain in Provence, thanks to the painter Paul Cézanne, who could see it from his home, and painted it frequently. It is a limestone mountain ridge which extends over 18 kilometres between the départements of Bouches-du-Rhône and Var. Its highest point is the Pic des mouches at 1,011 m.

  

The massif des Maures

The Massif des Maures (Mountains of the Moors) is a small chain of mountains that lies along the coast of the Mediterranean in the Var Department between Hyères et Fréjus. Its highest point is the signal de la Sauvette, 780 metres high. The name is a souvenir of the Moors (Maures in Old French), Arabs and Berbers from North Africa, who settled on the coast of Provence in the 9th and 10th centuries.

 

The massif des Maures extends about sixty kilometres along the coast, and reaches inland about thirty kilometres. On the north it is bordered by a depression which is followed by the routes nationales 97 and 7 and the railroad line between Toulon and Nice. On the south it ends abruptly at the Mediterranean, forming a broken and abrupt coastline.

 

The peninsula of Saint-Tropez is part of the Massif des Maures, along with the peninsula of Giens and the islands offshore of Hyères; Porquerolles, Port-Cros, and île du Levant. Cape Sicié, west of Toulon, as well as the massif of Tanneron, belong geologically to the massif des Maures.

 

The Calanques

 

Calanque de Sugiton

The Calanques, also known as the Massif des Calanques, are a dramatic feature of the Provence coast, a 20-km long series of narrow inlets in the cliffs of the coastline between Marseille on the west and Cassis on the east. The highest peak in the massif is Mont Puget, 565 metres high.

 

The best known calanques of the Massif des Calanques include the Calanque de Sormiou, the Calanque de Morgiou, the Calanque d'En-Vau, the Calanque de Port-Pin and the Calanque de Sugiton.

 

Calanques are remains of ancient river mouths formed mostly during Tertiary. Later, during quaternary glaciations, as glaciers swept by, they further deepened those valleys which would eventually (at the end of the last glaciation) be invaded with sea and become calanques.

  

The Garrigue, typical landscape of Provence

The Cosquer cave is an underwater grotto in the Calanque de Morgiou, 37 metres (121 ft) underwater, that was inhabited during Paleolithic era, when the sea level was much lower than today. Its walls are covered with paintings and engravings dating back to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC, depicting animals such as bison, ibex, and horses, as well as sea mammals such as seals, and at least one bird, the auk.

 

Landscapes

The Garrigue is the typical landscape of Provence; it is a type of low, soft-leaved scrubland or chaparral found on limestone soils around the Mediterranean Basin, generally near the seacoast, where the climate is moderate, but where there are annual summer drought conditions.[28] Juniper and stunted holm oaks are the typical trees; aromatic lime-tolerant shrubs such as lavender, sage, rosemary, wild thyme and Artemisia are common garrigue plants. The open landscape of the garrigue is punctuated by dense thickets of Kermes oak.

 

Climate

 

Mistral wind blowing near Marseille. In the center is the Château d'If

 

Sisteron – la Baume rock

 

Forcalquier Cathedral

Most of Provence has a Mediterranean climate, characterised by hot, dry summers, mild winters, little snow, and abundant sunshine. Within Provence there are micro-climates and local variations, ranging from the Alpine climate inland from Nice to the continental climate in the northern Vaucluse. The winds of Provence are an important feature of the climate, particularly the mistral, a cold, dry wind which, especially in the winter, blows down the Rhône Valley to the Bouches-du-Rhône and the Var Departments, and often reaches over one hundred kilometres an hour.

