Gothic Survival to Gothic Revival: the pointed arch after 1600
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Cattleya lawrenceana is an epiphytic species with a lush plant, claviculated pseudobulbs of 20 centimeters in height and bearing a leaf of 20 centimeters in length, oblong-lanceolate, thick and with a crease in the central part. Flowers 12 centimeters long, with narrow petals and sepals, pink to violet-magenta. Pointed lip, purplish-purple. It comes from Serra da Neblina, state of Roraima, Brazil. It blooms in late fall or winter.
The cattleya orchid normally blooms only once a year and its flowers last an average of 10 to 30 days. But if it is well cared for and fertilized correctly, it may have a second flowering in some species.
The small village of Phikardou which I first visited in the summer of 1976, population then 3-4 old people. I chanced upon it when I was researching for my thesis on the Vernacular Architecture of Cyprus.
It has now become a must place to visit and even boasts a restaurant serving authentic local dishes. It's good to note that most of the 30 or so houses have since been refurbished even if it's only for weekend visits by owners that work further down in the city.
The floodlight, bottom left is pointed towards the church belltower and the galvamized pipes offer support to the overhead electrical mains cables.
This lady sprang up all alone next to the fence on our patio - they can be quite invasive but this one made a statement that my wife pointed me to. Pretty little gem with eyelashes, all on her own and first one up. The 20mm gravel she grew through made for nice bokeh.
Alpine Violet -,Labradorica Purpurea. Purple Viola
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Large black-and-white seabird with heavy, pointed bill. Adult white with black flight feathers and central tail feathers, yellow-washed head. Feeds in spectacular fashion, plunge-diving into the ocean to capture prey. Juvenile mostly dark with many small white spots. Widespread off southern Australian coastlines and in New Zealand. Breeds in large colonies. In northern parts of range, compare Masked Booby, which has black trailing edge to inner wing, all-black tail, and heavy yellow bill. (eBird)
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A very rough boat ride of off southern Tasmania. Photography was just about impossible because of the waves, but I did catch this gannet shortly after leaving harbour, where the waves were less scary.
Adventure Bay, Tasmania, Australia. October 2022.
Eagle-eye Tours - Tasmania.
Bruny Island Cruises.
... Sometimes Silly : )
Found this Night Heron Guarding the pond at a local park. He gave me the once-over and indicated I should “move-on, nothing to see here.”
Life is Good : )
Black-crowned Night-Herons are small herons with rather squat, thick proportions. They have thick necks, large, flat heads, and heavy, pointed bills. The legs are short and, in flight, barely reach the end of the tail. The wings are broad and rounded.
They are common in wetlands across North America, including saltmarshes, freshwater marshes, swamps, streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, lagoons, tidal mudflats, canals, reservoirs, and wet agricultural fields. They require aquatic habitat for foraging and terrestrial vegetation for cover. They spend the winter in southern and coastal portions of their breeding range as well as across Mexico and Central America.
Black-crowned Night-Herons are opportunists feeders that eat many kinds of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine animals. Their diet includes leeches, earthworms, insects, crayfish, clams, mussels, fish, amphibians, lizards, snakes, turtles, rodents, birds, and eggs. Black-crowned Night-Herons normally feed between evening and early morning, avoiding competition with other heron species that use the same habitat during the day.
Black-crowned Night-Herons nest colonially and behave socially all year long. Both males and females vigorously defend feeding and nesting territories, sometimes striking with their bills and grabbing each other’s bills or wings.
Night-herons are monogamous. The male advertises for a mate with displays that involve bowing and raising the long plume on his head. Both the male and the female incubate the eggs and brood the chicks, greeting each other with calls and raised feathers when switching over duties. The young leave the nest at the age of one month and move through the vegetation on foot, forming nocturnal flocks in feeding areas. They learn to fly when they are six weeks old, and then disperse widely.
600 mm, 1/500 @ f/7.1, ISO 800, edited to taste)
"Neues Kranzler Eck“
60 Meter hoch ragt die gläserne Wand hinter dem altehrwürdigen Kranzler Eck auf, messerscharf schiebt sich ihre Spitze bis fast an den Kurfürstendamm. Ohne Zweifel hat Stararchitekt Helmut Jahn der City-West eine neue Sehenswürdigkeit beschert und das Einkaufsviertel, das nach der Wiedervereinigung gegenüber der neuen alten Mitte ins Hintertreffen zu geraten drohte, zumindest architektonisch effektvoll aufgepeppt.
"New Kanzler Eck"
The glass wall rises 60 meters behind the venerable "Kranzler Eck", its point razor-sharp almost to the Kurfürstendamm. Without a doubt, star architect Helmut Jahn has given City-West a new sight and at least architecturally spiced up the shopping district, which threatened to fall behind the new old center after reunification.
