Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London

 

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

 

London is considered to be one of the world's most important global cities and has been termed the world's most powerful, most desirable, most influential, most visited, most expensive, innovative, sustainable, most investment friendly, most popular for work, and the most vegetarian friendly city in the world. London exerts a considerable impact upon the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transportation. London ranks 26 out of 300 major cities for economic performance. It is one of the largest financial centres and has either the fifth or sixth largest metropolitan area GDP. It is the most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the busiest city airport system as measured by passenger traffic. It is the leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. London's universities form the largest concentration of higher education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted three modern Summer Olympic Games.

 

London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2016 municipal population (corresponding to Greater London) was 8,787,892, the most populous of any city in the European Union and accounting for 13.4% of the UK population. London's urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The population within the London commuter belt is the most populous in the EU with 14,040,163 inhabitants in 2016. London was the world's most populous city from c. 1831 to 1925.

 

London contains four World Heritage Sites: the Tower of London; Kew Gardens; the site comprising the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, and St Margaret's Church; and the historic settlement in Greenwich where the Royal Observatory, Greenwich defines the Prime Meridian, 0° longitude, and Greenwich Mean Time. Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square and The Shard. London has numerous museums, galleries, libraries and sporting events. These include the British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, British Library and West End theatres. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster

 

Westminster is an area of central London within the City of Westminster, part of the West End, on the north bank of the River Thames. Westminster's concentration of visitor attractions and historic landmarks, one of the highest in London, includes the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral.

 

Historically the area lay within St Margaret's parish, City & Liberty of Westminster, Middlesex.

 

The name Westminster (Old English: Westmynstre) originated from the informal description of the abbey church and royal peculiar of St Peter's (Westminster Abbey), literally West of the City of London (indeed, until the Reformation there was a reference to the 'East Minster' at Minories (Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate) east of the City). The abbey was part of the royal palace that had been created here by Edward the Confessor. It has been the home of the permanent institutions of England's government continuously since about 1200 (High Middle Ages' Plantagenet times), and from 1707 the British Government — formally titled Her Majesty's Government.

 

In a government context, Westminster often refers to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, located in the UNESCO World Heritage Palace of Westminster — also known as the Houses of Parliament. The closest tube stations are Westminster and St James's Park, on the Jubilee, Circle, and District lines.

 

The area is the centre of Her Majesty's Government, with Parliament in the Palace of Westminster and most of the major Government ministries known as Whitehall, itself the site of the royal palace that replaced that at Westminster.

 

Within the area is Westminster School, a major public school which grew out of the Abbey, and the University of Westminster, attended by over 20,000 students. Bounding Westminster to the north is Green Park, a Royal Park of London.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster

 

The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Commonly known as the Houses of Parliament after its occupants, the Palace lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster, in central London, England.

 

Its name, which is derived from the neighbouring Westminster Abbey, may refer to either of two structures: the Old Palace, a medieval building complex destroyed by fire in 1834, or its replacement, the New Palace that stands today. The palace is owned by the monarch in right of the Crown and, for ceremonial purposes, retains its original status as a royal residence. The building is managed by committees appointed by both houses, which report to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker.

 

The first royal palace was built on the site in the 11th century, and Westminster was the primary residence of the Kings of England until fire destroyed much of the complex in 1512. After that, it served as the home of the Parliament of England, which had been meeting there since the 13th century, and also as the seat of the Royal Courts of Justice, based in and around Westminster Hall. In 1834, an even greater fire ravaged the heavily rebuilt Houses of Parliament, and the only significant medieval structures to survive were Westminster Hall, the Cloisters of St Stephen's, the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, and the Jewel Tower.

 

The subsequent competition for the reconstruction of the Palace was won by the architect Charles Barry, whose design was for new buildings in the Gothic Revival style, specifically inspired by the English Perpendicular Gothic style of the 14th–16th centuries. The remains of the Old Palace (except the detached Jewel Tower) were incorporated into its much larger replacement, which contains over 1,100 rooms organised symmetrically around two series of courtyards and has a floor area of 112,476 m2 (1,210,680 sq ft). Part of the New Palace's area of 3.24 hectares (8 acres) was reclaimed from the River Thames, which is the setting of its nearly 300-metre long (980 ft) façade, called the River Front. Barry was assisted by Augustus Pugin, a leading authority on Gothic architecture and style, who designed the interior of the Palace. Construction started in 1840 and lasted for 30 years, suffering great delays and cost overruns, as well as the death of both leading architects; works for the interior decoration continued intermittently well into the 20th century. Major conservation work has been carried out since then to reverse the effects of London's air pollution, and extensive repairs took place after the Second World War, including the reconstruction of the Commons Chamber following its bombing in 1941.

 

The Palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom; "Westminster" has become a metonym for the UK Parliament, and the Westminster system of government has taken its name after it. The Elizabeth Tower, in particular, which is often referred to by the name of its main bell, Big Ben, is an iconic landmark of London and the United Kingdom in general, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city, and an emblem of parliamentary democracy. Tsar Nicholas I of Russia called the palace "a dream in stone". The Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben

 

Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London and is usually extended to refer to both the clock and the clock tower. The official name of the tower in which Big Ben is located was originally the Clock Tower, but it was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

 

The tower was designed by Augustus Pugin in a neo-gothic style. When completed in 1859, its clock was the largest and most accurate four-faced striking and chiming clock in the world. The tower stands 315 feet (96 m) tall, and the climb from ground level to the belfry is 334 steps. Its base is square, measuring 39 feet (12 m) on each side. Dials of the clock are 23 feet (7.0 m) in diameter. On 31 May 2009, celebrations were held to mark the tower's 150th anniversary.

 

Big Ben is the largest of five bells and weighs 13.5 long tons (13.7 tonnes; 15.1 short tons). It was the largest bell in the United Kingdom for 23 years. The origin of the bell's nickname is open to question; it may be named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw its installation, or heavyweight boxing champion Benjamin Caunt. Four quarter bells chime at 15, 30 and 45 minutes past the hour and just before Big Ben tolls on the hour. The clock uses its original Victorian mechanism, but an electric motor can be used as a backup.

 

The tower is a British cultural icon recognised all over the world. It is one of the most prominent symbols of the United Kingdom and parliamentary democracy, and it is often used in the establishing shot of films set in London. The clock tower has been part of a Grade I listed building since 1970 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

 

On 21 August 2017, a four-year schedule of renovation works began on the tower, which are to include the addition of a lift. There are also plans to re-glaze and repaint the clock dials. With a few exceptions, such as New Year's Eve and Remembrance Sunday, the bells are to be silent until the work has been completed in the 2020s.

SteamRanger is an historic train society in South Australia running trains on the Victor Harbor railway line. They are the only group regularly running broad gauge steam locomotives in South Australia. It is run by volunteers of the South Australian Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society.

 

The Cockle Train operates year-round between Goolwa and Victor Harbor along the route of Australia's first railway. It operates with a steam locomotive in school holidays, and historic diesel locomotives or railcars other weekends.

The Southern Encounter runs from Mount Barker to Victor Harbor during winter, utilising most of the remaining broad gauge branch from the main Adelaide to Melbourne line.

 

Some shorter services along the line are:

 

•The Bugle Ranger - from Mount Barker to Bugle Ranges using a Redhen railcar set. Services operate one Sunday each month from late April to October

•

•The Highlander - from Mount Barker to Strathalbyn using steam locomotives when possible. Operates on the second Sunday of each month from June until the end of November (excluding October).

•

•StrathLink - from Goolwa to Strathalbyn using a restored heritage "Brill" railcar. Operates during School Holiday periods.

 

The ‘newspaper stand’ is soon becoming a forgotten way to communicate with the public. With more online news subscriptions being made, newspaper companies are leaving these structures abandoned. I want to use this endangered specie as a new way to communicate with the public once more. This is achieved using the concept of ‘site specific’ in the real world as well as the online world, and also by introducing a different concept of ‘time specific’. This technique helps to create a story on the street as well as the webpage in which the images are added to. Each newspaper stand represents a single page in the story “The Story of How Things Came to Bee”. Once the newspaper stand is placed back in the location from which it was originally borrowed from, a picture is taken at the exact time in which the story takes place. By adding the images to the webpage it allows for a narrative to bee created by using ‘notes’ (these are viewed by scrolling over the image) which can not bee seen on the street. Lastly, a map showing the locations of the newspaper stand is sited as well, allowing the online viewer to travel to each location and view these scenes in real life.

 

"Telephone companies have been abandoning their public telephone booths by taking out the phones and leaving the structures beehind. (Probably due to the rise in cell phone users.) I want to reuse these structures as a way of communication with the public once more by replacing that empty space with paper-mache beehives. To me, this symbolizes the irony beehind the question, 'where have so many of the bees gone' and the theory that cell phone signals have been misguiding their normal patterns of migration"

Fast food at the Kawaguchiko fifth station.

 

Mount Fuji

 

Mount Fuji (富士山 Fuji-san) is the highest mountain in Japan located on Honshu Island at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (62 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers. It is one of Japan's "Three Holy Mountains" (三霊山 Sanreizan) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku.

 

Approximately 300,000 people climbed Mount Fuji in 2009. Buses to the fifth station start running on 1 July. Most Japanese climb the mountain at night in order to be in a position at or near the summit when the sun rises. The morning sunshine is called 御来光 "Goraikō" which means "honourable arrival of light".

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Fuji

This exceptionally beautiful bodywork is referred to as a 'goutte d'eau' in French, or 'teardrop' in English. It was created by the Paris carrossiers Figoni & Falaschi, known at the time for their flamboyant but stylish coachwork designs. They were early adopters of the then new Nitrolac metallic paint and their creations were in stark contrast with conventional offerings. This car's iconic beauty belies the fact that it is a pure racer. It is equipped with a 160 hp, 4-litre six-cylinder engine. One of these 'teardrops' came in third in the 1938 Le Mans race, behind two Delahayes.

 

This actual car belonged to Mrs Robin Byng, Countess of Strafford, who together with her husband used it in pre-war France. After the war, the Talbot Lago was sold to gentleman racer Rob Walker, who used it as a practice car for the 1949 Le Mans race.

 

Figoni & Falaschi was a collaboration between two Italians who emigrated to France: the designer Joseph (Giuseppe) Figoni and the businessman Ovidio Falaschi. They established their company in 1935 but it was short-lived. After the war there was little demand for special coachwork and the unitary chassis/body was up-and-coming. Figoni and Falaschi decided to go their separate ways; the latter returned to Italy and Joseph Figoni went on to run a 'normal' garage.

 

Only sixteen examples of their 'goutte d'eau' masterpiece were produced. Each car was different, having been custom-buil

One video still from each "Life is Drag" video portrait (performance documentation).

 

lifeisdrag.com

  

ARTIST STATEMENT:

 

I create bodies of work that explore subjects such as gender, artifice, and spectacle. Utilizing processes ranging from directorial to curatorial to anthropological, I showcase exuberantly irrepressible personalities who revel in challenging clichés associated with constructs such "masculinity" and "femininity". A sampling of subjects include Girls Girls Girls (the world's first and only all-female Mötley Crüe tribute band), Tazzie Colomb (the world's longest competing female bodybuilder), and LACTIC Incorporated (an avant-garde clothing brand that takes the detritus of corporate life and reinterprets it into one-of-a-kind structural garments that challenge the polarization of gender).

  

With this current and ongoing project "Life is Drag", I am documenting the most innovative and singular performers of the currently exploding international alt-drag and neo-burlesque scenes. I am 3 years into this project, and so far have created 250+ portraits. These are created in my studio as well as during residencies - in New York City (The Cell Theater, Bushwig), Pittsburgh (The Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Blue Moon Bar, Bloomfield Garden Club), and New England (3S Artspace).

  

This project began in early 2019 in my studio in Brooklyn, when I collaborated with a local visual artist by the name of Untitled Queen - a deeply beloved, highly respected, and uniquely visionary performer and conduit within the NYC drag scene who uses drag as a part and extension of her artistic process. I then worked with selected performers from Ohio and Kentucky in conjunction with a mid-career retrospective in my hometown of Cincinnati in the spring of 2019, and in January and February of 2020, I worked with 20+ New England-based drag artists as part of a residency and exhibition at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

  

From the autumn of 2020 until the summer of 2021, I was an artist in residence at The Cell Theatre in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC, where I expanded the project in the midst of the pandemic to also include neo-burlesque performers and performance artists whose work deals specifically with gender performativity. Most recently was a residency in my hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio - which included creating video portraits of performers from the drag haus ODD Presents, members of the neo-burlesque troop Smoke & Queers, and other alt-drag and burlesque artists from the tri-state area. This residency also included an exhibition featuring this ever-growing archive, as well as multiple live performance events.

  

My long-term goal is to continue to do a series of such residencies nationally and internationally, which will allow me to create a comprehensive archive of video portraits of drag, burlesque and performance artists from a wide range of locations, backgrounds, cultures, and ages. Each portrait includes video of the artist performing (lip-synching, singing, telling stories, reciting monologues, dancing, etc.) in addition to interview documentation, and will live online as well as in galleries and unexpected places in between. "Life is Drag" has so far been exhibited at such venues as the the Carnegie Museum of Art and Bunker Projects (PA), Satellite Art Club, Bushwig and The Cell (NYC), 3S Artspace (NH), and the Weston Art Gallery (OH).

  

I believe this project is innovative and important in that it is treating and respecting "drag" (defined as broadly and inclusively as possible) as a proper art form – recognizing it as an extremely vital and valid style of performance art, and every bit as deserving of the deference reserved for more traditional classical art forms like painting and sculpture. Drag is painting and sculpture and performance all at once - and quite often also activism, education, protest, therapy, resistance, catharsis, comedy, tragedy, enlightenment, inspiration - or some combination of the above - to those who practice it, and also to those who experience it as an observer. This project is about celebrating this experimental and expansive form of art and its wide range of practitioners and manifestations. It is about creating a record - an archive - of these brilliant but ephemeral performances, from dive bars to art galleries, city streets to grand theater stages. It is about trying to properly document and share these wildly diverse acts and profound stories that will surely open minds and capture hearts.

The Great Patriotic War (Russian: Вели́кая Оте́чественная война́, romanized: Velikaja Otečestvennaja vojna) is a term used in Russia and some other former republics of the Soviet Union to describe the conflict fought during the period from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945 along the many fronts of the Eastern Front of World War II, primarily between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. For some legal purposes, this period may be extended to 11 May 1945 to include the end of the Prague offensive.

 

History

The term Patriotic War refers to the Russian resistance to the French invasion of Russia under Napoleon I, which became known as the Patriotic War of 1812. In Russian, the term отечественная война originally referred to a war on one's own territory (otechestvo means "the fatherland"), as opposed to a campaign abroad (заграничная война), and later was reinterpreted as a war for the fatherland, i.e. a defensive war for one's homeland. Sometimes the Patriotic War of 1812 was also referred to as the Great Patriotic War (Великая отечественная война); the phrase first appeared in 1844 and became popular on the eve of the centenary of the Patriotic War of 1812.

 

After 1914, the phrase was applied to World War I. It was the name of a special war-time appendix to the magazine Theater and Life (Театр и жизнь) in Saint Petersburg, and referred to the Eastern Front of World War I, where Russia fought against the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The phrases Second Patriotic War (Вторая отечественная война) and Great World Patriotic War (Великая всемирная отечественная война) were also used during World War I in Russia.

 

The term Great Patriotic War re-appeared in the official newspaper of the CPSU, Pravda, on 23 June 1941, just a day after Germany invaded the Soviet Union. It was found in the title of "The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet People" (Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voyna Sovetskogo Naroda), a long article by Yemelyan Yaroslavsky, a member of Pravda editors' collegium. The phrase was intended to motivate the population to defend the Soviet fatherland and to expel the invader, and a reference to the Patriotic War of 1812 was seen as a great morale booster. During the Soviet period, historians engaged in huge distortions to make history fit with Communist ideology, with Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov and Prince Pyotr Bagration transformed into peasant generals, Alexander I alternatively ignored or vilified, and the war becoming a massive "People's War" fought by the ordinary people of Russia with almost no involvement on the part of the government. The invasion by Germany was called the Great Patriotic War by the Soviet government to evoke comparisons with the victory by Tsar Alexander I over Napoleon's invading army.

 

The term Отечественная война (Patriotic War or Fatherland War) was officially recognized by establishment of the Order of the Patriotic War on 20 May 1942, awarded for heroic deeds.

 

The term is not generally used outside the former Soviet Union, and the closest term is the Eastern Front of World War II (1941–1945). Neither term covers the initial phase of World War II in Eastern Europe, during which the USSR, then still in a non-aggression pact with Germany, invaded eastern Poland (1939), the Baltic states (1940), Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (1940) and Finland (1939–1940). The term also does not cover the Soviet–Japanese War (1945) nor the Battles of Khalkhin Gol (1939).

 

In Russia and some other post-Soviet countries, the term is given great significance; it is accepted as a representation of the most important part of World War II. Until 2014, Uzbekistan was the only nation in the Commonwealth of Independent States that had not recognized the term, referring to it as World War II on the state holiday - the Day of Remembrance and Honour.

