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It seems like just yesterday I found out I was expecting! With 6 months down just 3 more till I get to hold my prince of darkness! =)
Since there isn't a mirror big enough for me to use in my trailer I have to rely on public bathrooms. I always try to make it quick so no one walks in on me. lol =P
I'm not sure if I like Rayne as much as I expected to. He's gorgeous, but he does look a lot like Jade & Seiran. And I guess I expected him to be the best Taeyang ever, so he had a lot to live up to! But I'm liking him more as I'm taking more photos of him.
His stock is great, and I think most of it will be useful. His necklaces & jacket are especially nice ^^ He was so hard to unpack though, because he was almost totally covered in plastic under his clothes, and I had to remove most of his clothes and limbs just to get it off!
Massachusetts.
Before we could drive to New Brunswick, we had to collect Kay from Boston Logan Airport ...
The black warning sign reads "severe weather expected, plan ahead" ... Hurricane Irene was due in ...
The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (or Zakim Bridge) is a cable-stayed bridge across the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a replacement for the Charlestown High Bridge, an older truss bridge constructed in the 1950s, and is the world's widest cable-stayed bridge. Of 10 lanes, the main portion of the Zakim Bridge carries four lanes each way (northbound and southbound) of the Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 1 concurrency between the Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. Tunnel and the elevated highway to the north. Two additional lanes are cantilevered outside the cables, which carry northbound traffic from the Sumner Tunnel and North End on-ramp. These lanes merge with the main highway north of the bridge. I-93 heads toward New Hampshire as the "Northern Expressway", and US 1 splits from the Interstate and travels northeast toward Massachusetts' north shore, crossing the Mystic River via the Tobin Bridge.
The bridge and connecting tunnel were built as part of the Big Dig, the largest highway construction project in the United States. The north-bound (NB) lanes were finished in March 2003, then south-bound (SB) lanes in December. The bridge's unique styling quickly became an icon for Boston, often featured in the backdrop of national news channels, to establish location, and included on tourist souvenirs. The bridge is commonly referred to as the "Zakim Bridge" or "Bunker Hill Bridge" by residents of nearby Charlestown.
As expected, the English newspapers found it hard to contain their delight after England's 77-run victory at Johannesburg, with even the usually football-mad tabloids joining in.
"Hoggy bashes the Boks" was the lead story in The Sun, with a follow-up on England's star, described as the King of the Swingers. "The Hogwarts Express served up some magic," wrote John Etheridge, warming to a theme. "He stomped the ground like Shrek and made the ball swerve like a demented boomerang." The Mirror found space on an inside page to praise "Hoggard's Seventh Heaven", but preferred a back page story on how David Beckham is not addicted to fame. What next? How Wayne Rooney loves doing social work?
The Daily Mail was happier to concentrate on Hoggard the bowler. "He exploited the conditions perfectly," it reported. "His ability to swing the ball was richly rewarded with England's best match figures in a Test since Ian Botham claimed 13 for 106 in Bombay a quarter of a century ago."
Even the heavyweights struggled to contain themselves. "A hayrick-haired son of the soil with a heart of oak bowled England to a memorable victory," wrote Mike Selvey in The Guardian "Hoggard is a country boy whose ploughman-plod has its roots in solitary dogwalking out on the moors. A brief conversation on the eve of the game, a statement rather than a question, was revealing: "Your pitch then Hoggy." He just grinned and made that wristy twofingered glove-puppet motion that fast bowlers like to make when suggesting seam movement. He knew that this was his time and he had the wherewithall to make it count."
In The Independent, Stephen Brenkley reported that Hoggard would find all the media attention a bit too much. "Hoggard looked tired and slightly nonplussed by events, which were both understandable reactions. He will not like all the fuss, or the notebooks and cameras that will dance attendance on him over the next few days. His favourite pastime is walking his dogs (usually alone) in the countryside near his home close to Baildon in West Yorkshire and going home to open one of the many cans of beer he keeps in his fridge."
There was also praise for Graeme Smith's rearguard which almost saved the match for South Africa. "He battled with immense pride to avoid defeat," said Christopher Martin-Jenkins in The Times. "Having come in at No 8, ignoring medical advice that he should not bat because of the concussion he suffered when hit by the ball accidentally on Sunday morning, Smith was still there when Hoggard took his seventh wicket, and twelfth of the match. The injury to the tough young South Africa captain's pride will be greater than that to his head."
Writing in The Guardian, South African journalist Neil Manthorp couldn't contain his frustration. "South African cricket may yesterday have suffered its most damaging blow since its isolation ended in June 1991," he fumed. "Last year was so packed full of disappointment that there were fears that the team's supporters, most of them fickle at the best of times, would be drawn back towards following the resurgent Springbok rugby side. Now that has all gone, crushed as decisively as an elephant stamping on a cockroach. It was as dispiriting a defeat as South Africa have suffered in the modern era and now the ghosts of the past are set to re-emerge as the recriminations begin."
Back to the game itself, and in the Daily Telegraph, Geoff Boycott underlined the contribution Marcus Trescothick made to England's win. "It was his innings that gave Hoggard the opportunity of winning the match," he wrote. "He'll find it difficult to play a better and more important innings in his career."
In the same paper, Derek Pringle highlighted Andrew Flintoff's dismissal of Shaun Pollock. "Softening him up with a 90mph bouncer that struck the batsman a sickening blow to the head (the ball rebounded to deep mid-wicket), he got him three balls later, the ensuing edge the result of footwork scrambled by the earlier impact."
Martin Williamson is managing editor of Cricinfo.
© Cricinfo
Promise Fulfilled, Accomplishment Achieved at WSSU Commencement on May 14
WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- For Jeanette Valentine, earning her bachelor’s degree in business administration will be fulfilling on many levels.
Valentine, 50, is one of the approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students who are expected to participate in WSSU’s Spring Commencement exercises on May 14 at 9:45 a.m. in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Stephen A. Smith, noted journalist, media personality and motivational speaker, will be the keynote speaker.
Commencement will mark a special satisfaction not just because Valentine, a travel audit officer in WSSU’s accounting department, will be graduating with her 24-year-old son William R. Valentine. It’s because of a long-time promise fulfilled. Valentine made the promise to her mother back in 1978. Her mother and father never graduated from high school. When Valentine’s mother, who was battling cancer, asked her to promise she would graduate college, Valentine did. Valentine’s mother died two weeks before she graduated high school. Valentine was devastated over losing her mother.
“I started school at WSSU that year, but it lasted only one semester. I didn’t have the drive. I was still too distressed and overcome by my mother’s death. I couldn’t focus on school,” Valentine said.
Instead, Valentine got married, had two children and eventually went to work at a few jobs before coming to work at WSSU in 2006. In 2007, she decided to return to school since her children were adults. At the same time, her son who graduated high school in 2004 was thinking about returning to college after quitting previously. By fall 2007, both with full-time jobs returned to school at WSSU. He was an exercise science major and she was in the School of Business and Economics.
“He was so career focused on his job and he was doing well. But I kept pushing him and telling him he had to get a degree. I was thrilled he came back to school and that we were in school at the same time. It was exciting,” said Valentine.
Eventually Valentine saw her son was distracted by work. They talked and it was he who asked they agree to push each other so they could graduate at the same time.
That time is now. Valentine is thrilled they are graduating together. She says it feels like she has kept the promise made to her mother times two.
“In addition to the accomplishment, it may be quite an emotional day,” Valentine said.
Valentine is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the international honor society for collegiate schools of business as well as Alpha Sigma Lambda, a national honor society for Adult Learners in Continuing Higher Education. She plans to pursue her master’s degree at Liberty University.
Extraordinary Journey
It will be a festive ending to an extraordinary journey for Jerrica Scott, 24, of Winston-Salem. For Scott, commencement will symbolize the end of a passage marked by limitations, fear and uncertainty. It will be a celebration of a personal renaissance, driven by a theme that anything is possible with faith, passion and purpose.
“No matter how bad things may look, you can make a difference in your own life and the lives of others if you work really hard and know things can change. Soon things may look different, then not so bad, better, even good.”
Scott’s journey is verification of her belief. She entered WSSU to earn a four-year bachelor’s degree in elementary education six years ago as a single teen-aged mom. During that time as a full-time student, living on her own with her young daughter, she worked full-time, changed majors multiple times, quit school, got married, had another child, returned to school, made up a semester of credits lost when she quit and found her way back to the major that gave her the purpose.
“Just before I started my freshman year, I could hear people saying now that I had a baby as a teenager, my life was over or I wouldn’t get very far,” noted Scott. “Because I got pregnant in high school and had a baby in my first year of college, it didn’t mean I would be a failure. I did not want to be the stereotype of a young single mom who would work only at fast food restaurants or be on welfare the rest of her life.”
Although Scott was determined, she became distracted during her second year.
“I was failing classes miserably. I was living on my own and I was 18 years old. I felt lost and beaten, so I quit school,” Scott said who worked as a waitress. “Then one day, my manager told me the biggest thing he regretted was not finishing school. So if you don’t want to be waiting tables for the rest of your life, you need to go back to school. “
That was the turning point for Scott. She also thought about her mother, a cosmetologist, who always stressed the importance of education and often expressed interest in wanting her children to be greater than she. Scott soon quit her job and returned to school. Her best friend and others helped her find her way back to the major that aligned with where her talents and passions had always been -- elementary education.
“My best friend told me this is what I suppose to be doing. She told me we are going over there right now and you are going to get enrolled back into school. I just thank her,” said Scott.
Then she met a good man who cared about her and her daughter. It was like an unattainable dream. They soon married. Her second daughter was born in 2010. Now in school and completely focused on her education, Scott delivered the baby on a Friday and returned class on Monday.
Scott is currently working as a substitute teacher and searching for a fulltime permanent teaching job. She is also going to be the “first in my family to graduate college.”
Multiple Job Offers Early in Her Senior Year
Information technology major Kristen Dunlap, 21, of Charlotte, has accomplished a standout achievement, even before she completed her last year of college. In this challenging economy, she had two job offers from Fortune 500 companies one before her senior year, the other early in her senior year. She selected one position which she will begin this summer.
Dunlap attributes her success to internships, which she began participating in back in her freshman year. That first one was a summer research experience for undergraduate WSSU computer science students at WSSU, funded by NASA. She used, GIS visualization tools to visualize North Carolina weather patterns. The goal of the summer program was to expose students to researching skills and help to develop their problem solving and critical thinking skills.
For her second year, Dunlap interned at the NASA Langley, Va., facility where she worked as a liaison between the technology and client teams for the database tracking system used to manage NASA’s contractual projects.
For summer 2010, she was an intern at Altria Client Services in Richmond ,Va., where she worked on data archiving to consolidate previous and current information to migrate to a new system.
“You can never underestimate the value of internships. I started utilizing the WSSU Career Services office in my second year. My parents always told me to be aggressive at seeking job opportunities. I didn’t want to be a person to work hard for four years and have no job in the end,” Dunlap said.
She will start her new job at Altria Client Services as an IT assistant analyst.
The Entertainment Mogul
Erikka Rainey, 22, of Philadelphia wants to be a female Sean “P-Diddy” Combs. In fact, she has wanted to be an entertainment mogul from a very young age. As a child, she dabbled in music and even took classes, but by age 14, she knew wholeheartedly that she wanted to be on the business side of the music industry.
“When I first learned about P-Diddy, I knew that was where I wanted my future to be,” said Rainey. “I look up to P- Diddy because I’m working to be the first female to start a record label, then restaurants, clothing lines and television shows.”
When she sees a famous entertainer, she wonders what sort of things they did in their career to get famous. If not famous, she wonders what it would take to make them famous. While at WSSU she jumped at every opportunity to market and promote musical artists and events. She worked with Hidden Beach Recordings to promote events for a new CD. She passed out flyers and did social media and internet marketing for jazz artist Monette Sudler of Philadelphia this past summer.
“If there’s one thing I live by, it’s take advantage of all opportunities. Don’t close yourself off to anything. You never know what you will learn that can be the key to your future,” Rainey said.
An honor student, Rainey will be attending New York University’s (NYU) music business program in the fall. She plans to maintain at least one home in New York City after graduate school when her career kicks off.
Wasn't expecting to see this vehicle Today!, and this vehicle appears to be Brand New at L&I Coaches, and maybe the first New Vehicle that L&I Coaches of Westgate and Westwood in Thanet have ever bought, and I also first saw this vehicle at Dover Castle last week but couldn't get a shot.
And be sure to check by my other acount: www.flickr.com/photos_user.gne?path=&nsid=77145939%40..., to see what else I saw Very Recently!!
Yes I'm back again.
However due to my main computer on which I edit my work being struck down with a big bad virus, this picture and all the others I am uploading, were Unedited but have now been replaced with Edited versions. So enjoy and Thanks for your patience and understanding.
I do still hate everything about this shit that is new Flickr and always will, but an inability to find another outlet for my work that is as easy for me to use as the Old BETTER Flickr was, has forced me back to Flickr, even though it goes against everything I believe in.
I don't generally have an opinion on my own work, I prefer to leave that to other people and so based on the positive responses to my work from the various friends I had made on Flickr prior to the changes I have decided to upload some more of my work as an experiment and to see what happens.
