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

Stylo Bic

I've been expecting these magazines for over a month. SUPER HAPPY when they finally came in the mail today.

All the pagazines came with several posters, some kind freebie like a book or a card, and file cards.

about 40 new posters now i have like 300 almost XD

2017 World Championship Group Stage at Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium in Wuhan, Hubei, China on 13 October 2017.

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!

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.

A quick dash from one end of the station to the other, past the small raft of photographers and passengers awaiting the arrival of the very imminent DMU service to Gainsborough, it arrived just a minute or so after this set cleared the station, the shot now showing the set rattling off down the line towards the EWS/DBS West Yard, which has now been bought by Harry Needle, of Barrow Hill fame, the Yard being cleared and with all sidings available for storage etc. As the rear traction unit flashed past, it wasn't obvious to me, with eye pressed up against the viewfinder, that the unit was a class 82, DVT, not class 91, though the absence of a pantograph ought to have given the game away. Class 82, 82226, is bringing up the rear of the now, not so exciting E.C.S. set from the Ferme Park Sidings, having set out at 09:22, though no time-table information at all on this day, just reports from interested parties, away south in the London area, and it arrived into this area at 12:53, correct as per Working Timetable. Two of the VTEC coaches identified in the 10 or 11-coach set were, 12455 and 12318; the L.N.E.R. set looks quite at home here on the GCR's old line out from, originally, Sheffield Victoria and through to Retford and Lincoln Central, though I guess the VT livery, when compared with that of the recently refurbished Worksop Station, looks in very stark contrast to that of the livery of passenger stock which once went through here. Blue GBRf class 66, 66749 is hauling a VTEC ECS set on the 5Z91, Ferme Park Reception Line to Harry Needle Ltd., Worksop Down Yard, and will turn off the down line, to get the move onto the sidings line on the left, in preparation for a reversal in to the West Yard, once the nice new palisade fence gates have been opened, the fence stretching across all of the lines at the eastern end of the Yard.

A couple who are expecting walks in a wheat field owned by their family. North Idaho Model released.

Nearly 1,000 Students to Participate in WSSU Commencement on May 15

WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- Christina Wareâs story is one of the many inspiring testimonials of the nearly 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students from near and afar who are expected to participate in Winston-Salem State Universityâs commencement ceremony on Friday, May 15, at 9:45 a.m., at Bowman Gray Stadium, 1250 South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.

Academy Award-winning recording artist, activist and actor Common will be the keynote speaker. There are no guest limits or ticket requirements for the ceremony.

It is conceivable that Wareâs story of work ethic, undeniable spirit and enthusiasm encapsulates the sentiment of her graduating 2015 classmates.

Ware, 43, of Winston-Salem, is quite active on and off campus as a mentor to other students, a member of the non-traditional student organization, the first president of Epsilon Chapter 130 of Tau Sigma National Honor Society at WSSU, a wife and proud mother of two. She is also legally blind. She wants to blaze trails, set examples and raise the bar for others with disabilities.

âIn 2007, I lost my eyesight. After a six-month pity party, I decided to continue my education and make a difference for others. Since 2008, I have spent every day of my life proving to society that having a disability does not mean we are weak. I am now an advocate for persons with disabilities,â Ware, a business major, said, "We are not handicapped, we are handy capable!"

Ware, who can be described as always pleasant and having an unlimited enthusiasm for life, says every day alive is like Christmas. She demands to be treated like everyone else and has been noted to say, âI may physically fall, but mentally I can get back up and pull a 4.0 semester.â After graduation she wants to start a Kosher/Halal foods business and become active on community boards.

The China Connection

From the City of Harbin, the capital and largest city of the Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China, WSSU Master of Arts in the Teaching of English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics students Yaowen Xing and Chunling Zhang have found a second home at WSSU and in Winston-Salem. They perhaps have come the farthest distance attend the university.

With a population of more than five million people, Harbin is situated in the northeast region of China so close to Russia that only the Songhua River separates the two countries. Nicknamed the Ice City, the average winter temperature is -3.5 °F with annual lows hitting -31.0 °F. Itâs no wonder the students say the warmer weather here in the Piedmont Triad has not been lost in translation with them and itâs one of the things they enjoy.

âWe really love the weather in North Carolina, especially the long summer time, since our hometown is so cold with snow for almost 6 months of the year,â Xing, 30, noted. âWe also love the people at WSSU and the faculty who all are nice and it has been a really good experience.â

Xing and Zhang, 35, are in America as part of a Chinese education immersion program to help exchange the cultures between China and America. They enjoy working as cultural ambassadors to students in both the cultures. The two came to the U.S. in 2013 and have been teaching at Konnoak Elementary school during the early hours and studying and researching later in the day. âComing to America was a dream for me after learning about it through books, movies and music, and my time here it has been amazing,â Xing said.

Zhang, said she didnât know much about WSSU or Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUâs), but after a short time here she knew WSSU would be was special part of life. âI have met many African- Americans who have been friendly and helpful. I now can say I truly have many black friends,â Zhang said. She and Xing have taken advantage of the HBCU experience. They have been often seen attending evening lectures and presentations, sports events, musical and visual arts events. With their WSSU master degrees they will return to China one day in the future to make an impact on teaching and the quality of education there.

The All-In Approach

Olivia N. Sedwick, 21, a political science major from Indianapolis, has taken âthe all-in approach" to her WSSU experience. The current WSSU student government president (SGA), honorâs student and champion athlete, chose WSSU over other schools she could have attended.

Featured in a USA Today article highlighting the HBCU experience released last June, Sedwick is quoted as saying about WSSU, âI fell in love with the school.â She says, âWe talked about things that I had never had the chance to before coming from a predominantly white high school.â

Liking the intellectual and social environment, she was comfortable becoming involved around campus. In her first year, a walk-on athlete for the womenâs track and field team, she was a 2013 CIAA Indoor Womenâs Track and Field All-Conference competitor and the WSSU womenâs shot put record holder until earlier this year, although she never competed in the throws until coming to college. In her second year she served as the sophomore class vice president while also being appointed to serve on many committees throughout the university. In that same year, she was a delegate to the UNC Association of Student Governments (UNCASG), representing WSSU students on a state-wide level. At the end of that year, she became the first African-American female elected senior vice president of UNCASG and served in that capacity for the entirety of her third year while being active as the chief of staff for the WSSU student government association that year also. Toward the end of her term in UNCASG, she decided to run for student body president and has served as the voice of the students for the duration of her last year. With all of her activities, she has maintained a 3.95 GPA throughout her time in college.

Sedwick has been selected as a UNC General Administration Presidential Intern, which begins in July. Upon completion of the prestigious one-year appointment, Sedwick plans to attend Howard University School of Law.

A Drum Major who will March for a Noble Cause

Willie Davis, 22, a social work major from Fayetteville, N.C., who has led WSSUâs Red Sea of Sound Marching Band as a drum major for his senior year, will now march to lead the charge for helping veterans and their families cope with typical and unique challenges of serving in military. Davis will be one of four Cadets with the distinct honor of being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant U.S. in the U.S. Army during this yearâs commencement ceremony. Despite that professionally Davis will help vets, military and families with things like dealing with emotions, he said, âI donât think I will be ready for the commissioning part (of commencement) emotionally.â

Readiness for Davis is an understatement. The youngest of three siblings, who was age 10 when his father died, Davis has been an A average student throughout life. He was in the top ten of his high school class and the first generation in his family to attend college. At WSSU, besides maintaining high academic achievement and serving in the U.S. Army ROTC, Davis has been active with the WSSU Band, the University Choir, a Campus Ambassador, a mentor to freshmen students, vice president of the WSSU chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity, a Veterans Helping Veterans Heal intern and a member of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.

After graduation, Davis is going to graduate school at the University of South Carolina. He plans to complete that program in one year and begin his military duties. As a clinical social worker, his responsibilities may range from clinical counseling, crisis intervention, disaster relief, critical event debriefing, teaching and training, supervision, research, administration, consultation and policy development in various military settings. He wants to specialize in helping military veterans who suffer from different traumas such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), paranoid schizophrenia and other conditions.

Calumet Wood-Field XM_Kodak Portra 160_Home Developed_SP-445 Tank

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. :)

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.

(6/365)

Yes, that's me and my belly. My husband and I are expecting our first child in March and

we are extremely excited!

More photos posted on the Blog

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© Becka Lynn Photography

Santa Rosa Maternity Photographer | Do Not Copy

Before March 2 2015, please come here to nominate the entire Chinatown as the historic site to be preserved, don't expect City of Vancouver to save Chinatown when the Council approved more condo to be built in Chinatown at rapid rate to destroy the Chinatown.

www.heritagebc.ca/blog?articleid=162

Chinese Historic Places Recognition Project

THE HERITAGE BATTLE FOR CHINATOWN

Historic Vancouver neighbourhood is being redeveloped, raising fears it will lose its character.

By JOHN MACKIE, VANCOUVER SUN November 15, 2014

The marketing line for the Keefer Block condo development in Chinatown is “Heritage Meets Modern.”

But just how much heritage will be left after a wave of modern developments washes over the historic district is a matter of debate.

A new proposal for the 700-block of Main Street would demolish the last three buildings from Hogan’s Alley, a once-notorious back lane that was the longtime home of Vancouver’s black community.

