Maurizio's dream is to captain a boat in the bay of Naples and to protect the habitat around Pospitillo and the Amalfi Coast. When he shakes hands, his grip is of old rope.

Maurizio is currently living out his dream.

Recommended View: Large On Black

All Rights Reserved - Trey Ratcliff - From Stuck In Customs www.stuckincustoms.com

This is a Photohop manipulation of a great photograph taken by Dave, seen in my favorites collection here on flickr. Because the largest size he had online originally was only about 800 pixels in the longest dimension, the crop I used to manipulate the image is very small. The best "amazing circles" are done with high resolution photos that are larger in pixel dimensions to begin with. The group on flickr that has a link to a tutorial on how to do this is here. I got a copy of the original so I could work out a good resolution version that will print very well. This finished image is now larger and shows more detail.

For fun, browse through the group pool for Amazing Circles.

Beauty Will Save The World! -- Dostoevsky

Beautiful 45SURF 45EPIC Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! Pretty Helen from Homer's Iliad! The Birth of Venus! Pretty Swimsuit Malibu Surf Girl Lifestyle Portraiture! Canon 5D Mark II & Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens !

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Support epic, stoic fine art: Hero's Odyssey Gear!

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All my photography celebrates the physics of light! The McGucken Principle of the fourth expanding dimension: The fourth dimension is expanding at the rate of c relative to the three spatial dimensions: dx4/dt=ic .

Lao Tzu--The Tao: Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Unifying Physical Reality of the Fourth Expanding Dimensionsion dx4/dt=ic !: geni.us/Fa1Q

"Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life." --John Muir

Epic Stoicism guides my fine art odyssey and photography: geni.us/epicstoicism

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” --John Muir

Epic Poetry inspires all my photography: geni.us/9K0Ki Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art Nature Photography with the Poetic Wisdom of John Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, Homer's Iliad, Milton's Paradise Lost & Dante's Inferno Odyssey

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” --John Muir

Epic Art & 45EPIC Gear exalting golden ratio designs for your Hero's Odyssey:

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Support epic fine art! 45surf ! Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz

Exalt the goddess archetype in the fine art of photography! My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!

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Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ... Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!

Some of my epic books, prints, & more!

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Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!

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Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!

Epic Landscape Photography:

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A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)

All art is but imitation of nature.-- Seneca (Letters from a Stoic - Letter LXV: On the First Cause)

The universe itself is God and the universal outpouring of its soul. --Chrysippus (Quoted by Cicero in De Natura Deorum)

This is the Finger Lakes Trail's eastern terminus or trail-head. This trail crosses New York State westward for 585 miles touching each of New York's famous Finger Lakes. This has got to be a great trail to hike end to end.

This is my own creation of vtuber Nanashi Mumei. 😊

Check out my Ko-Fi post: ko-fi.com/s/39f1d74519

Check out my Rebrickable post: rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-86724/BrickHugger171/nanashi-mum...

And now, something completely different.

No, it is not an M38 Sherman tank scope, it is not to be mounted on a Sterling submachine gun. It is a slightly different M38A2 scope that was supposed to be mounted on a project raygun.

But it won't be.

What this does not fit on is a fictional Sci-Fi handgun, or a raygun, if you like, I have been working on (and off) for two years now. It's a completely handcrafted custom gun of my original design, it has an all-steel construction with walnut grips and electronics from Erv' of the Plecterlabs. Every bit of the gun is handmade, even some of the screws keeping it together, the only thing that isn't custom made is the sighting scope.

I wanted to use a real scope, partially as a nod to movie prop guns, but mostly to keep in touch with reality. I went for an old Weaver rifle scope because it's simple sleek tubular form (and cheap price, it cost only $14). The M38, which is all too familiar from the Stormtrooper blaster, is a gorgeous piece of vintage optics and I kept wondering if it would work despite the Star Wars connection. I kept an eye on those for about 18 months on eBay, and boy, were they expensive! Then I found this equivalent with fair price and thought, damn, I gotta try this.

I removed the Weaver and tried the M38A2 on instead. I immediately realized that it just doesn't work. Too heavy, too Star Wars, too obvious. So, it's back with the Weaver.

At the moment the raygun (visible in the background) has almost all the steel parts fitted in place, it still needs some serial and other numbers punched in before it can be polished, blued and worn to look like a hudred+ years old well oiled vintage handgun behind museum glass. Electronics will be fitted in last.

For the record: I do not own any guns or weapons of any kind, never have. This is just a raygun project, albeit a serious one in some levels. I will upload more photos with more info & detail as the project nears it's completion, but it'll be slow, I have too many projects going on. You know what it's like.

Where there is fire, there is flammenwerfer. A German flamethrower team with Kleif model flamethrower practices clearing a trench. Does anyone know what those objects are that look like miniature sea mines?

Art is… bit.ly/tuzvaP

"Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland, is the headquarters of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSED). It houses the Surgeons' Hall Museum, and the library and archive of the RCSED. The present Surgeons' Hall was designed by William Henry Playfair and completed in 1832, and is a category A listed building.

Surgeons' Hall Museum is the major medical museum in Scotland, and one of Edinburgh's many tourist attractions. The museum is recognised as a collection of national significance by the Scottish Government.

The museum reopened in September 2015, after being closed for an eighteen-month period of redevelopment.

The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh was incorporated in 1505, when it received its Seal of Cause or charter and became styled as 'The Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh'. The Museum at Surgeons Hall, Edinburgh dates from 1699 when the Incorporation announced that they were making a collection of ‘natural and artificial curiosities’. and advertised for these in the first edition of a local paper, the Edinburgh Gazette. Daniel Defoe, an early visitor in 1726, wrote in his Tour thro' the whole Island of Great Britain that the 'chamber of rarities' contained many curious things too numerous for him to describe. Much of this early collection was given to the University of Edinburgh in the 1760s.

By the early years of the 19th Century, the Incorporation had received a Royal Charter to become the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. The College saw its primary role as the teaching of anatomy and surgery, the training of surgeons, and examination of their acquired knowledge. Anatomy and pathology specimens were crucial to that function. The museum expanded dramatically with the acquisition of two large collections. John Barclay, a successful anatomy demonstrator in the extramural school of medicine donated his collection, while Sir Charles Bell, Professor of Surgery in the University of London and latterly in the University of Edinburgh sold his collection to the museum. These collections were much too large to be housed in the original 1697 Surgeons' Hall, and so the surgeons commissioned the leading Edinburgh architect William Playfair to build the present day Surgeons Hall, which opened in 1832. At first the entire upper floor of the building was devoted to the museum collections, which were open to the public and attracted large visitor numbers. Throughout the 19th and early 20th century the collection expanded as it became customary for surgeons and pathologists to donate not only specimens which they regarded as interesting or instructive, but surgical instruments and equipment. With the great scientific and technical advances of the time, the museum began to acquire anaesthetic equipment, histology slides, X-rays and photographs.

Edinburgh (/ˈɛdɪnbərə/; Scots: Edinburgh; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann [ˈt̪uːn ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ]) is the capital of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the Firth of Forth's southern shore.

Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and the supreme courts of Scotland. The city's Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, philosophy, the sciences and engineering. It is the second largest financial centre in the United Kingdom (after London) and the city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdom's second most visited tourist destination attracting 4.9 million visits including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018.

Edinburgh is Scotland's second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The official population estimates are 488,050 (2016) for the Locality of Edinburgh (Edinburgh pre 1975 regionalisation plus Currie and Balerno), 518,500 (2018) for the City of Edinburgh, and 1,339,380 (2014) for the city region. Edinburgh lies at the heart of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland city region comprising East Lothian, Edinburgh, Fife, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian.

The city is the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. It is home to national institutions such as the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, is placed 20th in the QS World University Rankings for 2020. The city is also known for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999." - info from Wikipedia.

