The Buddhist vihara at Sanchi, famous for its Great Stupa is located at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, it is located 46 km north-east of Bhopal.

The 'Great Stupa' at Sanchi is the oldest stone structure in India and was originally commissioned by the emperor Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BCE. Its nucleus was a simple hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of the Buddha. It was crowned by the chatra, a parasol-like structure symbolising high rank, which was intended to honour and shelter the relics. The construction work of this stupa was overseen by Ashoka's wife, Devi herself, who was the daughter of a merchant of Vidisha. Sanchi was also her birthplace as well as the venue of her and Ashoka's wedding. In the 1st century BCE, four elaborately carved toranas (ornamental gateways) and a balustrade encircling the entire structure were added.

HISTORY

MAURYA PERIOD

The 'Great Stupa' at Sanchi is the oldest structure and was originally commissioned by the emperor Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BCE. Its nucleus was a hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of the Buddha. It was crowned by the chatra, a parasol-like structure symbolising high rank. A pillar of finely polished sandstone was also erected. The old stupa was later covered when it was expanded. The bottom part of the pillar still stands. The upper parts of the pillar are placed under a canopy nearby. The pillar has an Ashokan inscription (Schism Edict) and an inscription in the ornamental Sankha Lipi from the Gupta period.

SUNGA PERIOD

The original brick stupa was later covered with stone during the Sunga period. On the basis of Ashokavadana, it is presumed that the stupa may have been vandalized at one point sometime in the 2nd century BCE, an event some have related to the rise of the Sunga emperor Pushyamitra Sunga who overtook the Mauryan Empire as an army general. It has been suggested that Pushyamitra may have destroyed the original stupa, and his son Agnimitra rebuilt it. During the later rule of the Sunga, the stupa was expanded with stone slabs to almost twice its original size. The dome was flattened near the top and crowned by three superimposed parasols within a square railing. With its many tiers it was a symbol of the dharma, the Wheel of the Law. The dome was set on a high circular drum meant for circumambulation, which could be accessed via a double staircase. A second stone pathway at ground level was enclosed by a stone balustrade with four monumental gateways (toranas) facing the cardinal directions. The buildings which seem to have been commissioned during the rule of the Sungas are the Second and Third stupas (but not the highly decorated gateways, which are from the following Satavahana period, as known from inscriptions), and the ground balustrade and stone casing of the Great Stupa.

SATAVAHANA PERIOD

The gateways and the balustrade were built and colored, then appeared to have been commissioned by the Satavahana. An inscription records the gift of one of the top architraves of the Southern Gateway by the artisans of the Satavahana king Satakarni:

"Gift of Ananda, the son of Vasithi, the foreman of the artisans of rajan Siri Satakarni".

DC Sircar observes that palaeographically the Hathigumpha record is slightly later than Naneghat record whereas the letters of Sanchi inscription of Satakarni resemble the script of Hathigumpha inscription. Kharavela in his inscription mentions one Satakarni, who is identified as Satakarni II, who is also identical to the one who inscribed in Sanchi. If this is true, then the dating of Sanchi gateway and balustrade belong to the much earlier period of 180-160 BC.

Although made of stone, they were carved and constructed in the manner of wood and the gateways were covered with narrative sculptures. They showed scenes from the life of the Buddha integrated with everyday events that would be familiar to the onlookers and so make it easier for them to understand the Buddhist creed as relevant to their lives. At Sanchi and most other stupas the local population donated money for the embellishment of the stupa to attain spiritual merit. There was no direct royal patronage. Devotees, both men and women, who donated money towards a sculpture would often choose their favourite scene from the life of the Buddha and then have their names inscribed on it. This accounts for the random repetition of particular episodes on the stupa (Dehejia 1992). On these stone carvings the Buddha was never depicted as a human figure. Instead the artists chose to represent him by certain attributes, such as the horse on which he left his father’s home, his footprints, or a canopy under the bodhi tree at the point of his enlightenment. The human body was thought to be too confining for the Buddha.

Some of the friezes of Sanchi also show devotees in Greek attire (Greek clothing, attitudes, and musical instruments) celebrating the stupa.

LATER PERIODS

Further stupas and other religious Buddhist structures were added over the following centuries until the 12th century AD. Temple 17 is probably one of the earliest Buddhist temples as it dates to the early Gupta period. It consists of a flat roofed square sanctum with a portico and four pillars. The interior and three sides of the exterior are plain and undecorated but the front and the pillars are elegantly carved, giving the temple an almost ‘classical’ appearance (Mitra 1971).

Temple 45 was the last Buddhist temple built during the mid - late 9th century. Also at this time the monuments were enclosed within a wall. With the decline of Buddhism in India, the monuments of Sanchi went out of use and fell into a state of disrepair. In 1818, General Taylor of the Bengal Cavalry recorded a visit to Sanchi. At that time the monuments appear to have been left undisturbed for a long time and in generally good preservation.

WESTERN REDISCOVERY

A British officer in 1818, General Taylor, was the first known Western historian to document (in English) the existence of Sanchi (Sāñcī). Amateur archaeologists and treasure hunters ravaged the site until 1881, when proper restoration work was initiated. Between 1912 and 1919 the structures were restored to their present condition under the supervision of Sir John Marshall.Today, around fifty monuments remain on the hill of Sanchi, including three stupas and several temples. The monuments have been listed among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1989.

CHETIYAGIRI VIHARA AND THE SACRED RELICTS

The bone relics (dhatu) of Buddhist Masters along with the reliquaries, obtained by Maisey and Cunningham were divided by them and taken to England as personal trophies.Maisey's family sold the objects to Victoria and Albert Museum where they stayed for a long time. The Buddhists in England, Sri Lanka and India, lead by the Mahabodhi Society demanded that they be returned. Some of the relics of Sariputta and Moggallana were sent back to Sri Lanka, where they were publicly displayed in 1947. Almost entire population of Sri Lanka visited them. They were later returned to India. A new temple Chetiyagiri Vihara was constructed to house the relics, in 1952. In a nationalistic sense, this marked the formal reestablishment of the Buddhist tradition in India. Some of the relics were obtained by Burma.

INSCRIPTIONS

Sanchi, especially Stupa 1, has a large number of Brahmi inscriptions. Although most of them are small and mention donations, they are of great historical significance. James Prinsep in 1837, noted that most of them ended with the same two Brahmi characters. Princep took them as "danam" (donation), which permitted the decipherment of the Brahmi script,. An analysis of the donation records shows that while a large fraction of the donors were local (with no town specified), a number of them were from Ujjain, Vidisha, Kurara, Nadinagar, Mahisati, Kurghara, Bhogavadhan and Kamdagigam.The inscriptions include those from Maurya, Shunga/Satavahana (175 BC-15 AD), Kushana (100-150 AD), Gupta (600-800 AD, see Sanchi inscription of Candragupta II). The Ye Dharma Hetu inscription in Temple 45 may be dated to 9th century.

WIKIPEDIA

Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca (17.043° N, 96.767°W). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain in the central section of the Valley of Oaxaca. The partially excavated civic-ceremonial center of the Monte Albán site is situated atop an artificially-leveled ridge, which with an elevation of about 1,940 m (6,400 ft) above mean sea level rises some 400 m (1,300 ft) from the valley floor, in an easily defensible location. In addition to the aforementioned monumental core, the site is characterized by several hundred artificial terraces, and a dozen clusters of mounded architecture covering the entire ridgeline and surrounding flanks (Blanton 1978). The archaeological ruins on the nearby Atzompa and El Gallo hills to the north are traditionally considered to be an integral part of the ancient city as well.

