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Cullman County Easter Egg Hunt 2017
5,500 plastic eggs. 16,000 pieces of candy totaling 400 pounds. 500+ children.
That is the tale of the tape for Saturday's record turnout for the annual Cullman County Easter Egg Hunt at Sportsman Lake Park.
The hunt itself topped the 2016 speed record for the time required for participants to pick up all the eggs (3 minutes, 12 seconds). The kids shaved 4 seconds off the clock in 2017, snatching up all the eggs in 3 minutes, 8 seconds.
Along with parents and guardians, right at 1,000 people attended the County Easter Egg Hunt.
This year, staff members at Sportsman Lake Park smartly divided the East Egg Hunt into three separate geographically controlled groups:
Ages 1 to 4 - Splash Pad
Age 5 to 8 - Playground
Ages 9 to 12 - Putt-Putt Golf
Newly named Cullman County Easter Bunny - Jelly Bean - pitched his very own VIP tent booth. He received hundreds of children (and the random adults) on his lap for festive Easter Bunny photographs. Cullman County Commissioner Kerry Watson was perhaps the best well-known of the bunny lap visitors.
Park staff were kept extremely busy passing ou the thousands of pieces of free candy immediately following the event.
A solid line of adults and children were spread from the train depot area all the way eastward to Veterans Park as they quickly and orderly converged on the candy and photo areas.
According to Cullman County Parks & Recreation Director Doug Davenport, this is the largest attendance ever for the event:
"We knew we would have a large crowd. Great advertising and weather that is better than perfect will do that. Our marketing director Sara Teichmiller thought I was crazy for ordering 16,000 pieces of candy for this event. And she is may be correct, but it is always better to have too much than not enough. No one wants to see these youngster head home empty handed. At the pace we are going, we are not going to have much left though!"
Davenport wisely ordered the recently upgraded miniature golf course be opened for play - free of charge - until 11 am. Egg Hunt attendees flooded the small, well-kept links and appeared to be having a blast.
Sources close to the Parks Department indicate there is an effort afoot to make Cullman and Sportsmans Lake Park a destination stop for the Professional Putt-Putt Association tour in 2018 or 2019.
An airplane pulling a large banner from a local religious organization circled the park several times promoting their Easter weekend festivities. It was a novel approach to large-scale advertising. However, few participants on the ground seemed to notice. They were thoroughly engrossed in the multiple activities, and park features happening simultaneously throughout the park.
Most everyone who attended this year's addition of the Cullman County Easter Egg Hunt appeared to have an excellent experience!
cullmantoday.com/2017/04/16/images-cullman-county-easter-...
Project Description:
This secondary school addition includes concrete foundations with structural steel framing and metal decking, built up roofing, masonry and stucco. This addition was completed while school was in progress, which involved extensive tie-ins to the existing facility complete with temporary heating and hoarding. Student safety and noise mitigation was a primary concern. Certain construction activities were scheduled around class times.
The Westpro Advantage:
Focused operations ensured the safety of the school populations. Efficient scheduling reduced impact on school day to day operations, while ensuring an on time and on budget project. There were no accidents with respect to Safety or School Operations.
Latest addition to collection a Sinn 103 St Sa equipped with a high-domed, scratch-resistance sapphire crystal.
Valjoux 7750 self-winding movement.
Photos taken with a 50mm 1.8 mounted on extension tubes.
© All rights reserved. Photos may not be used or reproduced without my permission.
The Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East in Saskatoon has been using the same GT 1175 Whisper Slider doors since 2010. Since that time, ASSA ABLOY has begun maintaining them as of 2014... and they've since added yellow decals. The original arrow/directional decals were replaced in 2014.
Shot this a couple weeks ago before a storm rolled in. This market is a fun new addition to the city that wasn't here when I lived in Atlanta a couple years ago. It's been fun exploring all the new attractions in the city that have grown up over the last 4 years.
This fire engine was rebuilt from a 7-passenger touring car, with the addition of firefighting equipment from an old horse-drawn pumper. This is one of the vehicles at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, Hampshire, England. This may be the finest antique auto museum in the world.
Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida.
The Orange County Convention Center’s (OCCC) Security team introduced its newest addition – a 5-foot, 500-pound autonomous security robot that will play a vital role in ensuring the safety of OCCC guests by increasing the scope of surveillance on the Center’s campus, while significantly augmenting the Security team’s efforts.
