The English Electric Lightning is a fighter aircraft that served as an interceptor during the 1960s, the 1970s and into the late 1980s. It remains the only UK-designed-and-built fighter capable of Mach 2. The Lightning was designed, developed, and manufactured by English Electric, which was later absorbed by the newly-formed British Aircraft Corporation. Later the type was marketed as the BAC Lightning. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the Kuwait Air Force (KAF) and the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF).

A unique feature of the Lightning's design is the vertical, staggered configuration of its two Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engines within the fuselage. The Lightning was initially designed and developed as an interceptor to defend the V bomber airfields from attack by anticipated future nuclear-armed supersonic Soviet bombers such as what emerged as the Tupolev Tu-22, but it was subsequently also required to intercept other bomber aircraft such as the Tupolev Tu-16 and the Tupolev Tu-95. The Lightning has exceptional rate of climb, ceiling, and speed; pilots have described flying it as "being saddled to a skyrocket". This performance and the initially limited fuel supply made the Lightning a "fuel-critical" aircraft, meaning that its missions are dictated to a high degree by its limited range. Later developments provided greater range and speed along with aerial reconnaissance and ground-attack capability.

Following retirement by the RAF in the late 1980s, many of the remaining aircraft became museum exhibits. Until 2009, three Lightnings were kept flying at "Thunder City" in Cape Town, South Africa. In September 2008, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers conferred on the Lightning its "Engineering Heritage Award" at a ceremony at BAE Systems' site at Warton Aerodrome.

Dear friends here on flickr,

Summer is finally here and me and my girls are ready to hit the beach with the fashions from my new collection “Sommer” (summer in German) !

This is again very picture intense, so please bear with me *lol*.

Hope you all are well and safe,

wishing you the best, have a wonderful summer this year!

Nina & Gigi

CNW is almost a full thing of the past here in West Chicago.

An eastbound Stack-train is seen here about to dance across Turner Junction. Following right behind this would be UP 1989 leading another Intermodal - right at home from that day of infamy....

~West Chicago, IL 3/30/13

Osaka Castle is one of the most illustrious castles in Japan, was first built in 1583. Osaka Castle was almost completely destroyed during world war two. The restoration project started in 1995 and was completed in two years. The castle is a concrete replica of the original design. It has since been rebuilt, featuring amazing parks and gardens, and inside the castle itself is a museum with fantastic exhibits that will entertain the whole family.

Read more here: thealpaca.hubpages.com/hub/Osaka-Castle

If you wish to use any of my photo's all I ask is that you reference the source to my site at: thealpaca.hubpages.com

or

stingyscoundrelstravelguidetojapan.blogspot.com.au

Please message me a link to the site that my picture is displayed on.

this is my new bunny dress that i got from crafty vamp.

It is blue and white with bunny pictures on it. It has matching bloomers.

in my arms is my new build a bear bunny, that i found in a second hand shop.

Here is a dilemma!

This is a Fur Seal. I took this shot while on the Coorong cruise - it was resting on the Goolwa barrages.

Cute? A popular attraction for tourists?

What it is is a major problem for the licensed fishermen of the Coorong whose livelihood is being torn to shreds along with their nets.

The problem is they have never frequented these waters. The indigenous population would have captured/hunted them as soon as they dared to enter these waters way back in time. In the 1800s and 1900s sealers hunted many species of seal to near extinction, but that practice has stopped and now the population of this species in particular is exploding.

I always refer to it as the pendulum - over hunting and the species is severely depleted - rectify that to the other extreme and then you have an exploding population that puts everything else in peril. Fairy penguins along the coastal regions are now under great pressure - some are not convinced the seals are to blame, but if they are not, it is a pretty amazing coincidence.

Hard decisions need to be made on population control and especially where they have never been. Weak politicians who see their position as a career rather than as a public service for the people and the state don't help!

Wemyss Bay is a village on the coast of the Firth of Clyde in Inverclyde in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is in the traditional county of Renfrewshire. It is adjacent to Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire. The town and villages have always been in separate counties, divided by the Kelly Burn.

Wemyss Bay is the port for ferries on the Sea Road to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. Passengers from the island can connect to Glasgow by trains, which terminate in the town at Wemyss Bay railway station, noted for its architectural qualities and regarded as one of Scotland's finest railway buildings. The port is very exposed, so in high winds the ferries must travel up river to Gourock to dock.

Topography

Wemyss Estate, and Kelly hills fronted by Dunavertie and railway station, from pier.

The coast at this place, as it is with a few exceptions along the whole course of the Frith, is bounded at a short distance back from the shore with a range of hills, sometimes rising in gentle slopes, and at other times in abrupt rocky precipices, from which is to be had a continued succession of beautiful and varied views.

— John M. Leighton, Select Views on the River Clyde (1830)

Etymology

Admiralty Chart of 1846 / 1852, showing "New Glasgow" with four villas at "Weems Bay".

The name Kelly comes from Celtic languages, with the meaning of a wood or woodland. Similarly, Kelburn refers to a wooded river.

The name Wemyss is derived from the Scottish Gaelic uaimh which means cave. It is believed to be taken from the caves of the Firth of Forth where the Clan Wemyss made their home. The chiefs are one of the few noble families who are descended from the Celtic nobility through the Clan MacDuff Earls of Fife.

Unlike the Firth of Forth, no conspicuous caves were seen in the Wemyss Bay area, though some minor caves may have been found in the cliffs. In his guide, Boyd says he was told the story that an old fisherman named Robert Wemyss lived at the bay in the 18th century, and rented out boats. Three of his regular customers were unable to agree on the name for the bay, until they decided to "call it after old Bob".

History

The Kelly Burn flows west down the hillside in a ravine and into the bay, which at one time was called Kelly Bay or White Week. The lands of Kelly, to the north of the burn, were granted in the late 15th century by King James III of Scotland to the Bannatyne family, descendants of the Bannatynes of Kames on Bute. Their Kelly Castle stood on a cliff edge on the north side of the ravine, about 500m upstream from the sea, and was the setting for the song "The Carle of Kellyburn Braes" collected by Robert Burns. The castle burnt down in 1740, and was not rebuilt.

