2: 10 Train - Rising Sons / Rising Sons Featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder (recorded 1965–1966) / (published 1992)

Mystery Train - The Neville Brothers / Brother's Keeper (1990). Original song Junior Parker (1953)

Slow Train - Kevin Morby / Harlem River (2013)

Runaway Train - Brandon Boyd / The Wild Trapeze (2010)

Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado - Train / Change My Game (2017)

The Gospel Train - Alabama 3 / Outlaw (2005)

.....

(...)

Had a talk with my old man

Said, "Help me understand"

He said "Turn 68, oh, you'll re-negotiate"

"Don't stop this train"

Don't for a minute change the place you're in

And don't think I couldn't ever understand

I tried my hand

John, honestly we'll never stop this train"

Cause now I see, I'm never gonna stop this train

Never gonna stop this train.

Stop This Train - John Mayer / Where The Light Is (Live in Los Angeles), Cd 1 / (2008)

.....

I have always lived in houses, which were very close to the sea and also very close there was a railway line. I have always liked to see a train pass or hear its sound. When I was little and left school, we would go to the railways, close to home, to throw stones at the freight wagons of the freight trains that came down and brought salt from the Súria and Cardona mines, to be loaded onto ships in the port of Barcelona. In addition to throwing stones at it, we counted the number of wagons the locomotive was carrying. Possibly, this train loaded with salt, its schedule was around 1 noon and not at 2:10, like the song written by Albertano and sung with that special voice by Taj Mahal, whom I consider the best bluesman, with permission from B.B. King.

We spend a part of our childhood on the railroad tracks, between abandoned wagons and freight trains. And the port and the sea in summer. Unforgettable days.

There was a day, when several locomotives united, transported many wagons. We count more than a hundred. They seem like a lot to me, but the mind of a child, when he is a child, is a little messy. They talk and think in such a way that it seems they are a little crazy. But they are not. I don't know if it was really more than a hundred wagons that we counted. Possibly we miscounted. But that day... that day was a truly unforgettable "orgy" of stone throwing.

On this railway line, some people died who did not hear the locomotive arrive. And even some person committed suicide, stretched out on the tracks while the railroad came at full speed, without the possibility of stopping. While i'm listening to "Mystery Train" by The Neville Brothers, with this lilting rhythm, imitating the sound of a railway, I remember the kind locomotive driver, who when he saw us, he would sound the train's horn, say hello to us and reduce the speed of the locomotive, so that we had more time to throw stones. We were not hooligans. We were just... children playing .

Never let a train get away from you. And much less, those trains that suddenly appear and cross our lives. Get on all the trains you find, even if they are mysterious... because life is a mystery train, you never know where it will take you.

.....

Cause now I see, I'm never gonna stop this train

Never gonna stop this train.

Well I woke up this morning and the sun refused to shine.

Til I hear the 2:10 train.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

– Margaret Mead –

Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

– Desmond Tutu –

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

– Dale Carnegie –

♫ TUNE ♫

This song was made to celebrate the power of speaking out in order to promote a more just world.

Juvenile Kingfisher about to take the plunge in the River Taff..

Amsterdam - Binnen Oranjestraat

Copyright - All images are copyright © protected. All Rights Reserved. Copying, altering, displaying or redistribution of any of these images without written permission from the artist is strictly prohibited.

KZ-poses - Ring B - female pose

All My Links

I have wanted to do something different for a while, then one gets lost in what can only be described as "Photographers Block", akin to "Writers Block" same thing yet different tool of creativity. I even deleted a photo I put up yesterday as I hated it, simply because experimental change is sometimes difficult, in the enigmatic paradigm of remaining as was, yet contradicted by the yearn for change, albeit lost for choice yet unable to see the forest for the trees! If you catch my convoluted drift?!

I think the criteria of assumed "change" is tethered to the idea of realising that ,change, in one's self cannot therefore be abridged to the same/similar ideas of others, it is a struggle then to remain original. I am still trying to conquer it whilst trying to not to lose my perspective to the idea of absolutes!

So this photo I took along the A100 with the Westhafen Canal running parallel, in which there are three or four barges moored along the walkway, I had been meaning to get to them since the weather has since started to slowly improve. They are basically big floating elongated buckets of either nothing or asphalt, earth and what have you. But they are interesting for the very old mechanical presence, compositional offerings and overall differing of imagery from nature and anything else that has been done to death so far. The clouds were thin and wonderfully striated offering a bokeh contradiction of composition's directional flow. It was tricky getting the angle as I wanted to get the motorway out of the focus completely.

