life is like a box of chocolates. a cheap, thoughtless, perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for. unreturnable because all you get back is another box of chocolates. so you're stuck with this undefinable whipped mint crap that you mindlessly wolf down when there's nothing else left to eat. sure, once in a while there's a Peanut Butter Cup or an English Toffee. but they're gone too fast and the taste is... fleeting. so you end up with nothing but broken bits filled with hardened jelly and teeth-shattering nuts. and if you're desperate enough to eat those, all you got left is an empty box... filled with useless brown paper wrappers.

This is the Douglas A-26 Invader's R-2800 engine.

The Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp is a two-row, 18-cylinder, air-cooled radial aircraft engine with a displacement of 2,804 in³ (46 L), and is part of the long-lived Wasp family.

The R-2800 is considered one of the premier radial piston engines ever designed and is notable for its widespread use in many important American aircraft during and after World War II. During the war years, Pratt & Whitney continued to develop new ideas to upgrade this already powerful workhorse, most notably water injection to give emergency power in combat.

Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-2800

This is the first week of Colby's 52 week journey in 2010! I will miss my Zooie in the group but with four dogs, it's only fair to give everyone a chance. In this photo, Colby is snuggled in my arm while we sit on the sofa together. He's a great snuggler.

Colby is a one year old Pomeranian. He is the first small dog I've ever had and the first dog in our family that is not a rescue. What a little ball of sunshine! He is a happy boy and full of personality. He adds so much joy to our home. He plays with my big boys (he's 6 pounds and they are 32, 65 and 70 pounds) like he's their size. He loves toys and Nylabones! No need to buy little bones for Colby. He loves the BIG boy bones!

I hate to admit that he does have a couple issues. He barks at people and dogs when we are near our house. He's protective and insecure. When he actually meets them, he just wants to play with the dog. He is a little timid around new people when we are outside and will back away from hands that reach to pet him on the head. He prefers pets and scratches under the neck and on his sides and belly. When inside, he is friendly and out going with everyone.

I just love this little guy..........love, love, love........

'Classic Remise' is the name for a business model (service centers for motorcycles and automobiles specializing in the field of classic, vintage and collector vehicles). There are two Classic Remises in Berlin and Düsseldorf. Both service centers are located in listed buildings with an industrial traffic background.

In the Classic Remise Düsseldorf there are 80 glass storage boxes and 35 specialised service providers - among them dealers, restorers, workshops, shops for clothing and automobilia as well as a restaurant and a beer garden (open in summer). The range is rounded off by service providers such as vehicle care providers, saddlers, expert offices and motorcycle specialists.

The site has a large event hall and smaller event areas, which are booked by companies for presentations, conferences and sales meetings. At the location, rallies take place, tours start or major old-timer-related events.

The Classic Remise Düsseldorf is located in a former railroad roundhouse built between 1929 and 1931. The building has a semicircle as its base. The diameter of the locomotive shed is almost 150 m, making it one of the largest preserved locomotive sheds of its kind in Europe. A two-storey restaurant was built on the site of the former hub, the space between the restaurant and the old building was covered with a modern transparent roofing foil construction.

Don't miss the special exhibition "Mechanical Bike World".

Source: wikipedia.de

Tianjin (天津) is a metropolis in northern coastal China and one of the five national central cities of China, with a total municipal population of 15,469,500. It is governed as one of the four direct-controlled municipalities of the PRC and is thus under direct administration of the central government. Tianjin borders Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the Yellow Sea. Part of the Bohai Economic Rim, it is the largest coastal city in northern China.

In terms of urban population, Tianjin is the fourth largest in China, after Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. In terms of administrative area population, Tianjin ranks fifth in Mainland China. The walled city of Tianjin was built in 1404. As a treaty port since 1860, Tianjin has been a major seaport and gateway to the nation's capital. During the Boxer Rebellion the city was the seat of the Tianjin Provisional Government. In the period of late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China, Tianjin became one of the largest cities in China. At that time, numerous western-style buildings and mansions were constructed in concessions, many of which are well-preserved today. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tianjin suffered a depression due to the policy of the central government and Tangshan earthquake, but recovered in the 1990s.

Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianjin

Water is the single most important natural resource underpinning Nepal’s economy and livelihoods. Inclusive, sustainable management of water resources in Nepal depends on addressing climate change and protecting healthy, biodiverse ecosystems.

The USAID Paani program will enhance Nepal’s ability to manage water resources for multiple uses and users through climate change adaptation and the conservation of freshwater biodiversity. Focusing primarily at the watershed, basin, and national scales, USAID Paani will reduce threats to freshwater biodiversity and increase the ability of targeted human and ecological communities in the Karnali, Mahakali, and Rapti river basins to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change through improved water management.

The program will play a pivotal role in shaping Nepal’s management of critical water resources between now and 2020. It will apply an integrated, whole-of-basin perspective to freshwater biodiversity conservation and sustainable water management in the three critical river basins in Mid-Western and Far-Western Nepal in response to changing climate conditions. Paani is part of USAID’s on-going investment in strengthening natural resource management in Nepal. It is a sister project to the USAID-funded Nepal Hydropower Development Project (NHDP) and complementary projects funded by the US Forest Service and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). It will build upon USAID/Nepal’s experience in terrestrial conservation, extending successful community-based models for reducing threats to key species and building resilience from Nepal’s high mountain slopes to the rich waterways in some of the most pristine natural habitat on the planet.

Photo credit: Satyam Joshi/USAID

Kos or Cos (Greek: Κως) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea, next to the Gulf of Gökova/Cos.

In Homer's Iliad, a contingent from Kos fought for the Greeks in the Trojan War.[12]

In the Roman mythology, the island was visited by Hercules.[13]

The island was originally colonised by the Carians. The Dorians invaded it in the 11th century BC, establishing a Dorian colony with a large contingent of settlers from Epidaurus, whose Asclepius cult made their new home famous for its sanatoria. The other chief sources of the island's wealth lay in its wines and, in later days, in its silk manufacture.[14]

Its early history–as part of the religious-political amphictyony that included Lindos, Kamiros, Ialysos, Cnidus and Halicarnassus, the Dorian Hexapolis (hexapolis means six cities in Greek),[15]–is obscure. At the end of the 6th century, Kos fell under Achaemenid domination but rebelled after the Greek victory at the Battle of Mycale in 479. During the Greco-Persian Wars, before it twice expelled the Persians, it was ruled by Persian-appointed tyrants, but as a rule it seems to have been under oligarchic government. In the 5th century, it joined the Delian League, and, after the revolt of Rhodes, it served as the chief Athenian station in the south-eastern Aegean (411–407). In 366 BC, a democracy was instituted. In 366 BC, the capital was transferred from Astypalaia to the newly built town of Kos, laid out in a Hippodamian grid. After helping to weaken Athenian power, in the Social War (357-355 BC), it fell for a few years to the king Mausolus of Caria.

Proximity to the east gave the island first access to imported silk thread. Aristotle mentions silk weaving conducted by the women of the island.[16] Silk production of garments was conducted in large factories by women slaves.[17]

In the Hellenistic age, Kos attained the zenith of its prosperity. Its alliance was valued by the kings of Egypt, who used it as a naval outpost to oversee the Aegean. As a seat of learning, it arose as a provincial branch of the museum of Alexandria, and became a favorite resort for the education of the princes of the Ptolemaic dynasty. During the hellenistic age, there was a medical school; however, the theory that this school was founded by Hippocrates (see below) during the classical age is an unwarranted extrapolation.[18] Among its most famous sons were the physician Hippocrates, the painter Apelles, the poets Philitas and, perhaps, Theocritus.

Diodorus Siculus (xv. 76) and Strabo (xiv. 657) describe it as a well-fortified port. Its position gave it a high importance in Aegean trade; while the island itself was rich in wines of considerable fame.[19] Under Alexander the Great and the Egyptian Ptolemies the town developed into one of the great centers in the Aegean; Josephus[20] quotes Strabo to the effect that Mithridates was sent to Kos to fetch the gold deposited there by the queen Cleopatra of Egypt. Herod is said to have provided an annual stipend for the benefit of prize-winners in the athletic games,[21] and a statue was erected there to his son Herod the Tetrarch ("C. I. G." 2502 ). Paul briefly visited here according to Acts 21:1.

