Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, simplify, simplify! ... Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.

~Henry David Thoreau

What a beautiful day,

I'm the king of all time,

And nothing is impossible,

In my all powerful mind.

Was on the fifth of November,

When time it went back,

Some say that that's impossible,

But you and I, we never looked back,

And wasn't it incredible,

So beautiful and above all,

Just to see the fuse get lit this time,

To light a real bonfire for all time.

I was drinking in my nightclub,

It felt good to be back,

When Hepburn said,"I love you"

And Flynn said, "Make mine a double, Jack"

Was then we planned the revolution,

To make things better for all time,

When Guevara said "That's crazy",

And ordered up a bottle of wine.

In there on the big screen,

Every night I've seen,

The way all things could be,

For me,

For me, for me, for me.

The news broke after midnight,

That we'd pulled the temples down without a sound,

But the generals they were hiding,

And the ministers, well, they'd all gone to ground,

Wealth re-distribution,

Became the new solution,

So I got a paper bag,

But you got the one with all the holes.

What a beautiful day, (what a beautiful day)

I'm the king of all time, (it's a beautiful day)

And nothing is impossible, (it's a beautiful, )

In my all powerful mind. (it's a beautiful day)

Oh yeah,

Nothing is impossible (it's a beautiful, )

In my all powerful mind. (it's a beautiful day)

That's because,

Nothing is impossible,

In my all powerful mind.

Levellers

#1 in Explore 30 December 2007 (thank you!)

:)))))))))))))

-Added to the Cream of the Crop pool as...most favourites

Sony A6500 with E18-135, Godox TT350S flash and X1T radio trigger, Altura 5"X6" softbox, arca swiss L-bracket with Kamerar 7" articulating arm. This setup is light, compact, field usable hand held. Not shown, Sony FE90/2.8G Macro for 1/1.

While in Punta Gorda Isles this past December, I used the articulating screen on my Canon DSLR and nearly set it on the grass to get this shot of some delicate, tiny flowers on weeds that were growing in the lawn. During the post processing, I tried to blend detail with blur, soft light with shadow to come up with this rather unusual (as Phil points out below) image.

_MG_0373

© Stephen L. Frazier - All of my images are protected by copyright and may not be copied, printed, distributed or used on any site, blog, or forum without expressed permission.

Looking for Steve Frazier's main photography website? Visit stevefrazierphotography.com

Contact Steve at stevefrazierphotography@gmail.com

Last week I had been to Kochi, Kerala to attend a photo-exhibition by one of our Flickr groups "Kerala clicks". Two of my pictures were displayed. From there I had been to Athirapalli, my favourite waterfalls in Kerala. This is a scene from Athirapalli. These women take water from the river and carry them up to the toilets situated a little above for the convenience of the tourists. Their job is to keep the tank filled with water . I have visited this place five years ago and captured the same scene then. There is no change and their work goes on and on....

View On Black with F11

Are you serious about filmmaking? Do you want to go on an amazing filmmaking adventure in Africa? Now is your chance.

Award-winning filmmaker Mira Nair has created MAISHA, an organization that provides new screenwriters and film directors from East Africa and South Asia with access to the professional training and production resources necessary to articulate their visions. And this year, the Doha Tribeca Film Festival has partnered with MAISHA to offer several spots to young filmmakers from Qatar to travel to Africa to take part in the filmmaking labs!

Click here for more about the Maisha Programs:

www.dohatribecafilm.com/workshops/maisha

Greek Elegaic Mimnermus, Frag 12

Ἠέλιος μὲν γὰρ ἔλαχεν πόνον ἤματα πάντα,

οὐδέ ποτ' ἄμπαυσις γίνεται οὐδεμία

ἵπποισίν τε καὶ αὐτῷ, ἐπεὶ ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠὼς

Ὠκεανὸν προλιποῦσ' οὐρανὸν εἰσαναβῇ.

τὸν μὲν γὰρ διὰ κῦμα φέρει πολυήρατος εὐνή,

ποικίλη, Ἡφαίστου χερσὶν ἐληλαμένη,

χρυσοῦ τιμήεντος, ὑπόπτερος, ἄκρον ἐφ' ὕδωρ

εὕδονθ' ἁρπαλέως χώρου ἀφ' Ἑσπερίδων

γαῖαν ἐς Αἰθιόπων, ἵνα δὴ θοὸν ἅρμα καὶ ἵπποι

ἑστᾶσ', ὄφρ' Ἠὼς ἠριγένεια μόλῃ·

ἔνθ' ἐπέβη ἑτέρων ὀχέων Ὑπερίονος υἱός.

