Wave that surrounds and involves...

The Protestant church in Grünhaus is a place of pure idyll.

Locus amoenus (Latin for "pleasant place") is a literary topos involving an idealized place of safety or comfort. A locus amoenus is usually a beautiful, shady lawn or open woodland, or a group of idyllic islands, sometimes with connotations of Eden or Elysium.

The church is about 100 m from the Ruwer-Hochwald cycle trail.

Topiary at Levens Hall, South Lakeland, Cumbria.

Levens Hall is a Manor House dating back to around 1350, though much is Elizabethan.

Levens has a celebrated and large Topiary Garden, created in 1689-1712 by the French gardener Guillaume Beaumont. He was the gardener of King James II and the designer of the grounds at Hampton Court.

After over 300 years, these gardens have survived remarkably intact. Levens Hall Topiary Garden is the world's finest, oldest and most extensive example, as confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records.

Topiary is an ancient art with Roman origins (Topiarius). It involves precision-trimming trees into strange and beautiful shapes. These living sculptures use slow-growing and long-living Golden Yew and Box trees. It takes months to trim!

These two trees look like alien invaders, just two of hundreds of examples in this inspirational garden.

World Topiary Day is 12 May every year.

"Movember is an annual event involving the growing of mustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as depression in men, prostate cancer and other male cancers, and associated charities. The Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity event, housed at www.Movember.com. The goal of Movember is to "change the face of men's health."

Beyonce - If I Were A Boy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir0FaK757Vw

________________________________________________

歩き続ける 彼岸花 咲き続ける　

I keep walking

the spider lilies

keep blooming

—Taneda Santoka

________________________________________________

Its Setsubun in Japan, a feast day involving the casting out of demons at various shrines. I took out the Alain head and played with the sliders a bit to create something suitable and slightly odd looking with Oni fangs.

Although its the wrong time of year for the Spider Lily, you cannot deny that it is a beautiful flower when in full bloom, something that cinphul has managed to perfectly capture in her hairstick set. I'm holding the gorgeous Lodestone Heart by !Reliquary! which has an added rim light which catches the eye during the tossing animation.

Both available only at the Midnight Order event.

Visit my Blog here.

________________________________________________

Sponsored by:

cinphul // spider lily [hairstick set] (hud with colour options included)

Available at Midnight Order now till February 20th 2021

Closeups and full set here on cinphul's Flickr

!Reliquary! !R! The Lodestone Heart (With colour hud and animation)

Available at Midnight Order now till February 20th 2021

Closeup on !Reliquary!'s Flickr

Also worn:

LeLUTKA Head.Alain.2.5

bonbon - amaya hair

{aii} + Ibaraki Horns (demon) +

[ r-l-f ]+*N* *Male Kimono RAN

-[TWC]- 6 COMMON Red scar arm

Zibska ~ Selene (Ginkgo leaf - comes with full colour hud)

________________________________________________

Shape my own

Pose: a mod by me of the built in pose with the heart

I haven't gotten out much this year. Fitting that my first good train of the year involves a railroad that died just 2 weeks ago.

A friend at Shermer saw this completely by accident at 5:30 AM. It's only fitting that I didn't see his texts until I woke up at 7, right when it was going by Racine. Fortunately, CP dispatch had to hold it at KK for 332. A quick 5 minute wait at KK Bridge, and it was off to the cutoff to dump its train and begin its' work, only because 249 was taking up all the room on the Muskego lead.

Warming up before the parade.

This festival Involves various bagads from Brittany (Bretagne), Wales (Pays de Galles), Ireland (Irelande), Scotland (Ecosse) and Galicia (Galice, Espagne. Spain).

Following the parade, the various groups went to the large tents where their area was represented with food and a a bar:

There was a tent for Brittany, with folkloric dance and a cider bar; a tent for Wales, also with dance and a bar; a tent for Ireland with Irish dance, ale and rum; a tent for Scotland, with dance and rum, and a tent for Galicia, also with dance and a bar.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBbH51QmuRo

Bagad de Lann Bihoué: The Bagad of the French National Navy:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBVxLF4qR-0

Le Bagad Cap Caval de Plomeur:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdizqinknp4

Plan de la Besurta, La Ribagorza, Huesca, Aragón, España.

