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“They only name things after you when you're dead or really old.”
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just saw this as I'm looking for something.... i rarely used it because when i'm about to remove a staple on papers or envelopes... i tend to use my nails because i'm always in a hurry... ... that's why it end up like this - full of dust.... this perspective gave me a reason to capture it.... by the way.... no worries.....after the shot... it was cleaned already... haha!
The real world house along with Hoppers police truck.
Lego Netflix Stranger Things Upside Down set 75810
lots of stuff has been happening in my sl lately, so i decided to blog about the two biggest things! this is one of them!
i know the image isn't very obvious, but it's supposed to be a teaser on something i've been working on! can you guess what it is? ;P
One of the weirdest things about The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is that there is no Matterhorn mountain. Going to Disneyland my whole life, NOT seeing a snowy mountain next to a castle just feels... wrong.
Thankfully Florida's Animal Kingdom makes up for it with Expedition Everest. Essentially this is the Matterhorn if it were designed and built in the 2000s rather than the 1950s. The ride really is superior to the Matterhorn in pretty much every way: more intense, way better "Yeti" (even if it's not fully operational), and much more intricately detailed and themed. Walt would be proud of this one. I gave this shot a bit of that old 50s vacation photo look as a nod to this mountain's older brother in Anaheim.
Some background:
]The VF-4 Lightning III began development in 2005 under the initial designation of the VF-X-4. Developed as a successor craft to the VF-1 Valkyrie, the VF-4 Lightning III was designed as a variable fighter that emphasized mobility in outer space.
The VF-4's development began with the prototype VF-X-4 and the VF-X-3. However, when Earth was devastated in Space War I the loss of military facilities also resulted in loss of the VF-X-3. Amongst the airframes under development exist prototype No. 1 craft, VF-X-4V1 and the trial manufactured VF-4A-0 and thus the surviving VF-X-4 was developed and completed as the VF-4 Lightning III. A trial-produced variable fighter, designated the VF-4A-0, was also built using 25% VF-1 Valkyrie parts.
VF-X-4 underwent flight tests, including being test piloted by Space War I veteran Hikaru Ichijo. Once successful operational models were ready, the VF-4 began mass production on February 2012. Initial deployment began on the SDF-2 Megaroad-01 in VF-1 Skull and SVF-184 Iron Chiefs Squadrons on September 2012. When the SDF-2 Megaroad launched in the same month, Hikaru Ichijō flew a VF-4 alongside the new colonization vessel as the ship lifted from Earth and began exploration outside of the Sol system.
As a result of integrating existing Overtechnology and Zentradi-series technology, the VF-4 had a characteristic three-hulled-type airframe structure remarkably different from the conservative VF-1 Valkyrie design. The three-hulled style of the VF-4 increased fuselage volume, propellant capacity and armament load capability that all resulted in a 40% improved combat ability over the VF-1. Fully transformable, the VF-4 could shift into Battroid and Gerwalk modes like previous variable fighters.
However, the VF-4 did suffer minor mobility problems within an atmosphere and the new type was primarily deployed to the Space Air Corps of emigrant fleets to serve as the main fighter craft of the UN Forces in the 2020s. It was because flight performance within the atmosphere was not as good as the VF-1 that the VF-5000 Star Mirage became the main combat craft within atmosphere, while the VF-4 operated mainly in outer space.
Built as a space fighter, the VF-4 primary weapons became two large beam cannons, though the craft was capable of carrying a GU-11 gun pod in Gerwalk and Battroid modes. In addition to the powerful primary beam guns, the Lightning III also featured twelve semi-recessed long-range missiles, as well as underwing pylons for additional missiles and other stores.
The VF-4 was only slightly heavier than the VF-1, but featured considerably more powerful engines, making the craft ideal for operations deeper out in space. The Lightning III was also much faster in the atmosphere than the older VF-1, although the VF-4’s flight mobility performance was not as great.
The VF-4 was also notable as the first production variable fighter to utilize a HOTAS system (Hands On Throttle And Stick) for the cockpit HMI (Human-Machine Interface). Furthermore, the VF-4's cockpit was laid out as a single hexagonal MFD (Multi-Function Display) that proved so successful that it was retrofitted into "Block 6" VF-1 fighters, as well as providing the template for all future variable fighter cockpits.
By the end of 2015, mass production of the VF-1 series at last had come to an end. From 2020 onward, the VF-4 Lightning III officially replaced the VF-1 to become the main variable fighter of U.N. Forces. Production of the VF-4 continued for a decade and ceased in 2022, with a total of 8,245 Lightning III variable fighters produced.
The VF-4 variable fighter remained in active service into the late 2040's but was complemented or substituted in many branches of the UN Forces by the cheaper and more atmospherically maneuverable VF-5000 Star Mirage. The VF-4 Lightning III was eventually replaced as the main variable fighter of U.N. Spacy in the later half of the 2030s by the VF-11 Thunderbolt.
