View allAll Photos Tagged difficult
Image number two (a collective assemblage) made by Wolfgang, Annanina, Up Up and Away and _m8. This collective work stemmed from Wolfgang's undeniably difficult image of live brain surgery.... I (_m8) took the image, and initially inverted it to make a more heavenly (afterlife appeal). That didn't pan out, so I ended up blending the image into an edifice (one could say is the hospital) ... then adding the young woman to the right as she gazes into the superstructure. Anna then added her iconic woman to left, who looks immediately involved watching the procedure on the unknown man in question ... as one or both of the women sing the song 'Incurable.' Up Up and Away then comes along and adds fresh flowers, straight from the grave, or in this case, today's sojourn to the Cemetery! all in all making this a possessive image with a live footing. So here we are: From dawn to dusk, we seek the cure. Enjoy and thanks to everyone involved.
I'm quite proud of this collective body of work, so I've decided to post it on my page.... but please visit our collective profile to view more...
www.flickr.com/photos/26865862@N04/2519998486/
song MP3 PLAYING (click for the song file located in the notes)
song: Incurable
artist: Piano Magic
ep: Incurable
The doctors shake their heads, they chain around the bed
They’re looking for a reason to why I’m still not dead
The medicine’s not working, I haven’t slept for days
The light is shone right through me, the skeleton is weighed
Incurable, I’m helpless - the mind and body weak
I have so much to tell you but I can’t seem to speak
Incurable, I’m lonely, the city empties out
I live inside the shadow, the shadow of a doubt
The cannons fire across me, I cannot make the trial,
The seasons crash around me, the bones are in denial,
My temper is a tower, the church will not provide,
You close the drawer upon me, I am unclassified
The romance of the season is wasted on the weak
I stayed in bed through snowfall, I tried to get some sleep
Invisible, I’m broken, the spirit has moved out
Words that were unspoken, I cannot live without
A strange light beckons me this way
A strange life beckons me this way
This is the third shot of my Diabetes...In One Word series that will document the feelings of kids impacted by this disease.
When I first asked Matt for the one word that best describes how Type 1 Diabetes has touched his life, he could not answer me. I did not push him. The next day I asked him again, and still he had nothing to say. On the third day I asked if he had found his word yet and he said, "It's Difficult." I told him I knew it wasn't easy and if he could not think of a word it would be ok, and he said, "No Dad, living with Diabetes is Difficult...that's my word." Life used to be easy for him. He used to be care free and just before his 10th birthday life became Difficult!
Some of you may have noticed that, unfortunately, owing to the fact that a certain person who sells truck photos on eBay commercially has been lifting my images from this album and selling them I have had to remove 2300 photos that didn't have a watermark. I have now run around 1700 through Lightroom and added a watermark with the intention of bulk uploading them again. Rather than watermark the existing (hidden) files in Flickr one at a time it will be easier to do it this way. I definitely won’t be adding individual tags with the make and model of each vehicle I will just add generic transport tags. Each photo is named after the vehicle and reg in any case. For anyone new to these images there is a chapter and verse explanation below. It is staggering how many times I get asked questions that a quick scan would answer or just as likely I can’t possibly answer – I didn’t take them, but, just to clarify-I do own the copyright- and I do pursue copyright theft.
This is a collection of scanned prints from a collection of photographs taken by the late Jim Taylor A number of years ago I was offered a large number of photographs taken by Jim Taylor, a transport photographer based in Huddersfield. The collection, 30,000 prints, 20,000 negatives – and copyright! – had been offered to me and one of the national transport magazines previously by a friend of Jim's, on behalf of Jim's wife. I initially turned them down, already having over 30,000 of my own prints filed away and taking space up. Several months later the prints were still for sale – at what was, apparently, the going rate. It was a lot of money and I deliberated for quite a while before deciding to buy them. I did however buy them directly from Jim’s wife and she delivered them personally – just to quash the occasional rumour from people who can’t mind their own business. Although some prints were sold elsewhere, particularly the popular big fleet stuff, I should have the negatives, unfortunately they came to me in a random mix, 1200 to a box, without any sort of indexing and as such it would be impossible to match negatives to prints, or, to even find a print of any particular vehicle. I have only ever looked at a handful myself unless I am scanning them. The prints are generally in excellent condition and I initially stored them in a bedroom without ever looking at any of them. In 2006 I built an extension and they had to be well protected from dust and moved a few times. Ultimately my former 6x7 box room office has become their (and my own work’s) permanent home.
I hope to avoid posting images that Jim had not taken his self, however should I inadvertently infringe another photographers copyright, please inform me by email and I will resolve the issue immediately. There are copyright issues with some of the photographs that were sold to me. A Flickr member from Scotland drew my attention to some of his own work amongst the first uploads of Jim’s work. I had a quick look through some of the 30 boxes of prints and decided that for the time being the safest thing for me to do was withdraw the majority of the earlier uploaded scans and deal with the problem – which I did. whilst the vast majority of the prints are Jims, there is a problem defining copyright of some of them, this is something that the seller did not make clear at the time. I am reasonably confident that I have since been successful in identifying Jims own work. His early work consists of many thousands of lustre 6x4 prints which are difficult to scan well, later work is almost entirely 7x5 glossy, much easier to scan. Not all of the prints are pin sharp but I can generally print successfully to A4 from a scan.
You may notice photographs being duplicated in this Album, unfortunately there are multiple copies of many prints (for swapping) and as I have to have a system of archiving and backing up I can only guess - using memory - if I have scanned a print before. The bigger fleets have so many similar vehicles and registration numbers that it is impossible to get it right all of the time. It is easier to scan and process a print than check my files - on three different PC’s - for duplicates. There has not been, nor will there ever be, any intention to knowingly breach anyone else's copyright. I have presented the Jim Taylor collection as exactly that-The Jim Taylor Collection- his work not mine, my own work is quite obviously mine.
Unfortunately, many truck spotters have swapped and traded their work without copyright marking it as theirs. These people never anticipated the ease with which images would be shared online in the future. I would guess that having swapped and traded photos for many years that it is almost impossible to control their future use. Anyone wanting to control the future use of their work would have been well advised to copyright mark their work (as many did) and would be well advised not to post them on photo sharing sites without a watermark as the whole point of these sites is to share the image, it is very easy for those that wish, to lift any image, despite security settings, indeed, Flickr itself, warns you that this is the case. It was this abuse and theft of my material that led me to watermark all of my later uploads. I may yet withdraw non-watermarked photos, I haven’t decided yet. (I did in the end)
To anyone reading the above it will be quite obvious that I can’t provide information regarding specific photos or potential future uploads – I didn’t take them! There are many vehicles that were well known to me as Jim only lived down the road from me (although I didn’t know him), however scanning, titling, tagging and uploading is laborious and time consuming enough, I do however provide a fair amount of information with my own transport (and other) photos. I am aware that there are requests from other Flickr users that are unanswered, I stumble across them months or years after they were posted, this isn’t deliberate. Some weekends one or two “enthusiasts” can add many hundreds of photos as favourites, this pushes requests that are in the comments section ten or twenty pages out of sight and I miss them. I also have notifications switched off, I receive around 50 emails a day through work and I don’t want even more from Flickr. Other requests, like many other things, I just plain forget – no excuses! Uploads of Jim’s photos will be infrequent as it is a boring pastime and I would much rather work on my own output.
Difficult to believe this is a man's kitchen! Such taste! That's a nice touch having The Good Life on the telly.
On Saturday 11 November, between 300,000 and 800,000 protesters marched from London's Hyde Park to the US Embassy in solidarity with Palestinians. Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman had insisted a few days earlier that all those marching to call for a ceasefire, compassion and justice were hate marchers and she pressured the police to ban it. Fortunately, common sense and the law prevailed, and the march was allowed to go ahead.
It was not just a reaction to the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, the escalating death toll and the blockade of essential supplies to the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the city and the surrounding strip.
It was also a determination to see an end to -
كما دعا المتظاهرون إلى إنهاء جميع العوامل الرئيسية التي تغذي الصراع.
1) An end to Palestinian suffering from 75 years of Israeli occupation. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip since 1967 is officially recognised by the United Nations and most of the world despite the fact that the occupation is often ignored or sometimes even denied by Western media. As Amnesty International reports Israeli occupation has resulted in "systematic human rights violations against Palestinians living there."
نهاية معاناة الفلسطينيين من 75 عاما من الاحتلال الإسرائيلي. إن الاحتلال الإسرائيلي للضفة الغربية والقدس الشرقية وقطاع غزة منذ عام 1967 معترف به رسميًا من قبل الأمم المتحدة ومعظم دول العالم على الرغم من أن وسائل الإعلام الغربية غالبًا ما يتم تجاهل الاحتلال أو حتى إنكاره في بعض الأحيان. وكما أفادت منظمة العفو الدولية، فإن الاحتلال الإسرائيلي قد أدى إلى "انتهاكات منهجية لحقوق الإنسان ضد الفلسطينيين الذين يعيشون هناك".
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/06/israel-occupa...
2) An end to Palestinians living under a highly restrictive Apartheid regime as recognised by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and War on Want. Across the West Bank Palestinians are banned from driving on numerous roads that cross the region and as War on Want explains "Jewish Israelis and Palestinians are treated differently in almost every aspect of life: housing, education, health, employment, family life, residence and freedom of movement. Dozens of Israeli laws and policies institutionalise this prevailing system of racial discrimination and domination."
وضع حد للفلسطينيين الذين يعيشون في ظل نظام فصل عنصري شديد التقييد كما اعترفت به منظمة العفو الدولية وهيومن رايتس ووتش ومنظمة الحرب على العوز. في جميع أنحاء الضفة الغربية، يُمنع الفلسطينيون من القيادة على العديد من الطرق التي تعبر المنطقة، وكما توضح مؤسسة "الحرب على العوز" الخيرية، "يتم التعامل مع اليهود الإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين بشكل مختلف في كل جانب من جوانب الحياة تقريبًا: السكن والتعليم والصحة والتوظيف والأسرة". الحياة والإقامة وحرية التنقل.. عشرات القوانين والسياسات الإسرائيلية تضفي الطابع المؤسسي على هذا النظام السائد من التمييز العنصري والسيطرة.
waronwant.org/news-analysis/israeli-apartheid-factsheet?g...
3) An end to restrictions on movement. Across the West Bank there are some 650 Israeli military checkpoints through which only some Palestinians are allowed to pass, often with humiliating questioning and delays, so that they can travel to other towns whether to visit families, seeking medical treatment or for any other reason. In Gaza, travel is even more difficult and only a tiny minority with work permits have been allowed to cross the border - the rest have to remain in what is often described as the world's largest open air prison - the densely populated Gaza strip housing some 2.3 million people.
إنهاء القيود المفروضة على الحركة. يوجد في جميع أنحاء الضفة الغربية حوالي 650 نقطة تفتيش عسكرية إسرائيلية لا يُسمح إلا لبعض الفلسطينيين بالمرور من خلالها، مع استجواب وتأخير مهين، حتى يتمكنوا من السفر إلى مدن أخرى سواء لزيارة عائلاتهم أو طلب العلاج الطبي أو لأي سبب آخر. وفي غزة، يعد السفر أكثر صعوبة ولم يُسمح إلا لأقلية صغيرة من حاملي تصاريح العمل بعبور الحدود - أما الباقون فيجب أن يبقوا في ما يوصف في كثير من الأحيان بأنه أكبر سجن مفتوح في العالم - وهو قطاع غزة المكتظ بالسكان والذي يضم حوالي 2.3 نسمة. مليون شخص.
3) An end to the 16 years of siege imposed by Israel on Gaza which means that around 56% of children were suffering from anemia and only 4% had access to safe drinking water even before the outbreak of conflict this month.
إنهاء الحصار الذي تفرضه إسرائيل على غزة منذ 16 عاماً. ويعني الحصار أن حوالي 56% من الأطفال كانوا يعانون من فقر الدم وأن 4% فقط كانوا يحصلون على مياه الشرب الآمنة حتى قبل اندلاع النزاع هذا الشهر.
www.unicef.org/sop/what-we-do/wash-water-sanitation-and-h....
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4391478/
4) The never ending process of Israeli expansion across Palestinian land, including the demolition of 55,000 Palestinian homes since 1967, occurring on a near monthly basis as well as the cutting down of fields of olive trees and the ploughing up of Palestinian farms to make room for yet more illegal settlements subsidised by the Israeli government.
These settlements are illegal under international law, which rightly recognises the 1967 border. However, since 1967, Israel has constructed 250 of them across the West Bank in which over 633,000 Israelis live in subsidised and often luxurious housing with swimming pools and manicured lawns, an unimaginable privilege to the vast majority of Palestinians.
وضع حد للتوسع الإسرائيلي الذي لا ينتهي عبر الأراضي الفلسطينية، بما في ذلك هدم 55.000 منزل فلسطيني منذ عام 1967، والذي يحدث على أساس شهري تقريبًا، فضلاً عن قطع حقول أشجار الزيتون وحراثة المزارع الفلسطينية. وترتكب هذه الجرائم ضد الفلسطينيين لإفساح المجال أمام إقامة المستوطنات الإسرائيلية غير القانونية التي تدعمها الحكومة الإسرائيلية
ومن الواضح أن المستوطنات غير قانونية بموجب القانون الدولي، الذي يعترف بحق بحدود عام 1967. ومع ذلك، منذ عام 1967، شيدت إسرائيل 250 منها في جميع أنحاء الضفة الغربية، حيث يعيش أكثر من 633 ألف إسرائيلي في مساكن مدعومة وفاخرة في كثير من الأحيان مع حمامات سباحة ومروج مشذبة، وهو امتياز لا يمكن تصوره لجميع الفلسطينيين تقريبًا.
icahd.org/2020/03/15/end-home-demolitions-an-introduction/
www.ochaopt.org/sites/default/files/westbank_a0_25_06_202...
5) Never ending acts of settler terrorism against Palestinians. Western media rightly condemns occasional Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians, including the appalling atrocities committed by Hamas on 7 October. However, for years illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank have staged attacks against Palestinians, sometimes motivated sheerly by hatred, but often by the desire to inflict terror and to ethnically cleanse an area. The most recent incident was an attack on Wednesday 11 October in which masked settlers killed three Palestinian villagers and then killed a Palestinian father and son attending the funeral the next day.