Ruta cuyo itinerario discurre en el entorno de las pistas de esquí nórdico de Llanos del Hospital en el Valle de Benasque. La ruta tiene su inicio en el Plan del Hospital atravesando en su recorrido bellos parajes como el Plan de Estan y el Plan de la Besurta para llegar finalmente hasta el espectacular Plan d´Aiguallut con magnificas vistas al pico Aneto. Se trata de recorrer una parte del conocido como Camino dels Aranesos que originalmente unía el Plan del Hospital con el Valle de Arán.

El recorrido se divide en tres tramos, un primer tramo muy corto y sencillo hasta el Plan de l'Estan, un segundo tramo tambien muy sencillo hasta la Besurta y un tramo final algo más exigente aunque accesible a cualquier senderista acostumbrado a la montaña hasta el Forau d´Aiguallut.

Route whose itinerary runs around the Nordic ski slopes of Llanos del Hospital in the Benasque Valley. The route begins in the Pllan del Hospital, passing through beautiful places such as the Plan de Estan and the Plan de la Besurta to finally reach the spectacular Plan d'Aiguallut with magnificent views of the Aneto peak. It involves walking through a part of what is known as the Camino dels Aranesos, which originally linked the Hospital Plan with the Aran Valley.

The route is divided into three sections, a first very short and easy section to Plan de l'Estan, a second section that is also very simple to Besurta and a final section that is somewhat more demanding although accessible to any hiker accustomed to the mountains until the Forau d'Aiguallut.

The Tamborito is the national song and dance of Panama. The dance is a romantic, couple's dance, often involving a small percussion ensemble, and in all versions; a female chorus. The Tamborito is performed in formal costumes in front of large, interactive crowds that form a large circle around the performers.

The custom of hanging up tin cans when a baby girl is born is hard to explain as it involves a play on words and Bavarian dialect. But I'll give it a try:

“Büchse” is the German word for tin can. The custom of putting up a sign after the birth of a girl designating the father as Büchsenmacher (can maker / gunsmith) and hanging it with old cans has survived into the 21st century and still exists in Lower Bavaria and Upper Austria. Its origins can be found in the Bavarian dialect, which describes a girl as Bix (Büchse), or Bixel. Bix/Can is used here as the unflattering word for the female reproductive organs. The father is being made fun of for not producing anything better than a girl.

I guess it's time for that custom to die out.

After a log wait involving wories that this Christmas gift might hit the kitchen ceiling, it fnally bloomed late last night.

I took a few shots with three different lenses and finally the one I liked the most was taken with the Nikkor 85mm using natural light.

About two years ago, I said in my then last shot of Datai Bay (Andaman Sea, Straits of Malacca, Malaysia) that it was hard to leave the Bay, in being such a calm, beautiful place; with also the plus of both an ancient rainforest and a world top 10 beach (National Geographic).

Samsung S23 Ultra 5G Camera

Jaganath Rai Temple is a large Hindu temple in the middle of Udaipur in Rajasthan, just outside the royal palace. It has been in continuous worship since 1651.

It was built by Maharana Jagat Singh in 1651. Jagdish Temple is a splendid example of either Māha Māru or Māru-Gurjara architecture, decorated by beautiful and ornate carvings.

# painting

#acuarela

#aquarelle

#art

#arte

#artist

#newmexicoartist #drawing

#dibujo #

#painting

#paint

#pen

#penandink

#sketch

#sketchbook

#watercolor_involve #watercolorpaintingsforbeginners

. . . involves preparing three square meals a day, even though I'd rather be behind my camera. As I was preparing BLT sandwiches for lunch today - the Macro Mondays theme "My Daily Routine" popped into my head, so I stopped everything to take a few shots.

HMM everyone.

Proud to present this icon of Second Life, who is exhibiting in my gallery.

Who doesn't know Hikaru, who shoulders several roles entrusted to him over the years, many of which involves photography - being a blogger, model, stylist, blogger manager, store manager, Neo-Japan SL Event Co-Founder, and lastly but no less his pet-project, he is also the Owner and Editor-in-Chief of L'Homme Magazine SL.

The exhibition 'My Reflection' is in Hikaru's own words the habit of deliberately paying attention to once own thoughts, emotions, decisions, and behaviors. Periodically it reflected back on an event and how it was handled, in hopes that to learn something from it and make better decisions in the future.

Opening Monday 27 September

at 1.30 SL time (is 22.30 hrs Amsterdam time) with singer Samm Qendra, followed by tunes of DJ hEIN from 02.30 - 03.30 SLT.

taxi to the gallery: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/38/26...

Opening time is adjusted because Hikaru and a lot of his friends are not from Europe.

