View allAll Photos Tagged cold_time
A Monk Contemplating On The Mountaintop.
To climb to the top of the mountain to get a better view of oneself,
The world seems so far away and cold,
Time to look deep inside,
To find oneself,
Many the worries of the world,
Weigh heavy,
Too many things pulling the spirit in many directions,
Easy to get distracted in the material world below,
Up here on the mountain things begin to come into focus,
The longer on top the more things are revealed within,
Thinking of all the friends and family left behind,
Perhaps to the mountain wasn't the best idea,
The mind plays tricks on oneself,
Up so high and away,
Does peace ever come,
Questions fog up the mind?
Must have patience and learn to listen close,
Otherwise up here on the mountaintop was nothing,
But a waste of time,
Steve.H.
Guess who is bored and starting to get frustrated at not being able to get out and about with the camera?
This is one of a series of images taken on Cresswell beach over a period of a few minutes when the light was constantly changing and taking on all manner of tones and hues. I could've stood in this same spot for a lot longer, however there was a faint call in the distance from Mrs Northumbrian Blue......."I'm cold.....time for home"
Rather rough edit and processing, just liked the mix of colours and general atmosphere. I can tell you it was rather eerie down on the beach watching the sky change so rapidly
Scoop, well on flickr at least.
Here's a picture of both Mr & Mrs Miranda. Reinaldo and Joanne.
He was just finishing off a cup of hot chocolate after his long day of street theatre as, "Windswept Man" before heading for home. It was becoming overcast and very cold, time to call it a day.
This shot is more spontaneous than posed.
He also appears in my Album and Group 100 Strangers.
www.flickr.com/photos/sherrlock/8457790969/in/set-7215762...
www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
You can see more photos of Windsweptman here
Pretty but dangerous. Tons of big tree branches snapping off, power lines down everywhere. Thick films of ice over everything. Carnage. No electricity, house gettin' colder. Time to go old school, light up the fireplace and dig up the camping stoves...
For everyone suffering through those hot summer months, here is a little morning splash of a colder time of year with the snow crunching under your boots @ Homewood Mountain Resort, Lake Tahoe, CA. (Canon Powershot S40, Image #124-2442_IMG)
autumn evening : frowning eva with her macfriend, leamon tea and screamo-style shirt in our cold room
When the weather gets cold....time to head for the beach. They may not be raptors but they have their own beauty and gracefull flight style. The best part is they are always around.
I decided to take my camera and shot some volleyball. I didn't shoot all the time, because I wanted to see some of it on my own and not through the lens, but here are some of the best shots. I used my Nikkor 85mm 1.8 and I think it's a great way to bypass the cold time of the year. So everyone who's interested in sports I recommend to give it a try.
By the way the "FT 1844" is the volleyball team of the town I live in. It was a really great game, but I didn't expect something else since they play in the second highest division of german volleyball. They won 3:0, but had to fight hard at some points.
Feel free to add comments on what you like or dislike, so I can improve.
The month of February is a cold time of year in La Palma! A bad cold weather front with strong winds, low temperatures and rain hit the Observatory del Roque de los Muchachos 5-8 February 2018. Once the storm passed and the clouds cleared, spectacular ice formations were left behind. The Large-Sized Telescope (LST) prototype, parked during the construction towards high elevation angles, acted as a perfect collector of these ice formations. After a careful inspection, the LST team was happy to learn that no damage was found in the telescope structure during the extreme conditions. Most of the ice melted in the following three days.
Credit: Chiara Righi (MAGIC, INAF, Brera)
I think: the cold time in the beach of La Paz is fantastic for a photo's session. This writer, a novelist, enjoy with the session, and he wants use this shot for his profile in his last novel. I have used a smoot flash, with the intention of give to is face a little of ligth.
© Isaí Moreno.
License of this pic: Creative Commons.
Erik Törner is a Tibet analyst from IM in Sweden.
Yumbulagang, Yumbulakar or Yumbu Lakhang or Yungbulakang (Palace) is an ancient palace in the Yarlung Valley, Nêdong County in the vicinity of Tsetang (Zêtang) in Southern Tibet.
According to legend it was the first building in Tibet and the palace of the first Tibetan king, Nyatri Tsenpo.
Yumbulagang may not today be the same building as legends says it is, but it is nevertheless a wonderful place and the views from the Palace is absolutely amazing.
The Palace is on a hill on the eastern bank of the Yarlung River in the Yarlung Valley - the cradle of Tibetan civilisation.
My visit to Tibet were in January 2011, a very cold time but on the upside hardly no tourists visit Tibet in winter time. And as it is too cold to work for both farmers and nomads, they traditionally have a month of and go on pilgrimage. Thereby, all sights where filled with Tibetans, mostly from the countryside.
Dressed up for the occasion, and very curious to meet Westerners, they made it worth sleeping without heat or electricity in below zero temperatures.
Photo and copyright: Erik Törner, IM Individuell Människohjälp www.manniskohjalp.se
Contact IMs Erik Törner for permissions. Email erik@torner.nu
IM is a Swedish aid organization fighting and exposing poverty and exclusion.