General characteristics:
Manufacturer: Stonewell/Bellcom
Equipment Type: Variable fighter
Government: U.N. Spacy, U.N. Space Marines
Introduction: 2012
Operational Deployment: September 2012
Dimensions:
Accommodation: pilot only
Fighter Mode: wingspan 12.65 meters; height 5.31 meters; length 16.8 meters
Mass: empty 13.95 metric tons
Structure: space metal frame, SWAG energy conversion armor
Powerplant:
2x Shinnakasu/P&W/Roice FF-2011 thermonuclear turbine engines,
rated at 14,000 kg (137.34 kN) each
2x dorsal rocket engines (mounted on top of the main thermonuclear turbine engines)
2x ramjet engines (embedded into the inner wing sections)
P&W HMM-1A high-maneuverability vernier thrusters
Performance:
Fighter Mode: Mach 3.02 at 10,000 m
Mach 5.15 at 30,000+ m
Thrust-to-weight ratio: (empty) 2.01 (rating for turbine engine thrust ONLY)
g limit: unknown
[Armament:
2 x large beam cannons in forward engine nacelles
12x semi-recessed long range missiles (mounted on engine nacelles and ventral fuselage)
8x underwing pylons for missiles, gun pods an/or drop tanks
The kit and its assembly:
Well, this build has been lingering for almost 25 years in the back of my mind. It just took so long that a suitable IP kit (with a reasonable price tag) would materialize!
The original inspiration struck me with a VF-4 profile in the source book "This is animation special: Macross PLUS" from 1994, which accidently fell into my hands in a local Japanese book store. Among others, a side and top view profile of an aggressor VF-4 in an all-brown, Soviet-style paint scheme was featured. At that time I found the idea and the scheme pretty cool, so much that I even built a modified 1:100 VF-1 as a ground attack aircraft in this paint scheme.
However, the original VF-4 profile from the source book had always been present, but for years there had been no affordable kit. There have been garage/resin kits, but prices would start at EUR 250,-, and these things were and are extraordinarily rare.
Things changed for the better when WAVE announced an 1:72 VF-4 kit in late 2016, and it eventually materialized in late 2017. I immediately pre-ordered one from Japan (in a smart move, this even saved money) and it eventually turned up here in Germany in early 2018. Patience pays out, it seems...
I had preferred a 1:100 kit, though, due to space issues and since almost any other Macross variable fighter model in my collection is in this small scale, but I am happy that a decent VF-4 kit at all appeared after so many years!
Concerning the WAVE kit, there’s light and shadow. First of all, you have to know that you get a VF-4A. This is mentioned nowhere on the box, but might be a vital information for hardcore modelers. The early VF-4A is a rather different aircraft than the later VF-4G, with so fundamental differences that it would warrant a completely new kit! On the other side, with a look at the kit’s parts, I could imagine that a VF-4B two-seater could be easily realized in the future, too.
The kit is a solid construction, a snap-fit kit molded in different colors so that it can be built without painting. This sounds toy-like, but - like many small scale Bandai Valkyrie kits - anything you ask for is actually there. When you use glue and put some effort into the kit and some donor parts, you can make a very good model from it.
The kit's box is pretty oversized, though (any sprue is shrink-wrapped, horrendous garbage pile and wasted space!), and the kit offers just a single decal (water-slide decals, not stickers) option for a Skull Squadron VF-4A – AFAIK it’s Hikaru Ichijoe’s machine that appears in one of the Macross Flash Back 2012 music videos, as it escorts the SDF-02 “Megaroad” colonial ship after launch from Earth towards the center of our Galaxy.
The parts are crisply molded, and I actually like the fact that the kit is not as uber-engineered as the Hasegawa Valkyries. You can actually call the WAVE kit simple - but in a positive sense, because the parts number is reduced to a minimum, material strength is solid and the kit's construction is straightforward. Fit is excellent – I just used some putty along the engine gondolas due to their complex shape, but almost anything else would either fit almost perfectly or just call for some sanding. Impressive!
Surface details etc. are rather basic, but very crisp and emphasized enough that anything remains visible after adding some paint. However, after all, this aircraft is just a fictional animation mecha, and from this perspective the kit is really O.K..
After building the kit I most say that it's nothing that leaves you in awe, and for a retail price of currently roundabout EUR 50-70,- (I was lucky to get it for an early bird deal at EUR 40,-, but still pricey for what I got) the kit is pretty expensive and has some weaknesses:
The model comes with a decent (= simple) cockpit and a very nice and large pilot figure, but with no ordnance except for the semi-recessed long-range missiles (see below). The cockpit lacks any side consoles, floor or side wall details. If you put the pilot into the cockpit as intended, this is not a big issue, since the figure blocks any sight into the cockpit’s lower regions. However, the side sticks are molded into the pilot’s hands, so that you have to scratch a lot if you want to present the cockpit open and with an empty seat.
The landing gear is simple, too, and the wells are very shallow (even though they feature interior details). As a special feature, you can switch with some extra parts between an extended or retracted landing gear, and there are extra parts that allow the air intakes and some vectoring nozzles to be closed/extended for orbital operations. However, detail fetishists might replace the OOB parts with the landing gear from an 1:72 F-18 for an overall better look.
