View allAll Photos Tagged knowing
... which reflects my own when I made a silk dress for the first time yesterday. Silk, well this silk anyway, bunches up beautifully when gathering (if done in the right direction).
I was going, omg! omg! while gathering. That's how good it was. (Actually, it was better. I said a bunch of silly things I can't remember.) (And afterwards I was excited about finding matching tulle and ribbon. My husband probably thought I was going bonkers.)
(Synnøve: I must apologize for the background here - I swear I only use it for zigzag :-D) (OK and ruffling)
The Walker Dam – Its Past, Present and Future
28 years I have lived in Aberdeen, never knowing this beautiful piece of land was less than a 15 minute drive through the city centre from my home.
I visited today 3rd May 2018, and walked the whole area taking photos of everything that lured me, on my walk I saw herrons, mandarin ducks , mallards etc, it was a joy.
The weather was overcast though warm and bright, I will revisit in the summer on a golden day to get the best of this beautiful area of Aberdeen.
The Walker Dam, with which many Aberdeen citizens are so familiar, is only a fraction of the size it was when - in the 1830s - it was constructed in accordance with the plans drawn by
Aberdeen’s first City Architect, John Smith.
From the second quarter of the 19th century to the early 20th century the dam was a deep and massive body of water which extended from its present location, eastward, to Springfield Road – then called Walker Dam Road – where its sluice gate would have been opened at the beginning of the working day to allow water to rush through a culvert under the road, then south-east through a deep man-made channel (which is still evident today) to feed the steam condensing ponds of the Rubislaw Bleachfield, the property Richards and Company, textile manufacturers.
Today this treasured green space is one of Aberdeen City Council's 'Local Nature Conservation Sites', the 'Walker Dam and Rubislaw Link', which is a 3.9 kilometre walk along
a series of connected paths and streets. Popular with dog walkers, joggers and ramblers, the future of this valuable charming landscaped area with its semi-natural habitats, has been secured by the initiatives and work of 'Friends of Walker Dam' who are registered with 'Keep Scotland Beautiful' - a Scottish environment charity – which, independent of governmental finance and influence, is committed to the improvement of people’s lives and the places they care for.
The Friends of Walker Dam work in partnership with Aberdeen City Council to deliver the standards of maintenance and the plans for future improvements to this amenity site.
Mr Allan Davidson, Treasurer of Craigiebuckler and Seafield Community Council who is also a member of Friends of Walker Dam, has frequent meetings with the City Council's Environment Manager.
Those meetings have been very productive and improvements to the site have already been achieved.
For example, there has been a clean-up of the Dam and the
burn which flows into it; improvements have also been made to the path on the South bank of the dam, which is part of Aberdeen's core path system. The Walker Dam sign has also
been repainted.
In the near future, a bridge will be constructed at the East bank of the dam to connect its North and South banks - thus making both banks accessible for the enjoyment of visitors to
the dam. This significant infrastructural improvement has been made possible by a final act of generosity by Aberdeen Greenspace Trust. Local Councillor Martin Greig is a member of Greenspace and worked to ensure a donation of £8000 from the Trust towards the upgrade of the Walker Dam which includes the construction of the bridge, new benches, bins and various paths and tree works. A further enhancement in the area is a community notice
board.
Thanks to the Friends of Walker Dam, Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen Greenspace Trust and the work of many volunteers, we have much to look forward to.
Walker Dam is located within the former Royal Forest of Stocket, part of the Freedom Lands gifted by Robert I to the burgh (recorded in a charter of 1319). Now it is in the modern
Burnieboozle estate, part of the larger Craigiebuckler estate, which was sparsely populated countryside until the 1950s, when major housing development began in that area.
Walker Dam is bounded by Springfield Road (which replaced a roadway called Walker Dam Road) to the east and Woodburn Gardens to the north.
The dam is fed by the Holburn (‘Burn of the Howe’), which has two head waters, the northern and greater one coming from Hazlehead and through Walker Dam.
The section entering Walker Dam is the West Burn of Rubislaw. The two head streams of the Holburn joined together between Rubislaw Quarry and Springbank Cemetery, and this united stream fed the steamcondensing
ponds at Rubislaw Bleachfield before flowing eastward together as far as Hartington Road, where they separate.
The south branch, the original burn, crossed Union Grove and passed under the old Holburn Bridge, while the north branch, an artificial mill-lead, went to the Upper and Lower Justice Mills.
