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I think Monster High has the best doll shoes overall. So many colorful and unique designs! These are all the ladies' shoes I have so far. So many wonderful choices!!
Explored! Woot! :D
Scans of my really old photos of Blenheim Palace from the early 1990s. Think it might have been in the summer of 1993 (I simply can't remember when it was). I was aged between 9 and 11 at the time possibly.
Taken on a compact film camera (no digital back then and no screen to see how it came out).
Various fountains in the grounds of Blenheim Palace.
All I remember about the place is that it was the birthplace of Winston Churchill and ancestral home of his family. Constructed for John Churchill, between 1705 and 1724. It is a monumental country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the only non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title "palace".
Its construction was originally intended to be a gift to John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough from a grateful nation in return for military triumph against the French and Bavarians at the Battle of Blenheim. However, it soon became the subject of political infighting, which led to Marlborough's exile, the fall from power of his Duchess, and irreparable damage to the reputation of the architect Sir John Vanbrugh. Designed in the rare, and short-lived, English baroque style, architectural appreciation of the palace is as divided today as it was in the 1720s.[1] It is unique in its combined usage as a family home, mausoleum and national monument. The palace is also notable as the birthplace and ancestral home of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
It is a Grade I listed building.
Country house. 1706-29, by Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor for the Duke
and Duchess of Marlborough; carvings by Grinling Gibbons and interiors by
Laguerre, Thornhill et. al. Limestone ashlar, with rusticated corner towers and
details; lead roofs; stone stacks. House has 4 corner towers, and Great Court to
north flanked by Stable Court to east and Kitchen Court to west. Baroque style.
Two storeys. Sashes to all windows. North front has central 9-bay facade,
articulated by giant order of Corinthian pilasters; 3-bay pedimented portico;
carving of the Marlborough Arms in tympanum, figures of Britannia and chained
slaves on pediment and centurions on parapet by Grinling Gibbons; huge cleft
open pediment set behind portico, with clerestory windows to Hall ranged to
rear. Quadrants, articulated by Doric engaged columns, link facade to corner
towers which have banded rustication, arched windows and bracketed cornices;
superstructure to each tower has curved flying buttresses and pinnacles of
reversed fleurs-de-lys, piled-up cannon balls and ducal coronets. Colonnades,
with engaged Doric columns and carved military achievements by Gibbons, are
linked to 11 bay blocks: rusticated archways, in centre of each block and
leading to Kitchen and Stable Courts, are flanked by banded Doric columns and
surmounted by carvings of the Lion of England savaging the Cock of France. Clock
towers behind each archway have interlocking pediments with ball finial. 7-bay
end blocks have rusticated Doric pilasters to pedimented centre of north
facades. East and west fronts each have central full-height bow windows, with
caryatids to west, and similar corner towers to south. South front has tall
9-bay facade to centre, articulated by giant order of Corinthian pilasters
progressing to columns in central portico: entablature of portico surmounted by
bust of Louis XIV, taken from the city gates of Tournai after its sack in 1709.
Roof has finials and military carvings by Grinling Gibbons. Kitchen Court to
west: castellated parapet, and arcaded to north and south with heavy
open-pedimented Doric porches; east gateway, which houses water cistern, has
obelisk-shaped pillars resting on cannon balls flanking cast-iron gates of
c.1890 and garlands and statues in niches by Sir William Chambers, 1766-75.
Orangery to south of Kitchen Court has arcaded front with sashes and heavy Doric
porch of 2 orders with open pediment. Great Court in front of palace remodelled.
by Achille Duchene in 1910: military trophies, flanking steps in front of
portico, carved by Grinling Gibbons; low ashlar walls surrounding Great Court
have piers with wheatear festoons over medallions, and flaming urns to piers in
angles of south-east and south-west corners; wrought-iron gates to front,
flanked by scrolled ironwork panels. Interior: Great Hall, with 3-tier arcades
and Corinthian columns and cornices carved by Grinling Gibbons, has ceiling
painted by Sir James Thornhill in 1716 which shows Marlborough presenting plan
of Battle of Blenheim to Britannia. Vaulted stone corridors link Great Hall to
east and west wings. Stairs to left of Great Hall has iron balustrade continued
in front of gallery above proscenium arch, with arms of Queen Anne carved by
Gibbons, which leads from Hall to Saloon to rear. Saloon: marble fireplace by
Townesend; marble doorcases with carved shells to keys by Grinling Gibbons;
walls and ceiling decorated 1719-20 by Louis Laguerre. Suite of 3 rooms to left
(east) have plasterwork ceilings by Hawksmoor, and marble fireplaces by Sir
William Chambers; scrolls, eagles and phoenixes in coving of ceilings of c.1890,
Suite of 3 State Rooms to right, (west) of Saloon have tapestries by Judocus de
Vos depicting Marlborough's victories, the remainder of the set being elsewhere
in the house: fireplaces by Gibbons and Chambers; Rococo decoration of c.1890,
with inset portraits set in gilt frames; First State Room has portrait of 9th
Duchess by Duran, Second State Room has portrait of Louis XIV by Mignard and
Third State Room has portrait of Colonel Armstrong with Marlborough by Seeman.