Besides being one of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica, Monte Albán's importance stems also from its role as the pre-eminent Zapotec socio-political and economic center for close to a thousand years. Founded toward the end of the Middle Formative period at around 500 BC, by the Terminal Formative (ca.100 BC-AD 200) Monte Albán had become the capital of a large-scale expansionist polity that dominated much of the Oaxacan highlands and interacted with other Mesoamerican regional states such as Teotihuacan to the north. The city had lost its political pre-eminence by the end of the Late Classic (ca. AD 500-750) and soon thereafter was largely abandoned. Small-scale reoccupation, opportunistic reutilization of earlier structures and tombs, and ritual visitations marked the archaeological history of the site into the Colonial period.

The etymology of the site's present-day name is unclear, and tentative suggestions regarding its origin range from a presumed corruption of a native Zapotec name such as “Danibaan” (Sacred Hill) to a colonial-era reference to a Spanish soldier by the name Montalbán or to the Alban Hills of Italy. The ancient Zapotec name of the city is not known, as abandonment occurred centuries before the writing of the earliest available ethnohistorical sources.

Kenilworth Castle is located in the town of the same name in Warwickshire, England. Constructed from Norman through to Tudor times, the castle has been described by architectural historian Anthony Emery as "the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant for its scale, form and quality of workmanship".[1] Kenilworth has also played an important historical role. The castle was the subject of the six-month long Siege of Kenilworth in 1266, believed to be the longest siege in English history, and formed a base for Lancastrian operations in the Wars of the Roses. Kenilworth was also the scene of the removal of Edward II from the English throne, the French insult to Henry V in 1414 (said by John Strecche to have encouraged the Agincourt campaign), and the Earl of Leicester's lavish reception of Elizabeth I in 1575.

The castle was built over several centuries. Founded in the 1120s around a powerful Norman great tower, the castle was significantly enlarged by King John at the beginning of the 13th century. Huge water defences were created by damming the local streams and the resulting fortifications proved able to withstand assaults by land and water in 1266. John of Gaunt spent lavishly in the late 14th century, turning the medieval castle into a palace fortress designed in the latest perpendicular style. The Earl of Leicester then expanded the castle once again, constructing new Tudor buildings and exploiting the medieval heritage of Kenilworth to produce a fashionable Renaissance palace.

Kenilworth was partly destroyed by Parliamentary forces in 1649 to prevent it being used as a military stronghold. Ruined, only two of its buildings remain habitable today. The castle became a tourist destination from the 18th century onwards, becoming famous in the Victorian period following the publishing of Sir Walter Scott's novel Kenilworth in 1826. English Heritage has managed the castle since 1984. The castle is classed as a Grade I listed building and as a Scheduled Monument, and is open to the public.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenilworth_Castle

Germany 2017 - Maulbronn Monastery (German: Kloster Maulbronn) is a former Roman Catholic Cistercian Abbey and Protestant seminary located at Maulbronn in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.[2] The 850 year old, mostly Romanesque monastery complex, one of the best preserved examples of its kind in Europe,[3] is one of the very first buildings in Germany to use the Gothic style.[4] In 1993, the abbey was declared a UNESCO World Heritage The complex, surrounded by turreted walls and a tower gate, today houses the Maulbronn

Under the auspices of the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, the Cistercians began major expansion into southern Germany. A knight named Walter von Lomersheim became very enthused in the spread of this order of monks and donated a stretch of land between to the Cistercian order. So it was that, in 1147, the monastery was founded by 12 monks who traveled from Alsace.[2] The main church, built in a style transitional from Romanesque to Gothic, was consecrated in 1178 by Arnold, Bishop of Speyer. A number of other buildings — infirmary, refectory, cellar, auditorium, porch, south cloister, hall, another refectory, forge, inn, cooperage, mill, and chapel — followed in the course of the 13th century. The west, east and north cloisters date back to the 14th century, as do most fortifications and the fountain house or lavatorium.

After the Reformation began in the year 1517, Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg, seized the monastery in 1504,[dubious – discuss] later building his hunting lodge and stables there. The monastery was pillaged repeatedly: first by the knights under Franz von Sickingen in 1519, then again during the German Peasants' War six years later. In 1534, Duke Ulrich secularised the monastery, but the Cistercians regained control — and Imperial recognition — under Charles V's Augsburg Interim. In 1556, Christoph, Duke of Württemberg, built a Protestant seminary, with Valentin Vannius becoming the first abbot two years later, odd, because the Reformation banned religious orders and abbots; Johannes Kepler studied there 1586–89.

In 1630, the abbey was returned to the Cistercians by force of arms, with Christoph Schaller von Sennheim becoming abbot. This restoration was short-lived, however, as Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden forced the monks to leave again two years later, with a Protestant abbot returning in 1633; the seminary reopened the following year, however the Cistercians under Schaller also returned in 1634. Under the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648, the confession of the monastery was settled in favour of Protestantism; with abbot Buchinger withdrawing in process. A Protestant abbacy was re-established in 1651, with the seminary reopening five years later. In 1692, the seminarians were removed to safety when Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac, torched the school, which remained closed for a decade.

The monastery was secularised by Frederick I, King of Württemberg, in the course of the German Mediatisation in 1807, forever removing its political quasi-independence; the seminary merged with that of Bebenhausen the following year, now known as the Evangelical Seminaries of Maulbronn and Blaubeuren.

The monastery, which features prominently in Hermann Hesse's novel Beneath the Wheel, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993. The justification for the inscription was as follows: "The Maulbronn complex is the most complete survival of a Cistercian monastic establishment in Europe, in particular because of the survival of its extensive water-management system of reservoirs and channels". Hesse himself attended the seminary before fleeing in 1891 after a suicide attempt, and a failed attempt to save Hesse from his personal religious crisis by a well-known theologian and faith healer.[6]

To represent Baden-Württemberg, an image of the Abbey appears on the obverse of the German 2013 €2 commemorative coin.

This is a photograph from the Leinster Cross Country Championships which was held at Moyvalley Hotel and Golf Estate at Balyna Estate, Moyvalley, Co. Kildare, Ireland on Sunday 25th October 2015 begining at 11:00 until the final race at 14:20. The programme for today included Boys and Girls even ages, Junior male and female, Novice male and female and Masters male and female. The races were run on a superb course beside the Moyvalley hotel where the vast acres of prime farmland provided a large space to have a fair but challenging course on good firm ground.

The Leinster event was hosted by local club Na Fianna from Co. Meath. However the venue was actually just inside Co. Kildare in a part of the county where Meath and Kildare borders intersect several times along the route of the old N4/N6 road. The luxury Moyvalley Hotel & Golf resort is set amidst 550 acres of historic Kildare countryside and is easily accessed from the M6/M4 at Enfield or Kinnegad.

Results can be found at MyRunResults.com and their website www.myrunresults.com/results.html

Balyna Estate where the races were held can trace its history back to the 1500s. More recently the estate was owned by the Bewley Family of the Bewley Cafe fame. The hotel and resort were taken over by new management in 2014 who are implementing big plans to expand Moyvalley further.

