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Sample image taken with a Sony Alpha A7r Mark III. If you find my reviews and samples useful, please treat me to a coffee at www.paypal.me/cameralabs
These samples and comparisons are part of my Sony Alpha A7r Mark III review at:
www.cameralabs.com/sony-alpha-a7r-mark-iii-review/
Feel free to download the original image for evaluation on your own computer or printer, but please don't use it on another website or publication without permission from www.cameralabs.com/
The exuvia shed during ecdysis of an adult female specimen of the tarantula species Lasiodora cf. klugi
Maybe useful for composites/licensing. 100% white background.
Aloe Vera plant is most useful spiny plant also it is the best herbal medicine since the beginning of the first century. It is a member of the lily and onion family. Aloe Vera plants are commonly found in the African regions or in some part of india.
The very short, but useful route 379, which runs from Chingford Station to Yardley Lane estate and back with a total round trip time of around 20 minutes needs just two buses to run at a frequency of every 15 minutes.
Go-Ahead took over the contract from 11th March 2017, temporarily using Alexander Dennis Dart/East Lancs Mylennium (with Esteem front) until Wright StreetLites replace them in the summer, and 230 is seen here at Chingford Station.
Antony Gormley's "Alert" proves itself to be a useful shelf for lager and sandwiches. If only all art were so handy
So what did I learn today?
Well, something quite useful actually. That it's possible to eat cold pasta with two pencils.
I started the day a little bit pickled from the night before, shcatter-brained and dishorganished.
Dave - he who do the MA about Decay - was accompanying me again and I hadn't made my mind up where we should go. For once I knew what I wanted to create and I would rope Dave into help but I couldn't decide where. We would need stone and the first option has some great stone but sadly I'm banned from doing anything there, the next two are next to rivers but the very heavy rain of yesterday would probably mean they would be too high to gather enough material.
So just as Dave arrived I checked the tide and it would be at its height in an hour and half.
We arrived on the coast and the tide was still high but fortunately I had left my camera behind so a return journey home and back to the bay would mean our second arrival to the bay would be timed with it just starting to recede. Perfect.
Along with that the sun was shining and the sky was blue, not what we were expecting and not what the weatherman said. Even better.
I've been putting together another proposal for a commission and the ideas I am pursuing are to do with the fragility of our existence and the possibility that we have reached a tipping point where our actions (or perhaps lack of the right ones) may end up in our own demise. 2010 so far has had the highest global temperatures on record and whether or not you believe that this is man-made or a natural fluctuation of earth temperatures, in my opinion is missing the point.
Human beings have spread far and wide and taken all that they can from the earth in order to feed our addiction to needing stuff and to be able to increase our ability to survive, to protect ourselves from our environment, to keep our families safe and well. But as we've persued these needs with have funnelled ourselves into a trap where our collective future is now uncertain. We talk about saving the planet but that is rot. If we truly wanted to save the planet then it'd be better off if we all disappeared. No, what we really mean when we say we want to save the planet is we want to save our own skins.
In order to represent this I am going to create a series of shelters containing rock balances, seal them up so that the fate of each delicate sculpture is unknown unless you look within. Just as our lust to better ourselves, to protect ourselves from the world and to have a better chance of survival has ripped all the finite resources from our planet and delivered us to a place where this quest has left us with an uncertain future. Will we be able to shelter from what our earth will throw at us now if our climate tips out of control? Will our delicate existence continue or will it collapse like a stack of pebbles and rocks?
There is much more to this project but I don't want to reveal it all now.
Anyway back to the important business of the day:-
My camera wasn't the only item I'd forgotten. When I sat down to eat some lunch I realised I didn't have a fork. I thought that I might be able to whittle one out of driftwood but that might need more calories than the pasta might contain. I looked through my bag and found a pair of scissors and some thorns. Nope, that wasn't going to do it. How about I just stick my face in the food and eat it like a pig? I probably would have done if I'd been on my own. I know, why not use two pencils as chopsticks? They were actually easier to use than normal chopsticks. So if in doubt make sure you always have two pencils with you. Or else you might go hungry.