All set in overmantles over fireplaces. The Long Library, "Hawksmoor's finest
room", has plasterwork by Isaac Mansfield and marble doorcases and giant order
of Doric pilasters with triglyph frieze by Peisley and Townesend; carved wood
bookcases; marble fireplaces, by Hawksmoor or William Kent, have pedimented
overmantels framing paintings of seascape and landscape by Wootton after Poussin
and Ore surmounted by busts by Rysbrack. Statue of Queen Anne and bust of
Marlborough by Rysbrack, the latter on pedestal by Chambers. At ends of Long
Library are galleried bays, with consoles supporting pierced balustrades; organ
of 1871 to north bay. Corridor to Great Hall has marble basin, probably by
Vanbrugh. Private Apartments in East Wing not inspected: central Bow Window Room
has wood Corinthian columns and marble fireplace by Gibbons; fireplaces by
Chambers in Grand Cabinet and Duchess's Drawing Room. Basement noted as having
fireplaces by Gibbons. Chapel: by Hawksmoor, with giant fluted pilasters and
plasterwork. Monument to Duke of Marlborough, 1733, designed by William Kent and
executed by Rysbrack: Baroque figure composition set in niche with medallion
portraits and military trophies to plasterwork panels. Statues of Randolph
churchill, 1895, and 7th Duke of Marlborough, 1883. Organ case, reredos, pulpit
and benches by T.G. Jackson, c.1890. The 8th Duke, who succeeded in 1883, was
chairman of New Telephone Company and installed earliest domestic phone system
in Britain here: late C19 telephone sets in Long Library and estate office in
Kitchen Court. Amongst the notable furnishings are: in west corridor, connecting
Great Hall to Long Library, C18 Flemish statues of nymph and youth (Parodi
workshop); Emperor Vespasian and Caracalla; Cardinal Delfino and Cardinal
Borromeo (C18 Italian); in Great Hall are 2 bronze statues by Soldani, removed
from East Formal Garden; early C18 statue of Bacchus by Michael Vandervoort;
Alexander the Great, partly Roman, and Roman bust of Emperor Hadrian; C18
Emperor Scipio Africanus. Woodstock Park, the site far Blenheim Palace, was
presented by Queen Anne to John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, to
commemorate his decisive defeat of the French army at Blenheim in 1704. As a
"Royall and a National Monument" (Vanbrugh) it outclasses English royal palaces
and rivals the Baroque palaces of Europe in size and splendour. Important
influences were Versailles, medieval castle architecture and Elizabethan
architecture especially Wollaton Hall. Amongst the masons employed were the
Peisleys and William Townesend, who worked on other buildings in Blenheim Park.
(Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: pp459-472; National Monuments Record; D.
Green: Blenheim Palace, 1951; K. Downes: Hawksmoor, 1959; K. Downes: Vanbrugh,
1977; Article in Country Life: Vol 25 (1909), pp786-798, 834-844; D. Green and
C. Hussey: "Blenheim Palace Revisited", Country Life: Vol 105 (1949), pp1182-6,
1246-1250; D. Green and M. Jourdain: "Furniture at Blenheim", Country Life:
Vol.107 (1951), pp1184-6; D. Green and T. Rayson: "Restoring Blenheim Palace",
Country Life, Vol.124 (1958), pp1400-01; M. Bennitt, "A Painter on the Grand
Scale: Louis Laguerre", Vol 136 (1964), pp226-8; D. Green: "Rysbrack at
Blenheim", Vol 149 (1971), pp26-28)
I think I fooled around with textures a bit too much. Now I am checking myself into rehab.
A propos checking: yesterday I checked if I have any photos on explore and guess what? All of my photos were on explore. I checked a couple of times during the day and the same result. Today everything is back to normal. I am a bit ashamed it took me a day to figure out that this was the bighugelabs joke for 1st of April. At least I have a wonderful scout poster with all my photos on it!
Tim Brown, the CEO of product design firm IDEO, hosted a MLab Experimentation Jam today.
“The fastest way to learn is to build it. We build to think. We prototype to learn.”
while in a focus group with surgeons, they grabbed what they could and cobbled together a prototype… and quickly learned what would be cumbersome and what would work for a nasal router of sorts.
“Management often picks from a set of choices. In design, we try to create choices.”
“How can we look out at the world for inspiration, not answers?”
Role Play. Improv.
Side survey: 70% Macs and 60% “non right-handed” people at IDEO.
Gary Hamel, on right, opened with “stupidity is contagious.”
I think not all the French are supportive to the idea of uncontrolled imigration. The problem for Britain is that with unemployment at only 4.6%, we need imigrants to keep our economy growing
I think this pre-facelift 19 had been parked here for quite a while unfortunately. Again, nice to see the old style French plates. I didn't get a rear shot because I was being watched by a group of people further up the road, but there was a nice period F plate (country identifier) in the shape of France and in the colours of the French flag.
I remember seeing those a lot on French cars during trips to France in the late 80's, early 90's, but not so much now.
- Think of me when you're out, when you're out there..I'll beg you nice from my knees when the world treats you way too fairly, It's a shame i'm a dream..All I wanted was you, all I wanted was you..I think I'll pace my apartment a few times and fall asleep on the couch, and wake up early to black and white re-runs?, That escaped from the mouth..All I wanted was you, all I wanted was you..I could follow you to the beginning and just relive the start, and maybe then we'll remember to slow down to all of our favorite parts..All I wanted was you! ♥
I think in Simon's list of 50 best Suffolk churches, Woolpit comes in at number 31. It is now that I remember that I cannot remember why I should go to Woolpit on what would be the last of the EA church visits this year, as Mum was home and in the care of the district nurse, and there was nothing else we could do, not in actions, money or time given. She really has to stand on her own two feet now.
Anyway; Woolpit.
I decided to go, and after looking on the map I saw that with some create route planning, I could go down the 143, then double back and join the A14 eastwards before turning south down our old friend, the A12.
On the way I did also visit Stowlangtoft, which was a wonderful church, a church filled with wonderful things that seemed to hang together as a whole. Woolpit would have to be something special to trup St George.
And it nearly did. Nearly. Woolpit is a picture perfect village, all timber framed buildings, narrow lanes and impossible to park in. I drove through it finding a kind of space just past the church. I could see from the tower and building it was a church on which the Victorians had been very busy.
Most glorious is Mary's roof; double hammerbeam adorned with 208 angels one of the wardens told me. It had been counted several times during a dull sermon. Or two.
The wardens were building the crib for Christmas, so were using a pallet as a base, or something like that. I didn't see it finished, but Ken Bruce was booming out from a radio, preaching the Gospel According to Popmaster to all who would listen.
The angels in the roof and on the walls of the church are indeed impressive, as is the rood screen, but not sure if they are original. There are carved pew ends aplenty, but to my eye, not as well carved or as old as at Stowlangtoft. I could be wrong. But I snap a few anyway.
But I received a warm welcome here, and it is a fantastic church for me.
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2008: Woolpit is a village which I often visit, and it is always a pleasure to go into the church. But the entry for St Mary was one of the last on the original Suffolk Churches site, making its appearance in late 2001. In fact, I think it was the last of the old-style entries. I was getting a bit wordy by then.
