...including road grime.

Well, this was fun. I’ve never done oil droplets before though I have admired the results of many who have, including lots today.

And I wasn’t going to. But I had ten minutes spare at lunchtime so I thought I would give it a try. I placed a little water in a light-coloured flowerpot saucer outside and dripped oil on top. It was really shallow so you can see the droplet shadows on the saucer from the bright sunlight.

The red oil on the left is multigrade car oil from the Boy’s Garage. Curiously when I first added the oil it didn’t form proper blobs at all, just a yellow mush. And then I sprayed it, as one does, with WD40 (a very light DIY oil in an aerosol can), and suddenly it formed blobs. How strange! My scientific curiosity is piqued, but I decided to leave further experiments ‘til later.

The yellow is rapeseed cooking oil pernickered from the Mistress of the Estate’s Kitchen.

And that was the problem.

Alas, Favourite Wife spotted the theft and I was caught (oily- and) red-handed. As a result (and the fact that the ‘ten minutes’ overran ever so slightly, cough…) I am in the doghouse, and my ranking has dropped immeasurably way beneath that of Favourite Husband.

She was distinctly not amused that I was so free to squander the last remaining cooking oil. It was not so much a fall from grace as a plummet over the precipice into the fathomless abyss. I doubt now that Favourite Husband will ever be an attainable goal, and I’d worked towards it for so long. Sigh…

I took about 120 shots, struggling to find a good composition (I was definitely on the steep learning curve experimenting mode here). This was a crop from one of the more interesting results. I rather like the little cascade of mini droplets or bubbles from the top right droplet.

There was a little magic in the processing and the image was also flipped vertically to tell a better story.

This is for Smile on Saturday’s Oil on Water theme today.

Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image. Happy Smile on Saturday :) (Sympathy always welcome! ;) )

INCLUDING: CAP(12colors)

♥ ♥ Taxi to Mainstore ♥ ♥

including AZI series droid

including Crabeater seal

Celebrating Christmas in Downtown Baker City Oregon

Enjoying the holiday festivities in downtown Baker City including the COVID modified CASA Classic Christmas Gingerbread Tour of Homes and all the festive holiday windows and decoration on Main Street. Especially enjoying the Art Roamers outdoor art installation of life size gingerbread men and exotic animals in Court Avenue Plaza.

Baker City, Oregon’s historic downtown is one of the largest and most intact turn of the 20th century downtowns in the Northwest and is surrounded by historic neighborhoods. The downtown has been beautifully restored and revitalized over the years and is a vibrant and bustling district with lots of small locally owned shop. Throughout the year, and especially during the holiday season, the downtown hosts a number of festive celebrations and is simply a perfect backdrop for celebrating Christmas on Main Street

For more information about Baker City’s historic downtown visit www.bakercitydowntown.com or for information about other holiday events and activities in Baker County visit Baker County Tourism’s website at www.travelbakercounty.com

Taken 12/04/19

Taken 12/04/19

E15 is the first of two Go Ahead London buses to join the Commercial fleet as a converted open topper for the fleet. E14, being the other bus to be converted, is yet to be completed.

The open top conversion has come with USB chargers fitted on both floors including waterproof ones for the outdoor area. Instead of the typical GENERAL livery applied to the Commercial open toppers, the standard commercial livery has been applied instead.

E14 and E15 will be in the fleet in addition to WVL83, WVL93 and PVL224, but will subsequently replace two of them by the end of the year. Additionally, it is planned that WVL83, WVL93 and PVL224 will remain on this year's Southend 68 service with E14 and E15 being used on other private hire and event work only.

EARLY RELEASE !!

~BBB~ are very happy to announce we will be including the CATWA Mesh Heads to our range of shapes.

~BodY By BayN~

NOW ON YOUTUBE.

www.youtube.com/channel/UC4k8NEGJcTNan_HbpmEnQsg?view_as=...

CHICAGO Shape.

CATWA - Catya Head.

This shape is specifically created for CATWA - Catya Head.

Maitreya Version BUT Can be Edited (in FULL Version) to your preferred shape for your fav Mesh Body.

