A record shot for hardcore Grid enthusiasts features one of the few class 56s I snapped in rail-blue days. Unit 56035 is seen on the Midland Mainline heading south through Sutton Bonnington cutting with what I presume to be a Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station - Fletton flyash train. I remember at the time being quite chuffed to bag a rake of Presflo wagons.

The first 30 units of the class (56001 - 56030) were built in Romania by Electroputere from 1976, but they proved problematical from the outset as a result of poor build quality. The next batch (56031 - 56115) were built by BREL Doncaster Works and 56035, released to traffic in July 1977, was initially allocated to Toton Depot. She was still fairly new when this shot was taken, and went on to serve for almost 22 years before withdrawal in 1999, and meeting the cutter's torch in 2000.

18th March 1978

The Concord tower on the B&M main through town is no more. A fire broke out inside of it recently, and although local historical groups have been trying to save it, CSX deemed the fire inside a concrete and brick building rendered it structurally unsound. Just the excuse they needed to mush it into a pile of memories so there was one less shelter for the increasingly problematic amount of people forced into homelessness in the city to call home for a night.

This photo was taken on one of the absolute worst trips that actually resulted in a train I've ever been a part of. My buddy and I wanted to shoot NA-1 because it runs through some interesting spots and usually utilized MEC 507 which wears the freshest Guilford paint on the roster. We were well aware she was a slow girl, but what we weren't aware of is that we were about to have the word slow redefined for us that day. 5 mph "chasing' when you have to hop a good way between interesting spots is absolutely mind numbing. We didn't get the unit we wanted but nowadays a Pam Am widecab is just that, a Pan Am widecab. You don't avoid shooting it. We spent half the day talking about completely unrelated topics while waiting to see this poor locomotive bumble its way North. Eventually we stomached enough boredom to make it to Concord, where the main photo interests of the day were.

While waiting for them to run around their train, we sat behind a Market Basket in the parking lot shooting the breeze in my buddies car. I had purchased a 32 ounce can of cheap disgusting teenage partying alcohol on whim at some point in the trip and it was sitting in the back on the floor. Somehow when one of us threw a bag back there, the can got punctured and made it's newfound hole very obvious by emitting a pissing sound from the rear of the car. The next choice I made was an obligatory one for a man who had spent his day in the passenger seat of a Subaru wondering why he chose the hobby he did: I shotgunned the entire thing behind a strip mall. Now I'm not old but I'm exactly not at the age where you do that anymore, I'm surprised I was able to stomach the damn thing. Of course, before I could even come to terms with that decision, NA-1 departed south.

So we end up here, at the tower I wanted to shoot all day, and I'm not exactly stumbling like a fool but boy I was having a good time. After exchanging a few glances with the local folk hanging around and a quick glance at the tower, NA-1 finally showed up and somehow I was able to frame up a usable image. Now that this tower is no more, I'm very happy we stuck with our little sad train the whole way north on that February day, otherwise I'd have never even seen the tower.

I still know how to have fun.

I processed this using the trial version of Dynamic-Photo HDR www.mediachance.com/hdri/index.html. This puts a very small watermark in the bottom left hand corner of processed images which I've just realised I've inadvertently cropped off. I've tried this program on several images, and must admit to still preferring Photomatix, but that's probably due to familiarity. I do find Dynamic-Photo's skies a bit problematic.

My third redux of this iconic kit. Think I'm getting close to the purest form with the original functions.

My two gripes as a kid with the original were: 1) If it's an ATV then why is the Ground Clearance so rubbish? and 2) There's something not right about this cockpit canopy combo.

So this fixes those - a nice big inverted-angle window area for seeing out and a roof fixes the second point, and the first is fixed by a set of variable-height drivetrain booms that allow it to hunker down low to receive its cargo, then the booms rotate up to about 55° to give it the ground clearance it needs to actually traverse the moon/asteroid/"godforsaken rock you've sent me to this time".

The fact that it was in clearly proto-Futuron livery while the Relay Station is clearly Classic Blue is problematic too so I've fixed that too.

And wheels made of snow-shoes. Because why not?

If you like this, [or don't ]- leave a comment. I love getting comments and feedback. They inspire me to do more.

Me:

Everyone: Please don't do more!

The conditions were very difficult since we were there at the wrong time of day for the bright sunshine that rendered the contrast between foliage, water and the shaded gully problematical. Later it poured with rain but we had left. Still, the well-known fantail of the falls downstream of Lower Bridge is evident enough.

The Falls of Bruar are a series of waterfalls on the Bruar Water in Scotland, about 8 miles from Pitlochry in the council area of Perth and Kinross. They have been a tourist attraction since the 18th century and were immortalized in a poem by Robert Burns, The Humble Petition of Bruar Water to the Noble Duke of Atholl, supposedly from the river itself entreating the Duke to plant some trees in the then barren landscape. The falls were probably formed some time in the last 10,000 years, after the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last ice age. The waters slowly cut through the rock which had been pushed up by the geological forces which formed the Scottish Highlands some 500 million years ago. The layering of the rocks means that the water has cut a meandering path through the softer rock and left the harder rock untouched. This has led to the creation of deep pools, outcrops and, in one place, a natural arch. The falls consist of two large falls and a number of smaller drops. The water is often coloured brown from the peat through which it flows. Nowadays, the A9 Perth to Inverness road passes near the foot of the falls in Glen Garry, and there is a shopping centre and car park from where visitors may access the falls. A circular footpath leads up to the Lower Bridge, close to the natural arch, and continues on to the Upper Bridge, about 1/2 mile from the car park, before returning down the opposite bank. The total drop of the falls is about 60 metres. The narrowness of the gorge means that the falls are most impressive after heavy rain, but since the construction of a hydroelectric power scheme in the late 1940s, water is extracted farther up the river and the falls no longer reach the volumes they once did. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falls_of_Bruar

Even though it involves more "tall work" I guess I'll keep her anyway. Plus, a barefoot girlfriend is probably less problematic than one on stilts. Somehow I think the stores would be more ok with bare feet than bionic/robotic legs and an 8 foot tall woman. And let's face it, she'd go for the bionic version!

