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34/52 Choose your favourite poem and try to represent a line of it visually.
I don't have a favorite poem, but I do love music and the lyrics to some of my favorite songs are close to my heart. One of my favourites is Crush, by the Dave Matthews Band. When I saw Glen, sitting at the edge of lake, taking in the beauty of our surroundings, I was filled with so much love for him. It was his idea to drive to the mountains after work and have dinner beside the lake in the mountains. It was a romantic evening, just the two of us. The lyrics are written from a man to a woman, but the sentiment is the same either way.
"Crush"
Crazy how it feels tonight
Crazy how you make it all alright love
You crush me with the things you do
I do for you anything too
Sitting smoking feeling high
In this moment it feels so right
Lovely lady
I am at your feet
God I want you so badly
I wonder this
Could tomorrow be
So wondrous as you there sleeping
Let's go drive 'till morning comes
Watch the sunrise to fill our souls up
Drink some wine 'till we get drunk
It's crazy I'm thinking
Just knowing that the world is round
Here I'm dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
Is this real or am I dreaming
Lovely lady
Let me drink you please
I won't spill a drop I promise you
Lying under this spell you cast on me
Each moment
The more I love you
Crush me
Come on
It's crazy I'm thinking
Just knowing that the world is round
Here I'm dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
Is it real or am I dreaming
Lovely lady
I will treat you sweetly
Adore you I mean you crush me
It's times like these
When my faith I feel
And I know how I love you
Come on
Lady
It's crazy I'm thinking
Just as long as you're around
And here I'll be dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
To each other we'll be facing
By love we'll beat back the pain we've found
You know
I mean to tell you all the things I've been thinking deep inside
My friend
With each moment the more I love you
Crush me
Come on
So much you have given love
That I would give you back again and again
Meaning I'll hold you
And please let me always
This visually frenetic kitchen is another Armstrong linoleum ad. Published in 1948 in American Home magazine, it offers some of the design excesses that typify the Post WWII period. Still, even with too much rapid eye movement, there are lots of useful ideas for organizing 21st century kitchens.
Or should I say Super Duper Moon?
It just means that the moon as at perigee in it's slightly elliptical orbit. That means it is slightly larger visually than it has appeared for the last 70 years. It looks the same to me...:) I enjoyed seeing this full moon in a cloudless sky.
__________________________________________
The moon revolves around the third nearest planet called Earth, of the star Sol, in an arm of the spiral galaxy called Milky Way. The next nearest galaxy Is Andromeda. We are in a local cluster of galaxies.
Spiral Galaxy: Milky Way
Star: Sol
Planet: Earth is Sol's third Planet
Earth's Only Satellite: Moon
Camera: Canon Powershot SX 60 HS
All things considered, it's not too shabby for a bridge camera...:)
I really should use a tripod so I could use a slower shutter speed and a lower ISO. That would reduce the pixel to pixel noise which varies as the the inverse square root of the number of photons captured on a pixel. The more photons, the lower the noise.
This pixel-to-pixel noise limited shot was hand held. I was leaning backwards against a low fence for support since my balance is poor. I tried to hold my breath. I supported the far end of the lens barrel with my left hand. I held the camera body and pressed the shutter button with my right hand,
All things considered, it's not too shabby for a bridge camera...:)
As I recall, my old Panasonic Lumix FZ70 had better IS (image stabilization.) I'm sorry I had to replace it when it malfunctioned.
IMG_5606 - Version 3
- IMG_5622 - Version 2
entrance to a visually sumptuous staircase at the art gallery of ontario. i remember the day the gehry unveiled the prototypes to Toronto; I was in the audience for the media release. Frank explained how significant the building had been in his own life, and that his contribution to it was meant make the journey of investigating art represented in its new structure and gallery layouts.
The stair feature was both the first sign of this that would greet you as you enter the proscenium and "look up at this crazy stairway".
Years later, from this view in particular it makes give the sense of leaving one's existing horizons for new ideas or adventures.
Suffolk Sportscars is dedicated to production of the visually exact reproduction of the legendary Jaguar SS100. It is a true and pure Jaguar, fully recognised and accepted by all the Jaguar car clubs around the world.
The Jaguar SS100 was originally designed in 1935 by William Lyons, the founder of Jaguar Cars Limited. You will find a history of the Jaguar SS100 within this section.
The Jaguar SS100 is one of the most important cars ever produced in England. It marked the high point of English sports car design before the start of World War 2. When the leading motoring writers of Europe selected their choice of the 100 most important cars of the 20th century, they included the legendary Jaguar SS100. As only 314 were ever made this is certainly an achievement. Every serious book about sports cars includes articles and photographs of the Jaguar SS100. This landmark car acted as the mainspring for the development of the remarkable lineage of post war Jaguar sports cars.
We have now made well over 200 of our Suffolk SS100 Jaguar reproductions and are well on our way to achieving my ambition to make as many as William Lyons. We hope that this website will give you the confidence in our products and that you may take the opportunity to come and visit us at Woodbridge. I can tell you that even after 20 years of making the SS100, I still get a smile and goosebumps whenever I'm ready to go for a drive. The overall shape and stying of the car is evocative of the golden age of great pre-war sports cars.
Now we combine all the superb visuality of the car with modern brakes, steering, power and safety to meet the demand of today's driver.
Visually the most stunning of Lothian's 30 open-top buses is 249 - SJ66LKO in its advert for Edinburgh's landmarks.
Sadly not a patch on previous times I've been. Visually less of everything across the board. It's clear reenactors, stall holders, vintage vehicles etc., have given it a miss in advance.
The event organisers [Pike and Shot] say 80% of the groups let them down. Cant blame the groups for the mass exodus. You're the organisers, they have supported this event for over 10 years. The fault is on your doorstep.
I was watching and listening to the fella firing up the Rolls Royce engine. He was furious to put it mildly (as seen in my video). He received a call to start it earlier than scheduled. He had to! He did with reluctance and was subsequently drowning out the singers nearby. When he challenged the staff about it they were not so sympathetic. Awful for him. To his credit he apologised to the small crowd of what happened that he was instructed to start the engine early. So for me, this was a live example of the organisers causing unrest as the event unfolded.
Having been to several 1940s events this year, this was the bottom of the pile. When I spoke with quite a few visitors and stall holders etc., they were expecting so much more, as in the past.
Singer: Miss Trixie Holiday
The other singer, not in this video, was Ricky Hunter. Decided not to include him in my video because he spent way too much time looking at his phone, playlist, drinking water, while singing, rather than entertain the crowd. He was a last minute guest singer anyway. He had not been invited for over 5 years.
Entrance fee was £10! (reduced to £4 very late on into the second day). No concessions. No signposting to the event. No map or itinerary. Limited parking. A bare bones event. Purely the fault of the organisers and Rufford Abbey Estate collectively.
Without Prejudice.
Finding beauty in the mundane—now that’s a challenge! For this photo, the subject wasn’t my choice; photographing a pair of scissors was the actual challenge I signed up for. So, I gave it a shot and tried to make it visually appealing.
This is my first attempt, and honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. I usually prefer documenting the world around me, so this was definitely outside my comfort zone. Would I ever frame this and hang it on a wall? Probably not. But hey, the point was to take on the challenge, and I did. Fingers crossed I won’t be too embarrassed by this little experiment!
I do lots of kinds of photography that never show up on Flickr. There is actually quite a narrow range of types of photography that are generally appreciated here. Specialty or specialized stuff is not well received, So be it.
From time to time -- not so often -- I like to just show different things. This is a Quaker Oats switch engine, given a bit of processing treatment. Some like this sort of thing, many don't. I do.
A visually striking collection of interstellar gas and dust is the focus of this week's Hubble Picture of the Week. Named RCW 7, the nebula is located just over 5300 light-years from Earth in the constellation Puppis.
Nebulae are areas of space that are rich in the raw material needed to form new stars. Under the influence of gravity, parts of these molecular clouds collapse until they coalesce into protostars, surrounded by spinning discs of leftover gas and dust. In the case of RCW 7, the protostars forming here are particularly massive, giving off strongly ionising radiation and fierce stellar winds that have transformed it into what is known as a H II region.
