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Wedding at Pocahontas State Park: www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/pocahontas#general_infor...
Parks wedding info: www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/weddings#wedpo
Please call the park, (804) 796-4255, for details or to reserve. Reservations may be made up to 11 months in advance
Photo credit REQUIRED: Caiti Garter Photography caitigarterphotography.pixieset.com/
Dawn's morning sun rising along with a misty atmosphere over the Maryland Yacht Club and a work boat at it's harbor. Best viewed at Original Size. Red/Cyan 3D glasses required for viewing.
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.
Tactical shooting requires agile and adaptive thinkers able to handle the challenges of full spectrum operations in an era of persistent conflict. To meet this requirement, TAPS delivers a comprehensive, systematic, progressive Train-the-Trainer shooting program focused on fundamental mastery and built for Law Enforcement officers, military personal, and qualified civilians. Designed for leaders and trainers, the TAPS course also applies to the patrol-level officer, basic level Soldiers, and civilian self & home defense minded shooters. The approach to instruction is through coaching and mentorship and both demonstrates and transfers a training method that is safe, effective, combat relevant, and encourages a continuous thought process that demands accountability. Training is conducted on the range and focuses on advanced refinement of the basic fundamentals of marksmanship as applied to the primary and secondary weapons systems. Utilizing a building block learning model, TAPS combines the pressures and dynamics of competitive shooting and tactical application. While course of instruction is on the firing range, the TAPS training approach also translates into training venues outside the range.
Course Outline:
The 2-day course offering provides the following training and instruction:
- Lecture on proper weapons handling and safety
- Refresh the fundamentals and grouping exercises
- Conduct a diagnostic course of fire
- Conduct a discussion on the importance of performing a focal shift during training and avoiding mundane drills that do not encourage a thought process
- Other topics covered and practiced are; grouping exercises with both primary and secondary weapon systems, target discrimination, use of barricades, movement, close quarter battle techniques, immediate action drills, ballistics 101, transitions, magazine changes
- Escalation of training and intensity will vary depending on number of students and their skill level though the core of the course will always remain the same
- This course is marksmanship intensive.
Instructor: Patrick McNamara (AKA - "Mac")
Day 2 of The Indy KA500 and After a Fantastic First Day of Racing and Celebrations now is where the Real Hard Work Begins as The Entire Field of 46 KA'S were in the Garages with Drivers Teams and Engineers at The Ready as they were about to tackle 8 Hours of the Indy Circuit.
With an 8 Hour Race anything can Happen and with such a Large Field of Cars a lot of Overtakes and Careful Navigation will be Required to Ensure Victory.
With The Start of The Race About to get underway Its Time to See Who will be able to Hold out the Longest and Take the Title of IndyKa500 Endurance Champion for 2021.
Hour 1 (11:04AM)
As The Field of 46 KA'S Completed the Formation Lap and Slowly made their way Towards the Start Finish Straight The Lights went Green and at Exactly 11:04AM the Race Had Begun.
Racing Down Towards Paddock Hill Bend it was The KA of Team (IP Racing's Adam Blair Scott Parkin Oliver Wilmot and Mark Witherington) Who took the Lead Followed Closely by Team (Octane Junkies Adam Smith Martyn Smith and Bazza Ward) in Second Place and Team (Alex Read Motorsport's Chris Reade Sam Luke's Carlito Miracco and Luke Read) in Third Place as they Thundered Up the Hill Towards The Tops of Druids and Back Down Again through Bottom Bend where Team (Ferguson Motorsport's Damon Astin Billy Ferguson Joe Ferguson and Daniel Ferguson) took the Lead from (Octane Junkies) before Flying Around The Track to Complete Lap 1 of 500.
As The Cars came Round Paddock for The Second Time The KA of (Ferguson Motorsport) Now Leads by a Heathy Margin While Further Back (IP Racing) and (Octane Junkies) Have A Fantastic Scrap over Second Place with The Two of Them Swapping The Lead Over and Over again. Car Number 55 of (Al Most Racers Alistair Hardie Alistair McDonald Lee Conway and Will Denny) was Seen Getting Air of The Inside Curb on the Exit of Paddock Hill Bend making for a Spectacular Sight.
Hour 2 (11:54AM)
Hour 2 and All 46 KA'S are Still Alive and Well with Each Driver Pushing Hard to Maintain their Advantage as the Tyres Begin to Warm Up and Start to Grip the Track More.
KA Number 56 Team (Hard And Enthusiastic Martyn Dilworth Mark Figes and Mike Hickey) are Locked in a Tight Battle at The Top of Paddock Hill Bend with KA Number 27 Team (Semprini Racing's Jeremy Evans James Hart Phil Hart and William Puttergill) as they Fight it Out Between the Two Cars for a Position.
Further Down the Field KA Number 23 Team (Kastrol's Michael Keegan Tim Keegan and David Murfitt) is Having its Own Battle with KA Number 4 of Team (Alex Read Motorsport) as The Two Teams Have a Go at One Another Thought the Course of The Lap trying Hard to Hold onto that Position they Worked so Hard for.
Another Battle at Paddock is the KA Number 3 of Team (Wingdat Racing's Andy Chapman Jonathan Barret and Wayne Jackson) Having to Fend off The KA Number 16 of Team (M and D Racing's Alex Martin Daniel Martin Tony Perfect and Mathew Rowling) as they Also were Looking to be in an Intense Battle Thought the Lap with Many Other Teams and Drivers Now Settling into a Rhythm. at The Endo f The Second Hour The KA't Mobile Number 49 of Team (LDR Performance Tuning's David Bywater Adrian Clarke Andy Grear Hardy and Sammy Bryan) is Seen Making its way Through Paddock Hill Bend and Through the Gravel Trap but Manages to Get Out Unaided and Safely.
At 12:12PM a Huge and Very Loud Crash is Heard at The Bottom of Paddock Hill Bend and Seen Rowling Through The Gravel Trap and Ending up on its Wheels is the KA Number 3 of Team (Windgat Racing) Bringing out the First Safety Car of The Endurance Race. Lucky The Driver was Fine and After a Few Minutes Due to The Recovery Taking Place they Are Back out in the Race But with a Lot of Catching Up to do.
Hour 3 (13:08PM)
With the Safety Car Now in the Race gets Back Underway and Already each Driver was Pushing Even Harder trying to either Create a Gap or Make Up for Lost Time Due to The Safety Car Intervention.
At The Top of Paddock Hill Bend a Fierce Battle is Taking Place Between the Two Teams of KA Number 13 and KA Number 155 Team (Deranged Motorsport's Jason Pelosi Josh Larkin and Alex Kelby) and Team (JRS's Nick Walker Alex Day and William Foster) as they Duel Thought the Whole of Paddock Hill Bend Starting at The Top and Still Keeping the Fight Going Right Up towards Druids in The End Deranged Motorsport Wins Out and Takes The Position Away from JRS.
At 13:24PM The Fighting Between each Team Continues at The Top of Paddock Hill Bend which is Proving to be the Best Overtaking Area as Each Car has Only 73 Break Horse Power so Carrying as Much Speed as Possible from the Main Straight Towards Paddock is Essential for a Successful Overtake.
Team (Piston Heads Peter Dignan Oliver Lewis Benjamin Lowden and Sam Sheehan) Battles it out with Team (LDR Performance Tuning's Laurence Davey Mike Paul James Parker and Glen Copeland) as The Two Cars Do Battle for All to See with Team LDR Taking The Position Away.
At 13:39PM A Set of 4 KA's are Seen Fighting Their Way up Towards Druids with All Four Teams not Giving up the Fight as they Swap Positions Relentlessly with not One Driver Willing to Give Up his Position.
The 98 55 53 and 13 All Really Having a Good Go at One Another Thought their Fight. As The Sun Starts its Slow Dissent Down Over The Hills and Valleys that Surround The Circuit Bottom Bend was Providing Some More Opportunities for Drivers to do Battle with One Another. A Four way Fight Between KA's Number 56 51 44 and 64 was Occurring with Number 56 Holding Strong at The Front of This Fight and Leading them on Towards Clearways.
Finally at 13:48PM An Epic Battle Between KA's Number 64 and 44 was Witnessed Through Bottom Bend with The Likes of The Number 64 Bouncing a Wheel Into The Air as The Car Took the Tight Racing Line making for an Amazing Picture and a Superb bit of Car Control To Keep that KA Pointing The Right Way.
Hour 4 (14:02PM)
The Fourth Hour and Pit Stops and Driver Changes were Imminent with Many Teams Choosing to Go into The Pits to Change Both Drivers and Top Up the Fuel as Well as Change Tyres if Necessary. Every Team was Running to a Different Strategy Depending Upon the Amount of Drivers they Had with Teams of Four Drivers Taking 2 Hours in the Car Each While Teams of Three or Less would Have to Take on Longer Stints of 3 To Maybe Even 4 Hours in the Car Hoping that Having to do Fewer Driver Changes would Mean they could make Up The Difference on Track.
Back on The Track at 14:02PM More Battles were Commencing Through Pilgrims Drop With KA's Number 81 Team (GM Performance's Gary Mitchell and Ian Mitchell) Going Head to Head with KA Number 46 Team (JDC Motorsport's Stu Neal Andy Gaugler and Simon Walker Hensell) with The KA of GM Performance Narrowly Taking The Place From JDC Motorsport on the Run towards Clearways.
At 14:20PM a Fantastic Battle Between KA Number's 18 100 127 3 55 and 115 was Seen as they Powered their Way onto Clearways with 155 Leading Followed by 55 and 3 127 100 and 18 All Slowly Gaining Ground to the Two Leading KA's at The Front of This Train.
Shortly After This Train of Cars Came Through Another Train of 5 KA's was not Far Behind this Time Being Lead by Number 13 Deranged Motorsport with 131 (Team Viking's Mark Holme Harry Nunn and Nick Nunn) Then came Number 4 Alex Read Motorsport with 98 Piston Heads and 41 (Rowe Rage Motorsport's Alex Butler Greg Caswell Jason Handcock and Sam Rowe) As they All Fought Hard to Catch One Another Thought their Fight.