I'd been thinking for a while that I need to try and rebuild the truck from my old zombie hunt dio. Until now, it was the only minifig-scale modern vehicle I’d built since I was a kid. I was quite proud of it, despite some problematic geometry. I never buckled down to reengineer it, however, until meeting with some of the folks in the newly founded AFOLOKC a couple weeks ago (I’ve finally found a LUG!), who are planning a train-style layout.

We’re gonna need plenty of ‘ordinary’ vehicles, so I figured I’d try my hand. What better place to start than something I’ve effectively done before?

The basics of the nose and bed are taken from my study of my old photos, but most of the rest is effectively new, partially because I couldn’t tell it all from the pictures, and partially to make the geometry actually work.

I'm very happy with it. Now I've just gotta figure out some more compact vehicles...

Bridgepixing the Navajo Bridge, built 1929, over the Colorado River in Marble Canyon, east of the Grand Canyon. This historic bridge (on the right) is now a pedestrian only Footbridge after its twin (on the left) was built in 1995. Located near the site of the historic Lee's Ferry, this bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Navajo Bridge crosses the Colorado River's Marble Canyon near Lee's Ferry in the U.S. state of Arizona. Apart from the Glen Canyon Bridge a few miles upstream at Page, Arizona, it is the only roadway crossing of the river and the Grand Canyon for nearly 1000 km (600 mi). Spanning Marble Canyon, the bridge carries northbound travelers to southern Utah and to the otherwise inaccessible portions of Arizona north of the Colorado River, such as the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

Prior to the construction of the first Navajo Bridge, the only river crossing from Arizona to Utah was at nearby Lee's Ferry, where the canyon walls are low and getting vehicles onto the water is relatively convenient. The ferry offered only unreliable service, however, as adverse weather and flooding regularly prevented its operation.

Construction of the original Navajo Bridge began in 1927, and the bridge opened to traffic in 1929. It was paid for by the nascent Arizona State Highway Commission (now the Arizona Department of Transportation) in cooperation with the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, as the eastern landing is on the Navajo Nation. The steel spandrel bridge design was constructed by the Kansas City Structural Steel Company. The bridge is 834 feet in length, with a maximum height of 467 feet from the canyon floor. Its roadway offers an 18 foot surface width with a load capacity of 22.5 tons (although the posted legal weight limit was 40 tons). During the design phase, a wider roadway was considered, but ultimately rejected, as it would have required a costly third arch to be added to the design, and the vehicles of the time did not necessitate the wider road.

In 1990, however, it was decided that the current traffic flow was too great for the original bridge, and that a new solution was needed. The sharp corners in the roadway on each side of the bridge's approach had become a safety hazard due to low visibility, and the deficiency in the original design's width and load capacity specifications were becoming problematic. The bridge had also become part of the US Federal Highway System's Route 89ALT, and it did not meet the required standards of such a road.

Deciding on a solution was difficult, due to the many local interests. Issues included preservation of sacred Navajo land, endangered plant species in Marble Canyon, and the possibility of construction pollution entering the river. The original proposal called for merely widening and fortifying the bridge, but this was ultimately rejected since this could not possibly bring it up to current federal highway standards. Replacement was then the only option, and it was eventually decided to entirely discontinue automobile use of the original bridge. A new bridge would be built immediately next to the original and have a considerably similar visual appearance, but would conform to modern highway codes.

The new steel arch bridge was commissioned by the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, and was completed in September of 1995, at a cost of approximately $15 million dollars.

The original Navajo Bridge is still open to pedestrian and equestrian use, and an interpretive center has been constructed nearby to showcase the historical nature of the bridge and early crossing of the Colorado River. The original bridge has been designated as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

(Wikipedia)

In 2003, the Yreka Western Railroad had one of the most colorful locomotives running in Northern California. A flashy Alco MRS-1 was used to work the line. Originally overhauled for service on Nevada Northern, the locomotive eventually came to YW. Because it had friction bearings, it had to be shipped to Montague on a flatcar.

In the early 2000s, YW was probably moving as much freight traffic as it had at any time in its history. A Timber Products Company mill on YW produced softwood veneer that was manufactured into plywood at another TPC plant in Grants Pass, Oregon. Timber Products worked out a deal with Central Oregon & Pacific and YW to haul the veneer by rail, instead of trucking it over the Siskiyous on I-5.

Unfortunately, the Alco's lightweight design for international service made its work on YW problematic. As the story goes, it had difficulty lugging tonnage up a hill. Both times I caught it working during 2003, it was necessary for the crew to double the grade from the Shasta River lowlands into Montague. In this image, the first cut of the train is arriving at Montague after climbing Pump House hill.

A few years later, CORP's decision to close its line over Siskiyou Summit killed the veneer traffic. Around the same time, YW packed it in and ceased operation. The Alco was cut up in Yreka during 2011. Today, these rails are idle.