Provisions for underwing hardpoints are actually molded into the lower fuselage part (and could be punched/drilled open - another indication that more VF-4 boxings with extra sprues might follow?), but the kit does not come with any pylons or other ordnance than the dozen fuselage-mounted AAMs. Furthermore, the semi-recessed missiles are just that: you only get the visible halves of the only provided ordnance, which are simply stuck into slits on the model’s surface. As a consequence, you have to mount them at any rate – building a VF-4 for a diorama in which the missiles are about to be loaded would require massive scratch-building efforts and modifications.
Another problem indirectly arises when you put some effort into the kit and want to clean and pre-paint the missiles before assembly: every missile is different and has its allocated place on the VF-4 hull. The missiles are numbered – but only on the sprue! Once you cut them out, you either have to keep them painstakingly in order, or you will spend a long evening figuring out where which missile belongs! This could be easily avoided if the part number would be engraved on the missiles’ back sides – and that’s what I actually did (with a water-proof pen, though) in order to avoid trouble.
The clear canopy is another issue. The two parts are crystal-clear, but, being a snap-fit kit, the canopy parts have to be clipped into the fuselage (rear part) and onto a separate canopy frame (front part). In order to fit, the clear parts have cramps molded into their bases – and due to the excellent transparency and a magnifier effect, you can see them easily from the outside – and on the inside, when you leave the cockpit open. It’s not a pretty solution, despite the perfect fit of the parts.
One option I can think of is to carefully sand the cramps and the attachment points away, but I deem this a hazardous stunt. I eventually hid the cramps behind a thin line of paint, which simulates a yellow-ish canopy seal. The extra windscreen framing is not accurate, but the simplest solution that hides this weak point.
The kit itself was built OOB, because it goes together so well. I also refrained from adding pylons and ordnance – even though you can easily hang anything from Hasegawa’s VF-1 weapon set under the VF-4’s wings and fuselage. A final, small addition was a scratched, ventral adapter for a 3.5 mm steel rod, as a display for the flight scene beauty pic.
Painting and markings:
As mentioned above, the livery is based on an official profile which I deem authentic and canonical. My aircraft depicts a different machine from VFT-127, though, since I could not (and did not really want to) 100% replicate the profile's machine from the Macross PLUS source book, "13 Red". Especially the squadron’s emblem on the fin would create massive problems.
For the two-tone wrap-around scheme I used Humbrol 72 (Khaki Drill) and 98 (Chocolate Brown), based on the printed colors in the source book where I found the scheme. The pattern is kept close to the benchmark profile, and, lacking an underside view, I just mirrored the upper scheme. The starboard side pattern was guesstimated.
As a second-line aggressor aircraft, I weathered the VF-4 with a black ink wash, some post-shading with various lighter tones (including Humbrol 160, 168, 170 and 187) and did some wet-sanding treatment for an uneven and worn look.
Interior surfaces were painted according to visual references from various sources: the landing gear and the air intakes became white, while the cockpit was painted in RAF Dark Sea Grey.
In order to add some color to the overall brown aircraft I decided to paint the missiles all around the hull in white with tan tips – in the profile, the appear to be integrated into the camouflage, what I found dubious.
Most stencils come from the OOB sheet, but I added some more from the scrap box. The grey "kite" roundels come from an 1:72 Hasegawa Macross F-14 Tomcat kit sheet, which I acquired separately for a reasonable price. Even though it took four weeks to be delivered from Asia, the investment was worthwhile, since the sheet also provided some useful low-viz stencils.
The VAT-127 “Zentraedi Busters” unique tail insignia was more complicated, because these had to be printed at home. As a side note, concerning the fin marking, I recently found a translation of the benchmark profile's text on mahq.net, which is interesting: "The Regult within the targeting reticle on the tail met with disapproval from micronized Zentraedi pilots, and so was only used for a short time." The comment also reveals that the original aircraft's modex is "713", not just "13" as depicted, so I tried to reflect these details on my build, too.
I eventually settled for a solution that was partly inspired by the kit’s OOB fin marking and the wish for more contrast for the motif: I scanned the original Regult pod illustration from the source book and printed it on white decal sheet. This was sealed with two layers of glossy acrylic varnish (applied with a rattle can) and then cut into a white field that fills the fixed part of the fin (using the WAVE kit’s OOB fin markings as reference). Once in place and dry, two black outlines were added separately (generic decal material) which help blend the decal and the surroundings. Finally, thin strips of silver decal sheet were used for the fins’ leading edges.
This design variation, compared with the original “13 Red” illustration, led to the idea of a flight leader’s machine with slightly more prominent markings. In order to take this concept further I also gave the aircraft a white stripe around the front fuselage, placed under the kite roundel and again with black outlines for a consistent look. It’s not much different from “13 Red”, but I think that it looks conclusive and, together with the white fin markings and the missiles, livens up the VF-4’s look.
The appropriate flight leader tactical code “01 Red” was puzzled together from single digits from a Begemot Su-27 sheet, the rest of the bort numbers were taken from the OOB sheet (which incidentally feature a “01” code, too).
