View allAll Photos Tagged resolve
Im honor of those who served or who continue to serve in our armed forces. .. The All Veterans Memorial located in Dubuque, Iowa's Marshall Park.
Using only the title and not the description of the theme (sorry) I resolve this simple quadratic equation.
Another interpretation is in the image linked below
A classic “stellar dendrite” snowflake – always a crowd-pleaser! But the real treasure here isn’t the snowflake itself, but the camera gear used to photograph it. This was shot with a Micro Four Thirds camera and a standard macro lens. Nothing exotic, nothing extreme; camera gear you may already have!
I often push the limits of what cameras can capture, right up to the resolving limits introduced through diffraction. At a certain point, no matter how expensive or advanced your camera equipment, you can go no further. However, such equipment can be intimidating to people that want to casually explore a subject. For this snowflake, I used the Lumix GX9 and the Leica 45mm F/2.8 macro lens. The Panasonic 30mm macro or the Olympus 60mm macro would have had comparable results. The Lumix GX9 is an excellent tiny travel camera!
I’ve long suggested that the Micro Four Thirds system is great for macro photography, as you have a perceived magnification increase when you compare the field of view of cameras with larger full-frame sensors. A 1:1 macro lens on full-frame camera would “feel” like a 2:1 (2x) macro lens at the closest focusing distance – which is a huge advantage for subjects like snowflakes. Ideally, you’d want to have at least 2x-3x magnification with larger sensors, sometimes much more than this.
The Leica 45mm macro (Panasonic Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. Lens) is a very decent macro lens that I happen to have had handy at the time of this shooting. However, if there was a lens I’d recommend people buy for snowflake photography on the m4/3 platform, hands down it’s the Laowa 50mm F/2.8 macro: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1585695-REG/venus_optics_v... . Less expensive than most macro lenses, good quality glass, manual focus only but with the ability to shoot 2:1 magnification, you can get the equivalent of 4x on larger sensors. Perfect for snowflakes!
The photos are not just taken with a camera and a lens, but also a ring flash. The best on the market is also far from the most expensive. I always use the Yongnuo YN-14EX II: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1462725-REG/yongnuo_yn_14e... . It’s designed to work with Canon TTL, but I just use it on my Lumix cameras in manual mode. Works perfectly that way (though they also make a native Sony version, manual exposure is ideal for snowflakes).
Are there some limitations? Sure. The GX9 as a small buffer, so only a few dozen images can be captured before you have to wait a while. The resolution of the camera is only 20MP, but for most of my career that was the range I was completely comfortable with. I would argue that there is also an advantage in having a larger camera body for certain subjects, as the extra heft can aid in stability. But the question is: can you photograph a snowflake with extreme detail with a smaller “every-day” camera setup? Yes.
eBook: Macro Photography – The Universe at Our Feet: skycrystals.ca/product/pre-order-ebook-edition-macro-phot... (fully instructive on all things macro, including how to photograph snowflakes)
Buy Me a Coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/donkomphoto
Platypod Exclusive DonKom Macro Studio Bundle: www.platypod.com/products/don-kom-macro-bundle
Halifax, North Carolina, is best known as the home of the Halifax Resolves, a document created by the North Carolina Provincial Congress on April 12th, 1776. The Halifax Resolves empowered North Carolina’s representatives attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia to vote for independence from Great Britain and paved the way for North Carolina’s adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The Halifax Resolves are generally considered the first official act of any colony for independence from Great Britain.
A new Hunger Games-inspired creative portrait from the woods surrounding Fort McMurray, Alberta. The strength of Nicole (who knows how to use this thing).
ISO 100, f.3.5, 1/200-second exposure. Nicole is lit by one off-camera Canon 600EX flash, modified by a small Lastolite Ezybox softbox. I choose a wide open aperture for this one to help isolate Nicole from a somewhat busy background, but one that I wanted to include for the overall story in this image.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Mary Cassatt
1844-1926
Mother Feeding Child
1898
medium-pastel on wove paper mounted on canvas
Movement-Impressionism
An avant-garde painter,pastelist,and printmaker Mary Cassatt occupies a unique place in the history of American art.Her early alliance with the French Impressionists established her reputation as one of the America's leading nineteenth century artists.The subject of this refined pastel is the one that Cassatt made famous-the intimate engagement of a young woman (often a mother) and a child.Working in series,like French colleagues,Cassatt embraced the medium of pastel throughout the 1880s and 1890s.Her large bold drawings are as ambitious as her paintings,but they incorporate and even more dazzling palette and greater spatial daring.This latter example is more resolved in form than some of her sketch-like compositions,if equally immediate in its aesthetic and emotional freshness
" There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul. "
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The photo is of Doylestown Presbyterian Church.