KA's Number 98 4 and 64 were Also Seen at 14:48PM Having a Really Good Three Way Fight with 64 and 98 Side by Side down Pilgrims Drop with The Number 4 Car Closing Fast.
At 14:54PM A Final Battle was Seen on the Run Up Towards Clearways with The KA's of Number 60 (Powerflex's David Power Paul Cowland and Dom David) Battling Hard with KA's Number 7 (G and B Finch's Joe Bragg Lee Finch Steve Finch Benjamin Smith and Arthur Thurtle) and Number 127 (Fat Boys Racing's Charlie Jackson and Matt Pinny) with The Number 7 KA Leading The Trio On Towards Clearways as The Sun Began to Set.
Hour 5 (15:25PM)
The Fith Hour and a Swarm of KA's were Seen Storming Down the Main Straight towards Paddock Hill Bend with the Number 131 Car of (Team Viking) in the Lead by Some Distance Followed by Number 64 125 18 81 and 155 as they All Made their Way Towards Paddock for another Chance at an Overtake.
Another Battle Followed Closely Behind with KA Numbers 11 18 49 and 111 All Fighting as Well in order to Maintain or Improve their Positions as The Race Went on.
At 15:28PM The Safety Car was Out again While Another KA Somewhere on Track was Being Recovered and The Leading car Number 36 IP Racing's (Adam Blair Scott Parkin Oliver Wilmot and Mark Witherington's Lead Evaporates as the Field is Once again Bunched up.
Behind Them are KA's Number 44 (Mini Challenges Max Coates Dominic Wheatley Lewis Saunders and Dan Zelos) Looking to Make a More Once the Safety Car Period Ends The 14 of (Frugal Racing) and 51 of (Barwell Autosport's Taylor Norton Kamran Tunio Ryan Brinsted and Kester Cook) Also Looking to Take the Lead of This Endurance Race.
At 15:36PM The Car that Had Caused The Safety Car was Seen Being Recovered into the Outer Garage Area where cars are Held Before the Start of Each Race. KA Number 46 (JDC Motorsport) Had Made Contact Somewhere on the Circuit and Looked to Have a Broken Front Left Steering Arm with the Wheel Being Completely Bend Backwards into The Car with the Car Heading Back to the Garage for Repairs Before Rendering The Race Quite a Few Laps Down.
15:38PM and The Two KA's of Positive Motorsport's Andrew Rogerson Samuel Rendon and Ryan Frith Battle it Out with Number 13 Deranged Motorsport Through Westfield Towards Dingle dell with The Number 13 Beautifully Sweeping Around the Outside to Take The Position Away.
Another Battle was Seen at 15:38PM with (Alex Read Motorsport) Number 4 Battling Number 64 (Auto Teach Motorsport's Reece Kellow Andrew Howell Luca Ataccini Anzanello and Megan) through Westfields Side by Side on Towards Dingle dell.
Finally at 15:57PM Another KA Had Fallen Victim to an Issue with the Number 23 Car of (PSR's Carl Beresford Russel Danzey Tom Gilbert and Jack Wood) Being Taken on the Back of the Recovery Truck to The Garages for Repairs Before Going back Out into The Race as Night Began to Fall Upon The Indy Circuit.
Hour 6 (16:15PM)
As The Light Slowly began to Fade Away from the Indy Circuit Many Drivers were Now starting to use their Headlights as The Lighting Conditions got Darker and Darker as Time went by.
At 16:15PM A Massive Group of Cars came Flying Down Through Paddock Hill Bend with KA Number 55 Al Most Racers on the Inside Line 127 Fat Boys Racing on the Middle Line and 39 Kameleon Racing's Chris Bright Richard Cox Steve Goldsmith and Leigh Youles Michael on the Outside Line as they Fought their way Through the Bend and Up Towards Druids.
At 16:21PM Piston Heads Racing KA Number 98 was Seen Leading another Group of Cars Through Paddock Hill Bend with Numbers 41 52 33 and 2 All Fighting for Places as they Came Towards Paddock Hill Bend.
16:24PM and The Paddock Hill Bend Gravel Trap Claims Another Victim This Time the Number 131 KA of Team Viking Had Ended up Taking a Trip Through it Before a Half Spin Left Him Facing the Marshalls Post Opposite before Returning to the Track after Losing a Few Places. Recovery Teams set to work Once Again with The Safety Car Being Called into Action for The Third Time.
16:40PM and at The Top of Paddock Hill Bend a Three way Fight Becomes a Two Way Fight as The Number 127 KA of Fat Boys Racing Goes for a Spin after Trying to Get a Run on the Number 19 KA of LDR Performance Tuning with The Number 14 Car of Frugal Racing Just Narrowly Missing The Spinning Car.
16:42PM and a Final Intense Battle Between the Number 44 KA and The Number 1 KA of Burton Power Racing's Andy Burton Kyle Sagar Tom Valentine and Sammy Venables as They Fight Hard to try and Take that Position away from Mini Challenge to Round off The 6th Hour.
Hour 7 (16:50PM)
The Seventh Hour and at The Bottom of Surtees a Massive Crash is Heard as The KA's of Number 42 The K Teams (Paul Simmons Edward Simmons Glen Woodbridge Damo) is Seen Running off Track with Number 13 Deranged Motorsport Onto The Grass and Number 81 GM Performance Being Spun Out Trying to Avoid The Carnage in Front. All Drivers Okay and They Get back on Track and Continue on As Day Turns into Night.
17:02PM and a Top of Druids The Ka's of Number 72 Misty Racings (Adam Bonham and Simon Bonham) are Fighting Hard to Keep their Position from the Number 49 Car of LDR Performance Tuning as well as Number 7 of G and B Finch Trying to Find a Way Through on the Outside of Druids. The 98 of Piston Heads is also Closing in by This Stage with Headlights A Blaze.
17:05PM and Coming Towards Druids is a Sea of KA's All With Headlights A Blaze as they Fight for Positions Cars Number 60 3 19 and 39 All in Different Positions and Yet Still Fighting to try and Gain an Advantage that Could Swine this Endurance Race in Any of the Teams Favours. Further Back 127 and 140 Are Doing Battle on the Run Up Towards Druids.
17:09PM Once Again Another Battle at Druids This Time its The Trio of Number 127 36 and 60 That are All Trying to Better One Another in their Attempt to Gain a Place with Number 36 IP Racing Leading The Way.
17:14PM One Final Battle is Seen Coming Up towards Druids with The Number's 18 44 55 and 2 Fighting it Out Number 2 Kastrol's Has The Lead of This Group of Cars with Blazing Bright Headlights to Aid the Drivers Around The Circuit.
17:27PM and Now Darkness was Everywhere Making Visibility Very Difficult and Yet this did not Stop the Likes of Cars Number 128 JTR's Eliot Mason Nick Tandy David Mason and James Rhodes from Battling with Car Number 16 M and D Racing's Alex Martin Daniel Martin Tony Perfect and Mathew Rowling. In a Daring Move in the Pitch Black Darkness The Two Cars Go Side by Side Trying to Gain One over The Other Before JTR's Takes The Inside Line and The Position.
17:30PM Another Daring Battle is Captured Between The Number 180 Car of (Shine Auto motive's Colin French Mathew Eldridge and Wayne Clelland) and Number 44 (Mini Challenge's Max Coates Dominic Whitely Lewis Saunders and Dan Zelos) Defending The Outside Line as Best as they Can but Ultimately Shine Automotive Makes their way Through.
17:51PM A KA is Seen Flying Down Through The Bottom of Druids and into a Cloud of Dust Caused by Another KA Going off The KA is Just Barely Visible Showing The Dangers of what can Happen at Night When Visibility Becomes Low or Obstructed. Other KA's Soon Followed Through the Dust Cloud as Well with Many Backing off Slightly In case a Car was Stuck out on The Track but Thankfully All was Good as Hour 7 Ended.
Hour 8 (17:56PM) (THE FINAL HOUR)
The FINAL Hour of The 8 Hour Indy KA 500 and With Every Driver Now Getting into a Rhythm it was Up to Each Teams Last Driver to Strap in and Go for it to the Checkered Flag. However not All had gone to Plan for every Driver as The Number 29 KA of LDR Performance Tuning Found Out Slipping into the Gravel and Costing Them a Ridge Back to the Pits for Repairs with Less than 1 Hour to go.
18:00PM and The Number 2 KA of Kastrol's was Captured Racing Through Paddock Hill Bend During The Night Pushing Incredibly Hard to Ensure a Good Top 25 Finnish in the Points with Headlights Illuminating their way Around Paddock Hill Bend as The Car Flew Through The Bend.
18:30PM The Safety Car was Out for The Last Time During The Race and was Captured Leading a whole Train of KA's Through Pilgrims Drop and Onto Clearways with Each Driver Poised and Ready to Get Going Once the Safety Car Had Come In.
19:07PM An Amazing Sight to Behold with Just 15 Minutes Left on the Clock a Huge Rush of KA's Flooded their way Down The Main Straight and Past The Start Finnish Straight with Headlights on Full Beam to Aid in Visibility. The Number 8 KA Leads The way in This Group of Cars with The Number 18 CHR Hoonikan Car of Stratton MacKay Dave Mayer and Paul Robson Closing in Behind.
19:09PM And The Green Flag is Dropped for The Final Time as The Safety Car Comes into the Pitlane All 44 Remaining KA's Race Towards Druids with the Field so Bunched up this is Anyone's Race to both Win or Lose at This Stage.
The Number 42 KA of The K Teams Paul Simmons Edward Simmons and Glen Woodbridge Damo takes off Leading from Number 20 A Reeve's Motorsport Aron Reeve Stuart Lane and Andy Godfrey while The Number 127 of Fat Boys Racing Chases Them Down into a Nail Biting Finnish at The Centre of The Field.
