View allAll Photos Tagged its_dramatic
Cuckmere Haven lies on the coast at the point where the South Downs meet the sea. Its dramatic chalk landscape with a characteristic cliffy coastline is constantly changing. The cliffs are being eroded at a rate of 30-40 cms every year.
Cuckmere's quiet beach, which is located within the Seven Sisters Country Park, is an area of great tranquility.
A path from the Seven Sisters Country Park Centre leads from the pebble beach through the Cuckmere valley.
Palo Duro Canyon is a canyon system of the Caprock Escarpment located in the Texas Panhandle near the cities of Amarillo and Canyon. As the second-largest canyon in the United States, it is roughly 120 mi (190 km) long and has an average width of 6 mi (9.7 km), but reaches a width of 20 mi (32 km) at places. Its depth is around 820 ft (250 m), but in some locations, it increases to 1,000 ft (300 m). Palo Duro Canyon (from the Spanish meaning "hard wood" or, more exactly, "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 similar to those in the Grand Canyon.
The canyon was formed by the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River, which initially winds along the level surface of the Llano Estacado of West Texas, then suddenly and dramatically runs off the Caprock Escarpment. Water erosion over the millennia has shaped the canyon's geological formations.
Notable canyon formations include caves and hoodoos. One of the best-known and the major signature feature of the canyon is the Lighthouse Rock. A multiple-use, six-mile round-trip loop trail is dedicated to the formation.
The painter Georgia O'Keeffe, who lived in nearby Amarillo and Canyon in the early 20th century, wrote of the Palo Duro: "It is a burning, seething cauldron, filled with dramatic light and color."[16] She made paintings of Palo Duro Canyon between 1916 and 1918, when she was an instructor and head of the art department at West Texas State Normal College.
Palo Duro Canyon is the site of an outdoor historical and musical drama, titled Texas, presented annually each summer by actors, singers, dancers, and artists of the Texas Panhandle region. The spectacle, created by playwright Paul Eliot Green, premiered on July 1, 1966 at the newly constructed Pioneer Amphitheatre in Palo Duro Canyon State Park. It has continued each summer through the present, making Texas "the best-attended outdoor history drama in the nation."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Duro_Canyon
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
SLO_GenLA Table
The SLO_GenLA communal table is a focal point in the lobby of Gensler’s Los Angeles office, and the result of an innovative partnership between Gensler and the Department of Architecture at the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
In 2011, professors Jim Doerfler and Mark Cabrinha, co-directors of Cal Poly’s Digital Fabrication Lab (“d[Fab]Lab”) reached out to Gensler L.A. design director Shawn Gehle to create a fully-virtualized studio focused on digital fabrication and online collaboration tools. In response, Gehle authored a unique, 10-week seminar that would allow students access to the firm’s design talent and explore form-finding and digital fabrication techniques through the design of a custom furniture piece. The design brief simply outlined a piece that could accommodate standing and sitting space for guests and storage for the firm’s design publications. The piece would need to be site-specific and prominently featured in Gensler’s new downtown Los Angeles office.
Beyond an initial in-person meeting, Cal Poly students and d[Fab]Lab faculty met with Gensler advisors via the online collaboration tool GoToMeeting to conduct weekly seminar discussions and review the team’s progress. In addition to bridging the 200-mile gap between designers in Los Angeles and students and faculty in San Luis Obispo, this method allowed professional consultants and materials specialists to participate easily, while exposing students to the kind of virtual collaboration that is prevalent in professional practice today. Maintaining a focus on a digital workflow, the team’s design and documentation process also was conducted virtually, substituting a 3-D model as the deliverable for fabrication in lieu of a traditional set of 2-D drawings.
Over the course of the seminar, the original concepts of three students were developed and refined using the 3-D modeling software Rhino and T-Splines, and virtually reviewed and critiqued weekly with Gensler’s design staff. Structural engineers at Buro Happold and solid surfacing material provider LG Hausys joined multiple discussions to examine schemes and offer insight on constructability, cost and structural integrity. A final, in-person meeting in Los Angeles focused on the review of physical prototypes and material samples, and enabled the team to address the challenges of forming fiberglass vs. solid surfacing as the table’s predominant surface material.
Inspired by the design and opportunity, LG Hausys become a partner in the project, providing technical expertise and support for their HI-MACS solid surfacing product, which proved to be the ideal material for achieving the table’s draped surface. LG Hausys also introduced the team to the capabilities of R.D. Wing Co. Inc., the Seattle-based fabrication specialists who ultimately constructed and delivered the table’s design.
The SLO_Gen table was recently installed in the main entry of Gensler Los Angeles, where its dramatic profile continues to lure pedestrians in from the street and prompt conversation on its origin.
Link to Project Video:
Project Information
Name
SLO_GenLA Table
Location
Gensler Los Angeles, 500 S. Figueroa, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Contacts
Shawn Gehle, Design Director – Gensler Los Angeles
Follow on twitter: @shawngehle
Mark Cabrinha, Ph.D., RA, Associate Professor, Architecture Department - Cal Poly, SLO
mcabrinh@calpoly.edu
805.756.2855
Project Credits
CLIENT
•Gensler Los Angeles
-Robert Jernigan, Shawn Gehle
TEAM
Design
•Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Department of Architecture, College of Architecture and Environmental Design
-Faculty: Jim Doerfler, Mark Cabrinha
-Students: Ben Hait-Campbell, Cory Walker, Kegan Charles Flanderka
•Gensler Los Angeles
-Sabu Song, Shawn Gehle, Richard Hammond, Valentin Lieu
Engineering
•Buro Happold
-Garrett Jones, Gary Lau, Greg Otto, Liz Mahlow,
Fabrication
•R.D. Wing Co., Inc.
-Brandon Wing, Dan Foreman, Vath Sida, Wayne Bart
Materials
•LG Hausys – HI-MACS® Solid Surfacing
Iceland, a Nordic island nation, is defined by its dramatic volcanic landscape of geysers, hot springs, waterfalls, glaciers and black-sand beaches. The capital, Reykjavik, home to the majority of the population, runs on geothermal power and offers a renowned nightlife scene as well as Viking history museums. The glaciers in Vatnajökull and Snæfellsnes national parks are popular for ice climbing, hiking and snowmobiling.
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
Gentiana Septemfida Var. Lagodechiana
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
Gentiana Septemfida Var. Lagodechiana
Bumblebee at work inside the gentian... :-)
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.
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.
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
Rosa Chicago Peace
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.
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.
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Barsana Monastery - Maramures - Romania
Barsana Monastery - -
Barsana monastery, one of the main attractions in Maramures, Romania
When UNESCO designated parts of the Maramures Region in Northern Transylvania a WORLD HERITAGE site, it was aimed at protecting the stylized wooden architecture and its dramatic vernacular. Of particular appeal are the tall spires of orthodox churches that dot the area. One of these is the recently constructed Barsana Monastery complex - actually a convent with sixteen nuns. Created in post-Communist years on the site of a church abandoned in 1790, the complex has become a significant cultural and religious attraction. Its 56 meter-tall (180 feet) spired church is reputedly the tallest wooden structure in Europe.
www.flickr.com/photos/wwwdragos/7614653774/in/set-7215762...
is a canyon system of the Caprock Escarpment located in the Texas Panhandle near the city of Amarillo, Texas, United States. As the second largest canyon in the United States, it is roughly 193 km (120 mi) long and has an average width of 10 km (6.2 mi), but reaches a width of 32 km (20 mi) at places. Its depth is around 250 m (820 ft), but in some locations it can increase up to 304 m (997 ft). Palo Duro Canyon 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 similar to those in the Grand Canyon.
