Notre Dame de Paris (French for Our Lady of Paris), also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra (official chair), of the Archbishop of Paris, currently André Vingt-Trois. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France and in Europe. It was restored and saved from destruction by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, one of France's most famous architects. The name Notre Dame means "Our Lady" in French, and is frequently used in the names of Catholic church buildings in Francophone countries. Notre Dame de Paris was one of the first Gothic cathedrals, and its construction spanned the Gothic period. Its sculptures and stained glass show the heavy influence of naturalism, unlike that of earlier Romanesque architecture.

 

Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave. After the construction began and the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern.

 

The cathedral suffered desecration during the radical phase of the French Revolution in the 1790s, when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. During the 19th century, an extensive restoration project was completed, returning the cathedral to its previous state.

GBRf Class 66, No. 66752 "The Hoosier State" is seen passing Spittal Railway Crossing south of

Berwick-Upon-Tweed working the 0S14

Doncaster Doncaster Down Decoy - Millerhill S.S

 

Hoosier is the official demonym for the people of the U.S. state of Indiana. The origin of the term remains a matter of debate, but "Hoosier" was in general use by the 1840s, having been popularized by Richmond resident John Finley's 1833 poem "The Hoosier's Nest". Indiana adopted the nickname "The Hoosier State"

History

Rila Monastery .

 

The Rila Monastery was founded in the 30-th years of X century on the place of the Old Anchoress in Rila Mountain. While the monastery has been existing, it was many times rebuilt, destroyed and reconstructed. Today the Rila Monastery has had this appearance since the middle of the previous century. It is the biggest and the most respected Bulgarian monastery.

 

It is considered that the creator of the Rila Monastery is the first Bulgarian hermit Ivan Rilsky (876-946), he chose to live in this way as a method of spiritual perfection and a way to express his protest against the suppression of the high moral rules of the real Christianity. The Bulgarian saint was born in the 70-th years of IX century. He was a witness of the decline of the First Bulgarian Kingdom at the time of king Peter I and Saint Ivan Rilsky became the most respected saint in the Orthodox Christianity in that time. At the time of the Byzantine slavery the established brotherhood was turned into a monastery. At the beginning of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom the relics of Saint Ivan Rilsky was displaced to the capital of the country Veliko Tarnovo as the most important relic for the Bulgarians.

 

That the monastery has been existed for a millennium and that the Rila monks has been aware of the mission of books are the factors that produced the monastery library which can rival Europeans counterparts. The abundant collection comprise works that have been written in the monastery, works that have been commissioned to eminent men of letters and books and manuscripts that have been donated or bought.

 

Fot centuries the Rila Monastery has been the centre of intensive literacy activities. Outstanding educators, anonymous copyists, manuscript illuminators and book-binders spent years working there. As a result of their work today the library collection is one of the richest in the Balkans.

 

Among the men of letters who worked at the Rila Monastery were the grammarian Spiridon, hieromonk Anastasy, Vladislav Grammaticus, Nikifor, Yossif Bradati and the great National Revival educator and champion for secular education Neophit Rilski who brought to light all manuscripts, catalogued the library and invested a lot of effort to make it a public library which was open to the numerous pilgrims visiting the monastery.

 

The National Revival Period transformed the Rila Monastery into a major educational and cultural centre of the Bulgarian lands. The literary school evolved into an educational institution where some of the most prominent enlighteners of the nation received their education. The library opened its gates to inquisitive pilgrims and this is testified by the numerous marginal notes found in the old books. Thus very naturally it acquired the functions of a public library and paved the way to the community centre libraries which became very common during the National Revival.

 

The Rila Monastery Library manuscript collection comprises Slavic and Greek records dating from the 11th to mid-19th century. In addition to their literary merit these records have artistic merits. Most of them have illuminations which show the Bulgarian tradition in that art. It is noteworthy that despite the large number of service books in Greek, the monastery churches and chapels never heard service in Greek although it is evident the monks had good knowledge of the language which they could speak and in which they could read and write.

 

The Rila Monastery collection of printed books the earliest of which date from early 16th century comprises valuable items: a Tetraevangelia from 1512 that was published I Turgovishte, books that were printed in the Venice printing house which was established in 1619, many Russian old printed books, several of very rare editions that were printed in Vilno, of the Kievan-Pechora Laura, Moscow printed prologues.

 

The long history of the buildings in the Rila Monastery goes back to late 10th century when the monastic community that the Rila hermit had founded put up the first buildings not far from the cave which he occupied.

 

Since the 15th century and particularly during the Bulgarian National Revival the numbers of pilgrims increased significantly and a large group of service buildings appeared around the monastery. The reception buildings of the metochia and the sketae along the river Rilska where there were places associated with the patron saint’s worship were renovated during the same period. In this way several architectural ensembles appeared whose purpose was to provide shelter and also to prepare worshippers mentally for their encounter with the holiest place in Bulgaria.

 

The first thing that the visitors of the monastery see as they set foot on the Rila Mountain is the Orlitsa metochion which in the course of almost five centuries has been receiving pilgrims coming from the western parts of Bulgaria. In 1469 the Church of St. Peter and Paul was built to lay the relics of St. Ioan of Rila after they had been returned to the monastery. In 1491 a group of icon painters decorated the church which had been redesigned in 1478.

 

The next metochion which is closer to the monastery is called Pchelino. It was here that the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin was put up in the late 18th century and decorated with frescoes in 1835 by Dimiter Molerov.

 

The Hermitage of St. Ioan of Rila is northeast of the monastery and farthest. It stands where the cave in which the hermit lived is and where he was initially buried. For this reason the Church of the Assumption of St. Ioan of Rila was built in 1746. It is a single nave, single apse building with narthex. In 1820 it was rebuilt and became what it is today.

 

A path leads from the Hermitage to the monastery. Along the path there are several picturesque buildings built down a steep slope. This is the Steke of St. Luke, also known as the New hermitage. The oldest building here is the late 17th century Church of St. Luke the Evangelist. It was painted in 1798-1799 when carvers from Bansko carved wooden iconostasis. The surviving frescoes are a product of the Toma Vishanov's brush , called Molera from Bansko who had studied in the Central Europe and introduced baroque elements in the Bulgarian ecclesiastical art, creating expressive and ethereal paintings which were new for those times.

 

The second church of the ensemble, the Shroud of the Virgin, was put up in 1805 over the holy fountain by the builders Mihail and Radoitsa from the village of Rila. It has a large semi-open exonartes with an outdoor structure whose walls were painted by Toma Vishanov in 1811.

 

A small group of buildings that are enclosed by a stone wall is very near to the monastery. It includes the cemetery church and the monastery ossuary, several buildings with living premises and the monastery cemetery. The cemetery church of the Presentation of the Virgin where the brethren served their funeral service dates probably from the early 17th century. Like most medieval ossuaries it is on two levels and is a small lavishly decorated one-aisle church. Its frescoes from 1795 are characteristic of the style of a group of Bulgarian artists who worked on Mount Athos during the 18th and 19th centuries. Its iconostasis is noted for its elegant proportions and beautiful wood encarving.

 

Between the 10th and 14th centuries the Monastery changed places several times.

 

In the 14th century Hrelyo Dragovol, a feudal lord whose domain comprised the lands around the river Strouma, transformed the monastery into a solidly fortified and imposing architectural ensemble. This is proved by the remains of solid walls in the southwestern corner of the monastery courtyard unearthed during archeological excavations and also by the prominent tower which still stands in the courtyard and by the paintings in the monastery church built by the feudal lord and surviving until the mid-19th century.

 

Large-scale building work began some time during mid-18th century and after 1816 the monastery already had high solid residential buildings which enclosed the courtyard in the shape of an irregular quadrangle.

 

January 13, 1833 was one of the most tragic days in the long history of the monastery. The fire which broke out during the night destroyed almost completely the residential quarters. That was a national calamity and soon people began sending donations for the monastery’s restoration. Thousands of masons, carpenters and auxiliary workers arrived to work and did not get payment for their work. Only for a couple of years the buildings were restored.

 

Three Bulgarian master builders (purvomaistori) were in charge of the construction works whose scale was unprecedented in those times. They were Alexi from the village of Rila, called Alexi Rilets, who built the northern parts of the east and the west wings, Milenko from the village of Radomir who built the south wing ‘architecton’ Pavel from the village of Krimin who built the church which at the time was the largest in the Balkans. The decoration of the main church, the chapels and the visitors’ rooms was completed by 1870. at that time the monastery looked as we know it today.

 

The church of the Nativity of the Virgin is the monastery’s main church and the core of the architectural ensemble. Its construction began in 1835. That was an event of paramount importance for the entire Bulgarian nation. The innovative daring and the flexibility with which tradition has been interpreted in the architectural design of its imposing church reveals the nature of art during the National Revival Period.

 

This church building is unique in the Balkans. It was built by the then widely known master builder Pavel from the village of Krimin who had worked on Mount Athos and from where he borrowed the original spatial design of the church. The compositional scheme includes medieval elements and baroque spatial principles, an approach which distinguishes Bulgarian church architecture and whose features are observed in the art of the epoch.

 

The wall paintings in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin were made by the most prominent Bulgarian painters at the time. Most of them were from Samokov where the artists of the Zograph (Painter) family, Zahari Zograph, Dimiter H. Zograph and Stanislav Dospevski, worked. In the 1840s they were joined by Ivan Obrazopissets and his son Nikola Obrazopissets. There was a group of artist of Bansko led by Dimiter Molerov, and many other unknown assistants. In the course of several years, at the cost of great effort, to quote Neophit Rilski, they completed the church interior walls, the domes, the facades hidden under the arcade and its small domes and produced 40 large icons for the iconostases and many other smaller ones.

 

The central iconostasis is the work of a group of woodcarvers who worked under the supervision of Atanas Teladour. They spent three years working on it, from 1839 to 1842, investing it with experience of several generations of carvers who founded the Bulgarian school of wood carving. The size and composition of the iconostasis are unrivaled in the Balkans. Same as architecture it follows the traditions of the school combining time-honoured element of space and as a unifying element emphasizing the centre of the basilica.

 

The carving which covers it from end to end is somewhat different from the carving on other iconostases. Here everything is bigger to harmonize with the large space inside the church. The carving differs from filigree miniature and is more like sculpted rather than carved.

 

The colours of this huge iconostasis are in harmony with the rich colours of the interior. In the dim church space frames by the painted walls, illuminated by the hundreds of candles burning in the candleholders, the iconostases’ gilded carved surfaces glitter and reflect upon the brightly coloured icons merging with the church space forming a complete artistic whole.

 

The monastery which was visited by many people had to provide accommodation and amenitites to the pilgrims. Some Bulgarian towns had their own guest rooms offering accommodation only to their notables. The Koprivshtitsa, Chirpan, Gabrovo and Teteven rooms have been presented to this day. They are in the north wing which is like an ethnographic exposition.

 

The monastery kitchen is on the ground floor of the same wing. The food for pilgrims was cooked there. The kitchen is large and has an overhead opening in the shape of the huge stone chimney which goes through all the levels to take smoke from the fire to the roof and out. It is in the shape of a hollow pyramid whose walls are built by octahedrons which grow smaller. The spaces between them have been filled up by semicircular arcs. The result is an ideally balanced self-supporting 22 meter high construction whose lightness and strength have been provided in the course of more than a century.

 

The prints, graphic impressions upon copper plates of wood, were of special significance for the popularization of the monastery and the history of its founder. There were two common types: St Ioan of Rila with miniature scenes from his life, and the monastery itself with the main sketae and metochia along the rive Rilska. Those prints were available even to the poorer pilgrims and thus popularized the Rila Monastery across the Balkan lands, serving as books for the illiterate who could learn from them the legends about the monastery and St Ivan of Rila. Initially the monastic community commissioned the prints in Moscow or Vienna. However, as demand for such prints was growing during the 19th century, a monk Kalislearn the craft of print-making and in 1856 the monastery acquired a large iron press and opened its own workshop for the production of prints. The output of the latter was large. Nevertheless the prints that it turned out were not inferior and some even could view with art primitives.

 

The printing press that the monastery bought the 1860s from Vienna is also on display in the monastery museum. The repositories keep most of handmade copper printing plates and prints produced with them.

 

The Rila Monastery museum collections trace its history over the countries and reveal its role in Bulgaria’s cultural history. In the course of the centuries the Rila Monastery maintained lively relations with the countries of the Eastern Orthodox world; the metochia that were scattered in all Balkan Peninsula lands with Bulgarian population did educational work; the monastery repository holds records, books, church plate, icons and gifts from pilgrims.

 

The Rila Monastery History Museum possesses a rich collection of extremely valuable exhibits both in the exposition halls and in the monastery vaults. The exhibits are thematically grouped and trace the evolution of the monastery and its cultural, religious and nation-consolidation role.

 

The exposition includes the early historical and ecclesiastical collection of the monastery, some books of the monastery library and many copies of wall paintings that have been destroyed, icons, prints, vestments and church plate.

 

In 1980 the International Federation of Travel Writers and Journalists (FIJEST) distinguished the Monastery with Golden Apple, the highest award for familiarization and cultural tourism. Ion 1983 the Rila Monastery was recorded on the List of World Cultural Heritage as a world cultural value. Again at that time it got the status of a national museum, so the government started subsiding the museum collections, conservation and restoration of the wall paintings and the architectural heritage. A decree of the Council of Ministries of the Republic of Bulgaria reinstated the monastic status of the Rila Monastery in 1991, so today it is again the largest religious centre in the Bulgarian lands.

 

Through „The Rila Monastery”, Prof. Dr Margarita Koeva

Translation: Kostadin Marinov

Certificated for the translation: Marina Rulioko

Is Often Used As A Warning Regarding The Extreme Midday Heat In Certain Parts Of The World.

