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Because you cannot always wear heals! We were supposed to fly kites but did not end up having the time, but it was still a relief to put these on for a few minutes and rest my feet - and I will wear these to splash in puddles for years to come!
Got up at 5am to see a Capercaillie, saw two. Then I saw this guy, I liked him more cause he lives upside down.
Presumably because they were rather blocking the way outside the station, the press seem now to have set up shop on the other side of the road, seen here in the evening sun.
The flower bouquets have also been moved to a space next to Boots.
The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale that was published by L. C. H. The card has a divided back.
Enemy artillery during the Great War targeted churches, cathedrals and other tall buildings because of their value as observation posts. Shells aimed at churches which just missed their target tended to fall in the churchyards, throwing up gravestones, coffins and corpses.
'The Shell' by H. Smalley Sarson
'Shrieking its message the flying death
Cursed the resisting air,
Then buried its nose by a battered church,
A skeleton gaunt and bare.
The brains of science, the money of fools
Had fashioned an iron slave
Destined to kill, yet the futile end
Was a child's uprooted grave'.
Abba Eban
"History teaches us that men and
nations behave wisely when they
have exhausted all other alternatives".
This was said during a speech in London UK on 16th. December 1970 by Abba Eban (1915-2002), an Israeli diplomat and writer.
Visé Paris
The reference to 'Visé Paris' means that the image has been inspected by the military authorities in the French capital and deemed not to be a security risk.
'Visé Paris' signifies that the card was published during or soon after the end of the Great War.
Vermandovillers
Vermandovillers is a commune in the Somme département in Hauts-de-France in northern France. It is situated 26 miles (42 km) east of Amiens.
A Great War Battle at Vermandovillers
A German attack occurred on the 24th. September 1914. It was partially blocked by the 75th. Infantry Regiment at Vermandovillers’ Etoilé woods near to Herleville.
The front was stabilised for two years until the spearhead attack of the 4th. September 1916 at edge of Etoilé woods. The attack had been assigned to the 132nd. Division of the 10th. Army, against heavily concreted machine gun bunkers that the Germans had been building for 2 years.
The battle ended on the 9th. September 1916 because of lack of troops. The 158th., the 366th. Infantry Regiment and the 1st. Battalion Chasseurs showed exemplary conduct and suffered heavy losses.
Between the 4th. and 9th. September 1916, the 86th. Brigade lost 1,071 men, the 264th. Brigade lost 1,513 and 108th. Brigade 1,580.
These figures account for the fact that within a 5 kilometre (3 mile) radius around Vermandovillers, there are buried 1,261 French soldiers. 22,632 German soldiers lie in the Vermandovillers German war cemetery, including the writers Reinhard Johannes Sorge and Alfred Lichtenstein.
In the Somme there are 410 Commonwealth cemeteries,
22 French Military cemeteries and 14 German cemeteries.
The largest of them is the German cemetery situated on the
French front at Vermandovillers. 10,000 men were laid to rest under black crosses; the remainder were buried in 15 mass graves.
The British are not counted because although many were killed in the fighting, they are buried mainly near the Villers–Bretonneux Australian National Memorial.
A Poem About the Battle of the Somme
'It was 1916 on the 1st of July
That artillery and smoke blackened the sky.
Shots rang out and men fell dead,
The sky was black, while the ground was red.
To battle the Germans the French and British had come,
To the bloodiest fight of the War, The Battle of the Somme.
While artillery rained down on the German side
The allies swallowed their fear and stood with pride.
Waiting to be ordered over the top,
To run without question, don’t look back and don’t stop.
But this is when the slaughter started,
Machine guns screamed out as bodies and limbs became parted.
Fifty-eight thousand casualties in one single day
‘A necessary loss’ the Generals would say.
‘We will rest for now and recommence tomorrow
No time for the men to indulge in their sorrow’
So they readied the next batch of men for the slaughter,
Would they fare better when faced with the mortars?
The answer to this question was obviously no
As the casualty counts continued to grow.
For every single centimetre of ground that was taken
The lives of two men were sadly forsaken.