As a consequence, Walker Dam was at one time closely associated with the city’s milling operations and, especially, with textile manufacturing. In the nineteenth century it was a resource integral to the firm once called Maberly’s (established between 1808 and 1811) and later Richards, which had the Broadford Works on Maberly Street and which was
the principal user of the bleachfields. An 1866-67 Ordnance Survey description of Walker Dam gives it as ‘a very large dam built by the proprietors of the Rubislaw Bleach Field for their own use.’
Bleachfields were a development of the eighteenth century Scottish textile and thread industries. The first bleachfield in Scotland was established in the late 1720s as an alternative to
either small, burnside bleaching operations which were of variable quality, or sending the unbleached cloth to England, Ireland or Holland for treatment.
In March 1801, the lands of Springfield were offered for sale. They were described as comprising about 63 acres, ‘inclosed and subdivided’, and held feu of ‘the Community of Aberdeen’ at the annual feu-duty of £2 14s 2d sterling. A large house was included in the sale, and it was noted that ‘the dam for the Justice-mills is situated within this property, and the millburn
passes thro’ it, by which considerable benefit may be derived by a purchaser.’
In 1833 Aberdeen Town Council agreed to have Walker Dam cleaned out and deepened, in partnership with Messrs Richards and Company, manufacturers in Aberdeen.
Richards was the instigator of the plan, to which the Council agreed because the work was expected to be ‘highly
beneficial to the Upper and Nether Justice Mills by affording them an additional supply of water,’ and authorised it providing that the Town’s share of the costs would not exceed £20; the work would be executed under the sole charge of John Smith, Town Superintendant; and Richards, which must not spend less than the Council on the project, should not use this as a means of claiming any right over Walker Dam in future.
In 1837, Richards proposed to the Council that Walker Dam should be excavated and extended, citing an 1829 agreement to this effect between the Town and Messrs Maberly and Company, the previous owners of the manufacturing works now operated by Richards (Maberley’s folded in 1832).
Richards sought a lease of the dam water at a fixed rent once the work had been completed.
The Council remitted consideration of this to a committee previously established to look at a proposal to move Justice Mill Dam westwards to Rubislaw. Early in 1839, the Council
approved the recommendation of this committee that Walker Dam should be excavated and enlarged so that it would hold an additional 700,000 cubic feet of water, again on the grounds that it would provide a more reliable source of water for the town’s mills, especially in the dry
season.
The new capacity of the dam was expected to be more than adequate for the needs of the mills. The estimated cost of the works at this stage was £360: should the eventual cost exceed £400, Richards was to pay the excess.
The company was also to pay the Council £75 a year for its
lease of the water, and would be responsible for repair and maintenance of the extended dam, to the satisfaction of the Town, during the life of its lease. (Richards continued to own rights over the water for several decades.)
After further negotiations, a Council meeting of 15 April 1839 approved implementation of the project and authorised the Town Treasurer to enter into a contract with Richards and Co.
Work included the construction of a spillwater tunnel and breast mound for the dam extension,with additional dykes and the installation of a new cast-iron tunnel pipe and sluice.
The plans,drawings and a detailed specification produced by the Council formed the basis of the contract, signed on 17 April 1839.
The revised estimate of costs based on the plans drawn up by the Town considerably exceeded the original £400 anticipated; the Council minutes do not record the new estimate but note that Richards offered to pay the full amount, on the basis that Richards would receive the original £400 from the Town once the work was completed.
The Council had earlier noted that implementation of the project would require the purchase of an adjacent piece
of land owned by Alexander Bannerman and instructed that he should be approached to sell part
of his property near Springfield
The necessary land was obtained from Bannerman at a feu-duty of £20, recorded in a feu charter of 19 April 1839.
On 1 August 1860, the lands and estates of Craigiebuckler and Burnieboozle, including Walker Dam, were offered for sale by public roup, as part of the sequestrated estate of John Blaikie,
advocate. (John Blaikie went to Spain in 1860, following the collapse of his business and financial ruin. He was a son of James Blaikie of Craigiebuckler, Provost of Aberdeen from 1833 to 1835.) Walker Dam is described in the sale notice as ‘an Ornamental Sheet of Water, from which there is an yearly Revenue of £20 sterling from the Town of Aberdeen’.
The estates evidently failed to sell at the advertised ‘upset price’ (the lowest price consistent with the valuation of a property) of at £5,771 2s 6d, since the estate of Burnieboozle, within which Walker Dam is situated, was again offered for sale on 3 September 1860, now at £5,500, with neighbouring lands at Springfield for sale separately.18 Again it failed to realise this amount and was offered for sale on 5 October 1860 at the further reduced upset price of £5,200.19.
