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a bit of a flashback to last autumn on my roadtrip to portland: this is the eastern end of the alaska portion of the alaska highway before entering yukon (which you see on the horizon) just five miles from the u.s. customs station where i once worked.
24th February 2023
A pleasant stroll around Sheffield Park Gardens, even if it was a bit chilly.
The last couple of days of "Nellies Arctic Adventure Trail",
Sculptures of an ice cave, polar bear and icebergs, plus new for 2023 is a mammoth skeleton. The centrepieces of the trail, created by community artist, Roy Kelf, with the help of local community groups, are sculpted from recycled plastic containers.
Nellie’s Arctic Adventure brings to life the story of the remarkable Nellie Soames, former owner at Sheffield Park and one of the first women to venture into the Arctic.
Helen Agnes ‘Nellie’ Peel, the granddaughter of Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, was just 23 years old when she left London in 1893 aboard the steam-yacht Blencathra bound for the Arctic inspired by ‘youth and a love for adventure’.
Nellie’s link with Sheffield Park came in 1919 when she married owner Arthur Gilstrap Soames, the passionate plantsman who orchestrated much of the stunning spring and autumn colour in the Grade I Listed garden.
Sheffield Park has once again commissioned community artist, Roy Kelf, of Kelf Kreations, to create the centrepieces of the trail depicting the eccentric characters and glistening ice landscapes Nellie encountered on her Arctic adventure.
Kelf enlisted the help of young artists in a series of workshops at local primary schools to create the clever constructions, using his ingenious technique of repurposing used plastic containers. Highlights include the great polar bear and an ice cave in which to immerse the senses in the shimmering lights and sounds Nellie described so vividly in her account.
As well as delighting visitors of all ages, the sculptures carry an important message of sustainability and the preservation of places of natural beauty and historic interest for future generations
On 19th October 2024 the 'Eems Delf' (2007, 3,800DWT) arrives at Teignmouth on the top of the high spring tide with a draft of 5.2m with a transshipment cargo unusually loaded in Dublin.
By David Gilmour
Smile, it is the key that fits the lock of everybody’s heart.
- Anthony J. D’Angelo
My first try using studio lights.
Do view Large and on Black.
Have a nice day everyone :-)
Origami Lucky Star Bits. Folded for my mom for her birthday. Well, I folded her flowers and the stars are going to be the packing that gets them to her uncrushed.
Huh,I'm fed up with these final exams I've been giving for the past few days.Don't have much time for clicking :'(
Took this shot using reverse lens technique!!!
Have a great weekend everyone :-)
Press L and F11 to view large and on black!!!
"A Bit of Craic" 29x47cm
Painted onto metal found in a skip on Ravenhill Road, Belfast
Asbestos Boxing Club
Everybody still talks about 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland. But as I approached the Ligoniel Amateur Boxing Club in North Belfast on a cold November evening, I was at an advantage because I had no preconceived ideas as to whether the boxers were Protestant, Catholic or Hindu for that matter. I hadn't even thought about asking before that night, and as my visit wore on, I started to assume from their names that they were catholic (Sean, Joe, Paddy). You see, there's been so much conflict in Belfast over the last thirty or so years, that both communities have become isolated in their own suburbs. So for me, this boxing club in the suburbs in North Belfast and the men who give their time for free intrigued me.
I was introduced to this boxing club by the guys who run the Safehouse Gallery and on my way to Belfast on the train that day, the usual images and preconceptions of 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland came to mind. But I wasn't interested in adding to a landscape of film, painting and literature that couldn't escape the images of violence and division from the past. It was my intention to create a body of work focusing on people who're making a difference in their community despite all the shit that goes on around them.
I photographed the boxers training and sparring in Ligoniel Amateur Boxing Club (it's been on the go since 1971 and has been funded by the boxers and the community around Ligoniel) late one Wednesday evening. Upon arriving I was welcomed in by Eddie, who stood in the doorway eclipsed in the stark boxing hall light, his hand, decked out in gold rings reached out to greet me and welcome me into a club he's been volunteering in for over thirty years.
I got to know the guys from the club, each had a story, each had a reason to be drawn to boxing and the small club that was a home and a safe family. I came away from that club with a head full of stories and a meaningful idea for an exhibition in Belfast. My initial fear was that these guys would treat me with suspicion, but each was open and honest, happy to talk while I photographed.