Dave built the left wall and I built the right hand one. We found some driftwood for the roof and it was now ready for the sculpture to be built within. I tried several times to get the first few layers up but I couldn't sense where the centre of gravity was without being able to stand above it and all I ended up with was backache and a feeling of frustration.
We took down the roof and I begun again. This time, still with effort and much searching for the right stones, I got it to stand. Gingerly we replaced the roof, being careful not to drop anything into the chamber and stood back to review what we had done. Originally I'd wanted to extend the sides and brick up the entrance but I thought it was fine just as it is.
I wonder how long it will last?
- all useful and necessary skills in Colonial times...
186/365
A bit of living history presented in the courtyard of the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History by members of The Southeastern Civilian Living Historians.
This is a non-profit organization dedicated to research, education, and accurate portrayal of civilians in all eras from the 17th, 18th, 19th, and early to mid 20th century through workshops & living history events.
Info here: www.facebook.com/southeasterncivilian/
I caught my cat laying on this doughnut felt dog toy. Luckily camera was close by. =-
Snickers Explored #465
A male alate or the winged reproductive form of the normally wingless ant group. The species is currently unknown, but we have it sent off to someone for identification. The back story is that this tiny (that is the smallest acupuncture needle you can get in the background) ant had emerged by the thousands from a dead tree and was being fed on by a flock of cedar waxwings. To complete the story we want to know about the ant's name. From St. Michael's, Maryland. Collected by the life long naturalist Jan Reese.
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All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.
Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200
Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all
Ye know on earth and all ye need to know
" Ode on a Grecian Urn"
John Keats
You can also follow us on Instagram - account = USGSBIML Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:
Art Photo Book: Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World
www.qbookshop.com/products/216627/9780760347386/Bees.html...
Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY
USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4
PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf
Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU
Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov
301 497 5840
Buzzard,
Order,- Accipitriformes, Family,- Accipitrdae, Species,- Butea buteo,
One of the most common and widespread British bieds of prey, the Buzzard is therefore a useful yardstick by which to judge other, rarer birds, It is, however, well worth watching in its own right, too, being an impressive and exciting raptor, It is very variable, albeit around a relatively constant basic pattern, It soars in wavering, rising circles over nesting woods and perches on telegraph poles and fence posts, In some areas, such as the wooded valleys of Wales, It may be the most common bird of prey,
Occurrence, Widespread except in far N Furope ( summer visitor in NE Europe ), in woodland farmland, hills, and moors near crags and forest. Many move to Low Countries and France in winter, occupying low, flat ground with scattered woodland,
Voice,- Noisy, frequent ringnig pee-yaah scteam or weaker mew, calls often while flying,
Nesting,- Stick nest in tree, or at base of bush on cliff ledge, 2 - 4 eggs, 1 brood, March - June,
Feeding,- Catches small mammals, rabbits, beetles, earthworms, and some birds, eats much dead meat, including road-kill rabbits,
Length,- 50 - 57 cm ( 20 - 22.5 in ),
Wingspan,- 1,13 - 1,28 m ( 3.75 - 4.25 ft ),
Weight,- 550 - 1,200g ( 20 - 43 oz ),
Lifespan,- Up to 25 years,
Social,- Family groups,
Status,- Secure,
Jackdaw, ( Corvus monedula ),
The Jackdaw is found in open woodland with mature trees which offer suitable nest-sites, areas of scattered trees in farmland or open country, sea and inland cliffs, quarries, ruins and old buildings, and in towns and cities. The varied diet includes many insect larvae, spiders, earthworms, seed, nuts, grain, all manner of discarded human refuse, carrion, etc,
Much of the food is obtained on the ground, often in grassy fields, farmland refuse dumps. It will also take food from trees and larger bushes, It is a sociable bird, usually seen in groups or large flocks, It often nests colonially in groups of 1 - 2 pairs to quite large numbers It will associate with other corvids such as Crows and Rooks as well as Starlings.