At some point after this date it was purchased by John Stewart, Esq.
The lands of Burnieboozle and Walkerhill were once again offered for sale in August 1865, with Walker Dam included - the sale notice mentions the annual feu-duty of £20 paid by the Town Council on it.20 In early September, the Aberdeen Journal reported that ‘The estates of Craigiebuckler, Burnieboozle, Walkerhill, and others, lately belonging to John Stewart, Esq., were on Friday purchased for the sum of £31,500 by Lauchlan McKinnon, junior, advocate, on behalf
of John Cardno Couper, Esq., lately of Whampoa, China.’ (Whampoa is now usually known as Classifed advertisement inviting tenders for the work, The Aberdeen Journal, 30 Jan 1839.
urgh, had served as an apprentice in the Aberdeen shipbuilding
firm of Alexander Hall and Co. before going to Hong Kong and working with his father in their
own highly successful ship-building and repairing company. By the time he returned to Aberdeen
in the 1860s, he had amassed a fortune. He was involved in a number of Aberdeen business
enterprises and in the Church of Scotland. Couper gave a portion of land close to Walker Dam to
be the site of Craigiebuckler Church, built in 1883, of which he was an elder. He died in January
1902 at the age of 82. His son, Lieutenant-Colonel John Cardno Ogston Couper (1st Highland
Brigade), succeeded to the property but died at the age of 48 in 1913. His widow and two young
children remained at Craigiebuckler; his daughter, Florence, went on to marry the ministe
Dr S. Marshall, 2014
The Council’s Finance Committee visited the dam in the aftermath of the tragic incident and
agreed to recommend the repair of the surrounding walls. They also instructed that information
boards should be erected at the site warning of the dangers. During this site visit, one of the
councillors slipped by the side of the stream entering the dam, and fell into the mud. It is not
clear if the children had similarly slipped and landed in the water, or if they had intended to enter
it.
The future of Walker Dam was the subject of two proposals of 1933. Council minutes of 4 December that year record that Aberdeen Land Association intended to donate to the Council the wooded den lying between Johnston House on Springfield Road and Viewfield Road, on condition the den should be maintained by the local authority as an open space and that the Council pay half the cost of a proposed road to be built along the west boundary of the property.
The Council formally accepted this proposal in January of 1934.26.
Also in December 1933, the City Engineer, Thomas F. Henderson, wrote to the Council’s Streets and Works Committee, which was then looking at the widening of Springfield Road and the layout and construction of a new road between it and Queen’s Road. Henderson asked the
committee to consider the future use of the Council-owned Walker Dam at the same time.
According to Henderson: ‘This dam is formed on a burn which rises in the grounds of Hazlehead and flows through the dam and joins the West Burn of Rubislaw at a point south-east of
Kepplestone Nursing Home and later forms what is known as the Ferryhill Burn.’
On 12 July that year, very heavy rainfall had flooded the electricity works and caused damage to property in
Crown Street and Ferryhill Terrace. To prevent further flooding, the water was run out of the dam on 1 September and although here had been no heavy rain since then, ‘we know that, by controlling the flow at the outlet of the dam we can reduce the risk of flooding in the lower parts
very considerably.
‘In conjunction with the Superintendant of Parks, I have prepared a plan showing how the Walker Dam could be laid out as a pleasure ground where the public could leave Springfield Road and walk through the gardens on to the grounds of Hazlehead.
The superintendant of parks is of the opinion that during storm periods the gardens could be flooded without doing much damage to the grass or plants. As the Dam is the property of the Common Good, I would suggest that the sub-committee confer with the Finance Committee and Town Planning Committee and submit a report.’
The next meeting of full Council on 3 January 1934 agreed that the committee should investigate further, though it also wanted the remarks of the Superintendant of Parks about flooding not doing damage to the proposed gardens to be deleted. Also presented to the Council at the same
meeting was a letter to the Town Clerk from Professor James Ritchie of the University of Aberdeen, suggesting the Council should consider making Walker Dam a bird sanctuary. This
was remitted to Streets and Works Committee for consideration. (The two schemes were possibly
not wholly compatible - some residents opposed turning the site into a pleasure park on the grounds that it would interfere with the natural beauty and the birdlife of the site.)
It seems that these two proposals had been prompted by the threat of the dam being filled in or otherwise scrapped: two days after the Council meeting, a reader’s letter to the
Aberdeen Journal urged that the dam should be improved and made safe for children rather than ‘done away with’.