Produced by Knightscope Inc., a developer of advanced physical security technologies focused on enhancing U.S. security operations, this Autonomous Security Robot (ASR) is what the company calls a “game-changer.” The OCCC is the first convention center to deploy this technological tool in partnership with Knightscope Inc.
BBot will provide 360-degree video surveillance to monitor crowds. Its video stream connects directly to the OCCC Security Command Center. It will feature a “help” button that attendees can utilize, which also has a direct line to the Command Center. BBot has thermal imaging capabilities that can detect temperature abnormalities both among humans and in the physical environment. This allows for safety features such as early fire detection and picking up a presence of an elevated body temperature.
SOURCE: Orange County Convention Center website @
Photo By Brandi Ewing
Copyright 2024 - All Rights Reserved.
2020 Bristol High School Alumni Event: 9-12-2020. This annual event was held Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020 by the Bristol Alumni Association or the BAA for short in the Cummins Park behind the Elkhart County Historical Museum in Bristol, Indiana. The outside event was necessary due to the partial shutdown of the Museum. In addition the outside event allowed several new activities like a Cruise-in/Sock-Hop behind the museum with popcorn, exercise equipment, track and cemetery history available. Music by DJ, Quentin Flag. The Bristol Library was open to BHS to view historical items throughout the building. RoeMary McDaniel, Historian, and Penny Bucks, Genealogical Historian hosted storytelling and photo sharing, including book sales in the main library. At 5pm, Rex Gleim, former BHS teacher gave an introduction, followed by a delicious box lunch and sharing of stories in the DJ area. John Nymeyer told the story of how he and 5-year old Pinky Mosier dressed in their western wear with cap pistols went to rob the Bristol bank, but the manager sent them home without a penny! The group welcomed what would have been the class of 1970. It was a weekend of activities, especially designed for out-of-towners, Fri., Sat. & Sun. Dining available in downtown Bristol at Chicago Downtown Eatery, Redbird Cafe & Subway. Camille’s Floral & Gifts offered 20% off storewide. Thanks to Diane Erickson and Velma Rodgers for their terrific planning. Just the Facts: Original school was built in 1903 to consolidate and house eight one-room schoolhouses in a single building with additions added over the years. It has been known as the Washington Twp. School, Bristol School & Bristol High School. The last class graduated in 1966, and the school was closed & pupils transferred to Elkhart High School.The building was bought by Howard Rush & donated to the Elkhart Co. Parks Dept. to use for history & recreation purposes such as the History Museum. housed there now. Photos from the 2020 BAA Reunion, as well as other years beginning in 2002 are available for a free download from Flickr. You don’t need to have an account there, just click on the Flickr link at the top of this page to open the Bristolsun.net albums, click on album & photo to download, click down arrow & choose size from drop down box & download.
Richmond is a town in North Yorkshire which boasts a sizeable ruined medieval castle on a strong defensive position high above the River Swale.
The town features a large Market Place with the former Trinity Church, now the Green Howards military museum, at its heart, in addition to the Obelisk. This marks the location of a large (now disused) underground reservoir that was key to supplying the town with fresh drinking water when constructed in 1771.
The former Railway Station and Goods Shed, built by the North Eastern Railway Company and disused since the closure of the branch to Darlington in the 1960s have been tastefully converted to an arts and social hub, retaining many original features of the buildings.
The famous enamelled AA sign for the 1927 Solar Eclipse is a unique survivir and can be found on Victoria Road.
Ahungalla Heritance Hotel (former Triton Hotel)
Architect: Geoffrey Bawa, 1979-1971, addition 1990's.
Ahungalla, Sri Lanka.
www.geoffreybawa.com/work/grand-designs-regional-modernism:
The Triton Hotel at Ahungalla is hidden away in a coconut grove beside a long and featureless beachfront. The design partie was a seemingly banal version of a traditional rest house with two long wings of rooms facing the ocean under overhanging hipped roofs. But Bawa’s strength lay in his ability to control a project on site and breathe magic into it.