 

The Expression Is Believed To Have Been Coined By Rudyard Kipling And Was Popularized As A Line In The 1931 Song "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" With Noel Coward, Mocking The Behavior Of The English When In Hot Countries.

 

Anyway, On What Was At The Time, The Hottest Day Of The Year (Until That Was Beaten The Following Day And Became The Hottest Day Ever In The UK) I Had The Misfortune To Be Patrolling From Willenhall To Bushbury When GBRf's 66777 'Annette' Powering 6G99, The 06.42 Tunstead to Banbury Passed Me Just South Of Bushbury Junction On The Freight Only Grand Junction Line, Running 24 Minutes Late.

 

Monday 18th July 2022

This house in Manistee, Michigan is an example of the Queen Anne style, popularized in the late 19th century. Its asymmetrical façade, prominent bay window, and ornate woodwork on the porch speak to the era’s love of detail and eclectic design. The steep gable, decorated vergeboard, and tall, narrow windows with stone lintels echo the Victorian style. (Comments by Archie, my Architectural Image Bot)

Jawaharlal Nehru, Planetarium, Bengaluru

 

"Established in the year 1989, the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium in Bangalore is one of the five planetariums in India, all of which have been named after the country’s first prime minister. The Bangalore Planetarium is administered by the Bangalore Association for Science Education (BASE), which has dedicated itself to popularizing scientific subjects among the public, especially children."

The Chevrolet Bel Air is a full-size car produced by Chevrolet for the 1950–1975 model years. Initially, only the two-door hardtops in the Chevrolet model range were designated with the Bel Air name from 1950 to 1952. With the 1953 model year, the Bel Air name was changed from a designation for a unique body shape to a premium level of trim applied across a number of body styles. The Bel Air continued with various other trim level designations, and it had gone from a mid-level trim car to a budget fleet sedan when U.S. production ceased in 1975. Production continued in Canada, for its home market only, through the 1981 model year.

The Bel Air received new, revamped styling for the 1955 model year. The Bel Air was 3,456 lb and 16 ft long. It was called the "Hot One" in GM's advertising campaign. Bel Airs came with features found on cars in the lower models ranges plus interior carpet, chrome headliner bands on hardtops, chrome spears on front fenders, stainless steel window moldings, full wheel covers, and a Ferrari-inspired front grille. Models were further distinguished by the Bel Air name script in gold lettering later in the year. For 1955 Chevrolets gained a V8 engine option and the option of the 2 speed Powerglide automatic, or a standard three speed Synchro-Mesh manual transmission with optional overdrive. The new 265 cu in V8 featured a modern, overhead valve high compression ratio, short stroke design that was so good that it remained in production in various displacements for many decades. The base V8 had a two-barrel carburetor and was rated at 162 hp and the "Power Pack" option featured a four-barrel carburetor and other upgrades yielding 180 bhp. Later in the year, a "Super Power Pack" option added high-compression and a further 15 bhp. Warning lights replaced gauges for the generator and oil pressure. This was not the first Chevrolet with a V8 engine; the first Chevrolet with a V8 engine was introduced in 1917 and called the Series D, which was built for two years, and was manufactured before Chevrolet joined General Motors.

The 1955 Bel Air was very well received. Motor Trend magazine gave the Bel Air top marks for handling. Popular Mechanics reported acceleration for a V8 Bel Air with Powerglide as being 0-60 mph in 12.9 seconds, plus a comfortable ride and good visibility. On the other hand, the horn ring blocked some of the speedometer, regular gasoline made the engine knock and the first V8 engines off the line burned too much oil. Front legroom was 43.1". Brakes were 11" drums. A new option for V8-equipped 1955 models was air conditioning, with outlets on each side of the dashboard; a heavy-duty generator was included on cars equipped with this option; in 1955 and 1956, air conditioning could be installed on cars ordered with the standard three-speed manual transmission, overdrive or Powerglide, but from 1957 onward, an automatic transmission (or minus that, 4-speed manual transmission) was a pre-requisite option.

The 1956 Bel Air received a face-lift with a more conventional full-width grille, pleasing those customers who didn't favor the Ferrari-inspired '55 front end. Two-tone bodyside treatments and front and rear wheel openings completed the "speedline" restyling. Single housings incorporated the taillight, stoplight, and backup light, and the left one held the gas filler – an idea popularized on Cadillacs. Among the seven Bel Air models was a new Sport Sedan, a pillarless four-door hardtop that looked handsome with all the windows rolled down and allowed easy entry into the back seat. Production exceeded 103,000, compared to 128,000 two-door hardtops. Shapely two-door Nomad wagons topped the price chart at US$2,608, but now carried the same interior and rear-wheel sheet metal as other Bel Airs, lacking the original's unique trim. Only 7,886 were built. The least costly Bel Air, at US$2,025, was the two-door sedan. Seatbelts, shoulder harnesses, and a padded dashboard were available, and full-size cars could even get the hot Corvette 225-horsepower engine. In 1956 sales material there was an optional rain-sensing automatic top, which was first seen on the 1951 LaSabre concept car. However, it is believed that it was never installed on a car. Popular Mechanics reported only 7.4% of owners in their survey ordered seat belts. A '56 Bel Air 4-door hardtop, prepared by Chevrolet engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov, set a new endurance/speed record for an automobile ascending Pikes Peak.

In 1957 engine displacement grew to 283 cu in with the "Super Turbo Fire V8" option (shared with the Corvette), producing 283 hp with the help of Rochester Ramjet continuous mechanical fuel injection (closed-loop). These so-called "fuelie" cars are quite rare, since most Bel Airs were fitted with carburetion.

The 1957 Bel Air is considered by many to be "an icon of its age. . .right alongside Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and Leave it to Beaver," and is among the most recognizable American cars of all time; well-maintained examples, especially sport coupes and convertibles are highly sought after by collectors and enthusiasts. They are roomy, with tastefully restrained, period use tail fins and chrome. A second automatic transmission, Turboglide was optional. While the original two-speed Powerglide continued unchanged, Turboglide provided a continuously variable gear-ratio which made "shifting" imperceptible. The shift quadrant on Turboglide cars followed a "P R N D Gr" pattern.

From 1955 to 1957, production of the two-door Nomad station wagon was assigned to the Bel Air series, although its body and trim were unique to that model. Prior to becoming a regular production model, the Nomad first appeared as a Corvette-based concept vehicle in 1954. Chevrolet has since unveiled two concept cars bearing the Nomad name, most recently in 1999. The 1955–1957 Chevrolets are commonly referred to as Tri Fives.

The 1955–1957s were made in right-hand drive and shipped from Oshawa Car Assembly in Oshawa, Ontario, for local assembly in Australia (CKD), New Zealand (SKD) and South Africa. All three model years had a reversed version of the '55 LHD dashboard and did not get the LHD models' 1957 redesign.

A black 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air was featured in the 1973 movie American Graffiti. This '55 features a big hood scoop, and a signature cowboy hat in the rear window. In the movie, it races against a yellow 1932 Ford Deuce Coupe and crashes into a ditch. The Bel Air had a 454 cubic inch Chevrolet motor, with aluminum heads, tunnel ram intake and dual Holley carburetors.

Jacksonville is a major seaport city and the seat of Duval County, Florida, United States. With an estimated 913,010 residents as of 2017, Jacksonville is the most populous city in both the state of Florida and the southeastern United States. It is estimated to be the 12th most populous city in the United States and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. The Jacksonville metropolitan area has a population of 1,626,611 and is the 34th largest in the United States and fourth largest in the state of Florida.

 

The city is situated on the banks of the St. Johns River, in the First Coast region of North Florida, about 25 miles (40 km) south of the Georgia state line and 340 miles (550 km) north of Miami.

 

Prior to European settlement, the Jacksonville area was inhabited by Native American people known as the Timucua. In 1564, the French established the short-lived colony of Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns River, becoming one of the earliest European settlements in the continental United States. In 1822, a year after the United States gained Florida from Spain, the town of Jacksonville was platted along the St. Johns River. Established at a narrow point in the river known as Wacca Pilatka to the Seminole and the Cow Ford to the British, the enduring name derives from the first military governor of the Florida Territory and seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson.

 

Jacksonville is the cultural, commercial and financial center of North Florida. A major military and civilian deep-water port, the city's riverine location supports two United States Navy bases and the Port of Jacksonville, Florida's third largest seaport. The two US Navy bases, Blount Island Command and the nearby Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, form the third largest military presence in the United States. Jacksonville serves as headquarters for various banking, insurance, healthcare, logistics, and other institutions. These include CSX Corporation, Fidelity National Financial, FIS, Landstar System, Ameris Bancorp, Atlantic Coast Financial, Black Knight Financial Services, EverBank, Rayonier Advanced Materials, Regency Centers, Stein Mart, Web.com, Fanatics, Gate Petroleum, Haskell Company, Interline Brands, Sally Corporation, and Southeastern Grocers. Jacksonville is also home to several colleges and universities, including University of North Florida, Jacksonville University and Florida State College at Jacksonville.

 

The architecture of Jacksonville varies in style and is not defined by any one characteristic. Few structures in the city center predate the Great Fire of 1901. The city is home to one of the largest collections of Prairie School style buildings outside of the Midwest. Following the Great Fire of 1901, Henry John Klutho would come to influence generations of local designers with his works by both the Chicago School, championed by Louis Sullivan, and the Prairie School of architecture, popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright. Jacksonville is also home to a notable collection of Mid-Century modern architecture. Local architects Robert C. Broward, Taylor Hardwick, and William Morgan adapted a range design principles, including International style, Brutalism, Futurism and Organicism, all applied with an American interpretation generally referred to today as Mid-century modern design. The architecture firms of Reynolds, Smith & Hills (RS&H) and Kemp, Bunch & Jackson (KBJ) have also contributed a number of important works to the city's modern architectural movement.

Jacksonville's early predominant position as a regional center of business left an indelibly mark on the city's skyline. Many of the earliest skyscrapers in the state were constructed in Jacksonville, dating as far back as 1902. The city last held the state height record from 1974 to 1981. The tallest building in Downtown Jacksonville's skyline is the Bank of America Tower, constructed in 1990 as the Barnett Center. It has a height of 617 ft (188 m) and includes 42 floors. Other notable structures include the 37-story Wells Fargo Center (with its distinctive flared base making it the defining building in the Jacksonville skyline), originally built in 1972-74 by the Independent Life and Accident Insurance Company, and the 28 floor Riverplace Tower which, when completed in 1967, was the tallest precast, post-tensioned concrete structure in the world.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville,_Florida

fun facts:

 

The Pragmatic Programmer story book popularized the term 'rubber duck debugging'

the terminology is now frequently used today by software engineers and programmers to describe a debugging code methodology.

 

Copyright © 2015 Tomitheos Photography - All Rights Reserved

The statue commemorates soldiers who died in WWI, WWII and the Korean War.

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

Somehow this reminds me of a song popularized by Jackson Browne, "The Crow on the Cradle." Song was written by Sydney Bertram Carter (1915-2004), an English poet, songwriter, folk musician and dedicated pacifist who worked on The Friends' Ambulance Unit, serving in several countries in WWII.

See lyrics: unionsong.com/u115.html

These Germanic looking Nutcracker Soldier figures are a common sight with Christmas Decorations. This one is guarding the entrance to one of the footbridges over the Yarra River in the CBD. Our summer continues to be overcast, grey and cool. Just with occasional hot sunny days. It makes life more bearable than the hot weather but I don't like all the grey. The political heat following the shootings at Bondi is ramping up to fever pitch - recriminations and disgusting displays by some, real raw emotion by others. Any hope of a moderate response is being drowned out by those who wish to gain advantage. So sad to see.

Here's hoping we are not making things worse for many in our diverse community.

The Nutcracker Tradition: "The Nutcracker soldier originates from late-17th century Germany. They were often given as gifts, and at some point, they became associated with the Christmas season. They grew in popularity around the 19th century and spread to nearby European countries. Further popularization came from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, a ballet adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. A story about a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and wages a battle against the evil Mouse King." - thefestivestore.com.au/christmas-nutcrackers/

modern furniture series: semae sticker / tee logo / card, des. #3

 

the semae represents the Eames Low Side Chair by Charles and Ray Eames, 1946

 

It is hard to imagine now, but the use of plywood and chrome-plated steel in residential furniture was considered edgy, risky, and thoroughly new when this chair made its 1946 debut. It is modern, lightweight, strong, sculptural, and a complete departure from what furniture was.

 

Charles Ormond Eames, Jr was born in 1907 in Saint Louis, Missouri. By the time he was 14 years old, while attending high school, Charles worked at the Laclede Steel Company as a part-time laborer, where he learned about engineering, drawing, and architecture (and also first entertained the idea of one day becoming an architect).

 

Charles briefly studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis on an architectural scholarship. He proposed studying Frank Lloyd Wright to his professors, and when he would not cease his interest in modern architects, he was dismissed from the university. In the report describing why he was dismissed from the university, a professor wrote the comment "His views were too modern." While at Washington University, he met his first wife, Catherine Woermann, whom he married in 1929. A year later, they had a daughter, Lucia.

 

After he left school and was married, Charles began his own architectural practice, with partners Charles Gray and later Walter Pauley.

One great influence on him was the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen (whose son Eero, also an architect, would become a partner and friend). At the elder Saarinen's invitation, he moved in 1938 with his wife Catherine and daughter Lucia to Michigan, to further study architecture at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he would become a teacher and head of the industrial design department. One of the requirements of the Architecture and Urban Planning Program, at the time Eames applied, was for the student to have decided upon his project and gathered as much pertinent information in advance – Eames' interest was in the St. Louis waterfront. Together with Eero Saarinen he designed prize-winning furniture for New York's Museum of Modern Art "Organic Design" competition. Their work displayed the new technique of wood moulding (originally developed by Alvar Aalto), that Eames would further develop in many moulded plywood products, including, beside chairs and other furniture, splints and stretchers for the U.S. Navy during World War II.