وضع حد لأعمال الإرهاب التي يمارسها المستوطنون ضد الفلسطينيين. وتدين وسائل الإعلام الغربية عن حق الهجمات الفلسطينية العرضية على المدنيين الإسرائيليين، بما في ذلك الفظائع المروعة التي ارتكبتها حماس في 7 تشرين الأول/أكتوبر. ومع ذلك، ظل المستوطنون الإسرائيليون غير الشرعيين في الضفة الغربية لسنوات يشنون هجمات ضد الفلسطينيين، بدافع الكراهية في بعض الأحيان، ولكن في كثير من الأحيان بسبب التصميم على ترويع الفلسطينيين وتطهيرهم عرقيًا من منطقة ما. وكانت آخر الحوادث هي الهجوم الذي وقع يوم الأربعاء 11 تشرين الأول/أكتوبر، حيث قتل مستوطنون ملثمون ثلاثة قرويين فلسطينيين ثم قتلوا أبًا فلسطينيًا وابنه كانا يحضران الجنازة في اليوم التالي.
theintercept.com/2023/10/13/israel-settlers-gaza-palestin...
arabcenterdc.org/resource/the-dynamics-of-israeli-settler...
6) The division of Palestinian land by the separation wall. The 708 km Separation Wall, completed in 2005, was supposedly built to protect Israel from any Palestinians that might be able to enter the country without permission, but 85% of it runs up to 18 km inside the internationally recognised 1967 boundary ("Green Line"), frequently dividing Palestinians villagers from their farmland as well as running through the middle of farms and dividing arable land from key water supplies.
Some 10% of the West Bank now lies between the wall and the 1967 border, an area into which everyone, except Palestinians, is allowed entry. Not surprisingly, the International Court of Justice has issued an advisory opinion that the separation wall is a contravention of international law and in 2003 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution demanding its removal by 144 votes to just 4. Analysts also fear that the wall acts as a de facto annexation of all the Palestinian land that lies to the west of it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_West_Bank_barrier
7) The myth of Palestinian rejectionism. Western mainstream media usually maintains falsely that it is Palestinians that have constantly rejected a two-state solution, whereas the opposite is the case. Arab states and the Palestinians have frequently made clear their willingness to negotiate a future two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 frontiers, while Israel is committed to preventing any such solution and continuing its territorial expansion.
As early as 1976, Egypt, Syria and Jordan presented a two-state solution resolution to the UN Security Council based on the 1967 Green Line (in accordance with the international consensus) but it was vetoed outright by the United States, even though Washington at the time publicly acknowledged the illegality of all Israeli settlements across the Palestinian West Bank.
The same happened again in 1980.
Later in 1988, the PLO put forward their position in a declaration by the Palestinian National Council calling for a Palestinian state alongside Israel with guarantees of security to both countries. However in May 1989, Israel's Likud-Labour coalition government made it crystal clear that they would not accept an "additional" Palestinian state between Jordan and Israel, regardless of what Jordanians, Palestinians or the rest of the world might think. The founding charter of Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party still "flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan river."
8) The frequent killing by Israeli security forces of peaceful protesters, women, children, journalists and medics, including the assassination of renowned Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh in May last year. In the nine months of 2023 prior to 7 October, 248 Palestinians, 40 of them children, had been killed by Israeli soldiers, but these deaths attracted almost no attention in the Western media. Palestinian lives have always been very cheap.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMIZTiN-TrE
9) The current refusal of Israel to allow any journalists into the Gaza Strip so they can see and report on, obviously at their own risk, the destruction and casualties and suffering of the civilian population.
10) An end to "administrative detentions" across the West Bank under which thousands of Palestinians have been detained without any right to be told under what charges they are being held, let alone any right to a free trial. As the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem explains
"Administrative detention is incarceration without trial or charge, alleging that a person plans to commit a future offense. It has no time limit, and the evidence on which it is based is not disclosed. Israel employs this measure extensively and routinely, and has used it to hold thousands of Palestinians for lengthy periods of time. While detention orders are formally reviewed, this is merely a semblance of judicial oversight, as detainees cannot reasonably mount a defense against undisclosed allegations. Nevertheless, courts uphold the vast majority of orders."
www.btselem.org/topic/administrative_detention
11) An end to Israeli soldiers controlling access to and frequently preventing Muslims from visiting the Al Aqsa Mosque in Israeli occupied East Jerusalem [Al Quds], considered the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. On several occasions, Israeli troops and/or police have also attacked worshippers using batons, stun grenades and tear gas, igniting understandable anger across the Islamic World. Radical Israeli settlers also sometimes enter under the protection of Israeli security forces and some also perform Jewish rituals in contravention of current agreements about non-Muslims being allowed in, but only as visitors.
www.newarab.com/news/israeli-settlers-storm-aqsa-compound...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/3/12/israeli-police-assault-w...
Caspian Tern pops back above the water after an unsuccessful attempt at a meal. San Luis Creek, Avila Beach, CA.
Marine scientists have undertaken the difficult task of replacing the beloved starfish’s common name with sea star because, well, the starfish is not a fish. It’s an echinoderm, closely related to sea urchins and sand dollars.
There are some 2,000 species of sea star living in all the world’s oceans, from tropical habitats to the cold seafloor. The five-arm varieties are the most common, hence their name, but species with 10, 20, and even 40 arms exist.
They have bony, calcified skin, which protects them from most predators, and many wear striking colors that camouflage them or scare off potential attackers. Purely marine animals, there are no freshwater sea stars, and only a few live in brackish water.
Beyond their distinctive shape, sea stars are famous for their ability to regenerate limbs, and in some cases, entire bodies. They accomplish this by housing most or all of their vital organs in their arms. Some require the central body to be intact to regenerate, but a few species can grow an entirely new sea star just from a portion of a severed limb.
Tight shot of my 10spd Chopper by Raleigh early 70s.
I taped the frame so I wouldn't scratch the heck out of it with my shoes. Kodachrome 25 / Minolta SRT 102 50mm
A difficult species to see and field identification is not possible. Being a cuckoo, they do not provide nests or have a need to provide food. In general parasitic species including species of Sphecodes are most likely to be seen where large populations of the host bees are present. The host species is any one of the small bees in the genus lasioglossum. Nice, need to collect one and key it out under the microscope to go any further with ID. Here at #highcroftfarmmeadow
From deep shade to glaring sun I had more luck if I stuck to one or the other. Lightroom helped a bit.
Some of you may have noticed that, unfortunately, owing to the fact that a certain person who sells truck photos on eBay commercially has been lifting my images from this album and selling them I have had to remove 2300 photos that didn't have a watermark. I have now run around 1700 through Lightroom and added a watermark with the intention of bulk uploading them again. Rather than watermark the existing (hidden) files in Flickr one at a time it will be easier to do it this way. I definitely won’t be adding individual tags with the make and model of each vehicle I will just add generic transport tags. Each photo is named after the vehicle and reg in any case. For anyone new to these images there is a chapter and verse explanation below. It is staggering how many times I get asked questions that a quick scan would answer or just as likely I can’t possibly answer – I didn’t take them, but, just to clarify-I do own the copyright- and I do pursue copyright theft.
This is a collection of scanned prints from a collection of photographs taken by the late Jim Taylor A number of years ago I was offered a large number of photographs taken by Jim Taylor, a transport photographer based in Huddersfield. The collection, 30,000 prints, 20,000 negatives – and copyright! – had been offered to me and one of the national transport magazines previously by a friend of Jim's, on behalf of Jim's wife. I initially turned them down, already having over 30,000 of my own prints filed away and taking space up. Several months later the prints were still for sale – at what was, apparently, the going rate. It was a lot of money and I deliberated for quite a while before deciding to buy them. I did however buy them directly from Jim’s wife and she delivered them personally – just to quash the occasional rumour from people who can’t mind their own business. Although some prints were sold elsewhere, particularly the popular big fleet stuff, I should have the negatives, unfortunately they came to me in a random mix, 1200 to a box, without any sort of indexing and as such it would be impossible to match negatives to prints, or, to even find a print of any particular vehicle. I have only ever looked at a handful myself unless I am scanning them. The prints are generally in excellent condition and I initially stored them in a bedroom without ever looking at any of them. In 2006 I built an extension and they had to be well protected from dust and moved a few times. Ultimately my former 6x7 box room office has become their (and my own work’s) permanent home.
I hope to avoid posting images that Jim had not taken his self, however should I inadvertently infringe another photographers copyright, please inform me by email and I will resolve the issue immediately. There are copyright issues with some of the photographs that were sold to me. A Flickr member from Scotland drew my attention to some of his own work amongst the first uploads of Jim’s work. I had a quick look through some of the 30 boxes of prints and decided that for the time being the safest thing for me to do was withdraw the majority of the earlier uploaded scans and deal with the problem – which I did. whilst the vast majority of the prints are Jims, there is a problem defining copyright of some of them, this is something that the seller did not make clear at the time. I am reasonably confident that I have since been successful in identifying Jims own work. His early work consists of many thousands of lustre 6x4 prints which are difficult to scan well, later work is almost entirely 7x5 glossy, much easier to scan. Not all of the prints are pin sharp but I can generally print successfully to A4 from a scan.
You may notice photographs being duplicated in this Album, unfortunately there are multiple copies of many prints (for swapping) and as I have to have a system of archiving and backing up I can only guess - using memory - if I have scanned a print before. The bigger fleets have so many similar vehicles and registration numbers that it is impossible to get it right all of the time. It is easier to scan and process a print than check my files - on three different PC’s - for duplicates. There has not been, nor will there ever be, any intention to knowingly breach anyone else's copyright. I have presented the Jim Taylor collection as exactly that-The Jim Taylor Collection- his work not mine, my own work is quite obviously mine.
Unfortunately, many truck spotters have swapped and traded their work without copyright marking it as theirs. These people never anticipated the ease with which images would be shared online in the future. I would guess that having swapped and traded photos for many years that it is almost impossible to control their future use. Anyone wanting to control the future use of their work would have been well advised to copyright mark their work (as many did) and would be well advised not to post them on photo sharing sites without a watermark as the whole point of these sites is to share the image, it is very easy for those that wish, to lift any image, despite security settings, indeed, Flickr itself, warns you that this is the case. It was this abuse and theft of my material that led me to watermark all of my later uploads. I may yet withdraw non-watermarked photos, I haven’t decided yet. (I did in the end)
To anyone reading the above it will be quite obvious that I can’t provide information regarding specific photos or potential future uploads – I didn’t take them! There are many vehicles that were well known to me as Jim only lived down the road from me (although I didn’t know him), however scanning, titling, tagging and uploading is laborious and time consuming enough, I do however provide a fair amount of information with my own transport (and other) photos. I am aware that there are requests from other Flickr users that are unanswered, I stumble across them months or years after they were posted, this isn’t deliberate. Some weekends one or two “enthusiasts” can add many hundreds of photos as favourites, this pushes requests that are in the comments section ten or twenty pages out of sight and I miss them. I also have notifications switched off, I receive around 50 emails a day through work and I don’t want even more from Flickr. Other requests, like many other things, I just plain forget – no excuses! Uploads of Jim’s photos will be infrequent as it is a boring pastime and I would much rather work on my own output.
The narrow water-sculpted slots often make for difficult navigation. Now imagine the turmoil here during a flash flood.
Selge, Pisidia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selge,_Pisidia
Selge (Greek: Σελγη) was an important city in Pisidia, on the southern slope of Mount Taurus, modern Antalya Province, Turkey, at the part where the river Eurymedon River (Turkish: Köprüçay)forces its way through the mountains towards the south.
History[edit]
The town was believed to be a Greek colony, for Strabo[1] states that it was founded by Spartans, but adds the somewhat unintelligible remark that previously it had been founded by Calchas. The acropolis of Selge bore the name of Kesbedion.[2] The district in which the town was situated was extremely fertile, producing abundance of oil and wine, but the town itself was difficult of access, being surrounded by precipices and beds of torrents flowing towards the Eurymedon and Cestrus (today Aksu), and requiring bridges to make them passable. In consequence of its excellent laws and political constitution, Selge rose to the rank of the most powerful and populous city of Pisidia, and at one time was able to send an army of 20,000 men into the field. Owing to these circumstances, and the valour of its inhabitants, for which they were regarded as worthy kinsmen of the Spartans, the Selgians were never subject to any foreign power, but remained in the enjoyment of their own freedom and independence. When Alexander the Great passed through Pisidia (333 BC), Selge sent an embassy to him and gained his favour and friendship.[3] At that time they were at war with Termessos.
The Roman Eurymedon Bridge near Selge
At the period when Achaeus had made himself master of Western Asia, Selge were at war with Pednelissus, which was besieged by them; and Achaeus, on the invitation of Pednelissus, sent a large force against Selge (218 BC). After a long and vigorous siege, the Selgians, being betrayed and despairing of resisting Achaeus any longer, sent deputies to sue for peace, which was granted to them on the following terms: they agreed to pay immediately 400 talents, to restore the prisoners of Pednelissus, and after a time to pay 300 talents in addition.[4] We now have for a long time no particulars about the history of Selge; in the 5th century AD Zosimus[5] calls it indeed a little town, but it was still strong enough to repel a body of Goths. It is strange that Pliny does not notice Selge, for we know from its coins that it was still a flourishing town in the time of Hadrian; and it is also mentioned in Ptolemy[6] and Hierocles. Independently of wine and oil, the country about Selge was rich in timber, and a variety of trees, among which the storax was much valued from its yielding a strong perfume. Selge was also celebrated for an ointment prepared from the iris root.[7]
Remains[edit]
The remains of the city consist mainly of parts of the encircling wall and of the acropolis. A few traces have survived of the gymnasium, the stoa, the stadium and the basilica. There are also the outlines of two temples, but the best conserved monument is the theater, restored in the 3rd century AD. Selge was the seat of a bishop; it remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church
Halfway on the road to Selge from the Pamphylian coastal plain, a well-preserved Roman Bridge crosses the deep Eurymedon valley
Eurymedon Bridge (Selge)
Description:
This article has been previously published as a part of book Antalya, Side and Alanya: TAN Travel Guide by Izabela Miszczak
This Roman bridge, beautifully situated over deep Köprülü Canyon, is an irrefutable proof of Roman engineers' ingenuity. The bridge, spanning the cliffs of the canyon, is now called Oluk Köprü (i.e. Gutter Bridge). It still provides the communication link on the route from the Mediterranean coast deep into the Taurus Mountains, to the area of ancient Pisidia.
