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One of the two welcoming signs in Ninga. Ninga is one of many prairie towns that were once thriving and are now slowly dying.
Granny is headed to Washington.
We’re Here : optimistic Cloudgoat.
My chariot courtesy of www.myartprints.co.uk/a/anonymous-painter/model-of-a-two-... where I found a Bridgeman Library picture of a sculpture discovered in the Tiber River, currently located in the British Museum, London.
This drawing was originally inspired by a discussion between Lawrence Weschler, Errol Morris, Dr. Kanan Makiya, and W.J.T. Mitchell as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival. The subject was the iconography of war and how people live with and process the myriad tragic and frightening images that have become a part of our everyday experience. It occurred to me that these iconic images fail us, or more that we fail them, in that we continually allow new atrocities to bloom, that we author many or most of these great calamities ourselves, and that we allow history to repeat itself over and over, only with more technological savvy as each new conflict arises so that we are further removed from the killing than we were the last time. When i see photos of depravity, of war, of suffering, of humiliation and dehumanization, such as the photos from Abu Ghraib that so many of us have seen, i want to believe that the images are powerful and profound enough to shock us into action, into some kind of patient and benevolent revolution to actually make the world better, to accept and respect all the differences in cultures and histories and ideologies and live amicably if not peacefully. Clearly i’m either too optimistic or too naive, because we fight, maim, lie and kill in the name of empire, religion, oil, just as we always have and likely always will. And many of us believe what we are told about the righteousness of our crimes and the trueness of our aim with little or no question because it is simply what we are told by those we expect to be in the know.
So the drawing at its inception was a collage of iconic images of war and struggle, a superimposed collection of calamity. It was my hope that the volume of sadness and destruction in this drawing would serve as a reminder for myself, an alarm to help me wake from my own apathy and disillusionment in the face of the grinding and monstrous engine of modern government and the political machine that can apparently function on nothing but the blackest crude, a reminder that i need to let history inform every decision and choice that i make so i’m not simply stumbling and blind as i move through the world, that if i am going to be a part of any change, it should be positive change.
The drawing has changed, however, and is no longer based solely in the literal, in the photo realism of our recent past, but for me it has also begun to acquire a symbolism and metaphorical nature that feels relative to our future. This piece has taken on its own life, separate from me, and i don’t feel like i control it anymore, neither the direction of the imagery used nor the execution of each individual piece of imagery, but rather that i’m slowly opening and receiving what comes in. It feels akin to the process of pollination. Foreign bodies have entered and have had a profound effect, life-changing even, and in realizing that effect, those foreign bodies become familiar and essential.
i’ve rewritten these lines a dozen times and i’m never satisfied with what appears on the page. It could be that for me there is no satisfaction in talking about my own failures as a person living today, or maybe i don’t want to sermonize what i see as the collective failures of everyone. It’s also possible that instead of all this writing and talking, all i can really do is draw a picture and let you do with it what you will.
It was not my goal to make a drawing of ruin, but when i consider where we seem to be going and how desperately we seem to want to get there, i don’t know that i could avoid it. At least, not this time.
3-24-08
Since the 19th of March, when Chicago held its 5 year anniversary rally/march/protest for the invasion of Iraq, a great deal of information has come my way that is causing me a great deal of concern. And fear. And anger. And i don't know if anyone else out there who might intentionally or accidentally stumble upon these paragraphs knows more or less than i do, but my knowledge is only starting to expand regarding where we are as a country and as a society, and even in my peripheral knowledge of the kind of insidious and deep running corruption we're living with and in, i find myself in a state of shock because so few people are responding to this information...which is available, it's definitely out there...and i know so few people who have any sense of outrage at all, who feel that their rights are being taken from them and are not anything more than sarcastic about it. As if they simply expected it and are willing to accept it because, well, what can one person do?
Habeas Corpus is gone. None of the current politicians are talking about that. This scares me. This essential right, now taken away, is one of the major dividing lines between a free society and a police state. And there's so much to say that i can't do it here. There is so so much to talk about. Habeas Corpus is just the literal tip of a vast and murky iceberg that i fear is about to sink our titanic self-image and our possibly vague and misguided ideas about what America is. And i don't want to sink.
8-5-08
Since i last made an entry here, not much has changed. The telecoms have been granted retroactive immunity, which in short means that our channels of communication can be monitored, and done so with no repercussions to those doing the monitoring. Which means we should probably fear that anything critical we have to say about the society we live in could be used against us, but not in a court of law. A closed society, a police state, requires no court of law. Barack Obama supported this retroactive immunity, which elicited a long thin sigh of disappointment from myself and many others. The young people canvassing the streets to raise money for his campaign didn’t have much to say about that, at least not here in Chicago. Some of them didn’t seem to know what i was talking about, to be honest. He may have had his reasons. There may have been other items tacked on to this particular legislation that he wanted to see get “through the system.” But could those reasons really outweigh our civil liberties, our small comfort in thinking we can speak freely? i still think Obama is the only candidate running for president. But i also think he has only used his offices to get to bigger and better offices. He hasn’t done much for Illinois since he’s been Senator because he immediately started running for president. i hope that once he wins that office he’ll be able to get something done, anything, as long as it’s in the opposite direction our current administration has been taking us. Clearly it is the most unsuccessful administration in the history of our young country. The most insensitive, the most rash and unthinking, the most ignorant and arrogant. i’m happy i was around to see it. Witnessing this kind of colossal failure offers an infinitely important challenge to mankind: The chance to fix things. Our fuck-ups have been on a global scale, and we need to make global amends. Coming out of this fog of war and corruption, we have an opportunity. It isn’t the first time we’ve had this opportunity, and if it’s the last then we won’t be here to consider it.