Poster made by David Silence, based on an image of Hikaru

So Anita and I came to Chincoteague Island yesterday, arriving mid to late afternoon and after an initial tour of the island headed over to Assateague Island in the hopes of spotting some wild ponies. They proved to be as illusive as the black bears we hunt for! But we did spot this turtle trying to cross a very busy loop road. We stopped, put on the four way flashers and hopped out to give him a hand. Anita, having previous experience picking up Snapping turtles refused to touch him and I was photographing the event. Traffic was backing up. Finally he recognized us for his guardian angels and hiked himself up and started trundling across the highway. He got to the oncoming traffic lane and kept going but a car was coming at him and I stepped up and motioned to the car to stop.... he kept coming! I stepped another step into the lane thinking surely the guy would stop but he kept coming! That inconsiderate driver missed me by Inches and the turtle by less! But in the end, the turtle was safe on the other side of the road and we went on our way. Later in the day we watched 3 young men do the same with another turtle with much boisterous good will and waving some bottles of... I don't know, Beer maybe? LOL And so today, who knows what wild adventures await. We are off pony hunting which may involve electric go-carts, bicycles or boats. Who knows???

"The contemplative journey, because it involves the purification of the unconscious, is not a magic carpet to bliss. It is an exercise of letting go of the false self, a humbling process, because it is the only self we know. God approaches us from many different perspectives: illness, misfortune, bankruptcy, divorce proceedings, rejection, inner trials. God has not promised to take away our trial, but to help us to change our attitudes toward them. That is what holiness really is. In this life, happiness is rooted in our basic attitude toward reality."

- Thomas Keating, The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation

Macro Monday june 4: The periodic table

"Molybdenum is a chemical element with symbol Mo and atomic number 42.

The ability of molybdenum to withstand extreme temperatures without significantly expanding or softening makes it useful in applications that involve intense heat, including the manufacture of armor, aircraft parts, electrical contacts, industrial motors and filaments."

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molybdenum

"Movember is an annual event involving the growing of mustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as depression in men, prostate cancer and other male cancers, and associated charities. The Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity event, housed at www.Movember.com. The goal of Movember is to "change the face of men's health."

On Wednesday the 24th of February 2021 4BS6 left Brisbane behind NR119 NR4 and 8120 but a derailment involving 4BM4 near Nana Glen saw the NSW North Coast line closed for repairs. As such 4BS6 was returned to Brisbane in the process becoming 5SB6, 5SB6 is seen here rolling through Greenbank behind 8120 NR4 and NR119 in wet and gloomy conditions.

[ENG] “Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way”. Edward de Bono, Maltese psychologist, prolific writer, Oxford University graduate, coach and instructor on the subject of thought.

For "Macro Mondays" group, "Unusual patterns" theme

[ESP] “La creatividad implica romper patrones establecidos para ver las cosas de una manera diferente”. Edward de Bono, prolífico escritor, psicólogo maltés, graduado en la Universidad de Oxford, entrenador e instructor en el tema del pensamiento.

Para el grupo "Macro Mondays", tema "Patrón inusual"

200618

Traditional storytelling involves a narrator transmitting a fixed story to an audience of one or more, employing various verbal tones, physical gestures, and facial expressions to evoke reactions and participation from the audience. This process is anchored in the reality that the story's basic structure never changes.

- - - It was a dark and stormy night - - -

My happiness always involves Ruffy. And nothing is better than that. Well… maybe Ruffy x 6 is better. ;-) Create your own happiness and Happy Smile on Saturday! Hope this makes you smile. :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been working on this pic for about a week and before it gets overdone, I'd better post it. You wouldn't believe how different it looks each day!!

If you don't recognize her, that's my Ruffy. I created this for the Smile on Saturday group, selfie with half a face theme. I know it's not Saturday.. Maybe you'll smile before Saturday. ;-)

I'm still trying to get Ruffy's blood sugar #'s under control. Today I'm testing her blood every 2 hours, doing her 2nd blood glucose curve. Have been giving her insulin shots 2x daily, but for the 1st time, today her sugar # was low! It's usually really high! So no insulin today. Scary stuff!! Have to keep calling the vet & they tell me what to do. OK.. back to create your own happiness...

Gus has a plan. Probably. It may involve rabbits. (No luck there). It may involve the UK’s antipode. That’s some way off the coast of New Zealand, but only if he follows a straight line. Or with some clever navigation he could be in Eastern Australia by Easter. If so I’ll message ahead so Bruce or Victoria can get lunch on.

