View allAll Photos Tagged effort

SHIPtember effort.

Destroyer Class.

 

All credit to brixnspace for the edit and effects.

12 x 9 , mixed media painting on paper. December 2013

www.etsy.com/ca/shop/ScotBergey

Thanks everyone for your little notes! Y'all got Explored... #55.

 

At the Bain Water Treatment Plant, Raleigh.

On Wednesday 8/1/2025, a late 2DA2 (Aurizon) intermodal) is seen approaching Hayman road, Two Wells (SA) with ALF19 hauling a failed gwa010 and consist.

Last cluster of buds on my geranium for this year. The cool nights are nipping at their heels, if flowers have heels. :-)

Bygone days, I distance myself from my dear ones..

I just want to know who all stands with me unconditionally!

 

That's why I said.. I'm not ignoring you _I 'm just waiting to see if you'll make n effort!!

because, my love is unconditional,my trust and respect are not.

 

like someone said, 'if its meant for you, whatever happens your vibe attracts your tribe!!

 

if it's in your mind_ still in your heart and my heart tooo want what it wants!

 

don't compare me with others.. m not like them

I'm ME.. hey he!!!

 

I want to walk through your heart n wanna breath your wild air..

m looking for every good vibes from you because,

I want real yOu

no games, no lies

I like ur differences that makes u more beautiful...!!

 

Like before,you can come to me at any moment....as your last stand_Nature love!!!

Took this photo at Mallard Point, Fish Creek Park, on 22 September 2015, during a three hour birding walk. When we reached the bridge over the river, we saw this group of American White Pelicans feeding. I had never seen them feeding in this way, but apparently they perform a synchronized effort to find fish. In this photo, tails and wings are all up and the heads are in the water. A few seconds later, every bird was upright and mostly turned in the same direction. Fascinating to watch. Unfortunately, they were very distant, so this is a fully zoomed and cropped image.

View on black

 

Scan from film

Kodak TriX 400

Nikon F75

Nikkor 80/200mm f2.8

Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400

Thanks to the conservation efforts of the owner, Brian Kubicki, the C.R.A.R.C. Guayacán reserve is a fantastic place to see lemur leaf frogs thriving in the wild.

 

Location: Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center, Guayacán Rainforest Reserve, Limón Province, Costa Rica

After years of decline some effort has been made to improve Hartlepool station, with new waiting rooms and a station cafe as well as a tidy up of the remaining original features.

 

Whilst the far platform remains out of use, it has at least been brightened up with some fine 1930's style posters advertising local landmarks.

 

43316 + 43272 edge slowly around the tight curve with a diverted 1Y24 Newcastle to Kings Cross service on Sunday 14th January 2018.

 

© Stephen Veitch - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without permission.

In an effort to eat healthily I have a fruit and muesli breakfast each morning. And I don’t eat between around 8pm in the evening and 10am the following morning. Apparently the body needs a rest from digesting food.

 

My bowl contains:

 

Summer berries

Kiwi fruit

Apple

Blueberries

Grapes

60g of fruit yoghurt (blueberry/cherry/strawberry usually; one though, not all!)

25g of high quality muesli (with no added sugar)

half a small banana

 

All mixed up together and it keeps me going until around 1.30/2pm when I have soup for lunch. (Home made, not tinned or packet).

The photography is an art. The photographer is an artist.

--Danno--

 

.... and the artist was trying to reach the highest point at the Coyote Buttes ("The Wave") in Utah. That equipment bag I believe was not under 25-lb in weight, including the tripod + food + drink + 3 mile hike into "The Wave" with constant slanting slopes & sandy hills & uneven surfaces!! The walk itself was not that bad, it was the heavy equipment carrying on the back that made the trip very difficult sometimes. Not to mention the difficult & tricky part when obtaining permit to get in. There are only 20 people allowed to enter "The Wave" each day. Afterall, it was worth the effort.

 

On tripod

Speed: 0.002 sec (1/500)

Aperture: f/7.1

Focal Length: 7.7 mm

Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV

[In Memory of my love: Canon SD550] :((

I put a lot of effort into getting this shot, but maybe I should have put in more. While I like how it came out, I probably should have retaken it without the lens hood and worked a little more on the shadows. Next time :-)

 

This is a Pacific Thorny Oyster shell, which we bought many years ago. For the 2020 Weekly Alphabet Challenge and my POTD.

Well-known for their highly publicized efforts to reduce coal smoke emissions in downtown Durango, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad decided to "go green" in a different way back in 2010 with one of their locomotives and a string of coaches. For their 2010 "Railfest" event, one RPO car (a concession car in disguise) and three coaches were painted "Pullman Green" to resemble a classic Denver & Rio Grande Western passenger consist. Even their lone operable K-28 #473 had her boiler jacket painted green. That unique trainset is seen here, rumbling across the Animas Timber Bridge (MP 495.25) south of Silverton under a threatening sky. All four of the cars pictured are expected to remain green for several more months. These cars were used for the 2010 Fall Photo Specials, as well as a couple of private charters that were planned later in the year and in early 2011.

I originally scanned and posted this six years ago, but being one of my earlier efforts the image quality was not so good. Hence, this latest updated scan posted here.

 

Railroad Tracks, Crawford Notch, located in New Hampshire's White Mountains. I actually took this picture back in 1985 and since then the tracks have been retrofitted to allow for scenic train rides. However, I believe the abandoned dwelling on the right is long gone.

 

Pentax 67, 105mm lens

Kodak Verichrome Pan film, likely developed in D76 or HC110.

Negative scanned with Canon 8800F using VueScan software.

Image edited with PSE and NIK Silver Efex Pro.

June 6, 2012, Kurescek, Slovenija

 

Collaborative effort with my boyfriend, Jan Gorjanc :)

 

It was cloudy that day. Our window of opportunity to see this majestic event was between 5.30 and 6.45am. There was barely enough room between the horizon and the clouds for us to observe! What made it even more special, was the fact that the clouds made it possible to see Venus with your naked eyes!

A rare monochrome effort. The sky had loads of contrast but not so much colour and it just seemed to make more sense to try and compose something in mono.

 

Looks better on black or viewed through fluidr (the link is below)

 

Loads more like this here:- www.fluidr.com/photos/been_snapping

Harsh metallic lines, the noises of pulleys of our modern, industrial world. Our automated upstairs tracks are

Supposed to save us efforts.

But without really trying - and effortless

Do we really gain something?

Does this track really elevate me?

Its only an illusion, like many other

illusions of modern life.

Going up in life is only worthwhile

if we put in them our sweat.

For many years, the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, at an elevation of 360 feet, was reputed to be the tallest building south of Baltimore.

 

It was the County's first high-rise and is in the National Register of Historic Places. Efforts to refurbish this magnificent structure and restore it to its original grandeur have been underway since 1981 by Architect James W. Piersol, AIA of M.C Harry Associates Architects of Miami.

 

The restoration and renovations initially stabilized the terra cotta facade and installed new life safety systems. In 1982, the idea of restoring the lobby to its original distinction was the passion of both Architect James Piersol and engineer Don Youatt, of the Miami-Dade Planning and Development Department. With a little less than half of the funding necessary for the lobby restoration project in hand ($300,000 grant approved by the Legislature in 1996), the Dade County Bar Association acted as the fund-raising umbrella and initiate a drive to raise the remainder needed from lawyers and the general public. A few years later, the same team restored Courtroom 6-1, which had been the site of many infamous trials over the years.

