When I cry, I secretly hope that you will run all the way to mah doorstep in the rain, wipe mah tear, kiss me on the forehead and stay w/ me through the night...

 

P.s: It's Romantic rite ;)) keke

I often relate odd shots I take to memories of my younger days. One of the first trips my wife and I did overseas was to the USA where we visited Disneyland and LA before heading north to San Francisco where some of my Mum's family lived and still live.

 

I remember being on one of those iconic Disney rides that always seemed to be more well known than they are today, perhaps Small World or the Pirates of the Caribbean. These rides were and still are world class and for innocents like us, they were just fantastic. Anyway, we had this family in the car behind us on whatever ride we were on, staring in awe while one of the young sons in that family just kept on with his mantra "It's fake Daddy!". Grrr, I mean! I wonder what he would say today in the brave new electronic and digital world. Forty years on, he would have his own kids by now, perhaps adults themselves.

 

Every time I look at this, now damaged concrete sculpture in Humpybong Creek at Redcliffe in SE Queensland, I can't help recalling that kid's words. I just wonder if the two Cormorants drying their feathers were thinking that also in the warm sun?

Adapting a popular song from the 1970s I often find myself singing 'sometimes I want to be a woman' I do also sing the actual line 'sometimes it's hard to be a woman' too as I can relate to both sentiments. I frequently segue into the chorus line of 'stand by your man' unconsciously then a sudden awareness of what I just sang brings me to a halt! Realisation I'm not a woman crashes in and I feel a mix of regret, sadness and fear yet at the same time I feel contentment, delight and real joy.

 

My relationship with my transvestism is something that fascinates me greatly and is something I really enjoy analysing and on rare occasions get to discuss, I am completely fascinated by my transgender feelings. I do often question my motives as being a transvestite brings with it a lot of emotions and satisfaction, indeed a sense of fulfilment yet it also carries for me doubt and guilt and confusion.

 

One of the things that causes me fear is the sheer joy I experience when I dress up as a woman, I absolutely love it and find part of me willing to assume the persona of a female with great eagerness. I really want it and to completely cross the gender line and no longer be a man. That part of me is something I feel I fight and suppress as I have fears of what it may set free. The big fear is it may well destroy my actual life with my wife, family, colleagues and work.

 

For me to appear, or more accurately attempt to appear as a woman is a heady powerful emotional desire that I will openly admit I am drawn to. I simply adore dressing up as a woman and trying to pass myself off as a female. Surely this is not what a man should be doing? Well, that's what society may tell us yet I live as a man and love to be a woman.

 

There are for me undoubted thrills that accompany the initial cross-dressing such as I may on occasion become sexually aroused by the act of transforming myself into the opposite gender. There is of course the thrill of performance and creating an illusion, in fact the act of attempting female impersonation (albeit not on stage or for theatrical entertainment) gives me a real buzz despite the fact it I only ever cross-dress in private.

 

I am keen to pass as a woman and to act the role convincingly. As I love female impersonation and acting I constantly challenge myself to try and become the woman I am appearing as and not let any of the man be evident. As a consequence I try to think myself into believing I am female. To try and feel and act more realistically female I create back stories for my female alter-ego and really try to become her as I find the challenge something that is incredibly adventurous.

 

Sometimes I almost pass out with fear when I act like I find men attractive or talk about my (imaginary) ex husband and boyfriends. The man in me is repelled by this yet the woman I am attempting to portray feels at home. I do try to get over my male fears as I do dream of one day passing convincingly in every way as a woman. I kind of believe if I want to appear realistically to be female then I need to become female in my thinking and interaction.

 

I have found, despite my male fears, I do feel more like a female by thinking of the camera as my boyfriend and trying to act a bit flirty. Somehow it adds an extra element of femininity to the vibe and hopefully to the photos.

 

I rationalise this by telling myself I am supposed to be a woman when I have gone to all of the effort to become Helene so I need to switch over into being her. My body is shaved, my genitals are tucked, I have false breasts, my face is painted in make-up, I'm wearing a wig with a female hair style and I'm wearing knickers and bra and a dress and high heels with painted nails...I am trying to look like a woman so I really should try and make the whole ensemble come together and try and fulfil those efforts in a way that makes the illusion feel convincing and real to those who see her. I want my alter-ego to pass as a woman in every way, it's an ambition I harbour as a transvestite.

 

My vanity, indeed I'm sure more my ego, would love to one day experience being taken out for dinner as Helene by a man. As a transvestite trying to pass as a woman that surely has to be rewarding? To be wined and dined and treated as a lady and spend the evening as a woman being admired by men is the ultimate in passing. It has nothing to do with sex, it is all to do with an inner dream of being able to pass convincingly as a female.

 

I feel more at ease talking abut such scenarios now as I know my own sexuality and I know I would have enjoyed working as a female impersonator and acting as a convincing looking transvestite in films when I was younger. I enjoy those films when a woman is revealed to be a man and every body is surprised as they never saw it coming. The same with female impersonation, I am in awe of men who look, sound and can behave like women yet the audience know that she is in fact a man performing as a woman. I have been ridiculed, indeed at times humiliated in the past for expressing these personal views and ambitions but as I get older I now think why not be honest about my own motivations and issues related to why I engage in transvestism.

 

In this photo from early June I was totally getting into being a woman and would happily have posed with a man on my arm to sell the illusion I was female. I enjoyed wearing this outfit and if I am honest felt very much at home appearing like this. The intensity of the moment was quite something to cope with, I wanted nothing more than to remain female forever. However, about four hours after this photo was taken I returned to being a man and was quite happy to do so. I think the knowledge I desire to dress up and look female and act as if I am female is something I get a buzz from. The fact I rarely get to cross-dress is probably what I find attractive about being a transvestite. If I was a woman full time I would not likely get the rewards I have emotionally and physically that I get from the occasional cross-dressing experiences. Yet, I feel there is a part of me that wishes I was female.

 

To be a cross-dresser is quite a mixed bag of emotions and motivations, nothing is that clear cut and I confess I rather like this often confusing exciting and worrying mix that goes on within me. I am addicted to it, I really am.

 

As you enter the park from the west, you get glimpses of Yosemite Valley, perhaps the Three Sentinels, Half-Dome, and four or five waterfalls, the most prominent of them, Bridal Veil. But once you're in the valley, you're met wit the most spectacular valley I think I've ever seen and, if you look to your left (from where you entered the park), there is Yosemite Falls, in essence one waterfalls split by two ledges into the Upper and Lower Falls, dropping a total of 2,425 feet (739 m) from the top of the upper fall to the base of the Lower fall. Together, they comprise one of the 20 highest waterfalls in the world, and the highest waterfall in North America. (It is said that you cannot count all the waterfalls in Yosemite, something that I can now attribute to Tom and my collection of 25 phenomenal books on Yosemite (one with a magnificent view of the Valley from space!)

 

It is spectacular and unlike most of the other falls in Yosemite. The image that I posted two days ago was of Bridal Veil Falls. It is one of the most exciting to see because you can get closer to (and wetter from it) it than any other falls.

 

There are several trails to get from the Valley Floor to the to of Upper Yosemite Falls. The lower trail can get you a good soaking as you hug the walls, but still nothing like Bridal Veil. However, if you want exercise, the Yosemite Falls Trail will give it to you: It is three miles and a 900 foot "vertical climb."

 

Bring binoculars to see the valley floor, black-tailed Mule Deer, and a manner of wildlife depending on the season. It has been my experience that you won't see many birds unless you get to the Valley's Rim which you can do most of the year but some parts are close because of snow or tremendous amounts of water. Stellar's Jays, all species of woodpeckers, and other species that inhabit most of California. The first two trips that we made to Yosemite, I came back with three pictures of birds. The simple reason is that there is a grandeur here that well ... blots out other scenes and wildlife. When you get to Glacier Point, you can see six or seven falls and will have chipmunks and Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels asking for a handout, but you'll be engrossed by scenes of the Sierra Nevadas and most of the landmarks pointed out in every book and brochure about Yosemite. Just as you can countg waterfalls, I don't think you can count the individual vista points. Anyway, I think I'll present a few of the smaller falls, those that drop into the Merced River and those that, in less populated days, even with less water (we've had droughts for hundreds of years!), provided water from the Western Divide to the Pacific.

 

Imagine what John Muir must have seen 118 years ago, Teddy Roosevelt 108 years ago when invited by Muir in his attempts to for the Sierra Club, and then in 1928 (or thereabouts) when Ansel Adams came from the San Francisco Bay Area to spend the rest of his life photographing this absolute marvel of the west.

 

I don't think I can pick a favorite of our western national parks. Sequoia is A favorite with massive trees, 4000 years old; Redwood National Park with trees even taller and older than the Sequoias. We're not talking about rocks that are billions of years old, but living, breathing things that predate Christ, predate much of European societies! Yellowstone, which sits on a caldera that can destroy much of the world if it collapses and which has thermal pools of unbelievable colors. But to each his own. If I were to "specialize in landscapes," Yosemite would be it and take the rest of my life as it did with Muir and Adams. After 26 trips to Yosemite, I can remember specific things from each trip. It's not the largest park, but it may be the most difficult to take it all in. My first trip was in 1973. I wish it was in 1955. But I wish there were digital cameras. I wish I has the stamina to truly hike the back country though I did. I wish I could have seen Tioga Pass at 8-10,000 feet covered in snow AND wildflowers.

 

And if you're going to Yosemite, make arrangements to visit Sequoia, 150 miles south ... and Kings Canyon, 130 miles south. Well, I'm neither salesman nor guide. I can only relate what I saw and how it affected me. If I had been born in Jackson, California, oh how different my life would have been. But at least I was born to parents who wanted me to see the west and every NP we had in 1947 and from that point on. At this point, I would have five pair of Levis, six shirts, five pair of boots, one suit to go to court and fight the politicians who were willing to give away nature's bounties. And, if I had been born then and hiked it all, I'd either have a heart that could carry me all over the western continent or I would have had a heart attack in the back county and they'd still be looking for me. What a great way to live and die (or is that too dramatic for you)? But rather than cry over what might have been (not likely), I can always thank my lucky stars to be three hours to Yosemite. On April 8, 2018, we made out 27th trip, and just to make things even more memorable, I finally got my very first Wood Duck drake! That was just after I had tripped on a hidden log and gotten a small fracture of my funny bone. I told you: every trip will leave you with memories! Or, as with the time I fell into the Merced River rapids, maybe nightmare would be more like it. (I never go near a river in the Sierras - even if I'm staying om the banks) without wearing a life preserver. A phone in a waterproof bad is a great idea as well for the Merced and Kings and Modesto and all other rivers are fed by glaciers and snow melt. "911" in memory could allow for one more trip. (You MUST tell the Park Administrators and get a license to climb any of the higher peaks such as El Cap where we lose three hikers last year - even with all the precautions. Carry fire blankets in your cars especially during the summer, always carry water. The Camp Fire last summer should be prepared for as much as possible: the entire town of Paradise was wiped out. My old dictum should be followed as well: Know how old you are, not how old you feel. Twelve miles of 900 foot climbs when you're 80 is foolhardy no matter how hardy the fool.

I have a 90 year old neighbor who has hiked the 890 km length of the Bruce Trail three or four times. In the heyday of his 70's and even 80's, walking 30 or even 50 km was just a walk in the park for him. In the last year, his hips started giving out it's been one of the most difficult things he's had to leave behind. He still goes out for a walk around the block every day, just one step at a time, with a crutch under one arm and a cane in the other. Seeing him hobble down the street, I can completely relate to his determination as our own time feels the most grounded somewhere on a hiking trail. I'm also very blessed having someone to share that passion with and we're both looking forward to the day when the trails reopen after the current pandemic.

Tradition relates that a castle was first constructed on this site by Rhodri the Great, but there are no remains from this period. Dinefwr later became the chief seat of Rhodri's grandson Hywel Dda, first ruler of Deheubarth and later king of most of Wales. Rhys ap Gruffydd, ruler of Deheubarth from 1155 to 1197, is thought to have rebuilt the castle. Giraldus Cambrensis tells a story about a plan by King Henry II of England to assault the castle during a campaign against Rhys. One of Henry's most trusted followers was sent on reconnaissance, guided by a local Welsh cleric, who was asked to lead him to the castle by the easiest route, but instead took the most difficult route he could find, ending the performance by stopping to eat grass with the explanation that this was the diet of the local people in times of hardship. The planned attack was duly abandoned.

 

Rhys ap Gruffydd also built the spectacular castle at Carreg Cennen, about four miles away to the south. It is not visible from Dynefwr, but Dryslwyn Castle can just be seen on a hill blocking the Tywi valley to the south-west. Rhys also founded two religious houses during this period. Talley Abbey was the first Premonstratensian abbey in Wales, while Llanllyr was a Cistercian nunnery, only the second nunnery to be founded in Wales and the first to prosper.

 

On Rhys ap Gruffydd's death the castle passed to his son Rhys Gryg, and the earliest parts of the present castle are thought to derive from this period. Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd was now extending his influence to this area, and Rhys, finding himself unable to resist, dismantled the castle. Llywelyn however had it restored and held it until his death in 1240. In 1255 Llywelyn the Last gave Dinefwr to Rhys Fychan, then later gave it to Maredudd ap Rhys before later returning it to Rhys Fychan. Maredydd now allied himself to King Edward I of England, and helped Edward capture Dinefwr in 1277. Maredudd had apparently been promised Dinefwr in return for his help, but Edward did not keep his promise and had Maredudd executed in 1291.

127 comments under the Facebook posting, to a province-wide group, of a photo that a photographer took of three people, one of them myself - angry, rude, critical, judgemental comments, by people who don't even know me or my ethics, including when they relate to photography! Last night, I found the posting again and took a long time going through all 127 comments. Made me feel sick to the stomach. This can't be right, though I know this kind of thing does happen on Facebook. I want the photo removed or for the photographer, whom I don't know, to at the very least completely blur me out of the shot. Though his comment, when he first posted his photo, was about people staying safe when taking photos, he has allowed the posting to develop into an endless bashing.

 

I wasn't going to post this again, but I have changed my mind after reading all those comments. I sent the man a link to one of my owl photos that has this long description with it, asking him to read, when he has time, what I have written. The link was sent only two or three days ago, so he may not have seen it yet.

 

"I think the very first Long-eared Owl that I ever saw was seen on 13 October 2006. SInce then, I have been very fortunate to have seen several other individuals - including the day before yesterday. These owls are very secretive and many birders go years between sightings. It is so important not to give the location of this species. Be careful that there is nothing in your photos that gives away the location.

 

Various people had been posting photos of a Long-eared Owl recently, but I had no idea where they were seeing it. Someone had posted a photo and labelled it "Calgary" (totally untrue!), so I had thought it must have been seen in one of our local city parks. Two days ago, I decided to go for a short drive and get a bit of sunshine and fresh air. Our deep freeze has lasted for more than four weeks, and I have been home for most of that time. It was a milder day, so I decided to make the most of it, especially with more snow forecast for today.

 

Imagine my surprise when a stranger told me just where it was, and my absolute horror when I came upon a huge crowd of photographers with their lenses raised! So how did they all know about this owl?? Apparently, Facebook has such a bad reputation for people trolling everyone's photostream there, finding out locations for all sorts of things (old barns included!). Then, of course, some people phone others, to ask or to tell. Others follow ebird religiously, dashing out to see every more 'special' bird that is reported and location given. I don't post many photos on Facebook and I certainly don't post the same photo to three groups. It gets so very boring to see the same photos everywhere. These people flood their own Facebook pages and the groups! The only reason I can see is to get as many Likes as possible. Anyway, most people were down in the ditch at the fenceline, so no doubt they were able to get stunning close shots, especially those with enormous lenses. My photos were taken from the road, which was twice as far away, with a point-and-shoot. I'm not out to try and get better photos than anyone else : ) As always, there is so much competition among photographers. I was also not out there all day, like various people always are, and often day after day after day.

 

So, after saying those things, perhaps you can imagine how extremely upset (devastated, actually) I am to have been told (when I arrived at the owl) by a couple of friends (both of whom are superb photographers) that my photograph had been taken, along with two other people in it, standing at the edge of a road earlier in February. These friends thought it was hilarious and I sure was teased a lot. As they said, my "goody two-shoes" image was gone. They both know I have very high ethics, including when it comes to photography. This photo was posted on Facebook on a provincial birding page, pointing out how dangerous it is for people to stand by the road. This thread turned into a string of comments about people harassing the owls, etc., etc., etc. Actually, the other two people in the photo are both seen taking photos (when I was told they already had taken thousands). There's me, camera not raised, looking disgusted that an owl had been flushed so that they could take flight images. The reason I was out of my vehicle was that these two people were out of theirs and racing down the road at top speed to get yet more shots. When I was sitting in my car, these photographers blocked my view of the owl, so out I got and caught up with them. To prove that I was not planning on getting out of my car this trip, I was wearing just my thin summer jacket (over fleece) in a windchill in the minus 20C's. Two minutes later, I was back in my car!

