13th April 2010 sees Arriva Kent & Sussex 3704 (S704 VKM) loading for Downswood on route 8.

High Street, Maidstone, Kent.

35mm

3801 is on the way to Thirlmere, to spend the day running for the RTM on the Hilltop Loop Line. Main South, NSW, 3rd March, 2007.

Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England. It is located approximately 3 miles (5 kilometres) south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, near to the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the abbey operated for 407 years becoming one of the wealthiest monasteries in England until its dissolution in 1539 under the order of Henry VIII.

The abbey is a Grade I listed building owned by the National Trust and part of the designated Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Foundation

After a dispute and riot in 1132 at the Benedictine house of St Mary's Abbey, in York, 13 monks were expelled (among them Saint Robert of Newminster) and, after unsuccessful attempts to form a new monastery were taken under the protection of Thurstan, Archbishop of York. He provided them with land in the valley of the River Skell, a tributary of the Ure. The enclosed valley had all the natural features needed for the creation of a monastery, providing shelter from the weather, stone and timber for building, and a supply of running water. After enduring a harsh winter in 1133, the monks applied to join the Cistercian order which since the end of the previous century was a fast-growing reform movement that by the beginning of the 13th century was to have over 500 houses. So it was that in 1135, Fountains became the second Cistercian house in northern England, after Rievaulx. The Fountains monks became subject to Clairvaux Abbey, in Burgundy which was under the rule of St Bernard. Under the guidance of Geoffrey of Ainai, a monk sent from Clairvaux, the group learned how to celebrate the seven Canonical Hours according to Cistercian usage and were shown how to construct wooden buildings in accordance with Cistercian practice.

Consolidation

After Henry Murdac was elected abbot in 1143, the small stone church and timber claustral buildings were replaced. Within three years, an aisled nave had been added to the stone church, and the first permanent claustral buildings built in stone and roofed in tile had been completed.

In 1146 an angry mob, annoyed at Murdac for his role in opposing the election of William FitzHerbert as archbishop of York, attacked the abbey and burnt down all but the church and some surrounding buildings.The community recovered swiftly from the attack and founded four daughter houses. Henry Murdac resigned as abbot in 1147 upon becoming the Archbishop of York and was replaced first by Maurice, Abbot of Rievaulx then, on the resignation of Maurice, by Thorald. Thorald was forced by Henry Murdac to resign after two years in office. The next abbot, Richard, held the post until his death in 1170 and restored the abbey's stability and prosperity. In 20 years as abbot, he supervised a huge building programme which involved completing repairs to the damaged church and building more accommodation for the increasing number of recruits. Only the chapter house was completed before he died and the work was ably continued by his successor, Robert of Pipewell, under whose rule the abbey gained a reputation for caring for the needy.

The next abbot was William, who presided over the abbey from 1180 to 1190 and he was succeeded by Ralph Haget, who had entered Fountains at the age of 30 as a novice, after pursuing a military career. During the European famine of 1194 Haget ordered the construction of shelters in the vicinity of the abbey and provided daily food rations to the poor enhancing the abbey's reputation for caring for the poor and attracting more grants from wealthy benefactors.

In the first half of the 13th century Fountains increased in reputation and prosperity under the next three abbots, John of York (1203–1211), John of Hessle (1211–1220) and John of Kent (1220–1247). They were burdened with an inordinate amount of administrative duties and increasing demands for money in taxation and levies but managed to complete another massive expansion of the abbey's buildings. This included enlarging the church and building an infirmary.

Difficulties

In the second half of the 13th century the abbey was in more straitened circumstances. It was presided over by eleven abbots, and became financially unstable largely due to forward selling its wool crop, and the abbey was criticised for its dire material and physical state when it was visited by Archbishop John le Romeyn in 1294. The run of disasters that befell the community continued into the early 14th century when northern England was invaded by the Scots and there were further demands for taxes. The culmination of these misfortunes was the Black Death of 1348–1349. The loss of manpower and income due to the ravages of the plague was almost ruinous.

A further complication arose as a result of the Papal Schism of 1378–1409. Fountains Abbey along with other English Cistercian houses was told to break off any contact with the mother house of Citeaux, which supported a rival pope. This resulted in the abbots forming their own chapter to rule the order in England and consequently they became increasingly involved in internecine politics. In 1410, following the death of Abbot Burley of Fountains, the community was riven by several years of turmoil over the election of his successor. Contending candidates John Ripon, Abbot of Meaux, and Roger Frank, a monk of Fountains were locked in conflict until 1415 when Ripon was finally appointed, ruling until his death in 1434. Under abbots John Greenwell (1442–1471), Thomas Swinton (1471–8), John Darnton (1478–95), who undertook some much needed restoration of the fabric of the abbey, including notable work on the church, and Marmaduke Huby (1495–1526) Fountains regained stability and prosperity.

At Abbot Huby's death he was succeeded by William Thirsk who was accused by the royal commissioners of immorality and inadequacy and was dismissed as abbot. He was replaced by Marmaduke Bradley, a monk of the abbey who had reported Thirsk's supposed offences, testified against him and offered the authorities six hundred marks for the post of abbot. In 1539 it was Bradley who surrendered the abbey when its seizure was ordered under Henry VIII at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

The abbey precinct covered 70 acres (28 ha) surrounded by an 11-foot (3.4 m) wall built in the 13th century, some parts of which are visible to the south and west of the abbey. The area consists of three concentric zones cut by the River Skell flowing from west to east across the site. The church and claustral buildings stand at the centre of the precinct north of the Skell, the inner court containing the domestic buildings stretches down to the river and the outer court housing the industrial and agricultural buildings lies on the river's south bank. The early abbey buildings were added to and altered over time, causing deviations from the strict Cistercian type. Outside the walls were the abbey's granges.[citation needed]

The original abbey church was built of wood and "was probably" two stories high; it was, however, quickly replaced in stone. The church was damaged in the attack on the abbey in 1146 and was rebuilt, in a larger scale, on the same site. Building work was completed c.1170.[11] This structure, completed around 1170, was 300 ft (91 m) long and had 11 bays in the side aisles. A lantern tower was added at the crossing of the church in the late 12th century. The presbytery at the eastern end of the church was much altered in the 13th century. The church's greatly lengthened choir, commenced by Abbot John of York, 1203–11, and carried on by his successor terminates, like that of Durham Cathedral, in an eastern transept, the work of Abbot John of Kent, 1220–47. The 160-foot-tall (49 m) tower, which was added not long before the dissolution, by Abbot Huby, 1494–1526, is in an unusual position at the northern end of the north transept and bears Huby's motto 'Soli Deo Honor et Gloria'. The sacristry adjoined the south transept.

The cloister, which had arcading of black marble from Nidderdale and white sandstone, is in the centre of the precinct and to the south of the church. The three-aisled chapter-house and parlour open from the eastern walk of the cloister and the refectory, with the kitchen and buttery attached, are at right angles to its southern walk. Parallel with the western walk is an immense vaulted substructure serving as cellars and store-rooms, which supported the dormitory of the conversi (lay brothers) above. This building extended across the river and at its south-west corner were the latrines, built above the swiftly flowing stream. The monks' dormitory was in its usual position above the chapter-house, to the south of the transept. Peculiarities of this arrangement include the position of the kitchen, between the refectory and calefactory, and of the infirmary above the river to the west, adjoining the guest-houses.

The abbot's house, one of the largest in all of England,is located to the east of the latrine block, where portions of it are suspended on arches over the River Skell.It was built in the mid-twelfth century as a modest single-storey structure, then, from the fourteenth century, underwent extensive expansion and remodelling to end up in the 16th century as a grand dwelling with fine bay windows and grand fireplaces. The great hall was an expansive room 52 by 21 metres (171 by 69 ft).

Among other apartments, for the designation of which see the ground-plan, was a domestic oratory or chapel,

1/2-by-23-foot (14 by 7 m), and a kitchen, 50-by-38-foot (15 by 12 m)

Medieval monasteries were sustained by landed estates that were given to them as endowments and from which they derived an income from rents. They were the gifts of the founder and subsequent patrons, but some were purchased from cash revenues. At the outset, the Cistercian order rejected gifts of mills and rents, churches with tithes and feudal manors as they did not accord with their belief in monastic purity, because they involved contact with laymen. When Archbishop Thurstan founded the abbey he gave the community 260 acres (110 ha) of land at Sutton north of the abbey and 200 acres (81 ha) at Herleshowe to provide support while the abbey became established. In the early years the abbey struggled to maintain itself because further gifts were not forthcoming and Thurstan could not help further because the lands he administered were not his own, but part of the diocesan estate. After a few years of impoverished struggle to establish the abbey, the monks were joined by Hugh, a former dean of York Minster, a rich man who brought a considerable fortune as well as furniture and books to start the library.

By 1135 the monks had acquired only another 260 acres (110 ha) at Cayton, given by Eustace fitzJohn of Knaresborough "for the building of the abbey". Shortly after the fire of 1146, the monks had established granges at Sutton, Cayton, Cowton Moor, Warsill, Dacre and Aldburgh all within 6 mi (10 km) of Fountains. In the 1140s the water mill was built on the abbey site making it possible for the grain from the granges to be brought to the abbey for milling.Tannery waste from this time has been excavated on the site.

Further estates were assembled in two phases, between 1140 and 1160 then 1174 and 1175, from piecemeal acquisitions of land. Some of the lands were grants from benefactors but others were purchased from gifts of money to the abbey. Roger de Mowbray granted vast areas of Nidderdale and William de Percy and his tenants granted substantial estates in Craven which included Malham Moor and the fishery in Malham Tarn. After 1203 the abbots consolidated the abbey's lands by renting out more distant areas that the monks could not easily farm themselves, and exchanging and purchasing lands that complemented their existing estates. Fountains' holdings both in Yorkshire and beyond had reached their maximum extent by 1265, when they were an efficient and very profitable estate. Their estates were linked in a network of individual granges which provided staging posts to the most distant ones. They had urban properties in York, Yarm, Grimsby, Scarborough and Boston from which to conduct export and market trading and their other commercial interests included mining, quarrying, iron-smelting, fishing and milling.

The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 was a factor that led to a downturn in the prosperity of the abbey in the early fourteenth century. Areas of the north of England as far south as York were looted by the Scots. Then the number of lay-brothers being recruited to the order reduced considerably. The abbey chose to take advantage of the relaxation of the edict on leasing property that had been enacted by the General Chapter of the order in 1208 and leased some of their properties. Others were staffed by hired labour and remained in hand under the supervision of bailiffs. In 1535 Fountains had an interest in 138 vills and the total taxable income of the Fountains estate was £1,115, making it the richest Cistercian monastery in England.

After the Dissolution

The Gresham family crest

The Abbey buildings and over 500 acres (200 ha) of land were sold by the Crown, on 1 October 1540, to Sir Richard Gresham, at the time a Member of Parliament and former Lord Mayor of London, the father of Sir Thomas Gresham. It was Richard Gresham who had supplied Cardinal Wolsey with the tapestries for his new house of Hampton Court and who paid for the Cardinal's funeral.

Gresham sold some of the fabric of the site, stone, timber, lead, as building materials to help to defray the cost of purchase. The site was acquired in 1597 by Sir Stephen Proctor, who used stone from the monastic complex to build Fountains Hall. Between 1627 and 1767 the estate was owned by the Messenger family who sold it to William Aislaby who was responsible for combining it with the Studley Royal Estate.