Woolpit was one of the longest entries, and this wasn't just because there is so much to see. I went off at a great tangent about the meaning of medieval iconography, and how it survived the Reformation. It certainly got some thoughts clear in my own head, even if it confused other people. I actually wrote the entry in the back of an old exercise book sitting outside a café on the Cote d'Azur in southern France. Reading that back, it seems a little pretentious, but I really was there. Here in Ipswich on a frosty February evening, I can't help remembering the heat as I scrawled in the pad.
I've left the original entry almost entirely as it was, apart from the removal of one absolute howler, which I won't mention. I am not sure if Woolpit still has a Sunday market, and I am sure that someone will tell me if it has not. Paul Hocking is no longer Rector of Woolpit, but to my eyes the church continues to go from strength to strength, feeling at once busy and at the heart of its community, the still centre of a busy village. I like it very much.
2001: The clear blue waters of the Mediterranean swirl around my legs, then past me, buffeting the rocks along the silver beach. Millions of tiny flecks of mica swarm through the current, washed out of the hills of Southern Provence. They shine for a fraction of a second with all the light the high summer sun can give, a universe caught in a moment; then turn, disappearing, making of the water a shimmering skein, an ancient memory.
The sea is at the start of all European civilisation. Here, history wells about me. I think of Europe, and the fragmentation of nations. I think of the Balkans, and the Reformation, and the same water surrounding, tending, isolating. I think of time passing.
A week before, I'd been standing in the cool nave of the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, Woolpit - or at least, that is what it probably was once, back then. Today, it is dedicated simply as 'St Mary', in common with the majority of Suffolk's medieval churches, among which it is one of the finest, some say. This is mostly by virtue of its beautiful porch, and extraordinary angel roof.
But is that true? For there are those who love this church that, perhaps, never look up at the porch or roof. Is it the plethora of 15th century bench ends that captures the imagination? Or could it be Richard Phipson's outrageous 1850s tower and lacy spire, straight out of the Nene Valley, its evangelistic slogans around the side in a Victorian equivalent of Piccadilly Circus neon? It ought not to work, and yet it does. Or is it that supremely articulate view to the east, perfect of proportion despite the stripping away of its medieval liturgical apparatus? Above all else, and above most others, this is a church with presence.
It was the bench ends that I was thinking of as I immersed myself out of the intensity of the Provencal sun. A number of questions occured to me, as they have done on other occasions, in other churches. Who made them? What did they mean by them? And how did they survive the iconoclasms of the Protestant Reformation? Here in Southern Europe, I thought I might have found some answers.
Woolpit, then. It is perhaps the most perfect of all Suffolk villages. Not sleepy, and chocolate boxy, but to actually live in. Its shops and pubs are arranged around the pleasant village square, and Phipson's crazy spire towers above them. Woolpit still has its school, and you wouldn't need to get in the car every time you needed a loaf of bread, as you'd have to do in some of Suffolk's more famously picturesque villages, like Kersey and Tuddenham. And Woolpit has its Sunday market, beloved of hundreds of non-sabbatarian junk-hunters each week.
Further, Woolpit has its mythology; the two green children, who climbed out of the ground, speaking a strange language and afraid of the sunlight. The boy died soon after, but the girl grew up and married; she learned to speak English, and told of St Martin's Land, from where she and her brother had emerged. There are holes in the ground around Woolpit, quarries where bricks were made in the 19th century. But perhaps there was once something much older, for every Suffolk schoolchild knows that the name 'Woolpit' is nothing to do with wool, but with the wolves that once lived in the pits here...
So, it is a well-known village. It is because of this as much as anything about St Mary itself that makes this church so well-known to people who haven't heard of the even more interesting and beautiful church of St Ethelbert, Hessett, barely three miles away.
Your first sight of St Mary will be Phipson's crazy spire, visible from miles away, and quite unlike anything else in East Anglia. Suffolk is a county where spires are rare enough, anyway. From the far side of the Gipping valley you can see this one and two others, piercing the soft harvest mist in autumn. They are Phipson's equally absurd Great Finborough, and the 1990s blade of St Peter and St Mary, Stowmarket. There are only about a dozen more in the whole of the county. The excuse for this one was that the tower was struck by lightning in 1852, bringing down the previous lead and timber affair (presumably like the one at Hadleigh). The font is contemporary with the tower, suggesting that the old one was destroyed by the fall.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the artist John Piper produced a series of screen prints of aspects of Suffolk churches; for most, he used the fine perpendicular tower, ramifying it in bold Festival of Britain primary colours. But for Woolpit, he chose the porch, because it is Suffolk's finest. Cautley thought it the best in all England. It is two-storey, 15th century, contemporary with the nave. Mortlock tells us that they were both built by wealthy Bury Abbey, who owned the living here. As at Beccles, it rises way above the south aisle, tower-like in itself.
A rood group of niches surmounts the shields of East Anglia above the door. More flank them. Mortlock says that the work began in the early 1430s, and the niches were filled by a bequest of 1473, suggesting that the porch was forty years in the making. The south aisle and chancel are slightly earlier, the north aisle slightly later, so it is the nave that promises us great things, and doesn't disappoint.
You step into cool darkness, and look up. It is breathtaking. This is Suffolk's most perfectly restored angel hammerbeam roof. It may not have the drama of Mildenhall, the exquisiteness of Blythburgh, the sheer mathematics of Needham Market, but it shows us in detail more than any other what the medieval imagination was aiming at. From the still, small silence of the church floor below, you look up into a great shout of praise. Here are hundreds of figures, both angelic and human. The profusion is ordered, as if some mighty hymn were in progress.
Paul Hocking thinks that it is a representation of the Te Deum Laudamus: We praise thee, O God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord... To thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens, and all the Powers therein. To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth... The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee, the goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee, the noble army of Martyrs praise thee...