Monkey is checking out his stocking. So far, there is zilch. For the 2019 Weekly Alphabet Challenge and my POTD.

Boston Lodge at Penrhyn Isa, is the location of the railway's main engineering workshops, locomotive shed and carriage works for the Ffestiniog Narrow Gauge Railway.

 

The Boston Lodge address and postcode is shared by the works with four cottage dwellings (mostly occupied in connection with the railway) and with the former tollgate cottage at the end of the causeway. The original 'Penrhyn Isa' cottage (now the railway works office) was renamed 'Boston Lodge' after Boston, Lincolnshire, the parliamentary seat of William Madocks, the proprietor of the land reclamation venture.

 

Construction of the causeway, known locally as ‘The Cob’, linking Penrhyn Isa on the Merioneth shore with the small rocky island called Ynys Towyn (where Britannia Terrace now stands in Porthmadog) near the Caernarfonshire shore, started in 1807 and was completed in 1811 during which time large quantities of stone was quarried and extracted from both ends. The embankment, which was the final stage of the Traeth Mawr land reclamation scheme, was 24 feet (7.3 m) wide at the top (where the railway now runs), 180 feet (55 m) wide at the base, 21 feet (6.4 m) deep and about 1 mile (1.6 km) in length. The quarrying created both the Britannia Terrace site at Porthmadog and the railway workshops site at Boston Lodge.

 

The site at Boston Lodge first held barracks for many of the 150 men working from the Merioneth side on the embankment construction, together with stables and smithies for the horses and wagons used to carry the stone. Later with the coming of the horsedrawn Festiniog Railway, the stables and smithies were brought back into use from 1836 onwards and there has been almost continuous development of the site for railway purposes since that time.

 

In the years from 1847 to 1851 the Works was considerably developed by the construction of ferrous and non-ferrous foundries, a pattern making shop, a blacksmith's shop, a carpenter's shop, and an engine house in which a steam engine provided power for machinery in a sawmill, pattern shop and machine shops. In the 1870s further construction provided a paint shop, joiner's shop and erecting shop in which in 1879 and 1885 the double Fairlie engines Merddin Emrys and Livingston Thompson were built. Prior to 1915 the works employed about 30 men.

 

During World War I most of the works was used as a munitions factory (largely staffed by women) from 17 September 1915 until early in 1919. The fortunes of the railway and its works declined from the mid-1920s with total closure from March 1947 to September 1954.

 

The works reopened on 20 September 1954, since when many of the original buildings have been extensively repaired and their usage altered. Machinery has been updated and modern materials and techniques have been introduced. Additional workshops have been built as well as new locomotive servicing facilities and carriage storage depots. The works undertakes the restoration and preservation of the railway’s historic locomotives, carriages, wagons and features of all descriptions. It also builds new steam locomotives and passenger carriages, and undertakes the ongoing maintenance of the Ffestiniog Railway's expanding fleet of railway vehicles.

 

In 1977, Boston lodge works undertook the design and installation of oil-firing equipment on the British Railways locomotive "Owain Glyndwr" on the Vale of Rheidol Railway. This was probably the first of numerous outside contracts that the works has undertaken over the years. These outside contracts have included restoration work on steam engines and the complete construction of various replica narrow-gauge passenger coaches.

 

In December 1998, a £375,000 Heritage Lottery Fund Grant was awarded to the FR Trust and this provided, amongst other things, for the construction of an extension to the carriage workshop at Boston Lodge to form a ‘Heritage Centre’ that would be a permanent home for the restoration of historic vehicles in a secure environment. Restoration to a very high standard has included most of the surviving Ffestiniog Railway Victorian era passenger coaches and a carefully selected rake of about 50 slate wagons representing most of the variant types characteristic of the local slate operations.

 

From 1993 onwards Boston Lodge works has undertaken extensive locomotive restoration work for the Ffestiniog Railway owned Welsh Highland Railway (Caernarfon). Recently the works is undertaking the construction of new passenger carriages for service between Caernarfon and Porthmadog.

Qingtian County is located in the middle south of Zhejiang Province and the lower reaches of Ou River, which covers a total area of 2,493 km2. The GIAHS designated village—Longxian village is a typical south village in the southeast of Fangshan Town, one of towns in Qingtian County, covering an area of 4.6 km2.

Ecological symbiosis exists in the traditional rice-fish agricultural system: fish provides fertilizer to rice, regulates micro-climatic conditions, softens the soil, disturbs the water, and eats larvae and weeds in the flooded fields; rice provides shade and food for fish.

 

Historically, fish has been cultivated in wet rice fields, either concurrently or rotationally with rice.

The canon for fish culture written by Fan Li (about 400 BC) states:

"... dig six mu of land into a pond … put 2000 fry into the pond …sell the rest in the market.”

In a good year with ample rainfall and moderate weather, 2000 carp fry could produce numerous eggs.

 

Some wise farmers may have placed excess fry in their rice fields. The fish in the rice fields may have grown better than those in the ponds, and the practice of raising fish in rice fields was born. There are no records of when the practice started, but this seems to be a logical explanation of how rice-fish farming began in China.

 

An early written record of rice-fish culture may be found in "Recipes for Four Seasons" which was written by Cao Cao in the Sanguo Era (200-265 AD): “a small fish with yellow scales and a red tail, grown in the rice fields of Pi County northeast of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, can be used for making sauce.”

 

Photo credit must be given: © FAO/Luohui Liang

 

More information:

Rice Fish Culture, China

This is a different mosquito-like Dance Fly in the family Empididae on a male staminate catkin of Arroyo Willow (Salix lasiolepis, Salicaceae) by the creek. This one is visibly different from the ones I show in this photo, smaller and blacker. It's dusted with pollen from the flowers. These tiny flies do a great job of transporting pollen as they go back and forth between the separate male and female plants of this dioecious tree. HFDF! (San Marcos Pass, 16 February 2017)

 

"Oh, the wind and rain..."

We've had more than 8-1/2 inches of rain since last night, and it's still coming as I type this! It was raining so hard today that I never got out, and the highway was closed from both ends anyway. I'll get out tomorrow to inspect the damage, but the creeks drop fast after the rain stops. I would like to see the lake. The river peaked today at 13,200 cfs - a lot of water under the bridge! I can't find any news, but the lake must be filling after being down below ten percent capacity during the drought - just a month ago. Sounds crazy, but it's happened before. It's nice how San Marcos Pass was the target for this storm - just as the NWS forecast.

 

(Hah - three of us foolish friends carried a raft down to Gibraltor Dam and rafted down the Santa Ynez River to the first crossing after the "March Miracle" rains of 1991 when we got almost 20 inches of rain in one week. We got to the end after dark to be greeted by the Search & Rescue people that Julie had called who were wondering what to do about us. I'm glad I did it, but never again!)

Dying is not like on TV, it can sometimes be quite very hard for the immediate family be!!!!!

 

Luciano Pavarotti Y Eric Clapton Holy Mother Live

  

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EQ4YVyEf6A

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It is hard to even tell there was a department store here in this "washed out" shot. This old Higbee's / Dillard's department store has been closed since 2003 yet the old garden now seems to be taking over this whole section of the store.

 

The Randall Park Mall was opened in 1976 and was briefly the largest shopping center in the world, topping in at 2 million square feet. JCPenney, Horne's, Sears, May Company, and Higbee's were the original anchor stores. Sadly, the mall had a decline which led to its closure in 2009. Burlington Coat Factory (former Horne's) is the only "anchor" at the site. The Power Sport institute and a furniture liquidation center are the only other remaining businesses here. The rest of the mall has been left to rot. I wish I could get to go inside of this mall for pictures especially since it is planned to be demolished for an industrial park soon.

 

Randall Park Mall - North Randall, Ohio

Rice *is* life in Asia...without it we wouldn't know what to eat ;-)

 

Another History Redux picture taken in 2009 whilst in Shizuoka, Japan on another Camping Car weekend.

 

Shizuoka, Japan.

Made this card for the Less is more challenge. The recipe for this week is "a bit of bling"

Longshan Temple (龍山寺) is one of the oldest temples in Taipei. It was built by the Hokkien migrants from China in 1738 as a branch of the temple from their homeland, where it was built at the foot of the dragon mountain, or longshan.

 

The original structure was destroyed by fires and earthquakes and bombed by the Americans during World War II. So the current temple is quite new.

 

The temple is an impressive sight, with the intricately carved figures on the roofs of the various buildings. But what is truly impressive is that it is very much a part of the religious and cultural life of the residents. When we got there, there was an ongoing ceremony and so the temple was filled with people chanting and presenting their offerings to the deities in the temple.

 

www.taiwanobsessed.com/longshan-temple-taipei/

Antwerpen

 

The Grote Markt is the central square of Antwerp, Belgium. It is surrounded by the city's Renaissance Town Hall, as well as numerous guildhalls with elaborate facades, the majority of which are reconstructions from the 19th and early 20th century, approximating paintings of the square by Flemish artists. A few of the guildhall facades, such as that of Sint-Joris's are intact originals entirely dating back to the 16th century.

 

The square also has many restaurants and cafes, and it lies within walking distance of the Scheldt river. The Grote Markt hosts a Christmas market and ice rink every winter.

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Antwerp (Dutch: Antwerpen) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. With a population of 565,039, it is the most populous municipality in Belgium, and with a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million people, the country's second-largest metropolitan area. Flowing through Antwerp is the river Scheldt. The Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe. The city is also known as the hub of the world's diamond trade.

 

Both economically and culturally, Antwerp is and has long been an important city in the Low Countries, especially before and during the Spanish Fury (1576) and throughout and after the subsequent Dutch Revolt. The Stock Exchange in Antwerp, originally built in 1531 and re-built in 1872, was the world's first purpose-built commodity exchange. In 1920, the city hosted the Summer Olympics.

 

The city's population is very diverse, including about 180 nationalities; as of 2019, more than 50% of its population had a parent that was not a Belgian citizen at birth. A notable community is the Jewish one, as Antwerp is one of the only two cities in Europe that is home to a considerable Haredi population in the 21st century.

 

In the 4th century, Antwerp was first mentioned, having been settled by the Germanic Franks. The Steen Castle has its origins in the Carolingian period in the 9th century. The castle may have been built after the Viking incursions in the early Middle Ages; in 879 the Normans invaded Flanders. The surviving structure was built between 1200 and 1225 as a gateway to a larger castle of the Dukes of Brabant which was demolished in the 19th century.

 

After the silting-up of the Zwin and the consistent decline of Bruges, Antwerp, then part of the Duchy of Brabant, grew in importance, with the city doubling its population between 1500 and 1569. At the end of the 15th century, the foreign trading houses were transferred from Bruges to Antwerp. During this time, the old Mediterranean trade routes were gradually losing importance and the discovery of new sea routes via Africa to Asia and via the Atlantic to America helped push Antwerp to a position of prominence.

 

By 1504, the Portuguese had established Antwerp as one of their main shipping bases, bringing in spices from Asia and trading them for textiles and metal goods. The city's trade expanded to include cloth from England, Italy and Germany, wines from Germany, France and Spain, salt from France, and wheat from the Baltic. The city's skilled workers processed soap, fish, sugar, and especially cloth. Banks helped finance the trade, the merchants, and the manufacturers. The city was a cosmopolitan center; its Stock Exchange opened in 1531, "To the merchants of all nations."

 

Antwerp also had an unusually high number of painters, around 360 in 1560, it was the most important artistic center north of the Alps, serving notable painters such as Pieter Bruegel.

My Mom bought a daisy plant to put in her garden the other day. Before she put it in the ground, I took it and was taking photos of it. My Dad came along and took it from me, so she could go ahead and plant it. I was upset because I was having fun taking photos of the different blossoms... Well, apparently I conveyed my feelings about it appropriately and my Dad bought me a bouquet of flowers Sunday. =) That's how I came up with the title for this flower (just one of the flowers from the bouquet... there will probably be more to come!! =)

This is the absolute limit of how close mainline trains get to the Garw and Ogmore valleys these days.

 

The OVE (Ogmore Valley Extension) line stretches from Tondu station to Margam Knuckle yard and is a diversionary freight line used only very occasionally when there is work being carried out on the mainline between Port Talbot and Bridgend. When trains use this diversion they have to reverse direction at Tondu in order to Proceed through Bridgend and this is achieved by using the double tracked Garw loop to perform a "run round" where the locomotive is detached from one end of the train and moved to the opposite end and reattached.

 

The Garw loop is the last active portion of the line that once split at Brynmenyn station and connected the Garw and Ogmore Valleys to the mainline. The line to the Garw is relatively intact all the way to Pontycymer but is currently overgrown and derelict after the loop. The line to the Ogmore valley has been lifted but the route still exists as a cycle path that follows the original track bed all the way to Nantymoel.

 

The future of the OVE line looks uncertain as there is talk of the bridge which carries it over the mainline in Margam being demolished when the mainline is electrified thus rendering the OVE line useless.

Here is New York, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC (2002)

This sculpture by Jim Dine, was at the entrance of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts during the 'Love Is Love' exhibition.

This is the w/b AEPML-10, which was due to arrive at Mira Loma, CA much sooner, and with four Ferromex units, but I guess one of the three GE techo-toasters had a traction motor fire and it was set-out in AZ. Good for me, as I wouldn't have got this shot if it had been on time, and "three amigos" is fine with me.

The Hilux 4X4 is a pickup truck manufactured by Toyota, marketed just as "Toyota Truck" in North America from 1973-95 with no model name mentioned in advertising, promotional material, or on the trucks themselves after 1975.

 

In 1985, Statler Toyota received a delivery of a new truck painted in black. When Marty McFly returned from 1955, the improved present placed the vehicle in his garage and he had possession of the keys. Its license plate number was 2BAK860.

 

His plans shifted to driving Jennifer Parker up to the lake; however, Emmett Brown's arrival in the DeLorean time machine from 2015 halted those plans. Marty would return on Sunday to find Biff Tannen waxing his new truck. He drove to Jennifer's house and woke her up from the porch swing he and Doc had placed her on back in 1985A.

 

Marty and Jennifer drove past Hilldale where they had a recollection of the future, when Douglas J. Needles and his gang drove up beside them and challenged them to a drag race. Marty declined but after being called "chicken", he braced for takeoff. Marty drove in reverse at the turn of the green light and watched as the near lane was soon taken by a Rolls Royce, which he might have hit had he continued racing.

 

Marty drove Jennifer to the site of the DeLorean's destruction along the train tracks when they heard the sound of the pedestrian warning bells at the railroad crossing.

 

Vehicle specifications:

 

Hilldale1985-1

Marty drives the Toyota up to Hilldale.

1985 Toyota Hi-Lux pickup Deluxe 4x4 Xtracab

Solid front axle

22R-E 2.4L 4cyl EFI

5 speed manual transmission (W56)

RF1A transfer case (gear drive)

Smitty built tubular bumpers (front and rear, double tube)

Single tube roll bar

KC daylighter's (4 - 6" round, 2 - 3x5" rectangular)

US wheel model 94 Black Modular wheels (15x8)

31x10.50x15" Goodyear Wrangler radials

Black exterior, gray interior

Rear slider window

Tinted rear slider and cab extension (approx. 20%)

Black grille, with black headlight doors (chrome accented)

 

[Text from backtothe future.wikia.com]

 

backtothefuture.wikia.com/wiki/Toyota_Hilux

  

This Lego miniland scale 1985 Toyota Hilux 4x4 Pickup (Back to the Future I & II) has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 96th Build Challenge - The 8th Birthday, titled - 'Happy Crazy Eight Birthday, LUGNuts' - where all previous build challenges are available to build to. This model is built to the LUGNuts 33rd Build Challenge, - "Size Matters" - a challenge to build any vehicle in more than one scale - stay tuned to for the next scale model. The model is also built to the 6th build challenge, - &quotYour Claim to Fame" - a challenge encouraging the builder to create an iconic model with some level of popular culture reference (to ensure lots of interweb exposure) -

 

Again driving along the West Coast of Sardinia and visiting new places. This is the famous Is Aruttas beach on the Sinis peninsula. The most remarkable feature of this beach is that it is made of nearly spheric grains of quartz of 1 to 3 mm diameter. Really nice and an endangered place as many idiots use to carry this coarse sand away after visiting the place. A beach is not a quarry and you don't need any sand at home, even if you own an aquarium like mine, where this sand woul be perfect. Though I feel the right place for sand is on the beach.

One more thing: the remains of Posidonia oceanica are not waste, they are part of the ecosystem of the beach. I am sorry for those who believe beaches are always snow white, but this is the way Nature makes things, and the way I like them to be.

Smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata)

 

The smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) is a species of otter, the only extant representative of the genus Lutrogale. The species is found in most of the Indian Subcontinent and eastwards to Southeast Asia, with a disjunct population in Iraq. As its name indicates, the fur of this species is smoother and shorter than that of other otters.