Another condo development at 231 Pender would replace a funky, Chinese-themed garage that is listed on Canada’s Register of Historic Places. Angelo Tosi’s family has owned their building at 624 Main since 1930. It may date back to 1895, and looks it — the fixtures and shelving are as old as the hills.

But Tosi is 82, and will probably sell when the price is right. He doesn’t expect his store to survive.

“It’ll be gobbled up by the monstrous buildings,” said Tosi. “And then they’ll take it all, and it’s finished. They won’t keep the heritage on the bottom, they’ll put down whatever they want.”

His fatalistic attitude reflects the changes in Chinatown, which is undergoing a development boom after zoning changes by the City of Vancouver.

The protected “historic” area of Chinatown is now Pender Street, while much of Main, Georgia and Keefer can now be redeveloped, with heights of up to 90 feet (nine storeys). A few sites can go even higher.

Two towers are going up at Keefer and Main — the nine-storey, 81-unit Keefer Block, and the 17-storey, 156-unit 188 Keefer. Up the street at 137 Keefer, a development permit application has just gone in for a new nine-storey “multi-family building.”

None of them has stirred up much controversy. But a recent public meeting about a 12-storey, 137-unit condo to be built on an empty lot at Keefer and Columbia got people riled up.

“There was a lot of angry people that night,” said Henry Yu, a UBC history professor who feels a “vision plan” the Chinatown community worked on with the city for several years is being ignored.

“The vision plan gets passed, (but it has) no teeth,” said Yu. “Actually (there is) no policy, it’s a wish list of ‘Oh, we’d like seniors housing, we’d like to do this, we’d like to do that.’

“Almost immediately, the two (highrise) buildings in the 600-, 700-block Main go up, and they’re just basically Yaletown condos. Not even Yaletown — Yaletown has more character.

“These are straight out of the glass tower (model), no (historic) character, obliterating everything in terms of tying it to the kind of streetscape of Chinatown. You’re going to split the historic two or three blocks of Chinatown with a Main Street corridor of these glass towers.”

Yu says Chinatown has historically been small buildings on 25-foot lots, which makes for a jumble of small stores that gives it a unique look and character. But the new developments are much wider, and just don’t look like Chinatown.

“The two 600-, 700-block buildings have a rain shield that’s an awning, a glass awning that runs the whole block,” said Yu. “That’s the design guideline for the city as a whole, but it was nothing to do with Chinatown, (which is) narrow frontages, changing awnings.

“We said that (to the city planners), we raised it and raised it, but the planners just shoved it down our throat.”

Kevin McNaney is Vancouver’s assistant director of planning. He said the city changed the zoning in parts of Chinatown to help revitalize the neighbourhood, which has been struggling.

“We have been taking a look across Chinatown,” said McNaney. “What we’re finding is that rents are dropping, and vacancies are rising. And that’s a big part of the strategy of adding more people to revitalize Chinatown.

“There are only 900 people currently living in Chinatown, many of them seniors. It’s just not the population base needed to support businesses, so a lot of the businesses are going under. Along Pender Street you see a lot of vacancies right now.

“So at the heart of this plan is to bring more people to revitalize Chinatown, and also use that development to support heritage projects, affordable housing projects and cultural projects.”

Henry Yu disagrees. “The idea that you need density in Chinatown itself, that you need your own captive customer base, is moronic,” he said.

“Where else in the city would you make that argument, that nobody can walk more than two blocks, that no one is going to come in here from somewhere else?

“They will. People go to the International Summer Market in Richmond in an empty gravel field. Ten thousand people at night come from everywhere in the Lower Mainland, because there’s something worth going to.

“The problem isn’t that you need a captive audience that has no other choice but to shop in Chinatown — that’s just stupid, there’s plenty of people in Strathcona. The problem is, is there something worth coming to (in Chinatown)? And that has to do with the character, what the mix is, what kind of commercial.”

Ironically, all the new construction comes just as Chinatown seems to be undergoing a bit of a renaissance. Several new businesses have popped up in old buildings, attracted by the area’s character and cheap rents.

The très-hip El Kartel fashion boutique recently moved into a 6,000 sq. ft space at 104 East Pender that used to house Cathay Importers. It’s on the main floor of the four-storey Chinese Benevolent Association Building, which was built in 1909.

Across the street at 147 East Pender is Livestock, a runner and apparel store that is so cool it doesn’t even have a sign. “We were in Gastown at the corner of Cordova and Abbott, (and) just felt a change was needed,” said store manager Chadley Abalos.

“We found the opportunity in Chinatown, so we decided to move here. We feel it’s one of the new spots that are booming. You see a lot of new businesses — restaurants, clothing stores, furniture. We see the potential in it growing.”

Russell Baker owns Bombast, a chic furniture store at 27 East Pender. But he is not new to the neighbourhood — Bombast has been there for 10 years.

“I think (Chinatown is) one of the most interesting parts of the city,” he said.

“It’s still got some variety, some texture, architecturally, socially, economically. A lot of what’s happened to the downtown peninsula (in recent years) constitutes erasure. This is one of the places that still sort of feels like … it feels more urban than some parts of downtown. I would say downtown is a vertical suburb.

“If you like cities, Chinatown feels like one. That’s why we’re here.”

Baker said he expected Chinatown to happen a lot sooner than it did. Retailers that do well there still tend to be destinations, rather than stores that rely on heavy street traffic. “The buzz is that Chinatown is happening, but it’s really strategic, what’s happening,” he said. “Fortune Sound Club, that’s a niche market that’s destination. That’s the kind of thing that works down here. We’re destination, Bao Bei (restaurant) is destination.”

The new businesses make for an interesting mix with the old ones. The 200 block East Georgia Street is hopping with hipster bars (the Pacific Hotel, Mamie Taylor’s) and art galleries (Access Gallery, 221A, Centre A). But it also retains classic Chinatown shops like the Fresh Egg Mart and Hang Loong Herbal Products.

The question is whether the small businesses will be displaced as the area gentrifies. Real estate values have soared — Soltera paid $6.5 million for the northwest corner of Keefer and Main in 2011, Beedie Holdings paid $16.2 million for two parcels of land at Columbia and Keefer in 2013.

That seems like a lot for a site that’s two blocks from the troubled Downtown Eastside, but Houtan Rafii of the Beedie Group said that’s what land costs in Vancouver.

“It is a significant, substantial amount of money, but compared to most every area in Vancouver, it’s not dissimilar, whether you’re in Gastown, downtown, Concord-Pacific, even on the boundaries of Strathcona or on Hastings close to Clark or Commercial,” said Rafii. “It’s not an obscene amount of money, it’s market.”

Rafii said the Beedie Group met with local groups for a year about its development, and was surprised at the reaction it got at the public meeting, which was held because Beedie is looking to rezone the site to add an additional three storeys.

Yu doesn’t have a problem with the Beedie proposal per se, but feels it’s on a key site in Chinatown, and should be developed accordingly.

“It’s not the building’s fault,” said Yu.

“People are going ‘What’s wrong with this glass tower, it’s working everywhere else, and Chinese people love buying this stuff if it’s UBC.’

“That’s not the point. There’s plenty of room around the city to build glass towers (that are) 40 storeys, 50 storeys, whatever. Why do they need to be in this spot?

“This one is right in the heart (of Chinatown). Across the street is the Sun Yat-sen (garden), the Chinese Cultural Centre. On the same street is the (Chinese workers) monument. Next door is the back alley of Pender.”

Yu said a recent study found there will be a need for 3,300 income-assisted senior housing beds in the Lower Mainland over the next 15 years. He said the Columbia and Keefer site would be perfect for a seniors project.

“There’s a particular kind of resonance to the idea this is a traditional place where a lot of Chinese seniors can retire to,” he said.

“There is a five-year waiting list for the Simon K.Y. Lee Success long-term care home, so there’s huge demand, huge need, this is a place where they want to go. (Building a seniors home) would actually would help revitalize (Chinatown), because seniors bring sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters into a community.

“That’s the Chinatown vision plan, that’s what’s in there, that’s what those discussions were about. And yet what we’ve got is 137 luxury condo units for hip youngsters. That’s the Beedie proposal, and that’s what the last two towers (on Main) were. It’s not just insulting, it’s the thwarting of the very promise (of the vision plan).”

Wu would like to see a moratorium on new developments in Chinatown “until design guidelines are actually built to create a zone that respects the (area’s special) character.”

Retired city planner Nathan Edelson agrees. Which is significant, because he worked on the Chinatown vision plan for over a decade.

“My suggestion is that there should be a moratorium on the rezonings, for sure, until they can get an assessment of what the current new development is,” said Edelson. “To what degree are they contributing to, or harming Chinatown, the historic character of Chinatown? And it’s not an obvious answer.”

Read more:

www.vancouversun.com/business/Battle+Chinatown/10384991/s...

Not the most wonderful timing, but we are very happy about it! I am 12 weeks and I am due January 7th, the same day as my niece! Jason and I were both born in January as well. We are going to be a household full of Capricorns!

I didn't expect to see the heron but there he was patiently waiting at the edge of the pond for fish - he never flinched when he saw me as he's used to people and all the boys who fish here know him well.

Spring cannot come soon enough! More snow and drizzle expected this week with temperatures going down all week with a high of 18F on Sunday and 6F that night!