For Helios the Sun’s lot is toil every day and there is never any respite for him and his horses, from the moment rose-fingered Eos (the Dawn) leaves Okeanos and goes up into the sky. A lovely bed, hollow, forged by the hands of Hephaistos, of precious gold and winged, carries him, as he sleeps soundly, over the waves on the water’s surface from the place of the Hesperides [in the West] to the land of the Aithiopes [in the East], where his swift chariot and horses stand until early-born Eos (the Dawn) comes. There the son of Hyperion mounts his other vehicle." -

The torment of human frustration, whatever its immediate cause, is the knowledge that the self is in prison, its vital force and "mangled mind" leaking away in lonely, wasteful self-conflict.

(Elizabeth Drew)

Street Art in the Rue des Chandeliers / Kandelaarsstraat in Brussels.

"you have bent your shoulders

to hold the weight of the world..."

~ the hush sound, magnolia

...nel mare nostrum

l'eterno giorno

nella sera

compone

spazio-fantasmi

Qualcuno li ha visti

alla luce di luna

che esaspera sagome

già incantate

a riconoscere più pesci

Erano lì

a guardarti

e sperare

Rete e buchi della rete

The Ponce De Leon Historical Park in Punta Gorda, Florida is a favorite gathering place for people in the area to watch sunset. They bring their cameras and beach chairs and line up along the seawall to watch the setting sun. On this particicular evening, Mother Nature's show certainly didn't disappoint them.

Because the bushes in the foreground presented an obstacle to getting a good shot, I resorted to holding my camera high above my head while in the live view mode with the articulating screen turned so that I could frame the scene.

_MG_8380

© Stephen L. Frazier - All of my images are protected by copyright and may not be copied, printed, distributed or used on any site, blog, or forum without expressed permission.

Looking for Steve Frazier's main photography website? Visit stevefrazierphotography.com

"The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone."

- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

*Combination of 2 photographs in Photoshop

"From the flowing waters of The River of Ocean my ship passed into the wide spaces of the open sea; and so reached the Island of Aeaea, where, ever-fresh, Dawn with the beautiful tresses has her home and her dancing-lawns and where the Sun rises.

Here we beached the ship on the sands and climbed onto the shore where we fell into a sound sleep, awaiting the coming of ethereal Dawn."

Homer

"The Odyssey"

What do you think of when you hear Detroit brought up in conversation? I suspect for most folks visions teetering on the third world come to mind. Of late a great deal of focus has been placed on our city. Much of what is written and shown is done to support one agenda or another. Thomas Morton in a blog post (http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n8/htdocs/something-something-something-detroit) calls this fascination "ruin porn". His central theme is the media has an agenda to paint a very bleak picture of the city and journalist from around the world are scurrying about town and manipulating images to support this theme. He makes a powerful case. The sad truth is much of this reporting, while extreme, has a solid foundation. The situation in Detroit is nothing new and has been going on for 50 years. We happen to be at a tipping point where the abandonment of the city is particularly striking.

Morton is correct in scolding the journalist, though I don't think his argument applies to artists. Detroit offers people the opportunity to see many things. The journalist has an ethical obligation to report the facts, unvarnished. The artist is presenting a view, how they see the world. When I look at my home town I see many things- sadness, grit, strength. I see a city aging and- much like myself- not always gracefully. I see hope and despair. Mostly I see memories, almost all fond, of a life that is vanishing right before our eyes and there is nothing we can do about it. Not a thing. It is the vanishing world that makes my heart ache. Yes I can capture one shot that captures the despair and tilt my camera the other way and see Oz. These days I fear Oz is more the illusion.

when i think about the past it inevitably makes me think about the future, which inevitably makes me think about the past…and well…sometimes i just end up dizzy.

My favorite part of the new kitchen is the faucet. I don't think there has ever been a cooler faucet, really. Kohler Karbon was made for me. See, I have a major carbon fiber fetish... I'd drape myself in it if I could. Besides the fact that is looks cool, it functions unlike any faucet. With 5 joints that articulate and swivel with a hefty but smooth motion, you can place the nozzle where ever you want it ... and it stays there until you move it again. Pull it down into the sink to blast off food from dishes our pull it up and out of the sink to fill up pots/vases. It's a dream!