  

Characteristics

 

Smooth-coated otters are relatively large for otters, from 7 to 11 kilograms (15 to 24 lb) in weight and 59 to 64 centimetres (23 to 25 in) in head-body length, with a 37 to 43 centimetres (15 to 17 in) tail. They may be distinguished from other species of otter by a more rounded head and a hairless nose in the shape of a distorted diamond. The tail is flattened, in contrast to the more rounded tails of other species. The legs are short and strong, with large webbed feet bearing strong claws. As their name suggests, they have unusually short and sleek fur; this is dark to reddish brown along the back, while the underside is light brown to almost grey in color. Females have two pairs of teats.

  

Ecology and behavior

 

Smooth-coated otters are social and hunt in groups. They are mainly diurnal, and have a short lull in activity during midday.

 

They spend the night in dens dug in dense vegetation, under tree roots, or among boulders. They use scent to communicate both within the otter species, and with other animals. Each otter possesses a pair of scent glands at the base of the tail which are used to mark land or objects, such as rocks or vegetation, near feeding areas in a behavior called sprainting. They also communicate through vocalisations such as whistles, chirps, and wails.

 

Some may construct permanent holts near water, in a layout similar to that of a beaver dam, with an underwater entrance and a tunnel that leads to a nest above the water.

 

Fish comprise over 70% of their diet, but they also eat reptiles, frogs, insects, crustaceans, and small mammals. Especially in areas where other species of otter are also found, they prefer larger fish, typically between 5 and 30 centimetres (2.0 and 11.8 in) in length. They sometimes hunt in groups of up to eleven individuals.

 

In the Kuala Selangor Nature Park an otter group was observed hunting. They formed an undulating, slightly V-shaped line, pointing in the direction of movement and nearly as wide as the creek. The largest individuals occupied the middle section. In this formation they undulated wildly through the creek, causing panic‑stricken fish to jump out of the water a few metres ahead. They suddenly dived and grasped the fish with their snouts. Then they moved ashore, tossed the fish up a little on the muddy part of the bank, and swallowed it head‑first in one piece.

 

A group of otters can have a feeding range of 7 to 12 square kilometers. A single adult consumes about 1 kg of food per day in captivity.

  

Reproduction

 

Smooth-coated otters form small family groups of a mated pair with up to four offspring from previous seasons. Copulation occurs in water and lasts less than one minute.

So long as there is a sufficient food supply, they will breed throughout the year, but where otters are dependent on monsoons for precipitation, breeding occurs between October and February. A litter of up to five pups are born after a gestation period of 60 to 63 days. However, on 14 June 2014 a smooth coated otter called Ping at Wingham Wildlife Park in the UK gave birth to a litter of seven babies. The mothers give birth to and raise their young in a burrow near water. They may either construct such a burrow themselves, or they may take over an abandoned one. At birth, the pups are blind and helpless, but after 10 days, their eyes open, and they are weaned at about three to five months. They reach adult size at about a year of age, and sexual maturity at two or three years.

  

Threats

 

Major threats to Asian otter population are loss of wetland habitats due to construction of large-scale hydroelectric projects, reclamation of wetlands for settlements and agriculture, reduction in prey biomass, poaching and contamination of waterways by pesticides. In most Asian countries increased human population during the last century, inadequate and ineffective rural development programmes have not been able to address the problems of poverty, forcing people to be more and more dependent on natural resources. Consequently, most of the wetlands and waterways do not have adequate prey base for sustaining otter populations. Wetlands and waterways are polluted by eutrophication and accumulation of persistent pesticides such as chlorinated hydrocarbons and organophosphates through agricultural runoffs. Increased pesticide use is not only regarded as a major obstacle to the development of rice-fish culture, but also poses a danger to all predators feeding on aquatic prey in the area. In the entire south and southeast Asia there is severe conflict between otters and humans, because of poverty and recent increase in aquaculture activities leading to indiscriminate killing of otters. Many important habitats of smooth otter have been lost to development activities. In south east Asian countries, there does not seem to be any intentional otter trapping though it is prevalent in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

 

Due to the draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes during the presidency of Saddam Hussein it was feared that the Iraqi population of otters may have perished but a biodiversity site review in 2009 found tracks of an otter, suggesting that the population may have survived.

  

Conservation

 

Since 1977, Lutrogale perspicillata is listed on CITES Appendix II. It is a protected species in almost all the range countries, which prohibits its killing. But most range countries are not able to control the clandestine trade leading to extensive poaching.

 

The smooth-coated otter is listed as a vulnerable species. Their range and population are shrinking due to loss of wetland habitat and contamination of waterways by pesticides. Most range countries are not able to control the clandestine trade leading to extensive poaching. Smooth-coated otters are protected in India under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and are listed as endangered.

 

Smooth-coated otters are used for commercial fishing in southern Bangladesh. These otters are bred in captivity, trained, and used to chase fish into fishing nets. This fishing technique is currently used by about 300 fishermen, with an additional 2,000 people indirectly dependent on the technique for their livelihood.

  

In culture

 

The smooth-coated otter was featured on the BBC documentary, Planet Earth, in the episode entitled "Fresh Water" (aired in the UK on March 19, 2006 and in the US on April 15, 2007). In this episode, it is shown openly pestering an adult crocodile.

 

[Credit to en.wikipedia.org/]

It is funny how we forget things we have done.

 

Below, I state that this was my first visit to the cathedral as a churchcrawler.

 

When I began to post shots, I looked for the album to put the shots in, only to find there wasn't one.

 

A search of my photostream showed two visits to the cathedral, complete with interior shots from 2013 and the previous years.

 

I had no memories of these visits.

 

What else have I forgotten?

 

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Norwich is a fine city. Or so the signs say on every road into it. But, and there can be no denying it, it is a jewel in the Norfolk countryside.

 

For me it is “just” Norwich Where used to go for our important shopping, for football and later for concerts. We, and I, would take for granted its cobbled streets, Norman cathedral and medieval churches by the dozen. Also it’s a pub for every day, the ramshackle market, and the Norman castle keep looking down on the city sprawled around.

 

Just Norwich.

 

Later, it also became where I bought new records from Backs in Swan Lane, and searched for punk classics in the Record and Tape Exchange.

 

Norwich is lucky that the industrial revolution passed by the city leaving few changes, the character and history intact. World War II did damage, some churches were abandoned, some rebuilt, but many survived.

 

And Norwich is a friendly city. It sees warm and colourful, and on a hot summer’s day when the locals were in shorts and t-shirts, much white flesh was on display. I also take the football club for granted. I have supported it from nearly 49 years, and being away from the city means I get my news and views largely second hand, but I also forget how central the club is to the people.

 

Sadly, Norwich isn't really on the way to anywhere, well except Great Yarmouth and Cromer, so people don't come here by accident. So it remains something of a secret to most but locals.

 

Other cities would have children dressed in any one of a dozen Premier League club’s replica shirts. In Norwich yellow and green was the dominant colour, even after a chastening season that saw us finish rock bottom of the league. The local sports “superstore” has a Norwich Fan’s fanzone, and a third of the window is given to the home city club.

 

I knew the city like the back of my hand, so knew the route I wanted to take to provide me with views that would refresh those in my mind. I didn’t dally, pressed on to my two targets, the Anglican Cathedral and St Peter Mancroft.

 

This wasn’t the original plan; that was to meet two friends I used to go to the football with, Ian and Ali, but they both caught a bug in Manchester watching the women’s Euros, so couldn’t meet with me. But I had an alternative plan, maybe with a pub stop or two.

 

The trip happened as I got a mail offering a tempting 20% off the trip that had been selling poorly, I checked with Ian and Alison, they said they were free, but had yet to fall ill. So seats were booked, as Jools liked the sound of an afternoon in Norwich and meeting my friends.

 

Up at quarter to five so we could catch the first High Speed service out of Dover, so to be in London in time to catch the railtour to Norwich.

 

Sun had yet to light up Dover Priory when we arrived, but a few people milling around, including two still at the end of their night out.

 

Folkestone was light by the warm light of the rising sun, and well worth a shot as we passed over Foord Viaduct.

 

Later, I was hoping the calm morning meant the Medway would be a mirror, but a breeze disturbed the surface ruining the reflections I had hoped for.

 

Finally, emerging into Essex, the line climbs as the go over the Dartford Crossing, just enough time to grab a shot.

 

It was already hot in London, so we stayed in the shade of the undercroft at St Pancras, had a coffee and a pasty from Greggs before walking over to Kings Cross to see if our tour was already at the buffers.

 

We walked across the road to King's Cross, and find the station packed with milling passengers, all eyes trained on the departure boards waiting for platform confirmations.

 

Ours was due to be platform 3, and the rake of carriages was indeed there, top and tailed by class 66 freight locomotives.

 

We get on the train and find we had been allocated a pair of seats nearest the vestibule. This meant that they were a few inches less wide than others, meaning Jools and I were jammed in.

 

Almost straight away, Jools's back and Achilles began to ache, and the thought of four hours of this in the morning and another four in the evening was too much, and so she decided to get off at the first stop at Potters Bar.

 

In the end, a wise choice I think.

 

The guy in the seat opposite to us talked the whole journey. I mean filling any silence with anything: how much he paid for the components of his lunch, his cameras and then his job. In great detail. He also collected train numbers. I didn't know that was really a thin in the days of EMUs, but I helped out from time to time telling him units he had missed.

 

We had a twenty minute break at Peterborough because of pathing issues, so we all got out to stretch our legs and do some extra trainspotting.

 

An Azuma left from the next platform, and another came in on the fast line. I snapped them both.

 

From Peterborough, the train reversed, and after the 20 minute wait, we went out of the station southwards, taking the line towards Ely.

 

Now that we had done our last stop, the train could open up and we cruised across the Fens at 70mph, the flat landscape botted with wind turbines and church towers slipped by.

 

Instead of going into Ely station, we took the rarely used (for passenger trains) freight avoiding line, now a single track. Emerging crossing the main line, taking the line eastwards towards Thetford.

 

Again, the regulator was opened, and we rattled along. Even so, the journey was entering its fourth hour, and with my travelling colleague and without Jools, time was dragging.

 

We were now back in Norfolk, passing the STANTA training area, all warning signs on the fences telling the trainee soldiers that that was where the area ended. I saw no soldiers or tanks. My only thought was of the rare flowers that would be growing there, unseen.

 

And so for the final run into Norwich, familiar countryside now.

 

Under the southern bypass and the main line from London, slowing down where the two lines merged at Trowse before crossing the River Wensum, before the final bend into Norwich Thorpe.

 

At last I could get off the train and stretch my legs.

 

Many others were also getting off to board coaches to take them to Wroxham for a cruise on the Broads, or a ride on the Bure Valley Railway, while the rest would head to Yarmouth for four hours at the seaside.

  

I got off the train and walked through the station, out into the forecourt and over the main road, so I could walk down Riverside Road to the Bishop’s Bridge, then from there into the Cathedral Close.

 

The hustle and bustle of the station and roadworks were soon left behind, as the only noise was from a family messing about in a rowing boat in front of Pulls Ferry and a swan chasing an Egyptian Goose, so the occasional splash of water.

 

I reached the bridge and passed by the first pub, with already many folks sitting out in the beer garden, sipping wines and/or summer beers. I was already hot and would loved to have joined them, but I was on a mission.

 

In the meantime, Jools had texted me and said if I fancied getting a regular service back home, then I should. And a seed grew in my brain. Because, on the way back, departing at just gone five, the tour had to have a 50 minute layover in a goods siding at Peterborough, and would not get back to Kings Cross until half nine, and then I had to get back to Dover.

 

I could go to the cathedral the church, walk back to the station. Or get a taxi, and get a train back to London at four and still be home by eight.

 

Yes.

 

I walked past the Great Hospital, then into the Close via the swing gate, round to the entrance where there was no charge for entry and now no charge for photography. But I would make a donation, I said. And I did, a tenner.

 

I have been to the cathedral a few times, but not as a churchcrawler. So, I made my way round, taking shots, drinking in the details. But the walk up had got me hot and bothered, I always run with a hot engine, but in summer it can be pretty damp. I struggled to keep my glasses on my nose, and as I went round I knew I was in no mood to go round again with the wide angle, that could wait for another visit.

 

The church is pretty much as built by the Normans, roof excepted which has been replaced at least twice, but is poetry in stone. And for a cathedral, not many people around also enjoying the building and its history.

 

At one, bells chimed, and I think The Lord’s Prayer was read out, we were asked to be quiet. I always am when snapping.

 

In half an hour I was done, so walked out through the west door, through the gate and into Tombland. I was heading for the Market and St Peter which site on the opposite side to the Guildhall.

 

I powered on, ignoring how warm I felt, in fact not that warm at all. The heat and sweats would come when I stopped, I found out.

 

I walk up the side of the market and into the church, and into the middle of an organ recital.

 

Should I turn round and do something else, or should I stop and listen. I stopped and listened.

 

Everyone should hear an organ recital in a large church. There is nothing quite like it. The organ can make the most beautiful sounds, but at the same time, the bass pipes making noises so deep you can only feel it in your bones.

 

Tony Pinel knew his way round the organ, and via a video link we could see his hands and feet making the noises we could hear. It was wonderful, but quite how someone can play one tune with their feet and another with their hands, and pulling and pushing knobs and stoppers, is beyond me. But glad some people can.

 

It finished at quarter to two, and I photograph the font canopy and the 15th century glass in the south chapel. Font canopies are rare, there is only four in England, and one of the others is in Trunch 20 miles to the north. Much is a restoration, but it is an impressive sight when paired with the seven-sacrament font under it.

 

The glass is no-less spectacular, panels three feet by two, five wide and stretching to the vaulted roof. I can’t photograph them all, but I do over 50%.

 

I go to the market for a lunch of chips, for old times sake. I mean that was the treat whenever we went either to Norwich or Yarmouth; chips on the market. I was told they no longer did battered sausage, so had an un-battered one, and a can of pop. I stood and ate in the alleyway between stalls, people passing by and people buying chips and mushy peas of their own.

 

Once done, I had thought of getting a taxi back to the station, but the rank that has always been rammed with black cabs was empty, and two couples were shouting at each other as to who should have the one that was there. So I walked to the station, across Gentleman’s Walk, along to Back of the Inns, then up London Street to the top of Prince of Wales Road and then an easy time to the station across the bridge.

 

I got my ticket and saw a train to Liverpool Street was due to depart at 14:32. In three minutes.

 

I went through the barrier and got on the train, it was almost empty in the new, swish electric inter-city unit. I was sweating buckets, and needed a drink, but there appeared to be no buffet, instead just electric efficiency and silence as the train slid out of the station and went round past the football ground to the river, then taking the main line south.

 

In front of me, two oriental ladies talked for the whole journey. I listened to them, no idea what they talked about to fill 105 minutes.

 

I thought it would be nearly five when the train got in, but helped by only stopping at Diss, Ipswich, Manningtree and Colchester we got in, on time, at quarter past four.

 

I walked to the main concourse and down into the Circle Line platforms, getting a train in a couple of minutes the four stops to St Pancras. I knew there was a train soon leaving, and after checking the board and my watch I saw I had five minutes to get along the length of the station and up to the Southeastern platforms.

 

I tried. I did, but I reached the steps up to the platforms and I saw I had 45 seconds, no time to go up as they would have locked the doors. So, instead I went to the nearby pub and had a large, ice-cold bottle of Weiss beer.

 

That was better.

 

I was all hot and bothered again, but would have an hour to cool down, and the beer helped.

 

At ten past five, I went up and found the Dover train already in, I went through the barriers and took a seat in a carriage I thought would stop near the exit at Dover Priory. I called Jools to let her know I would be back at quarter to seven, and she confirmed she would pick me up.

 

She was there, people got off all out on a night on the town, dressed in shiny random pieces of fabric covering boobs and bottoms. I was young once, I thought.

 

Jools was there, she started the car and drove us home via Jubilee Way. Across the Channel France was a clear as anything, and four ferries were plying between the two shores. Take us home.

 

Once home, Jools had prepared Caprese. I sliced some bread and poured wine. On the wireless, Craig spun funk and soul. We ate.

 

Tired.

 

It was going to be a hot night, but I was tired enough to sleep through it. Or so I thought.

  

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

 

Norwich has everything. Thus, the normally dry and undemonstrative Nikolaus Pevsner began his survey of the capital of Norfolk in his 1962 volume Buildings of England: Norwich and north-east Norfolk. And there is no doubt that this is one of the best cities of its size in northern Europe. Living in Ipswich as I do, I hear plenty of grumbles about Norwich; but really, although the two places have roughly the same population, Ipswich cannot even begin to compare with regard to its townscape. The only features which the capital of Suffolk can claim to hold above its beautiful northern neighbour are a large central park (Norwich's Chapelfield gardens is not a patch on Ipswich's Christchurch Park) and a large body of water in the heart of the town, perhaps Ipswich's most endearing feature and greatest saving grace.

But Norwich has everything else - to continue Pevsner's eulogy, a cathedral, a castle on a mound right in the middle, walls and towers, a medieval centre with winding streets and alleys, thirty-five medieval parish churches and a river with steamships. It even has hills...

