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In 2008 Algarve commemorates the second centenary of the rebellion against the Napoleonic army.
In 1807, the first French invasion of Portugal occurred, commanded by General Junot. This was the only invasion that directly affected the Algarve.
On 29 November 1807, a day before the arrival of the French soldiers in Lisbon, the Royal Family followed by about 15.000 people, amongst them noblemen and retainers, went to Brazil, under the protection of the British Navy, This legal and political manoeuvre symbolically preserved Portuguese independence.
This is the only European case where a royal family was transferred from its motherland to a colony. The impact of this event was enormous for Brazil. It would subsequently create the opportunity for it to quietly assume its independence.
However, the French occupation would cause bloodshed in Portugal until the summer of 1808.
The Portuguese King, D. João VI, later confirmed that the first successful revolt, which had set the people of the Algarve on fire against the Napoleonic Army, occurred in the small Algarvian village of Olhão. Three days later, a revolt in Faro broke out, soon becoming an uncontrollable situationThe Supreme Council in Faro, which was created after these revolts, decided that it would be an Olhão boat (a “caíque”) to take the good news to the Royal Family in Brazil.
HAVE A PRSPEROUS WEEK, ALL MY FLICKR FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD!!
祝大家週末愉快!!
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I think all art is about control - the encounter between control and the uncontrollable.
~ Richard Avedon
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You don’t need to be afraid, unless you’re made of scissors! Just a little Rock, Paper, Scissors joke for you."
It's Fallen Gods' 11th Anniversary in SL which is an amazing achievement. Alia Baroque is celebrating this with a marketplace set up with talented creator friends, and you can find the full list here.
One of the things The Flesh Carver contributes to SL is truly epic fantasy skins that you can win if you're lucky enough to find your 100% mystic connection among the people thronging the Fortune Teller - HI AKU! - and this season the Opus complete avatar is the prize. I applied my winnings and within moments was uncontrollably spouting Korg quotes so I flickred it because I had to.
Same day, just playing up a touch, I'm sorry I missed all the bucking and jumping earlier, I feel she was half doing it at me crouched down in the corner, and half because she is feeling very well. They will find any excuse to goof around uncontrollably.
The Zillo’s Maw is a trio of experienced warriors that specialize in melee weapons, and always make sure that their battles end in a spectacle. Each member has plenty of mystery, but here’s what we know about them.
L-R;
Myssa Nalle
Species: Half Mirilian, Half Human
Weapons of choice: Two impure Beskar blades
Myssa Nalle is an experienced fighter who uses Jedi tactics while fighting with her blades. Being half Mirilian, she is incredibly agile, and can slice through several enemies without them making a move. She fights mostly because Gredarr does- some say that she has a thing for him...
Gredarr Kroto
Species: Unknown, most likely human or part human
Weapon of choice: A unique lightsaber
Gredarr is the main member of The Zillo’s Maw, and he’s probably the strongest of the three. He owns powerful impure Beskar armor, and is known for wielding his unique lightsaber, which is flexible and can be used like a whip. He also is always seen wearing a helmet, and rumor has it that it’s because he burned himself with the saber, due to its uncontrollable nature. Anyways, he definitely has mastered it now, and is a real threat in the Warriors of Fire tournament.
Kregask Cholurn
Species: Newtkind
Weapons of choice: Jadeblades, vibro-axe hand cannon
Kregask is an interesting being, and is known to be Gredarr’s friend. He was once a pirate of goods on outer rim planets, and has accumulated many interesting garments and weapons during his plunders, including strange green ceremonial blades that haven’t been seen elsewhere in the galaxy. Like Myssa, he fights mostly because Gredarr does, and will follow any of his orders.
Shelter in the shade.
This house was once a home and just who called it home has been lost in the passage of time.
Most likely it was home to the grazier who we can only assume lived here with his family, a wife and possibly several children.
It was quite possible that it was not an easy life but it was a lifestyle that only people from a rural background would understand.
There would have been good times as well as bad times and they would have witnessed drought and flood and a variety of other adversities.
Perhaps the children were sent to boarding school due to the distance to a local school and it goes without saying that the parents would have spent their last penny to ensure that their offspring received the best possible education.
Maybe the son or sons returned to the farm to take over the reins when the time came, we will never know.
Today the house is long abandoned and for what reason?
Was it due to financial reasons or was it due to the conditions that were uncontrollable such as prolonged adverse weather conditions.
What we do know for certain is that what was once a home is now a house and it serves as a reminder of what once was.
A short distance from the house are two large gum trees which to provide shelter for the stock that runs on the property.
Maybe there was a time when children played in and around these trees but that now belongs to a past time.
Eugowra, New South Wales, Australia.
A question to all my followers playing Horizon 4: Are you one of these people who just maxes every single car you own, so you can then drive around spamming head-to-head challenges at cars 3 or 4 classes slower than yours?
If you answered yes, why do you bother? It looks no fun at all and most of the people who do it, can't even drive the awful cars they've built (or auto-built). I dunno about you but I start getting frustrated when my car always understeers on every corner while also being uncontrollable when I get on the throttle. These idiots seem to make all their cars behave that way on purpose. I'm really glad collisions are turned off
A terrible plague known as "The Doll Effect" is quickly spreading throughout the indigenous population. Symptoms include loss of articulation, lengthening of limbs, and an uncontrollable attraction to pretty colors.
Keep your distance and do NOT accept any Friendly requests!
All species are affected, people and animals alike! Infected lifeforms are being gathered and placed into Quarantine until such time as a cure can be developed.
Water spashing up on the rock, streaming down and exploding over the top and getting water all over my lens in a special spot in San Pedro, California. When I first saw that almost all the photos from this camera, and the others as well really had water spots I was dissappointed, but later on I thought why be? Nature is what it is, uncontrollable, next time I go back I'll just keep it in mind, but to be honest I think my girl and I were much more concerned with the fact the tide was rising over the rocks we were standing on then the lens!
Green Arrow: One In The Quiver - Vol. 1 The Years
Issue #1
( Thoughts/Narration )
( Location/Time )
( Speech )
Oliver Queen had no idea that when he left Star City on The Mercury for his 18th Birthday that it would be the last time he would see his home for over 4 years. This is his story.
Current Day...
I’ve just left Starfish Island. My Island. My Island for 4 years. Although I did share it with someone for a time, who’s being there led to my fortunate escape. Natas was my friend. He was loyal to the core and I trusted him with my life, but the organisation H.I.V.E. kidnapped him, again. He said he ended up here, the island, as the result of a failed mission for them. He wouldn’t talk about it much, like I wouldn’t tell him much of how I arrived in the godforsaken place. But that doesn’t mean I can’t tell my story here, of how the Green Arrow came to be.
It was the 16th of March 2013, my 18th Birthday. My parents, Robert and Moira, had hired me cruise ship to sail the Caribbean in for a few weeks, The Mercury. It was wonderful; open bar, beautiful women and we even had some band on board for a weekend - my memory doesn’t recall which. Of course, my security team was there too. Things took a deep turn however when one of my mates found his 5 year girlfriend cheating with me. Yeah, I used to be one of those guys. I think it’s fair to say the island sobered me up. Consequently, my parents got involved and sent all my friends home, but we still had the boat for another week so the three of us stayed on board. It was fun, I think. At least it was the most fun I remember having with my parents in the last decade. On the second to last day, my Dad’s prodigy arrived by helicopter, telling him that Queen Consolidated need him back at Star City by tomorrow. He leaves after a few drinks. His name is Simon Moreau and I wish my family had gotten into that helicopter with him.
Later that day, around 9.00pm, I was watching the Star City Rockets baseball game. First of the season. I remember Troy Barnes had just hit a homerun when I heard a scream. Most curious, I paused the game and stuck my head out of the door. I saw her, one of the waitresses. A black arrow with a syringe attached had just injected her with some green liquid. I was about to run over when I heard another scream, then a shout, and another. I continued to cautiously and quietly shuffle in her direction, shrieks still happening around the ship, when I noticed her eyes. They’d turned white, completely solid. I stepped back startled. Then she ran straight for me and in a panic I headed in the direction of my parents room. I passed several more infected on my way when I crashed into my parents and a security guard. My father said “Oliver! Thank God, don’t panic, we must get out of here!” Realising we were about to be overrun, the guard shut the doors I’d just came though, stopping a horde of aggressive, cannibalistic drugged-up people from getting to us. We made our way below deck to where our speedboat was kept. But that's when I saw him, a Black Archer, stood by our escape. He shot the guard with an arrow in a mere second, killing him dead on the spot. “You’re next, Queens” , the figure said, pulling another one from his quiver. My father pushed me behind him, being protective. “I AM KOMODO! THIS IS FOR MY FATHER!” the archer shouted, about to kill mine. “NOO!” yelled my brave, poor mother, throwing herself in front of me and my father. She was dead, just like that. My mother. She had so selflessly given her life for ours. But I was in shock, so instinct took over, flight or fight, and the seconds that my mother had given me allowed me to run to the speedboat to start the engine. “GO! OLIVER! G…” my father hollered before also being struck. I was crying uncontrollably at what was happening, but I did as he told me, possibly for the first real time. I just held the accelerator and hid below the wheel. An arrow pinged off the controls, landing at my feet. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I had to go. After a minute or so, I looked back, only to see the boat go up in flames. I don’t quite recollect what happened after that. The next thing I remember is waking up in a cave with Natas, my eyes sore from the tears...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Issue
Thanks for reading guys! I'll release another issue next week! :D
The cruise ship I took from here: ideas.lego.com/projects/17838
Bumble Bee Said::
Buzz off old white man, can't you see I'm hard at work !
Ted Said:
Buzz off yourself Bee, scram, I want to photograph the dahlia without you bouncing all over the scene.
Bee Said:
Come on you bumbling idiot, there are dozens of blooms within inches, now piss off before I come and sting you.
Ted:
Sobbing uncontrollably Ted snapped a quickie and abandoned the scene, until late November.
Adios, hasta la luego.
God Can’t Catch You if You Don’t Take a Leap of Faith
By Darren Wilson ·
It was breakfast, and I just wanted my coffee. We were staying in a palace in southern India, and we were quite literally the only people staying there. It was a strange feeling, to have a palace all to your own. But then again, this was India, so really anything was possible.
The day before we had filmed with a man named Ravi, who would regularly hear the audible voice of God speaking to him, directing him places and to people to see. I had finally convinced him to let me film him for my movie, Father of Lights, and we had just weathered a sea of Hindu men wielding machetes in one village and a spiritual showdown with a notorious witch doctor in another. I was so relieved/elated that I told Ravi to take us to the nicest hotel in town to celebrate that we were all still alive.
So the palace it was.
While sipping my coffee and trying to kick the cobwebs out of my head, I asked Ravi what the plan was today. He told me I had two choices: either we could go home, or we could pursue the thing God had spoken to him about this morning.
Um, care to elaborate?
Apparently, that morning Ravi had been tossed out of bed by an angel (when he asked the angel why he threw him out of bed, the angel told him matter-of-factly that he wouldn’t wake up), and was given an assignment. If he wanted, he was to go to a particular temple complex where he was to look for a man in an orange robe, with a long white beard and a turban on his head.
He would know who he was when he found him. That was it. That was the mission.
I took another sip of my coffee.
About an hour later we were on our way to the temple complex, and part of me was excited, while another part of me was having a hard time wrapping my head around this.