Our full collection of photographs from the races today are available on Flickr at this set www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157659898745159

USING OUR PHOTOGRAPHS - A QUICK GUIDE AND ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS

Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?

Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share directly to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.

BUT..... Wait there a minute....

We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not charge for our photographs. Our only "cost" is that we request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, VK.com, Vine, Meetup, Tagged, Ask.fm,etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us or acknowledge us as the original photographers.

This also extends to the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.

I want to download these pictures to my computer or device?

You can download this photographic image here directly to your computer or device. This version is the low resolution web-quality image. How to download will vary slight from device to device and from browser to browser. Have a look for a down-arrow symbol or the link to 'View/Download' all sizes. When you click on either of these you will be presented with the option to download the image. Remember just doing a right-click and "save target as" will not work on Flickr.

I want get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?

If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.

Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.

In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting takes a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.

I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?

Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.

Let's get a bit technical: We use Creative Commons Licensing for these photographs

We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?

The explaination is very simple.

Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own. This usually just mean putting a link to our photographs somewhere on your website, blog, or Facebook where other people can see it.

ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.

Above all what Creative Commons aims to do is to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?

As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:

     ►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera

     ►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set

     ►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone

     ►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!

You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.

Don't like your photograph here?

That's OK! We understand!

If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.

I want to tell people about these great photographs!

Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

Quartzose sandstone in the Mississippian of Ohio, USA.

The Black Hand Sandstone is a prominent, cliff-forming sedimentary unit in the Mississippian of parts of eastern Ohio, USA. The type locality is Black Hand Gorge in Licking County, Ohio, where an American Indian pictograph formerly existed. The "Black Hand" was destroyed long ago by canal builders. The pictograph represented an early "highway sign" that roughly indicated directions to Flint Ridge, where arrowhead-quality flint was quarried.

The Black Hand Sandstone consists of horizontally bedded and cross-bedded quartzose sandstones, granulose sandstones, pebbly sandstones, plus minor quartz-pebble conglomerate. Stratigraphically, the unit was traditionally considered as a coarse-grained upper member of the Cuyahoga Formation (Lower Mississippian) and represented a delta deposit.

A revised understanding of the Black Hand Sandstone was published in the 2000s by West Virginia geologists. The unit is now understood to be temporally and genetically unrelated to the Cuyahoga Formation, and therefore cannot be considered one of its members. The Black Hand Sandstone is now interpreted as an incised valley fill deposit.

The Black Hand Sandstone in parts of Ohio produces some oil and natural gas. Oil drillers refer to the Black Hand as the “Big Injun Sandstone”.

Slightly yellowish-brown coloration is common in the Black Hand Sandstone - this is from limonite (FeO·OH·nH2O - hydrous iron hydroxy-oxide). In the upper half of the photo, the dark-colored crust that covers much of the yellowish-brown stained sandstone was likely formed as a combination of surficial weathering and biofilm development.

The pitting present on parts of this outcrop is a distinctive weathering style called honeycomb weathering. It is most commonly seen on steep sandstone faces. It forms by differential erosion. Slight variations in the degree of cementation causes some areas of the rock to have grains removed more quickly by erosion than other areas.

The vertical cleft at right is a joint that has been enlarged by weathering and erosion.

Stratigraphy: Black Hand Sandstone, Lower Mississippian

Locality: outcrop on the southern side of a paved bike path (formerly Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tracks) through Licking Gorge, a little downstream from Black Hand Narrows, west of the town of Toboso, far-eastern Licking County, eastern Ohio, USA

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Some references on the Black Hand Sandstone:

Ver Steeg, K. 1947. Black Hand sandstone and conglomerate in Ohio. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 58: 703-727.

Szmuc, E.J. 1970. The Mississippian System. pp. 23-67 in Guide to the Geology of Northeastern Ohio. Cleveland. Northern Ohio Geological Society.

Walker, D.A. 1978. Paleontology and Paleoecology of the Cuyahoga and Logan Formations of Central Ohio. Senior Thesis. Denison University, Granville, Ohio, USA. 9+102+11+(1)+2 pp. 11 pls.

Bork, K.B. & R.J. Malcuit. 1981. Cuyahoga and Logan Formations of central and eastern Licking County, Ohio. Ohio Sedimentary Geology III. 21 pp.

Kammer, T.W. & D.L. Matchen. 2002. Biostratigraphic constraints on the timing of valley incisement and deposition of the Lower Mississippian Black Hand Sandstone of Ohio. Geological Society American Abstracts with Programs 34(6): 428.

Matchen, D.L. & T.W. Kammer. 2002. Reinterpretation of the Black Hand Sandstone (Lower Mississippian) of Ohio as incised valley fill. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 34(6): 277.

Matchen, D.L. & T.W. Kammer. 2006. Incised valley fill interpretation for Mississippian Black Hand Sandstone, Appalachian Basin, USA: implications for glacial eustasy at Kinderhookian-Osagean (Tn2-Tn3) boundary. Sedimentary Geology 191: 89-113.

If you ever get the chance to come to Dublin you should make sure to visit Glasnevin Cemetery and it is recommended that you sign up for a walking tour. The tours give a valuable insight to this unique burial place and into the final resting-place of the men and women who have helped shape Ireland's past and present.

Daily tours of the cemetery at 2.30pm for Winter Months. Including Sundays & Bank Holidays

Glasnevin Cemetery, officially known as Prospect Cemetery, is the largest nondenominational cemetery in Ireland. It first opened in 1832 and is located in Glasnevin, Dublin.

This graveyard has been described as a hidden gem, not only because are there more Dubliners buried here than are currently living in the city. Some of those who found their final resting place in Glasnevin are amongst the most important historical figures of Ireland.

The cemetery contains many historically interesting monuments as well as the graves of many of Ireland's most prominent national figures — Pádraig Ó Domhnaill, Charles Stewart Parnell and Daniel O'Connell as well as Michael Collins, Éamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, Maude Gonne, Kevin Barry, Sir Roger Casement, Charles Gavan Duffy, George Gavan Duffy, Constance Markiewicz, Brendan Behan, Seán MacBride, Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, Christy Brown, Frank Duff, Luke Kelly of the Dubliners. Boyzone singer Stephen Gately was cremated at Glasnevin Crematorium, which is located within the cemetery grounds, on October 17, 2009.

The cemetery also offers a view of the changing style of death monuments in Ireland over the last 200 years: from the austere, simple, high stone erections of the period up until the 1860s, to the elaborate Celtic crosses of the nationalistic revival from the 1860s to 1960s, to the plain Italian marble of the late twentieth century.

The high wall with watch-towers surrounding the main part of the cemetery was built to deter bodysnatchers, who were active in Dublin in the 18th and early 19th century. The watchmen also had a pack of blood-hounds who roamed the cemetery at night. Prime Minister, Robert Peel, when questioned in Parliament on the activities of the body-snatchers, admitted that it was, indeed, a "grave matter".

The house is very very big all in all and has several underground labyrinths.It is the case for many Portuguese houses.they are always too big.

Portable CD/Radio Player

Xiron MPR-64

hapa is drunk and doing real sh*t

This is the second inner gate to Gate to Gyeongbok Palace.