 

I think it would be possible to visit Norwich and not even know this cathedral was there. The centre of the city is dominated by the castle, and the most familiar feature to visitors is the great market square widened by the clearances of the 1930s, and the fine City Hall built at that time which towers above it. In comparison, Norwich Cathedral sits down in a dip beside the river, walled in by its close, and is visible best from outside the city walls, especially from the east on the riverside, and to the north from Mousehold Heath. If you arrive by road from the south or west, you may not even catch a glimpse of it. The great spire is hidden by those winding streets and alleys, and many of the city's churches are more visible, especially St Giles, St Peter Mancroft in the Market Place, and the vast Catholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist, on Grapes Hill. It is said that the nave floor of St John the Baptist is at the same height above sea level as the top of the crossing of the Anglican cathedral.

 

With the possible exception of Lincoln Cathedral, I think that Norwich Cathedral is my favourite cathedral in all England. Call this East of England chauvinism if you like, But Norwich Cathedral has everything you could possible want from a great medieval building. But there is more to it than that. It is also one of the most welcoming cathedrals in England. There is no charge for admission, and they positively encourage you to wander around through the daily business of the cathedral, in the continental manner. No boards saying Silence Please - Service in Progress here. Because of this, the Cathedral becomes an act of witness in itself, and you step into what feels like it probably really is the house of God on Earth. They even used to say the Lord's Prayer over the PA system once an hour, and invite you to stop and join in - I wish they'd go back to doing that. The three pounds you pay for a photography permit must be one of the bargains of the century so far.

 

Norwich Cathedral is unusual, in that this is the original building. It has been augmented over the centuries of course, but this is still essentially the very first cathedral on this site. This is because the see was only moved to Norwich after the Norman invasion. The Normans saw the wisdom of drawing together ecclesiastical and civil power, and one way in which this might be achieved was by siting the cathedrals in the hearts of important towns. At the time of the conquest, Bishop Herfast had his seat at Thetford, and it was decided to move the see to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. It had moved several times during the previous four centuries, from Walton in Suffolk to North Elmham in Norfolk before Thetford, where the first proper but simple stone building had been raised. But as well as an eye for efficient administration, the Normans brought the idea that Cathedrals should be glorified; already, vast edifices were being raised in Durham, London and Ely. and Bury St Edmunds, with its famous Abbey, was the obvious place for the Diocese of East Anglia to sit.

 

However, such a move would have removed the Abbey's independent direct line with Rome, and placed it under the jurisdiction of the Province of Canterbury. The Abbey community was determined that this would not happen, and Abbot Baldwin sent representations to the Pope that ensured the survival of St Edmundsbury Abbey's independence. Bishop Herfast would not be allowed to glorify his position in East Anglia in the way his colleagues were doing elsewhere. But his successor, Herbert de Losinga, was more determined - and, perhaps, steeled by his conscience. A Norman, he had bought the Bishopric from the King in 1091, an act of simony that required penance. Building a great cathedral could be seen as that act of penance. But where? Bury was a lost cause; instead, he chose to move the see to a thriving market town in the north-east of his Diocese; a smaller, more remote place than Bury, to be sure, but proximity to the Abbey of St Edmund was perhaps not such a good thing anyway. It tended to cast a rather heavy shadow. And so it was that the great medieval cathedral of the East Anglian bishops came to be built, instead, at Norwich.

 

Work began in 1094, and seems to have been complete by 1145. It is one of the great Romanesque buildings of northern Europe, its special character a result of responses to fires and collapses over the course of the next few centuries. At the Reformation in the sixteenth century, it became a protestant cathedral of the new Church of England, losing its role as a setting for ancient sacraments and devotions, but being maintained as the administrative seat of a Diocese which covered all of Norfolk and Suffolk, and the ceremonial church of its great city. In the 19th Century, the western part of the Norwich Diocese was transferred into that of Ely, and at the start of the 20th Century the southern parishes became part of the new Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. Today, the Diocese of Norwich consists of north, south and east Norfolk, and the north-eastern tip of Suffolk.

 

The absence of this great church from the Norfolk Churches site has long been the elephant in the room, so to speak. And having it here at last is, I feel, a mark of how things have changed. When I first started the Norfolk and Suffolk sites back in 1999, I did not have a decent camera, and the earliest entries did not have any photographs at all. How the wheel has turned. Now, the photographs have become the sites, and with no apologies I don't intend to make this a wordy entry.

 

The perfection of Norwich is of distant views, the cloisters, and the interior. The exterior is hemmed in, and the most familiar part of the building, the west front, is a poor thing, the victim of barbarous restorations in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is almost a surprise to step through its mundanity into the soaring glory of the nave. Above, the famous vaulting is home to one of the largest collections of medieval bosses in the world. There are more in the beautiful cloisters.

 

The view to the east is of the great organ, looking very 17th Century but actually the work of Stephen Dykes Bower in the 1950s. Beyond is the intimacy of the quire and ambulatory with its radial chapels, the best of which is St Luke's chapel, containing the Despenser retable. Bishop Despenser is one of history's villains, putting down the Peasants Revolt in East Anglia with some enthusiasm. It is likely that this retable was made for the cathedral's high altar, possibly even to give thanks for the end of the Revolt. It was discovered upside down in use as a table in the 1840s. This chapel is, unusually, also a parish church; the parish of St Mary in the Marsh, the church of which was demolished at the Reformation, moved into the cathedral. They brought their seven sacrament font with them, and here it remains.

 

In the ambulatory there are many traces of medieval paint, almost certainly from the original building of the Cathedral. Two curiosities: at the back of the apse is the original Bishop's chair, and rising across the north side of the ambulatory like a bridge is a relic screen.

 

There is a good range of glass dating from the 14th to the 21st centuries. Highlights include the medieval panels in the north side of the ambulatory, Edward Burne-Jones's bold figures in the north transept, Moira Forsyth's spectacular Benedictine window of 1964 in a south chapel, and the millennium glass high in the north transept, which I think will in time become one of the defining features of the Cathedral. The figure of the Blessed Virgin with the Christ Child seated on her lap is the work of Norfolk-based artist John Hayward, who died recently, but the glass above is Hayward's reworking of Keith New's 1960s glass for St Stephen Walbrook in London, removed from there in the 1980s, and now reset here. Towards the west end of the nave are two sets of Stuart royal arms in glass, a rare survival.

 

I grew up in a city some sixty miles away from Norwich, but I didn't come here until I was in my mid-teens. I remember wandering around this building and being blown away by it, and I still get that feeling today. There is always something new to find here. My favourite time here is first thing in the morning on a winter Saturday. Often, I can be the only visitor, which only increases the awe. Another time I like to be here in winter is on a Saturday afternoon for choral evensong. Perhaps best of all, though, is to wander and wonder in the cloisters on a bright sunny day, gazing at fabulous bosses almost within arm's reach.

Several English cathedrals have good closes, but Norwich's is the only one in a major city, I think. It creates the sense of an ecclesiastical village at the heart of the city; and then, beyond, the lanes and alleys spread out, still hanging on despite German bombing and asinine redevelopment. And now I think perhaps it is part of the beauty of this building that it is tucked away by the river, a place to seek out and explore. Norwich has everything, says Pevsner. But really, I think this is the very best thing of all.

 

www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichcathedral/norwichcathedr...

What is the Wine Train:

The Napa Valley Wine Train provides a relaxing three-hour thirty-six mile round-trip journey between the historic town of Napa through one of the world's most famous wine valleys to the quaint village of St. Helena and back.

 

Guests aboard the Wine Train enjoy the option of a freshly prepared lunch or dinner as they view vineyards and wineries from any of the vintage 1915-1917 Pullman Dining, Lounge, or 1952 Vista Dome rail cars which have been lavishly restored.

 

The Route of the Napa Valley Wine Train:

The tracks upon which the Napa Valley Wine Train runs were originally built in the 1860s to bring guests to the hot spring resort town of Calistoga. While the track to Calistoga no longer exists, much of the rest of the route of the Napa Valley Wine Train is unchanged. Due to the immense influence that rail transport had over the development of the communities and wineries of the Napa Valley, there is no shortage of sights to see during the three hour journey to St. Helena. Five towns; Napa, Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford, and St. Helena; and numerous wineries can be seen through the large picture windows on board the Wine Train.

 

The Napa Valley Wine Train begins its journey at the McKinstry Street Station in Napa. The train then travels north to St. Helena, where the locomotive disconnects from the north facing side of the train and reconnects to the south facing side of the train in preparation for the return journey. Currently, the Napa Valley Wine Train stops at different locations depending on the day of the week. Guests are only allowed to disembark at these locations if they have pre purchaced one of the Winery Tours. Every lunch train, the Wine Train offers both the Valley First Winery Tour (featuring Raymond Vineyards) and the Grgich Hills Winery Tour. March through November, Monday through Thursday the Wine Train offers the Ambassador Winery Tour (featuring Raymond Vineyards and ZD Wines). Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, guests are offered the Domaine Chandon tour which disembarks at Yountville during the southbound leg of the trip. Guests on the Domaine Chandon tour will be transported back to the McKinstry Street station by motor coach upon the conclusion of the tour. Also on Saturday dinner trains, guests can purchase the Evening Winery Tour (featuring Grgich Hills Estate). More Information on Winery Tours.

This is my CIC but this is my character when he's old, you'll get to see him when he is younger...

Sorry bad photography I'm soon getting a digital camera.

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Valhá was sitting at his desk thinking back on his life. He was trying to think of what he could write next in his book about all his adventures when he was younger. He suddenly got up and walked over to the table behind him and examined the numerous maps that littered the table. "Ah Garheim, that's where it all began." He thought to himself. "Looking for that damned Holy Cleaver that I spent most of my life looking for. A fruitless effort! I can't believe I wandered around most of the world looking for it!" He sat back down at his desk, dipped his quill in the ink and started to write. He paused for a minute then continued...

This camera is a gift from my friend Dr.Mithat Çamlıbel

Manufactured by Canon Camera Co.Inc, Tokyo , Japan

Model: c.1966, (produced between 1965-69)

All Canonet series produced between 1961-82

35mm film Rangefinder camera

Engraving on the top plate: Canonet QL19 E

Lens: Canon SE 45mm f/1.9, 5 elements in 4 groups, filter thread: 50mm

Aperture: f/1.9-f/16, setting: Auto speed

Focusing: matching rangefinder images in the finder, ring and scale on the lens

Focus range: 0.8-5m +inf

Shutter: Seiko SE electronic, speeds:1/15-1/500, setting: Auto speed, manual for flash mode, ring and scale on the lens

Cocking lever: also winds the film, short stroke, on the right of the top plate

Shutter release: on the winding lever button

Frame counter: advance type, auto-reset, beside the cocking lever

Viewfinder: Coincidence rangefinder coupled with reverse Galilean viewfinder,

parallax correction with bright-line in the finder, w/ a red light doubles as a over/under exposure warning and a battery checker and flash signal

Exposure meter: fully-automatic program EE auto electric eye, fully coupled to the ASA, aperture and speed.

The CdS meter cell round window, above the lens but inside the filter thread.

Metering range: EV 5.8 - 17

Film speed range: ASA 25-400, setting: ASA/DIN window and setting ring on the lens

Exposure setting: set the mode ring on the lens to auto

Re-wind lever: folding crank type, on the left of the top plate

Re-wind release: a button on the bottom plate, turns when winding

Flash PC socket: on front of the camera, set the mode ring on the lens to flash or bulb modes

Hot-shoe

Self-timer: lever on front of the camera

Back cover: Hinged, opens by a latch on the left lover side of the camera

Film loading: by Quick Loading (QL) system. The QL cover opens simultaneously with back cover, film leader must be aligned at mark then close the back cover and advance the film to the first frame with winding lever

Engraving on the back of the top plate: Canon Camera Co.Inc. Made in Japan

Tripod socket: 1/4''

Strap lugs

Body: metal; Weight: 699g

Battery: One 1.3 V MP mercury cell PX625, replacement is possible with Varta 1PX alkaline 1.5V (V1PX), also known as PX1A / 1A / A1PX / 1100A / PC1A / LR50

Battery compartment: on the bottom plate

Battery check button: beside the re-wind lever

On/off switch: none

serial no.200251 (on the back cover)

 

QL19 E is the first Canon camera that have an electronic shutter. The shutter blades were controlled by magnet. The QL19 E has no manual controls and like wise little information about exposure. The “E” version was made with a Sieko EE shutter vs. the standard Copal SV shutter on the rest of the QL line.

Canonet QL range was introduced by 1965, as a development of the Canonet, with shutter priority CdS-meter controlled auto exposure and manual override. Their difference in name corresponds to those of their apertures. The QL17 had a 45mm f1.7 lens, the QL19 an f1.9, and the QL25 an f2.5, set in Copal SV shutters and QL19E model, from 1965 with a 1/15-1/500s electronically-controlled Seiko ES shutter.

more info: Canon Camera Museum Camera Hall , Camerapedia , Sylvain Halgand Collection , Canonet

 

This project was/is a submission to the “Hover Vehicle” Group Build in early 2020 at phoxim.de. a German science fiction modelling forum. It was a good opportunity and motivation to tackle a Star Wars 1:12 Speeder Bike & Biker Scout combo from Bandai, which I had recently acquired at a reasonable price directly from Japan (since these kits are, due to licensing, limited to the domestic market). In the meantime the price tags for this set have reached absurd heights: while I got it for USD 45, seller frequently demand USD 75 and more these days! Sick.

 

However, when I bought the set I was already certain that I would not build it OOB, according to Ep. VI (Endor) status. I had the idea of a desert camouflage, esp. for the Biker Scout.

 

When I started building for the GB, this idea still lingered. As a kind of preface: both models, the Scout and the Bike, are actually snap-fit kits. The parts are molded in appropriate colors and in different materials (even on a single sprue!), so that no painting is required. If you stick the parts together, you already get a nice and presentable set. Due to the zillion of small parts, however, I would not recommend the kit(s) for beginners.

The fit of both kits in the set is excellent, and there are only a few traps during building. However, both kits have potential for a lot more, and esp. with some paint they really “win”.

 

Work started with the Speeder Bike. I originally envisioned some extras like dust filters or a desert camouflage. But the more I worked on the hardware, the more I became convinced to stay close to the original design. After all, the 74-Z Speeder Bike would be a very common and “cheap” Imperial vehicle, so it would be mass-produced and standardized. There’s actually only little body mass to conceal, and with the original reddish-brown bodywork, I decided to stick with that, since it would match a desert setting. I also found that extra hardware would be difficult to add without making it look “intentional”. The bike is so beefy and spindly – anything added to it would look superficial. Therefore it remained basically OOB.

 

The only changes I made is that I opened the air intakes in the hull’s flanks (OOB, they end in flat plates that are well visible and not very pretty), and I did some PSR around the parts that come with the intakes, since they leave, despite the kit’s overall good fit, visible and exaggerated seams.

For a more life-like look, I gave the Bike some laser hit marks and dents on the hull – created/sculpted with a heated screwdriver and left pretty “raw”.

Another mod concerns the cargo behind the seat: OOB, the kit comes with a plastic tarpaulin. It does not look bad, but I found it a bit boring – also, because I wanted to make the Scout more interesting and give him a bigger weapon. So I scratched a different equipment package from 1:100 VF-1 (Macross) missiles and small circuit elements (from the DIY store), which are held in place by a flexible net - actually a piece of nylon pantyhose, fixed to additional attachment points.

 

The whole kit was re-painted with Revell acrylics, since I did not find the plastic’s color convincing. Th red-brown is IMHO too pale, and the engine parts’ grey too light, so that I used more saturated colors. The whole kit was also dry-painted with lighter basic shades, received a black ink washing and an overall matt acrylic varnish coat and was finally treated with mineral pigments.

 

Next came the Biker Scout. Here, a camouflage was easier to realize and also more plausible, since camouflaged Imperial Troopers actually exist. It took some time to figure out a concept for the uniform, though. I settled upon a three-tone desert scheme (in beige, a reddish clay tone and red brown, similar to the Speeder Bike’s hull) for the suit’s hard elements, and the soft suit underneath, which is originally black/dark grey, became dark brown, for good contrast. Some details like bags or the gaiters became khaki drill.

Some details on the figure were added or modified. For instance, I added two dust filters and antennae to the helmet, and I gave the figure a kind of “skirt” (also made from nylon stockings), inspired by the Snowtroopers from Ep. V on Hoth. Not much, but esp. the skirt makes the Scout look more beefy than the original.

Just like the Speeder Bike, the figure was dry-painted, received a black ink washing and an overall matt acrylic varnish coat and was finally treated with mineral pigments.

 

Just when I was about to finish the Scout, I eventually decided to add a display base for both models. This was not an easy decision, since a base will have to be stored somewhere when everything has been finished. Originally, I just wanted to build a small neutral, black base that would hold the Bike in hover with the Scout on top, riding it.

However, I eventually had the idea to make the Scout a veteran sniper, being on a single clandestine mission and watching out for a target in a desert setting. This scenic concept led to the base/diorama, which is pretty simple, though, and extra equipment for the Scout: a heavy rifle (taken from a Bandai 1:60 Brocken Labor and slightly modified) and scratched binoculars, which the figure can both hold well and in a natural posture.