So make the most of me before they delete my acount: www.flickr.com/photos/69558134@N05/?details=1, to stop me complaining!!
All ready for the new arrival. Except for the second coat of paint in the nureser, th crib, the glider, the changing table, the stroller, the car seat… but we have the stuffed animals taken care of.
First pullip. Expect lots of Alice pictures! She quickly became one if my favorite dolls, and one of my favorite dolls to photograph. I got her from PullipStyle.com with a dent box, as I didn't care for the box, only Alice and her accessories, and I was planning to take her out of packaging from the start so I saved a couple of dollars there(even though it took me 5 minutes to find such dent that I hardly think of it as one. Such a non-problem being taken into consideration by the retailer really shows the high quality of service from PullipStyle).
Over-all review of Alice: She's mine hands off! Kidding aside lovely, and looks a lot like the drawings of Alice in Through The Looking-Glass, with a bit of pimped up attributes here and there making her a one of a kind variation. The wig has a good scent to it, so it won't get a foul odor on the clothing and accessories. It has no bald spots and you can't see the seams of the wig unless you push the hair over. It is a nice thin(dimensions matter!), polyester I believe, hair, with quite minute frizzing. Almost none, but making the hair look more natural. Her curls are not stiff, and incredibly soft. The company(Groove) used a very very high quality spray, that can't be noticed practically at all when touching the hair, to help keep the curls in their designated design. The curls are easily fixed with only moist fingers. Great doll, but very delicate. I've never been more careful with a doll than Alice.
Source: Alfa_Romeo_Giulia-US-car-sales-statistics
Warm welcome or cold shoulder is a new series here on CarSalesBase.com, where we discuss the sales performance of new models in their first year or so on the market. How have they performed in terms of sales: above or under expectations? What could be the reasons for their success or failure? And what do we expect for their future – will it improve or get worse?
First we tackle the Alfa Romeo Giulia, simply because it’s one of the most talked-about launches in recent years and by far the most popular car here on CSB in terms of pageviews. As always, feel free to join the discussion by commenting below or answering the poll at the bottom.
Let’s start with the US, the most difficult market for the Giulia: there have been some articles and comments across the web suggesting the Giulia is a sales failure in the US, pointing out Alfa has only sold 7.900 of them in the first eleven months of this year. Of course, that figure looks a bit bleak when compared to established models like the Audi A4 and BMW 3-Series, which sold almost 30.500 and 54.000 units during that same period. Then again, these brands and models have been around for decades which has given them great brand recognition, a faithful share of repeat buyers and not to forget a much larger dealer network (300 and 341 compared to 184). Alfa Romeo, on the other hand, has not been present in North America for nearly two decades and the few who still remember the brand mostly remember its reputation for poor quality. The US is a mature market and the midsized premium sedan segment is fiercely competitive as even an established brand like Cadillac has had trouble carving out a piece of that pie with the ATS, arguably one of the best cars it has made in a decade. So for a brand that has returned to the market after decades of non-presence, selling an average of 900 luxury sedans a month after its initial launch period is not all that bad.
A better comparison for the Giulia would be the Jaguar XE, another premium mid-sized sedan from a lower-volume luxury brand that was launched a few years ago without a direct predecessor. What’s more, Jaguar has 163 about dealers in the US, more in line with Alfa Romeo’s figure. Jaguar sold about 8.000 copies of the XE in the US in the first 10 months of 2017, not much more than the Giulia has sold, but I haven’t heard a single voice or read a single article claiming the XE is a failure. And keep in mind the Giulia was only launched in the first quarter of this year so its deliveries didn’t pick up traction until the second quarter. From May onwards the Giulia has consistently outsold its British rival. Also, the Alfa has been hampered by some software glitches that not only delayed deliveries but also didn’t do much good to its still very fragile image, proving those critics right that have continued the image of unreliable Italian cars. Not a great way to relaunch a brand and gain confidence from buyers looking to spend upwards of $40,000 on a new car. I think the major reason for the image of “failure” is that the goals set by FCA itself had been set unrealistically high and when the sales figures did not live up to those high expectations, it was easy to call it a failure. If only the company had been a bit more humble (or even just realistic) in their projections, the Giulia would not be considered a mishap. Perhaps the MotorTrend “Car of the Year” award can help put the Giulia on the shopping lists of more Americans, even though I personally take all these different COTY awards with more than a pinch of salt and so should everybody else.
Europe, the story is a bit different. Italian cars are traditionally known for being very dependent on their home market, with for example 80% of Fiat Panda and 64% of Alfa Romeo Giulietta coming from Italy. By comparison, just 38,5% of the Giulia‘s 19.201 European sales in the first 9 months of 2017 came from Italy, in line with the percentage of German sales for the Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class and much lower than the 55% of European Jaguar XE sales coming from the UK. This suggests the Giulia’s appeal is better spread across the continent. The Giulia was behind the German 3 in fourth place of its segment when ruling out coupe/convertible models like the BMW 4-Series and Audi A5 and the Volvo V60 station wagon. It outsold the Jaguar XE and sold almost 4 times as many as the Volvo S60 and Lexus IS, the only other sedan-only alternatives that sell in significant numbers in Europe, where 42% of sales in this segment are station wagons and just 32% are sedans (the rest are hatchbacks like the DS5, 3-Series GT and 4-Series Gran Coupe, or coupe and convertible models). That means the Giulia only effectively competes with less than a third of its segment, resulting in an 11% market share of the premium midsized sedan segment. Not bad for an Italian newcomer in a segment traditionally dominated by the Germans and which is heavily dependent on fleet and lease orders. Those buyers often focus more on total cost of ownership than on purchase price which means resale values play a major factor, something in which the Germans are traditionally strong while the Giulia has no proven track record in that aspect.
So should Alfa Romeo still consider making a Giulia station wagon, as it had for its predecessors 156 and 159? I don’t think it should, as the potential volume for that version, which would really only sell in Europe, is about 30.000 units a year. That’s not enough for a company already struggling for cash, which it could put to better use by developing a replacement to the Giulietta or a crossover below the Stelvio, especially when considering some of the SW sales probably would cannibalize on those of the sedan. Considering the premium midsized sedan segment as a whole is losing share to crossovers like the Volvo XC60, Mercedes-Benz GLC and Audi Q5, the Giulia was facing an uphill battle from the beginning, while the Stelvio is supposed to be the real money (and volume) maker. But in order to (re-)establish the Alfa Romeo brand as a sporty alternative to the Germans and a full-blown luxury brand, the Giulia was needed to give the brand credibility by proving it could compete with them in their traditional stronghold: that of midsized sports sedans in which the BMW 3-Series is still the king of the hill. That’s also why it has focused so much attention on the low-volume, top-of-the-line Quadrifoglio version with 510hp, as that version was able to beat the M3 and rivals on paper as well as on the road. The widespread critical acclaim from press and punters put the Giulia and Alfa Romeo back on the map in Europe and I wouldn’t call it a sales failure at all, even if it hasn’t met the overly ambitious goals set by Sergio Marchionne.
Kriss’ second opinion
I am in two minds about the Giulia’s sales performance. On one hand Bart is absolutely right – if you look at the numbers the right way Giulia’s sales figures looks pretty good for (a) a sedan (b) from a brand that needs to reestablish itself (c) in a crowded market (d) that’s losing volume to crossovers. And if you view the Giulia as a car whose main goal was to put Alfa Romeo back on the map than I would say it has actually been successful – while the sales are so-so, it is viewed as a car that can go head-to-head with the segment’s leaders, unlike for example the compromised Jaguar XE and Cadillac ATS.
On the other hand, however, there is no denying that Alfa Romeo needs to start selling cars now that it has all but killed off the Mito and Giulietta, and in this respect the Giulia is not the success that the brand needs. As such, the acid test will come with the performance of the Stelvio SUV, a car entering a growing segment where established brand values count for less than in the traditional segments. If the Stelvio can generate volume (and profits) for the brand than this will serve as foundation for future growth. So far FCA, and Sergio Marchionne, seem to be determined to drive the brand to succeed. However, as we have seen with Audi’s, Lexus’ and Infiniti’s decades-long journeys, success in the premium segments takes a long time, and even then it is not guaranteed. The Giulia, however, remains one hell of a start for Alfa Romeo.
My nephew's partner agreed to model for a themed maternity session. She got some lovely portraits and I got to play with some ideas...a win/win.
My goal was to portray expecting mothers as feminine, earthy and naturally beautiful.
Natural light and one off camera flash in a small umbrella.
CC welcome.
March 5, 2010
The site of the former Goshen Restaurant is expected to be torn down by the end of the month (March 2010). “It was purchased by the department in 2009,” Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal engineer Dwayne Cross wrote in an email. “It was required as part of the future intersection work necessary to extend Route 316 northerly to the new Highway 104.” The Goshen opened in 1948, when Jim and Warren Jones rebuilt a restaurant on the site of the former Dingle Dining Room, which they bought from Les Cunningham in 1947. The Dingle began as a roadside stand in the 1920s. It expanded to include cabins and a diner. By 1929, the Dingle sold cigars, “temperance drinks,” ice cream, gas and oil. Mary McCarron worked at the Dingle in the 1940s. Guests at the cabin had to register inside the diner because the cabins lacked electricity, McCarron said.“ The [owners] were so fussy, they’d ask for a marriage license before letting two people stay in the same cabin.” A fire destroyed the Dingle Dining Room the night of Dec. 20, 1947. McCarron ate supper at the Dingle that night. “Everything was fine when we were in there at 10:30 or 11, but the next morning we heard that it burnt down.” According to a Casket article from 1947, six people sleeping in the attached apartments lowered themselves from windows to escape the blaze. The Jones’ collie, Skippy, woke Jim Jones and his wife as the building filled with smoke. “They barely escaped with their lives,” local historian Frasier Dunn said. Sadie MacIntosh was one of the waitresses at the Dingle when it burned down. “Sadie MacIntosh went back to work for Jim Jones on May 22, 1948, and in her mother’s diary, it said ‘helping fix up the new Goshen,’” Dunn said. The Goshen restaurant opened soon after. The Jones family operated the restaurant until 1951, when they sold it to Art Holmes and Ashley Self, the owners of the Brigadoon restaurant in town. “The Brigadoon was quite the place, and so was the Goshen,” Dunn said. Holmes and Self renovated the Goshen and promoted the restaurant as a tourist destination, he added. “Every American who came into the province stopped at the Goshen on the way to Cape Breton,” he said. “Tour buses would be lined up there all the time.” Rita Scott began working at the Brigadoon in 1954, and waitressed at the Goshen beginning in 1961. Her husband Ron, who died late last year (2009), was the Goshen’s chef from 1954 until the 1980s. “I got there just about the time the tour buses were getting popular,” Scott said. “I can remember one day we had 23 buses and the power went out,” she added. “We kept on feeding them sandwiches.” Waitresses came from all over Nova Scotia to work at the Goshen, Scott said.“Tips were really, really good, but you’d work long shifts too.” No current restaurants are as busy as the Goshen was at its peak, Scott said. “You’d never be able to compare it.” Leonard Sampson bought the Goshen from Holmes and Self in 1973. “They were good people to work for,” Scott said. The Goshen was sold again in the 1980s to a Warner family. The restaurant went through a couple of iterations – including housing Hollywood Video – before closing down for good. Scott said she cherishes her memories of working at the Goshen. “We met a lot of good people,” she said. “There’ll never be another Goshen.”
Connor MacEachern (Reporter - The Casket, Antigonish NS)
connormac@thecasket.ca
The kit and its assembly:
A rather exotic what-if model, even though it’s almost built OOB. Inspiration came when I stumbled upon the weird Syrian Panzer IVs that were operated against Israel during the Six Day War – vehicles you would not expect there, and after more than 20 years after WWII. But when I did some more research, I was surprised about the numbers and the variety of former German tanks that Syria had gathered from various European countries, and it made me wonder if the Panther could not have been among this shaggy fleet, too?
I had a surplus Dragon Panther Spähpanzer in The Stash™, to be correct a “PzBeobWg V Ausf. G”, an observation and artillery fire guidance conversion that actually existed in small numbers, and I decided to use it as basis for this odd project. The Dragon kit has some peculiarities, though: its hull is made from primed white metal and consists of an upper and lower half that are held together by small screws! An ambiguous design, because the parts do not fit as good as IP parts, so that the model has a slightly die-cast-ish aura. PSR is necessary at the seams, but due to the metal it’s not easy to do. Furthermore, you have to use superglue everywhere, just as on a resin kit. On the other side, surface details are finely molded and crisp, even though many bits have to be added manually. However, the molded metal pins that hold the wheels are very robust and relatively thin – a feature I exploited for a modified running gear (see below).
For the modified Panther in my mind I had to retrograde the turret back to a late standard turret with mantlet parts left over from a Hasegawa kit – they fitted perfectly! The PzBeobWg V only comes with a stubby gun barrel dummy. But I changed the armament, anyway, and implanted an aftermarket white metal and brass KwK 40 L48, the weapon carried by all Syrian Panzer IVs, the Jagdpanzer IVs as well as the StuG IIIs. This standardization would IMHO make sense, even if it meant a performance downgrade from the original, longer KwK 42 L70.