Burials

Roger de Mowbray, 1st Baron Mowbray

John de Mowbray, 2nd Baron Mowbray

Abbot Marmaduke Huby (d. 1526)

Rose (daughter of Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester), wife of Roger de Mowbray, 1st Baron Mowbray

Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy

William II de Percy, 3rd feudal baron of Topcliffe

Becoming a World Heritage Site

The archaeological excavation of the site was begun under the supervision of John Richard Walbran, a Ripon antiquary who, in 1846, had published a paper On the Necessity of clearing out the Conventual Church of Fountains.In 1966 the Abbey was placed in the guardianship of the Department of the Environment and the estate was purchased by the West Riding County Council who transferred ownership to the North Yorkshire County Council in 1974. The National Trust bought the 674-acre (273 ha) Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal estate from North Yorkshire County Council in 1983. In 1986 the parkland in which the abbey is situated and the abbey was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It was recognised for fulfilling the criteria of being a masterpiece of human creative genius, and an outstanding example of a type of building or architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates significant stages in human history. Fountains Abbey is owned by the National Trust and maintained by English Heritage. The trust owns Studley Royal Park, Fountains Hall, to which there is partial public access, and St Mary's Church, designed by William Burges and built around 1873, all of which are significant features of the World Heritage Site.

The Porter's Lodge, which was once the gatehouse to the abbey, houses a modern exhibition area with displays about the history of Fountains Abbey and how the monks lived.

In January 2010, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal became two of the first National Trust properties to be included in Google Street View, using the Google Trike.

Film location

Fountains Abbey was used as a film location by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark for their single "Maid of Orleans (The Waltz Joan of Arc)" during the cold winter of December 1981. In 1980, Hollywood also came to the site to film the final scenes to the film Omen III: The Final Conflict.Other productions filmed on location at the abbey are the films Life at the Top, The Secret Garden, The History Boys, TV series Flambards, A History of Britain, Terry Jones' Medieval Lives, Cathedral, Antiques Roadshow and the game show Treasure Hunt. The BBC Television series 'Gunpowder' (2017) used Fountains Abbey as a location.

This is the chapel of the separatist prison in Lincoln castle. The idea was that prisoner would effectively be in solitary confinement to reflect on their crimes. The boxes mean prisoners cannot see each other, only the preacher played by Dr Ian Whitbread, who I've skillfully chopped off at the top. This picture has 1st year students in it.

Alternative title: The good doctor reveals Leicester's new "late essay" penalty.

Yercaud is a hill station in Salem District, in Tamil Nadu, India. It is located in the Shevaroys range of hills in the Eastern Ghats; the Yercaud hill area is called the Shevaroy Hills. It is situated at an altitude of 1515 metres (4970 ft) above sea level, and the highest point in Yercaud is the Servarayan temple, at 5,326 feet (1,623 m). It is so named owing to the abundance of trees categorised as a forest near the lake, the name signifying Lake Forest. As a popular tourist destination, Yercaud is also called as Jewel of the South.

This is a quick photo made of Melody's upcoming baby quilt she was reviewing on her design wall n late January 2017. Each block was to have sixteen two inch blocks. Melody finds it easier to visualize the final creation if she can see it on her design wall straight on and have the ability to rearrange items as meet her expectations of a final presentation. In this photo, the top row of five blocks have already been pieced. She was still configuring the other blocks and will piece them in between the It's Not Easy Being Green creation she has decided to hand quilt. I shot this using my Canon Powershot SX50.

This is the only place in the world where you are able to walk through the heart of a colony of nesting Mute Swans, spread over a site of some 25 acres. A visit to the Swannery is considered one of the best things to do in Dorset.

The Swannery was established by Benedictine Monks who built a monastery at Abbotsbury during the 1040s. The monks farmed the swans to produce food for their lavish Dorset banquets. St Peter’s monastery was destroyed in 1539, during the dissolution. Some of the ruins are still visible around St Nicolas’ Church in the village. Since that time, the Swannery has been under the stewardship of the Ilchester Estates. abbotsbury-tourism.co.uk/swannery/

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, also known as the "Toy Train", is a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge railway that runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal, India. Built between 1879 and 1881, the railway is about 78 kilometres) long. Its elevation level varies from about 100 metres at New Jalpaiguri to about 2,200 metres at Darjeeling. Four modern diesel locomotives handle most of the scheduled services; however the daily Kurseong-Darjeeling return service and the daily tourist trains from Darjeeling to Ghum (India's highest railway station) are handled by the vintage British-built B Class steam locomotives. The railway, along with the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the Kalka-Shimla Railway, is listed as the Mountain Railways of India World Heritage Site. The headquarters of the railway is in the town of Kurseong. Operations between Siliguri and Kurseong have been temporarily suspended since 2010 following a Landslide at Tindharia.

HISTORY

A broad gauge railway connected Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Siliguri in 1878. Siliguri, at the base of the Himalayas, was connected to Darjeeling by a cart road (the present day Hill Cart Road) on which "Tonga services" (carriage services) were available. Franklin Prestage, an agent of Eastern Bengal Railway Company approached the government with a proposal of laying a steam tramway from Siliguri to Darjeeling. The proposal was accepted in 1879 following the positive report of a committee formed by Sir Ashley Eden, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal. Construction started the same year.

Gillanders Arbuthnot & Co. constructed the railway. The stretch from Siliguri to Kurseong was opened on 23 August 1880, while the official opening of the line up to Darjeeling was on 4 July 1881. Several engineering adjustments were made later in order to ease the gradient of the rails. Despite natural calamities, such as an earthquake in 1897 and a major cyclone in 1899, the DHR continued to improve with new extension lines being built in response to growing passenger and freight traffic. However, the DHR started to face competition from bus services that started operating over the Hill Cart Road, offering a shorter journey time. During World War II, the DHR played a vital role transporting military personnel and supplies to the numerous camps around Ghum and Darjeeling.

After the independence of India, the DHR was absorbed into Indian Railways and became a part of the Northeast Frontier Railway zone in 1958. In 1962, the line was realigned at Siliguri and extended by nearly 6 km to New Jalpaiguri (NJP) to meet the new broad gauge line there. DHR remained closed for 18 months during the hostile period of Gorkhaland Movement in 1988-89.

The line closed in 2011 due to a 6.8 Magnitude earthquake. The line is currently loss-making and in 2015, Rajah Banerjee, a local tea estate owner, has called for privatisation to encourage investment, which was fiercely resisted by unions.

WORLD HERITAGE SITE

DHR was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1999, only the second railway to have this honour bestowed upon it, the first one being Semmering Railway of Austria in 1998. To be nominated as World Heritage site on the World Heritage List, the particular site or property needs to fulfill a certain set of criteria, which are expressed in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and its corresponding Operational Guidelines. The site must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. The protection, management, authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

The DHR is justified by the following criteria:

Criterion ii The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is an outstanding example of the influence of an innovative transportation system on the social and economic development of a multi-cultural region, which was to serve as a model for similar developments in many parts of the world.

Criterion iv The development of railways in the 19th century had a profound influence on social and economic developments in many parts of the world. This process is illustrated in an exceptional and seminal fashion by the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGITY

Since 1881, the original route has been retained in a remarkable condition. Only minimal interventions of an evolutionary nature, such as the reduction of loops, have been carried out. Most of the original steam locomotives are still in use. Like Tea and the Ghurka culture, the DHR has become not only an essential feature of the landscape but also an enduring part of the identity of Darjeeling.

MANAGEMENT AND LEGAL STATUS

The DHR and all its movable and immovable assets, including the authentic railway stations, the line, and the track vehicles, belong to the Government of India entrusted to the Ministry of Railways. The Northeast Frontier Railway documented all the elements of the DHR in a comprehensive register. Apart from that, it handles the day-to-day maintenance and management. But moreover, several programs, divisions and departments of the Indian Railways are responsible for operating, maintaining and repairing the DHR. This includes technical as well as non-technical work. In principle, the only two legal protection mechanisms that apply to the conservation of the DHR are the provisions of the 1989 Railway Act and that it is a public property which is state-owned and therefore protected

THE ROUTE

The railway line basically follows the Hill Cart Road which is partially the same as National Highway 55. Usually, the track is simply on the road side. In case of landslides both track and road might be affected. As long parts of the road are flanked with buildings, the railway line often rather resembles urban tramway tracks than an overland line.

To warn residents and car drivers about the approaching train, engines are equipped with very loud horns that even drown horns of Indian trucks and buses. Trains honk almost without pause.

LOOPS AND Z-REVERSE

One of the main difficulties faced by the DHR was the steepness of the climb. Features called loops and Z-Reverses were designed as an integral part of the system at different points along the route to achieve a comfortable gradient for the stretches in between them. When the train moves forwards, reverses and then moves forward again, climbing a slope each time while doing so, it gains height along the side of the hill.

LOCOMOTIVES

CURRENT

STEAM

All the steam locomotives currently in use on the railway are of the "B" Class, a design built by Sharp, Stewart and Company and later the North British Locomotive Company, between 1889 and 1925. A total of 34 were built, but by 2005 only 12 remained on the railway and in use (or under repair).

In 2002, No. 787 was rebuilt with oil firing. This was originally installed to work on the same principle as that used on Nilgiri Mountain Railway No.37395. A diesel-powered generator was fitted to operate the oil burner and an electrically-driven feed pump, and a diesel-powered compressor was fitted to power the braking system. Additionally, the locomotive was fitted with a feedwater heater. The overall result was a dramatic change in the appearance of the locomotive. However, the trials of the locomotive were disappointing and it never entered regular service. In early 2011, it was in Tindharia Works awaiting reconversion to coal-firing.

In March 2001, No.794 was transferred to the Matheran Hill Railway to allow a "Joy Train" (steam-hauled tourist train) to be operated on that railway. It did not, however, enter service there until May 2002.

DIESEL

Four diesel locomotives are in use: Nos. 601-2, 604 and 605 of the NDM6 class transferred from the Matheran Hill Railway.

Past

In 1910 the railway purchased the third Garratt locomotive built, a D Class 0-4-0+0-4-0.

Only one DHR steam locomotive has been taken out of India, No.778 (originally No.19). After many years out of use at the Hesston Steam Railway, it was sold to an enthusiast in the UK and restored to working order. It is now based on a private railway (The Beeches Light Railway) in Oxfordshire but has run on the Ffestiniog Railway, the Launceston Steam Railway and the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway.

IN POPULAR CULTURE

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway has long been viewed with affection and enthusiasm by travellers to the region and the Earl of Ronaldshay gave the following description of a journey in the early 1920s:

"Siliguri is palpably a place of meeting... The discovery that here the metre gauge system ends and the two foot gauge of the Darjeeling-Himalayan railway begins, confirms what all these things hint at... One steps into a railway carriage which might easily be mistaken for a toy, and the whimsical idea seizes hold of one that one has accidentally stumbled into Lilliput. With a noisy fuss out of all proportion to its size the engine gives a jerk - and starts... No special mechanical device such as a rack is employed - unless, indeed, one can so describe the squat and stolid hill-man who sits perched over the forward buffers of the engine and scatters sand on the rails when the wheels of the engine lose their grip of the metals and race, with the noise of a giant spring running down when the control has been removed. Sometimes we cross our own track after completing the circuit of a cone, at others we zigzag backwards and forwards; but always we climb at a steady gradient - so steady that if one embarks in a trolley at Ghum, the highest point on the line, the initial push supplies all the energy necessary to carry one to the bottom."