 

At its core, the base is a 20x6” (50x15cm) piece of MDF wood, 1” (2.5 cm) thick, which I had found in the stash. It was just big enough to allow both models to be presented separately, but still small enough to be stored in one of my cabinets later…

The Bike was to be positioned at the right side, the Scout to the left, standing separately, as if watching out. In order to give the base some more structure, I added a piece of rock to the left, since the Scout would not demand much depth. In order to save time and effort, I used a (massive!) resin rock, actually a decoration piece for terrariums!

 

The base’s surface was created in old-school fashion. At first, I added a border with balsa wood around the MDF board, defining the landscape’s outline. Then the resin rock was positioned, as well as the two models.

The landscape itself was created with a plaster/tile grout mix, the surface was created with very fine quartz sand that was sprinkled onto the fresh/wet plaster. I also added some footprints, as if the Scout had just got off of his Bike. A thorough soaking with a mix of water and white glue fixed everything in place, making the surface stable to touch. Once dry, the landscape was painted with sand brown from the rattle can, and a second layer of lighter beige was later added, too. The diorama’s balsa flanks were painted black, and the whole thing sealed with acrylic matt varnish, also from a rattle can.

 

On purpose, no vegetation was added. A clear pylon that holds the Bike in place and in a virtual hover was added under the vehicle’s center of gravity, scratched from a piece of clear sprue. OOB, the kit comes with a similar piece, but it turned out to be too short for the use on my diorama.

 

As a final finish treatment, the whole landscape was dusted generously with the same mineral pigments as the models, and I was lucky to have pigments in store that had almost the same beige color as the final surface paint finish – creating a very consistent look.

Another small, final detail is a scratched critter that hides in one of the rock’s crevices…

 

A lot of work, the whole building process lasted several weeks, even with creative breaks in which I built other, normal small projects. But I think the extra effort with the desert display base were worthwhile, since the scenic diorama makes everything look more plausible and life-like.

 

Denis is the husband of Glenda, my stranger #97, and was with her in the park when I returned with the "big camera". Denis agreed to be part of my 100 Strangers project but his heart didn't seem to be in it, as he was having too much fun flipping his hat back and forth. This was one of the few shots that I got with the hat neatly in place (eliminating the glare from the top of his head) and with Denis's blue eyes more or less in focus.

This picture is #98 in my 100 Strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.

You can see all my Stranger Portraits here.

Queen Anne’s Lace.

 

The Wild Carrot, Daucus carota, whose common names include wild carrot, bird's nest, bishop's lace, and Queen Anne's lace (North America), is a white, flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate regions of Europe and southwest Asia, and naturalized to North America and Australia. Domesticated carrots are cultivars of a subspecies, Daucus carota subsp. sativus.

 

The plant is a herbaceous, somewhat variable biennial plant that grows between 30 and 60 cm (1 and 2 ft) tall, and is roughly hairy, with a stiff, solid stem. The leaves are tripinnate, finely divided and lacy, and overall triangular in shape. The leaves are bristly and alternate in a pinnate pattern that separates into thin segments. The flowers are small and dull white, clustered in flat, dense umbels. The main identifier is the hairy stem of the wild carrot.

 

Scientific name: Daucus carota subsp. L.

 

Taxonomy -

 

Class: Equisetopsida Subclass: Magnoliidae Superorder: Asteranae

 

Order: Apiales Family:Apiaceae Genus: Daucus

 

Common name( s): wild carrot, carrot, Queen Anne’s lace, bird’s nest, devil’s plague

 

Synonym (s): Carota sylvestr is (Mill.) Rupr., Caucalis carnosa Roth more here

 

Conservation status: Widespread and not considered to be threatened.

 

Habitat: Rough grassland, coastal cliffs and dunes.

 

Key uses: Food and drink.

 

Known hazards: Wild carrot has some medical properties and is similar in appearance to poisonous species such as poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) and fool's parsley (Aethusa cynapium).

 

Taxonomy Class: Equisetopsida

 

Subclass: Magnoliidae Super or der : Asteranae

 

Order : Apiales Family: Apiaceae

 

Genus: Daucus (source for the above - Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, London UK - more information - www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Daucus-carota.htm) picture - Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen, Jacob Sturm und Johann Georg Sturm (1796) Original Description Echte Möhre, Daucus carota.

 

The Wild Carrot (Daucus Carota) (a.k.a.Queen Anne's Lace) is thought to have originated on the Iranian Plateau (an area which now includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran). It is abundant in temperate regions across the globe, particularly Western Asia and Europe, and is widely distributed across much of the United States whereCarrot Now and then - wild and domestic it is often found along roadsides, abandoned fields, and pastures.

 

Cultivated plant species and their sexually-compatible wild relatives often overlap in terms of geographic proximity and phenology. This overlap provides the opportunity for gene flow between crops and their wild relatives. Farmers and breeders are often concerned with the potential for wild allelic contamination into agricultural fields, which can hinder production efficiency.

 

In many carrot producing regions throughout the world, wild carrot populations can be found growing in close proximity to cultivated carrot fields.

 

Wild carrot is the progenitor of the cultivated carrot, D. carota subsp. sativus, and the two subspecies are sexually compatible. The cultivated carrot was likely domesticated in Central Asia roughly 1,100 yr ago and is grown worldwide from both open pollinated and hybrid seed.

 

Wild Carrot mainly occurs in free-draining and slightly acidic soils on rough grassland, coastal cliffs and dunes. It frequently naturalises in fields and gardens.

 

It is one of many umbelliferous plants to be found growing around the world. Wild carrot appears in many temperate regions of the world, far beyond its Mediterranean and Asian centres of origin where this plant displays great diversity. It is quite possible that ancient cultures in those regions used wild carrot as a herb, and it is also quite likely that the seeds were used medicinally in the Mediterranean region since antiquity (Banga 1958).

 

Almost certainly the wild and early forms of the domesticated carrot were first used as a medicine before they were used as a root vegetable in the conventional sense of that term today. There is good genetic evidence that wild carrot is the direct progenitor of the cultivated carrot (Simon 2000). Selection for a swollen rooted type suitable for domestic consumption undoubtedly took many centuries.

 

Both the wild and the cultivated carrots belong to the species Daucus carota. Wild carrot is distinguished by the name Daucus carota, Carota, whereas domesticated carrot belongs to Daucus carota, sativus. As a member of the carrot family it has a long taproot and lacy leaves. Dig up and crush a Wild Carrot root and you will find that it smells just like a carrot.

 

It is yellowish or ivory in colour, spindle-shaped, slender, firm and woody; a pernicious weed in some areas. It is edible when young but the root (especially the centre) soon gets tough and woody due to the high content of xylem tissue. The domestic carrot is a relative that lacks most of this tissue. The wild carrot has finely divided leaves like that of the domesticated carrot. The leaves, petioles and flower stems may be densely hairy or have no hair. The leaves on the stem are arranged alternately. Flowering wild carrot may grow four feet tall. At the end of the stem is a primary umbel (seed head) made up of numerous individual white flowers and possibly a purple flower in the center together with drooping, narrow bracts on the underside . Plants also may have many secondary umbels produced at any node on the stem below the primary umbel.

 

Each flower on the umbel produces two seeds. After seed set, the umbel closes upward. Once the seeds have turned brown, they are mature. The roots of wild carrot are typically white. The characteristic odour of carrot is present when any part of the plant is crushed. Spent umbels curl inwards forming a depressed cup. The fruits are covered in hooked spines, which aid dispersal by clinging to the fur of passing animals. Flowering period (in England) is from June to August and the native biennial can reach a height of 90 centimetres.

 

Wild Carrot is also known as Queen Anne's Lace, Birds Nest Weed, Bees Nest, Devils Plague, garden carrot, Bird's Nest Root, Fools Parsley, Lace Flower, Rantipole, Herbe a dinde and Yarkuki. Herbe a dinde derives from its use as a feed for young turkeys-dinde.

 

"Daucus" comes from daukos, name given by the Greeks to some members of the Umbelliferae family and it seems to derive from "daîo" : I overheat . Carota means carrot in Latin.

 

Can you eat carrot flowers? - Yes at your won risk! - Your best bet is to read up on survival or self sufficiency foods, a good source from people who have tried and lived to tell the tale!

 

As I recall from reading such a survival book, wild carrot flowers (and many others ) are edible. The big caveat is, and I cannot emphasise this too much - be absolutely sure it is Wild Carrot as it is very similar to poison hemlock (which killed Socrates!).

 

Deep fried carrot flower is supposed to be a delicacy - www.altnature.com/gallery/Wild_Carrot.htm

So on that basis domestic carrot flowers should be edible too.

 

My friend from What's Cooking America has a useful guide for you - whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm

And another guide for you - www.herbsarespecial.com.au/self-sufficiency/edible-flower...

 

The Mystery of the Purple Floret

 

Queen Anne’s Lace is common in North America, Europe and Asia. In the summer it produces beautiful compound flowers that form a carpet of hundreds of tiny white florets. Strangely, quite often you will find a single darkly coloured floret just off center, standing tall above the rest. No one knows why.

 

Botanists have debated the mystery of the coloured floret in Daucas carota (also known as “Queen Anne’s Lace,” “Wild Carrot,” “Bishop’s Lace,” and “Bird’s Nest”) for at least the last 150 years. Back then some of the most learned botanists believed that the floret was a genetic oddity that provided no service to the plant. Many modern botanists disagree. Some suspect that the coloured floret tricks flying insects into thinking that a bug is already sitting on the flower.

 

Perhaps this attracts predatory wasps to land hoping to snatch a quick meal. Perhaps the presence of one insect is a signal to others that there is something on this flower worth having. If so, then the floret might entice flying insects to land and thereby help pollinate the plant.

 

The research that’s been done so far on this question has produced contradictory results. Some naturalists argue that they have found evidence that favours the idea that the dark floret is an insect mimic. Others have presented data that suggests that the floret does nothing to help the plant increase the number of viable seeds it produces, and therefore does nothing to help it propagate its species.

 

By solving the great debate of its function, new knowledge about the central dark spot and its possible role as an insect attractant could lead to future developments in cultivation as well as in methods for improving agricultural processes in cultivated carrots.

 

The wild carrot is an aromatic herb that acts as a diuretic, soothes the digestive tract and stimulates the uterus. A wonderfully cleansing medicine, it supports the liver, stimulates the flow of urine and the removal of waste by the kidneys. An infusion is used in the treatment of various complaints including digestive disorders, kidney and bladder diseases and in the treatment of dropsy.

 

An infusion of the leaves has been used to counter cystitis and kidney stone formation, and to diminish stones that have already formed. Carrot leaves contain significant amounts of porphyrins, which stimulate the pituitary gland and lead to the release of increased levels of sex hormones.

 

The plant is harvested in July and dried for later use. A warm water infusion of the flowers has been used in the treatment of diabetes. The grated raw root, especially of the cultivated forms, is used as a remedy for threadworms. The root is also used to encourage delayed menstruation.

 

The root of the wild plant can induce uterine contractions and so should not be used by pregnant women. A tea made from the roots is diuretic and has been used in the treatment of urinary stones.

 

An infusion is used in the treatment of oedema, flatulent indigestion and menstrual problems. The seed is a traditional 'morning after' contraceptive and there is some evidence to uphold this belief. It requires further investigation. Carrot seeds can be abortifacient and so should not be used by pregnant women.

 

Ancient folk lore said that to cure epileptic seizures you should eat the dark coloured middle flower of Queen Annes Lace. The flower is also used in ancient rituals an spells, for women to increase fertility and for men to increase potency and sexual desire!

 

A warm water infusion of the flowers has been used in the treatment of diabetes. The grated raw root, especially of the cultivated forms, is used as a remedy for threadworms.

 

The root is also used to encourage delayed menstruation. The root of the wild plant can induce uterine contractions and so should not be used by pregnant women.

 

A tea made from the roots is diuretic and has been used in the treatment of urinary stones. The seeds are diuretic, carminative, emmenagogue and anthelmintic.

 

An infusion is used in the treatment of oedema, flatulent indigestion and menstrual problems. The seed is a traditional ‘morning after’ contraceptive and there is some evidence to uphold this belief. It requires further investigation. Carrot seeds can be abortifacient and so should not be used by pregnant women.

 

Queen Annes Lace is the wild progenitor of the domesticated carrot. Although native to the Old World, these white lacy umbels are a familiar sight in the United States and Canada. The medicinal properties of Queen Annes Lace are many. More detail is given below. Its seeds may be collected, dried and used for tea. It is interesting to note that this plant is the closest living relative (on the basis of family and medicinal activity) to Silphion, which was picked and used by the Romans as a culinary spice and contraceptive until it became extinct in the first century AD. Apparently it was extremely effective. Supposedly Nero was given the last remaining root.

 

In the late 1980s scientists began studying Queen Annes Lace and found that (in mice at least) it blocked the production of progesterone and inhibited fetal and ovarian growth. Check out thecontraception page of the Museum.

 

Queen Anne's Lace is quite an aggressive plant. It is a biennial, so lives only 2 years, thus never forms a big root mass like daisies or other perennial wildflowers. However, it is such a prolific seeder, it does spread rapidly, and is almost impossible to eradicate. It is an alien, but one of the ones that's been in the US since colonial times. It came across the ocean in sacks of grain, probably with the Pilgrims. It's now established in every State. It's beautiful in the wildflower meadow I am not so sure in the garden.

 

If you want to plant it, easiest way is to gather a handful of the seeds from a plant dying down in the fall. They seem to be everywhere. But there is also another option. Try an annual named Ammi majus. It's the flower common in the cut flower trade as "Queen Anne's Lace", and is also sometimes called "Bishop's Flower." The two look very similar, but the latter doesn't last in your soil forever as Daucus does.

 

Today, in some parts of rural United States, this herb is used as a sort of morning-after contraceptive by women who drink a teaspoonful of the seeds with a glass of water immediately after sex. The seeds are also used for the prevention and washing out of gravel and urinary stones. As they are high in volatile oil, some find them soothing to the digestive system, useful for colic and flatulence. Be very, very sure that if you do decide to harvest any part of Queen Annes Lace for consumption that you have the correct plant. It is similar to Hemlock (Conium maculatum), a herb which was used medicinally but is now seldom used because of its high toxicity.

 

The Wild Carrot is still very much prevalent, particularly in the US where it was introduced from Europe and is the genetic source of edible carrots. Wild Carrot is found in sandy or gravelly soils and in wets areas. It is abundant west of the Cascades in Oregon and Washington where it is classed as a Class C noxious weed. Wild Carrot causes problems in pastures, hay fields, Christmas tree farms, grass seed fields and most other open areas that are not tilled annually. It is an especially serious threat in areas where carrot seed is produced because it hybridizes with the crop and ruins the seed.

 

Washington state has gone so far as to quarantine the plants to prevent any further escapes into its wildlands and agricultural regions. It is illegal to transport, buy, sell or distribute seed there. The penalty is a $5,000 fine.

 

Wild Cwild carrot and rosettearrot is easy to grow, it prefers a sunny position and a well-drained neutral to alkaline soil. Considered an obnoxious weed by some, it can spread very quickly. Its root is small and spindle shaped, whitish, slender and hard, (tender when young), but soon gets tough, with a strong aromatic smell. Harvest entire plant in July or when flowers bloom, and dry for later herb use. Collect edible roots and shoots in spring when tender. Gather seed in autumn (the fall).

 

There is no record of wild carrot toxicity in the US but in Europe wild carrot has been known to be mildly toxic to horses and cattle. A high concentration of wild carrot in hay is potentially a problem because livestock eat hay less selectively than green forage. Sheep appear to graze wild carrot without any harmful effect. Find out about some of the myths as to why Queen Annes Lace is so called click here.

 

wild carrot plantThis plant is a biennial which grows, in its second year, from a taproot (the carrot) to a height of two to four feet. The stems are erect and branched; both stems and leaves are covered with short coarse hairs.

 

The leaves are very finely divided; the botanical term is tri-pinnate. When a leaf is composed of a number of lateral leaflets, it is said to be pinnate or feather-like; and when these lateral divisions are themselves pinnated, it is said to be bi-pinnate, or twice-feathered. The leaves of this plant are like that but some of the lower leaves are still more divided and become tri-pinnate. The lower leaves are considerably larger than the upper ones, and their arrangement on the main stem is alternate. All of these leaves embrace the stem with a sheathing base.

wild carrot flowerThe attractive two to four inch "flower" is actually a compound inflorescence made up of many small flowers. The umbels of the flowers are terminal and composed of many rays. The flowers themselves are very small, but from their whiteness and number, present a very conspicuous appearance. The central flower of each umbel is often purple.

 

During the flowering period the head is nearly flat or slightly convex, but as the seeds ripen the form becomes very cup-like; hence one of the popular names for this plant is "bird's nest." The seeds are covered with numerous little bristles arranged in five rows. For more photos click here.

 

Like their domestic cousins, wild carrot roots can be eaten. However, they are only edible when very young. After that, they are too tough and woody. The flowers are also edible. Flower clusters can be french fried for a carrot-flavoured, quite attractive dish.

