Mystic Challenge Group
View allAll Photos Tagged replace
That's what I decided to do when I spotted these Sunflowers. I started with What if and finished with Why Not : )
______________________________________________
The Sunflower:
Helianthus is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as Sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of Helianthus are native to North America and Central America.
The best-known species is the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus), whose round flower heads in combination with the ligules look like the Sun. This and other species, notably Jerusalem artichoke are cultivated in temperate regions and some tropical regions as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and as ornamental plants.
(Nikon Z6, 24-120/4.0 @ 84 mm, 1/20 @ f/4.5, ISO 100, edited to taste)
I much prefer to replace the original S&W (Smith & Wesson) by this S&W (Smile & Wheat).
Prefiero por mucho cambiar el original S&W (Smith & Wesson), que son armas, por este S&W (sonrisa y trigo).
The apse of the gothic palace chapel of Schloss Blutenburg. The chapel was built in 1488, replacing a fortified tower at that location.
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
This church was built 1795-1798, replacing an older one that had burned down after being hit by lightning. Today the place is most well known for being the final resting-place for the author Selma Lagerlöf (in the cemetery to the west of the church).
Moored on the Fraser River
British Columbia,
Canada
FRPD CENTENNIAL BUDDY CRANE BARGE TUG
Width:7.0 m
Length:12.0 m
The Mission Railway Bridge is a Canadian Pacific Railway bridge spanning the Fraser River between Mission, and Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.
Replacing an earlier bridge built in 1891, which was the first and only bridge crossing of the Fraser below Siska in the Fraser Canyon until the construction of the New Westminster rail bridge in 1904, it was constructed in 1909 by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The Mission Railway Bridge is supported by 13 concrete piers and is approximately 533 metres in length. Before completion of the Mission highway bridge, highway traffic to and from Matsqui and Abbotsford with Mission used the bridge as a one-way alternating route, with traffic lights at either end to control direction. Rail traffic often held up car crossings, causing long and often very lengthy waits, which were a part of daily life in the Central Valley until the new bridge was completed.
Beneath the bridge's north abutment is an important river-level gauge monitored during the annual Fraser freshet. The bridge is also the location of the end of the Fraser's tidal bore - downstream from the bridge the river is increasingly influenced by tidal influences from the Georgia Strait.
Swing span
The Mission Railway Bridge has a swing span which has a vertical clearance of 4.9 metres above the water when closed. The swing span is fitted atop a circular concrete pier, the 10th from the north bank of the river. The 10th pier is protected from shipping traffic by two 46 metre wood piers extending upstream and downstream respectively perpendicular to the bridge which are tapered at both ends. The navigation channel past the bridge is 30 metres in width. At night a fixed white light is displayed on piers 9 and 11 as well as at the up-river and down-river ends of the protection pier.
The majority of marine traffic consists of log tows and gravel barges, which are permitted to use the navigation channel beneath the fixed span between piers 5 and 6. The swing span is used for wood chip barges and other vessels which cannot navigate beneath the span between piers 5 and 6.
CPR maintains a bridge tender 24 hours per day at an office on the north bank of the bridge. Vessels requesting passage through the swing span contact the bridge tender on marine VHF radio, whereby the tender walks the bridge to a control booth situated on the swing span. Wikipedia
Stay healthy
Happy Clicks,
~Christie (happiest) by the River
** Images best experienced in full screen
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Explore #12
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Foro Romano - Roma - Italia / Roman Forum - Rome - Italy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
de/from: Wikipedia
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foro_Romano
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Foro Romano
El Foro Romano (en latín, Forum Romanum, aunque los romanos se referían a él comúnmente como Forum Magnum o simplemente Forum) era el foro de la ciudad de Roma, es decir, la zona central —semejante a las plazas centrales en las ciudades actuales— donde se encuentran las instituciones de gobierno, de mercado y religiosas. Al igual que hoy en día, era donde tenían lugar el comercio, los negocios, la prostitución, la religión y la administración de justicia. En él se situaba el hogar comunal.
Series de restos de pavimento muestran que sedimentos erosionados desde las colinas circundantes ya estaban elevando el nivel del foro en la primera época de la República. Originalmente había sido un terreno pantanoso, que fue drenado por los Tarquinios mediante la Cloaca Máxima. Su pavimento de travertino definitivo, que aún puede verse, data del reinado de César Augusto.