That's all my waffle for today, I hope everyone's' week has gotten off well and so as always, thank you! :)

All the Beauty of Life is Made Up of Light and Shadow

- Leo Tolstoy

Digging around on my Laptop, I found this Honeybee image in the 2015 archives, so here it is. My computer can’t fit into her jeans any longer, so I’m committed to deleting 500 Pics a day until she loses some Gigabytes. We’ll both feel better, and so will my Lightroom Catalog : )

_______________________________________________

More Information on the Honeybee than you may want to know:

Honeybee also spelled honey bee, are a group of insects in the family Apidae that in a broad sense includes all bees that make honey. This species is also called the European honeybee or the western honeybee.

All honeybees are social insects and live together in nests or hives. The honeybee is remarkable for the dancing movements it performs in the hive to communicate information to its fellow bees about the location, distance, size, and quality of a particular food source in the surrounding area.

There are two honeybee sexes, male and female, and two female castes. The two female castes are known as workers, which are females that do not attain sexual maturity, and queens, females that are larger than the workers. The males, or drones, are larger than the workers and are present only in early summer. The workers and queens have stingers, whereas the drones are stingless.

Queen honeybees store sperm in a structure known as the spermatheca, which allows them to control the fertilization of their eggs. Thus queens can lay eggs that are either unfertilized or fertilized.

Unfertilized eggs develop into drones, whereas fertilized eggs develop into females, which may be either workers or virgin queens.

Eggs destined to become queens are deposited in queen cells, which are vertical cells in the honeycomb that are larger than normal. After hatching, the virgin queens are fed royal jelly, a substance produced by the salivary glands of the workers. When not fed a diet consisting solely of royal jelly, virgin queens will develop into workers.

During the swarming season, in the presence of a weak queen or in the absence of a queen, workers may lay unfertilized eggs, which give rise to drones.

For all three forms of honeybees, eggs hatch in three days and then develop into larvae that are known as grubs. All grubs are fed royal jelly at first, but only the future queens are continued on the diet.

When fully grown, the grubs transform into pupae. Queens emerge in 16 days, workers in about 21 days, and drones in 24 days.

After emerging, the queens fight among themselves until only one remains in the hive. The old queen and the majority of her workers typically have left the hive by the time the new queens emerge.

The swarm, which typically reproduces during swarming, may form two or more new colonies at different nesting sites.

(Nikon D750, Sigma 180/2.8, 1/1600 @ f/14, ISO 1600, edited to taste)

Female Barn Owl (Tyto Alba) ready to strike; I mentioned in a previous post that our extreme drought along the CA Central Coast has affected the vole population. After this dive, the Barn Owl stayed on the ground for awhile--possible catching a Jerusalem cricket or other insect. SLO County; CA; USA; Sony a9; Sony 200-600mm lens at 441mm; ISO 6400; f/6.3; 1/1000 sec; hand held in low light; Topaz AI De Noise

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,

committed people can change the world.

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead

Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls

of oppression and resistance.

Robert Kennedy

We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to

participate in the process of change.

Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people,

can transform the world.

Howard Zinn (Historian)

(Author of: "A People's History of the United States" & "and Terrorism and War"

Also featured in documentary: "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train")

Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

A handshake was a contract, it was commitment to a deal, a friendship, or a sincere greeting.

A Canada Goose about to land. Kane County, Illinois

Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)

My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...

More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili...

If you're interested, you'll find a more detailed closeup here (it's the 8th photo from the top): www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...

My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (it's very brief but pretty unusual: a tiny wall lizard attacks two young great tits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqkSsyrm7E

THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: MY LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY

If you've set yourself the challenge of exclusively shooting the wildlife in your own back yard, you might find - as I did - that bird photography is really, really hard.

It's not that reptiles are easy to photograph either, mind - but at least the ones in my garden stay (for the most part) on the ground, and one can learn how to carefully approach them with a camera. They're also clearly egoists, which from a photographer's point of view is is a great character trait: if a lizard detects a human in its vicinity, it's only interested in saving its own skin, and it won't alarm its buddies.

But birds... oh man. Over the years, my feathered friends and I have developed a lovely routine that now defines our peaceful co-existence. As soon as I as much as open a window (let alone the door), I'm instantly greeted by an eruption of panicky fluttering and hysterical shouts from my garden: "SAVE YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND FLY FOR YOUR LIVES: THE HAIRLESS, PINK MONSTER IS COMING!!! (Yes, I speak bird, and I know that this is exactly what they are shouting 😉).

Needless to say, with the exception of the redstart I already showed here, all my efforts to get the kind of detailed shots I usually strive for with my nature photography ended in complete failure and utter disillusionment. I was ready to give up on stalking the winged misanthropes in my garden altogether, but then winter came - and changed everything.

One day this past January I observed my neighbor Signora P - a kind, elderly Italian lady - putting something on the low garden wall in front of my house. At first I thought she was just putting some treat there for her cat Romeo; the young tom patrols that wall constantly (it's his favorite spot in the garden, and during the warmer months he usually lurks in the thick foliage next to it to prey on lizards).