The bridge stands over Köprüçay River, in ancient times known as Eurymedon. The structure is 14 meters long and 3.5 meters wide. The narrow road on the bridge limits the width of vehicles to 2.5 meters. The bridge consists of a single arch, with a span of 7 meters.
The voussoirs (i.e. wedge-shaped elements) which were used during the construction of the bridge, are 60 cm wide. They were fitted together without the use of mortar. The building technology indicates that the bridge was erected in the 2nd century CE, in the heydey of the city of Selge.
Getting there:
The nearest settlement is Beşkonak village and the most impressive ancient city near the bridge is Selge, situated in Altınkaya village, 11 kilometres away from the bridge. The bridge is 43 km away from the crossroad on D400 route, running along the Mediterranean coast.
By car: the bridge over Eurymedon is located in the Taurus Mountains, at an altitude of about 1,000 meters above sea level. From the Mediterranean coast, you can get there on a decent road. In order to find the proper turn-off, find a signpost on the intersection on D400 route (36.893219, 31.239155), located between the towns of Manavgat (25 km to the east) and Serik (14 km to the west).
From this intersection, the road leads to the north, in the direction of Köprülü Canyon National Park. During the ride, you can enjoy the views of Köprüçay River and its canyon. After 43 km, you reach the bridge, and later you can drive over it and head to the ruins of Selge. They are located 11 km away to the north-west of the bridge
turkisharchaeonews.net/object/eurymedon-bridge-selge
Köprüçay River
I visited Peterhead Fishing Harbour Sunday 24th February 2019, a heavy Haar put my plans to capture the views a little difficult, hence I revisited today Tuesday 26th February 2019, posting a few of the captures I managed to take over both days.
Peterhead ; Scottish Gaelic: Ceann Phàdraig, Scots: Peterheid is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census.
Peterhead sits at the easternmost point in mainland Scotland. It is often referred to as The Blue Toun (locally spelt as "The Bloo Toon") and people who were born there as Blue Touners (locally spelt as "Bloo Tooners").
More correctly they are called blue mogginers (locally spelt as "Bloomogganners"), supposedly from the blue worsted moggins or stockings that the fishermen originally wore.
History
Peterhead was founded by fishermen and was developed as a planned settlement. In 1593 the construction of Peterhead's first harbour, Port Henry, encouraged the growth of Peterhead as a fishing port and established a base for trade.
Peterhead was a Jacobite supporting town in the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. In particular, it was one of the Episcopalian north-eastern ports where reinforcements, plus money and equipment, were periodically landed from France during the Forty-Five.
A lifeboat station was first established in 1865.
Since early times Peterhead has received a portion of its water supply from Morris Wells.
Peterhead convict prison was opened in 1888, gaining a reputation as one of Scotland's toughest prisons.
The present harbour has two massive breakwaters, enclosing an area of approximately 300 acres in Peterhead bay. The south breakwater, about 2700 ft long, was constructed in 1892–1912 using convict labour from the prison. The north breakwater, constructed 1912–56, is approximately 1500 ft long.
A new phase of growth was initiated in the 1970s with Peterhead becoming a major oil industry service centre, and the completion of the nearby St Fergus gas terminal. At this time, considerable land holdings were allocated for industrial development.
In recent times, the town has suffered from several high-profile company closures and is facing a number of pressures, including Common Fisheries Policy reforms. However, it retains a relatively diverse economy, including food processing, textiles, service industries and, still importantly, fishing. (Over 90,000 tonnes of fish, with a value of around £60m are now landed at Peterhead, which is still also base to over 550 fishermen.)
The Peterhead Port Authority plans to extend the northern breakwater as a stimulus to the town's economic development. In addition, to assist with business diversification and town centre environmental improvements, the 'Peterhead Project' initiative under the Aberdeenshire Towns Partnership brings together the Council, Scottish Enterprise Grampian, Communities Scotland, commerce and community representatives.
Until April 2005, the Royal Air Force station RAF Buchan was located near the town.
Local government : Peterhead is the largest settlement in Buchan, a committee area of Aberdeenshire.
The town was a burgh in the historic county of Aberdeenshire. In 1930 it became a small burgh under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929, but in 1975 small burghs were abolished and Peterhead became part of the district of Banff and Buchan within the new Grampian Region. When districts and regions were abolished in 1996, Peterhead became part of the new unitary authority of Aberdeenshire.
Since 1975 Peterhead has had a community council, with limited powers.
Education : Peterhead Academy
Peterhead Academy houses around 1,300 pupils and the school is split into six houses (Arbuthnot, Buchan, Craigewan, Grange, Marischal and Slains), with all the names associated with areas of the town. The school has pupils coming from surrounding villages such as Boddam, Cruden Bay, Hatton, Inverugie, Rora, St Fergus and Crimond. The academy's motto is "Domus Super Petram Aedificata" (A House Built on a Rock). The academy is Scotland's largest school at over 22,920 square metres (246,700 sq ft) of gross internal floor area.
The school has multiple subjects such as ICT, English, French/German, Technical, Engineering, Art, Home Economics, and many more.
Primary and specialist schools.
Peterhead has six primary schools (Clerkhill, Buchanhaven, Meethill, Dales Park, Central, Burnhaven).
There is one special school, Anna Ritchie, which caters for most specific learning difficulties, autism and other disabilities.
There is also Peterhead Alpha School which caters for children with social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties, as well as learning difficulties, e.g. dyspraxia and dyslexia.
Transport :Peterhead has a number of in-town and out-of-town bus services.
Peterhead is further from a railway station (32 miles from Aberdeen) than any other town of its size in Great Britain.
The town once had two stations Peterhead railway station and Peterhead Docks railway station. Passenger trains on the Formartine and Buchan Railway stopped in 1965 under the Beeching Axe, and freight in 1970. The start of reconstruction of the Borders Railway to Galashiels (early 2013) has begun a local political debate into the possibility of reopening the line from Aberdeen to Fraserburgh and Peterhead.
The nearest airport with scheduled services is Aberdeen Airport. A heliport has been set up at the Eastern end of the former RAF Buchan air base. Recreational aviation also takes place from a part of a former runway.
Tourism
The harbours, maritime and built heritage are the town's principal tourism assets. Recent initiatives include investments in the Peterhead Bay area, which have included the berthing of cruise ships in the harbour.
A number of projects are planned under the auspices of the Peterhead Project initiative, including tourism strategy development, enhancement of existing attractions, measures to improve the town's physical attractiveness, and improved marketing and promotion.
Sport
Peterhead F.C. are a Scottish Football League club who play in the League One. They won the League Two championship in 2013–14.
Peterhead also has a successful amateur boxing club, and in 2008 was the most successful boxing club in Northern Scotland. And currently has two reigning Scottish champions. The boxing gym is open to all and located in Ellis Street.
Peterhead RFC are a Scottish Rugby Union team who play at the Lord Catto playing fields.
Maritime Economy
Peterhead has a thriving port, serving the fishing, oil and gas and other commercial industries. It also receives many visiting seafarers arriving on ships that ply these trades. Seafarers' welfare organisation Apostleship of the Sea has a port chaplain at Peterhead to provide pastoral and practical support to them.
Twin town : Ålesund, Norway
It’s difficult to improve upon a thoroughly considered $1.6 million hypercar, but McLaren has certainly given it one helluva crack. The marque’s special ops team (McLaren Special Operations) has just released a drool-worthy new theme for the McLaren Elva to one-up the original 804 hp roadster.
Inspired by Bruce McLaren’s superlight M1A, the reimagined Elva honors the marque’s storied racing history while showcasing all the latest automotive innovations. It’s an amalgamation of old and new and boasts impressive specs to boot.
A worthy muse, McLaren’s M1A was the quickest car on track at the Canadian Sports Car Grand Prix in 1964, smashing the lap record multiple times. The ferocious racer hit eye-watering speeds while exuding McLaren’s distinctive aesthetic beauty and has been artfully re-created thanks to this theme.
Sporting a sleek, black exterior, the roadster has Bruce McLaren’s iconic number 4 emblazoned on the rear quarter panels and silver-and-red racing stripes across the front bumper and rocker panels. Meanwhile, the Alcantara interior pairs jet black with plush burgundy upholstery.
While this one-of-a-kind Elva may take some design cues from the ‘60s, performance-wise it’s decidedly futuristic. Officially the lightest McLaren road car ever, the Elva boasts a bespoke carbon-fiber body and chassis, plus feather-light materials throughout. The land missile can soar from standstill to 60 mph in less than three seconds, thanks to a thundering 804 hp, twin-turbo V-8.
On top of that, McLaren claims the open-air dream machine, which has no roof, windshield or side windows, features the world’s first Active Air Management System. This ingenious design redirects airflow over the cockpit to create what the marque calls “a bubble of calm,” which means your hat should stay on even at menacingly high speeds.
The original McLaren Elva will be limited to just 399 examples and is expected to roll off the production line towards the end of this year. McLaren did not disclose exactly how many Elva M1As will be made but, hopefully, it won’t be too long before we see one flying through the streets.
The Renault Clio is a supermini car, produced by the French automobile manufacturer Renault. It was launched in 1990, and was in its fourth generation in 2012. The Clio has had substantial critical and commercial success, being consistently one of Europe's top-selling cars since its launch, and it is largely credited with restoring Renault's reputation and stature after a difficult second half of the 1980s. The Clio is one of only two cars, the other being the Volkswagen Golf, to have been voted European Car of the Year twice, in 1991 and 2006.
Clio Williams
In 1993, Renault launched the Clio Williams as a limited edition of 3,800 cars (1,300 more than they needed for homologation purposes) with each car bearing a numbered plaque on the dash. These sold out so quickly that Renault ended up building 1,600 more.
After the first series, due to the demand, Renault built the Williams 2 and 3. Altogether Renault made 12,100 Clio Williams. But because a lot of new road cars were directly converted to race cars and when damaged replaced with another converted road car, the actual number of road cars is significantly lower.
The car was named after the then Renault-powered Formula One team WilliamsF1, though Williams had nothing to do with the design or engineering of this Clio. The modifications to the Clio 16S on which it was based were the work of Renault Sport, Renault's motorsport division. Nevertheless, this car had a Formula One link by being the sport's Safety Car in 1996.
The 2.0 L 16-valve straight-4 engine rated at 147 PS (108 kW) and a top speed of 215 km/h (134 mph) with performance-tuned ride and handling. Renault later released the Williams 2 and Williams 3 special editions, much to the chagrin of those owners who had been assured of the exclusivity of the "original" Williams. One common mistake people can make is thinking that the 2.0 16V (F7R) used in the Williams is simply a bored out 1.8 16V (F7P), whereas, in reality the large engine had different size valves, cams, stroked crank and engine oil cooler. Other differences between the Williams and the Clio 16S it is based on include a wider front track with wishbones similar, but not the same as Renault 19, wider Speedline alloys, uprated (JC5) gearbox, bespoke four-to-one manifold, firmer suspension, and some cosmetic differences on the exterior and interior.[citation needed]
The differences between the three versions of the Williams were largely a reflection of phase changes across the Clio range, e.g. the gradual addition of enhanced safety features and cosmetic variations. Other than this, the Williams 1 and 2 had no sunroof and were painted in 449 Sports Blue. The final Williams 3 was painted in a slightly brighter shade of blue (432 Monaco Blue) and finally gained a sunroof which had long been standard on virtually all previous Clios. The original Williams was the lightest of the three, lacking the electrics necessary for the sunroof or the mirrors, and was the only one to sport a metal plaque stating the build number.
Respected motoring journalists consistently rate the Williams as one of the very best hot hatches ever made, regardless of era. One of its many accolades was 6th place in Evo's Car Of The Decade feature in 2004.
The Renault Clio Williams was and still is a very popular rally car. The basic racing version (Gr.N) had racing suspension, different engine management and a more free flowing exhaust. Power output was around 165 PS (121 kW). Roll cage was made by Matter France. Bucket seats were made by Sabelt.
The Next step up was the Gr.A car, which was fitted with 16″ Speedline 2012 rims (with optional extractors), further improvements on suspension and more tuned engine producing between 205-220 PS. Front brakes were also uprated with 323mm discs and 4 pot Alcon brake calipers.
The final evolution was the Renault Clio Williams Maxi kit-car with wider arches and 17″ Speedline 2012 rims and improved Proflex suspension. Sodemo engine was further tuned to 250-265 PS.
[Text from Wikipedia]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Clio#Clio_Williams
This miniland-scale Lego Renault Clio MkI Williams (1993) has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 92nd Build Challenge, - "Stuck in the 90's", - all about vehicles from the decade of the 1990s.
These were difficult to capture on my phone because the wind kept picking up. But this was my 24th attempt, so, happy I got what I aimed for.
Shot on my Nokia Lumia 830.
On June 8, 2022 the 16th annual LAFD Merit Scholar Awards Ceremony honored the academic excellence and demonstrated leadership of 11 college-bound students.
The Merit Scholar Awards are cash grants, made possible through the Jean Perkins Foundation, of up to $30,000 ($7,500 per year while the student continues to be enrolled and making normal progress toward a college degree). To be eligible, a student must be the child or stepchild of an active or fallen LAFD sworn employee. The eligible student must be a high school senior or college freshman, who will be enrolled in the fall as a full-time student in an accredited college or university. The scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit. The single most important factor is academic achievement, but the all-civilian Selection Committee considered other relevant criteria, including personal character and extracurricular accomplishments.
This year’s awardees were students who demonstrated excellence in academic studies, good character, high moral standards, leadership, distinction in extra-curricular activities, personal accomplishments and a potential for future success. The LAFD Merit Scholarship Fund Board of Directors had the difficult task of selecting the top candidates from an extremely competitive pool.
The 2022 LAFD Merit Scholar Award Recipients are Mariah Alvarado, daughter of Battalion Chief Vincent Alvarado; Kelsey Barrett, daughter of Engineer/Paramedic Keith Barrett; Kurt Ruedy, son of Inspector I Brent Ruedy; Shelby Richmond, daughter of Deputy Chief Trevor Richmond (all bio's provided below).
This year’s seven Runner-Up Award winners are to be congratulated for their outstanding merits. Each received a one time grant of $5,000. They are Aidan Byrne, Jasmine Da Broi, Hadley Goodwin, Carmen Ibarra, Caitlin Perry, Jake Petersen and Jessica Woodcock.
The winner of this year’s “Best Essay” award of $2,500, generously sponsored by the LAFD Foundation, is Jasmine Da Broi.