Catching a pair of troublesome GP35's on 912 wasn't a common occurrence especially in winter when they were even more problematic than during the other seasons of the year. But it did happen rarely especially when power became tight. 727 and 722 roll east near Trout Lake with 108 cars on March 12, 1979. These two never made it to WC as they were off the roster before 1987. As an aside the building with the peaked roof to the right is an old one room school house that pretty much looks the same today and exists as a hunters cabin. My Dad actually attended school there.

The notes for this slide read: Class 56 56109 & Class 31 31430 at Immingham, 11 October 1987

Class 56 56109: There is not much to write about this engine except that it was one of the batch built at Doncaster Works and entered traffic in August 1982. It is seen here wearing its original BR Blue large logo livery, which it kept until an overhaul at Doncaster works (January 1991) saw it acquire the RF two-tone grey livery complete with Coal Sector logos and Toton cooling towers plaques. This livery lasted until April 1995, when it was given the Load Haul livery. 56109 ran its final years of service in this guise and was withdrawn in December 2003, then placed into storage at several sites (including Thornaby, Ferrybridge, and then Crewe) until it eventually fell under the cutter's torch at TJ Thomson, Stockton, during May 2011.

Class 31 31430 was built by Brush Traction at the Falcon Works, Loughborough, and entered service in April 1961 numbered D5695. Its problematic Mirrlees 12 cylinder power unit was changed for a 1470 bhp English Electric 12SVT power unit at Doncaster Works during November 1968, and the loco was reclassified as a Class 31/1. It was then renumbered to 31265 under TOPs in April 1974 but was then placed into storage at Swindon Works in October 1980 (following an accident?) and then withdrawn two months later. However, in September 1982, it was reinstated and later moved from Swindon Works to Doncaster Works, where it was fitted with ETH equipment during its conversion to Class 31/4. The loco was renumbered 31430 and returned to traffic in November 1983.

In October 1988, 31430 was named 'Sister Dora' (red nameplates) during an open day at Bescot Yard, then it was renumbered to 31530 after the ETH was isolated in December 1989, and during early 1990, it acquired the Civil Engineers' 'Dutch' livery complete with black 'Sister Dora' nameplates. Unfortunately, in November 1995, it was placed into storage at Bescot, and the nameplates were removed shortly afterwards.

After becoming an EWS loco during October 1996, it was restored to traffic (September 1997) but then returned to storage at Bescot in January 1999. June 2000 saw the loco move to Springs Branch CRDC, where it was officially withdrawn in October 2001. Fortunately, in December 2002, it then moved to Dereham, Mid-Norfolk Railway, for preservation. By now the loco was in a very faded state but was later sold (August 2013) to Martin Staniforth and moved to the Mangapps Railway Museum, where it was later restored as 31430 and renamed 'Sister Dora'. Now resplendent in its BR Blue livery, 31430 resides at the Spa Valley Railway.

(Photographer: Unknown)

35mm Slide | Date: 11 October 1987 | © TJW: ROTWSI

After a very long and problematic trip from Buffalo, Norfolk Southern train No. 145 finally rolls into Conneaut, Ohio, passing the classic Nickel Plate Road signals east of the yard.

I captured this scene on an idyllic day in late June when it felt as if the entire summer was still before me. The days felt absurdly long. My garden was young and vibrant, lush with green foliage and the promise of hope. My visit here was a spontaneous time-out while running an errand. The sort of thing I tend to do quite often while driving. Planned getaways are problematic for me in summer, but I'm hardly even missed during quick forays such as this. And so I found myself in this rural burial ground on a sweltering day, under a brilliant sun, and welcome breezes flowing through the grass and tree limbs. I made my way along the boundary fence to a small knoll under the cool shade of a copse of trees. The oldest graves are here representing people long forgotten, decades having passed since the summers of their lives. I paused near the crest of the knoll. Sometimes they key moment is the approach to a place like this rather than the actual arrival. I had the sense this was one of those occasions. It seemed better to take in this moment from a distance rather than intrude further. Everything I could hope to take away from this experience seemed to lie before me (also a wonderful allegory for summer itself). My visit here didn't last long. Less than 15 minutes and I was on my way again. Yet I still reflect on these moments. In just a few short weeks daylight has begun to grow noticeably shorter. My garden is withering as gardens eventually do. The lush greens and sense of promise are waning. And another summer begins its inexorable drift into memory.

Although considered a problematic weed by many landowners especially as it is poisonous to horses and cattle, I love them in my garden. They flower for months and attract many insects.

Jakobs-Greiskraut - Eng-Brandbæger.

The rather strange Fell Diesel Mechanical 4-4-4-4 seen in the consist of a freight train en route to Willesden for an exhibition in 1954. Although very problematical 10100 did put up many good performances on the Midland main line during its short life.

This image was captured for the Macro Mondays theme: "vibrant minimalism".

It wasn't quite as easy as it looks. Suffice it to say that more than one shot was taken (!) and drying wet candy canes with a hair dryer is really problematic!

October 9, 2015 - A co-worker nudged me the other day and suggested I hop the first ferry to Nanaimo, where she would pick me up, for a quick trip out to one of the facilities I support on the outer coast. I mulled it over, and given that my brother was heading home in the morning and I needed something to occupy me and get me back into motion, I agreed.

Nasty storms are approaching the coast and it's the Friday before the long weekend so the ferries are overloaded and the home trip was looking to be potentially problematic, but it was good to do something productive.

Mother Nature gave quite the morning show part way across the strait.

thephilosophicalfish.ca/morning-gift-282365/

Dropping a majority of the orders off at the PO tomorrow and thought I would snap a few shots(quick pics right before they were packaged up) of some of the Hyper-HD and Hyper-HD Primed parts before they go out. The parts usually go out in the darker color seen above but can also be the reddish orange color depending on the material used to print with.