© This photo is the property of Helga Bruchmann. Please do not use my photos for sharing, printing or for any other purpose without my written permission. Thank you!
This Downy Woodpecker was hammering away with it's pointed bill, making a hole in this tree. A closer look at the head shows the eye covered by the nictitating membrane. The translucent nictitating membrane helps to moisten the eye as well as offer protection.
Canatara Park, Sarnia, ON
Photo taken on a quiet street in Moraira, Spain. Its one of my favourite photos as its just natural perfection. Anybody know what its called? Do hope you are all keeping safe. Big 2m distant hugs. Drop By and say Hello. Ill get back to you!!!
I want to thank my friend Minder Cheng and EC [Elaine ] who correctly pointed out that it was a Polygala. Its a species called P.myrtlfolia. The myrtle leafed P! So now I know! I think its a beautiful shrub. Now thats why I like Flickr!!!
Catch me on Flickriver here;
flickriver.com/photos/137473925@N08/
Pat.
Svelte with a long, pointed tail. Plain brown overall with dark spots on wing. Juvenile is covered with pale scaly pattern, but is much larger and longer-tailed than ground doves. Widespread and common throughout much of North America, from southern Canada to Panama, including the Caribbean. Found in a variety of habitats from agricultural fields to lightly wooded areas. Loves suburbs, where it often sits on telephone wires and visits bird feeders. Avoids dense forest, but found on forest edges. Usually seen in pairs or small flocks, sometimes gathering in larger numbers, especially in winter. Listen for distinctive cooing song and whistling wings as it takes off.
This Mourning Dove had commandeered the feeder and was defending it against all comers!
Shirley's Bay, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. March 2022.
03032008
on the way home, she pointed to the flowers on the corner (we were at stop sign), and said, "mom, you can take a picture of me there, with the flowers."
we are almost 1/2 way through the 365 and she is so so good and patient with it.. for her to be the one to point out a picture spot is so sweet to me :)
Beautiful little blue-and-orange bird with a long, pointed bill. Often rather shy and inconspicuous despite bright plumage. Found along rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds—almost any fresh or brackish habitat with small fish. Often perches quietly in trees over water; most often seen in very fast low flight as a turquoise flash over the water, usually flying away. Easily detected once its high, shrill whistled call is learned, even if the bird itself is hidden. I saw the blue flash about 5 times and I was giving up and taking an image of another bird on a boat when it landed beside me.
Canon EOS 6D - f/9.0 - 1/100sec - 100 mm - ISO 1600
- for challenge Flickr group: Macro Mondays, theme: Squared Circle
- diameter of the container: 5 cm
Let's all pointed in the same direction. A flock of Common & Royal Tern birds line the beach along the coast of Gasparilla Island, Florida.
The Antwerp Courthouse (Belgium), inaugurated in 2006, was designed by British architect Richard Rogers. It consists of six large, four-story glass wings. A key landmark is the six “pointed hats”.
5 points joint together make a 5-pointed star. I hop you see that the '5-pointed bottom' is flat and 5 point are peaking.
I forgot to mention that one point is made of 3 elements and for this star you will need 10 elements.
I also made a different image, you can see that here, if you want.
Paper: 10 pieces of yellow vellum paper 20x20cm
Final size star (from point to point 'bottom) 30cm
Model: Origami Bascetta Star
Design: Paolo Bascetta
Diagrams in the CDO Convention Book 2010
If you want to try it too, there are several tutorials on YouTube, like this one.
It is not so difficult and no glue needed, have fun folding ;-))
The Lions are a pair of pointed peaks (West Lion – 1,646 m (5,400 ft); East Lion – 1,606 m (5,269 ft) along the North Shore Mountains in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [...]. Along with the Lions Gate Bridge named in their honour, these twin summits have become one of the most recognizable Vancouver landmarks. The city's BC Lions CFL football team is also named in their honour. Lions Gate Entertainment which was founded in Vancouver in July, 1997 is also named for the peaks. Wikipedia
Small, long-tailed finch with a chunky body and short, stout bill. Gray-brown above and pale below with a whitish rump and black-pointed tail. Highly sociable throughout the year. Found in semidesert, scrub, and dry woodland but also proliferates in urban areas. Distribution is centered on the Indian subcontinent, but it is a popular cage bird and feral populations are widespread. Gives sharp “tsik” and “tseet” calls. (eBird)
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Our first day in the UAE, before the tour started, we visited Al Mamzer Park to see what we could find on our own. We spent a significant amount of time watching this little bird fly back and forth between a tree and the ground and speculating on what it was. Finally, it turned enough for us to see the huge bill and we realized that we were seeing a Silverbill. This is what I love about birding - the challenge of first seeing and then identifying a bird, especially in a new place.