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

Now on Instagram.

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon.

hi Guys

MY THEME FOR THIS WEEK IS: "Karama's A Bitch...And Death Is Her Sister."

Requirements:

~Full body shot

~Fierce and fashionable outfits

~Death must be easy to see

~Try not to make this a bloodbath.

~A small story of what happened in the photo will be appreciated!

~Tag me in photos please

**YOU CANNOT USE STRANGLED AS A DEATH. I'M USING IT AS AN EXAMPLE. BUT YOU CANNOT USE STRANGLED.**

Hi I'm Sweetie Reginia and this is my story.

It all started when as the new neighbor moved in next to us.

I went to him! welcome to bring a gift and I said

"I'm Sweetie Reginia their neighbor and that is a welcome gift!" he is delighted with the gift!

BUT THEN ONE DAY IT IS HAPPENING! HE CAME TO ME AND SAYS HAVE LUS come along? I invite you to a coffee

I said yes right!

he took me as we drove to the car, I told him we are driving in the wrong direction!

HE SAYS I KILL YOU TONIGHT!!

I thought it would be a joke but he was serious!

I wanted to get out but he hit me on the head! I AM powerless

then were there he was! in a warehouse, where he has continued dismembered and murdered people!

HE HAS STABBED ME AND ME WILL carve up! HE HOLDS AN AXE IN HAND

I SCREAM HELPPPPPP! !! but no one can hear me!

the last thing I said was "NOOO! WHY!!"

END <3

i hope you like it!!!

deadline : AUGUST 31

www.flickr.com/photos/photographybratzepicllamaso_o/95333...

xoxo Sweetie-Reginia

There is still time for you to enjoy the trains and the Pumpkin Patch at the Western Railway Museum, Solano County, Northern California on Saturdays and Sundays through October 27, 2013. I highly recommend it! Details here:

www.wrm.org/events/upcoming_events.htm#annual

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

sad thing is, andrew came here today.

but i wasn't able to go see him :(

i was pretty set on having a jacks mannequin song as my little theme

that tree really wasn't that high haha

this was more difficult than it looks :/

(And today was a day just like any other)

I'm on the verge, I'm on the verge

Unraveling with every word

With every word you say, make me believe

That I won't feel your tires on the street

As I'm finding the words... you're getting away

I'm ready so don't call, oh... oh... oh...

I'm Ready - Jacks Mannequin

Is there anyone out there who think that he can define art?

Chinatown is an area of Liverpool that is an ethnic enclave home to the oldest Chinese community in Europe. Located in the south of the city centre, Chinatown has many Chinese businesses, such as Chinese restaurants and supermarkets, and facilities for the Chinese community. The area is also notable for its Chinese-style architecture; with the paifang on Nelson Street being the largest, multiple-span arch of its kind outside China.

The first presence of Chinese people in Liverpool dates back to 1834 when the first vessel direct from China arrived in Liverpool's docks to trade such goods as silk and cotton wool. Many Chinese immigrants first arrived in Liverpool in the late 1860s as a result of Alfred Holt and Company employing large numbers of Chinese seamen while establishing the Blue Funnel Shipping Line. The commercial shipping line created strong trade links between the cities of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Liverpool; mainly importing silk, cotton and tea. From the 1890s onwards, small numbers of Chinese began to set up businesses catering to the Chinese sailors working on Holt's lines and others. Some of these men married working class British women, resulting in a number of British-born Eurasian Chinese being born in Liverpool.

This is Jess, not the most co-operative of models, but a good opportunity to practice with the 85mm f1.2 I've borrowed for a few days off a good friend Graham while he is away on holiday... I may not want to give it back !? :-)

1-800 || f/2 || Iso1000 || 85mm || EV+0.67

View My images on Fluidr

*********************************************************************************************************

All my images are © All Rights Reserved, and must not be used in any form whatsoever, on or in any type of media without my expressed permission

Obviously the photo is for documentation only. Well outside the useful range of my equipment.

These Bald Eagles -- assuming that it is always the same pair -- have been nesting in the woods along the Cedar River for some years now. There are two nests, and they select one or the other each year. One is on a peninsula, and is both close by and easily accessible. They used that one in 2012 and 2013.

The other is on an island out in the middle of the Cedar River. They used that one in 2014, and selected it again this year. It would be accessible only by boat...or of course by air. Prior to the 2008 flood there was a narrow land bridge to this area...but it was washed away, and there is no municipal value in reconstructing it.

Good close photos were possible when the near nest was used. Now...just documentation images.

This is a picture of the sculpture "North Start" which are located in a round-about just outside the little town Aabybro in Denmark.

It is designed by the danish designer/sculptor Kurt Tegtmeier.

You can read some more here:

www.csk.dk/sw/frontend/show.asp?parent=173226&layout=1

© yakkerDK/Ole Houen 2009

Copyright for this gallery photo belongs solely to yakkerDK/Ole Houen. Images may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way without the expressed, written permission of the photographer.

Burra Burra Township.Burra is possibly not an Aboriginal word as some might surmise. It was not uncommon for shepherds to have Indian assistants with them whilst tending the large flocks of sheep in this district. William Streair, who discovered copper at Burra was accompanied by an Indian shepherd and it was he who provided the Hindustani word for “big big” which is “burra burra” for the name of the town. This word was so appropriate as Burra was to become the biggest copper mine in the world in its day. By 1849 Burra could boast of a smelter of its own and a large mining workforce, from both Cornwall and Wales. At the beginning Burra was very much a company town with the company providing houses for the miners, and a doctor service too - but at a cost to the miners. Money was deducted from everyone’s wages to cover housing and medical services. When wages were reduced by Henry Ayers in 1848 South Australia had its first labour strike. The company directors used assistance from the police to break the strike and they even banned the sale of the Adelaide newspaper in Burra when it published an editorial critical of management’s treatment of its miners! Miners could never buy a house, only rent it, and they were forced to use the medical services of the company doctor. Yet despite this style of management Henry Ayers became premier of SA seven times, including 1867-68.

Kooringa, the central part of the present Burra, became the first company town in Australia in 1845. In 1848 the government surveyed a town called Redruth which provided a police station and gaol for the settlements. Later in 1857 another private township was surveyed called Hampton (an English settlement). This township had 22 dwellings by 1872, a Wesleyan chapel and more. The stone ruins of this deserted township are still visible on the hills above Redruth Gaol. Other private towns surveyed in the area were Aberdeen and New Aberdeen (Scottish settlements), associated with the Bon Accord mine, and Llwchwr, a Welsh settlement. These private towns and the government town were separated from Kooringa by the Monster Mine and the smelting works.

Despite the provision of the township by the company there were still about 1,500 people living in 600 dugouts on the banks of Burra Creek even in 1850. Although the dugouts were whitewashed inside, ventilation was poor, they were subject to flooding, and disease was common as all rubbish was dumped outside in the creek. Outbreaks of typhus and typhoid fever were common. To avoid these problems the company announced in 1851 that it would no longer employ any miners who lived in the dugouts. By the beginning of 1851 Burra was the largest inland town in Australia with a population of around 5,000. Brisbane, for example only had 2,500 people then and Adelaide had a mere 18,000. It has been estimated that about 1,000 of the town’s population were directly involved in working for the mines. Other people lived in the townships- blacksmiths, wheelwrights, saddlers, chaff merchants and the like. Wood carters were also employed to bring wood to the town from the Murray Mallee east of the Burra Hills for use in the smelters. Much of what you will see in Burra today was built in the 1850s and 1860s before the mine closed in 1877. There are over 100 listed heritage buildings in Burra. The structures were built of local stone and they display great craftsmanship and architectural merit. In particular the mine stacks and buildings, Redruth Gaol (1856), Paxton Square cottages (1849-52), the churches - Roman Catholic (1873-74) and Anglican (1879), the Court House and Police Station (1857), the School (1876), the Post Office (1860) and some others all enhance the historical charm of Burra.

