Early juveniles in August when all or most adults dead. Similar form to adults, but periostracum thinner and paler, and spire protrudes less.

Maximum dimension 4.1 mm and 3.3 mm, Portlethen, north-east Scotland, August 1970.

Full SPECIES DESCRIPTION BELOW

Revised PDF available at www.researchgate.net/publication/372768813_Lacuna_pallidu....

Sets of OTHER SPECIES at: www.flickr.com/photos/56388191@N08/collections/

Lacuna pallidula (da Costa, 1778)

Synonyms: Cochlea pallidula da Costa, 1778; Lacuna neritoidea Gould, 1840; Lacuna patula Thorpe, 1844; Lacuna retusa Brown.

Current taxonomy: WoRMS www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=140168

Vernacular: Pallid chink shell; Pale lacuna; Gwichiad agennog gwelw (Welsh); Lacuna pâle (French); Lavspiret grubesnegl (Danish); Bleke scheefhoren (Dutch); Blek lagunsnäcka (Swedish).

Shell description

The largest dimension of female shells is up to about 12 mm fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2kNQ7pc and males grow to 6 mm. The species has an annual life cycle; all or most adults are dead by June. Their small juvenile offspring occur in summer fig. 02 flic.kr/p/2kGH2G9 , growing to full size in winter. The body whorl forms the great majority of the shell, and the very small spire is sunk below the upper margin in most views. Juveniles are similar in form with a slightly lower spire. Sutures between the whorls are distinct. The smooth surface has no sculpture apart from numerous, growth lines.

One face of the hollow columella is missing, exposing a long wide columellar groove (lacuna, chink or canal), leading to a large funnel-like umbilicus fig. 03 flic.kr/p/2kNL1YB . On some specimens the columellar groove is indistinct and the umbilicus reduced fig. 04 flic.kr/p/2kNPCc9 and fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2oQ83ra .

The very large ‘D’ shape aperture is as high as the whole shell, and it occupies about 75% of the area in apertural-view images fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2kNQ7pc . The palatal lip is semi-circular, and it continues along the abapertural side of the columellar groove. The wide, white columellar lip forms the adapertural edge of the groove fig. 03 flic.kr/p/2kNL1YB .

The ‘D’ shape operculum is a rapidly expanding oligogyrous spiral with its off-centre nucleus close to the base of the columellar lip. It is transparent, tinted yellow fig. 04 flic.kr/p/2kNPCc9 & fig. 06 flic.kr/p/2kNL1Ut or nearly colourless fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2oQ83ra . The substantial periostracum is olive-brown with distinct growth lines on large specimens fig. 07 flic.kr/p/2kNQ773, and it usually extends beyond the lip of the aperture fig. 04 flic.kr/p/2kNPCc9 . Under the periostracum, the calcareous shell is white or yellowish white fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2kNQ7pc . Live adults with a thick opaque periostracum are olive-green/brown in water fig. 08 flic.kr/p/2kNPC3g becoming dull brown when dead and dried fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2kNQ7pc . There are no coloured bands or variegation at any stage.

Body description

The flesh is translucent white with varying amounts of yellow or pink tinting fig. 07 flic.kr/p/2kNQ773 and fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2oQ83ra . The snout is ventrally slit fig.06 flic.kr/p/2kNL1Ut and usually rolled into a cylinder fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2oQ92WM . The extended cephalic tentacles are long, smooth, translucent whitish and taper to a blunt tip. When contracted they wrinkle and any yellow tint is intensified fig. 08 flic.kr/p/2kNPC3g . There is a black eye on a slight bulge at the base of each tentacle fig. 07 flic.kr/p/2kNQ773 . The roof of the mantle cavity is whitish translucent showing the colour of the shell except for the mantle edge which is thick and sometimes yellowish fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2oQ92WM . The foot is white with varying amounts of yellow or pink fig. 07 flic.kr/p/2kNQ773 , especially on the opercular disc which supports, and is visible under and through, the transparent operculum fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2oQ83ra and fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2oQ92WM . The two small, flat metapodial tentacles protrude beyond the posterior of the operculum fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2oQ92WM .

Key identification features

Lacuna pallidula

1) Columellar groove (lacuna or chink) leads to umbilicus fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2kNQ7pc but is sometimes sealed over fig. 04 flic.kr/p/2kNPCc9 .

2) Largest dimensions up to 12 mm (female) and 6 mm (male). Hardly any of the spire protrudes beyond the body whorl fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2kNQ7pc

3) Very large ‘D’ shape aperture equals shell height and occupies about 75% of area in apertural view fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2kNQ7pc.

4) Shell olive-brown with no spiral bands fig. 08 flic.kr/p/2kNPC3g .

5) Body white fig. 07 flic.kr/p/2kNQ773 , sometimes yellowish or pinkish; no grey stipple.

6) Found mainly on Fucus serratus and sometimes on Laminaria.

Similar species

Lacuna parva (da Costa, 1778) fig. 10 flic.kr/p/2kNL1A2 .

1) Columellar groove (“lacuna” or “chink) leads to umbilicus. 2) Usual maximum height 4 mm; sometimes 6 mm. Spire 30% to 40% of shell height.

3) Aperture occupies about 50% of area in apertural-view images.

4) Body whorl has three brown spiral bands; basal band 1 easily overlooked if base of shell not examined. Some shells are uniform white or brown with no bands.

5) Body translucent white, usually stippled grey.

6) Found mainly, especially when young, on small red weeds. Sometimes on fucoids.

Littorina fabalis (W. Turton, 1825) and

L. obtusata (Linnaeus, 1758) fig. 11 flic.kr/p/2kNPBJk .

1) No columellar groove or umbilicus.

2) Maximum dimension up to 17 mm. Very large body whorl and small spire.

3) Aperture occupies about 50% of area in apertural-view images.

4) Shell of L. obtusata is sometimes greenish olive.

5) Body varied shades of yellow, brown or black.

6) Found on Fucus serratus (L. fabalis) or Ascophyllum (L. obtusata) and on Fucus vesiculosus (both).

Lacuna vincta (Montagu, 1803) fig. 12 flic.kr/p/2kNQ6PK .

1) Columellar groove (“lacuna” or “chink”) leads to umbilicus. 2) Maximum height about 10 mm. Well developed spire about 50% of adult shell height, and about 30% on juveniles less than 3 mm high.

3) Aperture occupies about 30% of area in apertural-view images of full grown adults.

4) Body whorl has four brown spiral bands.

5) Body whitish with grey, yellow, orange and/or aquamarine parts.

6) Found on Laminaria and, especially juveniles, on small red weeds. Also on Zostera and sometimes on fucoids.

Lacuna crassior (Montagu, 1803) fig. 13 flic.kr/p/2kGH26u

1) Wide white columellar shelf. Usually no groove or umbilicus but sometimes small ones present.

2) Distinct spire about 50% of mature shell height, about 45% when younger.

3) Aperture occupies about 30% of area in apertural view.

4) Shell when live, has translucent, yellowish-brown spire and brownish-white body whorl. Thick periostracum has distinct, raised, transverse (costal) ridges. Dead dry shells are dull yellowish-brown if periostracum retained, yellowish white with faint spiral lines if periostracum worn off.

5) Body translucent whitish.

6) A rare species which often associates with the bryozoan Alcyonidium diaphanum.

Habits and ecology

L. pallidula feeds on the surface of Fucus serratus (Smith, 1973) and Laminaria (Lebour, 1937) near low water on rocky shores and to 70 metres depth. It is usually absent where turbidity or soft substrate prevents growth of F. serratus. It cannot survive desiccation. Some populations live in the Baltic in salinity down to 12‰.

It moves with a bipedal stepping motion, lifting alternately the right and left sides of the foot. It breeds in late winter and spring, sometimes extending into summer and autumn, with a maximum in February to May in Britain, but precise dates vary regionally. The spawn mass is a low gelatinous dome with an almost circular, oval base (not kidney-shape), diameter 3.9 mm to 5.3 mm (Lebour, 1937), laid on fronds of F. serratus or Laminaria. There are up to about 200 ova per spawn mass fig. 14 flic.kr/p/2kNQ71M . In the low salinity Øresund, Denmark, the masses are smaller with as few as 13 ova (Thorson, 1946 in Fretter & Graham, 1962).

Fretter and Graham (1962) reported confusion with the spawn of “Littorina littoralis” (the name mistakenly used formerly by British authors for an aggregate of Littorina obtusata and L. fabalis). The limited material examined for this account suggests the confusion is with L. fabalis which lives on F. serratus at the same shore level and lays similar, almost circular oval spawn masses, while L. obtusata lives higher up the shore, favouring Ascophyllum, and often lays kidney-shaped spawn masses up to 7 mm long. The difference between the spawn masses of L. fabalis and Lacuna pallidula may be that the latter has a distinctly bevelled peripheral rim while the surface of the former slopes to the substrate without a break in slope fig. 14 flic.kr/p/2kNQ71M . But more investigation is required to test these suggestions; the difference might be due to age of spawn mass. Lacuna parva also has similar spawn but it is found on red algae and is smaller, about 2.5 mm diameter with about 50 ova in Britain fig. 14 flic.kr/p/2kNQ71M ; 2.2 mm to 2.5 mm with 6 to16 ova in the brackish Øresund (Ockelmann & Nielsen, 1981 in Wigham & Graham, 2017).

The individual egg capsules of L. pallidula become angular as they swell and become crowded and compressed. There is no planktonic veliger stage; young emerge as tiny crawling snails. Through a microscope, just before hatching, two tentacular extensions of the opercular disc protruding beyond the operculum may be detected on the embryos within the clear capsules (Fretter & Graham, 1962). Males die after mating, and the females about a month later, so all or most adults breeding in the main period are dead by June or July, and few specimens over 5 mm high can be found in August fig. 02 flic.kr/p/2kGH2G9 . Both sexes grow rapidly until October. From October to February males grow slowly, but females at three times their rate so that by breeding time they are over twice as high as males (Thorson, 1946 in Fretter & Graham, 1962). When mating, the small male rides on the female’s shell near the aperture with his penis inserted into her mantle cavity 15Lp flic.kr/p/2rSk89j.

Distribution and status

L. pallidula occurs from northern Norway and Iceland to Atlantic Spain and New England (USA). GBIF map www.gbif.org/species/2301181

It is found all around Britain and Ireland, but is scarce or absent in the north-eastern Irish Sea and southern North Sea where lack of hard substrate and/or turbidity hinder the growth of Fucus serratus and Laminaria. UK distribution map NBN species.nbnatlas.org/species/NBNSYS0000175975#tab_mapView

Acknowledgements

For use of images, I thank Sarah Charles and Rob Durrant.

References and links

Forbes, E. & Hanley S. 1849-53. A history of the British mollusca and their shells. vol. 3 (1853), London, van Voorst. archive.org/details/historyofbritish03forbe/page/56/mode/2up

Also plate LXX11 at end of vol.4, fig. 1 & 2, also fig. 3 & 4 labelled “L. patula” archive.org/details/historyofbritish04forbe/page/n459/mod...

Fretter, V. and Graham, A. 1962. British prosobranch molluscs. London, Ray Society.

Graham, A. 1988. Molluscs: prosobranch and pyramidellid gastropods. Synopses of the British Fauna (New Series) no.2 (Second edition). Leiden, E.J.Brill/Dr. W. Backhuys. 662 pp.

Jeffreys, J.G. 1862-69. British conchology. vol. 3 (1865). London, van Voorst.

archive.org/details/britishconcholog03jeffr/page/350/mode...

Lebour, M.V. 1937. The eggs and larvae of the British prosobranchs with special reference to those living in the plankton. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., 22: 105 – 166. plymsea.ac.uk/953/

Ockelmann, K. W. and Nielsen, C. 1981. On the biology of the prosobranch Lacuna parva in the Øresund. Ophelia 20: 1-16.

Abstract at www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00785236.1981.10426559

Smith, D. A. S. 1973. The population biology of Lacuna pallidula (da Costa) and Lacuna vincta (Montagu) in north-east England. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., 53: 493-520.

Thorson, G. 1946. Reproduction and larval development of the Danish marine bottom invertebrates. Meddelelser fra Kommissionen for Danmarks Fiskeri- og Havundersøgelser, Serie Plankton 4: 1-523.

Wigham, G.D. & Graham, A. 2017. Marine gastropods 2: Littorinimorpha and other, unassigned, Caenogastropoda. Synopses of the British Fauna (New Series) no.61. (344 pages). Field Studies Council, Telford, England.