 

Sorry to rant, but it just upsets me so much that this photo was taken and posted on Facebook. Have barely slept the last two nights! The very last thing I would ever want is to be connected with bad ethics!! Of course, I must be such a bad person to actually stand by the road - ha, you should see all the dozens of people who do exactly the same (without being photgraphed)!

 

That day, I took maybe 30 photos of the Long-eared Owl, and maybe a couple of dozen of a Short-eared Owl, almost every single one of the latter needing to be deleted, because they were all totally blurry, thanks to taking the photos from inside my car. You can be sure that most of the others went home with yet another memory card containing thousands of photos.

 

I am hoping that now I won't be stressing out over it quite as much, every second of the day! Ain't life fun? To the man who took my photo (as far as I know, I have never met him), how about taking a few photos of the crowds of people, especially those who were as close as they could get to the LEO. Or those who stress out the owls day after day after day, often from morning till evening!

 

PS: I rarely allow people (i.e. friends) to photograph me. Not sure what right this man thinks he has, to take my photo and especially to then post it on a very popular Facebook group page. I want it removed from Facebook, or at the very least, to have myself totally blurred out of the image. When this sort of thing happens, it can totally destroy a person's joy of photography!

 

Actually, on a more serious note, something that I'm sure most people don't think of. You really need to be careful about taking a photo of someone and then posting it (without signing a consent form). For various security reasons, doing this could actually put someone in danger. For example, a woman (or vice versa) might not want their photo being advertised in this way, not wanting an abusive spouse/partner to know where they go sometimes or what they do. Just something to keep in mind."

Blog relating to this story ... peterjemmett.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-year-that-was-part-...

Only Greats Relate, MISFIT MOB & SAVKREW

Theme for the day is “Bad Habit” who can relate?

 

Fuji XT3 w 7Artisans 50mm f 1.1

 

www.sollows.ca -- www.instagram.com/jsollows

Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.

 

Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.

 

To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.

doesn't relate, I just really love this song. My aunt got me an iTunes gift card for my birthday and I went ahead and bought a bunch of songs that had been sitting in my shopping cart for a while. Including Fleet Foxes, by Fleet Foxes, which is amazing.

 

I think I'm joining a music club if Dialecticals doesn't whip itself back into shape.

 

Speaking of school, I shouldn't be online right now. I have to take six tests in three days, and not complain to anyone about it, because after all, I did take an eight day vacation. BACK TO WORK.

 

I'm addicted to film. Every image comes out so much more epheral than I could ever expect from digital.

 

Canon AE-1 | Kodak Gold | ISO 200

Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.

 

Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.

 

To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Lucidity

 

My twin sister has had, from early memory, a rather silly game she has always liked to play out on me.

 

Starting quite young, she had always thought it a great tease to try and lift things from my pockets when I was distracted.

 

And to be Honest, she had soon gotten quite good at it, to my chagrin.

 

Then of course, I made the mistake of letting her know it got under my skin when she would do that! So of course she kept on doing it, grinning with great satisfaction when she was successful.

 

Which she was a good deal of the time !

 

I had tolerated it for quite a few years, until one day when I found a way to get my revenge.

 

Which I did by lifting her necklace during a rather severely formal event we were rather forced into attending when we were 13.

 

Actually I lifted her necklace several times that evening without her catching on to what was truly happening…..! But that is another story altogether.

  

Needless to say, since then we had been going back and forth, cat and dog, trying to out do one another in our versions of the game from that time forward, lasting into our present adult hood.

 

Now, this rather insightful event I am about to relate, happened about two years after I had discovered my own spin on my twins annoying game.

 

By then I had successfully played it out on her several times…

 

This time around it was quite intriguing situation, for neither my sister or I had ever been to a wedding.

 

My sister( along with our mother) was assigned to be a bridesmaid at our Mum’s University chum’s wedding.

 

Sis was included to accommodate an age match for the Grooms younger brother, an oops baby Mum had said.

  

Apparently there were a dearth of females that young on either side of the Bride and Groom’s families.

  

I will admit me mum and sister looked rather smashing in their matching, quite vibrant bridesmaid’s attire.

 

^^^^^^^^^^

 

Later on, at the reception, I was watching as my sister was swishing out on the dance floor with the simpy young bloke who was her partner.

  

As Sis danced about in her long lavender coloured gown of some shiny material, I had eagerly watched her glittery collection of rhinestone diamonds flickering with mad abandon along her figure, as they were caught in the dim lights.

  

They were the same set of rhinestones which all the bridesmaids had been given and were wearing with the long flowing dresses that matched my sister’s.

 

They were all the same size too. So that the set my young sister was wearing looked like an adults. Especially her necklace, which seemed to go on forever as it dangled down the front of her slick gown, ending into a long v shape..

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I actually had been pressed into service to help her place the shimmering necklace on around her neck at home before we left.

 

As she had held up her hair giving me a clear look at the long dangling earrings that she had already clasped on, she lifted the necklace up, holding the jeweled ends up to me to take and clasp.

 

I did so, watching the sparkling show reflected in our mums vanity mirror from over my sister’s shoulder..

 

As I observed my sister’s reflection, I could see that she was also keeping a rather watchful eye on me ( and her jewels I suspected)

 

Of course I acted all of the innocent one !

 

The jewels my sister was wearing also included a bracelet around a gloved hand, with a glittery ring on same hand. A brooch dangled from her waist, pinned to the front of a wide ribbed sash attached to her gown, and which I was directed to tie in a bow at her back.

  

She had stood in front of Mother’s long mirror as I stood behind tying.

  

But, truth be told, despite my innocent act, I had found the rhinestones a most attractive lure. Feeling an all too familiar certain tingle coming up from deep within as she teasingly played with her long gown, admiring her pretty self in the mirror..

  

It didn’t help much that only the weekend before we had seen an olde American funny show about people stranded on an island. We had seen the silly show a few times before, and I had really thought it was a bit of a bore.

 

The only thing I found about it to hold my attention is that several of the females liked to dress up in gowns and jewels, which peaked my interest, though it was kinda odd that people stranded on an island would be doing that sort of thing, was it not now?

 

But this one show had a newcomer, a thief, stranded on the island with them. And…

 

Well we will come to that soon enough….

 

But as I helped my sister on with her black velvet jacket, and followed her to the car watching her long gown fluidly flowing down out from underneath her jacket to where it fluttered at her heels, my thoughts were on that telly show, and I pondered over the possibilities of what the day could bring…….

  

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  

So now at the reception, as I watched me mum, sister and all the other dancers, I found my eyes kept glancing back at my sister, and her showy attire, mesmerized, as the welcomed feelings re-emerged, dredging up from within!

 

I also began to notice the other shimmering jewels that many of the female guests were wearing along their equally fancy dressed figures.

 

So this is what a wedding was like, I was myself, finding it rather a bit interesting all around !

  

The music ended as the band took a break. The bloke quickly deserted my sister for his side of the family and my twin made her sparkling, gown swirling way, threading through the guests, finally coming up to our table.

  

I had sat with dad, while mum and sis were up at the head table. We had sat with other members of Mum’s Friends, but they had all left to go to another table once the music had started. Mum had dropped her things off at our table, then Her and Dad had also gone off to visit.

  

So we were left at the table alone, to find our own devices to entertain ourselves.

 

Or at least my sister had to find entertainment, unbeknownst to her, I already had mine !

 

As we talked while sitting at the deserted table, I kept stealing looks at my twin sister’s jewels, which were still rippling with sparkles with every squirming move she made. And the little chatterbox was by no means ever still for long.

 

Then my sister began to absentmindedly play with her hair ( a sign she was getting bored)!

 

I saw one of her long earrings give a peek out, shooting out a mad shimmer before darting back into hiding. As I half watched, still deep in thought, she nonchalantly tugged at that sparkling earring, like it was going to be pulled off….!

  

Then, with sudden clarity, an overwhelming desire surged over me as a rather delicious, devious plot popped in my brain… How many different pieces of my sister’s jewels could I manage to lift at one event?

  

For you see, on that American tv show, the stranded folks had invited the thief to their fancy dress dinner. The girls had primped up, wearing fancy gowns, and lots of diamonds, much like the plentiful jewels sis ,the other bridesmaids and a few of the younger guests were so winningly wearing.

 

The people stranded on that island believed the thief when he had said he was reformed, but he had decidedly not been reformed, only pretending to be that way in order to rob them some more.

 

And the cheeky devil began to rob them again, centering on the ladies and their sparklers he did !

 

The one wealthy lady was wearing quite a lot of diamonds. Some of her jewels were quite similar to the ones my sister was wearing, including the dangling long necklace. This charming thief managed to smoothly slip that expensive looking necklace off from around the throat of her sparkly blue gown.

 

I think he also took one of her bracelets! She had had two, both shimmering around each wrist of her long gloves, like the single bracelet my sister was also wearing on a similar long glove, but where this lady’s gloves were white, sis’s gloves were the same colour and material of her gown.

 

A second lady had hair like my sister’s, long and worn down. She was also wearing these long earrings which were strikingly like the ones sis was now playing around with, as well as a diamond ring similar also to the one my sister had on.

 

The thief had managed to neatly slip off not one, but both of those pretty sparkly diamond earrings. And looking later, I believe he had also took her ring as he kissed her hand!

 

The third and last lady was wearing a plainer frock, with small diamond earrings and a matching pinky ring. I believe it was the ring that soon fell victim to this scoundrels wiles. I was not sure, because she had been the first one he had lured off to be alone with him, and it was before I realized just what he was up to.

 

But he had taken her hand, and something must have happened because the audience had been laughing, as they had done later in the show when the necklace, braclet, and earrings had been nicked.

 

So I played over in my mind several ways I could lift my twin’s jewels in a similar devious fashion as the “reformed” thief.

 

Now, as I was my deep in thoughts of acquiring some of her sparkling jewels, I had done a bit of squirming of me own, and, noticing with interest, my sister looked over at me, ” Bored too huh, wanna sneak out now?”

 

I had almost forgotten. But it may prove to be perfect for my schemes !

 

You see, we had passed a small playground, then some woods, as we then turned into the church parking lot. As we were getting out of the car, my sister had whispered that we should slip out later and check the area out.

 

So, looking carefully around to make sure we were not watched, we got up and snuck our way along the wall until we reached the hallway leading to the restrooms.

 

At the opposite end of that hallway, was a circular staircase that led upstairs and to the side exit leading conveniently out to the back parking lot.

 

So we now slipped inside the hallway, and after waiting until a couple of giggling older teenage girls , , looking like debutantes in their long flowy dresses, long haired tied up, and their fetching figures adorned with white pearled jewelry, passed us by.

 

We than scurried our way to the staircase, and up and out to our adventure.

 

It was a beautiful sunny late afternoon, blue sky with a few wispy clouds that greeted our exit to freedom.

 

Happily we made our way across the parking lot and up to a stone statute depicting the last station of the cross ( the resurrection) that was set on the edge of the wooded area. The rest of the stations apparently led along a path that winded along through the woods.

 

We followed the path, looking at the old statuary depiction of the passion walk. The faces of the figures in abrupt agony, most definitely putting a certain chill in the air.

 

Still we contentedly meandered our way through, my mind meanwhile still working on the problem of how to acquire the first of the brite jewels my sister was wearing in a most certainly quite inviting manner.

 

It was always a bit fun, the plotting of lifting her jewels!

 

And today was no exception, as I watched her flirt about in her long flowy gown, her guard now apparently down, as she seemingly appeared to be totally unaware that her jewelry was in peril of being snatched.

 

Much like those three, diamonds and frills wearing, lasses in that silly tv show had been unawares when welcoming the thief into their party!!

  

But of course, my stupid mind could not come up with any plan that I thought would be successful to carry out my desired deeds…And I had had quite a few come in and rejected out of my mind as being too cockamamie, while we were walking up that path!

 

Then my sister, bless her innocence, conveniently gave me an opening.

 

We had stopped in front of one of the statue stations. A bird had made its nest in the crook of the stone cross. Sis wanted to see it, and kicking off her shoes, had tried to climb up to see inside.

 

Acting like that gentleman thief from the show, I had helped her up, and held her by the waist as she leaned over and peeked in. Her brooch was dangling freely, and my fingers had clasped around the jewel. I carefully tried to locate and undo the clasp, but could not find it in time, before she found the nest empty and asked me to help her down.

 

If only the bloody nest had been full !!

 

I saw She had skipped off ahead of me a bit.

 

So at least she had not noticed or felt my attempt, so I was still at the bat in the wicket.

 

I began to replay what I remembered of the show. I looked over my sister as I did so. Her necklace? No, not in the way he did it.

 

I thoughtfully watched as my sister moved about, her gown fluttering merrily along her figure…hair flying out behind her

 

My sisters longish hair was loosely down, as his third pretty victims silky hair had been… the one with the dangly earrings he had managed to lift…

  

Her earrings then ? Hmmm..

  

But as I was formulating a plan to nab at least one of my sister’s earrings, she abruptly stopped. And letting out a small squeal and stooped over to pick something up from the path.

 

Damn, I was not paying attention and had allowed her to get far enough ahead that such an obvious opportunity was lost.

 

It would have been perfect, for there was no way to suggest having her bend down without arousing suspicion. But If I had been closer when she had innocently done it on her own, well who knows what mischief a little thing like falling over into her would have resulted into ?

  

She rose, and brought over to me a colourful stone that shimmered in her gloved palm much like her jewels. I held her glove hand up, looking at it, my eyes also watching the bracelet just dangling there for the taking.

  

I picked up the the stone from her hand, and let it slip out, allowing it to fall to the ground. “Clumsy” she scolded, and as she bent down to retrieve it, my fingers raced up to her bracelet. But she pulled her hand from mine as she retrieved the stone, and that opportunity slipped through my fingers also, as I lost hold of her bracelet before working the clasp.

  

She moved off, looking at the sparkling stone. I followed close, ready and watching for some new opportunity, observing her longish hair falling down along the back of her gown. I watched its silky mass as my mind wandered back to the circumstances I needed in order to create the opportunity for me to nick her cascading jeweled earrings.

 

In the show on the telly he had…

  

But before I could finish that thought, we Suddenly found ourselves in by a small narrow clearing, and my sister looking down the hill, saw the playground a distance off through the woods.

 

My sister grasped my arm, there it is, let’s go over she chirped! As my objectives, her earrings, swinging along from her earlobes, were dancing in and out of her hair as she pleaded.

 

I held my thoughts in check. Maybe the playground would offer up some nice easy possibilities?!

 

Even though the path did not go that way, we soon spied a well-used route, not stoned over like the one we were currently following, but unmistakable a short cut through to the playground.

 

I pointed it out and we happily took the path, heading off to the playground and all its assorted attractions.

 

We reached it in short time.

 

But It really was nothing much, just a few swing sets, totter, and a spinner. On the opposite side, probably some 120 meters, was a fenced area with signs warning of electric hazard.

 

My sister made for the swing and, pulling back her gown, slipped on one, facing the woods, her back to the rest of the playground.

 

She kicked off her tight heels, laughing. I sat on the swing beside her and we both just kicked back and forth a little, chatting away. I watched as her necklace bounced up and down upon her sleek chest as she swung. A thought struck me on a method to lift away her necklace.

 

I got up and began to push her, my hands upon her back. I couldn’t see the necklace from this position, her hair was covering it.

 

But I reached up each time she sung back and eventually had my hands upon her shoulder.

 

She leaned back giggling, her head bouncing against my chest, my objective sparkling within reach as it dripped down from her throat…and so were her earrings ! All so close and yet so far. My fingers itching to make a try, at something but I didn’t want to muck it up and be caught out on my first attempt either !

 

I repositioned my hands to the small of her back.

 

I found that my fingers travelled with effortless ease up along the backside of the slick material of her fancy bridesmaid’s gown.

 

But my attempt fell short of its objective, my fingers getting lost in her hair that lay splayed across the back of her pretty gown.

 

I kept pushing her on the swing, my mind going miles a minute. Maybe be a different approach was needed The spinner? Or maybe a game, like say blind man’s bluff?

 

My mind pounced on that, liking the thought, and I just happened to have a handkerchief in my pocket!

  

I stole a look around to see if ……

  

It was as I did so that I saw them.

  

Two boys and a girl, a few years older than us, leaning against two bikes, smoking right under that sign which clearly, strictly forbade smoking in the area.. There were definitely dressed as punks, spiky hair, chains, ripped jeans, the lot.

 

And certainly had been watching us with quite some interest.

  

At that point my sister’s swing hit against me, and I was moved back by the force. I kept my balance, as I saw that my twin had turned to see what had happened. She saw the group of three, and they saw her fully for the first time, in all her fancy dress, with the pretty rhinestones just sparkling away.

