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Basildon Park
Basildon Park estate was bought by Francis Sykes in 1771.
Sykes had made his fortune in the East India Company and required a home befitting his status. He demolished the original house and employed architect John Carr to build the mansion that survives to this day.
The Sykes family owned the house until 1838.
The Morrison family owned Basildon Park from 1838 to 1928. It was originally bought by Liberal MP James Morrison who passed it to his eldest son Charles. On his death it was inherited by his sister Ellen who died just seven months later, leaving it to her nephew Major James Archibald Morrison.
During the Second World War, the estate was requisitioned. It served several purposes including being used by the 101st Airborne Division of the American Army for D-Day training, and later as a prisoner-of-war camp for German and Italian soldiers. This was all vital to the war effort but inevitably resulted in severe damage to the house and estate.
In 1952 Lord and Lady Iliffe bought the semi-ruined Basildon Park.
The couple set about restoring the house sensitively to its former glory, with the addition of modern-day comforts such as central heating, a contemporary kitchen and bathrooms.
They restored the elegant interior and scoured the country searching for 18th-century architectural fixtures and fittings to fill their comfortable new home.
The fine paintings, fabrics and furniture they bought can still be enjoyed by visitors today.
The house and gardens have been featured in several Film and TV drama productions including Pride and Prejudice, Bridgerton, Downtown Abbey, The Gentlemen and The Crown.
Lord and Lady Iliffe gifted the house, together with 400 acres of parkland, to the National Trust in 1978.
Grade I Listed
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basildon_Park
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/oxfordshire-buckinghamshir...
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/oxfordshire-buckinghamshir...
Christmas 2024
Basildon Park celebrates twenty years of starring as a filming location this year.
The room decor theme is ‘Your favourite Christmas movie’.
Visitors are invited to admire the sumptuous Christmas trees, bask in the glow of the twinkling lights, and see if they can guess the movie theme of the room.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/oxfordshire-buckinghamshir...
The Octagon Drawing Room
Christmas Decoration Room Theme:
Miracle on 34th Street
A Masonic Perfect Ashlar.
A rough and perfect ashlar are stones which symbolize Man's moral and spiritual life.
Cutting stone to uniform shapes and sizes requires the skill and experience of a true craftsman with many years of experience.
This is why, historically, only large edifices (buildings) were made of ashlars (rather than brick or wood), due to the necessity (and difficulty) of assembling the many skilled craftsman needed to complete the many subsets of knowledge such as how to build a stone archway, how to lay foundation stone, and how to lay stone, one atop another to great heights...not to mention the artisans who sculpted the stones into ornamental shapes.
In days of old, apprentice masons cut and raised the Rough Ashlars from the stone quarry under the supervision of more experienced craftsman, called Fellowcrafts.
The work was accomplished under the watchful eye of the Master masons of the craft...those who had proved their ability to make their Master's piece to the satisfaction of their superiors.
In Freemasonry, there are 2 forms of ashlars.
Rough Ashlar
In operative Freemasonry, the rough ashlar represents a rough, unprepared or undressed stone. In speculative Freemasonry, a rough ashlar is an allegory to the uninitiated Freemason prior to his discovering enlightenment.
Perfect Ashlar
Operatively, the Perfect ashlar represents the dressed stone (after it has been made uniform and smoothed) by use of the working tools, the common gavel, (mallet) and chisel. (The chisel may be found in English Freemasonry, but is not used in the United States as a Freemason symbol.)
Only after the stone has been dressed by an experienced stonemason, can it be suitable to be placed into the architectural structure or building.
Speculatively, a Perfect Ashlar is an allegory to a Freemason who, through Masonic education, works to achieve an upstanding life and diligently strives to obtain enlightenment.
Rough and Perfect Ashlars
In the Fellowcraft Degree, we see the use of the Rough and Perfect Ashlars. The lesson to be learned is that by means of education and the acquirement of knowledge, a man improves the state of his spiritual and moral being.
Like man, each Rough Ashlar begins as an imperfect stone. With education, cultivation and brotherly love, man is shaped into a being which has been tried by the square of virtue and encircled by the compasses of his boundaries, given to us by our Creator.
Rough and Perfect Ashlar: Fitted For The Builder's Use
In ancient times, quarried stone which could be easily shaped into desired configurations, was called "freestone". Typical freestones are limestone and sandstone.
Then, as now, only after refining and smoothing these rough stones into their desired shape, were the stonemasons able to "fit them for the builder's use".
In the Fellowcraft degree, the Rough Ashlar represents a man's unrefined state and his need for improvement. He learns that the goal of being a better man includes spirituality of thought and striving for perfection of conduct. Via duties, expectations and obligations, he is charged to work toward these goals of self improvement.
As the Freemason "smoothes" his rough edges, internally and externally; he becomes a better man and, therefore, a better Freemason.
Once a man has perfected his ashlar to the best of his ability,... as Brothers to all mankind, it is his duty to help others become better men and better Freemasons.
Rough and Perfect Ashlar - The Potential For Change
All rough ashlars must have within them the potential to be made into a perfect ashlar.
The stone must be made of sound material and have a minimum of character flaws which may cause it to weaken the edifice (building). It must be capable of being worked into a perfect stone. This is why candidates for the degrees are asked many questions as to their qualifications and character about why they wish to become Freemasons.
The candidate must have the potential to both serve and support the Fraternity. He must be carefully inspected, just as each Rough Ashlar is inspected for quality in order to be able to "fit" him into Freemasonry's tenets and goals, which are compatible to God's laws.
An imperfect stone may be made perfect, however major flaws are difficult to overcome and when assembled into a structure, the entire structure can be weakened from its improper use. This is as true of men as it is of stones.
Rough and Perfect Ashlar - States of Metamorphose
Freemasonry has a glorious history. Flawed ashlars can bring negative feelings and reproach upon the Fraternity from non-Freemasons in the outside world and therefore, can have no place within its walls.
...That said,...let us not forget that perfect ashlars are not found lying about the stone quarry without benefit of their having been hammered, chiseled and polished into such a state of being.
It also holds true that "perfect" men are also such an anomaly without the benefit of brotherly love, guidance and light. There are very few Freemasons who have not been in both the rough and perfect ashlar state-of-being at some point in their lives.
Freemason Duties For the Future of the Craft
1. Freemasons must give serious consideration to our personal responsibility to educate other Brothers toward their self improvement.
Like the Good Samaritan in the Holy Books; it is in the giving and assistance to others in which you will find the true "jewels" of enlightenment. True Master Masons not only exemplify the tenets of the craft, but they teach what they learn.
2. Lodges should carefully judge the potential of each candidate, weighing both their character and their potential for change. For more information as to how to properly perform this duty, see my page Masonic Investigation Committee.
3. Each Freemason is charged to extend the hand of brotherly love and affection to help new Freemasons become better men and strive to live on the square, stand upright with the plumb and take their true place as a man who would make his Creator (the Almighty), proud of him.
The lesson of the Rough and Perfect Ashlar applies to all men who are worthy,...who have a heartfelt wish to go from ignorance to knowledge,...from darkness to light...and from death to life.
The following poem, written by Mary Brooks Picken, entitled, "Thimblefuls of Friendliness" was written in 1924, and, perhaps says it, best.
"Thimblefuls of Friendliness"
"Isn't it strange that Princes and Kings
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
And just plain folks like you and me,
Are builders for Eternity?
To each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass and a book of rules,
And each must make ere life is flown,
A stumbling block, or a stepping stone."
The Latin assis was a board or plank; in the diminutive form, assula, it meant a small board, like a shingle, or a chip. In this con-nection it is interesting to note that our "axle" and' "axis" were derived from it. In early English this became asheler and was used to denote a stone in the rough as it came from the quarries. The Operative Masons called such a stone a "rough ashlar," and when it had been shaped and finished for its place in the wall they called it a "perfect ashlar." An Apprentice is a rough ashlar, because unfinished, whereas a Master Mason is a perfect ashlar, because he has been shaped for his place in the organization of the Craft.
The publication of a number of Minute Books of old Lodges since it was written calls for a revision of the paragraph on ASHLAR, on page 107. In one of his memoranda on the building of St. Paul s, Sir Christopher Wren shows by the context that as the word was there and then used an ashlar was a stone, ready-dressed from the quarries (costing about $5.00 in our money), for use in walls ; and that a "perpend asheler" was one with polished ends each of which would lie in a surface of the wall ; in that case a "rough" ashlar was not a formless mass of rock, but was a stone ready for use, no surface of which would appear in the building walls; it was unfinished in the sense of unpolished. In other records, of which only a few have been found, a "perpend" ashlar was of stone cut with a key in it so as to interlock with a second stone cut correspondingly.
It is doubtful if the Symbolic Ashlars were widely used among the earliest Lodges; on the other hand they are mentioned in Lodge inventories often enough to make it certain that at least a few of the old Lodges used them ; and since records were so meagerly kept it is possible that their use may have been more common than has been believed. On April 11, 1754, Old Dundee Lodge in Wapping, London, "Resolved that A New Perpend Ashlar Inlaid with Devices of Masonry Valued at £2 12s. 6d. be purchased. " The word ''new'' proves that the Lodge had used an Ashlar before 1754, perhaps for many years before; the word "devices" duggests long years of symbolic use.
It is obvious that the Ashlars as referred to in the above were not like our own Perfect and Imperfect Ashlars. It is certain that our use of them did not originate in America ; there are no known data to show when or where they originated, but it is reasonable to suppose that Webb received them from Preston, or else from English Brethren in person who knew the Work in Preston's period. Operative Masons doubtless used the word in more than one sense, depending on time and place ; and no rule can be based on their Practice.
The Speculative Masons after 1717, as shown above, must have used "Perfect Ashlar" in the sense of "Perpend Ashlar"; nevertheless the general purpose of the symbolism has been the same throughout - a reminder to the Candidate that he is to think of himself as if he were a building stone and that he will be expected to polish himself in manners and character in order to find a place in the finished Work of Masonry. The contrast between the Rough Ashlar and the Perfect Ashlar is not as between one man and another man, thereby generating a snobbish sense of superiority; but as between what a man is at one stage of his own self-development and what he is at another stage.
In Sir Christopher Wren's use of "ashlar" (he was member of Lodge of Antiquity) the stone had a dimension of 1 x 1 x 2 feet; and many building records, some of them very old, mention similar dimensions; certainly, the "perpend" or "perfect" ashlar almost never was a cube, because there are few places in a wall where a cube will serve. Because in our own symbolism the Perfect Ashlar is a cube, a number of commentators on symbolism have drawn out of it pages of speculation on the properties of the cube, and on esoteric meanings they believe those properties to possess; the weight possessed by those theorizing is proportionate to the knowledge and intelligence of the commentator; but in any event these cubic interpretations do not have the authority of Masonic history behind them.