One of the most amazing places that I have ever seen! The Lighthouse Trail was awesome and unforgettable!
More information:
English: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Duro_Canyon
German: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Duro_Canyon
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Fonte : Wikipedia
Florence and the Machine (styled as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead singer Florence Welch, Isabella Summers, and a collaboration of other artists. The band's music received praise across the media, especially from the BBC, which played a large part in their rise to prominence by promoting Florence and the Machine as part of BBC Introducing. At the 2009 Brit Awards they received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award. The band's music is renowned for its dramatic and eccentric production and also Welch's powerful vocal performances.
The band's debut studio album, Lungs, was released on 6 July 2009, and held the number-two position for its first five weeks on the UK Albums Chart. On 17 January 2010, the album reached the top position, after being on the chart for twenty-eight consecutive weeks.As of October 2010, the album had been in the top forty in the United Kingdom for sixty-five consecutive weeks, making it one of the best-selling albums of 2009 and 2010. The group's second studio album, Ceremonials, released in October 2011, entered the charts at number one in the UK and number six in the US. The band's third album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, was released on 2 June 2015. It topped the UK charts, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, their first to do so. The album reached number one in a total of eight countries and the top ten of twenty. Also in 2015, the band was the headlining act at Glastonbury Festival, making Florence Welch the first British female headliner this century.
Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul. Lungs won the Brit Award for Best British Album in 2010. Florence and the Machine has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards including Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album. Additionally, the band performed at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Concert
Famed for its dramatic rapids and canyons, the Colorado is one of the most desirable whitewater rivers in the United States A section of the river above Moab, known as the Colorado "Daily" or "Fisher Towers Section", is the most visited whitewater run in Utah, with more than 77,000 visitors in 2011 alone.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
Mount Lao, or Laoshan (Chinese: 崂山; pinyin: Láo Shān) is a mountain located near the East China Sea on the southeastern coastline of the Shandong Peninsula in China. The mountain is culturally significant due to its long affiliation with Taoism and is often regarded as one of the "cradles of Taoism". It is the highest coastal mountain in China and the second highest mountain in Shandong, with the highest peak (Jufeng) reaching 1,132.7 metres (3,716 ft). The mountain lies about 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the northeast of the downtown area of the City of Qingdao and is protected by the Qingdao Laoshan National Park that covers an area of 446 square kilometers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lao
🇬🇧 English
Lao Shan (Laoshan) is a sacred mountain on China’s eastern coast, near Qingdao, famous for its dramatic granite peaks, clear springs, and strong Taoist heritage.
It is considered one of the birthplaces of Taoism, with temples dating back over 2,000 years. Laoshan is renowned for its pure mountain water, believed to have exceptional quality, and for its rare combination of mountain landscapes and direct sea views, which is unusual in China.
The mountain has long inspired poets, philosophers, and martial artists, symbolizing harmony between nature, spirit, and the Dao.
🇨🇳 中文（简体）
崂山（Lao Shan） 位于中国山东省青岛市东部，是中国著名的道教名山之一。
崂山以奇峰怪石、清泉瀑布和临海山景而闻名，是中国少有的“海上第一名山”。这里被认为是道教的重要发源地之一，至今仍保留着大量古老的道观。
崂山的山泉水极为著名，被认为清澈甘甜，富含灵气，长期被用于茶叶和传统养生文化中。
🇭🇷 Hrvatski
Lao Shan (Laoshan) je sveta planina na istočnoj obali Kine, u blizini Qingdaoa, poznata po strmim granitnim vrhovima, čistim izvorima i snažnoj daoističkoj tradiciji.
Smatra se jednim od najvažnijih povijesnih središta taoizma, s hramovima starima više od dvije tisuće godina. Posebnost Lao Shana je rijetka kombinacija planine i mora, gdje se s vrhova pruža pogled izravno na Žuto more.
Planina simbolizira sklad prirode, duhovnosti i dugovječnosti te ima važno mjesto u kineskoj filozofiji i kulturi.
The famous sheds made from upturned herring fishing boats framing Lindisfarne Castle on its dramatic rocky outcrop.
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
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
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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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Detail of the lower half of the west window depicting the Last Judgement. The Last Judgement is Fairford's most celebrated window for its dramatic composition and graphic depiction of the horrors of hell in the lower half. The window sadly suffered badly during the great storm of 1703 with the upper half depicting Christ in Judgement and the surrounding company of saints and angels the most seriously affected part.
The lower half depicts Archangel Michael at the centre with the elect entering Heaven to the left and the damned being condemned to Hell on the right. This depiction of Hell is renowned for its exotic demons dragging their victims to the red glow of hellfire, culminating in the monstrous soul-devouring figure of Satan seated in the bottom right hand corner.
St Mary's at Fairford is justly famous, not only as a most beautiful building architecturally but for the survival of its complete set of late medieval stained glass, a unique survival in an English parish church. No other church has resisted the waves of iconoclasm unleashed by the Reformation and the English Civil War like Fairford has, and as a result we can experience a pre-Reformation iconographic scheme in glass in its entirety. At most churches one is lucky to find mere fragments of the original glazing and even one complete window is an exceptional survival, thus a full set of 28 of them here in a more or less intact state makes Fairford church uniquely precious.
The exterior already promises great things, this is a handsome late 15th century building entirely rebuilt in Perpendicular style and dedicated in 1497. The benefactor was lord of the manor John Tame, a wealthy wool merchant whose son Edmund later continued the family's legacy in donating the glass. The central tower is adorned with much carving including strange figures guarding the corners and a rather archaic looking relief of Christ on the western side. The nave is crowned by a fine clerestorey whilst the aisles below form a gallery of large windows that seem to embrace the entire building without structural interruption aside from the south porch and the chancel projecting at the east end. All around are pinnacles, battlements and gargoyles, the effect is very rich and imposing for a village church.
One enters through the fan-vaulted porch and is initially met by subdued lighting within that takes a moment to adjust to but can immediately appreciate the elegant arcades and the rich glowing colours of the windows. The interior is spacious but the view east is interrupted by the tower whose panelled walls and arches frame only a glimpse of the chancel beyond. The glass was inserted between 1500-1517 and shows marked Renaissance influence, being the work of Flemish glaziers (based in Southwark) under the direction of the King's glazier Barnard Flower. The quality is thus of the highest available and suggests the Tame family had connections at court to secure such glaziers.
Entering the nave one is immediately confronted with the largest and most famous window in the church, the west window with its glorious Last Judgement, best known for its lurid depiction of the horrors of Hell with exotic demons dragging the damned to their doom. Sadly the three windows in the west wall suffered serious storm damage in 1703 and the Last Judgement suffered further during an 1860 restoration that copied rather than restored the glass in its upper half. The nave clerestories contain an intriguing scheme further emphasising the battle of Good versus Evil with a gallery of saintly figures on the south side balanced by a 'rogue's gallery' of persecutors of the faith on the darker north side, above which are fabulous demonic figures leering from the traceries.