Except for occasional incursions by corsairs and some severe earthquakes, the island has rarely had its peace disturbed. Following the lead of its larger neighbour, Rhodes, Kos generally displayed a friendly attitude toward the Romans; in 53 AD it was made a free city. Lucian (125–180) mentions their manufacture of semi-transparent light dresses, a fashion success.[22] The island of Kos also featured a provincial library during the Roman period. The island first became a center for learning during the Ptolemaic dynasty, and Hippocrates, Apelles, Philitas and possibly Theocritus came from the area. An inscription lists people who made contributions to build the library in the 1st century AD.[23] One of the people responsible for the library's construction was the Kos doctor Gaiou Stertinou Xenofontos, who lived in Rome and was the personal physician of the Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero.[24]

The bishopric of Cos was a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Rhodes.[25] Its bishop Meliphron attended the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Eddesius was one of the minority Eastern bishops who withdrew from the Council of Sardica in about 344 and set up a rival council at Philippopolis. Iulianus went to the synod held in Constantinople in 448 in preparation for the Council of Chalcedon of 451, in which he participated as a legate of Pope Leo I, and he was a signatory of the joint letter that the bishops of the Roman province of Insulae sent in 458 to Byzantine Emperor Leo I the Thracian with regard to the killing of Proterius of Alexandria. Dorotheus took part in a synod in 518. Georgius was a participant of the Third Council of Constantinople in 680–681. Constantinus went to the Photian Council of Constantinople (879).[26][27] Under Byzantine rule, apart from the participation of its bishops in councils, the island's history remains obscure. It was governed by a droungarios in the 8th/9th centuries, and seems to have acquired some importance in the 11th and 12th centuries: Nikephoros Melissenos began his uprising here, and in the middle of the 12th century, it was governed by a scion of the ruling Komnenos dynasty, Nikephoros Komnenos.[25]

This is a photo I took from Sardinia, more precisely from the Cabras pond. In the image you can see: a Sun pillar, the planet Venus and two flamingos in flight. The Sun pillar phenomenon is caused by sunlight reflected by ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Data:

Canon EOS R100

Lens RF-S 18-45 mm

Focal length: 45 mm

F/9

1/40 sec

ISO 320

I used GIMP software to slightly increase the contrast and cropping the original photo

Date and time: February 24, 2026 17:33 UTC (18:33 local time)

Location: Cabras, Sardinia, Italy

Copyright: Roberto Ortu

Seville Cathedral is the largest medieval church in the World, it's bulk is staggering with chapels and other structures extending the already massive church in all sorts of directions, though this does render the exterior somewhat hard to appreciate, much of it being tightly crammed in amongst the surrounding city streets. The impression is one of great width and block-like forms emerging above the rooftops, rather than the emphasis on soaring height found in French cathedrals.

Unusually the main body of the cathedral has no central or western towers (unless one counts the low stump over the crossing), instead being content to use the pre-existing Giralda tower adjoining the north east corner; this was once the minaret of the mosque that stood on this site during the Moorish period. It's upper storeys form the belfry and are a Renaissance addition, but the body of the tower with it's surface decoration is a stunning testament to the skill of the Islamic builders.

Most of the cathedral itself dates to the late 15th and early 16th centuries, and it's massive scale was clearly meant to surpass the former mosque on the site following the Spanish reconquest. However elements of the mosque building were incorporated into the present building, the already mentioned Giralda tower and the courtyard of 'los naranjos' (oranges) on the north side, serving as a kind of cloister, where elegant Moorish arches can still be seen (a motif subtly also used by the builders of the cathedral itself in some of the clerestorey windows).

The interior is vast and seems to extend in every direction with further aisles and chapels, and the scale makes it rather hard to take in. There are rich altarpieces, furnishings and stained glass windows everywhere, most in post-medieval styles (the glass is largely Renaissance whilst most of the altars are Baroque). The main exception to this rule is the awe-inspiring reredos behind the high altar, the retablos major, a wall of gilded sculpture rising almost the full height of the cathedral and adorned with scenes from the life of Christ, culminating in a dramatic coving and Crucifixion group at the apex. It is largely the work of one Flemish sculptor and dates from the early 16th century.

There are also many monuments to bishops and others, mostly in the side chapels, but the most famous is that erected in the 19th century to house the body of Christopher Columbus. His sarcophagus is held aloft by four dramatic vaguely art-nouveau figures in the south transept.

Many chambers and chapels in Renaissance and Baroque styles are attached to the south east corner of the cathedral, and with their lavish domes and interior make a visit to this huge church an even more bewildering yet fascinating experience.

Big Bro is watching you . Hotshot equipment

Thursday Pitlane Walk

FORMULA 1 2014

Circuit de Barcelona - Catalunya ( Montmeló)

Gran Premio de España Pirelli

This is my first LEGO Star Wars vehicle. I believe LEGO officially tags this as a mini-AT-ST. This is just a re-issue of the 4486 that had the mini-snowspeeder and my Bandit is kind of disappointed it didn't come with the sticker like its 4486 sibling (legostarwars.wikia.com/wiki/File:4486-1.jpg)

This is a photograph from the second running of the Athlone Flatline Half Marathon ("The Flatline") was held at Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Ireland on Saturday 14th September 2013 at 11:00. There was beautiful weather for the event which started and finished at St. Aloysius College near the Canal Banks area of the town just slightly west of the River Shannon. This event was professionally organised and the very flat course meant that many runners both seasoned and new to the scene achieved season or personal bests. Almost 1,000 participants successfully completed the event in the beautiful September sunshine. Everyone involved must be congratulated for the flawless running of the event. This event is sure to go from strength to strength over the coming years. The "Flatline" also included an option for a full marathon which was fully supported by the Marathon Club of Ireland and the East of Ireland Marathon Series. This allowed participants to run the Flatline twice for the qualifying marathon distance. About 80 people took part.

This is a photograph which is part of a larger set of photographs taken at the start and finish of "The Flatline" 2013. The URL of the main set is www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157635495089498/. There are some photographs of the finishers of the marathon.

For reference the satellite navigation Coordinates to the event HQ are (Longitude: -7.948153, Latitude: 53.420575)

Event management and timing was provided by PRECISION TIMING. See their website at [www.precisiontiming.net/]

Viewing this on a smartphone device?

If you are viewing this Flickr set on a smartphone and you want to see the larger version(s) of this photograph then: scroll down to the bottom of this description under the photograph and click the "View info about this photo..." link. You will be brought to a new page and you should click the link "View All Sizes".

Overall Race Summary

Participants: Such is the popularity of the race this year that registration closed for the race in mid-August 2013. There were well over 1,000 participants who took to the start line.

Weather: The weather on the day was almost perfect for running. The runners were bathed in warm September sunshine for the duration of the race and into the early afternoon. In the sections of the race out towards Clonown and around the Bord na Mona areas there was a stiff breeze but nothing major.

Course: "The Flatline" ceratinly lived up to its name. It is as flat a course as one is likely to find. A garmin connect gps trace of the route is provided here [connect.garmin.com/activity/199678412] Geographically the course spends much of the race in County Roscommon with only the first and last kilometers actually in County Westmeath. This gives geographically inclined runners the novel opportunity to race in two Irish provinces in one race. The course had distance markers at every kilometre and mile along the way. There were official pacers provided by the race organisers.

Location Map: Start/finish area and registration etc on Google StreetView [goo.gl/maps/8qCes] - Ample parking was supplied with some over-flow car-parking options also available.

Refreshments: An Alkohol Frei bottle of Erdinger was provided to every finisher as they crossed the line. Light refreshments were served.

Some Useful Links

Precision Timing Results Page: www.precisiontiming.net/result/racetimer

Facebook Event Page for the 2013 www.facebook.com/events/495900447163378/ (Facebook logon required)

Boards.ie Athletics Discussion Thread about the 2013 race: www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056984967

Boards.ie Athletics Discussion Thread about the 2012 race: www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80049447

GARMIN GPS Trace of the Route for 2013: connect.garmin.com/activity/199678412

Race HQ Venue in 2013: St.Aloysius College Athlone : staloysiuscollege.ie/

Race Sponsors Vision Express Athlone: www.visionexpress.ie/opticians/opticians-in-republic-of-i...

Action Physio Athlone: www.actionphysio.ie/

Race photographs from 2012's Flatline - supplied by PIXELS PROMOTIONS: pixelspromotions.zenfolio.com/p126168889 (on route) and at the Finish line pixelspromotions.zenfolio.com/p31872670 - please note these are not our photographs (see www.pixelspromotions.com/).

How can I get full resolution copies of these photographs?

All of the photographs here on this Flickr set have a visible watermark embedded in them. All of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution WITHOUT watermark. We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, etc or (2) other websites, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us. This also extends 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.

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 - 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 does take a significant effort. 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 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 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.

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 www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

The pattern “Tool Tote” that I used is from the book Sew what! Bags

More info on the blog.

Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide.

No escape from reality.

Open your eyes,

Look up to the skies and see.

--- "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Freddie Mercury of Queen

Masjid al Qiblatain is situated in Madinah. The masjid in which our beloved Prophet received Allah Ta'ala's command to adopt the Ka'bah as the qibla. He was already facing Masjid al-Aqsa, so he turned his face 180 degrees towards the Ka'bah and so did his followers. Hence, this mosque came to be called Masjid Qiblatain, the masjid with the two qiblas.

While the Prophet was praying, he was directed by angel Jibrail to turn from Masjid al-Aqsa (Jerusalem) to the Ka'bah (Makkah).

"Verily! We have seen the turning of your face towards the heaven; surely we shall turn you to a prayer direction (Qibla) that shall please you."

[al-Baqarah; 2:144]

Arahurahu is the only marae -- an ancient temple or meeting place -- in all of Polynesia that has been fully restored, and it is maintained like a museum. Although not nearly as impressive as the great lagoonside marae on Huahine and Raiatea, this is Tahiti's best example of ancient Polynesian temples and meeting places, and its exhibit boards do a good job of explaining the significance of each part. For example, the stone pens near the entrance were used to keep the pigs to be sacrificed to the gods. Arahurahu is used for the reenactment of old Polynesian ceremonies during the July Heiva Nui celebrations.

==========

Maiden flight of the Nikon P 6000 – Delta Dan Leigh R8 – Custom design AutoKAP rig by Brooks Leffler – Intervalometer with Gentled Auto. This Marae is located in a valley and the winds are extremely unstable (The kite ended in a tree, the rig and the camera in the grass... no damage to the Kite, the camera or the rig)

==========

We later went by the ocean, launched a Kiwi fishing kite which ended in the sea (the rig was not on the line) so I decided it was maybe time to go home!

