View allAll Photos Tagged its_dramatic
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Cathedral Gorge State Park is a public recreation area and geologic preserve featuring a dramatic landscape of eroded soft bentonite clay covering more than 1,600 acres (650 ha) in Lincoln County, Nevada. The state park is located along U.S. Route 93 at the west end of State Route 319, two miles (3.2 km) northwest of the town of Panaca.
The site has been popular with local picnickers since the nineteenth century, when it was known as Cathedral Gulch. During the 1920s, its dramatic landscape provided a background for open-air plays and annual Easter ceremonies. Governor James Scrugham began acquiring and setting aside the area for preservation in 1924. It subsequently became one of the four original Nevada state parks created in 1935. Members of the Civilian Conservation Corps built picnicking facilities that are still in use as well as a stone water tower and stone restroom which are no longer in operation.
The park sits at an elevation of 4,800 feet (1,500 m) above sea level, and is typically arid with semi-hot summers, and very cold winters. In the summer, temperatures range roughly from 95 °F (35 °C) in midday to 55 °F (13 °C) at night. Rainfall is variable and thunderstorms prevalent.
A majority of Meadow Valley (which lies along U.S. Route 93 from the towns of Caliente to Panaca) was covered by a freshwater lake nearly 1 million years ago during the Pliocene Era. The richly colored canyons of Cathedral Gorge (called the Panaca Formation) are remnants of this ancient lakebed. Over centuries, the lake began to gradually drain. Erosion began working away at the exposed portions of sediment and gravel that once composed the lake bottom. Rainwater and melting snow carved rivulets in the soft siltstone and clay shale, splitting tiny cracks and fissures into larger and larger gullies and canyons.
The Grand View Overlook Rim Trail is a 1.8 mile hike that runs along the edge of the rim of the Island in the Sky, a peninsula 6,000" above Monument Valley. Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah is known for its dramatic desert landscape of canyons, mesas, and buttes carved by the Colorado River and its tributaries. Print size 13x19 inches. Happy Slider Sunday
Lake Como, in Northern Italy’s Lombardy region, is an upscale resort area known for its dramatic scenery. The namesake lake's deep-blue waters are set against the rugged, forested foothills of the Alps. All along the coast are luxury hotels, some with swimming pools that float in the lake. Mediterranean villas with formal gardens, some open to the public, dot the shore.
Lake Como Italy
6190
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
Coucher de soleil, Sainte-Flavie.
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
Photo taken close to REFORD GARDENS.(Sainte-Flavie)
Mrs Elsie Reford loved those beautiful sunsets.
Reference: Elsie's Paradise, The Reford Gardens, Alexander Reford, 2004, ISBN 2-7619-1921-1, That book is a must for Reford Gardens lovers!
''I shall always, all my life, want to come back to those sunsets.'' Elsie Reford, July 20, 1913. (page 25)
" It is just after 8 o'clock and I am sitting in front of my big window with the gorgeous panorama of a glorious afterglow from a perfect sunset. There is every hue of blue on the water of 'the Blue Lagoon' while Pointe-aux-Cenelles is bathed in pink and crimson and the dark hills of the north shore seem no further than two or three miles distant. I don't think in the whole world at this moment there could be anything more beautiful." Elsie Reford, June 2, 1931. (page 81)
''One thing I can do that no one else can is to pass the love that I feel for this place and this woman'' Alexander Reford
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
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From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Cathedral Gorge State Park is a public recreation area and geologic preserve featuring a dramatic landscape of eroded soft bentonite clay covering more than 1,600 acres (650 ha) in Lincoln County, Nevada. The state park is located along U.S. Route 93 at the west end of State Route 319, two miles (3.2 km) northwest of the town of Panaca.
The site has been popular with local picnickers since the nineteenth century, when it was known as Cathedral Gulch. During the 1920s, its dramatic landscape provided a background for open-air plays and annual Easter ceremonies. Governor James Scrugham began acquiring and setting aside the area for preservation in 1924. It subsequently became one of the four original Nevada state parks created in 1935. Members of the Civilian Conservation Corps built picnicking facilities that are still in use as well as a stone water tower and stone restroom which are no longer in operation.
The park sits at an elevation of 4,800 feet (1,500 m) above sea level, and is typically arid with semi-hot summers, and very cold winters. In the summer, temperatures range roughly from 95 °F (35 °C) in midday to 55 °F (13 °C) at night. Rainfall is variable and thunderstorms prevalent.
A majority of Meadow Valley (which lies along U.S. Route 93 from the towns of Caliente to Panaca) was covered by a freshwater lake nearly 1 million years ago during the Pliocene Era. The richly colored canyons of Cathedral Gorge (called the Panaca Formation) are remnants of this ancient lakebed. Over centuries, the lake began to gradually drain. Erosion began working away at the exposed portions of sediment and gravel that once composed the lake bottom. Rainwater and melting snow carved rivulets in the soft siltstone and clay shale, splitting tiny cracks and fissures into larger and larger gullies and canyons.
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Cathedral Gorge State Park is a public recreation area and geologic preserve featuring a dramatic landscape of eroded soft bentonite clay covering more than 1,600 acres (650 ha) in Lincoln County, Nevada. The state park is located along U.S. Route 93 at the west end of State Route 319, two miles (3.2 km) northwest of the town of Panaca.
The site has been popular with local picnickers since the nineteenth century, when it was known as Cathedral Gulch. During the 1920s, its dramatic landscape provided a background for open-air plays and annual Easter ceremonies. Governor James Scrugham began acquiring and setting aside the area for preservation in 1924. It subsequently became one of the four original Nevada state parks created in 1935. Members of the Civilian Conservation Corps built picnicking facilities that are still in use as well as a stone water tower and stone restroom which are no longer in operation.
The park sits at an elevation of 4,800 feet (1,500 m) above sea level, and is typically arid with semi-hot summers, and very cold winters. In the summer, temperatures range roughly from 95 °F (35 °C) in midday to 55 °F (13 °C) at night. Rainfall is variable and thunderstorms prevalent.
A majority of Meadow Valley (which lies along U.S. Route 93 from the towns of Caliente to Panaca) was covered by a freshwater lake nearly 1 million years ago during the Pliocene Era. The richly colored canyons of Cathedral Gorge (called the Panaca Formation) are remnants of this ancient lakebed. Over centuries, the lake began to gradually drain. Erosion began working away at the exposed portions of sediment and gravel that once composed the lake bottom. Rainwater and melting snow carved rivulets in the soft siltstone and clay shale, splitting tiny cracks and fissures into larger and larger gullies and canyons.
