View allAll Photos Tagged Stringy,
Also known as Queen Anne's lace this is a dainty, frothy wildflower. Unlike cultivated carrots, the wild carrot's root is tough and stringy and not particularly palatable.
The flower itself is long stalked and shaped like an up-turned umbrella. It is similar in appearance to other members of the Apiacae or 'umbellifer' family - such as the highly poisonous hemlock and the commonly seen cow parsley - with white flowers and feathery leaves.
worked better than expected! i used 'shrinkles' brand shrink plastic (this stuff: www.wizardtoys.com/ )
i drew a circle 3.9cm in diameter (my gun is a cheap and basic with discs that are 1.5cm in diameter) with a simple scale shape in the center and cut it out.
(other brands may shrink by a differant % or if your gun is larger you may have to experiment to find the size you need)
bake according to the manufacturs instrcutions
you can sand shrink plastic too so if it dosnt fit exactly or if your shape is a little rough grap some wet/dry sand paper (i used 400 grit) and sand away!
the shrinkles disc is thicker than the metal discs but still fits securely.
however shrink plastic dosnt NOT react well with polymer clay even after 24 hours it started to go stringy and change consistancy (see photo. bottom right) so you will want to clean the disc thoroughly with wet wipes etc to remove any clay after each use. obviously its not going to be robust as the metal disc but good for custom shapes that you only want to use once or twice.
I walk the entire length around the basin with poochie almost everyday. This is at the far end point of our walk where I stop and chill out on the log for a bit. It has been like this for 20 years even the little log made into a seat has been there for 20 years. It is a nice place to sit and think
Not one of my greatest, but topical in view of the interest generated by another trouser-themed photograph I posted a few days ago. The impressively capacious thunderbags entering left were captured at Stockport on Monday 6th February 1978. We must allow Youth its errors ...and what would Youth be without them? ...but, ignoring the cut of his strides, the young man has taken considerable care to dress presentably and does not conceive his costume as an affront to others or as the emblem of his indifference to their opinion. It is not an egotistical, anti-social statement of the kind so familiar today. Today, as I sometimes reflect when waiting at the checkout queue behind a fifty year-old man with a tattooed neck and a stringy, pepper-and-salt pony tail, everyone ...including many who are old enough to have more sense... flatters himself that he is an outsider or bohemian: but what can a universal bohemianism be but another form of orthodoxy?
The bus, a Leyland Titan PD3/14 with East Lancs body, had been new to Stockport Corporation in 1969 ...just pre-SELNEC I think... but had now been swallowed into the fleet of the Greater Manchester PTE and had, alas, succumbed to that operator's lamentable colour scheme. "Livery" seems too elevated a term to be applied to this dirt-emphasising orangeade and off-white get-up. I would imagine that the Low Cost Apex Fares to Australia, U. S. A. and Canada, advertised in the travel agent's window, would be quite expensive relative to contemporary incomes. Travel agents would soon find themselves exposed to cut-throat competition from "bucket shops" and ahead-of-their-time budget airlines such as Laker and Dan Air. I believe I saw a travel agency in Bury St Edmunds the other day, but with the growth of online booking it is surprising that they survive at all.
Since I'm in a confessional mode ("Blimey, mate," the girls would say, "you're always in confessional mode"), I thought I would tell you folks about the night I spent in bed with the naked 17-year-old girl. No, she wasn't this girl. I'm not sure who this girl is, though I think we might be related, sort of like Obama is related to Richard Nixon. I think this lovely young woman might be the daughter, or the grand-daughter, of my grandmother's half-sister, but I'm not sure. My mother took this picture and I wasn't along on this trip.
But anyway, back to the naked girl. I know I have this reputation, here on the internets, but sadly, alas, you must believe I have rarely lived up to it. Only once, in all the course of time, have I ever been in bed with a naked (or clothed) 17-year-old girl, and that was the youngest girl I ever was in bed with. Maybe she was from Canada. Probably she was from Canada. Anyway, I was a good bit younger than I am now, so at least it wasn't quite so dirty-old-mannish.
I was in the graduate writing program at the University of Arkansas. I thought, and I'm not going to pull any punches here, that I was hot shit. There were many other excellent writers there who just as well could have thought they were hot shit, but probably my head was more swelled up than theirs. (One of those people who might have thought that they were hot shit is my buddy Joe Jackson, who has a book coming out from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux soon. You should buy it.) Anyway, one of the last people to get there that semester (the new program enrollees came in early so they could get a head-start, learning the introductory comp that they would be teaching to in-coming freshmen) was this fellow we'll call Aaron Rabbinowitz. Aaron got there late, and he took a room in a motel. And he just stayed in that motel for the whole school year. I myself could not have done that. At least I guess they came in every day and made his bed.
I don't want to stereotype, but Aaron looked like a guy who just came in on the last boat out of Cracow. He looked fresh from the shtetl. He was short, he had a long thin face and a hawk nose and hooded brown eyes, and long stringy hair. Seems like he wore a coat everywhere, like a long coat, like a western bank robber. I may be making that part up.
Anyway, I thought I was a smart guy. Aaron really was a smart guy. His stories were polished and complete and mature in a way that mine certainly weren't. Aaron could talk knowledgeably about the story of ideas. Our professors did not like the "story of ideas," but Aaron could tell you why they were wrong. In fact, every day after workshop, Aaron would tell me just exactly where the Uncles (we called our main writing teachers, Bill (William) Harrison, Jim Whitehead, and John Clellon Holmes, the Uncles) had been wrong. Aaron had read everything (I had read a mere fraction of his reading list). He'd read the Russians, of course. He'd read all the major Americans. He'd read all the Jewish writers, Singer, Bellow, Malamud, Roth, the other Roth, all those guys.
Aaron seemed to know everything, and he had an opinion about everything. Here's how smart, how observant, Aaron was. You'd be talking about someone, some other smart person. Maybe they would be getting ready to do something or say something, and you didn't know what it was they were going to do or say. And Aaron would say, "here's what he's going to do," or "here's what she's going to say." And then that person would do or say what Aaron said they were going to do or say. That's how smart he was.
And of course he was a very funny guy. I'm sorry that I'm not going to be able to get him being funny down on the page, but trust me, he was funny. Maybe his funny was a little more involved, not so much the one-liner kind of funny. I'm sure he was one-liner funny too.
So I hung out with Aaron. I didn't have a kitchen that first year, so I ate out every night, and so did he. So we'd hang out and talk. At the end of the spring semester, Aaron says, "heh, what are you doing this summer? We'll go to Saratoga, we'll rent an apartment, and we'll hang out there." And that's exactly what we did. We got this two bedroom apartment in this old house that was pretty close to the track, and close enough to Yaddo that you could go over there and walk around in the gardens. I really didn't know too much about Yaddo. Now I know that it was at least as good a place to get laid as it was to write anything, but I only knew that famous writers had spent time there then.
Of course, I was supposed to be writing, that summer. I doubt if I ever did write much of anything.
I actually had a girl I'd met back in Fayetteville towards the end of the spring semester, and I wrote to her, and she wrote back, and sent me little drawings. I could have had a great time if I'd stayed in Fayetteville.