Serendip Sanctuary is a 227 ha protected area in Victoria, Australia, near the You Yangs and the town of Lara, some 22 km north of Geelong and 60 km south-west of Melbourne.

Originally used for farming and other purposes, it was purchased in 1959 by the state government of Victoria for wildlife research and the captive management and breeding of species threatened in Victoria, such as the brolga, magpie goose, Australian bustard, and bush stone-curlew. The sanctuary contains many different types of wetland and is home to many plant species as well, such as river red gums, tall spikerush, and tussock grass. Serendip now focuses more on environmental education about the flora and fauna of the wetlands and open grassy woodlands of the volcanic Western Plains of Victoria. It was opened to the public in 1991 and is now managed by Parks Victoria. (Wikepedia)

Not too easy to shoot this pretty wildflower, as it is always hidden beneath the umbrella.like leaves... But you can get it if your hold the top leaves out of the way. Interesting Wikipedia notes about this plant...that I had not seen for some years...happy to see it today....when I found several large patches of it in a nearby park.

"Mayapple

Podophyllum peltatum - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-246.jpg

Podophyllum peltatum[1]

Podophyllum peltatum.jpg

Scientific classification

Kingdom:Plantae

(unranked):Angiosperms

(unranked):Eudicots

Order:Ranunculales

Family:Berberidaceae

Genus:Podophyllum

L.

Binomial name

Podophyllum peltatum

L.

Synonyms

Anapodophyllum peltatum Moench

Podophyllum is an herbaceous perennial plant in the family Berberidaceae, described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753.In the past, several species were included in the genus, but all but one have been transferred to other genera (Dysosma, Pilea, and Sinopodophyllum).The one remaining species is Podophyllum peltatum, with common names mayapple, American mandrake, wild mandrake,[6] and ground lemon.7 It is widespread across most of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada.

Mayapples are woodland plants, typically growing in colonies derived from a single root. The stems grow to 30–40 cm tall, with palmately lobed umbrella-like leaves up to 20–40 cm diameter with 3–9 shallowly to deeply cut lobes. The plants produce several stems from a creeping underground rhizome; some stems bear a single leaf and do not produce any flower or fruit, while flowering stems produce a pair or more leaves with 1–8 flowers in the axil between the apical leaves. The flowers are white, yellow or red, 2–6 cm diameter with 6–9 petals, and mature into a green, yellow or red fleshy fruit 2–5 cm long.

All the parts of the plant are poisonous including the green fruit but once the fruit is yellow it is safe to eat minus the seeds.

The substance they contain (podophyllotoxin or podophyllin) is used as a purgative and as a cytostatic. Posalfilin is a drug containing podophyllin and salicylic acid that is used to treat the plantar wart.

They are also grown as ornamental plants for their attractive foliage and flowers.

Though the common name is mayapple,it is the flower that appears in early May, not the "apple". The fruit or "apple" is produced early summer and ripens later in summer.

Many species of plants have mycorrhizae to assist with nutrient uptake in infertile conditions. Mayapple plants are considered obligately dependent upon such mycorrhizae, although it may also be facultatively dependent upon rhizome age and soil nutrient levels.Plants are commonly found infected by the rust Allodus podophylli, appearing as honeycomb-patterned orange colonies under the leaves, and yellowish lesions on the upper surface.

Toxicity

The unripe green fruit is toxic. The ripened yellow fruit is edible in little amounts, though when consumed in large amounts the fruit is poisonous. The rhizome, foliage and roots are also poisonous. Mayapple contains podophyllotoxin, which is highly toxic if consumed, but can be used as a topical medicine.

Medicinal use

Mayapple has been used by American Indians as an emetic, cathartic,and antihelmintic agent.They also boiled the poisonous root, and used the water to cure stomach aches.[citation needed] The rhizome of the mayapple has been used for a variety of medicinal purposes, originally by indigenous inhabitants and later by other settlers.

Mayapple can be also used topically for warts, and two of its derivatives, etoposide and teniposide, have shown promise in treating some malignant neoplasms."

BRYNKINALT HALL IS A GRADE II* LISTED BUILDING. THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE PRESENT HOUSE WAS COMPLETED BY SIR EDWARD TREVOR IN 1612. THE BUILDING, WHICH WAS THREE-STOREYS HIGH, WAS CONSTRUCTED FROM BRICK, WHICH WAS CUT ON SITE. THE IMPRESSIVE GREAT HALL WAS ONCE AN OPEN COURTYARD, WHICH THE COACHES ENTERED VIA AN ARCH WHERE THE STAIRCASE IS NOW SITUATED. THE ORIGINAL JACOBEAN OAK PANELLED HALL STILL REMAINS, GIVING A GLIMPSE INTO THE ORIGINAL HOUSE.

EXTENSIVE REMODELLING WAS CARRIED OUT IN 1808 TO THE DESIGN OF CHARLOTTE, VISCOUNTESS DUNGANNON, WHOSE TASTE EMBELLISHED THE SURROUNDING GROUNDS AND PARK. CHARLOTTE ADDED TWO EXTENSIVE WINGS TO THE HOUSE, WHICH INCLUDE THE LARGE DINING AND DRAWING ROOMS, EACH WITH THEIR OWN ANTE ROOMS, TWO SMALL MORNING ROOMS KNOWN AS THE BOUDOIRS, AND A CONSERVATORY WHICH BOASTS STUNNING VIEWS OF THE CEIRIOG VALLEY.

SOME OF THE FEATURES OF HER DESIGNS ARE RECORDED IN A HISTORIC BOOK OF DRAWINGS, PLANS AND SKETCHES, WHICH OFFERS A FASCINATING INSIGHT INTO THE THOUGHTS AND IDEAS THAT LED TO THE FINAL DESIGNS. CHARLOTTE ALSO ADDED MANY GOTHIC TOUCHES TO THE HOUSE, SUCH AS CASTELLATIONS AND TURRETS. SHE ALSO BUILT A NUMBER OF GATE LODGES, FOLLIES AND A DOUBLE WALLED GARDEN.

logaras beach_paros_greece

Covent Garden (/ˈkɒvənt/) is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the elegant buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the London Transport Museum.

Though mainly fields until the 16th century, the area was briefly settled when it became the heart of the Anglo-Saxon trading town of Lundenwic. After the town was abandoned, part of the area was walled off by 1200 for use as arable land and orchards by Westminster Abbey, and was referred to as "the garden of the Abbey and Convent". The land, now called "the Covent Garden", was seized by Henry VIII, and granted to the Earls of Bedford in 1552. The 4th Earl commissioned Inigo Jones to build some fine houses to attract wealthy tenants. Jones designed the Italianate arcaded square along with the church of St Paul's. The design of the square was new to London, and had a significant influence on modern town planning, acting as the prototype for the laying-out of new estates as London grew. A small open-air fruit and vegetable market had developed on the south side of the fashionable square by 1654. Gradually, both the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theatres, coffee-houses and brothels opened up; the gentry moved away, and rakes, wits and playwrights moved in. By the 18th century it had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes. An Act of Parliament was drawn up to control the area, and Charles Fowler's neo-classical building was erected in 1830 to cover and help organise the market. The area declined as a pleasure-ground as the market grew and further buildings were added: the Floral Hall, Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market. By the end of the 1960s traffic congestion was causing problems, and in 1974 the market relocated to the New Covent Garden Market about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. The central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980, and is now a tourist location containing cafes, pubs, small shops, and a craft market called the Apple Market, along with another market held in the Jubilee Hall.