 

Today, the Miami-Dade County Courthouse provides offices, chambers, and courtrooms for the clerks and judiciary assigned to both the Circuit and County Civil Court and the Family Court.

 

When county government was established following the Civil War, public records were so sparse they could be carried in a carpetbag and most probably were. Therefore, the "courthouse" was wherever the county's chief office holder decided to do business.

 

In 1890, Dade County's first courthouse stood in the town of Juno, Florida some ten miles north of West Palm Beach. At that time, Dade County covered more territory than it does today, stretching from Bahia Honda Key, in the middle Keys, up to the St. Lucie River, near present-day Port St. Lucie.

Juno was chosen as the "county seat" because of its strategic location at the southern terminus of the Jupiter-Juno railroad. Juno also held the northern terminus of the boat and connecting the stagecoach line to Miami. The courthouse remained in Juno (now no longer in existence) until 1899 when it was moved to Miami down the inland waterway on a barge and was placed on the banks of the Miami River, east of the old Miami Avenue bridge.

 

The building was two-story wooden frame construction, housing offices and jail cells on the ground floor and a courtroom on the second floor. It has a Neoclassical design, in 1904 this building was replaced by a new courthouse building situated on Flagler Street (then known as Twelfth Street). It was a magnificent building constructed of limestone, having an elegant red-domed top, at the cost of $47,000. It was anticipated that this courthouse would serve the city for at least fifty years; however, no one was prepared for the rapid growth Miami experienced during this period, and by 1924, only twenty years later, there was serious talk of the need for a larger courthouse.

 

In the early 1920s, architect A. Ten Eyck Brown entered a design competition for Atlanta City Hall, which was rejected. He then made the plans available to Dade County, and City and County officials readily approved them. It was decided by the officials to build the new courthouse at the same location as the existing one on Flagler Street. Construction began in 1925, with workers erecting the new building around the existing structure, which was then dismantled. Community leaders and citizens alike voiced excitement over the new 28 stories "skyscraper" that would soon dominate the skyline.

Unexpectedly, construction was halted when the building reached ten stories. It was discovered that the "high-rise" was sinking into the spongy ground. Engineers consulted with an architect from Mexico City, who had encountered a similar problem while building the city's opera house. The consultant determined that the foundation pilings were not set deep enough. To correct the problem, cement supports were poured, which take up much of the space in the building's basement file room even to this day.

 

The courthouse was finally completed in 1928 at the cost of $4 million (USD 2013 $54.5 million). Initially, it served as both the Dade County Courthouse and the Miami City Hall. Jail cells occupied the top nine floors because these heights offered "maximum security" and were considered escape-proof. In 1934, a prisoner housed on the twenty-first floor picked the lock of his jail cell window and used a fire hose to lower himself to freedom. In the years following, more than 70 prisoners escaped from this so-called "secure" prison.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami-Dade_County_Courthouse

www.emporis.com/buildings/122294/miami-dade-county-courth...

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

  

light painting effort. the better ones will be uploaded soon :). this one is to check the response

Although I admire the effort that goes into creating compositions for still life photos, I don't normally go in for them myself.

 

This 'still life' was taken during a boring afternoon at a friend's house in Glasgow. Not much in the way of a carefully crafted composition - in fact it is a rather messy bedside table - but the light is quite nice.

© all rights reserved by B℮n

 

It will be k-k-cold this weekend. The temperature can drop to -8 degrees and that means of course only one thing: skating! After a few nights of good frost we could skate on March 3, 2018 at the Loosdrechtse Plassen. Every effort was made to ensure that we could skate. Plassenschap Loosdrecht has issued a sailing ban for the Loosdrechtse Plassen. After an extra night of frost, the ice is perfect. Beautiful black smooth ice without weak spots. Finally perfect ice to tie up the irons for skating enthusiasts. There can be wonderful kilometers of skating between the peat area and vast frozen lakes. You experience nature in places where you normally can not come. The northwestern part of the Loenderveense Plas is also referred to as Terra Nova. In this part of the Loenderveense Plas, experiments have been carried out in recent years to improve water quality by removing the bream fish. This fish accumulates the sludge layer that is formed at the bottom of the ponds by over-fertilization. Only a few plants and animals can live in this muddy water. Although already impressive results can be seen from the bream removal - the whole lake has turned from muddy to clear water, which also means that the water is freezing faster than other puddles. The peatland is a paradise for skaters from the west of the Netherlands, because it is usually the first large-scale area where you can skate on natural ice.

 

Today 3th of March 2018 we got the opportunity to go ice skating on real ice instead of going to an ice rink. A good freeze only comes from a win in the climatic lottery. Thus the chance for our Dutch to be wild adventurers on their own land comes only every few years. We glide across solidified, frosted lakes with fish frozen into the ice. The Loosdrechtseplassen in the winter are a real skater’s paradise. Father carring a rope just in case of falling through the ice. Safety first. Daughter loves sledding with dad and brothers on this frozen lake. Dutch people and children enjoying skating in 2018.

 

Het wordt k-k-koud dit weekend. De temperatuur kan dalen tot wel -8 graden en dat betekent natuurlijk maar één ding: schaatsennn! Na een paar nachten goede vorst konden we op 3 maart 2018 schaatsen op de Loosdrechtseplassen. Er werd alles aan gedaan om te zorgen dat we konden schaatsen. Plassenschap Loosdrecht heeft een vaarverbod afgegeven voor de Loosdrechtse Plassen. Na een extra nacht van vorst ligt het ijs er perfect bij. Prachtig zwart glad ijs en nergens wakken. Eindelijk weer heerlijk ijs om voor schaatsliefhebbers de ijzers onder te binden. Er kan heerlijk kilometers geschaats worden tussen het veengebied. Je beleeft de natuur op plekken waar je normaal niet kan komen.

De Loosdrechtseplassen zijn afgegraven veengebieden, gelegen in het Gooi. Het noordwestelijke deel van de Loenderveense Plas wordt ook wel aangeduid als Terra Nova. Terra Nova is een aan de Vecht gelegen landgoed en natuurgebied met veenplassen. In dit deel van de Loenderveense Plas is de afgelopen jaren geëxperimenteerd met het verbeteren van de waterkwaliteit door het wegvangen van brasem. Deze vis woelt de sliblaag op die op de bodem van de plassen is ontstaan door overbemesting. In dit troebele water kunnen slechts weinig planten en dieren leven waardoor de soortenrijkdom van de plassen sterk is teruggelopen. Hoewel nu al aansprekende resultaten te zien zijn van het wegvangen van de brasem – het hele meer is omgeklapt van troebel naar helder water wat ook weer betekend dat het water eerder bevriesd dan andere plassen. Het veengebied is een paradijs voor schaatsers uit het westen van Nederland, omdat het meestal het eerste grootschalige gebied is waar men goed kan schaatsen op natuurijs. Mensen van alle leeftijden op schaatsen, kinderen die een buikschuiver willen maken, mensen die voorzichtig even willen voelen hoe het is om op het ijs te staan. De aantrekkingskracht van het ijs is enorm. Het is genieten op het mooie schaatsijs.