Lake Como, in Northern Italy’s Lombardy region, is an upscale resort area known for its dramatic scenery, set against the foothills of the Alps. The lake is shaped like an upside-down Y, with three slender branches that meet at the resort town of Bellagio. At the bottom of the southwest branch lies the city of Como, home to Renaissance architecture and a funicular that travels up to the mountain town of Brunate.
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
I believe this is Goldeneye. Any correction will be appreciated.
Field Guide to the Plants of Arizona, Anne Orth Epple pp299 plates 439 et seq.
Goldeneye or Viguiera
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahiopsis_laciniata
Bahiopsis laciniata is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names San Diego County sunflower, San Diego viguiera and tornleaf goldeneye. It is native to the deserts and dry mountain slopes of northwestern Mexico (States of Sonora and Baja California), its distribution extending north as far as Ventura County, California.[2][3]
The habitat of Bahiopsis laciniata includes chaparral and coastal sage scrub. It is a hairy, resinous shrub growing to a maximum height well over one meter. The leaves have lance-shaped blades up to 5 centimeters long which are glandular and shiny with resin. The blades have smooth or shallowly toothed edges which are sometimes rolled under or crinkled. The inflorescence is a solitary sunflower-like flower head or cyme of several heads. The flower head has several yellow ray florets measuring 6 millimeters to over a centimeter long. The fruit is an achene tipped with a pappus.[2]
Wrapping up my Southern Arizona Adventure 2024 with a visit to Amerind Foundation and Texas Canyon. This is stage 9 of 9.
www.amerind.org/texascanyonnaturepreserve/
Chat GPT
Texas Canyon is a striking natural area located in Cochise County, southeastern Arizona, along Interstate 10 between Benson and Willcox. It is renowned for its dramatic landscape, characterized by massive granite boulders scattered across the desert terrain, creating a rugged and picturesque environment.
The granite boulders in Texas Canyon were formed through millions of years of erosion and weathering. These formations, often precariously balanced, provide a unique and photogenic sight, making the canyon a popular stop for travelers and photographers.
The area is surrounded by the Chiricahua Mountains to the south and other nearby ranges, offering expansive views of the Sonoran Desert with its mix of desert vegetation, including cacti and mesquite trees. The light, especially at sunrise and sunset, enhances the golden hues of the rocks, adding to the area's charm.
Texas Canyon has a rich history tied to the Chiricahua Apache people, who once roamed these lands. Later, it became home to early settlers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Canyon
Texas Canyon is a valley in Cochise County, Arizona,[1] about 20 miles east of Benson on Interstate 10. Lying between the Little Dragoon Mountains to the north and the Dragoon Mountains to the south and known for its giant granite boulders, the canyon attracts rockhounds and photographers.
www.arizonahighways.com/article/texas-canyon-nature-preserve
The giant granite boulders along Interstate 10 in Southeastern Arizona have been gracing postcards for decades, but that otherworldly landscape was always off-limits to the general public. Not anymore. Thanks to the Amerind Foundation, 6 miles of trails in the brand-new Texas Canyon Nature Preserve are now available to those who want a closer look.
By Suzanne Wright
Zipping past Texas Canyon, an hour southeast of Tucson, it’s impossible not to notice the boulders — giant, eye-catching piles of granite, like something out of The Flintstones. But other than providing scenery along Interstate 10 — particularly at a rest area just down the highway from the kitschy attraction known as The Thing — the area has long been off-limits to curious travelers who wanted to stretch their legs and get a closer look.
There are several private landowners in Texas Canyon, including Triangle T Guest Ranch, which has some trails for its guests. But none had opened its trails to the public until this past October, when the portion of the area owned and managed by the Amerind Foundation had its ribbon-cutting. After a multi-year campaign that raised $250,000, the Texas Canyon Nature Preserve — on land previously closed to the public for 85 years, and where the organization’s founding family raised quarter horses until 1968 — is open to all.
“The idea had been percolating with the Amerind Foundation board and management for years,” says Eric Kaldahl, the president, CEO and chief curator of the foundation. “The response from the surrounding community has been very enthusiastic. We welcomed more visitors last October than we’ve seen for the past 10 years.”
The preserve, located just off I-10 between Benson and Willcox, is part of a 1,900-acre campus that includes the Amerind Museum. More than 6 miles of trails wind past balanced rocks, fantastical shapes and rocky spires in open, sun-warmed high-desert grasslands studded with cactuses, wildflowers and trees. The trail is self-guided, although Kaldahl hopes to offer guided sunrise and sunset hikes in the next year. Visitors can pay a $12 admission fee for just the trails or $20 to visit both the trails and the museum.
Trail designer Sirena Rana knows the landscape can look intimidating, but she purposely designed the trails to be “perfect little morsels.” Rana didn’t grow up hiking, so she aimed to make the trails a comfortable experience for all ages and abilities. There are no steep elevation gains, and dirt, rather than gravel, makes for more stability. And Rana recalls walking for miles and miles over several months to understand the land and ensure the trails were constructed to shed water, limit erosion and provide firebreaks.
“Texas Canyon is one of the most unique landscapes in the Southwest, formed by millions of years of wind and rain weathering the granite,” she says, likening it to Joshua Tree National Park and the Wilderness of Rock on Mount Lemmon. “It’s very unusual that it’s right off a major interstate and just an hour from a major metropolitan area,” she adds. “This is one of the greatest outdoor sculpture gardens in the world designed by Mother Nature. I’m so pleased with how it turned out.”
Elsewhere along the trail, signage reflects the Amerind Museum’s mission of fostering knowledge and understanding of Indigenous peoples. Acknowledging that these are ancestral lands, the signs feature O’odham, English and Spanish text, in that order — and Kaldahl hopes to add Apache, too.
Additionally, Indigenous people have collected basket-weaving materials from these lands for generations, and they remain free to access the grounds.
Haiku Thoughts:
Stone giants whisper,
Texas Canyon's quiet grace,
Time's hand carves the sky.
Southern Arizona Adventure 2024
7929 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.
The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 8th tallest building in Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.
