We made our annual trip to London in November. We travel down by coach from Slaithwaite and stay at The Cumberland Hotel at Marble Arch. It’s actually a weekend ladies shopping trip that is run as a fundraiser for Slaithwaite Brass Band – I’m the only bloke that goes every year! We decided ( the two of us) to stay down in London until Thursday this time as we wanted to see weekday London and be able to explore a bit further afield on foot. We covered up to 16 miles a day, which is tough going on crowded pavements with hundreds of busy roads to cross. I photographed anything that looked interesting but I bent a contact in the CF card slot, fortunately I had quite a few SD cards with me and the 5D has dual slots so I was able to carry on using it. It’s currently at Lehmann’s getting fixed.

With it being close to Christmas the decorations are up everywhere so there was plenty of colour at night. In Hyde Park the Winter Wonderland was in full swing, we’ve never bothered going to it before but I went twice at night this time. It is massive this year, I couldn’t get over how big it is and the quality of some of the attractions. The cost and effort involved must be phenomenal – it was quite expensive though. It was very difficult to photograph, with extremes of light (LED’s) and darkness and fast moving rides into the bargain. I think I have some decent usable stuff but at the time of writing I am only part way through the editing process so I don’t know for sure.

We set off at around 8.15 am every day and stayed out for at least 12 hours. The weather was poor for a day and a half with drizzle and very dull grey conditions, fortunately we had some pleasant weather (and light) along the way as well. Being based at the end of Oxford Street – Europe’s busiest shopping street – meant that I did quite a bit of night shooting on there. Although I carried a tripod everywhere I only used it once and that was during the day! Because there is always a moving element in almost every shot it seemed pointless using a tripod. I would have got some shots free of movement – or I could have gone for ultra-long exposures to eliminate people and traffic but it would have been problematic I felt. In the end I wound the ISO up and hand held – fingers crossed.

We walked out to Camden Market and Locks but it had been raining and we were a bit early as many were only just setting up for the day. We tried to follow routes that we hadn’t used before and visit new places. We paid a fortune to get in St Pauls but you can’t use cameras. This something that I fail to see the point of, ban flash if you want but if you are going to encourage tourism why ban cameras when there is nothing in particular happening in there. It’s a rule that seems to be applied arbitrarily in cities around the world. Fortunately we could take photos from the outside of the dome, which was real reason for visiting, and we had some great light. Expensive compared with a couple of euros in some famous cathedrals. I’ve wanted to walk to Canary Wharf for a number of years and this year we did. We crisscrossed the Thames a few times and tried to follow the Thames path at other times. We covered around ten miles but it was an interesting day. It was also very quiet for the last four or five miles. We got there about 12.00 and managed to get a sandwich in a café in the shopping centre at the foot of the high rise office blocks before tens of thousands of office workers descended from above. It was mayhem, packed, with snaking queues for anywhere that sold food. We crossed to the other side of The Isle of Dogs and looked across to the O2 Arena and the cable car, unfortunately there isn’t a way across for pedestrians and it was around 3.00 pm. With darkness falling at around 4.30 we decide it was too late to bother. We made our way back to the Thames Clipper pier to check the sailing times. They sail every twenty minutes so we had a couple of glasses of wine and a rest before catching the Clipper. Sailing on the Thames was a first in 15 trips to London. The Clipper is fast and smooth, the lights had come on in the city and there was a fantastic moon rise. It was nigh on impossible to get good shots at the speed we were traveling though and there were times that I wished I could be suspended motionless above the boat. Again, hopefully I will have some usable shots.

We felt that the shopping streets were a little quieter, following the Paris massacre it was to be expected, I might be wrong as we were out and about at later times than previous trips. I think I have heard that footfall is down though. It was good to get into some of the quieter backstreets and conversely to be stuck in the city business district – The Square Mile- at home time. A mass exodus of people running and speed walking to bus stops and the rail and tube stations. It was difficult to move against or across the flow of bodies rushing home.

Whilst the Northern(manufacturing) economy is collapsing, London is a giant development site, it must be the tower crane capital of Europe at the moment. It was difficult to take a shot of any landmark free of cranes, it was easier to make the cranes a feature of the photo. It’s easy to see where the wealth is concentrated – not that there was ever any doubt about it. The morons with too much money are still driving their Lambo’s and Ferraris etc. like clowns in streets that are packed with cars , cyclists and pedestrians, accelerating viciously and noisily for 50 yards. They are just sad attention seekers. From Battersea to Canary Wharf we walked the Thames Embankment, the difference between high and low tide on the river is massive, but the water was the colour of mud – brown! Not very attractive in colour. We caught a Virgin Train from Kings Cross for £14.00 each – a bargain!. We had quite a bit of time to kill around midday at Kings Cross so I checked with security that I was OK to wander around taking photos, without fear of getting jumped by armed security, and set off to photograph the station and St Pancras International Station across the road. I haven’t even looked at the results as I type this but I’ll find out if they are any good shortly. Talking of security, following Paris, there was certainly plenty of private security at most attractions, I don’t know if it was terrorism related though, I can’t say I noticed an increased police presence on the streets. It took us three hours and five minutes from Kings Cross to being back home, not bad for a journey of 200 miles. I can’t imagine that spending countless billions on HS2 or HS3 is going to make a meaningful (cost effective) difference to our journey. Improving what we have, a little faster, would be good. There are some bumpy bits along the route for a mainline and Wakefield to Huddersfield is the equivalent of a cart track – and takes over 30 minutes – it’s only a stone’s throw.

The hazard tree removal focused on several problematic trees in the vicinity of Benson Bridge as part of a broader effort to remove trees burned or damaged during the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. To protect recreational facilities and improve public safety, firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service have already cleared many of the trees that pose a potential risk of decaying and falling.

"7¢ Coupon On Back" towards the purchase of more Ready to Serve Canned Date Nut Roll - artificially flavored. Hard to figure whether it's scarier that somebody, somewhere probably ate one of these, or that it's been sitting uneaten in my parents' cupboard for 30-40 years.

Chaunograptus delicatus Ruedemann, 1947 - problematic graptolites(?) encrusting a limestone paleocobble from the Ordovician of Indiana, USA. (Rich Fuchs collection)

Graptolites are an extinct group of hemichordates that are most commonly preserved as carbonized compressions on shale bedding planes. They are typically not glamorous fossils, but they are critically important guide fossils and are widely used in biostratigraphy and for international correlation.

The most abundant group of graptolites in the fossil record is the graptoloids. Graptoloid graptolites typically resemble small hacksaw blades. Each “tooth” of the hacksaw blades housed a tentaculate, filter-feeding organism. The entire hacksaw blade is the graptolite skeleton, known as a rhabdosome - a nonmineralized colonial skeleton. Most graptolites were planktonic.

The second most abundant group of graptolites is the dendroids. Dendroid graptolites attached to substrates and had colonial skeletons (rhabdosomes) that are generally broadly branching (conical to fan-shaped to shrub-like to flat spirals).

Other graptolite groups are very rare: the crustoids, tuboids, camaroids, and stolonoids.

The fossils seen here are examples of Chaunograptus, a small, uncommon, obscure, black-colored, encrusting fossil organism. The genus includes several nominal species that may or may not be true graptolites.

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

The following is a synthesis of information about Chaunograptus that was provided by Rich Fuchs during presentations at Dry Dredgers meetings in November 1997 and May 2010:

There are 5 or 6 species of Cincinnatian Chaunograptus named. Most are Liberty Formation forms. Most are based on one specimen. Most of the holotypes are now missing (museum-wise). The Smithsonian renumbered their collections a while ago and lost the Chaunograptus. One was lost in a Dayton flood. Few holotypes are left. Chaunograptus are extremely fragile - they are not often found.

Chaunograptus is an encruster that may not be a graptolite. It is fairly rare and easily overlooked. It is more likely to be found in the Richmondian Stage (upper Cincinnatian Series, Upper Ordovician), especially encrusting brachiopod shells. Chaunograptus is classified as a dendroid graptolite or uncertain. There are several species, but some don't look like the rest. Rudolf Ruedemann listed 11 species in his 1947 book "Graptolites of North America" - 7 of these species are Upper Ordovician - 6 species are Cincinnatian. Now we're down to five species. Two of these species are synonymous, according to John Taylor's 1974 University of Cincinnati Master's thesis on Cincinnatian graptolites. Taylor's thesis says that Chaunograptus shideleri is the same as Chaunograptus delicatus. Most of the species are from the Richmondian Stage. Chaunograptus fossils have been found at the Newport Shopping Center. Rich Fuchs has found what he calls Chaunograptus contortus and Chaunograptus delicatus in the Kope Formation (Edenian Stage, lower Cincinnatian Series, Upper Ordovician). This is probably a form whose ranges are not well known.

Chaunograptus contortus - encrusting black spots on nodules. Twisted thecae with extremely thin lines (nemas). Rich Fuchs has found Chaunograptus contortus in the Kope Formation, but it was described from the Liberty Formation (Richmondian Stage, upper Cincinnatian Series, Upper Ordovician). The type specimen is missing - it couldn't be found by Taylor.

Chaunograptus delicatus - the type specimen is encrusting a nodule; thicker lines than Chaunograptus contortus; the lines trail around; occasional thecae structures; the lines move out from a central point. This species was also first described from the Liberty Formation. It occurs in the Liberty Fm. and the Whitewater Formation (upper Richmondian Stage, upper Cincinnatian Series, upper Upper Ordovician). The type specimen is known.

Chaunograptus vermiformis - Liberty Formation. The type specimen is in the Smithsonian - it's been renumbered, but it has been found.

Chaunograptus macrothecae - Grant Lake Formation (Cincinnatian Series, Upper Ordovician). Type specimen can't be found.

Chaunograptus gemmatus - Kope Formation. The type specimen (one specimen) is known.

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

Classification: Animalia, Graptolithina?

Stratigraphy: Kope Formation, Edenian Stage, Upper Ordovician

Locality: Dearborn County, Indiana, USA

In places like Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown where access to water is less problematic, street vendors fill bags of drinking water oblivious of the health risks involved. In Africa, 115 people die every hour from diseases which are linked to poor sanitation, poor hygiene and contaminated water.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

Dans des endroits comme Freetown, la capitale de la Sierra Leone, où l'accès à l'eau est moins problématique, des marchands ambulants vendent de l'eau potable dans des sacs en plastique, sans tenir compte des risques sanitaires que cela implique. En Afrique, 115 personnes meurent toutes les heures de maladies liées au manque d'hygiène et à la contamination de l'eau.

Photo credit: Christophe Valingot

The long series of films, videos, engaged interventions in public space, performances, and object installations provide a consistent testimony to the power of the themes reflected. For many years, Vladimír Turner has persistently pointed out problematic, and often strongly cautionary, moments of Anthropocene civilisation in various places around the world. The enchanted mechanism of consumption-production, the deceitfulness of marketing strategies, the extraction of non-renewable resources, the brutal devastation of the landscape, mass tourism, the misconception of the possibility of shackling the organism of a big city to a structure of order, gentrification, homelessness, inhumane methods of political systems. In fact, the theme of the essence of pure humanity, personal and social responsibility towards the landscape, nature, and a sustainable way of life based on local self-sufficiency is recalled again and again. He points out the themes through matter-of-factly simple acts. This makes the awareness of the necessity of individual engagement all the more intense. Although his conceptual works have an activist character, often dealing with the subversion of paradox, the expressive power of the pure artistry cannot be ignored. Through his installation for the Veleslavín station, Vladimír Turner verbalises the sculptural situation with the themes of sustainable mobility, fossil fuels, international trade, the relationship of motoring vs. train transport, and exodus and nomadism as consequences of climate change. He chooses the form of a specifically modified Volvo car, with an appeal to the constant presence of the potential of a natural human resource. The ideas of the installation are directly related to the genesis of the artist’s intended film, in which he finds himself in the role of an aborigine, the last survivor on planet Earth, who begins to build everything necessary to live from the garbage all around him. “System Change! Not Climate Change!” (VT)

Church of Holy Trinity

Tomb of Sir Roger († after 1395) and Margaret († 1350?) de Boys, Alabaster.

The monument was long problematic, since Blomefield reported a now missing inscription requesting the viewer to pray for the souls of Roger de Bois and Lady Margaret, whose death he recorded as 1300, Sir Roger, and 1315, Lady Margaret. Pevsner noted that in style the monument belonged not to the early 1300s but to the end of the century. Recent research by Sally Badham has unravelled the confusion. She used the British Library manuscript Harleian MS 906 fol. 197 verso to establish that Sir Roger was descended from John de Boys and his wife Eustace Sandbie of Coningsby and that his wife died in 1365. There is no record of his death, suggesting that he was not a landowner in East Anglia, but since he was mentioned in other records it must have been sometime after 1394. With the old dates it was unclear why they had such a prominent tomb in the nave. Sir Roger, an otherwise obscure knight, was mentioned in the document of 1355 establishing the Church of the Holy Trinity as a chantry chapel and a priory for the Trinitarian order with. Those for whose souls the priests were to pray included, King Edward III, Sir Oliver and Lady Elizabeth Ingham, the relatives and parents of Sir Miles Stapleton, including his sister, the deceased Lady Catherine Boys and her husband John de Boys, Dame Margaret Honing. Sir roger’s wife, was not included.

The now sadly worn (and vandalised) tomb chest is set at the east end of the south aisle, originally guarded by railings, set into holes drilled into the base. Its position at the head of the nave would have made it opposite the altar in the chapel of St Mary, destroyed in 1799, an extension to the south east corner of the nave. The tomb is built around a pillar, which once supported the image of a saint, to whom Sir Roger de Boys would have looked. The figures lie side by side, now without their arms and with the detail of their costumes difficult to make out. The notes in the church suggest, on the basis of an analysis of the traces of colour, that she wore a heraldic dress. From the position of the stumps of their arms it is has been argued that they were represented holding hands, rather than in prayer. Sir Roger de Boys rests his head on a Saracen’s helmet, complete with decapitated head, perhaps sign that, as suggested below, he had been a crusader. His wife’s is set on two pillows, where a faint painted pattern can still be made out. His sword is missing but there is a hole on his right side where it was probably fixed. His statue has been convincingly compared with that a distinguished warrior knight, Sir Guy de Brian †1390, in Tewkesbury Abbey. They share the detail of the moustache, fashionably poking over the chain mail of his helmet. The figures are like caricatures, with his barrel chest and her extreme height (she must be about seven foot) and thinness, a sign of breeding (then as now) for those who could, as Professor Sandy Heslop has argued, ostensibly afford expensive food.

The base is decorated with (now blank) coats of arms set in quatrefoils and flanked by niches filled with angels, whose wings can just be made out (with some traces of colour). On the north they turn slightly to the door, a movement that culminates in the wider niche facing the entrance. Here the couple’s devotion to the Trinity, the church’s dedication, is shown in the panel. Two angels hold up their souls besides the Trinity, represented by the seated God the Father. He held a now lost crucifix with the dead Christ, supported by the (also missing) Dove of the Holy Ghost. The scheme also occurred in a roundel decorating the splendid and nearly contemporary brass memorial Sir Hugh Hastings (†1347) at Elsing.

Sir Roger de Boys was granted letters of attorney when travelling abroad between 1361-67 and again in the 1370s. At least one of these trips coincided with the crusade to capture Alexandria, called by Peter de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, in 1365, and the letters granting him permission to travel mention other crusader knights. That his death was not recorded may have been because he was not a land owner, although in 1378, together with his brother, he had given the Priory property in Worstead and Scottow. The family were established in Honing and Rollesby by the early years of the fifteenth century and their involvement with the church continued, since the arms on the tower (rebuilt in the 1450s), recorded by Blomefield, included Stapleton impaled with Boys.