Concerning the OOB decal sheet, there’s much light but also some deep shadow. While the register is excellent and the carrier film flexible enough to lay down smoothly, the instructions lack information where to place the zillion of stencils (“No step” and “Beware of Blast” stuff) are to be placed! You only get references for the major markings – the rest has either to be guessed, OR you are in possession of the VF-4 source book from Softbank Publishing which was (incidentally?) released in parallel with the WAVE kit. This mecha porn offers an overview of all(!) relevant stencils on the VF-4A’s hull, and ONLY with this information the exhaustive decal sheet makes some sense…
As final steps, the VF-4 received some dry-brushing with light grey around the leading edges, some chipped paint was simulated with dry-brushed aluminum and, finally, light soot stains around the vectoring nozzles all around the hull and the weapon bays were created with graphite. Then the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).
Well, in the end, it’s not a carbon copy of the inspiring illustration, but rather another machine from the same squadron, with more creative freedom. I stayed as true to the benchmark as possible, though, and I like the result. Finally, after almost 25 years, I can tick this project off of my long ideas and inspiration list.
Considering the kit itself, I am really torn. I am happy that there finally is a VF-4 IP kit at all after so many years, but to me it’s a contradictive offer. I am not certain about the target group, because for a toy-like snap-fit kit it’s too detailed and expensive, but for the serious modeler it has some major flaws.
The biggest issue is the kit’s horrendous price – even if it would be more detailed or contained some fine resin or PE parts (which I would not want, just a “good” plastic kit). Sure, you can put some effort into the kit and improve it, e .g. in the cockpit or with a donor landing gear, but weak points like the “flat” missiles and the lack of proper bays for them are IMHO poor. For the relatively huge price tag I’d hoped for a “better” OOB offer. However, the kit is easy to build and a good representation of the Lightning III, and I am curious if there are kit variants in WAVE’s pipeline?
Taken from the east side of the Portage station on 8-22-90 shows that there was never love for the railfans here.
I was tagged. :)
This was the last picture taken (on my webcam) just before I cut my hair off this summer. I miss hiding in that mop sometimes.
1. I was born with a birth defect called craniostenosis. My case was severe, affecting only the left side of my head and additionally my left eyebrow bone was too large, my left eye was too low and I was missing my left temporal bone. I was very fortunate that the surgery to correct the issue was perfected 3 years before I was born. Without the surgery my face would be (even more) severely deformed and I would be mentally retarded. At the time only 5-10 children in the USA were born with this condition each year. I have screws running along the left side of my forehead which are very sensitive to the touch and a scar from the top of my head to behind my left ear. This is the reason I always wear bangs and attempt to hide the left side of my forehead and brow.
I will be forever grateful to the neurosurgeon and plastic surgeons who gave me a real chance at life.
2. I can say my alphabet backwards. :)
3. I can't touch cotton balls, especially the type that comes inside of medicine bottles. They make my skin crawl. *shivers*
4. I love to sing and I can um, yodel.
5. I am a Registered Nurse and practiced for 10 years. I specialized in the NICU.
6. I have been married for 19 years, and have two children. They are the loves of my life.
7. My husband and I own a hair salon. I do the bookkeeping (even though I loathe numbers and math) and marketing. He does everything else.
8. I am 39 years old.
9. Even the smallest things riddle me with guilt and weigh on me heavily for days on end.
10. When I wake up in the morning I am nonfunctional for at least 30 minutes. Do not talk to me or try to make me think, I will just cry.
11. I love to dance with strangers.
12. I prefer to be alone most of the time. Yet, I often feel lonely from isolating myself.
13. I have ocd I have ocd I have ocd.
14. I'm fascinated in watching people and get easily lost in their faces. I often have to remind myself not to stare at people.
15. I tend to be very quiet in social situations. But get me one to one with a person I trust and I will yap your ears off until you beg for mercy.
16. My dream is to live on a train and travel the world aimlessly, soaking it all in until it all becomes a part of me.
Just Pinned to Things to Wear: Leather skirt, sweat shirt, tennies...fantastic How To Wear Sneakers for Spring: 85 Street Style Photos | StyleCaster ift.tt/1KVkORM
I recently started doing little detail shots, for they were never really my favorite. But I think that something so little like these small details can create even more imagination in your mind from the story I am trying to portray. And I really don't ever really like splitting two images like this. But I made an exception here.
And of course here are my other social media sites
My Facebook I Twitter I Tumblr
Some of the most interesting rocks anywhere--rocks at Makoshika State Park (many are fossils!)
I got a book called 104 Things to Photograph to expand my mind on photography. So far it's working!