** Make sure you own this head before purchasing this shape **

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Thank you for shopping at ~Body By Bayn~

ANY and ALL inquiries please contact Dannon Rain or Tommi Bayn inworld.

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Including the brick walls!

Many recogniazable figures including Chairman Mao, Marlon Brando (as The Godfather), Abraham Lincoln, Napolean Bonaparte,Joseph Stalin, Audrey Hepburn, Mozart, William Shakespeare, J.S. Bach, Karl Marx, Lenin, Moses, Adolph Hitler, Shirley Temple,Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, and on and on. That's me, playing the accordion ( right next to Shirley Temple) , right above Alfred Einstein. How many can you identify?

The sun rises over Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary in the north-eastern state of Assam in India

Kaziranga is a wildlife santuary in the north-eastern state of Assam in India.It was established as a reserve forest in 1905 and is a World Heritage Site.It hosts two thirds of the world's great one horned rhino population.Kaziranga (area 430 sq kms) is a vast expanse of tall elephant grass,marshland and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests crisscrossed by four rivers including the mighty Brahmaputra.Apart from a rhino population of over 2040 rhinos the park is also home to tigers,wildwater buffalo,species of deer and numerous birds.

Sunbeam Alpine (1969-75) Engine 1725 cc S4 OHV

Production 46204 (including H120 and Rapier)

Registration Number KLL 557 K (London)

SUNBEAM ALBUM

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623847032276...

The Arrow Rapier – or Fastback, as it came to be known – launched in October 1967was a four-seat coupé based on the chassis of the Hillman Hunter Estate. Although the Rapier used the tail lamps and rear valance from the Hunter Estate, the rest of its superstructure was unique.

The Rapier used the Rootes four-cylinder, five-bearing 1,725 cc (105.3 cu in) engine, which was tilted slightly to the right to enable a lower bonnet line, in common with the other Arrow models. With its twin Stromberg 150CD carburettors the engine produced 88 hp Overdrive was standard with the manual gearbox, and Borg-Warner automatic transmission was an optional extra.

The Fastback Rapier continued almost unchanged until 1976, when it was discontinued without a replacement. During its lifetime it formed the basis for the more powerful Sunbeam Rapier H120 (108hp), introduced in October 1968 To add to its sporty image, the H120 had wider Rostyle wheels broad side flashes, polished sill covers, a matt black radiator grille and a new boot lid incorporating a faired-in spoiler. To further distinguish the model from others in the range, it had H120 badges on the front wings and in the centre of the grille. The H120 was discontinued with the Fastback Rapier in 1976

The Sunbeam Alpine Fastback, introduced in October 1969, was essentially a Rapier with a simplified specification, developed to fill a gap in the Arrow range above the Singer Vogue. It used the same 1,725 cc (105.3 cu in) engine as the Hillman Hunter which, fitted with a single Stromberg 150CD carburettor, developed 74 hp. The Alpine, though well equipped, was less sporty in style than the Rapier. It had a wooden dashboard with fewer instruments, instead of the Rapier's cowled plastic one, and wood instead of metal on the transmission tunnel. There were also different wheel trims, no aluminium sill finishers (nor the polished ones of the H120) and no vinyl trim on its C-pillars. Above all at £1086 in the UK it was significantly (for the time) cheaper than the £1200 Rapier. Maximum speed of the Alpine was 91 mph (146 km/h) and it could reach 60 mph (97 km/h) from rest in 14.6 seconds. The Alpine Fastback was discontinued in 1975, one year before the Rapier and Rapier H120

Diolch am 91,844,312 o olygfeydd anhygoel, mae pob un yn cael ei werthfawrogi'n fawr.

Thanks for 91,844,312 amazing views, every one is greatly appreciated.

Shot 17.04.2022 Weston Park (Classic Car Show), Weston-under-Lizard, Salop 157-330

NR26/ NR83 on 7PS6 including 12 Sadleirs vans departed at 1325 at Kewdale on 18 November 2006. Photo: Jim Bisdee.

MAGEE MARSH, OAK HARBOR, OHIO, USA

© FRAN BROWN-ALL rights reserved. This image may not be used for ANY purpose without written permission.

