Last spring while visiting the Badlands of south Dakota, there were a number of days I was able to find and photograph days old newborn Bighorn sheep and their ewe mothers. They still had their umbilical cords attached. It was amazing to see how agile and athletic they already were, and even in the few days I was with them, they got even more athletic and capable. Watching the lambs interact with their newborn friends and mothers is something I will never forget.

All images captured with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor 500mm F5.6 pf lens, 1/1600 sec, F8, various ISO's, all handheld and cropped. I was always at an ethical distance away and went unnoticed and never interfered with them in any way. (More to share in the future)

Not able to go out these days, so this little garlic took some steps on the kitchen table to cheer me up... or did I just dream?

Many times I am able to use the closest focusing distance of my lenses to take close-ups. However, when I need high quality close-up and macro images, I use the following equipment:

A. Nikon 28mm f/3.5 lens reverse mounted on Nikon PB-4 Bellows

B. Nikon 105mm f/2.8 macro lens

C. Nikon 55mm f/3.5 macro lens

D. Nikon 105mm f/4 short mount lens

E. Supplemental close-up lens (+10)

F. Supplemental close-up lens (+5)

G. Supplemental close-up lens (+3)

H. Supplemental close-up lens (+2)

I. Supplemental close-up lens (+1)

J. Extension tube for 55mm macro lens

K. Set of Nikon extension rings (5.8mm camera mount plus 5, 10, and 20mm rings)

L. Extension tube for 105mm macro lens

M. Set of extension tubes (14mm camera mount plus 9, 16, and 30mm tubes)

N. Nikon PB-4 bellows

· Reversal Ring—an adapter that fits between the camera body and the lens. It allows the lens to be used in a backwards or reversed position. In other words, in the reversed position, the rear of the lens is facing the subject and the front of the lens is facing the camera. A reversed lens usually has a different closest-focusing distance when compared to the lens used in its normal position. For example, a reversed 28mm lens may be capable of taking photos with a reproduction ratio of 8:1 compared to a reproduction ratio of 1:12 when used in its normal position. A reversed lens can be used alone or in combination with bellows and/or extension tubes. Reversed normal and wide-angle lenses produce better close-up and macro photos than reversed telephoto lenses.

Pro:

a. Great for close-up photography.

b. Great for macrophotography.

c. Low cost.

Con:

a. A reversed lens works only within a limited range of reproduction ratios.

b. Possible loss of camera auto-focus and/or auto-exposure features.

· Macro Lens—designed especially for close-up work. When compared to a regular lens of the same focal length, a macro lens’ focusing mechanism extends the lens farther from the camera body. The optics of the macro lens are designed for maximum resolution at close-focusing distances. For example, the optics of a typical 50mm normal lens is designed to deliver the sharpest images when the subject is between 10 feet and infinity. The optics of a 50mm normal macro lens, on the other hand, is designed to deliver the sharpest images when the subject is between 10 feet and 4 inches.

Pro:

a. Great for close-up photography.

b. Most can focus from infinity to a reproduction ratio of 1:1.

c. Great for macrophotography.

d. Ability to produce high-quality close-up images.

Con:

a. High cost.

b. Some loss of image quality when focused on distant objects.

c. Exposure is affected by a lens extension factor.

· Supplemental Close-Up Lenses—these lenses attach to the front of a lens and optically reduce the closest focusing distance. They are available in strengths from +.025 to +10. The higher number indicates a stronger lens. A set of supplemental lenses typically consists of a +1, +2, and +4 lens. These three lenses may be used individually or in combination with each other.

Pro:

a. Low cost.

b. Good for close-up photography.

c. Exposure is not affected by a lens extension factor.

d. There is no loss of camera auto-focus or auto-exposure features.

e. Able to use on cameras that do not have interchangeable lenses.

Con:

a. Not good for macrophotography.

b. Some loss of image quality.

c. Must use a small aperture in order to compensate for the loss of image quality.

d. The stronger the supplemental lens, the greater the loss of image quality. For example, the quality of an image formed with a +10 lens is of poorer quality compared to the image formed with a +3 lens.

e. Stacking supplemental lenses (such as combining the +1, +2, and +4 lenses) results in a greater loss of image quality.

f. Difficult to select the correct lens strength for the desired image magnification.

g. Difficult to remove tightly attached close-up lens from cameras lens.

· Extension Tubes—these tubes are available in varying lengths. They are inserted between the camera body and the lens to physically increase the distance between the optical center of the lens and the surface of the film or digital image sensor. These tubes may be used individually or in combination with each other. These tubes are also called extension rings.

Pro:

a. Great for close-up photography.

b. Great for macrophotography.

c. Relatively inexpensive when compared to a bellows unit or a macro lens.

Con:

a. Works only on cameras with interchangeable lenses.

b. Each tube can only extend the distance between the optical center of the lens and the surface of the film or the surface of the digital camera’s image sensor by a fixed length.

c. Difficult to select the correct tube length for the desired image magnification.

d. Difficult to quickly change tubes when you need to alter the image magnification.

e. Difficult to remove tightly attached tubes

f. Possible loss of camera auto-focus and/or auto-exposure features.

g. Exposure is affected by a lens extension factor.

· Bellows—these devices insert between the camera body and the lens. They physically increase the distance of the optical center of the lens from the surface of the film or the surface of the digital image sensor. Their main advantage over extension tubes is that they are adjustable in length.

Pro:

a. Great for close-up photography.

b. Great for macrophotography.

c. Provides a wide range of reproduction ratios.

Con:

a. Works only on cameras with interchangeable lenses.

b. Bulky and difficult to use in field work.

c. Bellows material is susceptible to damage.

d. Possible loss of camera auto-focus and/or auto-exposure features.

e. Exposure is affected by lens extension factor

Should be able to figure this one out ? So distinctive!

I guess if you live long enough, You will be able to make a statement like this. At some point in everyone's life, there comes a day when they look in the mirror and realize that their best is probably in the past, at least by society's standards, but when does a person REALLY get to be their best?

The bible says that the day of a man's death is better than the day of his birth. Why is that? When we're born, we're about as perfect as we'll ever be. We have no vices, and few imperfections. We pretty much do just what we're expected to do, which is whine, cry, eat, sleep, and soil our diapers! Not much more can be expected, because we're just not capable of it.

As we age, we begin to transform. We learn a lot, and the expectations of others increase as we do. Perhaps it's no coincidence that at the end of our lives, we tend to become much the way we were in the beginning....helpless, whining, crying, and soiling our Depends! The difference is we've encountered life, and we've had to choose how to live it. Unlike animals, man has the unique ability to decide on a course of action, and be held accountable for it. The last day of a man's life should, then, be better than the first, since he's grown and changed, and hopefully, become better for it.

When I posted a couple of videos as my Christmas gift to everyone, it was with trepidation, since it's been a long time since I sang much. For those of you who don't know me well, I had once entertained the dream that I'd be one of the world's most famous opera singers. From the age of two, I lived for it, and had an odd drive that pushed me toward that goal. No one had to make me practice. I didn't want to do anything else! I sang my first solo when I was 13, and though scared to death, felt a sense of destiny that nothing else gave me. So, when I was 16, I skipped 12th grade, and went into an advanced placement program at Stetson University, as a voice major.

Around that time, another very major event happened. I gave my life to Jesus Christ. Within a year, my likes and dislikes, and my entire concept of destiny was altered. I still wanted to sing, but not to glorify myself. I wanted to glorify God. I left Stetson, which was inevitable, due to finances, as well as the lack of ambition for opera I found myself with, and began a short-lived music ministry with my best friend, and accompanist from college, Karen. When she returned to Michigan where her family lived, I was left feeling lost. I entered the work world, and the hope of a brilliant future faded quickly into the past. Lack of training, lack of direction, and near chronic sinus and bronchial infections due to a very weak immune system began to take their toll. My life, which had once held so much promise, quickly became a disappointment to me and those who'd believed in me.

With no vision for the future, I began a downward spiral. I went from one bad relationship to another, basically shelving my beliefs in order to grab at some temporary happiness wherever I could get it. It only brought me misery. Through the years, I'd start to come back to the Lord, and then I'd lose heart again, and fall flat. At times there was almost no evidence in my life of what God had done in me...at least, none that showed very easily. After a failed marriage, two bit jobs, and trying unsuccessfully to launch a business, life looked bleak. There was that day, the one where you stop and look back at your life and realize that it didn't go as planned, and most of it was over. Somehow, at that lowest point, God met me.

