View allAll Photos Tagged watchstrap
Stripbox CR, 18cm gridded reflector CL aiming up at reflector above scene, SB900 on the floor aiming diagonally up
Strobist: Elinchrom ELC1000 rear high, SB900 CR, SB900 CL, SB800 front aiming up at white cardboard above the watch. Skyport + Nikon flashes in slave mode.
Nikon D800E 85mm PCE Tilt/Shift.
Hirsch Duke. Alligator embossed calf skin in brown on Seiko Presage Cocktail Time SRPD37J1 aka Mockingbird. Thinner than the Grand Duke. 20mm. Made in Austria
DS - the two letters which haunt Citroen. The DS of 1955 was arguably the most advanced and beautiful car in the world at launch.
It is true that many of the ingredients had already been tried out before. The car looked like a hovercar, and rode that way too. The DS lived on to 1975, when it still looked futuristic. Its replacement, the CX was also advanced and comfortable, the Wankel rotary engine it was set to debut with was problematic however, and the funding drain of a new car, with an engine that wasn't working properly caused Citroen into bankruptcy and the arms of Peugeot parent PSA.
PSA was keen to stop some of teh madness, and though the y allowed the CX and GS to continue, they closed down the exclusive Maserati-engined SM luxury coupe line early (having been unable to move the car successfully in the US - bizarrely due to the high-variable suspension making the car fall foul of US Headlight laws!). The rest of the Citroen range was rationlised over time to share platforms and mechanical systems with Peugeot, and gradually, the brand lost much of its inventive distinctiveness in the name of cost rationalisation.
Sadly, by the 1990s, Citroen became the 'cost-brand' arm of PSA, selling average cars on cost and a long-revered name rather than style and innovation.
Fortunately, it was seen that this was not going to be a road to success, as the European (and American) markets were now been competitively fought by competent and increasing innovative, quality Japanese and Korean brands, and that to survive, it was in the interest of European marques to provide content that customers valued and would pay for.
Enter the DS.
The brand has now gained greater planning freedom, and is known as DS Automobiles, but at it genesis with the Citroen DS3 (and Citroen C3/C4 derivative) in 2009, the sub-rand intent was to provide vehicles of stylistic distinction and material quality (somewhat like the relaunch of Mini).
The DS5, an EMP2 chassis derivative sat at the top of the range at launch in 2011. The car could be described in many disparate terms that do not do the whole justice. The car rides on a long wheelbase. The car is shaped somewhere between a hatchback, wagon and an MPV. Chrome highlights, including a spear running from the headlamps up to the 2nd A-pillar and a curious beltline liven up the exterior, but the real party trick is the interior.
The car seats are embossed in what is known as 'watchstrap' trim, kind of like a gentleman's 1970s era watchband. The car has three sunroofs. One small one over each front seat, and a large one over the rear row. The car has an aeroplane flight deck control deck with buttons on the roof between the sunroofs that mirror those on the centre console. Luxury is high, with massage seats, sat nav, heated seats and other luxuries.
You will note the miniland fig standing with the car is wearing my trademark navy and white stripe pullover - I definitely have a soft spot for the DS5 - its looks, its luxury and its precipitous depreciation. I periodically temped to pick up a 3-year old car at half of its original price, to cruise around with my butt gently warmed and massaged by the seats.
More info at wikipedia:
This Lego miniland-scale Citroen DS5 has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 115th Build Challenge, - "The French Connection", - for vehicles with some connection with France.
Custom crocodile strap for my Grand Seiko SBGY002 by the folks at HDStraps.com - watch from littletreasury.com
You can notice a watch strap on the head. I think a guy came few years ago in the area with tons of straps, and sold them to the tribes who use them as decoration. I saw this in many areas.
Nyangatom people live on the Omo river banks in south Ethiopia. They are both in Sudan and Ethiopia.They are some of the most feared warriors in the Omo Valley by others tribes.
The name of Nynagatom comes from nyam-atom : Elephant-eaters.
They have a nice believe: when they see stars in the sky, they think it's the fire in front the house of some remote families. When they see meteorits, they think the family is on the move.
They have a main ennemy: the Dasanech tribe. Many tribes in Omo area call the Nyangatom Bumé , which means The ones who stinks...
Le peuple Nyangatom vit dans le sud de l'Ethiopie sur les rives du fleuve Omo. On en trouve aussi au Soudan. Ils sont tres craints par les autres tribus car agressifs et courageux. les conflits sont nombreux dans la region. Nyangatom signifie mangeur d'elephants, mais aussi, dans une traduction plus moderne, fusils jaunes.
