For a while now, things got mixed up, and claim everyone who cannot get to safety quickly. As a consequence, crucial parts are now on hold. This turned into a heavy load on exhausted shoulders that desperately wait and hope for a shift to compensate for the difficulties.

Over time, patience started wearing thin and frustration began splashing around. Yet things aren't always up to whom would like to change them. And so, I continued waiting and hoping for a shift to compensate for the difficulties.

But then, there was land in sight on this arduous journey. With the destination in front of my eyes, I am amazed dreams finally come true. And yet, I also realize the overwhelming feeling of being rewarded with the long-desired shift to compensate for the difficulties.

tinyurl.com/atwut6

Tifa: And, we're back on Madmen* after some technical difficulties**. Tifa Lockhart here with Madman. Grendel is out on assignment.

Madman: War in the store?? That's right, folks are fighting over those essentials that are hard to get.

Tifa: But first, Paprihaven is not the only community suffering. While we are facing a war, Coopers Town is dealing with a pandemic that has strained their resources. We have with us, live from Coopers Town, Judy Goldfarb with Sky News.*** Judy, thank you for joining us. What is Coopers Town's biggest challenge during this pandemic?

Judy: Thank you Tifa. We have a bit of a store war over here as well. An elderly lady started to beat a fellow shopper with a leek. Apparently had this poor lad stepped too close to her turf and she felt the need to fend him off. So I'd say social distancing has become a real problem.

Madman: Leaks!? Like news leaks? What?

Tifa: Leeks! It's a vegetable. So, Judy-

Madman: How do you beat a person with a leaky vegetable? So, anyway, Judy-

Tifa: -... *sigh*

Madman: - given that you are in Coopers Town which is famous for its equestrian heritage and this segment features a hospital, do you think there's any validity to some people preferring to say "horse spittle" instead of "hospital"?

Tifa: No one says that! Only you!

Madman: I'm people!! Judy, if you wouldn't mind answering my question...

Judy: *strained laughter* … Very amusing I'm sure Mr Madman.

Madman: So, do you?

Judy: Oh, you were serious. Well no. I can't say we do. Unless you're in kindergarten and just learnt how to play with words.

Tifa: Ooohh, BURN! Okay, let's-

Madman: Now, jestaminnit!!! I-

Tifa: My turn, Madman! I think we've exhausted the "horse spittle" angle of this news topic, as compelling as it was. Now, Judy, you mentioned social distancing. Is that a voluntary community effort in Coopers Town or is it mandated? And I'm curious as to what the Coopers Town political structure is. I was looking at photos and see you have a royal palace. Is Coopers Town under a monarchy?

Madman: Cause our leadership is a mess right now!

Judy: There, there Mr Madman. Well Tifa, it's both. Since the Sindys in our town demanded social distancing from the Barbies long before the pandemic broke out, they lived by that rule anyway. While the Barbies needed some involuntary guidance from the government. The royal palace? Oh, the palace yes. It's regally royal alright, but doesn't really rule.

Tifa: It sounds like there may be discriminatory practices against Barbie in Coopers Town. We'd love to dig a bit deeper there but we're up against the break so we'll sadly have to stop.

Madman: Been a hoot, Suite Judy Black Specs, let's do it again! Don't be a stranger though you couldn't be stranger than me! 🎵🎤Strangers in the night exchanging glances, wondering in the night 🎶

Judy (thinking) Gasp!!! What did the young madperson call me?! Quick, I have to come up with a comeback fast so I seem jolly and prepared...

Tifa: Aaaand, that's our cue!

Madman: 🎵🎤What were the chances we'd be sharing love 🎶

Tifa: Thank you all at home for watching Madmen on PRPN and-

Madman: 🎵🎤Before the night was throoooouuuuugh!! 🎶

Tifa: -thank you Judy Goldfarb from Sky News in Coopers Town for joining us. We give you the last word.

Judy: My pleasure dear and Mr Mad-as can-be-Man. It's been most interesting. I'd like to give one last shoutout for PRPN appearing on Sky News next week when we learn more about the war. Don't miss that!

Madman: 🎵🎤Strangers without malice, seeking romances, with Judy in the palace, long slow dances, next weeeeeeeek!! 🎶

*cut to commercial*

_____________________________________________

* The Madman editorial news program on Channel 35! Last seen way back in number 1282!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/39095659414/

** There were technical difficulties as Coopers Town is forever 80s...

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/49916862422/

*** See the svelte and sophisticated Judy on Sky News in Coopers Town!

www.flickr.com/photos/135742756@N07/49676797806/

This was a photo collaboration with Sky at CooperSky! Co-scripted and imagined. 😊 😊

Just over 30 minutes into our hike up the trail, as we approached The Old Man, we had a sense of the level of difficulty the climb would present.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity,

an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

- Winston Churchill -

We're here visiting The glass is half empty

I have a liking for brickwork and Manor farm, about a couple of miles from home, is a relatively new farm house, the whole place was very tidy and very impressive. I liked the cable carrying pole, but had difficulty placing it but I felt that it gave an end of the line feel, to the image and isolated the farm.

We have been busy medically for a couple of days and will now try to catch up with comments, end of rant.

Please View Large On Black

************** PLEASE NO INVITES, IMAGES, LOGOS OR FLASHING SIGNS ***************

************************ Thank you all for visits, faves and kind words ************************

With 910 holding the main, westbound 909 slows to enter the passing siding at Pembine with SD40-2 774 and GP38-2 797 for power. 909 was extremely difficulty to catch in daylight at Pembine as per the timetable he couldn't arrive before 8:30 PM.

3601

REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS

Coucher de soleil, Sainte-Flavie.

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

Photo taken close to REFORD GARDENS. (Sainte-Flavie)

Mrs Elsie Reford loved those beautiful sunsets.

Reference: Elsie's Paradise, The Reford Gardens, Alexander Reford, 2004, ISBN 2-7619-1921-1, That book is a must for Reford Gardens lovers!

''I shall always, all my life, want to come back to those sunsets.'' Elsie Reford, July 20, 1913. (page 25)

" It is just after 8 o'clock and I am sitting in front of my big window with the gorgeous panorama of a glorious afterglow from a perfect sunset. There is every hue of blue on the water of 'the Blue Lagoon' while Pointe-aux-Cenelles is bathed in pink and crimson and the dark hills of the north shore seem no further than two or three miles distant. I don't think in the whole world at this moment there could be anything more beautiful." Elsie Reford, June 2, 1931. (page 81)

Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.

''One thing I can do that no one else can is to pass the love that I feel for this place and this woman'' Alexander Reford

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

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From Wikipedia:

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.

She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.

In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.

During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© Copyright

This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.