Built for the "Maschinen Krieger" Starfighter contest. (Although not entirely visible, the engines can articulate at various angles)

Heavily inspired by the Lunadiver / Stingray.... and it does fit a minifig (see cockpit photo below).

Happy Bokeh Wednesday, Friends !!!

"EID MUBARAK" for the flikr friends who celebrate "RAMZAN"

Explored.

View On Black

"most of my thoughts are about you" she said to me one afternoon, "that's why i think i can sit alone for hours with them".

and then she smiled.

A humanoid robot - because we want our robots to look like us, act like us, and use tools and interact with the environment in the same way as us.

Obvious inspirations would be Legohaulic's E-MOTE

www.flickr.com/photos/legohaulic/9257104462/in/photolist-...

some of my own style and maybe a little Chappie/Wall-E combo.

Although I did borrow some from the E-MOTE frame, mine is not quite as articulate and uses more t-bar pieces instead of small ball joints.

“The oldest living city in the world”.

Last afternoon I went to the ghats which are at the far end of the city, those ghats where few foreigners go, where there is nothing to buy and where no one disturbs.

Here along the Ganges life is very quiet, people have their own rhythm, living according sunrise and sunset.

This whole ghat is painted in a turquoise blue-green shade which gives an unusal view of Varanasi (Benaras).

That day it was the colour of silence to me.

The silence there reminds me those words by Kabir,

“Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?

He is the breath inside the breath.”

© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.

Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).

The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

Pas de FAV sans commentaire.

No FAV without comment

"Galileo", un spectacle de la compagnie Deus Ex Machina.

Tous acrobates, les membres de la compagnie exécutent des figures autour d'une structure articulée, perchée à 30 mètres du sol.

La compagnie Deus Ex Machina nous conte la prise de conscience de la position de la Terre tournant autour du Soleil...

Bonne journée à tous.

Merci pour vos visites et commentaires

en ---------------

"Galileo", a show of the company's Deus Ex Machina.

All acrobats, the members of the company perform tricks around a structure articulate, perched 30 meters above the ground.

The company Deus Ex Machina, tells us about the awareness of the position of the Earth revolving around the Sun...

Good day to all.

Thank you for your visits and comments

de ---------------

"Galileo", eine show der compagnie Deus Ex Machina.

Alle akrobaten, die mitglieder der gesellschaft führen sie tricks um die struktur artikuliert, thront 30 meter über dem boden.

Die firma Deus Ex Machina erzählt uns, das bewusstsein für die position der Erde um die Sonne drehen...

Guten tag an alle.

Danke für eure besuche und kommentare

es ---------------

"Galileo", un espectáculo de la compañía de Deus Ex Machina.

Todos los acróbatas, los miembros de la compañía de realizar trucos en torno a una estructura articular, situado 30 metros sobre el suelo.

La empresa de Deus Ex Machina, nos habla de la conciencia de la posición de la Tierra la que giraba alrededor del Sol...

Buen día a todos.

Gracias por sus visitas y comentarios

nl ---------------

"Galileo", een show van de vennootschap Deus Ex Machina.

Alle acrobaten, de leden van de vennootschap, het uitvoeren van trucs rond een structuur verwoorden, ligt 30 meter boven de grond.

Het bedrijf Deus Ex Machina, vertelt ons over de bewustwording van de positie van de Aarde die rond de Zon...

Goede dag allemaal.

Dank u voor uw bezoeken en opmerkingen

it ---------------

"Galileo", uno spettacolo della compagnia il Deus Ex Machina.

Tutti gli acrobati, i membri della società di eseguire tricks intorno ad una struttura articolata, arroccato 30 metri da terra.

L'azienda Deus Ex Machina, ci racconta la consapevolezza della posizione della Terra attorno al Sole...

Buona giornata a tutte.

Grazie per le vostre visite e commenti

pt ---------------

"Galileu", um espectáculo da companhia do Deus Ex Machina.

Todos os acrobatas, os membros da empresa, executar truques em torno de uma estrutura articular, localizada a 30 metros acima do solo.

A companhia de Deus Ex Machina, nos fala sobre a consciência da posição da Terra em torno do Sol...