3D prints are now back in the shop along with new pictures, but the Mega-HD option has been removed as it was very problematic working with the company who manufactured them.

Myles at CB

Even on a cloudy day, there is something spiritual about traveling through the shadow of the moon. The weather in Del Rio, Texas, was problematical--thin high clouds and dense but broken lower ones. Here the atmosphere acts as a filter at 12:38, 1:03, and 1:50 p.m. EDT. I glimpsed totality for no more than 20 seconds with 10 x 50mm binoculars. Splendid! But by the time another break arrived, a fiber of the limb had already emerged.

Both in 1976 and 1977 we had a lot of smoke in the air from the big fire in the Seney area in 76 and numerous fires in Northwest Ontario in both 76 and 77. It made photography more problematic and of course that's exactly when the "cool" stuff would roll by. SOO 912 has made its set out at Trout Lake and tied back onto his train out near MP 447 west of Trout Lake and with a blast of smoke U-boat 802 and wagon 213A urge the remaining 109 cars into motion as they start for Soo Yard on June 3, 1977.

www.fotografik33.com

www.facebook.com/sebastien.demarthe.33

Sébastien et sa guitare Gretsh.

Gretsch, du nom de son fondateur Friedrich Gretsch, est une entreprise de fabrication d'instruments de musique, plus précisément de guitares, basses et batteries, vieille de plus d'un siècle. Fabriquant les légendaires White Falcon et 6120, son slogan est « That Great Gretsch Sound ».

Des musiciens prestigieux comme Chet Atkins, Bo Diddley, Georges Harrison, Brian Setzer, Malcolm Young, Billy Gibbons et Jack White furent et restent de fidèles utilisateurs de guitares Gretsch, parfois très personnalisées comme les guitares rectangulaires ou aux formes futuristes de Bo Diddley.

The Gretsch Company was founded in 1883 by Friedrich Gretsch, a twenty-seven year old German immigrant recently arrived in the US. Friedrich Gretsch manufactured banjos, tambourines, and drums, until his death in 1895. His son, Fred, moved operations to Brooklyn, New York in 1916. Gretsch then became one of the most prominent manufacturers of American musical instruments.

Guitar production began in the late 1930s, and Gretsch guitars became highly sought after, most notably in the 1950s and 1960s. They lost favor with players during the 1970s and 1980s for various reasons, including a problematic relationship with the Baldwin Piano Company. Gretsch eventually slid into bankruptcy, but it was revived by Fred W. Gretsch in 1989. Gretsch, who is great-great-grandson to Friederich Gretsch, and is sometimes referred to as Fred Gretsch III, remains president of the company to this day.

Most modern-era Gretsch guitars are manufactured in the Far East, though US-made "Custom Shop" models remain available. In 2003 Gretsch entered into an agreement with Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC), under the terms of which Fred Gretsch III would continue to own the company, with FMIC handling most development, distribution and sales.

The Old Port of Marseille is located at the end of the Canebière. It has been the natural harbour of Marseille since antiquity and is now the main popular place in Marseille, mainly pedestrian since 2013.

In 600, Greek settlers from Phocaea landed in the Lacydon, a rocky Mediterranean cove, now the site of the Old Port of Marseille. They set up a trading post or emporion in the hills on the northern shore. Until the nineteenth century the Old Port remained the centre of maritime activity in Marseille. In the Middle Ages the land at the far end of the port was used to cultivate hemp for the local manufacture of rope for mariners, which is the origin of the name of the main thoroughfare of Marseille, the Canebière.

Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, quays were constructed under Louis XII and Louis XIII and an important shipyard for galleons put in place. Following a revolt against their governor by the citizens of Marseille, Louis XIV ordered the erection of the forts of St Jean and St Nicolas at the entrance to the harbour and established an arsenal and fleet in the Old Port itself. The notorious "arsenal des galères" was situated on the left side of the Old Port between the Cours Jean-Balard and the Cours Estienne-d'Orves: those condemned to be galley slaves in the royal war fleet were branded with the letters GAL.

According to John Murray, in 1854 the Old Port had a capacity of between 1,000 and 1,200 ships. Roughly 18,000 merchant ships passed through the port each year, carrying about 20 million barrels worth of freight; this represented a quarter of the trade in Liverpool at the time. The 6 metre depth of the harbour, however, proved problematic for steamships later in the century; much deeper docks had to be constructed at La Joliette. In World War II the Old Port was left in complete ruins. According to eye-witness accounts, in January 1943, the Nazis, aided by the French police, dynamited much of the historic old town and demolished the gigantic aerial ferry or "transbordeur", an engineering tour de force that had become a major landmark of Marseille, comparable to the Eiffel tower in Paris. This became known as the "Battle of Marseille". In 1948 Fernand Pouillon was put in charge of the reconstruction of the devastated old quarter.

Over time many port activities were moved out of the Old Port, when beginning in the 1840s new harbour moles, quays and the Docks were built along the quartier La Joliette, north-west to the Old Port. Over time new harbour installations were built further north-west along the coast, resulting in what is today the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille: continuous harbour installation as far as L'Estaque and the southern entrance to the Rove Tunnel, and "satellite" extensions around Fos-sur-Mer and along the shore of the Étang de Berre. The Old Port is used today as a marina, as a terminal for local boat trips and hosts a local fish market.