The nest-site is in a hole in a tree or hollow tree, holes and cracks in rock faces, ruins or large buildings and sonetimes in the chimneys of occupied houses, The nest is a base of twigs which may be substantial at times, with accumulated debbris forming a massive pile, blocking chimneys or filling holes in trees, At other times it is reduced to a few twigs. It is lined with wool, hair or otjer debris. Incubation is by the female alone, with both parents feeding the young.
The Jackdaw is mainly resident and sedentary, though birds from eastern and northern Europe move south and westwards in winter. Outside the breeding colonies when food is scarce, The species has expanded its range northwads into Fenno-Scandia in the present century..
I just discovered a perk of having a daughter working at the local public pool -- she lets me in before the pool is open and I can take photos. I really had fun this morning. (Perhaps next time I'll have a more useful lens on my camera...) Fun this way too.
MOC: Modern version of the classic Lego set #6624. I figured it could do with a thorough update to fit better with more modern City vehicles. First created in MLCad, then built with real bricks.
Altitude 2000+ special
It's all a question of perspective: The shot above is Andorra's Pic de Casamanya's Segudet slope, with Pic d'Estanyo at background. Both seem to be direct neighbours, but in fact their distance is 4 km. Camera position distance is 12 km.
So "perspective" is the main keyword of what we're doing, optical perspectives and others...
...
How we work
"Altitude 2000+" is an image collection of Andorra's mountain regions beyond the tree line (timberline), short distance or macro distance images of this ecologic precious zone, presenting rare mediterranean-alpine plants of the Pyrenees getting smaller and smaller with getting rarer and rarer.
Most shots are done at another time at often another lighting mood. Bringing it together over the years an orga conception is quite useful. To get plausible results for a story idea someting like a "film-style storybook" it's a must for scene continuity together with an esthetic framing (cadrage). Means: for trustable results we should have enough good scenes in stock that might match.
That's the way we work. Here in Andorra since 2005.
Well, we still are talking about "still photography", not about "video". Nevertheless our workflow offers quality headroom for movie quality, using the scene quality of just 1 perfect lighted and edited high-res still photo.
An example: A virtual flight through Andorra, based maybe on just 1 HiRes photography shot. Medium Format photography is recommended in this case. This kind of production via a selected high resolution still-photo gets interactive at a website or via mobil-phone app.
Medium format has the headroom for it. A zoom-in for details seem to be endless compared to amateur formats, and your video can be updated anytime as all images are based on dng format, a "quasi root format".
Tech-Talk: Size of Medium Format is about 2-times (or more) bigger than FullFrame (36/24) and 4-times bigger than HalfFrame as APS-C. And this is by far not the end. Best resolution at this level finally is defined by optical components before reaching the xxx-megapixel-sensor. Lenses in this category cost often more than the camera. Professionals need a lot of it, as each lens should be "prime", means no-zoom.
Does it bring something? Well, photography is similar to an audio production (where I basicly come from as soundengineer & recordingproducer). Overall quality is determined with both by the weakest link in the chain. And: Sins with both happen often (always...) at the begin of the recording chain, whether accoustics or optics, whether microphone or the lens. Or the singer :). Or impatience of the photographer.
Another aspect of our capacity is a metadata-controlled base to get best and "everlasting" results. Today, next months, the coming years - not a big problem yet. Yet! Or not? Proven standards of the internet exist since min 20 years, IPTC rules even much longer.
Operation of our "GEO-photography" system.
GEO photography in our own definition is a local/regional related interactive network of GEO images, based on our philosophy of "functional photography" (always need millions of additional dates). Explaining: We store the relation of a normal GPS location (camera position), but related to possible targets seen on this image, supplemented, if available, with editoral researches.
GEO photography is a mixture of automated records of all camera-movements, distance measurements plus a database interface including editorial edits as names, synonyms and story text to describe a target more exact and consistent. This 1 image is also related to all the others done over the past.
Result: 1 image is (in our case) related to all matching motives from the last 15 years, sometimes even longer. For Andorra this are 100.000+ images! Please note: To see the full functionality on a webpage or an app it needs individual server-side programming.