Some Difficulties remembring you .. :(

A lot of people are having difficulty viewing the model so I decided to--

Naww, I just wanted to make this anyway. This is the OCD engineer in me, always looking for orthos and callouts. I don't have time to go through and annotate every detail but in sumnation:

-VTOL systems: x4 Fore air-breathing lift jets, x4 Aft air-breathing propulsion/lift converting jets, x2 Wingtip air-breathing stabilizing jets, Dorsal dynamic air-break system, Fully-retractable landing gear, Control flaps,

-Interior details: Cargo hold, Airlock, x2 Bunks, kitchenette, Head, Stowage compartments, Coms, Hydroponics, Cockpit, Cargo door,

-Space-flight systems: x2 Linear aerospike engines, x? Maneuvering thrusters, Dorsal universal-docking port, Ventral vaporous heat-shielding

-Flare: Orchid motifs, General swashbuckling pizzazz,

Despite all the difficulties of this month, I've managed to make my 3rd and final entry to FebRovery, and I'm very happy to share it with you!

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"Proteus" was designed by military engineers and adopted by research centres on various, far from the Earth, planets to serve as a highly mobile tanker for transporting valuable substances that were found there with the purpose of making breakthroughs in different scientific fields. This type of Planetary Rover is based upon Monster Truck construction, its chassis and grand passability. The vehicle is under the operation of two pilot-spacemen and there are two steering wheels for each of them. The cistern has thick sides and a lot of sensors that transmit the information about the condition of the substance straight to the cockpit, because some of them are extremely reactive...and in order not to shake them up, the elaborate suspension plays right into scientists' hands!

My wife planted lavender some years ago and now the plant is thriving and huge. It smells really good and bees love it. All day long, there is activity on the lavender, which makes it a good place to practice insect macros. But it ain't easy. Bees do not remain on one flower for very long, so there is a certain amount of luck involved in achieving focus and clicking off a shot before the busy yellow and black critter flies off to the next flower. Of roughly 500 shots, this was the only one that I felt was sharp enough to keep. And even then, it's not a good shot in terms of its composition. I just have to keep at it, I guess.

The Difficulties In Providing Veruca Salt With A Glass Elevator - by Northside Jim

TLDR: The risk to an injured Piping Plover stuck north during migration is starvation in the deep winter (food source freeze). Piping Plover can be trapped safely in the nesting season when they are healthy and on a nest. Trapping them in the wild in the winter when they are injured is the opposite and can easily result in worse injury and often death. Piping Plover can sometimes be rehabilitated in the nesting season on their nesting grounds. The opposite is true in the winter as there are no good release options. Releasing them into winter has poor survival rates, holding them in captivity for the winter has poor survival rates, and flying them on a plane to the Bahamas is untested and very risky.

Lots of folks who have visited Holgate this fall have met a very special little lady: Veruca Salt.

Veruca is a banded, breeding, female Piping Plover. She sadly suffered an awful series of of tragedies this summer when she attempted to nest at Island Beach State Park, just barely seeing her chicks through to fledge, and then losing the last one right before the official fledge date. She had a rough go of it in the 2018 season.

But come late summer, she appeared ready to head off to the Bahamas to rest for the winter and hopefully to return next spring to give it another go.

Unfortunately, it’s now December and she’s still in New Jersey: specifically, hobbling around Holgate on Long Beach Island with both an injured foot and an injured leg.

She looks fat and strong, and she forages and flies just fine. But for whatever reasons, most likely related to the injury, she is choosing to stay put. And while it stinks to see any animal hobbling around on one leg, that is actually not the thing that is most worrisome and problematic about her situation.

What is most worrisome is that her foraging will likely freeze up later this winter and she’ll starve. While it’s still not too late, she needs to head south. Sooner rather than later. Injured legs heal but starvation is irreversible.

There is a good chance she will get a move on if the weather gives her the right incentives. She is being monitored closely, both formally and informally, but day after day, she seems perfectly content to stay at Holgate. I certainly understand. But it would seem she needs to go. Yet still… she is choosing this place to stay.

So the big question: “Is there anything that can be done for her?”

Of course. There are many things that can be done; some smart, some not so smart, some too risky, and some unnecessary. Some which might help, and some which are an almost guaranteed death sentence for her. All of the right people have all of the options and are watching her closely as her life unfolds, watching the clock, and weighing the risks.

But because she is a critically endangered species of the utmost importance on the state and federal levels, whatever is done for her must have the absolute best chance of her long term survival. No unnecessary risks can be taken because the consequences are too great. She could die very, very easily through hasty action. Veruca Salt belongs to a protected, endangered species, and the people who have spent their lives learning how to help them know all too well the risks of hasty intervention.

Many of those risks are not obvious to the rest of us. Nor is the (current) lack of urgency and the wisdom of patience and thoughtful, experienced caring in this situation.

Lucky for Veruca she is in a very rare, Federal Wilderness area, managed by an extremely experienced Refuge staff, in a State with extreme dedication to and experience with Piping Plovers, and where we have some of the greatest minds in plover handling & science working today. And because of the difficulties and complexities in making the right decision for how best to help her, all sorts of others have been drawn into the conversation for consultation. Veruca Salt is probably the most considered, discussed, and loved Piping Plover on the planet right now.

Her plight is difficult to watch for anyone; certainly most difficult of all for those few people with the knowledge, experience, ability, responsibility, and authority to actually do the things that will have the best chance of resulting in her long term survival.

I’ve recently had several conversations with people on the beach who are quick to ask what seems like the obvious question: “why don’t the feds just grab her and fix her leg?” The simple answer is that it is not that simple. Fortunately, the people monitoring her understand from experience all the reasons why it’s not as simple as it appears on the surface, and have ideas and strategies to mitigate some of the risks.

The first problem is the trapping: trapping a healthy, flighted bird with an injury like Veruca Salt’s in the wild has an extremely high probability of making the injury much worse, or even adding another injury to her predicament. Or, equally bad, terrorizing her to the point where she dies of heart failure or aborts the migration she needs, and perhaps is just about, to make. That’s not theoretical, but statistical. At best, it could easily spook her off the habitat she has chosen for her recovery where she is making decent progress to some place less ideal and far more dangerous for her.

We’re lucky to have Michelle Stantial in New Jersey as she is an incredibly skilled and experienced trapper. Yet she knows first hand the world of difference between trapping healthy birds on the nest in summer (which is how PIPL are studied) and trapping injured birds in the wild in the winter. They are not same thing at all. They are opposites in terms of potential risks and rewards.

The second, really, really important, problem is what to do with her if she is actually trapped. She is not necessarily treatable. A big strike against her is that she is injured, but not injured enough.

She has a flag band on her injured leg and there is no doubt that removing the flag would increase the chance of, and probably speed of, any recovery. But the actual injury above the knee, and the extent of the foot injury, is unknown. They could be two separate injuries, as in a Ghost Crab attack where small beach nesting birds get both legs damaged at the same time. It is unknown what the injuries are, if they are treatable, or even if they require treatment. Again, luckily, we have the expertise of Dr. Erica Miller in New Jersey who is actually a master of tiny-splints in the event they do go ahead with trapping.