The following day, I scoured the streets in different parts of Belfast for the signature yellow Ace Bates skips (he's the king of the Belfast skip world). I hoped that they might contain the detritus of the city; wood, metal and any other objects that told the cities history for me to paint on. I pulled pieces from skips in the Holy Land, the Shankill Road, the Lisburn Road and the Falls, then I hauled them home to the studio in Dublin to paint.
Back in Belfast on the night of the show, it was a very humbling experience for me to see each boxer come to see his portrait. It was singularly, the most rewarding and emotional moment in my entire art career. One boxer told me that it's usually "generals or dead politicians that get their portraits painted, not amateur boxers from north Belfast". But to me, these guys are the heroes of the community, they're the guys who keep the kids off the steets, training three nights a week, they're the guys who get screamed at by their wives "for volunteering more time at the club than at home". It was a privilege for me to spend time with and paint the portraits of these contemporary heroes.
The whole process was filmed by King Adz and will be online in the next couple of weeks at www.theartofasbestos.com
Hey, Flickr. Sorry for our not being around lately. Whimsy and I have been showing quite a bit this half of the year. We have been on the pursuit of Rally's top title RAE. 10 qualifying legs of both advanced B and excellent B. We have been doing well. These ribbons were awarded in the last two weeks. Leg 7 at Westmoreland County Obedience Dog Training Club and Leg 8 at Mt Nittany Dog Training Club. Both are WONDERFUL VENUES and have WONDERFUL MEMBERS.
We were blessed to receive the newly awarded High Combined ribbons at both venues. Whimsy and I really love rally. I was very humbled by these awards. The first place ribbon that Whimsy is sporting is from our round in Novice A Obedience where we got a 190/200. She decided to skip the first sits in both on and off leash heeling. She said that she is a Flat Coat and we can be a bit unpredictable. :)
We also got our TDI/CGC. I look forward to sharing her with those who can use a bit of her magic.
I just LOVE HER!!!! Did I say that loud enough!!!
“You know sometimes, life brings on its complications. It throws you an unexpected curve ball. That's what happened to me about 2 1/2 years ago when I was diagnosed with diabetes. Look at how well it turned. When I got out of the hospital that night, I made a commitment to myself that I wouldn't let it slow me down. And I'm here tonight to tell you, that it hasn't slowed me down. You know sometimes, you just need a little bit of hope. And sometimes you just need a friend. When I had one of those days when nothing was going my way about 6 months ago, so I sat down and wrote this song. So tonight, tonight this song, is for you. This song is for every broken heart and every lost friend. For every high and for every low. The day after I got out of the hospital, we did a show. A place called Bloomfield Avenue Café, about 10 minutes away from here. There was 100 people at that show. There's 15,000 here tonight and it sold out in 2 minutes. It hasn't slowed me down. So if you're out there tonight and you just need a little bit of hope, let me tell you something, I want you to sing this out with me right now. At the top of your lungs Joe, show them what to do with their hands. C'mon people! Sing it out!” --Nick Jonas
Question of the picture:
1.Isn't Nick Cute ?!?
2. I know you guys (and me too) love all the jonas brothers but everyone has a 'cutest' so who's yours? (:
~
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Comments: 10
Bit of a breezy day at Hopeman on the Moray Firth, Scotland. Only a breeze, about 90 mph so not a STORM, southern nancies.....
Hmmm.... By far my best work... Its a panograph constructed using over 35 snaps by merging pics in photoshop.. (I lost count of the snaps :-)
I spent over 16 hours to put all the pics together and make sure they merge properly..
Please view it on Black
Now something about the subject..
This is my college BITS-Pilani where I am doing my engineering in Electronics & Electrical...
This place is the reason why I am what I am today ! I stepped in this institution during the early monsoons of 2004 and its been almost 4 years here..
When I came here I didn't know what to expect.. Felt I won't enjoy this place and just wanted to spend my four years & move ahead.. But God had other plans..
Time flew and I feel in love with this place.. Though its a very boring place to live but still it taught me a lot.. Met lots of people... Made lots of friends.. Today I am almost on the verge of passing out.. Though I am looking forward to the life I have after this but there is a feeling of sadness coz I will have to move ahead.. All the fun I have had, friends, the enthu... I will miss it.. :-(
IMO: 9256432
Name: BIT POWER
Vessel Type - Generic: Tanker
Vessel Type - Detailed: Asphalt/Bitumen Tanker
Status: Active
MMSI: 244944000
Call Sign: PDSV
Flag: Netherlands [NL]
Gross Tonnage: 6556
Summer DWT: 6719 t
Length Overall x Breadth Extreme: 116.9 x 18 m
Year Built: 2003
Home Port: DORDRECHT
They look to be spending a fair bit of money on the old stadium - there is a brand new one a few miles away, meant to seat around 75000 but they ran out of money in the recession and it has sat there like a giant doughnut clad in aluminium for years. There have been several attempts to raise funds and it has been scaled back - no closing roof and less seats.