Bugs Bunny: My stars! Where did you ever get that awful hairdo? It doesn't become you at all.
laughter
Bugs: Here, for goodness' sake, let me fix it up. Look how stringy and messy it is. What a shame! Such an interesting monster, too.
laughter
Bugs: My stars, if an interesting monster can't have an interesting hairdo, then I don't know what things are coming to. In my business, you meet so many interesting people.
__________________________
A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
#166 Red Bird In Paradise Finds No Free Lunch
Congratulations, you are in Explore!
That's a surprise!
Testing a brand new, in the box, older model Canon 75-300mm f/4-5.6 Lens from eBay that arrived at dusk. It was definitely not the time to learn how to use a new lens.
I wish i could have afforded an f/2.8 lens. At first, I was sorry I had spent the amazingly small amount for a brand new lens. Yes it is an older model, but still... I couldn't resist. Especially because i have really yearned for a 300mm lens for ages.. I should have waited I thought.
Then I couldn't get the camera high enough to get this spectacular flower stalk all lit by the back lighting from the glass brick window. All in all, at the end of the day, or , sof sof, as we say in Hebrew, everything was against this shot.
So what do we do with photos that are too dark and screwy to boot? We PLAY of course. I did a lot of exploring. I am exhausted because i played with these shots until the wee hours.
Either you will really like it or you will hate it. No middle ground here. Right?
One thing i did try to do was to make the flowers look as they do to me when really illuminated. I was not totally successful!... But it's surprisingly close... I was delighted by how interesting the little stringy dying stamens look. I hadn't even noticed them in the viewfinder. So there is detail there, if i can figure out how to control the seemingly random lighting up of some of the many AF sensors in the FOV.
I don't think this lens has the beautiful bokeh of the Nikon 300mm lens or some Canon L series, or some Tamron, or Sigma lenses... it was too much to hope for at that price. No free lunch...
All told, i think I will keep this lens and try it out on a bright day when it is not so super hot outside. Today, Wednesday August 11th, is WAY too hot; 112 F = 44 C
C=5/9 (F - 32) = (F - 32)/1.8 = 44.44 C
IMG_3820_2
Not sure if this thing can be called a mushroom or not but it is fungi. It's attached to this tree really well with all those fibers. I'm guessing that under the webbing there is a traditional mushroom that tried to start.
This week I learned that deer, like cats, are curious about their surroundings. When the mom and her son swung by our place on their circuit through the area, mom paused for a moment to inspect the newly planted umbrella pine that wasn't there during her last visit.
She looked at it carefully from several angles before moving on. It might seem like the deer is having a nibble, but that's a trick of perspective. There are much tastier things to eat here!
In the same place a century from now the doe's descendants may gaze up into the crown of a 40-foot-tall tree.
About the Umbrella Pine
The Japanese Umbrella Pine (i.e. Sciadopitys Verticillata) is not actually a pine, but is one of the world’s rarest and most unique coniferous evergreens dating back to the Triassic period, before the existence of dinosaurs. Originally comprising a variety of species and with a habitat spreading across continents, it became virtually extinct with its geographic range reduced to just two isolated areas in Japan and its diversity limited to a single species. Now considered a living fossil, it is genetic orphan being the only remaining member of the family Schiadopityaceae and of the genus Sciadopitys.
The Japanese Umbrella Pine derives its name from the whorls of needles that grow at the end of its branches and mirror the shape of an umbrella, covering the tree in a cloud of green. The needles are of the richest shade of green, soft, round, and waxy to the point that they look almost like plastic. They grow two to five inches in length in whorls of 20 to 30 needles each. They contrast elegantly against the bark, which is thick, soft, orange-brown and stringy. The photosynthetic needles, which are not actually leaves, are cladodes, or small photosynthetic stems. The leaves themselves are small, brown, resembling scales, and grow closely against the branches, just below the whorls of cladodes.
The Japanese Umbrella Pine, or Koyamaki as it is known in Japan, is found in the wild in just two areas of Japan; on the Nara Peninsula of Shikoku Island and in the mountains northeast of Nagoya in Honshu. The Koyamaki, as it is called, is one of the “five trees of Kiso” treated as sacred in Japan and its image serves as a crest for the Royal Family of Japan. Historically, its spicy scented, water-resistant wood was highly valued for making boats and its bark, in the form of oakum, for caulking. Now listed as vulnerable, it is far too rare to be used as anything other than a highly prized ornamental to be found in many of the world’s leading gardens.
Sciadopitys makes a uniquely attractive ornamental with year round luxuriant green foliage and orange-brown bark. They are extremely slow growing, which is why mature specimens are rare and expensive, as they typically achieve no more than six inches of growth a year to a maximum height of 25 to 40 feet. It can take 100 years for a sapling to fully mature. This unique, rare, and long-lived conifer serves as prominent focal point in any garden setting whose extraordinary beauty and history can’t help but draw interest.
Ocean Park, Washington.
That I am made of meat is not a fact I ever doubted. But seeing it - the meat I'm made of - shredded, red and stringy, strewn across a foreign surface, shocked me.
The pain was just pain. It has nothing new to offer me. Falling and impaling myself on a shaft of rusty rebar is essentially another day at the office. Sure, the trip in the ambulance was a little out of the ordinary. So too the number of strangers attending to my ass. But by and large it was just another insult to the flesh of a person who is clumsy and accident prone. Until I saw the flesh.
I hadn't seen the actual wound, given its location and my limited range of movement. But the ambulance guys had gauged its depth by examining the flesh left behind on the rebar. Home from the hospital, I searched my pants for more signs of trauma but found nothing outside beyond a modest blood stain. Then I looked inside. Oh, dear. Like someone had soaked the pants with raw strings of stewing beef.
How odd it is to see ourselves in pieces like that. To be reminded that we are merely animated slabs of meat. It's been a while now and I'm able to sit again. But I'm not sure I'll ever be able to think of my body without seeing one of those skinned illustrations of man reduced to muscle and tendon in a text book.
July 19, 2010
Abnormal Affection Towards Rain or Being Rained On
:))
i'll be picking the winners in a few. watch for the upload :)
The last photo I took of the 2021-2022 Plaza Lights from our window. The stringy cloud dance at dusk made it a little more interesting.
Found the smashed plant material on the sidewalk, which reminded me of Muttley, Dick Dastardly's sidekick. Rearranged the stringy material a bit to create a second leg and tail. Added teeth, eyes, and horns from nearby plant parts.
February 26, 2018
The wide open spore-producing disc of a clump of beard lichen.
Brewster, Massachusetts
Cape Cod - USA
Photo by brucetopher
© Bruce Christopher 2018
All Rights Reserved
...always learning - critiques welcome.
Tools: Canon 7D & iPhone 6s.
No use without permission.
Please email for usage info.
me brendan damien. when we were young.
& the most important thing was how many people we could squeeze on the stringy hammock at once.
wait. still is.