 

Last year I decided that I was going to start reading more and I read 255 books. This year, I wanted to up my game a little bit and do more like a reading marathon and ended up the year reading 365 books, a book for every day. Even though I am a pretty athletic person, I can't run because it hurts my knees. I am not as graceful and elegant as I would need to be for professional dance and sports has never interested me. But reading is the one thing I can do and I like to do at the gym, on planes, in bed, and in the bathtub primarily. So, I made an effort to read for a minimum of 2 1/2 hours per day and sometimes ended up reading for more like 4 hours a day on weekends and when I had other days off from work. I didn't read to show off but to escape the reality of our current country's political situation and to learn more about the lives and perspectives of others unlike me. Reading a mixture of novels, nonfiction essays and immigrant stories, collections of poetry and short stories, I read less than 10% of these books by white people and of those 10%, most were by women. I can say that I really enjoyed the vast majority of the books I've read and don't have any significant regrets for this reading marathon.

 

I should also note that, although some of these books did come out in 2019, many did not. The following are my favorite books of this year that I read this year (regardless of their original publication date). I know I am also probably forgetting some and I feel remiss in that too, but I spent hours writing the following (even longer than that reading these) and I hope some of you get some good recommendations of books you might also like to read or can connect with me on a book you have read. Feel free to share your favorites as well! I am highly interested in having conversations about books and finding out about literature I may have had less exposure to living in America.

   

1. Tell Me Who You Are by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi

 

This book is an astounding work that covers so many different states and personal backgrounds to reflect on race in America. If you like Humans of New York, this is a little like that in the sense that it explores what makes us human but it's a great more complex and thorough than that-maybe a Humans of America. The fact that Guo and Vulchi were able to travel all across the US to gain an understanding of so many people and how their race has affected their lives is a daring and meaningful venture in and of itself but it's also clear that they make a concerted effort to explore the things these people like and enjoy so that there's a fuller sense to some things they have in common with others. In addition, the photographs of these people really add to a sense of them. if you do not fall in love with these humans along with this work as a whole, that is a loss for you. We must change in our country. We must develop more empathy and patience. We must be able to listen to others who we think we share nothing in common with and find the things we do share whilst respecting individual differences. This is the only way we will be able to heal and move forward.

 

This book is a masterpiece and should be celebrated in every household across America.

 

www.chooseorg.org/ournewbook

  

2. Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

 

This book is so relevant to what is happening at the border with the unfair treatment of families from Mexico right now in all of our names but it also manages a personal touch with an extended road trip and the link between the mother/protagonist and her own family and how she handles her own children being separated from her. This is a harrowing read, especially because there is truth in the weight of our names as Americans being tied to the deep sins of mistreating other humans. This is also, however a very poetic read, haunting in its lyrical quality and in the way that Luiselli is able to adeptly convey the range of emotions she feels, desperate and distraught but also so very insightful. You will read these pages wit your heart in your throat, worry that if you are not careful, you may actually end of swallowing it.

 

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/03/lost-children-archi...

  

3. Frontier by Can Xue

 

2019 was the year I discovered Can Xue, the experimental fiction author from China who, at first, everyone thought was male as her pen name isn't especially gender specific. Can Xue is not understood fully by probably most people and I myself had to read several sentences over again a few times, especially this work, the most esoteric of what I've read (three novels and one short story collection this year). The imagery is especially potent here and you don't really know exactly what is happening in the way the human form can transform. You really don't know quite what could be actually happening....and what could be a dream or a hallucination. This would be a book I would read at the end of the world cuddled under a blanket and remembering the most imaginative humans could be then hoping there were some creatives still left out in the tundra of the world.

 

www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-mysterious-fronti...

  

4. Though the Arc of the Rainforest by Karen Tei Yamashita

 

Another new author I discovered was Karen Tei Yamashita and, though I also enjoyed reading a collection of her plays entitled Anime Wong, I even more so enjoyed reading this novel. Yamashita is Japanese American but you get more of that specific perspective from her plays. Set between Japan and Brazil, this novel features a very vivid cast of interesting characters not to mention the protagonist that is the rotating ball in front of the Japanese train conductor's head. This is one of the most unique books I have ever read in my life and it's no surprise that the forward is from one of the most highly intelligent authors in the world, Percival Everett. This novel is a real treat and is a riveting surreal adventure.

 

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/karen-tei-yamashita-2/...

  

5. Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

 

I've spent many years not knowing very much at all about the lives of those who live in North Korea, much as the citizens of North Korea have spent their lives knowing not too much about others outside of their country. This non fiction work follows the lives of North Koreans who escape into China and South Korea and manage to be granted refugee status and follows them up until the early 2000s. It's another book that disarms you in its brutality. Demick records the stories of their lives, how they bought into propaganda, and how they started to gather inklings of the truth while they were in their home country. The depth of the poverty and brainwashing is immense from the time that these people are schoolchildren. Even if they were starving, if someone came by and saw that their picture of Kim Jong-il then Kim Jong-un weren't immaculate, they could be taken and forced into a labor camp. If they didn't weep loud enough at the death of Kim Jong-il, they were also suspect and no one could trust their neighbors, who could also very likely be government informants. The only media that they had access to was North Korean and Russian propaganda films and even their literature was greatly restricted. In addition, even having a bowl of rice a day was seen as a great luxury. Many starved to death and were happy to have less mouths to feed in their family. The clothing women could wear was also severely limited. This was (and possibly still in many ways is) a super suppressed society (from the point of view of an American especially.) I'd be curious if anything has changed and what but really what honestly struck me is how the government deliberately misled their citizens into thinking that they were producing things they weren't and that the rest of the world was under the same amount of hardship. This is a government who would rather see their people starve than to stoop to accepting aid from abroad. It's eye opening and terrifying for me to think of the people who have suffered and died under these regimes.

 

www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/03/nothing-envy-korea-...

  

6. The Pretty One by Keah Brown

 

There has been a real paucity in literature of valuable and unique human perspectives and this work of nonfiction is an incredibly valuable addition to the canon of literature as a whole and adds to our collective human empathy and understanding of the range of experiences one can have while being alive. Keah Brown is a woman like none other-honest about the world and her own growth as a human, friend, and twin sister, insightful about the racism and ableism in our current present world and humorous in her observations of pop culture. Keah Brown has a different ability level and many might say she has a disability. I say she has an ability that most other people do not possess and may not ever possess. That doesn’t mean that our physical environment does not need to become more accommodating (it does) and that people don’t need to develop more empathy (they do). But, it does mean that we would all be wise to learn from her perspective.

 

keahbrown.com/

 

www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/disabledandcut...

  

7. Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

 

One of the most astounding books of fiction I read this year was a book that feels incredibly brave and is loosely based on actual incidents that happened in the Rodney King riots of LA. Steph Cha is Korean American but it became widely clear from this novel that she is very invested in promoting healing between the Korean and African American communities. The novel goes back and forth between 1991 and 2019 and explores racism with a deep and personal delving that made me literally at times gasp out loud. There’s a question of human accountability, retribution, and these are treated with care and contentiousness. This is the kind of wholly relevant novel we can all learn something from even despite it being technically fiction. There are still lots of truths to be found here.

 

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steph-cha/your-house-w...

