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Most misplaced name I have ever encountered in the Orchid world, it should carry a name like L. exquisita :)
first time messing w/ masks, most of this roll was destroyed. long story. the rest was just.. not successful- will try again
Most of the time the (heavy) sliding front door of this type of single truck trams remained open during the trip. During this winter joyride with 867 the door remained more closed than open. Photo taken at the now abandoned terminus President Kennedylaan.
©Henk Graalman 2443 (3-1970)
Most times I attempt to take a photo of a bird they just fly away as soon as I get near them! Thankfully, this seagull didn't move and I was really quite close when I caught this shot!
BIG thanks to the seagull 👏
Stay Safe and Healthy Everyone!
Thanks to everyone who views this photo, adds a note, leaves a comment and of course BIG thanks to anyone who chooses to favourite my photo .... Thanks to you all!
Most snails in our garden meet an untimely fate. This one was our superstar and he lived to see another day. We put him back where we found him.
711 002 departs from Zidani Most working the 17.15 Ljubljana-Murska Subota, in place of the booked Pendolino.
Most of the different kinds of Prague sidewalk stone in one spot. The coral-like cobbles are cool. Haven’t seen them in another city, but I’ve only been to western Europe.
Most furnishings and accessories are PRD Miniatures and minimodernistas. Full details are on my blog here:
John's diary is curious... there are no accounts of day-to-day events; just daily expressions of longing, pangs of separation, and desperately wanting to be with the one he loved.
Apparently, they had made an agreement that, wherever they were, they would watch the sunset every day and think of the other. Perhaps the rising and setting of the sun made them feel that their eventual reunion was to be as certain, and as eternal.
I think John here is consciously trying to create an "arty" photograph but has nonetheless perfectly expressed who he was: the graceful pose; the newspaper standing in for a book of love poems; the elegant outfit; the sand and the tide at Equihen; and a sunset that he could share with his officer in South Africa, no matter where he found himself and that promised such a joyous time to come someday.
The military post was very slow and many of John's letters arrived when he was already months dead. Meanwhile, his anguished officer-lover wrote letters begging for news and expressing utmost faith they would be together again.
John had been torpedoed already, in the Mediterranean, and until only last year we had always understood he was killed aboard SS "Boston" when it was torpedoed off Newfoundland on September 25, 1942.
But we since have learned that all the crew of the "Boston" were taken off by a destroyer, HMS "Veteran" which was itself torpedoed the very next day. This time, only two of the "Veteran"'s crew survived.
It breaks my heart to think what was going through John's mind then... perhaps, how cruel it must have seemed that he had been given a reprieve and would yet again be with the man he loved...and now, here he was again in the water and this time he would not survive.
And now the most tragic part of the story.
In recent years it's been speculated that some convoys were sent out merely as decoys to draw U-boats away from the precious troop transports...and it seems John's convoy was one of these.
As I understand it:
The "Boston" was no oceangoing vessel; it was a pleasure steamer that had formerly taken honeymooners on sunset cruises along the New England coast. Probably she should never have been on the North Atlantic in the first place. But everything that could float was needed to keep the flow of war materiel going - or so it was said.
Of all the ships that risked the Atlantic crossing during the war years, none were more important than the Cunard "Queens" - the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary - that had been quickly stripped of their luxury fittings and converted into troopships that carried as many as 18,000 men at a time. Had one of them been lost, the cost both to the war effort and morale would have been catastrophic.
Hence, convoys were sent out into waters known to be infested with U-boats to divert the enemy away from the irreplaceable Queens and other liners carrying men to the battle in Europe, including the Normandy invasion.
Sensitive, beautiful John - who loved so ardently and who stole his father's handkerchiefs for ascots - perhaps died just so that thousands of other men could make it safely across the cold, lonely Atlantic, many only to die themselves so Europe could be liberated.
I hope John and his handsome officer are sitting, arms around each other's shoulders, watching the most beautiful sunsets of all, together forever at last.
How I wish I had known him.
1. me, 2. Thank you *apple, 3. homemade*waffle, 4. me, 5. てしま旅館, 6. ヤマモモ, 7. cafe, 8. cafe, 9. me, 10. Thank you, 11. Thank you* smile, 12. cafe, 13. Thank you * dog, 14. donut, 15. cookie, 16. 小豆島, 17. flower, 18. cosmos, 19. homemade, 20. me
Created with fd's Flickr Toys
Jesuit Church - Dubrovniks most beautiful baroque complex
Church of St Ignatius
The baroque stairs connecting Gundulić Square with another square named after the great Dubrovnik physicist Ruđer Bošković are reminiscent of some etymologists who believe that the word baroque originated from the word shell. The one time venue of Shakespeares play Romeo and Juliet, the beautiful stairs very much resemble the ones leading to the Trinit? dei Monti Church in Rome from the Piazza di Spagna. Designed by the Roman architect Pietro Passalacque in 1738, the stairs lead to St Ignatius Church adjacent to the famous Jesuit school Collegium Ragusinum. The Church of St Ignatius - or the Jesuits, as the people of Dubrovnik call it - is the work of the famed Jesuit architect and painter Ignazio Pozzo, who worked on the church from 1699 to 1703.
The church was completed in 1725 and opened in 1729. The construction of both the Church and the Collegium began with the funds donated by a Jesuit from the Gundulić family, yet the donor had died before the designs were completed. The Collegium Ragusinum was actually founded because the people of Dubrovnik were dissatisfied with the Italian teachers with whom they often came into conflict. As soon as he was appointed, the Italian born head of the Dubrovnik diocese Beccadelli initiated the opening of the Jesuit Collegium in 1555.
The idea was realised as late as in 1658, after numerous problems with the ownership of the land had been solved. Namely, in order to build the Collegium and the Church, a large number of houses in the oldest part of the city had to be demolished. This complex is considered to be the finest Baroque set of buildings in Dubrovnik, and - according to many - in all of Dalmatia. It is thus not surprising that theatre directors at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival often use this venue as an open-air stage.
tekst from:
tzdubrovnik.hr/lang/en/get/sakralni_objekti/5101/church_o...
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The first column shows a cannonball shot fired from Srđ in 1814 from an English cannon during the Dubrovnik uprising against the French and their expulsion from the City. There are 2 more bullet holes on Stradun, one of which was destroyed (closed) by the owner of Orlando. The claim that these are Russian bullets from 1806 is not correct because everything is finally documented correctly and the exact information about this was given by a relative of the then English captain from whose ship the cannons were. This does not mean that Russian cannons (and Montenegrins) did not fire in 1806. On the contrary. The destruction, the number of dead and burned houses and the siege that lasted a month were much more devastating. But, as with the attack on the City in 1991/92, not much evidence remains.
Antun Tonci Karuzic
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Crkva sv. Ignacija isusovačka je crkva u Dubrovniku.
Prve je planove za izgradnju čitavog isusovačkog kompleksa s crkvom izradio tadašnji rektor kolegija Giovanni Battista Canauli. Plan je obuhvaćao rušenje crkvenih i privatnih građevina kako bi crkva stajala na dominantnom mjestu i odobren je tek 1656., nakon što je Canuli bio opozvan. Superior Orsat Ranjina započeo je s otkupom zemljišta i građevina dvije godine nakon toga. Izgradnja kompleksa započela je 1662., a sama crkva tek nakon Nastala je tijekom više od stotinu godina. Građena je kao barokna jednobrodna crkva s reprezentativnim pročeljem, po uzoru na crkvu sv. Ignacija u Rimu. Projektiralo je izradio arhitekt Andrea Pozzo, a gradnja je dovršena 1725. godine. Iluzionističke barokne freske u unutrašnjosti, s prizorima iz života sv. Ignacija Lojolskog, izveo je slikar Gaetano Garcia. Godine 1885. u crkvi je postavljena umjetna spilja, posvećena Gospi Lurdskoj, jedna od najstarijih u Europi.