2024 Photo 50/316 I drove up to West Rock -- the paper mill formerly know as Westvaco in Covington, Va. -- to scout some possible night industrial shots, made problematic because I'll have to sneak onto the property in order to get the pictures I want. Stay tuned on this one. ©2024 | John M. Hudson

Symbolic of my desire for simpler times. Yea I yearn for a time void of loss, chaos, devision, and pandemic. And as 2020 comes to a close, it's seemingly nothing more than a precursor to 2021 rather than the year to forget. Echos of new norms and a new administration is little more than fuel on an already hot embers. And the wind blows on making containment problematic. Countries abroad must wonder what the hell is going on in the US. Have we gone mad? Is common sense as common as we commoners once thought?

Skiptvet Church is a medieval stone church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Skiptvet in Viken county, Norway. It stands on a ridge west of the Glomma River.

The high, proud steeple was lost in the 1762 fire and replaced by the ridge turret you can see here. But the steeple was rumoured to attract a dragon!

According to the legend, the dragon would fly down each morning where it would coil itself around the steeple. As long as it lay there, no one dared to go to church. In the end, the dragon was slain with a poisoned arrow. It fell into a pond just behind the church and even today the water is said to be murky and dark reddish-brown (though it is now so overgrown that you can't see the water at all :-( ). The pond is now called the 'Dragon hole', Dragehullet in Norsk.

The coat of arms of Skiptvet municipality pays tribute to the legend of the dragon.

Dragons are found in folklore and legends all over the world. In Norway they appear in both Norse mythology and medieval church art. Dragons are even mentioned in the Bible, where they symbolise the resistance to the introduction of Christianity. Perhaps the legend here arose during the problematic transition from Norse beliefs to Christianity at the time the church was built.

Finally a late WAPO and we get a blob leader.... this 520 axle train would be the first train of the day, and the most problematic, as it hit 7 defects (hot axles due to sticky brakes) at the Falmouth detector. A lot of the cars were old RBOXes coming out of storage and headed west MT, also the culprit of the defects.

See WB through CPF 183 and MP184 about to hit Royal Junction on the first day of Feb 2021

Weekly Union Pacific "Potash Local" out of Grand Junction slowly rolls out of Deep Cut, a well-known problematic area of the Cane Creek Branch, enroute for intrepid Mine located at the far end of this spectacular former DRGW trackage.

More than a year could be spend trying to photograph all of the branch's photogenic area and hidden angle, sadly I only managed doing it two times over the years, at least giving interesting results on each day in this impressive part of the world.

UP LDG51B-15

4186 6641

Milepost ~ 26 Cane Creek Branch

Moab,UT

February 15th 2019

Only just got this ad in the nick of time; the advert wrap on this bus was peeled off about a week later.

Shreddy is one of these fitness apps, capitalising on the lockdowns which meant that more people were exercising from home and possibly requiring the use of such apps.

This bus is usually on the 88, but one April evening I noticed it on the 77, and heading towards central London. You know you're scraping the barrel when your own shadow is almost touching the bus, and it was looking a bit problematic at one point with an ETA of 1900, but the sunny spot held firm, just.

Photographed while walking the shoreline at the Palo Alto Badlands in Palo Alto, California

Canon 7D Mark II 1/1000 sec f/9 700mm ISO 400

=========

From Wikipedia: The green-winged teal (Anas carolinensis or Anas crecca carolinensis) is a common and widespread duck that breeds in the northern areas of North America except on the Aleutian Islands.

This dabbling duck is strongly migratory and winters far south of its breeding range. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks. In flight, the fast, twisting flocks resemble waders.

This is the smallest North American dabbling duck. The breeding male has grey flanks and back, with a yellow rear end and a white-edged green speculum, obvious in flight or at rest. It has a chestnut head with a green eye patch. It is distinguished from drake common teals (the Eurasian relative of this bird) by a vertical white stripe on side of breast, the lack of both a horizontal white scapular stripe and the lack of thin buff lines on its head.

The females are light brown, with plumage much like a female mallard. They can be distinguished from most ducks on size, shape, and the speculum. Separation from female common teal is problematic.

In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the female.

This is a noisy species. The male has a clear whistle, whereas the female has a feeble quack.

Green-winged teal, more than any other species of duck, prefer to seek food on mud flats. Where mud flats are lacking, they prefer shallow marshes or temporarily flooded agricultural lands. They usually eat vegetative matter consisting of seeds, stems, and leaves of aquatic and emergent vegetation. Green-winged teal appear to prefer the small seeds of nutgrasses (Cyperus spp.), millets (Panicum spp.), and sedges to larger seeds, but they also consume corn, wheat, barley, and buttonbush (Cephalanthus spp.) seeds. In marshes, sloughs, and ponds, green-winged teal select the seeds of bulrushes, pondweeds, and spikerushes (Eleocharis spp.). To a lesser extent they feed upon the vegetative parts of muskgrass (Chara spp.), pondweeds, widgeongrass (Ruppia maritima), and duckweeds (Lemna spp.). They will occasionally eat insects, mollusks, and crustaceans.

AB2A2491-1_fCAFlkr

• The White Rhinoceros •

Good morning all ! I hope you are well ?!

Today, the first publication of this emblematic species! The White Rhinoceros is the only current species of the genus Ceratotherium, one of the four genera of rhinoceros. The last male specimen of the northern subspecies died on March 19, 2018. ONLY TWO FEMALES REMAIN IN THE WILD state! It is extremely problematic! It is time to become aware and act accordingly!

The one presented on this photo is a white but southern Rhinoceros although threatened, there are thousands left. 🌿

What do you think tell me your opinions and your impressions on this White Rhinoceros!

Thank you and have a good day !

© Thomas Photographe

Reading a book I bought long before I learned about the author's problematic behavior and transphobia. The book was good, but I no longer promote the author.