But once I detected a lot of movement on that wall through my window, I understood she had put a little pile of bread crumbs there; she was feeding the birds who soon arrived in flocks. This was certainly well-intended on my neighbor's part, but her noble action came with a catch, and I'm afraid quite literally.

When I took a stroll through my garden the next day I discovered a suspicious amount of feathers on the ground next to the wall. Romeo had apparently switched from his low-calorie summer diet (lizard) to more energy-rich meals consisting of "fowl" (it was winter after all, so from a nutritionist's point of view this made sense).

I would find fresh traces of Romeo's victims (mostly feathers, but also the odd wing) in my garden over the following days; so my first intuition that my neighbor was feeding her cat hadn't been that far off after all, as Romeo was now clearly being "served" fresh birds on a daily basis. And although the hungry visitors seemed to be aware of the danger and became slightly more prudent, they just couldn't resist the tasty snacks Signora P put on that wall - and neither could Romeo.

It was obvious that I had to act, but talking to my neighbor - who is as stubborn as she is kind - would have been futile, I knew that much. I pondered the matter long and hard - until a light bulb went off in my head. The idea was genius. If successful, what I had in mind would not only increase the birds' chances of surviving Romeo's appetite, but also greatly benefit my own photographic endeavors.

I started to enact my master plan the very next day by buying a giant bag of bird feed (consisting mainly of sunflower seeds) from the store. Then I dragged a huge piece of a tree trunk (approx. 120 cm in height) that we normally chop firewood on from the shed out into the garden and emptied almost half of the bag's content on top of it. Signora P's buffet for birds (and cats) was about to get some serious competition 😊.

My reasoning was as follows: not only would the birds be lured away from the fatally low garden wall to a place where they were safe from the cat - there was nothing around that tree trunk that provided cover for a predator, and the birds had a nice 360° view around it at all times - but I was also able to photograph them while hiding in the shed.

However, in order for my plan to work there was one little extra measure I had to take, and it was one that risked lowering my own life expectancy considerably once the owner of the property - my mom - discovered it. You see, our shed is completely windowless, so if I wanted to use it as a blind, I had no choice but to cut a hole into one of its wooden walls... which I promptly did (I figured all's fair in love - and photography 😉).

Granted, I have absolutely zero carpentering skills, and it showed. That hole was an ugly mess: the shed's wall seemed to have had an encounter with Jack Nicholson's ax-wielding lunatic character from the film 'The Shining'. Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my work (I mean, come on: there now was a hole where before there wasn't a hole, and it was big enough for the lens of my camera to peek through, so it was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned).

Now all I had to do was wait for the birds to discover the tree trunk. In the meantime I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation with my mom and go through possible explanations for that splintering hole in the wall (it was either gonna be a rabid woodpecker attack or an emergency rescue mission with a feeding tube for a little kid that had accidentally locked himself inside the shed - both seemed valid options, though I slightly preferred the locked-in kid due to the involved drama and heroism 😉).

A whole day went by, and not a single bird visited the sunflower seeds. I had expected that it might take a few hours until the first of the ever curious great tits or blue tits would show up, but given how tiny my garden is, an entire day seemed excessive. Then another day came and went: the birds kept flocking to the bread crumbs on the wall, and my tree trunk kept collecting dust. To add injury to insult, a few fresh feathers on the ground were proof that Romeo was still feasting.

It was incredibly frustrating: I provided my winged guests with a much better view - plus a higher chance of surviving the cuisine - than Signora P's place; I risked (almost) certain death at the hands of my own mother (OK, the act of vandalism on the shed I had committed for my own benefit, but still), yet the birds kept ignoring me.

Then, after three days, just before sunset, I spotted a single blue tit on the tree trunk picking away at the sunflower seeds.

When I got up the next morning I immediately realized that the loud noise that accompanies each and every tit activity had shifted from the wall to the shed. At last the dam had broken: there was a flurry of movement around the tree trunk, and I counted at least 5 different species of birds feasting on the sunflower seeds.

From day 4 onward my plan worked beautifully: the birds now indeed mostly ignored Romeo's "snack wall" and kept to the tree trunk. And yes, I was able to play peeping tom from behind the shed's wall and photograph them!! 😊

Thus, dear readers, I finally managed to produce some acceptable bird photos, and I had even saved my feathered friends from a deadly foe in the process. All through winter and spring I took advantage of my new bird hide, and in late May I started mixing some cherries with the sunflower seeds. The idea was to attract a Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), and as you can see, it worked!

It took me almost three weeks and more than a few tricks to capture that clever fella, but given how long I've been rambling here already, that's a story for another day. As for my mom, she still doesn't know about the hole in the wall, so please don't snitch! 😉.

I hope you like the photo and wish you all a wonderful weekend! Many greetings from Switzerland, and as always: let me know what you think in the comments 🙏 😊 ❤!