Built for CenTrust Bank in 1987, the 47-story building ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida at a height of 625 feet (191 m) and is known for its elaborate night-time illuminations and its dramatic three glass tiers. Designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architectural firm, the tower consists of two separate structures: A 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. Preliminary planning for the tower began in February 1980; construction on the garage began by November. The garage was completed in February 1983 and the tower began construction a year later. On August 1984, while the tower was under construction, a 5-alarm fire began on the ninth floor; construction was subsequently delayed for several weeks. On December 15, 1985, the tower was lit for the first time in Miami Dolphins aqua and snowflakes.
By mid-1986, the tower's exterior was complete and the grand opening for the complex was set for early fall that same year. Due to the uneven settling of the tower's foundation to one side by several inches, and the resulting misalignment of the tower's elevator rails, the grand opening for the complex was delayed until February 1987. The complete complex featured the world's only elevated metro station in a skyscraper (Knight Center station). It also gained notoriety for its luxurious interiors, including a skylobby on the 11th floor covered in marble and gold and a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) outdoor terrace. Also its indoor gym features mahogany cabinets. The tower is connected to the James L. Knight Center by a pedestrian walkway and on the first floor is a retail spine covered with green marble. The tower contains 1,160,000 sq ft (108,000 m2) with 503,000 sq ft (46,700 m2) of office space and a 535,000 sq ft (49,700 m2), 1,500 space parking garage.
The building appears during the end credits of the 1986 movie Flight Of The Navigator in an aerial shot of Miami. The very top floors can clearly be seen still under construction.
The roof of the building was the set of Gloria Estefan's 1994 video for "Turn The Beat Around". The building is also one of many featured on the backdrop of the stage on The Tonight Show.
On January 1, 2010, the building was renamed the Miami Tower.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
Lake Como, in Northern Italy’s Lombardy region, is an upscale resort area known for its dramatic scenery, set against the foothills of the Alps. The lake is shaped like an upside-down Y, with three slender branches that meet at the resort town of Bellagio. At the bottom of the southwest branch lies the city of Como, home to Renaissance architecture and a funicular that travels up to the mountain town of Brunate.
8175-4-ACN
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
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)
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.
A couture hat that speaks for itself: the My Gaia Hat by MY BAGS mesmerizes with its dramatic silhouette, adorned with sculpted roses that evoke an aura of mystery and dark elegance. Wide, bold, and irresistibly sophisticated, it’s the perfect accessory to command the spotlight at the VOGUE EVENT. Every detail whispers style, turning your look into an icon of contemporary allure.
MY GAIA HAT by MY BAGS is available in 7 different colours (black, blue, green, lavender, pink, red and white).
Now at Vogue Event:
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Omael/127/249/22
Inworld Mainstore:
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Water/63/80/3002
Other details on my blog:
www.suggestions-by-tilly-opaline.com/blog/2824373_vogue-e...
P5260868.1 [From the archives 2016] Sailing on the Santa Bernada.
Carvoeiro is a picturesque resort town located in the Algarve region of southern Portugal, known for its dramatic coastline of golden cliffs.
Iceland, a Nordic island nation, is defined by its dramatic landscape with volcanoes, geysers, hot springs and lava fields. Massive glaciers are protected in Vatnajökull and Snæfellsjökull national parks. Most of the population lives in the capital, Reykjavik, which runs on geothermal power and is home to the National and Saga museums, tracing Iceland’s Viking history.
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Chachani mountain in Peru. Standing at over 6000 m, Chachani is the tallest of the mountains near the Peruvian city of Arequipa. The outskirts of the city and part of the airport runway are just visible in the centre bottom of the image. The city is home to around 900 000 people and is renowned for its dramatic cityscape, surrounded by three volcanoes. Chachani is shown in the centre of the image.
Arequipa is also known as la Ciudad Blanca or the White City thanks to the prevalence of baroque buildings carved from white volcanic sillar stone in its centre. The volcanoes, overlooking the city, naturally form an important part of the city’s identity.
Heavy shades of red, showing vegetated areas, dominate this false-colour image. The varying tones represent different vegetation types, at different stages in the annual vegetation cycle. The near-infrared channel of Copernicus Sentinel-2 has been used to achieve this false-colour effect. A number of crops are grown in this area, including maize, asparagus and hot peppers (rocotos), which feature in many local dishes, such as the region’s signature dish of rocoto relleno.
In the centre-right of the image we can see a body of water called Aguada Blanca. This is part of a protected natural area, covering 360 000 hectares. Llamas and alpacas live here, as well as flamingos which have made the surrounding lagoons and wetlands of the Andean plains their home. Wool trade is a huge industry for the region, with artisan crafts also booming in recent years.
Sentinel-2 is a two-satellite mission to supply the coverage and data delivery needed for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring programme. Sentinel-2’s main instrument has 13 spectral bands, and is designed to provide images that can be used to distinguish different types of vegetation and monitor plant growth.
This image, which was captured on 14 July 2017, is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2017), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Cathedral Gorge State Park is a public recreation area and geologic preserve featuring a dramatic landscape of eroded soft bentonite clay covering more than 1,600 acres (650 ha) in Lincoln County, Nevada. The state park is located along U.S. Route 93 at the west end of State Route 319, two miles (3.2 km) northwest of the town of Panaca.
The site has been popular with local picnickers since the nineteenth century, when it was known as Cathedral Gulch. During the 1920s, its dramatic landscape provided a background for open-air plays and annual Easter ceremonies. Governor James Scrugham began acquiring and setting aside the area for preservation in 1924. It subsequently became one of the four original Nevada state parks created in 1935. Members of the Civilian Conservation Corps built picnicking facilities that are still in use as well as a stone water tower and stone restroom which are no longer in operation.
The park sits at an elevation of 4,800 feet (1,500 m) above sea level, and is typically arid with semi-hot summers, and very cold winters. In the summer, temperatures range roughly from 95 °F (35 °C) in midday to 55 °F (13 °C) at night. Rainfall is variable and thunderstorms prevalent.
A majority of Meadow Valley (which lies along U.S. Route 93 from the towns of Caliente to Panaca) was covered by a freshwater lake nearly 1 million years ago during the Pliocene Era. The richly colored canyons of Cathedral Gorge (called the Panaca Formation) are remnants of this ancient lakebed. Over centuries, the lake began to gradually drain. Erosion began working away at the exposed portions of sediment and gravel that once composed the lake bottom. Rainwater and melting snow carved rivulets in the soft siltstone and clay shale, splitting tiny cracks and fissures into larger and larger gullies and canyons.
