REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS

MECONOPSIS BETONICIFOLIA

Himalayan flower imported by Elsie Reford in the early 1930s that has since become the floral emblem of the Gardens.

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

From Wikipedia:

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.

She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.

In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.

During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© 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.

Bojohagur Duanasir II) is the southeasternmost major peak of the Batura Muztagh, a subrange of the Karakoram range. It lies about 10 km (6.2 mi) northeast of the Karimabad, a town on the Karakoram Highway in the Hunza Valley, part of the Gilgit District of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan.

Notable features and climbing history[edit]

Ultar Sar (right), Bojohagur Duanasir (left of it); Hunza Peak and Bublimotin (far left)

While not one of the highest peaks of the Karakoram, Ultar Sar is notable for its dramatic rise above local terrain. Its south flank rises over 5,300 metres (17,388 feet) above the Hunza River near Karimabad, in only about 10 km (6.2 mi) of horizontal distance. Combined with its strategic position at the end of the Batura Muztagh, with the Hunza River bending around it, this makes Ultar a visually striking peak.

Ultar Sar also gained fame in the 1990s as supposedly the world's highest unclimbed independent peak. This was incorrect, as Gangkhar Puensum in Bhutan is higher, and remains unclimbed (and off-limits) in 2007. (Two other higher peaks are also reputedly unclimbed and of independent stature.) However that perception did add to the appeal of the peak, and a number of expeditions attempted to climb it. During the 1980s and 1990s over 15 expeditions made attempts, resulting in no success, but in a number of fatalities; the peak proved to be quite difficult.

The first two ascents were made in July 1996 by two separate Japanese expeditions, the first (from the Tokai section of the Japanese Alpine Club) led by Akito Yamazaki (who summitted, but died on the descent[2]) and the second led by Ken Takahashi. The first summit team comprised Yamazaki and Kiyoshi Matsuoka (who died one year later on the nearby peak Bublimotin). They climbed the peak from the southwest in alpine style, doing much of the climbing at night to avoid danger from falling rock and ice. After their successful summit, they faced strong storms and bivouaced several days without food before returning to basecamp. However, Akihito Yamazaki died at basecamp of an internal disease due to the severe stress of climbing.

The second summit team comprised Takahashi and four others: Masayuki Ando, Ryushi Hoshino, Wataru Saito, and Nobuo Tsutsumi. They climbed the south ridge. Since 1996, there have been no recorded ascents of the peak.

Nearby summits and glaciers[edit]

Ultar Sar is the east end of a short, somewhat level ridge, the west end of which is a peak called Bojahagur Duanasir (7,329 m/24,045 ft), climbed in 1984 by a Japanese party. To the northwest of both peaks is the huge pyramid of Shispare (7,611 m/24,970 ft). Along the southwest ridge of the massif are Hunza Peak and the striking rock spire of Bublimotin (Ladyfinger Peak). The glaciers draining the slopes of the massif are (clockwise from north): the Ghulkin Glacier, the Gulmit Glacier, the Ahmad Abad Glacier, the Ultar Glacier, and the Hasanabad Glacier. (Many of these have other names as well.)

See also

7344-2

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

From Wikipedia: Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© 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.

🇬🇧 English

Heiligenblut, located in the Austrian region of Carinthia, is a picturesque Alpine village famous for its dramatic mountain scenery and the iconic pilgrimage church of St. Vincent. Nestled at the foot of the Grossglockner, Austria’s highest peak, the village is a gateway to the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, one of Europe’s most stunning panoramic routes. Heiligenblut offers excellent hiking, skiing, and mountaineering opportunities, while its traditional architecture and serene natural setting create an authentic Alpine atmosphere.

🇩🇪 Deutsch

Heiligenblut, im österreichischen Bundesland Kärnten gelegen, ist ein malerisches Alpendorf, das durch seine beeindruckende Berglandschaft und die ikonische Wallfahrtskirche St. Vinzenz bekannt ist. Am Fuße des Großglockners, des höchsten Berges Österreichs, dient der Ort als Tor zur Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße, einer der schönsten Panoramarouten Europas. Heiligenblut bietet hervorragende Möglichkeiten zum Wandern, Skifahren und Bergsteigen, während die traditionelle Architektur und die ruhige Natur eine authentische Alpenatmosphäre schaffen.

🇭🇷 Hrvatski

Heiligenblut, smješten u austrijskoj Koruškoj, slikovito je alpsko selo poznato po impresivnim planinskim krajolicima i prepoznatljivoj hodočasničkoj crkvi sv. Vincencija. Nalazi se podno Grossglocknera, najvišeg austrijskog vrha, i predstavlja ulaz u Grossglockner Alpsku cestu, jednu od najljepših panoramskih ruta u Europi. Heiligenblut nudi izvrsne mogućnosti za planinarenje, skijanje i alpinizam, a njegova tradicionalna arhitektura i netaknuta priroda stvaraju autentičan alpski ugođaj.

The Hanging Houses, or Casas Colgadas, are a prime example of medieval Spanish architecture and ingenuity. Their origins date back to the 14th and 15th centuries, although some historians suggest there may have been structures on the site even earlier. These houses were part of the fortified city of Cuenca, which was established during the Islamic period and later became a prominent Christian stronghold after the Reconquista.

Purpose and Design

The Casas Colgadas were constructed to maximize space within the walled city. Perched on the edge of the Huécar River gorge, they demonstrate a creative solution to the challenge of limited land. The houses feature:

•Cantilevered wooden balconies: These extend dramatically over the cliff edge, offering breathtaking views of the gorge below.

•Stone facades: Designed to blend harmoniously with the natural rock of the cliff.

•Multi-story layouts: Maximizing living and storage space in a compact footprint.

While many of the original hanging houses have been lost over time due to erosion and neglect, the remaining structures were carefully preserved and restored in the 20th century.

Historical Importance

•Medieval Heritage: Cuenca's historic center, including the Hanging Houses, has been recognized for its exceptional cultural value. In 1996, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

•Civic Use: In their early days, the houses served as private residences. Over the centuries, they became emblematic of the city and gained attention from travelers and artists alike.

•Cultural Revival: In the mid-20th century, the municipality of Cuenca, along with private donors, undertook extensive restorations to save the remaining structures. This effort included transforming some of the houses into public institutions.

Modern Usage

•Museum of Spanish Abstract Art: One of the Hanging Houses now hosts this prestigious museum, featuring works by renowned Spanish artists such as Fernando Zóbel and Gustavo Torner.

•Gastronomy: Another of the Hanging Houses is home to a high-end restaurant, offering traditional Manchego cuisine with stunning views of the gorge.

Symbolism

The Hanging Houses are a symbol of Cuenca's resilience and adaptability. Their precarious location and enduring presence reflect the city's ability to harmonize human habitation with its dramatic natural landscape.

I believe this is Goldeneye. Any correction will be appreciated.

Field Guide to the Plants of Arizona, Anne Orth Epple pp299 plates 439 et seq.