Another hot feature is an interactive use within a smartphone-app via GPS-sync. Means: A smartphone (with localisation function) shows stored selected images inclusive redactional text content in a continous flow while hiking Andorra. Fully automated. For example based on our new "Camis & Rutes" collection.
.....
That's it here!
Full features are available with full licensed images. Here at Flickr we present just "footage" in low resolution - not "ready to use" films or videos. Same with any additional information via metadata or editorial. If interested please ask your IT/Media partner and remember the old marketing rule: "Instead of 1001 words - just let pictures speak!"
....
About the image above:
* Half frame format 3x2 image
* Usage: Large format prints optional
* Motive is suitable as symbol pic
* "Andorra authentic" edition (10 years decade 2008-2018)
* "Andorra camis & rutes" active collection
* 2000+ collection „beyond the treeline“
A how-to about "Altitude 2000+ collection" and the way we work please read here:
www.flickr.com/photos/lutzmeyer/30762542358/
We offer 100.000+ photos of Andorra and North of Spain. HighRes & HighColor GeoCoded stock-photo images including metadata in 4-5 languages. Prepared for an easy systematic organising of large image portfolios with advanced online / print-publishing as "Culture-GIS" (Geographic Info System). The big stockphoto collection from the Pyrenees.
More information about usage, tips, how-to, conditions: www.flickr.com/people/lutzmeyer/. Get quality, data consistency, stable organisation and PR environments: Professional stockphotos for exciting stories - docu, tales, mystic.
Ask for licence! lutz(at)lutz-meyer.com
(c) Lutz Meyer, all rights reserved. Do not use this photo without license.
I'm taking the liberty of re-posting these, since they seem to have disappeared from the source where I found them (the FBTB account.) I believe these were originally from an online retailer's website, which has since also removed the images. However, Lego has given the official All Clear to post these images about.
Bourbon Street crowds in New Orleans.
Some geography of New Orleans. The location and geography of New Orleans is unique in America. Most of the city is well below sea level, except for the French Quarter which was built on a natural levee of the river in the 1700s. As the city has expanded special levees, pumps and flood gates have been erected around the city. When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005 the storm itself did damage to New Orleans but the major devastation came from the levees failing and water flooding at least 80% of the city area. It is useful to remember that 50% of New Orleans city is water and not land! Its location on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, near the delta bayous and swamps was the raison d’être for the city. It was to control all navigation and commercial activity on the river and to provide a safe harbour as close as possible to the Gulf of Mexico. Because of its strategic location it has always been the prize for invaders during wars. The city has a tropical climate and the regions north of the city along the banks of the Mississippi were and are major sugar plantation areas, not cotton plantation areas. You have to travel upstate in Louisiana to find the cotton growing areas. This tropical climate along one of the world’s major water courses meant until recently that the area was plagued with Yellow Fever, malaria and other deadly illnesses. To the north and east of the city is Lake Pontchartrain, a huge body of water; in fact the city is bordered by water on three sides. By road the mouth of the Mississippi is over 100 miles away but this is because the river follows a circuitous route to the mouth of its delta. The city metropolitan area has a population of 1.1 million, exactly the same as the population of Adelaide. Although the population fell after Hurricane Katrina the population is now 90% of what is was before the hurricane. There is little evidence of flood damage in the areas that we will see as tourists. The French Quarter was not flooded because the founding French settlers sensibly chose a high site for their city.
Some early history of New Orleans. The city was founded in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company, a major trader in furs bought from the Indians up river. They got the local Indians, the Chitimacha to cede land to them. The Company named the city after the Duke of Orleans who was the Regent of France at that time. After the French Wars between the Indians, British, French and Spanish in America from 1756-63 the French ceded New Orleans to the Spanish. The Spanish held New Orleans from 1763 to 1801 when Napoleon defeated the Spanish and New Orleans and its territories to the west were returned to France. As Napoleon needed more funds to continue his Napoleonic Wars with Britain and others he soon (in 1803) sold New Orleans and all territories west of the Mississippi to President Jefferson for the small sum of $15 million. West Florida, New Orleans and the west comprised over 800,000 square miles! The Louisiana Purchase covered - Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nth & Sth Dakota, Oklahoma & parts of Texas and Wyoming.