We would like to thank Mr. James Carroll III and Mr. Joe Connolly, Executive Board Members of the Jean Perkins Foundation and the LAFD Merit Scholarship Fund’s Board of Directors, Dick Barrett, John Anglin, G. Louis Graziadio III, Vicky Leck, Tom Mizo, Robert Nicholas and Molly Taylor for their dedication and support of our members and their children. We are also grateful to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation for their sponsorship of the “Best Essay” award and to the LAFD Sertoma Club, the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, LAFD Historical Society and the Los Angeles Firefighter’s Association and the Stentorians of City of Los Angeles who sponsored the awards reception.
2022 LAFD MERIT SCHOLAR AWARD RECIPIENT BIOGRAPHIES
Mariah Alvarado is a graduating senior from Troy High School (THS) and the
daughter of Battalion Chief Vincent Alvarado, assigned to Battalion 12 (20
years LAFD). Mariah will be attending the University of California San Diego
(UCSD), majoring in Chemical Engineering. Mariah pursued an
engineering pathway where she was able to immerse her passions for STEM through different engineering courses and a 150-hour internship. Mariah is able to meet the rigorous course work of THS while still remaining motivated
and passionate in her endeavors. She serves as the Secretary of THS Compass Club. The Club strives to promote the exploration of different career fields through a variety of interviews with a wide range of career models i.e. computer scientist, business CEO, newscaster, and firefighter.
Mariah records the weekly meeting minutes and schedules the interviews. She is a member of the THS varsity dance team and attends advanced dance
classes in the evenings. She has trained and competed with select elite teams for 11 years in ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary and hip hop.
She was appointed captain for five teams out of 60+ dancers to lead dance teams at regional and national competitions. Mariah will continue dancing
on the collegiate Division1 dance team at UCSD. In addition to academic and athletic endeavors, Mariah volunteers for Ronald McDonald House Charities, Meals on Wheels, Pathways of Hope for the Homeless, and Crittenton Services for Children and Families. There, Mariah provides attention and comfort to support attention-deprived infants and toddlers from neglected households. Mariah has “an addiction to Minecraft which consumes an unhealthy fraction of my homework time.”
Mariah’s honors and awards include:
Captain, The Dance Spot Elite Competitive Dance Team 2018-2022
National Title Recipient Varsity Troy
Redhots Dance Team 2018-2022
CADTD Regionals Jazz Soloist Champion 2019 and 2020
WCE Nationals Gold Solo Qualifier
Florida Contest of Champions Nationals Medium Jazz Finalist 2020
National Honors Society 2020-2021,
Principal’s Honor Role 2018-2022,
California Scholarship Federation Seal - Bearer 2018 - 2022
Mariah graduates with a 4.5 GPA
Kelsey Barrett is a graduating senior from San Dimas High School (SDHS) and the daughter of Engineer/Paramedic Keith Barrett, assigned to FS 25 (22 years LAFD). Kelsey will be attending the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, majoring in Nursing. Her goal is to earn her Doctorate of Nursing Anesthesia Practices (DNA) and become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. Kelsey has challenged herself at SDHS with difficult classes that include advanced placement, honors and accelerated classes. Her rigorous class schedule, exceptional grades and demanding schedule attest to her academic excellence and ability to balance her time. Kelsey is a dedicated team player and a role model committed to her team, school and community. She is a tri-sport athlete, participating in varsity volleyball, water polo and softball. She was the Captain of all three teams and helped win league championships in all three sports. She was active in school clubs. She served as ASB Athletics Commissioner, planning and organizing school events, Link Crew Leader, assisting freshmen students, and Best Buddies Team Leader, assisting special education students. Kelsey has actively volunteered at Lake Elder Care and Assistance with elderly care and assistance. At Victoria Village Dentistry, her duties included setting up equipment trays, assisting with x-rays and
creating patient charts. Kelsey’s responsibilities at Guide Dogs for the Blind included training and fostering dogs to improve the quality of life and allowing independence for the blind. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Kelsey had free time and wanted to help expectant mothers who had delivered babies all alone at the Pomona Valley Hospital. She started knitting beanies for babies and has knitted 125 beanies, which are included in care packages for the moms to take home. She hopes to knit 25 more before leaving to the University ofTennessee in August.
Kelsey’s Honors and Awards include:
•First Team All-League Softball, Water Polo, Volleyball 2018-2022
•HEART Award (Hustle, Energy, Attitude, Respect, Team) 2019
•Valle Vista League MVP Volleyball 2022
•Top 10% of Class 2018 - 2022
•Gold Star Award 2018 - 2022
•Renaissance Award 2018 - 2022
•Merit Award 2019, 2020, 2022
Kelsey graduates with a 4.3 GPA
Kurt Ruedy is a graduating senior from Royal High School (RHS) and the son of Inspector I Brent Ruedy, assigned to the Fire Prevention Bureau, VIC Unit (22 years LAFD). Kurt will be attending the University of Alabama, majoring in political science. Kurt is a talented baseball player. He is intelligent, re-spectful and hardworking. He is a consummate team player, being flexible to play a variety of positions to better suit his team’s needs. Kurt brings these traits into the classroom as well as in service to his community. He is a Link Crew Group Leader for RHS, helping incoming freshmen transition to high school throughout the school year. Kurt serves on the RHS Senior Class Council where he was involved in making decisions on spending and asset allocation, organizing, planning and executing events. Kurt is a member of the National Honor Society (NHS). NHS members are required to maintain excellent academic standing as well as service to their community. Kurt volunteered for RHS’ Math for Good program by tutoring math online. He volunteers at the yearly church summer camps as a group leader for preschool to sixth grade. Through the RHS baseball program, Kurt is involved with the Challenger League in Simi Valley, a program helping disabled kids to play baseball, work together and build friendships. As he mentored and interacted with the players on and off the field, Kurt became more aware of his gratitude for his health and abilities. Kurt looks forward to applying to law school and practicing contract law as a sports agent.
Kurt’s honors and awards include:
•National Honor Society 2020-2022
•Scholar Athlete Achievement 2019-2022
•Valedictorian - 2022
Kurt graduates with a 4.3 GPA.
Shelby Richmond is a graduating senior from Thousand Oaks High School (TOHS) and is the daughter of Deputy Chief Trevor Richmond,
Operations Valley Bureau (33 years LAFD). Shelby will be attending
Dartmouth College, majoring in Biology, pre-med track. Shelby hopes to attend a medical or Physician Assistant school, or do research in the medical field. Shelby is a student at TOHS’s The Center, for Advance Studies and Research, (The Center) an AP Capstone Program. As a jun-ior, she completed her AP Research project successfully and overa-chieved with a score of five. The Center is the only course of its kind which involves high school students in advance college level research. In addition to academics, Shelby has been involved with various extra-curricular activities. She is a dedicated student athlete, on the TOHS track team, winning scholar athlete awards, MVP, and served as Varsity Sprint Captain. Shelby actively participates in community events through TOHS’ Key Club, volunteering at animal and homeless shelters, CROP Hunger Walk, and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Student of the Year Campaign (LLS). LLS is a philanthropic leadership development program. Throughout the campaign, students learn to develop professional skills, i.e. marketing, entrepreneurship as well as project and team management. Shelby organized various charity events and conducted sponsorship Zoom meetings and contacted corporate offices. Her team, Bella’s Buddies, raised over $113,000, winning the LLS award of Southern California and donating all funds to cancer research.
Shelby’s honors and awards include:
•MVP Girls 200-meter Dash 2021
•Ventura County Champion 200 Meters 2021
•Milesplit Junior Girls First Team All-State Team 2021
•Marmonte League Champion 200 Meters
•Scholar Athlete Award 2019 - 2022
•Society of Women’s Engineers Award 2021
Shelby graduates with a 4.4 GPA.
LAFD Event-060822
Photo Use Permitted via Creative Commons - Credit: LAFD Photo | Gary Apodaca
Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk
f/4 | ISO 200 | 1/1600 second | 75mm | 180ppi | 20.8in x 14.14in | Traditional Photography
First shot for my AP Photo Class!!
The assignment was Shapes and Space and I decided to try space for this photo. My idea came from a previous photo I have done (below) in which I used a Scooter instead of a pogo stick. This is my dad attempting to jump on a pogo stick! For this shot, I had to do some preparation. The main part was creating the backdrop. This consisted of two chairs and a black bedroom sheet laying across them with five different clamps to keep any 'wrinkles' out. I then had my dad put on my Nike shoes because I think they have an interesting design that would be captured in the Photo. Also, I just like the color of them. I think the fun theme of the shoes ironically match with the fun theme of a Pogo stick (didn't think of that until after the editing). I originally planned on having my dad wear Nike socks to match the shoes but I didn't capture the socks in this photo. It was probably better that way because now I don't have any of his gross leg hair in the photo! Eww!
Editing was done in Paint.net. I did basic adjustments but the biggest thing was making the background a consistent black so I used levels to help me on that. Then I did a slight rotation to make the ground completely horizontal and then went in for a small crop.
Let me know what your thoughts are on the photo! The point was to use space efficiently to make a photo appealing. I think this photo accomplishes that goal.
Bullfinch. (male) Pyrrhula pyrrhula. This visitor to my feeders is very infrequent and it is difficult to know when it might turn up but when it does what a joy! Len.
-Here you have the other session that I made in Ibiza with Juan and Cora. It was in the Migjorn Suites Hotel because we stayed there three nights.
-Aquí os dejo la otra sesión que realizé en Ibiza con Juan y Cora, fue en el hotel Migjorn Suites ya que nos quedamos allí tres noches.
Model: Juan Paramio and Coraima Seda
MUA: Cora
Styling: Pablo Ronald
Photographer: Pablo Ronald
____________________________________________________
You can also visit me at my web or blog:
Artist: Dzia
Neerstraat 17, 2812 Mechelen (Going further down the channel)
Animalinas reeks
Wetenschappelijke rapporten tonen aan dat 25% van onze planten- en diersoorten op aarde met uitsterven bedreigd is. Verstedelijking, industrialisering en intensieve landbouw vormen de hoofdoorzaken van dit verlies. Met de Animalinas reeks wil de artiest de diersoorten tonen met het signaal: Kijk we zijn er nog, maar we hebben het moeilijk.
De werken zijn verspreid over een route van 100km, zijn soms heel diep en moeilijk in de natuur te vinden en er is geen vast begin- en eindpunt.
**********************************************
Animalinas series
Scientific reports show that 25% of our plant and animal species on earth are threatened with extinction.
Urbanization, industrialization and intensive agriculture are the main causes of this loss.
With the Animalinas series, the artist wants to show the animal species with the signal: Look, we're still here, but we're struggling.
The works are spread over a route of 100 km, are sometimes very deep and difficult to find in nature and there is no fixed start and end point.
Though Difficult, it is Possible to Kill
Boxelder Bugs. If You are Interested,
You Might try This Method
Take two bricks.
Creep deliberately up
Behind the boxelder bug,
Being careful not to sing -
This will alert him.
In a graceful flowing gesture,
Something like a golf swing
Or reaching for your lover in the dark,
Gather up the boxelder bug
On the surface of the left brick
Bringing the right brick
At the same time firmly down
Together with the left brick.
There will be a loud crashing,
Like broken cymbals.
Maybe a breaking of brick, and
If you are not careful,
Your own voice rising.
When the brick dust has settled
And you have examined your own hands,
Carefully,
You will not see the boxelder bug.
There is a small hole in the brick
And he is exploring it,
Calmly, like a millionaire
In an antique shop.
-Bill Holm
The Vasa Museum is a wonderful place to visit but as the ship is kept in semi darkness it is difficult to photograph. It is a beautiful ship , made of Japanese Oak, with some incredible carvings, particularly on the stern. Its sinking in Stockholm Bay , without a shot being fired, must have been an amazing tragedy to witness . It lay on the bed of Stockholm bay for 333 years.
Vasa is a Swedish warship built 1626-1628. The ship foundered and sank after sailing less than a nautical mile (ca 2 km) into its maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. It fell into obscurity after most of its valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century. After it was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping lane just outside the Stockholm harbor, it was salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961. The ship is one of Sweden's most popular tourist attractions. Vasa was built top-heavy and had insufficient ballast. Despite an obvious lack of stability in port, it was allowed to set sail and foundered only a few minutes after it first encountered a wind stronger than a breeze. The impulsive move to set sail was the result of a combination of factors: Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, who was leading the army on the continent on the date of its maiden voyage, was impatient to see it join the Baltic fleet in the Thirty Years' War; at the same time, the king's subordinates lacked the political courage to discuss the ship's structural problems frankly or to have the maiden voyage postponed.
The ship was one of the biggest and most heavily armed at that time and was a symbol of Gustavus Adolphus's expansion plans as he was at war with Poland at the time . He was a dab hand at playing the " Papist" card and had the Swedish people whipped up into a religious frenzy. The ship was due to take on supplies further down the Stockholm bay but because it was so top heavy without the supplies and ballast only sailed a very short distance before it topped over and sank.
Tonnage:1210 tonnes displacement
Length:
Sparred Length: 69 m (226 ft)
Between perpendiculars 47.5 m (155.8 ft)
Beam:11.7 m (38 ft)
Height:52.5 m (172 ft)
Draft:4.8 m (16 ft)
Propulsion:Sails, 1,275 square m (13,720 sq ft)
Crew:145 sailors, 300 soldiers
Armament:
64 guns, including:
24-pounders—48
3-pounders—8
1-pounders—2
howitzers—6
Back to St Mary, this having taken the precaution of making sure it would be unlocked. Many thanks to the former vicar and one of the current wardens to take time to reply.
Much more inside than I remember, wooden hatchments and more tablet memorials than you can shake a stick at.
The walls lean, the windows are set in recesses that look off centre.
But it works.
------------------------------------------
Nonington is a village of two junctions. The church is on the lesser of the two delightfully framed by a picture postcard cottage and venerable Yew. Opposite the gate is an amazing memorial giving you the two alternative routes through life. You really have to see it. The church is large, open and welcoming....though it's interior does have something of a Victorian feel to it. The chancel arch shows signs of once having an infilled Tympanum as the slots are still visible and there is an entrance to the Rood Loft on the north side. The south wall has a large window in a similar position but its stonework is renewed and its difficult to tell if it was there to give light to the rood, or if it was added later to give light to the pulpit that now stands there. The chancel south wall is full of memorial tablets and four hatchments whilst the north chapel is similarly crammed in with tablets. The altar has a very queer companion which takes the form of tiled Decalogue and Lord's Prayer, whilst the altar itself has a fine inlaid reredos. The fine north chapel has what was once a good tomb recess but at some later stage this was pierced with a window to create a light family pew. At the back of the church the pews are tiered (see also Newnham) and overshadow the fine mid seventeenth century font doubtless purchased to replace one destroyed during the Commonwealth. My favourite things here are the two south chancel windows of St Alban and St George designed just after the First World War by Mary Lowndes who was a significant player in the Arts and Crafts movement.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Nonington
------------------------------------------
NONINGTON.