The writer suggested that a low wall could be built around it, ‘made from the old dykes that have been pulled down in the vicinity’. Whatever enclosure was erected in 1911 after the drowning incident had evidently not endured.
The same edition of the paper published an old photograph of the dam ‘before it was drained’.
This remark referred to the decision to run off the water in the dam the previous year, to obviate flood damage to the surroundings. However, doing so had created other problems – correspondents to the Aberdeen Journal in 1934 complained about the condition of the dam as ‘an evil-smelling mudhole’ and ‘horrible looking and stinking’, especially during hot weather, and recommended that the Medical Officer of Health should investigate.
Whatever schemes were mooted for the dam, they took a considerable time to be implemented.
The better part of two years later, a short Bon-Accord article of October 1935 reports work being undertaken to transform Walker Dam, ‘from its present wild state’.
From the mid-1940s and during the 1950s, Stewart Construction (Aberdeen) Ltd., which was by then the heritable proprietor of the Craigiebuckler estate, built several housing developments on the land around Walker Dam.29
The minute of a meeting of the Links and Parks Committee of Aberdeen Town Council, held on 24 August 1964, notes that the committee considered a report by the Director of Parks and agreed the recommendation that the Council lay out an amenity area on ground lying to the south of the woodlands at Walker Dam extending to c. 0.75 of an acre. This was one of three proposed (and agreed) amenity areas to be created in the vicinity and included in the report, the others being a
strip of ground on the south side of Hazledene Road (c. 0.4 acre), and two strips of ground adjoining Craigiebuckler Avenue (c. 3,150 square yards).
The total estimated cost is given as £1,470.30
By this time Walker Dam had become home to a community of swans. The Press & Journal reported that the Links and Parks Committee of 30 September 1964 considered a letter from the
Aberdeen Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, requesting the committee ban fishing in Walker Dam, so as to protect the swans living on it. The committee recommended no action.
This was the second attempt by the association to have fishing banned: it had submitted a similar request at the previous meeting. The renewal of the request was prompted by the discovery of a cygnet badly injured by a fishing hook and line.
Walker Dam is no longer a swan habitat, but they were a popular feature of Walker Dam for many years. When Walker Dam Infant School opened in 1966, it adopted the emblem of swans on water as its school badge. (The swans have also inspired the song, ‘Walker Dam’, by Aberdeen singer-songwriter Bob Knight.)
A Springfield resident, Mrs Nanette Grieve, had left the Council a bequest on her death in 1955 to
fund the services of a warden to protect them.
At times, much effort was put into ensuring this protection: the Evening Express in 1972 reported that the Council had mounted a vigil of ‘almost Loch Garten proportions’ to see that swan eggs made it to hatching. In previous years eggs had
been stolen or lost due to flooding.
As this suggests, the problem of flooding at Walker Dam, highlighted by the City Engineer in 1933, was still an issue over thirty years later.
In 1965, the Evening Express published ‘before and after’ photographs of the flooded area: the latter image shows Council parks and recreation staff laying out grounds and planting shrubs and other flora capable of surviving immersion for a Craigiebuckler Chartulery (Charter Register of Craigiebuckler, 1958-1959), CA/4/21 in Records of the Royal Burgh and City of Aberdeen, Aberdeen City Archives.
The newspaper also reported that the works were to include provision for the dam water to be diverted at times into a burn, so relieving the pressure and reducing the silting that had caused flooding problems in the past.
A 1969 article in the Aberdeen Press & Journal refers
to Walker Dam being a body of water ‘shaped and even bottomed by the combined operations of the Aberdeen Corporation Cleansing and Links & Parks Departments,’ and to a plan by Links & Parks to provide an amenity walk or nature trail along the course from Johnston Gardens to Hazlehead, via Walker Dam.
Today (2014) Walker Dam (with Rubislaw Link) is a 3.38 hectare Local Nature Conservation Site, run by Aberdeen City Council’s Countryside Ranger Service.33 Comprising a mix of open water, landscaped areas and semi-natural habitats, with a footpath running through it, Walker Dam is animportant recreational and educational resource, being one of the few larger bodies of water in the city.
[+3 in comments]
All of the ones in the comments are sooc, because I don't have time to edit them right now :p
[january 23, 2010]
76/365
www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0wHw9EH6Wc
I just work out.
It has been so loud to fall.
No more words, just tranquility.
Walkin along the danube.
Sweet smelles in the air.
The sun burns my skin.
I look for the tube.