I know this, because he told me so. I was busy photographing bench ends when this very enthusiastic American bounced in with another visitor, and gave him a whistlestop tour of the church, describing the details with great knowledge and understanding. Solicitously, he talked to me afterwards about what I was doing, and asked me if I'd met the Rector of Woolpit yet. I said that I went out of my way to avoid Rectors wherever possible. He laughed, and replied that, on this occasion, I'd failed, because he was, in fact, the Rector.
After I'd coughed miserably, and he'd laughed again, we had a long chat, uncovering a few mutual aquaintances. He described the roof, which he has obviously spent a lot of time exploring. He pointed out the way the wall posts contained Saints, some with apostolic symbols, some with books, and some with martyr's palms. There are angels on the hammerbeams above, and bearing symbols below. John Blatchly counted 128 angels alone. Some of the shields have letters on them. Are they an acrostic, as on the east chancel wall at Blythburgh? Do they indicate individual Saints? The great Henry Ringham completely restored this roof in 1862, but Mortlock thinks that one of the angels is not his, and I agree - you'll find it in the south west corner. Paul Hocking argues that the restoration was nowhere near as complete as has been made out, and that many features are original.
Henry Ringham also restored the range of bench ends, by duplicating some of the medieval ones, as he did at Great Bealings and Tuddenham St Martin. All are rendered with his customary skill. If Ringham did restore this roof, then the imagery must have been destroyed at some point. One instinctively thinks of William Dowsing, the Puritan inspector of the churches of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, who progressed across the counties during the course of 1644. His delight in the destruction of angel roofs was matched only by that at the destruction of stained glass.
And Dowsing did visit this church. He arrived here in the afternoon of February 29th 1644. It was a Thursday, and he had come here across country from Helmingham, where he had found much to do. He also planned to visit Beyton that day, but in the end stayed overnight at the Bull hotel, and inspected All Saints there in the morning. He then rested for the weekend - the following week, he had a busy tour of southern Cambridgeshire ahead of him.
Dowsing records in great detail what he found to do at each church. In the case of Woolpit, the angel roof is the Dog That Didn't Bark: My Deputy. 80 superstitious pictures; some he brake down, and the rest he gave order to take down; and three crosses to be taken down in 20 days. 8s 6d. There are only two possible reasons why Dowsing doesn't mention the roof. Either he didn't notice it (extremely unlikely) or it had already been destroyed. This second option seems certain; mid-Suffolk was a strongly protestant area, and nearby Rougham, which clearly had a similar roof, was not visited by Dowsing, but was vandalised even more comprehensively than Woolpit. Most likely, the destruction at both churches dated from a hundred years earlier, although it is possible that the Rougham and Woolpit congregations had been puritan enough in the 1630s to do it to their own churches themselves.
Beneath the roof, the church is broad, its two aisles giving room for the panoply of medieval liturgical processions. At the east end of the south aisle was once the shrine of Our Lady of Woolpit, a site of medieval pilgrimage in connection with a nearby holy well. Apart from the front rows, many of the benches appear to be in their original positions. Some of the bench ends are 15th century, others are Ringham's 19th century copies. I wandered around the medieval bench ends, running my hands over them, crouching down and engaging them, face to face. For anyone educated in a Marxist or Weberian historical tradition, as most of my generation were, interpreting the less-obviously liturgical or theological features of a medieval church is fraught with difficulties. One possibility is to do a Cautley, and try not to interpret them at all. But it is more fun to try to do so, don't you think?
The bench ends of Woolpit are remarkable for their abundance. They are not representations of sacraments, virtues and vices as at Tannington and elsewhere, or Saints as at Ufford and Athelington. They are almost all non-allegorical animals, although not the art objects we find at Stowlangtoft, or the mysterious beasts of Lakenheath. Perhaps a good comparison is the similar body of work at nearby Combs. Indeed, although they do not appear to be from the same workshop, it is likely that their creators knew of each others' work. There are dogs, with geese hanging from their mouths, and another which may be a cat with a rat or lizard. There are lions and bears, and a chained monkey, and birds in profusion. So who did them, and why are they here?
There is one school of thought that says that they are simply there to beautify the church, and that they were made by local craftsmen doing what they were best at. If they could do lions, they did lions. If they could render a decent rabbit, then that is what they did. And so on.
But I think that there is rather more to it than that. On my journey down through France, I had spent an afternoon in one of my favourite towns, Autun, in Burgundy. One of the reasons I like Autun is its 11th century Cathedral of St-Lazaire; this is Lazurus, raised by Christ from the dead, and until the 18th century his relics were venerated at a shrine here. St-Lazaire is most famous for its great tympanum above the west door, generally recognised as one of the greatest Romanesque art treasures in the world, and with International Heritage status. It was created during the middle years of the 12th century, and shows the Last Judgement. To emphasise Christ's majesty over all the world, it features all manner of beasts, domestic, wild and mythical.
Throughout the Cathedral, animals infest the famous capitals, which tell the Gospel story. Abbe Denis Grivot, in his Un Bestiaire de la Cathedrale D'Autun (Lyon, 1973) argues that the 12th century creators of all this filled it with animals to echo the final verse of the 150th Psalm, the crowning point of that great sequence of hymns of praise: Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord!
Standing in the nave at Autun, I instantly recalled Paul Hocking's words about the roof at Woolpit, when he said he thought it was a representation of the Te Deum Laudamus. The Te Deum is one of the canticles; another is the Benedicite, traditionally sung through Lent: Oh all ye Works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise him and magnify him for ever... O ye whales, and all that move in the Waters, bless ye the Lord... O all ye Fowls of the air, bless ye the Lord... O all ye beasts and Cattle, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever!
Could it be that the bench ends at Woolpit, and elsewhere in Suffolk, were intended to reflect and represent the praise defined in the canticles and psalms? Both would have been central to the liturgy of the medieval Catholic church. Perhaps the bench ends of Woolpit are liturgical and theological after all.
How would a carpenter, or group of carpenters, go about creating a set of benches like the ones at Woolpit? Who were they? Almost certainly, they were locals. They might have been itinerant jobbing carpenters, but I don't think so. The bench ends at adjacent Tostock are clearly by the same hand. But those at nearby Stowlangtoft and Norton are not, and a third hand seems to be responsible for those at Combs, as I previously mentioned. I do not think that the mutilated ones at Rougham and Elmswell are either; they were probably from the same workshop as each other.