H II regions are filled with hydrogen ions — where H I refers to a normal hydrogen atom, H II is hydrogen that has lost its electron. The ultraviolet radiation from the massive protostars excites the hydrogen, causing it to emit light and giving this nebula its soft pinkish glow. Here Hubble is studying a particular massive protostellar binary named IRAS 07299-1651, still in its glowing cocoon of gas in the curling clouds towards the top of the nebula. To expose this star and its siblings, this image was captured using the Wide Field Camera 3 in near-infrared light. The massive protostars here are brightest in ultraviolet light, but they emit plenty of infrared light which can pass through much of the gas and dust around them and be seen by Hubble. Many of the other, larger-looking stars in this image are not part of the nebula, but sit between it and our Solar System.
The creation of an H II region marks the beginning of the end for a molecular cloud. Over only a few million years, the radiation and winds from the massive stars gradually disperse the gas — even more so as the most massive stars come to the end of their lives in supernova explosions. Only a fraction of the gas will be incorporated into new stars in this nebula, with the rest being spread throughout the galaxy to eventually form new molecular clouds.
[Image Description: Clouds of gas and dust with many stars. The clouds form a flat blue background towards the bottom, and become more thick and smoky towards the top. They are lit on one side by stars in the nebula. A thick arc of gas and dust reaches around from the top, where it is brightly lit by many stars in and around it, to the bottom where it is dark and obscuring. Other large stars lie between the clouds and the viewer.]
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Tan (Chalmers University & University of Virginia), R. Fedriani (Institute for Astrophysics of Andalusia)
CC BY 4.0 INT
Wolves can communicate visually through a wide variety of expressions and moods ranging from subtle signals, such as a slight shift in weight, to more obvious ones, such as rolling on their backs to indicate complete submission.[82]
* Dominance – A dominant wolf stands stiff legged and tall. The ears are erect and forward, and the hackles bristle slightly. Often the tail is held vertically and curled toward the back. This display asserts the wolf's rank to others in the pack. A dominant wolf may stare at a submissive one, pin it to the ground, "ride up" on its shoulders, or even stand on its hind legs.
* Submission (active) – During active submission, the entire body is lowered, and the lips and ears are drawn back. Sometimes active submission is accompanied by muzzle licking, or the rapid thrusting out of the tongue and lowering of the hindquarters. The tail is placed down, or halfway or fully between the legs, and the muzzle often points up to the more dominant animal. The back may be partly arched as the submissive wolf humbles itself to its superior; a more arched back and more tucked tail indicate a greater level of submission.
* Submission (passive) – Passive submission is more intense than active submission. The wolf rolls on its back and exposes its vulnerable throat and underside. The paws are drawn into the body. This posture is often accompanied by whimpering.
* Anger – An angry wolf's ears are erect, and its fur bristles. The lips may curl up or pull back, and the incisors are displayed. The wolf may also arch its back, lash out, or snarl.
* Fear – A frightened wolf attempts to make itself look small and less conspicuous; the ears flatten against the head, and the tail may be tucked between the legs, as with a submissive wolf. There may also be whimpering or barks of fear, and the wolf may arch its back.
* Defensive – A defensive wolf flattens its ears against its head.
* Aggression – An aggressive wolf snarls and its fur bristles. The wolf may crouch, ready to attack if necessary.
* Suspicion – Pulling back of the ears shows a wolf is suspicious. The wolf also narrows its eyes. The tail of a wolf that senses danger points straight out, parallel to the ground.
* Relaxation – A relaxed wolf's tail points straight down, and the wolf may rest sphinx-like or on its side. The wolf may also wag its tail. The further down the tail droops, the more relaxed the wolf is.
* Tension – An aroused wolf's tail points straight out, and the wolf may crouch as if ready to spring.
* Happiness – As dogs do, a wolf may wag its tail if in a joyful mood. The tongue may roll out of the mouth.
* Hunting – A wolf that is hunting is tensed, and therefore the tail is horizontal and straight.
* Playfulness – A playful wolf holds its tail high and wags it. The wolf may frolic and dance around, or bow by placing the front of its body down to the ground, while holding the rear high, sometimes wagged. This resembles the playful behavior of domestic dogs.
March Point. Padilla Bay/Fidalgo Bay. "The Washington population of the Black Oystercatcher is estimated to be roughly 400 birds. This number is probably not significantly different from the historical population, as these birds require fairly specialized habitat, which is not evenly distributed. Oystercatchers are highly vulnerable to human disturbance, oil spills, and pollution of the intertidal zone. Numbers of Black Oystercatchers on the outer coast may be higher than in the past, in part due to decreased human disturbance resulting from lighthouse automation. Numbers in inland areas, however, have declined in response to increased human activity. The Northern Pacific Coast Regional Shorebird Management Plan has identified the Black Oystercatcher as a regional species of high concern."
"The Black Oystercatcher is restricted in its range, never straying far from shores, in particular favoring rocky shorelines. It has been suggested that this bird is seen mostly on coastal stretches which have some quieter embayments, such as jetty protected areas. It forages in the intertidal zone, feeding on marine invertebrates, particularly molluscs such as mussels, limpets and chitons. It will also take crabs, isopods and barnacles. It hunts through the intertidal area, searching for food visually, often so close to the water's edge it has to fly up to avoid crashing surf. It uses its strong bill to dislodge food and pry shells open."
March Point. Padilla Bay/Fidalgo Bay.
"The Washington population of the Black Oystercatcher is estimated to be roughly 400 birds. This number is probably not significantly different from the historical population, as these birds require fairly specialized habitat, which is not evenly distributed. Oystercatchers are highly vulnerable to human disturbance, oil spills, and pollution of the intertidal zone. Numbers of Black Oystercatchers on the outer coast may be higher than in the past, in part due to decreased human disturbance resulting from lighthouse automation. Numbers in inland areas, however, have declined in response to increased human activity. The Northern Pacific Coast Regional Shorebird Management Plan has identified the Black Oystercatcher as a regional species of high concern."
"The Black Oystercatcher is restricted in its range, never straying far from shores, in particular favoring rocky shorelines. It has been suggested that this bird is seen mostly on coastal stretches which have some quieter embayments, such as jetty protected areas. It forages in the intertidal zone, feeding on marine invertebrates, particularly molluscs such as mussels, limpets and chitons. It will also take crabs, isopods and barnacles. It hunts through the intertidal area, searching for food visually, often so close to the water's edge it has to fly up to avoid crashing surf. It uses its strong bill to dislodge food and pry shells open."
Visually Oregon City seems either too dark or too bright, e.g. here the new lights on the bridge made the river seem very dark visually, but photographically it balanced out very nicely. Click here to view other images in this Study Series. From a fun night in Oregon City with the PDXNightowls. NB18369
Hearing a sonic boom is common, but what about seeing one?
When an object travels faster than the speed of sound, the density waves that we hear as sound cannot outrun the object itself and so accumulate as a cone behind it. When this cone of density waves passes, a listener hears all the sound at once as a sonic boom.
What happens visually though is still debated. It seems from the picture above that an unusual cloud forms. One theory is that a drop in air pressure at the plane causes water vapor to condense and form the cloud.
---------- Credit --------
Ensign John Gay, USS Constellation, US Navy
This image is a work of a sailor or employee of the U.S. Navy, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
ABOARD USS CONSTELLATION (July 7, 1999)-- Lieutenant Ron Candiloro, assigned to Fighter Squadron One Five One (VF-151), breaks the sound barrier in an F/A-18 "Hornet".
As visually complicated as the ABANDONED CADILLAC photo might appear, it really was a fairly simple setup, right on my kitchen table.
[ here's the finished photo:]
www.flickr.com/photos/24796741@N05/7028272255/in/photostr...
I've had that bridge model for some time and wanted to use it in a different way.
After I placed it on the "road surface" the whole scene fell into place because the piers of the structure seemed to make a stronger statement than the iron works.
After that decision, It was a just a question of what era to represent.