  

Original Caption: The Chicano Area, Or Second Ward, Is Slowly Giving Way to Urban Renewal. (From the Documerica-1 Exhibition. for Other Images in This Assignment, See Fiche Number 48.) 06/1972

 

U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-10478

 

Photographer: Lyon, Danny, 1942-

 

Subjects:

El Paso (El Paso county, Texas, United States) inhabited place

Environmental Protection Agency

Project DOCUMERICA

 

Persistent URL: catalog.archives.gov/id/552963

 

Repository: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001.

 

For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html

 

Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html

   

Access Restrictions: Unrestricted

Use Restrictions: Unrestricted

 

Funchal is a cruise ship of high classical style by its graceful silhouette. It was launched on February 10, 1961, the largest ship ever built by the shipyard Helsingor Skibsvaerft A / S, Denmark, commissioned by EIN - Insulana Navigation Company. It is the few vessels which since its launch until now, it retains the same name.

 

Was operated by the EIN as a ship of the line between the mainland and islands, providing a high quality service. However, in the early 1970s, air traffic caused a large decrease in sea voyages, it was therefore decided in 1973, re-modulator deeply Paquete to become a cruise ship, not just playing in their exterior design, with the exception of Promenade deck was extended aft. It was during this speech that FUNCHAL saw its two steam turbines replaced by diesel engines. The following year, the EIN has decided to sell it to CTM - Companhia Shipping. In 1985, he was shot in the fleet of this company and sold at auction, the Arcalis Shipping, the Greek George Potamianos, at that time said "when I saw him, I lost my head. The Portuguese who made this spectacular ship was a genius: the Hulk is the best in the world and because the design is only half the demand. " Repaired in 1995, was completely rebuilt and put back to navigate. In 2003 underwent a nice remodeling and, thus, is new, fresh, nice and ready to go another 30 or 40 years.

 

Nikon D90 + Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX

ISO 200 - f/8 - 25 s

Lee GND 0.6 HE + Lee Big Stopper

Moldova - Cricova winery.

 

Cricova is a national treasure and the most well known wineries in Moldova. It is the second largest underground wine cellar in the country, after Milestii Mici.

Cricova boasts nearly 120 km of underground tunnels that are large enough for vehicles to drive through. At the deepest point, the tunnels are 100 m below the ground. The tunnels were created when limestone blocks were excavated to help build Chisinau. It was converted into an underground wine cellar in the 1950s.

The natural limestone helps to maintain a constant temperature of 12-14 C (54-57 F) and humidity of 97-98%, creating optimal conditions for storing wine. Half of the tunnels in the cellar are used for this purpose. The tunnels are named after the wines kept there.

Cricova has a huge collection of more than 1 million vintage wines, including French, Italian, and Spanish wines, and samples from many other countries.

Cricova also has a more limited collection of rare and unique wines, some of which are owned by famous people such as Russian President Vladimir Putin. The oldest wine is from 1902, Jewish Easter Wine, and the oldest bottle of liqueur, Yan Bekher Liqueur, is from the same year. Nazi General Goring’s private collection of wine is also there; brought to Moldova by the general during WW II to be close to him at the Eastern front.

At the heart of the cellar are lavishly decorated themed banquet halls and tasting rooms, all recently renovated. Here guests can enjoy fine white, rosé, and red wines, old collection wines, and sparkling wines, the pride of the winery. Cricova is the largest sparkling wine producer in Moldova, making it according to the traditional champenoise method. Cricova offers daily tours and tastings for visitors. Tour packages range from basic tastings with simple snacks to large tastings with a full meal and souvenir. It is difficult to visit unannounced, so guests should book their visit in advance. However, the winery recently opened a new restaurant, Orasul Subterean, that accepts walk-in guests.

  

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (10 November 1565[1] – 25 February 1601), is the best-known of the many holders of the title "Earl of Essex." He was a military hero and royal favourite of Elizabeth I, but following a poor campaign against Irish rebels during the Nine Years' War in 1599, he failed in a coup d'état against the queen and was executed for treason.

 

Essex was born on 10 November 1565 at Netherwood near Bromyard, in Herefordshire, the son of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex and Lettice Knollys. His maternal great-grandmother Mary Boleyn was a sister of Anne Boleyn, mother of Queen Elizabeth I, making him a cousin of the Queen, and there were rumours that his grandmother, Catherine Carey, a close friend of Queen Elizabeth's, was Henry VIII's illegitimate daughter.[3]

 

He was brought up on his father's estates at Chartley Castle, Staffordshire and at Lamphey, Pembrokeshire in Wales and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.[4] His father died in 1576, The new Earl of Essex became a ward of Lord Burghley. On 21 September 1578 his mother married Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth I's long-standing favourite and Robert Devereux's godfather.[5]

 

Essex performed military service under his stepfather in the Netherlands, before making an impact at court and winning the Queen's favour. In 1590 he married Frances Walsingham, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham and widow of Sir Philip Sidney, by whom he was to have several children, three of whom survived into adulthood. Sidney, Leicester's nephew, died at the Battle of Zutphen in which Essex also distinguished himself.

 

Essex first came to court in 1584, and by 1587 had become a favourite of the Queen, who relished his lively mind and eloquence, as well as his skills as a showman and in courtly love. In June 1587 he replaced the Earl of Leicester as Master of the Horse.[6]

 

He underestimated the Queen, however, and his later behaviour towards her lacked due respect and showed disdain for the influence of her principal secretary, Sir Robert Cecil. On one occasion during a heated Privy Council debate on the problems in Ireland, the Queen reportedly cuffed an insolent Essex round the ear, prompting him to draw his sword on her.

 

After Leicester's death in 1588, the Queen transferred to Essex the royal monopoly on sweet wines, which the late Earl had held; by this Essex could profit from collecting taxes.

 

In 1589, he took part in Sir Francis Drake's English Armada, which sailed to Iberia in an unsuccessful attempt to press home the English advantage following the defeat of the Spanish Armada; the Queen had ordered him not to take part in the expedition, but he only returned upon the failure to take Lisbon. In 1591, he was given command of a force sent to the assistance of King Henry IV of France. In 1596, he distinguished himself by the capture of Cadiz. During the Islands Voyage expedition to the Azores in 1597, with Sir Walter Raleigh as his second in command, he defied the Queen's orders, pursuing the treasure fleet without first defeating the Spanish battle fleet.

 

Essex's greatest failure was as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a post which he talked himself into in 1599. The Nine Years War (1595–1603) was in its middle stages, and no English commander had been successful. More military force was required to defeat the Irish chieftains, led by Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, and supplied from Spain and Scotland.

 

Essex led the largest expeditionary force ever sent to Ireland — 16,000 troops — with orders to put an end to the rebellion. He departed London to the cheers of the Queen's subjects, and it was expected that the rebellion would be crushed instantly. But the limits of Crown resources and of the Irish campaigning season dictated another course. Essex had declared to the Privy Council that he would confront O'Neill in Ulster. But instead, Essex led his army into southern Ireland, fought a series of inconclusive engagements, wasted his funds, and dispersed his army into garrisons. The Irish forces then won several victories. Instead of facing O'Neill in battle, Essex had to make a truce with the rebel leader that was considered humiliating to the Crown and to the detriment of English authority.

 

In all of his campaigns, Essex secured the loyalties of his officers by conferring knighthoods, an honour which the Queen herself dispensed sparingly. By the end of his time in Ireland, more than half the knights in England owed their rank to Essex. The rebels were said to have joked that "he never drew sword but to make knights." But his practice of conferring knighthoods could in time enable Essex to challenge the powerful factions at Cecil's command.

 

He was the second Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin, serving from 1598 to 1601.

 

Relying on his general warrant to return to England, given under the great seal, Essex sailed from Ireland on 24 September 1599, and reached London four days later. The Queen had expressly forbidden his return and was surprised when he presented himself in her bedchamber one morning at Nonsuch Palace, before she was properly wigged or gowned. On that day, the Privy Council met three times, and it seemed his disobedience might go unpunished, although the Queen did confine him to his rooms with the comment that "an unruly beast must be stopped of his provender."

Essex by Isaac Oliver, c. 1597

 

Essex appeared before the full Council on 29 September, when he was compelled to stand before the Council during a five hour interrogation. The Council — his uncle William Knollys included — took a quarter of an hour to compile a report, which declared that his truce with O'Neill was indefensible and his flight from Ireland tantamount to a desertion of duty. He was committed to custody in his own York House on 1 October, and he blamed Cecil and Raleigh for the queen's hostility. Raleigh advised Cecil to see to it that Essex did not recover power, and Essex appeared to heed advice to retire from public life, despite his popularity with the public.

 

During his confinement at York House, Essex probably communicated with King James VI of Scotland through Lord Mountjoy, although any plans he may have had at that time to help the Scots king capture the English throne came to nothing. In October, Mountjoy was appointed to replace him in Ireland, and matters seemed to look up for the Earl. In November, the queen was reported to have said that the truce with O'Neill was "so seasonably made… as great good… has grown by it." Others in the Council were willing to justify Essex's return to Ireland, on the grounds of the urgent necessity of a briefing by the commander-in-chief.

 

Cecil kept up the pressure and, on 5 June 1600, Essex was tried before a commission of 18 men. He had to hear the charges and evidence on his knees. Essex was convicted, was deprived of public office, and was returned to virtual confinement.

 

In August, his freedom was granted, but the source of his basic income—the sweet wines monopoly—was not renewed. His situation had become desperate,and he shifted "from sorrow and repentance to rage and rebellion." In early 1601, he began to fortify York House and gather his followers. On the morning of 8 February, he marched out of York House with a party of nobles and gentlemen (some later involved in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot) and entered the city of London in an attempt to force an audience with the Queen. Cecil immediately had him proclaimed a traitor. Finding no support among the Londoners, Essex retreated from the city, and surrendered after the Crown forces besieged York House.

 

On 19 February 1601, Essex was tried before his peers on charges of treason. Part of the evidence showed that he was in favour of toleration of religious dissent. In his own evidence, he countered the charge of dealing with Catholics, swearing that "papists have been hired and suborned to witness against me." Essex also asserted that Cecil had stated that none in the world but the Infanta of Spain had right to the Crown of England, whereupon Cecil (who had been following the trial at a doorway concealed behind some tapestry) stepped out to make a dramatic denial, going down on his knees to give thanks to God for the opportunity. The witness whom Essex expected to confirm this allegation, his uncle William Knollys, was called and admitted there had once been read in Cecil's presence a book treating such matters (possibly either The book of succession supposedly by an otherwise unknown R. Doleman but probably really by Robert Persons or A Conference about the Next Succession to the Crown of England explicitly mentioned to be by Parsons, in which a Catholic successor friendly to Spain was favored). Essex, however, denied he had heard Cecil make the statement. Thanking God again, Cecil expressed his gratitude that Essex was exposed as a traitor while he himself was found an honest man.

 

Essex was found guilty and, on 25 February 1601, was beheaded on Tower Green, becoming the last person to be beheaded in the Tower of London. (It was reported to have taken three strokes by the executioner to complete the beheading.) At Sir Walter Raleigh's own treason trial later on, in 1603, it was alleged that Raleigh had said to a co-conspirator, "Do not, as my Lord Essex did, take heed of a preacher. By his persuasion he confessed, and made himself guilty." In that same trial, Raleigh also denied that he had stood at a window during the execution of Essex's sentence, disdainfully puffing out tobacco smoke in sight of the condemned man.

 

Some days before the execution, Captain Thomas Lee was apprehended as he kept watch on the door to the Queen's chambers. His plan had been to confine her until she signed a warrant for the release of Essex. Capt. Lee, who had served in Ireland with the Earl, and who acted as go-between with the Ulster rebels, was tried and put to death the next day.

 

Devereux's conviction for treason meant that the earldom of Essex was forfeit, and his son did not inherit the title. However, after the Queen's death, King James I reinstated the earldom in favour of the disinherited son, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex.

This is the city where men are mended.

I lie on a great anvil.

The flat blue sky-circle

 

Flew off like the hat of a doll

When I fell out of the light. I entered

The stomach of indifference, the wordless cupboard.

 

The mother of pestles diminished me.

I became a still pebble.

The stones of the belly were peaceable,

 

The head-stone quiet, jostled by nothing.

Only the mouth-hole piped out,

Importunate cricket

 

In a quarry of silences.

The people of the city heard it.

They hunted the stones, taciturn and separate,

 

The mouth-hole crying their locations.

Drunk as a foetus

I suck at the paps of darkness.

 

Sylvia Plath

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La Porsche 911 è un'autovettura sportiva prodotta dalla Porsche a partire dal 1963. È tuttora in produzione, e nel corso degli anni ha avuto molti cambiamenti. Si possono, tuttavia, distinguere due serie fondamentali: le 911 con motore raffreddato ad aria (1963-1997) e le 911 "moderne" (dal 1998 ad oggi). Nella seconda metà degli anni cinquanta la Porsche 356 iniziava a sentire il peso degli anni. Il motore 4 cilindri boxer raffreddato ad aria era nato nel 1948 con cilindrata di 1.131 cm³ e 40 CV di potenza, ed era derivato, come altre componenti dell'auto, dalla Volkswagen Maggiolino. Il vecchio 4 cilindri aveva raggiunto il massimo del suo potenziale di sviluppo con la versione 2.0 Carrera GS da 130 CV. Per la progettazione della nuova vettura Ferry Porsche si occupò della parte tecnica, affidando l'innovazione stilistica al figlio Ferdinand Alexander Porsche soprannominato dai suoi familiari "Butzi". Le linee guida decise a priori comportavano il mantenimento dell'impostazione tecnico-stilistica della "356", con il motore boxer raffreddato ad aria e montato posteriormente, ma con un'abitabilità sufficiente a ospitare 4 persone. La costruzione in serie di una tale vettura, avrebbe consentito alla Porsche di entrare nel mercato delle Gran turismo "due litri", con un prezzo concorrenziale rispetto ai modelli costruiti artigianalmente da molti carrozzieri italiani, su meccaniche Alfa Romeo, Fiat e Lancia. Lo sviluppo tecnico non diede gravi difficoltà e la nuova meccanica, incluso l'inedito 6 cilindri boxer, era pronta già nel 1961. Problemi maggiori derivarono dalla definizione della carrozzeria. La soluzione trovata da Butzi alla fine del 1959, il prototipo "T7" (in seguito anche denominato "754"), non convinceva e le varie modifiche non riuscirono a trovare la giusta soluzione tra l'eleganza dell'aspetto e la necessità di ottenere il richiesto spazio per passeggeri dei sedili posteriori.

Un lungo lavoro di affinamento portò alle soluzioni più disparate e bizzarre, finché Butzi si vide costretto ad abbandonare l'iniziale punto programmatico dei 4 posti e ripiegare sulla configurazione 2+2, che consentiva di mantenere la linea di cintura iniziale, raccordando il padiglione con il cofano motore in una sola curva.

L'aspetto estetico risultò subito molto equilibrato e, ancor più la parentela stilistica con il modello "356". Per la nuova vettura venne scelta la sigla commerciale "901" e il primo esemplare costruito, di colore giallo, fu presentato al Salone dell'Automobile di Francoforte del 1963, ottenendo buoni apprezzamenti dal pubblico e dalla stampa specializzata. La commercializzazione della nuova "901", avviata all'inizio del 1964, fu subito ostacolata dalla diffida della Peugeot ad usare quella sigla, poiché depositaria di tutti i numeri a tre cifre con lo zero al centro da utilizzare per i suoi modelli. La Porsche fu quindi costretta a modificare la sigla in "911" a partire dal 10 novembre 1964. Marchiati "901" furono soltanto i primi 82 esemplari già venduti, quasi tutti allestiti in maniera artigianale, dato che la produzione di serie ebbe inizio il 14 settembre di quell'anno. Pur immediatamente ottenendo un buon successo di vendite, la "911" fu inizialmente investita da forti polemiche e contestazioni, soprattutto rivolte all'eccessivo prezzo di listino e alla problematica tenuta di strada. La questione del prezzo, provocò un vero e putiferio di rimostranze da parte della clientela Porsche, dato che il nuovo modello era proposto all'astronomica cifra di 23.900 DM, con un aumento di oltre 7.000 DM, rispetto alla "356". A seguito delle proteste, l'azienda decise di ridurre il prezzo della "911" a 22.400 DM. Inoltre propose una versione con finiture modeste e motore a 4 cilindri derivato dalla "356", al contenuto prezzo di 17.500 DM, poi divenuta "912" dall'aprile 1965. Di soluzione non altrettanto facile furono le carenze tecniche lamentate dalla clientela che si tramutarono, nel 1966, in un dimezzamento delle vendite, passando alle 1.709 vetture consegnate, contro le 3.389 dell'anno precedente. Venivano lamentate la scarsa ventilazione e l'eccessiva rumorosità nell'abitacolo, il comportamento nervoso della vettura e, soprattutto, l'instabilità direzionale oltre i 130 km/h e il notevole effetto sottosterzante. La 911 era una coupé 2+2 (gli affinamenti avevano ridotto lo spazio posteriore), con motore posteriore a sbalzo, trazione posteriore, sospensioni a 4 ruote indipendenti con barre di torsione, 4 freni a disco e cambio meccanico a 5 rapporti (spesso 4 per gli USA). Il 6 cilindri boxer raffreddato ad aria e alimentato da 2 carburatori Solex triplo corpo che la muoveva aveva una cilindrata di 1991 cm³ e una potenza massima di 130 CV. Nel 1966 venne lanciata anche la 911 S che, grazie ad una serie di modifiche all'albero motore, profilo dei pistoni, valvole maggiorate, raggiungeva una potenza di 160 CV. Su tutti i modelli si passò a carburatori Weber. Esternamente la S si riconosceva per i cerchi in lega Fuchs.