Meanwhile you’ll note Freddie adopts his customary “supervisory role”. That's the management classes for you...

Going to shows involves transport, which many cats don't enjoy much. The Sandy Carrier Bag offers a good solution, as it opens on top, so I can have the cat on my lap during the ride. They can look out while at the same time being securely strapped in a harness.

Bastian (mixed breed), 06.11.2016.

Olympus OMD EM5 Digital Camera

The work of Swedish artist Hilma af Klint is inspiring. I regularly refer to her style in my image generation. On the Screenpunk website an article on Af Klint.

"Marrickville, Sydney" on A2 Fine-Art Cotton is on its way to a big shot interstate buyer (this transaction involves Belgian beer at an undisclosed location). When I was packing it this morning I thought the scene was worth a snap in itself.

#acuarela

#aquarelle

#art

#arte

#artist

#newmexicoartist #drawing

#dibujo #

#painting

#paint

#pen

#penandink

#sketch

#sketchbook

#watercolor_involve #watercolorpainting #artificialintelligenceart #artificial-intelligence

Trev, Zak and I went to Kingsbury Water Park on this beautiful, warm, springlike day. From there, we walked uphill to Kingsbury Parish Church, a beautiful, ancient building. The churchyard was wonderful - the best I've ever seen, so well maintained. The churchyard's maintenance man is in hospital - GET WELL SOON!. This Cedar of Lebanon was a wonderful sight. Couldn't resist taking a photo. So stately and magnificent.

The name Kingsbury is derived from the Saxon 'Chinesburie' meaning 'royal fortified house' or 'Kings Fort'. The 'bury' part of the name means 'fort' or 'defensive work'. The location of the church and remains of a medieval home (Kingsbury Hall) above the river suggest a good location for a 'defensive' work. Kingsbury Hall (or Bracebridge Hall as it was their family home for many years) is now only part lived in as a farmhouse. It was a fortified manor house and the remains of a curtain wall can still be seen. Kingsbury was founded by the same Angles tribe that established Curdworth and Minworth.

The village is mentioned in the Domesday survey. Two priests are recorded, so the church must have existed. So is Hemlingford Mill, which still exists. It was originally a water mill, used for many purposes including milling corn into flour and grinding gun barrels for muskets during the Napoleonic Wars. Later it was used as a garden centre. A bridge was built across the River Tame near to the mill in 1783. This was single carriageway so traffic lights were installed later on, until it was bypassed by a new road to serve the oil terminal in the 1960s. The centre section of the old bridge was swept away by a flash flood in the early 1980s and was replaced with modern concrete. It is now used for pedestrians only.

In 1473-4 during the Wars of the Roses there was a family dispute involving the Bracebridges and their distant relations, the Ardens (William Shakespeare's maternal ancestors) of Park Hall in Castle Bromwich. John Arden had fallen in love with Alice Bracebridge. John's father, Sir Walter, did not approve. John was kidnapped and taken to Bracebridge Hall. Sir Walter appealed to King Edward IV, who appointed Sir Simon de Montford of Coleshill and Sir Richard Bingham of Middleton to arbitrate. John and Alice were married in February 1474. In 1502 John inherited Park Hall in Castle Bromwich, while his younger brother Thomas settled at Wilmcote near Stratford upon Avon. Thomas had a son Robert, who was the father of Mary Arden, William Shakespeare's mother.

The stones of the church porch show evidence of arrow-sharpening grooves, sometimes said to have been done by soldiers but more probably by hunting parties or locals waiting their turn for the nearby village butts, as all males had to be proficient with a longbow.

Until the 19th century Kingsbury was a small hamlet, and the main landowner in the area was the Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. The Birmingham and Derby Railway was built through Kingsbury in 1839 and industry was soon established, most notably coal mining and gravel extraction, which fuelled the expansion of the village.

Ancoats, Manchester

A first proper outing with me ol’ mucker – Eddie ‘Rainman’ Coulson of 2021 and the chance to post something not from the last decade. We’ve both been dabbling in Etsy in recent months and decided to go and shoot some of Manchester’s historic landmarks with the view to printing some of them. I must confess I’ve never been to this part of town and initially made straight for Anita Street, which has an interesting history going back to the Industrial Revolution, but I’ll write about that in another posting. Sankey’s is further afield and quite a well-known landmark, but if you didn’t know where it was you could spend hours walking around this part of town and never spot it.