We decided to go for a city break rather than sun in Tenerife again this September. Other than a few days in the North East we haven’t been away since last March and wanted a change and hopefully some sun. The problem is getting flights from the north of England to the places we want to go to. We chose Valencia as we could fly from East Midlands – which was still a pain to get to as it involved the most notorious stretch of the M1 at five in the morning. In the end we had a fairly good journey, the new Ryanair business class pre-booked scheme worked quite well and bang on time as usual. It was dull when we landed with storms forecast all week, the sky was bright grey – the kiss of death to the photography I had in mind. I was full of cold and wishing I was at work. It did rain but it was overnight on our first night and didn't affect us. There has been a drought for eleven months apparently and it rained on our first day there! The forecast storms didn't materialise in Valencia but they got it elsewhere.
You May notice discrepancies in the spelling of some Spanish words or names, this is because Valencian is used on signs, in some guide books and maps. There are two languages in common use with distinct differences. There may also be genuine mistakes - it has been known!
Over the course of a Monday to Sunday week we covered 75 miles on foot and saw most of the best of Valencia – The City of Bell Towers. The Old City covers a pretty large area in a very confusing layout. There was a lot of referring to maps – even compass readings! – a first in a city for us. The problem with photography in Valencia is that most of the famous and attractive building are closely built around, some have poor quality housing built on to them. Most photographs have to be taken from an extreme angle looking up. There are no high points as it is pan flat, there are a small number of buildings where you can pay to go up on to the roof for a better view and we went up them – more than once!
The modern buildings of The City of Arts and Sciences – ( Ciutat de Las Arts I de les Ciencies ) are what the city has more recently become famous for, with tourists arriving by the coachload all day until late at night. They must be photographed millions of times a month. We went during the day and stayed till dark one evening, I gave it my best shot but a first time visit is always a compromise between ambition and realism, time dictates that we have to move on to the next destination. I travelled with a full size tripod – another first – I forgot to take it with me to TCoAaS! so It was time to wind up the ISO, again! Needless to say I never used the tripod.
On a day when rain was forecast but it stayed fine, albeit a bit dull, we went to the Bioparc north west of the city, a zoo by another name. There are many claims made for this place, were you can appear to walk alongside some very large animals, including, elephants, lions, giraffe, rhino, gorillas and many types of monkey to name a few. It is laid out in different geographical regions and there is very little between you and the animals, in some cases there is nothing, you enter the enclosure through a double door arrangement and the monkeys are around you. It gets rave reviews and we stayed for most of the day. The animals it has to be said gave the appearance of extreme boredom and frustration and I felt quite sorry for them.
The course of The River Turia was altered after a major flood in the 50’s. The new river runs west of the city flanked by a motorway. The old river, which is massive, deep and very wide between ancient walls, I can’t imagine how it flooded, has been turned into a park that is five miles long. There is an athletics track, football pitches, cycle paths, restaurants, numerous kids parks, ponds, fountains, loads of bridges, historic and modern. At the western end closest to the sea sits The City of Arts and Sciences – in the river bed. Where it meets the sea there is Valencia’s urban Formula One racetrack finishing in the massive marina built for The Americas Cup. The race track is in use as roadways complete with fully removable street furniture, kerbs, bollards, lights, islands and crossings, everything is just sat on the surface ready to be moved.
We found the beach almost by accident, we were desperate for food after putting in a lot of miles and the afternoon was ticking by. What a beach, 100’s of metres wide and stretching as far as the eye could see with a massive promenade. The hard thing was choosing, out of the dozens of restaurants, all next door to each other, all serving traditional Paella – rabbit and chicken – as well as seafood, we don’t eat seafood and it constituted 90% of the menu in most places. Every restaurant does a fixed price dish of the day, with a few choices, three courses and a drink. Some times this was our only meal besides making the most of the continental breakfast at the hotel. We had a fair few bar stops with the local wine being cheap and pleasant it would have been a shame not to, there would have been a one woman riot – or strike!