The trip up to Darjeeling on railway has changed little since that time, and continues to delight travellers and rail enthusiasts, so much so that it has its own preservation and support group, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society.

Several films have portrayed the railway. Especially popular was the song Mere sapno ki rani from the film Aradhana where the protagonist Rajesh Khanna tries to woo heroine Sharmila Tagore who was riding in the train. Other notable films include Barfi!, Parineeta and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. The Darjeeling Limited, a film directed by Wes Anderson, features a trip by three brothers on a fictional long-distance train based loosely on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

TELEVISION

The BBC made a series of three documentaries dealing with Indian Hill Railways, shown in February 2010. The first film covers the Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway, the second the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the third the Kalka-Shimla Railway. The films were directed by Tarun Bhartiya, Hugo Smith and Nick Mattingly and produced by Gerry Troyna. The series won the UK Royal Television Society Award in June 2010. Wes Anderson's film The Darjeeling Limited also showcases three brothers riding the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

WIKIPEDIA

Durga Puja, also referred to as Durgotsava or Sharadotsav is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi, Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and Vijayadashami. The dates of Durga Puja celebrations are set according to the traditional Hindu calendar and the fortnight corresponding to the festival is called Devi Paksha, (‘Fortnight of the Goddess’). Devi Paksha is preceded by Mahalaya, the last day of the previous fortnight Pitri Paksha, (‘Fortnight of the Forefathers’), and is ended on Kojagori Lokkhi Puja (‘Worship of Goddess Lakshmi on Kojagori Full Moon Night’).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga_Puja

Taken by Soma Adhicary.

Partial ice cover on Lower Galatea Lake at the beginning of July. Elevation: 2200 meter / 7200 feet.

This is a wonderfully chaotic forecourt scene, so much being packed in on the site it was at first hard to tell if the forecourt was even open! On one side of the forecourt is currently Stillmans of Sevenoaks selling second hand cars and on the other side is Sevenoaks Van Sales - not sure if they are connected but probably not. Looking at earlier Streetview shots Stillmans was previously ADG Sevenoaks and the Van Centre was back then a hand car wash site with Alba Transport Services behind. In addition Google Maps has further businesses all listed at this address, Hildenborough MOT Test Centre, PJ Motors and Motobox UK, a Motorcycle business. Perhaps strangest of all is the listing of an antiques business within the petrol station shop! In addition there is a Londis shop on site so no wonder the scene is so chaotic with all this going on.

As expected this was previously a Texaco site, we can see the date of transition as the June 2016 image on Streetview shows the shopfront still bearing the Texaco red but the rest of the forecourt changed to the colours of Harvest.

www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2202114,0.2329372,3a,75y,183.13...

Pondicherry (/pɒndᵻˈtʃɛri/ or /pɒndᵻˈʃɛri/) or Puducherry is a city, an urban agglomeration and a municipality in Puducherry district in the Indian union territory of Puducherry. It is affectionately known as Pondy, and has been officially known by the alternative name Puducherry since 2006. Pondicherry is the regional capital and largest city in the territory.

HISTORY

The history of the City of Pondicherry is recorded only after the arrival of Dutch, Portuguese, British and French colonialists. By contrast, nearby places such as Arikamedu, Ariyankuppam, Kakayanthoppe, Villianur and Bahur, which were annexed by the French East India Company over a period of time and which became the Union Territory of Pondicherry after Independence, have recorded history predating the colonial period.

A marketplace named Poduke or Poduca is recorded as a Roman trading destination from the mid 1st century. The area was part of the Pallava Kingdom of Kanchipuram in the 4th century. The Cholas of Thanjavur held it from the 10th to 13th centuries, only to be replaced by the Pandya Kingdom in the 13th century. The Vijayanagar Empire took control of almost all the South of India in the 14th century and maintained control until 1638 when they were supplanted by the Sultan of Bijapur. The French acquired Puducherry in 1674 and held it, with an occasional interruption by the British or Dutch, until 1954 (de jure 1956), when it was incorporated into the Indian Union along with the rest of French India.

On 18 October 1954 in a general election involving 178 people in Pondicherry Municipal and Commune Panchayat, 170 people were in favor of independence and eight people voted against. On 1 November 1954, Puducherry became part of the union.

However, the formal agreement was signed on 16 August, which is the date celebrated as Independence Day in Puducherry; following the demands of French India, Viduthalai Kaala Makkal Iyyakkam to their current Chief Minister of Puducherry. So 1 November was declared as the Independence Day of Pondicherry and 16 August as the Republic Day.

TOPOGRAPHY

The topography of Pondicherry is the same as that of coastal Tamil Nadu. Pondicherry's average elevation is at sea level, and a number of sea inlets, referred to as "backwaters" can be found.

Pondicherry experiences coastal erosion. The city is protected against the sea by a 2-kilometres long seawall, first completed by the French in 1735, which reaches a height of 27 feet above sea level. A weather-beaten cement plaque with the year 1952 is still visible along a section of the seawall. The seawall is protected from the direct onslaught of waves by rows of granite boulders which are reinforced every year to stop erosion. Whenever gaps appear or the stones sink into the sand, the Government adds more boulders to keep it strong.

TOWN STRUCTURE

Pondicherry city consists of 42 wards. Wards 1-10 are located in north of the city. Wards 11-19 are located in Boulevard Town and remaining wards are located in the southwest of the downtown.

ECONOMY

In 2012, the Ministry of Power inaugurated the Smart Grid project in Puducherry.

Farming around Pondicherry include crops such as rice, pulses, sugarcane, coconuts, and cotton.

CLIMATE

The climate of Pondicherry is classified by Köppen-Geiger system as tropical wet and dry (As), similar to that of coastal Tamil Nadu. Summer lasts from April to early June, when maximum temperatures frequently hit the 41 °C mark. The average maximum temperature is 36 °C. Minimum temperatures are in the order of 28–32 °C. This is followed by a period of high humidity and occasional thundershowers from June till September.

The northeast monsoon sets in during the middle of October, and Pondicherry gets the bulk of its annual rainfall during the period from October to December. The annual average rainfall is 1.240 mm. Winters are warm, with highs of 30 °C and lows often dipping to around 18–20 °C.

DEMOGRAPGICS

At the 2011 India census, Pondicherry had a population of 675,000. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Pondicherry has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 82%, and female literacy is 71%. In Pondicherry, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

The majority of Pondicherrians speak Tamil, Telugu, or Malayalam. There is a community of French people in Pondicherry and a number of French institutions such as a consulate, the French Institute, and L'Alliance Française.

There is also a sizable community of Indians from other states of India, notably West Bengal, Gujarat and Odisha.

Tamil and French are the official languages of Pondicherry.

TRANSPORT

Pondicherry is connected to Chennai via the East Coast Road through Mahabalipuram. The Pondicherry Road Transport Corporation runs buses within the city. The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation operates Volvo air-conditioned services from Chennai to Pondicherry. There are daily bus services from several main stops from Chennai.

From 14 April, as PM N.Modi announces the city to be a Smart City - Pondicherry is now connected by Air India with an ATR aircraft service 6 times a week except Wednesday, its an afternoon service departing from Bangalore returning by evening to Bangalore.

Pondicherry is connected by train to all metros: Chennai, Delhi, Howrah, and Mumbai, as well as other important cities such as Kanyakumari, Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Bangalore and Mangalore. Puducherry Airport has scheduled flights to Bangalore, as well as charter flights and operations of the local flying training school.

TOURISM

Pondicherry is a popular tourist destination in South India. The city has many colonial buildings, churches, temples, and statues which, combined with the systematic town planning and planned French style avenues, still preserve much of the colonial ambiance.

The most popular tourist destinations are the four beaches in Pondicherry, which are Promenade Beach (also known locally as the Rocky Beach), Beach, The Auroville Beach and Serenity Beach. Sri Aurobindo Ashram, located on rue de la Marine, is one of the most well known and wealthiest ashrams in India. Auroville (City of Dawn) is an "experimental" township located 8 km north-west of Pondicherry. It is meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities.

There are a number of old and large churches in Pondicherry, most of which were built in the 18th and 19th centuries. A number of heritage buildings and monuments are present around the Promenade Beach, such as the Children's Park & Dupleix Statue, Gandhi statue, Nehru Statue, Le Café, French War Memorial, 19th Century Light House, Bharathi Park, Governors Palace, Romain Rolland Library, Legislative Assembly, Pondicherry Museum and the French Institute of Pondicherry at Saint-Louis Street.

Puducherry is also popular for its eateries that cover a wide variety of cuisines ranging from French, Indian and Italian to Mexican, Thai and Chinese. Some restaurants also serve a unique Indo-French cuisine that gives tourists a taste of Puducherry's colonial influences. Most popular eateries include Baker's Street, The White Town Cafe, Zuka, Carte Blanche and La Maison Rose.

Puducherry Botanical Gardens is located south of the New Bus Stand. Chunnambar Backwater resort is situated 8 km from Pondicherry, along the Cuddalore Main Road. This tropical resort is flanked by a quiet-flowing creek on one side. Boating and tree house are very popular.

Arulmigu Manakula Vinayagar Devasthanam on Manakula Vinayagar Street is a famous Hindu temple, which houses Lord Ganesha. Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple was in existence before the French came and settled in Pondicherry i.e. before 1666. According to Sasthra, Lord GANESHA is named in 16 types based on his various forms, out of which this god facing the east coast near the Bay of Bengal was named as Bhuvaneshar Ganapathy, now called as Manakula Vinayagar. In Tamil, 'Manal' means sand and 'Kulam' means pond near the sea. Earlier, there was full of sand around the pond. So, the people called the god as Manal Kulathu Vinayagar [means God near the pond of sand]. Later, it was named as Manakula Vinayagar.

Thirukaameeswarar Temple is one of the ancient temples located in a rural town called Villianur (the ancient name is Vilvanallur, meaning "vilva marangal niraindha nalla vur"), which is located about 10 km away (towards Villupuram) from Pondicherry town. This temple is renowned as Periya Koil "Big Temple". The prime god is Lord Shiva and the prime goddess is Goddess Kokilambigai. In addition, there are also other Hindu gods such as Murugan, Vinayagar, Thakshanamoorthy, Perumal, Bhramah, Chandikeshwarar, Natarajar, Navagrahah, and 63 Naayanmaars. The pioneers[clarification needed] in this temple say that the age of this temple is about 1000+ years. It is thought to have been built by one of the Chola kings. There is also a huge "temple pond". The "Ther Thiruvizha" (Car Festival) is celebrated at this temple.

Apart from so many sight seeing places for the tourists, there are a number of various bakeries and restaurants that cater to the Europeans taste buds. For others there are many Indian, Continental, Chinese and fast food restaurants to choose from.

WIKIPEDIA

All Saints, Hilgay, Norfolk

Hilgay is one of those large, independent south-west Norfolk fen villages that feel as if they really ought to be in Cambridgeshire. The church is set away from the village centre, and you'd be unlikely to find it without a map if it wasn't for the handily named Church Street. All Saints is set about a hundred metres back from the road, and the avenue of limes that lead up to it are undoubtedly the longest in East Anglia. A local once told me it was the longest lime avenue in the world, which may also be true, although I don't suppose there are hundreds of lime avenues in Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia queuing up to compete with it.