-A Sweatshirt —
-A Somersault —
-Messy Hair
-A Belly Laugh
-Jumping Rope
-Shoelaces Tied Together —
-A Different Point of View—
-Clouds That Look Like Something Else —
-A Happy Reunion —
-A Bald Spot —
-Disappointment —
-Siblings
-Behind the Scenes —
-A Stain
-A Wonderful Surprise —
-Chapped Lips —
-Incognito —
-A Chain-Link Fence —
-A Cat Sleeping in a Window
-Afternoon Light —
-Christmas Lights
-A Reflection —
-Book Covers —
-Hanging Laundry —
-Strangers —
-Black and White
-Pierced Ears
-Thumb Wrestling
-An Arrow Pointing Up —
-Soft —
-Green —
-A Splash —
-A Blur —
-Wrinkles
-A View from Above —
-Something Hidden
-Half Full
-What’s in Your Pocket
-Peeking
-An Empty Table
-Your Next Door Neighbor
-The Inside of Your Fridge —
-Night in the City
-A Drawing of a Photograph —
-A Collection
-Dancing
-A Haunted House —
-A Security Guard
-A Funny Shape —
-A Smiling Baby
-An Accident Waiting to Happen —
-Nerds —
-A Closed Sign —
-A Vacant Lot —
-An Optical Illusion
-Thinking —
-A Neon Sign
-Today’s Date —
-A Celebration —
-Your Parents, their picture —
-Under the Covers
-A Barking Dog —
-In a Hurry —
-Graffiti —
-A Wild Animal —
-Downtown —
-A Spiderweb
-Broken Glass
-Makeup —
-Running Water
-A Deserted Street —
-A Family Heirloom —
-Rocks —
-An Unmade Bed —
-From Big to Little
-A Winding Staircase
-A High Five
-A Long Time
-Melting Ice Cream —
-Sparks
-Messy Wires —
-A Hole in the Ground —
-Power Lines —
-A Flock of Birds —
-A Graveyard —
-Sunny Side Up —
-The Tallest Building
-A Movie Marquee
-A Butterfly Kiss —
-A List
-Hand Shadows —
-A Fighter
-Stripes
-A Bridge —
-Fashion —
-A Yellow Traffic Light
-Silence —
-Hard Work —
-A Rip —
-Cozy —
-A Fork in the Road
-A Winner
-Homemade —
-A Hiding Place
Two Things in this handheld macro: ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) and Colour upon Colour.
© AnvilcloudPhotography
I have not edited these shots in any particular order, so, in the end I miss out some, or post others twice or even more. But, it was such an experience, saw so many wonderful things, I could post everything at once, but trying not to.
Anyway, on with the show, and some more wide angle shots with the camera on a rickety tripod.
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Christianity reached Roman Britain in the second-century AD. A number of Roman artefacts - pots, tiles and glass - have been found in excavations around St Paul’s, however no evidence has emerged that the site of St Paul’s, as once believed, was ever used for a Roman temple. The official withdrawal of Roman administration in 410 AD did not end Christian belief in England but it was to be almost two hundred years before St Paul’s Cathedral was founded. The two names most associated with the establishment of the first St Paul’s are Saint Mellitus and Saint Erkenwald. The former, a monk who arrived in Britain with Saint Augustine on a mission from Rome instigated by Pope Gregory the Great, founded St Paul’s in 604 AD. The latter was the Abbot of Chertsey whose consecration as Bishop of London in 675 AD, following the city’s brief return to paganism, confirmed the return of the Roman Church to London. The earliest Cathedral buildings were relatively short-lived structures, repeatedly damaged by fires and Viking attacks. It was the Cathedral begun in about 1087 AD by Bishop Maurice, Chaplain to William the Conqueror, which would provide the longest standing home for Christian worship on the site to date, surviving for almost six hundred years.
1087–1559: Medieval Splendour
The Cathedral quire was the first part of the new building to be completed in 1148, enabling the Cathedral to function as a place of worship as quickly as possible. Up to the Reformation of the Church in England St Paul’s was a Catholic cathedral in which the celebration of the Mass, the preaching of sermons, the veneration of many saints, shrines, reliquaries, chapels, the observance of Saints’ feast days, masses for the dead said in chantry chapels, a wooden cross known as a rood, and a chapel devoted to The Virgin, all played a part in the liturgical life of the building. A great deal of public activity also took place; although not always welcomed by those looking after the Cathedral, trade, sports and ball games were common and a north/south route through the Cathedral transepts was used as a general thoroughfare. Paul’s Cross was an important feature of Cathedral life from at least the mid thirteenth-century. It was an outdoor covered pulpit from which proclamations were made and leading prelates expounded, often controversially, on theology and politics. It ceased to be used in the 1630s, and stood in the north churchyard until 1642.
The Cathedral School was re-established with new statutes just to the east of Paul’s Cross in 1512 by John Colet (1466–1519) a Renaissance scholar and friend of Erasmus who viewed education as prerequisite for spiritual regeneration.
All of these enterprises, the spiritual, the educational, and the civic, took place within or beside the largest building in medieval England: longer, taller and wider than the present building and richly decorated.
The reign of King Henry VIII saw the beginning of the end for many aspects of the religious life of the building associated with Roman Catholicism. The shrine of St Erkenwald was plundered and waves of iconoclasm followed in which shrines and images were destroyed. The full suppression of Catholic worship and fittings was carried out under Edward VI by the first Protestant Bishop of London, Nicholas Ridley, who was martyred by Mary I's government in 1555. After a restoration of Catholic rites under Mary, settled Protestant worship was confirmed finally under Elizabeth I's first Bishop of London, Edmund Grindal, in 1559.