Bom dia a todos.

Obrigado por suas visitas e comentários de

Sometimes you see something and you think it's interesting or attractive, even though you can't articulate quite why you feel that way.

"My Heart Will Go On" (you will note a mistake in the left hand

corner..It was RMS, not HMS. still went down, either way) I am not exactly

sure why girls seem to love this movie, but each new generation seems

to identify with this last version..I guess it is kind of an "ultimate chick flick"

eh ? Nessa has a copy an brought it over to watch, thus inspiring this

photo. Here, we 'playlike' she is a European immigrant child, possibly Italian,

coming to America with her parents. Wearing a sailors cap with "White Star

Line" on it, her picture is made and later found among Titanic artifacts.

Did she die with her steerage class parents on that fateful night ? Or did she

survive to disembark on pier 54...did her "heart go on", making a life for herself in the new home her parents had envisioned ? Or, does she sleep in the deep with

countless others, awaiting the call to 'disembark' from death to life in the

true New World, Jehovah God's Paradise restored ? Let your 'imagination' choose.

..words can't come close to articulating the feeling taking in this view. The noise is incredible. Mother nature doing her thing..wow!

Calling my name, this sound is trying to speak.

I heard it with my ears, why can’t you hear?

The jingle jangle and the rhythmic shriek

Of the running steel wheels are singing, clear

Disembodied young voices at their peak.

I heard it with my ears, why can’t you hear?

Don’t you believe it’s better try and seek

Who’s singing loud? Why let them not appear?

Disembodied young voices at their peak

Hidden inside the engine, are almost here

Stopping and chanting, strong at times and weak.

Who’s singing loud? Why let them not appear?

Please let me know, I feel my spirit tweak:

Calling my name, this sound is trying to speak

Stopping and chanting, strong at times and weak,

… The jingle jangle and the rhythmic shriek.

(Entwined terzanelle by SiRiChandra)

"the pains of love, and they keep growin', in my heart there's flowers

growin'....."

~ arcade fire

remember this photo? i knew when i did it originally, i wanted to execute this better.... so here is my second attempt. my husband is an AMAZING artist and he drew these gorgeous roses for me. it's NOT a tattoo (for my family's sake - i don't think they could take another one right now) ;-) i like this version SO much better. i need to be more patient when i have ideas in my head i'm learning. ;-)

I love the American West. My love of the west came relatively late in life. Even though I was raised in a family of travelers..check that…a family hooked on road trips, all of our travels were east of the Mississippi. We traveled all over the south and in particular Florida. To this day, the middle Keys in Florida still own my heart. It wasn’t until I took a job that sent me to southern California for training that I crossed over the plains and into the west. I was 38 years old at the time.

Since that time I have gone back several times for vacations and business. As a boy raised in the Great Lakes region I find myself damn near frozen by the western sky and the vistas. Once, while driving along U.S. 6 in Utah, I encountered a stretch of open road. I dropped out of a small cropping of mountains into a desert salt flat. On the horizon was another cropping of mountains. The scale was incredible. I stopped the car to take it all in. Getting back in the car I began wonder about the distance of the horizon. I set the trip odometer to zero and hit the gas on that long flat road. When I reached the other side the odometer read 45 miles. Along the way I had old Waylon playing on the CD player. Waylon wistfully sang Dee Moeller’s words:

“The land where I travel once fashion with beauty now stands with scars on her face

The wide open spaces are closing in quickly from the ways of the whole human race

And it's not that I blame them for claiming her bounty

I just wish they're takin' it slow

Cause where has a slow movin' once quick draw outlaw got to go

Where has a slow movin' once quick draw outlaw got to go”- Dee Moeller

L1060773

"Success is where preparation and opportunity meet." – Bobby Unser - This quote beautifully articulates how readiness—when combined with a favorable moment—can lead to great achievements. It's particularly resonant for photography, where capturing a stunning shot often hinges on being at the right spot at just the right moment, all the while being prepared to seize the opportunity.

As I posted this a story came on the local news station. In the report it was noted that Detroit is seeing an increase in wild life, including foxes and deers. The foxes are finding a home in the abandoned houses and commericial buildings. The deer are finding habitat in the ever increasing open green spaces. My fear is one day we hear reports of bears in the city. I don't mean the dudes from Chicago who pop up at Ford Field once a year. I mean real bears- big, hairy and growling. Again not the ones from Chicago.