Ils ont une belle croyance: lorsqu'ils voient des etoiles dans le ciel, ils pensent que c'est le feu devant la case d'un membre de leur famille qui habite loin de chez eux. et lorsqu'ils voient des etoiles filantes, ils pensent que la famille demenage. Ils ont un ennemi: les Dassanech. les autres tribus appellent les Nyangatom Bumé, ce qui signifie Ceux qui puent...
Mucubal tribe have a really special way of living: when they marry a man, the woman cannot speak to him in front of others people until she has 2 kids. She can speak to the husband inside the house, in the bed, but not outside, if someone is close to them...
© Eric Lafforgue
Alligator embossed calf skin in brown on Seiko Presage Cocktail Time SRPD37J1 aka Mockingbird. Thinner than the Grand Duke. 20mm. Made in Austria
Saints and Sinner Chapter Four…The Books
Sai Baba Raining Books
Julia loaded the three kids into the Jeep and drove to Burlington after New Years to visit her mom Joan who was staying with her son Donny, his wife Debbie and their two children, Robert and Andrew. They were gone for three days. It was during this time that it started, the books that is. CBC radio was playing at all times on the little radio in the garage shop. That shop was located in a fresh garage that looked more like a half a barn. It had concrete floors and would have been my pride and joy. It was a good place to store things and I was that kind of person that had some stuff to store, bikes, and snow blowers, axes and chainsaws. Importantly this shop had a window facing the house across the gravel driveway. To keep it warm in the winter all we had was an electric space heater, a wood stove would have been better but our expenses were such that we could not put one in. In fact our expenses were becoming a concern, as I had not done any work in well over six months and the bank account was showing signs of stress.
It was a Sunday morning in early January 1996 when the CBC show Quill and Quire aired an interview with Paul William Roberts who had published a book titled Empire of the Soul Some Journeys in India. The writer was a buoyant man who spoke eloquently and enthusiastically about his travels in India in the early 1970s and then again in the early to mid 90s, part of the book was to illustrate how things were rapidly changing in India in those two periods, growth and economic development. But the part of his talk that more interested me was in the early part of the book when he was on the bus and a rather large woman sat her immense butt down between him and a smallish man smoking a beedie. She wasn’t long in letting out a fart then she pulled from her clothing a kerosene single burner stove which she pumped up and lit and continued to pull out ingredients like chapattis and vegetables and a packet of chicken curry spice to make a hot lunch as the bus rambled towards Bangalore. Paul was able to contribute plantains to the meal, he was quite happy to share in the food along with the beedie smoking man. Besides the odd things happening on the bus, Paul described the smells in the areas near Bombay as being putrid and all encompassing, unescapable, combined with a heat that began as soon as the sun came over the horizon.
At the time he had just graduated from Oxford University where he hung out with an eclectic crowd of people including professors who experimented with LSD and a rock star who had recommended he go to India to sample the life at an ashram in Southern India where a Godman lived and held court twice daily, his name Sathya Sai Baba. Besides being able to produce Vibhuti (ash) at will this Godman was also inclined to produce such things as gold rings and medallions and other sundry things from time to time in front of numerous people. It was said he had plucked oranges off a pear tree more than once, and not unlike Jesus he had turned water into gasoline a few times when the car they were travelling in had run out of gas. Sai Baba was the star of the show in Puttaparthi, his ashram known as Prasanthi Nilayam was a few miles from town. An entire village had grown around his abode where one could on any given day expect from a few hundred to a few thousand devotees gathered to receive his darshan in the morning and then again in the afternoon.
At these darshans Sai would walk among the groups barefoot, women sitting at the left and men on the right. He was a tiny man with a hairdo similar to Jimmy Hendrix’s Afro. Dressed in an ochre frock they say he exuded and air of majesty as he walked among those who were flocking to him, not just people from India but others from around the world and many of those were people of privilege and with privilege comes money. He could be seen circling his hand as he walked and he would pause in front of someone and tilt his hand towards them releasing a bit of freshly conjured vibhuti and then marking their foreheads with some of the sacred ash that just appeared from nowhere. After going through those gathered he would pick out a person or two or three to have a private meeting with him in his quarters. This was the greatest of things for devotees to be invited to his quarters for a private chat. Paul was not at first successful in being granted an interview in fact in later writings he stated it was several months before he entered the Swamis quarters. When he did meet Sai the two got along quite well. Sai, it seems produced a sacred oil that he rubbed on Paul’s genitals to perform a type of sacred rite the likes of which I am not aware of in other religious organizations. One may surmise that a sexual act took place though the author actually was not up front about exactly where the ointment was placed in the first edition of the book Empire of the Soul. If any act of a sexual nature did take place it was not discussed, but what was discussed was the fact that Sai stripped Paul to his very core revealing to him that there were many habits he needed to change in order to achieve a fuller existence. Paul, genius that he was left the meeting in a swirl of happiness that lasted for many days, unlike any he had ever experienced, even while high on acid.