1560–1666: Reformation to Conflagration
The new form of worship continued at St Paul’s in the wake of the Reformation, with the choir singing in English instead of Latin at Mattins and Evensong according to the new Book of Common Prayer. The Cathedral already had a long history as a place of commemoration and some of the grandest tombs were still to be added to the building in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. One of the most remarkable monuments from this period still survives, that of John Donne (1572–1631), the poet and clergyman who, after a raffish youth, went on to become Dean of St Pauls from 1621 until his death. During his lifetime, St Paul's and Paul's Cross were leading centres of a newly confident and thriving Protestant culture in England.
The physical destruction wrought during the Reformation had only been the start of a series of threats to the fabric. In June 1561 lightning struck the Cathedral spire igniting a fire which destroyed the steeple and roofs, the heat and falling timbers causing such damage to the Cathedral structure that it would never fully recover. Plans were made for restoration and the architect Inigo Jones (1573–1652) was engaged to carry out work in 1633, but his work was left incomplete at the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642. Parliamentary forces took control of the Cathedral and its Dean and Chapter dissolved; the Lady Chapel became a large preaching auditorium, while the vast nave was used as a cavalry barracks with, at one point, 800 horses stabled inside.
By the 1650s the building was in a serious state of disrepair and it was only after the Restoration in 1660 of King Charles II (1630–1685) that repair was once again considered in earnest as an architectural proclamation of the restored Church of England and the monarchy. Leading architects wrestled with the how to restore the medieval structure and were often in disagreement. Inspired by his travels in France and his knowledge of Italian architecture, Christopher Wren (1632–1732) proposed the addition of a dome to the building, a plan agreed upon in August 1666. Only a week later The Great Fire of London was kindled in Pudding Lane, reaching St Paul’s in two days. The wooden scaffolding contributed to the spread of the flames around the Cathedral and the high vaults fell, smashing into the crypt, where flames, fuelled by thousands of books stored there in vaults leased to printers and booksellers, put the structure beyond hope of rescue.
1666–1711: A new Cathedral for London
Sir Christopher Wren was a brilliant scientist and mathematician and Britain’s most famous architect. The building he designed to replace the pre-Fire Cathedral is his masterpiece. Nine years of planning were required to ensure that the new design would meet the requirements of a working cathedral; the quire was to be the main focus for liturgical activity, a Morning Chapel was required for Morning Prayer, vestries were needed for the clergy to robe, a treasury for the church plate, a home had to be planned for the enormous organ, bell towers were essential, and the interior had to be fitted for the grandest of occasions and ceremonies. The building which Wren delivered in thirty five years fulfilled all these needs and provided a symbol for the Church of England, the renewed capital city, and the emerging empire.
Construction commenced in 1675: the process involved many highly skilled draughtsmen and craftsmen and was pursued in phases, largely dependent on the availability of funding and materials. Portland stone predominated but other types of stone were necessary as well as bricks, iron and wood. All of the building accounts, contracts and records of the rebuilding commission survive, and many original drawings. A detailed history of the design of the cathedral can be found in the online Wren Office Drawings catalogue written by Dr Gordon Higgott (2012). Christopher Wren lived to see the building completed: the last stone of the Cathedral’s structure was laid on 26 October 1708 by two sons named after their fathers, Christopher Wren junior and Edward Strong (the son of master mason). The first service had already been held in 1697 – a Thanksgiving for the Peace between England and France.
1712–1795: Perilous painting and memorialising the Greats
The violent and iconoclastic transition from Roman Catholicism and the debate over the reformed faith which followed were tumultuous. The Cathedral was built at a time when the Civil War and Protectorate had again heightened sensitivity to the confluence of art and Protestantism. What constituted appropriate decoration for the Cathedral was the subject of great debate. After a competition Sir James Thornhill was chosen to provide a decorative scheme for the interior of the Cathedral dome in 1715 and immediately began work to produce eight scenes from the life of St Paul. Working precariously over fifty metres from the ground he completed the work within two years and was soon commissioned to continue his scheme into the lantern and onto the drum beneath the dome.
Daily rounds of worship were observed within view of the new murals, but despite the efforts to enliven the interior of the building, St Paul’s proved an unpopular venue with the Hanoverian dynasty and royal attendance dwindled; after George I’s visit in 1715 no monarch came again for seventy-four years. The capture of the French fortress of Louisburg during the course of the Seven Years War was marked by an impressive service in 1758, but it would not be until 1789 that George III marked his recovery with a special Thanksgiving service attended by thousands.
A monument to the philanthropist and prison reformer John Howard which was placed on the Cathedral floor in 1795 was the first of a host of sculptures commemorating the lives of clergy, writers, artists, scientists and military figures which were to populate vacant floor and wall space in the next century.Two of the most distinguished military commanders of the Napoleonic Wars were commemorated with state funerals and later great monuments on the church floor: Admiral Horatio Nelson in 1806 and Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington in 1852, both of whom are interred in the Cathedral crypt.