Goldeneye or Viguiera

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahiopsis_laciniata

Bahiopsis laciniata is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names San Diego County sunflower, San Diego viguiera and tornleaf goldeneye. It is native to the deserts and dry mountain slopes of northwestern Mexico (States of Sonora and Baja California), its distribution extending north as far as Ventura County, California.[2][3]

The habitat of Bahiopsis laciniata includes chaparral and coastal sage scrub. It is a hairy, resinous shrub growing to a maximum height well over one meter. The leaves have lance-shaped blades up to 5 centimeters long which are glandular and shiny with resin. The blades have smooth or shallowly toothed edges which are sometimes rolled under or crinkled. The inflorescence is a solitary sunflower-like flower head or cyme of several heads. The flower head has several yellow ray florets measuring 6 millimeters to over a centimeter long. The fruit is an achene tipped with a pappus.[2]

Wrapping up my Southern Arizona Adventure 2024 with a visit to Amerind Foundation and Texas Canyon. This is stage 9 of 9.

www.amerind.org/texascanyonnaturepreserve/

Chat GPT

Texas Canyon is a striking natural area located in Cochise County, southeastern Arizona, along Interstate 10 between Benson and Willcox. It is renowned for its dramatic landscape, characterized by massive granite boulders scattered across the desert terrain, creating a rugged and picturesque environment.

The granite boulders in Texas Canyon were formed through millions of years of erosion and weathering. These formations, often precariously balanced, provide a unique and photogenic sight, making the canyon a popular stop for travelers and photographers.

The area is surrounded by the Chiricahua Mountains to the south and other nearby ranges, offering expansive views of the Sonoran Desert with its mix of desert vegetation, including cacti and mesquite trees. The light, especially at sunrise and sunset, enhances the golden hues of the rocks, adding to the area's charm.

Texas Canyon has a rich history tied to the Chiricahua Apache people, who once roamed these lands. Later, it became home to early settlers.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Canyon

Texas Canyon is a valley in Cochise County, Arizona,[1] about 20 miles east of Benson on Interstate 10. Lying between the Little Dragoon Mountains to the north and the Dragoon Mountains to the south and known for its giant granite boulders, the canyon attracts rockhounds and photographers.

www.arizonahighways.com/article/texas-canyon-nature-preserve

The giant granite boulders along Interstate 10 in Southeastern Arizona have been gracing postcards for decades, but that otherworldly landscape was always off-limits to the general public. Not anymore. Thanks to the Amerind Foundation, 6 miles of trails in the brand-new Texas Canyon Nature Preserve are now available to those who want a closer look.

By Suzanne Wright

Zipping past Texas Canyon, an hour southeast of Tucson, it’s impossible not to notice the boulders — giant, eye-catching piles of granite, like something out of The Flintstones. But other than providing scenery along Interstate 10 — particularly at a rest area just down the highway from the kitschy attraction known as The Thing — the area has long been off-limits to curious travelers who wanted to stretch their legs and get a closer look.

There are several private landowners in Texas Canyon, including Triangle T Guest Ranch, which has some trails for its guests. But none had opened its trails to the public until this past October, when the portion of the area owned and managed by the Amerind Foundation had its ribbon-cutting. After a multi-year campaign that raised $250,000, the Texas Canyon Nature Preserve — on land previously closed to the public for 85 years, and where the organization’s founding family raised quarter horses until 1968 — is open to all.

“The idea had been percolating with the Amerind Foundation board and management for years,” says Eric Kaldahl, the president, CEO and chief curator of the foundation. “The response from the surrounding community has been very enthusiastic. We welcomed more visitors last October than we’ve seen for the past 10 years.”

The preserve, located just off I-10 between Benson and Willcox, is part of a 1,900-acre campus that includes the Amerind Museum. More than 6 miles of trails wind past balanced rocks, fantastical shapes and rocky spires in open, sun-warmed high-desert grasslands studded with cactuses, wildflowers and trees. The trail is self-guided, although Kaldahl hopes to offer guided sunrise and sunset hikes in the next year. Visitors can pay a $12 admission fee for just the trails or $20 to visit both the trails and the museum.

Trail designer Sirena Rana knows the landscape can look intimidating, but she purposely designed the trails to be “perfect little morsels.” Rana didn’t grow up hiking, so she aimed to make the trails a comfortable experience for all ages and abilities. There are no steep elevation gains, and dirt, rather than gravel, makes for more stability. And Rana recalls walking for miles and miles over several months to understand the land and ensure the trails were constructed to shed water, limit erosion and provide firebreaks.

“Texas Canyon is one of the most unique landscapes in the Southwest, formed by millions of years of wind and rain weathering the granite,” she says, likening it to Joshua Tree National Park and the Wilderness of Rock on Mount Lemmon. “It’s very unusual that it’s right off a major interstate and just an hour from a major metropolitan area,” she adds. “This is one of the greatest outdoor sculpture gardens in the world designed by Mother Nature. I’m so pleased with how it turned out.”

Elsewhere along the trail, signage reflects the Amerind Museum’s mission of fostering knowledge and understanding of Indigenous peoples. Acknowledging that these are ancestral lands, the signs feature O’odham, English and Spanish text, in that order — and Kaldahl hopes to add Apache, too.

Additionally, Indigenous people have collected basket-weaving materials from these lands for generations, and they remain free to access the grounds.

Haiku Thoughts:

Stone giants whisper,

Texas Canyon's quiet grace,

Time's hand carves the sky.

Southern Arizona Adventure 2024

America’s western edge is famous for its dramatic Pacific coastline dotted with sea stacks. These tall, isolated rock formations that appear to rise from the ocean are actually remnants of a coastline that has eroded over millions of years. With the softer soils washing away what became exposed out of the land with the cooled remains of volcanic lava vents. The formations are scattered along the coast from Washington to northern California as solo individuals or small groups. I enjoy working with the small grouping as even a small change in perspective can create whole new compositions. Add the changing light and weather and the image possibilities are endless.

Iceland's landscape captivates with its dramatic blend of volcanic terrains, cascading waterfalls, and serene glaciers.......

Souter Lighthouse, built in 1871 with its dramatic red and white hoops, is an iconic landmark in the village of Marsden on the North East coast and the first in the world to be powered by electricity.

Shortly before sunrise some colour briefly appeared above the horizon.

