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Paul Weisel
10h ·
In May of 2018 I was headed west for my annual visit with Don Edmunds, but took a few side trips before showing up in Oregon. After stopping at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, IA to deliver a supply of Don Edmunds' books, I veered north to I-90 and my first visit to Mount Rushmore. An early Friday morning arrival made a stop at the speedway in Sheridan, WY an easy addition to my route. On Saturday I said a final goodbye to Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake City and chalked up both their figure 8 course and the infield course used by their 4-cylinder division. As I cruised across Nevada, a Sunday afternoon event at the Winnemucca Regional Raceway was the cherry on top of four new tracks in the western states.
Monday was spent chasing vintage sprint car tires for our low-bar Edmunds sprinter project around the Ukiah, CA area and the slow day allowed me catch my breath for a first ever visit to San Francisco. On Tuesday morning I headed south on CA-101 to cross the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. 'Why in the world would you want to drive into San Francisco?' you ask. There's only one reason – Norm Rapp. Norm was 91 years young, a midget racer of note, a multi-time winner indoors at the Oakland Coliseum, a purveyor of race car parts for at least the past 60 plus years, and a recent inductee into the National Midget Hall of Fame. Norm has been instrumental in finding parts for several of our midget restorations, I've spoken to him numerous times on the phone, but we'd never met! Upon my arrival at 5 Cordova Street, Norm Rapp Racing's World Headquarters, Norm jumped into my van and we went for breakfast at the Bayside Cafe, where it appeared Norm was revered as their favorite patron. Great view of the bay and I was able to cruise past the Cow Palace on the way back to Norm Rapp Racing. After an afternoon of spending money with Norm (he even had a used Goodyear pavement sprint car right rear tire), I headed north, hoping to escape the San Francisco traffic mess before things really got sporty at rush hour.
Unfortunately, Norm left us on December 28, 2019 at age 92 and I will be eternally grateful I took the time to visit with him at his place of business and spend some quality time with a true icon of the sport of midget racing. When the phone rang at Norm's business, a former grocery store on Cordova Street where Norm ran his business since 1961, you never had to wonder if Norm was 'in'. If the guy on the other end of the phone answered with, 'Zoom, zoom!', you were talking to Norm.
We both sold Firestone tires, so we always had something in common and we'd talk once, maybe twice, a year – always phone time well spent. When I needed a Casale rear end for the restoration of Don Edmunds' personal Kurtis-Kraft, I called Norm. Shockingly, he said he had two! He asked if I was familiar with the term 'butted' (indoor racers in particular often shortened the rear axles of their cars – narrow holes, narrow cars) and I replied, 'Yes, it means I want to hear about rear end #2.' The second rear was built in October, 1947 and was perfect for a midget built by Kurtis in 1948. Always the kidder, Norm added, 'I hear you drove race cars back east, so I'd better shim the ring and pinion and put it together for you before we ship it. Edmunds always said, 'Race drivers have to be smart enough to operate a race car ---- and just dumb enough to climb in it.' So, I took Norm up on his gracious offer and the rear arrived in two pieces. All I had to do was to was put the axle and ring gear into the rear and tighten the side plates. Everything was shimmed to perfection. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to impress my good pal, Ronnie Dunstan, I told him I had just assembled this Casale rear (and I had) and asked if he'd stop by to check the lash and see if everything was OK. Dunstan was impressed when he worked the axle back and forth – the rear was right and tight! If he's been walking around the last few years thinking I might have some mechanical ability – good! Norm even had a laugh when I told him about it.
A few days ago I read an interview with Norm by Saroyan Humphrey for Rust Magazine and Rust Media and thought it was the perfect insight to Norm Rapp. Photos included from the article are identified and I'd like to find a few more articles and interviews from these folks.
Rust Magazine, Q&A w. Norm 'Zoom Zoom' Rapp, 91 year-old racer and businessman remembers driving, wrenching with George Bignotti, and growing up in San Francisco.
TEXT – PHOTOS SAROYAN HUMPHREY
Feature: Norm Rapp has been inactive as a midget driver since 1967, but has owned and managed his racing supply business since he started it from the basement of his house in 1953. Until recently he was still selling vintage midget and sprint car parts, including tires and wheels. Along with parts, Rapp also supplied Northern California speedways with racing fuel for decades.
Norm was born in 1927 in San Francisco and was raised across the street from what would become his current race shop. Rapp's father, Gene, was also involved in automobiles, mechanics and racing. Several years before Norm was born, Gene raced a big car – a flathead 'T' – at San Jose and San Luis Obispo. He found success, winning a main event that summer at the .625-mile San Jose Fairgrounds track, but a crash, where he was knocked unconscious for over a week, ended his career in 1923. Still, it didn't end his enthusiasm for racing and the automobile, as he continued to attend races in the Bay Area with his infant son, Norm, in tow. In 1936 the elder Rapp also opened a Nash dealership in San Francisco's Mission District, a place Norm would work as a mechanic a few years later.
After World War II, as midget racing continued to grow in popularity across the United States, Norm began driving a Drake (Harley Davidson-powered) midget in training races in 1948 at the long-gone Bayshore Stadium in South San Francisco. In ’49, Rapp competed in his first full season of professional competition, and by ’51, the driver won his first main event at a quarter-mile dirt track in Marysville, Calif. Norm continued to hone his driving skills and would eventually win 40 main events—on both dirt and pavement—during his driving career. Competing with the BCRA (Bay Cities Racing Association) mostly, Norm also raced at special events across the West Coast and Midwest, often traveling with his father.
In commemoration of his lasting racing career, Norm has been inducted into six halls of fame. From the National Midget Hall of Fame, to Balboa High School in San Francisco, where he shares the honor with George Bignotti, another San Franciscan who graduated from the same school a few years earlier. Besides being neighbors, Bignotti and Rapp became racing comrades, competing in BCRA events early in their careers. Rapp was also part of Bignotti's Indy team in 1956 and helped build the '57 Bowes Seal Fast Specials that went on to finish sixth and 22nd with drivers Johnny Boyd and Fred Agabashian.
Laid-back and still a big kid at heart, Rapp spent a few hours talking about his career and his life as a racer/businessman.
You're one of the few lifetime honorary members of the BCRA. Rapp: Yeah, there's only about six of us. It's quite an honor. There's Johnny Boyd, Fred Agabashian, Boots Archer, Johnny Soares, Sr., and also Floyd Busby. He's the present scorer. Years ago, his father was the scorer when I first started in 1947.
And you were inducted to the National Midget Hall of Fame. Rapp: Yeah, three years ago. They inducted eight of us altogether that day. It was an enjoyable situation. Bobby Unser was there. It was a great day. It was something that I'll always remember. That's my biggest highlight. I'm in there with names like A.J. Foyt, Tony Stewart and all the rest of 'em.
Is being inducted to the halls of fame the best part of getting older? Rapp: Well, yeah; I gotta say, aging is not for sissies.
You were born and grew up here in San Francisco. Rapp: Yeah, in Crocker-Amazon, right next to the Excelsior District, off of Geneva Avenue.
And your dad was a racer? Rapp: Yeah, I'd been going to the races since I was two years old. Before I was born, he was racing. In those days they called them big cars, where now you call 'em sprint cars. He just raced for a couple of years and then he got hurt really bad at San Jose Fairgrounds in 1923. So, when he recuperated from the skull fracture, my mother, who then was his girlfriend, sail, “Well, Gene, you have to make the decision, racing, or me....” So he raced once more after that and then retired from racing, but we went to the races to watch and I always begged him to go in the pits and look at the race cars after the race.
In those days racing was so much more dangerous. Rapp: In 1923 they killed six guys at the track (San Jose) in one season. There's a story about how my dad was in the hospital and there was a memorial race for a close friend of his and he came out to the track with a bandaged head and was part of the ceremony.
What other local tracks do you remember going to? Rapp: We used to go to San Francisco Motordrome, which was down on Army Street. I was a young kid, before World War II, I went to Alameda (Neptune Speedway). He took me over there a few times. In those days, you had to take a ferry boat to go across the bay. There was no Bay Bridge (laughing). And there was a mile track over there on Hesperian Boulevard (Oakland Speedway) in Hayward. It was well-known in those days, before World War II. And then during the war, somebody lit the grandstand on fire, or something, and the property became valuable.
You raced a soap-box derby car when you were a kid. What do you remember about that? Rapp: When I was 11 and 12 years old. That's what I called the start of my career. In my day we didn't have any go-karts, quarter midgets, and things like that. There just the full midget. I raced at Treasure Island (during the World Exposition) in 1940. Chevrolet built this ramp about 75 feet high and you'd tow the car up the ramp. I was fine going down the hill, but when I hit the flat, I didn't have the weight to carry me and so, I lost the heat race by a couple of inches.
Your dad also had a Nash dealership, right? Rapp: Right, from 1936 to 1946. It was between 18th and 19th on Valencia (Street), 740 Valencia. He had a shop as well as sales for the cars. In 1937, he sold 97 Nashes. That was a real good year for Nash. I had a '37 Nash. That was my first car!
Did you work in the shop? Rapp: When I was 14 or 15 years old, after the soap-box derbies. I was working for him, yeah. It was a small business and I was doing the parts work, as well as the lubrication. We had a rack there that we'd put car up on.
You joined the Army Air Corps after high school, right? Rapp: Yeah, when I graduated (in 1944) everybody was patriotic, much more than anytime in my life. So everybody enlisted in one form of service or another. I chose the Army Air Corps because I wanted to fly and the Army was a little easier to get into that the Navy. So, I went down to Market Street and signed up. It took 110 points to go to officer training and I got 125. Since I was still 17 years old, they didn't want to send me to an army specialized training program, so they sent me to Stanford (University) for two terms. After that I went to Biloxi, Miss. To Kessler Field and then to Lowry Field and Buckley Field in Denver, That's how I spent my 28 months total.
What do you remember about living in San Francisco during that time, after Pearl Harbor? Rapp: Neighborhoods were blacked out and the San Francisco Seals used to play baseball only in day games. Everybody had black curtains on their windows; everything was blacked out. We had wardens also, and every block was checked to make sure the windows were sealed. There are still bulkheads out here close to the hospital (points west toward the Pacific Ocean).
How did you get your start driving midgets? Rapp: After I got out of the Army Air Corps, a friend of my dad's got me a job at Pan American Airways (as a mechanic) and one of the mechanics there owned a Drake midget. His name was Larry Christensen and he had Lyle Johnson and some other prominent guys driving for him. He won a feature in '46 or '47. He lived nearby. We got to be good friends and I went to his shop every night, almost, and helped him work on the Drake and in the pits. (George) Bignotti's shop was about a half mile away, too.
I bought a Drake midget in '48 and I had Earl Motter, Dick Strickland, all prominent veteran drivers, drive the car. The way I did it was I let those prominent guys run the car in the program and usually they would have warm-ups and I'd go out and run the first warm-up and they'd run the second warm-up and qualify and race the car. In the middle of the program, they'd have training races and I ran those. I ran 20 training races. In '49, when I first started driving, I turned 10th fastest at Bayshore Stadium and made the main event. After that, I progressed over the years.
I was really hot for the Drake engine and it was the main event winner at different times with Jerry Piper and Bob Barkhimer. It was a Drake engine like Billy Vukovich, Sr. always ran. It accelerated really good. It could beat the Ford V8-60s and it was a cheaper car.
Where was the Bayshore Stadium? Rapp: There used to be a track right next to the Cow Palace that was built in 1934 by some gamblers from Chicago. People don't know about it anymore. The story there is that these gamblers came out here and were going to run greyhound races. So they established this track next to the Cow Palace as well as the one down in Belmont and another across the bay. They had four of them and then (the State of) California says, “We don't want dog racing” for humane reasons. So there was a quarter mile dirt track and along comes December 7th (1941), and the government took over the Cow Palace and all the surrounding area, including the race track, and put all their tanks and trucks and everything else in there. Then after the war, all the vehicles disappeared and left the track. So, in 1946 BCRA came in and ran programs there until 1950, every Friday night. It was called Bayshore Stadium and it had a covered grandstand.
And you expanded your mechanical knowledge at Pan American? Rapp: I worked at Pan American for 10 years altogether, in different shops. I first started out in the wheel and tire shop. Then I was in engine buildup for three years. We'd put the engine on a test stand before they put it in the aircraft. And then I had a chance to go to the parts department, which I enjoyed quite a bit. I spent six years there.
How did you meet George Bignotti? Rapp: George was running the BCRA circuit in 1947, and when I started going to the races with Larry Christensen, I met George. He had a shop at Geneva and Mission and he ran two midgets with Fred Agabashian and Ed Normi driving, running seven days a week (laughs). BCRA was running eight days a week back then (big grin).
Do you remember your first man event victory? Rapp: Yeah, it was at Marysville in 1950. It was a different track than the one that we see now. It was a quarter mile. I started outside front row and Jerry Hill was on the pole. It was a hard, dry track, and there were a lot of prominent drivers there like (Johnny) Boyd, (Johnny) Baldwin and Edgar Elder. Edgar had fast time in a Drake. So, I got a jump on Jerry on the start and I held the lead for 25 laps and won it. Elder had fast time and he was tangling with Boyd and Baldwin and it hit one of 'em and ended up going out through the open pit gate and he just drove right up onto his trailer. He was a great guy.
Was your dad a part of your racing? Rapp: He followed me, but didn't help me. Then after about a year, he said, “I see you're serious, and I'm going to see about buying this Kurtis Ford.” Johnny Smith had driven it to sixth place in (BCRA) point stands the year before in 1947. It was a one year-old car, a Kurtis V8-60, with a spare engine and everything else for $2,000. So he bought it and I sold the Drake. I ran the Ford for three years and I kept paying him off and I owned the car when we got done. That was #16. It was really a good way for me to get started.
You traveled to the Midwest to race in '52. You must've been feeling confident with your driving and equipment. Rapp: I hadn't been driving for very long. The story there is, I was kinda depressed because my grandmother, who used to live with us, died. She had taken care of my brother and me when we were young kids, when my mother and father were running the auto shop. It was tough times. And my girlfriend, who later became my wife (Dorothea), decided she didn't want to see me anymore. So I was kinda depressed. I thought, “Heck with it. I'd just like to go the the Midwest and race.” I went by myself, Bignotti tuned my V8-60 and it was outstanding. I didn't have a spare engine, just some extra tires and wheels. But the good thing about the Midwest was that it taught me a lot. I really had to get down to the nitty fritty and learn how to race against those guys and I was running different tracks all the time. Day race, night race......
Midget racing was a big deal at that time. Rapp: It was pretty big, but in '52 back out here, it tapered off a lot. NASCAR came in and Barkhimer was running a lot of (stock car) races at San Jose Speedway and he had a whole bunch of tracks that he was supervising...
Did you like the pavement, or dirt? Rapp: When I first started out, I liked the dirt. You got it sideways, but sometimes I got in trouble, too. But after about 1953, I started learning how to drive better on pavement and be smooth. I got to be quite accomplished. I got second to Parnell Jones at San Jose Speedway in '64, and I'd win a feature here and there. Then I had a good Offy and we really made it perform. For six nights in a row, I had fast time at three different tracks. Two at San Jose, two at Kearney Bowl in Fresno, and two at Stockton. I think I won one, got four seconds and a third. In those days we'd start 18 (in the main event), so, I was coming from last.
The car was #10 and that's why #10 is my favorite number now. It set a mark for me. I put #10 on my recently restored Offy. It was red and yellow. The current car is the same paint job, more or less. It's in my store, ready to run. It's worth 35 grand. It's a Jimmy Davies car. He only built six cars; mine and one in Chicago are the only ones that I know of. It's a historic car. It was just a bunch of parts when I got it, and I put it together gradually over five years. I put a lot of new parts into it, torsion bars and everything else.
You must've had some close calls in your driving days. Rapp: I only spent one night in the hospital. I flipped three and a half times at Sacramento (West Capital Raceway) on the half mile in 1955. I hit a rut. I woke up in the ambulance with my dad. I felt that flip for six months, in different ways. In those days, we didn't have a shoulder harness, we just ran the lap belt and it held me in. In fact, the car was upside down and Walt Faulkner was running fast time in an Offy and he had the high groove and he hit my tail right next to my head in the turn and moved the car a couple feet. It just wasn't my time to go (laughs).....a lot of guys got killed at Capital Speedway.
You weren't spooked? Rapp: No, I was ready to go again. But I remember one guy who crashed at Bayshore Stadium, he hit the light pole outside the track and he never showed up again. In that era, right after World War II, Bay Cities used to lose about two guys a season, plus injuries....Yeah, it was tough, really tough. You had to watch what you were doing.
Tell me about the leather face masks that you developed as a safety device in the 1950s. Rapp: Speedway Motors used to buy 100 at a time. I must've sold four or five hundred. When I first started out, guys used to put a bandana around their neck, but that wouldn't help with the dirt and the rocks. You'd get hit. At first I made my own and developed it from there. There was a lady who was a seamstress at Pan American Airways and she helped.
I made a lot of different models before I produced the one that you see now. For different reasons it had to be improved. I had a company on 9th Street in San Francisco that was a leather company and I had them make 'em for me. They made some dies and they'd punch out the product with the die and sew 'em together per my instructions. It was a beautiful piece. I've seen used ones sell for $150 today (laughs).
You worked for Bignotti in '56 and '57. What do you remember from that time? Rapp: Oh, it was a real exciting experience. I had been to the (Indianapolis Motor) Speedway before it 1949 as a spectator. (In 1957) I was working for the Bowes Seal Fast Specials that Bignotti and Bob Bowes were partners in. I was a mechanic, doing everything. In the first day (of qualifying) Fred (Agabashian) was fourth fastest; (Johnny) Boyd was fifth fastest. They started side by side in the second row. Agabashian might have won the '500', but the fuel tank split. In those days we didn't have bladders and the tank wore and cracked. Agabashian was a really shrewd, great driver. He never acquired the achievements that he could've.
Bignotti was a good friend. I was helping him put the cars together in San Francisco. I was getting parts from Pan American. Pan American was a sponsor, but they didn't know it (laughs). Bolts and nuts, whatever we needed for the Indy cars. Bowes got the cars from Kurtis (-Kraft) and we modified them. That was a good deal. They were beautiful cars for those days. Frank Kurtis was a great craftsman. Bignotti just worked out of his basement, just about a half mile from me.
George was the greatest wrench out of a toolbox. That's the way I put it. Nowadays they have all this tech stuff. It's altogether different. He was the chief mechanic on seven Indy winners with different drivers. Can you imagine? (A.J.) Foyt, (Al) Unser, (Tom) Sneva, (ed. note: also Graham Hill and Gordon Johncock). He made 'em all perform. Nowadays it's so costly.
After Indy, I had to make a big decision in my life: whether I should stay back there (Midwest) and race. My wife said, “We can stay back here, I can get a job anyplace. Don't worry about me.” Bignotti was going to run one of the Seal Fast cars over there at Monza in Italy on the high banks, and I could've gone over there with him. Or I could come home and continue with my part-time business. I had been making a couple hundred a week, or something like that. Not big monoey, but I decided to come home and I made the right decision. In those days there weren't many dealers like there are now.
For seven years I worked out of my basement, and about five or seven others in the neighborhood. I was walking back and forth between all the places all day long. So I decided in 1961 that I should get everything in one place. That's when I acquired the building that I'm in now at 5 Cordova. I leased it for 16 years and bought it for $40,000 (in 1977). It's 3,300 square feet.
It was orifinally a grocery store, right? Rapp: It used to be the independent grocer. The Safeway moved down to Mission Street where they are now with a big parking lot, and the independent moved from my building to the corner. And that's where they still are today with different owners. It's Cordova Market.
It was set up so I could back my truck and trailer in there after a race, with a big, wide doorway and everything else. And that's the way it is today....been there all these years. The house where I was born and raised is right across the street from my store, 329 Rolph. I live up the hill, a half mile, in Southern Hills. My wife and I bought the house there brand new. She died 32 years ago, from cancer. She was a great part of my life, as far as career goes.
Did she go to the races: Rapp: Before we had kids, she went to the races all the time. But I'll tell you, it was 1966 or 1967; I was driving for Emery Graham with a Chevy II. The kids were young and sometimes she'd stay home. So, I came home and the next morning she asks, “How'd you do last night?” And I said, “I did good in the heat race; I got up to second and in the main I got on my head. (She said) “You got on your head?” I hadn't been on my head in like 10 years. So she asked, “What happened?” I said, “Well, a guy screwed up ahead of me and I got over him and hit the fence and bent the car up.”
She wanted to know what I was going to do now and I said, “Well, a bunch of guys are working on the car right now to straighten it out so we can run tonight in Sacramento on the half mile, a 100-lapper.” So, we got a fifth in the 100-lapper (laughs). It thrilled me.
It must've been difficult to run a business and drive at the same time. Rapp: Yeah, I used to look at J.C. Agajanian. He was an owner and a promoter. It was pretty tough. My dad was helping in the shop, at the house, going to all the races and pumping fuel. My wife was doing the books. She was a really sharp bookkeeper. She could take care of anything.
It seems like the 1960s was your peak as a driver. Rapp: I kept winning races into the '60s. I retired in '67. The last main event I won was indoors in '66 in Oakland. I won about 40 main events altogether. Gary Koster and I won the most indoor (BCRA) races. We each won 12.
Did you miss driving when you retired? Rapp: Not too much, because I was still going to the track with my fuel and tire truck. I was busy. I kept going to the track until the last couple of years. I just retired a couple of years ago.
You were dedicated to your job as a supplier. Rapp: At Calistoga I got a hall of fame and it wasn't because I had great achievements there. I got third in the main there one night. I got some other fifth, sixth places, stuff like that. The big thing was I had been hauling fuel and tires there for about 45 years (laughs). We'd bring 15 barrels of fuel for a weekend. Louis (Vermeil) said to me way back in '53, “I'd like you to bring a barrel of fuel with you,” and that's how it got started. I gradually built it up. I had a 1,000 gallon tank and then a 6,000 gallon tank in South San Francisco. A friend of my dad's had an oil company there and they had all these tanks, so I bought a tank. You got a better price when you took big quantities. One year I sold nearly 22,000 gallons of fuel.
To what do you attribute your longevity? Rapp: Take care of the body by eating the right kinds of food and don't eat any junk foods. Stay healthy. When I was running a 50- or 100-lapper, I would exercise every other night before I went to bed. That gave me stamiina.
Racing has been my life. And as the saying goes, “Would you like to live your life over again?” I would. Some people wouldn''t, but I would.
This is my first of A 365 Day Challenge for 2015. I am attempting a 365 Toy Project this year, so we’ll see how it goes. Doing something that specific every day will be a challenge. But I love my toys and have loads of “photo props” so here goes!
This is also my first picture for the 2015 Pictures in 2015 Group. I really enjoyed the challenges last year, and hope to complete them all again this year.