So, we have a conscious attempt by skilled members of a community to create a hymn of praise in carved oak, by representing as many beasts as they felt capable of making. Where did they get their ideas from? They would have had no problems with oxen, cocks, conies - these were all around them, in their daily lives. The person who carved the hunting dog here was very familiar with it. Perhaps it was his own. What about monkeys and lions? These are more problematic. In medieval bestiaries, exotic creatures had fabulous legends attached to them, which gave them a theological symbolism.
But this symbolism doesn't usually seem intended when we see them on bench ends. Sometimes they are rendered accurately, but more often wild animals are fairly imaginary; I think particularly of Barningham's camel, and Hadleigh's wolf. It isn't enough to say that the carvers could have seen pictures of exotic beasts. This is fairly unlikely. Probably, the ordinary people of Woolpit never saw a book other than the missals, lectionaries and hagiographies used in church.
They might have seen pictures of lions and monkeys in wall paintings, either in other churches or here at Woolpit. They might have seen them carved in bench ends, for the same reason. In fact, the representation of wild animals varies so much as to suggest that this is not the case - compare, for example, the lions of Combs with those of Stowlangtoft. Probably, they were created in the imagination from descriptions and attributes in stories. But I think that there is a strong possibility that the woodcarvers of Woolpit did see lions and monkeys in real life.
Here in Catholic Southern Europe, there are many remote small towns which, by virtue of being so very far from each other, take on a rich and complex life of their own. Even small villages have their shops, their craftsmen, their tradespeople; they replicate a situation that existed in Suffolk until well into the 19th century, and in some cases beyond, before the great industrialisation and easy transport swept it away. Further, there are traditions here still that we have lost. Whenever I come here, I am fascinated by the itinerant entertainers, who move from village to village, giving a single performance befre moving on. This must also once have been true of England. The thing that fascinates me most is the multitude of small family circuses.
Many of them seem to be of Italian or Romany origin; all family members have multiple roles, from the oldest grandparent to the youngest child, selling tickets, doing acrobatics, being the straight men to the clown (who is typically Grandpa). They all put up the tent before the performance, and take it down afterwards. They move on, through the remote hills of Provence and the Languedoc, performing on village greens, wastegrounds, the corners of fields, even traffic islands.
As I say, I am fascinated, and can rarely resist them, even though I am shocked, even appalled, by the easy cruelty to animals. Performing animals are still often chosen for their curiosity value, if you can call running around in a circle to the crack of a whip 'performing', poor things.
The choices are strange indeed; camels and zebras often feature; I have seen an old bear on a chain, and at one circus in remote Languedoc a hippopotamus of all things - it caught bread thrown by the crowd. There was no safety fence between the seats and the ring, no Health and Safety Executive to penetrate these lost valleys. I do not know if such circuses existed in medieval Suffolk. But I think that they probably did. Suffolk is a maritime county, and exotic animals were widely known and exhibited in medieval Europe. Before the Protestant Reformation cut us of from the mainland, clerics and merchants thought of themselves as European, and travelled widely - English sovereignty was a hazy concept at best, and 'Britishness' was still centuries away from being formulated as an idea. People owed allegiance to their village, their parish, and their lord, not to the Crown and Parliament in London.
Were the woodcarvers of Woolpit and Tostock remembering this? A circus visit, perhaps back in their childhood? Exotic animals rendered inaccurately, to be sure, but with an enthusiastic nostalgia for that exciting moment in their lives? Was there a lion? A monkey, or a bear? How much more powerful if they also knew the fabulous legends about the beasts - and had seen them in real life!
Some of the carvings at Woolpit are allegorical. One shows a monkey dressed in monk's robes. This, I think, is a joke at the expense of the itinerant friars who went from parish to parish, preaching repentance in the streets. They were sanctioned by the Pope, but were beyond the jurisdiction of the local Bishop. They didn't always go down well with the local Priest and congregation, who considered the Friars nosey and hypocritical. A monkey is often a symbol of foolish vanity - hence, a Friar thinking he was better than anyone else. What better way to make the point than to slip him in as one of the creatures praising the Lord?
How did they survive? But why should they have been destroyed? We make the mistake of thinking of the Puritans as vandals. But the more you read about William Dowsing, the more he emerges as being a principled, conservative kind of chap, despite his clearly flawed and fundamentalist theological opinions. He had no reason to destroy animal bench ends. They weren't superstitious - even Dowsing didn't think Catholics worshipped animals. If he didn't think they were meant to represent the canticles, he wouldn't even have considered them religious. Amen to that.
So much for the 17th century. What about the 19th? St Mary is one of the most enthusiastically restored of Suffolk's churches, despite its survivng medieval detail. But it was done well. Mortlock thought that the 19th century pulpit was the work of Ringham - but the brass lectern is pre-Reformation, a fine example. The rood screen dado panels have sentimental 19th century Saints on them, that may or may not duplicate what was there before. They are actually very good, particularly the gorgeous Mary of Magdala. They have their names painted on the cross beams for the less hagiologically articulate Victorians - from left to right across the aisle they are Saints Barbara, Felix, Mary of Magdala, Peter, Paul, Mary, Edmund and Etheldreda. It is unlikely that Saint Felix would have been on a medieval roodscreen, and Mary almost certainly wasn't - it would have relegated her to a position of no more importance than the others. If it reflects anything of what was there before, it was probably St Anne with the infant Virgin.
The top part of the screen was renewed in 1750, and dated so. The gates are probably a Laudian imposition of 120 years earlier, as at Kedington. This may suggest that, by the time of Dowsing's visit, the chancel was being used for some other practical purpose. Above, high above, set in the east nave wall over the chancel arch, is one of the wierdest objects I've seen in a medieval church. It was installed in the 1870s, and is clearly meant to echo the coving of a rood loft. Goodness knows what it actually is, but it is painted in garish colours, and inscribed with texts. In one of those moments where Cautley and credibility part company, he describes anyone who doesn't think it is a genuine medieval canopy of honour as 'stupid'. I suppose that it has a certain curiosity value.
