Les Invalides contains museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l'Armée (the military museum of the Army of France), the Musée des Plans-Reliefs and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine, as well as the Dôme des Invalides, a large church, the tallest in Paris at a height of 350 feet. It houses tombs of some of France's war heroes, most notably Napoleon. The architect of Les Invalides was Libéral Bruant. By the time the enlarged project was completed in 1676, the river front measured 643 feet, and the complex had 15 courtyards, the largest being the cour d'honneur ("court of honor") for military parades. Jules Hardouin-Mansart assisted the aged Bruant, and the chapel for veterans was finished in 1679. This chapel was known as Église Saint-Louis des Invalides, and daily attendance of the veterans in the church services was required. Shortly after the veterans' chapel was completed, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to construct a separate private royal chapel referred to as the Église du Dôme. The domed chapel was finished in 1708. The building retained its primary function of a retirement home and hospital for military veterans until the early 20th century. In 1872 the musée d'artillerie (Artillery Museum) was located within the building to be joined by the musée historique des armées (Historical Museum of the Armies) in 1896. The two institutions were merged to form the present Musée de l'Armée in 1905. At the same time, the veterans in residence were dispersed to smaller centers outside Paris, as the building became too large for its original purpose. The modern complex includes facilities about a hundred elderly or incapacitated former soldiers, including one gentleman sitting outside in full World War II army dress.

  

Bucolic - relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life.

DMC-G80M - ISO200 - 1/500sec - Olympus m.zuiko 25mmF1.8 @ f/5.6

Various trees of life are recounted in folklore, culture and fiction, often relating to immortality or fertility. They had their origin in religious symbolism.

Ancient Iran

In pre-Islamic Persian mythology, the Gaokerena world tree is a large, sacred Haoma tree which bears all seeds. Ahriman (Ahreman, Angremainyu) created a frog to invade the tree and destroy it, aiming to prevent all trees from growing on the earth. As a reaction, God (Ahura Mazda) created two kar fish staring at the frog to guard the tree. The two fishes are always staring at the frog and stay ready to react to it. Because Ahriman is responsible for all evil including death, while Ahura Mazda is responsible for all good (including life) the concept of world tree in Persian Mythology is very closely related to the concept of Tree of Life.The sacred plant haoma and the drink made from it. The preparation of the drink from the plant by pounding and the drinking of it are central features of Zoroastrian ritual. Haoma is also personified as a divinity. It bestows essential vital qualities—health, fertility, husbands for maidens, even immortality. The source of the earthly haoma plant is a shining white tree that grows on a paradisiacal mountain. Sprigs of this white haoma were brought to earth by divine birds.Haoma is the Avestan form of the Sanskrit soma. The near identity of the two in ritual significance is considered by scholars to point to a salient feature of an Indo-Iranian religion antedating Zoroastrianism.

Another related issue in ancient mythology of Iran is the myth of Mashyа and Mashyane, two trees who were the ancestors of all living beings. This myth can be considered as a prototype for the creation myth where living beings are created by Gods (who have a human form).

Ancient Egypt

Worshipping Osiris, Isis, and Horus

To the Ancient Egyptians, the Tree of Life represented the hierarchical chain of events that brought every thing into existence. The spheres of the Tree of Life demonstrate the order, process, and method of creation.In Egyptian mythology, in the Ennead system of Heliopolis, the first couple, apart from Shu and Tefnut (moisture and dryness) are Geb and Nuit (earth and sky), are Isis and Osiris. They were said to have emerged from the acacia tree of Iusaaset, which the Egyptians considered the tree of life, referring to it as the "tree in which life and death are enclosed." Some acacia trees contain DMT, a psychedelic drug associated with spiritual experiences. The drug is not orally bio-available, however and there is no evidence the Egyptians had techniques for extracting or otherwise harnessing the drug. A much later myth relates how Set and 72 conspirators killed Osiris, putting him in a coffin, and throwing it into the Nile, the coffin becoming embedded in the base of a tamarisk tree.The Egyptians' Holy Sycamore also stood on the threshold of life and death, connecting the two worlds.

Assyria

Assyrian tree of life, from Nimrud panels.The Assyrian Tree of Life was represented by a series of nodes and criss-crossing lines. It was apparently an important religious symbol, often attended to in Assyrian palace reliefs by human or eagle-headed winged genies, or the King, and blessed or fertilized with bucket and cone. Assyriologists have not reached consensus as to the meaning of this symbol. The name "Tree of Life" has been attributed to it by modern scholarship; it is not used in the Assyrian sources. In fact, no textual evidence pertaining to the symbol is known to exist.

Baha'i Faith

The concept of the tree of life appears in the writings of the Baha'i Faith, where it can refer to the Manifestation of God, a great teacher who appears to humanity from age to age. An example of this can be found in the Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh:["Have ye forgotten that true and radiant morn, when in those hallowed and blessed surroundings ye were all gathered in My presence beneath the shade of the tree of life, which is planted in the all-glorious paradise? Awestruck ye listened as I gave utterance to these three most holy words: O friends! Prefer not your will to Mine, never desire that which I have not desired for you, and approach Me not with lifeless hearts, defiled with worldly desires and cravings. Would ye but sanctify your souls, ye would at this present hour recall that place and those surroundings, and the truth of My utterance should be made evident unto all of you."Also, in the Tablet of Ahmad [1], of Bahá'u'lláh:"Verily He is the Tree of Life, that bringeth forth the fruits of God, the Exalted, the Powerful, the Great".Bahá'u'lláh refers to his male descendents as branches (Aghsán) and calls women leaves.

A distinction has been made between the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The latter represents the physical world with its opposites, such as good and evil and light and dark. In a different context from the one above, the tree of life represents the spiritual realm, where this duality does not exist.

Buddhism

The Bo tree, also called Bodhi tree, according to Buddhist tradition, is the pipal (Ficus religiosa) under which the Buddha sat when he attained Enlightenment (Bodhi) at Bodh Gaya (near Gaya, west-central Bihar state, India). A living pipal at Anuradhapura, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), is said to have grown from a cutting from the Bo tree sent to that city by King Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE.According to Tibetan tradition when Buddha went to the holy Lake Manasorovar along with 500 monks, he took with him the energy of Prayaga Raj. Upon his arrival, he installed the energy of Prayaga Raj near Lake Manasorovar, at a place now known as Prayang. Then he planted the seed of this eternal banyan tree next to Mt. Kailash on a mountain known as the "Palace of Medicine Buddha".

China

In Chinese mythology, a carving of a Tree of Life depicts a phoenix and a dragon; the dragon often represents immortality. A Taoist story tells of a tree that produces a peach every three thousand years. The one who eats the fruit receives immortality.An archaeological discovery in the 1990s was of a sacrificial pit at Sanxingdui in Sichuan, China. Dating from about 1200 BCE, it contained three bronze trees, one of them 4 meters high. At the base was a dragon, and fruit hanging from the lower branches. At the top is a strange bird-like (phoenix) creature with claws. Also found in Sichuan, from the late Han dynasty (c 25 – 220 CE), is another tree of life. The ceramic base is guarded by a horned beast with wings. The leaves of the tree are coins and people. At the apex is a bird with coins and the Sun.

Christianity

In Catholic Christianity, the Tree of Life represents the immaculate state of humanity free from corruption and Original Sin before the Fall. Pope Benedict XVI has said that "the Cross is the true tree of life." Saint Bonaventure taught that the medicinal fruit of the Tree of Life is Christ himself. Saint Albert the Great taught that the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, is the Fruit of the Tree of Life.[18] Augustine of Hippo said that the tree of life is Christ: "All these things stood for something other than what they were, but all the same they were themselves bodily realities. And when the narrator mentioned them he was not employing figurative language, but giving an explicit account of things which had a forward reference that was figurative. So then the tree of life also was Christ... and indeed God did not wish the man to live in Paradise without the mysteries of spiritual things being presented to him in bodily form. So then in the other trees he was provided with nourishment, in this one with a sacrament... He is rightly called whatever came before him in order to signify him."[19]

 

The tree first appeared in Genesis 2:9 and 3:22-24 as the source of eternal life in the Garden of Eden, from which access is revoked when man is driven from the garden. It then reappears in the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, and most predominantly in the last chapter of that book (Chapter 22) as a part of the new garden of paradise. Access is then no longer forbidden, for those who "wash their robes" (or as the textual variant in the King James Version has it, "they that do his commandments") "have right to the tree of life" (v.14). A similar statement appears in Rev 2:7, where the tree of life is promised as a reward to those who overcome. Revelation 22 begins with a reference to the "pure river of water of life" which proceeds "out of the throne of God". The river seems to feed two trees of life, one "on either side of the river" which "bear twelve manner of fruits" "and the leaves of the tree were for healing of the nations" (v.1-2).[20] Or this may indicate that the tree of life is a vine that grows on both sides of the river, as John 15:1 would hint at.