 

In 1941, Charles and Catherine divorced, and he married his Cranbrook colleague Ray Kaiser, who was born in Sacramento, California. He then moved with her to Los Angeles, California, where they would work and live for the rest of their lives. In the late 1940s, as part of the Arts & Architecture magazine "Case Study" program, Ray and Charles designed and built the groundbreaking Eames House, Case Study House #8, as their home. Located upon a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and constructed entirely of pre-fabricated steel parts intended for industrial construction, it remains a milestone of modern architecture.

 

In the 1950s, the Eameses would continue their work in architecture and modern furniture design, often (like in the earlier moulded plywood work) pioneering innovative technologies, such as the fiberglass and plastic resin chairs and the wire mesh chairs designed for Herman Miller. Besides this work, Charles would soon channel his interest in photography into the production of short films. From their first one, the unfinished Traveling Boy (1950), to the extraordinary Powers of Ten (1977), their cinematic work was an outlet for ideas, a vehicle for experimentation and education.

 

The Eameses also conceived and designed a number of landmark exhibitions. The first of these, Mathematica: a world of numbers...and beyond (1961), was sponsored by IBM, and is the only one of their exhibitions still existant. The original was created for a new wing of the (currently named) California Science Center; it is now owned by and on display at the New York Hall of Science. In late 1961 a duplicate was created for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago; in 1980 it moved to the Museum of Science, Boston. Another version was created for the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair IBM exhibit. After the World's Fair it was moved to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle where it stayed until 1980. The Mathematica Exhibition is still considered a model for scientific popularization exhibitions. It was followed by "A Computer Perspective: Background to the Computer Age" (1971) and "The World of Franklin and Jefferson" (1975-1977), among others.

 

The office of Charles and Ray Eames, which functioned for more than four decades (1943-88) at 901 Washington Boulevard in Venice, California, included in its staff, at one time of another, a number of remarkable designers, like Don Albinson, Deborah Sussman, Richard Foy and Henry Beer.

 

Among the many important designs originating there are the molded-plywood DCW (Dining Chair Wood) and DCM (Dining Chair Metal with a plywood seat) (1945), Eames Lounge Chair (1956), the Aluminum Group furniture (1958) and as well as the Eames Chaise (1968), designed for Charles's friend, film director Billy Wilder, the playful Do-Nothing Machine (1957), an early solar energy experiment, and a number of toys.

 

Short films produced by the couple often document their interests in collecting toys and cultural artifacts on their travels. The films also record the process of hanging their exhibits or producing classic furniture designs, to the purposefully mundane topic of filming soap suds moving over the pavement of a parking lot. Perhaps their most popular movie, "Powers of 10", gives a dramatic demonstration of orders of magnitude by visually zooming away from the earth to the edge of the universe, and then microscopically zooming into the nucleus of a carbon atom. Charles was a prolific photographer as well with thousands of images of their furniture, exhibits and collections, and now a part of the Library of Congress.

 

Charles Eames died of a heart attack on August 21, 1978 while on a consulting trip in his native Saint Louis, and now has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Ray died 10 years later to the exact day.

 

At the time of his death they were working on what became their last production, the Eames Sofa which went into production in 1984.

 

graphics: a.golden, eyewash design c. 2007

 

Arne Jaconben:

 

The Model 3107 chair is one of the most popular chairs in Danish design history. It was designed by Arne Jacobsen, using a new technique in which plywood could be bent in two dimensions. It has been produced exclusively by Fritz Hansen A/S ever since its invention in 1955. It is also the most copied chair in the world.

 

Being a "copy" itself contributes some irony to that fact. The chair, along with the Jacobsen's Ant chair, was, according to Jacobsen himself, inspired by a chair made by the husband and wife design team of Charles and Ray Eames.

 

The chair comes with a number of different undercarriges - both as a regular four-legged chair, an office-chair with five wheels and as a barstool. It comes with armrests, a writing-table attached, and different forms of upholstring. To some extent, these additions mar the simple aesthetics of the chair, while contributing with some practical elements.

 

Arne Jacobsen is the Danish architect who mastered the most personal and successful interpretation of the international functionalism. His architecture includes a considerable number of epoch-making buildings in Denmark, Germany and Great Britain. Arne Jacobsen initially trained as a mason before studying architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Arts, Copenhagen, graduating in 1927.

 

From 1927 until 1930, he worked in the architectural office of Paul Holsoe. In 1930, he established his own design office, which he headed until his death in 1971, and worked independently as an architect, interior, furniture, textile and ceramics designer. He was professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts, Copenhagen, from 1956 onwards. His best known projects are St. Catherine's College, Oxford, and the SAS Hotel, Copenhagen.

 

Arne Jacobsen's designs came into existence as brief sketches and were then modeled in plaster or cardboard in full size. He kept on working until his revolutionary ideas for new furniture had been realized at the utmost perfection. The "Ant" from 1952 became the starting point of his world fame as a furniture designer and became the first of a number of lightweight chairs with seat and back in one piece of moulded wood.

 

graphics: a.golden, eyewash design c. 2007

 

Višegrad (Serbian Cyrillic: Вишеград) is a town in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina resting at the confluence of the Drina and the Rzav river, in the synonymous municipality in Republika Srpska entity. The town includes the Ottoman-era Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge, a UNESCO world heritage site which was popularized by Ivo Andrić in his novel The Bridge on the Drina. A tourist site called Andrićgrad (Andrić's Town), dedicated to Andrić, is located near the bridge.

HA: 60 x 180 (bin1x1)

Luminance: 100 x 180 (bin1x1)

Red: 20 X 180 (bin2x2)

Green: 20x180 (bin2x2)

Blue: 20X180 (bin2x2

HaLRGB

Total: 11 Hours

DSS+Pixinsight

 

Link Full Resolution:

 

astrob.in/409768/D/

 

English Below

Um pouco de Mitologia:

Segundo a Wikipédia: Na mitologia Nórdica Fenrir é um lobo monstruoso.Na mitologia Fenrir é pai dos lobos SKOLL e HATI e é um dos filhos de LOKI.É pressagiado a matar o Deus ODIN durante RAGNAROK e ser morto pelo filho de ODIN VIDAR.

Localizado na costelação de Escorpião, a semelhança com o monstro da mitologia aparece pronto para o ataque, como uma imensa sombra escura saltando no espaço.

Sempre que via imagens de grande campo dessa região imaginava ser possivel um close nesta linda região. Já estava em meus planos a pelo menos 2 anos está captura. Com um céu maravilhoso, em 3 noites pude juntar dados suficientes para compor uma bela imagem desse objeto.

O campo é totalmente envolto em uma nebulosa de emissão, com uma densa nuvem de poeira formando Fenrir. As estrelas no campo são de diversos tipos e idades diferentes, como as cores atestam.

O mais engraçado de toda essa história, é que esse apelido não oficial, surgiu na Astronomia amadora. Depois que um astronomo amador da Australia Paul Haese fotografou esse objeto, Rolf Wahl Olsen da Nova Zelândia notou a semelhança com o monstro da mitologia e popularizou o objeto como FENRIR NEBULA.

SL 17 (Sandqvist and Lindroos 17) é a designação oficial desse objeto.

 

A Little Bit of Mythology:

According to Wikipedia: In Nordic mythology Fenrir is a monstrous wolf. In mythology Fenrir is the father of the wolves SKOLL and HATI and is one of the sons of LOKI. He is presaged to kill the ODIN God during RAGNAROK and be killed by the son of ODIN VIDAR.

Located in the constellation of Scorpio, the resemblance to the monster of mythology appears ready for attack, like an immense dark shadow leaping into space.

Whenever I saw images of the great field of this region I imagined a close-up of this beautiful region to be possible. I was already in my plans for at least 2 years is catch. With a wonderful sky, in 3 nights I was able to gather enough data to compose a beautiful image of this object.

The field is totally encased in an emitting nebula, with a dense cloud of dust forming Fenrir. The stars in the field are of different types and ages, as the colors attest.

The funniest of all this story, is that this unofficial nickname, arose in amateur astronomy. After an Australian amateur astronomer Paul Haese photographed this object, Rolf Wahl Olsen of New Zealand noticed the resemblance to the monster of mythology and popularized the object as FENRIR NEBULA.

SL 17 (Sandqvist and Lindroos 17) is the official name of this object.

.:Tm:.C.TR01 The Beach Rocks Barrier OFF/IN SIM-Sw

 

.:Tm:.C.TR02 Love on sea Rocks PG-ADT OFF/IN SIM-Sw

 

At Mainstore maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tm%20Paraiso1/89/128/22

 

.::Indulge::. Coach Deluxe Silver Streak At Mainstore maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Indulge%20North/93/125/2153

 

Johnny (jnakagawa)

Producer of Paragon Dance Animations

 

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Product Description

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The Los Angeles style salsa dance, also known as LA style salsa, is one of the most popular styles of salsa danced in North America and throughout the world. Originated in LA and popularized by the Vazquez brothers, LA style salsa is danced in a slot (or line), hence is a linear style of salsa dancing.

 

This style is usually danced “On 1.” It is a very dynamic and flashy style that puts greater emphasis on lots of flips, dips, drops, musicality, sensuality, and exhibits a high level of energy. Having roots in Mambo, here the dancer breaks on the 1 as against breaking on 2 like in NY Style.

 

Originally danced to "La Agarro Bailando" by Gilberto Santa Rosa. Tempo = 100 BPM

 

Dance 01 - 29.25 sec

Dance 02 - 26.75 sec

Dance 03 - 27.60 sec

Dance 04 - 34.63 sec

 

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Dance Pack Contents

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Sync Poseball:

 

MigDana01

MigDana02

MigDana03

MigDana04

 

Couple Dance Component Animations (for Couple Dance Systems):

 

Dana - 2Salsa 01

Miguel - 2Salsa 01

Dana - 2Salsa 02

Miguel - 2Salsa 02

Dana - 2Salsa 03

Miguel - 2Salsa 03

Dana - 2Salsa 04

Miguel - 2Salsa 04

 

☒ This product only contains animations (.anim files) with no audio supplied or dance hud. Music used in our videos are for demonstration purposes only.

 

Registered and compatible with TIS Hybrid Dance Machine and Intan Couple Dance Ball.

 

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Product Features

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◘ Bento hands/fingers (detailed finger articulation)

◘ Motion-captured on an 38-camera Optitrack Prime 41 & Prime 13 optical mocap system for the smoothest and natural flowing animations.

◘ Authentically performed and mocap recorded by Miguel Angel Maganda and Dana Hathaitham

 

*Licensed by Miguel Angel Maganda & Dana Hathaitham*

 

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Customer Support///Store Policy///Product Redelivery

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We value our reputation as a brand with a high quality product and pride ourselves with a responsive and caring customer support. Therefore, we value your feedback. If you feel your purchase or experience with us isn't solid gold, then please tell us what we can do to make it solid gold.

 

For dance pack redelivery, go to the main store and use the caspervend redelivery terminal or the dance pack vendor.

 

For any issues with purchases, you can message us on Facebook (see link below) or in-world @jnakagawa

Send a notecard stating your issue and a copy of your transaction history. Please be mindful of our store policy:

 

◘ Try the animation demos in-world and double check before clicking "Buy."

◘ No Refunds, except on a double purchase.

◘ No exchanges. All products are copy, modify, no transfer.

◘ We don't do custom work, but are open to suggestions and will try to accommodate requests based on demand.

 

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Paragon Dance Animations Social Media

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Like/Follow us on social media and/or join Paragon Dance Animations group to stay updated on new releases, specials, and events.

 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ParagonDanceAnimations

Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/paragondanceanimations/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/paragondanceanimations/

Group url: secondlife:///app/group/6f12165e-7e7b-3e6a-b858-1a9e8ae45d4b/about

 

Eggs Benedict is a traditional American brunch or breakfast dish that consists of two halves of an English muffin each of which is topped with Canadian bacon, ham or sometimes bacon, a poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. The dish was first popularized in New York City.

"Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot."

 

The mask used in this is a Guy Fawkes mask, popularized by the awesome film V for Vendetta. Fawkes tried to destroy the English Parliament Buildings in 1605 by setting up explosives under the parliament (the Gunpowder Plot), but was unsuccessful. Today the mask is seen as a symbol for rebellion, and protest. Many protesters in countries around the world wear his mask to hide their identities.

 

This was taken on the fifth of November. I would have uploaded it on the day of, but I wasn't home long enough to really finish editing it.

 

The textures I used are from deviantart; I would love to give credit but I honestly don't remember which user I downloaded them from. I do not claim the textures as my own c:

 

This is the first time flickr sharpening hasn't been a good thing for me. Curses.

Mondays on Flickr are a beautiful time. Explore fills with wonderfully close-up images centered around changing weekly themes. Users are always surprised by the seemingly random photos of eggs, or pens, or buttons. Every week is different, meaning every Monday has new macro photos to explore thanks to the Macro Monday group.

 

Macro Monday, one of the most engaging groups on Flickr, turns 10 this week. With almost 11k members and 120k photos, the group boasts an impressive number of Explored photos each week. Images in this group focus on beautiful, subtle details 3” and smaller.

 

Macro Monday group members have also popularized the tag HMM (Happy Macro Monday) which trends every single week, along with their weekly theme.

 

Instead of singing Happy Birthday, we’re saying HBMM to this wonderful FlickrFam. We invite you to join the Macro Monday group and submit an image for this week’s theme: ‘HAPPY 10 YEARS!’ Simply take a birthday themed macro photo, add it to the group and add the tag ‘HAPPY10YEARS!’

 

The Macro Monday group opens for submissions at 0-GMT and only accepts macro photography that fits the weekly theme.