  

I had a dark inkling that we probably should not linger here any longer. I said so much to my sister.

  

Shoes she said, and I collected hers and quickly placed them back on her feet. I was watching past her and could see that the three had now formed a huddle.

  

I helped my sister up from the swing, and she straightened her gown, bending down, her necklace dangling temptingly loose.

  

It would just figure that I now had a perfect opportunity at that point, her hair had fallen forward exposing the necklaces clasp. But to say that the situation was less than ideal, would be an understatement.

 

So I took her arm and quickly led her off. Looking back I saw that one of the boys, his cig dangling from his lip, had moved towards us a bit, stopping and was watching as we left. Needless to say I felt a bit uneasy as we made our hasty retreat..

 

We gained the safety of the woods, and soon disappeared into the tree line, scurrying back up along the wooded path.

 

We finally reached back to the stony path of the passion statues, and felt a bit securer with each step we took, eventually starting to meander about, playing down all thoughts of the incident on the playground.

 

Actually we both started to feel a bit embarrassed by the whole thing, acting like a couple of fraidy cats!

 

Soon I found that my mind, regretting the lost opportunity at the play ground , was again working on my intriguing bits of my challenge.

 

All the while, I stole quick glances at my sister waltzing about.

I just could not get enough of her show!

 

The long shiny gown fluttering about with each step, as her jewels flashed with what I found to be a now more than just taunting show.

 

But there had been something about the way those punks had snapped to attention, when me twin sister had turned towards them.

 

I remember it was concerning a thought I myself had had after the American telly show was over..

 

The thief in the tv show had only taken a few of the copious diamonds the ladies had been wearing. I guess that I figured if he was luring them off, why didn’t he just take all of their jewels !?

 

It wasn’t like he was going to be caught and thrown into a jail was he now, stranded alone with them on the island ?

 

I looked at my sister wandering about, her gown moving fluidly hither and tither as she looked here and there. Those quite mesmerizing jewels keeping in flashy rhythm as she so innocently explored..

 

What if….?

What if indeed !

 

I slowed down, letting my sister get to wondering a bit ahead, pretending in my mind of being someone with a devious intent on the ( in my mind, real) jewels that were dangling and sparkling along this fetching lass clad in a shiny gown that swished and swirled about her figure in a rather enchanting fashion.

 

Much like the gowns and jewels those 3 stranded lasses on that island had been doing!

 

I stopped by one of the large white Stations of the cross and pondered it over..

 

My sister soon took a turn ahead of me on the path, disappearing around a corner.

 

There was a bench across the path facing the statue. Behind the bench was the large trunk of a rather ancient tree. I slipped in behind the trunk to hide .

 

Spying a short knobby stick at my feet I picked it up…may come in handy I thought a bit wickedly as I prepared to play at being Robin Hood!

 

Soon I heard her call my name, then silence, except for the swishing of her long gown as she quickly came back down the path. From a hole in a large bush, I could see was looking side to side, her jewels sparkling nicely, like those the poor lasses jewels had been wearing before their loss.. a loss of jewels Like this one was about to encounter!

 

I waited for her to innocently pass me by, as I lurked back from her sight in the shadows of my tree.

 

She suddenly stopped, catching a stone in one of her heels.

 

She limped over to the bench and stooping over pulled off the offending heel and shook it.

 

I dropped the knobby stick, smelling a new opportunity that was ripe for the picking..

 

I slipped out ,quiet as a church mouse, and snuck up behind her on the heels of my feet.

 

Reaching my intended victim without any notice, I held my hands over her eyes.

 

She immediately straightened up, I could feel her figure freezing rigid.

 

I could also feel her long earrings under my palms as I still held managed to hold my fingers over her eyes.

 

I bent over and said in her ear, ” guess who lass?” as I eyed up close several of my objectives just dangling there with no care in the world.

 

After I spoke, I started pulling my hands from her eyes, and lifted back her hair with my thumbs, while resting my fingers gently upon her earlobes. Both of her earrings dangling coolly from out underneath..!

 

Meanwhile She had breathed a sigh of relief at hearing my voice while placing her gloved hand upon her beating heart.

 

“Not funny” she scolded, looking forward. I was watching her ring and bracelet do their sparkling dance from her finger and wrist respectively.

 

As I positioned my fingers to slowly pull down the long earrings from her earlobes, I started to ask what had happened, hoping she would look down at her feet as I finished my attempt to slip away her eye-catching earrings.

  

But, before I could start my sentence, that quick, opportunity once again slithered away from my grasp !

 

For we both simultaneously heard it at the same time…

 

The slow squealing sound of tyres from a bicycle being walked, coming up to us some short distance behind us on the path, from the direction of the playground!

 

My sister turned her head, her earrings slipped from my fingertips, as my hands lost their grip and fell down upon her shoulders.

 

Bollocks I said under my breath, as yet another opportunity to steal away a piece of my sister’s jewelry was lost. This one just whisked from my grasp would have been the easiest yet!

 

“What’s that ?” she said, innocently turning her face up to look at me, earrings and necklace again shooting off their taunting sparks.

 

And I now had grown cold with the realization that I may not be the only one my sister’s jewels had been taunting !!

 

I put a finger to her lips and told her, quick, behind the statues!

.

I realized what the sound of the tyres meant, and they were gaining.

 

I helped my sister up and we both crossed the stone path, darting behind the cross station statue group.

 

As we skulked down behind it my sister again asked what I thought it was?

 

“Sush and, don’t move!” I told her, pulling her silky clad figure close to mine, feeling our hearts beating rapidly…

 

Soon we heard voices above the sound of the bikes tyres. There were only the two of them, two of the group of three who had been giving my sister the once over at the playground.

 

One ripped jean jacketed Boy and the spiky haired female. They were walking beside a bike, the boy still had a cig dangling from a crooked, sneering lip. I wondered what had become off the other boy?

 

The squealing of wheels got closer and closer and we watched through the thicket behind the statue group depicting Jesus falling for the first time, as slowly they walked the bikes past us, looking straight ahead on the path before them.

We quite clearly could hear them now.

 

He : “She came this way!”

She: “Think they were real…?”

He: “Naw, not on a kid like that, fake, but still the bunch might be worth a few bob… enough for cigs, maybe… plus whats in her shiny purse and the lads tie clasp, probably has a wallet, or some coins at the least!”

“Them rich kids always do have sometin, and they usually give no problem handing them over nicely, do they now? “ He said wickedly…

She: Giggling at some memory..

 

I heard my sister gasp and pulling her even closer, clamping my hand over her mouth

 

They had passed.

 

I heard the girl saying something, but it was broken up. The words, “that little darlings” followed by a mumbled sentence with a word that sounded like “peel”, and then clearly the words “shiny dress ..” , before they had rounded the corner and the rest of her words were lost to us.

 

We waited a good while, then stole along the path. As my sister walked on directly ahead, I was watching and listening , all too well aware of the reality of being ambushed and mugged by the pair…

 

An unsettling image flashed in my head, close to home, because it had been my idea also…

 

In my mind, the bike was now laying abandoned on the ground.

 

The rude spiky haired punk girl was heartlessly staring at my sister, whilst caressing with grubby hands, the soft gown my twin was now limply wearing along her figure.

 

As the punk lad, cig still hanging from a curled lip, was methodically searching said figure; locating and pulling off all the jewels my forlorn sister had been wearing, shoving his pockets with the shimmering lot as he displayed a rather evil grin.

 

I no sooner shook the thought from my head, then another entered it.

 

Where had that other lad gotten off too?

 

I imagined a pair of rough hands grabbing me and pushing me off the path, then approaching from behind my unsuspecting sister, much like I had intended earlier with the a stick. But in my mind, what the third one was holdin, was no stick!

  

Get a grip lad, I thought to myself, as I looked behind us. But the path seemed to be deserted enough.

 

We moved on, my sister wanting to ask a million questions, but I motioned to her to move away silently.

 

We cautiously made our way back along the path, looking and listening all about us.

 

Finally,( it seemed like forever) without further incident, we came out to the edge of the woods and the welcome sight of the parking lot behind the promised sanctuary of the church..

 

I could see up ahead, on the road leading from the parking lot, the pair still walking beside their bike. We watched until they had moved off out of sight. Then we both darted across the lot and got to the exit leading back down to the security of the reception going on below.

 

Once safely inside we caught our breaths, before scampering down the stairs. Both of us headed directly to the loo, shortly meeting up again inside the reception area.

 

People were still dancing and mingling, totally unaware that we had even gone.

 

Even our parents, when we met up with them back at our table, just calmly asked if we were enjoying ourselves. We looked at each other smiling, yes we said in unison as we both plopped down in our seats.

  

They then asked what we had been up to in order to amuse ourselves?

 

“Dancing! “ my sister chirped, then rising, she got me up and led me onto the dance floor to avoid further questions.

 

We began our dance, weaving our way in and out of the by now liquored up adults.

 

We mulled over the close shave we had had, and now that the danger had passed, looked upon the occurrence as a bit of a lark. But all thoughts had left of my plots on relieving my sister of her jewels. I felt that it would just would be bad cricket.

 

It was a slow dance and we mimicked what the other couples were doing, still awkwardly since we had not really had much experience at it. But it was enjoyable all the same.

 

I know she is just my sister, but as I was aware then of a certain inkling, one that I really grew to appreciate later on with my wife, there is nothing like the experience of holding a warm body in close dance, especially one that is clad in a shiny gown and even shinier jewels!

 

The music ended all too soon and we left the floor.

 

My sister stopped me, Well little brother she said ( she is older by a few minutes and never lets me forget), thank you for saving me, and she gave me quite an enveloping hug.

 

I told her it was nothing.. and she smiled sweetly up at me before we continued our way back.

 

As we walked I reached down to straighten my tie that I had felt flapping about. It was then I realized my clasp was gone.

 

I looked at my sister, walking on ahead… The little snit had taken it when she had been giving me a hug, pretending to be sincere!

 

Game on “older” sister I thought…

 

My sister slid on her chair at the table, smugly looking all the world like a jeweled cat that had caught the canary. Said jewels, , especially her necklace, still were dancing about with sparkles under the lights, like they too were mocking me..

 

Well missy I thought, lets try another dance then!

 

And with my mind I envisioned back to the time I had been successful at slipping off another of her necklaces while we had danced a couple of years back.

 

But I never got the opportunity, for the band was taking a break, and shortly our parents reappeared to collect us.

 

We got our coats from the check in, and prepared to leave…

 

And so it twas, that the evening ended late, and as I helped my sister on with her black velvet jacket. All opportunity seemed lost, at least till next time.

 

We went back up the stairs we had snuck out on earlier, and regained our car in the now dark parking lot.

 

We settled in the back of the car for the long trog home.

 

Soon she was fast asleep, lulled by the cars engine.

Again I smelled ripe opportunity !

 

I looked down at my passed-out sister, so peacefully dreaming away. I placed my arm around her shoulder, she did not budge. Her jewels were mostly hidden by her fastened velvet jacket.

 

I looked ahead at my parents, but they were not looking back, probably figuring we both were asleep.

 

Like a curious thief, I reached down and with upmost care, unfastened the three buttons that hide the treasures from view. After I had undid the last, I pulled her jacket open a bit then settled back and out of the corner of my eye, admired my handiwork !

 

Her now exposed sleekly soft lavender gown looked like it was pouring out along her figure from underneath the stark black velvet jacket. Her splendid collection of jewels were easy to find, as they occasionally sparkled as headlights from passing cars caught them up in their light.

 

Her necklace still holding a glittery court as it dropped freely from down around her throat.

 

So very pretty as it lay there shimmering, and so vulnerably within reach !

 

My fingers soon began their familiar tingling, my thoughts were racing...

 

What would that thief on the show had done?

 

There had been no cars on that show, they were on a deserted island after all.

 

I shook my head clear and settled back… then opened my eyes wide..

 

The most wicked, tantalizingly vexing, of thoughts washed over me with a delicious tingle.

 

But he had robbed them as they slept!

 

Plus my twerp of a sister did still have my tie clip, didn’t she now?!

  

I cautiously reached over and then around my twin’s slumbering form, moving my hand down along her side.

 

My fingers went inside her jacket, glided along her gown till I reached her glittery purse on the seat next to her. I managed to snap open the purses’ clasp, finding and lifting out my purloined gold plated tie clasp.

 

Putting it in my pocket, I looked the situation most carefully over, both my victims position, as well as the placement of her quite glimmering jewels.

 

Slowly, ever so slowly, I began to locate and move her jewels about, to see if my victim would stir. She did not! I could now feel the hooked clasp of her necklace.

 

I lifted up the chain, easily unhooked her necklace, and pulled it ever so carefully from around her throat, stealing glances at the rearview mirror, but our parents still were not paying us in the back any heed.

 

I finished sliding the necklace around, pulling it away. letting it dangle as a set of headlights from a passing car bathed it in sparkling array, then, reaching around my slumbering victims soft figure, deposited it inside the purse.

 

It was the best piece she was wearing of all her jewelry, and so naturally would be the first to be taken by any thief worth his salt under similar circumstances !

 

I reached back down, my fingers feeling along her still gloved arm till I reached her wrist. Then carefully placing a finger under it, lifted the bracelet before finding and then working open its’ clasp. Off it came easily, sliding snakelike from around her wrist. I reached over her again, and it soon landed on top of its mate in her purse .

 

She stirred a bit, and I reached my arm around my victim’s soft waist, pulled her a bit closer, and she soon settled in back to sleep.

 

Then I worked on her earrings next. Reaching in her hair, locating, then most cautiously started slipping off, each of her clasped earrings in turn. The twin buggers would not elude me this time!

 

It wasn’t easy, and took some tricky effort, but I managed it, and in careful turn, slowly, with most upmost care, caressed smoothly each long diamonded earring off her ears in turn. My victim felt nothing, did not stir again from her probably most pleasant dreams.

 

The purloined earrings also joined their glistening fellows on top of the growing pile inside her purse

 

Finally I found and worked off her ring from a gloved finger, greatly aided by the smoothness of said satin glove.

 

As I finished, I deposited the ring, clasped my sister’s purse shut, a job well done.

  

Feeling rather like an actual thief at that point, I finished the job by slipping the small purse, now weighty with gems, into my pocket.

 

I knew what just I was going to do next….

 

Last Autumn my twin had lifted my wallet while pretending to stand behind me fixing my collar to tuck in my tie. I had not caught on at the time, and when I did, she had had time to hide it. In order to get it back, she ransomed it by making me do a full weeks’ worth of her chores.

 

Well my sweet, conniving sister, what goes around, comes around !

 

All I had to do was keep her from noticing her jewels had been lifted.

 

While I dwelt over this thought I eyed over my victim admiring my handy work.

 

My sister turned a bit, mumbling a little.

 

She had stretched out and moved away a little, I had just finished relieving her of her jewels just in time!

 

But as I looked her over, I realized that I had missed a trick! With the next passing car, I saw her now exposed brooch glisteningly betraying its position!

 

I moved over, leaning, reached down and in, once again my fingers glided along her smooth gown, until I reached her satin sash. Using the sash as a path, I travelled along it till I reached the glittering holdout!

 

I lifted the jewel, and this time my fingers easily found its’ clasp. Working blind, I thought I had unpinned it, and began pulling the dangly brooch from her sash.

 

But It was still attached, and as I pulled up, my sister again stirred, waking up, mumbling.

 

She moved over away from me to the door, rubbing her eyes, still not quite awake.

 

I just casually started chatting my victim up.

 

My foremost intention was in keeping her attention diverted from discovering her missing jewels and purse till after we got home and I had had time to hide it!

 

She managed to say a few words, but the time between those words got long and longer, till she fell back to sleep, lulled in again by the motion of our car.

 

Forced to be satisfied with what I had, and still happy with the revenge that would soon be mine, I now comfortably settled back into my seat.

  

I looked over my sister’s now almost jewel less ( damn the brooch) , blissfully sleeping figure, and soon drifted off to join her in happy dreams of my own!!

  

I woke from deep sleep as we arrived back at our house after the 90 minute ride back from the county.

 

My parents got out and tasked me with waking my still sleeping sister , ( not always a pleasant task by any means, even to this day I bear the scars(smiles)), and then pushing her up to bed.

 

^^^^

We live in a split level. An attached garage was converted by a former owner into a master bedroom. This is where my parents would be heading. The other end, with its staircase leading upstairs was where I had to drag my sister. The three bedrooms and bath upstairs were our domain. Each of us having our own bedroom, and the third room was employed as a playroom/sewing room.

^^^^

 

I began to shake her awake, which, true to form, she rather grumpily tried to fight off.

 

Finally I just went to the other side and began to pull her out. She slowly, most painstakingly woke herself up and was able to manage finishing getting out on her own.

