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My work photography (or my precisely my photography while at work) and my personal photography are definitely delineated by some pretty heavily blurred borders. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between one and the other. For several years now I have been working on a project mostly associated with my work (let's say 65%) that involves shooting several rolls of every film we carry in inventory. I did it for personal reasons to begin with (I tended to just use the same film stocks over and over) but I also did it for professional reasons (I got tired of being asked about various films that I did not know personally and expertly how to describe). That project eventually became the basis for the whole Film Friday series we run at the shop every week. But it has grown into other tangential projects over the work years as well. We now have a small selection of sample prints we can show customers at the counter for any film they ask to see, not to mention all the sample images on the site and in our POS system for both customer and employee reference. I am slowly working on a small counter book that collects some of these sample images for every color film we have so that we can have a flip book to peruse as well. But lately me and our software engineer have been working on developing a whole new tool for the site that leans heavily on these years of using every film we have in stock. It is pretty exciting and fulfilling. And it reminds me of the value of being able to see value in work over a long long term. Those far horizons are sometimes the trickiest for us to keep our eyes on since our progress toward them can be so gradual, but the ground one covers in getting to those farther distances feels so much more significant.
In a very general sense, I would say it is also once again a great reminder to constantly experiment. This whole self-assignment was rooted in me wanting to experiment with every different film we have. And in doing so I have created more images than I can count because of those different films and am now once again turning that work into something I wouldn't have seen coming all those years ago when I set out. This image is a grand example. CatLABS X 320 Pro? Why would I use that when I could just go to my old stand by films? Well, because of the surprise and the discovery and the qualities that film brings that those familiar films do not. The deepy charcoal-esque shadows of that film just happened to line up quite well with my trying to catch the diamond glimmers of quartz in the sand dune.
Anyway, just wanted to share a bit of that.
Hasselblad 500C/M
CatLABS X Film 320 Pro
While I was home in New England, I did a little hiking in the Gile State Forest. It's not a popular or heavily trafficked area, which is precisely why I chose it. In fact, I had a hard time finding a way into the forest since it's not really marked from the main roads. I spent a glorious few hours roaming the woods, and didn't see or hear another soul the entire time. (I wish I could say the same for the ticks, which have become a major nuisance in recent years up there.)
While I was wandering along what appeared to be an old logging road, I spied this stream intersecting one of the many stone walls crisscrossing the woods. Early in its history, much of the state was cleared - primarily for sheep farming - and these walls were built using locally sourced rocks farmers would dig up in their fields.
I found it interesting that the edges of the stone wall came right up to the banks of the stream. Thanks to a dry summer, there wasn't a lot of water flowing through this stream, though I can't help but wonder if there might have been a small mill here in the distant past. Maybe not, but it's fun to wonder if the wall served any purpose beyond containing livestock.
Home developed using the FPP Unicolor C-41 kit, with edits in Affinity Photo and Exposure X5.
The Cathedral has a heliometer (solar "observatory") of 1690, one of a number built in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries. The device itself is quite simple: a tiny hole in one of the minor domes acts as Pinhole camera, projecting an image of the sun onto the floor at solar noon (12:00 in winter, 13:00 in summer). There is a bronze line, la Meridiana on the floor, running precisely N/S. The ends of the line mark the positions as at the summer and winter solstices; signs of the zodiac show the various other dates throughout the year.
The purpose of the instrument was to standardise the measurement of time and the calendar. The convention in Sicily had been that the (24-hour) day was measured from the moment of sun-rise, which of course meant that no two locations had the same time and, more importantly, did not have the same time as in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It was also important to know when the Vernal Equinox occurred, to provide the correct date for Easter. On the belltowers there were six medieval bells..
La cathédrale possède un héliomètre (« observatoire » solaire) datant de 1690, l'un des nombreux construits en Italie aux xviie siècle. L'appareil lui-même est assez simple : un trou minuscule dans l'un des dômes mineurs agit comme un sténopé, projetant l'image du soleil sur le sol à midi solaire. Une ligne de bronze (méridienne) court sur le sol du nord au sud : les extrémités de la ligne marquent les positions du soleil aux solstices d'été et d'hiver ; les signes du zodiaque montrent les autres dates tout au long de l'année.
Le but de l'instrument était de normaliser la mesure du temps et le calendrier. La convention en Sicile avait été que la journée de 24 heures était mesuré à partir du lever du soleil, ce qui signifiait qu'il n'y avait pas deux endroits ayant le même temps. Il était également important de savoir quand avait lieu l'équinoxe vernal, afin de fournir la date exacte de Pâques.
Rolleiflex 2.8F Planar
Fomapan 100
For twenty years, at the end of August, the historic city core of Varaždin is transformed into the largest stage in Croatia. During the ten days of Špancirfest, the streets, squares, palaces, parks, gardens, and courtyards of historic Varaždin become stages, theatres, restaurants, bars, clubs, classrooms, and shops at the largest, most popular and most diverse Croatian festival.
Špancirfest is both a street and a music festival. It is a festival of people who like taking walks, as well as those who like to party, it is a festival of hedonism, an art festival, a festival of tradition, and a festival of contemporary creative production. A festival where you can truly relax or completely burn out. It is precisely this creative ambiguity, this immeasurable diversity and variability merged with the beautiful historical core of the city of Varaždin what makes Špancirfest so successful, popular, great and unique.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin
Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. It is on the east coast of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, at the mouth of the River Liffey, and is bordered on the south by the Wicklow Mountains. It has an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the Dublin Region (formerly County Dublin), as of 2016, was 1,347,359, and the population of the Greater Dublin area was 1,904,806.
There is archaeological debate regarding precisely where Dublin was established by the Gaels in or before the 7th century AD. Later expanded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin, the city became Ireland's principal settlement following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland.
Dublin is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration and industry. As of 2018 the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha −", which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church_Cathedral,_Dublin
Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the (Anglican) Church of Ireland. It is situated in Dublin, Ireland, and is the elder of the capital city's two medieval cathedrals, the other being St Patrick's Cathedral.
A 7-shot composite, since I couldn't get precisely on the plane of the wing, and it's curved enough to wreck havoc on a shallow depth of field. I posted this at a higher resolution than I normally do so you guys can enjoy exploring the large version. Those trident scales are a bit different than I normally see on Lepidopteran wings. This is a closeup view of the wing of this moth from my previous post.
Captured with the MP-E65mm on the 7D with the Twin Lite.
2 Mothvember ;-)
Dot-lined White Moth, Artace cribraria
Hodges #7683
Alexandria, VA
Each morning at precisely 6 AM BC Place Stadium lights come on. The odd time the waters of East False Creek are calm and the stadium lights offer a decent water reflection.
And that is it for now. We leave today for Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam for a cruise on the Mekong River.
The trip ends in Siem Reap, Cambodia for a visit to some of the surrounding Wats, Angkor included.
See you all late December, Happy Holidays Flickrer's.
Boddam was originally owned by the Spence family whose main holdings were in Fife and Perthshire. Precisely when the family acquired the Boddam estate is unknown but it was probably around 1459 when Thomas Spence was appointed Bishop of Aberdeen.
The castle was built by the Keiths of Ludquharn, probably in the late 16th or early 17th century, several generations after they acquired the barony of Boddam.
Gilbert Keith, 3rd of Inverugie, added the estate of Ludquhairn or Ludquharn to his land holdings by marrying the Ogstoun heiress thereof, in the second half of the 15th century. Their eldest son inherited Inverugie and their 2nd son, John inherited Ludquharn, but having no sons of his own, it passed to the next son, Andrew. Andrew was father of Sir John Keith, 4th of Ludquhairn, who was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.
The 5th laird was Gilbert Keith and his son and heir, Sir William Keith, topped up the family's levels of Keith blood by marrying Margaret Keith, sister of George, 5th Earl Marischal. Their son Sir William, 7th laird, perhaps influenced by the importance of his cousins, acquired a baronetcy for himself and would appear to have built Boddam Castle, to suit his enhanced status.
The 3rd baronet, another Sir Williams, supported the Stuart cause in the 1689 Jacobite Uprising and was forced to flee abroad, only returning after the Act of Indemnity (1703). His son meanwhile (another Sir William), held several commissions in North America including Surveyor General for the Southern District of the Americas and Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania. The father however, was implicated in the 1715 Jacobite Uprising which led him to financial ruin. When he died in 1718, the younger Sir William inherited his father's title, estates and his debts! He was never able to recover from the latter ultimately dying penniless in the Old Bailey debtors prison in 1749. The Ludquharn baronetcy was continued by his sons, but by then they no longer owned Boddam and the baronetcy became extinct in 1771.
In the years following the departure of the Keiths, Boddam Castle was abandoned and as we know from the Mazell's engraving, it was a complete ruin by 1784. It would seem likely that the new owners, in an age where defence and security were no longer paramount, moved inland, perhaps to the current site of Ludquhard Farm, where they could farm with proper farmland around them. As was so often the case elsewhere, most of the stone from the castle was carted off for use elsewhere.
The general term ice age or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. There have been at least four major ice ages in the Earth's past. Outside these periods, the Earth seems to have been ice-free even in high latitudes. There is evidence that greenhouse gas levels fell at the start of ice ages and rose during the retreat of the ice sheets, but it is difficult to establish cause and effect (see the notes above on the role of weathering). Greenhouse gas levels may also have been affected by other factors which have been proposed as causes of ice ages, such as the movement of continents and vulcanism. Although the last glacial period ended more than 8,000 years ago, its effects can still be felt today. For example, the moving ice carved out landscape in Canada, Greenland, northern Eurasia and Antarctica. The erratic boulders, till, drumlins, eskers, fjords, kettle lakes, moraines, cirques, horns, etc., are typical features left behind by the glaciers.
Photo of hummocks taken at the IJsselmeer (IJmeer) near Amsterdam. Ice rocks just hit by the last sunlight. A hummock is a boss or rounded knoll of ice rising above the general level of an ice-field, Hummocky ice is caused by slow and unequal pressure in the main body of the packed ice, and by unequal structure and temperature at a later period.