Also:
How about we stop being so silly? The New Yorker cover? It’s satire. We of all people should know what satire is. And it’s ironic that so many of us, including the Obama’s, were so offended by this illustration. We call ourselves the land of the free, yet our country was founded on genocide. Is that not irony? Are we not a satire of what we claim to be? Liberators? Come on. i know it's hard to have a sense of humor in these dark ages, but if we fail to see the absurdity in such situations and responses to those situations it will only add to the already frightening pile of things we've failed at.
More very soon, if you care...
9-22-08
And now, a word from my paramour, Cassandra:
----------------
This is a bit long, but the financial cluster-f#@$ we're in is complicated and it seems the Bush administration would just like Congress to sign off on the bailout, no questions asked, no strings attached. So, if you can't slog through this whole text, could you, would you, please, skip to the end, call your elected officials and tell them you're not okay with signing off on a trillion dollar bailout without knowing the details or that only assists the companies that got us into this mess? And then, feel free to whittle it down, but could you pass it on? In email and/or phone calls to the folks you know that haven't yet crossed the digital divide? Yes, you know them; some of your parents, neighbors, etc. They don't really care for the world wide web, but they still believe in democracy and hopefully, the telephone. It's an awful lot of money that we're being asked to pony up. Wait! We're not being asked! That's why you have to call your Senator!
We've been told that in order to avert a major financial catastrophe, the bailout is necessary and needs to happen immediately. And that may be true, but it seems like we're not being told enough. Will the executives that run these companies that are crashing and burning, still receive their multi-million dollar pay and bonus packages while employees lose jobs, health benefits and retirement funds? Will there be any relief (of course we won't bail out your average working stiff, I'm not THAT naive) for the person who's losing their house, their business, their pension? Where is the money coming from? Where exactly are we borrowing $700 billion to a trillion from? What is the plan after? What will prevent this from happening again in a couple of months? We're going to be on the hook for this money (on top of the crushing debt we're already under) for a long, long, long, long time. Or is this another preemptive strike with no exit strategy? This feels a bit familiar, no? A dangerous set of circumstances that requires swift and bold (shock and awe) tactics to keep us all safe? Calling for nearly unfettered powers, (this time to the Treasury secretary)? "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." Intense pressure on Congress to pass a rescue measure quickly?
online.wsj.com/article/SB122200573768460503.html
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/20/...
krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/no-deal/
Even this guy doesn't like the idea:
www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/trillion_dollar_bailou...
Does anyone remember the S&L crisis? Which cost American tax payers, some estimate, $1.4 trillion dollars? Sound familiar? Some highlights: During the senior George Bush administration, Jeb Bush defaulted on a $4.56 million dollar real estate loan, paid $500,000 back, the $4million balance was paid of by... um... you, the taxpayer. Neil Bush became director of Silverado Savings and Loan in 1985. Three years later the institution was belly up at a cost of $1.6 billion to... you again! The taxpayer bailed them out!
A more thorough account here:
www.city-data.com/forum/politics-other-controversies/4386...
A 1989 Time Magazine article here:
www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,957083,00.html
(Note that Bush Sr. asked Congress to act within 45 days to prevent financial meltdown. Bush Jr. wants this passed tomorrow, Monday Sept 22, 2008. So, please don't wait to phone your elected officials.)
Accountability? Not much. We paid their bad debt and they went on their merry way. No indictments, no jail time, not even garnishments or freezing of assets to re-coup the embezzled money. Jeb even got to keep the building he took out the loan to buy! Bush Sr. wasn't re-elected, but Jeb was later elected Governor of Florida! (Schwing Vote!) An office he held during the Florida Supreme Court ruling that stopped the recount of the 2000 election his brother, W, "won". (Holy Serendipity!) Hey! Here's another interesting side note: did you know that this time last year August 30, 2007 Lehman Bros hired Jeb as an advisor?! Me neither! It's funny how these things go mostly unreported. Wonder why Lehman didn't get in on the bailout deal? Sibling rivalry? If you think your head won't explode, you should go here for Jeb's breathtaking resume:
www.atlargely.com/2008/09/what-is-jeb-bus.html
So, this is just one (eerily familiar) example of how the Bush family and their friends have been fleecing us for generations and we, the voters, the taxpayers, the people that our government is supposed to be "of, by, and for" are letting them have their very greedy way with us. Over and over and over again. They do it, frankly, because they can. We keep letting them fleece us (or another word that begins with "F") and we shrug, or rant, sometimes we take to the streets, but not often. But we don't act. We feel overwhelmed and totally hopeless, so we turn on the television or fire up the internets or find some other, any other diversion not to think about how overwhelming and hopeless it feels. But I am imploring you to call your elected officials, the ones who you took the time to vote into office, the ones you elected to represent you, call them and ask that they do what you elected them to do: Represent you. It's redundant, I know, but I think we forget that they work for US. (Even the ones you didn't vote for, still work for you.) Make them work. Tell them what you think. It'll take minutes. Minutes out of your day to use your voice to not allow our government to spend our money without accountability. Again. And if nothing happens, if we don't manage to start a movement today, that's okay. Because we did move. We stood. We didn't just sit idly by while we got filched. Or another word that starts with "F"...
Find your State Representative: forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
Find your Senator: www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.c...
Patriotically yours,
Cassandra
----------------
9-28-08
A New Delhi-based journalist who has worked with The Guardian and BBC invited me to contribute this image to a brief story about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on a news-gathering website called NowPublic. Their motto is "Crowd Powered Media," which could be good or bad, depending on the crowd. To be honest, i think the crowd is ok, so i was happy to be invited. Here it is: www.nowpublic.com/world/un-investigate-bhutto-killing
It's small, but it's something. If one person wants to see it, i want them to see it. So thank you, Mr. Jha.