For a Syrian touch, inspired by installations on the Panzer IVs, I added a mount for a heavy DShK machine gun on the commander’s cupola, which is a resin aftermarket kit from Armory Models Group (a kit that consists of no less than five fiddly parts for just a tiny machine gun!).
To change and modernize the Panther’s look further, I gave it side skirts, leftover from a ModelCollect T-72 kit, which had to be modified only slightly to fit onto the molded side skirt consoles on the Panther’s metal hull. A further late addition were the fuel barrels from a Trumpeter T-54 kit that I stumbled upon when I looked for the skirts among my pile of tank donor parts. Even though they look like foreign matter on the Panther’s tail, their high position is plausible and similar to the original arrangement on many Soviet post-WWII tanks. The whip antennae on turret and hull were created with heated black sprue material.
As a modern feature and to change the Panther’s overall look even more, I replaced its original solid “dish” road wheels with T-54/55 “starfish” wheels, which were frequently retrofitted to T-34-85s during the Fifties. These very fine aftermarket resin parts (all real-world openings are actually open, and there’s only little flash!) came from OKB Grigorovich from Bulgaria. The selling point behind this idea is/was that the Panther and T-54/55 wheels have almost the same diameter: in real life it’s 860 vs. 830 mm, so that the difference in 1:72 is negligible. Beneficially, the aftermarket wheels came in two halves, and these were thin enough to replace the Panther’s interleaved wheels without major depth problems.
Adapting the parts to the totally different wheel arrangement was tricky, though, especially due to the Dragon kit’s one-piece white metal chassis that makes any mods difficult. My solution: I retained the inner solid wheels from the Panther (since they are hardly visible in the “3rd row”), plus four pairs of T-54/55 wheels for the outer, more rows of interleaved wheels. The “inner” T-54/55 wheel halves were turned around, received holes to fit onto the metal suspension pins and scratched hub covers. The “outside” halves were taken as is but received 2 mm spacer sleeves on their back sides (styrene tube) for proper depth and simply to improve their hold on the small and rounded metal pin tips. This stunt worked better than expected and looks really good, too!
Painting and markings:
Basically very simple, and I used pictures of real Syrian Panzer IVs as benchmark. I settled for the common green livery variant, and though simple and uniform, I tried to add some “excitement” to it and attempted to make old paint shine through. The hull’s lower surface areas were first primed with RAL 7008 (Khakigrau, a rather brownish tone), then the upper surfaces were sprayed with a lighter sand brown tone, both applied from rattle cans.
On top of that, a streaky mix of Revell 45 and 46 – a guesstimate for the typical Syrian greyish, rather pale olive drab tone - was thinly applied with a soft, flat brush, so that the brownish tones underneath would shine through occasionally. Once dry, the layered/weathered effect was further emphasized through careful vertical wet-sanding and rubbing on all surfaces with a soft cotton cloth.
The rubber side skirts, as well as the rubber r
The model then received an overall washing with a highly thinned mix of grey and dark brown acrylic artist paint. The vinyl tracks (as well as the IP spare track links on the hull) were painted, too, with a mix of grey, red brown and iron, all acrylic paints, too, that do not interact chemically with the soft vinyl.
The decals/markings are minimal; the Arabian scribble on the turret (must be a name?), using the picture of a Syrian Panzer IV as benchmark, was painted in white by hand, as well as the white circle on the turret roof. The orange ID triangles are a nice contrast, even though I was not able to come up with real-life visual evidence for them. I just found a color picture of a burned T-34-85 wreck with them, suggesting that the color was a dull orange red and not florescent orange, as claimed in some sources. I also found illustrations of the triangles as part of 1:35 decal sets for contemporary Syrian T-34-85s from FC Model Trend and Star Models, where they appear light red. For the model, they were eventually cut out from decal sheet material (TL-Modellbau, in a shade called “Rotorange”, what appears to be a good compromise).
Dry-brushing with light grey and beige to further emphasize edges and details followed. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic vanish overall, and some additional very light extra dry-brushing with silver was done to simulate flaked paint. Dirt and rust residues were added here and there with watercolors. After final assembly, the lower areas of the model were furthermore powdered with mineral pigments to simulate dust.
The festival celebrates the finest in both gardening and food. Visitors can expect stunning show gardens and nursery displays alongside a bounty of food producers, shopping and top tips from garden experts and celebrity chefs.
Set against the picturesque Malvern Hills, show gardens are always a number one destination, with five designers being awarded with RHS Gold Medals in 2016.
The Floral Marquee is bursting with examples of the finest nurseries in the UK and abroad, with many old favourites and new varieties on sale.
The foodie hotspot, Festival Food and Drink Pavilion, is a lively market of food producers offering a variety of artisan produce. At the heart is a Kitchen Theatre where celebrity guests and local producers showcase their skills and produce.
Other festival favourites include the School Gardens, Get Going Get Growing pavilion and Family Day (Sunday).
RHS Malvern Spring Festival is a joint partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society and Three Counties Agricultural Society.
An entirely new vision brings RHS Malvern Spring Festival into full bloom for 2017, taking inspiration from the event’s Spa town heritage. The landmark four-day spectacle, taking place from Thursday 11 – Sunday 14 May at the Three Counties Showground, welcomes all new features and exhibits and a vibrant line up of the finest in gardening, food and lifestyle.
Jane Furze, Head of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, said: “We are so excited to share the glorious plans that are afoot for RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. It really is going to be a sensational year for our leading event with plenty for everyone. Whether you’re a newcomer to gardening, a veteran horticulturalist or simply looking for a family day out, RHS Malvern Spring Festival has it all. We look forward to welcoming visitors to our stunning showcase of spring in May.”
The new vision for RHS Malvern Spring Festival takes inspiration from Malvern Spa’s Victorian heyday as a fashionable health resort – a place where day-trippers descended to take advantage of the clean air and to enjoy the health giving waters amongst the romantic beauty of the hills and into a town of pleasure gardens, assembly rooms and numerous eating-places.
Promising a bountiful day out for everyone, visitors can expect:
NEW FOR 2017
FLORAL MARQUEE
RHS Malvern Spring Festival boasts the UK’s longest Floral Marquee at over 195 metres – the equivalent length of four Olympic swimming pools. The Floral Marquee welcomes more than 65 leading UK and international nurseries, setting the horticultural standards with impressive displays of prized blooms and new varieties. Exhibitors in the Floral Marquee represent the very best in plants and advice available. Here visitors can browse and buy from the very best.
JOE SWIFT’S PLANT HUNTER PARLOUR
BBC Gardeners’ World presenter and acclaimed garden expert, Joe Swift brings to life a new centerpiece of the Floral Marquee – Joe’s Plant Hunter Parlour. This immersive experience like no other features daily talks from award winning nurseries and welcomes budding gardeners big and small to discover, learn and indulge their inner plant hunter.
LIVE WELL
Newly introduced for the very first time, this dedicated zone interprets and explores the theme of health and wellbeing in the 21st century.
JEKKA MCVICAR’S HEALTH & WELLBEING GARDEN
The centrepiece of the Live Well zone, British Queen of Herbs, Jekka McVicar designs and builds a specially commissioned permanent garden, bringing to life the role gardens continue to play in our health and sense of wellbeing. Jekka’s garden is a living working space for mind, body and senses.
The garden is both a tranquil seating space where visitors can spend time amongst the aromatic herb beds, and a place to learn and explore what living well meant in yesteryear and what it means today. Visitors are invited to join daily ‘herbal conversations’ with Jekka herself and explore the awe-inspiring world of alternative therapies. The garden is in support of Pathways, a day service for adults with learning disabilities and difficulties.
GROW
A horticultural experience by Jon Wheatley, RHS Gold Medal winning gardener and Chairman of RHS South West in Bloom, Grow takes inspiration from interactive Country gardens and wildflower borders, showcasing a variety of edible beds and bountiful Grow To Show competitions.
SPA GARDENS
A brand new category introduced for the very first time to RHS Malvern Spring Festival, offering a unique platform for emerging gardening talent. Glorious gardens from up and coming designers bring to life the new vision and reflect the thirst for knowledge, new horizons and innovative technology at the heart of Malvern’s Victorian heritage. Gold Medal winning Chelsea garden designer, Jo Thompson is mentoring the new talent as they embark on this exciting new challenge. The Spa Gardens category also features one garden from an international designer supported by the esteemed Moscow Flower Show. This is part of a newly introduced exchange programme, which in return offers one selected British Spa Garden designer the once in a lifetime chance to showcase at Moscow Flower Show in July.
INDOOR SHOPPING ARCADES
A premium quality shopping experience, it is here that visitors can pick up unique pieces in fashion, furniture, homewares, horticulture, gifts and more from independent designers, craftsmen, artisans and artists.
PLANT ARCADES
An exciting open-air shopping experience with over 35 nurseries, each showcasing a wonderful array of plants. Plant steals aplenty can be found here, especially during the famous sell-off on Sunday.
MAKING A WELCOME RETURN
FESTIVAL GREEN
The heart of RHS Malvern Spring Festival featuring a colourful array of pleasure gardens, a bandstand of live music, an impressive collection of classic cars, an array of global flavours from the International Street Food Market, and plenty of places to picnic. It is here visitors rediscover the Victorian love of amusement, surprise and delight, alongside enjoying unique show gardens unlike any other.
FESTIVAL THEATRE
Hosted by RHS Malvern Spring Festival favourite and award winning writer and broadcaster, James Alexander-Sinclair, the Festival Theatre plays host to a lively line up of leading experts and familiar faces. Visitors may take a seat and enjoy demonstrations, talks and exciting features as personalities share their knowledge and passion for all things gardening and food. Confirmed experts include Carol Klein, Joe Swift, Jekka McVicar and Jon Wheatley with plenty more to be announced soon.
SHOW GARDENS
The highest standard of garden design is showcased in the Show Gardens of RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. Leading designers create awe-inspiring gardens as they compete for prestigious RHS accolades including Gold medals and the coveted Best In Show. RHS Malvern Spring Festival is famed as the show that raises the bar for design and horticultural talent with numerous RHS Gold medals awarded in 2016. This year is tipped to be no exception.
FOOD & DRINK PAVILION
A foodie hotspot, the Food & Drink Pavilion is a magnificent celebration of British tastes with bountiful offerings from the country’s best-loved artisan producers. Expect the freshest field produce, big cheeses, bread of heaven, specialty gins, decadent bakes and more.
KITCHEN GARDEN THEATRE
This animated live kitchen, hosted by Mark Diacono, showcases a line up of delicious cookery demonstrations from culinary experts and the country’s top chefs. Mark shares advice from his home farm cookery school, Otter Farm and experience as head gardener at River Cottage.
YOUNG GARDENER
A hive of activity tailored to inspire the next generation of gardeners and horticulturalists with fun hands-on activities to help children learn and explore the wonderful world of plants and gardens.
FAMILY DAY
Budding gardeners great and small are invited to get green fingered with a dedicated Family Day on the Sunday of RHS Malvern Spring Festival. This exciting and educational day with plenty of hands on activities is the ideal opportunity to engage children in the fun of gardening and the great outdoors. Expect Kids Cookery demonstrations, make and take crafts, Kids Plant and Grow workshops with BBC Blue Peter Gardener, Chris Collins and more.
SCHOOL GARDENS
RHS Malvern Spring Festival is one of the only RHS Shows in the UK to have a collection of Show Gardens designed and built entirely by young people. This year sees over 12 schools and educational groups from across the three counties taking part, led by BBC Blue Peter Gardener, Chris Collins.
RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 will take place from Thursday 11 May until Sunday 14 May. For more information, please call 01684 584900 or visit
British Queen of Herbs, Jekka McVicar will unveil the first ever specially commissioned permanent garden at RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. A magnificent centrepiece of the celebrated event’s all-new Live Well zone, Jekka’s garden will bring to life the contribution horticulture continues to make to our health and wellbeing in today’s bustling modern world. The Health & Wellbeing Garden will be launched when the show opens its gates on Thursday 11 May at the Three Counties Showground.#
RHS Ambassador for Health through Horticulture, Jekka McVicar said: “I am delighted to have been asked to create a lasting garden for RHS Malvern Spring Festival. I want the Health & Wellbeing Garden to be a usable and beautiful space that is embraced by people of all ages – a space for growth, education and reflection. With the Malvern Hills as a dramatic backdrop, RHS Malvern Spring Festival is such a beautiful place and because it’s at the start of the summer, it’s always a time of such optimism. It is a real privilege to bring this garden to life as part of such a dynamic and exciting show.”
Jekka’s Health & Wellbeing garden, as the focus for the new Live Well Zone, is inspired by the increasing need for reflection and escape from the stresses of modern life. It also seeks to preserve and share the vital knowledge of how horticulture and its associated therapies can help the mind, body and soul. The garden will be a living, working space with a tranquil seating area, where visitors can immerse themselves amongst the aromatic herb beds, and also educate themselves on the place that herbs and horticulture play in today’s society.