Crkva je smještena na trgu zvanom Poljana Ruđera Boškovića. Na trg se pristupa monumentalnim stubištem iz 1738. godine, djelu Pietra Passalacque, građenom po uzoru na stubište Piazza di Spagna u Rimu. Na crkvu se nadovezuje Isusovački kolegij (Collegium Ragusinum), glasovito isusovačko učilište, a danas Biskupijska klasična gimnazija Ruđera Boškovića.
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Most of the Hawks have now left the area...It was such fun to spend many afternoons watching their antics!
This is the second Most Wanted Elise I have in hands... the 1st one traveled to France, I was going to keep this ones body and sell her head, but the fact is that I am liking her more and more each day, so I am thinking she is going to stick around =)
The gown has to go, but I couldn't help myself on photographing her with it on, on a "fairy tale" kind of photo...
Children work in hazardous occupations under the most intolerable conditions ranging from exposure to chemicals and other harmful substances to long tedious working hours. The ILO project's Combating Abusive Child Labour II contributes to the Government of Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate child labour, including its worst forms (WFCL).
The photo is from the nation-wide photo competition on child in 2012. ©ILO/Abul Rauf.
Learn more about the ILO's Combating Abusive Child Labour II project: www.ilo.org/islamabad/whatwedo/projects/WCMS_143210/lang-....
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.
لو يذكر الزيتون غارسهُ، لصار الزيت دمعاً
محمود درويش
"If the olive trees know the hands that planted them, their oil would become tears." Mahmoud Darwish.
On Saturday 25 May, University College London (UCL) students called on the support of other students and supporters across London to rally outside their Gaza pro-ceasefire encampment after the announcement that a pro-Israel rally would take place outside their main gate that afternoon.
One of the most frequently heard chants by students on this and other days was
"Disclose, Divest,
We will not stop,
We will not rest."
Among the crowd there were many students from the neighbouring School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) where an encampment had already been established about two weeks earlier.
SOAS students earlier published a list of demands including, according to two metre high placard at their encampment -
1. Disclose - Full details of all university investments
2. Divest - from companies complicit in Israel's denial of Palestinian rights - [a list of specific companies followed which included Barclays Bank, Alphabet (Google/Alphabet) and Microsoft.]
3. Terminate - the university's banking and lending arrangement with Barclays
4. Boycott - Israeli academic institutions which are complicit in the violation of Palestinian human rights, including the University of Haifa
5. Commit - to supporting Palestinian education and the rebuilding of Gaza's Schools and Hospitals. Establish partnerships and exchanges with Palestinian institutions and academics. Increase scholarships for Palestinian students. Advocate for removal of restrictions for pro-Palestinian expression.
6. Guarantee - the right of students and staff to express solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation including in research, speech and actions.
7. Advocate - for the UK government to implement an arms embargo on Israel, to call for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire.
As of the date of posting (4 June 2024) at least 36,932 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October, including more than 15,000 children. An estimated 10,000 are missing, of whom most are probably dead. An unknown number of additional deaths due to excess mortality from food shortages, disease and difficulties in obtaining essential medical care and medicines. More than 82,000 Palestinians have been injured, many of them with life-changing injuries including many amputations. According to the United Nations, as of 2 June, more than half of all residential buildings have been destroyed or damaged but with some key infrastructure the destruction is even more devastating - including 80% of commercial facilities and 86% of school buildings damaged or destroyed. Additionally some 83% of groundwater wells are no longer operational.
ttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker
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Although this image is being posted on an attribution noncommercial share alike basis CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED, the following organisations and publications listed on the link below are also welcome to reproduce it even if it is for commercial purposes. However please publish the image on the same attribution noncommercial share alike basis. For more info or if any other organisation, person or publication wishes to publish this photo on a commercial basis please email me at alisdare@gmail.com.
Most people never leave the piazza. This side of the island was like something out of Homer. There is no azure blue like this anywhere else in the world..... by Rossano - Kodachrome transparency, 1965 Canon SLR
Most of the town of Veliko Tarnovo is built on a hill. That offers great views of the valley and river below as well as the housing along the hillside.
Most of the tall ships are non-profit and devoted to teaching early American history and training future sailors. Many offer passage between ports as they sail to festivals. The Festival returns to Chicago in July 2016.
Camera - EOS 1V
Film - Kodak TMAX ISO-400
Lens - EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS
Chicago Tall Ships Festival
Navy Pier
Chicago, IL
August 2013
Autumn is my most favorite time of the year. So warm but with a layer of crisp coolness you can feel coating your lungs.
There is a certain melancholy to it, a wave goodbye from your loved one leaving on a train. Not to return for a year.
Autumn colors are so bright and warm they almost burn themselves into you so you can feel them all winter long burning like a candle deep inside, reminding you it will come back for that glorious few weeks again. Gray skies don't seem as dark, bare branches don't seem as lonely, and there is a little sparkle of hope in it.
The colors are so heartbreakingly deep and vivid. It compels you to fill your home with baked goods filled with cinnamon and apple cider heated on stove tops and fruit filled pies. Fleece lined pants and flannel shirts and tall striped socks and hand knitted scarves and soft cozy blankets laid across laps. Watching fire burn in the fireplace making you feel grateful for the home you live in. yes, Autumn does all of that.
The trees on my street are nearly all bare. The color show is almost over and I still have a hard drive full of every leaf that called out my name and said "Pick Me! Look how the sun filters through me" I took all of their pictures and now you all must suffer through them. Here, Have a couple more below. It will take me until next autumn to post them all. Happy November 1st. :)
Most folks never see or think about the pillars on bridges. I loved the look of this old pillar on the Third Ave. Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis MN. It has the look of ancient lands and still has the power to support our daily commutes...unlike some newer construction, unfortunately. This image was taken from a condo high above the river.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Avenue_Bridge_(Minneapolis)sal
One of Sri Lankas’s most eye-catching sights is that of the stilt fishermen of Weligama, a fishing village on the south coast of the island. These fishermen are often photographed at a distance, for example, from the beach. This causes the pictures - men, stilts, waves, horizon, rods and lines - to become rather abstract. It gives them an almost unreal quality rather like a calendar shot - beautiful but superficial.
As a photojournalist, I wanted to move away from this romantic cliché and get closer to what it was really like. The reality of the situation is that these fishermen, who represent the idyllic view we have of Sri Lanka, are in fact very poor and often live with two or three families in one house. The long hours they spend on the stilts are hard work and physically very demanding.
I took one camera with a wide angle lens and a flash unit and waded through the surf to where the fishermen were. Before I could start taking photos, I had to promise to pay them, which I gladly did.
When the day came to an end and the light was fading fast, their work was done. They came down from their stilts and quietly made their way home. The beach was empty, the photographers were gone. This was the moment where I managed to capture another, more intimate and realistic side of the Weligama stilt fishermen.
To capture the colors in the sky, I measured the light and underexposed 1 stop. I used a fill in flash to expose the foreground
Join the TRVL Photo Community for more.
Speed: 1/30 sec.
Aperture: F 3.5
ISO: 320
Camera: Nikon D2x
Lens settings: 20 mm
Flash: fill in
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
In the period immediately after the Second World War the world found itself with hundreds of thousands of surplus aircraft and just as many surplus aviators. Most aircraft would meet the salvage blade and the smelter’s fiery furnace. Most pilots would return to civilian life, the bulk of them never to fly again.