Gyeongbok Palace was one of the palaces used by Korean royal family during the Jeoson Dynasty. Construction of the palace started in 1394. Most of the buildings were destroyed during Japan's invasion in 1592 (the Koreans themselves torched many of the buildings when rioting broke out upon news that the king had fled Seoul to escape the Japanese).

Reconstruction work and expansion did not begin until 1865. Unfortunately, time was not kind to Gyeongbok Palace as fires, and various buildings were dismantled during Japan's colonial occupation (1905-45). The main gate, Gwanghwamun, was destroyed during the Korean War (1951-'53) and was rebuilt in 1968 and relocated and rebuilt again in 2010. Reconstruction of the rest of the Palace started in 1995 and was finished in 2006.

This is an ode to Katrocket's belt buckle series.

Got these fantastic finds at the One of A Kind show on Saturday. Finally I have a belt that expresses my French Canadian roots (side note: Sneaky Dee's does not make good poutine - surprisingly, Harvey's does) thanks to a hot, new designer from Montreal, Rachel F.

And of course, it wouldn't be a great visit without picking up something from my gal pals @ BBJ. Love my original sweet cherry ring with Swarovski crystals!!!

photo by Ian Lynas

Murchison Falls National Park is a national park in Uganda and managed by the Ugandan Wildlife Authority. The park is in northwestern Uganda, spreading inland from the shore of Lake Albert around the Victoria Nile. Together with the adjacent 748 square kilometres (289 sq mi) Bugungu Wildlife Reserve and the 720 square kilometres (280 sq mi) Karuma Wildlife Reserve, the park forms the Murchison Falls Conservation Area (MFCA).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murchison_Falls_National_Park

Gwalior is a historical and major city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is located to 319 kilometres south of Delhi the capital city of India, Gwalior occupies a strategic location in the Gird region of India, and the city and its fortress has been ruled under several historic northern Indian kingdoms. From the Tomars in the 13th century, it passed to the Mughals, then the Marathas under the Scindias (1754).

Besides being the administrative headquarters of Gwalior district and Gwalior division, Gwalior situates many administrative offices of Chambal Division of northern Madhya Pradesh. Several administrative and judicial organizations, commissions and boards have their state as well as national headquarters situated in the city. Gwalior was the winter capital of the estwhile state Madhya Bharat which later became a part of the larger state Madhya Pradesh. Before Independence Gwalior remained a princely state of British Raj with Scindias as the local ruler. The high rocky hills surrounds the city from all sides, on the north it just forms the border of the Ganga- Yamuna Drainage Basin. The city however is situated on the valley between the hills of Plateau. Gwalior's metropolitan area includes Lashkar, Morar, Thatipur and the City center.

Gwalior is especially known for it rich contribution to the history of India. Strategic events and times; from vedic ages to the Indian Rebellion of 1857 to the British Raj, Gwalior has emerged as a prominent place making it an important archaeological as well as historical site. The rich heritage of art and culture and especially contribution of Gwalior to the classical music is worth mentioning.

Post independence, Gwalior has emerged as an important tourist attraction in central India as well as many industries and administrative offices came up within the city. Before the end of the 20th century it became a million plus agglomeration and now it is a metropolitan city in the central India. Gwalior is surrounded by industrial and commercial zones of neighbouring districts (Malanpur – Bhind, Banmor – Morena) on all three main directions. Gwalior is one of the largest cities of Central India and is often referred to as the tourist capital of Madhya Pradesh; the state being called as The Heart of Incredible India.

A recent report of World Health Organization found Gwalior to be the third-most polluted city in the world.

ORIGIN OF NAME

According to local tradition, Gwalior owes its name to a sage of former times. Suraj Sen, a prince of the Sikarwar Rajput clan of the eighth century, is said to have lost his way in the forest. On a secluded hill, he met an old man, the sage Gwalipa, whose influence almost took him by surprise. Upon asking the sage for some drinking water, he was led to a pond, where the waters not only quenched his thirst but cured him of leprosy. Out of gratitude, the prince wished to offer the sage something in return, and the sage asked him to build a wall on the hill to protect the other sages from wild animals which often disturbed their yajnas (or pujas). Suraj Sen later built a palace inside the fort, which was named "Gwalior" after the sage, and eventually the city that grew around the fort took the same name.

HISTORY

After being founded by Maharaj Suraj Sen, Gwalior Fort saw many many different rulers capturing it and ruling the city around it. Gwalior became a prominent place for religious practices, cultures and other disciplines coming up during that time in the country. During 6th century BC Gwalior was ruled by the Naad dynasty of Pataliputra. During the first century AD Gwalior came under Naag Dynasty. From the carving found at Pavaya it has been discovered that the kushanas ruled the city till the 3rd century AD. After that it came under the Guptas till 467 AD. During the 5th century, The Kannauj of Pratihara Dynasty ruled Gwalior and played a prominent role in shaping its history. From 700–740 AD Gwalior (fondly called then as Gopal Giri) became the capital of Kannauj. A Magnificent Sun Temple was created at the fort hill during that period which later was destroyed.

Later Kachwaha became the rulers of Gwalior. The Padavali Group of Monuments near Morena, Sahastrabahu Temple at the Fort, Kankadmad, were built under their rule.

During 1195–96 Mahhamed Gauri invaded Gwalior and created a mass destruction with attempts to capture Gwalior. But he failed as the fort of Gwalior was unconquerable under the brave efforts of Parihars. In 1231 Itutmish captured Gwalior after an 11-month-long effort and from then till the 13th century it remained under Muslim Rule. In 1375, Raja Veer Singh was made the ruler of Gwalior and he founded the rule of the tomars in Gwalior. During those years, Gwalior saw its golden period.

The Jain Sculptures at Gwalior Fort were built during Tomar's rule Raja Man Singh made his dream palace the Maan Mandir Palace which is now the centre of attraction of Gwalior Fort. Babur described this Palace as a pearl in the necklace of forts in India and said that not even the winds could touch its masts. The daily Light and Sound Show tells about the beautiful history of the Gwalior Fort and Man Mandir Palace. Later during the 1730s the Scindia Captured Gwalior and it remain a princely state during the British Rule.

Ganesh temple at Gwalior Fort has the very first occurrence of zero as a written number in the world. By the 15th century, the city had a noted singing school which was attended by Tansen. Gwalior was ruled by the Mughals and then the Marathas.

REVOLT OF 1857

Gwalior is also known for its participation in the 1857 revolt, mainly due to Rani Lakshmibai's involvement. After Kalpi (Jhansi) fell into the hands of the British on 24 May 1858, Lakshmibai sought shelter at Gwalior Fort. The Maharaja of Gwalior was not willing to give up his fort without a fight as he was a nominal ally of the British, but after negotiations, his troops capitulated and the rebels took possession of the fort. The British wasted no time in attacking Gercest, the bloodiest battle ever fought on Indian soil. Indian forces numbered around 20,000, and British forces around 1600. Lakshmibai's example is remembered to this day by Indian nationalists. She died fighting, and Gwalior was captured. Tatya Tope and Rao Sahib escaped. Tatya Tope was later captured and hanged in April 1859.

SCINDIA STATE OF GWALIOR

Scindia is a Maratha clan in India. This clan included rulers of the Gwalior State in the 18th and 19th centuries, collaborators of the colonial British government during the 19th and the 20th centuries until India became independent, and politicians in independent India.