In Eastern Christianity the tree of life is the love of God.The tree of life appears in the Book of Mormon in a revelation to Lehi (see 1 Nephi 8:10). It is symbolic of the love of God (see 1 Nephi 11:21-23). Its fruit is described as "most precious and most desirable above all other fruits," which "is the greatest of all the gifts of God" (see 1 Nephi 15:36). In another scriptural book, salvation is called "the greatest of all the gifts of God" (see Doctrine and Covenants 6:13). In the same book eternal life is also called the "greatest of all the gifts of God" (see Doctrine and Covenants 14:7). Because of these references, the tree of life and its fruit is sometimes understood to be symbolic of salvation and post-mortal existence in the presence of God and his love.

Europe

11th century Tree of Life sculpture at an ancient Swedish church

In Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermetique (Paris, 1737), Antoine-Joseph Pernety, a famous alchemist, identified the Tree of Life with the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's Stone.

In Eden in the East (1998), Stephen Oppenheimer suggests that a tree-worshipping culture arose in Indonesia and was diffused by the so-called "Younger Dryas" event of c. 8000 BCE, when the sea level rose. This culture reached China (Szechuan), then India and the Middle East. Finally the Finno-Ugaritic strand of this diffusion spread through Russia to Finland where the Norse myth of Yggdrasil took root.

Georgia

The Borjgali (Georgian: ბორჯღალი) is an ancient Georgian Tree of Life symbol.

Germanic paganism and Norse mythology[

In Germanic paganism, trees played (and, in the form of reconstructive Heathenry and Germanic Neopaganism, continue to play) a prominent role, appearing in various aspects of surviving texts and possibly in the name of gods.

The tree of life appears in Norse religion as Yggdrasil, the world tree, a massive tree (sometimes considered a yew or ash tree) with extensive lore surrounding it. Perhaps related to Yggdrasil, accounts have survived of Germanic Tribes' honouring sacred trees within their societies. Examples include Thor's Oak, sacred groves, the Sacred tree at Uppsala, and the wooden Irminsul pillar. In Norse Mythology, the apples from Iðunn's ash box provide immortality for the gods.

Hinduism

The Eternal Banyan Tree (Akshaya Vata) is located on the bank of the Yamuna inside the courtyard of Allahabad Fort near the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganga Rivers in Allahabad. The eternal and divine nature of this tree has been documented at length in the scriptures.[citation needed]

During the cyclic destruction of creation when the whole earth was enveloped by waters, akshaya vata remained unaffected. It is on the leaves of this tree that Lord Krishna rested in the form of a baby when land was no longer visible. And it is here that the immortal sage, Markandeya, received the cosmic vision of the Lord. It is under this tree that Buddha meditates eternally. Legend also has it that the Bodi tree at Gaya is a manifestation of this tree.

Islam

Carpet Tree of Life

Main article: Quranic tree of life

See also: Sidrat al-Muntaha

The "Tree of Immortality" (Arabic: شجرة الخلود) is the tree of life motif as it appears in the Quran. It is also alluded to in hadiths and tafsir. Unlike the biblical account, the Quran mentions only one tree in Eden, also called the tree of immortality, which Allah specifically forbade to Adam and Eve. Satan, disguised as a serpent, repeatedly told Adam to eat from the tree, and eventually both Adam and Eve did so, thus disobeying Allah.] The hadiths also speak about other trees in heaven.

According to the Ahmadiyya movement, Quranic reference to the tree is symbolic; eating of the forbidden tree signifies that Adam disobeyed God.[

Jewish sources

Main articles: Etz Chaim and Biblical tree of life

Etz Chaim, Hebrew for "tree of life," is a common term used in Judaism. The expression, found in the Book of Proverbs, is figuratively applied to the Torah itself. Etz Chaim is also a common name for yeshivas and synagogues as well as for works of Rabbinic literature. It is also used to describe each of the wooden poles to which the parchment of a Sefer Torah is attached.The tree of life is mentioned in the Book of Genesis; it is distinct from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were driven out of the Garden of Eden. Remaining in the garden, however, was the tree of life. To prevent their access to this tree in the future, Cherubim with a flaming sword were placed at the east of the garden. (Genesis 3:22-24)

In the Book of Proverbs, the tree of life is associated with wisdom: "[Wisdom] is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy [is every one] that retaineth her." (Proverbs 3:13-18) In 15:4 the tree of life is associated with calmness: "A soothing tongue is a tree of life; but perverseness therein is a wound to the spirit."

The Book of Enoch, generally considered non-canonical, states that in the time of the great judgment God will give all those whose names are in the Book of Life fruit to eat from the Tree of Life.

Kathara grid

The esoteric bio-spiritual healing system of kathara which is presented on Earth by the official Speaker of the Guardian Alliance – E’Asha Ashayana,explains in detail the function of the code of the kathara grid] as the natural tree of life. Kathara reveals the anatomy of Creation, core structure, the blueprints & interconnectedness of all matter forms and in the center is the replication of the kathara grid everywhere.The kathara grid consists of 12 kathara centers and the relationships between them represent the true meaning of the phrase "As above, so below" and the correspondence between microcosmos and macrocosmos.

Kabbalah. Judaic Kabbalah Tree of Life 10 Sephirot, through which the Ein Sof unknowable Divine manifests Creation. The configuration relates to manJewish mysticism depicts the Tree of Life in the form of ten interconnected nodes, as the central symbol of the Kabbalah. It comprises the ten Sephirot powers in the Divine realm. The panentheistic and anthropomorphic emphasis of this emanationist theology interpreted the Torah, Jewish observance, and the purpose of Creation as the symbolic esoteric drama of unification in the Sephirot, restoring harmony to Creation. From the time of the Renaissance onwards, Jewish Kabbalah became incorporated as an important tradition in non-Jewish Western culture, first through its adoption by Christian Cabala, and continuing in Western esotericism occult Hermetic Qabalah. These adapted the Judaic Kabbalah Tree of Life syncretically by associating it with other religious traditions, esoteric theologies, and magical practices.

Mesoamerican

The concept of world trees is a prevalent motif in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cosmologies and iconography. World trees embodied the four cardinal directions, which represented also the fourfold nature of a central world tree, a symbolic axis mundi connecting the planes of the Underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial world.Depictions of world trees, both in their directional and central aspects, are found in the art and mythological traditions of cultures such as the Maya, Aztec, Izapan, Mixtec, Olmec, and others, dating to at least the Mid/Late Formative periods of Mesoamerican chronology. Among the Maya, the central world tree was conceived as or represented by a ceiba tree, and is known variously as a wacah chan or yax imix che, depending on the Mayan language.[32] The trunk of the tree could also be represented by an upright caiman, whose skin evokes the tree's spiny trunk.Directional world trees are also associated with the four Yearbearers in Mesoamerican calendars, and the directional colors and deities. Mesoamerican codices which have this association outlined include the Dresden, Borgia and Fejérváry-Mayer codices.[31] It is supposed that Mesoamerican sites and ceremonial centers frequently had actual trees planted at each of the four cardinal directions, representing the quadripartite concept.World trees are frequently depicted with birds in their branches, and their roots extending into earth or water (sometimes atop a "water-monster," symbolic of the underworld). The central world tree has also been interpreted as a representation of the band of the Milky Way.

Middle East

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a similar quest for immortality. In Mesopotamian mythology, Etana searches for a 'plant of birth' to provide him with a son. This has a solid provenance of antiquity, being found in cylinder seals from Akkad (2390–2249 BCE).The Book of One Thousand and One Nights has a story, 'The Tale of Buluqiya', in which the hero searches for immortality and finds a paradise with jewel-encrusted trees. Nearby is a Fountain of Youth guarded by Al-Khidr. Unable to defeat the guard, Buluqiya has to return empty-handed.

North American

In a myth passed down among the Iroquois, The World on the Turtle's Back, explains the origin of the land in which a tree of life is described. According to the myth, it is found in the heavens, where the first humans lived, until a pregnant woman fell and landed in an endless sea. Saved by a giant turtle from drowning, she formed the world on its back by planting bark taken from the tree.The tree of life motif is present in the traditional Ojibway cosmology and traditions. It is sometimes described as Grandmother Cedar, or Nookomis Giizhig in Anishinaabemowin.In the book Black Elk Speaks, Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota (Sioux) wičháša wakȟáŋ (medicine man and holy man), describes his vision in which after dancing around a dying tree that has never bloomed he is transported to the other world (spirit world) where he meets wise elders, 12 men and 12 women. The elders tell Black Elk that they will bring him to meet "Our Father, the two-legged chief" and bring him to the center of a hoop where he sees the tree in full leaf and bloom and the "chief" standing against the tree. Coming out of his trance he hopes to see that the earthly tree has bloomed, but it is dead

Serer religion

In Serer religion, the tree of life as a religious concept forms the basis of Serer cosmogony. Trees were the first things created on Earth by the supreme being Roog (or Koox among the Cangin). In the competing versions of the Serer creation myth, the Somb (Prosopis africana) and the Saas tree (acacia albida) are both viewed as trees of life. However, the prevailing view is that, the Somb was the first tree on Earth and the progenitor of plant life. The Somb was also used in the Serer tumuli and burial chambers, many of which had survived for more than a thousand years.Thus, Somb is not only the Tree of Life in Serer society, but the symbol of immortality

Urartian Tree of Life

In ancient Urartu, the Tree of Life was a religious symbol and was drawn on walls of fortresses and carved on the armor of warriors. The branches of the tree were equally divided on the right and left sides of the stem, with each branch having one leaf, and one leaf on the apex of the tree. Servants stood on each side of the tree with one of their hands up as if they are taking care of the tree.

