If life is a box full of chocolates, we are given a selection of choices in the box, what are you going to pick? And what if you don't like what is in the box, are you going to search for those outside the box?

We are constantly making choices in life, no matter how easy or how hard the choice is, it is the routine that we have to go through. We can't make the perfect choice, only best choice and by best it means we make the one that is the best for us or for everybody, that includes giving and taking in a lot of things.

It's not easy dealing with difficult moments that are beyond our control, whatever that breaks you, find something that can mend it. And I still believe that the amount of sadness you go through will return the same amount of happiness to you. As much as life is unfair in a way, it is fair in a certain way.

Patience is the only thing requires in moving on, try, keep expanding the capacity of endurance, then you will be able to see what you will get eventually. And during the period of enduring the tough times, you just need to be a little tougher and a little less emotional, let the mind control your heart, then you know what you need to do to go on with the journey.

This is a famous carrot-cake recipe generously given to me by Gary's girlfriend (and only very slightly adjusted by me). And good lord, let me tell you: he wasn't kidding about how good it is.... I made a double-batch because the original seemed like too little for all the people to whom I thought I was going to be feeding it (turned out that Bruno, Otto, and Henni were not at our Easter Brunch, but oh, well, it'll freeze).

This is one of those incredibly rich carrot cakes that say, "Actually, I'm just as deliciously bad for you as a triple-chocolate fudge cake. But I'm a carrot cake."

Ingredients for Cake:

16 oz/ 400 g soft brown sugar

12 fl oz / 340 ml vegetable oil

4 eggs

8 oz / 200 g flour

2 t baking soda (I used the equiv. of baking powder)

cinnamon, cloves, and ginger

4 oz / 100 g chopped walnuts

10 oz / 250 g grated carrots (about three large ones)

Ingredients for Frosting:

4 oz / 100 g unsalted butter

12 oz / 300 g cream cheese

16 oz / 400 g powdered sugar

vanilla essence

zest of an orange or zest and juice of a lemon

Grease a cake tin and preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. Cream sugar and oil in a large bowl, adding eggs one at a time. Separately, whisk flour, spices, and rising agent together. Stir dry ingredients into wet and then add carrots and nuts. Bake for about an hour and set out to cool.

Make the frosting by beating cream cheese and butter together, adding sugar until it's the right texture, and finishing with a little juice or zest (being careful not to let it get runny). Ice the cake with a crumb layer and allow to set before adding the rest of the icing and decorating.

I split the cake into two layers with a thread and put a layer of icing in between as well as the two sides and top and there was still more than a third of the icing left to go in the freezer for the next cake. Now I know why Gary's always so cheerful--it's pure sugar high.

I closed the rats into their cage while I was icing the cake (everyong will be glad to know), but I let them taste a little frosting, and they enjoyed that very much and became bouncing insane rats.

For best view: Press L

© Jef Kusters - credit MUST be given at all times

Given to members of a chorus at Hammar Glassworks. Roland Karlsson was the choir leader. Only 16 bottles were made.

Bookmark given to junior high library patrons as reward/incentive

(Answer ..........................................................................................................So he nose where he stopped reading!)

Given the resurgence of photos diverted in my stream, erotic photos will no longer be available to the public, as of this day.

Thanks for your understanding...

Jim P.

(devant la recrudescence de photos détournées dans mon stream, les photos érotiques ne seront plus accessibles au public, à compter de ce jour.

Merci pour votre compréhension...

Jim P.)

When given the opportunity to build a new kitchen for the agency, you can rest assured I sieged the opportunity to infuse award winning koolnez. At the very core of the concept was the utilization of industrial shop shelving units in lieu of base cabinets. Various other "shop" component were also used (a tool box for the silverware storage) to complete the vibe.

Yeah, we love it!

Floating in space like a cosmic jellyfish…

This is one of the most famous supernovas, SN 1987A. These remains of an exploded star have been well-studied since their discovery in 1987.

Webb’s sensitivity and resolution has given us the most clear and detailed look yet, revealing a new feature: small crescent-like structures thought to be a part of the outer layers of gas shot out from the supernova explosion.

Learn more: go.nasa.gov/47SE9BM

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Mikako Matsuura (Cardiff University), Richard Arendt (NASA-GSFC, UMBC), Claes Fransson (Stockholm University), Josefin Larsson (KTH) Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI).

Image description: A supernova with its components labeled. The center of the image contains a dense green cloud, shaped like a keyhole. A white line points to this area, labeled “inner ejecta (keyhole)”. Outside of this region are two, curved dotted lines with a white line pointing to the left one, labeled “crescent”. Outside of this cloud of gas is a ring of dense orange gas and dust that becomes more diffused as it travels further away from the center. A dotted blue line is overlaid in the center of this ring with a blue line that is labeled “equatorial ring”. The innermost part of this dense orange ring contains brighter orange clumps of glowing gas. There is a gray line pointing to one of these hotspots labeled “equatorial ring hotspots”. Outside of these structures, both above and below them, are very faint orange rings of gas and dust. They are overlain with dotted lines and both have white lines pointing to them, labeled “outer ring”. There are several white stars are strewn throughout the image.

Compass Arrows, Scale Bar, and Color Key

At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the 11 o’clock direction. The east arrow points toward 8 o’clock. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled 1.5 light-years. The length of the scale bar is approximately one-fifth the total width of the image. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, NIRCam filters are: F150W is blue; F164N is a greenish blue; F200W is light blue; F322N is yellow; F405N is orange; and F444W is red.

Given to me some years ago by Dave Churchman, who made it.

Nice (IPA: [nis]; Niçard Occitan: Niça [classical norm] or Nissa [nonstandard], Italian: Nizza or Nizza Marittima, Greek: Νίκαια, Latin: Nicaea) is a city in southern France located on the Mediterranean coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 1,197,751 inhabitants in the 2007 estimate. The city is a major tourist centre and a leading resort on the French Riviera (Côte d'Azur). It is the historical capital city of the County of Nice (Comté de Nice).

The first known human settlements in the Nice area date back approximately 400,000 years;[1] the Terra Amata archeological site shows one of the earliest uses of fire and construction of houses and flint findings are dated as around 230,000 years old.[2] Nice (Nicaea) was probably founded around 350 BC by the Greeks of Massilia (Marseille), and was given the name of Νικαία ("Nikaia") in honour of a victory over the neighbouring Ligurians (Nike is the Greek goddess of victory). The city soon became one of the busiest trading ports on the Ligurian coast; but it had an important rival in the Roman town of Cemenelum, which continued to exist as a separate city until the time of the Lombard invasions. The ruins of Cemenelum are located in Cimiez, which is now a district in Nice.

In the 7th century, Nice joined the Genoese League formed by the towns of Liguria. In 729 the city repulsed the Saracens; but in 859 and again in 880 the Saracens pillaged and burned it, and for most of the 10th century remained masters of the surrounding country.

During the Middle Ages, Nice participated in the wars and history of Italy. As an ally of Pisa it was the enemy of Genoa, and both the King of France and the Emperor endeavoured to subjugate it; but in spite of this it maintained its municipal liberties. During the course of the 13th and 14th centuries the city fell more than once into the hands of the Counts of Provence; and at length in 1388 the commune placed itself under the protection of the Counts of Savoy. Nice (called Nizza in Italian) participated - directly or indirectly - in the history of Savoy up until 1860.

The maritime strength of Nice now rapidly increased until it was able to cope with the Barbary pirates; the fortifications were largely extended and the roads to the city improved. In 1561 Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, abolished the use of Latin as an administrative language and established the Italian language as the official language of government affairs in Nice.

During the struggle between Francis I and Charles V great damage was caused by the passage of the armies invading Provence; pestilence and famine raged in the city for several years. It was in Nice that the two monarchs in 1538 concluded, through the mediation of Pope Paul III, a truce of ten years.

In 1543, Nice was attacked by the united forces of Francis I and Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha; and, though the inhabitants repulsed the assault which succeeded the terrible bombardment, they were ultimately compelled to surrender, and Barbarossa was allowed to pillage the city and to carry off 2,500 captives. Pestilence appeared again in 1550 and 1580.

Nice seen from Spot Satellite

In 1600, Nice was briefly taken by the duke of Guise. By the opening the ports of the countship to all nations, and proclaiming full freedom of trade (1626), the commerce of the city was given great stimulus, the noble families taking part in its mercantile enterprises. Captured by Catinat in 1691, Nice was restored to Savoy in 1696; but it was again besieged by the French in 1705, and in the following year its citadel and ramparts were demolished.

The treaty of Utrecht in 1713 once more gave the city back to the Duke of Savoy who was on that same occasion recognized as King of Sicily. In the peaceful years which followed the "new town" was built. From 1744 till the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) the French and Spaniards were again in possession. In 1775 the king,who in 1718 had swapped his souverainty of Sicily for the Kingdom of Sardinia, destroyed all that remained of the ancient liberties of the commune. Conquered in 1792 by the armies of the First French Republic, the County of Nice continued to be part of France until 1814; but after that date it reverted to the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont.

By a treaty concluded in 1860 between the Sardinian king and Napoleon III, the County was again ceded to France as a territorial reward for French assistance in the Second Italian War of Independence against Austria, which saw Lombardy unified with Piedmont-Sardinia. The cession was ratified by over 25,000 electors out of a total of 30,700. Savoy was also transferred to the French crown by similar means.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, born in Nice, strongly opposed the cession to France (arguing that it was not done with a "universal" vote) and in 1866 there were even popular riots in the city, promoted by "Garibaldini" in favour of the unification of Nice to Italy. The Italian Irredentists considered Nice one of their main nationalistic requests and in 1942/3 the city was occupied and administered by Italy during World War II.