NIKON D7200 Nikon 500 mm f/4 and 1/4 converter. ISO 800

f/320 with flash.

A bird of the deep forest, the Black-throated Blue Warbler breeds in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. On migration to its Caribbean wintering grounds it can be seen in a variety of habitats, including parks and gardens.

Thanks to all my Flickr friends for viewing, commenting on and favoring my images.

Early morning walk in Quepos, CR area produced a few cool shots, including this pair of Pale-billed woodpeckers. Beautiful birds, (Campephilus guatemalensis)

Narcissus

is a genus of predominantly spring perennial plants of the Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis) family.

Various common names including daffodil, daffadowndilly, narcissus and jonquil are used to describe all or some members of the genus. Narcissus has conspicuous flowers with six petal-like tepals surmounted by a cup- or trumpet-shaped corona. The flowers are generally white or yellow (also orange or pink in garden varieties), with either uniform or contrasting coloured tepals and corona.

© All rights reserved

including a blue one for Monday.

Softly Flypaper textured.

Including a Lee ND grad and the B+W 10 stop ND.

A friend and I ventured into a forgotten “city” for a afternoon photo shoot. Abandoned long ago, Concrete City is full of jagged edges, dangerous footing, caved in floors and ceilings and enough spookiness to scare yourself silly! I’m including some interesting background information.

Concrete City was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Coal Company back in 1911. It was left abandoned by the same company in 1924. There were 22 2-story homes that faced a courtyard with complete with a wading pool, tennis courts, playground, baseball field and a small pavillion. It is believed to be the first example of modern tract housing.

Each home had seven rooms and rent was $8.00/ month with concrete outhouses built behind each house. They were painted white with dark green trim. The main disadvantage of the concrete city was the dampness caused by moisture rising through the pourous concrete. Everything, including the roof is made of concrete. Each tenant was required to have a garden hose to wash the culm from the walls. Every two years, the coal company made all the necessary repairs and painted the entire town, inside and outside, papering any rooms as requested by the tenants. Only working coal miners were allowed to rent. The Glen Alden Company took possession of the property and did not want to spend $ 200,000.00 installing a sewer system required by the township. Demolition began in Dec. 1924. Glen Alden abandoned the complex, in place, because 100 sticks of dynamite had little impact on one of the buildings. Since then, the "city" has been used by the military, police, and fire departments for training. You can see large caliber hits on some of the walls. It was declared a historical site in 1988.

www.itsveryeasytoremember.com/Pennsylvania/Concrete_City/...

These shafts are an integral part of the load-bearing system of a building. For example, a core shaft in a high-rise building might house the central structural elements, including the elevator shafts, stair shafts, and utility passages, all while providing support to the overall structure.

From AlSyed Construction website.

Artwork ©jackiecrossley

© All rights reserved. This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying & recording without my written permission. Thank you.

The Black-necked Stilt is found throughout the tropics and subtropics of North, Central and South America. Though it will only breed at freshwater sites, it occurs in a wide variety of shallow wetlands including marshes, swamps, lake edges, river courses, sewage ponds, salt-pans and coastal salt marshes where it feeds on aquatic invertebrates with a variety of visual and tactile methods. The Black-necked Stilt is highly distinctive, being white below, black above with very long, thin bright red legs. Two subspecies occur in the Americas, differing only in the presence of a white-cap and collar in the southern subspecies. The two subspecies grade into one another fairly rapidly and in general the northern subspecies occurs from the central Peruvian Coast north, including the Andes, to North America and across northern South America and the southern subspecies occurs throughout the Amazon south to edge of the southern Temperate zone and along the southern Pacific coast but their breeding and non-breeding distributions are poorly known and require further study.