Actualmente es famoso por sus restos, que muestran elocuentemente el uso de los espacios urbanos durante el Imperio romano. El Foro Romano incluye los siguientes monumentos, edificios y demás ruinas antiguas importantes:
Templo de Cástor y Pólux
Templo de Rómulo
Templo de Saturno
Templo de Vesta
Casa de las Vestales
Templo de Venus y Roma
Templo de César
Basílica Emilia
Basílica Julia
Arco de Septimio Severo
Arco de Tito
Rostra (plural de rostrum), la tribuna desde donde los políticos daban sus discursos a los ciudadanos romanos.
Curia Julia, sede del Senado.
Basílica de Majencio y Constantino
Tabulario
Templo de Antonino y Faustina
Regia
Templo de Vespasiano y Tito
Templo de la Concordia
Templo de Jano
Un camino procesional, la Vía Sacra, cruza el Foro Romano conectándolo con el Coliseo. Al final del Imperio perdió su uso cotidiano quedando como lugar sagrado.
El último monumento construido en el Foro fue la Columna de Focas. Durante la Edad Media, aunque la memoria del Foro Romano persistió, los edificios fueron en su mayor parte enterrados bajo escombros y su localización, la zona entre el monte Capitolino y el Coliseo, fue designada Campo Vaccinio o ‘campo bovino’. El regreso del papa Urbano V desde Aviñón en 1367 despertó un creciente interés por los monumentos antiguos, en parte por su lección moral y en parte como cantera para construir nuevos edificios. Se extrajo gran cantidad de mármol para construcciones papales (en el Vaticano principalmente) y para cocer en hornos creados en el mismo foro para hacer cal. Miguel Ángel expresó en muchas ocasiones su oposición a la destrucción de los restos. Artistas de finales del siglo XV dibujaron las ruinas del Foro, los anticuarios copiaron inscripciones desde el siglo XVI y se comenzó una excavación profesional a finales del siglo XVIII. Un cardenal tomó medidas para drenarlo de nuevo y construyó el barrio Alessadrine sobre él. No obstante, la excavación de Carlo Fea, quien empezó a retirar los escombros del Arco de Septimio Severo en 1803, y los arqueólogos del régimen napoleónico marcaron el comienzo de la limpieza del Foro, que no fue totalmente excavado hasta principios del siglo XX.
En su estado actual, se muestran juntos restos de varios siglos, debido a la práctica romana de construir sobre ruinas más antiguas.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Roman Forum
The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum (Italian: Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum.
For centuries the Forum was the center of day-to-day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's great men. The teeming heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history.Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archaeological excavations attracting 4.5 million or more sightseers yearly.
Many of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located on or near the Forum. The Roman Kingdom's earliest shrines and temples were located on the southeastern edge. These included the ancient former royal residence, the Regia (8th century BC), and the Temple of Vesta (7th century BC), as well as the surrounding complex of the Vestal Virgins, all of which were rebuilt after the rise of imperial Rome.
Other archaic shrines to the northwest, such as the Umbilicus Urbis and the Vulcanal (Shrine of Vulcan), developed into the Republic's formal Comitium (assembly area). This is where the Senate—as well as Republican government itself—began. The Senate House, government offices, tribunals, temples, memorials and statues gradually cluttered the area.
Over time the archaic Comitium was replaced by the larger adjacent Forum and the focus of judicial activity moved to the new Basilica Aemilia (179 BC). Some 130 years later, Julius Caesar built the Basilica Julia, along with the new Curia Julia, refocusing both the judicial offices and the Senate itself. This new Forum, in what proved to be its final form, then served as a revitalized city square where the people of Rome could gather for commercial, political, judicial and religious pursuits in ever greater numbers.
Eventually much economic and judicial business would transfer away from the Forum Romanum to the larger and more extravagant structures (Trajan's Forum and the Basilica Ulpia) to the north. The reign of Constantine the Great saw the construction of the last major expansion of the Forum complex—the Basilica of Maxentius (312 AD). This returned the political center to the Forum until the fall of the Western Roman Empire almost two centuries later.