10-28-08
People! If you're still reading this far, please look at this:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdNgMKPV9xQ&eurl=http://gobnf...
We can't ignore it. We can't sit back and watch. We need to be active. Informed. Right now. We need to use our power and we need to remake our government, our country, our world.
11-04-08
Let us hope that this is the beginning of a new American era.
Marker on watercolor paper.
Late 2007 – Early 2008
30 x 22
Optimistic fishers gather at the end of Murrays Bay Wharf, Auckland, enjoying the early spring morning sun.
Yashica Electro 35 GSN
Ilford Delta 100
Around sunset, a couple days ago.
We moved to our new apartment this month and this was a nice way to celebrate the photographic possibilities from this 15th floor point-of-view. We didn't have any serious storm that day, despite the alert in the morning... Spot the rainbow.
Stitched pano from about 23 photos, taken at around 30 mm. In hindsight, I should have just used a wider lens. I had another layer of photos for the clouds above the frame but didn't account for how fast the wind was moving them and how quickly they were changing. That was a nightmare to stitch in post and in the end I just had to give up on that top strip of clouds, which in my opinion was the most dramatic :(
Sometimes when the times are at their darkest point, the brightest pictures come to light.
November last year wasn't my finest time. But even when I know I wasn't happy and everything was sort of crumbling down I feel optimistic when I look at my past self here. There isn't sadness in my eyes, and somehow, that tiny little stupid thing makes me feel so strong.
optimistic about gods
and I do believe in good
but as autumn gets closer
it gets hard to keep the mood
- Frosted July -
I try to be an optimistic realist…seeing what could be possible but realizing it will usually take real work and effort to get there.
So here I am back out and about…nothing too amazing… but I’m doing it again.
The day was mostly uneventful as Becky's days go. Most stores still have their dressing rooms closed here, so I didn’t find much fun in just touring the racks, as these days I like to see how something is going to look on, before I buy it.
It has been rather warm, so long outdoors activity was also a bit limited. I could have gone to the city, but I was looking to end my day up in the Walnut Creek area and meet up with my friends from the DVGs for dinner and socializing.
But it was nice to be back out and I got a nice boost from a long time friend who, after talking with me for a few minutes, stopped mid-sentence and, Said “You look really good today”…”not that you don’t look good usually but you look very nice, your make up….”
When she was done…just a short set of comments, I stopped her. “Thank you” I said. “It’s not that I need a lot of complements, but today that hit very deeply, as I’ve been struggling to feel like I’m getting back on track again, so thank you very much.” And we continued chatting about some other thing unrelated to TG things.
I didn’t take her comment to mean I looked gorgeous or anything like that, but just that I looked very put together, comfortable and natural and I was back being the nice, friendly, calm and confidence woman she had come to know over the last decade or so. (Just for the record, she was in male mode, but joined us anyways.)
So, I think I’m back…a little older and heavier than before the COVID pandemic hit, but I’m back. I look forward to getting to spend some more femme time soon. It might be a little bit, because I have lots of things vying for my time right now. Family, friends and more that all got set aside for a bit last year.
Anyways you all be well and I hope things will be opening up for you all soon as well.
On a side note: We are now at 82% of folks over 12 vaccinated in my county. Something I quite happy with, but things have really slowed down here, which means we still have nearly 1 in 5 people who have bought into the stupid and self-destructive COVID hoax movement that still exists here. By this point we could have had nearly everyone over 12 vaccinated and the pandemic would be gone here, but because of these stupid and ignorant folks, we are still being held back from really getting back to normal.
The really irritating thing is these are mostly the same people who didn’t want to help stop the spread when COVID was raging last year and they will cause additional unfortunate death and grief, for really no reason at all. Its free, its available, it works amazing well and there is little risk or side effects.
Another sign of the truly insane times we are currently living in.
Be well, Hugs, Becky
I already purchased the pots & aquatic soil for my sprouting water Lotus/water lily seeds. I will just have to add water & hope the cats don’t mess with them. The pot has a magnolia design.
During the early optimistic days of ownership by the Thai-based company SSI UK, GB Railfreight-operated Di8 class diesel-electric loco No.820 'Poppy' draws a loaded torpedo wagon away from the Redcar Blast Furnace on 31st October 2012. The 'Di8' class was previously used for freight traffic by the Norwegian railway company CargoNet. Twenty locos were constructed in 1996-97 at the Maschinenbau Kiel (MaK) plant in Kiel when it was part of 'Siemens Schienenfahrzeugtechnik' and GB Railfreight acquired ten for the Redcar contract. SSI UK went into liquidation during October 2015, resulting in 1,700 job losses at the plant alone. Further use was found for most of the Di8 class locos at Scunthorpe Steelworks, and it wasn't until August 2021 when the first demolition work of the plant commenced in earnest.
© Gordon Edgar 2012 - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission
The story of the abandoned Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou, Mississippi is told in the attached article from the Mississippi Business Journal:
MOUND BAYOU — A block down from Kennedy Johnson’s new barbecue restaurant sits a boarded-up symbol of a Delta town’s haunting past and optimistic future.
Taborian Hospital was one of the first modern medical facilities in Mississippi that was built, owned and operated by African-Americans. The old medical center here has been shuttered for three decades, but the “no trespassing” signs will soon come off.
“I made a promise to my mother in 2002 that I would work to get Taborian Hospital restored,” said Johnson, who served as the town’s mayor for 12 years. “Even though she is not here to see it, I made good on that promise.”