When lighting the set, it was immediately clear that a dramatic over head source was the way to go. The pattern of the girders falling on the automobiles defined the story.
An interesting aspect of that lighting was it created an odd flattening of the background; there was no sense depth, even though the backdrop was over 3 feet away.
Not visually spectacular, but after three months travelling in South America, with its fair share of stray dogs, this place was quite a surprise.
It's a park in Central Lima that is a sanctuary for stray cats. Volunteers feed the cats and they can be adopted. They all seem pretty happy with the deal.
“The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms. Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him.”
Every year, 15th October is celebrated around the world as White Cane Safety Day. The day celebrates all the achievements of blind and visually impaired people. It also raises awareness about blindness and vision loss among people.
Description of the photo:
The photo depicts a drawing of a foldable white cane with the words "White Cane Safety Day" written above the cane in Braille.
Keep the comments clean! No banners, awards or invitations, please!
Ah, the visually amazing El Camino.
Truly one of the "Love It or Hate It" body styles of the late 50's.
A veritable buffet of Show Car, Space Age and Surreal automotive design.
What's not to like?
This photo is an out take from the promotional images I did for West Coast Precision Diecasts.
The buildings, way in the background, are part of the MIT campus, here in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
While visually, you might find this jarring, to me this is actually what I saw today. Not the blown out sky I got from a tradional shot.
Located 7200 light years away, the Wizard nebula, surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer. The active star forming region spans 100 about light years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be located with a small telescope toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus). Although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.
Images taken last night (14-9-17) from my back garden, Leeds UK.
Work in Progress - 14/09/17:-
10 x 3min H-Alpha Images
7 x 3min R
7 x 3min G
7 x 3min B
Only a total of 1.55 Hours Imaging
Equipment:-
Skywatcher 200P 8" Reflector Scope
ATIK 314L+ CCD Mono Camera
Baader Ha, R, G, B Filters
Guiding via Orion Star Shoot 70mm & CCD & PHD2
Imaging: MaximDL
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8.5
Our version of NGC 7380 nebula with the whole AstroFleet team. The data were acquired with our setup (TS-Optics CF-APO 155mm & ASI2600MM Pro) hosted at PixelSkies, Spain.
NGC 7380 (also known as the Wizard Nebula) is a young open cluster discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. It is located in the constellation of Cepheus. It is also known as 142 in the 1959 Sharpless catalog (Sh2-142). It is extremely difficult to observe visually, usually requiring very dark skies and an OIII filter.
Located approx. 8,500 light-years away, the Wizard nebula, surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. The cluster spans 20 light-years with an age estimated between 4 to 11.0 million years. At the center of the cluster lies DH Cephei, a spectroscopic binary system consisting of two massive O-type stars. This pair are the primary ionizing source for this HII region.
This picture respects the Hubble Palette version (SHO): H-Alpha mapped to green, SII mapped to red and OIII mapped to the blue channel. While the colors in this image are not the true colors, the narrowband filters were used to create the nebula color.
RA 22h 47m 01.1s
DEC +58° 07' 34.0"
ORIENTATION Up is 3.1 degrees E of N
CONSTELLATION Cepheus
DISTANCE 8,500 ly
Captured July 2023
FOV 42.2 x 63.9 arcmin
Total integration time of 70.3 hours.
Technical Details
Data acquisition & processing: AstroFleet team
Location: PixelSkies, Castilléjar, Granada, Andalucia, SPAIN
Ha: 152*600s
OIII: 121*600s
SII: 148*600s
Optics: TS-Optics CF-APO 155mm @ F/8
Mount: iOptron CEM70
CMOS: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Fire appliances with extending ladders are among the most visually impressive fire rescue vehicles.
Fire engines with wooden escape ladders mounted on fully rotating turntables became commonplace during the 1920s. In the early 1930s, chassis builder Leyland Motors secured the sole UK franchise for German ladder builder Metz and began to market 100 feet (30 metres) all-steel turntable escapes. The turntable ladder was power operated and split into sections (usually four). The Leyland - Metz appliances were supplied to many major fire brigades, including this one for Birmingham. It was delivered in time for the grand opening of the new Central Fire Station on 2 December 1935.
It soon had to work hard during World War Two (1939-1945), notably the serious air raids on Coventry and Birmingham in 1940-1941.
This 1935 City of Birmingham fire engine, BOF 389, has a Leyland Tigress chassis and Leyland 8.6 diesel engine. It was replaced in the early 1950s and, at some point, passed into preservation. It joined the Transport Museum Wythall collection in 1988.
I enjoy modern… Visually & mentally… but how amazing does it feel to walk into the 90’s and feel… and even taste it… 🎄❤️ The most immense happiness is in the most minor things… There are many misunderstandings in life… way too many… we don’t listen… we don’t hear… what people say & what they mean… and what they say & what we hear is not always the same thing…
All I want for Christmas is for you
You're the gift that's made my dreams all come true
All I need for Christmas is here
Finding every sweet surprise wrapped up in your eyes
Waiting there for me underneath the tree
We'll then spend the day exchanging kisses
Smile and say What a Christmas this is
Long before the snowflakes appear
Without bells or mistletoe or the tinsel silver glow
You just look at me and Oh!
Christmas is here!
Someone asks me today if she should not speak to her fiance ever again because of something she heard… and I said, “yes, you should not speak to him if you want to quit him.” Ignoring someone is an excellent way to get them out of your life 200% of the time. But if you want to ignore because of something you “think”… assumption is a hypothesis not worth testing. If you would ignore it because of love… just make sure they speak your “language” before you lose them.
I have never seen the castellers at work before but I caught some in Sitges in October. Apart from being visually exiting you have to imagine loud brass bands playing and hundreds of spectators cheering. It is catalunya at it most thrilling. It is always a small child who goes to the top this was a girl of eight you can see her red helmet. If this happened in England the health and safety police would be there to stop up. But imagine being a child on top of a tower of her friends and relatives Viva
I was not expecting this event so had no tripod so it was hand held it a large crows so its far from perfect but considering the situation I was pretty happy with the results
The tradition of building castells originated in Valls, near the city of Tarragona, in the southern part of Catalonia towards the end of the 18th century. Later it developed a following in other regions of Catalonia and, since 1981, when the first castell of 9 levels of the 20th century was built, it has become very popular in most of Catalonia
In Catalan the word castell means castle.
A castell is considered a success when stages of its assembling and disassembling, can be done in complete succession. The assembly is complete once all castellers have climbed into their designated places, and the enxaneta climbs into place at the top and raises one hand with four fingers erect, in a gesture said to symbolize the stripes of the Catalan flag. The enxaneta then climbs down the other side of the castell, after which the remaining levels of castellers descend in highest-to-lowest order until all have reached safety.
Aside from the people who climb to form the upper parts of the tower, others are needed to form the pinya, or bottom base of the castell, to sustain its weight. Members of the pinya (most often men) [3] also act as a 'safety net' if the tower structure collapses, cushioning the fall of people from the upper levels.
The castell is built in two phases. First, the pinya the base of the tower is formed. People forming higher levels of the tower move to a position from which they can easily get to their place in the tower. This is done slowly and carefully,[4] and as subsequent base levels are completed the castellers in the pinya determine if their base is solid enough for construction to continue. Then, when the signal to proceed is given, bands begin to play traditional music as a hush comes over spectators of the event. The upper layers of the tower are built as quickly as possible in order to put minimal strain on the lower castellers, who bear most of the weight of the castell. The disassembly of the castell, done amidst the cheering of the crowd, is often the most treacherous stage of the event.