The Presbyterian Congregation of Doylestown started when the Reverend Uriah DuBois came to Doylestown to found Union Academy in 1804, at what is now the corner of East Court and Broad Streets. The Academy served as a private school from its inception until August 1849, when it became part of the public school system. The building was razed in 1889 to make way for the Doylestown Borough School which was destroyed by fire in 1973.
The founding of the Union Academy in 1804 provided an opportunity for the first religious services in the community. The Reverend Uriah DuBois, pastor of the Deep Run Presbyterian Church in Bedminster Township several miles north of Doylestown, was the first principal of Union Academy, and one room in the Academy was set aside for use by all Christian denominations.
The Reverend DuBois divided his pastoral duties between Deep Run and Doylestown. In 1813, the year after Doylestown was made the county seat, the Presbyterians built their first church building on a lot purchased from John Shaw for $400. The new building was dedicated on August 13, 1815. It was constructed of stone, cost about $4200 to build, and stood on the site of the present church building. In 1871, the old church building was torn down and a new edifice was constructed facing East Court Street. The first building had faced Church Street. The new church edifice was dedicated on May 16, 1872. The Reverend DuBois continued to serve as pastor at Deep Run and Doylestown, as well as principal of the Union Academy, until his death in 1821. The congregation was served by supplies, interims, and short pastorates until the Reverend Silas Milton Andrews, D.D., came to serve as minister in 1831. Dr. Andrews' pastorate continued for fifty years. When he came in 1831, there were only 95 members in the two churches at Deep Run and Doylestown. By 1877, membership had grown to 400.
In 1913, the Deep Run and Doylestown congregations were officially merged to become the Deep Run-Doylestown Presbyterian Church. In 1957, a new church was established on the original site at Deep Run and both churches then resumed separate and respective histories.
In 1940, an educational building was constructed behind the church edifice on Mechanics Street. The building was enlarged in 1965 and renamed Andrews Hall in honor of Dr. Silas Andrews who served for fifty years as minister (1831-1881). In the fall of 2011, an eighteen-month project ended that included the expansion of Andrews Hall, renovation of the sanctuary, and construction of an enclosed bridge connecting the two buildings. At the same time, a new mission statement was approved declaring our ongoing resolve to be a "Bridge for Christ and a Beacon of His Love."
Since Dr. Andrews' ministry, the congregation has been served by the Reverends: William A. Patton, 1881-1890; W. Hayes Moore, 1890-1897; Robert M. Labaree, 1899-1904; John M. Waddell, 1904-1907; William E. Steckel, 1908-1920; George M. Whitenack, 1921-1937; Meyer M. Hostetter, 1938-1957; Dr. Thomas S. Goslin II, 1957-1967; George M. Haines, 1968-1970; Kenneth H. Hollenbaugh, 1971-1976; Dr. William C. Barger, 1978-2000; Dr. John M. Willingham, 2003-present.
I have a feeling that in these days many people realize what is really important in their lives. Now make a resolve and follow it up!
A specially upgraded radio-frequency chamber in ESA’s technical heart is testing what is set to become the smallest radar system to be flown in space, hosted aboard a breadbox-sized spacecraft.
Scheduled to fly to the Didymos binary asteroid system with ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence in 2024, the compact radar aboard the Juventas CubeSat will perform the first ever radar sounding inside an asteroid. Juventas will peer up to 100 m deep within the 160-m-diameter Dimorphos moonlet of the 780-m-diameter Didymos asteroid.
CubeSats are mini-satellites built up from standardised 10-cm boxes. Juventas is a ‘6-unit’ CubeSat, measuring 10x20x30 cm, while its quartet of radar antennas measure 1.5 m long each. So the test campaign includes a structural model of the Juventas CubeSat, to evaluate how the body of the miniature spacecraft might affect the radar signals.
