Tugs Taking the Strain
View allAll Photos Tagged straining
...for victory.
One final shot from the Dragon Boat Races 2016. Didn't heed my own advice and came back for the finals, luckily brought a longer lens (and didn't schlepp my tripod to there).
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
Fruity Bundt Cake
2 cups cut up dried fruits, soaked in ½ cup water and 2 Tbsp of rum.
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts, chopped
Topping
Jam (apricot or peach)
Confectioners' sugar
-Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Grease and flour a 10-inch tube cake pan or 12-cup Bundt pan.
Heat oven to 350°.
Drain the fruit, reserving 1/3 cup of syrup. Set fruit aside.
In mixing bowl, combine the granulated sugar, reserved syrup, oil, vanilla, and eggs. Beat with a mixer on medium speed for about 4 minutes, until well blended.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the first mixture a little at a time, blending well. Fold in the chopped nuts and fruit mixture
Spoon batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
Cool the cake on a rack for 10 minutes; turn cake out of pan onto a cake plate.
Brush with the jam and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.
This view did some very wonky things to my eyes so I figured it would make for an interesting shot. At first glance, the eyes are challenged as they strain to figure out what is being viewed. But, upon further inspection one can tell it is a snow lined shore with colored trees reflecting in the river. The combination of cold and warm colors also contributed to an interesting look.
Nikon D7000, Tokina 12-28. F stop small enough to show a million sensor spots. An old one, re-processed.
In America now, we are very lucky indeed. We've had three different vaccinations (Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson) available to all people 12 and over for enough time for everyone to be fully vaccinated and yet we're still hovering around 50% for our vaccination rate and now the Delta variant is really causing some breakthrough infections of those already vaccinated and, of course, killing many people who are not vaccinated. In the midst of this, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) decided to apply some sort of bizarre honor system where only people who were unvaccinated would have to be masked indoors, which absolutely doesn't work because the same people who are anti-mask are the same people who are anti-vax. And, for the spaces and places that would enforce the vaccination, there's a whole industry now of fake vaccination cards people can show so they can continue to risk their lives and others.
At the end of the day, the people in my country just don't realize how good they have it and fall prey to spoiled entitlement and/or conspiracy theories. The cognitive dissonance required to still believe Coronavirus is a hoax even after our previous president, (demon Trump) actually contracted it is baffling and completely illogical.
Meanwhile, our leaders continue to fail us, ignoring the new Delta strain's capabilities to be spread easier outdoors easier, to be spread even within a vaccinated population because of a viral load 1000x that of the original strain, and because it only takes a couple of minutes or less vs. 15 minutes of exposure. So while our hospitals are getting filled up here in this country yet again, we're still having stadiums filled to capacity and large music festivals.
The gravestone of America will read.....
Here Lies America
So much potential and talent but squandered and wasted due to greed, hatred, selfishness, ignorance, and arrogance.
**All photos are copyrighted**
The Straining Tower at Vyrnwy reservoir, Powys, Wales, UK
The Straining Tower at Vyrnwy reservoir is an intake tower built to extract water from the lake. The tower stands on the north shore of Lake Vyrnwy, near the village of Llanwddyn, in Powys, Wales. The Lake Vyrnwy dam project was designed to provide a water supply to the city of Liverpool and work on the dam began in 1881. On its completion 11 years later, the lake was the largest reservoir in Europe and water was drawn from it into the straining tower and carried to Liverpool on a 110km-long aqueduct.
Pumped up with testosterone, the Red Deer stag has only one thing on its mind. Forgoing food, it fights off contenders, locking with them in a clash of antlers.
In such a stage of mind its a powerful and unpredictable beast. To photograph it I had to get fairly close, but didn't hang about too long. Seeing it attention was drawn to me, I withdraw to a safer place.
When the autumn rut is over, exhausted and battle weary, they reverts back to their calmer ways, to await another season. And so it is, the next generation is secured. Such is the cycle of life and the need to propagate the species. Long may it continue.
Many thanks for your comments. Have a great week.
No idea can succeed except at the expense of sacrifice; no one ever escapes without enduring strain from the struggle of life.
Ernest Renan.
Joseph Ernest Renan (28 February 1823 – 2 October 1892) was a French expert of Semitic languages and civilizations (philology), philosopher, historian, and writer, devoted to his native province of Brittany. He is best known for his influential historical works on Early Christianity, and his political theories, especially concerning nationalism and national identity. Renan is credited as being among the first scholars to advance the Khazar theory, which held that Ashkenazi Jews were descendants of the Khazars, Turkic peoples who had adopted Jewish religion and migrated to Western Europe following the collapse of their khanate. Source Wikipedia.
A Great Blue Heron strains to get some momentum into a strong wind at the Shiawassee NWR on this evening, June, 2022. The "Shiawassee Flats" are a delta where the Flint, Cass, and Shiawassee Rivers converge before joining the Tittabawassee River to form the Saginaw River.