The land on the north side of the bay to the west of what became the turnpike road, identified as Lower Finnock, was part of the adjoining Shaw Stewart Ardgowan Estate. This densely wooded area had valuable salmon fishing rights, the only dwelling was "Wemyss Cottage" occupied by a fisherman. In the late 18th century, ihe Ardgowan Estate feued an area for houses to Mr. Orkney of Rothesay, who built four identical villas facing the bay, off an access road (Wemyss Bay Road) extending west from the main road; they are shown in John Ainslie's 1796 survey which also records the names Wemyss Bay and Wemyss Point. These villas, the only houses in the bay for many years, were let to Glasgow merchants and came to be known as New Glasgow.

Wallace's "marine village"

In 1792 the Glasgow merchant John Wallace, owner of extensive estates in Jamaica with sugar plantations and slaves, bought the Kelly Estate. In 1793 he had a red sandstone mansion called Kelly House built on the hillside up from the road, looking over the bay (this was later painted white). About this time the Wemyss Bay Hotel was built on the east side of the main road, near the junction to the road serving the villas; a building is shown there on Ainslie's map.

In 1803 his son Robert Wallace of Kelly inherited the Kelly Estate, and began major improvements, including a large picture-gallery extension to Kelly House. In 1814 he exchanged his land at North Finnock with Shaw Stewart of Ardgowan to gain the Lower Finnock area adjoining Wemyss Bay, so that his estate boundary on both sides of the road was on a line immediately north of what became Ardgowan Road. He also bought land which he exchanged with the Earl of Eglinton to extend the Kelly Estate across the Kelly Burn into Ayrshire, incorporating the Auchindarroch area of upper Skelmorlie. In 1832 Wallace became Greenock's first MP, and he played a significant part in introduction of the Uniform Penny Post. He had a row of houses built on the west side of the turnpike road between Inverkip and Wemyss Bay, and named the development Forbes Place after his wife's maiden name, Forbes, of Craigievar.

Wallace planned the expansion of Wemyss Bay into a "Marine Village" of 200 villas, with facilities including three churches, hotel, Academy, hot baths, reading room and billiards room, terraced walks featuring a fountain and grass promenade, bowling green, curling pond, and quoiting ground. His plans included a harbour and a steamboat quay. In 1846 the Jamaican estates Wallace had inherited were devalued, and he lost his wealth. He resigned as MP, and sold the Kelly Estate to an Australian merchant named James Alexander.

An 1847 guide book described how "in passing Wemyss Point, we come upon Wemyss Bay or New Glasgow, which from its sheltered situation, the number of beautiful localities admirably adapted for building sites, and which indeed we understand had been purchased of Mr. Wallace by Mr. Alexander, with the view of building villas thereon, will no doubt become an important rival to its neighbouring watering places. There is already a row of neat villas and cottages stretching from the port, and occasionally an elegant mansion. We are now within sight of Kelly House, the seat of R. Wallace, Esq., M.P.".

Whiting Bay pier was constructed to the west of the original villas. Alexander went bankrupt after only a few years, and in 1850 his creditors sold the estate in two roughly equal portions; Kelly went to James Scott of Glasgow, Wemyss Bay to Charles Wilsone Brown.

Charles Wilsone Brown did a great deal to develop the bay, selling ground for feuing. By 1855 there were 36 villas, and he got Castle Wemyss, designed by Robert William Billings, built on the hillside above Wemyss Point. In 1860 he sold his estate on to George Burns, recently retired as a partner in the Cunard Line. Burns had Wemyss House, designed by James Salmon built (near Undercliff) near the north end of the bay. His son John Burns took over Castle Wemyss and had it dramatically enlarged to a design by Billings.

In November 1862 work began on the Greenock and Wemyss Bay Railway. The original plan was for a station in the grounds of the "Clutha" villa at the start of Undercliffe Road, with a short walk along to Whiting Bay pier, but objections were raised by the Burns family. James Scott sold ground from the Kelly Estate to the railway, and the line crossed a bridge over the road to extend down the coast over a beach which Wallace's 1845 plan had identified as "Bathing Bay". The railway opened in May 1865 with its stone-built terminus station at a new pier near the Kelly Burn. The Whiting Bay pier had been repaired after damage by a hurricane in February 1856, it was finally wrecked by a storm at the end of 1865.

Wemyss Bay Road, Clutha and The Cliff

Further development introduced bigger, more complex, houses. Of the four original villas, two were taken down as the site for a larger house, one replaced by a villa which may have been designed by Billings and was later remodelled by John Honeyman. Only one still shows something of the original design and scale. In 1887 George Burns had the episcopal Inverclyde Church built at Undercliffe Road in memory of his wife. This church was designed by J.J. Burnet.

James Young of Kelly

In 1867 Scott sold the Kelly estate to James Young,[19] who had become a wealthy industrialist by inventing paraffin, and was known from then as James Young of Kelly. After his wife Mary died in April 1868, he continued living at Kelly House with his family.

Since college in Glasgow in 1836, Young had been a friend and supporter of David Livingstone. After the news of the explorer's death, he arranged for Livingstone's assistants Chuma and Susi to visit Britain in 1874. They arrived after the funeral, and following a period at Newstead Abbey helping Horace Waller with Livingstone's Last Journals, they reached Kelly in June. Young questioned them closely about the hut in which Livingstone had died, and as grass in fields was similar to that in Africa, they made a facsimile of the one they had built at Ilala. A photo of this informed the book illustrator. They also replicated the kitanda they had made to carry Livingstone after he became too weak to walk. On a later visit to Livingstone's relatives at Hamilton they made another hut. Wrench made a colourised photograph postcard of "Livingstone's Hut, Wemyss Bay".