"from time to time, i find i've lost some need

that was urgent to myself, i do believe...."

~ new order

In the depths of Luna Canyon (see 'Luna#1' for details), this image needed to be photographed looking nearly straight up. What I wouldn't give to have an articulating LCD screen on the back of my camera!

This image shows the wonderful and almost mesmerizing effects of Rayleigh scattering of light down in these stone defiles.

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

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Sagrada Família Barcelona, Spain - situation 2017

Construction of the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família began in 1882. The temple is still under construction, with completion expected in 2026. It is perhaps the best known structure of Catalan Modernism, drawing over three million visitors annually. Architect Antoni Gaudi worked on the project until his death in 1926, in full anticipation he would not live to see it finished.

Gaudi was appointed architect in 1883 at 31 years of age, following disagreements between the temple’s promoters and the original architect, Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano. He maintained del Villar’s Latin cross plan, typical of Gothic cathedrals, but departed from the Gothic in several significant ways. Most notably, Gaudi developed a system of angled columns and hyperbolical vaults to eliminate the need for flying buttresses. Rather than relying on exterior elements, horizontal loads are transferred through columns on the interior. La Sagrada Familia utilizes three-dimensional forms comprised of ruled surfaces, including hyperboloids, parabolas, helicoids, and conoids. These complex shapes allow for a thinner, finer structure, and are intended to enhance the temple’s acoustics and quality of light. Gaudi used plaster models to develop the design, including a 1:10 scale model of the main nave measuring five meters in height and width by two meters in depth. He also devised a system of strings and weights suspended from a plan of the temple on the ceiling. From this inverted model he derived the necessary angles of the columns, vaults, and arches. This is evident in the slanted columns of the Passion facade, which recall tensile structures but act in compression.

Gaudi embedded religious symbolism in each aspect of La Sagrada Familia, creating a visual representation of Christian beliefs. He designed three iconic facades for the basilica, the Glory, Nativity, and Passion facades, facing south, east, and west, respectively. The sculpting of the Nativity facade recalls smooth, intricate corbelling and was overseen by Gaudi. The Passion Facade is characterized by the work of Josep Maria Subirachs, whose angular sculptures extend the modernist character of the temple. The sculptor Etsuro Sotoo is responsible for the window ornaments and finials, which symbolize the Eucharist. The central nave soars to a height of 45 meters, and is designed to resemble a forest of multi-hued piers in Montjuïc and granite. The piers change in cross section from base to terminus, increasing in number of vertices from polygonal to circular. The slender, bifurcating columns draw the eye upward, where light filters through circular apertures in the vaults. These are finished in Venetian glass tiles of green and gold, articulating the lines of the hyperboloids.

Once completed, La Sagrada Familia will feature eighteen towers. Four bell towers representing the Apostles crown each facade, reaching approximately 100 meters in height. At the north end, a tower representing the Virgin Mary will stand over the apse. The central tower will reach 72 meters in height and symbolize Christ, surrounded by four towers representing the Evangelists. Even as construction continues, older portions are undergoing cleaning and restoration. The temple has relied entirely on private donations since its inception, and has seen many delays due to lack of funding. A particularly significant setback occurred during the Spanish Civil War, when Gaudi’s workshop was destroyed, including much of the documentation he left behind. Subsequent generations of craftsman and architects have relied on the remaining drawings and plaster models to advance the project, adhering to Gaudi’s vision as closely as possible. As a result, the design of the temple is a collaboration spanning centuries. Gaudi himself viewed the project as the collective work of generations. "I will grow old but others will come after me. What must always be conserved is the spirit of the work, but its life has to depend on the generations it is handed down to and with whom it lives and is incarnated."

In recent decades, La Sagrada Familia has adopted contemporary digital design and construction technologies. Architects and craftsmen use Rhinoceros, Cadds5, Catia, and CAM to understand the complex geometries and visualize the building as a whole. Plaster models are still used as a design tool, now generated by a 3-D printer to accelerate the process.