Brrrrr!

Nearly 1,000 Students to Participate in WSSU Commencement on May 15

WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- Christina Wareâs story is one of the many inspiring testimonials of the nearly 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students from near and afar who are expected to participate in Winston-Salem State Universityâs commencement ceremony on Friday, May 15, at 9:45 a.m., at Bowman Gray Stadium, 1250 South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.

Academy Award-winning recording artist, activist and actor Common will be the keynote speaker. There are no guest limits or ticket requirements for the ceremony.

It is conceivable that Wareâs story of work ethic, undeniable spirit and enthusiasm encapsulates the sentiment of her graduating 2015 classmates.

Ware, 43, of Winston-Salem, is quite active on and off campus as a mentor to other students, a member of the non-traditional student organization, the first president of Epsilon Chapter 130 of Tau Sigma National Honor Society at WSSU, a wife and proud mother of two. She is also legally blind. She wants to blaze trails, set examples and raise the bar for others with disabilities.

âIn 2007, I lost my eyesight. After a six-month pity party, I decided to continue my education and make a difference for others. Since 2008, I have spent every day of my life proving to society that having a disability does not mean we are weak. I am now an advocate for persons with disabilities,â Ware, a business major, said, "We are not handicapped, we are handy capable!"

Ware, who can be described as always pleasant and having an unlimited enthusiasm for life, says every day alive is like Christmas. She demands to be treated like everyone else and has been noted to say, âI may physically fall, but mentally I can get back up and pull a 4.0 semester.â After graduation she wants to start a Kosher/Halal foods business and become active on community boards.

The China Connection

From the City of Harbin, the capital and largest city of the Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China, WSSU Master of Arts in the Teaching of English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics students Yaowen Xing and Chunling Zhang have found a second home at WSSU and in Winston-Salem. They perhaps have come the farthest distance attend the university.

With a population of more than five million people, Harbin is situated in the northeast region of China so close to Russia that only the Songhua River separates the two countries. Nicknamed the Ice City, the average winter temperature is -3.5 °F with annual lows hitting -31.0 °F. Itâs no wonder the students say the warmer weather here in the Piedmont Triad has not been lost in translation with them and itâs one of the things they enjoy.

âWe really love the weather in North Carolina, especially the long summer time, since our hometown is so cold with snow for almost 6 months of the year,â Xing, 30, noted. âWe also love the people at WSSU and the faculty who all are nice and it has been a really good experience.â

Xing and Zhang, 35, are in America as part of a Chinese education immersion program to help exchange the cultures between China and America. They enjoy working as cultural ambassadors to students in both the cultures. The two came to the U.S. in 2013 and have been teaching at Konnoak Elementary school during the early hours and studying and researching later in the day. âComing to America was a dream for me after learning about it through books, movies and music, and my time here it has been amazing,â Xing said.

Zhang, said she didnât know much about WSSU or Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUâs), but after a short time here she knew WSSU would be was special part of life. âI have met many African- Americans who have been friendly and helpful. I now can say I truly have many black friends,â Zhang said. She and Xing have taken advantage of the HBCU experience. They have been often seen attending evening lectures and presentations, sports events, musical and visual arts events. With their WSSU master degrees they will return to China one day in the future to make an impact on teaching and the quality of education there.

The All-In Approach

Olivia N. Sedwick, 21, a political science major from Indianapolis, has taken âthe all-in approach" to her WSSU experience. The current WSSU student government president (SGA), honorâs student and champion athlete, chose WSSU over other schools she could have attended.

Featured in a USA Today article highlighting the HBCU experience released last June, Sedwick is quoted as saying about WSSU, âI fell in love with the school.â She says, âWe talked about things that I had never had the chance to before coming from a predominantly white high school.â

Liking the intellectual and social environment, she was comfortable becoming involved around campus. In her first year, a walk-on athlete for the womenâs track and field team, she was a 2013 CIAA Indoor Womenâs Track and Field All-Conference competitor and the WSSU womenâs shot put record holder until earlier this year, although she never competed in the throws until coming to college. In her second year she served as the sophomore class vice president while also being appointed to serve on many committees throughout the university. In that same year, she was a delegate to the UNC Association of Student Governments (UNCASG), representing WSSU students on a state-wide level. At the end of that year, she became the first African-American female elected senior vice president of UNCASG and served in that capacity for the entirety of her third year while being active as the chief of staff for the WSSU student government association that year also. Toward the end of her term in UNCASG, she decided to run for student body president and has served as the voice of the students for the duration of her last year. With all of her activities, she has maintained a 3.95 GPA throughout her time in college.

Sedwick has been selected as a UNC General Administration Presidential Intern, which begins in July. Upon completion of the prestigious one-year appointment, Sedwick plans to attend Howard University School of Law.

A Drum Major who will March for a Noble Cause

Willie Davis, 22, a social work major from Fayetteville, N.C., who has led WSSUâs Red Sea of Sound Marching Band as a drum major for his senior year, will now march to lead the charge for helping veterans and their families cope with typical and unique challenges of serving in military. Davis will be one of four Cadets with the distinct honor of being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant U.S. in the U.S. Army during this yearâs commencement ceremony. Despite that professionally Davis will help vets, military and families with things like dealing with emotions, he said, âI donât think I will be ready for the commissioning part (of commencement) emotionally.â

Readiness for Davis is an understatement. The youngest of three siblings, who was age 10 when his father died, Davis has been an A average student throughout life. He was in the top ten of his high school class and the first generation in his family to attend college. At WSSU, besides maintaining high academic achievement and serving in the U.S. Army ROTC, Davis has been active with the WSSU Band, the University Choir, a Campus Ambassador, a mentor to freshmen students, vice president of the WSSU chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity, a Veterans Helping Veterans Heal intern and a member of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.

After graduation, Davis is going to graduate school at the University of South Carolina. He plans to complete that program in one year and begin his military duties. As a clinical social worker, his responsibilities may range from clinical counseling, crisis intervention, disaster relief, critical event debriefing, teaching and training, supervision, research, administration, consultation and policy development in various military settings. He wants to specialize in helping military veterans who suffer from different traumas such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), paranoid schizophrenia and other conditions.

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

Expect to see the Pagani Zonda R at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show.

The Bronx River, approximately 24 miles (38 km) long, flows through southeast New York. Its Native American name was the Aquahung before the arrival of European colonists, like Jonas Bronck, for whom the Bronx and its river are named, in 1639. It rises in the Kensico Reservoir, in Westchester County north of New York City. It flows south past White Plains, then south-southwest through the northern suburbs, passing Edgemont, Tuckahoe, Eastchester, Westchester County, and Bronxville, dividing Yonkers from Mount Vernon, and flowing into the northern end of The Bronx, southward through Bronx Park and through urbanized areas of the Bronx before emptying into the East River, a tidal strait connected to Long Island Sound, between the Soundview and Hunts Point neighborhoods.

In the southern Bronx, the river has become a popular destination for urban canoeing in New York City. It also bisects the Bronx Zoo. A tram built in the late 20th century takes Zoo customers over the river to an exhibit of Asian animals on the left bank, with a narration presenting the river as the Irrawaddy.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the river became a natural sewer for industrial waste. With the decline of manufacturing in the area, the river continued to receive effluent from the communities that lined its banks. Recently action has been taken by different environmental groups, including the Bronx River Alliance, to return the river to its original state as a clean waterway. The river became a pet project of U.S. Representative José Serrano, who secured $14.6 million in federal funding to support its rehabilitation. Under a November 2006 agreement the municipalities of Scarsdale, White Plains, Mount Vernon and Greenburgh agreed to stop dumping sewage in the Bronx River by 1 May 2007. Local Alewife, from a coastal tributary in nearby Connecticut, were released in the river in March 2006. They were expected to spawn in the river's headwaters before migrating out to sea in the fall, and in three to five years return, like all anadromous fishes, to their spawning grounds. Stocking was intended to be repeated annually for the following five years, to build up the new resident population. The fishes, among a group called "river herring", feed low on the food-chain and help reduce eutrophication.

**

The Bronx Zoo, located within the Bronx Park, is the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States, comprising 265 acres of parklands and naturalistic habitats and home to over 4,000 animals. Focused on conservation, it opened on November 8, 1899, with 22 exhibits, 843 animals. The zoo's origins date back to 1895, with the establishment of the New York Zoological Society (NYZS), renamed Wild Conservation Society (WCS) in 1993. Only the outer structure of the World of Reptiles remains much as it was in 1899. With the 1941 opening of African Plains, the Bronx Zoo was one of the first U.S. zoos to move away from cages and exhibit animals in naturalistic habitats.

Nearly 1,000 Students to Participate in WSSU Commencement on May 15

WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- Christina Wareâs story is one of the many inspiring testimonials of the nearly 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students from near and afar who are expected to participate in Winston-Salem State Universityâs commencement ceremony on Friday, May 15, at 9:45 a.m., at Bowman Gray Stadium, 1250 South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.

Academy Award-winning recording artist, activist and actor Common will be the keynote speaker. There are no guest limits or ticket requirements for the ceremony.

It is conceivable that Wareâs story of work ethic, undeniable spirit and enthusiasm encapsulates the sentiment of her graduating 2015 classmates.