The registered area represents the well-preserved garden designed in and around the village of Portmeirion by Clough Williams-Ellis (1883-1978) where conditions permit the growing of many half-hardy and tender plants, which enhance the exotic character of the site. Attached is the older Gwyllt garden containing an outstanding rhododendron collection of the early twentieth century. The registered area has important group value with the numerous listed buildings and structures at Portmeirion. Portmeirion is situated on the north side of the Traeth Bach estuary, near Porthmadog; the Gwyllt gardens to the west of it occupy the southern part of the peninsula between this and the Traeth Mawr. The site is almost hidden from the landward side and is sheltered from this direction by the shape of the land, as is the village area from the west and south-west by the Gwyllt. The only exposed direction is the south-east and in this direction lie spectacular views, over the sands of the estuary towards Harlech. Portmeirion is a deliberately created village set in a garden. The village, built in and around a small valley opening on to the shore, consists of a hotel and cottages, with shops and public buildings, arranged around a central open square which is laid out as a public garden. The buildings are a collection of architectural fantasies created by Clough Williams-Ellis. It is stylistically diverse, incorporating architectural elements from a wide range of periods and from several countries. The garden area occupies most of the flat ground available and due to the steeply-sloping nature of the rest of the site most of the buildings are displayed to advantage on the hillside. For this reason the village is best viewed from the sea, from which the site was first seen by Williams-Ellis. When Clough Williams-Ellis bought the site in 1925, he also acquired the mansion of Aber-Ia (LB: 4853) and its informal pleasure grounds on the Gwyllt peninsula to the west. The Gwyllt garden was probably laid out when the house was first built in the middle of the nineteenth century. The first additions were trees, especially pines and other conifers, some of which survive, and rhododendrons such as R. nobleanum and 'Cornish Red'. The second phase of planting was in the early twentieth century. This was the heyday of the collection, when the owner, Caton Haigh, deliberately collected half-hardy and exotic varieties, some recently introduced from China. Planting survives from both periods and the age range of the trees suggests that some were also planted by Clough Williams-Ellis. After Clough acquired the site there were two main periods of building; from 1925 until the Second World War, and from 1954 until about 1970. The first period saw conversion of the mid-nineteenth century house, Aber-Ia, to a hotel and the 'Cloughing-up' of the former gardener's cottage, now the Mermaid (LB: 4860); the former stable building (LB: 4886) was also converted. The first new cottages were the Angel (LB: 4856) and Neptune (LB: 4858), on the west side of the valley, opposite the Mermaid. Most of the buildings in the Citadel, the higher part of the village on the north-eastern edge of the valley, were also completed, including the Campanile (LB: 4868). During the later period more buildings were added to the Citadel and around the central public garden, part of which was now known as the Piazza (LB: 4885). These include the Pantheon (LB: 4879), with its dome complementing the Campanile, the Unicorn (LB: 4882) and Bridge House (LB: 4875), on an arch over one of the streets. Significant Views: there are fine views from the seafront hotel and from the balustraded viewing area over the estuary to Harlech and the mountains beyond. The hotel at Portmeirion was originally the mansion of Aber Iâ and the site of the present village, together with its dramatic wooded setting, formed a small estate around the house. It was built c1850 and was described in 1861 as:` one of the most picturesque of all the summer residences to be found on the sea-coast of Wales.' The house and estate were bought by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis in 1925 and formed the focus of the Portmeirion village, conceived and designed by him between 1925 and his death in 1978. The newly restored hotel was opened in 1926, and included a new 3-storey wing added to the W, one of the first of CWE's designs to be executed on this site. In 1930 a new single-storey dining room addition was erected, with later additions of 1935. In June 1981 the hotel was tragically gutted by fire. Its subsequent restoration, however, has successfully recreated the hotel in the spirit of its pre-fire days; it reopened in 1988. Amongst the many of CWE's celebrated guests at the hotel and its associated village structures were Noel Coward, Kenneth Clark, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell and Frank Lloyd Wright.

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REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS

Coucher de soleil, Sainte-Flavie.

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

Photo taken close to REFORD GARDENS.(Sainte-Flavie)

Mrs Elsie Reford loved those beautiful sunsets.

Reference: Elsie's Paradise, The Reford Gardens, Alexander Reford, 2004, ISBN 2-7619-1921-1, That book is a must for Reford Gardens lovers!

''I shall always, all my life, want to come back to those sunsets.'' Elsie Reford, July 20, 1913. (page 25)

" It is just after 8 o'clock and I am sitting in front of my big window with the gorgeous panorama of a glorious afterglow from a perfect sunset. There is every hue of blue on the water of 'the Blue Lagoon' while Pointe-aux-Cenelles is bathed in pink and crimson and the dark hills of the north shore seem no further than two or three miles distant. I don't think in the whole world at this moment there could be anything more beautiful." Elsie Reford, June 2, 1931. (page 81)

''One thing I can do that no one else can is to pass the love that I feel for this place and this woman'' Alexander Reford

Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

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From Wikipedia:

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.

She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.

In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.

During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© 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.

The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 8th tallest building in Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.

Built for CenTrust Bank in 1987, the 47-story building ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida at a height of 625 feet (191 m) and is known for its elaborate night-time illuminations and its dramatic three glass tiers. Designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architectural firm, the tower consists of two separate structures: A 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. Preliminary planning for the tower began in February 1980; construction on the garage began by November. The garage was completed in February 1983 and the tower began construction a year later. On August 1984, while the tower was under construction, a 5-alarm fire began on the ninth floor; construction was subsequently delayed for several weeks. On December 15, 1985, the tower was lit for the first time in Miami Dolphins aqua and snowflakes.

By mid-1986, the tower's exterior was complete and the grand opening for the complex was set for early fall that same year. Due to the uneven settling of the tower's foundation to one side by several inches, and the resulting misalignment of the tower's elevator rails, the grand opening for the complex was delayed until February 1987. The complete complex featured the world's only elevated metro station in a skyscraper (Knight Center station). It also gained notoriety for its luxurious interiors, including a skylobby on the 11th floor covered in marble and gold and a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) outdoor terrace. Also its indoor gym features mahogany cabinets. The tower is connected to the James L. Knight Center by a pedestrian walkway and on the first floor is a retail spine covered with green marble. The tower contains 1,160,000 sq ft (108,000 m2) with 503,000 sq ft (46,700 m2) of office space and a 535,000 sq ft (49,700 m2), 1,500 space parking garage.

The building appears during the end credits of the 1986 movie Flight Of The Navigator in an aerial shot of Miami. The very top floors can clearly be seen still under construction.

The roof of the building was the set of Gloria Estefan's 1994 video for "Turn The Beat Around". The building is also one of many featured on the backdrop of the stage on The Tonight Show.

On January 1, 2010, the building was renamed the Miami Tower.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Tower

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is a stunning feature within Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. This canyon stretches approximately 20 miles long and is known for its dramatic views, vibrant colors, and powerful waterfalls.

Thingvellir is one of Iceland’s most important historical and natural sites, located about 45 km northeast of Reykjavík. In 930 AD, it became the meeting place of the Alþingi, one of the world's oldest continuously existing parliaments, making Þingvellir a cornerstone of Icelandic history and national identity. The area is also famous for its unique geology, situated in a rift valley between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.

Today, Þingvellir is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the three stops on Iceland’s famous Golden Circle route. Visitors come to explore its dramatic landscapes, historic assembly sites, lava fields, waterfalls, and crystal-clear fissures.

Notable locations within Þingvellir

Almannagjá - the largest rift in the park and the historic route to the assembly grounds.

Lögberg - the "Law Rock," where laws were recited and speeches delivered during Alþingi gatherings.

Öxarárfoss - a picturesque waterfall surrounded by lava formations.

Silfra - a famous water-filled fissure known for exceptional underwater visibility.

Þingvallavatn - Iceland’s largest natural lake.

8327-2A

Photo taken close to REFORD GARDENS. (Metis Beach)

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

From Wikipedia:

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.

She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.

In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.

During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© 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.

Lysefjorden – A Norwegian Natural Wonder

Location & Geography:

Lysefjorden is a breathtaking fjord in southwestern Norway, located in Rogaland County. It stretches approximately 42 kilometers (26 miles) inland from the North Sea and is known for its dramatic cliffs and deep blue waters. The fjord is about 500 meters (1,640 feet) deep at its deepest point.

Famous Landmarks:

Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock): One of Norway's most iconic tourist attractions, Preikestolen is a flat-topped cliff that rises 604 meters (1,982 feet) above the fjord. It offers spectacular panoramic views and attracts thousands of hikers each year.

Kjerag: Another famous cliff, Kjerag stands at 1,084 meters (3,556 feet) above the fjord. It is known for Kjeragbolten, a large boulder wedged between two cliffs, where brave visitors take daring photos. The area is also popular among BASE jumpers.

Lysebotn: At the innermost part of the fjord lies Lysebotn, a small village known for its hairpin road (Lysevegen) with 27 sharp turns, leading up to the Kjerag trailhead.