THANKS FOR YOUR VISIT HAVE A GREAT DAY
The cemetery has been much enlarged. Contains two listed monuments - memorial to Thomas Ramsay (d. 1873) and a war memorial. In the cemetery there is also a granite vault marking the resting place of the last of a long line of Claverings - "SIR HENRY AUGUSTUS CLAVERING, of Axwell Park, Tenth and last Baronet, Born 30th August 1824, died 9th November 1893; aged 69 years". STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Blaydon Cemetery was established in 1873 in response to the growing demand for burial space outside town centres, as there was great concern over the health risks involving proximity to areas of dense population. The site chosen was to the east of the town,at Shibdon, called The Close or Blunt’s Close, bought from Colonel Towneley, who owned a great deal of land in the area. It was an ideal site for a cemetery – on sloping land, from which good views could be gained across the river valley and which also enabled the sometimes elaborate memorials to be shown off to the best advantage. The committee minutes record that the land was surveyed, the cemetery laid out, and the buildings designed by Matthew Thompson, but as yet no plans have been found showing his original design concept. The executed design only covered a relatively small area, with a main entrance to the northwest corner, with the buildings (a lodge and chapel) placed along serpentine paths that were becoming a rare feature by this period. The consecrated section was to the east, and the unconsecrated to the west, with separate plots for Roman Catholics and other non-conformists (most likely to be Methodists). Visually striking, the grave markers in the upper part of the cemetery are set out in clear rows, which strangely mirror the streets in the area, ascending the hill on a north-south axis. To the lower, earlier section of the land, however, the monuments are more informally arranged, harmonising with the different path systems from each time period. The entrance was clearly designed to make an impression, with monumental gate piers topped by simple pyramid caps set on an arc, thus allowing for gathering space. The railings are simple in iron, with double rows of uprights at the base (adding to security) and arced decorative elements towards the top. This enclosure method of low plinth walls with ‘palisading’ was employed for part of the cemetery (to allow for views), but the remainder was enclosed by high stone boundary walls, mainly rubble in character, with chamfered copings. The lodge included office space for the management of the cemetery and the burial board meetings. The composite chapel with a central porte-cochere (covered carriage entrance) was a typical solution to the requirements for both Church of England and Non-Conformist worship space. This example is particularly fine, and offers an appropriately stately entrance point to the main cemetery (see Information Sheet X20/LL/228), and now forms a wonderful linear set piece with the war memorial to the north of it, and the monument to Thomas Ramsay situated along the winding path ascending the hill to the south. The war memorial can be seen through the arch from the opposite side as an attractive framed view. The layout of cemeteries was often strongly influenced by the views of J C Loudon, with weeping and fastigiate (erect and tapering) trees, as well as the traditional yews and dark foliaged evergreens planted along paths, providing a framework (although this was usually on a grid pattern not favoured here). In this cemetery, the tree cover within the cemetery is scattered fairy randomly. In general it is more densely covered to the south and east of the chapel, with the dominant mature species being sycamore. Other species present in les
Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blaydon/Winlaton ward had a population in 2011 of 13,896.
Between 1894 and 1974, Blaydon was an urban district which extended inland from the Tyne along the River Derwent for ten miles (16 km), and included the mining communities of Chopwell and High Spen, the villages of Rowlands Gill, Blackhall Mill, Barlow, Winlaton Mill and Stella, as well as Blaydon and Winlaton. During its existence, the Urban District's fourteen and a half square miles constituted the second largest administrative district by area, on Tyneside, after Newcastle upon Tyne.
History
The town of Blaydon is essentially an industrial area and is not more than two centuries old. Indeed, in the 1760s there was little here but a few farms and cottages. In the latter part of the same century a smelting works was set up from which sprang the industrial growth of the area.
Though the town itself has a relatively short history there has been activity in the area for many centuries.
Early history
The earliest recorded evidence of human activity at Blaydon is a Neolithic polished stone axe found in the early 20th century. Finds and structures from later prehistoric periods include a bronze spearhead and log-boat, both recovered from the River Tyne in the 19th century. A number of Bronze Age cists[citation needed] are recorded from Summerhill and several others from Bewes Hill.
Little is recorded of medieval Blaydon, which appears to have been based upon the modern farm sites of High and Low Shibdon. The Blaydon Burn Belts Corn Mill, part of a row of 5 or 6 water corn mills stretching from Brockwell Wood to the River Tyne is known to have been present by the early 17th century, suggesting a healthy population at that time. It is likely that, as well as farming, many industrial activities such as mining and quarrying had begun in the medieval and post-medieval periods, well before the industrial period of the 18th to 20th centuries when Blaydon became an important industrial centre.
Battle of Stella Ford
Also known as the Battle of Newburn or Newburn Ford, this relatively unknown battle has recently been elevated in importance by English Heritage. On 28 August 1640, 20,000 Scots defeated 5,500 English soldiers who were defending the ford over the Tyne four miles (6 km) west of Newcastle.[6] The Scots had been provoked by Charles I, who had imposed bishops and a foreign prayer book on their church. The Scots army, led by Alexander Leslie, fought its way to Newcastle and occupied the city for almost a year before Charles I paid it £200,000 to depart. The battle brought to an end the so-called 'Eleven Years of Tyranny' by forcing Charles to recall Parliament.
The 18th century and the Industrial Revolution
The stimulus for industry at Blaydon and Blaydon burn, as elsewhere in the region, was the growth in coal mining and the coal trade, particularly from the early 18th century, when the Hazard and Speculation pits were established at Low Shibdon linked to the Tyne by wagonways. The 18th century Blaydon Main Colliery was reopened in the mid-19th century and worked until 1921. Other pits and associated features included Blaydon Burn Colliery, Freehold pit and the Blaydonburn wagonway. Industries supported by the coal trade included chemical works, bottle works, sanitary pipe works, lampblack works, an ironworks, a smithy and brickworks - Cowen's Upper and Lower Brickworks were established in 1730 and were associated with a variety of features including a clay drift mine and coal/clay drops. The Lower works remains in operation. Blaydon Burn Coke Ovens, also of 19th-century origin, were replaced in the 1930s by Priestman Ottovale Coke and Tar Works which was the first in the world to produce petrol from coal[citation needed] known as Blaydon Benzole.
In addition to the workers' housing developments associated with industrialisation, a number of grand residences were constructed for industrialists in the area, such as Blaydon Burn House, home of Joseph Cowen, owner of the brickworks. Ironically, the remains of Old Dockendale Hall, an earlier grand residence (or perhaps a superior farmhouse) of 17th century or earlier construction, was destroyed when the coke and tar works was built at Blaydon Burn.
Blaydon School Press
In the 1930s, pupils at the now demolished Blaydon Intermediate School, under the leadership of English teacher Mr Elliott and art teacher Mr Boyce, gradually developed a technique for producing hardback books. Their productions were highly respected and favourably compared to other successful private printing presses of the time. In one volume produced by the school in 1935, entitled "Songs of Enchantment", the pupils were successful in convincing the famous poet Walter de la Mare to write a foreword in which he praised their enterprise and efforts.
Stella South Power Station
The post war era of the late 40s and 50s saw a rapid rise in demand for electricity and, in the North East, the extension of existing and construction of a number of new power stations was seen as a key part of the solution. For the Blaydon area, this meant the arrival of a new power station at Stella Haugh, known as the South Stella Power Station, which helped to meet the energy demands of the North East until its closure in 1991. It was demolished in 1992.
Governance
Blaydon ward elects three councillors to Gateshead Council. In the House of Commons, the Blaydon constituency has been held by Liz Twist for the Labour Party since 2017. The area has traditionally been a Labour stronghold and the seat has been held by them since 1935.
Geography
Modern Blaydon stands close to the Tyne with the A695, a key road from Gateshead to Hexham, passing through the town centre. Between this main road and the river is the railway and beyond it, on a bend of the Tyne, is the industrial district of Blaydon Haughs. The main part of the town lies south of the railway.
Despite being a largely urban and industrial area, there are various rural aspects to Blaydon and the surrounding area. The area has many acres of open countryside, mostly at 500 feet (150 m) or more above sea level, and numerous farms and similar holdings. Between High Spen and Chopwell are large Forestry Commission woods, and these and other forested areas extend westward down the hillside to the River Derwent, which forms most of the metropolitan district boundary.
Shibdon Pond, on the eastern edge of the town at the former site of Blaydon Main colliery, is a nature reserve with many species of waterfowl. English Nature has designated Shibdon Pond as one of Tyne and Wear's Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The subject of a regeneration campaign, Shibdon Dene (sometimes inaccurately called 'Blaydon Dene') is another recreational area consisting of a pathway between a great number of fine trees.