A couple of bison I encountered earlier this month (3-6-2022) at the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park near Medora, North Dakota. Of all the wildlife within the park boundaries (including the occasional cougar, plus plenty of coyotes and even prairie rattlers in the warm months), bison are the ones I am most wary of while hiking about. These were both bedded down and appeared slow and cumbersome when they stood but they are anything but slow. On this particular day, I was not feeling well and did not stray far from my vehicle and these particular frames were shot from within, in fact. Pleaaaase... Don't go pose with bison! If ever you witness their speed and agility during the rut, for example, you'll realize you don't stand a chance outrunning one of these big animals, for they make the worst bull in a rodeo look mild by comparison. They climb well (I've seen tracks up hillsides like that in the background) and they will also cave in a fender on your vehicle if you try to drive through a herd when they are in the road (I watched it happen in the north unit of TRNP one day a few years ago). If you act like the idiot in the YouTube video and harrass them, Darwin has an eye on you...

Implements including the chain used in an attempt to block the Hudson river and artillery from the revolution made with iron from Ringwood, NJ.

We found 7 today including 2 kits in Washington State!

EMUs including a MRVC liveried one are resting at Burdwan yard.Picture taken onboard 12338 Down Bolpur-Howrah Shantiniketan Express.

Halcyon smyrnensis

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© 2016 Anuj Nair. All rights reserved.

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

www.anujnair.net

________________________________________________

© 2016 Anuj Nair. All rights reserved.

All images are the property of Anuj Nair.Using these images without permission is in violation of international copyright laws (633/41 DPR19/78-Disg 154/97-L.248/2000). All materials may not be copied,reproduced,distributed,republished,downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any forms or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording without written permission of Anuj Nair. Every violation will be pursued penally.

Excerpt from fribourgregion.ch:

The Cordeliers church possesses some true masterpieces, including Gothic altarpieces, stalls, paintings and sculptures. Everything has been recently restored.

The first construction of the Cordeliers church dates from 1281, when the Franciscans of Basel set up home in Fribourg to found a monastery, which quickly gained in importance. From the 15th century onwards, this vast church hosted the assemblies of the town's middle classes. Distinguished guests were often housed at the convent.

During this prosperous period, the church was enriched with works of art, including three renowned altarpieces. The altarpiece of the high altar is the largest medieval painting in Switzerland. Four painted carnations have been discovered, resembling an artist's signature. But this symbol is often found on paintings from the period, and may be used as a sign that the painter belonged to a trade association.

The incomplete altarpiece of Saint Anthony is signed and dated: Hans Fries, 1506. The "Furno" altarpiece, a true gem from 1513, is a gilded triptych in relief.

The current nave was rebuilt in the 18th century. Look up to admire this high, light-filled aisle: late baroque trompe-l'oeil decoration stands alongside Gothic keystones. In the cloisters, you'll discover 15th century paintings depicting six scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, from around 1440, by Peter Maggenberg.

Cordelier is the name given to Franciscans, the monastic order whose members draw their inspiration from Saint Francis of Assisi (12th-13th century). In Fribourg, the monastery is now too large for the community. Some of the floors are used as student accommodation, and the cellars have been converted to preserve the archives in optimum conditions.

The Cordeliers are so-called because of the large "corde" or rope with three knots that they wear tied around their waist over their brown or grey habit. It symbolises their ideal of poverty.

Vyšehrad is the oldest seat of Czech princes; in fact, the local settlement was established in the mid-10 th century. Situated on a rocky promontory above the Vltava River, it offers stunning views of the city, and the park area holds hidden architectural treasures including the rare Romanesque Rotunda of St Martin, the neo-Gothic Church of Sts Peter and Paul, the national cemetery Slavín, and the underground casements housing the some of the original Baroque statues from the Charles Bridge.

To view more of my images, of Waddesdon Manor, inside and out, including some of the most beautiful artwork, and furniture, please click "here" !

From the Achieves, reprocessed using Photoshop CC 2025,

I would be most grateful if you would refrain from inserting your own images, and/or group invites; thank you!