Turkic .The Tree of Life, as seen as in flag of Chuvashia, a Turkic state in the Russian FederationThe Tree of Life design on 0,05 Turkish lira (5 kuruş).

The World Tree or Tree of Life is a central symbol in Turkic mythology.[citation needed] It is a common motif in carpets.

It is also used as the main design of a common Turkish lira sub-unit 5 kuruş since 2009.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_life

Toujours entouré d’une houle blanche, plus ou moins forte, le phare de Goury trône tout au bout du bout, à Auderville. Haut de cinquante mètres, il fut mis en service dès 1837. Auparavant, en une seule année, vingt-sept navires avaient sombré dans les parages. Face à lui, le raz Blanchard, l’un des courants de marée les plus forts d’Europe. Entre le cap de la Hague et l’île d’Aurigny, le passage dit de la Déroute est connu de tous les marins pour ses violentes tempêtes et la force de ses courants. Un monde brutal à l’opposé du monde poétique de Prévert, le voisin d’en face. « Le Raz Blanchard est un monde hostile, raconte Cédric, pêcheur de homards. Il y a toujours des vagues, même les jours sans vent. »

En 1823, en une seule année, 27 navires ont sombré dans les parages. Au nombre de ces naufrages, il faut relater celui du paquebot «Paris» qui, de retour d’Amérique, transportait de nombreux passagers dont Monseigneur de Cheverus. Le prélat, qui fut le premier évêque catholique d’une paroisse de Boston aux États-Unis, rentrait en France. Le premier contact fut plutôt rude et pénible sur les rochers du Cap de la Hague. Transporté à dos d’homme à travers champs jusqu’au presbytère d’Auderville, trempé et épuisé, il trouva abri et réconfort. Ceci se passait dans la nuit du 31 octobre 1823. Le lendemain, 1er novembre, il présidait la cérémonie de la Toussaint, en l’église de la paroisse.

Ces pertes de navires et de vies humaines sur nos côtes devaient finir par alerter l’opinion publique et les autorités maritimes. C’est ainsi que peu de temps après le naufrage du «Paris», la construction d’un phare fut mise à l’étude.

Il fut décidé que cet ouvrage serait construit sur un rocher situé à 800 m. du littoral connu sous le nom du Gros du Raz. Le chantier débuta en 1834 et nécessita une main-d’oeuvre importante pendant 3 ans. Le granit, en provenance de Diélette, était travaillé à Goury, acheminé sur le site et hissé sur la construction à l’aide d’un système de palans actionnés par une grande roue dans laquelle avançait une jument («la chambre à la Belle»).

En 1837, la construction de cette tour de granit est terminée. A 48 m de hauteur, elle sert de support à une lanterne munie de puissantes lentilles. Cette lanterne a un mouvement de rotation continu au rythme d’un éclat blanc toutes les 5 secondes (EB5S).

Depuis le début du XXème siècle, un signal sonore a été ajouté au signal lumineux : En cas de brouillard, une sirène diffuse un écho dont les ondes se répercutent à la surface de la mer, précieux indicateur de position pour les navigateurs.

En 1940, le phare fut occupé par les Allemands. Il resta éteint jusqu’au 1er juillet 1944, date de sa libération.

En 1971, il est électrifié et automatisé en 1989, les derniers gardiens partent en mai 1990.

 

Always surrounded by a white swell, more or less strong, the Goury lighthouse sits at the very end, in Auderville. Fifty meters high, it was put into service in 1837. Previously, in a single year, twenty-seven ships had sunk in the area. Facing it, the Raz Blanchard, one of the strongest tidal currents in Europe. Between Cape de la Hague and the island of Alderney, the so-called Rout Passage is known to all sailors for its violent storms and the strength of its currents. A brutal world as opposed to the poetic world of Prévert, the neighbor across the street. “The Raz Blanchard is a hostile world,” says Cédric, a lobster fisherman. There are always waves, even on windless days. »

In 1823, in a single year, 27 ships sank in the area. Among these shipwrecks, we must mention that of the liner “Paris” which, returning from America, transported many passengers including Monseigneur de Cheverus. The prelate, who was the first Catholic bishop of a parish in Boston in the United States, was returning to France. The first contact was rather rough and painful on the rocks of Cap de la Hague. Transported on the back of a man across fields to the presbytery of Auderville, soaked and exhausted, he found shelter and comfort. This happened on the night of October 31, 1823. The next day, November 1, he presided over the All Saints’ Day ceremony in the parish church.

These losses of ships and human lives on our coasts were to end up alerting public opinion and the maritime authorities. This is how shortly after the sinking of the “Paris”, the construction of a lighthouse was studied.

It was decided that this work would be built on a rock located 800 m away. of the coast known as Gros du Raz. The construction began in 1834 and required a significant workforce for 3 years. The granite, coming from Diélette, was worked in Goury, transported to the site and hoisted onto the construction using a system of hoists operated by a large wheel in which a mare moved ("the bedroom with Beauty") ).

In 1837, the construction of this granite tower was completed. At 48 m high, it serves as a support for a lantern equipped with powerful lenses. This lantern has a continuous rotating movement at the rate of a white flash every 5 seconds (EB5S).

Since the beginning of the 20th century, a sound signal has been added to the light signal: In the event of fog, a siren broadcasts an echo whose waves are reflected on the surface of the sea, a valuable position indicator for navigators.

In 1940, the lighthouse was occupied by the Germans. It remained extinct until July 1, 1944, the date of its release.

In 1971, it was electrified and automated in 1989, the last guards left in May 1990.

Hanazono Shrine, Shinjuku

The name Rotherfield is recorded from the 8th century and is likely to relate to the area and to predate any nucleated settlement. The Old English form of feld – means ‘open country of the cattle’. In the Weald,Since 1741, the Catts has been at the heart of the community. But did you know it is rumoured to pre-date that as a drinking house, apparently it was formerly a Tavern known as the Swan, so a tipple may have been enjoyed here since around 1635.

This relates to the previous photo I posted. The following night I dressed up in a velvet body shirt and black leather mini skirt and went out to a large Disco! I did have fun even though I was nervous with the big crowd.

RML 898 temporarily out of use as a driver trainer (and soon to be dispatched for overhaul) in Stonebridge Park Garage on 31 December 1979. Privately owned RTL 453 also visible was one of several buses hired by LT for use as a driver trainer which then released many of their own training buses back into service at a time when LT was facing some severe under-performing relating to maintenance issues.

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?

I can relate to Frankenstein's monster..there are times when I feel like I've been piecemealed together, my body is a mess. My feet are a size and half different from one another, My left arm is contorted from injury, my spine does not properly align... it goes on and on. But the villagers haven't gathered yet so I'm doing pretty good! LOL

ANSH scavenger14. Anything relating to the number 100

2023 A New Year's Eve Soliloquy

 

I was asked recently by a friend if I would ever be likely to teach someone what

he/she felt were my skills at pickpocketing.

 

Extremely flattering as the question was, I had never thought of what we do as a skill. Rather than just role play, or taking advantage of a friend’s condition ( like Pissed drunk, or compellingly overwhelmed emotionally) that makes them vulnerable.

 

We had a discussion over this with my brother and our group of friends, concluding that since non of us would ever try to do a lift on a stranger for keeps, the topic of this being an actual skill is pretty much mute.

 

That all being said, if there are professional pickpockets that are adept enough to actively lift jewelry from a victim, then either they are incredibly skilled, or just know how to spot an advantage brewing that would cook up into a victim’s concocting condition as described above.

 

For a clearer example of a concocting condition, let me relate my own experience this past New Year’s Eve.

 

As is our habit, my friends and I celebrated New Year's Eve at our local “The Poet & Peasant Pub”.

 

I was on the decorations committee, so I was there to observe most of the guests coming in.

 

I was at the top of the stairs leading to the upper rooms, placing a party hat on Erik, the skull of the medieval poet who is the pub’s namesake. The macabrely grinning thing sits high on a ledge of the stairs overlooking the pub and its guests (peasants).

 

So I had a great vantage point to take an early drink and watch.

 

A friend(and he knows of whom I speak) had sorta challenged me to make a lift this evening. So it was with a thief’s eye that I tried to look innocent as I watched the partiers coming in.

 

The pub proper is not large, but it has two larger first-floor rooms, one for dance, the other for dart competitions. Since we usually can expect a crowd of two hundred, all three areas come into play.

 

The upstairs rooms are old bedrooms used for various pub-related antics.

 

Now, It’s not supposed to be a dressy affair at this party, but the guests, regulars, and visitors make it one.

 

The gents in suits, and tuxes, the lady’s getting a second chance to show off by wearing an old gown or dress they’ve only worn once.

 

Rhinestones and pearls are the majority of jewels worn with splashy brilliance.

 

This year was no exception.

 

Once it was in full swing one would have thought it was an after-party at a actors' awards show.

 

Use that thought to picture in your mind a quick visual without me going into boring paragraphs of detail.