There is also a nature reserve north-west of Blaydon at Blaydon Burn, on the route of a wagon-way which carried coal to the riverside. The track, roughly a mile-and-a-half long, is used by walkers and cyclists and ends near the Path Head Watermill.
Demography
Blaydon had a population of 15,155 in the 2011 census, which increased from 14,648 a decade earlier.
Economy
Once the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution in Gateshead, Blaydon's traditional industry was coal mining. However, since the decline of mining in the 1950s and 1960s, the economy has diversified. As well as a small number of commuting professionals, residents of Blaydon are often involved in engineering and manufacturing with many businesses operating from premises in Blaydon Haughs (or 'The Spike'), on the banks of the River Tyne.
Blaydon was for a time the head office of Associated Cooperative Creameries (later renamed ACC then ACC Milk). ACC Milk was sold to Dairy Farmers of Britain in 2004. On 3 June 2009, Dairy Farmers of Britain went into receivership and the dairy in Chainbridge Road closed shortly afterwards with the loss of 300 jobs. In 2010 the dairy was acquired by Medina Dairies and reopened, but closed again just a year later.
Blaydon has a shopping centre, known locally as the precinct. A brutalist 1970s creation, it contains the town's major shops including newsagents, Greggs, Costa, Iceland (supermarket), B & M, Blaydon Carpets and Furnishings, Ladbrokes, Superdrug, Boots (chemist), Boyes and, at the nearby car park, a McDonald's. There are also several food and grocery outlets. The precinct underwent redevelopment in 2012–2014, with the installation of a lift, and the demolition of the Geordie Ridley pub to make way for a new Morrison's supermarket, a new day-centre and doctors' surgery, and roof-top parking. There is also a Co-op Funeralcare just outside the precinct on Bridge street. Blaydon Car Boot Sale takes place every Wednesday between March and October at Blaydon RFC.
The area underwent a significant programme of housing regeneration between 2009 and 2014 with new developments in progress at High View on the Winlaton-Blaydon border, by the riverside on the site of the former Stella South power station and at Axwell Gardens, near to the existing Axwell Park estate.
Landmarks
On the west of the town and a mile inland from the Tyne is Axwell Park, once the home of the Clavering family. Axwell Hall (also Axwell House) is a Grade II* listed mansion, built for Sir Thomas Clavering by the noted architect James Paine and completed in 1761. The last (10th) baronet died in 1893 and Axwell Hall later found use as a prisoner-of-war camp during the second world war and later as an approved school. Much of the park has been developed for residential purposes and the hall itself was, after two decades of decay, restored. There are plans to convert it to residential apartments.
Stella Hall
Up-river from Blaydon and outside the town boundary, Stella Hall was a 17th-century mansion set in a park. The house was built by the Tempest family, and in the next century passed by marriage to Lord Widdrington and then into the Towneley family. From 1850 it was owned by Joseph Cowen, owner of the local brickworks and MP for Newcastle, who was followed by his son, also Joseph, again an MP and also the owner of the Newcastle Chronicle. The house was demolished in 1955 to make way for housing.
Education
Blaydon is part of the Gateshead Local Education Authority. It is home to a number of primary schools (both faith and secular schools) including Blaydon West primary and St Joseph's, a Roman Catholic primary school. It also has St Thomas More Catholic School, a high achieving Roman Catholic secondary school which serves the Roman Catholic population of the western part of Gateshead borough.
Religious sites
Blaydon has several churches. In the town centre, St Cuthbert's (Church of England, opened in 1845) and St Joseph's (Roman Catholic, opened in 1905 on the site of an earlier church) are opposite each other, on either side of Shibdon Road. Both are impressive structures, and the interiors still reflect the style of architecture used in their construction. Also on Shibdon Road, at the corner with Lucy Street and opposite the entrance to the roof-top car park above Morrisons, is Trinity Methodist Church.
There is also a Catholic church in Stella (St Mary and Thomas Aquinas, opened 1835) .
A brand new Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses was opened in 2013, near Cowen Road. This was built by voluntary labour as Witnesses from all over the North-East donned hard hats and work gear, working under the supervision of professional builders.
In Winlaton, the parish church of Winlaton opened in 1828, the Congregational church in 1829, and the Wesleyan Chapel in 1868. The latter two united to form Winlaton United Reformed-Methodist Church, but this closed in August 2015, with some members moving to join Trinity Methodist Church in Blaydon. The Primitive Methodists had opened a building in 1850, which was extended in 1895, and was later to become the Blaydon Corps of the Salvation Army; this corps closed in September 2012. St Anne's Catholic Church in Winlaton was opened in 1962.
Sports
The Blaydon area is the origin of the well-known traditional song "Blaydon Races", written by local musician and showman George 'Geordie' Ridley in 1862. The town's athletic club – the Blaydon Harriers – organise a road running race (called the Blaydon Race) every year on 9 June. The route of the race follows the route outlined by Ridley in his song. The traditional starting point lies outside Balmbra's pub in Newcastle's Bigg Market, and the race follows a course along Scotswood Road before crossing the River Tyne and ultimately finishing in Blaydon town centre. Local councillors, societies and notaries have in recent years organised an annual Blaydon Festival with music, sport and arts events that coincides with the week of race day.
As well as the Blaydon races, The Blaydon Harriers organise regular race meetings on the Shibdon Pond fields (and other venues) throughout the year. These are usually well-attended both by participants and spectators. The Harriers' colours are orange and black.
The rugby union club, Blaydon RFC play in the English National League 2 North, the fourth tier of the English rugby union system and a high level considering the size of the town. The Crow Trees rugby ground is situated to the east of the town, in neighbouring Swalwell. Blaydon RFC play in red shirts and white shorts. The former England international Mick Skinner played for Blaydon. Their smaller but no less illustrious neighbours, Winlaton Vulcans RFC play in Durham and Northumberland Division 2 and number Ken Goodall, the former Ireland and British Lion International, as one of their former players. They play in black shirts, shorts and socks with the club badge of an arm gripping a hammer over an anvil depicting their heritage being formed from the steelworking heritage of the area.
Since 2013 Blaydon has also been host to Blaydon Cycle Club, meeting weekly and throughout the week catering from novice cyclists right through to having a race team competing in local and national events.
Notable people
Alun Armstrong, former professional footballer with Ipswich Town F.C. and Middlesbrough FC
Peter Armstrong, the poet and psychotherapist, was born in Blaydon
Sir Thomas Clavering, 7th Baronet, owner of Axwell Hall
Joseph Cowen, 19th century politician and journalist
Graham Onions, Durham and England cricketer
Bert Tulloch, former professional footballer with Blackpool
Gavin Webster, stand-up comedian
William Widdrington, 4th Baron Widdrington, owner of Stella Hall
Culture
Live jazz and rock music is regularly performed at the Black Bull pub near Blaydon Bridge. Although many pubs were demolished during the refurbishment of the town in the 1970s, a number of pubs still exist in and around the precinct, along with the Staffs (formerly the Railway Staff Club). The Blaydon and District Social Club – a former working men's club – and the Blaydon House Sports and Social Club (formerly the Conservative Club), which occupied the house of the nineteenth-century Doctor Morrison, and was reputedly the oldest building in Blaydon, were both demolished in 2020–2021 to make way for housing. The façade of Blaydon House was incorporated into a new building. The Masonic Hall on Blaydon Bank was closed in 2015, with Lodge meetings transferring to Ryton Masonic Hall.
Interesting visually but darned prickly. I had to dodge a couple of these to safely get close enough for this photo.
A full moon at perigee is visually larger up to 14% in diameter and shines 30% more light than one at its farthest point, or apogee.
A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a New moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth.[3] The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth–Moon–Sun system.[a] The term "supermoon" is not astronomical, but originated in modern astrology.[4] The association of the Moon with both oceanic and crustal tides has led to claims that the supermoon phenomenon may be associated with increased risk of events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but this effect is very slight.
Taken from Wikipedia.