Waddesdon Manor is a country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. The house was built in the Neo-Renaissance style of a French château between 1874 and 1889 for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839–1898). Since this was the preferred style of the Rothschild's it became also known as the Goût Rothschild. The house, set in formal gardens and an English landscape park, was built on a barren hilltop overlooking Waddesdon village. The last member of the Rothschild family to own Waddesdon was James de Rothschild. He bequeathed the house and its contents to the National Trust in 1957. Today, following an extensive restoration, it is administered by a Rothschild charitable trust that is overseen by Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild. In 2007–08 it was the National Trust's second most visited paid-entry property, with 386,544 visitors. The Baron wanted a house in the style of the great Renaissance châteaux of the Loire Valley. The Baron, a member of the Viennese branch of the Rothschild banking dynasty, chose as his architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur. Destailleur was already experienced in working in this style, having overseen the restoration of many châteaux in that region, in particular that of the Château de Mouchy. Through Destailleur's vision, Waddesdon embodied an eclectic style based on the châteaux so admired by his patron, Baron Ferdinand. The towers at Waddesdon were based on those of the Château de Maintenon, and the twin staircase towers, on the north facade, were inspired by the staircase tower at the Château de Chambord. However, following the theme of unparalleled luxury at Waddesdon, the windows of the towers at Waddesdon were glazed, unlike those of the staircase at Chambord. They are also far more ornate. The structural design of Waddesdon, however, was not all retrospective. Hidden from view were the most modern innovations of the late 19th century including a steel frame, which took the strain of walls on the upper floors, which consequently permitted the layout of these floors to differ completely from the lower floors. The house also had hot and cold running water in its bathrooms, central heating, and an electric bell system to summon the numerous servants. The building contractor was Edward Conder & Son. The towers were modelled on the staircase towers of Château de Chambord. One of the twin staircase-towers inspired by those at the Château de Maintenon. Once his château was complete, Baron Ferdinand installed his extensive collections of French 18th-century tapestries, boiseries, furniture and ceramics, English and Dutch paintings and Renaissance works of art. Extensive landscaping was carried out and the gardens enhanced with statuary, pavilions and an aviary. The Proserpina fountain was brought to the manor at the end of the 19th Century from the Palace of the Dukes of Parma in northern Italy: the Ducal Palace of Colorno. The gardens and landscape park were laid out by the French landscape architect Elie Lainé. An attempt was made to transplant full-grown trees by chloroforming their roots, to limit the shock. While this novel idea was unsuccessful, many very large trees were successfully transplanted, causing the grounds to be such a wonder of their day that, in 1890, Queen Victoria invited herself to view them. The Queen was, however, more impressed by the electric lighting in the house than the wonders of the park. Fascinated by the invention she had not seen before, she is reported to have spent ten minutes switching a newly electrified 18th-century chandelier on and off. When Baron Ferdinand died in 1898, the house passed to his sister Alice de Rothschild, who further developed the collections. Baron Ferdinand's collection of Renaissance works and a collection of arms were both bequeathed to the British Museum as the "Waddesdon Bequest". During World War II, children under the age of five were evacuated from London and lived at Waddesdon Manor. Following Alice de Rothschild's death in 1922, the property and collections passed to her great-nephew James A. "Jimmy" de Rothschild of the French branch of the family, who further enriched it with objects from the collections of his late father Baron Edmond James de Rothschild of Paris. When James de Rothschild died in 1957, he bequeathed Waddesdon Manor, 200 acres (0.81 km2) of grounds and its contents to the National Trust, to be preserved for posterity. The Trust also received their largest ever endowment from him: £750,000 (£15,310,270 as of 2014).

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Including Min-figure Data, La Forge and Scotty

Looking into the pass between Grasmere and Thirlmere, including the dual carriageway section of the scenic A591 at Dunmail Raise. Thirlmere is hidden behind the right of the foreground, but Grasmere (lake) is visible at the left, 8½ km away.

Comb Crags, on Birk Side, is the craggy hill on the near side of road, with Seat Sandal behind. On the right of the road, the concave hillside rises to Steel Fell, with Helm Crag silhouetted to the left, ~6½ km away.

This is the closest we got to a 'view' on this very hazy March day, from ~875 m asl between Browncove Crags and Lower Man (about a kilometre from the main summit) on the track approaching Helvellyn from the north-west. It's difficult to identify many other details in the background, but if one follows the line of the Steel Fell ridge, Wetherlam is in deep haze ~15 km away at the upper right of the horizon.