The hospital, later renamed Mound Bayou Community Hospital, closed in 1983 due to increased regulations, competition from new clinics and hospitals and federal cutbacks. The long effort to revive it by Johnson, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and descendants of the hospital’s founders paid off when the town received a $2.9 million federal grant in 2011.
In July, crews began working to turn the old hospital into the new Taborian Urgent Care Center. Officials hope the center is the shot in the arm needed to trigger economic development in the 126-year-old town.
Mound Bayou is a place with a storied past. Isaiah T. Montgomery and his cousin, Benjamin T. Green, both born into slavery, founded the town in 1887 during the post-Civil War era when many were debating how to mitigate “the Negro problem.”
The phrase was a crude way of questioning the place of black people in American society. Some advocated the back-to-Africa movement. Many worked for integration. And others, like Montgomery and Green, supported all-black townships where African-Americans lived in self-sufficient cities that provided some insulation from the racial violence of the day. While some former 19th century black townships now boast diverse populations, Mound Bayou remains 99 percent African-American, according to recent Census figures.
“When I was first elected mayor, the town had a $1 million debt; we were suspended from receiving state and federal grants, and the town’s water ran brown and was undrinkable,” said Johnson, who lost his bid for re-election two months ago to another man named Johnson. “We cleaned up these problems, but the town still needs jobs. The urgent care center can bring much-needed jobs and training for those jobs, and also attract other businesses just like the old hospital did.”
The historic Taborian Hospital came to life about 72 years ago, after members of the fraternal organization the International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor launched a fundraising campaign to build the facility at the urging of the group’s Mississippi leader, Perry M. Smith.
“Papa told the story that when he visited one of the members of his order at a hospital in Jackson, that they were treating black people in a dirty basement,” said Smith’s granddaughter, Myrna Smith-Thompson.
“When he came home, he went to the members in the Mississippi chapter with the idea of building a hospital for the black community where we could come through the front door — not be left to die in a dirty basement.”
Members paid annual dues of $8.40 for adults and $1.20 for children, which entitled them to 31 days of hospitalization and a burial policy. Leaders also went to meetings held in churches from Benoit to Yazoo City, where sharecroppers and farmers bought into the dream of a hospital to call their own.
“They were poorer than poor,” Smith-Thompson said about the sharecroppers. “But they paid for the memberships because they wanted to be treated with dignity and respect at a hospital.”
After raising $100,000 over 12 years, the Knights and Daughters of Tabor opened Taborian Hospital in February 1942.
Smith-Thompson, 64, was born there seven years later.
She remembers that the hospital on Edwards Avenue was a hub of activity in downtown Mound Bayou and helped the town rebound after The Great Depression.
“There were people coming to town to see the doctor or going to Norman’s Pharmacy or eating at the restaurants that opened when the hospital came to town,” she said.
“The hospital served as the catalyst to bring back the economic growth,” she added. “We see the urgent care center doing the exact same thing today.”
Smith-Thompson, who for more than a decade has fought to get the old hospital restored, was hired as the center’s educational development director.
She now lives in Illinois but commutes monthly to Mound Bayou, a Delta town of 1,500 residents 100 miles south of Memphis.
The federal grant is also paying for computers and the video conferencing equipment for a distance learning medical training program through Coahoma Community College. Now, students studying medical billing and coding won’t have to travel 40 miles to the course in Clarksdale. Ten residents have already completed a health care sanitation class in a separate Workforce Development program.
The idea to turn the old hospital into an urgent care center was conceived by Margo Christian-Brooks, who wrote the grant that secured the federal dollars for the hospital’s restoration.
Since the mid-20th century, Mississippi has received a generous portion of federal dollars. Today, for every dollar its residents pay in federal income taxes, the state collects more than two dollars of federal funding, which includes money for military spending, farm subsidies and industrial development. Yet, for years, the federal projects pipeline had bypassed Mound Bayou despite its anemic economy and median household income of $20,000 a year.
“The grant was for $6 million, and we asked for approximately half of it and we received it, which did not sit well with others that also applied for the money,” said Christian-Brooks, hired by the town to serve as the contract administrator and project manager for the urgent care center.
When it opens next year, the center in Mound Bayou will be the first one in Bolivar County. Currently, the closest urgent care is 80 miles away in Batesville, Miss.
The center is just the beginning of economic redevelopment for the area, said newly elected Mayor Darryl Johnson, who envisions opening a museum to showcase the town’s unique history.
“President Theodore Roosevelt called Mound Bayou, the ‘Jewel of the Delta’ after a trip here,” added Darryl Johnson. “Well, we are pulling that jewel straight out of the dirt, cleaning it off and we are going to make it shine again.”
Photo of the Similkameen River captured via Minolta MD Zoom Rokkor-X 24-50mm F/4 lens and the bracketing method of photography. Okanogan Highlands Region. Inland Northwest. Okanogan County, Washington. Early February 2018.
Exposure Time: 1/250 sec. * ISO Speed: ISO-100 * Aperture: F/11 * Bracketing: +1 / -1 * Color Temperature: 6650 K * Film Plug-In: Kodak Portra 160 NC
I had read about the new RSPB reserve opening and decided to take a look. It opened on the 25th of May. When we arrived there were only 2-3 cars. The visitor centre overlooked a lake, stunningly bleak view but with no birds to be seen. No birds and no people yet the RSPB staff and volunteers appeared were so cheery and optimistic. Once out onto the reserve and onto the hilltop you get a beautiful view of the reserve and hear the sound of Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Blackcaps and Whitethroats. When you descend you see the birds and also hear them. I would recommend it as a place to visit. I was very impressed!
www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/s/staidans/
St Aidan's is a perfect place to get close to nature and relax, unwind or exercise in a stress-free environment. Just outside Leeds on the banks of the River Aire, it's a big new space to walk, run, cycle, or ride your horse and enjoy the wildlife that surrounds you.