And so the battle waged on and on,
The bloodiest battle of World War One.
Yet as they made progress towards German lines,
The allies had one thing in the front of their minds.
For the Germans had a weapon the allies had yet to discover
One that would find men even if they took cover.
As the allied assault drew nearer and nearer
The time to use this weapon had never been clearer.
The little grey canisters flew through the air
Giving the allied forces more than a scare.
The men now engaged in a fight for their lives,
They could not protect themselves with their guns or their knives.
Their only weapon now was a mask
But fitting it in time was a very hard task.
‘Gas, Gas!’ some men would cry
Most had masks, the rest would die.
Their screams could be heard as they approached their death,
Blood curdled in their lungs as they drew their last breath.
Eventually their eyes would roll back in their head
And with a final twitch and spasm they lay still, dead.
And so the battle waged on and on,
The bloodiest battle of World War One.
Even with the threat of the German gas,
It was time for a final allied assault to mass.
And with this Britain unveiled their tank
When the battle ended they had this to thank.
It stormed over No-Man’s Land, through German wire,
The Germans shook in fear as it prepared to fire.
For the British troops it opened the way,
For the deaths of their comrades the Germans would pay.
And the German death count grew and grew
As the allied assault continued to break through.
And though the fighting had not ended,
The morale of the allies began to get mended.
They pushed with valor towards their objective,
With a new vigour the Germans had not expected.
Although the enemy held, and did not retreat
This battle is viewed as a German defeat.
It was 1916 on the 21st of November
That the five month long battle was finally over.
No shots rang out but thousands were dead,
The sky was still black, the ground was stained red.
To battle the Germans the French and British had come,
To the bloodiest fight of the War, The Battle of the Somme'.
The Use of Artillery in the Great War
Artillery was very heavily used by both sides during the Great War. The British fired over 170 million artillery rounds of all types, weighing more than 5 million tons - that's an average of around 70 pounds (32 kilos) per shell.
If the 170m rounds were on average two feet long, and if they were laid end to end, they would stretch for 64,394 miles (103,632 kilometres); the line would go round the equator over two and a half times. If the artillery of the Central Powers of Germany and its allies is factored in, the figure can be doubled to 5 encirclements of the planet.
During the first two weeks of the Third Battle of Ypres, over 4 million rounds were fired at a cost of over £22,000,000 - a huge sum of money, especially over a century ago.
Artillery was the killer and maimer of the war of attrition.
According to Dennis Winter's book 'Death's Men' three quarters of battle casualties were caused by artillery rounds. According to John Keegan ('The Face of Battle') casualties were:
- Bayonets - less than 1%
- Bullets - 30%
- Artillery and Bombs - 70%
Keegan suggests however that the ratio changed during advances, when massed men walking line-abreast with little protection across no-man's land were no match for for rifles and fortified machine gun emplacements.
Many artillery shells fired during the Great War failed to explode. Drake Goodman provides the following information on Flickr:
"During World War I, an estimated one tonne of explosives was fired for every square metre of territory on the Western front. As many as one in every three shells fired did not detonate. In the Ypres Salient alone, an estimated 300 million projectiles that the British and the German forces fired at each other were "duds", and most of them have not been recovered."
To this day, large quantities of Great War matériel are discovered on a regular basis. Many shells from the Great War were left buried in the mud, and often come to the surface during ploughing and land development.
For example, on the Somme battlefields in 2009 there were 1,025 interventions, unearthing over 6,000 pieces of ammunition weighing 44 tons.
Artillery shells may or may not still be live with explosive or gas, so the bomb disposal squad, of the Civilian Security of the Somme, dispose of them.
A huge mine under the German lines did not explode during the battle of Messines in 1917. The mine, containing several tons of ammonal and gun cotton, was triggered by lightning in 1955, creating an enormous crater.
The precise location of a second mine which also did not explode is unknown. Searches for it are not planned, as they would be too expensive and dangerous. For more on this, please search for "Cotehele Chapel"
The Somme Times
From 'The Somme Times', Monday, 31 July, 1916:
'There was a young girl of the Somme,
Who sat on a number five bomb,
She thought 'twas a dud 'un,
But it went off sudden -
Her exit she made with aplomb!'