It feels like going nowhere.
Emptiness and silence make me happy
and silence make me happy.
More or less I'm satisfied and feel my inner me.
Emptiness and silence make me happy.
More or less I just don't mind.
I am where I wanna be.
Emptiness and silence make me happy.
She loves a man and he loves her too.
but they don't know.
I'll get anlong.
I just remeber that smile.
The smell is on my skin.
Feeling you, feel the sunlight.
I know I cannot win.
Feeling you
I know I cannot win.
(G.I. Orange – Psychic Magic 1985
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrrVoxg2lZM
Returning from the war of love I look into your eyes
Look into the future knowing there is no disguise)
Paradise: (entering Green Griffin Gallery) Mom? (looks around)
Amber: Maybe she's gone?
Paradise: My mom's always the last to leave.
Linda: (comes out of a side office wearing a professional smile which she drops when she sees who it is) Par, grounded doesn't mean you should bring along your friends.
Paradise: She wouldn't have come along, but there's this amazing fortune telling machine we saw!
Amber: She means annoying, not amazing.
Paradise: Amazing.
(G.I. Orange - You know you hear me loud and clear making no mistake
Look into the pictures and the voices in your mind)
Amber: That's because it told you what you wanted to hear.
Paradise: It kinda told you what you wanted to hear.
Linda: As enthralling as it is, listening to the two of you bicker, could you explain what you're arguing about? What fortune telling machine?
(G.I. Orange – Psychic Magic Hot too hot from the start but you know you feel it)
Amber: The one at Green Dive.
Paradise: (sighs)
Linda: (eyes narrow) AT Green Dive?
Paradise: OUTside Green Dive, on the pier, Mom.
Linda: Don't take that tone with me, Par. You shouldn't be hanging around the pier.
Amber: Oh, we weren't hanging around, Mrs. Dylan. I said we should take a shortcut over the pier, to get Par here as quick as possible. Then we saw the machine and got distracted.
Paradise: So, it's her fault we were there.
Amber: Totally my fault.
(G.I. Orange – Simply cool simply bright put my mind in flight Psychic magic through and through)
Linda: Thank you for taking responsibility, Amber. Now, Paradise is grounded so I'll have to ask you to go home.
Amber: She's totally a star, Mrs. Dylan. She shouldn't be grounded for that.
Paradise: (sighs again)
Linda: A star?
Amber: Yeah, that's why Champagne gave her that dress.
Linda: I didn't think I'd seen it before.
Amber: And it's new. It's, like, and actual gift. Cham doesn't do that unless she's impressed.
Linda: I believe you, but I don't think she should be impressed by Par's antics at the drive-in.
Amber: That's just it, they weren't antics. She was making a statement.
Linda: With her backside?
Amber: Look, her uniform got stuck in a car door and ripped. Everybody saw it, especially Fawn Springlon, and a bunch of kids started to vid it.
Paradise: Including Fawn's groupies.
Amber: So, Par had two choices; run and hide and face smirks and gossip today, or own it and use it to make herself a star. People cheered for her, Mrs. Dylan. The kids in school think she's cool.
Linda: Because she did a dance in half her uniform?
Amber: Because she lost half her uniform, but not her dignity. She made it fun, she showed people that accidents happen, but there's a way up from the well of embarrassment. You just gotta be willing to swim to the surface.
(G.I. Orange – You believe in me but only no one else can see, Cruel there ifs it's nothing more than could be right, But then I hear your voice I hear your voice)
Linda: (stares at Amber for a long moment) That was actually ... insightful.
Amber: I've got a whole drawer full of spoons, today.
Linda: (bewildered) Spoons?
Paradise: (interrupts) Never mind. Mom, the machine said I am going to marry Tyler Griffin!
Linda: It said that?
Amber: It said, yes. SHE asked it if she would marry Tyler Griffin, and it said yes. Just, yes. Machines aren't supposed to just say, yes or no.
Paradise: It didn't just say yes or no to you.
Amber: No, it was rude.
Linda: Rude?
(G.I. Orange – Psychic Magic, Hot too hot from the start but you know you feel it)
Paradise: (smirks) Amber asked if she'd be a success as an artist and it said; monetarily yes, emotionally no.
Linda: What in the world does that mean?
Amber: Right? She's a rude little b--
Paradise: (interrupts) Bimbo. But it's got great special effects. It's a hologram.
Linda: A hologram, really?
Paradise: (nods) Yeah, she doesn't look like one of those stereotypes, either.
Amber: You know, long black wig, colorful head scarf, too much eyeliner.