1800–1905 Heat, light and colour: St Paul’s in the age of industry
Institutional reform was matched by physical changes to St Paul’s in the nineteenth-century. Queen Victoria lamented that St Pauls was "most dreary, dingy and un-devotional” adding her voice to the general criticism of the Cathedral for being, dark, dirty and cold .The Cathedral Chapter took steps to make the building more inviting and began work on the so called "completion of the decoration”. While the use of vivid mosaic in the dome and the quire area were being explored, and programmes of stained glass were designed. The rearrangement of the quire by the Surveyor F C Penrose (1817–1903) was the most significant of many changes to the interior made under his supervision. By removing the screen dividing the quire from the nave many more people were able to participate in services. Great Victorian Deans, especially Henry H Millman and Robert Gregory, seized the opportunity to hold routine worship under the dome and in the nave, as well as in the quire – thus for the first time actively making the whole of the vast building a place of worship and Christian teaching. The full ceremonial potential of St Paul’s was also realised by this reordering, something anticipated in the state funeral for Nelson, and confirmed with that for Wellington.
Victorian philanthropy more generally flourished at a reinvigorated St Paul's. During the first half of the nineteenth-century Maria Hackett (1783–1874) devoted her time and money to a campaign to improve the living and educational conditions of boy choristers in St Paul’s and other cathedrals and Anglican choral foundations. In 1860 the Chapter of St Paul's presented William Weldon Champneys (1807–1875), to the vicarage of St Pancras, where he developed the schools, ragged schools, and Sunday schools and provided an invalids dinner table. The Canons of St Paul’s focused on the welfare of the thousands of clerks and warehousemen who worked in the vicinity of the Cathedral through the Amen Court Guild. At the end of the century St Paul’s had one of its most dynamic of English cathedral Chapters, with the many facets of the life of the Cathedral attaining new levels of distinction and in 1897 the organisation of the Diamond Jubilee Thanksgiving Service for Queen Victoria (1819–1901) proved an outstanding success.
906–1960 Belt and Braces: Strengthening the Dome and Defending the Building
Cracks had appeared in some parts of the Cathedral as a result of settlement even before the Cathedral was topped-off in 1710 and concern over the structural stability of the Cathedral persisted in to the early years of the twentieth-century. After various investigations, fears culminated in the Corporation of London's serving of a dangerous structure notice to the Dean on Christmas Eve 1924: the Cathedral was closed from 1925 to 1930 while the piers and dome were strengthened under the supervision of the surveyor Walter Godfrey Allen (1891–1986). Some of the strengthening interventions may have been excessive; however they were to provide valuable structural support when the Cathedral suffered two significant bomb strikes during the Second World War.
St Paul’s Watch, the group of volunteers who defended the Cathedral during The Blitz, enabled the continuation of services as normally as possible throughout the war years. At the end of the conflict, on 8 May 1945, ten consecutive services were held in thanksgiving for peace, each attended by over three thousand people. The last of the services focused on the work of the St Paul’s Watch. In the years that followed St Paul’s played an important role in commemorating those who had sacrificed their lives and in reconciliation. The American Memorial Chapel was constructed and consecrated in the presence of President Eisenhower (1890–1969) and on 21st October 1958, Theodor Heuss (1884–1963), President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1959, visited St Paul’s to present an altar set with the words "The German people have asked me to hand to you, Mr Dean, and to the Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral this crucifix and these two candlesticks. Our gifts are a token of our sincere wish to serve, together with the British People, the cause of Peace in the World”.
1960–2012: Royal events and Social reformers
With the major structural issues resolved and war damage repaired, the Cathedral continued to welcome world leaders, thinkers, theologians, politicians and the public in pursuit of hope for a better society. Canon John Collins (1905–1982), who had been a leader in the drive for post-war reconciliation, campaigned tirelessly for peace, human rights, and nuclear disarmament, and against apartheid in South Africa. Dr Martin Luther King (1929–1968) stopped at St Paul's to speak from the west steps en route to collect his Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and his widow Coretta Scott King (1927–2006) became the first woman to preach in a statutory service in St Paul’s. On January 30th, 1969 the Cathedral Choir was joined by Indian singers and instrumentalists, and addresses were given to mark the centenary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) the champion of non-violent resistance, civil rights and freedom across the world. Continuing this tradition, in 2012 the Dalai Lama (b. 1935) was welcomed to receive the Templeton prize ('for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities'). The St Paul’s Institute was established in 2003 to foster an informed Christian response to the most urgent ethical and spiritual issues of our times and engaged with the Occupy Protests of 2011/12 seeking constructive debate on financial ethics.