Here is the link to our Arabian Peninsula birding trip: ebird.org/tripreport/431495
Al Mamzer Park, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. November 2025.
This is the top of a cactus I have growing in a pot. I've had it a few years now and its never flowered. The spines are sharply pointed and they are hook shaped.
Chiesa di Santa Maria.
La parete dell’abside è più ordinata riguardo alla disposizione delle lesene, che sono unite tra loro da tre archetti. Nel pilastro a destra dell’esterno dell’abside vi è scolpita una Croce patriarcale e nel sinistro una Croce puntata , ma si ignora il significato di queste croci.
Church of Santa Maria.
The apse wall is more orderly with regard to the arrangement of the pilasters, which are joined together by three arches. In the pillar to the right of the outside of the apse there is a sculpted patriarchal cross and in the left a pointed cross, but the meaning of these crosses is unknown.
Jon has pointed out, there might be a second one there. Behind this one and to the left. Maybe we'll have little ones this year.
New Britain, PA
Slender gull-like seabird; the smallest of the three Jaegers. Breeds on Arctic tundra; spends the rest of the year at sea. Difficult to separate from other jaegers, especially Parasitic. Breeding adults have an exceptionally long, pointed tail. Also note uniform brownish back contrasting with dark flight feathers, limited clean black cap, and pale yellow on the side of the neck. Immature birds have an attractive scaly pattern on wings and vary from dark brown to a pale greyish white. At all ages, note buoyant, tern-like flight. Typically shows white shafts only on two outermost wing feathers (fewer than other jaegers). Bill is shorter and proportionally thicker than other jaegers. Jaegers chase other birds and steal their food.
Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) is a native species found in edges of woodlands and in thickets. This picture is a typical example of a terminal cluster of flowers with three violet petals, accented with small golden stamens. Their leaves are long and pointed, resembling iris leaves.
Goldfinch - Carduelis Carduelis
Taken in the Garden!
On closer inspection male goldfinches can often be distinguished by a larger, darker red mask that extends just behind the eye. The shoulder feathers are black whereas they are brown on the hen.In females, the red face does not extend past the eye. The ivory-coloured bill is long and pointed, and the tail is forked. Goldfinches in breeding condition have a white bill, with a greyish or blackish mark at the tip for the rest of the year. Juveniles have a plain head and a greyer back but are unmistakable due to the yellow wing stripe. Birds in central Asia (caniceps group) have a plain grey head behind the red face, lacking the black and white head pattern of European and western Asian birds. Adults moult after the breeding season with some individuals beginning in July and others not completing their moult until November. After moult birds appear less colourful, until the tips of the newly grown feathers wear away.
The goldfinch is native to Europe, North Africa, and western and central Asia. It is found in open, partially wooded lowlands and is a resident in the milder west of its range, but migrates from colder regions. It will also make local movements, even in the west, to escape bad weather. It has been introduced to many areas of the world. It was introduced to Canada, United States, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands, Uruguay, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, in the 19th century, and their populations quickly increased and their range expanded greatly. They now occur from Brisbane to the Eyre Peninsula in Australia, and throughout New Zealand.
Because of the thistle seeds it eats, in Christian symbolism the goldfinch is associated with Christ's Passion and his crown of thorns. The goldfinch, appearing in pictures of the Madonna and Christ child, represents the foreknowledge Jesus and Mary had of the Crucifixion. Examples include the Madonna del cardellino or Madonna of the Goldfinch, painted by the Italian renaissance artist Raphael in about 1505–6, in which John the Baptist offers the goldfinch to Christ in warning of his future. In Barocci's Holy Family a goldfinch is held in the hand of John the Baptist who holds it high out of reach of an interested cat. In Cima da Conegliano's Madonna and Child, a goldfinch flutters in the hand of the Christ child. It is also an emblem of endurance, fruitfulness, and persistence. Because it symbolizes the Passion, the goldfinch is considered a "saviour" bird and may be pictured with the common fly (which represents sin and disease).
The goldfinch is also associated with Saint Jerome and appears in some depictions of him.
Staircase int the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford
www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/about/history/radcliffe-observatory/curr...
All rights reserved - © Judith A. Taylor
More architectural fragments on my web site : Fine Art Mono Photography
Autumn or Prairie Onion, Allium stellatum (Liliaceae)
A 1-2 ft., chive-like perennial forming tufts of slender, solid leaves and stems. The green leaves appear in spring and die back as the flowering stalks appear. Umbels of rose-pink to lavender flowers form erect, 3-4 in. wide balls.