After some months at the ashram he left to discover other holy people in India, Ramana Maharshi and Mother Theresa are two for which he traveled to their ashrams. Maharshi had been dead for over twenty years, no matter he found his presence at his former home or nearby it, pretending to be an ascetic begging for alms at an empty market stall where the ascetic asked him to repeat his name nine times, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, which he did. That Yogi swatted a fly on a wooden table where they were sitting, blood and guts spilled out, a wing was broken, Paul picked it up and looked at the now dead creature carefully. The Yogi asked him to set it in the puddle of guts, he did, after a brief moment the Yogi picked it up putting it in his palm and breathed into his palm then opened his hand and a fully healed fly walked a few centimetres before unfolding its wings then flew off. The author was not as kind to Mother Theresa whom he thought was a parasite towards the people of India. Yet I remind myself that the Pope saw fit to make her a Saint.
The interview on the radio lasted a good half hour, I was pumped up to hear it, more pumped up after hearing it. For someone who had been on a total news block out for over six months this radio program was gold. The following Monday I drove into Peterborough and the Trent Books store where I found a copy of the book Empire of the Soul, probably a first edition. Needless to say I ripped through the book in less than a week. Afterwards I began to look for other books about Sai Baba and found there to be many that I could purchase at the Omega Centre in Toronto. Most of the books about Sai had been written by English speaking devotees. One which I enjoyed very much is called Man of Miracles by the author Howard Murphet. Within its pages one can quickly see that the writer is a devotee as I don’t believe there is any negative words about Sai in the sparse few hundred pages. Murphet retold some stories about Sai in earlier days, in the sixties and discussed some minor miracles attributed to him at this time. What my general feelings about Sai were continued to expand as I read quite a few books all by adoring fans of his. Early on I felt that the followers that I had access to via books were somewhat well off and I could sense as well that many of them were also interested in the occult arts as now and then the mention of séances and other such occult affiliated gatherings were spoke of. At the time I think I could sense that there was a pull to understanding the complex divinity that Sai was the master of though I never completely comprehended the abilities of him nor his devotees.
One night at the Nogies Creek property called Winged Spirits Retreat in the summer after a few special things happened via my Sai studies, I awoke in the middle of the night to see an apparition of a group of three ghosts, under a maize like sheet who were hovering over myself and Julia as we slept. I saw them, recognized them for what they were, nudged my wife who woke up and also saw them, we stayed quiet, I remember whispering to her, “they won’t hurt us, they are interested to see how it is that these recent minor book miracles have taken place!” that scared them off, or better said when they knew that we were speaking about them, they just sort of floated and exited, but they didn’t just disappear, they took the stairway down from the loft area all three of them under one silk like shroud, and they were gone. The next morning I remember saying to Julia over coffee that they were investigating me because I had coined the phrase, ‘Sai Baba is able to use the words in a book to channel to people, Literary Channeling.’ And that is what had taken place a few times. To call these ‘manipulations of physics’ takes away from the mystique and connotation of the term minor miracles which rolls off the tongue with a better verve than the other term. I remain confused as to what exact term to use to categorize some of the unusual events that took place in a short, say, three month period of time, set off, I believe by the words in Paul William Roberts book Empire of the Soul.
By now well read on the events taking place and having taken place to a degree at the Ashram in Puttaparthi where for some decades crowds of various sizes had attended daily darshans with Sai Baba. In 1995 the scene at Puttaparthi had changed from one of a quiet, shall we say spiritual haven to one more akin to a religious Walt Disney world. The numbers of people coming to see the Man of Miracles had grown, an entire industry had evolved around Sai Baba, and well, lets face it that industry was very good for the region. And it is well documented that many of the improvements that took place in the formerly impoverished area were paid for by donations to Sai and the Sai Trust which was established to corral the funds into the proper program for their use. The sums are said to have been in the many millions, even in the billions as it was reported that when Sai died in 2012 that there were gold bars exceeding four Billion dollars U.S. in his rooms at Prasanthi Nilyam. Julia and I never personally provided any of these funds as we have always it seems been able to just get by and never really had excessive amounts of cash to donate. From time to time I wonder how I would have responded to a representative of Sai asking me to fill a Horn of Plenty the way the Self Realization Fellowship had done in the summer of 1995.