Head of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Jane Furze said: “It is a real pleasure to be working with Jekka to build a garden not only for this year’s event, but also for the future. Jekka’s designs look spectacular and we cannot wait to see these brought to life and shared with our many visitors. The Health & Wellbeing Garden will no doubt be a real highlight of RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 and for many years to come.”
Throughout the 4-days of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Jekka will host daily ‘herb conversations’ in the garden, unearthing hidden gems from the world of alternative therapies, food and gardening. Jekka will also provide insights into herbs as the foundation of modern medicine, seeking to preserve the knowledge that over time is danger of being lost.
The Health & Wellbeing Garden is in support of Pathways, a work-focused day service for adults with learning disabilities and difficulties. Pathways use gardening and the environment as an educational tool to introduce young adults to the working world. Clients of Pathways benefit from gaining vital skills for entering the working world, these include trust, communication, interaction with peers, taking direction and responsibility for themselves and others.
Leaving a legacy, Jekka’s garden will provide Pathways with a nurturing space to continue their works in encouraging clients to grow. Throughout the show times, Pathways will sell plants and refreshments from the garden. Funds raised from these sales go towards covering the costs of the residential trip taken twice each year for clients of Pathways, a vital retreat for clients that contributes to their sense of wellbeing. Outside of show days, Pathways and local schools will host sessions in the garden. The garden aims to inspire visitors of all ages and abilities with engaging elements tailored for all.
Jekka’s design will incorporate the unique and flexible WoodBlocX system, specially selected to provide permanent raised bed structures to house the garden’s vast selection of herbs and edibles. The centrepiece of the garden contains four large planted sections featuring smooth curves constructed from the unique WoodBlocX system. WoodBlocX use sustainable, long-lasting, organic and FSC accredited wooden bricks, which can be used to create any shape such as the naturally fluid curves seen in Jekka’s elegant design.
Considered an unmatched expert by the UK’s top chefs and horticulturalists, Jekka McVicar is an enterprising British herb grower, organic gardening expert, author and broadcaster. Jekka’s Herb Farm, in nearby South Gloucestershire, boasts the largest collection of culinary herbs in the UK with more than 500 different varieties.
Alongside her RHS Ambassadorship for Health through Horticulture, Jekka’s accolades include 62 RHS Gold Medals, Garden Media Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and the RHS Lawrence Medal for the best exhibit shown at any RHS show in 2009. Jekka is also a Vice President of the RHS, Vice President of the Herb Society, is a founder member of the RHS Herb advisory group, and a member of the RHS Three Counties Agricultural Society Joint Committee. Jekka has herself exhibited at RHS Malvern Spring Festival since 1993 and has been a vital contributor to the team at Three Counties for over a decade.
RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 will take place from Thursday 11 May until Sunday 14 May. Tickets are now on sale. For more information and to book tickets, please call
The last thing you expect to find at the entrance of The Mailbox is Optimus Prime!
I assume that he is Robot Rock 2 from Covent Garden Entertainment.
This Optimus Prime costume is obviously based on Michael Bay's movies (Transformers 4 is in production now!).
He was a bit of a poser!
August 2, 2012
film. expect to see way more in the following week.
and the harry potter coloured bracelets some of you requested to see :) it's probably way less then you guys were expecting x3
for some reason, my film photos come out dull-looking. i've edited the levels on this one. does anyone know why? could it be that i don't know how to use the settings (i put it on aperture priority) or the lens is dirty from decades without use?
and guys, if you decide to put my photo on your tumblr or something please give credit and/or link back to my flickr page. thanks.
+++i was taggeddddddd
Are you single/taken/heartbroken/confused?
singleeeee
What if I told you that you were pretty?
lol are you talking about the right person
What are you looking forward to in the next week?
may go on a last minute road trip to Ottawa! i've never been there before and i like to get awayyy
Do you want to be single?
i don't mind it.
Have you pretended to like someone?
nah
Is it hard for you to get over someone?
depends how much they mean to me ;D
What would you name your future daughter?
idk i'm terrible with coming up with names
Are you good at hiding your feelings?
definitely..to a point
Are you listening to music right now?
listening to the tv in the next room :3
How is your heart lately?
its great. keeping me alive; doing its job :]
Are you wearing socks?
i hate wearing socks in the house
What do people call you?
oh boy.... uhm.. theyre kinda stereotypical things like: asian, ming-ming, the next yao ming (yearbook inside joke cause im short).. then the ONES I DONT MIND like melissa, mel, etc.
Will you talk to the person you like tonight?
does fangirling about swimmers and divers from the olympics count
When was the last time a member of the opposite sex hugged you?
today... my grandpa LOL
Do you get stressed out easily?
YES YES DONT EVEN SAY THE WORD EXAMS DONT EVEN
Who do you go to when you need to talk to someone?
no one, really..
What is on your wrists right now?
nothing.
What do you like better: hot chocolate or hot apple cider?
i prefer french vanilla cappuccinos.... but i guess i'd say hot chocolate
Are you a good artist?
yes! i do believe so... aside from photography i like to paint and draw digital art
Do you miss the way things were six months ago?
six months ago...what month is that? february? anyways not really because i was a niner starting second semester in school ew
Ever stayed up all night on the phone, with who?
nope.
Do you use chap stick?
sometimes. if i can find it.....
Do you have a little sister?
no. i wish i did. brothers are icky. and i would love to dress up a little sister and do her hair :3
Have you hugged someone within the last week?
yessir
What were you doing at midnight last night?
watching tv - american dad and futurama:)
Have you ever regretted kissing someone?
never been kissed
Will next Friday be a good one?
ITS FRIDAY FRIDAY GOTTA GET DOWN ON FRIDAY maybe. dont have anything planned yet.
We honestly had hoped but didn't expect to see much wildlife on our 16 mile hike to "suicide point" and back from Pittsburg Landing in Hells Canyon. The trail traffic was heavy due to the adventure run and anywhere we would travel would already have plenty of people passing before us.
But our slow hike worked out for us—on the return, long after everybody else was done, we were able to see deer, sheep, and this Chucker.
I just got done listening to Yahoo's quarterly analyst conference call. Carol Bartz, Yahoo's new CEO, gave a rundown on what we should expect in the quarter ahead and took her first round of questions from Wall Street analysts. There will of course be plenty of financial analysis on the web about both their quarterly performance and her first analyst call as CEO, so I'm not going to get into much of that here except to say that I did think it was interesting that she mentioned "micro blogging" at one point in the call and that makes me wonder if Yahoo might be interested in buying Twitter or FriendFeed.
One of the things that I was struck by on today's call though is that my favorite Yahoo property Flickr was not mentioned a single time, not once, nada, nilch, it's like they didn't even exist. Many of Yahoo's other properties were mentioned of course, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, etc. -- she even mentioned Buzz. But the word Flickr was not uttered a single time on the entire call.
Analysts asked questions about Facebook and myspace and Bartz even mentioned at one point that one of her daughters wasn't as interested in posting pictures to Facebook any more as she was now more interested in reading Yahoo Finance etc. Posting photos on Facebook? Why not Flickr? There were many points in the call that it would have been appropriate for Bartz to mention Flickr, but she didn't. Which to me was a bit disappointing. Especially given that Alexa rates Flickr as the 23rd most visited English internet site in the world. Certainly well ahead of almost every other property that Yahoo owns.
But then I got to thinking more. Maybe Bartz just doesn't know about Flickr. Maybe she's just not familiar with it. So I did a search for her on Flickr to see if I could find an account for her to add her as a friend, maybe she just needs me as her friend on Flickr. The closest thing I could come up with on Flickr for Bartz was this account. Unfortunately, if this account (screenshot above) is actually Carol's account, well, then it's no wonder she's not familiar with Flickr, she doesn't seem to use the account at all. The account has no avatar, is sharing no public photos, has no testimonials, has no contacts -- heck, the account isn't even a paid Pro account.
Now there is a chance of course that this account is not Carol's. That it belongs to some other Carol Bartz and that she has some other sort of handle on flickr like hotmama28787, but then again maybe not.
Now I'm not suggesting that every CEO needs to "dogfood" their own company products. But as one of the most trafficked and highest profile Yahoo property, I certainly think it makes some amount of sense for her to use Flickr, or at least to have a halfway presentable account on the site. Everybody has photos right? Even if she didn't want to share photos of her kids or her dog or things like that, she could at least share a few photos that she's snapped of flowers or sunsets, no?
On the analyst call she talked a bit about how Yahoo's traffic had spiked during the inauguration. What a great opportunity for her to have plugged Flickr and mention that some of the best photos of the entire event came from Flickr, Yahoo's users. Instead she didn't, and I think that's too bad.
By the way, one thing that Bartz did say over and over again on today's earnings call was that she hoped to make Yahoo successful by having a "maniacal focus on our users and their experience." She used the words maniacal many times and it seemed to be a focus of hers. In the spirit of this maniacal focus on my own experience, I'd like to offer my own comment as a very heavy user of one of Yahoo's top properties, Flickr (which I hope she and her daughters join and are active on the future).
Carol, if you want to focus on *my* user experience on Flickr, the best thing that you could do is to have Flickr stop censoring my images. Oh, and it would be nice if Yahoo would agree to notify users if their photos on Flickr are censored in the future. That's all for now. Carry on with the new job as CEO and dropkicking friggin' ass.
It was a clear and calm morning as expected. There were some layers of clouds in the south, but wind was toward south. I felt nothing of forest fire there, no smoke nor smell at all.
I prepared my imaging equipment at night, a small telescope on a compact equatorial mount on a stiff rock bed near the pond and a fisheye lens on a tripod on a big stump over there. I was too excited to sleep through the night.
equipment: DSC-RX1, hand-held
exposure: 1/250 sec at ISO 200 f/8.0
6:53:16 Aug. 21, 2017 in local time, 13:53:16 Aug. 21, 2017UTC
site: 1,836.3m or 6,025 feet above sea level at 44 40 06.35 North 119 02 59.93 West near the summit of Long Creek Mountain in Oregon
Edited (and cropped from the original) New Horizons PR image of the asteroid Ultima Thule (which also goes by the much less interesting name of (486958) 2014 MU69) soon before its fly-by on 1 January 2019. Better images are expected soon and all data will take about 20 months to return. Processing variant.
Image source: pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20190101
Original caption: NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past Ultima Thule in the early hours of New Year's Day, ushering in the era of exploration from the enigmatic Kuiper Belt, a region of primordial objects that holds keys to understanding the origins of the solar system.
"Congratulations to NASA's New Horizons team, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and the Southwest Research Institute for making history yet again. In addition to being the first to explore Pluto, today New Horizons flew by the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft and became the first to directly explore an object that holds remnants from the birth of our solar system," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "This is what leadership in space exploration is all about."
Signals confirming the spacecraft is healthy and had filled its digital recorders with science data on Ultima Thule reached the mission operations center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) today at 10:29 a.m. EST, almost exactly 10 hours after New Horizons' closest approach to the object.
"New Horizons performed as planned today, conducting the farthest exploration of any world in history — 4 billion miles from the Sun," said Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "The data we have look fantastic and we're already learning about Ultima from up close. From here out the data will just get better and better!"
Images taken during the spacecraft's approach — which brought New Horizons to within just 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) of Ultima at 12:33 a.m. EST — revealed that the Kuiper Belt object may have a shape similar to a bowling pin, spinning end over end, with dimensions of approximately 20 by 10 miles (32 by 16 kilometers). Another possibility is Ultima could be two objects orbiting each other. Flyby data have already solved one of Ultima's mysteries, showing that the Kuiper Belt object is spinning like a propeller with the axis pointing approximately toward New Horizons. This explains why, in earlier images taken before Ultima was resolved, its brightness didn't appear to vary as it rotated. The team has still not determined the rotation period.
As the science data began its initial return to Earth, mission team members and leadership reveled in the excitement of the first exploration of this distant region of space.
"New Horizons holds a dear place in our hearts as an intrepid and persistent little explorer, as well as a great photographer," said Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Director Ralph Semmel. "This flyby marks a first for all of us — APL, NASA, the nation and the world — and it is a great credit to the bold team of scientists and engineers who brought us to this point."
"Reaching Ultima Thule from 4 billion miles away is an incredible achievement. This is exploration at its finest," said Adam L. Hamilton, president and CEO of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "Kudos to the science team and mission partners for starting the textbooks on Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. We're looking forward to seeing the next chapter."
The New Horizons spacecraft will continue downloading images and other data in the days and months ahead, completing the return of all science data over the next 20 months. When New Horizons launched in January 2006, George W. Bush was in the White House, Twitter had just been launched and Time Magazine's Person of the Year was "you — all the worldwide web users." Nine years into its journey, the spacecraft began its exploration of the Kuiper Belt with a flyby of Pluto and its moons. Almost 13 years after the launch, the spacecraft will continue its exploration of the Kuiper Belt until at least 2021. Team members plan to propose more Kuiper Belt exploration.
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Follow the New Horizons mission on Twitter and use the hashtags #UltimaThule, #UltimaFlyby and #askNewHorizons to join the conversation. Live updates and links to mission information are also available on pluto.jhuapl.edu and www.nasa.gov.