The test campaign is taking place inside the ‘Hybrid European Radio Frequency and Antenna Test Zone’ or Hertz chamber at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. However testing here only became feasible after a skillful upgrade.
“An essential element of anechoic test chambers like Hertz are the radio-absorbing foam spikes lining the inside walls, allowing tests to mimic the infinite void of space,” explains ESA antenna engineer Paul Moseley.
“But typically Hertz can only test down to 400 MHz, while Hertz’s main antennas will radiate at 60 MHz. At this frequency the spikes no longer absorb signals, so instead of a dark room the chamber would be turned into a hall of mirrors, throwing out multiple radio reflections that interfere with the accuracy of our measurements.”
ESA’s Hertz team worked with MVG in Italy to devise a new setup making lower frequency testing possible, initially as part of a general upgrade but then specially targeted to enable Juventas testing.
Paul adds: “It’s a combination of hardware and software that allows us to measure in this environment but still reconstruct the correct results, including fibreglass support towers that are transparent to antennas and software that combines measurements made at many different points across the room, in order to cancel out the reflection effects.”
Franco Perez Lissi of ESA’s CubeSats Systems Unit is overseeing the Juventas testing: “We’re measuring the radiation pattern in a full sphere surrounding the antennas- the results of which should also be very useful for Juventas’s critical design review, taking place next month – as well as the total radiated power. This entire campaign additionally serves as a dress rehearsal of sorts for the flight model of Juventas, which is scheduled to be tested here in early 2023.”
The radar aboard Juventas is developed from the Rosetta spacecraft’s CONSERT radar system, which peered into the interior of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. It is a synthetic aperture radar design, meaning it will take advantage of Juventas’s orbit 3 km above the surface of Dimorphos to integrate together multiple signal reflections and resolve them into images.
“We are proud to see Rosetta’s legacy living on in the next generation of deep-space missions,” adds Alain Herique of the University of Grenoble, Principal Investigator of Juventa’s JuRa low-frequency radar.
Juventas is being led for ESA by GomSpace company in Luxembourg with GMV in Romania, with its radar developed by the Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble group at the University Grenoble and Technical University Dresden, with Astronika in Poland constructing the antennas and EmTroniX in Luxembourg contributing the signal generation system.
Hera will also be embarking a second deep space CubeSat, the Italian-led Milani, which will employ a multispectral imager to prospect the asteroid’s surface composition. Hera will be preceded to the Didymos asteroids by NASA’s DART spacecraft which will perform a test deflection of the smaller body. DART is due for launch next Wednesday, 24 November.
Credits: ESA-P. de Maagt
A Strike Fighter Squadron 32 Super Hornet departing the waist catapult of the USS Dwight D Eisenhower (CVN 69) for a night sortie.
The amount of noise, light and vibration put out by those engines was insane.
aeroresource.co.uk/operational-reports/uss-dwight-d-eisen...
aeroresource.co.uk/operational-reports/uss-eisenhower-air...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk0jTEl79dQ (not the best version but so what)
Time rolls
As days go by
And now I've figured
That I ain't gonna last
Summer skies
Are leaving me behind
So resolve your loving said all
I'll be lost when you're gone
Blind me from keep
Blind me
Times told
As days go by
I still ponder this old question why
But now I know
There's no time to decide
So resolve your loving said all
I'll be lost when you're gone
Blind me from keep
Blind me
And daylight knows
How my eyes have tired
Like the circles
Life evermore will bear
So resolve your loving said all
I'll be lost when you're gone
Blind me from keep
Blind me
Class 47/7 47769 'Resolve' with unbranded Virgin Livery at Crewe LNWR taken from a passing train and in heavy rain on the 19th May 2009.
A Rafale M from the FS Charles de Gaulle air wing practises a touch and go approach onto the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, whilst both ships were deployed in the Mediterranean supporting Operation Inherent Resolve.
aeroresource.co.uk/operational-reports/uss-dwight-d-eisen...
aeroresource.co.uk/operational-reports/uss-eisenhower-air...