But before the spirits visited dressed like ghosts I had made a trip to Toronto to speak with the owner of a popular Toronto nightspot called XRays located on Queen Street a trendy part of town, now part of what is known as the Entertainment District. The purpose for the trip was to meet with Richard Kruk the on paper operator of the bar/club, my introduction was by a long time friend of mine and Richards, John Kalcevich aka The Count. Count knew Richard from when he operated a bar over near Johns store Pasquale Brothers on King Street several blocks of east of Yonge Street. Pasquale Brothers in case you do not know is the premier Italian food importer of Toronto, serving many fine gourmet restaurants in the area and a steady walk in clientele. Richards bar at the time was called Crooks, quite appropriate as he was an X Toronto police officer. Its location was beside a very popular and successful eatery called Pappillon that specialized in crepes. I do recall attending Crooks once and seeing a big white and chrome Harley Davidson motorcycle hogging (get the pun) the entranceway to the smallish bar. My mind is vague but I do think the club was closed and the decision was made to lease the premises on Queen Street and start fresh. Dan Akroyd was one of the silent partners in this new venture. That was to be my function, become a partner of sorts in XRays as I had some liquid cash on hand at the time as well as years of bar experience from my youth up to the seventies at the Queensbury Arms and later the Beverly Hills a club run by the Jewish Mafia if there is such a thing.
I had seen John a few times in that spring, using his place on Elvina Gardens as a pit stop when I would be in town at meetings, probably also on work assignments for the NHL, not the NHL you are thinking of but our NHL, the National Hash League. Sometimes I would just pop into Johns new house near Mount Pleasant and Eglinton to talk about books and music while I waited for the traffic leaving Toronto to thin out a bit. Such a pity that a city of this size, the biggest or tied for the biggest in Canada along with Montreal was then and still is unable to move traffic east or west at days end and to a degree in the morning rush hours. Anyways John was one of the first beneficiaries of the Paul William Roberts book Empire of the Soul. I may have given up to five copies away as I was quite enamoured with the book, in particular the mention, introduction so to speak to Sathya Sai Baba in the early pages. John knew many cool folks in the city, one of them was the travel writer at the time for the Globe and Mail newspaper, John mentioned the Roberts book to this man Jeremy Ferguson and this was interesting and perhaps the start of the ‘synchronistic’ events that were beginning to fall into place. Jeremy happened to be going to the authors home in Toronto for a meal, I don’t know why but I thought it was in the Beaches area, in any case that sounds better than the east end. John asked if I would like his copy of the book signed for me and I said, “no, I will bring my copy in as I am back in town in a few days and get mine signed.” So I brought the book in for John and that following weekend Paul Roberts lavishly signed the book that we still have and I am told enjoyed the audience that his writing was producing, Paul invited me to call him which I, being a fairly shy person and the type of work I was involved in our NHL, shunned the invitation, which, today I regret immensely.
Back at XRays my anxiety about meeting Richard was tempered by my gift of half a dozen hand rolled joints of fine quality herbal smoking goods. We took a quick look around the bar and the kitchen area on the main floor, what can I say, a bar is a bar is a bar. Anyways on the second floor of the building there was a live venue area where some pretty hip gigs took place, ‘A’ bands the likes of Grievous Angels, Dave Bidini and his mates in the Rheostatics played the room on a regular basis, there were many other popular bands at the time, Toronto being a very competitive music market. We had a friend in the music business Gary Kendall the bass player for Downchild Blues band who also booked the Silver Dollar Room on Spadina Avenue near College. When we got to the third floor where Richard had his apartment he fired up one of the joints and he told me that the Rolling Stones had been up in his pad the previous week while rehearsing for their Voodoo Lounge gig in town, he showed me photos of some of them up there, he made it a point to say, “Keith Richards sat in that same chair last week” I was impressed, but at the same time I was wary that I had the family dollars with me and no matter how much I was impressed I had to take this very seriously. I had been almost hustled a few years earlier by a guy who was buying a bar in Hamilton and who was also looking for an investor. That never happened as the situation was taking place too far away from my location of Tweed at the time. In any case the guy was too sharp, if you know what I mean.
One after another I watched Richard fire up all them joints, they didn’t seem to effect him very much. We talked and got around to his recent trip to California on a train with his friend Dan Akroyd, from time to time Richard moonlighted as Dans security detail. It was interesting, don’t ask me why they took a train instead of flying. Richard showed me photos taken from the back of the train as it exited a mountainous area. While they were in Los Angeles Richard and Dan were invited to take part in a gathering of people who were sharing their energies to move the spirit of Maureen Starkey to another level in the Astral heavens. They were doing this by prayer and meditation. In attendance was a well known spiritual person by the name of Phyllis Krystal who had written several books, call them self help books if you like, books that a lay person could read to help them deal with traumas in their life. Phyllis is a well respected healer, I believe the term they use to describe her work is psychotherapist. Besides her there were others present whose names I don’t remember other than this one guy whom I had not heard of before Isaac Tigrett of whom I knew little. Maureen Starkey ex wife of Ringo Starr had died of leukemia, they were no longer living together as she had married Isaac Tigrett. Later I was to find out that both Phyllis and Isaac were big devotees of Sathya Sai Baba, but when I went to Toronto that day, their names were strangers to me as were their religious affiliations. At some point Richard gave me a book that Isaac Tigrett had signed, To Richard from Isaac Tigrett, there was the date and there was a nicely drawn OM on the page along with a sun drawing around the OM. The book was one that Phyllis Crystal had recently published and it was called Cutting the Ties that Bind. I quickly glanced at it and saw that it was a serious book about dealing with instances and occasions in ones life when traumatic events had taken place that are unhealthy for the psyche of the individual. I put the book in my leather case along with a couple of T shirts I bought off of Richard that were promoting Isaac Tigretts new venture, The House of Blues, a theme based club not unlike his former clubs The Hardrock Café of which he was co founder. At the Toronto Hardrock Café I had failed to notice a prominent part of the exterior signage, it read Love All Serve All which I would later find out was a catch phrase used at the Sai Baba ashram. As it was, I had other fish to fry in Toronto and left my meeting with Richard on uncertain terms as he did not specifically spell out my role in the club if there was to be one, we never got around to the meat and potatoes of a business conversation, I was coming back in a week when we would talk again.