My "fast and free" spin. It went really quickly, the roving pretty much spun itself. It is a tad bit overspun so it feels a little stringy, but it was a very very fun experiment. I thought this would be more sportweight, but turned out to be more of a fingering/heavy fingering. And the colors, oh the colors!!!
The was given to me by SourCherries (aka amariaj) for the HHHH swap.
Fiber:
All Spun Up sw merino
Approx 307m/100g
2ply fingering weight
The Wachirathan Waterfall is the second major waterfall on the way up Doi Inthanon. This one is an impressive and powerful waterfall falling (and I'm guessing here) some 50-60m though we've been told the height is more like 80m. The falls also is wide, but the segments to the right of the main tier tend to be stringier and lighter flowing.
Today we finished the rest of our empire-provided provisions. Quane was beginning to worry when I pointed out that the worms that had been migrating alongside us since yesterday might be edible. We used my flint to light the flammable mud into a cozy little fire, and Quane managed to spear a couple worms with her staff. I knew those would come in handy! The worms taste a little stringy when roasted, but the taste isn't unpleasant. However, the best part is that the worms' gills filter the mud into clean water! We'll be able to live off these for weeks! Sitting next to Quane and eating roasted worms, I felt so peaceful.
It was nice.
I feel like a factory, spitting out so many of these like this.
Enjoy!
. . . if you were bitten three times by dogs, like me,
you would love this photo
I was bitten as a young child and later as a grown up and I was bitten in India.
The doctor cannot do anything, he just gives you an injection. The wound has to heal by itself - no band-aid. This is not funny.
______________________________________________
Dog meat refers to the flesh and other edible parts derived from dogs. Historically, human consumption of dog meat has been recorded in many parts of the world, including East and Southeast Asia, West Africa, Europe, Oceania and the Americas.
In the 21st century, dog meat is consumed in many parts of China, Korea and Vietnam, parts of Switzerland, as well as parts of Europe, Americas, the African continent, such as Cameroon, Ghana and Liberia.
Today, a number of cultures view the consumption of dog meat to be a part of their traditional and day-to-day cuisine, while others - such as Western culture - consider consumption of dog to be a taboo, although they have been consumed in times of war and/or other hardships or in rural areas where food is scarce. It was estimated in 2014 that worldwide, 25 million dogs are eaten each year by humans.
DOG BREEDS USED FOR MEAT
NUREONGI
The Nureongi is a yellowish landrace from Korea. Similar to other native Korean dog breeds, such as the Jindo, nureongi are medium-sized spitz-type dogs, but are larger, with greater musculature and a distinctive coat pattern. They are quite uniform in appearance, yellow hair and melanistic masks. Nureongi are most often used as a livestock dog, raised for its meat, and not commonly kept as pets.
HAWAIIAN POI
The Hawaiian Poi Dog or ʻīlio (ʻīlio mākuʻe for brown-furred Poi dogs) is an extinct breed of pariah dog from Hawaiʻi which was used by Native Hawaiians as a spiritual protector of children and as a source of food.
XOLOITZCUINTLE (Mexican Hairless)
The Xoloitzcuintle, or Xolo for short, is a hairless breed of dog, found in toy, miniature and standard sizes. The Xolo also comes in a coated variety and all three sizes can be born to a single litter. It is also known as Mexican hairless dog in English speaking countries, is one of several breeds of hairless dog and has been used as a historical source of food for the Aztec Empire.
BY REGION
AFRICA
CAMEROON
The Mandara mountains people like dog meat. The Mayo-Plata (Mayo Sava district) market is well known for its dog meat outlets. Among the Vame people, domestic dogs are only eaten for specific rituals.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Despite tests showing 156 dogs were infected with Ebola, the consumption of dog meat is no longer taboo. Several families may chip in to purchase a whole large dog.
GHANA
The Tallensi, the Akyim's, the Kokis, and the Yaakuma, one of many cultures of Ghana, consider dog meat a delicacy. While the Mamprusi generally avoid dog meat, it is eaten in a "courtship stew" provided by a king to his royal lineage. Two Tribes in Ghana, Frafra and Dagaaba are particularly known to be "tribal playmates" and consumption of dog meat is the common bond between the two tribes. Every year around September, games are organised between these two tribes and the Dog Head is the trophy at stake for the winning tribe
LIBERIA
Liberians are said to lump the term dog meat and bushmeat together. A local animal welfare group. Anti Pet & Bush Meat Coalition, claimed 75% of Liberians consume dog meat. 75% of Liberians rely on bush and pet meat as a staple diet.
MOROCCO
Islamic law bans the eating of dog meat as does the government of Morocco, however the consumption of dog meat still occurs particularly in poorer regions, often being passed off as other meats as was the case in 2013 and 2009 cases
NIGERIA
Dogs are eaten by various groups in some states of Nigeria, including Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Plateau, Ondo, Kalaba, Taraba and Gombe of Nigeria. They are believed to have medicinal powers.
In late 2014, the fear of contracting the Ebola virus disease from bushmeat led at least one major Nigerian newspaper to imply that eating dog meat was a healthy alternative. That paper documented a thriving trade in dog meat and slow sales of even well smoked bushmeat.
AMERICAS
CANADA
It is legal to sell and serve dog meat, providing that it must be killed and gutted in front of federal inspectors. If a dog is killed out of the view of federal inspectors, the killing might involve cruelty, which would be a violation of the Criminal Code, and those convicted may be sentenced to up to 5 years in prison.
ANCIENT MEXICO
In the time of the Aztec Empire in what is now central Mexico, Mexican Hairless Dogs were bred, among other purposes, for their meat. Hernán Cortés reported when he arrived in Tenochtitlan in 1519, "small gelded dogs which they breed for eating" were among the goods sold in the city markets. These dogs, Xoloitzcuintles, were often depicted in pre-Columbian Mexican pottery. The breed was almost extinct in the 1940s, but the British Military Attaché in Mexico City, Norman Wright, developed a thriving breed from some of the dogs he found in remote villages.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The term "dog" has been used as a synonym for sausage since 1884 and accusations that sausage makers used dog meat date to at least 1845. The belief that sausages contained dog meat was occasionally justified.
In the late 19th century, a cure for tuberculosis (then colloquially termed "consumption") using an exclusive diet of dog meat was tried. Reports of families eating dog meat out of choice, rather than necessity, were rare and newsworthy. Stories of families in Ohio and Newark, New Jersey who did so made it into editions of The New York Times in 1876 and 1885.
In the early 20th century, dog meat was consumed during times of meat shortage.
NATIVE AMERICANS
The traditional culture surrounding the consumption of dog meat varied from tribe to tribe among the original inhabitants of North America, with some tribes relishing it as a delicacy, and others (such as the Comanche) treating it as a forbidden food. Native peoples of the Great Plains, such as the Sioux and Cheyenne, consumed it, but there was a concurrent religious taboo against the meat of wild canines.
During their 1803–1806 expedition, Meriwether Lewis and the other members of the Corps of Discovery consumed dog meat, either from their own animals or supplied by Native American tribes, including the Paiutes and Wah-clel-lah Indians, a branch of the Watlatas, the Clatsop, the Teton Sioux (Lakota), the Nez Perce Indians, and the Hidatsas. Lewis and the members of the expedition ate dog meat, except William Clark, who reportedly could not bring himself to eat dogs.