The aisle windows form further arrays of figures in canopies with the Evangelists and prophets on the north side and the Apostles and Doctors of the Church on the south. The more narrative windows are mainly located in the eastern half of the church, starting in the north chapel with an Old Testament themed window followed by more on the life of Mary and infancy of Christ. The subject matter is usually confined to one light or a pair of them, so multiple scenes can be portrayed within a single window. The scheme continues in the east window of the chancel with its scenes of the Passion of Christ in the lower register culminating in his crucifixion above, while a smaller window to the south shows his entombment and the harrowing of Hell. The cycle continues in the south chapel where the east window shows scenes of Christ's resurrection and transfiguration whilst two further windows relate further incidents culminating in Pentecost. The final window in the sequence however is of course the Last Judgement at the west end.
The glass has been greatly valued and protected over the centuries from the ravages of history, being removed for protection during the Civil War and World War II. The windows underwent a complete conservation between 1988-2010 by the Barley Studio of York which bravely restored legibility to the windows by sensitive releading and recreating missing pieces with new work (previously these had been filled with plain glass which drew the eye and disturbed the balance of light). The most dramatic intervention was the re-ordering of the westernmost windows of the nave aisles which had been partially filled with jumbled fragments following the storm damage of 1703 but have now been returned to something closer to their original state.
It is important here not to neglect the church's other features since the glass dominates its reputation so much. The chancel also retains its original late medieval woodwork with a fine set of delicate screens dividing it from the chapels either side along with a lovely set of stalls with carved misericords. The tomb of the founder John Tame and his wife can be seen on the north side of the sanctuary with their brasses atop a tomb chest. Throughout the church a fine series of carved angel corbels supports the old oak roofs.
Fairford church is a national treasure and shouldn't be missed by anyone with a love of stained glass and medieval art. It is normally kept open for visitors and deserves more of them.
The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The 1,450-mile-long (2,330 km) river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. and two Mexican states. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the river flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora.
Known for its dramatic canyons, whitewater rapids, and eleven U.S. National Parks, the Colorado River and its tributaries are a vital source of water for 40 million people. The river and its tributaries are controlled by an extensive system of dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts, which in most years divert its entire flow for agricultural irrigation and domestic water supply. Its large flow and steep gradient are used for generating hydroelectric power, and its major dams regulate peaking power demands in much of the Intermountain West. Intensive water consumption has dried up the lower 100 miles (160 km) of the river, which has rarely reached the sea since the 1960s.
Beginning with small bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers, Native Americans have inhabited the Colorado River basin for at least 8,000 years. Between 2,000 and 1,000 years ago, the watershed was home to large agricultural civilizations – considered some of the most sophisticated indigenous North American cultures – which eventually declined due to a combination of severe drought and poor land use practices. Most native peoples that inhabit the region today are descended from other groups that settled there beginning about 1,000 years ago. Europeans first entered the Colorado Basin in the 16th century, when explorers from Spain began mapping and claiming the area, which became part of Mexico upon its independence in 1821. Early contact between Europeans and Native Americans was generally limited to the fur trade in the headwaters and sporadic trade interactions along the lower river.
After most of the Colorado River basin became part of the U.S. in 1846, much of the river's course was still the subject of myths and speculation. Several expeditions charted the Colorado in the mid-19th century – one of which, led by John Wesley Powell, was the first to run the rapids of the Grand Canyon. American explorers collected valuable information that was later used to develop the river for navigation and water supply. Large-scale settlement of the lower basin began in the mid- to late-19th century, with steamboats providing transportation from the Gulf of California to landings along the river that linked to wagon roads to the interior. Starting in the 1860s, gold and silver strikes drew prospectors to parts of the upper Colorado River basin.
Large engineering works began around the start of the 20th century, with major guidelines established in a series of international and U.S. interstate treaties known as the "Law of the River". The U.S. federal government was the main driving force behind the construction of dams and aqueducts, although many state and local water agencies were also involved. Most of the major dams were built between 1910 and 1970; the system keystone, Hoover Dam, was completed in 1935. The Colorado is now considered among the most controlled and litigated rivers in the world, with every drop of its water fully allocated.
The environmental movement in the American Southwest has opposed the damming and diversion of the Colorado River system because of detrimental effects on the ecology and natural beauty of the river and its tributaries. During the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, environmental organizations vowed to block any further development of the river, and a number of later dam and aqueduct proposals were defeated by citizen opposition. As demands for Colorado River water continue to rise, the level of human development and control of the river continues to generate controversy.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
Saltwell Park, Gateshead
former home of the stained glass designer/manufacturer William Wailes.
"At the turn of the 19th century, Gateshead, with the exception of a couple of industrial hubs at Sherriff Hill and the quayside, was mostly made up of substantial agricultural estates.
The largest of these was Saltwell Estate which consisted of around 500 acres of land between Team Valley, Bensham and Low Fell. In 1805 this estate was broken up into a number of smaller areas including Saltwell Cottage.
Newcastle born William Wailes who was one of the19th century’s leading stained glass designers bought this area of land in 1850. He lived in South Dene Towers before it was demolished which was on the site now occupied by Gateshead Crematorium.
By 1856 Saltwell Cottage had become the Saltwellside estate and Wailes commissioned the design of a grand Victorian mansion for his family to live in. He employed builder George Brown and this was probably his biggest project. He began work on the mansion in 1859 and continued until 1871 when Saltwell Towers was finally complete.
Saltwell Towers (listed grade II) was a large mansion of striking design with red brickwork and Gothic turrets, but its dramatic exterior masked what was essentially a flawed building. It was built without foundations, with only basic sanitation and a variety of miss matched roofing levels and guttering.
While Brown was building Saltwell Towers, Gateshead was expanding and industrialising. As a result, the air pollution, poor social conditions and general shortage of clean drinking water in the town led to concern about public health and gave rise to calls for the creation of a public park.
William Wailes’s dream didn’t last long and he sold Saltwellside Park and Towers for £35,000 to the Gateshead Corporation in November 1875 when he ran into financial difficulties.
In 1876 garden designer Edward Kemp was invited to submit designs to the Corporation for the existing gardens and an area of open fields to the north. Kemp's plans were implemented over a period of years by borough surveyor James Bowyer at a cost of around £11,000.
In the Spring of 1876 there was a buzz in the year as the Park was prepared for its grand opening. The hedges enclosing the four fields were rooted out and the whole area was ploughed by a steam plough. The town Surveyor ordered one dozen metal plates marked "please keep off the grass"; and police supervision of the Park was arranged. The formal opening was planned for Whit Monday, but it never actually went ahead. Nonetheless, the public were allowed to use the park by the end of 1876 and it became the People’s Park.
In its early years, Saltwell Park showed signs of being transformed into a zoo. In June 1877 the park was home to swans, peacocks, peahens, pheasants, bantam cocks, bantam hens and ducks.
In 1880 the Chief Constable of Gateshead, John Elliott paid for the construction of an aviary, supplied birds, and in the same year he built a monkey house and provided monkeys. These, however, were not a success and in October 1880 the male monkeys were ordered to be removed ’forthwith’.
Around this time, Lord Ravensworth also presented two deer to the Park and it may have been one of these which involved the Corporation in litigation and expenses of £650 when a visitor to the Park in 1889 was attacked by a stag.