The fish to fry was an opportunity to act as ‘muscle’ for a man an investor who had been swindled by another sharpie of a bit more than half a million dollars. I was brought in for a conversation to discuss how that man could be coerced into repaying his debt. Nothing came of it, they thought a simple punch out after a hockey game at the Double Rinks arenas was sufficient, I suggested something else, some psychological push that might let the thief know what he risked if he did not pay. It didn’t go anywhere, but I enjoyed dining at their expense at a famous Toronto eatery called Freds Not Here. I stopped in to see Gary at the Silver Rail where we guffawed, sharing with him the expansion plans of the House of Blues in the market he worked.
I got out of dodge before the dreaded Don Valley parking lot started which happens daily around two thirty in the afternoons. I had to stop at a shop in Bethany Ontario between Lindsay and Peterborough where I was having a leather watchstrap made with the symbol OM on it in two places, on either side of where the watch sat. The operators of the shop are skilled leather artisans, making a watch band would be the lower end of their skill set as Paul and Beverly Williams the owners make pieces in excess of five and ten thousand dollars. Still, any commission is a bonus, I was allowed to participate in the design of the piece and I was excited to see it in completion. I had brought the specs in a few weeks earlier and realized I wanted to change the style to include the OMs. Paul was in the shop when I got there I did not see his wife Bev who I had had a very interesting conversation with two weeks prior when dropping the specs off. She and I talked about a number of various matters including a trip she had had to Machu Pichu some years earlier in which she had a type of spiritual experience. We just seemed to hit if off for a half hour or so in a New Age kind of way. Bev went into the attic and showed me a box of her treasures which included animal teeth and small animal skulls and piece of wood with gnawing on them that were similar to the pieces of wood I was coming across at the retreat as I made the meditation paths, I called the gnawing a language. It seems I had come across a kindred spirit. Paul was in the Boston area at a conference, was it of leather craftspeople, well, anyways some type of gathering. I would guess our spiritual training at the retreat was attracting people who also were seeking truth as I left for home which was straight north of Bethany via Ski Hill Road then up road sixteen past Dunford to below Bobcaygeon and a right turn to Nogies Creek and our retreat. On this second trip I remember there being a thick fog, as thick as a fog can be, something that I had never seen before, it was dangerous to drive, I had to lower my speed to next to nothing, I was relieved to get to their shop, it was odd, I had felt I could have driven into another world as my senses had been deprived of that usual inner chatter one has when driving, silenced so to speak, like in meditation.
The watchband was finished and it was wonderful, we took the Seiko time piece off the spare band and installed it into the new bracelet which was designed to close with a snap device and a piece of Velcro. There is this feeling when you put on a bracelet that is made of thick leather, like that of a warrior from ancient times. Paul was there and we yakked a bit and then I asked for Bev who was not present, he called for her as she was working in her studio in the other end of the centuries old studio/home. She sat down and was a bit flat, not at all like our previous encounter, in any case I brought up that I had been in Toronto at a club for an interview, that’s all no details on any of the people that Richard had been discussing or his ventures. I brought up if either of them believed in reincarnation and I don’t know why. That word for some reason sparked Beverly who like I said was being quiet compared to our first visit. She went to the basement of the home and came upstairs with two books. One of the books was a big thick thing with small writing and a title akin to The Black Madonna, actually a subject I was not familiar with. The other book was thinner, a trade paperback light sky blue in colour with a picture of Jesus sitting in a yoga position on the cover, the title was The Jesus Mystery of Lost Years and Unknown Travels, the authors were Janet and Richard Bock. I skimmed through its pages discovering some chapter titles the likes of which were presented in a way to promote the idea that Jesus had left his home in Galilee around the age of sixteen or so and travelled extensively through mother India learning skills from various gurus over a period of time. I was fascinated and I borrowed the book and left with my new watchband.