But the most difficult aspect is that the timing is off. Just as it is very safe to trap a nesting Piping Plover in summer, but very difficult and dangerous to trap one in winter, it is also much easier to rehabilitate one successfully in the summer and very difficult to do the same thing in the winter.

The trouble is migration. If she were to go to rehab now, there are really only two options: a.) let her go in the middle of winter which has an extremely high and well understood probability of being a death sentence, or attempting to hold her until spring which also has an extremely high and well understood probability of being a death sentence. Both are generally considered high risk, if not outright unwise. (Note the same is true with our other summer nesting species like Osprey. Fledgling Osprey who get found injured in the fall, and go to rehab, getting released late in the migration season, have extremely poor survival rates.)

Put another way, the extreme risks of attempting a winter rehab/release are well known to have a low probability of success. Her ability/desire to get herself south is totally unknown and could very well be her best option. Some would make the case it would be a fool’s gamble for that reason alone.

There actually is a third, crazy, option, which our very own Christina Davis is advocating for in the event a trapping is attempted: rehab her and then fly her to the Bahamas on a plane (or even drive her to the Carolinas) and release her there. This is probably the best theoretical option, but mostly because it is so unheard of. The truth is (forgetting the unbelievable expense) is that the whole experience might be too disorienting; and what we know about how poorly they do in captivity suggests she might not even survive the flight.

It is super sad to watch her, as it is watching any animal with an injury. I was motivated to write by a friend who saw her a few times and assumed because she was still there that no one cared. The exact opposite is true. The monitoring and plan for getting Veruca Salt back to Island Beach State Park next summer is probably the biggest thing happening in New Jersey wildlife right now.

The character Veruca Salt once famously said (Tim Burton version): “Make time go faster, Daddy!” It is tough to watch her predicament drag on.

But she still has some time. For me (and I’m no authority), my favorite option is that she moves south soon, weakens slightly, and becomes a significantly better candidate for trapping, rehabilitating, and releasing successfully.

It is difficult to watch her out there in this highly unusual situation. But I know firsthand how many smart people are working on this, and am comforted by their deep experience, their proven skill, and their wisdom. All of the risk here is in acting too soon and too hastily; not in acting too late and too thoughtfully.

These 1,500 words are meant to set out some basic and very specific facts for those interested in Veruca Salt’s situation and her future; as this is a very easy and totally-understandable situation to see backwards from the reality: to see a lack of action as a lack of caring, a lack of progress as a lack of effort, silence as a lack of vigorous discussion.

I’m super sorry for you Veruca, super sorry for everyone who sees this bird and feels sad, super sorry for everyone who feels angry because they don’t know how many people are working on helping this one, very special, animal, or don’t understand just how tough a real solution is, and super sorry for whoever has to make the final, tough calls on this as winter approaches.

RFTNS is cheering you all on.

I’ll close by noting that it’s curious that her namesake, Veruca Salt, is synonymous with the perils of a lack of patience. Godspeed, Veruca Salt!

exit63.wordpress.com/2018/12/03/the-difficulties-in-provi...

Of all difficulties which impede the progress of thought, and the formation of well-grounded opinions on life and social arrangements, the greatest is now the unspeakable ignorance and inattention of mankind - in respect to the influences which form human character.

Whatever any portion of the human species now are, or seem to be, such, it is supposed, they have a natural tendency to be: when the most elementary knowledge of the circumstances in which they have been placed, clearly points out the causes that made them what they are.

- John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women ( 1869 )

Caswell Bay. Gower Peninsula. Wales. August 2020.

This was the first time I saw the relatively new 'Surfability' people in action. They provide inclusive surfing lessons and experiences. This includes people who otherwise might not be able to enjoy this activity, such as some people with disabilities and learning difficulties. They have some specialist equipment, that can be seen here, such as beach access wheelchairs and tandem surfboards.

kid's do not try this at home....

"The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path."

Jim Rohn

View On Black

Have a great day!

in the summer archives. there is always something forgotten to be found. like this one!

I'll be going away tomorrow (work...), won't be back until wednesday.

Wish you a great week ahead!

I was planning a fast look around contacts streams tonight, but the computer (or the internet connection) is giving me a hard time, taking forever to load each page - sorry if this becomes more of a post and run due to technical difficulties...

“The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.” ~ John Rohn

Kind of fun to take the "road less traveled" from time to time and go to a place that provides at least a temporary escape from the hustle & bustle of daily life....nourish the soul; it's good for you & everyone else you come into contact with :-)

Hope everyone has a wonderful, safe, & enjoyable weekend...many thanks for all your visits & kind words!!!!!

{Tumblr Difficulties}

Hair: .Olive. the Willow Hair @UBER

Dress: { VinCue } Lemny+Dress {G~Gift}

Choker: Kibitz - Stretch choker - white @Creepy Kawaii

Headband: REIGN.- Studded Bow Band- Black/Silver @Creepy Kawaii

Whenever people suffered the difficulty in real life, they either faced the challenge with courage or hided themselves in their secret garden temporiarily, made their sophicated thoughts within, and then find way to breakthrough again.

Have you ever own your secret garden ? It could be a real place in real world , or just a mental place at your mind, which made yourself feel safe & help you calm down from the suddently sufferings in real life.

Try to create the secret garden through the overlayering composition, it can be a place mixed with variable emotions, happiness, sorrow, hate, sadness, peaceful etc, not necesarry a subjective garden in vision, maybe just a private corner under the tree, on the meadow, or even the space between the leaves & air.. tell me how you think about your secret garden.

Got back from my trip this afternoon.

I signed up for Push round 10 before I left, but wasn't able to upload my shot while I was away, and of course, I've left my card reader behind, and the cord to connect my camera to my computer is broken (which is why I bought the card reader in the first place) so long story short, I can't upload my photos. Womp womp. So here's an old self portrait to tide me over until I can make it out to B&H.

Hoping to catch up on your streams this week!

Last Saturday Metroline Ashton depot had again got themselves in some difficulty with many cancelled, or as TFGM put it suspended, journeys. 16 late afternoon and evening journeys on the 216 alone were cancelled along with the last hourly 230 through Littlemoss, wasn’t the golden rule, always run the last bus if nothing else. I really find it difficult to believe that after almost a month under TFGM control an operator can simply cancel journeys at will for two Saturdays in a row and TFGM ignore it as teething troubles, no contingency planning and bad management springs to mind.

Anyway, that aside for the second week running just four, First bus E400’s, I think with First drivers were drafted in and helped on the 216 from Picadilly to Ashton, obviously 4 were nowhere near enough looking at the number of lost journeys.

Proving someone had their eye on the ball this week, quite full First bus 33854 Ashton bound on a 216 runs in tandem with quite empty Metroline, but former Stagecoach Enviro 400, TEH134, MX62GNP also on a 216 to Ashton, the third is Ashton bound SA15VML another former Stagecoach vehicle but admittedly the 231 runs through Droylsden Littlemoss before it will reach Ashton bus station sometime after the 216.