Wailes carried on as a private tenant in the Towers at a cost of £140 per year until his death in 1881. While Wailes was prepared to put up with the building problems, others were not, and there were continuing complaints about the sanitation, heating and the inconvenient size of the larger rooms.
The first tenant after Wailes was Hugh Clayton Armstrong, a Newcastle timber merchant who surrendered his tenancy when his original five year lease was up. At this time, Joseph Ainsley Davidson Shipley, a Newcastle based solicitor, approached the Council with a view to leasing the Towers.
Shipley lived in the mansion until his death in 1909 and the following year, the Towers was leased to John Henry Rowell, a local brewer, for five years for an annual rent of £120 and the Council agreed to have electricity installed at a cost of £445.
After Rowell died in August 1913, his widow kept the tenancy on until 1915 after which the house was used temporarily as a billet for soldiers and then, between 1916 and 1920, it was used as an army hospital attached to the nearby Whinney House Hospital.
There was only to be one further documented tenant and this was Harold Svendsen, a garage owner who moved into the house in 1920, again on a five year tenancy, but within two years had left, unable to pay the rent.
Around this time, Sarah’s Great Grandma went to live in the Towers to work as a nanny to care for the two sets of twins who lived there. She had been known to say it was a wonderful place to live and it was a very happy time in her life.
Sarah’s Great Grandma met her husband to be John Roberts while she was working there. John ran a business with his sister supplying agricultural feed. John was described as having perfect manners, very articulate and quite well to do. Even his own family nicknamed him Lord John.
John’s sister lived in Balmoral Terrace which was her week day town house and she spent the weekends with her younger brother who lived at the building which is now the Shepherd and Shepherdess at Beamish.
John married Sarah’s Great Grandma at Lamesley church and they moved to John Street and raised their own family there. There are memories that there was a family rift on John’s side as it was seen that he had “married out”, meaning he had married out of his class, but this didn’t stop him marrying the love of his life.
It is believed that they called their children Brenda and Pat after the children she looked after at Saltwell Towers. Sarah’s Great Grandma worked all the hours she could and Brenda, her first born became fretful, so much so, the doctor took her away and gradually weaned her back to the family once she was settled.
As business became more prosperous John tried allsorts to get Sarah’s Great Grandma to move to a new house but she liked the community she lived in and her neighbourhood and wanted to stay where she was.
Just a life was treating them well, John died suddenly at the age of 42 from a heart defect. Unbeknown to them, Brenda, their first born had the same defect and she tragically died at the tender age of 16. Sarah’s Mam was born the same year and was named Brenda after her.
Attempts to lease Saltwell Towers following Mr Svfendsen’s departure were unsuccessful and the house remained unoccupied for over ten years. Eventually, and after some debate, it was decided to turn the house into a museum.
On 8 July 1933, Saltwell Towers opened up as the Gateshead Municipal Museum and it was re-named several times to Gateshead local and Industrial Museum, Saltwell Towers Museum and Saltwell Park Museum.
Saltwell Towers had dry rot and a serious damp problem that was first identified in 1932. It never really got fixed and was only superficially resolved for the opening a year later.
The condition of building gradually declined and gradually the rooms that held the exhibits were systematically closed, due to a fear that the ceilings would collapse.
In February 1969 the Saltwell Park Museum’s closure happened quickly and very suddenly and the collection that remained in the closed building could not be moved to safer storage for another five years in 1974 when Tyne and Wear Museums was set up.
In 1999 the Towers was refurbished as part of a £9.6 million restoration project, funded collaboratively by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Gateshead Council and re-opened in 2005 as a café and visitor centre which plays host to around two million visitors each year. " www.sarahmains.com
"White Sands National Monument is in the northern Chihuahuan Desert in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It's known for its dramatic landscape of rare white gypsum sand dunes. Trails through the dunes include the raised Interdune Boardwalk and the Dune Life Nature Trail, dotted with interpretive exhibits on wildlife and other features. " A popular activity here is sledding on the dunes using plastic discs or elongated sleds.
US Forest Service: US Route 89A, specifically in the stretch through Oak Creek Canyon, is a popular scenic drive connecting Flagstaff and Sedona, Arizona. It's known for its dramatic descent into the canyon via a series of switchbacks and for the beautiful scenery it offers along the way. The drive is approximately 13 miles long within the canyon itself.
3430a
Detail of the carved inner west doors, installed as part of Hawksmoor's restoration in the early 18th century.
There is a danger of running out of superlatives when trying to describe Beverley Minster. It is not only the second finest non-cathedral church in the country but is architecturally a far finer building than most of our cathedrals themselves! It will come as a surprise to many visitors to find this grand edifice simply functions today as a parish church and has never been more than collegiate, a status it lost at the Reformaton. What had added to its mystique and wealth was its status as a place of pilgrimage housing the tomb of St John of Beverley, which drew visitors and revenue until the Reformation brought an end to such fortunes and the shrine was destroyed (though the saint's bones were later rediscovered and reinterred in the nave). That this great church itself survived this period almost intact is little short of a miracle in itself.
There has been a church here since the 8th century but little remains of the earlier buildings aside from the Saxon chair near the altar and the Norman font in the nave. The present Minster's construction spans the entirety of the development of Gothic architecture but forms a surprisingly harmonious whole nevertheless, starting with Early English in the 13h century choir and transepts (both pairs) with their lancet windows in a building phase that stopped at the first bays of the nave. Construction was then continued with the nave in the 14th century but only the traceried windows betray the emergent Decorated style, the design otherwise closely followed the work of the previous century which gives the Minster's interior such a pleasingly unified appearance (the only discernable break in construction within can be seen where the black purbeck-marble ceased to be used for certain elements beyond the eastern bay of the nave). Finally the building was completed more or less by 1420 with the soaring west front with its dramatic twin-towers in Perpendicular style (the east window must have been enlarged at this point too to match the new work at the west end).
The fabric happily survived the Reformation intact aside from the octagonal chapter-house formerly adjoining the north choir aisle which was dismantled to raise money by the sale of its materials while the church's fate was in the balance (a similar fate was contemplated for the rest of the church by its new owners until the town bought it for retention as a parish church for £100). The great swathes of medieval glass alas were mostly lost, though seemingly as much to neglect and storm-damage in the following century than the usual iconoclasm. All that survived of the Minster's original glazing was collected to form the patchwork display now filling the great east window, a colourful kaleidoscope of fragments of figures and scenes. Of the other furnishings the choir stalls are the major ensemble and some of the finest medieval canopied stalls extant with a full set of charming misericords (though most of these alas are not normally on show).
There are suprisingly few monuments of note for such an enormous cathedral-like church, but the one major exception makes up for this, the delightful canopied Percy tomb erected in 1340 to the north of the high altar. The tomb itself is surprisingly plain without any likeness remaining of the deceased, but the richly carved Decorated canopy above is alive with gorgeous detail and figurative embellishments. There are further carvings to enjoy adorning the arcading that runs around the outer perimeter of the interior, especially the north nave aisle which has the most rewarding carved figures of musicians, monsters and people suffering various ailments, many were largely restored in the 19th century but still preserve the medieval spirit of irreverent fun.