Because of power plant accident, Japan is short of electricity.
We started scheduled blackouts at east coast.
Shibuya is not the area of blackout, but people want to save energy.
A toilet plunger is affixed to the wall in the gents toilet at Kings Cafe in Toronto - and no, I am not responsible!
One plausible explanation is someone wanted to use it as a toilet roll dispenser. Another explanation isn't worth repeating here. But the most probable explanation is 'because it was there'.
#342 - Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, Coastal Cabana & Midnight Muse
#195 - Sketch
#29 - Mother (By the way ...today is my Mom's Birthday.)
craftybootschallenges.blogspot.com/
Butterfly
#251 - Feminine
Stitched Die : SimonSaysStamp
Square Die : Lifestyle Crafts
Butterfly Die : SU
Background : Hero Arts
Sentiment : SU
I never wanted to be a fireman, but if I had, I think I'd rather have been a cool one, in Trumpton, than a cheesy Hollywood one in Backdraft.
I think I've solved the mystery of Kidderminster and why it is like it is. I don't have any problem in getting my hands dirty and ruffling a few feathers occasionally, so playing with stuff like depth psychology, for example, isn't a problem. The advertising industry are quick enough to use it, so why shouldn't I, so long as I don't end up doing to people and places what they're clearly capable of doing.
But now that I think I understand Kidderminster and the people, here, miles better, I can pull back from thinking so hard about the place and its culture. Probably wise, as well. It's hard to imagine keeping on thinking the type of stuff I think you need to think to figure some things out. And now that's done and the fire I had to go into is out, I can chill a bit and even empathise to a certain extent with the situation and the people here and maybe just let it be.
It is a mess, this town, and that mess runs pretty deep, but I think I've got a good idea what could fix it. The problem I knew before I even started playing this latest game of 'reform or die' is that not enough people here would even begin to listen to me, anyway, I don't think, especially not in the long-term, when you think of information, networks and power, in context.
Officials in the town, then, think that the culture and mindset here haven't progressed since the 1500s. I can't verify that, but I do get a sense, after really thinking hard about the issues around the town, that these issues have been around for a long time and will probably continue for a long time.
I met Rob in a pub across town. Rob was into sociology and psychology in the 80s. He really believed in making a difference, back then, as a few of us did who went into education. He was a great guy, a really great guy. Today, I spoke with him and I realised that while he's still a good guy in many ways, he's not the Rob I knew in the 80s. Our minds and our eyes didn't connect as much as they once did. Nowhere near. You might say 'that's life', but it's not. It's the result of a bullshit mainstream culture that doesn't value life as it should.
Take my former friend. He recently came to Nero's trying, yet again, his evident skills at misinformation and manipulation, trying hard to make them work so he doesn't face up to the man he's been for a long time. This guy's got a supposed passion for open source software and a picture by his fireplace of Fonda and Hopper in their prime in Easy Rider. I think he's the biggest fraud I've ever met, by a long stretch, a disturbing character, now. The lies are so tragic.
But there's a story. Isn't there ever? It's a story I can't tell here, but, in Nero's, I looked as deep as I could into his eyes and I knew, that the friend I'd had since my teenage years wasn't there any more. The personality he once had was effectively dead. Pretty shocking experience, but evidence from elsewhere in the community is compelling and quite a few people talk about how there's something very wrong about this guy that points to an individual who surrounds himself with a myth while he'll almost certainly try anything he can, like people have confirmed he has done to me before, to simply avoid admitting what he's become. And he'll try to do it at my expense, partly because I confronted and exposed him.
Even though it's a painful experience, it's a good one, that, in a way, in seeing self-interest at perhaps one of its extremes, demonstrating what unscrupulous people can do with information and networks for what ends. That said, you've still got to try to get your head around that especially when you lose people in such ways. Such knowledge can have a big influence in your own psychosocial well-being. That situation will continue, but I understand it and I can deal with his behaviour unless he incites people to violence. I don't rule it out, but I'm not going to let that worry me, because there's nothing I could do about it, anyway. If it happens, it happens, sort of thing. It's just part and parcel of having once had a friend who's become something I don't particularly want to remember.