The Kickapoo people include puppy meat in many of their traditional festivals. This practice has been well documented in the Works Progress Administration "Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma".
AUSTRALIA
It is legal to eat dogs in most States and Territories, except for South Australia. However, it is illegal to sell dog meat in any Australian State or Territory.
ARTIC AND ANTARTIC
Dogs have historically been emergency food sources for various peoples in Siberia, northern Canada, and Greenland. Sled dogs are usually maintained for pulling sleds, but occasionally are eaten when no other food is available.
British explorer Ernest Shackleton and his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition became trapped, and ultimately killed their sled dogs for food. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was known to have eaten sled dogs during his expedition to the South Pole. By eating some of the sled dogs, he required less human or dog food, thus lightening his load. When comparing sled dogs to ponies as draught animals he also notes:
"...there is the obvious advantage that dog can be fed on dog. One can reduce one's pack little by little, slaughtering the feebler ones and feeding the chosen with them. In this way they get fresh meat. Our dogs lived on dog's flesh and pemmican the whole way, and this enabled them to do splendid work. And if we ourselves wanted a piece of fresh meat we could cut off a delicate little fillet; it tasted to us as good as the best beef. The dogs do not object at all; as long as they get their share they do not mind what part of their comrade's carcass it comes from. All that was left after one of these canine meals was the teeth of the victim – and if it had been a really hard day, these also disappeared."
Douglas Mawson and Xavier Mertz were part of the Far Eastern Party, a three-man sledging team with Lieutenant B.E.S. Ninnis, to survey King George V Land, Antarctica. On 14 December 1912 Ninnis fell through a snow-covered crevasse along with most of the party's rations, and was never seen again. Mawson and Mertz turned back immediately. They had one and a half weeks' food for themselves and nothing at all for the dogs. Their meagre provisions forced them to eat their remaining sled dogs on their 507 km return journey. Their meat was tough, stringy and without a vestige of fat. Each animal yielded very little, and the major part was fed to the surviving dogs, which ate the meat, skin and bones until nothing remained. The men also ate the dog's brains and livers. Unfortunately eating the liver of sled dogs produces the condition hypervitaminosis A because canines have a much higher tolerance for vitamin A than humans do. Mertz suffered a quick deterioration. He developed stomach pains and became incapacitated and incoherent. On 7 January 1913, Mertz died. Mawson continued alone, eventually making it back to camp alive.
ASIA/PACIFIC
CHINA
Selling dog meat for consumption is legal in Mainland China and approximately 10 million dogs each year are slaughtered for consumption. The eating of dog meat in China dates back thousands of years. Dog meat (Chinese: 狗肉; pinyin: gǒu ròu) has been a source of food in some areas from around 500 BC and possibly even earlier. It has been suggested that wolves in southern China may have been domesticated as a source of meat. Mencius, the philosopher, talked about dog meat as being an edible, dietary meat. It is thought to have medicinal properties, and is especially popular in winter months in northern China, as it is believed to raise body temperature after consumption and promote warmth. Historical records have moreover shown how in times of food scarcities (as in war-time situations), dogs could also be eaten as an emergency food source.
Dog meat is sometimes called "fragrant meat" (香肉 xiāng ròu) or "mutton of the earth" (地羊 dì yáng) in Mandarin Chinese and "3–6 fragrant meat" (Chinese: 三六香肉; Cantonese Yale: sàam luhk hèung yuhk) in Cantonese (3 plus 6 is 9 and the words "nine" and "dog" have close pronunciation. In Mandarin, "nine" and "dog" are pronounced differently).
In modern times, the extent of dog consumption in China varies by region, most prevalent in Guangdong, Yunnan and Guangxi, as well as the northern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning. It is still common to find dog meat served in restaurants in Southern China, where dogs are specially raised on farms. However, there are instances of finding stolen pet meat on menus. Chinese netizens and the Chinese police intercepted trucks transporting caged dogs to be slaughtered in localities such as Chongqing and Kunming. In 2014, 11 people in the Hunan province were sentenced to prison for allegedly poisoning over 1,000 dogs and selling the poisonous meat to restaurants. Since 2009, Yulin, Guangxi has held an annual festival of eating dog meat. This purportedly celebrates the summer solstice, however, in 2014, the municipal government published a statement that the festival is not a cultural tradition, rather, a commercial event held by restaurants and the public. Various dog meat dishes (and more recently, cats) are eaten, washed down by lychees wine. The festival in 2011 spanned 10 days, during which 15,000 dogs were consumed. Estimates of the number of dogs eaten during the festival range between 10 and 15 thousand. Festival organisers say that only dogs bred specifically for consumption are used, however, there are claims that some of the dogs purchased for slaughter and consumption are strays or stolen pets, as evidenced by their wearing collars. Some of the dogs eaten at the festival are burnt or boiled alive and there are reports that the dogs are sometimes clubbed or beaten to death in the belief that the increased adrenalin circulating in the dog's body adds to the flavour of the meat. At the 2015 festival, there were long queues outside large (300-seat) eateries which sold the dog meat for around £4 (€5.60) per kilogram. Prior to the 2014 festival, eight dogs (and their two cages) sold for 1,150 yuan ($185) and six puppies for 1,200 yuan. Prior to the 2015 festival, a protester bought 100 dogs for 7,000 yuan ($1,100; £710). The animal rights NGO Best Volunteer Centre claims the city has more than 100 slaughterhouses, processing between 30 and 100 dogs a day. However, the Yulin Centre for Animal Disease Control and Prevention claims the city has only eight dog slaughterhouses selling approximately 200 dogs, although this increases to about 2,000 dogs during the Yulin festival. There are several campaigns to stop the festival; more than 3,000,000 people have signed petitions against it on Weibo (China’s version of Twitter) and a petition to stop the festival (addressed to the Chinese Minister of Agriculture, Chen Wu) reads "Do the humane thing by saying no to this festival and save the lives of countless dogs that will fall victim to this event - an event that will butcher, skin alive, beat to death etc. thousands of innocent dogs." Prior to the 2014 festival, doctors and nurses staff were ordered not to eat dog meat there, and local restaurants serving dog meat were ordered to cover the word "dog" on their signs and notices.
The movement against the consumption of cat and dog meat was given added impetus by the formation of the Chinese Companion Animal Protection Network (CCAPN). Expanded to more than 40 member societies, CCAPN in 2006 began organizing protests against eating dogs and cat, starting in Guangzhou and following up in more than ten other cities with a positive response from the public. Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, officials ordered dog meat to be taken off the menu at its 112 official Olympic restaurants to avoid offending visitors from various nations who might have been concerned by the offering of dog meat.
In 2010, draft legislation was proposed to prohibit the consumption of dog meat. The legislation, however, was not expected to be enforced, making the consumption of dog meat illegal if it passed. In 2010, the first draft proposal of the legislation was introduced, with the rationale to protect animals from maltreatment. The legislation includes a measure to jail people for up to 15 days for eating dog meat. However, certain cultural food festivals continue to promote the meat. For example, in 2014, 10,000 dogs were killed for the Yulin dog eating festival.