When the French settled New Orleans they built a trading port city of wooden buildings on the high ground along the banks of the Mississippi. The streets were named after the royal houses of France and Catholic saints, hence Bourbon Street after the Dukes of Bourbon, not the whisky. Local pine was the timber used for building the houses, often on brick pylons to raise the houses above any possible flood threat. The compact town was destroyed by two major fires during the Spanish ownership of Louisiana in 1788 and again in 1794. The city was rebuilt in brick, with wrought iron balconies in the Spanish style usually with central courtyards. So most of what we see today in the French Quarter or Vieux Carré is actually of Spanish design and from the era of Spanish building in the late 1790s. So the French Quarter is really the Spanish Quarter and the Spanish buildings include the three major public buildings of this era- the Cathedral of St. Louis, and the adjoining Cabildo and Presbytere. The first St. Louis Cathedral was built in 1781; the second in 1725; and the third in 1789. That third structure in Spanish style was almost totally rebuilt in 1850 in the style of the previous cathedral.
The Strategic Importance of New Orleans. Not long after the Americans bought New Orleans a major war broke out between England and her former American colonies. War raged from 1812-14 when the British, amongst other achievements, sailed up the Potomac River in Washington and burnt down the White House and attacked the national capital. As the port that controlled the Mississippi and the river system that went up to the British colonies in Canada the British wanted to retake New Orleans. A young American officer, Andrew Jackson (later President Andrew Jackson) led the American forces in a battle with the British. The battle of New Orleans (remember the hit song about it in 1959?) took place in January 1815. It was the final battle of the War of 1812 and despite bad odds Andrew Jackson and the Americans prevailed and won the battle. Hence the main square in New Orleans is Jackson Square with a fine statue of the later President on horseback is in the centre of the square. And again during the Civil War both the Confederates and Unionists wanted to control New Orleans. During the Antebellum period New Orleans had been a major port for the slave trade and the major slave auction centre of the American South. Louisiana declared their secession from the Union in January 1861 and the Confederates bolstered their occupation of the area. It was the link to the South’s cotton plantations up the Mississippi River Valley and its link across the Mississippi to the wealthy states of Texas, Arkansas and some secessionist counties of Missouri. The first shots were fired at Fort Sumter in April 1861. New Orleans was blockaded by the North in May 1861 showing what an important prize the city was to the Union. After two short battles in April 1862 the Union forces occupied New Orleans and split the Confederacy into two parts as it then controlled the Mississippi River too.
The Creole Culture of New Orleans. Creole culture in Louisiana is still strong. Creoles are primarily the people descended from the early French and Spanish settlers mixed with later German immigrants and African slaves. Creoles were originally white Europeans but the term later included mixed race people. When the Haitian Revolution led by slaves erupted in 1804 many French residents fled from Haiti to New Orleans with their African slaves. They reinforced the French culture of New Orleans and established their three tiered society of white Creoles, mixed race Creoles and black slaves. The mixed race Creoles were mainly fee black people and added to the free black population of New Orleans. French speakers dominated in New Orleans until 1830. But as late as 1900, 25% of residents spoke French and 75% could understand it. (250,000 Louisianans still speak French at home today.) Half the schools in New Orleans taught in French until the Civil War. In 1862 the Union occupier of the city General Butler abolished French instruction and enforced English teaching. The War made New Orleans an American city. But the Creoles did not disappear. They continued to dominate society for some time. The Creole planters along the Mississippi lived on their plantations during the hot malaria filled summers but moved to their French Quarter town houses for the cool winters. (It was the reverse in Charleston where the planters lived in Charleston in the hot summers and spent winters on their plantations.) The New Orleans winter was the time for balls and parties and the celebrations around Lent and the Mardi Gras activities, which still persist as a reminder of the French heritage of the city. The white French Creoles also often took black slave women as mistresses but unlike the white Americans they tended to give freedom to the children born from these unions. Thus New Orleans ended up with the largest number of free blacks of any Southern city in the Antebellum days. Mixed race Creoles had their own society balls and functions. Many had property and were quite wealthy in their own rights because of grants from their white Creole fathers. But their access to political and legal rights disappeared during the Jim Crow era as white Americans applied their white-black caste system on all parts of America including Louisiana. Free persons of colour were discriminated against by the Jim Crow regulations and segregation in New Orleans too. Change came with of the Civil Rights era.