The three-light window above it would have given light to the rood. The east window contains one of Suffolk's best modern Madonna and child images which was made by the artist Ian Keen for the King workshop in the early 1960s. Ian Keen was also responsible for the beautiful St Margaret in St Margaret's church in Norwich, and for the memorable window of St Francis with a labrador at Somerleyton near Lowestoft.
I turned back westwards, past a superb medieval bench end of the three Marys. This is a delight, and you'd travel to London to see it if it was in the V&A. Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary the mother of James and Mary of Magdala huddle together, perhaps on the morning of the Resurrection. One of them has a lily of the Annunciation. One head is destroyed - but was it vandalised? Or is it the result of carelessness, the wear and tear of the centuries? Would 17th century puritans have destroyed it if they'd seen it?
Dowsing rarely mentions bench ends, so perhaps few were left by then anyway. So how could it possibly have survived the violent zeal of the 16th century Protestants, battering the Church of England into existence with their axes, pikes and bonfires? How, even after the 1540 edict of Edward VI which ordered the destruction of all statues and images of Saints, especially those of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is it still there at all?
Still more questions than answers, I suppose. I dived beneath the water, and there was beneath me a restless current, shifting and reshifting the silver sand into unique patterns, the work of millennia, still changing, never the same.
- le Rayol Canadel, Cote d'Azur, August 2001.
I think therefore I was? No, I think there for I think? No, I think there for I forget, wait, I think therefore I.. I ... Lets see, two letters.. I think, therefore I .. Im not sure ...
I am
So You Think You Can Dance Live Tour | Rockford Metrocentre | Rockford, IL
10.29.10
© ae photography 2010
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"Gifted children are often ‘big picture thinkers’ and if the child understands the purpose of the task and where it fits into the bigger picture of the family, class, year’s work or developing a skill, they are more likely to be compliant." From Rebecca Howell's blog post on motivating gifted children, at creatingcurriculum.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/motivations-o.... I have omitted a few words to suit this graphic medium.
For more gifted education blogs, see ultranet.giftededucation.org.nz/WebSpace/696/ and ultranet.giftededucation.org.nz/WebSpace/443/
Th photograph, by Jon Glittenberg, has an attribution license. See www.flickr.com/photos/jglitten/3167874991/in/photostream/
After all the damage inflicted by a team of decorators and a two year restoration job - we are delighted to see this piece re-emerge this week.
Coincides with the directive from our Boss for greater reporting accuracy at Prank Sky Media, in the new year.
With thanks to our dedicated photographers, full credit to all where it's due.
Long live the King and a very merry Christmas from all of us here at PSM...
Dave, Alan and Gail, Prank Sky Media, Hackney, London
More information at:
Well, I really flooded my photostream tonight, 14 November 2018, adding 22 extra photos. I have been trying to keep off my feet a lot today, after getting my first two cortisone injections in my knees, so spent extra time editing. I think they have helped somewhat so far, but not as much as I had hoped for. Still, it has only been two and a half days since I had them, so they could improve further. So, two shots done, four more to go (2 in hips and 2 in shoulders). I read that after 10-14 days, one starts gentle range-of-motion exercises and one can remain active as tolerated.
All these new photos were taken on our visit to Hillman Marsh and during a walk at the Marsh. They were all taken after our morning birding tour with Tom Hince had finished. This was Day 3 of our trip in May to Point Pelee in Ontario, and Tadoussac in Quebec.
On Day 3, we had arranged for a guide, Tom Hince, to take us out between 6:00 am and 11:00 am, so it was an extremely early start, There were so many birders on the trails! Funny how so many birders are very tall people, so I often could not even see anything and missed a lot of the sightings. However, I was happy to see what I did see.
After lunch, we made a second visit to the Hillman Marsh Conservation Area and this time, we went for a walk. This area is further north along the coast from Point Pelee. This is where we had seen a wonderfully creative barn with a Heron scene on the front of it, on a different day. Saw a few interesting things, including several Painted Turtles and a green frog. I will be glad to get as far as photos from later in the afternoon, when we walked the Homested Trail at Pt Pelee, thoroughly enjoying two or three beautiful old buildings as well as the nature along the way.
It feels good to get back to sorting through and editing a few more of my photos from a trip with friends to Pt Pelee in Ontario, and Tadoussac in Quebec, in May 2018. Will have to work on this in between an absolutely mammoth clearing-out of my home, partly because of the mouse/mice that have totally stressed out and drained me for the last seven or so months. Though I started off using mouse traps, nothing was caught, which is when I had to pay for a pest control guy to come - useless. Friends and I placed several simple, disposable traps recently and, hey presto, one mouse was caught (to my horror, ha). Since then, after my friends very kindly came and removed it, I have seen no sign or sound from any further mice, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I try to post in more or less the order in which my images were taken - this helps me remember things a little more clearly. I have a lot of images that I want to add to my albums for this holiday, many of poor quality or of little interest to others. I wil try and post a lot at night, when most people are probably off Flickr. Please bear with me.
Four friends (four of the six friends with whom I went to Trinidad & Tobago in March 2017) and I left Calgary airport on 6 May 2018 and flew to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There, we rented a van and did the long drive to Point Pelee for four whole days of birding. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel in Leamington, which is close to Point Pelee National Park. It fills up very quickly (with birders) and our rooms were booked months ahead of time.
Our four days walking at Point Pelee and area were very interesting and I, for sure, saw various things I had never seen before, including my very first Raccoon : ) Various friends had told me that the Warblers at Pelee were fantastic - so many and numerous species, and so close. Have to disagree with the "closeness" when we were there! I don't have binoculars as cameras are enough for me to carry around, so I know I missed all sorts of birds. Though my Warbler count was lower than my friends' counts, I was happy to at least get a few distant photos of some species. So many of my shots are awful, but I will still post some of them, just for the record of seeing them. Some photos are so bad that I doubt anyone can ID them.
We covered several different trails at Pelee, and also drove to a few places somewhat further afield, such as Hillman Marsh. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the magnificent barn at this Conservation Area! I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I would be able to walk across a grassy area to take a few photos. However, it was so unusual and beautiful, that I reckoned I could try and move forward inch by inch - or crawl (ha, ha) if necessary. Another place we enjoyed was Rondeau National Park. One amazing and totally unexpected sighting just outside Pelee was a very distant male Snowy Owl sitting in a fieldl!!