On our final day, a Sunday, we were out of bed and down for breakfast at 7.45 as usual, the place was deserted barring a waiter. We walked out of the door at 8.30 – in to the middle of a mass road race with many thousands of runners, one of a series that take place in Valencia – apparently! We struggled to find out the distance, possibly 10km. The finish was just around the corner so off we went with the camera gear, taking photos of random runners and groups. There was a TV crew filming it and some local celebrity (I think) commentating. Next we came across some sort of wandering religious and musical event. Some sort of ritual was played out over the course of Sunday morning in various locations, it involved catholic priests and religious buildings and another film crew. The Catholic tourists and locals were filling the (many) churches for Sunday mass. Amongst all of this we had seen men walking around in Arab style dress – the ones in black looked like the ones from ISIS currently beheading people – all carrying guns. A bit disconcerting. We assumed that there had been some sort of battle enactment. We were wrong, it hadn’t happened yet. A while later, about 11.30 we could hear banging, fireworks? No it was our friends with the guns. We were caught up in total mayhem, around 60 men randomly firing muskets with some sort of blank rounds, the noise, smoke and flames from the muzzles were incredible. We were about to climb the Torres de Serranos which is where, unbeknown to us, the grand, and deafening, finale was going to be. We could feel the blast in our faces on top of the tower. Yet again there was a film camera in attendance. I couldn’t get close ups but I got a good overview and shot my first video with the 5D, my first in 5 years of owning a DLSR with the capability. I usually use my phone ( I used my phone as well). Later in the day there was a bullfight taking place, the ring was almost next to our hotel, in the end we had other things to do and gave it a miss, it was certainly a busy Sunday in the city centre, whether it’s the norm or not I don’t know.
There is a tram system in Valencia but it goes from the port area into the newer part of the city on the north side, it wouldn’t be feasible to serve the historic old city really. A quick internet search told me that there are 55,000 university students in the city, a pretty big number. I think a lot of the campus is on the north side and served by the tram although there is a massive fleet of buses as well. There is a massive, very impressive market building , with 100’s of stalls that would make a photo project on its own, beautiful on the inside and out but very difficult to get decent photos of the exterior other than detail shots owing to the closeness of other buildings and the sheer size of it. Across town, another market has been beautifully renovated and is full of bars and restaurants and a bit of a destination in its own right.
A downside was the all too typical shafting by the taxi drivers who use every trick in the book to side step the official tariffs and rob you. The taxi from the airport had a “broken” meter and on the way home we were driven 22 km instead of the nine that is the actual distance. Some of them seem to view tourists as cash cows to be robbed at all costs. I emailed the Marriot hotel as they ordered the taxi, needless to say no answer from Marriot – they’ve had their money. We didn’t get the rip off treatment in the bars etc. that we experienced in Rome, prices are very fair on most things, certainly considering the city location.
All in all we had a good trip and can highly recommend Valencia.
These flowers were taken a bit ago and I just absolutely loved the colors and wanted to share them with you. They remind me of miniature trees.
Hope everyone has a fantastic week.
Credits: Anita Designs - Field of Dreams and Country Girl; Gibby Frogett Craftations - Maelstrom; Pixabay; Unsplash Effects PhotoMania and CraftArtist 2
Bit of botanical trivia for the day, Bear Grass (Xerophyllum tenax) is closely related to the lily family.
20 pence piece used for scale for this copper bit-coin.
Highlighted the shot for the detail on the coin.
A bit late for sunset today... Trying to catch up time for a meeting with my client, saw the beautiful orange color on the horizon. Stop for a while did a quick snap but this is the only shot that I manage to make, My Sunset HDR.. nearly the same spot of my previous HDR.. flic.kr/p/9f2m4A
Shot Info:-
Camera ModelCanon EOS 40D
Shooting Date/Time07-Feb-11 6:30:03 PM
Shooting ModeAperture-Priority AE
Metering ModeEvaluative Metering
LensEF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
Focal Length10.0mm
Drive ModeSelf-Timer Operation
3 Auto Exposure Bracketing
A bit of hopeful blue sky this morning viewed in the garden.
It turned out to be a glorious day, but unfortunately Graham fell while out and the Pompiers took him off to Lannion to the Emergency Department for a check up.
Everything OK, other than a grazed knee but it put a stop on photo taking for me for today.
Thank you for your favourites. :O)