From time to time I have someone ask me what the "rut" is. The fall whitetail rut is one of the most exciting and active times of the year for deer hunters, wildlife enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the behavior of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). The rut is essentially the deer breeding season, and it involves a series of behavioral changes and physical interactions between bucks and does, driven by hormonal shifts. It's an effective method to support the species, but there is not a lot of romance involved. Our beautiful world, pass it on.

4438

Visit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggys_Cove,_Nova_Scotia

 

Peggys Point Lighthouse (also known as Peggy's Cove Lighthouse) is in Peggys Cove and is an iconic Canadian image. It is one of the busiest tourist attractions in Nova Scotia and is a prime attraction on the Lighthouse Trail scenic drive. The lighthouse marks the eastern entrance of St. Margarets Bay and is officially known as the Peggys Point Lighthouse.

 

Peggys Cove is a classic red-and-white lighthouse still operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The light station is situated on an extensive granite outcrop at Peggys Point, immediately south of the village and its cove. This lighthouse is one of the most-photographed structures in Atlantic Canada and one of the most recognizable lighthouses in the world.

 

Visitors may explore the granite outcrop on Peggys Point around the lighthouse; despite numerous signs warning of unpredictable surf (including one on a bronze plaque on the lighthouse itself), several visitors each year are swept off the rocks by waves, sometimes drowning.

 

Peggys Cove is 43 kilometers (26 miles) southwest of downtown Halifax and comprises one of the numerous small fishing communities located around the perimeter of the Chebucto Peninsula. The community is named after the cove of the same name, a name also shared with Peggy's Point, immediately to the east of the cove. The village marks the eastern point of St. Margaret's Bay.(Wikipedia)

  

Visit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_Flight_111

 

Swissair Flight 111

 

Swissair Flight 111 (SR111, SWR111) was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland. This flight was also a codeshare flight with Delta Air Lines.

 

On Wednesday, 2 September 1998, the aircraft used for the flight, registered HB-IWF, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Halifax International Airport at the entrance to St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. The crash site was 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from shore, roughly equidistant from the tiny fishing and tourist communities of Peggys Cove and Bayswater. All 229 people on board died—the highest death toll of any aviation accident involving a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and the second-highest of any air disaster to occur in Canada, after Arrow Air Flight 1285. This is one of only two hull losses of the passenger configured MD-11, along with China Airlines Flight 642.

 

The initial search and rescue response, crash recovery operation, and resulting investigation by the Government of Canada took over four years and cost CAD 57 million (at that time approximately US$38 million). The Transportation Safety Board of Canada's (TSB) official report of their investigation stated that flammable material used in the aircraft's structure allowed a fire to spread beyond the control of the crew, resulting in a loss of control and the crash of the aircraft.

 

Swissair Flight 111 was known as the "UN shuttle" due to its popularity with United Nations officials; the flight often carried business executives, scientists, and researchers

 

Aircraft

The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, serial number 48448 registered HB-IWF, was manufactured in 1991 and Swissair was its only operator. It bore the title of Vaud, in honor of the Swiss canton of the same name. The airframe had a total of 36,041 hours. The three engines were Pratt & Whitney 4462s. The cabin was configured with 241 seats (12 six-abreast first-, 49 seven-abreast business-, and 180 nine-abreast economy-class). First- and business-class seats were equipped with an in seat in-flight entertainment system, installed at some point after initial entry into service. (Wikipedia)

  

© Copyright

This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.

Start of a weekend involving three gigs in three days -making a total of five in five from Wednesday through to Sunday. I set off early but wasn't able to check into my hotel until 2, so I went on a speculative wander and discovered that neither London Camera Exchange nor Jessops in Manchester sold the triumvirate of cheap Sigma primes...after checking in at the hotel, I recharged my phone and set off around 7.15 to Jimmy's, a semi-subterranean bar with a spectacular but totally over the top lighting system for the size of venue. The singer I'd come to see, Emily Capell, was on last. Faced with back-lighting, low lighting, contrasty lighting that was tricky to gauge exposure for and the humble Stylus 1 (good as it is) I converted most of my shots to black and white...

This incident appeared to involve a slow moving train of empty ore cars being pulled off Dock 6 and resulted in a delicate re-railing effort as the cars were over Interstate 35.

Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Cod

 

Cape Cod

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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This article is about the area of Massachusetts. For other uses, see Cape Cod (disambiguation).

For other uses, see Cod (disambiguation).

 

Coordinates: 41°41′20″N 70°17′49″W / 41.68889°N 70.29694°W / 41.68889; -70.29694

Map of Massachusetts, with Cape Cod (Barnstable County) indicated in red

Dunes on Sandy Neck are part of the Cape's barrier beach which helps to prevent erosion

 

Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is an island and a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States. It is coextensive with Barnstable County. Several small islands right off Cape Cod, including Monomoy Island, Monomoscoy Island, Popponesset Island, and Seconsett Island, are also in Barnstable County, being part of municipalities with land on the Cape. The Cape's small-town character and large beachfront attract heavy tourism during the summer months.

 

Cape Cod was formed as the terminal moraine of a glacier, resulting in a peninsula in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1914, the Cape Cod Canal was cut through the base or isthmus of the peninsula, forming an island. The Cape Cod Commission refers to the resultant landmass as an island; as does the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in regards to disaster preparedness.[1] It is still identified as a peninsula by geographers, who do not change landform designations based on man-made canal construction.[citation needed]

 

Unofficially, it is one of the biggest barrier islands in the world, shielding much of the Massachusetts coastline from North Atlantic storm waves. This protection helps to erode the Cape shoreline at the expense of cliffs, while protecting towns from Fairhaven to Marshfield.

 

Road vehicles from the mainland cross over the Cape Cod Canal via the Sagamore Bridge and the Bourne Bridge. The two bridges are parallel, with the Bourne Bridge located slightly farther southwest. In addition, the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge carries railway freight as well as tourist passenger services.

Contents

[hide]

 

* 1 Geography and political divisions

o 1.1 "Upper" and "Lower"

* 2 Geology

* 3 Climate

* 4 Native population

* 5 History

* 6 Lighthouses of Cape Cod

* 7 Transportation

o 7.1 Bus

o 7.2 Rail

o 7.3 Taxi

* 8 Tourism

* 9 Sport fishing

* 10 Sports

* 11 Education

* 12 Islands off Cape Cod

* 13 See also

* 14 References

o 14.1 Notes

o 14.2 Sources

o 14.3 Further reading

* 15 External links

 

[edit] Geography and political divisions

Towns of Barnstable County

historical map of 1890

 

The highest elevation on Cape Cod is 306 feet (93 m), at the top of Pine Hill, in the Bourne portion of the Massachusetts Military Reservation. The lowest point is sea level.

 

The body of water located between Cape Cod and the mainland, bordered to the north by Massachusetts Bay, is Cape Cod Bay; west of Cape Cod is Buzzards Bay. The Cape Cod Canal, completed in 1916, connects Buzzards Bay to Cape Cod Bay; it shortened the trade route between New York and Boston by 62 miles.[2] To the south of Cape Cod lie Nantucket Sound; Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, both large islands, and the mostly privately owned Elizabeth Islands.

 

Cape Cod incorporates all of Barnstable County, which comprises 15 towns: Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth, and Mashpee, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown. Two of the county's fifteen towns (Bourne and Sandwich) include land on the mainland side of the Cape Cod Canal. The towns of Plymouth and Wareham, in adjacent Plymouth County, are sometimes considered to be part of Cape Cod but are not located on the island.

 

In the 17th century the designation Cape Cod applied only to the tip of the peninsula, essentially present-day Provincetown. Over the ensuing decades, the name came to mean all the land east of the Manomet and Scussett rivers - essentially the line of the 20th century Cape Cod Canal. Now, the complete towns of Bourne and Sandwich are widely considered to incorporate the full perimeter of Cape Cod, even though small parts of these towns are located on the west side of the canal. The canal divides the largest part of the peninsula from the mainland and the resultant landmass is sometimes referred to as an island.[3][4] Additionally some "Cape Codders" – residents of "The Cape" – refer to all land on the mainland side of the canal as "off-Cape."

 

For most of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, Cape Cod was considered to consist of three sections:

 

* The Upper Cape is the part of Cape Cod closest to the mainland, comprising the towns of Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth, and Mashpee. Falmouth is the home of the famous Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and several other research organizations, and is also the most-used ferry connection to Martha's Vineyard. Falmouth is composed of several separate villages, including East Falmouth, Falmouth Village, Hatchville, North Falmouth, Teaticket, Waquoit, West Falmouth, and Woods Hole, as well as several smaller hamlets that are incorporated into their larger neighbors (e.g., Davisville, Falmouth Heights, Quissett, Sippewissett, and others).[5]

 

* The Mid-Cape includes the towns of Barnstable, Yarmouth and Dennis. The Mid-Cape area features many beautiful beaches, including warm-water beaches along Nantucket Sound, e.g., Kalmus Beach in Hyannis, which gets its name from one of the inventors of Technicolor, Herbert Kalmus. This popular windsurfing destination was bequeathed to the town of Barnstable by Dr. Kalmus on condition that it not be developed, possibly one of the first instances of open-space preservation in the US. The Mid-Cape is also the commercial and industrial center of the region. There are seven villages in Barnstable, including Barnstable Village, Centerville, Cotuit, Hyannis, Marstons Mills, Osterville, and West Barnstable, as well as several smaller hamlets that are incorporated into their larger neighbors (e.g., Craigville, Cummaquid, Hyannisport, Santuit, Wianno, and others).[6] There are three villages in Yarmouth: South Yarmouth, West Yarmouth and Yarmouthport. There are five villages in Dennis including, Dennis Village(North Dennis), East Dennis, West Dennis, South Dennis and Dennisport.[7]

 

* The Lower Cape traditionally included all of the rest of the Cape,or the towns of Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown. This area includes the Cape Cod National Seashore, a national park comprising much of the outer Cape, including the entire east-facing coast, and is home to some of the most popular beaches in America, such as Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Light Beach in Eastham. Stephen Leatherman, aka "Dr. Beach", named Coast Guard Beach the 5th best beach in America for 2007.[8]

 

[edit] "Upper" and "Lower"

 

The terms "Upper" and "Lower" as applied to the Cape have nothing to do with north and south. Instead, they derive from maritime convention at the time when the principal means of transportation involved watercraft, and the prevailing westerly winds meant that a boat with sails traveling northeast in Cape Cod Bay would have the wind at its back and thus be going downwind, while a craft sailing southwest would be going against the wind, or upwind.[9] Similarly, on nearby Martha's Vineyard, "Up Island" still is the western section and "Down Island" is to the east, and in Maine, "Down East" is similarly defined by the winds and currents.

 

Over time, the reasons for the traditional nomenclature became unfamiliar and their meaning obscure. Late in the 1900s, new arrivals began calling towns from Eastham to Provincetown the "Outer Cape", yet another geographic descriptor which is still in use, as is the "Inner Cape."

[edit] Geology

Cape Cod and Cape Cod Bay from space.[10]

 

East of America, there stands in the open Atlantic the last fragment of an ancient and vanished land. Worn by the breakers and the rains, and disintegrated by the wind, it still stands bold.

“

”

Henry Beston, The Outermost House

 

Cape Cod forms a continuous archipelagic region with a thin line of islands stretching toward New York, historically known by naturalists as the Outer Lands. This continuity is due to the fact that the islands and Cape are all terminal glacial moraines laid down some 16,000 to 20,000 years ago.

 

Most of Cape Cod's geological history involves the advance and retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet in the late Pleistocene geological era and the subsequent changes in sea level. Using radiocarbon dating techniques, researchers have determined that around 23,000 years ago, the ice sheet reached its maximum southward advance over North America, and then started to retreat. Many "kettle ponds" — clear, cold lakes — were formed and remain on Cape Cod as a result of the receding glacier. By about 18,000 years ago, the ice sheet had retreated past Cape Cod. By roughly 15,000 years ago, it had retreated past southern New England. When so much of Earth's water was locked up in massive ice sheets, the sea level was lower. Truro's bayside beaches used to be a petrified forest, before it became a beach.

 

As the ice began to melt, the sea began to rise. Initially, sea level rose quickly, about 15 meters (50 ft) per 1,000 years, but then the rate declined. On Cape Cod, sea level rose roughly 3 meters (11 ft) per millennium between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago. After that, it continued to rise at about 1 meter (3 ft) per millennium. By 6,000 years ago, the sea level was high enough to start eroding the glacial deposits that the vanished continental ice sheet had left on Cape Cod. The water transported the eroded deposits north and south along the outer Cape's shoreline. Those reworked sediments that moved north went to the tip of Cape Cod.