The iconic Hyde's Mill near tiny Hyde,WI. was built in 1850 by William Hyde.It burned sometime during the 1870's but was rebuilt.It was purchased by the Sawle family in 1931 and is currently for sale for a cool 299K.The Wisconsin DNR has stepped in and made the purchase near impossible because of a bunch of restrictions,according to a family member.Whatever happens,the hope is that the beauty and tranquility of the site will be preserved...
It wasn't very tranquil the day we visited the old mill as the nearby Hyde Store was having one heck of a party.As I was shooting this,the strains of "Sweet Home Alabama" were in my ears.The store,along with the Hyde Chapel make up the majority of the town,just half a mile from the mill site.
Some info on Hyde here...
host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/on-wisconsin-hyde-store-f...
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift or firm remain?
We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.
It is safely moored, ’twill the storm withstand,
For ’tis well secured by the Savior’s hand;
And the cables passed from His heart to mine,
Can defy the blast, through strength divine.
It will firmly hold in the straits of fear,
When the breakers have told the reef is near;
Though the tempest rave and the wild winds blow,
Not an angry wave shall our bark o’erflow.
It will surely hold in the floods of death,
When the waters cold chill our latest breath;
On the rising tide it can never fail,
While our hopes abide within the veil.
(Priscilla Jane Owens, 1829-1907)
Image Created in Deep Dream Generator.New Background and Lighting effects in Photoshop.What Life may be like with a totally different Bio-Chemistry (not necessarily DNA)
Lake Vyrnwy is a reservoir in Powys, Wales, built in the 1880s for Liverpool Corporation Waterworks to supply Liverpool with fresh water. It flooded the head of the Vyrnwy valley and submerged the village of Llanwddyn.
Firefiek.
I winced as I limped down the corridor.
"How much time did you say I had again?"
|Sabre:| "2 minutes, 37 seconds, counting."
Pain slowly crept it's way up my leg- blood was slowly trickling from the jagged gash the virbo-blade had indented into my armor and skin.
The duel had cost me time.
Time I don't have.
The familiar blueprint of the factory materialized in my HUD, marking the closest route to the rendezvous point.
|Sabre:| "Sir, you have less than 2 minutes."
I heard the apprehension in his voice.
"What are my chances of making it Sabre?"
|Sabre:| "32%, dropping every second."
"Perfect."
Straining, I forced myself to run, to outrun the pain- it caught up with me.
I clenched my jaw- rounding the corner I felt the blast of laser bolts pepper the durasteel wall.
Almost there.
The green timer morphed into blood-red.
13 seconds.
More blasts.
9 seconds.
The doors swooshed open, revealing the entry ladder.
6 seconds.
I scrambled up, as the white opening grew larger and larger.
2 seconds.
Blue arms heaved me up as the flames surged and poured out the hatch.
|Sabre:| "Knew you'd make it Sir."
I took a deep breath.
"Next time, I set the timers."
______________________________________
Back at the command post, we were informed the city had been won, and were handed over prisoners to escort to the cruiser.
Due to unfortunate circumstances, the route there would take a slight detour into a part of the city, where the fighting had been thickest.
The silence there was interrputed only by quiet flickering of flames, as the city seemed to decay and crumble in our very sight.
Part of the exterior wall of the city still remained, even after all the artillery bombardment.
I heard shuffling and a grunt behind me- before I could look, the ground in front of me blazed red with blaster fire.
I tripped over a droids head as I dove for cover.
HQ buzzed over the comm.
"Captain Havoc, please report status on prisoner escort."
"We've had a minor inconvenience."
"ETA?"
"I'll get back to you on that."
Low-growing evergreen perennial native to subslpine southern Oregon and northern California.
P2148099.
This is one of the groynes on Blyth Beach and something has obviously gone awry. I spotted it as I was trying to get a shot of the beach huts and thought that it might make for a good mono long exposure. However, when I got there the low sun was bouncing off the face of it so I thought a colour LE would work better.
I do want to go back when the tide is a little higher so I can get the end of the groyne disappearing into the North Sea.
"So many things these eyes have seen
People I've met and places I've been
Inconceivable how one maintains
In the game with the pain and the strain on the brain
How reality's plane can wear you down
And make you an insane man who only frowns
City hardened and cold just like me
Anger has numbed my eyes from all they see
From all they see" ♪
"The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber. The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Al Steward - Year Of The Cat
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqZc7ZQURMs
On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat
She doesn't give you time for questions
As she locks up your arm in hers
And you follow 'til your sense of which direction
Completely disappears
By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
There's a hidden door she leads you to
"These days," she says, "I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat"
While she looks at you so coolly
And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea
She comes in incense and patchouli
So you take her, to find what's waiting inside
The year of the cat
Well morning comes and you're still with her
And the bus and the tourists are gone
And you've thrown away your choice and lost your ticket
So you have to stay on
But the drumbeat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the newborn day
You know sometime you're bound to leave her
But for now, you're gonna stay
In the year of the cat
Mm, year of the cat