 

Bouches-du-Rhône

Marseille, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, has an average of 59 days of rain a year, though when it does rain the rain is often torrential; the average annual rainfall is 544.4 mm. It snows an average of 2.3 days a year, and the snow rarely remains long. Marseille has an average of 2835.5 hours of sunshine a year. The average minimum temperature in January is 2.3 °C., and the average maximum temperature in July is 29.3 °C. The mistral blows an average of one hundred days a year.[29]

 

The Var

Toulon and the Department of the Var (which includes St. Tropez and Hyères) have a climate slightly warmer, dryer and sunnier than Nice and the Alpes-Maritime, but also less sheltered from the wind. Toulon has an average of 2899.3 hours of sunshine a year, making it the sunniest city in metropolitan France,[30] The average maximum daily temperature in August is 29.1 °C., and the average daily minimum temperature in January is 5.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 665 mm, with the most rain from October to November. Strong winds blow an average of 118 days a year in Toulon, compared with 76 days at Fréjus further east. The strongest Mistral wind recorded in Toulon was 130 kilometres an hour.[31]

 

Alpes-Maritimes

Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes Department are sheltered by the Alps, and are the most protected part of the Mediterranean coast. The winds in this department are usually gentle, blowing from the sea to the land, though sometimes the Mistral blows strongly from the northwest, or, turned by the mountains, from the east. In 1956 a mistral wind from the northwest reached the speed of 180 kilometres an hour at Nice airport. Sometimes in summer the scirocco brings high temperatures and reddish desert sand from Africa. (See Winds of Provence.)

 

Rainfall is infrequent – 63 days a year, but can be torrential, particularly in September, when storms and rain are caused by the difference between the colder air inland and the warm Mediterranean water temperature (20–24 degrees C.). The average annual rainfall in Nice is 767 mm, more than in Paris, but concentrated in fewer days.

 

Snow is extremely rare, usually falling once every ten years. 1956 was a very exceptional year, when 20 centimetres of snow blanketed the coast. In January 1985 the coast between Cannes and Menton received 30 to 40 centimetres of snow. In the mountains, the snow is present from November to May

 

Nice has an annual average of 2694 hours of sunshine. The average maximum daily temperature in Nice in August is 28 °C., and the average minimum daily temperature in January is 6 °C.[32]

 

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

The Department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence has a Mediterranean climate in the lower valleys under one thousand metres in altitude and an alpine climate in the high valleys, such as the valleys of the Blanche, the Haut Verdon and the Ubaye, which are over 2500 metres high. The alpine climate in the higher mountains is moderated by the warmer air from the Mediterranean.

 

Haute-Provence has unusually high summer temperatures for its altitude and latitude (44 degrees north). The average summer temperature is 22 to 23 °C. at an altitude of 400 metres, and 18 to 19 °C. at the altitude of 1000 metres; and the winter average temperature is 4 to 5 °C. at 400 metres and 0 C. at 1000 metres. The lower valleys have 50 days of freezing temperatures a year, more in the higher valleys. Sometimes the temperatures in the high valleys can reach −30 °C. Because of this combination of high mountains and Mediterranean air, it is not unusual that the region frequently has some of the lowest winter temperatures and some of the hottest summer temperatures in France.

 

Rainfall in Haute-Provence is infrequent – 60 to 80 days a year – but can be torrential; 650 to 900 mm. a year in the foothills and plateaus of the southwest, and in the valley of the Ubaye; and 900 to 1500 mm. in the mountains. Most rainfall comes in the autumn, in brief and intense storms; from mid-June to mid-August, rain falls during brief but violent thunderstorms. Thunder can be heard 30 to 40 days a year.

 

Snow falls in the mountains from November to May, and in midwinter can be found down to altitude of 1000–1200 metres on the shady side of the mountains and 1300 to 1600 metres on the sunny side. Snowfalls are usually fairly light, and melt rapidly.

 

The Mistral (wind) is a feature of the climate in the western part of the Department, blowing from the north and the northwest, bringing clear and dry weather. The eastern part of the department is more protected from the Mistral. The Marin (wind) comes from the south, bringing warm air, clouds and rain.

 

Haute-Provence is one of the sunniest regions of France, with an average of between 2550 and 2650 hours of sunshine annually in the north of the department, and 2700 to 2800 hours in the southwest. The clear nights and sunny days cause a sharp difference between nighttime and daytime temperatures. Because of the clear nights, the region is home of important observatories, such as the Observatory of Haute-Provence in Saint-Michel-Observatoire near of Forcalquier.[33]

 

The Vaucluse

The Vaucluse is the meeting point of three of the four different climatic zones of France; it has a Mediterranean climate in the south, an alpine climate in the northeast, around the mountains of Vaucluse and the massif of the Baronnies; and a continental climate in the northwest. The close proximity of these three different climates tends to moderate all of them, and the Mediterranean climate usually prevails.