 

Provincetown Spit, at the northern end of the Cape, consists largely of marine deposits, transported from farther up the shore. Sediments that moved south created the islands and shoals of Monomoy. So while other parts of the Cape have dwindled from the action of the waves, these parts of the Cape have grown.

Cape Cod National Seashore

 

This process continues today. Due to their position jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, the Cape and islands are subject to massive coastal erosion. Geologists say that, due to erosion, the Cape will be completely submerged by the sea in thousands of years.[11] This erosion causes the washout of beaches and the destruction of the barrier islands; for example, the ocean broke through the barrier island at Chatham during Hurricane Bob in 1991, allowing waves and storm surges to hit the coast with no obstruction. Consequently, the sediment and sand from the beaches is being washed away and deposited elsewhere. While this destroys land in some places, it creates land elsewhere, most noticeably in marshes where sediment is deposited by waters running through them.

[edit] Climate

 

Although Cape Cod's weather[12] is typically more moderate than inland locations, there have been occasions where Cape Cod has dealt with the brunt of extreme weather situations (such as the Blizzard of 1954 and Hurricane of 1938). Because of the influence of the Atlantic Ocean, temperatures are typically a few degrees cooler in the summer and a few degrees warmer in the winter. A common misconception is that the climate is influenced largely by the warm Gulf Stream current, however that current turns eastward off the coast of Virginia and the waters off the Cape are more influenced by the cold Canadian Labrador Current. As a result, the ocean temperature rarely gets above 65 °F (18 °C), except along the shallow west coast of the Upper Cape.

 

The Cape's climate is also notorious for a delayed spring season, being surrounded by an ocean which is still cold from the winter; however, it is also known for an exceptionally mild fall season (Indian summer), thanks to the ocean remaining warm from the summer. The highest temperature ever recorded on Cape Cod was 104 °F (40 °C) in Provincetown[13], and the lowest temperature ever was −12 °F (−24.4 °C) in Barnstable.[14]

 

The water surrounding Cape Cod moderates winter temperatures enough to extend the USDA hardiness zone 7a to its northernmost limit in eastern North America.[15] Even though zone 7a (annual low = 0–5 degrees Fahrenheit) signifies no sub-zero temperatures annually, there have been several instances of temperatures reaching a few degrees below zero across the Cape (although it is rare, usually 1–5 times a year, typically depending on locale, sometimes not at all). Consequently, many plant species typically found in more southerly latitudes grow there, including Camellias, Ilex opaca, Magnolia grandiflora and Albizia julibrissin.

 

Precipitation on Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket is the lowest in the New England region, averaging slightly less than 40 inches (1,000 mm) a year (most parts of New England average 42–46 inches). This is due to storm systems which move across western areas, building up in mountainous regions, and dissipating before reaching the coast where the land has leveled out. The region does not experience a greater number of sunny days however, as the number of cloudy days is the same as inland locales, in addition to increased fog. Snowfall is annual, but a lot less common than the rest of Massachusetts. On average, 30 inches of snow, which is a foot less than Boston, falls in an average winter. Snow is usually light, and comes in squalls on cold days. Storms that bring blizzard conditions and snow emergencies to the mainland, bring devastating ice storms or just heavy rains more frequently than large snow storms.

[hide]Climate data for Cape Cod

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Average high °C (°F) 2.06

(35.7) 2.5

(36.5) 6.22

(43.2) 11.72

(53.1) 16.94

(62.5) 23.5

(74.3) 26.39

(79.5) 26.67

(80.0) 25.06

(77.1) 18.39

(65.1) 12.56

(54.6) 5.44

(41.8) 26.67

(80.0)

Average low °C (°F) -5.33

(22.4) -5

(23.0) -1.33

(29.6) 2.72

(36.9) 8.72

(47.7) 14.61

(58.3) 19.22

(66.6) 20.28

(68.5) 15.56

(60.0) 9.94

(49.9) 3.94

(39.1) -2.22

(28.0) -5.33

(22.4)

Precipitation mm (inches) 98

(3.86) 75.4

(2.97) 95

(3.74) 92.5

(3.64) 83.6

(3.29) 76.7

(3.02) 62.2

(2.45) 65

(2.56) 74.7

(2.94) 84.8

(3.34) 90.7

(3.57) 92.7

(3.65) 990.9

(39.01)

Source: World Meteorological Organisation (United Nations) [16]

[edit] Native population

 

Cape Cod has been the home of the Wampanoag tribe of Native American people for many centuries. They survived off the sea and were accomplished farmers. They understood the principles of sustainable forest management, and were known to light controlled fires to keep the underbrush in check. They helped the Pilgrims, who arrived in the fall of 1620, survive at their new Plymouth Colony. At the time, the dominant group was the Kakopee, known for their abilities at fishing. They were the first Native Americans to use large casting nets. Early colonial settlers recorded that the Kakopee numbered nearly 7,000.

 

Shortly after the Pilgrims arrived, the chief of the Kakopee, Mogauhok, attempted to make a treaty limiting colonial settlements. The effort failed after he succumbed to smallpox in 1625. Infectious diseases such as smallpox, measles and influenza caused the deaths of many other Kakopee and Wampanoag. They had no natural immunity to Eurasian diseases by then endemic among the English and other Europeans. Today, the only reminder of the Kakopee is a small public recreation area in Barnstable named for them. A historic marker notes the burial site of Mogauhok near Truro, although the location is conjecture.

 

While contractors were digging test wells in the eastern Massachusetts Military Reservation area, they discovered an archeological find.[citation needed] Excavation revealed the remains of a Kakopee village in Forestdale, a location in Sandwich. Researchers found a totem with a painted image of Mogauhok, portrayed in his chief's cape and brooch. The totem was discovered on property on Grand Oak Road. It is the first evidence other than colonial accounts of his role as an important Kakopee leader.

 

The Indians lost their lands through continued purchase and expropriation by the English colonists. The documentary Natives of the Narrowland (1993), narrated by actress Julie Harris, shows the history of the Wampanoag people through Cape Cod archaeological sites.

 

In 1974, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council was formed to articulate the concerns of those with Native American ancestry. They petitioned the federal government in 1975 and again in 1990 for official recognition of the Mashpee Wampanoag as a tribe. In May 2007, the Wampanoag tribe was finally federally recognized as a tribe.[17]

[edit] History

Cranberry picking in 1906

 

Cape Cod was a landmark for early explorers. It may have been the "Promontory of Vinland" mentioned by the Norse voyagers (985-1025). Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 approached it from the south. He named Martha's Vineyard Claudia, after the mother of the King of France.[18] The next year the explorer Esteban Gómez called it Cape St. James.

 

In 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold named it Cape Cod, the surviving term and the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.[19] Samuel de Champlain charted its sand-silted harbors in 1606 and Henry Hudson landed there in 1609. Captain John Smith noted it on his map of 1614 and at last the Pilgrims entered the "Cape Harbor" and – contrary to the popular myth of Plymouth Rock – made their first landing near present-day Provincetown on November 11, 1620. Nearby, in what is now Eastham, they had their first encounter with Native Americans.

 

Cape Cod was among the first places settled by the English in North America. Aside from Barnstable (1639), Sandwich (1637) and Yarmouth (1639), the Cape's fifteen towns developed slowly. The final town to be established on the Cape was Bourne in 1884.[20] Provincetown was a group of huts until the 18th century. A channel from Massachusetts Bay to Buzzards Bay is shown on Southack's map of 1717. The present Cape Cod Canal was slowly developed from 1870 to 1914. The Federal government purchased it in 1928.

 

Thanks to early colonial settlement and intensive land use, by the time Henry Thoreau saw Cape Cod during his four visits over 1849 to 1857[21], its vegetation was depauperate and trees were scarce. As the settlers heated by fires, and it took 10 to 20 cords (40 to 80 m³) of wood to heat a home, they cleared most of Cape Cod of timber early on. They planted familiar crops, but these were unsuited to Cape Cod's thin, glacially derived soils. For instance, much of Eastham was planted to wheat. The settlers practiced burning of woodlands to release nutrients into the soil. Improper and intensive farming led to erosion and the loss of topsoil. Farmers grazed their cattle on the grassy dunes of coastal Massachusetts, only to watch "in horror as the denuded sands `walked' over richer lands, burying cultivated fields and fences." Dunes on the outer Cape became more common and many harbors filled in with eroded soils.[22]

 

By 1800, most of Cape Cod's firewood had to be transported by boat from Maine. The paucity of vegetation was worsened by the raising of merino sheep that reached its peak in New England around 1840. The early industrial revolution, which occurred through much of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, mostly bypassed Cape Cod due to a lack of significant water power in the area. As a result, and also because of its geographic position, the Cape developed as a large fishing and whaling center. After 1860 and the opening of the American West, farmers abandoned agriculture on the Cape. By 1950 forests had recovered to an extent not seen since the 18th century.

 

Cape Cod became a summer haven for city dwellers beginning at the end of the 19th century. Improved rail transportation made the towns of the Upper Cape, such as Bourne and Falmouth, accessible to Bostonians. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Northeastern mercantile elite built many large, shingled "cottages" along Buzzards Bay. The relaxed summer environment offered by Cape Cod was highlighted by writers including Joseph C. Lincoln, who published novels and countless short stories about Cape Cod folks in popular magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and the Delineator.

 

Guglielmo Marconi made the first transatlantic wireless transmission originating in the United States from Cape Cod, at Wellfleet. The beach from which he transmitted has since been called Marconi Beach. In 1914 he opened the maritime wireless station WCC in Chatham. It supported the communications of Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes, Admiral Byrd, and the Hindenburg. Marconi chose Chatham due to its vantage point on the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded on three sides by water. Walter Cronkite narrated a 17-minute documentary in 2005 about the history of the Chatham Station.

 

Much of the East-facing Atlantic seacoast of Cape Cod consists of wide, sandy beaches. In 1961, a significant portion of this coastline, already slated for housing subdivisions, was made a part of the Cape Cod National Seashore by President John F. Kennedy. It was protected from private development and preserved for public use. Large portions are open to the public, including the Marconi Site in Wellfleet. This is a park encompassing the site of the first two-way transoceanic radio transmission from the United States. (Theodore Roosevelt used Marconi's equipment for this transmission).

 

The Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport was President Kennedy's summer White House during his presidency. The Kennedy family continues to maintain residences on the compound. Other notable residents of Cape Cod have included actress Julie Harris, US Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis, figure skater Todd Eldredge, and novelists Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut. Influential natives included the patriot James Otis, historian and writer Mercy Otis Warren, jurist Lemuel Shaw, and naval officer John Percival.

[edit] Lighthouses of Cape Cod

Race Point Lighthouse in Provincetown (1876)

 

Lighthouses, from ancient times, have fascinated members of the human race. There is something about a lighted beacon that suggests hope and trust and appeals to the better instincts of mankind.

“

”

Edward Rowe Snow

 

Due to its dangerous constantly moving shoals, Cape Cod's shores have featured beacons which warn ships of the danger since very early in its history. There are numerous working lighthouses on Cape Cod and the Islands, including Highland Light, Nauset Light, Chatham Light, Race Point Light, and Nobska Light, mostly operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. The exception is Nauset Light, which was decommissioned in 1996 and is now maintained by the Nauset Light Preservation Society under the auspices of Cape Cod National Seashore. These lighthouses are frequently photographed symbols of Cape Cod.

 

Others include:

 

Upper Cape: Wings Neck

 

Mid Cape: Sandy Neck, South Hyannis, Lewis Bay, Bishop and Clerks, Bass River

 

Lower Cape: Wood End, Long Point, Monomoy, Stage Harbor, Pamet, Mayo Beach, Billingsgate, Three Sisters, Nauset, Highland

[edit] Transportation

 

Cape Cod is connected to the mainland by a pair of canal-spanning highway bridges from Bourne and Sagamore that were constructed in the 1930s, and a vertical-lift railroad bridge. The limited number of access points to the peninsula can result in large traffic backups during the tourist season.

 

The entire Cape is roughly bisected lengthwise by U.S. Route 6, locally known as the Mid-Cape Highway and officially as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway.

 

Commercial air service to Cape Cod operates out of Barnstable Municipal Airport and Provincetown Municipal Airport. Several bus lines service the Cape. There are ferry connections from Boston to Provincetown, as well as from Hyannis and Woods Hole to the islands.

 

Cape Cod has a public transportation network comprising buses operated by three different companies, a rail line, taxis and paratransit services.

The Bourne Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal, with the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge in the background

[edit] Bus

 

Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority operates a year-round public bus system comprising three long distance routes and a local bus in Hyannis and Barnstable Village. From mid June until October, additional local routes are added in Falmouth and Provincetown. CCRTA also operates Barnstable County's ADA required paratransit (dial-a-ride) service, under the name "B-Bus."