Back at the ranch, and it was a ranch style place, except we had no horses, I told Julia of my journey, the beginning the middle and the end and I showed her the book that Bev had loaned me. I opened it up as we went into our meditation room and to my surprise the formal introduction to the book was written by Sai Baba. I was, of course aware that here was another incidence of words playing a role in the unveiling of the Sai Baba story. I hadn’t put much credence into the book that Richard had given me as I didn’t know much about Isaac Tigrett, we never discussed, Richard and I that is whether Isaac had any religious affiliations, nor did we discuss the religious affiliations of Phyllis Krystal. Things were happening.
It was around this time that it became clear to me that these ‘synchronistic’ acts were indeed being manifested by a higher power, whom Julia and I thought had to be Sai Baba himself as he was known to be capable of such things. There was and is today over thirty five years later some confusion as to the purpose of these presentations. I can say that I was thrilled to be on the receiving end of the Love that was coming our way, and I would describe the Love as being similar to the Love my father gave to me from time to time in life, it was a strong Love a Love that was boundless, and maybe that was it, just that, the sharing of Love, saying to someone I Love you, that is all you need to be concerned about. So far we had the Introduction to Sai Baba via George Harrison in the book Dark Horse that resulted in our introduction to the swami Paramahansa Yoganda and while students of Paramahnsa Youganda we were open enough to hear about the book by Paul William Roberts, then the mysterious book signing of his wonderful story Empire of the Soul Some Journeys in India through our friend John Kalcevich, The Count who also introduced me to Richard Kruk of XRays a friend, John also was responsible for the book signing via a writer Jeremy Ferguson who wrote for The Globe and Mail, a travel writer who was having a meal at the author Paul William Roberts house, then we have the ‘CLASH’ of energies as I suspect it was when my Sai dripping persona ran into a signed copy of serious Baba devotee Phyllis Krystal’s book Cutting the Ties that Bind signed by maybe the most relevant devotee that Sai Baba has in North America, Isaac Tigrett who just happened to have sold his shops The Hardrock Café for one hundred and eight million dollars of which half was his which he cut a cheque to the Sai Baba Trust for his share of the sale, a whopping fifty four million dollars! Unbelievable! The last for now but not least this lovely women Beverly Williams going into the basement of her studio/home and giving me a copy of a book with the introduction written by Sai Baba..Yes, you have my attention. Somewhat pleased with all of this spiritual activity, I was still unable to understand why the books were coming to me, through me, I supposed my job was to promote Sai Baba and I did so with many whom I was working with at the time in the hash trade and social friends. Remember we were trying to get off the ground with our idea of meditation paths. as a purpose for the retreat, a way to earn some income as our resources were low.
Custom crocodile strap for my Grand Seiko SBGY002 by the folks at HDStraps.com - watch from littletreasury.com
Also see:
Grand Seiko - www.craigshipp.com/grandseiko
FOPE - www.areaguides.com/fope
Quality Clothing - www.flickr.com/photos/areaguides/albums/72157673043917817
DS - the two letters which haunt Citroen. The DS of 1955 was arguably the most advanced and beautiful car in the world at launch.
It is true that many of the ingredients had already been tried out before. The car looked like a hovercar, and rode that way too. The DS lived on to 1975, when it still looked futuristic. Its replacement, the CX was also advanced and comfortable, the Wankel rotary engine it was set to debut with was problematic however, and the funding drain of a new car, with an engine that wasn't working properly caused Citroen into bankruptcy and the arms of Peugeot parent PSA.
PSA was keen to stop some of teh madness, and though the y allowed the CX and GS to continue, they closed down the exclusive Maserati-engined SM luxury coupe line early (having been unable to move the car successfully in the US - bizarrely due to the high-variable suspension making the car fall foul of US Headlight laws!). The rest of the Citroen range was rationlised over time to share platforms and mechanical systems with Peugeot, and gradually, the brand lost much of its inventive distinctiveness in the name of cost rationalisation.
Sadly, by the 1990s, Citroen became the 'cost-brand' arm of PSA, selling average cars on cost and a long-revered name rather than style and innovation.
Fortunately, it was seen that this was not going to be a road to success, as the European (and American) markets were now been competitively fought by competent and increasing innovative, quality Japanese and Korean brands, and that to survive, it was in the interest of European marques to provide content that customers valued and would pay for.
Enter the DS.
The brand has now gained greater planning freedom, and is known as DS Automobiles, but at it genesis with the Citroen DS3 (and Citroen C3/C4 derivative) in 2009, the sub-rand intent was to provide vehicles of stylistic distinction and material quality (somewhat like the relaunch of Mini).