 

Original photo by artsychameleon | fotografi

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West Thumb Geyser Basin is one of the smallest geyser basins in Yellowstone yet its location along the shore of Yellow-stone Lake ranks it as the most scenic. West Thumb derived its name from the thumb-like projection of Yellowstone Lake and the name was given by the 1870 Washburn Expedition. It was also known as Hot Spring Camp. West Thumb has less geyser activity than other basins. But West Thumb, for its size, has it all-hot springs, pools, mud pots, fumaroles and lake shore geysers.

 

Fishing Cone has been the most popular feature. Its unusual location along the lake shore and its symmetrical cone were popularized by early stories of "boiled trout." Abyss Pool is also noted for its depth and colors.

 

The Thumb Paint Pots are constantly changing. In the 1920s and 30s they were very extensive and active. Now they are less active but, depending on moisture, they still build mud cones.

 

Since the mid 1970s, West Thumb has decreased in thermal activity. Some temperatures have cooled in the basin allowing large colonies of algae and cyanobacteria to grow. As a result, large newly-formed microbial mats flourish on the run-off channels and along the edges of pools.

  

The Botkin Trail in the Yalta Nature Reserve is one of the most famous hiking trails in the Crimean Mountains. Its length from Kirov Street to the top of Stavri-Kay aMount is 4.5 kilometers.

The Botkin Trail route was created in 1901 for tuberculosis patients. They could take wellness walks here, so it is also called the "Health Trail". In these places, the phytoncides of the coniferous forest are mixed with the sea breeze, which creates a positive effect for the treatment of lung diseases.

Professor Sergey Botkin was one of the most famous physicians in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. He received the title of academician and the position of physician of the royal family. Since 1870, he has been studying the climate of the Southern coast of Crimea and made a huge contribution to the popularization of recreation and the development of sanatoriums in the Crimea. He was the first to note the healing properties of the air on the Southern coast of Crimea for the treatment of lung diseases.

 

Боткинская тропа проложена по левому берегу реки Учан-Су. Начинаясь у Поляны сказок, она завершается у скалы Ставри-Кая. Правда, завершается условно, поскольку сразу переходит в Штангеевскую тропу, которая заканчивается у водопада Учан-Су. Нередко две тропы объединяют в один маршрут. Это логично, поскольку в противном случае от скалы Ставри-Кая придется возвращаться обратно по уже пройденному пути. Если же идти до водопада, получится круизный маршрут.

Тропу оборудовали в 1901-1902 году силами Крымско-Кавказского горного клуба. В то время активно действовало ее ялтинское отделение. Назвать решили в честь доктора Боткина. Он хоть и жил в Москве, но активно участвовал в исследовании роли Южного берега Крыма как курортологического направления. Получив звание академика, он стал лейб-медиком царской семьи и много времени проводил вместе с ней в Ливадийском дворце.

The “LiMu Emu,” featured in ads for Liberty Mutual Insurance, has been a big hit for the company and has recently popularized this large feathered animal. LiMu and Doug have brought a new twist to the classic buddy-cop duo. Indeed, recent sales of Emu-plush-stuffed-animals have skyrocketed.

 

The emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the second-largest living bird by height, after its relative, the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. Emus can travel great distances and their range covers most of mainland Australia. When necessary they can sprint at 31 mph. They forage for a variety of plants and insects, but have been known to go for weeks without eating. They drink infrequently, but take in copious amounts of water when the opportunity arises.

This week’s 52Frame assignment was “Fill the Frame” and the extra challenge of using a 200+mm lens. Here’s one of the runners-up.

 

The Caxton Building is a historic building completed in 1903 in Cleveland, Ohio, US. It was designed by Frank Seymour Barnum's F. S. Barnum & Co. architectural firm. The 8-story steel-frame office building was constructed for the Caxton Building Company and its president, Ambrose Swasey. It housed graphic arts and printing businesses and was named after William Caxton, a British printer in the 15th century.

 

The main entrance to the building is a Romanesque architecture-style terra cotta archway. It includes intricate organic cartouches in the style popularized by American architect Louis Sullivan, as well as column capitals accenting its buff-colored masonry. Its ground floor retail frontage has included restaurants and cafes.

 

The building was designed to accommodate heavy printing presses. In 1905 it housed Alfred Cahen's business which became the World Publishing Company.

 

The Caxton Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in October 1973. It was declared a Cleveland landmark in 1976. The building underwent restorations in the 1990s

This image is a vintage Christmas postcard illustration published by Raphael Tuck & Sons around the year 1905. The specific card shown is part of their "Oilette Series (#8267)" and "Christmas Postcard Series".

 

Postcard Details

Publisher: Raphael Tuck & Sons, a prominent British publishing company known for their high-quality postcards and art prints. They held royal warrants and were a major producer of cards in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

 

Series: The card belongs to the "Oilette" series, which were known for their rich, high-quality lithographic printing that mimicked the look of oil paintings.

 

Dating: Similar postcards from this series are often postmarked or dated around 1905-1909.

 

Subject: The illustration depicts Santa Claus, in a traditional red robe with a sack of toys, interacting with a young child kneeling in a chair. This type of sentimental, narrative illustration was a popular theme for Christmas cards during the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

 

While the vintage postcard itself only contains the printed greeting "Christmas Greetings", the specific dialogue between Santa and the little girl is left to the viewer's imagination.

Common themes on postcards from this 1900-1910 era often centered on:

 

Behavioral Inquiries: Santa might have been asking if she has been a good girl this year, a popular theme in the early 1900s as a form of behavior modification.

 

Wish List Confirmation: The girl may have been confirming her Christmas wishes, as children often wrote detailed letters or lists to Santa during this period.

 

Jolly Salutations: Simple expressions of holiday cheer and well-wishes were also very common.

 

Ultimately, the ambiguity of the scene was intended to evoke a personal, sentimental feeling in the sender and recipient, allowing them to project their own heartwarming interpretation onto the interaction.

 

In vintage Christmas illustrations and traditions popular in the early 1900s, Santa Claus or Father Christmas was often depicted carrying a tree as part of his role as the bringer of all holiday cheer and traditions.

 

Here are the key reasons why this imagery was common:

Symbolic of the German Tradition: The tradition of bringing a decorated evergreen tree into the home originated in Germany and was popularized in English-speaking countries by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the mid-19th century. Early postcards often featured Santa bringing the entire celebratory setup, including the tree itself, as a complete package of joy.

 

A Complete Delivery: In the context of early 20th-century postcards, Santa was portrayed as the single source for all holiday goods. The image shows him delivering the large sack of toys and the tree, implying he provides everything needed for the perfect Christmas celebration in the home.

Visual Storytelling: The image is a piece of narrative art designed to evoke a strong sentimental response. Santa carrying the tree visually represents the spirit of Christmas arriving at the home, a powerful and complete picture of the festive season's arrival.

 

Over time, as the tradition of families selecting and setting up their own trees became the norm, illustrations evolved to focus solely on Santa delivering gifts to an already-decorated tree.

 

"Que sera, sera

Whatever will be, will be

The future's not ours to see

Que sera, sera

What will be, will be"

~Ray Livingston and Ray Evans, Popularized by Doris Day

 

Listen to Doris sing the song here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=azxoVRTwlNg

  

A portrait of a Rough Collie

 

As today the electric when out for a few hours I took some time to get out side to the park where this beautiful Collie was playing..I asked the owner if I could take some photos as this dog caught my eye with its lovely colors ..and this dog liked having it's photo taken......the owner told me he the dog was 11 years old....but he was still full of life and spunck....

 

The Rough Collie is a breed of dog developed originally for herding in Scotland. It is well known because of the works of author Albert Payson Terhune, and was popularized in later generations by the Lassie novel, movies, and television shows. There is also a smooth-coated variety; some breed organizations consider the smooth-coat and rough-coat dogs to be variations of the same breed.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Collie

 

What happens when you push 30,000 volts of electricity through some vine tendrils? The corona discharge looks like this. Read on for the magic!

 

Passion flower tendrils take on a lovely spiral shape, which is what I used as the main subject for this Kirlian photograph. Kirlian Photography, also called electrophotography among other names, is the result of passing very high voltage through a subject to reveal the discharge of electricity from the cathode to anode.

 

Kirlian photography has its origins as far back as 1889, but was popularized in the late 1970s when two Russian inventors, Semyon Kirlian and his wife Valentina, found a larger audience for their experiments photographing electrical coronal discharges originally published in 1958.

 

There have been a lot of claims in pseudoscience and parapsychology regarding Kirlian “auras” in the past decades, and I remember my father mentioning that this technique could create an aura from a leaf that would remain intact even after a portion of that leaf was cut. As an 11 year old boy, this was quite the spark for my imagination, and made me think that there is more to the world than meets the eye. It turns out, there is: residue and/or moisture from where the leaf was placed could still be reactive to the high voltage. If the glass plate where the leaf was placed was cleaned of these remnants the aura around the cut portion of the leaf would disappear. There was a scientific explanation for this, but I didn’t learn it until years later.

 

While some people feel that the stochastic electric ionization processes here are mystical and beyond the veil of our own existence, I remain a very skeptical person. As a skeptic, I’m thirsty for knowledge and am forever trying to answer questions for myself, not taking them at face value from others. I’ve photographed flowers, leaves, and tendrils like this all with different and intriguing results; some are more beautiful than others, but it’s a thrill to see the result no matter what it is.

 

The circle that the tendrils are emerging from is a plate base of plastic, designed to keep the subject flat against the glass that the electricity is flowing through. The hole is for the anode (negative charge) to pass through to the subject squished beneath the glass (cathode, positive charge). The anode begins as a little metal wire with an alligator clip on the end which is clamping all three of the tendrils together.

 

The Kirlian photography device used to take this picture is the FullSpectrum Kirlian Electrograph Camera JAK 2000-C (here’s a photo of this setup: donkom.ca/bts/IMG_3875.JPG ). I believe they have discontinued sales of this, as I can’t imagine there being much public demand. That said, it’s a fun piece of gear to use! Shot with a Lumix GX9 and a Leica 45mm macro lens, edited in both ON1 Photo RAW and Photoshop to utilize the strengths of each.

 

Abstract art at 30,000 volts. I hope you enjoy it. :)

Western Ghats Mountains south of Palghat Gap of 30 km begins at Nelliampathy hills. The major portions of the hill plateau at 900-1200 m altitudes are now covered with Tea plantations, which were excellent evergreen forests till 1860.

 

Tea plant thrives well in hot and humid climate with temperature 20°-30°C and 1500-3000 mm of annual rainfall, well distributed throughout the year. Though it loves altitude above 1000 above mean sea level (msl), most of the tea plantations in India are found at altitudes 600 to 1,800 msl and in south India at 300 m as well.

 

The origin of tea was believed to be in southwestern China though it was reported from the slopes of upper Assam where it was seen growing in wild. It was popularized as a recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty, and tea drinking spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to the West during the 16th century. During the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among Britons, who started large-scale production and commercialization of the plant in India to bypass a Chinese monopoly at that time.

a bunch of photos shot from a 50mm and stitched together to get a shallower dof. people are calling it "the brenizer method" but it's been around for much longer than that, he popularized it and kudos to that guy because his stitches are sick.

 

50mm f/1.4 about 15 shots.

Val-Lab

 

∻⊰ 🌷 ⊱∻

 

Warning! Story May Scare You!

 

Scholars around the world are astonished at Professor VaeV's inventive Aristo's Vow Blood Tubes for which spews out blinking hearts with skin conductivity pairing Bunny Dolls sectional arms, legs and torsos.

 

His well known Val-Lab (Established in the Mid-17th Century somewhere in the most Northern thistled parts of Eastern Europe) has been popularized by his detailed research where his fanged companions have assisted him in creating legendary feminine Sasa Cupids; best known as sensual half Cupid & half sexy ladies of the night.

 

Now don't let their sex appeal fool you dearest males of todays dates; stop drooling and snap out of it. Pay close attention. One quick whip of their horned tail and prick from their pumping Tell-Tale Abyssal Heart will cast a forever spell on you. I've known men who have become meek mice of the Bram Stoker's deadly fields. We've sadly heard their cries and awful squeaks when stepped on.

 

This is no myth, mind you. Their charm floats in the mist of your bedroom walls, under your car seats and golden elevators around the world. It's the bloody truth.

 

You are most venerable in the after days of Valentines while they have carried darkened roses into lover's trash bins once they dwindle and all the feeding and fun has settled for each February's event.

 

If you listen closely to the music echoing from their enchanted Lyre's, you are doomed. Beware my friends. We want to see you alive and well next year.

 

Story by Bambi Chicque

 

∻⊰ 🌷 ⊱∻

 

**DECOR & POSE:

 

/VaeV\ '~ Aristo's Vow' Blood Tube, Tell-Tale Relic Abyssal Heart & Miser's Haunted Tome Books ~ Group Gifts & Love Bites Hunt {Enlarged for photo; meant to be held} LOVE BITES

 

Harshlands ~ Greek Antique Lyre Enchantment

 

Harshlands ~ Floating Gold Candle SWANK

 

CURELESS ~ BunnyDolls {Enlarged for photo; meant to be worn}

 

LOVE - Dark Heart Floor Bubbles (#2) & Rose Throrns ~ Mystical Market & Hunt

 

**OUTFIT

 

Believe ~ Cupid Bow & Arrow ~ Believe ~ Cupid Bow & Arrow ~ Love Bites Hunt

 

BamPu Legacies ~ Cat Ears & Devil Tail

 

Belle Epoque ~ Sasa Red Body Suit

 

Sintiklia ~ Wenna Hair

 

LeLutka ~ Nova Mesh Head

 

Maitreya ~ Lara Mesh Body

 

Glam Affair ~ Adele Skin, Blush & HD Eyeshadow

 

FOXCITY ~ Poise Pose #6

 

∻⊰ 🌷 ⊱∻

 

Enjoy!