In the final plan he re-arranged the rooms into clusters to create a series of courtyards at different levels and he transformed the entrance sequence into a coup de théatre, offering a vista through a grove of palm trees, past the slender columns of the lobby to the light blue surface of the swimming pool and the darker blue of the ocean beyond. “ If the world were flat you would be able to see Africa” he wryly observed.
archnet.org/collections/10/sites/3032
www.heritancehotels.com/ahungalla/bawa.html
GALLE ROAD,
AHUNGALLA, SRI LANKA.
TEL : +94 91 5555000,
FAX : +94 91 5555050
EMAIL : EBIZ.LK@AITKENSPENCE.LK
To the family!
Jamie, Fran & Vaughn!
Taken by; Vincent Lawson!
Vincent's photostream! www.flickr.com/photos/7508895@N06/
Awesome photography, V.......Thanks so much for doing this for us! Fantastic job my friend!
Presented by the Josephine B. Scheffenacker Education Trust.
One of the most exciting components of A+ Partners in Education, Battle of the Books gets fifth grade students excited about reading. A lively academic competition, Battle of the Books improves reading comprehension, builds vocabulary, and teaches teamwork and good sportsmanship. The 2015 competition runs concurrently at Howard, Mt. Hebron, Oakland Mills, River Hill and Wilde Lake high schools.
Teams of five students and one adult coach each read the same 16 pre-assigned books over four months. Selected by HCLS instructors and HCPSS media specialists, titles include a wide range of reading levels and subjects. Thanks to generous sponsors, all teams receive a set of books. In addition to reading the books, teams choose a team name then dress accordingly.
During the "battle" (a 50-question exam), a moderator asks questions that relate to one of the following: a direct quote from one of the book characters; a statement about something that happens in the book; a passage taken directly from the book; details about an illustration or picture. Winning teams receive prizes.
El campo de pseudocráteres de Landbrotshólar es el mayor de Islandia. Se sitúa en el SE, cerca de la ciudad de Kirkjubæjarklaustur.
Los pseudocráteres o conos desenraizados se formaron dentro del flujo de lava del Eldgjá. Thorodssen, en 1894, fue el primero en sugerir que estas lavas se originaron en la erupción del año 934, Thorarinsson (1951, 1981) lo dudó en varias ocasiones, pero finalmente llegó a la misma conclusión. Más tarde, Larsen G (1979) lo demostró definitivamente. Sin embargo, Jónsson (1987) señaló la complejísima tefrocronología de la región de Landbrotshólar, informando del hallazgo de restos vegetales en capas suprayacentes a las lavas, que dieron una edad de 14C de hace 2000 años, por lo que el debate sobre el origen de estas lavas sigue abierto.
En 1793, Sveinn Pálsson fue el primero en estudiar el campo de conos de Landbrotshólar, describiéndolos como conos de
piroclastos con una cubierta de lava (es decir, de spatter soldados) y siendo el primero en sugerir que se habían formado por erupciones secundarias.
La lava de la fisura de Eldgjá es la mayor colada del mundo originada en tiempos históricos, con un volumen de unos 18 km3. La fisura se prolonga por 75 kilómetros, desde el volcán de Katla en el sur hacia Vatnajökull en el NE. La lava de Eldgjá fluyó unos 40 kilómetros antes de derramarse por la boca de la garganta del río de Skaftá sobre las llanuras aluviales de Landbrot y de Medalland. En la mitad de Medalland de la colada, hay dos pequeños campos de pseudocráteres: Hestalandshólar y Laekjalandshólar.
Sin embargo, es en la zona de Landbrot donde se encuentra el mayor campo de pseudocráteres, el de Landbrotshólar, con un área de unos 50 km2 y un número de conos que se cuenta por millares. Parte del campo está cubierto por la lava del Laki de 1783, por lo que se estima que la superficie original pudo haber sido de 150 km2. En 27 km2 del total de 50 km2, Hoskuldsson y Jaupart contaron 4739 cráteres, lo que da una media de 176 cráteres/km2. Los mismos autores midieron la distribución de diámetros basales de 2812
cráteres, lo que dio una media de 21 m (mínimo 4 m y máximo 86 m). Existe una relación directa entre el tamaño de los pseudocráteres y su densidad espacial. Además, los estudios estadísticos de los cráteres indican que suelen ser más pequeños que sus contrapartidas volcánicas con chimenea.