Worldwide, 55 million people are living with Alzheimer's and other dementias.

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disease and the most common form of dementia. Dementia is not a specific disease. It's an overall term that describes a group of symptoms.

In the later stages of the disease, a person with Alzheimer's may not remember familiar people, places or things. Situations involving memory loss and confusion are extremely difficult for caregivers and families, and require much patience and understanding.

What are the signs of age-related dementia?

Memory loss, which is usually noticed by someone else.

Difficulty communicating or finding words.

Difficulty with visual and spatial abilities, such as getting lost while driving.

Difficulty reasoning or problem-solving.

Difficulty handling complex tasks.

Difficulty with planning and organising.

Looking for information or advice about dementia or Alzheimer's? Call the Dementia Helpline free on 0800 888 6678 for support from our dementia specialist Admiral Nurses. The Helpline is open from 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Hi everyone! Jack here again, and thankfully (with much difficulty from Flickr, falsely accusing me that I had over 1,000 photos), I have uploaded this display I brought for BricksLA. Everything was pretty much built in a week prior, so some parts may be rough or messy, but, overall (considering the time frame to build something at this scale), I think it came together nicely. Its backstory: German troops occupying a central Italian roadway (not Italian troops since Germans occupied most of Italy during Operation Avalanche, or the allied invasion of Italy, due to breaks in the Italian government/dictatorship following their losses in North Africa) spot the Americans advancing even more northwards. They quickly prepare to ambush the small convoy, but the U.S. soldiers won't hold back! The sides spread out along the road, occupying an opposite side of where they meet, and engage in combat. This scene depicts said combat, a relatively fairly common encounter in Italy during 43'. Well, that's it for the storyline. I hope, though it was built hastily, you guys enjoy it!

Comments and Faves, as always, are welcomed and greatly appreciated (;.

Difficulty level - 10

Does anyone else have difficulty photographing Grey Partridges? Their status as a gamebird has probably made them very wary of man but in my experience they are almost hysterical in comparison with grouse. I still see them quite regularly in the Pennines but I rarely get a chance to point a camera at one as they are invariably running or flying away. This morning started just the same when I saw two Grey Partridges running down the road in front of me before they flew over a wall. As luck would have it there was a gate, and as I paused there they were, and hanging around long enough for a photograph from the car window.

The male is on the left and you can just see the chestnut horseshoe mark on his belly. The female does all the incubation and chick rearing by herself so is much more cryptically plumaged.

The Latin and Greek word for Partridge is Perdix, but this apparently comes from the Greek verb perdesthai, meaning to break wind. Most sources suggest it is the whirr of the wings that gave rise but the call could also be a plausible reason. For Grey Partridge the call is supposed to sound like a cork twisting in a bottle but the flaw is that in Greece the Chukar is the common partridge, and that bird calls its name.

Another film shot -- this one from my Mamiya medium format camera. This was taken a few weeks ago. I did manage to take a couple shots with my D300 this past week. The only problem is that I dumped a cup of coffee onto my MacBook Pro on Tuesday (four weeks before my first final). So I'm currently without a hard drive to download my photos onto (and without Photoshop).

Keep your fingers crossed for my laptop.

One of the difficulties at the Bisti Badlands is that there are no developed trails. One of the benefits of no trails is that - if you see something in the distance - you simply hike to it. Unless you arrive after a night of 2 inches of rain and minor flash-flooding that causes significant detours.

I saw this feature in the distance, approached, and stood amazed as it towered above me.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

Silhouetted, so had real difficulties bringing out the colour and tones, yet again! If anyone has any suggestions as to how to do this without getting the grainy effects that can be seen if this is enlarged. The bird was flying behind trees, hence the unfocused branches in the foreground.

Coleton Fishacre is a stunningly beautiful place with paths right down to the coastline of South Devon. Near Dartmouth.

Lots of peregrines around, all along the coast of the South Hams. Mostly feeding young on the cliffs. Saw them every day we were there, from Salcombe around to Coleton.

It wouldn't surprise me if Great Carolus Linnaeus had difficulty in pronouncing the English 'th'. His tongue like that of many non-native speakers was not subtle enough - hairy, as it were - for that sound. There is of course a story to why I think this...

It has everything to do with how Linnaeus first describes this pretty Common Fleabane, Pulicaria dysenterica. In the Flora suecica (1745) his description includes the interesting observation that our Fleabane saved the lives of many Russian soldiers in the Russo-Persian War (1722-1723). They used it as a medicine against dysentery. How exactly it's not said: it might have been through oral ingestion or else by way of its smoke; whatever the case, either the fleas (Pulex) or their effects - bacillary dysentery caused by transmitted Vibrio cholerae - were stymied in their run.

Whence Linnaeus's knowledge? Well, from one James Francis Edward Keith (1696-1758), a Scottish mercenary who fought for Prussians and Russians and anyone who'd have him. You get the picture: 'Keith' must've been a problem for Linnaeus to pronounce; perhaps he never met the man and only corresponded with him. In any case, his Flora suecica prints the General's name as 'Keit.

As far as I know, Keith did not take part in that Russo-Persian War; but he did play a heroic role in the Russo-Turkish War of 1741-1743. I wouldn't be surprised if his experience with our Pulicaria derives from that exercise and not from the earlier one. Possibly Linnaeus got that wrong as well, or otherwise Keith told him what he'd himself heard about the Persian expedition.

Here in the peaceful Hortus Botanicus this afternoon I saw this pretty Lasioglossum - Hairy- or Rough-Tongued Bee - calceatum on Bright Yellow Fleabane. Look at it's pretty reddish abdomen (and let's not be reminded of the less than savory sanguinary effects of dysentery).

The greatest difficulty spiritually is to

concentrate upon God, and His bles-

sings are what make it so difficult.

Troubles almost always make us look

to God, but His blessings tend to divert

our attention elsewhere.

~Oswald Chambers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Something about these words of Os-

wald Chambers seem to ring so true

much of the time.....do you see it too?

When I read them, I immediately knew

they were written for me!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wishing all My Friends a Sunday filled

with good things from Above! Love You

All!"

~Mary Lou

Not so sure that I like the processing :/

Also, does anyone know how to post picture thumbnails like for an sooc in the new flickr? I couldnt find how to anywhere and had to switch to the old flickr so that I could :S

Hope you all have an amazing weekend!!

Im done school for the summerl! :D

I had some real difficulties identifying this jumping spider found in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, but then it struck me - this one only has six legs!

Somehow someplace it had lost a battle and in it, both front legs. On males of this species, Epocilla calcarata, the front pair of legs are distinctly larger and also dark in colour, totally changing the apperance compared to this guy.

If a spider is wounded somewhere on the body, it will die as the hemolymph (ie the spider's blood) just keeps seeping out. But damaging a leg is a different thing as they have kind of valves in the leg joints, effectively shutting them off from the body.

A young, still growing, spider will as they moult actually grow back any missing legs, though a full leg might take several moults to reach full size.