As of the early 21st century, dog meat consumption is declining or disappearing. In 2014, dog meat sales decreased by a third compared to 2013. It was reported that in 2015, one of the most popular restaurants in Guangzhou serving dog meat was closed after the local government tightened regulations; the restaurant had served dog meat dishes since 1963. Other restaurants that served dog and cat meat dishes in the Yuancun and Panyu districts also stopped serving these in 2015.
HONG KONG
In Hong Kong, the Dogs and Cats Ordinance was introduced by the British Hong Kong Government on 6 January 1950. It prohibits the slaughter of any dog or cat for use as food, whether for mankind or otherwise, on pain of fine and imprisonment. In February 1998, a Hong Konger was sentenced to one month imprisonment and a fine of two thousand HK dollars for hunting street dogs for food. Four local men were sentenced to 30 days imprisonment in December 2006 for having slaughtered two dogs.
TAIWAN
In 2001, the Taiwanese government imposed a ban on the sale of dog meat, due to both pressure from domestic animal welfare groups and a desire to improve international perceptions, although there were some protests. In 2007, another law was passed, significantly increasing the fines to sellers of dog meat. However, animal rights campaigners have accused the Taiwanese government of not prosecuting those who continue to slaughter and serve dog meat at restaurants. Although the slaughter and consumption of dog meat is illegal in Taiwan, there are reports that suggest the practice continues as of 2011. In Taiwan, dog meat is called "fragrant meat" (Chinese: 香肉; pinyin: xiāngròu). In 2007, legislators passed a law to fine sellers of dog meat NT$250,000 (US$7,730). Dog meat is believed to have health benefits, including improving circulation and raising body temperature.
INDIA
In India, dog meat is eaten by certain communities in the Northeast Indian border states of Mizoram, Nagaland, and Manipur where it is considered to be a delicacy. These states border Burma and may have been influenced by Chinese culture and traditions.
INDONESIA
Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, a faith which considers dog meat, along with pork to be "haraam" (ritually unclean) and therefore do not eat it. However, dog meat is eaten by several of Indonesia's non-Muslim minorities.
The consumption of dog meat is associated with the Minahasa culture of northern Sulawesi, Maluku culture, and the Bataks of northern Sumatra, where dog meat is considered a festive dish usually reserved for occasions such as weddings and Christmas.
Popular Indonesian dog-meat dishes are rica-rica, also called rintek wuuk or "RW", rica-rica waung, guk-guk, and "B1". On Java, there are several dishes made from dog meat, such as sengsu (tongseng asu), sate jamu, and kambing balap.
Dog consumption in Indonesia gained attention in United States where dog is a taboo food, during 2012 Presidential election when incumbent Barack Obama was pointed by his opponent to have eaten dog meat served by his Indonesian stepfather Lolo Soetoro during his stay in the country.
JAPAN
The consumption of dog meat is not a feature of modern Japanese culture because Japanese people believe that certain dogs have special powers in their religion of Shintoism and Buddhism. Dog meat was consumed in Japan until 675 AD, when Emperor Temmu decreed a prohibition on its consumption during the 4th–9th months of the year. Normally a dog accompanied the emperor for battle, so it was believed that eating a dog gave emperors bad luck. In Japanese shrines certain animals are worshipped, such as dogs as it is believed they will give people a good luck charm. Animals are described as good luck in scrolls and Kakemono during the Kofun period, Asuka period and Nara period. According to Meisan Shojiki Ōrai (名産諸色往来) published in 1760, the meat of wild dog was sold along with boar, deer, fox, wolf, bear, raccoon dog, otter, weasel and cat in some regions of Edo. Ōta Nampo recorded witnessing puppies being eaten in Satsuma Province in a dish called Enokoro Meshi (えのころ飯).
KOREA
Gaegogi (개고기) literally means "dog meat" in Korean. The term itself, however, is often mistaken as the term for Korean soup made from dog meat, which is actually called bosintang (보신탕; 補身湯, Body nourishing soup) (sometimes spelled "bo-shintang").
The consumption of dog meat in Korean culture can be traced through history. Dog bones were excavated in a neolithic settlement in Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang Province. A wall painting in the Goguryeo Tombs complex in South Hwangghae Province, a World Heritage site which dates from the 4th century AD, depicts a slaughtered dog in a storehouse. The Balhae people also enjoyed dog meat, and the modern-day tradition of canine cuisine seems to have come from that era.
Although their Mohe ancestors did not respect dogs, the Jurchen people began to respect dogs around the time of the Ming dynasty and passed this tradition on to the Manchu. It was prohibited in Jurchen culture to use dog skin, and forbidden for Jurchens to harm, kill, and eat dogs, as the Jurchens believed the "utmost evil" was the usage of dog skin by Koreans.
SOUTH KOREA
Dog meat is often consumed during the summer months and is either roasted or prepared in soups or stews. The most popular of these soups is bosintang and gaejang-guk, a spicy stew meant to balance the body's heat during the summer months. This is thought to ensure good health by balancing one's "Qi", the believed vital energy of the body. A 19th-century version of gaejang-guk explains the preparation of the dish by boiling dog meat with vegetables such as green onions and chili pepper powder. Variations of the dish contain chicken and bamboo shoots.
Over 100,000 tons of dog meat, or 2.5 million dogs, are consumed annually in South Korea. Although a fair number of South Koreans (approximately 42% to 60%) have eaten dog meat at least once in their lifetime, only a small percentage of the population is believed to eat it on a regular basis.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety recognizes any edible product other than drugs as food. South Korean Food Sanitary Law (식품위생법) does not include dog meat as a legal food ingredient. In the capital city of Seoul, the sale of dog meat was outlawed by regulation on February 21, 1984 by classifying dog meat as 'repugnant food' (혐오식품), but the regulation was not rigorously enforced except during the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In 2001, the Mayor of Seoul announced there would be no extra enforcement efforts to control the sale of dog meat during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which was partially hosted in Seoul. In March 2008, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced its plan to put forward a policy suggestion to the central government to legally classify slaughter dogs as livestock, reigniting debate on the issue.
The primary dog breed raised for meat, the Nureongi (누렁이), or Hwangu (황구); is a non-specific, mixed breed.
There is a large and vocal group of Koreans (consisting of a number of animal welfare groups) who are against the practice of eating dogs. Popular television shows like 'I Love Pet' have documented, in 2011 for instance, the continued illegal sale of dog meat and slaughtering of dogs in suburban areas. The program also televised illegal dog farms and slaughterhouses, showing the unsanitary and horrific conditions of caged dogs, several of which were visibly sick with severe eye infections and malnutrition. However, despite this growing awareness, there remain some in Korea that do not eat or enjoy the meat, but do feel that it is the right of others to do so, along with a smaller but still vocal group of pro-dog cuisine people who want to popularize the consumption of dog in Korea and the rest of the world. A group of pro-dog meat individuals attempted to promote and publicize the consumption of dog meat worldwide during the run-up to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, which prompted retaliation from animal rights campaigners and prominent figures such as Brigitte Bardot to denounce the practice. Opponents of dog meat consumption in South Korea are critical of the eating of dog meat, as some dogs are beaten, burnt or hanged to make their meat more tender.