With the plethora of military aircraft languishing in desert lots awaiting a certain fate, some of those disenfranchised aviators and aircraft designers would look to new growing markets for salvation. One of these emerging markets was the new-found requirement for fast and capable business transport aircraft for executives looking to link business interests across the vast distances of the nation. With few purpose-built business aircraft available for executives, medium bombers became the drug of choice for high flying big shots—fast, powerful and, with the right interior appointments, a visual statement of their success and power.
In early variants like the Executive, On Mark simply removed military equipment and replaced them with fairings and civil avionics, sealed the bomb bay doors, soundproofed the cabin, and added additional cabin windows. Later models had special wing spars designed to give more interior room, pressurization and equipment from bigger surplus aircraft such as DC-6 brakes and flat glass cockpit windows. It was an elegant mashing together of equipment, but it was not a true business aircraft.
In the Sixties, Jet Craft Ltd. of Las Vegas, Nevada, went for a different interpretation of the same topic: The company had purchased a number of former Royal Australian Air Force Vampire trainers and RCAF single-seaters, which were to be converted to a new design for a business aircraft called 'Mystery Jet', offering 4-8-seats.
Jet Craft worked with stellar British conversion experts Aviation Traders to do the structural design work. Aviation Traders Limited (ATL) was a war-surplus aircraft and spares trader formed in 1947. In 1949, it began maintaining aircraft used by some of Britain’s contemporary independent airlines on the Berlin Airlift. In the early 1950s, it branched out into aircraft conversions and manufacturing.
Aviation Traders worked on the drawings and the structural mock-ups. A full-scale mock-up of the Mystery Jet languished at Southend airport for a decade, trying to lure owners and operators into buying it. And this actually happened: about twenty former Vampire airframes were converted into Mystery Jet business aircraft, tailored to the customers' needs and desires.
The Mystery Jet was just what it looked like: a former De Havilland Vampire with a new, roomy nose section grafted onto it. The cabin was pressurized, and was available in two different lengths (130 and 160 inches long, with two or three rows of seats and reflected in the aircraft's title) and several window and door options - the most exotic option being the "Landaulet" cabin which featured a panoramic roof/window installation over the rear pair of seats (or, alternatively, a two-seat bench).
The original Goblin engine was retained, CG was retained due to the fact that the new cabin was, despite being considerably longer than the Vampire's nose, the biggest version being more than 8 feet longer. The new front section was much lighter, though, e. g. through the loss of the heavy cannons and their armament, as well as some more military avionics. The loss of fuel capacity through the enlarged cabin was compensated through fixed wing tip tanks, so that range was on par with the former military jet, just top speed and ceiling were slightly inferior.
Anyway, prices were steep and from the United States more modern and economical offerings ruled the market. Maintaining a former military jet was also a costly business, so, consequently, after a slight buzz (more of a hum, actually) in the early Seventies, the Mystery Jet and Jet Craft of Las Vegas, also fuelled by some dubious business practices by the company's owner, disappeared. Even further developments of the original concept, e .g. with a wide body for up to 14 passengers and two engines, would not save the Mystery Jet from failure.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1 pilot plus 5-7 passengers
Length (Mystery Jet 160): 38 ft 5 in (11.73 m)
Wingspan incl. tip tanks: 39 ft 7 1/2 in (12.09 m)
Height: 8 ft 10 in (2.69 m)
Wing area: 262 ft² (24.34 m²)
Empty weight: 7,283 lb (3,304 kg)
Max. take-off weight: 12,390 lb (5,620 kg)
Powerplant:
1× de Havilland Goblin 3 centrifugal turbojet, rated at 3,350 lbf (14.90 kN)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 516 mph (832 km/h)
Cruising speed: 400 mph (644 km/h)
Range: 1,220 mi (1,960 km)
Service ceiling: 37,700 ft (11,500 m)
Armament:
None
The kit and its assembly:
The first finished work in 2017 is a different kind of whif, one of the few civilian models in my collection. This conversion looks sick, but ,as weird as it may seem, the Business-Jet-From-Vintage-Vampires idea was real. For more information, and the source from where some of the backgound story was gathered, please check:
www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tabid/116/article...
Anyway, my build is just a personal interpretation of the original concept, not a true model of the Mystery Jet. In fact, this was limited through the donor parts for this kitbash.
The rear end was the smaller problem: Airfix offers a very good Vampire T.11 trainer with excellent detail and fit - the passenger cabin was the bigger challenge. Finding "something" that would fit in shape and especialsl size was not easy - my first choice was a nose section from a vintage 1:100 Antonow An-24 from VEB Plasticart (still much too wide, though), and the best solution came as an accidental find in a local model kit shop where I found a heavily discounted MPM Focke Wulf Fw 189 B-0 trainer.
The reason: the kit was complete, but the bag holding the sprues must have been heated immensely during the packaging process: the main sprues were horrible warped - except for some single parts including the canopies and the sprue with the cabin! Height wind width were perfect, only the boxy shape caused some headaches. But I guess I would not find anything better...
That said, the transplantation mess started. I never built any of the two donor kits before, so I carefully tried to find the best place where to cut the Vampire's nose - I ended up with a staggered solution right in front of the wing root air intakes.
The Fw 189's cabin was bit more tricky, because I had to get rid of the original wing roots and wanted to use as much space as possible, up to the rear bulkhead and together with the rear cabin window. The idea was to blend the Fw 189's roof line into the Vampire's engine section, while keeping the original air intake ducts, so that the overall arrangement would look plausible.
The result became a pretty long nose section - and at that time the tail booms were not fited yet, so I was not certain concerning overall proportions. The cabin's underside had to be improvised, and blending the boxy front end with a flat underside into the tubby, round Vampire fuselage caused some headaches. I also had to re-create the lower flank section with styrene sheet, because I had originally hoped that I could "push" the new cabin between the wing roots - but that space was occupied by the Goblin's inlet ducts.
Inside of the cabin, the original floor, bulkheads and dashboard were used, plus five bucket seats that come with the MPM kit. In order to hide the body work from the inside, side panels from 0.5mm styrene sheet were added in the cabin - with the benefit of additional stability, but also costing some space... Since the machine was built with closed cabin, a pilot was added - actually a bash of a WWII Matchbox pilot and a German officer from an ESCI tank kit. Looks pretty good and "professional". ;-)
Once the cabin was in place, lots of PSR followed and the tail booms could be fitted. To my relief, the longer nose did not look too unbalanced (and actually, design sketches for the original Mystery Jet suggest just this layout!) - but I decided to add wing tip tanks which would beef up wingspan and shift the visual mass slightly forward. They come from an 1:100 Tamiya Il-28, or better the "R" recce variant.
The only other big change concerned the nose wheel. While the OOB wheel and strut were used, the well is now located in front of the wheel and it would retract forwards, giving the nose a more balanced look - and the cabin arrangement made this change more plausible, too.
Another addition were three small porthole windows in the solid parts of the cabin flanks - one of them ending up in the middle of the cabin door on starboard, where a solid part of the canopy roof lent itself for a good place just behind the pilots' seats.
Painting and markings:
I cannot help it, but the thing looks like a design from a vintage Tintin or Yoko Tsuno comic! This was not planned or expected - and actually the paint scheme evolved step by step. I had no plan or clue what to apply - the real Mystery Jet mock-up in silver with blue trim looked sharp, but somehow I did not want blue. So I started with the interior (out of a necessity, as the fuselage had to be closed before any further work progress at some point) and settled for plushy, British colors: Cream (walls and roof) and Claret-Red (carpet and seats).
I tried to find something for the outside that would complement this choice of colors, and eventually settled on Ivory and White (upper and lower fuselage halves, respectively) with some deep red trim, plus pale grey wing surfaces. I even considered some thin golden trim lines, but I think this would have been too much?
The trim was created with decals tripes from generic sheet material, the black anti-glare panel was painted, though. As a color contrast I painted some of the upper canopy panels in translucent, light blue, and this looks very good.
