by vanvswild ift.tt/1S6Xlix

The iPad 3 is Sensible and Exceptional

The new iPad 3 is now here, it went on sale with the standard apple shopper frenzy precisely at the 16 of March. It is a better version of the iPad 2 with further polish and higher era and in addition included in this up to date style is a Robust new A5X Chip for shocking graphics. This new iPad 3 is indisputably an implausible tool for media intake with more responsive and speedy internet browsing. The videos in this version load briefly, streaming smoothly. Apple has also brought implausible games equivalent to the preferred 'indignant birds' with very sharp graphics.

This era of apple grants superb array of apps on a gorgeously excellent display with Implausible and superb changes. Adjustments like a new dictation function and higher rear digital camera making it more exciting. This new iPad still looks like the vintage style, having the similar period and width and home button and display size. It is also a little thicker and fairly heavier than the iPad 2 however this frequently is going un-noticed. You'll only differentiate the iPad 3 from the iPad 2 whilst it is turned on.

Features and specifications of The New Apple iPad 3

Prime Answer Retina display

With the new iPad 3 you get to see everything like never prior to, it comes with a better display which has 4 occasions more pixels than the iPad 2 with razor-sharp text and richer colors. This retina display completely transforms all the enjoy of this new iPad, making everything to look perfectly certain and beautiful. Designed with complicated optics this iPad allows you to record videos and take footage of excellent quality. Also, a 5mp digital camera is included and it has car focus and face detection talent to create a sharper general symbol, capturing pictures whether in sunlight or candlelight.

Sensible cover

The iPad 3 comes with a sensible cover that can sleep and wake your iPad by means of simply establishing and closing it. This means that when you close it your iPad is going to sleep and when you open it, it wakes up or even turns into a handy little stand. This is more than just a coverage from dust and scratches.

The iPad 3 comes in nine models and is two times as robust as the iPad 2 with upper resolutions (iPad 3 - 2048 x 1536 vs iPad 2 - 1920 x 1080). It provides 4G LTE connections on AT&T and Verizon wireless and in addition HSPA.

Customer reviews

The creation of this new iPad was extensively popular as standard with

Apple products however in recent times a few users have complained that the tablet is warmer than the iPad 2 and this makes it uncomfortable to use. And this might make it tough to be used in warmer countries. Here is a remark by means of a consumer "I am loving the display and velocity however there is something bizarre approximately it, it gets too warm to hold. Others had complains over the thickness. On the other hand the pros are a lot more in want of this new piece of hardware than the cons.

End

This tool is speedy and reliable and can be used at all times. And I can recommend and advice whoever is considering of having one to go ahead and get it, as a result of it is value it. It is a excellent new era device and has a quick processor and a straightforward interface. teeurl.com/ipadapps5

Isn't he German. Precisely!

First snowfall in La Plata since 1918, precisely on Independence Day. o_O

It's not bad, for a change... Usually, in Winter we get this same cold temps, but without any snow. So we're freezing, yes, but at least we're having some fun!

Picture taken by my brother from our studio window.

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

¡Loco, como que está re-nevando, viste!

La primera nevada en La Plata desde 1918, coincidiendo con el Día de la Independencia. o_O

No está mal para variar... Normalmente, en invierno tenemos este mismo frío, pero sin nada de nieve. Así que sí, nos estamos helando, ¡pero por lo menos nos divertimos un poco!

Foto tomada por mi hermano desde la ventana del estudio.

Exhibition Jean Tinguely - Machine Spectacle 1 Oct 2016 - 5 Mar 2017 in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Jean Tinguely is famous for his playful, boldly kinetic machines and explosive performances. Everything had to be different, everything had to move. Precisely twenty-five years after his death, the Stedelijk Museum opens a Tinguely retrospective: the largest-ever exhibition of the artist to be mounted in a Dutch museum.

The Swiss artist Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) played a key role in the rise of kinetic art in the fifties. With over a hundred machine sculptures, most of which are in working order, paired with films, photos, drawings, and archive materials, the presentation takes the public on a chronological and thematic journey of Tinguely’s artistic development and ideas, from his love of absurd play to his fascination for destruction and ephemerality.

The presentation features his early wire sculptures and reliefs, in which Tinguely imitated and animated the abstract paintings of artists such as Malevich, Miró, and Klee; the interactive drawing machines and wild dancing installations constructed from salvaged metal, waste materials, and discarded clothing; and his streamlined, military-looking black sculptures.

Tinguely’s self-destructive performances are a special feature of the Stedelijk presentation. The enormous installations Tinguely created between 1960–1970 (Homage to New York, Étude pour une fin du monde No. 1, Study for an End of the World No. 2, and La Vittoria) were designed to spectacularly disintegrate in a barrage of sound. The presentation also spotlights the exhibitions Tinguely organized at the Stedelijk, Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), and the gigantic sculptures he later produced: HON – en katedral (“SHE – a cathedral,” 1966), Crocrodrome (1977) and the extraordinary Le Cyclop (1969–1994), which is still on display outside Paris. The survey ends with a dramatic grand finale, the remarkable, room-filling installation, Mengele-Totentanz (1986), a disturbing display of light and shadow never previously shown in the Netherlands. Tinguely realized the work after witnessing a devastating fire, reclaiming objects from the ashes to piece together his installation: scorched beams, agricultural machinery (made by the Mengele company), and animal skeletons. The final piece is a gigantic memento mori, yet also an invocation of the Nazi concentration camps. Its juddering movements and piercing sounds evoke a haunting, grisly mood.

Jean Tinguely created his work as a rejection of the static, conventional art world; he sought to emphasize play and experiment. For Tinguely, art was not about standing in a sterile white space, distantly gazing at a silent painting. He produced kinetic sculptures to set art and art history in motion, in works that animated the boundary between art and life. With his do-it-yourself drawing machines, Tinguely critiqued the role of the artist and the elitist position of art in society. He renounced the unicity of “the artist’s hand” by encouraging visitors to produce work themselves. Collaboration was integral to Tinguely’s career. He worked extensively with artists like Daniel Spoerri, Niki de Saint Phalle (also his wife), Yves Klein, and others from the ZERO network, as well as museum directors such as Pontus Hultén, Willem Sandberg, and Paul Wember. Thanks to his charismatic, vibrant personality and the dazzling success with which he presented his work (and himself) in the public sphere, Tinguely was a vital figure within these networks, acting as leader, inspirator, and connector.

Amsterdam has enjoyed a dynamic history with Tinguely. The exhibitions Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), for which Tinguely was (co)curator, particularly underline the extraordinarily close relationship that sprang up between the museum and the artist. Not only did he bring his kinetic Méta machines to the Netherlands, he also brought his international, avant-garde network, leaving an enduring impression on museumgoers who flocked to see these experimental exhibitions. Close relationships with Willem Sandberg, then director of the Stedelijk Museum, and curator Ad Petersen prompted various retrospectives and acquisitions for the collection: thirteen sculptures, including his famous drawing machine, Méta-Matic No. 10 (1959), Gismo (1960), and the enormous Méta

We had a complete change this Christmas – we cancelled it! - we went walking in The Lakes, or Wasdale more precisely. We were staying at Irton Hall B & B, they had over 70 in for Christmas dinner but we ate jam bread on the slopes of Sca Fell Pike. Fantastic. We had a front wheel puncture on a run flat tyre on the new car with a 100 mile still to drive on the afternoon of Christmas eve on our way there. I drove straight to the nearest ATS – where I have an account – they shook their heads and directed me to Westhoughton Tyres, the lads there were fantastic and got us on our way in good time. BMW dealer advice was run on the flat tyre and then throw it away - £250! Where I would have got a tyre on the western side of the Lakes over Christmas I don’t know, ATS didn’t have one to sell me.

The weather was forecast good for Christmas day but after a fine start it was raining before we even left the car park in Wasdale. We headed up Lingmell and ran into snow on the summit. The path onto Sca Fell Pike was very icy, snow covered and visibility was low, the snow kept falling. We didn’t linger long, it was too cold to have dinner up there so we dropped down onto the Corridor Route, where we had our dinner. We went that way to stretch the walk out, having originally intended to cross to Great End. The tops were so icy, glazed, with not enough snow to get a grip on that we decide to leave it for another day. From Styhead we headed back to Wasdale and a dull but fine finish to the day. A drink in the bar at Irton Hall was on the radar.

Every morning we headed into Wasdale early, it got colder, icier and sunnier as the days went by. We went up Yewbarrow, it was an icy scramble up and I decided it was too dangerous to go down Stirrup Crag to Dore Head so went back the same way. It turned out to be the right decision as we lingered on the top, going to view points that we wouldn’t have and getting some decent photos. One morning we walked over the Screes tops, Illgill Head and Whin Rigg, dropping down the steep slope to The southern end of Wast Water. Having said that I would never walk the Screes path alongside Wast Water again the memory of how awful it is in the rain had faded. There is only really a quarter of a mile out of three miles that is really bad, every rock was like glass with the potential to break a leg every step. It seemed a long way and I was getting killer looks from Herself.

We made our way onto Sca Fell on a beautiful morning, clear blue sky. The snow line had got lower most nights but we never had the low level snow that caused problems in the rest of the country. I chose a, sometimes, pathless way to the summit, partly because I’d never been that way but also to stay in the sun, to keep the view and to avoid the ways that would be a touch dangerous, it was -4 and seared with ice for the last 600 feet. After 15 minutes on the summit wispy thin cloud came racing in, crossing the Lake District in minutes, the photos show it heading towards us and I was glad to have got the clear photos first. Looking out to sea a great mattress of cloud was heading straight for us. It was calm and sunny one minute and the next we were engulfed in thick cloud with 30 yards visibility at the most. I have never had a clear sky turn to cloud so fast – ever! We were going down to Slightside next which was OK, about a mile following the ridge down, the problem was getting back to Wasdale from there. We needed to get to Great Howe which meant a pathless trek a mile SW across Quagrigg Moss – a bog full of tarnlets, it would be a nightmare in low visibility. After getting some accurate compass bearings and heading down off Slightside we suddenly dropped out of the cloud and could see our target, brilliant, we legged it across the semi frozen bog and finally felt able to rest and grab a sandwich and cup of tea. We had to find our way down Raven Crags, which was interesting – and steep! We needed to get to the footbridge to get onto the Burnmoor Tarn path back to Wasdale. As we got closer to Burnmoor Tarn the light that I had been cursing gave us a gorgeous sunset. I had one eye on a gap in the cloud low down in the sky out at sea and I was hoping the sun would break through, it did. Burnmoor Tarn was like a mirror, reflecting the surrounding mountains, including Yewbarrow and parts of the Mosedale Horseshoe in the far distance. There was just the two of us, we had barely seen a soul all day, it was a fantastic end to a tough day. As we dropped into Wasdale I caught the deep pink and orange of the last of the sun, I was shooting into it but I had nothing to lose. There would have been quite a few tripods at the opposite end of the lake but I think I was in the better place – for a change.

On our final walking day we decided to head up Great Gable. It was clear of cloud for a change but ominously the surrounding tops, including the Sca Fells were cloud covered. Another beautiful but very cold morning, it was going to be very icy up there so we elected to go via Styhead and the tourist track. We would choose a way off once we were up there. Long before we got to the top, although we couldn’t see it, we knew the cloud was swirling in and out on the summit so it was going to be hit and miss for the photos. The cloud was down for the last 500 feet but once on the frozen top it kept clearing briefly – very briefly. There were more people up there than we had seen the entire trip previously. People were getting out after Christmas, many had parked at the top of Honister for the fairly easy walk in across Green Gable, some were not dressed for winter walking it has to be said. We left for an icy scramble down to Arron Slack, up onto Green Gable them we galloped down Arron Slack to Styhead and back to Wasdale.

...sitting precisely where my Bob Brown custom has sat, in between rides, since we arrived in PDX.

Exhibition Jean Tinguely - Machine Spectacle 1 Oct 2016 - 5 Mar 2017 in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Jean Tinguely is famous for his playful, boldly kinetic machines and explosive performances. Everything had to be different, everything had to move. Precisely twenty-five years after his death, the Stedelijk Museum opens a Tinguely retrospective: the largest-ever exhibition of the artist to be mounted in a Dutch museum.

The Swiss artist Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) played a key role in the rise of kinetic art in the fifties. With over a hundred machine sculptures, most of which are in working order, paired with films, photos, drawings, and archive materials, the presentation takes the public on a chronological and thematic journey of Tinguely’s artistic development and ideas, from his love of absurd play to his fascination for destruction and ephemerality.

The presentation features his early wire sculptures and reliefs, in which Tinguely imitated and animated the abstract paintings of artists such as Malevich, Miró, and Klee; the interactive drawing machines and wild dancing installations constructed from salvaged metal, waste materials, and discarded clothing; and his streamlined, military-looking black sculptures.

Tinguely’s self-destructive performances are a special feature of the Stedelijk presentation. The enormous installations Tinguely created between 1960–1970 (Homage to New York, Étude pour une fin du monde No. 1, Study for an End of the World No. 2, and La Vittoria) were designed to spectacularly disintegrate in a barrage of sound. The presentation also spotlights the exhibitions Tinguely organized at the Stedelijk, Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), and the gigantic sculptures he later produced: HON – en katedral (“SHE – a cathedral,” 1966), Crocrodrome (1977) and the extraordinary Le Cyclop (1969–1994), which is still on display outside Paris. The survey ends with a dramatic grand finale, the remarkable, room-filling installation, Mengele-Totentanz (1986), a disturbing display of light and shadow never previously shown in the Netherlands. Tinguely realized the work after witnessing a devastating fire, reclaiming objects from the ashes to piece together his installation: scorched beams, agricultural machinery (made by the Mengele company), and animal skeletons. The final piece is a gigantic memento mori, yet also an invocation of the Nazi concentration camps. Its juddering movements and piercing sounds evoke a haunting, grisly mood.

Jean Tinguely created his work as a rejection of the static, conventional art world; he sought to emphasize play and experiment. For Tinguely, art was not about standing in a sterile white space, distantly gazing at a silent painting. He produced kinetic sculptures to set art and art history in motion, in works that animated the boundary between art and life. With his do-it-yourself drawing machines, Tinguely critiqued the role of the artist and the elitist position of art in society. He renounced the unicity of “the artist’s hand” by encouraging visitors to produce work themselves. Collaboration was integral to Tinguely’s career. He worked extensively with artists like Daniel Spoerri, Niki de Saint Phalle (also his wife), Yves Klein, and others from the ZERO network, as well as museum directors such as Pontus Hultén, Willem Sandberg, and Paul Wember. Thanks to his charismatic, vibrant personality and the dazzling success with which he presented his work (and himself) in the public sphere, Tinguely was a vital figure within these networks, acting as leader, inspirator, and connector.

Amsterdam has enjoyed a dynamic history with Tinguely. The exhibitions Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), for which Tinguely was (co)curator, particularly underline the extraordinarily close relationship that sprang up between the museum and the artist. Not only did he bring his kinetic Méta machines to the Netherlands, he also brought his international, avant-garde network, leaving an enduring impression on museum goers who flocked to see these experimental exhibitions. Close relationships with Willem Sandberg, then director of the Stedelijk Museum, and curator Ad Petersen prompted various retrospectives and acquisitions for the collection: thirteen sculptures, including his famous drawing machine, Méta-Matic No. 10 (1959), Gismo (1960), and the enormous Méta

We had a complete change this Christmas – we cancelled it! - we went walking in The Lakes, or Wasdale more precisely. We were staying at Irton Hall B & B, they had over 70 in for Christmas dinner but we ate jam bread on the slopes of Sca Fell Pike. Fantastic. We had a front wheel puncture on a run flat tyre on the new car with a 100 mile still to drive on the afternoon of Christmas eve on our way there. I drove straight to the nearest ATS – where I have an account – they shook their heads and directed me to Westhoughton Tyres, the lads there were fantastic and got us on our way in good time. BMW dealer advice was run on the flat tyre and then throw it away - £250! Where I would have got a tyre on the western side of the Lakes over Christmas I don’t know, ATS didn’t have one to sell me.