NOTE: During the many years of building and re-building at Westminster Abbey the clerk of the works kept a detailed account of money expended, money received, wages, etc. These records, still in existence, are called Fabric Rolls. In the Fabric Roll for 1253 the word "asselers" occurs many times, and means dressed stones, or ashlars. A "perpens" or "parpens," or "perpent-stone" was "a through stone," presumably because it was so cut that each end was flush with a face of the wall. It proves that "perpend ashlar" was not a "perfect ashlar" in the present sense of being a cube.
- Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
Basildon Park
Basildon Park estate was bought by Francis Sykes in 1771.
Sykes had made his fortune in the East India Company and required a home befitting his status. He demolished the original house and employed architect John Carr to build the mansion, which still survives.
The Sykes family owned the house until 1838.
The Morrison family owned Basildon Park from 1838 to 1928. It was originally bought by Liberal MP James Morrison who passed it to his eldest son Charles. On his death, it was inherited by his sister Ellen, who died just seven months later, leaving it to her nephew, Major James Archibald Morrison.
The estate was requisitioned during the Second World War. It served several purposes, including being used by the 101st Airborne Division of the American Army for D-Day training and later as a prisoner-of-war camp for German and Italian soldiers. This was all vital to the war effort but inevitably resulted in severe damage to the house and estate.
In 1952, Lord and Lady Iliffe bought the semi-ruined Basildon Park.
The couple set about sensitively restoring the house to its former glory, adding modern comforts such as central heating, a contemporary kitchen, and bathrooms.
They restored the elegant interior and scoured the country, searching for 18th-century architectural fixtures and fittings to fill their comfortable new home.
The fine paintings, fabrics and furniture they bought can still be enjoyed by visitors today.
The house and gardens have been featured in several Film and TV drama productions, including Pride and Prejudice, Bridgerton, Downtown Abbey, The Gentlemen and The Crown.
Lord and Lady Iliffe gifted the house and 400 acres of parkland to the National Trust in 1978.
Grade I Listed
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basildon_Park
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/oxfordshire-buckinghamshir...
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/oxfordshire-buckinghamshir...
Christmas 2024
Basildon Park celebrates twenty years of starring as a filming location this year.
The room decor theme is ‘Your favourite Christmas movie’.
Visitors are invited to admire the sumptuous Christmas trees, bask in the glow of the twinkling lights, and see if they can guess the movie theme of the room.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/oxfordshire-buckinghamshir...
The Octagon Drawing Room
Saint Thomas (Detail)
by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni
1740–1743
Oil on Canvas
via Original Article: https://nashville-landscaper.com/residential/lawn-care/irrigation/
Nashville Irrigation Services
When it concerns sprinkling turf, lots of homeowners simply laid out a lawn sprinkler, turn it on as well as let it run for a while, presuming they are doing right by their lawns.
The truth is lots might be underwatering or overwatering their turf, which can do more injury than great. To help you give the appropriate hydration for your lawn, it’s important to sprinkle your lawn at the right time and also in the correct amount.
Lawn Types as well as Irrigation Timing
Knowing the type of yard you have can dictate just how usually you need to sprinkle your grass.
Cool-season lawns
Types: Bentgrass, bluegrasses, fescues, ryegrasses
Expanding pattern: Grow most actively in the springtime and fall. They go inactive– stop expanding– during the summertime, and afterwards once again in the wintertime.
General sprinkling guidance: They need water just every 3 weeks approximately if there’s been no rain. If you water a lot more often, you could be watering weeds instead of grass.
Warm-season grasses
Kinds: Bahiagrass, Bermudagrass, Buffalograss, Carpetgrass, Centipedegrass, St. Augustinegrass, Zoysiagrass
Expanding pattern: Expand most proactively in the summertime warm, go inactive in the chill of the fall or winter season.
General sprinkling recommendations: Some warm-season lawns, including Bermuda, Bahia and also Zoysia, are among the most drought-tolerant turfgrass varieties. Nonetheless, they still call for routine watering to preserve a healthy origin system, especially throughout their midyear high-growth period.
General Lawn Irrigation Advice
Water when the grass requires it.
Most yards require irrigation once every four to 8 days to stay healthy and balanced, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Solution, a department of the U.S. Department of Farming. Actually, the NRCS states irrigating less usually and using even more water when you do irrigate cause deeper rooted plants as well as healthier grass.
Keep an eye on the skies. When it rainfalls for several days, water much less. Successive warm, completely dry days imply water a lot more. If you’re not exactly sure if your grass needs water, the NRCS recommends this examination: If the lawn doesn’t spring back after being stepped on, it’s probably time to irrigate.
Early morning watering is best.
Early watering offers the turf time to soak up the water, sending it down right into the origins and into the grass plants themselves. That plumps up the yard blades with water, enabling them to far better endure the warm of the day. Prevent watering during the middle of the day when water evaporates rapidly. Additionally avoid watering on a windy day, which will run out the water before it can be taken in by the lawn.
Although not just as good as morning, late afternoon likewise can be a good time for sprinkling turf. You should not water in the evening, though, as remaining wetness can cause fungal illness in the grass.
During fall, as part of your normal grass care maintenance, you need to prepare your grass for the coming winter months. Per the NRCS, water with mid-September and then once again in mid-October to store moisture in the dirt.
Amount is important
When watering grass, it is necessary you do not water inadequate or way too much. Like Goldilocks’ porridge, you want it to be “perfect.” Your goal is to dampen the soil deeply. 4 inches is great, 6 inches is better. To do so, you need to use roughly 1 inch of water if you have clay-based soil. If your dirt is sandy, lower this amount to 1/2 inch of water.
Turf Watering for Different Soil Types
Clay
Sand
Loamy
Holds more water
Extremely porous
Moderately permeable
Slow to take in water
Holds water poorly
Retains moisture
Slow to launch water
Allows fast water
Ideal dirt for grass
Key recommendations: To stay clear of drainage, do not water faster than the dirt can take in; water in cycles.
Key suggestions: Water in 1/2-inch increments to fill dirt 6-8 inches deep.
Key guidance: Water as required.
Action Your Water Usage
To aid you figure out when you have actually applied 1 inch of water, put out some straight-sided containers around your lawn. Tuna cans work well. Turn on a timer and also turn on your watering system. Monitor them, as well as when they are loaded with 1 inch of water, switch off the water. Be sure to time the length of time it requires to fill the containers so you’ll know the length of time to leave the lawn sprinkler on each time you are watering grass. See “Maintain Your Grass Healthy And Balanced With a Sprinkler System Audit” for more information.
As part of your yard care regimen, check frequently for indications of overwatering. After sprinkling, stroll along your grass and also seek swimming pools of water. This is overflow– water that surpasses the quantity that can be soaked up, given the volume of water and also the duration of watering. The effects of runoff are bad. Runoff washes away fertilizer as well as newly sown seed, which adversely influences your yard, your budget and the environment.
If you experience drainage within the time frame you established would certainly supply 1 inch of water to your lawn, divide that time in half (say 15 mins rather than 30). Water your grass in 2 equivalent segments, allowing time in between for the turf to take in the water.
Overwatering additionally can dissuade origin growth in yard, which, subsequently, will deteriorate the turf, making it a lot more susceptible to tough environmental problems, condition and everyday usage, such as foot website traffic, children playing and animals running around.
Do not Panic– Your Lawn May Simply Be Dormant
Throughout summer season’s best days, your lawn might handle a tan or brown look, making it look dead. Nevertheless, numerous Northern cool-season yards undergo an inactive duration not just in winter season however also in summer months. Essentially, the lawn is pausing from growing. If your lawn is in an inactive duration, it will certainly begin to green up as temperatures cool off and after getting numerous days of rainfall.
Some varieties of yard are quicker to perk back up than others. Kentucky bluegrass, for instance, takes just three or 4 days to get up.
In case your yard does not revive under these scenarios, it most likely is too damaged to recover as well as will certainly require comprehensive like repair, and possibly change, the existing lawn.
Water Sensing Tools
As part of your grass care, there are a range of devices and also automatic systems to aid you in sprinkling grass.
Among the simplest tools is a long-bladed screwdriver. If you can not insert the screwdriver into your dirt, the dirt is extremely completely dry, as well as the lawn needs to be sprinkled. As a matter of fact, if the screwdriver slides right into the dirt easily, the yard is moisturized and also does not require water.
Fancier– though still economical– substitutes for the screwdriver are digital water sensor devices that can be found at any type of garden shop. They have long spikes that you place into the dirt, and also give you a readout of just how moist the problems are.
At the luxury are below ground sensor systems tied in with automatic sprinklers.
Sorts Of Sprinkler Equipments
Fixed Sprinkler
The fixed lawn sprinkler is straightforward as well as economical. It is a steel or plastic vessel with small holes in it that fits at the tube end. The stress of the water forced with the small openings sprays the yard. The pattern of spray is identified by the pattern of openings, the volume is controlled at the tap. To change the area of protection, you drag it around the grass.
Gear Drive Sprinkler
This sort of durable sprinkler is typically found on golf courses or other huge locations of turf where both huge volume as well as accuracy in watering is needed. Their gear-driven motion typically has several circulation controls that let you readjust the range the water is sprayed, as well as the angle as well as pressure of the spray.
Hose-end spray nozzles
These basic devices are a best seller. Inexpensive as well as versatile, they can be constructed from plastic or brass, and are commonly controlled by a handle that transforms the water on and off. The volume and pattern of spray is regulated by either turning the nozzle or via a dial attached to the nozzle.
Impact lawn sprinkler
With an influence (in some cases called impulse or pulsating) sprinkler, the splashing nozzle is rotated by the pressure of the water from the hose. Made in both plastic as well as brass; the brass effect sprinkler is more pricey however much more long lasting. Some models are affixed to the ground through a spike, others rise to end up being a tripod sprinkler
Control collars restrict the traveling of the head, and also a rocking arm repetitively inserts itself into the stream of water to both drive the head and also create an extra spray stream. The pulsating lawn sprinkler was designed in 1933 as well as marketed under the Rain Bird trademark name.
In-ground water lawn sprinkler
In-ground water as well as garden automatic sprinkler use a collection of sprinkler heads installed at dealt with places in the yard. When correctly preserved, in-ground systems give total as well as reliable coverage. The most common kind is built of a network of interconnected PVC pipelines mounted in trenches dug in the lawn. There are many different kinds of sprinkler heads to serve numerous demands. Some spray 360 levels, some simply 180 or 90 levels for sides as well as edges. Some heads appear and afterwards recede to ground degree. Preferably, your in-ground sprinkler system need to be made with “hydrozone separation” in mind. That is the concept of grouping plants with each other that have the exact same water intake practices. Your yard would certainly get on one area, your parched decorative plants on a 2nd and drought-resistant plants on a third. That way you can adjust your spray time as well as pattern to make sure that all the plants in the area more than happy.