Sempre nel 1966 le coupé (standard e S) vennero affiancate dalle versioni Targa, con tetto rigido asportabile. Era la 911 T, con alimentazione a carburatori e motore meno prestante (110 CV); la 911 L manteneva il motore a carburatori da 130 CV ed aveva finiture di maggior pregio; la 911 S, ancora dotata di carburatori Weber, offriva 160 CV. Tutti i modelli erano disponibili sia in versione coupé che Targa.

Nel 1968, per rendere meno "nervoso" il comportamento stradale, venne allungato il passo di 6 cm (da 221 a 227 cm): il modello base era ancora la 911 T, con alimentazione a carburatori e motore da 110 CV; i modelli 911 E (140 CV) e 911 S (170 CV) erano dotati di iniezione meccanica Bosch. Nel 1969 fu cambiata la griglia posteriore e la cilindrata del motore: da 1991 a 2195 cm³. Le potenze salirono a 125 CV per la serie T (a carburatori), a 155 CV per la serie E (a iniezione) e a 180 CV per la serie S (pure a iniezione). Una serie S come si direbbe oggi "full optional" fu acquistata dalla Solar Film (casa produttrice statunitense che faceva capo a Steve McQueen) e usata nel film Le 24 Ore di Le Mans, con lo stesso Steve McQueen protagonista, che arriva sul circuito al volante proprio della 911 S grigia. Recentemente quest'auto, venduta dall'attore pochi anni dopo il film, e passata varie volte di mano, è stata battuta ad un'asta statunitense di auto d'epoca. Nel 1971 la cilindrata del boxer venne aumentata ulteriormente da 2195 cm³ a 2341 cm³ e le potenze crebbero a 130 CV (T), 165 CV (E) e 190 CV (S). La più potente 911 S ottenne anche uno spoiler anteriore per stabilizzare l'avantreno alle alte velocità. Nel 1972 fu proposta la 911 Carrera RS (RennSport), mossa da una versione di 2687 cm³ (210 CV) a iniezione meccanica del classico 6 cilindri boxer e carrozzeria alleggerita, con cofani e portiere in alluminio e lamiere non strutturali assottigliate. La Carrera RS era disponibile in una versione Touring con interno simile a quello delle 911 S e Sport, con allestimento interno semplificato per contenere ulteriormente il peso. Era riconoscibile per il celebre alettone posteriore "a coda d'anatra" (ducktail), le strip adesive sulla fiancata ed i cerchi (in lega) in tinta con le strip. Era disponibile nella sola versione coupé. Nel 1973 ne vennero creati otto esemplari da competizione denominati Carrera RSR. Utilizzando come base la RS, vennero montati nuovi freni ventilati a disco con quattro pistoncini e nuove sospensioni sportive irrigidite. I passaruota erano stati allargati per permettere il montaggio di pneumatici da competizione, più grandi rispetto a quelli di serie. Nella parte anteriore venne sistemato un nuovo radiatore dell'olio, mentre il propulsore impiegato era una versione 2.8 da 308 cv del motore della RS stradale. La sua gestione era affidata ad un cambio manuale a 5 rapporti. Questi modelli vennero affidati ai team Brumos e Penske per competere in alcune prove del Campionato Mondiale per vetture sport.

La prima prova fu alla 24 Ore di Daytona, dove i piloti Peter Gregg e Hurley Haywood del team Brumos ottennero la vittoria. Altre pregevoli conquiste furono La Targa Florio e la 12 Ore di Sebring. Nel 1974 le nuove norme USA sulla sicurezza e sull'inquinamento costrinsero i tecnici Porsche a rivedere la 911. Furono cambiati i paraurti, resi più grandi e ad assorbimento d'urto (i cosiddetti "impact bumpers"), con due pistoni idraulici al posto delle barre metalliche usate sul mercato europeo. I gruppi ottici posteriori vennero uniti da una fascia trasparente rossa inglobante i catarifrangenti. Dal punto di vista tecnico, invece, la cilindrata venne portata per tutte le versioni a 2687 cm³. Tutte adottarono l'alimentazione a iniezione meccanica, ma l'adozione di dispositivi antinquinamento ridusse la potenza utile. Anche gli interni furono aggiornati per migliorare comfort e sicurezza. La nuova gamma comprendeva la 911 standard (150 CV), la 911 S (177 CV) e la 911 Carrera (210 CV). Quest'ultima aveva la carrozzeria delle altre 911, senza alleggerimenti e variazioni estetiche, ed era disponibile anche in versione Targa (come pure la standard e la S), mentre il motore era lo stesso della Carrera RS della serie precedente: fu venduta solo sul mercato europeo ed in Sudafrica, ma non negli Stati Uniti. Nel 1975 venne introdotta la 911 Turbo, con motore portato a 2994 cm³ e sovralimentato con turbocompressore . La potenza cresceva così a 260 CV.

La 911 Turbo, disponibile solo in versione coupé, era facilmente riconoscibile per la carrozzeria allargata, l'ampio alettone posteriore (che incorporava l'intercooler), i cerchi sportivi con pneumatici maggiorati sui posteriori, lo spoiler anteriore più pronunciato e la verniciatura in nero opaco di tutte le parti cromate. Minime le modifiche all'interno. Lo stesso anno, data l'esigenza di proporla anche sul mercato statunitense, la cilindrata della Carrera crebbe a 2994 cm³, ma a causa dei dispositivi antinquinamento la potenza scese da 210 a 200 CV. Nel 1977 fu lanciata la 911 SC (SuperCarrera), che sostituiva tutte le altre versioni "non turbo" (standard, S e Carrera); aveva una cilindrata di 2994 cm³ e una potenza ridotta a 180 CV. Esteticamente le uniche modifiche riguardavano la verniciatura in nero opaco dei particolari prima cromati.

La SC, disponibile sia in versione coupé che Targa, venne lanciata in un momento in cui il management della Casa tedesca riteneva che la 911 fosse un modello superato, destinato ad essere gradualmente rimpiazzato dalla Porsche 928, lanciata proprio quell'anno e dotata di un nuovo motore V8 raffreddato ad acqua e meccanica transaxle. La 928 ebbe un buon successo di mercato, soprattutto negli USA, ma non riuscì mai a sostituire nel cuore degli appassionati la 911, che rimase sempre il modello Porsche più popolare. Nel 1978 la cilindrata della 911 Turbo crebbe da 2994 a 3299 cm³ e la potenza, grazie anche all'adozione dell'alimentazione a iniezione elettronica (anziché meccanica), raggiunse i 300 CV. Nel 1981 la potenza delle SC venne incrementata a 204 CV. Nel 1983 le versioni coupé e Targa vennero affiancate dalla 3.0 SC Cabriolet. Nel 1984 le 911 SC lasciarono il posto alle 911 Carrera 3.2, pressoché invariate esteticamente (a parte i piccoli fendinebbia rettangolari, ora integrati nello spoiler anteriore e non più solo opzionali, e il richiamo degli indicatori di posizione in posizione laterale), ma con importanti novità tecniche: cilindrata portata a 3164 cm³, alimentazione a iniezione elettronica anziché meccanica e potenza di 231 CV.

Fu realizzata anche in versione cabriolet. Nel 1987 venne proposta la nuova migliorata trasmissione G50 e la frizione idraulica. La fascia posteriore rossa ora comprende anche i retronebbia. Sono state prodotte due versioni commemorative della 3.2, chiamate comunemente, ma erroneamente, entrambe Giubileo.

Una del 1988 in occasione della 250.000ª 911 prodotta aveva un colore specifico (Diamantblau met cod. 697), la firma Ferry Porsche ricamata sugli appoggiatesta ed i cerchi ruota forgiati Fuchs con i "petali" nello stesso colore della carrozzeria anziché neri. Venne prodotta in tutte le varianti di carrozzeria, con motore catalizzato e non. Nell'anno seguente è stata realizzata una nuova versione commemorativa per i 25 anni di inizio di produzione della 911: in realtà erano 3 modelli con equipaggiamento molto completo e piuttosto rari, contraddistinti dai codici M097, M098 e M099. Rappresentavano una serie limitata di fine produzione del modello 3.2: M097 modello Anniversario 1989 25 anni 911 versione Germania, vernice blu profondo metallizzata, interni pelle totale colore grigio perla, tappetini in velluto effetto seta colore grigio perla, consolle centrale speciale, cerchi Fuchs in tinta, cruscotto in radica; prodotta principalmente con carrozzeria coupé, ha avuto anche versioni Targa e Cabrio, molto rare; M098 modello Anniversario 1989 25 anni 911 versione USA vernice argento metallizzata, interni in pelle totale colore grigio effetto seta, tappetini in velluto colore grigio, consolle centrale speciale, cerchi Fuchs in tinta; M099 modello Anniversario 1989 25 anni 911 versione Resto del mondo vernice blu metallizzata, pelle totale colore blu, tappetini in velluto colore argento-blu, consolle centrale speciale, cerchi Fuchs in tinta. Il Model Year 1989 rappresenta l'ultimo anno di produzione della 3.2 con la tipica carrozzeria Bumper e le "sospensioni a lame". Le vetture di quest'anno presentano tutta una serie di piccole evoluzioni tecniche e di dotazioni poi riprese dalla imminente 964. Sempre nel 1989 venne realizzata una piccola serie di 911 Speedster.

Si trattava di una cabriolet alleggerita con parabrezza più piccolo, calotta aerodinamica in plastica al posto dei sedili posteriori, carrozzeria slim o allargata "Turbo Look" e meccanica della normale derivata dalla Carrera 3.2. Nel giugno 1989 venne lanciata la 911 Carrera 4 (serie 964), con tantissime novità tecniche ed estetiche. Da punto di vista tecnico la novità principale era l'adozione della trazione integrale permanente e di un motore a cilindrata maggiorata da 3600 cm³ con doppia accensione e 250 CV. I freni ottennero l'ABS di serie, mentre lo sterzo era servoassistito. Esteticamente venivano adottati nuovi paraurti, diversi cerchi, inedito alettone posteriore retrattile e interni rivisti. Le versioni disponibili erano coupé, Targa e cabriolet.

Nel 1990 anche le versioni a trazione posteriore adottarono motore, freni e allestimento della Carrera 4. Il nome commerciale era 911 Carrera 2. Le versioni disponibili erano coupé, Targa e cabriolet. Anche le 964 Turbo (talvolta impropriamente indicate come 965) vennero aggiornate, prendendo i paraurti e gli interni delle Carrera 2/4. La potenza del motore 3,3 litri saliva a 320 CV. Lo stesso anno debuttò anche la Carrera 2 3.6 RS, alleggerita grazie ad un allestimento semplificato e potenziata a 260 CV. Nel 1987 per la prima volta venne proposta la 911 Turbo Cabriolet, e nel 1993 arrivarono la Carrera 2 Speedster e la Carrera 2 3.8 RS (con motore di 3,8 litri da 300 CV). La cilindrata della Turbo venne accresciuta a 3,6 litri con un conseguente aumento della potenza massima a 360 CV. I fari anteriori più inclinati ed il diverso taglio dei gruppi ottici posteriori costrinsero la Porsche a ridisegnare i parafanghi anteriori e alcune lamiere posteriori. Nuovi anche i paraurti e parte degli interni. Rilevanti anche le novità tecniche: nuova sospensione posteriore, denominata "LSA", acronimo che sta per "leggero, stabile, agile" (con traliccio che ingabbiava il motore) e 6 cilindri boxer con condotti di aspirazione a lunghezza variabile "Variocam" introdotta dal Model Year 1996 con conseguente aumento della potenza a 286 CV. Ulteriore novità tecnica fu l'adozione, per la prima volta su un'auto di serie, del fondo piatto, soluzione che migliorò l'aerodinamica e la stabilità della vettura.

La nuova sospensione garantiva un'eccellente tenuta di strada anche al cospetto dei 272 CV erogati dal 6 cilindri di 3,6 litri. Nuova anche la trazione integrale della Carrera 4. Sia le Carrera (a 2 ruote motrici) che le Carrera 4 erano disponibili in versione coupé o cabriolet. La versione Targa non venne inizialmente prodotta. La 911 Turbo della serie 993 venne potenziata con trazione integrale e sovralimentazione con 2 turbocompressori più intercooler, per un totale di 408 CV. Nel 1995, con il Model Year 1996, venne riproposta una versione denominata Targa: si trattava di una Carrera 2 con tetto apribile panoramico in cristallo azionato elettronicamente. Lo stesso anno vennero lanciate le Carrera S e Carrera 4 S, con carrozzeria "Turbo look". Nel 1996 entrarono in gamma la RS (motore di 3,8 litri da 300 CV, trazione posteriore e carrozzeria alleggerita di 100 kg) e la Turbo GT2 (trazione posteriore e motore biturbo da 450 CV). La serie delle 911 con motore raffreddato ad aria si chiuse nel 1997. Bisognava progettare un modello completamente nuovo, ma che mantenesse l'identità estetica e meccanica (motore 6 cilindri boxer posteriore a sbalzo) della 911, evitando gli errori commessi con le varie Porsche 944 e Porsche 968: evolute tecnicamente, ma fallimenti commerciali. Fu così che alla fine del 1997 nacque la 911 serie 996. Un modello completamente nuovo, sia tecnicamente che esteticamente, ma indubbiamente legato alla tradizione, in pratica una riedizione dei modelli tradizionali. Dal punto di vista tecnico le novità riguardarono soprattutto le sospensioni anteriori (comuni alla Porsche Boxster) a quadrilateri ed il motore, sempre sei cilindri boxer, ma con raffreddamento ad acqua e testata a 4 valvole per cilindro. Posteriormente venne riproposta una riedizione della sofisticata sospensione posteriore "LSA". L'ESP integrava il lavoro delle sospensioni ed erano disponibili due tipi di trazione: posteriore o integrale permanente a gestione elettronica.

Grazie alla distribuzione a 24 valvole con fasatura variabile il boxer, nonostante la cilindrata ridotta a 3387 cm³, era in grado di fornire 296 CV. Anche gli interni erano completamente nuovi. La gamma era composta dalle versioni coupé e cabriolet alle quali s'aggiunse successivamente la versione Targa con tetto in cristallo, come sulla 993. Nel 1999 arrivò la GT3, con motore aspirato di 3,6 litri da 360 CV e carrozzeria alleggerita.

Nel 2000 entrò in produzione la 911 Turbo con motore biturbo (420 CV) e trazione integrale che spinge la vettura da 0 a 100 km/h in soli 4,2 secondi. La carrozzeria, inizialmente solo coupé poi anche in versione cabrio, venne allargata rispetto alle "normali", ma era meno estrema rispetto alle edizioni precedenti. Nel frontale debuttarono fari diversi che anticiparono il restyling su tutta la gamma, e sono state introdotte due grosse prese d'aria laterali e feritoie sul paraurti posteriore più alettone (sdoppiato superati i 120 km/h) che ne aumentarono l'aggressività rispetto alla 911 standard, oltre che le prestazioni aerodinamiche. Nel 2002 è stato inoltre rilasciato il modello potenziato "Turbo S", una versione elaborata della 996 turbo che spinge il motore da 420 cv a 450 cv limando il 0-100 a 4,1 secondi, grazie alla rimappatura della centralina, e all'impiego di turbocompressori di maggiori dimensioni. Il tutto firmato Porsche. La carrozzeria è rimasta invariata, ad eccezione della S posteriore affiancata alla scritta turbo. Per i già possessori del turbo standard, la casa produttrice di Stoccarda ha rilasciato anche il KIT S, per poter rimanere al passo senza che i più esigenti abbiano dovuto rivendere il veicolo appositamente per avere la S. Infine, sempre nel 2002 venne lanciata la versione GT2, derivata dalla Turbo, ma potenziata a 462 CV, alleggerita e convertita in trazione posteriore. Quest'auto, particolarmente nervosa ed impegnativa da guidare, era priva di qualsiasi controllo di trazione e stabilità, proprio in nome della filosofia racing che Porsche adotta per le proprie versioni GT. Nel 2004 la GT2 venne leggermente aggiornata nella versione cosiddetta "Mark2", potenziata a 483 CV e modificata in alcuni particolari. Nel 2005 un restyling di fari anteriori, paraurti e interni ha dato vita alla serie 997. Rispetto alla precedente 996, la nuova versione oltre al ritorno dei fari anteriori circolari (oblunghi sulla serie precedente), riportava alcune novità tecniche, soprattutto riguardanti il motore con cilindrata di 3600 cm³ (325 CV) per le 911 Carrera standard e di 3800 cm³ (355 CV) per le 911 Carrera S.