The next parish eastward is Nonington, which lies partly, that is, so much as is within the borough of Kettington, and of Nonington, alias Ratling, in this hundred of Wingham; and the remainder, containing the boroughs of Esole, and Frogham, in the lower half of the hundred of Eastry.
THIS PARISH is, as to soil and situation, much the same as that of Goodnestone last described, being in a fine open champaign country, exceedingly dry and healthy; it is about three miles across each way, the village called Church-street, with the church in it, is nearly in the middle of the parish, in a valley, in which, at no great distance from it, is the seat of St. Alban's, a low situation, looking up to the uninclosed lands. Near it is the hamlet of Esole, usually called Isill-street, and further eastward the estate of Kettington belonging to Sir Narborough D'Aeth, bart. In the bottom, at some distance south-west from the church, among some small inclosures, is the seat of Fredville, a damp and gloomy situation; near it are the small hamlets of Frogham and Holt, now called Old-street, near which is a place called Oxendenden, from whence the family of that name are said to derive their origin. At the northern boundary of the parish is the hamlet of Acol, which had once owners of that name, who bore for their arms, Quarterly, argent, and azure, over all, a bend componee, or, and gules, as they were formerly painted in the windows of this church. It now belongs to Sir Brook William Bridges, and at the western boundary that of Ratling-street. In this parish is the estate of Curleswood park, now commonly called the Park farm, belonging to the archbishop, the lessee of it being Sir Brook William Bridges. There is a fair held yearly in Church-street, on Ascension day, for pedlary, &c.
The MANOR OF WINGHAM claims paramountover the greatest part of this parish, and the manor of Eastry over the remainder. Subordinate to the former is
The MANOR OF RETLING, usually called Ratling, in that part of this parish adjoining to Adisham, which was antiently held of the archbishop by a family of the same name, who bore for their arms, Gules, a lion rampant, between an orle of tilting spears heads, or, as they were on the surcoat of Sir John de Ratling, formerly painted in one of the windows of this church, in which it continued down to Sir Richard de Retling, who died possessed of it in the 23d year of king Edward III. leaving a sole daughter and heir Joane, who marrying John Spicer, entitled him to it. After which, by Cicely, a daughter and coheir of this name, it passed in marriage to John Isaac, of Bridge, who died possessed of it anno 22 Henry VI. and his descendant Edward Isaac, esq. in king Henry VIII.'s reign, alienated it to Sir John Fineux, chief justice of the king's bench, whose son William Fineux, esq. of Herne, alienated it to Thomas Engeham, gent. of Goodneston, who by his will in 1558, gave it to his second son Edward, and his son, William Engeham sold it to William Cowper, esq. who afterwards resided here, and was first created a baronet of Nova Scotia, and then, in 1642, a baronet of Great Britain. His great-grandson Sir William Cowper, bart. was by queen Anne, being then lord keeper of the great seal, created lord Cowper, made lord chancellor, and afterwards, anno 4 George I. created earl Cowper, and in his descendants, earls Cowper, this manor has descended down to the right hon. PeterFrancis, earl Cowper, the present owner of this manor. (fn. 1) There has not been any court held for it for many years past.
ARCHBISHOP PECKHAM, on the foundation of Wingham college, anno 1286, endowed the first subdiaconal prebend of it, which he distinguished by the name of the prebend of Retling, with the tithes of the demesne lands, which Richard de Retling and Ralph Perot held of him in Nonyngton, between the highway which led from Cruddeswode to the cross of Nonyngtone, and from thence to the estate of the prior, of Addesham. (fn. 2)
OLD-COURT is an estate in this parish, situated about a mile northward from the church, which was antiently the property of the family of Goodneston, who took their name from their possession and residence in that parish, and it continued in an uninterrupted succession in this family, of whom there is frequent mention in private evidences, which, though without date, appear to be made in the reigns of king Henry III. and king Edward I. till at length Edith, daughter and heir of William Goodnestone, carried it in marriage to Vincent Engeham, whose son Thomas Engeham, esq. of Goodneston, by his will in 1558, gave it, together with the lands in Nonington, late Mr. Sidley's and John Bewe's, to his second son Edward, whose son William Engeham, gent. passed it away in queen Elizabeth's reign to Thomas Wilde, esq. descended from an antient family of that name in Chester, and his son Sir John Wilde, of St. Martin's hill, near Canterbury, in the next reign of James I. alienated it to Thomas Marsh, gent. of Brandred, in Acrise, whose descendant John Marsh resided here till the year 1665, when he removed to Nethersole, in Wimlingwold. Since which it has continued, in like manner as that seat, down to his descendant John Marsh, esq. now of Chichester, in Sussex, the present owner of it.
ST. ALBANS COURT, antiently called, at first Eswalt, and afterwards Esole, is a manor situated in the valley, north-eastward from the church, in the borough of its own name, which with another estate near it, called Bedesham, (all that remains of the name of which is a grove behind St. Albans house, called Beauchamp wood, in which are many foundations of buildings, being now esteemed as part of the manor of St.Albans court) was in the time of the Conqueror, part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and they are accordingly both thus entered in the record of Domesday:
Adelold holds of the bishop Eswalt. It was taxed at three sulings. The arable land is . . . . In demesne there is one carucate, and six villeins, with two borderers having three carucates. There are two servants, and a small wood for fencing. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth nine pounds, now fifteen. Alnod Cilt held it of king Edward.
And Somewhat further below:
Osbert, the son of Letard, holds of the bishop, Bedesham. It was taxed at one yoke and an half. The arable. land is . . . . In demesne there is one carucate, with one villein and four borderers. In the time of king EdEdward the Confessor it was worth sixty shillings, and afterwards thirty shillings, now fifty shillings. Godisa held it of king Edward. In the same manor ten thanes held of Osbern himself one suling and half a yoke, and there they themselves have four carucates and an half. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth one hundred shillings, and afterwards thirty shillings, now sixty shillings.
On the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, in the year 1084, it came, with the rest of his estates, into the hands of the crown, whence the manor of Esole, alias St. Albans, seems to have been granted to William de Albineto, or Albini, surnamed Pincerna, who had followed the Conqueror from Normandy hither, whose son, of the same name, earl of Albermarle, gave it, by the name of the manor of Eswelle, to the abbot of St. Alban's, in Hertfordshire; which gift was afterwards confirmed by king Stephen; (fn. 3) and from thence it gained the name of St. Albans. And anno 7 king Edward I. the abbot of St. Albans claimed and was allowed, before the justices itinerant, free-warren and other liberties within this manor. After which it continued in the possession of the abbey till the 30th year of king Henry VIII. when the abbot and convent, with the king's consent, sold it, with its lands, appurtenances, and tithes belonging to it, as well of corn, grain, hay, and otherwise, then in the occupation of John Hammond, to Sir Christopher Hales, master of the rolls. Which alienation having been made in consequence of the licence by the king's word only, was confirmed by act the next year, specially for that purpose. On whose death in the 33d year of that reign, (fn. 4) his three daughters became his coheirs, of whom Elizabeth, then married to John Stocker, and Margaret, then unmarried, joined in the sale of their shares in it, to Alexander Culpeper, who had married Mary, the other daughter, and he quickly afterwards alienated the whole of it to his eldest brother Sir Thomas Culpeper, of Bedgbury, who in the 2d and 3d of Philip and Mary, sold it to Thomas Hammond, gent. who at that time resided here, being the direct descendant of John Hamon, or Hammond, who was resident here in king Henry the VIIIth.'s time, as tenant to the abbot and convent of St. Alban's, who died in 1525, and was buried in this church, as were his several descendants afterwards, in whom it continued down to William Hammond, esq. of St. Albans, who married Charlotte, eldest daughter of Dr. Wil liam Egerton, prebendary of Canterbury, by whom he left William, of whom hereafter; Anthony, rector of Ivychurch, and vicar of Limne, and three daughters, Anna-Maria; Charlotte, married to Thomas Watkinson Payler, esq. of lleden, and Catherine. William Hammond, esq. the eldest son, married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Osmund Beauvoir, D.D. by whom he has issue two sons and five daughters, viz. William-Osmond, Maximilian-Dudley-Diggs; Elizabeth-Mary, Mary-Elizabeth, Charlotte, Julia-Jemima, and Jemima-Julia. He bears for his arms, Argent, on a chevron, sable, between three ogresses, each charged with a martlet of the field, three escallop-shells, or, all within a bordure engrailed, vert; which arms were granted by Barker, garter, to Thomas Hamon, gent. of Nonington, anno 1548, and confirmed by Cooke, clarencieux, and they were certified to the college of arms by William Hammond, esq. last-mentioned, his descendant, in 1779, (fn. 5) and he is the present owner of this manor and seat, at which he resides.
A court baron is held for this manor, which extends over some part of the borough of Wingmere, in Eleham, and over a few acres of land in Barham.
SOLES is a manor at the boundary of this parish, next to Barfreston, which at the taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in that record:
Ansfrid holds of the bishop Soles. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is . . . In demesne there are two carucates, and eight viheins with half a carucate. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth one hundred shillings, and afterwards twenty shillings, now six pounds. Elmer held it of king Edward.
Four years after which, on the bishop's disgrace, the king seized on this estate among the rest of his possessions. After which it was granted to the family of Crevequer, and made a part of that barony, being held of it by the tenure of performing ward to Dover castle. Of Hamo de Crevequer it was held by knight's service in king Edward I.'s reign, by Richard de Rokesle, and of him again by Hamo and John de Soles, who certainly took their name from it, but this name was extinct here in the beginning of king Henry IV.'s reign, for in the 4th year of it Thomas Newbregge, of Fordwich, was become possessed of it, whose descendant sold it to Rutter, from which name it passed; about the beginning of king Edward IV. to Litchsield, whose descendant Gregory Litchfield alienated it in king Henry VIII.'s reign to John Boys, esq. of Nonington, in whose descendants it continued down to John Boys, esq. of Hode-court, who in Charles I.'s reign alienated it to Sir Anthony Percival, of Dover, comptroller of the customs there; in whose descendants it remained till, not many years since, it was by one of them passed away to Major Richard Harvey, who sold it to Thompson, of Ramsgate, after whose death it came by marriage to Mr. Stephen Read, of Canterbury, who afterwards alienated it to John Plumptree, esq. of Fredville, the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
FREDVILLE is a manor in this parish, which in antient deeds is sometimes written Froidville, from its cold situation, which is both low and watry. It was held of the castle of Dover, as part of those lands which made up the barony of Maminot, afterwards, from its succeeding owners, called the barony of Saye. In the reign of king Edward I. it was held, in manner as above-mentioned, by John Colkin, in whose posterity it remained till the latter end of king Richard II.'s reign, when it was conveyed by sale to Thomas Charleton, and he, by sine levied anno 2 Henry IV. passed it away to John Quadring, whose descendant Thomas Quadring leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, she carried it in marriage to Richard Dryland, and he, about the latter end of king Edward IV. alienated it to John Nethersole, who by fine levied in the 2d year of king Richard III. conveyed it to William Boys, esq. of Bonnington, (fn. 6) and he died possessed of it in 1507, and by his will gave this manor to his eldest son John Boys, esq. of Fredville. His descendant Major Boys, of Fredville, being a firm loyalist, suffered much by sequestration of his estates. He had seven sons and a daughter, who all died s.p. Two of his elder sons, John and Nicholas, finding that there was no further abode at Fredville, to which they had become entitled, departed each from thence, with a favourite hawk in hand, and became pensioners at the Charter-house, in London. (fn. 7) Before which they had, in 1673, sold it to Denzill, lord Holles, from whose descendant it afterwards came to Thomas Holles, duke of Newcastle, who in 1745 sold it to Margaret, sister of Sir Brook Bridges, bart. of Goodnestone, and she in 1750, marrying John Plumptree, esq. of Nottinghamshire, he became in her right possessed of it. He was descended from a family who had been long settled in that county, who bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron, between two mullets in chief, and an annulet in base, sable. (fn. 8) He served in parliament for Penryn, in Cornwall, and afterwards for Nottingham. By his first wife above-mentioned, he had no issue; but by his second, daughter of Philips Glover, esq. of Lincolnshire, he had one son John Plumptree, esq. married to Charlotte, daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Pemberton, of Cambridgeshire; and a daughter, married to R. Carr Glynn, esq. He rebuilt this seat, in which he afterwards resided, and dying in 1791, was succeeded by his only son John Plumptree, esq. beforementioned, who now resides in it.
At a small distance from the front of Fredvillehouse, stands the remarkable large oak tree, usually known by the name of the Fredville oak. It measures twenty-seven feet round in girt, and is about thirty feet in height; and though it must have existed for many centuries, yet it looks healthy and thriving, and has a most majestic and venerable appearance.
Charities.
EDWARD BOYS, son of William Boys, esq. of Nonington, gave by his will in 1596, and annnity of 40s. out of lands which he had purchased in Nonington and Barfreston, containing 15 acres, to be yearly paid among the poorest of this parish.
ROBERT BATGHAR, yeoman, of Bridge, by will in 1600, gave to the parson and churchwardens of Nonington, the rents and profits of his house there, for the relief of the poor.
SIR EDWARD BOYS, of Nonington, by will in 1634, gave to the poor of Nonington, 6l. to be employed for a stock to set the poor at work, and not otherwise to be employed, so as the overseers or any sufficient man of the parish be bound yearly to the heirs of Fredville, whereby the stock be not lost.
A PERSON UNKNOWN gave to two poor housekeepers of this parish, two houses and an acre and an half of land, in it, at Frogham, to each, with a sack of wheat to each housekeeper every Christmas; now vested in the Reverend James Morrice, owner of Betshanger manor, and of the annual produce of 5l. 10s.