Ware, 43, of Winston-Salem, is quite active on and off campus as a mentor to other students, a member of the non-traditional student organization, the first president of Epsilon Chapter 130 of Tau Sigma National Honor Society at WSSU, a wife and proud mother of two. She is also legally blind. She wants to blaze trails, set examples and raise the bar for others with disabilities.

âIn 2007, I lost my eyesight. After a six-month pity party, I decided to continue my education and make a difference for others. Since 2008, I have spent every day of my life proving to society that having a disability does not mean we are weak. I am now an advocate for persons with disabilities,â Ware, a business major, said, "We are not handicapped, we are handy capable!"

Ware, who can be described as always pleasant and having an unlimited enthusiasm for life, says every day alive is like Christmas. She demands to be treated like everyone else and has been noted to say, âI may physically fall, but mentally I can get back up and pull a 4.0 semester.â After graduation she wants to start a Kosher/Halal foods business and become active on community boards.

The China Connection

From the City of Harbin, the capital and largest city of the Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China, WSSU Master of Arts in the Teaching of English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics students Yaowen Xing and Chunling Zhang have found a second home at WSSU and in Winston-Salem. They perhaps have come the farthest distance attend the university.

With a population of more than five million people, Harbin is situated in the northeast region of China so close to Russia that only the Songhua River separates the two countries. Nicknamed the Ice City, the average winter temperature is -3.5 °F with annual lows hitting -31.0 °F. Itâs no wonder the students say the warmer weather here in the Piedmont Triad has not been lost in translation with them and itâs one of the things they enjoy.

âWe really love the weather in North Carolina, especially the long summer time, since our hometown is so cold with snow for almost 6 months of the year,â Xing, 30, noted. âWe also love the people at WSSU and the faculty who all are nice and it has been a really good experience.â

Xing and Zhang, 35, are in America as part of a Chinese education immersion program to help exchange the cultures between China and America. They enjoy working as cultural ambassadors to students in both the cultures. The two came to the U.S. in 2013 and have been teaching at Konnoak Elementary school during the early hours and studying and researching later in the day. âComing to America was a dream for me after learning about it through books, movies and music, and my time here it has been amazing,â Xing said.

Zhang, said she didnât know much about WSSU or Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUâs), but after a short time here she knew WSSU would be was special part of life. âI have met many African- Americans who have been friendly and helpful. I now can say I truly have many black friends,â Zhang said. She and Xing have taken advantage of the HBCU experience. They have been often seen attending evening lectures and presentations, sports events, musical and visual arts events. With their WSSU master degrees they will return to China one day in the future to make an impact on teaching and the quality of education there.

The All-In Approach

Olivia N. Sedwick, 21, a political science major from Indianapolis, has taken âthe all-in approach" to her WSSU experience. The current WSSU student government president (SGA), honorâs student and champion athlete, chose WSSU over other schools she could have attended.

Featured in a USA Today article highlighting the HBCU experience released last June, Sedwick is quoted as saying about WSSU, âI fell in love with the school.â She says, âWe talked about things that I had never had the chance to before coming from a predominantly white high school.â

Liking the intellectual and social environment, she was comfortable becoming involved around campus. In her first year, a walk-on athlete for the womenâs track and field team, she was a 2013 CIAA Indoor Womenâs Track and Field All-Conference competitor and the WSSU womenâs shot put record holder until earlier this year, although she never competed in the throws until coming to college. In her second year she served as the sophomore class vice president while also being appointed to serve on many committees throughout the university. In that same year, she was a delegate to the UNC Association of Student Governments (UNCASG), representing WSSU students on a state-wide level. At the end of that year, she became the first African-American female elected senior vice president of UNCASG and served in that capacity for the entirety of her third year while being active as the chief of staff for the WSSU student government association that year also. Toward the end of her term in UNCASG, she decided to run for student body president and has served as the voice of the students for the duration of her last year. With all of her activities, she has maintained a 3.95 GPA throughout her time in college.

Sedwick has been selected as a UNC General Administration Presidential Intern, which begins in July. Upon completion of the prestigious one-year appointment, Sedwick plans to attend Howard University School of Law.

A Drum Major who will March for a Noble Cause

Willie Davis, 22, a social work major from Fayetteville, N.C., who has led WSSUâs Red Sea of Sound Marching Band as a drum major for his senior year, will now march to lead the charge for helping veterans and their families cope with typical and unique challenges of serving in military. Davis will be one of four Cadets with the distinct honor of being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant U.S. in the U.S. Army during this yearâs commencement ceremony. Despite that professionally Davis will help vets, military and families with things like dealing with emotions, he said, âI donât think I will be ready for the commissioning part (of commencement) emotionally.â

Readiness for Davis is an understatement. The youngest of three siblings, who was age 10 when his father died, Davis has been an A average student throughout life. He was in the top ten of his high school class and the first generation in his family to attend college. At WSSU, besides maintaining high academic achievement and serving in the U.S. Army ROTC, Davis has been active with the WSSU Band, the University Choir, a Campus Ambassador, a mentor to freshmen students, vice president of the WSSU chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity, a Veterans Helping Veterans Heal intern and a member of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.

After graduation, Davis is going to graduate school at the University of South Carolina. He plans to complete that program in one year and begin his military duties. As a clinical social worker, his responsibilities may range from clinical counseling, crisis intervention, disaster relief, critical event debriefing, teaching and training, supervision, research, administration, consultation and policy development in various military settings. He wants to specialize in helping military veterans who suffer from different traumas such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), paranoid schizophrenia and other conditions.

Before March 2 2015, please come here to nominate the entire Chinatown as the historic site to be preserved, don't expect City of Vancouver to save Chinatown when the Council approved more condo to be built in Chinatown at rapid rate to destroy the Chinatown.

www.heritagebc.ca/blog?articleid=162

Chinese Historic Places Recognition Project

THE HERITAGE BATTLE FOR CHINATOWN

Historic Vancouver neighbourhood is being redeveloped, raising fears it will lose its character.

By JOHN MACKIE, VANCOUVER SUN November 15, 2014

The marketing line for the Keefer Block condo development in Chinatown is “Heritage Meets Modern.”

But just how much heritage will be left after a wave of modern developments washes over the historic district is a matter of debate.

A new proposal for the 700-block of Main Street would demolish the last three buildings from Hogan’s Alley, a once-notorious back lane that was the longtime home of Vancouver’s black community.

Another condo development at 231 Pender would replace a funky, Chinese-themed garage that is listed on Canada’s Register of Historic Places. Angelo Tosi’s family has owned their building at 624 Main since 1930. It may date back to 1895, and looks it — the fixtures and shelving are as old as the hills.

But Tosi is 82, and will probably sell when the price is right. He doesn’t expect his store to survive.

“It’ll be gobbled up by the monstrous buildings,” said Tosi. “And then they’ll take it all, and it’s finished. They won’t keep the heritage on the bottom, they’ll put down whatever they want.”

His fatalistic attitude reflects the changes in Chinatown, which is undergoing a development boom after zoning changes by the City of Vancouver.

The protected “historic” area of Chinatown is now Pender Street, while much of Main, Georgia and Keefer can now be redeveloped, with heights of up to 90 feet (nine storeys). A few sites can go even higher.

Two towers are going up at Keefer and Main — the nine-storey, 81-unit Keefer Block, and the 17-storey, 156-unit 188 Keefer. Up the street at 137 Keefer, a development permit application has just gone in for a new nine-storey “multi-family building.”

None of them has stirred up much controversy. But a recent public meeting about a 12-storey, 137-unit condo to be built on an empty lot at Keefer and Columbia got people riled up.

“There was a lot of angry people that night,” said Henry Yu, a UBC history professor who feels a “vision plan” the Chinatown community worked on with the city for several years is being ignored.

“The vision plan gets passed, (but it has) no teeth,” said Yu. “Actually (there is) no policy, it’s a wish list of ‘Oh, we’d like seniors housing, we’d like to do this, we’d like to do that.’

“Almost immediately, the two (highrise) buildings in the 600-, 700-block Main go up, and they’re just basically Yaletown condos. Not even Yaletown — Yaletown has more character.

“These are straight out of the glass tower (model), no (historic) character, obliterating everything in terms of tying it to the kind of streetscape of Chinatown. You’re going to split the historic two or three blocks of Chinatown with a Main Street corridor of these glass towers.”

Yu says Chinatown has historically been small buildings on 25-foot lots, which makes for a jumble of small stores that gives it a unique look and character. But the new developments are much wider, and just don’t look like Chinatown.

“The two 600-, 700-block buildings have a rain shield that’s an awning, a glass awning that runs the whole block,” said Yu. “That’s the design guideline for the city as a whole, but it was nothing to do with Chinatown, (which is) narrow frontages, changing awnings.

“We said that (to the city planners), we raised it and raised it, but the planners just shoved it down our throat.”

Kevin McNaney is Vancouver’s assistant director of planning. He said the city changed the zoning in parts of Chinatown to help revitalize the neighbourhood, which has been struggling.

“We have been taking a look across Chinatown,” said McNaney. “What we’re finding is that rents are dropping, and vacancies are rising. And that’s a big part of the strategy of adding more people to revitalize Chinatown.