First Lt. Kayla Bowers, a 74th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot, looks out of the cockpit of her aircraft during the squadron’s deployment in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve at Graf Ignatievo, Bulgaria, March 18, 2016. Operation Atlantic Resolve is a demonstration of the United States’ continued commitment to the collective security of NATO and dedication to the enduring peace and stability of Europe. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Joe W. McFadden)
I like standing in bushes while strange old men stare at me :)
Shooting every day is fun, I should try it sometime...
Otra impresionante muestra de la ultima tormenta que azotó por La Plata. Esos colores realmente impresionantes cuando los frentes de ráfagas se "chocaban" la verdad aún sigo impresionada de lo que vi.
Ayer por una extraña razón,han tenido que mandar la 334 de reserva para hacer el th de Madrid,apartando la prima en la estación.
Todo bien hasta que hoy,la 333.403 fué la que llevó la 334 apagada hasta Coruña,dando esta imagen tan peculiar cruzando el puente de Neda
You will find 184+ of my poems HERE. fno.org/poetry/index.html
I like to post this poem each year at this time . . .
Resolved
Shall we be even more bold this next year?
More brave and adventurous than last year?
Take more chances?
Risk more?
Shoot for the moon?
Bet the ranch?
Is this the year to go for glory?
Seize the day, the month, the actual year?
Carpe diem, mensis, annum?
Can we ask Lady Luck to visit?
Smile upon us?
End her long holiday elsewhere
and pay attention to our hopes?
Our wishes?
Our dreams?
Or is it better to go it alone?
Impertinent?
Cheeky and audacious to carve out our own good fortune?
Give the Lady leave?
Write her out of the story?
Shall we plot a tale of great adventure?
Leave nothing to chance?
Shall we grab life by the horns?
Of course we shall
We will step boldly
Unbowed
Resolute
Determined
Resilient
And Lady Luck can come along for the ride
If she wishes
© Jamie McKenzie, all rights reserved
You will find more of my poems and songs here
and in The Storm in Its Passing and Flights of Fancy.
My songs are at
Meaning "Sea Eagle with a White Head, the scientific name Haliaeetus leucocephalus even eventually informed the common name--Bald Eagle. "Bald" used to refer to white, as opposed to hairless. This is a raptor with extreme powers, and one must be happy that they do not come in the size of velociraptors! Even at there real size of slightly less than 15 pounds, their eyes are about the same size as our own. However, theirs offer sharpness and resolving power four times that of the human eye! They are also able to withstand wildly cold temperatures, with their feather-insulated skin and legs that consist mostly of tendons so as not to be damaged by weather extremes, while their bodies maintain internal temperatures of approximately 106 degrees F.
These Bald Eagles were injured and are now cared for by the Hawk Creek Wildlife Center.
Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Today however, we are south of the Thames in the middle-class London suburb of Putney in the front room of a red brick Edwardian villa in Hazelwood Road, where Lettice has come to collect a hat from her childhood chum Gerald’s friend, Harriet Milford. The orphaned daughter of a solicitor with little formal education, Harriet has taken in lodgers to earn a living, but more importantly for Lettice, has taken up millinery semi-professionally to give her some pin money*. As Lettice’s mother, Lady Sadie, has forbidden Lettice to wear a shop bought hat to Leslie, Lettice’s brother’s, wedding in November and Lettice has quarrelled with her own milliner, Madame Gwendolyn, Gerald thought that Harriet might benefit as much from Lettice’s patronage as Lettice will by purchasing one of Harriet’s hats to resolve her fashion conundrum. Today is judgement day as Harriet presents Lettice with her millinery creation.
Lettice’s critical eye again glances around the front parlour of the Putney villa, which doubles as Harriet’s sewing room and show room for her hats. She crinkles her nose in distaste. She finds the room’s middle-class chintzy décor an affront to her up-to-date interior design sensitivities, with its flouncy floral Edwardian sofa and roomy armchair by the fire, a pouffe hand embroidered by Harriet’s deceased mother and the busy Edwardian floral wallpaper covered with a mixture of cheap botanical prints and quaint English country scenes, all in gaudy gilded plaster frames. Yet what makes it even worse is that no attempt has been made to tidy the room since her last visit a month ago. Harriet’s concertina sewing box on casters still stands cascaded open next to the armchair, threads, embroidery silks, buttons and ribbons pouring from its compartments like entrails. Hats in different stages of being made up and decorated lie about on furniture or on the floor in a haphazard way. The brightly patterned rug is littered with spools of cotton, scissors, ribbon, artificial flowers and dogeared copies of Weldon’s** magazines. A cardboard hatbox spewing forth a froth of white tissue paper perches precariously on the arm of the sofa, whilst in an equally hazardous position on the right arm of the armchair, a sewing tin threatens to spill its content of threads, thimbles and a black velvet pincushion all over the chair’s seat and the floor.