 

Leaning against me, still half awake, I helped her up the walk and led her inside the house. All the while snickering that she had no clue that her purse and other valuables were gone, hidden in my pocket, right under her very eyes!

 

At some point my sister had rebuttoned her velvet jacket, which helped my deception play out immensely.

 

Especially since once me dad had helped mum off with her faux mink jacket, she had come over and given us each a kiss goodnight. Her necklace, the twin to my sisters , still was glittering around her throat.

 

If either parental unit had noticed the my sisters missing jewels, I would have had some fast explaining how they came in my passion, and would have lost any hint of revenge. And it was my week to mow the bloody lawn !

  

Now feeling rather cocky as both parents left us alone, I went over to gallantly helped Sis, who had unbuttoned her velvet jacket, slip off it off , and hung it up for her.

 

She turned towards me on the first step thanking me. I accepted, secretly looking over her pretty gowned figure that I had so deviously stripped bare of its pretty ornaments, except of course that cursed taunting brooch, which was still freely dangling about at the sashed waistline of my sister’s gown!!

 

Turning off the downstairs lights, I followed my sister’s swishing progress ahead of me up the stairs.

 

I saw the unwary victim of my thievery to her room, across from mine, seeing her inside, as I closed the door behind her.

 

I went to my room, closed my own door and breathed a sigh of relief.

 

Perfect I thought, saying under my breath, Game set and Match!

 

Figuring she should come knocking anytime now once she discovered her missing jewels as she was undressing, I laid out on my bed, still in my suit , and waited with eager anticipation till she did.

 

My thoughts went to a week without assorted chores, including mowing any lawns. Starting with tomorrow. No wait, tomorrow was Sunday. We were on our own , sis and I after morning Church. Our parents were leaving for the big city, shopping, a movie than dinner out to celebrate an early anniversary,, coming back in at around ten that evening.

 

My eyes opened, a deviously delicious thought had come creeping into my mind.

 

Give my twin a choice, my week’s chores, or spend Sunday after the parents leave playing the damsel to my thief!

 

We had played similar games before, my sister being a huge fan of robbing hood as she called Robin Hood, as well as our take on cops n Robbers, and something she came up with called “Help me Honey!” A game where I would have dual roles; she would direct me into placing her in peril, then have me come as a hero to rescue the damsel from the peril she had me put her in!

 

She could wear the same gown, her jewels, and her black velvet jacket with it if we went outside to the woods. Or better yet, mums mink would still be here ( Sis was always trying it on) !

  

I mulled over this for some time, while waiting for the expected knock to come….

 

I must have fallen asleep, for I was awakened when the timid knock was finally made at my door.

 

It was 2:35 in the bloody morning!

 

I rolled out of bed and opened my door.

 

She was standing there ,rubbing her eyes and yawning. I could see her opened door across the hall, light spilling out.

 

She was also still clad in her elegant gown, looking like a half awakened princess .

 

And there it was, her twinkling brooch. It still dangled from its position on the sash at her waist. Its’ frenzied sparkles appeared to be mocking my failure at taking it along with the rest of its’ mates!

 

She hadn’t even made it past the bed in her room before falling unconscious upon it fully clothed !!

 

What’s up I asked, a bit grumpily, for I had all but forgotten what mischief I had been at.

 

“My jewels ?” she said miserably, “Their missing!”

 

“Are you sure?” I asked

 

That made her think a few seconds before answering, her still gloved hand feeling a diamond necklace and earrings that definitely were no longer sparkling there like they had been earlier .

 

“Yes I am sure they are gone !” she said rather miserably.

  

“You took them off twit, probably still on your dresser. Now go to back to bed ! “ I answered paternally , just wanting to do the same myself.

 

“No,” she said, forlornly shaking her head, “I went right to bed without taking anything off atoll, didn’t I, and she spread out her luxurious gown.

 

“ I’ve looked everywhere!” She pleaded.

 

“Was your window opened?” I asked, finally awake enough to tease.

 

“Yes, I always do, why?” she questioned.

 

“You fell asleep steal wearing your jewels!” I pointed out…

 

“Maybe a burglar broke in and took them off you as you slept?” I stated, as I reached over and pointed at the place her necklace had been dangling upon.” Looks like he picked you over clean now !”

 

“No” she said, again shaking her head, “there was no burglar, and besides no thief could do something like that, I would’ve been woken up !”

 

“I don’t know” I answered thoughtful, “Someone obviously got the whole lot off you, without you noticing !”

 

She shivered, “No there was no thief!” she still insisted…

 

“Lets go and see” I said, and had her turn, followed her swishy gown clad figure back to her room.

 

I asked if she had checked around the bed, she nodded yes. Check again I commanded and she obediently began looking.

 

As she did I went over to her opened window, and swiftly slipped her purse, still holding her jewels, from my jacket pocket and placed it out on the ledge. Rather forgetting my old plans, as a deviously new one developed, to make her believe a burglar had been in her room.

 

Sounds rather mean I know, but I was not fully awake enough to really reason out that aspect!

 

“You ninny I said, here is your purse ! “ She swished over to my side, and I pointed down.

 

She reached down and retrieved it, feeling its new heft, she opened it, revealing her sparkling jewels.

 

She than just stared up at me, disbelief in her sad puppy like eyes.

 

“Here now ,” I said, “let me show you, Go lay back on your bed” I instructed !

 

She submissively did so, slipping back up and looking at me blinking from her pillow.

 

She looked all the world like a sad forlorn young princess , like she did when I played her game with her.

 

I turned out her lights, laid the purse down beside her, then went to the opened window.

 

A stream of light from the moon lit up her bed, I could see her clearly as she lay there.

 

“This is what probably happened Sis…”

  

“The burglar came in through this window” I mimicked it..

 

“ He saw you there asleep , and came over for a closer peek.”

 

I moved in, and saw her shiver as I approached, her whole begowned figure moving as she inched up away from my menacing dark shadowy figure…..

“He saw you were wearing jewels, and decided that he certainly must have them for himself.” ,

 

My sister had shrunk back as I approached.

 

“He reached along, and began to..

 

My fingers had glided up along her quivering figure till I had reached her waist, where I then lifted up her brooch.

 

“He than steals your…”

 

She cut me off… “There was no thief! “she insisted her eyes wide, but I could see the beginning of doubt creeping in her voice.”

 

“That cannot happen, burglars cannot take jewels like that , not with out waking a person up!” she tried to argue, herself half believing it may have happened like that!..

  

Ignoring her protests, , I picked up the purse from where I dropped it, went back to the window.

  

“You must have startled him and he dropped the goods as he was leaving, and an ran off!”

 

She had turned white as a ghost, trying to disbelieve in my words.

 

“No, it didn’t happen, couldn’t !” she vainly still trying on insisting my scenarios away.

 

“Tell you what lets try an experiment “ . I suggested as I turned back on the lights.

 

I laid the opened purse down beside her, jewels inside dimly glimmering .

 

“Put your jewels back on then, go to back bed, and in a couple of hours once you are back asleep I will come in and ….Li”

 

“No” she said, cutting me off… “I still don’t….” then she stopped talking as she saw the smirk on my face

 

“Your right!” I said assuring her qualms ,”There was no thief. It was me, I took em and put them there.”

 

“You took them, you turd “she scolded, WHEN..HOW?” she directly appealed in a rather fetchingly imploring way…as she raised her arms up to me to help her up.

 

“Every thief has their secrets luv” I said, as she slipped off from the bed and stood looking up at me, then let out a rather wide Yawn..

 

I was looking her still begowned figure over, her brooch the only jewel left, still putting on a rather dazzling show as she finished her relaxing yawn, I realized just how long a day it’d been, and just how tired we both were.

 

It had, actually been a quite long event filled day!

 

“Maybe I’ll tell in the morning, its late, lets get you off to bed !” I said, and she leaned happily up against me, I wrapped my arms around her warm, slippery figure.

 

“Good night Sis “ I said and kissed her on the forehead, then started to leave.

 

“Good night Baby brother” , she said smirking, as she reached back behind her with gloved hands fumbling to undo the tied bow of her gowns’ sash…

 

“Here,” I said, “please allow me.”

  

I went up behind her, as she turned to allow me access to the satin bow tied at the back of her svelte waiste.

 

She giggled as I pulled her bow, making her move back closer to me, as I worked on loosening the satin bows knot.

 

“I am so glad you have reformed Mr thief, I can feel safe wearing my jewels around you !” she said with another giggle, as I pulled the bow apart,

letting the loose ends dangle freely down.

 

“Indeed, so you can! “ I said assuringly, my hands wrapping around her waist to give her a hug.

“And I owe it all to you!” I said into her ear.

 

“There now ” I said as released her with a gentle push moving her towards the dresser. “to bed with you”

 

“Good night sir” she said facing away, bending over to open a drawer.

 

I back up alongside her bed, stopping to watch her a minute as she fumbled around in the open drawer.

 

“Good night “ I echoed, watched as she turned to face me with a swish. Holding a silky nightdress in a gloved hand.

 

She just smiled at me as I left, closing her door behind me.

 

I stood with my back to her closed door, grinning…

 

I opened my left hand, looking down with satisfaction at the sparkling brooch I had easily lifted from her pretty gown while hugging her after untying her bow.

 

So much for reformation!

 

I then pulled her unclasped purse , boldly reclaimed from its perch on her bed, from my jacket pocket and slipped the newly acquired brooch inside to join the rest of her purloined jewels…

 

I congratulated myself, my mind already traveling to tomorrow, Sunday, and the stealing prospects it promised to bring.

 

I began to walk away from her door, stopping suddenly I turned and looked back.

 

I whispered out to the closed door…

Addressing my unseen sister on the other side, who would have finally removed by now her quite pretty lavender brides maids gown and exchanged it with her sleeping attire..

 

“ Lessons Learned Luv!” I whispered with devious intent, taking on my character for tomorrow .

 

“ Never trust a thief , and don’t ever turn your pretty back to one!”

  

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Gilligan’s Island,

Season 3

The Kidnapper with Don Rickles

 

One of the more unusual little series of photos in the PMT archive relates to this move. It's odd to modern day eyes to see a bus being towed by another, but until about 30 years ago it was quite commonplace. Changes in legislation and fear of H&S repercussions have generally seen the remaining operators contract out their recovery work to specialists, and dealers/ breakers using exclusively lorries.

Here 'Bertie' the bus is about to be towed away by Reggie the Royal Tiger. Well, actually the ex PMT bus being taken away by a dealer's Royal Tiger is KEH 606, an AEC Regal 1, new in 1946, but lengthened in 1955 after which it lasted another 4 years in PSV service. The relatively youthful Royal Tiger was apparently owned by dealer Frank Cowley from Salford. I believe this picture shows its removal from PMT property but if it does, I guess it must have served as a store shed briefly. Records show that the bus passed to a Manchester area breaker shortly afterwards.

I can totally relate with the squirrel.

the myth retelling Typhon's murder and dismemberment of his brother Osiris.. For alchemists, the myth of Isis and Osiris was a myth of the alchemical process. One of this myths relates him vanquishing Typhon, the dragon of ignorance ...

Set (Seth, Setekh, Sut, Sutekh, Suty) was one of ancient Egypt’s earliest gods, a god of chaos, confusion, storms, wind, the desert and foreign lands. In the Osiris legends, he was a contender to the throne of Osiris and rival to Horus, but a companion to the sun god Ra. Originally worshiped and seen as an ambivalent being, during the Third Intermediate Period the people vilified him and turned him into a god of evil.

Depicted as a man with the head of a ‘Sut animal’ (or a ‘Typhonian animal’ because of the Greek identification with Typhon), or as a full ‘Set animal’ the god is unrecognizable as any one particular animal today. He was also identified with other animals, such as the hippopotamus, the pig and the donkey, which were often abhorred by the Egyptians. These animals were sacred to him. Set’s followers took the form of these animals, as well as crocodiles, scorpions, turtles and other ‘evil’ or dangerous creatures. Some fish were sacred to Set, too – the Nile carp, the Oxyrynchus or the Phagrus fish – because they were thought to have eaten the phallus of Osiris after Set chopped him to pieces.

The ‘Set animal’ has long, squared ears and a long, down-turned snout, a canine-like body with an erect forked tail. He may have been a composite animal that was part aardvark (the aardvark that the ancient Egyptians would have seen was the nocturnal Orycteropus aethiopicus which was between 1.2-1.8 meters long and almost 1 meter tall, and was generally a reddish color because of the thin hair, allowing the skin to show through), part canine (perhaps the salawa, a desert dwelling creature) or even a camel or an okapi. The sign for his name, from the Middle Kingdom hieratic onwards, tended to replace the sign for ‘donkey’ and ‘giraffe’, so he was possibly linked to the giraffe, as well.

He was also believed to have white skin and red hair, with the Egyptians comparing his hair to the pelt of a donkey. Due to his association with red, red animals and even people with red hair were thought to be his followers. These animals were sometimes sacrificed, while the link between Set and red-heads – usually foreigners – gave him godhood over foreign lands. With the relationship to foreign peoples, Set was also a god of overseas trade of oils, wood and metals from over the sea and through desert routes. He was given lordship over western Asia because of this.

As Set was a god of the desert and probably symbolized the destructive heat of the afternoon sun, and thus was thought to be infertile. The hieroglyph for Set was used in words such as ‘turmoil’, ‘confusion’, ‘illness’, ‘storm’ and ‘rage’. Strange events such as eclipses, thunderstorms and earthquakes were all attributed to him.

Horus has seized Set, he has put him beneath you so that he can lift you up. He will groan beneath you as an earthquake…

– Pyramid Texts, Spell 356

He was also thought to have rather odd sexual habits, another reason why the Egyptian believed that abnormalities were linked to Set. In a land where fatherhood makes the man, Set’s lack of children, related to the tale where Horus tore off his testicles (while Set tore out Horus’ eye) would have been one reason why he was looked down on. His favorite – some say only – food was the lettuce (which secreted a white, milky substance that the Egyptians linked to semen and was sacred to the fertility god Min), but even with this aphrodisiac, he was still thought to have been infertile.His bisexuality (he was married and given concubines to appease him, yet he also assaulted Horus sexually starting with the come-on line “How lovely your backside is!”) and his pursuit of Isis were reasons why Set could never have been a ruler of Egypt instead of Osiris, despite originally being a lord of Upper Egypt.When Set saw Isis there, he transformed himself into a bull to be able to pursue her, but she made herself unrecognizable by taking the form of a bitch with a knife on her tail. Then she began to run away from him and Set was unable to catch up with her. Then he ejaculated on the ground, and she said, “It’s disgusting to have ejaculated, you bull!” But his sperm grew in the desert and became the plants called bedded-kau.

– Jumilhac PapyrusIn the Old and Middle Kingdoms there are depictions of these two gods together either leading the prisoners of the pharaoh or binding the plants of Upper and Lower Egypt together (as does the twin Hapi gods) to symbolize the union of Upper and Lower Egypt. He was regarded as an equal to the hawk god. This was Horus the Elder, a god of the day sky while Set was seen as a god of the night sky. When these two gods were linked, the two were said to be Horus-Set, a man with two heads – one of the hawk of Horus, the other of the Set animal.“Homage to thee, O divine Ladder! Homage to thee O Ladder of Set! Stand thou upright, O divine Ladder! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Set! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Horus, whereby Osiris came forth into heaven.”

– Pyramid Texts, Pepi I

In the Pyramid Texts he was believed to be a friend to the dead, and he helped Osiris ascend to heaven on a ladder. On one of Seti I’s reliefs, it shows Set and Horus offering the symbol of life to the pharaoh, with Set saying “I establish the crown upon thy head, even like the Disk on the head of Amen-Ra, and I will give thee all life, strength and health.” Thothmose III had a scene showing Set teaching him the use of the bow, while Horus taught him yet another weapon.

As for his role as a friend of the dead, it was believed that “Horus purifies and Set strengthens, and Set purifies and Horus strengthens” the deceased while the backbone of the deceased becomes the backbone of Set and Set has “joined together my neck and my back strongly, and they are even as they were in the time that is past; may nothing happen to break them apart.”Ramesses II, as did his father Seti I, both had red hair and so aligned themselves with the god of chaos. Both were famous warrior pharaohs, using Set’s violent nature to help with their war efforts. In Ramesses II’s campaign against the Hittites, he split his army into four divisions and named them after four gods. One was for Amen, one for Ra, one for Ptah and one for Set. But it was the pharaoh himself who won the battle:Thereupon the forces of the Foe from Khatti surrounded the followers of his majesty who were by his side. When his majesty caught sight of them he rose quickly, enraged at them like his father Mont. Taking up weapons and donning his armor he was like Set in the moment of his power. He mounted ‘Victory-in-Thebes,’ his great horse, and started out quickly alone by himself. His majesty was mighty, his heart stout. one could not stand before him.All his ground was ablaze with fire; he burned all the countries with his blast. His eyes were savage as he beheld them; his power flared like fire against them. He heeded not the foreign multitude; he regarded them as chaff. His majesty charged into the force of the Foe from Khatti and the many countries with him. His majesty was like Seth, great-of-strength, like Sekhmet in the moment of her rage. His majesty slew the entire force of the Foe from Khatti, together with his great chiefs and all his brothers, as well as all the chiefs of all the countries that had come with him, their infantry and their charioteers falling on their faces one upon the other. His majesty slaughtered them in their places; they sprawled before his horses; and his majesty was alone, none other with him.It is likely that the cult of Horus overtook the cult of Set in ancient times, and started to remove his positive sides to give the god Horus more status. The two gods, Horus the Elder and Horus the son of Osiris and Isis were confused, so Set changed from being an equal to his brother, Horus the Elder, to the enemy of Isis’s son. It was only after the Hyksos took Set as their main god, after the Egyptians god rid of the foreigners, he stopped symbolizing Lower Egypt and his name was erased and his statues destroyed.