“There are only 900 people currently living in Chinatown, many of them seniors. It’s just not the population base needed to support businesses, so a lot of the businesses are going under. Along Pender Street you see a lot of vacancies right now.

“So at the heart of this plan is to bring more people to revitalize Chinatown, and also use that development to support heritage projects, affordable housing projects and cultural projects.”

Henry Yu disagrees. “The idea that you need density in Chinatown itself, that you need your own captive customer base, is moronic,” he said.

“Where else in the city would you make that argument, that nobody can walk more than two blocks, that no one is going to come in here from somewhere else?

“They will. People go to the International Summer Market in Richmond in an empty gravel field. Ten thousand people at night come from everywhere in the Lower Mainland, because there’s something worth going to.

“The problem isn’t that you need a captive audience that has no other choice but to shop in Chinatown — that’s just stupid, there’s plenty of people in Strathcona. The problem is, is there something worth coming to (in Chinatown)? And that has to do with the character, what the mix is, what kind of commercial.”

Ironically, all the new construction comes just as Chinatown seems to be undergoing a bit of a renaissance. Several new businesses have popped up in old buildings, attracted by the area’s character and cheap rents.

The très-hip El Kartel fashion boutique recently moved into a 6,000 sq. ft space at 104 East Pender that used to house Cathay Importers. It’s on the main floor of the four-storey Chinese Benevolent Association Building, which was built in 1909.

Across the street at 147 East Pender is Livestock, a runner and apparel store that is so cool it doesn’t even have a sign. “We were in Gastown at the corner of Cordova and Abbott, (and) just felt a change was needed,” said store manager Chadley Abalos.

“We found the opportunity in Chinatown, so we decided to move here. We feel it’s one of the new spots that are booming. You see a lot of new businesses — restaurants, clothing stores, furniture. We see the potential in it growing.”

Russell Baker owns Bombast, a chic furniture store at 27 East Pender. But he is not new to the neighbourhood — Bombast has been there for 10 years.

“I think (Chinatown is) one of the most interesting parts of the city,” he said.

“It’s still got some variety, some texture, architecturally, socially, economically. A lot of what’s happened to the downtown peninsula (in recent years) constitutes erasure. This is one of the places that still sort of feels like … it feels more urban than some parts of downtown. I would say downtown is a vertical suburb.

“If you like cities, Chinatown feels like one. That’s why we’re here.”

Baker said he expected Chinatown to happen a lot sooner than it did. Retailers that do well there still tend to be destinations, rather than stores that rely on heavy street traffic. “The buzz is that Chinatown is happening, but it’s really strategic, what’s happening,” he said. “Fortune Sound Club, that’s a niche market that’s destination. That’s the kind of thing that works down here. We’re destination, Bao Bei (restaurant) is destination.”

The new businesses make for an interesting mix with the old ones. The 200 block East Georgia Street is hopping with hipster bars (the Pacific Hotel, Mamie Taylor’s) and art galleries (Access Gallery, 221A, Centre A). But it also retains classic Chinatown shops like the Fresh Egg Mart and Hang Loong Herbal Products.

The question is whether the small businesses will be displaced as the area gentrifies. Real estate values have soared — Soltera paid $6.5 million for the northwest corner of Keefer and Main in 2011, Beedie Holdings paid $16.2 million for two parcels of land at Columbia and Keefer in 2013.

That seems like a lot for a site that’s two blocks from the troubled Downtown Eastside, but Houtan Rafii of the Beedie Group said that’s what land costs in Vancouver.

“It is a significant, substantial amount of money, but compared to most every area in Vancouver, it’s not dissimilar, whether you’re in Gastown, downtown, Concord-Pacific, even on the boundaries of Strathcona or on Hastings close to Clark or Commercial,” said Rafii. “It’s not an obscene amount of money, it’s market.”

Rafii said the Beedie Group met with local groups for a year about its development, and was surprised at the reaction it got at the public meeting, which was held because Beedie is looking to rezone the site to add an additional three storeys.

Yu doesn’t have a problem with the Beedie proposal per se, but feels it’s on a key site in Chinatown, and should be developed accordingly.

“It’s not the building’s fault,” said Yu.

“People are going ‘What’s wrong with this glass tower, it’s working everywhere else, and Chinese people love buying this stuff if it’s UBC.’

“That’s not the point. There’s plenty of room around the city to build glass towers (that are) 40 storeys, 50 storeys, whatever. Why do they need to be in this spot?

“This one is right in the heart (of Chinatown). Across the street is the Sun Yat-sen (garden), the Chinese Cultural Centre. On the same street is the (Chinese workers) monument. Next door is the back alley of Pender.”

Yu said a recent study found there will be a need for 3,300 income-assisted senior housing beds in the Lower Mainland over the next 15 years. He said the Columbia and Keefer site would be perfect for a seniors project.

“There’s a particular kind of resonance to the idea this is a traditional place where a lot of Chinese seniors can retire to,” he said.

“There is a five-year waiting list for the Simon K.Y. Lee Success long-term care home, so there’s huge demand, huge need, this is a place where they want to go. (Building a seniors home) would actually would help revitalize (Chinatown), because seniors bring sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters into a community.

“That’s the Chinatown vision plan, that’s what’s in there, that’s what those discussions were about. And yet what we’ve got is 137 luxury condo units for hip youngsters. That’s the Beedie proposal, and that’s what the last two towers (on Main) were. It’s not just insulting, it’s the thwarting of the very promise (of the vision plan).”

Wu would like to see a moratorium on new developments in Chinatown “until design guidelines are actually built to create a zone that respects the (area’s special) character.”

Retired city planner Nathan Edelson agrees. Which is significant, because he worked on the Chinatown vision plan for over a decade.

“My suggestion is that there should be a moratorium on the rezonings, for sure, until they can get an assessment of what the current new development is,” said Edelson. “To what degree are they contributing to, or harming Chinatown, the historic character of Chinatown? And it’s not an obvious answer.”

Read more:

www.vancouversun.com/business/Battle+Chinatown/10384991/s...

A1(M) Bramham 22/06/2017

(take a look to the painting to image the scene: The mocking of Christ by Caravaggio)

Twelfth Hour from 4 to 5 AM: Jesus at the mercy of the soldiers (Italian version text below)

"My Most Sweet Life, Jesus, while sleeping, clinging to Your Heart, I often feel the pricks of the thorns which prick Your Most Holy Heart. And wanting to wake up together with You, that You may have at least one who notices all of Your pains and feels compassion for You, I cling more tightly to Your Heart; and feeling Your prickings more vividly, I wake up. But, what do I see? What do I hear? I would like to hide You in my heart to expose myself in Your place, and receive upon myself pains so intense, insults and humiliations so incredible. But only Your Love could bear so many outrages. My Most Patient Jesus, what could You expect from people so inhuman?

I now see that they are making fun of You. They cover Your Face with thick spit; the light of Your beautiful eyes is covered by the spit; and You, pouring rivers of tears for our salvation, push that spit away from Your eyes, and Your enemies, with hearts incapable of seeing the Light of Your eyes, cover them with spit again. Others, becoming braver in evil, open Your most sweet mouth and fill it with disgusting spit, to the point that they themselves feel nausea. And since some of that spit flows away, revealing, in part, the Majesty of Your Face and Your superhuman Sweetness, they shudder and feel ashamed of themselves. And in order to feel more free, they blindfold You with a miserable rag, to be able to hurl themselves, unrestrained, at Your Adorable Person. And so they beat You up without pity; they drag You; they trample You under their feet and they repeat the blows and the slaps to Your Face and over Your Head, scratching You, and tearing Your hair, and pushing You from one point to another.

Jesus, my Love, my heart cannot bear seeing You in the midst of so many pains. You want me to notice everything, but I feel I would rather cover my eyes so as not to see scenes so painful, which tear the heart from any chest. But my love for You forces me to look at what happens to You.

And I see that You utter not a breath, that You say not a word to defend Yourself; that You are in the hands of these soldiers like a rag, and they can do with You whatever they want. And in seeing them jumping on You, I fear You may die under their feet.

My Good and my All, the sorrow I feel for Your pains is so great, that I would like to shout so loudly as to be heard up there in Heaven, and call the Father, the Holy Spirit and all the Angels; and here on earth, from one point to another, to call Sweet Mama first, and all the souls who love You, so that, forming a circle around You, we may prevent these insolent soldiers from drawing near You to insult You and torment You more. Together with You, we repair for all the night sins, especially those committed at night by sectarians, over Your Sacramental Person, and for all the offenses of the souls who do not remain faithful in the night of trial.

But I see, my insulted Good, that the soldiers, tired and drunk, would like to rest, and my poor heart, oppressed and lacerated by Your so many pains, does not want to remain alone with You—it feels the need of another company. O please, my Sweet Mama, be my inseparable company; let us embrace Jesus together, in order to console Him! O Jesus, together with Mama, I kiss You and I bless You; and with Her, I will have the sleep of Love upon Your Adorable Heart.

Vita mia dolcissima, Gesù, mentre dormivo stretta al tuo cuore, spesso spesso mi sentivo pungere dalle spine che pungono il tuo santissimo cuore. E volendo svegliarmi perché tu abbia una almeno che noti tutte le tue pene e ti compatisca, mi stringo più forte al tuo cuore, e, sentendo più al vivo le tue punture, mi sveglio. Ma che vedo? Che sento? Vorrei nasconderti nel mio cuore per espormi in vece tua e ricevere su di me pene così dolorose, insulti ed umiliazioni così indicibili. Ma solo il tuo amore poteva sostenere tanti oltraggi. Mio pazientissimo Gesù, che cosa potevi sperare da gente così inumana?