“Sorry, Miss Chetwynd,” Harriet mutters apologetically as she ushers Lettice into the front parlour. “I still haven’t had an opportunity to tidy up in here yet.”
“It’s of no consequence, Miss Milford.” Lettice lies as she sweeps into the room swathed in a powder blue coat trimmed with sable that Gerald has made for her. She perches on the sofa in the same place where she sat on her last visit and deposits her crocodile skin handbag against its overstuffed pink and floral arm.
“Your censorious gaze and the reproving way you pass that remark tell me otherwise, Miss Chetwynd.”
“Are you always so observant, Miss Milford?”
“Just like my father,” Harriet replies, glancing up at a very Edwardian photographic portrait of a dour bespectacled man in a large oval frame on the mantelpiece.
“I’m sorry Miss Milford,” Lettice acknowledges her criticality politely. “But I must confess I am used to visiting tidier establishments.”
“Yes, I suppose Madame Gwendolyn’s shop is far tidier than my front parlour is.” Harriet admits. “But then again, I would imagine that she also has a retinue of staff to keep it so for her.”
“Perhaps,” Lettice agrees with a half-smile. “I’m only concerned that if you wish for your little enterprise to be taken seriously, you need to present a professional front. I myself use my own drawing room as a showroom for my clients, so I make sure to keep it tidy when I have clients or prospective clients visiting.”
“Or you maid does, Miss Chetwynd: the same one who bakes biscuits for you.”
“Touché, Miss Milford.” Lettice replies, cocking her eyebrows in amused surprise at Harriet’s quick, yet adroit remark. “I think your father should have taken more interest in your education. You might have made a very fine lawyer, had you been given the opportunity.”
“Thank you, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet replies, blushing at the compliment.
“The lack of education afforded to women in our country, just because we are women, is a scandal. Yet our patriarchal society is what will ensure that we remain the fairer and less educated sex.”
“You sound like you might have made a fine lawyer too, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet acknowledges. “I’m sure had you been born a few decades earlier you would have made a fine suffragette.”
“Or a radical.”
“However, that isn’t why you’ve come here today. You’ve come about a far more appropriately feminine pursuit, the acquisition of the hat for your brother’s wedding.”
“Indeed, Miss Milford. My mother would be suitably gratified to see me passing my time thus rather than in radical discussion, even if she would prefer it was at Madame Gwendolyn’s establishment.”
“Then I do hope I shan’t disappoint Lady Sadie, or you, Miss Chetwynd.”
Harriet walks over to a corner of the parlour and withdraws a yellow straw hat on a hatstand that she has kept concealed behind a brass firebox. She reverently carries it across the room and deposits it on the tilt chess table sitting empty between the seats of the two women s that Lettice might inspect it closely.
“Considering your colourings, the shape of your face and the soft chignon you wear at the nape of your neck, I’ve opted for a rather romantic picture hat rather like that featured on the cover of Weldon’s Spring Fashions.” Harriet explains as she holds up the magazine’s cover next to the hat for Lettice to make comparisons. “I know it’s autumn now, but it has been remarkably mind, and,” she adds. “This is for a wedding after all.”
Lettice examines the hat before her. The shape of the wide brimmed hat that sits low on its stand immediately appeals to Lettice, and she can easily see herself wearing it very comfortably. “Very observant again, Miss Milford.” she says approvingly.
“As you can see, I’m acknowledging the season and once again trying to compliment your own colourings with the trimmings.” Harriet says proudly as she carefully turns the hat on its stand. “A russet and golden brown satin rose and some ornamental autumnal fruits in golds and vermillion. I hope you will agree.”
Lettice reaches out and touches the satin rose, rubbing the luxuriant fabric between her thumb and forefinger with satisfaction. “Agree? Why my dear Miss Milford, you have managed to do something Madame Gwendolyn has never done for me.” She beams with delight. “You have made a hat that suits my personality beautifully. How could I fail but to be pleased? I must confess that I am more impressed with what you have created than I even dared hope for.”