The church appears long and apparently low, although this is in fact an illusion caused by the squatness of the tower. It appears very un-East Anglian, the nave and chancel in layered carstone and the tower in white brick. The carstone of the south aisle is not layered but ragged, and this creates a very primitive, rugged effect, like a marbled gingerbread cake. The ramshackle appearance of the tower contributes a bit as well

The large gravestone with an anchor, cross and heart on this side of the graveyard is striking, and you might think at first it is the memorial to Hilgay's most famous son, Captain Thomas Manby. Manby was the inventor of the Manby cradle, a device for rescuing sailors from stranded ships at sea (I hope you're taking notes, there will be a test at the end) but in fact it isn't. His memorial is inside the church. When I came here in 2005, this large memorial, which actually depicts the Christian virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, still had a heart-shaped lead-plate with the name and details of the grave's inhabitant, but it won't surprise you to learn that this has long since been stripped away. The best memorial on this side of the church is a deeply cut relief of a windmill, the workers busy unloading sacks of grain.

George Street undertook the considerable restoration of All Saints in the 1860s, although the tower predates this by about seventy years, replacing one which collapsed in the 1790s. The interior is wide and open, and at first appears almost entirely 19th century. The aisle is as wide as the nave, and the aisle chapel altar is as grand and dressed as the main altar. It feels a little like two churches side by side. Just inside the door is a very rare beast, a glass-walled funeral bier. The font is a grand Victorian marble job, and matches the not quite so successful pulpit. They do seem a little out of place here, a reminder that Street's urban, sophisiticated style is sometimes a little uncomfortable in East Anglia.

There is a good set of 15th century benches with animals on some of the ends, including a rather disturbing anthropomorphic creature that I suppose must be something from a bestiary. From a century or so later comes the memorial to Henry and Ursula Hawe in the south aisle chapel.

All Saints is at first sight not the most exciting of churches, but it is full of little details and has a lovely harmonious feel, from the stations of the cross to the good late 19th century glass by Ward and Hughes, from the screen brought from the redundant St Mary Beswick in Manchester to the jaunty little gallery shoehorned under the tower which Pevsner, unaccountably, thought dull.

Captain Danby's memorial is in the south aisle chapel, and records that his is a name to be remembered as long as there is a stranded ship. Poignantly, the memorial also remembers four of his eight brothers and sisters who died in infancy. It is a fairly typical sentimental memorial of the mid-19th century, but has a striking addition that you only notice after a moment. In another hand along the bottom, someone has inscribed carefully The public should have paid this tribute. How curious! There must be a story there somewhere.

This church has a long-standing Anglo-catholic tradition, and as part of that it used to be open every day. I am afraid that this is no longer the case, and there is not even a keyholder notice now.

This is photo frame #789 ("Plain") found at the "Classical - Plain" section of the Photo Frame Show Gallery.

Use this photoframe and enrich your Flickr photos in just a few clicks, through the Photo Frame Show software (http://www.frameshow.com).

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PhotoFrameShow: Add stylish and fun frames to your digital photos, blend them with your desktop and enhance your online albums, web pages, mobile wallpapers, projects and more.

The most notable landmark is the village temple, known as Pura Puseh, an ancient structure dated to the 11th century, embellished with intricate stone carvings.[17] It is located in the northern part of the village, 200 metres (660 ft) off the main road.[22] The temple also has an inscription that testifies to the date of founding of Batuan in 1022 AD.[23] The temple underwent restoration in 1992. It is a five-tiered gateway tower, clearly influenced by Indian religious architecture. Its icons and decorations, however, are typically Balinese in style. Notable depictions include a Bhoma head overlooking the main gateway, the god Wisnu astride a bull, great elephants on the central stairway balustrade, and Siwa standing amongst skulls.[22] The roof of the temple is made of the fibre of chromatic black palm tree. The maintenance of the temple is done by the residents of the village. The temple is situated on the main road from Denpasar to Ubud.[23]

Wooden model of a split gate.

The entry gate to the temple appears as a split gate as if it was formed once as one gate that was split into two parts. This gate leads into a courtyard which has a garden and a galaxy of statues fixed at various locations. From the courtyard, there is another gateway spanned by an intricately carved arch with bass relief on the inset and intertwined with vines and a closed door. The entry to the sanctum is again through two gates. The sanctum is where the gods are enthroned during festival time through a special invitation to “come down into this world.” The gods invited during the festivals are venerated with deep devotion and offerings. A sign post at the temple says:[24]

Pr Puse Pr Desa

Des Adat Basua

Saka 944

The first line makes mention of two temples – The Pura Puse and the Pura Desa – the second line defines the organization responsible for the temple and the last line 'saka 944' is in Indic and is equivalent to 1022 CE[24]

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The sagebrush ecosystem is home to unique plant and wildlife species, and is very important to the overall ecological health of eastern Oregon. Many birds and mammals depend on sagebrush ecosystems in the western United States for survival. In the last century, drastic changes caused by livestock grazing, conversion of lands to agriculture, the introduction of exotic plant species, and fire have resulted in alteration and fragmentation of sagebrush vegetative communities throughout the Intermountain West. The loss of sagebrush ecosystems are negatively affecting many of the more than 350 species of plants and animals that depend on sagebrush ecosystems for all or part of their existence including Greater Sage-Grouse as well as Pygmy Rabbit, Mule Deer, and Golden Eagles. Other examples of sagebrush dependent species include sage sparrow, ferruginous hawks, Brewer's sparrow, sage thrasher, sagebrush vole, and many botanical species.

Over the last several years, in response to requests from state and local governments to facilitate ways to conserve Greater Sage-Grouse and protect its habitat, BLM scientists and managers met with state wildlife management officials. The BLM strategy emphasizes a cooperative approach and provides a framework to advance efforts to implement timely conservation measures for sage-grouse and its habitat.

Additional information about this effort is online at:

www.blm.gov/or/energy/opportunity/sagebrush.php

Case que perdido no medio das montañas do Courel, sen apenas máis ca un puñado de pedras que sexan testemuña de que estivo alí, os restos do castelo de Carbedo teñen ese atractivo que, sen embargo, outros lugares mellor conservados non conseguen.

Iso incluso cun día ben por enriba dos trinta graos e a pesares de ter un poste de media tensión a medio camiño, evidentemente borrado.

Posiblemente teña máis atractivo en inverno con neve, tal como teño visto noutras fotos, pero polo no momento de sacar esta foto era o verán o que se achegaba.

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Almost lost in the mountains of the Courel, with hardly anything else than a fistful of stones that witness what was there, the remains of the castle of Carbedo have that appeal that, however, other places don't have even when they are better preserved.

That's even in a day over thirty degrees and despite having a lightpole (or so) in the middle, which has been conveniently removed.

It's probably more appealing in winter with snow and all, as I've seen in other pictures, but at least in the moment of taking this picture it was summer coming.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush and his top aides publicly made 935 false statements about the security risk posed by Iraq in the two years following September 11, 2001, according to a study released Tuesday by two nonprofit journalism groups.

"In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003," reads an overview of the examination, conducted by the Center for Public Integrity and its affiliated group, the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

According to the study, Bush and seven top officials -- including Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice -- made 935 false statements about Iraq during those two years.

The study was based on a searchable database compiled of primary sources, such as official government transcripts and speeches, and secondary sources -- mainly quotes from major media organizations. See CNN viewers' reactions to the study »

The study says Bush made 232 false statements about Iraq and former leader Saddam Hussein's possessing weapons of mass destruction, and 28 false statements about Iraq's links to al Qaeda.

Bush has consistently asserted that at the time he and other officials made the statements, the intelligence community of the U.S. and several other nations, including Britain, believed Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

He has repeatedly said that despite the intelligence flaws, removing Hussein from power was the right thing to do.

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Press Secretary Ari Fleischer each made 109 false statements, it says. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz made 85, Rice made 56, Cheney made 48 and Scott McLellan, also a press secretary, made 14, the study says.

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al Qaeda," the report reads, citing multiple government reports, including those by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the 9/11 Commission and the multinational Iraq Survey Group, which reported that Hussein had suspended Iraq's nuclear program in 1991 and made little effort to revive it.

The overview of the study also calls the media to task, saying most media outlets didn't do enough to investigate the claims.

"Some journalists -- indeed, even some entire news organizations -- have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical," the report reads. "These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq."

The quotes in the study include an August 26, 2002, statement by Cheney to the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction," Cheney said. "There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us."

www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/23/bush.iraq/index.html

This is a total of nine hours' worth of data gathered on three separate nights between 9 and 14 October 2015. It incorporates the data from my previous posting except for some OIII subframes that proved to be slightly out of focus and have now been removed. I've used a Hubble style palette.

Hydrogen Alpha = 28x6minutes

Oxygen III = 35x6minutes

Sulphur II = 27x6minutes

Peter

Equipment used: Atik 460EX mono CCD, 0.75 reducer, narrowband filters, 130mm triplet APO, EQ8 mount, autoguided with 60mm F13.5 scope and a Lodestar CCD

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

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

REGISTRATION : N56SW

MFR TYPE & SERIES : Boeing 737-2H4

MSN : 21721

OPERATOR : Southwest Airlines

AIRPORT (WHEN KNOWN) : San Francisco SFO

DATE (WHEN KNOWN) :

PHOTOGRAPHER (WHEN KNOWN) :

REMARKS:

5Pointz Aerosol Art Center, Inc. is an outdoor art exhibit space in Long Island City, New York, considered to be the world’s premiere “graffiti Mecca,” where aerosol artists from around the globe paint colorful pieces on the walls of a 200,000-square-foot factory building.

The name 5Pointz signifies the five boroughs coming together as one but, because of its reputation as an epicenter of the graffiti scene, the industrial complex has actually united aerosol artists from across the world. Legendary writers from Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, and all over the United States have painted on the building walls, including Stay High 149, Tracy 168, Cope2, Part, and Tats Cru.

Over the past decade, the striking, graffiti-covered warehouse has attracted several hip-hop and R&B stars, including Doug E. Fresh, Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Kaz, Mobb Deep, Rahzel, DJ JS-1, Boot Camp Clik, Joan Jett, and Joss Stone.

On any given day, 5Pointz visitors can expect to find prominent artists, musicians, deejays, Emcees (rappers), and B-boys (break dancers) on site, in addition to filmmakers, photographers, and entire tour buses full of admirers soaking in the more than 350 Technicolor murals.

The gallery curator is graffiti veteran Jonathan Cohen, best known by his signature tag, “Meres One.” His goal is to convert the five-story, block-long industrial complex at Jackson Avenue and Davis Street, formerly the Phun Phactory, into a graffiti art museum.

Mission Statement

5Pointz gallery curator, Meres, plans to convert the five-story, block-long industrial complex at Jackson Avenue and Davis Street into a graffiti museum. He is currently seeking a 501(c)3 certification for 5Pointz to confer tax-exempt status and allow tax-deductible donations.

In addition, he plans to open a school for aspiring aerosol artists, complete with a formalized curriculum that imparts lessons in teamwork, art history, and entrepreneurship in addition to technique.

Curator

The founder of 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center, Inc. and curator of its outdoor gallery is graffiti veteran Jonathan Cohen, best known by his signature tag, “Meres One.” The Flushing native adopted his tag in his teenage years after determining that M, R, and E were his best calligraphic letters.

Meres took an interest in graffiti at the young age of 13 after seeing an aerosol-based painted Smurf on a wall and flipping through a few graffiti books, and started the The Deadly4Mula (TD4) crew five years later. By the mid-‘90s, Meres had studied art at the Fashion Institute of Technology, sold a few paintings, and was transitioning his craft from tagging and throw-ups to piecing. He produced hundreds of aerosol art murals throughout all five New York boroughs, along the East Coast, and even in Holland.