I replaced the old perch with this new one, got back into my mobile blind, (vehicle), and waited less than 5 minutes and she landed on the perch,(which is located at the edge of the creek). The background is a stand of Spruce trees about two hundred meters away.
I replaced new Nagai's silicon plug cord for the first time in more than a dozen years. The cause of the malfunction was the deterioration of the plug cord.
The first attempt to replace the wooden fort with a stone kremlin was recorded in 1374, but construction was limited to a single tower, known as the Dmitrovskaya Tower (this has not survived). Under the rule of Ivan III, Nizhny Novgorod played the role of a guard city, having a permanent garrison; it served as a place for gathering troops for Moscow’s actions against the Khanate of Kazan. In order to strengthen the defenses of the city, construction works on the walls began again.
Construction of the stone Kremlin of Nizhny Novgorod began in 1500 with the building of the Ivanovskaya Tower; the main work commenced in 1508 and by 1515 a grandiose building was completed. The oak walls that formed the old fortifications were destroyed by a huge fire in 1513. The two kilometer wall was reinforced by 13 towers (one of them – Zachatskaya – was on the shore of the Volga; not preserved, but was rebuilt in 2012). This “Stone City” had a permanent garrison with solid artillery weapons. With the fall of Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin lost its military significance, and later it housed the city and provincial authorities.
Memorial “Gorky for the front!” on the territory of the Kremlin between Dmitrovskaya and Kladovaya (Pantry) towers. 1986
During the World War II, the roofs of the Taynitskaya, the Severnaya, and the Chasovaya Towers were dismantled and anti-aircraft machine guns were installed on the upper platforms. Thus, the fortress defended the airspace of the city from the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe bombed the Kanavinsky Bridge and the Fair, but the Kremlin's air defense defended these objects.
The Council of Ministers of the RSFSR issued an order on January 30, 1949 for the restoration of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.
In October 2018, archaeologists discovered the remains of a medieval settlement and cemetery on the site of the destroyed church of St. Simeon Stylites. The finds belong to the 13th century, and the most ancient cultural layer - to 1221, when Nizhny Novgorod was founded. After all the excavations, the exhibits will be museified, and the church of St. Simeon the Stylite will be recreated at this place.
In 2021, before the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod, a major restoration was carried out. Under its terms, the most important thing was the restoration of the historic "battle road" inside the Kremlin wall. The city had been waiting for this event for 230 years. Since August 2021, locals and tourists can walk a full circular route along the large fortress wall while inside it. Its length is 2 km.
Replaced with New Larger Lightroom A.I. Noise Reduction image 30-05-2023
⭐️Thank you in Advance for your kind ‘Faves’ Visits and Comments they are so very much appreciated. 👍
I cannot always ‘Thank’ everyone individually, for their Visits and ‘Faves’ however, I will always try to respond and thank all those that leave a ‘Comment’. If I do not reply to your 'Comment', it is not because I am ignoring you, it's because I have not seen the 'Comment'.
Your 'Comments' do not always appear in 'Notifications' or Flickr mail, so, I am sorry for any delay in responding. Often your 'Comment' is only spotted 'On the Page' on the day, that I see it. (seen ONLY when replying to someone HAS 'Commented' on the image, and I see a notification)
Aw !!!!! As you can see in my today's photos, their blooms are soooo adorably and deliciously formed, so gracefully colored!!! The plants are so generously built and colored !! The Divine Creator was full of inspiration and joy , really, while creating the blooms of these Beauties : Hydrangeas or Hortansias! ( Hydrangea = Hydra+Gea = Filled with water + earth, in Greek, implies that Hydrangeas are really fond of humid soil and atmosphere!!)
In my garden, they replace in July certain large-bloomed Roses in blooming, while these first ones carry faded rose blooms, and are being prepared for their second wave of blooming!! Therefore, the garden remains colorful non stop!! Which was really my target-aim while organizing its creation and planting in the mixed borders.…
Hydrangeas are generally carrying two types of blooms in various sizes and colors, according to the unique characteristics of each plant! They are either round bloomed-– Hydrangeas Mopheads--- or disc-like bloomed –Lacecup Hydrangeas Macrophyllas!
You can read here in this BBC ’s special gardening website how to grow them successfully!! www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-hyd...