The number of insects that can be found in nature has fallen sharply in recent years. That is problematic and we, humans, are the cause of this. Everyone should have more green in the garden and different plants / flowers. Get rid of all tiles and say welcome to nature.

Thanks for your visit and comments! Would you like to use my photo on the web or print? Just ask :-)

Greetings, Robbie Veldwijk

My Homepage | Facebook | Twitter

When you choose to play a terribly problematic character with a HIGH likelihood of being assassinated... You create a backup character. Meet that character. Currently an unnamed Piltover native, she's just a body waiting to be inhabited by a shiny new story.

To view more of my images, of Audley End House and gardens, please click "here" !

Audley End House is largely an early 17th-century country house just outside Saffron Walden, Essex, south of Cambridge, England. It was once a palace in all but name and renowned as one of the finest Jacobean houses in England. Audley End is now only one-third of its original size, but is still large, with much to enjoy in its architectural features and varied collections. It is currently in the stewardship of English Heritage though remains the family seat of the Lords Braybrooke. The nearby Audley End railway station is named after Audley End House. Audley End was the site of a Benedictine monastery (Walden Abbey), granted to the Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas Audley in 1538 by Henry VIII. It was converted to a domestic house for him, known as Audley Inn. This dwelling was later demolished by his grandson, Thomas Howard (the first Earl of Suffolk and Lord Treasurer), and a much grander mansion was built, primarily for entertaining King James I. The layout reflects the processional route of the King and Queen, each having their own suite of rooms. It is reputed that Thomas Howard told King James he had spent some £200,000 on creating this grand house, and it may be that the King had unwittingly contributed. In 1619, Suffolk and his wife were found guilty of embezzlement and sent to the Tower of London. However, a huge fine secured their release, but Suffolk died in disgrace at Audley End in 1626. At this time, the house was on the scale of a great royal palace, and soon became one after Charles II bought it in 1668 for £5 for use as a home when attending the races at Newmarket. It was returned to the Suffolks in 1701. Over the next century, the house was gradually demolished until it was reduced to its current size. However, the main structure has remained little altered since the main front court was demolished in 1708, and the east wing came down in 1753. Some rooms have been substantially remodelled, though, especially the huge Hall. Sir John Griffin, later fourth Baron Howard de Walden and first Baron Braybrooke, introduced sweeping changes before he died in 1797. In 1762, Sir John commissioned Capability Brown to landscape the parkland, and Robert Adam to design new reception rooms on the house's ground floor, which he did in the style of the 18th century with a formal grandeur. The Great Drawing Room proved problematic as it had to be the grandest room for receiving guests, but it possessed a very low ceiling, and this was considered most undesirable at that time. Robert Adam solved the problem to a large extent by making the furniture unusually small and lowering the chair rail. His design of the Little Drawing Room for the Ladies was exceedingly odd, based on the style of ancient Rome, and Lady Griffin had difficulty moving between the columns when dressed in her evening gown. The third Baron Braybrooke, who inherited house and title in 1825, installed most of the house's huge picture collection, filled the rooms with furnishings, and reinstated something of the original Jacobean feel to the State Rooms. Audley End was offered to the government during the Dunkirk evacuation but the offer was declined due to the lack of facilities at the house. It was later requisitioned in March 1941. It was initially used as a camp by a small number of units before being turned over to the Special Operations Executive. The SOE initially used the house as a general holding camp before using it for the Polish branch of the SOE. A memorial to the 108 Poles who died in the service stands in the main drive. After the war, the ninth Lord Braybrooke resumed possession, and in 1948 the house was sold to the Ministry of Works, the predecessor of English Heritage. Lord Braybrooke moved to the Abbey House in the grounds of Audley End, an irregular L-shaped two-storey house with an early 17th-century timber-framed and 19th-century brick core. It was remodelled by Sir Albert Richardson and Eric Houfe in the 1950s and then enlarged to three times its former size by Philip Jebb in 1967-70 for the Hon. Robin Neville. Symmetrical north front with two canted bay windows in the centre. The building history is most apparent from the south, where the gables of the first house can be seen behind those of the 19th-century rear wing. The house has interior decoration in Classical style by Dudley Poplack. The Capability Brown parkland still includes many of the mock-classical monuments, although some are not in the care of English Heritage. The grounds are divided by the River Cam, which is crossed by several ornate bridges, and a main road which follows the route of a Roman road. The park beyond the river is frequently used for open air concerts. There is also a miniature circular railway in the grounds. The walled kitchen garden in its grounds was painstakingly restored by Garden Organic, the UK's leading organic growing charity, in 1999 from an overgrown, semi-derelict state. Renovated to its former glory it now looks as it would have done in late Victorian times; full of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tonight's sunset was pretty plain. I think the moon planned it that way.

Taken about 10 minutes before sunset with my 300mm zoom. Natural vignetting, manual focus and exposure. (I mention the manual focus because this lens can focus PAST infinity. It's.... problematic.)

The Large view is pretty decent too...

I found a bunch of these patrolling one of the neighborhood ponds this morning- all males. In a State that has a lot of problematic invasive species of flora and fauna, this is one that seems to cause little or no problem for the native species. A striking dragon.

1M5A1697xxxx

farm1.static.flickr.com/204/449096930_4df4a66f53_o.jpg

Sunsets come cheap where I live.

Maybe because it happens here everyday. Maybe because people are not easily fooled by a mere mix of colors on the sky which fade after a while. People want something solid. And really worth to hold on to. Like real estate.

Above: Five Island Junction, somewhere in Addu. Far South Maldives.