Judging by the shape of the abdomen on this one, it is more likely a female - which have the front pair of legs looking like the other two pairs.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/47671407062/

Excerpt from historicplaces.ca:

Description of Historic Place

35-43 Duke Street, is known as Sandyford Place, and is situated at the corner of Duke and McNab Streets, in the City of Hamilton. The four, three-storey limestone townhouses are each three-bays wide. The property was designed in the Renaissance Revival style and constructed between 1856-58.

The exterior of the property and scenic and aesthetic character of the building are protected by an Ontario Heritage Trust conservation easement (1979). The building was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1975. The property is also designated by the City of Hamilton under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (By-law 75-237).

Heritage Value

Located at the corner of Duke Street and McNab Street in downtown Hamilton, Sandyford Place benefits from its context in one of the city's oldest areas. Situated within blocks of notable historic buildings in Hamilton such as Whitehern, Church of the Ascension, St. Paul's Presbyterian Church and the Bank of Montreal building, Sandyford Place evokes the scale and aesthetic qualities of pre-confederation Hamilton. Now located in a mixed area of high-rise apartments, office buildings and detached Victorian houses, Sandyford Place maintains a strong presence on Duke Street surrounded by mature trees, a small rear garden and parking area.

Sandyford Place is associated with Peter Hunter, an early resident of Hamilton, the city's early economic development, Scottish stonemasons and noted local builder Donald Nicholson. The property was originally part of a farm owned, since 1824, by Peter Hunter Hamilton, the younger half-brother of City founder George Hamilton. Peter Hunter Hamilton first surveyed the property for development in the 1840s, but did not develop it until the 1850s, when the quickly expanding city encroached upon his land. In the 1850s, the City of Hamilton experienced great economic prosperity, with the population rising from 6,800 to 27,500 between 1846 and 1858.

Sandyford Place's style and building material reflect the many Scottish stonemasons working in Hamilton at that time. At one time the area around Sandyford Place had many other examples of terraced houses constructed in a similar style, including Burlington Terrace, built in 1856. Local builder and architect Donald Nicholson built Sandyford Place to cater to the growing mercantile class of the city. However, as the economy of the city failed in the 1860s, Sandyford Place had difficulty attracting wealthy tenants. It wasn't until the 1870s that economic recovery brought a lawyer, manufacturer, wholesale grocer and merchant to live at Sandyford Place. The houses remained as single units until 1908, when 39 Duke Street was divided vertically into three apartments. The other houses were divided into apartments in 1924, 1931 and 1934 respectively. They remained rental apartments until they were developed into 12 condominiums shortly after 1979.

Sandyford Place is an example of the Renaissance Revival style used in the form of urban terraced houses. The architectural style, quality of the masonry, attention to detail and proportioning, make this building unique. The three-storey limestone building is based on the Palazzo Renaissance form, set on a high basement with slightly projecting side wings, each comprising one row-house set on a foundation of rough-faced ashlar. The building has tall chimneys, a shallow roof and two bay-window roof dormers. The main façade is characterized by limestone ashlar, rusticated quoins, pick-faced stone dressing, a bracketed cornice and square and segmental pedimented double-hung six over six windows. Consoles surround each window and sidelights and transoms surround each of the four front doors, access to which is gained through separate stone stairways. The facade is ashlar giving the building a Georgian appearance, however, details and decorations are influenced by Italian Renaissance Revival architecture. One specific Italian Renaissance element is the Piano Nobile proportions, which distinguishes the main floor by large, high windows elevated off the ground by a raised foundation. At the rear of unit 43 there is a Queen Anne style two-storey bay window of red brick, capped with a third-floor dormer with a Palladian window, added in c. 1900. This addition contrasts the rest of the building, making the rear elevation more stylistically eclectic. The conversion into condominiums added balconies, along the length of the rear elevation, and an enclosed stairwell was added at the rear linking the balconies.

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements that contribute to the heritage value of the Sandyford Place include its:

- Renaissance Revival architectural style features

- Piano Nobile proportions

- pavilion plan

- tall chimneys

- shallow-pitched roof

- attic-storey dormers

- raised basement

- stone stairs leading to the front entrances

- projecting end wings

- rusticated quoins

- pick-faced stone dressing

- bracketed cornice

- square and segmental pedimented windows

- double-hung six over six sash windows

- consoles over the façade windows

- Queen Anne style two-storey bay-window at the rear

- ashlar façade

- location in one of Hamilton's oldest neighbourhoods

- location within blocks of notable historic buildings such as Whitehearn, Church of the Ascension, St. Paul's Presbyterian Church and the Bank of Montreal building

- proximity to mature trees and a small garden

One of the primary difficulties faced in the USSR's espionage efforts was the issue of extraction. Realistically, covert operations consisted far less of silent executions and far more about successfully retrieving and extracting valuable information. Losing covert agents to capture slowed these efforts, and ensuring a compromised agent was still able to extract with their information was deemed important to Soviet research.

R&D in this area ranged from new techniques in dead-drops and disguises, advanced insertion and extraction strategies, and new covert tactics, as well as a veritable gambit of gadgets and weapons. In the weapon field, particular effort was put into concealable, compact weaponry to aid in agent survival. These weapons were not designed as much to be covert in usage, as to be covert in storage until such a time as they were needed. One of these, the Chertenok project, sought to provide a PDW weapon which could meet the minimum combat needs of an agent on the run, yet could be broken into smaller parts and stored. It could be broken down into the stock, the receiver, and the barrel. The magazine served as the majority of the grip, and the use of an optic was optional, allowing the break down PDW to be easily stored. The Chertenok was also designed with the latest in Soviet recoil mitigation technologies to provide a solid combat platform, while being chambered in reverse engineered 5.7 armor piercing round. The project did not reach fruition until 1990, one year before the Union's collapse, and ultimately was never put into use, as far as any official records show.

In the early years, difficulties with maintaining local roads and securing adequate water supply for the town lent weight to Winton's application to become a local authority with power to levy rates and charges for services.

The Shire of Winton was proclaimed a local authority in September 1886. On the 12th of January 1887 the first meeting of members from the three divisions of the Winton Divisional Board was held, and J B Riley was appointed Chairman.

When the passing of the new "Local Government Act of 1902" created Shire Councils, the Winton Divisional Board became Winton Shire Council. Members met for the first time under the new name on the 8th of April 1903.

At the height of the Depression, government relief measures were instituted in the form of day labour and local councils began to take a major role in supervising relief work. Relief schemes which usually took the form of building roads and bridges continued for many years and were responsible for maintaining employment and promoting economic activity in many shires.

The concept of a permanent day labour force to undertake council responsibilities became entrenched and accounted for a sizeable proportion of the population of remote area towns. These developments also contributed to the towns' long term economic survival as construction and service centres.

The first Shire Hall and Council Chambers were completed in 1914. The hall was the centre of social activity and public functions until 1956 when it was partially destroyed by fire.