Francis Blomefield, ‘House of Trinitarian canons: The priory of Ingham', A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2 (1906), pp. 410-412 corrected by Sally Badham 'Beautiful Remains of Antiquity': The Medieval Monuments in the Former Trinitarian Priory Church at Ingham Norfolk. Part 2: the High Tombs. CHURCH MONUMENTS VOLUME XXII 2007, esp. pp. 23-43; Sir Richard Le Scrope, edited Samuel Bentley, London 1832, De Controversia in Curia Militari Inter Ricardum Le Scrope Et Robertum Grosvenor Milites: Rege Ricardo Secundo, MCCCLXXXV-MCCCXC E Recordis in Turre Londinensi Asservatis, p. 220, googlebooks, accessed 03/08/15

detail of Margaret de Boys

hips again problematic

The thing Bempton is famous for , enjoyable watching these but the strong light was problematic for photography but interesting

Réunion Island, is a French department in the Indian Ocean and is the most southerly extent of the European Union. Situated on a geological fault line it is subject to ongoing volcanic activity. It is known for its volcanic, rain forested interior, offshore reefs, beaches and Creole culture. The Piton de la Fournaise volcano, its most iconic landmark, remains active. Piton des Neiges, a massive extinct volcano, and Réunion’s 3 cirques (calderas), natural amphitheatres formed by collapsed/eroded volcanoes, are also key features. The interior is rugged yet the weathered lava flows make the island fertile. Building communications links around and across the island are however problematic

There was a small railway, built to carry sugar, linking St. Benedict in St. Peter through a tunnel under the mountain between Saint-Denis and La Possession. Apart from this old abandoned railcar and the station in La Grande-Chaloupe there remains no trace of the track bed. The line was closed, in the 1950s with the sugar traffic transferred to the road.

Overtime developments clustered along the northern coastal strip resulting in traffic jams in the towns along the route. Route N1 from St. Denis to La Possession, on the northern coast, was built along shelves cut along the base of sea facing cliffs. Road users however continued to face difficulties as the roads were subject to annual cyclones exceeding 150 kilometers per hour and wave heights of 10 meters. Local closures also occurred as a result of landslides and scree falls. A search began for a long term solution.

A tram train route was proposed built inland of the coast. It was bold in concept with a series of magnificent bridges spanning gorges in the cliffs.

In May 2004 Lyon based consultant Semaly has won a contract to study and design an inter-urban 'tram-train' project on the French island département of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean. The proposal envisaged a 70 km route along the north coast of the island between Saint Paul and Saint Benoît. The line was seen as the backbone of the territory's future public transport network, offering the 720000 islanders an alternative to private cars on congested roads. It was acknowledged that the line will have to pass through difficult terrain with deep ravines and included the need to bore a 10 km tunnel through volcanic rock. Track and lineside equipment needed to be designed to operate in a marine environment that included the annual cyclones. .

In 2009 the French firm Bouygues-led Tram-Tiss consortium has signed a €1.55bn contract in the country's Indian Ocean island of La Reunion to build a train and tramway system.

The scope of the contract involved building a shorter 40km rail section of the coastal route linking Santé-Marie and the airport to the east of the capital Saint-Denis with Le Port and Saint-Paul in the north-west by 2014.The project was to be funded by a public-private partnership with €435m of state funds, a loan from the EU and the government's economic stimulus package.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gd3WCTHBB8

Cyclones of a different kind destroyed the project – the global crash and recession and the Euro crisis resulted in cut backs throughout Europe – infrastructure was put on the back burner which was then turned off. The La Reunion authorities threatened to cancel the deal if the French Government did not provide more funds. In April 2010 the Eu1.55 billion ($2.1 billion) Tram-Train PPP on the French island of La Reunion was cancelled by the island's new government in favour of a road. , The cancellation of the tram train project necessitated compensation of 170 million euros

The new road could end up as the most expensive highway in France. Costed at 1.66 billion euros this 12km road will cost a 133 million euros per kilometre. Building a six lane motorway at sea is a global technical challenge. Seven years will be needed to plant this motorway on stilts. And in the end, facing cyclones 150 kilometers per hour and waves 10 metres – it will still not be an all-weather route. Opponents of the plan fear that the project will inevitably over-run and that whilst the French Government may finance the project they will not assume liability beyond the original budget.

Church of Holy Trinity

Tomb of Sir Roger († after 1395) and Margaret († 1350?) de Boys, Alabaster.

The monument was long problematic, since Blomefield reported a now missing inscription requesting the viewer to pray for the souls of Roger de Bois and Lady Margaret, whose death he recorded as 1300, Sir Roger, and 1315, Lady Margaret. Pevsner noted that in style the monument belonged not to the early 1300s but to the end of the century. Recent research by Sally Badham has unravelled the confusion. She used the British Library manuscript Harleian MS 906 fol. 197 verso to establish that Sir Roger was descended from John de Boys and his wife Eustace Sandbie of Coningsby and that his wife died in 1365. There is no record of his death, suggesting that he was not a landowner in East Anglia, but since he was mentioned in other records it must have been sometime after 1394. With the old dates it was unclear why they had such a prominent tomb in the nave. Sir Roger, an otherwise obscure knight, was mentioned in the document of 1355 establishing the Church of the Holy Trinity as a chantry chapel and a priory for the Trinitarian order with. Those for whose souls the priests were to pray included, King Edward III, Sir Oliver and Lady Elizabeth Ingham, the relatives and parents of Sir Miles Stapleton, including his sister, the deceased Lady Catherine Boys and her husband John de Boys, Dame Margaret Honing. Sir roger’s wife, was not included.

The now sadly worn (and vandalised) tomb chest is set at the east end of the south aisle, originally guarded by railings, set into holes drilled into the base. Its position at the head of the nave would have made it opposite the altar in the chapel of St Mary, destroyed in 1799, an extension to the south east corner of the nave. The tomb is built around a pillar, which once supported the image of a saint, to whom Sir Roger de Boys would have looked. The figures lie side by side, now without their arms and with the detail of their costumes difficult to make out. The notes in the church suggest, on the basis of an analysis of the traces of colour, that she wore a heraldic dress. From the position of the stumps of their arms it is has been argued that they were represented holding hands, rather than in prayer. Sir Roger de Boys rests his head on a Saracen’s helmet, complete with decapitated head, perhaps sign that, as suggested below, he had been a crusader. His wife’s is set on two pillows, where a faint painted pattern can still be made out. His sword is missing but there is a hole on his right side where it was probably fixed. His statue has been convincingly compared with that a distinguished warrior knight, Sir Guy de Brian †1390, in Tewkesbury Abbey. They share the detail of the moustache, fashionably poking over the chain mail of his helmet. The figures are like caricatures, with his barrel chest and her extreme height (she must be about seven foot) and thinness, a sign of breeding (then as now) for those who could, as Professor Sandy Heslop has argued, ostensibly afford expensive food.

The base is decorated with (now blank) coats of arms set in quatrefoils and flanked by niches filled with angels, whose wings can just be made out (with some traces of colour). On the north they turn slightly to the door, a movement that culminates in the wider niche facing the entrance. Here the couple’s devotion to the Trinity, the church’s dedication, is shown in the panel. Two angels hold up their souls besides the Trinity, represented by the seated God the Father. He held a now lost crucifix with the dead Christ, supported by the (also missing) Dove of the Holy Ghost. The scheme also occurred in a roundel decorating the splendid and nearly contemporary brass memorial Sir Hugh Hastings (†1347) at Elsing.

Sir Roger de Boys was granted letters of attorney when travelling abroad between 1361-67 and again in the 1370s. At least one of these trips coincided with the crusade to capture Alexandria, called by Peter de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, in 1365, and the letters granting him permission to travel mention other crusader knights. That his death was not recorded may have been because he was not a land owner, although in 1378, together with his brother, he had given the Priory property in Worstead and Scottow. The family were established in Honing and Rollesby by the early years of the fifteenth century and their involvement with the church continued, since the arms on the tower (rebuilt in the 1450s), recorded by Blomefield, included Stapleton impaled with Boys.

Francis Blomefield, ‘House of Trinitarian canons: The priory of Ingham', A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2 (1906), pp. 410-412 corrected by Sally Badham 'Beautiful Remains of Antiquity': The Medieval Monuments in the Former Trinitarian Priory Church at Ingham Norfolk. Part 2: the High Tombs. CHURCH MONUMENTS VOLUME XXII 2007, esp. pp. 23-43; Sir Richard Le Scrope, edited Samuel Bentley, London 1832, De Controversia in Curia Militari Inter Ricardum Le Scrope Et Robertum Grosvenor Milites: Rege Ricardo Secundo, MCCCLXXXV-MCCCXC E Recordis in Turre Londinensi Asservatis, p. 220, googlebooks, accessed 03/08/15

Chaunograptus delicatus Ruedemann, 1947 - problematic graptolites(?) encrusting a limestone paleocobble from the Ordovician of Indiana, USA. (Rich Fuchs collection)

Graptolites are an extinct group of hemichordates that are most commonly preserved as carbonized compressions on shale bedding planes. They are typically not glamorous fossils, but they are critically important guide fossils and are widely used in biostratigraphy and for international correlation.

The most abundant group of graptolites in the fossil record is the graptoloids. Graptoloid graptolites typically resemble small hacksaw blades. Each “tooth” of the hacksaw blades housed a tentaculate, filter-feeding organism. The entire hacksaw blade is the graptolite skeleton, known as a rhabdosome - a nonmineralized colonial skeleton. Most graptolites were planktonic.

The second most abundant group of graptolites is the dendroids. Dendroid graptolites attached to substrates and had colonial skeletons (rhabdosomes) that are generally broadly branching (conical to fan-shaped to shrub-like to flat spirals).

Other graptolite groups are very rare: the crustoids, tuboids, camaroids, and stolonoids.

The fossils seen here are examples of Chaunograptus, a small, uncommon, obscure, black-colored, encrusting fossil organism. The genus includes several nominal species that may or may not be true graptolites.

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

The following is a synthesis of information about Chaunograptus that was provided by Rich Fuchs during presentations at Dry Dredgers meetings in November 1997 and May 2010:

There are 5 or 6 species of Cincinnatian Chaunograptus named. Most are Liberty Formation forms. Most are based on one specimen. Most of the holotypes are now missing (museum-wise). The Smithsonian renumbered their collections a while ago and lost the Chaunograptus. One was lost in a Dayton flood. Few holotypes are left. Chaunograptus are extremely fragile - they are not often found.

Chaunograptus is an encruster that may not be a graptolite. It is fairly rare and easily overlooked. It is more likely to be found in the Richmondian Stage (upper Cincinnatian Series, Upper Ordovician), especially encrusting brachiopod shells. Chaunograptus is classified as a dendroid graptolite or uncertain. There are several species, but some don't look like the rest. Rudolf Ruedemann listed 11 species in his 1947 book "Graptolites of North America" - 7 of these species are Upper Ordovician - 6 species are Cincinnatian. Now we're down to five species. Two of these species are synonymous, according to John Taylor's 1974 University of Cincinnati Master's thesis on Cincinnatian graptolites. Taylor's thesis says that Chaunograptus shideleri is the same as Chaunograptus delicatus. Most of the species are from the Richmondian Stage. Chaunograptus fossils have been found at the Newport Shopping Center. Rich Fuchs has found what he calls Chaunograptus contortus and Chaunograptus delicatus in the Kope Formation (Edenian Stage, lower Cincinnatian Series, Upper Ordovician). This is probably a form whose ranges are not well known.

Chaunograptus contortus - encrusting black spots on nodules. Twisted thecae with extremely thin lines (nemas). Rich Fuchs has found Chaunograptus contortus in the Kope Formation, but it was described from the Liberty Formation (Richmondian Stage, upper Cincinnatian Series, Upper Ordovician). The type specimen is missing - it couldn't be found by Taylor.

Chaunograptus delicatus - the type specimen is encrusting a nodule; thicker lines than Chaunograptus contortus; the lines trail around; occasional thecae structures; the lines move out from a central point. This species was also first described from the Liberty Formation. It occurs in the Liberty Fm. and the Whitewater Formation (upper Richmondian Stage, upper Cincinnatian Series, upper Upper Ordovician). The type specimen is known.

Chaunograptus vermiformis - Liberty Formation. The type specimen is in the Smithsonian - it's been renumbered, but it has been found.

Chaunograptus macrothecae - Grant Lake Formation (Cincinnatian Series, Upper Ordovician). Type specimen can't be found.

Chaunograptus gemmatus - Kope Formation. The type specimen (one specimen) is known.

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

Classification: Animalia, Graptolithina?

Stratigraphy: Kope Formation, Edenian Stage, Upper Ordovician

Locality: Dearborn County, Indiana, USA

In terms of classification, it is one of the most problematic genera in the Cactus family - and it is extremely variable even in single localities. Validated in 1935, all the species were re-assigned to the genus Stenocactus. But many cactus growers still use the former name of Echinofossulocactus.

This was part of the private collection of cacti and succulents at Manor Nursery, Angmering, West Sussex. The collection was started in 1948. The nursery is now gone. The collection has been dispersed to various new locations.

Church of Holy Trinity

Tomb of Sir Roger († after 1395) and Margaret († 1350?) de Boys, Alabaster.

The monument was long problematic, since Blomefield reported a now missing inscription requesting the viewer to pray for the souls of Roger de Bois and Lady Margaret, whose death he recorded as 1300, Sir Roger, and 1315, Lady Margaret. Pevsner noted that in style the monument belonged not to the early 1300s but to the end of the century. Recent research by Sally Badham has unravelled the confusion. She used the British Library manuscript Harleian MS 906 fol. 197 verso to establish that Sir Roger was descended from John de Boys and his wife Eustace Sandbie of Coningsby and that his wife died in 1365. There is no record of his death, suggesting that he was not a landowner in East Anglia, but since he was mentioned in other records it must have been sometime after 1394. With the old dates it was unclear why they had such a prominent tomb in the nave. Sir Roger, an otherwise obscure knight, was mentioned in the document of 1355 establishing the Church of the Holy Trinity as a chantry chapel and a priory for the Trinitarian order with. Those for whose souls the priests were to pray included, King Edward III, Sir Oliver and Lady Elizabeth Ingham, the relatives and parents of Sir Miles Stapleton, including his sister, the deceased Lady Catherine Boys and her husband John de Boys, Dame Margaret Honing. Sir roger’s wife, was not included.

The now sadly worn (and vandalised) tomb chest is set at the east end of the south aisle, originally guarded by railings, set into holes drilled into the base. Its position at the head of the nave would have made it opposite the altar in the chapel of St Mary, destroyed in 1799, an extension to the south east corner of the nave. The tomb is built around a pillar, which once supported the image of a saint, to whom Sir Roger de Boys would have looked. The figures lie side by side, now without their arms and with the detail of their costumes difficult to make out. The notes in the church suggest, on the basis of an analysis of the traces of colour, that she wore a heraldic dress. From the position of the stumps of their arms it is has been argued that they were represented holding hands, rather than in prayer. Sir Roger de Boys rests his head on a Saracen’s helmet, complete with decapitated head, perhaps sign that, as suggested below, he had been a crusader. His wife’s is set on two pillows, where a faint painted pattern can still be made out. His sword is missing but there is a hole on his right side where it was probably fixed. His statue has been convincingly compared with that a distinguished warrior knight, Sir Guy de Brian †1390, in Tewkesbury Abbey. They share the detail of the moustache, fashionably poking over the chain mail of his helmet. The figures are like caricatures, with his barrel chest and her extreme height (she must be about seven foot) and thinness, a sign of breeding (then as now) for those who could, as Professor Sandy Heslop has argued, ostensibly afford expensive food.