Tourism & Activities:

Hiking: Trails to Preikestolen and Kjerag are among Norway’s most popular hikes.

Boat Tours & Kayaking: The fjord is best explored by boat, with scenic cruises offering unique perspectives of the towering cliffs.

Base Jumping & Climbing: Kjerag is a hotspot for extreme sports enthusiasts.

Name & Meaning:

The name "Lysefjorden" means "The Light Fjord," likely referring to the light-colored granite cliffs that dominate the landscape.

Lysefjorden seen from Lysebotn towards west and Stavanger.

I've taken a similar shot of the Beetham Tower in Manchester before but it focused on a smaller area of the facade, this one includes pretty much the whole facade so the shot becomes more about the repetition rather than the differences between the individual little boxes.

More skyscrapers here : www.flickr.com/photos/darrellg/sets/72157600345884548

From Wikipedia : "Architectural response to the skyscraper is polarised and interpretations vary. The cantilever bears the load of the north façade symbolically representing the historical strength and revival of post-industrial Manchester following economic decline in the 1980s and the 1996 Manchester bombing. Some questioned its dominant appearance over the city - particularly over listed buildings with one author going as far to say the skyscraper instantly "torpedoed" any possibility of Manchester becoming a UNESCO World Heritage city. Others feel its dramatic appearance and peculiarity is reflective of Manchester and that the Beetham Tower symbolises Manchester's reinvention as a post-industrial city.Nevertheless, it has received praise and was awarded the best tall building in the world in 2007 by the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat"

REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS

Coucher de soleil, Sainte-Flavie.

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

Photo taken close to REFORD GARDENS. (Sainte-Flavie)

Mrs Elsie Reford loved those beautiful sunsets.

Reference: Elsie's Paradise, The Reford Gardens, Alexander Reford, 2004, ISBN 2-7619-1921-1, That book is a must for Reford Gardens lovers!

''I shall always, all my life, want to come back to those sunsets.'' Elsie Reford, July 20, 1913. (page 25)

" It is just after 8 o'clock and I am sitting in front of my big window with the gorgeous panorama of a glorious afterglow from a perfect sunset. There is every hue of blue on the water of 'the Blue Lagoon' while Pointe-aux-Cenelles is bathed in pink and crimson and the dark hills of the north shore seem no further than two or three miles distant. I don't think in the whole world at this moment there could be anything more beautiful." Elsie Reford, June 2, 1931. (page 81)

Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.

''One thing I can do that no one else can is to pass the love that I feel for this place and this woman'' Alexander Reford

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

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

From Wikipedia:

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.

She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.

In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.

During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© 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.

This stunning panoramic view captures the Rheinschleife (Rhine bend) near Boppard, Germany, with a blanket of fog partially covering the river. The meandering curve of the Rhine river can be seen as it winds through the lush green valley, bordered by small towns and vineyards. The fog adds an ethereal quality to the scene, with sunlight breaking through to reflect off the river’s surface, creating a peaceful yet dramatic atmosphere. The Rheinschleife is a famous section of the Rhine River, known for its dramatic and scenic curves.

Reynisfjara is a world-famous black sand beach in Iceland. I love to photograph here with its dramatic basalt columns, sea stacks and, of course, the waves on the black sand beach. I have to continue to remined my workshop students who are near water’s edge to capture wave action to keep a sharp eye out for the powerful sneaker waves. For this image, I chose to stand back from the shoreline in order to position the setting sun along with the sea stacks. With the stond headlands and sea stacks, I had to choose my position carefully to achieve a good balance to the composition based on the visual weight of the setting sun. With the clouds the way they were, this was the best I could achieve for balance in the frame.

9314-2

Claudette '' making '' some photos...

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

From Wikipedia:

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.

She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.

In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.

During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© 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.

Commentary.

Leith Hill is the highest point of the

High Weald in South-East England.

The backslope of this Sandstone escarpment

Climbs steadily but gently from Wotton

to the tower at the summit.

The south-facing Scarp slope, however, is much steeper.

Its dramatic rise from the Weald below,

presents views such as this.

A chequerboard of woodland and fields spreads southwards

as far as the South Downs.

On a clear day even the English Channel

can be seen through the Shoreham Gap.

On this peak it is as if life continues

uninterrupted below with roads, traffic, farms, houses

and villages, but here, at the summit,

a still, silent breath of fresh air

creates a welcome peace, just for a while.

3656

REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS

Coucher de soleil, Sainte-Flavie.

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

Photo taken close to REFORD GARDENS. (Sainte-Flavie)

Mrs Elsie Reford loved those beautiful sunsets.

Reference: Elsie's Paradise, The Reford Gardens, Alexander Reford, 2004, ISBN 2-7619-1921-1, That book is a must for Reford Gardens lovers!

''I shall always, all my life, want to come back to those sunsets.'' Elsie Reford, July 20, 1913. (page 25)

" It is just after 8 o'clock and I am sitting in front of my big window with the gorgeous panorama of a glorious afterglow from a perfect sunset. There is every hue of blue on the water of 'the Blue Lagoon' while Pointe-aux-Cenelles is bathed in pink and crimson and the dark hills of the north shore seem no further than two or three miles distant. I don't think in the whole world at this moment there could be anything more beautiful." Elsie Reford, June 2, 1931. (page 81)

Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.

''One thing I can do that no one else can is to pass the love that I feel for this place and this woman'' Alexander Reford

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

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

From Wikipedia:

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.

She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.

In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.

During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© 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.

Palo Duro Canyon is a canyon system of the Caprock Escarpment located in the Texas Panhandle. As the second-largest canyon in the United States, it is roughly 120 miles long and has an average width of 6 miles but reaches a width of 20 miles at places. Its depth is around 820 ft, but in some locations, it increases to 1,000 ft. Palo Duro Canyon (from the Spanish meaning "hard stick") has been named "The Grand Canyon of Texas" both for its size and for its dramatic geological features, including the multicolored layers of rock and steep mesa walls, which are similar to those in the Grand Canyon. It is part of Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Lofoten is an archipelago in Norway. Its known for its dramatic scenery, with peaks like Reinebringen jutting up into the sky. Reinebringen is located in Moskenes municipality, near Reine village. With a height of 448m (1470 ft), it’s nowhere close to being one of the tallest mountains in Lofoten but what it lacks in height, it surely makes up for with its view.

Italia, Toscana, Livorno, Inverno 2018

Nessun viaggio a Livorno è completo senza una passeggiata lungo questa terrazza fronte mare con la sua pavimentazione a scacchiera in bianco e nero. Quando fu costruita negli anni '20, si chiamava Terrazza Ciano in onore del leader del movimento fascista di Livorno; ora porta il nome del compositore d'opera livornese Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945).

No trip to Livorno is complete without a stroll along this seafront terrace with its dramatic black-and-white chessboard-style pavement. When it was built in the 1920s, it was called Terrazza Ciano after the leader of the Livorno fascist movement; it now bears the name of Livorno-born opera composer Pietro Mascagni (1863–1945).

7652-2

REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS

COUCHER DE SOLEIL - Sainte-Flavie

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

Photo taken close to REFORD GARDENS. (Sainte-Flavie)

Mrs Elsie Reford loved those beautiful sunsets.

Reference: Elsie's Paradise, The Reford Gardens, Alexander Reford, 2004, ISBN 2-7619-1921-1, That book is a must for Reford Gardens lovers!