Oscillating lawn sprinkler
At its simplest, the oscillating lawn sprinkler has a steel or plastic bar with openings pierced in it. Water appears the holes as bench rocks backward and forward as well as sprinkles the lawn with a mild spray. You control the size of the area at the resource, by readjusting the water volume at the tap. Great for reasonably small, rectangular lawns.
More-advanced designs such as the turbo oscillating lawn sprinkler allow greater control of the watering pattern as well as spray volume.
Traveling sprinkler.
As its name suggests, traveling sprinklers have wheels that let them move with the lawn, dragging the pipe behind them. Outstanding for irregularly shaped grass.
Other irrigation tools to consider
Circulation control meter
This gadget is installed between the tap and your hose pipe, as well as keep an eye on the quantity of water that undergoes. Some include an automatic shutoff control that stops wasteful overwatering.
Automatic timer
An automatic timer shuts off the water at a marked time. Some versions are hose-end, others are constructed right into in-ground lawn sprinkler to manage the timing of each section of the irrigation system.
Smart irrigation controller
Your phone is now wise. Watches, thermostats and doors, as well. So it’s not a surprise that lawn sprinkler controllers have climbed onto the smart bandwagon. Rather than relying upon a repaired timer, they make use of either Wi-fi or GSM cellular connection to get plant information as well as weather forecasts.
A smart controller will certainly sprinkle lawn according to environmental conditions such as evapotranspiration (water consumed by lawn) price and amount of soil moisture. Furthermore, make certain the system includes a shut-off button that cuts off the sprinklers while it’s raining.
To maintain them functioning effectively, automatic irrigation systems ought to be checked and investigated every a couple of years by a professional to guarantee it’s functioning properly as well as supplying the correct amount of water to your grass.
Basic Yard Treatment Makes Watering Easier
Good yard treatment techniques generate a healthy and balanced lawn which requires less water, and also retains what you give it.
Appropriate mowing height: Maintaining lawn to the appropriate mowing elevation for your grass types will certainly advertise deep origins and drought-resistant lawns. Taller lawn also helps reduce evaporation. Furthermore, recently reduced grass blades shed water quickly.
Leave the clippings: To assist preserve moisture in your lawn, do not get rid of yard trimmings after trimming the lawn. These act as a natural mulch that serves two purposes. Initially, mulch is a natural plant food, returning valuable nutrients to the turf. Second, throughout the period it considers the turf trimmings to break down and return to the soil, it will certainly serve as an obstacle that slows dissipation, avoiding the origins from drying also quick.
Feed when asked for: Also, as part of your yard care routine, effectively fertilizing grass can promote deep roots as well as drought tolerance.
Grass ranges will vary in their fertilizer needs, but as a whole:
Cool-season lawns: Fertilize at least two times, in spring and also loss.
Warm-season lawns: Fertilize every 4-8 weeks during the energetic midyear expanding period.
Nonetheless, do not use plant food when the yard is completely dry since it will additionally draw dampness from the grass.
Freshen: To assist lawns take a breath as well as drink in water as well as nutrients, freshen it– get rid of cores of dirt– on a regular basis every year. For cool-season grasses, the most effective time to freshen remains in the loss or springtime. For warm-season yards, the best time is in early summertime.
If essential, dethatch: Over time, your yard will certainly collect little bits and items of lawn as well as leaf particles into an interwoven mass called thatch, which can build up on your grass. A particular amount of thatch is both unpreventable and also helpful for lawns. It provides a questionable room for helpful pests, holds wetness and also is the place where trimmings and also various other organic material break down and return important nutrients to the dirt.
Nonetheless, if it gathers and also does not appear to be breaking down, it can create an obstacle, protecting against water and air from getting to the origin system. When that happens, it should be gotten rid of to help advertise a healthy and balanced lawn.
When doing so, Nashville Landscaping recommends limiting thatch removal to very early springtime or fall. If you power rake lawns in late spring or summer, they will need too much irrigation to remain alive.
Appropriately watering grass is among the important parts in keeping a healthy and balanced lawn. By executing a good watering as well as yard treatment routine, you’ll have a beautiful grass you can appreciate year-round.
nashville-landscaper.blogspot.com/2020/06/nashville-lands...
Seasoned fighters understand that an effective strike requires more than simply learning to punch. To master the strike, a fighter’s body must be conditioned to use proper body mechanics in every movement, from the pinky to the shoulders. Stroops’ Knockout Punch was designed to apply resistance to specific points on the fighter’s body, which trains him to adapt proper body mechanics and strike form.
The difference between the Cobra and the Knockout Punch is power vs quickness. If you’re looking to deliver the Knockout blow to your opponent, the applied variable resistance of the Knockout Punch exerts tremendous pull on every muscle used in striking. The Knockout Punch enables the athlete to recognize and feel how the muscles work properly together for a more powerful blow. stroo.ps/knockout
Red/Cyan 3D glasses required for viewing.
Ballroom Dancer, Singer, Actor, Performer.
Made my night when I got to help her off stage TWICE! : )
BRIEF:
The plot for this design was a mid-size family garden, which had recently benefited from the addition of a large sunroom on the back of the property. It was a fairly blank canvas, with nothing of note to be retained in the re-design. The garden had side access and worn boundary fences which required replacing. There was no clear brief other than that the design include a seating area and some lawn, and that the transition from sunroom to garden be fairly seamless
SOLUTION:
The focus of this design was to create an exterior space that serves as an extension to the interior, featuring several distinct and versatile areas that can be adapted to a variety of uses.
The garden's boundaries were replaced with new fencing to provide a uniform and attractive backdrop to the transformation within, while the long sideway down the right of the house was renovated with the addition of attractive 'bamboo' slate tile flooring in a random lay pattern.
The first section of the space comprises a large area of Western Red Cedar decking adjoining the house, and offers ample room for entertaining, with a long L-shaped fixed-bench seat stretching width-ways across the space from the left-hand side to the centre. This was backed with a rendered block raised bed, planted with fragrant lavender and capped with 'bamboo' slate tile, to provide a sense of enclosure and separation from the rest of the garden.
A decked walkway running down the right hand side of the space provides access to a 'spa' area, featuring a large square hot tub housed upon a reinforced paved hard-standing and nestled between existing and additional trees, shrubs and foliage to provide a secluded and intimate area for bathing throughout the seasons. Hidden behind mature and new planting in the bottom left corner, a large shed provides ample storage for the client's garden accessories. The middle of the space has been given over to a large lawn edges with slate.
A purple and yellow planting scheme of soft, cottage-style evergreen shrubs and flowering perennials will help to bring year round lightness and subtle colouring to the space.
After-dark hot tub bathing is enhanced by several strings of pea-lights woven through the existing shrubbery. Deck lights demark the main area of decking and guide one's journey along the decked walkway. Finally, spot lights in the beds highlight certain area while providing a gentle wash throughout the space.
TESTIMONIAL:
"After months of planning and a full year of having builders everywhere, we had finally got the house into good shape but the garden was a nightmare. It had been somewhat overgrown before the builders moved in, but after a year of being used as a builders yard, it needed shock treatment.
We needed help fast so we searched the web. We were looking for garden designers with creative ideas for smaller London gardens. We didn't want anything too traditional but at the same time, nothing too extreme.
Earth Designs fitted the bill and after a design session with Katrina, we engaged them for the project. They had offered us a design service only, but as we only had a 4 week window in which to complete the job, we gave them the whole project.
We had built a new extension with wide glass doors that opened out into the garden, so the brief to Earth Designs was to "bring the outside, inside" and create a strong link between the new room and the garden beyond. The actual garden space was not large so we wanted to use the space as an extension of the living space - to be an "outside room".
Monday 18th April and three very charming men arrived on our doorstep at 8.0am sharp. Arlo was the project manager, ably aided and abetted by Paul and Phillip. They worked brilliantly as a team and always hit all the deadlines. In particular they did a great job in working with our neighbours to ensure the whole project ran smoothly.
The first week involved clearing the site - no mean feat with 30-year-old ivy stems that looked more like tree trunks.
The second week involved levelling the garden, putting up new fencing, building the corner seating base and planters, plus marking out the garden shape. It was good to be able to make minor changes to the design on the ground at this stage. The hot tub arrived too and was winched into place for connection later.
Week 3 saw the decking and seating built.
Then in week four the turf arrived, the lawn went down and on the last day, Katrina arrived with a truckload of wonderful specimens (and Matt) and we had a wonderful time planting. Ground Force Mk II - a complete garden from start to finish in just 4 weeks!
There were a few things that needed to be sorted out after the main work was complete. Earth Designs were great about coming back until all was complete and finished.
Our thanks to Katrina, Matt, Arlo, Paul and Phillip for a great job, completed on time and on budget with a great looking result."
Earth Designs is a bespoke garden landscape design and build company specialising in classic, funky and urban contemporary garden design.
Our build teams cover London, Essex and parts of South East England, while garden designs are available nationwide.
Please visit www.earthdesigns.co.uk to see our full portfolio.
Follow our Bespoke Garden Design and Build and Blog to see what we get up to week by week, our free design clinic as well as tips and products we recommend for your garden projects www.earthdesigns.co.uk/blog/.
Earth Designs is located in East London, but has built gardens in Essex, Hertfordshire and all over the South East. Earth Designs was formed by Katrina Wells in Spring 2003 and has since gone from strength to strength to develop a considerable portfolio of garden projects. Katrina, who is our Senior Garden Designer, has travelled all over the UK designing gardens. However we can design worldwide either through our postal garden design service or by consultation with our senior garden designer. Recent worldwide projects have included garden designs in Romania. Katrina’s husband. Matt, heads up the build side of the company, creating a unique service for all our clients.
If you a not a UK resident, but would like an Earth Designs garden, Earth Designs has a worldwide design service through our Postal Design Vouchers. f you would like to buy one of our Garden Design Gift Vouchers for yourself or as a present please our sister site www.gardenpresents.co.uk. We do also design outside of the UK, please contact us for details.
Sacher cake
180 years is the Sachertorte old. It belongs so inextricably to Vienna as St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Vienna Boys' Choir. The chocolate cake with apricot jam and chocolate icing is probably the most famous cake in the world and in Austria a national institution. The secret of its pleasant taste lies in the simplicity of its composition and the perfect proportions of its ingredients. The original recipe by the Hotel Sacher is kept like a state secret. Currently, every year are produced around 300,000 original Sacher cakes by the Hotel Sacher. And because this is partly performed by hand, for this 21 pastry chefs and 25 packers are required. According to Adam Riese, representing about 40 pies per day and confectioner. The consumption of apricot jam alone lies by 70 tons per year.