When someone meets you, they often ask, "What do you do?" So much of our identities are wrapped up in our occupations that it's hard to tell where we end and the job begins. For me, that wasn't the case. All I wanted was to sing. though I was paid to sing at weddings or churches sometimes, the careers I found myself doing were far from fun, and far from allowing the creative side of me (which was MOST of me) to function. A turning point in my life came when I couldn't sing well anymore. It was then that I had to realize that I had other abilities and gifts, and that none of them had to do with what anybody thought of ME! Gifts are given. God made me a creative person to show people that the beauty we long for in this world comes from Him. Every sunset, every roar of the sea, and every water lily are reminders of the beauty and detail He has created. The very order and sequence of the world and the universe declares His presence, and those who love beauty and have been given the gift of being able to create it, are here by design, not by chance. That fact, more than anything else, was what restored my hope.

I sing, but not nearly so well anymore. I draw and paint, but not like the great masters of old. I write, but I'm no Dickens or Tolstoy! Yet I am here in this moment of time, and they are not, and that, too, is by a specific plan. The greatest gift I've ever received was when I learned to see that life was more than a sequence of events. Life exists because God wanted every living thing to exist. Beauty exists not just because we love it, but because HE does! Knowing that life is greater than the few years we have on this planet, and that who we have BECOME is more important than what we DO, is the key. Without God, the key is impossible to find. Whether we accept Him or not, He extends that key to us. The key is Jesus.

Was able to eek out a 5th panel! I'll be leaving the bottom open for stand and swooshability. I find the final panel more interesting than the early ones, but there's no time to tear them apart and redo. This week: stand, interior and greebling! Hope to have it done by Sunday...

Left sole of an attractive woman which is hardly able to walk from pain.

When we were able to capture this amazing photo of one of Emma's Puffer fish she was acting as my art director at the time which is why I included her name on this shot. When it comes to fish, Emma really knows her subject. As a photographer, I told her that if you shoot a THOUSAND FRAMES and ONE is a hit, such as this one, then you have had a good shoot, because it makes it all worthwhile. On the night this was taken, we had an EXCEPTIONAL SHOOT !!! Thanks Emma !

Haven't been able to upload in aaggeess and I have so much stuff waiting I want to put up! Hopefully I can get a bit more onto it asap! This spot was an abandoned brewery near a wedding I shot a few weeks ago and was super cool to explore. Sketchy as hell too haha I'm also going to the vivid light show tonight which I'm super keen for, hopefully I can get some rad shots out of that :)

Benedito Calixto

1922

Stained glass

Coffee Exchange, Santos, Brazil

I wasn't able to find an explanation of this panel in English, so I rolled the dice and let Google translate what seems to be a reasonably authoritative text from Portuguese into English.

To my delight, there was very little mangling in the translation. If the language seems stilted, it's likely due to the fact it was written in 1922.

Before proceeding, it's important to point out that the museum at the Coffee Exchange emphasizes these panels' thoroughly Eurocentric perspective on Brazilian history. Silenced here are the voices of the indigenous peoples of Brazil and of the millions of African slaves on whose involuntary servitude the prosperity of Brazil was founded.

Here it is:

=======================================================

Here is how Professor Benedict Calixto describes his historical panel:

This composition is divided into three different motifs or cycles of our History:

In the center: 1º - " The vision of the Anhangüera, the Mother of Gold and the Mothers of Water ".

" The vision of the Anhangüera ":

This first picture represents the " Cycle of gold and emeralds ", in the period from 1560 to 1728.

This was the time of the " bandeirantes " of unprecedented courage, who explored the sertão in search of the fabulous treasures that counted the legends . Men of this temper were the two characters that appear to the right of the picture. They are Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva, nicknamed " Anhangüera ", and his son of the same name and at that time still a young man.

It was these two fearless sertanejos who in 1682 discovered the rich mines of Goiás, in the legendary mountain range of Martírio, also known as hunters of Indians. In a fight with the Gentile Goias, his father lost his right eye, pierced by a sure arrow.

The unbreakable energy of his character and his ferocious aspect gave rise to the natives calling this Bandeirante " the Anhangüera ", which means " The Old Devil ." How appropriate was this nickname show well the above and the following episode, proof of the cunning cunning with which the " Old Devil " acted:

Having observed in the backlands of Goiás that women carried beautiful nuggets of gold in their adornments, and not being able to obtain from the Indians the precise indication of the place where this precious metal was found, the Anhangüera resolved to frighten them in order to obtain the information of that he needed.

He then threatened to set fire to the water of the lakes and rivers, making the Indians see that the whole tribe would perish if they persisted in not telling them the place of the gold mines; and summoning the action to the word, the astute Anhangüera showed them a vessel with brandy, which he set on fire, letting all the alcohol consume itself in the sight of the wild stupefaction.

Thus the Anhangüera of the ingenuous Goians drew the exact indication of the desired mines.

Nearly forty years after this first expedition, having already passed away the old Anhangüera, his son, also known by the same name of Anhangüera, organized another " Flag " and returned to the distant sertões of Goiás, in order to explore the famous mines of the Serra do Martyrdom, discovered by his father.

This expedition, however, deviated from the old script and walked for years roaming the boulders of the hinterland, unable to reach the desired point. The Serra do Martírio, which the poor men watched anxiously every day, as if they were fleeing before the caravan, and never " disenchanted " with the mists and misleading mirages of that inhospitable backwoods of Goias!

Some of the adventurers had already deserted or died of hunger and muck fever, and only a few companions remained faithful to their stubborn and fearless chief.

The Anhangüera had promised to the captain-general of São Paulo - Rodrigo César de Menezes - and to his own wife and children that "he would either return to Sao Paulo with the rich product of the mines of Goiás, or he would die in the hinterland."

The Anhangüera fulfilled his word: he discovered the rich mines again, conquered the immense sertao. He returned to St Paul filled with treasures and glorified by all; but died in oblivion and extreme poverty, seeing, at the last moment, his goods hijacked by the colonial treasury!

It is good that art and history glorify you today.

Source: www.novomilenio.inf.br/santos/calixt78b.htm

Able to see 3 Wilson's Phalaropes (Phalaropus tricolor), one female and two males feeding in the marsh at Horicon Marsh NWR in Wisconsin during spring migration 2021. One of the two males observed.

I was able to get the shot I wanted of the track evaluation train leaving Withrow. From there they had a straight shot to Somerset whereas I did not. After I made my way back to Stillwater and onto the highway, through the stoplights etc. I had all I could do to catch them by New Richmond. The sun was awfully high and I was going to let the train go and move on to other pursuits after one more shot. I decided on a location I seldom use on the east edge of town at 140th St. There is an s-curve here but also plenty of clutter. A train this short squanders the curves a bit but did lend itself to a tight framing. The gates in the background are already raising on County K/East First St. after a brief delay. July 28, 2024.

You might be able to tell from the height of the Sun, this is long after I’m usually gone from the overlook. Sunrise was as dull as you can imagine with the Sun fading in and out of view with each cloud blowing through the valley. So sunrise was the low point of the morning. From there, the color just kept getting better and better.

From the overlook at Monte Sano State Park in Huntsville, Alabama.

Nikon D7500 — Nikon 18-300mm F6.3 ED VR

85mm

F8@1/1,250th

ISO 400

DSB_5345.JPG

©Don Brown 2024

Able Coaches of Edgware used to operate this DAF MB200 LAG Galaxy. CLJ 923Y was new to Amport & District and was seen in Eastbourne on 19th July, 1997.

Able to find a Bell's Vireo where they generally return each year at the Greater Rockford Airport on top of the Bell Bowl Prairie area.

Able Seaman Arthur Thomas Wood was born 21 April 1921 at Berry in New South Wales, and joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1938 at the age of 17. After training at HMAS CEREBUS he joined HMAS SYDNEY in early 1939. When World War II was declared, SYDNEY was ordered to serve in the Mediterranean for escort duty. Wood was aboard SYDNEY when it sank the Italian cruisers ESPERO and BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI in July 1940.

These photographs and postcards depict some of the sailors, equipment and activities of HMAS SYDNEY in the months prior to the sinking of the vessel. They provide an interesting commentary of the operations and work carried out aboard HMAS SYDNEY prior to its fateful end, such as the sinking of Italian ships ESPERO and BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI in the Mediterranean.

The Australian National Maritime Museum undertakes research and accepts public comments that enhance the information we hold about images in our collection. If you can identify a person, vessel or landmark, write the details in the Comments box below.