19:13PM A Group of Six KA's are Captured Having an Intense Battle with Only 5 Minutes Left to Run The Likes of KA Number 127 36 and 128 All Putting Up One Hell of a Good Fight in The Closing Stages of The Endurance Race with Some Drives Having Driven for 4 Hours Straight.
19:21PM and after 8 Hours of Continuous Racing and 5 KA's Out of The Race The Checkered Flag was Ready and Waiting as The Number 81 KA of GM Performance's Gary Mitchell and Ian Mitchell Takes the Victory at The 2021 8 Hour Indy Car 500!!!! Followed Closely by The Number 72 Car Misty Racing's Adam Bonham and Simon Bonham in Second Place with KA Number 14 Frugal Racing's Jim McDougal Callum McDougal Mike Marais and Leon Bidgeway Taking Third Place.
A Huge Congratulations to The Overall Top Three Winners and to All of the other Teams and Competitors for Showing some Incredible Racing To End of The 2021 Motorsport Season. From
Historic Formula 1 to Classic Touring Cars To The Indy KA 500 This Season Has been One of The Best to Date.
See You All Again Next Year Where We Will do it All Over Again.
Requiring an architect to design a church to fit his already laid foundations, William, 7th Earl Beauchamp, called in the 25year old A Randall Wells. The latter had been Lethaby's resident clerk of works at Brockhampton and his first independent commission resulted in a key building for the design of rural Arts-and-Crafts churches. Built of local materials mainly by local masons and builders, 1902-3. View from NE
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2011 09 15 - Used by WAMU
2011 08 24 - Used by WAMU
2011 08 23 - Used by WAMU
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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.
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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 magnificent mandibled Megachile pugnata. Look how long and wide those mandibles are. Its not clear to me why this species requires much longer mandibles than others, it appears to not be cutting out larger pieces of leaves for its nests, but perhaps it is the type, processing and location of the leaf material that is important. Specimen came from the National Arboretum in Washington D.C. where it was foraging on some sort of wild sunflower...it specializes on composites and sunflowers are one if its favorites. Picture by Hannah Sutton.
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All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.
Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200
Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all
Ye know on earth and all ye need to know
" Ode on a Grecian Urn"
John Keats
You can also follow us on Instagram account USGSBIML Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:
Art Photo Book: Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World
www.qbookshop.com/products/216627/9780760347386/Bees.html...
Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY
USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4
PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf
Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU
Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov
301 497 5840
Day 2 of The Indy KA500 and After a Fantastic First Day of Racing and Celebrations now is where the Real Hard Work Begins as The Entire Field of 46 KA'S were in the Garages with Drivers Teams and Engineers at The Ready as they were about to tackle 8 Hours of the Indy Circuit.
With an 8 Hour Race anything can Happen and with such a Large Field of Cars a lot of Overtakes and Careful Navigation will be Required to Ensure Victory.
With The Start of The Race About to get underway Its Time to See Who will be able to Hold out the Longest and Take the Title of IndyKa500 Endurance Champion for 2021.
Hour 1 (11:04AM)
As The Field of 46 KA'S Completed the Formation Lap and Slowly made their way Towards the Start Finish Straight The Lights went Green and at Exactly 11:04AM the Race Had Begun.
Racing Down Towards Paddock Hill Bend it was The KA of Team (IP Racing's Adam Blair Scott Parkin Oliver Wilmot and Mark Witherington) Who took the Lead Followed Closely by Team (Octane Junkies Adam Smith Martyn Smith and Bazza Ward) in Second Place and Team (Alex Read Motorsport's Chris Reade Sam Luke's Carlito Miracco and Luke Read) in Third Place as they Thundered Up the Hill Towards The Tops of Druids and Back Down Again through Bottom Bend where Team (Ferguson Motorsport's Damon Astin Billy Ferguson Joe Ferguson and Daniel Ferguson) took the Lead from (Octane Junkies) before Flying Around The Track to Complete Lap 1 of 500.
As The Cars came Round Paddock for The Second Time The KA of (Ferguson Motorsport) Now Leads by a Heathy Margin While Further Back (IP Racing) and (Octane Junkies) Have A Fantastic Scrap over Second Place with The Two of Them Swapping The Lead Over and Over again. Car Number 55 of (Al Most Racers Alistair Hardie Alistair McDonald Lee Conway and Will Denny) was Seen Getting Air of The Inside Curb on the Exit of Paddock Hill Bend making for a Spectacular Sight.
Hour 2 (11:54AM)
Hour 2 and All 46 KA'S are Still Alive and Well with Each Driver Pushing Hard to Maintain their Advantage as the Tyres Begin to Warm Up and Start to Grip the Track More.
KA Number 56 Team (Hard And Enthusiastic Martyn Dilworth Mark Figes and Mike Hickey) are Locked in a Tight Battle at The Top of Paddock Hill Bend with KA Number 27 Team (Semprini Racing's Jeremy Evans James Hart Phil Hart and William Puttergill) as they Fight it Out Between the Two Cars for a Position.
Further Down the Field KA Number 23 Team (Kastrol's Michael Keegan Tim Keegan and David Murfitt) is Having its Own Battle with KA Number 4 of Team (Alex Read Motorsport) as The Two Teams Have a Go at One Another Thought the Course of The Lap trying Hard to Hold onto that Position they Worked so Hard for.
Another Battle at Paddock is the KA Number 3 of Team (Wingdat Racing's Andy Chapman Jonathan Barret and Wayne Jackson) Having to Fend off The KA Number 16 of Team (M and D Racing's Alex Martin Daniel Martin Tony Perfect and Mathew Rowling) as they Also were Looking to be in an Intense Battle Thought the Lap with Many Other Teams and Drivers Now Settling into a Rhythm. at The Endo f The Second Hour The KA't Mobile Number 49 of Team (LDR Performance Tuning's David Bywater Adrian Clarke Andy Grear Hardy and Sammy Bryan) is Seen Making its way Through Paddock Hill Bend and Through the Gravel Trap but Manages to Get Out Unaided and Safely.
At 12:12PM a Huge and Very Loud Crash is Heard at The Bottom of Paddock Hill Bend and Seen Rowling Through The Gravel Trap and Ending up on its Wheels is the KA Number 3 of Team (Windgat Racing) Bringing out the First Safety Car of The Endurance Race. Lucky The Driver was Fine and After a Few Minutes Due to The Recovery Taking Place they Are Back out in the Race But with a Lot of Catching Up to do.
Hour 3 (13:08PM)
With the Safety Car Now in the Race gets Back Underway and Already each Driver was Pushing Even Harder trying to either Create a Gap or Make Up for Lost Time Due to The Safety Car Intervention.
At The Top of Paddock Hill Bend a Fierce Battle is Taking Place Between the Two Teams of KA Number 13 and KA Number 155 Team (Deranged Motorsport's Jason Pelosi Josh Larkin and Alex Kelby) and Team (JRS's Nick Walker Alex Day and William Foster) as they Duel Thought the Whole of Paddock Hill Bend Starting at The Top and Still Keeping the Fight Going Right Up towards Druids in The End Deranged Motorsport Wins Out and Takes The Position Away from JRS.
At 13:24PM The Fighting Between each Team Continues at The Top of Paddock Hill Bend which is Proving to be the Best Overtaking Area as Each Car has Only 73 Break Horse Power so Carrying as Much Speed as Possible from the Main Straight Towards Paddock is Essential for a Successful Overtake.
Team (Piston Heads Peter Dignan Oliver Lewis Benjamin Lowden and Sam Sheehan) Battles it out with Team (LDR Performance Tuning's Laurence Davey Mike Paul James Parker and Glen Copeland) as The Two Cars Do Battle for All to See with Team LDR Taking The Position Away.
At 13:39PM A Set of 4 KA's are Seen Fighting Their Way up Towards Druids with All Four Teams not Giving up the Fight as they Swap Positions Relentlessly with not One Driver Willing to Give Up his Position.
The 98 55 53 and 13 All Really Having a Good Go at One Another Thought their Fight. As The Sun Starts its Slow Dissent Down Over The Hills and Valleys that Surround The Circuit Bottom Bend was Providing Some More Opportunities for Drivers to do Battle with One Another. A Four way Fight Between KA's Number 56 51 44 and 64 was Occurring with Number 56 Holding Strong at The Front of This Fight and Leading them on Towards Clearways.
Finally at 13:48PM An Epic Battle Between KA's Number 64 and 44 was Witnessed Through Bottom Bend with The Likes of The Number 64 Bouncing a Wheel Into The Air as The Car Took the Tight Racing Line making for an Amazing Picture and a Superb bit of Car Control To Keep that KA Pointing The Right Way.
Hour 4 (14:02PM)
The Fourth Hour and Pit Stops and Driver Changes were Imminent with Many Teams Choosing to Go into The Pits to Change Both Drivers and Top Up the Fuel as Well as Change Tyres if Necessary. Every Team was Running to a Different Strategy Depending Upon the Amount of Drivers they Had with Teams of Four Drivers Taking 2 Hours in the Car Each While Teams of Three or Less would Have to Take on Longer Stints of 3 To Maybe Even 4 Hours in the Car Hoping that Having to do Fewer Driver Changes would Mean they could make Up The Difference on Track.
Back on The Track at 14:02PM More Battles were Commencing Through Pilgrims Drop With KA's Number 81 Team (GM Performance's Gary Mitchell and Ian Mitchell) Going Head to Head with KA Number 46 Team (JDC Motorsport's Stu Neal Andy Gaugler and Simon Walker Hensell) with The KA of GM Performance Narrowly Taking The Place From JDC Motorsport on the Run towards Clearways.
At 14:20PM a Fantastic Battle Between KA Number's 18 100 127 3 55 and 115 was Seen as they Powered their Way onto Clearways with 155 Leading Followed by 55 and 3 127 100 and 18 All Slowly Gaining Ground to the Two Leading KA's at The Front of This Train.