P.S. if anyone has their own funny tale about the obstacles we photographers are prepared to overcome for a desired photo, please write it in the comments: I love such stories 😊

... dem sozialem Status verpflichtet

Rolls Royce

Merks-Motor-Museum (Nürnberg)

www.merks-motor-museum.de

Committed to Ferrania P30 using a Hasselblad X-Pan and 45 mm lens. Developed using Ars-Imago FD as per the Massive Dev chart and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro.

“You’re committed, you realize. You are…under the jurisdiction of me…the staff.” She’s holding up a fist, all those red-orange fingernails burning into her palm. “Under jurisdiction and control—”

- Nurse Ratched |One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

SL Prompt Project 2022

Taken at What's Lost Spirits

She is a paradox, a puzzle...

She is faithful and yet detached, she is committed and yet relaxed...

She loves everybody and yet no one, she is sociable and yet solitary...

She is gentle and yet tough, she is passionate and yet platonic...

In short, she is predictable in her inpredictability...

Details:

LILAROZEN.COM

È stato trovato senza vita pochi giorni fa da alcuni connazionali, impiccato a una corda, Joban Singh, 25 anni. Era un bracciante Indiano. L'ennesimo caso di sfruttamento nelle campagne pontine, che non ha retto alla solitudine e alla fatica. Più che un suicidio mi sembra un omicidio.

Era arrivato in Italia per cercare lavoro dopo aver pagato per un biglietto di sola andata almeno 8 mila euro. Si era poi ritrovato a lavorare per alcune aziende agricole, ricevendo un salario di poche centinaia di euro al mese , di fronte a lunghe ore di lavoro senza nessuna tutela.

È il tredicesimo caso di suicidio di questi schiavi invisibili, di cui nessuno si occupa, al di là di poche belle parole, che si registra solo nella provincia di Latina in pochi anni

Fiore di cactus

Joban, a very young Indian , came to Italy to find a job. He was 25 and committed suicide. He worked as an invisible slave in the country.

A shame for us

“I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it's because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it's because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from whence we came."

[Remarks at the Dinner for the America's Cup Crews, September 14 1962]”

― John F. Kennedy

Years ago I happened across a large piece of driftwood on the beach. I was stunned to discover a perfect heart shape worn into the wood. It seems the ocean had a message for us all.

Tapetenreste in verfallener Russenkaserne

This 190 year old church in Quebec has become the target of ghost hunters amid rumours the building is haunted. Rumours were started on chat sites that at one time the church's congregation committed mass suicide. Although the stories had no basis in fact, they soon had supernatural thrill seekers and ghost hunters breaking in to the church at night. They've been performing seances on the grounds, trying to conjure up the spirits of the dead. The 19th century St. John's Anglican Church in Gore, Que., has been plagued by unwelcome visitors of late, and both the church's warden and the Anglican diocese are considering abandoning it.

#4880 - 2021 Day 131: We've committed to No Mow May, a scheme to not mow the grass through the month of May, to encourage pollenators in to the wild flowers. We have the ubiquitous daisies and dandelions of course, but already there are signs of other wild plants, such as acquilegia, fox and cubs, and selfheal ... I'll make a few more studies over the month I think.

With a Snowy Egret

Committed to Ferrania P30 using a Hasselblad X-Pan and 45 mm lens. Developed using Ars-Imago FD as per the Massive Dev chart and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro. Dust cleaning and local contrast in Photoshop.

For sale - committed seller - needs a little TLC... Indiana lakeside property with potential

As I committed my crimes in a darkened room

A bird flew by to see what I'd done

He set up a nest outside

And he sang about what I'd become

Kat Chauveau

First early morning fog in ages - I thought I was up and would have the scene to myself, however this mad fisherman was obviously committed to his passion too (which helped me with this scene overlooking the reservoir and a fog bound Welford in the distance .

I started planning this winter’s expedition to Algonquin Park on the weekend. I go solo and use the weather forecasts to help shape the length, nature (camp? Motel? Both?) and focus of the trip.

But weather can change, sometimes on the trip into the Park, and once I get about halfway I am committed. So then it is just reaction and making the best of available light and wind impact. On the trip this image is from I experienced the worst of the unpredictable events: it got both a lot snowier and a lot colder than forecast - a rare event, as one of those usually excludes the other.

This Jay was puffed out and scrunched up against the cold and just launching to head to a less snowy perch. The light was not great but the character of these amazing hardy birds was on display.

The fella was particularly committed to fishing. We saw him fishing here on several evenings when we walked that way, once with a large barracuda in the sand beside him. So we know he had some success.

We don't know these people, but I like the implied story we get from the positions and directions of their bodies and fishing rods. What do you think the story is?

“Never settle in any circle that is not fully committed to forever walk in the direction of endless opportunities and possibilities.”