A long stretch of road has been built by joining islands (to my right) with narrow sand bridges. This road has destroyed the surrounding pristine environment and created all sorts of environmental problems. Hence this surreally eerie effect today, created by a drainage mishap. People have lived with this for sometime now. And to a large extent, ignored this scenic but problematic spot.

Until last year that is, Authorities have since announced the development of new resorts nearby.

The local Airport (out of view) seemed inadequate for large flights that will soon bring in hordes of tourists... and is scheduled to be expanded, blocking off more water. The result will be a complete drying up of this area.

Development comes at a price they say, but hey, people are already queuing up at the administrative office. And filling forms for a spot... of real estate.

Guess it's goodbye for sunsets from this scene for a while, then.

Instead of illustrating the Aperture versus Lightroom development issue I had with this image in two separate uploads, I have combined the two in one with a split wedge showing the Lightroom version developed from X-T2 RAF file. The sky highlights are where they should be, the shadows have changed a bit and this version is sharper with more detail in the trees and green along the other shore.

The surrounding image shows the Aperture enhanced version from out-of-camera JPG. I can't work with the RAF files in Aperture, since Apple still has no Raw support for this camera and for some reason DNGs don't work either. So the comparison isn't totally fair as one cannot compare JPGs to RAWs, but I was so fascinated by the X-T2 JPG output and how much I could manipulate them in Aperture — until I ran into this problem.

Definitively didn't watch for cloud burn-out when I took this image. And yes, I do watch my histogram carefully, but not here. Plus my EV correction was in the wrong direction. I tried to get those cloud details out of the RAW file by reprocessing in camera, and also with Iridient Developer, but both methods failed to get the sky proper, until I transferred it to Lightroom where the 'White' slider came to the rescue. Lightroom does a great job with the dynamic range of the Fujifilm RAFs and also with sharpening and preserving detail.

I love Aperture for what it offers in file management and I have FlickrExport, which makes uploading a breeze. If Lightroom had a decent uploader I would switch, but for now my workflow will be back and forth between the two apps, which is complicating things. I still think Apple made a huge mistake abandoning Aperture.

Section 2:

Cassiar Hwy 37 to Kitwanga, Yellowhead Hwy 16.

my handbook about portrait photography teaches, that the eyes are the main part, the mouth is definitely the other important zone, the cheeks are a boring area and the nose is problematic - after these criteria...

This shot was problematic for a couple of different reasons. For one, the wind was blowing just enough to cause problems. For another, the butterflies were anything but still when I was shooting. It seemed that as soon as I had focus dialed in, it was time for them to change position or the wind would kick up and move the whole scene around. Regardless, I think this came out alright.

Gotcha! I finally caught The Milky Way! It wasn't easy. There have been lots of failed attempts along the way. I've encountered bad weather, tiredness, car problems and most problematic of all high levels of light pollution. However, yesterday everything lined up perfectly and I managed to capture this image. I had to wait until almost 2:00am and brave freezing temperatures where I couldn't feel my hands / feet. However it was worth it! I still hanker after a location with lower levels of light pollution but this will definitely do for now. Time to get some much needed sleep!

Puck, a parakeet was listed in the 1995 Guinness Book Of World Records as the bird with the largest vocabulary in the world. Can you believe 1,728 words? More than some people I know. Lol 😄 If you swear a lot when you are alone and a parakeet hears it, you may be surprised to hear him swear when you are not alone. Lol. 😄 I love Parakeets Aka budgerigars or budgies, but it's a problematic situation keeping birds like those when you have a home with several cats...So as not to create confusion, I must mention that this is not Puck, but another parakeet at our local PetSmart Store.

First roll through a Goodman Zone that I made. Took me over a year to print the camera, because my printer had clogging issues that were only resolved recently. Then I didn’t even use the piece that was problematic, which was part of the film back, instead getting a Mamiya Pro S back. Anyway, it works. No light leaks.

Special locomotive - old electric locomotive with a coke extinguish wagon

Die Lokomotive und die entsprechenden Waggons wurden direkt an den Brennöfen eingesetzt. Der Koks, welcher in die Waggons zum löschen geladen wurde, hatte eine Temperatur von 1.000° C und wurde mit Wasser abgelöscht. Pro Tonne Koks sind ca. 2 m³ Wasser zur Löschung notwendig. Reinigung des vor allem mit Staub, Wassergas und Schwefelwasserstoff verunreinigten Wasserdampfes war sehr problematisch. Noch 1986 lagen lagen die Messwerte für einen Koksnasskühlvorgang bei 200 bis 2000 g Staub pro Tonne Koks.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokerei

The locomotive and the corresponding wagons were used directly at the kilns. The coke, which was loaded into the wagons for extinguishing, had a temperature of 1,000 ° C and was extinguished with water. Approx. 2 m³ of water are required per ton of coke for extinguishing. Purification of the water vapor, which was mainly contaminated with dust, water gas and hydrogen sulfide, was very problematic. In 1986 the measured values for a wet coke cooling process were between 200 and 2000 g of dust per ton of coke.

Saint Peter TRƯƠNG VĂN THI

Priest

(1763-1839)

* The Executioner Carried His Prisoner.

On the road to the execution field from the prison in Hà Nội to Ô Cầu Giấy, the sick and frail prisoner of 76 years old could not maintain his steps, he wobbled then fell down on the road. Appalled by such a heartbreaking spectacle, one of the guards lowered his back for the prisoner to get on and carried him to the destination; he was presented with the pair of shoes as souvenir by the prisoner. These unusual acts of kindness startled guards, touched spectators, and broke Christians heart: the executioner carried the prisoner to the execution field. That prisoner was Fr. Peter Trương Văn Thi.