IMs Photo Archive (IMs Bildarkiv) can always be found at www.flickr.com/IMsbildarkiv
Erik Törner is a Tibet analyst from IM who last visited Tibet in January 2011.
”It was a cold time, hardly no tourists visit Tibet in winter time. On the other hand, as it is too cold to work for both farmers and nomads, they traditionally have a month of and go on pilgrimage. Thereby, all sights where filled with Tibetans, mostly from the countryside.
Dressed up for the occasion, and very curious to meet Westerners, they made it worth sleeping without heat or electricity in below zero temperatures.”
Photo and copyright: Erik Törner, IM Individuell Människohjälp www.manniskohjalp.se
Contact IMs Erik Törner for permissions. Email erik.torner(at)manniskohjalp.se
IM is a Swedish aid organization fighting and exposing poverty and exclusion. IM makes long-term commitments together with local partners, in promoting health, education and income generation. Our efforts are aimed at empowering people and each new project starts off on a small scale.
IMs Photo Archive (IMs Bildarkiv) can always be found at www.flickr.com/IMsbildarkiv
The month of February is a cold time of year in La Palma! A bad cold weather front with strong winds, low temperatures and rain hit the Observatory del Roque de los Muchachos 5-8 February 2018. Once the storm passed and the clouds cleared, spectacular ice formations were left behind. The Large-Sized Telescope (LST) prototype, parked during the construction towards high elevation angles, acted as a perfect collector of these ice formations. After a careful inspection, the LST team was happy to learn that no damage was found in the telescope structure during the extreme conditions. Most of the ice melted in the following three days.
Credit: Chiara Righi (MAGIC, INAF, Brera)
Erik Törner is a Tibet analyst from IM in Sweden.
Yumbulagang, Yumbulakar or Yumbu Lakhang or Yungbulakang (Palace) is an ancient palace in the Yarlung Valley, Nêdong County in the vicinity of Tsetang (Zêtang) in Southern Tibet.
According to legend it was the first building in Tibet and the palace of the first Tibetan king, Nyatri Tsenpo.
Yumbulagang may not today be the same building as legends says it is, but it is nevertheless a wonderful place and the views from the Palace is absolutely amazing.
The Palace is on a hill on the eastern bank of the Yarlung River in the Yarlung Valley - the cradle of Tibetan civilisation.
My visit to Tibet were in January 2011, a very cold time but on the upside hardly no tourists visit Tibet in winter time. And as it is too cold to work for both farmers and nomads, they traditionally have a month of and go on pilgrimage. Thereby, all sights where filled with Tibetans, mostly from the countryside.
Dressed up for the occasion, and very curious to meet Westerners, they made it worth sleeping without heat or electricity in below zero temperatures.
Photo and copyright: Erik Törner, IM Individuell Människohjälp www.manniskohjalp.se
Contact IMs Erik Törner for permissions. Email erik@torner.nu
IM is a Swedish aid organization fighting and exposing poverty and exclusion.
IMs Photo Archive (IMs Bildarkiv) can always be found at www.flickr.com/IMsbildarkiv
The month of February is a cold time of year in La Palma! A bad cold weather front with strong winds, low temperatures and rain hit the Observatory del Roque de los Muchachos 5-8 February 2018. Once the storm passed and the clouds cleared, spectacular ice formations were left behind. The Large-Sized Telescope (LST) prototype, parked during the construction towards high elevation angles, acted as a perfect collector of these ice formations. After a careful inspection, the LST team was happy to learn that no damage was found in the telescope structure during the extreme conditions. Most of the ice melted in the following three days.
Credit: Chiara Righi (MAGIC, INAF, Brera)
Erik Törner is a Tibet analyst from IM in Sweden.
Yumbulagang, Yumbulakar or Yumbu Lakhang or Yungbulakang (Palace) is an ancient palace in the Yarlung Valley, Nêdong County in the vicinity of Tsetang (Zêtang) in Southern Tibet.
According to legend it was the first building in Tibet and the palace of the first Tibetan king, Nyatri Tsenpo.
Yumbulagang may not today be the same building as legends says it is, but it is nevertheless a wonderful place and the views from the Palace is absolutely amazing.
The Palace is on a hill on the eastern bank of the Yarlung River in the Yarlung Valley - the cradle of Tibetan civilisation.
My visit to Tibet were in January 2011, a very cold time but on the upside hardly no tourists visit Tibet in winter time. And as it is too cold to work for both farmers and nomads, they traditionally have a month of and go on pilgrimage. Thereby, all sights where filled with Tibetans, mostly from the countryside.
Dressed up for the occasion, and very curious to meet Westerners, they made it worth sleeping without heat or electricity in below zero temperatures.
Photo and copyright: Erik Törner, IM Individuell Människohjälp www.manniskohjalp.se
Contact IMs Erik Törner for permissions. Email erik@torner.nu
IM is a Swedish aid organization fighting and exposing poverty and exclusion.