Set has been worshiped since predynastic times. The first representation of Set that has been found was on a carved ivory comb, an Amratian artifact. He was also shown on the Scorpion macehead. He was worshiped and placated through Egyptian history until the Third Intermediate Period where he was seen as an evil and undesirable force. From this time on, some of his statues were re-carved to become the statues of other gods, and it was said that he had actually been defeated by the god Horus.In the original tale of the fight between Set and Horus, the Egyptians believed that the two would continue their battle until the end of time itself, when chaos overran ma’at and the waters of Nun would swallow up the world. It was only when Set was vilified that this changed, and the Egyptians began to believe that Horus won the battle, defeating Set as a version of good triumphing over evil.

In the tale of Osiris, Set was the third of the five children of Nut, thought to have been born in the Nubt (Naqada) area. Instead of being born in the normal manner, as his siblings were born, he tore himself violently from his mother’s womb.

You whom the pregnant goddess brought forth when you clove the night in twain -You are invested with the form of Set, who broke out in violence.Jealous of his older brother Osiris – either because of the birth of his sister-wife’s son, Anubis, or because of Osiris’ rulership of Egypt – Set made a plan to murder his childless brother and take the throne. He made a great feast, supposedly in honor of Osiris, and with 72 accomplices ready, he tricked Osiris into laying down in a coffer – whoever fitted into the richly ornamented chest would win it – and considering that he’d measured it to fit his brother exactly, Osiris fit perfectly… and Set’s accomplices nailed down the lid and threw it into the Nile.When Isis found out about this, she went on a search through the world to find her husband. Bringing him back, Set happened on the coffer, and tore it open and cut up his brother’s corpse, spreading body parts through the land of Egypt. Isis and Set’s wife Nephthys (who had left him to join her sister) went on a quest to restore Osiris. They succeeded enough so that Isis conceived Osiris’ son and eventually bore the child Horus in the Delta region where he grew up.

By this time Horus had reached manhood … Horus thereupon did battle with Set, the victory falling now to one, now to the other … Horus and Set, it is said, still do battle with one another, yet victory has fallen to neither.Yet Set was thought to be a follower of Ra. It was he who defended the Solar Barque each night as it traveled through the underworld, the only Egyptian deity who could kill the serpent Apep – Ra’s most dangerous enemy – each night as it threatened to swallow the Barque.Then Set, the strong one, the son of Nut, said “As for me, I am Set, the strongest of the Divine Company. Every day I slay the enemy of Ra when I stand at the helm of the Barque of Millions of Years, which no other god dare do.”Even here, though, Set was thought to be a braggart, taunting Ra and threatening that if he wasn’t treated well, that he would bring storms and thunder against the sun god. At this point in The Book of the Dead, Ra drives Set away from the Barque for his insolence, and proceeds on course without the god of storms.Other than Nephthys, Set had other wives/concubines. He was believed to live in the northern sky by the constellation of the Great Bear. To the Egyptians, the north symbolized darkness, cold and death. It was there that his wife Taweret, the hippo goddess of childbirth, was believed to keep him chained. He seemed to have bad luck with women – as with Nephthys, Taweret followed Osiris.At one part in the tale of Set’s argument with Horus over rulership, the company of the gods asked the goddess Neith, rather than Ra – who sided with Set – who should be given the throne of Osiris. Her reply was this:“Give the office of Osiris to his son Horus! Do not go on committing these great wrongs, which are not in place, or I will get angry and the sky will topple to the ground. But also tell the Lord of All, the Bull who lives in Heliopolis, to double Set’s property. Give him Anat and Astarte, your two daughters, and put Horus in the place of his father.”– Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, RT Rundle ClarkSo he was given the two foreign goddesses Anat and Astarte, both war goddesses from the Syria-Palestine area and daughters of Ra. The two were often interchangeable, yet they had their own distinct cults. Anat and Taweret, though they were fertility goddesses, never bore Set any children.Despite his wicked side, Set was still a god of Egypt, and worshiped – and feared – as such. His image changed through time, due to politics, yet he was still a powerful god, the only one who could slay Ra’s worst enemy. To the Egyptians he was the god who ‘ate’ the moon each month – the black boar who swallowed its light – and the god who created earthquakes and heavy, thunderous rain storms. He was a friend of the dead, helping them to ascend to heaven on his ladder, and the crowner of pharaohs and leader of warriors.Despite his bad reputation, he was still a divine being – an equal of Horus, no less – who could be invoked by his followers or warded off by those who were afraid of him. Yet without chaos and confusion there would be no order; without the heavy, thunderous storms there would be no good weather; without the desert and foreign lands there would be no Egypt. Set was a counterbalance to the ‘good’ side of the Egyptian universe, helping to keep everything in balance.

www.crystalwind.ca/mystical-magical/pantheons-and-myths/e...

Typhon (/ˈtaɪfɒn, -fən/; Greek: Τυφῶν, Tuphōn [typʰɔ̂ːn]), also Typhoeus (/taɪˈfiːəs/; Τυφωεύς, Tuphōeus), Typhaon (Τυφάων, Tuphaōn) or Typhos (Τυφώς, Tuphōs), was a monstrous giant and the most deadly being of Greek mythology. Typhon was the last son of Gaia, and was fathered by Tartarus. Typhon and his mate Echidna were the progenitors of many famous monsters.Typhon was the son of Gaia (Earth) and Tartarus: "when Zeus had driven the Titans from heaven, huge Earth bore her youngest child Typhoeus of the love of Tartarus, by the aid of golden Aphrodite".[1] The mythographer Apollodorus (1st or 2nd century AD) adds that Gaia bore Typhon in anger at the gods for their destruction of her offspring the Giants.Numerous other sources mention Typhon as being the offspring of Gaia, or simply "earth-born", with no mention of Tartarus.However, according to the Homeric Hymn to Apollo (6th century BC), Typhon was the child of Hera alone. Hera, angry at Zeus for having given birth to Athena by himself, prayed to Gaia to give her a son as strong as Zeus, then slapped the ground and became pregnant. Hera gave the infant Typhon to the serpent Python to raise, and Typhon grew up to become a great bane to mortals.

Depiction by Wenceslas Hollar

Several sources locate Typhon's birth and dwelling place in Cilicia, and in particular the region in the vicinity of the ancient Cilician coastal city of Corycus (modern Kızkalesi, Turkey). The poet Pindar (c. 470 BC) calls Typhon '"Cilician",and says that Typhon was born in Cilicia and nurtured in "the famous Cilician cave",[7] an apparent allusion to the Corycian cave.[8] In Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, Typhon is called the "dweller of the Cilician caves",[9] and both Apollodorus and the poet Nonnus (4th or 5th century AD) have Typhon born in Cilicia.The b scholia to Iliad 2.783, preserving a possible Orphic tradition, has Typhon born in Cilicia, as the offspring of Cronus. Gaia, angry at the destruction of the Giants, slanders Zeus to Hera. So Hera goes to Zeus' father Cronus (whom Zeus had overthrown) and Cronus gives Hera two eggs smeared with his own semen, telling her to bury them, and that from them would be born one who would overthrow Zeus. Hera, angry at Zeus, buries the eggs in Cilicia "under Arimon", but when Typhon is born, Hera, now reconciled with Zeus, informs him.

According to Hesiod, Typhon was "terrible, outrageous and lawless", and on his shoulders were one hundred snake heads, that emitted fire and every kind of noise:

Strength was with his hands in all that he did and the feet of the strong god were untiring. From his shoulders grew a hundred heads of a snake, a fearful dragon, with dark, flickering tongues, and from under the brows of his eyes in his marvellous heads flashed fire, and fire burned from his heads as he glared. And there were voices in all his dreadful heads which uttered every kind of sound unspeakable; for at one time they made sounds such that the gods understood, but at another, the noise of a bull bellowing aloud in proud ungovernable fury; and at another, the sound of a lion, relentless of heart; and at another, sounds like whelps, wonderful to hear; and again, at another, he would hiss, so that the high mountains re-echoed.The Homeric Hymn to Apollo describes Typhon as "fell" and "cruel", and neither like gods nor men. Three of Pindar's poems have Typhon as hundred-headed (as in Hesiod),while apparently a fourth gives him only fifty heads, but a hundred heads for Typhon became standard. A Chalcidian hydria (c. 540–530 BC), depicts Typhon as a winged humanoid from the waist up, with two snake tails below. Aeschylus calls Typhon "fire-breathing". For Nicander (2nd century BC), Typhon was a monster of enormous strength, and strange appearance, with many heads, hands, and wings, and with huge snake coils coming from his thighs.

Apollodorus describes Typhon as a huge winged monster, whose head "brushed the stars", human in form above the waist, with snake coils below, and fire flashing from his eyes:

In size and strength he surpassed all the offspring of Earth. As far as the thighs he was of human shape and of such prodigious bulk that he out-topped all the mountains, and his head often brushed the stars. One of his hands reached out to the west and the other to the east, and from them projected a hundred dragons' heads. From the thighs downward he had huge coils of vipers, which when drawn out, reached to his very head and emitted a loud hissing. His body was all winged: unkempt hair streamed on the wind from his head and cheeks; and fire flashed from his eyes.

The most elaborate description of Typhon is found in Nonnus's Dionysiaca. Nonnus makes numerous references to Typhon's sepentine nature, giving him a "tangled army of snakes", snaky feet, and hair.According to Nonnus, Typhon was a "poison-spitting viper",whose "every hair belched viper-poison",and Typhon "spat out showers of poison from his throat; the mountain torrents were swollen, as the monster showered fountains from the viperish bristles of his high head",and "the water-snakes of the monster's viperish feet crawl into the caverns underground, spitting poison!".

Following Hesiod and others, Nonnus gives Typhon many heads (though untotaled), but in addition to snake heads,Nonnus also gives Typhon many other animal heads, including leopards, lions, bulls, boars, bears, cattle, wolves, and dogs, which combine to make 'the cries of all wild beasts together',and a "babel of screaming sounds".Nonnus also gives Typhon "legions of arms innumerable", and where Nicander had only said that Typhon had "many" hands, and Ovid had given Typhon a hundred hands, Nonnus gives Typhon two hundred.According to Hesiod's Theogony, Typhon "was joined in love" to Echidna, a monstrous half-woman and half-snake, who bore Typhon "fierce offspring". First, according to Hesiod, there was Orthrus, the two-headed dog who guarded the Cattle of Geryon, second Cerberus,[36] the multiheaded dog who guarded the gates of Hades, and third the Lernaean Hydra,[37] the many-headed serpent who, when one of its heads was cut off, grew two more. The Theogony next mentions an ambiguous "she", which might refer to Echidna, as the mother of the Chimera (a fire-breathing beast that was part lion, part goat, and had a snake-headed tail) with Typhon then being the father.

While mentioning Cerberus and "other monsters" as being the offspring of Echidna and Typhon, the mythographer Acusilaus (6th century BC) adds the Caucasian Eagle that ate the liver of Prometheus,[39] the mythographer Pherecydes of Leros (5th century BC), also names Prometheus' eagle,[40] and adds Ladon (though Pherecydes does not use this name), the dragon that guarded the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides (according to Hesiod, the offspring of Ceto and Phorcys).[41] while the lyric poet Lasus of Hermione (6th century BC), adds the Sphinx.Later authors mostly retain these offspring of Typhon by Echidna, while adding others. Apollodorus, in addition to naming as their offspring Orthrus, the Chimera (citing Hesiod as his source) the Caucasian Eagle, Ladon, and the Sphinx, also adds the Nemean lion (no mother is given), and the Crommyonian Sow, killed by the hero Theseus (unmentioned by Hesiod).Hyginus (1st century BC),[44] in his list of offspring of Typhon (all by Echidna), retains from the above: Cerberus, the Chimera, the Sphinx, the Hydra and Ladon, and adds "Gorgon" (by which Hyginus means the mother of Medusa, whereas Hesiod's three Gorgons, of which Medusa was one, were the daughters of Ceto and Phorcys), the Colchian Dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece and Scylla.The Harpies, in Hesiod the daughters of Thaumas and the Oceanid Electra, in one source, are said to be the daughters of Typhon.The sea serpents which attacked the Trojan priest Laocoön, during the Trojan War, were perhaps supposed to be the progeny of Typhon and Echidna.According to Hesiod, the defeated Typhon is the source of destructive storm winds.Battle with Zeus