Were we really going to meet some guy who met this description? And if so, what was going to happen?
I was making a movie, and this sure felt like a God setup—but that didn’t make having faith that it would actually happen any easier. It’s funny, but no matter how much I do this and how much I see God move, faith is ALWAYS difficult to exercise.
We parked the car and started walking around. We kept pointing our cameras all over, not sure what or who we were supposed to be capturing.
We were walking when I heard Ravi exclaim, “There he is.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I ran to catch up only to stop dead in my tracks when I looked around the corner of a car. There was an older gentleman with an orange robe, a long white beard, and a turban on his head.
And my cameras were rolling.
Ravi started to talk to him, and I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. I found out later it was more chit chat, with Ravi kind of telling him that God had told us to find him. He found out this man was a Maharishi, which is like a guru of gurus (or the Catholic equivalent of a bishop), and I learned later that maharishis are not even allowed to hear the gospel because Jesus is exclusive, and that goes against everything Hindus believe.
Instead of inciting those standing around to beat us (which is what he was supposed to do), he asked Ravi if they could talk somewhere private, away from all these prying eyes.
So we drove down the road a few miles until we found a little turn-off that was more secluded.
The two men were finally free to talk now, and what the Maharishi had to say was stunning.
Apparently, he lived 8 hours away and had only come to this temple because he had had a dream three nights before where God appeared to him and told him to come here and look for a man named Ravi, who would want to talk to him. God then told him to listen to Ravi.
So not only had we come to try to find him, but he had come to try to find us!
As he was told to, the man listened to Ravi, and he heard the gospel of Jesus Christ presented to him. In the end, he accepted Christ as his savior, and Ravi exchanged information with him so he could follow up. The two men embraced, and we all went our separate ways.
People often ask me what it’s like to film the things I do, and I don’t usually have a great answer for them. When something like this happens, it is always so absurd, so out of the ordinary, and so God ordained that it stuns you into silence.
I think too often Christians get used to a God who doesn’t do much because we don’t take many risks, and we attend churches that are somewhat averse to God moving in real, tangible ways because a God like that is uncontrollable.
But when He DOES move, and you can see it with your own two eyes, you begin to understand the meaning of “awe.” God moving in a wild way doesn’t always make me stand up and shout, but instead, drives me to my knees. God is not an entertainer, and He’s not a magician. But He is powerful, and He is magnificent. And He is still moving and working in profound ways all around the world. Like17
www.wpfilm.com/2016/god-cant-catch-you-if-you-dont-take-a...
Hey, I'm not the type
To say one thing and do another
And if it's all right I'd kind
Of like to be your lover
'Cos when you're with me I can't help but be
So desperately
Uncontrollably Happy!
And hey, I'm not the kind
To fall in love without good reason
And if that's a crime
Then baby I'm committing high treason
'Cos when you're with me
I'm absolutely
And totally
Quite uncontrollably Happy!
And hey, I'm not so blind
That I can't see where we're all going
And it's no fault of mine
If humankind reaps what it is sowing
Just as long as we are together
Forever
I'll never be anything other than Happy!
Hey, don't be suprised, if millions die in plague and murder
True happiness lies beyond your fries and happy burger.-
52 in 2013
Week #1
Theme: New
It's been awhile since I last posted anything to Flickr...and over the past six months, I have taken few photos just for fun. The summer brought some sad, unexpected news...and so life has changed since then, with a focus on other things.
Yesterday, as I looked outside the window, I noticed many birds flying in and out of our yard. I got that old uncontrollable urge to grab my camera and go sit outside with them. I saw that the waxwings were back. Every January it seems they appear in our yard to eat the berries off of our Mountain Ash tree. Their arrival always seems to mark the beginning of the new year. And so then I pondered the new year ahead. What do I want? New opportunities to spend with our precious loved ones making new memories...new hope for happier times...the celebration of new life and new beginnings. :)
Thessaloniki (Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη, often referred to internationally as Thessalonica or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace.[3][4] Its honorific title is Συμπρωτεύουσα (Symprotévousa), literally "co-capital",[5] and stands as a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα (Symvasilévousa) or "co-reigning" city of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, alongside Constantinople.[6]
According to the preliminary results of the 2011 census, the municipality of Thessaloniki today has a population of 322,240,[1] while the Thessaloniki Urban Area (the contiguous built up area forming the "City of Thessaloniki") has a population of 790,824.[1] Furthermore, the Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area extends over an area of 1,455.62 km2 (562.02 sq mi) and its population in 2011 reached a total of 1,104,460 inhabitants.[1]
Thessaloniki is Greece's second major economic, industrial, commercial and political centre, and a major transportation hub for the rest of southeastern Europe;[7] its commercial port is also of great importance for Greece and the southeastern European hinterland.[7] The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general,[8] and is considered to be Greece's cultural capital.[8] Events such as the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival are held annually, while the city also hosts the largest bi-annual meeting of the Greek diaspora.[9] Thessaloniki is the 2014 European Youth Capital.[10]
Founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, Thessaloniki's history spans some 2,300 years. An important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. Thessaloniki is home to numerous notable Byzantine monuments, including the Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as several Roman, Ottoman and Sephardic Jewish structures. The city's main university, Aristotle University, is the largest in Greece and the Balkans.[11]
Thessaloniki is a popular tourist destination in Greece. In 2010, Lonely Planet ranked Thessaloniki as the world's fifth-best party city worldwide, comparable to other cities such as Dubai and Montreal.[12] For 2013 National Geographic Magazine included Thessaloniki in its top tourist destinations worldwide,[13] while in 2014 Financial Times FDI magazine (Foreign Direct Investments) declared Thessaloniki as the best mid-sized European city of the future for human capital and lifestyle.
Etymology
All variations of the city's name derive from the original (and current) appellation in Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη (from Θεσσαλός, Thessalos, and Νίκη, Nike), literally translating to "Thessalian Victory". The name of the city came from the name of a princess, Thessalonike of Macedon, half sister of Alexander the Great, so named because of her birth on the day of the Macedonian victory at the Battle of Crocus Field (353/352 BCE).[16]
The alternative name Salonica (or Salonika) derives from the variant form Σαλονίκη (Saloníki) in popular Greek speech, and has given rise to the form of the city's name in several languages. Names in other languages prominent in the city's history include Солѹнь (Solun) in Old Church Slavonic, סלוניקה (Salonika) in Ladino, Selanik (also Selânik) in Turkish (سلانیك in Ottoman Turkish), Solun (also written as Солун) in the local and neighboring South Slavic languages, Салоники (Saloníki) in Russian, and Sãrunã in Aromanian. In local speech, the city's name is typically pronounced with a dark and deep L characteristic of Macedonian Greek accent.[17][18]
The name often appears in writing in the abbreviated form Θεσ/νίκη
History
From antiquity to the Roman Empire
The city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and 26 other local villages.[20] He named it after his wife Thessalonike,[21] a half-sister of Alexander the Great and princess of Macedon as daughter of Philip II. Under the kingdom of Macedon the city retained its own autonomy and parliament[22] and evolved to become the most important city in Macedon.[21]
After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, Thessalonica became a free city of the Roman Republic under Mark Antony in 41 BC.[21][23] It grew to be an important trade-hub located on the Via Egnatia,[24] the road connecting Dyrrhachium with Byzantium,[25] which facilitated trade between Thessaloniki and great centers of commerce such as Rome and Byzantium.[26] Thessaloniki also lay at the southern end of the main north-south route through the Balkans along the valleys of the Morava and Axios river valleys, thereby linking the Balkans with the rest of Greece.[27] The city later became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia.[24] Later it became the capital of all the Greek provinces of the Roman Empire due to the city's importance in the Balkan peninsula. When the Roman Empire was divided into the tetrarchy, Thessaloniki became the administrative capital of one of the four portions of the Empire under Galerius Maximianus Caesar,[28][29] where Galerius commissioned an imperial palace, a new hippodrome, a triumphal arch and a mausoleum among others.[29][30][31]
In 379 when the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between the East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloniki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum.[24] In 390 Gothic troops under the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, led a massacre against the inhabitants of Thessalonica, who had risen in revolt against the Germanic soldiers. With the Fall of Rome in 476, Thessaloniki became the second-largest city of the Eastern Roman Empire.[26] Around the time of the Roman Empire Thessaloniki was also an important center for the spread of Christianity; some scholars hold that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians written by Paul the Apostle is the first written book of the New Testament.
Byzantine era and Middle Ages
From the first years of the Byzantine Empire, Thessaloniki was considered the second city in the Empire after Constantinople,[33][34][35] both in terms of wealth and size.[33] with an population of 150,000 in the mid 1100s.[36] The city held this status until it was transferred to Venice in 1423. In the 14th century the city's population exceeded 100,000 to 150,000,[37][38][39] making it larger than London at the time.[40]
During the 6th and 7th centuries the area around Thessaloniki was invaded by Avars and Slavs, who unsuccessfully laid siege to the city several times.[41] Traditional historiography stipulates that many Slavs settled in the hinterland of Thessaloniki,[42] however, this migration was allegedly on a much smaller scale than previously thought.[42][42][43] In the 9th century, the Byzantine Greek missionaries Cyril and Methodius, both natives of the city, created the first literary language of the Slavs, the Glagolic alphabet, most likely based on the Slavic dialect used in the hinterland of their hometown.[44][45][46][47][48]
An Arab naval attack in 904 resulted in the sack of the city.[49] The economic expansion of the city continued through the 12th century as the rule of the Komnenoi emperors expanded Byzantine control to the north. Thessaloniki passed out of Byzantine hands in 1204,[50] when Constantinople was captured by the forces of the Fourth Crusade and incorporated the city and its surrounding territories in the Kingdom of Thessalonica[51] — which then became the largest vassal of the Latin Empire. In 1224, the Kingdom of Thessalonica was overrun by the Despotate of Epirus, a remnant of the former Byzantine Empire, under Theodore Komnenos Doukas who crowned himself Emperor,[52] and the city became the Despotat's capital.[52][53] This era of the Despotate of Epirus is also known as the Empire of Thessalonica.[52][54][55] Following his defeat at Klokotnitsa however in 1230,[52][54] the Empire of Thessalonica became a vassal state of the Second Bulgarian Empire until it was recovered again in 1246, this time by the Nicaean Empire.[52] In 1342,[56] the city saw the rise of the Commune of the Zealots, an anti-aristocratic party formed of sailors and the poor,[57] which is nowadays described as social-revolutionary.[56] The city was practically independent of the rest of the Empire,[56][57][58] as it had its own government, a form of republic.[56] The zealot movement was overthrown in 1350 and the city was reunited with the rest of the Empire.[56]
In 1423, Despot Andronicus, who was in charge of the city, ceded it to the Republic of Venice with the hope that it could be protected from the Ottomans who were besieging the city (there is no evidence to support the oft-repeated story that he sold the city to them). The Venetians held Thessaloniki until it was captured by the Ottoman Sultan Murad II on 29 March 1430.