IMs Photo Archive (IMs Bildarkiv) can always be found at www.flickr.com/IMsbildarkiv
Rowlandson Journey Map - 1903, Nourse
Excerpt from NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY AND RESTORATION OF MRS. MARY ROWLANDSON By Mrs. Mary Rowlandson:
THE FOURTH REMOVE
And now I must part with that little company I had. Here I parted from my daughter Mary (whom I never saw again till I saw her in Dorchester, returned from captivity), and from four little cousins and neighbors, some of which I never saw afterward: the Lord only knows the end of them. Amongst them also was that poor woman before mentioned, who came to a sad end, as some of the company told me in my travel: she having much grief upon her spirit about her miserable condition, being so near her time, she would be often asking the Indians to let her go home; they not being willing to that, and yet vexed with her importunity, gathered a great company together about her and stripped her naked, and set her in the midst of them, and when they had sung and danced about her (in their hellish manner) as long as they pleased they knocked her on head, and the child in her arms with her. When they had done that they made a fire and put them both into it, and told the other children that were with them that if they attempted to go home, they would serve them in like manner. The children said she did not shed one tear, but prayed all the while. But to return to my own journey, we traveled about half a day or little more, and came to a desolate place in the wilderness, where there were no wigwams or inhabitants before; we came about the middle of the afternoon to this place, cold and wet, and snowy, and hungry, and weary, and no refreshing for man but the cold ground to sit on, and our poor Indian cheer. Heart-aching thoughts here I had about my poor children, who were scattered up and down among the wild beasts of the forest. My head was light and dizzy (either through hunger or hard lodging, or trouble or all together), my knees feeble, my body raw by sitting double night and day, that I cannot express to man the affliction that lay upon my spirit, but the Lord helped me at that time to express it to Himself. I opened my Bible to read, and the Lord brought that precious Scripture to me. "Thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy" (Jeremiah 31.16). This was a sweet cordial to me when I was ready to faint; many and many a time have I sat down and wept sweetly over this Scripture. At this place we continued about four days.
THE FIFTH REMOVE
The occasion (as I thought) of their moving at this time was the English army, it being near and following them. For they went as if they had gone for their lives, for some considerable way, and then they made a stop, and chose some of their stoutest men, and sent them back to hold the English army in play whilst the rest escaped. And then, like Jehu, they marched on furiously, with their old and with their young: some carried their old decrepit mothers, some carried one, and some another. Four of them carried a great Indian upon a bier; but going through a thick wood with him, they were hindered, and could make no haste, whereupon they took him upon their backs, and carried him, one at a time, till they came to Banquaug river. Upon a Friday, a little after noon, we came to this river. When all the company was come up, and were gathered together, I thought to count the number of them, but they were so many, and being somewhat in motion, it was beyond my skill. In this travel, because of my wound, I was somewhat favored in my load; I carried only my knitting work and two quarts of parched meal. Being very faint I asked my mistress to give me one spoonful of the meal, but she would not give me a taste. They quickly fell to cutting dry trees, to make rafts to carry them over the river: and soon my turn came to go over. By the advantage of some brush which they had laid upon the raft to sit upon, I did not wet my foot (which many of themselves at the other end were mid-leg deep) which cannot but be acknowledged as a favor of God to my weakened body, it being a very cold time. I was not before acquainted with such kind of doings or dangers. "When thou passeth through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee" (Isaiah 43.2). A certain number of us got over the river that night, but it was the night after the Sabbath before all the company was got over. On the Saturday they boiled an old horse's leg which they had got, and so we drank of the broth, as soon as they thought it was ready, and when it was almost all gone, they filled it up again. The first week of my being among them I hardly ate any thing; the second week I found my stomach grow very faint for want of something; and yet it was very hard to get down their filthy trash; but the third week, though I could think how formerly my stomach would turn against this or that, and I could starve and die before I could eat such things, yet they were sweet and savory to my taste. I was at this time knitting a pair of white cotton stockings for my mistress; and had not yet wrought upon a Sabbath day. When the Sabbath came they bade me go to work. I told them it was the Sabbath day, and desired them to let me rest, and told them I would do as much more tomorrow; to which they answered me they would break my face. And here I cannot but take notice of the strange providence of God in preserving the heathen. They were many hundreds, old and young, some sick, and some lame; many had papooses at their backs. The greatest number at this time with us were squaws, and they traveled with all they had, bag and baggage, and yet they got over this river aforesaid; and on Monday they set their wigwams on fire, and away they went. On that very day came the English army after them to this river, and saw the smoke of their wigwams, and yet this river put a stop to them. God did not give them courage or activity to go over after us. We were not ready for so great a mercy as victory and deliverance. If we had been God would have found out a way for the English to have passed this river, as well as for the Indians with their squaws and children, and all their luggage. "Oh that my people had hearkened to me, and Israel had walked in my ways, I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries" (Psalm 81.13-14).