Architect: Antoni Gaudi

Present Chief Architect: Jordi Fauli

Former Chief Architects: Jordi Bonet, Francesc de Paula Quintana i Vidal, Isidre Puig i Boada, Lluís Bonet i Garí, , Francesc de Paula del Villar y Lozano

Deputy Chief Architects: Carles Buxadé, Joan Margarit, Josep Gómez Serrano

Technical Consultants: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Project Department: Jordi Coll, Andrés de Mesa

Sculptors: Etsuro Sotoo, Josep Maria Subirachs

Stained Glass: Joan Vila-Grau

Area: 4.500 m2

"Time is like a river in which events take place, a tumultuous river. As soon as something appears it vanishes and in its place there is something else which is already disappearing..."

Thinking about time these last days...

" always make it a practice to stir your own mind thoroughly to think through what you have easily believed. your position is not really yours until you make it yours through suffering and study. the author or speaker from which you learn the most is not the one who teaches you something you didn't know before, but the one who helps you take a truth with which you have quietly struggled, give it expression, and speak it clearly and boldly. " --- Oswald Chambers

*** sorry, i can't visit your streams yet... hopefully over the weekend i can... :)

http://www.tashkeel.org/

As an artist you should articulate your innermost thoughts through a creative voice that can speak as loud as words. Through your art you may use your voice to express a very personal reflection or observation, or you may wish to make a social comment, a response to worldwide events or even a proposed solution to specific issues. We are looking to you to provoke a silent conversation through an artwork that may be created in any medium that best describes this theme.

"For a relationship with landscape to be lasting, it must be reciprocal. At the level at which the land supplies our food, this is not difficult to comprehend, and the mutuality is often recalled in a grace at meals. At the level at which landscape seems beautiful or frightening to us and leaves us affected, or at the level at which it furnishes us with the metaphors and symbols with which we pry

into mystery, the nature of reciprocity is harder to define. In approaching the land with an attitude of obligation, willing to observe courtesies difficult to articulate - perhaps only a gesture of the hands - one establishes a regard from which dignity can emerge. From that dignified relationship with the land, it is possible to imagine an extension of dignified relationships throughout one's life. Each relationship is formed of the same integrity, which initially makes the mind say: the things in the land fit together perfectly, even though they are always changing. I wish the order of my life to be arranged in the same way I find the light, the slight movement of the wind, the voice of a bird, the heading of a seed pod I see before me. This impeccable and indisputable integrity I want in myself."

~Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

“Everything shifts as you move, and different things come into focus at different points of your life, and you try to articulate that.”

.

Agricola adsiduo primum satiatus aratro

Cantavit certo rustica verba pede

Et satur arenti primum est modulatus avena

Carmen, ut ornatos diceret ante deos...

.

Italia - Florencia - Galería Uffizi

ENGLISH

The Uffizi Gallery is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of the largest and best known in the world and holds a collection of priceless works, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance.

After the ruling house of Medici died out, their art collections were gifted to the city of Florence under the famous Patto di famiglia negotiated by Anna Maria Luisa, the last Medici heiress. The Uffizi is one of the first modern museums. The gallery had been open to visitors by request since the sixteenth century, and in 1765 it was officially opened to the public, formally becoming a museum in 1865.

Today, the Uffizi is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Florence and one of the most visited art museums in the world.

The building of Uffizi complex was begun by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo I de' Medici so as to accommodate the offices of the Florentine magistrates, hence the name uffizi, "offices". The construction was later continued by Alfonso Parigi and Bernardo Buontalenti; it was completed in 1581. The top floor was made into a gallery for the family and their guests and included their collection of Roman sculptures.

The cortile (internal courtyard) is so long, narrow and open to the Arno at its far end through a Doric screen that articulates the space without blocking it, that architectural historians[8] treat it as the first regularized streetscape of Europe. Vasari, a painter and architect as well, emphasised its perspective length by adorning it with the matching facades' continuous roof cornices, and unbroken cornices between storeys, as well as the three continuous steps on which the palace-fronts stand. The niches in the piers that alternate with columns of the Loggiato filled with sculptures of famous artists in the 19th century.

The Uffizi brought together under one roof the administrative offices and the Archivio di Stato, the state archive. The project was intended to display prime art works of the Medici collections on the piano nobile; the plan was carried out by his son, Grand Duke Francesco I. He commissioned the architect Buontalenti to design the Tribuna degli Uffizi that would display a series of masterpieces in one room, including jewels; it became a highly influential attraction of a Grand Tour. The octagonal room was completed in 1584.