 

Long distance bus service is available through Plymouth and Brockton Street Railway, with regular service to Boston and Logan Airport, as well as less frequent service to Provincetown. Peter Pan Bus Lines also runs long distance service to Providence T.F. Green Airport and New York City.

[edit] Rail

 

Regular passenger rail service through Cape Cod ended in 1959, quite possibly on June 30 of that year. In 1978, the tracks east of South Dennis were abandoned and replaced with the very popular bicycle path, known as the Cape Cod Rail Trail. Another bike path, the Shining Sea Bikeway, was built over tracks between Woods Hole and Falmouth in 1975; construction to extend this path to North Falmouth over 6.3 miles (10.1 km) of inactive rail bed began in April 2008[23] and ended in early 2009. Active freight service remains in the Upper Cape area in Sandwich and in Bourne, largely due to a trash transfer station located at Massachusetts Military Reservation along the Bourne-Falmouth rail line. In 1986, Amtrak ran a seasonal service in the summer from New York City to Hyannis called the Cape Codder. From 1988, Amtrak and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation increased service to a daily frequency.[24] Since its demise in 1996, there have been periodic discussions about reinstating passenger rail service from Boston to reduce car traffic to and from the Cape, with officials in Bourne seeking to re-extend MBTA Commuter Rail service from Middleboro to Buzzards Bay[25], despite a reluctant Beacon Hill legislature.

 

Cape Cod Central Railroad operates passenger train service on Cape Cod. The service is primarily tourist oriented and includes a dinner train. The scenic route between Downtown Hyannis and the Cape Cod Canal is about 2½ hours round trip. Massachusetts Coastal Railroad is also planning to return passenger railroad services eventually to the Bourne-Falmouth rail line in the future. An August 5, 2009 article on the New England Cable News channel, entitled South Coast rail project a priority for Mass. lawmakers, mentions a $1.4-billion railroad reconstruction plan by Governor Deval Patrick, and could mean rebuilding of old rail lines on the Cape. On November 21, 2009, the town of Falmouth saw its first passenger train in 12 years, a set of dinner train cars from Cape Cod Central. And a trip from the Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts on May 15, 2010 revealed a second trip along the Falmouth line.

[edit] Taxi

 

Taxicabs are plentiful, with several different companies operating out of different parts of the Cape. Except at the airport and some bus terminals with taxi stands, cabs must be booked ahead of time, with most operators preferring two to three hours notice. Cabs cannot be "hailed" anywhere in Barnstable County, this was outlawed in the early nineties after several robbery attempts on drivers.

 

Most companies utilize a New York City-style taximeter and charge based on distance plus an initial fee of $2 to $3. In Provincetown, cabs charge a flat fare per person anywhere in the town.

[edit] Tourism

Hyannis Harbor on Nantucket Sound

 

Although Cape Cod has a year-round population of about 230,000, it experiences a tourist season each summer, the beginning and end of which can be roughly approximated as Memorial Day and Labor Day, respectively. Many businesses are specifically targeted to summer visitors, and close during the eight to nine months of the "off season" (although the "on season" has been expanding somewhat in recent years due to Indian Summer, reduced lodging rates, and the number of people visiting the Cape after Labor Day who either have no school-age children, and the elderly, reducing the true "off season" to six or seven months). In the late 20th century, tourists and owners of second homes began visiting the Cape more and more in the spring and fall, softening the definition of the high season and expanding it somewhat (see above). Some particularly well-known Cape products and industries include cranberries, shellfish (particularly oysters and clams) and lobstering.

 

Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod, also berths several whale watching fleets who patrol the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Most fleets guarantee a whale sighting (mostly humpback whale, fin whale, minke whale, sei whale, and critically endangered, the North Atlantic Right Whale), and one is the only federally certified operation qualified to rescue whales. Provincetown has also long been known as an art colony, attracting writers and artists. The town is home to the Cape's most attended art museum, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. Many hotels and resorts are friendly to or cater to gay and lesbian tourists and it is known as a gay mecca in the summer.[26]

 

Cape Cod is a popular destination for beachgoers from all over. With 559.6 miles (900.6 km) of coastline, beaches, both public and private, are easily accessible. The Cape has upwards of sixty public beaches, many of which offer parking for non-residents for a daily fee (in summer). The Cape Cod National Seashore has 40 miles (64 km) of sandy beach and many walking paths.

 

Cape Cod is also popular for its outdoor activities like beach walking, biking, boating, fishing, go-karts, golfing, kayaking, miniature golf, and unique shopping. There are 27 public, daily-fee golf courses and 15 private courses on Cape Cod.[27] Bed and breakfasts or vacation houses are often used for lodging.

 

Each summer the Naukabout Music Festival is held at the Barnstable County Fair Grounds located in East Falmouth,(typically) during the first weekend of August. This Music festival features local, regional and national talent along with food, arts and family friendly activities.

[edit] Sport fishing

 

Cape Cod is known around the world as a spring-to-fall destination for sport anglers. Among the species most widely pursued are striped bass, bluefish, bluefin tuna, false albacore (little tunny), bonito, tautog, flounder and fluke. The Cape Cod Bay side of the Cape, from Sandwich to Provincetown, has several harbors, saltwater creeks, and shoals that hold bait fish and attract the larger game fish, such as striped bass, bluefish and bluefin tuna.

 

The outer edge of the Cape, from Provincetown to Falmouth, faces the open Atlantic from Provincetown to Chatham, and then the more protected water of Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds, from Chatham to Falmouth. The bays, harbors and shoals along this coastline also provide a robust habitat for game species, and during the late summer months warm-water species such as mahi-mahi and marlin will also appear on the southern edge of Cape Cod's waters. Nearly every harbor on Cape Cod hosts sport fishing charter boats, which run from May through October.[28]

[edit] Sports

 

The Cape has nine amateur baseball franchises playing within Barnstable County in the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Wareham Gatemen also play in the Cape Cod Baseball League in nearby Wareham, Massachusetts in Plymouth County. The league originated 1923, although intertown competition traces to 1866. Teams in the league are the Bourne Braves, Brewster Whitecaps, Chatham Anglers (formerly the Chatham Athletics), Cotuit Kettleers, Falmouth Commodores, Harwich Mariners, Hyannis Harbor Hawks (formerly the Hyannis Mets), Orleans Firebirds (formerly the Orleans Cardinals), Wareham Gatemen and the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. Pro ball scouts frequent the games in the summer, looking for stars of the future.

 

Cape Cod is also a national hot bed for baseball and hockey. Along with the Cape Cod Baseball League and the new Junior Hockey League team, the Cape Cod Cubs, many high school players are being seriously recruited as well. Barnstable and Harwich have each sent multiple players to Division 1 colleges for baseball, Harwich has also won three State titles in the past 12 years (1996, 2006, 2007). Bourne and Sandwich, known rivals in hockey have won state championships recently. Bourne in 2004, and Sandwich in 2007. Nauset, Barnstable, and Martha's Vineyard are also state hockey powerhouses. Barnstable and Falmouth also hold the title of having one of the longest Thanksgiving football rivalries in the country. The teams have played each other every year on the Thanksgiving since 1895. The Bourne and Barnstable girl's volleyball teams are two of the best teams in the state and Barnstable in the country. With Bourne winning the State title in 2003 and 2007. In the past 15 years, Barnstable has won 12 Division 1 State titles and has won the state title the past two years.

 

The Cape also is home to the Cape Cod Frenzy, a team in the American Basketball Association.

 

Soccer on Cape Cod is represented by the Cape Cod Crusaders, playing in the USL Premier Development League (PDL) soccer based in Hyannis. In addition, a summer Cape Cod Adult Soccer League (CCASL) is active in several towns on the Cape.

 

Cape Cod is also the home of the Cape Cod Cubs, a new junior league hockey team that is based out of Hyannis at the new communtiy center being built of Bearses Way.

 

The end of each summer is marked with the running of the world famous Falmouth Road Race which is held on the 3rd Saturday in August. It draws about 10,000 runners to the Cape and showcases the finest runners in the world (mainly for the large purse that the race is able to offer). The race is 7.2 miles (11.6 km) long, which is a non-standard distance. The reason for the unusual distance is that the man who thought the race up (Tommy Leonard) was a bartender who wanted a race along the coast from one bar (The Cap'n Kidd in Woods Hole) to another (The Brothers Four in Falmouth Heights). While the bar in Falmouth Heights is no longer there, the race still starts at the front door of the Cap'n Kidd in Woods Hole and now finishes at the beach in Falmouth Heights. Prior to the Falmouth race is an annual 5-mile (8.0 km) race through Brewster called the Brew Run, held early in August.

[edit] Education

 

Each town usually consists of a few elementary schools, one or two middle schools and one large public high school that services the entire town. Exceptions to this include Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School located in Yarmouth which services both the town of Yarmouth as well as Dennis and Nauset Regional High School located in Eastham which services the town of Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown (optional). Bourne High School is the public school for students residing in the town of Bourne, which is gathered from villages in Bourne, including Sagamore, Sagamore Beach, and Buzzards Bay. Barnstable High School is the largest high school and is known for its girls' volleyball team which have been state champions a total of 12 times. Barnstable High School also boasts one of the country's best high school drama clubs which were awarded with a contract by Warner Brothers to created a documentary in webisode format based on their production of Wizard of Oz. Sturgis Charter Public School is a public school in Hyannis which was featured in Newsweek's Magazine's "Best High Schools" ranking. It ranked 28th in the country and 1st in the state of Massachusetts in the 2009 edition and ranked 43rd and 55th in the 2008 and 2007 edition, respectively. Sturgis offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in their junior and senior year and is open to students as far as Plymouth. The Cape also contains two vocational high schools. One is the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich and the other is Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School located in Bourne. Lastly, Mashpee High School is home to the Mashpee Chapter of (SMPTE,) the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. This chapter is the first and only high school chapter in the world to be a part of this organization and has received much recognition within the Los Angeles broadcasting industry as a result. The officers of this group who have made history are listed below:

 

* President: Ryan D. Stanley '11

* Vice-President Kenneth J. Peters '13

* Treasurer Eric N. Bergquist '11

* Secretary Andrew L. Medlar '11

 

In addition to public schools, Cape Cod has a wide range of private schools. The town of Barnstable has Trinity Christian Academy, Cape Cod Academy, St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School, and Pope John Paul II High School. Bourne offers the Waldorf School of Cape Cod, Orleans offers the Lighthouse Charter School for elementary and middle school students, and Falmouth offers Falmouth Academy. Riverview School is located in East Sandwich and is a special co-ed boarding school which services students as old as 22 who have learning disabilities. Another specialized school is the Penikese Island School located on Penikese Island, part of the Elizabeth Islands off southwestern Cape Cod, which services struggling and troubled teenage boys.

 

Cape Cod also contains two institutions of higher education. One is the Cape Cod Community College located in West Barnstable, Barnstable. The other is Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, Bourne. Massachusetts Maritime Academy is the oldest continuously operating maritime college in the United States.

[edit] Islands off Cape Cod

 

Like Cape Cod itself, the islands south of the Cape have evolved from whaling and trading areas to resort destinations, attracting wealthy families, celebrities, and other tourists. The islands include Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, as well as Forbes family-owned Naushon Island, which was purchased by John Murray Forbes with profits from opium dealing in the China trade during the Opium War. Naushon is one of the Elizabeth Islands, many of which are privately owned. One of the publicly accessible Elizabeths is the southernmost island in the chain, Cuttyhunk, with a year-round population of 52 people. Several prominent families have established compounds or estates on the larger islands, making these islands some of the wealthiest resorts in the Northeast, yet they retain much of the early merchant trading and whaling culture.

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.

 

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Eilean Donan, is a small tidal island where three sea lochs meet, Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh, in the western Highlands of Scotland. A picturesque castle that frequently appears in photographs, film and television dominates the island, which lies about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the village of Dornie. Since the castle's restoration in the early 20th century, a footbridge has connected the island to the mainland.

 

Eilean Donan is part of the Kintail National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland. In 2001, the island had a recorded population of just one person, but there were no "usual residents" at the time of the 2011 census.

 

Eilean Donan, which means simply "island of Donnán", is named after Donnán of Eigg, a Celtic saint martyred in 617. Donnán is said to have established a church on the island, though no trace of this remains.

 

The castle was founded in the thirteenth century, and became a stronghold of the Clan Mackenzie and their allies the Clan MacRae. In the early eighteenth century, the Mackenzies' involvement in the Jacobite rebellions led in 1719 to the castle's destruction by government ships. Lieutenant-Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap's twentieth-century reconstruction of the ruins produced the present buildings

160.365

A shame I can't involve that glorious sounding V8 into this picture. You can listen to it in this video: click

 

There are plenty of things I could tell you about this image but what I am going to relate tonight is only going to involve the mistake I made.