The dawn of the 20th century was the arrival of a modern mode of transport. In 1900, the Tramway de Nice electrified its horse drawn tramway and spread its network to Menton and Cagnes-sur-Mer, equipping the city of a modern mode of transport.

Starting in 1932, Nice hosted international racing in the Formula Libre (predecessor to Formula One) on the so-called Circuit Nice. The circuit started along the beach boulevard just to the south of the Jardin Albert Premier. The course headed west down the promenade des Anglais, then made a hairpin turn at the Hôtel Negresco, came back eastward and went up and around the Jardin Albert Premier, before heading again east along the beach on the Quai des Etats-Unis.

In 1932, Louis Chiron won the GP Nice race, driving a Bugatti T51, closely followed just 3.4 seconds behind by Raymond Sommer in an Alfa Romeo Monza with third place going to René Dreyfus, also in a Bugatti T51. In 1933, the race was won by Tazio Nuvolari in a Maserati 8C, followed by René Dreyfus in his Bugatti and Guy Moll in an Alfa Romeo Monza. In 1934, the race was again won by an Italian in an Alfa Romeo Tipo B, none other than the best driver of the season, Achille Varzi. The last season to feature a GP at Nice was in 1935, when the Alfa Romeo Tipo Bs dominated the circuit in the hands of Tazio Nuvolari and Louis Chiron, who placed second, and René Dreyfus, who took third.

In the second half of the 20th century, Nice bore the influence of mayor Jean Médecin (mayor for 33 years from 1928 to 1943 and 1947 to 1965) and his son Jacques (mayor for 24 years from 1966 to 1990). On October 16, 1979 23 people died when the coast of Nice was hit by a tsunami, caused by an undersea landslide. As accusations of political corruption against Jacques Médecin grew, he fled France in 1990 and was arrested in Uruguay in 1993, leading to his extradition in 1994. He was then convicted of several counts of corruption and associated crimes and sentenced to prison.

In 2003, local head prosecutor Éric de Montgolfier alleged that some judicial cases involving local personalities had been suspiciously derailed by the local judiciary, which he suspected of having unhealthy contacts, through Masonic lodges, with the very people that they are supposed to prosecute or judge. A controversial official report stated that de Montgolfier had made unwarranted accusations.

Christian Estrosi is the mayor of Nice since 2008. He is a member of the UMP party.

Source Wikipedia

GIVEN A MASS OF OLD CROCHET PATTERNS SOME TIME BACK .THESE ARE THE ONES I KEPT,MUST ADMIT I USUALLY MAKE UP MY PATTERNS NOW AS I GO.

Given the popularity of Fodens on the funfair it was inevitable that at least a couple would find their way into my present-day model fleet. This one is a Fleetmaster hand cast in whitemetal by an eBay seller called 'fairchasers' and improved by me; the trailer is a Kentoys plastic model.

Given the fact, that it is still terribly cold her in RL, I just HAD to pull out this beautiful knit top from Skin Flicks - even though it's bare shoulders :)

Sweater Top: "Hallie" in White by SkinFlicks

Skirt: "Anoorea" in Black by MichaMi

Shoes: "St.Tropez" in B/W by LeLutka

Stockings: "Vintage Chocolate20" by No.9

Skin: "Jessica 07 [Milky] Glow skin (light eyebrows)" by LAQ

Hair: "Faye" in AsheBlonde by Mirone

Ears: "Pearl and Diamond" by Mauve

Neck: "Claris Pearls" by Muse

Glasses: "Lace in Silver" by AIR

Given the bleak history of so many lives lost at sea from the fishing village of Dunmore East, Co. Waterford, I felt the aspect and form of this tree overlooking the harbour, with its limbs outstretched towards Heaven, implied, perhaps, a prayer or entreaty for mercy and courage...

it is dedicated to the families and friends of all who are lost at sea.

GIVEN A MASS OF OLD CROCHET PATTERNS SOME TIME BACK .THESE ARE THE ONES I KEPT,MUST ADMIT I USUALLY MAKE UP MY PATTERNS NOW AS I GO.

Wikipedia says:

Kuntur Wasi (Quechua kuntur condor, wasi house, "condor house") is the name given to the ruins of a religious center with complex architecture and stone sculptures, located in the Andean highlands of Peru.

It is believed the inhabitants had a link with the Chavín culture.

Kuntur Wasi is located in the Northern Mountain Range of Peru, specifically at the headwaters of the Jequetepeque River, in the region of the city of Cajamarca near the small town of San Pablo. The Jequetepeque valley provided a transportation corridor between the coastal region and the highlands.

Kuntur Wasi was a center where people congregated.

It is thought to have been constructed around 1000-700 BCE, during the Initial Period. The architecture consists of a hill-top temple, quadrangular platforms, a sunken courtyard, and series of rooms.

In the floor of one room there is an anthropomorphic figure made of clay, about 30 inches (75 cm) in height. It is painted with cinnabar red, malachite green, and black, yellow, and pink. Its face has big square eyes and a wide mouth with prominent canine teeth. There are also stepped platforms and funeral structures.

Lithosculptures have been found, similar to the Chavín style.

Kuntur Wasi was occupied between the years 1200-50 BC.

It was first discovered in 1945 by Julio C. Tello. In 1989, scientists from the University of Tokyo excavated four tombs at Kuntur Wasi. Valuable items, such as pectoral necklaces (decorative breastplates), gold crowns, ornamental stone beads, earrings, sets of dishes and iconographies of people were discovered in the burial area.

Since the beginning of the University of Tokyo's archaeological mission, eight tombs have been found in the area.

The Kuntur Wasi Museum, managed by local citizens, opened in 1994.

---------------

Según Wikipedia:

Kuntur Wasi es un sitio arqueológico que data del Formativo Inferior, se encuentra ubicado en el centro poblado del mismo nombre, en la provincia de San Pablo, en el departamento de Cajamarca, en el Perú.

En la lengua quechua Kuntur Wasi significa "Casa del Cóndor". Según el arqueológo japonés, Yoshio Onuki, estudioso principal de este sitio arqueológico, Kuntur Wasi es una expresión prechavín pero que posteriormente posee una gran influencia no solo de Chavín sino también de Cupisnique especialmente en la orfebrería y la cerámica.

Kuntur Wasi pasó por los siguientes periodos:

Fase Ídolo: Construcción del centro ceremonial con pisos enlucidos con cal de color blanco. En esta fase hay una cierta relación con Huacaloma y Pacopampa.

Fase Kuntur: Construcción de un nuevo complejo ceremonial en forma de U. Se desarrolla la cerámica fina y la orfebrería.

Fase Copa: Modificación del complejo arquitectónico ceremonial y la renovación del sistema de canales de drenaje.

Fase Sotera: Existe una relación con la Fase Layzón del valle de Cajamarca.

Corresponde a la decadencia de Kuntur Wasi.

Stromboli is a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing one of the three active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily. This name is derived from the Ancient Greek name Strongulē which was given to it because of its round swelling form. The island's population is between 400 and 850. The volcano has erupted many times and is constantly active with minor eruptions, often visible from many points on the island and from the surrounding sea, giving rise to the island's nickname "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean". The most recent major eruption was on 13 April 2009. Stromboli stands 926 m (3,034 ft) above sea level, and over 2,700 m (8,860 ft) on average above the sea floor.There are three active craters at the peak. A significant geological feature of the volcano is the Sciara del Fuoco ("Stream of fire"), a big horseshoe-shaped depression generated in the last 13,000 years by several collapses on the northwestern side of the cone. Two kilometers to the northeast lies Strombolicchio, the volcanic plug remnant of the original volcano.Mt. Stromboli has been in almost continuous eruption for the past 2,000 years. A pattern of eruption is maintained in which explosions occur at the summit craters, with mild to moderate eruptions of incandescent volcanic bombs, at intervals ranging from minutes to hours. This Strombolian eruption, as it is known, is also observed at other volcanoes worldwide. Eruptions from the summit craters typically result in a few short, mild, but energetic bursts, ranging up to a few hundred meters in height, containing ash, incandescent lava fragments and stone blocks. Mt. Stromboli's activity is almost exclusively explosive, but lava flows do occur at times when volcanic activity is high: an effusive eruption occurred in 2002, the first in 17 years, and again in 2003, 2007, and 2013-14.The two villages San Bartolo and San Vincenzo lie in the northeast while the smaller village Ginostra lies in the southwest. Administratively, they are one of the frazione of Lipari.In the early 1900s a few thousand people inhabited the island, but after several emigrations the population numbered a few hundred by the mid-1950s.