Glossary

‰ = (salinity) parts salt per thousand parts water (brackish <30‰).

abapertural = away from the aperture.

abapical = away from the apex of the shell.

adapertural = towards the aperture

adapical = towards the apex of the shell.

aperture = mouth of gastropod shell; outlet for head and foot.

apical = at or near the apex.

chink = (see columellar groove).

columella = solid or hollow axis around which gastropod shell spirals; concealed except next to aperture where hollow ones may end in an umbilicus, slit or siphonal canal.

columellar = (adj.) of or near central axis of spiral gastropod,

columellar groove = Groove where one face of hollow columella missing, terminates in umbilicus. Also called “lacuna” or “chink.

columellar lip = lower (abapical) part of inner lip of aperture.

cephalic = (adj.) of the head.

costa = (pl. costae) rib crossing a whorl of a gastropod shell at about 90° to direction of coiling and any spiral ribs or lines.

costal = (adj.) of, or arranged like, costae.

ctenidium = comb-like molluscan gill; usually an axis with a row of filaments either side.

height = (of gastropod shells) distance from apex of spire to base of aperture.

lacuna = (see columellar groove).

mantle = sheet of tissue that secretes the shell and forms a cavity for the gill.

oligogyrous = (of a spiral) having few turns.

operculum = plate of horny conchiolin used to close shell aperture.

palatal lip = outer lip of gastropod aperture.

parietal lip = upper (adapical) part of inner lip of gastropod aperture that lies, often as a glaze, on surface of whorl.

periostracum = thin horny layer of conchiolin often coating shells.

plankton = animals and plants that drift in pelagic zone (main body of water).

protoconch = apical whorls produced during embryonic and larval stages of gastropod; often different in form from other whorls.

suture = groove or line where whorls adjoin.

umbilicus = cavity up axis of some gastropods, open as a hole or chink on base of shell, sometimes sealed over.

umbilical groove = narrow slit opening of umbilicus on some gastropods.

veliger = shelled larva of marine gastropod or bivalve mollusc which swims by beating cilia of a velum (bilobed flap).

Continuing the fungi images taken in a friends garden a feew days back. Very small and delicaye they are about 18mm in diameter.

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continued .....

Hythe is now a large and busy town, stretching from the terminus of the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in the west (and even a little further), to the long sandy beach and coast road that lead to Sandgate and Folkestone. It also creeps west, up the downs and valleys of the North Downs. It also is the start of the Military Canal. Hythe also has a vibrant high street, with many independent shops, as well as both a Sainsbury's and Waitrose. Which speaks about the town's demographic.

It even has an industrial area, where Jools works, and a stony beach which serves as a harbour for a small fleet of fishing boats as the harbour itself silted up in antiquity.

St Leonard itself sits up on the slopes of the down, in a flattened area that was some feat in itself. The church is very large and heavily Victorianised, but well worth an hour or two of anyone's time. And it is most well known for the ossuary which lies beneath the chancel, and is open during the non-winter months.

It is some climb up from the town, up two layers of roads which run parallel with the main street, up steepish steps, past the old Hospital, now two flats call Centuries, until you come to the church, but then there are more steps up to the porch and then into the church itself. And if there hadn't already been too much climbing, there are more steps up to the chancel and side chapels.

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A large civic church, as befits one of the original Cinque Ports. Traces of the Norman building may still be seen in the blocked round-headed windows in the north wall of the nave and the excellent Norman arch at the east end of the south aisle. The chancel is thirteenth century in origin, completed by Pearson in 1886. The pulpit is a great piece of Victorian craftsmanship, designed by George Edmund Street in 1876. The three-light stained glass in the east window is by Wallace Wood and dates from 1951. There are Royal Arms of the reign of William and Mary. The chancel has a triforium gallery, an unexpected find in a parish church. A circular staircase runs from the north-west corner linking the triforium, rood loft and roof. Under the chancel is an interesting processional passage, open to the public during the summer, which contains hundreds of skulls collected from the churchyard during clearances. In the churchyard is the grave of Lionel Lukin, who obtained a patent for his invention - the lifeboat - in 1785.

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hythe

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lthough it is now difficult to imagine, Hythe's rise and development stems from its former role as a busy Channel port.

St Leonard's stands far from the sea today, but when the first Norman church was built, in c.1080, the high Street formed the quayside of the Cinque Port of Hythe.

The earliest known reference to a church in the town is found in the contemporary Doomesday Monarchum. Some writers believe that the north transept, now called St Edmund's Chapel, may have then incorporated a Saxon place of worship; a Saxon-style arch is still plainly visible.

In medieval times St Leonard's was described as "Hethe Chapel" despite possessing a magnificence which other Kentish folk would have envied.

Successive Archbishops of Canterbury held a large estate at Saltwood near Hythe and are believed to have been responsible for the enlargement of the church in c.1120, probably using some of the craftsmen who built the cathedral in Canterbury.

Aisles and transepts were added and a new, more elaborate choir with small apse was fashioned. Entry was through a west door where the interior tower wall still stands. Many Norman features can still be seen; the arches in the south aisle and in the choir vestry, as well as the remains of two windows above the north aisle.

By c.1220 fashions in architectural style had changed. With a growing number of pilgrims visiting the church, further enlargements were carried out. Perhaps in an attempt to build a mini-Canterbury Cathedral, and certainly with that inspiration, the civic pride of the townsfolk gave birth to the present church.

The ambitious project was launched when Hythe was at the height of its prosperity, and the magnificent chancel and ambulatory beneath ( now incorrectly known as the crypt ) are the result.

The only reason we can still see the remains of the previous churches is that the town's prosperity later waned and the plan could not be fully carried out.

Some improvements were made in the 14th Century, notably the building of the tower and the porch with a room above to house the parish priest, but these were on a less lavish scale than before.

During the Reformation the rich decoration which filled the church was stripped away. Wall paintings, rood screen and statues were destroyed, alters removed and pews added for the first time.

Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries the interior would have appeared remarkably plain. Only the iron "Armada" chest which used to contain the parish registers survives as a tangible reminder of the period.

The west tower of the medieval church collapsed in 1739; possibly it had finally succumbed to weakness created by a severe earthquake of 1580. The ferocity of the tremors was reported to have made the church bells ring and caused dangerous cracks in nearby Saltwood Castle.

A newspaper reported: "We learn from Hythe that on Thursday morning last, about eleven o'clock, the steeple of their church fell down, and that they have been busy digging out the bells, being six in number. About ten persons were present when it fell, waiting for keys in the church porch to go up the steeple for a view. But some delay being made in bringing them, they all happily saved their lives, and no other damage than being terribly frightened.

The tower was subsequently reconstructed in 1750, using the old materials, with the south transept being rebuilt the following year, largely through the generosity of the Deedes family, many of whose ancestors are buried there.

There was a clock in the tower before 1413, although the present instrument dates from 1901.

A peal of at least five bells is recorded before the 1480s. Subsequently there were normally eight, two bells being added in 1993 to make the full peal of ten.

In the 18th century the nave was surrounded by galleries to provide enough seating for the town's growing population. Poorer people sat up there while the best pews below were ' rented out ' to wealthier worshippers.

In 1751 the Deedes family rented one such pew for themselves and four more for their servants.

The mayor and the town corporation had their own pews at the front. Present councillors still sit at the front, in the pews with carved poppy-heads.

urial vaults were made outside the church in the later 18th and early 19th cenuries.

In 1875 and 1887 restorations to the church were carried out at a cost of £10,000. Two of the finest

Victorian architects, George Street and John Pearson, were employed. Street designed the Law Courts

in the Strand.

At St Leonard's the two men successfully completed many of the features which the original medieval craftsmen had intended to incorporate before the funds dried up. The vaulting to the chancel and aisle roofs was completed in 1887, albeit five centuries overdue. The present barrel-shaped roof in the nave dates from 1875. The pulpit with its fine Venetian mosaic work, composed of 20,000 pieces, is of the same date.

Many of the fittings introduced at that time were in keeping with the medieval devotional life of the church. Amongst these is an especially fine marble reredos which originally stood behind the alter, but is now situated in the south choir aisle. This is a masterpiece of artistic work, given by a former curate in memory of his wife. There is a Pre-Raphaelite touch in the depiction of the angels, and its deep swirling lines give it an almost sultry appearance. It was carved from a single piece of carrera marble in 1881 by Henry Armstead to the designs of George Street. It was moved to its present position in 1938.

Two features in the church bring the visitor abruptly into the 20th century. In the south aisle a remarkable stained-glass window commemorates 2nd Lieutenant Robert Hildyard who was killed, with over a million others, on the Somme in 1916. The window has a dreamy, surreal effect, and is a fine example of the art nouveau style.

The present fine organ built in 1936 by Harrison & Harrison, is the latest in a long line dating back to the 15th century.

Most visitors are impressed by the main east window which shows Christ, surrounded by angels, ascending to heaven. The Victorian glass which once occupied the space was destroyed in 1940 when a german bomb struck the ground at the east end of the church causing extensive damage.

The present east window was dedicated in 1951 and reflects the long-term role played by the town of Hythe in the front line of England's defence. A Cinque Port ship can be seen in the panel at the bottom left, and an anti-aircraft gun and searchlights in the right-hand panel.

The only structural alteration to the church in the 20th century was the building of the choir vestry on the north side in 1959, enclosing the fine Norman arch of the second church.

St Leonard's maintains a strong musical heritage with concerts and recitals being held regularly in the church. The worship continues to be enriched by a strong choral tradition which stretches back several centuries. The church building is continuously being developed and restored through the fundraising efforts of the parishioners.

St Leonard's church remains passionately committed to discovering God wherever he might be encountered in the word, in sacraments, in the beauty of this place and in the love shared between its parishioners.

New approaches and styles of worship, as well as the traditional forms of service, all seek to deepen further the spiritual health and maturity of the faithful, who keep returning, time and time again, to seek God in a holy place.

www.stleonardschurchhythekent.org/stlh.html

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THE parish of Hythe, at this time within the liberty of the Cinque Ports, and the corporation of the town of Hythe was antiently, with part of the parish of West Hythe, within an hundred of its own name.

It is called in some antient records, Hethe; in Domesday, Hede; and according to Leland, in Latin, Portus Hithinus; Hithe signifying in the Saxon, a harbour or haven. (fn. 1) In the year 1036, Halden, or Half den, as he is sometimes, and perhaps more properly written, one of the Saxon thanes, gave Hethe and Saltwood, to Christ-church, in Canterbury. After which they appear to have been held of the archbishop by knight's service, by earl Godwin; (fn. 2) and after the Norman conquest, in like manner by Hugo de Montfort, one of those who had accompanied William the Conqueror hither, at which time it was accounted only as a borough appurtenant to the manor of Saltwood, as appears by the book of Domesday, taken in the year 1080, where, under the title of lands held of the archbishop by knight's service, at the latter end of the description of that manor, it is said:

To this manor (viz. Saltwood) belong two hundred and twenty-five burgesses in the borough of Hede Between the borough and the manor, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was worth sixteen pounds, when he received it eight pounds, and now in the whole twenty-nine pounds and six shillings and four-pence .

Besides which, there appears in the description of the archbishop's manor of Liminge, in the same record, to have been six burgesses in Hede belonging to that manor. Hythe being thus appurtenant to Saltwood, was within the bailiwick of the archbishop, who annually appointed a bailiff, to act jointly for the government of this town and liberty, which seems to have been made a principal cinque port by the Conqueror, on the decay and in the room of the still more antient port of West Hythe, before which it had always been accounted within the liberty of those ports, which had been enfranchised with several privileges and customs, though of what antiquity they were, or when first enfranchised, has not been as yet, with any certainty, discovered; and therefore they are held to enjoy all their earliest liberties and privileges, as time out of mind by prescription. The quota which the port of Hythe was allotted to furnish towards the mutual armament of the ports, being five ships, and one hundred and five men, and five boys, called gromets. (fn. 3)

The archbishop continued in this manner to appoint his bailiff, who acted jointly with the jurats and commonalty of the town and port of Hythe, the senior jurat on the bench always sitting as president, till the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when the archbishop exchanged the manor of Saltwood, together with the bailiwick of Hythe, with the king for other estates elsewhere. After which a bailiff continued to be appointed yearly by the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 17th year, granted them a particular charter of incorporation, by the name of mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and port of Hythe, under which they continue to be governed at this time; and she likewise granted to the mayor and his successors, all that her bailiwick of Hythe, together with other premises here, to hold by the yearly fee farm of three pounds, by which they are held by the corporation at this time.