 

One of the risks to habits is that you can come to rely on them overly much. A case in point would be that by an unofficial rule I generally keep my Hasselblad backs loaded with 400 ISO film, one back for color and the other for b&w. When I do load a different speed film in one of my backs I try to make a note because I am so used to 400 speed film in them that I have mis-exposed film before because of mistaken assumption.

 

Before this latest trip up to the Olympic Peninsula I had been working a lot and photographing only a little. As such by the time I got up there my black and white back was halfway through a roll of film I could not remember loading and so I could not remember which film was in it. Normally no note would mean 400 speed but something in my brain was tickling away that this was not true, that I had loaded something out of the ordinary in terms of film speed in this back.

 

So what are my options at this point with about six frames left to expose? Well I could trust my habits and expose at 400. I could attempt to second guess motives and backtrack through memory to deduce which film I might have loaded. I could meter somewhere in between. This latter is what I did. I figured the only other speed I would have loaded would have been 100 ISO film. So if I metered at 200 then I would only be wrong by a stop. If it was 100, I would be a stop under and considering that I normally overexpose by habit anyway, all would be ok. If it was 400, then I would be a stop over (or two with my usual overexposure). and film so readily forgives overexposure. Seriously, you can get away with three or four stops over and still produce reasonable images. Additionally I was going to be a bit less choosy with those six frames and try to blow through them quickly so I could confirm the film and if necessary backtrack to re-expose any images.

 

Thus I set off. Unfortunately it was sunny and clear and conducive to heavy ND shooting so "blowing through" half a roll takes on a slightly different meaning when shooting through 18 stops of neutral density. It took a few hours but I managed, wound the roll and unloaded it... to find a roll of Rollei RPX 25. Umm yeah. So metering for 200, maybe overexposing by design by a stop I was still going to be two stops under. That was a bit disappointing. Usually I defer to the decisions that past-Zeb makes. He often seems to think of things that present-Zeb appreciates. But this time I was wondering what in the heck that past me was thinking by loading a roll of 25 speed film in a camera that usually uses 400 speed and not putting a note on it to warn present-Zeb how to expose it properly. Sheesh.

 

So I had a bit of a sinking feeling in my stomach, figuring not even the forgiveness of film was going to save me this time. Luckily I was still on the same beach and did backtrack to re-expose the images I felt most strongly about. I debated having the roll pushed when I got back but then the first half had theoretically been exposed accurately and I couldn't really remember what was on it, so I didn't want to push process that stuff, so I just let it go, morbidly curious to see how thin the negs would be. Imagine my surprise when the stuff that came back turned out to be fairly usable... at least some of it. This image for example was metered somewhere around 100 to 200 ISO, which means I probably overexposed it to begin with due to the deep shadows in the frame. But that is ok, I wanted the cliffs to be black anyway.

 

So what to take from all this? I guess mostly that we all make mistakes. In fact you ought to find opportunities to make mistakes. They keep us sharp, they are opportunities to learn, they sometimes show us things we may not have discovered on our own, they remind us that we are fallible in our decision-making. And I tell you about this one in particular so that you know that I am not above making such silly errors. I tend to curate out most of the images I don't consider worth the time to post or your time to see. I edit down to the good stuff, which really means the stuff that I like for one reason and another. And I think with practice and by limiting how much I post I tend to only share the stuff that is noteworthy for good reasons. But that can easily lead to the mistaken perception that maybe I don't make the same mistakes you make. That I don't screw up my calculations or forget something simple and obvious. Well trust me, I do. And sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. On this case I got lucky, no thanks to my past self.

 

Hasselblad 500C

Rollei RPX 25

The operation here involves several movements , after first using the wye at their yard to turn the train, they back all the way down past the diamond at the old station , then go back through the yard to diverge to the interchange tracks of the local CSX, CN yard interchange , and Effingham RR . On this day cars were delivered to all three Railroads .

  

These Pollard Willows are in quite some discussion?

Never mind, my imagination is running wild again! LOL

 

Pollarding, a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, promotes a dense head of foliage and branches.

In ancient Rome, Propertius mentioned pollarding during the 1st century BCE.

The practice occurred commonly in Europe since medieval times, and takes place today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a determined height.

Traditionally, people pollarded trees for one of two reasons: for fodder to feed livestock or for wood.

In Flanders it was also against the flooding of the flat lands, since they are very water-absorbant.

Fodder pollards produced "pollard hay" for livestock feed; they were pruned at intervals of two to six years so their leafy material would be most abundant.

We call them “knot-willows, because the head gets so gnarled.

Have a lovely day, M, (*_*)

For more of my work: www.indigo2photography.com

IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

 

The passage of time is most likely an illusion even though our senses tell us that time flows.

 

Consciousness may involve thermodynamic or quantum processes that lend the impression of living moment by moment. According to a certain physicist, time is not real and what we regard as the time is no more than changes that lead to the illusion of time.

 

8s exposure, liked this angle with the water falling on the moss covered rocks like white silk and the warm light streaming in from the right.

 

In a rather strange move, Nikon just released a rebranded 1st Gen Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 lens in Z mount at $1,199.95, the lens diagrams for the mirrorless Z and E mount versions are identical with identical MTF and minimum focus distance.

 

Like some Matrix “black cat” deja vu, Olympus (after being spun off from the Olympus Parent Co) did the same thing previously with the remounted 100-400mm f5-6.3 IS which was derived from Sigma’s older DSLR version of the same lens rather than the newer mirrorless 100-400mm DN version while asking for a price way in excess of the original Sigma DSLR lens!

 

The newer Sony E mount Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 G2 is currently available for $899 and the superseded version (now rebranded Z version) was released back in 2018 at $800. This makes the rebranded Z mount version 50% (+$400!) more expensive than the 2018 E mount version! Heck, the rebranded Z version is even ⅓ more expensive than the newest 2021 Tamron G2 version! Adding insult to injury, the remounted Z lens won’t get Tamron’s much longer 5 years warranty.

 

More choice is great but it’s not good to fleece one’s loyal customers so blatantly. The issue is not about who actually made the lens but rather Nikon charging 50% more for a lens that has already been replaced by a newer G2 version which is way, way too much just for native AF compatibility!!

 

As expected, the usual Nikon Z-ealot fanbois shills are out in full force with hyperbolic rationalization and attempts to warp space-time by suggesting that the Z mount version has some magical secret Nikon sauce for better performance, steering discussions well away from the ridiculous 50% premium for a superseded model! Ludicrous mental gymnastics such as outright denial that it’s the same lens, hallucinating possible addition of Nikon lens coatings or AF motors or that Leica does the same with rebranding Sigma lenses hence this is kosher…..

 

Nikon Z-ealots were already trying to spin that the Z 24-120mm f4 S is optically superior just because the VR mechanism was omitted! Tamron typically leaves out VR in their mirrorless lenses, perhaps the new Z 24-120mm f4.0 S was also designed by Tamron since this was also announced at the same time as the rebranded Z 28-75mm f2.8!?

 

Really odd behaviour that we seldom see in folks using other brands, perhaps Z-ealot shills live in the Matrix and hence lost all capacity to discern reality from fiction!

 

When the equivalent Z lens is markedly larger than other brands’ versions, Z-ealots will tell you that Nikon optimized performance over size! Nikon’s largest Z mount diameter supposedly allows for more efficient lens designs but yet they end up with larger, heavier and more expensive lenses, why?

 

The likely reason is all about financials. Nikon’s market share has been shrinking for years, their mirrorless market share is even smaller and continues to shrink in a shrinking market. In order to generate enough revenue to offset their higher fixed costs (esp R&D) over diminishing unit sales, they have to charge ever higher margins. As such even if the bigger mount diameter hypothetically does allow for more efficient lens designs, whatever design benefits derived must 1st go towards bolstering the Nikon imaging division’s bottomline hence their Z mount lenses ended up bigger, heavier and more expensive at the expense of the consumer! The Z system does not offer value to the consumer; www.flickr.com/photos/86145600@N07/51134617306/in/datepos...

 

Nikon has always been behind in releasing and updating lenses as well. This is also a direct consequence of a smaller market share even during the DSLR era. Canon will have version III lenses out when Nikon in many cases never even manage to update to version II.

 

In the UWA category, Canon had EF 16-35mm f2.8L III while Nikon was stuck with their 1st version at f4 from 2010! Fixed aperture standard zoom Canon EF 24-105mm f4 got version II updates vs Nikon’s single generation AF-S 24-120mm f4. Same for Prime lenses, Canon EF 35mm f1.4II while Nikon never went beyond AF-S 35mm f1.4G from 2010. Canon’s superb variable aperture EF 100-400mm II while Nikon never got beyond their disappointing 1st version 80-400mm zoom from 1996. Even with supertele exotics, Canon EF 400mm f2.8, 500mm f4 and 600mm f4 all reached 3rd generation updates while Nikon only managed 2 generations. Now in the mirrorless age, Nikon’s market share is even smaller, very small in fact. No wonder the Nikon shills have been so frantically spewing misinformation in the gear forums!

 

The Z 800mm f6.3 PF VR announcement is however much more exciting! This is the area where Nikon appears to have real competitive advantage over others.

Ausangate (Vilcanota mountain range) 20221125

 

Ausangate is the 24th highest mountain in the Andes Range ( Cordillera de Vilcanota), in Peru.

With its 6384 meters above sea level, Ausangate is the fifth highest mountain in Peru and is considered the most representative of the region. Its size is such that it can be seen even from the Sacsayhuamán Fortress, very close to the center of the Cusco capital.

Ausangate is surrounded by turquoise lakes like the Sibinacocha, as well as stone forests, glaciers and vast plains that impress with their magical landscape. Reaching the top of Ausangate involves a journey of 5 days and 4 nights along 70 km, which is why it is considered one of the most challenging trekking routes in the Peruvian Andes. However, during the hike, the traveler witnesses incredible postcards: multi-colored mountains, cliffs and alpacas that create an incredible experience.

Since the first expedition in 1950, under the command of the Italian Piero Ghiglione, many explorers and hikers have tried to conquer the top of Ausangate. It was not until three years later that a German expedition achieved the desired goal of scaling the mountain by its southern slope. Later, new routes were opened to make the ascent more accessible and less difficult.

Because her origin involves her death, she's susceptible to the effects of a certain ring! Hopefully Greg will be able to help her shrug off the effects of the dark jewelry.

 

This was a fun little design I wanted to do for a while, and it gives me an excuse to not paint the hairpiece! ^^

William’s Practice involves beading everyday objects. With this work, he explores the ideas around trespassing as he subtly critiques rights of land. These camping chairs – created by many hands and thousands of glass beads – are set on river rocks that acknowledge the waterways and shorelines that run through Turtle Island. He raises the questions: “Who is claiming ownership of these lands?”

This Canadian built Sea Hurricane first flew in January 1941. Originally built as a Hurricane Mk.I, it was shipped to the UK and converted to Sea Hurricane IB standard, involving the fitting of catapult spools and an arrester hook.

 

Restored to flight in 1995, it is owned by the Shuttleworth Trust based at Old Warden, Bedfordshire. Seen here at Shuttleworth Military Air Show 2024.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...

Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. Originally known as Boulder Dam from 1933, it was officially renamed Hoover Dam, for President Herbert Hoover, by a joint resolution of Congress in 1947. Since about 1900, the Black Canyon and nearby Boulder Canyon had been investigated for their potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. In 1928, Congress authorized the project. The winning bid to build the dam was submitted by a consortium called Six Companies, Inc., which began construction on the dam in early 1931. Such a large concrete structure had never been built before, and some of the techniques were unproven. The torrid summer weather and lack of facilities near the site also presented difficulties. Nevertheless, Six Companies turned the dam over to the federal government on March 1, 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule. Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume (when it is full). The dam is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction; nearly a million people tour the dam each year. The heavily traveled U.S. Route 93 (US 93) ran along the dam's crest until October 2010, when the Hoover Dam Bypass opened. As the United States developed the Southwest, the Colorado River was seen as a potential source of irrigation water. An initial attempt at diverting the river for irrigation purposes occurred in the late 1890s, when land speculator William Beatty built the Alamo Canal just north of the Mexican border; the canal dipped into Mexico before running to a desolate area Beatty named the Imperial Valley. Though water from the Imperial Canal allowed for the widespread settlement of the valley, the canal proved expensive to maintain. After a catastrophic breach that caused the Colorado River to fill the Salton Sea, the Southern Pacific Railroad spent $3 million in 1906–07 to stabilize the waterway, an amount it hoped in vain would be reimbursed by the Federal Government. Even after the waterway was stabilized, it proved unsatisfactory because of constant disputes with landowners on the Mexican side of the border. As the technology of electric power transmission improved, the Lower Colorado was considered for its hydroelectric-power potential. In 1902, the Edison Electric Company of Los Angeles surveyed the river in the hope of building a 40-foot (12 m) rock dam which could generate 10,000 horsepower (7,500 kW). However, at the time, the limit of transmission of electric power was 80 miles (130 km), and there were few customers (mostly mines) within that limit. Edison allowed land options it held on the river to lapse—including an option for what became the site of Hoover Dam. In the following years, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), known as the Reclamation Service at the time, also considered the Lower Colorado as the site for a dam. Service chief Arthur Powell Davis proposed using dynamite to collapse the walls of Boulder Canyon, 20 miles (32 km) north of the eventual dam site, into the river. The river would carry off the smaller pieces of debris, and a dam would be built incorporating the remaining rubble. In 1922, after considering it for several years, the Reclamation Service finally rejected the proposal, citing doubts about the unproven technique and questions as to whether it would in fact save money.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam

I know that I've posted several photos involving this Carolina First building. But, I promise, each is for a different reason. Truth is, one could sit here and shoot at this building on the hour, every hour and get subtleties of change in the window reflections. I am all about subtleties. Nuance.