THE SIXTH REMOVE
On Monday (as I said) they set their wigwams on fire and went away. It was a cold morning, and before us there was a great brook with ice on it; some waded through it, up to the knees and higher, but others went till they came to a beaver dam, and I amongst them, where through the good providence of God, I did not wet my foot. I went along that day mourning and lamenting, leaving farther my own country, and traveling into a vast and howling wilderness, and I understood something of Lot's wife's temptation, when she looked back. We came that day to a great swamp, by the side of which we took up our lodging that night. When I came to the brow of the hill, that looked toward the swamp, I thought we had been come to a great Indian town (though there were none but our own company). The Indians were as thick as the trees: it seemed as if there had been a thousand hatchets going at once. If one looked before one there was nothing but Indians, and behind one, nothing but Indians, and so on either hand, I myself in the midst, and no Christian soul near me, and yet how hath the Lord preserved me in safety? Oh the experience that I have had of the goodness of God, to me and mine!
THE SEVENTH REMOVE
After a restless and hungry night there, we had a wearisome time of it the next day. The swamp by which we lay was, as it were, a deep dungeon, and an exceeding high and steep hill before it. Before I got to the top of the hill, I thought my heart and legs, and all would have broken, and failed me. What, through faintness and soreness of body, it was a grievous day of travel to me. As we went along, I saw a place where English cattle had been. That was comfort to me, such as it was. Quickly after that we came to an English path, which so took with me, that I thought I could have freely lyen down and died. That day, a little after noon, we came to Squakeag, where the Indians quickly spread themselves over the deserted English fields, gleaning what they could find. Some picked up ears of wheat that were crickled down; some found ears of Indian corn; some found ground nuts, and others sheaves of wheat that were frozen together in the shock, and went to threshing of them out. Myself got two ears of Indian corn, and whilst I did but turn my back, one of them was stolen from me, which much troubled me. There came an Indian to them at that time with a basket of horse liver. I asked him to give me a piece. "What," says he, "can you eat horse liver?" I told him, I would try, if he would give a piece, which he did, and I laid it on the coals to roast. But before it was half ready they got half of it away from me, so that I was fain to take the rest and eat it as it was, with the blood about my mouth, and yet a savory bit it was to me: "For to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." A solemn sight methought it was, to see fields of wheat and Indian corn forsaken and spoiled and the remainders of them to be food for our merciless enemies. That night we had a mess of wheat for our supper.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Visiting sensei.
My haiku teacher (sensei) lives in the mountains above Okayama, over an hour’s ride uphill by local train from the coast. The journey from Osaka to Okayama itself was exciting in itself, as this was my first time in a brand new train, the Sakura Shinkansen. This has been running only since March 2011 and travels all the way down to Kagoshima in Kyushu, the very latest Shinkansen route. The train is a fresh N700 series shinkansen, differentiated from the equivalent Nozomi and Hikari by a slightly adapted colour scheme. The smell is brand new. As usual, I enjoyed the comfortable seats, the fast moving views and the trolley service. This shinkansen route is the standard against which I have come to measure all other fast trains I have ever used.
The local line uphill from Okayama is a very different story. A much older, strong and heavy train, a successful work horse, which stops here and there at local platforms and picturesque railway stations, with their potted flowers and little sculptures. In between stations, we travelled along steep hillsides on the single track, crossed several rivers on see-through bridges and marvelled at the wild cherry blossom dotted all over the natural vegetation on the mountainsides.
My neighbour was a young mother with her 7-year-old son and a tiny baby wrapped in a tiger skin outfit and looking for all the world like a large cuddly toy. The older passengers had their special seats near the doors. The driver was also the conductor, checking the tickets of alighting passengers with a bow and collecting fares from those who had boarded at stations where tickets could not be bought. It was a pleasure to see sensei’s husband on the platform when I arrived -- we then drove for another twenty minutes or so up into the hills with their stunning views of the famous rice paddies (tanada) of the area. The cherry blossom was not quite over and, here and there, there were splashes of pink and red along the road and the banks of a lake. A few raindrops too -- for once, the weather forecasters had got it wrong and the weather was not sunny all day...
Sensei was waiting for us. After a joyful reunion, we tucked into our lunch and discussed the tsunami, which sensei has been documenting on a daily basis here :
japan-afterthebigearthquake.blogspot.com
The local government of the area has been taking over some of the abandoned houses of the area, and several families who lost their homes following the tsunami have already moved in. They may find it hard to make a living in this remote rural area, particularly if they were not farmers up north before the tsunami struck. If more families arrived, the area could perhaps be revived following a period of depopulation, which even led to the closure of the local school.
Another joy was in store for me : my other sensei friend, now an elderly teacher of the koto and of ikebana, had come to stay with her granddaughter in the area, and both came to visit us. This gallery, created a while back, is dedicated to her :
www.flickr.com/photos/seikinsou/galleries/72157622316720879/
Of all my friends, she is the one who lived closest to the earthquake zone -- in the mountains above Nikko. Luckily for her, she was with her two adult granddaughters and a great-granddaughter at the time the earthquake struck. Living in a rural house, the whole family decided it was best to await the end of the earthquake outdoors. In Nikko, the earth moved in all directions, jumping up and down as well as rolling sideways. My elderly friend, who was then recovering from a slight stroke, was glad to have the young generation with her to help her outdoors and steady her as she walked gingerly.