''I shall always, all my life, want to come back to those sunsets.'' Elsie Reford, July 20, 1913. (page 25)

" It is just after 8 o'clock and I am sitting in front of my big window with the gorgeous panorama of a glorious afterglow from a perfect sunset. There is every hue of blue on the water of 'the Blue Lagoon' while Pointe-aux-Cenelles is bathed in pink and crimson and the dark hills of the north shore seem no further than two or three miles distant. I don't think in the whole world at this moment there could be anything more beautiful." Elsie Reford, June 2, 1931. (page 81)

Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

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

From Wikipedia:

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.

She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.

In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.

During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.KD4J6B5W

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© 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.

Almost exactly a year ago, I experienced and photographed this breathtaking sunset at the beautiful Playa de Benijo on Tenerife. The beach, with its dramatic rock formations, is a hidden gem in the northern part of the Canary Islands. It was truly a fantastic evening – I had so much fun standing in the water and capturing all these moments.

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Website :: Instagram :: Facebook

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The century plant (agave americana) is a large succulent native to Mexico and the southern United States, known for its dramatic appearance and sharp, spiky leaves. It typically lives 10 to 30 years and produces a tall flower stalk once before dying, though it often produces offshoots to continue growth.

The River Spey, known in Scottish Gaelic as Uisge Spè, is a remarkable river in the northeast of Scotland. Stretching 158 km, it is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom and the second longest and fastest-flowing river in Scotland. Renowned for its clear, swift waters, the Spey is a haven for salmon fishing, which has been a traditional activity in the region for centuries. The river's journey begins at Loch Spey in the Monadhliath Mountains and winds through the Cairngorms National Park before reaching the Moray Firth at Spey Bay. Along its course, the Spey passes through areas of stunning natural beauty and is an essential part of the local ecosystem, supporting a diverse range of wildlife. The river is also at the heart of Scotland's whisky production, with the pure Spey water being a key ingredient in many famous distilleries that produce the renowned Speyside single malts. Conservation efforts are ongoing to maintain the health and vitality of this iconic Scottish river, ensuring it continues to support the communities and wildlife along its banks.

The Hills of Cromdale, steeped in history and natural beauty, are a captivating feature of the Scottish landscape. This area, known for its rugged terrain and scenic views, is also a place where history whispers from the heather-clad hillsides. The Battle of Cromdale, fought in 1690, was a significant event during the Jacobite risings, marking a government victory over the Jacobites. Today, visitors can explore the Cromdale Hills and imagine the echoes of the past, whether it's the clash of battle or the peaceful solitude that now reigns. The hills offer a range of outdoor activities, from hillwalking to exploring historical sites like the ruins of Lethendry Castle and the Piper's Stone, which commemorates the fallen of the battle. The landscape, characterized by its boggy ridge and heather paths, presents a challenge to hikers but rewards them with expansive views and a sense of tranquility that's hard to find elsewhere.

At 12 km distance and in the centre of the background are the twin peaks of Sgòr Gaoith and Carn na Cloiche. Sgòr Gaoith (not to be confused with the 1,118 metres mountain in the far western massif of the Cairngorms) and Carn na Cloiche are renowned locations in the Scottish Highlands, celebrated for their breathtaking landscapes and challenging terrains. Sgòr Gaoith, in particular, stands out with its dramatic summit perched on the edge of vast crags that plunge down to Glen Lochy, offering some of the most stunning views in the Cairngorms. This peak, rising to 628 meters, is a favorite among hillwalkers for its distinctive shape and the rewarding vistas it provides. The ascent from the A939 Old Military Road is a journey through magnificent heather and across a vast plateau, culminating in the exhilarating experience of reaching the summit. Carn na Cloiche at 662m, adds to the adventure with its boulder-strewn ridge and the challenge of navigating without a defined path. Together, these landmarks encapsulate the wild beauty of the Cairngorms and the spirit of exploration that draws adventurers to these ancient hills.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Spey

This ominous Picture of the Week shows our very own Moon undergoing a total lunar eclipse. The image was taken on the night of May 15 2022 from ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. During a lunar eclipse, the Earth is positioned directly between the Sun and the Moon, blocking some of the Sun’s light. This casts a shadow across the Moon’s surface.

The red colour is caused by the Sun’s rays interacting with the Earth’s atmosphere. Light from the Sun contains a whole spectrum of colours. Blue light is dispersed by the atmosphere through a process called Rayleigh scattering (which makes the sky blue) while red light can pass through the atmosphere more easily, becoming slightly deflected. This red light reaches the Moon’s surface, giving rise to its dramatic crimson hue.

This photo was taken during the eclipse’s totality, when the Earth is causing the largest blockage of the Sun’s light. It was taken by two ESO colleagues at Paranal Observatory using an amateur telescope nicknamed “UT5” as a nod to its much larger siblings, the four 8-m Unit Telescopes at ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Fun fact: astronomers often take spectra of lunar eclipses to understand the signatures that life can leave on Earth’s atmosphere, which is a very useful reference when searching for similar signatures in exoplanets.

Credit: F. Aedo, F. Durán/ESO

Big Sur is a rugged and mountainous section of the central coast of California between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. It is frequently praised for its dramatic scenery such as that above.

Big Sur has been called the "longest and most scenic stretch of undeveloped coastline in the contiguous United States," a "national treasure that demands extraordinary procedures to protect it from development" and "one of the most beautiful coastlines anywhere in the world, an isolated stretch of road, mythic in reputation." The stunning views, redwood forests, hiking, beaches, and other recreational opportunities have made Big Sur a popular destination for about seven million people who live within a day's drive and visitors from across the world like me. The region receives about the same number of visitors as Yosemite National Park, but offers extremely limited bus service, few restrooms, and a narrow two-lane highway with few places to park alongside the road. North-bound traffic during the peak summer season and holiday weekends apparently can be often backed up for about 32 km from Big Sur Village to Carmel.

The unincorporated region encompassing Big Sur does not have specific boundaries, but is generally considered to include the 114 km segment of California State Route 1 between Malpaso Creek near Carmel Highlands in the north and San Carpóforo Creek near San Simeon in the south, as well as the entire Santa Lucia range between these creeks. The interior region is mostly uninhabited, while the coast remains relatively isolated and sparsely populated, with between 1,800 and 2,000 year-round residents and relatively few visitor accommodations scattered among four small settlements. The region remained one of the most inaccessible areas of California and the entire United States until, after 18 years of construction, the Carmel-San Simeon Highway (now signed as part of State Route 1) was completed in 1937. Along with the ocean views, this winding, narrow road, often cut into the face of towering seaside cliffs, dominates the visitor's experience of Big Sur. The highway has been closed more than 55 times by landslides, and in May 2017, a 57,000 m3 slide blocked the highway at Mud Creek, north of Salmon Creek near the San Luis Obispo County line, to just south of Gorda. The road was reopened over a year later on 18 July 2018. - all from Wikipedia.

This rather misty view was taken from just south of the Bixby Bridge, from one of the rare viewpoints on State Highway 1, looking further south along the coast towards the volcanic rock centrepiece of Point Sur State Historic Park in the far distance, some five kilometres away. I have been unable to find any information about the cliff-top buildings in the foreground.

The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 8th tallest building in Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.