Stromboli è un'isola dell'Italia appartenente all'arcipelago delle isole Eolie, in Sicilia. Si tratta di un vulcano attivo facente parte dell'Arco Eoliano. Posta nel bacino Tirreno del mare Mediterraneo occidentale, l'isola è la più settentrionale delle Eolie e si estende su una superficie di 12,2 km².L'edificio vulcanico è alto 926 m s.l.m. e raggiunge una profondità compresa tra 1300 m e 2400 m al di sotto del livello del mare. Stromboli ha una persistente attività esplosiva ed è uno dei vulcani più attivi del mondo. A poche centinaia di metri a nord-est dell'isola di Stromboli si trova il neck di Strombolicchio, residuo di un antico camino vulcanico. L'isolotto ospita un faro della Marina, disabitato e automatizzato.Lo Stromboli è un vulcano esplosivo e le sue eruzioni avvengono con una frequenza media di circa una ogni ora. La sua attività "ordinaria" ha luogo ad una quota di 750 m s.l.m. dalle diverse bocche eruttive presenti nell'area craterica e allineate in direzione NE-SW. Tale attività consiste in esplosioni intermittenti di media energia, della durata di pochi secondi ad intervalli di 10–20 minuti, durante le quali vengono emesse piccole quantità di bombe scoriacee incandescenti, lapilli, cenere e blocchi, con velocità di uscita compresa tra 20 a 120 metri al secondo ed altezze comprese tra poche decine fino ad alcune centinaia di metri. L'attività eruttiva è associata ad un degassamento pressoché continuo dall'area craterica, il cui volume stimato è di 6000-12000 t/gi, e che consiste principalmente di H2O (3200-6300 t/g), CO2 (2900-5800 t/g), SO2 (400-800 t/g) e quantità minori di HCl e HF.Periodi di totale inattività, senza lanci di materiale, sono piuttosto rari. Il più lungo tra quelli registrati si è protratto per circa due anni, dal 1908 al 1910. Periodi di prolungata quiescenza, della durata di qualche mese, sono stati registrati più volte.

L'attività normale può essere periodicamente interrotta da esplosioni di maggiore energia, dette "esplosioni maggiori". Questi eventi consistono di brevi ma violente esplosioni, durante le quali vengono prodotti lanci balistici di blocchi e bombe di dimensioni anche metriche a distanze di alcune centinaia di metri, associati a piogge di lapilli e cenere; la distribuzione dei prodotti è solitamente confinata all'interno dell'area craterica. Sono distribuite non omogeneamente nel tempo, ma si tratta mediamente di 2,1 eventi ogni anno.

Le eruzioni stromboliane più violente mai accadute in tempi storici risalgono al 1919 e al 1930, ed entrambe (pare) furono causate da grandi infiltrazioni d'acqua marina nel camino vulcanico: il magma, a contatto con l'acqua, avrebbe causato violente esplosioni con grande emissione di vapori e scorie, accompagnate da violenti terremoti. Per la prima e finora unica volta nella storia del vulcano, delle colate laviche si riversarono anche al di fuori della Sciara del Fuoco, arrivando a lambire i centri abitati (Piscità fu sfiorata ad appena 20 metri), causando ingenti danni e numerose vittime, e causando un piccolo tsunami che generò un'onda di 2–3 m che arrivò a far danni fino a Capo Vaticano, in Calabria.I parossismi rappresentano le manifestazioni più energetiche del vulcano di Stromboli; consistono in violente ed improvvise esplosioni "tipo cannonata", durante le quali avviene l'emissione sostenuta di scorie incandescenti, ceneri, bombe e blocchi litici a distanze considerevoli, fino ad interessare le zone abitate dell'isola. Tali esplosioni possono produrre nubi convettive che raggiungono quote di 10 km. Durante i parossismi sono emessi volumi sensibilmente maggiori di materiali rispetto alle eruzioni normali e a quelle maggiori e frequentemente possono avvenire profonde modificazioni dell'area craterica. L'ultimo evento parossistico è avvenuto il 15 marzo 2007 all'interno dell'eruzione di febbraio-aprile 2007.Il 27 febbraio 2007, con un'iniziale effusione di lava dal cratere di NE, durata alcune ore e seguita dall'apertura di una bocca effusiva nella Sciara del Fuoco, a quota 400 m s.l.m. circa. Il 9 marzo 2007 si è aperta una seconda bocca sempre sulla Sciara del Fuoco, ma posizionata a circa 500 m s.l.m.; l'attività di questa bocca è stata comunque breve (circa 24 ore). Il 2 aprile 2007 è infine terminata anche l'effusione di lava dalla bocca di quota 400 m s.l.m. Il 4 maggio 2009 il vulcano ha ripreso l'attività eruttiva.

Nell'ultimo secolo sono riportati circa 26 episodi durante i quali si sono avute emissioni laviche. I prodotti emessi sono rappresentati principalmente da colate di spessore variabile; la morfologia del vulcano obbliga le colate di lava a riversarsi sul versante nord-occidentale, dove sono confinate all'interno della Sciara di Fuoco e quindi non rappresentano un pericolo per la popolazione dell'isola. Le colate fuoriescono generalmente attraverso fratture eruttive nella zona craterica o all'interno della Sciara del Fuoco, ma possono generarsi anche per tracimazione dal bordo craterico.La storia geologica dell'isola di Stromboli comincia circa 200.000 anni fa, quando un primo vulcano attivo di grandi dimensioni emerge dal mare, in posizione NE rispetto all'isola; di questo vulcano antico rimane soltanto il condotto solidificato (neck) rappresentato da Strombolicchio (vedi sotto).Il vero e proprio vulcano di Stromboli emerge dal mare circa 160.000 anni fa. Inizialmente i centri di emissione sono nella parte meridionale dell'isola, dove affiorano le unità più antiche appartenenti ai complessi del Paleostromboli I e II.Circa 35.000 anni fa il centro di emissione migra leggermente verso nord e le emissioni di lava e i depositi piroclastici legati a eruzioni esplosive danno origine ad un cono che raggiunge quota 700 m s.l.m. (Paleostromboli III).Le fasi successive della storia di Stromboli vedono la formazione ed il collasso calderico di vari edifici vulcanici. In particolare, a circa 34.600 anni fa risale il complesso eruttivo di Scari, osservabile presso Scari e a sud del paese sotto forma di spesse sequenze di bombe vulcaniche, lapilli e lahar. Mentre successivo (circa 26.000 anni fa) è il complesso del Vancori, caratterizzato da depositi piroclastici e basalti shoshonitici. In questa fase, la cima del vulcano era occupata probabilmente da una grande caldera. Il ciclo Scari-Vancori si conclude con il collasso laterale (una grande frana) del settore occidentale e nordoccidentale dell'edificio vulcanico.La fase successiva, a partire da circa 13.800 anni fa, vede la ricostruzione dell'edificio nel settore nordoccidentale. Il nuovo centro eruttivo, detto Neostromboli, è ubicato a nord del costone dei Vancori. Contemporaneamente, alcuni centri eruttivi secondari danno origine al "Timpone del Fuoco" presso Ginostra, alle lave di San Bartolo e di San Vincenzo.All'incirca tra 10000 e 5000 anni fa il settore nordoccidentale subisce nuovi collassi laterali (frane), lasciando una profonda depressione a forma di ferro di cavallo che si estende dalla cima fino ad una profondità di circa 2.000 m sotto il livello del mare: la Sciara del Fuoco. Lentamente la depressione viene riempita da materiale piroclastico e colate di lava. Il centro eruttivo attuale è rappresentato da un grande cono piroclastico che si trova nella parte sommitale della Sciara del Fuoco, a quota inferiore rispetto al Pizzo Sopra la Fossa, ed è caratterizzato, come detto sopra, dalla presenza di tre crateri allineati parallelamente alla Sciara, in direzione NE-SW.