The wedding in St Paul’s of HRH the Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer gripped the nation and much of the world in 1981, and Queen Elizabeth II officially marked both her Golden and Diamond Jubilees with Thanksgiving services in St Paul’s Cathedral. There have been occasions for national mourning: in 1965 Winston Churchill (1874–1965) who had led Britain during the war received a state funeral, a ceremony reserved for heads of state and others who have given significant leadership in the defence of the nation. A large ceremonial funeral was held for former Prime Minister, Baroness Thatcher, in 2013. Vast crowds gathered at St Paul's following the terrorist attacks on New York on September 11 2001, as London expressed its solidarity with the people of New York at a time of grief; and the victims of the 7/7 bombings were mourned in special services in 2005. The Diamond Jubilee and the special summer service at St Paul's celebrating the Paralympic Games made 2012 a spectacular year for the Cathedral.
www.stpauls.co.uk/history-collections/history/cathedral-h...
A "Pachamanca" is a traditional, ceremonial feast in which lamb, chicken, potatoes, plantain and vegetables are cooked using hot rocks in a pit dug in the earth that is then covered with grasses. The meat is falling-off-the-bone tender and everything seems to taste twice as delicious. We enjoyed a Pachamanca along the shore of beautiful Lake Piuray in the Sacred Valley of the Inca in the shadow of the Andes Mountains.
Mais fotos em: amandavalverdefotografia.weebly.com/
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More photos: amandavalverdefotografia.weebly.com/
Fishermen carry out daily maintenance of boats, nets and ropes on the beach in front of Lighthouse Beach's tourist shopping-strip.
Shot taken for Week #10 of Thing a Week.
This weeks theme was Ten Things and my mind became travelling at high speeds through it without any clear thought! Millions of thoughts came and gone. Finally after the whole week as I went for a walk with Rita and we took our lomos we remembered that we had plenty of them at the flat, so why not? It is a hommage to them and to what they represent as photography icons!
If you love photography and love experiment, get one!
You won't regret that plasticky feeling and the excitment of waiting for the film to be developed!
*oh! And that rainbow was really there, the light refelction from our ubermini-balcony! ^^
Sorry things have been a little quiet around here.. Things are hectic and i've been feeling a little on the quiet side. If anything, one big decision is out of the way and there is now some room to plan things out with the mister. During the decision making process. i released that i wasted so much time worrying about the decision i am about to make and made myself so anxious from thinking too much (really silly). What i ended up doing was to feed my brain with all the information i have on the decision and stop thinking about it for days. Miraculous the answer to my big decision came to me ~ yes, i am going to take this big leap in my life. The decision felt right. It wasn't acted selfishly and it wasn't acted selflessly but rather It was acted purely based on US (the mister and i). It wasn't acted when i was feeling negative but rather it was acted when i felt calm and quiet. It wasn't acted out of stupidity but rather I fed as much information as i can to my brain and forget about it. Lastly, it wasn't acted out of fear. Fear is such an interesting emotion as it has the potential to control our life and stop us from being adventurous in life and from making interesting decision.
The other thing i learned during this decision making process is ~ understanding what is a right decision and what is a wrong decision. Whatever decision i make, is not right and is not wrong. It's just a decision. What is important is what i do after. You make it a right decision by commitment, by putting in effort, love and time in your decision. You cam make you decision work. You can make your decision a right one. Often times, a lot of us go back in the pass thinking maybe we should have made the other decision or we should have done it differently. Don't IF your pass, there is no way of knowing what might have happen if you make a different choice. When you made a decision, it is made and finished. Focus your energy in making your present decision work and stop doubting it.And that is exactly what i will do.
My little Vera illustrated this with her beautiful bouquet of roses in her hand and said "Whatever decision you make, as long as you nurture it with effort, time. kindness, love and care after, it will turn out to be one of the best decision you made in your life."
Hope the weekend treats you well.
Happy Mother's day weekend.
Love to you and yours.
Gifts from a beautiful friend and wandering thoughts of journeys and places to go :) Thank you lovely Vero xx
APPROXIMATE RELEASE DATE: 2009-2012
MISSING ITEMS: Cape, wings, ballet slippers, leotard, crown, book
PERSONAL FUN FACT: Truth be told, I had no idea that either of these costumes were authentic American Girl items when I stumbled upon them at the local flea market in 2018. I saw a pile of doll clothes residing in a container beneath the table we purchased my three Bitty Twins dolls from. Colleen and I spent several minutes trying to deduce what was and was not real American Girl. These clothes are honestly not up to American Girl's usual standards. Neither costume has closures, so you have to cram them over the plump babies' bodies. This is really tricky to do with the super tight fitting superhero costume, being modeled on Sonny. The fabric choices also feel more like imitation American Girl clothes...but I suppose it makes sense being that there were three outfits sold in this one set. I personally prefer the dinosaur outfit over the hero one. I'm not sure why...maybe it's because it comes with the adorable matching hat. But I think in part it's because this ensemble reminds me of Music Festival Vibes Jade's dino hoodie, that I am mega obsessed with. This costume also is reminiscent of the costumes I would wear to bed as pajamas growing up. I recall being so taken with my cheap Felix the Cat costume, that Mom let me wear it to bed whenever it came out of the wash (which was often...I wet the bed all the time when I was little). This set also was packaged with a reversible outfit for the girl Bitty Twins doll. Sadly, I only have the skirt from this look, so Billie Jean couldn't take part in this photo shoot with the boys. Interestingly, the skirt is the best quality piece from this set!