The original Kelly House was replaced by a mansion designed by William Leiper, built further up the hill in 1890. This Kelly House was destroyed in a fire in 1913. Attempts were made to blame suffragettes, but research indicates faulty electrical wiring was a more likely cause. The house remained a burnt out ruin for several years. A caravan park now occupies the estate, with its facilities building on the site of the 1890 mansion.

Other notable buildings

A memorial on the shore road recalls 'The Gaiter Club', whose members included Anthony Trollope, Lord Kelvin, Lord Palmerston and the Earl of Shaftesbury.

Neither Castle Wemyss nor James Salmon's Wemyss House remain, having been demolished in the 1980s and 1940s respectively. Also gone is J.J. Burnet's episcopal Inverclyde Church, which stood on the shore road of Undercliff Road and was demolished in 1970.

The Castle Wemyss estate and adjoining areas had been sold off in the 1960s to property developers and since then the village has grown considerably, albeit largely a dormitory settlement for Greenock and Glasgow. However several of the fine red sandstone properties remain and are now seen as renovation opportunities. There is a butcher, newsagent, cafe and fish and chip shop in the village and a pub and cafe in the extensive railway station buildings.

Vitorchiano is magnificent city. There are no tourist, no crowds. Somewhat inconvenient to get to, but certanly worth visiting. I placed a scheme of getting to in this set. We have to wait for bus from Viterbo for two hours.

Our hotel name was Il Fiorile. It appeared to be in 40 minutes walk from Vitorchiano, in countryside. We were somehow dissapointed with the distance at first, but when next morning (very early) we went outside, we saw this fairy fog and understood how perfect our accomodation appeared to be.

superka-01.livejournal.com/ My Livejournal Blog (RUS)

superka-photo.com/ My photosite

penguinarchitects.com/ This is where I work

Gaoersi 617 + Fuji SW 90/8, Fuji Velvia 100f

Hasselblad X5 film scanner (Scandig Gmbh studio, Germany filmscanner.info)

16 things:

I know this is late but Christmas week was busy and my computer wigged out on me :[

1. I hate surprises. Unless I have a clue. Which technically wouldn't be a surprise anymore, is it?

2. My usual bedtime is around 1-2 in the morning.

3. I can watch 4 DVDs in just one sitting.

4. I am an only child. Which I think is not the best thing in the world. But I say there’s so much love in it nevertheless. Or scrutiny.

5. I didn't quite liked the Twilight movie.

6. My most vivid earliest childhood memory is of me talking to my 3 imaginary friends.

7. I don't like dresses. They're itchy in the weirdest places.

8. I like my eggs, sunny side up.

9. I will get a tattoo when I turn 25.

10. I plan to live NY for a month before I get married. I will do nothing but bum, take photos of subways, visit museums and art galleries, hunt some bands, read The Times at Central Park, eat pizza and survive taxi rides.

11.I believe that my high school soccer field owns one of the best sunsets.

12. I occasionally take random photos without looking through the view finder or LCD display.

13. I’ve watched My Bestfriend’s Wedding almost 20 times already. I'm not lying but, Ok, so maybe I’m exaggerating a little, lying and exaggerating are two different entities. Yeah, but I think the number is close to that.

14. My videoke song is, umm, Stay by Lisa Loeb. Because I love Reality Bites, Hah!, and I can practically recite the lyrics in my sleep plus, the You try to tell me that I’m clever, but that won’t take me anyhow, or anywhere with you shit.

15. I will walk the aisle to The Used’s I Caught Fire.

16. I have a new old red bike :]

Funeral Poem for my Mum.

You can shed tears that she is gone,

Or you can smile because she has lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back,

Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see her,

Or you can be full of the love that you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,

Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember her and only that she is gone,

Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind,

be empty and turn your back

Or you can do what Mum would have wanted:

smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

This shot of First Bath B9TL 36233 BD12TCU on June 29th 2021 shows the barley is turning into a golden brown on this shot between Midsomer Norton and Paulton. Bit of a change from its old haunts grinding around Leeds.

Cycling is one of my passions. Seeing the way they use bikes in Germany gives me a whole new appreciation for the sport. With gas and diesel fuel at about $10 per gallon a bicycle is the cheap and smart way to travel. This was shot in Heidelburg Germany.

View on fluidr

This is one of my go-to workout songs that really helps push me to my limits and gets a lot out. I think there’s a lot of truth in the last set of lyrics… life’s not always going to be a smooth and easy road, and I think I’ve learned so much more from when I got burned than when I had it easy…

Song: Primal Scream

By: Motley Crue

Theme: Power In Words

Year Nine Of My 365 Project

The Red Church is one of the masterpieces of early Christian architecture in Europe, it is an architectural and archaeological monument of national importance. Early Christian basilica, The Red Church is located 2 km northeast of Perushtitsa. The Red Church was built in the early middle ages - V - VI century BC. The central building takes the shape of a four-leafed clover and placed on the remains of another building with a similar plan. The remains form the main part of the church and include a four corner space, including two bypass corridors which are located around the northern and southern conch. Subsequently more rooms where added: a double narthex, a chapel adjoined to it from the south side and a baptistery (baptismal) from the north side. The portico with columns from the west shapeentrance of the church. The approach to the last entrance is a stone staircase, from which only individual rocks where preserved. The overall dimensions of the church are: length - 32.45 m and width - 29 meters.

Cumberland Falls History

Geologists estimate that the rock over which the Cumberland River plunges is about 250 million years old. Romantics are enchanted with the poetic beauty of the falls. Visitors are awed by the majesty of the falls. Historians note the uniqueness of the site.

Often called the “Niagara of the South,” Cumberland Falls has attracted the attention of countless people since prehistoric times. Although the first permanent, white settlers at Cumberland Falls did not arrive until 1850, people have inhabited this area for thousands of years. Native Americans lived here as long as 10,000 years ago. They made their home in rock shelters at the base of the cliffs that line the river. These people were primitive hunters living off the land. As early as 1650, Shawnee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and the Creek nations visited often and used the areas for temporary hunting camps. Both Cumberland and Eagle Falls were held sacred by many Native Americans. Early maps show the Cumberland River was known as the Shawnee River.