Stromboli è nota, frequentata ed abitata fin dall'antichità remota, e la sua economia si è sempre fondata sulle produzioni agricole tipicamente mediterranee: olivo, vite (malvasia coltivato basso in giardini terrazzati), fichi - e poi sulla pesca e sulla marineria. Fino al XIX secolo questa economia fu fiorente e Stromboli arrivò a contare circa 2700 abitanti, precisamente nel 1891, secondo i dati ufficiali a disposizione (fonte Mastriani e ISTAT ).Il peggioramento delle condizioni economiche seguito all'unità d'Italia, il ripetersi di eruzioni e terremoti (in particolare l'eruzione del 1930) e infine l'attacco della peronospora che negli anni trenta sterminò la più redditizia coltura locale, quella della vite, fecero sì che una grandissima maggioranza degli strombolani prendesse la via dell'emigrazione, soprattutto verso l'Australia e l'America e l'isola rischiò seriamente di restare abbandonata.Venne riscoperta dopo la guerra da Roberto Rossellini che, con il film del 1949 Stromboli terra di Dio (con protagonista femminile la giovane Ingrid Bergman), portò l'isola e la sua straordinarietà all'attenzione del pubblico.Il vulcano è chiamato dai suoi abitanti (gli stombolani) Struògnoli, o anche Iddu (Lui in siciliano), in riferimento alla natura divina che un tempo era attribuita ai fenomeni naturali incontrollabili.Il nome proviene dal greco antico Στρογγύλη (rotondo) per via della sua forma. In siciliano strummulu significa trottola.Stromboli dà il nome a un tipo di vulcani caratterizzati da un'attività vulcanica effusiva detta Stromboliana.I principali borghi abitati sono San Vincenzo (o semplicemente il paese di Stromboli, anticamente era borgo degli agricoltori) con l'approdo storico di Scari, Piscità e Ficogrande, che anticamente era il borgo degli armatori.A sudovest, raggiungibile solo via mare, c'è Ginostra dove d'inverno restano circa 30 o 40 abitanti e dove l'unico mezzo di trasporto è il mulo.A Stromboli c'è una scuola elementare e media per i pochi ragazzi abitanti dell'isola. Dopo le scuole solitamente i ragazzi vanno a Lipari dove sono presenti alcune scuole secondarie di secondo grado.Da Napoli, Lipari, Milazzo e Messina Stromboli è raggiungibile col traghetto e, d'estate, anche in aliscafo da Messina, Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia e Tropea.Il flusso turistico verso l'isola, che costituisce la principale risorsa economica di Stromboli, fino agli anni settanta fu rappresentato soprattutto da persone alla ricerca di un ambiente particolare, naturale ed integro e non privo di scomodità come mancanza di elettricità, scarsità d'acqua. Nei decenni successivi le scomodità sono molto diminuite e il turismo è molto cresciuto, anche se resta limitato prevalentemente ai mesi centrali estivi.L'isola è meta di turisti in cerca di tranquillità: anche per questo nei locali dell'isola è vietato diffondere musica oltre le due di notte.Giornalmente, inoltre, si organizzano escursioni al vulcano con guide esperte, che portano ad oltre 900 metri sul livello del mare. Tramite imbarcazioni è inoltre possibile raggiungere nelle ore notturne la vicina e movimentata Panarea, lo scoglio di Strombolicchio e Ginostra, caratteristica località sull'isola di Stromboli dove l'unico mezzo di trasporto sono i muli (ne sono presenti una decina in tutto) e che è irraggiungibile per via terrestre dall'altra parte abitata dell'isola.Stromboli è anche meta, seppur in misura minore, di molti giovani, che si recano nei locali e nelle feste sulla spiaggia periodicamente organizzate nella stagione estiva.Caratteristica dell'isola, oltre alle stradine strette percorribili solo dal motocarro e dai motorini elettrici, che i turisti affittano sull'isola stessa, è la mancata illuminazione notturna nelle strade, che il Comune a cui l'isola fa riferimento, ovvero quello di Lipari, vuol mantenere come importante attrattiva turistica. Dall'Osservatorio, infine, si può vedere la lava del vulcano, l'unico delle Isole Eolie perennemente in attività e il cielo stellato evidenziato dalla mancanza di illuminazione.Durante la stagione turistica partono imbarcazioni per permettere ai turisti di fare il bagno presso lo scoglio di Strombolicchio.

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For devirginification, Jesse is given the unique task of being assigned to simulate sex with an inflatable cow. As he put it later, "The best part was fucking the cow!" He really got into it.

BACKSTORY: We went to Rocky Horror Picture Show on graduation night again, and it was quite awesome, as usual.

Jesse.

inflatable cow.

movie: Rocky Horror Picture Show.

sexual comedy.

University Mall, theater, Fairfax, Virginia.

May 17, 2008.

Pic by Casey.

... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com

... View Jesse's MySpace at www.myspace.com/Yi_Zong/

... View Casey's photos at www.flickr.com/photos/CaseyLea/

St Margaret of Antioch, Cowlinge, Suffolk

Given its proximity to the Cambridgeshire border, some people would argue that this Suffolk church is closer to civilisation than most, and yet St Margaret of Antioch, Cowlinge, has a decidedly remote feel to it. Gentle hills enfold these pretty villages, and St Margaret stands distant from the houses it serves. Cowlinge, pronounced coo-linj, stands about a mile north of the Haverhill to Bury road, not far from the better-known Denston. You approach it up a track from the north, where it is rather hemmed in, but the graveyard opens up widely beyond on the other side.

The first impression is one of redness. From the outside, Cowlinge seems a rather pretty accretion of centuries' work, its tower a typical red brick 18th century rebuilding - there are similar ones across the county at Grundisburgh and Layham. The chancel and nave appear to have met each other by chance as much as intention, and all is pleasantly patched up, with solid red-brick buttressing and just about every kind of window you can think of. There are aisles, there is a clerestory, but this is not a grand church. Rather, it is the kind of building a DIY enthusiast might put together if he wanted a late medieval one in his back garden.

And somehow, this makes it beautiful, especially if seen from the south-east or north-east. You might expect the interior to be similarly ramshackle, but you step through the north door into cool whiteness, and as you walk through this treasure chest of a church, unusual vistas open up at each turn. This is a complex church.

Facing east to start with, the first impression is of the wall-painting above the chancel arch, and the gated rood screen beneath. There are gates in the screens at nearby Withersfield and Denston, but unlike those these doors rise to the full height of the screen. The screen itself is perhaps not as beautiful as the parclose screen enclosing the chapel in the south aisle. Mortlock points out how similar it is to the one up the road at Dalham. The paleness of the wood is very pleasing.I thought it compared very well with the parclose at Dennington, which has been repainted gaudily. Another good parclose of the same age is at Westhorpe. A memorial window contains 1920s glass by Christopher Webb of Christ with the fishermen at Galilee.

One the wall beside the parclose in the south aisle is a small exposed area of wall painting. It appears to be an unbearded male saint holding something that may well be a chalice, in which case it is St John the Evangelist. The better-known wall painting here is the one I mentioned earlier, above the chancel arch. It is often referred to as a doom, but it is organised rather differently to others of its kind. Instead of the day of judgement, with God in Majesty overseeing the parting of the ways into hell on his right and heaven on his left, it depicts St Michael, to the south of the arch, balancing a set of scales in which a sinner is being weighed against his sins.

St Michael is a common feature of doom paintings - he appears nearby at Stoke by Clare and on the famous doom at Wenhaston. The unusual aspect of this one, however, is to the north of the arch, where the Virgin Mother of God stands. She reaches out with a wand, and tips the balance of the scales. Simon Jenkins, in his England's Thousand Best Churches, suggests that she is tipping the balance in the favour of the virtuous. This is, of course, exactly what she is not doing. The virtuous had no need of intervention; the good in them would outweigh their sins in any case. Mary is intervening on behalf of sinners who have prayed to her for her help, and she is tipping the scales in the favour of those sinners. It represents the efficacy of intercessions to Our Blessed Lady, and as such it was anathema to the 16th century reformers.

In common with other wall paintings, this priceless art treasure was whitewashed over rather than destroyed. It would be interesting to know when this happened. We know that during William Dowsing's iconoclastic progress through Suffolk and Cambridgeshire in 1644, he found no wall paintings still in existence. It has always been assumed that they were covered by the Anglicans when the new Church of England took possession of our parish churches a century earlier. But I do wonder if they might have been done away with a century before even that, perhaps around the middle of the 15th century, when the ruling classes were enforcing orthodox Catholic dogma in the face of the superstitions of the ordinary people. Part of this process involved setting up larger roods at the east end of the nave, and I think this wall-painting may have been covered before that happened here.

The chancel arch beneath the doom is also extensively painted, and also of interest on all of the pillars a large amount of medieval graffiti, some of which is described as being consecration crosses. This, of course, cannot be so, for the medieval church ordered its liturgical needs rather better than this, and these are no doubt the work of some bored 17th century vandal.

Stepping through into the chancel, it is at once one of the loveliest in Suffolk, and one of the most dominated, since Peter Scheemakers' ugly 18th century memorial for Francis Dickins glowers against the north wall. Dickins was responsible for the building of the tower. The figures are life size, and the monument is wholly secular, even pagan. They look like nothing so much as a couple on their way to a toga party pausing to pose with the FA Cup.

Near the north door, a plaque on the wall records the visitation of 1618 when permission was given for the local house of correction to set up seating here for its inmates. There are still banked benches below, but these are later, and were probably intended for the village schoolchildren. Seating on a similar scale can be seen at nearby Kedington, divided there into boys' and girls' sections. On a somewhat larger scale they can also be seen at Laxfield.

A fine view of this church can be had by climbing to the spacious gallery beneath Dickins' tower. Once up here, the space is dominated by another huge classical memorial to Dickins and above it a George II royal arms, which also records that George Finton and Henry Seabrook were the churchwardens who set it up in 1731.

St Margaret is everything a historic church should be. Well-ordered, welcoming, suited to its Protestant present and mindful of its Catholic past. It used to be left open all the time, but a traumatic assault on the building some five years ago by a mentally ill man suffering from a religious mania, during which both screens and the altar were set fire to, means that it is now kept locked, but with a very cheerful churchwarden who was most happy to come and open up.

Given its beautiful but highly venomous spines, the Lionfish need not worry about other predators on the reef. They all avoid it. And that leaves this invasive species -- one with a voracious appetite -- free to kill off populations of native reef fish throughout the Caribbean and the east-coast Atlantic waters of the U.S.

(Yeah. Now I see the "that's" typo. Argh. Got no time to fix this.)

Given what Chris Wallace *could* have asked Walker this was soft.

And yet, given that this was on FOX News, I didn't expect even this much confrontation.

If you'd like to see the video segment, here it is. The grilling starts fairly soon after the video starts.:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qZ6k88qM90&feature=youtube_g...

Incidentally, that quote was not what was flashed on the screen. They chose different quotes.

One was a quote about how Nardelli and Walker coordinated Walker's public employee staff with campaign staff. He had his Milwaukee County underlings doing his campaign work on the taxpayer's dime. He was, in 2010, the Milwaukee County Executive and he was also running a campaign for Governor of Wisconsin.

Quote: "...to review events ofthe day or of a previous or future day, so we can better coordinate sound, timely responses." - Tom Nardelli, then Chief of Staff

And

a quote that comes just before what I pulled for this little texty picture:

Quote: "I use this private account quite a bit to communicate with SKW and Nardelli"

I think it's worth noting and remembering that former Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen was convicted of a felony for using his taxpayer-paid staff to campaign for him in what is commonly referred to as "The Caucus Scandal" - - which I hope tells you that at least IN THEORY Wisconsinites don't want their politicians campaigning using tax money!