The wings received a lightb treatment with thinned black ink, in order to emphasize the engravings. No post-shading was done, though, for a rather clean look.
Most markings were puzzled together; the registration G-AZRE actually belonged to a Vickers Vanguard (from the 1:144 Airfix kit), the large letters above and under the wings were created with single 45° letters (USAF style). Most stencils come from a Vampire trainer aftermarket sheet from Xtradecal, from the OOB sheet only the "No step" warnings on the wings were used.
Finally, the kit was sealed with a semi-matt coat of varnish, except for the anti-glare panel, which recived a matt coat. The three small windows received artificial panes made from Clearfix, after their rims had been painted black.
A messy project, and you better do not take a close look. But the overall elegance of this creation surprises me - the real Mystery Jet already looked sleek, and this model, despite a more blunt nose, confirms this impression. The colors work together well, too - and the thing has a dedicated retro feel about it. Tintin might be on board, as well as Elton John, both sharing a cigar on the rear seats... ;)
Most of the day was cloudy, but every so often the sky would clear for a bit and the sun would shine. Even without the sun for long stretches, it was a fairly pleasant day. The snow continues to melt and with a couple of warmer days forecast, we decided to get the grill out for the first time this year. Oh how I had missed a perfectly grilled cheeseburger!
1. Good morning, my friends, 2. 7th inning stretch, 3. Beaded with raindrops, 4. ♥ Ascent, 5. Saturday abstract ~ #85, 6. A fine line, 7. Volcano, 8. In Paradise,
9. What iz it?, 10. Blue reflected, 11. Like a wedding dress, 12. Breakfast orange ~ #29, 13. Spiral, 14. Singing the blues, 15. Abstract for Saturday ~ #26, 16. Burning with the fire of life,
17. Through the glass ~ #87 and #59, 18. Artichoke flower macro, 19. Smile :), 20. Open, Sesame! ~ #13 and #70, 21. Greens ~ #79, 22. Cleared for take-off ~ #112, 23. Sisters ~ #41, 24. Bookstract,
25. Wet, 26. White floribunda rose after a second day of rain, 27. All's right, 28. I give you my heart, Aurelia, 29. Tilt ~ #94, 30. Orchid portrait ~ #99, 31. Uncertainty, 32. Khaki orchid ~ #11,
33. Twirl, 34. Radiant red, 35. Pineapple flower, 36. Links, 37. Miniature reflections ~ #25 and #93, 38. Wicker ~ #91, 39. New leaves ~ #73 and #74, 40. Mellow molten gold,
41. What about "Clip nest"?, 42. Rusty mail ~ #78, 43. Artichoke flower bloomed today, 44. Not a shadow of a doubt..., 45. Blue tissue abstract ~ #19, 46. No, not me, 47. Over my head ~ #44, 48. Saturday abstract ~ #33,
49. Up close and personal, 50. This vintage rose is a white haiku ~ #20 and #106, 51. Another wonderful fence!, 52. Primarily reflections ~ #25, 53. Passing by, 54. Giant bird of paradise, 55. Qigong, 56. Ablaze,
57. The gate ~ #21 and #8, 58. Tutti Frutti tablecloth, 59. Looking in at Paradise, 60. Terrified, 61. Stressed, 62. Traffic ~ #55 and #7, 63. Globe artichoke in full bloom, 64. S,
65. Sunset at Glass Mountain, 66. Repossessed..., 67. White is rose ~ #47, 68. Hot pink petals ~ #8 and #62, 69. It takes both rain and sunshine to make a beautiful rainbow. If life is to be rounded and full of many colors like a rainbow, both sorrow and joy must come into it., 70. Zigzag, 71. A Peruvian knitter and her baby, 72. Plains coreopsis center
This is most of the camera gear (on the electronics side) I own. Check notes for details.
In the Pelican 1550 (center), I carry my cameras & glass--everything except the 70-200 f2.8 IS. Still trying to figure out whether to stuff it in here or not. I'll probably end up getting the padded divider kit for a little more stuffing room.
In the Seahorse SE520's, I carry all the miscellaneous stuff--wires, filters, spare clamps, bungees, Pocket Wizards, whatever. I usually only travel with one, so it's my "useful" case and the other is mostly for storage.
I throw a reusable silica pack in each box just for good measure.
Most of the time I pack out what I need in a Lowepro Vertex 300AW, but this is how I store everything when I won't be shooting for a while, or going on long road trips.
I originally got these boxes when I was the ship's photographer onboard USS LOS ANGELES (SSN 688). They were much safer being stowed in the belly of the beast, since it's near impossible to move about without banging against everything. Plus, in a submarine atmosphere (which contains multiple known carcinogens, and is a generally oily and unpleasant environment) the airtight seal protected my gear from contamination from airborne refrigerant, oil, polyamine, and paint fumes.
Not included is my laptop & paraphernalia, other travel options, and my light stands & modifiers. Stay tuned!
“Hello, citizens of the world we all came here today to celebrate the death of the foe Envy.” The crowd cheered me on.
“We love you!” Most of the crowd yelled to me, cheering for me. They thought that I was the hero, but the real hero was Tyler.
“But, we all lost somebody we loved in the time Envy was walking, we all did, yet we will continue on with living our precious lives. A friend once told me that our life is like a book; we decide what happens and which path we would take. So, all of our stories will continue if we want them to.” I closed my eyes, and went off the stage I was on; I couldn’t take the pain. Tyler was my friend, but I let him die. Now I knew why Rikku was so upset about us leaving Andrea; we could have saved her, but we didn’t.
“Yuni, come here!” It was Rikku waving her hand. Her other hand held the hand of Suki, her secret daughter.
“What do you want, Rikku?” I asked. I hadn’t talked to Rikku or the others for two days, since Tyler’s death.
“You have to look at what I found when I was sphere hunting. Suki and I already watched it and, well, we thought you should look at it.” She handed me a red sphere that was in her pocket of her jean short shorts. The glass was slowly burning my skin until I squeezed it.
“Oh my god...is that?”
“Yes, it is Tyler or at least somebody that looks like him.” This was just making me feel more guilty about what happened to Tyler. He was inside of a cage, going insane.
“I can’t watch this. Show Luku about it she might know where it came from.” The pain was becoming unbearable, the pain of a broken heart.
“Yeah, Rikku. Let’s get, Luka.” Suki pulled Rikku’s hand. “Yuni, you are coming with us.”
“I rather stay home.” But, Suki grabbed my hand and pulled Rikku and I with her. Gosh, this girl is strong, I thought.
“Plus, we should visit Basil again. It is would be good to see our old home.” Suki and Rikku moved out of Rikku’s mom house right after we defeated Envy. They moved into a house in FayetteVille, a place a couple hours away from Basil. “I miss it.”
“Suki, I told you mom doesn’t want me there because she does not like the fact that I am part of the Ali Vran. She says it is cursed.” The little girl was still pulling both of us. I knew that she wanted to be exactly like her ‘sister’ but I thought she was pushing herself too far.
“So, we could still visit.” Suki did not know the real reason why Rikku moved out of the house, it was her dad not her mom.
At Luka’s house:
RING RING! We rang Luka’s doorbell, nobody answered. So, we rang it again. Luka opened the door with her youngest child, Von, in her arms. Violet was playing with Moxie Girlz in their front room. “Oh my god, guys! Wilden, Yuni, Rikku, and Suki are here!” Wilden went down the stairs. They were both wearing bathrobes.
“Hey, Luka.” We had to break her the news about Tyler’s disappearance.
“Where’s Tyler and Kirami?” Luka seemed shocked to see us without them by our side.
“Kirami went back to his family and Tyler...” I broke down in tears before I could finish my sentence.
“Disappeared?”