Early travel accounts describe the falls. Dr. Thomas Walker during his 1750 exploration of Kentucky named the waterfall after the Duke of Cumberland, a son of King George II of England. The “Long Hunters” camped in the area. Kentucky historian Richard Henry Collins wrote a vivid description of Cumberland Falls in his 1874 History of Kentucky. He describes the falls as one of the “most remarkable objects in the state.” Collins went on to say that the surrounding countryside “presents to the eye of the traveler a succession of scenery as romantic and picturesque as any in the state.” Cumberland Falls could also take visitors unaware. On February 12, 1780, Zachariah Green and four companions had to quickly abandon their boat when the rushing waters of the Cumberland River carried it over the falls.

Ownership of Cumberland Falls included Samuel Garland, a Virginian who traded a portion of his supplies for the land around the falls. He intended to build a water mill, but instead built a cabin in which he resided for a while before returning to Virginia. The first official record of the falls ownership occurred in 1800 when the Commonwealth of Kentucky granted Matthew Walton and Adam Shepard Cumberland Falls and 200 acres. In 1850, Louis and Mary H. Renfro bought 400 acres “including the Great Falls of the Cumberland.” The couple built a cabin near the falls and later added a two-room lean-to for visitors who wished to fish and enjoy the beauty of the magnificent waterfall.

Socrates Owens constructed a hotel at the falls. Handmade furniture filled the rooms of the hotel. Those things that could not be made on site were brought from Cincinnati to Parker’s Lake Post Office located fourteen miles from the falls. When Owens died in 1890, his widow, Nannie William Owens, and his son, Edward F. Owens, took possession of the Cumberland Falls Hotel. The Owens family later sold the hotel and 400 acres to the Cumberland Falls Company, which in turn sold it to J.C. Brunson, who renamed the hotel the Brunson Inn.

In 1927 the Kiwanis Club sponsored the building of a trail from Corbin, Kentucky to Cumberland Falls. This project involved 200 men and women working for nine weeks to complete the task. In November 1927 Kentucky native T. Coleman DuPont offered to buy the falls and the surrounding acreage and give it to the commonwealth for a state park. The offer came at the right time. Discussions already were under way regarding a proposal by the Cumberland River Power Company to build a dam above the falls. However, not until March 10, 1930 did the Kentucky legislature vote to accept the now deceased Coleman’s offer of the falls area as a state park. Coleman’s widow proceeded to buy the property of 593 acres for $400,000. Under the direction of Dr. Willard Rouse Jillson who had served as the first commissioner of state parks, a committee adopted a motion to make Cumberland Falls part of the state parks system. The dedication of Cumberland Falls as a Kentucky State Park took place August 21, 1931.

The road from Corbin to the falls needed improvement, and in 1931 a new highway was completed. Between September 7, and Thanksgiving Day, 1931, over 50,000 visitors came to see Cumberland Falls. In 1933 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) had 136 young men working at the falls to improve the park. They constructed DuPont Lodge and fifteen cabins for visitors, along with campsites, picnic areas, roads and trails. The lodge had 26 rooms with a lounge two-stories high replete with a huge stone fireplace. A fire destroyed DuPont Lodge on April 5, 1940. Park authorities constructed a new lodge in 1941. Fires destroyed the old Cumberland Fall Hotel in 1947 and in 1949 the Moonbow Inn also burned. Throughout the remainder of the twentieth century, the Kentucky parks system carried out extensive improvements. The park has a museum that has Indian artifacts. All types of seasonal recreational activities take place at the park. However, the greatest attraction is the thundering waters of Cumberland Falls. The falls are 65 feet high and 125 feet wide. When the Cumberland River is at flood stage the width of the falls can quickly expand to 300 feet.

Besides the falls, one of the great attractions at Cumberland Falls State Park is the Moonbow. Visible on moonlit evenings, the Moonbow is said to only be duplicated at Victoria Falls in Africa. This is one of truly awesome sights in not only Kentucky, but also in the world. The beauty of Cumberland Falls draws visitors from across the world to come to Kentucky to see its grandeur.

Película cristiana en español | "La honestidad no tiene precio" Dios bendice a los que son honestos

Zhen Cheng era el dueño de un taller de reparación de electrodomésticos. Era amable, honesto y llevaba su negocio siguiendo las reglas. Nunca trataba de engañar a nadie, pero apenas ganaba lo suficiente para mantener a su familia. Pasado un tiempo, un miembro de su familia y un colega le instaron a practicar las reglas no escritas del negocio, y Zhen Cheng comenzó a creer en dichos que representan una filosofía satánica, tales como:"El dinero no es omnipotente, pero sin él no se puede hacer absolutamente nada". "Los valientes mueren satisfechos; los tímidos mueren de hambre".y "El dinero es lo primero".Zhen Cheng perdió la buena conciencia que le había guiado hasta entonces y empezó a usar métodos maliciosos para ganar más dinero. Aunque ganaba más que antes y su nivel de vida había mejorado, Zhen Cheng, sin embargo, se sentía infeliz y le asolaba un sentimiento de vacío; su existencia era hueca y estaba cargada de sufrimiento.

Cuando Zhen Cheng aceptó la obra de Dios Todopoderoso de los últimos días, llegó a entender a través de la palabra de Dios que a Dios le gusta la gente honesta y desprecia a los que engañan. Zhen Cheng también llegó a entender que ser una persona honesta es la única manera de comportarse como una auténtica persona y la única manera de alcanzar la alabanza de Dios, y por eso prometió ser un hombre honesto. Sin embargo, se demostró que ser un hombre honesto en el mundo real era difícil; con los hermanos y hermanas de la iglesia podía ser tan directo como debía; pero si lo era en el mundo de los negocios, ¿podría ganar dinero? A la larga no sólo ganaría menos dinero, además podría experimentar significativas pérdidas y arriesgarse a quedarse sin su negocio... Ante tales dificultades, ¿podría Zhen Cheng llevar su negocio con honestidad? ¿Qué tipo de giros inesperados ocurrirán en el proceso? ¿Cuál será su mayor recompensa?