The base is decorated with (now blank) coats of arms set in quatrefoils and flanked by niches filled with angels, whose wings can just be made out (with some traces of colour). On the north they turn slightly to the door, a movement that culminates in the wider niche facing the entrance. Here the couple’s devotion to the Trinity, the church’s dedication, is shown in the panel. Two angels hold up their souls besides the Trinity, represented by the seated God the Father. He held a now lost crucifix with the dead Christ, supported by the (also missing) Dove of the Holy Ghost. The scheme also occurred in a roundel decorating the splendid and nearly contemporary brass memorial Sir Hugh Hastings (†1347) at Elsing.

Sir Roger de Boys was granted letters of attorney when travelling abroad between 1361-67 and again in the 1370s. At least one of these trips coincided with the crusade to capture Alexandria, called by Peter de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, in 1365, and the letters granting him permission to travel mention other crusader knights. That his death was not recorded may have been because he was not a land owner, although in 1378, together with his brother, he had given the Priory property in Worstead and Scottow. The family were established in Honing and Rollesby by the early years of the fifteenth century and their involvement with the church continued, since the arms on the tower (rebuilt in the 1450s), recorded by Blomefield, included Stapleton impaled with Boys.

Francis Blomefield, ‘House of Trinitarian canons: The priory of Ingham', A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2 (1906), pp. 410-412 corrected by Sally Badham 'Beautiful Remains of Antiquity': The Medieval Monuments in the Former Trinitarian Priory Church at Ingham Norfolk. Part 2: the High Tombs. CHURCH MONUMENTS VOLUME XXII 2007, esp. pp. 23-43; Sir Richard Le Scrope, edited Samuel Bentley, London 1832, De Controversia in Curia Militari Inter Ricardum Le Scrope Et Robertum Grosvenor Milites: Rege Ricardo Secundo, MCCCLXXXV-MCCCXC E Recordis in Turre Londinensi Asservatis, p. 220, googlebooks, accessed 03/08/15

When I said on my uploads that getting into Tilmanstone was a bugbear, how then to describe my frustration about St Anthony, as this is a church I see each time we travel up or down the Alkham valley to Folkestone.

St Anthony sits on a bluff overlooking the village and the main road, and so seems impressively tall. But up close, one finds the tower to appear short and squat.

I had driven over from Tilmanstone, I had decided to give Eythorne a miss as I really wanted to make sure I got to Alkham and the next church on the list, Acrise, before the day faded and I would lose the chance for another year.

Parking in the village is problematic, so I leave the car opposite the village hall beside the cricket pitch, which now looks like it would be perfect for a few overs. How different from the late winter, when the Drellingore was in full flood and the pitch was under a good foot of water, and houses down the hill had water bubbling up between the plants in their gardens borders.

And looking at the Drellingore itself, reveals it to be the dried up bed it always was, with just the occasional pool of still wet mud showing where once the torrent flowed.

It is quite a steep climb back to the main road and then along to the old village pub, The Marquess of Granby, now sadly rebranded as a gastropub and called simply "The Marquess".

Up beside the pub, past a pretty row of cottages and into the churchyard. My, I was puffing well, but after stopping to take a shot of the outside of the church, I walk to the porch to find both the outer and inner doors open, and the interior glowing with sunlight refracted by Victorian stained glass.

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Picturesquely situated on a quiet bluff high above the main road, the simple flint exterior of Alkham church hides a remarkable surprise. From the south the building looks little different to many others in the region, but inside it immediately presents its trump card - a north aisle/chapel built in the thirteenth century which contains the finest blank wall arcading in any Kent church. This should be compared with the contemporary chancel arcading at Cooling and Woodchurch - in each designed to emphasise the importance of the (recently rebuilt) chancel. Here it served an altogether different purpose, competing with the nearby commandery of the Knights Hospitallers at Swingfield. At the west end of the nave, filling the tower arch, is a rather heavy but fine, wooden nineteenth century screen. The east window contains some fine nineteenth century glass. West tower, nave, chancel, north aisle, south porch

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Alkham

ALKHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

The church, which is dedicated to St. Anthony the Martyr, is a handsome building, consisting of three isles and two chancels, having a tower steeple, with a low pointed turret on it, in which hang three bells. The north isle is shut out by boarding from the rest of the church, and made no use of at present, to which the school now kept in the chancel might be removed, and have no kind of communication with that part of the church appropriated for divine service, which would prevent that unseemly and indecent resort which it is at present subject to. In the chancel are several memorials for the Slaters, lessees of the parsonage; and on the south side, against the wall, is an antient tomb of Bethersden marble.

The church of Alkham, with the chapel of Mauregge, or Capell as it is now called, belonging to it, was given by Hamon de Crevequer to the abbot and convent of St. Radigund, together with the advowson of it, to hold in free, pure, and perpetual alms. It was appropriated to that abbey about the 43d year of king Henry III. anno 1258, and was afterwards, anno 8 Richard II. valued among the temporalities of the abbey at fourteen pounds. In which state this church and advowson remained till the dissolution of the abbey, which happened in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when it was suppressed by the act of that year, as being under the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds, and their lands and possessions given to the king, who granted the scite of it, with the whole of its possessions, that year, to archbishop Cranmer, in exchange for other lands, who in the same year exchanged them back again with the king, being enabled so to do by an act then specially passed for that purpose; but in the deed of exchange, among other exceptions, was that of all churches and advowsons of vicarages; by virtue of which, the appropriation of the church of Alkham, together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, as they do at this time, his grace the archbishop of Canterbury being now entitled to them.

The vicarage of Alkham, with the chapel of Ferne, alias Capell, annexed to it, is valued in the king's books at eleven pounds, and the yearly tenths at Il.2s. per annum. (fn. 4) It is now of the clear yearly certified value of 53l. 9s. 6d. In 1588 here were communicants eighty; in 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. The vicar of it is inducted into the vicarage of Alkham, with the chapel of Capell le Ferne, alias St.Mary le Merge, annexed to it. There are three acres of glebe land belonging to the vicarage.

The great tithes of Evering ward, in this parish and Swingfield ward, part of the parsonage of Alkham, are held of the archbishop for three lives, at the yearly rent of 1l. 6s. 8d. and the parsonage for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of twelve pounds.

www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63469

This is a close-up shot of one side of the problematic ballot for this precinct. Notice that instead of filling in the ovals as the instructions say, this person put an "x" over the word to the right of the oval. None of this voters votes on this side of the ballot were counted by the machine, of course. This is technically a blank ballot for all the races on this side of the ballot.

In the late Devonian period in this territory, which was not far from the open sea, calcium carbonate sediments extensively accumulated and diverse organisms lived, therefore organogenic limestone is one of the most popular rock types in the area of Koknese.

Brachiopods have been dominating, while the fossils of ostracods, snails, clams, and the sea lily are also common.

Less often one can identify the umbellas, residues of problematic organisms, which most likely belong to algae. In some cases, the snail nucleolus has geopetal structure, there are tiny lumps at the bottom together with micritic calcite, and at the top there is clear calcite cement with tile structure.

Problematic spinal column : - )

Copyright - All Rights Reserved - Black Diamond Images

More Norfolk Island Galleries HERE

Management of waste on Norfolk Island, as on any small island is seriously problematic. Norfolk Island has a population averaging 1800 people with around 800 visitors on the island at any one time. Norfolk Islands transient and permanent population generates approximately 0.95 tonnes of solid waste per person which amounts to approximately 2507 tonnes of solid waste every year, excluding green waste.

Surprisingly Norfolk Island does not have a government managed waste collection service, although it does have a privately operated service which is used by some people. Presumably people deal with their own waste in various ways.

The waste management station is located at Headstone Bay and consists of a re-cycling centre that sorts waste into various categories. Any waste that can be burned is dumped into an open burning pit, burnt and bulldozed over the cliff into Headstone Bay. Incompletely burned material is often washed up on local beaches. Burning is restricted to certain times of day and dependent on prevailing winds.

Some heavy steel is dumped directly in the sea although whitegoods are currently stockpiled due to pollution risks. Other materials such as aluminium are shipped twice a year to Australia for processing. Green waste is mulched and sold.

A High Temperature Incinerator is badly needed but it has apparently been to date outside the financial resources of the Island's administration.

The offensive odours we encountered passing Headstone Waste Centre on New Farm-Headstone Rd clearly indicate that the money must be urgently found for this project.

Reference

Menai Suspension Bridge

Construction

Before the bridge was completed in 1826, the island had no fixed connection to the mainland and all movements to and from Anglesey were by ferry (or, with difficulty, on foot at low tide). The main source of income on Anglesey came from the sale of cattle, and in order to get them to the markets of the inland counties or London, they had to be driven into the water and swum across the Menai Straits.[1] The Act of Union 1800 increased the need for transport to Ireland, and with Holyhead as one of the principal terminals to Dublin it was decided that a bridge was needed.

Thomas Telford was assigned the task of improving the route from London to Holyhead, and one of the key improvements was his design of the suspension bridge over the Menai Strait between a point near Bangor on the mainland and the village of Porthaethwy (which is now also known as Menai Bridge) on Anglesey. The design of the bridge had to allow for Royal Navy sailing ships 100 feet (30 m) tall to pass under the deck at high water slack tide, and no scaffolding was allowed during construction which broke this rule.

Construction of the bridge began in 1819 with the towers on either side of the strait. These were constructed from Penmon limestone and were hollow with internal cross-walls. Then came the sixteen huge chain cables, each made of 935 iron bars that support the 176-metre (577 ft) span.[2] To avoid rusting between manufacture and use, the iron was soaked in linseed oil and later painted.[3] The suspending power of the chains was calculated at 2,016 tons and the total weight of each chain was 121 tons.[1] The bridge was opened to much fanfare on 30 January 1826 and reduced the journey time from London to Holyhead from 36 to 27 hours, a saving of 9 hours.

Later history

Damaged by winds in 1839, the road surface needed extensive repair, and in 1893 the entire wooden surface was replaced with a steel deck. Over the years, the 4.5 ton weight limit proved problematic for the increasing freight industry and in 1938 the original wrought iron[4] chains were replaced with steel ones without the need to close the bridge. In 1999 the bridge was closed for around a month to resurface the road and strengthen the structure, requiring all traffic to cross via the nearby Britannia Bridge.

On 28 February 2005 the bridge was promoted to UNESCO as a candidate World Heritage Site. On the same day one carriageway of the bridge was closed for six months restricting traffic to a single carriageway so that traffic travelled to the mainland in the morning and to Anglesey in the afternoon. The bridge was re-opened to traffic in both directions on 11 December 2005 after its first major re-painting in 65 years.

Menai Suspension Bridge

Construction

Before the bridge was completed in 1826, the island had no fixed connection to the mainland and all movements to and from Anglesey were by ferry (or, with difficulty, on foot at low tide). The main source of income on Anglesey came from the sale of cattle, and in order to get them to the markets of the inland counties or London, they had to be driven into the water and swum across the Menai Straits.[1] The Act of Union 1800 increased the need for transport to Ireland, and with Holyhead as one of the principal terminals to Dublin it was decided that a bridge was needed.

Thomas Telford was assigned the task of improving the route from London to Holyhead, and one of the key improvements was his design of the suspension bridge over the Menai Strait between a point near Bangor on the mainland and the village of Porthaethwy (which is now also known as Menai Bridge) on Anglesey. The design of the bridge had to allow for Royal Navy sailing ships 100 feet (30 m) tall to pass under the deck at high water slack tide, and no scaffolding was allowed during construction which broke this rule.

Construction of the bridge began in 1819 with the towers on either side of the strait. These were constructed from Penmon limestone and were hollow with internal cross-walls. Then came the sixteen huge chain cables, each made of 935 iron bars that support the 176-metre (577 ft) span.[2] To avoid rusting between manufacture and use, the iron was soaked in linseed oil and later painted.[3] The suspending power of the chains was calculated at 2,016 tons and the total weight of each chain was 121 tons.[1] The bridge was opened to much fanfare on 30 January 1826 and reduced the journey time from London to Holyhead from 36 to 27 hours, a saving of 9 hours.

Later history

Damaged by winds in 1839, the road surface needed extensive repair, and in 1893 the entire wooden surface was replaced with a steel deck. Over the years, the 4.5 ton weight limit proved problematic for the increasing freight industry and in 1938 the original wrought iron[4] chains were replaced with steel ones without the need to close the bridge. In 1999 the bridge was closed for around a month to resurface the road and strengthen the structure, requiring all traffic to cross via the nearby Britannia Bridge.

On 28 February 2005 the bridge was promoted to UNESCO as a candidate World Heritage Site. On the same day one carriageway of the bridge was closed for six months restricting traffic to a single carriageway so that traffic travelled to the mainland in the morning and to Anglesey in the afternoon. The bridge was re-opened to traffic in both directions on 11 December 2005 after its first major re-painting in 65 years.

The windows in my new apartment were problematic because they let in so much light, and meant the homeless guys in the parking lot could look inside. Fortunately I whipped together this little solution to counter both problems.

About seven years ago Ryder’s Row, where Capel Street and Parnell Street merge, was upgraded by the addition of a small pop-up park featuring a number of new planters with seating and additional bike parking for the area. The park eventually became a magnet for a number of homeless people and unfortunately about a year ago it was reported that the body of a man in a sleeping bag, thought to be an Irish national in his 50s, was discovered by a member of the public early in the morning. Since then part of the park has been fenced-off and it had become somewhat unattractive.

Church of Holy Trinity

Tomb of Sir Roger († after 1395) and Margaret († 1350?) de Boys, Alabaster.

The monument was long problematic, since Blomefield reported a now missing inscription requesting the viewer to pray for the souls of Roger de Bois and Lady Margaret, whose death he recorded as 1300, Sir Roger, and 1315, Lady Margaret. Pevsner noted that in style the monument belonged not to the early 1300s but to the end of the century. Recent research by Sally Badham has unravelled the confusion. She used the British Library manuscript Harleian MS 906 fol. 197 verso to establish that Sir Roger was descended from John de Boys and his wife Eustace Sandbie of Coningsby and that his wife died in 1365. There is no record of his death, suggesting that he was not a landowner in East Anglia, but since he was mentioned in other records it must have been sometime after 1394. With the old dates it was unclear why they had such a prominent tomb in the nave. Sir Roger, an otherwise obscure knight, was mentioned in the document of 1355 establishing the Church of the Holy Trinity as a chantry chapel and a priory for the Trinitarian order with. Those for whose souls the priests were to pray included, King Edward III, Sir Oliver and Lady Elizabeth Ingham, the relatives and parents of Sir Miles Stapleton, including his sister, the deceased Lady Catherine Boys and her husband John de Boys, Dame Margaret Honing. Sir roger’s wife, was not included.