Bambi Chicque

Designer ~ BamPu Legacies Since 2012

Blogger Since 2012

  

31/366 - Olmasaydı Sonumuz Böyle (the best translation I can come up with is "had we not ended up this way" - sounds a bit off to me though, so suggestions are welcome from any Turkish/English bilinguals that we might have here). The line is from a poem, popularized by this song, but I have no idea about the context here, apart from the fact that the sticker seems to be from a local branch of a Fenerbahçe fan group.

 

Maltepe, Istanbul, Turkey

 

On a technical note, I tried to but couldn't get at least the second boat in focus as well. I would have attempted focus stacking (and perhaps also HDR because recovering the sky with brushes and so on is a bit tedious) but didn't have the tripod with me. Regardless, it was too interesting and, well, *sunsetty*, to pass up, so we'll have to do with just the tip of the boat in focus.

An old fashioned Santa Claus is ready to climb down the chimney with a sack of toys on this charming postcard!

 

The illustration shows a jolly Santa Claus, complete with a long white beard and a sack full of toys (including a doll visible), entering a red brick chimney on a snowy rooftop.

 

This particular style of embossed postcard with the red-suited Santa was popular in the early 20th century, generally dating from the "Divided Back" era of 1907-1915.

 

The postcard above is characteristic of those produced in the "Divided Back" era, which began around 1907 and extended through the 1910s. Millions of these postcards were produced during that time, and it was common for people to buy them in bulk and use them over many subsequent years, leading to later postmarks like 1925 and even much later.

 

ERD - 22 December 1925

LRD - 10 December 1943

 

The logo or emblem on the back of this postcard features a hand holding a burning torch below the capital letters "POST CARD". The logo depicts a hand holding a torch with light rays, enclosed in a semi-circular decorative frame.

 

The idea of Santa Claus (or St. Nicholas) traveling via the chimney has roots in older European folklore, but it was formalized in the early 19th century in American literature.

 

Origins of the Chimney Tradition:

 

Older Folklore: In medieval Europe, the hearth was considered the heart of the home, and ancient traditions from Norse mythology (the god Odin was said to enter homes through smoke holes) and Greek tales involved magical beings using the chimney as an entry point. A Dutch artist's painting from the 1600s, The Feast of St. Nicholas, also shows onlookers gazing up a chimney, suggesting that was how St. Nicholas arrived.

 

Earliest Literary Reference: The first known recorded instance of a gift-giver "rattling down the chimney" in literature was in the expanded 1812 version of Washington Irving's satirical book A History of New York. In an earlier version (1809), St. Nicholas was described simply as dropping presents down chimneys from the rooftops.

 

Popularization: The tradition was cemented in popular culture by the famous 1823 poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas (commonly known as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas). This poem vividly describes St. Nicholas coming "down the chimney" with a bound to fill stockings, creating the iconic image we know today.

 

The term "Merry Christmas" was first documented in a letter as early as 1520.

 

Key Mentions in History:

 

1520: Researchers at Hereford Cathedral in England discovered a letter from Bishop Charles Booth to a colleague that included the phrase, "I praye God ye may be all in good charite and mery this Crystmas".

 

1534: Previously thought to be the earliest use, Bishop John Fisher wrote a letter to King Henry VIII's chief minister Thomas Cromwell, stating, "And this our Lord God send you a merry Christmas, and a comfortable, to your heart's desire".

 

1843: The phrase was popularized in the 19th century by two major events:

 

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol: The novel, published in 1843, uses "Merry Christmas" frequently and helped cement it as a common greeting.

 

The First Commercial Christmas Card: Also in 1843, the first commercially printed Christmas card, commissioned by Sir Henry Cole, featured the text "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You".

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

This postcard was addressed to - Master Paul Giblin / 112 Rainsford Road / Toronto, Ontario / Canada

 

Paul Edward Joseph Giblin

(b. 1922 – d. 23 December 1998 age 77 in Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - LINK to his newspaper obituary - www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-obituary-for-...

 

It was sent by a relative in Chicago - named Leo on 22 December 1925.

Kolumbien-Braunkopf-Klammeraffe***Ateles fusciceps rufiventris***Columbia black-headed spider monkey

 

vom Aussterben bedroht/critically endangered

 

Monkey Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated internationally on December 14. While the holiday is mainly about monkeys, it also celebrates other non-human primates such as apes, tarsiers, and lemurs. Monkey Day was created and popularized by artists Casey Sorrow and Eric Millikin, in order to spread awareness for the animals, and to show love and care for them. It is celebrated worldwide and often known as "World Monkey Day." Source Wikipedia

Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave. After the construction began and the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern.

Peach Blossom Moth (Thyatira batis, Thyatirinae, Drepanidae)

 

(Love it or hate it, Instagram has popularized the square photo format of the Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid era. As most of my subjects are longer than they are tall or taller than they are wide, it is not a format that usually suits. It does present very well however for a lot of moths viewed from the dorsal aspect.)

 

Pu'er, Yunnan, China

 

see comments for additional view….

The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portion of northern Arkansas and most of the southern half of Missouri, extending from Interstate 40 in Arkansas to Interstate 70 in central Missouri.

 

There are two mountain ranges within the Ozarks: the Boston Mountains of Arkansas and the St. Francois Mountains of Missouri. Buffalo Lookout, the highest point in the Ozarks, is located in the Boston Mountains. Geologically, the area is a broad dome with the exposed core in the ancient St. Francois Mountains. The Ozarks cover nearly 47,000 square miles (120,000 km2), making it the most extensive highland region between the Appalachians and Rockies. Together with the Ouachita Mountains, the area is known as the U.S. Interior Highlands.

 

The Salem Plateau, named after Salem, Missouri, makes up the largest geologic area of the Ozarks. The second largest is the Springfield Plateau, named after Springfield, Missouri, nicknamed the "Queen City of the Ozarks". On the northern Ozark border are the cities of St. Louis and Columbia, Missouri. Significant cities in Arkansas include Fayetteville and Bentonville. Branson is a tourist destination and popularizer of Ozark culture just north of the Arkansas–Missouri border.

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however we are at Glynes, the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds in Wiltshire, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie. Lettice is visiting her family home after receiving an invitation via her parents for a musical evening at the grand Victorian Gothic home of the Chetwynd’s neighbours, Lord Sherbourne and Lady Isobel Tyrwhitt. The Tyrwhitt’s only daughter, Arabella, is engaged to Leslie with a wedding planned for the autumn. Whilst the families are used to spending time with one another Lord Sherbourne, who has a great love of music, is using the gathering of the two aristocratic families to indulge in his passion. After freshening up after her train journey from London to Glynes, Lettice has been informed by Bramley, the Chetwynd’s butler, that her father is ill in bed with a head cold and is not to be disturbed, and that refreshments are being served by her mother in the morning room, the thought of which sinks Lettice’s spirits.

 

“Ahh, Lettice,” Lettice’s mother, Lady Sadie, calls from her favourite wingback chair by the fireplace where she sits embroidering. “There you are. Do come and sit down.” She indicates with a sweeping gesture to the less comfortable armchair sitting across from a small side table graced with a vase of beautiful golden yellow tulips.

 

“Good afternoon, Mamma.” Lettice replies as she walks into the room, Lady Sadie’s signature scent of lily of the valley immediately tickling her nose as she steps across the threshold.

 

The Glynes morning room always makes Lettice a little nervous. She feels at home in her father’s grand library, but this is very much Lady Sadie’s preserve, and Lettice has never felt that she can be at ease in the morning room, which she associates with her best manners. The original classical Eighteenth Century design has been overlayed with the comfortable Edwardian clutter of continual and conspicuous acquisition that is the hallmark of a lady of the Countess’ age and social standing. China cabinets of beautiful porcelain line the walls. Clusters of mismatched chairs unholstered in cream fabric, tables and a floral chaise lounge, all from different eras, fill the room: set up to allow for the convivial conversation of the great and good of the county after church on a Sunday. The hand painted Georgian wallpaper can barely be seen for paintings and photographs in ornate gilded frames. The marble mantelpiece is covered by Royal Doulton figurines and more photos in silver frames. Several vases of flowers stand on occasional tables, but even their fragrance cannot smother her mother’s ever present Yardley Lily of the Valley scent.

 

“Now you’re here, I’ll ring for tea.” Lady Sadie continues, reaching over to the handle by the fireplace to ring servant’s bell.

 

The fire in the grate crackles welcomingly whilst a gilt clock’s muffled tick marks the time with regularity.

 

“How are you Mamma?”

 

“Oh fair to middling,” Lady Sadie replies as she sets aside the embroidery on her lap. “Mustn’t grumble. I’m better than your father at any rate. Did Bramley tell you he is laid up with a bad head cold and is not to be disturbed.”

 

“He did, Mamma. Thank you.”

 

Lettice stands before her mother and leans down as the older woman leans up from her seat, the two exchanging a whispery kiss on the cheek where their skin almost connects, but not quite.

 

“Don’t you look lovely today.” the older woman remarks as she gives her youngest daughter an appraising look. “I’ve always liked you in powder blue. It suits your pallor.”

 

“What’s this?” Lettice asks as she slides herself gingerly into the seat proffered by her mother. “Paying your errant daughter a compliment, Mamma? You must be up to something.”

 

“How very cynical of you Lettice.” her mother replies, a tone of offence in her voice. “That’s Gerald Bruton’s acerbic tongue influencing you again. Can’t a mother compliment her daughter on her choice of outfit?”

 

“Not when it’s you, Mamma,” Lettice sighs. “However, I suppose whatever is generating your magnanimity will worm its way out over tea, I’m sure.”

 

“Can’t a mother have a convivial chat over a nice cup of tea with her daughter?”

 

“There is usually an ulterior motive with you, Mamma.”

 

Ignoring her daughter’s unkind, yet truthful, remarks, Lady Sadie continues, “How was your trip down from London?”

 

“Quite pleasant thank you, Mamma. I have a new novel which I started on the railway journey, so the time passed quickly.”

 

“You should be reading The Lady* or Horse and Hound**, not those silly romance novels you young girls read nowadays.” Lady Sadie scolds with an irritated flick of her hand. “They give your generation peculiar ideas about love and marriage and fill your heads with silly notions about romance and modern love, whatever that is.”

 

“I seem to recall that my generation was not the one to invent the romance novel, Mamma. Just look at Elinor Glynn***.”

 

“Yes, well! The less said about that scandalous woman, the better.” huffs Lady Sadie.

 

“And if you mean by modern love, the idea of actually getting to know the person you think you might marry before you announce it in The Times, then yes, I support that idea wholeheartedly.”

 

“What a load of nonsense. Marriages are made my mothers, you silly girl.”

 

“In your day, Mamma, maybe. Not now.”

 

Their quickly heating conversation is broken by a gentle knock on the morning room door, through which one of the Chetwynd’s housemaids, Alice Emmery, appears after being summoned. Dressed in her afternoon uniform of a black frock and pretty muslin apron and cap, she bobs a curtsey after depositing a silver tray of tea things and a plate of dainty biscuits onto the central table.

 

“Oh Emmery, how is your mother?” Lady Sadie asks kindly.

 

“She’s still laid up in bed with the same head cold His Lordship has, Milady.” the maid answers.

 

“Well tell her that I’ll do a bit of sick visiting in the next few days, won’t you?”

 

“Yes Milady.” Emmery bobs another curtsey. “Will there be anything else Milady?”

 

“No. Thank you, Emmery. I can pour the tea myself.”

 

Mother and daughter wait for the housemaid to discreetly leave and quietly close the door behind her before continuing their conversation.

 

“Oh you are awful, Mamma,” Lettice says as she leans over and takes the two empty dainty floral china cups and saucers from the tray and places them on the table between the two of them.

 

“It’s not all being lady of the manor and embroidery all day, Lettice.” chides Lady Sadie as she picks up the plate of dainty brightly coloured cream biscuits and places them on the table between them too. “I have my Lady Bountiful**** work to do too, and that includes looking in on the estate workers’ families.”

 

“I know Mamma, but now Emmery will go home and tell her mother, and then she’ll be up out of her sick bed cleaning her cottage from the attic to the cellar in an effort to impress you. Heaven forbid Lady Bountiful should sit upon a dusty seat!”

 

“Oh don’t talk such nonsense, Lettice.” Lady Sadie wraps her hand around the handle of the silver teapot and pours brackish red tea into Lettice’s cup and then her own. “And don’t try and distract me from what I was going to ask before Emmery interrupted us.”

 

“Ah, see!” Lettice remarks triumphantly, adding sugar to her tea. “I knew your compliments didn’t come ex gratia.”

 

“Nonsense! I’m just interested in my daughter’s welfare and any recent social developments. Isn’t that the obligation of all mothers?”

 

“So, my wellbeing is an obligation is it, Mamma?” She adds a drop of milk to her tea before passing the jug to Lady Sadie.

 

“Don’t take what I say so literally, Lettice.” Lady Sadie remarks with an irritated sigh as she pours a thin stream of milk into her own tea. “Your constant game of one-upmanship is tiring, not to mention tiresome.”

 

Lettice sinks back into her chair and lets her gaze stray from her mother’s expectant face across the table to the little gilt cherub statue sitting next to the vase of tulips. Holding a small ornamental tray aloft, it’s sweet face seems to mock and tease her cheekily. “Well, if it’s Selwyn you are asking about, Mamma, I have seen him since the Hunt Ball.”

 

“Aha!” Lady Sadie sits up in her armchair and arches a finely plucked eyebrow as she sips her tea and stares with barely controlled excitement at her daughter.

 

“Just once, mind you, Mamma. Selwyn and I haven’t had much time. We went to… yes, well never mind where we went.” She swallows the name of the Metropole Hotel quickly since her mother miraculously doesn’t seem to know that she and Selwyn have had their first rendezvous. “We went out for luncheon last week.”

 

“And?”

 

“And it was very pleasant.” Lettice replies coyly, taking a sip of her tea. “We talked quite a bit about our interests, his architecture, and my love of interior design.”