To summarise Beverley Minster would be difficult other than simply adding that if one enjoys marvelling at Gothic architecture at its best then it really shouldn't be missed and one should prioritise it over the majority of our cathedrals. It is a real gem and a delight to behold, and is happily normally open and welcoming to visitors (who must all be astonished to find this magnificent edifice is no more than a simple parish church in status!). I thoroughly enjoyed this, my second visit here (despite the best efforts of the poor weather!).
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 Djúpalónssandur Beach. In Stykkishólmur fishing village, the 19th-century wood-frame Norwegian House is a regional museum with a craft shop.
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Söderåsens National Park, located in southern Sweden's Skåne region, is a beautiful and lush natural reserve known for its dramatic landscapes and rich biodiversity.
The park features deep valleys, high cliffs, and dense deciduous forests, particularly vibrant during autumn when the foliage bursts into shades of red, orange, and gold. At its heart lies the breathtaking Skäralid gorge with steep slopes and scenic viewpoints, offering panoramic views of the surrounding landscape.
Söderåsen also has winding trails, clear lakes, and diverse wildlife, making it a popular spot for hiking, bird-watching, and nature photography.
Holy Trinity Church,
We visited Stratford upon Avon this weekend: this being the season of Shakespeare’s birthday on 23rd April. His grave in the chancel, which is an enormous tourist attraction. The bard was buried there in 1616 an honour bestowed upon him and his family as a “lay rector” of Holy Trinity church on the banks of the Avon. Just above the site on the north wall is a demi-figure bust of William Shakespeare by Gerard Johnson, erected within seven years of his death by his wife and friends. Pevsner states that the monument succeeded in making bard look like a self satisfied school master.This is similar to many other monuments dedicated to scholars and academics from this period, we have a few such memorials here in Oxford. The bust is probably (along with the well known engraved folio portrait) is likely to be the best likeness we have of England’s beloved son. Beneath this wall monument is the actual tomb (this weekend festooned with garlands and flowers from all corners of the earth)…upon it is written the famous curse “Bleste be the man that spares these stones, and curst be he that moves my bones.” Nearby is the old font in which he probably was baptized and the register of births and deaths. Although for most people visiting Shakespeare’s church the grave and the monuments and mementoes are the most important points; it should be said that this chancel is really only second to The Beauchamp chapel at nearby Warwick St Mary, for its dramatic space and magnificence.
Barsana monastery, one of the main attractions in Maramures, Romania
When UNESCO designated parts of the Maramures Region in Northern Transylvania a WORLD HERITAGE site, it was aimed at protecting the stylized wooden architecture and its dramatic vernacular. Of particular appeal are the tall spires of orthodox churches that dot the area. One of these is the recently constructed Barsana Monastery complex - actually a convent with sixteen nuns. Created in post-Communist years on the site of a church abandoned in 1790, the complex has become a significant cultural and religious attraction. Its 56 meter-tall (180 feet) spired church is reputedly the tallest wooden structure in Europe.
Yadan National Park, Gansu Province, China -September 16, 2009: Located 180 km north west of Dunhuang the park is famous for its dramatic rock formations in the otherwise barren and flat Gobi desert. (Photo by: Christopher Herwig)
With its dramatic panoramic views, it's hard to think of a better place for this memorial.
Read more about my East Highland Way trip at ramblingman.org.uk/walks/east-highland-way/
Surfing,a passion for riding the waves.
Surf, pasión por las olas. Las Canteras.
Surf en Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria es uno de aquellos paraísos ideales para la temporada de verano e invierno, sobre todo para los viajeros aventureros que buscan disfrutar de sus increíbles paisajes mientras gozan de las olas haciendo surf.
Lo interesante de Gran Canaria es el hecho de ser una de las pocas regiones del territorio español, disponibles durante cualquier temporada del año, esto quiere decir que las temperaturas, tanto en el agua del océano Atlántico en esta latitud como la temperatura ambiental es suave y primaveral, por tanto, Canarias debe ser tú próximo objetivo.
Por lo regular los surferos internacionales no paran hasta que aterrizan en las famosas “Islas Afortunadas”, que a su vez son conocidas como el “Hawai del Atlántico”, por su belleza natural, debido a su increíble archipiélago de origen volcánico formado por siete islas, ideales para disfrutar del Surf.
in English
Sulf in Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria is one of those havens ideal for summer and winter season, especially for adventurous travelers looking to enjoy its dramatic scenery while enjoying surfing waves.
The interesting thing about Gran Canaria is the fact of being one of the few regions of the Spanish territory, available at any time of year, this means that temperatures, both in the water of the Atlantic Ocean at this latitude as the temperature is mild and spring, therefore, the Canary Islands should be your next target.
For international surfers usually do not stop until they land in the famous "Afortunadas Islas", which in turn are known as the "Hawaii of the Atlantic" for its natural beauty due to its amazing volcanic archipelago consisting of seven islands , ideal for enjoying the Surf.
En Alemán
Surf, Leidenschaft für die Wellen. Las Canteras.
Surf in Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria ist eine jener Oasen ideal für Sommer-und Wintersaison, besonders für abenteuerlustige Reisende auf der Suche nach seiner dramatischen Szenerie zu genießen, während Sie surfen Wellen.
Das Interessante an Gran Canaria ist die Tatsache, dass sie eine der wenigen Regionen des spanischen Territoriums, zu jeder Zeit des Jahres bedeutet dies, dass die Temperaturen sowohl im Wasser des Atlantischen Ozeans in diesen Breiten die Temperatur mild ist und Frühjahr sollte daher auf den Kanarischen Inseln Ihrem nächsten Ziel.
Für die internationale Surfer in der Regel nicht aufhören, bis sie landen in der berühmten "Happy Isles", die wiederum als "Hawaii des Atlantiks" für seine natürliche Schönheit wegen seiner erstaunlichen vulkanischen Archipel, bestehend aus sieben Inseln sind bekannt , ideal für den Genuss der Surf.
日本
Surf、波への情熱。ラスナスカン。
グランカナリア島のSulf
グランカナリア島は特に波サーフィンを楽しみながら信じられないほどの景色を楽しむために探して冒険旅行のため、夏と冬のシーズンに向けて理想的なものな避難所の一つです。
グランカナリア島の面白いところは、どの季節で使用可能なスペイン語の地域のいくつかの地域では、この手段の一つが、この緯度では大西洋の海洋深層水の両方の温度が温度が軽度であるととしてという事実です。春は、従って、カナリア諸島では、あなたの次のターゲットにする必要があります。
通常、国際的なサーファーは、順番に七つの島で構成されるその驚くべき火山群島のために、その自然の美しさのための"大西洋のハワイ"として知られている有名な"ハッピーアイル"で彼らの土地、までは停止しない、Sulfを楽しむのに理想的。
中國
含硫，對於波的激情。拉斯維加斯 Canteras酒店。
含硫在大加那利
大加那利是那些理想的避風港夏季和冬季，特別是對於那些希望享受令人難以置信的風光，同時享受衝浪的海浪冒險的旅客之一。
關於大加那利有趣的是，在西班牙境內的少數地區，任何季節使用，這意味著一個在大西洋海水溫度在這個緯度的溫度溫和，春天，因此，加那利群島的應該是你的下一個目標。
通常國際衝浪者不要停止，直到他們在著名的“快樂島”，這又是為“大西洋夏威夷”之稱的自然之美的七個島嶼組成，由於其驚人的火山群島土地為享受含硫的理想選擇。
العربية
Surf، والعاطفة للموجات. لاس Canteras.