[Image reached no.169 in Flickr Explore on 08/04/14! Thanks!]

Ratufa indica indica

Malayalam : Mala annaan (മലയണ്ണാൻ)

Hindi : Karat / Rasu

Tamil : Anil

Marathi : Shekra

Kannada : Keshalilu

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© 2016 Anuj Nair. All rights reserved.

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www.anujnair.net

________________________________________________

© 2016 Anuj Nair. All rights reserved.

All images are the property of Anuj Nair. Using these images without permission is in violation of international copyright laws (633/41 DPR19/78-Disg 154/97-L.248/2000).All materials may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed,posted or transmitted in any forms or by any means,including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording without written permission of Anuj Nair. Every violation will be pursued penally.

Here's Go Ahead London's E140 - SN60 BZM standing at Canning Town Station, before running back on the 147 to Ilford. After the replacement of the 118, a fair amount of Enviro 400 E40Ds that operated on the route were transferred to other GAL garages, including River Road (RR) and Bexleyheath (BX). Some were used as spare parts for the existing Enviro 400 Tridents, including panels and whatnot.

...including the tornado warning

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The Australian wood duck, maned duck or maned goose (Chenonetta jubata) is a dabbling duck found throughout much of Australia. It is the only living species in the genus Chenonetta. This 45–51 cm duck looks like a small goose, and feeds mostly by grazing in flocks. The male is grey with a dark brown head and mottled breast. The female has white stripes above and below the eye and mottled underparts. Both sexes have grey wings with black primaries and a white speculum. Juveniles are similar to adult females, but lighter and with a more streaky breast. The Australian wood duck is widespread in Australia, including Tasmania. The Australian wood duck is found in grasslands, open woodlands, wetlands, flooded pastures and along the coast in inlets and bays. It is also common on farmland with dams, as well as around rice fields, sewage ponds and in urban parks. It will often be found around deeper lakes that may be unsuitable for other waterbirds' foraging, as it prefers to forage on land. R_36803

All creatures ( including me) and the jar are native to Australia. Featured: Kookaburra, Koala, Emu, Kangaroo and Budgerigars.Thanks to UNSPLASH app for five pics used in this assemblage of fair dinkumness.

13 Catalan independence leaders, including Carles Puigdemont will charged for rebellion by Spain's Supreme court. Peacefully politicians are being jailed in the EU for representing their voters. Absolutely shameful!

Facism is back in Europe! This is another black day for the democracy in whole Europe.

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The fact that the crime and the punishment were related and bound up in the form of atrocity was not the result of some obscurely accepted law of retaliation. It was the effect, in the rites of punishment, of a certain mechanism of power: of a power that not only did not hesitate to exert itself directly on bodies, but was exalted and strengthened by its visible manifestations; of a power that asserted itself as an armed power whose functions of maintaining order were not entirely unconnected with the functions of war; of a power that presented rules and obligations as personal bonds, a breach of which constituted an offence and called for vengeance; of a power for which disobedience was an act of hostility, the first sign of rebellion, which is not in principle different from civil war; of a power that had to demonstrate not why it enforced its laws, but who were its enemies, and what unleashing of force threatened them; of a power which, in the absence of continual supervision, sought a renewal of its effect in the spectacle of its individual manifestations; of a power that was recharged in the ritual display of its reality as 'super-power'.

Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

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Doing every bit of 25 mph, MNA train KCMNA-05 approaches 215th St. on the MNA Nevada Sub at Ore on its way to Harrisonville, where eventually another crew will take the train south towards its ultimate destination at Carthage, MO. Today, they have 41 loads and seven empties totaling 4,037 tons that they're bringing back with them from UP's Neff Yard in Kansas City, MO.

The train has three units today including an SD40-2 in RailTex paint accompanied by an SD45T-2 and another SD40-2 wearing SP and BN paint scheme respectively. The lead unit, MNA No. 4081, was originally built for the MOP 45 years ago this month, and it's right at home here on former MOP territory. 3/5/20.