 

“And?” Lady Sadie leans a little harder on the left arm of her chair as she stretches a little more closely, almost predatorially, towards Lettice.

 

“Oh Mama! You really are infuriating! Yes, we’ve agreed that we will see one another again soon, but I’m not quite sure when. It will depend upon our schedules, as we are both busy socially and workwise.”

 

“That’s fine! That’s fine!” Lady Sadie releases her pent-up breath, her figure physically deflating a little as she lowers her cup into its saucer on the table and sinks back into her chair comfortably. “As long as I know that my daughter’s first assignation with the Duke of Walmsford’s heir has been successful, I’m happy.” She reaches out her bejewelled left hand and takes Lettice’s empty right hand in it, squeezing it encouragingly. “There is progress at least, for my errant daughter.”

 

Used to being at war, or at the very least on an uneasy truce with her mother, Lettice finds Lady Sadie’s smiling face and seemingly genuine pride rather unsettling. Surprisingly, she releases her own pent-up breath that she hadn’t realised she had been holding as she prepared for the usual inquisition from her mother, and it comes out in a quiet juddering stream. “Good,” she sighs. “Now that we have that formality out of the way, might we talk about tomorrow night?”

 

“Of course, of course!” Lady Sadie giggles girlishly, another reaction Lettice has seldom seen in her mother before.

 

“What time are we due to arrive at Uncle Shelbourne’s?”

 

“Eight o’clock, for a light supper, so I’ve asked Cook to serve luncheon at two tomorrow and we’ll have chicken pies rather than a joint.”

 

“And who will be in attendance?”

 

“Oh, just family. Sherbourne and Isobel, Arabella and Leslie of course, Nigel, you and I. Not your father. Even if he should be feeling better, I don’t want him riding in the cold motor even with blankets and hot water bottles.”

 

“Well that does sound like a jolly party.” Lettice says with a smile, genuinely looking forward to a musical evening of fun and hijinks with the family she has spent so much time with over the years that they are like aunt, uncle and cousins to her.

 

“Now, thinking of Leslie and Arabella’s wedding,” Lady Sadie begins.

 

“Oh please don’t tell me that I have to be bridesmaid.” Lettice whines. “I know that Bella’s the only daughter, but surely there are Tyrwhitt cousins who can escort her down the aisle.”

 

“Heaven forbid!” Lady Sadie raises her right bejewelled hand to her throat and worries her pearl necklace. “Not when things are going so well with young Spencely!” Her sparkling eyes grow wide in their sockets. “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. No! We shan’t take that risk.”

 

“You’re so superstitious, Mamma.”

 

“So would you be if you were me during this delicate time in your budding romance with young Spencely.” Lady Sadie replies sagely. “No, as you know, poor Isobel hasn’t been well, what with the radiotherapy treatment for her cancer. And Arabella does need her trousseau managed.”

 

“I already told you over the telephone that I will happily host Bella at Cavendish Mews and take her shopping around London.”

 

“Good! Good! I just wanted to make sure that, circumstances,” Lady Sadie places emphasis on the last word. “Hadn’t changed.”

 

“Mamma, even if Selwyn and I had decided after our first assignation that we were going to get married - which we haven’t - it could hardly be arranged before Leslie and Bella’s wedding!”

 

“Well, you young people move at such a frenetic pace these days.” She takes up her teacup again. “Oh, and thinking about clothes.” The older woman eyes her daughter with a suddenly steely gaze more usually reserved for Lettice. “I do not want you wearing a shop bought hat to your brother’s wedding. I know you’ve had a falling out with Madame Gwendolyn, and I also have it on good authority that that was a Selfridges hat you wore to Princess Mary’s wedding*****. The very idea! What were you thinking?”

 

“Well I…” splutters Lettice, dropping the biscuit she has just selected back onto the plate where it spills forth crumbs from its impact with the gilt edged plate.

 

“You might have only been one head in Westminster Cathedral, but you will play an important part in Leslie’s wedding, and I do not wish for you to be photographed in a shop bought hat.”

 

“What’s wrong with a hat from Selfridges?” Lettice exclaims. “I looked very fashionable at the royal wedding, and Lady Cavendish****** even complimented me on it.”

 

“No Lettice!” Lady Sadie says in a matter-of-fact tone that tells Lettice that even if she were to have the most exquisite hat from the Oxford Street department store’s millinery department it would not be good enough. “I do not wish you to be dressed in a hat that could be bought by a middle-class draper’s daughter of means, or worse, one of the villagers invited to the wedding like the Miss Evanses, who just might take it upon themselves to go up to London to shop for new outfits for the occasion at Selfridges. The Miss Evanses are just the type of people who would shop at Selfridges.”

 

“Mamma, everyone shops at Selfridges in London.”

 

“You say that like it is a commendation, Lettice.”

 

“Well it is.”

 

“No, either go back, cap in hand, no pun intended, to Madame Gwendolyn,” Lady Sadie pronounces in an imperious tone. “Or find yourself a new milliner of your choice before the wedding. End of discussion.”

 

*The Lady is one of Britain's longest-running women's magazines. It has been in continuous publication since 1885 and is based in London. It is particularly notable for its classified advertisements for domestic service and child care; it also has extensive listings of holiday properties.

 

**Horse and Hound is the oldest equestrian weekly magazine of the United Kingdom. Its first edition was published in 1884. The magazine contains horse industry news, reports from equestrian events, veterinary advice about caring for horses, and horses for sale.

 

***Elinor Glyn was a British novelist and scriptwriter who specialised in romantic fiction, which was considered scandalous for its time, although her works are relatively tame by modern standards. She popularized the concept of the it-girl, and had tremendous influence on early 20th-century popular culture and, possibly, on the careers of notable Hollywood stars such as Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson and, especially, Clara Bow. Elinor Glynn’s sister was Lady Lucille Duff Gordon the Edwardian fashion designer who survived the sinking of the Titanic in a lifeboat so empty that it became a scandal in the aftermath of the sinking.

 

****Lady Bountiful is a term used to describe a woman who engages in ostentatious acts of charity to impress others, and was often used in Edwardian times by titled ladies to describe themselves when conducting their charity or ministering works.

 

*****Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (1897 – 1965), was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. She was the sister of Kings Edward VIII and George VI, and aunt of Queen Elizabeth II. She married Viscount Lascelles on the 28th of February 1922 in a ceremony held at Westminster Abbey. The bride was only 24 years old, whilst the groom was 39. There is much conjecture that the marriage was an unhappy one, but their children dispute this and say it was a very happy marriage based upon mutual respect. The wedding was filmed by Pathé News and was the first royal wedding to be featured in fashion magazines, including Vogue.

 

******Mary Alice Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was a British courtier who served as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth II from 1953 to 1967. She was the granddaughter of Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury.

 

Cluttered with paintings, photographs and furnishings, Lady Sadie’s morning room with its Georgian and Victorian furnishings is different from what you might think, for it is made up entirely of 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures from my collection including pieces from my own childhood.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

The gilt edged floral teacups and plate on the table in the foreground come from a miniatures specialist stockist on E-Bay. The wonderful selection of biscuits on offer were made by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The fluted squat cranberry glass vase on the table is an artisan miniature made of hand blown glass which also came from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures. Made of polymer clay that are moulded on wires to allow them to be shaped at will and put into individually formed floral arrangements, the very realistic looking golden yellow tulips are made by a 1:12 miniature specialist in Germany. The tiny gilt cherub statue I have had since I was a teenager. I bought it from a high street stockist who specialised in dolls houses and doll house miniatures. Being only a centimetre in height and half a centimetre in diameter it has never been lost, even though I have moved a number of times in my life since its acquisition.

 

The silver tea set and silver galleried tray, which peeps from behind Lettice’s table on the central table in the midground, has been made with great attention to detail, and comes from Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces.

 

Lady Sadie’s morning room is furnished mostly with pieces from high-end miniature furniture maker, Bespaq. Lady Sadie’s armchair is a Chippendale piece, whilst the gild decorated mahogany tables in the foreground and midground are Regency style. The desk and its matching chair is a Salon Reine design, hand painted and copied from an Eighteenth Century design. All the drawers open and it has a lidded rack at either end. The china cabinet to the left-hand side in the background is Georgian revival and is lined with green velvet and fitted with glass shelves and a glass panelled door. The cream coloured footstool with gold tasselling which can just be seen on the carpeted floors beyond the table in the foreground came from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the United Kingdom.

 

The plaster fireplace in the background comes from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the United Kingdom as well, and the fire screen and fire pokers come from the same high street stockist who specialised in dolls houses and doll house miniatures as the cherub statue. The Royal Doulton style figurines on top the fireplace, the skirts of which you can just see, are from Warwick Miniatures in Ireland and have been hand painted by me.

 

The Chetwynd’s family photos seen on the desk and hanging on the walls are all real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The frames are almost all from Melody Jane’s Dollhouse Suppliers in the United Kingdom and are made of metal with glass in each. The largest frame on the right-hand side of the desk is actually a sterling silver miniature frame. It was made in Birmingham in 1908 and is hallmarked on the back of the frame. It has a red leather backing.

 

The Persian rug on the floor has been woven by Pike, Pike and Company in the United Kingdom.

Performance with songs from Hawaii for the Gothenburg Ukulele Club. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukulele

For many years, as a photographer, I have been documenting the widespread rural decay that is occurring throughout America. I believe there is a "quiet rural catastrophe" that is resulting in a significant degradation of the quality of life in small towns and counties. To me, there is both great sadness and strange beauty associated with the loss. I am without words to elaborate on this, but it is what I see through the lens of my camera.

 

During my childhood, my small rural hometown was very much a "Mayberry" as popularized by the Andy Griffith Show. People kept their lawns neatly trimmed, their homes painted and in good repair, and there was a strong sense of community pride. The Courthouse Square was surrounded by thriving businesses, and on Saturday mornings, downtown was packed with people -- including the Pentecostal guitar-playing preacher and his wife who stood next to the phone booth at the corner of Walnut Street and Main Street -- singing and preaching hell-fire and damnation. (It is noteworthy that a future preacher and best boyhood friend of mine, Bill Lockman, along with me, used to do a really good imitation of that Pentecostal preacher). But nostalgia is sidetracking me momentarily -- back to the topic at hand.

 

Most of the "Mayberry's" are gone now. My hometown has not escaped the plight of small communities in Indiana and America. Houses are run down, yards are standing in weeds, junkyards exist within the town, mobile homes sit where houses used to be, and there are empty storefronts or entire buildings missing around the Courthouse Square.

 

In the "country", that is, outside the town limits, farmers used to keep their barns painted, fences in good repair, soybean crops free of weeds, and their property well groomed. Much of that has changed in rural America and rural Indiana. Many barns are abandoned and falling in, and many farms look like the "Appalachia" I read about as a young boy.

 

There has been a shift in population from rural areas to urban areas. In Indiana, the "donut" around Indianapolis has seen a huge increase in population from people of all ages who have moved from rural areas with few amenities to urban areas where those desired amenities exist.

 

It has saddened me to see this happen to my hometown. Now, I do want to be clear -- there are still people in my hometown and in the country around my hometown who maintain their property and have a strong sense of community pride -- but they are becoming less in number.

 

While I have moved to an urban area, I still have family members that I love dearly who remain in my hometown. I often find myself wishing they could experience what I experienced in my hometown in the late 1950's and early 1960's. I loved growing up in my hometown, even through an unspeakable tragedy that came my way. From time to time I get a phone call out of the blue -- as I did recently -- from people I haven't spoken to forever -- who left me with tears in my eyes because of their kind words, and love for my family still living in my hometown who they see nearly every day.

 

I am reminded of this: the external things we see, such as the decay of small towns and rural areas, doesn't mean the hearts and souls of people in those areas have similarly decayed. Though the world has people who are mentally ill, angry, unforgiving, and bent on evil, I know there are more people who are generous, kind, peaceful, loving, forgiving, and bent on goodness -- people concerned about the safety and welfare of those around them. And people who would call someone like me, out of the blue, and leave me feeling deeply moved and cared for.

 

Rural Indiana

2021

© James Rice, All Rights Reserved

Reposting this shot due to its selection on the Flickr Blog, portuguese version, on 12/12/2013:

 

blog.flickr.net/pt/2013/12/11/twittertuesday-arquitetura/

 

Oscar Niemayer was 104 years old and one of the most surprising and talented all time architects. This is my tribute to him.

 

From the Wikipedia:

 

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 - 5 December 2012) was a Brazilian architect specialized in international modern architecture. In the 1940s, '50s and '60s "he established himself as one of Modernism's greatest luminaries, while reshaping Brazil’s identity in the popular imagination and mesmerizing architects around the globe". He is a pioneer in exploring the formal constructive possibilities of reinforced concrete for its aesthetic impact.Niemeyer is most famous for his use of abstract forms and curves that specifically characterize most of his works; he didn’t stick to traditional straight lines, for he is not attracted to straight angles or lines but rather he is captured by ”free-flowing, sensual curves… [like that] on the body of the beloved woman.”I am not attracted to straight angles or to the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. I am attracted to free-flowing, sensual curves. The curves that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean, and on the body of the beloved woman. Curves make up the entire Universe, the curved Universe of Einstein.”Both lauded and criticized for being a "sculptor of monuments", he has been praised for being a great artist and one of the greatest architects of his generation by his supporters.[4] He claims his architecture was strongly influenced by Le Corbusier, but in an interview conducted by Fritz Uteri, he assures that, “didn’t prevent [his] architecture from going in a different direction”.[5]Some of his most famous works include the civic buildings he design for the new capital city of Brazil, Brasília. These include the National Congress of Brazil, the Cathedral of Brasília, the Palácio do Planalto and the Palácio da Alvorada. He was also one of the main contributors of the team which designed the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.Given the worldwide fame of his monumental projects and the plastic emphasis which Niemeyer believed were an inherent part of their program, a large portion of his work before the 1960's is usually neglected. This body of work shows Niemeyer's great ability in dealing with the human scale, adressing the building's surroundings and marrying technical and aesthetic aspects, taking into account the thermal confort of the buildings, usually through the use of cross-ventilation and brises-soleil, which he helped to popularize.