I expect many of the dramas in Kidderminster to continue. Just because, like with my former friend, I think I have a level of understanding of this town that's comprehensive and accurate, partly because I put the effort in to actually find out stuff and think effectively about it, that doesn't solve the problems of this town. Nowhere near.
There's probably loads of ways to look at a solution to put the main fires out in Kidderminster. I think the one that really takes out the problem is to get people to understand who they are in context and understand their environment in context. There's complications in achieving that, but they're not insurmountable. I've done it and, partly because I'm not perfect, I think if I can do it, pretty much everyone can, with the right information, communicstion and relationships. I'm certain that you can forget the other proposed solutions you hear off many people, or have them as icing on the cake, but let people find themselves beneath all the layers of bullshit in themselves and their environment and the rest will pretty much click into place, because really, really deep down, beneath all the psychosocial and cultural problems I can see in too many people, if you can get people to their core, you'll win them over.
That might never happen. I think mainstream culture has a lot to do with that and I'm sure that an effective social media strategy can be designed to tap into that.
But many people, I think, are also scared of examining themselves, partly because there's so much to prevent us from seeing ourselves in context, partly because no-one has attempted to really tell people the truth about how the mind can work in the face of it all and that it can be all cool if you really think about it.
I'm sure that'd have a knock-on effect, too. Sometimes, I'm pissed off and I can waste no time telling people they're thick. But I'm certain that this thickness is mainly down to people not being able to reach their full potential because the bullshit can so easily get in the way. That, compounded by so many factors in mainstream culture is what needs to be looked at.
So, I think I've slain the Jabberwock in Salem, the main fire is out in Kidderminster and I'm all cool again, till my next mission, whatever that is. You never know what's coming next, but whatever comes next in this town, I know, if I so choose, I can see and place it in the broader context it needs to be seen in. So, maybe I really will, now, have the ability to enjoy my coffee and fag at Caffe-Fucking-Nero, even though it's easily the craziest and most bizarre place I have ever been.
Be careful out there...
Tóm tắt truyện:
Lần đầu tiên mình viết truyện có gì sai xót mong m.ng` góp ý chân thành!!! Có gì sai thì m.ng` bỏ qua cko t/giả nha!!!^^.
GIỚI THIỆU NHÂN VẬT
********Girl*********
*Lâm Hạ Băng(nó): 1 cô bé bình thường nhưng lại mang 1 nét đáng yêu không thể tả, với đôi má phúng phính và 2 má lúm đồng tiền. Nó sở hữu 1 cặp mắt to tròn đen lay láy khiế ng` ta chú ý. Đạt đc học bổng có 1-0-2 vào học viện Royal nổi tiếng vs số điểm cao ngất ngưởng. Nó sở hữu 1 giọng hát trời cho cực kì hay, là 1 cô bé hiền hậu nhưng lại rất mạnh mẽ. Hay khóc vì chuyện gia đình, rất thương em trai mình.