Telescopes, including Hubble, have monitored the Eta Carinae star system for more than two decades. It has been prone to violent outbursts, including an episode in the 1840s during which ejected material formed the bipolar bubbles seen here.

Now, using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 to probe the nebula in ultraviolet light, astronomers have uncovered the glow of magnesium embedded in warm gas (shown in blue) in places they had not seen it before. The luminous magnesium resides in the space between the dusty bipolar bubbles and the outer shock-heated nitrogen-rich filaments (shown in red). The streaks visible in the blue region outside the lower-left lobe are a striking feature of the image. These streaks are created when the star’s light rays poke through the dust clumps scattered along the bubble’s surface. Wherever the ultraviolet light strikes the dense dust, it leaves a long, thin shadow that extends beyond the lobe into the surrounding gas.

Eta Carinae resides 7500 light-years away.

Learn more.

Credits: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of Arizona, Tucson), and J. Morse (BoldlyGo Institute, New York); CC BY 4.0

Thought I would give everyone, including myself, a change from barns and tiny owls, so it's back to the beautiful Long-tailed Weasel that gave so many people a lot of pleasure back in November 2014 - this shot was taken on 20 November.

Thursday, 20 November 2014, was a good morning for seeing this Long-tailed Weasel and being able to get some photos of it. Some days you are lucky, and others you are not.

I went out on a birding walk with friends that morning. The weather has been reasonably mild recently, with sunshine and blue skies, perfect for a leisurely walk. Our weather changed yesterday and today (30 November 2014), when snow returned along with brutally cold temperatures again.

After the walk, I paid another visit to where the Long-tailed Weasel can sometimes be seen. Various friends were there, too, and we were treated to a few good photo opps, including with some of the eight or so Meadow Voles it caught while we were there. It is an amazing hunter, moving so rapidly over the uneven, snowy ground and tangles of dead plants and fallen logs.

"Counting its tail, a large Long-tailed Weasel male, the largest of the three species in Canada, stretches nearly half a metre (20 in) in length, yet can slip into a hole just 3 cm (1.25 in) across. This enables it to enter small rodent tunnels used by mice and voles. In summer, it enters ground squirrels burrows in search of its favourite food. Average males measure 406 mm (16 in), their tail is 135 mm (5.25) long and they weigh 225 g (12.6 oz). Males are approximately 25 per cent larger than females, which on average weigh only 102 g (5.7 oz).

When winter approaches, within 30 days it grows a coat of white, giving it perfect camouflage against the snow -- all except for the tip of its tail, which stays black. A hungry predator, such as a hawk or owl, aims for that black tip, enabling the weasel to escape. Towards spring, between late February and April, in only 25 days, it reverses the process, acquiring the cinnamon-brown topcoat it will use all summer. This includes brown feet, unlike the other two species which retain white feet. The underside is usually buff-coloured." (Taken from the old weaselhead.org website).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-tailed_weasel

View over (parts of) Chelsea Harbour, including the Belvedere tower, at night.

Including the Baltimore tradition of flower pots made from cut tires turned inside out.

Drums including a very long one at Wat Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram (which means “the Monastery of the fifth King near Dusit Palace”) which is a Buddhist temple in the Dusit district of Bangkok Thailand. It is also known as the marble temple. It is one of Bangkok's best-known temples and a major tourist attraction. It typifies Bangkok's ornate style of high gables with stepped-out roofs and elaborate finials.

Construction of the temple began in 1899. It is built of Italian marble. The cloister around the assembly hall houses 52 images of Buddha. Bangkok Thailand

While scanning the sky to chart a billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy, ESA’s Gaia satellite is also sensitive to celestial bodies closer to home, and regularly observes asteroids in our Solar System.

This view shows the orbits of more than 14 000 known asteroids (with the Sun at the centre of the image) based on information from Gaia’s second data release, which was made public in 2018.

The majority of asteroids depicted in this image, shown in bright red and orange hues, are main-belt asteroids, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter; Trojan asteroids, found around the orbit of Jupiter, are shown in dark red.