The restaurants that sell dog meat, often exclusively, do so at the risk of losing their restaurant licenses. A case of a dog meat wholesaler, charged with selling dog meat, arose in 1997 where an appeals court acquitted the dog meat wholesaler, ruling that dogs were socially accepted as food. According to the National Assembly of South Korea, more than 20,000 restaurants, including the 6,484 registered restaurants, served soups made from dog meat in Korea in 1998. In 1999 the BBC reported that 8,500 tons of dog meat were consumed annually, with another 93,600 tons used to produce a medicinal tonic called gaesoju (개소주).
NORTH KOREA
Daily NK reported that the North Korean government included dog meat in its new list of one hundred fixed prices, setting a fixed price of 500 won per kilogram in early 2010.
NEW ZEALAND
Dog meat is rarely eaten in New Zealand but has been said to be becoming more popular as it is not illegal as long as the dog is humanely killed.
A Tongan man living in New Zealand caused public outrage when he was caught cooking his pet dog in his backyard; this event led to calls for change in the law.
PHILIPPINES
The “Malays”, a sea-faring population that is now scattered throughout South-East Asia, introduced the practice of domesticating dogs for meat consumption to the indigenous population of the Philippines.
In the capital city of Manila, Metro Manila Commission Ordinance 82-05 specifically prohibits the killing and selling of dogs for food. Generally however, the Philippine Animal Welfare Act 1998 prohibits the killing of any animal other than cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, poultry, rabbits, carabaos, horses, deer and crocodiles, with exemptions for religious, cultural, research, public safety and/or animal health reasons. Nevertheless, the consumption of dog meat is not uncommon in the Philippines, reflected in the occasional coverage in Philippine newspapers,.
The Province of Benguet specifically allows cultural use of dog meat by indigenous people and acknowledges this might lead to limited commercial use.
Asocena is a dish primarily consisting of dog meat originating from the Philippines.
In the early 1980s, there was an international outcry about dog meat consumption in the Philippines after newspapers published photos of Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister, with a dog carcass hanging beside her on a market stall. The British Government discussed withdrawing foreign aid and other countries, such as Australia, considered similar action. To avoid such action, the Filipino government banned the sale of dog meat, despite dog meat being the third most consumed meat, behind pork and goat. The ban eventually became totally disregarded, although it was reinstated by President Ramos in 1998 in the Animal Welfare Act (Republic Act 8485).
POLYNESIA
Dogs were historically eaten in Tahiti and other islands of Polynesia, including Hawaii at the time of first European contact. James Cook, when first visiting Tahiti in 1769, recorded in his journal, "few were there of us but what allow'd that a South Sea Dog was next to an English Lamb, one thing in their favour is that they live entirely upon Vegetables". Calwin Schwabe reported in 1979 that dog was widely eaten in Hawaii and considered to be of higher quality than pork or chicken. When Hawaiians first encountered early British and American explorers, they were at a loss to explain the visitors' attitudes about dog meat. The Hawaiians raised both dogs and pigs as pets and for food. They could not understand why their British and American visitors only found the pig suitable for consumption. This practice seems to have died out, along with the native Hawaiian breed of dog, the unique Hawaiian Poi Dog, which was primarily used for this purpose. The consumption of domestic dog meat is still commonplace in the Kingdom of Tonga, and has also been noted in expatriate Tongan communities in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.
THAILAND
Unlike other countries where dog meat consumption has been shown to have historical precedents, Thailand does not have a mainstream culture of dog eating. However, in recent years, the consumption of dog meat in certain areas of the country, especially in certain northeastern provinces like Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom, notably Sakon Nakhon province's Tha Rae sub-district, which has been identified as the main center for the country's illegal, albeit lucrative, dog meat trade, has attracted widespread attention from the Thai population and local news media. This has led large groups of Thai citizens to become increasingly vocal against the consumption of dog meat and the selling of dogs that are transported through Laos to neighbouring Mekong countries, including Vietnam and China. According to news reports, a considerable number of these dogs continue to be stolen from people's homes by illegal carriers. This was also the case following the 2011 Thailand Floods. Dubbed as the country's 'Trade of Shame', Thai netizens, in particular, have now formed several informal animal welfare and rescue groups in an attempt to stop this illegal trade, with the collective attitude being that 'Dogs are not food'. Established not-for-profit animal charity organizations like the Soi Dog Foundation have also been active in raising awareness and working in conjunction with local Thai authorities to rehabilitate and relocate dogs rescued from trucks attempting to transport live dogs across the border to nearby countries. Significantly, this issue has strengthened the nation's animal rights movement, which continues to call on the Thai government to adopt a stricter and more comprehensive animal rights law to prevent the maltreatment of pets and cruelty against all animals.
TIMOR LESTE
Dog meat is a delicacy popular in East Timor.
UZBEKISTAN
Although not commonly eaten, dog meat is sometimes used in Uzbekistan in the belief that it has medicinal properties.
VIETNAM
Dog meat is consumed more commonly in the northern part of Vietnam than in the south, and can be found in special restaurants which specifically serve dog meat. Dog meat is believed to bring good fortune in Vietnamese culture. It is seen as being comparable in consumption to chicken or pork. In urban areas, there are sections that house a lot of dog meat restaurants. For example, on Nhat Tan Street, Tây Hồ District, Hanoi, many restaurants serve dog meat. Groups of customers, usually male, seated on mats, will spend their evenings sharing plates of dog meat and drinking alcohol. The consumption of dog meat can be part of a ritual usually occurring toward the end of the lunar month for reasons of astrology and luck. Restaurants which mainly exist to serve dog meat may only open for the last half of the lunar month. Dog meat is also believed to raise the libido in men. The Associated Press reported in October 2009 that a soaring economy has led to the booming of dog restaurants in Hanoi, and that this has led to a proliferation of dognappers. Reportedly, a 20 kilograms dog can sell for more than $100 — roughly the monthly salary of an average Vietnamese worker. The Vietnamese Catholic Church is a major consumer of dog meat during the Christmas holiday. There is a large smuggling trade from Thailand to export dogs to Vietnam for human consumption.In 2009, dog meat was found to be a main carrier of the Vibrio cholerae bacterium, which caused the summer epidemic of cholera in northern Vietnam. Prior to 2014, more than 5 million dogs were killed for meat every year in Vietnam according to the Asia Canine Protection Alliance. However, there are indications that the desire to eat dog meat in Vietnam is waning. Part of the decline is thought to be due to an increased number of Vietnamese people keeping dogs as pets, as their incomes have risen in the past few decades. “[People] used to raise dogs to guard the house, and when they needed the meat, they ate it. Now they keep dog as pets, imported from China, Japan, and other countries. One pet dog might cost hundreds of millions of dong [100 million dong is $4,677].”