Former Donnnybrook AV383 now with Harristown, is seen at the Liffey Valley terminus of route 239 on the 19/5/2018.

repurposed book pages (circa 1951), multiple layers of acrylic paints, high gloss lacquer finish on wood.

Available

please visit www.RosemaryPierce-Lackey.com

Here is another panoramic. Its still not where I want the image to be, might be over-processed. For some reason, panoramas are a challenge for me. Exposure never seems to be correct, there's blending issues, processing issues, etc. Im not sure if I should be blending the images first then process or vice versa. None the less it's fun and guess that's what matters.

As always Crits/Comments welcomed. Please let me know your opinions.

Pin it, share it, post it, like it, favorite it, pass it on.

YJ67 CZY is a Van Hool EX17H C53FLt coach in the fleet of Turners, Bristol and employed on Flixbus work. It had been new to Arriva, Gomersal (Q) as a Demonstrator in December 2017. It served in the Republic of Ireland with Kavanagh (B), Urlingford from April 2019, where it was reregistered 172-KK-954. It returned to the UK with Lancashire Bus (Vantage Coaches), Blackburn as YJ67 CZY in January 2020. It joined Turners in October 2020.

Want to find out more? Join The PSV Circle - Details at www.psvcircle.org.uk

Copyright © P.J. Cook, all rights reserved. It is an offence to copy, use or post this image anywhere else without my permission.

This view is of the school taken from within St Philip's churchyard, the school fronted onto St Philip's Place and was separated from the Cathedral by cast iron railings. The churchyard seemed a more pleasant place to dwell back in 1934, it was more like a park it had fewer seats and well tended gardens. To the left the shop blinds of Colmore Row may be seen at the point where Livery Street drops away at the side of Snow Hill Station. Just peeping over the doomed school building are the ornamental railings around the turret of what could be Edward Grey's department store in Upper Bull Street.

The Blue Coat School opened on the 9th August 1724, the building was designed by John Rawsthorne, it was intended for orphans and children of the poor. The school provided clothing, maintenance, a good elementary education and religious instruction according to the principals of the Church of England. Extensions and improvements were carried out in 1794 at a cost of £2,800. The school moved to new buildings, designed by J.L. Ball and H.W. Simister, at Somerset Road Harborne in 1930. This view shows the school at an early stage of demolition Circa 1934.

This and the other pictures in this set were taken by Miss Phyllis Nicklin on her new Leica camera, she was active with her 35mm work up until war broke out when she stopped, she re-started photography in the 1950's using colour slide film. Her colour work was left to the University of Birmingham and it has been scanned and is available for consultation, it is a wonderful collection of Birmingham views taken from around 1953 up until 1969. The pictures were used for a 'Then and Now' project during 2017 with the title "In the Footsteps of Phyllis..." the project involved 71 photographers who took 857 pictures. An exhibition of the work is planned for later in the year, it was co-ordinated by Dave Allen.

The story of the black and white films follows a familiar path. Phyllis Nickin's book and paper collection was left to the School of Geography, it was huge and took an entire room, with it arrived a box of rolled up 35mm films, nobody wanted them and they gathered dust until...yes "dump them" indeed a lot of them are unidentified blurry holiday pictures and are of no use but among them are some gems, Phyllis seemed to use the last few frames around Birmingham before handing the film in to 'Camera House' (Cannon Street) for processing. The real problem I have is that the films have coiled for 83 years, they are like bed springs and the only way of scanning them is the rather brutal method of using low-tack tape and taping them down to the scanner.

Phyllis Nicklin (Collection Geoff Dowling: All rights reserved)

I need more wigs and clothes!!! TT^TT

I have a temptation to redo her lips and her eye shadows.

MSC is out of stock and I have to wait for 2 weeks.

Purple is the color of good judgment. It is the color of people seeking spiritual fulfillment. It is said if you surround yourself with purple you will have peace of mind. Purple is a good color to use in meditation.

Purple has been used to symbolize magic and mystery, as well as royalty. Being the combination of red and blue, the warmest and coolest colors, purple is believed to be the ideal color. Most children love the color purple. Purple is the color most favored by artists. Thursday's color is purple.

Jimi Hendrix-Purple Haze www.youtube.com/watch?v=W55Smyyzs58&feature=fvwrel

365 days in colour- www.flickr.com/groups/365daysincolour

90. Purple 112 pictures in 2012 www.flickr.com/groups/1843711@N21/

This was the highlight and reason for my Southern Arizona Adventure 2024. This is stage 8 of 9.

I was lucky to secure permits for the once monthly photography tour of Kartchner Caverns. Kartchner Caverns State Park strictly forbids any cameras or cellphones in the Caverns. Except for one trip per month for 12 to 15 photographers currently $125. I planned a 4 day 3 night road trip around Southern Arizona anchored by my Kartchner Cavern permit.

I was expecting dark conditions. The State Park turned on all the lights in the Big Room. They don't like turning on all the lights since can cause an increase in algae. This is the reason they only have one photography tour a month.

I found myself adjusting my histograms to not clip the highlights. Adapt, Improvise, and Overcome. Next time I am going to bracket my shots. I almost wish I had brought a ND filter or tried a handheld GND filter.

I don't know speleothems so I won't even try to identify. If anyone can help me with the identification, I will appreciate it.

www.nps.gov/subjects/caves/speleothems.htm#:~:text=The%20...)%20when%20needed.