Given the extent of the undergrowth this well-worn stone staircase gets much less footfall than it used to. This is the path running down from Crackenedge Lane to Wood Lane and then onto Bradford Road. No doubt once used by workers living in the terraces on top to get to work in the mills in town.

However it did have another function, long-gone, because Wood Lane, after crossing the the ex-LNWR 1848 main line to Huddersfield and Manchester south of Batley, was the access road to the former Great Northern Railway Batley Carr station opened in 1880 and closed in 1950 (See below).

North Toraja (or Toraja Utara) is a regency (kabupaten) of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and the home of the Toraja ethnic group. The local government seat is in Rantepao which is also the center of Toraja culture. Formerly this regency was part of Tana Toraja Regency.

The Tana Toraja boundary was determined by the Dutch East Indies government in 1909. In 1926, Tana Toraja was under the administration of Bugis state, Luwu. The regentschap (or regency) status was given on October 8, 1946, the last regency given by the Dutch. Since 1984, Tana Toraja has been named as the second tourist destination after Bali by the Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia. Since then, hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors have visited this regency. In addition, numerous Western anthropologists have come to Tana Toraja to study the indigenous culture and people of Toraja.

GEOGRAPHY

Tana Toraja is located on the Sulawesi island, 300 km north of Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi. Its geographical location is between latitude of 2°-3° South and longitude 119°-120° East (center: 3°S 120°ECoordinates: 3°S 120°E). The area of the new North Toraja Regency is 1,151.47 km², about 2.5% of the total area of South Sulawesi province. The topography of Tana Toraja is mountainous; its minimum elevation is 150 m, while the maximum is 3,083 above the sea level.

Tana Toraja Regency (Indonesian for Torajaland or Land of the Toraja, abbreviated Tator) is a regency (kabupaten) of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and home to the Toraja ethnic group. The local government seat is in Makale, while the center of Toraja culture is in Rantepao. But now, Tana Toraja has been divided to two regencies that consist of Tana Toraja with its capital at Makale and North toraja with its capital at Rantepao.

The Tana Toraja boundary was determined by the Dutch East Indies government in 1909. In 1926, Tana Toraja was under the administration of Bugis state, Luwu. The regentschap (or regency) status was given on 8 October 1946, the last regency given by the Dutch. Since 1984, Tana Toraja has been named as the second tourist destination after Bali by the Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia. Since then, hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors have visited this regency. In addition, numerous Western anthropologists have come to Tana Toraja to study the indigenous culture and people of Toraja.

GEOGRAPHY

Tana Toraja is centrally placed in the island of Sulawesi, 300 km north of Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi. It lies between latitude of 2°-3° South and longitude 119°-120° East (center: 3°S 120°ECoordinates: 3°S 120°E). The total area (since the separation of the new regency of North Toraja) is 2,054.30 km², about 4.4% of the total area of South Sulawesi province. The topography of Tana Toraja is mountainous; its minimum elevation is 150 m, while the maximum is 3,083 above the sea level.

ADMINISTRATION

Tana Toraja Regency in 2010 comprised nineteen administrative Districts (Kecamatan), tabulated below with their 2010 Census population.

The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja").[1] Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognised this animistic belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

The word Toraja comes from the Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colourful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism development and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model—in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo—to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonisation and Christianisation, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders—such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi—than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups—the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognised in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to Christianity.

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognised religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognised, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalised as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin)—except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women—a crime punishable by death.

RELIGIOUS AFFILATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

Architecture in the style of a tongkonan is still very common. Various administration buildings were built in this style in recent years, e.g. the Kecamatan building in Rantepao.

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolise some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolise fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. Torajan wood carvings are composed of numerous square panels, each of which can represent various things, for example buffaloes as a wish of wealth for the family; a knot and a box, symbolizing the hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony; aquatic animals, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water.

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased's family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

DANNCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

COGENDER VIEWS

Among the Saʼadan (eastern Toraja) in the island of Sulawesi (Celebes), Indonesia, there are homosexual male toburake tambolang shamans; although among their neighbors the Mamasa (western Toraja) there are instead only heterosexual female toburake shamanesses.

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.

Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae, Talondo, Toala, and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages.

A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterised their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market.

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies—to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s—including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi—tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure—an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialised. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

WIKIPEDIA

given the focal length, the landscape, and the fact that we obviously was in a moving, just, I might add, vehicle, if it hadn`t been for that I caught a glimpse of her white tail-tip, never in a thousand years would I`ve spotted her in the vegetation of this dry riverbed. These are masters of their environment! This young, just independent, leopardess was stalking some female nyalas, with no luck that time sadly..

Given this a quick spruce with a pen to add a little detail. And New wheels

Given to me when I toured RCI.

02/10/2021. Ladies European Tour 2021. Estrella Damm Ladies Open Presented by Catalunya, Club de Golf Terramar, Sitges, Spain. October 1-3 2021. Ellie Givens of England during the second round. Credit: Tristan Jones/LET

Given what she's able to do, I guess some nice toned back muscles are a requirement.

Strobist Details: Blue gel'd with a cookie 285HV as a backlight to the left of the frame (on the super-reasonably-priced MPEX backlight stand) and a Sunpak 622 with a cookie to break up the light to the right of the frame. Both optically triggered off of the Sunpak 144PC that I had in the E-P3's hotshoe.

The magnificent keep at Conisbrough Castle is one of South Yorkshire’s most striking landmarks. The castle was the centre of a great Norman lordship, given by William the Conqueror to William de Warenne. The keep was probably built in the 1170s or 1180s. Escaping damage in the Civil War, it became a picturesque ruin in the 18th and 19th centuries, and inspired Sir Walter Scott's most famous novel, Ivanhoe, published in 1819.

With floors and roof restored in the lofty circular keep you can fully appreciate the magnificence of the original 12th century building. Delve into the medieval world of Lord and Lady de Warenne. Hamelin was the illegitimate son of Geoffrey of Anjou (father of the Plantagenet dynasty) and half-brother of Henry II. Isabel was the 4th Countess of Surrey, and the wealthiest heiress in the land.

‘Conisbrough’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘Cyningesburh’, meaning ‘the king’s borough’. Little is known of the site before the Norman Conquest, but Conisbrough town was certainly important long before then: a major Anglian church, now the church of St Peter, stood here, probably as early as the 8th century, and is the oldest standing building in South Yorkshire.

Conisbrough may have been a royal estate and minster of the Anglian kings of Northumbria: throughout the Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods, it seems to have been the most important place in South Yorkshire.

In 1086 Domesday Book recorded that the estate included 28 townships, stretching east to the Lincolnshire border and south to Harthill, and so covering most of the south-east corner of the West Riding. Before the Norman Conquest the estates were in the hands of King Harold. www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/conisbrough-castle/

27/08/2020. Ladies European Tour 2020. Tipsport Czech Ladies Open. Golf Club Beroun, Czech Republic. August 20-30 2020 Eleanor Givens of England during a practice round. Credit: Tristan Jones.

From the handout given at the park:

O’Leno State Park and River Rise Preserve State Park Fact Sheet

•Together the parks number 6212 acres. 4,500 in River Rise Preserve and the remainder in the older O’Leno State Park.

•There are 18 different natural communities within the parks boundaries.

•Both parks contain the 3 mile “natural bridge” where the Santa Fe River flows into the sink and returns to the surface at the rise.

•Hernando De Soto traveled through these parks in 1539 while exploring the interior of Florida. Here he met members of local Timucan speaking tribes the Utina and Potano.

•The Park occupies property in both Alachua and Columbia Counties.

•We have 55 listed Cultural sites on park property.

•There are 19 miles of equestrian trails at River Rise Preserve State Park. With a 20 horse stall barn and primitive campsites.

•There are 61 family campsites with water and electric. Two primitive Youth Camps for 25 people apiece and one up to 10 person “hike in/hike out” primitive campsite.

•A town existed here first called Keno and later Ken that lasted from the 1840’s until the mid 1890’s. Hence the origin of the park’s name “Old Leno” becoming O’Leno.

•1935-36 the Civilian Conservation Corps Company 418 Camp P-67 constructed Camp O’Leno to be used as a park/forestry training area. Some of the CCC buildings are still being used today by the park.

•The camp became a park in 1940, and is one of the older state parks. River Rise was purchased as a Preserve in 1974.

•Florida’s First Federal Roadway, the Bellamy Road traveled through the park in the 1820’s. It originated from an earlier Indian trail and later the Camino Real which connected missions in the interior of Florida with St Augustine.

•There are 6 miles of hiking trails.

•There are 17 cabins and 8 support buildings in our Group Camp.

•Both parks receive about 65,000 visitors annually that spend over 2 million dollars annually in the local economy. 67 local jobs are generated because of the parks.

•The park creates over $230,000 in local sales tax revenue.

History of O’Leno State Park

O’Leno State Park occupies an historic crossroads area, unique compared to all of north Florida. The Santa Fe River along with its geologically unique disappearance into the ground and aquifer (River Sink) and its reappearance 3 miles to the south (River Rise) creating a natural land bridge, has the first basis of this land being a crossroads. Before the Spanish arrived in the 1500’s, Native Indian presence and villages were abundant in north Florida. Villages were close by. Research has also shown that the Santa Fe River was a boundary line between the Utina and Potano tribes of the Timucua Indians.