Venne mantenuta disponibile la trazione integrale accanto a quella posteriore, sia per le versioni standard che S. Tutte sono disponibili con carrozzeria coupé, Targa o cabriolet. Nel 2006 hanno debuttato le versioni Turbo (3,6 litri biturbo, trazione integrale, turbine a geometria variabile e 480 CV), GT3 (3,6 litri aspirata da 415 CV), GT3 RS (con la stessa meccanica della GT3 standard, carrozzeria alleggerita e assetto ancora più esasperato) e Carrera 4 Targa (con tetto panoramico in cristallo ad azionamento elettrico e trazione integrale). Alla fine dell'autunno 2006 viene proposta la 911 997 Targa. Nella primavera del 2009 la Porsche annuncia una versione commemorativa che si chiama Sport Classic e si rifà alle 911 classiche: in primis la 2.7 Carrera RS, di cui riprende l'alettone a coda d'anatra e i cerchi "Fuchs style" da 19". La meccanica è quella della Carrera S potenziata a 408 CV, il tetto ha la doppia gobba; ne verranno prodotti solo 250 esemplari.Nel 2010 viene lanciata la GT2 RS: in pratica un'auto da corsa targata. L'abitacolo presenta un roll-bar, e il motore è biturbo con 620 CV, scaricati solo sull'assale posteriore: la più potente Porsche omologata per circolare per strada. Inoltre è stata creata la versione Speedster della 997: a livello meccanico e stilistico è uguale alla Sport Classic, la differenza è naturalmente il tetto ripiegabile nella calotta aerodinamica in plastica. Ne verranno prodotti solo 365 esemplari.

This is Kaycee in the final shot from the Delta GammaSorority Shoot at ASU.... a differant spot than the other photo shoots I photogrphed this year.

 

Here is what spot A looks like Spot A

  

© Adam Nollmeyer - AcmePhotography.net

Portrait Photography Phoenix Arizona

“To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind”

 

~Theophile Gautier

Rules of Composition: Rule of Thirds

 

This is one my assignments that I have to submit to my photography class at the moment. I use the rules of thirds to capture this shot. BTW, I haven't found a name for this toy, any suggestions?

 

Fan Page Count the Cost Photography

  

Aleppo is one of the oldest inhabited city in history . It knew human settlement since the eleventh millennium B.C. through the residential houses which were discovered in Al-Qaramel Hill .Aleppo has been conquered by many nations and civilizations since the 4th millennium B.C. , it knew the Sumerians ,Acadians , Amorites,Babylonians,Hithies, Mitanians,Assyrians,Arametes,Chaldeans, Greeks , Romans and Byzantines . The Arabian tribes lived in the 1st millennium B.C. till the time of the Islamic conquest which was a liberation from the European Byzantine occupation on one hand and a human civilized rebalance to the native people on the other hand . The Islamic civilization through its flexibility formed a new horizon that reshaped other civilizations in this supreme tolerant form , that form called for peace and brotherhood . fifteen centuries ago up till now Aleppo becomes one of the most important Islamic cities through its economical , historical , artistic and cultural legacy .

 

Note: John faced some cancer in 2015. Sondra is his wife...

 

How tardy and bizarrely uncharacteristic of me to "come up short" Carol, on the genealogical history of the deceased equine entity called Tony.

 

Actually the initial send had more text....in my whimpering inadequacies.... I encountered a road block that was insurmountable for my chemo-laced brain.....I cried until Sondra came to my mewling puddle of shameful "masculine-tech" whining on the floor.....she tried to solve the dilemma .....and had "lift-off" for only a portion of the rocket.....basically it was a cluster fuck, a message that was intended for one planet.....but the message splintered,........you received some of the text, and some of it will arrive on Saturn's second inner ring, around 2525. The video that I tried to include with the text....imploded, folding in-ward unto itself.....consuming its life and frames until it resembled a tiny black jube-jube lying on the sidewalk.........not even the slugs were interested.

 

Tony was 22 when he died.....born in Saskatchewan......had papers.....not the kind of papers that illegal refugees have....but papers that proved he was pure Percheron. Tony was and is the only papered horse we have ever owned. Both his parents....sire and brood mare were registered Percheron. Percheron is a French heavy horse breed.....that basically opened the west, plowed the soil and pulled the goods.

In my world, being papered and registered means nothing....what does matter .......do I like what I see. And with Tony ....it was all good.

 

I'n John R's world of horses, registered and papered has meaning.

 

Sondra and I bought Tony along with another horse named Spider.....they were a team.....had worked as a team, pulling wagons and sleighs and also as a logging team for a teamster/logger/farmer/truck-driver from the 100 Mile House area of BC's Caribou region. Spider was a giant of a horse, also Percheron, not registered and not papered. Spider weighted about a ton, Tony was around 1800 lbs......

Spider was tall, quite a bit taller than Tony, so they looked a bit mis-matched....both horses were black as coal..........Tony had one white sock, rear right, if you are looking up the dirt chute........and both had their tails docked.... I'm not a fan of docked tails, but that's the way they came.

The year was 2004, when we heard about these boys being available.....we already had a team.....two wonderful Belgian/Percheron crosses, both unpapered and un-registered, that were named Pat and Mike, that we bought in 1999.

We were thinking of easing up on using Pat and Mike, as we were logging quite a bit. We wanted a younger team.....and Tony and Spider were around 10 ......a little side bar to horse trading.....a horse trader if he's trying to sell a horse , when confronted with the question .....

"so, how old is this horse"......will almost always tell you, he's 9. (old enough to know better but young enough to be strong and eager)(keep that in mind Carol, when it comes time to trade the old boy in)

To really know how old a horse is.....you look at his teeth, and if you know how to read the markings on their teeth, you can come to within a year or two. Many a 9 year old has turned out to be 17 or even older.

 

Sondra and I heard about the big blacks being for sale.....made some time to come up from the farm to have a look.

Always an adventure....searching out horses.

So up to the 100 Mile House area.....it was early summer....this area, high in elevation, excels in showing its beauty during the summer. It's sparsely populated.....a few small towns dot the region, to offer commerce and alcohol......the area is home to ranches, lots of large acreages, raising and growing beef..... As well as the ubiquitous logging industry.......give us some trees to exploit.

It's a gorgeous part of the province Carol, a high plateau, spotted with numerous lakes, expansive lodge pole pine forests, and these old, well worn ranch settlements.

It was one of these ranches that Tony and Spider were residing ......log house, log out-buildings, log fences, log barn.........right on the edge of a good sized lake.

Tom the owner was ready for us when we arrived....horses were at the hitching rail....harnessed and ready to perform.

But you never jump right into the task at hand .....you have to have the BC chats first.....sort of like kicking the tires when you are looking to buy a "new to you" truck......so the three of us are walking around the horses, hands running over their bodies, asking questions that don't always pertain to horses, "do you know such and such, he has a logging team near Princeton"......." where did these boys come from"...."when did you last use them"....."any problems"....."how are their feet"........"do these boys come with the harness"..... "how long have you lived up here"......."no kidding, I know Ted Guisbrech, we logged together over near Rock Creek".........and so on.

Then .....you ask if it would be ok to see them walk around.........he may say sure, take the lines, or he may say....sure, let me walk them first and then you can have a go.

All this seemingly unimportant prater......registers...it is all telling us about his relationship with his horses.....does he want to make sure the horses are calmed down when it comes time for us to drive them, .......does he think they might be a bit spooky if we take the lines.....is he setting the standard by showing us how he handles them.....all part of the game.

I want him to walk the horses around, to see what kind of relationship he has with them.....how he holds the lines ......where he stands.....how he gets them to move, does he "kiss them up", or "click" them up .....(two very distinct sounds in the horse world)....or does he remain silent, and communicate through the lines.....do they move on their own, when he grabs the lines......does he say their names to get them to move.......does he hold the lines....firm.......loosely.....does he slap the horses rears with the lines to get them to walk.....all of this shows me how this guy gets along with his horses.....gentle, coarsely, frantic, lazy, attentive, casual, ....and this gives me some incite into what we might be buying.

It's such a dance.....you want it to fall into place....you've invested 6 hours of travel one way......you like the initial viewing.....you need a team .....you want it to work. The foot work, the rhythm, the music, the touch, all these "things" need to be right for the dance to feel good...the flow....and eventually the coupling.

Where was I. .....oh yea.... Tom is walking the boys around, they have their harness on, the harness is well worn, with some minor binder-twine fix-it's......binder-twine....the non-natural material they use to tie bales of hay with.....it is ubiquitous with the horse world.....binder-twine is the rural duct-tape....you use it everywhere to tie down, to tie up, to keep apart, to shorten and to lengthen, you use it for clothes lines, and dog leashes, you use it to mark the planting lines for lettuce and carrots.....It almost always comes in the colour orange.....but now they have introduced the colour blue. It the very old days they used wire to wrap bales.

Tom walks the boys around the corral.....whoa-ing them up then asking them to step up(move ahead).....making them "gee" and "haw".....right and left......I watch how his hands work the lines.....lightly.....aggressively.....does he verbally communicate or is it all done with touch (pressure with the lines)......so the lines are long strips of leather or polypropylene that are attached to the bridle, a sort of head set that has the bit, the metal bar that is inserted to the horses mouth, attached to......so every time you pull on the lines it activates the bit......in a good or bad way.....gentle with the lines equates to gentle with the bit......aggressive with the lines, equates to harsh rough bit movement..........I'm certain Carol you've experienced this with the Hun. To get his attention (his noodle buried in a Conan movie) you sometimes have to jerk his bit.

 

So what you want to see as a perspective buyer, is the owner driving the horses around in a calm atmosphere.....no rodeos.....using "soft" hands........you want the horses displaying a zen.......a zone where they are willing to do what you ask of them.

Think Pointer Sisters......."I want a man with a slow hand....I Want a lover with an easy touch. I want a lover who will take some time. Not come and go in a heated rush"

 

Now that's what makes a perfect teamster.......Sondra points out that in the equine world, every teamster thinks he has soft hands. Phew, was that air leaving my body!

 

Then we attach the horses to the double-tree......sometimes made from hard wood and now usually made from metal.....this is the devise that is attached to two big leather straps that are attached to the horses harness.....these straps are called tugs....and then the double tree is attached to the device you want the horses to pull....ie. a wagon, a sleigh, a rake, a mower, or for our purposes a log. The double tree drags on the ground, so sometimes does not drag smoothly, as it gets caught up on debris , small babies, stumps, empty beer cases, that sort of thing......logging horses get acclimatized to this irregular pull and constant clanging, and are not spooked by the sound or pull.....uninitiated horses go ballistic....as they can never run away from the ragged feel, and the scary sound.

Tony and Spider were great.....and after numerous manoeuvres and requests.....lots of backing up, going forward.....asking them to take one step forward and whoa......asking them to stand while putting the lines on the ground......some horses will creep forward....

hooking them up to a big log and pulling it around.....doing the same tasks that we asked of them without the log..... we put them back to the hitching rail......removed their harness.

I ask Tom how "they load"......how easily do they go in a trailer.....a very important feature.....especially for people who move their horses around....like horse loggers.....always going to different sites.......some horses react to trailers like a 9 year old boy going to the dentist.....it can be hell.....and I've participated in many "rodeos" trying to get unwilling horses in a trailer. Both hard on the horse and the handler. Feet stepped on, smashed around by hyper animals, and that's before you get them in the trailer..... Securing them in the trailer is even more ramped up in terms of activity. So having calm, easy going horses to load...can be the deal sealer or breaker.Tom assures me that they "load easy"

 

We let the horses cool down......and then I picked up every foot......you want a cooperative horse when trimming hooves.....looked in their mouths to check teeth......hands feeling all over their bodies.....feeling and looking for bumps, irregularities, sores.....seeing how the harness fits them, any rubs, buckle wear, .......you try and do a full inspection..........just like the 50 point checkup that your Audi receives every 6 months.

 

For me it's all fun.....a chance to visit with another teamster.....to check out his stock....see new country.... hear some new lies and stories.

All the while the test drive and chit-chat is happening, Sondra and I are communicating about what we think about the team.....likes and dislikes....this is all done without talking....it's done with eyes, eye brows, facial wrinkles, nostril flares, smiles, hands, and head nods.....we don't want to diss the owner about the abilities of his team, or challenge anything he says about them.....we just register silently the good and bad......we didn't drive 6 hours to tell someone they have a badly mannered team of horses. It's a sort of rural respect and politeness that seems to prevail in rural Canada.

More generalized talk takes place....we find out more about his place.....some of the jobs he did with the team.....his daughter comes out of the house and jumps up on a saddle horse and rides around.....learn that he's bought a truck and car wash in 100 Mile House.....very entrepreneurial ...... He wanders off to feed some animals.... And Sondra and I kick a few horse buns around and decide yes, we want the team......

The negotiations are straight forward....we pay $4000....

In most horse transactions you buy the horse and the seller provides you with a halter and a lead rope......usually the most worn out and manure stained ones he can find in the tack shed.....often repaired with binder-twine, that use to be orange.

We manage, through friendly haggling, to get the harness, a double tree, and some pieces of harness "thrown in" with the 4 grand. We are happy with the deal, he's happy with the deal.

He agrees to feed the horses for a week, and Sondra and I will return the following weekend with our horse trailer, pick them up and bring them to Trinity Valley.

 

This adventure was wonderful.....a great way to start a new relationship with a new team......we were anxious to play with them, learn more about them.......and see what they could do.

The boys turned out to be all we wished for.....great addition to our already mature and well behaved team of Pat and Mike.....

Spider as he got older developed a rear hip malfunction.....that eventually made it very difficult for him to get up, after he would lie down for a rest and or a roll. At the end I was having to lift him up with the tractor....too complicated to describe, believe me it was as hard on me as it was on Spider.....Spider learned not to lie down too much .....and when he did, he'd try to position himself strategically on a slope so when it was time for lift-off, gravity would help. One time Spider lay down in his corral....winter time....in a hollow and couldn't rise up......thrashed around for awhile, making his bed a skating rink....total ice, caused by his body heat, ..... and even more difficult for him......finally as darkness was settling in I managed to get him up......this was becoming a problem.

In spring time I had a chat with the big boy......I was tiring of the effort it took to get him back up on all "four"...... Eventually the time came and he had his final lie-down.......

 

After Spider died, Tony was confused and then sad.....no more mate.....these horses when they are teamed up.....often act as one......they eat side by side, they rest side by side......when one heads off in a direction, the other one will follow......when one decides to let it all out and race around the field, full throttle, the other one copies. They are often joined at the hip. So Tony was bummed when Spider passed on, ........and he got little sympathy from the other team......at this point on the calendar, our original team of Pat and Mike, had both died, and we had bought another team, Jackie and Star, younger than both Spider and Tony, and this new team became our "go to team".

Jackie and Star, also Percheron's, also black, but with un-cropped tails, dragging on the ground, beautiful, true warriors......Don Monjoy was so proud of us for staying black, and staying Perch......this team was young, bold, frisky, and dominating. So Tony went to the bottom of the pecking order, and just wasn't too sure where he fit in. Sondra and I continued to show love and attention his way.....and Sondra would harness him and drive him around, but we always felt he was somewhat confused.......and missing his mate. But through that wondering, he was always a treat to be around.....he was extremely handsome.....very curious.....enormously smart.........and we always said he had a great ass.... And we will miss him.

 

Well now he can rejoin Spider......they can be a team again.

Stratford is currently the UK's 10th busiest railway station, and is the busiest in London that is not a main line terminus. It is served by trains of Abellio East Anglia, TFL Rail, London Overground, two London Underground lines and two lines of the Docklands Light Railway. This image shows the concourse in front of the terminal platforms for the Underground's Jubilee line. Taken on a Panasonic GX7 fitted with a Samsang 7.5mm fisheye lens. GX7_1070418.RW2. Many thanks for views, comments and favourites.

thewishingbird.blogspot.com/

This is a scaled down version of the Camakau at the Polynesian Cultural Center, Lai'e, Hawaii.

Some specifications about the real thing..

The length of this Fiji canoe is approximately 45 feet (15 m) , the mast is long by 27 feet ( 9 m) and the spars40 feet (more than 13 m).

The sail is wide by 27 feet (9 m).

The float or outrigger is 21 feet long (7 m) , 1 foot (30 cm) in diameter and located 9 feet (3 m) away from the hull.

The Fijian word for the matted sail is "lacavakaivakar"ewa"

If ever you plan to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center while vacationing in Hawaii, go and have a look at this old canoe at the Fiji house.

Golden Meadow, Louisiana is a small community located in coastal Lafourche Parish. The population is about 2,500 with a local Cajun culture that is unique in Louisiana itself. The climate is semitropical and influenced by the Gulf of Mexico. The community lines Bayou Lafourche for about 3 miles and most of the land is low at around sea level surrounded by a levee. Coastal erosion is a big issue and threatens the very existance of this one of a kind place.

 

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