(The sparkles were added in Picmonkey.)
115 Pictures in 2015 - Theme No. 15 - The Number 15
365 Toy Project
1/365
August 15
Yesterday we went for a snooze at six, and failed to wake up until nealry 11, meaning too late to do anything really, so we went back to bed.
All would have been well if the car hadin’t got bored and made the alarm go off twice. No idea what was wrong, so in the end we had to leave the car unlocked.
All was well this morning when we got up at six. Got up, but had been laying awake for at least two hours. But all was well, just now we could get up and go do stuff again. And as before, do the really popular stuff when the park is either empty or asleep, which is why we were heading for the Canyon and two sets of falls before seven, and just as the sun was rising.
As was the mist.
Mere photographs could not do the scenes justice, the morning light on the mist as it rolled down from the mountain tops, all tinged in pink. We do stop a couple of times for shots, but mostly just enjoy being some of the few people up and around at the early hour, lucky enough to see it.
We arrive at Canyon Village, and fill up the car, as it was reminding us it had only 45 miles of fuel left, and Yellowstone wasn’t the best of places to run out of fuel. However, I can say I am one of the few people to have locked the keys to his hire car, in the hire car, on the top of a mountain. You really could not make this up.
So with the car refuelled, we drive to the lower falls, and first of all go to the overlook, and with the mist wrapped round the fir trees on the edge of the gorge mising in with the spray from the waterfall, and again with the golden light, it was magical.
There was a train: three eights of a mile long, but dropping 660 feet. I knew the shots would be worth it, so we start to totter down. And down, and down. Zig zagging down the side of the gorge, with the roar of the falls getting ever louder.
With every step down, we would have to climb back up, and at over 7,000 feet, it was going to be interesting.
Once down at the bottow, there was a viewing platform right over the falls, allowing you to look down from the edge of the catteract. It was magical, and with just three young guys from Boston with us, we had it all to ourselves.
Of course, then came the walk back up, stopping every turn or two, but recovery seemed to get quicker and easier, and in ten minutes or so, we were at the top.
We have breakfast of saladf and nectarines, I kid you not, before the short drive to the upper falls, where there was a less steep and much shorter set of steps to the viewing platform, made all the more magical by the mist that had risen. I snap it, and the mist wreathed trees on the far bank, then walk up where there was a small conference on what to do next.
In our preparations, we had left two days without accommodation booked, to allow us some flexibility, however, those two days were on Friday and Saturday, and all rooms in and around Yellowstone might be booked.
We drive round to Cooke City, Montana, where we had both thought the main street looked fun and nice to stay at. Once there was asked at the tourist information if they could help in finding a room, but we were told we would have to visit each and every motel and bar, casino to ask if they had rooms.
Only one did, but it didn’t really meet our standards these days, so we went back to the tourist information to use their free wifi, and after consulting a map, chose a town in southern Montana, did a search for rooms and came up with a condo with suits, and free wifi which should mean being online a little. It was all booked, so worries over, and being midday, we go over to a place opposite for lunch, our first meal in 22 hours, and have burgers. It was either that or steak.
Not the best burgers of fries in the world, but good enough to these hungry bunnies, we ate outside, the only ones to do so, but soaking up the rays, now that the sun had broken through.
On our way back to the park we see a cabin selling ice cream, so call in, and were given a waffle cone each with five scopps of creamy goodness, and these were just the singles at 3 bucks fifty each! Jools could not finish hers, but I wasn’t going to let huckleberry ice cream go to waste. I eat all mine, all except for the drips down my t shirt.
On the waay back to the cabin, we stop many times to take in the views, or to look for wildlife. A friendly chap showed me where some mountain goats could be seen about a mile away, but also gave me the heads up on an Osprey’s nest near to the road further on.
At an overlook of a shallow river, Jools and I spend a fine half hou chasing butterflies, American Painted Ladies and some kind of Fitillary. All wonderful, and some photographed.
A few miles on, we see the Osprey’s nest and stop, next to the guy who told me about it. We watch to juveniles stretching and flapping their wings, and I rattle off probably 50 shots.
We move on and finally come to a place where a herd of Bison where near to the road, so we stop and I snap many of the animals, some rolling around in a dust bath. Just fabulous.
Back in Mamoth, we visit the upper terraces of the falls near to the cabin, but it is a joyless experience because of the numbers of people, but then still got some shots. But we can return in the eaving or early tomorrow,
We had burgers for lunch, again, so in the evebing, in the hope of improving our diet, we go to the resoty restauratn, in the hope of vegetables, in for not other reason. We hadin’t booked a table, so had to wait 40 minutes, so retired to the bar, and where I was recommonded a pint of Moose Drihhle, a dark beer I was told. Turned out to have great depth of falvour, and it was a shame when that came to an end, but no worry as our table was ready, so we celebrated by odering a bottle of wine. We ordered bluse, but red came, but what the heck.
I had fillet of bison, showing they just don’t look good, the taste it too, it was accompanied by some mashed taters, and boccolini. Or, broccoli that had been on a diet. All good, as was the wine, and we may return to sample the huckleberry margerita.
We walked back under a clear sjy with the cresent waning moon high overhead. We were pooped, and it was cold, just above freezing, so we took to our beds.
This boat ride is one of my favorite things to do in Laos. The view is beautiful and Muang Ngoy a great place to go do nothing--just wait for its colorful sunset.
Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
~Howard Thurman
Me, Maria, and a stranger in the Mimi's Cafe bathroom.
3/30/08
One of my most favorite shots EVER.
In September and October 2021, we spent three weeks touring the Italian regions of Abruzzo, Umbria, Marches and Emilia-Romagna, which we hadn’t visited yet.
Personally, I had my sights firmly set on a series of early Romanesque churches of high architectural and artistic interest, so you will see quite a few of those, in spite of the typical Italian administration-related problems I encountered, and which were both stupid and quite unpleasant.
There will also be other sorts of old stones, landscapes, etc., and I hope you will enjoy looking at them and have a good time doing so. If it makes you want to go, do, by all means, Italy is a wonderful country.
Today, I am uploading the last photos from our memorable visit to the San Pietro Abbey on Monte Conero in the province of Marches, not very far from the coastal city of Ancona.
Just like we had tried to do (so unsuccessfully) at the abbey of San Pietro in Valle in Umbria, we intended to spend a night at the very nice hotel into which the abbey of San Pietro has been converted on Monte Conero, so that we could both enjoy a nice stopover and have a look at what remained of the abbey church.
Unlike its Umbrian namesake, entrance to this San Pietro abbey church was free, even for people not staying at the hotel, and what we found inside was magnificent!
Besides, our room with a balcony and a gorgeous vista on the Adriatic and all the surrounding area was great, and the food at the restaurant that evening was quite enjoyable as well, so I can only recommend the place!
We had to drive way up to the top of Monte Conero to find the place, indeed a great location for an abbey. This one was built by Benedictine monks around Year 1000, as we know from a written source that it was fully functional and operational in 1037.
The original church was without any adornments inside, but pilasters and capitals were added around 1200. In the 16th century, the Benedictines were replaced by other orders between whose members there were some disputes, until the Camaldolese monks prevailed. They were those who remodeled the façade into the uninteresting one we can see today –truly the only part of the church that doesn’t deserve to be photographed!
Fine examples of pre-Romanesque and early Romanesque sculpture on the capitals in the nave: very simple foliage from Carolingian times.
Happy end of the world everyone!! Go do something wildly exciting and illegal because none of it will matter by the end of the day anyway! WE"RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!! :) Have a nice day.
Random Fact : The Mayans never actually predicted an apocalypse. There's nothing in Mayan texts that specifically says "The world is ending on December 21st, 2012." That's just when the long-form version of their calendar runs out.
A recreation with some minor changes of flailx's excellent Lego Idea proposal, if you like Zelda and Lego and haven't already voted for it, go do it now! ideas.lego.com/projects/2082
s062 4524 Vienac1880 Zaporožki hetman Daszkieiwicz Rad poljski slikar Jan MatejkoZabavi i pouci Tečaj XII. Uredjuje ga August Šenoa Izdaje dionička tiskara 1880. u Zagrebu Tisak dioničke tiskare.
Zaporožki hetman Daszkieiwicz. (K slici.) Slavni poljski slikar Jan Matejko, koj si je steko glas svjetskoga umjetnika, crpi svoje gradivo iz duše naroda, iz prošlosti njegove Poljaci mogu se pohvaliti znatnimi slikari, al nijedan od njih neumije prošlost poljsku toli živo, toli vierno prikazati koliko Jan Matejko. Siemiradski zaista je takodjer umjetnik evropskoga glasa, al predmet njegovih slika jest obćenit, svjetski, njegove slike nenose na sebi onaj karakteristično poljski biljeg- kao što Matejkove. Ta poznate su i našemu obćinstvu slike "Stjepan Batori", "Lubelska unija", "Skarga" i druge. Današnja slika prikazuje junaka poljske prošlosti Daszkieiwicza, atamana zaporoških kozaka. Ukrajina, jedan dio bivše poljske države, slovila je na daleko sa junačtva svojih kozaka, koji su u slobodnih sborovih živili pod vladom svojih hetmana. Bijaše to strašna, nepobjediva konjica, izvježbana u čestih ratovih sa Tatari i Turci. Vojevode to jest hetmani njhovi stanovahu u utvrdjenom taboru po imenu "Sič". Jednog od tih hetmana prikazuje slika Matejkova. Čovjek to djelo može nazvati portretom i historičkom slikom. Pred nama stoji kršni opori sin stepe, diete slobode. Njegovo krupno tvrdo lice kan da nam dokazuje sve bure, koje je junak četujući proživio, njegovo odielo sjeća te, da vlada na pragu Azije, al križ na njegovih prsih veli ti, da je zatočnik častnoga krsta, tu stoji s napetom puškom na straži kršćanstva, te kan da sbori: „Na ždrielo junak tko je, nebojim se nikoga." Karakteristika kao i historična viernost u toj slici upravo je divna. Ova slika može se smatrati pendantom slike četovodje Vaclava Vilčka, koju je takodjer Matejko izradio.
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wiki:
Eustachy (Ostafij) Daszkiewicz (ros. Евстафий Дашкович, ukr. Остап Дашкевич) (ur. ok. 1455, zm. 1535 w Owruczu), herbu Leliwa III – hetman kozaków zaporoskich, starosta kaniowski, krzyczewski i czerkaski.
Pochodził z zamożnej rodziny bojarskiej. W czasie wojny litewsko-moskiewskiej 1500-1503 jako wojewoda króla Polski Aleksandra Jagiellończyka, wraz z księciem Michałem Izasławskim poniósł 4 listopada 1501 klęskę w bitwie pod Mścisławiem. Oskarżony o nadużycia finansowe, schronił się w Wielkim Księstwie Moskiewskim. W 1505 powrócił do kraju i oczyścił się z zarzutów na Sejmie litewskim w Brześciu.
W czasie wojny litewsko-moskiewskiej 1507-1508 dostał się do moskiewskiej niewoli. Wysłany przez Rosjan na pomoc powstańcom białoruskim Michała Glińskiego. Zygmunt I Stary przywrócił go do łask.
W czasie wojny litewsko-moskiewskiej 1512-1522, w czerwcu 1513, wraz z namiestnikiem kijowskim Jerzym Radziwiłłem spustoszył Siewierszczyznę i rozbił 6. tysięczną armię moskiewską. W 1515 wraz z Andrzejem Niemirowiczem ponowił uderzenie na ziemie siewierskie. W 1518 rozbił oddział Tatarów krymskich, który wtargnął na Wołyń. W lipcu 1521 wyprawił się wraz z Tatarami krymskimi chana Mehmeda I Gireja na Moskwę. Po rozbiciu wojsk moskiewskich nad Oką oddziałom tym udało się podejść pod mury stolicy państwa moskiewskiego. Wielki książę Wasyl III zmuszony został do zapłacenia haraczu. Wiosną 1522 udał się w poselstwie na Krym, wioząc chanowi okup wysokości 15 000 złp., by powstrzymał się od najazdu na ziemie polsko-litewskie. Wiosną 1523, w czasie zamętu, spowodowanego napadem Ordy Nogajskiej na chanat krymski, dokonał na czele kozaków śmiałego wypadu na Oczaków i Perekop. Spowodowało to wyprawę odwetową Turków i Tatarów, która doszła pod Rohatyn, a w roku następnym aż po Bug i San.
27 stycznia 1527 wraz z hetmanem wielkim litewskim Konstantym Ostrogskim odniósł wielkie zwycięstwo nad Tatarami, w bitwie pod Olszanicą, gdzie poległo 40 000 Tatarów i uwolniono 80 000 jasyru. W listopadzie 1528 wraz z Przecławem Lanckorońskim w 1200 jazdy zaatakował Oczaków i Akerman. Zagarnął wówczas 30 000 sztuk bydła i 500 koni. W 1531 wytrzymał w Czerkasach oblężenie Tatarów Saadeta I Gireja.
W czasie wojny litewsko-moskiewskiej 1534-1537 z posiłkami tatarskimi spustoszył Siewierszczyznę, wyciął 3000 żołnierzy moskiewskich i zagarnął dużą liczbę bydła.
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Jan Alojzy Matejko (ur. 24 czerwca[a] 1838 r. w Krakowie, zm. 1 listopada 1893 r. w Krakowie) – polski malarz, twórca obrazów historycznych i batalistycznych, historiozof.
W latach 1852–1858 studiował u Władysława Łuszczkiewicza i Wojciecha Stattlera w Szkole Sztuk Pięknych w Krakowie, której później był dyrektorem (od 1873). Jego uczniami byli m.in. Maurycy Gottlieb, Jacek Malczewski, Józef Mehoffer i Stanisław Wyspiański.
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Jan Matejko (Krakov, 24. lipnja 1838. — Krakov, 1. studenog 1893.) bio je poljski slikar, najznačajniji tvorac likovnih djela poljske povijesne i domoljubne tematike.
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www.facebook.com/groups/2201575766789398/
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I frequently use my daily Flickr challenges as an excuse to abandon chores and go do something I really want to do. Indeed, it’s the very reason I sign up for these photo scavenger hunts! Today I decided to forget about vacuuming and drive over to Benicia for the official tour of the Fischer-Hanlon House at Benicia Capitol State Historic Park.
Joseph and Catherine Fischer remodeled the former hotel for their family in 1858. It was occupied by successive generations of the family until it was donated with its contents to the State of California in 1969 by granddaughters, Raphaelita and Catherine Hanlon. According to our tour guide, their only specific instructions regarding placement of the furnishings was that an unusual statue and a child’s portrait in the parlor not be moved from their positions. I’d be very interested to hear the story behind that!
A very interesting tour. See more here: www.visitbenicia.org/content/benicias-history
For ”We’re Here!”, today visiting ”Opulance & Other Fancy Things, as well as a bonus group, You have to be wealthy. I thought the amazing statue mentioned above, the very large Steinway “square” piano shipped around South America, the life-size doll dressed so elaborately, and the yards and yards of expensive silk velvet in the dress with silver buttons all qualified.
My camera seems to be collecting a little dust lately, so I thought I’d better clean it off and go do something fun. So, the other day I put all chores aside, and drove down to the Sun Valley Animal Shelter in Glendale, Az, and asked permission to photograph some kitties. I feel much better now ;o)
So here, if you’re in the Phoenix area, and happen to be looking, are some of the cats currently up for adoption @ the Sun Valley Shelter ;o)
In response to Daily post Naked with Black Socks
So, the question put forth today is: Are you comfortable in front of people, or does the idea of public speaking make you want to hide in the bathroom? Why?
I have to say that I am comfortable in front of people in a social situation, but when it comes to speaking in public I would want to hide in the bathroom. Social situations don't bother me at all. I can be myself with no problem (as long as I know the majority of the people there).
If I were asked to lecture or give a speech, this is a whole different story. The whole "Imagine the audience in their underwear" thing did not do the trick for me. I can practice all day or for many days but when I get up in front of people to talk it's like my tongue gets lost... lol.
I'm not sure why this is the way it is, but it is and so I don't speak publicly. Even in school I avoided it if I could in any way shape or form (even if that meant staying home from school for the day). I am almost done with my PhD and will have to defend my dissertation in about 6 months. This terrifies me! I am not sure how I will get through this. I am hoping that since I am through distance learning this process will be over the phone (in which case I think I will be fine). If I have to go do this in person I am so screwed though. Any suggestions on how to combat this would be greatly appreciated.
Have a great day!
Renee www.homeandlovingit.com/2016/02/04/naked-with-black-socks/
Edit - this is not an RB7 chassis. First I will tell you why I called it that, it has a #1 on it. That means it can only be an RB7 or an RB8. But, as was pointed out by a Red Bull fanatic friend of mine, there are several things that stand out that show this is not the 2010 Championship car. I figured as much but did not look into it because I know that there are several chassis floating around car show circuits tarted up with some livery to pretend to be one chassis or another. For the most part car show goers at the Toronto show wouldn't know the difference. "Is that there one of them Indy cars that does the 500?"
Huge pleasent surprise! I had no idea this was going to be at the show. Much more interesting than the IRL car in Honda's area. Also probably the most expensive car at the show, Bugatti included. Certainly the fastest by most measures, Bugatti included. Each time I see an F1 car I am amzed at how narrow they are and how long they are. Such neat things to see, neater when moving. Congrats SEb on two in a row. Now stop it. It's Kimi's turn again.
The Toronto International Autoshow, One of my favourite frustrating places to be. The crowd was pretty bad on Family Day but what do you expect when the government says you have the day off go do stuff? Anyway, this is my review of the parts of the show that I did not take pictures of.
First let's get the biggest bit of ugliness out of the way. Porsche, where were you? A Pfaff booth with a handful of used modded cars does not cut it. Especially when you have just released an update to one of the most important cars in the world. You're the reason I fell in love with this show 30 years ago and have been almost every year since. Where were you? BCE Place is NOT the car show. That made me sad.
Second bit of ugliness belongs to GM but it's more typical than a glaring bit of ugliness like Porsche's absence. You still don't have a clue do you? Singing and dancing, while fine for some things, doesn't belong at a car show. Stop it. You do it every year and every year it annoys me and does nothing to help you sell cars. There was nothing overly exciting in your area. Your F150 Raptor competitor while a nice truck is no Raptor competitor, you managed to make Foose boring and you Cadillac range is more confused than ever. You're doing waht Chrysler started years ago which is banking on nostalgia to sell cars, that's fine as a limited range but does nothing to make forward looking interesting cars. Hey, at least yours aren't made out of old MB parts. I can fix you GM, I won't even charge you that much. Seriously, contact me, pay me and I can fix you.
I'd like to make fun of Chrysler for being... well Chrysler but now with an overpriced and underpowered Italian subcompact to make you look cool but I can't because one of the better surprises of the show is the Jeep. Not the old Mercedes they call a Jeep but the actual Jeep Wrangler. Finally it has a decent engine and it is a relatively decent looking product compared to what else is around. I'd actually consider one. Otherwise Chrylser was Chrysler.
VW did the standard VW thing with one exception: the Golf R. About freaking time that's available in this country! Good job VW for keeping it understated looking while still being a real interesting car. New Bug looks alright too. Definite improvement in the interior.
Mazda displayed why they're floundering, they've got nothing but the Miata (neat but too expensive). Honda bored me. Honda always bores me. Toyota too, except for the Toyobaru. thing they collaborated with Subaru on and are calling a Scion here. Would have been much smarter placed as the new Celica. The Subaru version looks slightly more interesting than the adolescent tone of all things Scion. Oh yes, the Tacoma is easily the best "small" pickup these days. Very nice. I like the Tundra as well but that's an awful lot of money compared to what you can get from Ford.
Speaking of Ford, I like the Aston Martin Fusion. New Focus is decent too. Taurus is ok but far too big. You do trucks well can't say much against you there. New Mustang iterations are all ok but very much limited to what they are, there's nothing groundbreaking there.
Volvo... the Chinese haven't ruined them yet. Although nice enough Volvos always seem about 20% too much. And 9 times out of 10 if a Volvo driver is a terrible driver. I know there are exceptions but I can count them on one hand. The only worse drivers are Pontiac drivers (Grand Prix/Am). 10 times out of 10 they're bad drivers.
BMW was much like MB, still doing the things they do with little surprise. The new Mini is as ugly outside as it is on the inside.
Hyundai wasn't interesting but it's nice to see them making Toyota and Honda have to work to keep their value cars viable options for people and make GM look foolish. I didn't go in the Kia display.
Infiniti, you're really milking that G platform eh? By the way, the exhaust tuning is too much. Far too noisy for a car that is slowly lumbering away from a stop. It sounds as fake as it is.
Other minor notes: The Triumph hall of classics would have been far more interesting if there were more than Triumphs there. I can understand why people would not want to bring their classics to the show though. I have further proof that the people of Toronto are in a single word inconsiderate. I saw a lot of trash left behind in the cars, including under hoods and there were countless knobs, buttons and other interior bits ripped off. Keep it up people and all the cars will be locked. The poor VW GTI looked like it had been stripped on the inside.
I was explaining to a friend yesterday about my second week in Nicaragua.
I knew that I was there to relax but for the first couple days, I couldn't curb my excitement or ambition. I wanted to go explore everything, go do this, then do that, and waste no time at all.
Once you get two days in, that third day is when something magical happens. Suddenly, you don't worry about the ramifications of sleeping in a hammock all day, in fact, you celebrate being well-rested. Time doesn't move faster, nor slower, it just simply isn't there.
By the forth or fifth day of shooting the sunset, I decided to loosen up a bit and just capture the moment we were having instead of concentrating on the sunset.
I let Tashia use the wide angle lens for her sunset shots, while I simply just enjoyed the moment.
It's really a great thing once you get to the point of letting go. It doesn't happen to me many times a year, but after this last one, I think it might become more regular.
Velocity Stacks for S&S Dual Throat carbs. 316 stainless, knife edged stacks held with triple clamps made from aluminium... #rocketbobsparts #sands #dualthroat #velocitystacks
35 Likes on Instagram
11 Comments on Instagram:
den_olivia: 😘😘
mixtacy622: Cut this love fest out n go do my tank @rocketbobs
rocketbobs: Ya meant the free tank coz yer my lil Besty 😘
rocc05rx8: Yea dude...these are sexy
rocketbobs: @rocc05rx8 thanks man, I really dig these as they are held on with three mini clamps :) never sold a set though as this carb is so rare. But loved making them
rocc05rx8: They kick ass. If I wasn't about to deploy I'd buy one just to put on my coffee table lol. Maybe I'll have my wife do it baha
rocketbobs: @rocc05rx8 good luck Buddy, much respect 👍
rocc05rx8: Thanks man!