Pop Corn Beaches are beaches where the sand has been replaced by a kind of carbonaceous shells that have a morphology and color reminiscent of popcorn. These are calcium carbonate skeletons synthesized by a species of red algae that inhabit the Canary coasts at shallow depths, called rhodoliths.
Rhodoliths occur extensively around the shores of Fuerteventura Island in the Canary Archipelago, with Lithothamnion cf. corallioides being the most prominent species.
It is by the action of the waves, that over the decades, a large number of rhodoliths end up being washed ashore, whose remains contribute to the formation of the sediments that make up the modern beaches, so these unusual beaches have been formed very slowly.
Although rhodoliths are resistant to a variety of environmental disturbances, they can be severely affected by storms, harvesting, ocean acidification and global warming, and the beds are known to be between 20 and 100 meters deep in most parts of the Canary Islands.
Along the beaches there are panels explaining what these "popcorn" are and that their extraction is forbidden, in spite of which the plundering is still very frequent. Unfortunately, every year tourists and locals remove a considerable amount of rhodoliths from the beaches, which represents a threat to these ecosystems, since, as I mentioned before, the remains of dead rhodoliths contribute greatly to the sediments that form contemporary beaches.
Majanicho, La Oliva, Fuerteventura, Islas Canarias
🌊 Read more: Rhodolith beds and their onshore transport in Fuerteventura Island: cutt.ly/C5EHks0
Lots of Patina slowly rusting away this iron work has a beautiful green color, slowly being replaced by iron rust, found in North Carolina.
This scene was shot alongside Interstate 5 in Central California, with yesterdays energy depicted by a lone windmill, replaced in current times by the high tension power lines mapping the landscape in the background.
Replacing the wall at St Fagans National History Museum.
The arch has always been a lovely feature of the wall.
Sefton Park, Liverpool.
This was made with my first attempt to create a texture. It's quite basic made using watercolor paper and charcoal, scanned into the computer. Unfortunately I hadnt realised the paper was too large for the scanner so it was quite what I had wanted. The photo has had the usual treatment in photomatix and photoshop.
Aw !!!!! As you can see in my today's photos, their blooms are soooo adorably and deliciously formed, so gracefully colored!!! The plants are so generously built and colored !! The Divine Creator was full of inspiration and joy , really, while creating the blooms of these Beauties : Hydrangeas or Hortansias! ( Hydrangea = Hydra+Gea = Filled with water + earth, in Greek, implies that Hydrangeas are really fond of humid soil and atmosphere!!)
In my garden, they replace in July certain large-bloomed Roses in blooming, while these first ones carry faded rose blooms, and are being prepared for their second wave of blooming!! Therefore, the garden remains colorful non stop!! Which was really my target-aim while organizing its creation and planting in the mixed borders.…
Hydrangeas are generally carrying two types of blooms in various sizes and colors, according to the unique characteristics of each plant! They are either round bloomed-– Hydrangeas Mopheads--- or disc-like bloomed –Lacecup Hydrangeas Macrophyllas!
You can read here in this BBC ’s special gardening website how to grow them successfully!! www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-hyd...
Detail shot of the beautiful waterfalls at Healey Dell near Rochdale. Taken with my new Rx100 that's replaced all my camera gear :D
The Rio Grande Zephyr train No. 18 pulls into Provo, Utah at 7:55 a.m, right on the advertised, the morning of July 31, 1981. By the early 1980s, a few changes to the RGZ had taken place. The factory pilot was replaced with a steel plate (similar in style to an E-unit) after an altercation with a dump truck destroyed the original. The Silver Banquet dining car was undergoing a rebuild, with a substitute UP diner in its place, nicknamed the “Golden Banquet”. The arrangement of the Budd dome and coach cars were repositioned in an unusual, nontraditional order. These changes took some getting used to.
Replacing usual Colas traction, hired-in DC Rail Freight Class 56 56091 'Driver Wayne Gaskell - the Godfather' passes Burton Salmon with the 6M44 10:05 Preston Dock to Haverton Hill Total empty bitumen tankers on Thursday 29th June 2023.