EUROPE
BRITAIN & IRELAND
Eating dog meat is considered entirely taboo, as is common with most European societies, and has been taboo for many centuries outside of times of scarcity such as sieges or famines. However, early Brittonic and Irish texts which date from the early Christian period suggest that dog meat was sometimes consumed but possibly in ritual contexts such as Druidic ritual trance. Sacrificial dog bones are often recovered from archaeological sites however they were typically treated differently, as were horses, from other food animals. One of Ireland's mythological heroes Cuchulainn, had two geasa, or vows, one of which was to avoid the meat of dogs. The breaking of his geasa led to his death in the Irish mythology.
BELGIUM
A few meat shops sold dog meat during the German occupation of Belgium in World War I, when food was extremely scarce. According to The New York Times, in the 19th century the Council of the Veterinary School of Belgium occasionally recommended dog meat for human consumption after being properly inspected.
FRANCE
Although consumption of dog meat is uncommon in France, and is now considered taboo, dog meat has been consumed in the past by the Gauls. The earliest evidence of dog consumption in France was found at Gaulish archaeological sites, where butchered dog bones were discovered. French news sources from the late 19th century carried stories reporting lines of people buying dog meat, which was described as being "beautiful and light." During the Siege of Paris (1870–1871), there were lines at butcher's shops of people waiting to purchase dog meat. Dog meat was also reported as being sold by some butchers in Paris, 1910.
GERMANY
Dog meat has been eaten in every major German crisis since, at least, the time of Frederick the Great, and is commonly referred to as "blockade mutton". In the early 20th century, high meat prices led to widespread consumption of horse and dog meat in Germany.
The consumption of dog meat continued in the 1920s. In 1937, a meat inspection law targeted against trichinella was introduced for pigs, dogs, boars, foxes, badgers, and other carnivores. Dog meat has been prohibited in Germany since 1986.
SAXONY
In the latter part of World War I, dog meat was being eaten in Saxony by the poorer classes because of famine conditions.
THE NETHERLANDS
During severe meat shortages coinciding with the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, sausages found to have been made of dog meat were confiscated by authorities in the Netherlands.
POLAND
While dog meat is not eaten, some rural areas of Poland especially Lesser Poland, dog fat can be made into lard, which by tradition is believed to have medicinal properties — being good for the lungs, for instance. Since the 16th century, fat from various animals, including dogs, was used as part of folk medicine, and since the 18th century, dog fat has had a reputation as being beneficial for the lungs. It is worth noting that the consumption of such meat is considered taboo in Polish culture, also making lard out of dogs' fat is illegal. In 2009, a scandal erupted when a farm near Częstochowa was discovered rearing dogs to be rendered down into lard. According to Grazyna Zawada, from Gazeta Wyborcza, there were farms in Czestochowa, Klobuck, and in the Radom area, and in the decade from 2000 to 2010 six people producing dog lard were found guilty of breaching animal welfare laws (found guilty of killing dogs and animal cruelty) and sentenced to jail. As of 2014 there have been new cases prosecuted.
SWITZERLAND
Dogs, as well as cats, are eaten regularly by farmers in rural areas for personal consumption. While commercial slaughter and sale of dog meat is illegal, cultural attitudes toward slaughtering of animals for meat is traditionally liberal in Switzerland. The favorite type of meat comes from a dog related to the Rottweiler and consumed as 'mostbrockli' a form of marinated meat. Animals are slaughtered by butchers and either shot or bludgeoned.
In his 1979 book Unmentionable Cuisine, Calvin Schwabe described a Swiss dog meat recipe gedörrtes Hundefleisch served as paper-thin slices, as well as smoked dog ham, Hundeschinken, which is prepared by salting and drying raw dog meat.
It is illegal in Switzerland to commercially produce food made from dog meat, or to produce such food for commercial purposes.
WIKIPEDIA
This rather outrageous cactus has spent a lot of it’s life not getting enough light. Subsequently, it has grown stringy leaves in order to find some rays.
Exposure: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100
Edited in Prisma app with Lizard
By the late nineteenth century, Oxley had two main areas of development. The first was along Ipswich Road where the hotel had been established. Businesses such as a store, a butcher, and a blacksmith shop were established as the population slowly increased and the need for services arose. In 1864 a non-denominational church was built near the corner of Bannerman and Ipswich Roads and the first Oxley school was built in 1873 with 32 enrolments when opened. This area became known as Oxley Central. The second area of development in Oxley was beside the railway station. However, this was slower to develop commercially than the first. Further development occurred in Oxley in the interwar period with new businesses being established beside the railway station.
Prior to the construction of the Oxley Methodist Church the Oxley Methodist community attended services and events at the Oxley Progress Hall, the Darra Methodist Church, or the Graceville Methodist hall. In the mid-1920s the Oxley Methodist community began to raise money for the construction of a new church hall to be used for services, Sunday school, and Church events. In 1927 a thirty-two perch block of land was purchased along Oxley Station Road by the Oxley Methodist community, the trustees were George Iredale Bourne, Edwin Proctor, and William Brown.
A continued fund-raising effort conducted by the Oxley Methodist community soon had raised enough money for the construction of the hall. Events such as fetes and concerts were organised. On Monday the 13th of October 1930 The Brisbane Courier published an article ‘Church Activities: Oxley Stump Capping’. The ceremony was to celebrate the commencement of construction of the timber building. The ceremony was attended by respected Methodist community members including Reverend A. A. Mills, President of the Methodist Conference, Reverend J. A. Heaton, ex-President of the Methodist Conference, Reverend R. P. Pope, secretary of the Methodist Conference, Reverend H. Ralph Heaton, minister in charge of the circuit, as well as other dignitaries including Mr. Nimmo, M. L.A, and Walter Taylor.
The cost of construction of the new hall was estimated to be approximately £600. The report in The Brisbane Courier stated, “The building which is being erected primarily as a Sunday school hall, will be of wood, with a gable roof, and will measure 48ft. by 26 ft. There will be a vestibule porch, approached by double steps. The structure will be lined and ceiled …the floor of hardwood, crow’s ash, and stringy bark boards alternating, and the windows are to be of arctic glass”. In October, 1930 the Church hall was recorded in the Register of New Buildings. The estimated cost of the work was £590; the builder was Mr Gregory of Nundah.
On Saturday the 17th of January 1931 the Oxley Methodist Church hall was officially opened. The opening ceremony was attended by the Oxley Methodist community and officials as well as the Lord Mayor, Alderman W. A. Jolly. The Lord Mayor commented "on the remarkable progress of the Oxley district during the last 10 years, adding that he regarded the erection of the Methodist Church Hall as one of its coping stones”. The cost of the hall once completed exceeded the initial estimate, “the amount raised for the building fund since February 1926, was £458/19/8, and £853 had been spent on the property - £132 for the land, £590 on the hall, and £131 for furniture.”
Once completed, the Oxley Methodist Church hall became the preaching centre for the Methodist Church community in the district. The hall is historically significant to Oxley as an interwar timber ecclesiastical building constructed by the Oxley Methodist community in response to the increased settlement in Oxley and the need for adequate spiritual centres.
Source: Brisbane City Council Heritage Register.