“How do you know that?” Then I realized Luka could read minds, but I couldn’t take back what I said.
“Well, I can read minds. I knew all this time, yet Tyler begged me to keep it a secret because he knew you would stop the journey and not kill his father. And, I knew ever since the incident with Si.” That angered me that Luka knew all this time about Tyler’s secret. “You have to understand why.”
“Tyler could be still here, and Andrea also. Two lives could have been saved if you told us. Andrea wouldn’t be a dark priest and Tyler would be here next to me.” I made Rikku, Suki, and Wilden too scared to talk with my anger.
“You loved him, didn’t you?” Luka wasn’t frightened by me, so she glared at me.
“Correction: I LOVE him. No loved, love!” My finger went into Luka’s face.
“Um, Luka, we came here to show you this sphere.” Rikku gave Luka her sphere, and then comforted Suki. She hugged her; she loved her.
“Let’s see.” Luka saw what the sphere showed. She looked scared for once in her life.
“Oh crap. This can’t be tracked; it somewhere out of this world.” Rikku stopped hugging Suki and ran up to Luka.
“What do you mean?” Suki questioned while she walked over to Luka.
“That means you have to look somewhere else but Earth.” Luka gave Rikku the sphere. Wilden hadn’t moved since he went down the stairs. Sometimes, I felt like Wilden was the brother of Kirami, but he wasn’t. They were the same, yet completely different.
“Then we have to search, be sphere hunters. It seems like we could only find him that way.” Rikku put the sphere back in the pocket. After that, she fixed her pink dotted tank top. Her boots were as black as night even when the sun hit them. Suki wore the same black dress and boots. So, I fixed my white dress.
“Okay.” I accepted Rikku’s invitation to join her.
“But, first I have to show you the team I have for cases like this.” She got a panel from her purse, and pressed a button on it. A couple seconds later an aircraft land in Luka’s huge front yard. Violet stared at it in wonder through a window.
“Oh my god.” The ship was a shiny red rooter. It was one of the biggest things I ever seen in my life; Luka’s front year being number one biggest thing ever.
“You have to meet the team! Suki, stay here for a moment.” Rikku pulled my hand, and I figured out why Suki was so good at it. I was getting tired of people pulling on my hands.
“How many of you are there?”
“You see when we get inside.” Rikku ran, so I had to because she wouldn’t let go of my hand. My hand was starting to turn red she was holding on it so hard.
“Here goes nothing.”
“Don’t be that way.” I felt like saying then let go of my hand to Rikku, but I couldn’t say it. She was one of the little friends I had left alive.
Inside the ship:
When we stepped on the floor it made an echoing sound that rung my ears. “Oh, sorry for that. You will get used to the sound eventually.” Rikku hadn’t let go of my hand yet. I couldn’t feel the blood go to my hand.
“Rikku, my hand is falling asleep,” I complained. She turned back to me, and rolled her eyes.
“You have to meet them. Let’s see there is Kimber, Fatima, my brother, Buddy, Stewart, Lee, Thunder, and Hail. We will be like the most awesome team ever when you join us.” So, there was eight people I had to meet, I noted. I usually didn’t note myself, but when Tyler disappeared from my life I kept keeping note of things.
“Where are them?”
“They should all be at the control room, Yuni. If not their rooms or the mature playroom.” Rikku seemed happy that I was about to meet her friends that she worked with.
“Alright.” When I finished saying alright we reached a see through door that showed a room with eight people in it. I knew only Andru, Rikku’s brother, from all of them. The doors made a beeping sound when they opened.
“Who’s this, Rikku?” A girl with a half-shaved head of brown hair with gray highlights. “I hate it when you bring in all of these random people.”
“Kimber, give her a break.” Another girl came up. Her face was two ways, two different faces on one. One had brown curly hair, green eyes, and black skin the other had straight black hair, blue eyes, and pale skin.
“Shut up, Fatima.” The woman with the half-shaved hair glared at two-face.
“Fatima is right, Kimber, stop being this way.” Rikku’s brother shouted his words from the other side of the room.
“Can we just have one day without a fight?” A man that had red hair and dark skin was right next to Andru complained about how they always fight. That made me have second thoughts about this plan to join Rikku.
“I wish, Buddy, but there is always two certain people who won’t give each other a break,” Andru, Rikku's brother, answered.
“Well, I think Kimber is right about you guys need to shut up.” Then I saw another girl with pale pink hair, pale skin, and gray eyes.
“Thunder, urgh, you always do this.” The girl next to the girl with the pink hair slapped her head. “Urgh.”
“Hail, stop complaining, and everybody in this room should just stay quiet for one millisecond!” Then a man with brown hair got out of a chair and went up to Rikku and I. “Who are you anyways?” He popped my personal bubble.
“Layoff, Stewart.” The last man had blue eyes, black hair, and tannish skin. “Make our new member feel welcomed.”
“Who says she is our new member? We don’t even know her name yet and you are acting like she is your sister, Lee! This girl could be from MARKA for all we know.” I hated the man that was in my bubble for saying that. He doesn’t know I hate MARKA because of what they did to Andrea and many other poor souls.
“My name is Yuni thank you very much. Also, my crew and I just destroyed MARKA’s toy, Envy.” The man that was in my face went away from me in utter shock. He just called a hero a traitor; I wasn’t a traitor in anyway. So, he walked away from me.
“Well, I guess you now know how it is like everyday. But, these people are still loveable once you get to know them.” The woman with the grayish-brown hair flicked Rikku off, yet Rikku didn’t seem to mind.
“So, its you the lucky b*tch who killed Envy. Ha ha, nice to meet you my name is Kimber.” It was the girl with the shaved head that was talking.
“Nice to meet you too.” I wanted to make a good impression on these people because I knew that I was going to be with them for a very long time.
“And, that girl over there with the two faces is Fatima.”
“So sorry, but I have to go.” Fatima ran out of the room to who knew where.
“Don’t worry she is always like that with new people. It used to be only me, my brother, Kimber, and Fatima until I meet new people.” There was a frown on Kimber’s face when I looked behind me. “The two girls with pink hair over there that look like clones are Hail and Thunder. They might look alike, but they do not act alike at all.”
“It was the same way with my old friends in first grade. I miss the days that I was a naive child that thought the only evil in this world would be destroyed like they were in Disney movies.” But, those days are long gone, I told myself.
“The man with my brother is Daniel but call him Buddy. And, the one fighting with you was Stewart and the last person is Lee. That is are little group.”
“Count me in.” I was glad to be part of their group because I knew they would bring me to Tyler.
“Okay, so here is the plan, Yuni.”
Two years later:
“Where this, Yuni, Kimber and I will figure out who is doing this.” Rikku gave me a bunny costume. “We will track down the impersonator. And, remember call Andru and the others if you are in trouble.” First, Rikku forced me to become a pop singer for their plan and now she was making me where this stupid bunny thing.
“Alright.” It had been two years, but we hadn’t found any more clues about Tyler’s whereabouts.
“Cheer up, Rikku and I got this in the bag.” Kimber was the same girl she was two years ago. Her hair was a tad bit longer, but Kimber still wore torn jeans everyday along with a goth shirt and tons of makeup.
“We will be done in no time.” Rikku was the same too. The same blonde hair tied together in a thousand ponytails and the same type of clothing, tank tops and short shorts. She was lucky it never got cold in South America anymore.
“What will I do if you guys are in trouble?” I should have known the answer to that question.
“Kick a*s like you always do.” Sometimes, I didn’t like Kimber’s attitude. She was too much of a rebel in my opinion. When the went away to bust the bad guy I put the bunny costume on. It was the most uncomfortable thing I wore in my entire life; I was sweating heavily also to make it even more unbearable.