Surf في غران كناريا
غران كناريا هي واحدة من تلك الملاذات مثالية لفصل الصيف وموسم الشتاء ، خاصة بالنسبة للمسافرين المغامرة يبحث التمتع مشهد لا يصدق في حين تتمتع تصفح الأمواج.
والشيء المثير للاهتمام حول غران كناريا هو حقيقة أن واحدة من المناطق القليلة في الأراضي الإسبانية، وهي متاحة للأي موسم، وهذا يعني ان درجات الحرارة في كل من مياه المحيط الأطلسي في هذا العرض حيث تكون درجة الحرارة معتدلة و الربيع ، وبالتالي، ينبغي أن يكون هدف جزر الكناري الخاص بك المقبل.
متصفحي الدولي عادة لا تتوقف حتى أنهم الأراضي في "الجزر سعيد" الشهيرة، والتي بدورها هي المعروفة باسم "هاواي في المحيط الاطلسي" لجمالها الطبيعي بسبب الأرخبيل البركاني في مذهلة تتألف من سبع جزر ومثالية للاستمتاع Surf.
Smailholm Tower is a peel tower at Smailholm, around five miles west of Kelso in the Scottish Borders. Its dramatic situation, atop a crag of Lady Hill, commands wide views over the surrounding countryside
this is a old edit on a old photo. I have just found it. at the time of edit, summer last year I think.I was heart broken in a lonely place. Looking at it now I like the image for its dramatic nature and the feelings I now attach to it are different.Will he ever know how much he hurt me? most defiantly not..and now it doesn’t bother me, now see this image as beautiful and liberating. its wonderful how things change
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
'' The Last Rose of Summer ''
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.
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.
Archibald Elliot, 1815. Former Calton Jail Governor's House as seen from Old Calton Burial Ground. The castellated and turreted form of the former Governor's House combined with its dramatic and spectacular cliffside situation makes this arguably one of the finest picturesque buildings in the country. It is the only complete building to survive from the previous Calton Jail of 1815, which was the largest prison in Scotland.
Archibald Elliot (1760-1823) was one of the leading Edinburgh architects in the early 19th century. Elliot was particularly well-versed in the Gothic style and used it for the majority of his work, including some of his country house commissions. He was the architect responsible for the building of Waterloo Place.
After taking boat rides across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine, we travelled on our naturalist led hike to Grinnell Lake. The lake is somewhat famous for its pronounced turquoise blue color, visible here at the far end of the lake. As a glacier fed lake, the lake is chocked full of rock flour, rock ground so fine by glaciers that it remains suspended in water for a long time. The flour refracts light towards the blue end of the spectrum giving the water a green, blue-green or blue appearance. The affect is visible on the entire lake from above on the Grinnell Glacier Trail. The Grinnell Glacier lays above the ridge. Its dramatic melting over the last 80-100 years has actually formed a new lake above the ridge, named Upper Grinnell Lake. The melt waters of the glacier pour over the ridge in the form of Grinnell Falls.
The water this day was very still and made for a very nice reflective surface. It was a very nice hike, but if you decide to take it…bring bug spray. The mosquitos at Grinnell Lake were pretty bad.
→ 218 →
RICHARD H. DILLON | NAPA VALLEY HEYDAY | WITH HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHARLES R. TURRILL | THE BOOK CLUB OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO 2004
12 1/4 x 10 1/4. 382 pp. – two blanks, half title (i), title (ii-iii), copyright notice (iv), dedication (v), acknowledgements (vi), contents (vii), blank (viii), "Photographs by Charles B. Turrill" (ix-xi), blank (xii), introduction 1-4, text 5-333, blank (334), appendix: "Charles B. Turrill, Photographer” (335)-338, bibliography (339)-346, index (347-349)-363, blank (364), colophon (365), blank (366-370).
Three colors throughout with forty-three historical back-and-white photographs by Charles B. Turrill (1854-1927). Supplement: map 23 3/4 x 19 3/4, folded, a four-color reproduction of 1881 original by M.G. King from the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Type New Baskerville text; titles in Isabella, an 1892 Victorian display face. Paper Mohawk Superfine. Bound in full cloth on boards with pasted title on spine and illustration on front cover, Clear Mylar jacket. Design, typography, and scanning by Jonathan Clark at the Artichoke Press, Mountain View, California. 450 copies printed lithography by Shoreline Printing, Mountain View, and bound by Cardoza-James Bookbinding, San Francisco. Price $175.00.
Grapevines and wineries do not tell the whole story of the Napa Valley, and this history covers the settlement of the region up to 1900, beginning with a description of its dramatic geography and topography. Resident Wappo and Patwin Indians were joined by mountain men from the Rockies and desert Southwest -- George Yount, Jim Clymen, Old (Caleb) Greenwood, and others -- who found the valley in the lee of Mount St. Helena to be a grizzly bear hunter's paradise. Yount became a cattle rancher there before the Hispanics arrived, among them General M.G. Vallejo's Indian-fighting brother Salvador. It was also Yount who pioneered the next phase of development, when wheat was king in California. Grain growers were eventually succeeded by horticulturists and, of course, viticulturists, starting with Charles Krug.
White Sands National Monument is in the northern Chihuahuan Desert in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It's known for its dramatic landscape of rare white gypsum sand dunes. Trails through the dunes include the raised Interdune Boardwalk and the Dune Life Nature Trail, dotted with interpretive exhibits on wildlife and other features. Dunes Drive is a looped road from the White Sands Visitor Center to the dune field. Read the blog post - www.dvrawfiles.com/white-sands-new-mexico Watch the vlog - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhwKZVqNfiU
Barsana Monastery - Maramures - Romania
Barsana Monastery - -
Barsana monastery, one of the main attractions in Maramures, Romania
When UNESCO designated parts of the Maramures Region in Northern Transylvania a WORLD HERITAGE site, it was aimed at protecting the stylized wooden architecture and its dramatic vernacular. Of particular appeal are the tall spires of orthodox churches that dot the area. One of these is the recently constructed Barsana Monastery complex - actually a convent with sixteen nuns. Created in post-Communist years on the site of a church abandoned in 1790, the complex has become a significant cultural and religious attraction. Its 56 meter-tall (180 feet) spired church is reputedly the tallest wooden structure in Europe.
www.flickr.com/photos/wwwdragos/7614653774/in/set-7215762...
SLO_GenLA Table
The SLO_GenLA communal table is a focal point in the lobby of Gensler’s Los Angeles office, and the result of an innovative partnership between Gensler and the Department of Architecture at the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
In 2011, professors Jim Doerfler and Mark Cabrinha, co-directors of Cal Poly’s Digital Fabrication Lab (“d[Fab]Lab”) reached out to Gensler L.A. design director Shawn Gehle to create a fully-virtualized studio focused on digital fabrication and online collaboration tools. In response, Gehle authored a unique, 10-week seminar that would allow students access to the firm’s design talent and explore form-finding and digital fabrication techniques through the design of a custom furniture piece. The design brief simply outlined a piece that could accommodate standing and sitting space for guests and storage for the firm’s design publications. The piece would need to be site-specific and prominently featured in Gensler’s new downtown Los Angeles office.