*Phạm Hà Trúc(nhỏ): là bạn thân của nó, cô là 1 con ng` hồn nhiên nhưng lại pha 1 chút tinh nghịch, hết lòng vì bạn thân của mình.Hoàn cảnh gia đình giống nó, học cực kì giỏi(sau nó). Khóc hay cười vs nhỏ chỉ là chuyện đơn giản(là thật hết nhé!!! Ko phải giả đâu). Cũng giành đc học bổng vào Royal, lun bị ng` khác khinh thường vì hoàn cảnh gia đình
*Lê Phương Trinh(ả): Là con gái của 1 tập đòan khá có tiếng, sở hữu 1 gương mặt khá là xinh, suốt ngày chỉ lo làm đẹp và đi bar quậy phá. Có tính cảm vs hắn lun làm sự chú ý tới hắn nhưng hắn ko quan tâm. Rất ư là ghét nó vs nhỏ, lun tìm cách hại nó!!! Là nhóm trưởng nhóm tam tiểu thư của trg`
*Hàn Phương Linh(cô): Là chị gái của hắn, 1 con ng` vô cùng xinh đẹp, rất hiền hậu và có khuôn mặt khá giống nó. Cô có 1 chuyện tình cảm khá bùn trong quá khứ, rất quý nó và có cảm tình vs nó ngay từ lần đầu tiên. Thương hắn và koi hắn là ng` quan trọng
************Boy************
*Hàn Lãnh Phong(hắn): thiếu gia và là ng` thừa kế của tập đoàn Royal đứng nhì Châu á, sở hữu 1 khuôn mặt vô cùng handsome vs làn da trắng như con gái, cơ bụng 6múi, mái tóc màu bạch kim che phủ xún dưới, đôi mắt màu xám tro lạnh lẽo. Tính tình hơi nóng, ngang ngược, mún cái gì là phải có.
*Hoàng Minh Khải(cậu): là bn thân của hắn, mang trên mình dòng máu Việt-Hàn. Nếu như nói hắn mang vẻ đẹp của băng tuyết thì cậu lại mang vẻ lãng tử. Là 1 ng` nho nhã, thích chơi Piano hay qan tâm bn bè. Thành viên tứ đại hoàng tử.
*Trần Lăng Hạo: cũng là bn thân của hắn, anh này tuy đã là ng` lớn nhưng lại mang khuôn mặt búng sữa, đôi mắt màu xanh đặc biệt. Anh này tính tình như con nít lun chọc tức hắn. Thành viên tứ đại hoàng tử
*Cao Thế Đạt: Bn thân hắn, anh này cũng very handsome, thay bồ như thay áo. 1 ng` quen anh ko quá 1 tuần, lúc nao cũng có ng` đẹp bên cạnh(đào hoa phếch^^). Thành viên tứ đại hoàng tử
VĂN ÁN:
Nó:1 cô bé hiền hậu
Hắn: 1 ng` ngang ngược tàn nhẫn
Nó-hắn: 2 ng` nhưng đều mang 1 suy nghĩ
Nó-hắn: Cùng có 1 hoàng cảnh gia đình
………..
Nó lạc mất ba mẹ lúc 6 tuổi và mất toàn bộ kí ức, dc 1 gia đình nghèo nhận nuôi và từ đó nó sống vs thân phận mới. Học tại học viện Royal nó đã dần khám phá đc bí mật ………
P/s: tớ sẽ up chuyện đủ ko bỏ chap âu nè!!!
Tks các bn đã đọc.
*******Thân
Bắp :-) *********
called and said
"you're still doon' it wrong."
Also,
last night, one of my 80s
fashion revival lamentations
was finally put to rest as Jenn,
Jolene and I witnessed a
guy wearing bright red
parachute pants enter
The Big Top.
I think I might've let out a little
yip followed by a "Finally!".
Viva la parachute pants!
Jolene made a good
point in that linebacker shoulderpads
a la Dynasty are still MIA, but I think
perhaps some things are best kept
locked up in the decade from whence
they came.
Because of their strength, eagles have been a symbol of war and imperial power since Babylonian times.
Maybe it's because I'm adopted that I'm really interested in genes, or what they do to us.
Freya, nearly ten, is my daughter, Billie-Mae's sister, but Freya has a different mum who has red hair. I have blond hair. Both girls have identical red hair. Both parents have to have the recessive red gene to create a redhead. What's the odds?
Anyway, back to the outfits. Billie-Mae is doing a Rock chick thing with cool black shiny jeans & thrifted 'Bally' booties that I just gave her, a 'Little Miss Giggles' tee shirt, a knitted beret from 'Sportsgirl' & an oversized scarf & blue plastic sunglasses.
I'm wearing a totally thrifted ensemble which isn't too exciting because I'm waiting for Spring which should have Sprung but hasn't.
Caves Beach, NSW
When Mother Nature doesn't perform, you just have to make the best of what you have got!