Shortly After This Train of Cars Came Through Another Train of 5 KA's was not Far Behind this Time Being Lead by Number 13 Deranged Motorsport with 131 (Team Viking's Mark Holme Harry Nunn and Nick Nunn) Then came Number 4 Alex Read Motorsport with 98 Piston Heads and 41 (Rowe Rage Motorsport's Alex Butler Greg Caswell Jason Handcock and Sam Rowe) As they All Fought Hard to Catch One Another Thought their Fight.
KA's Number 98 4 and 64 were Also Seen at 14:48PM Having a Really Good Three Way Fight with 64 and 98 Side by Side down Pilgrims Drop with The Number 4 Car Closing Fast.
At 14:54PM A Final Battle was Seen on the Run Up Towards Clearways with The KA's of Number 60 (Powerflex's David Power Paul Cowland and Dom David) Battling Hard with KA's Number 7 (G and B Finch's Joe Bragg Lee Finch Steve Finch Benjamin Smith and Arthur Thurtle) and Number 127 (Fat Boys Racing's Charlie Jackson and Matt Pinny) with The Number 7 KA Leading The Trio On Towards Clearways as The Sun Began to Set.
Hour 5 (15:25PM)
The Fith Hour and a Swarm of KA's were Seen Storming Down the Main Straight towards Paddock Hill Bend with the Number 131 Car of (Team Viking) in the Lead by Some Distance Followed by Number 64 125 18 81 and 155 as they All Made their Way Towards Paddock for another Chance at an Overtake.
Another Battle Followed Closely Behind with KA Numbers 11 18 49 and 111 All Fighting as Well in order to Maintain or Improve their Positions as The Race Went on.
At 15:28PM The Safety Car was Out again While Another KA Somewhere on Track was Being Recovered and The Leading car Number 36 IP Racing's (Adam Blair Scott Parkin Oliver Wilmot and Mark Witherington's Lead Evaporates as the Field is Once again Bunched up.
Behind Them are KA's Number 44 (Mini Challenges Max Coates Dominic Wheatley Lewis Saunders and Dan Zelos) Looking to Make a More Once the Safety Car Period Ends The 14 of (Frugal Racing) and 51 of (Barwell Autosport's Taylor Norton Kamran Tunio Ryan Brinsted and Kester Cook) Also Looking to Take the Lead of This Endurance Race.
At 15:36PM The Car that Had Caused The Safety Car was Seen Being Recovered into the Outer Garage Area where cars are Held Before the Start of Each Race. KA Number 46 (JDC Motorsport) Had Made Contact Somewhere on the Circuit and Looked to Have a Broken Front Left Steering Arm with the Wheel Being Completely Bend Backwards into The Car with the Car Heading Back to the Garage for Repairs Before Rendering The Race Quite a Few Laps Down.
15:38PM and The Two KA's of Positive Motorsport's Andrew Rogerson Samuel Rendon and Ryan Frith Battle it Out with Number 13 Deranged Motorsport Through Westfield Towards Dingle dell with The Number 13 Beautifully Sweeping Around the Outside to Take The Position Away.
Another Battle was Seen at 15:38PM with (Alex Read Motorsport) Number 4 Battling Number 64 (Auto Teach Motorsport's Reece Kellow Andrew Howell Luca Ataccini Anzanello and Megan) through Westfields Side by Side on Towards Dingle dell.
Finally at 15:57PM Another KA Had Fallen Victim to an Issue with the Number 23 Car of (PSR's Carl Beresford Russel Danzey Tom Gilbert and Jack Wood) Being Taken on the Back of the Recovery Truck to The Garages for Repairs Before Going back Out into The Race as Night Began to Fall Upon The Indy Circuit.
Hour 6 (16:15PM)
As The Light Slowly began to Fade Away from the Indy Circuit Many Drivers were Now starting to use their Headlights as The Lighting Conditions got Darker and Darker as Time went by.
At 16:15PM A Massive Group of Cars came Flying Down Through Paddock Hill Bend with KA Number 55 Al Most Racers on the Inside Line 127 Fat Boys Racing on the Middle Line and 39 Kameleon Racing's Chris Bright Richard Cox Steve Goldsmith and Leigh Youles Michael on the Outside Line as they Fought their way Through the Bend and Up Towards Druids.
At 16:21PM Piston Heads Racing KA Number 98 was Seen Leading another Group of Cars Through Paddock Hill Bend with Numbers 41 52 33 and 2 All Fighting for Places as they Came Towards Paddock Hill Bend.
16:24PM and The Paddock Hill Bend Gravel Trap Claims Another Victim This Time the Number 131 KA of Team Viking Had Ended up Taking a Trip Through it Before a Half Spin Left Him Facing the Marshalls Post Opposite before Returning to the Track after Losing a Few Places. Recovery Teams set to work Once Again with The Safety Car Being Called into Action for The Third Time.
16:40PM and at The Top of Paddock Hill Bend a Three way Fight Becomes a Two Way Fight as The Number 127 KA of Fat Boys Racing Goes for a Spin after Trying to Get a Run on the Number 19 KA of LDR Performance Tuning with The Number 14 Car of Frugal Racing Just Narrowly Missing The Spinning Car.
16:42PM and a Final Intense Battle Between the Number 44 KA and The Number 1 KA of Burton Power Racing's Andy Burton Kyle Sagar Tom Valentine and Sammy Venables as They Fight Hard to try and Take that Position away from Mini Challenge to Round off The 6th Hour.
Hour 7 (16:50PM)
The Seventh Hour and at The Bottom of Surtees a Massive Crash is Heard as The KA's of Number 42 The K Teams (Paul Simmons Edward Simmons Glen Woodbridge Damo) is Seen Running off Track with Number 13 Deranged Motorsport Onto The Grass and Number 81 GM Performance Being Spun Out Trying to Avoid The Carnage in Front. All Drivers Okay and They Get back on Track and Continue on As Day Turns into Night.
17:02PM and a Top of Druids The Ka's of Number 72 Misty Racings (Adam Bonham and Simon Bonham) are Fighting Hard to Keep their Position from the Number 49 Car of LDR Performance Tuning as well as Number 7 of G and B Finch Trying to Find a Way Through on the Outside of Druids. The 98 of Piston Heads is also Closing in by This Stage with Headlights A Blaze.
17:05PM and Coming Towards Druids is a Sea of KA's All With Headlights A Blaze as they Fight for Positions Cars Number 60 3 19 and 39 All in Different Positions and Yet Still Fighting to try and Gain an Advantage that Could Swine this Endurance Race in Any of the Teams Favours. Further Back 127 and 140 Are Doing Battle on the Run Up Towards Druids.
17:09PM Once Again Another Battle at Druids This Time its The Trio of Number 127 36 and 60 That are All Trying to Better One Another in their Attempt to Gain a Place with Number 36 IP Racing Leading The Way.
17:14PM One Final Battle is Seen Coming Up towards Druids with The Number's 18 44 55 and 2 Fighting it Out Number 2 Kastrol's Has The Lead of This Group of Cars with Blazing Bright Headlights to Aid the Drivers Around The Circuit.
17:27PM and Now Darkness was Everywhere Making Visibility Very Difficult and Yet this did not Stop the Likes of Cars Number 128 JTR's Eliot Mason Nick Tandy David Mason and James Rhodes from Battling with Car Number 16 M and D Racing's Alex Martin Daniel Martin Tony Perfect and Mathew Rowling. In a Daring Move in the Pitch Black Darkness The Two Cars Go Side by Side Trying to Gain One over The Other Before JTR's Takes The Inside Line and The Position.
17:30PM Another Daring Battle is Captured Between The Number 180 Car of (Shine Auto motive's Colin French Mathew Eldridge and Wayne Clelland) and Number 44 (Mini Challenge's Max Coates Dominic Whitely Lewis Saunders and Dan Zelos) Defending The Outside Line as Best as they Can but Ultimately Shine Automotive Makes their way Through.
17:51PM A KA is Seen Flying Down Through The Bottom of Druids and into a Cloud of Dust Caused by Another KA Going off The KA is Just Barely Visible Showing The Dangers of what can Happen at Night When Visibility Becomes Low or Obstructed. Other KA's Soon Followed Through the Dust Cloud as Well with Many Backing off Slightly In case a Car was Stuck out on The Track but Thankfully All was Good as Hour 7 Ended.
Hour 8 (17:56PM) (THE FINAL HOUR)
The FINAL Hour of The 8 Hour Indy KA 500 and With Every Driver Now Getting into a Rhythm it was Up to Each Teams Last Driver to Strap in and Go for it to the Checkered Flag. However not All had gone to Plan for every Driver as The Number 29 KA of LDR Performance Tuning Found Out Slipping into the Gravel and Costing Them a Ridge Back to the Pits for Repairs with Less than 1 Hour to go.
18:00PM and The Number 2 KA of Kastrol's was Captured Racing Through Paddock Hill Bend During The Night Pushing Incredibly Hard to Ensure a Good Top 25 Finnish in the Points with Headlights Illuminating their way Around Paddock Hill Bend as The Car Flew Through The Bend.
18:30PM The Safety Car was Out for The Last Time During The Race and was Captured Leading a whole Train of KA's Through Pilgrims Drop and Onto Clearways with Each Driver Poised and Ready to Get Going Once the Safety Car Had Come In.
19:07PM An Amazing Sight to Behold with Just 15 Minutes Left on the Clock a Huge Rush of KA's Flooded their way Down The Main Straight and Past The Start Finnish Straight with Headlights on Full Beam to Aid in Visibility. The Number 8 KA Leads The way in This Group of Cars with The Number 18 CHR Hoonikan Car of Stratton MacKay Dave Mayer and Paul Robson Closing in Behind.
19:09PM And The Green Flag is Dropped for The Final Time as The Safety Car Comes into the Pitlane All 44 Remaining KA's Race Towards Druids with the Field so Bunched up this is Anyone's Race to both Win or Lose at This Stage.