Wasdale and Waswater with its dramatic mountain backdrop is seen by many as the most spectacular part of the Lake District. It is a difficult area to access which has helped keep the area unspoilt. The Wasdale Screes fall dramatically straight into one of the areas deepest lakes. Scafell is the Lake Districts second highest mountain but for many is the regions quintessential climbers peak surounded as it is on three sides by sheer cliffs with a host of classic climbs and scrambles. This shot was a lucky break in an otherwise cloudy and dull evening. A polarising filter allows reflection on the water surface to be reduced so revealing the rocks below.
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Cathedral Gorge State Park is a public recreation area and geologic preserve featuring a dramatic landscape of eroded soft bentonite clay covering more than 1,600 acres (650 ha) in Lincoln County, Nevada. The state park is located along U.S. Route 93 at the west end of State Route 319, two miles (3.2 km) northwest of the town of Panaca.
The site has been popular with local picnickers since the nineteenth century, when it was known as Cathedral Gulch. During the 1920s, its dramatic landscape provided a background for open-air plays and annual Easter ceremonies. Governor James Scrugham began acquiring and setting aside the area for preservation in 1924. It subsequently became one of the four original Nevada state parks created in 1935. Members of the Civilian Conservation Corps built picnicking facilities that are still in use as well as a stone water tower and stone restroom which are no longer in operation.
The park sits at an elevation of 4,800 feet (1,500 m) above sea level, and is typically arid with semi-hot summers, and very cold winters. In the summer, temperatures range roughly from 95 °F (35 °C) in midday to 55 °F (13 °C) at night. Rainfall is variable and thunderstorms prevalent.
A majority of Meadow Valley (which lies along U.S. Route 93 from the towns of Caliente to Panaca) was covered by a freshwater lake nearly 1 million years ago during the Pliocene Era. The richly colored canyons of Cathedral Gorge (called the Panaca Formation) are remnants of this ancient lakebed. Over centuries, the lake began to gradually drain. Erosion began working away at the exposed portions of sediment and gravel that once composed the lake bottom. Rainwater and melting snow carved rivulets in the soft siltstone and clay shale, splitting tiny cracks and fissures into larger and larger gullies and canyons.
We visited two museums in Centro Morelia. First one, Museo Histórico del Poder Judicial (Historical Museum of the Judiciary) with its dramatic mural - Morelos y la Justicia ( Morelos and Justice).
1 of 2.
The museum opened to the public 18 May 18, 2004.
The museum purpose is to disseminate judicial information from inception in 1814 to the present.
The mural is located in the museum central courtyard at the main staircase.
The mural by the Michoacán painter, engraver and muralist Agustín Cárdenas Castro, a disciple of Diego Rivera and Jorge González Camarena was painted in 1976.
The work is a tribute to the constituent José María Morelos y Pavón and references signing of the Constitution of 1814 and the establishment of the First Supreme Court of Justice of the country in Apatzingán, Michoacán.
In the mural, the arm and hand of Morelos throws the documents on injustice, slavery and despotism.
The imposing figure of Morelos comes out to meet the observer, when ascending or descending the stairs.
To the left of Morelos is Mexicos official coat of arms.
www.chrisibbotsonphotography.com
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Dunluce Castle on the North Antrim Coast is located in its dramatic position close to a headland which plunges straight into the sea. First records of its existence date back to 1513 when it belonged to the MacQuillans though it was built in the 13th century. A village surrounding the castle was destroyed by fire in 1641. It is famous for part of it falling into the sea one stormy night in 1639, it was abandoned shortly afterwards.
It is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located 7 km east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council, in the Eastern Suburbs. Bondi, North Bondi, and Bondi Junction are neighbouring suburbs. Bondi Beach is one of the most visited tourist sites in Australia. The sweeping white-sand crescent of Bondi is one of Australia’s most iconic beaches. Reliable waves draw surfers while, nearby, hardy locals swim in the Icebergs ocean pool year-round. Trendy, health-conscious Sydneysiders head to laid-back cafes around Hall Street, while hip backpackers frequent the area's casual pubs. Walkers and joggers use the clifftop Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk, with its dramatic scenery. 8018
I loved these Bird of Paradise flowers. Commonly known as the crane flower or bird of paradise, it is a species of flowering plant indigenous to South Africa. An evergreen perennial, it is widely cultivated for its dramatic flowers. In temperate areas it is a popular houseplant.
The amazing scenery on the Lijiang River between Guilin and Yangshuo with its dramatic karst mountain landscapes.
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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.
"The Way of Suffering" for Easter 2023.
Michelangelo’s Pietà (1498-99). It’s the high point of Renaissance marble sculpture. Ostensibly a religious subject - the lifeless body of Jesus cradled by his mother after he was taken down from the cross - but to limit it to this is shortsighted and a serious underestimation of the human condition. This is only a poor copy of the statue, and I have done my best to show it in its dramatic context. This is a single shot and all I’ve done is bring up the highlights on the figures and turned day into night.
But contemplate this image for a moment. Imagine a mother who has just witnessed her son die in the most extreme and painful of executions, all the while knowing her son is innocent. How would you react? Mary would gladly have put herself in Jesus’ place I’m sure and it is no wonder she is adored as an archetype of grace (Ave Maria). Hours before, her son was alive and now she had no idea what would happen next. The pain is as psychologically excruciating as the physical pain Jesus bore (note the etymology of the word “cruciate” derived from Latin crux meaning cross). The thing the dead have over those who witness the death of a loved one, is that their pain is over. Those who remain feel that pain as grief for as long as we live.
And so Gautama Buddha was right, at the heart of the human condition is inevitable suffering. Only solipsistic fools feel blissful and happy about their life, warding off the deep psychological scars we all bear like a fearful person in the dark with garlic to fend off the vampires of the soul. They do this by living on the surface of trivialities. They have forgotten how to feel. They have almost ceased to be human and thus lack compassion. That’s another word worth exploring: Com-passion. It means to “suffer with”, to feel the pain of others as acutely as we feel our own. So contemplate Mary the Mother of Jesus. See how much her pain is also ours too. It’s what the hymn writer had in mind when he penned “The Old Rugged Cross” (1912 - as the world was about to be plunged into its very own Calvary).
When my father died last year his last days were made as comfortable as possible, but for nearly two years he suffered. His death was beautiful because it was a release from the pain and into the presence of the God he loved. But for those of his family gathered to watch him breathe his last our pain was excruciating. My mother would have swapped places with my father in an instant, and even tried to take those last laboured breaths for him. I’m sure many have been in exactly the same position. That’s what love is, and the more we love the harder it is to see our beloved suffer. Contemplate Mary, who shares these moments with every soul who opens their heart.