The weather was forecast good for Christmas day but after a fine start it was raining before we even left the car park in Wasdale. We headed up Lingmell and ran into snow on the summit. The path onto Sca Fell Pike was very icy, snow covered and visibility was low, the snow kept falling. We didn’t linger long, it was too cold to have dinner up there so we dropped down onto the Corridor Route, where we had our dinner. We went that way to stretch the walk out, having originally intended to cross to Great End. The tops were so icy, glazed, with not enough snow to get a grip on that we decide to leave it for another day. From Styhead we headed back to Wasdale and a dull but fine finish to the day. A drink in the bar at Irton Hall was on the radar.

Every morning we headed into Wasdale early, it got colder, icier and sunnier as the days went by. We went up Yewbarrow, it was an icy scramble up and I decided it was too dangerous to go down Stirrup Crag to Dore Head so went back the same way. It turned out to be the right decision as we lingered on the top, going to view points that we wouldn’t have and getting some decent photos. One morning we walked over the Screes tops, Illgill Head and Whin Rigg, dropping down the steep slope to The southern end of Wast Water. Having said that I would never walk the Screes path alongside Wast Water again the memory of how awful it is in the rain had faded. There is only really a quarter of a mile out of three miles that is really bad, every rock was like glass with the potential to break a leg every step. It seemed a long way and I was getting killer looks from Herself.

We made our way onto Sca Fell on a beautiful morning, clear blue sky. The snow line had got lower most nights but we never had the low level snow that caused problems in the rest of the country. I chose a, sometimes, pathless way to the summit, partly because I’d never been that way but also to stay in the sun, to keep the view and to avoid the ways that would be a touch dangerous, it was -4 and seared with ice for the last 600 feet. After 15 minutes on the summit wispy thin cloud came racing in, crossing the Lake District in minutes, the photos show it heading towards us and I was glad to have got the clear photos first. Looking out to sea a great mattress of cloud was heading straight for us. It was calm and sunny one minute and the next we were engulfed in thick cloud with 30 yards visibility at the most. I have never had a clear sky turn to cloud so fast – ever! We were going down to Slightside next which was OK, about a mile following the ridge down, the problem was getting back to Wasdale from there. We needed to get to Great Howe which meant a pathless trek a mile SW across Quagrigg Moss – a bog full of tarnlets, it would be a nightmare in low visibility. After getting some accurate compass bearings and heading down off Slightside we suddenly dropped out of the cloud and could see our target, brilliant, we legged it across the semi frozen bog and finally felt able to rest and grab a sandwich and cup of tea. We had to find our way down Raven Crags, which was interesting – and steep! We needed to get to the footbridge to get onto the Burnmoor Tarn path back to Wasdale. As we got closer to Burnmoor Tarn the light that I had been cursing gave us a gorgeous sunset. I had one eye on a gap in the cloud low down in the sky out at sea and I was hoping the sun would break through, it did. Burnmoor Tarn was like a mirror, reflecting the surrounding mountains, including Yewbarrow and parts of the Mosedale Horseshoe in the far distance. There was just the two of us, we had barely seen a soul all day, it was a fantastic end to a tough day. As we dropped into Wasdale I caught the deep pink and orange of the last of the sun, I was shooting into it but I had nothing to lose. There would have been quite a few tripods at the opposite end of the lake but I think I was in the better place – for a change.

On our final walking day we decided to head up Great Gable. It was clear of cloud for a change but ominously the surrounding tops, including the Sca Fells were cloud covered. Another beautiful but very cold morning, it was going to be very icy up there so we elected to go via Styhead and the tourist track. We would choose a way off once we were up there. Long before we got to the top, although we couldn’t see it, we knew the cloud was swirling in and out on the summit so it was going to be hit and miss for the photos. The cloud was down for the last 500 feet but once on the frozen top it kept clearing briefly – very briefly. There were more people up there than we had seen the entire trip previously. People were getting out after Christmas, many had parked at the top of Honister for the fairly easy walk in across Green Gable, some were not dressed for winter walking it has to be said. We left for an icy scramble down to Arron Slack, up onto Green Gable them we galloped down Arron Slack to Styhead and back to Wasdale.

(further information you can get by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Historical data

The first settlement core of Wolkersdorf was the "Old Market" to the west of the present course of the Brünnerstraße (Brno street) direction Ulrichskirchen. An exact age determination of the emergence of the "Old Market" is not possible, but the evidence points to the time just before 1050. However, it seems that even before a settlement whose provenance cannot precisely determinated has existed. The foundation is often associated with the legendary figure of a Wolfger, who allegedly was a Frankish follower of the Salian king Henry III. (from 1046 Emperor). After him, the naming of the place is supposed to be done, but it is rather to presume that the place-name, as in other places in the Weinviertel, also can be explained from the settlement history and it's the case of a secondary place name, which refers to the surroundings of the actual Nuremberg.

The castle buildings in its present location - about a whatsoever former noble residence in the "Old Market" can only be speculated - in the first half of the 13th Century was built, as well as the "new market" was born. The Lords of Wolkersdorf who called themselves after the place were emerged from a lesser branch of the lords of Ulrichskirchen.

A close binding to the Babenberg Duke House in the connection with the third Crusade should have emerged, which has been rumored frequently, but it is not possible for various reasons. If the close binding to the Babenberg Court, which in the 13th Century undeniably has existed, really through joint crusade participations came off, this only can be the case of the so-called "German Crusade" under the Emperor Henry VI., however, this was canceled very quickly due to the death of Henry.

Thither also suggest other evidences, such as today's Wolkersdorfer city coat of arms, consisting of ​​the colors of the burgraves of Nuremberg (Black/Silver). Even the oldest surviving deed of gift for Wolkersdorf end of the 13th Century comes from the Nuremberg burgraves, the fief relationship but already seems to have existed far longer.

The nobility of the Wolkersdorfer after the extinction of the Babenberg in the 70s of the 13th Century stood in opposition to King Ottokar of Bohemia, what made him object of a mention in Grillparzer's drama "King Ottokar's Fortune and End".

After the nobility of the Wolkersdorfer had left the place, there were frequently changing owners, among them the Dachsberger and the Starhemberger. Since 1481 and completely in 1538 was the domination Wolkersdorf owned by the Habsburgs and was following the testament of Queen Anne in 1547 the Wiener Hofspital (Court Hospital of Vienna) incorporatedl and belonged even after its repeal in 1782 to the endowment fund of the Hofspital until the purchase by Hugo Graf Abensperg-Traun in the year 1870. In 1884, the Wolkersdorfer Savings Bank acquired the castle, in 1967 it became the property of the former market town, since 1969 the municipality of Wolkersdorf.

In the eventful history of the place it came in the wake of the sieges frequently to devastations, such as in 1275 in the course of the siege by King Ottokar of Bohemia, in 1458 by the Bohemian King George of Podebrad or 1605 by the Calvinist Prince of Transylvania Stephan Botchkay. In the course of the Thirty Years' War it were mainly the Swedes under Field Marshal Torstensson Lienhart by which Wolkersdorf was affected. 1809 finally Napoleon's troops burned a portion of the "Old Market" down. 1866, the Rußbach (brook) was the demarcation line between Prussia and Austria, thus separating Wolkersdorf into a northern Prussian and a southern Austrian part.

Wolkersdorf was in the first half of the 14th Century raised to market; 1436 with Lewpolt Gerngrass first a citizen of the market Wolkersdorf documentarily is mentioned. Under King Albert II 1439 the district court Wolkersdorf by transfers from the regional courts Marchegg and Korneuburg was created, as the name suggests, the High Court was located on the Judgment mountain. Sometimes Wolkersdorf even had three judges, one for the "Old Market", one for the "New Market" and one for the approximately 1784 emerged 'settlers line" (New Line), today the Kaiser-Josef-Straße.

A school in Wolkersdorf is first mentioned in 1446. 1460 took place the meeting of the Lower Austrian estates in Wolkersdorf.

Of importance to Wolkersdorf was already in the Middle Ages a trade route that ran from Vienna, at Stadlau crossing the Danube, via Wolkersdorf, Gaweinstal and Mistelbach to Poysdorf and there reaching the old "Nikolsburger road", which was the forerunner of the in 18th Century developed Brünnerstraße. Through the construction of the Brünnerstraße under Joseph II Wolkersdorf quickly developed into the largest settlement of the beginning hill landscape of the Wine Quarter and in 1870 it was connected to the railway network.

Promoted business settlements of the municipality from 1960 made ​​Wolkersdorf to an important economic center. This position was taken into account on 22 June 1969 by elevating Wolkersdorf to the status of the city. In the years 1966-1972 Wolkersdorf grew through the association with the communities Riedenthal, Münichsthal, Pfösing and the market town of Oberndorf.

Intensive infrastructure projects were formative for the 70s and 80s. In 1978, the Provincial Government of Lower Austria founded the industrial center Lower Austria Nord/Wolkersdorf to the south of the Ostbahn (eastern railway) and to the east of Brno road. Intensive residential construction activity, active youth work and the development to school center shape the face and character of the city as a gateway to the Wine Quarter.

Wolkersdorf successfully puts up the gap between urbanized and rural structure. The result is a high quality of life - with high developed infrastructure, diverse recreational spaces, rest areas and green spaces in and around Wolkersdorf. The proximity to Vienna as well as the pronounced Weinviertler cultural landscape attract many guests to Wolkersdorf .

www.wolkersdorf.at/index.php/subsection=Wolkersdorf_-_His...

Clean, precisely pecked shapes.

Exhibition Jean Tinguely - Machine Spectacle 1 Oct 2016 - 5 Mar 2017 in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Jean Tinguely is famous for his playful, boldly kinetic machines and explosive performances. Everything had to be different, everything had to move. Precisely twenty-five years after his death, the Stedelijk Museum opens a Tinguely retrospective: the largest-ever exhibition of the artist to be mounted in a Dutch museum.

The Swiss artist Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) played a key role in the rise of kinetic art in the fifties. With over a hundred machine sculptures, most of which are in working order, paired with films, photos, drawings, and archive materials, the presentation takes the public on a chronological and thematic journey of Tinguely’s artistic development and ideas, from his love of absurd play to his fascination for destruction and ephemerality.

The presentation features his early wire sculptures and reliefs, in which Tinguely imitated and animated the abstract paintings of artists such as Malevich, Miró, and Klee; the interactive drawing machines and wild dancing installations constructed from salvaged metal, waste materials, and discarded clothing; and his streamlined, military-looking black sculptures.

Tinguely’s self-destructive performances are a special feature of the Stedelijk presentation. The enormous installations Tinguely created between 1960–1970 (Homage to New York, Étude pour une fin du monde No. 1, Study for an End of the World No. 2, and La Vittoria) were designed to spectacularly disintegrate in a barrage of sound. The presentation also spotlights the exhibitions Tinguely organized at the Stedelijk, Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), and the gigantic sculptures he later produced: HON – en katedral (“SHE – a cathedral,” 1966), Crocrodrome (1977) and the extraordinary Le Cyclop (1969–1994), which is still on display outside Paris. The survey ends with a dramatic grand finale, the remarkable, room-filling installation, Mengele-Totentanz (1986), a disturbing display of light and shadow never previously shown in the Netherlands. Tinguely realized the work after witnessing a devastating fire, reclaiming objects from the ashes to piece together his installation: scorched beams, agricultural machinery (made by the Mengele company), and animal skeletons. The final piece is a gigantic memento mori, yet also an invocation of the Nazi concentration camps. Its juddering movements and piercing sounds evoke a haunting, grisly mood.

Jean Tinguely created his work as a rejection of the static, conventional art world; he sought to emphasize play and experiment. For Tinguely, art was not about standing in a sterile white space, distantly gazing at a silent painting. He produced kinetic sculptures to set art and art history in motion, in works that animated the boundary between art and life. With his do-it-yourself drawing machines, Tinguely critiqued the role of the artist and the elitist position of art in society. He renounced the unicity of “the artist’s hand” by encouraging visitors to produce work themselves. Collaboration was integral to Tinguely’s career. He worked extensively with artists like Daniel Spoerri, Niki de Saint Phalle (also his wife), Yves Klein, and others from the ZERO network, as well as museum directors such as Pontus Hultén, Willem Sandberg, and Paul Wember. Thanks to his charismatic, vibrant personality and the dazzling success with which he presented his work (and himself) in the public sphere, Tinguely was a vital figure within these networks, acting as leader, inspirator, and connector.

Amsterdam has enjoyed a dynamic history with Tinguely. The exhibitions Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), for which Tinguely was (co)curator, particularly underline the extraordinarily close relationship that sprang up between the museum and the artist. Not only did he bring his kinetic Méta machines to the Netherlands, he also brought his international, avant-garde network, leaving an enduring impression on museum goers who flocked to see these experimental exhibitions. Close relationships with Willem Sandberg, then director of the Stedelijk Museum, and curator Ad Petersen prompted various retrospectives and acquisitions for the collection: thirteen sculptures, including his famous drawing machine, Méta-Matic No. 10 (1959), Gismo (1960), and the enormous Méta

(further information you can get by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Historical data

The first settlement core of Wolkersdorf was the "Old Market" to the west of the present course of the Brünnerstraße (Brno street) direction Ulrichskirchen. An exact age determination of the emergence of the "Old Market" is not possible, but the evidence points to the time just before 1050. However, it seems that even before a settlement whose provenance cannot precisely determinated has existed. The foundation is often associated with the legendary figure of a Wolfger, who allegedly was a Frankish follower of the Salian king Henry III. (from 1046 Emperor). After him, the naming of the place is supposed to be done, but it is rather to presume that the place-name, as in other places in the Weinviertel, also can be explained from the settlement history and it's the case of a secondary place name, which refers to the surroundings of the actual Nuremberg.

The castle buildings in its present location - about a whatsoever former noble residence in the "Old Market" can only be speculated - in the first half of the 13th Century was built, as well as the "new market" was born. The Lords of Wolkersdorf who called themselves after the place were emerged from a lesser branch of the lords of Ulrichskirchen.

A close binding to the Babenberg Duke House in the connection with the third Crusade should have emerged, which has been rumored frequently, but it is not possible for various reasons. If the close binding to the Babenberg Court, which in the 13th Century undeniably has existed, really through joint crusade participations came off, this only can be the case of the so-called "German Crusade" under the Emperor Henry VI., however, this was canceled very quickly due to the death of Henry.

Thither also suggest other evidences, such as today's Wolkersdorfer city coat of arms, consisting of ​​the colors of the burgraves of Nuremberg (Black/Silver). Even the oldest surviving deed of gift for Wolkersdorf end of the 13th Century comes from the Nuremberg burgraves, the fief relationship but already seems to have existed far longer.

The nobility of the Wolkersdorfer after the extinction of the Babenberg in the 70s of the 13th Century stood in opposition to King Ottokar of Bohemia, what made him object of a mention in Grillparzer's drama "King Ottokar's Fortune and End".

After the nobility of the Wolkersdorfer had left the place, there were frequently changing owners, among them the Dachsberger and the Starhemberger. Since 1481 and completely in 1538 was the domination Wolkersdorf owned by the Habsburgs and was following the testament of Queen Anne in 1547 the Wiener Hofspital (Court Hospital of Vienna) incorporatedl and belonged even after its repeal in 1782 to the endowment fund of the Hofspital until the purchase by Hugo Graf Abensperg-Traun in the year 1870. In 1884, the Wolkersdorfer Savings Bank acquired the castle, in 1967 it became the property of the former market town, since 1969 the municipality of Wolkersdorf.