It has a wide range of wild plants and animals, and is home to thousands of birds, brown hares, roe deer, wild flowers and insects - all living in a stunning landscape of vast reedbeds, grassland, woodland, lakes, ponds and islands.
With a variety of circular paths of varying lengths and large areas of open grassland, St Aidan’s is a great place for families to enjoy the outdoors, share a picnic and play together.
Over 7.5 miles (12 km) of footpaths, bridleways and cycle routes connect the surrounding communities, with links to national footpath and cycle networks. St Aidan's is a fantastic place for locals wishing to explore the wider countryside or as a destination for people who love nature.
Opening times
St Aidan's is an open access site. Opening times apply to the visitor centre and car park. From March-October they're open from 9.30 am to 5 pm. From September-February it's 9.30 am to 4 pm. They're closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Entrance charges
Entry to the site is free but donations to help us continue our work are welcome. There is a car park charge of £2.50 per car for RSPB non-members. RSPB members and disabled badge holders park for free.
Information for dog owners
Dogs are allowed on the reserve as long as they are kept on a lead in the appropriate designated zones. There are some less sensitive areas within St Aidan's where dogs are allowed off the lead. Please check with staff before letting dogs off the lead.
Star species
Our star species are some of the most interesting birds you may see on your visit to the reserve.
Bittern
Bitterns are brown, secretive herons, camouflaged to hide amongst reeds. Visit in spring to hear male bitterns 'booming' or summer to watch the parents making feeding flights.
Great crested grebe
Watch the amazing courtship ritual of great crested grebes on the open water in spring. You may see pairs performing their 'weed dance' when they present one another with weed and patter across the surface of the water together.
Little owl
You may be lucky enough to find one of these compact owls perched in a tree or on a fencepost. They become very active at dusk and you may hear their shrill calls.
Marsh harrier
Look for marsh harriers gliding over the reedbed with their wings held upwards in a shallow 'v'. In spring, pairs perform their breathtaking 'skydancing' displays high in the sky.
Skylark
Spring visits will be enriched by the beautiful song of skylarks. They rise up into the air from the grassland until they are barely visible and only their song can be heard
www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/s/staidans/seasonal_highli...
Seasonal highlights
Each season brings a different experience at our nature reserves. In spring, the air is filled with birdsong as they compete to establish territories and attract a mate. In summer, look out for young birds making their first venture into the outside world. Autumn brings large movements of migrating birds - some heading south to a warmer climate, others seeking refuge in the UK from the cold Arctic winter. In winter, look out for large flocks of birds gathering to feed, or flying at dusk to form large roosts to keep warm.
Spring
Look out for marsh harriers displaying over the reedbeds, great crested grebes performing their elaborate courtship dances and returning swallows skimming low over the water and grasslands as they collect insects. Listen out for skylarks filling the air with their song, the deep booming of male bitterns, male snipe 'drumming' as they vibrate their tail feathers to attract females and lapwings calling as they perform their aerobatic displays. Enjoy the fusion of colour as wildflowers burst into bloom and a host of brightly-coloured butterflies and dragonflies take to the wing. Spring is also a great time to see kestrels. You can often see several hovering around the site at the same time as they hunt for voles in the grassland. Kestrels have also been seen nesting in the huge dragline.
Summer
Watch overhead for herons and little egrets dropping into the reeds to feed, female bitterns flying low over the reedbeds as they seek out food for their chicks or marsh harriers passing food to each other in flight. Keep an eye on the open water for lines of young ducklings paddling along behind their parents or young great crested grebes riding around on their parents' backs and admire the abundant lilypads on the lakes. Stoats, weasels and water voles are often seen at this time of year as are basking butterflies and dragonflies hawking the waters edge. Thousands of black-headed gulls set up a colony at this time of the year filling the air with their calls. Summer is the best time to spot the elusive black necked grebe as it will have its fluffy youngsters in tow. Avocets also nest at this time of year. St Aidan’s is a good place to spot this iconic bird that is the logo of the RSPB.
Autumn
Autumn sees the arrival of migrant birds, such as black-tailed godwits, ruffs and green sandpipers. Local birdwatchers will also spot a few rarities such as spoonbills and pectoral sandpipers. Huge flocks of lapwings arrive to spend winter with us and can be seen around pool edges and on grassland. Short-eared owls hunt over the reedbeds and our winter wildfowl begin to arrive. Look out for flashes of blue as kingfishers flit up and down the river.
Winter
Waders and wildfowl such as lapwings, curlews, wigeons, teals, shovelers and goldeneyes gather in big numbers, roosting and feeding across the grasslands and pools. Water rails can be spotted feeding on frozen pools, or you can listen out for their strange, pig-like squealing! The elusive bittern is also drawn out into the open at times. One of the most awesome spectacles in winter is seeing massive flocks of roosting birds panic and fly into the air as peregrines hunt over the site. Look and listen out for overwintering stonechats. Their calls sound like two pebbles being knocked together!
Facilities
Facilities
•Visitor centre
•Car park : There's a car park charge of £2.50 per car for RSPB non-members. RSPB members and disabled badge holders park for free. We have cycle parking and a height restriction of 2.7 m (8' 10'') for vehicles.