The Number 42 KA of The K Teams Paul Simmons Edward Simmons and Glen Woodbridge Damo takes off Leading from Number 20 A Reeve's Motorsport Aron Reeve Stuart Lane and Andy Godfrey while The Number 127 of Fat Boys Racing Chases Them Down into a Nail Biting Finnish at The Centre of The Field.
19:13PM A Group of Six KA's are Captured Having an Intense Battle with Only 5 Minutes Left to Run The Likes of KA Number 127 36 and 128 All Putting Up One Hell of a Good Fight in The Closing Stages of The Endurance Race with Some Drives Having Driven for 4 Hours Straight.
19:21PM and after 8 Hours of Continuous Racing and 5 KA's Out of The Race The Checkered Flag was Ready and Waiting as The Number 81 KA of GM Performance's Gary Mitchell and Ian Mitchell Takes the Victory at The 2021 8 Hour Indy Car 500!!!! Followed Closely by The Number 72 Car Misty Racing's Adam Bonham and Simon Bonham in Second Place with KA Number 14 Frugal Racing's Jim McDougal Callum McDougal Mike Marais and Leon Bidgeway Taking Third Place.
A Huge Congratulations to The Overall Top Three Winners and to All of the other Teams and Competitors for Showing some Incredible Racing To End of The 2021 Motorsport Season. From
Historic Formula 1 to Classic Touring Cars To The Indy KA 500 This Season Has been One of The Best to Date.
See You All Again Next Year Where We Will do it All Over Again.
Spent 5 days in Fiji in the Yasawa islands, mostly in this hammock that I took this photo from! We spent our time in Fiji in the Blue Lagoon resort - brilliant staff, outstanding food, great spot for snorkelling... Loved this shot because (a) it didn't require me to get up, (b) you can see the hues of the sand, the sea and the sky.
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
Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk
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.
Women Leaders debate: “This House believes that voluntary targets are not enough to fast forward gender equality. Quotas are required.”
The Institute for Government invites you to join six distinguished speakers to debate the case for and against legally binding quotas as a way of promoting gender equality in the workplace.
For the motion:
Silvana Koch-Mehrin was a German Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2014. She is the Founder of the Women in Parliaments a Global Forum (WIP), the worldwide network of female Politicians. From 2009 to 2011 she was Vice-President of the European Parliament, and from 2004 to 2009 she was First Vice-President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
Uschi Schreiber is EY’s Global Markets Leader. Prior to joining EY in 2007 she was a Director-General and Cabinet Secretary of delivery and central agency Government departments in Australia. Uschi has significant experience in driving transformation programs in large organisations. She is a leader in EY’s Diversity & Inclusiveness programs and in progressing women’s issues in an international context.
Dr Andre Spicer is Professor of Organisational Behaviour and the founding director of ETHOS: The Centre for Responsible Enterprise at Cass. He is a frequent guest on the BBC, and regularly writes for CNN, the Guardian and many other news sources. Professor Spicer has worked with a wide range of organisations including UK Houses of Parliament, Barclays. Transport for London, Old Mutual, City UK and New City Agenda. He is author of five books and dozens of research articles. He is currently writing a book about stupidity in organisations.
Against the motion:
Sue Owen became Permanent Secretary for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 1 October 2013. In July 2014 Sue became the Civil Service LGB&T Champion and was appointed overall Civil Service Diversity Champion in August 2015. She has championed diversity and inclusion throughout her career; as an academic working on women's lower lifetime earnings; working on parental leave at No. 10; as disability champion at HM Treasury, researching women's progress to the senior civil service since 2008, as LGB&T Champion in DFID and DWP.
Jo Swinson is a non-executive director of data intelligence company Clear Returns. Previously Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire (2005-15), Jo was a Minister in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and Minister for Women (2012-15) where she introduced shared parental leave, drove increases in the appointment of women to public and private sector boards, and secured government support for new laws on gender pay transparency.
Frances Dickens is Chief Executive and co-founder of Astus Group, which was founded in 2003 by Frances along with Paul Jackson. The company transformed perceptions of media barter in the UK and is now the UK’s biggest media barter company, with an estimated market share in excess of 40%. In December 2014 Frances made it to the finalist round of the NatWest Everywoman Awards 2014, which celebrate the business achievements of the UK’s female entrepreneurs
Photo's by Candice McKenzie
For more photos from #EF25, check out all my Eurofurence 2019 galleries!
If you’d like to use a photo you’re in, feel free to do so (credit is appreciated but not required!) and if you know someone in one of the photos, please feel free to share it with them.
I’m @khakidoggy on Twitter and Telegram, and khakidoggy@me.com by email.
For more furcon photography, check out my other galleries!
As always, share and enjoy!
– Alex “Khaki” Vance
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
A stunning secluded little beach that requires a 15 minute walk from the road, past Boshertston lilly ponds
The brackets had to be fabricated, along with some other minor modifications, as the exhaust wouldn't fit stock.
I thought I'd managed to exorcise Phil Collins from my thoughts at least temporarily but today's piece just couldn't help itself. Today I'm juxtaposing Phil's out of context quote which reveals that it wasn't 5 star all the way when touring in Europe with his band with a ciggy smoking Hamar tribeswoman against. I'm assuming this quote was probably some time in the 80's. You may have been down but you were never out Phil.
Once you've liberally sprinkled in a couple of pilfered logos in and given it a pink and white background then you're good to go with another successful 'No context required' piece. It's laser engraved on wood then hand painted and stands proud at 39 x 26cm. Drop us a line if you're interested...
Cheers
id-iom
The last five months (May-September 2023) required me to move a lot for a variety of professional and personal reasons. It was the first time in several years that I entered airplanes without carrying my DSLR camera. This resulted in me tinkering and thinking with my mobile phone camera, surpassing my snobbish attitude towards it as means of photographic expression. Visiting an old favourite antique store of mine, I was exposed to wallet-sized black and white pictures, very fashionable in the 1920s-1960s. Phenomenologically, I thought, these little pictures carried significance similar to the one carried by the myriads of photos nowadays stored on mobile phones. I tried to combine the sensory experience of black and white with the ease of mobile phone shooting, itself resembling certain types of pinhole cameras. Themes are the same as in my earlier photography: decayed and rusty patterns of disintegration, emptiness of spaces, outlier figures of the everyday, street signs and letters, nonhuman friends, naturecultures, and psychopolitically haunted scenes. Places include: Canada (Toronto), Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki, Aghia, Larissa, Eleftheroupoli, Kavala), Scotland (Edinburgh), France (Paris), Belgium (Brussels).
*Mods Required*
Front: 18x10 ET25 with 25mm spacers and 275/35-18 tires
Rear: 18x11 ET44 with 20mm spacers and 295/30-18 tires
Tires: Toyo R888Rs
Suspension mods:
• KW V3 coilovers
• G.A.S. Monoballs
• PowerflexUSA bushings
• custom rear toe link
Alignment:
Toe and caster are factory specs
Camber: -2.3* front & -2.5* rear
Owner: www.instagram.com/bmtrdyoo/
Photograph taken by Julian McBain
Rights: VCU Libraries. Attribution required.
Further information: Communications and Public Relations Office, VCU Libraries, (804) 828-0129
Anaglyph Format:
Red/Cyan filtered 3D glasses required for viewing.
This is also an OOF (Out Of Frame), also known as OOB (Out Of Bounds).
The Great Egret is a large bird with all-white plumage that can reach one meter in height, weigh up to 950 grams (2.1 lb) and a wingspan of 220 to 265 cm. It is thus only slightly smaller than the Great Blue or Grey Heron (A. cinerea). Apart from size, the Great Egret can be distinguished from other white egrets by its yellow bill and black legs and feet, though the bill may become darker and the lower legs lighter in the breeding season. In breeding plumage, delicate ornamental feathers are borne on the back. Males and females are identical in appearance; juveniles look like non-breeding adults. It is a common species, usually easily seen. It has a slow flight, with its neck retracted. This is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes, ibises and spoonbills, which extend their necks in flight.
Since this was a cha cha, the background water was not in sync. Somehow, I ended up basically converting the majority of the image from 2D-3D.
Eden Camp Modern History Museum is a large Second World War-related museum near Malton in North Yorkshire in England.
It occupies a former Second World War prisoner-of-war camp of 33 huts. After the prisoners left, the camp was used for storage and then abandoned. Its grounds then became overgrown. As the museum was being set up, much clearing, as well as repair and renovation of the buildings, was required.
One of its buildings contains three human torpedoes and a "Sleeping Beauty" Motorised Submersible Canoe.The museum has fully restored a Super Sherman (M50) to its original working classic, amongst many other military vehicles which are now on display in the Heritage Hall - a new purpose built events & exhibition centre.
The museum also has a reproduction V1.
Original Use
Early 1942: The War Office identified and requisitioned the site from Fitzwilliam Estates. Tents were established inside a barbed wire enclosure.
Mid-1943: By then a permanent camp was completed and the first Italian prisoners of war were moved in.
End of 1943: By then the Italian prisoners of war were moved out.
Early 1944: The camp provided accommodation for Polish forces amassed in the North Yorkshire area in preparation for an invasion of Europe.
Mid-1944: By then the first German prisoners of war arrived at Eden Camp.
Early 1949: The last German prisoner of war left the camp.
1950 to 1955: Eden Camp was used as an agricultural holiday camp where guests paid for board and lodgings to work on local farms. School children stayed at Eden Camp during school holidays to learn more about the countryside and agriculture. 1952: It was used as a Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries depot.
1955: The site was returned to Fitzwilliam Estates who leased it to Headley Wise and Sons who owned Malton Minerals. The huts were used for drying and storing grain and rearing pheasants on grain.
1985: Stan Johnson bought the site intending to set up a potato crisp factory. But three Italian ex-Eden Camp prisoners of war approached him seeking permission to look around the camp, and thus the idea of preserving the camp and opening it as a museum was born. By then the site had become severely overgrown with wild vegetation, which had to be cleared.