==========

LIA...FIVE YEARS OLD .. MAKING SNOWFLAKES WITH GRAMMY. November 10, 2012

Wheew....I had forgotten what a whole day with a very active....and I do mean very active 5 year old was like...!!!! :)

It was a day of projects, from cutting out snowflakes and decorating the patio door with them ....organizing all her art supplies...and building a ''fort'' out of blankets and chairs and her playing ''rescue woman''...rescuing her stuffed animals...and caring for them in her fort!

We sang most of the day, composed songs, worked on a homemade book of illustrated Christmas Carols....and on and on...lots of fun and laughter...but I came home too tired to move!!!

This is a photograph from the second round of the Mullingar Road League which was held in Belvedere House and Gardens, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland on Wednesday 14th May 2014 at 20:00. The race follows the roads and trails around Belvedere and is a very testing 5KM route. The race is promoted by Mullingar Harriers for the Pat Finnerty Memorial Cup. Competitors need to run 3 races out of the 4 races in May (any order) to be considered in the overall placing in categories at the conclusion of the league. Over 380 people took part in tonight's event. The weather was much improved on last week with warm and mild conditions for the race.

We have an extensive set of photographs from today in the following Flickr Album: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157644261638039

Timing and event management was provided by Precision Timing. Results are available on their website at www.precisiontiming.net/result/racetimer with additional material available on their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/davidprecisiontiming?fref=ts) See their promotional video on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-7_TUVwJ6Q

Reading on a Smartphone or tablet? Don't forget to scroll down further to read more about this race and see important Internet links to other information about the race! You can also find out how to access and download these photographs.

Our photographs from Round 1 of the 2014 Road League on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157644508131856/

Road League 2014 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/patfinnertyroadleague?fref=ts (Requires Facebook logon)

YouTube Video for the Promotion of the 2014 Road League: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfvVVwrkgTM

A Vimeo Video for the Promotion of the 2013 Road League: vimeo.com/64875578

Our photographs from Round 5 of the 2013 Road League on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157633794985503/

Our photographs from Round 4 of the 2013 Road League on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157633604656368/

Our photographs from Round 3 of the 2013 Road League on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157633470510535/

Our photographs from Round 2 of the 2013 Road League on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157633451422506/

Our photographs from Round 1 of the 2013 Road League on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157633397519242/

Belvedere House and Gardens on Google Street View: goo.gl/maps/WWTgD

Chip Timing Results from Precision Timing: www.precisiontiming.net/result/racetimer

Belvedere House and Gardens Website: www.belvedere-house.ie/

Mullingar Harriers Facebook Group Page: www.facebook.com/groups/158535740855708/?fref=ts

Our Flickr Collection from Mullingar Road League 2012 (1,800 photographs) www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/collections/72157629780992768/

Our Flickr Collection from Mullingar Road League 2011 (820 photographs) www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/collections/72157626524444213/

Our Flickr Collection from Mullingar Road League 2010 (500 photographs) www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/collections/72157624051668808/

Our Flickr Collection from Mullingar Road League 2009 (250 photographs) www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/collections/72157617814884076/

Our Flickr Collection from Mullingar Road League 2008 (150 photographs) www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/collections/72157605062152203/

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 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.

We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, 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.

This also extends 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 the photographic image here direct 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. However - look for a symbol with three dots 'ooo' 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 does take 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.

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.

Creative Commons aims 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

PS：I like this song "Life is Wonderful" by Jason Mraz .

This is a photograph from the 12th running of the Donadea 50KM and the National 50KM Championships held in Donadea Forest Park, Staplestown, Co. Kildare, Ireland on Saturday 11th February 2023 from 10:00 onwards. The 50K at Donadea is now firmly established as one of the most popular ultramarathon running distance races in Ireland. This year a field of well over 200 participants started the race.

The race is run on a 5KM looped trail of Donadea Forest Park which is a beautiful Coillte-managed forest amenity near the village of Staplestown. The race is promoted by Donadea Running Club and the timing and event management was delivered by Kildare-based company Popup Races. The Popup website www.popupraces.ie will have full results of the event available.

The full set of photographs are available here on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72177720305946534

This is the J.W. Pratt House and Museum - Built in 1863, it is on a stone foundation and has brick walls which are painted pale yellow. The two-story house was constructed in the Italianate style and was built wall-over-wall, with two bay windows. The house is rectangular in plan with a three-bay-wide, three-bay-deep hipped roof main block with a gabled two-story service wing. The windows are four-over-four and are double hung. They have elaborabe window caps. The roof is covered with tin that was imported from England. It features a cupola with round arched windows. A finely detailed Queen Anne style latticed porch was added about 1880. Now a little bit of history: This was originally the home of J. W. Pratt, a prominent businessman who had a boatmaking, repair and shipping business. He also was a leader in real estate and banking. Family members occupied the home until 1975. Today the Pratt home is a local history museum which is maintained by the Friends of History in Fulton. It became the headquarters for this local history group in 1979. The museum highlights significant history of Fulton, a former mill town and prominent industrial center. It features permanent and changing exhibits on Fulton history, industry, and the people of this Oswego Canal town. A replica of a canal boat is also on display. The museum's primary focus is on the history of local industries and businesses, early transportation, recreation, education and family life including a period kitchen. There is also a library for local and genealogical research. The museum is located at 177 South First Street in Fulton, NY. (S/B 514)

This is a subset of the ~1000 negatives taken by an unknown Dutch photographer active 1958-1964. I have likely eliminated press photographers Jack De Nijs, Harry Pot, F. N. Broers or Joop van Bilsen, who were also active around that time. As I do not yet (Dec 2020) know the identity of the photographer, I cannot extend any republishing rights, so legally, you and I are on our own.

This particular photoset I am posting online partly out of inspiration from the 2020 Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit, set partly around the same time and based on the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, who wrote The Hustler and The Color Of Money as well as The Man Who Fell To Earth, to which the series owes a lot; and in hopes someone can identify the photographer.

This group encompasses the following tournaments held in the Netherlands:

Oct 26 - Nov 15 1958: Sponsored by the Dutch department store chain Vroom & Dreesmann, this was a round of tournaments in 11 Dutch cities, in which three of the following six grandmasters played simultaneously a room full of high-level players, rotating by city: (Netherlands) Johannes (Jan) Hein Donner, Hans Bouwmeester, Theo van Scheltinga, youth champion Frits Roessel; (USSR) Mikhail Botvinnik. Salomon (Salo) Flohr. Early research indicated that these photos were taken in Geleen or even Heerlen, but I don't know for certain.

Now that Navaratri is complete, there is still one more night to sum it up. Dussehra is celebrated on the tenth night, and is a celebration of Goddess Durga’s victory over the tyranny of demons. It reminds us all of the Mother’s Love and Her power to vanquish all that stands between us and our ultimate goal: to gain salvation and attain the Divine.

paramahamsavishwananda.com

bhaktimarga.org

Okay, okay - so it is a bit tongue in cheek, this fine upstanding officer of the law was on duty at the front of the Tour of Britain as it rolled across from Aberdare in Wales to Bath in England.

This shot was actually taken just outside the Severn Bore Inn, Gloucestershire, and you can tell how close he was - as this is the full image at 24mm on a full frame sensor!

Obviously the officer is not sucking his thumb, but was actually just lifting his visor slightly, but it was too good a title not to slap it on...

(Please Note: This image not to be used on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © Paul J Fram - All rights reserved.)

Winter is a Coming....

This is Dobie, a very sweet neighbor cat & a playmate of my dog, Jasper. Dobie started coming over to our house for several hours each day and he & Jasper would play and entertain us immensely. I have never seen a dog & cat take to each other the way they did. Sadly, Dobie disappeared about 3 weeks ago and my dog still goes out to the backyard everyday looking for him. Dobie is a very friendly kitty so I am praying that someone just decided to make him a part of their family.

It is important to be chic. I love the 2000s because everyone started to love haute couture. I always say: To be well dressed you must be well naked. I am never satisfied with myself and that is what keeps me going - I have no post-satisfaction. The difference between style and fashion is...

demo.multipost.site/l-a-s-6-coolest-haircuts-how-to-style...

This is from a product shoot I did for Elektraglyphs for their newest piece - Triangulum. This geometric pattern is backlit by LEDs and can change color and brightness at the touch of a button on the remote, or you can even download a free app that allows you to control it from your phone! This thing is pretty cool to see in person. Check it out at Elektraglyphs.com.

These were all shot with my RZ67 Pro II on Kodak Portra 160 and lit with my Alien Bees.

This is just a small sample of contemporary Native American bracelets, several of them made by Charles Loloma, an award-winning Hopi Indian with an international reputation. There are numerous examples of more traditional jewelry elsewhere in the museum, for example, Navajo turquoise and silver belts and necklaces. The museum also contains well-organized collections of black-on-black pottery by Maria Martinez of San Idelfonso Pueblo, Hispanic arts and crafts, religious art, jewelry designed by Millicent Rogers herself, and other objects. The museum is definitely worth a visit.

Longtown is a small town in northern Cumbria, England, with a population of around 3,000. It is in the parish of Arthuret and on the River Esk, just south of the Anglo-Scottish border. Nearby was the Battle of Arfderydd.

Historically in Cumberland, Longtown is the location of the largest sheep markets in England, and is close to the site where the Battle of Solway Moss was fought in 1542. Longtown has one primary school with around 190 pupils. Most secondary school pupils travel to William Howard School, Brampton, though up until 2008 Longtown had its own secondary school, Lochinvar School.