In the eventful history of the place it came in the wake of the sieges frequently to devastations, such as in 1275 in the course of the siege by King Ottokar of Bohemia, in 1458 by the Bohemian King George of Podebrad or 1605 by the Calvinist Prince of Transylvania Stephan Botchkay. In the course of the Thirty Years' War it were mainly the Swedes under Field Marshal Torstensson Lienhart by which Wolkersdorf was affected. 1809 finally Napoleon's troops burned a portion of the "Old Market" down. 1866, the Rußbach (brook) was the demarcation line between Prussia and Austria, thus separating Wolkersdorf into a northern Prussian and a southern Austrian part.

Wolkersdorf was in the first half of the 14th Century raised to market; 1436 with Lewpolt Gerngrass first a citizen of the market Wolkersdorf documentarily is mentioned. Under King Albert II 1439 the district court Wolkersdorf by transfers from the regional courts Marchegg and Korneuburg was created, as the name suggests, the High Court was located on the Judgment mountain. Sometimes Wolkersdorf even had three judges, one for the "Old Market", one for the "New Market" and one for the approximately 1784 emerged 'settlers line" (New Line), today the Kaiser-Josef-Straße.

A school in Wolkersdorf is first mentioned in 1446. 1460 took place the meeting of the Lower Austrian estates in Wolkersdorf.

Of importance to Wolkersdorf was already in the Middle Ages a trade route that ran from Vienna, at Stadlau crossing the Danube, via Wolkersdorf, Gaweinstal and Mistelbach to Poysdorf and there reaching the old "Nikolsburger road", which was the forerunner of the in 18th Century developed Brünnerstraße. Through the construction of the Brünnerstraße under Joseph II Wolkersdorf quickly developed into the largest settlement of the beginning hill landscape of the Wine Quarter and in 1870 it was connected to the railway network.

Promoted business settlements of the municipality from 1960 made ​​Wolkersdorf to an important economic center. This position was taken into account on 22 June 1969 by elevating Wolkersdorf to the status of the city. In the years 1966-1972 Wolkersdorf grew through the association with the communities Riedenthal, Münichsthal, Pfösing and the market town of Oberndorf.

Intensive infrastructure projects were formative for the 70s and 80s. In 1978, the Provincial Government of Lower Austria founded the industrial center Lower Austria Nord/Wolkersdorf to the south of the Ostbahn (eastern railway) and to the east of Brno road. Intensive residential construction activity, active youth work and the development to school center shape the face and character of the city as a gateway to the Wine Quarter.

Wolkersdorf successfully puts up the gap between urbanized and rural structure. The result is a high quality of life - with high developed infrastructure, diverse recreational spaces, rest areas and green spaces in and around Wolkersdorf. The proximity to Vienna as well as the pronounced Weinviertler cultural landscape attract many guests to Wolkersdorf .

www.wolkersdorf.at/index.php/subsection=Wolkersdorf_-_His...

We had a complete change this Christmas – we cancelled it! - we went walking in The Lakes, or Wasdale more precisely. We were staying at Irton Hall B & B, they had over 70 in for Christmas dinner but we ate jam bread on the slopes of Sca Fell Pike. Fantastic. We had a front wheel puncture on a run flat tyre on the new car with a 100 mile still to drive on the afternoon of Christmas eve on our way there. I drove straight to the nearest ATS – where I have an account – they shook their heads and directed me to Westhoughton Tyres, the lads there were fantastic and got us on our way in good time. BMW dealer advice was run on the flat tyre and then throw it away - £250! Where I would have got a tyre on the western side of the Lakes over Christmas I don’t know, ATS didn’t have one to sell me.

The weather was forecast good for Christmas day but after a fine start it was raining before we even left the car park in Wasdale. We headed up Lingmell and ran into snow on the summit. The path onto Sca Fell Pike was very icy, snow covered and visibility was low, the snow kept falling. We didn’t linger long, it was too cold to have dinner up there so we dropped down onto the Corridor Route, where we had our dinner. We went that way to stretch the walk out, having originally intended to cross to Great End. The tops were so icy, glazed, with not enough snow to get a grip on that we decide to leave it for another day. From Styhead we headed back to Wasdale and a dull but fine finish to the day. A drink in the bar at Irton Hall was on the radar.

Every morning we headed into Wasdale early, it got colder, icier and sunnier as the days went by. We went up Yewbarrow, it was an icy scramble up and I decided it was too dangerous to go down Stirrup Crag to Dore Head so went back the same way. It turned out to be the right decision as we lingered on the top, going to view points that we wouldn’t have and getting some decent photos. One morning we walked over the Screes tops, Illgill Head and Whin Rigg, dropping down the steep slope to The southern end of Wast Water. Having said that I would never walk the Screes path alongside Wast Water again the memory of how awful it is in the rain had faded. There is only really a quarter of a mile out of three miles that is really bad, every rock was like glass with the potential to break a leg every step. It seemed a long way and I was getting killer looks from Herself.

We made our way onto Sca Fell on a beautiful morning, clear blue sky. The snow line had got lower most nights but we never had the low level snow that caused problems in the rest of the country. I chose a, sometimes, pathless way to the summit, partly because I’d never been that way but also to stay in the sun, to keep the view and to avoid the ways that would be a touch dangerous, it was -4 and seared with ice for the last 600 feet. After 15 minutes on the summit wispy thin cloud came racing in, crossing the Lake District in minutes, the photos show it heading towards us and I was glad to have got the clear photos first. Looking out to sea a great mattress of cloud was heading straight for us. It was calm and sunny one minute and the next we were engulfed in thick cloud with 30 yards visibility at the most. I have never had a clear sky turn to cloud so fast – ever! We were going down to Slightside next which was OK, about a mile following the ridge down, the problem was getting back to Wasdale from there. We needed to get to Great Howe which meant a pathless trek a mile SW across Quagrigg Moss – a bog full of tarnlets, it would be a nightmare in low visibility. After getting some accurate compass bearings and heading down off Slightside we suddenly dropped out of the cloud and could see our target, brilliant, we legged it across the semi frozen bog and finally felt able to rest and grab a sandwich and cup of tea. We had to find our way down Raven Crags, which was interesting – and steep! We needed to get to the footbridge to get onto the Burnmoor Tarn path back to Wasdale. As we got closer to Burnmoor Tarn the light that I had been cursing gave us a gorgeous sunset. I had one eye on a gap in the cloud low down in the sky out at sea and I was hoping the sun would break through, it did. Burnmoor Tarn was like a mirror, reflecting the surrounding mountains, including Yewbarrow and parts of the Mosedale Horseshoe in the far distance. There was just the two of us, we had barely seen a soul all day, it was a fantastic end to a tough day. As we dropped into Wasdale I caught the deep pink and orange of the last of the sun, I was shooting into it but I had nothing to lose. There would have been quite a few tripods at the opposite end of the lake but I think I was in the better place – for a change.

On our final walking day we decided to head up Great Gable. It was clear of cloud for a change but ominously the surrounding tops, including the Sca Fells were cloud covered. Another beautiful but very cold morning, it was going to be very icy up there so we elected to go via Styhead and the tourist track. We would choose a way off once we were up there. Long before we got to the top, although we couldn’t see it, we knew the cloud was swirling in and out on the summit so it was going to be hit and miss for the photos. The cloud was down for the last 500 feet but once on the frozen top it kept clearing briefly – very briefly. There were more people up there than we had seen the entire trip previously. People were getting out after Christmas, many had parked at the top of Honister for the fairly easy walk in across Green Gable, some were not dressed for winter walking it has to be said. We left for an icy scramble down to Arron Slack, up onto Green Gable them we galloped down Arron Slack to Styhead and back to Wasdale.

Took a walk in the hills at morrongo valley when i came back down their was this guy flying his heli he had two of them he was doing free styje flying took some shot's and then move on to the birding.Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is an internationally-recognized birding site. Several rare or unusual species are known to nest here, and many other species are abundant during the spring and fall migration seasons.

What does it mean to “fly 3D”? All aircraft maneuver in three dimensional space, so what separates 3D flying from just flying? Model helicopters are capable of maneuvers other aircraft, including full sized helicopters can only dream of. A modern “3D” model helicopter is capable of aggressive, accurate and axial flips and rolls. Adding the ability to pirouette, fly backwards and upside down, there is practically no limit to the maneuvers that can be flown. Although aggressive, unbelievable flights may seem wildly out of control to the untrained eye, it takes immense skill, and the models can be flown incredibly precisely with enough practice.

One of the beauties of modern aerobatic helicopter flight, which has come to be known as 3D, is how varied the potential is. Every 3D heli pilot exhibits their own character and style in flight. A 3D flight could be flown freestyle with nothing planned ahead of time, or it could be a highly prepared, choreographed flight put to music for competition. While 3D heli flight is, in essence, simply a combination of flips, rolls , and pirouettes, there is no end to the combinations. Once a heli pilot masters the basics, a continuously evolving world of precision aerobatics awaits. Like a dancer or figure skater, a 3D heli pilot can express style by putting simple moves together in complicated sequences for incredible effect.

Like any sport, art, or specialty, practice makes perfect. Some people learn faster than others, but everybody should try to step gingerly into more complicated and aggressive moves, for safeties sake (not to mention your wallet!). Excellent training tools are available; most notably computer simulators and buddy boxes. Unlike most video games which are intended for play, simulators for model aircraft are designed around one goal, helping people learn how to fly model airplanes and helicopters. Simulators are so accurate a budding pilot can master almost all regimes of flight in a simulated environment which instantly replaces a wrecked model! In real life, a crash cost not only confidence, but time and money to fix the model. By the time the pilot gets back to it, the learning experience from the crash is not fresh, and learning tends to progress slower. On a simulator, a fledgling pilot can take as much time exploring the controls as they want, and learn at their own pace without any down time between crashes.

At precisely 9.01am they fired up the excavator, and thus ended any chance of sleeping in after a long weekend in Michigan.

This is the last this lot will ever see of vacancy...

Took a walk in the hills at morrongo valley when i came back down their was this guy flying his heli he had two of them he was doing free styje flying took some shot's and then move on to the birding.Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is an internationally-recognized birding site. Several rare or unusual species are known to nest here, and many other species are abundant during the spring and fall migration seasons.

What does it mean to “fly 3D”? All aircraft maneuver in three dimensional space, so what separates 3D flying from just flying? Model helicopters are capable of maneuvers other aircraft, including full sized helicopters can only dream of. A modern “3D” model helicopter is capable of aggressive, accurate and axial flips and rolls. Adding the ability to pirouette, fly backwards and upside down, there is practically no limit to the maneuvers that can be flown. Although aggressive, unbelievable flights may seem wildly out of control to the untrained eye, it takes immense skill, and the models can be flown incredibly precisely with enough practice.

One of the beauties of modern aerobatic helicopter flight, which has come to be known as 3D, is how varied the potential is. Every 3D heli pilot exhibits their own character and style in flight. A 3D flight could be flown freestyle with nothing planned ahead of time, or it could be a highly prepared, choreographed flight put to music for competition. While 3D heli flight is, in essence, simply a combination of flips, rolls , and pirouettes, there is no end to the combinations. Once a heli pilot masters the basics, a continuously evolving world of precision aerobatics awaits. Like a dancer or figure skater, a 3D heli pilot can express style by putting simple moves together in complicated sequences for incredible effect.

Like any sport, art, or specialty, practice makes perfect. Some people learn faster than others, but everybody should try to step gingerly into more complicated and aggressive moves, for safeties sake (not to mention your wallet!). Excellent training tools are available; most notably computer simulators and buddy boxes. Unlike most video games which are intended for play, simulators for model aircraft are designed around one goal, helping people learn how to fly model airplanes and helicopters. Simulators are so accurate a budding pilot can master almost all regimes of flight in a simulated environment which instantly replaces a wrecked model! In real life, a crash cost not only confidence, but time and money to fix the model. By the time the pilot gets back to it, the learning experience from the crash is not fresh, and learning tends to progress slower. On a simulator, a fledgling pilot can take as much time exploring the controls as they want, and learn at their own pace without any down time between crashes.

Took a walk in the hills at morrongo valley when i came back down their was this guy flying his heli he had two of them he was doing free styje flying took some shot's and then move on to the birding.Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is an internationally-recognized birding site. Several rare or unusual species are known to nest here, and many other species are abundant during the spring and fall migration seasons.

What does it mean to “fly 3D”? All aircraft maneuver in three dimensional space, so what separates 3D flying from just flying? Model helicopters are capable of maneuvers other aircraft, including full sized helicopters can only dream of. A modern “3D” model helicopter is capable of aggressive, accurate and axial flips and rolls. Adding the ability to pirouette, fly backwards and upside down, there is practically no limit to the maneuvers that can be flown. Although aggressive, unbelievable flights may seem wildly out of control to the untrained eye, it takes immense skill, and the models can be flown incredibly precisely with enough practice.

One of the beauties of modern aerobatic helicopter flight, which has come to be known as 3D, is how varied the potential is. Every 3D heli pilot exhibits their own character and style in flight. A 3D flight could be flown freestyle with nothing planned ahead of time, or it could be a highly prepared, choreographed flight put to music for competition. While 3D heli flight is, in essence, simply a combination of flips, rolls , and pirouettes, there is no end to the combinations. Once a heli pilot masters the basics, a continuously evolving world of precision aerobatics awaits. Like a dancer or figure skater, a 3D heli pilot can express style by putting simple moves together in complicated sequences for incredible effect.

Like any sport, art, or specialty, practice makes perfect. Some people learn faster than others, but everybody should try to step gingerly into more complicated and aggressive moves, for safeties sake (not to mention your wallet!). Excellent training tools are available; most notably computer simulators and buddy boxes. Unlike most video games which are intended for play, simulators for model aircraft are designed around one goal, helping people learn how to fly model airplanes and helicopters. Simulators are so accurate a budding pilot can master almost all regimes of flight in a simulated environment which instantly replaces a wrecked model! In real life, a crash cost not only confidence, but time and money to fix the model. By the time the pilot gets back to it, the learning experience from the crash is not fresh, and learning tends to progress slower. On a simulator, a fledgling pilot can take as much time exploring the controls as they want, and learn at their own pace without any down time between crashes.

In Urdu, “Numaish” means exhibition, and the Numaish in Hyderabad is precisely just that; it is an open-air exhibition to display all the ingenious products and goods that the city of Hyderabad produces. Held annually since 1938 during the ruling period of Hyderabad’s Nizams, the fair gets about 2.5 million people each year, with up to 2600 stalls set up for the perusal of the buying public. To say that it is a massive event is pretty much an understatement. Numaish Masnuaat-e-Mulki or Numaish is an annual industrial exhibition held in Hyderabad, India. The exhibition has remained the only event of its kind in the world to be organised at a stretch for a 46-day period at its 23-acre (93,000 m2) permanent venue in Nampally. It features joy rides, eateries and other entertainment options for the visitors.

A rare sight to see such shooting target practise games in the city © Rajesh Pamnani 2014

Exhibition Jean Tinguely - Machine Spectacle 1 Oct 2016 - 5 Mar 2017 in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Jean Tinguely is famous for his playful, boldly kinetic machines and explosive performances. Everything had to be different, everything had to move. Precisely twenty-five years after his death, the Stedelijk Museum opens a Tinguely retrospective: the largest-ever exhibition of the artist to be mounted in a Dutch museum.

The Swiss artist Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) played a key role in the rise of kinetic art in the fifties. With over a hundred machine sculptures, most of which are in working order, paired with films, photos, drawings, and archive materials, the presentation takes the public on a chronological and thematic journey of Tinguely’s artistic development and ideas, from his love of absurd play to his fascination for destruction and ephemerality.

The presentation features his early wire sculptures and reliefs, in which Tinguely imitated and animated the abstract paintings of artists such as Malevich, Miró, and Klee; the interactive drawing machines and wild dancing installations constructed from salvaged metal, waste materials, and discarded clothing; and his streamlined, military-looking black sculptures.