The current offices were constructed in 1959, with an extension completed in 1987, incorporating chambers and additional office facilities. The Supper Room was completed in 1960 and the present Shire Hall opened on the 22nd of October 1964. The hall foyer houses the Roll of Honour of the 1914 - 18 and 1939 - 45 wars. The Cenotaph opposite the hall contains three pieces of Rockhampton granite and weighs over 12 tonnes.

Winton, Queensland:

Winton, in Central West Queensland, is 750km west of Rockhampton on the Landsborough Highway between Longreach and Cloncurry.

The Winton district was traversed by three exploration parties to search for members of the Burke and Wills expedition during 1861: Frederick Walker, in the Aramac district and the headwaters of the Thomson River; John McKinlay, along the Diamantina watercourse, west of Winton; and William Landsborough, along the Flinders and Barcoo watercourses, also west of Winton. Their reports led to pastoral occupation during the mid and late 1860s. By the mid-1870s, pastoral stations occupied most of the district, necessitating a postal delivery system for regular communication.

A former police sergeant from Aramac, Robert Allen, opened a hotel/store in 1876 at ‘Pelican Waterhole’, a convenient transit point for mail deliveries. He renamed the place Winton, probably after a village 3km north of Bournemouth, England. Another hotel, the North Gregory (the name of the pastoral district) was opened in 1878. The Winton town reserve was gazetted in 1879. With a population of about 150 and numerous pastoral employees in the district, Winton established a hospital in 1882. Three years later a primary school was opened, and a newspaper, the Winton Herald, began publication in 1886. The Winton local-government division was proclaimed in 1886.

During the mid-1890s Winton's outback remoteness lessened. The railway out of Townsville reached Hughenden in 1887, and the line out of Rockhampton reached Longreach in 1892. Cobb and Co coaches ran services further west. In 1895 Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Paterson was a popular poet. He visited the outback Dagworth Station, 100km northwest of Winton where he heard Christina Macphearson play the tune 'Craiglea'. Impressed with its rhythm, Paterson wrote words to accompany it, basing the verses on a story told locally about the misadventures of a swagman. Thus was 'Waltzing Matilda' written and performed at country gatherings before its first public performance at the North Gregory Hotel on the 6th of April 1895.

With a population approaching 1000 at the end of the 1890s, Anglican and Catholic churches were opened and the railway extended from Hughenden (1899). Reticulated bore water was laid on in 1902.

Winton's economy was dependent on pastoral prosperity, which went in step with drought periods and good seasons. Some droughts were severe, in 1902 and later in the 1930s. During better times improvements were made: a Catholic school (1911), the town's first moving picture show (1913) and an attractive shire hall (1914, but damaged by fire and replaced by a utilitarian structure in the 1960s). Remoteness was still significant when youthful aviators and local promoters registered Qantas in Winton and held their first company meeting in the Winton Club in 1921. Qantas later moved to Longreach, to which Winton was connected by another railway extension in 1928.

Pastoral traffic then had a choice of either Townsville or Rockhampton for port facilities. Whilst the 1930s were hard times for both seasons and wool sales, war time, and postwar sales brought unprecedented prosperity.

Fire had destroyed two North Gregory Hotels, and the third burnt down in 1946. Although there were three other hotels, the town's people wanted the "first class" hotel replaced. The shire council got special powers to build and run a fourth new Gregory, and the 1950s wool cheques supplied the loan funds for a modern all brick and masonry building (1955). Wool cheques also funded a swimming pool (1956) and town sewerage, and the 1950s ushered in a CWA students hostel, a bowling green, an RSL hall and three new motor garages. Winton's "golden age" lasted until the mid-1960s, when there was drought and a fall in wool prices. A tourist promotion association was formed in 1966, and the Qantilda Folk Museum was opened in 1972, just as wool needed rescuing by the reserve price scheme.

Winton has a showground, racecourse, golf, bowls club, and swimming facilities, two churches, a hospital, a combined primary-high school, a Catholic primary school and an aerodrome. Its tourist attractions include the Waltzing Matilda (severely damaged by fire in June 2015) and Qantilda museums, an open air picture theatre, the Matilda country races and a mineral collection in the former Corfield and Fitzmaurice Emporium (1916); a heritage-listed building. The Elderslie homestead (1882), 60km west of Winton, is on the Queensland Heritage Register.

Source: Winton District Historical Society & Museum, Winton Shire Council, & Queensland Places (queenslandplaces.com.au/winton).

Ukrainians!

Strong people of the indomitable country!

Another day of our defense has passed. Another day of many that are gradually, with difficulties, but steadily bringing us closer to peace. To peace that no one will give us a gift. We need to understand it clearly. Because there are no subjects in the world that can stop wars and give peace.

The global security architecture has failed. Peace for us will not be the result of any decisions of the enemy somewhere in Moscow as well. We should not cherish empty hopes that they will simply leave our land. We can only gain peace. We can gain it in hard battles and in parallel - in negotiations, and in parallel - in daily vigorous work.

Therefore, each of us must continue to do everything we can. In all directions. To support our Armed Forces. To preserve and develop economic activity in Ukraine - as much as possible now.

To support all our citizens... Wherever they are, whoever they are.

In peacetime warm words sustained the vital forces. And in wartime it is even more important. When we may not even know what a person is going through. What a loss. What help a person needs. But we can see that a person needs help. We need to support this person. We should at least hear this person. Say a few kind words. Something needs to be done to support the life of this person. This must be done. You should be attentive to everyone around you!

When people defend themselves in a war of annihilation, when there is a question of the lives or deaths of millions, there are no unimportant things. There are no unimportant moments. Everything matters. And everyone can contribute to the victory of all. Someone with a weapon in their hands. Someone - at work. And someone - with a warm word and help at the right time.

So do everything you can for us to withstand together in this war for our freedom, for our independence. For Ukraine to live.

Due to such sincere and constant support of each other, due to unity and attention to the neighbor, the people can overcome the most difficult challenges. And drive out the enemy, which is many times bigger in numbers.

Our defenders continue to regain control over communities in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions. There are more and more Ukrainian national flags in the areas that have been temporarily occupied.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine do not release the invaders without a fight. Inflict fire damage. They are destroying everyone we can reach.

We are strengthening our defenses in the eastern direction and in Donbas. We are aware that the enemy has reserves to increase pressure in the east.

What is the goal of Russian troops? They want to capture both Donbas and the south of Ukraine. What is our goal? Protect us, our freedom, our land and our people.

Do everything for protection.

Our heroic Mariupol continues to hold back a significant part of the enemy forces. Thanks to this resistance, thanks to the courage and resilience of our other cities, Ukraine has gained invaluable time. The time that allows us to undermine the enemy's tactics and weaken their capabilities.

Unfortunately, Ukraine has not yet received enough modern Western anti-missile systems. Has not received aircraft. Hasn’t received what the partners could provide. Could - and still can!

Every Russian missile that hit our cities and every bomb dropped on our people, on our children only adds black paint to the history that will describe everyone on whom the decision depended. Decision whether to help Ukraine with modern weapons.