Ottoman period
When Sultan Murad II captured Thessaloniki and sacked it in 1430, contemporary reports estimated that about one-fifth of the city's population was enslaved.[60] Upon the conquest of Thessaloniki, some of its inhabitants escaped,[61] including intellectuals such as Theodorus Gaza "Thessalonicensis" and Andronicus Callistus.[62] However, the change of sovereignty from the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman one did not affect the city's prestige as a major imperial city and trading hub.[63][64] Thessaloniki and Smyrna, although smaller in size than Constantinople, were the Ottoman Empire's most important trading hubs.[63] Thessaloniki's importance was mostly in the field of shipping,[63] but also in manufacturing,[64] while most of the city's trade was controlled by ethnic Greeks.[63]
During the Ottoman period, the city's population of mainly Greek Jews and Ottoman Muslims (including those of Turkish and Albanian, as well as Bulgarian Muslim and Greek Muslim convert origin) grew substantially. By 1478 Selânik (سلانیك), as the city came to be known in Ottoman Turkish, had a population of 4,320 Muslims, 6,094 Greek Orthodox and some Catholics, but no Jews. Soon after the turn of the 15th to 16th century, nearly 20,000 Sephardic Jews had immigrated to Greece from Spain following their expulsion by the 1492 Alhambra Decree.[65] By c. 1500, the numbers had grown to 7,986 Greeks, 8,575 Muslims, and 3,770 Jews. By 1519, Sephardic Jews numbered 15,715, 54% of the city's population. Some historians consider the Ottoman regime's invitation to Jewish settlement was a strategy to prevent the ethnic Greek population (Eastern Orthodox Christians) from dominating the city.[38]
Thessaloniki was the capital of the Sanjak of Selanik within the wider Rumeli Eyalet (Balkans)[66] until 1826, and subsequently the capital of Selanik Eyalet (after 1867, the Selanik Vilayet).[67][68] This consisted of the sanjaks of Selanik, Serres and Drama between 1826 and 1912.[69] Thessaloniki was also a Janissary stronghold where novice Janissaries were trained. In June 1826, regular Ottoman soldiers attacked and destroyed the Janissary base in Thessaloniki while also killing over 10,000 Janissaries, an event known as The Auspicious Incident in Ottoman history.[70] From 1870, driven by economic growth, the city's population expanded by 70%, reaching 135,000 in 1917.[71]
The last few decades of Ottoman control over the city were an era of revival, particularly in terms of the city's infrastructure. It was at that time that the Ottoman administration of the city acquired an "official" face with the creation of the Command Post[72] while a number of new public buildings were built in the eclectic style in order to project the European face both of Thessaloniki and the Ottoman Empire.[72][73] The city walls were torn down between 1869 and 1889,[74] efforts for a planned expansion of the city are evident as early as 1879,[75] the first tram service started in 1888[76] and the city streets were illuminated with electric lamp posts in 1908.[77] In 1888 Thessaloniki was connected to Central Europe via rail through Belgrade, Monastir in 1893 and Constantinople in 1896.
Since the 20th century
In the early 20th century, Thessaloniki was in the center of radical activities by various groups; the Bulgarian Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, founded in 1897,[78] and the Greek Macedonian Committee, founded in 1903.[79] In 1903 an anarchist group known as the Boatmen of Thessaloniki planted bombs in several buildings in Thessaloniki, including the Ottoman Bank, with some assistance from the IMRO. The Greek consulate in Ottoman Thessaloniki (now the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle) served as the center of operations for the Greek guerillas. In 1908 the Young Turks movement broke out in the city, sparking the Young Turk Revolution.[80]
The Ottoman Feth-i Bülend being sunk in Thessaloniki in 1912 by a Greek ship during the First Balkan War.
Constantine I of Greece with George I of Greece and the Greek army enter the city.
As the First Balkan War broke out, Greece declared war on the Ottoman Empire and expanded its borders. When Eleftherios Venizelos, Prime Minister at the time, was asked if the Greek army should move towards Thessaloniki or Monastir (now Bitola, Republic of Macedonia), Venizelos replied "Salonique à tout prix!" (Thessaloniki, at all costs!).[81] As both Greece and Bulgaria wanted Thessaloniki, the Ottoman garrison of the city entered negotiations with both armies.[82] On 8 November 1912 (26 October Old Style), the feast day of the city's patron saint, Saint Demetrius, the Greek Army accepted the surrender of the Ottoman garrison at Thessaloniki.[83] The Bulgarian army arrived one day after the surrender of the city to Greece and Tahsin Pasha, ruler of the city, told the Bulgarian officials that "I have only one Thessaloniki, which I have surrendered".[82] After the Second Balkan War, Thessaloniki and the rest of the Greek portion of Macedonia were officially annexed to Greece by the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913.[84] On 18 March 1913 George I of Greece was assassinated in the city by Alexandros Schinas.[85]
In 1915, during World War I, a large Allied expeditionary force established a base at Thessaloniki for operations against pro-German Bulgaria.[86] This culminated in the establishment of the Macedonian Front, also known as the Salonika Front.[87][88] In 1916, pro-Venizelist Greek army officers and civilians, with the support of the Allies, launched an uprising,[89] creating a pro-Allied[90] temporary government by the name of the "Provisional Government of National Defence"[89][91] that controlled the "New Lands" (lands that were gained by Greece in the Balkan Wars, most of Northern Greece including Greek Macedonia, the North Aegean as well as the island of Crete);[89][91] the official government of the King in Athens, the "State of Athens",[89] controlled "Old Greece"[89][91] which were traditionally monarchist. The State of Thessaloniki was disestablished with the unification of the two opposing Greek governments under Venizelos, following the abdication of King Constantine in 1917.[86][91]
The 1st Battalion of the National Defence army marches on its way to the front.
Aerial picture of the Great Fire of 1917.
Most of the old center of the city was destroyed by the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, which started accidentally by an unattended kitchen fire on 18 August 1917.[92] The fire swept through the centre of the city, leaving 72,000 people homeless; according to the Pallis Report, most of them were Jewish (50,000). Many businesses were destroyed, as a result, 70% of the population were unemployed.[92] Also a number of religious structures of the three major faiths were lost. Nearly one-quarter of the total population of approximately 271,157 became homeless.[92] Following the fire the government prohibited quick rebuilding, so it could implement the new redesign of the city according to the European-style urban plan[6] prepared by a group of architects, including the Briton Thomas Mawson, and headed by French architect Ernest Hébrard.[92] Property values fell from 6.5 million Greek drachmas to 750,000.[93]
After the defeat of Greece in the Greco-Turkish War and during the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, a population exchange took place between Greece and Turkey.[90] Over 160,000 ethnic Greeks deported from the former Ottoman Empire were resettled in the city,[90] changing its demographics. Additionally many of the city's Muslims were deported to Turkey, ranging at about 20,000 people.[94]
During World War II Thessaloniki was heavily bombarded by Fascist Italy (with 232 people dead, 871 wounded and over 800 buildings damaged or destroyed in November 1940 alone),[95] and, the Italians having failed to succeed in their invasion of Greece, it fell to the forces of Nazi Germany on 8 April 1941[96] and remained under German occupation until 30 October 1944 when it was liberated by the Greek People's Liberation Army.[97] The Nazis soon forced the Jewish residents into a ghetto near the railroads and on 15 March 1943 began the deportation process of the city's 56,000 Jews to its concentration camps.[98][99] They deported over 43,000 of the city's Jews in concentration camps,[98] where most were killed in the gas chambers. The Germans also deported 11,000 Jews to forced labor camps, where most perished.[100] Only 1,200 Jews live in the city today.
Part of Eleftherias Square during the Axis occupation.
The importance of Thessaloniki to Nazi Germany can be demonstrated by the fact that, initially, Hitler had planned to incorporate it directly in the Third Reich[101] (that is, make it part of Germany) and not have it controlled by a puppet state such as the Hellenic State or an ally of Germany (Thessaloniki had been promised to Yugoslavia as a reward for joining the Axis on 25 March 1941).[102] Having been the first major city in Greece to fall to the occupying forces just two days after the German invasion, it was in Thessaloniki that the first Greek resistance group was formed (under the name «Ελευθερία», Eleftheria, "Freedom")[103] as well as the first anti-Nazi newspaper in an occupied territory anywhere in Europe,[104] also by the name Eleftheria. Thessaloniki was also home to a military camp-converted-concentration camp, known in German as "Konzentrationslager Pavlo Mela" (Pavlos Melas Concentration Camp),[105] where members of the resistance and other non-favourable people towards the German occupation from all over Greece[105] were held either to be killed or sent to concentration camps elsewhere in Europe.[105] In the 1946 monarchy referendum, the majority of the locals voted in favour of a republic, contrary to the rest of Greece.[106]
After the war, Thessaloniki was rebuilt with large-scale development of new infrastructure and industry throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Many of its architectural treasures still remain, adding value to the city as a tourist destination, while several early Christian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1988.[107] In 1997, Thessaloniki was celebrated as the European Capital of Culture,[108] sponsoring events across the city and the region. Agency established to oversee the cultural activities of that year 1997 was still in existence by 2010.[109] In 2004 the city hosted a number of the football events as part of the 2004 Summer Olympics.[110]
Today Thessaloniki has become one of the most important trade and business hubs in Southeastern Europe, with its port, the Port of Thessaloniki being one of the largest in the Aegean and facilitating trade throughout the Balkan hinterland.[7] On 26 October 2012 the city celebrated its centennial since its incorporation into Greece.[111] The city also forms one of the largest student centres in Southeastern Europe, is host to the largest student population in Greece and will be the European Youth Capital in 2014
Geography
Geology
Thessaloniki lies on the northern fringe of the Thermaic Gulf on its eastern coast and is bound by Mount Chortiatis on its southeast. Its proximity to imposing mountain ranges, hills and fault lines, especially towards its southeast have historically made the city prone to geological changes.
Since medieval times, Thessaloniki was hit by strong earthquakes, notably in 1759, 1902, 1978 and 1995.[113] On 19–20 June 1978, the city suffered a series of powerful earthquakes, registering 5.5 and 6.5 on the Richter scale.[114][115] The tremors caused considerable damage to a number of buildings and ancient monuments,[114] but the city withstood the catastrophe without any major problems.[115] One apartment building in central Thessaloniki collapsed during the second earthquake, killing many, raising the final death toll to 51.[114][115]
Climate
Thessaloniki's climate is directly affected by the sea it is situated on.[116] The city lies in a transitional climatic zone, so its climate displays characteristics of several climates. According to the Köppen climate classification, it is a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) that borders on a semi-arid climate (BSk), with annual average precipitation of 450 millimetres (18 in) due to the Pindus rain shadow drying the westerly winds. However, the city has a summer precipitation between 20 to 30 millimetres (0.79 to 1.18 in), which borders it close to a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa).