The features that arouse the greatest curiosity for most cave visitors are speleothems. These stone formations exhibit bizarre patterns and other-worldly forms, which give some caves a wonderland appearance. Caves vary widely in their displays of speleothems because of differences in temperature; overall wetness; and jointing, impurities, and structures in the rocks. In general, however, one thing caves do have in common is where speleothems form. Although the formation of caves typically takes place below the water table in the zone of saturation, the deposition of speleothems is not possible until caves are above the water table in the zone of aeration. As soon as the chamber is filled with air, the stage is set for the decoration phase of cave building to begin.

The term speleothem refers to the mode of occurrence of a mineral—i.e., its morphology or how it looks—in a cave, not its composition (Hill, 1997). For example, calcite, the most common cave mineral, is not a speleothem, but a calcite stalactite is a speleothem. A stalactite may be made of other minerals, such as halite or gypsum.

Classifying speleothems is tricky because no two speleothems are exactly alike. Nevertheless, speleologists have taken three basic approaches: classification by morphology, classification by origin, and classification by crystallography. All three of these approaches have their problems (Hill, 1997), so cavers often take a more practical approach that primarily uses morphology (e.g., cave pearls) but includes whatever is known about origin (e.g., geysermites) and crystallography (e.g., spar) when needed.

nocache.azcentral.com/travel/arizona/southern/articles/20...

The Kartchner Caverns, rated one of the world's 10 most beautiful caves, is an eerie wonderland of stalactites and stalagmites still growing beneath the Whetstone Mountains 40 miles southeast of Tucson.

The limestone cave has 13,000 feet of passages and hundreds of formations built over the past 200,000 years, including some that are unique and world-renowned. It's a "living cave," with intricate formations that continue to grow as water seeps, drips and flows from the walls and slowly deposits the mineral calcium carbonate.

The caverns were discovered by amateur spelunkers Randy Tufts and Gary Tenen in 1974 on land owned by the Kartchner family. They kept the cave a secret until 1988, when the Kartchners sold it to the state to become a state park.

The highlights of the Big Room tour are a stretch of strawberry flowstone, which has been colored red by iron oxide (rust) in the water, and a maternity ward for 1,800 female cave myotis bats, with black grime on the ceiling where the bats hang and piles of guano on the floor. Visitors who look closely will see a bat's body embedded in one of the cave's formations.

Though not all are available on the tours, the caverns' unique features include a 21-foot, 2-inch soda straw that's one the world's largest (Throne Room), the world's most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk (Big Room), the first reported occurrence of "turnip" shields (Big Room), the first cave occurrence of "birdsnest" needle quartz formations (Big Room) and the remains of a Shasta ground sloth from the Pleistocene Age (Big Room).

azstateparks.com/Kartchner

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kartchner_Caverns_State_Park

Kartchner Caverns State Park is a state park of Arizona, United States, featuring a show cave with 2.4 miles (3.9 km) of passages.[1] The park is located 9 miles (14 km) south of the town of Benson and west of the north-flowing San Pedro River. Long hidden from view, the caverns were discovered in 1974 by local cavers, assisted by state biologist Erick Campbell who helped in its preservation.

The park encompasses most of a down-dropped block of Palaeozoic rocks on the east flank of the Whetstone Mountains.

The caverns are carved out of limestone and filled with spectacular speleothems which have been growing for 50,000 years or longer, and are still growing. Careful and technical cave state park development and maintenance, initially established by founder Dr. Bruce Randall "Randy" Tufts, geologist, were designed to protect and preserve the cave system throughout the park's development, and for perpetuity.[3]

The two major features of the caverns accessible to the public are the Throne Room and the Big Room. The Throne Room contains one of the world's longest (21 ft 2 in (6.45 m))[5] soda straw stalactites and a 58-foot (18 m) high column called Kubla Khan, after the poem. The Big Room contains the world's most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk. Big Room cave tours are closed during the summer for several months (April 15 to October 15) each year because it is a nursery roost for cave bats, however the Throne Room tours remain open year-round.[8]

Other features publicly accessible within the caverns include Mud Flats, Rotunda Room, Strawberry Room, and Cul-de-sac Passage. Approximately 60% of the cave system is not open to the public.[9]

Many different cave formations can be found within the caves and the surrounding park. These include cave bacon, helictites, soda straws, stalactites, stalagmites and others.[12] Cave formations like the stalactites and stalagmites grow approximately a 16th of an inch every 100 years.[13]

Haiku thoughts:

Beneath earth's cool veil,

Stalactites in silence grow,

Whispers of stone deep.

Kartchner

Southern Arizona Adventure 2024

Badir is a thirty-one Iraqi who had been living in Brooklyn. He and Bronco had a brief but powerful love affair. After having to go back to Iraq, Bronco so much wants to be reunited with him.

✰ This photo was featured on The Epic Global Showcase here: bit.ly/1SCJIbo

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Hello! This is me 😊 have a wonderful Sunday everyone (📷 my Eloise)

by @jannelford on Instagram.

青葉区 Aoba, 仙台 Sendai

Fred is Billy's second cousin, twice removed.

He is also a frog.

Fred the Frog.

He is also Kermit the Frog's lesser know brother.

Pepe's, too. They're all brothers, separated at birth.

He does not do much.

Frogs are amphibians.

Just an interesting fact for you about frogs.

What do you mean you already knew that?

A common fact?

Dang...

Well, this is awkward.

Anyway!

I encourage you to make Fred.

So does Billy.

#BillyPresident2020

This picture is #83 in my 3rd round of the 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

The last picture from my session last Friday evening. It was getting later, the light was starting to go but I wanted to get one last picture. There's a walk way at the end of Denham Street that a few others have used in the past and I was keen to use it as a background because, under exposed in low light, it looked rather otherworldly. I waited for quite a while, and just as I was beginning to think that I was going to have to pack it in I saw Ellie walking towards me. She was happy to work with me thankfully so I whipped out the reflector and we got to work. She was very apologetic about the whisps of hair floating around but there wasn't much we could do because it was windy, and I quite like the effect.