Già vedo che si prendono gioco di te. Ti coprono il volto di densi sputi, la luce dei tuoi begli occhi resta coperta di sputi; e tu, mandando fiumi di lacrime per la nostra salvezza, spingi dai tuoi occhi quegli sputi. E i tuoi nemici, non essendo il loro cuore capace di vedere la luce dei tuoi occhi, tornano di nuovo a coprirli di sputi.

Altri, facendosi più bravi nel male, ti aprono la dolcissima bocca e te la riempiono di sputi fetenti, tanto che loro stessi ne sentono la nausea. E siccome quegli sputi scendono e mostrano in parte la maestà del tuo volto e la tua sovrumana dolcezza, si sentono rabbrividire e si vergognano di se stessi; e per essere più liberi ti bendano gli occhi con uno straccio vilissimo, in modo da potersi del tutto sfrenare sulla tua adorabile persona. Sicché ti battono senza pietà, ti trascinano, ti pestano sotto i piedi e ripetono i pugni, gli schiaffi sul tuo volto e sulla testa, graffiandoti e tirandoti per i capelli, e ti sbalzano da un punto all’altro.

Gesù, Amor mio, il cuore non regge vedendoti in tante pene. Tu vuoi che noti tutto, ma io mi sento che vorrei coprirmi gli occhi per non vedere scene così dolorose che fanno strappare il cuore da ogni petto, ma l’amore per te mi costringe a guardare che ne è di te. E vedo che non fiati, che non dici una parola per difenderti, che stai in mano a questi soldati come uno straccio e possono fare di te quello che vogliono, e, vedendoli saltare sopra di te, temo che tu muoia sotto i loro piedi.

Mio Bene e mio Tutto, è tanto il dolore che sento per le tue pene, che vorrei dare grida così forti da farmi sentire su nel cielo, e chiamare il Padre, lo Spirito Santo e gli angeli tutti, e qui in terra, da un punto all’altro, chiamare per prima la dolce Mamma e tutte le anime che ti amano, in modo che, formando cerchio attorno a te, impediamo a questi insolenti soldati di avvicinarsi a te per insultarti e tormentarti ancora. Ed insieme con te ripariamo tutte le specie di peccati notturni, soprattutto quelli commessi dai settari sulla tua sacramentale persona durante la notte, e tutte le offese delle anime che non si mantengono fedeli nella notte della prova.

Ma vedo, insultato mio Bene, che i soldati, stanchi e ubriachi, vorrebbero riposarsi; ed il povero mio cuore, oppresso e lacerato da tante tue pene, non vuol restare solo insieme con te, sente il bisogno di un’altra compagnia.

Deh! Dolce Mamma mia, sii tu la mia inseparabile compagnia, abbracciamo insieme Gesù per consolarlo. O Gesù, insieme con la Mamma ti bacio e benedico, e con lei prenderò il sonno dell’amore sul tuo adorabile cuore.

Riflessioni e Pratiche

Gesù in quest’ora è in mezzo ai soldati con animo imperturbabile, con costanza ferrea. Da quel Dio che è, soffre tutti gli strapazzi che i soldati gli fanno, e li guarda con tanto amore, da sembrare che li inviti a dargli più pene.

E noi, nelle ripetute sofferenze, siamo costanti, oppure ci lamentiamo, c’infastidiamo, perdiamo la pace, quella pace del cuore necessaria per fare che Gesù possa trovare in noi una felice dimora?

La fermezza è quella virtù che fa conoscere se Dio regna veramente in noi. Se è vera virtù la nostra, saremo fermi nella prova con una fermezza, non a periodi, ma sempre eguale a se stessa, ed è questa sola fermezza che ci dà la pace. Come più ci rendiamo fermi nel bene, nel patire e nell’operare, così veniamo ad allargare il campo intorno a noi, dove Gesù allargherà le sue grazie. Sicché, se noi saremo incostanti, piccolo sarà il nostro campo, e Gesù poco o nulla potrà spaziarsi. Se invece noi saremo fermi e costanti, trovando Gesù il campo molto esteso, troverà in noi il suo appoggio e sostegno, e dove distendere le sue grazie.

Se vogliamo che il nostro amato Gesù riposi in noi, circondiamolo della stessa fermezza con cui operava per la salvezza delle anime nostre. Egli così difeso starà nel nostro cuore in dolce riposo.

Gesù guardava con amore quelli che lo maltrattavano. E noi, guardiamo con lo stesso amore quelli che ci offendono? E l’amore che mostriamo loro è tanto, da far che sia voce così potente per i loro cuori da convertirli a Gesù?

Mio Gesù, Amore senza confine, dammi questo amore e fa che ogni pena chiami anime a te.

For me, taking shot of dragon fly is much easier than birds or butterfly as I find them flying and quite at rest for a while enough for me to taske several shots. They often land at rest on some leaves or branches in my garden during watering the garden. Sometimes I moved water spray to them and sometimes they move near water spray. This make joyful watering time and I often expect to meet them. But I dont spend time doing this for quite long time and I intend to do it more often in this new year and hope to see them again.

Couldn't fully fade away background as I want to keep this angle for the standing and these wings. as well as I have limited in the built-in macro lens in camera

My Secret Garden

Nonthaburi, Thailand

Metro Milan, Italy

Leica mini 3

Paradies DIA 100 35mm

Slide Film Scan

Didn’t expect much from this vintage lens, but the glow it gives is kind of addicting. It’s not just a blur, it’s like it wraps the subject in light.

Not the sharpest thing in the world, but I’m starting to care less about that. It makes my Fuji files feel more human somehow.

Expecting twins! At Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

I couldn't see what else was in with the tree. But a nice concept.

Levi - One of twelve banners representing the twelve tribes of Israel.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_of_Levi

The Tribe of Levi is one of the tribes of Israel, traditionally descended from Levi, son of Jacob, or high priest of the Israelites. Moses and his brother, Aaron, were both descendants of the Tribe of Levi. When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan (Joshua 13:33), the Levites were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed to be landowners "because the Lord the God of Israel Himself is their inheritance" (Deuteronomy 18:2).[1][2] The Tribe of Levi served particular religious duties for the Israelites and had political responsibilities as well. In return, the landed tribes were expected to give tithe to the Cohanim, particularly the tithe known as the Maaser Rishon. The Cohanim were the priests. They performed the work in the Temple. The Levites who were not Cohanim played music in the Temple or served as guards.

Notable descendants of the Levite lineage according to the Bible include Miriam, John the Baptist, Samuel, Ezekiel, Ezra, and Malachi. The descendants of Aaron, who was the first kohen gadol, high priest, of Israel, were designated as the priestly class, the Kohanim.

The tribe is named after Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob (also called Israel). Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (Genesis 46:11).

Kohath's son Amram was the father of Miriam, Aaron and Moses. The descendants of Aaron: the Kohanim ("Priests"), had the special role as priests in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and also in the Temple in Jerusalem. The remaining Levites (Levi'yim in Hebrew) were divided into three groups: Gershonites (descended from Gershon), Kohathites (from Kohath), and Merarites (from Merari). Each division filled different roles in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple services.

Levites' principal roles in the Temple included singing Psalms during Temple services, performing construction and maintenance for the Temple, serving as guards, and performing other services. Levites also served as teachers and judges, maintaining cities of refuge in Biblical times. The Book of Ezra reports that the Levites were responsible for the construction of the Second Temple and also translated and explained the Torah when it was publicly read.

During the Exodus the Levite tribe were particularly zealous in protecting the Mosaic law in the face of those worshipping the Golden Calf, which may have been a reason for their priestly status.[3] Although the Levites were not censured among the children of Israel, they were numbered separately as special army.[4]

In the Torah

In the Book of Numbers the Levites were charged with ministering to the Kohanim (priests) and keeping watch over the Tabernacle:

2 And with you bring your brother also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and minister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.3 They shall keep guard over you and over the whole tent, but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar lest they, and you, die.4 They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, and no outsider shall come near you.5 And you shall keep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, that there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel.6 And behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 18:2-6 (ESV)

In the Prophets

The Book of Jeremiah speaks of a covenant with the Kohanim (priests) and Levites, connecting it with the covenant with the seed of King David:

As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David My servant, and the Levites that minister unto Me.

And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying:

'Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying: The two families which the LORD did choose, He hath cast them off? Jeremiah 33:22-24

The prophet Malachi also spoke of a covenant with Levi:

Know then that I have sent this commandment unto you, that My covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

My covenant was with him of life and peace, and I gave them to him, and of fear, and he feared Me, and was afraid of My name.

The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and did turn many away from iniquity. Malachi 2:4-6

Malachi connected a purification of the "sons of Levi" with the coming of God's messenger:

Behold, I send My messenger, and he shall clear the way before Me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to His temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he cometh, saith the LORD of hosts.