Winters are relatively dry, with common morning frost. Snowfalls are sporadic, but οccur more or less every winter, but the snow cover does not last for more than a few days. Fog is common, with an average of 193 foggy days in a year.[117] During the coldest winters, temperatures can drop to −10 °C (14 °F).[117] The record minimum temperature in Thessaloniki was −14 °C (7 °F).[118] On average, Thessaloniki experiences frost (sub-zero temperature) 32 days a year.[117] The coldest month of the year in the city is January, with an average 24-hour temperature of 6 °C (43 °F).[119] Wind is also usual in the winter months, with December and January having an average wind speed of 26 km/h (16 mph).[117]
Thessaloniki's summers are hot with rather humid nights.[117] Maximum temperatures usually rise above 30 °C (86 °F),[117] but rarely go over 40 °C (104 °F);[117] the average number of days the temperature is above 32 °C (90 °F) is 32.[117] The maximum recorded temperature in the city was 42 °C (108 °F).[117][118] Rain seldom falls in summer, mainly during thunderstorms. In the summer months Thessaloniki also experiences strong heat waves.[120] The hottest month of the year in the city is July, with an average 24-hour temperature of 26 °C (79 °F).[119] The average wind speed for June and July in Thessaloniki is 20 kilometres per hour (12 mph)
Government
According to the Kallikratis reform, as of 1 January 2011 the Thessaloniki Urban Area (Greek: Πολεοδομικό Συγκρότημα Θεσσαλονίκης) which makes up the "City of Thessaloniki", is made up of six self-governing municipalities (Greek: Δήμοι) and one municipal unit (Greek: Δημοτική ενότητα). The municipalities that are included in the Thessaloniki Urban Area are those of Thessaloniki (the city center and largest in population size), Kalamaria, Neapoli-Sykies, Pavlos Melas, Kordelio-Evosmos, Ampelokipoi-Menemeni, and the municipal unit of Pylaia, part of the municipality of Pylaia-Chortiatis. Prior to the Kallikratis reform, the Thessaloniki Urban Area was made up of twice as many municipalities, considerably smaller in size, which created bureaucratic problems.[123]
Thessaloniki Municipality
The municipality of Thessaloniki (Greek: Δήμος Θεσαλονίκης) is the second most populous in Greece, after Athens, with a population of 322,240[1] people (in 2011) and an area of 17.832 km2 (7 sq mi). The municipality forms the core of the Thessaloniki Urban Area, with its central district (the city center), referred to as the Kentro, meaning 'center' or 'downtown'.
The institution of mayor of Thessaloniki was inaugurated under the Ottoman Empire, in 1912. The first mayor of Thessaloniki was Osman Sait Bey, while the current mayor of the municipality of Thessaloniki is Yiannis Boutaris. In 2011, the municipality of Thessaloniki had a budget of €464.33 million[124] while the budget of 2012 stands at €409.00 million.[125]
According to an article in The New York Times, the way in which the present mayor of Thessaloniki is treating the city's debt and oversized administration problems could be used as an example by Greece's central government for a successful strategy in dealing with these problems.[126]
Other
Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece. It is an influential city for the northern parts of the country and is the capital of the region of Central Macedonia and the Thessaloniki regional unit. The Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace is also based in Thessaloniki, being that the city is the de facto capital of the Greek region of Macedonia.
It is customary every year for the Prime Minister of Greece to announce his administration's policies on a number of issues, such as the economy, at the opening night of the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair. In 2010, during the first months of the 2010 Greek debt crisis, the entire cabinet of Greece met in Thessaloniki to discuss the country's future.[127]
In the Hellenic Parliament, the Thessaloniki urban area constitutes a 16-seat constituency. As of the national elections of 17 June 2012 the largest party in Thessaloniki is New Democracy with 27.8%, followed by the Coalition of the Radical Left (27.0%) and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (10.2%).[128] The table below summarizes the results of the latest elections.
Cityscape
Architecture
Architecture in Thessaloniki is the direct result of the city's position at the centre of all historical developments in the Balkans. Aside from its commercial importance, Thessaloniki was also for many centuries the military and administrative hub of the region, and beyond this the transportation link between Europe and the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel / Palestine). Merchants, traders and refugees from all over Europe settled in the city. The need for commercial and public buildings in this new era of prosperity led to the construction of large edifices in the city center. During this time, the city saw the building of banks, large hotels, theatres, warehouses, and factories. Architects who designed some of the most notable buildings of the city, in the late 19th and early 20th century, include Vitaliano Poselli, Pietro Arrigoni, Xenophon Paionidis, Eli Modiano, Moshé Jacques, Jean Joseph Pleyber, Frederic Charnot, Ernst Ziller, Roubens Max, Levi Ernst, Angelos Siagas and others, using mainly the styles of Eclecticism and Art Nouveau.
The city layout changed after 1870, when the seaside fortifications gave way to extensive piers, and many of the oldest walls of the city were demolished, including those surrounding the White Tower, which today stands as the main landmark of the city. As parts of the early Byzantine walls were demolished, this allowed the city to expand east and west along the coast.[129]
The expansion of Eleftherias Square towards the sea completed the new commercial hub of the city and at the time was considered one of the most vibrant squares of the city. As the city grew, workers moved to the western districts, due to their proximity to factories and industrial activities; while the middle and upper classes gradually moved from the city-center to the eastern suburbs, leaving mainly businesses. In 1917, a devastating fire swept through the city and burned uncontrollably for 32 hours.[71] It destroyed the city's historic center and a large part of its architectural heritage, but paved the way for modern development and allowed Thessaloniki the development of a proper European city center, featuring wider diagonal avenues and monumental squares; which the city initially lacked – much of what was considered to be 'essential' in European architecture.
City Center
After the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, a team of architects and urban planners including Thomas Mawson and Ernest Hebrard, a French architect, chose the Byzantine era as the basis of their (re)building designs for Thessaloniki's city center. The new city plan included axes, diagonal streets and monumental squares, with a street grid that would channel traffic smoothly. The plan of 1917 included provisions for future population expansions and a street and road network that would be, and still is sufficient today.[71] It contained sites for public buildings and provided for the restoration of Byzantine churches and Ottoman mosques.
The Metropolitan Church of Saint Gregory Palamas, designed by Ernst Ziller.
Today the city center of Thessaloniki includes the features designed as part of the plan and forms the point in the city where most of the public buildings, historical sites, entertainment venues and stores are located. The center is characterized by its many historical buildings, arcades, laneways and distinct architectural styles such as Art Nouveau and Art Deco, which can be seen on many of its buildings.
Also called the historic center, it is divided into several districts, of which include Ladadika (where many entertainment venues and tavernas are located), Kapani (were the city's central city market is located), Diagonios, Navarinou, Rotonta, Agia Sofia and Ippodromio (white tower), which are all located around Thessaloniki's most central point, Aristotelous Square.
The west point of the city center is home to Thessaloniki's law courts, its central international railway station and the port, while on its eastern side stands the city's two universities, the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Center, the city's main stadium, its archaeological and Byzantine museums, the new city hall and its central parklands and gardens, namely those of the ΧΑΝΘ/Palios Zoologikos Kipos and Pedio tou Areos. The central road arteries that pass through the city center, designed in the Ernest Hebrard plan, include those of Tsimiski, Egnatia, Nikis, Mitropoleos, Venizelou and St. Demetrius avenues.
Ano Poli
Ano Poli (also called Old Town and literally the Upper Town) is the heritage listed district north of Thessaloniki's city center that was not engulfed by the great fire of 1917 and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site by ministerial actions of Melina Merkouri, during the 1980s. It consists of Thessaloniki's most traditional part of the city, still featuring small stone paved streets, old squares and homes featuring old Greek and Ottoman architecture.
Ano Poli also, is the highest point in Thessaloniki and as such, is the location of the city's acropolis, its Byzantine fort, the Heptapyrgion, a large portion of the city's remaining walls, and with many of its additional Ottoman and Byzantine structures still standing. The area provides access to the Seich Sou Forest National Park[131] and features amphitheatric views of the whole city and the Thermaic Gulf. On clear days Mount Olympus, at about 100 km (62 mi) away across the gulf, can also be seen towering the horizon.
Southeastern Thessaloniki up until the 1920s was home to the city's most affluent residents and formed the outermost suburbs of the city at the time, with the area close to the Thermaic Gulf coast called Exoches, from the 19th century holiday villas which defined the area. Today southeastern Thessaloniki has in some way become a natural extension of the city center, with the avenues of Megalou Alexandrou, Georgiou Papandreou (Antheon), Vasilissis Olgas Avenue, Delfon, Konstantinou Karamanli (Nea Egnatia) and Papanastasiou passing through it, enclosing an area traditionally called Dépôt (Ντεπώ), from the name of the old tram station, owned by a French company. The area extends to Kalamaria and Pylaia, about 9 km (5.59 mi) from the White Tower in the city centre.
Some of the most notable mansions and villas of the old-era of the city remain along Vasilissis Olgas Avenue. Built for the most wealthy residents and designed by well known architects they are used today as museums, art galleries or remain as private properties. Some of them include Villa Bianca, Villa Ahmet Kapanci, Villa Modiano, Villa Mordoch, Villa Mehmet Kapanci, Hatzilazarou Mansion, Chateau Mon Bonheur (often called red tower) and others.
Most of southeastern Thessaloniki is characterized by its modern architecture and apartment buildings, home to the middle-class and more than half of the municipality of Thessaloniki population. Today this area of the city is also home to 3 of the city's main football stadiums, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, the Posidonio aquatic and athletic complex, the Naval Command post of Northern Greece and the old royal palace (called Palataki), located on the most westerly point of Karabournaki cape. The municipality of Kalamaria is also located in southeastern Thessaloniki and has become this part of the city's most sought after areas, with many open spaces and home to high end bars, cafés and entertainment venues, most notably on Plastira street, along the coast
Northwestern Thessaloniki had always been associated with industry and the working class because as the city grew during the 1920s, many workers had moved there, due to its proximity near factories and industrial activities. Today many factories and industries have been moved further out west and the area is experiencing rapid growth as does the southeast. Many factories in this area have been converted to cultural centres, while past military grounds that are being surrounded by densely built neighborhoods are awaiting transformation into parklands.
Northwest Thessaloniki forms the main entry point into the city of Thessaloniki with the avenues of Monastiriou, Lagkada and 26is Octovriou passing through it, as well as the extension of the A1 motorway, feeding into Thessaloniki's city center. The area is home to the Macedonia InterCity Bus Terminal (KTEL), the Zeitenlik Allied memorial military cemetery and to large entertainment venues of the city, such as Milos, Fix, Vilka (which are housed in converted old factories). Northwestern Thessaloniki is also home to Moni Lazariston, located in Stavroupoli, which today forms one of the most important cultural centers for the city.
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I love unpredictable circumstances during photo shoots, and nothing is more uncontrollable than an animal. I've done shoots at people's houses where a cat would mysteriously appear in the corner of a photo when he sensed he wasn't getting enough attention, and I'm always on board.
Shooting with Billie's snake was really fun, because it's a constant challenge to figure out where his head went and how to keep it in frame. You have to choose who is the focus of a photo, and you've suddenly got double the options. It was a fun outing, and I'm sure the little scaly fellow had fun since he never seemed to stop moving.
We have been hit by several wildfires in the Bay Area. The thunderstorm two days ago didn't help. Instead it helped ignite the wildfires around the Bay Area with over two hundreds of lightning. When we escaped to the Pacific Coast yesterday, we saw wildfires in several areas. This one is very close to Pescadero in San Mateo County. According to the news, it has been growing uncontrollably since yesterday. Governor Newsom has just declared a state of emergency today and we are on a rolling power outage. It 's unprecedentedly hot around here and unfortunately my central air conditioner has just broken down. Year 2020 is definitely not a good year I must say.
56029 heads east through Mytholmroyd with empties from Fiddlers Ferry. 5/9/89. This location, just east of Mytholmroyd station, was only available due to the efforts of my friend Michael McNicholas, who kept the vegetation in check. It was a superb vantage point with a good view both ways. Unfortunately, a new station was built at Mytholmroyd which spoilt the view looking west and the vegetation became uncontrollable and so as a result the location was lost.