Typhon challenged Zeus for rule of the cosmos.The earliest mention of Typhon, and his only occurrence in Homer, is a passing reference in the Iliad to Zeus striking the ground around where Typhon lies defeated.Hesiod's Theogony gives us the first account of their battle. According to Hesiod, without the quick action of Zeus, Typhon would have "come to reign over mortals and immortals".In the Theogony Zeus and Typhon meet in cataclysmic conflict:[Zeus] thundered hard and mightily: and the earth around resounded terribly and the wide heaven above, and the sea and Ocean's streams and the nether parts of the earth. Great Olympus reeled beneath the divine feet of the king as he arose and earth groaned thereat. And through the two of them heat took hold on the dark-blue sea, through the thunder and lightning, and through the fire from the monster, and the scorching winds and blazing thunderbolt. The whole earth seethed, and sky and sea: and the long waves raged along the beaches round and about at the rush of the deathless gods: and there arose an endless shaking. Hades trembled where he rules over the dead below, and the Titans under Tartarus who live with Cronos, because of the unending clamor and the fearful strife.Zeus with his thunderbolt easily overcomes Typhon,who is thrown down to earth in a fiery crash:So when Zeus had raised up his might and seized his arms, thunder and lightning and lurid thunderbolt, he leaped from Olympus and struck him, and burned all the marvellous heads of the monster about him. But when Zeus had conquered him and lashed him with strokes, Typhoeus was hurled down, a maimed wreck, so that the huge earth groaned. And flame shot forth from the thunderstricken lord in the dim rugged glens of the mount, when he was smitten. A great part of huge earth was scorched by the terrible vapor and melted as tin melts when heated by men's art in channelled crucibles; or as iron, which is hardest of all things, is shortened by glowing fire in mountain glens and melts in the divine earth through the strength of Hephaestus. Even so, then, the earth melted in the glow of the blazing fire.Defeated, Typhon is cast into Tartarus by an angry Zeus.Epimenides (7th or 6th century BC) seeminly knew a different version of the story, in which Typhon enters Zeus' palace while Zeus is asleep, but Zeus awakes and kills Typhon with a thunderbolt.[58] Pindar calls Typhon the "enemy of the gods",[59] apparently knew of a tradition which had the gods transform into animals and flee to Egypt, says that Typhon was defeated by Zeus' thunderbolt,has Typhon being held prisoner by Zeus under Etna,and in Tartarus stretched out under ground between Mount Etna and Cumae. However, the historian Herodotus (5th century BC), equating Typhon with the Egyptian god Set, reports that Typhon was supposed to be buried instead under Lake Serbonis in Egypt, near the Egyptian Mount Kasios, (modern Ra Kouroun).According to Pherecydes of Leros, during his battle with Zeus, Typhon first flees to the Caucasus, which begins to burn, then to the volcanic island of Pithecussae (modern Ischia), off the coast of Cumae, where he is buried under the island.Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BC), like Pherecydes, presents a multi-stage battle, with Typhon being struck by Zeus' thunderbolt on mount Caucasus, before fleeing to the mountains and plain of Nysa, and ending up, as in Herodotus, buried under Lake Serbonis.Like Pindar, Nicander has all the gods but Zeus and Athena, transform into animal forms and flee to Egypt: Apollo became a hawk, Hermes an ibis, Ares a fish, Artemis a cat, Dionysus a goat, Heracles a fawn, Hephaestus an ox, and Leto a mouse.[The geographer Strabo (c. 20 AD) gives several locations which were associated with the battle. According to Strabo, Typhon was said to have cut the serpentine channel of the Orontes River, which flowed beneath the Syrian Mount Kasios (modern Jebel Aqra), while fleeing from Zeus,[68] and some placed the battle at Catacecaumene ("Burnt Land"),[69] a volcanic plain, on the upper Gediz River, between the ancient kingdoms of Lydia, Mysia and Phrygia, near Mount Tmolus (modern Bozdağ) and Sardis the ancient capital of Lydia.No early source gives any reason for the conflict, but Apollodorus' account[71] seemingly implies that Typhon had been produced by Gaia to avenge the destruction, by Zeus and the other gods, of the Giants, a previous generation of offspring of Gaia. According to Apollodorus "Zeus pelted Typhon at a distance with thunderbolts, and at close quarters struck him down with an adamantine sickle" Wounded, Typhon fled to the Syrian Mount Kasios, where Zeus "grappled" with him. But Typhon, twining his snaky coils around Zeus, was able to wrest away the sickle and cut the sinews from Zeus' hands and feet. Typhon carried the disabled Zeus across the sea to the Corycian cave in Cilicia where he set the she-serpent Delphyne to guard over Zeus and his severed sinews, which Typhon had hidden in a bear skin. But Hermes and Aegipan (possibly another name for Pan)[73] stole the sinews and gave them back to Zeus. His strength restored, Zeus chased Typhon to mount Nysa, where the Moirai tricked Typhon into eating "ephemeral fruits" which weakened him. Typhon then fled to Thrace, where he threw mountains at Zeus, which were turned back on him by Zeus' thunderbolts, and the mountain where Typhon stood, being drenched with Typhon's blood, became known as Mount Haemus (Bloody Mountain). Typhon then fled to Sicily, where Zeus threw Mount Etna on top of Typhon burying him, and so finally defeated him.Oppian (2nd century AD) says that Pan helped Zeus in the battle by tricking Typhon to come out from his lair, and into the open, by the "promise of a banquet of fish", thus enabling Zeus to defeat Typhon with his thunderbolts.The longest and most involved account of the battle appears in Nonnus's Dionysiaca.Zeus hides his thunderbolts in a cave, so that he might seduce the maiden Plouto, and so produce Tantalus. But smoke rising from the thunderbolts, enables Typhon, under the guidance of Gaia, to locate Zeus's weapons, steal them, and hide them in another cave.[76] Immediately Typhon extends "his clambering hands into the upper air" and begins a long and concerted attack upon the heavens.Then "leaving the air" he turns his attack upon the seas. Finally Typhon attempts to wield Zeus' thunderbolts, but they "felt the hands of a novice, and all their manly blaze was unmanned."Now Zeus' sinews had somehow – Nonnus does not say how or when — fallen to the ground during their battle, and Typhon had taken them also. But Zeus devises a plan with Cadmus and Pan to beguile Typhon.Cadmus, desguised as a shepherd, enchants Typhon by playing the panpipes, and Typhon entrusting the thuderbolts to Gaia, sets out to find the source of the music he hears.[82] Finding Cadmus, he challenges him to a contest, offering Cadmus any goddess as wife, excepting Hera whom Typhon has reserved for himself.Cadmus then tells Typhon that, if he liked the "little tune" of his pipes, then he would love the music of his lyre – if only it could be strung with Zeus' sinews. So Typhon retrieves the sinews and gives them to Cadmus, who hides them in another cave, and again begins to play his bewiching pipes, so that "Typhoeus yielded his whole soul to Cadmos for the melody to charm".With Typhon distracted, Zeus takes back his thunderbolts. Cadmus stops playing, and Typhon, released from his spell, rushes back to his cave to discover the thunderbolts gone. Incensed Typhon unleashes devastation upon the world: animals are devoured, (Typhon's many animal heads each eat animals of its own kind), rivers turned to dust, seas made dry land, and the land "laid waist".The day ends with Typhon yet unchallenged, and while the other gods "moved about the cloudless Nile", Zeus waits through the night for the coming dawn.[87] Victory "reproaches" Zeus, urging him to "stand up as champion of your own children!"Dawn comes and Typhon roars out a challenge to Zeus.And a catyclismic battle for "the sceptre and throne of Zeus" is joined. Typhon piles up mountains as battlements and with his "legions of arms innumerable", showers volley after volley of trees and rocks at Zeus, but all are destroyed, or blown aside, or dodged, or thrown back at Typhon. Typhon throws torrents of water at Zeus' thunderbolts to quench them, but Zeus is able to cut off some of Typhon's hands with "frozen volleys of air as by a knife", and hurling thunderbolts is able to burn more of typhon's "endless hands", and cut off some of his "countless heads". Typhon is attacked by the four winds, and "frozen volleys of jagged hailstones." Gaia tries to aid her burnt and frozen son.Finally Typhon falls, and Zeus shouts out a long stream of mocking taunts, telling Typhon that he is to be buried under Sicily's hills, with a cenotaph over him which will read "This is the barrow of Typhoeus, son of Earth, who once lashed the sky with stones, and the fire of heaven burnt him up".

Burial under Etna and Ischia]

Most accounts have the defeated Typhon buried under either Mount Etna in Sicily, or the volcanic island of Ischia, the largest of the Phlegraean Islands off the coast of Naples, with Typhon being the cause of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.Though Hesiod has Typhon simply cast into Tartarus by Zeus, some have read a reference to Mount Etna in Hesiod's description of Typhon's fall:And flame shot forth from the thunderstricken lord in the dim rugged glens of the mount when he was smitten. A great part of huge earth was scorched by the terrible vapor and melted as tin melts when heated by men's art in channelled crucibles; or as iron, which is hardest of all things, is shortened by glowing fire in mountain glens and melts in the divine earth through the strength of Hephaestus. Even so, then, the earth melted in the glow of the blazing fire.The first certain references to Typhon buried under Etna, as well as being the cause of its eruptions, occur in Pindar:Son of Cronus, you who hold Aetna, the wind-swept weight on terrible hundred-headed Typhon,and: among them is he who lies in dread Tartarus, that enemy of the gods, Typhon with his hundred heads. Once the famous Cilician cave nurtured him, but now the sea-girt cliffs above Cumae, and Sicily too, lie heavy on his shaggy chest. And the pillar of the sky holds him down, snow-covered Aetna, year-round nurse of bitter frost, from whose inmost caves belch forth the purest streams of unapproachable fire. In the daytime her rivers roll out a fiery flood of smoke, while in the darkness of night the crimson flame hurls rocks down to the deep plain of the sea with a crashing roar. That monster shoots up the most terrible jets of fire; it is a marvellous wonder to see, and a marvel even to hear about when men are present. Such a creature is bound beneath the dark and leafy heights of Aetna and beneath the plain, and his bed scratches and goads the whole length of his back stretched out against it.Thus Pindar has Typhon in Tartarus, and buried under not just Etna, but under a vast volcanic region stretching from Sicily to Cumae (in the vicinity of modern Naples), a region which presumably also included Mount Vesuvius, as well as Ischia.Many subsequent accounts mention either Etnaor Ischia. In Prometheus Bound, Typhon is imprisoned underneath Etna, while above him Hephaestus "hammers the molten ore", and in his rage, the "charred" Typhon causes "rivers of fire" to pour forth. Ovid has Typhon buried under all of Sicily, with his left and right hands under Pelorus and Pachynus, his feet under Lilybaeus, and his head under Etna; where he "vomits flames from his ferocious mouth". And Valerius Flaccus has Typhon's head under Etna, and all of Sicily shaken when Typhon "struggles". Lycophron has both Typhon and Giants buried under the island of Ischia. Virgil, Silius Italicus and Claudian, all calling the island "Inarime", have Typhon buried there. Strabo, calling Ischia "Pithecussae", reports the "myth" that Typhon lay buried there, and that when he "turns his body the flames and the waters, and sometimes even small islands containing boiling water, spout forth."Others said to be buried under Etna were the Giant Enceladus, the volcano's eruptions being the breath of Enceladus, and its tremors caused by the Giant rolling over from side to side beneath the mountain,and the Hundred-hander Briareus."Couch of Typhoeus" Homer describes a place he calls the "couch [or bed] of Typhoeus", which he locates in the land of the Arimoi (εἰν Ἀρίμοις), where Zeus lashes the land about Typhoeus with his thunderbolts. Presumably this is the same land where, according to Hesiod, Typhon's mate Echida keeps guard "in Arima" (εἰν Ἀρίμοισιν).But neither Homer nor Hesiod say anything more about where these Arimoi or this Arima might be. The question of whether an historical place was meant, and its possible location, has been, since ancient times, the subject of speculation and debate.Strabo discusses the question in some detail.[everal locales, Cilicia, Syria, Lydia, and the island of Ischia, all places associated with Typhon, are given by Strabo as possible locations for Homer's "Arimoi".

Pindar has his Cilician Typhon slain by Zeus "among the Arimoi",[106] and the historian Callisthenes (4th century BC), located the Arimoi and the Arima mountains in Cilicia, near the Calycadnus river, the Corycian cave and the Sarpedon promomtory.[107] The b scholia to Iliad 2.783, mentioned above, says Typhon was born in Cilicia "under Arimon",[108] and Nonnus mentions Typhon's "bloodstained cave of Arima" in Cilicia.Just across the Gulf of Issus from Corycus, in ancient Syria, was Mount Kasios (modern Jebel Aqra) and the Orontes River, sites associated with Typhon's battle with Zeus,[110] and according to Strabo, the historian Posidonius (c. 2nd century BC) identified the Arimoi with the Aramaeans of Syria.[Alternatively, according to Strabo, some placed the Arimoi at Catacecaumene,[112] while Xanthus of Lydia (5th century BC) added that "a certain Arimus" ruled there.Strabo also tells us that for "some" Homer's "couch of Typhon" was located "in a wooded place, in the fertile land of Hyde", with Hyde being another name for Sardis (or its acropolis), and that Demetrius of Scepsis (2nd century BC) thought that the Arimoi were most plausibly located "in the Catacecaumene country in Mysia".[114] The 3rd-century BC poet Lycophron placed the lair of Typhons' mate Echidna in this region.[115]

Another place, mentioned by Strabo, as being associated with Arima, is the island of Ischia, where according to Pherecydes of Leros, Typhon had fled, and in the area where Pindar and others had said Typhon was buried. The connection to Arima, comes from the island's Greek name Pithecussae, which derives from the Greek word for monkey, and according to Strabo, residents of the island said that "arimoi" was also the Etruscan word for monkeys.[116]

Etymology and origins Typhon's name has a number of variants.[117] The earliest forms of Typhoeus and Typhaon, occur prior to the 5th century BC. Homer uses Typhoeus, Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo use both Typhoeus and Typhaon. The later forms Typhos and Typhon occur from the 5th century BC onwards, with Typhon becoming the standard form by the end of that century. Though several possible derivations of the name Typhon have been suggested, the derivation remains uncertain.[118] Consistent with Hesiod's making storm winds Typhon's offspring, some have supposed that Typhon was originally a wind-god, and ancient sources associated him with the Greek words tuphon, tuphos meaning "whirlwind".Other theories include derivation from a Greek root meaning "smoke" (consistent with Typhon's identification with volcanoes),from an Indo European root meaning "abyss" (making Typhon a "Serpent of the Deep"),and from Sapõn the Phoenician name for the Ugaritic god Baal's holy mountain Jebel Aqra (the classical Mount Kasios) associated with the epithet Baʿal Zaphon.

As noted by Herodotus, Typhon was traditionally identified with the Egyptian Set, who was also known to the Greeks as Typhon. As early as pre-dynastic Egypt, Set's mascot or emblem was the Set animal; the Greeks and later classicists referred to this unidentified aardvark-like creature as the Typhonic beast. In the Orphic tradition, just as Set is responsible for the murder of Osiris, Typhon leads the Titans when they attack and kill Dionysus, who also became identified with the earlier Osiris.Mythologist Joseph Campbell also makes parallels to the slaying of Leviathan by YHWH, about which YHWH boasts to Job.[123] Ogden calls the Typhon myth "the only Graeco-Roman drakōn-slaying myth that can seriously be argued to exhibit the influence of Near Eastern antecedents", connecting it in particular with Baʿal Zaphon's slaying of Yammu and Lotan, as well as with the Hittite myth of Illuyankas.From its first reappearance, this latter myth has been seen as a prototype of the battle of Zeus and Typhon.Walter Burkert and Calvert Watkins each note the close agreements.Comparisons can also be drawn with the Mesopotamian monster Tiamat and her slaying by Babylonian chief god Marduk. The similarities between the Greek myth and its earlier Mesopotamian counterpart do not seem to be merely accidental. A number of west Semitic (Ras Shamra) and Hittite sources appear to corroborate the theory of a genetic relationship between the two myths.In works of culture. Dante Alighieri's Inferno mentions him amongst the Biblical and mythological giants frozen onto the rings outside of Hell's Circle of Treachery. Dante and Virgil threatened to go to Tityos and Typhon unless Antaeus lowers them into the Circle of Treachery. Typhon (as Typhoeus) appears in Gustav Klimt's 1902 Beethoven Frieze as one of "the Hostile Forces".

Typhon is a recurring character in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, where he is a friend and ally to Hercules, and a calming influence on Echidna and their children. Typhon appears in the 2007 video game, God of War II where the main character Kratos tries to enlist his aid. The Titan refuses and Kratos blinds Typhon and takes his magical bow, Typhon's Bane.Swedish symphonic metal band Therion dedicated a song to Typhon in their year 2004 album Lemuria.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhon

Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.

 

Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.

 

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Today is the ninth day of a 30 day challenge. The objective is to shoot one shot per day on subject matter provided by the local camera club.

 

Today's subject matter is, "something relating to a car".

'Culture relates to objects and is a phenomenon of the world; entertainment relates to people and is a phenomenon of life.'

Hannah Arendt

 

Lights of the Las Vegas strip, Aria curvilinear towers resort and hotel complex and MGM resort and hotel complex and the blue light in the background shining straight up is from the Fremont Street Experience (FSE) . The FSE is a light show quite a few miles away from the strip. Uploaded for the Geometric Shapes challenge. The curvilinear towers were quite fascinating, even captivating in appearance

 

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Although he is known by many other attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him particularly easy to identify. In Hinduism, Ganesha is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles. and more generally as the Lord of Beginnings and the Lord of Obstacles,patron of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom. He is honoured at the beginning of rituals and ceremonies and invoked as the Patron of Letters during writing sessions.Several texts relate mythological anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits and explain his distinct iconography.

 

The most well-known story is probably the one taken from the Shiva Purana. Once, while his mother Parvati wanted to take a bath, there were no attendants around to guard her and stop anyone from accidentally entering the house. Hence she created an image of a boy out of turmeric paste which she prepared to cleanse her body (turmeric was used for its antiseptic and cooling properties), and infused life into it, and thus Ganesha was born. Parvati ordered Ganesha not to allow anyone to enter the house, and Ganesha obediently followed his mother's orders. After a while Shiva returned from outside, and as he tried to enter the house, Ganesha stopped him. Shiva was infuriated at this strange little boy who dared to challenge him. He told Ganesha that he was Parvati's husband, and demanded that Ganesha let him go in. But Ganesha would not hear any person's word other than his dear mother's. Shiva lost his patience and had a fierce battle with Ganesha. At last he severed Ganesha's head with his trishula. When Parvati came out and saw her son's lifeless body, she was very angry and sad. She demanded that Shiva restore Ganesha's life at once.

 

Unfortunately, Shiva's trishula was so powerful that it had hurled Ganesha's head very far off. All attempts to find the head were in vain. Parvati was so enraged and insulted that she decided to destroy the entire Creation! Lord Brahma, being the Creator, naturally had his issues with this, and pleaded that she reconsider her drastic plan. She said she would, but only if two conditions were met: one, that Ganesha be brought back to life, and two, that he be forever worshipped before all the other gods. Sent Brahma out with orders to bring back the head of the first creature he crosses that is laying with its head facing North. Shiva then sent his celestial armies (Gana) to find and take the head of whatever creature they happened to find asleep with its head facing north. They found a dying elephant which slept in this manner, and after its death took its head, attaching the elephant's head to Ganesha's body and bringing him back to life. From then on, he was called Ganapathi, head of the celestial armies, and was to be worshipped by everyone before beginning any activity.

- Wikipedia

 

Shot of the Mural on the other side of the wall in comment box

The chapel features, on its three walls, frescoed scenes relating to the Universal Flood, the Entrance of the Animals into the Ark, the End of the Flood and Noah's Drunkenness. The compositions are characterised by outdoor visions marked by the presence of human figures and animals, both depicted on a small scale. The painter's attention seems to be focused on the description of the variety of animals and birds, without, however, failing to dwell on the more intensely dramatic scenes, such as the cases of those who drown, going as far as the cold analysis of the corpses strewn on the ground after the Flood. The stories of the Flood are linked to the fresco of the Baptism of Christ that faces them in the cloistered church, as a foreshadowing of that moment of salvation, according to what St Peter makes clear in the First Epistle (3:20-21): "God in his longsuffering waited in the days of Noah for the ark to be built, in which eight people in all found escape from the water, a figure, this one, of the Baptism that now saves us".