Paradise: She looks all futuristic; steel grey eyes, short white hair, black bodysuit.
Amber: Like a Dominatrix fortune teller.
Paradise: (sighs)
(G.I. Orange – Psychic Magic, Love for a love get her kiss there is not a single word)
Linda: Oh, does she? (frowns) I'd better take a look at this machine. It's one thing for something like that to be inside the Dive, where you have to be over twenty-one to see it, but tourists aren't going to appreciate their five year olds looking at a Dominatrix.
Amber: And being rude and weird.
Paradise: It's a machine, Amber.
(G.I. Orange – Psychic Magic
Hot too hot from the start but you know you feel it
Psychic Magic
Love for a love get her kiss there is not a single word)
Thank you to the cast!
Paradise: Kes M
Amber: Kes R
Linda: Eclaire
Set Design: Bailey
(Originally uploaded on May 22, 2018. Chatgpt re-imagined from original SL photo on 05/21/26.)
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.
~Lao Tzu
Black and white version here.
Best viewed large.
Chosen as the group icon for Flower Photography.
Knowing that my everyday spots would be occupied by others, I went for different! 35028 Clan Line from above approaching Winchfield on 1Z84, the Sherborne to Victoria return John Farrow Salute.
Taken from Old Potbridge Road...
Knowing where these ex Reading Buses has got to, some went to First Kernow, others Rosso and more went with Connexions. This one went to AOT Coaches of Nottingham before moving to Midland Classic when the 8 has stopped running altogether. I got to admit it looks very smart with the redone seating.
no. YN05 GXG
Knowing most of my R1 pics are in Nottingham or Eastwood, it's time to move away from the usual and go back to Heanor for another MMC photo. With Ripley and Alfreton to follow at a later date.
no. YX20 OJE
Knowing that another batch of snow was coming, I made myself do a drive SE of the city two days ago. I didn’t feel at all like going out, but I think I was out for about 5 hours total. I also needed to check what my car was doing. It worked fine until I was way out east, but when I turned around to start going home, all the lights went out on my dashboard again. They did come on twice, but just very briefly. With sunglasses, I could see nothing, but without sunglasses on I could just make out a few faint numbers. Nothing at all on my GPS screen. I did think about driving straight to Honda again, but then thought that if I took it in, then I would no doubt be collecting it when we were getting the new snow. I will definitely be taking it in, though, as soon as possible.
The very first thing I saw on my drive was a coyote – extremely distant and I was looking at it, wondering if it was a small, dead bush, until it suddenly got up and ran, ha. No photo.
Also took photos of various old barns and sheds, including several new-to-me ones. Called in at Herronton, too, just to take a few shots of the old grain elevator.
Not much at all in the way of birds, apart from two very distant flocks of Gray Partridge, a Rough-legged Hawk, and one extra special sighting. When I was driving westwards on my homeward drive, I suddenly realized that it looked like something white on top of a light pole, right at the intersection before I was going to turn north. A beautiful female Snowy Owl! A few huge truck trailers and other vehicles driving just there, yet the owl chose that pole. I was only sitting in my car for a handful of minutes, and she was looking away from me, apart from two or three quick glances in my direction, so there was no point in taking lots of identical shots. Not the greatest photos, as they were taken through the windscreen. I was SO thankful to see her, as this was the first Snowy Owl of this year for me. Very soon, they will all be flying way up north till next winter.
Knowing we don't decorate for Christmas, my sister made one for us and delivered it today. Cool tree! Thanks very much, Sis!
our-tree_4943
Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.
Unknown
Cuando le digo a alguien que estoy llendo a un psicologo la respuesta más habitual suele ser:
- "Bueno, tranquila, tú no estas loca, tengo un/a XXX que también va"
y yo suelo pensar de vuelta
- "Loca yo? loco/a tu, que también lo necesitas y no te das cuenta"
When I tell someone I'm going to a psychologist the most common answer is:
- "Fine, don´t worry, you're not crazy, I have a XXX that is visiting one too "
and I usually think back...
- "Crazy?me? Crazy you that you need one too and you doesn´t seem to realize"
iPhone wallpaper of the movie "Knowing". I changed the background and removed the font so that all you see is good 'old' earth...
Tomorrow, I am back in hospital for a full days assessment and if all goes to plan, 6 months chemo starts on Friday.
Not knowing how the chemo is going to affect me I was determined to have a decent session today just in case I have to take the rest of the year off.
I have put about half a stone of weight back on since last week so wanted to see how I looked relatively thin.