Previously in Chapter 4 White Horses and Memories
⚜️Tabitha Kinkade could never forget the first time she saw a werewolf. She was just a little girl, wrapped in her mother's arms. She could still see it's yellow eyes rolling as it crushed bone and ripped flesh, killing Myra, her mother's handmaid, it's sharp teeth glistening over with drool and blood. She could still remember the huffing, bellowing growl and the mighty thud of it's massive feet when it turned toward her and her mother. Samantha Kinkade told her daughter to close her eyes, as she pulled a sword from over the fireplace and faced the beast. However, Tabitha had not closed her eyes, cowering there as her mother held her back behind her. And as much out of youthful curiosity than anything she'd peeked from around her mother's dress. When it saw her, clinching to her mother's skirts the beast stopped. Tilting it's head the creature gazed straight into her eyes as the fires from the sconces along the wall illuminated it's enormous body. It's raspy breathing caused the little flames to flicker creating overinflated shadows that danced around the room and then it began to creep closer, the claws of it's massive feet tapping against the wood floor...
Then somewhere out of the night...
an intense shrilling whimper!
And a friend's cry for help brought her back to the present, "My lady the child!"
⚜️Tabitha bolted into the moonlight just in time to see the werewolf cast the child over the edge of the cliff with Kiva jumping after her. She had no choice but to leave her other pets and Lexington alone to deal with the massive lycanthrope. Without a moment's hesitation she dove over the edge of the cliff side after the little girl. Even with her heightened senses the surrounding void was nearly pitch black as the cool salt air rushed through her red hair. From far away now and quickly growing farther with every passing moment, she could hear Lexington directing the wolves and his whip slashing into the fiend's flesh. The beast howled out, growling so loud she could hear the sounds resonate and echo down along the cliff's glistening walls as she fell down into the abyss.
⚜️The mist cascading across her face made her squint as she held her arms closely by her sides. At last she could see the girl through the murk, her red wolf Kiva holding the hem of her dress in her clinched teeth. Using every muscle and every bit of ability she had Tabitha kept her body, as straight as she could cutting through the darkness like a knife. Finally, within arms length, Tabitha found herself faced with a horrible decision. With the pair spinning uncontrollably and as they were too close to the rocks below, she would have to choose her beloved Kiva or the girl. With no time to think she grabbed the girl pulling her shivering body to her breast. Folding her arms around the child she continued to glide like a human cannonball through the night, watching her precious Kiva fade into the foggy chasm. In her desperation she screamed in terror racing to catch up to the dire wolf. And with her body taut, every muscle flexed and ready, she was able to grab the scruff of Kiva's neck just in time to pull her up to safety. With no more than a few meters between them and death, Tabitha flipped them all around and landed feet first on the slippery rocks. She held both her pet and the little girl in her arms for a moment almost in tears then told Kiva to stay with the toddler and keep her safe before she hurridly leapt up along the rock face.
⚜️She climbed the crag like a spider rushing quickly to the battle. As she neared the top the Shadowhunter could hear one of her wolves cry out and Lexington groan as his body crashed into something. Her fear for her friend's safety almost made her sick as she leapt and scurried up the wall grabbing at jagged edges and seams in the rock face hoisting her body closer up along the damp precipice. Overhead, clouds stirred like a soup as the approaching storm's winds became more intense the closer she got to the top. Finally, she could see grass hanging over the edge and just as she reached to grab the rim of the cliff she heard one of Lexington's flintlocks fire. Her wolves growled in anger, hissing and gnashing their teeth and just then, the monster spoke! It taunted Lexington "I'm gonna tear you apart piggy!" then roared again from deep in its massive chest. Just as the devilish brute began to rush her friend she leapt from the side of the cliff catapulting her body into the sky above the colossal beast. Drawing her swords the Shadowhunter was silent as she looked down across the back of the monster just six meters above him. Lexington never looked in her direction as not to alert the werewolf then fired again hitting it in the chest just as Xandra and Jesper both hurdled toward the lycan. As silent as a cat, her blades found their mark plunging deep on either side of the werewolves's broad neck cutting through his heart and deep into it's lungs. She rolled just past Lexington turning quickly, her own flintlock pulled only to watch the beast fall to his knees.
⚜️As it looked at them all the horror and terror was erased from its face. It was the same expression his mate had made before it died earlier that same evening. Calling to her wolves she ordered them off the monster to allow it to die in peace when in a trice it brought its great paw within inches of her boot and upon regaining enough strength it scowled at her and hissed, "He is coming. And there's nothing you can do about it Shadowhunter. You and your kind will be slaughtered like pigs." It laughed and then fell dead.
Taken aback, Tabitha stood motionless looming over the ghoulish creature. Lexington had heard as well, walking over to stand there with her. He started to say something, and she looked, but he obviously thought better to wait, and she did not ask. They both stood silent watching as the monster turned back to a human man, the curse lifted from him forever.
"Mistress look! The same brand as the female." Lexington had bent down to inspect the man's body.
Tabitha knelt down to see and there it was. The identical and peculiar tattoo they'd found on the girl and in the same spot.
Once she'd inspected the tattoo Tabitha looked at the man's face. She shook her head. He looked so peaceful now. Nearly handsome as he laid there naked, the distant thunder claps above them providing just a little light. Standing, she asked Lexington if he was injured and except for a few scrapes and bruises luckily he wasn't. She quickly took a look at her wolves calling them to her. They were bloody, some of it theirs, but nothing was broken and the lacerations that she could observe didn't look deep.
"Mother and Father must have been looking over us tonight." she thought to herself.
Lexington apologized to her for not asking about the girl and Kiva and she assured him it was alright and that they were as well. That said, she instructed the Prince to continue his inspection while she gathered up Kiva and the kidnapped girl before the coming storm set in.
Walking away Lexington must have noticed she was deep in her thoughts. "My Lady, are you alright?" he called out.
Standing there, cleaning the blood from her swords, she sheathed each of them and looked just over her shoulder asking in return. "Have you ever heard of one that could talk Lex?"
"No My Lady. Never. I... well I don't know what to say Ms. Tabitha."
With a slight nod she walked into the darkness, her gallant wolves at her sides. This night had been filled with violence and distress, and more mystery than she cared for.
It would be nice to be home soon, back at Belraak Castle.
🐺🐺🐺🐺
Continued in Chapter 6 The Two Societies
⭐And again,I would send a shout out to my friend Marcus Strong. He took on dual roles for this one and was so patient and forgiving. Thanks Big Daddy! hehe.
With love. 💓
🌳Taken at Flower of Scotland I would like to express my appreciation to elo {Neutron Nebula} for providing one of the most beautiful places in SL for us to take our pics. You can take a look as some of the amazing captures done at Auld Lang Syne in thier group, Auld Lang Syne. Isles of Scotland 🌼
"Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. "
Mark Twain
So I made mention I had filled up a memory card on my early morning with the fledgling Peregrine Falcons. The deal is, I have a new camera (Sony A1), and it goes fast (up to 30 fps). From my perspective, it's uncontrollably fast. Lack of control is my dilemma. So when the little fledgling Peregrine started beating its wings, I just laid on it. When someone nearby said incoming food, I just stuck with it. So mom does fly in with prey, and the fledgling manages to make off with it before her sibling gets a chance. I've noted before this takes place on the cliffs overlooking the Blue Pacific, and you can even spot a breaking swell or two roll in in the soft background.
I had no intention of video, but the sequence IS pretty cool. What I did here was take all 142 frames less maybe a couple culled before the idea came to me, assembled in a sort of dragged out time lapse. About 15 seconds elapsed time spread out to 45.
Music credit: "Early Sun" by Crowander, www.freemusicarchive.org
Mirit Ben-Nun’s art exists within and beyond reality. She moves away from reality with aggressive and dense colorfulness which reveals an inner testimony of a threatened existence of women. The lines, points and shapes do not reproduce facts but emphasize the special charge of emotional coping.
Mirit Ben-Nun shows a rebellious spirit and tries to reach out to things not through wholeness but via searching for their expression and manifestation.
She explores personal identity and through it tries to define a complementary art, thereby illustrating the world and the nature of human culture. She focuses on the expressive dimension because of the exposure afforded by the uncontrollable moment that so much affects life in a rapidly changing global world.
The discourse between the inner world and the emerging reality is hyperactive and generates in Ben - Nun an endless sequence of works.
From the depths of feelings, dreams, anxieties and expressions arise rigid and exciting meanings of existence whose essence expresses adaptation difficulties and restlessness.
Dora Woda
Spare a kind thought for the homeless
We are really just like you
Accept sometimes in life
Some endure unimaginable heart ache and hard times
I was once a respected family man ya know
With my own home, and ran a trucking business.
The lock downs hit - my wife got sick
I tried the best I could
But taxes and bills
Then another blow when the Mrs took that dreadful jab
I begged her not to take that jab
I believed in God
I believe God gave me and you an immune system
That works just fine
My beautiful wife called me crazy
She became full of fear of this deadly flu
She wouldn't listen
She listened only to the fear
It's too late now,
She shook uncontrollably when she got home from that shot, ran a fever
I couldn't help her accept to take her to the hospital
They didn't want to know she had just been jabbed
They told me to take her home - there was nothing they could do
12 hours later she was dead on the bathroom floor
I cried to God - what more will you take from me?
The pain of losing her was too much
My anger out of control at the govt for forcing this jab on us all
I am left to lay my love to Rest in Peace
I trust that God has a plan
I don't trust in man
I only trust in God
I been through tough times I thought
But life just spiraled out of control
With these bastard governments across the world
Destroying our livelihoods
Ruining our health
Ya know its been declared a Bio-weapon in Florida now?
I thought it was all along
Gain of Function been going on
I lost my business and all my men
Many too sick to drive
I wouldn't take that deadly jab
I was black banned and stopped from working
I went through a time when I didn't care
Just lay me down with my family in Peace
I am tired of this life
But then one day God said to me
"my son you have work to do"
I am done with your work God
I have been a good man
And look at what the world does to me and more
God spoke to me again
"Listen to me, and follow my guidance, you have more work to do"
I gave up,
The banks took my home
Unable to work and now a broken man
I found myself on this park bench with no where to go
Then one day - Out of the blue
One of my men I used to employ
Fixed me up a home in this old wreck of a truck
He bought it at Auction
He owns this land at the back of the park
It was all impounded from my trucking yard
When the tax man sent me bankrupt
Confiscating my fleet of trucks - they sold at Auction
This old girl of a truck
The boys liked to hang out sometimes after a long haul on the roads
It once had a shower and kitchen on my lot
With gas hot water and barbecue
That's all gone
Some happy memories of the boys in this old girl
This mate of mine
God sent him to me by chance one day
He saw me on this park bench
And offered to take me home
I couldn't do this to his family
So he organized this old wreck that was once mine
So now I live here in this humble abode with just some basics
It's right next to the park where the children play
I love hearing the children laugh in the playground
Sometimes I like to sit on this park bench and watch them running around
It takes me back to a place long ago
When my only little boy loved to slide the slippery slide
Laughing and screaming with joy as he slid down that slide
I loved it too when he would say "push me on the swing daddy"
Tears roll down my cheeks
The salty bitter taste
That ache in my heart that never leaves me
Then one day
A youth who was high on drugs in a stolen car came screaming out of control
Into the park he crashed
Where my little boy played
His last words to me
"Look Daddy how tall I am as he stood at the top of the slide"
Crash, Bang, screams of terror - chaos followed
I can never forget that day
That trauma at witnessing my innocent boy being thrown in the air like a ball
Smashing into the ground
Oh God
God have mercy
Just a little boy
God had other plans for my little boy
Now he lives in peace in heaven's land
Me and me wife struggled for years
They let that kid off on good behavior bond
That youth who killed our only boy
It nearly broke us apart as our hearts were torn apart
Eventually life got better
but our hearts never stopped aching
For our precious little boy
When the Mrs died
There was no one left
Just a few photos reminiscent when life was good
Somewhere inside of me I am a fighter
A peaceful fighter
My mouth gets me in trouble
People often don't like the truth
I take no bullshit from anyone
And entitled to an opinion when it concerns me
Especially when it concerns protecting children
I think most agree
Don't harm the children - we all agree
Ya know you need to research what they are doing to our children
stopworldcontrol.com/children/
There's a whole lot more people don't know
You really gotta know!