  

8. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Asha Bandele and Patrisse Khan-Cullors

  

If you live in America and are even remotely aware of the racist systems and acts of violence that are committed against those in the African and African American communities, you should be appalled. I can tell you just reading even what is considered to be “liberal” news outlets I am appalled by how quickly and often they show any mug shot of a person of color but (I always call this correctly), when it’s a white terrorist who has committed a hate crime, we don’t see his face for several days or longer. The fact of the matter is, most of the time these acts are not even classified as terrorism and yet they are just as damaging and politically motivated. This book explores the heartache and mobilization of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as the police brutality and death and the systems in place that keep white people especially profiting. One day, I hope to live in a world where all are treated equally but we have a long ways to go and, as a human of privilege in this current world, I believe the only way we’re going to get there is if all people, including white people, advocate for an end to these racist systems and a place of acceptance, love, and respect for everyone in this world. I’m never going to claim I know the fear and the danger and the distrust that one must feel being Black in America but I do feel extreme sadness when I see cops having no accountability for murder, for profit prisons capitalizing on modern day slavery, and a whole range of racism happening in terms of regentrification, lack of funding for public schools in neighborhoods where there are more people of color, food deserts, and other appalling neglectful practices by our own government. It is shameful. There should be reparations. And, even more so, I do believe that the police in this country are currently doing more harm than good and that we should abolish at least 90% of our prisons. (I’d say abolish all but I want there to still be a place for Trump and all his friends.) This is a must read for all humans who want to come to a better understanding of what it takes to make a movement and the real human damage to what has occurred in several cities across America where the blood on our hands cannot ever be washed off.

 

patrissecullors.com/call-terrorist-black-lives-matter-mem...

  

9. Women Talking by Miriam Toews

 

I’ve read several novels by Miriam Toews and, though I have enjoyed all of them, this is one of her stand alone masterpieces. Miriam Toews comes from a Mennonite perspective and often her stories focus on Mennonite life with some personal anecdotes seemingly inserted here and there. This novel feels much different and offers an important aspect of feminism in terms of exploration of the human female mind after the real life events taking place in Bolivia in 2005-2009 when these women were raped consistently by men in their Mennonite community and were basically told by these men that these abuses were not happening and that these women were psychologically unsound. Most books of this nature explore the deep wounds of being a victim. This book offers a different sort of perspective. While still putting a human face to the damage done by men, it focuses more on the action of these women in discussions and meetings to decide how they will solve this problem going forward. Will they kick out the men? Will they leave completely? If they leave, will they take the children including the male children? At what age does a male stay behind? These are complex and very real questions and all choices are intellectually explored with great discussion. It made me feel the strength and empowerment of women vs. another book that would have focused more on these humans as victims instead. Well worth the read!

 

www.npr.org/2019/04/06/709530968/these-women-talking-buil...

  

10. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

 

This is a daunting read. When I say daunting, I should clarify that while I have read a few 1000+ page novels before, they are usually separated into separate sentences. Ellmann clearly was going for a marathon level of stream of consciousness when she wrote this one. Most of the novel (I’d say 900+ pages of it) are The fact of___ the fact of______ the fact of____ the fact of___ and Ellmann reveals what haunts her the most-Trump and corporations valuing profit over people, gun toting MAGA white terrorists on the loose, poorly built bridges, cops shooting unarmed African Americans, and sort of what I can only say I would consider the collective disease process of being American in this present day. But, there is also the overarching story line of being a mother, a daughter whose mother has passed away of Cancer, remarrying after divorce, and oddly enough being a pie baker. She goes through several harrowing real life incidents in the book where she and her family are put in danger but that doesn’t give us a break from her very loud internal monologue that will suddenly just start listing off facts of films, every city she can think of, and random products. The reader’s only reprieve from this great feat of literature is when we see the perspective of a lioness running from hunters and trying to protect her progeny. I do think this book is worth reading, especially if you can get in the groove and feel the pulse of the first person female protagonist but you do need to obviously put in a huge time and emotional commitment. In order to help things flow more smoothly for you if you decide to take up this challenge as a reader, I suggest reading about 100 pages for 11 days straight or 50 pages a day for 21 days straight. If you do this, you manage to get into a certain groove by page 300 or so. Slowly but surely, all the tangential word salad starts making a weird sort of sense and you begin to really feel for the sense of this woman’s personal story and what she’s going through. Maybe it says something about me that I found her relatable even though I haven’t lost my mom to Cancer, haven’t gone through a divorce, do not have kids, and don’t have a clue how to bake a pie. But, I understand being caught in a state of almost helplessness about what my country has become and what I witness in terms of how people act towards each other. Anyway, a lot of people have abandoned this but it might be the perfect book to add to the next time capsule. Hopefully, things will get better in the new year.

 

www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/can-one-sentence-capt...

  

11. In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero

 

I still haven’t watched the show Orange is the New Black, which stars Diane Guerrero, but I fell in love with her as Jane the Virgin’s good friend/sidekick Lina early on. (You can’t NOT watch Jane the Virgin if you live in Chicago. So many of my co-workers went to high school with Gina Rodriguez and always talk about how nice she was to everyone which is literally the opposite of what most people say about you in high school). That being said, I usually don’t read books just because they are by celebrities but I enjoyed this one as well as America Ferrera’s American Like Me: Reflections of Life Between Cultures and Tiffany Haddish’s The Last Black Unicorn. All three nonfiction autobiographies are worth reading and pondering over but Guerrero’s personal struggle against adversity when she literally came home as a teenager and found herself completely alone after her parents had been deported to Colombia struck a real sense in me of how, first it’s gotten even worse with ICE raids, and second, these children are such victims and we’re not even considering all the collateral human damage of what we do as a country when this happens. I found this autobiography brave, brutally honest, and even at times a little funny but mostly I found this to me about the power of perseverance and not giving up no matter what, not just in the struggle for survival, which was very real for Guerrero, but also in the struggle to do what you love and follow your dreams and actually make it. Guerrero is talented, that is for sure, but she is also a sort of superhero as well in what she has overcome and she has given us all a real gift of letting us glimpse the power of her human spirit.

 

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/diane-guerrero/in-the-...

  

12. A Particular Type of Black Man by Tope Folarin

 

This is a complex portrait of a Nigerian family who immigrates to Utah of all places and it seems like some of this story must be based on Folarin’s own life experience in that he did have a family who immigrated here from Nigeria and spent some time growing up in Utah and other areas that are also mentioned in this book. What makes this book more unique than many immigrant fiction or pseudofiction is the exploration of the human mind and exploration of mental health and illness within the protagonist as well as this family unit. What also makes it worth reading is the sense of a celebration in Nigerian culture vs. complete desertion. There were insights and information in this book that really astounded me, even having lived in this country all my life (though, to be fair I have never been to Utah). Well worth the read!

 

www.npr.org/2019/08/24/751917486/tope-folarin-was-a-parti...

  

13. The Memory Police by Yoko Agawa

 

This is the second full length novel I’ve read by Yoko Agawa (I’ve also read and liked The Housekeeper and the Professor as well as her short story collection entitled Revenge). I enjoyed all three of these works but I liked The Memory Police by far the best…the concept that you slowly lose the memory of everything around you and hold dear and the including literally parts of yourself-limbs, for instance, and that anyone who still has the ability to remember is not safe but is taken and separated from society at the very least is a really intriguing concept but where the book really succeeds is in its exploration of memories in the sense that they make us human and are truly a part of us. It’s also a book within a book as we experience this cruel postmodern society from the protagonist while, at the same time, experience her own protagonist of the horror typewriter story she’s been authoring. I really enjoyed the strong sense of mood and contemplation on the nature of existence.