Een ijstijd of glaciatie is een geologisch tijdvak waarin ijskappen voorkomen. In het Engels wordt dit een periode van ice-house genoemd, als tegenhanger van een ijskaploze periode, de greenhouse ("broeikas"). Aangezien er gletsjers liggen op bijvoorbeeld Groenland of Antarctica, leven we tegenwoordig in een ijstijd. Men neemt aan dat dit in de gehele geologische geschiedenis van de Aarde minstens vijfmaal het geval is geweest, waarvan eenmaal zelfs zo sterk dat de ijskappen van de polen vrijwel tot aan de evenaar waren opgerukt. Ook zijn er periodes dat er aanzienlijke opwarming optrad waarbij die ijskappen grotendeels waren weggesmolten. Het klimaat op Aarde wordt beïnvloed door vele factoren, zoals de intensiteit van de zonnestraling, de ligging van de continenten, de continentverplaatsingen, vulkanisme, de zeestromen, de bedekking van het land door vegetatie, het weerkaatsingsvermogen van het aardoppervlak en vele kleine andere factoren. Met behulp van klimaatmodellen wordt door wetenschappers een reconstructie van het klimaat en de klimaatveranderingen in het verleden gemaakt. Alhoewel er een zekere consensus bestaat onder wetenschappers, zijn er nog vele onzekerheden en tegenstrijdigheden in dit onderzoek.
Hierboven een foto van kruiend ijs. Zoetwatermeren kunnen spectaculair bevriezen. Grotere meren zoals het IJsselmeer (IJmeer) hierboven hebben bijna altijd wel golven, en dit werkt directe bevriezing van het wateroppervlak tegen. Eerst vormen zich kleine ijsschotsen, die naar de kust drijven onder invloed van de wind. Deze schotsen vormen zo een ijsveld op het water dat de golven dempt, en uiteindelijk vriezen alle schotsen aan elkaar vast tot een massa. Voordat dit gebeurt schuren de schotsen voortdurend langs elkaar heen en schrapen zo stukjes ijs van elkaar af; elke schots krijgt zo een witte rand. Zulk ijs is dus totaal niet geschikt om op te schaatsen. Wanneer grotere delen van het meer bevriezen beginnen de platen, die soms een paar vierkante kilometer groot zijn, langzaam tegen elkaar te bewegen onder invloed van de wind en stroming. Dit heeft kruiend ijs tot gevolg: de ijsschotsen worden met kracht gebroken en op elkaar gestapeld langs de dijken langs het meer. Dit hoeft niet alleen bij dun ijs te gebeuren; soms kruit het ijs bij een dikte van meer dan 20 cm. De stapels ijs worden dan hoog, en het geluid is oorverdovend.
====The Bar====
*Set during Drury's incarceration in Blackgate*
Jules- September is the worst month.
Chancer- Yeah, I kinda have to agree. It's a real slog to get through.
Jules- Precisely! There's not even a single holiday!
Chuck- There's Labor Day.
Jules- Fuck Labor Day.
Blake- Thrilling... Len, I'll have your finest milk please!
Len- Right...
*Len disappears into the backroom, bucket in hand*
Blake- *Sniff* Hey, do you smell the salty tang of feminine tears?
Chancer- No, because I'm not an insatiable furry.
Blake- Your loss. *sniff* Smells good.
Chuck- Is it like a Hydra? Is that what it is? Kill one furry and two more shall take it's place?
Chancer- I'm going to the bar. I have to wash that image out of my head.
Blake- Bleach'll do it faster!
Chuck- You might be onto something Blake.
Blake- About the bleach?
Chuck- No, that patter about sad women...
*Chuck gestures to the Bar*
Blake- Well well well... Miranda Gaige...
Chuck- Miranda Walker isn't it?
Jules- I dunno, she's inconsistent about that.
Chuck- It's a sad thing really. Drury in Blackgate, Gar in Arkham, and- Blake?
Blake- Yeah?
Chuck- What are you wearing?
Blake- My lucky suit!
Jules- It smells of Karl Kyle.
Blake- You would know
Chuck- Blake, you're an amoral guy. I respect your carefree attitude... but come on.
Blake- Yeah, I could probably do better.
...
Chuck- No you couldn't. She's a bombshell
Blake- And I'm a nuke. Watch and learn.
*Blake sits at the bar inbetween Chancer and Miranda*
Blake- Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Jules- Oh no Tom. No...
Chuck- He's still going!
Blake- yyyyyyyyy
Jules- It's commitment I suppose...
Blake- -yyyyyy-y. Hey.
Miranda- Blake.
Blake- I was just thinking if you wanted-
=======
Chuck- What do you think?
Chancer- "to tickle my hairball"
Chuck- "me to spend one of my nine lives with you"
=======
Blake- -Tickle my hairball.
Chuck- *sigh* You win.
Miranda- Are you for real?
Blake- I think so. Heh. Made you mad did I? Gonna spank-
*Miranda splashes her drink in Blake's face then leaves. Blake falls off his stool*
Abner- The stool is mine!
Blake- Hssssss! Hssss! Gimme a fucking towel!
Jules- Use my cape.
Blake- Thanks.
Jules- Don't feel too bad Thomas. It was never going to work-
*Blake throws his fellow misfits a death glare*
Jules- *Because* she's not good enough for you, right guys?
Chancer- Pushover.
Blake- Hmm. Why didn't it work...
Chuck- Because you hit on a grieving married woman?
*Death glare intensifies*
Jules- Ah, don't listen to them.
Blake- Who does she think she is? That girl has tangled with the wrong man! No one says "no" to Tom Blake!
Chancer- Except her.
Blake- Dismissed! Rejected! Publicly humiliated! Why, it's more than I can bear
Jules- More milk?
Blake- What for? Nothing helps. I'm disgraced
Jules- Who, you? Never! Blake, man, you've got to pull yourself together
*To the tune of Gaston*
Jules- Gosh, it disturbs me to see you, Catman
Looking so down in the dumps
Every guy here'd love to be you, Catman
Not counting *those* C-Lister chumps
There's no man in here as admired as you
You're ev'ryone's favorite guy
Ev'ryone's awed and inspired by you
And it's not very hard to see why
No one's slick as Catman
No one's quick as Catman
Chancer- No one's head's as incredibly thick as Catman's
Jules- Still, there's no man in town half as manly
Perfect, a pure paragon
You can ask any Bruce, Dick, or Alfie
And they'll tell you whose team they prefer to be on
Patrons- No one's big like Catman
A king pin like Catman
Jules- No one's got a swell cleft in his chin like Catman
Blake- As a specimen, yes, I'm intimidating
Patrons- My, what a guy, that Catman
Give five "hurrahs!"
Give twelve "hip-hips!"
Jules- Catman is the best
And the rest is all drips
Patrons- No one fights like Catman
Douses lights like Catman
In a wrestling match nobody bites like Catman
Patrons- For there's no one as burly and brawny
Blake- As you see I've got biceps to spare
Jules- Not a bit of him's scraggly or scrawny
Blake- That's right! And ev'ry last inch of me's covered with fur
Patrons- No one hits like Catman
Chancer- No one shits like Catman
Jules- In a spitting match nobody spits like Catman
Blake- I'm espcially good at expectorating -- Ptooey!
Chancer- What the fuck's wrong with Catman?
Blake- When I was a kit, I ate four dozen fish
Ev'ry morning to help me get large
And now that I'm grown, I eat five dozen fish
Chancer- So you're roughly the size of a barge?
Patrons- No one stabs like Catman
Chancer- No one dabs like Catman
Jules- Then goes tromping around wearing boots like Catman
Blake- I use dead mice in all of my decorating
Patrons- Say it again
Who's a man among men?
And then say it once more
Who's the hero next door?
Who's a super success?
Don't you know? Can't you guess?
Ask his fans and his five hangers-on
There's just one guy in town who's got all of it down
Jules- And his name's C-A-T--T--
C-A-T-E--
C-A-T-M-A-oh!
Chancer- Batman!
*Thump*
The Palazzo van Axel (more precisely Soranzo-Venier-Sanudo-van Axel-Barozzi) is surely one of the best conserved examples of a late gothic two family palazzo. The palazzo was built in 1473-79 by Nicolò Soranzo, with use of material of the predecessor pre-gothic palace of the Gradenigo family. After the Soranzo, the building was property of the Venier and Sanudo. In 1628, the van Axel family acquired the palazzo. As the name tells, the family was from Axel, near Gand in Holland. In 1919, Lord Dino Barozzi bought the building.
www.guidedtoursinvenice.com/index.php?option=com_content&...
Vaudeville Games
A villainous study in 2 Actes.
Acte 1
When I first saw the two of them, I knew that they were up to something no good.
It had been a pleasant afternoon spent amusing myself by mixing in during a black-tied occasion haunted by a group of the ultra-rich.
The place was an elegantly large, leased Ballroom, where a wedding reception with what seemed like a thousand gaily attired attendees had been in progress most of the afternoon. I had been amazed, dazzled may be a better word, when I had first walked in as the guests had already begun to gather. I had never seen a such a beautifully sparkling display of lovely jewels being worn by the ladies and lassies in attendance to a mere wedding reception before. I thought I was at some sort of convention for a Tiffanies or DeBeers, with models in long flowing gowns of satin, silk, and taffeta, all loaded to the gills with enticing jewels.
Later I learned, to my benefit, that a good number of them would be attending a local catholic charities ball held at the Cathedral’s large main hall later that evenin. Which explains the total overkillin with the fancy dress, and baubles.
Now, with the females in attendance wearing ample jewels expensive enough that any piece would have been profitable, there would be a temptation even the most unskilled of thieves could not resist. This is precisely one of the reasons why I was there. And I was determined to make the most out of the situation in all ways possible!
I soon found meself shadowing an unsuspecting, rather dipsy, female partier, whose steady drinking habit had first piqued my interest. She was wearing too many jewels than was good for her ( in my opinion), totally taking away notice from the rather fetching long taffeta gown she was poshly wearing over her delightfully young figure. I caught up to her just as she was making yet another quick swirling turn , letting her brush up against me. Almost on que ( and with the help of a foot on her dress’s hem) she lost her balance and I held her gloved arm to help steady her up. In the process I snagged one of her vulgarly large diamond bracelets from her satin clad wrist, secreting it to my vest pocket in the commotion.
I walked away, realizing yet once again, that the thrill I used to receive when lifting a piece of jewelry from a lady had noticeably been diminishing over the course of the last couple of years. Like any profession that has been worked at for a while, it had almost become too routinely easy anymore; my almost ghostlike hovering over receptions, ballroom dances and the ilk. Admiring the rich gowns and dresses, and savoring their sparkling jewels were becoming almost mundane. Even the snagging of a flashy bauble or two along the way was losing its appeal. Even though it was my primary source for putting the bread on the table , I felt sometimes that I needed a break. Sure, I held a second, loosely related, profession to seem respectable to the outside world, but it did not pay nearly as much. I sighed deeply to myself, wallowing in my rather dubious self-pity as I made my way through the thickly congregated crowd of guests at the reception. I also was finding meself pining for my place of birth, Merry old England( or wales to be specific) and a sweet ginger haired lass who I had once known, and still kept in touch with for the 7 long years since I had left my homeland.