The now sadly worn (and vandalised) tomb chest is set at the east end of the south aisle, originally guarded by railings, set into holes drilled into the base. Its position at the head of the nave would have made it opposite the altar in the chapel of St Mary, destroyed in 1799, an extension to the south east corner of the nave. The tomb is built around a pillar, which once supported the image of a saint, to whom Sir Roger de Boys would have looked. The figures lie side by side, now without their arms and with the detail of their costumes difficult to make out. The notes in the church suggest, on the basis of an analysis of the traces of colour, that she wore a heraldic dress. From the position of the stumps of their arms it is has been argued that they were represented holding hands, rather than in prayer. Sir Roger de Boys rests his head on a Saracen’s helmet, complete with decapitated head, perhaps sign that, as suggested below, he had been a crusader. His wife’s is set on two pillows, where a faint painted pattern can still be made out. His sword is missing but there is a hole on his right side where it was probably fixed. His statue has been convincingly compared with that a distinguished warrior knight, Sir Guy de Brian †1390, in Tewkesbury Abbey. They share the detail of the moustache, fashionably poking over the chain mail of his helmet. The figures are like caricatures, with his barrel chest and her extreme height (she must be about seven foot) and thinness, a sign of breeding (then as now) for those who could, as Professor Sandy Heslop has argued, ostensibly afford expensive food.

The base is decorated with (now blank) coats of arms set in quatrefoils and flanked by niches filled with angels, whose wings can just be made out (with some traces of colour). On the north they turn slightly to the door, a movement that culminates in the wider niche facing the entrance. Here the couple’s devotion to the Trinity, the church’s dedication, is shown in the panel. Two angels hold up their souls besides the Trinity, represented by the seated God the Father. He held a now lost crucifix with the dead Christ, supported by the (also missing) Dove of the Holy Ghost. The scheme also occurred in a roundel decorating the splendid and nearly contemporary brass memorial Sir Hugh Hastings (†1347) at Elsing.

Sir Roger de Boys was granted letters of attorney when travelling abroad between 1361-67 and again in the 1370s. At least one of these trips coincided with the crusade to capture Alexandria, called by Peter de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, in 1365, and the letters granting him permission to travel mention other crusader knights. That his death was not recorded may have been because he was not a land owner, although in 1378, together with his brother, he had given the Priory property in Worstead and Scottow. The family were established in Honing and Rollesby by the early years of the fifteenth century and their involvement with the church continued, since the arms on the tower (rebuilt in the 1450s), recorded by Blomefield, included Stapleton impaled with Boys.

Francis Blomefield, ‘House of Trinitarian canons: The priory of Ingham', A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2 (1906), pp. 410-412 corrected by Sally Badham 'Beautiful Remains of Antiquity': The Medieval Monuments in the Former Trinitarian Priory Church at Ingham Norfolk. Part 2: the High Tombs. CHURCH MONUMENTS VOLUME XXII 2007, esp. pp. 23-43; Sir Richard Le Scrope, edited Samuel Bentley, London 1832, De Controversia in Curia Militari Inter Ricardum Le Scrope Et Robertum Grosvenor Milites: Rege Ricardo Secundo, MCCCLXXXV-MCCCXC E Recordis in Turre Londinensi Asservatis, p. 220, googlebooks, accessed 03/08/15

detail of figure on base

Pride and Prejudice: on Raphael Perez's Artwork

Raphael Perez, born in 1965, studied art at the College of Visual Arts in Beer Sheva, and from 1995 has been living and working in his studio in Tel Aviv. Today Perez plays an important role in actively promoting the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) art and culture in Tel Aviv, and the internet portal he set up helps artists from the community reach large audiences in Israel and abroad. Hundreds of his artworks are part of private collections in Israel and abroad, and his artworks were shown in several group exhibitions: in Tel Aviv Museum of Art, "Zman Le'Omanut" art gallery, Camera Obscura, The Open House in Jerusalem, Ophir Gallery, The Haifa Forum and other private businesses and galleries.

In 2003-4 his paintings and studio appeared in a full-length movie, three student films and two graduation films.

Raphael Perez is the first Israeli artist to express his lifestyle as a Gay. His life and the life of the LGBT community are connected and unfold over hundreds of artwork pieces. His art creation is rare and extraordinary by every Israeli and international artistic standard. His sources of inspiration are first and foremost life events intertwined in Jewish and Israeli locality as well as influences and quotes from art history (David Hockney, Matisse). This uniqueness has crossed international borders and has succeeded in moving the LGBT and art communities around the world.

This is the first time we meet an Israeli artist who expresses all of his emotions in a previously unknown strength. The subjects of the paintings are the everyday life of couples in everyday places and situations, along with the aspiration to a homosexual relationship and family, equality and public recognition. Perez's works bring forward to the cultural space and to the public discourse the truth about living as LGBT and about relationships, with all of their aspects – casual relationships and sex, the yearning for love, the everyday life and the mundane activities that exist in every romantic relationship – whether by describing two men in an intimate scene in the bathroom, the bedroom or the toilet, a male couple raising a baby or the homosexual version of the Garden of Eden, family dinners, relationship ups and downs, the complexity in sharing a life as well as mundane, everyday life competing with the aspiration to self realization – through Perez's life.

Perez's first artworks are personal diaries, which he creates at 14 years of age. He makes sure to hide these diaries, as in them he keeps a personal journal describing his life events in the most genuine way. In these journals he draws thousands of drawings and sketches, next to which he alternately writes and erases his so-called "problematic texts", texts describing his struggle with his sexual orientation. His diaries are filled with obsessive cataloging of details, daily actions, friends and work, as well as repeating themes, such as thoughts, exhibits he has seen, movies, television, books and review of his work.

When he is done writing, Perez draws on his diaries. Each layer is done from beginning to end all along the journal. In fact, the work on the diaries never ends.

This struggle never ends, and when the emotion is passed on to paper, and it ends its role and becomes meaningless in a way, the visual-graphic side becomes dominant, due to the need to hide the written text, according to Perez. In books and diaries this stands out even more – when he chooses to draw in a style influenced by children's drawings, the characters are cheerful, happy, naïve and do not portray any sexuality, and when he tries drawing as an adult the sketches became more depressed and somber. During these years Perez works with preschool children, teaching them drawing and movement games. Perez says that during this period he completely abandoned the search for a relationship, either with a woman or a man, and working with children has given him existential meaning. This creation continues over 10 years, and Perez creates about 60 books-personal journals in various sizes (notepads, old notebooks, atlases and even old art books).

In his early paintings (1998-1999) the transition from relationships with women to relationships with men can be seen, from restraint to emotional outburst in color, lines and composition. Some characters display strong emotional expression. The women are usually drawn in restraint and passiveness, while a happy and loving emotional outburst is expressed in the colors and style of the male paintings.

"I fantasized that in a relationship with a woman I could fly in the sky, love, fly. However, I felt I was hiding something; I was choked up, hidden behind a mask, as if there was an internal scream wanting to come out. I was frustrated, I felt threatened…"

His first romance with a man in 1999 has drawn out a series of naïve paintings dealing with love and the excitement of performing everyday actions together in the intimate domestic environment.

"The excitement from each everyday experience of doing things together and the togetherness was great, so I painted every possible thing I liked doing with him."

From the moment the self-oppression and repression stopped, Perez started the process of healing, which was expressed in a burst of artworks, enormous in their size, amount, content and vivid colors – red, pink and white.

In 2000 Perez starts painting the huge artworks describing the hangouts of the LGBT community (The Lake, The Pool) and the Tel Avivian balcony paintings describing the masculine world, which, according to him, becomes existent thanks to the painting. Perez has dedicated this year to many series of drawings and paintings of the experience of love, in which he describes his first love for his new partner, and during these months he paints from morning to night. These paintings are the fruit of a long dialogue with David Hockney, and the similarity can be seen both in subjects and in different gestures.

In 2001 Perez creates a series of artworks, "Portraits from The Community". Perez describes in large, photorealistic paintings over 20 portraits of active and well-known members of the LGBT community. The emphasis is on the achievements that reflect the community's strong standing in Tel Aviv.

As a Tel-Avivian painter, in the past two years Perez has been painting urban landscapes of central locations in his city. Perez wanders around the city and chooses familiar architectural and geographical landmarks, commerce and recreation, and historical sites, and paints them from a homosexual point of view, decorated with the rainbow flag, which provide a sense of belonging to the place. His artworks are characterized by a cheerful joie de vivre and colors, and they also describe encounters and meetings. The touristic nature of his paintings makes them a declaration of Tel Aviv's image as a place where cultural freedom prevails.

Perez's Tel Aviv is a city where young families and couples live and fill the streets, the parks, the beach, the houses and the balconies – all the city's spaces. The characters in his paintings are similar, which helps reinforcing the belonging to the LGBT community in Tel Aviv. The collective theme in Perez's artwork interacts with the work of the Israeli artist Yohanan Simon, who dealt with the social aspects of the Kibbutz. Simon, who lived and worked in a Kibbutz, expressed the human model of the Kibbutznik (member of a Kibbutz) and the uniqueness of the Kibbutz members as part of a group where all are equal. Simon's works, and now Perez's, have contributed to the Israeli society what is has been looking for endlessly, which is a sense of identity and belonging.

Perez maps his territory and marks his boundaries, and does not forget the historical sites. Unlike other Tel Avivian artists, Perez wishes to present the lives of the residents of the city and the great love in their hearts. By choosing the historical sites in Tel Aviv, he also pays tribute to the artist Nachum Gutman, who loved the city and lived in it his whole life. In his childhood Gutman experienced historical moments (lighting the first oil lamp, first concert, first pavement), and as an adult he recreated the uniqueness of those events while keeping the city's magic.

Like Gutman, Perez has also turned the city into an object of love, and it has started adorning itself in rich colors and supplying the energy of a city that wishes to be "the city that never sleeps", combining old and new. Perez meticulously describes the uniqueness and style of the Bauhaus houses and balconies along the modern glass and steel buildings, all from unusual angles in a rectangular format that wishes to imitate the panorama of a diverse city in its centennial celebrations.

Daniel Cahana-Levensohn, curator.

Interview with the painter Raphael Perez about his family artist book

An interview with the painter Raphael Perez about an artist's book he created about his family, the Peretz family from 6 Nissan St. Kiryat Yuval Jerusalem

Question: Raphael Perez, tell me about the family artist book you created

Answer: I created close to 40 artist books, notebooks, diaries, sketch books and huge books. I dedicated one of the books to my dear family, a book in which I took a childhood photograph of my family, my parents and brothers and sisters.. I pasted the photographs inside a book (the photograph is 10 percent of the total painting) and I drew with acrylic paints, markers and ink on the book and the photograph, so that the image of the photograph was an inspiration to me Build the story that includes page by page..

Question: Tell me when you were born, where, and a little about your family

Answer: I was born on March 4, 1965 in the Kiryat Yuval neighborhood in Jerusalem

I have a twin brother named Miki Peretz and we are seven brothers and sisters, five boys and two girls

Question: Tell us a little about your parents

Answer: My parents were new immigrants from Morocco, both immigrated young.

My mother's name before the wedding was Alice - Aliza ben Yair and my father's name was Shimon Peretz,

My mother was born in the Atlas Mountains and was orphaned at a young age and was later adopted by my father's family at the age of 10, so that my mother and father spent childhood and adolescence together....

They had a beautiful and happy relationship but sometimes when they argued my mother would say "even when she was a child she was like that..." This means that their acquaintance and relationship dates back to childhood..

Question: What did your parents Shimon and Aliza Peretz work for?

Answer: My father, Shimon Perez, born in 1928 - worked in a building in his youth and then for thirty years worked as a receptionist at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem... My father's great love was actually art, he loved to draw as a hobby, write, read, solve crossword puzzles and research Regarding the issue of medicinal plants, as a breadwinner he could not fulfill his dream of becoming an artist, in order to support and feed seven children. But we are the next generation, his children are engaged in the world of creativity and education, a field in which both of my parents were engaged during their lives. My father died at the age of 69

My mother, Alice Aliza Perez, born in 1934, worked as an assistant to a kindergarten teacher, and later took care of a baby at home. She is a woman of wholehearted giving and caring for children and people, a warm, generous and humble woman.. and took care of us in our childhood for every emotional and physical deficiency.. My mother is right For the year 2023, the 89-year-old is partly happy and happy despite the difficulties of age.. May you have a long life..

My mother really loved gardening and nature and both of them together created a magnificent garden, my parents have a relatively large garden so they could grow many types of special and rare medicinal plants and my father even wrote a catalog (unpublished) of medicinal plants and we even had botany students come to us who were interested in the field... today they They also grow ornamental plants, and fruit trees...

Question: A book about the brothers and sisters

Answer: My elder brother David Perez repented in his mid-twenties.. He was a very sharp, opinionated, curious and very charismatic guy who brought many people back to repentance, and also helped people with problems through the yeshiva and the synagogue to return to the normal path of life, he died young at the age of 56

Hana Peretz: My lovely sister, raised eight children, worked in the field of education, a kindergarten teacher, and child care.

She has a very large extended family of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren...

My brother Avi (Abraham) Peretz studied in Israel at the University of Philosophy and Judaism, he married a wonderful woman named Mira Drumi, a nurse by profession, and together they had three wonderful children, when they moved to the United States in their mid-twenties, where my brother Avi Peretz completed his master's degree in education, worked in the field Education and for the last twenty years is A conservative rabbi

The fourth brother is Asher Peretz - a great man of the world, very fond of traveling and has been to magical places all over the world, engaged in the creation of jewelry with two children.

I am Rafi Peretz english raphael perez the fifth and after fifteen minutes my twin brother was born

My mother still gets confused and can't remember who was born first :-)

My twin brother Miki micky - Michael Peretz, a beloved brother (everyone is beloved), a talented industrial designer, he has three children, his wife Revital Peretz Ben, who is a well-known art curator, active and responsible for the art field in Tel Aviv, they are a dynamic and talented couple, full of talents and action

The lovely little sister Shlomit Peretz - has been involved in the Bezeq telephone company for almost three decades, and is there in management positions, raising her lovely and beloved child.

The art book I dedicated to my family is colorful, rich in details, shows a very intense childhood, happy, cheerful, colorful, ... We were taught to be diligent and to be happy in our part and to see the glass half full in life, to have emotional intelligence and to put the relationship and love at the center with self-fulfillment in work that will interest you us and you will give us satisfaction.

Each of us is different in our life decisions and my family is actually a mosaic of the State of Israel that includes both religious and secular people from the entire political spectrum who understand that the secret to unity is mutual respect for each other... when my mother these days is also the family glue in everyone's gatherings on Shabbat and holidays..

The personification of the flower couple paintings by the Israeli painter Raphael Perez

Raphael Perez, also known as Rafi Peretz, is an Israeli painter who

explores his personal and sexual identity through his flower paintings. He created a series of flower paintings from 1995 to 1998, when he was in his early thirties and still in relationships with women, despite feeling gay. His flower paintings reflect his emotional turmoil and his struggle with his sexual orientation. He painted two flowers, one blooming and one wilting, to represent the contrast and conflict between his heterosexual relationships and his true self. He also painted single flowers or two flowers in their prime, to express his longing for a harmonious relationship that matches his nature. He chose sunflowers, white lilies, and red lilies as symbols of expression, purity, and joy, respectively. He painted from real flowers, using different styles and light to create drama and mood. Perez’s paintings of the flower couples are minimalist and focused on the theme of the complex relationship. He omitted any background or context, leaving only the canvas and the drawing of the flower couples. In some of the paintings, he added a very airy abstract surface with thin oil paints that give an atmosphere of watercolors. He also made drawings of flowers in ink, markers and gouache on paper. Later on, he created large acrylic paintings of flowers and still life. Perez’s flower paintings are not mere illustrations or decorations. They are autobiographical and psychological expressions of his inner state and his struggle with his sexuality. He wanted to reveal his loneliness, distress and concealment through these paintings, and to connect with people who are in a similar situation. He deliberately chose only two flowers and no more to intensify the engagement in the charged and complex relationship. Perez also painted and drew couples of men and women with charged psychological states, as well as states of desire for connection and realization of a heterosexual relationship that did not succeed. He used hyperrealism and expressive styles to convey his frozen and calculated state, as well as his mental stress. He used harsh lighting to create contrast and drama, with one side very bright and the other side darker. Perez was influenced by some of the famous artists who painted flowers, such as Van Gogh, who also used sunflowers as a symbol of expression. He also used white lilies and red lilies to convey freshness, cleanliness, purity, color, joy, movement, eruption, and splendor. Perez also painted some single flowers or two flowers in their prime, to show his aspiration for a future where he will have a harmonious relationship. Today, he is 58 years old and in a happy relationship for 10 years with his partner Assaf Henigsberg. He is surrounded by female friends and soulmates and not conflicted with heterosexual relationships as he used to be. He occasionally paints flowers in pots to symbolize home, stability, and peace. Sometimes I paint flowers in pots, which represent home, stability, and solid ground for me. I don’t paint just a couple of flowers, but pots full of flowers that overflow with life. This means that we also have a supportive network of family, friends, and peers around us. We live in a rich, supportive, and protective world. These paintings are a personification of my psychological state, when I had no words to express my feelings to myself. The painting began In 35 years of my creation (starting in 1998), you can read more about how my art and style evolved over time. Perez’s flower paintings are a unique and extraordinary artistic creation that reveals his personal journey and his sexual identity. His work is honest, expressive, and emotional, as well as beautiful and vibrant.