I would like to thank the residents of our Enerhodar separately. Those brave Ukrainians who went to a rally today to defend their city. To protect our state.

In response, the occupiers opened fire and used grenades against completely peaceful people, which are on their land, within their law. There will be an answer for each wounded person. And the Ukrainian character cannot be conquered by any pressure or violence.

I am grateful to everyone who takes to the streets in the temporarily occupied cities. To all who are not afraid and go out. I am grateful to all who are afraid and come out. To all those who feel that without this decision to defend Ukraine and their freedom, the occupiers can gain a foothold.

And when people protest - and the more people protest - the harder it is for the occupiers to destroy us, to destroy our freedom. This is our common struggle! And it will be our common victory.

I would also like to say a few words to those politicians, some deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine who absolutely do not understand what is happening in the hearts of our people. They don't understand it so much that they even decided to change the national anthem. I have a question for these people: what have you done in your life to give you the moral right to change the words of the anthem? Are you outstanding poets? Maybe you excelled in the battles for Ukraine? Or now is such a time that you can change the anthem whenever you want?

Cool down emotions. Stop pretending to be fools. I believe that the authors of these and other similar bills, proposals, should take up arms and go to the battlefield, if you have these opportunities. Only there will you understand something.

And even if they accidentally vote for something like this, I still will not sign such bills. Don't waste time.

I want to turn to another person who does not seem to fully understand what is happening. Not only in Ukraine, but throughout Europe. To the Prime Minister of Hungary. He is virtually the only one in Europe to openly support Mr. Putin.

We did not ask for anything special from official Budapest. We didn't even get what everyone else is doing! Doing for the sake of peace. We did not receive the vital transit of defense aid, we did not see moral leadership.

We saw no effort to stop the war! Why so?

The whole of Europe wants peace. The whole of Europe does not want the battlefield to be moved from Mariupol to Budapest or from Kharkiv to Krakow or from Chernihiv to Vilnius.

The whole of Europe is trying to stop the war, to restore peace. Then why is official Budapest opposed to the whole of Europe, to all civilized countries? For what?

The main thing for us is the opinion of the people. The Ukrainian people support the Hungarian people. The Hungarian people support the Ukrainian people. We value peace equally, we value freedom equally. It will always be so. We will always live in good neighborliness. And I am convinced that our minorities should be the bridges that unite us even more.

Politicians come and go. And the truth remains. That's what I'm talking about - the truth. And I always say what I think. When I am speaking of Hungary, I mean Hungary. And I don't need to mask my thoughts. If we need to speak of Germany, we are speaking of Germany. If I need to speak of another country, I'm speaking of another country.

If it's a war, then I call it a war, not a "special operation." If this is a threat to the whole of Europe, then I call it a threat to the whole of Europe.

This is called the honesty that Mr. Orban lacks. He may have lost it somewhere in his contacts with Moscow.

I spoke today with the President of Colombia. I am very grateful to him for his support and solidarity with Ukraine. The list of countries that honestly say that freedom matters and the war must stop is expanding.

I also spoke with British Prime Minister Johnson. A meaningful, pleasant conversation. We agreed on new defensive support for Ukraine. New package. Very, very tangible support. We also agree on the strengthening of sanctions against Russia. Extremely tangible. Agreed on joint steps to achieve peace. Thank you Boris for the leadership! Historical leadership. I'm sure of it.

In the afternoon I held a large meeting with the economic bloc of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Office of the President. The economic frontline is another direction of our struggle for our state, for our people.

We discussed in great detail the situation with sowing, with the supply of food to Ukrainians, with the supply of fuel, the situation in the energy sector, the situation with the main sectors of the state.

The Minister of Finance reported on the state of implementation of the state budget, details of negotiations with partners on financial support for Ukraine.

In wartime, economic relations must remain one hundred percent managed, no matter how difficult it may be for all of us. Because it's about perspective. About the perspective of life for more than 40 million Ukrainians, about what our tomorrow will be like. The participants of the meeting received clear tasks.

And finally. Already traditional.

I signed a decree on state awards to our heroes - the heroes of our state. 131 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, nine of them - posthumously.

Eternal glory to them all!

Eternal glory to all who gave their lives for Ukraine!

Eternal glory to all our defenders!

Glory to Ukraine!

Le Louvre , Paris.

The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.

Jim Rohn

Thank you all so much for the very generous comments on my last post...I really appreciated your words ...

I don't usually post pics of myself but it's Christmas Eve tomorrow and I'm done working till New Year! Seems like the perfect excuse to wear a celebratory stuffed turkey on my head. (Not that I even needed an excuse really.) Bummer is, I fell last night and it seems I have a hairline fracture in my right elbow and can hardly move it so sadly I won't be able to take photos nor post any, nor will I be able to comment or reply to comments, so this is your "we are experiencing technical difficulties" picture while I'm somewhat out of commission :-( But I wish all of you the most wonderful Christmas - or however you might choose to call the holidays - and thank you dearly for another year of your amazing inspiration and generous support.

Hugs, Tinsel and Quality Street, Katrina x

(Oh how strange, I see this photo is somehow from the future - it has a date of Jan. 15, 2018! Who knew photos could come from the future? Not sure how that happened when it was actually taken at our company Christmas Party last weekend. Parallel universe?)

THE DIFFICULTY OF SHARING THE SAME TOOTHBRUSH / FINAL / CHRISTELLE GEISER & AEON VON ZARK / NAKED EYE PROJECT BIENNE / ALTERED STATE SERIE / THE WEIRD DREAM .

I am truly delighted to be a transvestite despite some of the difficulties and angst that inevitably come with being a man that enjoys spending time as a woman. I do think it an amazing experience to enjoy time as the opposite gender, it holds great appeal for me and I always enjoy myself.

I do love the commitment and physical preparation one has to engage with to try and look female and I really enjoy getting into the persona and acting the part. It is illusionary, a form of impersonation and performance yet part of me feels so right presenting as a woman. I often joke that despite being a boy I was born to wear a dress; there is I feel a girl within me I like to set free now and again.

I increasingly I find my ambitions as a transvestite growing within me though I rarely get an opportunity to try and fulfil them. Such is the reality of life and ensuring I remain grounded and maintain my commitment to my wife, family and work and not get too carried away with my passionate desire to spend time as a woman.

This is a self portrait I took a few years ago during one of my cross-dressing sessions and seeing it again today has rather filled with me with joy and comfort and a fair degree of excitement simply recalling how thrilled I was to dress up and pose in female clothing and make-up. I do genuinely love to call myself a transvestite as it is such a taboo in our society yet as a man it is a true thrill and adventure to go through with it. I also want to do it on a deeper level a well as I would have liked to have been a girl though I now realise not strongly enough to go for a full transition. I enjoy the whole illusion as well as the emotional need. I am aware many who cross-dress despise the word but it is a word that saved me as a teenager and gave me hope and a sense of not being alone. I embraced it and knowing I am one fills me with happiness.