 

www.npr.org/2019/08/12/749538789/quiet-surreal-drama-and-...

  

14. Revolution Sunday by Wendy Guerra

 

This is a mixed sort of book between prose and poetry with some aspects of experimental fiction as well. One cannot help but fall in love a little bit with Guerra as she travels to Mexico, falls in love with an actor, tries to escape persecution from the Cuban government who are constantly monitoring every move she makes, and above all keeps writing as she attempts to discover the truth of the death of her parents as well as gain a sense of her place in the world as a woman, a poet, a human. Some of these lines of poetry are completely haunting and there’s some real themes in this novel about deconstruction and reconstruction.

 

www.npr.org/2018/12/05/673387723/complicated-challenging-...

 

www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/books/review/wendy-guerra-revo...

  

15. The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

 

Lefteri is British but has worked with immigrants in Athens, which is where this story takes place at least in part. This is a really harrowing fictional account of a Syrian husband and wife who have lost their child and are each coping with it in their own ways (the mother soon after goes blind and the father suffers from delusions and hallucinations). This is also a story about the struggle for survival after witnessing the tragedy-the destruction of your home and everything you love, and the process of immigration to a safer space and country and the real life troubles to be found in these places as well. Oddly enough, I also learned a great deal about bees from this book but I still feel it is more focused on the desperation that people in Syria must feel and trying to get over incidents that have devastated them and should have never happened in the first place. On a personal level, I don’t believe in borders and I’d rather have more Syrians in my own country than horrible rich white men. No thanks!

 

www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/beekeeper-aleppo-novel

  

16. Those Who Wander: America's Lost Street Kids by Vivian Ho

 

America is a country of great wealth but, unfortunately, until our tax structure changes, it is a wealth owned by the very few whose greed is overpowering (I mean, everyone needs a 100th house while the homeless are dying on the streets, right). In California, especially the Bay Area, where this nonfiction work concentrates on, this is even more vividly so. The book explores the reasons behind actual murders that took place but also the desperate conditions that drive people to become homeless, the psychologies behind being homeless, and the resources that are available and kind people who have tried to help. This book is a really difficult read because of the subject matter but it is important that none of us look away and turn our backs on those who struggle. No one should have to live in poverty just so the most affluent people can become more powerful. But, of course, these uber rich are miserable too, you know. They too won’t be free until every other human is free.

 

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/vivian-ho/those-who-wa...

   

18. So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo

 

Oluo is incredible candid and honest not just about racism within our structures such as our for profit prison industrial system but within our daily interactions. She answers some questions white people might be too scared to answer and illuminates other things white people might be oblivious about in terms of their/our own sense of privilege. And she does all of this, I’m guess, with the hope that speaking truth to power will lead us all to be better people regardless of our race and also because communities have suffered because in 2019 (now 2020), white privilege is still very much a thing and is going strong.

 

www.thenationalbookreview.com/features/2018/2/1/pzq0lfjcp...

  

19. Logic in an Illogical World by Eugenia Cheng

 

I wouldn’t call myself a Mathematician by any standards. I can do basic algebra without a calculator and I see the artistic nature of geometry and can read and extrapolate from a variety of graphs but, most of the time, I still prefer art, literature, and music to Mathematics. Still, the one time I became really and truly excited about Math happened when I leared about Mathematical/Logical proofs and Cheng explores the art of proofs within the context of several political arguments relevant to this period of time in our shared human history. She touches on the less controversial to the extreme controversial and offers insights into personality and how she herself has changed when she has thought of an argument or a collection of facts in a different context. This book will help you see multiple points of view and have richer discussions about everything from mandatory voting practices to abortion.

 

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/19/the-art-of-logic-by...

  

20. Making Comics by Lynda Barry

 

Many of the books I have written about have touched me and I have learned a great deal from them but this is one of those books that gave me very concrete ideas about activities to do with children at Chicago Public Schools. Not all of these activities are written to be done with children but many can be adapted and I have found that giving kids a 4-5 minute free draw at the end of my Occupational Therapy sessions not only motivates them to complete other challenges but also addresses a visual motor need they might have. I have really enjoyed tremendously seeing kids draw their favorite monster and also as themselves as an animal in particular. I think drawing can definitely be like dreams….you never truly know exactly what you are thinking and feeling until you let your mind and your hands go across the paper. This book also inspired me in a different way, which is to look at my own drawings not as technically good or bad but as a product of my own mind and spirit and, in that sense, it’s less damaging to me and less frustrating when I can’t draw something exactly how it looks in real life, for example. I loved all the exercises and visual examples in this book! It really can change your life if you let it!

 

www.npr.org/2019/11/27/782921983/cartoonist-lynda-barry-d...

 

21. Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal

 

I have to admit, I fell in love with the protagonist of this story, Kiran Sharma, who identifies with the deity of Krishna and is trying to find how own way in the world as both a boy who is discovering his own sexuality and the fact that he is gay, as well as a young man coming to terms with his identity as an Indian American boy living in middle America (Cincinnati, Ohio). Kiran is dramatic and perfect and Satyal really succeeds in painting a vivid portrait of growing up with obstacles but still being yourself despite these challenges. There were scenes in this book that made me laugh until I cried but also made me cry until I laughed. Wonderfully written with a true celebration of the human spirit and of the joy in being able to be yourself and learn to love everything that makes you: you!

 

www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews/fiction/06/08/blue-boy-by-...

  

22. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous By Ocean Vuong

  

First and foremost, Ocean Vuong is a poet and even in prose this comes out more than the vast majority of novel writers. This is his first actual work of fiction and feels a little traumatic and haunting it it’s deep feeling sense of the experience of life and family. Vuong’s deep feeling protagonist is trying to come to terms with the actions of and his relationship to his mother as well as some of his own life choices. You get the sense that each day brings its own struggles and is definitely not easy and that reality is a cruel sort of mistress that keeps revisiting him. But, the poetry above all will make you remember and want to return to this book.

 

www.npr.org/2019/06/05/729691730/on-earth-is-gorgeous-all...

  

23. A Woman is No Man By Etaf Rum

 

This book is about many things-family, tradition, but also feminism and a new generation of women who think and reach beyond their metaphysical borders. It follows three generations of a family who immigrated to Brooklyn from Palestine and the abuses they suffered at the hands of their men as well as the secrets they covered up. Most devastating is the way that the grandmother and mother expect (though much more so the grandmother) the conforming of the younger women to submit to all the male wishes and hide any evidence of their true selves that might appear ungrateful and difficult. This is a family that would rather kill than be seen as dishonorable and, though it is technically fiction, it is shocking in the depth of abuse these women take and how they themselves as humans are taken for granted. This book was full of surprises for me on virtually every page.

 

www.npr.org/2019/03/02/699051434/for-better-or-worse-new-...

  

24. Broken Places and Outer Spaces Nnedi Okorafor

 

I’m a big fan of the science fiction of Nnedi Okorafor, most notably Lagoon is my favorite, but this book is one I read this year and is a highly personal autobiographical account of her learning to break free from paralysis after a Scoliosis surgery that did not go as well as expected and finding her own unique voice and inspiration in the work of other artists to explore her own realm of Science Fiction in a way that is wholly worthwhile. I had no idea that the author I’ve read so many fiction books from had this extreme experience but I was indeed inspired by her own perseverance and coming to terms with the surgery and not letting limitations define her but pushing beyond these with a strength and dedication that doubtless has made her one of the very best authors in her field.