 

Orange in the Vaucluse has 2595 hours of sunshine a year. It rains an average of 80 days a year, for a total of 693.4 mm a year. The maximum average temperature in July is 29.6 °C., and the average minimum temperature in January is 1.3 °C. There are an average of 110 days of strong winds a year.[34]

 

Language and literature

Scientists, scholars and prophets

Pytheas (4th century BCE) was a geographer and mathematician who lived in the Greek colony of Massalia, which became Marseille. He conducted an expedition by sea north around England to Iceland, and was the first to describe the midnight sun and polar regions.

Petrarch (1304–1374) was an Italian poet and scholar, considered the father of humanism and one of the first great figures of Italian literature. He spent much of his early life in Avignon and Carpentras as an official at the Papal court in Avignon, and wrote a famous account of his ascent of Mount Ventoux near Aix-en-Provence.

Nostradamus (1503–1566), a Renaissance apothecary and reputed clairvoyant best known for his alleged prophecies of great world events, was born in Saint-Remy-de-Provence and lived and died in Salon-de-Provence.

Occitan literature

Main articles: Occitan language and Occitan literature

 

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, from a collection of troubadour songs, BNF Richelieu Manuscrits Français 854, Bibliothèque Nationale Française, Paris.

Historically the language spoken in Provence was Provençal, a dialect of the Occitan language, also known as langue d'oc, and closely related to Catalan. There are several regional variations: vivaro-alpin, spoken in the Alps; and the provençal variations of south, including the maritime, the rhoadanien (in the Rhône Valley) and the niçois (in Nice). Niçois is the archaic form of provençal closest to the original language of the troubadours, and is sometimes to said to be literary language of its own.[35]

 

Provençal was widely spoken in Provence until the beginning of the 20th century, when the French government launched an intensive and largely successful effort to replace regional languages with French. Today Provençal is taught in schools and universities in the region, but is spoken regularly by a small number of people, probably less than five hundred thousand, mostly elderly.

 

Writers and poets in the Occitan language

 

"Folquet de Marselha" in a 13th-century chansonnier. Depicted in his episcopal robes

The golden age of Provençal literature, more correctly called Occitan literature, was the 11th century and the 12th century, when the troubadours broke away from classical Latin literature and composed romances and love songs in their own vernacular language. Among the most famous troubadours was Folquet de Marselha, whose love songs became famous all over Europe, and who was praised by Dante in his Divine Comedy. In his later years, Folquet gave up poetry to become the Abbot of Le Thoronet Abbey, and then Bishop of Toulouse, where he fiercely persecuted the Cathars.

 

In the middle of the 19th century, there was a literary movement to revive the language, called the Félibrige, led by the poet Frédéric Mistral (1830–1914), who shared the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904.

 

Provençal writers and poets who wrote in Occitan include:

 

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (1180–1207)

Louis Bellaud (1543–1588)

Théodore Aubanel (1829–1886)

Joseph d'Arbaud (1874–1950)

Robert Lafont (1923–2009)

French authors

 

Alphonse Daudet

 

Colette

Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897) was the best-known French writer from Provence in the 19th century, though he lived mostly in Paris and Champrosay. He was best known for his Lettres de mon moulin (eng: Letters from my Mill) (1869) and the Tartarin de Tarascon trilogy (1872, 1885, 1890). His story L'Arlésienne (1872) was made into a three-act play with music by Bizet.[36]

Marcel Pagnol (1895–1970), born in Aubagne, is known both as a filmmaker and for his stories of his childhood, Le Château de la Mere, La Gloire de mon Pere, and Le Temps des secrets. He was the first filmmaker to become a member of the Académie française in 1946.

Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette) (1873–1954), although she was not from Provence, became particularly attached to Saint-Tropez. After World War II, she headed a committee which saw that the village, badly damaged by the war, was restored to its original beauty and character

Jean Giono (1895–1970), born in Manosque, wrote about peasant life in Provence, inspired by his imagination and by his vision of Ancient Greece.

Paul Arène (1843–1896), born in Sisteron, wrote about life and the countryside around his home town.

Emigrés, exiles, and expatriates

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the climate and lifestyle of Provence attracted writers almost as much as it attracted painters. It was particularly popular among British, American and Russian writers in the 1920s and 1930s.

 

Edith Wharton (1862–1937), bought Castel Sainte-Claire in 1927, on the site of a former convent in the hills above Hyères, where she lived during the winters and springs until her death in 1937.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) and his wife Zelda first visited the Riviera in 1924, stopping at Hyères, Cannes and Monte Carlo, eventually staying at St. Raphaël, where he wrote much of The Great Gatsby and began Tender is the Night.

Ivan Bunin (1870–1953), the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, went to France after the Russian Revolution, set several of his short stories on the Côte d'Azur, and had a house in Grasse.

Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) bought a house, the Villa Mauresque, in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in 1928, and, except for the years of World War II, spent much of his time there until his death.

Other English-speaking writers who live in or have written about Provence include:

 

Peter Mayle

Carol Drinkwater

John Lanchester

Willa Cather

Charles Spurgeon (who spent long periods in Menton)

Katherine Mansfield

Lawrence Durrell

Music

Music written about Provence includes:

 

The saxophone concerto Tableaux de Provence (Pictures of Provence) composed by Paule Maurice.

The opera Mireille by Charles Gounod after Frédéric Mistral's poem Mireio.

Georges Bizet, 'L'Arlésienne' incidental music to play by Alphonse Daudet.

Darius Milhaud, 'Suite Provençale'

Two song settings of Vladimir Nabokov's poem "Provence" in Russian and English versions by composers Ivan Barbotin and James DeMars on the 2011 contemporary classical album Troika.[37]

The piece "Suite Provencale", written for symphonic band by Jan Van der Roost.

Painters

 

The 14th-century ceiling of the cloister of Fréjus Cathedral is decorated with paintings of animals, people and mythical creatures

 

Triptych of the Burning Bush, by Nicolas Froment, in Aix Cathedral (15th century)

Artists have been painting in Provence since prehistoric times; paintings of bisons, seals, auks and horses dating to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC were found in the Cosquer Cave near Marseille.[38]

 

The 14th-century wooden ceiling of the cloister of Fréjus Cathedral has a remarkable series of paintings of biblical scenes, fantastic animals, and scenes from daily life, painted between 1350 and 1360. They include paintings of a fallen angel with the wings of a bat, a demon with the tail of a serpent, angels playing instruments, a tiger, an elephant, an ostrich, domestic and wild animals, a mermaid, a dragon, a centaur, a butcher, a knight, and a juggler.[39]

 

Nicolas Froment (1435–1486) was the most important painter of Provence during the Renaissance, best known for his triptych of the Burning Bush (c. 1476), commissioned by King René I of Naples. The painting shows a combination of Moses, the Burning Bush, and the Virgin Mary "who gave birth but remained a virgin", just as the bush of Moses "-burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed". This is the explication according to a plaque in the cathedral. A more likely reason for the juxtaposition is that in 1400 a shepherd, or shepherds, discovered a miraculous statue of the Virgin and Child inside another burning bush (thorn bush specifically), in the village of L'Epine in the present day department of La Marne. The site and statue were later visited by the "Bon Roi René". The wings of the triptych show King René with Mary Magdalene, St. Anthony and St. Maurice on one side, and Queen Jeanne de Laval, with Saint Catherine, John the Evangelist, and Saint Nicholas on the other.[40]

 

Louis Bréa (1450–1523) was a 15th-century painter, born in Nice, whose work is found in churches from Genoa to Antibes. His Retable of Saint-Nicholas (1500) is found in Monaco, and his Retable de Notre-Dame-de-Rosaire (1515) is found in Antibes.