It is difficult to envisage a scenario whereby the troublesome Class 17s would have survived into the shadow-privatisation era. Some form of rebuilding would have been necessary, most probably involving the fitting of more reliable power units. One option would have been to convert to dual mode, with a single higher-powered diesel engine plus the batteries and ancillary equipment needed to enable battery operation. Such hybrid locomotives would have been useful for infrastructure work, particularly in tunnels. This fictional example in BR General grey livery has been re-numbered into the departmental 97 xxx series (20-Feb-21).
All rights reserved. Not to be posted on Facebook or anywhere else without my prior written permission. Please follow the link below for additional information about my Flickr images:
www.flickr.com/photos/northernblue109/6046035749/in/set-7...
First try at folding it with appropriately themed paper. Rolls incredibly well. Going to experiment with methods to add weight to the bottom of the tower to stop movement from dropping fistfuls of dice through.
Aviation Memories
Continuing Year 2020 with a dip into the written archives :)
Another page from one of my school note books - what a useful way of utilising what we called our 'Rough Books' - I was an early adopter of Recycling :)
I had just turned 14 years of age, and I was looking to expand my portfolio of hobbies! I had already been indoctrinated into the world of bus spotting and train spotting by my older brother, but he never had an interest in aviation. It was my school mates at senior school who encouraged me to visit Heathrow - a mere 4 miles from where I lived in Southall! I was quickly hooked, and the interest never really went away, although it waned by the early 1990s when all the best aircraft had disappeared :(
Some comments on the sightings
Sat 10th Dec 1977 - A visit to Heathrow
One of many Saturdays that I spent at London Heathrow as a teenager - such variety we had in the 1970s!
Star player - 5-8541 Imperial Iranian Air Force Lockheed C-130H Hercules :)
A pair of Aeroflot Tu-154s was unusual CCCP-85088 was a regular, CCCP-85182 was a rarer machine
OH-LSD Finnair Caravelle was also a visitor, operating a Kar Air charter flight (KR3657)
Malev brought in one of their superb looking Ilyushin Il-18s HA-MOE instead of the usual Tupolev
Looking at the rest, it's possible that we had some Gatwick diversions (hence the pair of Aeroflots) as we had G-BFBZ Laker / Caribbean Boeing 707 and G-APYD Dan Air Comet (a real rarity for Heathrow :)
On top of that lot, we had a load of nice light & biz:
EC-CTV (TM.11-4) Mystere 20 Spanish AF
OH-PNT Pa-31 Cheyenne
+ HB-VEX, D-IANY,
Finally, we had some RAF Wessex helicopters visiting:
XV723 AQ, XT670 AU as well as BA and BB.
You can see a random selection of my aviation memories here: www.flickriver.com/photos/heathrowjunkie/random/
'Aircraft spotting or plane spotting is a hobby of tracking the movement of aircraft, which is often accomplished by photography. Besides monitoring aircraft, aircraft spotting enthusiasts (who are usually called plane spotters) also record information regarding airports, air traffic control communications and airline routes.'
See more here! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_spotting
The northern shoveler is a beautiful bird with a utilatarian beak for digging up a meal from the bottom of the swamp.
Someone thoughtfully added some flowers where there had previously been only overgrown grass and weeds. So you see, graffiti can be useful after all...
thequiltingdee.blogspot.com/2011/10/swoon-and-useful-bask...
Four "useful" baskets made entirely of scraps and donated denim. They're part of my fund raising efforts for our homeschool co-op's Senior Scholarship.
Taken 07/08/15; Donegal Castle on a bright sunny day. I've cut and pasted my notes from two years ago below;
A useful laminated descriptive card is handed to you as you enter Donegal Castle, but you hand it in on the way out. Therefore these notes rely on a combination of my failling memory and my sketchy knowledge of Irish history, with some help from the net.