In 2001, Meres reopened the Phun Phactory in Long Island City, New York, which had been closed for about a year and nearly destroyed by vandals and, over the next five years, transformed the industrial, 5-story, block-long complex into an outdoor art exhibit space he called 5Pointz: “The Institute of Higher Burnin’.”

By Joy Liao

Thai cooking is by far, one of my favorites. I love that it utilizes simple, fresh ingredients to create bold, aromatic flavors. While Thai fare is famous for lots of spice and heat, it's also celebrated for balanced flavors with components of sweet, sour and savory.

Aside from the popularized Pad Thai noodles and Thai curries, there is a slew of amazing dishes like Larb. Admittedly, the first time I ordered this dish, it was simply because I found the name interesting. To my dismay, a few of my dinner companions thought the name rather off-putting. Little did we know, Larb, really pronounced 'Laab,' would become one of the best discoveries we'd ever make.

The highlight of the salad is the minced chicken or pork, served with fresh herbs. The flavors are perfectly balanced with the sweetness from the sugar, a little tartness from the lime juice and heat from the chilies.

If you're looking for more heat and extra kick, replace the dried chilies with fresh Thai Bird Chilies.

Top off the salad with sprigs of fresh mint and a sprinkling of toasted rice for a nutty crunch. The salad is perfect on its own and is also great served with rice for a simple and delicious weeknight meal.

To get the recipe and shopping list on your smartphone (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android device) or PC, click here.

Larb Gai (Thai Chicken Salad)

Serves 2

1 teaspoon uncooked rice, toasted

1 tablespoon oil

1 medium shallot, finely chopped

2 dried chilis finely chopped with seeds (or 1 teaspoon chili flakes or 1 Thai Bird Chili seeded and minced)

¾ pound ground chicken

1-1/4 teaspoons fish sauce

¾ teaspoon white granulated sugar

1 lime, quartered

2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro

¼ small red onion, thinly sliced (about ¼ cup)

2 small red cabbage leaves

2 mint sprigs, for garnish

Sliced cucumber, for garnish (optional)

Place uncooked rice in a dry pan over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes, shaking the pan back and forth to toast the rice evenly. Once the rice is no longer translucent and turns a light golden brown, transfer to a bowl.

In a medium pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add in the shallot and dried chilies and stir for 10 seconds.

Increase heat to medium-high, add the chicken and stir-fry until it is no longer pink. Add the fish sauce and sugar and stir to combine. Squeeze 2 of the quartered limes into the pan and turn off the heat. Stir in cilantro and onion.

To serve, spoon the cooked meat into 2 cabbage leaves, dividing equally, and sprinkle the toasted rice on top. Garnish each serving with mint, a wedge of lime and sliced cucumber, if desired.

While other three-year-old girls played with their Barbie dolls, Joy Liao made herself an imaginary kitchen. She'd pretend to be the butcher at the market, taking a plastic knife to her stuffed animals. (She wasn’t a troubled child, promise!) Having an insatiable appetite for all things delicious, Joy grew up in the kitchen learning about cooking from her mother. After college, she pursued an editorial/media career, and more recently, rediscovered her passion for food in the kitchens of Michelin-starred restaurants in San Francisco.

Special Fork is a recipe website for your smartphone and PC that solves the daily dinnertime dilemma: what to cook now! Our bloggers blog Monday through Friday to give you cooking inspiration. Check out our recipe database for quick ideas that take no more than 30 minutes of prep time. Join the conversation on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

I found this flower which is called hotoke no za in Japanese (literally, Buddha's seat) while I was walking today It is called 'Buddha's seat' because leaves which tuck the flowers under them are said to look like the seat where Buddha sat. The orange stamen may be seen (Best viewed in large).

Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan. The city was founded in 1833 on the west bank of the Maumee River, originally incorporated as part of Monroe County, Michigan Territory, then re-founded in 1837, after conclusion of the Toledo War, when it was incorporated in Ohio. Toledo grew quickly as a result of the Miami and Erie Canal and its position on the railway line between New York and Chicago. It has since become a city well known for its industry, particularly in glass and auto assembly, as well as for its art community, education, and local sports teams. The population of Toledo as of the 2010 Census was 287,208, while the Toledo metropolitan area had a population of 651,409.

Toledo is known as the Glass City because of its long history of innovation in all aspects of the glass industry: windows, bottles, windshields, construction materials, and glass art, which the Toledo Museum of Art has a large collection. Several large glass companies have their origins here. Owens-Illinois, Owens Corning, Libbey Glass, Pilkington North America (formerly Libbey Owens Ford), and Therma-Tru have long been a staple of Toledo's economy. Several large, Fortune 500 automotive related companies had their headquarters in Toledo. Electric AutoLite, Sheller-Globe Corporation, Champion Spark Plug, Questor, and Dana Corporation are examples of large auto parts companies that began in Toledo. Faurecia Exhaust Systems, which is a $2 billion subsidiary to France's Faurecia SA, is located in Toledo. Only Dana Corporation is still in existence as an independent entity. Toledo is home of Jeep headquarters and has 2 production facilities, one in the city and one in suburban Perrysburg.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,_Ohio

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...

This is my second time to attend the annual Web Summit in the RDS [Dublin] and I really enjoyed myself.

Other than myself the most high-profile attendee was Elon Musk, who founded PayPal, electric car maker Tesla and space exploration company SpaceX. The IDA announced the creation of 335 new jobs in Ireland by nine US and European technology companies. Enda Kenny [PM of Ireland] and the NASDAQ’s executive vice president Bruce Aust opened the NASDAQ stock market live on stage at the summit.

The Web Summit, formerly Dublin Web Summit, is a technology conference held in the RDS [Dublin] since 2010.

The event is currently Europe's biggest tech conference. The topic of the conference was centred on the Internet and related technologies. The audience is always a mix of CEOs and founders of tech start-ups together with developers, designers and CTOs from established companies.

Attendance at the two day conference has grown from 500 in 2010 to more than 10,000 this year.

St Fittick's is the ruins of a church and cemetery located in Torry a short way from the Aberdeen Harbour Extension Project taking place at Nigg Bay, I have visited it before though never archived any of my photo's of the ruins here on Flickr.

I visited the site on Saturday 26th May 2018, the sun was shining and the grounds had just been serviced hence a perfect opportunity to take some shots and create an album dedicated to this historic place.

I have gathered as much information as I can from the internet for your perusal on the history of St Fitticks.

St Fitticks

The ruin of St Fittick's Church stands in an unexpected location, in a field just off the minor road linking Nigg Bay with the south shore of Aberdeen Harbour, and running along the eastern side of the settlement of Torry. It is possible to pull off the road onto a verge obviously frequently used for parking up lorries using the docks in Aberdeen, and a gate gives access to the field.

St Fittick's is surrounded by its churchyard, which in turn is surrounded by a substantial stone wall (except on the south side where there is a fence). Access to the churchyard is via a gate in its north west corner. From here you can look across fields to the edge of Torry, and wonder how different this landscape must have looked when, according to legend, a religious foundation was established here by St Fittick in the mid 600s.

The story is that St Fittick was an Irish monk who was thrown overboard by superstitious sailors when a storm blew up off the coast here. He came ashore at Nigg Bay and established his church to give thanks for his salvation. There's an alternative view that "St Fittick" is actually the result of a confusion between the stories of two other saints, St Fiacre and St Fotin: but we are unlikely ever to know for sure.

Legend became history in the late 1100s (1199 according to some sources), when a chapel was built on the site still occupied by the ruin today, under the auspices of Arbroath Abbey. This chapel was consecrated by the Bishop of St Andrews, Bishop David de Bernham, in 1242, and seems to have gone on to serve the local community until, and for over a century after, the Reformation.

Much of the structure whose remains you can see today seems to date back to the late 1600s and early 1700s, and the bellcote carries the date of 1704. It is thought likely that some masonry from the building erected in the late 1100s may still exist within the later walls, but again it is difficult to know for sure. By the late 1700s, the church would have formed part of a group of buildings with a manse to the east, and outbuildings. The only other structure on the site today is the shell of a watchhouse in the north east corner of the churchyard, built here, probably in the early 1800s, as protection against bodysnatchers. They were a real threat until the passing of the 1832 Anatomy Act which allowed a legitimate supply of cadavers for medical education and research.

By 1832 the church was already disused, however. The growth of Torry at the beginning of the 1800s meant that a larger and more conveniently located church was needed, and St Fittick's was replaced by Nigg Kirk in 1829. Other churches followed as the population continued to grow, and the name of St Fittick was brought back into use with the building of Torry St Fittick's Church in 1898.

For today's visitor, St Fittick's Church is a fascinating, if not perhaps very attractive, place. The four standing walls have been "consolidated" to the point where the main material on show is concrete (with the exception of the inner face of the east wall. Rather more original are some of the fine collection of early gravestones in the churchyard, with a number dating back to the 1700s and 1600s. Especially interesting are those carrying "mememto mori" or symbols reminding viewers of the inevitability of death.

Torry, lying on the south bank of the River Dee, was once a Royal Burgh in its own right, having been erected a burgh of barony in 1495.

It was incorporated into Aberdeen in 1891, after the construction of the Victoria Bridge, itself made possible by the 1871 channelling of the River Dee which had previously followed an unstable course to the sea. The channelling also enabled further expansion of the harbour.

Torry is connected to the north bank of the Dee and the centre of Aberdeen by three bridges. Leading most directly to the centre of Torry, the Victoria Bridge was completed in 1887, following a ferry disaster in 1876 which claimed the lives of 32 people returning from a visit to the Bay of Nigg.

The bridge also has facilities for carrying water and gas services across the river. To the west of the Victoria Bridge lie the Queen Elizabeth Bridge of 1983, and the narrow Wellington Suspension Bridge.

The suspension bridge was designed by Captain Samuel Brown and opened in 1831, replacing the Craiglug ferry. Refurbished in 1930, the Category A listed building was closed to vehicular traffic in 1984 and to pedestrians in March 2002. Aberdeen City Council engineers have strengthened the bridge, and have reopened it as a public footbridge.

So this is my friend Drew, she is a songwriter/singer living in California, she needed some updated shots of herself so we got together one day and this is what we got.

Nikon D7000 35-70mm 2.8

Nikon SB-600 in 32inch umbrella 60 degrees from me, 8ft away

Nikon SB-900 in Orbis Ring for Fill

Nikon SB-600 behind for slight rim

Depicted is my Wife's older Sister outside the Guest House (a house which took paying Guests on a Bed and Breakfast and also tea (late afternoon meal basis) these was called at the time Boarding Houses or more commonly "Digs" which is thought to have derived from the fact that the families staying there was kind of digging into the sands at that location for their week or two weeks stay at the seaside in this case the exceptionally busy holiday resort of "Blackpool" located on the Fylde Coast of the County (province) of Lancashire in the North West of England.

= In those days "Blackpool" claimed to have it all - and to a very large extent it really did !!! !!! !!!

= All of the top shows and Films of the Day and always the top Artists and Performers - many Theatres one of which (The Opera House) still is the largest in the United Kingdom.

= One of the many routines which holidaymakers did in those far off days was after arrival on the previous day was the very first thing after breakfast on the Sunday morning after arrival was to attend Church and then was to go around to the many theatre booking offices and if they could get a seat (even if they was not able to sit together as a group) before they returned home then the holidaymakers was always delighted !!! !!! !!!