The body of Jesus was beaten and broken. The scourge of the whip had torn the flesh from his body even before the nails were driven through his hands and feet. Have you wondered why it is that the central symbol of the Christian faith is a crucifix? Oh there are some Christians who jump ahead to the triumphant Resurrection and want to bypass the suffering of the cross. But that is something we cannot ever do. Even Jesus told his disciples, “Following me will cost you too. Take up your cross if you want to come after me.” And so they did, martyrs to the Roman empire by their thousands. And still the faith survived, as it will against its enemies today too. Something truly eternal cannot ever really die (the pagan philosopher Parmenides knew that much too).
After the family had left the room, the palliative care nurse asked if I would be able to assist her in holding my father’s body so that she could gently wash it down. I never hesitated, and as I held my father’s lifeless body on its side I looked down the length of it to his pallid face. He was not there anymore, but the body we loved was broken and scarred from many surgeries. The tears did not flow at this time, but I remembered Mary holding the body of her son, only in this case the role was reversed into its natural order. And I felt her loving embrace. For those in Christ, Mary is indeed the mother of us all (Ave Maria).
Once again this Easter Christians contemplate the holiest moment in world history. But this is a truly transcendental moment for all of humanity whatever belief system you may or may not hold. Imagine for just a moment that the Easter story really is true. That Jesus actually did take upon himself the suffering of the entire world and transformed it by an alchemy of love into Eternal Life.
The world is surely passing away, and it will come sooner for us than we think. Are we ready for what lies beyond the veil of death? For as I said at my father’s funeral, “The clock is ticking for death.” No need to beat around the bush with euphemisms, stare death down, look it in the face. As St Paul once said, “Oh Death where is thy sting? Oh grave thy victory?” The gift of God is Eternal Life. That’s why the Gospel is good news.
* For those with a little time this Easter, let me encourage you to listen to this marvellous talk by author Tom Holland. www.tom-holland.org/
"Tom Holland - Why I changed my mind about Christianity"
The beautiful and now tranquil setting of Augustinian Lanercost Priory belies an often troubled history. Standing close to Hadrian's Wall, it suffered frequent attacks during the long Anglo-Scottish wars, once by Robert Bruce in person. The mortally sick King Edward I rested here for five months in 1306-7, shortly before his death on his final campaign.
The east end of the 13th-century church survives to its full height, housing within its dramatic triple tier of arches some fine monuments.
More photos of Lanercost Priory here: www.flickr.com/photos/davidambridge/albums/72157624989399623
My dear mother who gave birth to 9 children had a pure heart and was about as blameless as you could be in this life. But she did have some problems with insomnia and was often heard to complain about not being able to sleep. My dad who never missed a chance to rib her often told her that her insomnia was due to having a guilty conscience.
Every once in a while her 75 year old red-headed kid suffers from the same thing. Yesterday I was awake around 3:30 in the morning and slipped out of our bedroom to the kitchen to make coffee and soon my wife joined me.
As soon as it was light enough to see trees, we were out driving in the countryside to see if there was any chance we could photograph some deer before they enter someone's freezer this weekend as deer season opens but it was not to be.
However, we did see the sun make a glorious appearance for about 2 minutes before it lost its dramatic color.
The rights of our furry friends are celebrated annually on International Animal Rights Day on December 10. The holiday is shared with Human Rights Day, as it should be, because animals have the right to be treated with respect, and acts of cruelty against them need to end just as much as for humans.
Prompt: Use Image 1 as style-and-tone reference only, preserving its dramatic, ultra-realistic, fine-art aesthetic while generating a new scene. Create a wide panoramic, horizontal composition showing two anthropomorphic cats and three anthropomorphic dogs—one clearly identifiable West Highland White Terrier— all dressed in formal office suits. The Westie sits at an office table in the foreground, with the other animals standing around in a structured group portrait. Maintain crisp detail, rich textures, and sophisticated lighting consistent with Image 1; match its subdued, atmospheric mood without introducing shoreline elements or noise effects. Render a clean back wall featuring a sign that reads “International Animal Rights – Law Firm,” integrated naturally with correct perspective, shadows, and material texture. Ensure overall lighting, shadows, and color temperature remain consistent, with no halos, seams, or stylistic drift. Output one ultra-realistic digital fine-art image; maintain coherent scale and anatomical proportions across all characters; preserve all unmentioned aspects of the base image’s stylistic qualities.
This digital fine art was created using OpenAI Sora AI and Photoshop
The beautiful and now tranquil setting of Augustinian Lanercost Priory belies an often troubled history. Standing close to Hadrian's Wall, it suffered frequent attacks during the long Anglo-Scottish wars, once by Robert Bruce in person. The mortally sick King Edward I rested here for five months in 1306-7, shortly before his death on his final campaign.
The east end of the 13th-century church survives to its full height, housing within its dramatic triple tier of arches some fine monuments.
More photos of Lanercost Priory here: www.flickr.com/photos/davidambridge/albums/72157624989399623
The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 8th tallest building in Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.
Built for CenTrust Bank in 1987, the 47-story building ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida at a height of 625 feet (191 m) and is known for its elaborate night-time illuminations and its dramatic three glass tiers. Designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architectural firm, the tower consists of two separate structures: A 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. Preliminary planning for the tower began in February 1980; construction on the garage began by November. The garage was completed in February 1983 and the tower began construction a year later. On August 1984, while the tower was under construction, a 5-alarm fire began on the ninth floor; construction was subsequently delayed for several weeks. On December 15, 1985, the tower was lit for the first time in Miami Dolphins aqua and snowflakes.
By mid-1986, the tower's exterior was complete and the grand opening for the complex was set for early fall that same year. Due to the uneven settling of the tower's foundation to one side by several inches, and the resulting misalignment of the tower's elevator rails, the grand opening for the complex was delayed until February 1987. The complete complex featured the world's only elevated metro station in a skyscraper (Knight Center station). It also gained notoriety for its luxurious interiors, including a skylobby on the 11th floor covered in marble and gold and a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) outdoor terrace. Also its indoor gym features mahogany cabinets. The tower is connected to the James L. Knight Center by a pedestrian walkway and on the first floor is a retail spine covered with green marble. The tower contains 1,160,000 sq ft (108,000 m2) with 503,000 sq ft (46,700 m2) of office space and a 535,000 sq ft (49,700 m2), 1,500 space parking garage.