The Scindia state of Gwalior became a major regional power in the second half of the 18th century and figured prominently in the three Anglo-Maratha Wars. (Gwalior first fell to the British in 1780.) The Scindias held significant power over many of the Rajput states, and conquered the state of Ajmer. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the city was briefly held by rebel forces in 1858 until they were defeated by the British. The Scindia family ruled Gwalior until India's independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, when the Maharaja Jivajirao Scindia acceded to the Government of India. Gwalior was merged with a number of other princely states to become the new Indian state of Madhya Bharat. Jivajirao Scindia served as the state's rajpramukh, or appointed governor, from 28 May 1948 to 31 October 1956, when Madhya Bharat was merged into Madhya Pradesh.

In 1962, Rajmata Vijayraje Scindia, the widow of Maharaja Jivajirao Scindia, was elected to the Lok Sabha, beginning the family's career in electoral politics. She was first a member of the Congress Party, and later became an influential member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Her son, Maharaja Madhavrao Scindia was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971 representing the Congress Party, and served until his death in 2001. His son, Jyotiraditya Scindia, also in the Congress Party, was elected to the seat formerly held by his father in 2004.

OLD TOWN

The old town of Gwalior, commonly called is kila gate and then about 1 km away is hazira largest area in old town, which is of considerable size but irregularly built, lies at the eastern base of the rock. It contains the tomb of the Sufi saints, Khwaja Khanoon and Muhammad Ghaus, erected during the early part of Mughal emperor Akbar’s reign, and the tomb of Mian Tansen, a great singer and one of the 'Nine Jewels' of Akbar's court. A town called by his name Ghauspura situated near the tomb of Muhammad Ghaus. The old town consisted of some streets and mohallas which are presumed to be 700 to 800 yrs old areas in Gwalior which are still backward areas in Gwalior due to improper management of new town. these old areas are as follows.

1) Koteshwar Temple - this temple is 700 yrs old temple of lord shiva whose shivling was on gwalior fort but when mughals conquered the fort they ordered to threw out the shivaling fort when his troophs done that,shivaling was automatically established in a field below fort without any harm then Muslim qazi told emperor not to do harm to shivaling then in late 18th century scindians build a temple for that shivaling now popularly known as koteshwar mahadev.

2) Ghas Mandi - this area is presumed to be 700 years old it was established around the 15th century this place was used by local population for business by selling grass for feeding animals for king and other rich persons.

3) Baba Kapoor - this place is 500 meters away from Ghas Mandi. Actually this place was given name baba kapoor because of a famous saint shah abdul gafoor. His mazar is there in this area. That's why this place is called as baba kapoor and this area consist of 90% Muslims in whole Gwalior.

4) Kashi Naresh Ki Gali - this a 600 yrs old residential street in gwalior it was given name as kashi naresh ki gali because in the 14th century when the emperor of kashi was defeated in war he was sent to exile by oppositions at that time gwalior emperor and kashi's emperor were good friends when kashi's emperor told gwalior's emperor whole story, emperor gave him an entire street for living at that time which is now known as kashi naresh ki gali. their family is even now resides there in kashi naresh ki gali in RAJAJI KA BADA. meanings- naresh =king = rajaji. gali =street in Hindi language. bada= big area.

5) Loha Mandi - this place is also 600yrs old in gwalior. this place was used for buying iron materials.

6) Hazira - it was the main market place of Gwalior that time nowadays this place is too much congested because of its irregular and unplanned structure which was made by old merchants in the 15th century.

All these areas are very considered to be very important areas in historical point of view even now many times many historical coins, jwellery, arms etc. founded in houses when a person try to reniewate the house and these areas also many unpredictable secrets. The town has a museum situated in the Gujari Mahal.

WIKIPEDIA

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Here she is—Brushtail Mousie, in all her cunning glory, relishing the political battle! You can see the fire in her eyes as she plots her next move.

This is Juwle Nagbe our dear friend who is a Liberian refugee, living in America with his family of a wife, four children and his mother-in-law. He is a graduate of Duke Divinity School, and is an ordained Methodist minister in the Central Conference of the Methodist Church.

This is MY mission field . . . I want to live to see him fully ordained and fulfilling his dream of serving God as a United Methodist Minister. I will do what I can to help bring this about.

This is just part of the grand staircase in the hermitage ... it is absolutely huge and very grand! One can get a sense of the size by comparing the size of the people standing there.

Continuing on our visit last summer to St. Petersburg, Russia. Another highlight was the Hermitage, formerly known as the Winter Palace of the Russian Czars.

The State Hermitage (Russian: Государственный Эрмитаж) is a museum of art and culture situated in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest[1] and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise nearly 3 million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building also make part of the museum. The museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a federal state property. Since 1990, the director of the museum has been Mikhail Piotrovsky.

Out of six buildings of the main museum complex, four, namely the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage and New Hermitage, are partially open to the public. The other two are Hermitage Theatre and the Reserve House. The entrance ticket for foreign tourists costs several times as much as the fee paid by Russian citizens. However, the entrance is free of charge first Thursday of every month for all visitors and daily for students and children. The museum is closed on Mondays. Entrance is in the Winter Palace from Palace Embankment or the Courtyard.

St. Cuthbert's is situated within Elsdon's 7.5 acres (3.0 ha) village green. Larger in size than many Northumbrian churches, it is situated close to the fortified vicarage. It is 21 miles (34 km) west-northwest from Morpeth.[2] The village and church are located along St. Cuthbert's Way.

The church shows evidence of extensive later medieval rebuilding. The cause may have been damage at the time of the 1388 Battle of Otterburn. The ceiling over the nave and the transept aisles forms quadrants, and slabs exist across the structure.[3] Of the present church, there are two transepts, one called Anderson's porch, and the other Hedley's porch.[4] The building had a leper window.[5] There are several deep cuts on one of the pillars of the arcade of the south aisle, which are of a different character from masons' marks, and considered likely to have been made by the sharpening of weapons upon them.[6]

In some country parishes in large sparsely-inhabited districts, it was expedient to build hearse-houses against the churches for the convenience of keeping a hearse for the use of the parishioners; one was built against the shady north side of the chancel of Elsdon's church.[7] The rectory house is an old tower with a circular staircase at one corner. Its lowest story is spanned with one large arch. On its front arch are the arms of the Hunfranvilles, with an inscription beneath.

The first church at Elsdon was probably constructed of oak, with a roof made of rushes. A subsequent church has few remains still in existence: Norman pilasters, and two small Norman windows in the west gable, circa 1100 or earlier.[4] Most of the current construction is 14th century.[8] St John the Evangelist's Church in Otterburn is a chapel-of-ease to St. Cuthbert's.[9]

The monks of Lindisfarne during their flight from the Danes, halted for a while with the relics of St. Cuthbert on what is now the site of Elsdon Church.