Historical-critical information: In these frescoes, Aurelio Luini displays an unprecedented propensity for storytelling and narration for its own sake, which results in a smug amusement directed above all at the descriptive rendering of the various animal species, rendered with an almost lenticular meticulousness. As the son of Bernardino Luini, who was active for many years in San Maurizio, Aurelio showed undisputed talent for painting, which led him to collaborate with his older brother Giovan Pietro from 1555 onwards. Here, as in other cases, Aurelio exhibits the peculiar characteristics of his painting, sustained by an exuberant expressive emphasis that is fully in line with contemporary 'Mannerism'. The naturalistic taste manifested in the frescoes of the Noah's Ark chapel also reflects the interest that Aurelio, a member of the Accademia della Val di Blenio (run by Giovan Paolo Lomazzo), had always shown in Leonardo's research.

  

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Lothian Buses Gemini 3 Facelift bodied Volvo B5LH number 554 (SA15 VUE) ‘Estiland’ is seen here at OT, under a certain sign that relates to its number plate

 

Taken on Wednesday the 17th of December 2025.

 

This is a photo I’ve been wanting to get for SO many years, 554 (SA15 VUE) ‘Estiland’ under the big ‘vue’ sign at OT, corresponding wi the registration plate very nicely. The original photo needed some editing work to be presentable, but I went a bit over the top wi the saturation and such, because I can.

 

Thanks to ZZ9 for motivating me to try and actually finallly go and get this shot!

 

I posted a photo of this bus to flickr shortly after its 5th birthday, talking about how weird it seemed that it was already five years old, the new hybrids on the 34 were a highlight of 2015, and they seemed fairly new and exciting for a while after. Well now it’s over a decade old somehow, but spending its days mainly on the 34 and 35, just where it’s most at home.

 

So I unofficially named this bus ‘Estiland’ originally, mistakenly thinking it was Estonian for Estonia (no, that’s Eesti), but the name stuck and It’s now played a part of enough of my life that I have a fondness for it, even slightly more than some others in its batch.

 

In November this year, ZZ9 nicknamed this ‘Lothian’s Cinema Bus’ in relation to the number plate, as we see here quite clearly. I intend to add ZZ9’s name to the unofficial names doc, what better name could there be for this? However, ‘Estiland’ is also staying, that’s what it’s always been to me. It’s by far not the first bus wi two names, even though I usually try and avoid multiple names, there’s no reason why we can’t have some! An example currently in the fleet is XLB number 1066, which I nicknamed ‘Frances’, and Callum Colville nicknamed ‘Battle of Hastings’, due to the fleet number corresponding to the date of that battle.

 

This batch (551-570) may be unremarkable, but they seem to still be doing just as well as ever, usually winding their slow way through the city from the foot of the Pentlands in Currie to the sea at OT. If anyone wants to have a go at which of this batch of B5LHs have which seatback colours then go ahead, it’s not intuitive!

  

Vehicle Information

 

Operator: Lothian Buses

Service: 34 Leith Harbour and Newhaven Ocean Terminal Ocean Drive – Currie Riccarton Hariot-Watt University The Avenue (Trip NovWedAL23925725)

Vehicle type: Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 3 Facelift bodied Volvo B5LH

Vehicle engine: Euro 6 Diesel-Electric Hybrid

Vehicle fleet number: 554

Vehicle registration: SA15 VUE

Vehicle name: Estiland

Vehicle depot: Longstone (LS)

Vehicle livery: Lothian Buses Madder and White Fleet of the Future (FOTF) non-ADL Double Deck 2020 version

Vehicle destination screen: white Hanover LED screen

Vehicle destination display: Heriot-Watt 34 / via Research Park

Vehicle Chassis: Vo B5LH YV3T1U22XFA172380

Vehicle Body: Wt AM087

Vehicle Seating: H49/25F

Operating area: City of Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian

Registration prefix area: Glesga

Year of manufacture: 2015

Date of first registration: 14.07.2015 (Day T42198)

Original operator: Lothian Buses

Original fleet number: 554

Original registration: SA15 VUE

Age of vehicle: 10 years, 5 months and 3 days (total 3809 days)

Photo location: Ocean Drive, Ocean Terminal, Leith Harbour and Newhaven, Lìte, City of Edinburgh

Taken on: Wednesday the 17th of December 2025 (17.12.2025)

 

Taken on Day U3639

  

References

 

Bus Lists on the Web (2025) SA15VUE. Available at: www.buslistsontheweb.co.uk/ (Accessed 17.12.2025, Day U3641)

 

Bustimes.org (2025) Lothian Buses - Vehicles – 554 (SA15 VUE). Available at: bustimes.org/vehicles/loth-554?date=2025-12-17 (Accessed 17.12.2025, Day U3641)

 

GOV.UK (2025) Check MOT History – SA15 VUE. Available at: www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/results?registration=SA15VUE... (Accessed 17.12.2025, Day U3641)

 

Scottish Community Councils (2025) Find a Community Council. Available at: www.communitycouncils.scot/community-council-finder (Accessed 17.12.2025, Day U3641)

  

“I cannot rest, I must draw, however poor the result, and when I have a bad time come over me it is a stronger desire than ever.”

― Beatrix Potter

 

...so relatable :)

This one can relate to all kinds of things. Sass and I are in Manoa Falls. There is a spot off the trail where the river water settles a bit and we are able to get nice reflection shots.

I brought back the camera stats for the convenience of the curious ones. Even if it helps only one person, it's worth the extra time.

 

CRAZY WEATHER

There was a huge storm here last night. Check out this picture that a fellow hawaii photographer took near Waikiki. Man I would have loved to set up a shoot with that in the background! I was stuck at work though :(

 

NEW SERIES COMING SOON!

I've got ideas for a new series. Twelve different shots over a three month span. I'm still getting together some ideas, but stay tuned!

 

Find me on facebook, tumblr, twitter, formspring,or my website.

 

Camera: Canon EOS 60D

Focal Length: 50mm

Lens: Canon 50mm 1.4

Aperture: f/2.0

Exposure: 1/200 sec

ISO Speed: 100

Filter: n/a

Editing Software: CS5

Flash: Canon 430ex II with Lumiquest Ltp Softbox camera left.

imgur.com/account/favorites/hgbi3vZ

Rick Mercer's video "Plus 1 in Canada". I can so relate to this - so funny! And, yes, it's snowing AGAIN today, heavily. Temperature this morning is -19C (windchill -27C). Wish I could say that it will be yet another day at home, but I have to somehow drive half way across the city for a regular dental appointment. I can barely tell where the road is. We are still under a Winter Storm Warning, with a total of up to 35 cm of snow expected.

 

youtu.be/wkDvqQKGgDA

 

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Needless to say, this is not a photo that was taken in the wild! I would never be able to get such a close shot or even a close view like this, unless the bird was captive for one reason or another. This bird had just had some flight training and was given a hosepipe shower to cool off.

 

This particular Bald Eagle resides at the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale, southern Alberta. This is a wonderful place that rehabilitates and releases (whenever possible) various birds of prey - hawks, owls, Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures,and Golden Eagles. Some of these birds act as Wildlife Ambassadors, too, including educating the public away from the Centre. Sometimes, a bird is also used as a foster parent.

 

I often see Bald Eagles flying wild, both in the city and in the surrounding areas. Usually when I see one, it is flying or perched far away. Too far away to see any detail at all, which is why I love going to this Centre, to see raptors up close.

 

"Once a common sight in much of the continent, the bald eagle was severely affected in the mid-20th century by a variety of factors, among them the thinning of egg shells attributed to use of the pesticide DDT. Bald eagles, like many birds of prey, were especially affected by DDT due to biomagnification. DDT itself was not lethal to the adult bird, but it interfered with the bird's calcium metabolism, making the bird either sterile or unable to lay healthy eggs. Female eagles laid eggs that were too brittle to withstand the weight of a brooding adult, making it nearly impossible for the eggs to hatch. It is estimated that in the early 18th century, the bald eagle population was 300,000–500,000,[118] but by the 1950s there were only 412 nesting pairs in the 48 contiguous states of the US. Other factors in bald eagle population reductions were a widespread loss of suitable habitat, as well as both legal and illegal shooting. DDT was completely banned in Canada in 1989, though its use had been highly restricted since the late 1970s." From Wikipedia.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_eagle

 

Last summer (2017), we had practically no 'normal' summer days. Most were too hot thanks to an almost endless heatwave, and also too smoky thanks to all the wildfires in British Columbia and Alberta. The weather forecast for 3 August 2017 looked good; sunshine all day, with rain forecast on several of the coming days. I decided to finally do a drive all the way down south to near Lethbridge, so that I could again visit the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale. The previous year (2016), I did this drive for the very first time on my own and I wanted to make sure I didn't lose my courage to do it again. During the 511 kms that I drove, I had to ask for help with directions twice - both times in the same small hamlet. It was a hot day, with a temperature of 31C when I was at the Centre.

 

Though the forecast was for sun all day, there was no mention of the smoke haze that completely blocked out the mountains and pretty much the foothills, too. Very quickly, I was almost tempted to turn around and come home, but I had noticed rain in the forecast for the coming days. I reckoned I would still be able to photograph the fairly close birds at the Centre, which worked out fine.

 

Amazingly, I managed to make myself get up early that morning, and set off just before 8:30 am. My intention was to drive straight to Coaldale without stopping anywhere en route. Not an easy thing for me to do, as I much prefer driving slowly along the back roads rather than the less interesting highways. However, I knew it would take me a few hours to get there and I wanted to have as much time as possible down there. On the way home, I drove one dusty, gravel road, but saw nothing but a couple of Horned Larks perched on fence posts. A couple of old barns (that I had seen before) and a few scenic shots, were more or less all I took.

 

I finally arrived home at 8:30 pm, after a 12-hour day, totally tired out, and my car was just about out of gas. So happy to have been down there again, though.

91/365

My first overseas collaboration and there wouldn't be a better artist than Laura Vanzo (aka. Pensa Art)

The project is about how two people who had never meet, can be connected through a common cause. This photo is the first in the series which I hope many of you can relate to.

 

Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr / Vogue Italia / Instagram: mc_cheung88

ift.tt/1L2Qu9W @trunkieygm collabs with @georgethepoet on the song entitled Pavements/Relate. Out 3pm on @linkuptv #UKMUSIC #CAM #LINKUPTV #PavementsRelate

Watching over the Canyon in sort of a protective manner. I can relate to just how overwhelming looking out over this canyon can be! What an IMMENSELY awesome thing to see! :-)

 

The Trip to the Grand Canyon from Vegas seemed like it took FOREVER! I had left Vegas after midnight after a very long day! I had started off the day in the northern area of Death Valley after spending the night in a tent at a campsite that Darren and I had grabbed the day before. During the night I just knew that the Mountain Lions were ganging up and circling the tents and planning their strategy for some tasty meals! Okay... so it could have been just a few Kangaroo Mice instead! Or maybe just the wind! :-D Anyway, I had passed out on Darren the previous night at Racetrack Playa basically from being so totally exhausted that I just couldn't go anymore. So I could have just been dreaming! ;-)

 

After a restless night, Darren and I got up and made our way south and stopped along the way to see some of the other sites in Death Valley. It was getting very HOT in the middle of the day but we did make it to the Devil's Golf course and a few other places as well. I needed to start heading back towards Dallas and at about 2 or so in the afternoon, I bid farewell to Darren and started heading east.

 

That evening I stopped in Vegas to meet up with Marisa and one other photographer that lives there in Vegas as well. We spent a little time at the Red Rock Park just on the Northeast side of Las Vegas. After dropping off Marisa at her car and thanking her for the time she spent with us, I started making my way towards the Grand Canyon. At least my plan was to drive for as long as I could and then pull over to get some sleep somewhere. I was not in Arizona too long before I had to stop and found a parking area with a scenic overlook area and laid back the seat to get some rest.

 

I woke up the next morning as the sun was rising and got back on the road shortly thereafter. Still didn't get much sleep but I was ready to hit the Grand Canyon and see if I could find a secluded area to get some Light Painting Shots in that evening.

 

I arrived at the Grand Canyon at about noon after a few pit stops for food and fuel and there were people EVERYWHERE! As I walked around the Grand Canyon Village area taking pics here and there, I was also watching the people that were obviously here from all over the world to see this awesome spectacle of nature! So many different languages being spoken that I could not even start to guess what most of them were. It was pretty cool to be standing in the middle of this big melting pot of people from every corner of the planet.

 

With all of the people around this main area, I decided it was best to venture to the east a bit and see if I could find a nice overlook area not only to catch a nice sunset with the canyon in view, but a spot that would be a good place for some light painting a little later when the moon came up. It was now Monday, May 7th and the full moon occurred two days prior to this. So it would rise roughly two hours after sunset... Plenty of time to get settled! :-)

 

I drove down East Rim Drive towards Cameron, Arizona. (Cameron loved the fact that "the town was named after him!" when we made a trip to the Grand Canyon in 2001!) Ha! I was so busy looking at the forest and the occasional views over the canyon that I didn't pay much attention to the signs along road as I went. This would come back to bite me a little later! ;-) I stopped at several overlook areas along the way and finally made my way to Navajo Point which is about 20 miles away from the main visitor center. The view from this point was awesome! The canyon made a bend here and the sun would set over the canyon to my west, and you could see the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon in spots towards the west and in a large area heading to the north east from here. I took a few photos and looked around a bit and found a spot where I could do some Light Painting without fear of falling off into the dark canyon below. At least not TOO much fear! ;-)

 

So after a little more exploring of the area, I settled down in a good spot to get some shots of the sun setting and just kicked back for a while enjoying the view. Off to the east, I noticed some clouds and it looked like they might have some rain mixed in with them as well. Rain is sort of an unusual thing and you really don't see clouds that often here either so I didn't think much about them other than the fact that I thought it would be cool if some clouds would make an appearance in some of my shots. Well, be careful what you wish for! As the sun was getting closer to the horizon, an overcast moved in and caught up with the sun as well and it was starting to look like there wasn't going to be any sunset shots at this point. It was also looking pretty bad for the Light Painting shoot that I had planned for later as well since this would block the moon from making the landscape visible during the session! 8-O Wow!

 

Well, just as the sun was getting close to the horizon, it broke back out of the cloud bank and did end up putting on a bit a a show for us. I say "US" because at this point, there were probably 50 other people gathered at the same area hoping to get a shot of the sunset also! ;-)

 

Anyway… After getting some shots of the sunset and letting it get a bit dark, I headed back towards Grand Canyon Village to see if I could find a place to get some food and do some waiting to see if the clouds would break up at all. On my way back though, I spotted some of the signs that I had missed on the way in! There was one that REALLY stood out and was on the road near the point I had chosen for my Light Painting session that night! It was like the familiar Deer Crossing warning signs that most everyone has seen before, but this was different! Instead of the silhouette of a deer on the sign, it was the silhouette of a Mountain Lion!!! 8-O A Cougar! A Puma! A BIG Cat!! One that HAS been known to attack and kill humans!! I distinctly remember reading that these cats are normally shy and solitary animals, BUT, they DO occasionally attack people, usually children or solitary adults, and that there are about four attacks per year with one fatality each year!!! Great!!! Here I am, in an area where they thought it NECESSARY to put up a sign warning drivers about them and I was going to be a SOLITARY ADULT out in the middle of the night in the middle of NOWHERE!!

 

I have said it before and I will say it again! One my biggest fears is being eaten alive! Particularly by one of these cats!! It is not the first time I have been in an area where they are known to be, and I am sure it wont be the last! But usually I am with someone else! This time, it was just me! So.. as I dwelled on that thought all the way back to civilization and on through dinner while waiting for the moon to pop out of the clouds, I wondered if I should try to find a different area in the dark or go through with my plans. Things were really not looking too good anyway with the cloud cover so I was starting to think that I would not get any Light Painting shots at the Grand Canyon this go around anyway. :-\

 

As it starting getting close to midnight, I was getting ready to give up on the moon when I noticed it lighten up a bit outside! Sure enough! The clouds were breaking! Cool! I was at least going to see if I could get a few shots in before hitting the road again to get back to Dallas! So... I made my way back out to Navajo Point and was reminded of the Mountain Lion threat several times along the way! I had convinced myself that I would just try to play it as safe as possible and keep aware of my surroundings as much as possible, but if it was my time to go at the claws of a big cat, then I guess it was time! :-)

 

When I reached Navajo Point, I got all my gear together and made the short hike over to the rim of the canyon and got things set up. I kept a very bright flashlight turned on and searched the area for glowing eyes at every chance as I got everything ready to shoot. The moon was still at an angle that was causing some unwanted shadows but I just had to deal with the situation I had at the moment and started shooting. Each shot was a little over a 10 minute exposure and it was difficult to NOT turn on the spotlight to look for eyes during the exposures but I refrained. The wind was blowing fairly strong as well, so it was hard to hear anything but the wind blowing through the trees. As soon as I would end an exposure, I would turn on the spotlight to scan for glowing eyes and keep it on the entire time that I was checking the shot. I would scan the trees again before taking the next shot and this went on like this for the next two hours.