 

Pierre Paul Puget (1620–1694), born in Marseille, was a painter of portraits and religious scenes, but was better known for his sculptures, found in Toulon Cathedral, outside the city hall of Toulon, and in the Louvre. There is a mountain named for him near Marseille, and a square in Toulon.

  

Paul Cézanne, L'Estaque, 1883–1885

 

Vincent van Gogh, Cafe Terrace at Night, September 1888

 

Paul Signac, The Port of Saint-Tropez, oil on canvas, 1901

In the 19th and 20th centuries, many of the most famous painters in the world converged on Provence, drawn by the climate and the clarity of the light. The special quality of the light is partly a result of the Mistral wind, which removes dust from the atmosphere, greatly increasing visibility.

 

Adolphe Monticelli (1824–1886) was born in Marseille, moved to Paris in 1846 and returned to Marseille in 1870. His work influenced Vincent van Gogh who greatly admired him.[41]

Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) was born in Aix-en-Provence, and lived and worked there most of his life. The local landscapes, particularly Montagne Sainte-Victoire, featured often in his work. He also painted frequently at L'Estaque.

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) liv

Theme Rules:

Brrr! Baby, it's cold outside! This theme is all about feeling the chill of winter. Show your doll doing his or her best to enjoy the freezing temperatures outside with activities like ice skating or skiing. Think magazine photoshoots featuring crisp menswear amid snow-covered landscapes and gray blue skies, or capture the magic of the season with ice castles and snow queen makeup editorials. From frosted cabin windows to glistening ice caves, snowmen and polar bears, there are lots of "cool" possibilities for this theme.

  

About this photo:

X-MEN snowball fight between Iceman, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Colossus. ;)

  

A-Z Doll Photography Challenge Group Description

 

Members can submit a photo for one, two, or all themes. At the end of the month, members will vote for their favorite photos.

 

Participation is based on your time and inspiration. While we hope everyone can create a photo for each month, it is not required. Come and go as you like!

 

Submit just one photo per theme. Last day to submit photos for D, E, and F is November 30th!

 

Not a member or missed last month? Not a problem--this group is fluid -- participate when you can. Don't hesitate to ask any questions!

 

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I can't get out and about much, but I MUST take record shots of the flowers as they come into bloom. Here is one of this year's Lenten roses, the first to emerge, in February. They can withstand freezing temperatures, which is good because nighttime temps this coming week may be in the low 20s F.

 

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Lonely horse grazing on the grassland on the suburbs of sonamarg in Kashmir. The freezing temperatures makes the vegetation difficult to grow. During the summer the snow on top of mountains melt to provide the necessary water for the pastures to grow.

 

Sonamarg | Kashmir | June '16

F - Frozen

 

Brrr! Baby, it's cold outside! This theme is all about feeling the chill of winter. Show your doll doing his or her best to enjoy the freezing temperatures outside with activities like ice skating or skiing. Think magazine photoshoots featuring crisp menswear amid snow-covered landscapes and gray blue skies, or capture the magic of the season with ice castles and snow queen makeup editorials. From frosted cabin windows to glistening ice caves, snowmen and polar bears, there are lots of "cool" possibilities for this theme.

 

Well the beautiful snow, glorious blue skies and freezing temperatures that we had for two weeks before Christmas has now been replaced by grey skies and fog. The forecast is for this until after New-Years day, which means that planned trips over the next couple of days have been cancelled. Anyway here is a reminder of the lovely scenes that we had just a few days ago. Hope you enjoy it.

Golyazi, Bursa, Turkey

 

A very early morning light before dawn at freezing temperature with still lake enables interesting reflections around the lake.

No, not the election just completed which was certainly no surprise...at least to me. Rather, my attention was immediately captured when on a walk a few days ago I spotted this emerging from a mass of dead ferns standing tall and proud in the sun. I was rather astonished as we have had sub-freezing temperatures for a month now and yet this specimen had decided its season was not quite over. This is the "brown" season and the last thing I expected to see was a flower in November. Yet here it was, a little the worse for wear, but somehow carrying on nonetheless. These are the occasional discoveries that cause wonder and speak to a large variety of admirable human characteristics and qualities, such as persistence and determination among others, which could be equally attributed to this flower...no doubt the last, and most enduring, of the season. It must have found a reason to live...