During of the 1877 church restoration, it was necessary to change the levels of the church flooring. The flooring was damp; the bases of the pillars were nearly covered and out of sight because of soil accumulation. The reduction of soil levels in the nave, transepts and chancel lead to the discovery of an immense collection of skeletons. The labourers reported that 996 whole skulls were re-interred, as well as a large number that were mutilated in the course of their removal. The remains of nearly 1200 of the former chief inhabitants of the district were disturbed and removed from their resting place, while approximately 300 or 400 were left where found. The skeletons appeared to have been disturbed by the interment of those more recently buried. No doubt the intra-mural interments had taken place during hundreds of years, the last having occurred in the late 18th century. The bones of the earlier deceased had frequently been moved to make room for their successors. Skulls were frequently found lying together in groups of three or four in one spot. No remains other than bones were found, with the exception of a very few coffin handles, with a little decayed wood, and in one instance a small quantity of hair.[5] It is possible that some bodies had been buried here after the Battle of Otterburn.[11]

Also in 1877, it was necessary to pull down the small spire, which terminated at the bell turret surmounting the church's western gable. In the spire, immediately over the bell, a small chamber was discovered, without any opening, and in it, nearly filling the cavity, were three horse skulls. When found, the three skulls were standing on their bases in a triangular form, mouths upwards, and leaning against each other at the top; the cavity seemed to have been purposely prepared for them. There were two large skulls and one smaller; two were well preserved, while one was decayed. The heads appeared to be two of draught horses, and one of a cob.[5] The reason for placing skulls in the bell turret may have been to increase the resonance.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Cuthbert's_Church,_Elsdon

Courtney is currently in her senior year at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) where she is working on her Bachelors of Science in Nuclear Engineering. She is also pursuing a double minor in Political Science and Math. During the summer of 2010, Courtney interned at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). While at the NRC, her projects included assisting project managers with various tasks, creating a database of important papers related to her division and writing a paper over prototype plants. As a student ambassador, Courtney can’t wait to share her experiences and draw attention to the diverse government agencies. She hopes to educate her peers the many great benefits of working for the federal government!

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[There are 12 images associated with "The Garden Parasol".] Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939), an American painter, spent most of his life in France. His art work shows his attention to light and to the simple daily actions of women, in particular. A brief discussion of this painting is at learn.ncartmuseum.org/artwork/the-garden-parasol/ The descriptive tag at the North Carolina Museum of Art reads as follows: "Frederick Frieseke's sumptuous confection of color evokes the serene pleasure of a summer afternoon. The setting is in the garden of the artist's home at Giverny, France, where Frieseke spent many summers as a near neighbor to Claude Monet. The painter poses his wife as a cultivated woman of leisure whose reading is interrupted by the arrival of a visitor--or visitors, for it is our arrival that prompts her to look up from her book. Any small drama that arises from our encounter, however, is upstaged by the vibrancy of the garden, and especially by the Japanese parasol that spices the scene with fiery, swirling colors."

More on the artist is at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Carl_Frieseke

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Czechoslovakian IS-3 during parade in Prague

The Glenfinnan Viaduct is a railway viaduct on the West Highland Line in Glenfinnan, Inverness-shire, Scotland, built from 1897 to 1901. Located at the top of Loch Shiel in the West Scottish Highlands, the viaduct overlooks the Glenfinnan Monument and the waters of Loch Shiel.

Construction

The West Highland Railway was built to Fort William by Lucas & Aird, but there were delays with the West Highland Railway Mallaig Extension (Guarantee) bill for the Mallaig Extension Railway in the House of Commons as the Tory and Liberal parties fought over the issue of subsidies for public transport. This Act did pass in 1896, by which time Lucas & Aird (and their workers) had moved south. New contractors were needed and Robert McAlpine & Sons were taken on with Simpson & Wilson as engineers. Robert McAlpine & Sons was headed by Robert McAlpine, nicknamed "Concrete Bob" for his innovative use of mass concrete. Concrete was used due to the difficulty of working the hard schist in the area. McAlpine's son Robert, then aged 28, took charge of construction, with his younger son Malcolm appointed as assistant.

Construction of the extension from Fort William to Mallaig began in January 1897, and the line opened on 1 April 1901. The Glenfinnan Viaduct, however, was complete enough by October 1898 to be used to transport materials across the valley. It was built at a cost of £18,904.

A long-established legend attached to the Glenfinnan Viaduct was that a horse had fallen into one of the piers during construction in 1898 or 1899. In 1987, Professor Roland Paxton failed to find evidence of a horse at Glenfinnan using a fisheye camera inserted into boreholes in the only two piers large enough to accommodate a horse. In 1997, on the basis of local hearsay, he investigated the Loch nan Uamh Viaduct by the same method but found the piers to be full of rubble. Using scanning technology in 2001, the remains of the horse and cart were found at Loch nan Uamh, within the large central pylon.

Design

The viaduct is built from mass concrete, and has 21 semicircular spans of 50 feet (15 m). It is the longest concrete railway bridge in Scotland at 416 yards (380 m), and crosses the River Finnan at a height of 100 feet (30 m). The West Highland Line it carries is single track, and the viaduct is 18 feet (5.5 m) wide between the parapets. The viaduct is built on a curve of 792 feet (241 m).

The concrete used in the Glenfinnan Viaduct is mass concrete, which unlike reinforced concrete does not contain any metal reinforcement. It is formed by pouring concrete, typically using fine aggregate, into formwork, resulting in a material very strong in compression but weak in tension.

Ref: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenfinnan_Viaduct

2022 Weekly Alphabet Challenge.

A is for Afternoon.

Staying with friends in Martinborough. This afternoon we had a walk then a picnic under the trees.

3rd January 2022.

And so we come to the first of the Kent churches visited this month. Well, not quite true, as the very first church I tried to enter, St Mildred's in Preston, was locked fast as usual. Being the heritage weekend as well as ride and stride, and being on the latter list, one really hoped that the church would have made an effort, it being so remote and all.

But, they put a trestle table out, placed a rock on top of the check in sheet to stop it blowing away, and left the church for the day, despite arrangements having been made by another church the day before for it to be open.

This really is not good enough.

Anyway, St Mildred's was the first of three that were locked, but I managed to gain entry to seven previously closed churches to me. So, on the whole, I was pleased.

St Nicholas is a large and imposing church, with a huge churchyard, showing that it is one of the larger and better populated parishes in the area of east Kent.

There was a warden sitting at the table in the large doorway, and after a warm welcome we entered inside.

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The present parish of Ash, more than 7,000 acres in extent and one of the largest in Kent, was once only a part of the great manor of Wingham. Originally a royal manor, Wingham was given by King Athelstan of Kent to the See of Canterbury about 850 : it covered the present parishes of Ash, Goodnestone, Nonington, Wingham and parts of Staple and Womenswold.

In a list of churches probably made in 1071, in which 'Aesce' is said to belong to Wingham, mention is also made of an apparently more important church 'de Raette', as well as one at 'Fleota' belonging to the manor of Folkestone. If, as seems likely, 'de Raette' refers to Richborough, this is the only record of that church; but the chapel of Fleet, actually within the 3rd century Roman walls of Richborough Castle, continued in use until the 16th century. Leland in the time of Henry VIII wrote that 'withyn the castel is a lytle paroche Chirch of S. Augustine'.

It was believed that when St. Augustine first stepped ashore in England in 597 the impression of his foot was miraculously left upon a stone. This relic was afterwards kept in this chapel dedicated to him, and pilgrims flocked there upon the anniversary of the landing to pray and to recover their health. Excavations have uncovered the ground plan of the chapel, and confirm that it was pre-Norman in origin. Excavations in the northwest comer of the Roman fort have also, revealed the foundations and font of an even earlier church of c.400, one of the earliest Christian structures known in Britain.