Covent Garden, with the postcode WC2, falls within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, and the parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras. The area has been served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden tube station since 1907; the journey from Leicester Square, at 300 yards, is the shortest in London.

Early history

The route of the Strand on the southern boundary of what was to become Covent Garden was used during the Roman period as part of a route to Silchester, known as "Iter VII" on the Antonine Itinerary. Excavations in 2006 at St Martin-in-the-Fields revealed a Roman grave, suggesting the site had sacred significance. The area to the north of the Strand was long thought to have remained as unsettled fields until the 16th century, but theories by Alan Vince and Martin Biddle that there had been an Anglo-Saxon settlement to the west of the old Roman town of Londinium were borne out by excavations in 1985 and 2005. These revealed Covent Garden as the centre of a trading town called Lundenwic, developed around 600 AD, which stretched from Trafalgar Square to Aldwych. Alfred the Great gradually shifted the settlement into the old Roman town of Londinium from around 886 AD onwards, leaving no mark of the old town, and the site returned to fields.

Around 1200 the first mention of an abbey garden appears in a document mentioning a walled garden owned by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of St. Peter, Westminster. A later document, dated between 1250 and 1283, refers to "the garden of the Abbot and Convent of Westminster". By the 13th century this had become a 40-acre (16 ha) quadrangle of mixed orchard, meadow, pasture and arable land, lying between modern-day St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane, and Floral Street and Maiden Lane. The use of the name "Covent"—an Anglo-French term for a religious community, equivalent to "monastery" or "convent" —appears in a document in 1515, when the Abbey, which had been letting out parcels of land along the north side of the Strand for inns and market gardens, granted a lease of the walled garden, referring to it as "a garden called Covent Garden". This is how it was recorded from then on.

The Bedford Estate (1552–1918)

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, Henry VIII took for himself the land belonging to Westminster Abbey, including the convent garden and seven acres to the north called Long Acre; and in 1552 his son, Edward VI, granted it to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford. The Russell family, who in 1694 were advanced in their peerage from Earl to Duke of Bedford, held the land from 1552 to 1918.

Russell had Bedford House and garden built on part of the land, with an entrance on the Strand, the large garden stretching back along the south side of the old walled-off convent garden. Apart from this, and allowing several poor-quality tenements to be erected, the Russells did little with the land until the 4th Earl of Bedford, Francis Russell, an active and ambitious businessman, commissioned Inigo Jones in 1630 to design and build a church and three terraces of fine houses around a large square or piazza. The commission had been prompted by Charles I taking offence at the condition of the road and houses along Long Acre, which were the responsibility of Russell and Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth. Russell and Carey complained that under the 1625 Proclamation concerning Buildings, which restricted building in and around London, they could not build new houses; the King then granted Russell, for a fee of £2,000, a licence to build as many new houses on his land as he "shall thinke fitt and convenient". The church of St Paul's was the first building, begun in July 1631 on the western side of the square. The last house was completed in 1637.

The houses initially attracted the wealthy, though when a market developed on the south side of the square around 1654, the aristocracy moved out and coffee houses, taverns, and prostitutes moved in. The Bedford Estate was expanded in 1669 to include Bloomsbury, when Lord Russell married Lady Rachel Vaughan, one of the daughters of the 4th Earl of Southampton.

By the 18th century, Covent Garden had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes such as Betty Careless and Jane Douglas. Descriptions of the prostitutes and where to find them were provided by Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, the "essential guide and accessory for any serious gentleman of pleasure". In 1830 a market hall was built to provide a more permanent trading centre. In 1913, Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford agreed to sell the Covent Garden Estate for £2 million to the MP and land speculator Harry Mallaby-Deeley, who sold his option in 1918 to the Beecham family for £250,000.

Modern changes

Charles Fowler's 1830 neo-classical building restored as a retail market.

The Covent Garden Estate was part of Beecham Estates and Pills Limited from 1924 to 1928, after which time it was managed by a successor company called Covent Garden Properties Company Limited, owned by the Beechams and other private investors. This new company sold some properties at Covent Garden, while becoming active in property investment in other parts of London. In 1962 the bulk of the remaining properties in the Covent Garden area, including the market, were sold to the newly established government-owned Covent Garden Authority for £3,925,000.

By the end of the 1960s, traffic congestion had reached such a level that the use of the square as a modern wholesale distribution market was becoming unsustainable, and significant redevelopment was planned. Following a public outcry, buildings around the square were protected in 1973, preventing redevelopment. The following year the market moved to a new site in south-west London. The square languished until its central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980. An action plan was drawn up by Westminster Council in 2004 in consultation with residents and businesses to improve the area while retaining its historic character. The market buildings, along with several other properties in Covent Garden, were bought by a property company in 2006.

Geography

Historically, the Bedford Estate defined the boundary of Covent Garden, with Drury Lane to the east, the Strand to the south, St. Martin's Lane to the west, and Long Acre to the north. However, over time the area has expanded northwards past Long Acre to High Holborn, and since 1971, with the creation of the Covent Garden Conservation Area which incorporated part of the area between St Martins Lane and Charring Cross Road, the Western boundary is sometimes considered to be Charring Cross Road. Shelton Street, running parallel to the north of Long Acre, marks the London borough boundary between Camden and Westminster. Long Acre is the main thoroughfare, running north-east from St Martin's Lane to Drury Lane.

The area to the south of Long Acre contains the Royal Opera House, the market and central square, and most of the elegant buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the London Transport Museum; while the area to the north of Long Acre is largely given over to independent retail units centred on Neal Street, Neal's Yard and Seven Dials; though this area also contains residential buildings such as Odhams Walk, built in 1981 on the site of the Odhams print works, and is home to over 6,000 residents.

Governance

The Covent Garden estate was originally under the control of Westminster Abbey and lay in the parish of St Margaret. During a reorganisation in 1542 it was transferred to St Martin in the Fields, and then in 1645 a new parish was created, splitting governance of the estate between the parishes of St Paul Covent Garden and St Martin, both still within the Liberty of Westminster. St Paul Covent Garden was completely surrounded by the parish of St Martin in the Fields. It was grouped into the Strand District in 1855 when it came within the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works.

In 1889 the parish became part of the County of London and in 1900 it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1922. Since 1965 Covent Garden falls within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, and is in the Parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras. For local council elections it falls within the St James's ward for Westminster, and the Holborn and Covent Garden ward for Camden.

Economy

The area's historic association with the retail and entertainment economy continues. In 1979, Covent Garden Market reopened as a retail centre; in 2010, the largest Apple Store in the world opened in The Piazza. The central hall has shops, cafes and bars alongside the Apple Market stalls selling antiques, jewellery, clothing and gifts; there are additional casual stalls in the Jubilee Hall Market on the south side of the square. Long Acre has a range of clothes shops and boutiques, and Neal Street is noted for its large number of shoe shops. London Transport Museum and the side entrance to the Royal Opera House box office and other facilities are also located on the square. During the late 1970s and 1980s the Rock Garden music venue was popular with up and coming punk rock and New Wave artists.

The market halls and several other buildings in Covent Garden were bought by CapCo in partnership with GE Real Estate in August 2006 for £421 million, on a 150-year head lease. The buildings are let to the Covent Garden Area Trust, who pay an annual peppercorn rent of one red apple and a posy of flowers for each head lease, and the Trust protects the property from being redeveloped. In March 2007 CapCo also acquired the shops located under the Royal Opera House. The complete Covent Garden Estate owned by CapCo consists of 550,000 sq ft (51,000 m2), and has a market value of £650 million.

Landmarks

The Royal Opera House, often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", was constructed as the "Theatre Royal" in 1732 to a design by Edward Shepherd. During the first hundred years or so of its history, the theatre was primarily a playhouse, with the Letters Patent granted by Charles II giving Covent Garden and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane exclusive rights to present spoken drama in London. In 1734, the first ballet was presented; a year later Handel's first season of operas began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premières here. It has been the home of The Royal Opera since 1945, and the Royal Ballet since 1946.