 

But for a brief idea, I’ll describe what my clique was wearing…

 

Which, since it was one(or more)of us girls that became a victim that evening, it appears appropriate to do so.

 

So, In my role-play thief's mind I observed:

 

First off, myself.

 

I had on a smart ocean blue coloured satin dress with a below-knee length skirt and a slick solid top with a mock turtleneck collar. The sleeves flared out just below my elbows. I was wearing my gold necklace set with diamond Sapphire rhinestones with matching long earrings. Also being worn was my rhinestone cuff bracelet. The same one my brother once nicked from me at the very pub we were now partying at.

I also added two of my real cocktail rings to complete the glittery effect.

 

As far as the type of mark I’d be for a thief? Well if being a twit came in degrees, and I was in my monthly period, I would be certified as a solid brown belt. If I was wearing real jewels, thieves would be able to have a field day lifting the bloody things, as did actually happen to me in a very similar situation as this evening. But it was not done by a real thief, just by an opportunist who took advantage of a victim who had been having herself a pisser.

 

But then, this is not that story.

 

My friend Byrne was wearing an old-fashioned black tux, black vest, black shirt, and blue bow tie, topped off by a black bowler. He had to work late at the Dyfed station that day and said he was wearing the suit he had on. So it was a pleasant surprise to see him dressed up, and I let him know it in no uncertain terms.

 

My brother was dapper in his tawny-colored herringbone vest suit, brown silk shirt, and gold satin necktie. A gold satin handkerchief stuck jauntily out from a vest pocket.

 

Ginny had again poured her lithe figure into the sleek satin Japanese-style Qipao sheath dress she had bought to wear in a play she acted in last spring. It was midnight black with a brite lime green inner lining and tight lime green Lycra pants. The only decoration on the elegant dress was a glittery silver rhinestone Dragon, with green slanted eyes and a red fiery tongue. It was embroidered crawling up one side of the dress, reaching around up towards her bosom.

Ginny was wearing a bib-style necklace of rhinestone emeralds with matching earrings.

 

The necklace she usually wore was still in a police evidence locker at Dyfed ( see my tea party story).

 

Her hair was held up on one side by a glittery clip. She wore no gloves, so her diamond rhinestone cuff bracelet lay on bare skin, as were the 3 cocktail rings she was wearing.

 

Ginny would be a tougher nut for thieves to crack. For she is logical to a fault and witty. She is also a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu.

 

But one really after her jewels, would just have to follow her around to see she is on the wee bit clumsy side. I immediately thought how useful a satin handkerchief could be if employed along the high, partially exposed neckline of her gown to acquire her necklace. And I happened to now know where to obtain one ….

 

Two other two close friends (members of our role-playing troupe) also eventually showed up.

 

Merrick was dashing in a James Bond-styled black tux. The vest he wore had a gold and black calico silk pattern.

 

His Heather enticingly was wearing a very shiny black satin, slightly off shoulders gown with long white lace frills hanging down from the neckline and the gown’s puffy elbow-length sleeves.

 

Her jewellery was a ruby rhinestone necklace with matching earrings. Like Ginny, one side of her hair was pulled back and held by one of her real diamond chip hair clips. She wore black satin gloves, and around one wrist was the wide tennis bracelet Merrick had given her last Valentine’s Day. It was a beauty, two rows of diamonds and a centre row of round rock rubies. She also wore twin ruby cocktail rings.

 

Heather is a timid meek little thing who blushed easily and turn her head away whenever complimented(think of Actress Alison Pill ). Also, those black satin gloves of hers would hinder feelings of lifting from her skin.

  

Mum and Auntie were also in attendance.

 

Mum was wearing a shimmering dress of silvery metallic material. She was wearing a necklace of round diamond rhinestones, with matching earrings and bracelets. They were ones I first “borrowed “, sneaking them out of mum’s day jewel case and started wearing as my twin and I began first exploring our games of thievery.

 

Her personality and looks matched the actress Haley Mills. Her eyes getting delightfully large as she was surprised by something. It would be worth trying for her necklace just to witness that reaction.

 

Father was working the Dyfed station this evening, so my bodyguard-built uncle was the escort of both ladies.

 

Uncle(or the man from U.N.C.L.E . As I thought of him) was a rugby player in his youth and still had the physic for it. The tight tux he wore looked like it was bursting from the seams over his muscular build. But for all his looks he was a pussycat. Though a fierce darts competitor.

 

Auntie was very elegant in a long white silk dress with a red and green flowery print. She was wearing her gleaming set of pearls.

Our Aunt reminded me of the actress Janine Duvitski, in looks, and the way she was insecure, like Janine’s character in the Telly series” Waiting for God.” She was a foil to far too many things in her life and would offer no challenge to a proper thief, which may be her saving grace.

 

Then there was our cousin Michelle(Micke)

 

She has come there with a group of her coworkers but divided her time with us.

 

Micke was enticingly wearing a very sleek, slick brown satin fully off-shoulder number that nicely outlined her petite figure as it poured along it down to her silver high heels.

 

Her Jewels were a sparkling collection that consisted of a wide V-shaped necklace that looked like a falling river of rhinestones, amazingly sparkling chandelier earnings, her favorite diamond-appearing bracelet, and several enticing rings.

 

But the real showpiece was the eye-grabbing broach she had pinned to the gown just at her waistband. It had a sparrow egg-sized diamond at its centre.

 

Now blonde Micke just wears her heart upon her sleeve. Just as gullible as her mum, she has fallen victim to many of our pranks. Micke was easy prey to a compliment or falling into a tight, searching hug.

 

And by now most of the rest of the crowd had entered.

 

I tapped Erick’s boney jaw open so the poor sod of a poet was grinning, then came down from my perch to begin mugging, er, mingling.

 

^^^^^^^^

 

And so the party rambled on, properly behaving like most pub-held New Year’s Eve affairs.

 

I highly recommend going to one if you have never been.

 

Plenty to drink, and eat, games to play dancing to music( ours was live this year) camaraderie, storytelling and jokes, attempts to lite the cigar someone had stuck in Erik’s mouth, etc

 

Oh, And did I mention games?

 

Especially the one I was playing on my own, pretending to be a thief on the prowl.

 

I did miss one early opportunity on me mum’s necklace when I stood behind her in the snack line. She had literally backed into me and was reaching down to snag a small pork pie, exposing her throat and necklaces' clasp. But uncle was in front of her and turned to look as she asked him if he had one for himself.

 

Victims 1 Thief 0

 

But then as the night went by quickly and since I’m not a real thief, I found myself having so much fun I almost forgot I was looking for a further lifting opportunity.

 

Almost…

 

End Acte 1

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^*

Acte 2

 

Almost forgot I had been dared to do a lift, that is until I had l came out of the loo around 11:00 and realized I was on my own.

 

For the first time that evening.

 

Everyone I had been with was split up into small groups now doing their own thing

 

I could either join in, watch, or….

 

And now I thought licking my freshly touched-up lips, time to do something on my own.

 

So like my pretend thief, I decided to have a walk around and seek an opportunity amongst my chosen potential victims.

 

Byrne, Merrick, Uncle, and my brother Craig were we’re still playing darts with another group of men. I had been watching before slipping away to freshen up.

 

Micke and one of her co-workers ( in green taffeta) were amongst a group dancing. I thought of cutting in as a possibility to make a score, for that glittering broach of hers was an enticing calling card.

 

I watched for a minute or so when suddenly an opening appeared that paved my way in. A man had cut in and was dancing with Micke’s girlfriend. His back to Micke. I curled my fingers while licking my lips ready to plunge in and make a lift of a glittery broach.

 

I got no more than two steps in when the music stopped and the dancers headed off the floor in the opposite direction, including my Cousin.

 

I walked away, my heart pounding.

 

Victims 2 Thief 0

 

Our Mum and Auntie were sitting at a side table of the long mahogany bar, chatting away. Mum has an almost empty glass, so I surmised she may need to be making a trip to the ladies' room. I stored away that tidbit.

 

But there, in an opposite corner, underneath Erik’s perch, a makeshift stage was set up. With guests coming up to tell jokes and stories.

 

It was at one of the tables, chairs backed against the stairway, Ginny and Heather sat listening to an Irishman telling one of his drinking stories.

 

Both, in my thief’s eye, were a royal treat to be observed. Two enticingly dressed and deliciously jeweled prospects, very distracted, sitting in a rather vulnerable location.

 

It was all far too tempting, and I felt an overwhelming urge to acquire a piece of jewellery and strted to excitedly tingle from deep within.

 

Ginny’s necklace was beckoning with a flashy invitation. Heather's elegantly gloved hands with the inviting jewelry she wore, also called out to my inner thief with a fiery blazing hot lure.

 

^^^^^

 

The Irishman telling the joke was holding a long cigar as he started, his accent and mannerisms adding much embellishment to the story.

 

(Look up on Utube Mike Dunafon. An Irish drinking joke)

 

“Irishman Paddy O'Brien has moved to a small city in Wales. And as men are won’t to do, looks for a new local. He walks into the first pub he finds, and tells the bartender, "Give me three pints of Guinness."

 

The bartender obediently brings him three pints…..