Built for CenTrust Bank in 1987, the 47-story building ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida at a height of 625 feet (191 m) and is known for its elaborate night-time illuminations and its dramatic three glass tiers. Designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architectural firm, the tower consists of two separate structures: A 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. Preliminary planning for the tower began in February 1980; construction on the garage began by November. The garage was completed in February 1983 and the tower began construction a year later. On August 1984, while the tower was under construction, a 5-alarm fire began on the ninth floor; construction was subsequently delayed for several weeks. On December 15, 1985, the tower was lit for the first time in Miami Dolphins aqua and snowflakes.

By mid-1986, the tower's exterior was complete and the grand opening for the complex was set for early fall that same year. Due to the uneven settling of the tower's foundation to one side by several inches, and the resulting misalignment of the tower's elevator rails, the grand opening for the complex was delayed until February 1987. The complete complex featured the world's only elevated metro station in a skyscraper (Knight Center station). It also gained notoriety for its luxurious interiors, including a skylobby on the 11th floor covered in marble and gold and a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) outdoor terrace. Also its indoor gym features mahogany cabinets. The tower is connected to the James L. Knight Center by a pedestrian walkway and on the first floor is a retail spine covered with green marble. The tower contains 1,160,000 sq ft (108,000 m2) with 503,000 sq ft (46,700 m2) of office space and a 535,000 sq ft (49,700 m2), 1,500 space parking garage.

The building appears during the end credits of the 1986 movie Flight Of The Navigator in an aerial shot of Miami. The very top floors can clearly be seen still under construction.

The roof of the building was the set of Gloria Estefan's 1994 video for "Turn The Beat Around". The building is also one of many featured on the backdrop of the stage on The Tonight Show.

On January 1, 2010, the building was renamed the Miami Tower.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Tower

#YBS24Open

8319-2A

Photo taken close to REFORD GARDENS. (Metis Beach)

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

From Wikipedia:

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.

She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.

In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.

During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© 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.

The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 8th tallest building in Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.

Built for CenTrust Bank in 1987, the 47-story building ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida at a height of 625 feet (191 m) and is known for its elaborate night-time illuminations and its dramatic three glass tiers. Designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architectural firm, the tower consists of two separate structures: A 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. Preliminary planning for the tower began in February 1980; construction on the garage began by November. The garage was completed in February 1983 and the tower began construction a year later. On August 1984, while the tower was under construction, a 5-alarm fire began on the ninth floor; construction was subsequently delayed for several weeks. On December 15, 1985, the tower was lit for the first time in Miami Dolphins aqua and snowflakes.

By mid-1986, the tower's exterior was complete and the grand opening for the complex was set for early fall that same year. Due to the uneven settling of the tower's foundation to one side by several inches, and the resulting misalignment of the tower's elevator rails, the grand opening for the complex was delayed until February 1987. The complete complex featured the world's only elevated metro station in a skyscraper (Knight Center station). It also gained notoriety for its luxurious interiors, including a skylobby on the 11th floor covered in marble and gold and a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) outdoor terrace. Also its indoor gym features mahogany cabinets. The tower is connected to the James L. Knight Center by a pedestrian walkway and on the first floor is a retail spine covered with green marble. The tower contains 1,160,000 sq ft (108,000 m2) with 503,000 sq ft (46,700 m2) of office space and a 535,000 sq ft (49,700 m2), 1,500 space parking garage.

The building appears during the end credits of the 1986 movie Flight Of The Navigator in an aerial shot of Miami. The very top floors can clearly be seen still under construction.

The roof of the building was the set of Gloria Estefan's 1994 video for "Turn The Beat Around". The building is also one of many featured on the backdrop of the stage on The Tonight Show.

On January 1, 2010, the building was renamed the Miami Tower.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Tower

Jharia (Inde) - Ma toute première photo des glaneurs de charbon. Le site d’exploitation de Jharia est l'une des plus importantes mines de charbon à ciel ouvert du Dhanbad. C'était ma destination initiale pour réaliser mon reportage. J’ai pu passer sans trop de difficultés les différents contrôles en échange de quelques cigarettes offertes aux policiers, militaires et vigiles qui filtrent les différents accès à la mine. J’ai dû aussi accepter plusieurs selfies. Un étranger ici, on n’en voit jamais. Pour les Indiens, ça mérite une photo. En me laissant passer, on me précise cependant que si je peux photographier les engins mécaniques en action, en revanche, il est strictement interdit de braquer mon objectif sur les travailleurs clandestins qui tentent illégalement de récupérer quelques blocs de charbon pour les revendre en ville. Leur seul moyen de subsistance.

Si les illégaux sont plus ou moins tolérés à Jharia, c’est que les services de sécurité n’ont pas envie de passer leur temps à leur courir derrière. De là à autoriser un journaliste à leur faire de la « publicité », pas question ! Je me dis intérieurement "cause toujours, quand je serai sur le site, j’aurai bien l’occasion de photographier ces petits voleurs de charbon ».

Au début j’avance au milieu de gigantesques camions miniers haut comme des immeubles à trois étages. Ils circulent en tous sens et à vive allure. Ils arrivent du cœur du lieu d’excavation situé à moins d’un kilomètre.

Je poursuis ma progression en zigzagant entre les monstrueux camions miniers.

Quinze minutes plus tard, j’aperçois sur un monticule mes premiers mineurs clandestins. Ce sont des enfants et des adolescents. Ils descendent du monticule minéral en courant, s’emparent d’un bloc de charbon au sol, le posent avec précipitation sur leur tête et remontent à toute allure. Je fais une première photo. Je suis un peu loin et cette image avec son ciel dramatique est plus proche du paysage que de la photo humaniste que j'affectionne.

D’autres illégaux plus haut ont des pioches et tentent d’arracher du minerai. Je me dirige vers eux. Sans me précipiter pour ne pas attirer l’attention. Ils sont tentés de s’enfuir, mais mon interprète dont j’ai loué les services et avec qui je voyage depuis Varanasi, les en dissuade. Il affirme qu’ils n’ont rien à craindre de moi. Je m’apprête à prendre des photos de ces enfants qui prennent la pose, quand une voix autoritaire m’arrête dans mon élan. Je me retourne et vois un homme en civile descendre de sa moto. Mon interprète traduit « il ne veux pas que tu les prennes en photo ». J'avais compris au ton de sa voix et à son attitude martiale. Avec l'arrivée inopinée de cet homme, les enfants se sont enfuis comme une volée de moineaux. Je ne les reverrai pas.

L’homme est un contremaitre. Il n’entend pas quitter les lieux sans moi. Avant que je ne reprenne le chemin en sens inverse, contre toute attente, lui qui s’était montré intraitable, me demande -ou plutôt m’impose- un selfie où nous apparaitrons en nous serrant la main. Incompréhensible. Il repart satisfait. Moi pas.

A failed first contact

Jharia (India) - My very first photo of coal gleaners. The Jharia mining site is one of the largest open cast coal mines in Dhanbad. It was my initial destination to carry out my report. I was able to pass the various checks without too much difficulty in exchange for a few cigarettes offered to the police, soldiers and security guards who filter the various access points to the mine. I also had to accept several selfies. You never see a foreigner here. For Indians, it deserves a photo. As I was allowed to pass, however, I was told that while I could photograph the mechanical machines in action, it was strictly forbidden to focus my lens on the illegal workers who were illegally trying to recover a few blocks of coal to resell them in town. Their only means of subsistence.

If illegal immigrants are more or less tolerated in Jharia, it is because the security services do not want to spend their time running after them. From there to authorizing a journalist to “advertise” them, no question!