The history of the Sacher Torte began in 1832 when Prince Metternich for the wedding of a friend of his, a painter, ordered his court kitchen to create a special dessert for his celebrity guests. "But that he did not bring shame on me, tonight!" the prince is supposed to have said to his head cook. Because this one but became ill (some sources say that he had shirked his responsibility), the last person in charge remained the 16-year-old pastry apprentice Franz Sacher (1816-1907).
So Franz Sacher invented the forerunner of future Sachertorte. Both the prince and his guests were wowed by the result. As trained cook, Franz Sacher after a few years of professional experience made himself independent and worked for the time being in Bratislava and then for a time on Danube ships between Vienna and Budapest. In 1848, he returned to Vienna and opened here a deli. Soon the chocolate cake of Franz Sacher became a bestseller.
Really famous became the Sachertorte only by Sacher's son Eduard Sacher (1843-1892) who during his training at the kuk Court Sugar Bakery Demel completed the indivual preparation of the pie in the form as we known it today. The Sachertorte was initially offered as an Original Sacher-Torte at Demel and later also in the by Eduard Sacher in the year 1876 founded Hotel. Decisive for the success of the hotel was Anna Sacher (1859-1930), the widow of Eduard Sacher, an energetic woman who not only smoked cigars but also knew how to inspire Vienna's "High Society" for herself and her hotel.
After the death of Anna Sacher and the bankruptcy of the hotel in 1934, the latter was sold and Eduard's son bearer of the same forename remained only the recipe of the Original Sacher-Torte, which he transferred to the Patisserie Demel.
Sachertorte
1938 saw the first disagreement with the new owners of the hotel who introduced the street sale of Sacher-Torte and had registered the designation of "Original Sacher-Torte" as a trademark. Thereupon, flared up between the pastry shop Demel and the Hotel Sacher a dispute over the right to the name.
In the decades ongoing lawsuits, also the authenticity of the individual preparation was a central point, namely the question whether the mandatory layer of apricot jam only should be spread under the chocolate icing (standpoint of Patisserie Demel) or if there had to be a second one in the middle of the cake (point of view of Hotel Sacher), and whether margarine should be mixed.
The famous journalist and writer Friedrich Torberg, who was a regular guest both in Demel as well at the Hotel Sacher, testified in court that the Sachertorte during the lifetime of Anna Sacher certainly not had a jam layer in the middle.
The legal wrangling extended through all instances. In 1963, finally, an agreement was reached out of court, as the Supreme Court Solomon-like differentiated between "real" and "original-cake": The Sacher Torte of Hotel Sacher from then on is allowed to display a round seal with the label "Original Sacher-Torte" while Demel a triangular seal "Eduard-Sacher-Torte" shows. Both Sacher cakes differ mainly by their jam layers. The Hotel Sacher-variant has two jam layers below the chocolate coating and in the center of the pie while the Demel version has only a jam layer below the chocolate coating.
Preparation
But Viennese people can be very rebellious when the authority wants to dictate them something. They have taken sides and vote with their feet by going to "Demel". Their Sacher-Torte is already referred to as the "real Sacher-Torte" in the vernacular.
The individual preparation of the "Original Sacher-Torte" is held by Hotel Sacher strictly under wraps. All the hotel's pastry chefs have signed that they do not pass on the recipe and are also not entitled to use it further on if they were to leave the company once. They assume liability. The products which are used to prepare the cake are created exclusively for the Hotel Sacher. The secret of the Sachertorte is not so much stuck in the ingredients but in the chocolate glaze, consisting of three special types of chocolate which are produced by various manufacturers especially for the Hotel Sacher, the exact mixing ratio being known only by Sacher-confectioners.
The fact that this recipe for success has found imitators, was to be expected. Everywhere in the world, is a chocolate cake that has been coated with one or more layers of apricot jam and covered with chocolate, called "Sachertorte". In Austria, but the lawmakers are more accurate. The term "Original Sacher-Torte" is a registered trademark that may be used exclusively by the Vienna Hotel Sacher. The term "Sachertorte" alone, but has now become a generic term which may be used for products which are produced according to the laid down in the Austrian Food Codex specifications.
Sachertorte
180 Jahre ist die Sachertorte alt. Sie gehört so untrennbar zu Wien wie der Stephansdom und die Wiener Sängerknaben. Die Schokoladentorte mit Marillenmarmelade und Schokoladenglasur ist vermutlich die berühm-tes-te Torte der Welt und in Österreich eine nationale Institution. Das Ge-heimnis ihres Wohlgeschmacks liegt in der Einfachheit ihrer Komposition und den perfekten Verhältnissen ihrer Zu-ta-ten. Das Originalrezept wird vom Hotel Sacher streng geheim gehalten. Zurzeit werden vom Hotel Sacher jedes Jahr etwa 300.000 Original-Sachertorten hergestellt. Und weil dies teilweise in Handarbeit ge-schieht, werden dafür 21 Konditoren und 25 Verpacker benötigt. Laut Adam Riese entspricht dies etwa 40 Torten pro Tag und Konditor. Allein der Verbrauch an Marillenmarmelade liegt bei 70 Tonnen pro Jahr.
Die Geschichte der Sachertorte begann im Jahr 1832, als Fürst Metternich zur Hochzeit eines befreundeten Malers seine Hofküche beauftragte, für seine prominenten Gäste ein besonderes Dessert zu erschaffen. "Dass er mir aber keine Schand’ macht, heut Abend!" soll der Fürst zu seinem Chefkoch gesagt haben. Weil dieser aber krank wurde (manche Quellen behaupten, er habe sich vor der Verantwortung gedrückt), blieb die Aufgabe am 16-jährigen Kon-ditorlehrling Franz Sacher (1816–1907) hängen.
Foto von David Monniaux (GNU-Lizenz für freie Dokumentation)
So erfand Franz Sacher die Vorläuferin der zukünftigen Sachertorte. Sowohl der Fürst als auch seine Gäste waren vom Ergebnis hingerissen. Als aus-ge-lern-ter Koch machte sich Franz Sacher nach einigen Jahren Berufserfahrung selb-ständig und arbeitete zu-nächst in Pressburg und dann eine Zeit lang auf Do-nau-schiffen zwischen Wien und Budapest. 1848 kehrte er zurück nach Wien und eröffnete hier einen Feinkostladen. Bald wurde die Schokoladetorte des Franz Sacher ein Verkaufsschlager.
Wirklich bekannt wurde die Sachertorte erst durch Sachers Sohn Eduard Sacher (1843–1892), der während seiner Ausbildung beim k.u.k. Hof-zu-cker-bäcker Demel die Rezeptur der Torte in ihrer heute bekannten Form vollendete. Die Sachertorte wurde zunächst als Original Sacher-Torte beim Demel und erst später auch im von Eduard 1876 gegründeten Hotel Sacher angeboten. Entscheidend für den Erfolg des Hotels war Anna Sacher (1859-1930), die Witwe von Eduard Sacher, eine energische Frau, die nicht nur Zigarre rauchte, sondern auch Wiens "High Society" für sich und ihr Hotel zu begeistern wusste.
Nach dem Tod von Anna Sacher und dem Kon-kurs des Hotels im Jahr 1934, wurde letzteres verkauft und Eduards gleich-na-mi-gem Sohn blieb nur noch das Rezept der Original Sacher-Torte, das er der Konditorei Demel übertrug.
Sachertorte
Auf den Pfeil in der Mitte klicken
1938 kam es zu ersten Meinungsverschiedenheiten mit den neuen Besitzern des Hotels, die den Straßenverkauf der Sacher-Torte einführten und die Be-zeich-nung "Original Sacher-Torte" als Markenzeichen eintragen ließen. Da-rauf-hin entbrannte zwischen der Konditorei Demel und dem Hotel Sacher ein Streit um das Recht auf diesen Namen.
In den jahrzehntelang anhaltenden Prozessen ging es auch um die Echtheit der Rezeptur, nämlich darum, ob die obligatorische Schicht Marillen-Mar-me-la-de nur unter die Schokoladenglasur (Standpunkt der Konditorei Demel) ge-hö-re, oder ob es eine zweite in der Mitte der Torte (Standpunkt des Hotel Sa-cher) geben müsse, und ob Margarine beigemischt werden dürfe.
Der berühmte Journalist und Schriftsteller Friedrich Torberg, der sowohl im Demel als auch im Hotel Sacher Stammgast war, bezeugte vor Gericht, dass zu Anna Sachers Lebzeiten die Sacher-Tor-te keinesfalls eine Marme-la-den-schicht in der Mitter gehabt habe.
Die gerichtlichen Auseinandersetzungen erstreckten sich durch alle Instanzen. 1963 einigte man sich schließlich außergerichtlich, als das oberste Gericht sa-lo-monisch zwischen "echter" und "Original"-Torte differenzierte: Die Sa-cher-tor-te vom Hotel Sacher [] darf von da an ein rundes Siegel mit der Auf-schrift "Original Sacher-Torte" führen, während der Demel [] ein dreieckiges Siegel mit der Aufschrift "Eduard-Sa-cher-Torte" führt. Die beiden Sachertorten unterscheiden sich vor allem durch ihre Marmeladenschichten. Die Hotel-Sa-cher-Variante weist zwei Mar-me-la-den-schich-ten auf, unterhalb der Kuvertüre und in der Mitte der Torte, während die Demel-Version nur eine Marme-la-den-schicht unterhalb der Kuvertüre aufweist.
Zubereitung
Auf den Pfeil in der Mitte klicken
Aber die Wiener können sehr widerspenstig sein, wenn die Obrigkeit ihnen etwas vorschreiben will. Sie haben Partei ergriffen und stimmen mit den Fü-ßen ab, indem sie zum "Demel" gehen. Deren Sacher-Torte wird im Volks-mund längst als die "Echte Sacher-Torte" bezeichnet.
Die Rezeptur der "Original Sacher-Torte" wird vom Hotel Sacher streng unter Verschluss gehalten. Alle Konditoren des Hotels haben unterschrieben, dass sie das Rezept nicht weitergeben und auch nicht weiter verwenden dürfen, falls sie den Betrieb einmal verlassen sollten. Sie haften dafür. Die Produkte, die zur Herstellung der Torte verwendet werden, werden exklusiv für das Hotel Sacher erstellt. Das Geheimnis der Sachertorte soll nicht so sehr in den Zutaten stecken, sondern in der Schokoladenglasur, die aus drei besonderen Schokoladensorten bestehen, die von unterschiedlichen Herstellern extra für das Hotel Sacher produziert werden, wobei das genaue Mischverhältnis nur den Sacher-Konditoren bekannt ist.