Museum Use
21 March 1987: Eden Camp Museum opened to the public. It is billed as the world's first Modern History Theme Museum and ten huts were used for display.
1990: Hut 24, the first of a series of five huts designated to display the military and political events worldwide between 1919 and 1945, opened.
1992: Eden Camp won the Yorkshire Tourist Board's 'Visitor Attraction of the Year' and came second in the England for Excellence English Tourist Board's Awards for Tourism.
1995: The last remaining empty hut opened and was dedicated to coincide with the 50th Anniversary VE Day celebrations. The museum also won its second Yorkshire Tourist Board 'Tourism for All' award.
1996: It won the award again.
1998: Eden Camp won the Yorkshire Tourist Board's 'Visitor Attraction of the Year' award.
1999: Hut 13 opened to cover military conflicts which British Commonwealth forces have been involved in since the end of the Second World War up to the present day.
2000: Hut 11 opened to include the events of the First World War.
2001: Eden Camp was voted runner up attraction to the London Eye by the readers of Group Travel Organiser magazine.
8 November 2002: Prince Philip visited the museum.
2002: Start of refurbishment of Hut 10, which now houses a comprehensive collection of P.O.W artefacts
2006: Medal Room set up.
2009: Completion of redevelopment of Hut 22, Forces Reunion, where hundreds of photos of personnel can be seen.
2021: Eden Camp announce redevelopment of Hut 5's Blitz Experience, by Technically Creative.
2022: Following closures during the pandemic, the museum invested approximately a quarter of a million pounds into refurbishing in the camp. New rooves, doors and windows were installed on the 80 year old building, the front of site was re-landscaped, and the museum launched its Green Policy with an aim to become Carbon Neutral by 2030. Multiple wild flower sites were sewn across the site, and a new toilet block with self sufficient solar panels was erected. In addition the Museum replaced the Diesel Generator with a new electricity cable reducing the annual carbon footprint by over 77%!
April 2022: The new BLITZ EXPERIENCE was launched, creating a interactive and fully immersive experience by using historic artefacts and modern technology. The new Heritage Hall was also launched to house the restored military vehicles on site. This Hall also doubles as a wedding and events space available to hire. It is complete with stage, bar and full AV equipment.
January 2023: Eden Camp has acquired its ceremony license to hold Wedding ceremonies as well as receptions from
January 2023. There are multiple huts available under the license and all packages are bespoke to each booking.
Malton is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town has a population measured for both the civil parish and the electoral ward at the 2011 Census as 4,888.
The town is located to the north of the River Derwent which forms the historic boundary between the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire.
Until 2023 the town was part of the Ryedale district and was the location of the headquarters of the district council.
Facing Malton on the other side of the Derwent is Norton. The Karro Food Group (formerly known as Malton Bacon Factory), Malton bus station and Malton railway station are located in Norton-on-Derwent.
Malton is the local area's commercial and retail centre. In the town centre there are small traditional independent shops and high street names. The market place has recently become a meeting area with a number of coffee bars and cafés opening all day to complement the public houses.
Malton has been described as "the food capital of Yorkshire", and was voted one of the best places to live in Britain by The Sunday Times in both the 2017 and 2018 lists.
Malton was named the dog-friendliest town in the UK at the annual Dog Friendly Awards, in association with the Kennel Club in 2018/19. In 2020 Malton was named as one of the most dog-friendly staycation spots in the UK and the best in Yorkshire.
A seven foot long british oak canoe was found on the farm of Mr Hebden Flowers of South Holme in 1869. The relic was taken to Malton, being intended for the Yorkshire Philosophical Society's museum.
The earliest established building at Malton comes from the late first century AD when a Roman auxiliary fort was established, probably c. 71 AD under the governor Petilius Cerialis around the same time as Eboracum, although it has been suggested that both sites may be slightly earlier. The site was established on the north bank of the River Derwent. A large civilian settlement developed opposite the fort, on the south of the river at Norton. A single Roman cavalry unit, the Ala Gallorum Picentiana is recorded from the site.Derventio the romans left in 429AD when the empire collapsed
The site remained occupied (and subject to continued development) throughout the four centuries of Roman occupation in Britain, particularly in the Trajanic, Severan, Constantian and Theodosian periods and is notable for the manufacture of jet jewellery at the site as well as a single unique inscription identifying a goldsmith shop.
There was some form of settlement in New Malton by 1138 and Old Malton was probably also founded in the 1100s; a Gilbertine monastery was built between 1147 and 1154 in Old Malton, while the monastic church was probably built around 1180. The first reference to a market in New Malton was in a 1283 document, indicating that craftsmen and others, such as butchers, were selling their wares.
Earlier, in the 11th century, a wooden Norman castle, Malton Castle, was built in what is now Castle Garden. This was rebuilt in stone by Eustace de Vescy (1169-1216) by the time Richard the Lionheart visited the castle in 1189. Other visitors included Edward II, in 1307 and Robert the Bruce in 1322. The great house subsequently became ruined.
The castle site was inherited by Lord William Eure (c. 1483–1548) in 1544, when he was also made a baron.[note 1] In 1569 Ralph Eure built a new house on the castle site and in 1602, the house was rebuilt in much grander style. This was a spectacular property and it was described by the diarist and gunpowder plotter Sir Henry Slingsby as the rival of many other great houses, including that at Audley End.
The house was subsequently demolished in 1674 and the stones divided between two sisters, Mary (who married into the Palmes family) and Margaret Eure. (The site is now Castle Garden.) They had quarrelled over their inheritance and the demolition was the settlement ordered by Sheriff Henry Marwood. The Old Lodge Hotel is the remaining fragment of the original Jacobean "prodigy house" and its size hints at the grandeur of the complete structure.
According to contemporary archives, during the 18th century attention was paid to improving the facilities for traders in Malton, in particular for the numerous butchers.
Malton Town Hall was first used as a butter market, butter being the main marketable product for many farmers of the day. The town hall was extended and changed at various intervals over the years.
The town's Shambles, currently opposite Malton Town Hall, used to be located on the north side of St Michael's Church, which still stands in the centre of the Market Place. The Talbot Hotel, still standing and renovated, dates back to the early 17th century and may contain remnants of the medieval town wall. It was initially used as a hunting lodge and became an inn in 1740; it was also a coach stop. The property, with its associated buildings in Talbot Yard, is now Grade II listed. In the Victorian era, it was known as Kimberley's Hotel.
A sure sign of a town 'up and coming' was the advertisement of a 'light coach, setting out from Leeds to Scarborough returning to Malton to dine.'
In the last year of the 18th century, there was a famine in the area, and a soup kitchen was set up in a brew house in the town. The Earl Fitzwilliam of the time subscribed to a fund, which helped provide 'good strong soup' for the hungry poor.
In 1801 the population of Old and New Malton numbered 3,788. The workhouse contained 15 elderly people and 17 children.
In 1809 Malton's Talbot Hotel was extended and modernised with a third floor being added and new stables being constructed across the road from the hotel.
The town's Assembly Rooms were opened in 1814, a place in which 'polite society' could mingle. An 1833 Gazeteer stated that New Malton did a great deal of trade in coal, corn, butter, etc. There were two churches, four meeting houses for "dissenters", a free school and a national school. A bridge connected this town to Old Malton. Several schools or academies were operating by the 1820s, on a fee basis.
According to the 1840 edition of White’s Gazetteer, Malton's "town and suburbs have much improved during the last twenty years, by the erection of houses; and gas works were constructed in 1832." The streets of Malton were lit with gas for the first time on 12 November 1832; the first electric light was lit in 1893, powered by a dynamo, in a single location. By 1867, the Malton Waterworks was supplying residents with water.
By 1835, medical care was being provided at The Dispensary on Saville Street; this was a predecessor of the Malton Cottage Hospital which would not open until August 1905, funded by donations and a subscription. As late as 1841, dental care was provided by barbers; a Mr. Moseley was a prominent "surgeon-dentist".
Newspapers were well established in 1855, when the tax on newspapers was repealed. The Malton Messenger and The Malton & Norton Gazette were both weekly publications.
In 1856, the town was policed by the North Riding, with four men and a superintendent. Thomas Wilson was the Chief Police Officer. The Malton Town Gaol had been opened decades earlier. Work on new police house started in October 1893. By 1881, the Malton Fire Brigade, was operating with a steam engine.
In 1881, the population of Old and New Malton totalled 8,750 persons. Newer industries in New Malton included iron and brass foundries.
The development of the local railway network flourished during the mid-1800s – the York to Scarborough railway opened in 1845 and the Malton and Driffield Junction Railway opened in 1853. The Malton railway station is now Grade II listed (since 1986).
During the early 1900s, electricity was installed in much of the town. Before the Second World War, several buildings were erected, including the Court House, Cottage Hospital and Police Station. The town was bombed during the war.
The navigation capacity on the Derwent was one of the earliest in Britain to be significantly improved around 1725, enabling extensive barge traffic to transport goods and produce.
The navigation continued to compete with the railway, having been extended as far as Yedingham after 1810. The river's use as a highway declined only after it was bought by the Railway itself and cheaper coal began to arrive by rail, while river maintenance was deliberately neglected.
In Medieval times, Malton was briefly a parliamentary borough in the 13th century, and again from 1640 to 1885; the borough was sometimes referred to as 'New Malton'. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1868, among them the political philosopher Edmund Burke, and by one member from 1868 to 1885.
North Yorkshire Council is the local authority.
The current Member of Parliament for Thirsk and Malton (since 2015) is Kevin Hollinrake of the Conservative Party.