But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap;

And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and there shall be they that shall offer unto the LORD offerings in righteousness. Malachi 3:1-3

In Biblical criticism

The parts of the Torah attributed by advocates of the Documentary Hypothesis to the Elohist, seem to treat Levite as a descriptive attribute for someone particularly suited to the priesthood, rather than as the designator of a tribe and feel that Moses and Aaron are being portrayed as part of the Joseph group rather than being part of a tribe called Levi.[5] The Levites are not mentioned by the Song of Deborah considered one of the oldest passages of the Bible. Jahwist passages have more ambiguous language; traditionally interpreted as referring to a person named Levi they could also be interpreted as just referring to a social position titled levi.[6] In the Blessing of Jacob (later than the Song of Deborah), Levi is treated as a tribe, cursing them to become scattered; critics regard this as an aetiological postdiction to explain how a tribe could be so scattered, the simpler solution being that the priesthood was originally open to any tribe, but gradually became seen as a distinct tribe to themselves.[6][7] In the Priestly Source and Blessing of Moses, which critical scholars view as originating centuries later, the Levites are firmly established as a tribe, and the only tribe with the right to be priests.

References

^ Joshua 13:33, cited in Wikisource-logo.svg Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Levites". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

^ Deuteronomy 18:2

^ From Wikisource-logo.svg Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Levites". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. quoting Exodus 32:25-32:29

^ Ginzberg, Louis (1909). The Legends of the Jews Vol III : The Census of Levites (Translated by Henrietta Szold) Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.

^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "article name needed". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

^ a b Jewish Encyclopedia

^ Peake's commentary on the Bible

www.conservapedia.com/Levi_(tribe)

Levi (Hebrew: לוי, Lēvî; "joining"), (2248 AM–2385 AM, or 1756-1620 BC), was the third son of Jacob and Leah. He is the ancestor of the Tribe of Levi, one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The prophet Moses and his brother, Aaron, were descendants of Levi.

The Bible states his lifespan: 137 years. (Exodus 6:16) The only other brother for whom the Bible gives a definite lifespan is Joseph.

A Display of Anger

Main Article: Dinah

In 2272 AM (1732 BC), his sister Dinah strayed from camp near the city of Shalem, in the region of Shechem.(Genesis 33:18 (KJV)) The local prince (also named Shechem) saw her and took her by force. Afterward, the prince was in love with Dinah and asked his father, King Hamor, to negotiate a marriage between him and Dinah.

Hamor approached Jacob and suggested a treaty involving mutual intermarriage. Jacob's sons said that they would accept this, on condition that all the men of the city circumcise themselves. King Hamor agreed to this.

Three days later, Simeon and Levi carried out their actual plan: they attacked the city by night, when the men of the city were still sore from the circumcisions, and killed the men, including Hamor and Shechem. They also took Dinah out of the prince's house and brought her back to camp. They returned with their brothers to plunder the city, capturing wealth, flocks, herds, women & children, and anything else of value.

The next morning, Jacob struck camp and left the region. He rebuked his sons sternly for an act that would risk retaliation and annihilation. Simeon and Levi, unrepentant and defiant, said that the only other choice they had would be to treat Dinah as if she were a harlot. (Genesis 34 )

Entry into Egypt

In 2298 AM (1706 BC), Levi, together with his father, entered Egypt. He was about 50 years old at the time and had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

In his deathbed blessing of his sons, Jacob said this of Simeon and Levi both:

Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel. Genesis 49:5-7

This is a reference to the Shechem incident and might be one reason why the tribes of Simeon and Levi remained separated both during the wilderness journey and in the Promised Land. Simeon received a tribal territory and an assigned place to camp (the south side of the Tabernacle) and in the marching order (in the middle of the second rank). The Levites camped close to the Tabernacle on three sides and had the special duty to carry the Tabernacle furnishings, coverings, hangings, and structural elements. (Numbers 2-4 ) In the Promised Land, the Levites received no territory but were granted grazing rights in the environs of forty-eight cities.

Death

Levi lived for eighty-seven more years in Egypt, and died in 2385 AM (1620 BC). He is assumed to have had one more child born to him in Egypt: a daughter, Jochebed.

Levi in fiction

Levi appears in multiple motion picture and television projects depicting the life and career of Joseph. He also appears in at least one project that described in detail the rape of Dinah and the revenge that Simeon and Levi took at Shechem.

References

James Ussher, The Annals of the World, Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003, pghh. 120, 153.

We stumbled upon All Saints en route to a different church, and as all those seen thus far on this day had been small and plain, not much was expected. But I saw the tower from along the main street, and looked impressive. and once parked we found it unlocked and welcoming.

Star of the show is the northern chapel, given over to the Culpepper family, with a fabulous tomb in the centre. On the walls, dozens of blank shields show what had been planned to be the family mausoleum for centuries, but things changed, the family moved away and the chapel has just three shields decorated.

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There was considerable damage caused to this church in an earthquake of 1382. The medieval accounts survive so we know that 48s 2d was spent on the rebuilding. Little can have changed to the structure since that time, except for the construction of a north chapel in 1638. This chapel has a charming pattern of flint flushwork triangles in a horizontal course below the battlements. It contains one of the most interesting seventeenth-century monuments in Kent - to commemorate Lady Elizabeth Culpepper (d. 1638), carved and signed by the Court Sculptor Edward Marshall. The detail is amazing and the cord that connects her ring and wrist is always pointed out to visitors. The rest of the church was restored early in the career of George Gilbert Scott Jr in 1876 (see also Frinsted) and retains its patina of age unimaginable in a restoration by Scott Sr. The pulpit is early seventeenth century and dates from a few years after the much crocketed font cover. There are three signed monuments by Rysbrack and a tall crownpost roof of good construction in the nave.

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

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HOLLINGBORNE.

THE next parish north-westward from Harrietsham is Hollingborne, called in Domesday, Hoilingeborde, and in later records, Holingburnan and Holingeburne. It probably took its name from the spring which rises in the vale underneath the hill, in this parish.

THE PARISH of Hollingborne is situated much the same as that of Harrietsham last described, close to the great ridge of chalk hills, at the foot of which is the village called Hollingborne-street, in which at the south end of it stands the church and vicarage, and near them a well-looking brick mansion, of the time of queen Elizabeth, which by its appearance must have had owners of good condition in former times, but what is remarkable the rector of Hollingborne claims some rooms in this house in right of his rectory at this time. The road through Newnhambottom from Ospringe and Canterbury passes through Hollingborne-street, and thence through Eyhorne, commonly called Iron-street, in this parish, where there are two good houses, one belonging to Robert Salmon, esq. who resides in it, and the other built not many years since by Mr. John Weeks, who died possessed of it in 1785. Hence the road leads on, and joins the Ashford high road through Bersted to Maidstone. The southern part of this parish consists mostly of a deep sand, the whole of it below the hill is well watered by some small streams, which running southward join the Lenham rivulet in its way to Maidstone. Nearer the street the soil becomes a chalk, which continues to the summit of the hill, at the edge of which stands Mr. Duppa's house, whence the remaining part of this parish northward, situated on high ground, and exposed to the cold bleak winds, is but a wild and dreary country, with thick hedgerows, and frequent coppices of wood, mostly of hazel and oak, and small unthriving trees of the latter dispersed among them; the soil a deep tillage land, wet and very poor, being a red cludgy earth, covered with quantities of flint stones. On Eyhorne green, or as it is commonly called Broad-street, in this parish, in October yearly, two constables are chosen, one for the upper, the other for the lower half hundred of Eyhorne, each of which district consists of the twelve adjoining parishes, the borsholders in which, and the several boroughs in them, except such as are chosen at the different court leets, are chosen here likewise.

This parish, with the manor of Elnothington in it, together with the rest of the hundred of Eyhorne, was antiently bound to contribute to the repair of the sixth pier of Rochester bridge.

ÆTHELSTAN ETHELING, son of Ethelred II. gave by his will in 1015, to Christ-church, in Canterbury, his lands at Hollingborne, with their appurtenances, excepting one plough-land, which he had given to Siserth. In the MSS. in Bennet college library, Cambridge, of the evidences of Christ-church, Canterbury, intitled Thorn, printed in Decim. Script. f. 2221, this gift is said to have been made in 980; a very improbable circumstance, the king, his elder brother, at that time being but fourteen years of age.

These lands he had bought of his father, and gave them, with his consent, to Christ-church, L. S. A. that is, free from all secular service, excepting the trinoda necessitas, in like manner as Adisham had been given to it.

The manor of Hollingborne remained part of the possessions of the church of Canterbury at the time of the conquest, when the revenues of it were enjoyed as one common estate by the archbishop and his convent; but archbishop Lanfranc, after the example of foreign churches, separating them, in the partition Hollingborne fell to the share of the monks, and was allotted for their subsistence, (or ad Cibum, as it was usually termed) and it is accordingly thus entered in the book of Domesday, under the general title of Terra Monachorum Archiepi, i. e. the land of the monks of the archbishop.

The archbishop himself holds Hoilingeborde. It was taxed at six sulings. The arable land is twenty-four carucates. In demesne there are two, and sixty-one villeins, with sixteen borderers, having twenty-three carucates. There is a church, twelve servants, and two mills, and eight acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of forty hogs. In the whole, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty pounds, and now it is worth thirty pounds. To this manor there adjoins half a suling, which never paid scot, this the bishop of Baieux rents of the archbishop.