The liberty of the town and port of Hytheextends over the whole of this parish, and part of that of West Hythe, which indeed before the harbour of it failed, was the antient cinque port itself, and to which great part of what has been said above of the antient state of Hythe likewise relates, but not over the scite of that church. The corporation consists of a mayor and twelve jurats, of which he is one, and twenty-four common councilmen, together with two chamberlains and a town-clerk. The mayor, who is coroner by virtue of his office, is chosen, as well as the other officcers of the corporation, on Feb. 2d yearly, and, together with the jurats, who are justices within this liberty exclusive of all others, hold a court of general sessions of the peace and gaol delivery, together with a court of record, the same as at Dover; and it has other privileges, mostly the same as the other corporations within the liberties of the five ports. It has the privileges of two maces. The charters of this corporation, as well as those of the other cinque ports, were in 1685, by the king's command, surrendered up to colonel Strode, then governor of Dover castle, and were never returned again.

Hythe has no coat of arms; but the corporation seal represents an antique vessel, with one mast, two men in it, one blowing a horn; and two men lying on the yard arm.

The PRESENT TOWN OF HYTHE is supposed to owe its origin to the decay of the antient ports of Limne and West Hythe, successively, the harbours of which being rendered useless, by the withdrawing of the sea, and their being banked up with sand, occasioned this of Hythe to be frequented in their stead, and it continued a safe and commodious harbour for considerable length of time, till the same fate befel it likewise, and rendered it wholly useless; and whoever, as Lambarde truly observes, considers either the vicissitude of the sea in different places, and the alterations which in times past, and even now, it works on the coasts of this kingdom, will not be surprized that towns bordering upon the sea, and supported by traffic arising from it, are subject in a short time to decay, and become in a manner of little or no consequence; for as the water either flows or forsakes them, so they must of necessity flourish or decay, flowing and ebbing, as it were, with the sea itself. (fn. 4) Thus after the sea had retired from the town of West Hythe and its haven, the former fell to decay, and became but a small village of no resort, and the present town of Hythe, at two miles distance, to which it was continued by a number of straggling houses all along the shore between them, rose to prosperity, and its harbour became equally noted and frequented in the room of it; so that in a short time the houses and inhabitants increased here so greatly, that Leland says there was once a fair abbey in it, and four parishes and their churches, one of which was that of our Lady of Westhithe, which shews that West Hythe was once accounted a part of the town itself. But this must have been in very early times; for long before king Richard II.'s reign, I find it accounted but as one single parish. The town and harbour of Hythe were by their situation always liable to depredation from enemies; in particular, earl Godwin, when exiled, returned in 1052, and ravaging this coast, took away several vessels lying at anchor in this haven, and Romney; and in king Edward I.'s reign, anno 1293, the French shewed themselves with a great fleet before Hythe, and one of their ships, having two hundred soldiers on board, landed their men in the haven, which they had no sooner done, but the townsmen came upon them and slew every one of them; upon which the rest of the fleet hoisted sail, and made no further attempt. In the latter part of king Richard the IId.'s reign, a dreadful calamity happened to it, when more than two hundred houses of it were burnt down in one day; (fn. 5) and five of their ships were lost, and one hundred men drowned, by which misfortunes the inhabitants were so much impoverished and dispirited, that they had thoughts of abandoning the place, and building themselves a town elsewhere; but king Henry IV. by his timely interposition, prevented this, and by charter released them from their quota of shipping for several turns. The following is Leland's description of it, who wrote in king Henry VIII.'s reign, "Hythe hath bene a very great towne yn lenght and conteyned iiii paroches, that now be clene de stroied, that is to say, S. Nicholas paroche, our Lady paroche, S. Michael paroche, and our Lady of West Hithe, the which ys with yn less than half a myle of Lymne hill. And yt may be well supposed that after the haven of Lymne and the great old towne ther fayled that Hithe strayt therby encresed and was yn price. Finally to cownt fro Westhythe to the place wher the substan of the towne ys now ys ii good myles yn lenght al along on the shore to which the se cam ful sumtym, but now by banking of woose and great casting up of shyngel the se is sumtyme a quarter, dim. a myle fro the old shore. In the tyme of king Edw 2 ther were burned by casuelte xviii score houses and mo, and strayt followed a great pestilens, and thes ii thinges minished the towne. There remayn yet the ruines of the chyrches and chyrch yardes. It evidently appereth that wher the paroch chirch is now was sumtyme a fayr abbey, &c. In the top of the chirch yard is a fayr spring and therby ruines of howses of office of the abbey. The havyn is a prety rode and liith meatly strayt for passage owt of Boleyn; yt croketh yn so by the shore a long and is so bakked fro the mayne se with casting of shingil that smaul shippes may cum up a large myle towards Folkestan as in a sure gut." Though Leland calls it a pretty road, yet it then seems to have been in great measure destroyed by the sands and beach cast up on this shore, by the desertion of the sea, for he describes it as being at that time as only a small channel or gut left, which ran within shore for more than a mile eastward from Hythe towards Folkestone, that small vessels could come up it with safety; and the state of the town and trade of it in queen Elizabeth's time, may be seen by a survey made by her order in her 8th year, of the maritime parts of this county, in which it was returned, that there were here, a customer, controller, and searcher, their authority several; houses inhabited, 122; persons lacking habitation, 10; creeks and landing places two; th'on called the Haven, within the liberties; th'other called the Stade, without the liberties. It had of shipping, 17 tramellers of five tunne, seven shoters of 15; three crayers of 30, four crayers of 40; persons belonging to these crayers and other boats, for the most part occupied in fishing, 160.

Soon after this, even the small channel within land, above-mentioned, which served as the only remaining harbour, became likewise swarved up and lost, though it had the advantage of the Seabrook, and other streams, which came down from the down hills, as a back water, to keep it scowered and open; and though several attempts were from time to time afterwards made, at no small expence and trouble, to open it again, yet it never could be effected; and the abovementioned streams, for want of this channel, flow now towards the beach on the shore, and lose themselves imperceptibly among it.

The parish of Hythe, which is wholly within the liberty of the corporation, extends from the sea shore, the southern bounds of it, northward up the hill a very little way beyond the church, which is about half a mile, and from the bridge at the east end of the town westward, about half way up the hill towards Newingreen, being more than a mile and an half. The town, which contains about two hundred houses, is situated exceedingly pleasant and healthy, on the side as well as at the foot of the quarry-hill, where the principal street is, which is of a handsome breadth, and from the bridges at the extremities of it, about half a mile in length. It has been lately new paved, and otherwise much improved. The court-hall and market place are near the middle of it, the latter was built by Philip, viscount Strangford, who represented this port in parliament anno 12 Charles II. His arms those of the five ports; of Boteler; and of Amhurst, who served likewise in parliament for it, and repaired this building, are on the pillars of it. There are two good inns; and near the east end of it St. John's hospital. Higher up on the side of the hill, where the old town of Hythe is supposed once to have stood, are parallel streets, the houses of which are very pleasantly situated; several of them are handsome houses, occupied by genteel families of good account, the principal one of them has been the seat of the family of Deedes for several generations.

This family have resided at Hythe, in good estimation, for upwards of two hundred years; the first of them that I meet with being Thomas Deedes, who by Elizabeth his wife, sister of Robert Glover, esq. Somerset herald, a most learned and judicious antiquary, had one son Julius Deedes, whose youngest son Robert had a grant of arms confirmed to him, and Julius his nephew and their heirs, by Byshe, clarencieux, in 1653, Per fess, nebulee, gules and argent, three martlets, counter changed , which have been borne by the different branches of this family ever since. William, the youngest son but one, left a son William, the first who appears to have resided at Hythe. He died in 1653, and was buried in this church, which has ever since remained the burial place of this family. He had one only son Julius Deedes, esq. who was of Hythe, for which he was chosen in three several parliaments, and died in 1692, having had three sons, of whom William, the eldest, was ancestor to the Deedes's of Hythe, and of St. Stephen's, as will be mentioned hereafter; Henry, the second son, was of Hythe, gent. whose eldest son Julius, was of Hythe, esq. and died without surviving issue, upon which this seat, among the rest of his estates, came by the entail in his will, to his aunt Margaret Deedes, who dying unmarried, they came, by the same entail, to her cousin William Deedes, esq. late of Hythe, and of St. Stephen's, being descended from William, the eldest son of Julius, who died in 1692, and was a physician at Canterbury, whose son Julius was prebendary of Canterbury, and left one son William, of whom hereafter; and Dorothy, married to Sir John Filmer, bart. of East Sutton, by whom she had no issue. William Deedes, esq. the only surviving son before-mentioned, of Hythe and St. Stephen's, possessed this seat at Hythe, with several other estates in this neighbourhood, by the above entail. He married Mary, daughter of Thomas Bramston, esq. of Skreens, in Essex, and died in 1793, leaving surviving two sons, William, of whom hereafter; John, who married Sophia, daughter of Gen. Forbes, and one daughter Mary, unmarried. William Deedes, esq. the eldest son, is now of Hythe, and married Sophia, second daughter of Sir Brook Bridges, bart. by whom he has two sons and three daughters.

Further westward is St. Bartholomew's hospital. Opposite Mr. Deedes's house, but still higher up, with a steep ascent, is the church, the hill reaching much above it northward. On the upper part of this hill, are several springs, which gush out of the rock, and run into the streams which flow at each end of the town. All the houses situated on the side of the hill, have an uninterrupted view of the sea southward, Romney Marsh, and the adjoining country. The houses throughout it are mostly modern built, and the whole has a neat and chearful appearance. There is a boarding-school kept in the town for young ladies, and on the beach there are bathing machines for the accommodation of invalids. There was formerly a market on a Saturday, which has been long since discontinued, though the farmers have for some time held a meeting here on a Thursday, for the purpose of selling their corn; and two fairs yearly, formerly held on the seasts of St. Peter and St. Edmund the King, now, on July 10th and December 1st, for horses and cattle, very few of which are brought, and shoes and pedlary.

¶ Here is a small fort, of six guns, for the protection of the town and fishery, which till lately belonged to the town, of which it was bought by government, but now rendered useless, by its distance from the sea, from the land continuing to gain upon it; the guns have therefore been taken out. Soon after the commencement of the war, three new forts, of eight guns each, were erected, at the distance of a mile from each other, viz. Twis, Sutherland, and Moncrief; they contain barracks for 100 men each. Every summer during the present war a park of royal artillery has been established on the beech between the forts and the town, for the practice of guns and mortars; and here is a branch of the customs, subordinate to the out port of Dover. This town is watered by two streams; one at the east end of it, being the boundary between this parish and Newington; and the other at the west end, called the Slabrooke, which comes from Saltwood, and runs from hence, by a channel lately made for that purpose, into the sea, which has now left this town somewhat more than half a mile, much the same distance as in Leland's time, the intermediate space being entirely beach and shingle-stones, (the great bank of which lines this shore for upwards of two miles in length) on which, at places, several houses and buildings have been erected, and some parts have been inclosed, with much expence, and made pasture ground of, part of which is claimed by different persons, and the rest by the corporation as their property.

The CINQUE PORTS, as well as their two antient towns of Rye and Winchelsea, have each of them the privilege of returning members, usually stiled barons to parliament; the first returns of which, that are mentioned for any of them, are in the 42d year of king Edward III.

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp231-253

Suppressed .338 battle rifle WIP

pastebin.com/152vCnFy

The Postcard

A postally unused postcard published prior to 1918 by J. Beagles & Co. of London E.C. The card was printed in England, and has a divided back.

The firm of J. Beagles & Co. was started by John Beagles (1844-1909). The company produced a variety of postcards including an extensive catalogue of celebrity (stage and screen) portrait postcards. After Beagle’s death, the business continued under its original name until it closed in 1939.

Although it was not posted, the card bears a recipient's name and address:

Miss C. Clancy,

Railway Tavern,

Liverpool Street.

There was also a message:

"Dear C,

Got such a lot in the

shop I want to buy.

Love Queenie".

Wilson Barrett

Wilson Barrett (born William Henry Barrett; 18th. February 1846 – 22nd. July 1904) was an English manager, actor, and playwright.

With his company, Barrett is credited with attracting the largest crowds of English theatregoers ever because of his success with melodrama, an instance being his production of 'The Silver King' (1882) at the Princess's Theatre of London.

The historical tragedy 'The Sign of the Cross' (1895) was Barrett's most successful play, both in England and in the United States.

According to Jacob Adler, Wilson Barrett was the most famous actor on the London stage of the 1880's.