So, after posting the caption to this, I decided to stop being a pussy and just go do it already. (Yes, I did it myself)
If you’ve never gotten lost in a Hiroshi Sugimoto seascape, you should probably go do that now (keep clicking – it’s worth every page load) »
-Arthur Schopenhauer
Photo from older shoot
but i freaking love this one >: D
It's like a burst of water, i laaav it!
Alright well, i have to go do my pile of homework (y)
Enjoy!
being willing to put yourself in harm's way. dropping everything when you hear the siren. jumping into a burning building, a crashed car, a cold river. understanding the human need for a helping hand, a guided elbow, the jaws of life. putting your hand up to your forehead and saluting the spirit of a small-town fire company, which has protected generations of friends and neighbors for more than a hundred years.
i consider myself lucky. in the fourteen years i've lived in this town, i've never needed the assistance of the cold spring fire company. but every time i hear that siren go off, i think of michael, the brother i've always wanted, out there responding, going, doing, risking. i think of his wife michele, waiting. and i hold my breath and think, ohgodpleasebecareful.
but then i smile, thinking of what it means to be honorable.
~
Just some last pics at the LynchLand sim before the sim closes ( and we will go do popup events)
Taxi to the Eraserhead Venue in LynchLand:
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pearl%20Coast/188/214/4052
Arrow Inglewood as Henry
Myrdin Sommer as Lady in the Radiator
23/365
I missed a day. Oops.
This one was really fun though!
Anyway, I'm now going to go do what I'm doing in the photo, only in my cosy bed. G'night!
EDIT: I'm probably going to edit this a little further today and upload the result. Check back :)
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Zbliza sie kolejna rocznica smierci Andrzeja - znanego tu jako andy_pl.
Kiedy wspominam moje czasy na flickr, Andrzej nalezy do osób, które wspominam szczególnie cieplo.
10 lat temu, kiedy przypadkiem skomentowalam jego zdjecia z Bostonu, nie mialam pojecia, ze jest on Polakiem i w dodatku bylismy prawie "sasiadami".
Wspólna pasja do fotografii spowodowala, ze zaprosilam Go do wspólpracy w mojej grupie, która prowadzilam 4 lata. Okres z Andrzejem byl najlepszym w tej grupie, gdyz rozumial on doskonale moje intencje i pomógl mi utrzymac grupe na tym samym poziomie.
Niewiele pozostalo z tamtego okresu, kilka zdjec zwyciezców, jakies moje notatki i tabele, gdzie skrupulatnie obliczalam codziennie nagrody, aby wylonic pózniej zwyciezce.
Pozostala jednak pamiec o wspanialym, pogodnym czlowieku, pelnym pasji, komentujacym w niezwykly sposób, ale i bez grama hipokryzji.
Kiedy kilka lat temu opuscilam flickr i zlikwidowalam moje konto, jedyna rzecza, której zalowalam byl fakt, ze "stracilam" Andrzeja jako mój kontakt. Bylby to dzis kontakt tylko symboliczny, ale dla mnie bardzo wazny.
Oprócz tego, ze pozostalo tu dzieki uprzejmosci zony Andrzaja jego konto, pozostala moja grupa, juz niedzialajaca, ale z Andrzejem jako Administratorem. Bez problemu moglam skasowac moje konto, ale nie bylam w stanie "odebrac" mu roli Administratora.
while walking around town today with mike cole and his friend christine, i found this argus A2F -- in mint condition, complete with the original (intact) box and instructions. we brought it home and did some research: it's one of the first mass-produced 35mm cameras in the US, it's made of bakelite, it features an art-deco design, it was known as "the brick" because of its shape and weight (it's heavy), and it was produced form 1939-1941. i've got a roll of black and white in it now, and it seems to work perfectly. it even has a built-in light meter. i can't wait to get the first roll developed...
amazing how being one camera heavier and twenty bucks lighter can make me inordinately happy.
Photographs taken by Harry Skull Jr.
Remarks With Canadian Foreign Minister Cannon
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
13 June, 2009
FOREIGN MINISTER CANNON: Canada and the United States have committed this morning to amending the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. This is important for both nations. These inland waters are the largest system of fresh water in the world, a foundation for billions of dollars in trade, shipping, agriculture, recreation, of course, and other sectors. The Government of Canada has taken significant efforts in the past three years to protect the Great Lakes, and today, this joint stewardship of the environment represents a cornerstone of the Canada-United States relationship. This aspect of our long history of collaboration will remain strong as we begin a second century of jointly managing our shared waters. The agreement has been a model of international cooperation and has achieved numerous successes.
However, as you know, the Great Lakes are still at risk and need more to be done. So we will be doing that together.
The Secretary of State and I also discussed the global economic downturn and the risks of protectionism, cooperation in the Americas, and Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan. Our country’s prosperity and security are inseparable from those of the United States. Americans, as you know, are our closest neighbors, allies, and trading partners.
(Via interpreter) Every day, there is trade to a value of $2 billion that cross our common border from Canada. And Canada is the first export market for 35 of 50 of the American states.
People are worried by a rising tide of protectionism developing in the United States in various circles, and our government is very concerned, in particular, about the negative impacts of Buy America legislation being felt on Canadian businesses. Now, Canada’s and the United State’s shared history demonstrated we can do great things. When we work together, we are able to, of course, serve our mutual interests. Now, this is crucial as we are engaged in emerging from this crisis, and we want to be able to emerge from this crisis stronger, better, and, of course, in a more prosperous manner.
Thank you. Merci.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much, Minister Cannon.
I’ve had a delightful morning here, and I want to thank my Canadian hosts, especially Foreign Minister Cannon, the members of the International Joint Commission, and the many distinguished colleagues from both sides of the border who have made this celebration so memorable.
We are celebrating, because the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Boundary Waters Treaty marks a recognition of a ground-breaking agreement, one of the first in the world to recognize the environmental consequences of managing our natural resources, ensuring clean drinking water, protecting the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system, the Niagara Falls and Niagara River that are such magnificent treasures. So for me, it’s a particular delight both to have been back in Western New York; many friends from Niagara and Erie counties -- I just am delighted to see them, but also to be here in Canada, because Canada is such a trusted ally, a friend, a valued trading partner and a democratic model for the world.
This treaty, which we have celebrated, is not a static document. It’s a living instrument of our cooperation and partnership. It has provided an effective framework for the last 100 years, but now we have to take stock of where we are and how we’re going to be proceeding with confidence and effectiveness into the future. As we look at the strong foundation that this treaty has helped to establish between our countries, it’s truly remarkable: $1.6 billion in goods that flow across the border everyday, supporting millions of jobs; the world’s largest energy-trading relationship. I want to underscore that, because I’m not sure that enough Americans know, Minister Cannon, that you are our number one supplier of energy in the world, and we are grateful for that. We collaborate closely on citizen safety and defense, and, as both the Minister and I have noted, we have soldiers serving side-by-side together in Afghanistan to try to prevent the spread of terrorism and extremism.
So our common values are deeply rooted. But we have to work together even more closely. After this morning’s ceremony, the Minister and I had a chance to review some of our other important matters. Obviously, we discussed international and global concerns that we are both deeply engaged in, and we discussed our nation’s plan to revise and update the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to protect the Great Lakes Basin for future generations. We reviewed our joint efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere around the globe. We discussed the challenges in Pakistan, the Middle East, Iran, and elsewhere. We talked about our equal commitment to our own hemisphere, and I’m very grateful for the Canadian Government and the Minister’s particular emphasis on working with us in Haiti, working to strengthen our relationships with our neighbors to the south.
We also have been very focused on ensuring that nothing interferes with the trade between our countries. I deeply respect the Minister’s comments and his concerns, but as President Obama said, nothing in our legislation will interfere with our international trade obligations, including with Canada. But we want to take a hard look, and the Minister and I discussed this, as to what more we can do to ensure that the free flow of trade continues. We consider it to be in the interests of both of our countries and our people.
So as always, it’s great to be in Canada, and we deeply appreciate our close working relationship the Minister and I have forged over a relatively short period of time, and we look forward to continuing close collaboration and cooperation. Thank you very much.
QUESTION: (Off-mike).
SECRETARY CLINTON: We watched closely the enthusiasm and the very vigorous debate and dialogue that occurred in the lead-up to the Iranian elections. We are monitoring the situation as it unfolds in Iran.
But we, like the rest of the world, are waiting and watching to see what the Iranian people decide. The United States has refrained from commenting on the election in Iran. We obviously hope that the outcome reflects the genuine will and desire of the Iranian people.
FOREIGN MINISTER CANNON: For Canada, on behalf of Canada, Canada is deeply concerned by reports of voting irregularities in the Iranian election. We’re troubled by reports of intimidation of opposition candidate’s offices by security forces. We’ve tasked our embassy officials to – in Tehran to closely monitor the situation, and Canada is calling on Iranian authorities to conduct fair and transparent counting of all ballots.
(Via Interpreter) According to (inaudible) irregularities in the Iranian election, we are also deeply concerned with reports according to which there might have been intimidation, intimidation against opposition candidate’s offices, for instance; amongst them would be intimidation by security officials. I therefore asked our people in Tehran and officers in the Canadian embassy to follow the development very closely. And finally, we hope – we hope with a great deal of vigor that the counting of ballots be done transparently and that all the ballots that have been used during this election be indeed counted.
QUESTION: Madame Secretary, welcome to Canada.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you.
QUESTION: Canada’s government and many Canadian businesses have said that our economy and our bilateral relationship is being hurt by the Buy American policy. Secretary Clinton, why is it in there, and if you don’t call it protectionism, what is it? And to Minister Cannon, how deeply is this hurting Canada’s economy and our relationship with the United States?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Let me just reiterate that the provision is not being enforced in any way that is inconsistent with our international trade obligations. And we take that very seriously. Obviously, Canada is our number one trading partner. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that we intend to not only nurture, but see grow.
And I am well aware of the concerns that there may be elements of the international trade obligations or absences of agreements that should be looked at so that we can promote more procurement and other kinds of trade interactions. And I have assured Minister Cannon that we will take a very close look at that.
FOREIGN MINISTER CANNON: Thank you. On – I was able this morning to bring Secretary of State Clinton up-to-date, up-to-speed on the Prime Minister’s visit last week to – with Premier Charest, who, as you know, is the premier responsible for the Council of the Federation. This issue was discussed. As you know, the premiers have agreed to look at the procurement issue as being one of importance. My colleague, Minister Day, as well, did go and travel to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, so I was able to bring the Secretary of State to – up-to-speed on this issue, and at the same time, get assurances that we would look to find different options to make sure that what we already have built in terms of a solid foundation continue – can continue to flourish and to prevail.
So we still have work ahead of us, and we’re looking forward to doing that.
(Via interpreter) -- I had the opportunity to indicate to Secretary of State Clinton and bring her up-to-speed on the recent meeting with Premier Charest. Well, as the premiers, members of the Council of the Federation, Premier Charest being the chair, and the commitment from all premiers to look at the whole issue of procurement and public expenditures so that such expenditures be part and parcel of perhaps even an agreement with the Americans.
My colleague, Minister Stockwell Day, took the same undertaking with the Canadian Federation of Municipalities. So this enabled me to allude to these events with the Secretary of State, and also enabled me, by the same token, to look at what options might be open to us in upcoming months. As I mentioned a moment ago, there is a very solid basis upon which we can work; indeed, there are other issues to be worked on, but – and that we’ve always been able to reach an agreement with the Americans on a number of topics. I don’t think this impediment is a major one, and we will continue our dialogue.
QUESTION: (Off-mike)
SECRETARY CLINTON: First, let me say how gratified we were that the United Nations Security Council reached and agreement on a very strong resolution that contains not only new sanctions and the authorization for inspections of ships that may be carrying contraband or weapons of mass destruction or other dangerous technology from North Korea, but that the resolution represented a unified response to the provocative actions that have been taken by the North Koreans over the last several months.
This was a tremendous statement on behalf of the world community that North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and the capacity to deliver those weapons through missiles is not going to be accepted by the neighbors, as well as the greater international community. We intend to work with our partners, including Canada and others, to enforce the provisions of this resolution in a vigorous way, to send a clear message that we intend to do all we can to prevent continued proliferation by the North Koreas.
I will add, however, that the North Korean’s continuing provocative actions are deeply regrettable. They have now been denounced by everyone. They have become further isolated, and it is not in the interests of the people of North Korea for that kind of isolation to continue. So the Six-Party Framework, which the North Koreans left, turning their back on the obligations to continue with denuclearization, is still an open opportunity for them to return. And we are going to be consulting closely with our friends and allies, not only in Northeast Asia, but more generally, to determine a way forward in response to further actions.
But I think these sanctions and the authorizations included in this resolution give the world community the tools we need to take appropriate action against the North Korean regime.
FOREIGN MINISTER CANNON: Canada already, of course, abides by Resolution 1718 that was passed in 2006. And we’ve implemented that resolution and the binding sanctions, of course, that were introduced.
We as well are very – and we welcome the additional imposition of – by Resolution 1874. Canada, of course, is very, very pleased that the world community has come together in a united response at the (inaudible) to be able to signal to the international – to North Korea the international community’s determination that their recent conduct is inacceptable. So we’re very pleased by this Security Council resolution, as well.
We’re also pleased by the new resolution’s calls upon North Korea to return immediately to the Six-Party Talks and to demand, of course, that these talks that are extremely important in terms of nonproliferation and the use of nuclear weapons get going.
(Via interpreter) Canada, of course, is very much abiding by Resolution 1718 that was adopted in 2006, and we are very happy with that recent resolution, adopted by the UN Security Council. Canada will apply with determination all the provisions contained therein. For that matter, we’re delighted to see that the international community has sent a very clear signal to North Korea. And will add, by way of conclusion, that for our part, it’s important that the discussions amongst the six parties resume as quickly as possible, and we’re delighted that this resolution also calls upon the Government of North Korea to go back to the negotiating table, so that we might limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
QUESTION: (Off-mike).
SECRETARY CLINTON: I’m sorry, and what?
QUESTION: (Off-mike).
SECRETARY CLINTON: First, with respect to our shared border, there is certainly no argument that we each have to take additional security steps, given conditions in the world. I mean, I think we both regret those. We are sorry that we have to respond to them, but nevertheless, that is the reality. And we are doing everything we can in the Obama Administration to listen and work with our Canadian counterparts.
There have been several very productive discussions already between our Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, and her Canadian counterpart. Because we know that we want to maintain this extraordinary relationship that we have with the right amount of security to protect our citizens on both sides, without interfering in the free movement of goods and people that we value so greatly.
Sometimes we need to help each other really understand fully the challenges that we are each facing to make sure we achieve that common goal. I would still argue that although we do have law enforcement on our border in greater numbers than we did ten years ago, compared to a border that I know of anywhere, just about, in the world, this is a demilitarized, free, open border with appropriate law enforcement personnel and technology in the interest of protecting our two peoples.
So we will work very closely with the Canadian Government, and we will try to solve problems that have arisen between our governments in the past to make sure that we are doing what we need to do with security in a way that does not interfere with all of the other interests that we share.
We are both members of the Arctic Council. We, and Canada, with its very extensive presence on the Arctic waters, along with Russia, Norway, and -- Denmark, right? – are the members of the Arctic Council. We want to work closely together. We want to foresee issues and try to resolve them so that they don’t become problems. And we feel, as one of the five nations working with the others, that we have an opportunity here, and we intend to take this very seriously. Obviously, there are questions of sovereignty and jurisdiction that have to be acknowledged and respected, but what we don’t want is for the Arctic to become a free-for-all. If there is going to be greater maritime passageways through the Arctic, if there is going to be more exploration for natural resources, if there are going to be more security issues, I think it’s in the Canadian and the United States’ interests to try to get ahead of those, and try to make sure we know what we’re going to do to resolve them before countries that are not bordering the arctic are making claims, are behaving in ways that will cause us difficulties.
FOREIGN MINISTER CANNON: Let me respond by saying at the outset how very pleased I was one of the first initiatives that Secretary of State Clinton took on was to be able to host the Antarctica Joint Arctic Council Meeting in Washington a couple of months ago, which was, I think, a strong indication, once again, of our country’s commitment to not only this border here, but, of course, to our northern border. And what I can say on that is that there are no obstacles. We have been able to manage the issues as it should be between the two neighbors. We, of course, as a country, as well as the United States, Russia, and the other members of the Arctic Council, have agreed to abide by, of course, the United Nations Convention, the Law of the Seas, to go forward and do the mapping. We’ve been able to, as a Canadian Government, assume our responsibilities, assert our responsibilities in terms of sovereignty by our infrastructure programs.
So from that perspective, it’s going extraordinarily well, as well as, as Hillary Clinton just mentioned, Peter Van Loan, who, as you know, is our minister responsible for – I was going to say homeland security, but for border crossings and has worked extremely well with the Secretary of State, Secretary Napolitano, over the course of the last several weeks. They’ve established a working relationship, which I feel is something that is extraordinarily good in terms of moving forward. And so I’d say that on that front as well, things are going very, very well.
(Via interpreter) Briefly, I would say this: I congratulated Secretary of State Clinton for the initiative she took at the very outset of her mandate, and by convening in Washington a joint meeting between the Arctic Council and the Antarctica Council. At that time, we were able to examine a variety of subjects that arise in the extremities of the globe. And as I mentioned, we were – we have always been able to manage our difficulties in a very positive, healthy manner. That is what exists in the arctic part of our country.
We are members of the Arctic Council with three other countries. We are committed into various provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas. We have also noted, with a great deal of satisfaction and interest, the work that is being done by Minister Peter Van Loan, who is the minister responsible for public safety here in Canada, as well as with the American Secretary for Homeland Security, Mrs. Napolitano, to deal with issues that arise in common to both our countries. In that regard, many steps are being taken. So we’re very happy with the progress that has been made.
And I will tell you, by way of conclusion, that the relationship between Canada and the U.S. again continues to shine, and it is a real breath of fresh air and a ray of sunshine for many countries in the world when we want to see how borders should be managed and the relationship between two countries. We are great, great friends.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you. Thank you all.
FOREIGN MINISTER CANNON: Thank you. Merci.
9/20/2013
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The weeks are getting busier and busier for me. I've been having lots of homework and the weather has been turning so it's getting more difficult for me to get out and shoot.
I was supposed to go do some street photography with a couple buddies this weekend but we ended up having to push that back. It will happen soon though. On a better note, I got my car back finally so that should help me be able to get out to some other locations.
--
Info:
Canon 7D
Canon 70-200mm f/4L
Somehow its Friday again.
How'd that happen?
I woke up to hear Jools leaving for yoga, so I leap up, get dressed and go do the bins, fill up the feeders, make coffee then go and sit on the patio with Scully.
She purrs her happiness.
It is a fine day. The wind dropped and felt much warmer.
Which is nice.
Once Jools returned, we had breakfast, and I nipped to Folkestone to check on the LSO on the downs, so that friends who were leading a tour over the weekend had something to show guests there. Four spikes, two in position to snap.
I called Jon to relay the good news.
By this time Jools had walked to the village library for her craft class/chat, so it was down to me once home to round Scully up to take her to the vet for her monthly check up.
The little bugger heard the box catch opening, and made a break for it. But a few minutes sitting on the bench brought her to me, so I scooped her up, and popped her in the box, then the box into the car, and off to Whitfield.
And then an hour's wait.
And. She is a conundrum. Blood sugar too high to read, though she is perky, she is always hungry and lost another 100g in a month.
Up the dose in the morning, and that'll be £110 please.
I'm in the wrong game, clearly.
So, I paid and we came home, where upon getting out the car we fed Scully.
And that was that.
I listened to podcasts sitting on the patio through the afternoon.
Which is much better than work.
Obvs.
As we were sitting, I saw three Painted Ladies feeding on the Ox-eyed daisies swaying in the garden, so grab a camera and go chasing, capturing one pretty darn good, even if I say so myself.
Dinner is carbonara and the last of the focaccia bread and red wine.
I warmed the bread in the oven, so was as good as fresh.
And finally, a relaxing evening, the music quiz and an early night, as a hard day's orchiding beckoned.
Then we choose our aircraft:
The silver wings simmered, and everything else did too. I personally didn’t like the color silver very much. But, I was stuck with this thing, so I told myself to deal with it. “Finally we can do something on our schedule,” Fatima said.
“Here’s the key, enjoy your ride.” The desk lady walked back inside the building after she gave Fatima the key.
“Urgh, let’s just make this over with.” I was becoming more sad as the days rolled by. Then Fatima pressed a button that made the entry way open, so I went inside the thing.
“Guys, I think you are not going to have very much company. Kimber and Vy need to go to the doctor, and I think Hail, Suki, and Andru are emotionally unstable for this.” Thunder got into the ship. “But, i’m going with you if you like it or not!”
“Kirami, you’re coming.” I got out of the ship, and pulled Kirami inside the thing.
“So, its just me, Thunder, Yuni, and Kirami then going through with this mission.” Fatima went inside the aircraft right after Thunder did. After all that happened only four of us were actually continueing with the quest.
“Is it me or does anybody else feel like there aren’t enough people in this thing?” Thunder asked while looking around the place.
“Yeah, something just doesn’t seem right with only four people here,” Fatima responded. The place we bought was not that fancy, but we had to make do with what we had.
“Wait...I know somebody that may help us out. Her name is Luka, and she is a person that knows how to kick butt and she has a husband named Wilden that might help us too.” I felt so smart for remembering Luka was available at the time, so I grinned.
“That may not be a bad idea. Okay, we have to go to the control room. Thank god that lady gave me a map for this thing.” Fatima pulled out a paper that was in her back pocket. “I will get this thing ready, Yuni, Thunder, and Kirami. Just give me the address and we will be ready to go.”
“Um...the biggest house in Basil.” My confidence plummeted down when I realized I didn’t know Luka’s address; I knew her for a long time yet I had no idea about her address.
“You don’t know her address, don’t you, Yuni?” Fatima slapped her head.
“Maybe, just maybe, Kirami knows,” Thunder suggested. The two girls glared at Kirami with glazes that made you feel like a thousand needles were piercing your skin all at once.
“Yes, just stop doing that.”
“Alright.” They had their normal looks on which was good.
“6904 Chi Drive in Basil,” he answered. Oh no wonder I forgot it, I thought, I wanted to forget about the word Chi.
“Alright then.” Fatima and Thunder walked down the hallway to the right of me making Kirami and I all alone.
“Yuni, what is up with you?” Kirami questioned. Now he gave me the look that Thunder and Fatima gave him.
“Nothing.”
“Stop lying to me you love sick puppy! You are going insane with rapture and Yuni you even bet the life out of Kimber!” I never saw this side of Kirami before in my life, the angry side.
“I...don’t know. Tyler would do anything for me; remember he got processed just for me, and now I am doing anything for him.” Then I ran away from Kirami before he could debate with me. He didn’t know what true love was, but he was right about me being a love sick person.
It was the longest thirty minutes in my life:
“We are here,” Fatima yelled. I went to the control room right after Kirami fought with me, and I was starting to wonder where was Kirami.