Thank you for helping caption this important historical image.

Object number ANMS0845[059].

Trying to catch up with photos taken on a great day spent with my daughter, back on 17 August 2024.

On 17 August 2024, my daughter had a free day and was able to join me for a full day of driving and visiting three different farms. That weekend, it was Alberta Open Farms Day, which means that owners can register to take part in the event, opening their farms to the public.

A Western Kingbird was seen on the drive E of Calgary, on the way to our first farm location. The barn in this photo was also seen en route. I had seen this beautiful old barn years ago (photo posted in comments below) and was delighted to see that it is still standing.

One of the farms, the first one we had decided to visit, was east of Calgary. One of the others was south (just SE) and the last one was SW of the city. This meant lots of fast, highway driving to save on time, stopping only several times to take a few quick photos.

I had seen Mangalitsa pigs before, each year that I took part in the Christmas Bird Count covering the Cochrane Wildlife Reserve. They were being raised by Steven Tannas. Both my daughter and I love pigs, so Eh Farms sounded a great place to visit.

"Eh Farms is a local, family-owned Alberta pig farm specializing in Red Mangalitsa Pigs. Our Mangalitsas are sustainably raised for 2 years in their natural environment eating an all plant-based ration, grass-pastured, and a fodder enhanced diet through the winter months.

Manga’s are known for their free-range, foraging, and natural diet – one of the reasons why the pork and lard produced from these pigs is so healthy to add to our own diets! These local pigs forage around our Alberta farm, eating a natural diet filled with vegetables, fruits, and grains, in addition to the nutrients they find on the ground. Because the pigs spend most of their time in the pasture snacking, they get nice and plump, a key part in what makes their meat so tasty!

The other pig breeds produced and sold to traditional grocery stores and markets are often grown quickly and contain very little fat, resulting in a less juicy cut. Not our Manga’s! Our hairy pigs are known for their mouthwatering flavour and unbelievable taste!

Mangalitsa meat has pure white fat! But not the bad type of fat you think of when you hear the word ‘bacon’, the good kind – monosaturated fat!

Monosaturated fats are a healthy fat that is necessary to have in our diets. Mangalitsa pork contains a pure and beneficial fat that is rich." From the EH Farms website.

This farm has a nice red barn and another attractive structure (shed, storage?). A large, white dog that was resting, caught our attention, too.

A beautiful Red-tailed Hawk was perched on the fence where the pigs were foraging. Because of the wildfire smoke and haze, I almost missed seeing it. Such gorgeous feathers.

From this farm, it was a long drive south, eventually arriving at the second farm on our list. This was Tierra Flores Florals and Botanicals, near High River.

After enjoying our time there, we drove W to our final stopping place, Hartell Homestead, where they raise amazing Highland Cattle. We were lucky because several of the animals were close to the fence. Oh, those young ones - so adorable! Another day, I will have to post a video of them.

We had made three great choices for the day and would be happy to visit all three maybe next year. A most enjoyable day, and so happy to have shared it all with my daughter.

Rick was able to converse directly with our Guaraní host in Spanish -- a second language for both of them -- rather than the guide translating everything. They forged a real connection, and he gave Rick a necklace. We asked the guide if he always does that; she said she'd never seen him do it before.

The Guaraní are indigenous inhabitants of Paraguay (where Guaraní is a official language) and nearby regions. The village here, in Atlantic Forest just outside Puerto Iguazu in Argentina, can no longer hunt and trap because of forest fragmentation, though our host demonstrated scale models of various ingenious traps. However, they still practice traditional agriculture -- our host said, "If we do not do that, how are we still Guaraní?"

A low winter sun finds ÖBB's 1293 193 pulling strongly through Bernolákovo with a uniform rake of CMA CGA shipping containers.

This particular Vectron is one of well over 100 such locomotives supplied to Rail Cargo Group (Rail Cargo Austria - RCA), part of the ÖBB-Holding AG group by Siemens Mobility and built at their factory in Munich-Allach.

An able seaman (AB*) is a seaman and member of the deck department of a merchant ship with more than two years' experience at sea and considered "well acquainted with his duty". An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination of these roles (thanks once again Wiki).

According to current maritime data, french-based CMA CGA are the world's third largest operator in the global container shipping business with a market share of just under 13 percent. In view of that figure it is almost impossible to speculate how many AB's have been involved at some time in the transportation of the containers making up this lengthy consist.

*wouldn't that be an AS?

I was able to capture some rather amazing plates during my stay in Bremen, with this spot being up there, an Audi A5 from Liechtenstein. This is the first Liechtensteiner I've been able to successfully capture, after completely failing to capture a van from FL when travelling through Basque Country in northern Spain last year. To be honest, I didn't expect to see a Liechtenstein plate in Bremen, but anything is possible in the biggest German cities really.

Liechtenstein is one of the smallest countries in Europe, sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria. Given that it's only 25km tall, plates from FL are quite a rarity to spot throughout Europe. The plates follow a similar look to Swiss plates, though are black in colour, with white text. On a black car, like this Audi A5, it looks pretty amazing in my opinion.

Bremen, Germany

Imagine not being able to step outside your door because there is no solid ground beyond your simple wooden house. Imagine having to do everything – laundry, gardening, shopping, visiting, everything – from a boat. Imagine having to paddle or row everywhere. Imagine not being able to go for a walk or a run. That is life on Inle Lake in the heart of the Shan State, Myanmar.

As our boats chug between the rows of houses, locals watch from the windows of their modest homes.

For the accompanying PhotoBlog, please visit:

www.ursulasweeklywanders.com/every-day-life/life-on-the-w...

Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I was fortunate enough to have the time free to be able to return to Yosemite for another chance of seeing Horsetail Fall light up on Thurs. Feb. 23, 2012. I’m in several Photography related Meet-up groups and I went up with several photographers from one of these groups.

This event though possible each year isn't guaranteed. All the elements and conditions must come together to see it.

On Tues. there were clouds in the sky and the sky got really gray about 40 minutes before sunset. On Thurs. the sky was blue and clear. I hoped it stayed that way right up until sunset.

This trip was an encore to the trip here February 18, 2010 to see Horsetail Fall light up.

14 photographers from a Bay Area Meet-up made it this year. I rose at 12:01AM on Thurs the 23rd then dressed, ate a light snack, got my gear in the car and left at 2:30AM to meet 2 companions 30 minutes away. From there we were to car-pool to Livermore an hour away to meet several more photographers. Then we car-a-vanned to Yosemite. We arrived at our first shooting location in the park before 8 A.M.

There we started photographing in the cold 32 degree morning at Swinging Bridge. We weren't alone. Down on the river we ran into Michael Frye and 3 of his students.

From here we went to several well known and wonderful spots in the park.

Mid afternoon we made our way over to our "spot" to photograph the sun hitting Horsetail Fall.

We didn't expect anyone to be in this spot. It's not well known. We arrived to find it as expected empty. We fanned out and set up our cameras, tripods, trail stools, and some stretched out on the soft pine needles and took a nap.

About an hour later a lone man slowly walked by nodded and kept walking. 20 minutes later he came back with his camera and tripod.

20 minutes later out of the trees came Michael Frye and his 3 students. His face was full of surprise to find us there.

A little later another lone man emerged from the trees with his camera and tripod. There were about 20 people there by then.

Right on time the light on the cliff face began to change and the show was on. All joking and talking stopped as we jumped into action and soon all you heard was the soft beeps of camera AF motors, and shutters clicking. Once in awhile I heard Michael giving his students a direction or making a comment. Then right before the color reached its peak a couple came walking up and sat down to watch the last few minutes of the phenomenon.

At the peak there was a spray of mist or perhaps evaporation that could be seen fanning out from the cliff face that added to the glow.

As you see there's very little snow up there. We were really lucky this year to see this.

Because the sky was clear the whole mountain had a glow so I framed more of El Capitan to capture it all. In less than 10 minutes it faded completely so it was time to pack up.

Isn’t it wonderful how something can look so different from day to day.

It was a Marathon day filled with laughter, adventure, good people to hang out with, and at the end of the day Mother Nature’s light show was the Pièce de résistance.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200@ 105mm| f16| 0.4 sec| ISO 160| Manual Mode| Tripod| Self Timer| Circular Polarizer

Katia came over and we were able to catch up on our lives early the morning before anyone else woke up. I took her to my new secret place above everyone. Just the most perfect place to be with the most wonderful friend.

was able to capture a train by the bridge going over the Lake Pend Oreille section. Taken at trestle creek, ID. Taken with the 24-50 mm minolta lens.