“Then may I take it that you won’t quibble over my price of seven guineas, nine and sixpence?” Harriet asks, trying to keep the nerves out of her well modulated voice. She has never charged such an exorbitant price for one of her creations before, but Gerald told her that seven guineas, nine and sixpence should be the price she should ask Lettice for it. Thinking quickly she adds, “It is quite comparable to the cost of a mode from Selfridges.”
“You sell your skills to cheaply, Miss Milford.”
“I may possibly increase my fees if my ‘little enterprise’ as you continue to call it, really takes off, Miss Chetwynd.”
“I shouldn’t speak so disparagingly of your enterprise, Miss Milford. I must sound unspeakably rude and patronising. Please forgive me.”
“Rude, no Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet acknowledges.
“As amends for my snobby behaviour,” Lettice proffers hopefully. “I shall happily promote your name to anyone at the wedding who asks me who made my hat.”
“I’d be grateful, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet replies with a grateful smile. “And I’ll try and get this place tided up should any of your friends come knocking. I did at least keep the telephone connected after father died, so I am in the book. I found it useful to have a telephone for enquiries about rooms to let initially, but now also for queries about hats.”
“Most prudent, Miss Milford.”
Harriet stands up, reaches past Lettice’s shoulder and takes up the plain cardboard hatbox stuffed with white tissue paper and places it on the seat of her armchair. She proceeds to pick up Lettice’s new hat, and like a mother tucking its child into bed, she lovingly places her creation into the box, nestling it amongst the nosily crumpling paper.
“Miss Chetwynd, do you mind if I make another frank observation?” she asks.
“My dear Miss Milford, you have made several so far,” Lettice laughs. “Why should I stop you now?”
Harriet snatches up the box and resumes her seat, placing the open hatbox on her lap.
“I’m glad you said yes Miss Chetwynd, for you see, something has been bothering me since your first visit here.”
“And what is that, Miss Milford.”
“Well, I couldn’t help but notice how ill at ease you seemed. Could it be because Gerry didn’t tell you about our friendship?”
Lettice looks across at Harriet whose mousy brown hair cut into a soft bob frames her pretty face, free of makeup. Her brown eyes have an earnest look in them. Lettice acknowledges Harriet’s question with a quick and curt nod, before casting her eyes down, ashamed that her feelings have been so easily perceived by someone she barely knows.
“I thought so.”
“I didn’t know you existed until Gerald pulled his motor up outside the front of your house.”
“I must confess I’m surprised, as Gerry talks about you all the time. You two are obviously the greatest of friends, and have been since you were children.” Harriet licks her lips a little awkwardly before continuing. “Perhaps he is a little embarrassed by our friendship, after all, I’m not an aristocrat’s daughter like you and some of your other friends he tells me about.”
“I’m sure that isn’t true, Miss Milford.” Lettice assures her hostess. “Gerald can be a frightful snob. I’ve pulled him up on it enough in recent times, and,” she admits a little begrudgingly. “He’s done the same with me. If Gerald really was ashamed of you, he wouldn’t have introduced us. That I do know.”
“He’s been wonderful to me since we met. I’m not sure if he told you, but I’m guessing not if he didn’t really tell you about me prior to our first meeting, but we met at the haberdashers we share in Fulham.”
“That Gerald did tell me.”
“Well, he’s given me encouragement and guidance as I try to get this millinery business up and running, and, well after my difficulties with the handsy General when I first started letting rooms, I feel more comfortable with gentlemen friends who don’t want to paw me.”
“Like Gerald and your Cyril, you mean.”
“Yes.” Harriet acknowledges with a blush.
“Where is Cyril, by the way? I haven’t heard his oboe playing today.”
“He’s in Norfolk, visiting his mother.” Harriet explains. She hesitates for a moment before carrying on. “I’ve never had many friends, you see. I was always the shy one at school, and not at all popular. What few friends I have had up until recently have been rather bookish and shy like me, so it was like a breath of fresh air when Gerry took an interest in plain and shy little me.”
“Hardly plain, Miss Milford.” Lettice counters kindly.