The characteristics of the naive painting of the painter Raphael Perez

A full interview with the Israeli painter Raphael Perez (Hebrew name: Rafi Peretz) about the ideas behind the naive painting, resume, personal biography and curriculum vitae Question: Raphael Perez Tell us about your work process as a naive painter? Answer: I choose the most iconic and famous buildings in every city and town that are architecturally interesting and have a special shape and place the iconic buildings on boulevards full of trees, bushes, vegetation, flowers. Question: How do you give depth in your naive paintings? Answer: To give depth to the painting, I build the painting with layers of vegetation, after those low famous buildings, followed by a tall avenue of trees, and behind them towers and skyscrapers, in the sky I sometimes put innocent signs of balloons, kites. A recurring motif in some of my paintings is the figure of the painter who is in the center of the boulevard and paints the entire scene unfolding in front of him, also there are two kindergarten teachers who are walking with the kindergarten children with the state flags that I paint, and loving couples hugging and kissing and family paintings of mother, father and child walking in harmony on the boulevard. Question: Raphael Perez, what characterizes your naive painting? Answer: Most naive paintings have the same characteristics (Definition as it appears in Wikipedia) • Tells a simple story to absorb from everyday life, usually with humans. • The representation of the painter's idealization to reality - the mapping of reality. • Failure to maintain perspective - especially details even in distant details. • Extensive use of repeating patterns - many details. • Warm and bright colors. • Sometimes the emphasis is on outlines. • Most of the characters are flat, lack volume • No interest in texture, expression, correct proportions • No interest in anatomy. • There is not much use of light and shade, the colors create a three-dimensional effect. I find these definitions to be valid for all my naive paintings Question: Raphael Perez, why do you choose the city of Tel Aviv? Answer: I was born in Jerusalem, the capital city which I love very much and also paint, I love the special Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv, the ornamental buildings that were built a century ago in the 1920s and 1930s, the beautiful boulevards, towers and modern skyscrapers give you the feeling of the hustle and bustle of a large metropolis and there are quite a few low and tall buildings that are architecturally fascinating in their form the special one Also, the move to Tel Aviv, which is the capital of culture, freedom, and secularism, allowed me to live my life as I chose, to live in a relationship with a man, Jerusalem, which is a traditional city, it is more complicated to live a homosexual life, also, the art world takes place mainly in the city of Tel Aviv, and it is possible that from a professional point of view, this allows I can support myself better in Tel Aviv than in any other city in Israel. Question: Raphael Perez, are the paintings of the city of Tel Aviv different from the paintings of the city of Jerusalem? Answer: Most of the paintings of Jerusalem have an emphasis on the color yellow, gold, the color of the old city walls, the subjects I painted in Jerusalem are mainly a type of idealization of a peaceful life between Jews and Arabs and paintings that deal with the Jewish religious world, a number of paintings depict all shades of the currents of Judaism today In contrast, the Tel Aviv paintings are more colorful, with skyscrapers, the sea, balloons and more secular motifs Question: Raphael Perez, tell me about which buildings and their architects you usually choose in your drawings of cities Answer: My favorite buildings are those that have a special shape that anyone can recognize and are the symbols of the city and you will give several examples: In the city of Tel Aviv, my favorite buildings are: the opera building with its unusual geometric shape, the Yisrotel tower with its special head, the Hail Bo Shalom tower that for years was the symbol of the tallest building in Tel Aviv, the Levin house that looks like a Japanese pagoda, the burgundy-colored Nordeau hotel with the special dome at the end of the building, A pair of Alon towers with the special structure of the sea, Bauhaus buildings typical of Tel Aviv with the special balconies and the special staircase, the Yaakov Agam fountain in Dizengoff square appears in a large part of the paintings, many towers that are in the stock exchange complex, the Aviv towers and other tall buildings on Ayalon, in some of the paintings I took plans An outline of future buildings that need to be built in the city and I drew them even before they were built in reality, In the paintings of Jerusalem, I mainly chose the area of the Old City and East Jerusalem, a painting of the walls of the Old City, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the El Akchea Mosque, the Tower of David, most of the famous churches in the city, the right hand of Moses, in most of the paintings the Jew is wearing a blue shirt with a red male cord I was in the youth movement and the Arab with a galabia, and in the paintings of the religious public then, Jews with black suits and white shirts, tallitas, kippahs, special hats, synagogues and more I also created three paintings of the city of Haifa and one painting of Safed In the Haifa paintings I drew the university, the Technion, the famous Egged Tower, the Sail Tower, well-known hotels, of course the Baha'i Gardens and the Baha'i Temple, Haifa Port and the boats and other famous buildings in the city Question: Raphael Perez, have you created series of other cities from around the world? Answer: I created series of New York City with all the iconic and famous buildings such as: the Guggenheim Museum, the famous skyscrapers - the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Lincoln Center, the famous synagogue in the city, the Statue of Liberty, the flags of the United States and other famous buildings Two paintings of London and all its famous sites, Big Ben, famous monuments, the Ferris wheel, Queen Elizabeth and her family, the double bus, the famous public telephone, palaces, famous churches, well-known monuments I created 4 naive paintings of cities in China, a painting of Shanghai, two paintings of the city of Suzhou and a painting of the World Park in the city of Beijing... I chose the famous skyline of Shanghai with all the famous towers, the famous promenade, temples and old buildings, two Paintings of the city of Suzhou with the famous canals, bridges, special gardens, towers and skyscrapers of the city Question: Raphael Perez What is the general idea that accompanies your paintings Answer: To create a good, beautiful, naive, innocent world in which we will see the innovation of the modern city through the skyscrapers in front of small and low buildings that bring the history and past of each country, all with an abundance of vegetation, boulevards, trees Resume, biography, CV of the painter Rafi Peretz and his family Question: When was Raphael Perez born in hebrew his name rafi peretz? Answer: Raphael Perez in Hebrew his name Rafi Peretz was born on March 4, 1965 Question: Where was Raphael Perez born? Answer: Raphael Perez was born in Jerusalem, Israel Question: What is the full name of Raphael Perez? Answer: His full name is Raphael Perez Question: Which art institution did Raphael Perez graduate from? Answer: Raphael Perez graduated from the Visual Arts Center in Be'er Sheva Question: When did Raphael Perez start painting? Answer: Raphael Perez started painting in 1989 Question: When did you start making a living selling art? Answer: Raphael Perez started making a living selling art in 1999 Question: Where does Raphael Perez live and work? Answer: Since 1995, Raphael Perez has been living and working from his studio in Tel Aviv Question: In which military framework did Raphael Perez serve in the IDF? Answer: Raphael Perez served in the artillery corps Question: Raphael Perez, what jobs did he work after his military service? Answer: Raphael Perez worked for 15 years in education in therapeutic settings for children and taught arts and movement Question: How many brothers and sisters does Raphael Perez, the Israeli painter, have? Answer: There are seven children in total, with the painter 5 sons and two daughters, that means the painter Raphael Perez has 4 more brothers and two sisters Question: What do the brothers and sisters of the painter Raphael Perez do? Answer: The elder brother David Peretz Perez was involved in the field of religious studies, the sister Hana Peretz Perez is involved in the field of education, a kindergarten teacher and child care, the brother Avi Peretz Perez who is in the United States today is a conservative rabbi but in the past was involved in education and therapy, the brother Asher Peretz Perez is involved in the fields of creativity and jewelry The twin brother Mickey Peretz Perez is a well-known industrial designer and seller. The younger sister Shlomit Peretz Perez works in a managerial position at Bezeq. Question: Tell me about the parents of the painter Raphael PerezAnswer: The painter Raphael Perez's parents are Shimon Perez Peretz and Eliza Alice Ben Yair, they were married in 1950 in Jerusalem, both were born in Morocco and immigrated to Israel in 1949, Shimon Peretz worked in a building in his youth and later as a receptionist at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, Eliza Alice Peretz dealt in child care Kindergarten, working in kindergartens and of course taking care of and raising her seven children

When you share your leaf-litter environment with psocids (barkflies), life can be problematic. I wish I could say that I managed to catch this globular springtail mid-jump, but it's actually caught on a silk thread. Barkflies construct these silk meshworks and shelter under them.

The situation gives an opportunity to show a globular springtail underside. This one looks like a Sminthurinus species. The jumping organ (the furcula) [EDIT: furca - see Comments!] is clearly visible.

Canon 5D3 + MP-E 65mm (at 5x) + 1.4x Extender + 36mm extension tube + MT24-EX Flash. Magnification 8x. Springtail ~0.5mm. Cropped a bit.

I've copied what follows from motocchio's page (where I saw it first), and I agree with her sentiments completely. It's entirely problematic for flickr to make the claim that "different global communities have different standards." That may be true, but it's up to communities (and individuals!) to decide on these standards for themselves, not to have these standards imposed by a corporate entity with headquarters located in an entirely different place on the planet.

Flickr censorship

The following pathetic policy shouldn't be applied to any countries, any of us...

I'm absolutely determinedly against it. This is so wrong.

What about you? If you're also against it, join the campaign!

(Note: This image is created not by me, but by lunaryuna. i downloaded and uploaded it to my photostream to show my support.)

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

Since yesterday users based in Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong or Korea can't turn off their SafeSearch filter. This is effectively censoring flickr.com for users with Yahoo IDs from those countries. More on SafeSearch here: www.flickr.com/help/filters/

Fav this picture, download it and post it on your account, tag it thinkflickrthink, add it to www.flickr.com/groups/againstcensorship/ - let's make it show up all over the place.

Original Version: farm2.static.flickr.com/1299/543864623_7aadef1e69_o.jpg

More infos (mostly german):

- www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/91085

- www.flickr.com/groups/404938@N23/discuss/72157600347681500/

- www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/42597/

More pictures from the campaign: www.flickr.com/photos/tags/thinkflickrthink/

A good example of what's censored and what not: flickr.com/photos/probek/544172155/

Inspector Andy Sutcliffe of the Stretford Neighbourhood Policing Team at the site of a cannabis farm discovered as part of the operation.

Greater Manchester Police’s Trafford Division, working in partnership with Trafford Council,

has launched Operation Griffin to tackle the area’s most persistent and problematic offenders.

The operation is designed to tackle those who cause the greatest nuisance and harm in their local communities. Police officers and representatives from various agencies are using e a variety of tactics, including investigations into fraud, traffic and vehicle related offences, music and film piracy, electricity abstraction and non payment of fines. All available avenues are being used to deal with offending behaviour.

Chief Superintendent Mark Roberts, Divisional Commander of Greater Manchester Police's Trafford Division, said: "The annual drops in crime and the improvement in our confidence surveys show that, as a partnership, we are making great strides in making the borough a safer place to live, work and visit.

"This is in part due to the excellent working relationship with partner agencies and I am confident that we will continue, via initiatives such as Operation Griffin, to drive down crime and make life difficult for those who choose to flaunt the law."

Trafford Council Leader Matt Colledge said: "The council and its partners are committed to protecting and enhancing the lives of law-abiding citizens within all our local communities. We have worked hard to ensure Trafford is a safe, attractive borough where residents can go about their daily business without fear or anxiety.

"We recognise persistent offenders, if unchallenged, can create significant unease and worry. We will not tolerate this and persistent perpetrators must realise we will be focusing on them and their activities. Through Operation Griffin we will stamp out their illegal, anti social behaviour, using the full force of our combined powers to bring them to task."

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.

www.gmp.police.uk

You should call 101, the new national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

Church of Holy Trinity

Tomb of Sir Roger († after 1395) and Margaret († 1350?) de Boys, Alabaster.

The monument was long problematic, since Blomefield reported a now missing inscription requesting the viewer to pray for the souls of Roger de Bois and Lady Margaret, whose death he recorded as 1300, Sir Roger, and 1315, Lady Margaret. Pevsner noted that in style the monument belonged not to the early 1300s but to the end of the century. Recent research by Sally Badham has unravelled the confusion. She used the British Library manuscript Harleian MS 906 fol. 197 verso to establish that Sir Roger was descended from John de Boys and his wife Eustace Sandbie of Coningsby and that his wife died in 1365. There is no record of his death, suggesting that he was not a landowner in East Anglia, but since he was mentioned in other records it must have been sometime after 1394. With the old dates it was unclear why they had such a prominent tomb in the nave. Sir Roger, an otherwise obscure knight, was mentioned in the document of 1355 establishing the Church of the Holy Trinity as a chantry chapel and a priory for the Trinitarian order with. Those for whose souls the priests were to pray included, King Edward III, Sir Oliver and Lady Elizabeth Ingham, the relatives and parents of Sir Miles Stapleton, including his sister, the deceased Lady Catherine Boys and her husband John de Boys, Dame Margaret Honing. Sir roger’s wife, was not included.

The now sadly worn (and vandalised) tomb chest is set at the east end of the south aisle, originally guarded by railings, set into holes drilled into the base. Its position at the head of the nave would have made it opposite the altar in the chapel of St Mary, destroyed in 1799, an extension to the south east corner of the nave. The tomb is built around a pillar, which once supported the image of a saint, to whom Sir Roger de Boys would have looked. The figures lie side by side, now without their arms and with the detail of their costumes difficult to make out. The notes in the church suggest, on the basis of an analysis of the traces of colour, that she wore a heraldic dress. From the position of the stumps of their arms it is has been argued that they were represented holding hands, rather than in prayer. Sir Roger de Boys rests his head on a Saracen’s helmet, complete with decapitated head, perhaps sign that, as suggested below, he had been a crusader. His wife’s is set on two pillows, where a faint painted pattern can still be made out. His sword is missing but there is a hole on his right side where it was probably fixed. His statue has been convincingly compared with that a distinguished warrior knight, Sir Guy de Brian †1390, in Tewkesbury Abbey. They share the detail of the moustache, fashionably poking over the chain mail of his helmet. The figures are like caricatures, with his barrel chest and her extreme height (she must be about seven foot) and thinness, a sign of breeding (then as now) for those who could, as Professor Sandy Heslop has argued, ostensibly afford expensive food.