* A Gentle and Poor Shepherd.

Peter Trương Văn Thi came into this world in 1763 in Kẻ Sở village, Thanh Liêm district, Hà Nam province. At the age of 11, he was admitted to the House of God to start religious training and develop his virtues, he then became a catechist. In this capacity, catechist Thi always demonstrated his ministerial enthusiasm and piety; as a result he was called into the major seminary. On 3/22/1806 he was ordained a priest at the age of 43.

For 27 continuous years, Fr. Thi ministered Sông Chảy parish, Đoan Hùng prefecture, Phú Thọ province. In 1833 he was appointed pastor of Kẻ Sông parish and stayed there until his martyrdom in 1839. According to local Christians’ testimonials, Fr. Thi was a priest: “very honorable; three or four long prayers daily; celebrating Mass devotedly; eating simply and fasting on Fridays even though his health was problematic in addition to constant diarrhea.”

Missionary Jeantet Khiêm, bishop of west vicariate of Tonkin, had written about Fr. Thi: “I had known him since 1835. I admire his piety, gentleness, astuteness and his strict observance of the rules.” He practiced poverty, besides his black habits, he only dressed in brown like poor farmers. In addition to his main parish, he ministered to many filial communities. He once was saved by the trunk containing sacramental materials while his companion was drowned when their boat capsized. Throughout his decades of ministering, there was not a single complaint leveled against him.

Due to King Minh Mạng’s edict of persecutions Fr. Thi always carried out his work quietly. After a long period working in relative safety, on 10/10/1839 Fr. Andrew Dũng Lạc from a neighboring village came for confessions, unluckily the village chief named Pháp was informed and led a group of men to arrest the two priests. The village chief demanded a ransom of 200 piasters from parishioners. When Christians came up with only half the amount, the village chief freed only Fr. Andrew Dũng Lạc. Unfortunately on his way home, Fr. Andrew Dũng Lạc was caught by a different group of soldiers. Therefore, village chief Pháp no longer dare to ransom Fr. Thi, and took him to Bình Lục. Midway, the village chief ran into the contingent that was escorting Fr. Andrew Dũng Lạc, so he handed Fr. Thi to the district magistrate. From then on the two priests spent their life together in prison and to receive the triumphant reward.

* A “Religious Official” In the Eyes of a “Government Official”...

The district magistrate of Bình Lục was very respectful toward the two priests, particularly Fr. Thi. The magistrate, concerned with Fr. Thi’s ill health and old age, treated him politely. He said: “I am a secular government official, and you are a religious official.” Of course, the magistrate misunderstood the faculties of a priest, nevertheless his words underscored his respect. Knowing that he could not press the priest to change their faith, he did not tortured them but sent them on to Hà Nội after holding them for three days. Just Pilate washed his hands off Jesus’ trial, the magistrate also celebrated a sacred ceremony to his divine god as well as to explain his actions to everyone, and to ask heaven and earth to vouch for his innocence in the death of the guilt-free men.

As the priests were brought Hà Nội by boat on Hồng River, Christians came along in droves, some by boat and some on foot.

On October 16, the prisoners’ boat docked. The following day, the judicial mandarin summoned the priests to the tribunal and pressed them to walk over the cross. Fr. Thi kneeled down and respectfully kissed the Savior’s icon. After a series of interrogations, the mandarin concluded that he could not win over these priests, he petitioned the king for the death sentence by decapitation.

Waiting for the king’s approval, Fr. Thi predicted his ultimate fate so he started to prepare for the grace of martyrdom. He prayed harder as well as performed acts of penance. He fasted on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Illness, cangue (even though he only carried a light one), and fasting weakened his health day by day. Missionary Jeantet Khiêm wrote to him and advised him to trim back his fasting, but he did not budge.

* Boundless Love.

On 12/21/1839 When Fr. Trân brought the Eucharist into jail the second time, Fr. Thi was already bedridden, Fr. Andrew Dũng Lạc had to go out to receive Christ’s Body and brought it back to him to him. Unknowingly, that day was also the last day of their lives, the king’s approved sentence had finally arrived. Soldiers led the two priests to the execution field. On the way, Fr. Thi was too feeble to walk, a soldier took on the role of “Simon”, and carried him to the punishment site.

At the end of Fr. Thi’s life: the shoes, souvenir gift to the soldier, and the picture of Vietnamese “Simon” carrying a death-row inmate to the execution field... How can anyone completely describe the meanings of these actions? Could this scene encapsulate all the calamity of the birth of the Vietnamese Church? Is it sufficient to erase all the hatred and envy left over until today? And might this picture allow people to dream a brighter society when everyone dare everyone all obstacles to treat each other with a heart full of love?

Christians soaked the martyrs’ blood, collected their bodies, and brought them back to church in Kẻ Sở church for a solemn Mass and burial.

Pope Leo XIII elevated Fr. Peter Trương Văn Thi to the rank of blessed on 5/27/1900. Missionary priest Jeantet Khiêm commented on Fr. Peter Thi’s martyrdom as followed:

“Grace had won over men’s weakness. With grace, men are gentle by birth, now are given strength as never seen before.”

Credit to Lucky Striker and Miko!!!

Here's the ICN SCAR. It includes an extended rail system, a 14" barrel, new ambi bolt release, and a specialized masterkey shotgun (huge thanks to Lucky!).

With this gun, I'd like to kick off the ICN RIFLEWORKS GROUP!!!! Link here: www.flickr.com/groups/1952158@N22/

View in lightbox for best details. Please tell me what you think!!!!!