Her granddaughter, who lives in Okayama, decided to stay on for a few weeks -- particularly as the railway line had been disrupted pending approval that all was well. As it turned out, the railway line had not suffered, but the electricity network had -- and without electricity (which stayed off for a whole week), much did not work. The trains as such could not run -- and in the house, the fridge, the heater (it was a cold time of year, and there was some snow during the week) and even the water supply. For a week, the family took all their water from the river -- fortunately, being a mountain river, it is very clean. There were aftershocks every day, some very strong, and the family took to sleeping in their clothes and to run outdoors at a moment’s notice. My elderly friend, for the first time in her life, stopped wearing her kimono outfits, which she has been wearing all her life -- the kimono takes time to put on and, in an earthquake, time is of the essence.
Meanwhile, Nikko is suffering. The hotels had to cancel a week’s worth of advance bookings when the electricity failed. There is now a low level of radiation in the area, lower than Tokyo but sufficient to put people off the cherry blossom viewing which normally brings in the much needed revenue.
The granddaughter had brought her koto for the visit and gave us a beautiful recital of “sakura sakura”. I am blessed to have such superb friends.
It snowed two feet today in Philly! Second big snow storm of the winter. Usually, we get maybe one where it snows a foot. It takes the city a couple of days to dig out of these big snow storms. But here, they're at least getting started. Took this photo while Max and I wandered around the city, having snowball fights, building snow forts, and generally having a good (and cold!) time.
See other snow photos here.
Bryan, (Barefoot InTheHead) if you're looking at this picture, I'm using your comment as the title for this pic. This is certainly not as cold as Antarctica, but, you get the "picture"!
For a really cold time, check out the pics of www.flickr.com/photos/99303089@N00/ Barefoot InTheHead, they're amazing!
Erik Törner is a Tibet analyst from IM who last visited Tibet in January 2011.
”It was a cold time, hardly no tourists visit Tibet in winter time. On the other hand, as it is too cold to work for both farmers and nomads, they traditionally have a month of and go on pilgrimage. Thereby, all sights where filled with Tibetans, mostly from the countryside.
Dressed up for the occasion, and very curious to meet Westerners, they made it worth sleeping without heat or electricity in below zero temperatures.”
Photo and copyright: Erik Törner, IM Individuell Människohjälp www.manniskohjalp.se
Contact IMs Erik Törner for permissions. Email erik.torner(at)manniskohjalp.se
IM is a Swedish aid organization fighting and exposing poverty and exclusion. IM makes long-term commitments together with local partners, in promoting health, education and income generation. Our efforts are aimed at empowering people and each new project starts off on a small scale.
IMs Photo Archive (IMs Bildarkiv) can always be found at www.flickr.com/IMsbildarkiv
Constructed in 1848 and dedicated in January 1849, the Brick Store originally was a meeting house for the Universalist Restoration Society. The meeting area was on the second floor with stores and the post office on the street floor. Today the Brick Store is still operating as an old-fashioned country store. Among other bits of nostalgia it features the biggest assortment of penny candy around/ Black & white photo courtesy Lew Welch. Historical data courtesy Miss Elsie Lowe
Mailed from West Townsend, Massachusetts to Plasmatic Arts Corp of South Bend, Indiana on September 18, 1978:
This is the Townsend "100" center. Having a relaxed and cold time. See you soon. Ruthie
George H. Boyer
139409
CAPA-009030
Erik Törner is a Tibet analyst from IM in Sweden.
Yumbulagang, Yumbulakar or Yumbu Lakhang or Yungbulakang (Palace) is an ancient palace in the Yarlung Valley, Nêdong County in the vicinity of Tsetang (Zêtang) in Southern Tibet.
According to legend it was the first building in Tibet and the palace of the first Tibetan king, Nyatri Tsenpo.
Yumbulagang may not today be the same building as legends says it is, but it is nevertheless a wonderful place and the views from the Palace is absolutely amazing.
The Palace is on a hill on the eastern bank of the Yarlung River in the Yarlung Valley - the cradle of Tibetan civilisation.
My visit to Tibet were in January 2011, a very cold time but on the upside hardly no tourists visit Tibet in winter time. And as it is too cold to work for both farmers and nomads, they traditionally have a month of and go on pilgrimage. Thereby, all sights where filled with Tibetans, mostly from the countryside.
Dressed up for the occasion, and very curious to meet Westerners, they made it worth sleeping without heat or electricity in below zero temperatures.
Photo and copyright: Erik Törner, IM Individuell Människohjälp www.manniskohjalp.se
Contact IMs Erik Törner for permissions. Email erik@torner.nu
IM is a Swedish aid organization fighting and exposing poverty and exclusion.
IMs Photo Archive (IMs Bildarkiv) can always be found at www.flickr.com/IMsbildarkiv
Erik Törner is a Tibet analyst from IM in Sweden.
This statue of Songtsen Gampo is in the Yumbulagang, Tibets first house.
Songtsen Gampo is believed to have been an incarnation of Bodhisattva Chenresig (Avaoliteshvara), which the extra head above him symbolizes.
Yumbulagang, Yumbulakar or Yumbu Lakhang or Yungbulakang (Palace) is an ancient palace in the Yarlung Valley, Nêdong County in the vicinity of Tsetang (Zêtang) in Southern Tibet.