Tinguely’s self-destructive performances are a special feature of the Stedelijk presentation. The enormous installations Tinguely created between 1960–1970 (Homage to New York, Étude pour une fin du monde No. 1, Study for an End of the World No. 2, and La Vittoria) were designed to spectacularly disintegrate in a barrage of sound. The presentation also spotlights the exhibitions Tinguely organized at the Stedelijk, Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), and the gigantic sculptures he later produced: HON – en katedral (“SHE – a cathedral,” 1966), Crocrodrome (1977) and the extraordinary Le Cyclop (1969–1994), which is still on display outside Paris. The survey ends with a dramatic grand finale, the remarkable, room-filling installation, Mengele-Totentanz (1986), a disturbing display of light and shadow never previously shown in the Netherlands. Tinguely realized the work after witnessing a devastating fire, reclaiming objects from the ashes to piece together his installation: scorched beams, agricultural machinery (made by the Mengele company), and animal skeletons. The final piece is a gigantic memento mori, yet also an invocation of the Nazi concentration camps. Its juddering movements and piercing sounds evoke a haunting, grisly mood.

Jean Tinguely created his work as a rejection of the static, conventional art world; he sought to emphasize play and experiment. For Tinguely, art was not about standing in a sterile white space, distantly gazing at a silent painting. He produced kinetic sculptures to set art and art history in motion, in works that animated the boundary between art and life. With his do-it-yourself drawing machines, Tinguely critiqued the role of the artist and the elitist position of art in society. He renounced the unicity of “the artist’s hand” by encouraging visitors to produce work themselves. Collaboration was integral to Tinguely’s career. He worked extensively with artists like Daniel Spoerri, Niki de Saint Phalle (also his wife), Yves Klein, and others from the ZERO network, as well as museum directors such as Pontus Hultén, Willem Sandberg, and Paul Wember. Thanks to his charismatic, vibrant personality and the dazzling success with which he presented his work (and himself) in the public sphere, Tinguely was a vital figure within these networks, acting as leader, inspirator, and connector.

Amsterdam has enjoyed a dynamic history with Tinguely. The exhibitions Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), for which Tinguely was (co)curator, particularly underline the extraordinarily close relationship that sprang up between the museum and the artist. Not only did he bring his kinetic Méta machines to the Netherlands, he also brought his international, avant-garde network, leaving an enduring impression on museum goers who flocked to see these experimental exhibitions. Close relationships with Willem Sandberg, then director of the Stedelijk Museum, and curator Ad Petersen prompted various retrospectives and acquisitions for the collection: thirteen sculptures, including his famous drawing machine, Méta-Matic No. 10 (1959), Gismo (1960), and the enormous Méta

We had a complete change this Christmas – we cancelled it! - we went walking in The Lakes, or Wasdale more precisely. We were staying at Irton Hall B & B, they had over 70 in for Christmas dinner but we ate jam bread on the slopes of Sca Fell Pike. Fantastic. We had a front wheel puncture on a run flat tyre on the new car with a 100 mile still to drive on the afternoon of Christmas eve on our way there. I drove straight to the nearest ATS – where I have an account – they shook their heads and directed me to Westhoughton Tyres, the lads there were fantastic and got us on our way in good time. BMW dealer advice was run on the flat tyre and then throw it away - £250! Where I would have got a tyre on the western side of the Lakes over Christmas I don’t know, ATS didn’t have one to sell me.

The weather was forecast good for Christmas day but after a fine start it was raining before we even left the car park in Wasdale. We headed up Lingmell and ran into snow on the summit. The path onto Sca Fell Pike was very icy, snow covered and visibility was low, the snow kept falling. We didn’t linger long, it was too cold to have dinner up there so we dropped down onto the Corridor Route, where we had our dinner. We went that way to stretch the walk out, having originally intended to cross to Great End. The tops were so icy, glazed, with not enough snow to get a grip on that we decide to leave it for another day. From Styhead we headed back to Wasdale and a dull but fine finish to the day. A drink in the bar at Irton Hall was on the radar.

Every morning we headed into Wasdale early, it got colder, icier and sunnier as the days went by. We went up Yewbarrow, it was an icy scramble up and I decided it was too dangerous to go down Stirrup Crag to Dore Head so went back the same way. It turned out to be the right decision as we lingered on the top, going to view points that we wouldn’t have and getting some decent photos. One morning we walked over the Screes tops, Illgill Head and Whin Rigg, dropping down the steep slope to The southern end of Wast Water. Having said that I would never walk the Screes path alongside Wast Water again the memory of how awful it is in the rain had faded. There is only really a quarter of a mile out of three miles that is really bad, every rock was like glass with the potential to break a leg every step. It seemed a long way and I was getting killer looks from Herself.

We made our way onto Sca Fell on a beautiful morning, clear blue sky. The snow line had got lower most nights but we never had the low level snow that caused problems in the rest of the country. I chose a, sometimes, pathless way to the summit, partly because I’d never been that way but also to stay in the sun, to keep the view and to avoid the ways that would be a touch dangerous, it was -4 and seared with ice for the last 600 feet. After 15 minutes on the summit wispy thin cloud came racing in, crossing the Lake District in minutes, the photos show it heading towards us and I was glad to have got the clear photos first. Looking out to sea a great mattress of cloud was heading straight for us. It was calm and sunny one minute and the next we were engulfed in thick cloud with 30 yards visibility at the most. I have never had a clear sky turn to cloud so fast – ever! We were going down to Slightside next which was OK, about a mile following the ridge down, the problem was getting back to Wasdale from there. We needed to get to Great Howe which meant a pathless trek a mile SW across Quagrigg Moss – a bog full of tarnlets, it would be a nightmare in low visibility. After getting some accurate compass bearings and heading down off Slightside we suddenly dropped out of the cloud and could see our target, brilliant, we legged it across the semi frozen bog and finally felt able to rest and grab a sandwich and cup of tea. We had to find our way down Raven Crags, which was interesting – and steep! We needed to get to the footbridge to get onto the Burnmoor Tarn path back to Wasdale. As we got closer to Burnmoor Tarn the light that I had been cursing gave us a gorgeous sunset. I had one eye on a gap in the cloud low down in the sky out at sea and I was hoping the sun would break through, it did. Burnmoor Tarn was like a mirror, reflecting the surrounding mountains, including Yewbarrow and parts of the Mosedale Horseshoe in the far distance. There was just the two of us, we had barely seen a soul all day, it was a fantastic end to a tough day. As we dropped into Wasdale I caught the deep pink and orange of the last of the sun, I was shooting into it but I had nothing to lose. There would have been quite a few tripods at the opposite end of the lake but I think I was in the better place – for a change.

On our final walking day we decided to head up Great Gable. It was clear of cloud for a change but ominously the surrounding tops, including the Sca Fells were cloud covered. Another beautiful but very cold morning, it was going to be very icy up there so we elected to go via Styhead and the tourist track. We would choose a way off once we were up there. Long before we got to the top, although we couldn’t see it, we knew the cloud was swirling in and out on the summit so it was going to be hit and miss for the photos. The cloud was down for the last 500 feet but once on the frozen top it kept clearing briefly – very briefly. There were more people up there than we had seen the entire trip previously. People were getting out after Christmas, many had parked at the top of Honister for the fairly easy walk in across Green Gable, some were not dressed for winter walking it has to be said. We left for an icy scramble down to Arron Slack, up onto Green Gable them we galloped down Arron Slack to Styhead and back to Wasdale.

Thats precisely what i see in this picture. Although this was intended to be as a fun picture the meaning of the whole composition has changed with the output. I DID NOT shoot this picture, my best friend sharadha did. I just posted this here for funs sake.

Took a walk in the hills at morrongo valley when i came back down their was this guy flying his heli he had two of them he was doing free styje flying took some shot's and then move on to the birding.Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is an internationally-recognized birding site. Several rare or unusual species are known to nest here, and many other species are abundant during the spring and fall migration seasons.

What does it mean to “fly 3D”? All aircraft maneuver in three dimensional space, so what separates 3D flying from just flying? Model helicopters are capable of maneuvers other aircraft, including full sized helicopters can only dream of. A modern “3D” model helicopter is capable of aggressive, accurate and axial flips and rolls. Adding the ability to pirouette, fly backwards and upside down, there is practically no limit to the maneuvers that can be flown. Although aggressive, unbelievable flights may seem wildly out of control to the untrained eye, it takes immense skill, and the models can be flown incredibly precisely with enough practice.

One of the beauties of modern aerobatic helicopter flight, which has come to be known as 3D, is how varied the potential is. Every 3D heli pilot exhibits their own character and style in flight. A 3D flight could be flown freestyle with nothing planned ahead of time, or it could be a highly prepared, choreographed flight put to music for competition. While 3D heli flight is, in essence, simply a combination of flips, rolls , and pirouettes, there is no end to the combinations. Once a heli pilot masters the basics, a continuously evolving world of precision aerobatics awaits. Like a dancer or figure skater, a 3D heli pilot can express style by putting simple moves together in complicated sequences for incredible effect.

Like any sport, art, or specialty, practice makes perfect. Some people learn faster than others, but everybody should try to step gingerly into more complicated and aggressive moves, for safeties sake (not to mention your wallet!). Excellent training tools are available; most notably computer simulators and buddy boxes. Unlike most video games which are intended for play, simulators for model aircraft are designed around one goal, helping people learn how to fly model airplanes and helicopters. Simulators are so accurate a budding pilot can master almost all regimes of flight in a simulated environment which instantly replaces a wrecked model! In real life, a crash cost not only confidence, but time and money to fix the model. By the time the pilot gets back to it, the learning experience from the crash is not fresh, and learning tends to progress slower. On a simulator, a fledgling pilot can take as much time exploring the controls as they want, and learn at their own pace without any down time between crashes.

These studs precisely fit the holes in the cast iron top - so the jig stays in position once dropped into place and does not wobble.

We were recently lucky enough to be visited by a lovely couple in their late-70s who used to live in our cottage until 1966. Or more precisely they lived in the left-hand side of it, as it used to be two, with a staggered split upstairs to make it a pair of 3-bedroom dwellings.

They kindly showed us a load of old photos, which they let us scan in. Very useful, as they show how it used to be before being solf off from the estate in the 1960s modernised and turned into a single cottage.

I have also just obtained the sales particulars for when it was first sold, circa 1966/67. It was up for £1300, but no mains electricity, toilets or bathroom!

I'd sussed some of the earlier layout out myself, through walls uncovered during our ongoing renovations works and even the outline of old outbuildings visible in the grass in the driest part of summer. But the extra information and insight as to how people used to live was very useful, and extremely interesting.

It seems to have always been lived in as farmworkers' cottages for the big local estate (itself now split up) until that time. Where now there's four of us living here, at times in the past there would have been 14 or so people! And that was without the extension that now runs along the back of the house.

The lady said there's a dated plaque above what is now our front door, which is hidden by the bush in the above photo (the entrance doors used to be in the side walls). This is now obscured by a lining inside our porch, so a bit of opening-up may be carried out to find that.

There are some things that make me wonder if it started life as a smaller, single dwelling - further investigation work required!

(further information you can get by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Historical data

The first settlement core of Wolkersdorf was the "Old Market" to the west of the present course of the Brünnerstraße (Brno street) direction Ulrichskirchen. An exact age determination of the emergence of the "Old Market" is not possible, but the evidence points to the time just before 1050. However, it seems that even before a settlement whose provenance cannot precisely determinated has existed. The foundation is often associated with the legendary figure of a Wolfger, who allegedly was a Frankish follower of the Salian king Henry III. (from 1046 Emperor). After him, the naming of the place is supposed to be done, but it is rather to presume that the place-name, as in other places in the Weinviertel, also can be explained from the settlement history and it's the case of a secondary place name, which refers to the surroundings of the actual Nuremberg.

The castle buildings in its present location - about a whatsoever former noble residence in the "Old Market" can only be speculated - in the first half of the 13th Century was built, as well as the "new market" was born. The Lords of Wolkersdorf who called themselves after the place were emerged from a lesser branch of the lords of Ulrichskirchen.

A close binding to the Babenberg Duke House in the connection with the third Crusade should have emerged, which has been rumored frequently, but it is not possible for various reasons. If the close binding to the Babenberg Court, which in the 13th Century undeniably has existed, really through joint crusade participations came off, this only can be the case of the so-called "German Crusade" under the Emperor Henry VI., however, this was canceled very quickly due to the death of Henry.

Thither also suggest other evidences, such as today's Wolkersdorfer city coat of arms, consisting of ​​the colors of the burgraves of Nuremberg (Black/Silver). Even the oldest surviving deed of gift for Wolkersdorf end of the 13th Century comes from the Nuremberg burgraves, the fief relationship but already seems to have existed far longer.

The nobility of the Wolkersdorfer after the extinction of the Babenberg in the 70s of the 13th Century stood in opposition to King Ottokar of Bohemia, what made him object of a mention in Grillparzer's drama "King Ottokar's Fortune and End".

After the nobility of the Wolkersdorfer had left the place, there were frequently changing owners, among them the Dachsberger and the Starhemberger. Since 1481 and completely in 1538 was the domination Wolkersdorf owned by the Habsburgs and was following the testament of Queen Anne in 1547 the Wiener Hofspital (Court Hospital of Vienna) incorporatedl and belonged even after its repeal in 1782 to the endowment fund of the Hofspital until the purchase by Hugo Graf Abensperg-Traun in the year 1870. In 1884, the Wolkersdorfer Savings Bank acquired the castle, in 1967 it became the property of the former market town, since 1969 the municipality of Wolkersdorf.

In the eventful history of the place it came in the wake of the sieges frequently to devastations, such as in 1275 in the course of the siege by King Ottokar of Bohemia, in 1458 by the Bohemian King George of Podebrad or 1605 by the Calvinist Prince of Transylvania Stephan Botchkay. In the course of the Thirty Years' War it were mainly the Swedes under Field Marshal Torstensson Lienhart by which Wolkersdorf was affected. 1809 finally Napoleon's troops burned a portion of the "Old Market" down. 1866, the Rußbach (brook) was the demarcation line between Prussia and Austria, thus separating Wolkersdorf into a northern Prussian and a southern Austrian part.

Wolkersdorf was in the first half of the 14th Century raised to market; 1436 with Lewpolt Gerngrass first a citizen of the market Wolkersdorf documentarily is mentioned. Under King Albert II 1439 the district court Wolkersdorf by transfers from the regional courts Marchegg and Korneuburg was created, as the name suggests, the High Court was located on the Judgment mountain. Sometimes Wolkersdorf even had three judges, one for the "Old Market", one for the "New Market" and one for the approximately 1784 emerged 'settlers line" (New Line), today the Kaiser-Josef-Straße.

A school in Wolkersdorf is first mentioned in 1446. 1460 took place the meeting of the Lower Austrian estates in Wolkersdorf.

Of importance to Wolkersdorf was already in the Middle Ages a trade route that ran from Vienna, at Stadlau crossing the Danube, via Wolkersdorf, Gaweinstal and Mistelbach to Poysdorf and there reaching the old "Nikolsburger road", which was the forerunner of the in 18th Century developed Brünnerstraße. Through the construction of the Brünnerstraße under Joseph II Wolkersdorf quickly developed into the largest settlement of the beginning hill landscape of the Wine Quarter and in 1870 it was connected to the railway network.

Promoted business settlements of the municipality from 1960 made ​​Wolkersdorf to an important economic center. This position was taken into account on 22 June 1969 by elevating Wolkersdorf to the status of the city. In the years 1966-1972 Wolkersdorf grew through the association with the communities Riedenthal, Münichsthal, Pfösing and the market town of Oberndorf.

Intensive infrastructure projects were formative for the 70s and 80s. In 1978, the Provincial Government of Lower Austria founded the industrial center Lower Austria Nord/Wolkersdorf to the south of the Ostbahn (eastern railway) and to the east of Brno road. Intensive residential construction activity, active youth work and the development to school center shape the face and character of the city as a gateway to the Wine Quarter.