“Thank god.” So, I ran out of the aircraft as fast as I could, a couple seconds.
“Wait up, Yuni!” Thunder ran out of the plane that moment, panting. Then she saw me kiss the ground. “What the h*ll are you doing?”
“Kissing the ground.” If Kirami saw what I did, which he seemed to always be watching me like a stalker, he would have probably thought I was practicing for when Tyler came back.
“We are wasting time people; we get what we need and then get out of here.” Fatima was the next one out of the ship that day. Her faces both showed a scowl of impatience; she just needed to lighten up for one day, ONE FREAKING DAY.
“Can’t I just relax for one second?” I was still laying on the grass, and disobeying Fatima’s orders, I was a rebel.
“No.” Party pooper, I thought, Rikku died, Tyler disappeared to Mona knew where, and Andrea died I needed to rest for a bit. Apparently, Fatima was too heartless to understand.
“Gosh, I miss Hail already.” The wind blew making Thunder’s pinkish hair flow in the breeze and so did Fatima’s hair. Sometimes we just had to move on; I refused to follow those words and so did the others.
“Deal with it,” Fatima responded. Kimber and Fatima were both heartless, literally and mentally, but I wasn’t going to stand for this behavior for much longer.
“Make her have time, Fatima.” I rushed over to aide Thunder with her heartache; something Fatima never experienced in her life.
“We have to do this, and I will do this with or without you!” Fatima screamed like a siren on her period.
“Hey, sometimes you just got to live a little.” By then I was tired of Fatima’s seriousness and heartlessness. But I was shocked that neither Wilden or Luka came out of their house yet to shut us up.
“That is what you think, yet I cannot ‘live’ a little in this situation.” Fatima came up to me and Thunder. “Come on hit me like you did to Kimber. Make my nose bleed and my eye turn black.”
“Revenge is not the way I do things.”
“Who says it would be revenge?” Fatima walked towards the door of Luka’s mansion, so I did too and so did Thunder. Then Fatima rung the doorbell and I heard a baby cry.
“Is that a baby?” I realized that Kirami and I forgot to tell Fatima and Thunder that Luka had children. Before I could answer their question, Luka opened the door with Von in her arms. “It is.” Fatima stared at me in disappointed manner.
“Well, come in, Yuni...and,um, Yuni’s friends.”
“I thought Luka was a boy,” Thunder whispered to me.
“No, she is a girl.” It was weird that Thunder thought Luka was a boy, but she did have a boy’s name. Luka read Thunder’s mind about her and gave her ‘the look’.
“Take a seat, Yuni and...Fatima and Thunder at the couch over there. Wait where’s Rikku and Suki? Oh no, that can’t be true.” Luka started to cry, but Thunder and Fatima looked confused. Then I also realized that Kirami and I did not tell them Luka could read minds. “No way, that’s not true; tell me its just a lie and you’re messing with me.”
“Rikku is dead.” But, I began to cry also when Wilden came down the stairs; he was always upstairs for some reason with Violet holding his hand.
“What is going on?” Thunder asked. “Seriously, i’m so lost.”
“Well, I could tell you the whole story, but that would take about a couple years.” Luka laughed, but she was the only one doing so.
“Yeah, just briefly tell it then.” Fatima crossed her arms and her legs; she wanted answers to her questions.
“Okay, here goes nothing.”
“Just get on with it already, Luka.” Thunder also waited so she could know what was going on.
“Rikku and I knew each other ever since we met when she was 14 and I was only 11, and she was one of the most loyal person I knew. Then she joined the blah blahs whatever the stupid Ali Vran thing is called. Well, years past and I didn’t see her until she came knocking at my door with a man named Tyler; I think Fern is his last name but i’m not sure. She would do anything for her friends, so she sacrificed herself to save the others with her from whatever came in the way, but something changed inside her when Andrea died, something wasn’t right. I should have known she would die sacrificing herself I should have done something.”
“With that out of th-”
“Yes.” Luka knew she was going to ask her to be on the team with us and answered Fatima before she could finish her sentence. “I will join the team.”
“Bu-”
“Wilden, Von is two and Violet is five; I think you can take care of them for a little while.” So, Luka went up to Wilden and handed Von to him. The baby looked exactly like his father with his cute innocence.
“Alright, let’s...oh Kirami I didn’t know you were here.” She backed away into a wall and Luka banged her head.
“What’s going on?” I questioned. I did not know that Kirami and Luka didn’t like each other before that event happened. “Why don’t you like each other?”
“I’m not going on this journey.” Kirami stormed out of the house, and slammed the door.
“Let’s go.” Luka got out of her house before any of us could ask her what that was about.
“Wilden, do you know why they hate each other?” Thunder asked when she got up to his face; I was annoyed with Thunder because she always did that, ALWAYS.
“Kirami just thinks i’m evil and that i’m playing with Luka just to know secrets and have kids with her.” Von then began to cry, and wouldn’t stop crying no matter what Wilden did.
“Why does he think that?” Fatima wanted to have even more answers than she needed.
“Because, Luka can’t read my mind for some reason.”
“Oh, that is why she knew all of that stuff.” At least I did not have to tell them, I thought, Wilden told them for me. Violet pulled on my leg so she could get my attention.
“What is it Violet?”
“Yuni, be safe and protect my mommy,” Violet answered. The girl was also holding a doll with black hair and eyes that had black marker drawn all over them, but then Violet dropped the doll making it break into a million pieces.
“No!” A shard of the broken doll strangely pierced the remains of the doll’s midsection. “This happened just because Von drew on her.”
“Don’t blame your brother, Violet.”
“But-”
“No butts young missy,” scolded Thunder. What when was Thunder ever good with little children, I wondered. Then Fatima, Thunder, and I went out the door so we could embrace the adventure ahead of us.
So, we bought all the stuff we needed for the ship:
“Finally, we can do this!” Fatima was our new ‘leader’ and was sitting in the ‘leader’ chair; which reminded me about the old tv show/movies Star Trek. While thinking about Star Trek I thought about how Tyler used to be in a show named UnDead.
“Yeah, um, team...um, FatimaThunderYuniLuka!” I cheered. All of the other girls looked at me like mad.
“Enough with the stupid jokes. Let’s do this thing!” Thunder fistpumped in the air.
“At least we don’t have to walk the thing. That would be bad,” Luka said while trying to make people look at the bright side.
“It was a pain in the butt when I had to walk the whole thing with no food or water.” Wonder, but painful at the same time, memories played in my mind of going on the journey. Tyler and Rikku were still here.
“First off the Temple of Uki or Uki Temple or whatever the h*ll they call it.” Fatima pressed a couple of buttons to tell the aircraft where we were going.
“I’m going to find you Tyler.” Then I got out the sphere that I secretly took when Rikku wasn’t watching years back; the sphere played the image of Tyler going crazy over and over again. I didn’t care about the fact Tyler was going nuts in a cell I was going to find him but not the truth, whatever that was.
“We will succeed in this, Yuni, just wait. Hm, I wonder if he’s hot or not.”
“Thunder, he is MY boyfriend.” I scolded at her, and she did nothing.
“Please forgive me then.” For some reason Thunder went down on her knee like she was asking to marry me.
“I will. Gosh, its late i’m going to hit the hay.” My eyes feel like they were going to fail on me if I didn’t get any sleep.
“Alright then.” Thunder was still wide awake when she looked at the sunset like Rikku did way back when, and it made me want to cry thinking about her and how she was dead but walking.
“I’m going too.” Luka grabbed my hand, and pulled me down the hallway where Fatima and Thunder couldn’t hear us.
“What are you doing?” I questioned Luka; she wouldn’t let go of my hand, and I tried to shake her off, no use.
“Do you really think Tyler is worth this much?”
“Yes, Luka he is the love of my life. That’s like saying if Wilden is really worth this much to you.” By the tone in my voice, you could easily tell that I was angry.
“I know that, but really. Rikku is dead you hear me? Also, there is the possibility that you may not ever find him.” Luka then read my mind, and rushed to her room. I was thinking if she ever asked me that question ever again I would kill her without mercy.
“I will find you!” Then I fell down on the floor and cried uncontrollably until it hurt and I fell asleep on the cold iron floor.
“We’re here!”:
I woke up when I heard Fatima’s voice, and she was standing right next to me, staring. “You were really tired, weren’t ya?”
“What did you think? I was lying, ha.” All Fatima did was stare at me even more. “Can you stop it?” It hurt so much that I covered my face with my hands, and screamed.
“Pussy.”
“I am not a pussy!” So, I got up and stared Fatima down to give her a taste of her very own medicine.
“Yes you are, don’t deny it.” I wanted to scream at Fatima, but I knew she would just think of even more clever comebacks to prove I was a pussy.
“Urgh, my head hurts,” I complained. My head was felt like hell at that moment of time.
“Stop talking because we need to do some hardcore sphere hunting. We have to wake up the others.” But, I didn’t want to see Luka’s face after she done the night before.
“Alright, I will get Thunder and you will get Luka.” Fatima nodded her head in agreement to my plan, so I got Thunder while she got jerky jerk.
Lightning, beautiful but deadly:
Somehow it reminded me about when Jack, Tyler’s crappy father, hit me in the face. That was how being struck by lightning felt, but the place was completely empty because everybody left when Envy was defeated. “We have the place to ourselves so this shouldn’t be very hard to do.”
“Maybe, it will be, Fatima.”
“Don’t sweat it, Yuni, we can do whatever we want.” So, the four of us went inside the Uki Temple hopeing to find more spheres to add to our collection. The outside was exactly the same expect for the fact that nobody was here.
“The once great Uki Temple has fallen.” Thunder ran ahead of us, but the rest of us still walked.
“I wonder what is making the lightning if nobody is here to do so?” Luka questioned.
“Nature.” Fatima seemed to know everything about this temple, and that was kind of creepy. Because, not even I knew that about the Uki Temple.
“Cool.” I tried to sound normal, but I knew Fatima didn’t think the normal me was normal.
“Did you learn about the Uki Temple when you were part of MARKA?” Luka was getting into Fatima’s personal business; she already knew the answer so I guessed she wanted me to know it as well.
“Yes, MARKA was planning to attack the temple, but something stopped them and I don’t know what because only Nathan knows. Nathan knows every single f*cking thing there is to know.” Fatima’s faces started to show fear like it never did before. “The only reason why i’m good is somehow I got my sense of fear back.”
“Oh my god, I feel so sorry for everybody that is part of this mess. Sometimes I think that if I never became a dumbldorian in the first place this would have never happened.” But, I thought to myself, you might have never meant Tyler in the first place.
“You becoming a dumbldorian made this place have a little bit of more peace,” Fatima responded, “who knows what Envy would have done if you didn’t stop him.”
“Fatima is right, Yuni, all of us would probably be dead if Envy wasn’t stopped.” Luka was turning less and less of a jerky jerk, but she was still one because what she said about Tyler.
“I know, it is just a feeling that I can’t fight.”
“Come on you slowpokes I am waiting for you. Like, we always have to stick together now, which is stupid, but i’m not the boss of group FatimaThunderYuniLuka!” I was super shocked that Thunder was using the name I thought of; but I told myself that it was just because she couldn’t think of any names for the team.
“Just wait a freaking minute Thunder!” Luka was the one that ran up to Thunder to make her shut up, and not Fatima. More things made me confused as my life went on.
“We won’t hear the end of it if we don’t hurry up.” Fatima also ran making me all alone in the universe. So, I quietly whistled, but it didn’t work. There was no answer; there was always no answer.
“Wait for me!” I cried out while running after the other girls until I reached the inside of the temple. Everything was gone, but the artwork on the ceiling, walls, and floors, it was creepy.
“This place used to be filled with wonders.” Thunder went around in circles around the abandoned place, and watching her made me dizzy.
“The beginning of the real test was here.” I stood in the place I stood years back when I got stuck by lightning and did not feel a single thing. It was the test to see if the person was a true dumbldorian or not, and I passed. But, then the ground shook.
“Is that an earthquake?” Thunder asked.
“Nonsense there are no earthquakes here,” Fatima answered.
“Actually there are.”
“Shut up, Luka.” When the others were stupidly fighting, I tried to look for a place to hide, but everything was gone and the only thing to do was wait. Then I felt something underneath me, yet the feeling disappeared a couple seconds later.
“Yuni!” All the others were racing to where I was at, but it was to no avail. I fell down the hole in the ground, screaming and yelling. Yet, the others couldn’t save me.
Grass, why was there grass here, I thought:
Then I looked around the place that I landed in, it seemed like a meadow. “Did I die?” I got up to see I was in a different outfit; which that was this totally weird. But, when I finished looking around, I saw somebody with blonde hair. “Tyler?”
“What?” The guy turned around, and it was Tyler. It was really him in your face Luka!
“Akki?”
“It’s me Yuni, remember?” What was happening, I pondered, why doesn’t Tyler recognize me?
“Akki, it is me Trey.” Whoever this person was it wasn’t Tyler, but he was, but he wasn’t. I kept fighting with myself over the fact if he was Tyler or not.
“No, my name is Yuni, Tyler.”
“Stop messing around.” The guy came over to me, and hugged me, it wasn’t Tyler. Tyler would have been confused about where the others were and how my hair got shorter.
“I’m not Akki i’m somebody else! I just look like her!” I yelled. “Now-”
“Ha, Akki, stop trying to trick me,” Trey laughed. He still had his arms around me, and I tried to escape, but couldn’t.
“My name is Yuni not Akki!” But, Trey then kissed me on the lips; I hated it that was a thing only Tyler could do because he was my boyfriend not Trey. “You disgust me.”
“Ak-”
“I’m not Akki whoever she is,” I interrupted full of anger and hatred.
“Ha, you are still playing around but we don’t have that much time left to do our plan.” Then I was really scared; what was this guy thinking of?
“What plan?” If he answered to get marry I told myself to freak out and try to kill him or hurt him or get away from the hellhole I was in.
“Do I really need to tell you after a-”
“YES!”
“Remember we were going to steal the MARKA robot thing and create a world in our visions. A world without war.” With that being said, I thought this guy was dropped when he was a baby. Then I did remember the robot thing we found in MARKA; he was talking about that piece of crappy metal.
“And, what will that world be like?” The guy just laughed like an idiot when he heard my question.
“A world like only us in it.” I wanted to scream, but I knew nobody but weirdo would hear it.
“But, what about our family and friends?”
“Akki, MARKA told Vy and the rest of our family away a long time ago.” When he said that I was even more scared than before; the real Akki was dead, Vy is somebody he knew, and Trey was insane.
“Who’s Vy?” Trey still wouldn’t let me go because he loved me too much to let go and make me free.
“Our daughter.” My eyes literally popped at Trey’s answer.
“Just let go of me! I am not Akki i’m somebody that just looks like her!” I screamed at the top of my lungs after that. It was for no use, but I was really frightened of what Trey would do to me.
“It was good MARKA got her. She was an annoying brat that always wanted attention.” I kept trying to summon my staff and take out one of my weapons, yet I couldn’t.
“She our daughter you shouldn’t talk about her like that.” Then I tried to pretend to be Akki because this guy was nuts.
“You really aren’t Akki.” He finally let go of me and made me fall head first into the ground. “I will kill you!” Trey pulled out his sword, and went closer and closer to me.
“No.” At the moment Trey almost killed me, I finally got my staff, and defended myself. “Please stop this!” I pleaded with him; but he wouldn’t stop his violent behavior.
“You don’t know how much it hurts to have your heart broken, Yuni!” He kept trying to cut open my heart with his sword.
“Yes, I do. My true love disappeared two years ago, and I am still trying to find him!”
“You’re a liar!” But, I was telling the truth and Trey was too insane to know so.
“Stop it!” Yet, before he could stop, I fell into a body of water.
I then saw that I was in my bed:
“Oh my god how did you do that?” Thunder asked. All the other girls, Thunder, Fatima, and Luka, were all around my bed for some reason.
“Gosh, you are soaked.” Luka ran out of my room, and back in with a towel and brand new clothes.
“Yuni, where were you? You just appeared out of nowhere and now you are drenched!” Fatima, once again, wanted to know more answers.
“Really?” Luka questioned. Gosh, I hated it when Luka read my mind so she could know what was going on; I didn’t even liked her that much in the first place. “We have to go back to MARKA!”
“Wait, we this got here. So, we go to MARKA after because first we tried to find more clues for years second I don’t even know why we need to go back to that hell!”
“Well, this guy named Trey who looks exactly like Tyler is a nutjob and wants to kill the entire human race with the thing we found,” I answered truthfully. Also I wanted to take Rikku and Andrea out of their misery of being slaves of Nathan.
“That is messed up, but i’m the leader and I say we will try to find Tyler on this path first!”
“Fatima, I really don’t think that is a good idea.”
“SHUT UP THUNDER!” Thunder put her hand over her mouth and exited my room. But, Fatima stared at me not Thunder, and then Luka left the room after Thunder. It was just Fatima and I.
“I will never know how love or heartache feel like, yet I do. No matter what I am going to help you find your love and the truth.” Then Fatima went out of the room leaving me all alone.
“Tyler, I will find you even if Trey kills me.” Then I closed my eyes hoping for a good dream to come to me.
Away from reality dreams were deadly:
In my dream, I was with Tyler and running away from people who looked like MARKA agents. “No matter what happens I will be with you,” Tyler said. I wanted this to be real, but at the same time not.
“I know.” Strangely I was in the clothes that I had on when I meet Trey for the first time. Then we reached the door, so Tyler opened it. Inside it was a robot; the robot that we found while searching for Vy.
“Here it is.”
“I know.” Something did not feel right about this dream, something felt insidious.
“Time to do this thing.” But, then Kimber went in with her gun, she was a MARKA agent in this dream.
“You’re ours b*tches!” yelled Kimber.
“We failed.” Tyler and I embraced each other while looking into each other’s eyes.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” Then we kissed passionately in front of the old Kimber when other MARKA agents came in.
“Alright guys, shoot.” Kimber pointed at us, and grinned.
“Yes, commander Kimberly.” The guys and Kimber then aimed their guns at us.
“Shoot.” A bang went through my head while Tyler fell on the ground, probably dead.
“CRAP!”:
When I screamed I realized that it was just a short dream, not a real memory or the future. Then I saw that we were landing by looking out the window that I had in my room. “Let’s do this.” I went out of my room, which was a couple feet away from the control room, and, well, went to the control room.
“Looks like somebody is up.” Thunder went up to me, and she somehow had a hairbrush, so she brushed my black hair. “You’re hair is all over the place, Yuni.”
“Tell me something that I don’t know, Thunder.” I crossed my arms, but then she hit me with the hairbrush.
“I did that to wake you up.” She kept banging my head until I glared at her, and then Thunder went to the window. So, I yawned because I was bored until I realized where we were. The tree was still in the middle of the lake.
“Alright, we are on the ground so we can investigate now.” Fatima got out of her chair and Thunder ran to sit in it.
“I am Fatima and I am f*cking serious all the time,” Thunder joked.
“I am Thunder and I am a f*cking idiot all the time.” Fatima pulled Thunder out of her chair, and went outside with her.
“Wait, who is going to get Luka! Urgh, I guess I have to wherever she is.” Then I got the idea that I should sit in the chair because nobody else was there at that moment. So, when I sat down in the chair, Luka walked in with her arms crossed.
“What are you doing?” Luka questioned me.
“Being a rebel.” I made myself go in a billion circles with the chair, and then I felt like I was going to throw up.
“Get up, Yuni,” Luka commanded, “or I have to pull you up myself.” I did not want Luka to pull me, so I got up by myself.
“Come on we have to catch up with Fatima and Thunder!” Luka would not move and then I pulled her to the door.
The essential of Tyler was still at that place:
Happy memories made me cry; this place was filled with them. Tyler was here and he was not gone at the moments I remembered. Tears fell down from my face to the grass which was turning brown. “The last time I was here Rikku was alive and Tyler was with us.”
“Memories can be wonderful but could crush you from the inside.” Luka got out of my gasp, and started to look.
“This hurts too much.” I fell down on the grass and looked at the mid morning sky, the sky seemed to be laughing at me. If I stayed at the place I was at I knew I was going to turn mad. So, I forced myself to get up and go to the lake.
“Hey Yuni!” Thunder made me jump and fall into the lake; I was once again soaked, oh great.
“Don’t scare me like that.” Thank god the lake was not that deep, I thought. But, I was still soaking wet.
“Sorry, well I am just going to continue with searching...and. yeah, um, see you later.” She ran to an area of grass, and pretended to be doing her job.
“I guess I have to change again, urgh.” So, I got up and went up to Thunder to have my revenge. So, when I reached her, I pulled her to the lake and threw her in.
“What was that for?”
“Revenge.” Then I could not get the memories of this place out of my head, that was revenge for kissing me. Tyler and I had our first kiss here in the lake, and I got drenched but I did not care then. Only thing that ruined the moment was Kirami and processed Rikku.
“Earth to Yuni! You have been staring into nothing for the pass seconds! Hello!” She got out of the lake, and put her hand in my face, but I still was in a trance.
“Tyler!”
“What the...okay.” Then Thunder went back to what she was doing before I got my revenge. This is the end of my story, but I knew it was not the end of Tyler. Illusion, he was not an illusion in my mind.
“Where are you.” But, then I felt a hand on my shoulder, but nobody was there. When I looked back I saw the image of Tyler and I kissing. “Stop playing with me, Mona!”
“Yuni, what's wrong?” Fatima appeared from the lake; I didn’t know that she was there all that time.
“Emotions.”
“Oh, um, then fight away those emotions because I found this because I am the only one really looking.” Fatima showed a crystal blue sphere that was in the bottom of the lake.
“Fatima, you’re a lifesaver!”
“I’m not a candy, Thunder.”
“Let’s see the sphere,” Luka said while grabbing the blue sphere from Fatima. “Here goes nothing.” She pressed on the sphere, and it started to play something horrible. “How is this from the future?”
“This is messed up...Luka, where did you go?” I was watching the sphere when Luka disappeared; the sphere that showed Kirami and Wilden fighting with swords. “LUKA!” So, I stopped watching it when I realized that Luka just didn’t go away.
“Oh s*it!” Fatima yelled. The three of us looked up at the helicopter with the word MARKA on the side of it, and somehow Luka was there.
“Luka, we’re going to get you!” Thunder started to get stuff out of the backpack she was wearing, but nothing was going to help Luka.
“Go, before he gets you too!” she demanded. There were tears in Luka’s eyes; that was the first time ever I saw Luka crying that hard.
“Who?” But, something else answered that question for me, a man in the helicopter. A man named Wilden.
“Wilden, Kirami was right about him.” Then Wilden covered Luka’s mouth with his hand, and nodded.
“Why Wilden?” I asked, “why join MARKA!” I trusted Wilden with many things, but all this time he had been with MARKA. He was the one I trusted the most.