The base is decorated with (now blank) coats of arms set in quatrefoils and flanked by niches filled with angels, whose wings can just be made out (with some traces of colour). On the north they turn slightly to the door, a movement that culminates in the wider niche facing the entrance. Here the couple’s devotion to the Trinity, the church’s dedication, is shown in the panel. Two angels hold up their souls besides the Trinity, represented by the seated God the Father. He held a now lost crucifix with the dead Christ, supported by the (also missing) Dove of the Holy Ghost. The scheme also occurred in a roundel decorating the splendid and nearly contemporary brass memorial Sir Hugh Hastings (†1347) at Elsing.

Sir Roger de Boys was granted letters of attorney when travelling abroad between 1361-67 and again in the 1370s. At least one of these trips coincided with the crusade to capture Alexandria, called by Peter de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, in 1365, and the letters granting him permission to travel mention other crusader knights. That his death was not recorded may have been because he was not a land owner, although in 1378, together with his brother, he had given the Priory property in Worstead and Scottow. The family were established in Honing and Rollesby by the early years of the fifteenth century and their involvement with the church continued, since the arms on the tower (rebuilt in the 1450s), recorded by Blomefield, included Stapleton impaled with Boys.

Francis Blomefield, ‘House of Trinitarian canons: The priory of Ingham', A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2 (1906), pp. 410-412 corrected by Sally Badham 'Beautiful Remains of Antiquity': The Medieval Monuments in the Former Trinitarian Priory Church at Ingham Norfolk. Part 2: the High Tombs. CHURCH MONUMENTS VOLUME XXII 2007, esp. pp. 23-43; Sir Richard Le Scrope, edited Samuel Bentley, London 1832, De Controversia in Curia Militari Inter Ricardum Le Scrope Et Robertum Grosvenor Milites: Rege Ricardo Secundo, MCCCLXXXV-MCCCXC E Recordis in Turre Londinensi Asservatis, p. 220, googlebooks, accessed 03/08/15

detail of dog at feet

Church of Holy Trinity

Tomb of Sir Roger († after 1395) and Margaret († 1350?) de Boys, Alabaster.

The monument was long problematic, since Blomefield reported a now missing inscription requesting the viewer to pray for the souls of Roger de Bois and Lady Margaret, whose death he recorded as 1300, Sir Roger, and 1315, Lady Margaret. Pevsner noted that in style the monument belonged not to the early 1300s but to the end of the century. Recent research by Sally Badham has unravelled the confusion. She used the British Library manuscript Harleian MS 906 fol. 197 verso to establish that Sir Roger was descended from John de Boys and his wife Eustace Sandbie of Coningsby and that his wife died in 1365. There is no record of his death, suggesting that he was not a landowner in East Anglia, but since he was mentioned in other records it must have been sometime after 1394. With the old dates it was unclear why they had such a prominent tomb in the nave. Sir Roger, an otherwise obscure knight, was mentioned in the document of 1355 establishing the Church of the Holy Trinity as a chantry chapel and a priory for the Trinitarian order with. Those for whose souls the priests were to pray included, King Edward III, Sir Oliver and Lady Elizabeth Ingham, the relatives and parents of Sir Miles Stapleton, including his sister, the deceased Lady Catherine Boys and her husband John de Boys, Dame Margaret Honing. Sir roger’s wife, was not included.

The now sadly worn (and vandalised) tomb chest is set at the east end of the south aisle, originally guarded by railings, set into holes drilled into the base. Its position at the head of the nave would have made it opposite the altar in the chapel of St Mary, destroyed in 1799, an extension to the south east corner of the nave. The tomb is built around a pillar, which once supported the image of a saint, to whom Sir Roger de Boys would have looked. The figures lie side by side, now without their arms and with the detail of their costumes difficult to make out. The notes in the church suggest, on the basis of an analysis of the traces of colour, that she wore a heraldic dress. From the position of the stumps of their arms it is has been argued that they were represented holding hands, rather than in prayer. Sir Roger de Boys rests his head on a Saracen’s helmet, complete with decapitated head, perhaps sign that, as suggested below, he had been a crusader. His wife’s is set on two pillows, where a faint painted pattern can still be made out. His sword is missing but there is a hole on his right side where it was probably fixed. His statue has been convincingly compared with that a distinguished warrior knight, Sir Guy de Brian †1390, in Tewkesbury Abbey. They share the detail of the moustache, fashionably poking over the chain mail of his helmet. The figures are like caricatures, with his barrel chest and her extreme height (she must be about seven foot) and thinness, a sign of breeding (then as now) for those who could, as Professor Sandy Heslop has argued, ostensibly afford expensive food.

The base is decorated with (now blank) coats of arms set in quatrefoils and flanked by niches filled with angels, whose wings can just be made out (with some traces of colour). On the north they turn slightly to the door, a movement that culminates in the wider niche facing the entrance. Here the couple’s devotion to the Trinity, the church’s dedication, is shown in the panel. Two angels hold up their souls besides the Trinity, represented by the seated God the Father. He held a now lost crucifix with the dead Christ, supported by the (also missing) Dove of the Holy Ghost. The scheme also occurred in a roundel decorating the splendid and nearly contemporary brass memorial Sir Hugh Hastings (†1347) at Elsing.

Sir Roger de Boys was granted letters of attorney when travelling abroad between 1361-67 and again in the 1370s. At least one of these trips coincided with the crusade to capture Alexandria, called by Peter de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, in 1365, and the letters granting him permission to travel mention other crusader knights. That his death was not recorded may have been because he was not a land owner, although in 1378, together with his brother, he had given the Priory property in Worstead and Scottow. The family were established in Honing and Rollesby by the early years of the fifteenth century and their involvement with the church continued, since the arms on the tower (rebuilt in the 1450s), recorded by Blomefield, included Stapleton impaled with Boys.

Francis Blomefield, ‘House of Trinitarian canons: The priory of Ingham', A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2 (1906), pp. 410-412 corrected by Sally Badham 'Beautiful Remains of Antiquity': The Medieval Monuments in the Former Trinitarian Priory Church at Ingham Norfolk. Part 2: the High Tombs. CHURCH MONUMENTS VOLUME XXII 2007, esp. pp. 23-43; Sir Richard Le Scrope, edited Samuel Bentley, London 1832, De Controversia in Curia Militari Inter Ricardum Le Scrope Et Robertum Grosvenor Milites: Rege Ricardo Secundo, MCCCLXXXV-MCCCXC E Recordis in Turre Londinensi Asservatis, p. 220, googlebooks, accessed 03/08/15

detail of Saracen’s helmet, complete with decapitated head

Using high f-stops at night can be problematic. However, every once in a while you can turn something like a lighthouse into a star!

When I said on my uploads that getting into Tilmanstone was a bugbear, how then to describe my frustration about St Anthony, as this is a church I see each time we travel up or down the Alkham valley to Folkestone.

St Anthony sits on a bluff overlooking the village and the main road, and so seems impressively tall. But up close, one finds the tower to appear short and squat.

I had driven over from Tilmanstone, I had decided to give Eythorne a miss as I really wanted to make sure I got to Alkham and the next church on the list, Acrise, before the day faded and I would lose the chance for another year.

Parking in the village is problematic, so I leave the car opposite the village hall beside the cricket pitch, which now looks like it would be perfect for a few overs. How different from the late winter, when the Drellingore was in full flood and the pitch was under a good foot of water, and houses down the hill had water bubbling up between the plants in their gardens borders.

And looking at the Drellingore itself, reveals it to be the dried up bed it always was, with just the occasional pool of still wet mud showing where once the torrent flowed.

It is quite a steep climb back to the main road and then along to the old village pub, The Marquess of Granby, now sadly rebranded as a gastropub and called simply "The Marquess".

Up beside the pub, past a pretty row of cottages and into the churchyard. My, I was puffing well, but after stopping to take a shot of the outside of the church, I walk to the porch to find both the outer and inner doors open, and the interior glowing with sunlight refracted by Victorian stained glass.

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Picturesquely situated on a quiet bluff high above the main road, the simple flint exterior of Alkham church hides a remarkable surprise. From the south the building looks little different to many others in the region, but inside it immediately presents its trump card - a north aisle/chapel built in the thirteenth century which contains the finest blank wall arcading in any Kent church. This should be compared with the contemporary chancel arcading at Cooling and Woodchurch - in each designed to emphasise the importance of the (recently rebuilt) chancel. Here it served an altogether different purpose, competing with the nearby commandery of the Knights Hospitallers at Swingfield. At the west end of the nave, filling the tower arch, is a rather heavy but fine, wooden nineteenth century screen. The east window contains some fine nineteenth century glass. West tower, nave, chancel, north aisle, south porch

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Alkham

ALKHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

The church, which is dedicated to St. Anthony the Martyr, is a handsome building, consisting of three isles and two chancels, having a tower steeple, with a low pointed turret on it, in which hang three bells. The north isle is shut out by boarding from the rest of the church, and made no use of at present, to which the school now kept in the chancel might be removed, and have no kind of communication with that part of the church appropriated for divine service, which would prevent that unseemly and indecent resort which it is at present subject to. In the chancel are several memorials for the Slaters, lessees of the parsonage; and on the south side, against the wall, is an antient tomb of Bethersden marble.

The church of Alkham, with the chapel of Mauregge, or Capell as it is now called, belonging to it, was given by Hamon de Crevequer to the abbot and convent of St. Radigund, together with the advowson of it, to hold in free, pure, and perpetual alms. It was appropriated to that abbey about the 43d year of king Henry III. anno 1258, and was afterwards, anno 8 Richard II. valued among the temporalities of the abbey at fourteen pounds. In which state this church and advowson remained till the dissolution of the abbey, which happened in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when it was suppressed by the act of that year, as being under the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds, and their lands and possessions given to the king, who granted the scite of it, with the whole of its possessions, that year, to archbishop Cranmer, in exchange for other lands, who in the same year exchanged them back again with the king, being enabled so to do by an act then specially passed for that purpose; but in the deed of exchange, among other exceptions, was that of all churches and advowsons of vicarages; by virtue of which, the appropriation of the church of Alkham, together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, as they do at this time, his grace the archbishop of Canterbury being now entitled to them.

The vicarage of Alkham, with the chapel of Ferne, alias Capell, annexed to it, is valued in the king's books at eleven pounds, and the yearly tenths at Il.2s. per annum. (fn. 4) It is now of the clear yearly certified value of 53l. 9s. 6d. In 1588 here were communicants eighty; in 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. The vicar of it is inducted into the vicarage of Alkham, with the chapel of Capell le Ferne, alias St.Mary le Merge, annexed to it. There are three acres of glebe land belonging to the vicarage.

The great tithes of Evering ward, in this parish and Swingfield ward, part of the parsonage of Alkham, are held of the archbishop for three lives, at the yearly rent of 1l. 6s. 8d. and the parsonage for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of twelve pounds.

www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63469

Pride and Prejudice: on Raphael Perez's Artwork

Pride and Prejudice: on Raphael Perez's Artwork

Raphael Perez, born in 1965, studied art at the College of Visual Arts in Beer Sheva, and from 1995 has been living and working in his studio in Tel Aviv. Today Perez plays an important role in actively promoting the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) art and culture in Tel Aviv, and the internet portal he set up helps artists from the community reach large audiences in Israel and abroad. Hundreds of his artworks are part of private collections in Israel and abroad, and his artworks were shown in several group exhibitions: in Tel Aviv Museum of Art, "Zman Le'Omanut" art gallery, Camera Obscura, The Open House in Jerusalem, Ophir Gallery, The Haifa Forum and other private businesses and galleries.

In 2003-4 his paintings and studio appeared in a full-length movie, three student films and two graduation films.

Raphael Perez is the first Israeli artist to express his lifestyle as a Gay. His life and the life of the LGBT community are connected and unfold over hundreds of artwork pieces. His art creation is rare and extraordinary by every Israeli and international artistic standard. His sources of inspiration are first and foremost life events intertwined in Jewish and Israeli locality as well as influences and quotes from art history (David Hockney, Matisse). This uniqueness has crossed international borders and has succeeded in moving the LGBT and art communities around the world.

This is the first time we meet an Israeli artist who expresses all of his emotions in a previously unknown strength. The subjects of the paintings are the everyday life of couples in everyday places and situations, along with the aspiration to a homosexual relationship and family, equality and public recognition. Perez's works bring forward to the cultural space and to the public discourse the truth about living as LGBT and about relationships, with all of their aspects – casual relationships and sex, the yearning for love, the everyday life and the mundane activities that exist in every romantic relationship – whether by describing two men in an intimate scene in the bathroom, the bedroom or the toilet, a male couple raising a baby or the homosexual version of the Garden of Eden, family dinners, relationship ups and downs, the complexity in sharing a life as well as mundane, everyday life competing with the aspiration to self realization – through Perez's life.

Perez's first artworks are personal diaries, which he creates at 14 years of age. He makes sure to hide these diaries, as in them he keeps a personal journal describing his life events in the most genuine way. In these journals he draws thousands of drawings and sketches, next to which he alternately writes and erases his so-called "problematic texts", texts describing his struggle with his sexual orientation. His diaries are filled with obsessive cataloging of details, daily actions, friends and work, as well as repeating themes, such as thoughts, exhibits he has seen, movies, television, books and review of his work.

When he is done writing, Perez draws on his diaries. Each layer is done from beginning to end all along the journal. In fact, the work on the diaries never ends.

This struggle never ends, and when the emotion is passed on to paper, and it ends its role and becomes meaningless in a way, the visual-graphic side becomes dominant, due to the need to hide the written text, according to Perez. In books and diaries this stands out even more – when he chooses to draw in a style influenced by children's drawings, the characters are cheerful, happy, naïve and do not portray any sexuality, and when he tries drawing as an adult the sketches became more depressed and somber. During these years Perez works with preschool children, teaching them drawing and movement games. Perez says that during this period he completely abandoned the search for a relationship, either with a woman or a man, and working with children has given him existential meaning. This creation continues over 10 years, and Perez creates about 60 books-personal journals in various sizes (notepads, old notebooks, atlases and even old art books).

In his early paintings (1998-1999) the transition from relationships with women to relationships with men can be seen, from restraint to emotional outburst in color, lines and composition. Some characters display strong emotional expression. The women are usually drawn in restraint and passiveness, while a happy and loving emotional outburst is expressed in the colors and style of the male paintings.

"I fantasized that in a relationship with a woman I could fly in the sky, love, fly. However, I felt I was hiding something; I was choked up, hidden behind a mask, as if there was an internal scream wanting to come out. I was frustrated, I felt threatened…"

His first romance with a man in 1999 has drawn out a series of naïve paintings dealing with love and the excitement of performing everyday actions together in the intimate domestic environment.

"The excitement from each everyday experience of doing things together and the togetherness was great, so I painted every possible thing I liked doing with him."

From the moment the self-oppression and repression stopped, Perez started the process of healing, which was expressed in a burst of artworks, enormous in their size, amount, content and vivid colors – red, pink and white.

In 2000 Perez starts painting the huge artworks describing the hangouts of the LGBT community (The Lake, The Pool) and the Tel Avivian balcony paintings describing the masculine world, which, according to him, becomes existent thanks to the painting. Perez has dedicated this year to many series of drawings and paintings of the experience of love, in which he describes his first love for his new partner, and during these months he paints from morning to night. These paintings are the fruit of a long dialogue with David Hockney, and the similarity can be seen both in subjects and in different gestures.

In 2001 Perez creates a series of artworks, "Portraits from The Community". Perez describes in large, photorealistic paintings over 20 portraits of active and well-known members of the LGBT community. The emphasis is on the achievements that reflect the community's strong standing in Tel Aviv.