The Fitzwilliam family has been important in the history of Malton for centuries, and its descendants, as the Fitzwilliam Malton Estate, own much of the commercial area in and around the town. In 1713 The Hon Thomas Watson-Wentworth (father of the 1st Earl of Malton and Marquess of Rockingham) purchased the Manor of Malton, beginning a long association between the town and the Wentworth, Watson-Wentworth, Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, and Naylor-Leyland families. A book detailing the history since 1713 was published in 2013, written by Norman Maitland, entitled 300 years of continuity and change: families and business in Malton from the 18th century to the present.
Attractions in modern Malton include the signposted remains of the Roman fort at 'Orchard Fields', and Malton Priory a Gilbertine priory. Eden Camp, a military themed museum, is located just outside the town. Malton Museum is located at the Subscription Rooms in Yorkersgate. The town has an independent cinema (The Palace Cinema), which also houses a shopping mall, a theatre (The Milton Rooms) and independent retailers, high street shops, cafés, public houses and restaurants. Malton’s independent microbrewery, Brass Castle Brewery, hosts an annual spring 'BEERTOWN' festival at the town's Milton Rooms. Brass Castle brew their full range of vegan and gluten-free beers in the centre of Malton, including the 2015 UK Supreme Champion Cask Beer: ‘Burnout’. A second microbrewery company in the town is Malton Brewery, which is known for a Yorkshire Pudding Beer produced at Cropton Brewery. Malton Brewery itself is one of Britain’s smallest, located in a listed building at Navigation Wharf.
Both towns are known in connection with Charles Dickens, who made regular visits to the area to see his friend Charles Smithson. Dickens did not write A Christmas Carol while staying in Malton, but was inspired by some of the buildings in the town. There have been recent revivals of Dickens-related festivals. Malton and the neighbouring village of Old Malton provide the settings for the collection of stories told in the book, All is Bright - A Yorkshire Lad's Christmas by Dave Preston.
In September 2013 Ryedale District Council issued their Local Plan Strategy. The current Local Plan, produced in September 2013, supports Malton (together with Norton, its twin town on the south side of the river Derwent) as Ryedale District's Principal Town. The Local Plan sees Malton's historic town centre as the thriving and attractive cultural and economic heart of the area. During the Plan's period until 2027, Malton and Norton will be the focus for the majority of any new development and growth including new housing, employment and retail units. The Local Plan establishes a level of housebuilding of 200 units per annum for the whole district in order to deliver at least 3,000 (net) new homes over the period of 2012 to 2027. Approximately 50% of the planned supply – around 1,500 new homes - will be directed to Malton and Norton. A further plan for employment land is proposed for Malton. Of the 37 hectares of employment land required to meet the needs of the district until 2027, approximately 80% will be allocated towards Malton and Norton. For retail development the plan reflects Malton's role as the main retail centre serving Ryedale, and will direct most new retail and other town centre uses to Malton in order to support and promote its role as a shopping, employment, leisure and cultural centre for Ryedale.
Malton holds a market every Saturday, and a farmers' market once every month. The town has a war memorial and several historical churches (Norton-on-Derwent also holds large church buildings). The town is served by Malton railway station. The livestock market, currently situated on the edge of the town centre will be relocated to a site close to Eden Camp once construction work there is complete.
Malton is the middle-ground between York, Pickering (access to the North York Moors and also a terminus of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway), Scarborough, Filey and Whitby. The route of The White Rose Way, a long-distance walk from Leeds to Scarborough, North Yorkshire also passes through Malton.
Malton and Norton are significant for their horse racing connections and have a number of training stables in the vicinity. The Malton Stables Open Day, held in August 2013, showcased 19 trainer stables. Writer Norman Maitland describes the history of horse racing as "being in the blood in this part of Yorkshire for generations..." with meetings being advertised as early as 1692. The Malton Races were run on Langton Wolds, between 1692 and 1861.
Malton is also used to flooding, with notable floods in 1999, 2000, 2007, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021.
The 'We Love Malton' campaign was launched in March 2009. It aimed to reinvigorate the town of Malton as a 'Food Lovers' destination and raise its appeal with both residents and tourists. The 2015 festival included special guest chef Rosemary Shrager. The Festival for 2018 took place on 27 and 28 May. A harvest festival was also scheduled for 8 September. By 2017, the town was considered to be the food capital of Yorkshire. Malton is also well located for visiting the North York Moors and the seaside towns of Whitby, Scarborough and Bridlington.
Formed in 2011, Malton CIC benefits the area with donations to local organisations, including Ryedale Book Festival. The CIC also finances and provides two hours free parking in Malton's Market Place. It helps organise and fund Malton Food Lovers Festival and the Malton Monthly Food Markets.
Malton's churches include St Michael's Anglican church and Ss Leonard & Mary Catholic church. Preliminary work has commenced at the Methodist Wesley Centre which aims to repurpose the centre for use as a community hub alongside its purpose as a place of worship.
There are two secondary schools in Malton and Norton, Malton School, founded in 1547, and Norton College. Primary education is provided by St Mary's RC Primary School, Norton Community Primary School and Malton Community Primary School. The nearest independent school is Terrington Hall Prep School.
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Yorkshire and ITV Yorkshire. Television signals are received from either the Emley Moor or Oliver's Mount TV transmitters. BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees is also received in the town from the Bilsdale TV transmitter.
Malton's local radio stations are BBC Radio York, Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, Capital Yorkshire and Coast & County Radio.
The local newspapers that cover the town are The York Press and Gazette & Herald.
As with the rest of the British Isles and Yorkshire, Malton possesses a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest Met Office weather station for which records are available is High Mowthorpe, about 6 miles (10 km) east of the town centre. Due to its lower elevation, the town centre is likely to be marginally warmer than High Mowthorpe throughout the year.
Malton railway station is a stop on the York-Scarborough line. TransPennine Express operates hourly trains in each direction between Scarborough and York; alternate services continue on to Leeds and Manchester Piccadilly. With a change at York, it is possible to reach London Kings Cross in around two and a half hours; a journey to Leeds takes around 50 minutes.
There are long-term aspirations to reopen the former railway between Malton and Pickering; this would provide services to Whitby over a distance of 32 miles (51 km).
Malton is bypassed by the A64, which runs between Leeds, York and Scarborough; there is a junction at the A169 to Pickering and Whitby.
Malton's main bus routes are run by Yorkshire Coastliner, a division of the Transdev Blazefield bus group; services link the town with Leeds, York, Whitby and Scarborough. Ryedale Community Transport operate regular services to Pickering, Castle Howard and Hovingham.
Notable people from Malton
Alan Brown – racing driver
Edmund Carter – cricketer
Adrian Dalby – cricketer
Brian Dutton – English professional football coach and former player
Simon Dyson – golfer
Terry Dyson – professional football player
Tim Easterby – racehorse trainer. Easterby's training stables Habton Grange are near Malton
Edgar Firth – cricketer
Scott Garnham – actor
Charles Hall – New Zealand politician
Francis Jackson – organist and composer
Richard Leonard MSP – Leader of the Scottish Labour Party (2017-2021)
James Martin – TV chef
Leo Sheffield – singer and actor
Jon Sleightholme – former England Rugby Union international
John Smith – author of Fruits and Farinacea and Principles and Practice of Vegetarian Cookery, an ovo-lacto vegetarian cookbook.
Ryan Swain – TV & Radio Presenter & DJ
Alfred Tinsley – cricketer
The village of Dolen has the status of an architectural reserve, which has over 300 traditional Rhodope houses.
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The last five months (May-September 2023) required me to move a lot for a variety of professional and personal reasons. It was the first time in several years that I entered airplanes without carrying my DSLR camera. This resulted in me tinkering and thinking with my mobile phone camera, surpassing my snobbish attitude towards it as means of photographic expression. Visiting an old favourite antique store of mine, I was exposed to wallet-sized black and white pictures, very fashionable in the 1920s-1960s. Phenomenologically, I thought, these little pictures carried significance similar to the one carried by the myriads of photos nowadays stored on mobile phones. I tried to combine the sensory experience of black and white with the ease of mobile phone shooting, itself resembling certain types of pinhole cameras. Themes are the same as in my earlier photography: decayed and rusty patterns of disintegration, emptiness of spaces, outlier figures of the everyday, street signs and letters, nonhuman friends, naturecultures, and psychopolitically haunted scenes. Places include: Canada (Toronto), Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki, Aghia, Larissa, Eleftheroupoli, Kavala), Scotland (Edinburgh), France (Paris), Belgium (Brussels).
The steering shaft had been changed as required by rules in 1962 so I built a new steering column like the original. The peddles steering wheel and steering shaft were triple chrome plated. I made up new tie rods for the front steering that was also chrome plated. The wheels are original and in nice shape and were glass bead blasted and repainted with an original metallic gold paint.
From the August 2016 return trip to Siem Reap and the Angkor complex:
I love the Angkor complex, Siem Reap, and the Cambodian people so much that I returned again for about a week to photograph as much of the “non-major” sites as I could. Some of them are slightly far from Angkor Wat (by that, I mean to say more than 10 kilometers away), and usually require a little more money to get to. Also, some of the sites (Beng Mealea, Phnom Kulen) are not included in the Angkor ticket price and have an additional admission fee.
I don’t know if there’s a set number of how many sites belong in the Angkor complex, though I’m sure it would vary. (Do you only count the major sites like Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Prohm? Do you add the sites that aren’t included in the standard “Angkor Pass,” but are clearly of the same era? Do you include sites that aren’t even named (as are one of the sites in this series)? All in all, I’ll put a very rough number at…50 sites in the Siem Reap area, and that includes the sites that are about 100 km away. Of those, I would say I’ve been to all but 5-10 now. All are included here with the exception, obviously, of the sites that I didn’t visit. (Off the top of my head, I can say they include Koh Ker & that respective group, which is about 120 km ENE of Siem Reap; Phnom Krom, one of the three “mountains” with temples; Ta Prohm Kel; and Mangalartha.)