The poor constantly relieved are about thirty, casually forty.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, consists of two isles and two chancels, having a tower steeple at the north corner at the west end, in which are three bells. In the south isle are the figures of a man between his two wives, traced on the stone, and inscription for John Hamon and Margaret and Mary his wives, obt. 1526. A memorial for Wm. Hammond, obt. 1717. In the south or high chancel, against the wall, a brass plate for Alicia, daughter and heir of William Sympson, esq. once marshal of Calais, and Catherine Gemecot, wife to Francis Wilford, obt. 1581. A stone, and inscription in brass, for John Cooke, vicar, obt. March 7, 1528. Several memorials for the Hammonds. In the north chancel, now made use of as a school, a memorial for Edward Boys, esq. obt. 1597. A monument for Mary, daughter of Edward Boys, and wife of J. Hole, obt.— Several memorials for Trotter and Wood. A monument for Sir John Mennes. In the windows of this church were formerly several shields of arms, long since destroyed; and the figure of a knight, kneeling on his surcoat, the arms of Boys, of Bonnington, and opposite to him the figure of a woman kneeling, and on her coat the arms of Roper. Another like figure of a knight, and on his surcoat the arms of Ratling, being Gules, a lion rampant or, an orle of Spears heads argent.
The church of Nonington was antiently a chapel of ease to that of Wingham, and was on the foundation of the college there by archbishop Peckham, in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish of itself, (fn. 9) and then given to the college, and becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till its suppression in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this parsonage appropriate, with the advowson of the vicarage or curacy of it, came into the hands of the crown, where it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop, but the rectory or parsonage appropriate, with the chapel of Wimlingswold appendant, continued in the crown till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange, to the archbishop, when it was valued at thirty-three pounds, reprises to the curate 13l. 6s. 8d. At which rent it has continued to be leased out ever since, and it now, with the patronage of the curacy, remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury. William Hammond, esq. is the present lessee of the parsonage.
At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which, after the suppression of the college, came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid to the curate as above, was, in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of twenty pounds, but by the addition of Mr. Boys's legacy of the small tithes in this parish and Wimlingswold, mentioned below, it is now, with that chapel, of the yearly certified value of 71l. 6s. 8d. In 1588 here were two hundred and thirty-five communicants.
¶Edward Boys, esq. of Nonington, by his will in 1596, gave towards the maintenance of a minister, being licenced and preaching every other Sunday at farthest at Nonington, yearly, for ever, all the profits of the small-tithes of Nonington and Wemingewell, (excepting those of the lands in his occupation, and the oblations and obventions due out of them, and the tithes of wood of all the lands and farms he had, or his heirs should have, within the parish) the said minister paying to him and his heirs the yearly sum of 40s.
www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp251-262
-----------------------------------------
St. Mary’s Church appears to have been built on or near a farm or settlement on the Manor of Oesewalum (also Oeswalum & Oesuualun) which had belonged to the Abbesses of Minster Abbey, on the Isle of Thanet, and Southminster Abbey, at Lyminge, in the late 8th and early 9th centuries before eventually passing into the possession of Christchurch Priory of Canterbury. The abbess’s ownership of Oesewalum most likely give rise to the name Nunningitun, the nuns farm or manor, which in turn became Nonington. The manor of Oesewalum would have been administered on behalf of the abbess by a manorial steward and his house would have been the focal point of the settlement and possibly eventually became the site of the chapel that became St. Mary’s Church.
The manor of Oesewalum came into the personal possession of Wulfred, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 824 and he willed it to Werhard, his kinsman, on the proviso that Werhard would in turn will it to Christ Church Priory. In his will drawn up in the 830’s Werhard made the following provisions:
“ To five paupers at Harrow (Middlesex), five at Otford (Kent), two at Graveney (Kent), seven at Oesuualun ( in Nonington, Kent) and six in the city of Canterbury (Kent) let enough to eat be given each day as is convenient and over the year let each pauper be given twenty-six pence for clothing”
(The original Latin text was “Apud Hergan .v. pauperes; apud Otteford .v.; apud Cliue .ii.; apud Grauenea .ii.; apud Oesuualun .vii.; in ciuitate Dorobernia .vi. Unicuique detur cotidie ad manducandum quod conuenienter sit satis et per annum cuique pauperi ad uestitum .xxvi. denarii.”).
In order to distribute “enough to eat be given each day as is convenient” to the seven paupers at Oesewalum /Oesuualun the food must have either been brought in from Christchurch Priory or one of its other estates on a regular basis, although not necessarily daily, or there must have been a local source of supply.
Werhard’s will records Oesewalum /Oesuualun as extending to 10 hides and the revenue Werhard derived from the holding would therefore have been more than able to adequately provide the specified bounty. A hide was the nominal amount of land required to keep a family for a year and was used for taxation. In East Kent a hide would probably have measured some thirty to fifty modern acres, depending on the quality of the land. The daily ration would have to be distributed and the most logical place to distribute this would be the manorial steward’s house, either by the steward or another servant of Christchurch. As it was an ecclesiastical manor this may then have led to a small chapel being established which by the 1070’s had become the origin of the present St. Mary’s Church.
However, there is some evidence to show that the chapel itself may actually pre-date possession by Christchurch and may have been founded or existed during the ownership of Oesewalum by the Benedictine Abbeys of Minster on the Isle of Thanet and Southminster at Lyminge as both abbey churches were named after St. Mary the Virgin, the same saint as the present Nonington church. Nonington church is next to an ancient road which linked the abbey on the Isle of Thanet with the abbey at Lyminge.
The first Minster Abbey was built on the site of St. Mary’s church, and opposite to the minster across the now silted up Wantsum Channel was St. Mary the Virgin on Strand Street in Sandwich’s, the town’s oldest church and the site of a lost convent. From Sandwich the road went on through Eastry, Nonington, Elham, and Lyminge, settlements whose churches are all dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin. Lyminge church was jointly dedicated to St. Mary and St. Ethelburgha, founder of the abbey there.
Christ Church Priory seem to have lost Oesewalum /Oesuualun at some time in the late 9th century and it came into the possession of the King. Parts of the manor, including the area around the present church, came back into the possession the Archbishop of Canterbury as part of the Manor of Wingham and remained in the See’s possession until Archbishop Cranmer exchanged the Manor of Wingham for other properties with Henry VIII in 1538.
Quite difficult to pinpoint exactly when this one was made, although the Euro era plates suggest it could have been more recently than the 1980s, or that it has only recently arrived within the UK. The 126p was made all the way up until 2000, which is quite something for a car which would have been nearly three decades old by that point, but these cars were incredibly popular back in Poland, and were presumably selling strongly by the end of production, I will never grow tired of that impressive camber on the rear wheels.
Small "foot print" and tall towers. All glass walls and rather spindly looking. Some of the buildings are more interesting looking with various appendages stuck on them.
I need to fix my spirit level - it has sprung a leak. It is difficult to hold the camera straight without it - and the 10 mm takes no prisoners! Even the slightest tilt is magnified.
Difficult to describe but a wonderful sight, Montgomery Reef is a reef located off Western Australia's Kimberley coast. The reef is about 20 km (12 ml) off-shore opposite Collier Bay (to the south) and Doubtful Bay (to the east). It has a total area of 400 km2 (154 ml2) making it the largest inshore reef in Australia.
With a length of about 80 km (50 ml), the reef is subject to remarkable tidal movements to a maximum of 10 m (33ft). When the tide is out sandstone islets, vast lagoons and a central mangrove isle are revealed. The outward movement of the tide forms a torrent of water, creating a river cutting through the reef and hundreds of cascading waterfalls. At low tide more than 4 metres (13ft) of reef can be exposed.
Montgomery Reef and island were both named by the first European to sight the isle aboard Mermaid, Philip Parker King (1791-1856), while exploring the region in 1818. He named the island after Andrew Montgomery, ship's surgeon.
When the tide is out-going a series of cascading waterfalls are revealed which attract migrating wading birds, manta rays,feeding turtles, dugongs and black tipped reef sharks.
Kathakali (Malayalam: കഥകളി, kathakaḷi; Sanskrit: कथाकळिः, kathākaḷiḥ) is a stylized classical Indian dance-drama noted for the attractive make-up of characters, elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion. It originated in the country's present day state of Kerala during the 17th century and has developed over the years with improved looks, refined gestures and added themes besides more ornate singing and precise drumming.
HISTORY
Popular belief is that kathakali is emerged from "Krishnanattam", the dance drama on the life and activities of Lord Krishna created by Sri Manavedan Raja, the Zamorin of Calicut (1585-1658 AD). Once Kottarakkara Thampuran, the Raja of Kottarakkara who was attracted by Krishnanattam requested the Zamorin for the loan of a troupe of performers. Due to the political rivalry between the two, Zamorin did not allow this. So Kottarakkara Thampuran created another art form called Ramanattam which was later transformed into Aattakatha. Krishnanaattam was written in Sanskrit, and Ramanattam was in Malayalam. By the end of 17th century, Attakatha was presented to the world with the title 'Kathakali'.
Kathakali also shares a lot of similarities with Krishnanattam, Koodiyattam (a classical Sanskrit drama existing in Kerala) and Ashtapadiyattam (an adaptation of 12th-century musical called Gitagovindam). It also incorporates several other elements from traditional and ritualistic art forms like Mudiyettu, Thiyyattu, Theyyam and Padayani besides a minor share of folk arts like Porattunatakam. All along, the martial art of Kalarippayattu has influenced the body language of Kathakali. The use of Malayalam, the local language (albeit as a mix of Sanskrit and Malayalam, called 'Manipravaalam'), has also helped the literature of Kathakali sound more transparent for the average audience.
As a part of modernising, propagating, promoting and popularizing Kathakali, the International Centre for Kathakali at New Delhi has taken up a continuing project since 1980 of producing new plays based on not only traditional and mythological stories, but also historical stories, European classics and Shakespeare's plays. Recently they produced Kathakali plays based on Shakespeare's Othello and Greek-Roman mythology of Psyche and Cupid.
Even though the lyrics/literature would qualify as another independent element called Sahithyam, it is considered as a component of Geetha or music, as it plays only a supplementary role to Nritham, Nrithyam and Natyam.
KATHAKALI PLAYS
Traditionally there are 101 classical Kathakali stories, though the commonly staged among them these days total less than one-third that number. Almost all of them were initially composed to last a whole night. Nowadays, there is increasing popularity for concise, or oftener select, versions of stories so as the performance lasts not more than three to four hours from evening. Thus, many stories find stage presentation in parts rather than totality. And the selection is based on criteria like choreographical beauty, thematic relevance/popularity or their melodramatic elements. Kathakali is a classical art form, but it can be appreciated also by novices—all contributed by the elegant looks of its character, their abstract movement and its synchronisation with the musical notes and rhythmic beats. And, in any case, the folk elements too continue to exist. For better appreciation, perhaps, it is still good to have an idea of the story being enacted.
The most popular stories enacted are Nalacharitham (a story from the Mahabharata), Duryodhana Vadham (focusing on the Mahabharata war after profiling the build-up to it), Kalyanasougandhikam, (the story of Bhima going to get flowers for his wife Panchali), Keechakavadham (another story of Bhima and Panchali, but this time during their stint in disguise), Kiratham (Arjuna and Lord Shiva's fight, from the Mahabharata), Karnashapatham (another story from the Mahabharata), Nizhalkuthu and Bhadrakalivijayam authored by Pannisseri Nanu Pillai. Also staged frequently include stories like Kuchelavrittam, Santanagopalam, Balivijayam, Dakshayagam, Rugminiswayamvaram, Kalakeyavadham, Kirmeeravadham, Bakavadham, Poothanamoksham, Subhadraharanam, Balivadham, Rugmangadacharitam, Ravanolbhavam, Narakasuravadham, Uttaraswayamvaram, Harishchandracharitam, Kacha-Devayani and Kamsavadham.
Recently, as part of attempts to further popularise the art, stories from other cultures and mythologies, such as those of Mary Magdalene from the Bible, Homer's Iliad, and William Shakespeare's King Lear and Julius Caesar besides Goethe's Faust too have been adapted into Kathakali scripts and on to its stage. Synopsis of 37 kathakali stories are available in kathakalinews.com.
MUSIC
The language of the songs used for Kathakali is Manipravalam. Though most of the songs are set in ragas based on the microtone-heavy Carnatic music, there is a distinct style of plain-note rendition, which is known as the Sopanam style. This typically Kerala style of rendition takes its roots from the temple songs which used to be sung (continues even now at several temples) at the time when Kathakali was born.
As with the acting style, Kathakali music also has singers from the northern and southern schools. The northern style has largely been groomed by Kerala Kalamandalam in the 20th century. Kalamandalam Neelakantan Nambisan, an overarching Kathakali musician of those times, was a product of the institute. His prominent disciples include Kalamandalam Unnikrishna Kurup, Kalamandalam Gangadharan, Kalamandalam P.G. Radhakrishnan, Rama Varrier, Madambi Subramanian Namboodiri, Tirur Nambissan, Kalamandalam Sankaran Embranthiri, Kalamandalam Hyderali, Kalamandalam Haridas, Subramanian, Kalanilayam Unnikrishnan and Kalamandalam Bhavadasan. The other prominent musicians of the north feature Kottakkal Vasu Nedungadi, Kottakkal Parameswaran Namboodiri, Kottakkal P.D. Narayanan Namboodiri, Kottakkal Narayanan, Kalamandalam Anantha NarayananKalamandalam Sreekumar Palanad Divakaran, Kalanilayam Rajendran, Kolathappilli Narayanan Namboodiri, Kalamandalam Narayanan Embranthiri, Kottakkal Madhu, Kalamandalam Babu Namboodiri, Kalamandalam Harish and Kalamandalam Vinod. In the south, some of whom are equally popular in the north these days, include Pathiyur Sankarankutty. Southerner musicians of the older generation include Cherthala Thankappa Panikker, Thakazhi Kuttan Pillai, Cherthala Kuttappa Kurup, Thanneermukkam Viswambharan and Mudakkal Gopinathan.