As a Tel-Avivian painter, in the past two years Perez has been painting urban landscapes of central locations in his city. Perez wanders around the city and chooses familiar architectural and geographical landmarks, commerce and recreation, and historical sites, and paints them from a homosexual point of view, decorated with the rainbow flag, which provide a sense of belonging to the place. His artworks are characterized by a cheerful joie de vivre and colors, and they also describe encounters and meetings. The touristic nature of his paintings makes them a declaration of Tel Aviv's image as a place where cultural freedom prevails.

Perez's Tel Aviv is a city where young families and couples live and fill the streets, the parks, the beach, the houses and the balconies – all the city's spaces. The characters in his paintings are similar, which helps reinforcing the belonging to the LGBT community in Tel Aviv. The collective theme in Perez's artwork interacts with the work of the Israeli artist Yohanan Simon, who dealt with the social aspects of the Kibbutz. Simon, who lived and worked in a Kibbutz, expressed the human model of the Kibbutznik (member of a Kibbutz) and the uniqueness of the Kibbutz members as part of a group where all are equal. Simon's works, and now Perez's, have contributed to the Israeli society what is has been looking for endlessly, which is a sense of identity and belonging.

Perez maps his territory and marks his boundaries, and does not forget the historical sites. Unlike other Tel Avivian artists, Perez wishes to present the lives of the residents of the city and the great love in their hearts. By choosing the historical sites in Tel Aviv, he also pays tribute to the artist Nachum Gutman, who loved the city and lived in it his whole life. In his childhood Gutman experienced historical moments (lighting the first oil lamp, first concert, first pavement), and as an adult he recreated the uniqueness of those events while keeping the city's magic.

Like Gutman, Perez has also turned the city into an object of love, and it has started adorning itself in rich colors and supplying the energy of a city that wishes to be "the city that never sleeps", combining old and new. Perez meticulously describes the uniqueness and style of the Bauhaus houses and balconies along the modern glass and steel buildings, all from unusual angles in a rectangular format that wishes to imitate the panorama of a diverse city in its centennial celebrations.

Daniel Cahana-Levensohn, curator.

Interview with the painter Raphael Perez about his family artist book

An interview with the painter Raphael Perez about an artist's book he created about his family, the Peretz family from 6 Nissan St. Kiryat Yuval Jerusalem

Question: Raphael Perez, tell me about the family artist book you created

Answer: I created close to 40 artist books, notebooks, diaries, sketch books and huge books. I dedicated one of the books to my dear family, a book in which I took a childhood photograph of my family, my parents and brothers and sisters.. I pasted the photographs inside a book (the photograph is 10 percent of the total painting) and I drew with acrylic paints, markers and ink on the book and the photograph, so that the image of the photograph was an inspiration to me Build the story that includes page by page..

Question: Tell me when you were born, where, and a little about your family

Answer: I was born on March 4, 1965 in the Kiryat Yuval neighborhood in Jerusalem

I have a twin brother named Miki Peretz and we are seven brothers and sisters, five boys and two girls

Question: Tell us a little about your parents

Answer: My parents were new immigrants from Morocco, both immigrated young.

My mother's name before the wedding was Alice - Aliza ben Yair and my father's name was Shimon Peretz,

My mother was born in the Atlas Mountains and was orphaned at a young age and was later adopted by my father's family at the age of 10, so that my mother and father spent childhood and adolescence together....

They had a beautiful and happy relationship but sometimes when they argued my mother would say "even when she was a child she was like that..." This means that their acquaintance and relationship dates back to childhood..

Question: What did your parents Shimon and Aliza Peretz work for?

Answer: My father, Shimon Perez, born in 1928 - worked in a building in his youth and then for thirty years worked as a receptionist at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem... My father's great love was actually art, he loved to draw as a hobby, write, read, solve crossword puzzles and research Regarding the issue of medicinal plants, as a breadwinner he could not fulfill his dream of becoming an artist, in order to support and feed seven children. But we are the next generation, his children are engaged in the world of creativity and education, a field in which both of my parents were engaged during their lives. My father died at the age of 69

My mother, Alice Aliza Perez, born in 1934, worked as an assistant to a kindergarten teacher, and later took care of a baby at home. She is a woman of wholehearted giving and caring for children and people, a warm, generous and humble woman.. and took care of us in our childhood for every emotional and physical deficiency.. My mother is right For the year 2023, the 89-year-old is partly happy and happy despite the difficulties of age.. May you have a long life..

My mother really loved gardening and nature and both of them together created a magnificent garden, my parents have a relatively large garden so they could grow many types of special and rare medicinal plants and my father even wrote a catalog (unpublished) of medicinal plants and we even had botany students come to us who were interested in the field... today they They also grow ornamental plants, and fruit trees...

Question: A book about the brothers and sisters

Answer: My elder brother David Perez repented in his mid-twenties.. He was a very sharp, opinionated, curious and very charismatic guy who brought many people back to repentance, and also helped people with problems through the yeshiva and the synagogue to return to the normal path of life, he died young at the age of 56

Hana Peretz: My lovely sister, raised eight children, worked in the field of education, a kindergarten teacher, and child care.

She has a very large extended family of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren...

My brother Avi (Abraham) Peretz studied in Israel at the University of Philosophy and Judaism, he married a wonderful woman named Mira Drumi, a nurse by profession, and together they had three wonderful children, when they moved to the United States in their mid-twenties, where my brother Avi Peretz completed his master's degree in education, worked in the field Education and for the last twenty years is A conservative rabbi

The fourth brother is Asher Peretz - a great man of the world, very fond of traveling and has been to magical places all over the world, engaged in the creation of jewelry with two children.

I am Rafi Peretz english raphael perez the fifth and after fifteen minutes my twin brother was born

My mother still gets confused and can't remember who was born first :-)

My twin brother Miki micky - Michael Peretz, a beloved brother (everyone is beloved), a talented industrial designer, he has three children, his wife Revital Peretz Ben, who is a well-known art curator, active and responsible for the art field in Tel Aviv, they are a dynamic and talented couple, full of talents and action

The lovely little sister Shlomit Peretz - has been involved in the Bezeq telephone company for almost three decades, and is there in management positions, raising her lovely and beloved child.

The art book I dedicated to my family is colorful, rich in details, shows a very intense childhood, happy, cheerful, colorful, ... We were taught to be diligent and to be happy in our part and to see the glass half full in life, to have emotional intelligence and to put the relationship and love at the center with self-fulfillment in work that will interest you us and you will give us satisfaction.

Each of us is different in our life decisions and my family is actually a mosaic of the State of Israel that includes both religious and secular people from the entire political spectrum who understand that the secret to unity is mutual respect for each other... when my mother these days is also the family glue in everyone's gatherings on Shabbat and holidays..

The personification of the flower couple paintings by the Israeli painter Raphael Perez

Raphael Perez, also known as Rafi Peretz, is an Israeli painter who

explores his personal and sexual identity through his flower paintings. He created a series of flower paintings from 1995 to 1998, when he was in his early thirties and still in relationships with women, despite feeling gay. His flower paintings reflect his emotional turmoil and his struggle with his sexual orientation. He painted two flowers, one blooming and one wilting, to represent the contrast and conflict between his heterosexual relationships and his true self. He also painted single flowers or two flowers in their prime, to express his longing for a harmonious relationship that matches his nature. He chose sunflowers, white lilies, and red lilies as symbols of expression, purity, and joy, respectively. He painted from real flowers, using different styles and light to create drama and mood. Perez’s paintings of the flower couples are minimalist and focused on the theme of the complex relationship. He omitted any background or context, leaving only the canvas and the drawing of the flower couples. In some of the paintings, he added a very airy abstract surface with thin oil paints that give an atmosphere of watercolors. He also made drawings of flowers in ink, markers and gouache on paper. Later on, he created large acrylic paintings of flowers and still life. Perez’s flower paintings are not mere illustrations or decorations. They are autobiographical and psychological expressions of his inner state and his struggle with his sexuality. He wanted to reveal his loneliness, distress and concealment through these paintings, and to connect with people who are in a similar situation. He deliberately chose only two flowers and no more to intensify the engagement in the charged and complex relationship. Perez also painted and drew couples of men and women with charged psychological states, as well as states of desire for connection and realization of a heterosexual relationship that did not succeed. He used hyperrealism and expressive styles to convey his frozen and calculated state, as well as his mental stress. He used harsh lighting to create contrast and drama, with one side very bright and the other side darker. Perez was influenced by some of the famous artists who painted flowers, such as Van Gogh, who also used sunflowers as a symbol of expression. He also used white lilies and red lilies to convey freshness, cleanliness, purity, color, joy, movement, eruption, and splendor. Perez also painted some single flowers or two flowers in their prime, to show his aspiration for a future where he will have a harmonious relationship. Today, he is 58 years old and in a happy relationship for 10 years with his partner Assaf Henigsberg. He is surrounded by female friends and soulmates and not conflicted with heterosexual relationships as he used to be. He occasionally paints flowers in pots to symbolize home, stability, and peace. Sometimes I paint flowers in pots, which represent home, stability, and solid ground for me. I don’t paint just a couple of flowers, but pots full of flowers that overflow with life. This means that we also have a supportive network of family, friends, and peers around us. We live in a rich, supportive, and protective world. These paintings are a personification of my psychological state, when I had no words to express my feelings to myself. The painting began In 35 years of my creation (starting in 1998), you can read more about how my art and style evolved over time. Perez’s flower paintings are a unique and extraordinary artistic creation that reveals his personal journey and his sexual identity. His work is honest, expressive, and emotional, as well as beautiful and vibrant.

The characteristics of the naive painting of the painter Raphael Perez

A full interview with the Israeli painter Raphael Perez (Hebrew name: Rafi Peretz) about the ideas behind the naive painting, resume, personal biography and curriculum vitae Question: Raphael Perez Tell us about your work process as a naive painter? Answer: I choose the most iconic and famous buildings in every city and town that are architecturally interesting and have a special shape and place the iconic buildings on boulevards full of trees, bushes, vegetation, flowers. Question: How do you give depth in your naive paintings? Answer: To give depth to the painting, I build the painting with layers of vegetation, after those low famous buildings, followed by a tall avenue of trees, and behind them towers and skyscrapers, in the sky I sometimes put innocent signs of balloons, kites. A recurring motif in some of my paintings is the figure of the painter who is in the center of the boulevard and paints the entire scene unfolding in front of him, also there are two kindergarten teachers who are walking with the kindergarten children with the state flags that I paint, and loving couples hugging and kissing and family paintings of mother, father and child walking in harmony on the boulevard. Question: Raphael Perez, what characterizes your naive painting? Answer: Most naive paintings have the same characteristics (Definition as it appears in Wikipedia) • Tells a simple story to absorb from everyday life, usually with humans. • The representation of the painter's idealization to reality - the mapping of reality. • Failure to maintain perspective - especially details even in distant details. • Extensive use of repeating patterns - many details. • Warm and bright colors. • Sometimes the emphasis is on outlines. • Most of the characters are flat, lack volume • No interest in texture, expression, correct proportions • No interest in anatomy. • There is not much use of light and shade, the colors create a three-dimensional effect. I find these definitions to be valid for all my naive paintings Question: Raphael Perez, why do you choose the city of Tel Aviv? Answer: I was born in Jerusalem, the capital city which I love very much and also paint, I love the special Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv, the ornamental buildings that were built a century ago in the 1920s and 1930s, the beautiful boulevards, towers and modern skyscrapers give you the feeling of the hustle and bustle of a large metropolis and there are quite a few low and tall buildings that are architecturally fascinating in their form the special one Also, the move to Tel Aviv, which is the capital of culture, freedom, and secularism, allowed me to live my life as I chose, to live in a relationship with a man, Jerusalem, which is a traditional city, it is more complicated to live a homosexual life, also, the art world takes place mainly in the city of Tel Aviv, and it is possible that from a professional point of view, this allows I can support myself better in Tel Aviv than in any other city in Israel. Question: Raphael Perez, are the paintings of the city of Tel Aviv different from the paintings of the city of Jerusalem? Answer: Most of the paintings of Jerusalem have an emphasis on the color yellow, gold, the color of the old city walls, the subjects I painted in Jerusalem are mainly a type of idealization of a peaceful life between Jews and Arabs and paintings that deal with the Jewish religious world, a number of paintings depict all shades of the currents of Judaism today In contrast, the Tel Aviv paintings are more colorful, with skyscrapers, the sea, balloons and more secular motifs Question: Raphael Perez, tell me about which buildings and their architects you usually choose in your drawings of cities Answer: My favorite buildings are those that have a special shape that anyone can recognize and are the symbols of the city and you will give several examples: In the city of Tel Aviv, my favorite buildings are: the opera building with its unusual geometric shape, the Yisrotel tower with its special head, the Hail Bo Shalom tower that for years was the symbol of the tallest building in Tel Aviv, the Levin house that looks like a Japanese pagoda, the burgundy-colored Nordeau hotel with the special dome at the end of the building, A pair of Alon towers with the special structure of the sea, Bauhaus buildings typical of Tel Aviv with the special balconies and the special staircase, the Yaakov Agam fountain in Dizengoff square appears in a large part of the paintings, many towers that are in the stock exchange complex, the Aviv towers and other tall buildings on Ayalon, in some of the paintings I took plans An outline of future buildings that need to be built in the city and I drew them even before they were built in reality, In the paintings of Jerusalem, I mainly chose the area of the Old City and East Jerusalem, a painting of the walls of the Old City, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the El Akchea Mosque, the Tower of David, most of the famous churches in the city, the right hand of Moses, in most of the paintings the Jew is wearing a blue shirt with a red male cord I was in the youth movement and the Arab with a galabia, and in the paintings of the religious public then, Jews with black suits and white shirts, tallitas, kippahs, special hats, synagogues and more I also created three paintings of the city of Haifa and one painting of Safed In the Haifa paintings I drew the university, the Technion, the famous Egged Tower, the Sail Tower, well-known hotels, of course the Baha'i Gardens and the Baha'i Temple, Haifa Port and the boats and other famous buildings in the city Question: Raphael Perez, have you created series of other cities from around the world? Answer: I created series of New York City with all the iconic and famous buildings such as: the Guggenheim Museum, the famous skyscrapers - the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Lincoln Center, the famous synagogue in the city, the Statue of Liberty, the flags of the United States and other famous buildings Two paintings of London and all its famous sites, Big Ben, famous monuments, the Ferris wheel, Queen Elizabeth and her family, the double bus, the famous public telephone, palaces, famous churches, well-known monuments I created 4 naive paintings of cities in China, a painting of Shanghai, two paintings of the city of Suzhou and a painting of the World Park in the city of Beijing... I chose the famous skyline of Shanghai with all the famous towers, the famous promenade, temples and old buildings, two Paintings of the city of Suzhou with the famous canals, bridges, special gardens, towers and skyscrapers of the city Question: Raphael Perez What is the general idea that accompanies your paintings Answer: To create a good, beautiful, naive, innocent world in which we will see the innovation of the modern city through the skyscrapers in front of small and low buildings that bring the history and past of each country, all with an abundance of vegetation, boulevards, trees Resume, biography, CV of the painter Rafi Peretz and his family Question: When was Raphael Perez born in hebrew his name rafi peretz? Answer: Raphael Perez in Hebrew his name Rafi Peretz was born on March 4, 1965 Question: Where was Raphael Perez born? Answer: Raphael Perez was born in Jerusalem, Israel Question: What is the full name of Raphael Perez? Answer: His full name is Raphael Perez Question: Which art institution did Raphael Perez graduate from? Answer: Raphael Perez graduated from the Visual Arts Center in Be'er Sheva Question: When did Raphael Perez start painting? Answer: Raphael Perez started painting in 1989 Question: When did you start making a living selling art? Answer: Raphael Perez started making a living selling art in 1999 Question: Where does Raphael Perez live and work? Answer: Since 1995, Raphael Perez has been living and working from his studio in Tel Aviv Question: In which military framework did Raphael Perez serve in the IDF? Answer: Raphael Perez served in the artillery corps Question: Raphael Perez, what jobs did he work after his military service? Answer: Raphael Perez worked for 15 years in education in therapeutic settings for children and taught arts and movement Question: How many brothers and sisters does Raphael Perez, the Israeli painter, have? Answer: There are seven children in total, with the painter 5 sons and two daughters, that means the painter Raphael Perez has 4 more brothers and two sisters Question: What do the brothers and sisters of the painter Raphael Perez do? Answer: The elder brother David Peretz Perez was involved in the field of religious studies, the sister Hana Peretz Perez is involved in the field of education, a kindergarten teacher and child care, the brother Avi Peretz Perez who is in the United States today is a conservative rabbi but in the past was involved in education and therapy, the brother Asher Peretz Perez is involved in the fields of creativity and jewelry The twin brother Mickey Peretz Perez is a well-known industrial designer and seller. The younger sister Shlomit Peretz Perez works in a managerial position at Bezeq. Question: Tell me about the parents of the painter Raphael PerezAnswer: The painter Raphael Perez's parents are Shimon Perez Peretz and Eliza Alice Ben Yair, they were married in 1950 in Jerusalem, both were born in Morocco and immigrated to Israel in 1949, Shimon Peretz worked in a building in his youth and later as a receptionist at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, Eliza Alice Peretz dealt in child care Kindergarten, working in kindergartens and of course taking care of and raising her seven children

Night one of two problematic nights at the Travelodge in Feltham, note the lack of curtains!