“I’ve been part of MARKA all this time, all of my life. It is such a pity that you have Fatima and Kimber on your team; they used to be so evil, so insidious.” Wilden laughed a, well, insidious laugh.
“You son of a b*tch, you have two kids, you have a family.” Fatima was trying to find the real side of Wilden, a side that was never there. “Continue our family.”
“What the h*ll are you talking about?” Was Fatima saying Wilden cheated with Luka with HER. I wanted to find the answers.
“I’m his wife,” Fatima answered.
“WHAT! But, i’m...no.” Wilden had put his hands off of Luka’s mouth, and Luka was shocked. “YOU F*CKER!” She pushed Wilden but he did not fall. “I thought I meant something to you.”
“Come home to Amaya and Enya.” Wait, Fatima did know how love felt like, I thought, she lied.
“Don’t you see that he was cheating on, Fatima!”
“Thunder, I don’t have any knowledge on how bad cheating is. I am a doll to MARKA!” She then sketched her legs, and Fatima jumped up. Of course, Fatima didn’t reach the heli.
“Time to die, Wilden!” When Wilden was too confused to do anything, Luka pushed him off of the helicopter.
“NO!” One of Fatima’s faces were overcoming the other. “Wilden!” Then Fatima had one face, no more two face.
“DIE!” Then Wilden’s body slammed into the ground, but he stood up after a couple of seconds of being dead. “What the?” Then the heli went away, taking Luka with it.
“No, Luka! I promised Violet to keep you safe.” The rain started to come down. Kind of a stereotypical moment for it to rain, I noted. Yet, Wilden attacked me. He stabbed my arm, and I screamed.
“Yuni, you are going down, Wilden.” Thunder lunged at Wilden, knocking him down. Fatima was just crying with her one face; she was a normal human being.
“Thunder, let me take care of him.” Fatima held out a panel with a big red button on it. She slowly pressed the button, and Fatima’s crying equaled the rain.
“This is not how it has to be.” Then the ground shook and unleashed a big groan when it opened underneath Wilden.
“Yes, this is how it is supposed to be how. Wilden, you have to die.”
“Ah!” Wilden fell into the darkness, screaming. He fell to his doom, screaming. He died, screaming.
“Crap, now Wilden is dead and who knows what happened to Luka.” I cried, I could not stop crying. Two of my friends were gone, gone and probably coming back. “Kirami was right.”
“Let’s get out of here before I freak out.” Then Fatima’s other face returned, frowning.
Next place:
“We have to do this before any tourist come.” Fatima’s face was back to the way it was at the beginning of this hellish journey. This was the place that Tyler wanted to visit and see the plants light up the blackness of the night.
“You just have to make me go through all this agony.” The plants were not lit yet because it was just the afternoon, but I wanted to see them as much as Tyler did.
“Yes.”
“Do you have to though?” Thunder questioned. “Maybe, we should go to MARKA headquarters.”
“Don’t you see-”
“I see that you are a selfish b*tch with that other face with I don’t know which one is evil.” Then I pushed Fatima into the river of plants, and she yelled. Fatima was on my last nerve. “It will only be Thunder and I now. I can teleport you to the others.” So, I chanted words, and Fatima disappeared.
“What did you do that for, Yuni?” Thunder then pushed me for revenge for Fatima, but she didn’t know how to teleport me. “We need all the people we can get.”
“Fatima needs to know how to not be the leader of the good.”
“Alright, you could have just told me.” Thunder jumped into the pool of water, and helped me out. Not like I needed the help but I still thanked her.
“So, what are we going to do now?” I asked. “We kind of don’t know what to do.”
“Go to MARKA.” Thunder ran to the ship, and I followed her. I knew Fatima would be super pissed at me; but I knew I had to face her one day or another and that was after we defeated Trey and Nathan, well hopefully.
“Wait for me, Thunder.”
“Do you really think I would leave you?” She then entered the ship after she said those words.
“Are you here, Tyler?” So, I did what I did everywhere, whistled. No answer just as usual. I was about ready to give up, but I told myself don’t think about quitting.
Revenge, I needed to fulfill the need:
Hell was exactly the same, but there was no helicopter in my sight. But, then I felt the ground shake, so I grabbed onto Thunder. “I don’t want to die.”
“I know.” We fell into the hole, but we didn’t die, we appeared to where Trey was. The grass was brown, and the water was completely gone; the paradise had turned into a hell.
“Oh look it is Yuni and one of her friends,” Trey welcomed. But, I summoned my staff; this guy wasn’t going to kill me after all that I had done to get that far. His sword had no blood on it. “I guess you know agent, well former agent, Kimberley GreenField.”
“You mean Kimber, yes.” I was still holding onto Thunder and I had my free hand protect us with my staff.
“She was the one that killed Akki.”
“Wait, my dream was your memory?” Trey nodded his head to my question which scared me.
“This is insane. So, you want to kill everybody ,us first?” Thunder seemed more frightened than I was. Death was inevitable, but neither one of us wanted to die this way. None of us wanted to die by the works of MARKA or the sly Trey until we saw Wilden.
“I’m going to be right back.” Then Trey walked to the injured Wilden, and laughed like Wilden did to annoy him.
“Don’t T-” A sword pierced through Wilden’s midsection, but he didn’t die. Then Trey looked at the blood shining on his once sinless sword. Trey went up to Thunder and I and somehow my staff vanished. We were going to die; we accepted our fate.
“Not so fast!” Kirami dropped from the whole, our new hero.
“Oh, wait I need to kill you.” Wilden jumped to where Kirami was at, and created a stone wall blocking the entrance. While Trey was distracted by the actions of the other men, so I brought out my gun and Thunder took out her lightning sword.
“It is OVER!” But, Trey disappeared and reappeared in a metal robot.
“MARKA is always bad with security.” He then started to shoot us with things that looked like powerful plasma, crap. “Should I do an evil laugh just for the fun of it, yes. BWAH HA HA!” Trey shoot the wall that separated us with Kirami, and then shoot Wilden making him turn into dust.
“Wow, you’re plan backfired.” I then started attacking the bottom of the machine with Thunder and Kirami.
“Stop it!” He tried to kill us, but he couldn’t hit us with anything. I wondered why Wilden’s knife wound didn’t hurt yet I pushed that thought out of my mind. I was away from reality making nothing make sense whatsoever.
“No, this is for revenge!” When I hit the robot again it fell down, and burst into flames. “Oh my god, thank goodness that is over.”
“I told you so.”
“This is not the right time, Kirami.” I fell down like the machine onto the dead grass.
“Yuni, I know you are heartbroken but still you can still celebrate this moment.” Thunder tried to pick me up, but I refused for her to do so.
“Can I just have some time alone?”
“Alright, Kirami and I will be out of this hole if you need anything.” She climbed up the hole with Kirami leaving me alone once again. So, I cried like a little child.
“Yuni, I can help you.”
“Leave me alone, Thunder, I said leave me alone.”
“I’m no Thunder.” With that being said, I got up and looked at a kid that was a ghost. “I can still help you.”
“How?” I thought I was going crazy because I was talking to a ghost that probably wasn’t even there.
“Tyler.”
“What about Tyler?” I questioned; I still could not believe that I was talking to a ghost. Then the place that we were in turned into something that was space-like with a cage in it, and only a cage.
“Go to him.”
“How?” The ghost kid gave me a beaten up jetpack with the name Yuni on it. So, I got the jetpack from the kid, and put it on.
“That is how.”
“Here goes nothing.” I then started to fly up the room; I wanted to see Tyler’s face again.
“If you get to him you keep him,” the kid yelled to me.
“I will keep him then because that would be easy.” So, I reached the cage in just a matter of seconds, and saw Tyler. His blonde hair was insane, and Tyler’s skin was dirty as well as his clothes.
“Tyler, its me Yuni!” I knocked on his cell, and Tyler turned around.
“Yuni...how...what. Its really you.”
“After years of searching for you I finally found you!” There were tears of joy rolling down my white cheeks. I tried to reach his hand, but Tyler wouldn’t move. “What?”
“Can you tell me what happened to the others when I was gone because I can’t move until I know what happened.” Tyler wouldn’t move a muscle, but his mouth and eye muscles.
“Well, Rikku is dead because her father...is the leader of MARKA and he made her die, and Wilden is also dead because he was a traitor and got shoot by this plasma thing. Luka is Mona knows where because MARKA took her, and the others I think are fine. We also meet some new people; I think you would like them.” My voice was tired after I said all of that, and I needed a rest.
“Well, s*it happened, but that doesn’t mean this would end in a bad way.” Tyler got up, and approached me, smiling. “It is good to see your face again.” He gave me a key, a silver key.
“You had the key all this time?”
“I can’t reach the lock.” He pointed at the top of the cage, and I saw the lock.
“Oh.” So, I flew up there. Then I put the key into the keyhole of the lock and opened the door on the top. I reached for Tyler’s hand and I felt it. He got out of the cage and hugged me.
“I love you, Yuni.”
“I love you too.” Our lips touched each other’s once again, and it felt so good to kiss Tyler again. But, then we separated when we noticed that we were falling into nothing.
“S*it!”
“Come on.” So, I flew us up, but it took a very long time because of all of the weight.
In the real world:
“What is taking her so long?” Thunder questioned. “We are in the MARKA territory.”
“She will come out of the sky now.” Then, right on cue, we fell out of the sky.
“Oh my god, is that Tyler he is cute.” I gave Thunder the eye, and got up.
“Um, okay then. But, I HAVE a girlfriend.” So, then we kissed again and Thunder moaned.
“Let’s get back to the others before we get noticed.” We all ran from the spot we were in. I was holding Tyler’s hand once more, my love was here and that what made me happy.
Neither should you fret too much about 'writer's block'. If you're looking at a blank piece of paper and nothing comes to you, then go do something else. Write's block is just a symptom of feeling like you have nothing to say, combined with the rather weird idea that you SHOULD feel the need to say something.
Hugh Macleod, How To Be Creative: 24, 08-22-04
Model : Mohammed Al Ahmadi
Friday nights are really the only time that I have a chance to attempt spending the night out on a mountain somewhere, and oddly enough had not yet done it this year due to one thing or another. The spring was very late coming, and once warm weather and blooming had commenced, every Friday was un-scenic conditions. There was a good one about a month ago and I had thrown my back out the day before. So last night was the first time to go do it.
Turbo and I headed up the interstate about 70 miles to Spy Rock, I have spent at least one night a year there for the past several. It has a good view of the sunrise and set, and the night sky is usually fantastic and star filled. It's always tough the first time out with the heavy pack, and the hike up here is steep the entire way. There had been some great cloud action on the way down, but once up at the view, Sonic Clear reared its ugly head. I stayed around for the sunset and cooked some food, but never set up camp. Hiked back down in the dark, and then we rode the parkway down to the James River doing a lot of night shots.
Not really all that pleased with anything I shot the entire evening or night. Glen Falls was the first place I stopped, a roadside waterfall at Vesuvius, VA. I asked the nice lady at the house for permission to shoot the falls and she was happy to oblige. She said most people just go on ahead without asking...so if this is you, please respect her property and take the time to ask, she is very sweet.
Clouds were still around at this time and anymore I just treat waterfalls as targets of op since I do not like them the slightest with low water or sun crapping up the scene. Here I actually had to take the ISO up some to avoid blowing out all of the water details with too long a shutter speed. The water flow here was heavy, and a secondary falls had formed off to the left but I didn't like any comps with them both. This image is one exposure for the scene, and 3 for the water to restore all of the details.
Previously in zoo of giants Dan found a new place to live and the job of his dreams he was set a
simple task to feed a giraffe he succeeded after that everyone celebrated Dan's achievement for his
good work Jayson left the canteen and didn't come back until the get together was over while
everyone got to the dorm they bumped into Jayson which was covered in mud and blood he
claimed something happened with him and Marsha but no one liked his story Dan and Tommy
decided to check on Marsha but had to sneak and grab the keys from Mia after they got the keys
they went to Marsha's habitat and entered her habitat and now the story continues.....
---------------------
"(Tommy) CLAIR!!! CLAIR!!! SOMEONE WE NEED SOMEONE QUICK" Tommy ran across the
corridor to the dorm Dan was in the habitat with Marsha he ran over to her she was lied on the
ground there was a huge gashing cut from her cheek to her eye Dan slowly walked closer to her
"M.Marsha...oh my god" Marsha opened one eye she looked at Dan she moved her giant blood
covered hand over to Dan "w.what is going on...Marsha...." Dan put his hand on her giant finger
Becky Clair and Tommy ran through the corridor "(Clair) i hope Marsha is ok" "(Tommy) just
god me too" the two ran into the habbitat "(Becky) oh my god" Beck and Clair ran over to Dan
"(Clair) no...oh no...no no no this isn't happening" Clair jumped onto Marsha's giant hand and
ran across it "(Clair) *crying* no no no please please don't let this happen...NOOO" Pop and Sam
ran when they heard the screams they got to the corridor and saw for them selfs "(Pop) what
happend?" all the noice was hear all over the dorms Mia could hear noises she rushed through
the corridor and into the habbitat she saw Marsha "(Mia) whaa" "(Clair) Mia come quick" "(Mia)
oh no no" "(Clair) im sorry Mia *cry*" "(Mia) GET AWAY FROM HER NOW" Clair jumped down
and ran over to Mia but Mia felt so helpless she fell to her knees dropping the wine bottle "(Mia)
NOO MARSHA PLEASE DON'T DIE PLEASE" Mia broke down in tears Dan grabbed Mia "Mia this
is all Jayson's doing not ours" "(Mia) NO NO NOOO ALL LIES ALL LIES YOU DID THIS DAN" "no
i didn't" "(Clair) he didn't he'd never do this" "(Mia) HER BLOOD IS ALL OVER HIS HANDS"
"(Pop) Jayson's coverd in mud and her blood it was him" "(Becky) wait...Marsha is ok she's still
breathing....ok ok we need something to cover up this wound" "(Mia) HELP HER NOW WE NEED
MEDICAL SUPPLYS QUICK" Pop ran out the room across the corridor to get the medical
supplys "what should i do" "(Mia) you've done quite enough Dan" Tommy comfronted Mia
"(Tommy) hey listen im Dan's alliby he was with me the visit we payed you was just so we could
steal you're keys everyone in this room will back Dan up this is all Jayson he said that she
attacked him..." "(Sam) ha more like he attacked her" "(Clair) im sorry Mia but Tommy is right
Dan wanted to do something" "(Mia) but...no this can't be it can't...." "(Tommy) IF NOT FOR DAN
SHE WOULD OF BLED TO DEATH DO YOU UNDERSTAND" "(Mia) it's just...this is too much for
me everything was going so good before he showed up" "no..no i did not do this" "(Mia) just
get out of here Dan you did enough for one day go" Dan ran off in tears Pop ran past Dan with
the medical supplys he ran back to Marsha everyone got to work "(Mia) please don't die on me
Marsha DON'T YOU DARE DIE ON ME" it was the next day everyone was up all was silent at the
canteen "(Tommy) umm are we going to talk about what happend?" "(Mia) we should Dan
please explain to me" "what so you can point the finger at me" "(Mia) im...im sorry Dan i was
drunk and...well Marsha and me have a history both my drunkness and history with her
conclided until...i broke down and im sorry...but it doesn't explain why you stole my keys you
had no right" "listen we all saw Jayson he was coverd in blood and mud" "(Clair) that's true he
was" "(Becky) Jayson said he was attacked but sounds like a fishy story to me" "(Mia) b.but
Jayson worked here for four years he's been a good employee it can't be him it just can't"
"M.Mia how is Marsha is she..." "(Mia)...she's fine Dan just a bit shocked from the ordeal" "i
promise i didn't hurt her Mia please believe me" "(Mia) Jayson...is it true did Marsha attack
you?" "(Jayson) yes she did" "(Becky) HER FACE WHY IS HER FACE SCARRED!?!" "(Jayson)
you all accused me before i could finish you know i have history with her too i've been around
for four years to know her well...she jumped a tree missed and scrapped her face on a branch i
went over to make sure she was ok but she picked me up and slammed me to the ground i
paniced didn't know who to tell or what to say and i am deeply sorry Mia" "(Mia)...well im glad
you were honest with me Jayson...thank you" "...bull crap... that scar looked deep" "(Mia) Dan i
trust Jayson he takes good care of Marsha for me now...now i need to check on Marsha just...go
do you're dutys...Clair you can take my place as co boss for today" Mia finished up and walked
off as did Jayson to do his work "what did she mean history?" "(Pop) well it's a long story but
Marsha and Mia have a real close bond if not for Marsha Mia wouldn't be with us at this day Mia
was just a little girl when she met Marsha and well...because of what happend leaves Mia
scarred deep inside it was just a normal night Mia was with her mother and father they were at a
play called Mozart just as they were leaving they were stopped by a mistory man all in black
wearing a strange mask which was coverd in blood all scratched up and torn he was holding....a
two big knives that was the same day that Marsha escaped from captivity she was being sold be
merchants to be used for experiments but she escaped Mia was in panic as the man held the
two knives in front of the three he lunged forward Mia's mother and father tried to offer him
money so he'd leave thinking it was a mugging but it wasn't he lunged to the father and stabbed
him severil times blood was everywhere Mia was in tears as was her mother then the man in
black lunged over to her mother grabbing her he tried to keep her in lock in his arms she
struggled for freedom out of nowhere Mia was grabbed and pulled into a big area of cardbored
boxes Mia could only watch as her mother was being hacked and stabbed to death Mia had to
keep quiet or she'd be found out she couldn't do a thing to save her mother...then the killer
looked around to find the little girl but she was nowhere to be seen the killed made off and ran
as far as possible from the area and was never seen again Mia left in tears got out of the area
over to her mother and father lied on the ground coverd in blood she shed in tears nowhere to
go and loosing her parents was hard who could she turn to but then a hand hit her shoulder
gently it was Marsha she stayed with Mia through thick and thin kept her company she knew
what Mia was going through it wasn't easy and to this day Mia will never forget what happend
she's lost her parents and that is not easy on her but if not for Marsha she'd be dead" "...wow if
only i knew...ah i feel so sorry for her" "(Pop) she gets through ok but still thinks about it but we
are here if she needs us in any way and that includes looking after Marsha" "i understand...i will
take great care of Marsha but i can't believe what she went through it must of been so hard for
her" "(Pop) it was...that is why i took her in when she was sixteen" "you took her in?" "(Pop)
yes...but i didn't want Marsha in my house she refused to let go of Marsha i couldn't say no we
lived a happy life the three of us i took care of Marsha when she set off to collage she was
greatful after gaining an education in science and animal care she wanted to invest everything
into this all her parents money was put into this project and for the medicine to make these
animals into something great Marsha was the first to try the medicine she grew to a big size how
scared i was heh but as big as Marsha got she was still gentle so gentle as she picked up Mia
but it wasn't enough the second project was making fertalizer for plantlife so Marsha could feel
at home everything went our way we worked hard making more and investing more into this
project we were successful but most importantly we were like a happy family thus which brings
us to this day" "im glad that you all were happy and im glad to be here with all you good
people" "(Pop) we are glad to have you Dan....ok now as you wern't listening to Clair we got jobs
to do you're with me in this job now come lets go" Dan and Pop walked to the corridor as they
were walking they talked "so what's todays job" "(Pop) well once again im afraid it's a feeding
job" "aw i thought i'd get to do a different job" "(Pop) remember this Dan no matter how easy or
hard a job is the animal is what's important" "ok what are we feeding and i hope it doesn't eat
people" "(Pop) heh no it doesn't eat people this animal is pretty fussy when it comes to eating"
"oh well that's a relief but what animal is it" "(Pop) heh you're impatiant arnt you ok then we are
going to feed a giant fussy panda" "no way a giant panda ? wow...but arnt giant pandas
endangerd?" "(Pop) yes they are poor things are always being hunted or kept captive
mistreated and abused but the real problem is how the enviroment is not much for the Pandas
to eat due to bamboo shortage and rainforests being cut down but we take real good care of
Samba" "Samba?" "(Pop) yeah that's his name he's gentle but it takes time to feed him so that's
why we are going to help" "lets do this" "(Pop) that's the spirit Dan i knew i could count on you"
the two walked to the Pandas habbitat finaly they made it Pop opened the door and the two
walked in and once again they were surrounded by giant blades of grass "ah i feel the same way
as i did yesterday a little scared and nervious...is that normal?" "(Pop) oh yeah you see animals
are like humans you'd feel the same if you were to meet a new person i bet you felt this way
when you first met us" "yeah i did but that's different...you're not giants standing over me that
don't speak" "(Pop) well that's true but animals have what we have it's not speach claws paws
or fur it's understanding and feelings we both feel this thing and it's a thing you soon
understand" "ahh i get what you mean...heh great advise" "(Pop) ok to save us the long walk
we'll take the jeep it'll get us there quick" "wow" Dan got in the jeep along with Pop and they set
off "i hope you know where to go" "(Pop) of course i do pieces of grass isn't going to stop me"
they continued driving they got out of the giant grassy blades and saw piles of giant bamboo
sticks all over the place "is that?..." "(Pop) yeah that's the Pandas lunch now to find the panda"
as they drove a big shadow loomed over them they looked up to see a giant furry tummy "(Pop)
heh looks like we found him" "wow he is so big" Samba raised his front paw and looked over at
the tiny jeep and the two tinies "(Pop) heh i think he see's us" Samba moved back a bit and got
to a sitting position he loved his rear and crashed his giant behind down on the ground the
ground shook "wohhh haha" Samba gave a curious look he tilted his head with curiousity
"(Pop) ok out you get Dan i'll park the jeep away" Dan got out of the jeep and Pop drove off Dan
was now alone with Samba "heh...hey Samba" Samba just sat there looking down at Dan with
curiousity Pop made it back "(Pop) ok now it's time" "great...Samba it's lunch time you
hungry?" Samba nodded his head "(Pop) what did i tell you Dan he's a fussy one" Dan looked
over and saw a big piece of bamboo on the ground he ran to the giant bamboo and climbed on
top of it "OVER HERE OVER HERE COME ON" Samba got up and walked over to the piece of
bamboo "that's it..now eat it go on" Samba lied down on the ground next to the bamboo and
grabed the piece Dan held on to the bamboo he was hanging on he tried to move but he
couldn't he was raised up high his legs were dangling "woh woh ok put it down" Samba moved
the bamboo over to his face he opend his mouth wide and bought the bamboo piece over to his
mouth and started shaking it Dan was right above the mouth if he was to slip he'd fall directly
down into Samba's mouth "AHHH NO" Pop looked over and saw Samba shaking the bamboo
piece and Dan dangling while holding on for his life "(Pop) woh ok ok SAMBA DROP THE
BAMBOO NOW" Samba moved the bamboo over to his mouth Dan was getting closer "AHH NO
PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!!!" "(Pop) SAMBA" Samba didn't listen to Pop or to Dan and just at that
moment Samba put the bamboo piece in his mouth along with Dan he slurped the stick and
took the piece out of his mouth Dan was now inside his mouth Pop ran over to Samba "(Pop) no
no Samba please spit him out spit him out come on" Samba gave a naughty look and nodded
his head "(Pop) Samba he is a friend he wants to feed you not to be food he wants to help let
him go" Samba looked at Pop with a trusting look he tilted his head "(Pop) now spit him out
please he doesn't mean any harm he's gentle and loving he's not like other humans" Samba
took that to heart and spat Dan out on his giant panda hand he looked down at Dan and gave a
gentle raw at him Dan was coverd in slobber he was shaking all over "ahh AHHH no no don't eat
me please...POP HELP ME!!!" "(Pop) Dan listen to me Samba has trust issues when it comes to
people you need to prove to him you are different from those people" "w.what do i do" "(Pop)
comfort him he needs to be loved" "ok ok...Samba...ok you don't trust me but believe me im
different...did it upset you when i tried to make you eat the bamboo?" Samba looked at Dan with
awe and gave a slight nod "Samba im sorry ok please don't see me as a threat i don't want you
to think of me as a bad person" Samba gave a slight cute raw "...do you feel bad for what you
did?" Samba gave another raw he then moved Dan close to his face "NO DON'T..." Samba gave
a slight nudge to Dan with his big nose he started rubbing his nose against Dan "it's ok Samba
it's ok i know you're sorry im sorry too" Samba lowerd Dan down "ok now Samba could you eat
some bamboo for us please you need to eat...hang on...Samba do you like bugs?" Samba gave
a big raw and nodded his head severl times "AHA" "(Pop) well i'll be damned that's his problem
he prefers bugs" "Samba you like ants?" Samba nodded "ok...Pop is it possible to get some
giant ant hills?" "(Pop) well that seems like a good idea i'll let Mia know" "Samba can you live on
bamboo just for now until we are able to get you some juicy bugs?" Samba gave out a loud raw
he looked at Dan and nodded at him "aww i could just hug you Samba" Samba grabed Dan
raised him up and bought him over to his giant tummy "aww" "(Pop) heh well looks like he likes
you Dan ok i'll let you two finish up just gonna get the jeep great job Dan" Samba raised Dan up
to his face Dan looked at Samba with awe "you're a good panda arnt you Samba yes you are yes
you are" Samba once again opend his mouth wide "heh oh look at those teeth and that big
tongue you have heh" Samba slowly moved Dan towards his mouth he just realized that he was
getting closer to his mouth "no no no Samba please" Samba put Dan in her mouth and she
closed her mouth and began suckling on him Pop arrived in time he stoped the jeep and looked
around "(Pop) Dan...Daan..." he looked up at Samba "(Pop) have you seen Dan Samba" Samba
nodded he opened his mouth wide "help me Pop please" Samba pushed Dan out of his mouth
with his tongue and onto his paw he then placed his giant paw on the ground Dan jumped off
"Samba you were going to eat me were you?" Samba nodded to say no "so you were just
playing?" Samba nodded to say yes Dan got into the jeep "it was great meeting you Samba i'd
stay longer but i need to go" Samba gave a different kind of raw this time it was a raw of an
upset panda "wow" "(Pop) he looks upset" Dan got out of the jeep and walked over to Samba
"sorry Samba but don't worry i'll come back to visit you...now how about a goodbye hug?"