The first animal to be found to be infected with foot-and-mouth disease in the 2001 crisis had been purchased at Longtown Market. While at the market it spread the infection to other animals. The size of the Longtown Sheep Market meant that the disease had spread right across the country in a very short time. Longtown became the centre for control of the disease in south western Scotland and North West England.

Peel Tower

A little over two miles to the north, on the west bank of the River Esk, Kirkandrews Tower is an isolated and well-preserved 16th century peel tower.

Coal mining

Lochinvar coalfield was discovered in the 1950s by the National Coal Board and was subject to drilling but never mined. Recently an Australian firm (New Age Exploration) has been exploring the coalfield for coking coal to produce steel. The company is exploring as far north as Evertown near Canonbie, and as far south as Longtown.[3]

DMC Longtown

During the 1930s, there was a recognition of a need to provide secure storage for munitions across the United Kingdom. The proposal was to create three Central Ammunition Depots (CAD): one in the south (Monkton Farleigh, Wiltshire); one in the Midlands (Nesscliffe, Shropshire); and one in the north.

While the other two sites were sat above easily hewn limestone, Longtown is located above granite, which meant that it took longer to create and only came into operations late in the Second World War. The site was chosen as it used to be part of HM Factory, Gretna, that stretched to Eastriggs over the border into Scotland, one of the biggest makers of explosives during the First World War. The township of Gretna was established to house the workers of this establishment.

Today, DMC (Defence Munitions Centre) Longtown is the only one of the three CADs to remain in operation and is among the largest defence munitions sites in Western Europe. Currently, Longtown and Eastriggs are two separate sites under joint management. In November 2013 the MoD announced that the operational capacity of MoD Longtown would be reduced and a substantial area of the site would be given over to commercial use.

...which is also a Sony-Ericsson camera. I was inspired here by Scott kelby writing in The Photoshop World Dream Team - Book I.

Treatment: A montage of a genuine photo of my phone (taken by me using my Olympus C-8080WZ) and the studio background created according to the steps outlined by Scott in the book (with some tweaks of my own!). Notice my own "Walking the Millenium Bridge" has been pre-loaded on the phone.

I love my cameraphone and camera!

Pirovac is a coastal municipality and village in Croatia, formerly called Zlosela, 26 km from the city of Šibenik with a total of 1,846 inhabitants, 97% of which are Croats.

History

The first historical mention of Pirovac was in 1298, under the name "Zlosela". At that time, the village belonged to noblemen from Bribir — the Šubić family, and later it became the property of the Šibenik Diocese and noblemen from Šibenik.

The settlement itself was founded in the 15th century by refugees who fled from the Turks. Nevertheless, this area was inhabited many centuries earlier, as shown by remnants of Roman settlements found on the islet of Sveti Stjepan (St. Stephen). Many other historical monuments tell us about the gradual settlement and development of this place. The remnants of a Roman villa in Ivinj date back to the 1st AD. The site was proclaimed a cultural good in 2012 and awarded the status of a protected cultural monument.

The defence wall, erected around 1505 by Petar Draganić, has been partly preserved in the village. The 1506 parish church of St. George was restored in Baroque style in the 18th century. The graveyard chapel of the Draganić-Vrančić family features a Gothic sarcophagus with a relief made in 1447 by Andrija Budčić from Šibenik and Lorenzo Pincino from Venice, according to the sketches by Giorgio da Sebenico (George the Dalmatian). Roman artefacts have been found on the islet of Sveti Stjepan in front of the village; here also are the ruins of a Franciscan monastery (from 1511), which was abandoned in 1807.

The village of Kašić Banjevački in the municipality was home to a Partisan monument, which was destroyed during the Croatian War of Independence. In 2008, the village replaced the previous monument with a memorial chapel to the dead from both the Second World War and the War of Independence.

This is a photograph from the third annual running of the Fr. Murphy Athletic Club 10KM Road Race and Fun Run which was held in Kildalkey, Trim, Co. Meath, Ireland on Easter Sunday April 16th 2017 at 11:30. This road race also features the Meath 10KM Road Race Championships which is open to entry from any athlete who is a full member of a Meath AAI club. The race starts and finishes in the village of Kildalkey and follows a right handed rural route out towards Rathcormick, Ballivor and Moyrath before returning on the same 2KM as the start which runners will easily remember as a long straight stretch of road. The route brings the runners through beautiful Meath Countryside on low-traffic country roads.

The conditions were reasonably good for road running. The first few kilometers seen runners tackle a very stiff breeze and cool dry conditions. However at around 6KM where the race turns back towards Kildalkey the breeze became a more favourable tail wind. While we say that this is the 3rd annual running of this race it is actually the 10KM version of the traditional annual 5 Mile road race which was promoted by the Fr. Murphy athletic club in the past. Traditionally this five mile races held in Athboy on St. Patrick's Day, then Ballivor before a move to Kildalkey on Easter Sundays. There was approximately 260 participants in the race with a very large support from athletics clubs in Meath.

The full set of photographs is available at: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72157682541125756

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, Instagram, 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

He is a real killer, because some months ago he bit a zoo keeper who just died. But in this picture he looks really friendly, but he knows about his power.

Kartikeya, also known as Skanda, Murugan and Subramaniyan, is the Hindu god of war. He is the commander-in-chief of the army of the devas (gods) and the son of Shiva and Parvati.

Murugan is often referred to as "Tamil Kadavul" (meaning "God of Tamils") and is worshiped primarily in areas with Tamil influences, especially South India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore and Reunion Island. His six most important shrines in India are the Arupadaiveedu temples, located in Tamil Nadu. In Sri Lanka, Hindus as well as Buddhists revere the sacred historical Nallur Kandaswamy temple in Jaffna and Katirkāmam Temple situated deep south.[1] Hindus in Malaysia also pray to Lord Murugan at the Batu Caves and various temples where Thaipusam is celebrated with grandeur.

In Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Kartikeya is known as Subrahmanya with a temple at Kukke Subramanya known for Sarpa shanti rites dedicated to Him and another famous temple at Ghati Subramanya also in Karnataka. In Bengal and Odisha, he is popularly known as Kartikeya (meaning 'son of Krittika').[2]

Other names[edit]

Like most Hindu deities, Subrahmanya is known by many other names, including Senthil, Vēlaṇ, Kumāran (meaning 'prince or child or young one'), Swaminatha (meaning 'smart' or 'clever'), Saravaṇa, Arumugam or Shanmuga (meaning 'one with six faces'), Dhandapani (meaning God with a Club), Guhan or Guruguha (meaning 'cave-dweller'), Subrahmanya, Kartikeya and Skanda (meaning 'that which is spilled or oozed).[3][4] He was also known as Mahasena and the Kadamba Dynasty kings worshiped him by this name.[5]

Vedas[edit]

The Atharva Veda describes Kumaran as 'Agnibhuh' because he is form of 'Agni' (Fire God) & Agni hold in his hand when kumaran born. The Satapatha Brahmana refers to him as the son of Rudra and the six faces of Rudra. The Taittiriya Aranyaka contains the Gayatri mantra for Shanmukha. The Chandogya Upanishad refers to Skanda as the "way that leads to wisdom". The Baudhayana Dharmasutra mentions Skanda as 'Mahasena' and 'Subrahmanya.' The Aranya Parva canto of the Mahabharata relates the legend of Kartikeya Skanda in considerable detail. The Skanda Purana is devoted to the narrative of Kartikeya.[6] The Upanishads also constantly make a reference to a Supreme Being called Guha, the indweller.

The first elaborate account of Kartikeya's origin occurs in the Mahabharata. In a complicated story, he is said to have been born from Agni and Svaha, after the latter impersonated the six of the seven wives of the Saptarishi (Seven Sages). The actual wives then become the Pleiades. Kartikeya is said to have been born to destroy the Asura Mahisha.[7] (In later mythology, Mahisha became the adversary of Durga.) Indra attacks Kartikeya as he sees the latter as a threat, until Shiva intervenes and makes Kartikeya the commander-in-chief of the army of the Devas. He is also married to Devasena, Indra's daughter. The origin of this marriage lies probably in the punning of 'Deva-sena-pati'. It can mean either lord of Devasena or Lord of the army (sena) of Devas. But according to Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, in his master work on Shiva[8] and other works, Kartikeya was married to Devasenā and that is on the ground of his name as Devasena's husband, Devasenāpati, misinterpreted as Deva-senāpati (Deva's general) that he was granted the title general and made the Deva's army general.[9]

The Ramayana version is closer to the stories told in the Puranas discussed below.

Tolkappiyam, possibly the most ancient of the extant Sangam works, dated between the 3rd century BCE and 5th century CE glorified Murugan, "the red god seated on the blue peacock, who is ever young and resplendent," as "the favoured god of the Tamils."[10] The Sangam poetry divided space and Tamil land into five allegorical areas (tinai) and according to the Tirumurugarruppatai ( c. 400–450 AD) attributed to the great Sangam poet Nakkiirar, Murugan was the presiding deity the Kurinci region (hilly area). (Tirumurugaruppatai is a deeply devotional poem included in the ten idylls (Pattupattu) of the age of the third Sangam). The other Sangam era works in Tamil that refer to Murugan in detail include the Paripaatal, the Akananuru and the Purananuru. One poem in the Paripaatal describes the veneration of Murugan thus:

"We implore thee not for boons of enjoyment or wealth,

But for thy grace beatific, love and virtuous deeds."