The DS5, an EMP2 chassis derivative sat at the top of the range at launch in 2011. The car could be described in many disparate terms that do not do the whole justice. The car rides on a long wheelbase. The car is shaped somewhere between a hatchback, wagon and an MPV. Chrome highlights, including a spear running from the headlamps up to the 2nd A-pillar and a curious beltline liven up the exterior, but the real party trick is the interior.
The car seats are embossed in what is known as 'watchstrap' trim, kind of like a gentleman's 1970s era watchband. The car has three sunroofs. One small one over each front seat, and a large one over the rear row. The car has an aeroplane flight deck control deck with buttons on the roof between the sunroofs that mirror those on the centre console. Luxury is high, with massage seats, sat nav, heated seats and other luxuries.
You will note the miniland fig standing with the car is wearing my trademark navy and white stripe pullover - I definitely have a soft spot for the DS5 - its looks, its luxury and its precipitous depreciation. I periodically temped to pick up a 3-year old car at half of its original price, to cruise around with my butt gently warmed and massaged by the seats.
More info at wikipedia:
This Lego miniland-scale Citroen DS5 has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 115th Build Challenge, - "The French Connection", - for vehicles with some connection with France.
My old wrist-watch strap was getting old, so I decided I needed a new one. Instead of buying one I made one myself. It took me about half an hour to make it. I had lots of fun making it and the strap is unique :-)
For those of you keen on survival gear: the strap is made of a single 5-metre piece of cord, so you have quite an emergency backup in it!
Keep the comments clean! No banners, awards or invitations, please
In the mid-80s my musical knowledge and ear for a song were at their peak. As a self-funded student at the University of Pretoria I lived a meagre (but fun) existence, and supplemented my income from a part-time job in a liquor store by entering radio competitions. At the time, my knowledge of everything David Bowie was second to none and I won many dial-in competitions identifying Bowie songs and answering questions about him, his collaborations and music. This was the list that I kept of my radio wins :-) On Music Radio 702, they actually changed the competition rules because of me. Following a good string of wins, they brought in a new rule that said listeners coudn't enter competitions if they'd won anything on the channel within the previous three months. So that was the end of that!
Between 1984 and 1985 I captured some of the wins on audio tape, and I have uploaded ten of these recordings to SoundCloud:
1. Jim Hicks (702).
2. Neil Johnson (702).
3. Mike Mills (702).
4. Jim Hicks (702).
5. Rob Wheatley (702).
6. John Berks & Glen O'Donovan (702).
7. Neil Johnson (702).
8. Barney Simon (Radio 5).
9. Neil Johnson (702).
10. Mike Mills (702).
Oak bush-cricket (Meconema thalassinum) perched briefly on a watch strap. Native to the UK and Europe, these arboreal insects are notable for being completely silent to human ears; unlike most other crickets, they do not rub their wings together to sing, but instead signal mates by drumming a hind leg against a leaf.
DS - the two letters which haunt Citroen. The DS of 1955 was arguably the most advanced and beautiful car in the world at launch.
It is true that many of the ingredients had already been tried out before. The car looked like a hovercar, and rode that way too. The DS lived on to 1975, when it still looked futuristic. Its replacement, the CX was also advanced and comfortable, the Wankel rotary engine it was set to debut with was problematic however, and the funding drain of a new car, with an engine that wasn't working properly caused Citroen into bankruptcy and the arms of Peugeot parent PSA.
PSA was keen to stop some of teh madness, and though the y allowed the CX and GS to continue, they closed down the exclusive Maserati-engined SM luxury coupe line early (having been unable to move the car successfully in the US - bizarrely due to the high-variable suspension making the car fall foul of US Headlight laws!). The rest of the Citroen range was rationlised over time to share platforms and mechanical systems with Peugeot, and gradually, the brand lost much of its inventive distinctiveness in the name of cost rationalisation.
Sadly, by the 1990s, Citroen became the 'cost-brand' arm of PSA, selling average cars on cost and a long-revered name rather than style and innovation.
Fortunately, it was seen that this was not going to be a road to success, as the European (and American) markets were now been competitively fought by competent and increasing innovative, quality Japanese and Korean brands, and that to survive, it was in the interest of European marques to provide content that customers valued and would pay for.
Enter the DS.
The brand has now gained greater planning freedom, and is known as DS Automobiles, but at it genesis with the Citroen DS3 (and Citroen C3/C4 derivative) in 2009, the sub-rand intent was to provide vehicles of stylistic distinction and material quality (somewhat like the relaunch of Mini).
The DS5, an EMP2 chassis derivative sat at the top of the range at launch in 2011. The car could be described in many disparate terms that do not do the whole justice. The car rides on a long wheelbase. The car is shaped somewhere between a hatchback, wagon and an MPV. Chrome highlights, including a spear running from the headlamps up to the 2nd A-pillar and a curious beltline liven up the exterior, but the real party trick is the interior.