Was able to get out for a little while yesterday afternoon. Seen several does, small bucks, and a 4 big bucks. Only manage to get images of one and stayed with him until he went back into the woods. On the way home, see a very nice 8-pointer in a field of cut corn with several does. Was able to get several images of him as well.

R667 type bunker with Pak43 88mm gun - Omaha Beach - Widerstandsnest 72 - Vierville sur Mer, Dog Green sector, Normandy

Omaha Beach

Omaha was divided into ten sectors, codenamed (from west to east): Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red. On june 6, 1944 -D-Day - the initial assault on Omaha was to be made by two Regimental Combat Teams (RCT), supported by two tank battalions, with two battalions of Rangers also attached. The RCT's were part of the veteran 1st Infantry division ("The Big Red One") and the untested 29th ("Blue and Grey") , a National Guard unit.

The plan was to make frontal assaults at the "draws" (valleys) in the bluffs which dominate the coast in Normandy , codenamed west to east they were called D-1, D-3, E-1, E-3 and F-1 . These draws could then be used to move inland with reserves and vehicles.

The Germans were not stupid; they knew the draws were vital and concentrated their limited resources in defending them. To this end they built "Widerstandsneste" with AT guns, mortars, MG's in Tobrul's, trenches and bunkers, manned by soldiers of the German 716th and - more recently - 352nd Infantry Division, a large portion of whom were teenagers, though they were supplemented by veterans who had fought on the Eastern Front. All in all some 1100 German soldiers defended the entire Omaha beach sector of over 5 miles.

Preliminary bombardments were almost totally ineffective and when the initial waves landed at low tide they met with fiece opposition of an enemy well dug in and prepared.

Casualties were heaviest amongst the troops landing at either end of Omaha. At Fox Green and Easy Red, scattered elements of three companies were reduced to half strength by the time they gained the relative safety of the shingle, many of them having crawled the 300 yards (270 m) of beach just ahead of the incoming tide. Casualties were especially heavy amongst the first waves of soldiers and the gap assault teams - at Omaha these were tasked with blasting channels through the beach obstacles. German gunfire from the bluffs above the beach took a heavy toll on these men. The demolition teams managed to blast only six complete gaps and three partial ones; more than half their engineers were killed in the process.

Situation at Dog Green and on Easy Red on the other end of Omaha by mid morning was so bad with nearly all the troops essentially pinned down on the beach gen. Eisenhower seriously considered to abandon the operation; in "First Wave at OMAHA Beach", S.L.A. Marshall, chief U.S. Army combat historian, called it "an epic human tragedy which in the early hours bordered on total disaster."

As the US first waves assault forces and combat engineers landing directly opposite the "draws" were pinned down it was up to forces landing on the flanks of the strongpoints to penetrate the weaker German defences by climbing the bluffs. Doing this they had to overcome the minefields and barbed wire as well as machinegun fire from German positions but they did and they were able to attack some key strongpoints from the side and the rear, taking them out by early afternoon.

This happened on several spots at Omaha and essentially saved the day: individual acts of initiative by lower ranked officers and courage like that of First Lieutenant Jimmy Monteith, who led a group of men to take one of the key German widerstandsneste and was killed in action, succeeded where a flawed plan failed.

WN 72:

Widerstandsnest 72 is part of the "Atlantic Wall". It guarded the "Dog-1" exit towards Vierville-sur-mer and was built in 1943-44 . It lies in the Dog Green sector which saw some of the heaviest fighting in the morning of june 6, 1944.

The reason why this particular spot on Omaha Beach was so heavily defended is the famous "Vierville Draw": a road through the bluffs leading directly to the town of Vierville-sur-Mer and then connecting to the Route Nationale. In other words: an ideal spot for a breakout after the landings and of course the Germans realised this too, making the Dog-1 exit a deathtrap for anyone trying to take it.

The Defenses

The Draw was defended by three German "Widerstandsneste" numbered WN 71, WN72 and WN73 and manned by members of the veteran 352nd division . WN72 consisted of two H-667 type casemates, which are directly overlooking the beach with one of them housing a formidable 88 mm. PAK43 gun.

Both casemates are guarded from fire from the sea and have gun positions enfilading the beach, their muzzle flashes were not visible from the sea. In 1944 these bunkers were protected by barbed wire, minefields and trenches.

The hill behind also had several strongpoints of WN 71 and 73, with at least nine MG positions , two mortar positions and a light fieldgun on top of the bluffs over a stretch of some 200 metres these defenses were the best the Germans had to offer in the entire Omaha sector. To top it off an anti-tank wall 2 metres high was erected to block any vehicle.

D-Day

When A-Company, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry of the 29th "Blue & Grey" division landed here (an old Virginia National Guard Unit with a long tradition harking back to Stonewall Jackson's Brigade) it was "H-Hour" on D-Day: june 6, 1944: 06.30 hour. They were coming in exactly on the right spot opposite the draw (a lot of units in other sectors drifted away from their designated areas due to the strong current) in six Royal Navy LCA assault boats. The soldiers could see the German bunkers in the distance and the beach seemed to be untouched by the preliminary bombardments. They had to cross a large stretch of beach (some 250 metres) towards the Vierville draw. The germans waited until the landing craft were all empty and then opened fire with their MG 42's, mortars, and guns.

It was carnage. A-Company was virtually wiped out within the first minutes of the landing; no one knows exactly what happened with the 30 men in LCA 1015 but all of them were killed, and most of their bodies were found on the beach, commanding officer captain Taylor Fellers among them. In fact all all but one officers were killed in action within the first minutes, as were more then half of the soldiers and NCO's. Those who did survive the initial onslaught could do little more then stay in the water or press them self against the sand hanging on to their lifes. The shingle bank offered a little bit of protection to the happy few which made it that far, but most survivors had to stay in the water, creeping forward with the rising tide.

Incredible acts of heroism were performed by men trying to help their wounded comrades out of the water only to see them cut down by enemy fire or get shot themselfes. A-Company was reduced from an assault company to a small rescue party within 15 minutes. The follow up troops of the second wave didn't fare much better and subsequent waves landed more to the east of this WN where resistance was less heavy.

Among the casualties in A-company were 19 men from Bedford, VA. Bedford’s population in 1944 was about 3,200, and proportionally the Bedford community suffered the nation’s most severe D-Day losses.

Note: Some Ranger units also landed here, just to the west of Dog Green on Charlie sector, and this was the inspiration for the famous first scene of the 1998 movie "Saving Private Ryan".

On the Photo:

The R-667 type casemate prominent in the picture is the main defensive position of WN72; it houses a formidable 88 mm. PAK43 gun (which is still there behind the steel framework) and it;s positioned so that it enfillades the beach and is guarded from naval gunfire by an extra wallsegment (to the right). On top of the casemate now rests the National Guard memorial. To the left is the road which exits the beach to Vierville-sur-Mer, in june 1944 an anti-tank wall was erected between the bunker and the base of the bluff (far left). Sidenote: in 1944 this bunker was built into the remnants of a hotel which served as camouflage.

See my other Omaha beach photo's for more viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting

Tonemapped using three (Handheld) shots made with a Nikon D7000 and a Tamron 28-75 mm f/2,8 XR Di, augustus 2012.

Able to see 6 Green Herons (Butorides virescens) feeding along the Boardwalk at Horicon Marsh NWR in 2021.

Here you will be able to see an realistic example of how deep Low Gap Creek is and a more realistic perspective of the size and scope of the waterfall when you see Harmon situated on the boulder to the right.. I believe the waterflow I hiked yesterday in Low Gap Creek is the highest I've hiked to date, `in terms of multiple creek/river crossings. Too bad I was wearing the wrong shoes. I had made a concerted effort to consult with several sources to find reputable shoes for creek walking, relevant to crossing slick, underwater rock surfaces, and I found out yesterday the recommended shoes I was wearing didn't 'fit the bill.". As a mater of fact, I slipped about three or four more times on my way back down from Upper Falls. I can guarantee it won't happen again the next time I'm here. Anyway, in terms of Low Gap Creek Falls, this waterfall easily, ranks as one of the foremost top waterfalls in North Georgia and is well worth the effort it takes to reach it.

*** 10Gifts for 10 Days *** The Economy Fair ***

We are very happy to be able to count on your presence in our event, the name says we want to offer a 10 day fair with items 10 lindens. There is no secret, and if you a retailer see no problem getting items on the market for 10 lindens join us.

Event Details:

-Duration of 10 days.