Los depósitos volcánicos de los pseudocráteres son principalmente bombas y cenizas que proceden de la lava infrayacente y de los materiales que se encuentran por debajo de ésta. El examen detallado de la estratigrafía demuestra que, durante la primera fase de la
formación del edificio, la mayoría de los productos proyectados distalmente son sedimentos infrayacentes a la colada, mientras que los materiales proximales están formados por la lava misma. En los productos proximales, de grano grueso, es frecuente observar cantos rodados. En los distales abundan los materiales más finos, como las cenizas. El estudio detallado de los granos muestra que la mayoría están muy redondeados y son vítreos, presentando una ligera alteración, lo que le da un tono parduzco a los depósitos.
Las condiciones ambientales en el momento de su formación se pueden deducir de la litología, que sugiere que las áreas inundadas por la lava fueron lechos fluvioglaciales y zonas pantanosas. Antes de la erupción del Eldgjá, la zona de Landbrotshólar era un sandur del río Skaftá. En los sandur es frecuente observar la presencia de arenas de grano fino que contienen hasta un 60% de agua en sus poros. Las arenas de los sandur islandeses están formadas principalmente por fragmentos de vidrio volcánico. Además, dentro de los
sandur son frecuentes las zonas pantanosas y fangosas, que a su vez son ricas en materia orgánica. En cualquier caso, estas zonas son capaces de retener un importante volumen de agua, que queda atrapada cuando una colada fluye sobre ellas. Sin embargo, el continuo aumento del peso de la lava tiende a extraer el agua de los poros de los materiales infrayacentes, causando su desestabilización por lasdiferencias de densidad que aparecen. El espaciado y el tamaño de los pseudocráteres va a estar controlado por el espesor de la capa de sedimentos saturados de agua.
Hoskuldsson y Jaupart plantean dos causas de la formación del campo de pseudocráteres de Landbrotshólar.
Primero, las lavas que cubren las arenas saturadas de agua pueden inducir la desestabilización de éstas y hacer que se inyecten dentro de la colada. Esto explicaría algunas de las características observadas, como la erupción de las arenas basales al principio y la posterior salida de las lavas por el pseudocráter, dando una erupción continuada. En este caso, la densidad y el tamaño de los cráteres serían pequeños.
En segundo lugar, el agua atrapada en las zonas fangosas ricas en materia orgánica va a producir explosiones. La materia orgánica ofrece más resistencia al flujo de la lava que las arenas, por lo que aquí el agua va a tener mayor importancia como agente explosivo, por lo que habrá escasas proyecciones del subsuelo. Esta explicación está de acuerdo con el hecho de que en los cráteres apenas se
encuentran diamictitas y turba. En este caso, la densidad y el tamaño de los cráteres es mayor.
Thordarson, T. & Hoskuldsson, A. (2002): "Iceland. Classic Geology in Europe 3". Terra Publishing, Hertfordshire, Gran Bretaña.
Hoskuldsson, A. & Jaupart, C. (2005): "Landbrotshólar Pseudocrater Field, SE Iceland: Dynamics and growth of rootless cones within a lava flow". Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 7, 08845.
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The pseudocrater field of Landbrotshólar is the largest in Iceland. It is situated in the SE, near the city of Kirkjubæjarklaustur.
The pseudocraters or rootless cones were formed within the lava flow of the Eldgjá. Thorodssen, in 1894, was the first author to suggest that these lavas originated in the eruption of the year 934, Thorarinsson (1951, 1981) hesitated several times, but he finally came to the same conclusion. Later, Larsen G (1979) showed it definitively. However, Jónsson (1987) pointed out the complex tephrochronology of the Landbrotshólar region, reporting the discovery of vegetable remains in layers overlapping the lavas, which gave a 14C age of 2000 years ago, so the debate about the origin of these lavas continues. In 1793, Sveinn Pálsson was the first to study the field of cones of Landbrotshólar, describing them as cones of pyroclasts with a lava cover (ie, from spatter) and being the first to suggest that they had been formed by secondary eruptions.
The lava of the Eldgjá fissure is the largest lava flow in the world originated in historical times, with a volume of about 18 km3. The fissure extends for 75 kilometers, from the Katla volcano in the south to Vatnajökull in the NE. The lava of Eldgjá flowed about 40 kilometers before spilling through the mouth of the Skaftá river gorge over the alluvial plains of Landbrot and Medalland. In the Medalland zone, there are two small fields of pseudocraters: Hestalandshólar and Laekjalandshólar.