With those thoughts whirling about in me head, I made my way to the bar, deciding to now settled back to have a few free drinks and try to enjoy the show. Soon I found myself cheered up, even lazily toying with the idea of making a second score later that evening. And then, well now, given what valuables were being displayed, it was not surprising that soon I spotted a second source of amusement. For it was at that point that I saw the two of them making their way in.
There appeared to be only two of them, together; An older woman, grandmotherly in appearance, with long silver hair, and a foxy expression. Along with the “Grandmother” was what appeared to be her 16 year old granddaughter. “Granddaughter” was a slender sprite with a long sheet of freely hanging long silky blonde hair and deep enchantingly blue eyes, and a rather charming smile, with was noticeably pasted upon her impish face as she took it in all the splendor.
The grandmother wore a blue silk skirt and white silky top, ¾ sleeved. The granddaughter was wearing a tea length black satin skirt and a gold satin long sleeved blouse with ruffles and frills, which was uncharacteristic when compared to the dresses and long gowns of the other girls around her age in attendance. The “Grandmother” was adorned with silver chains, and earrings. The “Granddaughter” wore ruby earrings and matching necklace, like the kind of imitation jewelry one receives as a promotion when buying overpriced perfume. Both newcomers out of place with some of the fancier costumes and gems on display, worn by the older rich ladies as well as quite a number of their younger female issue’s as well.
The granddaughter also wore gold plated rings and bracelets, so pick pocketing was probably not her game; she was probably the “ferret” or the lure. But the grandmother on the other hand, had clean fingers, nimble and long and with nothing around her bare wrists, and decidedly was dressed for quick movements; she was probably the dip, or lift. They also did not appear to be known personally by any of the other guests in attendance, but in a gathering that large, with so many snobs ignoring everything that was going on outside their immediate area, this was not surprising. After all, I was there not really knowing anyone either, except for the ones who had hired me.
The pair split off on their own separate courses. The granddaughter soon began mingling with girls in her own age bracket, whom, as was typical of the very rich, were totally unsupervised by any adult. I noticed she was mingling with only those who displayed the most expensive clothing, then zeroing in upon those wearing the largest quantity of expensive jewelry. The Grandmother soon fell into step with a group of older ladies, whose blazing jewels had attracted her notice.
The playing field was getting too crowded I thought, and so I made myself content by watching the (pair) work the room. I wasn’t shocked: Hunting grounds this fertile were bound to attract multiple predators. The appetite of my curiosity was wetted and I drifted to a corner table with my refilled drink ( an old fashion) , where I could watch over them without notice.
The grandmother was ever watchful, as she chatted up her new, satin gowned, acquaintances, but did not appear to be posed to strike. Her eyes were relentlessly on the move, I figured she was on the look for something special, and was ready to pounce when the situation arose.
Meanwhile the granddaughter seemed to have hooked one. A shy fifteen-year-old clad in a eye-catching sky blue long satin sheath gown, with a matching cape that hung from her shoulders to her elbows. The cut of her gown, and her heavy makeup, made the 15 year old look far too much like an adult. Her dangling earrings were at least a full caret, a long thin gold chain dangling from her gowns neckline held diamond studded heart with a sapphire center that swished expensively against her soft gown. A matching ring and bracelet to the pendent rounded out her jewels. But her cape also had a sapphire pin that swayed, shooting out flames of fiery brilliance, whenever the lights caught it.
I looked for the grandmother, she was now chatting to a young be speckled twenty something, diamonds glittered from the thin necklace that hung shimmering down the front of her satin turtleneck like blouse, an ideal setup. A long, midnight black, tiered skirt fell flowing to her feet, with a diamond brooch centered on the satin sash that encircled her waist. Rings glittered from the fingers that nervously twirled a locket of long , hanging hair as she talked to the “Grandmother”, who had her hand (seemingly nonchalantly) upon the girl’s silken covered shoulder as she made conversation.
I turned my attention back to the “Granddaughter” locating her by the stage, whispering conspiratorially into her newly made friends ear, the girl’s dangling earring shining ever so richly. I watched as the pair left and started to wander towards the dance floor, where they started to watch the dancing couples assembling for the bands next piece. As they stood there the “grandmother” walked up to the pair, and the “granddaughter” introduced her to her new found friend in the shiny blue sheath gown.
As they did so, I looked around for the be speckled 20 something the “grandmother” had been chatting up, she couldn’t have gotten far. I soon spotted her on the dance floor, in the arms of a young man in a monkey suite. I quickly noticed that her necklace was noticeably no longer adorning the neckline of her pretty blouse. I had a good idea where it was, but how had it been accomplished, removed from around her neck without notice, ahh, that was the rub. I was sorry I had missed the performance of the disappearing necklace trick!
My analysis of the pairs game had been spot on, and it was obvious that they were not armatures by any means. It appeared that the “Grandmother was the expert, The younger looking “Granddaughter “ probably her protégé. I quickly looked back at the small group of three hovering on the edge of the dance floor not wanting to miss a trick.
The three were chitchatting on, the “grandmother” admiring the young ladies gown flowing liquidly down over her perky figure. As she then admired blue gowns glimmering necklace, the “granddaughter” had moved and positioned herself behind the unwary young lady. As the necklace was raised I saw her look about and reach up, pulling up and back the chain, efficiently unhooking it. The grandmother held onto the pendant with one hand as she lifted the unsuspecting girls satin gloved hand with her other , all the while chatting her up. Then ever so slowly the “Grandmother” pulled the necklace down freeing it from around the unsuspecting lass’s neck, letting it drop to the carpeted floor at her feet. The “granddaughter” scrunched down behind their cute victim, ( totally unaware that she was being robbed), and reaching around, scarfed the necklace up, stood and moved off. The “grandmother gave the unwilling girl a hug, and when they broke off I noticed the sapphire pin had been lifted, adding unwary insult to undiscovered injury. I saw the girl in the blue sheath look around for her new friend, but the “Granddaughter” had disappeared, moving off to greener pastures.
I soon spotted the “granddaughter” as she resurfaced, obviously she was on the move again, which was surprising, I would have not risked any further attempts so soon if I had been in her dainty heels. I watched, trying to spot her next victim. She headed over towards a table that she had passed earlier, on one of the chairs was a mink jacket, and another was a feathery boa that I had seen her admiring, fingering on the then deserted table.
But the chair that the mink was hanging from now had an occupant. A girl of about 15, wearing a soft velvet dress with long sleeves, had picked up the boa and was sitting on the chair wearing it. She was happily playing with the long feather boa, not a concern in the world. I looked her over, on one side of her dress was a diamond sunburst pin, and on her chubby fingers, were two diamond rings, small but real, and from her ears dangled a pair of long pear shaped diamonds suspended from diamond solitaries clasped to her earlobes.... I was amazed that she would have been trusted to wear such valuable trinkets, but I was not surprised that she was in all probability about to lose them!
The “granddaughter” came upon the girl and asked if she could try on the boa. The unsuspecting girl helped her happily on with it , then the “granddaughter picked up one end, tickling the richly clad lass with the fluffy feathers, then allowed the girl to do the same, eyeing her victims shimmering rings in the process.
The grandmother soon approached to join in the fun. She put on the boa next and tickled both girls with its ends, getting them to giggle uncontrollably. The two devious ladies’s routine had been well honed, as their chosen victim became caught up in the middle of the pair’s rapid fire bantering, and teasing. But it was not all play for two of the three! The 15 year olds diamond starburst pin was the first item to disappear! As the giggling girl, her eyes closed, was doubled over trying to catch a breath, the “Grandmother” took rude advantage of the situation by smoothly reaching under and unsnapping the shimmering pin from the bent over girl’s shiny dress as it had fallen loosely away from her chest for a few seconds. Soon the purloined pin was followed by her sparkling rings, slipped off her fingers when it was her turn to have her hands held behind her by the “Grandmother” and be tickled with the boa by the “Granddaughter” during the course of their horsing around. I thought the pair were finished at that point, but no, they were going for the full Tribeca!
The “Grandmother” held the young ladies attention by kneeling in front of the 15 year old, and helping her on with the boa, wrapping it around the girls neck. As this was being done, the “granddaughter busied herself with coolly slipping off each of the girls old fashioned dangling clasp earrings ! I watched in wonder as the laughing girls expensive earrings were each effortlessly plucked away. The giggling 15 year old clad in the velvet dress had been stripped (tickled) of all her jewels with surgical precision, as the boa was being wily used to its full feathery advantage, and she had never noticed a thing!
The “Grandmother” then stood and moved off to one side, as the girls continued to giggle and play. Unnoticed, she gingerly lifting the mink from the chair behind the now less shimmering 15-year-old, as said child was still being entertained by the “granddaughter”, who I saw had now her hand inside a purse laying on the table behind their cheerful victim. The “grandmother”, carrying the expensive mink over her arm, slipped around and out of sight down the hidden entrance to a side corridor that I knew led down to the building’s work area. The show was probably ending. The pair had acted swiftly, and I knew they would be fished out soon. But I waited; the “granddaughter” was still there, apparently in no hurry to follow the “Grandmother” and disappear down the corridor with her. So there may possibly be another act to their scoundrel like play I surmised, although it was risking it in my professional opinion.
End Acte 1
Extreme credit to the prepupal caterpillar for creating converging silk markings on the leaf prior to pupating which line up precisely with the final chrysalis.
Pu'er, Yunnan, China
see comments for adult butterfly image...
"The least thing precisely, the gentlest thing, the lightest thing, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a whisk, an eye-glance—little maketh up the best happiness. Hush!”
~Friedrich Nietzsche
Seward, Alaska
So I kinda went AWOL on Flickr for a bit. I am currently training in a new job, while also keeping my old job, so I've been training on my 7 days off. Essentially, working almost everyday. In a few weeks though, I should be done and just working per diem at the new hospital. A nice set up to make some extra cash here and there (travel fund, perhaps?), just takes time initially. Anyway, in my limited spare time I have been committing myself to running and yoga, building my lungs back up since developing asthma. I'm happy to say, it's working! Photography has kinda gone by the wayside lately, but I hope to remedy that soon. :)
I hope you are well; keep on clicking those shutters!
The castle dates back to a residential tower and the lords of Gerlachus Otto and his brother Lynn,
who in the 12th century was built with an area of approximately 8.5 x 14.5 m at this
point in tuff and gravel. Already around the year 1000, there were at this point a moth,
an artificial hill surrounded by a moat with a tower protected by palisades of wood.