Wilson Barrett - The Early Years

Barrett was born into a farming family in Essex. He is remembered as an actor of handsome appearance (despite his small stature) and with a powerful voice.

He made his first appearance on the stage at Halifax in 1864, and then played in the provinces alone and with his wife, Caroline Heath. They married in 1866, having two sons, Frank and Alfred, and three daughters, Ellen, Katherine and Dorothea (Dollie).

Barrett capitalized on his early success as an actor to start a career as a producer. After managerial experience at the Grand Theatre Leeds and elsewhere, in 1879 he took over the management of the Old Court theatre, where in the following year he introduced Madame Helena Modjeska to London in an adaptation of 'Maria Stuart', together with productions of 'Adrienne Lecouvreur', 'La Dame aux Camélias' and other plays.

In 1881, Barrett took over the recently refurbished Princess's Theatre, where his melodramatic productions enjoyed great success, with attendance being the highest ever for this theatre. There Barrett presented 'The Lights o' London', and then 'The Silver King', regarded as the most successful melodrama of the 19th century in England. It debuted on the 16th. November 1882, with Barrett as Wilfred Denver. He played this part for three hundred nights without a break, and repeated its success in W. G. Wills's 'Claudian'.

In 1885 he and Henry Arthur Jones produced 'Hoodman Blind', and in 1886 co-operated with Clement Scott in 'Sister Mary'. In 1886 Barrett left the Princess's Theatre, and in this same year he made a visit to America, repeated in later years.

In 1884 Barrett appeared in 'Hamlet', only to promptly return to melodrama. He was not to find much success in any Shakespearean role, except in the role of Mercutio in 'Romeo and Juliet'.

Though Barrett had occasional seasons in London, he acted chiefly in the provinces, with his company being one of the most successful of the decade, receiving a £2,000 average yearly profit just from the Grand Theatre Leeds. His brother and his nephew were part of the company, and his grandson later joined them,

His productions were not immune to accident. His melodrama 'Romany Rye' was scheduled to open at the Theatre Royal, Exeter on the 5th. September 1887. In the middle of the performance, gas lighting ignited some gauze, fire broke out backstage, and then the curtain collapsed.

Wilson Barrett - The Later Years

By the 1890's, the London stage was already coming under new influences, and Wilson Barrett's vogue in melodrama had waned, leaving him in financial difficulties. From 1894 he toured the United States, including the American and Knickerbocker theatres of Broadway.

Still there in 1895, Barrett found fortune again with a production which would effectively become his most successful, the historical tragedy 'The Sign of the Cross'—which was originally produced in the United States at the Grand Opera House, St. Louis, Missouri on the 28th. March 1895.

It also played in the United Kingdom, at the Grand Theatre, Leeds, on the 26th. August 1895; in London, at the Lyric Theatre, London on the 4th. January 1896; and in Australia, at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney on the 8th. May 1897.

Barrett played Marcus Superbus, an old Roman patrician who falls in love with a young woman, Mercia (originally played by Maud Jeffries) and converts to Christianity for her, both sacrificing their lives in the arena to the lions.

The plot in some ways strongly resembles the contemporary novel Quo Vadis, and it may have been an unofficial adaptation of it, though Barrett never acknowledged this.

The theatre was crowded with audiences largely composed of people outside the ordinary circle of playgoers, shepherded by enthusiastic local clergymen. Barrett tried to repeat this success with more plays of a religious type, though not with equal effect, and several of his later attempts were failures.

At the turn of the century he co-founded the company which became Waddingtons, originally as a theatre-focused printing firm.

Death of Wilson Barrett

Wilson Barrett died in Liverpool, on the 22nd. July 1904. Thanks largely to the success of the Sign of the Cross, he left £57,000, even after periods of relative failure, mainly during his later years managing the Old Court Theatre.

Barrett's Grandson

His grandson, also named Wilson Barrett, became an actor- director with the Brandon-Thomas Company before starting his own repertory in 1939, the Wilson Barrett Company, which based itself in Edinburgh's Lyceum, the Alhambra Theatre Glasgow, and for a time in Aberdeen. It also performed on television, at the Edinburgh International Festival and, by invitation, in South Africa. The company was retired in 1954.

Historical Records

Barrett's descendants placed the majority of Wilson Barrett's papers at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin. Over thirty boxes of materials include manuscript works by Barrett, business and personal correspondence, extensive financial records and legal agreements, as well as photographs, playbills and programs relating to Barrett's productions, and Barrett and Heath family papers.

Additional Wilson Barrett materials at the Ransom Center include letters by Barrett located in the literary manuscript collections of Richard Le Gallienne, John Ruskin, William Winter, and Robert Lee Wolff. The B. J. Simmons Co. costume design records include the company's renderings for 'The Sign of the Cross'. A marked script of Barrett's 'The Manxman' can be found in the Playscripts and Promptbooks Collection.

The British Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the University of Leeds Special Collections Library each have a substantial number of letters by Wilson Barrett. The Victoria & Albert Museum Theatre and Performance Archives holds designs by Edward William Godwin for Barrett's productions of 'Juana', 'Claudian', 'Hamlet', 'Junius', and 'Clito'.

The papers of Wilson Barrett the younger (1900-1981), a grandson of Wilson Barrett who was also an actor-manager and toured with his own Wilson Barrett Company, are located in the Scottish Theatre Archive at the University of Glasgow.

This photo from July 2013 shows the continuing progress on the future 86th Street Station of the Second Avenue Subway.

Photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick Cashin.

* Meadowhall

Continuing on now with last Sunday's events which were brought about by the 3rd weekend in which Network Rail had a Line Possession in force in the area around Meadowhall, the 1st two weeks on the Blackburn Valley Line and last Sunday, the main line closed from beyond Grimesthorpe in the west to Holmes Junction in the east, with Meadowhall in the middle of it all. The plan of action was to drive along to Rotherham for the local stopper into Sheffield and grab as many decent shots as practicable, of the lineside along the GCs route through Tinsley East and Woodburn Junction and inti the north end of Sheffield Midland. En-route taking pictures at a handful of pre-selected locations, with the final one after completing the jaunt into Sheffield. The stops for photographs were:- just north of Meadowhall, the new relief road bridge at Blackburn Meadows Way, Bessemer Way, Rotherham Central for the train and then after a half hour in Sheffield, the return service to Rotherham Central and then back via Woodburn Junction. So, first stop, just north of Meadowhall on the Blackburn Valley line and the Colas hauled civil engineers train has deposited a RailVAc unit just outside the station on the Midland Main line towards Sheffield and it then came a short distance up the BVL and parked up where the work had been going on for the last two weekends. This is a Colas Rail, class 60, 60047 and it has just worked into the area, entering the Line Possession limit, in the east, at Holmes Junction and is now awaiting its next call of duty, this in the inbound 6C51 working, Belmont Down Yard to Holmes Junction; later in the day, the return working, Holmes Junction to Belmont Down Yard will see the set head back to Doncaster. The driver looks to be relaxing as there isn't much happening at this end of the business and it transpired the RailVac unit was being deployed along the main line to clear out the lineside drainage channels.

Oberstdorf, Germany - December, 29, 2015: Geiger Karl from Germany soars through the air during a training 1st round, (day two) of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, 64th Four Hills Tournament (German: Vierschanzentournee) in Oberstdorf a few kilometers of Garmisch-Patenkirchen. The first competition of the Four- Hills Sky jumping event takes places In Oberstdorf in Bavari; a the second competition will continue in Garmisch-Patenkirchen, Germany.

Continuing the landing at RAF Leuchars on a cloudy Spring evening.

Sorry To Myself - Alanis Morissette

For hearing all my doubts so selectively and

For continuing my numbing relentlessly

For helping you and myself: not even considering

For beating myself up and overfunctioning

To whom do I owe the biggest apology ?

No one’s been crueler than I’ve been to me

For letting you decide if I indeed was desirable

For myself love being so embarassingly conditional

And for denying myself to somehow make us compatible

and for trying to fit a rectangle into a ball

And

To whom do I owe the biggest apology ?

No one’s been crueler than I’ve been to me

I'm sorry to myself

My apologies begin here before everybody else

I'm sorry to myself

For treating me worse than I would anybody else

For blaming myself for your unhappiness

and for my impatience when I was perfect where I was

Ignoring all the signs that I was not ready

and expecting myself to be where you wanted me to be

To whom do I owe the first apology ?

No one’s been crueler than I’ve been to me

And

I’m sorry to myself

My apologies begin here before everybody else

I’m sorry to myself

For treating me worse than I would anybody else

Well, I wonder which crime is the biggest ?

Forgetting you or forgetting myself...

Had I heeded the wisdom of the latter

I would’ve naturally loved the former

For ignoring you: my highest voices

For smiling when my strife was all too obvious

For being so disassociated from my body

and for not letting go when it would’ve been the kindest thing

To whom do I owe the biggest apology ?

No one’s been crueler than I’ve been to me

And

I’m sorry to myself

My apologies begin here before everybody else

I’m sorry to myself

For treating me worse than I would anybody else

I’m sorry to myself

My apologies begin here before everybody else

I’m sorry to myself

For treating me worse than I would anybody else

The Dalí Theatre and Museum Figueres Catalonia Spain

(Catalan: Teatre-Museu Dalí, IPA: [teˈatɾə muˈzɛw ðəˈɫi], Spanish: Teatro Museo Dalí), is a museum of the artist Salvador Dalí in his home town of Figueres, in Catalonia, Spain.

Building

The heart of the museum is the building that housed the town's theater when Dalí was a child, where one of the first public exhibitions of young Dalí's art was shown. The old theater was burned during the Spanish Civil War and remained in a state of ruin for decades. In 1960, Dalí and the mayor of Figueres decided to rebuild it as a museum dedicated to the town's most famous son.

In 1968, the city council approved the plan, and construction began the following year. The architects were Joaquim de Ros i Ramis and Alexandre Bonaterra. The museum opened on September 28, 1974,with continuing expansion through the mid-1980s. The museum now includes buildings and courtyards adjacent to the old theater building.

The museum displays the single largest and most diverse collection of works by Salvador Dalí, the core of which was from the artist's personal collection. In addition to Dalí paintings from all decades of his career, there are Dalí sculptures, 3-dimensional collages, mechanical devices, and other curiosities from Dalí's imagination. A highlight is a 3-dimensional anamorphic living-room installation with custom furniture that looks like the face of Mae West when viewed from a certain spot.

The museum also houses a small selection of works by other artists collected by Dalí, ranging from El Greco and Bougereau to Marcel Duchamp and John de Andrea, In accordance with Dalí's specific request, a second-floor gallery is devoted to the work of his friend and fellow Catalan artist Antoni Pitxot, who also became director of the museum after Dalí's death.

A glass geodesic dome cupola crowns the stage of the old theater, and Dalí himself is buried in a crypt below the stage floor. The space formerly occupied by the audience has been transformed into a courtyard open to the sky, with Dionysian nude figurines standing in the old balcony windows.

A Dalí installation inside a full-sized automobile, inspired by Rainy Taxi (1938), is parked near the center of the space.

Art collection

The Dalí Theatre and Museum holds the largest collection of major works by Dalí in a single location. Some of the most important exhibited works are Port Alguer (1924), The Spectre of Sex-appeal (1932), Soft self-portrait with grilled bacon (1941), Poetry of America—the Cosmic Athletes (1943), Galarina (1944–45), Basket of Bread (1945), Leda Atomica (1949), Galatea of the Spheres (1952) and Crist de la Tramuntana (1968).

There is also a set of works created by the artist expressly for the Theater-Museum, including the Mae West room, the Palace of the Windroom, the Monument to Francesc Pujols, and the Cadillac plujós.

A collection of holographic art by Dalí, and a collection of jewelry he designed are on display. Another room contains a bathtub and a side table with an open drawer and a lamp, all of which Dalí had installed upside-down on the ceiling.

An extension to the museum building contains a room dedicated to optical illusions, stereographs, and anamorphic art created by Dalí. The artist's final works, including his last oil painting, The Swallow's Tail (1983), are on display here.

THE DALINIAN SYMBOLS

A study of the work of Dalí, reveals some systematically present symbols in all his work. It's fetish objects that apparently have little in common: crutches, sea urchins, ants, bread...

Dalí uses these symbols so as to make it more meaningful to the message of his painting. The contrast of a hard shell and a soft interior is at the heart of his thinking and his art. This contrast outside-(hard/soft) is consistent with psychological design whereby individuals produce (hard) defenses around the vulnerable psyche (flexible). Dalí knew very well the work of Freud and his followers, even if its iconography derives absolutely no psychoanalytic thought.