 

nnedi.com/books/broken_places_outer_spaces.html

  

25. John Edgar Wideman: Fanon

 

This is one of the more complex books of fiction I’ve read this year…it is truly a story within a story within a story based on some of Wideman’s real life with his brother as well as the actual life of the revolutionary Frantz Fanon..it’s about not wanting the cruelty of history to be repeated and about drawing connections between timelines and the way racism continues to impact people across continents today. It is at times highly poetic and at other times so visceral you might have to put it down but in any case very worthwhile reading and incredibly adept and masterful in its exploration of all of these connections and reconciliation between past and present with a hope for a better and different future. There are many passages here that are profound and all are thought provoking.

  

www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Siegel-t.html

  

26. The Hungry Ghosts by Shyam Selvadurai

 

I have learned a great deal about the political crisis in Sri Lanka in the 1980s from Selvadurai. If you want to try to understand what was happening between the Tamil and Sinhalese people, this is a topic that Selvadurai visits often as well as coming of age as a man who is gay and being an immigrant in Canada. There’s also a real delving into the classism inherent within the Sri Lankan society between these people and also, between the protagonist’s own grandmother and her tenants and the abuse and neglect that happens to the poor. Meanwhile, the grandmother manages to distance herself from her actions and convince herself that these people brought these things on themselves with bad karma…by her own standards, she should expect a much worse life in her next one. There are many similar topics in terms of Sri Lankan politics and coming to terms with one’s own sexuality in Funny Boy but this seemed more of an in depth work so I would recommend reading The Hungry Ghosts if you have limited reading time but you may find you’d like to read his others anyhow.

  

nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/book-reviews/book-re...

  

27. Taina by Ernesto Quinonez

 

I read two of Quinonez’s novels back to back and while I liked the emotional drama and complexity of Bodega Dreams, I really liked the sense of Puerto Rican tradition and strong female main character here. This involves everything from the idea of magical realism to deep religious beliefs. Could Taina be a postmodern virgin Mary? Could this be immaculate conception? The other protagonist, a young male, is willing to believe anything she says and fight for her virtue. While this story takes place primarily in Spanish Harlem, it also shows the inherent racism and classism in NYC as a whole while adeptly pulling one into the personalities and tribulations of the characters. Well worth reading!

 

apnews.com/f8209640f0554191a893cbe61a4583b9

  

28. On Black Sisters Street Chika Unigwe

 

This book explores the lives of African women immigrating to Belgium in hopes of a better life and being lied to with the idea that they could be housekeepers and nannies but then are sold into a sex trade where they are basically enslaved until they raise an inordinate amount of money to “pay back” their immigration fee. It is about living unsafely as an illegal and being forced into prostitution just to survive, which happens far more frequently than many people might realize. Women on our own are valuable in terms of our ideas and our empathy but the world will still look at women as a whole and women from African especially as only worthwhile as a body to rape. This is a very difficult read, mainly because of the aspects of truth that this happens but also because you get attached to the characters and don’t want them to suffer, which is the work of a great novelist in and of itself.

 

www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/books/review/book-review-on-bl...

  

29. Home a Refugee Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah

 

This is a really insightful read for anyone who is looking to hear about the author’s escape from Syria to refugees in Canada. We learn a lot about the power of the human spirit and it is also in many ways a testament to why all countries should welcome refugees. It is also valuable in terms of giving ideas on how we can do better in terms of supporting the transition between countries when there is a new language, culture shock, and when families need to keep something similar in place such as even a space to pray in schools. We need to all make sure we are being kind and sensitive and welcoming as well as aware of the probably trauma that refugees have suffered, especially coming from war torn countries. This also shows us how valuable it is to listen and to help refugees tell their stories, as the work of Rabeeah’s Language Arts teacher Winnie Yeung is the reason why we have this remarkable autobiography.

 

quillandquire.com/review/homes-a-refugee-story/

  

30. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami

 

There were many times reading this book I felt fascinated, wondered about the choices of the characters and what they would do next, and drawn to the mystery surrounding the death that unites all of them from the beginning of the Moroccan American father who owns a restaurant and is suspiciously killed by a hit and run. This is a work of fiction but the way it explores racism and xenophobia is all too real and Lalami really helps the reader sense the loss of humanity when incidents like this take place as well as the complexity of it between the investigation and trial and the level of dishonesty too. It’s also interesting because it involves an unlikely inter-racial love affair and there’s a sense that when these two people can fall in love, maybe we can all reconcile our differences with each other…maybe….hopefully we are capable.

  

www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-lailalalami-otheramericans...

  

31. The Making of a Dream: How a Group of Young Undocumented Immigrants Helped Change What It Means to Be American By, Laura Wides Munoz

 

This is a really comprehensive work of nonfiction chronicling the 1,500 walk of a group of Dreamers and a decade of work beginning with Obama and coming up to the published date of January 2019. It makes no qualms about exposing the frustrations and stalemate of the Obama presidency in getting protections but also the horrors of our current political situation for these young and determined humans that are also vulnerable despite their bravery and fierceness. We get to know the inner workings of their lives and family situations, their education and history of what drives them the most in terms of their advocacy. Munoz also exposes how some movements such as gay rights and marriage are pitted against others like the movement to protect Dreamers and how a single year cut off can arbitrary ruin human lives and mean deportations. This is an important read for anyone who still thinks these amazing humans don’t belong or deserve to be here (They do!) and who still thinks it’s easy to become a legal immigrant if you’re just willing to go through the established process….this line of thinking is an ignorant myth. These humans deserve so much more than this. Let’s hope 2020 brings us a new president who is willing to provide more protections and also welcome more immigrants to America.

 

www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/books/review/laura-wides-munoz...

  

32. Go Ahead in the Rain by Hanif Abdurraquib

 

Hanif always brings himself into his writing about music and this is why, even if you are not the biggest Tribe Called Quest Fan, you will still find many reasons to fall in love with this book. That being said, my partner has always loved Tribe and I finally fell in love myself when I saw them perform and was able to photograph them (see: www.flickr.com/photos/kirstiecat/35348763944/in/photolist... ) Hanif made me love both him and the band even more in the way that he explores their history, why their music is groundbreaking, and their contemporaries as well. Hanif also explores his own love of music and how music was seen in his family. There’s also a story early on that shows the racism of his music teacher at school that made me feel so devastated that these things happen from teachers who are supposed to be loving and nonjudgmental. There is so much to love and learn from in this book and, even if you don’t fall in love with Tribe, you might still fall deeper in love with humanity and our relationship to nourishing sound.

 

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/10/go-ahead-in-the-rai...

 

33. Call Me American Abdi Nor Iftin

 

Oh my God the lengths that this man goes to in order to survive civil war in Somalia, escape to Kenya then to the US is insane. My heart was in my throat for the vast majority of this book…a really survival against all odds life story. It also gives a glimpse at how much tragedy some of our immigrants are carrying with them when they come here and the love and supports we should all give them. Abdi Nor Iftin is extremely intelligent and also funny but I can’t imagine going through even 10% of what he went through when he was trying to escape warring tribes and seeing so much death around him and still being able to lift my head off the pillow each morning.