By the 13th century there was another chapel in the northwest of the parish, at Overland, where complaint was made in 1294 that 'there used to be a baptistery and seven years ago it was taken away and is at Esse'. Edward Hasted, writing about 1790, said that the chapel had been 'for some time in ruins ... having been desecrated about the beginning of this century'. Its exact site has now been lost : some carved stonework which may come from it is at Knell; a few more pieces are in the church.

In 1282 Ash became a separate parish. In the deed founding a College of Canons at Wingham and dividing that parish into four, Archbishop Peckham explained, 'We have turned our eyes to the church of Wingham as it were to a fruitful vineyard..... which cannot be easily cultivated by the labours of one husbandman... from the great extent of the parish as well as its numerous population'. He assigned to Wingham parish church the chapel of Overland; to Ash he gave the chapel of Fleet. It was the duty of the canons of Wingham College, to whom the tithes of Ash were paid, to provide a vicar. In 1535 the parishioners of Ash complained: 'There has always been a vicar here to serve the cure till for the last 22 years the said Canons have usurped the vicarage to their own use ... within a quarter of a year we have had seven curates, which has caused much strife as we are 500 residents.'

In 1547 Wingham College was suppressed by Henry VIII, and its possessions forfeited to the Crown. In 1549, "the late chapel called Richborough Chapel in Ash Parish with its burial ground, buildings, lead, glass, iron, stones and tiles except the bells and leaden roof", and "the late Chapel of Overland in Ash parish next Sandwich in width 22 feet in length 34 feet, with its burial ground of half a rod, buildings, etc.", were both sold to William Hyde and Hugh Cartwright.

The right of presentation to the benefice of Ash was granted by Queen Mary to the Archbishop in 1558, and three years later Queen Elizabeth I gave the rectory - the right to the great tithes - to the See of Canterbury. The Archbishop is still the patron of the living today.

In the 19th century the need again arose for chapels in the more distant parts of the parish. In 1842 Holy Trinity Church at Ware was built, and Westmarsh was formed into a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1849. The corrugated-iron mission room of St. Augustine's, Richborough, was opened in 1888. It was followed in 1892 by a similar room at Goldstone, rebuilt in 1904. But by the 1960s the motor car had made these separate buildings less necessary. In 1967 the parish of Westmarsh was re-united with Ash; St. Augustine's, Richborough, was closed in 1969, and Holy Trinity Church in 1970.

An unusual feature of the church is the south chancel, whose axis is out of alignment with the nave. It was once supposed that this architectural oddity represented the inclined head of Christ on the Cross, but a structural fault caused by rebuilding and restoration is a more likely explanation.

(Bygone Kent, 1985, Michael David Mirams.)

In recent years the Parish of Ash with Westmarsh has been linked to the parish churches at Goodnestone and Chillenden through a united benefice. Further pastoral reorganisation in the East Bridge Deanery means that a new canonry benefice is to be formed of the parishes of Ash, Chillenden, Elmstone, Goodnestone, Preston and Wingham. This is expected to be undertaken between 2012 and 2014.

www.s8nicholas.talktalk.net/html/more_history.html

Letojanni is a comune (municipality), and coastal resort in the Province of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about 170 km east of Palermo and about 32 km southwest of Messina. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,634 and an area of 6.8 km².Letojanni borders the following municipalities: Castelmola, Forza d'Agrò, Gallodoro, Mongiuffi Melia, Taormina.Main economic activities are agriculture and fishing. Products mostly cultivated are corn, olives, wine-grapes, almonds, lemons, mulberries, fruit. Interesting is the yearly manifestation "Agosto a Letojanni" (August at Letojanni) in which the festival of fish and water-melon and the parade of the Sicilian cart take place. It is also to underline the strong inclination of territory to tourism. In fact in the place there is a good receptive offer both hotel and camping supplied with facilities fit to receive very many tourists especially during summer.The etymology of Letojanni is a mixture of Latin and Arabic. The place-name derives in fact from Latin Laetum,that is "rich", and from Arabic Ayn, that means "spring". There are not many information about origin of the little town but it is known that until half of the XVIII century it has been under the jurisdiction of Gallodoro town. In the XIX century it was involved in a high economic increase and in 1880 it gained administrative equality with Gallodoro. The earthquake of 1908 damaged some of its buildings later rebuilt. In 1952 it became an independent commune. The most interesting monuments are the Parish Church in neogothic style, rebuilt in 1929 and keeps inside a beautiful picture of Piety of 1700. An important figure original of Letojanni is the famous surgeon Francesco Durante (1844-1934), who was teacher of surgery of the joints and bony at the University of Studies of Roma and he was together with Guido Baccelli founder of the General hospital of Roma and finally he was also named senator of the Reign.

Letojanni è un comune italiano di 2.760 abitanti della provincia di Messina in Sicilia.Distante 32 km da Messina e 45 km da Catania, la cittadina fa parte del comprensorio turistico di Taormina.Sino alla metà dell'Ottocento Letojanni fungeva da marina, o borgo dei pescatori, del comune di Gallodoro; la costruzione di una strada provinciale e successivamente della ferrovia favorirono lo sviluppo del borgo, al punto che nel 1879 la sede comunale fu trasferita da Gallodoro a Letojanni, e il comune prese il nome di Letojanni-Gallodoro. Nel 1952 le due località furono separate..Ricco di infrastrutture alberghiere in estate ospita innumerevoli turisti

Font : Wikipedia

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uM9vXCcys

This monstrous fence is being constructed to annoy and impede the travel of Torontonian's. This is what 2 billion bucks gets you, fences and cops.

5 days from now you won't be able to get near where this photo was taken as the fence will be secured all around and hundreds of cops to ensure you stay away.

Kyle is part of a group who decided to have a "mess fest". The idea being to get together with a bunch of kids on a soccer field and douse each other with lots of messy food items.

Among these were: mustard, Hershey's chocolate syrup, yogurt, flower, BBQ sauce, cottage cheese, mayonaise, and corn syrup

Is that blue sky? We are enjoying the view, despite the cold. Daisy has had to borrow warm clothes that I made for bigger dolls, but that's okay!

Romance is alive in Second Life! Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Here are our favorite romantic places in Second Life. For one day, grab your friend, lover or partner, get dressed up and head to these beautiful settings.

Fair Chang Expo Live music venue is a beautiful setting for live music, romance and dinner for two.

Phatland is one of favorites! Jazz and sophisticated lounge music always puts us in the mood for romance.

Phantom Rose Opera also has romantic places to chill for couples. Go over to the river and lake area for a private pavilion setting with dance pose ball.

Pillow Talk is a retail store high in the clouds, but it is a romantic setting for couples to shop. Try the poses out and it will definitely put you in the mood for love.

Avilion Ballroom is the natural choice for a ballroom dance. Valentine's last year featured heart balloons and romantic holiday setting.

Oudgediende 2958 is op 25 april 2020 net vertrokken uit het station van Deventer Colmschate als trein 7051 naar Almelo.

Loy Krathong is a traditional lunar festival marks the end of the rainy season. The Thai tradition of Loy Krathong began in the ancient capital of Sukhothai and is now celebrated throughout Thailand. Parades and beauty contests are part of the fun. People release paper lanters into the sky and float decorated banana-leaf boats (krathongs) onto ponds, lakes and rivers on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, honoring the Goddess of Water.