“You do know that I’d never want to intrude on your friendship with Gerry, don’t you? You’re his oldest and best friend, and he’s so proud of you and how you’ve set up your own business all by yourself. You inspire him you know.” Lettice blushes and glances back down into her lap at Harriet’s admission. “And you’re such a chum to him. He says you use the word ‘brick’ to describe your good friends, so you are his ‘brick’ then. Now that I know that he didn’t tell you about me, I must have come across as an interloper: a middle-class girl of no particular note trying to usurp you in Gerry’s affections. However, I can assure you that I’m not. Your friendship with him is perfectly safe. I’m just happy to bask in Gerry’s minor attentions for as long as he wishes to bestow them upon me.”
“Well, I must confess that I did suffer a few pangs of jealously when I first saw the two of you being so familiar together, but I realised after we left you, that you are no threat. Gerald and I had a frank conversation of our own on the way home.” Lettice admits. “Not that Gerald is bound to me by any means. He can be friends with whomever he likes, and so long as his dalliances with gentlemen are discreet, I’m happy. He just needs to be careful in that respect.”
“I tell Cyril the same thing.”
“So, if Gerald wants to be friends with you, who am I to argue? All the same, I am pleased to hear from you that you are no threat, Miss Milford.”
“Not at all, Miss Chetwynd.” She sighs with relief and places the lid on the hatbox on her lap before putting it aside. “Well, now that we have that awkward little conversation out of the way, might I interest you in some tea?”
“Some tea would be splendid, Miss Milford. Thank you.”
Harriet gets up and walks across the room. As she reaches the threshold of the parlour door she turns back and says, “You know we really do have quite a lot in common, you know, Miss Chetwynd?”
“How so, Miss Milford?” Lettice looks up from smoothing down the hem of her frock over her knees.
“Well, we both have Gerry as our friend, and we are both forward thinking women in a patriarchal world.”
“That’s true, Miss Milford.”
“We both are trying to establish names for ourselves, albeit in different areas. And we both have progressed ourselves in spite of our parents’ lack of interest in furthering our education. We could almost form a sisterhood.”
Lettice doesn’t necessarily agree with Harriet’s point about her education, which is quite presumptuous. Her father, the Viscount Wrexham, unlike Lady Sadie, was quite indulgent with Lettice’s education, giving her far more opportunities than were afforded to her elder sister Lally. Harriet realises that she has overstepped the mark by being overly familiar when she sees a cool steeliness darken Lettice’s sparkling blue eyes and harden her features slightly, but it is too late for her to retract her words.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to presume that we will ever be bosom friends***, Miss Milford. However, let me get used to your existence,” Lettice concedes with all the good grace of a Viscount’s daughter. “And I’m sure that we can be friends of a sort that goes beyond a passing acquaintance or an agreeable business arrangement.”
“Very well, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet replies with a half-smile. “I’ll be satisfied with that. Better that we be friends of a sort than enemies for no reason. I think as women wanting to forward ourselves in this male dominated world, we probably have enough of them as it is.”
“Perhaps, Miss Milford. Let us see.”
*Originating in Seventeenth Century England, the term pin money first meant “an allowance of money given by a husband to his wife for her personal expenditures. Married women, who typically lacked other sources of spending money, tended to view an allowance as something quite desirable. By the Twentieth Century, the term had come to mean a small sum of money, whether an allowance or earned, for spending on inessentials, separate and in addition to the housekeeping money a wife might have to spend.
**Created by British industrial chemist and journalist Walter Weldon Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal was the first ‘home weeklies’ magazine which supplied dressmaking patterns. Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal was first published in 1875 and continued until 1954 when it ceased publication.
***The term bosom friend is recorded as far back as the late Sixteenth Century. In those days, the bosom referred to the chest as the seat of deep emotions, though now the word usually means a woman's “chest.” A bosom friend, then, is one you might share these deep feelings with or have deep feelings for.
Contrary to popular belief, fashion at the beginning of the Roaring 20s did not feature the iconic cloche hat as a commonly worn head covering. Although invented by French milliner Caroline Reboux in 1908, the cloche hat did not start to gain popularity until 1922, so even though this story is set in that year, picture hats, a hangover from the pre-war years, were still de rigueur in fashionable society and whilst Lettice is fashionable, she and many other fashionable women still wore the more romantic picture hat. Although nowhere near as wide, heavy, voluminous or as ornate as the hats worn by women between the turn of the Twentieth Century and the Great War, the picture hats of the 1920s were still wide brimmed, although they were generally made of straw or some lightweight fabric and were decorated with a more restrained touch.