ANGELS

They have the power to enter the celestial vault, communicating with God and thus achieve mystical union that concerns both the painter. Figures of angels painted by Dalí often borrow traits of Gala, incarnation, for Dali, purity and nobility.

CRUTCHES

It may be the only support of a figure or the necessary support of a form unable to stand alone. Dalí the view child, in the attic of his father's House. It should take and will never part. This subject gave him an assurance and an arrogance which he had never yet been able. In the short dictionary of Surrealism (1938), Dalí gives the following definition: "wooden Support deriving from the Cartesian philosophy. Generally used to serve as a support to the tenderness of the soft structures."

ELEPHANTS

The dalinian elephants are usually represented with the long legs of desire invisible to many bearings, bearing on their Obelisk back symbol of power and domination. The weight supported by the frail legs of the animal evokes weightlessness.

SNAILS

The snail is related to an important milestone in the life of Dalí: his encounter with Sigmund Freud. Dalí believed that nothing happens just by accident, he was captivated by the vision of a snail on a bicycle outside the home of Freud. The link is then made him between a human head and the snail, he associated specifically with the head of Freud. As for the egg, the outer part of the (hard) shell and the inner (soft) body of the snail site and the geometry of its curves it enchantèrent.

ANTS

Symbol of decay and decomposition. Dalí ants first met in his childhood, observing the remains decomposed small animals devoured by them. He observed with fascination and repulsion, and continued to use them in his work, as a symbol of decadence and ephemeral.

SOFT WATCHES

Dalí has often said, "the materialization of the flexibility of time and the indivisibility of space... It is a fluid." The unexpected softness of the watch also represents the psychological aspect by which the speed of time, although accurate in its scientific definition, can greatly vary in its human perception. The idea came to him after a meal while he contemplated the remains of a runny camembert. He decided to paint over the landscape that served as backdrop for two soft watches which one hung miserably to an olive branch.

EGG

Christian symbol of the resurrection of Christ and the emblem of purity and perfection. The egg evokes by its appearance and its minerality dear symbolism to Dali, earlier, intrauterine life and re-birth.

SEA URCHIN

His "exoskeleton" (the shell sits outside), Harris of thorns, can make you very unpleasant a first contact with the animal. The shell on the other hand contains soft body (one of the favorite dishes of Dali, who was known to eat a dozen at each meal). The Sea Urchin shell, stripped of its spines, appears in many of his paintings.

BREAD

Is it fear of Miss, Dalí represents it in his paintings and also begins to make surrealist objects with bread. In his paintings, loaves more often have something 'hard' and phallic, opposed to the "soft" watches. Dali has always been a great admirer of the bread. It tapissera of Catalan round loaves Figueras Museum walls.

LANDSCAPES

Traditional space (based on the perspective and the paintings of the Renaissance). Realistic landscape strewn with strange and unreal objects located in a natural environment. The background and how to use landscapes are one of the strengths of the art of Dali. They contribute to create the atmosphere of unreality of his paintings (landscape of his native Catalonia and vast plain of Ampurdan surrounding Figueras).

DRAWERS

Human bodies that open by drawers are found repeatedly in paintings and objects from Dali. They symbolize the memory and the unconscious and refer to "thought to be drawers", a concept inherited from the reading of Freud. They express the mystery of hidden secrets. Most of the children explore each drawer, cabinet and wardrobe of their home.

VENUS OF MILO

It is part long's personal mythology of the painter. She is the first woman he model child in clay from a reproduction adorning the family dining room. It is also that he discovered on a box of crayons in New York. He finds stupid expression on his face that he nevertheless considered own to perfect but inadequate female beauty in an elegant woman whose gaze should be or seem intelligent. Dalí made several transformations of Venus: the space Venus, Venus with drawers...

©Russell Pritchard 7th August 2013

2013 World Police and Fire Games continues across Northern Ireland.

Rugby 7's at The Dub, Belfast

PSNI v Italian Fire Brigade

©Russell Pritchard / Presseye

Continued from last photo.

Gallon sized plastic milk jugs (#2 plastic: High Density Polyethylene - HDPE) become lovely flowers for Mary's Garden fashion ensemble which will be worn on runway by model in November of 2010. The ensemble will be made of recycled plastics, and a found remnant of green astroturf.

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

Production photo

One of a kind Trashion fashion by Mary Anne Enriquez

Copyright 2010

Please see my flickr set "Mary's Garden" for complete production and design info for the entire 5 piece ensemble:

www.flickr.com/photos/urbanwoodswalker/sets/7215762450606...

See next photos...

Fort Sumter( a short cruise away) and the Start of the Civil War.

This National historic site is the spot where the Civil War began. The Sth Carolina militia, under the command of the first Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard opened fire and bombarded the Fort on 12th April 1861. Had Lincoln “forced” the South into starting the Civil War? Upon secession he had advised Southern states that federal property would be defended and the mails sent through. Sumter was a federal fort. Major Anderson had run out of supplies and Lincoln advised Anderson that he would re-provision the fort with supplies but no troops. Major Anderson advised the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis that he would evacuate the fort on 15th April if new supplies had not arrived by then. The Sth Carolinians got itchy. At 4:30 am on April 12th they bombarded the fort. It continued for 40 hours until Anderson surrendered. The war had begun. Southerners expected it to be over by September.

Boone Hall Plantation.

What is special about Boone Hall? It has a wonderful Virginian Live Oak alley which was planted from 1743 to 1843. The plantation has been continuously producing crops since 1681. It especially focuses on Gullah culture and the slave quarters with presentations by black Americans. Eight slave cabins (1790-1810) depict different aspects of Gullah culture and history. The plantation style homestead was only built in 1936 but the original house was built around 1700. It has beautiful flower gardens and the azaleas should be at their best. In the 1850s the plantation had 85 slaves with many involved in red brick production. Its main crops in early years were indigo and then cotton from the early 1800s. Its structures include the round smokehouse (1750); and the cotton gin factory (1853).

Gullah Culture and Language and Blacks in Charleston.

Gullah language is recognised as a distinct language and the black American population of coastal Sth Carolina and Georgia recognise themselves as Gullah people. But where did this culture originate? American historian Joseph Opala has spent decades researching the connections between Sierra Leone in Africa and Sth Carolina. A majority of the coastal black slaves arriving in Sth Carolina in the 1700s came from Sierra Leone where the area was known as the “Rice Coast” of Africa. The slaves brought with them the knowledge and skills for rice cultivation in Sth Carolina; their rice cooking methods; their West African language; their legends and myths; and their beliefs in spirits and voodoo. The Gullah people are thought to have the best preserved African culture of any black American group. Few have moved around the USA and black families in Charleston are now tracing their family history (and having family reunions with relatives) in Sierra Leone and Gambia, despite a break of 250 years in family contact! Many can trace their family links back to the Mende or Temne tribal groups in Sierra Leone. The Gullah language is a Creole language based on English but with different syntax more akin to African languages and with many African words and a few French words. The word Gullah is believed to be a mispronunciation of the African word Gora or Gola which came from several tribal groups in Sierra Leone. The direct links with Sierra Leone have been supported by the discovery of an African American funeral song which is identical to one sung by villagers in Sierra Leone.

The Gullah women in Charleston are also known for their weaving- the Sweetgrass basket sellers who can be found in several locations around the city. The skill and tradition of basket making came directly from Africa. And although they do not usually use the term voodoo the Gullah people believe in spirits and the power of roots, herbs or potions to ward off evil spirits or to snare a reluctant lover. If a spell is cast upon you can be “rooted” or “fixed” by this witchcraft and unable to resist the spell. This spiritual tradition is still strong and even whites in Charleston paint the ceilings of their piazzas blue to ward off old hags and evil spirits (and the colour is also meant to deter mosquitoes.)

In the city of Charleston about 18,000 of its residents were slaves in 1861. Large households often had 10 to 20 slaves to do gardening, the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, the food serving, caring for the horses etc. Some households hired out servants to others for short periods and some households sold products produced by the slaves - dresses, other clothing, pastries, shoes, hats, horse shoes etc. Some slaves were musicians and played for their masters or were hired out for social functions to other houses; others were hired out with horse teams for transportation of others etc. So not all slaves worked as domestic servants. But there were also free blacks in Charleston. Often illegitimate children were freed upon their white father’s death and some slaves received small incomes if they had special skills and they could saved enough to buy their freedom. Eventually some free blacks became slave owners themselves by either purchasing slaves or by inheriting slaves from their white fathers. One of the wealthiest free blacks in Charleston in the Antebellum period was Richard DeReef who owned a wharf where he ran a timber business. He also owned a number of rental properties in Charleston. Richard was not a former slave. His African father with his Indian wife had migrated to Sth Carolina in the late 1700s when this was still possible. As his business grew Richard purchased slaves of his own. Despite his wealth Richard DeReef was considered a mixed race or coloured man and was never accepted into Charleston society. After the Civil War when the Radical Republicans from the North were overseeing/controlling Southern governments Richard DeReef was elected as a city councillor in 1868. That was the year that the new federally enforced state constitution allowing blacks to vote came into force. DeReef probably only served for a year or two. By 1870 the Ku Klux Klan was active and blacks disappeared from elected positions. When Northerners left Sth Carolina to its own devises in 1877, with the end of Northern Reconstruction, Sth Carolina stripped blacks of their right to vote by new state laws. Ballots for each of the usual eight categories of office had to be placed in a different ballot box. If any ballot was placed incorrectly all votes by that person were illegal. Later in the 1880s southern states brought in grandfather clauses- you could only vote if your grandfather did. This meant that slaves were not eligible to vote.

Crews continued Sunday, July 21, 2013, cleaning up the derailed freight train in preparation for restoring Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line to service for the Monday morning rush hour. MTA Photo by Joseph P. Chan.

View On Black

A poem to accompany this image by Daniel Duffy:

Continuing Dialogue

by Daniel Duffy

Scribblings of the past,

They stare up at us

But none is the wiser

As to its message

Chain upon fragmented chain,

We wonder what exactly

It all means when we realize

We haven’t a clue

This foreign tongue is meaningless

And yet, to someone else

It wasn’t

Go figure

Words will always have meaning

But will be distorted by

The changing times

Continuing the dialogue

In the present is quite the challenge

Let’s hope the meanings are the same,

Or how else will we communicate

Our culture to another?

Questions asked,

Questions answered,

But still more remain

Why must we fritter away

The hours on pointless

Psychobabble?

Only time will tell,

As the cliché goes…

No Matter What

Cory Schneider, New Jersey Devils, NHL, 2013

Artwork by David Gunnarsson, www.daveart.com.

Today's #mypubliclandsroadtrip continues with a behind-the-scenes with Alison McCartney, a BLM Southeastern States District Office employee stationed in Jackson whose specialty is bats.

"The BLM's Southeastern States employees are currently conducting acoustic surveys on BLM tracts in Arkansas and Louisiana to determine bat species relative abundance and diversity. We are using an Anabat SD2, which is a piece of equipment that records bat echolocation calls. Using specialized software these calls can be analyzed to identify species. Our primary focus for the survey effort is to determine if there are any rare, threatened, or endangered bat species utilizing the tracts to better focus habitat management efforts to benefit these species, if present. We are also interested however, in common species that might occur on the tracts. Bat relative abundance and diversity are considered an overall indicator of forest health. A higher abundance and species diversity of bats in an area represents a healthier more diverse forest.

All bats found in the Southeast are insectivores and therefore provide the ecological benefit of being a natural pest control. Little brown bats and gray bats, for example, have been found to consume over 3,000 mosquitoes in one night by one individual. In addition to bats being a natural source for controlling mosquito populations, bats also help to control agricultural pests. Big brown bats, for example, are predators of several agricultural pests such as June bugs, moths, and beetles. Dramatic declines have occurred for many bat species in the last nine years due to a decease called White-nose Syndrome (WNS). WNS is caused by a fungus which causes hibernating bats to awaken in the winter and act erratically depleting fat reserves, which ultimately might lead to their death. Researchers are working diligently to learn more about the cause and possible cure for this decease."

By Alison McCartney

Love Lets Us Remain in Changzhou

"Of the places around Nanjing and Shanghai, we are most attracted to Changzhou," say this pair of American sweethearts.

The tall gentleman chose the name "贲喆明", and the charming young woman is called "马文慧". A year ago, this young American couple made the long journey to become Middle School 24's foreign English teachers and have since completed a one year contract. Since exploring Chinese culture has been so pleasurable for them, they decided to continue with their foreign teaching career in Changzhou. It is now one month after the start of the new school year. Jeanne cleverly told the reporter, "Not only does the middle character I use in my name ('文') represent my interest in culture, but it reminds me that we are still studying and have more to learn. How can one year be enough time?"