PERFORMANCE
Traditionally, a Kathakali performance is usually conducted at night and ends in early morning. Nowadays it isn't difficult to see performances as short as three hours or fewer. Kathakali is usually performed in front of the huge Kalivilakku (kali meaning dance; vilakku meaning lamp) with its thick wick sunk till the neck in coconut oil. Traditionally, this lamp used to provide sole light when the plays used to be performed inside temples, palaces or abodes houses of nobles and aristocrats. Enactment of a play by actors takes place to the accompaniment of music (geetha) and instruments (vadya). The percussion instruments used are chenda, maddalam (both of which underwent revolutionary changes in their aesthetics with the contributions of Kalamandalam Krishnankutty Poduval and Kalamandalam Appukutty Poduval) and, at times, edakka. In addition, the singers (the lead singer is called “ponnani” and his follower is called “singidi”) use chengila (gong made of bell metal, which can be struck with a wooden stick) and ilathalam (a pair of cymbals). The lead singer in some sense uses the Chengala to conduct the Vadyam and Geetha components, just as a conductor uses his wand in western classical music. A distinguishing characteristic of this art form is that the actors never speak but use hand gestures, expressions and rhythmic dancing instead of dialogue (but for a couple of rare characters).
ACTING
A Kathakali actor uses immense concentration, skill and physical stamina, gained from regimented training based on Kalaripayattu, the ancient martial art of Kerala, to prepare for his demanding role. The training can often last for 8–10 years, and is intensive. In Kathakali, the story is enacted purely by the movements of the hands (called mudras or hand gestures) and by facial expressions (rasas) and bodily movements. The expressions are derived from Natyashastra (the tome that deals with the science of expressions) and are classified into nine as in most Indian classical art forms. Dancers also undergo special practice sessions to learn control of their eye movements.
There are 24 basic mudras—the permutation and combination of which would add up a chunk of the hand gestures in vogue today. Each can again can be classified into 'Samaana-mudras'(one mudra symbolising two entities) or misra-mudras (both the hands are used to show these mudras). The mudras are a form of sign language used to tell the story.
The main facial expressions of a Kathakali artist are the 'navarasams' (Navarasas in anglicised form) (literal translation: Nine Tastes, but more loosely translated as nine feelings or expressions) which are Sringaram (amour), Hasyam (ridicule, humour), Bhayanakam (fear), Karunam (pathos), Roudram (anger, wrath), Veeram (valour), Beebhatsam (disgust), Adbhutam (wonder, amazement), Shantam (tranquility, peace). The link at the end of the page gives more details on Navarasas.
One of the most interesting aspects of Kathakali is its elaborate make-up code. Most often, the make-up can be classified into five basic sets namely Pachcha, Kathi, Kari, Thaadi, and Minukku. The differences between these sets lie in the predominant colours that are applied on the face. Pachcha (meaning green) has green as the dominant colour and is used to portray noble male characters who are said to have a mixture of "Satvik" (pious) and "Rajasik" (dark; Rajas = darkness) nature. Rajasik characters having an evil streak ("tamasic"= evil) -- all the same they are anti-heroes in the play (such as the demon king Ravana) -- and portrayed with streaks of red in a green-painted face. Excessively evil characters such as demons (totally tamasic) have a predominantly red make-up and a red beard. They are called Red Beard (Red Beard). Tamasic characters such as uncivilised hunters and woodsmen are represented with a predominantly black make-up base and a black beard and are called black beard (meaning black beard). Women and ascetics have lustrous, yellowish faces and this semi-realistic category forms the fifth class. In addition, there are modifications of the five basic sets described above such as Vella Thadi (white beard) used to depict Hanuman (the Monkey-God) and Pazhuppu, which is majorly used for Lord Shiva and Balabhadra.
NOTABLE TRAINING CENTRES & MASTERS
Kathakali artistes need assiduous grooming for almost a decade's time, and most masters are products of accomplished institutions that give a minimum training course of half-a-dozen years. The leading Kathakali schools (some of them started during the pre-Independent era India) are Kerala Kalamandalam (located in Cheruthuruthy near Shoranur), PSV Natya Sangham (located in Kottakal near Kozhikode), Sadanam Kathakali and Classical Arts Academy (or Gandhi Seva Sadan located in Perur near Ottappalam in Palakkad), Unnayi Varier Smaraka Kalanilayam (located in Irinjalakuda south of Thrissur), Margi in Thiruvananthapuram, Muthappan Kaliyogam at Parassinikkadavu in Kannur district and RLV School at Tripunithura off Kochi and Kalabharathi at Pakalkkuri near Kottarakkara in Kollam district, Sandarshan Kathakali Kendram in Ambalapuzha and Vellinazhi Nanu Nair Smaraka Kalakendra in Kuruvattor. Outside Kerala, Kathakali is being taught at the International Centre for Kathakali in New Delhi, Santiniketan at Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal, Kalakshetra in Chennai and Darpana Academy in Ahmedabad among others. PadmaSree Guru Chengannur Raman Pillai mostly known as 'Guru Chengannur'was running a traditional Gurukula Style approach to propagate Kathakali.
‘Guru Chengannur” is ever renowned as the Sovereign Guru of Kathakali. His precision in using symbols, gestures and steps were highest in the field of Kathakali. Guru Chegannur's kaththi vesham, especially the portrayal of Duryodhana enthralled the audience every time he performed. A master of the art, he found immense happiness and satisfaction in the success and recognition of his disciples.
Senior Kathakali exponents of today include Padma Bhushan Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, Padma Shri Kalamandalam Gopi, Madavoor Vasudevan Nair, Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair, Kottakkal Krishnankutty Nair, Mankompu Sivasankara Pillai, Sadanam Krishnankutty, Nelliyode Vasudevan Namboodiri, Kalamandalam Vasu Pisharody, FACT Padmanabhan, Kottakkal Chandrasekharan, Margi Vijayakumar, Kottakkal Nandakumaran Nair, Vazhenkada Vijayan, Inchakkattu Ramachandran Pillai, Kalamandalam Kuttan, Mayyanad Kesavan Namboodiri, Mathur Govindan Kutty, Narippatta Narayanan Namboodiri, Chavara Parukutty, Thonnakkal Peethambaran, Sadanam Balakrishnan, Kalanilayam Gopalakrishnan, Chirakkara Madhavankutty, Sadanam K. Harikumaran, Thalavadi Aravindan, Kalanilayam Balakrishnan, Pariyanampatta Divakaran, Kottakkal Kesavan, Kalanilayam Gopi and Kudamaloor Muralikrishnan. The late titan actor-dancers of Kathakali's modern age (say, since the 1930s) include Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon, Chenganoor Raman Pillai, Chandu Panicker, Thakazhi Guru Kunchu Kurup, Padma Shri Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, Padma Shri Vazhenkada Kunchu Nair, Kavalappara Narayanan Nair, Kurichi Kunhan Panikkar, Thekkinkattil Ramunni Nair, Padma Shri Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair, Kalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair, Mankulam Vishnu Namboodiri, Oyur Kochu Govinda Pillai, Vellinezhi Nanu Nair, Padma Shri Kavungal Chathunni Panikkar, Kudamaloor Karunakaran Nair, Kottakkal Sivaraman, Kannan Pattali, Pallippuram Gopalan Nair, Haripad Ramakrishna Pillai, Champakkulam Pachu Pillai, Chennithala Chellappan Pillai, Guru Mampuzha Madhava Panicker, and Vaikkom Karunakaran.
Kathakali is still hugely a male domain but, since the 1970s, females too have made entry into the art form on a recognisable scale. The central Kerala temple town of Tripunithura has, in fact, a ladies troupe (with members belonging to several part of the state) that performs Kathakali, by and large in Travancore.
KATHAKALI STYLES
Known as Sampradäyaṃ(Malayalam: സമ്പ്രദായം); these are leading Kathakali styles that differ from each other in subtleties like choreographic profile, position of hand gestures and stress on dance than drama and vice versa. Some of the major original kathakali styles included:
Vettathu Sampradayam
Kalladikkodan Sampradyam
Kaplingadu Sampradayam
Of late, these have narrowed down to the northern (Kalluvazhi) and southern (Thekkan) styles. It was largely developed by the legendary Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon (1881-1949) that is implemented in Kerala Kalamandalam (though it has also a department that teaches the southern style), Sadanam, RLV and Kottakkal. Margi has its training largely based on the Thekkan style, known for its stress on drama and part-realistic techniques. Kalanilayam, effectively, churns out students with a mix of both styles.
OTHER FORMS OD DANCE & OFFSHOOTS
Kerala Natanam is a kind of dance form, partly based on Kathakali techniques and aesthetics, developed and stylised by the late dancer Guru Gopinath in the mid-20th century. Kathakali also finds portrayal in Malayalam feature films like Vanaprastham, Parinayam, Marattam, and Rangam. Besides documentary films have also been shot on Kathakali artistes like Chenganoor Raman Pillai, Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair, Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, Kalamandalam Gopi and Kottakkal Sivaraman.
As for fictional literature, Kathakali finds mention in several Malayalam short stories like Karmen (by N.S. Madhavan) and novels like Keshabharam (by P.V. Sreevalsan). Even the Indo-Anglian work like Arundhati Roy's Booker prize-winning The God of Small Things has a chapter on Kathakali, while, of late, Anita Nair's novel, Mistress, is entirely wrapped in the ethos of Kathakali.
Similar musical theater is popular in Kasaragod and the coastal and Malenadu regions of Karnataka, viz. Yakshagana. Though Yakshagana resembles Kathakali in terms of its costume and makeup to an extent, Yakshagana is markedly different from Kathakali as it involves dialogues and method acting also the narration is in Kannada, wherein philosophical debates are also possible within framework of the character. As per records the art form of Yakshagana was already rooted and well established at the time of Sri Manavedan Raja. There is possibilities of its significant influence in formation of Kathakkali as the troupe of performers of "Krishnanattam" designed the basic costume of the art form already established in other parts of south India including Males playing the female roles (until more recently).
Kottayam thamburan's way of presenting kathakali was later known as Kalladikkoden sambradayam. Chathu Paniker,the introducer of Kallikkoden Sambrathayam, stayed in Kottayam for five years with Kottayam Thamburan's residence and practiced Kalladikkoden Sambrathayam. Then he returned to his home place. After a short period Chathu Paniker reached Pulapatta as instructed by Kuthiravattath nair. That was around the year ME 865. Many deciples from Kadathanadu, Kurumbra nadu, Vettathu nadu, Palakkadu and Perumpadappu studied kathakali(Kalladikkoden Sambrathayam ) By that time Chathu Paniker was an old man. Some years later he died from Pulapatta.
NOTED KATHAKALI VILLAGES & BELTS
There are certain pockets in Kerala that have given birth to many Kathakali artistes over the years. If they can be called Kathakali villages (or some of them, these days, towns), here are some of them: Vellinezhi, Kuruvattoor, Karalmanna, Cherpulassery, Kothachira, peringode, sreekrishnapuram Kongad and Ottapalam in Palakkad district, Vazhenkada in Malappuram district, Thichur or Tichoor, Guruvayur, Thiruvilwamala and Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district, Tripunithura, Edappally, Thekkan Chittoor in Ernakulam district and Kuttanad, Harippad belt in Alappuzha district besides places in and around Thiruvanathapuram in south Travancore and Payyannur in north Malabar.
AWARDS FOR KATHAKALI ARTISTS
Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardees - Kathakali (1956–2005)
Nambeesan Smaraka Awards—For artistic performances related kathakali{1992-2008}
KATHAKALI ATTAMS (ELAKI ATTAMS)
Attams or more specifically "elaki attams" are sequences of acting within a story acted out with the help of mudras without support from vocal music. The actor has the freedom to change the script to suit his own individual preferences. The actor will be supported ably by Chenda, Maddalam, and Elathalam (compulsory), Chengila (not very compulsory).
The following are only some examples. 'Kailasa Udharanam' and 'Tapas Attam' are very important attams and these are described at the end. Two of the many references are Kathakali Prakaram, pages 95 to 142 by Pannisheri Nanu Pillai and Kathakaliyile Manodharmangal by Chavara Appukuttan Pillai.
VANA VARNANA: BHIMA IN KALYANA SAUGANDHIKA
Modern man looks at the forest, indeed the birthplace of primates, with a certain wonder and a certain respect. Kathakali characters are no exception.
When Pandavas were living in the forest, one day, a flower, not seen before, wafted by the wind, comes and falls at the feet of Panchali. Exhilarated by its beauty and smell, Panchali asks Bhima to bring her more such flowers. To her pleasure Bhima is ready to go at once. But Panchali asks him what he shall do for food and drink on the way. Bhima thinks and says "Food and Drink! Oh, this side glance (look) of yours. This look of longing. This look of anticipation. The very thought fills me up. I don't need any food and drink at all. Let me go." He takes his mace and off he goes. Ulsaham (enthusiasm) is his Sdhayi Bhavam (permanent feature).
"Let me go at once in search of this flower," says Bhima. "The scented wind is blowing from the southern side. Let me go that way." After walking some distance he sees a huge mountain called Gandhamadana and three ways. He decides to take the middle one which goes over the mountain. After going further "The forest is getting thicker. Big trees, big branches in all directions. The forest looks like a huge dark vessel into which even light can not penetrate. This is my (Bhima's) way. Nothing can hinder me." So saying he pulls down many trees. Sometimes he shatters the trees with his mace. Suddenly he sees an elephant. "Oh! Elephant." He describes it. Its trunk. Sharp ears.
The itching sensation in the body. It takes some mud and throws on the body. Oh good. Then it sucks water and throws on the body. Somewhat better. Slowly it starts dosing even though alert at times. A very huge python is approaching steadily. Suddenly it catches hold of the elephant's hind leg. The elephant wakes up and tries to disengage the python. The python pulls to one side. The elephant kicks and drags to the other side. This goes on for some time. Bhima looks to the other side where a hungry lion is looking for food. It comes running and strikes the elephants head and eats part of the brain and goes off. The python completes the rest. "Oh my god, how ruthless!" says Bhima and proceeds on his way.
UDYANA VARNANA: NALA IN NALACHARITHAM SECOND DAY
Descriptions of gardens are found in most dance forms of India and abroad. These are also common in Kathakali.
Newly married Nala and Damayanthi are walking in the garden. When Nala was lovingly looking at Damayanthi a flower falls on her. Nala is overjoyed and thinks that this is a kindness nature has shown on his wife. Nala says "On seeing the arrival of their queen, the trees and climbers are showing happiness by dropping flowers on you." He tells her, "See that tree. When I used to be alone the tree used to hug the climber and seemingly laugh at my condition." Then he looks at the tree and says, "Dear Tree, look at me now. See how fortunate I am with my beautiful wife."