However, it is in the Landbrot area where the largest pseudocraters field, Landbrotshólar, is located, with an area of about 50 km2 and a number of cones that is counted by thousands. Part of the field is covered by lava from the Laki volcano of 1783, so it is estimated that the original area could have been 150 km2. In 27 km2 of the total of 50 km2, Hoskuldsson and Jaupart counted 4739 craters, which gives an average of 176 craters / km2. The same authors measured the distribution of basal diameters of 2812 craters, which gave an average of 21 m (minimum 4 m and maximum 86 m).
There is a direct relationship between the size of
pseudocraters and their spatial density. In addition, statistical studies of craters indicate that they are usually smaller than their volcanic counterparts with a chimney.
The volcanic deposits of the pseudocraters are mainly bombs and ashes that come from the lava below and from the materials that are below it. The detailed examination of the stratigraphy shows that, during the first phase of the building formation, most of the distally projected products are sediments underlying the flow, while the proximal materials are formed by the lava itself. Boulders are often observed in coarse-grained proximal products. In distal products, finest materials abound, like ashes. The detailed study of the grains shows that most are very rounded and vitreous, presenting a slight alteration, which gives a brownish tone to the deposits.
The environmental conditions at the time of their formation can be deduced from the lithology, which suggests that areas flooded by lava were fluvioglacial beds and swampy areas. Before the eruption of the Eldgjá, the Landbrotshólar area was a sandur
of the Skaftá river. In sandur it is common to observe the presence of fine grained sands that contain up to 60% water in their pores. The sands of Icelandic sandur are mainly formed by fragments of volcanic glass. In addition, within sandur are frequent swampy and muddy areas, which in turn are rich in organic matter. In any case, these areas are capable of retaining a large volume of water, which is trapped when lava flows over them. However, the increasing weight of the lava tends to extract water from the pores of the underlying materials, causing their destabilization by differences in density. The spacing and size of the pseudocraters will be controlled by the thickness of the water-saturated sediment layer.
Hoskuldsson and Jaupart raise two causes of the formation of the pseudocrater field of Landbrotshólar.
First, the lavas that cover the water-saturated sands can induce the destabilization of these and cause them to be injected inside the flow. This would explain some of the observed characteristics, such as the eruption of the basal sands at the beginning and the later exit of the lavas by the pseudocrater, giving a continued eruption. In this case, the craters density and size would be small.
Second, water trapped in muddy areas rich in organic matter will produce explosions. Organic matter offers more resistance to the lava flow than sand, so here the water will have greater importance as an explosive agent, so there will be little projections of the subsoil. This explanation is in agreement with the fact that one can hardly find diamictites and peat in the craters. In this case, the density and size of the craters is greater.
Thordarson, T. & Hoskuldsson, A. (2002): "Iceland. Classic Geology in Europe 3". Terra Publishing, Hertfordshire, Great Britain.
Hoskuldsson, A. & Jaupart, C. (2005): "Landbrotshólar Pseudocrater Field, SE Iceland: Dynamics and growth of rootless cones within a lava flow". Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 7, 08845.
An addition this morning ; because the liner is so large, i dug out a crescent shaped shallowish running of the deep - end.
Philadelphia Water gathered with partners and supporters of the City of Philadelphia’s Green City, Clean Waters program at the Fairmount Water Works on Thursday, June 16 2016 to celebrate the five year anniversary of the historic green stormwater infrastructure plan’s adoption.
Joined by U.S. EPA Regional Administrator Shawn Garwin, Pa. DEP Regional Director Cosmo Servidio and City of Philadelphia Managing Director Michael DiBeradinis, Philadelphia Water Commissioner Debra A. McCarty announced that City had surpassed five year regulatory targets, resulting in a 1.5 billion gallon reduction in stormwater runoff and combined sewer overflows during a typical year of rainfall.
This historic achievement was made possible through the public and private creation of 837.7 Greened Acres in Philadelphia, and many of the partners and organizations contributed were on hand to celebrate at the event, dubbed “5 Down.”
Under the 2011 agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Pa. Dept. of Environmental Protection (EPA), the City was required to create 744 Greened Acres, representing a 600 million gallon per-year reduction in runoff and overflows, by June 2016. Overall, the City must create nearly 10,000 Greened Acres over at 25-year period and reduce typical annual overflows by about 8 billion gallons.