© Gordon Edgar - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission
UPDATED Image replaced 13-02-2026 (found during a Lightroom Catalogue re-build) The image on the LEFT was the ORIGINAL POST, the image on the RIGHT is the REAL COLOUR of LEO (being confirmed that it IS him) a neighbours cat (in MORNING light) who sadly passed away over 10 years ago.😭😭😭
⭐️Thank you in Advance for your kind ‘Faves’ Visits and Comments they are so very much appreciated. 👍
I cannot always ‘Thank’ everyone individually, for their Visits and ‘Faves’ however, I will always try to respond and thank all those that leave a ‘Comment’. If I do not reply to your 'Comment', it is not because I am ignoring you, it's because I have not seen the 'Comment'.
Your 'Comments' do not always appear in 'Notifications' or Flickr mail, so, I am sorry for any delay in responding. Often your 'Comment' is only spotted 'On the Page' on the day, that I see it. (seen ONLY when replying to someone HAS 'Commented' on the image, and I see a notification)
Betnava Castle
Schloss Betnava
ENG:
The modern Betnava mansion replaced a medieval court, which was first mentioned in medieval written sources in 1313 as the court of Rudolf, a Maribor citizen and former provincial clerk in Breg near Maribor. The second reliable mention of Betnava can be found in a document from 1363: it is mentioned as Paldrumss hoff – Paltram's manor, i.e. the manor of Rudolf's son Paltram (I). In a document from 1378, Rudolf's grandson Paltram (II) is referred to as von Wintnaw – from Betnava – and this is the first explicit mention of Betnava. Probably at the beginning of the 16th century, but certainly before 1526, the Auerspergs became the owners. In 1555, Volf Engelbert Auersperg sold the estate to his brother-in-law Luka Szekely, and in 1587, the Herbersteins became the owners. In 1677, Janez Jakob Count Khisl bought the castle, but it burned down in 1685. The building was supposedly only restored by the Counts of Brandis, who inherited Betnava along with other associated estates in 1727. Betnava remained in the possession of the Brandis family until 1863, when it became the summer residence of the bishops of Lavant. In 1941, the German occupiers took the manor away from the diocese, and after the war it became state property.
GER:
Das moderne Herrenhaus Betnava ersetzte einen mittelalterlichen Hof, der erstmals 1313 in mittelalterlichen Schriftquellen als Hof von Rudolf, einem Bürger von Maribor und ehemaligen Provinzbeamten in Breg bei Maribor, erwähnt wurde. Die zweite zuverlässige Erwähnung von Betnava findet sich in einem Dokument aus dem Jahr 1363: Es wird als „Paldrumss hoff“ – Paltrams Hof, d. h. der Hof von Rudolfs Sohn Paltram (I) – erwähnt. In einem Dokument aus dem Jahr 1378 wird Rudolfs Enkel Paltram (II.) als „von Wintnaw“ – aus Betnava – bezeichnet, und dies ist die erste explizite Erwähnung von Betnava. Wahrscheinlich zu Beginn des 16. Jahrhunderts, aber sicherlich vor 1526, wurden die Auerspergs zu den Eigentümern. Im Jahr 1555 verkaufte Volf Engelbert Auersperg das Anwesen an seinen Schwager Luka Szekely, und 1587 wurden die Herbersteins zu den Eigentümern. Im Jahr 1677 kaufte Janez Jakob Graf Khisl das Schloss, das jedoch 1685 niederbrannte. Das Gebäude wurde vermutlich erst von den Grafen von Brandis wieder aufgebaut, die Betnava zusammen mit anderen dazugehörigen Gütern 1727 erbten. Betnava blieb bis 1863 im Besitz der Familie Brandis, dann wurde es zur Sommerresidenz der Bischöfe von Lavant. 1941 nahmen die deutschen Besatzer das Gut der Diözese weg, und nach dem Krieg ging es in Staatsbesitz über.
Quite apart from its famed cathedral, the old town of Chartres is, itself, endlessly fascinating. Its narrow winding streets and alleys lead steeply down from the cathedral to the Eure river, passing rows of shops, a Romanesque church and several half-timbered houses. In medieval times Chartres was in fact two towns: a pilgrim village centred around the cathedral and an industrial town along the river. These days the mills and waterwheels of the industrial town are long gone, replaced by private houses, gardens and picturesque stone bridges. Their quiet charm forms a relaxing counterpoint to the high drama and magnificence of the cathedral.