Beyond an initial in-person meeting, Cal Poly students and d[Fab]Lab faculty met with Gensler advisors via the online collaboration tool GoToMeeting to conduct weekly seminar discussions and review the team’s progress. In addition to bridging the 200-mile gap between designers in Los Angeles and students and faculty in San Luis Obispo, this method allowed professional consultants and materials specialists to participate easily, while exposing students to the kind of virtual collaboration that is prevalent in professional practice today. Maintaining a focus on a digital workflow, the team’s design and documentation process also was conducted virtually, substituting a 3-D model as the deliverable for fabrication in lieu of a traditional set of 2-D drawings.
Over the course of the seminar, the original concepts of three students were developed and refined using the 3-D modeling software Rhino and T-Splines, and virtually reviewed and critiqued weekly with Gensler’s design staff. Structural engineers at Buro Happold and solid surfacing material provider LG Hausys joined multiple discussions to examine schemes and offer insight on constructability, cost and structural integrity. A final, in-person meeting in Los Angeles focused on the review of physical prototypes and material samples, and enabled the team to address the challenges of forming fiberglass vs. solid surfacing as the table’s predominant surface material.
Inspired by the design and opportunity, LG Hausys become a partner in the project, providing technical expertise and support for their HI-MACS solid surfacing product, which proved to be the ideal material for achieving the table’s draped surface. LG Hausys also introduced the team to the capabilities of R.D. Wing Co. Inc., the Seattle-based fabrication specialists who ultimately constructed and delivered the table’s design.
The SLO_Gen table was recently installed in the main entry of Gensler Los Angeles, where its dramatic profile continues to lure pedestrians in from the street and prompt conversation on its origin.
Link to Project Video:
Project Information
Name
SLO_GenLA Table
Location
Gensler Los Angeles, 500 S. Figueroa, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Contacts
Shawn Gehle, Design Director – Gensler Los Angeles
Follow on twitter: @shawngehle
Mark Cabrinha, Ph.D., RA, Associate Professor, Architecture Department - Cal Poly, SLO
mcabrinh@calpoly.edu
805.756.2855
Project Credits
CLIENT
•Gensler Los Angeles
-Robert Jernigan, Shawn Gehle
TEAM
Design
•Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Department of Architecture, College of Architecture and Environmental Design
-Faculty: Jim Doerfler, Mark Cabrinha
-Students: Ben Hait-Campbell, Cory Walker, Kegan Charles Flanderka
•Gensler Los Angeles
-Sabu Song, Shawn Gehle, Richard Hammond, Valentin Lieu
Engineering
•Buro Happold
-Garrett Jones, Gary Lau, Greg Otto, Liz Mahlow,
Fabrication
•R.D. Wing Co., Inc.
-Brandon Wing, Dan Foreman, Vath Sida, Wayne Bart
Materials
•LG Hausys – HI-MACS® Solid Surfacing
Rouken Glen Park is a historic park located next to Thornliebank, Giffnock and Newton Mearns.
It contains a range of features and facilities including the pavilion visitor centre which hosts various exhibitions throughout the year ranging from health awareness days to old photo exhibits of the park and surrounding areas, play area, walled garden, the Glen with its dramatic water falls and woodland paths, and a boating pond. There is also a garden centre, café and restaurant and art gallery located in the park.
Throughout the year the park hosts many events ranging from local Community Gala Days to national events like Armed Forces Day.
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
Gentiana Septemfida Var. Lagodechiana
Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.
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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.
Smailholm Tower is a peel tower that stands around five miles west of Kelso in the Scottish Borders. Its dramatic situation, atop a crag of Lady Hill, commands wide views over the surrounding countryside.
Smailholm Tower was originally built in the 15th century or early 16th century by the Pringle family. Followers of the Earl of Douglas, the Pringle (anciently spelt Hoppringle) family had held the lands of Smailholm from the early 15th century, and managed part of Ettrick Forest for their feudal superior.
Smailholm Tower was designed, in common with all Scottish peel towers, to provide its occupants with protection from sporadic English raids. The tower was attacked by English soldiers in 1543, 1544 and again in 1546, when the garrison of Wark Castle sacked the tower and carried off prisoners and cattle. The castle was successfully defended against the English in 1640, by Sir Andrew Ker of Greenhead.
Smailholm was obtained by the Scotts of Harden around this time. The Scotts, ancestors of Sir Walter, rebuilt parts of the tower and barmkin. In the 18th century the tower decayed, after the family moved into nearby Sandyknowe. The last owner, the Earl of Ellesmere, handed the property into state care in 1950. It was restored in the 1980s, and now operates as a museum. (Wikipedia)
Far from the crowds lies this nine-suite full-service hotel, where the word of the day, every day, is privacy. Amid the hilltop hush of its dramatic cliff's-edge setting, a capable and gracious staff is on call to see to your every need, from private terrace dining to tours of local sites. The modern take on Cycladic architecture lends a sophisticated edge to this boutique hotel.
No wonder it's a favourite of honeymooners the world over.
Magic is in the details at Astarte Suites, beginning with the twinkling Swarovski stones that adorn the ceiling above each suite’s Jacuzzi pool, and ending with the personalized service each guest enjoys. Surrounded by soothing shades of white and stone, guests are sure to find bliss here.During their precious down time, guests can relax and unwind next to Astarte Suites’s stunning turquoise infinity swimming pool, which overlooks the Aegean Sea’s tranquil blue waters and nearby rocky cliffs.
Saltwell Park, Gateshead
former home of the stained glass designer/manufacturer William Wailes.
"At the turn of the 19th century, Gateshead, with the exception of a couple of industrial hubs at Sherriff Hill and the quayside, was mostly made up of substantial agricultural estates.
The largest of these was Saltwell Estate which consisted of around 500 acres of land between Team Valley, Bensham and Low Fell. In 1805 this estate was broken up into a number of smaller areas including Saltwell Cottage.
Newcastle born William Wailes who was one of the19th century’s leading stained glass designers bought this area of land in 1850. He lived in South Dene Towers before it was demolished which was on the site now occupied by Gateshead Crematorium.
By 1856 Saltwell Cottage had become the Saltwellside estate and Wailes commissioned the design of a grand Victorian mansion for his family to live in. He employed builder George Brown and this was probably his biggest project. He began work on the mansion in 1859 and continued until 1871 when Saltwell Towers was finally complete.
Saltwell Towers (listed grade II) was a large mansion of striking design with red brickwork and Gothic turrets, but its dramatic exterior masked what was essentially a flawed building. It was built without foundations, with only basic sanitation and a variety of miss matched roofing levels and guttering.
While Brown was building Saltwell Towers, Gateshead was expanding and industrialising. As a result, the air pollution, poor social conditions and general shortage of clean drinking water in the town led to concern about public health and gave rise to calls for the creation of a public park.
William Wailes’s dream didn’t last long and he sold Saltwellside Park and Towers for £35,000 to the Gateshead Corporation in November 1875 when he ran into financial difficulties.
In 1876 garden designer Edward Kemp was invited to submit designs to the Corporation for the existing gardens and an area of open fields to the north. Kemp's plans were implemented over a period of years by borough surveyor James Bowyer at a cost of around £11,000.