They were able to come to China together because they share common interests. Benjamin tells this reporter, "When I was very little, my parents told me that if you dig a hole in the earth and keep digging, you'll dig all the way through to China." Because of the couple's interest in China, they took Chinese names for themselves in the classical tradition, hoping to be able to accumulate a lot of wisdom, and beyond this, to increase their knowledge.

Before he came to Changzhou, Benjamin had been a computer systems administrator. He had already spent time in thirteen U.S. states doing network administration. While of university age, Benjamin lived the life of a Jew in Israel. He had already had the experience of teaching Hebrew. As for Jeanne, after graduating from college, she did community work enlightening people about culture, race, and gender, emphasizing treating people with equality. This well-matched young couple, having known each other for two years, mutually chose China to acquaint themselves with Eastern culture.

"We like Changzhou because of its geographical location. This place is not a tourist city, and we are attracted to this typical Chinese tranquility and, yet, Changzhou is modern, and so it also meets our needs. We've made friends here from Liaoning, Shandong, Qinghai, Anhuai and other places. As a result of this, we have come to understand the culture of China's provinces and their various traits. This fact is especially pleasing."

How do these two youths communicate with their Chinese friends? Outside the gate of Number 24 Middle School there is a family noodle shop. The first time Benjamin and Jeanne went there, the owner and some customers were full of kindness and said that they wanted to be friends. If Benjamin and Jeanne needed any help, they said they would help them. Because nobody at the restaurant can speak English, the couple was forced to use Chinese for every exchanges. But Benjamin and Jeanne are especially happy about this because it makes their progress fast. The noodle restaurant is run by people of the Hui minority, so sometimes the couple are invited to join in special minority events. Their relationship is reciprocal. For example, Benjamin and Jeanne took the noodle restaurant's menu and researched it. After they finished trying all of the dishes, they brought a translated menu with them. The owner of the restaurant was very happy because now in this small restaurant people cannot but see things in a new light.

Now, perhaps you believe that the fact that this young couple leans strongly toward Chinese cuisine is still somewhat inconsistent. Jeanne is an earnest vegetarian, and Benjamin apparently is also mainly interested in vegetarian food. "In America, we have no baby bok choy, amaranth, bitter melon, or chinese chive dishes—American tofu is Japanese style—and what's more, we don't have dried tofu. Nor do we have another thing I love to eat—tofu sheets. Consequently, in China, I can accept vegetarianism much more happily than in America." Considering what Benjamin says, it's no wonder that they bring food home to cook and eat from time to time. Rumor has it that Benjamin's Hong Shao Eggplant isn't too bad. Sometimes, when they miss America, they go to a nearby Western restaurant and have a coffee and french fries. However, the best place for them to relax is the Tianning Temple restaurant, because, since everything is vegetarian, they can eat anything they see.

Although the two of them ardently love to travel, they seldom took trips during their first year, which spanned from their arrival in August of 2004 until the start of this new school year. But since they put everything into studying Chinese, they can now go anywhere in China on their own. At one time saying "one tea" but now saying "one cup of tea," Benjamin's Chinese has indeed improved. "Sometimes I can't remember a specific piece of Chinese vocabulary, but I can use my Chinese to describe it. For example, if I forget the word for 'cup' I can describe it, and the other person will give me a cup." Benjamin is very proud of himself.

With American students, it's normal to remain seated through the entire class, and the teacher often will sit while teaching class. At the beginning, Benjamin wasn't accustomed to the Chinese classroom protocol. However, now he has explained both ways so it's now possible for him to do both. Also, he likes to pace all over duing class, wanting to be near to the student with whom he is having an exchange, "We do what the students are most comfortable with." This young pair of Americans smiles very brightly.

让爱情逗留常州

“在南京和上海之间，我们更向往常州。” 说这话的是一对美国请侣。

高大的男子取名贲喆明，娇小的女孩名叫马文慧，一年前，这对年轻的美国情侣飞越千山万水，成为二十四中的英语外教。当一年合约已满，对中国文化充满探究乐趣的这对情侣，毅然选择在常州继续外教生涯。新学年开学满一个月时，马文慧俏皮地对记者表示：“自己不但在名字中用‘文’字体现对文化的向往，更要在实践中多学一些，一年的时间怎么够呢？”

共同的志趣让他们走到一起。贲喆明告诉记者，父母在自己很小的时候就说过：如果你在地下挖一个洞，坚持下去，等到挖通的时候就到了中国。因为对中国的兴趣，他把自己的中国名字都取的那么古典希望自己能积累很多智慧，变的更加聪明。

贲喆明来常之前是位计算机程序制员，曾在美国13个州从事网络基础工作，而在大学时代，作为一名在以色列地区生活过的犹太人，他曾有过教授希伯来语的经历。而马文慧，大学毕业后曾从事社区公益事业，着重启发人们在文化，人种，性别等方面的交流，两位志趣相投的青年在认识两年后共同选择到古老的中国，认识东方文化。

“我们喜欢常州，是因为他的地理位置。这里不是旅游城市，我们向往的是一种宁静典型的中国式生化，常州现代，又能满足我们的要求。在这里，我们交到的朋友有来自辽宁，山东，青海，安徽等地，所以我们能了解到中国其他省份的文化与特点，这点令我们尤为满意。”

这对青年是如何交上中国朋友的呢？原来，二十四中门口有家拉面馆，当贲喆明和马文慧第一次来到店里时，店主和一些顾客就表示了充分的好感，提出愿意跟他们交朋友，如果需要帮忙不要客气。因为拉面馆的人都不会讲英语，所以这对一心要学汉语的美国青年特别高兴，他们只能用中文与大家交流，因此进步也就快得多。拉面馆是回族朋友开的，碰上一些带有民族特色的活动也会邀请两人参加。有来有往，作为回报，贲喆明和马文慧把拉面馆所有的菜单都研究了个遍，然后把每只菜成英语再送了回去，拉面馆主十分开心，因为就是这么个不大的店，菜单也同时用汉字，拼音，英语三种方式予以说明，今人不得不另眼相看。

也许你会以为这对青年对中国的饮食文化兴趣颇浓，事实却有所出入。因为马文慧是地道的素食主一者，而贲喆明似乎也只对吃素才感兴趣。“美国没有小青菜，苋菜，苦瓜，韭菜之类，美国的豆腐是日本的，更没有豆腐干和我喜欢吃的百叶，所以，在中国当素食主义者，比在美国要幸福的多了。”贲喆明谈自己的感受，难怪他们时不时买点小菜回来自己烧着吃，据说贲喆明的红烧茄子就相当不错。怀恋美国时，他们会到附近的西品店点上一份咖啡加炸暑条。而最为放心的地方是天宁寺的餐馆，闭着眼睛点都可以啊，因为全是素的嘛。

从2004年8月抵常至今年新学年开学后，这对热爱旅游的青年却极少出去游玩，他们把全部放在了学汉语上，现在己达到可以单独走遍中国的地步了。从来时的“一个酒”到如今的“一杯酒”，贲喆明的汉语的确有了质的飞跃，“有时我会想不起一个具体的汉语词汇，但是我会用中文进行描述，比如我可能忘了酒杯这个词，但一经我解释，别人就会递给我酒杯。”贲喆明很得意。

跟美国学生通常坐着上课，老师也可以坐着授课不同，贲喆明开始不太习惯中国的课堂教学模式，不过他表示每种模式都有可取之处，而他上课则喜欢四处走动，愿意跟更多学生近距离交流，“我们会让孩子们更喜欢我们的。”这对美国青年笑得很灿烂。

My study continues!

Well, 2014 finds me continuing the same activity; documenting colour forms of globular springtails in the genus Sminthurinus.

Towards the end of December 2013, I started seeing darkly-pigmented forms of what looked like Sminthurinus reticulatus. Sminthurinus reticulatus are similar to the reticulata form of Sminthurinus aureus but the reticulate abdominal patterning contains dark pigment.

Here's a selection of Sminthurinus sprintails from today. All show some degree of reticulate patterning but it is very variable and barely noticeable in some. 4 and 5 do show some of the "dark form" characteristics that I've been seeing locally though, with an area of dark pigmentation between the eyes and a "moustache" radiating out underneath with a number of dark "spokes" (compare with 2 and 6).

It's all of little import really, but it keeps me amused!

Canon 5D3 + MP-E 65mm (at 5x) + 1.4x Extender + 36mm extension tube + MT24-EX Flash. Magnification x8. All cropped significantly for the collage.

Sunday morning and track laying continues between Hunter and and Bond Streets.

Chartwells and District 99 mobilized on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 to deliver meals to those in need.

Concentration and a steady hand are a must as a student from Marvelous Masks and Fantastic Face Painting brings his mask to life.

2012 Kids’ College, offered through JCC's Center for Continuing Education.

Throughout the week of March 8-12, 2010, U.S. based NGO Samaritan’s Purse continued its distribution of relief/recovery goods to Samoan communities affected by the September 2009 Tsunami.

The Samaritan’s Purse Samoa Tsunami Project is part of on-going U.S. Government assistance. Samaritan’s Purse were awarded a USD $500,000 (WST $1.259 million) grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to distribute tsunami relief/recovery non-food items to affected communities in the Independent State of Samoa. Samaritan’s Purse has partnered with local NGO and church based groups such as the Apia Protestant Church, Rhema Bible School and other volunteer groups in the country. The organization also coordinated efforts with the Disaster Management Office (DMO) and Samoa Red Cross Society to access information identifying the total number and names of families whose homes and possessions were affected directly by the September tsunami.

After the initial USAID assessment, members of Samaritans Purse flew into Samoa in early October 2009 to plan this project. As soon as DMO and Red Cross identified affected families, the first set of goods (hygiene kits and other items of immediate need) were distributed in early November—this was followed by two additional rounds with the second and third distribution including other items of use at that time, such as mats, linens, tools, wheelbarrows, lanterns, etc.; the March 8-12 goods distribution will be the final distribution to affected families, and came because the organization was able to stretch the original dollars further than expected.

Packages including mosquito nets, kerosene burners and kerosene supply, axes, spades, shovels, picks, machetes, kerosene lanterns, plates and cups, buckets, nails, hammers and mats, among other items were distributed directly to household members. Most of the goods distributed were purchased locally from hardware and supermarkets in Samoa.

For the current distribution of goods, Samaritans Purse identified 300 families in 26 villages including Aleipata (Utufa’alalafa, Saleaumua, Mtiatele, lotopue, Malaela, Satitia, Ulutogia, Vailoa, Lalomanu, Saleapaga, Lepa, Lotofaga) to Falealili (Matatufu, Sapoe, Utulaelae, Salani, Salesatele, Sapunaoa, Satalo, Tafatafa) Siumu area (Siumu I Sisifo, Tafitoala, Sataia, Saanapu) Manono Island and south west Upolu (Manono Uta, Samatau, Siufaga, Matafaa, Lepuiai, Faleu, Apai) and Savaii (Satupaitea—Pitonuu and Mosula) to receive assistance.

U.S. Embassy Apia Chargé Yeager stated that the benefit of the USAID grant through the work of Samaritans Purse is the United States Government’s continued commitment to provide relief to victims of the disaster that affected Samoa. The donations made by the U.S. Government to the Government of the Independent State of Samoa, to local NGOs and to Samaritan’s Purse for work in Samoa, as well as the arrival of tons of goods sent by caring Americans, and organized by the Samoan communities in the U.S. over the past 6 months are all a reflection of the humanitarian sprit and concern for the people of Samoa from the people of the United States.

“Our work in Samoa has been rewarding, from volunteers, local business to the families, everyone has been great and grateful,” said Paul Murphy of Samaritans Purse. “The helpfulness of the people has ensured the success of our job, we are having fun--being the Santa Clauses giving out gifts and seeing the smiles on people’s faces”. Samaritan’s Purse is an American NGO formed by Rev. Franklin Graham, son of famed religious figure Rev. Billy Graham.

Rev. Nuuausala Siaosi of the Apia Protestant Church has been a key member in the distribution, serving as the project’s main liaison and protocol advisor. Rev. Siaosi has been with the project and at every site from the beginning along with youth from his congregation who have all tirelessly volunteered their time. Rev Siaosi states “it is a privilege to distribute goods with Samaritan’s Purse and it’s been a privilege to be part of the countrywide help for affected tsunami families. God bless the American people for these gifts.”