A group of tactile sonic sculptures, visually at odds with their environment, invaded Bournemouth's Lower Gardens.
A series of sonic performances emanated from inside large spherical forms, resonating upon their surfaces. The composition created a mesmerising movement of sound, bringing the otherworldly objects to life and encouraging audiences to roam from sphere to sphere. A soundscape that you could hear, feel and touch.
"here a detail of the metaphysical garden of Casa Cuseni."
“qui un dettaglio del giardino metafisico di Casa Cuseni.”
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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;
or…. Press the “L” button to zoom in the image;
clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;
oppure…. premi il tasto “L” per ingrandire l'immagine;
www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...
www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
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A history of Taormina: chronicles of a forbidden love and its great secret (not only Paolo and Francesca) with an unexpected "scoop".
This story is an integral part of the story previously told, the historical period is the same, the place is the same, the various characters often meet each other because they know each other; Taormina, between the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s, in an ever increasing growth, became the place of residence of elite tourism, thanks to the international interest aroused by writers and artists, such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , or great personalities like Lady Florence Trevelyan: Taormina becomes so famous, thanks to the paintings of the painter Otto Geleng and the photographs of the young Sicilian models by Wilhelm von Gloeden; in the air of Taormina there is a sense of libertine, its famous and histrionic visitors never fail to create scandal, even surpassing the famous Capri, in which, to cite just one example, the German gunsmith Krupp, trying to recreate the he environment of Arcadia that one breathed in Taormina (thanks to the photos of von Gloeden) was overwhelmed by the scandal for homosexuality, and took his own life. Taormina thus becomes a heavenly-like place, far from industrial civilizations, where you can freely live your life and sexuality; this is the socio-cultural environment in which the two protagonists of this story move, the British painter Robert Hawthorn Kitson (1873 - 1947) and the painter Carlo Siligato (born in Taormina in 1875, and died there in 1959). Robert H. Kitson, born in Leeds in England, belonged to a more than wealthy family, as a young engineer he had begun to replace his father in the family locomotive construction company (Kitson & Co.), on the death of his father in 1899 sells everything and decides to move very rich in Sicily to Taormina (he had been there the previous year with a trip made with his parents, here he had met, in addition to Baron von Gloeden, also the writer and poet Oscar Wilde who came to Italy, immediately after having served two years in prison in forced labor, on charges of sodomy); Kitson settled there because he was suffering from a severe form of rheumatic fever (like von Gloeden was advised to treat himself in the Mediterranean climate milder), and because as a homosexual, he leaves England because the Labouchere amendment considered homosexuality a crime. The other protagonist of this story is Carlo Siligato, he was from Taormina, he had attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, a very gifted painter, he was very good at oil painting (he exhibited his paintings in an art workshop, even now existing, in via Teatro Greco in Taormina), the meeting with the painter Robert Kitson, led him to adopt the watercolor technique: almost to relive Dante's verses on Paolo and Francesca "Galeotto was the book and who wrote it" the common passion for painting led the two artists to live an intense love story. Kitson built his home in the "Cuseni" district of Taormina, called for this "Casa Cuseni", the house was built between 1900 and 1905, its decorations were entrusted to the artists Alfred East (realist landscape painter, president of the Royal Society ), and Frank Brangwyn (painter, decorator, designer), he was a pupil of William Morris, leader of the English movement "Arts and Crafts" which spread to England in the second half of the nineteenth century (the Arts and Crafts was a response to the industrialization of Europe, of mass production operated by factories, all this at the expense of traditional craftsmanship, from this movement originated the Art Nouveau, in Italy also known as Liberty Style or Floral Style, which distinguished itself for having been a artistic and philosophical movement, which developed between the end of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, whose style spread in such a way as to be present everywhere). Casa Cuseni has kept a secret for 100 years that goes far beyond the forbidden love lived by Robert and Carlo, a secret hidden inside the "secret room", that dinning room that was reopened in 2012; entering the dining room, you can witness a series of murals painted on the four walls by Frank Brangwyn, in Art Nouveau style, which portray the life and love story between the painter Robert Kitson, and his life partner, the Carlo Siligato from Taormina, but the thing that makes these murals even more special, full of tenderness and sweetness, is that "their secret" (!) is represented in them, it is described visually, as in an "episodic" story that really happened in their lives: Messina (and Reggio Calabria) are destroyed by the terrible earthquake with a tsunami on December 28, 1908, Carlo Siligato, Robert Kitson, Wilhelm von Gloeden and Anatole France leave for Messina, to see and document in person the tragedy, the city was a pile of rubble, many dead, Robert and Carlo see a baby, Francesco, he is alone in the world, without parents who died in the earthquake, abandoned to a certain and sad destiny, a deep desire for protection is born in the two of them, a maternal and paternal desire is born, they decide to takes that little child with them even knowing that they are risking a lot ... (!), what they want to do is something absolutely unthinkable in that historical period, they are a homosexual couple, what they are about to do is absolutely forbidden ..(!) but now there is Francesco in their life, thus becoming, in fact, the first homogenitorial family (with a more generic term, rainbow family) in world history: hence the need to keep the whole story absolutely hidden, both from an artistic point of view , represented by the murals (for more than 100 years, the "dinning room" will be kept hidden), both of what happens in real life, with little Francesco cared for lovingly, but with great risk or. I have allegorically inserted, in the photographic story, some photographs of the artists of the company "Casa del Musical", who came to Taormina to perform during the Christmas period: today as yesterday, Taormina has always been (starting from the last 20 years of the 19th century) center of a crossroads of artists and great personalities, Casa Cuseni also in this has an enormous palmares of illustrious guests, too long to state. The young boys painted on the murals of Casa Cuseni, wear white, this is a sign of purity, they wanted to represent their ideal homosexual world, fighting against the figure dressed in black, short in stature, disturbing, which acquires a negative value, an allegorical figure of the English society of the time, indicating the Victorian morality that did not hesitate to condemn Oscar Wilde, depriving him of all his assets and rights, even preventing him from giving the surname to his children. The boys are inspired by the young Sicilian models photographed by Wilhelm von Gloeden, dressed in white tunics, with their heads surrounded by local flowers. The only female figure present has given rise to various interpretations, one could be Kitson's detachment from his motherland, or his detachment from his mother. On the third wall we witness the birth of the homogenitorial family, both (allegorically Carlo and Kitson with the child in their arms) are in profile, they are walking, the younger man has a long, Greek-style robe, placed on the front, next to him behind him, the sturdier companion holds and gently protects the little child in his arms, as if to spare the companion the effort of a long and uncertain journey, there is in the representation of the family the idea of a long journey, in fact the man holding the child wears heavy shoes, their faces are full of apprehension and concern: in front of them an empty wall, so deliberately left by Frank Brangwin, since their future is unknown, in front of them they have a destiny full of unknowns (at the same time, their path points east, they go towards the rising sun: opening the large window the sun floods everything in the room). In the "secret room" there is the picture painted in 1912 by Alfred E. East, an oil on canvas, representing Lake Bourget. Carlo Siligato later married Costanza, she was my father's grandmother's sister, they had a son, Nino, who for many years lived and worked as a merchant in his father's art workshop. I sincerely thank my colleague Dr. Francesco Spadaro, doctor and esteemed surgeon, owner and director of the "Casa Cuseni" House-Garden-Museum, who, affectionately acting as a guide, gave me the precious opportunity to create "this photographic tour" inside the house- museum and in the "metaphysical garden" of Casa Cuseni. … And the scoop that I announced in the title ..? After photographing the tomb of Carlo Siligato, in the Catholic cemetery of Taormina, I started looking for that of Robert Kitson, in the non-Catholic cemetery of Taormina: when I finally found it (with him lies his niece Daphne Phelps, buried later in 2005) ... I felt a very strong emotion, first of all I was expecting a mausoleum, instead I found a small, very modest tomb on this is not a photo of him, not an epitaph, not a Cross, not a praying Angel to point it out, but ... unexpectedly for a funerary tombstone ... a small bas-relief carved on marble (or stone) depicting ... the Birth ... (!), obviously , having chosen her could have a very specific meaning: a desire to transmit a message, something very profound about him, his tomb thus testified that in his soul, what was really important in life was having a family, with Carlo and baby Francesco, certainly beloved, saved from a certain and sad fate, in the terrible Messina earthquake-tsunami of 28 December 1908 ... almost recalling in an absolute synthesis, at the end of his life, what had already been told in the "secret murals" of Casa Cuseni.