In the Spring of 1876 there was a buzz in the year as the Park was prepared for its grand opening. The hedges enclosing the four fields were rooted out and the whole area was ploughed by a steam plough. The town Surveyor ordered one dozen metal plates marked "please keep off the grass"; and police supervision of the Park was arranged. The formal opening was planned for Whit Monday, but it never actually went ahead. Nonetheless, the public were allowed to use the park by the end of 1876 and it became the People’s Park.
In its early years, Saltwell Park showed signs of being transformed into a zoo. In June 1877 the park was home to swans, peacocks, peahens, pheasants, bantam cocks, bantam hens and ducks.
In 1880 the Chief Constable of Gateshead, John Elliott paid for the construction of an aviary, supplied birds, and in the same year he built a monkey house and provided monkeys. These, however, were not a success and in October 1880 the male monkeys were ordered to be removed ’forthwith’.
Around this time, Lord Ravensworth also presented two deer to the Park and it may have been one of these which involved the Corporation in litigation and expenses of £650 when a visitor to the Park in 1889 was attacked by a stag.
Wailes carried on as a private tenant in the Towers at a cost of £140 per year until his death in 1881. While Wailes was prepared to put up with the building problems, others were not, and there were continuing complaints about the sanitation, heating and the inconvenient size of the larger rooms.
The first tenant after Wailes was Hugh Clayton Armstrong, a Newcastle timber merchant who surrendered his tenancy when his original five year lease was up. At this time, Joseph Ainsley Davidson Shipley, a Newcastle based solicitor, approached the Council with a view to leasing the Towers.
Shipley lived in the mansion until his death in 1909 and the following year, the Towers was leased to John Henry Rowell, a local brewer, for five years for an annual rent of £120 and the Council agreed to have electricity installed at a cost of £445.
After Rowell died in August 1913, his widow kept the tenancy on until 1915 after which the house was used temporarily as a billet for soldiers and then, between 1916 and 1920, it was used as an army hospital attached to the nearby Whinney House Hospital.
There was only to be one further documented tenant and this was Harold Svendsen, a garage owner who moved into the house in 1920, again on a five year tenancy, but within two years had left, unable to pay the rent.
Around this time, Sarah’s Great Grandma went to live in the Towers to work as a nanny to care for the two sets of twins who lived there. She had been known to say it was a wonderful place to live and it was a very happy time in her life.
Sarah’s Great Grandma met her husband to be John Roberts while she was working there. John ran a business with his sister supplying agricultural feed. John was described as having perfect manners, very articulate and quite well to do. Even his own family nicknamed him Lord John.
John’s sister lived in Balmoral Terrace which was her week day town house and she spent the weekends with her younger brother who lived at the building which is now the Shepherd and Shepherdess at Beamish.
John married Sarah’s Great Grandma at Lamesley church and they moved to John Street and raised their own family there. There are memories that there was a family rift on John’s side as it was seen that he had “married out”, meaning he had married out of his class, but this didn’t stop him marrying the love of his life.
It is believed that they called their children Brenda and Pat after the children she looked after at Saltwell Towers. Sarah’s Great Grandma worked all the hours she could and Brenda, her first born became fretful, so much so, the doctor took her away and gradually weaned her back to the family once she was settled.
As business became more prosperous John tried allsorts to get Sarah’s Great Grandma to move to a new house but she liked the community she lived in and her neighbourhood and wanted to stay where she was.
Just a life was treating them well, John died suddenly at the age of 42 from a heart defect. Unbeknown to them, Brenda, their first born had the same defect and she tragically died at the tender age of 16. Sarah’s Mam was born the same year and was named Brenda after her.
Attempts to lease Saltwell Towers following Mr Svfendsen’s departure were unsuccessful and the house remained unoccupied for over ten years. Eventually, and after some debate, it was decided to turn the house into a museum.
On 8 July 1933, Saltwell Towers opened up as the Gateshead Municipal Museum and it was re-named several times to Gateshead local and Industrial Museum, Saltwell Towers Museum and Saltwell Park Museum.
Saltwell Towers had dry rot and a serious damp problem that was first identified in 1932. It never really got fixed and was only superficially resolved for the opening a year later.
The condition of building gradually declined and gradually the rooms that held the exhibits were systematically closed, due to a fear that the ceilings would collapse.
In February 1969 the Saltwell Park Museum’s closure happened quickly and very suddenly and the collection that remained in the closed building could not be moved to safer storage for another five years in 1974 when Tyne and Wear Museums was set up.
In 1999 the Towers was refurbished as part of a £9.6 million restoration project, funded collaboratively by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Gateshead Council and re-opened in 2005 as a café and visitor centre which plays host to around two million visitors each year. " www.sarahmains.com
Nyloïd is an impressive sound sculpture, a huge tripod consisting of three six-meter-long nylon limbs animated by sophisticated mechanical and sound devices. Sensual, animal and threatening, this mobile draws its dramatic power from the reactivity of its plastic and sound material to diverse mechanical constraints. Similar to a living object, its tension, effort and suffering, which result from its contortions and its vocal manifestation, can be sensed.
Credit: tom mesic
This is the Parata with comfortable chairs and sofas for outdoors eating and relaxing. a table and cooking facilities make it a perfect place to enjoy panpramic dinners.
Podere al Salcio is an 18th century stone and brick country house originally built in the local tradition as a farming building, with animals in the low building on the left, haystack, granary and deposit on the ground floor of the main house. The first floor used to hosts the farmers' families.
It enjoys the most stunning views 360° degrees round, changing in colour throughout the day and seasons. Val d'Orcia is a Unesco World Heritage region for its dramatic beauty and untouched landscapes.
Maalula is a predominantly Christian village with a population of about 2,000. It is the home of two ancient Christian monasteries: Mar Sarkis and Mar Taqla. Both Christians and Muslim pilgrims come to Maalula seeking blessings.
Maalula means "the entrance" in Aramaic, referring to its dramatic location at the entrance to a rocky gorge. Maalula perches on the slopes of the Kalamun Mountains at an altitude of 1,500 meters, overlooking a vast green carpet of fig trees, flowering damsons, grapevines and poplar trees. In addition to its important monasteries, the village is an attraction in itself: visitors invariably remark on the unique feeling of living history and the suspension of time in Maalula.
Ice Boarding in Front of The Sleeping Giant "Nanibijou"
The Sleeping Giant is a formation of mesas and sills on Sibley Peninsula which resembles a giant lying on its back when viewed from the west to north-northwest section of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. As one moves southward along the shoreline toward Squaw Bay the Sleeping Giant starts to separate into its various sections. Most distinctly in the view from the cliffs at Squaw Bay the Giant appears to have an Adam's Apple. The formation is part of Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. Its dramatic steep cliffs are among the highest in Ontario (250 m). The southernmost point is known as Thunder Cape, depicted by many early Canadian artists such as William Armstrong.
One Ojibway legend identifies the giant as Nanabijou, who was turned to stone when the secret location of a rich silver mine now known as Silver Islet was disclosed to white men.[3]
Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah is known for its dramatic desert landscape carved by the Colorado River. Island in the Sky is a huge, flat-topped mesa with panoramic overlooks. Other notable areas include the towering rock pinnacles known as the Needles, the remote canyons of the Maze and the Native American rock paintings in Horseshoe Canyon. Whitewater rapids flow through Cataract Canyon.
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