Taofi Tupufia of Manono Uta was grateful when her family was given household supplies , she said “God bless the good people of America, we will not forget this kindness”. This was further echoed by Lavea Talaia of Samatau who thanked the American people for the gifts, “which will help us in the rebuilding of homes, families and communities.”

Samaritan’s Purse’s work in Samoa will wind down towards the end of this month after the distribution of 362 air horns to villages as part of a national tsunami warning system. Purchased through additional USAID funds the project will be jointly organized and distributed with help from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Disaster Management Office.

---United States Embassy Apia, Samoa--- samoa.usembassy.gov

Continuing construction work on what was the Westralia Swamp. Note that they've torn the backs off the Royal Insurance (right) and WA Trustee (left) Buildings to integrate them into the new structure.

Ford continued the Telstar model beyond the first 1982 version. The second generation debuted in 1987, broadly following the themes of the earlier model.

In 1991 the third generation Telstar (AX) debuted, this time the 4th generation 626 variant had evolved into a 3-number vehicle taxation category (over 1700 mm width). At 1750mm, the vehicle was better suited to the US mid-size segment, and its Toyota Camry and Honda Accord competitors. The extra width provided a 'fuller' form and better proportions. Additional wheelbase allowed for a more spacious cabin. The Mk III Telstar/Mazda626 platform also spawned the second generation Ford Probe sold in the US and more broadly globally.

The 1991 Telstar also borrowed the Mazda 2.5 litre V6 engine - well received, due to its power and smoothness. This engine replaced the turbocharged four-cylinder available in the previous generation car. The chassis was also well recieved, forming the basis for the Ford CD3 platform which featured in the well-regarded Ford Mondeo/Contour/Cougar/Mystique/Zephyr/MKZ. This platform had been evolved extensively over time and was only replaced in 2013 for the US Ford Fusion Mk II on the CD4 chassis, and the 2013 Mazda6 on the new SkyActive chassis.

The Telstar/626 twins again won the 'Wheels Car of the Year' award for 1992, though Ford's Asia-Pacific plans were changing. The second generation car had ceased local (Australian) manufacturing, Ford instead sourcing the Australian-built version of the Nissan Bluebird, sold sold as the Corsair. The Telstar continued as an imported model, but was featured higher in the price range of Ford's product line. The Ford/Nissan product sharing program was less successful though, both models ceasing production a few years later.

Ford globally had commited itself to a more 'Global' future. The first generation Mondeo (built from the Mazda-G platform), was to become Ford's global midsize car, built both in Europe and North America. The Telstar in Australia was ultimately replaced by the European-sourced Mondeo, though the models ran concurrently in the marketplace.

Ford and Mazda collaborated on future products, in both the Asia-Pacific region (Ranger), and globally with the 2nd generation Focus being a combined Ford/Mazda/Volvo platform, and with the smaller Ford Fiesta/Mazda2 vehicle.

This Lego model Ford Telstar has been designed for Flickr LUGNuts 62nd Build Challenge, - 'Space is the Place', - celebrating vehicles with Space related names. In this case, the Ford Telstar continued Ford's early 1980's phase of naming cars after space related themes. The Telstar is the name given to the very first telecommunications satellite launched into space, on July 10th, 1962. A further Telstar 2 satellite was launched subseqently.

Taken at the Saco River Walk in Saco, Maine

MOD. 805.

Peugeot 504 (1968-1983).

Taxi de Barcelona.

Escala 1/64.

Serie 800 / Serie "Car in Chic"

Pilen.

Made in Spain.

Año 1981 (?) / 1982 (?).

La serie "Car in Chic" de modelos a escala 1/64 es publicada como novedad en el catálogo de Pilen del año 1978.

Aunque estos modelos son conocidos como a escala 1/64, en los catálogos de Pilen aparecen como miniaturas a escala 1/63 aprox.

El Peugeot 504 apareció en los catálogos de esta serie con las siguientes referencias:

- M-805b Peugeot 504 Taxi.

- M-809b Peugeot 504.

El Peugeot 504 verde aparece como novedad en el catálogo de Pilen del año 1979 con la referencia 809.(809b)

Esta referencia 809 (809a) había sido asignada al Seat 131 G.C. Tráfico en el catálogo del año 1978.

El Seat 131 G.C. tráfico pasó a tener la referencia 802 en el catálogo del año 1979.

(...)

El Peugeot 504 Taxi de Barcelona apareció con la referencia 805b (probablemente a primeros de los años 80), sustituyendo al Chrysler 150 Policía que ya tenía la referencia 805 (805a) desde el año 1979.

"...[En] 1984,... [los] moldes de la serie Car in Chic/Chispicar acabaron en Guiloy, que los fabricó durante algunos años más."

Fuentes:

pilen.jimdo.com/coches-1-64/

pilen.jimdo.com/cat%C3%A1logos/

uno64.mforos.com/2092588/11201866-historia-pilen-1968-1991/

toysfromthepast.blogspot.com.es/2015/12/625-pilen-car-in-...

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Peugeot 504

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The Peugeot 504 is a mid-size, front-engine, rear wheel drive automobile manufactured and marketed by Peugeot for model years 1968-1983 over a single generation, primarily in four-door sedan and wagon configurations — but also with two-door coupe, convertible and pickup truck variants.

The 504 was noted for its robust body structure, long suspension travel, and torque tube drive shaft — enclosed in a rigid tube attached at each end to the gearbox housing and differential casing, relieving drive train torque reactions. The 504 ultimately achieved widespread popularity in far-flung rough-terrain countries — including Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Benin, Kenya and Nigeria.

More than three million 504s were manufactured in its European production, with production continuing globally under various licensing arrangements — including 27,000 assembled in Kenya and 425,000 assembled in Nigeria, using knock-down kits — with production extending into 2006.

Having debuted as Peugeot's flagship at the 1968 Paris Salon, the 504 received the 1969 European Car of the Year.

In 2013, the LA Times called it "Africa's workhorse."

(...)

-------------------

Peugeot 504

Manufacturer

Peugeot SA

Also called

Guangzhou-Peugeot GP 7200

Production

European France: 1968–1983

Argentina: 1969–1999

South Africa: 1970–1985

China: 1989–1997

Nigeria: 1968–2006

Kenya: 1968–2004

Taiwan: 1979–1984

Assembly

Sochaux, France

Buenos Aires, Argentina (Sevel)

Melbourne, Australia (Renault Australia Pty Ltd.)

Los Andes, Chile

Canton, China

Cairo, Egypt (AAV)

Mombasa, Kenya

Thames, New Zealand

Kaduna, Nigeria

Setúbal, Portugal (Movauto)

Natalspruit, Transvaal, South Africa

Pretoria, South Africa (Sigma)

Changhua, Taiwan

La Marsa, Tunisia (STAFIM)

Designer

Aldo Brovarone at Pininfarina

Class

Large family car (D)

Body style

4-door saloon

5-door estate

2-door coupé

2-door convertible

2-door coupé utility (pickup)

Layout

FR layout

Engine

1.8 L I4

2.0 L I4

1.9 L I4 diesel

2.1 L I4 diesel

2.3 L I4 diesel

2.7 L V6

Transmission

4-speed manual

3-speed automatic ZF 3HP12

3-speed automatic ZF 3HP22

3-speed automatic GM 407 (V6)

5-speed manual

Dimensions

Wheelbase

2,740 mm (108 in)

(saloon/berline)

Length

4,486.3 mm (176.63 in)

(saloon/berline)

4,800 mm (190 in)

(break)

Width

1,690 mm (67 in)

Height

1,460 mm (57 in)

Curb weight

1,200–1,300 kg (2,600–2,900 lb)

Chronology

Predecessor

Peugeot 404

Successor

Peugeot 505

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_504

More info:

les-peugeot-mythique.com/la-peugeot-504-berline/

www.garage24.net/0504-6.htm

www.autoevolution.com/peugeot/504/

lautomobileancienne.com/peugeot-504-1968-1983/

stubs-auto.fr/peugeot/peugeot-504-1968-1983/

elblogdeautosdenelsonmuntz.blogspot.com.es/2016/08/peugeo...

Spanninga fender mounted taillight, clay colored Hetres, and platform pedals.

View On Black

nikon f100, fomapan 100 in caffè e soda 25 min. 21°c

©Russell Pritchard 9th August 2013

2013 World Police and Fire Games continue across Belfast and Northern Ireland.

Dodgeball at Queens PEB, Belfast

©Russell Pritchard / Presseye

We’re continuing to ensure we’re prepared to keep you safe at the thousand-plus large-scale events that we police in Greater Manchester every year with the specialist training of hundreds of our officers.

Our rigorous week-long public order training programme has been nationally-recognised as properly equipping us for a whole variety of events – such as sporting fixtures, festivals, carnivals, and protests – to maintain order in circumstances where there is a risk to ourselves and the public.

Each year we police around 1200 such events in GM that mostly pass without any significant incident; however, we ensure that in the rare instances issues do arise, we have officers specially trained in maintaining order with the tactics and skills to keep the wider public and our officers safe.

As well as putting 500 new officers through their paces every year, we have many more experienced officers who also go through the intensive course to refresh their knowledge and skills so that we have the necessary number of qualified cops to be deployed to such big events.

Chief Inspector Kirsten Buggy, of our Specialist Operational Training, People and Development Branch said: “All our officers will police major events given the nature of serving for one of the largest communities in the country, but we also ensure that a high amount of those officers is trained in using the enhanced tactics that may be needed on some occasions.

“Part of the training our officers do here is very-much a last resort and can seem excessive to some, but we’ve seen in the past how valuably important it is that we can call on such an insurance policy for the rare situations where public order needs to be regained and maintained to keep you safe.

“This is the kind of policing that goes to show just how brave and committed our officers are at being on the front line and doing what they can to keep communities safe from those who may look to cause harm, and year-on-year we’re making sure that more of our officers gain the experience that this vital training can offer to the benefit of us all.”

We’re currently recruiting more officers than ever – fancy joining our team too? Find out how you can here: www.gmp.police.uk/recruitment

While President Magsaysay continued using the Executive Office for official meetings, he preferred a more informal style, dropping the use of the Council of State Room for cabinet meetings in favor of unstructured conferences in the Family Dining Room.

(Photo and text from Malacañan Palace: The Official Illustrated History)

Continuing the theme of my being super-slow to process or edit anything shot on film lately, this random lot o' things is totally empty these days.

Following a distance vision test and on passing the pin-hole test (if required), Odetha continues the vision assessment process with a near vision test. A smaller version of the 'tumbling E' chart is used. If a person reads to line 6 or less in both eyes then they need reading glasses.

Revolutionary new adjustable specs invented in Britain will help bring 20/20 vision to hundreds of thousands of people in the world’s poorest countries.

UK charity Vision For A Nation has tested two new ‘adjustable lense’ glasses, developed by an Oxford firm, alongside traditional spectacles and eye tests. The glasses have fluid-filled lenses for which the focus can be adjusted by turning a dial, meaning there is no need for opticians or costly prescription glasses.

The UK’s Department for International Development has invested £250,000 in Vision For A Nation to scale up the project across Rwanda, helping the charity to deliver the new adjustable specs as well as thousands of regular glasses to those in need. The country has a population of 10 million people but just 14 eye doctors, leaving hundreds of thousands of people with entirely preventable poor eyesight.

Picture: Vision for a Nation

I liked how casual these two were. Cosplay doesn't have to be intense in order to be effective and enjoyable.

(I also like the fact that his wings stuck out behind him. Some choices work out well for the person with the camera.)

Interesting, isn't it, that genderflipping isn't even a "thing" any more. If he wants to wear the wings and she wants to wear the horns, why not? It's still "Saga."

Continuing my journey through the year with sunsets

Suffolk, UK

Avancement continu des travaux à la gare de l’aérogare 1 de l’aéroport international Pearson de Toronto pour l’Union Pearson Express

I mean... That isn't ALL it is. Its keeping people safe... Keeping people happy... Doing what I can to make the world a better place. "He really built a legacy... *gasp*! I know... I will carry that legend... For I... Am Robin. The boy wonder..." Dick Grayson thinks, as he is at Tommy Elliot's funeral... And for every hero... The world gets better.

~Scarecrow

“Spectrum”

Opening reception May 2, 2009, 7pm-9pm In conjunction with the Phantom Galleries LA Art Walk Night.