The current building is the third theatre on the site following destructive fires in 1808 and 1857. The façade, foyer and auditorium were designed by Edward Barry, and date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive £178 million reconstruction in the 1990s. The Royal Opera House seats 2,268 people and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery. The stage performance area is roughly 15 metres square. The main auditorium is a Grade 1 listed building. The inclusion of the adjacent old Floral Hall, previously a part of the old Covent Garden Market, created a new and extensive public gathering place. In 1779 the pavement outside the playhouse was the scene of the murder of Martha Ray, mistress of the Earl of Sandwich, by her admirer the Rev. James Hackman.

Covent Garden square

Balthazar Nebot's 1737 painting of the square before the 1830 market hall was constructed.

The central square in Covent Garden is simply called "Covent Garden", often marketed as "Covent Garden Piazza" to distinguish it from the eponymous surrounding area. Laid out in 1630, it was the first modern square in London, and was originally a flat, open space or piazza with low railings. A casual market started on the south side, and by 1830 the present market hall was built. The space is popular with street performers, who audition with the site's owners for an allocated slot. The square was originally laid out when the 4th Earl of Bedford, Francis Russell, commissioned Inigo Jones to design and build a church and three terraces of fine houses around the site of a former walled garden belonging to Westminster Abbey. Jones's design was informed by his knowledge of modern town planning in Europe, particularly Piazza d'Arme, in Leghorn, Tuscany, Piazza San Marco in Venice, Piazza Santissima Annunziata in Florence, and the Place des Vosges in Paris. The centrepiece of the project was the large square, the concept of which was new to London, and this had a significant influence on modern town planning in the city,[56] acting as the prototype for the laying-out of new estates as the metropolis grew. Isaac de Caus, the French Huguenot architect, designed the individual houses under Jones's overall design.

The church of St Paul's was the first building, and was begun in July 1631 on the western side of the square. The last house was completed in 1637. Seventeen of the houses had arcaded portico walks organised in groups of four and six either side of James Street on the north side, and three and four either side of Russell Street. These arcades, rather than the square itself, took the name Piazza; the group from James Street to Russell Street became known as the "Great Piazza" and that to the south of Russell Street as the "Little Piazza". None of Inigo Jones's houses remain, though part of the north group was reconstructed in 1877–79 as Bedford Chambers by William Cubitt to a design by Henry Clutton.

Covent Garden market

The first record of a "new market in Covent Garden" is in 1654 when market traders set up stalls against the garden wall of Bedford House. The Earl of Bedford acquired a private charter from Charles II in 1670 for a fruit and vegetable market, permitting him and his heirs to hold a market every day except Sundays and Christmas Day. The original market, consisting of wooden stalls and sheds, became disorganised and disorderly, and the 6th Earl requested an Act of Parliament in 1813 to regulate it, then commissioned Charles Fowler in 1830 to design the neo-classical market building that is the heart of Covent Garden today. The contractor was William Cubitt and Company. Further buildings were added—the Floral hall, Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market for foreign flowers was built by Cubitt and Howard.

By the end of the 1960s, traffic congestion was causing problems for the market, which required increasingly large lorries for deliveries and distribution. Redevelopment was considered, but protests from the Covent Garden Community Association in 1973 prompted the Home Secretary, Robert Carr, to give dozens of buildings around the square listed-building status, preventing redevelopment. The following year the market relocated to its new site, New Covent Garden Market, about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. The central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980, with cafes, pubs, small shops and a craft market called the Apple Market. Another market, the Jubilee Market, is held in the Jubilee Hall on the south side of the square. The market halls and several other buildings in Covent Garden have been owned by the property company Capital & Counties Properties (CapCo) since 2006.

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

The current Theatre Royal on Drury Lane is the most recent of four incarnations, the Second of which opened in 1663, making it the oldest continuously used theatre in London. For much of its first two centuries, it was, along with the Royal Opera House, a patent theatre granted rights in London for the production of drama, and had a claim to be one of London's leading theatres. The first theatre, known as "Theatre Royal, Bridges Street", saw performances by Nell Gwyn and Charles Hart. After it was destroyed by fire in 1672, English dramatist and theatre manager Thomas Killigrew engaged Christopher Wren to build a larger theatre on the same spot, which opened in 1674. This building lasted nearly 120 years, under leadership including Colley Cibber, David Garrick, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. In 1791, under Sheridan's management, the building was demolished to make way for a larger theatre which opened in 1794; but that survived only 15 years, burning down in 1809. The building that stands today opened in 1812. It has been home to actors as diverse as Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean, child actress Clara Fisher, comedian Dan Leno, the comedy troupe Monty Python (who recorded a concert album there), and musical composer and performer Ivor Novello. Since November 2008 the theatre has been owned by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and generally stages popular musical theatre. It is a Grade I listed building.

London Transport Museum

The London Transport Museum is in a Victorian iron and glass building on the east side of the market square. It was designed as a dedicated flower market by William Rogers of William Cubitt and Company in 1871, and was first occupied by the museum in 1980. Previously the transport collection had been held at Syon Park and Clapham. The first parts of the collection were brought together at the beginning of the 20th century by the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) when it began to preserve buses being retired from service. After the LGOC was taken over by the London Electric Railway (LER), the collection was expanded to include rail vehicles. It continued to expand after the LER became part of the London Passenger Transport Board in the 1930s and as the organisation passed through various successor bodies up to TfL, London's transport authority since 2000. The Covent Garden building has on display many examples of buses, trams, trolleybuses and rail vehicles from 19th and 20th centuries as well as artefacts and exhibits related to the operation and marketing of passenger services and the impact that the developing transport network has had on the city and its population.

St Paul's Church

St Paul's, commonly known as the Actors' Church, was designed by Inigo Jones as part of a commission by Francis Russell in 1631 to create "houses and buildings fitt for the habitacons of Gentlemen and men of ability". Work on the church began that year and was completed in 1633, at a cost of £4,000, with it becoming consecrated in 1638. In 1645 Covent Garden was made a separate parish and the church was dedicated to St Paul. It is uncertain how much of Jones's original building is left, as the church was damaged by fire in 1795 during restoration work by Thomas Hardwick; though it is believed that the columns are original—the rest is mostly Georgian or Victorian reconstruction.

Culture

The Covent Garden area has long been associated with both entertainment and shopping, and this continues. Covent Garden has 13 theatres, and over 60 pubs and bars, with most south of Long Acre, around the main shopping area of the old market. The Seven Dials area in the north of Covent Garden was home to the punk rock club The Roxy in 1977, and the area remains focused on young people with its trendy mid-market retail outlets.

Street performance

Street entertainment at Covent Garden was noted in Samuel Pepys's diary in May 1662, when he recorded the first mention of a Punch and Judy show in Britain. Impromptu performances of song and swimming were given by local celebrity William Cussans in the eighteenth century. Covent Garden is licensed for street entertainment, and performers audition for timetabled slots in a number of venues around the market, including the North Hall, West Piazza, and South Hall Courtyard. The courtyard space is dedicated to classical music only. There are street performances at Covent Garden Market every day of the year, except Christmas Day. Shows run throughout the day and are about 30 minutes in length. In March 2008, the market owner, CapCo, proposed to reduce street performances to one 30-minute show each hour.

Pubs and bars

The Covent Garden area has over 60 pubs and bars; several of them are listed buildings, with some also on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors; some, such as The Harp in Chandos Place, have received consumer awards. The Harp's awards include London Pub of the Year in 2008 by the Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood, and National Pub of the Year by CAMRA in 2011. It was at one time owned by the Charrington Brewery, when it was known as The Welsh Harp; in 1995 the name was abbreviated to just The Harp, before Charrington sold it to Punch Taverns in 1997. It has been owned by the landlady since 2010.