 

***Shot blogged on 2/5/2013 on KE - ZU Blog:

 

blog.kezu.com.au/

Like me this guy was enjoying a "fry up". A rare treat for me (these days), a cooked breakfast.

 

The weather was bright and warm and "Ducky's" on the beach at Beer opens early. So an early morning run on the motorbike for breakfast before all the grockles (tourists) are out and about.

  

'Grockle' is an informal and often slightly derogatory term for a tourist. It was first popularized because of its use by the characters in the film The System (1964), which is set in the Devon resort of Torquay during the summer season. Some older dictionaries suggested that it might be a West Country dialect word. Other scholars have put forward the theory that it originated in a comparison of red-faced tourists (wearing baggy clothing with handkerchiefs on their heads) to 'Grock', a clown and music-hall performer who was famous in the first half of the 20th century.

 

Measuring five and a half metres (with a baldachin bringing the total height up to just over ten metres), the stone giant was erected in 1404, after its wooden predecessor was destroyed by the archbishop's soldiers in 1366. The distance between its knees is exactly one Bremen 'elle', a historical unit of measurement. From the outset, the statue symbolised the freedom and independence of the city. Roland carries a shield bearing a coat of arms with the double-headed imperial eagle and the inscription:

 

Vryheit do ik yu openbar

de karl und mennich vorst vorwar

desser stede ghegheven hat,

des dankt gode is min radt.

 

Roughly translated, this means: "I manifest your freedom, as granted to this city by Charlemagne and many other rulers. For this, be thankful to God, that is my counsel". "Freedom" refers to the city's imperial immediacy, a form of sovereignty. Charlemagne was the 9th century Holy Roman Emperor. "And many other rulers" refers to the privileges and rights granted to the city of Bremen by a number of kings, princes and prince-bishops between the 9th and the 14th century.

 

With his long, wavy hair, a short, tight leather jerkin over his chain mail, a heavy, low-sitting belt (the dupfing), raised sword and armoured legs, the young knight is dressed according to the height of 15th century fashion. The lute-playing angel on the catch of his belt harks back to the time of minnesinging knights, which was then drawing to a close, in particular to the Song of Roland that had been popularized through the Guelph court. The knight was the idealized figure of the time, the gentleman of the Middle Ages, who was expected to behave nobly, in accordance with the code of chivalry. Roland is looking to the cathedral, the seat of the archbishop who had a claim to secular power over Bremen. The city council disputed this for centuries, ever since there have been bishops in Bremen. The free imperial city only accepted the rule of the emperor.

I kind of regret shooting so far in advance; this has caused an enormous backlog of Pre-Lantern content that I really want to get out of the way before starting the new series. I'm not stalling, I swear!

 

This is the first shot in a non-consecutive series where I'll focus on Superman villains. Batman and his Rogues Gallery have been done to bits on Flickr, so I thought it would be interesting to take on some of these equally loved, but less popularized bad guys.

 

For those who are unfamiliar with the character, Eradicator is an ancient Kryptonian repository of culture who has been programmed to preserve Krypton at all costs. He's frequently portrayed as a villain in Superman stories, as his militant programming tends to make him take extreme measures to follow his prime directive. Many of you may be even more unfamiliar with this particular appearance of the Eradicator; this is how he appears in "Superman:Sacrifice," a 6-issue miniseries in the Post-Crisis continuity during which Superman was mind controlled by Maxwell Lord to nearly beat Batman to death and punch Wonder Woman from the sun all the way to the earth. Brainiac also features in this storyline, and I constructed him to match his appearance in the same story.

 

Lobo is Lobo. What the frag are you lookin' at?

 

The first Lantern shot is coming this Friday. Check out some bonus accessory shots on my second photostream, tagged below!

 

Fig formulas:

 

Eradicator: Magneto helmet, Scooby Doo Black Knight head, Superboy torso, Electro Suit Batman arms, Light Aqua hands

 

The Main Man: MM Doomsday head, Pirate of Umbar hair, Helicarrier Nick Fury torso, Death Metal Batman arms, N52 Wonder Woman legs, accessories for fragging

 

Brainiac: Kraven neckpiece, reversed Joker torso, LBM Catwoman arms, utility belt, and legs

The deserted village Gaiboteni in Kazbegi, Georgia was revived for one day on September 14, 2019 by the descendants of the village inhabitants.

 

The event was dedicated to the idea of restoration and rehabilitation of the village in its original appearance.

 

Gaiboteni is a historic village, where the late medieval cult, residential, defensive and agricultural buildings are preserved. Gaiboteni is a beautiful sample of the original mountain village, restoration and revitalization of which will be an important step for the preservation and popularization of Georgia’s cultural heritage, and becoming a model for saving many old villages or hamlets of Kazbegi (gorge).

 

ლელთ ღუნიას სოფელი

 

~Etsy shop

~Behance

~Instagram

~Vogue

Sarracenia 'Adrian Slack' is a natural Sarracenia moorei hybrid named for the Englishman who helped popularize carnivorous plants through the publication of his two books: "Carnivorous Plants" (1979, 2005) & "Insect Eating Plants & How to Grow Them" (1986, 2006).

 

More on the story here:

www.carnivorousplants.org/cpn/Species/v29n4p116_122.html

While spending some time in Hawaii, I determined that it was necessary for me to rent a car for the simple purpose of finding some shorelines with character. After reviewing a few different options on google maps, I chose this location for a sunrise shoot without having visited the location previously (this is a no-no for me - I like to have my composition figured out before I wake up extra early for a photo). I knew the sun would rise in that general direction, but I'll admit that I was lucky in having it rise in line with the rest of the landscape!

 

Recognize the location? It was popularized by the 1953 movie "From Here to Eternity". I only figured that out after taking the photo though.

 

Taken with a Canon 6D, 16-35 f/4L, LEE big stopper, and a LEE ND grad (3 stops). Processed in Camera raw and photoshop.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Full namePaul Bunyan

OccupationLumberjack

NationalityFrench-Canadian American

 

Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labours, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the oral tradition of North American loggers, and was later popularized by freelance writer William B. Laughead (1882–1958) in a 1916 promotional pamphlet for the Red River Lumber Company. He has been the subject of various literary compositions, musical pieces, commercial works, and theatrical productions. His likeness is displayed in several oversized statues across North America.

 

****************************************************************

  

741/5000

维基百科，自由的百科全书

 

全名Paul Bunyan

职业伐木工人

国籍法裔加拿大裔

 

保罗·本扬（Paul Bunyan）是美国和加拿大民间传说中的一名伐木工人和民间英雄。 他的功绩围绕着他超人的劳动的传奇故事，他通常与蓝牛宝贝在一起。 这个角色起源于北美伐木者的口头传统，后来在1916年为红河木材公司制作的宣传手册中由自由作家威廉·B·洛格黑德（William B. Laughead）（1882-1958）推广。 他一直是各种文学作品，音乐作品，商业作品和戏剧作品的主题。 在北美洲的几尊超大型雕像中都展示了他的肖像。

Wéijī bǎikē, zìyóu de bǎikē quánshū

  

AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT CORVUS CORONE

  

LEGEND AND MYTHOLOGY

  

Crows appear in the Bible where Noah uses one to search for dry land and to check on the recession of the flood. Crows supposedly saved the prophet, Elijah, from famine and are an Inuit deity. Legend has it that England and its monarchy will end when there are no more crows in the Tower of London. And some believe that the crows went to the Tower attracted by the regular corpses following executions with written accounts of their presence at the executions of Anne Boleyn and Jane Gray.

  

In Welsh mythology, unfortunately Crows are seen as symbolic of evilness and black magic thanks to many references to witches transforming into crows or ravens and escaping. Indian legend tells of Kakabhusandi, a crow who sits on the branches of a wish-fulfilling tree called Kalpataru and a crow in Ramayana where Lord Rama blessed the crow with the power to foresee future events and communicate with the souls.

  

In Native American first nation legend the crow is sometimes considered to be something of a trickster, though they are also viewed positively by some tribes as messengers between this world and the next where they carry messages from the living to those deceased, and even carry healing medicines between both worlds. There is a belief that crows can foresee the future. The Klamath tribe in Oregon believe that when we die, we fly up to heaven as a crow. The Crow can also signify wisdom to some tribes who believe crows had the power to talk and were therefore considered to be one of the wisest of birds. Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.

  

The crow features in the Nanissáanah (Ghost dance), popularized by Jerome Crow Dog, a Brulé Lakota sub-chief and warrior born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory in 1833, the crow symbolizing wisdom and the past, when the crow had became a guide and acted as a pathfinder during hunting. The Ghost dance movement was originally created in 1870 by Wodziwob, or Gray Hair, a prophet and medicine man of the Paiute tribe in an area that became known as Nevada. Ghost dancers wore crow and eagle feathers in their clothes and hair, and the fact that the Crow could talk placed it as one of the sages of the animal kingdom. The five day dances seeking trance,prophecy and exhortations would eventually play a major part in the pathway towards the white man's broken treaties, the infamous battle at Wounded knee and the surrender of Matȟó Wanáȟtaka (Kicking Bear), after officials began to fear the ghost dancers and rituals which seemed to occur prior to battle.

  

Historically the Vikings are the group who made so many references to the crow, and Ragnarr Loðbrók and his sons used this species in his banner as well as appearances in many flags and coats of arms. Also, it had some kind of association with Odin, one of their main deities. Norse legend tells us that Odin is accompanied by two crows. Hugin, who symbolizes thought, and Munin, who represents a memory. These two crows were sent out each dawn to fly the entire world, returning at breakfast where they informed the Lord of the Nordic gods of everything that went on in their kingdoms. Odin was also referred to as Rafnagud (raven-god). The raven appears in almost every skaldic poem describing warfare.Coins dating back to 940's minted by Olaf Cuaran depict the Viking war standard, the Raven and Viking war banners (Gonfalon) depicted the bird also.

  

In Scandinavian legends, crows are a representative of the Goddess of Death, known as Valkyrie (from old Norse 'Valkyrja'), one of the group of maidens who served the Norse deity Odin, visiting battlefields and sending him the souls of the slain worthy of a place in Valhalla. Odin ( also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan), preferred that heroes be killed in battle and that the most valiant of souls be taken to Valhöll, the hall of slain warriors. It is the crow that provides the Valkyries with important information on who should go. In Hindu ceremonies that are associated to ancestors, the crow has an important place in Vedic rituals. They are seen as messengers of death in Indian culture too.

  

In Germanic legend, Crows are seen as psychonomes, meaning the act of guiding spirits to their final destination, and that the feathers of a crow could cure a victim who had been cursed. And yet, a lone black crow could symbolize impending death, whilst a group symbolizes a lucky omen! Vikings also saw good omens in the crow and would leave offerings of meat as a token.

  

The crow also has sacred and prophetic meaning within the Celtic civilization, where it stood for flesh ripped off due to combat and Morrighan, the warrior goddess, often appears in Celtic mythology as a raven or crow, or else is found to be in the company of the birds. Crow is sacred to Lugdnum, the Celtic god of creation who gave his name to the city of Lug

  

In Greek mythology according to Appolodorus, Apollo is supposedly responsible for the black feathers of the crow, turning them forever black from their pristine white original plumage as a punishment after they brought news that Κορωνις (Coronis) a princess of the Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis, Apollo's pregnant lover had left him to marry a mortal, Ischys. In one legend, Apollo burned the crows feathers and then burned Coronis to death, in another Coronis herself was turned into a black crow, and another that she was slain by the arrows of Αρτεμις (Artemis - twin to Apollo). Koronis was later set amongst the stars as the constellation Corvus ("the Crow"). Her name means "Curved One" from the Greek word korônis or "Crow" from the word korônê.A similar Muslim legend allegedly tells of Muhammad, founder of Islam and the last prophet sent by God to Earth, who's secret location was given away by a white crow to his seekers, as he hid in caves. The crow shouted 'Ghar Ghar' (Cave, cave) and thus as punishment, Muhammad turned the crow black and cursed it for eternity to utter only one phrase, 'Ghar, ghar). Native Indian legend where the once rainbow coloured crows became forever black after shedding their colourful plumage over the other animals of the world.

  

In China the Crow is represented in art as a three legged bird on a solar disk, being a creature that helps the sun in its journey. In Japan there are myths of Crow Tengu who were priests who became vain, and turned into this spirit to serve as messengers until they learn the lesson of humility as well as a great Crow who takes part in Shinto creation stories.

  

In animal spirit guides there are general perceptions of what sightings of numbers of crows actually mean:

  

1 Crow Meaning: To carry a message from your near one who died recently.

 

2 Crows Meaning: Two crows sitting near your home signifies some good news is on your way.

 

3 Crows Meaning: An upcoming wedding in your family.

 

4 Crows Meaning: Symbolizes wealth and prosperity.

 

5 Crows Meaning: Diseases or pain.

 

6 Crows Meaning: A theft in your house!

 

7 Crows Meaning: Denotes travel or moving from your house.

 

8 Crows Meaning: Sorrowful events

  

Crows are generally seen as the symbolism when alive for doom bringing, misfortune and bad omens, and yet a dead crow symbolises potentially bringing good news and positive change to those who see it. This wonderful bird certainly gets a mixed bag of contradictory mythology and legend over the centuries and in modern days is often seen as a bit of a nuisance, attacking and killing the babies of other birds such as Starlings, Pigeons and House Sparrows as well as plucking the eyes out of lambs in the field, being loud and noisy and violently attacking poor victims in a 'crow court'....