= There was many jewels in "Blackpool's" crown The highest fastest Roller Coaster !!!)- a dedicated Amusement Park called The Pleasure Beach (full of similar thrill rides) - a 512 Feet (156.0576) high tower modeled on the Eiffel Tower in Paris - The finest sprung dance floor in the Best Ballroom in Europe (so Claimed - and still is !!!) - THREE PIERS jutting out into the Irish Sea - Miles of Golden Sand - and numerous Amousment Arcades - and a so called "Golden Mile" which in reality was realy an area along the prommenade where Gypsies told Fortunes and many stall holders provided symplistic entertainment in the form of This way to see the Bearded Lady or the Tattooed Lady or the Strongest Man in the World (lightgweight weights ??? !!!) the Flea Circus and of course several kind of gambling stalls run by Card Sharks with whom the possibility of ever wining anyhthing was extreamly slim !!! and other stalls with win a gold fish (via various methods) and Darts and Coconut Shys and Hook a Duck (plastic not real) to win a fluffy toy or other prize suitable for a small child - plus a Ghost Train and a multitude of stalls all selling various forms of food (mainly British in those days) like local Shell Seafood gathered from nearby shores.

= Whilst The Golden Mile area of the "Blackpool Seafront" added much colour to the general seaside scene it was removed entirely a few years ago in an attempt to give the "Blackpool" seafront/prommenade a smarter air/appearance.

= Other attractions was (and still is) the Tram (Streetcar) service which runs from Squires Gate/Starrgate a distance of 8.21 miles (13.21 kilometres) to the Northern Terminus at Fleetwood Ferry located on the seafront at the Fishing Port/Resort of "Fleetwood".

= All of the original Trams/Streetcasrs have now been replaced along with the Track and power system with a fleet of 18 new very sleek Trams/Streetcars that cost 2 million £ pounds sterling each - However a selection of some of the very earliest and others from the 1950's have been preserved and run quite regularly on a Heritage track located at the side of the shiny new one.

= For the modern Holiday Maker "Blackpool" has many up to date attractions Pubs and Clubs to suit all tastes - However such was a long way from the minds of the Tens of Thousands of Holiday Making Families who came for Fun and to let the exceptionally salty sea breeze blow the Mill Dust out of their Lungs on their Wakes Weeks Holidays of the 1950's and before from 1845 and some even from the late 1700's - Which my Wife's Family was doing in these Happy Snappy Holiday photograps which was taken by a Photographer who visited every year that they stayed at the above Charnley Road Location !!! !!! !!!

This is the camera Jimmy Stewart used in Rear Window (one of my all-time favorite movies!) Taken in Planet Hollywood in Beverly Hills, CA

Photos taken before digital photography. I've had a chance to scan a lot of my old photos. Memory lane! A few years back I was flying to Los Angeles to visit friends just about every year. Sometimes I took a friend, sometimes I took Duane, sometimes I went by myself, sometimes I was visiting family and sometimes I was seeing REM in concert...over and over again. These photos have NOT been edited.

This is T2, the Karori Sanctuary Trust's resident male takahe. The resident female has a more interesting name - Puffin. Oh, well, what can you do? Puffin was evidently incubating an egg, so I did not get to see her. Alas, the egg was eventually abandoned as it was likely infertile.

The takahe is an endangered flightless bird. In fact, the North Island Takahe is extinct. T2 is a South Island Takahe. Males grow to be about 6 lbs (2.7kg). The South Island Takahes were thought to be extinct until a group of them were discovered in Fjordland in 1948. There are a number of predator-free islands and zones where they are being cared for.

I encountered T2 at Zealandia, formerly known as the Karori Sanctuary Trust. He was busy stripping seeds off the grasses. Zealandia is just outside of Wellington proper - amazing to think a busy city is just a few kilometers away! It's a wonderful place to see a profusion of native New Zealand birds and other critters.

www.visitzealandia.com/

The Grand Opera House is a theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by the most prolific theatre architect of the period, Frank Matcham. It opened on 23 December 1895.

According to the Theatres Trust the "magnificent auditorium is probably the best surviving example in the United Kingdom of the oriental style applied to theatre architecture".

In 1995 the running of the theatre was taken over by the Grand Opera House Trust. An extensive renovation was undertaken in 2006 with the notable addition of The Baby Grand performance space together with extended foyers, extended stage wings and artist accommodation and access for customers with disabilities. The theatre now also has a restaurant on the third floor called "The Hippodrome", on the ground floor a daytime bistro called "Luciano's" as well as space for corporate meetings and functions. The extension's striking, modern appearance caused a certain amount of controversy and mixed reviews as some felt that it was not in keeping with the original theatre however it improved facilities have been warmly received. The building is intended to host smaller musical, dramatic and comedy performances as well as a host of educational events. The theatre reopened with a Gala event on the 21 October 2006. The capacity is 1,063.

It was renamed the Palace of Varieties in 1904, although it reverted to its original name in 1909. Variety programmes dominated in the 1920s and 1930s and the theatre saw performances by Gracie Fields, Will Fyffe and Harry Lauder. It became a repertory theatre during World War II and at the celebrations to mark the end of the war, Eisenhower, Montgomery and Alanbrooke attended gala performances at the theatre. The Grand Opera House was acquired by the Rank Organisation, which led to its use as a cinema between 1949 and 1972, after which it was almost demolished, only to open again in 1980.

Despite The Troubles, the theatre was listed in the 1970s and has been restored extensively since. The building had been damaged by bombs on several occasions usually when the nearby Europa Hotel had been targeted. It was very badly damaged by bomb blasts in 1991 and 1993. The theatre continued to thrive, however, hosting musicals, plays, pantomimes and live music.

Olympus E-1 with M42 Helios 44M-6

This image is part of set

Tara Motilor - Alba make sure you check the entire set.

Images taken by Moscu Dragos, www.xposure.ro.

(c) 2009 Moscu Dragos

Toate fotografiile sunt protejate de legea nr 8 din 26.03.2006 privind drepturile de autor si drepturile conexe si nu pot fi reproduse fara un acord scris.

Pentru dreptul de publicare va rog sa ma contactati.

All photographs are copyrighted and can't be used without my written permission.

If you want to buy the publishing rights for my images please contact me

Todas fotografías son registradas en el registro de la propiedad literaria y no pueden ser utilizadas sin mi permiso escrito. Si usted quiere comprar los derechos editoriales para mis imágenes por favor me contactan

Toutes photographies sont déposé et ne peuvent pas être utilisées sans ma permission écrite. Si vous voulez acheter les droits d'édition pour mes images me contactent s'il vous plaît

Alle Fotografien sind urheberrechtlich geschützt und können ohne meine geschriebene Erlaubnis nicht benutzt werden. Wenn Sie die Veröffentlichungsrechte für meine Bildnisse bitte kaufen wollen, kontaktieren Sie mich

Tutte le fotografie sono copyrighted e non potere essere usate senza il mio permesso scritto. Se lei vuole comprare i diritti di pubblicazione per le mie immagini mi contattano per favore

email: dragos@xposure.ro mobile: 004-0721518396

Images taken by Moscu Dragos, www.xposure.ro.

The John Muir National Historic Site is located in Martinez, in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. It preserves the Italianate Victorian mansion where the naturalist and writer John Muir lived, as well as a nearby 325 acres (132 ha) tract of native oak woodlands and grasslands historically owned by the Muir family. The main site is on the edge of town, in the shadow of State Route 4, also known as the "John Muir Parkway".

John Muir’s home was among the grandest of its time, and costing $20,000 to build, an extravagant amount in its day. An article in the Martinez Gazette, written while the house was being constructed, said “with but one or two exceptions, it will be the finest and most complete private residence in the county.”

The house, completed in 1882, was built for Dr. John and Louisiana Strentzel, Muir’s parents-in-law. The Strentzels gave their original house to John and his bride Louie as a wedding gift. When Dr. Strentzel died in 1890, the Muirs moved into this house.

The seventeen-room home is in the Italianate style of late Victorian architecture, and is constructed mostly of redwood. The architects were Wolfe and Son of San Francisco. The home incorporates key features of the Italianate style, including: a rectangular, symmetrical shape, wide eaves with brackets and cornices, a porch with balustrades, a square cupola and high, double-paned windows with hood moldings.

The interior of the 10,000 square-foot house with 12-foot-high ceilings has retained many of its original features, including the Douglas fir floor and black walnut staircase banister. Note the crack in the transom over the front door, which occurred during the Port Chicago explosion of World War II. Phone service was installed in 1884 by Dr. Strentzel, and the house was one of the first in the area to have it (the phone in the downstairs hallway is not original).

The house suffered some damage during the 1906 earthquake, including two of the Italian marble fireplaces. Muir replaced the east parlor’s damaged fireplace with a large, Mission style brick one. He described it in a letter to a friend, “In particular I've built a big fireplace, almost suitable for mountaineers, into which I roll a jolly pair of logs two feet in diameter and pile a half dozen smaller ones between and back of them making fires that flame and roar and radiate sunny heat like those we built on the frosty Coyote Meadows above the canyon of the Kern.” (January 7, 1907)

Furnishings in the home are from the period, but did not belong to the Muirs or Strentzels. An exception is John Muir’s original desk in his “scribble den,” where he penned most of his published works, including his books—writings that paved the way to preserving our nation’s most beautiful natural lands, or “wild places.”

Upstairs, the small balcony at the end of the hall is where Muir slept on many clear nights, seeming to prefer having the stars over his head to a roof.

When John Muir died in 1914 (nine years after his wife), his grown daughters Wanda and Helen sold the house. It remained in the hands of private owners until local citizens (including those who established the John Muir Association) worked for the historic structure’s establishment as a public treasure. The National Park Service bought the house in 1964, along with nine acres of the Muir’s fruit ranch. In 1993, NPS bought an additional 326 acres, known as Mt. Wanda.

Next to Alhambra Creek, about a mile from the house, Muir was buried next to his wife on what was once part of the original 2,600-acre ranch.

The grounds of the 9 acre main site contain grapevines and an orchard with many types of fruit trees as well as many mature exotic trees from around the world that were growing at the time Muir lived. Also to be found are exhibits and machinery of ranch life in the late 1800's.

A 'must see' on the same property is the preserved Vincente Martinez Adobe home built in 1849.

While living here, Muir realized many of his greatest accomplishments, co-founding and serving as the first president of the Sierra Club, in the wake of his battle to prevent Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy Valley from being dammed, playing a prominent role in the creation of several national parks, writing hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles and several books expounding on the virtues of conservation and the natural world, and laying the foundations for the creation of the National Park Service in 1916.

The park's museum collection includes historic documents and artifacts that relate to the writing, travels, political activities and daily life of John Muir and his family in Martinez. Significant portions of the collections include over 1,000 plant specimens collected by Muir during his many travels, photographs of his travel, correspondence to and from Muir, books from his personal library, and first editions of his published works. Many of Muir's original items were graciously donated by Muir family members.

The collection also includes Victorian era furnishings, clothing, household goods, farm implements, books and textiles that are not unique to Muir or his home; however, these pieces allow us to interpret the day-to-day life on the Martinez fruit ranch. The collections are displayed in the home, carriage house and through exhibitions in the Visitor Center.

The Muir house was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1960.