Over the years, more sections of the palace were recruited to exhibit paintings and sculpture collected or commissioned by the Medici. For many years, 45 to 50 rooms were used to display paintings from the 13th to 18th century.

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

ESPAÑOL

La Galería Uffizi es un palacio y museo en Florencia que contiene una de las más antiguas y famosas colecciones de arte del mundo, siendo la pinacoteca más frecuentada de Italia.

La construcción del palacio de los Uffizi fue comenzada en 1560 por Giorgio Vasari, siguiendo órdenes de Cosme I de Médici. Su finalidad inicial era albergar las oficinas de las magistraturas florentinas, una vez que quedó pequeño el Palazzo Vecchio. De esta función deriva su nombre de «Galería de las Oficinas». Las obras terminaron en 1581. Durante años, partes del palacio sirvieron para almacenar las piezas de arte de la magnífica colección de la familia Médici.

Ante la extinción de la dinastía Médici en el siglo XVIII, las obras de arte corrieron el riesgo de ser transferidas a Viena, ya que el ducado de Florencia pasó a ser dominio austríaco. Sin embargo, la última duquesa Ana María había decretado la permanencia de la colección en Florencia al donárselas en su testamento al pueblo de Florencia, siendo el embrión de unos de los primeros museos modernos del mundo. La galería era abierta a los visitantes que lo solicitaban durante el siglo XVI y en 1765 abrió oficialmente al público como museo.

I am not articulate enough to express how it felt watching this dance across the sky. We were extremely lucky and a couple of nights we had really strong shows

There is a legend in Austria about black cats and wine. It goes like this...once upon a time a servant was always sneaking into the wine cellar to drink from the barrel of the best wine. The owner of the wine set a black cat upon the barrel to scare away the servant. So, it became a tradition in wine cellars to find a black cat sitting on the best barrel. This black cat statue is in the Loisium Wine Cellar tour in Langenlois, Austria. (very dark in those tunnels).

Another version of the legend is that fermenting wine creates heat and the cats like to sit on the warm barrel. The warmest barrel has the sweetest wine.

Cheers! Zum Wohl!

One of most depressing elements of the decline of Detroit is the waste of perfectly serviceable buildings. I understand the difficulty in finding new uses for huge factories. Pittsburgh, for example, effectively cleared many of their old steel mills. It is buildings such as old schools, houses and community centers whose abandondment and destruction through negelect that stresses me the most. Apologists might say there is no one left to occupy these relics. True, but it is clear little- if any- effort has been made to preserve these structures. They are a sign of an illness. Often when people are depressed they stop caring for themselves. Their house and surroundings become a visual representation of their mental state. That is what we have here, on a large scale.

"our advantage as human beings lies in our power to speak, to articulate a nebulous world into meaningful words and phrases. G–d spoke and the world came into being. we speak and bring it into focus.

our words are the camera that determines reality: according to how we focus, so our world will be. with a small breath of air, we determine whether it is beauty that sprouts from the earth, or monsters growing as large as our imagination.

true, there is a time for all things--even a time to speak in negative terms, to make clear that something is wrong and needs correcting. but there is a caveat to negative words. for if they do not reach their goal, their bitterness still remains.

speak good words, kind words, words of wisdom, words of encouragement. like gentle rain upon a dormant field. eventually, they will coax the seeds beneath the soil to life."

~tzvi freeman

(this part is from my husband)

*** i really like parts of this...makes me think of you and the way you use your camera to capture what is good and true all around us.

luv you,

m ***

"love hurts. feelings are disturbing. people are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. how can they deal with love if they're afraid to feel? pain is meant to wake us up. people try to hide their pain. but they're wrong. pain is something to carry, like a radio. you feel your strength in the experience of pain. it's all in how you carry it. that's what matters. pain is a feeling. your feelings are a part of you. your own reality. if you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you're letting society destroy your reality. you should stand up for your right to feel your pain.”

~ jim morrison, lead singer of the doors

"Mary, did you know

that your baby boy

would one day walk on water

Mary did you know

that your baby boy

would save our sons and daughters

did you know

that your baby boy

has come to make you new

this child that you delivered

will soon deliver you... Mary did you know... "

--- Lea Salonga - from her Christmas album

*** i woke up with this song singing in my head... it is Christmas eve! we must thank Mama Mary for saying yes to God's will... :)