The first European to pass through the area was the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto in 1539. In the Spanish mission period of the 1600’s, the Spanish used the Indian trail for their road running from St. Augustine, through the Santa Fe land bridge, to Tallahassee and Pensacola, calling it the El Camino Real.

About two hundred years later, when Florida was a U.S. territory, the federal government contracted with John Bellamy, a plantation owner, in 1824 to build the first federally-funded major road from St. Augustine to Tallahassee. This road followed the El Camino Real and also passed through the Santa Fe land bridge. This road became known as the Bellamy Road, now referred to today as the Old Bellamy Road.

Just a quarter mile of the River Sink and 2 miles north of the Old Bellamy Road was a fitting place for a town. A town was established on the west bank of the river in 1840 by a man named Henry Matier. The town as “Keno,” a popular bingo-type gambling game in those days. Later, in 1876, the General Store manager, Col. Whetstone, applied for a post office from the U.S. government. It is reported that the request was denied due to the name of the town being associated with gambling. Therefore, the town’s name was changed to Leno, and a post office was granted. Several years later, Col. Whetstone moved the post office to his seat of residence in Mikesville, three miles to the north.

In the latter 1800’s the town of Keno/Leno grew by the hard work defeating the odds of nature, establishing grist mills, saw mills, and cotton gins along the river by first creating a couple dams and channeling the river into the shoots, where the mills were strategically built. The dams were created by embedding cedar slats across the river, backed by barriers of large rocks to direct the river flow. Remnants of these dams, mill sites, and cedar slats and shoots can be seen today when the river is down low. Due to the grinding capability from the two grist mills and six cotton gins and circular saw mill, Leno became and agricultural hub for the area.

In the days of Keno/Leno, criss-crossing the Bellamy Road was the north-south “Alligator Road,” passing Keno/Leno, and heading north up to the city of Alligator, now Lake City. When the town heard in 1894 of a railroad coming through the area, they were hopeful. But the train bypassed Leno, going to Fort White instead. This struck a major blow to the town, and many of the residents moved to neighboring communities. A major freeze then occurred in 1896 killing the major crops in that day, oranges, cotton, and tobacco, which sealed a final blow to the once thriving town of Leno.

One of the things being online has given me, is an appreciation of the wonders that surrounded me as I was growing up, but was ignorant of. Such a shame then that I only get to see bits and pieces when we go back to visit my Mother, of like this weekend, when I returned home for a school reunion.

Fritton is a small village on the A143 between Yarmouth and Beccles, and we used to go as we liked the local pub, The Decoy. It was run by an ex-RAF dentist, Eric. Nice bloke, hope he and his wife are still OK.

Looking through my friend's website on Suffolk churches last week, I came across the entry for Fritton, and I was intrigued: so, the first stop out of Lowestoft was Fritton.

Set down a quiet country lane, a simple round-towered church, but then like so many churches, the exterior does not hint at the delights and wonders inside.

I thought the round chancel similar to Wissington, but inside the chancel is revealed as Norman and many-arched. But let Simon describe it:

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Norfolk now has two Frittons, but this one used to be in Suffolk. Here we are out in the wilds of the Lothingland Peninsula, and in 1974 the border was moved a few miles south so that Great Yarmouth's dreary suburbia could all be taken into Norfolk. Unfortunately for Suffolk, the new border line was taken down to Fritton Lakes, putting this little jewel of a church and its pretty village into the northern county.

Perhaps it was compensation of a kind for also having to take on the awful town of Hopton to the east. In this case, Suffolk's loss was very much Norfolk's gain, for this is that rare thing in East Anglia, a Norman church with an apse. They are thin on the ground in the region, and the three best are now all within a few miles on the same side of the border. Hales and Heckingham are on the far bank of the Waveney; St Edmund is similarly round-towered and thatched, and if it is not quite as pretty as its two cousins, it is at least as interesting, and perhaps even more of a treasure house than they are.

There is a little trapdoor on the south side of the chancel, the purpose of which is not immediately clear. Inevitably in this traditionally lawless area not far from the sea, it has become known as the Smugglers' Loft. The churches of this area are all in the Norwich Diocese, even the Suffolk ones, and while the churches near to Yarmouth and Lowestoft have a reputation for being kept locked, Fritton St Edmund is, thankfully, open everyday, and you step into a pleasantly Victorianised rustic interior. The view to the east is unusual, with the little, low chancel hemmed in up one corner behind a screen which doesn't really seem to fit, and the royal arms high above on top of the eastern wall of the 14th Century rebuilt nave. When the nave was widened, the original north wall was retained and the other wall rebuilt about three metres further south, thus the curious juxtaposition between nave and chancel. In the splay of a window on this south side the rebuilders painted an image of a Saint, possibly St John the Baptist holding an agnus dei, while on the north wall opposite the south doorway is a massive St Christopher of about the same date. Otherwise, the nave is rather austere, the recut square font at the west end lending a note of gravitas.

This plainness and simplicity offset the fabulous jewel-like interior of the chancel, which you step down into as if into a quite different church. It is a remarkable survival. The tunnel-vaulting is an extraordinary thing to find. The trapdoor outside lets into the space above it, but more interestingly vaulting of this kind is often associated with there having been a tower above. Not only the vaulting of the apse has survived, but in 1967 a sequence of wall-paintings depicting the martyrdom of St Edmund were uncovered in the eastern end of the apse. It is one of the most complete sequences of the subject in England. The Saint himself appears crowned and shot through with arrows in the central panel, and other panels depict Danish bowmen, possibly St Peter and a donor. There is a little panel of Victorian glass depicting St Edmund at the centre, a happy accident because they could not have known about the wall paintings.

The chancel windows are furnished with some excellent early 20th century glass depicting a sequence of East Anglian Saints. They include St Walstan, St Olaf, St William of Norwich, St Felix, Fursey, St Wendreda, St Etheldreda and the more international seafaring Saint, St Nicholas. It is a perfect setting for them.

The screen has obviously been restored, perhaps more than once, but it almost certainly dates from the time that the nave was widened. There is said to be another which is almost identical, only better, in the now-closed church at Belton a few miles off, where it awaits an uncertain fate. No such fears here; I compared St Edmund with the churches of Hales and Heckingham near the start of this piece, but it is worth adding that this is the only one of those three apsed Norman churches which has not been declared redundant, and is still home to an Anglican faith community.

Arthur Mee, in his 1940s Kings England: Suffolk, waxes so lyrically about Fritton that you might be forgiven for thinking that he is actually writing a spoof, or a parody of himself. Here is heart's delight, he begins, for painter, poet and naturalist; great waters, spreading woodland, nursery of multitudes of water-fowl, and nightingales which sing in chorus the livelong day and night of their minstrel season. Mee also recalls the inconsequential but fascinating detail from the registers that on the 17th day of August 1816, Hannah Freeman did penance in the church for defaming the character of Mary Hanham, spinster. There is a good story behind that, no doubt.

Today, most visitors to this parish are here on holiday, because around the great Fritton Lake, which is the longest in East Anglia, spreads Fritton Country Park and its associated camping sites. Part of the lake is Fritton Decoy, a long, narrow stretch into which ducks were attracted to be shot in their hundreds by 19th century worthies. There is something pleasingly old-fashioned about the setting, as if the Famous Five might even now be in a tent nearby, awaiting an adventure.

Simon Knott, July 2008

www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/frittonedmund/frittonedmund.htm

I heard on the radio a few months back, about places in Britain that sound like they should be elsewhere, I can't remember the examples given. But for me, Luddenham sounds as Norfolk as it is possible to get. And yet it is a parish and small village here in Kent.

Were it not for the sat nav, I don't think I would have found Luddenham, not without someone reading the map anyway. From Burham it was a half hour blast down the M2 to Faversham, then taking roads that got ever narrower, I left Faversham, drove though a wood, then out onto the Oare Marshes.

Out over the marshes down a narrow single-track lane, winding round the edge of fields to a large farm that was once a manor house, and beside it was St Mary.

What warmth there had been in the day was now long gone, and the wind had turned to the north east and increased. As I stood inside the half-empty church, I could hear the wind whistling round the tower outside.

Highlight for me here was a fine collection of Victorian tiles, including a design each for one of the gospel saints, and a wonderful stone coffin lid depicting a face with two hands holding it.

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The familiar country scene of Norman church, medieval Court and sprawling farmyard - but the history of Luddenham is far from standard. Here we have a promontory of land which formerly provided wharves off the River Swale some way to the north. Indeed, the place name gets it origin from the Saxon `Lud` meaning a river. The church is now in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust and consists of nave, chancel and south tower. The latter dates from the early nineteenth century and replaced a tower which originally stood to the north of the nave. The west door is a rather weather-beaten twelfth century example. Following redundancy, the church lost most of its furnishings, so its vast spacious interior is something of a surprise to the visitor. There are some medieval tiles in the sanctuary, where graffiti on the glass records those who were probably too poor to have permanent memorials outside. At the back of the church is a fragment of thirteenth century coffin lid brought here from the ruined church at Stone, about a mile to the south west. Rather touchingly it has a heart clasped by two hands in its crisp carving. The church is usually open.

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

LIES the next parish north-westward from Ore, and was, in the reign of the Conqueror, called Cildresham, by which name it is described in the survey of Domesday.