-The event is not themed.

-The disclosure is made by our team. At where? On our websites and social networks.

What do we order?

* Items 10 Lindens. Amount? You decide (Need at least 1 item)

* Item must be of quality please do not put up for sale a product you would not buy.

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Values:

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With 20 Prins Available

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Each round will start on the 15th of each month and end on the 30th, you will have from day 1 to day 4 to set up your space. Failure to meet the deadline will result in your store participating, we will not refund your payment, we will be organized.

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Able to see a MEGA rarity for Illinois, its first recorded Limpkin located at Borah Lake in Olney, Illinois. Normally found in Florida areas further south. A life bird for me.

Sure miss being able to take pictures of what used to be our Mississippi Kites the last couple of years. Fortunately able to photograph two other kites this summer in India, here a Black Kite sharing a moment with its juvenile.

Black Kites observed almost everywhere in India, here a parent on the right flew in to feed a juvenile at the hotel Vivanta by Taj in Thiruvananthapuram, India.

I was able to spend a wonderful week in New York City with my son - it was his high school graduation present. What a city to photograph!

(To my NYC Flickr friends, sorry I didn't have time to stop by, will be back again...)

I love being able to focus this close with my 85mm, one of the reasons why this is possibly my all time favorite 85mm lens!

You can find me at the locations below:

Portfolio / Tutorials & Podcast / Twitter

Captain Boomerang was able to keep Golden Glider buisy long enough. Owen walks towards Digger so they could talk it out, but Black Spider has different plans. Spider sees Owen walking towards Digger, and he thinks Owen is going to throw a boomerang at him.

BS: "Ugh. I might not like you Harkness, but you better thank me later."

Spider jumps from the catwalk with his knives ready. Owen didn't see him coming... Digger turns around and sees Spider coming at Owen.

CB: "No Spider! Wait!"

But it's too late...

Black Spider stabs Sergeant Boomerang in the throat. Captain Boomerang looks on in horror, as his son just got killed by his team mate.

CB: "Nooooooo! I told you not to do it!"

BS: "Jeez man. Be fucking thankfull. I just saved your sorry-ass."

CB: "You didn't save me!"

BS: "He was going to attack you!"

CB: "HE WAS MY SON."

BS: "Wait, he was what?"

Boomerang grabs his boomerangs and charges for Black Spider who doesn't understand it. As Boomerang is charging at Spider, Deadshot comes climbing down.

DS: "Don't do it, Harkness! Stand down!"

CB: "RAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Boomerang throws the boomerang in Spider's neck, and because he was confused, he didn't dodge it. Boomerang charges at him and starts stabbing him with another boomerang, over and over, full of rage.

CB: "YOU.JUST.KILLED.MY.SON.YOU.FUCKING.BASTARD!!!!"

Deadshot comes closer and he draws his gun.

DS: "Digger, stand down or I'll shoot!"

Captain Boomerang turns around, still swinging around with the boomerang, with Deadshot approaching.

Before Deadshot was able to shoot Boomerang, Digger stabs Deadshot in his stomach with his boomerang. Deadshot falls down as Bronze Tiger and Harley Quinn are approaching.

BT: "Floyd!"

HQ: "Oh no! Boomerbutt, what did you do!?"

Bronze Tiger tackles Boomerang and subdues him.

BT: "Harley! How's Floyd?"

HQ: "He's bleeding really bad."

BT: "Push down on that wound. That should buy him some time."

Tiger cuffs Boomerang, and then looks at the bodies of Owen and Eric.

BT: "Damn Digger... What did you do?"

CB: "That kid, was my goddamn son, and Black Spider killed him!"

BT: "You had a son?"

CB: "I didn't know either..."

BT: "Well be happy I was able to cuff you, before Waller was able to blow your head off."

CB: "..."

BT: "You will probably stay in Belle Reve for a long while, without any possibility of early release."

CB: "Just shut up!"

Tiger knocks Boomerang out and then checks on Deadshot.

BT: "Hey, Floyd. Stay with me man, you'll get out of this, okay?"

DS: *Cough* "Like I care."

BT: "I know you don't, but we need you."

DS: *Cough* "Yeah sure."

BT: "Harley, keep the pressure on that wound. I'm going after the remaining Rogues. And keep an eye on Boomerang."

HQ: "Yessir."

This happens when you are not able to load sheet film correctly into Jobo reels... :(

I was able to have some nice visits with my campus pets on a nice Autumn day in Ann Arbor. Here are Juvenile and adult fox squirrels on Thursday October 17th, 2019. I also saw Peter La Fleur - one of my Dodgeball squirrels with mange over on the Law Quad. I ended up giving him the first part of the second dose of the mange medication. Hope he will look better by November. Best of all, I saw Lefty (or Tripod) - the three pawed squirrel. I had not seen her much this summer - she was over in front of the Clement's Library - looking good as usual.

Two issues

1. The Flickr system isn't allowing me to upload the entire description with this postcard. However, I have been able to upload it separately in its entirety this morning (3/20/2016). You can see it here.

www.flickr.com/photos/hoosier_recollections/25836557491/i...

2. (A few hours after posting this postcard to Flickr.) The paragraphs below represent only a portion of the description I wrote for this postcard. So far, Flickr isn't letting me add the remainder.

Stay tuned!

Fictional postcards weren’t uncommon in the early postcard era. Many were humorous and used methods to achieve effects we would call “photoshopping” today. Other examples included postcards with the same scene sold in multiple cities or towns (and sometimes in multiple states) with the only difference being the city or town name in the title. This postcard appears to be the latter type where the photograph upon which it was based came from elsewhere and had a new title applied by the printer. However, this example is unusual. The following is the story I’ve pieced together.

This postcard view of an interurban stop is titled, “Interurban Railroad, N. Frankfort, Ind.” and it was postmarked in 1910. The “N. Frankfort” was probably referring to New Frankfort in Scott County. There was no North Frankfort in Indiana, and New Frankfort probably would have been on the interurban route between Madison and Scottsburg that was first proposed two years earlier. However, that route was never constructed and this postcard was probably created as an advertising piece for the proposed interurban route. It is possible that similar postcards for other communities along the proposed route exist.

Scottsburg was on the busy interurban line that connected Louisville and Indianapolis. Madison, however, was never connected to the interurban system that linked so many other communities in Indiana. Two separate efforts to bring interurban service to Madison materialized in 1903. One of these involved the creation of the Madison, Greensburg & Indianapolis Railway Company that proposed a new interurban rail line extending north from Madison to Greensburg via Versailles and Osgood. The other interurban route involving Madison was proposed by the Southern Traction Company of Indiana. This route would have connected Madison and Columbus via Hanover and North Vernon. However, both projects were among more than 250 proposed interurban routes in Indiana that were never constructed.

A third proposal involving Madison arose In 1908 when the Cincinnati, Madison & Western Traction Company (C. M. & W.) incorporated and proposed construction of an interurban line between Scottsburg and Cincinnati via Madison. The following announcement was published on February 8, 1908.[1]

RECENT INCORPORATIONS.

Cincinnati, Madison, & Western Traction Company. — Incorporated in Indiana to build a number of short lines radiating from Scottsburg to surrounding cities and towns in Indiana and Ohio. These new lines will be built as extensions of the Indianapolis & Louisville Traction Company's line from Seymour to Jeffersonville, now in operation. The different routes as outlined in the articles of incorporation are as follows:

From Scottsburg through Scott and Jefferson counties to Madison, and thence in a northeasterly direction through Switzerland, Ohio, Ripley and Dearborn counties in Indiana to Cincinnati; also in a westerly direction from Scottsburg through Salem in Washington county and through Paoli to West Baden and French Lick; also northwesterly from Scottsburg to Bedford, Ind. It is announced that construction work will be started in the spring. Capital stock, $50,000. Incorporators: J. E. Greeley, Louisville, Ky.; S. D. Miller. Maurice Cahill, G. B. Gaston and G. N. Owen, Indianapolis, Ind.

John E. Greeley was one of the C. M. & W. founders. Mr. Greeley was also involved in other southern Indiana interurban activities. A 1908 directory listed J. E. Greeley as vice-president of the Indianapolis & Louisville Traction Co. In 1912, he was president and general manager when the successor to that company sold at foreclosure.

Over the course of the next few years, several C. M. & W. announcements of corporate activities appeared in various publications. This first group appeared in a weekly industry journal[2] between January and July, 1910.

F/A-18 waits to start engines on September 14, 2001

aboard the USS Constellation (CV-64).