The first construction consisted of a longer non-preserved ramparts of tufa on the
north side of the castle hill. Otto von Linn sold the "Allodium de Linne"
in 1188 for 100 marks, at the Cologne Archbishop Philip von Heinsberg,
Castle retained but identified as fiefs, before he himself took part as a young man
in the Third Crusade.
Inspired by the Byzantine fortress architecture Otto built the castle on his return
with the proceeds from Cologne on.The old shield wall was initially closed in four
phases with a modern brick wall of bricks to a ring.
After its completion, the weak shield wall removed and added to the wall
in two further stages to its current six-sided shape.
The first three sections are exactly half of the planned six-sided walls,
and were fairly steady pace built between 1195 and 1200.
Later, a result exactly mirror symmetric hexagon. For unknown reasons, the second half
of the wall is not built so precisely. As early as the fourth phase of construction
was carried out in 1202 to less than expected, which influenced the shape and size
of the remaining wall in the last two stages. Then the work came to a halt.
The last two sections were completed only in 1230 and 1250.
Always a beautiful place to visit, which is precisely what I did that afternoon. Although it was not the best weather this National Trust house and grounds in Somerset still looked wonderful and brought back a lot of happy memories for me.
The first thing comes to mind on seeing this temple, or more precisely its walls, are the locally popular comic strips of Hindu mythology, Ramayana. But the difference is, the stories are carved, in long arrays, onto the walls of this temple. The temple's outer walls portray the Hindu Mahanavami (Dasara) and the spring Holi festival procession and celebrations in parallel bands of artwork. The lowest band shows marching elephants, above it are horses led by horsemen, then soldiers celebrated by the public, then dancers and musicians, with a top layer depicting a procession of the general public. The depiction mirrors the description of festivals and processions in surviving memoirs of Persians and Portuguese who visited the Vijayanagara capital.
All around the world we watch the patterns in the seasons and monitor the growth and the die back in nature these natural cycles in Scotland inspired our ancestors to harvest stones and ring them around in ceremonial circles. The trees grow throughout our lifetime and many were tall before we were born and many will be hale and hearty when we are compost. Our ancestors raised timber posts and then stones in well fitting sockets with smaller stabilising chock stones packed in to hold their work where they required it to stand. The path from that we take as we roam across the landscape leads us from lush grasslands towards bare rocks and stunning escarpments and the way in stone leads us further to the highest points that are the pinnacles of mountains. Where nothing else can live there is bare rock and when conditions change the flesh of vibrant green vegetation begins to cover the rocks in mosses and lichens til grass follows and trees are always finding rooting space with rich minerals in rock crevices. Green life appears to growth forth from near sterile rock skeletons and green life is renewing all around us and we have farmed it into our planted fields that in the distant past gave us enough dependable food to also plant stones in sockets wound around into circle monuments upon level ceremonial stages and there being several such stone circles at Machrie Moor.
To take their paths from the solid body of Earth into the abstraction of the ever changing skies timbers stood before we raised our sight along planted stone connections taking us from land to sky. The most fixed form of Earth is the platform for the least fixed form of the Air to rise around. In the fixed foundations of the Earth we set markers, lithic actors to people the stage with character and intent built within the sacred geometry precisely placed for the interaction between the stones. They cast a different shadow each day and that records the path of the Sun, Moon and the Stars and the Planets. The stones staged on their levelled platforms take on the growths that cling to their more sheltered sides. The dew descends and ascends from them like a magical marriage of Water and of Fire in the actions of condensing and of evapourating. The stones are constantly changing, both warming and cooling with dry and moist surfaces taking on changes in colour giving us a reaction that we find as an emotional display.
The trees showed us the way. We followed that way back then when we raised stone markers along it. Today we still follow that way and watch as the growth ascends and descends with vigour towards the skies and with rigour back down towards the Earth. The fertile path of the burgeoning trees growth crowned in fecund reproductive structures showed us the ways that we can rise unencumbered into the skies and the ways that we can return to soil that held all of our seeds brought forth our harvest from darkness into light. The Earth waits for the tallest and the strongest to finish growing out from the fertile ground. Eventually we return to the elemental Earth structure that birthed us all from a planet well favoured at just the right position in a Solar System for intricate cellular interaction. Within the intimate integration of life, death and rebirth we can see the ways to follow and the paths that are always ready to gives us all that which we need.
© PHH Sykes 2026
phhsykes@gmail.com
Machrie Moor Standing Stones
Near Blackwaterfoot, Arran
www.historicenvironment.scot/visit/all/machrie-moor-stand...
History and stories, Machrie Moor Standing Stones
Near Blackwaterfoot, Arran
www.historicenvironment.scot/visit/all/machrie-moor-stand...
Machrie Moor
www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/161/machrie-moor
Machrie Moor
www.themodernantiquarian.com/forum/2/161/17743/194651
Site Name: Machrie Moor 1.
www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=439
Site Name: Machrie Moor 10 Alternative Name: Moss Farm Road, Machrie X
www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=1111
Machrie Moor the urban prehistorian
theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/tag/machrie-moor/
Arran, Machrie Moor, Trove Scotland
National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) ID: 39699
Over 200 digital images
Arran, Machrie Moor 2, Trove Scotland
www.trove.scot/place/39702?tab=images
Fingal’s Cauldron Seat, Machrie Moor, Kilmory, Arran
www.thenorthernantiquarian.org/2014/07/13/fingals-cauldro...
Machrie Moor Stone Circles
At 12 noon precisely Network Rail Track Tamping Machine DR73119 passes through Rugeley Trent Valley working service 605Q 09.46 Bletchley Civil Engineers Sidings to Crewe P.A.D.
Treehoppers (more precisely typical treehoppers to distinguish them from the Aetalionidae) and thorn bugs are members of the family Membracidae, a group of insects related to the cicadas and the leafhoppers. There are about 3,200 species of treehoppers in over 600 genera. They are found on all continents except Antarctica, although there are only three species in Europe.
They are best known for their enlarged and ornate pronotum, which most often resembles thorns, apparently to aid camouflage. But in some species, the pronotum grows to a horn-like extension, and even more bizarre and hard-to-describe shapes are also found.
The castle dates back to a residential tower and the lords of Gerlachus Otto and his brother Lynn,
who in the 12th century was built with an area of approximately 8.5 x 14.5 m at this
point in tuff and gravel. Already around the year 1000, there were at this point a moth,
an artificial hill surrounded by a moat with a tower protected by palisades of wood.
The first construction consisted of a longer non-preserved ramparts of tufa on the
north side of the castle hill. Otto von Linn sold the "Allodium de Linne"
in 1188 for 100 marks, at the Cologne Archbishop Philip von Heinsberg,
Castle retained but identified as fiefs, before he himself took part as a young man
in the Third Crusade.
Inspired by the Byzantine fortress architecture Otto built the castle on his return
with the proceeds from Cologne on.The old shield wall was initially closed in four
phases with a modern brick wall of bricks to a ring.
After its completion, the weak shield wall removed and added to the wall
in two further stages to its current six-sided shape.
The first three sections are exactly half of the planned six-sided walls,
and were fairly steady pace built between 1195 and 1200.
Later, a result exactly mirror symmetric hexagon. For unknown reasons, the second half
of the wall is not built so precisely. As early as the fourth phase of construction
was carried out in 1202 to less than expected, which influenced the shape and size
of the remaining wall in the last two stages. Then the work came to a halt.
The last two sections were completed only in 1230 and 1250.
I have long dreamed of visiting Russia precisely at the celebration of Victory Day on May 9th. In 2018, about 1 million people took part in the Immortal Regiment. The whole huge avenue turned into an endless stream of people, which like the main artery of the human body, filled with blood, flowed through the streets overflowing the heart. More than two hours did not stop this movement.
Я давно мечтала побывать в России именно на праздновании Дня Победы 9 Мая. И в этом году мне удалось прилететь в Санкт Петербург на праздничные каникулы.
Это незабываемое ощущение праздника со слезами на глазах. Я целый день снимала репортаж о жизни города, но когда я увидела как идёт по Невскому проспекту Бессмертный полк, у меня самой выступили слёзы на глазах. Весь огромный проспект превратился в нескончаемый поток людей, который как главная артерия человеческого организма, наполненная кровью, текла по улицам переполняя сердца. В этом году в Бессмертном полку принимали участие около 1 миллиона человек. Я не верила своим глазам, когда более двух часов не прекращалось это движение. Меня переполняли чувства, это незабываемое впечатление и энергетика.
Alaa is a democracy activist over 200 days into his 100 calorie a day hunger strike in prison in Egypt. In this photograph his two sisters, Mona Seif (left) and Sanaa Seif (right) hold placards for Alaa in front of a protest encampment on the pavement opposite Britain's Foreign Office.
Alaa Abd El-Fattah has endured much of the last twelve years in some of the worst prison conditions anywhere in the world, on account of his brave work in promoting democracy in Egypt. He was last arrested in September 2019 while attending Cairo's Dokki Police Station and in December last year was sentenced to five years imprisonment for "spreading false news undermining state security." More precisely, he had shared social media posts explaining the hell-hole reality of Egyptian prison conditions.
PROTEST OUTSIDE THE FOREIGN OFFICE
When this photo was taken Alaa's two sisters, Mona and Sana'a Seif, were staging a protest in London's King Charles Street outside the British Foreign Office in the hope that the Egyptian government can be pressured to release him, as media attention began to focus on the upcoming COP27 conference at Sharm El Sheikh on Egypt's Red Sea coast.
UPDATE AS OF WEDNESDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2022
Starting from Sunday 6 November, Alaa escalated his hunger strike, and stopped taking water. His sister Sanaa Seif took a flight the same weekend to attend the COP27 conference at Sharm El Sheikh in a last-minute effort to save Alaa's life.
For the latest on Alaa's situation listen to his sister's Sanaa Seif's speech to journalists attending the conference on Tuesday 8 November - "They are very happy for him to die. The only thing they care about is that it doesn't happen while the world is watching."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqXibJ7PUTY
TORA PRISON - "A DAY HERE, IS LIKE A YEAR IN BELMARSH"
In April, Alaa began his hunger strike in a cell in one of the most secure sections of Cairo's sprawling and notorious Tora Prison - a maze of grim high concrete walls and watch towers, which strike fear into even the thousands of commuters who have to pass daily.