...among golden feathers in the new Independence Day series. I am delving into my Fourth of July celebration shot from this year to see what can be done with the fireworks displays turned into action on the medium telephoto-zoom. This involves a shot of stringy purple streaks over a feathery gold eruption that had deployed earlier more fully and coupled with a perfectly centered blast. It was hard sorting this into a title but there is certainly contrast of color, substance and delicacy. I originally thought that I was in a good spot to start shooting but immediately had to start backing up. I did run into some problems with tracking the action when triggering the exposure: the display and eyepiece go blank and alternate tracking strategy is needed. I think that I have come up with an apparatus that could overcome that problem, I had trouble with accurately tracking the action while using the monopod so I ditched the monopod; it was too hard tracking the fireworks shots being constrained by the monopod. Jettisoned. I decided that this would be a great shot to include in this fourth of the Fourth series. And as always, when The Fourth falls on Monday and is a holiday, you have to buy your fifth for the Fourth on the third! Sometimes it is hard to choose among all the possibilties I have. Sometimes, it comes down to inventing a good title. This title is a bit off but not the capture.
I added a bunch more "action" shots of the firey kind to my fireworks stash. Although I still have a pile to clean up, I dumped even more into storage this year. This one was taken at an opportune time that revealed there were multiple eruptions during the 2 1/2 second exposure. Fortunate. Apparently there was good motion and the usual shakes as the fireworks erupted. I remained impressed with how these can appear stable at all at these slow exposures. The colors: I thought of how to react to the mass of colors.
It has been years since Phil and I enjoyed the Frogmont fireworks when we got a spot on the hill. This time and recently, I parked over at Golden Ponds and walked along the river to Roger's Grove to be the closer to the launch site. Longmont bagged fireworks in the forest fire year. I got stuck some distance across Hover for an earlier year. I was determined to get close after that year. After already switching to hand holding long exposures for the carney and Christmas lights, I had great luck so I worked on that recently. This year I started out earlier, just after 6:00 in the evening so I could manage a parking spot at the park. By the time I got to Roger's Grove, it was probably a little after 6:30 and faced nearly a 3 hour wait for the fireworks to start. The Roger's Grove parking had probably been filled well before. I ran into a fellow who related that they rented the Roger's Grove pavilion for the entire day. I guess that means a lot of picnicking and a lot of kids. Pavilion even over to Golden Ponds were peopled so long as could see the works over the trees.
These are like a box of chonklits; you never knows what you gits. After slipping this into Photoshop, I adjusted the exact perspective slightly for better presentation but the EXIF reported 82mm so it was mid-zoom when I got the exposure started. Of course digital experimentation is cheap. I had fun shooting and they are a breeze to edit! I get mostly muted colors in the ag settings I shoot, so I revel in JUST COLORS. I spent hours giving this stuff titles.
The fragrance is not just breath taking but breath giving! Ever heard of Hall's Eucalyptus lozenges? I happily collected a pocket full and still enjoy the fragrance.
Eucalyptus is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including Corymbia, they are commonly known as eucalypts. Plants in the genus Eucalyptus have bark that is either smooth, fibrous, hard or stringy, leaves with oil glands, and sepals and petals that are fused to form a "cap" or operculum over the stamens. The fruit is a woody capsule commonly referred to as a "gumnut".
Most species of Eucalyptus are native to Australia, and every state and territory has representative species. About three-quarters of Australian forests are eucalypt forests. Wildfire is a feature of the Australian landscape and many eucalypt species are adapted to fire, and resprout after fire or have seeds which survive fire.
A few species are native to islands north of Australia and a smaller number are only found outside the continent. Eucalypts have been grown in plantations in many other countries because they are fast growing and have valuable timber, or can be used for pulpwood, for honey production or essential oils. In some countries, however, they have been removed because they are highly flammable.
www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/gum-nuts/9775918
Garland Park, Carmel CA
Open Woodland Stringybark and Messmate Stringybark eucalypt forest with Acacia myrtifolia, Hakea and Grasstree understory habitat. Proclaimed as a reserve and reproclaimed, 1966, 1972 as a Conservation Park with additions added 1973 and 2013.
Fleurieu Peninsula
South Australia
Enjoy my art? Visit the Shane Gorski Photography Store and enjoy it in print!
View On Black Lots of detail viewing it LARGE!
I think a lot of people have taken a picture of this man dressed as a wizard, but I sought to bring my version of it and transform it into my own art. He was one of the best dressed people at the Renaissance Festival and when I walked by him I stopped dead in my tracks making sure to get a picture of him.
Beefsteak Fungus / fistulina hepatica. Wollaton Park, Nottinghamshire. 05/09/18.
I noticed the Beefsteak Fungus had a well defined upward curve around its margin. During the early stages, it would have had more of a gelatinous cap surface too.
In this image you can see a split has developed most of the way around, following the curve of the cap as it expanded. When this is viewed large you can see the red, fibrous appearance similar to raw meat..
I think the deeper gouge running inwards from the margin is likely to be where the fungus has been eaten, rather than the result of cap expansion.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
The bearded Califa, named after its stringy purple chin hair, is a hulking beast with massive horns, powerful hooves, and a jutting jaw. The mighty Rahi keep to themselves, grazing along the mountainsides, and are wildly defensive, but not very provocative.
In the still of the night, with wispy clouds overhead, we contemplate where our path will lead us........
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First, I have to say that I don't know if I've even been out shooting on such a still night. Just look at that grass in the foreground; it's tack sharp on a 15 minute exposure.
When I took this shot, I wasn't expecting too much, as we still had the long stringy clouds slowly drifting by overhead. But, I thought I'd give this composition a try anyway. Then, as I processed it, I tried like heck to get rid of the clouds, and I couldn't. So, I decided to leave them in, and the more I looked at this shot, I decided I liked it even better with the clouds. .....or perhaps I just convinced myself that they worked. Either way, I hope you like it.
" Dont feed me stringy catsticks and skim milk, I want a piece of ham and sleep on your fluffy duvet you stoopid human! "
I've called him 'cat' because it reminds me of the cat in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' - and like cat there, to this day I have no idea whether he belongs to someone. When I moved out of my flat, he was there, waiting for me as I came to pick up my last few possessions. Up to this stage my move had been fairly atraumatic, but then...
yes. Time for a good cry.
Near the outlet of Big Beaver Pond in the Anacortes Community Forest lands.
Don't know what the stringy green stuff in the water is.
Works larger.
It was interesting watching these kids running around with their "stringy can" and shooting everything in sight. It made for a real colorful mess in the yard. But they sure had a good time!
I hope it's true that I will have more fun, but I can't imagine how, especially when my hair is so stringy!
Metallic Starling
Aplonis metallica
January 13th, 2023
Brinsmead, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Canon EOS R5
Canon EF 600mm f4L IS II USM lens
It was interesting to see the various stages of nest construction amongst this colony of Metallic Starling. Some pairs had obviously completed their nests some time ago & were busily feeding young, whilst some, like this particular bird, were only just starting.
Fascinating to see how much effort is put into securing the nest around multiple branches, anchored by dozens of stringy bark, sticks & vines.