 

After I had created several shots, and at about 2:30 in the morning, my nerves were shot and I was exhausted once again! So I packed things up and high tailed it away from any further threat of being eaten alive that night! I still felt good about the fact that I was FINALLY able to Light Paint the Grand Canyon! :-)

 

Light Painting - Single Exposure

In the style of Denis Smith (biskitboy)

Sure, it's not clever, and sure, I'm not actually gonna buy it.

 

But it’s relatable. :P

 

Honestly I just wanted to use this drawing I did a little while ago. Enjoy.

The Moon has reached the first quarter of it's phase, but it's been

so cloudy, misty, foggy and rainy that I haven't been able to see it!

I took this photo on leap day 29th February 2012 when the Moon was at a similar phase as it is now. I love the way that the craters show up so well on the terminator when the sun is shining at an angle.

 

Highest position in Explore: 112 on Thursday, November 22, 2012

 

#29 - Leap Day (Any shot to be taken on, or relating to 29th February 2012) in 112 pictures in 2012

The third of the three brochures relating to Dennis's re-entry into the bus & coach building business was the Dorchester chassis. It was very much a premium offering and really deserved to succeed on the strength of its design and heavy duty build quality. It boasted a mid mounted Gardner 6HLXCT power unit and full air suspension. Typically for Dennis though they offered a Voith auto box as standard at a time when people weren't really ready for automatic coaches. I suppose there might have been more, but I can only recall the Duple Carribean bodied Demonstrator as having a manual gearbox.

Several years ago I had the opportunity to drive an ex Kingston upon Hull Paramount bodied Dorchester with Voith box when we had one in for some work. It sat heavily on the road and felt incredibly well made. When however I came to reverse up the slight incline into our yard, it just didn't want to know.

If the Dorchester did one thing however, it was frightening Leyland into offering a Gardner powered Tiger, because after seeing the SBG taking Dorchesters, they feared another Seddon Pennine VII vs Leopard issue.

 

Here is another scan and retouch that relates a lot of history. It was a snap of Alice and Katherine at Alice's Wild Basin cabin at the Copeland Lake area of the south end of Rocky Mtn. National Park. Was the old ice chest on the north of the cabin still in use? It stands in front of the cabin that was originally the recycled ice house at Copeland Lake. At some time, Jim Coulihan of St. Catherine's Chapel, built a new addition to the origins. Grandmother, Alice, spent every summer at her cabin right near the Wid Basin Lodge and walked to The Meeker Park Store of groceries. Down the hill from the porch on the other side was the North St.Vrain River scrambled down the canyon, filled with all those trout. The cabin was ever a mellow place to stay in 1943.

 

Talk about a mellow place to stay, the entire world would like to pack in here this summer. At Longmont, the nights are seldom dropping to 60 and below so far. So much for T-Rump's Tirade against the Environment (his TTE - Trade the Environment for money policy); it's starting to really pay off with rain in the Arctic and state sized bergs calving in the Antarctic.

 

The water supply for the uninsulated cabin was directly pumped from the river when there was no thought about the quality of the water supply. Do I remember something about tumbling streams purifying in a 1/4 mile? Nobody ever gave a thought about drinking from the stream that fed Longmont's water supply.

 

As usual, the negative and contact printing left a lot of flecks, white and black, and garbage across the image. In close, it looks like a shotgun blast. As always, it provides plenty of practice whether needed or not. I used the same two techniques, the Stamp and Brush to work on the image. Unfortunately, the scanner usually features all the defects on old snaps like this. I suppose that it will always be possible that this family will exchange the digital shots and spread them far enough that my labor won't be entirely wasted.

 

Generally, I gang output these to high resolution PDFs that can be printed at home of taken to Fed-X Kinkos for their color printing. I have enough to output another sheet. Their output never seems to waver from the quality of the PDF.

  

127 comments under the Facebook posting, to a province-wide group, of a photo that a photographer took of three people, one of them myself - angry, rude, critical, judgemental comments, by people who don't even know me or my ethics, including when they relate to photography! Last night, I found the posting again and took a long time going through all 127 comments. Made me feel sick to the stomach. This can't be right, though I know this kind of thing does happen on Facebook. I want the photo removed or for the photographer to at the very least completely blur me out of the shot. Though his comment, when he first posted his photo, was about people staying safe when taking photos, he has allowed the posting to develop into an endless bashing.

 

I wasn't going to post this again, but I have changed my mind after reading all those comments. I sent the man a link to one of my owl photos that has this long description with it, asking him to read, when he has time, what I have written. The link was sent only two or three days ago, so he may not have seen it yet.

 

""I think the very first Long-eared Owl that I ever saw was seen on 13 October 2006. SInce then, I have been very fortunate to have seen several other individuals - including the day before yesterday. These owls are very secretive and many birders go years between sightings. It is so important not to give the location of this species. Be careful that there is nothing in your photos that gives away the location.

 

Various people had been posting photos of a Long-eared Owl recently, but I had no idea where they were seeing it. Someone had posted a photo and labelled it "Calgary" (totally untrue!), so I had thought it must have been seen in one of our local city parks. Two days ago, I decided to go for a short drive and get a bit of sunshine and fresh air. Our deep freeze has lasted for more than four weeks, and I have been home for most of that time. It was a milder day, so I decided to make the most of it, especially with more snow forecast for today.

 

Imagine my surprise when a stranger told me just where it was, and my absolute horror when I came upon a huge crowd of photographers with their lenses raised! So how did they all know about this owl?? Apparently, Facebook has such a bad reputation for people trolling everyone's photostream there, finding out locations for all sorts of things (old barns included!). Then, of course, some people phone others, to ask or to tell. Others follow ebird religiously, dashing out to see every more 'special' bird that is reported and location given. I don't post many photos on Facebook and I certainly don't post the same photo to three groups. It gets so very boring to see the same photos everywhere. These people flood their own Facebook pages and the groups! The only reason I can see is to get as many Likes as possible. Anyway, most people were down in the ditch at the fenceline, so no doubt they were able to get stunning close shots, especially those with enormous lenses. My photos were taken from the road, which was twice as far away, with a point-and-shoot. I'm not out to try and get better photos than anyone else : ) As always, there is so much competition among photographers. I was also not out there all day, like various people always are, and often day after day after day.

 

So, after saying those things, perhaps you can imagine how extremely upset (devastated, actually) I am to have been told (when I arrived at the owl) by a couple of friends (both of whom are superb photographers) that my photograph had been taken, along with two other people in it, standing at the edge of a road earlier in February. These friends thought it was hilarious and I sure was teased a lot. As they said, my "goody two-shoes" image was gone. They both know I have very high ethics, including when it comes to photography. This photo was posted on Facebook on a provincial birding page, pointing out how dangerous it is for people to stand by the road. This thread turned into a string of comments about people harassing the owls, etc., etc., etc. Actually, the other two people in the photo are both seen taking photos (when I was told they already had taken thousands). There's me, camera not raised, looking disgusted that an owl had been flushed so that they could take flight images. The reason I was out of my vehicle was that these two people were out of theirs and racing down the road at top speed to get yet more shots. When I was sitting in my car, these photographers blocked my view of the owl, so out I got and caught up with them. To prove that I was not planning on getting out of my car this trip, I was wearing just my thin summer jacket (over fleece) in a windchill in the minus 20C's. Two minutes later, I was back in my car!

 

Sorry to rant, but it just upsets me so much that this photo was taken and posted on Facebook. Have barely slept the last two nights! The very last thing I would ever want is to be connected with bad ethics!! Of course, I must be such a bad person to actually stand by the road - ha, you should see all the dozens of people who do exactly the same (without being photgraphed)!

 

That day, I took maybe 30 photos of the Long-eared Owl, and maybe a couple of dozen of a Short-eared Owl, almost every single one of the latter needing to be deleted, because they were all totally blurry, thanks to taking the photos from inside my car. You can be sure that most of the others went home with yet another memory card containing thousands of photos.

 

I am hoping that now I won't be stressing out over it quite as much, every second of the day! Ain't life fun? To the man who took my photo (as far as I know, I have never met him), how about taking a few photos of the crowds of people, especially those who were as close as they could get to the LEO. Or those who stress out the owls day after day after day, often from morning till evening! You might just get lots of likes and comments on photos of those repeat "offenders". How about giving it a try?

 

PS: I rarely allow people (i.e. friends) to photograph me. Not sure what right this man thinks he has, to take my photo and especially to then post it on a very popular Facebook group page. I want it removed from Facebook, or at the very least, to have myself totally blurred out of the image. When this sort of thing happens, it can totally destroy a person's joy of photography!

 

Actually, on a more serious note, something that I'm sure most people don't think of. You really need to be careful about taking a photo of someone and then posting it (without signing a consent form). For various security reasons, doing this could actually put someone in danger. For example, a woman (or vice versa) might not want their photo being advertised in this way, not wanting an abusive spouse/partner to know where they go sometimes or what they do. Just something to keep in mind."

Work Day / Social Distancing Day 92, 06/15/2020, Manhattan, NY

 

Apple iPhone XR

iPhone XR back camera 4.25mm f/1.8

ƒ/1.8 4.2 mm 1/120 64

 

FaceBook | Blogger | Instagram | Lens Wide-Open

Although it is said that a light was shown on Hurst Point as early as 1733, the first Trinity House record relates to a meeting of shipmasters and merchants in 1781 to approve the terms of a formal petition to Trinity House for lights in the neighbourhood of the Isle of Wight.

 

As a result a patent was obtained in January 1782 which stated that “ships and vessels have been lost... and the lives, ships and goods of His Majesty's subjects as well as the King's Royal Navy continue to be exposed to the like calamities more especially in the night time and in hard southerly gales”. The patent directed that the lights should be "kept burning in the night season whereby seafaring men and mariners might take notice of and avoid dangers… and ships and other vessels of war might safely cruise during the night season in the British Channel".

 

In 1785 negotiations with Tatnell fell through and Trinity House erected to the designs of R Jupp three lighthouses at the Needles, St. Catherine's Point and Hurst. The tower at Hurst, sited to the south west of Hurst Castle, was lit for the first time on 29 September 1786.

 

In due course, however, shipping found that this light was obscured from certain directions and the Corporation constructed in 1812 an additional and higher light, both to remedy this defect and to give a guiding line to vessels.

 

Extensive additions were made to the castle between 1865 and 1873 necessitating the repositioning of the lights. In 1866 a new lighthouse—the Low Light—was built to replace the old Hurst tower. The new lighthouse consisted of a white circular granite tower with a red lantern. This light was replaced in 1911 with a new low light, a red square metal structure standing on a framework of steel joists attached to the wall of Hurst Castle. The low lighthouse was decommissioned and painted grey to match the surrounding background colours in order to eliminate navigational confusion.

 

The 1812 high light was replaced in 1867 by the 26 metre tower which is the operational light known today as Hurst Point Lighthouse.

 

A major modernisation of Hurst Point High Lighthouse was completed in July 1997; prompted by the growth in volume and diversity of traffic using the Needles Channel and following extensive consultation with the marine community, high intensity projectors were installed in Hurst Point Lighthouse. These are exhibited day and night to mark the channel between the Needles and the Shingles Bank. The projectors, sited in the service room below the lantern of the lighthouse, provide an accurate system of red, green and white directional lights giving precise cut offs over narrow arcs of visibility which can be realigned in the event of movement of the Shingles Bank.

 

The main navigation light still uses the unusual First Order lens which is separated into sectors of different focal lengths with a red sector provided by shades inside the lantern.

 

The lighthouse is now monitored and controlled from Trinity House’s Planning Centre in Harwich, Essex.

 

Kinetic Photograph made with one single long exposure shot (hand held camera movement).

 

Kinetic Photograph made with one single long exposure shot, printed straight out of camera.

 

If you’d like to read more details about how the shot is made see below. And for more of my kinetic photographs here’s my set, "Drawing with Light"

 

www.flickr.com/photos/motorpsiclist/albums/72157652166665058

 

Copyright © by John Russell – All Rights Reserved

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Kinetic: Relating to, caused by, or producing motion.

 

These are called “Kinetic” photographs because there is motion, energy, and movement involved, specifically my and the camera’s movements.

 

I choose a light source and/or subject, set my camera for a long exposure (typically around 4 seconds), focus on my subject and push the shutter button. When the shutter opens I move the camera around with my hands...large, sweeping, dramatic movements. And then I will literally throw the camera several feet up into the air, most times imparting a spinning or whirling motion to it as I hurl it upward. I may throw the camera several times and also utilize hand-held motion several times in one photo. None of these are Photoshopped, layered, or a composite photo...what you see occurs in one shot, one take.

 

Aren’t I afraid that I will drop and break my camera? For regular followers of my photostream and this series you will know that I have already done so. This little camera has been dropped many times, and broken once when dropped on concrete outside. It still functions...not so well for regular photographs, but superbly for more kinetic work.

   

Not relate but interesting brief so I ref.;

 

The Weeping Angels (also known as the Lonely Assassins) are a fictional ancient race of aliens from the Doctor Who television series. Steven Moffat, their creator, attributes their appeal to childhood games such as Grandmother's Footsteps and the notion that every statue out there is secretly a Weeping Angel.

...........

I saw I shot, she weeped at the waterfall.

 

My photostream; www.darckr.com/username?username=11569107%40N06

Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.

 

Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.

 

To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.

russellmoreton.blogspot.com/

 

russellmoreton.tumblr.com

 

Heuristic Material : Collage

 

1. encouraging a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve problems on his or her own, as by experimenting, evaluating possible answers or solutions, or by trial and error: a heuristic teaching method.

2. serving to indicate or point out; stimulating interest as a means of furthering investigation.

 

Google Lens

 

The image displays a collection of texts and images, likely part of an academic or artistic display, with prominent references to the Russian painter-monk Andrei Rublev and the filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky's film about him.

Essential information:

The text mentions "Andrey Rublyov" (Andrei Rublev), a famous Russian icon painter.

One quote, attributed to Marc Augé, discusses the slow disappearance of ruins from cities and a "lack of time" to process the past.

Another quote, attributed to "Morrison", relates to "the ruins of Cinema".

The image of the man is likely a still from the 1966 film Andrei Rublev, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.

Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev (1966): Criterion Blu-ray ...

3 Oct 2018 — In Andrei Rublev (1966), he creates a sweeping evocation of the chaos of Medieval Russia, a world of brutal violence and...

 

Cagey Films

  

Etchingham Village Sign.

 

A lot of the villages in this area have decorative village signs, usually depicting images relating to the village history.

 

I have made this my monthly project on the group 365/2025 - Still the Wheel Turns , each month will feature a different village sign, starting with my own village of Etchingham.

 

The sign depicts the arms of the de Etchingham family, the design can also be seen on the Church Weathervane and has been adopted by other village organissations including the School and Parish Council, for their badges.

 

Sir William de Etchingham was responsible for the construction of the 14th century Church in the village.

 

The name Etchingham is probably derived from Old English, and roughly translates as “The homestead or enclosure of family and followers of a man called Ecci“. ‘inga’ in a place name usually refers to ‘people of’ or ‘dwellers at’, and ‘ham’ refers to a homestead or settlement, so this explanation seems the most probable. There is a second less likely derivation of the name, it could come from the Anglo Saxon ‘ECEN’, meaning great + ‘HAM’ (homestead), but the former explanation is the most likely.

  

adj. *nautical:

Relating to or involving ships or shipping or navigation or seamen.

 

Nautical Scenery, From Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, Maine, USA.

 

PixQuote:

"Available light is any damn light that is available!"

-W. Eugene Smith

 

PixNews:

You are welcome to the all new BWPix!

 

This is a public group so everybody is welcome, 1 pix/day!

  

You might relate this photo to the sound of music, and that relatively wholesome and peaceful musical. But 60 years ago today, a division known for its courage had this place as one of the rally points. That division was the 101st Airborne. The division not really known for its firepower, but for its spirit and courage. Here, more than a half century ago, men, in their early twenties jumped from the sky, under fire, some on gliders steering blindly through the night -- the prelude to D-Day. Their objectives, disrupt enemy activities, destroy patches of German outposts and secure bridges. Many of them never made it to the ground alive.

 

The 101st airborne was recently made famous by the movie band of brothers, which was about the "Easy" company of the 101st's 2nd Batallion.

 

Normandy, France