 

www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/books/call-me-american-abdi-no...

  

34. Passing by Nella Larsen

 

I read both Passing and Quicksand by Nella Larsen this year and liked them both quite a bit. Both have a lot to offer in terms of insights into classism and racism but Passing feels a little more vivid to me maybe because it is set between Chicago and NYC whereas much of Quicksand takes place in Denmark. Both novels are well worth reading though and Passing has both a personal component between these two women with a shared history and that of secrets and racism as one woman is passing for white in trade of an elevated place in society at the time. In addition to giving us glimpses of both cities in 1929, it shows a little bit about what it was like both living as a white woman and living as a black woman and the level of anxiety felt by those who tried to keep their race a secret.

 

electricliterature.com/in-nella-larsens-passing-whiteness...

  

35. Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card Sara Saedi

 

In many ways, this is about a family torn because of their differing immigration statuses and how arbitrary all that seems when we’re talking about real humans and not just letters and numbers on a page. This is a family that will go to all lengths in order to get citizenship for themselves and others and will fight to be Americans even though America does not treat them as kindly or with justice. This is also a great deal about the joys of family, of Iranian culture, and also of coming of age and pop culture in America. Saedi, who now writes for iZombie (I still haven’t seen this show myself but now I might give it a try), is at times poignant and at other times really hilarious. You really get a sense of her personality in this autobiography and it really makes you again realize how much immigrants have to offer America and how they deserve far better than what they are given most of the time. It’s a tragedy that we treat humans the way we do simply because they aren’t born here. That needs to stop.

 

www.npr.org/2018/03/28/597600898/americanized-recounts-wh...

 

36. Lindy West: The Witches are Coming

 

Lindy West is hilarious in her examination of racism, sexism, whole bodyism and all that really needs to change about reality. I learned things I somehow missed, like how “Grumpy Cat’s” owners came up with a ridiculous far fetched story so cover up for the fact they were using an insult/slur used for those with different ability levels. I also found the chapters about Adam Sandler and Joan Rivers pretty insightful as well. There were many times I felt like, “Yeah, I agree with that” but she has a really great cutting way about how she presents information and also her opinions that make it a good read.

 

www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/lindy-west-casts...

 

37. The Reactive By, Ntshanga, Masande

 

I’ve never read a book quite like this. If you want to know what it was like to be HIV+ in the late 1990s-early 2000s and living in South Africa, this book is the one for you. But also, this book is about family, about overcoming loss, about deep friendships and has a great deal of existentialism and in general bizarre interactions, drug trial and substance abuse, and an analysis of racism in Cape Town as well. I felt very strongly that I both learned something and gained an attachment to these fictional characters and what they were going through.

 

slate.com/culture/2016/07/masande-ntshangas-the-reactive-...

  

38. Brother by David Chariandy

 

Set in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, this follows second generation Trinidadian immigrants and the racism they encounter living there in the early 1990s. This is a really well written look at family, especially these two brothers and the bond between them and how the family deals with all of life’s small and large tragedies. It’s also a book that will likely devastate you, though I don’t want to spoil anything by saying more.

 

www.cbc.ca/books/brother-by-david-chariandy-1.4246382

  

39. A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian

 

This could be another book about class warfare and profit over people but the layers in it are exceptional and what Subramanian does really well is to delve into the different personalities and power in the women in this place ironically called Heaven and illustrate the need for women to stick together.

 

www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/books/review/mathangi-subraman...

 

40. Dinner By, César Aira

 

I read a couple of novels/novellas by César Aira and a collection of short stories called The Musical Brain and Other Stories, which was also phenomenal. Dinner was even more unexpected and hilarious because it combines the need to be remembered and the power of names with a zombie uprising in the little town of Pringles in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I love the politically astute sense to this and the twists in the plot. Really a very unique book not just about zombies but about the power of human memory.

 

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cesar-aira/dinner-aira/

  

A couple of really highly recommended books of poetry:

 

The City in Which I Love You Li-Young Lee

 

Rangoli by Pavana Reddy

  

A couple of quick cat related books

 

I don’t think the following books are necessarily life changing but I did want to mention to them in case you are a cat lover like I am! I think animals bring out the best in humans when we find ourselves at our most compassionate and so I’ve always enjoyed reading books that feature cats. Here are the couple I read this year and enjoyed:

 

If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura

 

We could give up movies and time but could we give up cats? What if we were terminally ill and this could buy us one more day on Earth….what would we give up?

  

The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

 

For the vast majority of this book, we really don’t know why the protagonist is looking for someone to take care of his cat but we get to meet a lot of different types of people from his past and learn about them, which is both interesting and philosophical.

 

Somebody, or some group of people, has put a lot of effort into this site in a remote section of Crystal Crescent Beach Provincial Park. There's a low circular wall, quite thick, carefully built from the nearby stone, with some sort of stake in the centre. Zoom in as much as you can and you'll see some of the amazing engineering that went into it. Also, there is a vertical stone, akin to the 5000 year old stones used in neolithic religious sites in Europe. Not sure why or who, but it is quite fascinating. I didn't document it thoroughly, as we were on a quick leg-stretcher hike to Pennant Point, the furthest extreme of Crystal Crescent Beach Provincial Park, walking about 10 km's return distance.

Much effort and not a modest amount of expenditure was outlaid on an ambitious bid to bring the 1996 Olympic Games to Manchester, which ultimately came to nought. GM Buses NCME-bodied Olympian 3223 carried a promotional livery for the initiative and was photographed on West Street, Oldham in June 1990. However, 12 years later and the City would host the Commonwealth Games which brought much in the way of additional transport interest, as would the City's involvement in the 2012 London Olympics.

 

This image is copyright and must not be reproduced or downloaded without the permission of the photographer.

   

I just really like how spring comes through with new life and vibrant colors after weeks and weeks of bleakness, cold and gray.

 

It happens every year, however it never ceases to amaze me...

 

Shot with a (Tomioka) Hoya "Super-EL 135 mm F 5.6" enlarging lens on a Canon EOS R5.

Le long de la voie verte des poètes, il y a le cimetière principal de la ville du Passage d'Agen.

Les élus n'ont même pas fait l'effort de crépir ce mur qui mesure une soixantaine de mètres de long!

Les visiteurs se plaignent du manque d'entretien.

Un entretien qui se résume a priori à une simple tonte occasionnelle des allées gravillonnées. Ce sont les usagers de bonne volonté qui réalisent un peu d'entretien pour compenser l'inaction de la municipalité.

Il n'y a pas d'ombre car les arbres devenus trop grands ont été coupés et remplacés par des tombes par souci de rentabilité. C'est tout de même regrettable car la moyenne d'âge des visiteurs réguliers est élevée et l'ombre serait à plus forte raison la bienvenue!

 

Ce cimetière et ses tombes collées les unes contre les autres est morne comme une cité HLM alors qu'il y a la possibilité de tripler sa surface et d'en faire un lieu agréable en plantant quelques arbres !

 

C'est sans conteste l'un des plus moche du département!

Les visiteurs s'en plaignent et les élus s'en fichent!

 

Honte à eux!