It's a couple of days late because I ran into a few technical snags, but I finally have the entire playsuit finished. The skirt turned out much differently than anticipated, as the finished garment is not at all the shape of the illustration. It's a much narrower A-line, and in the end looks a lot more '70s than what I was originally going for. I left it the longer midi-length partially in keeping with that style, and while it's a bit too much fabric for me when worn with the blouse, it looks really cute with the halter top.
Because of the great fire wall of Chinese policy, it's so hard to cross the limit to visit flickr, so I could not reply my dear friends, I'm so sorry about that and please forgive me,thank you so much and hope my friends can still hit on me！由于中国网络原因，访问flickr很困难，速度很慢，所有暂时没有办法一一回应各位好友，请朋友们见谅！还请各位好友继续关注我！
My pro account is out of time，thank you my friends here for supporting me what a long time！！May I have a pleasure to receive a pro gift from you？我的pro账号到期了，感谢朋友们长期以来的热心支持！！有好心人能赞助一个pro账号给我吗，在此先表感谢！！
If you want to use or buy this image，please contact me. 版权所有，转载请联系本人。
GG05-2017-0164
May 16, 2017
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Her Excellency Sharon Johnston delivered remarks at the 2017 Because Mothers Matter Awards presented by Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) Canada, during a ceremony at the Embassy of France, in Ottawa, on May 16, 2017. Her Excellency is a patron of HIPPY Canada.
The 2017 recipients were Ms. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau as well as two HIPPY Mothers: Mayssa Haj Ali, a refugee mother from HIPPY Ottawa, and Tracy Joseph, an Aboriginal HIPPY mother from Vancouver.
Credit: Sgt Johanie Maheu, Rideau Hall, OSGG
This is a classic Crème Patisserie often used in bakeries and restaurants. It can be used as a filling for cakes, tarts or pastries. To make a lighter filling,
500ml milk
4 tablespoons caster sugar
2 egg yolks
1 egg
4 tablespoons cornflour
1 tesco Edler's Sweet Pastry Case
79p
Tesco Organic Strawberries (300g)
£1.99
HOME MADE crème pâtissière...
5 tablespoons caster sugar
25g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation method
1.In a heavy saucepan, stir together the milk and 4 tablespoons sugar. Bring to the boil over medium heat.
2.In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and egg. Stir together the remaining sugar and cornflour; then stir them into the egg until smooth. When the milk comes to the boil, drizzle it into the bowl in a thin stream while mixing so that you do not cook the eggs. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and slowly bring to the boil, stirring constantly so the eggs don't curdle or scorch on the bottom.
3.When the mixture comes to the boil and thickens, remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla, mixing until the butter is completely blended in. Pour into a heat-proof container and place a piece of cling film directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled before using.
AFTER DECORATING FLAN TOP WITH GLAZE
home made glaze
arrowroot
water
sugar
drip of colouring optional
boil cool
dress flan
boil cool
Today I did a little bit of trespassing and explored where once the houses of our neighbours stood.
Most of the houses in my old street are being destroyed, just because some investor didn't keep his promise to renovate them, neglected them long enough for politicians to let him do as he always wanted, destroy it all and replace it with ugly modern buildings.
The money grabbing builder promises to restore the houses.... then takes so much time the buildings fall apart and then a politician quickly sneaks permission by the council to demolish the lot.
I bet that that was what they wanted all along.
Luckily my mother refused to be bought and is staying in her house, or that would now be going as well.
Highly depressing to see my childhood neighbourhood destroyed, even though architects, investors, politicians and city planners have been raping and destroying one of the last original Victorian Station-neighbourhoods since the 1970s, it is still a shame to see some of the last visions of that past go.
Responsible for this crime against history are the Geste company and politician Norder, one being the money grabbing criminal, the other the negligent politician.
I wanted to make a stop in Dunfermline, Scotland because Robert the Bruce's body is buried at the abbey (though his heart is buried at Melrose Abbey. My mother was a Bruce so who knows? We could be related.