This rather cluttered and chaotic scene of a drawing room cum workroom may look real to you, but believe it or not, it is made up entirely with pieces from my 1:12 miniatures collection, including pieces from my teenage years.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
At the centre of our story is Lettice’s yellow straw hat decorated with ornamental flowers, fruit and organza. 1:12 size miniature hats made to such exacting standards of quality and realism such as these are often far more expensive than real hats are. When you think that it would sit comfortably on the tip of your index finger, yet it could cost in excess of $150.00 or £100.00, it is an extravagance. American artists seem to have the monopoly on this skill and some of the hats that I have seen or acquired over the years are remarkable. The maker of this hat is unknown, but it is part of a larger collection I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel. The hat stand the hat rests on is also part of Marilyn Bickel’s collection.
The copy of Weldon’s Dressmaker Spring Fashions edition on the tabletop is a 1:12 size miniature made by the British miniature artisan Ken Blythe. Most of the books I own that he has made may be opened to reveal authentic printed interiors. In some cases, you can even read the words, depending upon the size of the print! I have quite a large representation of Ken Blythe’s work in my collection, but so little of his real artistry is seen because the books that he specialised in making are usually closed, sitting on shelves or closed on desks and table surfaces. In this case, the magazine is non-opening, however what might amaze you is that all Ken Blythe’s books and magazines are authentically replicated 1:12 scale miniatures of real volumes. To create something so authentic to the original in such detail and so clearly, really does make this a miniature artisan piece. Ken Blythe’s work is highly sought after by miniaturists around the world today and command high prices at auction for such tiny pieces, particularly now that he is no longer alive. I was fortunate enough to acquire pieces from Ken Blythe prior to his death about four years ago, as well as through his estate via his daughter and son-in-law. His legacy will live on with me and in my photography which I hope will please his daughter.
The spools of ribbon, the tape measure, the silver sewing scissors in the shape of a stork and the box of embroidery threads and the box of cottons I acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls’ House in the United Kingdom.
The tilt chess table on which these items stand I bought from Mick and Marie’s Miniatures in the United Kingdom.
The concertina sewing box on casters to the left of the photograph which you can see spilling forth its contents is an artisan miniature made by an unknown artist in England. It comes from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the in the United Kingdom. All the box’s contents including spools of ribbons, threads scissors and buttons on cards came with the work box. The box can completely expand or contract, just like its life-sized equivalent.
The round white metal sewing tin on the armchair is another artisan piece I have had since I was a young teenager. If you look closely you will see it contains a black velvet pin cushion, a pair of sewing scissors, needles, threads and two thimbles. Considering this is a 1:12 artisan miniature, imagine how minute the thimbles are! This I bought from a high street shop that specialised in dolls and doll house furnishings. It does have a lid which features artificial flowers and is trimmed with braid, but I wanted to show off the contents of the tin in this image, so it does not feature.
The spools of yellow, purple and blue cottons come from various online shops who sell dollhouse miniatures.
The bookshelf in the background comes from Babette’s Miniatures, who have been making miniature dolls’ furnishings since the late eighteenth century.
Harriet’s family photos seen cluttering the bookshelf in the background are all real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The frames are almost all from Melody Jane’s Dollhouse Suppliers in the United Kingdom and are made of metal with glass in each. The castle shaped cottage orneé (pastille burner) on the bookshelf has been hand made, painted and gilded by Welsh miniature ceramist Rachel Williams who has her own studio, V&R Miniatures, in Powys. The bowl decorated with fruit on the bookshelf was hand decorated by British artisan Rachael Maundy.
Lettice’s snakeskin handbag with its gold clasp and chain comes from Doreen Jeffries’ Small Wonders Miniature Shop in the United Kingdom.
The parlour palm in its striped ceramic pot I acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the United Kingdom.
The floral chintz settee and chair and the Art Nouveau china cabinet are made by J.B.M. miniatures who specialise in well made pieces of miniature furniture made to exacting standards.
The paintings and prints on the walls all come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll’s House in the United Kingdom.