 

As the story started I had circled over to the empty staircase and snuck up it till I was level with Heather and Ginny’s chairs. Then I sat down.

I earlier decided that my game would be to lift a piece and make it outside to the victim’s car and write gotcha on it, for my thief to win, if I was caught or stopped by anyone, then I lost.

 

The Irishman took a long puff of his cigar and carried on.

 

Paddy proceeds to alternately sip one, then the other, then the third until they're gone. Then he rose, threw coins on the table, winked at the bar mistress, and left.

 

Meanwhile, I was leaning against the rails, my hands reaching out to the back of Ginny’s throat, aiming for the clasp of her emerald-laden necklace. Figuring once the punchline was given, the laughing (if it was as funny as I hoped) would provide the perfect opportunity.

 

The Irishman continues…

 

The next Saturday evening Paddy walks in, hanging his cap, taking a seat, he walks again and orders three more pints.

 

The bartender brings them over, and says, "Sir, you don't have to order three pints at a time. I can keep an eye on one and when you get low, I'll bring you a fresh pint."

 

Paddy responds, "You don't understand. I just moved to wales and I have two brothers, one in Australia and one Canada. We made a vow to each other that every Saturday night we'd still drink together. So right now, me brothers are having three Guinness Stouts and we're drinking together.

 

The bartender thought that it was a wonderful tradition and said as much.

 

Both Ginny and Heather were now leaning back in their chairs. My fingers had been slowly working on pulling Ginny’s necklace down lower on her back so it would dangle. Just then Heather put her arms behind her chair. Her bracelet danced with rippling sparks that just cried out to the thief in me to be taken.

 

So, as the Irishman took a sip of his drink, I moved my hands from Ginny, and moving down a stair reached for Heather’s ruby bracelet. As the next part of the joke was told, I delicately worked at removing it.

  

Now, every week for several years Paddy came in and ordered three pints at a time.

 

Then one Saturday week he came in and ordered only two pints.

 

He solemnly drank them, rose. Put on his cap and went over to pay his tab.

 

The bartender, who had worriedly been watching, said to Paddy, "I know your tradition, and I'd just like to say that I'm sorry that one of your brothers died."

 

Paddy responded, “oh no, both my brothers are just fine Dontchay knows now.”

 

The Bartender, puzzled asked, “then why only two beers now? laddie?”

 

But I never heard the answer, for as Paddy was still drinking his two beers, I had fiendishly slipped off Heather’s glittering ruby bracelet from around her sleekly gloved wrist and had snuck off the staircase and was heading towards the back door.

 

Victims 3 Thief 1

 

I managed to slip past the table where my Aunt sat( mum was gone).

 

Behind me, I hear vigorous laughter and applause at the ending of the Irishman’s joke.

 

I would have to ask later what it was.

 

Then, by the entrance to the dart room, I waited until everyone was watching a dart being thrown before walking past the room.

 

The dance floor was again packed. But I couldn’t spy Micke, so I took a chance and scurried past.

 

I made it to the door, excitedly letting out my breath as I pulled it open and slipped through into the chilly night.

 

A couple was walking in the parking lot, so I ducked into a shadowy side alley and skirted around a fence. Kneeling, I peeked through the pickets.

 

I did not know the couple, but they obviously had been having a great time, though I wondered why they were leaving so soon. The lady was dressed in a blue taffeta gown with prickling rhinestone adornments. Her jewelry also prickled fire in the moonlit evening.

 

In my thief’s eyes, I saw them being approached and held up. The lady is forced to hand over her jewels to a masked female thief. Not me though, the thief I was picturing had bigger boobs.

 

Of course, that would be something only I would find to be that amusing, and let out a giggle.

 

They both heard it and looked around as I slinked back into the shadows.

 

They shrugged it off and got inside the car.

 

I took my eyes off them and soon spotted Merrill and Heather’s black sports car.

 

I rose.

 

Suddenly a male voice snarled sinisterly from behind me...

 

“Who let you out all dressed up looking like a mugger's dream?”

 

I let out a shriek as I jumped up and turned around.

 

Byrne stood there grinning.

 

I playfully pounded his shoulder, my heart thumping as I scolded him between breaths that gave off wisps of vapor into the cold night.

 

“Byrne you rotter. Scared the Jesus out of me you did, and almost peed my undies. And how would that have looked I ask you?!”

 

Byrne held onto my shoulders and laughed.

“Sorry, you looked so mischievous as I saw in the corner of my eye you sneaking out. I followed, then lost you until I heard the giggle. So tell me what you are up to now?”

 

I explained to him my game, that upon the thief’s success, I had come out to write “gotcha” on the car door.

 

“Then what were you gonna after that Ms. Cadence?”

 

“Follow Heather out when she left and give it back …?”

 

Byrne looked thoughtfully at Merrick’s car.

“I have got a better idea. She won’t know who did it.”

  

He led me over to his auto. Goes to the back and pulls a long slender bar from what I call his cop box, in the trunk.

 

We go over to Merrick’s black sports car and Byrne, looking around first, uses the tool to lift the latch on the passenger side.

 

“Now lay her bracelet out on the seat.

 

I did so letting it curl up on the black leather, where it lay sparkling. Then I locked and shut the door.

 

With a smirk, Byrne reminded me not to forget what else I was going to do

 

I nodded and in the dirty side of the door, I traced the word “Gotcha” as Byrne went over to put back his tool.

  

Arm in arm, with a co-conspirator's air, we walked onto the sidewalk, making our way to the front of the pub and went back inside. Innocent as a sparrow…

 

Another gent was getting up on the stage telling a story so we went and joined Ginny and Heather with an air of innocence as we began laughing along with them.

 

An old Irishman, Paddy, is about to go to his eternal reward. He looks at his grieving friend, Mike, and says, "Michael, I have one last request."

 

Ginny’s necklace was still lifted and the backside hanging down. She hadn’t noticed that fact. Nor had giggling Heather noticed her flashy bracelet was now missing.

 

"Anything, Paddy," Mike says. "What is it?"

 

"In me kitchen pantry lad, you'll find a bottle of whiskey from the year I was born. When they put me in the ground will you pour it over me grave as a final salute?"

 

"I will, Paddy," Mike says.

 

“Thank you Michael, you have been a true and thoughtful lad.”

 

I nudged Byrne and pointed to my wrist. He looked over and saw that Heather had her hand on the table, with her other gloves hand over it. I was tingling with excitement over how my game had played out.

 

Byrne nudged me back and I shook my head in agreement. He was loving the fact that we had pulled it off. So like a man to take the whole credit now that he had contributed a wee bit to my game.

 

We both turned back to listen to the stories finish.

 

"But Paddy?”

Mike asks earnestly ….

 

“Would you be minding if I be passing it through me kidneys first?"

  

The whole room erupted into laughter as the gent merrily raised his glass.

 

It was then announced that we were only ten minutes away from midnight and everyone should take their places.

 

I gasped inwardly. Blimey had not been keeping track of the time.

 

Byrne helped us out of our chairs, and we followed Ginny and Heather to where my brother was standing next to Merrick.

 

Lights soon dim as the countdown begins

10,9,8,

 

Everyone behind us is prancing around

 

7,6,5

 

We go around hugging. I lift my brother's satin handkerchief from his pocket as I hug him.

 

4,3,2

 

I hug Ginny

Wrapping the handkerchief around Ginny’s throat as we hug. Feeling the clasp of her necklace. Oh so tempting.

 

Victims 4 Thief 1

 

Then 1 was called out at the stroke of midnight.

 

“Happy new years everybody!!!”

 

Lights flicker horns are honked, crackers exploded, and drinks were toasted.

 

As Ginny turns to hug my brother, I grab and hug Heather, seeing Merrick and Byrne hugging.

 

I then pull Bryne from his man crush on Merrick and hug him.

 

Then we spilt up to wish others a Happy New Years.

 

^^^^^^^^^

 

We party for another hour before Merrick and Heather say they must leave.

 

We say our goodbyes and as Byrne and I watch Heather being helped on with her wrap we smirk at each other knowing what she will be finding on her car seat. Love to be a fly on the wall for that.

 

The music was still playing. A series of slow dances now that the party was winding down.

 

As we dance, Byrne, looking over at Ginny, commented:

 

“Damn if Ginny’s necklace isn’t a corker. If I’d been playing your game, I would have had a go for it, though I may have needed a bit of good luck to pull it off.”

 

I smirked and explained I had originally been attempting to lift it but had gone for the bracelet instead…and that in his case luck may have been needed, but it would not have been good.”

  

Then, as we both were watching Ginny, with that lovely necklace just sparking away around her throat, I purred into his ear…

“Say the word, and I’ll get for you, my love.”

 

He shook his head no…

“The scary part is if I said yes you would do it.”

 

I giggled:

“And wear it until she noticed.”

 

Byrne smiled:

“You will play nice here the rest of the party won’t you now?”

 

I nodded as a delighted thought crept into my head.

 

“So if Ginny had been skulking outside would you have snuck up on her luv, maybe had her hand it over?”

 

“And have my arse thrown over the fence. No, think I’ll stick to the easily distracted ones who meltdown in my arms.”

 

“Dream on mister.” I chide him happily.