IT is situated about a mile northward of the high London road from Judde-hill, the southern part of it reaching up to Bizing wood, part of which is within it. It lies very low and flat; the arable lands in it, which consist of about three hundred and ninety-six acres, and the upland, meadow, and pasture, of about two hundred acres, are very rich and fertile; near one half of it is marsh land, which reaches to the waters of the Swale, which are its northern boundary.

The church stands nearly in the middle of the upland part of it, and the parsonage-house, which has a mote round it, near half a mile southward of it, close to Bysing-wood. There is no village, and not more than ten houses in the parish, the unhealthiness of its situation occassions its being but very thinly inhabited, those who risk their lives in it seldom attaining any great age.

THERE ARE some parts of this parish which lie at some distance from the rest of it, several other parishes intervening: in Perry-field, almost opposite the 47th mile-stone on the high London road, but on the other or south side of it, there are twenty-two acres of land, and between Goodneston and Boughton under Blean, there are thirty-two acres of land belonging to this parish. There are many instances of the like in different parts of this county, and in this neighbourhood in particular there are several, for a part of the parish of Morton, near Sittingborne, lies within this parish of Luddenham, and entirely surrounded by it, several other parishes intervening between this part of Murston and the rest of it. Part of Preston parish lies near Davington-hill; Upleez farm, the property of lord Romney, which lies westward of Ore, is in Faversham parish; and part of Ospringe parish lies surrounded by the town of Faversham and its liberties.

MR. JACOB among his Plantæ a Favershamienses, has given a list of a number of scarce plants found by him in this parish, to which the reader is referred for an account of them.

THIS PLACE was part of the vast possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in the survey of Domesday:

Anssrid holds of the bishop of Baieux Cildresham. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is three carucates. In demesne there is one carucate and an half. There are five servants, and two acres of meadow. There is wood, but it pays nothing.

Upon the bishop's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this estate came to the crown, among the rest of this possessions, whence it was granted by the king, among other lands, to Fulbert de Dover, for his assistance, in the defence of Dover castle. These lands were held of the king in capite by barony, the tenant being bound by his tenure to maintain a certain number of soldiers, from time to time, for the defence of the castle.

Of Fulbert de Dover and his heirs, this place was held, as one knight's fee, of the honour of Chilham, which they made the caput baroniæ, or chief seat of their barony.

THE MANOR OF LUDDENHAM came afterwards into the possession of a family who fixed their name on it. William de Luddenham, in the 13th year of king John's reign, held it as one knight's see, of the honor of Chilham, in manner as before mentioned. His heirs, in the next reign of Henry III. sold this manor to the Northwoods, one of whom, Sir Roger de Northwood, in the 41st year of that reign, procured licence to alter the tenure of his lands from gavelkind to that of knight's service, of which there is a recapitulation in the Book of Aid, and among them mention is made of ninety acres of marsh land, which lay partly in his manor of Luddenham, and partly in Iwase.

From the family of Northwood this manor passed into that of Frogenhall; John de Frogenhall, at the latter end of king Edward the IIId.'s reign, died possessed of it, with an appendage called Bishopsbush. After which it at length descended in the beginning of king Edward the IVth.'s reign to Thomas Frogenhall, who married Joane, daughter and heir of William de Apulderfield, and dying in 1576, being the 17th year of that reign, was buried with his wife in Faversham church; their daughter and sole heir Anne, carried this manor in marriage to Mr. Thomas Quadring, of London, and he in like manner leaving one sole daughter and heir Joane. she entitled her husband Richard Dryland, of Cooksditch, in Faversham, to the possession of it. He alenated the appendage of Bishopsbush above-mentioned, to Crispe, who passed it away to Mr. William Hayward, from which name it went in marriage to Mr. Thomas Southhouse, gent. who possessed it at the end of king Charles I.'s reign; but both the name and situation of the estate have been for some time so totally for gotten, that the most diligent enquiries cannot trace out either of them.

But the manor of Luddenham itself went with Katherine, the sole daughter and heir of Richard Dryland, in marriage to Reginald Norton, of Lees-court, in Sheldwich, from which name it passed by sale, in king James I.'s reign, to Francis Cripps, esq. who sold it to Kirton, from which name it passed, in king James II.'s reign, to John Briant, esq. whose heirs passed it away, in king George I.'s reign, to Mr. John Blaxland, and his heirs alienated it, about the year 1753, to Beversham Filmer, esq. of London, a younger son of Sir Robert Filmer, bart. of East Sutton, and of Lincoln's-inn, barrister-at-law. He died ununmarried, and full of years, in 1763, (fn. 1) having by his will given this manor, among the rest of his lands in this county and elsewhere, to his eldest nephew, Sir John Filmer, bart. of East Sutton, who died s. p. in 1797, and by will devised this estate to his next brother, Sir Bevertham Filmer, bart. the present owner of it. A court baron is held for his manor.

At the court held for the manor of Chilham, the tenant of this manor is constantly presented by the jury for default of service, as being held of it under the notion of one knight's fee, and he is always amerced at two shillings, the payment of which is never with-held by him.

HAM is a principal estate, adjoining to the marshes, at the eastern boundary of this parish, and partly in that part of Preston which is separated from the rest of it by Davington and Ospringe intervening, being within that appendage to the manor of Copton, called from hence Hamme marsh. This estate, for several generations, belonged to the family of Roper, lords Teynham, and was sold in 1766 by Henry Roper, lord Teynham, to Mr. William Chamberlain, of London, who sold it to Benjamin Hatley Foote, Esq. and his son George Talbot Hatley Foote, Esq. now owns it.

NASHES is an estate in this parish, which formerly belonged to the Coppingers; Ambrose Coppinger possessed it in the reign of queen Elizabeth, whence it passed to the Brewsters, who were owners of much land at Linsted, Tenham, and other parts of this neighbourhood; from them it was sold to Mr. James Tassell, of Linsted; after which it became the property of Dr. Dravid Jones, and afterwards of Mr. Anthony Ingles, gent. of Ashford, who in 1776 conveyed it be sale to Mr. James Tappenden, gent. of Faversham, the present owner of it, who is descended from those of this name, who were for several generations resident at Sittingborne, where several of them lie buried, and are said to be extracted from the Denne of Tappenden, in Smarden, and bear for their arms, Or, two lions passant, in chief, and one in base, rampant, azure.

Charities.

Thomas Streynsham, gent. of Faversham, was possessed of a farm of 16l. per annum in this parish, Out of the profits of which, by his will in 1585, he devised 3l. per annum for ever, to the use of the poor of that parish.

The poor constantly relieved are about twenty; casually twelve.

Luddenham is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a small building, consisting of one isle and one chancel, having a tower steeple on the north side of it, in which are three bells.

¶This church was formerly an appendage to the manor of Luddenham, and as such came into the possession of William de Luddenham before-men tioned, lord of it, who, as appears by the leiger-book of the abbey of Faversham, gave this church to the abbot and convent there, which he did by placing his knife on the altar in the church of their convent, and this with the consent of his daughter and heir Matilda, and of Gaysle his wife, in the presence of the convent, and many of the clergy and laity, which gift was confirmed afterwards by Sir William de Insula, who married his daughter; notwithstanding which, William de Insula their son, laid claim to it as part of his inheritance, and a suit was commenced in the beginning of king John's reign, by him, against the abbot and convent, to recover the possession of it, which seems to have been determined in his favor, and the religious were forced to be contented with the pension of 66s. 8d. to be paid to them yearly out of it. (fn. 2). This pension they continued to enjoy from it till the time of their dissolution, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. when it came, with the rest of their possessions, into the king's hands, who settled it, among other premises, in his 33d year, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, who continue to receive it from the rector at this time.

The determination of the above-mentioned suit against the religious, did not put them out of hopes of, some time or other, recovering the possession of this church, the appropriation of which they got to be inserted in a confirmation of some of their possessions by pope Gregory X. in 1274; but this did not avail them any thing, for this church still continued unappropriated, as it does at this time, being esteemed a rectory, the patronage of which has been for a great length of time in the crown.

The church of Luddenham is valued in the king's books at 12l. 8s. 4d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 4s. 10d. In 1578, here were communicants fifty-four. The crown patron.

In 1640 there were communicants sixty-eight. The yearly value of it one hundred pounds. It is now esteemed of the same clear yearly value.

There is a modusclaimed for five hundred and thirtyone acres of the marsh lands in this parish, almost all of which are at two-pence, though there are some few at four-pence per acre.

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp386-393

A porcelain statue that I cherish. It was given to me by my mother who is gone now.

Given a load of Jessops E6 Slide process kits I tested the Chemicals. The Colour Developer Part 2 was completely Dark Purple and useless. There was some 'Formalin' Stabiliser -- a Carcenogen ! And as I have had 5 Cancers already I did not open that ! I tried using the 1st Developer, my USED C41 Colour Developer and the kit Bleach-Fix. I had to try twice to get enough colour development time as first half of film was under-developed badly. There was also a Bleach-Fix stain so tried a second Bleach-Fix -- looked 'Good at first but on SCANNING showed up some residual stain still ! Film was 1992 Dated Fuji VELVIA 50 in my Mamiya C220 + 135mm f4.5 'Blue-Dot' Sekors.

A classic 'grey on grey' situation, but given it's rarity (not aware of a Luftwaffe A.321 landing at EDI before) worth recording.