  

There is even a classic horror film called 'THE CROW' released in 1994 by Miramax Films, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, who is revived by a Crow tapping on his gravestone a year after he and his fiancée are murdered in Detroit by a street gang. The crow becomes his guide as he sets out to avenge the murders. The only son of martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Brandon lee suffered fatal injuries on the set of the film when the crew failed to remove the primer from a cartridge that hit Lee in the abdomen with the same force as a normal bullet. Lee died that day, March 31st 1993 aged 28.

  

The symbolism of the Crow resurrecting the dead star and accompanying him on his quest for revenge was powerful, and in some part based on the history of the carrion crow itself and the original film grossed more than $94 Million dollars with three subsequent sequels following.

  

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK

  

So let's move away from legend, mythology and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents and look at these amazing birds in isolation.

  

Carrion crow are passerines in the family Corvidae a group of Oscine passerine birds including Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Treepies, Choughs and Nutcrackers. Technically they are classed as Corvids, and the largest of passerine birds. Carrion crows are medium to large in size with rictal bristles and a single moult per year (most passerines moult twice). Carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', and it still bears its original name of Corvus corone, derived from the Latin of Corvus, meaning Raven and the Greek κορώνη (korōnē), meaning crow.

  

Carrion crow are of the Animalia kingdom Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus and Species: Corvus corone

  

Corvus corone can reach 45-47cm in length with a 93-104cm wingspan and weigh between 370-650g. They are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the United Kingdom with a Green UK conservation status which means they are of least concern with more than 1,000,000 territories. Breeding occurs in April with fledging of the chicks taking around twenty nine days following an incubation period of around twenty days with 3 to 4 eggs being the average norm.

  

They are abundant in the UK apart from Northwest Scotland and Ireland where the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) was considered the same species until 2002. They have a lifespan of around four years, whilst Crow species can live to the age of Twenty years old, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost Thirty years old. The oldest documented captive crow died at age Fifty nine. They are smaller and have a shorter lifespan than the Raven, which again is used as a symbol in history to live life to the full and not waste a moment!

  

They are often mistaken for the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a similar bird, though in the UK, the Rook is actually technically smaller than the Carrion crow averaging 44-46cm in length, 81-99cm wingspan and weighing up to 340g. Rooks have white beaks compared to the black beaks of Carrion crow, a more steeply raked ratio from head to beak, and longer straighter beaks as well as a different plumage pattern. There are documented cases in the UK of singular and grouped Rooks attacking and killing Carrion crows in their territory. Rooks nest in colonies unlike Carrion crows. Carrion crows have only a few natural enemies including powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the golden eagle which will all readily hunt them.

  

Regarded as one of the most intelligent birds, indeed creatures on the planet, studies suggest that Corvids cognitive abilities can rival that of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas and even provide clues to understanding human intelligence. Crows have relatively large brains for their body size, compared to other animals. Their encephalization quotient (EQ) a ratio of brain to body size, adjusted for size because there isn’t a linear relationship is 4.1. That is remarkably close to chimps at 4.2 whilst humans are 8.1. Corvids also have a very high neuronal density, the number of neurons per gram of brain, factoring in the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, interneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity shows that Corvids score high on this measure as well, with humans scoring the highest.

  

A corvid's pallium is packed with more neurons than a great ape's. Corvids have demonstrated the ability to use a combination of mental tools such as imagination, and anticipation of future events. They can craft tools from twigs and branches to hook grubs from deep recesses, they can solve puzzles and intricate methods of gaining access to food set by humans., and have even bent pieces of wire into hooks to obtain food. They have been proven to have a higher cognitive ability level than seven year old humans. Communications wise, their repertoire of wraw-wraw's is not fully understood, but the intensity, rhythm, and duration of caws seems to form the basis of a possible language. They also remember the faces of humans who have hindered or hurt them and pass that information on to their offspring.

  

Aesop's fable of 'The Crow and the Pitcher, tells of a thirsty crow which drops stones into a water pitcher to raise the water level and enable it to take a drink. Scientists have conducted tests to see whether crows really are this intelligent. They placed floating treats in a deep tube and observed the crows indeed dropping dense objects carefully selected into the water until the treat floated within reach. They had the intelligence to pick up, weigh and discount objects that would float in the water, they also did not select ones that were too large for the container.

  

Pet crows develop a unique call for their owners, in effect actually naming them. They also know to sunbathe for a dose of vitamin D, regularly settling on wooden garden fences, opening their mouths and wings and raising their heads to the sun. In groups they warn of danger and communicate vocally. They store a cache of food for later if in abundance and are clever enough to move it if they feel it has been discovered. They leave markers for their cache. They have even learned to place walnuts and similar hard food items under car tyres at traffic lights as a means of cracking them!

  

Crows regularly gather around a dead fellow corvid, almost like a funeral, and it is thought they somehow learn from each death. They can even remember human faces for decades.Crows group together to attack larger predators and even steal their food, and they have different dialects in different areas, with the ability to mimic the dialect of the alpha males when they enter their territory!

  

They have a twenty year life span, the oldest on record reaching the age of Fifty nine. Crows can leave gifts for those who feed them such as buttons or bright shiny objects as a thank you, and they even kiss and make up after an argument, having mated for life.

  

In mythology they are associated with good and bad luck, being the bringers of omens and even witchcraft and are generally reviled for their attacks on baby birds and small mammals. They have an attack method of to stunning smaller birds before consuming them, tearing violently at smaller, less aggressive birds, which is simply down to the fact that they are so highly intelligent, and also the top of the food chain. Their diet includes over a thousand different items: Dead animals (as their name suggests), invertebrates, grain, as well as stealing eggs and chicks from other birds' nests, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps.

  

They are highly adaptable when food sources grow scarce. I absolutely love them, they are magnificent, bold, beautiful and incredibly interesting to watch and though at times it is hard to witness attacks made by them, I cannot help but adore them for so many other and more important reasons.

  

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PAIR IN MY GARDEN

  

Crows have been in the area for a while, but rarely had strayed into my garden, leaving the Magpies to own the territory. Things changed towards the end of May when a beautiful female Carrion crow appeared and began to take some of the food that I put down for the other birds. Within a few days she began to appear regularly, on occasions stocking up on food, whilst other times placing pieces in the birdbath to soften them. She would stand on the birdbath and eat and drink and come back over the course of the day to eat the softened food.

  

Shortly afterwards she brought along her mate, a tall and handsome fella, much larger than her who was also very vocal if he felt she was getting a little too close to me. By now I had moved from a seated position from the patio as an observer, to laying on a mat just five feet from the birdbath with my Nikon so that I could photograph the pair as they landed, scavenged and fed. She was now confident enough to let me be very close, and she even tolerated and recognized the clicking of the camera. At first I used silent mode to reduce the noise but this only allowed two shooting frame rates of single frame or continuous low frame which meant I was missing shots. I reverted back to normal continuous high frames and she soon got used to the whirring of the mechanisms as the mirror slapped back and forth.

  

The big fella would bark orders at her from the safety of the fence or the rear of the garden, whilst she rarely made a sound. That was until one day when in the sweltering heat she kept opening her beak and sunning on the grass, panting slightly in the heat. I placed the circular water sprayer nearby and had it rotating so that the birdbath and grass was bathed in gentle water droplets and she soon came back, landed and seemed to really like the cooling effect on offer. She then climbed onto the birdbath and opened her wings slightly and made some gentle purring, cooing noises....

  

I swear she was expressing happiness, joy....

  

On another blisteringly hot day when the sprayer was on, she came down, walked towards it and opened her wings up running into the water spray. Not once, but many times.

  

A further revelation into the unseen sides to these beautiful birds came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds. They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them. Into July and the pair started to bring their three youngsters to my garden, the nippers learning to use the birdbath for bathing and dipping food, the parents attentive as ever. Two of the youngsters headed off once large enough and strong enough.

  

I was privileged to be in close attendance as the last juvenile was brought down by the pair, taught to take food and then on a night in July, to soar and fly with it's mother in the evening sky as the light faded. She would swoop and twirl, and at regular intervals just touch the juvenile in flight with her wing tip feathers, as if to reassure it that she was close in attendance. What an amazing experience to view. A few days later, the juvenile, though now gaining independence and more than capable of tackling food scraps in the garden, was still on occasions demand feeding from it's mother who was now teaching him to take chicken breast, hotdogs or digestive biscuits and bury them in the garden beds for later delectation.

  

The juvenile also liked to gather up peanuts and bury them in the grass. On one occasion I witnessed a pair of rumbunctious Pica Pica (Magpies), chasing the young crow on rooftops, leaping at him no matter how hard he tried to get away. He defended himself well and survived the attacks, much to my relief.

  

Into August and the last youngster remained with the adults, though now was very independent even though he still spent time with his parents on rooftops, and shared food gathering duties with his mum.Hotdog sausages were their favourite choice, followed by fish fingers and digestive biscuits which the adult male would gather up three at a time. In October, the three Crows were still kings of the area, but my time observing them was pretty much over as I will only put food out now for the birds in the winter months.

  

Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!

  

Paul Williams June 4th 2021

  

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 40.434+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 9th 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1321702139 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,283rd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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**** This frame was chosen on Monday 22nd October 2021 to appear on FLICKR EXPLORE (Highest Ranking: #422. This is my 209th photograph to be selected.

 

I am really thrilled to have a frame picked and most grateful to every one of the 40.434+ Million people who have visited, favourited and commented on this and all of my other photographs here on my FLICKR site. *****

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty one metres at 09:56am on a summer morning on Thursday 3rd June 2021, off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  

Nikon D850 Focal length 340mm Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture f/8.0 iso250 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in position 1 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW Size L (8256 x 5504) 14 bit uncompressed file AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4470k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

    

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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.29s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.32s

ALTITUDE: 61.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.40MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 48.90MB

    

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PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

The name, Kona Coast, usually refers to the west coast of the Island of Hawai’i. The term was popularized by the song “Kona Coast” on the Beach Boys 1978 album M.I.U. In Hawaiian, kona means leeward or dry side of the island. Historically, Kona was the name of the leeward district on each major island. Today North Kona and South Kona are moku or districts of Hawai’i County. The largest town on Hawaii’s west coast is Kailua-Kona or simply called Kona. This view is from a lookout not too far off the Hawai’i Belt Road near Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park south of the city of Kona in the moku of South Kona.

 

Komatsubara Park, Kyoto City

 

NHK installed to popularize radio broadcast in 1920s and 1930s

 

Bessaflex TM x Ultron 2.0/40 SL Aspherical x kodak ColorPlus 200

Jacksonville is a major seaport city and the seat of Duval County, Florida, United States. With an estimated 913,010 residents as of 2017, Jacksonville is the most populous city in both the state of Florida and the southeastern United States. It is estimated to be the 12th most populous city in the United States and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. The Jacksonville metropolitan area has a population of 1,626,611 and is the 34th largest in the United States and fourth largest in the state of Florida.

 

The city is situated on the banks of the St. Johns River, in the First Coast region of North Florida, about 25 miles (40 km) south of the Georgia state line and 340 miles (550 km) north of Miami.

 

Prior to European settlement, the Jacksonville area was inhabited by Native American people known as the Timucua. In 1564, the French established the short-lived colony of Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns River, becoming one of the earliest European settlements in the continental United States. In 1822, a year after the United States gained Florida from Spain, the town of Jacksonville was platted along the St. Johns River. Established at a narrow point in the river known as Wacca Pilatka to the Seminole and the Cow Ford to the British, the enduring name derives from the first military governor of the Florida Territory and seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson.

 

Jacksonville is the cultural, commercial and financial center of North Florida. A major military and civilian deep-water port, the city's riverine location supports two United States Navy bases and the Port of Jacksonville, Florida's third largest seaport. The two US Navy bases, Blount Island Command and the nearby Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, form the third largest military presence in the United States. Jacksonville serves as headquarters for various banking, insurance, healthcare, logistics, and other institutions. These include CSX Corporation, Fidelity National Financial, FIS, Landstar System, Ameris Bancorp, Atlantic Coast Financial, Black Knight Financial Services, EverBank, Rayonier Advanced Materials, Regency Centers, Stein Mart, Web.com, Fanatics, Gate Petroleum, Haskell Company, Interline Brands, Sally Corporation, and Southeastern Grocers. Jacksonville is also home to several colleges and universities, including University of North Florida, Jacksonville University and Florida State College at Jacksonville.

 

The architecture of Jacksonville varies in style and is not defined by any one characteristic. Few structures in the city center predate the Great Fire of 1901. The city is home to one of the largest collections of Prairie School style buildings outside of the Midwest. Following the Great Fire of 1901, Henry John Klutho would come to influence generations of local designers with his works by both the Chicago School, championed by Louis Sullivan, and the Prairie School of architecture, popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright. Jacksonville is also home to a notable collection of Mid-Century modern architecture. Local architects Robert C. Broward, Taylor Hardwick, and William Morgan adapted a range design principles, including International style, Brutalism, Futurism and Organicism, all applied with an American interpretation generally referred to today as Mid-century modern design. The architecture firms of Reynolds, Smith & Hills (RS&H) and Kemp, Bunch & Jackson (KBJ) have also contributed a number of important works to the city's modern architectural movement.

Jacksonville's early predominant position as a regional center of business left an indelibly mark on the city's skyline. Many of the earliest skyscrapers in the state were constructed in Jacksonville, dating as far back as 1902. The city last held the state height record from 1974 to 1981. The tallest building in Downtown Jacksonville's skyline is the Bank of America Tower, constructed in 1990 as the Barnett Center. It has a height of 617 ft (188 m) and includes 42 floors. Other notable structures include the 37-story Wells Fargo Center (with its distinctive flared base making it the defining building in the Jacksonville skyline), originally built in 1972-74 by the Independent Life and Accident Insurance Company, and the 28 floor Riverplace Tower which, when completed in 1967, was the tallest precast, post-tensioned concrete structure in the world.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville,_Florida