According to the Tamil devotional work, Thiruppugazh, "Murugan never hesitates to come to the aid of a devotee when called upon in piety or distress". In another work, Thirumurukkarrupatai, he is described as a god of eternal youth;

His face shines a myriad rays light and removes the darkness from this world.[11]

The references to Murugan can be traced back to the first millennium BCE. There are references to Murugan in Kautilya's Arthashastra, in the works of Patanjali, in Kalidasa's epic poem the Kumarasambhavam. The Kushanas, who governed from what is today Peshawar, and the Yaudheyas, a republican clan in the Punjab, struck coins bearing the image of Skanda. The deity was venerated also by the Ikshvakus, an Andhra dynasty, and the Guptas.[6] The worship of Kumāra was one of the six principal sects of Hinduism at the time of Adi Shankara. The Shanmata system propagated by him included this sect. In many Shiva and Devi temples of Tamil Nadu, Murugan is installed on the left of the main deity. The story of His birth goes as follows:

Sati immolated herself in a pyre as her father King Daksha had insulted Shiva, her Lord. She was reborn as Parvathi or Uma, daughter of the King of Himalayas, Himavan. She then married her Lord Shiva. The Devas were under onslaught from the Asuras whose leader was Soorapadman. He had been granted boons that only Lord Shiva or his seed could kill him. Fearless he vanquished the Devas and made them his slaves. The Devas ran to Vishnu for help who told them that it was merely their fault for attending Daksha's yagna, without the presence of Lord Shiva. After this, they ran to Shiva for help. Shiva decided to take action against Soorapadman's increasing conceit. He frowned and his third eye- the eye of knowledge- started releasing sparks. These were six sparks in total. Agni had the responsibility to take them to Saravana Lake. As he was carrying them, the sparks were growing hotter and hotter that even the Lord of Fire could not withstand the heat. Soon after Murugan was born on a lotus in the Saravana Lake with six faces, giving him the name Arumukhan. Lord Shiva and Parvati visited and tears of joy started flowing as they witnessed the most handsome child. Shiva and Parvathi gave the responsibility of taking care of Muruga to the six Krittika sisters. Muruga grew up to be a handsome, intelligent, powerful, clever youth. All the Devas applauded at their saviour, who had finally come to release them from their woes. Murugan became the supreme general of the demi-gods, then escorted the devas and led the army of the devas to victory against the asuras.

Legends[edit]

Given that legends related to Murugan are recounted separately in several Hindu epics, some differences between the various versions are observed. Some Sanskrit epics and puranas indicate that he was the elder son of Shiva. This is suggested by the legend connected to his birth; the wedding of Shiva and Parvati being necessary for the birth of a child who would vanquish the asura named Taraka. Also, Kartikeya is seen helping Shiva fight the newborn Ganesha, Shiva's other son, in the Shiva Purana. In the Ganapati Khandam of the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, he is seen as the elder son of Shiva and Ganesha as the younger. In South India, it is believed that he is the younger of the two. A Puranic story has Ganesha obtain a divine fruit of knowledge from Narada winning a contest with Murugan. While Murugan speeds around the world thrice to win the contest for the fruit, Ganesha circumambulates Shiva and Parvati thrice as an equivalent and is given the fruit. After winning it, he offers to give the fruit to his upset brother. After this event, Ganesha was considered the elder brother owing as a tribute to his wisdom. Many of the major events in Murugan's life take place during his youth, and legends surrounding his birth are popular. This has encouraged the worship of Murugan as a child-God, very similar to the worship of the child Krishna in north India. He is married to two wives, Valli and Devasena. This lead to a very interesting name : Devasenapati viz. Pati (husband) of Devsena and/or Senapati (commander in chief) of Dev (gods)

Kartikeya symbols are based on the weapons – Vel, the Divine Spear or Lance that he carries and his mount the peacock. He is sometimes depicted with many weapons including: a sword, a javelin, a mace, a discus and a bow although more usually he is depicted wielding a sakti or spear. This symbolizes his purification of human ills. His javelin is used to symbolize his far reaching protection, his discus symbolizes his knowledge of the truth, his mace represents his strength and his bow shows his ability to defeat all ills. His peacock mount symbolizes his destruction of the ego.

His six heads represent the six siddhis bestowed upon yogis over the course of their spiritual development. This corresponds to his role as the bestower of siddhis.

In Tamil Nadu, Murugan has continued to be popular with all classes of society right since the Sangam age. This has led to more elaborate accounts of his mythology in the Tamil language, culminating in the Tamil version of Skanda Purana, called Kandha Purānam, written by Kacchiappa Sivachariyar (1350–1420 AD.) of Kumara Kottam in the city of Kanchipuram. (He was a scholar in Tamil literature, and a votary of the Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy.)

He is married to two deities, Valli, a daughter of a tribal chief and Deivayanai (also called Devasena), the daughter of Indhra. During His bachelorhood, Lord Murugan is also regarded as Kumaraswami (or Bachelor God), Kumara meaning a bachelor and Swami meaning God. Muruga rides a peacock and wields a bow in battle. The lance called Vel in Tamil is a weapon closely associated with him. The Vel was given to him by his mother, Parvati, and embodies her energy and power. His army's standard depicts a rooster. In the war, Surapadman was split into two, and each half was granted a boon by Murugan. The halves, thus turned into the peacock (his mount) and the rooster his flag, which also "refers to the sun".[12]

As Muruga is worshipped predominantly in Tamil Nadu, many of his names are of Tamil origin. These include Senthil, the red or formidable one; Arumugam, the six-faced one; Guhan and Maal-Marugan, the son-in-law of Vishnu. Murugan is venerated throughout the Tamil year. There is a six-day period of fast and prayer in the Tamil month of Aippasi known as the Skanda Shasti. He is worshipped at Thaipusam, celebrated by Tamil communities worldwide near the full moon of the Tamil month Thai. This commemorates the day he was given a Vel or lance by his mother in order to vanquish the asuras. Thirukarthigai or the full moon of the Tamil month of Karthigai signifies his birth. Each Tuesday of the Tamil month of Adi is also dedicated to the worship of Murugan. Tuesday in the Hindu tradition connotes Mangala, the god of planet Mars and war.

Other parts of India[edit]

Historically, God Kartikeya was immensely popular in the Indian subcontinent. One of the major Puranas, the Skanda Purana is dedicated to him. In the Bhagavad-Gita (Ch.10, Verse 24), Krishna, while explaining his omnipresence, names the most perfect being, mortal or divine, in each of several categories. While doing so, he says: "Among generals, I am Skanda, the lord of war."

Kartikeya's presence in the religious and cultural sphere can be seen at least from the Gupta age. Two of the Gupta kings, Kumaragupta and Skandagupta, were named after him. He is seen in the Gupta sculptures and in the temples of Ellora and Elephanta. As the commander of the divine armies, he became the patron of the ruling classes. His youth, beauty and bravery was much celebrated in Sanskrit works like the Kathasaritsagara. Kalidasa made the birth of Kumara the subject of a lyrical epic, the Kumaarasambhavam. In ancient India, Kartikeya was also regarded as the patron deity of thieves, as may be inferred from the Mrichchakatikam, a Sanskrit play by Shudraka, and in the Vetala-panchvimshati, a medieval collection of tales. This association is linked to the fact that Kartikeya had dug through the Krauncha mountain to kill Taraka and his brothers (in the Mrichchakatikam, Sarivilaka prays to him before tunnelling into the hero's house).

However, Kartikeya's popularity in North India receded from the Middle Ages onwards, and his worship is today virtually unknown except in parts of Haryana. There is a very famous temple dedicated to Him in the town of Pehowa in Haryana and this temple is very well known in the adjoining areas, especially because women are not allowed anywhere close to it. Women stay away from this temple in Pehowa town of Haryana because this shrine celebrates the Brahmachari form of Kartikeya. Reminders of former devotions to him include a temple at Achaleshwar, near Batala in Punjab, and another temple of Skanda atop the Parvati hill in Pune, Maharashtra. Another vestige of his former popularity can be seen in Bengal and Odisha, where he is worshipped during the Durga Puja festivities alongside Durga. Lord Subramanya is the major deity among the Hindus of northern Kerala. Lord Subramanya is worshipped with utmost devotion in districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi in the state of Karnataka. Rituals like nagaradhane are unique to this region.

Kartikeya also known as Kartik or Kartika is also worshipped in West Bengal, and Bangladesh on the last day of the Hindu month of 'Kartik'. However, the popularity of Kartik Puja (worshipping Kartik) is decreasing now, and Lord Kartik is primarily worshipped among those who intend to have a son. In Bengal, traditionally, many people drop images of Kartik inside the boundaries of different households, who all are either newly married, or else, intend to get a son to carry on with their ancestry. Lord Kartik is also associated to the Babu Culture prevailed in historic Kolkata, and hence, many traditional old Bengali paintings still show Kartik dressed in traditional Bengali style. Also, in some parts of West Bengal, Kartik is traditionally worshipped by the ancestors of the past royal families too, as in the district of Malda. Kartik Puja is also popular among the prostitutes. This can probably be linked to the fact that, the prostitutes mostly got clients from the upper class babu-s in old Kolkata, who all, in turn, had been associated to the image of Kartik (as discussed above). In Bansberia (Hooghly district) Kartik Puja festival is celebrated like Durga puja of Kolkata, Jagadhatri puja in Chandannagar for consecutive four days. The festival starts on 17 November every year and on 16 November in case of Leap year.[13] Some of the must see Puja committees are Bansberia Kundugoli Nataraj, Khamarapara Milan Samity RadhaKrishna, Kishor Bahini, Mitali Sangha, Yuva Sangha, Bansberia Pratap Sangha and many more.