•Toilets
•Disabled toilets
•Baby-changing facilities
•Picnic area
•Group bookings accepted
•Guided walks available
•Good for walking
•Pushchair friendly
Nature trails
Bowers Bimble: Starting from the car park, this 0.9-mile (1.5 km) flat trail takes you on a short walk around Bowers Lake then through grassland and wild flower meadows. Great for a relaxing stroll (20-30 minutes).
Lowther Loop: For a walk through shady woodland glades and along the banks of the River Aire, venture onto this 1.3 mile (2 km) flat trail. In wet winter months, it’s a welly boot walk (60 minutes).
Hillside Hike: For stunning landscapes and panoramic views of the nature park and surrounding areas, t ake a hike onto the hillside. This trail is 1.3 miles (2 km) with some steep hills and inclines, which wind through the trees and grassland (40-60 minutes).
Reedbed Ramble: To explore the magic of the whispering reedbeds, take a walk on this 1.7-mile (2.8 km) flat route that runs around the edges of the reedbeds and loops back to the main entrance (40-45 minutes).
As the new custodians of St Aidan's, we are aiming to improve the accessibility of our paths as soon as we can. Please contact us for updates on footpath and bridleway conditions.
Refreshments available
•Hot drinks
•Cold drinks
•Snacks
•Confectionery
By train
The nearest train stations are Woodlesford (3.2 miles), Castleford (3.2 miles) and Garforth (4.3 miles). If you're going to be walking or cycling from the station to St Aidan's, choose Woodlesford station. Turn left out of the station then left onto the main road. When you get to the bridge over the Aire and Calder navigation, cross it, then turn right and walk along the riverbank until you reach St Aidan's. If you're going to take a taxi from the station to St Aidan's, head towards Castleford station as it's easier to get a taxi there.
By bus
The nearest bus stop is just outside the entrance to St Aidan’s, on Astley Lane. The Number 167 Leeds to Castleford bus stops here and is run by Arriva Yorkshire.
By road
Reach us from junction 46 of the M1. Follow the A63, signposted Selby and Garforth. At the roundabout, take the fourth left for Wakefield A642, Swillington and Oulton. Follow the A642 for 1.5 miles then turn left on to Astley Lane. St Aidan's is 1.8 miles on the right.
From Castleford, follow the A656 (Barnsdale Road) north out of the town centre for 1.4 miles. Turn left onto Station Road towards Allerton Bywater and travel 1.2 miles. Turn left onto the Leeds Road (next to the yellow corner shop). St Aidan’s is 0.5 miles along the road on the left.
Other ways to get to the reserve
It's easy to get to St Aidan's by bike. The site is bordered on its south-east edge by the Trans-Pennine Trail central section (Route 67). This runs north all the way to Leeds city centre, and south to join the main east-west route near our Old Moor nature reserve at Barnsley. There is also a local cycle route called the Linesway Greenway (Route 697) that runs between Garforth and Allerton Bywater with a spur at the Allerton Bywater end that links into the site. St Aidan's is also bordered by the Leeds Country Way. Maps of this route can be found on the Leeds City Council website. There are also many other local footpaths and bridleways that link into the site from the surrounding towns and villages.
Hope you are looking towards the new week in an optimistic mood! It'll be (another) busy week for me; I hope I will be able to "steal" some flickr-time! ;-)
(Some yellow plants I picked out of a withered flower bouquet; see on black)
I had read about the new RSPB reserve opening and decided to take a look. It opened on the 25th of May. When we arrived there were only 2-3 cars. The visitor centre overlooked a lake, stunningly bleak view but with no birds to be seen. No birds and no people yet the RSPB staff and volunteers appeared were so cheery and optimistic. Once out onto the reserve and onto the hilltop you get a beautiful view of the reserve and hear the sound of Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Blackcaps and Whitethroats. When you descend you see the birds and also hear them. I would recommend it as a place to visit. I was very impressed!
www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/s/staidans/
St Aidan's is a perfect place to get close to nature and relax, unwind or exercise in a stress-free environment. Just outside Leeds on the banks of the River Aire, it's a big new space to walk, run, cycle, or ride your horse and enjoy the wildlife that surrounds you.
It has a wide range of wild plants and animals, and is home to thousands of birds, brown hares, roe deer, wild flowers and insects - all living in a stunning landscape of vast reedbeds, grassland, woodland, lakes, ponds and islands.
With a variety of circular paths of varying lengths and large areas of open grassland, St Aidan’s is a great place for families to enjoy the outdoors, share a picnic and play together.
Over 7.5 miles (12 km) of footpaths, bridleways and cycle routes connect the surrounding communities, with links to national footpath and cycle networks. St Aidan's is a fantastic place for locals wishing to explore the wider countryside or as a destination for people who love nature.
Opening times
St Aidan's is an open access site. Opening times apply to the visitor centre and car park. From March-October they're open from 9.30 am to 5 pm. From September-February it's 9.30 am to 4 pm. They're closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Entrance charges
Entry to the site is free but donations to help us continue our work are welcome. There is a car park charge of £2.50 per car for RSPB non-members. RSPB members and disabled badge holders park for free.
Information for dog owners
Dogs are allowed on the reserve as long as they are kept on a lead in the appropriate designated zones. There are some less sensitive areas within St Aidan's where dogs are allowed off the lead. Please check with staff before letting dogs off the lead.
Star species
Our star species are some of the most interesting birds you may see on your visit to the reserve.
Bittern
Bitterns are brown, secretive herons, camouflaged to hide amongst reeds. Visit in spring to hear male bitterns 'booming' or summer to watch the parents making feeding flights.
Great crested grebe
Watch the amazing courtship ritual of great crested grebes on the open water in spring. You may see pairs performing their 'weed dance' when they present one another with weed and patter across the surface of the water together.