At the beginning I advance among gigantic mining trucks as high as three-story buildings. They travel in all directions and at high speed. They arrive from the heart of the excavation site located less than a kilometer away.

I continue my progress, zigzagging between the monstrous mining trucks. Fifteen minutes later, I saw my first illegal miners on a mound. They are children and adolescents. They run down from the mineral mound, grab a block of coal from the ground, place it hastily on their heads and rush back up. I take a first photo. I'm a little far away and this image with its dramatic sky is closer to the landscape than to the humanist photo.

Other illegals further up appear to have pickaxes and are trying to dig up ore. I head towards them. Without rushing so as not to attract attention. They are tempted to flee, but my interpreter whose services I hired and who travels with me from Varanasi, dissuades them. He says they have nothing to fear from me. I am about to take photos of these children posing, when an authoritarian voice stops me in my tracks. I turn around and see a man in civilian clothes getting off his motorcycle. My interpreter translates “he doesn’t want you to take a photo of them”. I understood from the tone of his voice and his martial attitude. With the unexpected arrival of this man, the children fled like a flock of sparrows. I won't see them again.

The man is a foreman. He doesn't intend to leave without me. Before I head back the way in the opposite direction, against all expectations, the man who had been intractable, asks me - or rather imposes on me - a selfie in which we appear shaking hands. Incomprehensible. He leaves satisfied. Not me.

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Why Born Enslaved!, 1868, plaster with patina, 13 3/4 × 9 1/4 × 7 in.

An African woman turns her head defiantly upward in a sculpture defined by its dramatic shapes and silhouettes. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux created this work twenty years after France abolished slavery in 1848, and only three years after emancipation in the United States in 1865. This bust was meant to appeal to the antislavery views of a progressive white audience. However, the sculpture also objectifies the Black female body with her bound bare breasts that symbolize both liberty and colonial fantasy. This plaster is one of a few sculptures he modelled after this now-unknown woman.

This woman was also the model for the allegorical figure of Africa on a large fountain representing the four continents that Carpeaux designed for a park in Paris. This plaster is one of the independent sculptures he made based on that figure.

(Brooklyn Museum)

This photograph was taken at the "Monet to Matisse: French Moderns, 1850-1950" exhibition at the Birmingham Museum of Art.

Sunset at Souter Lighthouse, with its dramatic red and white hoops, is an iconic landmark on the North East coast and the first in the world to be purpose built for electricity.

You can experience what life was like for the Lighthouse Keeper, with a reconstructed Victorian Keepers cottage and many hands on activities. And for the kids there's also an open-air play area and fun activity trail, along with some fantastic regular events such as craft activities and rockpool rambles.

Visitors can still see the machinery, which remains in working order, and of course climb to the top of the tower. It's well worth the effort, and once you've regained your breath you can literally see for miles!

The beautiful South Tyneside coastline below may seem very calm now, but it was in fact once very dangerous. Many ships ran aground amongst the treacherous reefs & rocks and smugglers plied their dastardly trade on our shores, so when the lighthouse opened in 1871, with its state of the art technology, it was very needed!

Decommissioned in 1988 this property is now managed and protected by the National Trust

The Snæfellsnes Peninsula is a region in western Iceland known for its dramatic landscapes. At its western tip, Snæfellsjökull National Park is dominated by Snæfellsjökull Volcano, which is topped by a glacier. Nearby, a trail leads through lava fields to black-pebble beach

REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

MECONOPSIS BETONICIFOLIA

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

From Wikipedia:

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.

She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.

In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.

During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

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Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

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LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© 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.

It is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located 7 km east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council, in the Eastern Suburbs. Bondi, North Bondi, and Bondi Junction are neighbouring suburbs. Bondi Beach is one of the most visited tourist sites in Australia. The sweeping white-sand crescent of Bondi is one of Australia’s most iconic beaches. Reliable waves draw surfers while, nearby, hardy locals swim in the Icebergs ocean pool year-round. Trendy, health-conscious Sydneysiders head to laid-back cafes around Hall Street, while hip backpackers frequent the area's casual pubs. Walkers and joggers use the clifftop Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk, with its dramatic scenery. 8100

Wrapping up my Southern Arizona Adventure 2024 with a visit to Amerind Foundation and Texas Canyon. This is stage 9 of 9.

travelasker.com/what-is-the-formation-process-of-texas-ca...

Formation and composition of rocks

The rocks in Texas Canyon are primarily composed of granite, gneiss, and schist. These rocks were formed through a process of geological metamorphism, which changed their composition and structure over time. Granite is one of the most common types of rock found in the area and is known for its distinctive pink color. Gneiss and schist are also common and are known for their unique textures and patterns.

Erosion and weathering played a significant role in shaping the landscape of Texas Canyon. Over time, the rocks in the area were subjected to intense weathering, which caused them to break down and form the distinctive boulder formations that are found throughout the canyon. Erosion also played a role in shaping the landscape, as the water that flowed through the area created deep gullies and canyons that are still visible today.

Formation of the unique boulder formations

The unique boulder formations in Texas Canyon were formed through a combination of tectonic forces, erosion, and weathering. The rocks in the area were subjected to immense pressure, which caused them to fracture and crack. Over time, the cracks were widened by the forces of erosion, creating the distinctive boulder formations that are found throughout the canyon.

www.amerind.org/texascanyonnaturepreserve/

Chat GPT

Texas Canyon is a striking natural area located in Cochise County, southeastern Arizona, along Interstate 10 between Benson and Willcox. It is renowned for its dramatic landscape, characterized by massive granite boulders scattered across the desert terrain, creating a rugged and picturesque environment.

The granite boulders in Texas Canyon were formed through millions of years of erosion and weathering. These formations, often precariously balanced, provide a unique and photogenic sight, making the canyon a popular stop for travelers and photographers.

The area is surrounded by the Chiricahua Mountains to the south and other nearby ranges, offering expansive views of the Sonoran Desert with its mix of desert vegetation, including cacti and mesquite trees. The light, especially at sunrise and sunset, enhances the golden hues of the rocks, adding to the area's charm.

Texas Canyon has a rich history tied to the Chiricahua Apache people, who once roamed these lands. Later, it became home to early settlers.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Canyon

Texas Canyon is a valley in Cochise County, Arizona,[1] about 20 miles east of Benson on Interstate 10. Lying between the Little Dragoon Mountains to the north and the Dragoon Mountains to the south and known for its giant granite boulders, the canyon attracts rockhounds and photographers.

www.arizonahighways.com/article/texas-canyon-nature-preserve

The giant granite boulders along Interstate 10 in Southeastern Arizona have been gracing postcards for decades, but that otherworldly landscape was always off-limits to the general public. Not anymore. Thanks to the Amerind Foundation, 6 miles of trails in the brand-new Texas Canyon Nature Preserve are now available to those who want a closer look.

By Suzanne Wright

Zipping past Texas Canyon, an hour southeast of Tucson, it’s impossible not to notice the boulders — giant, eye-catching piles of granite, like something out of The Flintstones. But other than providing scenery along Interstate 10 — particularly at a rest area just down the highway from the kitschy attraction known as The Thing — the area has long been off-limits to curious travelers who wanted to stretch their legs and get a closer look.