In Durga Puja in Bengal, Kartikeya is considered to be a son of Parvati or Durga and Shiva along with his brother Ganesha and sisters Lakshmi and Saraswati.[14]

Kartikeya is worshiped during Durga Puja in Odisha as well as in various Shiva temples throughout the year. Kartik puja is celebrated in Cuttack along with various other parts of the state during the last phases of Hindu month of Kartik. Kartik purnima is celebrated with much joy and in a grand fashion in Cuttack and other parts in the state.

Murugan is adored by both Tamil Hindus and Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Numerous temples exist throughout the island. He is a favorite deity of the common folk everywhere and it is said he never hesitates to come to the aid of a devotee when called upon. In the deeply Sinhalese south of Sri Lanka, Murugan is worshipped at the temple in Katirkāmam, where he is known as Kathiravel or Katragama Deviyo (Lord of Katragama) . This temple is next to an old Buddhist place of worship. Local legend holds that Lord Murugan alighted in Kataragama and was smitten by Valli, one of the local aboriginal lasses. After a courtship, they were married. This event is taken to signify that Lord Murugan is accessible to all who worship and love him, regardless of their birth or heritage. The Nallur Kandaswamy temple, the Maviddapuram Kandaswamy Temple and the Sella Channithy Temple near Valvettiturai are the three foremost Murugan temples in Jaffna. The Chitravelayutha temple in Verukal on the border between Trincomalee and Batticaloa is also noteworthy as is the Mandur Kandaswamy temple in Batticaloa. The late medieval-era temple of the tooth in Kandy, dedicated to the tooth relic of the Buddha, has a Kataragama deiyo shrine adjacent to it dedicated to the veneration of Skanda in the Sinhalese tradition. Almost all buddhist temples house a shrine room for Kataragama deviyo(Murugan)reflecting the significance of Murugan in Sinhala Buddhism,

Based on archeological evidence found, it is believed that the Kiri Vehera was either renovated to build during the 1st century BCE. There are number of others inscriptions and ruins.[15]

By the 16th century the Kathiravel shrine at Katirkāmam had become synonymous with Skanda-Kumara who was a guardian deity of Sinhala Buddhism.[16] The town was popular as a place of pilgrimage for Hindus from India and Sri Lanka by the 15 the century. The popularity of the deity at the Kataragama temple was also recorded by the Pali chronicles of Thailand such as Jinkalmali in the 16th century. There are number of legends both Buddhist and Hindu that attribute supernatural events to the very locality.[16] Scholars such as Paul Younger and Heinz Bechert speculate that rituals practiced by the native priests of Kataragama temple betray Vedda ideals of propitiation. Hence they believe the area was of Vedda veneration that was taken over by the Buddhist and Hindus in the medieval period.[17]

Lord Murugan is one of the most important deities worshipped by Tamil people in Malaysia and other South-East Asian countries such as Singapore and Indonesia. Thai Poosam is one of the important festivals celebrated. Sri Subramanyar Temple at Batu Caves temple complex in Malaysia is dedicated to Lord Murugan.

The main temples of Murugan are located in Tamil Nadu and other parts of south India. They include the Aru Padaiveedu (six abodes) — Thiruchendur, Swamimalai, Pazhamudircholai, Thirupparangunram, Palani (Pazhani), Thiruthani and other important shrines like Mayilam, Sikkal, Marudamalai, Kundrathur, Vadapalani, Kandakottam, Thiruporur, Vallakottai, Vayalur, Thirumalaikoil, Pachaimalai and Pavalamalai near Gobichettipalayam. Malai Mandir, a prominent and popular temple complex in Delhi, is one of the few dedicated to Murugan in all of North India apart from the Pehowa temple in Haryana.

There are many temples dedicated to Lord Subramanya in Kerala. Amongst them are Atiyambur Sri Subramanya Temple in Kanhangad Kasaragod, Payyannur Subramanya Swamy temple in Payyanur, Panmana Subramanya Swamy temple in Panmana and the Subramanya temple in Haripad. There is a temple in Skandagiri, Secunderabad and one in Bikkavolu, East Godavari district in the state of Andhra Pradesh. In Karnataka there is the Kukke Subramanya Temple where Lord Murugan is worshiped as the Lord of the serpents. Aaslesha Bali, Sarpa Samskara with nagapathista samarpa are major prayers here. There is a temple called Malai Mandir in South Delhi. Malai means hill in Tamil. Mandir means temple in Hindi.

The key temples in Sri Lanka include the sylvan shrine in Kataragama / (Kadirgamam) or Kathirkamam in the deep south, the temple in Tirukovil in the east, the shrine in Embekke in the Kandyan region and the famed Nallur Kandaswamy temple in Jaffna. There are several temples dedicated to Lord Murugan in Malaysia, the most famous being the Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur. There is a 42.7-m-high statue of Lord Murugan at the entrance to the Batu Caves, which is the largest Lord Murugan statue in the world. Sri Thandayuthapani Temple in Tank Road, Singapore is a major Hindu temple where each year the Thaipusam festival takes place with devotees of Lord Muruga carrying Kavadis seeking penance and blessings of the Lord.

In the United Kingdom, Highgate Hill Murugan temple is one of the oldest and most famous. In London, Sri Murugan Temple in Manor park is a well-known temple. In Midlands, Leicester Shri Siva Murugan Temple is gaining popularity recently. Skanda Vale in West Wales was founded by Guruji, a Tamil devotee of Subramaniam, and its primary deity is Lord Murugan. In Australia, Sydney Murugan temple in Parramatta (Mays Hill), Perth Bala Muruguan temple in Mandogalup and Kundrathu Kumaran temple in Rockbank, Melbourne are major Hindu temples for all Australian Hindus and Murugan devotees. In New Zealand, there is a Thirumurugan Temple in Auckland and a Kurinji Kumaran Temple in Wellington, both dedicated to Lord Murugan. In the USA, Shiva Murugan Temple in Concord, Northern California and Murugan Temple of North America[18] in Maryland, Washington DC region are popular. In Toronto, Canada, Canada Kanthasamy Temple is known amongst many Hindus in Canada. In Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a suburb of the city of Montreal in Canada, there is a monumental temple of Murugan. The Sri Sivasubramaniar Temple, located in the Sihl Valley in Adliswil, is the most famous and largest Hindu temple in Switzerland.[19]

Avebury (/ˈeɪvbri/) is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. One of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest stone circle in Europe. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to contemporary Pagans.

Constructed around 2600 BCE, during the Neolithic, or 'New Stone Age', the monument comprises a large henge (a bank and a ditch) with a large outer stone circle and two separate smaller stone circles situated inside the centre of the monument. Its original purpose is unknown, although archaeologists believe that it was most likely used for some form of ritual or ceremony. The Avebury monument was a part of a larger prehistoric landscape containing several older monuments nearby, including West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill.

By the Iron Age, the site had been effectively abandoned, with some evidence of human activity on the site during the Roman occupation. During the Early Middle Ages, a village first began to be built around the monument, which eventually extended into it. In the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods, locals destroyed many of the standing stones around the henge, both for religious and practical reasons. The antiquarians John Aubrey and William Stukeley however took an interest in Avebury during the 17th century, and recorded much of the site before its destruction. Archaeological investigation followed in the 20th century, led primarily by Alexander Keiller, who oversaw a project of reconstructing much of the monument.

Avebury is owned and managed by the National Trust, a charitable organisation who keep it open to the public. It has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument, as well as a World Heritage Site, in the latter capacity being seen as a part of the wider prehistoric landscape of Wiltshire known as Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites.

At grid reference SU10266996,[5] Avebury is respectively about 6 and 7 miles (10 and 11 km) from the modern towns of Marlborough and Calne. Avebury lies in an area of chalkland in the Upper Kennet Valley which forms the catchment for the River Kennet and supports local springs and seasonal watercourses. The monument stands slightly above the local landscape, sitting on a low chalk ridge 160 m (520 ft) above sea level; to the east are the Marlborough Downs, an area of lowland hills. The site lies at the centre of a collection of Neolithic and early Bronze Age monuments and was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in a co-listing with the monuments at Stonehenge, 17 miles (27 km) to the south, in 1986. It is now listed as part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site.[2] The monuments are preserved as part of a Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape for the information they provide regarding prehistoric people's relationship with the landscape.[6]

Radiocarbon dating and analysis of pollen in buried soils have shown that the environment of lowland Britain changed around 4,250–4,000 BCE. The change to a grassland environment from damp, heavy soils and expanses of dense forest was mostly brought about by farmers, probably through the use of slash and burn techniques. Environmental factors may also have made a contribution. Pollen is poorly preserved in the chalky soils found around Avebury, so the best evidence for the state of local environment at any time in the past comes from the study of the deposition of snail shells. Different species of snail live in specific habitats, so the presence of a certain species indicates what the area was like at a particular point in time.[7] The available evidence suggests that in the early Neolithic, Avebury and the surrounding hills were covered in dense oak woodland, and as the Neolithic progressed, the woodland around Avebury and the nearby monuments receded and was replaced by grassland.

Background

The history of the site before the construction of the henge is uncertain, because little datable evidence has emerged from modern archaeological excavations.[9] Evidence of activity in the region before the 4th millennium BCE is limited, suggesting that there was little human occupation.