 

8F 48762 struggles north with the evening Cradley- Crewe 'H' goods whilst banker 6656 idles alongside Blowers Green Junction signal box. May 1965

I am extremely happy to be part of a wildlife rescue team here in Wisconsin! Our team went out on a very cold and windy day in an effort to rescue two American white pelicans. This one here had lost its right wing to predation and therefore wasn't able to migrate South with his friends. Nature is harsh. Beautiful, yes, but often so harsh.

Vue depuis la station de Thollon-les-Mémises sur le Pic Boré, le Lac Léman et les montagnes de Suisse

SN/NC: Crinum Amabile, Var. Augustum, Amarylidaceae Family

 

This cultivar is named for Queen Emma, known for her humanitarian efforts and wife of Kamehameha IV. The leaves are dark maroon and can reach 18 to 36 inches in height. Makes a bold statement in any garden setting, especially in mixed color plantings. Flowers are pinkish purple and sweetly fragrant, and bloom from late spring to mid summer. Makes a great centerpiece by any swimming pool or patio. Plant in full to partial sun, the more light this plant gets, the darker the color will be. Needs very high moisture, so be sure to water regularly and do not let dry out between waterings.

 

Lirio arana es uno de los nombres comunes o simplianamente Crino. Los bulbos de Crinum augustum contienen un inhibidor de la acetilcolinesterasa, llamado ungeremina que puede ser adecuado como tratamiento para la enfermedad de Alzheimer. es una planta herbácea perteneciente a la familia de las amarilidáceas. Es originaria de India. Foto hecha en el antiguo Hotel Pestana Cayo Coco, en Cuba.

 

Lirio em português, ou lírio-aranha. Esta foto fue tomada en Cayo Coco, município de Morón, em Cuba, no antigo Hotel Pestana Cayo Coco. Este lírio dizem pode curar a doenca de Alzheimer pois tem um elemento chamado ungeremina. Há pesquisas a respeito. O visual é sempre muito bonito. Uma linda planta para se ter em casa e praticamente muito resistente as pragas. Ela é pouco durável mas tem-se alguns dias de um visual incomparável.

 

Deze cultivar is genoemd naar koningin Emma, bekend om haar humanitaire inspanningen en echtgenote van Kamehameha IV. De bladeren zijn donker kastanjebruin en kunnen 18 tot 36 inch hoog worden. Maakt een gewaagd statement in elke tuinomgeving, vooral bij aanplant met gemengde kleuren. Bloemen zijn roze-paars en zoet geurend, en bloeien van de late lente tot halverwege de zomer. Maakt een geweldig middelpunt

bij elk zwembad of terras. Plant in volle tot gedeeltelijke zon, hoe meer licht deze plant krijgt, hoe donkerder de kleur zal zijn. Heeft zeer veel vocht nodig, dus geef regelmatig water en laat niet uitdrogen tussen de gietbeurten.

 

Ce cultivar porte le nom de la reine Emma, connue pour ses efforts humanitaires et épouse de Kamehameha IV. Les feuilles sont marron foncé et peuvent atteindre 18 à 36 pouces de hauteur. Fait une déclaration audacieuse dans n'importe quel décor de jardin, en particulier dans les plantations de couleurs mélangées. Les fleurs sont violet rosé et légèrement parfumées, et fleurissent de la fin du printemps au milieu de l'été. Fait une grande pièce maîtresse de n'importe quelle piscine ou patio. Plantez en plein soleil ou partiellement, plus cette plante reçoit de lumière, plus la couleur sera foncée. Nécessite une humidité très élevée, alors assurez-vous d'arroser régulièrement et ne laissez pas sécher entre les arrosages.

 

Questa cultivar prende il nome dalla regina Emma, nota per i suoi sforzi umanitari e moglie di Kamehameha IV. Le foglie sono marrone scuro e possono raggiungere i 18-36 pollici di altezza. Fa una dichiarazione audace in qualsiasi giardino, specialmente nelle piantagioni di colori misti. I fiori sono viola rosati e dolcemente profumati e fioriscono dalla tarda primavera a metà estate. È un ottimo centrotavola per qualsiasi piscina o patio. Pianta in pieno sole parziale, più luce ottiene questa pianta, più scuro sarà il colore. Ha bisogno di un'umidità molto elevata, quindi assicurati di annaffiare regolarmente e non lasciare asciugare tra un'annaffiatura e l'altra.

 

Diese Sorte ist nach Königin Emma benannt, die für ihre humanitären Bemühungen und die Frau von Kamehameha IV bekannt ist. Die Blätter sind dunkelbraun und können eine Höhe von 18 bis 36 Zoll erreichen. Macht eine mutige Aussage in jeder

Gartenumgebung, besonders in Mischfarbenpflanzungen. Die Blüten sind rosa-lila und süß duftend und blühen vom späten Frühling bis zum Hochsommer. Ein großartiges Herzstück für jeden Pool oder jede Terrasse. Pflanze in voller bis teilweiser Sonne, je mehr Licht diese Pflanze bekommt, desto dunkler wird die Farbe. Benötigt sehr viel Feuchtigkeit, gießen Sie daher regelmäßig und lassen Sie es zwischen den Gießvorgängen nicht austrocknen.

 

سمي هذا الصنف باسم الملكة إيما ، المعروفة بجهودها الإنسانية وزوجة كاميهاميها الرابع. الأوراق كستنائي غامق ويمكن أن يصل ارتفاعها إلى 18 إلى 36 بوصة. يعطي بيانًا جريئًا في أي مكان حديقة ، خاصة في المزروعات ذات الألوان المختلطة. الأزهار أرجوانية زهرية وذات رائحة عطرة ، وتتفتح من أواخر الربيع إلى منتصف الصيف. تشكل قطعة مركزية رائعة في أي حوض سباحة أو فناء. ازرع بالكامل تحت أشعة الشمس الجزئية ، فكلما زاد الضوء الذي يحصل عليه هذا النبات ، سيكون اللون أغمق. يحتاج إلى رطوبة عالية جدًا ، لذا تأكد من سقيها بانتظام ولا تدعها تجف بين الري.

I want to first thank all the bloggers who work hard and silent. I think most of the store managers appreciate all the efforts you put in and we are blessed and thankful all the time for what you do.

 

I am a blog manager. I am also a blogger. I get that people want to blog their favorite stores. I get that you wanted to be a blogger for a specific event. However most blog groups have limited numbers of people they accept. If your a blogger and you did not get chosen for a group or an event. Quietly keep working you will be noticed. However going on fb, flickr, plurk, etc to rant rave and speak ill of a creator or their blog managers because YOU didn't get chosen seems bat shit crazy.

 

I have applied to tons (well okay like 7) stores or events and didnt get chosen. I didnt go off I simply kept visiting the events purchasing and blogging (imagine that). I know that okay I wasn't chosen it did not in anyway mean that that store or creator didn't like me.

 

Bloggers are chosen at the discretion (remember its THEIR CHOICE) of the creator or blog manager. For people to scream oh I am a better blogger than this person or that person. I almost want to laugh. No one wants to manage a diva and their attitude. I am sorry I like low maintenance people to work with. Those who do their work and move on with life. Second Life is full of opportunities if you were not chosen it was NOT YOUR TIME. So rather than sit around like chicken little and the world is falling apart. Slap on your new purchases and continue your life. Its second life no one has ever died from NOT BEING CHOSEN AS A BLOGGER!

 

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