We walked every single day that we were at Pelee and the areas mentioned above, seeing not just birds, but a frog/toad, snakes that we suspect were mating, several Painted turtles, a few plants (including both white and red Triliums, that I had never seen growing wild before, and a couple of Jack in the Pulpit plants).
The Friends of Point Pelee have food available at lunch time that one can buy. They also have a shuttle bus that one can take from the Visitor Centre all the way to the southern tip of Pelee, which is the most southern part of Canada. They have birding walks with a guide each day (there is a charge), but we walked the trails on our own, except for one morning. On 9 May, we spent the morning from 6:00 am to 11:00 am on a birding walk at Pelee with guide, Tom Hince, whom we had contacted while we were still in Calgary.
At the end of our stay at Point Pelee, we had to drive all the way back to Toronto, from where we flew to Quebec airport. From there, we had a four-hour drive to Tadoussac on the coast of the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is such a delightful, small place and in a beautiful setting. One of our friends, Anne B, and her husband have a summer cabin further along the cliff from the few stores and port. She had invited the four of us to go with her from Pelee to spend a week at her beautiful home. What an absolute treat this was! We were able to meet some of her relatives, too, who also have built cabins out there. We were looked after so well, and we were able to see and photograph all sorts of birds and other things. We made several trips to see different places, including the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, where we were able to see endless thousands of Snow Geese. Breathtaking!
We also had two boat trips from Tadoussac - one was a whaling trip in a Zodiac, where we saw very, very distant Beluga and Minke Whales. The Belugas looked almost like the white wave crests - but they were Belugas. The other boat trip was to the Brandy Pot Islands, inhabited by thousands of Razorbills and Common Murres, which were new birds for us, and Double-crested Cormorants that were nesting in tree tops. That long boat trip (in a tiny boat named Juno) started off in the rain and dark clouds and it was soooo cold! Thermal underwear, layers of fleece and toque and gloves were needed. This day was arranged through a contact of Anne's and it was so much enjoyed! Of course, we anchored a distance away from the island and sat there and ate our sandwiches and took endless photos. It is forbidden to land on the island at nesting time.
Anne B, I can't thank you enough for organizing this holiday for us all and for inviting us to spend a week at your cabin. You worked so hard and it was so much appreciated by each and every one of us. Thank you for doing all the many hours of driving, too! Janet and Anne, thank you so much for compiling the lists of birds seen each day at various locations, and posted to ebird. These entries will be a huge help while I try and sort out where we were and when, and what species we saw. Miss your cookies and muffins, Janet, that you kindly made for us in Tadoussac, to go along with the wonderful meals that Anne planned and made for us : )
english:
If your Yahoo! ID is based in Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong or Korea you will only be able to view safe content based on your local Terms of Service so won’t be able to turn SafeSearch off.
In other words that means, that users from those countries can not access photos on flickr that are not flagged "safe" ... only flowers and landscapes for them ...Copy and upload this picture to your account - show flickr who we are!
deutsch:
flickr sperrt uns aus! Und auch dich!
Seit gestern werden für deutsche Nutzer keine Bilder mehr angezeigt, die als 'moderate' oder 'restricted' markiert sind! Es gibt keine Moeglichkeit das umzustellen - das ist eine grobe Unverschämtheit und Frechheit von flickr!
Lade dieses Bild runter und poste es in deinem Account! Lass uns das Bild überall auf flickr verteilen und es in 'Interestingness' heben!! So geht es nicht!
Original Version: farm2.static.flickr.com/1299/543864623_7aadef1e69_o.jpg
Espanol:
No sé cuando, pero muy recientemente a las cuentas de Alemania, Hong Kong, Corea y Singapur les han prohibido ver las fotos que están en el Safe Search, las mismas en las que a nosotros nos dan la opcíón de ver o no ver. A ellos simplemente se lo prohiben. Chale no?
Francais:
Si votre compte Yahoo! est basé à Singapour, à Hong Kong, en Corée ou en Allemagne, vous ne pourrez voir que les photos qui n'ont pas été marquées comme ayant un contenu qui peut choquer. Toutes les autres ne vous seront pas accessibles. Vous serez donc condamnés à ne voir que des paysages et des fleurs. Il ne faut pas laisser faire ça. Envoyez cette photo sur votre compte pour montrer à Flickr que nous savons nous mobiliser contre la censure !
Portugues:
Se a tua conta yahoo e de Singapura, Hong Kong, Koreia e Alemanha.. vc so podera ver fotos comportadas..rs, digo censuradas.. Todas as outras nao serao acessiveis , apenas flores abelhas e anjinhos.. bem-vindos a mais um absurdo Flickr..kkkkkkk
Junte-se a nos, proteste..porque o proximo pode ser vc, seu pais, sua conta, ou o diabo a quatro...
Italiano:
Se il tuo ID yahoo è localizzato a Singapore, in Germania oppure ad Hong Kong o in Korea potrai vedere solo foto dal contenuto che è in accordo con il locale accordo dei termini di servizio per cui gli utenti flickr di quelle nazioni non potranno cambiare da SafeSearch on in SafeSearch off.
In altri termini, ciò significa che gli utenti tedeschi e delle altre nazioni citate non potranno accedere a foto su flickr che non siano flaggate "safe"
e quindi solo fiori e paesaggi per i tedeschi.
Copia e carica nel tuo stream quest' immagine sul tuo account - mostra a flickr chi siamo!
Česky:
Je-li tvé Yahoo! ID vedené pod Singapurem, Německem, Hong Kongem nebo Koreou, uvidíš jen "bezpečný obsah" opírající se o lokální Podmínky používání služby, a tudíž nebudeš moci vypnout funkci SafeSearch.
Jinými slovy, němečtí a jiní uživatelé neuvidí fotografie které nemají označení "safe".
Pro Němce - jen kytičky a krajinky!
Nechceme aby se to stalo!!!
Zkopíruj si a uploadni tento obrázek do svého streamu: ukažme Flickru, kdo jsme!