Mesolithic

What is now termed the Mesolithic period in Britain lasted from circa 11,600 to 7800 BP, at a time when the island was heavily forested and when there was still a land mass, called Doggerland, which connected Britain to continental Europe.[10] During this era, those humans living in Britain were hunter-gatherers, often moving around the landscape in small familial or tribal groups in search of food and other resources. Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that there were some of these hunter-gatherers active in the vicinity of Avebury during the Late Mesolithic, with stray finds of flint tools, dated between 7,000 and 4,000 BCE, having been found in the area.[11] The most notable of these discoveries is a densely scattered collection of worked flints found 300 m (980 ft) to the west of Avebury, which has led archaeologists to believe that that particular spot was a flint working site occupied over a period of several weeks by a group of nomadic hunter-gatherers who had set up camp there.[12]

The archaeologists Mark Gillings and Joshua Pollard suggested the possibility that Avebury first gained some sort of ceremonial significance during the Late Mesolithic period. As evidence, they highlighted the existence of a posthole near to the monument's southern entrance that would have once supported a large wooden post. Although this posthole was never dated when it was excavated in the early 20th century, and so cannot definitely be ascribed to the Mesolithic, Gillings and Pollard noted that its positioning had no relation to the rest of the henge, and that it may therefore have been erected centuries or even millennia before the henge was actually built.[13] They compared this with similar wooden posts that had been erected in southern Britain during the Mesolithic at Stonehenge and Hambledon Hill, both of which were sites that like Avebury saw the construction of large monuments in the Neolithic.[14]

Early Neolithic

The two monuments of West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill were constructed in the nearby vicinity of Avebury several centuries before the henge was built.

In the 4th millennium BCE, around the start of the Neolithic period in Britain, British society underwent radical changes. These coincided with the introduction to the island of domesticated species of animals and plants, as well as a changing material culture that included pottery. These developments allowed hunter-gatherers to settle down and produce their own food. As agriculture spread, people cleared land. At the same time, they also erected the first monuments to be seen in the local landscape, an activity interpreted as evidence of a change in the way people viewed their place in the world.[13]

Based on anthropological studies of recent and contemporary societies, Gillings and Pollard suggest that forests, clearings, and stones were important in Neolithic culture, not only as resources but as symbols; the site of Avebury occupied a convergence of these three elements.[15] Neolithic activity at Avebury is evidenced by flint, animal bones, and pottery such as Peterborough ware dating from the early 4th and 3rd millennia BCE. Five distinct areas of Neolithic activity have been identified within 500 m (1,600 ft) of Avebury; they include a scatter of flints along the line of the West Kennet Avenue – an avenue that connects Avebury with the Neolithic site of The Sanctuary. Pollard suggests that areas of activity in the Neolithic became important markers in the landscape.[16]

Late Neolithic

During the Late Neolithic, British society underwent another series of major changes. Between 3500 and 3300 BCE, these prehistoric Britons ceased their continual expansion and cultivation of wilderness and instead focused on settling and farming the most agriculturally productive areas of the island: Orkney, eastern Scotland, Anglesey, the upper Thames, Wessex, Essex, Yorkshire and the river valleys of the Wash.[18]

Late Neolithic Britons also appeared to have changed their religious beliefs, ceasing to construct the large chambered tombs that are widely thought by archaeologists to have been connected with ancestor veneration. Instead, they began the construction of large wooden or stone circles, with many hundreds being built across Britain and Ireland over a period of a thousand years.[19]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avebury

This is the underground concourse connecting the East and West wings of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. - featuring "Multiverse", the light sculpture installation created by American artist Leo Villareal.

Our trip to Washington, D.C. a couple years ago was one of the more visually interesting I've been on recently. I currently don't seem to be taking many good photos, so I've been going back through the archives and, after a second look, have found quite a few more from this trip that I thought were worth posting, so here they are - enjoy!

FYI, here's the original set from this trip:

www.flickr.com/photos/timthetrumpetguy/sets/7215762722004...

No, I didn't drive my cart to school every day, but on this occasion somebody had a camera. My dog, Senator, would often walk to school with me and wait until school was over. They were good days with lot of great memories. My friend, J.W. and I were in the same Cub Scout pack and were good friends. We attended the Mt.Washington Elementary School. (Photos inside tagged Mt.Washington)

This is a photograph from the 11th annual running of the Tom Brennan Memorial 5KM Road Race and Fun Run which was held on Furze Road, Phoenix Park, Chapelizod, Dublin, Ireland on New Year's Day Friday 1st January 2016 at 12:00. The race route is a two loop course which starts and finishes on the Furze Road in the middle of the Phoenix Park. Participants follow a clockwise, right-handed, route around Furze Road, Ordnance Survey and Chesterfield Avenue. The weather was not the best for fast racing. A very very strong stormy headwind into the faces of participants along Chesterfield Avenue made this particular section tough going for everyone. There was also a particularly cold icy feel in the air. However several hundred runners, joggers and walkers braved the elements to take part.

The race is organised and promoted by the local athletics club Liffey Valley Athletic Club who are based in Islandbridge, Dublin 8 and have a catchment area around this part of Dublin city.

The race commemorates the memory and contribution of former club member Tom Brennan who won the National Cross Country Championships in 1975 in UCD Belfield at the age of 24 years. A special commemorative perpetual trophy is presented to the winner of the race every year. The race is also of particular interest to those runners, joggers and walkers who are not necessarily involved in the competitive side of the race. Annually the race is the first of a series of races in Dublin city which make up the Lord Mayor’s 5 Alive Challenge. This initiative by Dublin City Council is now in its fourth year and over 300 runners, joggers and walkers volunteer to take part in five of Dublin’s most popular road races. The Liffey Valley Club and many other volunteers work hard to make this a very successful event. It provides a splendid opening of the New Year for runners of all abilities. It is also a fitting 'official' start to the new year of road racing in the Dublin and North Leinster region.

This photograph is part of a large set of photographs which was taken at the race. The complete set is available on our Flickr page at [https://www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157662953593456]

Timing and Event Management was provided by the new Irish company MyRunResults.com. The results from today's race can be found on their website in the results section [www.myrunresults.com/results.html]

LINKS:

Our photographs from the Tom Brennan Memorial Road Race 2015: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72157649636870307

The Dublin Lord Mayor's 5 Alive Challenge Hashtag on Twitter for 2016: twitter.com/hashtag/LordMayor5Alive?src=hash

Liffey Valley AC on Twitter: twitter.com/liffeyvalleyac

The Liffey Valley AC Website Homepage: liffeyvalleyac.com/

The Liffey Valley AC Facebook Page (might require Facebook logon to access): www.facebook.com/liffeyvalleyac

Location of the Phoenix Park on OpenStreetMap: www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=53.3587&mlon=-6.3362#map=...

GPS Garmin Trace of the 5KM Road Race Route: connect.garmin.com/activity/661573721

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.

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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.

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This is a photograph from the finish of the annual Rita and Robbie's Christmas 5KM promoted by Navan AC and held at Claremont Stadium Navan in Navan, Co. Meath, Ireland on Thursday 27th December 2018 at 12:00. Just under 500 people took part making it one of the best attendances for this event in recent years. The weather for racing this year was a complete contrast to the weather from last year. In 2017 the weather was very cold with the frost from the night making road conditions icy and slippery. This year the race was held in relatively mild conditions with little or no breeze. All in all a perfect December day. There was an excellent club representation from around County Meath and surrounding areas.

The race started outside Claremont Stadium on the Robinstow Road and finished on the tartan track within the grounds of the stadium. The race followed a well known and historic 5km route which takes in the Navan Trim road moving onto Beechmount before turning back onto Navan Robinstown road back to the stadium. This route was used many times in the past for previous races hosted by the Navan Clubs. This photograph is part of a large set of photographs from today's race which is available on Flickr here at www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72157674916720797

The race is dedicated to Rita Brady and Robbie Byrne who are both stalwards of athletics in Navan with both having given a lifetime of service to the promotion of athletics in the town of Navan and beyond. Both of their involvement with Navan-based athletics can be traced back not just in years but in decades - back to the 1940s, 50s and 60s and in more recent times. The race today is a suitable way of honoring their work and dedication.

Race timing and event management was provided by MyRunResults (www.myrunresults.ie)

This photograph is part of a set of photographs from the start and finish of the race.

The Hastings Jack-in-the-Green festival was revived by local group Mad Jacks Morris Dancers in 1983 and is now one of the biggest annual gatherings of Morris Dancers in the country. The Jack is “released” every year and is central to the festival. The main procession of the Jack takes place on the May Bank Holiday Monday through the streets of Hastings Old Town, starting from the Fisherman's Museum. The Jack is accompanied by Mad Jacks Morris, the Green Bogies, dancers, giants, musicians and various others. The procession ends on the West Hill where Jack is "slain" to "release the spirit of summer"

A Jack in the Green (also Jack in the green, Jack-in-the-green, Jack i' the Green, Jack o' the Green, etc.) is a participant in traditional English May Day parades and other May celebrations, who wears a large, foliage-covered, garland-like framework, usually pyramidal or conical in shape, which covers his body from head to foot. The name is also applied to the garland itself.