Heck, I take thousands of shots of the moon. How boring could that be?

Never boring.

Always different.

She shows us the same face every night, but that face is held slightly differently.

This building always faces the same way and shows the same stone and glass. But that stone and glass shows more than itself.

Aren't we the same way? Aren't we seen according to our contexts? I'm fortunate enough that my contexts actually reflect parts of me. But though those contexts and expressions are all closely related, I am more than any one of them can express. Their connections aren't evidenced by any single manifestation.

 

I love to sit and watch this building reflect it's context. I love to watch it sit there, stone solid, unwavering, and yet express empathy to everything around.

It knows what is going on and it shows on its face. If the building across the street is feeling organized, symmetrical, and ordered, it can look into this building and see itself.

If the building feels jagged, chaotic, unsettled, squiggly, it can look across and see its own situation reflected, felt and expressed by a neighbor.

I want to be like that building. Strong, unmoving, solid, and beautiful. But I want my beauty to depend greatly on the reflections of those around me.

Does this game involve the mattress?

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...

Black Bayou Lake

Tunes

Early in the breeding season, adult Great Egrets grow long plumes (called Aigrettes) on their backs which they raise in courtship displays. Males perform most of the displays, which can involve preening the wings, ducking the head, holding and shaking twigs in the bill and stretching the neck. I love the shadows of leaves, flowers and branches on the Egrets back. Alligator Breeding Marsh and Wading Bird Rookery, Gatorland, Orlando, Florida. Title from the song of the same name by Saga.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Minster

  

The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York. It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of York. The title "minster" is attributed to churches established in the Anglo-Saxon period as missionary teaching churches, and serves now as an honorific title.[1] Services in the minster are sometimes regarded as on the High Church or Anglo-Catholic end of the Anglican continuum.[2]

 

The minster has a very wide Decorated Gothic nave and chapter house, a Perpendicular Gothic Quire and east end and Early English North and South transepts. The nave contains the West Window, constructed in 1338, and over the Lady Chapel in the east end is the Great East Window, (finished in 1408), the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. In the north transept is the Five Sisters Window, each lancet being over 52 feet (16 m) high.[citation needed] The south transept contains a rose window, while the West Window contains a heart-shaped design colloquially known as 'The Heart of Yorkshire'.

  

History

  

York has had a verifiable Christian presence from the 4th century. However, there is circumstantial evidence pointing to much earlier Christian involvement. According to Bede, missionaries were sent from Rome by Eleutherius at the request of the chieftain Lucius of Britain in AD 180 to settle controverted points of differences as to Eastern and Western ceremonials which were disturbing the church. Tradition speaks of 28 British bishops, one for each of the greater British cities, over whom presided the Archbishops of London, York and Caerleon-on-Usk.

 

The first recorded church on the site was a wooden structure built hurriedly in 627 to provide a place to baptise Edwin, King of Northumbria. Moves toward a more substantial building began in the decade of the 630s. A stone structure was completed in 637 by Oswald and was dedicated to Saint Peter. The church soon fell into disrepair and was dilapidated by 670 when Saint Wilfrid ascended to the See of York. He repaired and renewed the structure. The attached school and library were established and by the 8th century were some of the most substantial in Northern Europe.[citation needed][3]

 

In 741 the church was destroyed in a fire. It was rebuilt as a more impressive structure containing thirty altars. The church and the entire area then passed through the hands of numerous invaders, and its history is obscure until the 10th century. There was a series of Benedictine archbishops, including Saint Oswald of Worcester, Wulfstan and Ealdred, who travelled to Westminster to crown William in 1066. Ealdred died in 1069 and was buried in the church.[4]

 

The church was damaged in 1069 during William the Conqueror's harrying of the North, but the first Norman archbishop, Thomas of Bayeux, arriving in 1070, organised repairs. The Danes destroyed the church in 1075, but it was again rebuilt from 1080. Built in the Norman style, it was 111 m (364.173 ft) long and rendered in white and red lines. The new structure was damaged by fire in 1137 but was soon repaired. The choir and crypt were remodelled in 1154, and a new chapel was built, all in the Norman style.

 

The Gothic style in cathedrals had arrived in the mid 12th century. Walter de Gray was made archbishop in 1215 and ordered the construction of a Gothic structure to compare to Canterbury; building began in 1220. The north and south transepts were the first new structures; completed in the 1250s, both were built in the Early English Gothic style but had markedly different wall elevations. A substantial central tower was also completed, with a wooden spire. Building continued into the 15th century.

 

The Chapter House was begun in the 1260s and was completed before 1296. The wide nave was constructed from the 1280s on the Norman foundations. The outer roof was completed in the 1330s, but the vaulting was not finished until 1360. Construction then moved on to the eastern arm and chapels, with the last Norman structure, the choir, being demolished in the 1390s. Work here finished around 1405. In 1407 the central tower collapsed; the piers were then reinforced, and a new tower was built from 1420. The western towers were added between 1433 and 1472. The cathedral was declared complete and consecrated in 1472.[5]

  

The nave of York Minster

  

The English Reformation led to the looting of much of the cathedral's treasures and the loss of much of the church lands. Under Elizabeth I there was a concerted effort to remove all traces of Roman Catholicism from the cathedral; there was much destruction of tombs, windows and altars. In the English Civil War the city was besieged and fell to the forces of Cromwell in 1644, but Thomas Fairfax prevented any further damage to the cathedral.

 

Following the easing of religious tensions there was some work to restore the cathedral. From 1730 to 1736 the whole floor of the minster was relaid in patterned marble and from 1802 there was a major restoration. However, on 2 February 1829, an arson attack by a non-conformist, Jonathan Martin,[6] inflicted heavy damage on the east arm. An accidental fire in 1840 left the nave, south west tower and south aisle roofless and blackened shells. The cathedral slumped deeply into debt and in the 1850s services were suspended. From 1858 Augustus Duncombe worked successfully to revive the cathedral.

 

During the 20th century there was more concerted preservation work, especially following a 1967 survey that revealed the building, in particular the central tower, was close to collapse. £2,000,000 was raised and spent by 1972 to reinforce and strengthen the building foundations and roof. During the excavations that were carried out, remains of the north corner of the Roman Principia (headquarters of the Roman fort, Eboracum) were found under the south transept. This area, as well as remains of the Norman cathedral, re-opened to the public in spring 2013 as part of the new exhibition exploring the history of the building of York Minster.[7]

 

On 9 July 1984, a fire believed to have been caused by a lightning strike[8] destroyed the roof in the south transept, and around £2.5 million was spent on repairs. The fire was photographed from just south of the minster in the early hours by Bettison photographers. This picture was subsequently published showing the South transept alight with a list of North Yorkshire firefighters attending. The stations attending ranged from Scarborough to Harrogate. Huge amounts of water were needed to provide jets at great height to hit the roof timbers and protect the Rose Window. Most of the water was pumped from the Ouse nearby because the water supplies around the minster were inadequate. Fire crews from the main York fire station in Clifford Street worked hard to protect the Rose Window and stop the fire spreading into the tower and organ. Many crews worked for hours and some were on high levels of the minster at the time when the South transept roof fell in. Luckily, those few firefighters inside when the roof crashed down were not directly beneath. But what they saw after the ventilation released the smoke, was a pile of timber covering the whole of the south transept floor to a height of at least six feet. When daylight came the whole scene was occupied by media. At about 8am an officer was approached by two ladies looking for information. "Have you an account for The Times"? They said. The officer replied, "Actually, I spoke to the London and New York Times at about four thirty" The ladies then announced that they were from the Church Times. Reports of the fire travelled across both hemispheres. The Restoration work was completed in 1988, and included new roof bosses to designs which had won a competition organised by BBC Television's Blue Peter programme. In 2007 renovation began on the east front, including the Great East Window, at an estimated cost of £23 million.[9][10]

 

In 2000, the Dean and Chapter allowed the York Mystery Plays to be performed for the first time inside the Minster, directed by Greg Doran.[11]

  

Architecture of the present building

  

York Minster is the second largest Gothic cathedral of Northern Europe and clearly charts the development of English Gothic architecture from Early English through to the Perpendicular Period. The present building was begun in about 1230 and completed in 1472. It has a cruciform plan with an octagonal chapter house attached to the north transept, a central tower and two towers at the west front. The stone used for the building is magnesian limestone, a creamy-white coloured rock that was quarried in nearby Tadcaster. The Minster is 173 yards (158 m) long[citation needed] and the central tower has a height of 230 feet (70 m) high.[citation needed] The choir has an interior height of 102 feet (31 m).[citation needed]

 

The north and south transepts were the first parts of the new church to be built. They have simple lancet windows, including the Five Sisters in the north transept. These are five lancets, each 52 feet (16 m) high[citation needed] and glazed with grey (grisaille) glass, rather than narrative scenes or symbolic motifs that are usually seen in medieval stained glass windows. In the south transept is a rose window whose glass dates from about 1500 and commemorates the union of the royal houses of York and Lancaster. The roofs of the transepts are of wood, that of the south transept was burnt in the fire of 1984 and was replaced in the restoration work which was completed in 1988. New designs were used for the bosses, five of which were designed by winners of a competition organised by the BBC's Blue Peter television programme.

  

The chapter house.

  

Work began on the chapter house and its vestibule that links it to the north transept after the transepts were completed. The style of the chapter house is of the early Decorated Period where geometric patterns were used in the tracery of the windows, which were wider than those of early styles. However, the work was completed before the appearance of the ogee curve, an S-shaped double curve which was extensively used at the end of this period. The windows cover almost all of the upper wall space, filling the chapter house with light. The chapter house is octagonal, as is the case in many cathedrals, but is notable in that it has no central column supporting the roof. The wooden roof, which was of an innovative design, is light enough to be able to be supported by the buttressed walls. The chapter house has many sculptured heads above the canopies, representing some of the finest Gothic sculpture in the country. There are human heads, no two alike, and some pulling faces; angels; animals and grotesques. Unique to the transepts and chapter house is the use of Purbeck marble to adorn the piers, adding to the richness of decoration.

  

The Kings Screen and organ.

  

The nave was built between 1291 and c. 1350 and is also in the decorated Gothic style. It is the widest Gothic nave in England and has a wooden roof (painted so as to appear like stone) and the aisles have vaulted stone roofs. At its west end is the Great West Window, known as the 'Heart of Yorkshire' which features flowing tracery of the later decorated gothic period.

 

The east end of the Minster was built between 1361 and 1405 in the Perpendicular Gothic style. Despite the change in style, noticeable in details such as the tracery and capitals, the eastern arm preserves the pattern of the nave. The east end contains a four bay choir; a second set of transepts, projecting only above half-height; and the Lady Chapel. The transepts are in line with the high altar and serve to throw light onto it. Behind the high altar is the Great East Window, the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world, which is currently undergoing a massive conservation project, due to be completed in 2015–16. Below the Great East Window currently sits the Orb, a stainless steel dome which opened at the end of October 2012, containing five of the conserved panels from the window, one of which is changed each month. The Orb enables visitors to see the work of renowned medieval artist, John Thornton, up close, revealing the remarkable detail in each panel.

 

The sparsely decorated Central Tower was built between 1407 and 1472 and is also in the Perpendicular style. Below this, separating the choir from the crossing and nave is the striking 15th century choir screen. It contains sculptures of the kings of England from William the Conqueror to Henry VI with stone and gilded canopies set against a red background. Above the screen is the organ, which dates from 1832. The West Towers, in contrast with the Central Tower, are heavily decorated and are topped with battlements and eight pinnacles each, again in the Perpendicular style.