© Irwin Reynolds, all rights reserved. If you are interested in using one of my images or would like a high quality fine art print, please send me an email (irwinreynolds@me.com)
Replaced with New Lightroom A.I. Noise Reduction image 31-05-2023 Image on Left is original post. Noise was so poor, I had to reduce the 'sharpening' to 25%. (at 200 dpi)
Image on Right is A.I Noise Reduced at full 100% 'sharpening' (240 dpi hence bigger image)
⭐️Thank you in Advance for your kind ‘Faves’ Visits and Comments they are so very much appreciated. 👍
I cannot always ‘Thank’ everyone individually, for their Visits and ‘Faves’ however, I will always try to respond and thank all those that leave a ‘Comment’. If I do not reply to your 'Comment', it is not because I am ignoring you, it's because I have not seen the 'Comment'.
Your 'Comments' do not always appear in 'Notifications' or Flickr mail, so, I am sorry for any delay in responding. Often your 'Comment' is only spotted 'On the Page' on the day, that I see it. (seen ONLY when replying to someone HAS 'Commented' on the image, and I see a notification)
The barber's pole is there ready if a barber buys it but I think the shingles definely need replacing.
Nylon strings are traditionally tied behind the bridge, but I've found that after years of use strings begin to saw through the wood where they are tied. I've found that using tiny blocks of wood to secure the wood avoids the issue.
Part 1: www.flickr.com/photos/glenbledsoe/50506435473/in/photostr...
Sony ILCE-7M2 | Tamron 35
Charles's Notes
The morning sunlight had replaced the rain.
Ingrid's kitchen felt different now.
Softer.
Warmer.
The three women sat around the kitchen table with coffee cups and the remains of last night's conversation still lingering in the air.
Photographs covered the table.
Letters from Sweden.
Names.
Faces.
Lives.
The younger Clara was sorting through one of the shoeboxes when something caught her eye.
"Wait."
The others looked up.
"What is it?" asked Ingrid.
Clara carefully pulled a folded piece of paper from the bottom of the box.
Unlike the photographs, it wasn't a letter.
And unlike most of Charles's notes, it contained more than a few words.
The paper had yellowed with age.
The handwriting was unmistakably Charles's.
The older Clara leaned closer.
"Read it."
The younger Clara unfolded the page.
At the top, Charles had written only one thing:
For my own sanity.
The kitchen grew quiet.
Then she began to read.
For my own sanity.
I am writing this because I no longer trust my memory.
Father would say I imagined everything.
Perhaps he was right.
When I was a boy in Stora Malm, Mother used to tell stories about those who walk beside us.
Not angels.
Not ghosts.
Not demons.
Simply souls unable to find their way home.
Father hated such talk.
Whenever I repeated those stories, there was usually an argument.
Sometimes there was worse.
I still remember telling him about seeing Pinntorpafrun near Eriksberg.
I must have been ten years old.
I could describe her dress.
I could describe her face.
Father called me a fool.
Then he slapped me hard enough to split my lip.
Mother waited until he left the room before cleaning the blood from my mouth.
She never told me I was mistaken.
In fact, she admitted that strange things had happened to her too.
She spoke of wandering spirits.
Of lonely roads.
Of figures standing where no living person should stand.
I never knew whether to believe her.
And perhaps that uncertainty has followed me my entire life.
More than once I swore I would leave that God-forgotten village forever.
The last time I said it aloud, Father slapped me again.
Even now I can still hear him.
"Use your head, boy."
Perhaps I should have listened.
Perhaps I am simply losing my mind.
Several years ago I found myself inside a hospital.
Not as a patient.
At least not officially.
A doctor seemed convinced that I required observation.
He asked too many questions.
Questions about things I had seen.
Things I could not explain.
He looked at me the same way Father used to.
With concern.
And with doubt.
I left before any decisions could be made.
Still, I remember the ward.
Rows of beds.
People coughing through the night.
A sickness I did not recognize.
The air itself felt heavy.
Like death waiting patiently in a corner.
There was one child I cannot forget.
A young red-haired girl.
Very pale.
Far too pale.
I knew she was dying.
Nobody told me.
I simply knew.