May 1st has long been an important part of the annual Calendar. It is the start of summer in these latitudes and as such has always been a day for celebration: the Celts celebrated May Day as Beltane; The Romans dedicated the day to the Goddess Flora and would go to the woods to cut a tree and decorate it with ribbons and flowers, this is the origin of the May Pole. In the 16th and 17th centuries in England people would make garlands of flowers and leaves for the May Day celebration, they became increasingly elaborate. Works Guilds would try to outdo each other, in the late 18th century this became a matter for competition, milkmaids in London carried garlands on their heads with silver objects on them, but the crown had to go to the chimney sweeps. Their garland was so big it covered the entire man. It became known as Jack in the Green.

In Hastings there were at least two groups who paraded a Jack in the Green until about 1889. By the turn of the century the custom was seen no more. The reasons were twofold: the Act which stopped boys climbing chimneys had been passed and these had been the main performers; secondly the Victorians had a different attitude to such customs, the prettification of customs took place, no more the giant maypoles with drunken and promiscuous behaviour, replaced by small poles imported from Germany with happy skipping children around them. The Lord and Lady of the May with their practical joking were replaced by a pretty May Queen. Certainly there was no place for the drunken noisy Jack in the Green.

The custom was revived in Hastings by Mad Jacks Morris Dancers in 1983. We do not say we are following exactly what happened, this is a custom for now, not a fossil. Jack is returned, he is not the property of a small group of dancers, but belongs to us all. Long may he dance!

Further information about the Jack in the Green in Hastings can be obtained by reading the excellent booklet "The Hastings Jack in the Green" written by Keith Leech. Keith, a long time member of Mad Jacks Morris was instrumental in reviving the tradition in Hastings and is a usually seen dressed as a "bogie" or green man, one of Jacks' attendants, during the procession on the May Bank Holiday.

This is another exciting model of the M-ATV MRAP series. It depicts an All-Terrain MRAP Vehicle (M-ATV), this time in Extended Configuration.

As all our models it was developed in 3D software and a digital tooling was created, which was used to produce selected parts and components. Most of the parts and components were produced by rapid prototyping, using nylon for over 80% of these parts. In addition some of the nylon parts were also reinforced by metal, which made them even more durable. As its sister model in Standard Configuration, this version is also mounted on a wood finished base and protected with a clear acrylic cover. Two of these models were produced.

The model also earned high recognition for the accuracy and high level of detailing. It will possibly be followed by a series of smaller scale executive desktop models (multiples).

Diu is a town in Diu district in the union territory of Daman and Diu, India.

The town of Diu lies at the eastern end of Diu Island, and is known for its fortress and old Portuguese Cathedral. It is also a fishing town.

It is the tenth least populated district of India.

HISTORY

The town and district were historically part of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat and an important port on trade routes of Arabian sea of Indian Ocean.

Due to its strategic importance, there was a Battle of Diu in 1509 between Portugal and a combined force of Turkey, Egypt, Venice, the Republic of Ragusa (now known as Dubrovnik) and the Sultan of Gujarat, Mahmud Begada. In 1513, the Portuguese tried to establish an outpost there, but negotiations were unsuccessful. There were failed attempts by Diogo Lopes de Sequeira in 1521, Nuno da Cunha in 1523. In 1531 the conquest attempted by D. Nuno da Cunha was also not successful.

In 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat, concluded a defensive alliance with the Portuguese against the Mughal emperor Humayun, and allowed the Portuguese to construct the Diu Fort and maintain a garrison on the island.

The alliance quickly unraveled, and attempts by the Sultans to oust the Portuguese from Diu between 1537 and 1546 failed. Having repented of his generosity, Bahadur Shah sought to recover Diu, but was defeated and killed by the Portuguese, followed by a period of war between them and the people of Gujarat. In 1538, Coja Sofar, lord of Cambay, together with the Turkish Suleiman Pasha of Ottoman Empire, came to lay siege to Diu, and were defeated by Portuguese resistance led by Anthony Silveira. A second siege was imposed by the same Coja Sofar, in 1546, and repelled by the Portuguese conquerors, led on land by D. John Mascarenhas, and at sea, by D. João de Castro. Coja Sofar and D. Fernando de Castro, son of the Portuguese viceroy, perished in the struggle. The fortress, completed by Dom João de Castro after the siege of 1545, still stands.

After this second siege, Diu was so fortified that it could withstand later attacks of the Arabs of Muscat and the Dutch in the late 17th century. From the 18th century, Diu declined in strategic importance, due to development of Bombay and came to be reduced to a museum or historical landmark as commercial and strategic bulwark in the struggle between the forces of the Islamic East and Christian West.

Diu remained in the possession of the Portuguese from 1535 until 1961, when it fell in the possession of the troops of the Indian Union, which invaded all of former Portuguese India under Operation Vijay. The island was occupied by the Indian military on 19 December 1961. The Battle of Diu involved overwhelming land, sea and air strikes on the enclave for 48 hours until the Portuguese garrison there surrendered. It was declared union territory of India, Diu, Daman and Goa. Goa separated as a state in 1987 thus it became union territory of Diu and Daman.

Old Diu is known for its Portuguese architecture. Diu Fort was built in 1535 and maintained an active garrison until 1960. There are three Portuguese Baroque churches, with St. Paul’s Church, completed in 1610, being the only one still in use for its original purpose. The Church of St. Francis of Assisi, the first church built in Diu, in 1593, is now used as a hospital. St. Thomas Church is currently used as a museum. With no tall buildings except the fort, Diu has a characteristically low skyline. A very ancient Lord Shiva's Temple is located on the "Gangeswar" coast.

This is Stranger 8 out of 100

Ernesto is a jeweler from Peru. He makes jewelry mostly out of recycled wood and wire. He says his stuff is all 100% recycled, and gathers his materials from all around Toronto. Inside his store, he has a small work bench complete with a buffing wheel and a scroll saw right by the store window. Underneath the shelves, he hides all his discarded tables, chairs, and wooden objects, which he makes his jewelry out of! He displays some of his work in very ornate and detailed wooden frames, which he said his brother made for him. His brother went to school for carpentry. I bought myself a ring and necklace from him. The ring is made from a piece of hard wood, stained black, engraved, polished smooth and filled with a resin. The necklace is made of an abalone shell. He said his work is "inspired by the universe", as he posed for the photo!

Ernesto was an extremely nice man. He looked at my bag, asked me to see it. He examines it, and says "Ah! That's how they do it!" He then tells me he's trying to make a bunch of leather bags to sell, but couldn't find out how to attach the shoulder strap without weakening the body. "You teach me, I teach you!" He tells me the process he used to make the ring I bought. As I went inside his store to check out his other work, he grabs a big empty jam jar, now filled with mashed potatoes and a chicken thigh. "Kings eat this," he says. A small child in blue, about 8 years old, waves at him through a window. "Hello!" he says enthusiastically, "He's my friend," he tells me.

Ernesto's store is located in Kensington Market, though sadly, I forgot where. I'll be sure to update this with the location once I find it!

Leica M8 | 50mm F2 Summitar

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This is a PRIVATE university student housing development by FAIRFIELD RESIDENTIAL, LLC. at The University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. I designed a resort style pool area with lap pool, water volleyball pool, water basketball, heated Jacuzzi, Bar-B-Q grills...pool is approx. 4,500 sq. ft. and the pool deck is 10,000 sq. ft. The shade arbor is a very strong design element in the pool area. This student housing development and;is 1 of 12 I designed for Fairfied Residential, LLC...also, designed projects like this one for this developer in Texas, Alabama, Florida and

North Carolina.

J. Robert Wainner

The Maison Losseau is an Art Nouveau private house located in Mons, Belgium. Dating from the 18th century, it was renovated in Art Nouveau style in the early 1900s at the request of Léon Losseau by Paul Saintenoy. It is listed on the list of the exceptional heritage site of Wallonia and since 2015 houses a center for the interpretation of Léon Losseau's collections and regional literature. The house is located at number 37 rue de Nimy in Mons, next to the courthouse.

The neoclassical façade is covered with a white coating. The entrance door is detached, consisting of black cast iron columns decorated with golden leaves (1908) and fuchsia flowers of the same color.The house has very refined details. Each piece has a flower theme.The lobby has for example the theme of pink and orchid. A canopy with wooden beams overlooks the living room, which was decorated in 1911 by 15 pâte de verres of Amalric Walter representing the Belfry of Thuin and the river Sambre.

The facade, the roof and the interior of the house are classified as heritage monuments on the list of the exceptional heritage sites of Wallonia. Since 19 April 1982, the facade and the roofs are classified as heritage while the interior of the house was classified in 21 November 1983. In 2015, after a project launched in the early 2010s in anticipation of Mons 2015, a renovation began in 2011, the house reopened to the public in 2015. It houses a center for the interpretation of Léon Losseau's collections and a center for regional literature.

The original house was built in the eighteenth century. It was acquired in 1873 by Charles Losseau, the father of Léon Losseau.

Glass roof in the living room. Glass and wooden beams, stylization of rosebushes and orchids. (Daum 1905)

It was completely renovated by Paul Saintenoy who was contacted in 1899 by Léon Losseau, lawyer, bibliophile, photographer and art patron. The finishing works were entrusted to Parisian architects Henri Sauvage and Charles Sarazin and continued by the Brussels architect Louis Sauvage. Paul Saintenoy began its work in 1900 and completed it in 1904, while the majority of decorations were made between 1905 and 1912. The renovation that ended in 1913 included the addition of electricity, central heating and an elevator. Once the renovation was completed, it became the first private house in Mons equipped with electricity and central heating.

During his life, Léon Losseau accumulated more than 100,000 books in his private library, mostly devoted to politics, but also to literature and poetry. A foundation was created in 1952 to manage his legacy.