In 2012, one young Londoner confined to one of the least uncomfortable and most survivable wings of Tora prison, contrasted it with his own previous experience at Britain's high security Belmarsh. I can never forget his exact words. "A day here, is like a year at Belmarsh!" A little over 12 months later, he died of TB - the prison authorities had refused to listen to the pleas of his aunt, who fell on her knees during a rare visit, begging that he be admitted to the prison hospital.
ALAA'S HUNGER STRIKE CONTINUES AT WADI EL NATRUN PRISON
More than 200 days have passed since Alaa started his hunger strike. He has now been moved to the Wadi El Natrun prison complex in the desert north of Cairo, dubbed by inmates as the "Valley of Hell."
He may not survive much longer. However, as he holds British-Egyptian nationality, one would hope that the British government would be doing everything they could to secure his immediate release and it would be reasonable to suppose that the Foreign Office could get an immediate pledge in this regard, especially given that the British companies, including the likes of British Petroleum and BP, are the biggest investors in Egypt.
NO CONSULAR ACCESS
However, the British government have failed even to get him any consular access - think about that. That's an outrage. Even a convicted mass murderer, if British, would be entitled to consular access while in prison. That meeting would obviously not take place in his cell - but in a designated room in the prison or the highly supervised prison visiting area.
British men and women convicted of drug smuggling and other crimes in Egypt have received consular visits, so why not Alaa? The answer is because Alaa's crime is that he dared to tell the truth about Egypt, and the injustice both inside and outside its many prison walls. Nobody knows exactly how many political prisoners Egypt now has, but the number is estimated to be at least 60,000.
ALAA WAS ONE OF THE LEADERS OF THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLT THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN
Alaa Abd El-Fattah was one of the leaders of arguably the most inspirational democratic revolt the world has seen in the last hundred years. Although the first phase of the 2011 uprising in Egypt lasted just 18 days, and although it followed the toppling of the dictator Ben Ali in Tunisia - the streets and bridges around Tahrir Square became a deadly stage watched by the world, where protesters from every walk of life were pitted against Egypt's feared state security forces. Against all the odds, and at the cost of many lives, Egyptians refused to leave the square, sleeping in front of the tanks and fending off attacks from government militia.
The Egyptian people's initial success in toppling the dictator Mubarak led to further revolts not just across the Middle East (most notably in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria) - the highly organised Tahrir-Square sit-in provided the inspiration for strikes and workplace sit-ins against austerity across the United States and Europe and to the Occupy Movement of the same year. The people of Egypt showed that it does not matter how brutal, feared and authoritarian a government is, it can be toppled if people act collectively.
THE MILITARY BACKLASH
It's true that Egypt's flirtation with the path to greater freedom seemed to be only temporary - the Egyptian authorities deployed the usual divide and rule tactics - encouraging the less committed protesters to return home - and then rushed to elections without allowing time for genuinely democratic opposition parties to develop.
Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood won the presidential election in 2012 - the Brotherhood (contrary to the perception many people have here in the West) had genuinely progressive elements within it, but the chance for any transformative radical programme was prevented partly by the corruption and self-interest of some of the main political actors and partly by opposition to its democratic mandate from the deep state (the military, the Interior Ministry, State Security, the police etc.)
The army, seeing its chance, seized power in 2013, superficially in the name of the people, but in reality, to advance the interests of the generals. The new president, Abdel Fattah El-Sissi, moved quickly to crush all opposition, and ordering his security forces to attack Muslim Brotherhood supporters who had gathered in eastern Cairo at Rabaa al-Adaweya Square, killing at least 800 people - the bloodiest massacre of civilians in Egypt's modern history.
DON'T ALLOW EGYPT TO USE COP27 TO GREENWASH ITS REGIME - AND PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE ALAA
Now COP27 is scheduled to take place in Sharm El-Sheikh and Sisi has been given a golden opportunity to greenwash his murderous regime, which has also seen ever increasing levels inequality and corruption. While British representatives at COP27 will be given accommodation in the most luxurious five star hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh and fall asleep listening to the sound of the waves, another British citizen, Alaa Abdel El-Fatah is near death, on a painful hunger strike in the darkest of places - his dimly lit cell. The only thing he might hear at night is the desperate cry from some prisoner in another cell appealing for medical help which most likely never comes.
If we care for freedom, real democracy and justice, we can't allow the British Foreign Office to forget Alaa - especially if it's simply not to upset the highly profitable relationship British multinationals have with one of the world's most authoritarian and corrupt regimes - a relationship which only benefits the wealthiest of Egyptians.
If you live in London, please show your support at the protest at King Charles Street - and wherever you live please sign the petition -
www.change.org/p/help-free-my-brother-before-it-s-too-lat...
More precisely, the view of the Olympic NP mountains from the Hurricane Ridge visitor centre at ~5200 ft on, apparently, a rare sunny day.
This is a stitch in Lightroom Classic CC of 4 horizontal frames.
This my nephew's cat Ramses in my garden or, more precisely, in my pine tree. I haven't seen much of Ramses recently although he lives in the neighbourhood. He has meanwhile grown into a big cat but is still full of mischief. He loves to climb, I guess he must have been a monkey in a past life, and that's why he ended up in my tree. The whole (photo) story in the comments. I hope you will enjoy it !
Locals know it, and that's precisely why many of us live here in the first place. Others are finding out about the abundant gifts the area offers to those who love the outdoors, and more and more of them are choosing the region for their vacation and recreation get-aways.
They're discovering what we already know: that Northeastern Washington provides affordable access to the varied terrain of river valleys and mountaintops, of forests, lakes, and streams, of developed recreation and wilderness experience -- with hidden treasures everywhere.
www.northeasternwashington.com
Image 1. Desert valley and high rock walls.
Image 2. Old school house.
Image 4. Old school house.
I was out at our favorite local plant nursery hunting poinsettias a few weeks before Christmas, and I ended up getting a few of the beautiful specimens to help us pretty up our home for the holidays. This plant stopped me in my tracks in one of the aisles and I ended up buying it as well. The sign under these beauties said "cyclamen". It sounds like a prescription drug I thought and, as it turns out, this gorgeous specimen was just what the doctor ordered for our Christmas-themed living room. And, in my humble opinion, I thought it was as or even more beautiful than the various color poinsettias I brought home. And which we are still enjoying.
I made this capture of the cyclamen plant precisely where it ended up living on a white metal table in our living room, just inside the balcony doorway, where its rich magenta colorations certainly beautified the surroundings for the last 3 weeks, and then some. It is a feast for the eyes, this one.
Happy and healthy New Year's wishes go out to all my photo buddies on the flickr site. It has been a great pleasure to share both photo imagery and friendship with you for the last 13 years.
Stay safe and well and keep those marvelous images coming in 2026 and, hopefully, well beyond. I look forward to the exchange.
Norwegen / Buskerud - Hallingskarvet-Nationalpark
Prestholtseter
Hallingskarvet National Park (Norwegian: Hallingskarvet nasjonalpark) is a national park in central Norway that was established by the government on 22 December 2006. The park is located in the municipalities of Hol (Buskerud county), Ulvik and Aurland (both in Vestland county). More precisely, the park comprises the Hallingskarv plateau and the high mountain areas to the west of it. It includes the Vargebreen glacier as well as the valleys of Såtedalen, Lengjedalen, Ynglesdalen, and parts of Raggsteindalen.
The national park covers 450 square kilometres (170 sq mi) of the Hallingskarvet mountain range and hosts large stocks of wild reindeer, an important factor in the establishment of the park. The highest point in the national park is Folarskardnuten which reaches an elevation of 1,933 metres (6,342 ft) above sea level.
The landscape of Hallingskarvet was shaped by multiple ice ages. The park shows the geological history and the connection between this history and the variation in the species living there. It includes areas of special value and which are home to threatened or vulnerable species such as Draba cacuminum (whitlow-grass) and Botrychium lanceolatum (lance-leaf grapefern).
The Bergen Line runs along the southern boundary of the park. There is no road access to the southern side of the park, so Finse Station, a stop on the railway line, is one of the few ways that people can access this part of the park. The Norwegian County Road 50 runs near the northern boundary of the park.
Protection and use
The main objective of this national park is to preserve a large, unique, and largely untouched area in order to protect the landscape and the biome with its ecosystem, species and populations of, amongst others, the wild reindeer. The protection is designed to safeguard a characteristic element needed to understand the geological history of the Norwegian landscape. It is also designed to protect valuable elements of the cultural heritage.
The park is open to the traditional forms of outdoor activities which require little or no technical means.
Name
The first element is halling (inhabitant of the Hallingdal valley) and the last is the finite form of skarv (mountain or mountainous area without vegetation).
(Wikipedia)
Prestholtseter a farm cafe based on traditions. Prestholtseter is located by Hallingskarvet at 1242 m, by Hallingskarvet National Park. It is a popular destination both summer and winter. The café offers waffles, buns, the local specialties "lefsekling" (thin, sheet bread), "Rummebrød" (thin cakes made with sour cream), cakes, omelets, buns and rolls. In summer you can also get cured meats and tasty sour cream porridge By Prestholtseter you will find great hiking in the summer and cross country tracks in the winter. In summer you can hike on dirt roads or paths, either flat or the Prestholt stairs up to the top of Hallingskarvet Mountain. In summer the road goes all the way to Prestholtseter (toll road). In winter there are ski trails that are groomed daily, from Havsdalen and from Ustaoset. Prestholtseter offers catering for groups from 15 -100 people for dinner or lunch. A nice layer at the base of Hallingskarvet provides a unique and beautiful setting for the event. Prestholtseter was built in 1904 and has been in the family Uthus since. In the beginning it was a pure summer farm, where they sold products that they produced themselves. Opning hours 2017: Winter season: Starts week 7, 2017. The road usually opens around July 1st.
(visitnorway.com)
Der Hallingskarvet-Nationalpark (norwegisch Hallingskarvet nasjonalpark) ist ein südnorwegischer Nationalpark. Er umfasst das Hallingskarvet-Hochplateau und erstreckt sich über das Gebiet der Gemeinden Hol (Provinz Buskerud), Ulvik und Aurland (Provinz Vestland) gehört.
Gegründet wurde der Park am 22. Dezember 2006, um die dortige große, unverwechselbare und nahezu unberührte Bergregion, die Artenvielfalt von Flora und Fauna und die dort heimischen Bergrentiere zu schützen. Der Park grenzt an das Naturschutzgebiet Skaupsjøen/Hardangerjøkulen und das Biotop Finse.
Im Süden des Parkes führen sowohl die Bergenbahn als auch die Reichsstraße 7 vorbei.