Samba grabed Dan raised him up to his face and placed him gently on his cheek then he put
Dan close to his mouth opend his mouth half way and placed Dan close to his mouth he started
gently nibbling on Dan he then took Dan out of his mouth and placed Dan down by the jeep
"woh..heh heh ok...thanks for that Samba now eat up ok we'll take care of everything it was
great meeting you lets go Pop" "(Pop) right" Dan got into the jeep and the two took off they
drove back to the exit Pop parked the jeep next to the exit and the two got out and went through
the exit they started walking through the coridor "(Pop) great work Dan that was just great i see
what Clair means now working with you was amazing the way you handeld yourself now come
lets go eat im starving" "yeah i'll catch up with you i wanna check on Marsha" "(Pop) you care
about Marsha don't you Dan" "yeah i do i mean how could this happen to her" "(Pop) Dan
mistakes happen it was no ones fault" "i wish i could believe that" Dan walked off and walked
into Marsha's habitat he saw Mia asleep on Marsha's hand "hey...hey Mia" "(Mia) wha...uhh..ah
Dan?" "hey how you doing and hows Marsha?" "(Mia) well we are both doing good Dan ahh i
feel so weird can't believe i slept...anyway it's dinner time how was work Dan" "....i don't really
want to talk about it" "(Mia) oh come on Dan we do this all the time we eat dinner and talk about
how work went" "aw no god no i don't want to tell my story about the work i did" "(Mia) hehe
well you got no choice mister" the two walked out of Marsha's habitat and they got dinner ready
"(Tommy) wow this all looks great" "(Clair) yeah Mia this is too much" "(Mia) well i wanted to
treat you all and i fancied chicken" "(Becky) great lets tuck in" "(Mia) so everyone how was
work?" Dan sighed "(Sam) unbelievable one moment i was just going through the grass looking
for a way out and then out of the blue this giant tail swept across the grass if i didn't grab that
tail i would of been lost in that grass but besides that the otters were really good" "(Mia) aw
great and what do i keep telling you Sam use the jeep it's faster and safer" "(Sam) ah yes I just
felt like streching my legs" "(Mia) ok what about you Clair?" "(Clair) tehe those kangaroo babys
made me laugh so much every place i walked they would follow me like i was their mother then
one of them decided to pick me up then the mother picked the baby roo and placed her in her
pouch it was so funny" "(Mia) haha great story...ok what about you Dan how was work" "...i
don't want to talk about it" "(Mia) Dan come on share you're story" "(Tommy) yeah Dan please"
"no...it's embarrassing" "(Sam) oh come on Dan whats so embarrassing about work we only
care nothing to be embarrassed about" "you can hear the story...but im not telling it sorry for
being the killjoy but what happend to me is embarrassing" "(Clair) ok Pop tell us what happend"
"(Pop) ok i'll tell the story it was incredible i dropped Dan off by Samba and took off to park the
jeep i made my way to Dan and Samba now it was time to feed Samba Dan decided he wanted to
help out so he ran over to a piece of bamboo he climbed up and started calling Samba's name
he tried to get Samba to eat but Samba was just too fussy Dan asked and asked him to eat until
Samba finaly got up walked over to the bamboo stick he picked the stick up and moved it
towards his mouth while Dan was hanging there he held on for his life but then Samba held the
stick above his open mouth and started shaking the stick...heh heh after all the shaking Dan lost
his grip and fell dirrectly down into Samba's mouth he shut his mouth and threw the bamboo
stick to the side he then opend his mouth half way and there was Dan inside of Samba's mouth
then..." "(Clair) oh my god...he ate you?" "(Pop) it turned out that Samba was scared of Dan he
saw Dan as a threat so i did all my best to convince him that Dan was a good person after all the
convincing Samba decided to spit Dan out he felt so bad for what he did Dan spoke to Samba
for a bit then Samba gave the cutest raw he felt so bad he picked Dan up and moved him
towards his big nose he gave Dan a little nudge with his nose..." "(Clair/Mia/Becky/Sam) awww"
"(Pop) heh then out of the blue Dan asked the most weird but greatest question ever he said to
Samba *do you eat bugs* then Samba gave the biggest raw and nodded his head i don't think
he's fussy he just likes bugs" "(Clair) bugs?...hmm" "(Pop) yeah do you think we could get him
some bugs?" "(Clair) that's a great idea we'll do that but those bugs will have to be in a locked
area last thing we need is giant bugs roaming around the town" "(Pop) yeah i know what you
mean Samba coopirated and decided to eat the bamboo after a good days job we decided to
finish up and leave but as we were leaving Samba started giving these crying raws Dan decided
it was best and the right thing to do and say goodbye so he got out of the jeep and walked over
to Samba to say goodbye Samba scooped Dan off the ground and moved him over to his
tummy and gave him a hug he then moved Dan to his cheek to hug him some more..." "(Clair)
aww" "(Pop) then he threw Dan into his mouth and started nibbling on him real gentle and that
was our day" Dan coverd his head "(Clair) haha great story" "(Mia) that was great aww Dan you
don't have to feel embarrased" "(Becky) yeah that story was so cute" "heh heh fine it was cute
but not so cute when i was inside the mouth it was gross" "(Sam) i can't believe Samba would
do that putting you inside his mouth like that" "well...i..he did it more then once but that was his
way of playing he was really gentle" "(Mia) hehe that's so cute...ok lets clear up great stories"
everyone cleared the table and went back to there dorms "ark im gonna take a shower need to
get this panda drool off me...never thought i'd say that" Dan walked off to go take a shower
while showering he noticed someone coming in "(Jayson)...yes sir...but sir she's a god damn
giant how do you exspect me to...but sir with something that size im going to need about a
hundred or maybe twohundred viles of Ketamine...yes sir i understand yes but sir no no
way...no sir i didn't mean anything by it...ok ok but sir will that be enough...well this is an ape we
are talking about...yes sir Orangutan sorry for the misunderstanding...blood ok...furr sir this is
taking it too far..yes sir ok ok i appoligize i will get to it take care sir bye" Jayson hung up the
phone he noticed Dan come out the shower "(Jayson) woh...hey" "who was that?" "(Jayson)
you know what i don't like how you sneak and snoop around and for your information it was just
a busness call so i'd appertiate you kept your nose out" "Ketamine...isn't that the kind of drug
used on animals to put them to sleep?" "(Jayson) yes but it's also a powerful anesthetic if you
learn a thing or two just stay out of my busness and stop with the questions" Jayson walked off
Dan got dried and got dress and got back to the dorm "(Tommy) no way Ketamine?" "yes and
he said he needs it by the hundreds" "(Sam) listen Dan maybe you should just say out of
peoples busness Jayson has worked here for quite some time you need to stop pointing the
finger" "(Clair) she's right Dan" "aw but i was there i heard everything" "(Becky) just leave
Jayson alone you must of misheard on what was said" "fine" everyone got to bed and had a
good night sleep but what happend in the shower dwelled on Dan's mind "somthing isn't right
about this place...and i will find out what's going on"
---TO BE CONTINUED---
Yeah, if you aren't watching Dr. Horrible then I don't know how to help you. Also, go do that. Right now.
How To Care For Color Treated Hair | 8 Tips
Long, short, dyed, natural ... Anyway how is your hair, because whatever you do with it, you know you have to take care. Dyeing hair is one that suffers most due to the aggression of the dyes. Then question arised that How To Care For Color Treated Hair Chlorine, dryer or abuse of molded products can make your hair dyed spoil faster, but quiet because with these simple care your hair is always healthy and beautiful.
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I'm going do a series of photos with minifigs exploring the places I hike. First, they need a rig to get them there!
Solid rear axle and independent front suspension allow the truck to articulate over uneven terrain.
the strange thing is, Nemo's head is way too big for him that he doesn't swim upright......so him and his buddy decided to go do some exploring instead.
"And at the end of the day, there's always a disappointing football match."
But before then, there's a whole day to get through.
Neither of us had any ill effects from our jabs on Friday, sore arm notwithstanding. So it meant the day was all ours to do with what we wanted.
Saying that, Jools didn't feel well enough for churchcrawling, but hunter/gathering at Tesco was fine.
So, after coffee we drove to Whitfield and after filling the car with unleaded, we go to the store to buy stuff for the weekend, and the final things for Christmas, which means that we just have veg to get as everything else is either bought or ordered.
I buy a gift for the charity Christmas box, so that poor children will have something. I bought a Hey Dugee singing stick that the child will love and their parents will hate. Does this make me a bad or good person?
Maybe both.
Back home to pack the shopping away, have fruit for breakfast, followed by bacon butties and huge brews.
Although Tesco had most things, there was no fresh fruit other really than bananas, apples. And for the second week, bacon, especially smoked bacon was in very short supply.
But we dine well on our bacon butties, then, Jools confirmed she was not going out, so I could visit anywhere.
Within reason.
Well. Most churches in the area I wanted to visit or revisit I have done these past few weeks.
One I hadn't gone back to was Lydden. Its a small place, but its a short drive there, so could be a stopover on the way to somewhere else.
I go down Coldred Hill, then along to the church.
It was a glorious day, I mean no clouds, clean, sparking air, but cold and frosty.
The church was unlocked, cold by welcoming.
As expected, there wasn't much I hadn't recorded, and no glass to use the big lens on. So, I go round to recrod everything, then on to the next stop.
Bekesbourne.
I hadn't called the keyholder, but she only lives opposite the church, so not that much of a hassle to walk over the small bridge over the dry Nailbourne.
I reach the church, park outside and walk to the old palace.
I rang the bell. Dogs barked. A lot. But no one answered.
Another time, then.
Three miles along the Nailbourne is Littlebourne where the bournes changes its name to the Little Stour and flows all the time. There is a church there and I can't remember when I was there last.
I drive round the village, find the church on Church Street. Where else to keep your church?
Again, it was open, but having no real memory of this, it was good to go in again and take lots and lots of shots, mainly of the large number of Victorian windows.
Once done, I decide there were no other churches to be done that day, athough I go do Wingham and Ash again, there's plenty of other occasions to do those. But it was a ten minute drive from Preston, and I noticed during the week we were out of sausages, so decide to go in and see if they had any.
And good job I did, as they were down to a few bits and pieces, but had some venison and cranberry bangers, so I get five pounds. Also, they were selling of these very large chickens, perfect for the late Christmas dinner we're planning when Jen comes back on January 24th, so £15 gets that and it can go in the freezer.
By which time it was lunch. We have gingerbread, or mixed spice bread. Two large stars, so I pull of each point and dunk it in a coffee, so soft enough in the end.
And amazingly, football is back. In fact, below the Championship, it never stopped during the World Cup, the the Prem and Championship did, and Norwich were to play for the first time in a month, away at Swansea.
So I could watch the early game, Portugal v Morocco as well as follow Norwich.
Good news in both games, as Norwich scored in the first minute then hung on to claim all three points, and Morocco knocked out Portugal; Ronaldo, Pepe and all.
There were tears at the end. Bitter ones from Ron and tears of joy for the rest of us.
And then, France v England.
--------------------------------------------
The villages 13th century church, St Vincent of Saragossa, is thought to have been founded by the monks of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury and contains an ancient wall painting depicting Saint Christopher, patron saint of travellers. The church also has what is reckoned to be one of the finest collection of stained glass windows designed by Nathaniel Westlake in the country. Nathaniel Westlake was a leading designer of the Gothic Revival movement in England.
Work done in 1995 by experts from the V&A Museum established that he designed each of the windows over the long period of his work with the Company, thus giving an outstanding example of the development of his style.
The Church has a six-bell peal, the oldest bell dating back to 1597, the newest 1899.
www.littlebournebenefice.org.uk/littlebournechurchhistory...
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LOCATION: Situated at about 40 feet above O.D. on Head brickearth (over Upper Chalk). A little to the west of the river Little Stour. Littlebourne Court, originally belonging to St. Augustine’s Abbey, lies immediately to the north-west. Wickhambreaux and Ickham churches are not far away to the north and east.
DESCRIPTION: As with many North-East Kent churches, this church points south-east, and it is first documented in Domesday Book, with the eastern three-quarters of the nave of the present church presumably being, in part, of an early Norman date. The only visible evidence for the earliest structure, however, is outside the south-west corner of the nave. Here one can see reused Roman bricks, and the original steep slope of the very early 13th century south aisle (continuing the line of the nave roof). The nave must be earlier than this, so is at least 12th century in date. It is also worth noting the very rare dedication, to St Vincent.
The whole of the south arcade for the south aisle still survives in its very early 13th century form, with four pointed arches (that on the west is smaller). The arches have continuous flat
the piers themselves. All the dressings are in Caen stone.
Later in the 13th century a large new chancel was built, probably at about the time (c. 1245) when St Augustine’s Abbey were endowing the new vicarage there, after the appropriation. The chancel has four tall lancets on either side, and an eastern triplet which has internal shafting on the jambs, and deeply moulded rere-arches and hood-moulds. All the other lancets have plain rere-arches, and all the chancel windows sit internally on a filleted roll-moulding which steps up at the east end and runs under the triplet. There is a piscina on the south-east with a pointed arch (with hood) over it, and bar-stopped chamfers on the sides. On the north-west side of the chancel is a small doorway, which was restored in the 19th century. The chancel was fairly heavily restored on the outside in the 19th century (‘1865’ on one of the rain-water hoppers), but much of its original coursed whole flints are still visible, as well as some of the rows of putlog holes. The chancel also has a separate roof, with a west gable, but this was rebuilt completely in c. 1865.
At about the same time as the chancel was being rebuilt in the early to mid-15th century, a very plain tower was added at the west end (It is similar to the neighbouring tower at Ickham). This has a tall simple pointed arch (with flat chamfers and abaci) into the nave, and on the west is a simple pointed doorway with flat chamfers and a tall lancet above it. The tower is unbuttressed, and has four more wide restored lancets (one in each face) in the top (belfry) stage. Externally the tower has the remains of its original plastering over coursed flint with side-alternate Caenstone quoins. On top of the tower is a later medieval (14th/15th century) brooch spire (now covered in slates).
The tower was restored in 1899, and the bells were rehung in a new timber and cast iron frame. There are now six bells, dated 1597,1610, 1650 and three of 1899 (said to have been recast from two late medieval ones). Glynne tells us that there was an organ in a west gallery under the tower, but this was removed during the restoration. A shed (now 2 cloakrooms) was also added to the north side of the tower in c. 1899.
A small Lady Chapel may have been added to the north-east side of the nave in the later 13th century as shown by its two light trefoil-headed (with circular opening above) east window (it has an internal rere-arch). All other evidence for this above ground was removed by the early 14th and early 19th century re-buildings (see below). The Lady Chapel is first documented in the late 15th century, but most churches acquired a separate Lady Chapel in N.W. Kent in the 13th century.
In the early 14th century both the south and north aisles had their outer walls rebuilt. On the south this was a continuous heightening and rebuild for the full length of the nave (with the evidence for the earlier lean-to aisle surviving in the west wall, as shown above). There is however still a later 13th century lancet in the centre of the south wall, with a probable later 13th century south doorway next to it (though completely rebuilt externally in the 19th century). The other aisle windows are all, however, 2 - light early 14th century traceried windows, and the gables and separate pitched roof over the aisle is also perhaps 14th century (it is still hidden under a flat plaster ceiling). In the south aisle wall are some reused Reigate stone fragments, and the large later south buttress has Ragstone quoins and reused Reigate And Caenstone fragments (and heavy 19th century knapped flintwork). Some Purbeck marble is reused in the wall west of the south porch. This aisle also has a small square-topped piscina in its south-east corner, and a very small stoup just inside the door on the east.
Hasted tells us that ‘a few years ago the north isle fell down, when there were some curious paintings discovered by the breaking of the plaster from the walls. This aisle was immediately rebuilt’. It is however, clear from the present remains (and from the Petrie water-colour view), that the church was again rebuilt in the early 19th century, with the present flatish 4-bay crown/king post nave roof and lath and plaster ceiling. The two dormers on the south side of the nave roof are presumably of the same date as is the shallow-pitched shed-roof over the north aisle, and the wooden post and two semi-circular arches into the north aisle. On the north-west side of the nave one can see an infilled pointed arch (? of chalk) with abaci, suggesting that there was originally a 13th century 3-bay north aisle (and Lady Chapel). The scar for the south-west corner of this aisle which did not continue to the west end of the nave, is just visible, and the late 18th century collapse was clearly at the west end of this aisle, which was not rebuilt (the other aisle-wall window being reset in the nave wall). The north wall of the north aisle must have been rebuilt in the early 14th century with buttresses and new two-light traceried windows. There may have been a north door here.
Only the chancel was heavily restored in the later 19th century (1865) with a new south porch in 1896, replacing a brick one, according to Glynne. A porch is documented from at least 1505.
BUILDING MATERIALS: (Incl. old plaster, paintings, glass, tiles etc.):
The main local material is flint, and whole flints, in courses, are used for all the early work with dressings of Caenstone. Some Reigate stone is then used in the 13th century, with Kent Rag for the quoins in the early 14th century. There is also some reused Purbeck marble in the walls, and Bathstone is used for the late 19th century restorations. Hasted mentions ‘the remains of good painted glass’ in the chancel side lancets and ‘seven sacraments, etc. handsomely done, with rich borders’ in the eastern lancets, ‘but they have been some few years since removed’ (op. cit. below, p.155). Also he mentions armorial glass in the S.E. window of the south aisle, and other now-vanished glass is known from the church - see C.R. Councer (below).
EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH: None, but remains of medieval wall-painting on the north side of the nave, at the west end. Also a leger slab, with a small brass inscription in it, dated 1585, in front of the chancel arch. Also some early 19th century Benefaction boards on the west wall of the south aisle. Most of the furnishings in the church date from the restoration of 1864-4, or later.
CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:
Size & Shape: Large north-south rectangular area around church, with large extensions to north (20th century) and south (19th century).
Condition: Good
Building in churchyard or on boundary: Lych Gate of timber (1892) to the south. Very large c. early 14th century great barn of Littlebourne Court (172ft long) runs along west boundary of the churchyard.
Ecological potential: ? Yes. The burial under a ‘great palm’ (ie. Yew Tree) in the churchyard is mentioned in a will of 1542, and there are still some quite large Yews north of the church.
Late med. Status: Vicarage endowed in 1245 with a house, some tithes, etc. A chaplain had to be found to celebrate weekly in Garrington Chapel.
Patron: St. Augstine’s Abbey, Canterbury (and alienated to the Italian monastery of Monte Mirteto in Italy, 1224). In 1538 it went to the crown, and then on to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury in 1541.
Other documentary sources: Hasted IX (1800) , 155-8. There is much documentation in Thorne’s Chronicle and the ‘Black Book’ of St Augustine’s. Testamenta Cantiana (E. Kent, 1907), 196-8 mentions burial in the churchyard from 1473, the church porch (1501), various ‘lights’, the altar of Our Lady (1499+), reparation of the altars of St James and St Nicholas (1473), for paving between the chancel and the west door (1419).
SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:
Inside present church: ? Good.
Outside present church: ? Good, though there is a large soil build-up around the church, and a brick-lined drainage gulley (up to 2ft deep) has been made all around the church.
RECENT DISTURBANCES/ALTERATIONS:
To structure: None, but chancel stalls brought from St Johns, Herne Bay in 1974, and organ in north aisle from Holy Cross, Canterbury in 1972.
To floors: Brick floor relaid at east end of S. aisle - Oct 1991.