  

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

 

Early the next morning as the last of us were kicked out long after the party was officially over, Byrne bundled me into his car, knowing I was too wasted to drive my own self home. I sat there in a mute stupor, hornily replaying the evening's fun.

 

Suddenly Byrne spoke into the windshield.

“Let’s go to the playground.”

 

I perked up, for ideas like that usually came from me.

 

“Your drunk.” I teases

 

“Well, So are you Lass.”

 

“But it’s too cold. Let’s go to your flat and play at burglars…”

 

Byrne, sensing my hot flashy feelings, nudged me…

 

“I knew you would like to role-play since you were playing your games this evening.”

 

I poked him

“You were the one to mention muggers. Steal my jewelry and strip me naked, is that what’s in your head me lad?”

 

“Something like that.”

 

“Do you have your cuffs?”

That perked him up royally.

 

“Do you want me to use them?”

 

I giggled with a burgeoned horny appetite.

“Yes, laddie. On yourself. So you can do the thieving and stripping of my easily distracted person without using your hands.”

 

I do so enjoy it when one can score by making my Byrne speechless.

  

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

 

So I would like to think that in real life, once upon a time, there may have been an actual pickpocket attending an actors' award show after a party, with real jewellery being worn, that may have seen what I saw, made observations as I did. and lurked, and waited to take advantage of the situation once it developed.

As I did.

 

Food for thought

 

Fini

  

Mike Dunafon. An Irish drinking joke

 

youtu.be/olQI8rak8c0

 

Puerta del Sol. Edificio de la antigua sede de Correos, hoy de la Comunidad de Madrid, con su famoso reloj de bola que todos los 31 de Diciembre da las 12 Campanadas, preludio del Año Nuevo.

Esta visión del edificio, a través de un moderno árbol navideño, un día bastante lluvioso, me hizo recordar, al alzar la vista y mirar al cielo, un refrán popular muy castizo que dice; "De Madrid al Cielo y un agujerito para poder verlo". El origen de esta frase, como la mayoría de los dichos populares, tiene un origen incierto Algunas voces la sitúan hace varios siglos, cuando aún no existían las redes de alcantarillado en la región, por lo que la urbe desprendía un olor pestilente a través de sus calles y sólo el cielo podría salvarse en una visita a la misma. Los defensores de esta versión afirman por tanto que la expresión original sería “De Madrid, el cielo”.

 

Otros sitúan esta frase en torno al siglo XVIII, bajo el reinado de Carlos III, considerado tradicionalmente como el mejor alcalde de la historia de la ciudad. El monarca llevó a cabo numerosas obras de saneamiento como redes de alcantarillado, bellos edificios públicos que aún se mantienen en pleno esplendor como el Palacio Real o la Puerta de Alcalá, y el acondicionamiento de jardines y fuentes para los ciudadanos de la época. La tesis más fiable relaciona el refrán con la obra del dramaturgo del Siglo de Oro, Luis Quiñones de Benavente, titulada «Baile del invierno y del verano». En ella hay unos versos que dicen:

 

«Pues el invierno y el verano,

en Madrid solo son buenos,

desde la cuna a Madrid,

y desde Madrid al Cielo».

 

Puerta del Sol. Building of the former headquarters of Correos, today belongs to the Community of Madrid, with its famous ball clock that every December 31 gives the 12 Bells, prelude to the New Year.

This vision of the building, through a modern Christmas tree, on a very rainy day, made me remember, looking up and looking at the sky, a very pretty popular saying that says; "From Madrid to Heaven and a little hole to see it." The origin of this phrase, like most of the popular sayings, has an uncertain origin. Some voices place it several centuries ago, when the sewer networks did not yet exist in the region, reason why the city gave off a pestilential smell through Its streets and only the heaven could be saved in a visit to it. The defenders of this version affirm therefore that the original expression would be "Of Madrid, the sky".

Others place this phrase around the eighteenth century, under the reign of Carlos III, traditionally considered the best mayor of the city's history. The monarch carried out numerous sanitation works such as sewage and sanitation networks, beautiful public buildings that still remain in full splendor such as the Royal Palace or the Puerta de Alcalá, and the conditioning of gardens and fountains for the citizens of the time. The most reliable thesis relates the saying with the work of the playwright of the Golden Age, Luis Quiñones de Benavente, entitled "Winter and Summer Dance". In it there are some verses that say:

 

"For winter and summer,

In Madrid are only good,

From the cradle to Madrid,

And from Madrid to Heaven.

OH MY GOD WHERE DO I BEGIN ASDFGHJKL-

*breathes*

 

Okay, excuse me, this is going to be a ramble as per usual as I have a ton of things I want to talk about both relating and not relating to this lovely little lady right here but i'll space it out over my next few posts so as to not melt your brain staring at one monumental textwall.

 

OKAY SO. PETRA. OMG. HNNNG. I CAN'T-

So for those of you who keep up with the recent roller-coaster that is my doll journey you'll know that i've talked about shelling my character Petra as a doll for literally years and finally I found the perfect opportunity to go for it and get her with the release of Fairyland Momo. It was kind of up in the air in the beginning whether or not i'd be able to grab Momo while I could but thankfully everything worked out and I was able to get her. Of course, the main reason why I wanted to do so was because I thought the bunny body would be the absolute perfect way of portraying her character in doll form that I previously didn't think would have been possible. For a long time I had resigned myself to just getting her on a regular human body because I didn't think something like this would be possible but OF COURSE, just like with Euclid's perfectly amazing seahorse tail Fairyland is able to read my mind and just know exactly what types of fantasy parts I've wanted for my characters and exactly how to execute them. I'll get into why that is in a bit where I copy/pasta a novel about some of Petra's character but for now let me just say that I LOVE IT SO MUCH and my gosh I am so glad that I was able to get it for her. I know that you can't see her bunny legs in this picture but they actually aren't what I wanted to focus on the most for now. I'll show them off and ramble on about her character/backstory in the future once she is more put together but for now I mainly just want to focus on one thing in particular; THAT SHE IS A MINIFEE ANTE.

Yeah so if you've been keeping up with me for a while you may remember that I had stated numerous times that my plan for Petra was for her to be a Minifee Mio but, well, this happened. Its funny, the moment I first saw Minifee Mio I immediately said "that is Petra" with so much certainty that for the longest time I honestly couldn't imagine her as anything else. Minifee Ante on the other hand was always a sculpt that I was deeply enamored with since I first laid eyes on it but for whatever reason I couldn't see it as anything other than a boy but I didn't have any male characters from my main stories that would suit it and over time it became this ultimate grail for me that I thought i'd never own because I just didn't have the character for it. Well as I mentioned i've been wanting to shell Petra as a doll for years now and at some point I got to looking more and more at Ante as a possible alternative to Mio for Petra. There are things that are more canonically accurate about Mio for Petra, namely the size/shape of her eyes, but the more time went by the more I started to go back and forth between which one was really "right" for her. Eventually I decided upon Mio almost entirely because I knew from her promo photos that she looks great with little angry eyebrows as silly as that sounds, but I think her faceup really was what completely sold me on Mio for her despite being very different than what I would want for Petra. But Ante just kept creeping back into my thoughts especially once I had actually committed to ordering Momo for her bunny body, I just couldn't shake the idea that Ante really has just the perfect little bunny face and captures the cute juvenile look of Petra while still having this air of seriousness. Admittedly Mio gives the same feeling to me but I don't think the sculpt screams "bunny" in the same way that Ante does.

Anyway, I was still debating what I should choose until the very end but eventually my final decision to go with Ante for her came about from being completely unable to find a tan Mio head. xD I'm a believer in fate and that things present themselves the way they do for a reason and being completely unable to get a hold of a Mio head I interpreted as the universe's way of telling me that it just wasn't meant to be. Just when I started to get kind of depressed over it just so happened to come across a pair of tan OE and SP Ante heads and again my mind was flooded with the idea that Ante was in fact the right choice for her.

In thinking about it more heavily I came to realize that while Mio's giant eyes are more canonically accurate, I have to remember that what works in my silly animu drawings don't always translate or work as well as dolls. Faustus and Euclid are incredibly important to Petra and of course i'm insanely picky when it comes to how my really specific character dolls look together so I realized that Mio's giant eyes would probably look way too different and not mesh well with Faustus and Euclid's smaller, more sultry eyes. I learned early on that when translating my characters as dolls its impossible to get them to look EXACTLY like them because of basic stylistic differences and instead to mainly focusing on choosing a sculpt that best captures the "essence" of that character. Like, for example, Euclid's canonical nose looks absolutely nothing like Minifee Luka's nose, but everything else about that sculpt so perfectly evokes Euclid for me that I hardly even notice or think about it, you know? The same is true for me with Petra and Minifee Ante. There are a few characteristics of this sculpt that aren't exactly true of Petra canonically but it still so perfectly captures the FEEL of her character and in a way that also compliments the other important characters in her story. Also the idea of her having a sleeping head really piqued my interest as I've never owned one and they've always interested me but never really had a great excuse to justify getting one, but in thinking about it more, Petra is a character who typically appears outwardly very cold, emotionless and unyielding but a very important part of her character is her journey through very deep emotional and artistic turmoil and I LOVE the idea of using her sleeping head to show a deeply agonized, mournful and ultimately vulnerable side of her that while rarely seen by others is the perfect way of articulating the vital contrasting dynamic of her character.