Wolkersdorf successfully puts up the gap between urbanized and rural structure. The result is a high quality of life - with high developed infrastructure, diverse recreational spaces, rest areas and green spaces in and around Wolkersdorf. The proximity to Vienna as well as the pronounced Weinviertler cultural landscape attract many guests to Wolkersdorf .

www.wolkersdorf.at/index.php/subsection=Wolkersdorf_-_His...

We had a complete change this Christmas – we cancelled it! - we went walking in The Lakes, or Wasdale more precisely. We were staying at Irton Hall B & B, they had over 70 in for Christmas dinner but we ate jam bread on the slopes of Sca Fell Pike. Fantastic. We had a front wheel puncture on a run flat tyre on the new car with a 100 mile still to drive on the afternoon of Christmas eve on our way there. I drove straight to the nearest ATS – where I have an account – they shook their heads and directed me to Westhoughton Tyres, the lads there were fantastic and got us on our way in good time. BMW dealer advice was run on the flat tyre and then throw it away - £250! Where I would have got a tyre on the western side of the Lakes over Christmas I don’t know, ATS didn’t have one to sell me.

The weather was forecast good for Christmas day but after a fine start it was raining before we even left the car park in Wasdale. We headed up Lingmell and ran into snow on the summit. The path onto Sca Fell Pike was very icy, snow covered and visibility was low, the snow kept falling. We didn’t linger long, it was too cold to have dinner up there so we dropped down onto the Corridor Route, where we had our dinner. We went that way to stretch the walk out, having originally intended to cross to Great End. The tops were so icy, glazed, with not enough snow to get a grip on that we decide to leave it for another day. From Styhead we headed back to Wasdale and a dull but fine finish to the day. A drink in the bar at Irton Hall was on the radar.

Every morning we headed into Wasdale early, it got colder, icier and sunnier as the days went by. We went up Yewbarrow, it was an icy scramble up and I decided it was too dangerous to go down Stirrup Crag to Dore Head so went back the same way. It turned out to be the right decision as we lingered on the top, going to view points that we wouldn’t have and getting some decent photos. One morning we walked over the Screes tops, Illgill Head and Whin Rigg, dropping down the steep slope to The southern end of Wast Water. Having said that I would never walk the Screes path alongside Wast Water again the memory of how awful it is in the rain had faded. There is only really a quarter of a mile out of three miles that is really bad, every rock was like glass with the potential to break a leg every step. It seemed a long way and I was getting killer looks from Herself.

We made our way onto Sca Fell on a beautiful morning, clear blue sky. The snow line had got lower most nights but we never had the low level snow that caused problems in the rest of the country. I chose a, sometimes, pathless way to the summit, partly because I’d never been that way but also to stay in the sun, to keep the view and to avoid the ways that would be a touch dangerous, it was -4 and seared with ice for the last 600 feet. After 15 minutes on the summit wispy thin cloud came racing in, crossing the Lake District in minutes, the photos show it heading towards us and I was glad to have got the clear photos first. Looking out to sea a great mattress of cloud was heading straight for us. It was calm and sunny one minute and the next we were engulfed in thick cloud with 30 yards visibility at the most. I have never had a clear sky turn to cloud so fast – ever! We were going down to Slightside next which was OK, about a mile following the ridge down, the problem was getting back to Wasdale from there. We needed to get to Great Howe which meant a pathless trek a mile SW across Quagrigg Moss – a bog full of tarnlets, it would be a nightmare in low visibility. After getting some accurate compass bearings and heading down off Slightside we suddenly dropped out of the cloud and could see our target, brilliant, we legged it across the semi frozen bog and finally felt able to rest and grab a sandwich and cup of tea. We had to find our way down Raven Crags, which was interesting – and steep! We needed to get to the footbridge to get onto the Burnmoor Tarn path back to Wasdale. As we got closer to Burnmoor Tarn the light that I had been cursing gave us a gorgeous sunset. I had one eye on a gap in the cloud low down in the sky out at sea and I was hoping the sun would break through, it did. Burnmoor Tarn was like a mirror, reflecting the surrounding mountains, including Yewbarrow and parts of the Mosedale Horseshoe in the far distance. There was just the two of us, we had barely seen a soul all day, it was a fantastic end to a tough day. As we dropped into Wasdale I caught the deep pink and orange of the last of the sun, I was shooting into it but I had nothing to lose. There would have been quite a few tripods at the opposite end of the lake but I think I was in the better place – for a change.

On our final walking day we decided to head up Great Gable. It was clear of cloud for a change but ominously the surrounding tops, including the Sca Fells were cloud covered. Another beautiful but very cold morning, it was going to be very icy up there so we elected to go via Styhead and the tourist track. We would choose a way off once we were up there. Long before we got to the top, although we couldn’t see it, we knew the cloud was swirling in and out on the summit so it was going to be hit and miss for the photos. The cloud was down for the last 500 feet but once on the frozen top it kept clearing briefly – very briefly. There were more people up there than we had seen the entire trip previously. People were getting out after Christmas, many had parked at the top of Honister for the fairly easy walk in across Green Gable, some were not dressed for winter walking it has to be said. We left for an icy scramble down to Arron Slack, up onto Green Gable them we galloped down Arron Slack to Styhead and back to Wasdale.

The ramé-hart Oscillator (p/n 100-28) provides precisely controlled periodic oscillatory deformation of sessile and pendant bubbles and drops in order to allow for the measurement of surface dilatational elasticity and viscosity using the axisymmetric drop and bubble shape method. Designed to sit inline between the Automated Dispensing System and the final dispensing tip or needle, the Oscillator is motor-driven and fully software controlled using ramé-hart DROPimage v2.4 or higher software. The Oscillator requires an Automated Dispensing System and current-generation Model 250, 290, 500, or 590 or a legacy system that has been sufficiently upgraded. DROPimage Advanced includes a methods editor which incorporates an array of parameters for controlling the frequency, acceleration, timing and steps of the oscillation commands. This product includes (1) one year parts and labor warranty.

Geger Hill Bangkalan

Geger hill is located approximately 30 km southeast of the City Bangkalan, precisely in the village of Geger, District Geger. This hill is located at an altitude of about 150-200 meters above sea level.

According to the folk legend, Geger hill was the first place that had been visited by the first civilian who came in Madura. On 7-8 Century, it was Patih Pranggulan from Mendangkawulan kingdom in the the foothill of Semeru became the first man who landed in Planggirân ( a set of rocks) in Geger hill. At that time he came together with Princess Dewi Ratna Roroagung, the daughter of Mendangkawulan king, and she was pregnant.

Both Patih Pranggulan and Princess Dewi Ratna Roroagung which was called as Putri Koneng or Koneng princess was castaway. At geger hill, the princess Koneng was always did meditation at the edge of the cliff, everyday before the sunset. Now, the rock that seems like chair is being called as Palènggiyân (Madura).

Relating the folk legend above, in geger hill, there are five legendary caves in the form of Madurese language, like Petapan cave (the cave for meditation), Goa Potre (princess cave ), Goa Planangan (men cave), Goa Pancong Pote (white lynch cave) and Goa Olar (Snake Cave).

Up to now, in that location there are some visitors from Madura or the outside Madura come to those sites doing some meditating or praying, the local people call this as Tirakatan.

Geger hill is such a potential destination in Madura, for it has camping ground for those who want to explore more about this hill. Moreover, there is also Acacia forest, Mahogany forest and Teak forest that covering 42 hectares of the hil. We can see the beautiful rice field and some lakes over the sightseeing and a resort on the hilltop of Pelanggiran site. Furthermore, it become more potential to be the tourism destination in Bangkalan because this site is having the historical background of the first founding of Madura.

More info visit

www.eastjava.com

Exhibition Jean Tinguely - Machine Spectacle 1 Oct 2016 - 5 Mar 2017 in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Jean Tinguely is famous for his playful, boldly kinetic machines and explosive performances. Everything had to be different, everything had to move. Precisely twenty-five years after his death, the Stedelijk Museum opens a Tinguely retrospective: the largest-ever exhibition of the artist to be mounted in a Dutch museum.

The Swiss artist Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) played a key role in the rise of kinetic art in the fifties. With over a hundred machine sculptures, most of which are in working order, paired with films, photos, drawings, and archive materials, the presentation takes the public on a chronological and thematic journey of Tinguely’s artistic development and ideas, from his love of absurd play to his fascination for destruction and ephemerality.

The presentation features his early wire sculptures and reliefs, in which Tinguely imitated and animated the abstract paintings of artists such as Malevich, Miró, and Klee; the interactive drawing machines and wild dancing installations constructed from salvaged metal, waste materials, and discarded clothing; and his streamlined, military-looking black sculptures.

Tinguely’s self-destructive performances are a special feature of the Stedelijk presentation. The enormous installations Tinguely created between 1960–1970 (Homage to New York, Étude pour une fin du monde No. 1, Study for an End of the World No. 2, and La Vittoria) were designed to spectacularly disintegrate in a barrage of sound. The presentation also spotlights the exhibitions Tinguely organized at the Stedelijk, Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), and the gigantic sculptures he later produced: HON – en katedral (“SHE – a cathedral,” 1966), Crocrodrome (1977) and the extraordinary Le Cyclop (1969–1994), which is still on display outside Paris. The survey ends with a dramatic grand finale, the remarkable, room-filling installation, Mengele-Totentanz (1986), a disturbing display of light and shadow never previously shown in the Netherlands. Tinguely realized the work after witnessing a devastating fire, reclaiming objects from the ashes to piece together his installation: scorched beams, agricultural machinery (made by the Mengele company), and animal skeletons. The final piece is a gigantic memento mori, yet also an invocation of the Nazi concentration camps. Its juddering movements and piercing sounds evoke a haunting, grisly mood.

Jean Tinguely created his work as a rejection of the static, conventional art world; he sought to emphasize play and experiment. For Tinguely, art was not about standing in a sterile white space, distantly gazing at a silent painting. He produced kinetic sculptures to set art and art history in motion, in works that animated the boundary between art and life. With his do-it-yourself drawing machines, Tinguely critiqued the role of the artist and the elitist position of art in society. He renounced the unicity of “the artist’s hand” by encouraging visitors to produce work themselves. Collaboration was integral to Tinguely’s career. He worked extensively with artists like Daniel Spoerri, Niki de Saint Phalle (also his wife), Yves Klein, and others from the ZERO network, as well as museum directors such as Pontus Hultén, Willem Sandberg, and Paul Wember. Thanks to his charismatic, vibrant personality and the dazzling success with which he presented his work (and himself) in the public sphere, Tinguely was a vital figure within these networks, acting as leader, inspirator, and connector.

Amsterdam has enjoyed a dynamic history with Tinguely. The exhibitions Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), for which Tinguely was (co)curator, particularly underline the extraordinarily close relationship that sprang up between the museum and the artist. Not only did he bring his kinetic Méta machines to the Netherlands, he also brought his international, avant-garde network, leaving an enduring impression on museum goers who flocked to see these experimental exhibitions. Close relationships with Willem Sandberg, then director of the Stedelijk Museum, and curator Ad Petersen prompted various retrospectives and acquisitions for the collection: thirteen sculptures, including his famous drawing machine, Méta-Matic No. 10 (1959), Gismo (1960), and the enormous Méta

We had a complete change this Christmas – we cancelled it! - we went walking in The Lakes, or Wasdale more precisely. We were staying at Irton Hall B & B, they had over 70 in for Christmas dinner but we ate jam bread on the slopes of Sca Fell Pike. Fantastic. We had a front wheel puncture on a run flat tyre on the new car with a 100 mile still to drive on the afternoon of Christmas eve on our way there. I drove straight to the nearest ATS – where I have an account – they shook their heads and directed me to Westhoughton Tyres, the lads there were fantastic and got us on our way in good time. BMW dealer advice was run on the flat tyre and then throw it away - £250! Where I would have got a tyre on the western side of the Lakes over Christmas I don’t know, ATS didn’t have one to sell me.

The weather was forecast good for Christmas day but after a fine start it was raining before we even left the car park in Wasdale. We headed up Lingmell and ran into snow on the summit. The path onto Sca Fell Pike was very icy, snow covered and visibility was low, the snow kept falling. We didn’t linger long, it was too cold to have dinner up there so we dropped down onto the Corridor Route, where we had our dinner. We went that way to stretch the walk out, having originally intended to cross to Great End. The tops were so icy, glazed, with not enough snow to get a grip on that we decide to leave it for another day. From Styhead we headed back to Wasdale and a dull but fine finish to the day. A drink in the bar at Irton Hall was on the radar.

Every morning we headed into Wasdale early, it got colder, icier and sunnier as the days went by. We went up Yewbarrow, it was an icy scramble up and I decided it was too dangerous to go down Stirrup Crag to Dore Head so went back the same way. It turned out to be the right decision as we lingered on the top, going to view points that we wouldn’t have and getting some decent photos. One morning we walked over the Screes tops, Illgill Head and Whin Rigg, dropping down the steep slope to The southern end of Wast Water. Having said that I would never walk the Screes path alongside Wast Water again the memory of how awful it is in the rain had faded. There is only really a quarter of a mile out of three miles that is really bad, every rock was like glass with the potential to break a leg every step. It seemed a long way and I was getting killer looks from Herself.

We made our way onto Sca Fell on a beautiful morning, clear blue sky. The snow line had got lower most nights but we never had the low level snow that caused problems in the rest of the country. I chose a, sometimes, pathless way to the summit, partly because I’d never been that way but also to stay in the sun, to keep the view and to avoid the ways that would be a touch dangerous, it was -4 and seared with ice for the last 600 feet. After 15 minutes on the summit wispy thin cloud came racing in, crossing the Lake District in minutes, the photos show it heading towards us and I was glad to have got the clear photos first. Looking out to sea a great mattress of cloud was heading straight for us. It was calm and sunny one minute and the next we were engulfed in thick cloud with 30 yards visibility at the most. I have never had a clear sky turn to cloud so fast – ever! We were going down to Slightside next which was OK, about a mile following the ridge down, the problem was getting back to Wasdale from there. We needed to get to Great Howe which meant a pathless trek a mile SW across Quagrigg Moss – a bog full of tarnlets, it would be a nightmare in low visibility. After getting some accurate compass bearings and heading down off Slightside we suddenly dropped out of the cloud and could see our target, brilliant, we legged it across the semi frozen bog and finally felt able to rest and grab a sandwich and cup of tea. We had to find our way down Raven Crags, which was interesting – and steep! We needed to get to the footbridge to get onto the Burnmoor Tarn path back to Wasdale. As we got closer to Burnmoor Tarn the light that I had been cursing gave us a gorgeous sunset. I had one eye on a gap in the cloud low down in the sky out at sea and I was hoping the sun would break through, it did. Burnmoor Tarn was like a mirror, reflecting the surrounding mountains, including Yewbarrow and parts of the Mosedale Horseshoe in the far distance. There was just the two of us, we had barely seen a soul all day, it was a fantastic end to a tough day. As we dropped into Wasdale I caught the deep pink and orange of the last of the sun, I was shooting into it but I had nothing to lose. There would have been quite a few tripods at the opposite end of the lake but I think I was in the better place – for a change.

On our final walking day we decided to head up Great Gable. It was clear of cloud for a change but ominously the surrounding tops, including the Sca Fells were cloud covered. Another beautiful but very cold morning, it was going to be very icy up there so we elected to go via Styhead and the tourist track. We would choose a way off once we were up there. Long before we got to the top, although we couldn’t see it, we knew the cloud was swirling in and out on the summit so it was going to be hit and miss for the photos. The cloud was down for the last 500 feet but once on the frozen top it kept clearing briefly – very briefly. There were more people up there than we had seen the entire trip previously. People were getting out after Christmas, many had parked at the top of Honister for the fairly easy walk in across Green Gable, some were not dressed for winter walking it has to be said. We left for an icy scramble down to Arron Slack, up onto Green Gable them we galloped down Arron Slack to Styhead and back to Wasdale.