The Marrabel Roman Catholic was built on land given by one of Marrabel’s first settlers, Mr Garrett Hannan.

There was already a temporary pine and pug Chapel. Tenders were called for in February 1867: by July the foundation stone was laid, and the church opened on 5 July 1868. Wright, Woods & Hamilton were the architects.

*The Very Rev John Smyth, VG, assisted by the Rev Joseph Tappeiner and the pastor of the district, laid on Sunday, 7th instant, the foundation stone of a Catholic Church, under the title of St Agnes the Martyr. Though the constant and heavy rains during the week had rendered the roads in many places almost impassable, and the day itself was unsettled and showery, yet no fewer than about 400 persons came to see laid the first stone of their church.

At 10 o'clock am the Rev Joseph Tappeiner celebrated mass, after which the priests and laity walked in procession from the small and unsightly building hitherto used as a chapel to the site of the new church.

The Vicar-General having laid the foundation stone, according to the Roman Ritual, preached an excellent sermon

The handsome sum of £84 14s 10d was then laid upon the stone. The building will be Gothic: the nave will measure 60 by 25 feet, besides chancel, sacristies, and porch. The plinth, quoins, and buttresses will be cut stone; and as the site is elevated, with a background of fine old gumtrees, the building will greatly contribute to the beauty of the young and rising township of Marrabel. [Ref: Express and Telegraph 11-7-1867]

Catholic Church, Marrabel,—

*The Very Rev John Smyth VG, assisted by the Rev Messrs Polk and Huger SJ, solemnly blessed and opened the Church of St Agnes, at Marrabel on Sunday, the 5th instant.

The very rev gentlemen preached an eloquent sermon on the occasion, and the handsome sum of £170 was received towards the liquidation of the debt, which is only a little over £400. When it is borne in mind that the building cost £1,000 independently of the stones, which were given and carted free of charge, the liberality of the congregation and friends will be more clearly understood. [Ref: Adelaide Observer from the Kapunda Herald 18-7-1868]

*The Rev Chas Van der Heyden – We are requested to inform our readers that this gentleman has removed from Riverton, and is now living in the new presbytery at Marrabel, recently erected by the Catholics of the district. [Ref: Irish Harp and Farmers’ Herald 12-3-1870]

*S. Agnes, Marrabel — A bazaar in aid of the church and new presbytery at Marrabel was held in S. Joseph's schoolroom on Wednesday, the 15th instant and following days. There was a large, effective and artistic display of useful and ornamental articles…praise is due to the ladies of the community for their enthusiastic zeal and persevering endeavours to make the Bazaar a success. [Ref: Irish Harp and Farmers’ Herald 25-3-1871]

*Presentations to Rev Michael Kennedy of Marrabel.

On Friday evening, April 30, many of the parishioners of the Mission of Marrabel met at Tothill's Creek to present an address and a purse of sovereigns to the Rev Michael Kennedy, in acknowledgment of the many services which had been done them by the rev gentleman during his long sojourn among them.

The residents of the parish of Marrabel, thought it our duty to assemble here this evening for the purpose of tendering our thanks for the able and cheerful manner in which you have for the last five years forwarded our interests … especially for the great efforts which you made to liquidate the debt which had been incurred some years ago for the purpose of building our church and parochial residence at Marrabel.

Independent of the outlay of £120 on the interior of the church, and some smaller sums spent in various other improvements, he had collected towards the debt on the church and presbytery £631 in the space of five years. [Ref: South Australian Advertiser 17-5-1877]

*The annual picnic in connection the with St Agnes Church, Marrabel, was held on Easter Monday. There was good attendance, notwithstanding that the weather was cold and wet.

In the evening the Rev W O’Dowling delivered an interesting lecture on the life of Dan O’Connell. The lecture was followed by a ball, which wound up a very enjoyable day. [Ref: Kapunda Herald 20-4-1900]

*The tender of Mr S H Roberts, of Saddleworth, has been accepted for building a sanctuary and vestry at St Agnes Church, Marrabel.

The price of the tender was £563. [Ref: Kapunda Herald 18-9-1914]

*Mr O Colmer of Riverton has obtained the contract for extensive repairs to the Catholic Church at Marrabel, including the putting in of a new ceiling. It is anticipated that he will start during this week. [Ref: Kapunda Herald 7-8-1936]

Given to me by the divemaster at the Georgia Aquarium after I dove with the whale sharks. Apparently stingrays shed these biteplates as they grow and the dive personnel find them in the aquarium frequently.

Look who's been given a new lease of life as a GO2 Spare!!

Still running on the route it has served well for the last three and a half years, this is due to it still being required until the weekend when the number of vehicles will be reduced when the 10 will go to Ruddington every 20 minutes, as opposed to 10. The 10 minute frequency will be retained from South Notts College to Nottingham only with the introduction of a 10A.

945 sparkles at Ruddington Green with a 10 to Nottingham via Wolds Estate and West Bridgford Asda.

Link to "33 x 124 - Lots given free with subscription to the B.C. Magazine - Western Canada's leading monthly. Photo (is a postcard) in the ad is by BROE www3.telus.net/walser/Shiles-1.jpg

This is a example of early mail sent to White Rock, B.C. - it was sent from New Westminster, B.C. on the 30 August 1911 (machine cancel) and arrived in White Rock, B.C. on the 31 Aug 1911 (split ring cancel - the earliest date that I have seen). It was addressed to Capt B. (Burton) Grant (he was a builder of some of the first homes in White Rock).

The message on the postcard reads: "Get out of it" Thanks for the crabs they tasted good. P.O. are sending Robert for theirs. I don't want to go home & I do miss my swim. Send me some ocean to look at. How are the photos? Yours truly (can't make the name out)

Capt B. Grant signed up to go overseas for WW1 on 20 Sep 1916 with 242 Battalion.

A hummingbird took some time to enjoy yew berries. My best guess given other views than this one, and given what kind of hummers I see around here, is that it's a juvenile female Anna's.

To quote Tim Melling, the Anna's Hummingbird is the fastest bird on the planet, relatively speaking: "It is a well-known fact that a Peregrine Falcon during a dive is the fastest animal on the planet when measured in miles per hour. But if you measure in body lengths per second, the tiny Anna's Hummingbird beats it. During its courtship dive, which is a vertical swoop of up to 40m, the bird achieves speeds of 385 body lengths per second, which is about 58 mph. This is relatively faster than a Peregrine Falcon, or even a fighter plane (which travels at about 150 lengths per second).

The Anna's Hummingbird is about 10cm from bill tip to tail and weighs less than five grams. It normally flies at about 33mph but hits even higher speeds when display diving during the breeding season. It was named after Princess Anna d'Essling the 19th century Duchess of Rivoli, wife of Prince Victor Massena and son of one of Napoleon's Marshalls. It was named by René Lesson, a French naturalist who also had the Pool Frog (Pelophylax lessonae) named after him.

These birds used to be restricted to the extreme south of the Pacific coast of the US (plus Mexico) but exotic garden flowers providing nectar have enabled the bird to colonise this Pacific coast right up to northern Canada. Garden nectar feeders have even enabled these tiny birds to spend the winter in the north."

18/11/2020. Ladies European Tour 2020. The Saudi Ladies Team International. Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, Saudi Arabia. November 12-15 2020. Ellie Givens of England during the second round. Credit: Tristan Jones.

My original LU pioneer astronaut figure. One of only two in-game models sold / given to the first game players in October 2010, with the other being the modular rocket-ship given out at a Lego store build session around the same time in 2010. Their was another mini-figure, this time of ever-friendly Bob, given to attendees at a games conference in 2008. (But he could be made from any multitude of 1980's sets' mini-figures so he's not technically unique.)

The only other LU figures were given to the 9 pod finders in 2009 / 2010, of which of all were unique to each other and only one of each was ever made.

Anyone else got one of these LU sets (rocket, figure, Bob, and /or pods)?

In 1929, the U.S. Congress authorized a statue of Leifur Eiríksson be given to the people of Iceland on the 1000th anniversary of the Alþingi (parliment). The statue was placed in Reykjavik on 03 May 1932. The huge church was planned about five years layer and It took 41 years (1945-1986) to build. My husband and son are General Contractors /Engineers. (Talk about a stretched out job site, guys!)

The statue faces west toward the Atlantic Ocean and Greenland with his back towards the beautiful Lutheran cathedral, Hallgrímskirkja.

We have an exact replica of the Reykjavík statue In the USA. It is shown in the photo below. The Eiríksson Memorial Committee of the United States, National League of Icelanders in America commissioned a copy of the original sculpture to be placed in front of the Icelandic Pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. After the Fair, the statue was sent to the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia. I would really like to learn more about this committee that commissioned this statue in the USA. If anyone has more information, let me know. I have the Iceland brochure from the Worlds Fair but it does not give further information.

ref: wikipedia

via Facebook ift.tt/29Equ7c

They are then given crowns of thorns. The crown is put ontop of the "mask". There were people in the past who used to use barbed wires as crowns and those must have hurt like hell. Then there were who wanted a more "natural look". They opted for stems with leaves and thorns from a bougainvillea plant. But the salibatbat I see on the streets mellowed down since 10 years ago - they now only wear crowns of harmless leaves, probably from a vine they entwined. Also, they now wear rubber slippers. It was also part of the tradition that they go bare foot but I guess it may also be due to the fact that more roads are cemented, which are far hotter than soil ground.