Sometimes she sat upright and stared toward the doorway.
Not at the nurses.
Not at the doctors.
At something else.
Something none of us could see.
More than once she pointed.
There was never anybody there.
At least nobody visible.
The other patients ignored it.
The nurses ignored it.
I could not.
The child seemed to be watching someone standing beyond the threshold.
Someone waiting.
One of the nurses was a colored woman named Daisy.
A good woman.
Kind.
Patient.
The sort of person who remembered every patient's name.
The little girl trusted her immediately.
So did I.
Daisy treated people as though they mattered.
That is rarer than most people realize.
What troubles me is this:
I am nearly certain I met her before that day.
Not in the hospital.
Somewhere else.
Perhaps another neighborhood.
Perhaps another year.
I cannot place it.
The memory feels wrong somehow.
Like a dream remembered in fragments.
I asked Daisy whether we had met before.
She smiled and said she did not think so.
Perhaps she was right.
The rational explanation is that I have mistaken her for somebody else.
God knows that would be the simplest answer.
Yet I cannot shake the feeling that I recognized her the moment she entered the room.
If Father were alive, he would laugh at me.
If the doctor read these words, he would probably lock me away.
Perhaps they would both be right.
But I have learned something over the years.
There are things in this world that refuse to fit inside ordinary explanations.
I do not know whether they belong to God.
Or madness.
Or something else entirely.
All I know is that I have seen them.
And I am tired of pretending otherwise.
— Charles Karlsson
When the younger Clara lowered the paper, nobody spoke.
The kitchen had gone completely silent.
Ingrid stared at the page.
The older Clara looked troubled.
But it was the younger Clara who spoke first.
Very quietly.
"That girl."
The others looked at her.
She swallowed.
Then pointed to the passage.
"The red-haired girl."
No one answered.
The old house seemed to hold its breath.
And for the first time since arriving at Ingrid Lund's home, all three women wondered the same thing.
Was Charles remembering a dying child from long ago?
Or had he somehow seen the girl from Ward 8 long before any of them knew her name?
I replaced my old Nikon F mount macro lens with the Laowa 100mm manual focus Macro lens and tried it out on this cricket. Also used a flash and small diffuser. I missed the focus on the eyes a bit but I still like the picture a lot. More motivation to get it perfect next time :).
Summer of 2018
Returned in February 2023 and roof has been replaced and shrubs removed. Nice to see it in better repair.
While we were walking on the Bangor Garth pier 2nd longest in Wales we came across new planks being replaced on the pier that was built in 1896.
I walk on my own to think it over
I can't believe this is real
It all seems so clear
All seems so right
I can't put on words how I feel
In time you'll see
What you mean to me
Everyday I think of you
There's nothing here in the world
That can replace you, no
There's nothing here in the world
I can face without you, no
I'm lost in your eyes
You dream me away from here
Far away, where I can feel no pain
With you i feel safe
I know you keep me out of harms way
In time you'll see
What you mean to me
Everyday I think of you
There's nothing here in the world
That can replace you, no
There's nothing here in the world
I can face without you
Anytime you doubt with us
Makes you wanna run away
You think of what we have
If it feels like everything goes there away
I'll be standing here
There's nothing here in the world
That can replace you
There's nothing here in the world
That can replace you, no
there's nothing here in the world
I can face without you
Nothing in this world can replace you
There is nothing
There is nothing
There is nothing
Replace You-Dead by April
Photo of my best friend Abi and her wonderful boyfriend Pax.
The Fountain of the Three Graces in Bordeaux, France. It is a monumental fountain located in the center of the Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux. Two "graces" are visible; the third is on the far side. Prior to the French Revolution, a statue of Louis XV was on this spot, but it was dismantled. And replaced by several other statues before this one was installed in 1869. For more info, see: French Wikipedia Article (select English translation if needed).
Thatched roofs have been used in England since Anglo-Saxon times, and in the 19th century were the most common form of roofing until the growth of canals made slate much more readily available and affordable. Thatched roofs are said to last for up to 40 years before needing replacement. In past times it was simply the practice to lay more thatch on the existing roof. This picture was taken in the village of Orlingbury, near our cottage in Northamptonshire. Our roof was once thatched, but it was replaced with slates many years ago, long before we lived here.