Kdo bude další...?!?!?!?!?!?!? (translation of this last one: Historicus)
"Posture"
8 Days in and I think that this makes 2 or 3 photos of Mandarin Ducks already... They are absolutely stunning birds! I've heard that Ansel Adams once said something to the effect that the most critical aspect of photography is pointing your camera at something interesting... I think that's true. Which means that if you are following my 3-6-5 project you'll probably be seeing a lot of these birds this year.
CC Most Versatile abstract: Your unique style
My unique style? A notebook computer connected to a docking port so I still can use a real mouse and keyboard and monitor at my desk. The stapler is because I still like paper. A mixture of older and newer and because I'm not as young as I used to be, a helpful prompt to Think!
Continuation.....
Well, I suppose you can guess the rest….
I immediately understood the reason for Wender’s “calling” from my living-room wall. Call it whatever you like, but the fact that his message got through to me can’t be neglected.
Anyway, we ended the day with a great barbeque of spicy pork-sausage and beefsteak made on the hot plate installed in the van, bought with some of the money I donated to this grand cause (I think we ended up eating the profits for this first trial-round, but it was all worth the effort and the jolly good party in Wender’s memory!).
Wender’s father had a little too much beer to drink due to him being overjoyed by what his son had achieved. I went away thinking even stronger than ever before over this former street kid who had made such an impression on my life and who had left his lovely little daughter there to constantly remind me so.
(Not forgetting his wonderful sisters, Keli and Jaqueline in the following Diptych).
re-think nature before nature decides to re-think you. Respect and conscience toward the world is the only thing that can save us from drowning.
wohooooo my 50mm 1.7 lens has arrived and this is the "first" picture I've taken with it. I'm lovin' it!! :D I have been thinking to shoot this picture for a while now. The concept was in my mind and I wanted to work with a setting that I had to create, that wasn't completely there already. Although to achieve this picture, I had to decorate and shoot 2 days in a row (and get in the bathtub with a wet dress!), It was great fun and a good learning experience. This picture has been ispired by several things: my concern about the way we're dragging the world towards it's destruction
rosie hardy's bathtub picture, Gregory crewdson's stillness photography
picture by Violeta Minnick © all rights reserved.
So You Think You Can Dance Live Tour | Rockford Metrocentre | Rockford, IL
10.29.10
© ae photography 2010
fan us on fb ;)
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People think he is too serious and has no sense of humor. In reality, he just doesn't like pie.
series 3
So you think you got an evil mind?
Well I'll tell you honey
And I don't know why
I don't know why
So you think my singin's' out of time?
Well it makes me money
And I don't know why
I don't know why
Anymore, oh no
So cum on feel the noize
Girls rock your boys!
We'll get wild, wild, wild
We'll get wild, wild, wild
Cum on feel the noize
Girls rock your boys!
We'll get wild, wild, wild
Til dawn
So you think you I got a funny face?
Well I'm not worried
And I don't know why
I don't know why
Along about last week I stopped this race
I'm in no hurry
And I don't know why
I don't know why
Anymore, no no
So cum on feel the noize
Girls rock your boys!
We'll get wild, wild, wild
Wild, wild, wild
Cum on feel the noize
Girls rock your boys!
We'll get wild, wild, wild
Til dawn
Well you think we have a lazy time?
You should know better
I don't know why
I don't know why
And you say I got a dirty mind
Well I'm a mean go-getter
I don't know why
I don't know why
Anymore, oh no
So cum on feel the noize
Girls rock your boys
We'll get wild, wild, wild
Wild, wild, wild
So cum on feel the noize
Girls rock your boys!
We'll get wild, wild, wild
Til dawn
Or at least I do. This is my bit for breast cancer awareness. Yes, it is a somewhat cheesy set but a very serious cause.
The new track bike, I think it is my all time fav bike to ride, rock solid and fast...
Frame
I bought a Velo Ecosse frame (and forks) for £250, it's a Giant frame with a paint job in Velo Ecosse colours. Basically a very good price for a stiff and light frame. The forks are carbon fibre
Wheels
Campag Pistas' 1kg each, carbon wheels would be half the weight but a) I couldn't afford em' plus b) these are my workaday Track League wheels so spending onything frae £600 to £1300 would be daft particularly considering how crap I am! I would like to get a rear carbon disc wheel such as the Corima if I can manage it before the European Masters next season.
Tyres
Conti 19mm Tempo. Ooops I meant to get Victoria Evos' but I made a slitter o' ordering the tyres due to having had a swaley or two before ordering em' off the internet.
Bars and Stem
Deda Pista Oversize and Deda 31 Netwon stem. The bars I love, fantastic shape and depth, no chance of bashing my forearms on the bars due to the gorgeous curve at the top the bar. Only thing I'm regretting is the stem, I'm thinking I should have gone with the Deda 31 Newton Pista stem as the 31 Newton stem actually angles up compared to the top tube of the frame and as a result makes my pursuit position less aerodynamic than my time trial bike.
Chainset & bottom bracket
Campag Pista 170mm cranks with a 50 teeth chain ring and a British Cycling (Canadian made) 51 teeth chain ring (for Manchester and maybe the pursuit at Meadowbank). Bottom bracket Campag Pista canny go wrong with that is my thinking. While an FSA chainset would be a lovely thing I can't afford it! - Apparently at Manchester you aren't allowed on with 170's so oops may have to shell out for a new chainset eventually.
Chain
Izumi V (NJS certified) looks gorgeous but weighs a lot compared to some, but then snapping a chain is not an option as far as my Baw Bags are concerned, thank you very much!
Saddle and Pin
Selle Italia Filante saddle 180g, nabbed off my commuting bike as it looks the bizz. Seat Pin a Deda Magic Stick which came with the frame courtesy of Gregor at Velo Ecosse.
Pedals
Pair of Look CAs which I inherited from my pal Battleaxe and are nice and light.
Handlebar Tape / Grips and Bar Plugs
Courtesy of Freshtripebikes pair of QBP Dimension Track Grips and Velox Bar plugs. Fitting the grips was not to bad as I gave a scoosh of WD40 first.
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