Each Greened Acre uses green tools such rain gardens and stormwater tree planters to manage at least 27,158 gallons of runoff from hard surfaces like streets and parking lots every time an inch of rain falls in the city. In addition to filtering pollutants out of stormwater, green infrastructure sites keep excess water out of Philadelphia’s overburdened sewer system, where overflows can lead to sewage spilling into local waterways.
The event also featured a special beer created by Saint Benjamin Brewery in Kensington to highlight efforts to protect the source water they depend on for brewing and a musical performance by Philadelphia native Sterlen Barr. Mural Arts and the Public Workshop helped to support the five year milestone celebration. Members of the Philadelphia Water Public Affairs Unit created a backdrop showing photos from green infrastructure sites and Green City, Clean Waters events held since 2011.
Learn more about the what Green City, Clean Waters has accomplished in the first five years and what’s in store for the 20 at www.Phillywatersheds.org/5Down
Joey is 23, and lives on the streets of Seattle. He pan handles to "Get Well", the term for getting high again. He asked me for money and I told him I wanted to see his addition. I hope this portrays some of his pain
Price was inexpensive but the shipping from Japan turned out a bit pricy but it was very well wrapped and boxed securely. It is also an L series which stands for "luxury" which is some of the best glass they make.
Latest art additions to my workspace. Two pieces by Dallas artist Cathey Miller, sub panels 3 and 4 from her work titled Entrance Riddle #1, "The Virgin". Mixed media on aluminium panels.
Design by Rexpo
Czech seed beads PRECIOSA Triangles in the shape of a triangle.
PRECIOSA Triangles are made by cutting triangular or twisted triangular glass tubes with a round or triangular hole.
In addition to the existing PRECIOSA Triangle seed bead, we now present the new PRECIOSA Triangle Q-Cut which is manufactured using new Quality Cut production technology. The quality cutting of the tubes guarantees that these seed beads have greater precision and shape and dimensional stability.
We make PRECIOSA Triangle Q-Cut in two sizes: 7 x 3.5 mm and 10 x 5 mm.
In addition to crystal and black glass, we also now offer PRECIOSA Triangles Q-Cut in topaz.
Czech PRECIOSA Triangles have slightly rounded edges thanks to their advanced technological processing.
Visit our website for more information about the PRECIOSA Triangles
The Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East in Saskatoon has been using the same GT 1175 Whisper Slider doors since 2010. Since that time, ASSA ABLOY has begun maintaining them as of 2014... and they've since added yellow decals. The original arrow/directional decals were replaced in 2014.
Newest additions to the Susuten family! I introduce to you the Ube Sloths. Maybe some of you are thinking, were they named after the purple yam, ube, because of their purple fur?! They will be available for adoption later this month at WonderCon 2019!
1969 (second series) Olympus Quickmatic EEM. The only difference from the original EEM is the addition of the new Olympus logo and model designator EEM on front. This is a well built and nicely engineered 126 film camera with autowind and autoexposure. Focusing is manual with no rangefinder convergence - just a good guess. There are a few helper icons both on the focusing ring and in the viewfinder. I dropped in a fresh pair of AA batteries and everything works! Amazing.
This years additions in seasonal outfits. almost ran out of 1/4 sized stuff, since there was six new models added in this category.
Refer to the previous frame to try to picture this...
(This summary relies heavily on the Wikipedia entry; for the full detail, go here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuanmingyuan)
Yuanmingyuan is one of the quirkier places to visit in Beijing, China. Beijing has so much history that there is a lot to find – and in many cases, you’re looking at renovations or buildings that are completely rebuilt. (Case in point, the Great Wall of China; many of the sections that are popular tend to be rebuilt or refurbished, even though they’re done with a supposed air of authenticity.)
Yuanmingyuan, however, is a different story. What makes Yuanmingyuan so interesting is what’s NOT there. There’s…no palace. Hardly any buildings are standing, for that matter. It’s a very, very large space that is essentially dedicated to a memory of a palace. The grounds are essentially made up of three gardens – Yuanmingyuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness) in the northwest, Changchunyuan (Garden of Eternal Spring) in the northeast, and Qichun Yuan (Elegant Spring Garden) in the south – that cover an area of 3.5 square kilometers, or 860 acres. (It’s five times the size of the Forbidden City, which means my estimate of 2 sq. km. for that area is wrong, and 8 times the size of the Vatican.)