I told my wife (who works from home to look after me) that I wanted to dress and she was fine.
I spent a fair amount of time on the make-up but I am still very shaky so it could have been better.
I haven't shaved my legs for months but I can't bend to complete that task.
I wanted to try some shape wear to smooth out the areas where I have had surgery. I have lost so much weight that all the items that were previously tight were so loose I didn't think they would have any effect. As it happened, it all worked and turned out to be very comfortable, in fact the most comfortable I have been since the surgery.
The first dress I planned to go out in had previously been tight and the side zip had been hard to fasten up; today the dress was so big I took it off and found something more flattering but still not too tight.
A trip to the pub for a Mocktail and a coffee and then back home to get it all off again.
Another short session, all over and done from start to finish in about an hour and a half.
It was great to get out, I felt great and was very happy with the result of the weight loss.
Hopefully I won't be out of action for too long and hope I can keep my weight down from what it was a few months ago. I have been worried that I might have lost my Mojo but everything seems to be intact.
Knowing how much I adore her Pink Lady tomatoes, farmer Bridget Brown surprised me at the Cedar Falls Saturday Farmers Market with a shoebox containing these two beauties. They were her first of the season!
Both are heirloom varieties: Pink Lady on the bottom and Amana Orange on the top. Before they could be eaten, I, of course, had to paint them. Perfectly ripe, we ate the Pink Lady for Sunday lunch. August 18, 2013
In private collection.
I spotted this ornamental cactus about to bloom by my daughter's pool and sat in a chair and waited, knowing that it would be an excellent photo prop. I soon learned that the blooms closed down during the hot afternoon... this seems to be a night-blooming cactus. I binged on shots during the early morning though. In this light with this sun angle you can't pick up much of the (purple) gorget color, but the long flared gorget shape is diagnostic of the expected male Hummers.
IMG_0022; Costa's Hummingbird
Knowing I was putting it all away made me finally photograph it properly. Photos are even better than the real thing - at least, a lot more share-able.
I took this knowing the heron was about to strike, but it still startled me when it did, therefore a bit jumpy video afterwards. It was fun to watch.
Despite a lifetime of knowing, and on occasion indulging, that I love to cross-dress as a woman it has always been a desire that has been an activity I rarely manage engage with. It comes down to real life I that I have other commitments and priorities that I feel must come ahead of my own desires. For me personally, my own family and their security are what I feel more strongly about over my own trans feelings and dressing as a woman.
In a good year I may enjoy two cross-dressing sessions though sometimes I may have to wait several years between sessions. Despite the long periods of no cross-dressing I don't feel too distraught. I say that as my family are aware I like to spend tome as a woman, though they are not delighted by this they do tolerate it. It is an open secret in the family but is never discussed. I have mo wish to cause upset and disruption so I'm very willing too keep quiet about how I feel about wanting to present as a female and how I feel emotionally when I do set free my female self. I say that as I feel truly fortunate that my family do let me go ahead and cross-dress completely.
By completely I mean I am able to pluck my eyebrows, shave my legs, chest and arms, apply make-up as a woman would, pant my nails, wear dresses, high heels and wigs and feel utterly free as the female I know exists within me. This may sound a bit strange, but when I transform into my female alter-ego, I no longer feel I am a man, I love being the woman I've become.
I accept that may be see as delusional as it is on the surface a facade, it's illusion created by make-up, shaving and wearing female clothing. I'm sure the general perception would be I am merely dressing up as an actor may for a performance. I feel though, at leat for me, more is involved than that. I will confess, the male part of me does actually enjoy the transformation process and creating the outward illusion of trying to look like a woman, there is a suppressed actor lurking within me, so becoming the character is an element of what I enjoy.
There is more to it than that, It has taken many years of fighting self doubt to admit to myself but a part of me loves the emotional release that I am not a man anymore, it takes me beyond the initial enjoyment of performance. I feel I'm moving into becoming!
I adore being Helene, I absolutely love being her. I say her, but really she is me. I enjoy being a female. This may add to me being even more delusional as I live as a man, but I won't deny I feel good freeing this part of myself.
I feel more alive and confident being a woman, and I enjoy the change that occurs emotionally. I become more chatty, more tactile, more open, my emotions are expressed more freely, it just feels so fulfilling. This may a symptom of the reality that I so rarely get to appear as a woman so it all comes to the fore when I do become Helene. I do find I am more fun loving as a woman and I often feel a kind of sexiness and flirtyness emerging.