The staple industry of Dunfermline is the manufacture of table-linens, and in this department it has almost no rival. The weaving of damask was introduced into the town in 1718 by a Mr James Blake, who had succeeded in getting possession of the jealously guarded secret in workshops at Drumsheugh, near Edinburgh, to which he obtained access by feigning idiocy.
Robert 1 of Scotland (i.e. Robert the Bruce) died on 7 June 1329, at the Manor of Cardross, near Dumbarton. He had suffered for some years from what some contemporary accounts describe as an "unclean ailment". The traditional view is that this was leprosy, but this was not mentioned in contemporary accounts, and is now disputed with syphilis, psoriasis, motor neurone disease and a series of strokes all proposed as possible alternatives.
His body lies buried in Dunfermline Abbey, but according to a death bed decree Sir James Douglas removed and carried his heart 'against the enemies of the name of Christ' , in Moorish Granada, Spain to atone for his murder of John Comyn in the church of Greyfriars in Dumfries. Douglas carried the King’s heart in a casket of which Sir Symon of Locard (Lockhart) carried the key. The decree overrode an earlier written request, dated 13 May 1329 Cardross, that his heart be buried in the monastery at Melrose. Douglas was killed in an ambush whilst carrying out the decree. On realising his imminent death Douglas is said to have thrown the casket containing Bruce's heart ahead of him and shouted "Onward Braveheart, Douglas shall follow thee or die." According to legend (Fordun Annals), the heart was later recovered by Sir William Keith and taken back to Scotland to be buried at Melrose Abbey, in Roxburghshire, following his earlier decree. In 1920 the heart was discovered by archaeologists and was reburied, but the location was not marked. In 1996, a casket was unearthed during construction work. Scientific study by AOC archaeologists in Edinburgh, demonstrated that it did indeed contain a human heart and it was of appropriate age. It was reburied in Melrose Abbey in 1998, pursuant to the dying wishes of the King.
My Favourite SL, why, because it got the 5 Speed MANUAL gearbox and its not and automatic, inline 6 cylinder engine and rear wheel config, a drivers car. Very rare too as a Manual, this is the 1st and only i have seen in England, however they (5 Speed Manuals) are more common in Europe
Whats the world record for most excuses for a bad picture on flickr? Because I'm about to set it, lol.
First off, my girlfriend ordered new wheels and lugs, and i grabbed her car while she was at work today and went and had the new wheels mounted. We're heading out thursday towards Jacksonville, for a Scion Car Show.
On to the excuses:
1. I hate shooting cars.
2. I hate HDR
3. I hate bright sunlight.
4. I hate forgetting my tripod
5. I hate forgetting my polarizer.
6. I hate this location.
7. I hate not being able to edit.
8. I hate being lazy.
8 things. Thats not too bad, right?
Anyways. I think the wheels make her car look alot better, the dark bronze looks good on the dark grey, it looks good with the drop she has, and they are 1 inch wider then stock so it'll provide a little better traction/handling.
Tuesday 22nd October 2019
Before leaving Morgan City, we booked up our hotel for the next two nights. Jools chose Port Arthur. I assumed it was because it was beside the seaside. Or something.
Before hitting the road, we have breakfast, which included the young Jelltex trying to operate the automatic pancake making machine. Two minutes later, two small well cooked pancakes dropped onto a Styrofoam plate, which my plastic knife and fork struggled to cut.
The coffee was good though.
All our dirty laundry is in one case, the clean in the other, meaning we only have to carry one case when we check in now.
We load the car, Jools programs the sat nav, and we set off towards the interstate.
It was a glorious morning, so glorious we managed to work out how to open the sun roof on the car, so that a cool fresh breeze kept us chilly. But we stuck with it, as it nearly November and was sunny. It looked like summer and we were going to enjoy it!
We drove up through fields criss-crossed with ditches and dikes, passing through places like Baldwin, Jeanerette, New Iberia. Passing through identakit towns with strip malls, fast food joints and filling stations all looking the same. Sigh.