As a starting point, this is probbaly not the first fortification or castle built on this site, the protection afforded by the River Eske making it an obvious location for both the local population and invaders, including the Vikings. The keep on the right of the picture dates from the 15th Century, being built by the elder Sir Hugh O’Donnell. Broadly the O'Donnell Clan were the Chieftans of Donegal. To put this in context, although since the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1171 English Kings had been Lords of Ireland, they exercised little power or influence outwith the Dublin Pale. So at the time of the castle's construction through to the end of the 16th Century, the O'Donells held power in Donegal, or to be accurate the area then known as Tyrconnel
English attempts to extend their infuence beyond the Dublin Pale led to the Nine Years' War of 1594-1603, in which the O'Donnells along with the Ulster O'Neils were the main Irish participants. With the Spanish never arriving to support their fellow Catholics, the English prevailed at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601. Although in 1603 the pragamatic James 1 granted pardons, subject to conditions, to the O'Donnells and the O'Neils effectively this was the end of the Gaelic order and Brehon Laws in Ireland, Dimished in status (and I am precising hugely here and merging successive O'Donnells into one) the Earl of Tyrconnell set fire to Donegal Castle and joined the Flight of the Earls in 1607 to mainland Europe, which directly led to Tyrconnell and Ulster being colonised in the Plantation of Ulster (and bear in mind here that the term Ulster has not always been used to denote the 'six counties' that make up the current Northern Ireland).
In the Plantation era the Castle was rebuilt in the Jacobean style by Sir Basil Brooke and the 'manor house' wing that appears on the left of the picture was built. The Brooke family owned the castle for many generations until it fell into a ruinous state in the 18th century. In 1898 the then owner, the Earl of Arran, donated the castle to the Office of Public Works. When I first saw the Castle in circa 1985, it was in poor repair and, I think, roofless. However, in recent years the castle has been renovated; the keep has had new roofing and flooring added, in keeping with the original styles and techniques used in the 15th and 17th centuries. The stonework has been restored and the manor wing has been partially roofed. The oak timbers used came from the Brookeborough Estate in County Fermanagh. The castle is now open to the public.
Hauling a string of 8, matched wooden coaches at a "Day out with Thomas" event in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, the Strasburg Rail Road's live-steam "Thomas" enters the yard with a sold out trainload of happy kids and their parents. The former Brooklyn Eastern District Locomotive #15 has now been in service as the character from the children's book series "Thomas & Friends" for a quarter of a century and he's still very popular with the kiddos. Although just a dockside switcher underneath the baby blue sheet metal, this is one very powerful locomotive, or as the book says: " A very useful engine." I have personally witnessed this engine on many occasions, starting a full loaded, 8-car train from a dead stop on the grade above Cherry Hill, with very little wheel-slip, and stack-talk that you could hear in the next county.
The Flickr Lounge-Kitchen Accessories
I would be lost without one of these in my kitchen, I use it a lot, not just for cheese but it's great to grate other things with it!
Like many AFOLs I've struggled with developing a useful Storage solution to the inventory. What I've finally got is an approach that separates the elements by 'type' (plates, tiles, bricks, vegetation, technic pieces, brackets, panels, etc.) and then by color if there's too many of them to fit in one container. As the inventory increases or decreases then I'll adjust the approach. By keeping them in roughly the same position relative to my worktop then I know where they are without too much looking. The drawers are also removable from their containers so if I know I need a bunch of elements (e.g. shorter 2x plates browns, blacks and grays stored on the top right) then I just remove that drawer and use it.
This is a hardback Wombles annual from 1975. The Wombles were created by Elisabeth Beresford in the late 1960s but became nationally popular during the 1970s thanks to their television show. The Wombles’ habits of recycling rubbish into useful items reflected the growing ecology movement in 1970s Britain.
“Carry On Collecting” is a project set up by the Museum of Hartlepool to collect objects which represent everyday life in the town and beyond, from the 1950s through to the present day. The collection also attempts to represent the diversity of the people of Hartlepool over the past 60 years.