Wedding event planning generally involves a great deal of time and energy from the bridal couple. When you plan yours, use the helpful suggestions within the article below.

To spend less, select a date which is not when most people typically marry. Most weddings are between June and August. These are the basic occasions when wedding venues are most costly. In the event you still wish to have your wedding during this time, make sure to make all of your arrangements well in advance so that you acquire the best possible deal.

You may make great usage of big box stores, like Costco, when planning your personal food service for your big day. While you shop by doing this, you can purchase your meal cheaper than at regular retailers. Consider asking friends to assist you with food costs.

When you choose who you would like to provide the speeches throughout the reception, make them read these to you so that you know they may be appropriate. Keep in mind that you'll have people there coming from all generations, so keep your jokes appropriate.

You should try to produce a wedding which is extremely personal with elements which encompass you, your fiance, and the relationship between you two. Pick a wedding theme that actually symbolizes the days that both you and your future spouse have spent together.

You need to consider transportation with regards to your wedding. Try having taxis or limos ready for individuals that don't have rides returning to the hotel after it ends. This is ideal for people that have had alcohol in the wedding.

Post a schedule of events on your own wedding website or send an itinerary together with your wedding invitations. This can help out-of-town guests make appropriate travel plans, especially guests who are likely to take part in your wedding rehearsal or any other events. Your friends and relatives will appreciate knowing where they may be expected and also at what time consider creating a separate agenda for members of the wedding ceremony party.

If you do not need a big wedding, Vegas might be for you personally. But if you would like something traditional and much more meaningful, the ideas provided within the text above, could possibly assist you in planning for a fantastic wedding that you could look back up with pride, for the rest of your life. truelightvideo.com

This is precisely why I want my next camera to not only have very high ISO, but to have automatic image stabilization as well. It took several tries just to get this...

lunar eclipse, moon.

side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.

November 29, 2003.

... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com

... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com

Found by my friend www.flickr.com/photos/ryansnider/ - or more precisely, his cats. Used to see this species all over the place, but naturally they haven't been around much since I got my DSLR!

Aphonopelma sp., family Theraphosidae. There are around 30 species in the US, and I'm not familiar with differentiating them. This is a female, and looks to have had a bit of a rough time. She's missing a leg and has a fair amount of scarring on her carapace; and almost all of the defensive hairs are gone from her abdomen. She was still extremely calm and never showed any hint of aggression.

I didn't photograph her long, and I would have liked to do some on a natural background, but my master's research has been taking up almost every second of my time lately! I am finished with my grant proposal, at least, and will be headed out to the field tomorrow so hopefully I'll have some photos to share again soon. Sorry for those of you who were used to my frequent updates, but I just don't have the time right now!

Nikkor 60mm macro, Nikon SB-400 and diffuser, homemade flash bracket.

People forget to tend to their skin. People take more time worrying about how precisely they search than how healthy their skin is. Your epidermis is simply the most important organ you possess and many people aren't aware about that. Here there are actually information built to assist you in looking after your skin.

Exposure to fresh air and sunshine can help improve your skin's appearance and minimize acne. Take your dog for a long walk, play basketball or throw a frisbee. Make outdoor activities a part of your daily routine. Sunshine helps the body to produce vitamin D, one of the vitamins essential for healthy skin.

For dry or peeling skin, exfoliate to help keep blackheads away and open your pores. Exfoliating helps take away the dead and dry skin cells which are at first glance. This makes your epidermis look better and encourage it to appear hydrated.

Always wear sunscreen or healthy skin care goods that contain an SPF degree of a minimum of fifteen this can help fight sun damage. Sunscreen may be the primary way to prevent sunburns, peeling skin and wrinkles. When you wear sunscreen regularly, it is possible to slow aging down, and wrinkles and facial lines won't develop as quickly.

It is essential to protect lips too. The environment might be quite dry throughout the winter. When you leave your lips without moisturizer throughout the winter, they might become very dry leading to cracks, that are very painful.

You may exfoliate regularly to fight dry skin, keep pores clean, and also to avoid the formation of pimples. It will help to slough away the very best layer of dead skin cells using exfoliation. This enhances the look of the facial skin by enabling plump, hydrated cells to increase to the surface and make a fresh, glowing effect.

Clearly, your epidermis is more than simply another pretty face. You have to treat it very well, so you look the very best. An essential way to deal with it is by not overexposing it to the sun. Use the things you learned here, as well as your skin will appear great. revitolskintagremovaltreatment.com/category/revitol-produ...

Photograph taken in the magic of the Golden Hour at 20:52pm (Sunset was at precisely 21:06pm), on Wednesday 5th June 2013 off the Viking Coastal trail beside the ruins of Reculver Abbey, about three miles east of Herne Bay in south-east England, in a ward of the same name, in the City of Canterbury, district of Kent.

This frame looks out towards the Thanet offshore windfarm was officially opened on September 23rd 2010 and was for a time, the largest offshore windfarm project in the world. The eight lines of turbines, one hundred of them in total, run north-west to south-east, covering a total area of 35sq km off Foreness Point near Margate. Each turbine is 115 metres high with 44-metre blades, and the project cost between £780-900million

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Nikon D800 200mm 1/1600s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit)

Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod. Manfrotto 327RC2 Grip action ball head. Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap. Sandisc 32GB Ultra Class 10 30MB/s SDHC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 gps unit.

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LATITUDE: N 51d 22m 5.03s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 11m 51.24s

ALTITUDE: 62.0m

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED FILE: 10.81MB

Pueblo Bonito, the largest and best known Great House in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northern New Mexico, was built by ancestral Pueblo people and occupied between AD 828 and 1126.

Pueblo Bonito is divided into two sections by a precisely aligned wall, running north to south, through the central plaza. A Great Kiva is placed on either side of the wall, creating a symmetrical pattern common to many of the Great Houses. In addition to the great kivas, over thirty other kivas or ceremonial structures have been found, many also associated with the large central courtyard. Interior living spaces were quite large by the standards of the Ancient Pueblo.

The site covers almost two acres (8,000 m²) and incorporates at least 650 rooms, with some estimates rising to 800. In parts of the village, the tiered structure was four and five stories high. During later construction, some lower level rooms were filled with debris to better support the weight of the upper levels. The builder's use of core and veneer architecture and multi-story construction produced massive masonry walls as much as three feet (1 m) thick.

It is possible that Pueblo Bonito is actually neither a village nor city. While its size has the capacity for a significant population, the environment may not have been ideal for sustaining a large population. Excavations at the site have not revealed significant trash middens indicating residential areas. A common suggestion is that Pueblo Bonito was a ritual center. This is not only evident in the existence of the kivas (which are more often than not attributed to ritual function) but also in the construction of the site and its relation to other Chaco Canyon sites. Although there were many occupants, only 50-60 burials were found here.

Examination of pack rat middens revealed that, at the time that pueblo bonito was built Chaco Canyon and the surrounding areas were wooded by trees such as Ponderosa Pines. Evidence of such trees can be seen within the structure of Pueblo Bonito, such as the first floor support beams. Scientists hypothesised that during the time that the pueblo was inhabited the valley was cleared of almost all of the trees, to provide timber for construction and fuel. This, combined with a period of drought, led to the water table in the valley to drop severely, making the land infertile. This explains why Pueblo Bonito was only inhabited for about 300 years and is a good example of the effect that deforestation can have on the local environment. The Anasazi, no longer able to grow crops to sustain their population, had to move on.

A multi-year field study, centered in Pueblo Bonito, has been launched in order to obtain new information on the economic conditions of the Bonito phase. The ultimate goal of this recent fieldwork is to obtain data that will enable researchers to examine the development of great house communities in respect to relationships between demographic change and economic productivity.

We had a complete change this Christmas – we cancelled it! - we went walking in The Lakes, or Wasdale more precisely. We were staying at Irton Hall B & B, they had over 70 in for Christmas dinner but we ate jam bread on the slopes of Sca Fell Pike. Fantastic. We had a front wheel puncture on a run flat tyre on the new car with a 100 mile still to drive on the afternoon of Christmas eve on our way there. I drove straight to the nearest ATS – where I have an account – they shook their heads and directed me to Westhoughton Tyres, the lads there were fantastic and got us on our way in good time. BMW dealer advice was run on the flat tyre and then throw it away - £250! Where I would have got a tyre on the western side of the Lakes over Christmas I don’t know, ATS didn’t have one to sell me.

The weather was forecast good for Christmas day but after a fine start it was raining before we even left the car park in Wasdale. We headed up Lingmell and ran into snow on the summit. The path onto Sca Fell Pike was very icy, snow covered and visibility was low, the snow kept falling. We didn’t linger long, it was too cold to have dinner up there so we dropped down onto the Corridor Route, where we had our dinner. We went that way to stretch the walk out, having originally intended to cross to Great End. The tops were so icy, glazed, with not enough snow to get a grip on that we decide to leave it for another day. From Styhead we headed back to Wasdale and a dull but fine finish to the day. A drink in the bar at Irton Hall was on the radar.

Every morning we headed into Wasdale early, it got colder, icier and sunnier as the days went by. We went up Yewbarrow, it was an icy scramble up and I decided it was too dangerous to go down Stirrup Crag to Dore Head so went back the same way. It turned out to be the right decision as we lingered on the top, going to view points that we wouldn’t have and getting some decent photos. One morning we walked over the Screes tops, Illgill Head and Whin Rigg, dropping down the steep slope to The southern end of Wast Water. Having said that I would never walk the Screes path alongside Wast Water again the memory of how awful it is in the rain had faded. There is only really a quarter of a mile out of three miles that is really bad, every rock was like glass with the potential to break a leg every step. It seemed a long way and I was getting killer looks from Herself.

We made our way onto Sca Fell on a beautiful morning, clear blue sky. The snow line had got lower most nights but we never had the low level snow that caused problems in the rest of the country. I chose a, sometimes, pathless way to the summit, partly because I’d never been that way but also to stay in the sun, to keep the view and to avoid the ways that would be a touch dangerous, it was -4 and seared with ice for the last 600 feet. After 15 minutes on the summit wispy thin cloud came racing in, crossing the Lake District in minutes, the photos show it heading towards us and I was glad to have got the clear photos first. Looking out to sea a great mattress of cloud was heading straight for us. It was calm and sunny one minute and the next we were engulfed in thick cloud with 30 yards visibility at the most. I have never had a clear sky turn to cloud so fast – ever! We were going down to Slightside next which was OK, about a mile following the ridge down, the problem was getting back to Wasdale from there. We needed to get to Great Howe which meant a pathless trek a mile SW across Quagrigg Moss – a bog full of tarnlets, it would be a nightmare in low visibility. After getting some accurate compass bearings and heading down off Slightside we suddenly dropped out of the cloud and could see our target, brilliant, we legged it across the semi frozen bog and finally felt able to rest and grab a sandwich and cup of tea. We had to find our way down Raven Crags, which was interesting – and steep! We needed to get to the footbridge to get onto the Burnmoor Tarn path back to Wasdale. As we got closer to Burnmoor Tarn the light that I had been cursing gave us a gorgeous sunset. I had one eye on a gap in the cloud low down in the sky out at sea and I was hoping the sun would break through, it did. Burnmoor Tarn was like a mirror, reflecting the surrounding mountains, including Yewbarrow and parts of the Mosedale Horseshoe in the far distance. There was just the two of us, we had barely seen a soul all day, it was a fantastic end to a tough day. As we dropped into Wasdale I caught the deep pink and orange of the last of the sun, I was shooting into it but I had nothing to lose. There would have been quite a few tripods at the opposite end of the lake but I think I was in the better place – for a change.

On our final walking day we decided to head up Great Gable. It was clear of cloud for a change but ominously the surrounding tops, including the Sca Fells were cloud covered. Another beautiful but very cold morning, it was going to be very icy up there so we elected to go via Styhead and the tourist track. We would choose a way off once we were up there. Long before we got to the top, although we couldn’t see it, we knew the cloud was swirling in and out on the summit so it was going to be hit and miss for the photos. The cloud was down for the last 500 feet but once on the frozen top it kept clearing briefly – very briefly. There were more people up there than we had seen the entire trip previously. People were getting out after Christmas, many had parked at the top of Honister for the fairly easy walk in across Green Gable, some were not dressed for winter walking it has to be said. We left for an icy scramble down to Arron Slack, up onto Green Gable them we galloped down Arron Slack to Styhead and back to Wasdale.

“Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.”

Herman Melville

A very precisely sized tool, this one is part of an old TA tool kit. This is perfect for ref.25 chainring mounting bolts and especially nice for the old TA "domed" bolts. This is cut flush at the opening as opposed to modern sockets which are often tapered for an easier fit over hex bolts or nuts. This means there is much less chance of the tool slipping off and rounding the corners of old TA hex-head bolts... which always seemed to be made of soft steel and were poorly plated.

DSCF0009a

The Abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire , more precisely Fleury Abbey , is a Benedictine abbey which stands on the territory of the French commune of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire in the Loiret department in the Centre-Val region of Loire .

The first monastery founded in the early Middle Ages in 651 was one of the first in Gaul to live according to the rule of Saint Benedict and the relics of Saint Benedict were transferred there. At the beginning of the 11th century , the abbey was one of the cultural centers of the West and then shone thanks to its important library and its scriptorium . After a fire in 1026, the current church was rebuilt and its porch tower occupied an important place at the beginning of the period dominated by Romanesque art , due to the high quality of the sculptures on the capitals.

The abbey church is classified as a historic monument . The site is located in the eastern part of the Loire Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site .

Location

Fleury Abbey is located in the territory of the commune of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire , 650 meters from the north bank of the Loire and 114 meters above sea level, in the French department of Loiret and the natural region of the Loire Valley . The abbey church is accessible via Rue Orléanaise (departmental road 60), Rue and Place de l'Abbaye.

History

Introduction of the Benedictine rule in France

The origin of the Benedictine rule in France is described in the life of Saint Maur which is a forgery, written by Odo de Glanfeuil (en) in the 9th century 1 .

The bishop of Le Mans , during the lifetime of Saint Benedict , sent religious from his diocese to Monte Cassino to learn about the rule of Saint Benedict . On the day of Epiphany 542 , Saint Maurus left Monte Cassino and Benedict of Nursia. He spent the Easter period near Auxerre in a place called Font-Rouge near a solitary man called Romain who had given the monastic habit to Benedict of Nursia. He arrived with his monks in Orléans where he attempted, without success, to introduce the Benedictine rule at the abbey of Saint-Pierre-aux-Bœufs, which later took the name of Saint-Aignan note 1 . Following the death of the bishop of Le Mans , Saint Innocentus, and the refusal of his successor to receive Saint Maur, he remained in Orléans, then headed to Angers , where with the help of Count Florus, he created Glanfeuil Abbey . This is Odo's story, but it has no historical value 2 .

The first oratories

Under the episcopate of the Bishop of Orléans Leodegarius , the abbot of the Saint-Aignan collegiate church of Orléans , Léodebold, wished to introduce the rule of Saint Benedict into his abbey. Faced with the refusal of his monks, he decided to found a new abbey. For this he exchanged with the Frankish king Clovis II and the support of his wife Bathilde , favorable to the establishment of new abbeys, a property that he owned with the Gallo-Roman villa of Floriacum near Orléans and the edges Of the loire. The same year of his exchange, in 651, he sent monks, probably including Liébaut and Rigomaire , the future first abbots of Fleury, to found the new abbey. They probably initially used the old buildings of this royal possession. One of the oratories founded is dedicated to Saint Peter , the other to the Virgin Mary 3 , 2 .