Was able to work with Hawk Watch International on Bonnie Butte today capturing and banding. I was attempting to get the hawk to look at the camera as it watched my finger's every move. I released into the wind about 10 seconds later.

This Tucker Sno-Cat, nicknamed Able, was used by Vivian Fuchs for the Commonwealth Trans Antarctic Expedition (1955 – 1958), during which it crossed Antarctica. It is now on display in Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Basically I miss this last summer. I have not been able to get over being out on Catalina Island. That's all I think and dream about. It really was the best experience and decision to go out there. At the end of the summer I posted a "note" about it and now I want to share it with everyone:

Receiving a phone call from after being in the Hospital with a near death experience basically saved my life. Ali, called me and told me that there was a job opportunity for a boy scout camp on Catalina island. I wanted to go visit anyway, why not live there for the summer. So I accepted it. A couple days later I get a phone call from a random number.. it was Alex.He told me that I would work in the Trading Post, he then told me that I would be selling a lot of Slush Puppies and he REALLY did mean that! He said that when I come out to work at Cherry Valley that I will become a healthier, happier person. Since I was just in the hospital for not taking care of my Diabetes I felt like this would help me focus on myself and get back on the track of taking care of myself.

Anyway I had one week to get everything ready for this adventure ahead of me. From being in the hospital I had a lot of fluids in me and I was dehydrated for so long that my feet were swollen, it was hard for me to breathe and It took more effort to do things. Friday I went back up to Logan after recovering for a bit at home. I packed up my apartment Saturday and moved out Saturday. It was really tough for me because everything was happening so fast. I was leaving friends that I didn't know if I was going to see again or not.. Also my boys that were in Cancun I did not get to say goodbye too. When I got back home I packed the bags I was going to live off of at CCV.

The next morning I flew out of SLC to LAX at 8am.. It was my first time flying alone. I was pretty scared to be by myself, but once I got a BLT and a Diet Coke I was GREAT! I had to give an insulin shot and didn't want to take my bags into the airport bathroom...So I just shot it into my stomach haha...I didn't care what people thought. :] Landing in LAX I met up with Ali. I had missed her soooo much! The adventure had begun. We headed to meet up with all the staff. We got there and everyone was in uniform except Ali and I! haha. Alex greeted us and then I turn around to see a tall, blonde, guy with aviator sunglasses. Meet Cory, the program director. He even came with a pocket watch :] All of us loaded onto the Catalina Express. Ali and I distanced ourselves from everyone else.. I remember seeing this blonde girl and a brunette, they smelled like perfume and had makeup on...lets add on they were flirting with some other guys on staff. Guess who that was?? Morgan and Megan :] haha. Love you girls. After an hour and half boat ride there it was. The Island. Ali was pointing out our cove and was telling me about Ship Rock, Lions Head, Eagles Nest and Bird Rock.We arrived at Two Harbors Port. To my right I looked out the window and people in a green uniform starting lining up on the dock, right next to them was "Bear", he had a big straw hat on. Ali told me he was the greatest guy I will meet.

We all got our stuff and met in Buffalo Park where we split into our areas. This girl with dark hair, brown eyes and tan skin came right up to me and said "Hi! I'm Bekah!" We connected like that. (Later in the Summer I asked why she came up to me so fast and happy and she said, "I saw a girl in sweats and knew that was my kinda girl." Haha) Then we all started to hike into camp. Lets keep in mind I was in sweats and flip flops. I'm an idiot.. haha. It was awful hiking in like that.

That day I helped Ali clean tanks for the first time and I was freaked out by the Sea Stars. I remember Ali and I were late to line up and we weren't in our uniforms for dinner.. Alex came over to us and asked us where our uniforms were and told us to go change, we were super embarrassed. I hated it already here. The uniforms sucked so bad, I felt so awkward in it and you could tell. That next week during staff week we hiked Goat Whiskers and Parsons. We kayaked to Blue Caverns and got our areas ready. I could go on forever about my summer on Catalina Island. It was the best adventure. I made the Best Friends I could ever ask for. I never had to get ready for the day :] Showered about twice a week haha, learned that if you dip your hair in the ocean that the sun will then make your hair more blonde! I learned to paddle board, I went sailing, kayaked. Overcame my fear or singing in front of people and presenting in front of people. Campfires, scouts, star pictures, sun burns, tans, laying out on the dock, aching bodies, big bopper parties, diet coke, frozen kit kats, bugs[ANTS], long talks, cobbler, service project(talks with Tsix) late night talks, first kiss, fireworks, AO, "I need somebody to love, Next to You, Give me everything tonight, On the Floor, John Mayer". Shore boats, going into town, YACHT CLUB!, Fountain drinks, dancing, Avalon, Ben Weston, "going sailing in Two Harbors". Photoshoots. the day it poured rain. Late night snacks in the kitchen. There were tears from the beginning to the end. The times when all of us were ready to go home and then it came and I never wanted to leave.

These friends will last forever and I love them very much. Alex told us that the friends you keep for forever are the ones you work the hardest with. He was right. I miss this magical island already. Thank you for the Best Summer of my life so far.

For more photos become a fan here : www.facebook.com/aimsphoto

sad thing is, andrew came here today.

but i wasn't able to go see him :(

i was pretty set on having a jacks mannequin song as my little theme

that tree really wasn't that high haha

this was more difficult than it looks :/

(And today was a day just like any other)

I'm on the verge, I'm on the verge

Unraveling with every word

With every word you say, make me believe

That I won't feel your tires on the street

As I'm finding the words... you're getting away

I'm ready so don't call, oh... oh... oh...

I'm Ready - Jacks Mannequin

on board tall ship Alexander von Humboldt 2

This Sunday we were able to go out and take a couple of photos for our 'The Land Of Stories' project which has been in the plans for quite a while now. All of the pictures are inspired by the original book series by Chris Colfer and are meant to portray the characters appearing in the novels. The story is about the twins Alex and Conner who magically find their way into the fairytale world. There they meet all their favorite characters from the stories they have been told when they were younger, and embark on the adventure of their lives. If you are interested you can find out more here: www.thelandofstories.com/ - This first picture is showing the well-known character Red Riding Hood who goes out into the woods to visit her grandmother and is attacked by a wolf. In the 'Land Of Stories' series she is all grown up and has been elected queen. She pays a lot of attention to her looks and is quite self-centered, though good at heart.

Photo: Lara Dengs

Model: Dani Hard

My recent photos on Flickriver (lara.photofreaks.ws)

My most interesting photos on Flickriver (larasbestof.photofreaks.ws)

Lara D. Photography on Facebook

Circa 1925

Angie had been warned about operating in Chicago, but she was too lured by the smell of big money not to take the chance.

She was not disappointed. For the first week she found a wealth of pick able pockets and purses. Swiftly accumulating more money in that short period of time than she had garnered in the past 4 months

But she was not sly enough and before the second weekend she was visited at the dump of an apartment she was renting by two suited men. There was a price to pay for the privilege of working in Mr. D…..’s turf, and they had come to collect. She was given a choice, if it could be called that. Either she could lose a pinky, at this one of the men pulled out a rather sharp looking stiletto knife, or she could earn her dues by performing a small task.

She had chosen the “small task”

Within a couple of days she was installed as a maid in one of Mr. D……’s plush, luxury apartments. She was given precise instructions. Within two weeks; Select a loaded lady, widow or one left alone most of her nights. Angie soon discovered that they were quite a few ladies who lived in the complex that fit that classification. It took her almost the entire first week to select one. When Angie told the Apartment complexes private detective the targets name, she found that she was assigned to clean that lady’s rooms on a daily schedule.

Next Angie was to shadow the targeted lady’s movements, learn her schedule. Find out where she keeps the good stuff and compile a list of anything valuable, especially small and easily carried items. Once that task was completed, Angie was to hand the list to the apartments Dick, and then she was told to await further instructions.

So she found herself carrying out those final instructions three weeks to the night that she had been paid her visit. She had taken her cleaning cart with towels up to the chosen victim’s room around 9:00 in the evening. Following her had been the gentlemen the private detective had led to her; cool as ice, as trim as the tailored suit he was wearing. She had knocked at the targets double door. When the silken night gowned lady who lived there answered, Mr. Ice took over, clamping his hand over the startled victim’s mouth, as he produced a knife from nowhere and forced her back inside. Angie was to stand guard outside with her cart until he had finished and called her in.