Edmond Mbiaka

“Life is a full circle, widening until it joins the circle motions of the infinite.” - Anaïs Nin

“There are patterns which emerge in one's life, circling and returning anew, an endless variation of a theme”

Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Chosen

Done for Sliders Sunday.

Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! xo💜💜

Brown Falcon

≠===================≠

After comfortably sitting preening, this bird turned into the breeze and simply lifted off.

So I couldn't help but notice that it's been a while since I posted an older shot. So I went digging through the "older than a year" archive again and found this. For how generic it may look, it's honestly embarrassing how long it took me to edit this.

And even then, this isn't nearly as ordinary as you may think. For one, 50s retro roadside diners are always a blast to see in this day. The old spirit of America still alive in some capacity. Even better, this is Pigeon Forge Tennessee, a town that prides itself on quirky Americana attractions so this felt even more right at home here. I even remember seeing other photos while trying to track the location down (Sunliner Diner), and they consistently have that old car you can see at the bottom right parked there as a prop. Going further into research, the only other restaraunt of this particular variety is in Mobile Alabama. So after all those excuses, would you still call it ordinary?

I did... a LOT in editing. This wasn't even a setup of a shot I think this was just me sticking my inferior SL1 out the window as I was driving by so there was NOTHING beyond the framing to hold this up at first. Sky was overexposed, fixed that, people walking across the frame, took those out, made it look like it was taken in the late afternoon with the lighting. Lit up some of the neon displays. It took almost 3 hours to get everything done.

But I am dedicated and committed, turned a seemingly irredeemable mess into a... usable post. I still don't expect this one to do that well.

God Bless America.

I found this Little Pied Cormorant perched on a rusty rock, its usually white plumage strikingly stained. It felt like a lazy Sunday morning. Then, in an instant, something important caught its attention. Moments later it surfaced some distance away, a fish twisting in its beak as it worked to line it up.

(Microcarbo melanoleucos)

Committed to Ferrania P30 using a Hasselblad X-Pan and 45 mm lens. Developed using Ars-Imago FD as per the Massive Dev chart and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro. Dust cleaning and local contrast in Photoshop.

Sometimes you can be committed to two images but realise they don't necessarily sit well together. The last two uploads (5220 and the Nodding Donkey) fall in to that category, imho.

As a result I've decided to insert this one between them - a shot of GBRf 'newbie' 69008 approaching Basingstoke station at some speed with the 12.30pm Mountfield Sidings - Southampton Western Docks gypsum empties (4Y19).

Framed to make the best of the sunlight whilst incorporating the signal gantry, this one was running 7 minutes behind schedule and wasn't hanging around either. Even though I was stood well behind the yellow line, it felt prudent to take another couple of steps back as soon as I'd grabbed the shot!

For anyone who's not in the know, 69008 is essentially a fully-rebuilt and re-engined class 56 (56038 in this case), a class that originally saw service in the 1970s. Their conversion was deemed to be a cheaper and less risky option compared to designing and sourcing a completely new locomotive.

Note the old Basingstoke Signal Box in the centre background, now thought to be used as a S&T workshop / canteen facility.

3.46pm, 14th October 2023

On the 12th of May, 1943, Szmul Zygielbojm committed suicide. Szmul was a member of the Polish Government in Exile. Being in London, he was aware of the Warsaw Ghetto and also of the Jewish resistance movement there with its tunnels and bunkers. This resistance was crushed by the Nazis and the Ghetto was stripped of its Jewish inmates. Szmul's farewell note contains this paragraph:

"I cannot continue to live and to be silent while the remnants of Polish Jewry, whose representative I am, are being murdered. My comrades in the Warsaw Ghetto fell with arms in their hands in the last heroic battle. I was not permitted to fall like them, together with them, but I belong with them, to their mass grave. By my death, I wish to give expression to my most profound protest against the inaction in which the world watches and permits the destruction of the Jewish people."

Fuji X-Pro1, Helios 44M-7.

Like much of England, the site of the New Forest was once deciduous woodland, recolonised by birch and eventually beech and oak after the withdrawal of the ice sheets starting around 12,000 years ago. Some areas were cleared for cultivation from the Bronze Age onwards; the poor quality of the soil in the New Forest meant that the cleared areas turned into heathland "waste", which may have been used even then as grazing land for horses.

There was still a significant amount of woodland in this part of Britain, but this was gradually reduced, particularly towards the end of the Middle Iron Age around 250–100 BC, and most importantly the 12th and 13th centuries, and of this essentially all that remains today is the New Forest.

There are around 250 round barrows within its boundaries, and scattered boiling mounds, and it also includes about 150 scheduled ancient monuments. One such barrow in particular may represent the only known inhumation burial of the Early Iron Age and the only known Hallstatt culture burial in Britain; however, the acidity of the soil means that bone very rarely survives.