The festival celebrates the finest in both gardening and food. Visitors can expect stunning show gardens and nursery displays alongside a bounty of food producers, shopping and top tips from garden experts and celebrity chefs.
Set against the picturesque Malvern Hills, show gardens are always a number one destination, with five designers being awarded with RHS Gold Medals in 2016.
The Floral Marquee is bursting with examples of the finest nurseries in the UK and abroad, with many old favourites and new varieties on sale.
The foodie hotspot, Festival Food and Drink Pavilion, is a lively market of food producers offering a variety of artisan produce. At the heart is a Kitchen Theatre where celebrity guests and local producers showcase their skills and produce.
Other festival favourites include the School Gardens, Get Going Get Growing pavilion and Family Day (Sunday).
RHS Malvern Spring Festival is a joint partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society and Three Counties Agricultural Society.
An entirely new vision brings RHS Malvern Spring Festival into full bloom for 2017, taking inspiration from the event’s Spa town heritage. The landmark four-day spectacle, taking place from Thursday 11 – Sunday 14 May at the Three Counties Showground, welcomes all new features and exhibits and a vibrant line up of the finest in gardening, food and lifestyle.
Jane Furze, Head of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, said: “We are so excited to share the glorious plans that are afoot for RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. It really is going to be a sensational year for our leading event with plenty for everyone. Whether you’re a newcomer to gardening, a veteran horticulturalist or simply looking for a family day out, RHS Malvern Spring Festival has it all. We look forward to welcoming visitors to our stunning showcase of spring in May.”
The new vision for RHS Malvern Spring Festival takes inspiration from Malvern Spa’s Victorian heyday as a fashionable health resort – a place where day-trippers descended to take advantage of the clean air and to enjoy the health giving waters amongst the romantic beauty of the hills and into a town of pleasure gardens, assembly rooms and numerous eating-places.
Promising a bountiful day out for everyone, visitors can expect:
NEW FOR 2017
FLORAL MARQUEE
RHS Malvern Spring Festival boasts the UK’s longest Floral Marquee at over 195 metres – the equivalent length of four Olympic swimming pools. The Floral Marquee welcomes more than 65 leading UK and international nurseries, setting the horticultural standards with impressive displays of prized blooms and new varieties. Exhibitors in the Floral Marquee represent the very best in plants and advice available. Here visitors can browse and buy from the very best.
JOE SWIFT’S PLANT HUNTER PARLOUR
BBC Gardeners’ World presenter and acclaimed garden expert, Joe Swift brings to life a new centerpiece of the Floral Marquee – Joe’s Plant Hunter Parlour. This immersive experience like no other features daily talks from award winning nurseries and welcomes budding gardeners big and small to discover, learn and indulge their inner plant hunter.
LIVE WELL
Newly introduced for the very first time, this dedicated zone interprets and explores the theme of health and wellbeing in the 21st century.
JEKKA MCVICAR’S HEALTH & WELLBEING GARDEN
The centrepiece of the Live Well zone, British Queen of Herbs, Jekka McVicar designs and builds a specially commissioned permanent garden, bringing to life the role gardens continue to play in our health and sense of wellbeing. Jekka’s garden is a living working space for mind, body and senses.
The garden is both a tranquil seating space where visitors can spend time amongst the aromatic herb beds, and a place to learn and explore what living well meant in yesteryear and what it means today. Visitors are invited to join daily ‘herbal conversations’ with Jekka herself and explore the awe-inspiring world of alternative therapies. The garden is in support of Pathways, a day service for adults with learning disabilities and difficulties.
GROW
A horticultural experience by Jon Wheatley, RHS Gold Medal winning gardener and Chairman of RHS South West in Bloom, Grow takes inspiration from interactive Country gardens and wildflower borders, showcasing a variety of edible beds and bountiful Grow To Show competitions.
SPA GARDENS
A brand new category introduced for the very first time to RHS Malvern Spring Festival, offering a unique platform for emerging gardening talent. Glorious gardens from up and coming designers bring to life the new vision and reflect the thirst for knowledge, new horizons and innovative technology at the heart of Malvern’s Victorian heritage. Gold Medal winning Chelsea garden designer, Jo Thompson is mentoring the new talent as they embark on this exciting new challenge. The Spa Gardens category also features one garden from an international designer supported by the esteemed Moscow Flower Show. This is part of a newly introduced exchange programme, which in return offers one selected British Spa Garden designer the once in a lifetime chance to showcase at Moscow Flower Show in July.
INDOOR SHOPPING ARCADES
A premium quality shopping experience, it is here that visitors can pick up unique pieces in fashion, furniture, homewares, horticulture, gifts and more from independent designers, craftsmen, artisans and artists.
PLANT ARCADES
An exciting open-air shopping experience with over 35 nurseries, each showcasing a wonderful array of plants. Plant steals aplenty can be found here, especially during the famous sell-off on Sunday.
MAKING A WELCOME RETURN
FESTIVAL GREEN
The heart of RHS Malvern Spring Festival featuring a colourful array of pleasure gardens, a bandstand of live music, an impressive collection of classic cars, an array of global flavours from the International Street Food Market, and plenty of places to picnic. It is here visitors rediscover the Victorian love of amusement, surprise and delight, alongside enjoying unique show gardens unlike any other.
FESTIVAL THEATRE
Hosted by RHS Malvern Spring Festival favourite and award winning writer and broadcaster, James Alexander-Sinclair, the Festival Theatre plays host to a lively line up of leading experts and familiar faces. Visitors may take a seat and enjoy demonstrations, talks and exciting features as personalities share their knowledge and passion for all things gardening and food. Confirmed experts include Carol Klein, Joe Swift, Jekka McVicar and Jon Wheatley with plenty more to be announced soon.
SHOW GARDENS
The highest standard of garden design is showcased in the Show Gardens of RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. Leading designers create awe-inspiring gardens as they compete for prestigious RHS accolades including Gold medals and the coveted Best In Show. RHS Malvern Spring Festival is famed as the show that raises the bar for design and horticultural talent with numerous RHS Gold medals awarded in 2016. This year is tipped to be no exception.
FOOD & DRINK PAVILION
A foodie hotspot, the Food & Drink Pavilion is a magnificent celebration of British tastes with bountiful offerings from the country’s best-loved artisan producers. Expect the freshest field produce, big cheeses, bread of heaven, specialty gins, decadent bakes and more.
KITCHEN GARDEN THEATRE
This animated live kitchen, hosted by Mark Diacono, showcases a line up of delicious cookery demonstrations from culinary experts and the country’s top chefs. Mark shares advice from his home farm cookery school, Otter Farm and experience as head gardener at River Cottage.
YOUNG GARDENER
A hive of activity tailored to inspire the next generation of gardeners and horticulturalists with fun hands-on activities to help children learn and explore the wonderful world of plants and gardens.
FAMILY DAY
Budding gardeners great and small are invited to get green fingered with a dedicated Family Day on the Sunday of RHS Malvern Spring Festival. This exciting and educational day with plenty of hands on activities is the ideal opportunity to engage children in the fun of gardening and the great outdoors. Expect Kids Cookery demonstrations, make and take crafts, Kids Plant and Grow workshops with BBC Blue Peter Gardener, Chris Collins and more.
SCHOOL GARDENS
RHS Malvern Spring Festival is one of the only RHS Shows in the UK to have a collection of Show Gardens designed and built entirely by young people. This year sees over 12 schools and educational groups from across the three counties taking part, led by BBC Blue Peter Gardener, Chris Collins.
RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 will take place from Thursday 11 May until Sunday 14 May. For more information, please call 01684 584900 or visit
British Queen of Herbs, Jekka McVicar will unveil the first ever specially commissioned permanent garden at RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. A magnificent centrepiece of the celebrated event’s all-new Live Well zone, Jekka’s garden will bring to life the contribution horticulture continues to make to our health and wellbeing in today’s bustling modern world. The Health & Wellbeing Garden will be launched when the show opens its gates on Thursday 11 May at the Three Counties Showground.#
RHS Ambassador for Health through Horticulture, Jekka McVicar said: “I am delighted to have been asked to create a lasting garden for RHS Malvern Spring Festival. I want the Health & Wellbeing Garden to be a usable and beautiful space that is embraced by people of all ages – a space for growth, education and reflection. With the Malvern Hills as a dramatic backdrop, RHS Malvern Spring Festival is such a beautiful place and because it’s at the start of the summer, it’s always a time of such optimism. It is a real privilege to bring this garden to life as part of such a dynamic and exciting show.”
Jekka’s Health & Wellbeing garden, as the focus for the new Live Well Zone, is inspired by the increasing need for reflection and escape from the stresses of modern life. It also seeks to preserve and share the vital knowledge of how horticulture and its associated therapies can help the mind, body and soul. The garden will be a living, working space with a tranquil seating area, where visitors can immerse themselves amongst the aromatic herb beds, and also educate themselves on the place that herbs and horticulture play in today’s society.
Head of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Jane Furze said: “It is a real pleasure to be working with Jekka to build a garden not only for this year’s event, but also for the future. Jekka’s designs look spectacular and we cannot wait to see these brought to life and shared with our many visitors. The Health & Wellbeing Garden will no doubt be a real highlight of RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 and for many years to come.”
Throughout the 4-days of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Jekka will host daily ‘herb conversations’ in the garden, unearthing hidden gems from the world of alternative therapies, food and gardening. Jekka will also provide insights into herbs as the foundation of modern medicine, seeking to preserve the knowledge that over time is danger of being lost.
The Health & Wellbeing Garden is in support of Pathways, a work-focused day service for adults with learning disabilities and difficulties. Pathways use gardening and the environment as an educational tool to introduce young adults to the working world. Clients of Pathways benefit from gaining vital skills for entering the working world, these include trust, communication, interaction with peers, taking direction and responsibility for themselves and others.
Leaving a legacy, Jekka’s garden will provide Pathways with a nurturing space to continue their works in encouraging clients to grow. Throughout the show times, Pathways will sell plants and refreshments from the garden. Funds raised from these sales go towards covering the costs of the residential trip taken twice each year for clients of Pathways, a vital retreat for clients that contributes to their sense of wellbeing. Outside of show days, Pathways and local schools will host sessions in the garden. The garden aims to inspire visitors of all ages and abilities with engaging elements tailored for all.
Jekka’s design will incorporate the unique and flexible WoodBlocX system, specially selected to provide permanent raised bed structures to house the garden’s vast selection of herbs and edibles. The centrepiece of the garden contains four large planted sections featuring smooth curves constructed from the unique WoodBlocX system. WoodBlocX use sustainable, long-lasting, organic and FSC accredited wooden bricks, which can be used to create any shape such as the naturally fluid curves seen in Jekka’s elegant design.
Considered an unmatched expert by the UK’s top chefs and horticulturalists, Jekka McVicar is an enterprising British herb grower, organic gardening expert, author and broadcaster. Jekka’s Herb Farm, in nearby South Gloucestershire, boasts the largest collection of culinary herbs in the UK with more than 500 different varieties.
Alongside her RHS Ambassadorship for Health through Horticulture, Jekka’s accolades include 62 RHS Gold Medals, Garden Media Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and the RHS Lawrence Medal for the best exhibit shown at any RHS show in 2009. Jekka is also a Vice President of the RHS, Vice President of the Herb Society, is a founder member of the RHS Herb advisory group, and a member of the RHS Three Counties Agricultural Society Joint Committee. Jekka has herself exhibited at RHS Malvern Spring Festival since 1993 and has been a vital contributor to the team at Three Counties for over a decade.
RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 will take place from Thursday 11 May until Sunday 14 May. Tickets are now on sale. For more information and to book tickets, please call
And you were expecting a chicken coop!
I think my new tattoo is almost healed. It's been just over a week and it's itchy. It was nice out again today, nice enough for me to put my suit on and sit on the back deck without freezing so here you have it. I wore this bathing suit bottom when I got it and realized it is a lot lower than most of my other suits so it may only show a bit. Eh.
Here you will see the artist doing the work.
So SM. Just what about it can't you believe? I'm curious. That I got a tattoo at all? Or at my age? Where it is located? The design? Tell me. . .
SKC? Your issue? Perhaps that I said I would never get a tattoo at all? Like I said, I guess one should never say never.
CVP? Your comment? P1280397
I wasn't expecting much from this film, but it is actually brilliant. The clear base makes scanning easy too. Getting it on the reels is a bit tricky since it has the feel of litho ortho.
Devleoped in Sprint Systems for 20 min @ 20 degrees following the time for D-76.
Shot on a FED-2 with the 50mm 3.5 collapsible.
I never study a church before I go, maybe that's a fault on my part because I might miss something important and so have to go back. But for me, it's the wonder as you walk through the porch or door into the church, not knowing what to expect.
St Mary's looks like a typical Suffolk church from the outside, nice proportioned tower, good quality flint knapping. And yet once you enter, your breath is taken away by the glorious restored ceiling.
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It is not easy to find Huntingfield; even the signposts do not bear its name until you are within the parish boundary. Yet this shallow valley, divided by the infant river Blyth, with church and parsonage on one bank and manor house on the other, has been owned by some notable families in England's history.
The church is a Grade 1 Listed Building, largely due to its amazing Victorian painted ceiling.