The relics of Saint Benedict

Mommolin , the second abbot of Fleury, having a mystical vision of Saint Benedict , asked one of his monks, Aigulfe , to go to Italy and bring back to the abbey of Fleury the body of Saint Benedict which was then in the abandoned monastery of Monte Cassino . Aigulfe goes to Rome with monks from Le Mans who wish to bring back the relics of Saint Scholastica buried next to Saint Benedict. There he collected the bodies of Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica. Despite the pope's opposition, the return of Aigulfe and his companions with the relics of Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica to the abbey of Fleury took place inJune 655. The body of Saint Scholastica was then given to the monks who came from Le Mans. The body of Saint Benedict was first placed in the Saint-Pierre church then, finally, buried in the church dedicated to the Virgin Mary inDecember 655. The abbey then took the name of Saint-Benoît de Fleury or Saint-Benoît-Fleury. The date of this translation varies according to the authors: 653 for Mabillon, 655 for Dom Chazal, 660 for the Benedictines of the 17th century . The date of 660 might make more sense if we consider that the pope at the time of this transfer was Vitalian 3 .

Around 752-754, monks from the Abbey of Monte Cassino, accompanied by Carloman , came to the abbey accompanied by the Archbishop of Reims to take back the relics of Saint Benedict on the order of Pope Zacharias and King Pepin the Brief . Legend has it that a miracle by Saint Benedict meant that Abbot Medon gave the monks of Montecassino only a few bones from the body of Saint Benedict 3 .

In 887, a portion of the relics of Saint Benedict were given to the monastery of Perrecy-les-Forges dependent on the abbey of Fleury-Saint-Benoît. At the request of Pope Urban V , in 1364, they were sent to Montpellier , then in 1725, given to the Bec Abbey (Le Bec-Hellouin). At the request of the King of Poland Stanislaus Leszczyński , in 1736, a small part of the saint's bones was donated to the monastery of Saint Leopold, in Russia and after the French Revolution , donations of relics of Saint Benedict were more numerous

A first monastery founded in the High Middle Ages , theJune 27, 651, is then located in the Kingdom of the Franks 5 , 6 . This monastery is one of the first in Celtic Gaul to live according to the rule of Saint Benedict . The relics of Saint Benedict were transferred there by monks who went to look for the abandoned bones of their master, which is the origin of the current name of the abbey 7 .

The temporal is constituted, after Leodebold who gives in his will the domain of Fleury, around 670, the king of the Franks of Neustria and the Burgundians Clotaire III confirms to the abbey goods which will form the priory of Saint-Benoît-du-Sault , then the king of the Franks Thierry III made a donation near Bordeaux as Pepin I , Charlemagne 's father had done before him. Between 691 and 720, a royal prince offered vast domains in the diocese of Langres where the abbot of Saint-Benoît created a monastery under his authority. Before 720, the monks cleared land which formed hermitages in the forest of Orléans , in Sologne and on the banks of the Loire.

In the first years of the 9th century , the bishop of Orléans Théodulphe governed the abbey. He held high positions under Charlemagne and wanted education to be given to all those who held office. The monks of Saint-Benoît agree to teach the young nobles. He built the Carolingian oratory of Germigny-des-Prés .

In the 9th century , the situation was prosperous, the Frankish king Louis the Pious visited the monastery, confirmed the privileges including that of operating four boats on the Loire, exempted the abbey from all religious and civil jurisdiction and the priory of La Réole is returned to him. With the rise of feudalism , the stronghold of Fleury was divided into thirteen town halls including Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire , Guilly , Tigy , Germigny-des-Prés , Bray-en-Val and Châtenoy . The abbey has numerous serfs on its estates 3 .

In 845, King Charles the Bald visited the abbey. Around 853, the Normans went up the Loire and the monks received the monks from Touraine who fled with the relics of Saint Martin then left for Auxerre . The populations are in poverty, the fields are no longer cultivated and the crops are plundered. King Charles the Bald granted new domains to the abbey in the country of Mâcon, Autun and Chalon, including the domain of Perrecy-les-Forges which would become a rich monastery. He established the abbey law by separating the abbot's property from that of the monks.

The end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century was a period of weakening of religious discipline and decadence. King Carloman II visits the monastery which is in ruins, the convent buildings are no longer habitable, the church is devastated, the tomb of Saint Benedict is empty because the relics are in Orléans for security reasons. The king gives the order to repair the buildings and rebuild the church. The monks returned to the abbey in 883. A fort was built at the southeast corner of the monastery in 883.

Around 897, the Normans who still traveled the Loire with their ships returned to Saint-Benoît and plundered the monastery but the monks left with the body of Saint Benedict. After all these invasions we are witnessing the withering away of discipline

The new king Raoul of Burgundy elected in 922 knew Abbot Odon de Cluny and gave him the task of restoring the monastery on the banks of the Loire. The abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, which is in the royal domain, becomes the propagator of the Cluniac reform . The introduction of the methods of Cluny revives perfect fidelity to the Benedictine Rule , silence, prayer, work, frugality, abstinence and the divine office celebrated with as much splendor as possible. The number of religious increased and the monastery model served as a reference and transmitted the reform to the monasteries of France, Lorraine , Rhineland , Flanders , Brittany and England . Among his novices, an Englishman, Oswald became archbishop of York and spread reform in England.

Two abbots made Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire one of the cultural centers of the West: Abbon (from 988 to 1004) 9 and Gauzlin (from 1004 to 1030). The abbey then shines thanks to its important library and its scriptorium , which produced works such as the Fleury Games Book . The successor of Odo de Cluny , Abbot Abbon (988-1004) 10 , 9 , is an Orléanais who fights to preserve the assets of the abbey which the bishop of Orléans Arnoult 11 disputes with him because, since the Council of Chalcedon of 451, the bishop has all power over the abbeys of his diocese, controls the election of abbots and can intervene if necessary. Abbon obtained the Roman exemption from Pope Gregory V which was confirmed by Pope Benedict VIII 12 . We owe him works touching on grammar, dialectics , cosmography , computing , mathematics, liturgy , canon law and ecclesiastical history .

In 1004, King Robert the Pious had the natural son of Hugh Capet , Gauzlin raised at the abbey, designated as his abbot. Donations poured in from the Count of Gascony, the Norman ducal family and several lords of Spain. William I of Bellême gives the abbey of Lonlay in Normandy, Abbot Gauzlin sends brothers there and a monk named William

The buildings suffered a fire in 1026. The current building was rebuilt under the leadership of Gauzlin, then abbot of Saint-Benoît, from 1027. The work began with the porch tower, construction of which began a few years earlier and who seems to have escaped the fire.

The apse , the crypt and the choir were completed and consecrated in 1108, allowing the burial in the sanctuary, the same year, of the King of France Philip I. The nave continues to reach the porch tower with Gothic arches . Most of the building was completed around 1218.

In 1130, the abbey experienced one of the most beautiful days in its history when Bernard de Clairvaux came to bless the alliance of the Roman Church and the Capetian Monarchy between Pope Innocent II and King Louis VI the Fat .

At the beginning of the 13th century the abbey had around 170 religious . Around sixty monks live at the monastery, 70 in the large conventual priories of La Réole, Perrecy-les-Forges and Saint-Benoît-du-Sault and 40 in the small priories. But in 1299, finances were in a critical state and the number of religious was limited to 45 in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 24 in La Réole, 20 in Perrecy-les-Forges and 12 in Saint-Benoît-du- Sault

The weakening

At the end of the Middle Ages , the abbey of Saint-Benoît, like its peers, suffered a decline. The number of his possessions and their dissemination lead to disputes with the laity and material concerns. In 1335, life was difficult for religious people who were extremely frugal. During the Hundred Years' War , extraordinary contributions had to be paid while revenues declined.

In 1358-1359, the English garrisoned Châteauneuf-sur-Loire , ravaged the surrounding area, and devastated the buildings and the monastery church. A fire completed its destruction then in 1363, a band of Bretons forced the abbey to pay a ransom. Around 1369, new bands ravaged the country.

In 1372, the state of the monastery was lamentable due to a lack of money to restore it and there was great difficulty in having the property usurped during the period of unrest returned. In 1415, there were only twenty-four religious left.

In 1429, Joan of Arc and Charles VII passed through Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire on the road which connects the castle of Sully-sur-Loire and that of Châteauneuf-sur-Loire which remained in French hands. In 1443, a petition to the pope depicted calamities, incursions of warriors, epidemics and famine. Resources are so limited that nothing can be done about the buildings. With abbots whose election is the result of intrigue, the community is divided, rebellious and blames the abbots for the frugality in which it lives. In 1471, the Parliament of Paris imposed a reform but its effect did not seem decisive. Soon the abbacy will be nothing more than a title and its income a prebend 8

The commendation regime

The end of the 15th century was marked by the first commendatory abbots . From now on, the abbots will be great lords, royal favorites, rarely present and anxious to collect large profits. The life of monks becomes more secular than religious. The effective power and influence, both spiritual and temporal, on their destinies pass into the hands of the priors. The officers and particularly the cellarer tend to make profits and there are fewer monks. The order is the revenge of the episcopate against the system of exemptions.

The first two commendatory abbots are elected by the religious. Cardinal Jean VI de La Trémoïlle (1486-1507) restored the church and the convent buildings. Cardinal Étienne Poncher (1507-1524) separated the dormitories into cells and completed the abbey dwelling.

In 1515, the concordat between Francis I and Pope Leo X granted the king the appointment of bishops and abbots.

The monks refused to welcome Cardinal Antoine Duprat (1525-1535) and François I came in person to install him. He demolished the Saint-Michel tower, of which only the peristyle and the upper floor remained. With his successor the abbey suffered alienations but the king granted the bourgeois of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire the rights of a town with the possibility of enclosing itself with walls.

With Cardinal Odet de Coligny -Châtillon (1551-1569) the treasure and the library were pillaged; he sides with the Calvinists . During the three following abbatiats, there was a total withering away of monastic discipline due to its isolation. Some abbeys joined together into a Gallican Congregation of Exempts.

Charles of Orléans (1584-1601), natural son of Charles IX, restored the monastery and the church destroyed by a fire but the unrest which shook the Orléanais led to numerous defections. There are only five clerics left armed by the League , the others are dispersed.

At the end of the 16th century the abbey's assets were squandered. After the conversion of Henry IV , the monks returned to the monastery but indiscipline was at its height

In 1618, the Congregation of Saint-Maur was founded, approved by Louis XIII and Pope Gregory XV in 1621. Very quickly several monasteries affiliated but many old religious resisted and were guaranteed an exceptional regime. The young people accept the reform with the ancient Benedictine observances: residence, silence, abstinence and the performance of religious services in their entirety. To this we add meditation and a great fervor for intellectual work.

Cardinal Richelieu , abbot of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire from 1621 to 1642, introduced the Reform of Saint-Maur into the abbey. THEMay 26, 1627, the chapter decides that the old and the new will form two communities, each with its own prior. In 1660, there was only one elder left, there were twenty Maurists, including the prior and the sub-prior, and they undertook the work of recovery. To enhance the splendor of worship, they whitewashed the church and embellished it with new ornaments. They taught philosophy, theology and rhetoric and a library was established. They find old titles in the archives and restore alienated rights. This new income made it possible to restore the buildings and gardens, a new shrine for the relics of Saint Benedict cost 15,000 pounds and a building was constructed to house it

In 1645, the movement of the entrance door gave rise to the publication of a map exposing the project: Plan et Figure de l'Abbaye, & Villenie de St Benoist su Loire .

In 1712, the construction of a large building containing the regular places began: cells, refectory and common room, two new wings, one of which joins the transept of the church and the other leads towards the apse. They house the chapter house, the sacristy, the infirmary, the hostelry, the library and the other operational annexes. The facades are lined with terraces overlooking the gardens with a panorama towards the valley and the Loire.

Jansenism was introduced into the teaching of the abbey schools where philosophy, theology, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, physics, mathematics and history were studied. The religious refuse to renounce this doctrine despite the injunctions of the Bishop of Orléans .

Around 1760, recruitment for cloisters became difficult, literature and philosophy discredited religious vows and the public witnessed the decline of monasteries.

In 1789, in the registers of grievances of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, the parishioners asked King Louis XVI for the creation of a college run by the Benedictines, free for local children and paying for foreigners

In 1788, there remained in the monastery only around ten monks and around fifteen novices who no longer respected the austerity of their Order. The decree ofApril 6, 1792on religious communities forces them to leave the abbey. Two religious sign the constitutional oath and practice in Bray-en-Val and Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, the other marries and remains in the village 16 .

Benoît Lebrun , a Parisian architect based in Orléans, purchased on 24 Fructidor Year IV all the buildings, 22 acres of land forming an enclosure surrounded by fishponds and attached to the abbey. He planned to install a factory there, but the project did not come to fruition. He also bought the church on the condition of rebuilding another one for the 900 parishioners of the town but exchanging it for that of Fleury. He demolished the buildings then sold the site to a local owner 16 , 17 .

Of the important library of several thousand works, only 231 volumes remain which are transported to the libraries of Orléans

From 1850, Félix Dupanloup , bishop of Orléans, wanted to reestablish monastic orders and in particular that of Saint Benedict. THEJanuary 6, 1865, he announced to the commune authorities the arrival of two Benedictines to administer the parish. The monastic community dispersed during the French Revolution of 1789 regained possession of the church but the real refoundation took place during the Second World War , in 1944, with the arrival of around ten monks from the Abbey of the Pierre-Qui-Vire in Saint-Léger-Vauban ( Yonne ) 3 , 18 .

The abbey, attached to an international union of abbeys and Benedictine houses called the Congregation of Subiaco , has 32 religious in 2017 and welcomes several hundred guests each year and nearly 100,000 visitors, tourists or pilgrims. The brothers make a living from sales in the monastic craft shop, from making monk-shaped candy, from hospitality and donations. Unlike the Congregation of Solesmes , the abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire has granted, since the reforms of Pope Paul VI , a large place for French during the divine office while retaining Gregorian chant at mass and for the main festivals

The monk designs intellectual education, then, the whole life of the spirit in relation to the encounter with God in the liturgy , prayer, meditated and prayed reading, memorization, recitation, infinitely repeated and internally ruminated commentary. . The love of letters is closely linked to this search for God 20 .

The abbey founded in 651 had the mission of establishing on the banks of the Loire the principles of the rule of Saint Benedict in a population where pagan beliefs persist despite the first attempts at Christianization . The Rule, which adapts to each country, can allow the elite to cultivate themselves, almsgiving is in the spotlight and the divine office is characterized by its variety and suggestive by its symbolism. This custom is widely distributed.

Liturgical life takes up a considerable place, the cultivation of the fields is ceded to lay people, the professions entrusted to servants and many religious are content with spiritual and intellectual activity

At the end of the 8th century , a reading room was set up and books were distributed, probably sermons and treatises by the Fathers of the Church . The monks copy manuscripts and are renowned for the quality of the calligraphy and illuminations , the style of which is also that of the Marmoutier Abbey (Tours) and which constitutes a school of the Loire distinct from that of Paris. From the 10th to the 12th century , the abbey hosted a large number of writers. Abbot Abbon writes treatises on all concepts. At the end of the 10th century the pope ordered a beautiful missal from the abbot . The treatise on the Miracula is written by four monks; it is a manuscript from the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th century containing ten mysteries with musical notation which forms the outline of the Game of Saint Nicholas by the trouvère - minstrel Jean Bodel 21 , 8 , 22 .

At the end of the Middle Ages, intellectual activity waned and it was not until the 17th century that the Congregation of Saint-Maur was reformed that it regained new fervor. The monks work on the manuscripts and charters which fuel the great historical investigation of the French cleric and historian Jean Mabillon . In 1658, the archives were inventoried and historical notes written. Dom Chazal wrote, from 1697 to 1723, a work on the entire history of the abbey

taken by my mother circa 1978

I always liked this photo precisely b/c I never liked my father much.

The magic of photography is that it can capture rare moments.

Below, is something I blogged over on myspace...and thought I'd share.

___________________

An Open Letter To My Father

It is Friday night and I've just come home from a wonderful dinner at a friends' house close by. Good conversation was had. I told them them about a great photography gig I have coming up in August. A 50's New Yorker; 12 in existence, and only 2 that have been completely restored. Twenty two feet of metal and chrome American made goodness! And I will be hired to take photos of it. My friends asked me how I got interested in classic cars. And I tell them it is because I grew up with a father more passionate about Mustangs than most people are about life. I tell them how we would pull over anytime we would see a vehicle on the side of the road for sale that was made before 1970.