The bulbs of wild onions have a strong flavor but can be eaten raw or parboiled. Early explorers ate them, and they were also used by settlers to treat colds, coughs, and asthma, and to repel insects. Chives (A. schoenoprasum) has hollow leaves and long, narrow, sharply pointed, lavender petals; it was introduced from Europe in the northeastern United States and in Canada from Alberta to Newfoundland.
Encounter of the cheeky kind in the park this morning. That was the alpaca's reaction when I pointed the camera at her. I wonder what she wanted to tell me ... :)
Happy Tongue Tuesday !
The Birkenstock building was originally the McCraw-Hill Distribution Center. It opened in 1983. The architect is John Savage Bolles, and Associates.
Dartford Warbler - Sylvia Undata
Norfolk
The Dartford warbler (Sylvia undata) iDs a typical warbler from the warmer parts of western Europe and northwestern Africa. It is a small warbler with a long thin tail and a thin pointed bill. The adult male has grey-brown upperparts and is dull reddish-brown below except for the centre of the belly which has a dirty white patch. It has light speckles on the throat and a red eye-ring. The sexes are similar but the adult female is usually less grey above and paler below.
Its breeding range lies west of a line from southern England to the heel of Italy (southern Apulia). The Dartford warbler is usually resident all year in its breeding range, but there is some limited migration.
The Dartford warbler was first described by the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant from two specimens that were shot in April 1773 on Bexley Heath near Dartford in Kent.
The species is naturally rare. The largest European populations of Sylvia undata are in the Iberian peninsula, others in much of France, in Italy and southern England and south Wales. In Africa it can be found only in small areas in the north, wintering in northern Morocco and northern Algeria.
In southern England the birds breed on heathlands, sometimes near the coast, and nest in either common gorse (Ulex europaeus) or common heather (Calluna
Dartford warblers are named for Dartford Heath in north west Kent, where the population became extinct in the early twentieth century. They almost died out in the United Kingdom in the severe winter of 1962/1963 when the national population dropped to just ten pairs. Sylvia undata is also sensitive to drought affecting breeding success or producing heath fires, as occurred during 1975 and 1976 in England when virtually all juveniles failed to survive their first year.
However, this species can recover well in good quality habitat with favourable temperatures and rainfall, thanks to repeated nesting and a high survival rate for the young. Indeed, they recovered in some areas of the UK, but numbers are once again on the decline in other regions of their natural range.
The range of the Dartford warbler is restricted to western and southern Europe. The total population in 2012 was estimated at 1.1–2.5 million breeding pairs. The largest numbers occur in Spain where there were believed to be 983,000–1,750,000 pairs. For reasons that probably include loss of suitable habitat, the Spanish population appears to be declining. The species is therefore classed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being Near threatened.
A period of climatic warming since 1963 has seen the UK population increase to "more than 2,500 pairs in 2006 (Wotton et al. 2009). Expansion into patches of structurally suitable habitat (up to an altitude of 400m), more northerly areas and away from the core of the range, from Dorset and Hampshire to Derbyshire and Suffolk, is likely to have been facilitated by milder winter weather (Wotton et al. 2009, Bradbury et al. 2011)... The Dartford warbler population in the UK is expected to continue to increase. However, future climate-based projections for the European range indicate that by 2080, more than 60% of the current European range may no longer be suitable (Huntley et al 2007). There is evidence that this is happening already, with severe declines in Spain and France (Green 2017). For this reason, the species is classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Global Red List. If the declines in southern Europe continue, the UK will become increasingly important for global conservation of this species".
Population:
UK breeding:
3,200 pairs
Small warbler with sharply pointed bill. Look for gray head, white eyering, yellow underparts (including throat), and olive upperparts. Sometimes pumps tail. Two disjunct breeding populations are very similar in appearance. Breeds in coniferous or mixed forests, often near clearings, second-growth, or bogs. In migration and winter, tends to be found in patchy woodland or brushy areas, including field edges and thickets. Winters primarily in Mexico. Listen for its loud chipping song, broken into two parts. Compare dull immature Nashville with Virginia’s Warbler; Nashvilles always have greenish wings. Also sometimes mistaken for larger gray-headed warblers like Mourning or Connecticut, but Nashville is much smaller, shorter-tailed, and sharper-billed. (eBird)
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This young warbler is just growing his new, adult feathers. You can see the shafts in the wings coming in. He was preparing for his migration to the Bahamas. Unexpectedly, we found a trio of these pretty warblers on a Christmas trip to Cuba a few years ago, to the surprise of the eBird reviewers.
Britannia Conservation Area, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. August 2023.
All rights reserved - © Judith A. Taylor
More architectural fragments on my web site : Fine Art Mono Photography