The existing church certainly dates from the 11th century but there are signs that there had been a chapel here long before.
Some fragments of carved stones are set into the wall of the tower. At the beginning of this century they were turned up by a ploughman in a field called 'Chapel Field', a little to the south of the present church. They are fragments from a Saxon stone coffin and standing cross of the 10th century, long since disappeared.
The oldest part of the church is the wall between the nave and the north aisle which was the solid outer wall of the original twelfth century church. That church would have been small and dark, the whole building probably standing within the area of the present nave. The light would have come from small high windows of which one still remains above the two round-headed arches.
This wall has been altered at least twice. It was first broken through when the north aisle was built, and again in the nineteenth century when the arches were given their present 'Norman' curves. That first church was built by the family who took their name from the village and lived in the manor for 250 years, the Lords de Huntingfield.
The chancel was added in the thirteenth century.
By the end of the fourteenth, the south side of the nave had been altered and both aisles had been built in the fashionable Gothic style with its pointed arches. The five small high, or clerestory, windows on the south side of the nave would have provided light into the nave, the advent of affordable glass having made such things possible.
The east window of the south aisle has all that remains of the medieval glass that would once have filled many of the windows. There is a record of what was still to be seen here in the sixteenth century which lists the memorial windows with the coats of arms borne by the families who once owned the Manor.
The windows of the south aisle are particularly pretty and date from the fifteenth century. Their Perpendicular style is indicated by their familiar flat-topped shape. The porch is also from the fifteenth century.
The font dates from the fourteenth century.
The ceiling painting is very special and is explained on a separate page. The work was carried out in the 19th century while William Holland was rector. At the same time the organ and vestry were added with the Vanneck family vault beneath.
The ceiling is a masterpiece of Victorian church decoration, painted from end to end in brilliant colours, with carved and coloured angels, with banners, crowns and shields, all in the medieval style and of a most intricate and detailed finish.
The scheme of decoration is important as it reflects the ecclestiastical devotion of the late Victorian period clergy and their patrons, combined with the heightened liturgical practices of the Oxford Movement.
It was painted by Mildred Holland, the wife of William Holland who was rector for 44 years from 1848 until his death in 1892. The church was closed for eight months from September 1859 to April 1860 while she painted the chancel roof. Tradesmen provided scaffolding and prepared the ceiling for painting but there is no record to show that she had any help with the work, and legend has it that she did much of it lying on her back. We may imagine Victorian ladies wearing tight laced corsets and many petticoats, and wonder how she managed the ladders, scaffolding and hard labour of painting. She had an adviser on her schemes, a Mr. E. L. Blackburne F.S.A., an authority on medieval decoration.
The twelve large panels of the chancel ceiling each show an angel holding either a scroll with the words of the canticle 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel', or the emblems of the Passion: the cross, the hammer and nails, the scourge, the lance, the crown of thorns and the reed.
Two pelicans in their piety (pecking their breasts to feed their young) are in the last small panels.
Between the beam ends of the chancel roof there are Bible verses in Gothic lettering,
then two tiers of panels; the lower have pictures of the Lamb of God alternating with`the Keys of Heaven. Above, are crowned monograms.
Above the Chancel Arch, the Lamb of God is depicted with the words 'Glory, Honour, Praise and Power unto the Lamb for Ever and Ever', lines taken from the Book of Revelation.
Three years later Mildred Holland began to paint again in the nave. In 1866 her husband William makes a note 'scaffolding finally taken down, September Ist'. The whole cost of repairing the nave roof, preparing it for painting and for materials amounted to £247.10s.7d of which £16.7s.6d was for 225 books of gold leaf and £72 for colours. William Holland's notes show that between 1859 and 1882 a total of £2,034. 10s.0d was spent on the church restoration, of which, apparently, he gave all but £400.
Recent research has found the complete record of William Holland's work in restoring and furnishing the church. These are available for interested students.
The figures on the nave roof are of the twelve apostles and two female saints. Each is painted in the lower tier with their traditional symbols and again in the upper tier clothed in heavenly raiment holding scrolls bearing their names.
Note that Saints Margaret and Andrew are both included as there is a tradition that these two saints were specially venerated here. There are niches for statues in the south aisle which may have held statues of them. The cult of St Margaret of Antioch grew in the 10th century and her veneration was brought back to England by crusaders. Her inclusion here may hint at an early date for the church's foundation.
Mildred Holland died in 1878; William served on until 1892, a total of forty years. He gave the font cover in memory of his wife and also the brass lectern with its graceful angels and winged dragons. Their graves are in the churchyard to the west of the entrance gates. Side by side they lie, beneath a table tomb alongside a standing cross.
It is natural to speculate about the roof. It is of a single hammer-beam construction, arch-braced principals alternating with hammer-beams ending in carved angels. The angels in the nave carry a crown or a banner, those in the chancel have heraldic shields bearing arms. The question all ask is: are these angels genuinely medieval work which escaped the axes of the post-Reformation Puritans, (and remember that William Dowsing, the arch-destroyer, came from nearby Laxfield) or are they all the handiwork of Victorian craftsmen?
Traditional East Anglian hammer-beam roofs generally terminate in a carving of some sort, and the de la Poles made angel roofs in the churches of their manors, even taking Suffolk carpenters to Ewelme in Oxfordshire to make one there. But our angels are too perfect to be so old. Entries in a tradesman's account of 1865 would seem to settle the matter; or do they?
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were times of great development and two families, both wealthy and influential, used their means to beautify and rebuild the churches on their manors including St Mary's. Keeping up with the neighbours is not a new fashion. Both left their marks on the font which, standing on restored steps and with a splendid cover, shows two heraldic shields.
The shield facing south depicts the arms of de Ufford while that on the north side is of de la Pole.
The de Ufford shield is that of Sir William de Ufford, Earl of Suffolk during the reign of Edward III. He held Framlingham Castle for the King and owned several manors in Suffolk. Among these were Parham, where he built the church, and Huntingfield.
The other shield is that of Michael de la Pole, Lord Chancellor and Earl of Suffolk, who married Catherine, daughter and heiress of Sir John Wingfield of Wingfield Castle. He succeeded to the manor of Huntingfield through his wife, and died in 1389. The shield shows both of their arms.
Michael de la Pole's has three polecat faces while Catherine Wingfield's has three open wings. Both are puns on their names. (For another heraldic pun look for the arms of Huntingfield being held by one of the angels in the roof: three hunting horns on a 'field'.)
In Ufford church you can see a medieval font cover which was a model for ours when it was made in the nineteenth century. In Wingfield church there is a font so like ours that it was probably made by the same craftsman.
www.stmaryshuntingfield.org.uk/history.htm
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There is nowhere else in Suffolk quite like St Mary. Huntingfield is one of the county's most obscure villages; there are hardly any signposts to it. It is the nearest village to the great pile of Heveningham Hall, and perhaps these two facts are not unconnected. But it is worth getting out the old Ordnance Survey map, because here at St Mary was a remarkable 19th century restoration.
In the second half of that century, many parish churches were drawn by the excitement of the age into major reconstructions and revisions. They often looked to London stars like Scott and Butterfield, or local plodders like Phipson, or else mavericks like Salvin. The demands of the new liturgical arrangements, coupled with a renewed sense of the need to glorify God, led them into what was often a rebuilding rather than a restoration. Internal decorations were, perhaps, the bespoke work of the architect; witness Phipson's meticulous attention to detail at St Mary le Tower, Ipswich.
Other restorers relied on the big picture, a vision that encompassed walls and floors, but left the fittings to others; as, for example, Salvin's Flixton St Mary. What was the driving force behind Victorian revisionism? Essentially, what happened in England between about 1830 and 1870 was a cultural revolution, a ferment of new ideas and the reaction to them. The changes proposed by the Oxford Movement were, at first, objectionable, and then merely controversial; but gradually, they seeped into the mainstream, until by about 1890 they had become as natural as the air we breathe.
By the centenary of the movement in the 1930s, one Anglican clergyman could observe "It is as if the Reformation had never happened". Well, not quite. And now, the pendulum has swung the other way, leaving the ritualists high and dry. But the evidence of the energy of those days survives, especially at Huntingfield, where it was the local vicar who drove the Oxford Movement through the heart of the parish, like a motorway through a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
What the vicar of Huntingfield had, and many other ministers didn't, was a visionary wife. Between 1859 and 1866, Mrs Mildred Holland planned, designed and executed the most elaborate redecoration of a church this county had seen since the Reformation. For seven years, she lay on her back at the top of scaffolding, first in the chancel (angels) and then in the nave (saints on the ceilure, fine angels on the beam ends), gilding, lettering and painting this most glorious of small church roofs. Her husband, the Reverend William Holland, kept a journal throughout this period, and there is no suggestion that she had any assistance, beyond that of workmen to raise the scaffolding, and a Mr E.L. Blackburne FSA, who was, apparently, an 'authority on medieval decoration'.
J.P. St Aubyn was responsible for the structural restoration of this largely 15th century building, and it is very restrained and merciful. He did, however, refit the little windows in the south clerestory. But you come here to see the painted roofs, which are perfectly splendid. Beware if you come with children, or it will cost you a fortune in pound coins to activate the illuminations.
The font cover is not part of Mildred Holland's work; rather, it is her memorial, as is the art nouveau lectern. It is as if her art was a catalyst, inspiring others to acts of beauty. She died in the 1870s, predeceasing her husband by twenty years. They are both now buried by the churchyard gate. How fitting, that they should lie in the graveyard of the church they loved so much, and to which they gave so much of their time, energy and money.
Curiously, Ann Owen, the wife of the vicar of nearby Heveningham, produced the stained glass there; a novel is waiting to be written about these two women.
For such an obscure village, St Mary has had its share of influential patrons. Four major families in particular have left their mark here. Before the Reformation, the de la Poles and Uffords, whose shields you'll find on the font, and in later years the Cokes and the Pastons, both more usually associated with Norfolk.
But, as I have said, you don't come to Huntingfield because of important dead people. Look up, look all around, and see the true memorial to Mrs Holland. It does not have the gravitas of Lound, or the piety of Kettlebaston. And I really love it for that. I think this is a place that should be better known, and not just because of the way it contrasts with the less successful 19th century restorations at neighbouring Cookley and Walpole.
What we have here is as fine a display of 19th century folk art as you'll find anywhere in the county.
Simon Knott, 2001 (updated 2007)
The festival celebrates the finest in both gardening and food. Visitors can expect stunning show gardens and nursery displays alongside a bounty of food producers, shopping and top tips from garden experts and celebrity chefs.
Set against the picturesque Malvern Hills, show gardens are always a number one destination, with five designers being awarded with RHS Gold Medals in 2016.
The Floral Marquee is bursting with examples of the finest nurseries in the UK and abroad, with many old favourites and new varieties on sale.
The foodie hotspot, Festival Food and Drink Pavilion, is a lively market of food producers offering a variety of artisan produce. At the heart is a Kitchen Theatre where celebrity guests and local producers showcase their skills and produce.
Other festival favourites include the School Gardens, Get Going Get Growing pavilion and Family Day (Sunday).
RHS Malvern Spring Festival is a joint partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society and Three Counties Agricultural Society.
An entirely new vision brings RHS Malvern Spring Festival into full bloom for 2017, taking inspiration from the event’s Spa town heritage. The landmark four-day spectacle, taking place from Thursday 11 – Sunday 14 May at the Three Counties Showground, welcomes all new features and exhibits and a vibrant line up of the finest in gardening, food and lifestyle.
Jane Furze, Head of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, said: “We are so excited to share the glorious plans that are afoot for RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. It really is going to be a sensational year for our leading event with plenty for everyone. Whether you’re a newcomer to gardening, a veteran horticulturalist or simply looking for a family day out, RHS Malvern Spring Festival has it all. We look forward to welcoming visitors to our stunning showcase of spring in May.”
The new vision for RHS Malvern Spring Festival takes inspiration from Malvern Spa’s Victorian heyday as a fashionable health resort – a place where day-trippers descended to take advantage of the clean air and to enjoy the health giving waters amongst the romantic beauty of the hills and into a town of pleasure gardens, assembly rooms and numerous eating-places.
Promising a bountiful day out for everyone, visitors can expect:
NEW FOR 2017
FLORAL MARQUEE
RHS Malvern Spring Festival boasts the UK’s longest Floral Marquee at over 195 metres – the equivalent length of four Olympic swimming pools. The Floral Marquee welcomes more than 65 leading UK and international nurseries, setting the horticultural standards with impressive displays of prized blooms and new varieties. Exhibitors in the Floral Marquee represent the very best in plants and advice available. Here visitors can browse and buy from the very best.
JOE SWIFT’S PLANT HUNTER PARLOUR
BBC Gardeners’ World presenter and acclaimed garden expert, Joe Swift brings to life a new centerpiece of the Floral Marquee – Joe’s Plant Hunter Parlour. This immersive experience like no other features daily talks from award winning nurseries and welcomes budding gardeners big and small to discover, learn and indulge their inner plant hunter.
LIVE WELL
Newly introduced for the very first time, this dedicated zone interprets and explores the theme of health and wellbeing in the 21st century.