So yes, in thinking about her in relation to my other dolls and the way that I wanted to portray her character as a doll it became so clear to me that Ante was the right way to go so I took the plunge and went for it and...

;O; I love it.

It was a really strange surreal feeling to own an Ante after having it in my head for so long that i'd never justify being able to own one but it also thoroughly baffled me in a way that I honestly haven't had happen before. Like, my first impression of the sculpt was that this is somehow simultaneously the most bizarre and unrealistic looking sculpt but also gave me the greatest "feeling" of realness and like the sculpt had an air of "life" to it more than any other sculpt i've come across. Idk its hard to explain and probably makes no sense but yeah, it was a strange mix of "wtf am I looking at" and "omg you feel like a real person to me". I've never had that experience before so I was really taken aback by it. It was honestly so confusing that even though I was super busy and shouldn't have been doing so I immediately had to do a suuuuuper quick faceup on her to attempt and sort out my feelings about this sculpt. Seriously, this faceup is legit terrible as it was just an experiment done in a few hours and I feel kind of embarrassed even posting it but ...somehow I still really like it? Like i'll DEFINITELY be making changes when I get the chance to do it properly but I really wanted to test out a few ideas with her eyes specifically since they are extremely important to portraying her character and it actually kind of works. Still needs a lot of fiddling but like I said, this sculpt just captures the "essence" of Petra even with a rushed and imperfect faceup. This sculpt may thoroughly confuse me, but nevertheless it captures Petra bizarrely even better than I could have anticipated. I even really love the way she looks with Faustus and Euclid so far too! She is sooooo far off from being "complete" right now, but still I am loving everything about her~

 

xD Ack, yeah sorry I figured i'd ramble about this for ages sorry but its crazy how this ended up becoming a thing but i'm really glad that it did and am so ridiculously excited to FINALLY have Petra as a doll and work on her in the future as she going to be a fun, unique and challenging project that i'm positive you guys are going to really love~

I've had so many things on my plate and have kind of been in the midst of both a creative and life-based chaos for a while now but i'm doing my best to sort things out as I can and when things get too crazy take a bit of time for myself and focus a little on my dolls. Over the last month or so I was making a few things for Petra here here and there like the outfit she is wearing and her bunny ears (which you can't really see either but asdfghjkl they aren't finished/painted yet so-) and when she arrived I took a little time to make her wig and do this really quick faceup just to get a feel for her as this sculpt as it baffled me so much initially. Its not much and I still have to mod her ears, finish her bunny ears and tail, do a new faceup, mod her body, make her unicorn horn, make her hammer, get proper eyes asdfghjkl SO MANY THINGS but i'm just really glad to have her home and share what little progress I've made on her~

I'll share with and talk more about some of the individual things i've made for her here later on as well as more about her character but here is just a little hello to her for now. Ah, seriously SO excited to share her with everyone more once she really starts coming together ;w;

  

Anyway, I'm going to talk more about my Feeple60 Cygne, IbbI, here soonish and probably some more overall updates for me in the hobby soon as well.

xD Thanks so much for putting up with my nonsensical tornado of a doll journey as always *hugs*

  

.....

ALSO OMG MY SIO2 RAGDOLL FINALLY SHIPPED ASDFGHJKL

....

but his tracking says he's been stuck back in China for an entire week and i'm starting to get worried. Like, he was shipped EMS so he should have been here by now but he apparently hasn't even left China yet... like I get the whole holiday rush and everything but.... ;______;

 

---

Petra (girl) is a Fairyland Minifee Ante on a Fairyline bunny body in Tan skin. Faceup, wig, ears, dress, apron and most props by me.

   

The fourth stage relates to the history, the 'story' we are witnessing, and it's social, spiritual and political implications. - Jay Ramsay - The Sacred Way

 

Paul Simon- The Rhythm of the Saints

 

REQUEST - a thought, a prayer please for my dear Georgian friend Laliko, who's daughter Nino has been missing for some 10 days ..........

brown relates to decay, growth and aging.

this was an amazing panorama but my computer crashed twice today and corrupted everything (y), i i started from scratch.

fantastic.

~Holden Rinehart

 

Sometimes I try to relate the quotes I use to my uploads and sometimes I just find one that I like! This just happened to be one that I found that sounded interesting!

 

This is a shot overlooking the Beer Garden at the Hofbrauhaus along the Monongahela River. For this one I used 6 exposures from my S90.

 

Thank you for all the support my friends!

  

I don't mind invitations, but please no big, shiny, flashing, glitter graphics, they will be deleted. Also, please contact me if you would like to use my pictures for any reason, as all rights are reserved. Thanks!

 

Follow me on Twitter

 

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Post Processing Workflow

Sun flare tutorial

Regular HDR tutorial

 

why live life from dream to dream

and dread the day when dreaming ends?

 

please listen:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DZcBXinWZg

 

i feel like i'm a cliche in doing this kind of shot, because to me it seems so obvious and i know a lot of people have photographed butterflies on walls...but my picture was inspired by the song above and by moulin rouge, one of my favourite all time films. the concept i want to portray is obviously longing to escape from some place or time, and i think it's one a lot of people can relate to.. i certainly can.

 

this picture is dedicated to my flickr little sister, amy: www.flickr.com/photos/amymortimer/ because i've missed her lately and she's just lovely.

 

286/365

 

Follow me on twitter if you wish:

 

twitter.com/beth_retro

 

© Beth Retro 2009

-Not to be used anywhere without written consent.

 

[explored]

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

The Monument in London relates to the great fire of London.

 

Rick and I have put up a geocaching YouTube video about this if you are interested in seeing more about it. The link is:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ19VlVuxok

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.

 

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.

We can relate to this guy sometimes.

 

VTR #201 is about to depart North Bennington to take its train from Rutland down to the PAR interchange at Hoosick Junction in New York state.

Both in [my Christian] tradition and in others, asceticism of space, the training in detachment as it relates to any given place, centers on learning to be present where we are. This is the first step: and how often do we fail in it! We are ahead of ourselves or are hanging behind. Part of us is stretching out to a future that is not yet, part is hanging on to a past that is no more. What is left of us is not truly present either. We are here and not here, because we are not awake. To be present where we are means to wake up to this place.

--The way of silence : engaging the sacred in daily life / Brother David Steindl-Rast

 

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

Monday, January 23rd, 2017

 

This week's theme for the Flickr Macro Monday group is "It's A-Peeling to Me." From this week's instructions:

 

"Peel" is a verb and a noun. As a verb, it is defined as removing the outer covering or skin of a fruit, vegetable or shrimp. It may also refer to removing wallpaper, paper (as in a label) or paint from the surface it is adhered to in strips or pieces. As a noun "peel" is the outer covering (skin or rind) of a fruit or vegetable. Of course there are other sorts of things relating to "peel" or "peeling" you may choose to illustrate.

 

Shedding My Shell

 

I decided to play with hard-boiled eggs for this challenge because eggs are wonderful photography subjects in which to practice using dramatic lighting skills, and an egg shell is a wonderful metaphor for my personal growth. I see my shell through negative and critical eyes. I'm actively working on breaking down my shell that keeps me "safe" but really just keeps me lonely. In order to grow, I need to break.

I've never been able to relate to many people. I've always been the outcast child. I don't follow the rules. That's kind of how I do everything. Through my music, I've found a place in the world where I'm accepted, so I'm happy. "Neon Hitch"

 

Shirt - [AK] - Andrew Shirt Black

shorts - PBM Mens [Saggin' Shorts] Camo

bracelet - Izzie's - 2 Say It With A Bracelet (Loved)

watch - = REBELLION = "MAGNUS" CUFF WATCH

 

Shirt - [AK] - Andrew Shirt Black) I got this shirt just as a quick outfit change the other day, I half expected it to be bad, not a slight on [AK] but I've not had great success with shirts lately, I have to dig and dig to find ones I like. This one however surprised me, or I wouldn't be doing a post on it. The texture is subtle, and well done, the shadows are fantastic, not over done, just perfect. The only thing I have an issue with is fitting the shirt over jeans, most of my jeans poke through at the waist area.. However I needed a good shirt with the shorts I have on here, and this fits the bill. So if you want a Deep DEEP V, go pick this up!

 

Shorts - PBM Mens [Saggin' Shorts] Camo) - Okay so I'm kind of a snob when it comes to pants/jeans/shorts, I admit that freely. I will trash a pair of jeans if the texture is not perfect. So when I looked at PBM, I grabbed the demo and like [AK] shirt I expected these to also be shit. I couldn't have been more wrong, PBM Keep up the good work guys! Love these, they fit perfectly and look great!

 

The Bracelet and watch I'll do together, you can't really see them well in the photo, but both are very well textured, and both resizable! if you are in need of some accessories give Rebellion and Izzie's a shot! (special thanks to Hope for the bracelet! <3)

 

Blog Link - normalattireblog.wordpress.com/

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

Aircraft movements relating to the end of the State Visit to the UK by the President of the United States, bringing Trump back from Chequers prior to boarding Air Force One.