According to legend it was the first building in Tibet and the palace of the first Tibetan king, Nyatri Tsenpo.
Yumbulagang may not today be the same building as legends says it is, but it is nevertheless a wonderful place and the views from the Palace is absolutely amazing.
The Palace is on a hill on the eastern bank of the Yarlung River in the Yarlung Valley - the cradle of Tibetan civilisation.
My visit to Tibet were in January 2011, a very cold time but on the upside hardly no tourists visit Tibet in winter time. And as it is too cold to work for both farmers and nomads, they traditionally have a month of and go on pilgrimage. Thereby, all sights where filled with Tibetans, mostly from the countryside.
Dressed up for the occasion, and very curious to meet Westerners, they made it worth sleeping without heat or electricity in below zero temperatures.
Photo and copyright: Erik Törner, IM Individuell Människohjälp www.manniskohjalp.se
Contact IMs Erik Törner for permissions. Email erik@torner.nu
IM is a Swedish aid organization fighting and exposing poverty and exclusion.
IMs Photo Archive (IMs Bildarkiv) can always be found at www.flickr.com/IMsbildarkiv
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Visiting sensei.
My haiku teacher (sensei) lives in the mountains above Okayama, over an hour’s ride uphill by local train from the coast. The journey from Osaka to Okayama itself was exciting in itself, as this was my first time in a brand new train, the Sakura Shinkansen. This has been running only since March 2011 and travels all the way down to Kagoshima in Kyushu, the very latest Shinkansen route. The train is a fresh N700 series shinkansen, differentiated from the equivalent Nozomi and Hikari by a slightly adapted colour scheme. The smell is brand new. As usual, I enjoyed the comfortable seats, the fast moving views and the trolley service. This shinkansen route is the standard against which I have come to measure all other fast trains I have ever used.
The local line uphill from Okayama is a very different story. A much older, strong and heavy train, a successful work horse, which stops here and there at local platforms and picturesque railway stations, with their potted flowers and little sculptures. In between stations, we travelled along steep hillsides on the single track, crossed several rivers on see-through bridges and marvelled at the wild cherry blossom dotted all over the natural vegetation on the mountainsides.
My neighbour was a young mother with her 7-year-old son and a tiny baby wrapped in a tiger skin outfit and looking for all the world like a large cuddly toy. The older passengers had their special seats near the doors. The driver was also the conductor, checking the tickets of alighting passengers with a bow and collecting fares from those who had boarded at stations where tickets could not be bought. It was a pleasure to see sensei’s husband on the platform when I arrived -- we then drove for another twenty minutes or so up into the hills with their stunning views of the famous rice paddies (tanada) of the area. The cherry blossom was not quite over and, here and there, there were splashes of pink and red along the road and the banks of a lake. A few raindrops too -- for once, the weather forecasters had got it wrong and the weather was not sunny all day...
Sensei was waiting for us. After a joyful reunion, we tucked into our lunch and discussed the tsunami, which sensei has been documenting on a daily basis here :
japan-afterthebigearthquake.blogspot.com
The local government of the area has been taking over some of the abandoned houses of the area, and several families who lost their homes following the tsunami have already moved in. They may find it hard to make a living in this remote rural area, particularly if they were not farmers up north before the tsunami struck. If more families arrived, the area could perhaps be revived following a period of depopulation, which even led to the closure of the local school.
Another joy was in store for me : my other sensei friend, now an elderly teacher of the koto and of ikebana, had come to stay with her granddaughter in the area, and both came to visit us. This gallery, created a while back, is dedicated to her :
www.flickr.com/photos/seikinsou/galleries/72157622316720879/
Of all my friends, she is the one who lived closest to the earthquake zone -- in the mountains above Nikko. Luckily for her, she was with her two adult granddaughters and a great-granddaughter at the time the earthquake struck. Living in a rural house, the whole family decided it was best to await the end of the earthquake outdoors. In Nikko, the earth moved in all directions, jumping up and down as well as rolling sideways. My elderly friend, who was then recovering from a slight stroke, was glad to have the young generation with her to help her outdoors and steady her as she walked gingerly.
Her granddaughter, who lives in Okayama, decided to stay on for a few weeks -- particularly as the railway line had been disrupted pending approval that all was well. As it turned out, the railway line had not suffered, but the electricity network had -- and without electricity (which stayed off for a whole week), much did not work. The trains as such could not run -- and in the house, the fridge, the heater (it was a cold time of year, and there was some snow during the week) and even the water supply. For a week, the family took all their water from the river -- fortunately, being a mountain river, it is very clean. There were aftershocks every day, some very strong, and the family took to sleeping in their clothes and to run outdoors at a moment’s notice. My elderly friend, for the first time in her life, stopped wearing her kimono outfits, which she has been wearing all her life -- the kimono takes time to put on and, in an earthquake, time is of the essence.
Meanwhile, Nikko is suffering. The hotels had to cancel a week’s worth of advance bookings when the electricity failed. There is now a low level of radiation in the area, lower than Tokyo but sufficient to put people off the cherry blossom viewing which normally brings in the much needed revenue.