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Una storia di Taormina: cronache di un amore proibito e del suo grande segreto (non solo Paolo e Francesca) con inaspettato “scoop”.
Questa storia fa parte integrante della storia precedentemente raccontata, il periodo storico è lo stesso, il luogo è lo stesso, i vari personaggi spesso si frequentano tra loro poiché si conoscono; Taormina, tra la fine dell’800 e l’inizio del’900, in un sempre maggiore crescendo, diventa luogo di residenza del turismo d’élite, grazie all’interesse internazionale suscitato ad opera di scrittori ed artisti, come Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, o grandi personalità come Lady Florence Trevelyan: Taormina diventa così famosa, complici i quadri del pittore Otto Geleng e le fotografie dei giovani modelli siciliani di Wilhelm von Gloeden; nell’aria di Taormina si respira un che di libertino, i suoi famosi ed istrionici frequentatori non mancano mai di creare scandalo, superando persino la famosa Capri, nella quale, per citare solo un esempio, l’armiere tedesco Krupp, cercando di ricreare l’ambiente dell’Arcadia che si respirava a Taormina (grazie alle foto di von Gloeden) viene travolto dallo scandalo per omosessualità, e si toglie la vita. Taormina diviene quindi un luogo simil-paradisiaco, lontana dalle civiltà industriali, nella quale poter vivere liberamente la propria vita e la propria sessualità; questo è l’ambiente socio-culturale nel quale si muovono i due protagonisti di questa vicenda, il pittore britannico Robert Hawthorn Kitson (1873 – 1947) ed il pittore Carlo Siligato (nato a Taormina nel 1875, ed ivi morto nel 1959). Robert H. Kitson, nacque a Leeds in Inghilterra, apparteneva ad una famiglia più che benestante, da giovane ingegnere aveva cominciato a sostituire il padre nell’impresa familiare di costruzioni di locomotive (la Kitson & Co.), alla morte del padre nel 1899 vende tutto e decide di trasferirsi ricchissimo in Sicilia a Taormina (vi era stato l’anno precedente con un viaggio fatto coi suoi genitori, qui aveva conosciuto, oltre al barone von Gloeden, anche lo scrittore e poeta Oscar Wilde venuto in Italia, subito dopo aver scontato due anni di prigione ai lavori forzati, con l’accusa di sodomia); Kitson vi si stabilisce perché affetto da una grave forma di febbre reumatica (come von Gloeden gli fu consigliato di curarsi nel clima mediterraneo più mite), sia perché in quanto omosessuale, lascia l’Inghilterra perché l’emendamento Labouchere considerava l’omosessualità un crimine. L’altro protagonista di questa storia è Carlo Siligato, egli era taorminese, aveva frequentato l’Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, pittore molto dotato, era bravissimo nel dipingere ad olio (esponeva i suoi quadri in una bottega d’arte, ancora adesso esistente, in via Teatro Greco a Taormina), l’incontro col pittore Robert Kitson, lo portò ad adottare la tecnica dell’acquarello: quasi a rivivere i versi di Dante su Paolo e Francesca “Galeotto fu ‘l libro e chi lo scrisse” la comune passione per la pittura condusse i due artisti a vivere una intensa storia d’amore. Kitson costruì nel quartiere “Cuseni” di Taormina la sua abitazione, detta per questo “Casa Cuseni”, la casa fu costruita tra il 1900 ed il 1905, le sue decorazioni furono affidate agli artisti Alfred East (pittore verista paesaggista, presidente della Royal Society), e Frank Brangwyn (pittore, decoratore, designer, progettista), egli era allievo di William Morris, leader del movimento inglese “Arts and Crafts” (Arti e Mestieri) che si diffuse in Inghilterra nella seconda metà del XIX secolo (l’Arts and Crafts era una risposta alla industrializzazione dell’Europa, della produzione in massa operata dalle fabbriche, tutto ciò a scapito dell’artigianato tradizionale, da questo movimento ebbe origine l’Art Nouveau, in Italia conosciuta anche come Stile Liberty o Stile Floreale, che si distinse per essere stata un movimento artistico e filosofico, che si sviluppò tra la fine dell’800 ed il primo decennio del ‘900, il cui stile si diffuse in tal modo da essere presente dappertutto). Casa Cuseni ha custodito per 100 anni un segreto che va ben oltre quell’amore proibito vissuto da Robert e Carlo, segreto celato all’interno della “stanza segreta”, quella dinning room che è stata riaperta nel 2012; entrando nella sala da pranzo, si assiste ad una serie di murales realizzati sulle quattro pareti da Frank Brangwyn, in stile Art Nouveau, che ritraggono la vita e la storia d’amore tra il pittore Robert Kitson, ed il suo compagno di vita, il pittore taorminese Carlo Siligato, ma la cosa che rende questi murales ancora più particolari, carichi di tenerezza e dolcezza, è che in essi viene rappresentato “il loro segreto” (!), viene descritto visivamente, come in un racconto “ad episodi” quello che è realmente avvenuto nella loro vita: Messina (e Reggio Calabria) vengono distrutte dal terribile sisma con maremoto il 28 dicembre del 1908, partono per Messina, Carlo Siligato, Robert Kitson, Wilhelm von Gloeden ed Anatole France, per vedere e documentare di persona la tragedia, la città era un cumulo di macerie, moltissimi i morti, Robert e Carlo vedono un piccolo bimbo, Francesco, egli è solo al mondo, privo dei genitori periti nel terremoto, abbandonato ad un certo e triste destino, nasce in loro due un profondo desiderio di protezione, nasce un desiderio materno e paterno, decidono di prende quel piccolo bimbo con loro pur sapendo che stanno rischiando moltissimo…(!) , quello che vogliono fare è una cosa assolutamente impensabile in quel periodo storico, loro sono una coppia omosessuale, quello che stanno per fare è assolutamente proibito..(!) ma oramai c’è Francesco nella loro vita, divenendo così, di fatto, la prima famiglia omogenitoriale (con termine più generico, famiglia arcobaleno) nella storia mondiale: da qui la necessità di tenere assolutamente nascosta tutta la vicenda, sia dal punto di vista artistico, rappresentata dai murales (per più di 100 anni, la “dinning room” verrà tenuta nascosta), sia di quanto accade nella vita reale, col piccolo Francesco accudito amorevolmente, ma con grandissimo rischio. Ho inserito allegoricamente, nel racconto fotografico, alcune fotografie degli artisti della compagnia “Casa del Musical”, giunti a Taormina per esibirsi durante il periodo natalizio: oggi come ieri, Taormina è sempre stata (a partire dagli ultimi 20 anni dell’800) al centro di un crocevia di artisti e grandi personalità, Casa Cuseni anche in questo ha un enorme palmares di ospiti illustri, troppo lungo da enunciare. I giovani ragazzi dipinti sui murales di Casa Cuseni, vestono di bianco, questo è segno di purezza, si è voluto in tal modo rappresentare il loro mondo ideale omosessuale, in lotta contro la figura vestita di nero, bassa di statura, inquietante, che acquista un valore negativo, figura allegorica della società inglese dell’epoca, indicante la morale Vittoriana che non ha esitato a condannare Oscar Wilde, privandolo di tutti i suoi beni e diritti, impedendogli persino di dare il cognome ai suoi figli. I ragazzi sono ispirati ai giovani modelli siciliani fotografati da Wilhelm von Gloeden, vestiti con tuniche bianche, col capo cinto dei fiori locali. L’unica figura femminile presente, ha dato spunto a varie interpretazioni, una potrebbe essere il distacco da parte di Kitson dalla sua madre patria, oppure il distacco da sua madre. Sulla terza parete si assiste alla nascita della famiglia omogenitoriale, entrambi (allegoricamente Carlo e Kitson col bimbo in braccio) sono di profilo, sono in cammino, l’uomo più giovane ha una veste lunga, alla greca, posto sul davanti, accanto a lui, alle sue spalle, il compagno più robusto sostiene in braccio e protegge con dolcezza il piccolo bimbo, quasi a voler risparmiare al compagno la fatica di un lungo ed incerto percorso, vi è nella rappresentazione della famiglia l’idea di un lungo percorso, infatti l’uomo che regge il bimbo indossa delle calzature pesanti, i loro volti sono carichi di apprensione e preoccupazione: davanti a loro una parete vuota, così volutamente lasciata da Frank Brangwin, poiché il loro futuro è ignoto, davanti hanno un destino pieno di incognite (al tempo stesso, il loro cammino indica l’est, vanno verso il sole nascente: aprendo la grande finestra il sole inonda ogni cosa nella stanza).