It as she was doing so that the door across the hall opened and a red headed man came out. He looked quite dapper in tux and tails, clenching a telegram in his slender fist. She recognized him as a newer tenant, who along with a wife, was newly moved into the city. (actually the wife had been on her short list, missing out only when her husband had come back into the picture early from his business trip abroad)

Spying Angie he asked where the nearest telegraph office was. Just down the street she informed him, amazed at how well she was keeping her cool, with Mr. Ice robbing the rich broad just a few feet away behind the door. She also did not mention that the office was doubtlessly closed. Spying her cart, he then ordered her to bring in some extra towels to his wife.

Angie smelled opportunity, and as the red headed man disappeared down the hall , she looked at the closed double doors, liking the odds ,figuring she could risk it. Picking up the towels she knocked on the door and was admitted by a pretty little thing in a black satin robe covering a long gold night gown of luxuriously glossy liquid satin. Around her neck was hanging a gold necklace just dripping with sparkly diamonds. Seeing the towels in Angie’s hands she pointed towards a far door instructing her to take them there, several gem encrusted rings flashing from her fingers.

Angie went in and placed the towels on the wicker hamper. Angie looked at the freshly laundered long evening gown that was hanging from a hook, taking a second to feel its luxurious softness before returning. Then coming back into the room the lady thanked her, telling her to wait, she had a little something.

She turned her back to Angie(mistake! thought the “maid”) and reached down into a small purse, Angie had moved so close she could smell the ladies ‘expensive perfume. The lady stood up, backing into Angie who apologized as she accepted the nickel tip from her. Angie left, returning to the cart.

She had made it back in time. As she waited Angie fingered something in her pocket, thinking back to the apartment she had just left:

As the satin clad rich lady had been reaching for her purse, Angie had in a flash made two observations: The first was that the lady had been putting lotion on her hands and that she had removed her rings, the second was that one pocket of her satiny black robe was a little more open than its twin. She had easily dipped her fingers into the robes pocket as the rich lady had backed into her and lifted the shiny rings up and out, extracting them as carefully as any surgeon, Palming the cool rings as she accepted her stingy tip from the rich broad.

As Angie now fingered those rings her mind had gone to the wealth lady’s magnificent diamond necklace. Too bad she thinks, too bad there wasn’t a way to acquire the jewels of a woman as she wore them.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the door opened a crack, he nodded to her and she went inside with the cart as he left, causally walking down the hall, whistling. She said nothing about her little episode.

The lady was nowhere in sight, but she could hear whimpering coming from a room. On a divan was a healthy pile of jewelry, expensive purses, a few pricy looking knickknacks, as well as a couple of stunning gowns, almost as nice as the one she had stolen a feet back across the hall. She quickly loaded the items in her cart, covered them with towels, than left.

She took the service elevator, riding it to the basement. Than taking the cart out a back door, Angie entered a dark alley. A van waited, two men took the cart from her and began to load it.. Angie turned her back and walked away down the desolated alley without turning back, soon disappearing into the misty streets.

Angie vanished back up into Canada where she spent a few weeks lying low. The first item of business she did was to unload the hot rings. Spying a pretty, silvery necklace she bargained for it, still making a nice chunk of change in addition. She than revisited her childhood haunts, feeing like a real lady wearing the fancy necklace, and her purse holding a modest amount of jake. In her line of work she usually refrained from wearing anything that would attract someone’s notice.

On a whim she stopped into a fortune tellers shop. The ancient, toothless gypsy read her palms, saying a few obligatory predictions, before looking Angie in the eyes, pausing abruptly. She worked her way to her feet, just a minute dearie, I’ll be right back. She soon was back and laid an old, very well thumbed pamphlet at Angie’s fingertips. This is something I believe you can use she murmured. Angie picked it up, looking through it, her eyes growing wide as she realized its purpose. I was just, she stammered, how did you know? she asked flabbergasted. The old gypsy smiled toothlessly, not saying anything. Angie though of the diamond necklace on the lady last week, the leaflet basically laid out how she could have taken that diamond necklace on the spot.

What do I owe you; Angie finally managed to ask when she had come to grips with herself. You have already paid love, she cackled, as she opened her dirty old shawl, revealing the shiny new silvery necklace around her wrinkled throat, the same necklace Angie had been wearing when she had entered the small shop. Her hand instinctively shot up to her throat, surprised to find it totally bare, despite the evidence before her.

Angie looked once again at the small pamphlets title:

Cutpurse: skilles, artes and Secretes of the Dip : inscribed by Gaston Monescu .

And with tingles of delight, she knew, that her ship had just come into port.

**********************************************************************

Editor’s Note:

Our Thanks to Mr Gardner for pointing out the existence of Mr. Monescu’s 1826 guide

This is a link to a You Tube Video of a thief not unlike our Angie.

youtu.be/HAZdjhNVjxk

Courtesy of Chatwick University Archives

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St Andrew and St Patrick, Elveden, Suffolk

As you approach Elveden, there is Suffolk’s biggest war memorial, to those killed from the three parishes that meet at this point. It is over 30 metres high, and you used to be able to climb up the inside. Someone in the village told me that more people have been killed on the road in Elveden since the end of the War than there are names on the war memorial. I could well believe it. Until about five years ago, the busy traffic of the A11 Norwich to London road hurtled through the village past the church, slowed only to a ridiculously high 50 MPH. If something hits you at that speed, then no way on God's Earth are you going to survive. Now there's a bypass, thank goodness.

Many people will know St Andrew and St Patrick as another familiar landmark on the road, but as you are swept along in the stream of traffic you are unlikely to appreciate quite how extraordinary a building it is. For a start, it has two towers. And a cloister. And two naves, effectively. It has undergone three major building programmes in the space of thirty years, any one of which would have sufficed to transform it utterly.

If you had seen this church before the 1860s, you would have thought it nothing remarkable. A simple aisle-less, clerestory-less building, typical of, and indistinguishable from, hundreds of other East Anglian flint churches. A journey to nearby Barnham will show you what I mean.

The story of the transformation of Elveden church begins in the early 19th century, on the other side of the world. The leader of the Sikhs, Ranjit Singh, controlled a united Punjab that stretched from the Khyber Pass to the borders of Tibet. His capital was at Lahore, but more importantly it included the Sikh holy city of Amritsar. The wealth of this vast Kingdom made him a major power-player in early 19th century politics, and he was a particular thorn in the flesh of the British Imperial war machine. At this time, the Punjab had a great artistic and cultural flowering that was hardly matched anywhere in the world.

It was not to last. The British forced Ranjit Singh to the negotiating table over the disputed border with Afghanistan, and a year later, in 1839, he was dead. A power vacuum ensued, and his six year old son Duleep Singh became a pawn between rival factions. It was exactly the opportunity that the British had been waiting for, and in February 1846 they poured across the borders in their thousands. Within a month, almost half the child-Prince's Kingdom was in foreign hands. The British installed a governor, and started to harvest the fruits of their new territory's wealth.

Over the next three years, the British gradually extended their rule, putting down uprisings and turning local warlords. Given that the Sikh political structures were in disarray, this was achieved at considerable loss to the invaders - thousands of British soldiers were killed. They are hardly remembered today. British losses at the Crimea ten years later were much slighter, but perhaps the invention of photography in the meantime had given people at home a clearer picture of what was happening, and so the Crimea still remains in the British folk memory.

For much of the period of the war, Prince Duleep Singh had remained in the seclusion of his fabulous palace in Lahore. However, once the Punjab was secure, he was sent into remote internal exile.

The missionaries poured in. Bearing in mind the value that Sikh culture places upon education, perhaps it is no surprise that their influence came to bear on the young Prince, and he became a Christian. The extent to which this was forced upon him is lost to us today.

A year later, the Prince sailed for England with his mother. He was admitted to the royal court by Queen Victoria, spending time both at Windsor and, particularly, in Scotland, where he grew up. In the 1860s, the Prince and his mother were significant members of London society, but she died suddenly in 1863. He returned with her ashes to the Punjab, and there he married. His wife, Bamba Muller, was part German, part Ethiopian. As part of the British pacification of India programme, the young couple were granted the lease on a vast, derelict stately home in the depths of the Suffolk countryside. This was Elveden Hall. He would never see India again.

With some considerable energy, Duleep Singh set about transforming the fortunes of the moribund estate. Being particularly fond of hunting (as a six year old, he'd had two tutors - one for learning the court language, Persian, and the other for hunting to hawk) he developed the estate for game. The house was rebuilt in 1870.