The granddaughter had brought her koto for the visit and gave us a beautiful recital of “sakura sakura”. I am blessed to have such superb friends.
it was so good spending another few hours in this cold time ;)
is used best as always flaslights from VARTA to lighting - in this case:
- 3 WATT LED HIGH OPTICS LIGHT 2AA
- RECHARGEABLE LANTERN LED
- 3W LED OUTDOOR SPORTS LANTERN 3D
- WORK LIGHT LED 435
- 3 WATT LED HIGH OPTICS LIGHT 3AAA
- PREMIUM LED LIGHT 2AA
-4 WATT LED CAMPING LANTERN 3D
- INDESTRUCTIBLE 3 WATT LED LANTERN 4C
I decided to take my camera and shot some volleyball. I didn't shoot all the time, because I wanted to see some of it on my own and not through the lens, but here are some of the best shots. I used my Nikkor 85mm 1.8 and I think it's a great way to bypass the cold time of the year. So everyone who's interested in sports I recommend to give it a try.
By the way the "FT 1844" is the volleyball team of the town I live in. It was a really great game, but I didn't expect something else since they play in the second highest division of german volleyball. They won 3:0, but had to fight hard at some points.
Feel free to add comments on what you like or dislike, so I can improve.
Look at the down on this guy's face! Simply a beautiful example of Mother Nature at her best! There were about 12 of these down on the foreshore today and I had a great (but very cold) time capturing their beauty..
The Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus, is a bird of the Arctic, having a circumpolar distribution throughout the tundra regions of the world and has adapted to nesting on the ground in this largely treeless zone. Active night or day they feed on small rodents, primarily lemmings, those little animals made famous by Walt Disney in his docudramas back in the 1950's, that become overwhelming. The success of the owls is tied to the prolific breeding cycles that lemmings go through every four or five years. In the years when lemming populations are down, during harsh winters, Snowies migrate south in search of food. This probably accounts for the fluctuation of sightings in the lower mainland from year to year The estimate of Snowy owls at Boundary Bay this winter is around 30 to 40; a preferred habitat due to the large populations of waterfowl and shorebirds that the owls feed on, as evidenced from pellet content analysis. Interestingly, these large owls hunt on the wing, harrier style.
Erik Törner is a Tibet analyst from IM in Sweden.
Yumbulagang, Yumbulakar or Yumbu Lakhang or Yungbulakang (Palace) is an ancient palace in the Yarlung Valley, Nêdong County in the vicinity of Tsetang (Zêtang) in Southern Tibet.
According to legend it was the first building in Tibet and the palace of the first Tibetan king, Nyatri Tsenpo.
Yumbulagang may not today be the same building as legends says it is, but it is nevertheless a wonderful place and the views from the Palace is absolutely amazing.
The Palace is on a hill on the eastern bank of the Yarlung River in the Yarlung Valley - the cradle of Tibetan civilisation.
My visit to Tibet were in January 2011, a very cold time but on the upside hardly no tourists visit Tibet in winter time. And as it is too cold to work for both farmers and nomads, they traditionally have a month of and go on pilgrimage. Thereby, all sights where filled with Tibetans, mostly from the countryside.
Dressed up for the occasion, and very curious to meet Westerners, they made it worth sleeping without heat or electricity in below zero temperatures.
Photo and copyright: Erik Törner, IM Individuell Människohjälp www.manniskohjalp.se
Contact IMs Erik Törner for permissions. Email erik@torner.nu
IM is a Swedish aid organization fighting and exposing poverty and exclusion.
IMs Photo Archive (IMs Bildarkiv) can always be found at www.flickr.com/IMsbildarkiv
Power is out from the snow storm last night, making it the perfect opportunity for me to go out and take some pictures. I nearly slip on the icy ground and the air is numbingly cold, but other than that it's a beautiful day out. It's to my surprise that the stranger is the one who approached me this time. Kiare pulls by in her car and notices my camera, asking me if I liked Nikon or Canon better. Immediately we launch into camera talk right in the middle of the road. We share a bit of our experiences with photography. Then I tell her about the stranger project and she happily takes off her glasses and strikes a pose. Well, she and her dog, Blue, that is. Br! It's cold, time to head back inside.
This picture is #4 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
Atlantis. The ancient sea-faring culture that was destroyed
in "a day and a night" as Plato said. It would take something pretty dramatic to do that. Something unparalleled in human history. They had lived on the island for thousands of years, safe from barbarian hordes. They were the hub of a vast trading empire and probably went around the world looking for new trade routes or prospective customers and products.
On the island, an elite ruling class devoted their time to higher pursuits and thanks to them we know mathematical concepts that we use to this day, such as Pi and fractions, geometry. They knew about procession of the equinoxes and that the pole star moved in a many thousand year cycle. This implies a very old culture that existed farther back than we have ever thought possible. 18 to 20 thousand years may not be an exaggeration. They were not wizards or alien god kings, just people like us who lived in a mostly colder time that was gradually warming and becoming a very pleasant world.