It became a National Historic Site in 1964, is California Historical Landmark no. 312, and National Historic Landmark, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1988 nearby Mount Wanda Nature Preserve was added to the Historic Site.

Diamond Head Lighthouse is a United States Coast Guard facility located on Diamond Head in Honolulu, on the island of Oʻahu in the State of Hawaiʻi.

The lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

The Diamond Head Lighthouse was featured on a United States postage stamp in June 2007

Mola is the Kuna Indian word for blouse, but the term mola has come to mean the elaborate embroidered panels that make up the front and back of a Kuna woman's blouse. The Kuna Indians are the native people who live on small coral islands in the San Blas Archipelago along the Atlantic coast of Panama and Colombia. Molas are collected as folk art and can be viewed at some of the finest museums in the world like the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

Mola es la palabra indígena Kuna de la blusa, pero mola término ha llegado a decir de los paneles elaborados bordados que conforman la parte delantera y trasera de la blusa de la mujer Kuna. Los indios Kuna son los nativos que viven en pequeñas islas de coral en el Archipiélago de San Blas en la costa atlántica de Panamá y Colombia. Molas se recogen como el arte popular y puede ser visto en algunos de los mejores museos del mundo, como el Smithsonian en Washington, DC.

This is Michelle. She is a barrista. I met her while waiting for a business meeting. There weren't too many people so I decided to talk to her. She has been on the job for only 2 months and she started with zero knowledge. The owner of the shop is her uncle who also happened to design the interiors of the café. She has come to love the job that she wants to have her own coffee shop someday. She has big ambitions. I told her I will drop by again since I have clients around the area.

This picture is #6 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

Lier is a Belgian city located in the province of Antwerp. The city is said to have been founded in the 11th century. In 1212, the Duke of Brabant Henri I granted an urban charter to the inhabitants. The fourteenth century was a period of prosperity for the city: construction of a cloth hall in 1367, a belfry in 1369 and a second rampart in 1389. The prosperity of the city was based on the drapery industry and on the existence of a cattle market, which had been granted to it by the Dukes of Brabant.

This is a photo of my wife, Juliann Krogh, aboard USCG Barque "Eagle" wearing a SunBody Top Hat at a War of 1812 200th anniversary Living History event with the Coast Guard at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, Massachusetts in 2012. We did 11 living history events for the Coast Guard that year from New England to New Orleans to the Great Lakes and the hat made it to all of them! The SunBody Top Hat was great for summer weather since that is when most of our events took place. We had many compliments on it and those of us who did not have one were extremely jealous! The hat never broke or ripped despite hardy use throughout the year. I look forward to seeing more good hats coming out of your company! Thanks for your time! Take care!

Regards, Matthew Krogh

Portsmouth, Virginia

Port Isaac is a small and picturesque fishing village on the Atlantic coast of north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The nearest towns are Wadebridge and Camelford, both ten miles away. Port Gaverne, commonly mistaken to be part of Port Isaac, is a nearby hamlet that has its own history. The meaning of the Cornish name is "corn port", indicating a trade in corn from the arable inland district.

This is so beautiful in person to catch a sunrise at my family's camp - there's a mist that rolls over the water like smoke, sometimes so thick you can barely see - some think it's creepy, but I think it's beautiful. I tried to capture it here, but as you can see - the fog is so thick you can barely see anything! I still felt like shareing, though....

This is view on the town Brodnica from the castle window, almost on the top of tower.

(And HERE is the view in the fields around)

Dzwjedziak - mówisz i masz! :))

History: Brodnica is a town in northern Poland with 27,400 inhabitants as of 1995. Previously in Toruń Voivodeship from 1975-1998, Brodnica has been situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999

The town's settlement began in 1262, and it received German town law in 1298. It was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1772 during the First Partition of Poland, but was incorporated into the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars. From 1815-1945 it was again under Prussian administration, becoming part of the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871. The town become in 1920 part of Poland after the Treaty of Versailles.

IMPORTANT

All my 2015 pictures of Nepal are taken shortly before the heavy earthquake in April 2015! Most of these buildings are now damaged!

To me this is the real tragedy of this year!

_______________________________

Bhaktapur (Nepali: भक्तपुर), literally translates to Place of devotees. Also known as Bhadgaon or Khwopa (Newar: ख्वप Khwopa), it is an ancient Newar city in the east corner of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, about 13 km from the capital city, Kathmandu. It is located in Bhaktapur District in the Bagmati Zone.

Bhaktapur was the largest of the three Newar kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley, and was the capital of Nepal during the great 'Malla Kingdom' until the second half of the 15th century. Today it is the third largest city in the Kathmandu Valley, with a population of more than 80,000, of which the vast majority are still Newars. Historically more isolated than the other two kingdoms, Kathmandu and Patan, Bhaktapur has a distinctly different form of Nepal Bhasa language.

Bhaktapur has the best preserved palace courtyards and old city center in Nepal, and is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its rich culture, temples, and wood, metal and stone artworks. This is supported by the restoration and preservation efforts of German-funded Bhaktapur Development Project (BDP).

The city is famous for special type of curd called "Ju Ju(king) dhau(curd). It is experienced by the curd makers that the taste of curd prepared in this location cannot be found elsewhere all over Nepal.

ETYMOLOGY

KHWOPA is the ancient name of Bhaktapur. The term "Bhaktapur" (Sanskrit/Nepali: भक्तपुर) refers to "The City Of Devotees". This Bhaktapur City is also known as "Khwopa" (Nepal Bhasa: ख्वप) or "Bhadgaon" (Nepali:भादगाँउ) or "Ancient Newari Town" throughout the Kathmandu Valley. "Kh0apa" actually refers to the masks which are believed to have been worn by gods and goddesses. Bhaktapur is popular for different forms of mask dances based on lives of different deities and therefore, it was named "Khwapa" which later came to become just "Khwopa," which is also near to meaning masks.

HISTORY

It is the home of traditional art and architecture, historical monuments and craft works, magnificent windows, pottery and weaving industries, excellent temples, beautiful ponds, rich local customs, culture, religion, festivals, musical mystic and so on. Bhaktapur is still an untouched as well as preserved ancient city that is itself a world to explore for tourists.

From time immemorial it lay on the trade route between Tibet and India. This position on the main caravan route made the town rich and prosperous.

DEMOGRAPHICS

At the time of the 2001 Nepal census it had a population of 72,543. The male inhabitants of this city wear a special type of cap called the Bhadgaunle Topi Nyatapola.

LANDMARKS

LAYAKU (DURBAR SQUARE)

Bhaktapur Durbar Square is a conglomeration of pagoda and shikhara-style temples, mostly dedicated to Hindu gods and goddesses grouped around a 55-window palace of brick and wood. The square is one of the most charming architectural showpieces of the valley as it highlights the ancient arts of Nepal. The golden effigies of the kings perched on the top of stone monoliths, the guardian deities looking out from their sanctuaries, the wood carvings in every place — struts, lintels, uprights, tympanums, gateways and windows — all seem to form a well-orchestrated symphony.

The royal palace was originally situated at Dattaraya square and was only later moved to the Durbar square location. The square in Bhaktapur was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1934 and hence appears more spacious than the ones at Kathmandu and Patan.

NYATAPOLA TEMPLE

Nyatapola Temple is a 5-story pagoda located in Bhaktapur, Nepal. The temple was erected by Nepali King Bhupatindra Malla during a 5-month period from late 1701 into 1702. It is the temple of Siddha Laxmi, the Hindu goddess of prosperity.

BHAIRAB NATH TEMPLE

This is another pagoda temple of lord Bhairab, the dreadful aspect of Lord Shiva. It stands a short distance away from the temple of Nyatapola and was originally constructed by King Jagat Jyoti Malla on a modest scale. It was later remodelled by King Bhupatindra Malla, a zealous lover of the arts, into what it is now a three-storeyed temple.

DATTATRAYA TEMPLE

The temple of Dattatraya is as old as the Palace of Fifty-five Windows. Consecrated by King Yakshya Malla in 1427 AD, this temple, according to popular belief, was built out of the trunk of a single tree. It was subsequently repaired and renovated by King Vishwa Malla in 1458 AD.

Just beside temple is a monastery (Math) with exquisitely carved peacock windows. These famous windows were carved during the reign of King Vishwa Malla. The monastery is full of artistic facades of latticed windows and engraved columns.

CHANGU NARAYAN TEMPLE

Changu Narayan is an ancient Hindu temple located near the village of Changunarayan in the Kathmandu Valley on top of a hill at the eastern end of the valley. It is 6 kilometres to the north of Bhakathapur and 22 kilometres from Kathmandu. The temple is one of the oldest Hindu temples of the valley, and is believed to have been constructed first in the 4th century. Changu Narayan is the name of Vishnu, and the temple is dedicated to him. A stone slab discovered in the vicinity of the temple dates to the 5th century, and is the oldest such stone inscription discovered in Nepal. It was rebuilt after the old temple was devastated. Many stone sculptures here date to the Licchavi period. Changu Narayan Temple is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

The temple is a double-roofed structure where the idol of Lord Vishnu in his incarnation as Narayana is deified. The exquisitely built temple has intricate roof struts showing multi-armed Tantric deities. A kneeling image of Garuda (dated to the 5th century), the vahana or vehicle of Vishnu with a snake around its neck, faces the temple. The gilded door depicts stone lions guarding the temple. Gilded windows also flank the door. A conch and a disc, symbols of Vishnu, are carved on the two pillars at the entrance. Non-Hindus are not allowed inside the temple.

TA PUKHA (SIDDHA POKHARI)

Ta Pukhu (Siddha Pokhari) is a big rectangular water pond near the main city gate. It was built during the reign of King Yakshya Malla in the early 15th century and is associated with a number of myths. From this spot a wide range of snowy peaks are visible on clear days.

KAILASHNATH MAHADEV STATUE

Kailashnath Mahadev is the World's Tallest Lord Shiva statue. The height of this statue is 143 feet high and is situated 20 km from Kathmandu, epal. The statues construction work was started in 2004 and was completed in 2012. The statue's inauguration took place on the 21st of June '12. This statue stands on the 32nd position in the list of all statues by height in the whole world. It has been made of copper, cement, zinc, and steel. To make this gigantic structure possible there were many professional workers and statue makers from India.

FESTIVAL

Bhaktapur is also known as city of festivals and celebrations. The city celebrates festivals each month starting from new year festival to the Holi puni at the end of the year.

- Bisket Jatra (New year festival)

This ancient annual festival of bhaktapur takes place at the New Year of the Bikram Sambat calendar. A few days before the New Year, usually at Chaitra 27 or Chaitra 28, if 31 days in month, the goddess 'bhadrakali' and the god 'bhairab' are enshrined in their raths, or immense chariots & pulled through the narrow streets of Bhaktapur by crowds of young men.

The chariots rest at certain time-honored places in the city and people come out to throw offerings of flower, rice, coins and red sindur powder. On the last day of the old year a towering wooden pole known as ' lyesing dha: or lingo' is erected at the edge of town. Long banners hang from the pole, symbolizing snakes - Nag and nagini. On new year's day, the erected pole is brought down symbolizing victory over evil! People enjoy New year day along with victory over evils. On baisakh 5, the chariot is again pulled to narrow street of bhaktapur and brought to its origin place, Taumadhi square marking end of Bisket Jatra.

- Kumar Khasti (Sithi Nakha)

Before modern piping system, wells and kuwas were the basis for water supply in bhaktapur. In this auspicious day, people clean wells and worship Naag favoring good fall in monsoon. They celebrate by eating delicious delicacy like bara and chatamari.