Geologie, Landschaft und Geografie
Der Nationalpark umfasst größtenteils das Hallingskarvethochplateau, welches aufgrund der Kaledonischen Orogenese entstand. Das vorherrschende Gesteinsmaterial der Bergkette ist präkambrisches Pluton.
Der höchste Berg ist der Folarskardnuten mit 1.933 m. Im Hallingskarvet befindet sich auch Norwegens höchster See, der Flakavatnet, welcher auf 1.453 m Höhe liegt.
Flora
Die Pflanzenwelt gestaltet sich mit über 300 verschiedenen Arten sehr vielfältig. Die am weitesten verbreiteten Pflanzen sind der Weiße Silberwurz, Knöllchen-Knöterich und Herbst-Löwenzahn. In den höheren Lagen kommen vor allem Dreiblatt-Binsen, Polarsimsen, Moosheide und Gletscher-Hahnenfuß vor.
Fauna
Im Park gibt es an größeren Säugetieren Bergrentiere, Elche, Rehe, Polarfüchse und Schneehasen. Nördlich des Parks leben zudem Vielfraße.
Die größten Greifvögel sind Steinadler, Gerfalke, Turmfalke und Raufußbussard. Der Kolkrabe ist im Hallingskarvet ebenfalls heimisch.
Kulturerbe
Im Nationalpark wurden verschiedene Jagdutensilien gefunden, die auf eine prähistorische/historische Nutzung der Berge als Jagd- und/oder Siedlungsgebiet schließen lassen.
Im 17. bis 19. Jahrhundert lag der Park entlang einer wichtigen Handelsroute. Einfache Übernachtungshütten, sog. lægre, zeugen noch heute davon. Im Jahre 1880 ließ der englische Graf Lord Garvagh eine steinerne Jagdhütte, die Lordehytta, errichten, um in der näheren Umgebung auf Rentierjagd zu gehen.
Verwaltung und Tourismus
Der Norwegische Wanderverein unterhält im Park die Hütten Finsehytta im Süden und Geiterygghytta im Norden. Private Unterkünfte gibt es im Raggsteindalen und bei Haugastøl. Zwischen den Hütten gibt es markierte Wanderwege.
Zwischen Finse und Ustaoset verläuft ein Stück des Skarverennet durch den Park. Im Süden des Parks verläuft zudem der Rallarvegen.
(Wikipedia)
It is precisely my body which perceives the body of another, and discovers in that other body a miraculous prolongation of my own intentions, a familiar way of dealing with the world. Henceforth, as the parts of my body together compromise a system, so my body and the other’s are one whole, two sides of one and the same phenomenon.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
We have many dozens of wildflower plants that are like this only white and precisely two that are blue like this.
I think that most people, Europeans or not, feel that Europe or, more precisely the European Union must be re-think.
Penso que la majoria de les persones, europeus o no, els fa l’efecte que Europa o, més exactamente, la Unió Europea ha de ser re-pensada.
Pienso que la mayor parte de las persones, europeos o no, tiene la sensación que Europa o, más exactamente, la Unión Europea debe ser re-pensada.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin
Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. It is on the east coast of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, at the mouth of the River Liffey, and is bordered on the south by the Wicklow Mountains. It has an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the Dublin Region (formerly County Dublin), as of 2016, was 1,347,359, and the population of the Greater Dublin area was 1,904,806.
There is archaeological debate regarding precisely where Dublin was established by the Gaels in or before the 7th century AD. Later expanded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin, the city became Ireland's principal settlement following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland.
Dublin is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration and industry. As of 2018 the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha −", which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world.
Source: Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha%27penny_Bridge
The Ha'penny Bridge (Irish: Droichead na Leathphingine, or Droichead na Life), known later for a time as the Penny Ha'penny Bridge, and officially the Liffey Bridge, is a pedestrian bridge built in May 1816 over the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. Made of cast iron, the bridge was cast in Shropshire, England.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Liffey
The River Liffey (Irish: An Life) is a river in Ireland, which flows through the centre of Dublin. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac. The river supplies much of Dublin's water and a range of recreational activities.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has weighed the largest known galaxy cluster in the distant universe and found that it definitely lives up to its nickname: El Gordo (Spanish for "the fat one").
By precisely measuring how much the gravity from the cluster's mass warps images of far-more-distant background galaxies, a team of astronomers has calculated the cluster's mass to be as much as 3 million billion times the mass of our Sun. The Hubble data show that the cluster is roughly 43 percent more massive than earlier estimates based on X-ray and dynamical studies of the unusual cluster.
"It's given us an even stronger probability that this is really an amazing system very early in the universe," said team lead James Jee of the University of California at Davis.
A fraction of this mass is locked up in several hundred galaxies that inhabit the cluster and a larger fraction is in hot gas that fills the entire volume of the cluster. The rest is tied up in dark matter, an invisible form of matter that makes up the bulk of the mass of the universe.
Though galaxy clusters as massive are found in the nearby universe, such as the so-called Bullet Cluster, nothing like this has ever been seen to exist so far back in time, when the universe was roughly half of its current age of 13.8 billion years. The team suspects such monsters are rare in the early universe, based on current cosmological models.
The immense size of El Gordo was first reported in January 2012. Astronomers estimated its huge mass based on observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and galaxy velocities measured by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope array in Paranal, Chile. They were able to put together estimates of the cluster's mass based on the motions of the galaxies moving inside the cluster and the very high temperatures of the hot gas between the cluster galaxies.
The challenge was that they noticed that the cluster (catalogued as ACT-CL J0102-4915) looked as if it might have been the result of a titanic collision between a pair of galaxy clusters the researchers describe as "seeing two cannonballs hit each other."
"We wondered what happens when you catch a cluster in the midst of a major merger and how the merger process influences both the X-ray gas and the motion of the galaxies," explained John Hughes of Rutgers University. "So the bottom line is that because of the complicated merger state, it left some questions about the reliability of the mass estimates we were making."
"That's where the Hubble data came in," said Felipe Menanteau of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "We were in dire need for an independent and more robust mass estimate given how extreme this cluster is and how rare its existence is in the current cosmological model. There was all this kinematic energy that could be unaccounted for and could potentially suggest that we were actually underestimating the mass." The expectation of "unaccounted energy" comes from the fact that the merger is occurring tangentially to the observers' line of sight. This means they are potentially missing a good fraction of the kinetic energy of the merger because their spectroscopic measurements only track the radial speeds of the galaxies.
The team used Hubble to measure how strongly the mass of the cluster warped space. Hubble's high resolution allowed measurements of so-called "weak lensing," where the cluster's immense gravity subtly distorts space like a funhouse mirror and warps images of background galaxies. The greater the warping, the more mass is locked up in the cluster. "What I did is basically look at the shapes of the background galaxies that are farther away than the cluster itself," explained Jee.
The team's next step with Hubble will be to try to get a large mosaic image of the cluster. It doesn't fit into Hubble's field of view. It's like looking at a giant's head and shoulders from the side, say researchers. "We can tell it's a pretty big El Gordo, but we don't know what kind of legs he has, so we need to have a larger field of view to get the complete picture of the giant," said Menanteau.
hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2014/22/3362-Image.html
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_Church,_Berlin
St. Mary's Church, known in German as the Marienkirche, is a church in Berlin, Germany. It is located on Karl-Liebknecht-Straße (formerly Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße) in central Berlin, near Alexanderplatz. The exact age of the original church site and structure is not precisely known, but it was first mentioned in German chronicles in 1292. It is presumed to date from earlier in the 13th century. The architecture of the building is now largely composed of comparatively modern restoration work which took place in the late 19th century and in the post-war period. The church was originally a Roman Catholic church, but has been a Lutheran Protestant church since the Protestant Reformation and a united Protestant church since the Prussian Union of churches in 1817.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin
Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,723,914 (2018) inhabitants make it the second most populous city proper of the European Union after London. The city is one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, and contiguous with its capital, Potsdam. The two cities are at the center of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which is, with 6,004,857 (2015) inhabitants and an area of 30,370 square km, Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions.
Berlin straddles the banks of the River Spree, which flows into the River Havel (a tributary of the River Elbe) in the western borough of Spandau. Among the city's main topographical features are the many lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs formed by the Spree, Havel, and Dahme rivers (the largest of which is Lake Müggelsee). Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. About one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers, canals and lakes. The city lies in the Central German dialect area, the Berlin dialect being a variant of the Lusatian-New Marchian dialects.
First documented in the 13th century and situated at the crossing of two important historic trade routes, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417–1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), and the Third Reich (1933–1945). Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world. After World War II and its subsequent occupation by the victorious countries, the city was divided; West Berlin became a de facto West German exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989) and East German territory. East Berlin was declared capital of East Germany, while Bonn became the West German capital. Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all of Germany.
Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media and science. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations and convention venues. Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination. Significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics.
Berlin is home to world-renowned universities, orchestras, museums, and entertainment venues, and is host to many sporting events. Its Zoological Garden is the most visited zoo in Europe and one of the most popular worldwide. With the world's oldest large-scale movie studio complex, Berlin is an increasingly popular location for international film productions. The city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts and a very high quality of living. Since the 2000s Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernsehturm_Berlin
The Fernsehturm (English: Television Tower) is a television tower in central Berlin, Germany.
Close to Alexanderplatz in Berlin-Mitte, the tower was constructed between 1965-69 by the government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was intended to be both a symbol of Communist power and of Berlin. It remains the latter today, as it is easily visible throughout the central and some suburban districts of Berlin. With its height of 368 metres (including antenna) it is the tallest structure in Germany, and the third-tallest structure in the European Union. Of four tallest structures in Europe, it is 2 m shorter than the Torreta de Guardamar, 0.5 m shorter than the Riga Radio and TV Tower, and 8 m taller than the Trbovlje Power Station in 2017. The structure is also more than 220 metres higher than the old Berlin Radio Tower in the western part of the city, which was built in the 1920s.
In addition to its main function as the location of several radio and television broadcasting stations, the building – internally known as "Fernmeldeturm 32" – serves as a viewing tower with observation deck including a bar at a height of 203 metres, as well as a rotating restaurant. Also, the Berlin TV Tower can be booked as a venue for events. The distinctive city landmark has undergone a radical, symbolic transformation: After German reunification, it changed from a politically charged, national symbol of the GDR into a citywide symbol of a reunited Berlin. Due to its universal and timeless design, it has increasingly been used as a trademark and is identified worldwide with Berlin and Germany. In 1979, the Berlin TV Tower received monument status by the GDR, a status which was perpetuated after the German reunification.