Luckily, Eddie knows the area well and pointed me in the right direction. The weather on Friday was glorious and sunny, but not a cloud in sight, so you’ll have to forgive me with this subtle replacement sky. So good to be out and about again and shooting some new material.

It has quite an history as a nightclub… here’s a condensed summary

Sankeys first opened in Manchester as "Sankeys Soap" in June 1994. It was so called due to its residence inside Beehive Mill, Ancoats, which once was used to manufacture soap. The basement of the mill was transformed into a club and live music venue by Andy Spiro and Rupert Campell. After nearly going bankrupt only six months after opening, the venue managed to keep thriving. However, in 1998, due to financial problems, Sankeys Soap closed its doors to the public.

In 2000, the club was revived by business partners David Vincent and Sacha Lord-Marchionne. This time the club was more successful than before, tackling the problems that had crippled its previous owners. In 2006, the club was forced to close once more, much to the dismay of clubbers. David Vincent announced that this time Sankeys Soap would be closed for good.

Later that summer, it was announced that the club was to re-open under the shorter name Sankeys. It would be under the direction of David Vincent who invited Andy Spiro to get involved once again. During its closure the club underwent a major refit involving a brand new LED lighting system and featured the "hatongue" who took over from the legendary "Mad Graham" after the PAR cans were removed. The main DJ booth was also replaced by a new circular box.

In 2009, owing to the success of the new club, 15 further changes were made to celebrate 15 years of the Sankeys dynasty. These included dynamic ceiling lighting in the Spektrum (the upstairs part of the club) as well as a beach constructed with 50 tonnes of Bahamas Sand and the introduction of a state-of-the-art barcoded entry system. In 2010, Sankeys was voted the number one club in the world in a DJ Mag reader poll.

Following the success of 2010, David Vincent announced plans to create "Seven Sankeys" of the World in the seven cities that inspired the original Sankeys.

The music policy at Sankeys was varied but focused on underground electronic music, mainly House & Techno. The club also hosted one-off nights from outside promoters.

Resident DJs over the years included Greg Vickers, Bushwacka!, Jozef K, Darius Syrossian, Ellesse, Ryan Croft, Adam Chappell, OD Muzique, Pete Zorba, and Luke Welsh.

On 11 April 2013, Sankeys announced they would be closing the doors again on 6 May 2013.

On 12 November 2013, Sankeys announced on their Ibiza Twitter feed that they would be re-opening Manchester in January 2014.

On 12 January 2017, Sankeys announced that they were permanently closing with immediate effect, after the building they occupied had been sold to be turned into apartments.

I had been planning on going to Arrochar this morning, but went a day early. Probably just as well, as the shot I wound up with couldn't have been any better if I planned it.

It did involve a bit of a scramble over wet, mossy rocks with footholds smaller than the balls of my feet, but the final result is well worth it.

I shot this waterfall before, several years ago and I've only been back once or twice with nothing really to show for it. Probably my best kept secret location! It's not really that secret right enough, but if too many people find out exactly where it is I guess it'll get kinda ruined.

The foreground is a bunch of dead leaves caught in an eddy. The filter combination I used slowed it down to a 3 minute exposure which made the awesome swirl,

Canon Eos 5D mk ii, 17-40L, hi-tech ND, heliopan polariser.

All of my photos are taken as one shot, unless specifically stated otherwise.

If you are going to post an invite to a group, please read my PROFILE first. Thanks.

Lewis Golbourn Photography on Facebook

Homepage

Salvation involves a change in the relationship between God and a person. Salvation includes God’s adoption of believers into his family, his acceptance of them as righteous and his forgiveness of their sins. It also includes personal renewal and transformation through the work of the Holy Spirit.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Eph 2:19–22.

Working with students on exposure techniques involving flash and the concept of dynamic range.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse is one of the most picturesque lighthouses on the Pacific coast. This pic really doesn't do it justice. The tower stands on a rocky promontory and has long been a landmark for ships approaching San Francisco Bay from the south. This headland, and hence the lighthouse, took its name from the ship Carrier Pigeon that wrecked here in 1853. It is the tallest lighthouse (tied with Point Arena Light) on the West Coast of the United States. And as an added bonus it is located right on route one so getting to it didn't involve any crazy detours!

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observation has captured the galaxy CGCG 396-2, an unusual multi-armed galaxy merger which lies around 520 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion.