The building appears during the end credits of the 1986 movie Flight Of The Navigator in an aerial shot of Miami. The very top floors can clearly be seen still under construction.
The roof of the building was the set of Gloria Estefan's 1994 video for "Turn The Beat Around". The building is also one of many featured on the backdrop of the stage on The Tonight Show.
On January 1, 2010, the building was renamed the Miami Tower.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Cathedral Gorge State Park is a public recreation area and geologic preserve featuring a dramatic landscape of eroded soft bentonite clay covering more than 1,600 acres (650 ha) in Lincoln County, Nevada. The state park is located along U.S. Route 93 at the west end of State Route 319, two miles (3.2 km) northwest of the town of Panaca.
The site has been popular with local picnickers since the nineteenth century, when it was known as Cathedral Gulch. During the 1920s, its dramatic landscape provided a background for open-air plays and annual Easter ceremonies. Governor James Scrugham began acquiring and setting aside the area for preservation in 1924. It subsequently became one of the four original Nevada state parks created in 1935. Members of the Civilian Conservation Corps built picnicking facilities that are still in use as well as a stone water tower and stone restroom which are no longer in operation.
The park sits at an elevation of 4,800 feet (1,500 m) above sea level, and is typically arid with semi-hot summers, and very cold winters. In the summer, temperatures range roughly from 95 °F (35 °C) in midday to 55 °F (13 °C) at night. Rainfall is variable and thunderstorms prevalent.
A majority of Meadow Valley (which lies along U.S. Route 93 from the towns of Caliente to Panaca) was covered by a freshwater lake nearly 1 million years ago during the Pliocene Era. The richly colored canyons of Cathedral Gorge (called the Panaca Formation) are remnants of this ancient lakebed. Over centuries, the lake began to gradually drain. Erosion began working away at the exposed portions of sediment and gravel that once composed the lake bottom. Rainwater and melting snow carved rivulets in the soft siltstone and clay shale, splitting tiny cracks and fissures into larger and larger gullies and canyons.
Wrapping up my Southern Arizona Adventure 2024 with a visit to Amerind Foundation and Texas Canyon. This is stage 9 of 9.
travelasker.com/what-is-the-formation-process-of-texas-ca...
Formation and composition of rocks
The rocks in Texas Canyon are primarily composed of granite, gneiss, and schist. These rocks were formed through a process of geological metamorphism, which changed their composition and structure over time. Granite is one of the most common types of rock found in the area and is known for its distinctive pink color. Gneiss and schist are also common and are known for their unique textures and patterns.
Erosion and weathering played a significant role in shaping the landscape of Texas Canyon. Over time, the rocks in the area were subjected to intense weathering, which caused them to break down and form the distinctive boulder formations that are found throughout the canyon. Erosion also played a role in shaping the landscape, as the water that flowed through the area created deep gullies and canyons that are still visible today.
Formation of the unique boulder formations
The unique boulder formations in Texas Canyon were formed through a combination of tectonic forces, erosion, and weathering. The rocks in the area were subjected to immense pressure, which caused them to fracture and crack. Over time, the cracks were widened by the forces of erosion, creating the distinctive boulder formations that are found throughout the canyon.
www.amerind.org/texascanyonnaturepreserve/
Chat GPT
Texas Canyon is a striking natural area located in Cochise County, southeastern Arizona, along Interstate 10 between Benson and Willcox. It is renowned for its dramatic landscape, characterized by massive granite boulders scattered across the desert terrain, creating a rugged and picturesque environment.
The granite boulders in Texas Canyon were formed through millions of years of erosion and weathering. These formations, often precariously balanced, provide a unique and photogenic sight, making the canyon a popular stop for travelers and photographers.
The area is surrounded by the Chiricahua Mountains to the south and other nearby ranges, offering expansive views of the Sonoran Desert with its mix of desert vegetation, including cacti and mesquite trees. The light, especially at sunrise and sunset, enhances the golden hues of the rocks, adding to the area's charm.
Texas Canyon has a rich history tied to the Chiricahua Apache people, who once roamed these lands. Later, it became home to early settlers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Canyon
Texas Canyon is a valley in Cochise County, Arizona,[1] about 20 miles east of Benson on Interstate 10. Lying between the Little Dragoon Mountains to the north and the Dragoon Mountains to the south and known for its giant granite boulders, the canyon attracts rockhounds and photographers.
www.arizonahighways.com/article/texas-canyon-nature-preserve
The giant granite boulders along Interstate 10 in Southeastern Arizona have been gracing postcards for decades, but that otherworldly landscape was always off-limits to the general public. Not anymore. Thanks to the Amerind Foundation, 6 miles of trails in the brand-new Texas Canyon Nature Preserve are now available to those who want a closer look.
By Suzanne Wright
Zipping past Texas Canyon, an hour southeast of Tucson, it’s impossible not to notice the boulders — giant, eye-catching piles of granite, like something out of The Flintstones. But other than providing scenery along Interstate 10 — particularly at a rest area just down the highway from the kitschy attraction known as The Thing — the area has long been off-limits to curious travelers who wanted to stretch their legs and get a closer look.
There are several private landowners in Texas Canyon, including Triangle T Guest Ranch, which has some trails for its guests. But none had opened its trails to the public until this past October, when the portion of the area owned and managed by the Amerind Foundation had its ribbon-cutting. After a multi-year campaign that raised $250,000, the Texas Canyon Nature Preserve — on land previously closed to the public for 85 years, and where the organization’s founding family raised quarter horses until 1968 — is open to all.
“The idea had been percolating with the Amerind Foundation board and management for years,” says Eric Kaldahl, the president, CEO and chief curator of the foundation. “The response from the surrounding community has been very enthusiastic. We welcomed more visitors last October than we’ve seen for the past 10 years.”
The preserve, located just off I-10 between Benson and Willcox, is part of a 1,900-acre campus that includes the Amerind Museum. More than 6 miles of trails wind past balanced rocks, fantastical shapes and rocky spires in open, sun-warmed high-desert grasslands studded with cactuses, wildflowers and trees. The trail is self-guided, although Kaldahl hopes to offer guided sunrise and sunset hikes in the next year. Visitors can pay a $12 admission fee for just the trails or $20 to visit both the trails and the museum.