The Lamb and Flag in Rose Street has a reputation as the oldest pub in the area, though records are not clear. The first mention of a pub on the site is 1772 (when it was called the Cooper's Arms – the name changing to Lamb & Flag in 1833); the 1958 brick exterior conceals what may be an early 18th-century frame of a house replacing the original one built in 1638.[94] The pub acquired a reputation for staging bare-knuckle prize fights during the early 19th century when it earned the nickname "Bucket of Blood". The alleyway beside the pub was the scene of an attack on John Dryden in 1679 by thugs hired by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, with whom he had a long-standing conflict.

The Salisbury in St. Martin's Lane was built as part of a six-storey block around 1899 on the site of an earlier pub that had been known under several names, including the Coach & Horses and Ben Caunt's Head; it is both Grade II listed, and on CAMRA's National Inventory, due to the quality of the etched and polished glass and the carved woodwork, summed up as "good fin de siècle ensemble". The Freemasons Arms on Long Acre is linked with the founding of the Football Association in 1896; however, the meetings took place at The Freemasons Tavern on Great Queen Street, which was replaced in 1909 by the Connaught Rooms.

Other pubs that are Grade II listed are of minor interest, they are three 19th century rebuilds of 17th century/18th century houses, the Nell Gwynne Tavern in Bull Inn Court, the Nag's Head on James Street, and the White Swan on New Row; a Victorian pub built by lessees of the Marquis of Exeter, the Old Bell on the corner of Exeter Street and Wellington Street; and a late 18th or early 19th century pub the Angel and Crown on St. Martin's Lane.

Cultural connections

Covent Garden, and especially the market, have appeared in a number of works. Eliza Doolittle, the central character in George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion, and the musical adaptation by Alan Jay Lerner, My Fair Lady, is a Covent Garden flower seller. Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 film Frenzy about a Covent Garden fruit vendor who becomes a serial sex killer, was set in the market where his father had been a wholesale greengrocer. The daily activity of the market was the topic of a 1957 Free Cinema documentary by Lindsay Anderson, Every Day Except Christmas, which won the Grand Prix at the Venice Festival of Shorts and Documentaries.

Transport

Covent Garden is served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden tube station on the corner of Long Acre and James Street. The station was opened by Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway on 11 April 1907, four months after services on the rest of the line began operating on 15 December 1906. Platform access is only by lift or stairs; until improvements to the exit gates in 2007, due to high passenger numbers (16 million annually), London Underground had to advise travellers to get off at Leicester Square and walk the short distance (the tube journey at less than 300 yards is London's shortest) to avoid the congestion. Stations just outside the area include the Charing Cross tube station and Charing Cross railway station, Leicester Square tube station, and Holborn tube station. While there is only one bus route in Covent Garden itself—the RV1, which uses Catherine Street as a terminus, just to the east of Covent Garden square—there are over 30 routes which pass close by, mostly on the Strand or Kingsway.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covent_Garden

At the summit of Mount Lee.

The landscape is nice and green from the recent record rains.

The Hollywood Sign (formerly the Hollywoodland Sign) is a landmark and American cultural icon located in Los Angeles, California. It is situated on Mount Lee, in the Hollywood Hills area of the Santa Monica Mountains. The sign overlooks Hollywood, Los Angeles.

"HOLLYWOOD" is spelled out in 45-foot (13.7 m)-tall white capital letters and is 350 feet (106.7 m) long. It was originally created in 1923 as an advertisement for a local real estate development, but it garnered increasing recognition after the sign was left up. The sign was a frequent target of pranks and vandalism, but it has since undergone restoration, including the installation of a security system to deter vandalism. The sign is protected and promoted by The Trust For Public Land, a nonprofit organization, while its site and the surrounding land are part of Griffith Park.

The sign was erected in 1923 and originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND." Its purpose was to advertise the name of a new segregated housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.

The sign was officially dedicated in 1923. It was intended only to last a year and a half, but after the rise of American cinema in Los Angeles during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the sign became an internationally recognized symbol and was left there.

In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce began a contract with the City of Los Angeles Parks Department to repair and rebuild the sign. The contract stipulated that "LAND" be removed to spell "Hollywood" and reflect the district, not the "Hollywoodland" housing development. The Parks Department dictated that all subsequent illumination would be at the Chamber's expense, so the Chamber opted not to replace the lightbulbs. The 1949 effort gave it new life, but the sign's unprotected wood and sheet metal structure continued to deteriorate. By the 1970s, the first O had splintered and broken, resembling a lowercase u, and the third O had fallen down completely, leaving the severely dilapidated sign reading "HuLLYWO D."

In 1978, in large part because of the public campaign to restore the landmark by Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine, the Chamber set out to replace the severely deteriorated sign with a more permanent structure. Nine donors gave US$27,777.77 each (totaling US$249,999.93) to sponsor replacement letters, made of steel supported by steel columns on a concrete foundation.

©Jane Brown2016 All Rights Reserved. This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without explicit written permission

after Elsie had perfected her reindeer face makeup (see previous two photos) she turned to me and said it was time to have my face painted. Oh no, I thought, and held out my hand. Please paint something beautiful on my hand. Taking a photo iwth my left hand only wasn't easy, but I sat down to supper as Grangran and not as something from Elsie's imagination!

The store is in pretty good shape, but little was done to it when Acme took over. At first, the store was crowded (as Pathmark always was)...but as Albertsons has raised prices and cut products left and right, "sales have fallen off a cliff", as one employee told me.

------------------------

The Acme (former Pathmark) of Ferry Street in Newark, NJ is having a going-out-of-business sale. The closing was announced by the UFCW local 1262 a few weeks back. Unfortunately, the closing is not surprising. In a gentrifying neighborhood full of immigrants from Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Ecuador and lots of other places--Pathmark, with its deep expertise in ethnic merchandising--was a perfect fit; by contrast, Acme makes little effort to carry the products that the people of the neighborhood want to buy. It’s like the company has one model for supermarkets, and they plop them down no matter what neighborhood they operate in.

The sad part is that Pathmark was so successful and high-volume in this neighborhood that, in 1995, they replaced an older store next door with this 65,000 sq. ft. super center. Once A&P took over, prices went up, but at least the store still carried the wide selection of fresh and dry goods that the neighborhood wanted. Acme cut tons of these products and greatly reduced the selection. They replaced the once vibrant international flavor of Pathmark with a WASPy supermarket that your grandmother might have shopped at.

I am sure this is only the first of many former A&P/Pathmark stores that will close under Acme's leadership. The stores are mostly devoid of customers. The owners of New Albertson’s never had a long-term strategy to be in the grocery business. This is a company run by Wall-Street money men who buy up companies, leech money out of them to make themselves rich, saddle the companies with debt, and then try to sell them quickly. And believe me, they are saddling New Albertsons with billions of dollars of debt, financing all these acquisitions and store renovations. Unfortunately for them, there has been low interest in an Albertsons IPO the two times they have tried to offer the company up for sale, and now that same-store sales are tanking, it seems even more unlikely. To top it off, the company still hasn’t had a single profitable quarter since it was formed and is losing tens of millions every quarter.

Employees are being offered opportunities to relocate to other stores, but the ones I spoke to said many of the stores are too far away, and after being put through the wringer over the years, I think they are ready to move on. No one has yet signed on to takeover the supermarket, but the buzz was that ShopRite was interested in the store. The Kearny ShopRite operates 3 miles away.