This observation is a gem from the Galaxy Zoo project, a citizen science project involving hundreds of thousands of volunteers from around the world who classified galaxies to help scientists solve a problem of astronomical proportions: how to sort through the vast amounts of data generated by telescopes. A public vote selected the most astronomically intriguing objects for follow-up observations with Hubble. CGCG 396-2 is one such object, imaged here by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Keel

#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #astrophysics #gsfc #galaxy

Read more

More about the Hubble Space Telescope

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

While in Jim Thorpe for a long weekend I had one major photographic goal that did not involve the Reading and Northern. Norfolk Southern still has a limited presence in the area continuing to own their upper Lehigh Line from Allentown to Leighton then sharing the RofW and owning one of two mains from there to Jim Thorpe and on up through the Lehigh Gorge to Penn Haven. At that point the Lehigh Line continues north, under the sole ownership and operation of RBMN, while the NS' Ashmore Secondary climbs the grade to Weatherly and Hazleton.

For the last five years the upper Lehigh Line has seen nothing but local freights, and north of Lehighton they have operated almost exclusively at night. However a recent schedule change has seen NS running local H66 in daylight on Sundays making a late morning turn north from Allentown to Hazleton and back. After dropping off five tank cars in the yard the pair of SD60Es now have four covered hoppers as they start back east, seen again here on the Hazleton Running Track (the westward other than main track continuation of the Ashmore Secondary) at about MP 143.5 on rails of the former Lehigh Valley Railroad's Wyoming Divison. This area was once laced with a mind boggling maze of trackage and at one time this particular line which was built by the LV in 1871 was double tracked to support the flood of anthracite coal flowing out of area mines. While vastly diminished, there is still a limited market for anthracite and several mines remain active though today they are nearly all open pit strip mines with I believe only four active underground mines left operating.

The edge of one such open pit mine is seen in the background and has expanded such that the railroad used to run straight through where it is and had to be relocated creating the dog leg seen in this photo and the one posted earlier. This is the Atlantic Carbon Group's Stockton Mine located here on the eastern portion of the Hazleton Coal basin which primarily extracts coal from the Mammoth seam, which reaches thickness of over 20ft in the bottom of the basin, with additional reserves in the Primrose, Diamond, and Orchard seams. Atlantic Carbon is the second largest Ultra High Grade (UHG) anthracite producer in the United States. In June of this year the company was purchased by Delta Dunia, an Indonesian based holding company and you can learn more in this press release: deltadunia.com/post/737/delta-dunia-group-completes-acqui...

And here's a nice local news piece on the modern day market for anthracite coal: www.standardspeaker.com/2024/01/20/anthracite-and-coal-th...

And lastly, if the name Stockton Mine rings a bell you might be a history buff as the original underground mine located nearby was site of a freakish disaster in 1869 which you can learn a bit more about here: wynninghistory.com/2019/12/18/remembering-stockton/

Hazle Township, Pennsylvania

Sunday October 6, 2024

I love how pinhole cameras slow me down as a photographer.... even when that slowing down involves standing around for long minutes in freezing conditions with the cold seeping in through your boots and your gloves. It's all well worth it to let that lensless wooden box do its thing.

For a change, this morning’s sunrise did not involve an alarm at an unreasonable hour (stupid o’clock), a long drive or even a long and arduous hike to get to the location for the sunrise. We were staying in the Bryce Canyon Lodge located within the national park, so we were a 10-minute walk from the rim of the canyon and just a little farther to the vantage point, aptly named Sunrise Point (8017 feet). I chose a slightly lower location along the Queens Garden Trail to set up for this image. It was an experience watching as the sun rose and highlighted the canyon of hoodoos making the colours even more bold and dramatic combined with the long shadows resulting from the low early light.

Today’s geology lesson: Hoodoos have a variable thickness or "totem pole-shaped body” while a spire has a smoother profile that tapers up from the ground. Hoodoos range from 5 to 150 feet tall and are composed of siltstone and mudstone but are predominantly limestone. The different coloured layers of the hoodoos are a result of different mineral deposits within the various rock layers. The hoodoos were formed when this area of Utah was covered by an “ancient lake”.

. . . you can now say you learned something new, not related to photography, on Flickr ;-)

If you plan to visit Bryce Canyon National Park, a stay in the park lodge is the way to go! You’re only 10 minutes from the rim and the routes down into the hoodoos, no parking issues and when the crowds leave in the late afternoon . . . sublime! Be aware there is no television, radio or cell phone reception and Wi-Fi is extremely limited if at all . . . but we were here for the views and the hiking, so we didn’t mind!

Best viewed Large(L)