We gotta protect the children
It's up to you and me
Sometimes we can agree to disagree when we
Have different opinions
I protested ya know
Along with many truckers across the country
Against the lock downs
They locked me up for my peaceful protest
Took away my rights to live
Shut me down they did
Stopped me accessing my bank account
Finally, the bank took my home
Me and the Mrs loved our home
I loved my rose garden
Took pride in my home
We lived a simple life
All that is left is this shell of a truck
I try my best to look for work
I feel beaten and tired and in my 60's now
I just want to live in peace
Please leave me alone
Don't throw your cans at me or spit on me if you see me on the street
It makes you to be the low life with no heart - not me!
I will cause no harm
Just please leave me alone
It brings me happiness hearing the children laugh
in the playground here
I would never harm them
They just remind me of days gone bye
When life was good
And my little boy would laugh and scream with joy
Sometimes I swear I hear his laugh in this park
Who knows how long before the council shut me down here
I will be back sleeping under bridges
At least I have shelter here
And a place I feel at home once more
Sometimes some kind person will leave a food hamper for me
I sometimes get to shower in the local council pool center
I have to sneak in when no one is watching
They don't like dirty folk like me hanging around
So be kind
Don't judge
That's the message God has for me
Lend a helping hand
Don't judge
A few folk around here took the time
To get to know me
Kind people who have now moved on
Their children used to come and talk to me
And always wanted to bring me a gift
The greatest gift was to see their beautiful bright eyes
Their shining smiles at me
To hear their little voices talk to me
At first they feared me
"don't talk to that dirty old man"
But these few folks took the time to know me
And their children too
Beautiful children who would come running to me
Screaming out "hello Harold"
Some would bring me daisies they had picked along the way
Innocent little children
They open ya hearts you know?
One family gave me the potted rose to remind me of my garden
I treasure my rose
They will never know how much they helped
To heal my broken heart ya know?
They loved to listen to my stories
and my messages from God
Ya know God keeps me strong
If you listen to him
He will keep you strong too
Houses, cars, trucks
It doesn't matter any more
It's what's inside that means more
God Bless You and Yours
P.S.
if you see a homeless person on the street, don't be scared, chances are they were once like you.
Give them a smile and if you can, take the time to treat them with kindness
We feel bad enough for how we look and have to live
I no longer worry what others may think or say
I had to toughen up ya know?
God asked me to write this and asks you to pass it around so it helps others to understand. Just because we are homeless does not mean we are not human with feelings. So be kind if you can.
Have a blessed day!
© Chant Lyric
Jackson Bentley: What is it, Major Lawrence, that attracts you personally to the desert?
T.E. Lawrence: It's clean.
- Dialogue from Sir David Lean’s classic film, “Lawrence of Arabia”
========================================================
Depending on your transportation options, the long beach strip of Mui Ne is about a 4-6 hour bus ride north from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). I decided to lay my head at the highly recommended Mui Ne Backpackers owned by an Australian named John Jenkins who married a local Vietnamese woman and never left the country.
One day I asked John how to get to the famous sand dunes.
“Which one” he replied?
Apparently there are two distinct sand dunes one can visit. The Red Sand Dunes are the closest to town and are the easiest ones to visit. The larger of the two, the White Sand Dunes are a little further out and features a little lake. John and his affable Australian personality recommended I take his sunset jeep tour. I am not a group tour type of guy so John set me up with a motorbike rental, a general map of the area and off I went to explore the White Sand Dunes.
I quickly discovered the map was a poor excuse for cutting down a tree. I drove for about 45 minutes outside of town and I could see the White Sand Dunes off in the distance, but could not find the road to cut across to them. So for about 90 minutes I burned a lot of petro just driving around in circles. Finally off in the distance I spotted a tourist van and I quickly a followed it out to the dunes.
We turned off the paved highway and onto a dirt road that was full of potholes, rocks and soft sand. Of those three obstacles, soft sand would be my enemy. At this point in my trip I had driven a motorbike in Malaysia, Thailand and in the wild, dirt roads of Laos. Driving a motorbike in Southeast Asia is by far best way to see the landscape and meet the locals, but I’ll be honest, it can be dangerous at times (if you spend any amount of time here you will see many young backpackers with scrapes, bruises, bandages all compliments of motorbike accidents). In my entire six months in Southeast Asia I never had an accident with the sole exception being my jaunt to the White Sand Dunes.
What happen?
So we bounced along the dirt road for a while and then out of nowhere a lake in the middle of this desert appeared on our left hand side. It was a sight of beauty. As we finally approached the entrance to the sand dunes a patch of soft sand appeared.
Rule #1 in motorbike riding: Keep a steady pace and drive in a straight line when riding over soft sand.
For some odd reason the van in front of me stopped abruptly (I can only assume that somebody wanted to take a photo). As a result, I quickly put my brakes on and lost traction in the soft sand. My motorbike began to wobble uncontrollably and I was heading to immediate disaster. I made the quick decision to just lay the bike down so I could come to an immediate stop. So I leaned to the left and just slid my bike on the soft sand.
Perfect landing!
No broken bones and the motorbike was intact. Laying down on the sandy road, I felt a burning sensation on the lower, inside part of my right calf. Apparently my right leg had made contact with a very hot motorcycle exhaust pipe. Two unfortunate events worked against me that day. One, the motorbike didn’t have a heat shield (some, not all, of the motorbikes I rented had them). Two, I didn’t wear long pants that day (I normally would wear them when I ride, but that day I wore shorts).
So here you have the White Sand Dunes of Mui Ne, Vietnam compliments of my Canon 5D Mark II and a slightly burnt right calf.
I still have a little scar on my right calf. Every now and then when I wear shorts people notice it and ask, “What happen there?”
I simply reply, “Vietnam!”
Check back for more of my adventures in Vietnam!
Happy Travels!
Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography
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A friend at work loaned me her dvd of "The Notebook" this evening... surprisingly, as many movies as I go to. This is one that escaped me. I had heard how sad it was... but as I was watching it. I kept thinking "this aint so sad". It was a very sweet, enjoyable romantic movie, and the opening scene did tug at my heart... but no tears... then it got to the last 5 minutes, and I was crying uncontrollably. OMG, that had to be one of the most romantic endings I have ever seen... Jesus Christ.
Pictured is a monument to the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in early 1985, the greatest technological catastrophe in the USSR. An uncontrollable fire at the powerplant caused a collapse of the protective roof and escape of an enormous amount of radioactive material. Chernobyl was located next to Kyiv, and by a sheer luck the wind blew it in the direction opposite of the city. This catastrophe affected thousands of lives, left many children orphans or sick for life, demonstrated heroism of common soldiers and firefighters who stopped the spread without the benefit of protective equipment. The Chernobyl museum is located in the building that in 1985 housed the regional fire department and served as the headquarters of the operation to contain the fallout.
На фото - памятник погибшим из-за аварии на Чернобыльской АЭС в начале 1985 г., самой страшной техногенной катастрофы в истории СССР. Вышедший из под контроля пожар разрушил крышу и привёл к выбросу громадного количества радиоактивного материала в воздух. По счастливой случайности ветер дул в сторону от многомиллионнового Киева. Катастрофа затронула напрямую тысячи жизней, оставила много детей сиротами или больными на всю жизнь, продемонстрировала героизм простых солдат и пожарных работавших без какого-либо защитного оборудования. Музей находится в здании, где в 1985 году располагалось киевское областное управление пожарной охраны и ставшим штабом ликвидации последствий аварии.
Oh, thank you so much for being on the path of wisdom and of my dear ones, as well.
Thank you for remembering me, at all times and for caring about me and mine,
who are very important to me.
Thank you for your ability to express yourself warmly.
Thank you for being kind in contacting me.
Without further thought, I will write in a way that respects you,
in this way I also respect myself.
I will write and answer your email in a respectful manner that always respects both of us.
Oh, thank you very much. I will always write in my own words
...and always express myself in my own words only.
A derogatory type will never and will never dare to insert such or other words
and certainly will not control the way of your correspondence or communication.
My answer to you expresses and will mutually express support.
What we sow, we reap...
and I will always remember your willingness to be independent of someone else's dictates...
of what to say, what to say... or if at all to answer... or to do a "favor" in response to your automatic symbolic smile.
You are not an egoist and I am not an egoist...
we will continue to have a respectable relationship.
As you care about me and the dearest of my heart,
correspondingly I care about you and the dearest of your heart.
The relationship between us is uncontrollable by others.
Oh, thank you so much. You are just as good as me, and even if we are not the same,
caring and truth dictate our ways in life.
Reciprocity is the word.
It's all a question of goodwill, or of being uncontrolled by others,
No one dares to dictate to you.. Never to me!
I will write... exactly as you write, and not just to get out of my way by marking one way or another.
Oh, thanks to you and your importance in a way that does not depend on unnecessary dictates or injustices.
By the way.. if some are controlled by their content.. extremely unfortunate.. The universe will repay accordingly. Now... ask yourself and here is the reference not to primacy in my writings here. When was the last time you thought to let me know? What were you asked, to tell me.. to do.. or simply not to answer.. or not to address... you are controlled! And you became a stranger by someone else's will. And what did you get out of it?... A lot. Hiding the truth is like lying, even if you gain a lot from it.
To those that are controlled by order, such as, reply, no reply, comment with NICE (I become allergic to "nice" ). I have NO THANKS, Sorry... so sorry for those who are controlled or controlled others.
The world could be better because of people like me... But surely It will never be, since you are controlled by giving gifts @ orders.
Copyrights (c) NIra Dabush.
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Last summer I summited Mount Agassiz for my first time and slept on the top. It was probably one of the most intense nights of sleep I've had in the backcountry. I was very nervous about being on top all night. Mostly it was all in my head. I was scaring myself to the point of not following me dreams. I needed to do this. I woke up at around 2 AM shaking uncontrollably and my heart was racing. I wasn't sure if I should hike off the mountain,2000 feet below, back to where my tent was so I decided to find a way to stay on top. After opening up a hand warmer and holding it tightly I managed to get my heart rate down and get back to sleep. I also managed to wake up many times throughout the night and took this photo while I was awake.
The Men Are Called Horsemen There
I know we’ve all been asked this before, but have you ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn’t have fallen in love with? We’ll come back to my answer on that in a second.