I debated for a long time if this shot is a keeper, particularly because of the somewhat dull background. I thought about cropping it out, but then the shot loses depth. Eventually, the gorgeous colors won me over. I didn't have a tripod at the time, but was able to recover some sharpness in photoshop. This morning taught me the wisdom of having extra time at hand when going for a sunrise. We were staying just outside the park boundaries, and those of you who went there know that it's the smallest of national parks. So we never thought getting there in time would be an issue. As it happened, we missed the sign for sunset point and by the time we made a U turn and found it, the first lights had already appeared. Nonetheless, sunrise at Bryce is something I will never forget in my life.

Here is a complete set of orders with clearance card from LaCrosse, Wisconsin on February 1st, 1977. Reads as follows:

Clearance Card (white paper)

CMStP&P RR Co. Clearance

Station-LaCrosse, Wisconsin

Date-February 1st, 1977

Addressed to C&E Extra 155 East

Clearance No.-103

To-Portage

"4 Orders for your train, #'s 102, 838, 864 & 866.

OK time was 0118 am

Supt.-NHM

Opr-Proksch

Train Order #102 (yellow paper)

At LaCrosse

Date-February 1st, 1977

Addressed to C&E eastward trains reads:

"Men and equipment on Eastward track between MP 280 and MP 279 Between LaCrosse and Medary From 8:01 am until 401 pm.

All trains on this track proceed through these limits at reduced speed unless a different speed is verbally authorized by employee in charge or entire train has passed a green flag."

Supt-NHM

Made complete at 0115 am by operator Proksch

Train Order #838 (bottom left)

At LaCrosse

Date-January 19th, 1977

Addressed to C&E eastward trains reads:

"The trailing point crossover east of Depot Sparta and the west switch of the eastward siding at Sparta is out of service."

Supt-NHM

Made complete at 1017 pm by operator King

Train Order #864 (center bottom)

At LaCrosse

Date-January 27th, 1977

Addressed to C&E eastward extra trains reads:

"On westward track between Portage and LaCrosse frt trains do not exceed

Between MP 179 and MP 215 40 MPH

Between MP 215 and MP 223 35 MPH

Between MP 223 and MP 256 40 MPH

Between MP 256 and MP 257 35 MPH

Between MP 257 and MP 266 40 MPH

Between MP 266 and MP 273 35 MPH

Between MP 273 and MP 278 40 MPH"

Supt.-NHM

Made complete at 341 pm by operator Ristow

Train Order #866 (bottom right)

At LaCrosse

Date-January 27th, 1977

Addressed to C&E eastward extra trains reads:

"On eastward track between LaCroose and Portage frt trains do not exceed:

Between MP 278 and MP 273 40 MPH

Between MP 273 and MP 266 35 MPH

Between MP 266 and MP 257 40 MPH

Between MP 257 and MP 256 35 MPH

Between MP 256 and MP 243 40 MPH

Between MP 243 and MP 239 35 MPH

Between MP 239 and MP 223 40 MPH

Between MP 223 and MP 208 35 MPH

Between MP 208 and MP 190 40 MPH

Between MP 190 and MP 179 35 MPH"

Supt.-NHM

Made Complete at 341 pm by operator Ristow

Monday, 18 July 2022: our temperature is 15°C (windchill 14°C) just after 11:00 am. Sunrise was at 5:42 am, and sunset is at 9:41 pm. Thank goodness, the heatwave has broken and today is cooler with rain! Back to warm weather tomorrow.

I passed this handsome fellow when I was driving along a back road that I don't think I had ever driven before. Beautiful, relaxing scenery while enjoying, and being very thankful for, my car's air-conditioning. Will be SO glad when this heat wave comes to an end!

Three days ago, on 14 July 2022, I found a Grizzly Bear family when there was no one else around, and pulled over way, way down the road. All the cars afterwards overtook me and some were maybe 3-6 feet away from the bears. I did eventually pull forward a little bit, but people still passed me and went and parked in front of me, sometimes blocking my view. All about getting their close photos and not giving wildlife their space.

I had just been exploring one of my several favourite places in Kananaskis. Once back at my car, I took a few bites of a sandwich and happened to glance way down the road. Looked like there were Bighorn Sheep, but when I zoomed in on my camera to check, I discovered that it was a family of Grizzly Bears. Not wanting to invade their space, I took what photos I could from a great distance, before pulling forward a little. Not the best photos, though one of two of the sub-adults worked out OK. So relieved that I had not encountered them on my short walk!!!

The main reason for my trip was simply to get out of my unbearably hot home! I had made a few drives closer to home recently, for the same reason. This time, I needed a change.

This time, I went to the mountains, hoping that I might see a few different things. Calling in at Highwood House, I was lucky to see a Hummingbird quickly visit the feeders. First time, it left too fast, but I managed a photo or two the second visit.

Partly because I left home much later than I had hoped, I didn't drive as far as I might have otherwise done. There are a few mountain peaks and ranges that I always love to see along the highway and I always stop to take a few shots.

On the way back to the city, I called in at my 'usual' area closer to home, but I think most of the birds must have been sheltering from the hot sun. So many birds during this heat wave have their beaks open because of the heat. A pair of Mountain Bluebirds made my decision worthwhile.

This is the sun photographed by an ultraviolet camera onboard NASA's STEREO spacecraft. Solar Dynamics Observatory will expand scenes like this one to IMAX resolution. Credit: NASA/STEREO

---------------------------

When NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) leaves Earth in November 2009 onboard an Atlas V rocket, the thunderous launch will trigger an avalanche.

Full story:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/avalanche.html

Mission planners are bracing themselves -- not for rocks or snow, but an avalanche of data.

"SDO will beam back 150 million bits of data per second, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," says Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. That’s almost 50 times more science data than any other mission in NASA history. "It's like downloading 500,000 iTunes a day."

SDO is on a mission to study the sun in unprecedented detail. Onboard telescopes will scrutinize sunspots and solar flares using more pixels and colors than any other observatory in the history of solar physics. And SDO will reveal the sun’s hidden secrets in a prodigious rush of pictures.

"SDO is going to send us images ten times better than high definition television," says Pesnell, the project scientist for the new mission. A typical HDTV screen has 720 by 1280 pixels; SDO's images will have almost four times that number in the horizontal direction and five times in the vertical. “The pixel count is comparable to an IMAX movie -- an IMAX filled with the raging sun, 24 hours a da

Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men's suicide.

I now have taken on the challenge, one photo each day: a month of men with moustache and beard, LOL, HELP, will I make it?

East Leeds Lions (10th Anniversary, this year 2009) Easter Rally.

A yearly gathering of bikers from all over, often an interesting bunch, as you can see here, a giant of a guy!

This year, on the three day event, the object was raising money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Thanks, M, (*_*)

For more of my other work or if you want to purchase, visit here: www.indigo2photography.com

IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

Life is "Miracle" / La vie est un "Miracle"

Live is " Miracle "

Facebook | stefanog.com | 500px | YouTube | Vimeo

The entire Tree of Life is amazing; from it's sheer size to the multitude of all the sculptures/carvings on its trunk. The owl is one of my favorites.

Disney's Animal Kingdom | Discovery Island | Tree of Life

Thanks for looking. I appreciate feedback!

Paradise is STUCK in my head =P I love that song SO much ever since it played on the Grammy awards XD it also snowed that day too ^.^ Is it just me or does Taylor look STUNNING in this picture? Oh and Happy Valentine's Day =D

This is almost as fresh as the day was. This past Saturday we had an event in Greene Iowa, and as usual this was an excuse to hit the road with camera in hand. According to the weather man this was to be a wet shoot. I nice spring thunder storm rolled through before we left and then cleared off (mostly) leaving us with some greener grass and a fresh rinse on everything. So please enjoy the trip with little patches of green here and there.