At this time, the whole of the above premises seems to have been valued at thirty pounds.

King Henry II. granted to the monks of Christchurch a charter for their lands at Hollingborne upon the Hills. In the 10th year of king Edward II. the prior obtained a charter of free-warren for his manor of Hollingborne, among others; about which time it was, with its appurtenances, valued at 46l. 9s. 8d. King Henry VI. by his letters patent, in his 25th and 26th year, granted to the prior a market, to be held at this place weekly on a Wednesday, and a fair yearly on the feast of St. Anne. (fn. 1)

William Selling, who was elected prior in the next reign of king Edward IV. anno 1472, during the time of his holding that dignity, greatly improved the prior's apartments here. After which, it seems to have undergone no material alteration till the dissolution of the priory, which was surrendered into the hands of king Henry VIII. in the 31st year of his reign.

The manor of Hollingborne did not remain long in the hands of the crown; for the king settled it, by his dotation charter, in his 33d year, on his newerected dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose possessions it now remains.

There is a court-leet and court baron regularly held by the dean and chapter for this manor, which extends likewise into the adjoining parishes of Hucking, Bredhurst, and Harrietsham, the quit-rents of it called Beadle-rents, being about forty-two pounds per annum.

¶BUT THE DEMESNE LANDS of this manor have been from time to time leased out by the dean and chapter at a reserved rent of 10l. 9s. The year after the grant of it to them, they demised them by lease to I. Reynolde, as they did anno 19 Elizabeth to William Puresoy, in whose family they remained till the beginning of king James I.'s reign. After which the Fludds held them in lease, and continued so to do, till their interest in them was passed away to W. Alabaster, D. D. After which these premises were held in succession by Bargrave, Boys, Farewell, and Gookin, till the year 1684, when Sir Thomas Culpeper, had a lease of them, in whose family they continued till John Spencer Colepeper, of the Charterhouse, passed away his interest in them to the Hon. Robert Fairfax, who held them in 1758, and then alienated his lease to Francis Child, esq. banker in London, whose brother Robert Child, esq. of London, banker, dying in 1782, the trustees of his will, Robert Dent and John Keysel, esqrs. are now in the possession of his interest in the lease of these demesnes, under the dean and chapter, besides which the dean and chapter have several other lands and woods here leased out by them to different persons.

HOLLINGBORNE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deaury of Sutton; and is exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon.

The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is a handsome building, consisting of three large isles, with a chancel at the end of the middle one, and a square tower at the west end. The chancel is much enriched with the monuments of the family of Culpeper, of Greenway-court, and for two of the lords Culpeper, one of them by Rysbrack; on the north side is one for Sir Martin Barnham and his two wives, in 1610, their three figures kneeling at a desk, and underneath their children. At the east end of the north isle there is a small neat chapel, raised up several steps to give room for a vault underneath, in which lie the remains of all this branch of the Culpeper family. The sides of the chapel are filled with black escutcheons, and square tablets of black marble alternately, only two of these among the numbers of them are filled up, and those with younger branches of the family settled elsewhere, a proof of the disappointment of the vain endeavours of the builder to transmit the memory of his descendants to posterity. On the middle of the pavement is a beautiful raised monument of white marble, and the figure of a lady, lying at full length, in the habit of the times, of exceeding good sculpture, in memory of Elizabeth, lady of Sir Thomas Culpeper, daughter of John Cheney, esq. of Sussex, obt. 1638. In the isle a monument for Nich. Chaloner, esq. obt. 1706. Against the north wall of the north isle for two of the family of Duppa, and at the lower end of the church, for the Plummers, Collins's and Dykes. In the middle isle a stone, on which have been the figures of a man and woman in brass, but two shields of arms remain, being quarterly, first and fourth, A chevron, engrailed on a chief, three sleurs de lis; second and third, Three fishes, wavy, sessways, in pale.

There is belonging to this church, a most superb altar-cloth, and a pulpit-cloth and cushion, of purple velvet, ornamented with different figures of fruits of pomegranets and grapes, wrought in gold, the needlework of the daughters of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who employed themselves for almost the space of twelve years in the working of them, during their father's absence abroad with king Charles II.

The communion plate is very handsome, and an swerable to the above-mentioned furniture, being mostly the gift of the family of Colepeper, and some of it of Baldwin Duppa, esq.

John Eweyn, by his will proved in 1527, gave a table of alabaster, to stand upon the altar of St. John the Baptist in this church; and money to the repair of St. John's chapel in it. John Aleff, parson of Hollingborne, as appears by his will in 1537, was buried in the way beside the porch-door, on the right hand, and that there was set in the wall, nigh his grave, a stone with a plate of sculpture, mentioning where and when he was buried. He had before been vicar of Little Chart, and of St. Laurence Wolton, as he was then of St. John's Sherburne, in Hampshire.

The church of Hollingborne, to which the chapels of Hucking and Bredhurst were antiently annexed, is a sinecure rectory, with a vicarage endowed. The rector of Hollingborne is at this time patron of the perpetual curacy of the chapel of Bredhurst. The archbishop is patron both of the rectory and of the vicarage of Hollingborne, the vicar of which is collated to this vicarage, with the chapel of Hucking annexed.

The vicarage was endowed before the year 1407, in which year Arthur Sentleger, the rector, granted to William Maunby, vicar of this church, a messuage, with its appurtenances in this parish, for the habitation of himself and his successors for ever. (fn. 5) In archbishop Chichele's register, at Lambeth, there is an unauthenticated writing of a composition, made about the year 1441, for it is without date, between William Lyeff, then rector here, and John Fsylde, vicar, upon the assignation of a proper portion for the endowment of this vicarage in future times.

The rectory of Hollingborne is valued in the king's books at 28l. 15s. 5d. and the tenths at 2l. 17s. 6 1/7d. The vicarage is valued in them at 7l. 6s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 14s. 8d. The vicarage in 1640 was valued at eighty-six pounds, and the communicants were then 271. It is now of the yearly certified value of 70l. 16s. 8d.

The vicarage was augmented twenty pounds per annum, by lease between Ralph Staunton, rector, and Sir Thomas Culpeper, of this parish.

¶The name of Culpeper, or Colepeper, is so variously spelt in different deeds and records, that it is impossible to keep with any rule to either spelling; on all the monuments, and in the parish register, (excepting in two instances in the last) it is spelt Culpeper.

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol5/pp460-478

My 2nd maternity shoot. Tried a few without the backdrop this time as the colours looked pretty good. Also, there wasn't loads of room to set up the backdrop due to the shape of the room.

For the shots without the backdrop I used both my Sony F42 flashguns with white shoot-through umbrellas.

For the backdrop shots I had a bare flash behind the backdrop and one camera right with a reflector on the floor aiming back up into Matt & Kiley.

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.

(Ce à quoi vous pouvez vous attendre dans Second Life…)

www.dailymotion.com/video/x5t93s

Sometimes it fades faster than you expect.

Baynard Bridge-Tunnel

For information about my diorama layouts and the diecast models, check out the: 1stPix FAQ

Day 2 of 2017 Mid-Season Invitational Group Stage at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 11 May 2017.

Be Inspired

Xavier promotes math, science clubs to younger girls

By Ambria Hammel | April 16, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

Girls at local Catholic schools show a great interest in the math and sciences, but studies show that women account for only 29 percent of college math and computer science degrees.

To bridge that gap and keep girls interested in such fields, Xavier College Preparatory teamed up with middle-schoolers throughout the diocese March 27 to host a “Girls Have IT Day.”

The all-girls Catholic high school math and information technology fair included 15 activity booths and featured presentations by two young science professionals — both Xavier alums — who talked about their career paths.

“I never thought, going into science and math, that people would expect you to be creative. But they do,” Tammy Greasby, a 2000 Xavier alumna, told 200 middle schoolers. “Creativity is a must because if you can only do what you’re told, you’re not going to go very far.”

Greasby, a doctoral candidate in biostatistics, has had to determine the best way to test, chart, color and interpret data. She’s studied the most efficient way to capture wind energy and the cause of tumors in cats.

Greasby also told the middle-schoolers about a handful of female friends in related science, technology, engineering and math fields. They’ve studied proteins, memory and the brain, DNA and the environmental impact of fuel cell vehicles and trash.

They’ve also volunteered abroad, worked for the CIA, competed in bike and swim races and created crafty projects.

“We’re not nerds, we’re normal people,” said Patricia Blaha, assistant principal at St. Thomas the Apostle School, of engineers and like-minded people.

Blaha, who has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, brought a group of students to the event to help them consider math and science careers.

The girls explored math, science and music activities in small groups. They looked through telescopes to see the sun, played Math Twister, used a green screen to star in a film, worked with puzzles and video games, controlled a flight simulator and made music with their water bottle.

“The whole thing behind the water is to blow in it and the sound changes as your water goes down,” explained Catherine Wyman, Xavier’s technology director. Wyman helped organize the IT day.

Many of the girls who attended IT day already had an interest in math and science classes, but learned more about major and career opportunities.

Frankie Leija, a seventh-grader at St. Louis the King School in Glendale, likes exploring computer programs, especially those that allow photo manipulation. She plans to go into forensic science, though.

“I like learning how you can talk for the dead,” Leija said.

More: www.catholicsun.org

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