The tower has become one of the most prominent symbols of the country and is often in the establishing shot of films set in Berlin, alongside monuments such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Victory Column and the Reichstag building. It is also one of the ten most popular attractions in Germany with more than 1,000,000 visitors every year. Due to its location near Alexanderplatz, it is occasionally called Alex Tower.
This is the coastguard lookout post that stands right at the tip of St Aldhelm's Head - or more precisely it was previously a coastguard lookout! It is in fact now no longer used by the coastguards but is manned part time by volunteers working with The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) which is a registered charity. I arrived here on my coast walk just as the sun was setting and the reflection off the window caught my eye. In the distance, you can see the distinct shape of White Nothe and beyond that the narrow tract of land that goes across to Portland.
Actually I think this place would make quite a nice weekend pad! It's not very big but it has that lovely picture window looking straight out to sea and there's a tiny kitchenette and toilet plus it has it's own tiny 'courtyard garden' (behind the curved wall!) ;-)!
Thanks for all your visits, comments and faves, I really appreciate you all.
Press L for Large on Black!
for 7DoS: there may not be precisely 39 steps here - let's call it poetic license ;)
After a busy couple of days, I'm not planning to engage my brain too early on Tuesday and as Margaret has already beaten me to two ideas this week, I needed to act
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/The_Brand_New_Test...
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or…. Press the “L” button to zoom in the image;
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www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...
www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
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This story in photographs and words was created last year 2023, in the Sicilian town of Butera, in the province of Caltanissetta, on the occasion of Palm Sunday: it is precisely in this town that a characteristic re-enactment is celebrated with the 12 apostles wearing traditional costumes, of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, for the occasion Christ (his statue) does not use the back of a donkey, as handed down to us by the Holy Gospels, rather he is placed on a singular open car without of doors, and then subsequently more classically the Christ is carried on the shoulder on a float, on this last occasion we witness a unique traditional fact, which I personally had never seen, whoever has to carry the float on the front buys this possibility at auction (a few dozen euros, which will be donated to charity), the two devotees who win them will have the honor of carrying the statue of Christ on their shoulders, metaphorically, the two front bearers will be the first "to enter Jerusalem" (i.e. into the church of Our Lady of Graces, which will be opened on command of Saint Peter, who by banging with his stick on the door will ensure that it is opened allowing the entry of the float with Christ). We then witness a characteristic procession with Christ placed in front (first on the characteristic car, then carried on the shoulder on the float), behind there are always the 12 apostles, wearing the traditional costumes of the procession, all carrying in their hands a stick decorated with flowers (wallflowers), with olive branches, wild mint stems and colored ribbons; eleven of them wear a blue tunic, the apostle John instead wears white, since he is considered the purest, since he did not betray Jesus and followed him to Calvary, the apostle Judas has a bag that preserves the 30 money that he received as a reward "for his betrayal" and a small wooden barrel containing wine, in fact whoever impersonates Judas must behave like a drunkard, a person not very inclined to a spiritual life. Everyone wears a cardboard halo, which is fixed to a lock of hair, causing a few drops of wax to drip onto it from a lit candle; the procession proceeds behind with the priests, the town's devotees and the musical band. A nod to a curious fact that happened to me that day, I had planned to go to Aidone, where on the occasion of Palm Sunday there is a celebration with the "Santuni" (Big Saints), very big wooden and papier-mâché statues depicting the twelve apostles, which is from my town, Taormina, about 129 KM, I had also contacted some local people by telephone to ask for information; I would have liked to go to Butera, but the distance of 160 km (who knows why, at the time it seemed excessive, perhaps the navigator was giving me a much longer route) had made me postpone it until who knows when; that morning, very early, I left to go to Aidone, during the journey, near Enna, the navigator lost the signal, and unbeknownst to me, incredible to say, it reconnected to "my search for the routes of a couple of days before” …taking me, against my will, to Butera: so, while I was taking my photographs during the procession, I thanked and blessed that navigator of mine…who had turned out to be so… enterprising.
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Questo racconto in fotografie e parole, è stato realizzato l’anno scorso 2023, nel paese siciliano di Butera, in provincia di Caltanissetta, in occasione del giorno della Domenica delle Palme: è proprio in questo paese che si celebra una caratteristica rievocazione con i 12 apostoli che indossano costumi tradizionali, dell’ingresso di Cristo in Gerusalemme, per l’occasione il Cristo (la sua statua) non si avvale del dorso di un asinello, come tramandatoci dai Sacri Vangeli, piuttosto viene posto su di una singolare automobile aperta priva di sportelli, e poi successivamente più classicamente il Cristo viene portato in spalla su di una vara (il fercolo), in quest’ultima occasione si assiste ad un fatto tradizionale unico, che personalmente non avevo mai visto, i due posti anteriori della vara vengono messi all’asta (poche decine di euro, che verranno devolute in beneficenza), i due devoti che se li aggiudicano avranno l’onore di portare la statua del Cristo sulle proprie spalle (questa particolarissima asta viene chiamata “a spadda all'asta”), metaforicamente, i due portatori anteriori, saranno i primi “ad entrare in Gerusalemme” (ovvero dentro la chiesa della Madonna delle Grazie, che verrà aperta su comando di San Pietro, che battendo col proprio bastone sul portone farà si che esso venga aperto consentendo l’ingresso della vara col Cristo). Si assiste quindi ad una caratteristica processione col Cristo posto sul davanti (dapprima sulla caratteristica automobile, poi portato in spalla sulla vara), dietro si trovano sempre i 12 apostoli, che indossano i costumi tradizionali della processione, tutti portano in mano un bastone addobbato con fiori (violaciocche), con rami d’ulivo, steli di menta selvatica e nastri colorati; undici di essi indossano una tunica di colore blu, l’apostolo Giovanni invece veste di bianco, poiché viene considerato il più puro, poiché non tradì Gesù e lo seguì fino al Calvario, l’apostolo Giuda in più ha un sacchetto che conserva i 30 denari che ebbe come ricompensa “per il suo tradimento” ed un piccolo barilotto in legno (o caratello) contenente vino, infatti chi impersona Giuda deve comportarsi come un beone, una persona poco incline ad una vita spirituale. Tutti indossano una aureola di cartone, che viene fissata su di una ciocca di capelli, facendovi colare sopra qualche goccia di cera da una candela accesa, infine dietro procede il corteo con i sacerdoti, i devoti del paese, la banda musicale. Un cenno ad un fatto curioso che mi accadde quel giorno, avevo programmato di andare ad Aidone, dove in occasione della Domenica delle Palme c’è la festa con i “Santuni”, grandi statue in legno e cartapesta raffiguranti i dodici apostoli, che dista dal mio paese, Taormina, circa 129 KM, avevo anche contattato telefonicamente qualche persona locale per chiedere informazioni; mi sarebbe piaciuto andare a Butera, ma la distanza di 160 km (chissà perchè, sul momento mi sembrava eccessiva, forse il navigatore mi dava un percorso molto più lungo) mi aveva fatto rimandare a chissà quando; quella mattina, molto presto, io partii per andare ad Aidone, durante il tragitto, in prossimità di Enna, il navigatore perse il segnale, e si riagganciò a mia insaputa, incredibile a dirsi, alla “mia ricerca sui percorsi di un paio di giorni prima” …portandomi, mio malgrado, a Butera: così, mentre scattavo le mie fotografie durante la processione, ringraziavo e benedicevo quel mio navigatore…che si era rivelato così … intraprendente.
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That's precisely how far these rolling hills of farmlands go on for. Last year, Tom & I visited Oregon, but before we did we visited the Palouse region of eastern Washington state. (That was part of the deal) :-)
This image was taken in the spring season from a vantage point on Steptoe Butte. I had been so motivated by other photographers who presented such phenomenal images of the fertile grounds ... with the ever-changing light, which "paints" the landscape with an ever-changing canvas. Like a kid in a candy store I was, not being able to shoot fast enough. If you haven't ever made a trip out there and are so inclined, I couldn't more highly recommend it. I doubt that it even matters the season ... ever-changing ... mile and miles.
I chose this image tonight because I will soon be heading out there. Can't wait to see what I can capture this time. :-) Also, tonight's blog post will present more images from the Palouse area. You know how it is when you psych yourself up for an upcoming trip. If you get a chance, feel free to check out the post.
Blog: www.tnwaphotography.wordpress.com
Website: www.tnwaphotography.com
© Debbie Tubridy / TNWA Photography
Married during the Europride.
A public wedding.
Precisely with the terrorist threat of IS very brave and special.
This is what Director Ruud Spee did with his beloved Victor.
They wanted to show the world that they will never bow to prejudice and violence.
Diligently they knelt before God to receive his blessing.
I was there, it was a fantastic
archive of Casa Cuseni, an original newspaper article, preserved by Daphne Phelps, who hosted Danilo Dolci in Taormina.
archivio di Casa Cuseni, un articolo di giornale originale, conservato da Daphne Phelps, che ospitò a Taormina Danilo Dolci.
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or…. Press the “L” button to zoom in the image;
clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;
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www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...
www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
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A story of Sicily: the Sicilian Gandhi (but he was not Sicilian ...).