 

The formation consisted of three US Army Chinook helicopters, US Marine Corps VH-3 Sea King (Marine One) and the National Police Air Service H-145 helicopter.

 

Air Force One and two C-32 jets departed Stansted.

 

Photos taken off Belmer Road, Stansted Airport.

This shot was not intended to relate to the disaster on the East Coast, but I cannot look at this image without thinking about it. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by Hurricane Sandy.

 

I took this from the parking deck at the University of Illinois-Chicago. I recommend that you find this parking deck and make a morning out of shooting here. I spent an hour or two here last weekend. I gave a bit of a description of how to get here in this post.

 

As for the processing on this shot, I ran four different exposures through Nik HDR Efex Pro 2 and used the "Sinister" preset. I combined that image with an original exposure for the sky and tweaked in CS5.

 

Thanks to everyone that visited, commented, and "favorited" my Halloween moon shot from this summer on Flickr. It ended up going to #1 on Explore for October 31st. That is definitely a first for me. If you haven't seen it, check out Full Moon Over the Waves on Flickr.

A small portion of the vast Noctis Labyrinthus region, part of a complex graben system relating to volcanic activity in the Tharsis region. As the crust bulged it stretched apart nearby terrain, ripping fractures several kilometres deep and leaving blocks – graben – stranded within the resulting trenches.

 

This particular scene focuses on one such flat-topped graben etched with landslides, and on the wind-blown dunes in the floor of the surrounding trench and valley walls. The flanks of the graben and valleys appear to be covered by thick dust deposits. In the lower right part of the image wind has accumulated the dust into dune fields, partly lifting them onto the plateau.

 

The region was imaged by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express on 15 July 2015 during orbit 14632. The image is centred on 6°S / 265°E; the ground resolution is about 16 m per pixel.

 

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

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.

Only Greats Relate, MISFIT MOB & SAVKREW

When everything comes together and this is the reflection that I saw in the mirror.......... I had achieved my goal........ I felt femme, happy, content, comfortable and pretty and me.

 

I have always known I was different and this proves it beyond debate!

  

UPDATE 21/02/2020

 

I can really relate to this........ if only

  

youtu.be/B67OVJTyV0I

WHAT DOES DOG DAY AFTERNOON RELATE TO

 

"the dog days of summer." Dog days are not about or connected to the loveable canines which many of us enjoy. Dog days are actually referring to the star "Sirius", also known as the dog star, found in the constellation of Canis Major, deriving its name from the Greek word '"seirios", which means "scorching".

 

The star sirius is most visible in our hemisphere during the summer months as the brightest star in the heavens (not Polaris, the northern star).

 

So, "dog day afternoon" actually means nothing more than a hot summer afternoon.

 

LIVERPOOL CITY CENTRE HOT SUMMERS DAY

  

See where this picture was taken. [?]

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.

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.

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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

Chinese visual artist and political activist Ai Weiwei visited the Greek island of Lesvos in 2015, to witness the influx of refugees in Europe. Deciding to create a documentary on the topic, he and his family and film team travelled to over 40 refugee camps in 23 countries in one year. The resulting photographing series, consisting of 17000 photographs exhibited here at the FOMU in Antwerp, attempt to depict the scale and impact of the global refugee crisis.

based on 1 verb from Richard Serras "Verb List Compilation: Actions to Relate to Oneself"

As of 3/14, there's a new receptacle in the same place (outside the New School) - seems to be some kind of project relating to cigarette filters.

One of the joys and challenges of being prophetic, is that we carry a dream of what we see God doing in the future.

 

In the meantime, we find ourselves in a gap. Today, we’re faced with trials and difficulties (James 1:2-4).

 

Hear God saying, ‘I am healing your perspective concerning where you are right now. And I am giving you courage to dream again!’

Connecting the Dots: Your Father Sees the Completed Picture

When you have a prophetic perspective, you not only believe what God says about your future—you can also trust Him in your present.

The prophetic journey is like ‘connect the dots’ activities that are found in children’s books.

 

The person who designed them has left clues to follow—dots that must be joined with a pen

When every dot has been connected, the full picture appears

You may relate to this right now, as you find yourself in transition in some area of your life. You are in a ‘dot moment’.

 

You have left something behind, and have no idea how to reach what lies ahead. There are prophecies and dreams that have not yet been fulfilled.

 

In the here and now, you can trust your Heavenly Father.

 

God has seen the beginning and the end. Your heart is towards Him. And He declares,‘It is good. You are good!’

God Looks at Your Life and Says, ‘It is Good!’

‘…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’ (Phil 1:6 NIV)

 

According to the Bible, your life is a work in progress, and that’s okay! No matter where you are, know that your Father is carrying His good work on in you until completion.

 

Incomplete, but Good!

During times of uncertainty and change, it is tempting to become discouraged and say,‘This is not good!’

But your Father is seeing from a different perspective.

 

When God created the earth, the Bible tells us several times, ‘he saw it was good’. (Gen 1:4, 9, 12)

 

He saw good, while His creation was still in process. Before there was the earth, before there was the sky; before there was any plant or animal life, before humanity existed.

 

God’s work was incomplete, and yet He saw that what He had created was good.

 

Today, know God’s favor is towards you! Receive the courage to declare, ‘God’s work in me is good!’

Be Comforted: God is at Work in Others

Not only are you personally in a process, but those your life touches are also a work in progress.

 

Sometimes our hearts grieve, because there is a gap between where others are now, and the destiny we know God has for them.

Today, you may have a son or daughter, grandchild, or other close friend or family member you are concerned about.

 

You may be seeking change in a person or group you are ministering to, or praying for

Hear your Father saying, ‘Let your heart be at rest. I am carrying on a good work. Pray without fear and worry.’

 

When Jacob Encountered God

One day, Rebekah urged her son Jacob to flee from their household, because his brother Esau wanted to kill him. (See Gen 25-28)

 

She was distressed and feared for both her sons’ lives.

 

But on that very day, one that Jacob later called, ‘the day of my distress’ (Gen 35:3), Rebekah’s son dreamed of an open heaven above him.

 

In that place of pain, Jacob had a revelation of the goodness and favor of God. And he named that place Bethel, which means ‘House of God’ (Gen 28:17-19).

It was a ‘dot moment’ in the plan of God. He had more up ahead. Jacob’s life and relationship with God was still a work in progress.

 

Your Father sees not only this middle—this dot moment—but also what is to come. And He declares, ‘It is good!’

 

Today, let go of your worries about those you love, and those you are praying for. God is healing your perspective.

 

In this place of ‘the dot’—where you cannot see how God will fulfil your dreams from Him for you and others—you are in a place of Divine appointment.

Here and now, encounter the God Who loves you.

 

www.enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2018/05/31/healing-prophet...

Helen Calder

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Photo credits to my wife :-)

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".

In August 2002 Green-Wood Historic Fund rededicated New York City's Civil War Soldier's Monument after a year of restoration. The monument originally dedicated in 1876 is on top of Battle Hill. Green-Wood also started a project to identify all the Civil War veterans buried in the cemetery. They had thought there were about 500 veterans buried in Green-Wood but in the end about 5,000 were identified.

 

2015 marks the 150th Anniversary of the end of the American Civil War in April, 1865.

 

Currently there is a small but wonderful exhibition "To Bid You All Good Bye: Civil War Stories" in the Green-Wood Cemetery Historic Chapel based on the research and highlights a few of the many stories of the men and women buried in the cemetery.

 

Pictured here are the original sculptures from the 1876 monument - the model for the Calvary officer was George Armstrong Custer of the Battle of Little Big Horn fame. The smaller pieces are by American sculptor John Rodgers and depict scenes relating to the Civil War time period

Discourse points toward

An interpretative turn

Inscribed articulation

BODY:

Maitreya Mesh Body v.4.1

CatWa Head - Kimberly

CatWa Eyes

CatWa Add-on TEETH B [Default]

CatWa Tongue Piercing for Teeth B [Default]

^^Swallow^^ Princess ears

[West End] Shapes - Reese

Izzie's - Whiskey Eyes (applier)

 

SKIN:

. MILA . Paloma Skin [Ivory] CATWA

. MILA . Body Skin Appliers V3

 

TATTOOS:

RedFish - Ouija tattoo

 

JEWELRY:

**RE**Envy Tags

**RE** Rebel Faith Bracelets

+AH+ Casual Goth Piercing CATWA Kimberly 2.1

~~ Ysoral ~~ .:Luxe Ring Veronica:. Engagement

~~ Ysoral ~~ .:Luxe Ring Veronica:. Wedding

^^Swallow^^ Ear Cuff Cross

^^Swallow^^ Princess Bento Rings

[ bubble ] Stars Collarbone Dermals

  

COLLAR (BDSM):

Cae :: Bound :: Collar

 

OUTFIT:

Blueberry - Can't Relate Set - Mega Pack

 

HAIR:

TRUTH Livia - Brunette

 

Blog post - litasbabygirladventures.blogspot.com/

'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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Thanks very kindly to all my visitors for any gracious comment, views and invites. Much appreciated! .... Peace and love be with you.

Namaste.

 

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All rights reserved. Copyright © Aum Kleem All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission.

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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