In yellow, towards the image centre, are the orbits of several tens of near-Earth asteroids observed by Gaia: these are asteroids that come to within 1.3 astronomical units (AU) to the Sun at the closest approach along their orbit. The Earth circles the Sun at a distance of 1 AU (around 150 million km) so near-Earth asteroids have the potential to come into proximity with our planet.

Most asteroids that Gaia detects are already known, but every now and then, the asteroids seen by ESA's Milky Way surveyor do not match any existing observations. This is the case for the three orbits shown in grey in this view: these are Gaia’s first asteroid discoveries.

The three new asteroids were first spotted by Gaia in December 2018, and later confirmed by follow-up observations performed with the Haute-Provence Observatory in France, which enabled scientists to determine their orbits. Comparing these informations with existing observations indicated the objects had not been detected earlier.

While they are part of the main belt of asteroids, all three move around the Sun on orbits that have a greater tilt (15 degrees or more) with respect to the orbital plane of planets than most main-belt asteroids.

The population of such high-inclination asteroids is not as well studied as those with less tilted orbits, since most surveys tend to focus on the plane where the majority of asteroids reside. But Gaia can readily observe them as it scans the entire sky from its vantage point in space, so it is possible that the satellite will find more such objects in the future and contribute new information to study their properties.

Alongside the extensive processing and analysis of Gaia’s data in preparation for subsequent data releases, preliminary information about Gaia’s asteroid detections are regularly shared via an online alert system so that astronomers across the world can perform follow-up observations. To observe these asteroids, a 1-m or larger telescope is needed.

Once an asteroid detected by Gaia has been identified also in ground-based observations, the scientists in charge of the alert system analyse the data to determine the object’s orbit. In case the ground observations match the orbit based on Gaia’s data, they provide the information to the Minor Planet Center, which is the official worldwide organization collecting observational data for small Solar System bodies like asteroids and comets.

This process may lead to new discoveries, like the three asteroids with orbits depicted in this image, or to improvements in the determination of the orbits of known asteroids, which are sometimes very poorly known. So far, several tens of asteroids detected by Gaia have been observed from the ground in response to the alert system, all of them belonging to the main belt, but it is possible that also near-Earth asteroids will be spotted in the future.

A number of observatories across the world are already involved in these activities, including the Haute-Provence Observatory, Kyiv Comet station, Odessa-Mayaki, Terskol, C2PU at Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur and Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network. The more that join, the more we will learn about asteroids – known and new ones alike.

Acknowledgement: Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC); Gaia Coordinating Unit 4; B. Carry, F. Spoto, P. Tanga (Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, France) & W. Thuillot (IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, France); Gaia Data Processing Center at CNES, Toulouse, France

Credits: ESA/Gaia/DPAC

The West Thumb Geyser Basin 44°25′07″N 110°34′23″W, including Potts Basin to the north, is the largest geyser basin on the shores of Yellowstone Lake. The heat source of the thermal features in this location is thought to be relatively close to the surface, only 10,000 feet (3,000 m) down. West Thumb is about the same size as another famous volcanic caldera, Crater Lake in Oregon, but much smaller than the great Yellowstone Caldera which last erupted about 640,000 years ago. It is interesting to note that West Thumb is a caldera within a caldera. [Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_areas_of_Yellowstone#Wes...]

Yellowstone National Park is a national park located in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first National Park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of its most popular features. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion. [Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park]

The kitchen sink had a French drain system that clogs easily, so you have to remove all food particles before washing off the grease and such. In other news, you have a beautiful view of Scoville Point and Lake Superior while you do your dishes.

About the Dassler Cabin: www.nps.gov/isro/getinvolved/dassler-cabin.htm

Stanley Park's 3,500 roses draw myriad visitors all through the blooming season - including those who create their own memories

143 055-2 (DeltaRail) heads west with a rake of Chinese containers forming DGS 56269 Frankfurt (Oder) Pbf - Neuss Gbf (+334).

The containers included Honeytak, Cronos, HFLP & EPUSCM on new CZ-TNTD (Tenutado) Sggrss flats including 33 54 4980 232-1

This is a real beast, but I am very happy with the results and the play features, including a spacious interior, V-12 engine, movable cannons, smooth running tracks and even a periscope!