And then we join I10. The day was warmer, and carried on heading west, travelling across farmland barely abover the water table, but crops of sugarcane, rice all looking very healthy. Trucks carried away harvested cane for processing. We drove on.
Lake Charles had a very fine lake, called Charles I believe, and a huge bridge which the interstate leapt over yet another canal big enough for ocean-going liners to get up.
And after another half an hour we left Louisiana and entered Texas.
Wish us well.
Not quite sure what happened to the road, but it went from being wide and straight to narrowed laned and twisting and turning. Caught me by surprise, but as traffic was light, my poor lane management caused no issues.
We turned off to go south towards Port Arthur. The road went over yet another canal on a pair of stupidly high bridges, so high, Jools took shots.
A ten minute run down a busy road brought us to our hotel, La Quinta, a chain, but reasonable. Our room wasn't ready. Not surprising at it was only half twelve.
What to do?
I looked at the map, and it showed a nature reserve called Texas Point. I programmed it in, and off we went.
After a while, the road went through the middle of an oil terminal. Very odd indeed, the pipes, pillars and cables reached over and under the road, the air was thick with the smell of chemicals.
Out the other side, and the road ran beside yet another canal, and more oil refineries type places until we were in open country. On the right hand side, reeds stretched out of sight, but again, the water was lapping at the edge of the road.
At the main junction, there was a diner.
We were hungry. Shall we go in?
We shall.
Tammie's diner ran from a caravan, or whatever one is called over here. After the food is cooked, there is a covered area to sit. Food is good, plentiful and cheap.
Grackles wait to hoover up the leftovers. These are the American version of magpies; slightly smaller, all black, but in sunshine their feathers have a blue iridescence. They are smart as heck, later I would watch on go round to the front of cars picking off dead flies to eat, so much protein with little effort.
Ten more miles down the road brought us to Sea Rim State Park.
The air had been thick with dragonflies up to this point, but here there were dozens, hundreds on the wing, feeding (we found out later) on mosquitoes. Now, mosquitoes can smell the blood of a Jelltex from miles off, now here I was in their back garden, it would be messy.
It was about twenty five degrees, a stiff breeze blew, meaning that the dragonflies didn't settle, making photography almost impossible. I tried to snap them on the wing, but the camera was having none of it.
But there were Monarch butterflies about, and snapping one of those is always great.
After a couple of hours, we were done, so drove back to the hotel so we could check in and see what had happened in the world.
The room is large and comfortable, wifi is fairly fast, and there is free coffee in the lobby. Ticks most of the boxes.
Thing about modern America is that walking anywhere is impossible. There are food places around, but you have to cross about six lanes of traffic on three roads to get there.
And then there was boudain.
My friend, John, who lives in Houston told me i had to try boudain when I was here. We had seen the lace he recommended on the way over that morning, but ten was too early for lunch. So, I did a google search, and found a place nearby.
The sat nav took us to a convenience store in the middle of a neighbourhood, we went in but was just a store. We found out the kitchen closed at six, 15 minutes before.
Damn.
I did a search on the sat nav, and there was The Boudain Hut. The other side of town.
We set off.
You know that scene when the Blues Brothers walk into that country and western bar? That was us, in some honky tonk roadhouse on the edge of town.
They were very understanding, I have boudain balls (!) which was rather like Dutch croquets, but OK, not worth hunting round town for an hour for though.
The Boudain Hut, Port Arthur, Texas They were setting up for some kind of karaoke, so we paid and left.
Then back to the hotel at dusk, with the colour that you only get in Hollywood movies. All orange on the horizon and dark, dark blue above.
Purdey.
We get some beers on the way back, then once in the room, pop open one each as we listened to the radio.
Days to do, getting few. Thoughts are turning to tasks when we get home. Real life always gets in the way!
Because I have to wait over three months to post them, I always forget to put up the illustrations I do for Legend of the Five Rings, ©AEG. This is the reworked piece heavily modified in Adobe Photoshop. I love painting in watercolor, but because of the tastes of the current audience, I have been doing more and more of my fantasy work in this fully pixalated medium. Since I'm currently looking for more illustration work I be posting things like this more regularly.