Following Anglo-Saxon settlement in Britain, according to Florence of Worcester (d. 1118), the area became the site of the Jutish kingdom of Ytene; this name was the genitive plural of Yt meaning "Jute", i.e. "of the Jutes". The Jutes were one of the early Anglo-Saxon tribal groups who colonised this area of southern Hampshire. The word ytene (or ettin) is also found locally as a synonym for giant, and features heavily in local folklore.

Following the Norman Conquest, the New Forest was proclaimed a royal forest, in about 1079, by William the Conqueror. It was used for royal hunts, mainly of deer. It was created at the expense of more than 20 small hamlets and isolated farmsteads; hence it was then 'new' as a single compact area.

The New Forest was first recorded as Nova Foresta in Domesday Book in 1086, where a section devoted to it is interpolated between lands of the king's thegns and the town of Southampton; it is the only forest that the book describes in detail. Twelfth-century chroniclers alleged that William had created the forest by evicting the inhabitants of 36 parishes, reducing a flourishing district to a wasteland; however, this account is thought dubious by most historians, as the poor soil in much of the area is believed to have been incapable of supporting large-scale agriculture, and significant areas appear to have always been uninhabited.

Two of William's sons died in the forest: Prince Richard sometime between 1069 and 1075, and King William II (William Rufus) in 1100. Local folklore asserted that this was punishment for the crimes committed by William when he created his New Forest; 17th-century writer Richard Blome provides exquisite detail:

In this County [Hantshire] is New-Forest, formerly called Ytene, being about 30 miles in compass; in which said tract William the Conqueror (for the making of the said Forest a harbour for Wild-beasts for his Game) caused 36 Parish Churches, with all the Houses thereto belonging, to be pulled down, and the poor Inhabitants left succourless of house or home. But this wicked act did not long go unpunished, for his Sons felt the smart thereof; Richard being blasted with a pestilent Air; Rufus shot through with an Arrow; and Henry his Grand-child, by Robert his eldest son, as he pursued his Game, was hanged among the boughs, and so dyed. This Forest at present affordeth great variety of Game, where his Majesty oft-times withdraws himself for his divertisement.

The reputed spot of Rufus's death is marked with a stone known as the Rufus Stone. John White, Bishop of Winchester, said of the forest:

From God and Saint King Rufus did Churches take, From Citizens town-court, and mercate place, From Farmer lands: New Forrest for to make, In Beaulew tract, where whiles the King in chase Pursues the hart, just vengeance comes apace, And King pursues. Tirrell him seing not, Unwares him flew with dint of arrow shot.

The common rights were confirmed by statute in 1698. The New Forest became a source of timber for the Royal Navy, and plantations were created in the 18th century for this purpose. In the Great Storm of 1703, about 4000 oak trees were lost.

The naval plantations encroached on the rights of the Commoners, but the Forest gained new protection under the New Forest Act 1877, which confirmed the historic rights of the Commoners and entrenched that the total of enclosures was henceforth not to exceed 65 km2 (25 sq mi) at any time. It also reconstituted the Court of Verderers as representatives of the Commoners (rather than the Crown).

As of 2005, roughly 90% of the New Forest is still owned by the Crown. The Crown lands have been managed by the Forestry Commission since 1923 and most of the Crown lands now fall inside the new National Park.

Felling of broadleaved trees, and their replacement by conifers, began during the First World War to meet the wartime demand for wood. Further encroachments were made during the Second World War. This process is today being reversed in places, with some plantations being returned to heathland or broadleaved woodland. Rhododendron remains a problem.

During the Second World War, an area of the forest, Ashley Range, was used as a bombing range. During 1941-1945, the Beaulieu, Hampshire Estate of Lord Montagu in the New Forest was the site of group B finishing schools for agents[18] operated by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) between 1941 and 1945. (One of the trainers was Kim Philby who was later found to be part of a spy ring passing information to the Soviets.) In 2005, a special exhibition was mounted at the Estate, with a video showing photographs from that era as well as voice recordings of former SOE trainers and agents.

Further New Forest Acts followed in 1949, 1964 and 1970. The New Forest became a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1971, and was granted special status as the New Forest Heritage Area in 1985, with additional planning controls added in 1992. The New Forest was proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 1999, and it became a National Park in 2005.

For further information please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Forest and www.thenewforest.co.uk/

Shot with a "Tomioka-Copal 75 mm F 2.8" (enlarging) lens on a Canon EOS R5.

Dark little historical tale. Way pre-#metoo

Yamato Totohi Momoso himemiko (倭迹迹日百襲媛命), the shaman aunt of Emperor Sujin, supposedly committed suicide after learning her husband was a trickster snake-god.