In practical terms, I’m afraid that with the volume of shooting (about 1,500 frames in the past 7 days), photos will start to look redundant to those who don’t have the same interest in ancient/historical architecture or Angkor as I do. That being said, there are a few things besides temples here. The Old Market area (now Night Market/Pub Street) is represented – a little – and Phnom Kulen has a pretty nice waterfall which is also in this series. Also, I tried to catch a few people in here, though didn’t get as many as I would’ve liked.
I had my friend Mao (tuktuk driver) take me around for 5 of these 7 days this time around. As I mentioned last time, he may cost a little more than what you can arrange through a hotel/guesthouse, but he’s well worth the money (and, in the grand scheme of things, not too expensive; I paid less than $200 for the five days, two of which were “long” trips). He loves his country and heritage, he knows what he’s showing you, he’s flexible, he gives you enough ice water to keep you hydrated, and he’s just a good guy. (He even bought me a birthday cake for cryin’ out loud…) Anyway, I highly recommend Mao. You can find him here: www.facebook.com/mao.khvan (or on Trip Advisor: www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297390-d10726821-R... )
Now that shameless plugs and other assorted rhetoric are out of the way, it’s time to get on to the temples, ruins, and other miscellany.
The fifth day (and last time I’ll see Mao unless I go back to Siem Reap again) started just the same as my birthday. Chhiengmai brought me a ham & cheese omelette at the hotel, then Mao picked me up and off we went.
Following the same route to Banteay Kdei, we took a right and headed out on the grand loop. The first stop was at Pre Rup, which I’d seen in May, but wanted to photograph again this time around. I love the May shots because it’s in afternoon light, so there are some nice silhouette shots in there. This time, however, was early morning. We didn’t shoot as extensively as we did in May; only staying on the eastern side of the temple and not ascending it. Still, it’s a rather striking temple and worth seeing, even with the restoration that looks as if it hasn’t been touched since May – and didn’t look like it was being touched then, either.
Pre Rup is on the southeast corner of the Grand Loop. From there, continue north. Right before you reach East Mebon is a road going east. (This is the road that would lead you to Banteay Samré if taken straight, or Banteay Srei, Phnom Kulen, and Kbal Spean, if you turn left at the first intersection about 1 kilometer east from here.)
Our second destination, though, was Phnom Bok. To reach here, continue east on the aforementioned road – pass Banteay Samré – taking the first left, then continuing north about 5-10 minutes. All in all, it’s about 20 minutes from the Grand Loop road.
Having seen snow-capped mountains enough in my life, I chuckle to call these mountains instead of hills. However, Angkor is in a large plain, as you can see in these pictures, so any hill looks like a mountain. In the same breath, these aren’t baby hills.
Mao’s wife and daughter stayed with the tuktuk while we went clambering up the hill. I was giving Mao a good ribbing about him not being my friend for making me climb a mountain in tropical heat, but it really wasn’t too bad. He said, “there are only 100 stairs to the top!” I laughed and said there’s no way that’s a mountain then. We walked up a hill for about five minutes before getting to the bottom of the staircase on the south side of the mountain that goes to the summit. He still insisted it was only 100 steps. I counted, just for fun. Turns out, there are 626 steps, give or take one, to the top of the hill and, even when you get to the top, you still have to climb up…a little farther.
As I mentioned, though, it wasn’t a bad climb. The first 400 or so steps are forested, so you’re in shade, though it’s hot and humid. After that, the views of the surrounding plains open up which are quite nice. Mostly, you can see to the south or southeast. I couldn’t see any of the main temples which would be southwest from here. (I couldn’t see them from the peak when looking southwest, though, either…)
At the top of Phnom Bok, there’s a little shelter/rest area where you can sit and buy ice cold drinks. There’s a new Hindu temple up there, and also the ruins of an Angkor-era temple. Sadly, there are also remnants of the Khmer Rouge era, too; machine gun mounts and the like, surrounding the temple.
After 30-45 minutes on the mountaintop, we went back down and I was glad to have a rest in the tuktuk while we made our way back to the Grand Loop. It was a good chance to rest up and enjoy the scenery (in addition to waving like a fool at every passerby as I’m wont to do).
Upon returning to the Grand Loop road, we made a quick right heading north for about 200 meters to the East Mebon. In May, we stopped here, but didn’t do anything other than climb the main stairs, take a few shots, and head off to lunch. (We were tired by that point.)
Because of that, I told Mao I wanted to take time to extensively go around the East Mebon. It’s a surprisingly nice temple mount. (I don’t know how the West Mebon compares; unlike this one, there is still water in the west baray, and I didn’t go out there.) All told, Mao and I wandered our separate ways here for about half an hour or so. I got back to the tuktuk right before one of the daily summer downpours. Mao was stuck out in the rain, but had my backpack, P&S, and umbrella, so was fine.
After a 5-10 minute rest, a Coke and a smile later, the four of us went back on our way around the Grand Loop continuing clockwise. We bypassed Ta Som (which I’d shot well enough in May) and stopped for a very quick shoot at Prasat Krol Ko. This is a very small temple built in the late 12th and early 13th century by Jayavarman VII. It looks like many of the other temples, so most don’t stop here as it’s not terribly interesting. It’s a temple surrounded by two concentric enclosures, in the Bayon style, and rather small. However, it’s near Neak Pean and Preah Khan, so there’s no reason not to stop. This is a Hindu (I believe) temple, as it’s named/dedicated to a cow. I enjoyed it.
The next stop – Neak Pean – was less than two minutes down the road. (Again, no reason not to stop at both. Neak Pean (sometimes spelled “Neak Poan” and pronounced “neek poh-an”) is architecturally different than most of the other sites, as is the setting. Neak Pean is a cruciform arrangement of ponds that centers on a sanctuary tower on a circular island in the middle. Currently, access is limited and you can’t go all the way around it. You approach from the north over a boardwalk – this crosses over the Jayatataka baray, which offers some nice panoramic views of Phnom Bok about 5 kilometers to the east – and finally arrive at the north end of the monument. You can walk around either side to the eastern and western corners, but can go no farther. There are (were) four different sculpted animals on each of the four small ponds around the sanctuary. Eavesdropping a tour guide, he said the four ponds represent earth, air, fire, and water. I had read somewhere what the four animals were, but can’t seem to find that information now. I was very pleased with this stop, too, mainly because it offered a little variety.
After the nice stroll over the boardwalk back to the tuktuk, we continued heading west. At the turn off for Preah Khan (which I skipped this time since we spent a bit of time here in May), there are also two other nearby, rarely visited temples: Banteay Prei and Prasat Prei. These are immediately north of Preah Khan on the outside of the Loop road. Preah Khan is about 200 meters south on the inside of the loop. Neither of these two temples are listed in either LP Cambodia or my Ancient Angkor guidebook, so I unfortunately can’t tell you a thing about them, but would venture to say they were probably built by Jayavarman VII…but, that’s pure conjecture. They were both rather nice to see, and in a fair state of decomposition, so it lent to nice photography. As they are so close to Preah Khan, again…I don’t see why you wouldn’t visit here. You can see both temples in about 20 minutes without going out of your way to do so.
The next stop on today’s private tour is Krol Romeas. This is a very unassuming structure that is less than five minutes outside the North Gate of Angkor Thom. I’m a little confused about what “romeas” means. At first Mao’s wife told me it meant sheep. Then I believe she said it meant hippopotamus. Either way, this structure was an animal pen for one of those. Given the size and depth, I’ll say hippo enclosure is probably correct. Currently, it’s just a very nice setting in the forest. It’s a round enclosure about 20 meters in diameter, just east of the Grand Loop road.
After Krol Romeas, our next stops were the remaining (for me) gates of Angkor Thom: first, the North Gate for a very quick shoot, then down to Bayon and due west on a relaxing, rarely traveled road to the West Gate. The West Gate is supposed to be the one in the most pristine (unrestored) state, though I thought it looked fine. The setting was good.
By this time, it was getting to be early afternoon, probably around 4:00. The next – and last – stop of the day was south of town, away from the majority of Angkor sites. Going south from the Night Market area of Siem Reap along the river, there are two sites of interest: The main one Is the third of the “major” hills – Phnom Krom. This is supposed to be a nice place to see the sunset. However, from having climbed Phnom Bok earlier in the day, I wasn’t inclined to go here, though it was on my original “wish list” that I gave to Mao. Instead, we just went to the other temple in the area: Wat Athvea (sometimes also written Athwea). This is a very tranquil temple and is great in the late afternoon. It’s attached to a functioning monastery, but isn’t noisy. There is a pagoda built on the site of an ancient temple here. What you see here is a 12th century Hindu temple. There is a cemetery adjacent, but that’s not included in this set.
Upon finishing for the day, Mao dropped me back off at my guesthouse. This would be the last time I saw Mao on this trip, though his wife and daughter insisted on taking me to the airport on Tuesday, so I would see them one more time. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Mao’s a good man (Cambodian Mao, that is…)
As always, I hope you enjoy this set. I appreciate you taking time to look. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a message or leave it via comment.
This requires a snap decision. What you are faced with are these decisions starting from the top:
1) U.S. 101 North (known as the Hollywood Freeway),
2) Interstate 110 (known as the Harbor Freeway from this point south),
3) California 110 (known as the Pasadena Freeway) from this point north
And then there are two signs guaranteed to add to the confusion right there in front of you where it says "Freeway Entrance": there is the U.S. 101 sign again! But with no designation as to whether it is north or south. Actually it goes north from this point and changes its name from the Hollywood Freeway to the Venturea Freeway as it comes out of the Cahuenga Pass.
The sign next to it saying California 110 North/South is plain wrong. From this point California 110 (designated by the green color) and known as the Pasadena Freeway, only goes north. The word "south" and the little arrow pointing to the ground should be removed, if not by CalTrans then by some helpful vandals. Who might just take a hint and bury it in the ground.
Finally, there is the tow truck, a regular and hungry loiterer at this location, waiting for the inevitable car crashes caused by people slamming on their brakes when they realize they have made the wrong decision.
Nikon F3 50mm 1.4 on Fuji200@200
August 2010