The year before, the Prince had begun to glorify the church so that it was more in keeping with the splendour of his court. This church, dedicated to St Andrew, was what now forms the north aisle of the present church. There are many little details, but the restoration includes two major features; firstly, the remarkable roof, with its extraordinary sprung sprung wallposts set on arches suspended in the window embrasures, and, secondly, the font, which Mortlock tells us is in the Sicilian-Norman style. Supported by eight elegant columns, it is very beautiful, and the angel in particular is one of Suffolk's loveliest. You can see him in an image on the left.

Duleep Singh seems to have settled comfortably into the role of an English country gentleman. And then, something extraordinary happened. The Prince, steeped in the proud tradition of his homeland, decided to return to the Punjab to fulfill his destiny as the leader of the Sikh people. He got as far as Aden before the British arrested him, and sent him home. He then set about trying to recruit Russian support for a Sikh uprising, travelling secretly across Europe in the guise of an Irishman, Patrick Casey. In between these times of cloak and dagger espionage, he would return to Elveden to shoot grouse with the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. It is a remarkable story.

Ultimately, his attempts to save his people from colonial oppression were doomed to failure. He died in Paris in 1893, the British seemingly unshakeable in their control of India. He was buried at Elveden churchyard in a simple grave.

The chancel of the 1869 church is now screened off as a chapel, accessible from the chancel of the new church, but set in it is the 1894 memorial window to Maharaja Prince Duleep Singh, the Adoration of the Magi by Kempe & Co.

And so, the Lion of the North had come to a humble end. His five children, several named after British royal princes, had left Elveden behind; they all died childless, one of them as recently as 1957. The estate reverted to the Crown, being bought by the brewing family, the Guinnesses.

Edward Cecil Guinness, first Earl Iveagh, commemorated bountifully in James Joyce's 1916 Ulysses, took the estate firmly in hand. The English agricultural depression had begun in the 1880s, and it would not be ended until the Second World War drew the greater part of English agriculture back under cultivation. It had hit the Estate hard. But Elveden was transformed, and so was the church.

Iveagh appointed William Caroe to build an entirely new church beside the old. It would be of such a scale that the old church of St Andrew would form the south aisle of the new church. The size may have reflected Iveagh's visions of grandeur, but it was also a practical arrangement, to accommodate the greatly enlarged staff of the estate. Attendance at church was compulsory; non-conformists were also expected to go, and the Guinnesses did not employ Catholics.

Between 1904 and 1906, the new structure went up. Mortlock recalls that Pevsner thought it 'Art Nouveau Gothic', which sums it up well. Lancet windows in the north side of the old church were moved across to the south side, and a wide open nave built beside it. Curiously, although this is much higher than the old and incorporates a Suffolk-style roof, Caroe resisted the temptation of a clerestory. The new church was rebenched throughout, and the woodwork is of a very high quality. The dates of the restoration can be found on bench ends up in the new chancel, and exploring all the symbolism will detain you for hours. Emblems of the nations of the British Isles also feature in the floor tiles.

The new church was dedicated to St Patrick, patron Saint of the Guinnesses' homeland. At this time, of course, Ireland was still a part of the United Kingdom, and despite the tensions and troubles of the previous century the Union was probably stronger at the opening of the 20th century than it had ever been. This was to change very rapidly. From the first shots fired at the General Post Office in April 1916, to complete independence in 1922, was just six years. Dublin, a firmly protestant city, in which the Iveaghs commemorated their dead at the Anglican cathedral of St Patrick, became the capital city of a staunchly Catholic nation. The Anglicans, the so-called Protestant Ascendancy, left in their thousands during the 1920s, depopulating the great houses, and leaving hundreds of Anglican parish churches completely bereft of congregations. Apart from a concentration in the wealthy suburbs of south Dublin, there are hardly any Anglicans left in the Republic today. But St Patrick's cathedral maintains its lonely witness to long years of British rule; the Iveagh transept includes the vast war memorial to WWI dead, and all the colours of the Irish regiments - it is said that 99% of the Union flags in the Republic are in the Guinness chapel of St Patrick's cathedral. Dublin, of course, is famous as the biggest city in Europe without a Catholic cathedral. It still has two Anglican ones.

Against this background then, we arrived at Elveden. The church is uncomfortably close to the busy road, but the sparkle of flint in the recent rain made it a thing of great beauty. The main entrance is now at the west end of the new church. The surviving 14th century tower now forms the west end of the south aisle, and we will come back to the other tower beyond it in a moment.

You step into a wide open space under a high, heavy roof laden with angels. There is a wide aisle off to the south; this is the former nave, and still has something of that quality. The whole space is suffused with gorgeously coloured light from excellent 19th and 20th century windows. These include one by Frank Brangwyn, at the west end of the new nave. Andrew and Patrick look down from a heavenly host on a mother and father entertaining their children and a host of woodland animals by reading them stories. It is quite the loveliest thing in the building.

Other windows, mostly in the south aisle, are also lovely. Hugh Easton's commemorative window for the former USAAF base at Elveden is magnificent. Either side are windows to Iveaghs - a gorgeous George killing a dragon, also by Hugh Easton, and a curious 1971 assemblage depicting images from the lives of Edward Guinness's heir and his wife, which also works rather well. The effect of all three windows together is particularly fine when seen from the new nave.

Turning ahead of you to the new chancel, there is the mighty alabaster reredos. It cost £1,200 in 1906, about a quarter of a million in today’s money. It reflects the woodwork, in depicting patron Saints and East Anglian monarchs, around a surprisingly simple Supper at Emmaus. This reredos, and the Brangwyn window, reminded me of the work at the Guinness’s other spiritual home, St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, which also includes a window by Frank Brangwyn commisioned by them. Everything is of the highest quality. Rarely has the cliché ‘no expense spared’ been as accurate as it is here.

Up at the front, a little brass plate reminds us that Edward VII slept through a sermon here in 1908. How different it must have seemed to him from the carefree days with his old friend the Maharajah! Still, it must have been a great occasion, full of Edwardian pomp, and the glitz that only the fabulously rich can provide. Today, the church is still splendid, but the Guinesses are no longer fabulously rich, and attendance at church is no longer compulsory for estate workers; there are far fewer of them anyway. The Church of England is in decline everywhere; and, let us be honest, particularly so in this part of Suffolk, where it seems to have retreated to a state of siege. Today, the congregation of this mighty citadel is as low as half a dozen. The revolutionary disappearance of Anglican congregations in the Iveagh's homeland is now being repeated in a slow, inexorable English way.

You wander outside, and there are more curiosities. Set in the wall are two linked hands, presumably a relic from a broken 18th century memorial. They must have been set here when the wall was moved back in the 1950s. In the south chancel wall, the bottom of an egg-cup protrudes from among the flints. This is the trademark of the architect WD Caroe. To the east of the new chancel, Duleep Singh’s gravestone is a very simple one. It is quite different in character to the church behind it. A plaque on the east end of the church remembers the centenary of his death.

Continuing around the church, you come to the surprise of a long cloister, connecting the remodelled chancel door of the old church to the new bell tower. It was built in 1922 as a memorial to the wife of the first Earl Iveagh. Caroe was the architect again, and he installed eight bells, dedicated to Mary, Gabriel, Edmund, Andrew, Patrick, Christ, God the Father, and the King. The excellent guidebook recalls that his intention was for the bells to be cast to maintain the hum and tap tones of the renowned ancient Suffolk bells of Lavenham... thus the true bell music of the old type is maintained.

This church is magnificent, obviously enough. It has everything going for it, and is a national treasure. And yet, it has hardly any congregation. So, what is to be done?

If we continue to think of rural historic churches as nothing more than outstations of the Church of England, it is hard to see how some of them will survive. This church in particular has no future in its present form as a village parish church. New roles must be found, new ways to involve local people and encourage their use. One would have thought that this would be easier here than elsewhere.

The other provoking thought was that this building summed up almost two centuries of British imperial adventure, and that we lived in a world that still suffered from the consequences. It is worth remembering where the wealth that rebuilt St Andrew and St Patrick came from.

As so often in British imperial history, interference in other peoples’ problems and the imposition of short-term solutions has left massive scars and long-cast shadows. For the Punjab, as in Ireland, there are no simple solutions. Sheer proximity has, after several centuries of cruel and exploitative involvement, finally encouraged the British government to pursue a solution in Ireland that is not entirely based on self-interest. I fear that the Punjab is too far away for the British to care very much now about what they did there then.

Was able to scratch another NS heritage unit off my list as NS 76V arrives in Columbia with NS 1073 leading.