Dass dieses Erfolgsrezept Nachahmer gefunden hat, war zu erwarten. Überall auf der Welt wird eine Schokoladetorte, die in einer oder mehre-ren Schichten mit Marillen-Mar-me-la-de bestrichen und mit Schoko-la-de über-zo-gen worden ist, "Sachertorte" genannt. In Österreich nimmt es der Gesetz-ge-ber aber ge-nau-er. Die Bezeichnung "Ori-gi-nal Sacher-Torte" ist ein ge-schütztes Marken-zei-chen, das ausschließlich vom Wiener Hotel Sacher ver-wen-det werden darf. Der Begriff "Sachertorte" allein, ist ber mittlerweile ein Gattungsbegriff ge-worden, der für Produkte verwendet werden darf, die nach den im Öster-rei-chi-schen Lebensmittelkodex festgehaltenen Angaben hergestellt werden.
Photo enhancement by Emily Paiva. Please credit Emily Paiva and the Jonestown Institute if you utilize for personal use. If using for publication or broadcast, permission from California Historical Society is required.
This is One Love, a tiki cocktail created by Shannon Mustipher. She created this cocktail for an event where the cocktail required the use of vodka. Since vodka is defined by an absence of flavor, she turned to the technique called "fat-washing". This is the process where a fat or oil is added to a spirit and then steeped to add flavor. The mixture is placed into the freezer where the fat will solidify, but the high proof spirit will not. The fat is strained off, leaving the spirit infused with flavors from the fat. For this drink, Mustipher uses unrefined coconut oil for a distinct tropical vibe. This is paired with crème de cacao which go together beautifully. Pineapple juice is added, which when shaken froths up to give is a silky texture. The rest of drink is balanced with lime juice and honey syrup. It's like a piña colada, but without being heavy on the palate and a lot more depth.
2 oz coconut-oil washed vodka (see note)
0.5 oz crème de cacao
0.75 oz honey syrup (see note)
0.5 oz pineapple juice
0.75 fresh lime juice
Combine all of the ingredients into a shaker tin with a small scoop of crushed or pebble ice. Whip-shake until the ice is mostly melted. Pour unstrained into a chilled tiki mug or collins glass. Top with crushed or pebble ice. Garnish with pineapple fronds and pineapple wedge (if you have it).
Note: I confess that I actually made this with fat-washed rum, but the process is much the same. To fat wash:
Gently melt 9 oz of unrefined coconut-oil (don't use refined, it's flavorless). Combine the coconut-oil with one 750 ml bottle of vodka. Shake it up and let it steep for about 6 hours. Put into the freezer overnight. Remove it from the freezer and try to scoop out as much solidified oil as possible with a slotted spoon. Strain through a cheesecloth and squeeze manually into a large bowl or a jar with a funnel. Filter it through a coffee filter if not fully clear. Return it to its original bottle and label it.
To make honey syrup: combine honey and boiling water by weight at a ratio of 5:2, usually 150 grams and 60 grams. Stir until completely dissolved. Store in the refrigerator.
© Chase Hoffman Photography. All rights reserved.
Take a look at the original size to get the impact of the shot. Honapu, Kauai, on the Na Pali coast. A silly Japanese commercial for drinking water. The key grip from LA had an alcoholic seizure at the base of this cliff. It took over two hours to airlift him out because we didn't have a radio, or a helicopter. We also had no medic. We signalled passing tour choppers with mirror boards and SOS signs made with 2 x 4's. Kauai Fire/Rescue didn't understand we needed an airlift; it took a second call to them to send a chopper. He had another seizure on the way in. After that we had a chopper and pilot on the ground, standing by. The pilot had a grin that wouldn't stop. $400 or so an hour, to read a newspaper all day, for four days.
Most Filipino teachers were required to take up Nippongo course in the Normal Institute.
(Photo and text from The Sunday Times Magazine dated April 9, 1967. This was the first issue of three issues on World War II in the Philippines, its glory and despair, its anxiety and agony; the soul-shaking excitement of events from Bataan, 1942 to the Battle of Manila, 1945.)
Fortunately, my trip to Australia didn't require a long haul flight with Qantas!
As I'm sure these pages will come to betray, I'm a reasonably regular cinemagoer. I've seen the critics absolutely pan this film but given that we're talking Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and Baz Luhrman (any one of which would have persuaded me to go and see it) all together, I had to give it a whirl.
Fortunately it was Baz 1 - Critics 0. Yes, there was a lot wrong with it, but there was a lot right with it too. Luhrman's trademark campness was reined in a bit, but only a bit. ;) In particular I loved the music, which drew on a huge range of influences. I was astonished to hear him finish the film with Elgar's Nimrod, but the man knows music and he got it right.
I think a lot of the problem is that for some reason this film had lots of 'high brow' cultural expectations when it's really a very mainstream Western romance. The Australian tourism board has thrown a lot of money behind materials, one example of which was this postcard which I picked up in the foyer. I thought it would make a nice shot to document the day, so here it is :)
'You are required to create the design for a newspaper. The publication is dedicated to Art & Design and your newspaper should exhibit the qualities of an ‘up-market’ broadsheet publication.'
The title 411 was set to perform as a simple and effective masthead, informing people that the publication is concerned with the ‘411’ of art and design.
Smaller article’s were considered to lead the reader comfortably across sections of the broadsheet and into further content.
Earth Designs Garden Design and Build were asked to created a landscape and propose garden design in Acton, London*. Here are the details of the project
Brief: The plot for this design was a mid-size family garden, which had recently benefited from the addition of a large sunroom on the back of the property. It was a fairly blank canvas, with nothing of note to be retained in the re-design. The garden had side access and worn boundary fences which required replacing. There was no clear brief other than that the design include a seating area and some lawn, and that the transition from sunroom to garden be fairly seamless.
Solution: The focus of this design was to create an exterior space that serves as an extension to the interior, featuring several distinct and versatile areas that can be adapted to a variety of uses.
The garden's boundaries were replaced with new fencing to provide a uniform and attractive backdrop to the transformation within, while the long sideway down the right of the house was renovated with the addition of attractive 'bamboo' slate tile flooring in a random lay pattern.
The first section of the space comprises a large area of Western Red Cedar decking adjoining the house, and offers ample room for entertaining, with a long L-shaped fixed-bench seat stretching width-ways across the space from the left-hand side to the centre. This was backed with a rendered block raised bed, planted with fragrant lavender and capped with 'bamboo' slate tile, to provide a sense of enclosure and separation from the rest of the garden.
A decked walkway running down the right hand side of the space provides access to a 'spa' area, featuring a large square hot tub housed upon a reinforced paved hard-standing and nestled between existing and additional trees, shrubs and foliage to provide a secluded and intimate area for bathing throughout the seasons. Hidden behind mature and new planting in the bottom left corner, a large shed provides ample storage for the client's garden accessories. The middle of the space has been given over to a large lawn edges with slate.
A purple and yellow planting scheme of soft, cottage-style evergreen shrubs and flowering perennials will help to bring year round lightness and subtle colouring to the space.
After-dark hot tub bathing is enhanced by several strings of pea-lights woven through the existing shrubbery. Deck lights demark the main area of decking and guide one's journey along the decked walkway. Finally, spot lights in the beds highlight certain area while providing a gentle wash throughout the space.
Testimonial: "After months of planning and a full year of having builders everywhere, we had finally got the house into good shape but the garden was a nightmare. It had been somewhat overgrown before the builders moved in, but after a year of being used as a builders yard, it needed shock treatment.
We needed help fast so we searched the web. We were looking for garden designers with creative ideas for smaller London gardens. We didn't want anything too traditional but at the same time, nothing too extreme.
Earth Designs fitted the bill and after a design session with Katrina, we engaged them for the project. They had offered us a design service only, but as we only had a 4 week window in which to complete the job, we gave them the whole project.
We had built a new extension with wide glass doors that opened out into the garden, so the brief to Earth Designs was to "bring the outside, inside" and create a strong link between the new room and the garden beyond. The actual garden space was not large so we wanted to use the space as an extension of the living space - to be an "outside room".
Monday 18th April and three very charming men arrived on our doorstep at 8.0am sharp. Arlo was the project manager, ably aided and abetted by Paul and Phillip. They worked brilliantly as a team and always hit all the deadlines. In particular they did a great job in working with our neighbours to ensure the whole project ran smoothly.
The first week involved clearing the site - no mean feat with 30-year-old ivy stems that looked more like tree trunks.
The second week involved levelling the garden, putting up new fencing, building the corner seating base and planters, plus marking out the garden shape. It was good to be able to make minor changes to the design on the ground at this stage. The hot tub arrived too and was winched into place for connection later.
Week 3 saw the decking and seating built.
Then in week four the turf arrived, the lawn went down and on the last day, Katrina arrived with a truckload of wonderful specimens (and Matt) and we had a wonderful time planting. Ground Force Mk II - a complete garden from start to finish in just 4 weeks!
There were a few things that needed to be sorted out after the main work was complete. Earth Designs were great about coming back until all was complete and finished.
Our thanks to Katrina, Matt, Arlo, Paul and Phillip for a great job, completed on time and on budget with a great looking result."
If you dig this and would like to find out more about this or any of other of our designs, please stop by our web-site and have a look at our work.
Earth Designs is a bespoke London Garden Design and build company specialising in classic, funky and urban contemporary garden design.
Our Landscape and Garden build teams cover London, Essex and parts of South East England, while garden designs are available nationwide.
Please visit www.earthdesigns.co.uk to see our full portfolio. If you would like a garden designer in London or have an idea of what you want and are looking for a landscaper London to come and visit your garden, please get in touch.
Follow our Bespoke Garden Design and Build and Blog to see what we get up to week by week, our free design clinic as well as tips and products we recommend for your garden projects www.earthdesigns.co.uk/blog/.
Earth Designs is located in East London, but has built gardens in Essex , gardens in Hertfordshire Hertfordshire and all over the South East. Earth Designs was formed by Katrina Wells in Spring 2003 and has since gone from strength to strength to develop a considerable portfolio of garden projects. Katrina, who is our Senior Garden Designer, has travelled all over the UK designing gardens. However we can design worldwide either through our postal garden design service or by consultation with our senior garden designer. Recent worldwide projects have included garden designs in Romania. Katrina’s husband. Matt, heads up the build side of the company, creating a unique service for all our clients.