Artists:

Serge Armando, Lino Martinez, Erica Steiner

Curated by:

Edgar Varela Fine Arts

Artist Contact:

542 S. Alameda Street, LA CA 90013

213.494.7608

Edgar@EdgarVarelaFineArts.com

EdgarVarelaFineArts.com

Dates April 15 – May 15, 2009

Opening reception May 2, 2009, 7pm-9pm In conjunction with the Phantom Galleries LA Art Walk Night.

Pedestrian Viewing 24/7, Gallery Hours To be posted. Galleries open by appointment.

Location:

Phantom Galleries LA Long Beach on the Promenade. 170 North Promenade, Long Beach, 90802

About the Artists:

Serge Armando

NEO – GEO – CLASSICISM :

combines the following tenets of Neoclassicism with and expressed through geometric abstraction:

1. a regard for tradition and reverence for the classics, with an accompanying distrust of innovation

2. a sense of literature as art--that is, as something "artificed" or "artificial," made by craft; hence the value put on "rules," conventions, "decorum," the properties of received genres.

3. a concern for social reality, and the communal commonplaces of thought which hold it together.

4. a concern for "nature"--or the way things are (and should be). This relates back to the distrust of innovation and inherent conservatism of neoclassicism. The artistic rules of old, for instance, Pope describes as having been "discovered, not devised" and are "Nature methodized"; so too, "Nature and Homer" are "the same" (Essay on Criticism 88ff., 135). This belief in "nature" implies a conviction that there is a permanent, universal way things are (and should be), which obviously entails fundamental political and ethical commitments.

Born in Nice during a period of Existentialist post-war France, Serge Armando, from his earliest days, was steeped in a backdrop of the blue skies of la Côte d’Azur. From proximity, his way was ushered into first hand experience with Flux and Les Nouveaux Realists.

In 1989, Armando accepted a position at Laguna Art Museum as Exhibition Designer. His first assignment, "Turning the Tide," an exhibition of early Los Angeles Modernists, introduced him to the spiritually-charged abstract works of Peter Krasnow and the hard-edged geometric works of John McLaughlin.

Artist and scholar Michael McManus said this of Armando, "Frontal, blunt, and totemic, [Armando’s] works confront viewers as primal plus-minus icons, but are also perceptually elusive in how they activate the viewer’s peripheral vision. Their workman-like massing of precise, flat, polychromatic acrylic, creates an arresting abstract yet pictorial arena. Like many pure abstract artists of the late twentieth century, Armando regards the non-objective as a visual language–still in its infancy–whose potential equals that of representation." In this way, Armando’s works are invitations for viewers to impose upon them their own visual idiolects, complete with their own experiential lexicons which have arisen from the viewers’ own distinct inventories of “heres” and “nows”.

Armando’s latest works are, as always, iconic and kinetic. The works document his lifelong immersion in competitive systems of organization. Each work of the series propagates squarely steadfast abstract geometric immediacy.

Over his thirty-year residence in Laguna Beach, Armando has played a decisive role in the careers of significant area artists and gallery owners. His works have exhibited in key local galleries and Museums, and have sold to some of Southern California’s most distinguished collectors of contemporary art. His recent, 2005, first place showing at Laguna Art Museum’s twenty-third annual art auction is testimony to his continued impact and import on the local art scene.

Paraphrased from an interview/article by Mike Stice, Laguna Beach, 2005

Kristina E. King

Kristinaeking.com

A version of “Pillow Room” will be installed.

Lino Martinez Santiago

Lino Martinez Santiago was born on July 25, 1961 in Mexico City Mexico. In 1982, he attended ESDAP (Superior School of Drawing Artistic Historical) in Mexico City. Under Professor Mario Orozco Rivera he accomplished paintings and murals. He participated in the murals at the Ferrar Publication Building and the foyer of the Cultural Center Delegation Coyohacan and received a Certificate of Completion. Lino Martinez Santiago arrived in the United States from Mexico City in 1989 and began working with master printer and impression limited atelier. He currently works as a master printer in silkscreen and lithography. His own work is abstract contemporary and surrealistic in nature. Lino has been shown in various galleries throughout California and Mexico with over 15 shows in the past 3 years.

Erica Steiner

Erica Steiner is a professional artist living and working in the Bay Area. Having grown up on rural California farmland and lived much of her adult life in San Francisco, her work reflects both a passion for urban culture and aesthetics and an enduring love affair with the organic forms that compose the natural world. She is a graduate of Mills College in Oakland and New College of California, and has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions around California and beyond.

Artist's Statement

My newest paintings, Reverie: Meditations on an Ornamental World, find conceptual grounding in the idea that the basic human drive to decorate and adorn the material world is a fundamentally sacred or devotional one. Whether this impulse is made manifest in the form of an everyday act like putting on jewelry, or in an overt act of ritual, such as the adornment of a religious icon with flower garlands, we as humans are ubiquitously driven to decorate our world, to sanctify it, and to beautify it with ornament.

Continually deferring and referring back to the language of nature, I use painting as a vehicle to explore my affinity for ornamentation, using natural elements such as trees, flowers, cells, and alien or marine-like forms. Highly detailed in oil and gold leaf, these elements function as visual building blocks of elaborate, dreamy, yet earth-bound realities, foreign yet viscerally familiar places where the consciousness can dwell and find new perspective.

Stylistically, my paintings are influenced by Chinese and Japanese landscape painting, contemporary graphics, textile design and art nouveau. The work also recalls a wide range of contemporary, folk and religious art, including traditional Indian and aboriginal painting, Tibetan Buddhist textiles, and medieval Catholic illuminations.

Partners

"The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency is proud to partner with Phantom Galleries LA, not only to revive empty storefronts along our major corridors, but also to showcase the arts and build a sense of community and culture in our Downtown," said Craig Beck, Executive Director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency. LongBeachRDA.org

Special Thank you to Hillcrest Development Partners, Pacifica HOA, Wokcano Restaurants, Charles Dunn Company.

Sometimes that's just the way the Flame Pedestal turns.

Dunk Island, known as Coonanglebah in the Warrgamay and Dyirbal languages, is an island within the locality of Dunk in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) off the Australian east coast, opposite the town of Mission Beach. The island forms part of the Family Islands National Park and is in the larger Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

The island is surrounded by reefs and has a diverse population of birds. The Bandjin and Djiru peoples once used the island as a source for food. Europeans first settled on the island in 1897. Dunk Island was used by the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. In recent years the island and its resort facilities have been adversely affected by both Cyclone Larry and Cyclone Yasi.

The traditional Aboriginal owners of Dunk Island are the Bandjin and Djiru people, who have lived in this area for tens of thousands of years. After the sea level rise, they paddled to the islands in bark canoes to gather food and materials. The Warrgamay and Dyirbal name for Dunk Island is Coonanglebah, meaning "The Island of Peace and Plenty". It received its European name from Captain Cook, who sailed past it on 8 June 1770, remarked that it was a "tolerable high island" and named it after George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax (a former First Lord of the Admiralty).

Europeans settled the nearby mainland during the 1800s, seeking gold, timber and grazing land. In 1848, John MacGillivray studied the fauna and flora of the island while HMS Rattlesnake was anchored off the island for ten days. He subsequently wrote of its natural features in the Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake, published in England in 1852.

Dunk Island, eight or nine miles in circumference, is well wooded—it has two conspicuous peaks, one of which (the North-West one) is 857 feet in height. Our excursions were confined to the vicinity of the watering place and the bay in which it is situated. The shores are rocky on one side and sandy on the other, where a low point runs out to the westward. At their junction, and under a sloping hill with large patches of brush, a small stream of fresh water, running out over the beach, furnished a supply for the ship, although the boats could approach the place closely only at high-water. — John MacGillivray, Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake

Edmund Banfield

In 1897, suffering from work anxiety and exhaustion, and advised by doctors that he had just six months to live, writer Edmund James Banfield moved to Dunk Island with his wife Bertha – so becoming the island's first white settlers. Previously a journalist and senior editor with the Townsville Daily Bulletin for fifteen years, Banfield let the tranquillity of this unspoilt tropical paradise weave its magic and he lived on Dunk Island for the remaining 26 years of his life until his death in 1923.

A small hut built with the assistance of an Aborigine called Tom was the Banfields' first home. Over a period of time they cleared four acres of land for a plantation of fruit and vegetables. Combined with their chickens, cows and goats as well as the abundance of seafood and mangrove vegetation, they lived very self-sufficiently. Fascinated by Dunk Island's flora and fauna Banfield meticulously recorded his observations and went on to write a series of articles about island life under the pseudonym Rob Krusoe. He was further inspired to write a full-length book entitled Confessions of a Beachcomber (1908). The book became a celebrated text for romantics and escapists and established Dunk Island's reputation as an exotic island paradise.

In the ensuing years, Banfield wrote several other books about Dunk including My Tropical Isle (1911) and Tropic Days (1918). In these he shared the secrets of nature that he had uncovered and described the customs and legends of the Aboriginal people on the island. E. J. Banfield died on 2 June 1923 and his final book Last Leaves from Dunk Island was published posthumously in 1925. His widow remained on the island for another year before moving to Brisbane where she died, ten years after her husband. Today both are buried on the trail to Mt Kootaloo.

Commencement of the resort and World War II

The island was bought in 1934 by Captain Brassey and Banfield's bungalow provided the basis for the beginnings of a resort. The resort was commenced in 1936. The Royal Australian Air Force occupied Dunk Island during World War II, building its airstrip in 1941. They installed a radar station on the island's highest point a year later, which was then dismantled when the war ended in 1945.

Post-war development of the resort

The Brassey family returned to run the resort for a period at the end of the war. The island then went through a succession of owners. In 1956, Gordon & Kathleen Stynes purchased it and relocated their family there from Victoria. They then redeveloped and upgraded the resort's facilities to establish the island as a tourist destination. As a result, Dunk Island became a popular destination for celebrities[11] including Sean Connery, Henry Ford II, and Australian Prime Ministers Harold Holt and Gough Whitlam. The Stynes Family owned and operated the island and resort until 1964, when it was sold to Eric McIlree, founder of Avis Rent-A-Car.

In 1976, Trans Australia Airlines purchased Dunk Island. Ownership passed to Qantas in 1992, following its merger with Australian Airlines. On 24 December 1997, the island was purchased by P&O Australian Resorts, which was acquired by Voyages in July 2004. In September 2009, both Dunk and Bedarra island resorts were purchased by Hideaway Resorts, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pamoja Capital.

Artists' colony

Dunk Island was also home to a small community of artists who lived, worked and showcased their work to many international and local visitors on a property on the southern side of the island. The Colony was established in 1974 by former Olympic wrestler Bruce Arthur, who died at his home on Island in March 1998 and continued to operate under resident metalsmith Susi Kirk until Cyclone Larry damaged much of the colony. Kirk continued to live at the colony until Cyclone Yasi destroyed her home in 2011, and has subsequently continued to live and work on Dunk Island as the last member of the artist colony.

After Cyclone Yasi, 2011–2020

After Cyclone Yasi, Dunk Island was bought by Australian entrepreneur Peter Bond and redevelopment of the resort commenced in 2014. This redevelopment never took place.

In September 2019 Mayfair 101, an Australian family-owned investment conglomerate led by James Mawhinney, purchased Dunk Island. Mayfair 101 also secured over 250 properties on mainland Mission Beach as part of its estimated AUD1.6 billion 10-15-year plan to restore the region. Mayfair 101 was awarded the Dunk Island Spit tender on 14 November 2019 by the Cassowary Coast Regional Council, providing the opportunity for Mayfair 101 to negotiate a 30-year lease over the iconic Dunk Island Spit. The island's redevelopment is being undertaken by Mayfair 101's property division, Mayfair Iconic Properties, which has established a team based at Mission Beach to undertake the significant rejuvenation of the region.

In August 2020, the previous owners of the island, Family Islands Operations, owned by the family of Australian businessman Peter Bond repossessed the island after the owners Mayfair 101 failed to meet their payment obligations.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunk_Island

Image source: Queensland State Archives Item ID ITM435811 Islands - Barrier Reef

My romance with Norman Gothic Cathedrals continues with Chichester cathedral or The Cathedral Church Of The Holy Trinity in West Sussex England. Founded in 1075, just 9 years after the Norman Conquest of England.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichester_Cathedral

Phone photo

Renovation continues on warehouse 5080 at Camp Darby Depot. The renovation is to include the warehouse floor, bathrooms, office space, mechanical and communication room on the grounds floor. The lighting system, internal and external, sprinkler systems upgrades, internal racking system installation, external fire stairs replacement, and external drainage system replacement. The estimated cost of renovation is approximately $900,000. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Carol E. Davis)