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Waimea Valley is an area of historic cultural significance on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The valley, being an important place in Hawaiian religion, includes several historical structures including stone terraces and walls constructed during the time of the Hawaiian monarchy. Much of the garden floor was once cultivated for taro, sweet potato, and bananas, with new crops and orchards introduced by Europeans after their arrival.

Formerly known as the Waimea Valley Audubon Center and the Waimea Arboretum and Botanical Garden, the Waimea Valley is a historical nature park including botanical gardens. It is located at 59-864 Kamehameha Highway, Haleiwa, Oahu, Hawaii and is open daily except for Christmas and New Year's Day; an admission fee is charged.

The garden was managed until 2003 by the City and County of Honolulu, when management was assumed by the National Audubon Society. In 2008, management was handed over to Hi'ipaka LLC, a non-profit company created by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

The garden now contains 35 distinct collections, representing some 5,000 taxa from around the world. It contains one of the finest collections of Polynesian plants in existence, as well as excellent collections of very rare Hawaiian plants, rare and endangered species native to Lord Howe Island, and individual gardens dedicated to plants from Guam, Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands, the Ogasawara Islands, and the Seychelles.

Other major collections include the hibiscus evolutionary garden, araceae, bauhinia, bromeliaceae, heliconia, liliaceae, as well as bamboo, begonia, ferns, tropical fruit, etc.

The garden valley is approximate 0.75 miles in length, with a small waterfall and swimming hole at the valley's high end.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waimea_Valley

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

This is a sunrise image taken at Agritopia, an urban farm community in Gilbert Arizona. It’s a master planned community with a community garden surrounded by homes. This is one of the fields recently plowed. The walkways are lined with grape vines and community members can reserve small plots of land to grow their gardens. It was a great location for an early morning walk.

Hey guys.

This is a picture from the amazing forest. :)

I freaking love nature man.

So, have any of you ever heard of Minnetonka moccasins? I purchased a pair from a trading post at the forest, (which, reminds me, I need to take a picture of that place...) Anyways, They are basically my favorite shoes now. I'll post a picture of the on my blog or somewhere.

Anyways.

More forest pictures on my blog if you would like to see!

annabeephoto.blogspot.com/

Not the best of my night photos but I like it... Because it looks like a night you know ;) Everything is dark and only the Moon is shining bright.

Almost all photos from this series went blurred. I was too lazy to unpack my big tripod and used small flexible tripod instead. First I thought this shot was blurred but until I spotted that small white dot in the middle. Using the Stellarium it was easy to figure out this is Jupiter visible below the Moon. There also is another planet here — Uranus. Unfortunately it is impossible to spot it because of too bright light. By the way, Uranus, when discovered by William Herschel, in 1781, was the first planet discovered using telescope rather than being spotted by the naked eye.

This is the best advertising/marketing campaign I've seen in years. Brunel's glorious 1854 railway terminus is reward enough for any traveller, but then to see this ad campaign - it stopped me in my tracks.

The campaign celebrates the 13 July 2006 World Heritage Site award designation to the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape. Paddington station was chosen as it is the London terminus for trains to/ from Cornwall. The campaign is stretched along platform 8 on twelve massive piers. The print and production quality is superb; photographs stunning; graphics and composition excellent; and brevity of text perfect (I mean "Tin Did, Because Tin Can" - how brilliant is that?!).

Each time I go through Paddington (every 10 days or so) I make sure I see these. I'm not Cornish but the text and images create a surge of pride for the legacy of the miners and their industry. For an ad campaign to create that type of response within the viewer is rather remarkable I think. It's been 8 years since my last visit to Cornwall which is a shame because it is a remarkable landscape.

The Paddington campaign launched 2 November 2006. The Credits pier lists the following: Absolute Design; August One; Barry Gamble; Consumer Connection: Excessive Energy Communication; Fifteen Cornwall; First Great Western; Hard Working Words; N3 Display Graphics; Nector Events & Publicity; Nework Rail.

Philips is the number one producer of patient monitors, from large displays to portable monitors, setting the standard for clear display and intuitive usability. Launched in 2010, the Intellivue MX800 added a new dimension to patient care, providing immediate access to clinical informatics as well as patient monitoring. The award-winning Intellivue MX800 was the first to feature a touch-screen display and make use of a specially commissioned font, optimized for LCD displays. Read more about the design of the MX800.

Here is my attempt at making something Gee's Bend-esque. I love it! I would love to make a whole quilt in this style soon! Here is the first block I guess. But really it's just practice for my Fab Little Quilt Swap partner!

Bageshwar is a city and a municipal board in Bageshwar district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of Bageshwar district.

There are many places of tourism and historic importance in Bageshwar. The town is situated on the confluence of rivers Saryu and Gomti. There are many old temples dating back to tenth century. Among them are the Baijnath temple and Bagnath temples. Bagnath temple is situated in the middle of the town just across the confluence of Saryu and Gomti. Chandika and Neeleshwar temples are other important temples in the district. These are on the top of the city (hills) and provide a nice glimpse of the city.

Other important shrines in and around Bageshwar are - Ram Ghat temple, Agnikund temple, Kukuda Mai temple, Shitla Devi temple, Trijugi Narayan temple, Hanuman temple, Nileshwar Dham, Swarg Ashram, Ramji temple, Loknath Ashram, Ashram of Amitji, Jwala Devi temple, Veni Mahadev temple, Radha Krishna temple, Bhileshwar Dham, Suraj Kund, Siddartha Dham, Gopeshwar Dham, Golu temple and Praktishwar Mahadev.

Barnett Family Park is adjacent to Hollis Gardens & the Lake Mirror Promenade. Together these 3 unique places form a singularly entertaining destination for people of all ages! The elaborate sculptures of native Florida animals and beautiful hand-cut glass Byzantine tiles make the park unique. Barnett Family Park was built with a gift from Carol Jenkins Barnett and Barney Barnett.

Environmentally conscious, the ground of the play area is covered by rubber and topped by bits of recycled tires to cushion falling children.

The inchworm swing sports large saucer-shaped disks for seats -- instead of the usual belts -- and can hold three or four kids at a time.

A "spider web climb," of steel cables wrapped with nylon reaches 21-feet skyward. That may seem a little high for some kids, but it's designed so the smallest kids can't navigate themselves very high.

A "zero depth" interactive water fountain. Zero depth means the water sprayed by 10 ground nozzles and seven side wall nozzles drains and is reused. The attraction for kids is that they never know which of the ground nozzles will spray water next. They can chase all over the place guessing.

inside -

Canon Powershot SX1 IS reference shot,

Camera: Canon PowerShot SX1 IS

my settings for macro!

fixed camera

Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)

Aperture: f/4.0

Focal Length: 5 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Exposure Bias: -1 EV

Macro Mode: Macro , here Supermacro

Quality: Superfine

Canon Image Size: Widescreen

AFPoint: Manual AF point selection !

manuel

White Balance: Daylight

AFMode: Single-point AF

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FLUIDR

Fluidr

Flickr My Stream

NEW TOOL with EXIF info

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SX1 Is best of

slfashionpassion.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/my-name-is-red/