JEKKA MCVICAR’S HEALTH & WELLBEING GARDEN
The centrepiece of the Live Well zone, British Queen of Herbs, Jekka McVicar designs and builds a specially commissioned permanent garden, bringing to life the role gardens continue to play in our health and sense of wellbeing. Jekka’s garden is a living working space for mind, body and senses.
The garden is both a tranquil seating space where visitors can spend time amongst the aromatic herb beds, and a place to learn and explore what living well meant in yesteryear and what it means today. Visitors are invited to join daily ‘herbal conversations’ with Jekka herself and explore the awe-inspiring world of alternative therapies. The garden is in support of Pathways, a day service for adults with learning disabilities and difficulties.
GROW
A horticultural experience by Jon Wheatley, RHS Gold Medal winning gardener and Chairman of RHS South West in Bloom, Grow takes inspiration from interactive Country gardens and wildflower borders, showcasing a variety of edible beds and bountiful Grow To Show competitions.
SPA GARDENS
A brand new category introduced for the very first time to RHS Malvern Spring Festival, offering a unique platform for emerging gardening talent. Glorious gardens from up and coming designers bring to life the new vision and reflect the thirst for knowledge, new horizons and innovative technology at the heart of Malvern’s Victorian heritage. Gold Medal winning Chelsea garden designer, Jo Thompson is mentoring the new talent as they embark on this exciting new challenge. The Spa Gardens category also features one garden from an international designer supported by the esteemed Moscow Flower Show. This is part of a newly introduced exchange programme, which in return offers one selected British Spa Garden designer the once in a lifetime chance to showcase at Moscow Flower Show in July.
INDOOR SHOPPING ARCADES
A premium quality shopping experience, it is here that visitors can pick up unique pieces in fashion, furniture, homewares, horticulture, gifts and more from independent designers, craftsmen, artisans and artists.
PLANT ARCADES
An exciting open-air shopping experience with over 35 nurseries, each showcasing a wonderful array of plants. Plant steals aplenty can be found here, especially during the famous sell-off on Sunday.
MAKING A WELCOME RETURN
FESTIVAL GREEN
The heart of RHS Malvern Spring Festival featuring a colourful array of pleasure gardens, a bandstand of live music, an impressive collection of classic cars, an array of global flavours from the International Street Food Market, and plenty of places to picnic. It is here visitors rediscover the Victorian love of amusement, surprise and delight, alongside enjoying unique show gardens unlike any other.
FESTIVAL THEATRE
Hosted by RHS Malvern Spring Festival favourite and award winning writer and broadcaster, James Alexander-Sinclair, the Festival Theatre plays host to a lively line up of leading experts and familiar faces. Visitors may take a seat and enjoy demonstrations, talks and exciting features as personalities share their knowledge and passion for all things gardening and food. Confirmed experts include Carol Klein, Joe Swift, Jekka McVicar and Jon Wheatley with plenty more to be announced soon.
SHOW GARDENS
The highest standard of garden design is showcased in the Show Gardens of RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. Leading designers create awe-inspiring gardens as they compete for prestigious RHS accolades including Gold medals and the coveted Best In Show. RHS Malvern Spring Festival is famed as the show that raises the bar for design and horticultural talent with numerous RHS Gold medals awarded in 2016. This year is tipped to be no exception.
FOOD & DRINK PAVILION
A foodie hotspot, the Food & Drink Pavilion is a magnificent celebration of British tastes with bountiful offerings from the country’s best-loved artisan producers. Expect the freshest field produce, big cheeses, bread of heaven, specialty gins, decadent bakes and more.
KITCHEN GARDEN THEATRE
This animated live kitchen, hosted by Mark Diacono, showcases a line up of delicious cookery demonstrations from culinary experts and the country’s top chefs. Mark shares advice from his home farm cookery school, Otter Farm and experience as head gardener at River Cottage.
YOUNG GARDENER
A hive of activity tailored to inspire the next generation of gardeners and horticulturalists with fun hands-on activities to help children learn and explore the wonderful world of plants and gardens.
FAMILY DAY
Budding gardeners great and small are invited to get green fingered with a dedicated Family Day on the Sunday of RHS Malvern Spring Festival. This exciting and educational day with plenty of hands on activities is the ideal opportunity to engage children in the fun of gardening and the great outdoors. Expect Kids Cookery demonstrations, make and take crafts, Kids Plant and Grow workshops with BBC Blue Peter Gardener, Chris Collins and more.
SCHOOL GARDENS
RHS Malvern Spring Festival is one of the only RHS Shows in the UK to have a collection of Show Gardens designed and built entirely by young people. This year sees over 12 schools and educational groups from across the three counties taking part, led by BBC Blue Peter Gardener, Chris Collins.
RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 will take place from Thursday 11 May until Sunday 14 May. For more information, please call 01684 584900 or visit
British Queen of Herbs, Jekka McVicar will unveil the first ever specially commissioned permanent garden at RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. A magnificent centrepiece of the celebrated event’s all-new Live Well zone, Jekka’s garden will bring to life the contribution horticulture continues to make to our health and wellbeing in today’s bustling modern world. The Health & Wellbeing Garden will be launched when the show opens its gates on Thursday 11 May at the Three Counties Showground.#
RHS Ambassador for Health through Horticulture, Jekka McVicar said: “I am delighted to have been asked to create a lasting garden for RHS Malvern Spring Festival. I want the Health & Wellbeing Garden to be a usable and beautiful space that is embraced by people of all ages – a space for growth, education and reflection. With the Malvern Hills as a dramatic backdrop, RHS Malvern Spring Festival is such a beautiful place and because it’s at the start of the summer, it’s always a time of such optimism. It is a real privilege to bring this garden to life as part of such a dynamic and exciting show.”
Jekka’s Health & Wellbeing garden, as the focus for the new Live Well Zone, is inspired by the increasing need for reflection and escape from the stresses of modern life. It also seeks to preserve and share the vital knowledge of how horticulture and its associated therapies can help the mind, body and soul. The garden will be a living, working space with a tranquil seating area, where visitors can immerse themselves amongst the aromatic herb beds, and also educate themselves on the place that herbs and horticulture play in today’s society.
Head of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Jane Furze said: “It is a real pleasure to be working with Jekka to build a garden not only for this year’s event, but also for the future. Jekka’s designs look spectacular and we cannot wait to see these brought to life and shared with our many visitors. The Health & Wellbeing Garden will no doubt be a real highlight of RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 and for many years to come.”
Throughout the 4-days of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Jekka will host daily ‘herb conversations’ in the garden, unearthing hidden gems from the world of alternative therapies, food and gardening. Jekka will also provide insights into herbs as the foundation of modern medicine, seeking to preserve the knowledge that over time is danger of being lost.
The Health & Wellbeing Garden is in support of Pathways, a work-focused day service for adults with learning disabilities and difficulties. Pathways use gardening and the environment as an educational tool to introduce young adults to the working world. Clients of Pathways benefit from gaining vital skills for entering the working world, these include trust, communication, interaction with peers, taking direction and responsibility for themselves and others.
Leaving a legacy, Jekka’s garden will provide Pathways with a nurturing space to continue their works in encouraging clients to grow. Throughout the show times, Pathways will sell plants and refreshments from the garden. Funds raised from these sales go towards covering the costs of the residential trip taken twice each year for clients of Pathways, a vital retreat for clients that contributes to their sense of wellbeing. Outside of show days, Pathways and local schools will host sessions in the garden. The garden aims to inspire visitors of all ages and abilities with engaging elements tailored for all.
Jekka’s design will incorporate the unique and flexible WoodBlocX system, specially selected to provide permanent raised bed structures to house the garden’s vast selection of herbs and edibles. The centrepiece of the garden contains four large planted sections featuring smooth curves constructed from the unique WoodBlocX system. WoodBlocX use sustainable, long-lasting, organic and FSC accredited wooden bricks, which can be used to create any shape such as the naturally fluid curves seen in Jekka’s elegant design.
Considered an unmatched expert by the UK’s top chefs and horticulturalists, Jekka McVicar is an enterprising British herb grower, organic gardening expert, author and broadcaster. Jekka’s Herb Farm, in nearby South Gloucestershire, boasts the largest collection of culinary herbs in the UK with more than 500 different varieties.
Alongside her RHS Ambassadorship for Health through Horticulture, Jekka’s accolades include 62 RHS Gold Medals, Garden Media Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and the RHS Lawrence Medal for the best exhibit shown at any RHS show in 2009. Jekka is also a Vice President of the RHS, Vice President of the Herb Society, is a founder member of the RHS Herb advisory group, and a member of the RHS Three Counties Agricultural Society Joint Committee. Jekka has herself exhibited at RHS Malvern Spring Festival since 1993 and has been a vital contributor to the team at Three Counties for over a decade.
RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 will take place from Thursday 11 May until Sunday 14 May. Tickets are now on sale. For more information and to book tickets, please call
Way bigger then I expected. I was thinking they were generally nalgene bottle size. Instead they are 2 liter pop bottle size, possibly even gallon milk size. :)
BTW, while the standard backpacking style web straps w/ buckles are OK I much prefer using my velcro straps (from REI) as seen holding the Yellow Nalgene on the front fork. They're faster, simpler, lighter, easier to use, you don't have to worry about loose strap ends and most importantly I think they're less likely to slip or loosen on rough terrain.`
Update: I was extremely happy to find myself looking for containers big enough to fill these cages and tall enough to interfere with the down tube or the front wheel. These bottles were all that I had on hand. I will most likely not be traveling with these bottles particularly the one on the downtube which is just there to test clearance. And btw, wow... the bottom corner of the rack is perfectly positioned for maximum clearance while allowing as tall a bottle to be put in it as possible. Indeed I think a 48oz Nalgene would fit superbly on the downtube without ground clearance issues or tire clearance issues. And on the front fork I think a 48oz nalgene would clear the down tube with ease and yet the cages are high enough and close enough to the wheel that they won't get caught on underbrush, snow or anything else. In short... this isn't your mom's traditional touring bike. It's a whole new breed of touring. :)
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Photos from the 2012 premiere of What to Expect When You're Expecting in New York.
This is probaby what a lot of my friends were expecting I'd see when I said I was going on a tour of "Soviet architecture": factory-cast concrete panels and framing members, craned into place on site, fast and cheap. Such techniques were explored across Europe (including the USSR) before the war, but it took the full mobilization of centralized postwar bureaucracies to achieve the promised economies of scale. This took place in the West as well, notably in the Netherlands, but has come to be associated principally with the Iron Curtain states, with East Germany's Plattenbauten perhaps being the most infamous. There are tons in the Soviet Union itself, typically low-rise affairs (to cut out costly elevator equipment) but with some massive slabs like this one in bigger, denser cities. The new approach was pushed heavily by Khruschev even before he became the General Secretary and announced an overall shift of architectural priorities towards highly engineered, efficient construction - hence the Russian name for such structures: "Khrushchyovka." Many of these were built under the pretense that they were a temporary stopgap to manage the housing shortage, and they have not aged well. This is maybe not a typical example, but I really wanted to have at least one shot of this kind of thing; keep this in your mind as we look at the somewhat zestier and stylistically varied public buildings that characterize the final decades of Soviet architecture.
Apartment building on Leningradsky Prospekt, directly opposite Dinamo Stadium. Architect and dates unknown; probably 1970s.
At the end of what had been a fine winter's day, the clouds rolled in from the west and the light faded to flat.
At the end of another long dead end lane, St Nicholas sits overlooking the valley below, looking squat and unhappy under a leaden sky.
We parked some distance from the church and walked up, I expected it to be locked, it looked so unfriendly, but the door opened easily and we went inside.
It was pleasant enough inside, even if I could not find the lights to illuminate the gloom. It features the largest aumbry I have seen, as well as a nice war memorial in a blocked up north doorway. But best of all is some ancient glass on the south side, showing images of two saints.
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A large sturdy tower overlooks the valley dividing Kent and Sussex some distance from its village. It dates, as does much of the church, from the fourteenth century. The arcades are of dumpy octagonal pillars which have lancet clerestory windows set into the walls above. There are some notable fragments of medieval glass in the south aisle, together with an excellent twentieth century etched glass window. The tower is flanked by the aisles (see also Wickhambreux). The north aisle displays the original entrance to the rood loft staircase. At the west end is a nice octagonal sandstone font with a series of decorated window designs enlivening its panelled sides.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Sandhurst
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IS the next parish eastward from Hawkhurst. The manor of Aldington claims over some part of this parish, as does the manor of Acrise over another part of it.