I tell people,

"My Dad handed down to me his appreciation of classic cars."

And I feel so proud to say it.

My drive home from dinner was pleasant. Seven miles of back country roads, the sun setting over the Blue Ridge, the sky a color of tangerine and faded denim, the ground cooling off from a steamy Virginia day in July.

A nice evening.

I open the gate at the bottom of the driveway, retrieve the day's mail, and smile as I watch my pack of dogs chase my car up to the house. Especially the 14 year old pit/lab, the one I call "Old lady" now. Her legs are stiff and only work as pairs, but she sure still is plucky.

I love the smell of my house when I first walk in through the back kitchen door. Like pleasant meals gone by gently cooked with love.

I throw my keys and bag on the dining room table, turn on the lights, pat all the dogs' heads hello and switch on the radio.

It's always on NPR. That's all I listen to. And after spending many Friday nights alone with no television, I know that there's a great jazz program on that just started a few minutes ago. I instantly recognize the tune. Basin Street Blues. I know it because Ella did a cover of it. That's how I know almost all the jazz standards that I now sing in my jazz band. After a few bars the singer starts in and by this time I'm upstairs in the bedroom, changing out of my jeans and t shirt and into my pajamas. There's no air conditioning here like there is at work. At first I don't recognize the singer. It's a male voice, which is rare for this program to showcase, and it does not sound like an old recording. I switch on all the fans upstairs and wind my way down the wooden spiral staircase, and it is when I'm at the last stair that I recognize the voice.

Willie Nelson.

Really? Yes really, Willie Nelson.

Ha!

And I am slightly disappointed to realize that I missed most of the song. And I stand still in the kitchen and lean back against the counter and take in the next tune: Georgia On My Mind. Wow, what a treat and how strange that I happened to be talking about you this evening, which is something I don't do very often with people. And I like that there is this thing in my life now, taking pictures of classic cars, and it is a way to honor something you really loved.

In the years when you walked this earth, I could have never imagined that there would come a time when I would have a healthy relationship with my father.

Two weeks ago I went to visit your mother, my grandmother, and at 93 she lives unassisted, she's sharp as a tack, and has me pretty near convinced that she holds the secrets to the universe. I've never really talked to her about any of my artistic endeavors. She's never heard me sing. She doesn't need to. And I don't need the validation. She knows I am wonderful at whatever I do and I know she knows this. And that is enough for the two of us. But on this recent trip, I tell her about the classic car photography. And she looks at me and smiles.

"Boy I wish your father was alive to see you do that."

And when she says this, I look at her and see a mother who misses her child. Her son was 63 when he ended his battle with cancer but a child is still a child, grown up or not. I make a mental note to send her flowers more often, in hopes that it will remind her of when you used to bring her fresh ones every other weekend.

Georgia is still playing on the radio and I think about the day you died. I think about the actual moment you passed, when life left your body and the pain did too. Willie, again, was part of my life's soundtrack- a tune called Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground. Those last few days of your life we played nothing but Willie Nelson cds because he was your favorite. After an 8 hour shift at the hospice, I would get in my car, shake off the cold Pennsylvania January air, and strangely, I would pop in a Willie Nelson tape. Some people have candle vigils. My siblings and I had a Willie Nelson vigil. Go figure.

*If you had not have fallen then I would not have found you*

These lyrics were the perfect parting gift to give to your singer/songwriter daughter.

And I think about all this every time I hear Mr. Nelson.

And I am happy to think of it.

And as I stand in my kitchen, spacing out on the fireflies on the other side of the sliding glass doors, I wonder who this band is that Willie is singing with. I've never heard him in a jazzy setting and I am really curious now. And the sentimental child in me snaps out of it and the musician in me takes over and it occurs to me how badass the trumpet player sounds.

Who's playing trumpet??

The song ends and I learn that the two tracks I just walked in on are off a newly released cd titled Two Men With The Blues:

Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis.

Hot damn!

I smile, and feel very emotional but not in a sad way.

It is impossible to miss you, Pop.

You're obviously closer to me now than ever before.

We had a complete change this Christmas – we cancelled it! - we went walking in The Lakes, or Wasdale more precisely. We were staying at Irton Hall B & B, they had over 70 in for Christmas dinner but we ate jam bread on the slopes of Sca Fell Pike. Fantastic. We had a front wheel puncture on a run flat tyre on the new car with a 100 mile still to drive on the afternoon of Christmas eve on our way there. I drove straight to the nearest ATS – where I have an account – they shook their heads and directed me to Westhoughton Tyres, the lads there were fantastic and got us on our way in good time. BMW dealer advice was run on the flat tyre and then throw it away - £250! Where I would have got a tyre on the western side of the Lakes over Christmas I don’t know, ATS didn’t have one to sell me.

The weather was forecast good for Christmas day but after a fine start it was raining before we even left the car park in Wasdale. We headed up Lingmell and ran into snow on the summit. The path onto Sca Fell Pike was very icy, snow covered and visibility was low, the snow kept falling. We didn’t linger long, it was too cold to have dinner up there so we dropped down onto the Corridor Route, where we had our dinner. We went that way to stretch the walk out, having originally intended to cross to Great End. The tops were so icy, glazed, with not enough snow to get a grip on that we decide to leave it for another day. From Styhead we headed back to Wasdale and a dull but fine finish to the day. A drink in the bar at Irton Hall was on the radar.

Every morning we headed into Wasdale early, it got colder, icier and sunnier as the days went by. We went up Yewbarrow, it was an icy scramble up and I decided it was too dangerous to go down Stirrup Crag to Dore Head so went back the same way. It turned out to be the right decision as we lingered on the top, going to view points that we wouldn’t have and getting some decent photos. One morning we walked over the Screes tops, Illgill Head and Whin Rigg, dropping down the steep slope to The southern end of Wast Water. Having said that I would never walk the Screes path alongside Wast Water again the memory of how awful it is in the rain had faded. There is only really a quarter of a mile out of three miles that is really bad, every rock was like glass with the potential to break a leg every step. It seemed a long way and I was getting killer looks from Herself.

We made our way onto Sca Fell on a beautiful morning, clear blue sky. The snow line had got lower most nights but we never had the low level snow that caused problems in the rest of the country. I chose a, sometimes, pathless way to the summit, partly because I’d never been that way but also to stay in the sun, to keep the view and to avoid the ways that would be a touch dangerous, it was -4 and seared with ice for the last 600 feet. After 15 minutes on the summit wispy thin cloud came racing in, crossing the Lake District in minutes, the photos show it heading towards us and I was glad to have got the clear photos first. Looking out to sea a great mattress of cloud was heading straight for us. It was calm and sunny one minute and the next we were engulfed in thick cloud with 30 yards visibility at the most. I have never had a clear sky turn to cloud so fast – ever! We were going down to Slightside next which was OK, about a mile following the ridge down, the problem was getting back to Wasdale from there. We needed to get to Great Howe which meant a pathless trek a mile SW across Quagrigg Moss – a bog full of tarnlets, it would be a nightmare in low visibility. After getting some accurate compass bearings and heading down off Slightside we suddenly dropped out of the cloud and could see our target, brilliant, we legged it across the semi frozen bog and finally felt able to rest and grab a sandwich and cup of tea. We had to find our way down Raven Crags, which was interesting – and steep! We needed to get to the footbridge to get onto the Burnmoor Tarn path back to Wasdale. As we got closer to Burnmoor Tarn the light that I had been cursing gave us a gorgeous sunset. I had one eye on a gap in the cloud low down in the sky out at sea and I was hoping the sun would break through, it did. Burnmoor Tarn was like a mirror, reflecting the surrounding mountains, including Yewbarrow and parts of the Mosedale Horseshoe in the far distance. There was just the two of us, we had barely seen a soul all day, it was a fantastic end to a tough day. As we dropped into Wasdale I caught the deep pink and orange of the last of the sun, I was shooting into it but I had nothing to lose. There would have been quite a few tripods at the opposite end of the lake but I think I was in the better place – for a change.

On our final walking day we decided to head up Great Gable. It was clear of cloud for a change but ominously the surrounding tops, including the Sca Fells were cloud covered. Another beautiful but very cold morning, it was going to be very icy up there so we elected to go via Styhead and the tourist track. We would choose a way off once we were up there. Long before we got to the top, although we couldn’t see it, we knew the cloud was swirling in and out on the summit so it was going to be hit and miss for the photos. The cloud was down for the last 500 feet but once on the frozen top it kept clearing briefly – very briefly. There were more people up there than we had seen the entire trip previously. People were getting out after Christmas, many had parked at the top of Honister for the fairly easy walk in across Green Gable, some were not dressed for winter walking it has to be said. We left for an icy scramble down to Arron Slack, up onto Green Gable them we galloped down Arron Slack to Styhead and back to Wasdale.

The Temple of Artemis, also known less precisely as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was located in Ephesus (near the modern town of Selçuk in present-day Turkey), and was completely rebuilt three times before its eventual destruction in 401. Only foundations and sculptural fragments of the latest of the temples at the site remain.

The first sanctuary (temenos) antedated the Ionic immigration by many years, and dates to the Bronze Age. Callimachus, in his Hymn to Artemis, attributed it to the Amazons. In the 7th century BC, the old temple was destroyed by a flood. Its reconstruction began around 550 BC, under the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes, at the expense of Croesus of Lydia: the project took 10 years to complete, only to be destroyed in an act of arson by Herostratus. It was later rebuilt.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis

A Czech or more precisely Bohemian Black Lager (a Tmavé Speciální Pivo, if you insist) from the British sounding but 500 years old brewery Pivovar Herold in Březnice, a small town 60 kilometers south of Prague.

This is one of the best black lager I've tried from the Czech Republic, with a smooth mouthfeel and a good balance between coffee and sweet maltiness. A yummy lager!

St Margaret, Reydon, Suffolk

Reydon is a suburb of Southwold. In terms of population, they are about the same size. But which one of the two have you heard of? Precisely. Reydon is agri-industrial, and when you cross over the river from one parish to the other, the houses double in price. Not so long ago, a beach hut changed hands in Southwold for £100,000.

St Margaret sits away from the houses, on the road towards Wangford, anonymously pretty in an overgrown graveyard. It is an older church than Southwold's late-medieval parvenu, although it underwent a serious tarting-up in the 15th century. In the churchyard wall there is a surviving mounting block, so that the gentry could climb straight onto their horses from the churchyard without descending to the muddy road.

On the north side there is a very good late 1980s extension. The architect was Andrew Anderson. The graveyard is wide and spacious, but there are many more modern graves than 19th century ones, a mark of how the town has grown. You can't fail to miss the extraordinary bronze angel to the south of the chancel. To the west of the church are the older memorials. One of them is a cute little child's grave, to Percy Hunt, son of Henry and Harriet, who had died at the age of just ten months in August 1888. Grieve not with helpless sorrow, it reads, Jesus hath felt your pain. He did thy lamb but borrow, he'll bring him back again, the theology of which seems curious, to say the least. The tiny tombstone is covered in a century or more of moss. It was very moving. His parents' larger graves are beside it. His father had died in 1910 at the age of 60, his mother surviving into the 1930s, when she died at 86. There were no other Hunt graves nearby, and I wondered if little Percy had been their only child. Counting backwards, I worked out that she must have had her baby in her mid-forties - was this an unexpected late fruit after barren decades? And were their hopes dashed? It was all very sad.

You step into a clean, bright, neatly-kept interior, perhaps a bit smaller than might be expected from the outside. When I'd last visited in 2002, the church still bore all the hallmarks of enthusiastic Victorians re-ritualising it in the 1870s, the organ up in the chancel blocking a view of the east end. But that has now gone, and the church has a feeling of simplicity and space. There is an image niche in the eastern splay of each window, one with a lovely Blessed Virgin and Child statue in it. The best of the glass is a window by A L Moore of Christ meeting the woman at the well. You can tell at a glance that she's probably had six husbands, and she's not married to the one she's with at the minute. Less good is the east window, Ward & Hughes 'trampolining Jesus' Ascension scene rejigged by the King Workshop in the modern era.

Exhibition Jean Tinguely - Machine Spectacle 1 Oct 2016 - 5 Mar 2017 in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Jean Tinguely is famous for his playful, boldly kinetic machines and explosive performances. Everything had to be different, everything had to move. Precisely twenty-five years after his death, the Stedelijk Museum opens a Tinguely retrospective: the largest-ever exhibition of the artist to be mounted in a Dutch museum.

The Swiss artist Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) played a key role in the rise of kinetic art in the fifties. With over a hundred machine sculptures, most of which are in working order, paired with films, photos, drawings, and archive materials, the presentation takes the public on a chronological and thematic journey of Tinguely’s artistic development and ideas, from his love of absurd play to his fascination for destruction and ephemerality.

The presentation features his early wire sculptures and reliefs, in which Tinguely imitated and animated the abstract paintings of artists such as Malevich, Miró, and Klee; the interactive drawing machines and wild dancing installations constructed from salvaged metal, waste materials, and discarded clothing; and his streamlined, military-looking black sculptures.

Tinguely’s self-destructive performances are a special feature of the Stedelijk presentation. The enormous installations Tinguely created between 1960–1970 (Homage to New York, Étude pour une fin du monde No. 1, Study for an End of the World No. 2, and La Vittoria) were designed to spectacularly disintegrate in a barrage of sound. The presentation also spotlights the exhibitions Tinguely organized at the Stedelijk, Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), and the gigantic sculptures he later produced: HON – en katedral (“SHE – a cathedral,” 1966), Crocrodrome (1977) and the extraordinary Le Cyclop (1969–1994), which is still on display outside Paris. The survey ends with a dramatic grand finale, the remarkable, room-filling installation, Mengele-Totentanz (1986), a disturbing display of light and shadow never previously shown in the Netherlands. Tinguely realized the work after witnessing a devastating fire, reclaiming objects from the ashes to piece together his installation: scorched beams, agricultural machinery (made by the Mengele company), and animal skeletons. The final piece is a gigantic memento mori, yet also an invocation of the Nazi concentration camps. Its juddering movements and piercing sounds evoke a haunting, grisly mood.

Jean Tinguely created his work as a rejection of the static, conventional art world; he sought to emphasize play and experiment. For Tinguely, art was not about standing in a sterile white space, distantly gazing at a silent painting. He produced kinetic sculptures to set art and art history in motion, in works that animated the boundary between art and life. With his do-it-yourself drawing machines, Tinguely critiqued the role of the artist and the elitist position of art in society. He renounced the unicity of “the artist’s hand” by encouraging visitors to produce work themselves. Collaboration was integral to Tinguely’s career. He worked extensively with artists like Daniel Spoerri, Niki de Saint Phalle (also his wife), Yves Klein, and others from the ZERO network, as well as museum directors such as Pontus Hultén, Willem Sandberg, and Paul Wember. Thanks to his charismatic, vibrant personality and the dazzling success with which he presented his work (and himself) in the public sphere, Tinguely was a vital figure within these networks, acting as leader, inspirator, and connector.

Amsterdam has enjoyed a dynamic history with Tinguely. The exhibitions Bewogen Beweging (1961) and Dylaby (1962), for which Tinguely was (co)curator, particularly underline the extraordinarily close relationship that sprang up between the museum and the artist. Not only did he bring his kinetic Méta machines to the Netherlands, he also brought his international, avant-garde network, leaving an enduring impression on museum goers who flocked to see these experimental exhibitions. Close relationships with Willem Sandberg, then director of the Stedelijk Museum, and curator Ad Petersen prompted various retrospectives and acquisitions for the collection: thirteen sculptures, including his famous drawing machine, Méta-Matic No. 10 (1959), Gismo (1960), and the enormous Méta