Trail designer Sirena Rana knows the landscape can look intimidating, but she purposely designed the trails to be “perfect little morsels.” Rana didn’t grow up hiking, so she aimed to make the trails a comfortable experience for all ages and abilities. There are no steep elevation gains, and dirt, rather than gravel, makes for more stability. And Rana recalls walking for miles and miles over several months to understand the land and ensure the trails were constructed to shed water, limit erosion and provide firebreaks.
“Texas Canyon is one of the most unique landscapes in the Southwest, formed by millions of years of wind and rain weathering the granite,” she says, likening it to Joshua Tree National Park and the Wilderness of Rock on Mount Lemmon. “It’s very unusual that it’s right off a major interstate and just an hour from a major metropolitan area,” she adds. “This is one of the greatest outdoor sculpture gardens in the world designed by Mother Nature. I’m so pleased with how it turned out.”
Elsewhere along the trail, signage reflects the Amerind Museum’s mission of fostering knowledge and understanding of Indigenous peoples. Acknowledging that these are ancestral lands, the signs feature O’odham, English and Spanish text, in that order — and Kaldahl hopes to add Apache, too.
Additionally, Indigenous people have collected basket-weaving materials from these lands for generations, and they remain free to access the grounds.
Haiku Thoughts:
Stone giants whisper,
Texas Canyon's quiet grace,
Time's hand carves the sky.
Southern Arizona Adventure 2024
The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 8th tallest building in Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.
Built for CenTrust Bank in 1987, the 47-story building ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida at a height of 625 feet (191 m) and is known for its elaborate night-time illuminations and its dramatic three glass tiers. Designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architectural firm, the tower consists of two separate structures: A 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. Preliminary planning for the tower began in February 1980; construction on the garage began by November. The garage was completed in February 1983 and the tower began construction a year later. On August 1984, while the tower was under construction, a 5-alarm fire began on the ninth floor; construction was subsequently delayed for several weeks. On December 15, 1985, the tower was lit for the first time in Miami Dolphins aqua and snowflakes.
By mid-1986, the tower's exterior was complete and the grand opening for the complex was set for early fall that same year. Due to the uneven settling of the tower's foundation to one side by several inches, and the resulting misalignment of the tower's elevator rails, the grand opening for the complex was delayed until February 1987. The complete complex featured the world's only elevated metro station in a skyscraper (Knight Center station). It also gained notoriety for its luxurious interiors, including a sky lobby on the 11th floor covered in marble and gold and a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) outdoor terrace. Also, its indoor gym features mahogany cabinets. The tower is connected to the James L. Knight Center by a pedestrian walkway and on the first floor is a retail spine covered with green marble. The tower contains 1,160,000 sq ft (108,000 m2) with 503,000 sq ft (46,700 m2) of office space and a 535,000 sq ft (49,700 m2), 1,500 space parking garage.
The building appears during the end credits of the 1986 movie Flight Of The Navigator in an aerial shot of Miami. The very top floors can clearly be seen still under construction.
The roof of the building was the set of Gloria Estefan's 1994 video for "Turn The Beat Around". The building is also one of many featured on the backdrop of the stage on The Tonight Show.
On January 1, 2010, the building was renamed the Miami Tower.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
6491-2 MECONOPSIS BETONICIFOLIA
Himalayan flower imported by Elsie Reford in the early 1930s that has since become the floral emblem of the Gardens.
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
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.
3791
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
MECONOPSIS BETONICIFOLIA
Himalayan flower imported by Elsie Reford in the early 1930s that has since become the floral emblem of the Gardens.
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
Known for its dramatic view in the Oregon Cascades over looking Salt Creek Canyon, tunnel 11 has become one of my overall go to spots in the Pacific Northwest for mountain railroading. With heavy over growth dominating a lot of the area, it has become a challenge to get creative with shots of
south bounds climbing the long grade out of Oakridge, Oregon. In the summer of 2018, this almost 100 year old structure collapsed midway in the tunnel, shutting down the main line for a few weeks as repairs were made. During the reconstruction, a lot of the vegetation and trees were removed above the entry snowshed into the tunnel, giving a vantage point that hasn't been as open in quite some time.
M- PWRV
Kirkjufell is a 463 m high mountain on the north coast of Iceland's Snæfellsnes peninsula, near the town of Grundarfjörður. It is claimed to be the most photographed mountain in the country.
The Snæfellsnes Peninsula is a region in western Iceland known for its dramatic landscapes. At its western tip, Snæfellsjökull National Park is dominated by Snæfellsjökull Volcano, which is topped by a glacier. Nearby, a trail leads through lava fields to black-pebble beach
#AbFav_SEA_WATER_💧
GOLDEN HANDSHAKE? LOL
An Autumn Sunday in North-Wales.
Little winding roads amongst the golden larches, up towards Mount Snowdon, this river surprised me with its golden and indigo colours, the limpid water ice cold and wild.
Wales, with its dramatic scenery, is steeped in mystery and romance.
Its majestic heather-clad hills cut by cascading waterfalls, and mountain streams rushing through gladed valleys are both the places of legends and of history running back into the mists of time.
Yet, beneath the quartzite surface of this jewelled landscape, there is another treasure, as valuable as it is beautiful – Welsh gold.
Today, Welsh gold is scarcer than it has ever been.
When mining took place at the Clogau St. David’s Gold Mine in the late 1990s it used to cost over £1000 an ounce to extract.
Look at that golden hand, maybe a giant fell?
Isn't imagination a wonderful gift?
I wish you all a golden day and thank you for visiting, Magda (*_*)
For more: www.indigo2photography.com
Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
river, hand, leaves, Snowdonia, rapids, water, rocks, Wales, colour, horizontal, "Nikon F4", "Magda indigo"
The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 8th tallest building in Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.
Built for CenTrust Bank in 1987, the 47-story building ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida at a height of 625 feet (191 m) and is known for its elaborate night-time illuminations and its dramatic three glass tiers. Designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architectural firm, the tower consists of two separate structures: A 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. Preliminary planning for the tower began in February 1980; construction on the garage began by November. The garage was completed in February 1983 and the tower began construction a year later. On August 1984, while the tower was under construction, a 5-alarm fire began on the ninth floor; construction was subsequently delayed for several weeks. On December 15, 1985, the tower was lit for the first time in Miami Dolphins aqua and snowflakes.