- Gathamaga charya

Gathamaga is made up of straw that symbols a devil. Locals make gathamaga in their locality and burn fire to remove devils of their locality. It is also said that mosquitos loses its one leg in this day.

- Sa: Paaru (Gai Jatra)

The celebration of Gai Jatra Bhaktapur is interesting among Kathmandu and Lalitpur. In this day, Tall bamboo poles wrapped in cloth and topped horn of straw and an umbrella is carried around the town in memory of dead. The photo of dead is hung in this pole called Ta macha.

Also a colorful procession known as Ghing tang gishi is main attraction of this festival. People enjoy and dance in beats of music and play with stick in accordance to the beat. People decorate themselves in mask, paints and even in female outfits.

GUNLA

Gunla is the name of 10th month of Nepal Era calendar. It is sacred month dedicated to Lord Buddha celebrated in Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur.

But In Bhaktapur, last day of Gunla Panchadan is celebrated differently. The Five Buddhas are brought to Taumadhi square accompanied with Gunla Baja, a special musical instrument played only in Gunla and Buddhas are rounded around bhaktapur town.

- Pulu Kisi (Indra Jatra)

The son of Lord of heaven, is believed to have been kidnapped by a devil named Maisasur who then tied Indra's son in a pole and killed. Indra was shocked to hear his son's death and sent an elephant, pulukisi to find and kill Maisasur. But legend says Pulukisi couldn't find maisur till date. This jatra is a play to that legendary story where pulu kisi is rounded the town to search for Maisasur.

- Sithi Nakha

In Bhaktapur a palanquin with an image of the hindu goddess Bhagawati is carried in colorful procession through Nyatapol square this day.

- Dhanya purnima (Yomari purnima)

In this day Farmers of Kathmandu valley worship to Annapurna, the Goddess of grains, for good rice harvest and enjoy feast after all the hard work of the season. Yomari is the chief item on the menu in this day. So is called Yomari puni.

- Maghe sankranti (Ghya-chaku sankranti) (Makar Sankranti)

This festival marks the winter solstice and Newars partake of a feast. The days special menu include butter (ghyu), molasses (chaku) and yam.

In Bhaktapur, on this auspicious day samyak Dan is performed by Buddhist. The shakyas and Bajracharya gather in a samyak ground near Napukhu pond accompanied with panchabuddhas and samyak buddhas. They are offered chaku balls and rice. Bhaktapur is the only one in valley that conducts samyak Dan once in a year.

SHREE PANCHAMI

People regard this day as propitious day for starting new enterprise. Devotee throng Devi shrine to seek blessing. In Bhaktapur, People visit Sashwo:dega in this auspicious day where the idol of Buddhist deity Mahamanjushree is kept. Hindus regard it as saraswoti and worship whereas Buddhist worship it as Manjushree.

IN POPULARE CULTURE

Portions of the movie Little Buddha starring Keanu Reeves and Bridget Fonda were filmed in the Bhaktapur Durbar Square.

2015 EARTHQUAKE

The Magnitude 7.8 2015 Nepal earthquake that struck on 25 April 2015 damaged 116 heritages in the historic town of Bhaktapur. Of them, 67 were completely damaged while 49 suffered from partial damages. The quake has badly damaged the Durbar square, a significant heritage site included in the UNESCO world heritage list. The main premises of Taleju Temple here also witnessed damages in the disaster.

The building of the municipality office, temples of Rameshwor, Batsala, Narayan, Siddilaxmi, Biswaroopa, Siddiganesh, Sweetbhairav, Siva Mahadev, Degaina, sattal, pati and pujari mathas were damaged by the quake.

The reconstruction and new construction of the damaged heritages will cost over Rs 293 million, underlining the need of starting the renovation soon.

The Magnitude 8.4 (1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake) demolished several buildings that were never rebuilt, however they can be seen in the earlier drawings. Chyasilin Mandap has been rebuilt.

WIKIPEDIA

The Bumblebee Hummingbird is the second-smallest bird known to be in existence - second only to the Bee Hummingbird. It averages 2.75 inches or 7 cm in length and weighing, on average, 0.1 oz or 3 grams. They are comparable in size to bumble bees and are lighter than a Canadian or U.S. penny.

Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and the most sparsely populated country in Europe. The capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains, and glaciers, and many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly, and most of its islands have a polar climate.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland

This is part of a set of ancient glass drinking vessels in the collection of the Archaeology Museum in Axum, Ethiopia.

I love the contrast between the restrained, classical shape of the basic vessel, including the fillet below the rim and the base that tapers almost like an amphora, and the lively decorative loops that dance their way around its circumference.

I'm also impressed by the consistency in shape and size between and among the individual pieces in this set.

The Axumite Kingdom maintained extensive trade ties with other parts of the ancient world, so this item could have come from any of several far-off markets. One of my viewers kindly informed me these pieces are believed to have been imported from Alexandria.

As different as the Axumite world was from ours, I'd like to think the excitement of unpacking these exotic goods and using them for the first time with company would have been the same in both societies.

I'm also impressed by the consistency in shape and size between and among the individual pieces in this set.

While these pieces are probably well over a thousand years old, they look as fresh as anything you'd find in one of the hip art glass galleries in the Seattle area.

I'll take a dozen, thank you!

The Axumite Kingdom evolved from a city-state to a regional power between the second century before the current era and the second century of the current era.

At its peak between the third and sixth centuries of the current era, Axum controlled inter-regional and Red Sea trade. Axum is believed to have traded widely, with contacts in Byzantium, Alexandria and southern Europe.

Axum began to decline in the seventh century with the spread of Islam, which severed the trade routes that had been Axum's economic lifeblood.

A remnant of the Axum Kingdom persisted in the Blue Nile region until a rebellion finished it off in the tenth century.

I've complied with restrictions on the use of flash, and taken photos only when permitted by the museum.

This is the result of a photo restoration I did with an old photo from about 30 years ago. The photo was taken in the province of Misiones, Argentina. A local farmer was giving me a tour of his place.

"Washington Square West is a neighborhood Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The neighborhood roughly corresponds to the area between 7th and Broad Streets and between Chestnut and South Streets, bordering on the Independence Mall tourist area directly northeast, Market East to the north, Old City and Society Hill to the East, Bella Vista directly south, Hawthorne to the southwest, and mid-town Philadelphia and Rittenhouse Square to the west. In addition to being a desirable residential community, it is considered a hip, trendy neighborhood that offers a diverse array of shops, restaurants, and coffee houses. Washington Square West contains many gay-friendly establishments and hosts annual events celebrating LGBT culture in Philadelphia including OutFest. The area takes its name from Washington Square, a historic urban park in the northeastern corner of the neighborhood.

Philadelphia's Antique Row lies in the area, as does the nation's oldest hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital, and Philadelphia's oldest Jewish burial ground, Mikveh Israel Cemetery. Educational and medical facilities associated with Thomas Jefferson University, a leading regional medical university and health care center, are located within the neighborhood. The one-time headquarters of the former Curtis Publishing Company and the University of the Arts lie at the edges of the neighborhood.

Washington Square West's real estate is mixed commercial, residential and service industries, characterized by two, three, and four-story rowhouses interspersed with condominiums, mid-rise apartments, hospitals and offices with ground-floor retail. The neighborhood follows William Penn's original grid layout for the city, with many one-lane and pedestrian side streets added later as the population became denser. In addition to the block-sized Washington Square Park to the East, the neighborhood contains the smaller Kahn Park, named after the Philadelphia architect Louis Kahn who resided in the neighborhood.

Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City, and the 68th-largest city in the world. Since 1854, the city has been coextensive with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the Delaware Valley, the nation's seventh-largest and world's 68th-largest metropolitan region, with 6.245 million residents as of 2020. The city's population as of the 2020 census was 1,603,797, and over 56 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker. The city served as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era and went on to play a historic and vital role as the central meeting place for the nation's founding fathers whose plans and actions in Philadelphia ultimately inspired the American Revolution and the nation's independence. Philadelphia hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774 following the Boston Tea Party, preserved the Liberty Bell, and hosted the Second Continental Congress during which the founders signed the Declaration of Independence, which historian Joseph Ellis has described as "the most potent and consequential words in American history". Once the Revolutionary War commenced, both the Battle of Germantown and the Siege of Fort Mifflin were fought within Philadelphia's city limits. The U.S. Constitution was later ratified in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. Philadelphia remained the nation's largest city until 1790, when it was surpassed by New York City, and served as the nation's first capital from May 10, 1775, until December 12, 1776, and on four subsequent occasions during and following the American Revolution, including from 1790 to 1800 while the new national capital of Washington, D.C. was under construction.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, Philadelphia emerged as a major national industrial center and railroad hub. The city’s blossoming industrial sector attracted European immigrants, predominantly from Germany and Ireland, the two largest reported ancestry groups in the city as of 2015. In the 20th century, immigrant waves from Italy and elsewhere in Southern Europe arrived. Following the end of the Civil War in 1865, Philadelphia became a leading destination for African Americans in the Great Migration. In the 20th century, Puerto Rican Americans moved to the city in large numbers. Between 1890 and 1950, Philadelphia's population doubled to 2.07 million. Philadelphia has since attracted immigrants from East and South Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

With 18 four-year universities and colleges, Philadelphia is one of the nation's leading centers for higher education and academic research. As of 2021, the Philadelphia metropolitan area was the nation's ninth-largest metropolitan economy with a gross metropolitan product (GMP) of US$479 billion. Philadelphia is the largest center of economic activity in Pennsylvania and the broader multi-state Delaware Valley region; the city is home to five Fortune 500 corporate headquarters as of 2022. The Philadelphia skyline, which includes several globally renowned commercial skyscrapers, is expanding, primarily with new residential high-rise condominiums. The city and the Delaware Valley are a biotechnology and venture capital hub; and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, owned by NASDAQ, is the nation's oldest stock exchange and a global leader in options trading. 30th Street Station, the city's primary rail station, is the third-busiest Amtrak hub in the nation, and the city's multimodal transport and logistics infrastructure, including Philadelphia International Airport, the PhilaPort seaport, freight rail infrastructure, roadway traffic capacity, and warehouse storage space, are all expanding.

Philadelphia is a national cultural hub, hosting more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the same watershed, is 2,052 acres (830 ha), representing one of the nation's largest contiguous urban parks and the 45th largest urban park in the world. The city is known for its arts, culture, cuisine, and colonial and Revolution-era history; in 2016, it attracted 42 million domestic tourists who spent $6.8 billion, representing $11 billion in total economic impact to the city and surrounding Pennsylvania counties.

With five professional sports teams and a hugely loyal fan base, the city is often ranked as the nation's best city for professional sports fans. The city has a culturally and philanthropically active LGBTQ+ community. Philadelphia also has played an immensely influential historic and ongoing role in the development and evolution of American music, especially R&B, soul, and rock.

Philadelphia is a city of many firsts, including the nation's first library (1731), hospital (1751), medical school (1765), national capital (1774), university (by some accounts) (1779), stock exchange (1790), zoo (1874), and business school (1881). Philadelphia contains 67 National Historic Landmarks, including Independence Hall. From the city's 17th century founding through the present, Philadelphia has been the birthplace or home to an extensive number of prominent and influential Americans. In 2021, Time magazine named Philadelphia one of the world's greatest 100 places." - info from Wikipedia.

The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.

Now on Instagram.

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