Staying in the village of Omalo changed my life in some quiet ways. Having made the effort and endured the stress involved in getting there (for a nervous traveller like myself) finally erased the nerves I had been feeling almost everyday during my trip. Experiencing a life stripped bare of all but the essentials burned away so much of the clutter that I had been carrying in my mind since I left home. Having nothing but time and space to lose myself in allowed a flurry of emotions, both positive and negative, to rise up and have their time and for once, I stopped analysing them and just allowed them to work through me and took from them what I could. These things were all personal to me though: elements of a unique place whose claustrophobic isolation gave me the arena in which I could give myself up to emotion and thought.
There was another, more external element of Omalo that made a marked impact upon myself. Maybe it did not change anything of my personality or drive home any paradigm shifting insights. It has however stayed with me as a memory so tangible that when recalled, I still feel it as if I am experiencing those moments anew.
That experience was watching the children, not the men, tend the horses that remained one of the main methods of both transport and income generation. The Tushetan horsemen are legends in their own valley. Renowned for both their skill on the horse and their endurance of some harsh living conditions.
4 of these horsemen stayed in the homestay where I lived. They rode up one sunny morning and all but fell of their horses. The oldest, who was around 50 looked closer to 70. The youngest, a sprightly 18 looked as if he was approaching his 30’s. They were clad in denims, leathers and wool that looked like it would have to be chiselled off them so caked were they in dirt and dust. Their faces were burnt brown and lined with the elements, their eyes portraying I sat on the front porch in my woolly slippers (made by the lady of the house) supping on my coffee. If I’m honest, I had been feeling pretty hardy and brave as a result of my solo treks to Omalo but in front of these men I looked every inch and more the cosseted western traveller that I was.
To return to the question at the top of the page though, it wasn’t them who made such an impact on me: it was the kids who rolled out of the houses and down the various tracks and paths that lined the village towards my homestay. Some of them were as young as 7 or 8 yet they approached the horses with no nerves and no concern. It was their job to tend to the horses, to take them to pastures or to clean them up. It was also their right to take the horses for a ride through the village, and it was a right they took full advantage of.
Some walked the tired steeds down to the fields around the village but some jumped on the horses, often bareback, dug their heels into the horses side and set off. That day the village was alive with the stamp of hooves, the shouts of the kids and gusts of furious equine breathes. I was mesmerised. The kids had been around during my whole stay but barely said hello to me. They were kind, respectful, shy and seemed so very young. Yet here they were, in full control of these massive animals. They would tear past me at incredible speeds, facing forward with delight writ across their eyes. For all I had been made to feel like one of the villagers, the contrast between their world and mine never felt more obvious.
I walked the village with my camera that day, just waiting for a moment to capture some of the incredible scenes. Some shots were taken but I never felt that I really had the moment I could share. The clouds rolled down over the mountain tops and began to descend, rain was on the way and soon I would have to be indoors. It was when I was about to give in and settle for one more coffee and my nice warm slippers that I saw the son of my homestay owner in the distance. He was riding the largest horse and heading straight for me.
He was a quiet kid, too embarrassed to say hello and always, always obedient to his mothers prompts and commands. His skin was still young, unmarked by the life that was to come and untouched by any of the ugly elements life can bring. Those words are true for the small boy who walked the house, not for the man who rode towards me that day.
The horse was kicking against him, rearing and flailing in direction as if furious at its use as a child’s plaything. It looked uncontrollable to me, muscles and bone kinetic in temper in a way that made me stop and stare. The kid (whose name I never knew, he was too shy to tell me) barely registered the tempest that was kicking up beneath him. He was watching me, watching my camera and for the only time in our time together, he looked unconcerned. All the time watching me he pulled that horse under his control, forcing it to submit to him. His eyes were serious but calm, his body clearly working but never straining. Eventually he got the horse to the top of a small hill that marked the village centre and pulled it to a stop. The cloud cloaked mountains rose behind him, the rain began to fall on me but he just sat there, watching me as I pressed the camera 2 or 3 times. It was as if he wanted to show me who he really was: or what I really was.
Back at the homestay I showed the pictures to two Israeli friends who were staying that night. I couldn’t and still can’t find the words to get across what that moment was to me. Maybe it is only because of photography that it affected me so much or possible it was because I was open to the world that week, I don’t know and I don’t really care. I felt as if I was someone new. I felt something like love, or at least a respect free of any conditions for that kid and for the people of this village for all that they did for me and all that they had to do to survive.
Later that evening the kid sat next to me at the dinner table. His Mum asked me to take a picture of him but he flushed red, put his head down and wouldn’t look up until the camera was gone. The mother ruffled his hair and he smiled like a child. I smiled too, sat back on my seat and felt like I was home.
(if you like horses, check out the SadSummerSea photostream. Always a pleasure to view her work)
As Cassiel was exploring the beautiful city of York, she suddenly heard a heartbreaking cry that pierced through the silence. Being the curious soul that she is, she decided to follow the sound to see what was going on. After a few minutes of walking, she found herself in the Ghost Garden of The Ghost Dispensary, where she met a little ghost crying uncontrollably.
The Ghost looked very sad, and Cassiel couldn't help but feel sorry for it. Cassiel asked the Ghost what was wrong, and the little Ghost replied that it was tired of wandering or sitting on a shelf and just wanted a loving home to call its own.
Cassiel listened patiently to the ghost's story and promised to do everything she could to help. With Cassiel's help, the little Ghost named Boo was eventually adopted by a kind-hearted Giant and found a happy and loving home.
Grief is the moment I start crying in the middle of a joy-filled event wishing he was here.
- Author Unknown
Every image captured of those who have gone before us possesses a profound ability to awaken treasured memories that hold special significance in our hearts. During this season, the sight of ox-eye daisies never fails to evoke memories of Kieran. Amidst the pandemic's chaos, these daisies flourished uncontrollably, emerging in every corner of the grassy landscapes we traversed like determined weeds, grasping for light and vitality. Over time, they've transformed into symbols of the tender, affectionate moments we shared nestled among them. While they now offer solace, they also serve as emotional triggers, unlocking not just fond memories but also unleashing torrents of tears. As I cherish the comfort they presently bring, these daisies remain bittersweet reminders of our shared joys and sorrows, encapsulating the depth of our connection amidst life's challenges.
#LongRestTheKing #ForeverMissingYou💕 #MonthlyTribute (20months)🌈🐾
Hiram M Chittenden Locks Carl S. English Botanical Gardens
Saturday’s forecast looked promising I thought. Hail showers, strong winds, a high tide close to sunset and a relatively big swell on the sea were all conspiring to produce one of those epic afternoons when patience and stoicism in the face of the elements might bring rewarding results. And now that December was amongst us, I’d decided it was time to return to the weather watching cliff. At this time of year, so close to the winter solstice as we are, the sun sets within the line of sight of the lonely engine house of Towanroath on the distant bluff beyond St Ives, more than ten miles along the coast. When it’s high tide and the ocean is feeling playful, incoming rollers smash into the cliffs, bringing drifts of sea spray that float across the landscape in front of you. If you can keep your camera steady and your lens free from moisture filled mishaps, then you might just manage to get a shot.
The planning process had been going admirably. I’d located my waterproof trousers where I’d left them several weeks earlier in the front porch. Ok so they were a bit muddy, but they’d do the job. I’d got both down jackets on already, one inside the other (did I need to state that?) and I’d also found my fleece lined boots lurking sulkily in a carrier bag in the back porch. They were filled with newspaper of course, but that’s their general situation when not in use. I really can’t account for their aroma, an acquired taste which is yet to be acquired by anyone at all but they’re warm, exceedingly comfortable and perfect for wading through the puddles that pass for clifftop paths between St Agnes and Chapel Porth in winter - even though they do smell as if the cat’s had an accident in the vicinity. My flask was filled with hot tea, and in a strangely sensible moment I put an apple in the bag instead of raiding the supply of Kit Kats that Ali thinks she’s been hiding in the kitchen. Finally, I found my waterproof backpack cover. I was ready to go.
I arrived to a satisfyingly empty car park, where just two vehicles were huddled next to one another. I can never understand this, especially in high winds. I am forever parking as far away from everyone else as I possibly can, and in a space designed for as many as thirty vehicles, I did so now. Is it just me? Do you pull up so close to the only other car in the universe that you have to hold your stomach in just to get out, or do you shun civilisation and park untidily and exravagantly at the opposite end to everyone else? Maybe it’s just me.
Once the latest blast of icy rain had passed, I went to the boot of my car and pulled on the waterproof trousers, congratulating myself on the knowledge that I’d be cosy no matter what the elements threw in my direction later. I pulled the cover onto the backpack and slipped the flask of tea into the side pocket. Above me the sky looked promising, the sun poking weakly through the brooding clouds. All was well in the world. Or at least it was until I reached for my tripod and remembered it wasn’t in the usual place.
Lee had driven on the last outing to Mevagissey on Thursday. More of that will follow in a later episode, but for the purposes of this story it meant that my tripod had been taken from its permanent residence in the back of my car, and I’d failed to put it back afterwards. In my mind I envisioned it, sitting in the office beside the stairs, where I’d left it after Thursday. I’d known it was at large when I was getting ready earlier, waiting to be forgotten entirely as a result of it not being where it normally lives. I really should prepare a pre-departure checklist like I do when I go on holiday. Moodily I stomped along through the mud, muttering every name under the sun at myself. It’s a good job the breeze was carrying my torrent of Anglo-Saxon vernacular away before any of the handful of hardy souls on the clifftop heard it.
And so for the second Saturday running I was having to manage without my tripod. The first time it had been intentional, although I later regretted the decision, but this time the omission was all of my own making. To add to the difficulties of operating handheld, I’d chosen the usually overlooked budget lens with the huge focal range. I wouldn’t have to change lenses, but at the same time I’m always worried about how it’s going to cope with inclement weather and grainy light. I’m never entirely sure what it’s decided to focus on, and with the side wind causing my right eye to stream as if I’d burst into a bout of uncontrollable tears, I could barely see through the rain spotted viewfinder.
But no matter, my daughter Nicky was on the way and she had a spare tripod. I messaged her in the hopes that she hadn’t set off yet. Indeed she was still at home, wrestling with one elderly seized up tripod and sending pictures of her new L bracket and Swiss Arca plate; the ones I’d recommended to her. “Where’s your base plate?” I replied. “Not sure” came the response. Half an hour later she arrived, draped in a hooded Dry Robe that made her look like a half-drowned Jedi, and wielding a pair of base plate free tripods, neither of which were going to be anything more than additional encumbrances to carry around with during the remaining hour before sunset. She really deserves a better instructor than this. By now my black backpack cover had been ripped away by a savage gust and disappeared; not for the first time in this location, although on the previous occasion I’d retraced my steps the following morning and found it snagged on a patch of gorse. There didn’t seem to be much chance of a tearful reunion this time though. Later on, I would order a bright yellow affair with straps to fix it to the pack and wonder why I’d not done this previously. As least when that one makes a bid for freedom, I’ll be able to wave goodbye to it as it flies off over the roof of St Agnes Beacon towards the other coast.
We stood with our backs to the sea, protecting our kit as another hail filled volley assaulted the coast, and in hope we prepared to turn and capture the sky as soon as it passed. And for the briefest of moments, it happened; the magical light when the soft sun catches the misty vapour that hangs above the sea on days like these and paints the world with gentle washed out yellows and golds. It passed so quickly that I almost missed it, as within seconds the sun dropped below the clouds and blew the highlights to a place beyond the point where beautiful gives way to blinding.