If you a not a UK resident, but would like an Earth Designs garden, Earth Designs has a worldwide design service through our Garden Design Postal Design Vouchers. If you are looking for an unique birthday present or original anniversary present and would like to buy one of our Garden Design Gift Vouchers for yourself or as a present please our sister site www.gardenpresents.co.uk. We do also design outside of the UK, please contact us for details.
Samson on a ride in the GTI.
Sampson has been our buddy since 2004. In the winter of 2008, he suffered a severe perineal hernia that required a $2000 surgery to repair it. At the time of the surgery, we were told that due to the severity of the hernia that it was likely to reoccur. As predicted, it has reoccurred and he desperately needs more surgery before 2012. Other than the hernia, he is a happy, healthy and active dog who should live to his mid to late teens. Therefore, I cannot in good conscience end his life prematurely. I have also contacted a Corgi rescue in hopes that he could be adopted to a family that is more financially able to care for him. However, since my husband and I can't have children, giving him up for adoption because of health issues seems as ridiculous to us as giving up our 9 year old child for adoption because we can't keep up with the medical expenses. We work in the service industry, living paycheck to paycheck and our credit is not good enough to get a care credit card that would allow us to make payments. To help us pay for Sampson's surgery, we have set up a ChipIn donation site to raise funds for Sampson's surgery. So please consider donating whatever small amount you can to help keep Sampson with the family that loves him. If you can't make a donation, please pass this info along to friends who may be able to help. Sampson, his Corgi buddies Shiloh & Rusty and his human family thank you! Click on the link below to go to Sampson's ChipIn.com page to make your donation. THANK YOU!!
corgisampson.chipin.com/sampson-the-corgis-hernia-surgery...
11.11.11 Update: A big thank you to all you wonderful flickr friends! We've received several generous donations from flickr members pushing us over the 13% mark of our goal. Since I've been promoting Sampson's photos, I've found several of them used on websites & blogs. I hold a creative commons license because I'm not a professional photographer and if people like my photos and want to use them, I don't want them to be limited by an exorbitant fee. However, I have a pup in trouble and he needs your help, so, if you like my Corgi photos or save them as favorites, please donate $1; if you use any of my Corgi or animal photos on your website or blog, please donate $5 to: corgisampson.chipin.com/sampson-the-corgis-hernia-surgery...
It's a small price to pay compared to a pro's fee, and it helps a much loved dog in need. Again, we appreciate all efforts & donations, and Sampson & the Corgi Clan thank you!
The Peebles Railway was a railway company that built a line connecting the town of Peebles in Peeblesshire, Scotland, with Edinburgh. It opened on 4 July 1855, and it worked its own trains.
The friendly North British Railway later promoted a line, at first identified as the Galashiels, Innerleithen and Peebles Railway, from Peebles to Galashiels, making a connection with the Peebles Railway there, and also with the Caledonian Railway which had its own line at Peebles. The GI&PR line was built by the North British Railway and opened on 1 October 1864.
In 1860 the Peebles Railway company leased its line to the North British Railway, which operated the Galashiels and Edinburgh sections as a continuous through route.
Road transport of goods and passengers provided fierce competition in the 1950s and the line closed in 1962. No railway use is now made of the former lines.
History
Before the Peebles railway
In the eighteenth century Peebles had become an important manufacturing town, chiefly for woollen weaving and also the preparation of cotton and linen products, and also brewing. Its location on the banks of the Upper River Tweed put it on the communication routes of the area, constrained by the hills north and south surrounding Windlestraw Law and Dollar Law respectively.
When the turnpikes were introduced, Peebles was within five hours of Edinburgh by post-chaise. In 1807 Thomas Telford was commissioned to design a double-track waggonway connecting Glasgow and Berwick, a distance of 125 miles (201 km), running through Carluke, Peebles and Melrose. The waggonway would have been horse-operated, and was intended to form an outlet for iron products and lime to the borders area, and agricultural products, in particular grain, to the industrial towns of central Scotland.
The mountainous terrain of the route would have required steep gradients which would have been challenging for horse traction, and the estimated cost of construction was £365,000, a huge amount at that time, and the scheme was dropped.
A second waggonway scheme was proposed in 1821, this time designed by Robert Stevenson, on an alternative route but it too was considered too ambitious to be practicable.
In 1838 the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament. Although local railways had been operating in Scotland, this was a major advance, connecting the two great cities. As the construction progressed, public opinion became active over making a connection between central Scotland and the merging English railway network. The controversy became very heated, and a great number of schemes were put forward, including some that would run through Peebles. Not all of the schemes were realistic, and in time they reduced to what became the North British Railway line between Edinburgh and Berwick, the Caledonian Railway between Edinburgh and Glasgow and Carlisle through the valley of the River Annan, and what became the Glasgow and South Western Railway via Kilmarnock and Dumfries. These great companies were all authorised by Parliament in the middle years of the 1840s.
The Caledonian Railway proposed the Caledonian Extension Railway in 1845, to run eastward from the Lanark area through Biggar and Stobo to Peebles, continuing through Galashiels to Kelso; this would have cost £1,500,000, the same as the Caledonian Railway itself from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Carlisle. However the proposal was rejected in Parliament.
In 1845 too, the North British Railway suggested a Peebles branch from Galashiels on the line that it was then building, which became the Waverley Route. The townspeople of Peebles did not think an eastward line to Galashiels was their highest priority. Supporters of an independent railway to Edinburgh had also been active, and on 23 June 1845 a meeting was held in Edinburgh. It was told that a line had been designed leaving the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway near the later Niddrie station.
In the 1846 Parliamentary session, the Edinburgh and Peebles Bill failed standing orders, and the North British Peebles branch was withdrawn by its proposers: neither line would proceed.
The Peebles Railway
As the Scottish railway network developed in the following years, the cost of transporting goods to and from towns connected to a line fell dramatically; and Peebles, and other towns not connected, felt at a marked disadvantage in the cost of the necessities of living, and in moving its manufactures to markets, and this heightened the feeling that Peebles must have a railway line. John Bathgate was the principal promoter of the Peebles Railway.
In April 1852 a meeting was held, at which a revised version of the failed Edinburgh and Peebles scheme was tabled. The engineer Thomas Bouch was engaged. The line would run through Penicuik and join the Hawick line at Eskbank, near Dalkeith, shortening the length of new construction, and the line could be built for £80,000. There was considerable enthusiasm locally and in London for the line and numerous persons registered for shares, although in the event many of them did not proceed with the commitment they had made. Enthusiasm took hold of the provisional committee too, for they sought tenders for the construction of the line and accepted one.
There remained the issue of actually obtaining the Act of Parliament incorporating the company, but this went through without great difficulty and on 8 July 1853; the Peebles Railway was authorised, with capital of £70,000.
Getting the line ready
The directors put in hand the construction of the line, under Bouch's supervision, and the share subscriptions were coming in satisfactorily. They considered the working of the line, and talked to the North British Railway but found their financial terms unacceptable. They went to some lengths to explore the possibility of getting an independent contractor to work the line, but this proved fruitless, and the company decided to work the line itself. They set about procuring the rolling stock, and planning the workforce, for operating and for track and rolling stock maintenance, that would be required.
On 2 April 1855 the line was ready enough for the steam locomotive Soho to be brought to Peebles, but this seems to have been a demonstration run, for it was not until 29 May that passenger coaches and goods wagons were brought to Peebles.
The line was considered ready for inspection by the Board of Trade Inspecting Officer, and Captain Tyler visited on 28 June. The inspection was thought to have gone well, but the formal approval received from the Board of Trade stipulated working by one engine only, and that sidings were required to shunt goods trains before passenger trains[note 2] were started. The Company had issued printed bye-laws and regulations, but these referred to disciplinary matters and not to operating rules; the Company had two locomotives and appear not to have given thought to signalling arrangements. While considering what was to be done, the Company started operating within the BoT requirements, and on 4 July 1855 the train service started. This apparently involved the construction of a passing loop at Penicuik.
Relations with the contractor for constructing the line appear to have deteriorated in the final months, and after opening it was stated in a General Shareholders' Meeting that there was an outstanding debt of £5,600, but that the Board would not pursue for damages.
The line in operation
Three trains operated in each direction daily, except Sundays. Leaving Edinburgh the Peebles coaches were attached at the rear of an NBR Hawick train, and detached at Eskbank. There the Peebles Railway locomotive coupled to the detached portion and took the train on to Peebles. The physical junction was at Hardengreen. The locomotives ran tender first from Eskbank to Peebles.
The trains were an instant success, carryings being beyond what could have been anticipated, and the first full week brought in receipts of £99, climbing a month later to £166. The stations were Peebles, Eddleston, Leadburn, Penicuik, Roslin and Hawthornden, but at the last minute it was agreed to provide a station at Bonnyrigg, and this was opened a month after the opening of the line itself.
In 1856 the North British Railway operated seven trains each way daily except Sundays, of which four were passenger trains. One of these was a "fast passenger" service leaving Peebles at 08:50 and taking 65 minutes, returning at 16:20 and also taking 65 minutes.
Soon after the opening one of the locomotives, St Ronans, became defective, "because it could not negotiate the curves on the track". Although the Company owned two locomotives and was only allowed to use one at a time, nonetheless it found it necessary to hire in a replacement. The other locomotive was named Tweed. The locomotive fleet was soon augmented but the details are unclear. The carriage stock was also required to be increased, but these acquisitions were straining the capital resources of the company and deferment of payment was practised.
The electric telegraph was installed on the line (and the NBR section), giving Peebles telegraph communication with Edinburgh for the first time, from 1858.
Additional capital
A Parliamentary Act was obtained on 27 June 1857 authorising the issue of an additional £27,000 in shares; improvements and rectification of some deficiencies in the original construction of the line needed attention.
In 1859 it was decided to install turntables at Peebles and Hardengreen Junction, as the tender-first running was said to cause excessive wear on the locomotives and the track. The North British Railway had to install the Hardengreen turntable and this seems to have been delayed, being ready in 1860.
The track had been laid with the cheapest materials at the advice of the engineer Thomas Bouch, and already in 1858 it was giving trouble, being in need of major renewal. The routine maintenance was carried out by platelayers with the assistance of a labourer, each responsible for about two miles of route. In August 1860 all the wooden bridges on the line were tarred and repainted.
Extending the line
The Peebles lines in 1866
The Peebles lines in 1866
For some time the community of Innerleithen had agitated for a railway connection, by the building of an independent line from Peebles. A number of attempts were made to bring this about without success, until in 1860 a line was proposed from Galashiels to Peebles through Innerleithen. Agreement was made for the North British Railway to run the trains. The railway was promoted as the Galashiels, Innerleithen and Peebles Railway (GI&PR). A Parliamentary Bill failed in 1860, but being re-presented the following year as an NBR branch, it gained the Royal Assent on 28 June 1861. The capital authorised was £95,000.