“Gosh, I hate it when they have to do stuff without me.” But, I remembered most of the others had to sit in the ship during the missions. Some were too scared, some were ship specialist, and the others were excluded.
“I know,” Andru said. Dang it I forgot to turn out the radio...again. I did it all the time, and Andru or Buddy held me talking to myself.
“Do you know what Hail, Thunder, Buddy, Fatima, Lee, Suki and Stewart are doing?” I yawned.
“The others are upgrading the aircraft right now.” Most people on our team were masters of fixing things and fighting and I was the only one who knew magic. Suki was accepted into the group one year after me to my surprise, but Rikku did want Suki to always be with her.
“Do you know what your father is doing?” I hated saying those words because I knew what he did to Rikku years ago. Nothing was going to change my mind about him; anybody who raped their own daughter deserved to go to hell.
“No, I don’t know he hasn’t talked to me in weeks on end. He is probably busy with other Vran stuff.” The Vran didn’t know that Rikku and Andru were working with many other people that were not part of them. But, if they did figure out Rikku was hiding other people on the aircraft they would suspend her and the rest of her family from their team.
“That’s a bummer.” At this point I wanted to know where he was to rip him into pieces. His heart in my hands will be my award. Andru didn’t know what his father did, at least yet.
“I know. He’s my dad and I need him here.” But, I knew Rikku would become paranoid if her father came onto her ship.
“Yeah...he should be here,” I lied. I couldn’t tell Andru that his father was the worst man in the universe. That was something Rikku needed to do not me.
“Rikku says it is better off without him. She gets this idea that our father isn’t a good man.” So, Andru knew about Rikku’s hate for him, but not why that is. Knowing Andru, he probably thought it was because he didn’t talk to Rikku or Suki or him for a long time.
“She has her reasons.”
“It better be good ones.” Oh it is Andru, I thought, something absolutely horrible.
“Talk to you later.”
“Stay safe, okay, Yuni?”
“I will, Andru.” Yet, I knew that I was lying. All I was doing was getting in danger’s path to save Tyler.
“Good.” I disconnected my radio, and whistled. It was something I did everyday ever since Tyler went away. But, my hopes were always crushed when there was no answer.
“Thank god that is over.” Then I realized somebody was calling me on the radio, so I connected it back. I hoped it wasn’t Andru calling me about nothing important.
“Yuni, come to the front of the arena. We got ourselves in a mess here.” The voice on the radio was Rikku’s. “MARKA!”
“Crap, i’m coming.” I took off my bunny thing thinking that was all for nothing at all.
“Be quick I think this is serious.” Luckily for me, I was right next to the entrance, and saw them. It was one of the MARKA people who were crazy enough to join them. So, I jumped out of my hiding spot and stood my guard. I took out one of the guns I had and pointed it at the person.
“You are outnumbered here.” Kimber secretly had the panel she had in her hands and pressed one of the buttons on it. Then the ship, whose name was Red Feather, appeared behind us. Fatima, Andru Buddy, Hail, Thunder, and Suki jumped out of it, landing on their feet. Stewart and Lee were inside the aircraft making sure it didn’t crash.
“MARKA, you are going down.” Thunder took out her lightning nunchucks. She did was swinging them around making a display of lightning. Thunder didn’t care that her name wasn’t lightning she still loved the shocking beauty and pain of it.
“You’re so full of yourself, sis.” Hail showed her sith to battle the threat.
“What are we waiting for?” Suki still had the axe that she stole from her sister years back. It was her favorite weapon she had, and always will be.
“I don’t know,” Andru responded while taking out his sword, the classic weapon. Fatima took her weapon out last, a club covered with spikes.
“Let’s just get this over with. All of you guys love making a scene before everything we do.” Fatima was ready to fight with us. Rikku had her daggers, and Kimber had a sword in flames.
“Yeah, come at us you b*tch,” Kimber said. She pulled her tongue out to egg the agent on. And, that was why I thought she was being too rebellious.
“Ha, fouls.” When the agent snapped her finger I smelled smoke. That was when I turned around and saw Red Feather falling, bursting into flames with Stewart and Lee inside it.
“NO!” All of us ran towards the falling plane, but it had crashed somewhere we couldn’t see. Stewart and Lee were dead because everybody else was outside the aircraft fighting MARKA. The death count just kept on rising and rising of remarkable speeds; it made me have a bad feeling in my stomach.We turned around once again and saw that there were hundreds of MARKA agents behind us.
“We are going to die,” Fatima commented. But, somebody jumped out of nowhere and started to attack. Then even more people came out from hiding spots and fought the MARKA. There were about five people who were going against them, so we decided to help them.
“What a relief.” Hail slashed up one of the agents with her sith. “Take that you jerks!” We were all fighting with this mysterious crew that appeared out of nowhere. To my surprise, nobody from the arena had came out yet. Then we saw hundreds of MARKA bodies on the ground, dead like Stewart and Lee.
“Wow, that was fun.” I could tell Kimber was being sarcastic with that statement.
“Knock it off,” Fatima commanded. Her eyebrows were going up in anger; I wouldn’t blame her because mine were too.
“How can you joke in this situation, Kimber? Lee and Stewart are DEAD and you are making stupid jokes.” I was siding with Fatima in this fight.
“Guys, stop acting like this is some type of soap opera. Can have a day without drama, a single day!” Hail screamed. The girl was tired of all of the stuff that was happening with the group.
“I surely hope.” Rikku probably didn’t like the fact that I sided with Fatima. I usually stayed in the middle of the fights, but I couldn’t this time around.
“We sometimes need jokes to make us feel better! Kimber just heals differently than all of you.” Thunder was always on Kimber’s side; they thought alike so they sided with each other.
“Why can’t you guys just get along?” Andru was against us fighting all the time. “Stewart and Lee died and all you guys are doing is fighting! Gosh, drama these days.” It used to annoy me the fighting, but I got used to it.
“STOP FIGHTING IT IS JUST MAKING US WASTE PRECIOUS TIME!” Suki commanded. We looked at her, shocked.
“Nice group you got there.” One of the five people that popped out of nowhere came out, well, from nowhere. The person was wearing something a ninja from old movies wore, and was carrying a chainsaw.
“Shut up.” Kimber went into his face like Stewart did to me two years ago. “Why don’t you go run along with your other friends.”
“What other friends? The only people here when I got here were you and those MARKA agents...wait Rikku, Yuni! What’s up?” The figure took off his mask, it was Kirami.
“Kirami, what are you doing here?” I asked. I hadn’t seen my old friend since Tyler disappeared two years ago. Sometimes it was good to see a face you know, especially a friend’s.
“I was just walking by.”
“Well, me and my cuz are fine, thank you very much.” Rikku wrapped her arm around me.
“Trying to find Tyler?” he questioned. Okay, I thought, Kirami knew me like the back of his hand.
“Yes, and the MARKA headquarters. We might be able to free Andrea if we do find it.” Then I realized neither me or Rikku told the others about Andrea yet.
“Who’s this Andrea girl anyways?” Kimber asked. Now she was in my face except for Kirami’s.
“Um...she was a friend.” I wasn’t lying to Kimber, but I wasn’t telling the complete truth either.
“Go on,” Thunder said. It seemed like that Thunder was turning into Kimber as the days rolled by. “I said go on; I know that is not the complete truth, so go on.” She kept pressuring me by giving me the eye.
“And, she,um um-”
“Stop saying um already!” Kimber demanded.
“Andrea died.” Kirami had finished the sentence for me. “Now she is a Dark Priest.”
“Holy s*it.” Kimber’s mouth fell right open. “You know a former identity of a Dark Priest! Why didn’t you tell me or the others this before?” All I did by not telling the new team was upset them.
“This is probably the only time I will agree with Kimber. You did not tell the truth to us. For all we know you might have turned into an Alive Dark Priest,” Fatima screamed. She was making a mad expression on both of her faces.