When I got home the first thing I did was to fetch the tripod and place it in the back of the car where it’s supposed to be, before texting Nicky and making sure she’d located that base plate and planted it onto her tripod, or before even refilling the stinky boots with those balls of newspaper and placing them out of sensory range in the back porch. Then I returned the apple to the fruit bowl and helped myself to a Kit Kat – you knew that was coming didn’t you? One of these days we’ll have a more peaceful outing without any cock ups on the planning front. I haven’t written that checklist yet, probably a good thing because I’m liable to forget it in a hurry in any case. The bag is dry again and the Tamron appears to have survived the ordeal. And for a moment we got to witness the transient magical light in the sky that rescued the afternoon from despair. I’d forget my tripod every time to stand and gaze at this.
Millie is terrified of the noise made by jet planes. One of the advantages of the various lockdowns is that there have been fewer aircraft passing overhead. Yesterday, unfortunately, two low flying military jets passed close to the house and Millie was beside herself with worry. She shook uncontrollably, her heart was pounding and she was panting and drooling. We could not comfort her no matter what we tried. Also, she refused to go to her bed and just stood, trembling with a haunted look on her face. It took her ages to get back to normal - the best part of an hour.
If Fiona and I see an approaching plane before Millie hears it we start singing loudly to distract her. It actually works but she looks at us as if we are nuts. We probably are.
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I think all art is about control - the encounter between control and the uncontrollable.
~ Richard Avedon
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● Non-HDR-processed / Non-GND/ND-filtered
● Black Card Technique 黑卡作品
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..............IF YOU WANT TO INVITE ME,
..............PLEASE READ MY PROFILE FIRST!
-20 and -29 with the wind chill to be exact.
The Official Canadian Temperature Conversion Chart
50° Fahrenheit (10° C)
-New Yorkers try to turn on the heat.
-Canadians plant gardens.
40° Fahrenheit (4.4° C)
-Californians shiver uncontrollably.
-Canadians Sunbathe.
35° Fahrenheit (1.6° C)
-Italian Cars won't start
-Canadians drive with the windows down
32° Fahrenheit (0 ° C)
-Distilled water freezes
-Canadian water get thicker.
0° Fahrenheit (-17.9° C)
-New York City landlords finally turn on the heat.
-Canadians have the last cookout of the season.
-40° Fahrenheit (-40° C)
Hollywood disintegrates.
Canadians rent some videos.
-60° Fahrenheit (-51° C)
Mt. St. Helens freezes.
Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.
-100° Fahrenheit (-73° C)
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Canadians pull down their ear flaps.
-173° Fahrenheit (-114° C)
Ethyl alcohol Freezes.
Canadians get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg.
-460° Fahrenheit (-273° C)
Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops.
Canadians start saying "cold, eh?"
-500° Fahrenheit (-295° C)
Hell freezes over.
The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup.
'Boggart...' - on the Pendle Sculpture Trail, Aitken Wood, Barley, Lancashire UK
"Boggart is one of numerous related terms used in English folklore for either a household spirit or a malevolent spirit inhabiting fields, marshes or other topographical features. In Northern England, at least, there was the belief that the boggart should never be named, for when the boggart was given a name, it would not be reasoned with nor persuaded, but would become uncontrollable and destructive. Within the folklore of North-West England, boggarts can cause mischief in homes but tend to live outdoors, in marshland, holes in the ground, under bridges and on dangerous sharp bends on roads."
©SWJuk (2021)
All rights reserved
Doll Name: Letzen Hayden.
Age: Unspecified.
Mold: Switch Soseo / Dollfactory Senior Ari Boy body.
Size: SD17
Colour: Normal Skin.
Make up: Done by me.
Date/Year of Production: 2011
Biography/personality: Seemingly quiet and withdrawn, hides a pretty aggravated bipolar disorder. Impulsive, rebellious and uncontrollable, this beast claims for a tamer. However, he is able to draw his softer side if the situation warrants.
Letzen comes from a traditional family of doctors, surgeon and hematologist titled, currently working on a institute like GP. His birth was planned along with his brothers to form a group of highly efficient professional soldiers, intended to save from extinction the small town of Entireegh, who remained at war at that time. Is the second of four children, so is not entitled to inherit any family wealth. He is 1'85 tall and his favorite food consists mostly on bittersweet flavours. Despite having a difficult personality, is very sensitive to certain types of issues which can easily break him.
Currently MARRIED (yes ladies and gentlemen, married) with Mattier (doll owner Hisomu-Cinamon Garden). With whom he lives in his native land.
---------------------------------
Some things about Letzen ;) ♥♥♥ file for my local BJD group ♥.
Im bored so I decided to make a short cover of Mirotics rap part =))) and this is what im trying to do =))
From the back cover:
"When Mitch Walker sought sanctuary from his relentless pursuer within the boundaries of an immensely huge Kansas farm, he found himself caught between the two forces who were tearing that private empire to pieces between them: its master, a man of pride and murderous jealousy, and its mistress, a woman of uncontrollable desire and burning ambition."
Some moments are so extraordinary that it does not take too long to realize their uniqueness. Yet, the more unique this particular moment, the stronger I want to hold on to it. I fear its quick loss because I see its beauty constantly endangered by transience.
I already know I will miss it and therefore, my mind revolves around making it infinite. And so, I make a big effort not to let it go. But while I am busy trying to control the uncontrollable, I almost forget to appreciate its uniqueness.
And then, I realize that I cannot know for how long I can fully enjoy what I find so remarkable. And since I already know that I will soon miss it, I decide to accept the uncontrollable’s route. With this freedom, I can completely absorb the essence of this moment and imprint it on my memory for eternity.
So, I text my buddy Jave a.k.a. JavePhoto yesterday night to ask him if he is working today (Tuesday). I hear nothing back from him that night. But first thing in the morning I get a call, "Dude, I didn't feel like working today and you just gave me my excuse not to go in. When & where do you want to shoot?" I tell him that since there is no clouds, we can either do a star trail shot at shark fin cove or try to shoot the Bay Bridge at twilight just as the lights are coming on in the city and on the Bridge. I told him that I saw a picture that Patrick had posted on flickr that finally motivated me to get out there and shoot this Bridge. Well, Jave has shot the Bay Bridge before but never from this low angle. So he says, if there was a warning about danger, we're there.
So, we meet up at my office and Jave picks me up in his swanky BMW. This is living. Heated seats, power everything, leg room galore. I mean, I swear there was someone rubbing my shoulders as I sat in the passenger seat, but when I turned and looked in the back seat, there was no one. Spooky :-)
But anyhow, we left my office at 1:30pm to leave plenty of time to scope out the new shooting spot. But 880 is hell in a new dimension, this time of the year. I swear it was like stop and go the whole way. Including getting through the tole on the bridge. So, we finally exit the off ramp to Treasure Island not really knowing what we are looking for except for we should be facing San Francisco and the Bridge should be on the right of us. Well, lets just say we got shooed away by a guard at a gate on the wrong side of the Bridge, because we thought maybe we could drive around to the other side? WRONG! Well, after a few more runs around the island and a bunch of illegal U-turns. We just stop in the middle of a sort of driveway, put the hazards on, and walked around to try to figure out where to shoot. As we are walking towards what we are sure is the path down to this spot. A car drives by and screeches to a stop about 100 feet in front of us on the opposite side of the road. And a young girl jumps out and the car speeds off. Jave is like,"what the hell is going on here" because this girl is holding her crouch and jumping around doing some type of rain dance and staring at us, staring at her. Jave is like, "Dude this chick is wak!" I'm like, whatever, we're loosing friggin light here. But, she keeps jumping around and now she's coming towards us on our side of the road. And Jave says, this _itch better step off. And then she'll says "I'm sorry, I'm sorry and pulls here pants down and starts peeing right in front of us bare but and all.
Now, I've had my share of police run ins and security guards yelling at me for shooting pictures. But this took the cake. I was speechless, but I was on a mission to get a shot so Jave was like lets get back to the car. And as we get to the car there is that same car that speed off a few minutes ago parked next to us in this driveway area on the side of the off ramp. The girl was waiting for her peeing friend. We get in the car as the peeing girl comes running up the road and jumps into the car next to us. Then they make the same U-Turn as us and head down to the base where we decided to park the car and walk back up. As we are driving down to park, Jave says to me, this is gonna be a long walk back up, I don't think we'll make it in time. I'm gonna ask those two girls to drop us back off at the top. And when we park, he does and to my astonishment they said, "Sure why not." WHY NOT??? BECAUSE YOU JUST PEED IN FRONT OF US THAT'S WHY NOT. But neither Jave nor the girls seemed to have a problem with our recent encounter. So, we grab our gear and jump into their car. And BOOM it hits me. The sweet, sweet smell of POT. Jave Blurts out, so you guys are having a little party here I see, which was followed by the girls laughing uncontrollable until they dropped us off, back up on the hill. Again, I am at a loss for words.
So, we finally make it down to this spot and scout around very quickly because we don't want to miss the magical light. Jave busts out his iPhone and shows me the pic that Patrick took recently from here and says we gotta get lower and closer to the edge. I'm thinking, We don't gotta do NO SUCH THING. But our greed for a great shot overwelms us and we do just that. Now we are, may I say, sitting on soft sandy soil on the edge of a big cliff. I'm not happy and Jave is strattling the side of the cliff like a commando. We start arnchoring our tripods by stabbing them into the hillside, which is pretty soft, when we hear rustling from the bushes. even lower then us and farther left. It scares the shit out of Jave and me. But we have to look over the edge and we see this dude that's like 70 years old climbing the side of this cliff coming towards us. And Jave says to me, WTF??? I again am speechless! Then when this guy climbs his way over to us, he says, how did you guys get here? That way was a bit tricky. That, my friends, has got to be the understatement of the year.
So, after this guy settles in, we all take our shots. And there are some nice shots to be had this evening. I love light :-) After shooting for about an hour, the old guy asks us how are we getting out of here. I quickly reply,"not the way you came in" and start laughing. He says that if we show him an easier way to the road he would call his friend to pick us up and take us to our car. SCORE #2. It was the best way to end the evening of shooting. Once we got back to the car, Jave was like "computer engage seat heaters" OK, I may have just made that up. But the rest of this crazy day is all true. It took us a total of 9 hours since we left San Jose to get our shots. But I think, for today, it was worth it. I hope you all enjoy the photo. If you did not check out Jave's photos above, Here is his shot from this location :-)
Enjoy :-)
For the Techies :-)
Canon 5D Mark II
Exposure: 4sec
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 46 mm
ISO Speed: 50 (to get as even an exposure as possible)
Lens: Canon EF24-70mm f2.8L
Tripod Gitzo G 026
Head Gitzo G1178M
Filters: Standard B+W UV that never leave my lens
This is so bad in comparison with what I normally take in my opinion but depression's been absolutely awful this past week. Which shouldn't be an excuse but honestly 1/2 this week I just wanted to lie in bed and do nothing, and that was the case in some situations. Crying uncontrollably, and being really suicidal (the most I've been in literally three and a half years) but I'm trying to push through and make it. What little inspiration I've had has been crushed by depression but I actually have a kinda idea in my head so that's cool.
This sort of reminds me of some of my past photos, the colors and tones, and I've been really nostalgic about the past two summers and old friends, today was beautiful but I couldn't really get out of bed, although I dragged myself out to take this and some others that weren't that good.
Sorry for this pathetic description too!!! I'm tryin to be positive but it's just hard sometimes.