A Caledonian dependency, the Symington, Biggar and Broughton Railway, had been extended to Peebles and the GI&PR line would meet it, as well as the Peebles Railway, there.
The first section, from Peebles to Innerleithen, was opened on 10 October 1864 and the remainder on 18 June 1866. The Peebles Railway terminus at Peebles was unsuitable for the through services contemplated, and after unsuccessful overtures to the Caledonian Railway proposing a joint station, the North British Railway built a new single platform station to serve the Galashiels line and the Peebles Railway trains. It was a modest affair, opening in 1864. The Peebles Railway station continued in use for the time being, renamed Peebles (Old).
The train service now operated from Galashiels to Edinburgh via Peebles, as a through route; there were five trains daily, two on Sundays, with some short workings.
The Caledonian Railway station at Peebles was on the south side of the River Tweed and a connection was to be made crossing the river; the connection with the GI&PR line was intended to be a triangle, allowing through running towards Galashiels and towards Edinburgh.
It is doubtful whether the eastward curve was completed, although the earthworks were formed.[note 6] The NBR wished to prevent the Caledonian gaining access to Galashiels, which the curve would have enabled.
When the line opened throughout, the NBR operated passenger trains through from Edinburgh to Galashiels via Peebles.
Lease to the North British Railway
From about 1858 the Peebles Railway considered sale of its line to the NBR "before major expenditure on the line would be required". The NBR itself was planning to absorb several local railways and negotiations were fruitful. On 14 April 1860 a shareholders' meeting heard the proposed sale, but rejected it. The Company Chairman resigned immediately. A further proposal, to lease the line to the NBR, was tabled the following year, on 1 February 1861, and shareholders voted for it. The terms were generous: the line was profitable but considerable upgrade work was necessary. The NBR agreed to pay for PR shareholders to receive between 5% and 6% dividends, as well as considerable other expenses including purchase of the Peebles Railway rolling stock for £20,000. The Peebles Railway (Lease) Act authorised the move on 11 July 1861.
Connecting lines
The Peebles Railway company determined not to extend its line or make branches, but it co-operated with independent concerns that wished to do so and to make connections with its line. In North British Railway days a similar policy was followed.
The Leadburn, Linton and Dolphinton Railway was authorised by Act of 3 June 1862, to form a junction with the Peebles Railway line at Leadburn. It opened on 4 July 1864. The Dolphinton station was separate from the Caledonian Railway station there, although shunt transfers were possible through a siding connection.
During the construction of the Dolphinton line, there was a collision at the junction at Leadburn on 29 October 1863. A construction train working on the Dolphinton line ran away on a steep gradient to Leadburn. The only protection to the main line was a scotch block at Leadburn, and the runaway vehicles ran over the block and collided head on with an approaching passenger train on the Peebles line; a boy was killed and several persons were injured.
The Esk Valley Railway was being promoted in 1860; it was to run to Polton, a village with several important paper mills, from a junction with the Peebles Railway at Hardengreen. The North British Railway provided much of the deposit required to submit the Parliamentary Bill, and the Peebles Railway gave its consent. The Esk Valley Railway got its authorising Act on 21 July 1863, and the line opened on 16 April 1867. The point of divergence of the Esk Valley line was a short distance south of Hardengreen Junction, and the Esk Valley line ran parallel with the Peebles Railway for that section; it was later agreed to convert the two single lines to operate as one double track from Hardengreen Junction to Esk Valley Junction.
The first station on the Esk Valley line was to be called Bonnyrigg. It was closer to the town than the Peebles Railway Bonnyrigg station, but the Peebles Railway was unwilling at first to change the name of its own station. The PR later agreed to change the name of its Bonnyrigg station to Bonnyrigg Road. This led to confusion of passengers, and the NBR renamed the station Broomieknowe and the Peebles Railway station reverted to Bonnyrigg.
The nominally independent Penicuik Railway was authorised by Act of 20 June 1870, for a 4-mile (6.4 km) branch from Hawthornden on the Peebles Railway to Penicuik. It was opened on 2 September 1872, and the company was absorbed by the NBR on 1 August 1876 along with the Esk Valley Railway.
The Peebles Railway had a Penicuik station, which was a considerable distance from the town, and it was now renamed Pomathorn
The North British Railway had renamed Roslin as Rosslyn in 1864 and renamed it again Rosslynlee in 1872 because of the Rosslyn station on the Penicuik Railway line. Rosslyn on the Penicuik line was renamed Rosslyn Castle on 11 Feb 1874. Rosslynlee closed from 1 January 1917 to 2 June 1919.
Amalgamation
From 1870 the Peebles Railway and the NBR considered amalgamation, and agreement having been reached, the North British Railway (Additional Powers) Act of 13 July 1876 authorised the amalgamation, which became effective on 1 August 1876.
Angling Club Cottage Platform
Edinburgh Angling Club had acquired a house, named The Nest, close to the River Tweed, near Clovenfords. (The location is on Cliff Road, a short distance west of the roundabout junction of the present-day A72 and A707.) In 1898 an unadvertised halt named Angling Club Cottage Platform was provided there for the use of club members. The halt became disused in the mid-twentieth century.
The twentieth century
Passenger train services had now been enhanced to six daily from Galashiels to Edinburgh via Peebles with an additional Saturdays Innerleithen to Edinburgh train; by now the typical journey time was a little under an hour from Peebles to Edinburgh. A Peeblesshire Express was introduced for business travel from Peebles to Edinburgh. It left Peebles at 08:44 daily, stopping at Leadburn to attach a portion from Broomlee on the Dolphinton branch, arriving at Edinburgh at 09:37. The return train left Edinburgh at 16:32 Monday to Friday, and 13:33 on Saturdays.
In 1905 the North British Railway extended and improved the Peebles station, although it remained a one-platform station, with no passing loop.
The Border Show was held in Peebles by the Highland and Agricultural Society in July 1906, and the North British was asked to arrange special services at reduced rates, which it declined to do. In 1904 the NBR had declared that it considered Peebles an inappropriate location for the heavy traffic that the show would attract, due to the limited track facilities there. 20,000 visitors daily were expected, requiring 20 to 30 trains. Considerable public criticism resulted, and in March 1905 the NBR realised that the rival Caledonian Railway was improving its own Peebles branch. This resulted in an immediate move to arrange the necessary facilities. Additional stabling sidings and a passing loop were provided, and the Old station was to be reopened temporarily for passenger use. The company was still concerned about line capacity and issued a public notice that "The Company will not guarantee passengers will reach Peebles and will not be responsible for delays." In the event the trains ran and some delays were experienced. The NBR lost considerable good will because of its stance over the matter.
There was a daily goods service over the link line between the Caledonian and North British stations at Peebles, but there was never a regular passenger service. Light engines used it after the closure of Peebles (NBR) engine shed if they required to turn, using the Caledonian turntable. However some passenger excursions used the link. On 25 June 1936 a Caledonian Railway excursion from Lanark ran to Galashiels, using the link, and reversing in Peebles NBR station.
In 1923 the railways of Great Britain were "grouped" following the Railways Act 1921; the North British Railway was a constituent of the new London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). Twenty five years later, nationalisation of the nation's railways took place, and the Peebles route was part of the Scottish Region of British Railways. Now that both railway lines to Peebles were under the same ownership, Peebles NBR station was renamed Peebles (East) on 25 September 1952, although the former Caledonian Railway branch had closed to passengers by then. The NBR station reverted to simple Peebles in February 1958.
Diesel multiple unit trains were introduced on the line from 17 February 1958 after a demonstration run on 11 June 1956; a considerably enhanced passenger service was introduced in the Edinburgh suburban area, extending out as far as Rosewell.
A new station, Rosslynlee Hospital Halt, was opened on 11 December 1958 to serve Rosslynlee Hospital; the exiting Rosslynlee station was not conveniently situated for the hospital. The House Steward at the hospital sold tickets.
However the general decline in local rural passenger services was hastened by the improving bus services, and the Peebles line was nominated for closure. The final passenger trains ran on 3 February 1962, and the following day the route between Hawthornden Junction and Galashiels via Peebles was closed completely.
The Edinburgh suburban passenger service from Edinburgh to Rosewell and Hawthornden continued until Saturday 8 September 1962, being closed from 10 September. The Penicuik branch continued to operate a goods train service, and the Peebles Railway section from Hardengreen Junction to Hawthornden Junction (where the Penicuik line diverged) remained open to serve those trains, until they ceased in 1967.
The entire network of lines is closed to railway activity; the section between Hardengreen Junction and Rosewell has been converted to a cycleway.
Locations on the line were:
Hardengreen Junction; the Peebles Railway diverged from the Hawick line;
Esk Valley Junction; the Esk Valley line diverged;
Bonnyrigg; renamed Bonnyrigg Road from 1868; closed 10 September 1962;
Hawthornden; variously known as Rosewell and Hawthornden, and Hawthornden Junction and Rosewell; closed 10 September 1962;
Hawthornden Junction; the Penicuik Railway diverged;
Roslin; renamed Rosslyn 1864; renamed Rosslynlee 1872; closed 1 January 1917; reopened 2 June 1919;
Rosslynlee Hospital Halt; opened 11 December 1958;
Penicuik; renamed Pomathorn 1872; renamed Pomathorn Halt 1947;
Leadburn; the Dolphinton line diverged; the summit of the line at 935 feet was near Leadburn; closed 7 March 1955;
Earlyvale Gate; opened June 1856; trains stopped at the level crossing on market days etc.; closed 28 February 1857;
Eddleston;
Peebles; closed after 1 October 1864, superseded by new station built by NBR.
North British Railway extension to Galashiels: opened 1 October 1864; closed 5 February 1962.
Peebles; renamed Peebles East 1950; renamed Peebles 1958;
Cardrona;
Innerleithen;
Walkerburn; opened 15 January 1867;
Thornilee; opened 18 June 1866; soon renamed Thornielee; closed 6 November 1960;
Angling Club Cottage Platform; opened 1898; closed after 1932;
Clovenfords; opened 18 June 1866;
Kilnknowe Junction; convergence with the NBR line to Galashiels.