She works at a theatre near by. She'd spent a lot of time in Grahamstown in South Africa, where my mother lived as a child, and where my wife used to spend a lot of time at the annual festival which is a bit like SA's version of the Edinburgh Festival so good common ground.

So what started out as a difficult stranger shooting session with three people in a row not wishing to play ended up as an awesome session with more than a few wonderful encounters. I headed home with a spring in my step reminded once again that perseverance pays off.

If you like my work, please take a look at my Facebook page and my website.

I know the title won't win any prizes for originality, but I just can't think of anything else. Neither Cassie, our dog, or I have had much energy for walks recently and so we have been mooching around a wildflower meadow in a local Woodland Trust area. I've only had my macro lens with me as I didn't want to carry any other heavy lenses around and so I have been looking for butterflies, moths, bugs and wildflowers. It's been very interesting to watch what is happening in this tiny world week by week.

After almost catching up with my contacts at the weekend, I've been unable to see most of the images on Flickr on my computer for some reason. It's improved a little now and so I'll hopefully be visiting everyone again over the next few days.

Cayucos is a quiet beach town located on California Highway 1, a short drive from Morro Bay (about 7 miles) and 20 miles from San Luis Obispo. Details are available at Cayucos by the Sea.

During our stay, the daytime temperature was a delightful 90 degrees F, and two years ago when we stayed at the same location it reached 100!

This is a scan of an original kodachrome slide. It was scanned with an Epson Pro V750, and finished up with very minor post processing work in Photoshop.

The original comes from my own slide collection, which contains both my own photos and those acquired over the past forty or so years collecting.

The uploading of the material in this Flickr collection is just for the purpose of sharing the pictures with people who may find them of interest. Comments are welcomed.

MSN: 77

TYPE/SRS: Convair 580

REG'N: N3423

OPERATOR: Northwest Airlines

LOCATION/DATE:

REMARKS:

is the SP4449 locomotive pulling the Holiday Express, Portland, Oregon. Click here to see the 13 frames used to create the above as a looping time-lapse. 2021 Holiday Express Schedule. Tips for Photographing the Holiday Express. OM1548-60

Stourhead is the best example of a garden inspired by the great landscape painters of the seveneeenth century. Ernst Gombrich suggests it should bear the signature of an Italianized French painter: Claude Lorrain (1600-82). The Stourhead garden was made by a wealthy English banker who had been buying works of art in Italy at the time he inherited the Stourhead estate. Henry Hoare II's 'Claudian' garden was made in an unusually well-proportioned valley behind the house. The Temple of Flora at Stourhead was made in 1745 and the grotto in 1748. But the key date was 1754, when the lake and the Pantheon were made. It is based on the Pantheon in Rome and the planned walk through the estate is based on the journey of Rome's legendry founder, Aeneas. The five-arched bridge was made in 1762 and the Temple of Apollo in 1765. Gothic features were added later in the century: Alfred's Tower, a Rustic Cottage and a Hermitage.The Stourhead woods were underplanted with Rhododendron ponticum after 1791 and with more exotic species in the twentieth century.

Lying in secluded privacy in its own valley, Stourhead in Wiltshire features one of the world’s finest landscape gardens making it perfect for a fantastic day out.

A magnificent lake is central to the design at Stourhead, with the lakes edge being adorned with classical temples, enchanting grottos and rare and exotic trees to discover.

The Hoare family history can be uncovered in Stourhead House, a majestic Palladian mansion housing a unique Regency library with fabulous collections of Chippendale furniture and paintings, all set amid delightful lawns and parkland.

Stourhead is at the heart of a 1,072-hectare (2,650 acre) estate where chalk downs, ancient woods and farmland are managed for nature conservation and perfect to explore.

www.gardenvisit.com/garden/stourhead_garden

Blogged for the Inventory Alphabet Challenge: picsbypeep.com/2014/04/08/g-is-for-gos/

The cheetah is built for speed. It has long, slim, muscular legs, a small, rounded head set on a long neck, a flexible spine, a deep chest, nonretractable claws, special pads on its feet for traction and a long, tail for balance. Although fast, the cheetah cannot run at full speed for long distances (100 yards is about the limit) because it may overheat.

Cheetahs have distinctive black "tear stripes" that connect from the inside corner of each eye to the mouth that may serve as an antiglare device for daytime hunting.

This shape is designed for LeLUTKA Avalon Head 4.0 (EvoX) and eBODY Reborn.

Aerav Marketplace

While optimized for the listed head and body, this shape is fully modifiable and can be adjusted to work with other mesh bodies and compatible LeLUTKA heads. Minor tweaks may be required depending on your body choice, personal preferences, or added deformers.

What you receive:

• 1 Shape (Copy / Modify)

• Eyebrow Shape

• Stylecard

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• Optimized for LeLUTKA Avalon 4.0

• Optimized for eBODY Reborn

• Adjustable for other bodies and heads

Important Notes:

• Head, body, skin, hair, clothing, and accessories are NOT included

• Results may vary depending on skins, animations, and personal adjustments

• This shape is intended as a base - customization is encouraged

If you have any questions or issues, please contact Fury Darkfold in world.

Thank you for supporting Aerav.

cone is ca 10 cm long whilst the needles are up to 15 cm

www.conifers.org/pi/Pinus_halepensis.php

Pinus halepensis

Miller 1768

Common names

Aleppo pine; الصنوبر الحلبي [Arabic]; Pin d'Alep [French]; pino d'Aleppo [Italian]; Alepski bor [Croation]; Halep çamı [Turkish]; אורן ירושלים [Hebrew]; pino carrasco [Spanish]. Aleppo is in Syria, where the species was first described.