At times I so forget I am a man that I imagine I could be girlfriend or a wife, I am contented to be the female. I say that but there is a twist! The thing I have realised over the years is though I would enjoy the thrill of being perceived as a woman alongside a man, I could only ever do that as a performance. The truth is I am not attracted to men but I am attracted to women (some may so much I wanted to be one!). I think Helene the woman is a lesbian. Knowing that, gives me quite a boost as I've been wondering for years about my sexuality. I just find women appealing and attractive and have no feelings like that towards men.
I think cross-dressing is driven by many different desires by those of us who engage in it. We all have varied motivations driving us as is evident by the wide ranging presentations shown here on Flickr be it from a transsexual aspect to sexual excitement, it covers a wide spectrum.
The underlying thing that prevails, whatever one's motivations are, we all seem to enjoy our cross-dressing. On the whole cross-dressing is for me a form of true self expression and I am delighted I am one.
A note on the accompanying picture. I do have aspirations to pass a real woman. This affects my choice of make-up, hair and clothing. Though I still enjoy the occasional cross-dresser indulgence of short dresses, big heels and lots of make-up, I also enjoy trying to create a real world daytime style such as a real woman may choose. In this session, my last cross-dressing opportunity back in October 2023, I was a bit ham fisted with my make-up (being out of practice) but wanted to appear as feminine but casual. I chose a woman floral patterned shirt, a denim skirt (of course I had to wear a skirt as I had just shaved my legs) a pair of wedge heel sandals, a casual brush out of my blonde wig, hoop ear rings, a hint of perfume, and I chose a more muted lipstick and applied softer eyeliner before finishing off with my usual two coats of mascara on my lashes. I felt quite the girl when I was done! I just love becoming a woman.
Worship God in Spirit and in Truth | A Cappella "The Result Achieved by Knowing God" | Gospel Music
One day,
you will feel that the Creator
is no longer a riddle,
that the Creator has never been hidden from you,
that the Creator
has never concealed His face from you,
that the Creator is not at all far from you,
that the Creator is no longer the One that you constantly long for in your thoughts but that you cannot reach with your feelings,
that He is really and truly standing guard to your left and right,
supplying your life, and controlling your destiny, controlling your destiny.
He is not on the remote horizon, nor has He secreted Himself high up in the clouds.
He is right by your side, presiding over your all,
He is everything that you have, and He is the only thing you have.
Such a God
allows you to love Him from the heart,
cling to Him, hold Him close, admire Him,
fear to lose Him,
and be unwilling to renounce Him any longer, disobey Him any longer,
or any longer to evade Him or put Him at a distance.
All you want is to care for Him, obey Him,
requite all that He gives you, and surrender to His dominion.
You no longer refuse to be guided,
supplied, watched over, and kept by Him,
no longer refuse what He dictates and ordains for you,
what He dictates and ordains for you.
All you want is to follow Him, walk alongside Him to His left or right, to follow Him, walk alongside Him to His left or right,
all you want is to accept Him as your one and only Lord,
all you want is to accept Him as your one and only Lord, your one and only God.
You no longer
You no longer
You no longer
You no longer
refuse to be guided, supplied, watched over, and kept by Him,
no longer refuse
no longer refuse
no longer refuse
no longer refuse
what He dictates and ordains for you, what He dictates and ordains for you.
All you want is to follow Him, walk alongside Him to His left or right, to follow Him, walk alongside Him to His left or right,
all you want is to accept Him as your one and only Lord,
all you want is to accept Him as your one and only Lord, your one and only God.
All you want is to follow Him, walk alongside Him to His left or right, to follow Him, walk alongside Him to His left or right,
all you want is to accept Him as your one and only Lord, as your one and only Lord, your one and only God,
your one and only God.
from Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh
Knowing that winds could gust to 50 mph and waves could reach 17feet or higher, we gathered our gear and headed to Cleveland Monday to the shores of Lake Erie. When we arrived we were fortunate enough to witness the power and furry of the Great Lakes.
Risk comes from not knowing what youre doing Quote Meaning
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Main Topic: Risk Quotes Related Topics: Doing, Youre, Knowing,...
Author: Warren Buffett
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Still in old Shanghai, Carolyn is making her way to a rendezvous.
Please join Carolyn's group and let's get her elegance and beauty seen by a wide audience: www.flickr.com/groups/14893465@N24/.
Knowing & Remembering always that,
The Beatles, the whole of them,
Are now available,
On various and main streaming platforms from today,
December 24th, 2015.
Enjoy !!!