Both wander about. A bumblebee flies towards Damayanthi. Immediately Nala protects her face with a kerchief. He looks at the bee and then at Damayanthi. He says, "On seeing your face the bee thought it was a flower and came to drink the nectar." Nala and Damayanthi listen to the sounds coming out of the garden. Damayanti says, "It appears that the whole garden is thrilled. The flowers are blooming and smiling. Cuckoos are singing and the bees are dancing. Gentle winds are blowing and rubbing against our bodies. How beautiful the whole garden looks." Then Nala says that the sun is going down and it is time for them to go back and takes her away.
SHABDA VARNANA: HANUMAN IN KALYANA SAUGANDHIKAM
While Bhima goes in search of the flower, here Hanuman is sitting doing Tapas with mind concentrated on Sri Rama.
When he hears the terrible noises made by Bhima in the forest he feels disturbed in doing his Tapas. He thinks "What is the reason for this?" Then the sounds become bigger. "What is this?" He thinks, "The sounds are getting bigger. Such a terrible noise. Is the sea coming up thinking that the time is ripe for the great deluge (Pralaya). Birds are flying helter-skelter. Trees look shocked. Even Kali Yuga is not here. Then what is it? Are mountains quarreling with each other? No, That can't be it. Indra had cut off the wings of mountains so that they don't quarrel. Is the sea changing its position? No it can't be. The sea has promised it will not change its position again. It can't break the promise." Hanuman starts looking for clues. "I see elephants and lions running in fear of somebody. Oh a huge man is coming this way. Oh, a hero is coming. He is pulling out trees and throwing it here and there. Okay. Let him come near, We will see."
THANDEDATTAM: RAVANA IN BALI VADHAM
After his theranottam Ravana is seen sitting on a stool. He says to himself "I am enjoying a lot of happiness. What is the reason for this?" Thinks. "Yes I know it. I did Tapas to Brahma and received all necessary boons. Afterwards I won all ten directions. I also defeated my elder brother Vaishravana. Then I lifted Kailas mountain when Siva and Parvathi were having a misunderstanding. Parvathi got frightened and embraced Siva in fear. Siva was so happy he gave a divine sword called Chandrahasa. Now the whole world is afraid of me. That is why I am enjoying so much happiness." He goes and sits on the stool. He looks far away. "Who is coming from a distance. he is coming fast. Oh, it is Akamba. Okay. Let me find out what news he has for me."
ASHRAMA VARNANA: ARJUNA IN KIRATHAM
Arjuna wants to do Tapas to Lord Siva and he is looking a suitable place in the Himalayan slopes. He comes to place where there is an ashram. Arjuna looks closely at the place. "Oh. What a beautiful place this is. A small river in which a very pure water is flowing. Some hermits are taking baths in the river. Some hermits are standing in the water and doing Tapsas. Some are facing the Sun. Some are standing in between five fires." Arjuna salutes the hermits from far. He says to himself "Look at this young one of a deer. It is looking for its mother. It seems to be hungry and thirsty. Nearby a female tiger is feeding its young ones. The little deer goes towards the tigress and pushes the young tiger cubs aside and starts drinking milk from the tigress. The tigress looks lovingly at the young deer and even licks its body as if it were its own child. How beautiful. How fulfilling."
Again he looks "Here on this side a mongoose and a serpent forgetting their enmity are hugging each other. This place is really strange and made divine by saints and hermits. Let me start my Tapas somewhere nearby."
A sloka called "Shikhini Shalabha" can be selected instead of the above if time permits.
AN ATTAM BASED ON A SLOKA
Sansrit slokas are sometimes shown in mudras and it has a pleasing and exhilarating effect. Different actors use slokas as per his own taste and liking. However, the slokas are taught to students during their training period. An example is given below.
Kusumo Kusumolpatti Shrooyathena Chathushyathe
Bale thava Mukhambuje Pashya Neelolpaladwayam
Meaning a flower blooming inside another flower is not known to history. But, my dear, in your lotus like face are seen two blue Neelolpala flowers (eyes).
A CONVERSATION BASED ON A SLOKA
Sanskrit slokas can also be used to express an intent. One such example is a sloka used by Arjuna addressed to Mathali the charioteer in Kalakeya Vadham. Sloka:
Pitha: Kushalee Mama hritha Bhujaam
Naatha Sachee Vallabha:
Maatha: kim nu Pralomacha Kushalinee
Soonurjayanthasthayo
Preethim va Kushchate Thadikshnavidhow
Cheta Samutkanuthe
Sutha: tvam Radhamashu Chodaya vayam
Dharmadivam Mathala
Meaning: The husband of Indrani and the lord of gods my father - Is he in good health? His son Jayantha - Is he strictly following the commands of his father? Oh, I am impatient to see all of them.
SWARGA VARNANA: ARJUNA IN KELAKEYA VADHAM
Arjuna goes to heaven on the invitation of his father, Indra. After taking permission from Indrani he goes out to see all the places in Swarga. First he sees a building, his father's palace. It is so huge with four entrances. It is made of materials superior to gold and jewels of the world. Then he goes ahead and sees Iravatha. Here he describes it as a huge elephant with four horns. He is afraid to touch it. Then he thinks that animals in Swarga can't be cruel like in the world and so thinking he goes and touches and salutes Iravatha. He describes the churning of the white sea by gods and demons with many details and how Iravatha also came out of the white sea due to this churning.
He walks on and sees his father's (Indra's) horse. It is described as being white and its mane is sizzling like the waves of the white sea from which it came. He touches and salutes the horse also. Then he goes to see the river of the sky (or milky way). He sees many birds by this river and how the birds fly and play is shown.
Then he sees the heavenly ladies. Some are collecting flowers, and one of them comes late and asks for some flowers for making garland. The others refuse. She goes to the Kalpa Vriksha and says "please give me some flowers." Immediately a shower of flowers occurs which she collects in her clothes and goes to make garlands chiding the others. "See... I also got flowers." After this he sees the music and dance of the heavenly ladies. First it starts with the adjustments of instruments Thamburu, Mridangam, Veena. Then the actual music starts along with the striking of cymbals. Then two or three types of dances are shown. Then comes juggling of balls. It is described by a sloka thus:
Ekopi Thraya Iva Bhathi Kandukoyam
Kanthayaa: Karathala Raktharaktha:
Abhrastho Nayanamareechi Neelaneelo
Popular belief is that kathakali is emerged from "Krishnanattam", the dance drama on the life and activities of Lord Krishna created by Sri Manavedan Raja, the Zamorin of Calicut (1585-1658 AD). Once Kottarakkara Thampuran, the Raja of Kottarakkara who was attracted by Krishnanattam requested the Zamorin for the loan of a troupe of performers. Due to the political rivalry between the two, Zamorin did not allow this. So Kottarakkara Thampuran created another art form called Ramanattam which was later transformed into Aattakatha. Krishnanaattam was written in Sanskrit, and Ramanattam was in Malayalam. By the end of 17th century, Attakatha was presented to the world with the title 'Kathakali'. Kathakali also shares a lot of similarities with Krishnanattam, Koodiyattam (a classical Sanskrit drama existing in Kerala) and Ashtapadiyattam (an adaptation of 12th-century musical called Gitagovindam). It also incorporates several other elements from traditional and ritualistic art forms like Mudiyettu, Thiyyattu, Theyyam and Padayani besides a minor share of folk arts like Porattunatakam. All along, the martial art of Kalarippayattu has influenced the body language of Kathakali. The use of Malayalam, the local language (albeit as a mix of Sanskrit and Malayalam, called ), has also helped the literature of Kathakali sound more transparent for the average audience. As a part of modernising, propagating, promoting and popularizing Kathakali, the International Centre for Kathakali at New Delhi has taken up a continuing project since 1980 of producing new plays based on not only traditional and mythological stories, but also historical stories, European classics and Shakespeare's plays. Recently they produced Kathakali plays based on Shakespeare's Othello and Greek-Roman mythology of Psyche and Cupid.
Even though the lyrics/literature would qualify as another independent element called Sahithyam, it is considered as a component of Geetha or music, as it plays only a supplementary role to
Bhumau Talcharana Naghamshu Gaurgaura:
Meaning One ball looks like three balls. When it is in the hands of the juggler, it takes the redness of the hands, when it goes up it takes the blueness of the eyes, when it strikes the ground it becomes white from the whiteness of the leg nails. Once a juggled ball falls down. Then she, the juggler, somehow manages to proceed and remarks "See.. how I can do it".
At one time a garment slips from a lady's body and she adjusts the cloth showing shameful shyness (Lajja). Then the ladies go in for a Kummi dance. As Arjuna was enjoying this dance, suddenly somebody calls him. Arjuna feels scared. "Oh God, where am I?" he says and beats a hasty retreat.
TAPAS ATTAM: RAVANA IN RAVANA ULBHAVAM
[Background: Mali, Sumali and Malyavan were three brothers ruling Sri Lanka. During a war between them and Indra, Indra requested help from Lord Vishnu and as a consequence Lord Vishnu killed Mali. Sumali and Malyavan escaped to Patala. Kaikasi was the daughter of Sumali. She wandered in the forest. She belong three boys through a great sage called Vishravassu. (Vishravassu had an earlier son called Vaishravana who became the richest among all people.) The eldest boy of Kaikasi was Ravana followed by Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana.]
SCENE 1
When Ravana was a young boy (Kutti Ravana vesham), one day he was sleeping on his mothers lap in a place called madhuvanam. At that time Kaikasi sees Vaishravana flying overhead in his vimana (mythical aeroplane). She thinks “Oh, that is Vaishravana, technically a brother of my son who is sleeping on my lap. He is rich and strong. My son is so poor and weak. While thinking thus a drop of tear from her eyes drops on Ravana’s face. Ravana suddenly wakes up and sees his mother crying. When he knew the reason he could not bear it. He says he is going to do tapas to Brahma to get boons so that he will be strong and rich.
SCENE 2
(The tapas itself is shown as a part of autobiographical narration of adult ravana)
Ravana (adult Ravana, not kutti Ravana) is sitting on a stool. He thinks “Why am I so happy? How did I become so rich and strong? Oh yes. It is because of the tapas I did. What made me do the tapas? When I was a young boy, one day I was sleeping on my mother’s lap in a place called Madhuvanam. A drop of tear from her eyes falls on my face. I asked her why she was crying. She said she saw Vaishravana flying overhead in his vimana (plane). She told me Vaishravan was a brother of mine now flying in a plane. He is rich and strong. I am so poor and weak. When I heard this comparison between me and my brother, I could not bear it. I am going to do tapas to Brahma to get boons so that I will be strong and rich.
I made five different types of fires (while doing tapas gods are approached through Agni the god of fire). Then I started my tapas. I asked my brothers to stand guard and also keep the fires burning. Then I fully concentrated on tapas. Time passed but Brahma did not appear. I looked. Why is Brahma not appearing? I doubled my concentration. Time passed. Brahma is not appearing. Still not appearing? I cut one of my heads and put it in the fire. Waited, Brahma did not come. One more head rolls. Still no Brahma comes. Heads roll and roll. No Brahma. Only one head is left. First I thought of stopping my tapas. But no! Never! That will be an insult to me and my family. It is better to die than stop. Also when I die Brahma will be judged as being partial. With great determination I swung the sword at my last neck, when, lo and behold, suddenly Brahma appeared and caught my hand. I looked at him with still un-subsided, but gradually subsiding anger. Brahma asked me what boons I wanted. I asked for a boon that I should win all the worlds and have all the wealth and fame and that I should not be killed except by man. I also asked him to give boons for my brothers.
In the next scene Ravana asks Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana what boons they got. Unfortunately Kumbhakarna’s tongue got twisted while asking for boon and he got ‘sleep’ instead of becoming the ‘king of gods’. Ravana laughed it off. As for Vibhishana, he being a bhaktha of Vishnu, asked for Vishnu’s blessings and got it. Ravana laughs it off and also decides to conquer all the worlds and starts preparing his grand army for the big conquest of the worlds.
[This method of presentation with a peculiar sequence has a tremendous dramatic affect. The main actor redoes a small part of what happened to kutti Ravana vesham, and this gives a view of the high contrast between the boy and the man Ravana. Similarly the presence of Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana in the subsequent scene offers a good smile on the face of the viewer at the end of the play.]
KAILASA UDDHARANAM: RAVANA IN BALI VIJAYAM
[Background and Previous scene: After receiving the boons, and widening his kingdom in all directions, Ravana lives in Sri Lanka with great pomp and splendor. One day he sees Saint Narada approaching his palace singing songs in praise of him ‘Jaya jaya Ravana, Lanka Pathe’. Happily he receives Narada and seats him next to him. After telling Narada about the victory of his son Indrajith on Indra, Ravana tells Narada “Now there is nobody on earth or other worlds who can fight with me”. To this Narada replies “ Very true indeed, but there is one huge monkey called Bali who says he can defeat you. He even said that you are just like a blade of grass to him. Well let him say what he wants. You are unbeatable.” Then Narada says ‘let us go there and see him’. Both decide to go. But Ravana takes his famous sword called “Chandrahasam”. Then Narada asks the history of this sword. Ravana’s Attam Starts.]
Ravana says “I received this sword from Lord Siva. It happened thus. Once when I was conquering new places and expanding my empire I happened to be going across the Kailasa mountain. The plane got stuck on the mountain unable to move forward. I got down from the plane and looked at the mountain. (Looks from one end to the other first horizontally and then vertically.) So huge it was. Then I decided to lift it with my bare hand and keep it aside and move forward. I started sticking my hands under it one by one. Then I tried to lift it. It doesn’t move. I put more force and more force. It moved just a bit. I pushed harder and harder, slowly it started moving then again and again and it moved easily. Then I lifted it up with my hands and started juggling it (exaggeration evident).
“At that particular time Lord Siva was quarreling with his wife Parvathi. Why did they fight? The story is as follows. Parvathi had gone for enjoying swimming and bathing in some beautiful pond. At that time Siva opened his jata (disheveled long hair) and called Ganga for some entertainment after asking Ganapathi and Subramania to go for some errands. Somehow becoming suspicious, right at that time, Parvathi came back in a hurry with wet clothes and saw Siva with Ganga. Siva was wondering what to do and it was at that time that Ravana started lifting the Kailasa. When Kailasa started shaking Parvathi got scared and ran to Siva and hugged him. So the quarrel ended and Siva was happy. “As a reward Siva called me and gave me this famous Chandrahasa sword.”
Then Narada and Ravana leave to meet Bali. Ravana wanted to take the sword along with him, but Narada suggested that the sword is not required for teaching a lesson to Bali who is after all an unarmed monkey.
WIKIPEDIA