“What do you mean Alive Dark Priest?” Rikku was in caution because she did get processed by a Dark Priest, and I got entwined with black muck.
“Whenever they process people or whenever they put their muck on you.” I gulped; that was what happened to all of the group.
“Oh my god, we were all Dark Priests...” Rikku then started to scream and pull on her hair. “We were all part of them! Me, you, you too Kirami, Andrea, Suki, and Tyler! Part of f*cking MARKA.”
“Why are we only learning about this now?” The others were glaring at us.
“Rikku, you’re my sister and you didn’t tell me this. What else are you hiding?” Andru turned away, and wouldn’t look at Rikku.
“You are the one in denial about daddy!” Rikku was trying to upset Andru because he offended her.
“What are you talking about?” Andru turned back around to face his sister.
“Of course you don’t have a clue, Andru, you always been daddy’s little boy.” Was Rikku going to him and the others, I wondered.
“I don’t get what’s happening!” The others in the group, except for Suki, were confused.
“Ha ha, you always thought daddy was the mother f*cking best man for the world when I think he can’t get any worst. You know why? Do you?” Rikku was scaring me with her talk.
“Rikku, what are you hinting at?” This was killing me; I had to tell them or Rikku would.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out. Ask daddy what I mean; I’m sure he would tell you.” Rikku wasn’t going to tell them, but the secret was killing me. Like I could keep my past a secret, yet I couldn’t keep Rikku’s much longer. Those images haunt me for all of my life.
“This tell me, Rikku. You can trust me.” Her brother was trying to act sympatric, but it didn’t work.
“No.” Rikku sounded like a kindergartener when she said that single word.
“Rikku, you can tell him,” Hail supported. But, as before, Rikku ignored their words and said no. Even when Kimber said she would tear her guts out Rikku said no.
“If you won’t say it, I will.”
“You can’t do that, cuz, it would ruin me.” Rikku was trying so hard to keep her secret safe that I was worried the other her would destroy us all, but the other her went away when she told Andrea.
“I would if you don’t say it. It kills me to know such great people do not know the truth.”
“They don’t need to know the truth, Yuni,” she responded quickly. Rikku knew one day or another she had to teach them, yet she was refusing to.
“Andru, when your sister, Riku, was missing your father was the one that adducted her and put her in his secret house, not his friend. And, well, for ten years he raped h-”
“No why, Kirami!” Andru was in shock, and probably thought that Kirami was lying. The thing that shocked me the most was the fact that Kirami was telling everybody, not me or Rikku, KIRAMI. It might sound mean but he was the quiet type.
“Back to my story. He raped her everyday; it must be tough losing your virginity when you’re only three, Rikku. Yep, sorry you have to hear this Suki, Rikku is Suki’s mother.” After finishing his grand speech, Suki’s eyes widened in terror.
“That’s just sick.” Hail literally threw up on the ground underneath her.
“He is lying, right? Like who would do that to their own daughter?” Fatima questioned. By the looks on everybody’s faces, I could tell that Rikku was the one in most pain.
“I think i’m gonna cry. Don’t cry, Thunder, but I just can’t help it. Can’t fight back the tears.” That was the first time I saw water come out of Thunder’s eyes.
“Heard worst.” I was about to faint with Kimber’s reaction. It just made me think she was a heartless monster.
“How could you say that?” This was the first time I went into Kimber’s face; she didn’t go into mine.
“Maybe you should pay more attention to everything.” Kimber was just asking for a fight.
“STOP IT! All I want to know is that the truth,” Andru interrupted.
“It is.” Rikku was standing there, sad. “Why do you think I hate daddy so much.”
“Can you stop saying daddy; you are a fully grown woman.”
“No, daddy will hurt me.” It was pathetic that Rikku was scared of her own dad’s name. All she wanted is for him to be out of her life, forever.
“He won’t.” Andru tried to comfort her once again, and once again it didn’t work very well.
“Oh, daddy would.” Rikku was being hard on her little brother. “You just don’t remember because you were only three.” Wait, Andru is only three years older than Suki, but he looked freaking older than Rikku. I knew that he was younger than Rikku; yet not this much younger than her.
“All you guys do is fight all the time! Maybe if you can just keep your cool you can actually find Tyler!” Suki screamed. “And, I want to know about Rikku being my mother.” I thought for a child that was only ten Suki was pretty mature and serious about everything that was happening. Even more mature than some of the adults there.
“We can talk about that later, sweetie,” Rikku answered. She was trying so hard to invold telling Suki the truth for some reason.
“Stop hiding stuff from me!” But, we all turned away from her to look at Rikku. Then I heard a screaming sound, and so did the others. When we turned around Suki was gone.
“Suki, where are you?” After I said that I saw Dark Priest Andrea with poor little Suki in her arms.
“He would be so pleased.” Those words that came out of Andrea’s mouth questioned me.
“We have to follow her!” Thunder commanded. “She will bring us to MARKA.”
“Oh h*ll no she processed me.” Rikku was scared of Dark Priest Andrea. “But, I will do anything for Suki even die a painful death in front of her.”
“TMI, Rikku. I didn’t need to hear that.” Hail was very sensitive to gore and death, and usually annoyed me her fears. Just because of Hail’s fear Thunder always stayed on the ship until now.
“This is bad, really, really bad. Come on, let’s go before we lose her!” Fatima ran after Andrea, so we did too.
After following Andrea for hours:
“What is that?” Rikku pointed at a building that looked like a huge factory. Then I realized that she was still wearing Kenzie’s pearl necklace around her neck.
“Is that MARKA headquarters?” Hail asked, “I’m going to freak out.” So, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves.
“Time for some sweet revenge.” Kimber got out her sword, and prepared to fight. She licked her sword; Kimber didn’t care about her bleeding tongue whatsoever.
“Guys, cheer up. We now know where MARKA is, so that’s good.” Thunder tried to make everybody excited, yet it didn’t work for me.
“Thunder, we are about to go into the belly of the shark,” I reminded her. But, Thunder did not care about the safety hazards or the fact that she could die and turn into a Dark Priest. Thunder didn’t have a care in the world expect for her sister.
“Stop fighting they will hear us!” Fatima warned us with a stern tone.
“Yeah, Fatima is right.” Andru then shut his mouth. We all got out our weapons, besides Kimber, and were sly. Kirami hadn’t said anything about the matter just like usual. Dark Priest Andrea went inside the doors of the headquarters and screamed a horrible cry.
“You know what to do if anything gets out of hand. Radio, call anyone of us,” Kimber whispered. Rikku then put on Andrea’s old mask like she always did when we sneaked around.
“Yep.” Thunder nodded her head in agreement. We all went our own ways to see were everything is. Somehow, I was the one stuck checking out the entrance. I thought I was doomed.
“Here goes nothing.” I casted an invisibility spell on myself so nobody could see me, it worked. The door was completely made out of steel and so was the rest of the place that was in the middle of nowhere. But, then when I reached the door I got shocked and the spell weared off.
“There is a unMARKA at the front door.”
“Crap!” I ran as fast as I could to escape any MARKA. Then I saw Andrea go to the left, so I did. She opened a cell door with a golden key and threw Suki in there. There was another girl in there, crying. When I reached the door I saw the other girl.
“Yuni, what are you doing here?” Black muck covered the floor, and the only way to escape it was to go on the beds.
“Saving you, everybody else is here too. I could call them with my radio.”
“No, you can’t Yuni! It is a trap; get away from here it is a trap for Rikku.” Why did they want Rikku, I wondered.
“Do you know why they want her?” I questioned.