Quinquennial inspection (date/architect): Feb. 1990 Maureen O’Connor.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:
A Norman nave was given a lean-to south aisle and perhaps extended to the west in the very early 13th century, with a plain west tower being added soon after. The chancel was rebuilt (and greatly enlarged) in the mid 13th century, and there was probably also a Lady Chapel and nave north aisle by the later 13th century. The outer walls of the aisles were rebuilt in the early 14th century. A timber spire was also built. In the late 18th century the west end of the north aisle collapsed and this was rebuilt along with the nave roof, etc. again in the early 19th century. Chancel restored in 1865, and west tower in 1899 (with rehung bells). A new south porch was built in 1896.
The wider context: One of a group of churches belonging to St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury with major rebuildings in the 13th and early 14th centuries.
REFERENCES: S.R. Glynne, Notes of the Churches of Kent (1877), 167-8. (He visited in 1851). C.R. Councer, Lost Glass from Kent Churches ) (1980), 77-8.
Guide Book: None available in church, but see St Vincent’s Church, Littlebourne by Elizabeth Jeffries (1984) - very poor for architectural history.
Plans & drawings: Petrie early 19th cent. view from N.E., with continuous roof slope over nave and N. aisle.
DATES VISITED: 19th December 1996 REPORT BY: Tim Tatton-Brown
www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/01/03/LIT.htm
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LITTLEBORNE
LIES the next parish south-eastward from Stodmarsh, taking its name from its situation close to the stream which bounds the eastern part of it, and at the same time to distinguish it from the other parishes of the name of Borne in the near neighbourhood of it.
There is but one borough in this parish, called the borough of Littleborne.
Littleborne extends to the skirt of the beautiful and healthy parts of East Kent, and verging farther from the large levels of marsh land which lie near the Stour, quits that gloomy aspect of ill health so prevalent near them, and here begins to assume one more cheerful, pleasant and healthy; and Twyne tells us, (fn. 1) that it was allotted by the abbot and convent of St. Augustine's, who possessed the manor, for the plantation of vines. The village is built on the high road leading from Canterbury to Sandwich and Deal, at the eastern boundary of the parish, adjoinining to the Little Stour, and consists of about forty houses. The church stands at a small distance from it, having the courtlodge close to it, with the parsonage at a small distance. This parish extends northward as far as the Stour, opposite to Westbere, in which part of it however, there is but a small quantity of marsh-land, near which is an estate called Higham, which antiently was owned by a family of that name. Above the hill, south-eastward from hence, there is a great deal of woodland, and among it a tract of heathy rough land, belonging to the archbishop, called Fishpool-downs, through which the road leads to Wickham. At the bottom of Fishpool hill is the valley called the Ponds, now entirely covered with wood, part of which is in this parish. The ponds were supplied from a spring called Arrianes well, probably for Adrian's well, and were of a considerable size and depth, made for the supply of the convent of St. Augustine, the owners of them, with fish for their refectory, the sides of them now equally thick with coppice wood, were antiently a vineyard. These woods continue from hence adjoining the high road towards the village in great quantities, much of which belongs to the archbishop, and are intermixed with a great deal of rough bushy ground. The lands in this parish are in general very poor and gravelly, but towards Wickham they are much more fertile both for corn and hops, of which there are several plantations. This parish extends across the river eastward towards the hill, and takes in great part of Lower Garwinton, and part of the house, and some little land of Upper Garwinton within it, which is entirely separated from the rest of it by the parish of Adisham intervening.
Polygonatum scalacæci, Solomon's seal; grows plentifully on Fishpool-hill in this parish.
A fair is held here on the 5th of July, for toys and pedlary.
In the year 690, Widred, king of Kent, gave to the monastery of St. Augustine, in pure and perpetual alms, five plough-lands called Litleborne, on condition of their remembring of him in their prayers and solemn masses. And in the year 1047, king Edward the Consessor gave another plough-land here, which consisted of the estates of Bourne, Dene, and Wiliyington, to archbishop Eadsin, free from all service, except. the trinoda necessitas, and he bestowed it on that monastery. After which the manor of Little borne continued in the possession of the abbey to the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in which it is thus entered under the general title of the land of the church of St. Augustine:
In Dunamesfort hundred, the abbot himself holds, Liteburne, which is taxed at seven sulings. The arable land is twelve carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and thirty-five villeins, with fourteen cottagers having six and an half. There is a church, and thirtyeight acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of four hogs. In the time of king Edward the Consessor it was worth twenty-five pounds, afterwards twenty pounds, now thirty-two pounds. Of this manor the bishop of Baieux has in his park, as much as is worth sixty shillings.
After this the abbot and convent's possessions here were increased by several gifts and purchases of different parcels of land. (fn. 2)
King Henry III. in his 54th year, granted to the abbot and convent free-warren in all their demesne lands of Littleborne, among others. In the 7th year of king Edward II.'s reign, anno 1313, in the iter of H. de Stanton and his sociates, justices itinerant, the abbot, upon a quo warranto, claimed and was allowed in this manor among others, free warren in all his demesne lands of it, and view of frank-pledge, and other liberties therein-mentioned, in like manner as has been already mentioned before, in the description of the manors of Sturry and Stodmarsh. (fn. 3) By a register of the monastery of about this time, it appears, that this manor had then in demesne the park of Trendesle. In the 10th year of king Edward III. Solomon de Ripple being custos, or bailiff of this manor, made many improvements here, and purchased more lands in it, all the buildings of it being in a manner wholly re-built and raised from the ground, with much cost, by him. In king Richard II.'s reign, the abbot's manor of Littleborne was valued at 23l. 8s. 6d. the admeasurement of the lands being 505 acres. After which this manor continued with the monastery till its dissolution, anno 30 Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands, and remained in the crown till king Edward VI. in his 1st year, granted the manor and manor-house, with all lands and appurtenances, and a water-mill lately belonging to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, to the archbishop, among other premises, in exchange for the manor of Mayfield, &c. parcel of the possessions of whose see it still remains, the archbishop being the present owner of it. The manor, with the profits of courts, royalties, &c. the archbishop keeps in his own hands; but the demesnes have been from time to time demised on a beneficial lease. The family of Denne have been for more than a century lessees of it, who now reside in the court-lodge.
On the abolition of episcopacy, after the death of king Charles I. this manor was sold by the state to Sir John Roberts and John Cogan, the latter of whom, by his will in 1657, gave his moiety of it to the mayor and aldermen of Canterbury, for the benefit of six poor ministers widows (for whose use he had at the same time demised his dwelling-house in Canterbury, now called Cogan's hospital. But the manor of Littleborne, on the restoration in 1660, returned again to the see of Canterbury.
The manor of Wolton, alias Walton, lies in the southern part of this parish, adjoining to the precinct of Well, and was antiently possessed by a family who took their name from it, one of whom, John, son of John de Wolton, held it at the latter end of king Henry III.'s reign. But this family became extinct here before the reign of king Edward III. in the 20th year of which, Roger de Garwinton held it by knight's service, (fn. 4) in whose descendants it continued till it passed into the family of Petit, of Shalmsford, who held it of the abbot of St. Augustine's by the like service, in which name and family it continued till it was at length alienated to Sir Henry Palmer, of Bekesborne, whose descendant of the same name passed it away by sale to Sir Robert Hales, of Bekesborne, in whose descendants it continued down to Sir Philip Hales, bart. of Howlets, who in 1787 alienated this manor to Isaac Baugh, esq. of Well, the present owner of it.
Wingate, alias Lower Garwington, in a manor, which lies on the other or eastern side of the river, adjoining to Ickham, taking the former of those names from a family, who were owners of it in Henry III.'s reign, and held it by knight's service of the abbot and convent of St. Augustine. In which reign Simon de Wingate held it as above-mentioned, but before the 20th year of King Edward III. this name was extinct here, and Thomas de Garwinton then held this estate, lying in Wingate, held of the abbot by the like tenure. (fn. 5) In the descendants of Thomas de Garwington, who resided at their mansion and manor, since called Upper Garwinton, adjoining to it, seems to have continued some time, and from them, as well as to distinguish it from that, to have taken the name of Wingate, alias Lower Garwinton. After this family had quitted the possession of it, the Clyffords appear from different records to have become owners of it, and after them the Sandfords, and it appears by the escheat rolls, that Humphrey Sandford died possessed of it in the 14th year of king Henry VII. and that Thomas Sandford was his son and heir. After which it came into the hands of the crown, for king Henry VIII. in his 30th year, granted the manors of Wingate and Garwinton to Sir Christopher Hales, then master of the rolls. He left three daughters his coheirs, who became jointly, entitled to it, and on the division of their estates it was allotted to the youngest daughter Mary, who entitled her husband Alexander Colepeper, esq. to it, in which name it continued till the 22d of queen Elizabeth, when it was passed away by sale to Thomas Fane, esq. whose son Francis, earl of Westmoreland, sold it to William Prude, alias Proude, esq. who being a lieutenant-colonel in the army, was slain at the siege of Maestricht in 1632, having devised this estate in tail male to his eldest surviving son Serles Prude, who died in 1642, leaving only two daughters his coheirs, upon which it came to his next brother William, who left an only daughter Dorothy, and she, the entail being barred, carried it first in marriage to Nethersole, by whom she had no issue, and secondly to Christopher May, esq. of Rawmere, in Suffex, whose only daughter and heir Anne, entitled her husband William Broadnax, esq. of Godmersham, to the possession of it. His son Thomas Changed his name, first to May and then to Knight, and died possessed of this manor in 1781, leaving an only son Thomas Knight, esq. of Godmersham, who in the year 1785 exchanged it for other lands in Crundal with Thomas Barret, esq. of Lee, the present owner of it.
Upper Garwinton is a manor, which lies adjoining to that last-described, southward, at the boundary of this parish, next to Adisham, in which parish part of the mansion of it stands, being written in the survery of Domesday, Warwintone, one of the many instances in that book of the mistakes of the Norman scribes. It was, after the conquest, parcel of those possessions with which the Conqueror enriched his half-brother Odo, the great bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, and was exchanged by him for other lands with the abbot of St. Augustine's, accordingly it is thus entered in that record, under the general title of the land of the church of St. Augustine:
The abbot himself holds Warwintone, and the bishop of Baieux gave it to him in exchange of his park. It was taxed at half a suling and forty-two acres of land. The arable land is one carucate, and there is in demesne, with three cottagers, and sixteen acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth four pounds, and afterwards forty shillings, now four pounds. This manor Edric de Sbern Biga held, and now Radulf holds it of the abbot.
Whether this description extended to the last-described manor of Wingate, is uncertain, though most probably, as both were held of the abbot by knight's service, it was comprehended in it. However that may be, this manor of Garwintone, called as above, erroneously, in Domesday, Warwintone, was held of the abbot by a family who took their surname from it; one of whom, Richard de Garwynton, resided here at the latter end of king Henry II.'s reign, and had a chapel at his mansion here; and in 1194, the abbot granted to him and his heirs, to have the divine office celebrated for three days in a week in this chapel by the priest of Littleborne. (fn. 6) His descendant Thomas Garwinton was possessed of this manor and several other estates in this part of the county, in the 20th year of king Edward III. whose great-grandson William Garwynton dying S. P. Joane his kinswoman, married to Richard Haut, was anno II Henry IV. found to be his heir not only to this manor, but to much other lands in these parts, and their son Richard Haut having an only daughter and heir Margery, she carried this manor in marriage to William Isaac, esq. of Patrixborne, whose descendant Edward Isaac, at his death, gave this manor to his two daughter by his second wife, viz. Mary, married to Thomas Appleton, esq. of Suffolk, and Margaret, to John Jermye, second son of Sir John Jermye, of the same county, and they seem to have shared this manor between them. Thomas Appleton sold his share afterwards to Anthony Parker, who with Isaac Jermye, eldest son of John above-mentioned, joined in the sale of the entire see of it to Sir Henry Palmer, of Howlets, and he by his will in 1611, devised it to his nephew John Goodwyn, whose heirs some time afterwards passed it away by sale to George Curteis, esq. afterwards knighted, and of Otterden, and he alienated it to Sir Robert Hales, of Bekesborne, in whose descendants it continued down to Sir Philip Hales, bart. of Howlets, who in 1787, passed it away by sale to Isaac Baugh, esq. the present owner of it.
Charities.
John Dorrante, of Bekesborne, yeoman, in 1560, gave by will, to discharge the poor from the assessments of the church, the overplus to be paid to the most antient poor of the parish, the sum of 3s, 6d. on Palm Sunday and the Monday before Penticost; and 21s. 6d. on Christmas-day yearly, out of the house and lands called Church-house, now vested in Mr. Peter Inge.
Henry Sloyden, of Wickhambreaux, in 1568, gave by will to the poor of this parish and of Wickham, six acres and a half of land, called Church-close, to be divided between them yearly, now of the annual produce of 3l. 9s. 9d.
Sir Henry Palmer, by his will in 1611, gave 10s. to be paid yearly out of his manor of Welle, for the use of the poor.
James Franklyn, by will in 1616, gave to the parishes of Littleborne, Chistlet, and Hoathe, in Reculver, 5l. each, to be employed in a stock for the poor. This 5l. is now increased to 11l. this interest of which being 8s. 93frac34;d. is distributed among the poor in general.
Valentine Norton, gent. by his will, was a benefactor to the poor; but there are no particulars further known of it.
The poor constantly relieved are about fifty, casually thirtyfive.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Vincent, consists of three isles and a chancel, having at the west end a low pointed steeple, in which hang five bells. The church is kept very neat. It is a good sized building, and is handsomely ceiled. The chancel is lostly, and has four narrow lancet windows on each side, and three at the end; in the former are the remains of good painted glass, and in the latter some years ago were the seven sacraments, &c. very handsomely done, with rich borders, but they have been some few years since removed. In it is a memorial for George I'anns, curate, obt. 1699. In the middle isle are several memorials for the family of Denne, for many descents lessees of the court-lodge, and descended from those of Dennehill, in Kingston, In the south-east window of the south isle is a saint holding a shield of arms, in front, Gules, three cocks, argent, being the arms of Bunington, on the lest side a moon, on the right a sun, all very well done; and there were formerly in one of the windows, the arms of Higham, argent, a lion passant regardant, between six cross-croslets fitchee, sable, impaling Gallaway, ermine, three lozenges, gules. A few years ago the north isle fell down, when there were some curious paintings discovered, by the breaking of the plaister from the walls. This isle was immediately rebuilt. In the church-yard, at the north-west part of it, are several tombs and head stones of the family of Denne before- mentioned.
¶The church of Littleborne was antiently appendant to the manor, part of the possessions of the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, and continued so till the year 1224, when Robert de Bello being chosen abbot, and finding much difficulty in obtaining the pope's benediction, to facilitate it, gave this church to the monastery of St. Mary de Monte Mirteto, in Italy, to which the pope, in 1241, appropriated it. Immediately after which, this parsonage, so appropriated, was demised to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, in perpetual ferme, at the clear yearly sum of thirty marcs. (fn. 7) Four years after which, anno 1245, archbishop Stratford endowed the vicarage of it, the advowson of which was reserved to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, when he decreed, that the vicarage should be endowed with a mansion, the tithes of filva cæ dua, of hay, and in three acres of arable, one acre of meadow, and in the receipt of three marcs and an half in money from the religious yearly, and in the tithes of flax, hemp, ducks, calves, pigeons, bees, milk, milkmeats, mills, wool, pigs, and in all oblations and other small tithes belonging to the church; and that the vicar should serve the church in divine rites, and find one chaplain to celebrate weekly in the chapel of Garwyntone, and to find bread, wine, and tapers, for celebrating divine rites in the church. Which endowment was afterwards, in 1370, certified by inspeximus, by archbishop Wittlesey. In which state this church and advowson remained till the final dissolution of the abbey of St. Augustine, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. when they came into the king's hands, and the king, in his 33d year, settled both, by his dotation-charter, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom they continue at this time. The parsonage has been from time to time let on a beneficial lease, Mr. Thomas Holness being the present lessee of it, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.
The vicarage of Littleborne is valued in the king's books at 7l. 19s. 10d. but the yearly tenths taken are sixteen shillings, the sum total being erroneonsly cast up in the king's books at eight pounds. The antient pension of 3l. 17s. 4d. from the abbey of St. Augustine's, is yearly received by the vicar out of the exchequer; the demesne lands of the court-lodge pay no greattithes, and the archbishop's woods in his own occupation pay none. In 1588 here were one hundred and fifty communicants; in 1640 the same, when it was valued at thirty-five pounds. It has been augmented by the dean and chapter with fifty pounds per annum.
The chapel of Lukedale, in the precinct of Well, was once esteemed as within the bounds of this parish, of which more may be seen herefter, under Ickham, to which parish Well is now annexed.
Make the best of every day - even if that means doing nothing - taking time out or enjoying some down time. Just remember you don't get this hour, this day, this week, this time, back. Go, do something awesome for yourself or someone else! Make the best of the time you have, whatever that means for you!
Shot for 7DOS Weekly theme Time, shoot anything Saturday.
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you
come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs
is people who have come alive.
~Howard Thurman
"And at the end of the day, there's always a disappointing football match."
But before then, there's a whole day to get through.
Neither of us had any ill effects from our jabs on Friday, sore arm notwithstanding. So it meant the day was all ours to do with what we wanted.
Saying that, Jools didn't feel well enough for churchcrawling, but hunter/gathering at Tesco was fine.
So, after coffee we drove to Whitfield and after filling the car with unleaded, we go to the store to buy stuff for the weekend, and the final things for Christmas, which means that we just have veg to get as everything else is either bought or ordered.
I buy a gift for the charity Christmas box, so that poor children will have something. I bought a Hey Dugee singing stick that the child will love and their parents will hate. Does this make me a bad or good person?
Maybe both.
Back home to pack the shopping away, have fruit for breakfast, followed by bacon butties and huge brews.
Although Tesco had most things, there was no fresh fruit other really than bananas, apples. And for the second week, bacon, especially smoked bacon was in very short supply.
But we dine well on our bacon butties, then, Jools confirmed she was not going out, so I could visit anywhere.
Within reason.
Well. Most churches in the area I wanted to visit or revisit I have done these past few weeks.
One I hadn't gone back to was Lydden. Its a small place, but its a short drive there, so could be a stopover on the way to somewhere else.
I go down Coldred Hill, then along to the church.
It was a glorious day, I mean no clouds, clean, sparking air, but cold and frosty.
The church was unlocked, cold by welcoming.
As expected, there wasn't much I hadn't recorded, and no glass to use the big lens on. So, I go round to recrod everything, then on to the next stop.
Bekesbourne.
I hadn't called the keyholder, but she only lives opposite the church, so not that much of a hassle to walk over the small bridge over the dry Nailbourne.
I reach the church, park outside and walk to the old palace.
I rang the bell. Dogs barked. A lot. But no one answered.
Another time, then.
Three miles along the Nailbourne is Littlebourne where the bournes changes its name to the Little Stour and flows all the time. There is a church there and I can't remember when I was there last.
I drive round the village, find the church on Church Street. Where else to keep your church?
Again, it was open, but having no real memory of this, it was good to go in again and take lots and lots of shots, mainly of the large number of Victorian windows.
Once done, I decide there were no other churches to be done that day, athough I go do Wingham and Ash again, there's plenty of other occasions to do those. But it was a ten minute drive from Preston, and I noticed during the week we were out of sausages, so decide to go in and see if they had any.
And good job I did, as they were down to a few bits and pieces, but had some venison and cranberry bangers, so I get five pounds. Also, they were selling of these very large chickens, perfect for the late Christmas dinner we're planning when Jen comes back on January 24th, so £15 gets that and it can go in the freezer.
By which time it was lunch. We have gingerbread, or mixed spice bread. Two large stars, so I pull of each point and dunk it in a coffee, so soft enough in the end.
And amazingly, football is back. In fact, below the Championship, it never stopped during the World Cup, the the Prem and Championship did, and Norwich were to play for the first time in a month, away at Swansea.
So I could watch the early game, Portugal v Morocco as well as follow Norwich.
Good news in both games, as Norwich scored in the first minute then hung on to claim all three points, and Morocco knocked out Portugal; Ronaldo, Pepe and all.
There were tears at the end. Bitter ones from Ron and tears of joy for the rest of us.
And then, France v England.
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The villages 13th century church, St Vincent of Saragossa, is thought to have been founded by the monks of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury and contains an ancient wall painting depicting Saint Christopher, patron saint of travellers. The church also has what is reckoned to be one of the finest collection of stained glass windows designed by Nathaniel Westlake in the country. Nathaniel Westlake was a leading designer of the Gothic Revival movement in England.
Work done in 1995 by experts from the V&A Museum established that he designed each of the windows over the long period of his work with the Company, thus giving an outstanding example of the development of his style.
The Church has a six-bell peal, the oldest bell dating back to 1597, the newest 1899.
www.littlebournebenefice.org.uk/littlebournechurchhistory...
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LOCATION: Situated at about 40 feet above O.D. on Head brickearth (over Upper Chalk). A little to the west of the river Little Stour. Littlebourne Court, originally belonging to St. Augustine’s Abbey, lies immediately to the north-west. Wickhambreaux and Ickham churches are not far away to the north and east.
DESCRIPTION: As with many North-East Kent churches, this church points south-east, and it is first documented in Domesday Book, with the eastern three-quarters of the nave of the present church presumably being, in part, of an early Norman date. The only visible evidence for the earliest structure, however, is outside the south-west corner of the nave. Here one can see reused Roman bricks, and the original steep slope of the very early 13th century south aisle (continuing the line of the nave roof). The nave must be earlier than this, so is at least 12th century in date. It is also worth noting the very rare dedication, to St Vincent.
The whole of the south arcade for the south aisle still survives in its very early 13th century form, with four pointed arches (that on the west is smaller). The arches have continuous flat
the piers themselves. All the dressings are in Caen stone.
Later in the 13th century a large new chancel was built, probably at about the time (c. 1245) when St Augustine’s Abbey were endowing the new vicarage there, after the appropriation. The chancel has four tall lancets on either side, and an eastern triplet which has internal shafting on the jambs, and deeply moulded rere-arches and hood-moulds. All the other lancets have plain rere-arches, and all the chancel windows sit internally on a filleted roll-moulding which steps up at the east end and runs under the triplet. There is a piscina on the south-east with a pointed arch (with hood) over it, and bar-stopped chamfers on the sides. On the north-west side of the chancel is a small doorway, which was restored in the 19th century. The chancel was fairly heavily restored on the outside in the 19th century (‘1865’ on one of the rain-water hoppers), but much of its original coursed whole flints are still visible, as well as some of the rows of putlog holes. The chancel also has a separate roof, with a west gable, but this was rebuilt completely in c. 1865.