 

English Heritage has recently made publicly available a monograph[12] on the architectural history of York Minster. The book charts the construction and development of the minster based on the architectural recording of the building from the 1970s. The full report can be downloaded from the Archaeology Data Service website.

  

Stained glass

  

York as a whole, and particularly the minster, have a long tradition of creating beautiful stained glass. Some of the stained glass in York Minster dates back to the 12th century. The Minster's records show that much of the glass (white or coloured) came from Germany.[13] Upon arrival at York, it was intricately painted, fired, then glazed together with lead strips into the windows. The 76-foot (23 m)[citation needed] tall Great East Window, created by John Thornton in the early 15th century, is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. Other windows in the minster include an ornate rose window and the 50-foot (15 m)[citation needed] tall Five Sisters window. Because of the extended time periods during which the glass was installed, different types of glazing and painting techniques which evolved over hundreds of years are visible in the different windows. Approximately two million individual pieces of glass make up the cathedral's 128 stained glass windows. Much of the glass was removed before and pieced back together after the First and Second World Wars, and the windows are constantly being cleaned and conserved to keep their beauty intact.

 

In 2008 a major conservation project of the Great East Window commenced, involving the removal, repainting and re-leading of each individual panel.[14] While the window was in storage in the minster's stonemasons' yard, a fire broke out in some adjoining offices, due to an electrical fault, on 30 December 2009.[15] The window's 311 panes, stored in a neighbouring room, were undamaged and were successfully moved to safety.[16][17] In September 2015 Phase One of the renovation project of the East Front of the Minster was completed.[18]

  

Towers and bells

  

The two west towers of the minster hold bells, clock chimes and a concert carillon. The north-west tower contains Great Peter (216 cwt or 10.8 tons) and the six clock bells (the largest weighing just over 60 cwt or 3 tons). The south-west tower holds 14 bells (tenor 59 cwt or 3 tons) hung and rung for change ringing and 22 carillon bells (tenor 23 cwt or 1.2 tons) which are played from a baton keyboard in the ringing chamber (all together 35 bells.)

 

The clock bells ring every quarter of an hour during the daytime and Great Peter strikes the hour. The change ringing bells are rung regularly on Sundays before church services and at other occasions, the ringers practise on Tuesday evenings. York Minster became the first cathedral in England to have a carillon of bells with the arrival of a further twenty-four small bells on 4 April 2008. These are added to the existing "Nelson Chime" which is chimed to announce Evensong around 5.00 pm each day, giving a carillon of 35 bells in total (three chromatic octaves). The new bells were cast at the Loughborough Bell Foundry of Taylors, Eayre & Smith, where all of the existing minster bells were cast. The new carillon is a gift to the minster. It will be the first new carillon in the British Isles for 40 years and first hand played carillon in an English cathedral. Before Evensong each evening, hymn tunes are played on a baton keyboard connected with the bells, but occasionally anything from Beethoven to the Beatles may be heard.[19]

  

Shrines

  

When Thomas Becket was murdered and subsequently enshrined at Canterbury, York found itself with a rival major draw for pilgrims. More specifically, pilgrims spent money and would leave gifts for the support of the cathedral. Hence Walter de Gray, supported by the King, petitioned the Pope. On 18 March 1226, Pope Honorius issued a letter to the effect that the name of William (Fitzherbert), formerly Archbishop of York, was "inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints of the Church Militant." Thus there was now St William of York (whose name is perhaps more often associated with the adjacent St William's College). York had its saint but it took until 1279, when William de Wickwane (William de Wykewayne) was elected archbishop, for the remains of the canonised William to be transferred to a shrine prepared for them behind the high altar.[20] This was placed on a platform raised upon the arches of the crypt removed to this position for that purpose. On 29 December King Edward I himself, together with the bishops who were present, carried on their shoulder the chest or feretory containing the relics to their new resting-place and Anthony Beck, consecrated the same day as Bishop of Durham, paid all the expenses.

 

The tomb of Walter de Gray was erected in the south transept. His remains were interred on "the vigil of Pentecost, 1255"[20] under his effigy "in full canonicals" carved in Purbeck marble under a canopy resting on ten light pillars. It was subsequently somewhat hidden behind a screen of ironwork erected by Archbishop William Markham in the early 19th century.

  

Organ

  

The choir

  

The fire of 1829 destroyed the organ and the basis of the present organ dates from 1832, when Elliot and Hill constructed a new instrument. This organ was reconstructed in 1859 by William Hill and Sons. The case remained intact, but the organ was mechanically new, retaining the largest pipes of the former instrument.

 

In 1903, J.W. Walker and Sons built a new instrument in the same case. They retained several registers from the previous instrument.

 

Some work was undertaken in 1918 by Harrison & Harrison when the Tuba Mirabilis was added and the Great chorus revised. The same firm rebuilt this Walker-Harrison instrument in 1931 when a new console and electro-pneumatic action were added together with four new stops. The smaller solo tubas were enclosed in the solo box. In 1960, J.W. Walker & Sons restored the actions, lowered wind pressures and introduced mutations and higher chorus work in the spirit of the neo-classical movement. They cleaned the organ in 1982.

 

The fire of 1984 affected the organ but not irreparably; the damage hastened the time for a major restoration, which was begun in 1991 and finished two years later by Principal Pipe Organs of York, under the direction of their founder, Geoffrey Coffin, who had at one time been assistant organist at the Minster.[21]

  

Organists

  

The organists of York Minster have had several official titles, the job description roughly equates to that of Organist and Master of the Choristers. The current Organist and Director of Music of the minster is Robert Sharpe. There is also an assistant director of music, David Pipe, and an organ scholar.

 

Among the notable organists of York Minster are four members of the Camidge family, who served as the cathedral's organists for over 100 years, and a number of composers including John Naylor, T. Tertius Noble, Edward Bairstow, Francis Jackson, and Philip Moore.

  

Dean and chapter

  

Dean: The Very Revd Vivienne Faull (since 1 December 2012 installation[22])

 

Precentor: The Revd Canon Peter Moger (since 12 September 2010 installation[23])

 

Pastor: The Reverend Michael Smith

 

Chancellor: The Reverend Canon Christopher Collingwood

 

Archdeacon: The Reverend Canon David Butterfield

  

Burials

  

Bosa of York, Bishop of York and Saint (died c. 705)

 

Eanbald I, Archbishop (780–796)

 

Osbald, King of Northumbria (died 799)

 

Ealdred (archbishop of York) (1061–1069)

 

Thomas of Bayeux, Archbishop (1070–1100)

 

Gerard, Archbishop (1100–1108)

 

Thomas II of York, Archbishop (1108–1114)

 

William of York, Archbishop (1141–1147, 1153–1154)

 

Henry Murdac, Archbishop (1147–1153)

 

Roger de Pont L'Eveque, Archbishop {1154–1181}

 

Walter de Gray, Archbishop (1216–1255)

 

Sewal de Bovil, Dean and Archbishop (1256–1258)

 

Godfrey Ludham, Archbishop (1258–1265)

 

William Langton, Archbishop (1265)

 

Walter Giffard, Archbishop (1266–1279)

 

John le Romeyn, Archbishop (1286–1296)

 

Henry of Newark, Archbishop (1296–1299)

 

William Greenfield, Archbishop (1306–1315)

 

Prince William of Hatfield, Infant son of Edward III (1337)

 

William Melton, Archbishop (1317–1340)

 

William Zouche, Archbishop (1342–1352)

 

Henry Percy, soldier (1364–1403)

 

Richard le Scrope, Archbishop (1398–1405)

 

Henry Bowet, Archbishop (1407–1423)

 

Thomas Savage, Archbishop (1501–1507)

 

Hugh Ashton, Archdeacon of York (died 1522)

 

John Piers, Archbishop (1589–1594)

 

George Meriton, Dean of York (1579–1624)

 

Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, (1730-1782)

 

John Farr Abbott, barrister (1756–1794)

  

Astronomical clock

  

The astronomical clock was installed in the North Transept of York Minster in 1955. The clock is a memorial to the airmen operating from bases in Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumberland who were killed in action during the Second World War.[24]

  

Illuminations

  

In November 2002, York Minster was illuminated in colour, devised by York-born Mark Brayshaw, for the first time in its history. The occasion was televised live on the BBC1 Look North programme. Similar illuminations have been projected over the Christmas period in subsequent years.

 

York Minster was also artistically illuminated on 5 November 2005, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the foiling of York-born Guy Fawkes' gunpowder plot. This was done by Patrice Warrener using his unique "chromolithe" technique with which he 'paints' with light, picking out sculpted architectural details.

 

In October 2010, York Minster's south transept was selected for "Rose", a son et lumiere created by international artists Ross Ashton and Karen Monid which lit up the entire exterior of the south transept of the minster and illuminated the Rose Window. There were also satellite illuminate events in Dean's Park.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...

.....involving a (WHOLE) lotta " Cutting- 'n- Pasting "

Taken for the Macro Mondays theme of 'tea'

 

Earl Grey tea is a tea blend which has been flavoured with oil of bergamot. The rind's fragrant oil is added to black tea to give Earl Grey its unique taste.

 

Traditionally, Earl Grey was made from black teas such as Chinese keemun, and therefore intended to be served without milk.

 

However, tea companies have since begun to offer Earl Grey made from stronger teas such as Ceylons, which are better suited to the addition of milk or cream. Some blend the tea with lapsang souchong tea which lends a smoky character. Other varieties have been introduced as well, such as green or oolong. (Wikipedia)

 

Charles Grey, the Second Earl Grey (1764-1845). Also known as Viscount Howick, the Second Earl Grey was the UK Prime Minister from November 1830 to July 1834.

 

Legend has it that the Earl saved the life of a Chinese man’s son while aboard an envoy to China. As a reward, the Mandarin man gifted Charles Grey with the infamous bergamot tea recipe. And the rest, as they say, is history.

 

It’s the most convenient option given his name, position, and the date of his stewardship. However, his involvement is a bit of a, well, grey area – excuse the pun.

 

Apparently, the Earl liked the tea so much that he asked his tea dealer (unnamed) to recreate it in his name. And thus, Earl Grey tea, as we know it, was born.

 

But, there’s little to no evidence to back up this claim. Not to mention that it’s highly unlikely that the Earl ever visited China. After all, the two countries weren’t on the best of terms.

 

Then there’s the bergamot fruit itself, which is primarily grown in the province of Reggio di Calabria in Italy, not China!

 

There’s also some debate as to whether this Chinese Mandarin man was a nobleman, dignitary, or teamaker. Given the other holes in this story, however, I guess it doesn’t entirely matter.

 

Other contradictory accounts of the story exist. Some claiming it was, in fact, one of the Earl’s employees. Who, while in service to the Earl, did the good deed. Ergo, it was the Earl by proxy.

 

This version of events is a little more plausible. And, it was later backed up by one of the Earl’s ancestors in a 1994 interview with the Daily Telegraph. Albeit more of an anecdote than a reliable history of Earl Grey tea with documents to back it up. (My Earl Grey)

  

Damselfly reproduction involves a unique mating ritual followed by egg-laying near or in water. The male damselfly grasps the female behind her head with claspers on his abdomen, forming a "heart" or "wheel" shape. The female then deposits her eggs, often in or near aquatic plants.

 

Urban Search and Rescue involves finding and rescuing people trapped when a structure collapses, for example if a single building collapses or as a result of a major landslide or earthquake.

 

In New Zealand USAR comes under the umbrella of the New Zealand Fire Service.

 

It was Five years today September 4, 2015 that Canterbury was first shaken by a major quake, the people of Christchurch gathered on New Brighton beach this morning to mark the anniversary. I went with a friend but she didn't want to get up so early so we missed part of it. New Brighton Christchurch New Zealand at dawn.

 

There was a person from Radio News interviewing people there about their experiences of the earthquake five years ago and I was on the Radio News and also in a article.

This the link to me on the News www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/20...

And this is the article: www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/283264/christchurch-marks...

via Instagram instagr.am/p/Cxx5dKCo-XK/

.

 

Milvus milvus

 

Harewood West Yorkshire

 

Red Kites were released on the Harewood estate in 1999 as part of a UK conservation initiative. Harewood Estate was originally part of a partnership involving the RSPB, English Nature, & Yorkshire Water PLC. The Red Kite now has a self-sustaining population, whose numbers are gradually increasing yearly.

 

A species which was persecuted to extinction in England and Scotland by the end of the 1800s. At the last count there were over 300 Red Kites in the area around Harewood and Yorkshire.

The class I am Teaching at Tinsel Trading!