“Daddy is the leader...he’s not my daddy anymore, now he is just Natan to me.” Suki was sobbing like crazy. “I don’t know what he wants to do with her. For heaven’s sake I do not even know what rape means! Get out of here!” The tears dropped into the blackness and made a spark.
“Save us, ignore what she says. I have been here for years and the rest of my family is part of them. Do me a favor and save us before it is too late.” The girl was about Suki’s age, and looked terrible. Her hair was uneven and an oily shade of brown, her eyes were bloodshot with tints of green, and her skin turned brown by the amount of dirt and dust on her.
“What is your name, anyways?” I asked her.
“My name is Vy, it means alive,” she answer me. Vy stayed in the beds, and so did Suki when she got on one.
“Don’t listen to her. Natan is probably going to kill Rikku or rape her, whatever that means, or turn her into a Dark Priest.” Suki was trying to warn me about Rikku’s fate, but I ignored her.
“Guys, I found Suki. Map me and then come here A.S.A.P!” This broke the bond behind me and Suki; she glared at me with such hate.Kirami came first being as silent as the still night. Then all the others came after him.
“Suki, we are going to get you out of there.” Rikku put her hands on the bars of the cell.
“DON’T! It’s a trap, I kept telling Yuni that, but she wouldn’t listen. Now you guys, urgh.” Suki didn’t bother to continue her sentence. “It is a trap for you Rikku.” Even though she knew Rikku was her mom she still called her Rikku like she was her sister.
“It is going to be fine,” Fatima reassured. But, Suki glared at every last one of us.
“You won’t listen to me on anything. You can find Tyler, and then save me. Or get the heck out of here before anyone finds you.”
“She’s crazy.” Vy was still on the top bunk, waiting for something to happen.
“You’re the one that has been here for years on end,” Suki responded.
“That doesn’t mean i’m crazy.” Vy lay down on her bed and stared at the boring gray wall above her. I noticed that Vy had been by herself looking at the wall for years, hoping for freedom. Hoping for a time she could spread her wings and fly to La La Land.
“Suki, we have to get you out of there!” Thunder shouted. Kimber gave her the eye.
“Be quiet or you are going to get us all killed. Now I agree with the plan of saving them. I will stay here to see nothing bad happens to them.” It seemed weird that Kimber gave up a chance to fight to defend some kids; Kimber wasn’t the type of person that played the Guardian Angel.
“Come on, Suki, it is going to be easy. We find the key, open the door, and run like little pussies out of MARKA,” Hail said. I was surprised that she wasn’t running right then.
“What are we waiting for?” Rikku questioned. “We have to save Suki.” I knew what would happen next would end up with more death no matter what we did.
“You can’t do this! Have much times do I have to warn you about this people; its a trap!” Suki sounded like Leia from Star Wars when she screamed ‘its a trap’!
“I saw Andrea with the key. Its golden, and looks like, well, a key.” So, everybody else nodded, taking in the information.
“We spit up like usual. Yuni you look near the entrance with Hail, Andru you look around the cell block area with Kirami, Thunder and Fatima you explore the place a little more, and I will go outside,” Rikku demanded. She usually took the position of leader in situations like this.
“This is gonna fail, guys. Just listen to me for once, FOR ONCE!” Yet, we didn’t listen to Suki at all. In our eyes, she was just slowing us down because of her complaining.
“Suki, everything will be alright. Nobody will die, and it will be a happy ending to all of this. We can save you and Tyler and our lives will be normal.” Rikku tried to convince Suki that we were right, but it didn’t work. None of them even noticed Vy in the cell.
“No it’s not going to be alright. Natan will kill all of you.”
“What do you mean daddy is going to kill us all? I know he’s evil and all but he won’t do that; he isn’t even here.” Rikku and the others did not know Rikku’s dad was part of MARKA.
“Yes, he is. He’s part of MARKA, Rikku. Why do you think Andrea adducted me, so you can come here and he wants Rikku.” Suki jumped off the bed and pushed Rikku off the bars. “If you won’t listen to me leave! See if I care!” She came back on the bed she was on and stayed there.
“Suki...oh god.” But, what happened next was something nobody but Luka would have predicted.
When I was looking with Hail in the entrance for hours:
Somebody was calling my radio, so I answered it. “Guys, we found the key...well at least we think we did.” It was Thunder’s voice on the radio. “Locate us and come here before MARKA finds us.” I was happy that Thunder and Fatima found the key because we could save Suki. They ended the call a couple seconds later.
“We should find them.” She pressed the button to locate Thunder and Fatima’s radio, and we saw that they were on the patio near the middle of the headquarters.
“Alright, Hail, I think everything is going to be fine.” Yet, I felt something in my gut that made me think that something could go wrong, but I ignored it like I ignored Suki.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go already.” Hail was becoming impatient with me.
“Go ahead, Hail. I will just be here for a couple more seconds.” I wanted to be alone for a little while.
“Don’t take long, okay?” So, Hail went away to see her sister and Fatima. When I was sure that Hail was far away, I checked to see if there were any MARKA agents. There were none that I could see which was strange.
“I’m going to find you, Tyler.” I then whistled, and there was no reply. I’ve been doing it for two years and all I got for an answer was silence. “Even if it is the last thing I do.” Then I ran so I could catch up with Hail.
Most of the classic torture methods were unnecessarily dirty and bloody, and has become mundane for the professional torturers throughout the years.
It's much more fun, and just as efficient, to tickle the vitims until they confessed the truth. Or at least what we expect them to confess, truth or not.
But this time, the masters of the dungeon faced a greater challenge - dealing with royal jester. Day after day, they tried to break him down... With no effect. The man only seemed more entertained each time.
Meanwhile, his partners prepared an explosive breakout...
Second entry to CCC (sponsoring my sleepless December nights since 2012).
Like most other towns and cities Leeds issued regular editions of an 'official guide' or handbook, usually full of information regarding civil services, amentities and industry aimed at both residents and potential investors. This c1937 Leeds edition is entitled "Leeds, the industrial capital of the North" - there's no mention of what say Manchester may have thought of that claim!
This section of the handbook looks primarily at the work of the City's municipal housing department rather than any of the speculative building being undertaken in the city by private developers. Line many British cities in the 1930s Leeds was grappling issues of appalling slum housing in the industrial inner city that had rapidly developed in the Victorian era of expansion. Indeed housing was a hughe issue in municipal politics, so much so that it had finally seen a swing to Labour control from Conservative in the 1930s. In 1933 a Housing Department was split from the City Engineer's Department and they, under the Housing Director R A H Livett ARIBA set to work with a will as can be seen here. As well as inner city clearance and redevelopment at lower densities, the city was to expand outwards to new planned suburban estates such as those already under way at Middleton and Gipton. Livett was to serve the city for many years and was highly respected officer.
As can be imagined, the outbreak of war in 1939 played havoc with such schemes and led to an even worse post-war backlog and many of the schemes seen here were not finally undertaken until the 1950s and '60s when Leeds also began to follow 'fashion' with tower blocks. One of the issues about these new outer suburbs was that of affordable transport for workers whose jobs often stayed in the central area, especially when added to the additonal costs of increased rents for the new properties. In Leeds, following on from the example of the reserved tramway lines to Middleton, similar schemes were planned for east Leeds as the maps show. Sadly, in the post-war era despite Leeds being a strongly pro-tram city until the early 1950s these were not to be constructed and public transport became wholly bus orientated as the existing tram network was closed down by 1959.
This page has a fine sketch of the intended completed scheme at Quarry Hill in the city centre, one of Livett's showcase schemes. Modelled very much in the fashion of Vienna and using a French construction technique, the Mopin system, Quarry Hill was never finished and by the '70s a mixture of construction and social issues dogged the scheme. It was demolished.
The text also details the sheer scale of the task and work already undertaken by the City Council. Since 1919 they had completed over 15,000 properties.