Little owl
You may be lucky enough to find one of these compact owls perched in a tree or on a fencepost. They become very active at dusk and you may hear their shrill calls.
Marsh harrier
Look for marsh harriers gliding over the reedbed with their wings held upwards in a shallow 'v'. In spring, pairs perform their breathtaking 'skydancing' displays high in the sky.
Skylark
Spring visits will be enriched by the beautiful song of skylarks. They rise up into the air from the grassland until they are barely visible and only their song can be heard
www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/s/staidans/seasonal_highli...
Seasonal highlights
Each season brings a different experience at our nature reserves. In spring, the air is filled with birdsong as they compete to establish territories and attract a mate. In summer, look out for young birds making their first venture into the outside world. Autumn brings large movements of migrating birds - some heading south to a warmer climate, others seeking refuge in the UK from the cold Arctic winter. In winter, look out for large flocks of birds gathering to feed, or flying at dusk to form large roosts to keep warm.
Spring
Look out for marsh harriers displaying over the reedbeds, great crested grebes performing their elaborate courtship dances and returning swallows skimming low over the water and grasslands as they collect insects. Listen out for skylarks filling the air with their song, the deep booming of male bitterns, male snipe 'drumming' as they vibrate their tail feathers to attract females and lapwings calling as they perform their aerobatic displays. Enjoy the fusion of colour as wildflowers burst into bloom and a host of brightly-coloured butterflies and dragonflies take to the wing. Spring is also a great time to see kestrels. You can often see several hovering around the site at the same time as they hunt for voles in the grassland. Kestrels have also been seen nesting in the huge dragline.
Summer
Watch overhead for herons and little egrets dropping into the reeds to feed, female bitterns flying low over the reedbeds as they seek out food for their chicks or marsh harriers passing food to each other in flight. Keep an eye on the open water for lines of young ducklings paddling along behind their parents or young great crested grebes riding around on their parents' backs and admire the abundant lilypads on the lakes. Stoats, weasels and water voles are often seen at this time of year as are basking butterflies and dragonflies hawking the waters edge. Thousands of black-headed gulls set up a colony at this time of the year filling the air with their calls. Summer is the best time to spot the elusive black necked grebe as it will have its fluffy youngsters in tow. Avocets also nest at this time of year. St Aidan’s is a good place to spot this iconic bird that is the logo of the RSPB.
Autumn
Autumn sees the arrival of migrant birds, such as black-tailed godwits, ruffs and green sandpipers. Local birdwatchers will also spot a few rarities such as spoonbills and pectoral sandpipers. Huge flocks of lapwings arrive to spend winter with us and can be seen around pool edges and on grassland. Short-eared owls hunt over the reedbeds and our winter wildfowl begin to arrive. Look out for flashes of blue as kingfishers flit up and down the river.
Winter
Waders and wildfowl such as lapwings, curlews, wigeons, teals, shovelers and goldeneyes gather in big numbers, roosting and feeding across the grasslands and pools. Water rails can be spotted feeding on frozen pools, or you can listen out for their strange, pig-like squealing! The elusive bittern is also drawn out into the open at times. One of the most awesome spectacles in winter is seeing massive flocks of roosting birds panic and fly into the air as peregrines hunt over the site. Look and listen out for overwintering stonechats. Their calls sound like two pebbles being knocked together!
Facilities
Facilities
•Visitor centre
•Car park : There's a car park charge of £2.50 per car for RSPB non-members. RSPB members and disabled badge holders park for free. We have cycle parking and a height restriction of 2.7 m (8' 10'') for vehicles.
•Toilets
•Disabled toilets
•Baby-changing facilities
•Picnic area
•Group bookings accepted
•Guided walks available
•Good for walking
•Pushchair friendly
Nature trails
Bowers Bimble: Starting from the car park, this 0.9-mile (1.5 km) flat trail takes you on a short walk around Bowers Lake then through grassland and wild flower meadows. Great for a relaxing stroll (20-30 minutes).
Lowther Loop: For a walk through shady woodland glades and along the banks of the River Aire, venture onto this 1.3 mile (2 km) flat trail. In wet winter months, it’s a welly boot walk (60 minutes).
Hillside Hike: For stunning landscapes and panoramic views of the nature park and surrounding areas, t ake a hike onto the hillside. This trail is 1.3 miles (2 km) with some steep hills and inclines, which wind through the trees and grassland (40-60 minutes).
Reedbed Ramble: To explore the magic of the whispering reedbeds, take a walk on this 1.7-mile (2.8 km) flat route that runs around the edges of the reedbeds and loops back to the main entrance (40-45 minutes).
As the new custodians of St Aidan's, we are aiming to improve the accessibility of our paths as soon as we can. Please contact us for updates on footpath and bridleway conditions.
Refreshments available
•Hot drinks
•Cold drinks
•Snacks
•Confectionery
By train
The nearest train stations are Woodlesford (3.2 miles), Castleford (3.2 miles) and Garforth (4.3 miles). If you're going to be walking or cycling from the station to St Aidan's, choose Woodlesford station. Turn left out of the station then left onto the main road. When you get to the bridge over the Aire and Calder navigation, cross it, then turn right and walk along the riverbank until you reach St Aidan's. If you're going to take a taxi from the station to St Aidan's, head towards Castleford station as it's easier to get a taxi there.
By bus
The nearest bus stop is just outside the entrance to St Aidan’s, on Astley Lane. The Number 167 Leeds to Castleford bus stops here and is run by Arriva Yorkshire.
By road
Reach us from junction 46 of the M1. Follow the A63, signposted Selby and Garforth. At the roundabout, take the fourth left for Wakefield A642, Swillington and Oulton. Follow the A642 for 1.5 miles then turn left on to Astley Lane. St Aidan's is 1.8 miles on the right.