 

In a land far far away where blue birds and sparrows can be heard singing sweet melodies as they fly by, a land where boats don't need water to sail, just a sprinkle of pixie dust on their sails and away they go, sailing gracefully through the sky, over storybook places such as Mother Goose Corner, Wonderland and Mermaid Cove where Peter and his bandits from Neverland can be seen playing mischievious pranks on Captain Kidd and his men.

Come set sail with me on the Fairytale Boat of Dreams in my workshop entitled: The Fairytale Follies Box Assemblage, at Tinsel Trading!

  

For more pictures and info on joining me at Tinsel Trading for this class and to join in on other workshops visit Terri Ventura's Flick page: Dimestoredaze or her blog/websites:

 

www.dimestoedaze.typepad.com

www.dimestoredaze.com

 

Come on over for some enchanting melodies at my blog as well for additional pictures of this project and details of this class that I will be teaching on May 31, at Tinsel Trading!

 

My class will be filled with Lisa Magic, Surprises, Enchanting Goodie Bags and more, not to mention some edible treats as well.

faerieenchantment.blogspot.com/

 

Come by my blog for a contest involving this piece!

7 winners will be picked to receive handmade tickets to ride this boat.

They are altered art vintage style boat tickets which I made to giveaway on my blog!

Hugs!

Lisa!

J. Paul Getty Museum

Nikon FE2

Nikon (E Series lens) 50mm f1.8

Arista 200 EDU - Stand Developed 90mins HC-110 (1:100)

 

I got to go to one of my favorite places this week, the J. Paul Getty Museum. They had an excellent photographical exhibit by photographer Minor White.

 

As I was looking at some of his quotes about photography, here is one that struck me as interesting as I move forward with my 100 Stranger Project:

 

"Creativity with portraits involves the invocation of a state of rapport when only a camera stands between two people...mutual vulnerability and mutual trust." - Minor White, Mirrors, messages, manifestations by Minor White

 

Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a stimulus (an image or a sound) wherein the mind perceives a familiar pattern of something where none actually exists.

Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations, the man in the moon, the moon rabbit, and hidden messages within recorded music played in reverse or at higher- or lower-than-normal speeds.

Pareidolia can cause people to interpret random images, or patterns of light and shadow, as faces. A 2009 magnetoencephalography study found that objects perceived as faces evoke an early (165 ms) activation of the fusiform face area at a time and location similar to that evoked by faces — whereas other common objects do not evoke such activation. This activation is similar to a slightly faster time (130 ms) that is seen for images of real faces. The authors suggest that face perception evoked by face-like objects is a relatively early process, and not a late cognitive reinterpretation phenomenon. An fMRI study in 2011 similarly showed that repeated presentation of novel visual shapes that were interpreted as meaningful led to decreased fMRI responses for real objects. These results indicate that the interpretation of ambiguous stimuli depends upon processes similar to those elicited by known objects.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Minster

  

The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York. It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of York. The title "minster" is attributed to churches established in the Anglo-Saxon period as missionary teaching churches, and serves now as an honorific title.[1] Services in the minster are sometimes regarded as on the High Church or Anglo-Catholic end of the Anglican continuum.[2]

 

The minster has a very wide Decorated Gothic nave and chapter house, a Perpendicular Gothic Quire and east end and Early English North and South transepts. The nave contains the West Window, constructed in 1338, and over the Lady Chapel in the east end is the Great East Window, (finished in 1408), the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. In the north transept is the Five Sisters Window, each lancet being over 52 feet (16 m) high.[citation needed] The south transept contains a rose window, while the West Window contains a heart-shaped design colloquially known as 'The Heart of Yorkshire'.

  

History

  

York has had a verifiable Christian presence from the 4th century. However, there is circumstantial evidence pointing to much earlier Christian involvement. According to Bede, missionaries were sent from Rome by Eleutherius at the request of the chieftain Lucius of Britain in AD 180 to settle controverted points of differences as to Eastern and Western ceremonials which were disturbing the church. Tradition speaks of 28 British bishops, one for each of the greater British cities, over whom presided the Archbishops of London, York and Caerleon-on-Usk.

 

The first recorded church on the site was a wooden structure built hurriedly in 627 to provide a place to baptise Edwin, King of Northumbria. Moves toward a more substantial building began in the decade of the 630s. A stone structure was completed in 637 by Oswald and was dedicated to Saint Peter. The church soon fell into disrepair and was dilapidated by 670 when Saint Wilfrid ascended to the See of York. He repaired and renewed the structure. The attached school and library were established and by the 8th century were some of the most substantial in Northern Europe.[citation needed][3]

 

In 741 the church was destroyed in a fire. It was rebuilt as a more impressive structure containing thirty altars. The church and the entire area then passed through the hands of numerous invaders, and its history is obscure until the 10th century. There was a series of Benedictine archbishops, including Saint Oswald of Worcester, Wulfstan and Ealdred, who travelled to Westminster to crown William in 1066. Ealdred died in 1069 and was buried in the church.[4]

 

The church was damaged in 1069 during William the Conqueror's harrying of the North, but the first Norman archbishop, Thomas of Bayeux, arriving in 1070, organised repairs. The Danes destroyed the church in 1075, but it was again rebuilt from 1080. Built in the Norman style, it was 111 m (364.173 ft) long and rendered in white and red lines. The new structure was damaged by fire in 1137 but was soon repaired. The choir and crypt were remodelled in 1154, and a new chapel was built, all in the Norman style.

 

The Gothic style in cathedrals had arrived in the mid 12th century. Walter de Gray was made archbishop in 1215 and ordered the construction of a Gothic structure to compare to Canterbury; building began in 1220. The north and south transepts were the first new structures; completed in the 1250s, both were built in the Early English Gothic style but had markedly different wall elevations. A substantial central tower was also completed, with a wooden spire. Building continued into the 15th century.

 

The Chapter House was begun in the 1260s and was completed before 1296. The wide nave was constructed from the 1280s on the Norman foundations. The outer roof was completed in the 1330s, but the vaulting was not finished until 1360. Construction then moved on to the eastern arm and chapels, with the last Norman structure, the choir, being demolished in the 1390s. Work here finished around 1405. In 1407 the central tower collapsed; the piers were then reinforced, and a new tower was built from 1420. The western towers were added between 1433 and 1472. The cathedral was declared complete and consecrated in 1472.[5]

  

The nave of York Minster

  

The English Reformation led to the looting of much of the cathedral's treasures and the loss of much of the church lands. Under Elizabeth I there was a concerted effort to remove all traces of Roman Catholicism from the cathedral; there was much destruction of tombs, windows and altars. In the English Civil War the city was besieged and fell to the forces of Cromwell in 1644, but Thomas Fairfax prevented any further damage to the cathedral.

 

Following the easing of religious tensions there was some work to restore the cathedral. From 1730 to 1736 the whole floor of the minster was relaid in patterned marble and from 1802 there was a major restoration. However, on 2 February 1829, an arson attack by a non-conformist, Jonathan Martin,[6] inflicted heavy damage on the east arm. An accidental fire in 1840 left the nave, south west tower and south aisle roofless and blackened shells. The cathedral slumped deeply into debt and in the 1850s services were suspended. From 1858 Augustus Duncombe worked successfully to revive the cathedral.

 

During the 20th century there was more concerted preservation work, especially following a 1967 survey that revealed the building, in particular the central tower, was close to collapse. £2,000,000 was raised and spent by 1972 to reinforce and strengthen the building foundations and roof. During the excavations that were carried out, remains of the north corner of the Roman Principia (headquarters of the Roman fort, Eboracum) were found under the south transept. This area, as well as remains of the Norman cathedral, re-opened to the public in spring 2013 as part of the new exhibition exploring the history of the building of York Minster.[7]

 

On 9 July 1984, a fire believed to have been caused by a lightning strike[8] destroyed the roof in the south transept, and around £2.5 million was spent on repairs. The fire was photographed from just south of the minster in the early hours by Bettison photographers. This picture was subsequently published showing the South transept alight with a list of North Yorkshire firefighters attending. The stations attending ranged from Scarborough to Harrogate. Huge amounts of water were needed to provide jets at great height to hit the roof timbers and protect the Rose Window. Most of the water was pumped from the Ouse nearby because the water supplies around the minster were inadequate. Fire crews from the main York fire station in Clifford Street worked hard to protect the Rose Window and stop the fire spreading into the tower and organ. Many crews worked for hours and some were on high levels of the minster at the time when the South transept roof fell in. Luckily, those few firefighters inside when the roof crashed down were not directly beneath. But what they saw after the ventilation released the smoke, was a pile of timber covering the whole of the south transept floor to a height of at least six feet. When daylight came the whole scene was occupied by media. At about 8am an officer was approached by two ladies looking for information. "Have you an account for The Times"? They said. The officer replied, "Actually, I spoke to the London and New York Times at about four thirty" The ladies then announced that they were from the Church Times. Reports of the fire travelled across both hemispheres. The Restoration work was completed in 1988, and included new roof bosses to designs which had won a competition organised by BBC Television's Blue Peter programme. In 2007 renovation began on the east front, including the Great East Window, at an estimated cost of £23 million.[9][10]

 

In 2000, the Dean and Chapter allowed the York Mystery Plays to be performed for the first time inside the Minster, directed by Greg Doran.[11]

  

Architecture of the present building

  

York Minster is the second largest Gothic cathedral of Northern Europe and clearly charts the development of English Gothic architecture from Early English through to the Perpendicular Period. The present building was begun in about 1230 and completed in 1472. It has a cruciform plan with an octagonal chapter house attached to the north transept, a central tower and two towers at the west front. The stone used for the building is magnesian limestone, a creamy-white coloured rock that was quarried in nearby Tadcaster. The Minster is 173 yards (158 m) long[citation needed] and the central tower has a height of 230 feet (70 m) high.[citation needed] The choir has an interior height of 102 feet (31 m).[citation needed]

 

The north and south transepts were the first parts of the new church to be built. They have simple lancet windows, including the Five Sisters in the north transept. These are five lancets, each 52 feet (16 m) high[citation needed] and glazed with grey (grisaille) glass, rather than narrative scenes or symbolic motifs that are usually seen in medieval stained glass windows. In the south transept is a rose window whose glass dates from about 1500 and commemorates the union of the royal houses of York and Lancaster. The roofs of the transepts are of wood, that of the south transept was burnt in the fire of 1984 and was replaced in the restoration work which was completed in 1988. New designs were used for the bosses, five of which were designed by winners of a competition organised by the BBC's Blue Peter television programme.

  

The chapter house.

  

Work began on the chapter house and its vestibule that links it to the north transept after the transepts were completed. The style of the chapter house is of the early Decorated Period where geometric patterns were used in the tracery of the windows, which were wider than those of early styles. However, the work was completed before the appearance of the ogee curve, an S-shaped double curve which was extensively used at the end of this period. The windows cover almost all of the upper wall space, filling the chapter house with light. The chapter house is octagonal, as is the case in many cathedrals, but is notable in that it has no central column supporting the roof. The wooden roof, which was of an innovative design, is light enough to be able to be supported by the buttressed walls. The chapter house has many sculptured heads above the canopies, representing some of the finest Gothic sculpture in the country. There are human heads, no two alike, and some pulling faces; angels; animals and grotesques. Unique to the transepts and chapter house is the use of Purbeck marble to adorn the piers, adding to the richness of decoration.

  

The Kings Screen and organ.

  

The nave was built between 1291 and c. 1350 and is also in the decorated Gothic style. It is the widest Gothic nave in England and has a wooden roof (painted so as to appear like stone) and the aisles have vaulted stone roofs. At its west end is the Great West Window, known as the 'Heart of Yorkshire' which features flowing tracery of the later decorated gothic period.

 

The east end of the Minster was built between 1361 and 1405 in the Perpendicular Gothic style. Despite the change in style, noticeable in details such as the tracery and capitals, the eastern arm preserves the pattern of the nave. The east end contains a four bay choir; a second set of transepts, projecting only above half-height; and the Lady Chapel. The transepts are in line with the high altar and serve to throw light onto it. Behind the high altar is the Great East Window, the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world, which is currently undergoing a massive conservation project, due to be completed in 2015–16. Below the Great East Window currently sits the Orb, a stainless steel dome which opened at the end of October 2012, containing five of the conserved panels from the window, one of which is changed each month. The Orb enables visitors to see the work of renowned medieval artist, John Thornton, up close, revealing the remarkable detail in each panel.

 

The sparsely decorated Central Tower was built between 1407 and 1472 and is also in the Perpendicular style. Below this, separating the choir from the crossing and nave is the striking 15th century choir screen. It contains sculptures of the kings of England from William the Conqueror to Henry VI with stone and gilded canopies set against a red background. Above the screen is the organ, which dates from 1832. The West Towers, in contrast with the Central Tower, are heavily decorated and are topped with battlements and eight pinnacles each, again in the Perpendicular style.