This photographic story is connected, at least in part, with the previous one, whose link is represented by the nephew of the painter Robert Kitson, Miss Daphne Phelps: in life she was a psychiatric social worker (she collaborated with Anna Freud, daughter by Sigmund Freud), on the death of his uncle in 1948 he moved to Sicily to take care of Casa Cuseni, having inherited it: initially he wanted to sell it and then return to England, instead he ended up falling in love with Taormina and Sicily, deciding to stay there for the rest of his life. Daphne ran Casa Cuseni welcoming paying guests, there are many illustrious names of artists, writers, well-known personalities who have stayed there: Danilo Dolci was one of these guests, and it is precisely about him that I wish to speak. He was born in 1924 in Sesana (Trieste), after a somewhat eventful life, in 1952 he moved to Trappeto (between Palermo and Trapani), a country among the poorest and most disadvantaged in Italy: that same year the first of numerous fasts, going to bed and fasting in the bed of a child who died of malnutrition, a protest that will end only when the authorities undertake to build a sewer. Danilo Dolci continues with numerous initiatives, from the publication of a book ("Banditi a Partinico", which makes public opinion aware of the poor living conditions of western Sicily, to this book and many others will follow), to the "strike at reverses ”, when the workers went on strike, hundreds of unemployed began to work to reactivate an abandoned municipal road, an initiative that was then stopped by the police; Dolci also initiates an activity of denunciation of the mafia phenomenon and its relations with politics. There are numerous certificates of esteem and solidarity that he receives from important personalities from Italy and abroad, but despite this, for others Danilo Dolci is a dangerous subversive, to be hindered, denigrated, locked up in prison. Yet Dolci does not pose as a guru, boss, or teacher, his working method is based on the conviction that change is based on the involvement and direct participation of those concerned, his idea of progress enhances local culture and skills; he tries, working closely with the people and the most disadvantaged and oppressed groups of western Sicily, to free the dormant creativity in every person, calling this research "maieutic", a term coming from philosophy, precisely from Socratic maieutics: it is "the 'art of the midwife ", every educational act is to bring to light all the inner potentialities of the one who wants to learn, like a mother who wants to give birth to her own child from her womb, so no to notions imparted a priori, yes to help the student to bring their knowledge to light, using dialogue as a tool; however, Socratic maieutics is unidirectional, while in Danilo Dolci's "reciprocal maieutics", knowledge comes out of experience and its sharing, therefore it presupposes the reciprocity of communication. During meetings with farmers and fishermen, the idea was born to build the dam on the Jato River, which is important for the economic development of the area, but also to remove a powerful weapon in the hands of the mafia, an instrument of power which controlled the few available water resources; however the request for "water for all" will be heavily hindered, popular mobilizations and long fasts will be necessary to finally see the project realized: now the dam exists, and others have been built, thus modifying the lives of thousands of people, with the development of numerous companies and cooperatives. Among the many activities of Dolci, thanks to the contribution of international experts, the experience of the Mirto Educational Center, attended by hundreds of children, should be mentioned. Returning to Daphne Phelps and Casa Cuseni, here is a lithograph by Tono Zancanaro, dedicated to the birth of one of Danilo Dolci's daughters, but, among the most important, there is a correspondence between the pacifist philosopher Bertrand Russel and Daphne Phelps, in which the English thinker invited Robert Kitson's niece to participate in the gatherings of progressive intellectuals and literary and scientific personalities of the time, among them, besides Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Carlo Levi, there was Danilo Dolci, sociologist, educator, still recognized today as one of the most important figures of nonviolence worldwide.
post Scriptum:
- the images with Danilo Dolci come from the Casa Cuseni archive: they are cuttings from original periodicals, often full pages, from English newspapers, carefully preserved by Miss Daphne Phelps; these images were also taken by photographing some pages of James McNeish's book, "Fire under the ashes - The life of Danilo Dolci";
- the photographs taken in various countries of Sicily, are prior to the covid-19 pandemic;
- thanks to the surgeon colleague dr. Franco Spadaro and his kind wife, Mrs. Mimma Cundari, owners of Casa Cuseni (declared in 1998, Italian National Monument), for their hospitality and availability, having made the Danilo Dolci archive available to me.
Una storia di Sicilia: il Gandhi siciliano (ma siciliano non era…).
Questo racconto fotografico, è connesso, almeno in parte, con quello precedente, il cui anello di congiunzione è rappresentato dalla nipote del pittore Robert Kitson, la signorina Daphne Phelps: lei nella vita era una assistente sociale psichiatrica (lei collaborava con Anna Freud, figlia di Sigmund Freud), alla morte dello zio nel 1948 si trasferì in Sicilia per occuparsi di Casa Cuseni, avendola ereditata: inizialmente la voleva vendere per poi ritornarsene in Inghilterra, invece finì con l’innamorarsi di Taormina e della Sicilia, decidendo di restarvi per il resto della sua vita. Daphne gestiva Casa Cuseni accogliendo ospiti paganti, numerosi sono i nomi illustri di artisti, scrittori, note personalità che vi hanno alloggiato: Danilo Dolci è stato uno di questi ospiti, ed è proprio di lui che desidero parlare. Egli nasce nel 1924 a Sesana (Trieste), dopo una vita un po’ movimentata, nel 1952 si trasferisce a Trappeto (tra Palermo e Trapani), un paese tra i più poveri e disagiati d’Italia: quello stesso anno inizia il primo di numerosi digiuni, coricandosi e digiunando nel letto di un bimbo morto per denutrizione, protesta che terminerà solo quando le autorità si impegneranno a costruire una fogna. Danilo Dolci prosegue con numerose iniziative, dalla pubblicazione di un libro (“Banditi a Partinico”, che mette a conoscenza dell’opinione pubblica delle misere condizioni di vita della Sicilia occidentale, a questo libro poi ne seguiranno molti altri), allo “sciopero alla rovescia”, quando i lavoratori fecero sciopero, centinaia di disoccupati si misero a lavorare per riattivare una strada comunale abbandonata, iniziativa però poi fermata dalla polizia; Dolci avvia anche una attività di denuncia del fenomeno mafioso e dei suoi rapporti con la politica. Numerosi sono gli attestati di stima e solidarietà che egli riceve da importanti personalità provenienti dall’Italia e dall’estero, ma nonostante ciò per altri Danilo Dolci è un pericoloso sovversivo, da ostacolare, denigrare, chiudere in prigione. Eppure Dolci non si atteggia né a santone, capo, od un maestro, il suo metodo di lavoro è basato sulla convinzione che il cambiamento è basato sul coinvolgimento e diretta partecipazione degli interessati, la sua idea di progresso valorizza la cultura e le competenze locali; egli cerca, lavorando a stretto contatto con la gente e le fasce più disagiate ed oppresse della Sicilia occidentale, di liberare la creatività sopita in ogni persona, chiamando tale ricerca “maieutica”, termine proveniente dalla filosofia, precisamente dalla maieutica socratica: è “l’arte della levatrice”, ogni atto educativo è far venire alla luce tutte le potenzialità interiori di colui che vuole imparare, al pari di una madre che vuol far nascere la propria creatura dal suo grembo, quindi no a nozioni impartite a priori, si ad aiutare lo studente a portare alla luce la propria conoscenza, usando il dialogo come strumento; però, la maieutica socratica è unidirezionale, mentre nella “maieutica reciproca” di Danilo Dolci, la conoscenza viene fuori dall’esperienza e dalla sua condivisione, quindi presuppone la reciprocità della comunicazione. Nel corso di riunioni con contadini e pescatori, nasce l’idea di costruire la diga sul fiume Jato, importante per lo sviluppo economico della zona, ma anche togliere un’arma potente in mano alla mafia, che faceva del controllo delle poche risorse idriche disponibili uno strumento di potere, però la richiesta di “acqua per tutti” verrà pesantemente ostacolata, saranno necessarie le mobilitazioni popolari, lunghi digiuni, per vedere infine realizzato il progetto: ora la diga esiste, ed altre sono state poi realizzate, modificando in tal modo la vita di migliaia di persone, con lo svilupparsi di numerose aziende e cooperative. Da menzionare, tra le tante attività di Dolci, grazie al contributo di esperti internazionali, l’esperienza del Centro Educativo di Mirto, frequentato da centinaia di bambini. Ritornando a Daphne Phelps e Casa Cuseni, qui è presente una litografia di Tono Zancanaro, dedicata alla nascita di una delle figlie di Danilo Dolci, ma, cosa tra le più importanti, esiste un carteggio tra il filosofo pacifista Bertrand Russel e Daphne Phelps, nel quale il pensatore inglese invitava la nipote di Robert Kitson a partecipare ai raduni di intellettuali progressisti e personalità letterarie e scientifiche dell’epoca, tra di loro, oltre Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre e Carlo Levi, c’era Danilo Dolci, sociologo, educatore, ancora oggi riconosciuto tra le figure di massimo rilievo della nonviolenza a livello mondiale.
post scriptum:
- le immagini con Danilo Dolci provengono dall'archivio di Casa Cuseni: sono ritagli di giornali originali dell'epoca, spesso pagine intere, provenienti da quotidiani inglesi, accuratamente conservati dalla signorina Daphne Phelps; tali immagini sono state realizzate fotografando anche alcune pagine del libro di James McNeish, "Fire under the ashes - The life of Danilo Dolci";
- le fotografie realizzate in diversi paesi della Sicilia, sono antecedenti alla pandemia da covid-19;
- si ringrazia il collega chirurgo dott. Franco Spadaro e la sua gentile consorte, signora Mimma Cundari, proprietari di Casa Cuseni (dichiarata nel 1998, Monumento Nazionale Italiano), per la loro ospitalità e disponibilità, avendo messo a mia disposizione l'archivio relativo a Danilo Dolci.
Le Pratoline e le Calendule in autunno qui non sono una novità, ma un intero prato così fitto e alto di calendule soprattutto, è tipicamente primaverile! Invece no, è proprio di questi giorni Natalizi, tiepidi e soleggiati. :-))
The Pratoline and the Calendule in the fall here are not new, but a whole meadow so thick and tall with marigolds above all, it is typically spring! But no, it is precisely these days Christmas, warm and sunny. :-))
Last year I spent two weeks in Mexico, and more precisely in Akumal, Yucatan..It was a great trip and I enjoyed it so much..I can perfectly remember the brilliant colours of plants and flowers and for the first time I was introduce to Maya's culture..so fascinating..
These earrings have been inspired by this journey..
Meters of copper wire in different gauges enriched with beautiful gemstones:2 labradorite faceted heart shaped briolettes - on the above part of them -, flashy blue fire gemmy AAA labradorite faceted teardrop riolettes - on both sides together with tiny freshwater pearls - , green moss agate A grade faceted long teardrop - in the very middle of them - flat labradorite round beads and finally two green moss agate, AA grade, faceted flat teardrops.
I heavily oxidised them for a more antique look!
They're are 2.36 inches long - earwires excluded.
I like this lovely planetary nebula. It locates near the north celestial pole, and autoguiding did not work precisely.
Here is a frame taken without filter December 2013:
www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/11990084845
equipment: AstroPhysics 130GTX "Granturismo," Field Flattener at f/6.7 focal length 873mm, 22.1mm Spacer, EOS Adapter, Kipon EOS-EOS R adapter, Optolong L-ultimate Dual 3nm Filter, and Canon EOS R-SP4II, modified by Seo-san on SkyWatcher CQ350 Pro Equatorial Mount without autoguiding
exposure: 15 times x 600 seconds, 6 x 240 sec, and 7 x 60 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/6.8
site: 1,449m above sea level at lat. 35 24 30 North and long. 138 38 23 East near Mt.Fuji in Asagiri Shizuoka 静岡県朝霧高原. SQML was up to 20.93 after moonset at the night, though moon was in the sky during the session. Atmospheric turbulence was poor, and guiding error RMS was around 1,5". Wind was mild. Ambient temperature was around -1 degree Celsius or 30 degrees Fahrenheit.