By mid-1986, the tower's exterior was complete and the grand opening for the complex was set for early fall that same year. Due to the uneven settling of the tower's foundation to one side by several inches, and the resulting misalignment of the tower's elevator rails, the grand opening for the complex was delayed until February 1987. The complete complex featured the world's only elevated metro station in a skyscraper (Knight Center station). It also gained notoriety for its luxurious interiors, including a skylobby on the 11th floor covered in marble and gold and a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) outdoor terrace. Also its indoor gym features mahogany cabinets. The tower is connected to the James L. Knight Center by a pedestrian walkway and on the first floor is a retail spine covered with green marble. The tower contains 1,160,000 sq ft (108,000 m2) with 503,000 sq ft (46,700 m2) of office space and a 535,000 sq ft (49,700 m2), 1,500 space parking garage.
The building appears during the end credits of the 1986 movie Flight Of The Navigator in an aerial shot of Miami. The very top floors can clearly be seen still under construction.
The roof of the building was the set of Gloria Estefan's 1994 video for "Turn The Beat Around". The building is also one of many featured on the backdrop of the stage on The Tonight Show.
On January 1, 2010, the building was renamed the Miami Tower.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
The beautiful and now tranquil setting of Augustinian Lanercost Priory belies an often troubled history. Standing close to Hadrian's Wall, it suffered frequent attacks during the long Anglo-Scottish wars, once by Robert Bruce in person. The mortally sick King Edward I rested here for five months in 1306-7, shortly before his death on his final campaign.
The east end of the 13th-century church survives to its full height, housing within its dramatic triple tier of arches some fine monuments.
More photos of Lanercost Priory here: www.flickr.com/photos/davidambridge/albums/72157624989399623
The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 8th tallest building in Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.
Built for CenTrust Bank in 1987, the 47-story building ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida at a height of 625 feet (191 m) and is known for its elaborate night-time illuminations and its dramatic three glass tiers. Designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architectural firm, the tower consists of two separate structures: A 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. Preliminary planning for the tower began in February 1980; construction on the garage began by November. The garage was completed in February 1983 and the tower began construction a year later. On August 1984, while the tower was under construction, a 5-alarm fire began on the ninth floor; construction was subsequently delayed for several weeks. On December 15, 1985, the tower was lit for the first time in Miami Dolphins aqua and snowflakes.
By mid-1986, the tower's exterior was complete and the grand opening for the complex was set for early fall that same year. Due to the uneven settling of the tower's foundation to one side by several inches, and the resulting misalignment of the tower's elevator rails, the grand opening for the complex was delayed until February 1987. The complete complex featured the world's only elevated metro station in a skyscraper (Knight Center station). It also gained notoriety for its luxurious interiors, including a skylobby on the 11th floor covered in marble and gold and a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) outdoor terrace. Also its indoor gym features mahogany cabinets. The tower is connected to the James L. Knight Center by a pedestrian walkway and on the first floor is a retail spine covered with green marble. The tower contains 1,160,000 sq ft (108,000 m2) with 503,000 sq ft (46,700 m2) of office space and a 535,000 sq ft (49,700 m2), 1,500 space parking garage.
The building appears during the end credits of the 1986 movie Flight Of The Navigator in an aerial shot of Miami. The very top floors can clearly be seen still under construction.
The roof of the building was the set of Gloria Estefan's 1994 video for "Turn The Beat Around". The building is also one of many featured on the backdrop of the stage on The Tonight Show.
On January 1, 2010, the building was renamed the Miami Tower.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
The beautiful and now tranquil setting of Augustinian Lanercost Priory belies an often troubled history. Standing close to Hadrian's Wall, it suffered frequent attacks during the long Anglo-Scottish wars, once by Robert Bruce in person. The mortally sick King Edward I rested here for five months in 1306-7, shortly before his death on his final campaign.
The east end of the 13th-century church survives to its full height, housing within its dramatic triple tier of arches some fine monuments.
More photos of Lanercost Priory here: www.flickr.com/photos/davidambridge/albums/72157624989399623
The Snæfellsnes Peninsula is a region in western Iceland known for its dramatic landscapes. At its western tip, Snæfellsjökull National Park is dominated by Snæfellsjökull Volcano, which is topped by a glacier. Nearby, a trail leads through lava fields to black-pebble beach
Despite being Andalucía's fastest-growing town - it overtook Córdoba in the big three Andaluz tourist attractions, behind Sevilla and Granada, in the early 21st century - Ronda retains much of its historic charm, particularly its old town. It is famous worldwide for its dramatic escarpments and views, and for the deep El Tajo gorge that carries the rio Guadalevín through its centre. Visitors make a beeline for the 18th century Puente Nuevo 'new' bridge, which straddles the 100m chasm below, for its unparalleled views out over the Serranía de Ronda mountains.
More info from;http://www.andalucia.com/ronda/home.htm
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission... © All rights reserved...
DSC_7929
5417
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
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Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
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LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
#AbFav_SEA_WATER_💧
GOLDEN HANDSHAKE? LOL
An Autumn Sunday in North-Wales.
Little winding roads amongst the golden larches, up towards Mount Snowdon, this river surprised me with its golden and indigo colours, the limpid water ice cold and wild.
Wales, with its dramatic scenery, is steeped in mystery and romance.
Its majestic heather-clad hills cut by cascading waterfalls, and mountain streams rushing through gladed valleys are both the places of legends and of history running back into the mists of time.
Yet, beneath the quartzite surface of this jewelled landscape, there is another treasure, as valuable as it is beautiful – Welsh gold.
Today, Welsh gold is scarcer than it has ever been.
When mining took place at the Clogau St. David’s Gold Mine in the late 1990s it used to cost over £1000 an ounce to extract.
Look at that golden hand, maybe a giant fell?
Isn't imagination a wonderful gift?
I wish you all a golden day and thank you for visiting, Magda (*_*)
For more: www.indigo2photography.com
Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
river, hand, leaves, Snowdonia, rapids, water, rocks, Wales, colour, horizontal, "Nikon F4", "Magda indigo"
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.
Mrs Elsie Reford loved visiting that village (Saint Octave de Metis) close to Reford Gardens.
Reference: Elsie's Paradise, The Reford Gardens, Alexander Reford, 2004, ISBN 2-7619-1921-1, That book is a must for Reford Gardens lovers!
''Elsie often ventured into the back country near the gardens, admiring the hilly country behind the village of St. Octave.'' (page 99)
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
3401
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
MECONOPSIS BETONICIFOLIA
Himalayan flower imported by Elsie Reford in the early 1930s that has since become the floral emblem of the Gardens.
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.