Taxonomic notes

Synonymy (Farjon 1998):

P. alepensis Poir. in Lamarck 1804

Pinus maritima Mill. 1768

Pinus sylvestris L. var. maritima Aiton 1789

Pinus maritima Aiton 1813 non Mill. 1768

Pinus penicillus Lepeyr. 1813

Pinus arabica Sieber ex Spreng. 1826

Pinus genuensis S.E. Cook 1834

Pinus halepensis Mill. var. genuensis (S.E. Cook) Antoine 1840

Pinus hispanica J. Cook 1834

Pinus halepensis Mill. var. minor Antoine 1840

Pinus carica D. Don in Fellows 1841

Pinus halepensis Mill. var. carica (D. Don) Carr. 1855

Pinus abasica Carr. 1855

Pinus halepensis Mill. var. abasica (Carr.) Carr. 1867

Pinus loiseleuriana Carr. 1855

Pinus pseudohalepensis Denhardt ex Carr. 1855

Pinus parolinii Vis. 1856

Pinus × saportae Rouy 1913

Pinus ceciliae Llorens et L. Llorens 1984

Pinus halepensis Mill. var. ceciliae (Llorens et L. Llorens) Rosello et al. 1992

Description

Trees 15–25 m tall and up to 150 cm DBH. Single round trunk, often divided to form in mature trees a rounded or flat-topped crown of slender, irregular horizontal, upturned branches; crown form often shaped by wind, especially near the sea. Bark at first smooth silvery gray, later becomings purple-brown, longitudinally grooved and fissured into scaly plates. Branchlets smooth, slightly ridged, gray-green. Winter buds conic, 8 mm long, the scales fringed and often reflexed. Needles in fascicles of 2(–3), 5–12 cm × 1 mm, twisted, edges minutely serrate, with stomata on all surfaces; rather sparsely arrayed along the branchlets. Fascicle sheath persistent but fragile. Seed cones on thick, scaly peduncles; at maturity ovoid, pendant, 6–12 × 4–7 cm, symmetrical, red- to purple-brown, solitary or in whorls of 2–3. Cones take 3 years to mature and remain on branches for long thereafter. Cone scales shiny, yellow- or red-brown, about 2.5 × 1.5 cm, apophysis rhomboid, flat or slightly raised and keeled, without a prickle. Seed 5-6 mm long with a 2.5 cm wing (Dallimore et al. 1967, Farjon 1984).

Distribution and Ecology

Mediterreanean and W Asia: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Malta, France, and Spain. In South Africa, where it is cultivated for shelter poles and firewood, it has naturalized and invaded grassland and fynbos, particularly on dry soils, and become widespread in the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape (Palgrave 2002). It is also locally naturalized in USA: California (PLANTS database 2009.03.31). Hardy to Zone 8 (cold hardiness limit between -12.1°C and -6.7°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Big tree

I have no data on wild trees. A specimen in Arderne Gardens, Claremont, Cape Town, South Africa was measured at 172 cm dbh and 32.0 m tall (Robert Van Pelt pers. comm., 2003.11.24).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Pioneering work was carried out by Gindel (1944). Further work can be located at the Bibliography of Dendrochronology.

Ethnobotany

In the eastern Mediterranean, Pinus halepensis forests are important for resin, fuelwood and forest honey production and also for livestock grazing. "Resin collection activities in Mediterranean countries had always played a significant role in the welfare of forest communities, some of which lived marginally at the edge of subsistence. In some low-income areas, resin collection was (and continue to be) the only reliable source of labor. In addition, many of the resin producing forests are community forests and production benefits go to resin community co-operatives. Another important aspect of these forests is that multiple purpose forestry is applied and other activities other than resin collection co-exist, such as apiculture... Income from the wood of a Pinus halepensis tree, for example, is only 2% of the income generated from resin throughout the lifetime of the tree (an average size tree can produce 3–4 kilograms of resin per year). Moreover, it has been observed that forests that have active resin production have lower incidence of forest fires. This results from the fact that adjacent communities have an active interest in preserving the integrity of the forest ecosystems" (Moussouris and Regato 1999).

Observations

Here is Allen Bill Pond, a lovely manmade fishing pond just down the road from Elbow Falls, a little ways into the Canadian Rockies.

It is truly a gorgeous and idyllic spot, and always brings back happy memories for me, as it is a place I have been visiting with my family and friends as far back as I can remember!

Baren

Strandvägen is a boulevard that was created in the second half of the nineteenth century in Stockholm's Östermalm district. The boulevard, which looks out over the water, is lined with grand, almost palatial buildings that were designed by some of the top architects of the day.

www.aviewoncities.com/stockholm/strandvagen.htm

‘is such a sad affair..’

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I recommend zooming in with L or just tapping the picture on the phone to see the detail. Yee Haw!!!

© All rights reserved.

"It is not the world that needs peace; it is people. When people in the world are at peace within, the world will be at peace."

Prem Rawat

www.wordpaint.com

www.wopg.org

Breakfast is over and I'm ready for a break. I'm off to the shower and then over to the old house to finish getting it ready to rent. I had a great day yesterday, helping my son, Alex, build a new bee hive and a beanbag toss game. I'll post some pics of the bee hive and beanbag toss after they are both painted.

Cheers,

Wade

Laxpressions is an experiment that taps the creative pulse of the inhabitants of Los Angeles County, and tests the artistic will of one man and his briefcase, as he stalks all the walks of all the lives and times of days and nights, methodically and photographically, documenting the results.

"I take pictures of people in Los Angeles County, with a par of sunglasses, and a copy of the LA.... Xpress. It doesn't cost a thing to try your creative hand and mind only three simple rules: the image must feature 1) you in LA county, with 2) a pair of sunglasses and 3) a copy of the LA...Xpress. It can be done anytime, anyplace, and anywhere, because in Los Angeles County you can always find a pair of sunglasses and a copy of the LA....Xpress." -Barry Boen

Laxpressions, Volume I: read the pictures. ©Twentyeleven, Print is Dead Publishing Co. The initial hardcover, 1st ed. press available late Summer 2011 from Print Is Dead Publishing on the shelves of your local bookstores or mail-order online.