When I said on my uploads that getting into Tilmanstone was a bugbear, how then to describe my frustration about St Anthony, as this is a church I see each time we travel up or down the Alkham valley to Folkestone.

St Anthony sits on a bluff overlooking the village and the main road, and so seems impressively tall. But up close, one finds the tower to appear short and squat.

I had driven over from Tilmanstone, I had decided to give Eythorne a miss as I really wanted to make sure I got to Alkham and the next church on the list, Acrise, before the day faded and I would lose the chance for another year.

Parking in the village is problematic, so I leave the car opposite the village hall beside the cricket pitch, which now looks like it would be perfect for a few overs. How different from the late winter, when the Drellingore was in full flood and the pitch was under a good foot of water, and houses down the hill had water bubbling up between the plants in their gardens borders.

And looking at the Drellingore itself, reveals it to be the dried up bed it always was, with just the occasional pool of still wet mud showing where once the torrent flowed.

It is quite a steep climb back to the main road and then along to the old village pub, The Marquess of Granby, now sadly rebranded as a gastropub and called simply "The Marquess".

Up beside the pub, past a pretty row of cottages and into the churchyard. My, I was puffing well, but after stopping to take a shot of the outside of the church, I walk to the porch to find both the outer and inner doors open, and the interior glowing with sunlight refracted by Victorian stained glass.

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Picturesquely situated on a quiet bluff high above the main road, the simple flint exterior of Alkham church hides a remarkable surprise. From the south the building looks little different to many others in the region, but inside it immediately presents its trump card - a north aisle/chapel built in the thirteenth century which contains the finest blank wall arcading in any Kent church. This should be compared with the contemporary chancel arcading at Cooling and Woodchurch - in each designed to emphasise the importance of the (recently rebuilt) chancel. Here it served an altogether different purpose, competing with the nearby commandery of the Knights Hospitallers at Swingfield. At the west end of the nave, filling the tower arch, is a rather heavy but fine, wooden nineteenth century screen. The east window contains some fine nineteenth century glass. West tower, nave, chancel, north aisle, south porch

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Alkham

ALKHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

The church, which is dedicated to St. Anthony the Martyr, is a handsome building, consisting of three isles and two chancels, having a tower steeple, with a low pointed turret on it, in which hang three bells. The north isle is shut out by boarding from the rest of the church, and made no use of at present, to which the school now kept in the chancel might be removed, and have no kind of communication with that part of the church appropriated for divine service, which would prevent that unseemly and indecent resort which it is at present subject to. In the chancel are several memorials for the Slaters, lessees of the parsonage; and on the south side, against the wall, is an antient tomb of Bethersden marble.

The church of Alkham, with the chapel of Mauregge, or Capell as it is now called, belonging to it, was given by Hamon de Crevequer to the abbot and convent of St. Radigund, together with the advowson of it, to hold in free, pure, and perpetual alms. It was appropriated to that abbey about the 43d year of king Henry III. anno 1258, and was afterwards, anno 8 Richard II. valued among the temporalities of the abbey at fourteen pounds. In which state this church and advowson remained till the dissolution of the abbey, which happened in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when it was suppressed by the act of that year, as being under the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds, and their lands and possessions given to the king, who granted the scite of it, with the whole of its possessions, that year, to archbishop Cranmer, in exchange for other lands, who in the same year exchanged them back again with the king, being enabled so to do by an act then specially passed for that purpose; but in the deed of exchange, among other exceptions, was that of all churches and advowsons of vicarages; by virtue of which, the appropriation of the church of Alkham, together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, as they do at this time, his grace the archbishop of Canterbury being now entitled to them.

The vicarage of Alkham, with the chapel of Ferne, alias Capell, annexed to it, is valued in the king's books at eleven pounds, and the yearly tenths at Il.2s. per annum. (fn. 4) It is now of the clear yearly certified value of 53l. 9s. 6d. In 1588 here were communicants eighty; in 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. The vicar of it is inducted into the vicarage of Alkham, with the chapel of Capell le Ferne, alias St.Mary le Merge, annexed to it. There are three acres of glebe land belonging to the vicarage.

The great tithes of Evering ward, in this parish and Swingfield ward, part of the parsonage of Alkham, are held of the archbishop for three lives, at the yearly rent of 1l. 6s. 8d. and the parsonage for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of twelve pounds.

www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63469

When I said on my uploads that getting into Tilmanstone was a bugbear, how then to describe my frustration about St Anthony, as this is a church I see each time we travel up or down the Alkham valley to Folkestone.

St Anthony sits on a bluff overlooking the village and the main road, and so seems impressively tall. But up close, one finds the tower to appear short and squat.

I had driven over from Tilmanstone, I had decided to give Eythorne a miss as I really wanted to make sure I got to Alkham and the next church on the list, Acrise, before the day faded and I would lose the chance for another year.

Parking in the village is problematic, so I leave the car opposite the village hall beside the cricket pitch, which now looks like it would be perfect for a few overs. How different from the late winter, when the Drellingore was in full flood and the pitch was under a good foot of water, and houses down the hill had water bubbling up between the plants in their gardens borders.

And looking at the Drellingore itself, reveals it to be the dried up bed it always was, with just the occasional pool of still wet mud showing where once the torrent flowed.

It is quite a steep climb back to the main road and then along to the old village pub, The Marquess of Granby, now sadly rebranded as a gastropub and called simply "The Marquess".

Up beside the pub, past a pretty row of cottages and into the churchyard. My, I was puffing well, but after stopping to take a shot of the outside of the church, I walk to the porch to find both the outer and inner doors open, and the interior glowing with sunlight refracted by Victorian stained glass.

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Picturesquely situated on a quiet bluff high above the main road, the simple flint exterior of Alkham church hides a remarkable surprise. From the south the building looks little different to many others in the region, but inside it immediately presents its trump card - a north aisle/chapel built in the thirteenth century which contains the finest blank wall arcading in any Kent church. This should be compared with the contemporary chancel arcading at Cooling and Woodchurch - in each designed to emphasise the importance of the (recently rebuilt) chancel. Here it served an altogether different purpose, competing with the nearby commandery of the Knights Hospitallers at Swingfield. At the west end of the nave, filling the tower arch, is a rather heavy but fine, wooden nineteenth century screen. The east window contains some fine nineteenth century glass. West tower, nave, chancel, north aisle, south porch

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Alkham

ALKHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

The church, which is dedicated to St. Anthony the Martyr, is a handsome building, consisting of three isles and two chancels, having a tower steeple, with a low pointed turret on it, in which hang three bells. The north isle is shut out by boarding from the rest of the church, and made no use of at present, to which the school now kept in the chancel might be removed, and have no kind of communication with that part of the church appropriated for divine service, which would prevent that unseemly and indecent resort which it is at present subject to. In the chancel are several memorials for the Slaters, lessees of the parsonage; and on the south side, against the wall, is an antient tomb of Bethersden marble.

The church of Alkham, with the chapel of Mauregge, or Capell as it is now called, belonging to it, was given by Hamon de Crevequer to the abbot and convent of St. Radigund, together with the advowson of it, to hold in free, pure, and perpetual alms. It was appropriated to that abbey about the 43d year of king Henry III. anno 1258, and was afterwards, anno 8 Richard II. valued among the temporalities of the abbey at fourteen pounds. In which state this church and advowson remained till the dissolution of the abbey, which happened in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when it was suppressed by the act of that year, as being under the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds, and their lands and possessions given to the king, who granted the scite of it, with the whole of its possessions, that year, to archbishop Cranmer, in exchange for other lands, who in the same year exchanged them back again with the king, being enabled so to do by an act then specially passed for that purpose; but in the deed of exchange, among other exceptions, was that of all churches and advowsons of vicarages; by virtue of which, the appropriation of the church of Alkham, together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, as they do at this time, his grace the archbishop of Canterbury being now entitled to them.

The vicarage of Alkham, with the chapel of Ferne, alias Capell, annexed to it, is valued in the king's books at eleven pounds, and the yearly tenths at Il.2s. per annum. (fn. 4) It is now of the clear yearly certified value of 53l. 9s. 6d. In 1588 here were communicants eighty; in 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. The vicar of it is inducted into the vicarage of Alkham, with the chapel of Capell le Ferne, alias St.Mary le Merge, annexed to it. There are three acres of glebe land belonging to the vicarage.

The great tithes of Evering ward, in this parish and Swingfield ward, part of the parsonage of Alkham, are held of the archbishop for three lives, at the yearly rent of 1l. 6s. 8d. and the parsonage for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of twelve pounds.

www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63469

The day is starting for these folks in Pandacan. I should have tried a flash, but problematic thru a windshield.

21.5.2015. Unfortunately, a problematic breeze kept obscuring the face of this female busker in Nottingham!

She sounded very good ……...

The 1921 building was constructed with a swimming pool but it was problematic, I believe due to it being below the City's sewer table. The pool was abandoned and covered with a floor. Today it is essentially a crawl space under the counseling center. Custer County District High School, Miles City, Montana.

Sorry the photo is crooked but I had to stick my hands down into a very dark hole to take this photo. The flash from my camera was the only light. I had no idea what was going to grab me when I put my hands down there! Scary!

Esthetic Core | www.estheticcore.com

www.beatport.com/release/problematic-hold-your-breath/985940

Tetradium [or Prismostylus] sp. from the Ordovician of Ohio, USA. (Jack Kallmeyer collection)

Tetradium is a problematic fossil organism that superficially resembles a coral. It has distinctive, often quadrate to tetradiate to four-leaf clover-shaped, corallite-like structures (click on the above photo to zoom in and look around). Tetradium has been identified as a coral (cnidarian) or a chaetetid sponge (poriferan) or a red alga (rhodophyte). Some prefer replacing the name "Tetradium" with "Prismostylus".

This Late Ordovician-aged Tetradium mass was found associated with stromatoporoid sponges.

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Exhibit info.:

What are stromatoporoids?

For many years, paleontologists weren't certain how to classify fossils called stromatoporoids. These fossils all had shared characteristics with each other but no modern analogue was known. Early classifications grouped these fossils with coelenterates, the group of animals that include the corals in the Phylum Cnidaria. In the 1960s, divers found a different kind of sponge called a sclerosponge that closely resembles the stromatoporoids. New classifications place the stromatoporoids as a class in the Order Sclerospongiae in the Phylum Porifera (the group containing the sponges).

The stromatoporoids secrete a calcareous skeleton that forms mounds, columnal forms, and even encrusting forms. These were not soft sponges like bath sponges. The actual living tissue is only at the surface of the structure and at most a few millimeters below the surface. The rest of the structure is the older "dead" part of the colony. Like other sponges, the stromatoporoids were filter feeders moving water through the living tissue in order to trap tiny food particles. Some fossil stromatoporoids have small ridges radiating in a starburst pattern (astrorhizae) away from raised surface bumps (mamelons). These radiating patterns are thought to be the remnants of the canals used to move water through the animal. In forms where these structures appear absent (like those shown in this display), it is thought that the astrorhizae canals existed only in the soft tissue of the animal and thus were not preserved.

In examining these specimens, you will note that stromatoporoids grow in layers. Stromatoporoids should not be confused with stromatolites, even though both are layered. The organisms that create stromatolites are various types of bacteria.

The massive forms of stromatoporoids were significant contributors to reef formation. In some parts of the Ordovician south towards Lexington, Kentucky, large stromatoporoids can be seen in roadcuts along Interstate-75 as light colored oval boulders in the gray matrix. These forms can be several feet in diameter. While the specimens displayed here were not these large reef formers, they appear to have covered a significant area of the sea floor.

A stromatoporoid required a hard surface to begin growing and any hard surface, regardless of size, was apparently sufficient. They may have begun growing on fragments of shells on the sea floor. Considering the ultimate size of these sponges, they could quickly outgrow a small substrate and become supported by the sea floor itself. On muddy bottoms, the stromatoporoid could sink in to some degree as it grew. Stromatoporoids also grew on top of other stromatoporoids.

This display contains stromatoporoids from a single locality in the Elkhorn Formation south of Dayton, Ohio. All of the specimens are classified in the genus Labechia, which has an internal structure of pillars and cysts.

While all specimens are in the same genus, they exhibit different growth habits. This could be an indication of different species being represented or it could alternately mean that three was an environmental change that altered the growth habit of a single species.

In general, we find two forms in this locality: 1) a lighter colored form with prominent mamelons and broad growth bands; and 2) a dark form with very low mamelons and narrow growth bands. The dark form occurs in a restricted band of dark shale.

One of the unique features of this occurrence is the preservation. Unlike stromatoporoids from other formations in the Cincinnatian that are calcitic, these stromatoporoids are silicified.

A few other types of fossil fauna were found with the stromatoporoids at this location but not many. Prismostylus, as seen here, a calcareous algae (formerly known as Tetradium coral) was the most significant of the associated organisms. This specimen is encrusting the surface without vertical growth.

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Classification: Incertae Sedis (Cnidaria or Porifera or Rhodophyta ?)

Stratigraphy: Elkhorn Formation, upper Richmondian Stage, upper Cincinnatian Series, upper Upper Ordovician

Locality: undisclosed site south of Dayton, southwestern Ohio, USA

the greens are problematic with this technique

These are the problematic cracks. Water seeps in them, hits the floor-slabs (see the crack along the slab?) and comes into the apartments under the wall.

North of City of Bandung is well-known for its problematic environment vs. development. Government always emphasizes that this area is for water reservation from rain and also a forest for City of Bandung, but in reality it seems like developments continue day to day.

More test shots of the problematic P950 in gdn, after we got back from the beach & it worked ok.

An area of lawn I used to mow every week. Now have mainly wildflowers & strimmed off in late summer. Early Crocus are finished with dwarf daffs out now before the wildflowers get goingo