 

English Heritage has recently made publicly available a monograph[12] on the architectural history of York Minster. The book charts the construction and development of the minster based on the architectural recording of the building from the 1970s. The full report can be downloaded from the Archaeology Data Service website.

  

Stained glass

  

York as a whole, and particularly the minster, have a long tradition of creating beautiful stained glass. Some of the stained glass in York Minster dates back to the 12th century. The Minster's records show that much of the glass (white or coloured) came from Germany.[13] Upon arrival at York, it was intricately painted, fired, then glazed together with lead strips into the windows. The 76-foot (23 m)[citation needed] tall Great East Window, created by John Thornton in the early 15th century, is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. Other windows in the minster include an ornate rose window and the 50-foot (15 m)[citation needed] tall Five Sisters window. Because of the extended time periods during which the glass was installed, different types of glazing and painting techniques which evolved over hundreds of years are visible in the different windows. Approximately two million individual pieces of glass make up the cathedral's 128 stained glass windows. Much of the glass was removed before and pieced back together after the First and Second World Wars, and the windows are constantly being cleaned and conserved to keep their beauty intact.

 

In 2008 a major conservation project of the Great East Window commenced, involving the removal, repainting and re-leading of each individual panel.[14] While the window was in storage in the minster's stonemasons' yard, a fire broke out in some adjoining offices, due to an electrical fault, on 30 December 2009.[15] The window's 311 panes, stored in a neighbouring room, were undamaged and were successfully moved to safety.[16][17] In September 2015 Phase One of the renovation project of the East Front of the Minster was completed.[18]

  

Towers and bells

  

The two west towers of the minster hold bells, clock chimes and a concert carillon. The north-west tower contains Great Peter (216 cwt or 10.8 tons) and the six clock bells (the largest weighing just over 60 cwt or 3 tons). The south-west tower holds 14 bells (tenor 59 cwt or 3 tons) hung and rung for change ringing and 22 carillon bells (tenor 23 cwt or 1.2 tons) which are played from a baton keyboard in the ringing chamber (all together 35 bells.)

 

The clock bells ring every quarter of an hour during the daytime and Great Peter strikes the hour. The change ringing bells are rung regularly on Sundays before church services and at other occasions, the ringers practise on Tuesday evenings. York Minster became the first cathedral in England to have a carillon of bells with the arrival of a further twenty-four small bells on 4 April 2008. These are added to the existing "Nelson Chime" which is chimed to announce Evensong around 5.00 pm each day, giving a carillon of 35 bells in total (three chromatic octaves). The new bells were cast at the Loughborough Bell Foundry of Taylors, Eayre & Smith, where all of the existing minster bells were cast. The new carillon is a gift to the minster. It will be the first new carillon in the British Isles for 40 years and first hand played carillon in an English cathedral. Before Evensong each evening, hymn tunes are played on a baton keyboard connected with the bells, but occasionally anything from Beethoven to the Beatles may be heard.[19]

  

Shrines

  

When Thomas Becket was murdered and subsequently enshrined at Canterbury, York found itself with a rival major draw for pilgrims. More specifically, pilgrims spent money and would leave gifts for the support of the cathedral. Hence Walter de Gray, supported by the King, petitioned the Pope. On 18 March 1226, Pope Honorius issued a letter to the effect that the name of William (Fitzherbert), formerly Archbishop of York, was "inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints of the Church Militant." Thus there was now St William of York (whose name is perhaps more often associated with the adjacent St William's College). York had its saint but it took until 1279, when William de Wickwane (William de Wykewayne) was elected archbishop, for the remains of the canonised William to be transferred to a shrine prepared for them behind the high altar.[20] This was placed on a platform raised upon the arches of the crypt removed to this position for that purpose. On 29 December King Edward I himself, together with the bishops who were present, carried on their shoulder the chest or feretory containing the relics to their new resting-place and Anthony Beck, consecrated the same day as Bishop of Durham, paid all the expenses.

 

The tomb of Walter de Gray was erected in the south transept. His remains were interred on "the vigil of Pentecost, 1255"[20] under his effigy "in full canonicals" carved in Purbeck marble under a canopy resting on ten light pillars. It was subsequently somewhat hidden behind a screen of ironwork erected by Archbishop William Markham in the early 19th century.

  

Organ

  

The choir

  

The fire of 1829 destroyed the organ and the basis of the present organ dates from 1832, when Elliot and Hill constructed a new instrument. This organ was reconstructed in 1859 by William Hill and Sons. The case remained intact, but the organ was mechanically new, retaining the largest pipes of the former instrument.

 

In 1903, J.W. Walker and Sons built a new instrument in the same case. They retained several registers from the previous instrument.

 

Some work was undertaken in 1918 by Harrison & Harrison when the Tuba Mirabilis was added and the Great chorus revised. The same firm rebuilt this Walker-Harrison instrument in 1931 when a new console and electro-pneumatic action were added together with four new stops. The smaller solo tubas were enclosed in the solo box. In 1960, J.W. Walker & Sons restored the actions, lowered wind pressures and introduced mutations and higher chorus work in the spirit of the neo-classical movement. They cleaned the organ in 1982.

 

The fire of 1984 affected the organ but not irreparably; the damage hastened the time for a major restoration, which was begun in 1991 and finished two years later by Principal Pipe Organs of York, under the direction of their founder, Geoffrey Coffin, who had at one time been assistant organist at the Minster.[21]

  

Organists

  

The organists of York Minster have had several official titles, the job description roughly equates to that of Organist and Master of the Choristers. The current Organist and Director of Music of the minster is Robert Sharpe. There is also an assistant director of music, David Pipe, and an organ scholar.

 

Among the notable organists of York Minster are four members of the Camidge family, who served as the cathedral's organists for over 100 years, and a number of composers including John Naylor, T. Tertius Noble, Edward Bairstow, Francis Jackson, and Philip Moore.

  

Dean and chapter

  

Dean: The Very Revd Vivienne Faull (since 1 December 2012 installation[22])

 

Precentor: The Revd Canon Peter Moger (since 12 September 2010 installation[23])

 

Pastor: The Reverend Michael Smith

 

Chancellor: The Reverend Canon Christopher Collingwood

 

Archdeacon: The Reverend Canon David Butterfield

  

Burials

  

Bosa of York, Bishop of York and Saint (died c. 705)

 

Eanbald I, Archbishop (780–796)

 

Osbald, King of Northumbria (died 799)

 

Ealdred (archbishop of York) (1061–1069)

 

Thomas of Bayeux, Archbishop (1070–1100)

 

Gerard, Archbishop (1100–1108)

 

Thomas II of York, Archbishop (1108–1114)

 

William of York, Archbishop (1141–1147, 1153–1154)

 

Henry Murdac, Archbishop (1147–1153)

 

Roger de Pont L'Eveque, Archbishop {1154–1181}

 

Walter de Gray, Archbishop (1216–1255)

 

Sewal de Bovil, Dean and Archbishop (1256–1258)

 

Godfrey Ludham, Archbishop (1258–1265)

 

William Langton, Archbishop (1265)

 

Walter Giffard, Archbishop (1266–1279)

 

John le Romeyn, Archbishop (1286–1296)

 

Henry of Newark, Archbishop (1296–1299)

 

William Greenfield, Archbishop (1306–1315)

 

Prince William of Hatfield, Infant son of Edward III (1337)

 

William Melton, Archbishop (1317–1340)

 

William Zouche, Archbishop (1342–1352)

 

Henry Percy, soldier (1364–1403)

 

Richard le Scrope, Archbishop (1398–1405)

 

Henry Bowet, Archbishop (1407–1423)

 

Thomas Savage, Archbishop (1501–1507)

 

Hugh Ashton, Archdeacon of York (died 1522)

 

John Piers, Archbishop (1589–1594)

 

George Meriton, Dean of York (1579–1624)

 

Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, (1730-1782)

 

John Farr Abbott, barrister (1756–1794)

  

Astronomical clock

  

The astronomical clock was installed in the North Transept of York Minster in 1955. The clock is a memorial to the airmen operating from bases in Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumberland who were killed in action during the Second World War.[24]

  

Illuminations

  

In November 2002, York Minster was illuminated in colour, devised by York-born Mark Brayshaw, for the first time in its history. The occasion was televised live on the BBC1 Look North programme. Similar illuminations have been projected over the Christmas period in subsequent years.

 

York Minster was also artistically illuminated on 5 November 2005, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the foiling of York-born Guy Fawkes' gunpowder plot. This was done by Patrice Warrener using his unique "chromolithe" technique with which he 'paints' with light, picking out sculpted architectural details.

 

In October 2010, York Minster's south transept was selected for "Rose", a son et lumiere created by international artists Ross Ashton and Karen Monid which lit up the entire exterior of the south transept of the minster and illuminated the Rose Window. There were also satellite illuminate events in Dean's Park.

Hydrangea is a common name for the genus Hydrangea from the Hydrangeaceae family. It mainly concerns evergreen and deciduous shrubs and climbing shrubs and a single tree. Together involves nearly 100 species growing in America and in China and Japan.

 

The crop is usually a striking inflorescence. Some species bloom with large, pyramidal panicle, the other with a flattened screen or a more globular inflorescence with many sterile, sterile florets. Aimed to attract the insects which then take care of the nectar in the fertile, fertile flowers in the middle of the inflorescence.

 

The most famous is the Garden hydrangea Hydrangea macrophylla. The many cultivars have pink, white, red or even (purple) blue inflorescences. The rise is the Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle', a cultivar with huge, spherical composite inflorescences, also known as snowball.

 

The plant is named after a woman, but it is not known with certainty which. It is often referred to Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais France, but who was not yet born when the crop around 1771. This name was provided by the botanist Philibert Commerson. It is suspected that the said Hortense was really Hortense de Nassau, daughter of Charles Henry Nicolaus Otto, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, who has taken part in an expedition around the world.

…… A busy day again, but it did involve a meal out so that was nice - and with great company too, the Best Man at our wedding & his wife. An expensive day too as I broke my glasses last night (ouch£!) But my #347 shot of the day is a Rose still flowering in the grounds of the Hotel we ate at - a lovely lunch it was too. Considering its struggled to get up to 0 degrees C for over a week this Rose bed is doing well!! Alan:-)

 

For the interested I’m growing my Shutterstock catalogue regularly here, now sold 134 images :- www.shutterstock.com/g/Alan+Foster?rid=223484589&utm_...

©Alan Foster.

©Alan Foster. All rights reserved. Do not use without permission.……

Leica Ⅲf Summaron 35mm f3.5 Fujicolor 100

Working with the Fuji G617 is such a deliberate process. Usually it involves really evaluating the scene, thinking over if it warrants one of four exposures you will get on a roll and if it will fit the 6x17 aspect ratio. This is a fairly decent bar to clear, in fact. Then if it the idea has this much merit there is the setting up of the tripod, the setting of shutter and aperture, checking the focus to make sure it is at infinity and hasn't gotten maladjusted in the bag, making sure the shutter preview lever is closed before removing the lens cap, calculating exposure and then compensating exposure for the center spot ND filter. Threading in the cable release, arming the shutter, firing and advancing. Often I pair this camera with strong ND filters for really long exposures so that requires additional calculations and a few more steps. Suffice it to say that usually each image requires enough time and thought that I have a pretty good memory of each of them, even by the time I get home, have the film developed and then scanned - a process that can take days or weeks. Having said all that, I don't remember making this image at all. It makes me chuckle because I really like this image and I am glad I made it but this one escapes my memory. I don't remember this scene in general, which doesn't surprise me much since we spent a lot of time amongst various rolling, green hills. But including Angela in the scene, right where she is, caught me by surprise. The Fuji G617 viewfinder is not 100% accurate. Far from it, in fact. So it is possible I did not see her there when I was framing. And I did do more work on this trip with the camera handheld since I had enough light and fast enough film and wasn't going for super long exposures. So maybe I handheld this, intending to get the road leading into the hills and didn't notice her down there. But the framing strikes me as too deliberate to be coincidental. So apparently I made this and then plain forgot about it. That is a bit unlike me but also not unheard of either. Then again, I was so often completely enraptured by the landscape that I had a lot on my mind at any given moment, so I can give myself a bit of a pass if I don't remember every photo I made on this past trip to the Palouse.

 

Fuji G617

Fuji Pro 160C

The title is inspired by an old saying involving polishing a particularly unpleasant substance. I have had several attempts at rescuing this LE from Wastwater and if the truth be known I'm still far from happy with it. Feedback is more than welcome.

Good photography so often involves getting your knees wet and dirty.