 

I applied the texture to the original shown below after (for some reason) relating the experience in contrast to Pink Floyd's classic. All in all this is certainly not "just another brick in the wall."

  

At near freezing temperatures, the tigress took a dip in the water and walked towards us

Freezing temperatures force the picturesque gristmill (Mabry Mill) along the Blue Ridge Parkway to a standstill, and fresh snow blankets the area on this winter evening.

Ice crystals that formed out of fog at freezing temperatures.

We recently had some sub-freezing temperatures at night here in Tucson. We cover the geranium with sheets and leave a light on under the sheet all night. Geraniums are pretty hardy. So far, it is doing well. Just the usual shedding of petals. Hence, this photo. :-)

In many parts of (more populated) Canada every January we will have a brief or extended period of above freezing temperatures that will sometimes melt recent accumulated snow quite rapidly like here in the Indian River at Indian Falls Conservation area. Around Owen Sound they get quite a few snow squalls throughout the winter months, so the runoff can get quite significant.

It was so bitterly cold yesterday that even by the afternoon the frost was still clinging to everything, and freezing fog making everything misty. This is the Pump Room Gardens, not quite deserted because of the combination of freezing temperatures and lockdown.

 

Gordon and I hiked up into the Cairngorm hills to around 900m.

 

A day with blustery strong winds and showers of hail and snow! We had looked and looked for the Ptarmigan and had given up seeing these beautiful birds.

 

When on our way down we came across 3 just off the path. Luck was on our side, and we both got our very first photographs of this very special bird that lives in extreme weather conditions and freezing temperatures.

 

The ptarmigan is a game bird, slightly larger than a grey partridge. In summer, it is a mixture of grey, brown and black above with white bellies and wings. In winter, it becomes totally white except for its tail and eye-patch, which remain black.

It breeds in the highest mountains of the Highlands of Scotland on the Arctic like landscape there. Birds are residents, seldom moving far from breeding sites. In severe cold weather, birds may move from the highest ground to the edge of forests.

What they eat : Shoots, leaves, leaf buds, berries and insects.

Courtesy: RSPB

It has cultivars called Jungle King and Jungle Queen. Red Ginger grows in Hawaii, Trinidad, Grenada, St. Lucia, Panama, Dominica, St. Vincent, Martinique, Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, Suriname (where its Dutch name is 'bokkepoot', billy-goat's foot), and many Central American nations, including Belize. It is also found in Samoa, where it is the national flower and is locally called "teuila."

 

Red ginger can also be grown in South Florida since, in general, the region does not fall below freezing temperatures. It prefers partial shade and moist humid conditions, although it can tolerate full sun in some climates. It tends to like to be well watered and not left to dry out.

 

-- Wikipedia

What a day! We drove 4 hours to a place that normally takes only 2 in driving snow and sub freezing temperatures. This is the Blue Ridge Parkway north of Price Lake. We were the second set of car tracks on the road this day. Buddy Austin and my wife and I headed out to hike the Green Knob Trail, hoping as we finished the loop to get a view of Grandfather mountain. We had over 8" of snow and the temerature never rose above 14 degrees F.

 

Which after hiking almost 3 miles in deep snow and sub-freezing temperatures, is why this was shot at f/4. When we came back down off the knoll and onto the parkway, I took an image of my wife bundled up in her Ninja mask. I guess I was tired and not thinking as I never set the aperature back to an appropriate setting.

While most of Vancouver Island recently got a heap of snow, all we got was freezing temperatures and rain of course. So I took what I got. If the dog hadn't bugged me to go home I would have been able to add an amazing sunset just about 20minutes later. So, is it the dogs fault OR this seasoned photographers that should have persisted ;-)

Boston sunset after the snow storm and freezing temperatures. Shot with my Lumia 920 and a broken right arm.