At about the same time as the chancel was being rebuilt in the early to mid-15th century, a very plain tower was added at the west end (It is similar to the neighbouring tower at Ickham). This has a tall simple pointed arch (with flat chamfers and abaci) into the nave, and on the west is a simple pointed doorway with flat chamfers and a tall lancet above it. The tower is unbuttressed, and has four more wide restored lancets (one in each face) in the top (belfry) stage. Externally the tower has the remains of its original plastering over coursed flint with side-alternate Caenstone quoins. On top of the tower is a later medieval (14th/15th century) brooch spire (now covered in slates).
The tower was restored in 1899, and the bells were rehung in a new timber and cast iron frame. There are now six bells, dated 1597,1610, 1650 and three of 1899 (said to have been recast from two late medieval ones). Glynne tells us that there was an organ in a west gallery under the tower, but this was removed during the restoration. A shed (now 2 cloakrooms) was also added to the north side of the tower in c. 1899.
A small Lady Chapel may have been added to the north-east side of the nave in the later 13th century as shown by its two light trefoil-headed (with circular opening above) east window (it has an internal rere-arch). All other evidence for this above ground was removed by the early 14th and early 19th century re-buildings (see below). The Lady Chapel is first documented in the late 15th century, but most churches acquired a separate Lady Chapel in N.W. Kent in the 13th century.
In the early 14th century both the south and north aisles had their outer walls rebuilt. On the south this was a continuous heightening and rebuild for the full length of the nave (with the evidence for the earlier lean-to aisle surviving in the west wall, as shown above). There is however still a later 13th century lancet in the centre of the south wall, with a probable later 13th century south doorway next to it (though completely rebuilt externally in the 19th century). The other aisle windows are all, however, 2 - light early 14th century traceried windows, and the gables and separate pitched roof over the aisle is also perhaps 14th century (it is still hidden under a flat plaster ceiling). In the south aisle wall are some reused Reigate stone fragments, and the large later south buttress has Ragstone quoins and reused Reigate And Caenstone fragments (and heavy 19th century knapped flintwork). Some Purbeck marble is reused in the wall west of the south porch. This aisle also has a small square-topped piscina in its south-east corner, and a very small stoup just inside the door on the east.
Hasted tells us that ‘a few years ago the north isle fell down, when there were some curious paintings discovered by the breaking of the plaster from the walls. This aisle was immediately rebuilt’. It is however, clear from the present remains (and from the Petrie water-colour view), that the church was again rebuilt in the early 19th century, with the present flatish 4-bay crown/king post nave roof and lath and plaster ceiling. The two dormers on the south side of the nave roof are presumably of the same date as is the shallow-pitched shed-roof over the north aisle, and the wooden post and two semi-circular arches into the north aisle. On the north-west side of the nave one can see an infilled pointed arch (? of chalk) with abaci, suggesting that there was originally a 13th century 3-bay north aisle (and Lady Chapel). The scar for the south-west corner of this aisle which did not continue to the west end of the nave, is just visible, and the late 18th century collapse was clearly at the west end of this aisle, which was not rebuilt (the other aisle-wall window being reset in the nave wall). The north wall of the north aisle must have been rebuilt in the early 14th century with buttresses and new two-light traceried windows. There may have been a north door here.
Only the chancel was heavily restored in the later 19th century (1865) with a new south porch in 1896, replacing a brick one, according to Glynne. A porch is documented from at least 1505.
BUILDING MATERIALS: (Incl. old plaster, paintings, glass, tiles etc.):
The main local material is flint, and whole flints, in courses, are used for all the early work with dressings of Caenstone. Some Reigate stone is then used in the 13th century, with Kent Rag for the quoins in the early 14th century. There is also some reused Purbeck marble in the walls, and Bathstone is used for the late 19th century restorations. Hasted mentions ‘the remains of good painted glass’ in the chancel side lancets and ‘seven sacraments, etc. handsomely done, with rich borders’ in the eastern lancets, ‘but they have been some few years since removed’ (op. cit. below, p.155). Also he mentions armorial glass in the S.E. window of the south aisle, and other now-vanished glass is known from the church - see C.R. Councer (below).
EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH: None, but remains of medieval wall-painting on the north side of the nave, at the west end. Also a leger slab, with a small brass inscription in it, dated 1585, in front of the chancel arch. Also some early 19th century Benefaction boards on the west wall of the south aisle. Most of the furnishings in the church date from the restoration of 1864-4, or later.
CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:
Size & Shape: Large north-south rectangular area around church, with large extensions to north (20th century) and south (19th century).
Condition: Good
Building in churchyard or on boundary: Lych Gate of timber (1892) to the south. Very large c. early 14th century great barn of Littlebourne Court (172ft long) runs along west boundary of the churchyard.
Ecological potential: ? Yes. The burial under a ‘great palm’ (ie. Yew Tree) in the churchyard is mentioned in a will of 1542, and there are still some quite large Yews north of the church.
Late med. Status: Vicarage endowed in 1245 with a house, some tithes, etc. A chaplain had to be found to celebrate weekly in Garrington Chapel.
Patron: St. Augstine’s Abbey, Canterbury (and alienated to the Italian monastery of Monte Mirteto in Italy, 1224). In 1538 it went to the crown, and then on to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury in 1541.
Other documentary sources: Hasted IX (1800) , 155-8. There is much documentation in Thorne’s Chronicle and the ‘Black Book’ of St Augustine’s. Testamenta Cantiana (E. Kent, 1907), 196-8 mentions burial in the churchyard from 1473, the church porch (1501), various ‘lights’, the altar of Our Lady (1499+), reparation of the altars of St James and St Nicholas (1473), for paving between the chancel and the west door (1419).
SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:
Inside present church: ? Good.
Outside present church: ? Good, though there is a large soil build-up around the church, and a brick-lined drainage gulley (up to 2ft deep) has been made all around the church.
RECENT DISTURBANCES/ALTERATIONS:
To structure: None, but chancel stalls brought from St Johns, Herne Bay in 1974, and organ in north aisle from Holy Cross, Canterbury in 1972.
To floors: Brick floor relaid at east end of S. aisle - Oct 1991.
Quinquennial inspection (date/architect): Feb. 1990 Maureen O’Connor.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:
A Norman nave was given a lean-to south aisle and perhaps extended to the west in the very early 13th century, with a plain west tower being added soon after. The chancel was rebuilt (and greatly enlarged) in the mid 13th century, and there was probably also a Lady Chapel and nave north aisle by the later 13th century. The outer walls of the aisles were rebuilt in the early 14th century. A timber spire was also built. In the late 18th century the west end of the north aisle collapsed and this was rebuilt along with the nave roof, etc. again in the early 19th century. Chancel restored in 1865, and west tower in 1899 (with rehung bells). A new south porch was built in 1896.
The wider context: One of a group of churches belonging to St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury with major rebuildings in the 13th and early 14th centuries.
REFERENCES: S.R. Glynne, Notes of the Churches of Kent (1877), 167-8. (He visited in 1851). C.R. Councer, Lost Glass from Kent Churches ) (1980), 77-8.
Guide Book: None available in church, but see St Vincent’s Church, Littlebourne by Elizabeth Jeffries (1984) - very poor for architectural history.
Plans & drawings: Petrie early 19th cent. view from N.E., with continuous roof slope over nave and N. aisle.
DATES VISITED: 19th December 1996 REPORT BY: Tim Tatton-Brown
www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/01/03/LIT.htm
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LITTLEBORNE
LIES the next parish south-eastward from Stodmarsh, taking its name from its situation close to the stream which bounds the eastern part of it, and at the same time to distinguish it from the other parishes of the name of Borne in the near neighbourhood of it.
There is but one borough in this parish, called the borough of Littleborne.
Littleborne extends to the skirt of the beautiful and healthy parts of East Kent, and verging farther from the large levels of marsh land which lie near the Stour, quits that gloomy aspect of ill health so prevalent near them, and here begins to assume one more cheerful, pleasant and healthy; and Twyne tells us, (fn. 1) that it was allotted by the abbot and convent of St. Augustine's, who possessed the manor, for the plantation of vines. The village is built on the high road leading from Canterbury to Sandwich and Deal, at the eastern boundary of the parish, adjoinining to the Little Stour, and consists of about forty houses. The church stands at a small distance from it, having the courtlodge close to it, with the parsonage at a small distance. This parish extends northward as far as the Stour, opposite to Westbere, in which part of it however, there is but a small quantity of marsh-land, near which is an estate called Higham, which antiently was owned by a family of that name. Above the hill, south-eastward from hence, there is a great deal of woodland, and among it a tract of heathy rough land, belonging to the archbishop, called Fishpool-downs, through which the road leads to Wickham. At the bottom of Fishpool hill is the valley called the Ponds, now entirely covered with wood, part of which is in this parish. The ponds were supplied from a spring called Arrianes well, probably for Adrian's well, and were of a considerable size and depth, made for the supply of the convent of St. Augustine, the owners of them, with fish for their refectory, the sides of them now equally thick with coppice wood, were antiently a vineyard. These woods continue from hence adjoining the high road towards the village in great quantities, much of which belongs to the archbishop, and are intermixed with a great deal of rough bushy ground. The lands in this parish are in general very poor and gravelly, but towards Wickham they are much more fertile both for corn and hops, of which there are several plantations. This parish extends across the river eastward towards the hill, and takes in great part of Lower Garwinton, and part of the house, and some little land of Upper Garwinton within it, which is entirely separated from the rest of it by the parish of Adisham intervening.
Polygonatum scalacæci, Solomon's seal; grows plentifully on Fishpool-hill in this parish.
A fair is held here on the 5th of July, for toys and pedlary.
In the year 690, Widred, king of Kent, gave to the monastery of St. Augustine, in pure and perpetual alms, five plough-lands called Litleborne, on condition of their remembring of him in their prayers and solemn masses. And in the year 1047, king Edward the Consessor gave another plough-land here, which consisted of the estates of Bourne, Dene, and Wiliyington, to archbishop Eadsin, free from all service, except. the trinoda necessitas, and he bestowed it on that monastery. After which the manor of Little borne continued in the possession of the abbey to the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in which it is thus entered under the general title of the land of the church of St. Augustine:
In Dunamesfort hundred, the abbot himself holds, Liteburne, which is taxed at seven sulings. The arable land is twelve carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and thirty-five villeins, with fourteen cottagers having six and an half. There is a church, and thirtyeight acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of four hogs. In the time of king Edward the Consessor it was worth twenty-five pounds, afterwards twenty pounds, now thirty-two pounds. Of this manor the bishop of Baieux has in his park, as much as is worth sixty shillings.
After this the abbot and convent's possessions here were increased by several gifts and purchases of different parcels of land. (fn. 2)
King Henry III. in his 54th year, granted to the abbot and convent free-warren in all their demesne lands of Littleborne, among others. In the 7th year of king Edward II.'s reign, anno 1313, in the iter of H. de Stanton and his sociates, justices itinerant, the abbot, upon a quo warranto, claimed and was allowed in this manor among others, free warren in all his demesne lands of it, and view of frank-pledge, and other liberties therein-mentioned, in like manner as has been already mentioned before, in the description of the manors of Sturry and Stodmarsh. (fn. 3) By a register of the monastery of about this time, it appears, that this manor had then in demesne the park of Trendesle. In the 10th year of king Edward III. Solomon de Ripple being custos, or bailiff of this manor, made many improvements here, and purchased more lands in it, all the buildings of it being in a manner wholly re-built and raised from the ground, with much cost, by him. In king Richard II.'s reign, the abbot's manor of Littleborne was valued at 23l. 8s. 6d. the admeasurement of the lands being 505 acres. After which this manor continued with the monastery till its dissolution, anno 30 Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands, and remained in the crown till king Edward VI. in his 1st year, granted the manor and manor-house, with all lands and appurtenances, and a water-mill lately belonging to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, to the archbishop, among other premises, in exchange for the manor of Mayfield, &c. parcel of the possessions of whose see it still remains, the archbishop being the present owner of it. The manor, with the profits of courts, royalties, &c. the archbishop keeps in his own hands; but the demesnes have been from time to time demised on a beneficial lease. The family of Denne have been for more than a century lessees of it, who now reside in the court-lodge.
On the abolition of episcopacy, after the death of king Charles I. this manor was sold by the state to Sir John Roberts and John Cogan, the latter of whom, by his will in 1657, gave his moiety of it to the mayor and aldermen of Canterbury, for the benefit of six poor ministers widows (for whose use he had at the same time demised his dwelling-house in Canterbury, now called Cogan's hospital. But the manor of Littleborne, on the restoration in 1660, returned again to the see of Canterbury.
The manor of Wolton, alias Walton, lies in the southern part of this parish, adjoining to the precinct of Well, and was antiently possessed by a family who took their name from it, one of whom, John, son of John de Wolton, held it at the latter end of king Henry III.'s reign. But this family became extinct here before the reign of king Edward III. in the 20th year of which, Roger de Garwinton held it by knight's service, (fn. 4) in whose descendants it continued till it passed into the family of Petit, of Shalmsford, who held it of the abbot of St. Augustine's by the like service, in which name and family it continued till it was at length alienated to Sir Henry Palmer, of Bekesborne, whose descendant of the same name passed it away by sale to Sir Robert Hales, of Bekesborne, in whose descendants it continued down to Sir Philip Hales, bart. of Howlets, who in 1787 alienated this manor to Isaac Baugh, esq. of Well, the present owner of it.
Wingate, alias Lower Garwington, in a manor, which lies on the other or eastern side of the river, adjoining to Ickham, taking the former of those names from a family, who were owners of it in Henry III.'s reign, and held it by knight's service of the abbot and convent of St. Augustine. In which reign Simon de Wingate held it as above-mentioned, but before the 20th year of King Edward III. this name was extinct here, and Thomas de Garwinton then held this estate, lying in Wingate, held of the abbot by the like tenure. (fn. 5) In the descendants of Thomas de Garwington, who resided at their mansion and manor, since called Upper Garwinton, adjoining to it, seems to have continued some time, and from them, as well as to distinguish it from that, to have taken the name of Wingate, alias Lower Garwinton. After this family had quitted the possession of it, the Clyffords appear from different records to have become owners of it, and after them the Sandfords, and it appears by the escheat rolls, that Humphrey Sandford died possessed of it in the 14th year of king Henry VII. and that Thomas Sandford was his son and heir. After which it came into the hands of the crown, for king Henry VIII. in his 30th year, granted the manors of Wingate and Garwinton to Sir Christopher Hales, then master of the rolls. He left three daughters his coheirs, who became jointly, entitled to it, and on the division of their estates it was allotted to the youngest daughter Mary, who entitled her husband Alexander Colepeper, esq. to it, in which name it continued till the 22d of queen Elizabeth, when it was passed away by sale to Thomas Fane, esq. whose son Francis, earl of Westmoreland, sold it to William Prude, alias Proude, esq. who being a lieutenant-colonel in the army, was slain at the siege of Maestricht in 1632, having devised this estate in tail male to his eldest surviving son Serles Prude, who died in 1642, leaving only two daughters his coheirs, upon which it came to his next brother William, who left an only daughter Dorothy, and she, the entail being barred, carried it first in marriage to Nethersole, by whom she had no issue, and secondly to Christopher May, esq. of Rawmere, in Suffex, whose only daughter and heir Anne, entitled her husband William Broadnax, esq. of Godmersham, to the possession of it. His son Thomas Changed his name, first to May and then to Knight, and died possessed of this manor in 1781, leaving an only son Thomas Knight, esq. of Godmersham, who in the year 1785 exchanged it for other lands in Crundal with Thomas Barret, esq. of Lee, the present owner of it.
Upper Garwinton is a manor, which lies adjoining to that last-described, southward, at the boundary of this parish, next to Adisham, in which parish part of the mansion of it stands, being written in the survery of Domesday, Warwintone, one of the many instances in that book of the mistakes of the Norman scribes. It was, after the conquest, parcel of those possessions with which the Conqueror enriched his half-brother Odo, the great bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, and was exchanged by him for other lands with the abbot of St. Augustine's, accordingly it is thus entered in that record, under the general title of the land of the church of St. Augustine:
The abbot himself holds Warwintone, and the bishop of Baieux gave it to him in exchange of his park. It was taxed at half a suling and forty-two acres of land. The arable land is one carucate, and there is in demesne, with three cottagers, and sixteen acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth four pounds, and afterwards forty shillings, now four pounds. This manor Edric de Sbern Biga held, and now Radulf holds it of the abbot.
Whether this description extended to the last-described manor of Wingate, is uncertain, though most probably, as both were held of the abbot by knight's service, it was comprehended in it. However that may be, this manor of Garwintone, called as above, erroneously, in Domesday, Warwintone, was held of the abbot by a family who took their surname from it; one of whom, Richard de Garwynton, resided here at the latter end of king Henry II.'s reign, and had a chapel at his mansion here; and in 1194, the abbot granted to him and his heirs, to have the divine office celebrated for three days in a week in this chapel by the priest of Littleborne. (fn. 6) His descendant Thomas Garwinton was possessed of this manor and several other estates in this part of the county, in the 20th year of king Edward III. whose great-grandson William Garwynton dying S. P. Joane his kinswoman, married to Richard Haut, was anno II Henry IV. found to be his heir not only to this manor, but to much other lands in these parts, and their son Richard Haut having an only daughter and heir Margery, she carried this manor in marriage to William Isaac, esq. of Patrixborne, whose descendant Edward Isaac, at his death, gave this manor to his two daughter by his second wife, viz. Mary, married to Thomas Appleton, esq. of Suffolk, and Margaret, to John Jermye, second son of Sir John Jermye, of the same county, and they seem to have shared this manor between them. Thomas Appleton sold his share afterwards to Anthony Parker, who with Isaac Jermye, eldest son of John above-mentioned, joined in the sale of the entire see of it to Sir Henry Palmer, of Howlets, and he by his will in 1611, devised it to his nephew John Goodwyn, whose heirs some time afterwards passed it away by sale to George Curteis, esq. afterwards knighted, and of Otterden, and he alienated it to Sir Robert Hales, of Bekesborne, in whose descendants it continued down to Sir Philip Hales, bart. of Howlets, who in 1787, passed it away by sale to Isaac Baugh, esq. the present owner of it.
Charities.
John Dorrante, of Bekesborne, yeoman, in 1560, gave by will, to discharge the poor from the assessments of the church, the overplus to be paid to the most antient poor of the parish, the sum of 3s, 6d. on Palm Sunday and the Monday before Penticost; and 21s. 6d. on Christmas-day yearly, out of the house and lands called Church-house, now vested in Mr. Peter Inge.
Henry Sloyden, of Wickhambreaux, in 1568, gave by will to the poor of this parish and of Wickham, six acres and a half of land, called Church-close, to be divided between them yearly, now of the annual produce of 3l. 9s. 9d.
Sir Henry Palmer, by his will in 1611, gave 10s. to be paid yearly out of his manor of Welle, for the use of the poor.
James Franklyn, by will in 1616, gave to the parishes of Littleborne, Chistlet, and Hoathe, in Reculver, 5l. each, to be employed in a stock for the poor. This 5l. is now increased to 11l. this interest of which being 8s. 93frac34;d. is distributed among the poor in general.
Valentine Norton, gent. by his will, was a benefactor to the poor; but there are no particulars further known of it.
The poor constantly relieved are about fifty, casually thirtyfive.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Vincent, consists of three isles and a chancel, having at the west end a low pointed steeple, in which hang five bells. The church is kept very neat. It is a good sized building, and is handsomely ceiled. The chancel is lostly, and has four narrow lancet windows on each side, and three at the end; in the former are the remains of good painted glass, and in the latter some years ago were the seven sacraments, &c. very handsomely done, with rich borders, but they have been some few years since removed. In it is a memorial for George I'anns, curate, obt. 1699. In the middle isle are several memorials for the family of Denne, for many descents lessees of the court-lodge, and descended from those of Dennehill, in Kingston, In the south-east window of the south isle is a saint holding a shield of arms, in front, Gules, three cocks, argent, being the arms of Bunington, on the lest side a moon, on the right a sun, all very well done; and there were formerly in one of the windows, the arms of Higham, argent, a lion passant regardant, between six cross-croslets fitchee, sable, impaling Gallaway, ermine, three lozenges, gules. A few years ago the north isle fell down, when there were some curious paintings discovered, by the breaking of the plaister from the walls. This isle was immediately rebuilt. In the church-yard, at the north-west part of it, are several tombs and head stones of the family of Denne before- mentioned.
¶The church of Littleborne was antiently appendant to the manor, part of the possessions of the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, and continued so till the year 1224, when Robert de Bello being chosen abbot, and finding much difficulty in obtaining the pope's benediction, to facilitate it, gave this church to the monastery of St. Mary de Monte Mirteto, in Italy, to which the pope, in 1241, appropriated it. Immediately after which, this parsonage, so appropriated, was demised to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, in perpetual ferme, at the clear yearly sum of thirty marcs. (fn. 7) Four years after which, anno 1245, archbishop Stratford endowed the vicarage of it, the advowson of which was reserved to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, when he decreed, that the vicarage should be endowed with a mansion, the tithes of filva cæ dua, of hay, and in three acres of arable, one acre of meadow, and in the receipt of three marcs and an half in money from the religious yearly, and in the tithes of flax, hemp, ducks, calves, pigeons, bees, milk, milkmeats, mills, wool, pigs, and in all oblations and other small tithes belonging to the church; and that the vicar should serve the church in divine rites, and find one chaplain to celebrate weekly in the chapel of Garwyntone, and to find bread, wine, and tapers, for celebrating divine rites in the church. Which endowment was afterwards, in 1370, certified by inspeximus, by archbishop Wittlesey. In which state this church and advowson remained till the final dissolution of the abbey of St. Augustine, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. when they came into the king's hands, and the king, in his 33d year, settled both, by his dotation-charter, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom they continue at this time. The parsonage has been from time to time let on a beneficial lease, Mr. Thomas Holness being the present lessee of it, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.
The vicarage of Littleborne is valued in the king's books at 7l. 19s. 10d. but the yearly tenths taken are sixteen shillings, the sum total being erroneonsly cast up in the king's books at eight pounds. The antient pension of 3l. 17s. 4d. from the abbey of St. Augustine's, is yearly received by the vicar out of the exchequer; the demesne lands of the court-lodge pay no greattithes, and the archbishop's woods in his own occupation pay none. In 1588 here were one hundred and fifty communicants; in 1640 the same, when it was valued at thirty-five pounds. It has been augmented by the dean and chapter with fifty pounds per annum.
The chapel of Lukedale, in the precinct of Well, was once esteemed as within the bounds of this parish, of which more may be seen herefter, under Ickham, to which parish Well is now annexed.
I just checked my hold-ups and my left leg stocking top was a little lower than my right leg stocking top. This is unacceptable and needs to be fixed immediately. So here we go, I go do what I love doing most and you can check whether my stocking tops are okay. Yumm, that delicate little pull on my stocking top feels so wonderfully feminine and delightful. And, are my stockings tops perfectly aligned now or not quite yet? I really cannot see from above so I rely on your judgement and directions...