Nella “stanza segreta” c’è il quadro dipinto nel 1912 da Alfred E. East, un olio su tela, rappresentante il lago Bourget.
Carlo Siligato, successivamente si sposò con Costanza, una sorella della nonna di mio padre, da lei ebbe un figlio, Nino, il quale per tantissimi anni ha vissuto e lavorato come commerciante nella bottega d’arte del padre. Ringrazio di cuore il mio collega dott. Francesco Spadaro, medico e stimato chirurgo, proprietario e direttore della Casa-Giardino-Museo “Casa Cuseni”, il quale, facendomi affettuosamente da cicerone, mi ha dato la preziosa opportunità di realizzare “questo tour fotografico” all’interno dell’abitazione-museo e nel “giardino-metafisico” di Casa Cuseni.
…E lo scoop che ho annunciato nel titolo..? Dopo aver fotografato la tomba di Carlo Siligato, nel cimitero cattolico di Taormina, mi sono messo alla ricerca di quella di Robert Kitson, nel cimitero acattolico di Taormina: quando finalmente l’ho trovata (insieme a lui giace sua nipote Daphne Phelps, seppellita successivamente nel 2005)…ho provato una fortissima commozione, innanzitutto mi aspettavo un mausoleo, invece ho trovato una tomba piccola, molto modesta, su questa non una sua foto, non un epitaffio, non una Croce, non un Angelo pregante ad indicarla, ma … inaspettatamente per una lapide funeraria…un piccolo bassorilievo scolpito su marmo (o su pietra) raffigurante…la Natalità…(!), evidentemente, l’averla scelta potrebbe avere un significato ben preciso: un desiderio di trasmettere un messaggio, qualcosa di molto profondo di lui, la sua tomba testimoniava così che nel suo animo, ciò che in vita fu davvero importante fu l’aver avuto una famiglia, con Carlo e col piccolo Francesco, certamente amatissimo, salvato da un molto probabile triste destino, nel terribile terremoto-maremoto di Messina del 28 dicembre del 1908…quasi rievocando in una sintesi assoluta, al termine della sua vita, ciò che era già stato raccontato nei “murales segreti” di Casa Cuseni.
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A visually appealing shot down the cell block of an abandoned maximum security prison. The fate of this facility in unknown as it was recently put up for sale. In all likelihood majority of it will be demolished & the facade saved for due it its historical value/status. That said, everything about this photo makes me very happy. The only thing that would be better is if I was back again exploring/hanging out!
A visually pleasing and creative charcuterie platter, that I was lucky to share with friends while visiting the Liquidity Bistro in the Okanagan on the May long weekend.
©Maria Janicki. All rights reserved. Image may not be used or reproduced without permission. Contact me for further information.
”That’s part of the magic of photography. Look at a picture and you have no idea what was going on. The only thing you can know is what’s visually depicted, and we all know photographers lie. That’s where the fun comes in. To be able to tell a lie with “reality” is a very tough trick.” – Richard Kalvar
NGC 7822 Question Mark Nebula is a striking and visually captivating emission nebula in the constellation Cepheus, located approximately 2,900 light-years away. The complex encompasses the emission region designated Sharpless 171 and the young cluster of stars named Berkeley 59.
This vibrant and colorful region forms part of the larger star-forming complex called the Cepheus Flare. In this grand area, the dynamic interplay of radiation emanating from young, hot stars illuminates the surrounding gas and dust. The youngest portions of this complex are only a few million years old - very young by stellar standards!
The complex also includes one of the hottest stars discovered within one kpc of the Sun, namely BD+66 1673, which is an eclipsing binary system consisting of an O5V that exhibits a surface temperature of nearly 45,000 K and a luminosity about 100,000 times that of the Sun! The star is one of the primary sources illuminating the nebula and shaping the complex's formations.
The nebula showcases intricate and fascinating structures, including dark dust lanes intertwined with glowing pockets of ionized hydrogen, making it an endlessly intriguing subject for astrophotography enthusiasts.
The nebula gets its name from the shape when seen in a very wide field of view. The region covered by this image is a close-up that focuses on the void in the larger mass of the nebula at the top of the image. More detailed framing info will shared later on.
Telescope: Redcat 51 GenIII FL-250 FR4.9
Imaging Cameras: Player One – Poseidon-C Pro
Mounts: Pegasus Astro NYX-101
Filters: Astronomik L-1 UV-IR 2”, Askar Colour Magic 2" Duo-Narrowband 6nm D Package
Accessories: Pegasus Astro FocusCube3
Guiding Telescope: 32mm UniGuide Scope
Guiding Cameras: Player One Sedna-M
Frames: UV/IR 179×300″ (gain: 120.00, offset 25) f/4.9 -10°C (Stars only)
Ha/OIII 383×300″ (gain: 120.00, offset 25) f/5.6 -10°C
OIII/Sii 401×300″ (gain: 120.00, offset 25) f/5.6 -10°C
Integration: 65Hr 20min
Darks: 16
Flats: 16
Flat Darks: 16
Dark-Sky Scale: 6.00
Software: N.I.N.A., PHD2, PixInsight, BXT, NXT
Closure By Interpreation
Now, something complete and clear.
Here the image is not excluding any part of the subject, nor it is obscuring its details. Quite the opposite, it is offering crisp detail and framing, presenting the subject in its entirety.
The abstraction here is not at the visual level, but at the interpretative level.
We are compelled to interpret the shapes and lines of the subject into something visually meaningful.
Copyright:Adolfo Isassi (_MG_4723). Lost Creek, Austin Texas.
“Visually Warm”
Susquehanna Sunset January 29, 2025
Strong winds and lake affect snow but,still was able to capture a visually warm moment.
Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
Sadly not a patch on previous times I've been. Visually less of everything across the board. It's clear reenactors, stall holders, vintage vehicles etc., have given it a miss in advance.
The event organisers [Pike and Shot] say 80% of the groups let them down. Cant blame the groups for the mass exodus. You're the organisers, they have supported this event for over 10 years. The fault is on your doorstep.
I was watching and listening to the fella firing up the Rolls Royce engine. He was furious to put it mildly (as seen in my video). He received a call to start it earlier than scheduled. He had to! He did with reluctance and was subsequently drowning out the singers nearby. When he challenged the staff about it they were not so sympathetic. Awful for him. To his credit he apologised to the small crowd of what happened that he was instructed to start the engine early. So for me, this was a live example of the organisers causing unrest as the event unfolded.
Having been to several 1940s events this year, this was the bottom of the pile. When I spoke with quite a few visitors and stall holders etc., they were expecting so much more, as in the past.
Singer: Miss Trixie Holiday
The other singer, not in this video, was Ricky Hunter. Decided not to include him in my video because he spent way too much time looking at his phone, playlist, drinking water, while singing, rather than entertain the crowd. He was a last minute guest singer anyway. He had not been invited for over 5 years.
Entrance fee was £10! (reduced to £4 very late on into the second day). No concessions. No signposting to the event. No map or itinerary. Limited parking. A bare bones event. Purely the fault of the organisers and Rufford Abbey Estate collectively.
Without Prejudice.