They watched the night skies closely and probably witnessed the giant comet enter the inner solar system and begin to break apart. The astrologer/astronomers correctly predicted this was a bad sign. As the orbit of the cometary debris crossed that of the earth it was only a matter of time before impacts occurred. At first smaller fragments inflicted damage on individual locations and this was reported back to the homeland when discovered. So, they knew that potentially, a major disaster loomed. Efforts were made to establish colonies in various locations to keep some areas of higher development going in case of a chance hit on the home islands. No one could have expected the calamity that eventually happened. Multiple major impacts on Greenland and North America in a single day melted much of the glacial ice cap that covered those areas resulting in an abrupt and dramatic rise in sea level around the world. Not just Atlantis but every coastal settlement on every continent was flooded by a 150-foot rise in the ocean level in less than 24 hours. Only those who were at sea or far inland survived. The most epic and tragic disaster in history.
Atlantis is a real place and it is exactly where Plato said it was.
In the Atlantic Ocean south of the Azores. The actual spot was unknown until the German ocean survey ship "Great Meteor" found the largest underwater mountain in the world.
That was in 1937.
It probably would have been investigated further except wars and short memories intervened. Some people have made the connection previously that this is probably Atlantis but honestly, anyone that believes in Atlantis is obviously not completely rational and anything they say is irrelevant.
You do not help your case by bringing the occult and aliens into any discussion meant to be taken seriously.
So, one of the most important discoveries in the history of civilization is going to be an accidental find when someone finally does a multi-band deep ocean survey of the Great Meteor Seamount. On the map at the lower left of this graphic you can see how one expedition passed over the location but turned off the sonar since it was too shallow I guess.
The problem is that this spot is in the middle of the ocean with no islands nearby and it is fairly deep.
300 feet or so although some parts are quite close to the surface, Some surveys have dredged up rock samples and determined it was limestone which means it was above sea level for a substantial amount of its history. They were not archeologists, they were oceanographers and that is an important distinction. Robert Ballard or one of these other underwater investigators should just take a look.
There is probably not going to be vast wealth, but they had to leave in a hurry so everything will still be there.
When you think about it, an island as big as Hawaii going under in a single day is a mega-disaster.
There were worldwide effects from the cosmic impacts that had struck North America and Greenland. There would have been unbelievable storms from the heat and water vapor and tremendous amounts of smoke from the burning of North America and Europe. A lot of the ice was ejected into orbit blocking sunlight so the temperature dropped to winter levels and remained there for decades.
Some larger fragments of the ice ejecta stayed in orbit for a while until atmospheric drag slowed them enough to re-enter where they caused a mini-disaster in the areas they struck. We are now finding these places all over the earth, and they are known as Paleo-Lagoons. We are still trying to understand how all of this fits together since much of the evidence was submerged by the sea or washed away by the mega-floods that streamed away from the impact areas. 12000 years is long ago but the best time capsule we could have asked for is just waiting under the Atlantic for us to stumble on it.
It will be transformative and enlightening to finally learn the truth about how our wonderful world that we live in now is just dumb luck. Every other time any culture was advanced enough to begin the path towards higher technology something happened and brought a collapse to a Stone Age.
We have not had a world destroying incident in recent history. The last major impact was around 4000 BC in the Indian Ocean and it caused the Deluge of Noah. There have been numerous smaller impacts that no doubt inflicted damage on a regional scale, but they did not re-set the clock of culture.
Humans were almost wiped out by the Toba super eruption around 72,000 years ago but it and the Younger Dryas climate catastrophe are the two worst disasters we know of.
Pilgrimage and shopping in the Barkhor area (Lhasa's old town and religious centre), on the Barkhor kora (path for clockwise walking around a holy place) starting at the Jokhang temple.
Erik Törner is a Tibet analyst from IM who last visited Tibet in January 2011.
”It was a cold time, hardly no tourists visit Tibet in winter time. On the other hand, as it is too cold to work for both farmers and nomads, they traditionally have a month of and go on pilgrimage. Thereby, all sights where filled with Tibetans, mostly from the countryside.
Dressed up for the occasion, and very curious to meet Westerners, they made it worth sleeping without heat or electricity in below zero temperatures.”
Photo and copyright: Erik Törner, IM Individuell Människohjälp www.manniskohjalp.se
Contact IMs Erik Törner for permissions. Email erik.torner(at)manniskohjalp.se
IM is a Swedish aid organization fighting and exposing poverty and exclusion. IM makes long-term commitments together with local partners, in promoting health, education and income generation. Our efforts are aimed at empowering people and each new project starts off on a small scale.
IMs Photo Archive (IMs Bildarkiv) can always be found at www.flickr.com/IMsbildarkiv
I decided to take my camera and shot some volleyball. I didn't shoot all the time, because I wanted to see some of it on my own and not through the lens, but here are some of the best shots. I used my Nikkor 85mm 1.8 and I think it's a great way to bypass the cold time of the year. So everyone who's interested in sports I recommend to give it a try.
By the way the "FT 1844" is the volleyball team of the town I live in. It was a really great game, but I didn't expect something else since they play in the second highest division of german volleyball. They won 3:0, but had to fight hard at some points.
Feel free to add comments on what you like or dislike, so I can improve.