She became the wife of Oho-mono-nushi no Kami. This God, however, was never seen in the day-time, but at night. Yamato-toto-hi-momo-so-bime no Mikoto said to her husband: "As my Lord is never seen in the day-time, I am unable to view his august countenance distinctly; I beseech him therefore to delay a while, that in the morning I may look upon the majesty of his beauty." The Great God answered and said: "What thou sayest is clearly right. To-morrow morning I will enter thy toilet-case and stay there. I pray thee be not alarmed at my form." Yamato-toto-hi-momo-so-bime no Mikoto wondered secretly in her heart at this. Waiting until daybreak, she looked into her toilet-case. There was there a beautiful little snake, of the length and thickness of the cord of a garment. Thereupon she was frightened, and uttered an exclamation. The Great God was ashamed, and changing suddenly into human form, spake to his wife, and said: "Thou didst not contain thyself, but hast caused me shame; I will in my turn put thee to shame." So treading the Great Void, he ascended to Mount Mimoro. Hereupon Yamato-toto-hi-momo-so-bime no Mikoto looked up and had remorse. She flopped down on a seat and with a chopstick stabbed herself in the pudenda so that she died. She was buried at Oho-chi. Therefore the men of that time called her tomb the Hashi no haka [Chopstick Tomb]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j967wyK7-40&list=PLnOSH5j1sQh...

NEW @ NEO JAPAN

Open September 25 thru October 17

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GABRIEL3/131/125/500

NEO JAPAN FLICKR: www.flickr.com/groups/3010742@N20/

NEO JAPAN FB

www.facebook.com/groups/267691864165597/

STUFF

Air_Enma Halo_silver

Nefekalum Tattoos

*N*Hoozuki_Nakazashi

* EXiA * Homura Kimono

WETZLAR

DEUTSCHLAND

Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts wurde dieses Haus erbaut und seit 1694 von der Familie des Wetzlarer Buchdruckers und Verlegers Georg Ernst Winckler bewohnt. Der linke, einfachere Fachwerk-Erker entstand erst 1742. Am 30. Oktober 1772 erschoss sich in dem Haus der braunschweigische Legationssekretär Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem (1747 - 1772). Goethe, der sich im Sommer 1772 in Wetzlar aufhielt, verknüpfte eigene Wetzlarer Erlebnisse und das tragische Ende Jerusalems in seinem 1774 erschienenen Briefroman „Die Leiden des jungen Werthers“. In dem 1986/87 renovierten Haus befindet sich im 2. Obergeschoss eine Gedenkstätte für Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem, den „Werther“ Goethes.

This house was built at the end of the 17th century and has been inhabited since 1694 by the family of the printer and publisher Georg Ernst Winckler.

The simpler half-timbered bay window on the left was not built until 1742. On October 30, 1772, the secretary of the Braunschweig legation, Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem (1747 - 1772), committed suicide in the house. Goethe, who stayed in Wetzlar in the summer of 1772, made the connection between his own experiences in Wetzlar and the tragic end of Jerusalem in his epistolary novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther", published in 1774.

In the house renovated in 1986/87, there is a memorial to Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem, Goethe's "Werther", on the second floor.

Cette maison a été construite à la fin du XVIIe siècle et est habitée depuis 1694 par la famille de l'imprimeur et éditeur Georg Ernst Winckler.

La baie vitrée à colombages de gauche, plus simple, n'a été construite qu'en 1742. Le 30 octobre 1772, le secrétaire de la légation de Braunschweig, Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem (1747 - 1772), se suicida dans la maison. Goethe, qui séjourna à Wetzlar pendant l'été 1772, fit le lien entre ses propres expériences à Wetzlar et la fin tragique de Jérusalem dans son roman épistolaire « Les Souffrances du jeune Werther », publié en 1774.

Dans la maison rénovée en 1986/87, se trouve au deuxième étage un mémorial dédié à Karl Wilhelm Jérusalem, le « Werther » de Goethe.

She lifts her collar against the harbor air, chin angled toward something just out of frame. Behind her, a ferry slides across the water—routine, dependable, already committed to its route.

She is not.

Some people move because they must.

Others wait, measuring distance, rehearsing who they will be when the crossing finally comes.

There’s a moment at Glenorchy when the day hasn’t quite committed to being day — when the air is still holding its breath and the lake is nothing more than a perfect mirror waiting for the first hint of colour.

On this morning, I caught that fleeting sliver of sunrise. Just a whisper of warmth brushing the distant mountain peaks, their presence stretching all the way down into the reflections at my feet. The world felt like it was slowly waking, one soft glow at a time.

Sometimes it’s not the full blaze of dawn that stays with you, but the quiet promise of it — the gentle reminder that even the smallest shift in light can change everything.

And now for more of the gardens.

Samuel Untermyer was born in Virginia in 1858, and as a boy moved to New York City after the Civil War. He was a founding partner in the law firm of Guggenheimer, Untermyer & Marshall, and was the first lawyer in America to earn a one million dollar fee on a single case. He was also an astute investor, and became extremely wealthy.