I do feel it is the rarity of my cross-dressing that provides such a big rewarding experience when I do go through with it. I thrive on the anticipation and the euphoria afterwards can last for months. This rare high is one that is well worth waiting for. It is great to walk around with shaved legs, skirt, have breasts and be wearing make-up and a wig, even the dressing up side is appealing. It is a cocktail of various elements that makes transvestism such a delightful and truly exhilarating experience. I love it!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoyoymtWXyg

In the early 1800's, many thoughtful Americans believed that isolation and the difficulties of communication would force the Mississippi Valley settlements to form a separate nation. Hoping to hold the frontier, Congress, in 1800, established a post route from Nashville (TN) to Natchez (MS). The Trace, then a series of Indian Trails, had drawn from the Secretary of State the bitter comment, "The passage of mail from Natchez is as tedious as from Europe when westerly winds prevail." To speed the mail, President Jefferson ordered the army to clear out the trail and make it a road. Postriders, carrying letters, dispatches, and newspaper helped bind the vast turbulent frontier to the republic. However, their day passed by the mid-1830's when steamboats, running from New Orleans to Pittsburg, robbed the Trace of its usefulness as a main post route.

The markers shown above read:

This early interstate road building venture produced a snake-infested, mosquito-beset, robber-haunted, Indian-traveled forest path. Lamented by the pious, cussed by the impious, it tried everyone’s strength and patience.

When the trail became so water logged that wagons could not be pulled through, travelers cut new paths through the nearby woods.

Here you see three cuts made to avoid mud into which oxcarts and wagons sank, making progress slow, dangerous, or even impossible.

Take 5 minutes to walk this sunken trail and let your imagination carry you back to the early 1800's when people walking 500 miles had to put up with these discomforts and where a broken leg or arm could spell death for the lone traveler.

Both of the markers above were placed by the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service

Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6 including the combination of all 3 photos into one image seen above.

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/

Location: Coruscant Underworld, Night Life District

Objective: Delivery of supplies.

Difficulty: Well, it should have been easy.

—LOG ENTRY—

After dodging Admiral Jud’s hunters, I escaped the cold atmosphere of Orto Plutonia and headed to meet my old friend Jahk Duran. I guess after our split he found a group called The Survivors to take refuge with. He told me of their fearless leader Zach, as well as their missions on Tatooine and Zeffo. More recently though has been the outbreak of riots all throughout Coruscant. Since they’ve started to die down he’s been tasked with bringing in supplies and rebuilding the city. I’ve gotta say being away from the action has gotten to me; I miss it, but I’m glad to get back to it.

Entering the Coruscant sky gave me a real idea of what we were up against. Scattered spots of destruction and fire as far as I could see. Im not sure what the riots didn’t touch. I was given coordinates to Coruscant’s Fine Arts District, which is located next to the Night Life district. Cant land there because to my understanding the place is crawling with Imps which makes it a real hot zone. Soon after touching ground in the arts district I met up with Jehk, I felt overwhelmed after not seeing him for so long. We talked shortly on whats been keeping us busy and the such, but with short time we had to get situated with The Survivors and make it over to the Night Life District to start moving supplies.

—END LOG—

“Cray get a move on brother we got quite the walk ahead of us, we have to meet up with group leader.”

“Whats exactly our plan here Jehk?”

“We need to rebuild this city in the end and get rid of the remaining Imperial scum that crawls the underworld. There shouldnt be too many Imps left but watch yourself. Plus you were telling me about that Admiral Jud and his plot to defeat you. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of his men. Just stay on your toes, watch for anything out of the ordinary, and stick with the group... if you do that you’ll be fine.”

The two men made there way into a large hub, there meeting Jehk’s group leader Clern Ido. (Pronounced: Slern I-Dough)

“I take it you’re the Cray I’ve been hearing rumors about?”

“Yes sir, that would be me, at your command!”

“Well rest easy, we are pretty easy going around here, but when its time to get the jobs done we do it! And thats what will happen concerning these supplies.”

Clern turns to address the group.

“Hey!! We will be moving in small groups. Taking a few crates each to 6 locations. My group will be Jehk and our new blood Cray Schaf, need to see what this mans made of. As for the rest of you keep your same groups as we had for controlling the riots. Watch your back for Imperial Scouts or just some lowlife thugs looking to ruin your day. You have valuable items here. A lot of people want this stuff but we have a job to do... so lets get to it. Each of your crates should already have the destinations locked in, all you gotta do is escort it.”

The group scurries to get their cargo and move out. In the midst of the chaos Cray finds himself looking up into the vast city planet of Coruscant. There spotting an old Imperial astro mech droid moving across a walkway... Cray lets Jehk know but he assures him there aren’t any Imps in the immediate area.

Cray moves over to the crates and checks the destinations. Theres a nightclub by the name “Clúb Ice” located in the heart of the Nightlife District.

“Lucky us”

He turns on the hover mode and punches the destination into the AGS. Now? Well all they gotta do now is make sure the supplies get there. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem, right?

“Its awfully quite around here” Jehks uneasy voice is sure a cause for concern. For having riots not to long ago the roads are extremely calm. Only the occasional bit of rubble or dumpster fire. Moving deeper into the heart of the district the men started spotting people on binoculars looking down at their convoy, talking through communication holograms or to each other about the goods the men were traveling with.

After a cautious stroll they make it to the club, typing in the codes to drop the crates and then getting an update through high command that the people picking up the supplies were running a tad late and now they are going to have to sit with the supplies until they arrived.

“Well thats just great!” Exclaims Clern. Clearly not his first time dealing with this type of situation. The men take watch. Each glaring a different direction... it’s almost nothing for 20 minutes. The men are starting to become uneasy.

“Can anyone hear that” Clern asks. The sound of metal clanking sends shivers down the spines of both Cray and Jehk.

“Well whatever it is its getting closer, who’s picking up these supplies anyways??” Cray questions as he holds his gun in the direction of the metal clanking.

“Ha, you act like we are supposed to know, they just gave us this mission, with the location. They don’t tell us anything else.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me” Cray is in disbelief, but theirs no time to sit and ponder, whatever is making noise is right around the corner. He gets ready.

What rounds the corner stuns all the men.

“An Imp Medical droid? I haven’t seen one of those in ages!” Cray sets his weapon down. He asks the droid what its doing here.

“Just going for a walk”

And no later as it says that a scout trooper and Imperial Bounty hunter make their way out of the Nightclub’s balcony accompanied by the astro mech droid Cray saw earlier. He takes out his staff and makes quick work of the medical droid while Clern and Jehk take care of the enemies on the roof. With one of Jehks shots sending the astromech’s head flying.

With the supplies still secured the men end up waiting another 2 hours before anyone arrives. It was a quick and quiet transaction. Tired from the day and ready to head back the men make their way to get some rest because this is just one of 5 supply running missions. And they can be sure to see many more foes along the way.