THIS PARISH lies on the southern edge of this county, adjoining to Suffex, from which it is separated by the stream called the Kennet, or more usually Kent Dyke, which rises near Tysehurst, in that county, and just below that place falls into the river Rother. It is near four miles from east to west, and near three from north to south. The soil of it in the north-east and southern parts of this parish is a stiff and heavy tillage land, which has underneath plenty of marle, in which parts there is much iron ore; the western part being more hilly, is a light and gravelly soil. The church stands nearly in the centre of the parish, on the knoll of a hill, and the parsonage-house at no great distance northward from it. Between the parsonage and the church is a large forstal, containing the principal part of the estate mentioned below, called Twisden borough. It was formerly a playstool, or common play-ground for the parishioners, and a fair was kept on it; but the Turners, lords of the manor, laid claim to it, and it has been for some time accounted their property, and now accordingly belongs to Mr. Blackburn. The great high road from the western parts of this county, through Newenden, to Hastings and the county of Suffex, leads through this parish south-eastward, on it are situated three greens, Field green, Cowbeach-green, and Ringlecrouch-green; on the former is a house and estate, which has been for many years the residence of the Wardes, who bore for their arms, In chief, a lion, rampant; in base, a cross story, a crescent for difference; the last of them, Mr. John Warde, died in 1778, leaving three sons and a daughter Elizabeth, married to Mr. John Collins, by whom she had a son Mr. Edward Collins, who has since taken the name of Warde, to whom his grandfather by will, disinheriting his three sons, gave the whole of his estates, among which were this at Field-green, and the manor of Riseden, in this parish, which formerly belonged to John, earl of Ewe, (who died in 1171); for it appears by the register of Horton priory, that he by his charter, without date, gave all his land of Rysdenne, in Sandhurst, which Goldwin held of him, to that priory; and by another charter, Adelize his wife confirmed the same; and by another, Canon, then prior of that house, and the convent of it, quit-claimed to Alexander de Spondenne, the property of a certain drosdenne, in the denne of Risedene, in this parish; Mr. Edward Collins Warde is the present owner of them. The farm of Ringlecrouch, near the green of that name, was the property of Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Hertfordshire, who died in 1789, and his heirs now possess it. On this green there is a meeting-house for baptists, the congregation of which is very large; and a little further eastward is a capital messuage called Frenchurst, and formerly Frinchinburst, to which formerly belonged the mill called Hope mill here, and it appears by the escheatroll anno 4 Henry VII. that Thomas Pulter then died possessed of a capital messuage, called Frechinghurst, and one water-mill, called Hope-mill, in Sandhurst, held of the prior of Christ-church, in Canterbury; the former of them belongs now to Mr. John Collins, and the latter to the earl of Thanet. And farther on the same road is Hernden manor, belonging to John Peckham, esq. of Salehurst.
In this parish is an estate, called Silverden, belongin to the Rev. Mr. Hudson; and in the south-east part of it two farms, called Upper and Lower Boxhurst, the former belonging to Mr. Joseph Fowle, the latter to Mr. Thomas Burt, both of Sandhurst; and in the western part of it next to Hawkhurst, is a seat, called Downgate, which belonged to the Turner estate, and afterwards to Mr. Blackburn.
A fair is annually held here on May 25, for cattle and pedlary wares. It was till within these few years held on Dec. 6, St. Nicholas's day, the patron saint of the church.
THE MANOR OF SANDHURST was given by Offaking of Mercia, in the year 791, to Christ Church in Canterbury, and was, soon after the time of the conqueror, held of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Criol; of them it was, in the reign of king Edward II. held again by Hugo de Combe, whose successor in it was John de Betherinden, whence it came to be called the manor of Sandhurst, alias Betherinden, and in the east window of the north chancel here were formerly the essigies and arms of one of this family, and in Downe church, was once a memorial for John Bederenden, once citizen, woollen-draper, and chamberlain of London, who died in 1445. By a female heir of this name it came into the family of Fitzherbert, alias Finch, in which it continued till the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, when Herbert, son of Vincent Finch, who lies buried in this church, (fn. 1) sold it, with the antient mansion of Sandhurst-place, now usually called OLDPLACE, (at present only a farm-house) to Pelham, from which name it was alienated to Fowle, who bore for his arms, Argent, a chevron gules, on a chief of the second, three mullets pierced of the first. In which one of them, Sir John Fowle, of Sandhurst, in his will, proved 1637, mentions certain lands which he had here, called the Coomes, which were his grandfather's, whereon was a house, since his death built, which were held of the king by knight's service, (fn. 2) and in his family it remained till it was passed away to Turner, whose descendant Robert Turner, esq. in 1784, passed it away by sale to John Blackburn, of London, esq. the present owner, of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
ALDRINDEN. which lies at the north west part of this parish was once accounted a manor of some note here, being held of the manor of Acrise, and had owners of the same firname, in which it continued till Roger de Aldrinden, as appears by the private deeds of it, leaving and only daughter and heir Christian Aldrinden, she passed it away by sale, in the 22d year of king Edward III. to John Selbrittenden, who not long after alienated it to Thomas atte Bourne, and he held it, as appeared by an old court-roll in the 1st year of Richard II. and from him it descended down to John Bourne, who dying in the 4th year of king Edward IV. settled it by will on Joane his female heir, married to Thomas Allard. They had one son, Henry, whose son John Allard, alienated his right in it by sale, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. to John Twysenden, or Twisden, gent. as the name soon afterwards was spelt, whose ancestors resided at TWISDEN BOROUGH, upon the denne of Twisden, in this parish, a place noted for having been, in very early times, the inheritance of this family, who resided here at the time they were stiled in Latin deeds, according to the quaint language of those times, de Denna Fracta, and from them this place obtained their name, by which it is called to this day.
His descendant Mr. William Twisden, about the beginning of king James I.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Downton, esq. who died possessed of it in 1623, and was buried in this church, and his descendant Richard Downton, esq. owned it at the restoration of king Charles II. and bore for his arms, Argent, on a chief indented, sable, three goats heads, erased. After which it passed into the family of Dunk, and from thence to Richards, whence by Anne, only daughter of William Richards, esq. it went in marriage to George Dunk, earl of Halifax, who soon afterwards sold it to Collier, and his daughter marrying Mr. Henry Jackson, of Hastings, in Sussex, he is, in her right, the present possessor of it.
Charities.
SIR JOHN FOWLE, of this parish, in 1632, gave by deed to the poor of it a piece of ground, with a malt-house on it, since burnt down, and now called the Malt-house Platt, containing three quarters of an acre upon Ringlecrouch-green, on which it has a right of common. It is now let at 34s. per annum, and is vested in trustees, the produce of which is distributed by the directions of the donor, once in two or three years in cloaths, chiefly in gowns, to poor widows of this parish.
Thomas Downton, Esq. of Sandhurst, devised by will to the poor of this parish 10l. to be lent to them by the direction of four of the sufficientest men of it, giving security for the paying of it again, at such time as they should appoint, so to continue to the parish for ever.
THERE IS AN ALMS-HOUSE, consisting of three or four dwellings, by whom given is not known, but supposed by one of the family of Fowle.
The poor constantly relieved are about one hundred and sixty, casually fifty.
SANDHURST is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is built of sand stone. It consists of two isles and two chancels, with a square tower, in which are five bells. It was part of the antient possessions of the see of Canterbury, and continues so at this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.
It is a rectory, and valued in the king's books at twenty pounds, and the yearly tenths at two pounds.
In 1578 here were communicants two hundred and eighteen, in 1640, two hundred and eighty. When it was valued at 110l.
¶There are about ten acres of glebe land. The parsonage-house has lately been handsomely repaired, and sitted up by the present rector Mr. Hussey.
The Michigan Municipal League’s 2021 Convention is set to take place in Grand Rapids, Sept. 22-24, 2021 with more than 400 municipal officials from throughout the state expected to attend. Numerous safety protocols and precautions related to COVID-19 were put in place in an effort to make the in-person event safe for attendees, guests, and League staff. The Convention is the League’s premiere annual event and it was the first in-person Convention since 2019 due to the pandemic. The Convention focused on Community Wealth Building and Trust and Belonging. The League defines community wealth building as strategies that build community and individual assets, creating resilient and adaptable systems to address social and economic needs.
Our community wealth building pillars are tied together by two things: trust and belonging. An essential part of any community, trust and belonging represents inclusive, supporting communities where every member feels proud of where they live. The League will work with our partners to provide thought leadership, training, advocacy, resources, and best practices to build community wealth. The six pillars of Community Wealth Building are arts and culture, sustainability, public health and safety, financial security, infrastructure, and lifelong learning. All education sessions, local educational tours, and related events were tied to Community Wealth Building and those pillars.
During the event, League members also will select the 2021 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner, the 2021-22 MML Board President and Vice President, and the new members for the MML Board of Trustees.
For the annual CEA competition there are four finalists among 25 communities entries this year – a record since the program began in 2007. The four finalists with links to their projects are Delta Charter Township – Delta and Lansing township’s Waverly Pathway; East Lansing – The Daytime, Nighttime, Anytime, Place Project; Rochester Hills – Reimaging, Reinventing, and Renewing Auburn Road; and Sterling Heights – REcreating Recreation in Sterling Heights. League members attending the Convention will hear presentations from officials from the four communities and then vote for their favorite project. The winner will be announced Friday, Sept. 24, at the conclusion of the Convention.
View all the details of this year’s Convention, which session topics and issues, here: Michigan Municipal League Home Page (mml.org).
This year’s planned speakers, moderators, and educational tour guides are: League President William Wild, mayor of Westland; Teresa Lynn Weatherall Neal, President and CEO of LEAD 616, a leadership development company; Rosalynn Bliss, Mayor, Grand Rapids; Sheri Welsh, Pres. & CEO, Welsh & Associates; Bobby Hopewell, Pres. & CEO, Mobile Health Resources, Former Mayor, Kalamazoo; Mark Washington, City Manager, Grand Rapids; Deb Stuart, City Manager, Mason; Tim Dempsey, Vice President, Public Sector Consultants; Craig Searer, Executive Director, ArtPrize; Katie Moore Exhibitions Manager, ArtPrize; Mark Miller, Managing Director of Planning and Design Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc.; Lynée Wells, Founder & CEO, Aligned Planning; Andrew Moore, Executive & Planner, Williams+Works; Christopher Germain, Senior RRC Planner, MEDC; Roberto Valdez, Village President, Blissfield; ohn Schrier, Attorney, Parmeter Law; Robert La Fave, Village Manager, L’Anse; Minya Irby, Cooper Irby Brewster Professional Services; Theresa Rosado Nanasy, Owner, Casa de Rosado Galeria; Ryan Soucy, Senior Economic Development and Community Planner, Central Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Regional Commission; Marilyn Vlach, Treasurer, Central Neighborhood, Traverse City; Jamiel Robinson, Founder/CEO Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses; Ana Jose, Program Manager, Transformando West Michigan; Minya Irby, Agency Principal, Cooper Irby Brewster Professional Services; Eric Hufnagel, Mayor, St. Johns; Executive Director, Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness; David Anderson, ISK’s Director of Housing; Member of Kalamazoo County Public Housing Commission; Mayor of Kalamazoo; Lyn Raymond, Director of the Lakeshore Housing Alliance at Greater Ottawa County United Way; Kathy Winczewski, Councilmember, Ludington; Dr. Timothy Scarlett, Associate Professor of Archaeology, Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University; Veronica Paiz, Councilmember, Harper Woods; John Willis, Chief Equity Officer, City of Jackson; Cardi DeMonaco, Jr., Councilmember, Eastpointe; Rob McCarty, Managing Partner, The Image Shoppe; Colleen Brown, Mayor, City of Montrose; Matt Naud, Resource Recycling Systems
Julie Staveland, MI Department of EGLE; Amy Tweeten, City of Petoskey; Mike Coyne, Account Executive, Dewpoint; Mike McGowan, Systems Engineer, Dewpoint; Ross Gavin, Councilmember, Berkley; Linh Song, Councilmember, Ann Arbor; Eric Hufnagel, Mayor, St. Johns; Executive Director, Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness; Ryan Kilpatrick, Executive Director, Housing Next (Ottawa County); Yarrow Brown, Executive Director, Housing North (Northwest Lower Peninsula); Rock Abboud, President Pro Tem, Beverly Hills; Steve Robbins, Founder and Owner of S.L. Robbins & Associates; Sean Beckman of Professional Rower Services; John J. Gillooly, Attorney, Garan Lucow Miller; Nick Curcio, Attorney, Curcio Law Firm; Leslie Dickinson, Attorney, Foster Swift; Stephanie Adams, Friends of Grand Rapids Parks; Amy Brower, Executive Director, Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association; Ryan VerWys, President & CEO Inner City Christian Federation, Grand Rapids; Jan van der Woerd, Vice President, Real Estate Development & Management, Inner City Christian Federation; Robert LaFave, City Manager, Community Solar Array, City of L’Anse; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, City of Sterling Heights; and Glenn Wilson, President & CEO, Communities First, Inc.
Also speaking were League staff Chris Hackbarth, director of state and federal affairs; John LaMacchia, assistant director of state and federal affairs; Shanna Draheim, Policy Development Director, Michigan Municipal League; Helen Johnson, MML Foundation; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, Michigan Municipal League; and Herasanna Richards, Legislative Associate, Michigan Municipal League.
didn't expect much from this event as LA's chinatown is really small. last year i had a decent time mainly due to the food trucks. this year... the food truck situation was really lame. i thought tropical shave ice would be there but they weren't... they might have left early. i suspect due to the incredible heat during the day they might have sold out quickly. the other trucks were nothing to write home about. none of the really unique and interesting food trucks were there. so basically... this whole thing sucked.