Yuanmingyuan is the Old Summer Palace (not to be confused with the “New Summer Palace” – Yiheyuan – that is nearby). Yuanmingyuan translates to “the Gardens of Perfect Brightness” and the palace was originally called the Imperial Gardens. The old palace was known for its extensive collection of gardens and architecture. The majority of architecture was Chinese, but also included a section called Xiyang Lou (western mansions) at the very back of the palace in addition to buildings in Tibetan and Mongolian style. There were halls, pavilions, temples, galleries, lakes, and bridges here. And, inside many, were priceless pieces of art. So why is there no palace for us to see today? Now on to the history lesson…
The palace was initially built (or construction begun) in 1707 during Qing Emperor Kangxi’s reign. The palace was intended as a gift for his fourth son, Emperor Yongzheng. He expanded the gardens in 1725 creating lakes, streams, and ponds, while naming 28 scenic spots. The subsequent emperor – Qianlong – expanded the gardens yet again and named another 50 spots. (Qianlong was also responsible for many renovations in the Forbidden City, and he oversaw everything personally.) In short, for the first century of its existence, the palace saw splendor, grandeur, and opulence by the day’s standards.
The second century of its existence is the complete opposite. As China was a huge producer of Opium, which the western powers sought, they exploited China as much as possible. As China tried to eradicate the opium trade, the western powers did all in their powers to propagate the trade, much to the chagrin of the Qing emperors. As tensions rose, there were a few Opium Wars which never seemed to end well for the Chinese since – as military technology goes – they were woefully behind in those days.
During the Second Opium War (in 1860), British and French expeditionary forces had marched inland and reached Beijing. The Brits sent two envoys ahead of the main force under a flag of truce to talk with the prince. After a day of talks (which evidently didn’t go well), the envoys and their aides were surrounded and taken prisoner. They were returned to Beijing and tortured for two weeks, though not killed. Their bodies were returned “unrecognizable.”
About a week later, a few French units diverted from the main force and marched on the palace, which was only being manned by a few eunuchs at that point. With no resistance, the French (and British) looted the palace (goodbye, art…).
Two weeks after the looting, the British High Commissioner to China – in order to teach the Chinese a lesson – ordered the Old Summer Palace be burned to the ground. With 3,500 troops on hand, they set the entire palace ablaze, watching it burn for three days. Only 13 buildings remained intact, in remote areas or by the lakeside.
That brings us to modern times. The most prominent architectural features of the old palace are a few bridges, a handful of pavilions – very few – and the ruins of the western mansions at the rear of the park. The ruins are quite impressive and would give the false impression that the majority of buildings in the palace were European, but in truth, just a very small number were.
To wander the grounds of the palace is akin to taking a stroll in a park. I hope they don’t rebuild much here, but rather keep it as it is, perhaps with a bit more subtle signage around the grounds indicating where buildings stood and so on.
The palace is located 8 kilometers (5 miles) northwest of the old city walls (roughly the route of subway line 2). Essentially, Xizhimen is 8 kilometers to the southeast, towards downtown. The northwest part of town, where the parks are located, is the Haidian district and also happens to be the location of some of the major universities in the country. (Peking University and Tsinghua University are nearby.) If you have a bit of imagination plus an interest in history, it’s worth the trip out on line 4 to Yuanmingyuan Park Station (immediately outside the south gate).
Pearl Artisan II Limited Edition. 14x5.5 Tiger Stripe. Birch. Brand New, manufactured 2010. Never played. Stored in the original box by the previous owner.
Here's an altered art pic that I made from a background of a public domain petroglyph photo and some additions of my own. The main purple rectangle is from a photo I took of the box of purple exam gloves that were on my Dr's wall during a recent visit. One of the fingers of the gloves
was partially pulled out at a jaunty angle, and looked like a dancing leg. Add to that the curved side of the opening of the box reminded me of the hunched back of the musical Kokopelli, one of the beloved gods of many Southwestern Native American traditions. In some of those beliefs, he dances along, trading new songs for the ones he carries in the sack on his back. I figured that it would be a terrific idea for my version to spread joy when he could.
Aladdin 1915 Additions
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