A new garden but it is beginning to take shape and there is good colour - to keep Mum happy

Desi Deli & Grocery

89-06 Eliot Avenue, Rego Park, Queens, New York

Is this the lady in the next image below or her daughter? The album contains all generations.

AGHHH I LOVE THAT NEW JONAS BROTHERS SONG, LOVE IS ON ITS WAY!

holy guacamole! its so beautiiiiful.

i can listen to it like,

1234567890111213141516171819203333 times! :D

Raymond Terrace.

This town is located at the confluence of the Hunter and Williams Rivers as they enter the estuary region of Newcastle. Not linked to the rivers is Lake Grahamstown which is really a water storage dam taking waters from the Williams River through a canal to the dam. It provides about 40% of the Hunter region water supply and the dam and lake was created between 1956 and 1965. The town of Raymond Terrace was named after Lieutenant Raymond who was in the party led by Lieutenant Shortland who discovered the Hunter River region in 1797 when looking for escaped convicts. The terrace name was meant to describe the terraced or layered appearance of the trees along the Hunter River where they camped. On a visit to this spot in 1818 Governor Macquarie named it Raymond Terrace. Australian cedar cutters were here from the early 1800s but the first land grants only date from the early 1820s and the town itself was established in 1837. In the 19th century Raymond Terrace was a bustling river port and some river barges and ships were constructed here. The area along the Hunter River soon had warehouses, ship yards etc. The town has many sandstone and heritage buildings. These include in King Street: the Richardson and Scully warehouse/action rooms from around 1854; the old commercial building from 1847 which is now marked the Masonic Lodge as it was from 1920 to 2013; and several 1880s hotels and general stores. Look for the Marriage Trees in King Street too. In Sturgeon Street is the sandstone Anglican Church built in 1862 and across the street from it facing Jacaranda Street is the former Anglican rectory. This fine colonial house built in 1844 is now a function centre. The Norfolk Island pines in the garden were planted in 1850.

An 1850 split slab cottage known as Sketchley Cottage, built for an ex-convict William Sketchley, is now the town museum. William Sketchley was assigned as a convict to work for John Richardson in 1830 on the Hunter River. John Richardson’s son later had auction rooms in King Street in Raymond Terrace. They were then purchased by his grandson James Richardson in 1902 when his grandfather retired. The business was then known as Richardson and Scully until he sold it in 1910. The old 1854 warehouse was owned by the University of Newcastle Rowing Club from 1969 to 2004. Now privately owned since 2016. Sketchley cottage is of slab construction built before 1850 and moved to this site some decades ago. It has an extensive historical collection.

Near Raymond Terrace the National Trust has a fine historic property called Tomago House which is now permanently closed. A young barrister named Richard Windeyer had the house built. He bought around 30,000 acres of land in the Hunter Valley and 850 acres of land at this then swampy site around 1838. He had the house site drained and had the acreage planted in grape vines, sugar cane and wheat. He also had some livestock here. He was especially interested in wine and planted 12 acres of vines in 1842 and imported a German vineyard worker from South Australia in 1844 and others from Germany. They produced their first wine in 1845 making Windeyer one of the first successful wine makers in the Hunter Valley. For his wheat he imported the first wheat reaping machine into NSW from South Australia in 1846. Work began on Tomago House in 1840. Richard Windeyer died in 1847 at just 41 years of age. Their only child William Charles Windeyer was just 13 years of age at that time. Richard Windeyer’s wife Maria retained the 850 acres of Tomago estate and she eventually designed the estate chapel in 1860-61. Three generations of the Windeyer family lived on Tomago estate until 1944 when the property was sold. In the 1980s the Tomago Aluminium Smelter bought the property as a buffer around the smelter. In 1988 the smelter company donated 5 hectares (twelve acres) of land and the mansion to the National Trust. Only the chapel is visible from the road.

This is an image from my collection. Although predominantly slide scans, it includes other types of media as well. All have been collected over the past 40+ years of shooting Kodachrome and digital images, slide purchases and many years of exchanging. I was fortunate enough to trade with some of the best airliner photographers around the world.

Created in 2017, this is a curated archive that serves to share what otherwise would be kept in binders and boxes, not being enjoyed by anyone, myself included.

REGISTRATION : 9Q-CLE

MFR TYPE & SERIES : Douglas DC-8-33

MSN : 45266

OPERATOR : Air Congo

AIRPORT (WHEN KNOWN) :

DATE (WHEN KNOWN) : 1970

PHOTOGRAPHER (WHEN KNOWN) :

REMARKS:

She is my favorite Poppy from the Supermodel convention. She is wearing a model life silkstone lingerie, ABS Kyori peignoir. Jewels and perfume bottles by me.

www.etsy.com/shop/IsabelleParisJewels

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,731,571 in 2016, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration of 9,245,438 people (as of 2016) surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario, while the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) proper had a 2016 population of 6,417,516. Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world.

People have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years. After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York and suffered heavy damage by American troops. York was renamed and incorporated in 1834 as the city of Toronto. It was designated as the capital of the province of Ontario in 1867 during Canadian Confederation. The city proper has since expanded past its original borders through both annexation and amalgamation to its current area of 630.2 km2 (243.3 sq mi).

The diverse population of Toronto reflects its current and historical role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada. More than 50 percent of residents belong to a visible minority population group, and over 200 distinct ethnic origins are represented among its inhabitants. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, over 160 languages are spoken in the city.

Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canada's major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Its varied cultural institutions, which include numerous museums and galleries, festivals and public events, entertainment districts, national historic sites, and sports activities, attract over 43 million tourists each year. Toronto is known for its many skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, the CN Tower.

The city is home to the Toronto Stock Exchange, the headquarters of Canada's five largest banks, and the headquarters of many large Canadian and multinational corporations. Its economy is highly diversified with strengths in technology, design, financial services, life sciences, education, arts, fashion, aerospace, environmental innovation, food services, and tourism.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Ontario_Museum

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM; French: Musée royal de l'Ontario) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year, making the ROM the most-visited museum in Canada. The museum is north of Queen's Park, in the University of Toronto district, with its main entrance on Bloor Street West. Museum subway station is named after the ROM and, since a 2008 renovation, is decorated to resemble the institution's collection.

Established on 16 April 1912 and opened on 19 March 1914, the museum has maintained close relations with the University of Toronto throughout its history, often sharing expertise and resources. The museum was under the direct control and management of the University of Toronto until 1968, when it became an independent Crown agency of the Government of Ontario. Today, the museum is Canada's largest field-research institution, with research and conservation activities around the world.

With more than 6,000,000 items and 40 galleries, the museum's diverse collections of world culture and natural history contribute to its international reputation. The museum contains a collection of dinosaurs, minerals and meteorites; Canadian, and European historical artifacts; as well as African, Near Eastern, and East Asian art. It houses the world's largest collection of fossils from the Burgess Shale with more than 150,000 specimens. The museum also contains an extensive collection of design and fine art, including clothing, interior, and product design, especially Art Deco.

This image was taken a couple months ago while visiting California. We pulled over to take some pictures while on the famous 17-mile drive. These little guys would pop up out of the rocks and were most definitely not shy. I wonder what the squirrel is thinking?

Best viewed full-screen! Press L

www.shutter-fotos.com

Casa del Sol

***Sun is shining-Bob Marley***

Sun is shining, the weather is sweet, yeah

Make you wanna move your dancing feet now

To the rescue, here I am

Want you to know, yall, can you understand?

When the mornin gather the rainbow, yeah, yeah

Want you to know, Im a rainbow too now

To the rescue, here I am

Want you to know, yall, can you, can you, can you understand?

Sun is shining, the weather is sweet now

Make you wanna move your dancing feet, yeah

But to the rescue, here I am

Want you to know just if you can, here I stand, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

Can you understand me now, baby?

Do you believe me?