Sampson has been our buddy since 2004. In the winter of 2008, he suffered a severe perineal hernia that required a $2000 surgery to repair it. At the time of the surgery, we were told that due to the severity of the hernia that it was likely to reoccur. As predicted, it has reoccurred and he desperately needs more surgery before 2012. Other than the hernia, he is a happy, healthy and active dog who should live to his mid to late teens. Therefore, I cannot in good conscience end his life prematurely. I have also contacted a Corgi rescue in hopes that he could be adopted to a family that is more financially able to care for him. However, since my husband and I can't have children, giving him up for adoption because of health issues seems as ridiculous to us as giving up our 9 year old child for adoption because we can't keep up with the medical expenses. We work in the service industry, living paycheck to paycheck and our credit is not good enough to get a care credit card that would allow us to make payments. To help us pay for Sampson's surgery, we have set up a ChipIn donation site to raise funds for Sampson's surgery. So please consider donating whatever small amount you can to help keep Sampson with the family that loves him. If you can't make a donation, please pass this info along to friends who may be able to help. Sampson, his Corgi buddies Shiloh & Rusty and his human family thank you! Click on the link below to go to Sampson's ChipIn.com page to make your donation. THANK YOU!!
corgisampson.chipin.com/sampson-the-corgis-hernia-surgery...
Photo by Allegra Boverman. Concord: At the New Hampshire Public Radio's Third Annual Trivia Smackdown at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord on Friday, April 3, 2015.
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2012 06 08 - Used by Greater Greater Washington
2011 12 15 - Used by the Georgetown Dish
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In response to the Congressional budget debacle which proved that DC is but a colony -- prone to being singled out unlike any other city in the country -- a number of activists, elected officials, and general citizens came out in force upon the grounds of Capitol Hill.
The crowd first formed on the sidewalk, but after some opening remarks by elected officials and activists: they quickly spilled into the street. The Capitol Police had been on hand & I'd thought it amusing that a couple were taking photos & videos... it wasn't until I saw the wristbands come out when I realised these weren't officers enjoying the moment; they were recording evidence.
With many minutes of warning, large portions of the group shifted over the sidewalk; whilst a core of dedicated supporters -- including our Mayor, a number of councilmembers, and members of DC Vote -- remained behind to block the roadway. The officers began to surround the group & repeated their warnings to get back on the sidewalk or face arrest.
Now in all fairness to the Capitol Police: they were doing their job. They were quite courteous about it & the protest was similarly jubilant right back. One woman was first to be bound, soon followed by several other activists. Then came Muriel Bowser: first councilmember to be arrested.
In general, I tend to dislike political grandstanding... but this was different. If our council was being arrested by our own police, I'd think it a cheesy photo op... but now our locally-elected officials were being arrested by the very forces we were out to protest: the Feds. This wasn't a mere photo op arrest; this was actually a legitimate arrest... the kind of thing that goes on your record; the kind of thing you spent a night in jail for.
Now granted, I don't expect anyone will be in jail longer than tomorrow; I'd be surprised if any were still locked up by midnight tonight. But it was Councilmember Bowser's arrest which really hit a moment... you could see the look on her face was of some worried concern: someone who had never been arrested before & didn't show up here today expecting to be arrested. As she was placed into the police van: her look of concern changed to a bit more worry. I mean this as no knock against Councilmember Bowser's committment; rather I felt it really help to humanise the entire event. It made me respect her all the more.
Yvette Alexander stood right beside us for quite some time, complicated in that she didn't have her ID on her. While it was entertaining to see our top officials being frisked, it was also quite entertaining that our easily-recognisable councilmember needed her ID... prompting a standerby to call one of her staffers with the best introduction I've ever heard over a phone: "Hi, your councilmember has been arrested." Also, kudos to Councilmember Alexander for going to jail in high heels!
There is a lot I can complain about with the council in general; and certainly with individual councilmembers & even the mayor. Heck, that's what politicians are for: you're not supposed to always like them. But this was an opportunity to set aside some of those issues (frankly, I'd say DC was glad to have a unifying moment after the past couple weeks) and cheer on our own brothers & sisters as they stood up in support of our rights.
It was certainly a proud moment to be a DC resident and a fine boost to our collective esteem after several weeks of turmoil within our local & federal levels of government. It's aggravating that my support for small & local government is inhibited by those in Congress whom advocate small & local government. If I wanted to live in a colony, I'd have moved to Williamsburg.
When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.
Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
(Luke 2:39-52)
Stained glass window detail photographed inside Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, Verona, NJ.
Photograph Copyright 2011 Loci B. Lenar
The Big Lunch held on Vicarage Road in Croydon. A bucking bronco, bouncy castle, zumba class, Irish Dancers and a steel band, 1st June 2014
Zara Mitchen on the bucking bronco
Photography by Fergus Burnett
Acredditation required with all use - 'fergusburnett.com'
At just after midnight on Friday 13 January, 2017, the LAFD responded to a reported traffic collision in the 4900 block of N Cahuenga Bl. Firefighters found two car collision with one adult female patient requiring extrication.
LAFD Incident: 011317-0019
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baby Saulius died of preventable (apparently the required antibiotics were not available to us as DPs) dysentery in the camp and is buried in Napoli (see @ flic.kr/p/8Nb2sr). with only one exception my memories of Napoli are a bejewelled kaleidoscope of vivid imagery: islands in the Bay of Naples; azure skies; bubbling bright yellow sulphur springs in the core of an extinct volcano; coloured fish in the stunning world famous Napoli aquarium (later burnt down i think). i have no memory of the burial accessed by the above link. the exception is of me, & Rasa, with my father wheeling the pram with Saulutis in it crying & crying in a dry irritable voice when my father suddenly snaps & reaching down into the pram does an action over the face of Saulutis as might be done when ruffling someone's hair. no damage was done and the baby continued crying as before - he must have been seriously ill by then. my memories of italy begin on our protracted 4 day train journey from Fellbach in Stuttgart Bavaria during which we were frequently delayed & stationary on sidings. i was entranced by glimpses of lizards with vivid green heads scuttling on stone walls i could spot from the train window. it seems to me i have always been most affected by the natural environment @th expense of being able to recall much else. you cannot be long in this kind of task of annotating old photos without gaining some insight into how memory in general, but in particular one's own, works. my sister Rasa has told me how she can remember us competing for the privilege of pushing Saulutis' pram so it may be, though two years younger than me, her recall of him is fuller than mine. i recall nothing of my little brother other than the single memory described. evidently i have blocked everything else out - a propensity for doing which i have retained into adulthood. so this entry is as much a reflection on how memory works as a provision of information for my descendants. i was so taken by my 5 month stay in italy (c.12th april - c.3rd sept. '49) that i still treasure a small, very cheap & ordinary, foldout booklet of Napoli scenes i brought with me on the ship to Oz. the yanks used to take us kids in a truck for excursions to the beach and other places but the two shots @th top were taken by my father so he must have also taken us there @ least once. when i returned to Napoli with Helen late in life i was amazed by the accurate clarity of my recall for the detail of the city foreshore. the photo @ bottom left is in the Bagnoli camp & i recall i spent a lot of time on an oval inside an ancient amphitheater just behind & to the left of the church in the photo. nonetheless my positive recall of italy, consisting as it does of such brilliant imagery, retains a sombre & dark emotional underlay which is sure to have been a result of my awareness of the trauma my mum was going through @th time. i was particularly close to her from my earliest childhood right into my teens. as i write i begin to recall her groaning from the pains she was subject to from a defective gall-bladder even before Saulutis had fallen ill. once he fell ill i wasn't to know th@ besides the anguish any mother suffers when her child is slowly dying before her eyes th@ in this case mum's pain had the added dimension of her recent separation from the man whom she considered to be the love of her life & who was the child's father. as an elderly woman mum has explained to my wife Helen that her relationship with my father had become empty from the time she had found him living with another woman in East Prussia when he was an officer in the wehrmacht in the last year of the war (edited out, in consultation with Amy Witting, from her book "Elena's Journey"). mum told Helen th@ she had resumed the relationship with him only "for the sake of the children" (though my own reading is th@ the man she was in love with had not been prepared to take on longterm the responsibility of a woman with two kids in tow). so the decline & death of Saulutis also represented the 'final' sundering of her connection to his father. she wasn't to know th@ she would be visiting him one last time late in life to give him a copy of her book "Elena's Journey" in which he plays such a significant cameo part: he had ended up in america where he had resumed his original profession of researcher in agricultural science, was married with grandchildren, & had once again taken on significant roles in the litho expat community but this time in the US
COPYRIGHT NOTICE:© 2010 Mark O'Grady\MOSpeed Images.
Images in this gallery are protected by copyright. They are not stock and may not be used for manipulations, references, blogs, journals, share sites, etc. without my express written consent.
This curve used to be a decent shot in the summer, but now it looks like it'll be a winter only shot! CN train M303, Wabamun Alberta
to submit a patent to fix the annoying habit of this dial moving by its own accord.
I keep finding that its never where it was left after removing it from a case or my pocket.
The grand park is one of the rare preserved Baroque gardens in Germany. Unfortunately, in November all the beautiful flora is done for the season. The Palace Garden is also the home of a 300-year-old tree that has survived several lightning strikes.
Schleißheim Palace
Oberschleißheim, Germany
14
No More Required
One thing I learned when I was 8-years-old,
There is nothing, nothing, so wonderful,
Or beautiful, that it escapes awful
Laughing crowds and certain destruction. Pulled,
Smashed, torn apart, my carefully shoveled
Snow hut lay in ruins six times at school
Before my eyes were opened to the playful
Mob which tore it to pieces. I'd been lulled
Into a foolish expectation that
What I'd built on the playground was through when
Left on the playground, and would stand intact.
So, I was not ready for the rat pack's
Hooting dance of joy over the ruins.
Shall I create now when they can come at?
Mormonspeak for non-menbers: "Utah Mormons" are paranoid. For good reason. Many are descended from 1830 group that were harassed out of their homes NY. 1837 Burned out of OH had Exterminating Order issued against them by Gov. of MO, 1845 burned out of IL 1846, 1857 (declared in rebellion by US Congressman furious Brigham Young refused to sign a 50% of everything you develop is mine 1846 contract guarenteed to keep the US army off your back). 1857 army sent by US govt. while Mormons living 800 miles away from any neighbors, Women disenfranchised 1870's ballot box and statehood denied, 1865-80's polygamy battles property seized again,...1990 protesters shouting 'sluts' at bridal parties* as they came out of Temple Square *, 2000 Temple Plaza not seized in exchange for large extortion payment because anit-Mormon protests were not allowed private property access. 2010.... etc.
Mormons are not allowed to fight back.
If you do not want to join The Church, but do want to make friends, date, or with extreme cases have your kids play with a reluctant UT Mormon you must tell them you mean no harm a few times before they will believe you. It is far more common for a non-member to be insulted by the outsider-be-wary-doesn't-have-our-standards attitude than make several attempts to bridge it. The attitude may be light or very deep. But every time a UT Mormon sees how happy a non-member is over bad news for the Church , or a ''S.L. UT'' T-shirt they will circle the wagons tighter.
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*practice ended only after Salt Lake non-Mormon Church pastors, bishops, and priests condemned it as ''going too far''.