 

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Brief introduction to Pallas's Cat aka Manul (Otocolobus manul). Look for a longer film next winter. This cat is famous for its "grumpy" look, but it's a unique and specialized species. Located on the steppes of Eastern Mongolia, the setting proved very cold, rugged and remote. But the long flights and freezing temperatures were well worth it. Our expert spotters and trackers, led by Mr. Otgonbayar Baatargal (affectionately known as “Oogie”), located and brought us to the cats. The landscape also is a big part of the story, and we aim to share more footage of it in the longer film. Our gracious hosts at the Steppe Wildlife Conservation and Research Center made our stay comfortable and warm - we appreciate their hospitality.

 

Our narrator was unfortunately on the sidelines for this short intro film - battling a bad cold and frostbite from our trip to Mongolia to film this cat. So the captions are pulling extra duty here.

 

Music Licensing by Epidemic Sound

“Roaming the Island” by Adriel Fair

 

Stock Imagery of the Mongolian Flag and Peter Simon Pallas by iStock

 

Special Thanks to

Joshua Holko and Susanne Ribberheim, Wild Nature Photo Travel PTY

Otgonbayar Baatargal and the Staff of the Steppe Wildlife Conservation and Research Center www.steppewildlife.org/

 

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Here is a morsel that serves two purposes. The first purpose is that the owner of Quirkz of Art in Fall City, Washington asked why I had not yet posted a shot of Snoqualmie Falls when it was almost frozen a few years ago. Well, here it is. I do have a shot earlier in my photostream from this same day, however my processing skills have advanced since then. Here is my earlier attempt: www.flickr.com/photos/fresnatic/4185769401/ He also wanted to make sure that I get some cards and prints made up to put in the store!

 

The second purpose is that we have returned to the feel of Winter here in the Pacific Northwest. I know many of the people that live here in the northwest are complaining of the cold and rainy weather, but the alternative would be sweltering heat that many in the country typically have to endure this time of year. So I hope that this icy picture can maybe provide a brief reprieve from the heat!

 

The show last weekend went well at the Fall City days. I finally met one of my fellow Flickr contacts Wendy www.flickr.com/photos/snapsfromtheheart/ and her husband. If you have time, please visit her beautiful photo stream. I sold a few pieces and really was able to get my name out there! Fortunately the rain held off till the end of the day!

 

Anyways, this shot is from almost three years ago when we had almost an entire week of sub-freezing temperatures here in the Seattle area. Sub-freezing for an extended period of time is rare here in Seattle. Snoqualmie Falls throws up a lot of spray, which then freezes on the walls and creates a magical scene.

 

This is a combination of three exposures (-2,0, 2) merged and tonemapped in Photomatix. I then cropped in Photoshop. I also used the "Clone Stamp" extensively to remove the power station across the river. If you look closely at the old picture and this one, you will see that difference! I also ran through Topaz Adjust to regain some details. I "Dodged" and Burned" some of the highlights and shadows as well. I then moved to Lightroom and pulled back the saturation a bit, but was okay with a slight over the top color and a painterly look here. I wanted a piece of art and not just a photograph.

 

I hope you all like. Thank you for your views, comments and faves. I appreciate them. I have had a little more time to peruse my fellow Flickr Friends photo streams. Great work by you all! I am glad to be back a little more often now. Thank you for your patience if I have not yet visited your streams.

 

Please do not use my images on websites or blogs without my permission. All images are available for license and sale. Thank you.

From Saturday's shoot at Roswell Mill, this is the edge of the dam. It has its own waterfall, separate from the water going over the top, and with the freezing temperatures, plenty of ice!

 

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I liked the light but not the freezing temperature!

Attingham Park (National Trust), Shropshire.

I braved the freezing temperatures to wander around Cambridge looking for things to photograph.

 

Car park shot - love the chaos in all the lines.

 

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We went from freezing temperatures back to clear blue skies and 75 degrees today.

 

ODC - 12/28/2022 - The best things in life are free