Untermyer was also passionately interested in horticulture. He famously said that if he could do it over again, he would want to be the Parks Commissioner in New York City! Unlike most wealthy garden-owners, Untermyer was expertly knowledgeable about horticulture. The level of horticulture at the Untermyer Gardens was nationally famous, and some great gardeners got their training there.

His ambition for the garden was that it be not less than the "finest garden in America."*

The Untermyer Gardens Conservancy was founded in 2011 by Stephen F. Byrns to reclaim the lost splendor of Untermyer Gardens, a Yonkers municipal park that is the home of the finest Indo-Persian garden in the Western Hemisphere.

In 1899 Samuel Untermyer purchased Greystone, the former estate of Samuel Tilden. In the forty one years Untermyer owned Greystone, he transformed the gardens and greenhouses into some of the most celebrated gardens in America. After expanding the estate through property purchases to the north and east of the original estate, he hired Beaux Arts architect Welles Bosworth to design the gardens in 1916. These gardens sprawled over 150 acres overlooking the Hudson River and were maintained by 60 gardeners and supplied by 60 greenhouses. It was open to the public on a weekly basis during the 1920s and for special events, including displays of his famous chrysanthemums and tulips. Thirty-thousand people visited it on one day in 1939.

Upon Samuel Untermyer’s death in 1940, the garden was left in limbo while the estate was settled and a plan to care for it determined. A core part of the gardens was acquired by the City of Yonkers in 1946. In the 1990s, another parcel was acquired, bringing its present acreage to 43. Today, its prestige as one of the greatest gardens in America has been restored, and it is one of the top visitor destinations in Westchester County.

Now, here is an interesting tidbit connected to this park and gardens. It might be hard to believe, but these beautiful gardens, and this property fell into a state of disrepair back in the 1970's. And it was a period in the NYC area when drugs and crime were a major problem. And the occult, and tales of the occult seemingly had generated some new interest. Neighbors around the gardens would hear chanting and see people walking in the park carrying flaming torches. The remains of skinned dogs were also found, and it became apparent that witchcraft and devil worship was at play in park. Satanic scribblings and ominous graffiti appear on columns, towers, and decrepit walls; cryptic markings alluding to a traumatic time in New York City’s history. And now the story gets even more interesting, particularly for those who remember the serial killer "Son of Sam," who later was identified as David Berkowitz, the accused killer of 6, and possibly more. Berkowitz was a devil worshiper and cult follower, and frequented the park in those days on many occasions. Interestingly, a man named Sam Carr, was “the high official of the Devil’s Legion,” and probably how Berkowitz had identified himself as the murderer by leaving a note behind saying it was the "son of Sam" who had committed the crime. In 1976, the crime spree and murders had terrified the people living in the area, and it was until Berkowitz was actually captured in 1977 that the city once again relaxed some.

"It's clear that with this ceasefire, Western governments and media want us all to let bygones be bygones. Never. Israel committed a genocide, we all witnessed the most obscene violence it is possible to imagine, and we need to see the perpetrators locked up in The Hague." - Jason Hickel, Novara Media

▪️"Mae'n amlwg, gyda'r cadoediad hwn, fod llywodraethau'r Gorllewin a'r cyfryngau am inni anghofio'r cwbl. Ni wnawn byth. Cyflawnodd Israel hil-laddiad. Buom i gyd yn dyst i'r trais mwyaf gwaradwyddus y gellir ei ddychmygu, ac mae angen inni weld y rhai cyfrifol o dan glo yn yr Hag." - Jason Hickel, Novara Media

▪️▪️▪️▪️

Trên yng Ngorsaf Lyskerrys ▪️ A train at Liskeard Station

Nurse Louise

Committed to Ilford FP4+ using a Leica M6 and 50 mm Summicron V3 lens. Developed using Ars-Imago FD as per the Massive Dev chart and scanned with an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion and contrast done with Negative Lab Pro.

Australian Hobby

≠=====================≠

Another from the cricket hunting season.

The bird will launch with enough power to glide down snatch a cricket and pull up on to the next post with barely a wing flap.

28th March 2018:

Graham committed a crime this morning by forgetting to buy me my breakfast cereal so this afternoon I nipped into town to see what the small supermarket had, not a lot! But, I did find some porridge which will keep me going until he or us both next go to the main supermarket.

On my way down I noticed this ribbon tied to a lamppost. I checked the others nearby and none of them had been decorated, so no idea why this one was. However I did like the light shining on it, so took a photo. To the amusement of the owner of the house nearest to it. They were in their front garden doing some planting!

It's SOOC other than my copyright.

I've caught up as well as Flickr has allowed me to. If I've missed anyone, I'll try and catch up with you tomorrow.

Better viewed large and thank you for your favourites. :O)

www.flickr.com/groups/2018_one_photo_each_day/