There are several private landowners in Texas Canyon, including Triangle T Guest Ranch, which has some trails for its guests. But none had opened its trails to the public until this past October, when the portion of the area owned and managed by the Amerind Foundation had its ribbon-cutting. After a multi-year campaign that raised $250,000, the Texas Canyon Nature Preserve — on land previously closed to the public for 85 years, and where the organization’s founding family raised quarter horses until 1968 — is open to all.

“The idea had been percolating with the Amerind Foundation board and management for years,” says Eric Kaldahl, the president, CEO and chief curator of the foundation. “The response from the surrounding community has been very enthusiastic. We welcomed more visitors last October than we’ve seen for the past 10 years.”

The preserve, located just off I-10 between Benson and Willcox, is part of a 1,900-acre campus that includes the Amerind Museum. More than 6 miles of trails wind past balanced rocks, fantastical shapes and rocky spires in open, sun-warmed high-desert grasslands studded with cactuses, wildflowers and trees. The trail is self-guided, although Kaldahl hopes to offer guided sunrise and sunset hikes in the next year. Visitors can pay a $12 admission fee for just the trails or $20 to visit both the trails and the museum.

Trail designer Sirena Rana knows the landscape can look intimidating, but she purposely designed the trails to be “perfect little morsels.” Rana didn’t grow up hiking, so she aimed to make the trails a comfortable experience for all ages and abilities. There are no steep elevation gains, and dirt, rather than gravel, makes for more stability. And Rana recalls walking for miles and miles over several months to understand the land and ensure the trails were constructed to shed water, limit erosion and provide firebreaks.

“Texas Canyon is one of the most unique landscapes in the Southwest, formed by millions of years of wind and rain weathering the granite,” she says, likening it to Joshua Tree National Park and the Wilderness of Rock on Mount Lemmon. “It’s very unusual that it’s right off a major interstate and just an hour from a major metropolitan area,” she adds. “This is one of the greatest outdoor sculpture gardens in the world designed by Mother Nature. I’m so pleased with how it turned out.”

Elsewhere along the trail, signage reflects the Amerind Museum’s mission of fostering knowledge and understanding of Indigenous peoples. Acknowledging that these are ancestral lands, the signs feature O’odham, English and Spanish text, in that order — and Kaldahl hopes to add Apache, too.

Additionally, Indigenous people have collected basket-weaving materials from these lands for generations, and they remain free to access the grounds.

Haiku Thoughts:

Stone giants whisper,

Texas Canyon's quiet grace,

Time's hand carves the sky.

Southern Arizona Adventure 2024

On the shores of Loch Scavaig lies Elgol, a remote and small village set in a beautiful position facing Sgurr Alasdair, the highest peak both of the Black Cuillin range and of the Isle of Skye in general. Elgol's bay is one of my most beloved locations on Skye, one that never fails to inspire me with its dramatic and always changing landscapes. Here a beehive-shaped stone cliff, the moving clouds and Sgurr Alasdair makes for a surreal, otherworldly landscape.

Join me in spring 2019 for a Workshops on the spectacular Isle of Skye, maximum three participants, development of a 12-images Portfolio from shooting to prints:

GLENCOE AND THE ISLE OF SKYE 2019

or choose a custom-made Workshop One-on-One on the Isle of Skye, completely tailored on your level and requirements:

WORKSHOP ONE-ON-ONE ON THE ISLE OF SKYE

Want to see them all? Click LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS to join me for one of my Workshops!

Painted after a trip to Gitxsan and Kwakwaka'wakw territory shortly after her return from France, this work is one of Carr's major early canvases of First Nations subjects. Completed in a sombre, earthy palette with highly expressive brushwork, the painting marks a rejection of her previous production from San Francisco and England. The composition, with its dramatic perspective, emphasizes the thunderbird marking the entrance to the graveyard.

The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 8th tallest building in Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.

Built for CenTrust Bank in 1987, the 47-story building ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida at a height of 625 feet (191 m) and is known for its elaborate night-time illuminations and its dramatic three glass tiers. Designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architectural firm, the tower consists of two separate structures: A 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. Preliminary planning for the tower began in February 1980; construction on the garage began by November. The garage was completed in February 1983 and the tower began construction a year later. On August 1984, while the tower was under construction, a 5-alarm fire began on the ninth floor; construction was subsequently delayed for several weeks. On December 15, 1985, the tower was lit for the first time in Miami Dolphins aqua and snowflakes.

By mid-1986, the tower's exterior was complete and the grand opening for the complex was set for early fall that same year. Due to the uneven settling of the tower's foundation to one side by several inches, and the resulting misalignment of the tower's elevator rails, the grand opening for the complex was delayed until February 1987. The complete complex featured the world's only elevated metro station in a skyscraper (Knight Center station). It also gained notoriety for its luxurious interiors, including a skylobby on the 11th floor covered in marble and gold and a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) outdoor terrace. Also its indoor gym features mahogany cabinets. The tower is connected to the James L. Knight Center by a pedestrian walkway and on the first floor is a retail spine covered with green marble. The tower contains 1,160,000 sq ft (108,000 m2) with 503,000 sq ft (46,700 m2) of office space and a 535,000 sq ft (49,700 m2), 1,500 space parking garage.

The building appears during the end credits of the 1986 movie Flight Of The Navigator in an aerial shot of Miami. The very top floors can clearly be seen still under construction.

The roof of the building was the set of Gloria Estefan's 1994 video for "Turn The Beat Around". The building is also one of many featured on the backdrop of the stage on The Tonight Show.

On January 1, 2010, the building was renamed the Miami Tower.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Tower

Prints and Canvasses Available

The remote farming hamlet of Holwick in its dramatic setting nestling beneath Holwick Scar in slightly hazy summer sunshine

The sun is hovering just below the mountain peak slowly making its dramatic ascension over Machu Picchu, Peru.

In the foreground is the temple complex with houses for the nobility. Below on the left is the Popular District, or Residential District, where the lower class people lived. It includes storage buildings and simple houses. The terraces on the right serve as agricultural land, part of a drainage system that deters erosion, an engineering support for a site in earthquake territory.

The half round structure in the middle is a Temple dedicate to Inti, the Inca sun god and greatest deity. On the morning of the summer solstice, light pours into a window of the Temple of the Sun to illuminate a sacred rock that dominates the temple interior.

Machu Picchu, Cusco, PERU, South America

Architectureartdesigns.com: "The northern Chinese city of Harbin is known for its dramatic climate and natural landscapes. In fact, this city is the host of China’s coolest annual tradition – the world-famous Ice and Snow Festival.

Thanks to the mad skills of MAD Architects, Harbin is now also the home of the brand new Harbin Opera House which was completed in 2015 and spans across 850 000 square feet.

This amazing structure is built on the Harbin Cultural Island and comprises a theater holding over 1,600 as well as a more intimate auditorium of 400. On top of that, the Harbin Opera House has a rooftop terrace that offers views of the Harbin metropolitan skyline.

The Harbin Opera House was designed in response to the force and spirit of the northern city’s untamed wilderness and frigid climate. Its structure appears as if it was sculpted by the wind and water while it seamlessly blends in with the surrounding nature and topography."

For those interested in architectural photography you should not miss coming to this place if you are in Harbin. It is a pity I only have time for the exterior leaving with great disappointment for not able to visit the theatres inside.

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REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

MECONOPSIS BETONICIFOLIA

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

From Wikipedia:

Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.

Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.

She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.

In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.

During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.

In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.

Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.

To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.

Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.

In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

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Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

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LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS

Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.

Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

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