From Castleford, follow the A656 (Barnsdale Road) north out of the town centre for 1.4 miles. Turn left onto Station Road towards Allerton Bywater and travel 1.2 miles. Turn left onto the Leeds Road (next to the yellow corner shop). St Aidan’s is 0.5 miles along the road on the left.
Other ways to get to the reserve
It's easy to get to St Aidan's by bike. The site is bordered on its south-east edge by the Trans-Pennine Trail central section (Route 67). This runs north all the way to Leeds city centre, and south to join the main east-west route near our Old Moor nature reserve at Barnsley. There is also a local cycle route called the Linesway Greenway (Route 697) that runs between Garforth and Allerton Bywater with a spur at the Allerton Bywater end that links into the site. St Aidan's is also bordered by the Leeds Country Way. Maps of this route can be found on the Leeds City Council website. There are also many other local footpaths and bridleways that link into the site from the surrounding towns and villages.
Beach hut that caught my eye the other day. I think they sum up the optimistic era they were built in so well. They are due for refurbishment which will take away their charm somewhat. I deliberately did a dark mono to convey a sense of sadness at the loss of an era.
How I have been trying to remain sane - going through severe depression; losing my faith everyday and reviving it everyday; being optimistic in a minute and then pessimistic the very next; having extreme mood swings from elated euphoria to violent anger - only I know it.
It's one balancing act no juggler can perform. I've out-performed the best jugglers in the world.
Evidently, my light estimation was a bit optimistic when taking this photo. And: using a step-up ring on a wide angle lens is not always a good idea (if you're not crazy about vignetting).
Still a somewhat spooky-cool shot, I think.
Yashica-J5, Super Yashinon R 35mm f2.8, Ilford Delta 100 Prof.
Developed with Ilfosol 3 (1+14).
Despite a very optimistic weather forecast, yesterday ended up rather overcast. Still an opportunity for fresh air without too much fresh rainwater.
Lomo Lubitel 166 Universal and T-22 75mm f/4.5, Ilford HP5 Plus in Rodinal 1+50 for 14 min @ 20°C and digitalized using kit zoom and extension tubes.
Thank you everyone for your visits, faves and comments, they are always appreciated :)
I came across this beauty on a walkabout near Capitola, CA. Copyright: Sweezey Pictures - Ken Sweezey.
During the early optimistic days of SSI UK ownership, GB Railfreight-operated Di8 class diesel-electric loco No. '820' draws a loaded torpedo wagon away from the Redcar Blast Furnace in October 2012. The 'Di8' class was previously used for freight traffic by the Norwegian railway company CargoNet. Twenty locos were constructed in 1996-97 at the Maschinenbau Kiel (MaK) plant in Kiel when it was part of 'Siemens Schienenfahrzeugtechnik' and GB Railfreight acquired ten for the Redcar contract. SSI UK went into liquidation during October 2015, resulting in 1,700 job losses at the plant alone.
© Gordon Edgar - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission
Perhaps a little optimistic, but at least it's forecast that it's going to warm up over the weekend! Have a good one!
A little about our stay at Hotel Chocolat, for those who're interested...
For anyone who's familiar with the brand of chocolate "Hotel Chocolat" this is the hotel, restaurant and plantation where it all begins. We were lucky enough to meet co-owner Peter Harris on our stay, a fascinating guy who started the business as a mail order chocolate company and has worked to create something virtually unique. I've not met many true entrepeneurs before, but what I found most interesting is that I got no sense that he'd built this for the money. It seemed much more about creating something very special, realising a dream if you like. It seemed clear that the workers here are getting a good deal. The plantation works to promote agriculture and to help farmers set up their own crops, with a clear focus on education and providing a fair return on the cocoa! If ever you're lucky enough to visit St Lucia, I cannot recommend this place enough. It makes you see your chocolate in a whole new light, and I doubt you'll ever grumble again at paying a couple of pounds for quality bar of dark chocolate once you've seen the work that's gone into it!
Current mood: Optimistic
Current song: Signs
Two ravens in the old oak tree, one for you and one for me
Bluebells in the late December, I see signs now all the time
The last time we slept together, there was something that was not there
You never wanted to alarm me but I’m the one that’s drowning now
I could sleep forever these days because in my dreams I see you again
But this time fleshed out fuller face in your confirmation dress
It was so like you to visit me to let me know you were ok
It was so like you visit me, always worrying about someone else
At your funeral I was so upset, so upset,
in your life you were larger than this
statuesque
I see signs now all the time that your not dead your sleeping
I believe in anything that brings you back home to me
Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.
"Roy T. Bennett",
.
.
.
#bangalore #bangalore_insta #sobangalore #bengaluru #streetphotographyindia #vidhanasoudha #nightclicks #Light #heartofcity #creation #creative #inspiration #inspirational #inspirational_attitude #inspirational_life #inspirational_quotes #inspire #inspiring #life #lifeandliving #life_lessons #life_quotes #living #optimism #optimistic #positive #positive_affirmation #positive_life #positive_thinking #worry
"You can try the best you can,
If you try the best you can,
The best you can is good enough."
Radiohead - Optimistic
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I'm pretty much going to be stuck at home in the coming two or three weeks, studying for my finals, finishing team projects and some other stuffs before I finish my bachelor degree completely. I hope I won't flunk any subjects because that could mean another semester to go T_T
And if I passed everything (even without much flying colors), I'll be going back to Malaysia for good at the end of next year's February (some say early March, but either way is fine).
Oh I really want to go home badly!
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Can I get a title suggestion for this photo? :D