The car seats are embossed in what is known as 'watchstrap' trim, kind of like a gentleman's 1970s era watchband. The car has three sunroofs. One small one over each front seat, and a large one over the rear row. The car has an aeroplane flight deck control deck with buttons on the roof between the sunroofs that mirror those on the centre console. Luxury is high, with massage seats, sat nav, heated seats and other luxuries.
You will note the miniland fig standing with the car is wearing my trademark navy and white stripe pullover - I definitely have a soft spot for the DS5 - its looks, its luxury and its precipitous depreciation. I periodically temped to pick up a 3-year old car at half of its original price, to cruise around with my butt gently warmed and massaged by the seats.
More info at wikipedia:
This Lego miniland-scale Citroen DS5 has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 115th Build Challenge, - "The French Connection", - for vehicles with some connection with France.
Taken for the group Macromondays. The theme this week is 'Sideways'. The taking of things from unlikely angles and perspectives.
Copyright photo PS
Ochred hair, necklaces, permanent copper bangles; bleeding scarifications symbol of support/loyalty. Hamer bull-jumping.
Click diagonal arrows and press F11 Fullscreen.
Or
Click flickr's + cursor and press F11 Fullscreen to mouse-explore detail.
Custom crocodile strap for my Grand Seiko SBGY002 by the folks at HDStraps.com - watch from littletreasury.com
Also see:
Grand Seiko - www.craigshipp.com/grandseiko
FOPE - www.areaguides.com/fope
Quality Clothing - www.flickr.com/photos/areaguides/albums/72157673043917817
I guess since I´m making motorcycle seats in leather, some people believe I´m good at making leather watch straps too.. at least I did an attempt, and it isn´t rocket science, unless he looses his Georg Jensen watch couse of it :-)
Custom crocodile strap for my Grand Seiko SBGY002 by the folks at HDStraps.com - watch from littletreasury.com
Also see:
Grand Seiko - www.craigshipp.com/grandseiko
FOPE - www.areaguides.com/fope
Quality Clothing - www.flickr.com/photos/areaguides/albums/72157673043917817
Custom crocodile strap for my Grand Seiko SBGY002 by the folks at HDStraps.com - watch from littletreasury.com
Also see:
Grand Seiko - www.craigshipp.com/grandseiko
FOPE - www.areaguides.com/fope
Quality Clothing - www.flickr.com/photos/areaguides/albums/72157673043917817
DS - the two letters which haunt Citroen. The DS of 1955 was arguably the most advanced and beautiful car in the world at launch.
It is true that many of the ingredients had already been tried out before. The car looked like a hovercar, and rode that way too. The DS lived on to 1975, when it still looked futuristic. Its replacement, the CX was also advanced and comfortable, the Wankel rotary engine it was set to debut with was problematic however, and the funding drain of a new car, with an engine that wasn't working properly caused Citroen into bankruptcy and the arms of Peugeot parent PSA.
PSA was keen to stop some of teh madness, and though the y allowed the CX and GS to continue, they closed down the exclusive Maserati-engined SM luxury coupe line early (having been unable to move the car successfully in the US - bizarrely due to the high-variable suspension making the car fall foul of US Headlight laws!). The rest of the Citroen range was rationlised over time to share platforms and mechanical systems with Peugeot, and gradually, the brand lost much of its inventive distinctiveness in the name of cost rationalisation.
Sadly, by the 1990s, Citroen became the 'cost-brand' arm of PSA, selling average cars on cost and a long-revered name rather than style and innovation.
Fortunately, it was seen that this was not going to be a road to success, as the European (and American) markets were now been competitively fought by competent and increasing innovative, quality Japanese and Korean brands, and that to survive, it was in the interest of European marques to provide content that customers valued and would pay for.
Enter the DS.
The brand has now gained greater planning freedom, and is known as DS Automobiles, but at it genesis with the Citroen DS3 (and Citroen C3/C4 derivative) in 2009, the sub-rand intent was to provide vehicles of stylistic distinction and material quality (somewhat like the relaunch of Mini).
The DS5, an EMP2 chassis derivative sat at the top of the range at launch in 2011. The car could be described in many disparate terms that do not do the whole justice. The car rides on a long wheelbase. The car is shaped somewhere between a hatchback, wagon and an MPV. Chrome highlights, including a spear running from the headlamps up to the 2nd A-pillar and a curious beltline liven up the exterior, but the real party trick is the interior.
The car seats are embossed in what is known as 'watchstrap' trim, kind of like a gentleman's 1970s era watchband. The car has three sunroofs. One small one over each front seat, and a large one over the rear row. The car has an aeroplane flight deck control deck with buttons on the roof between the sunroofs that mirror those on the centre console. Luxury is high, with massage seats, sat nav, heated seats and other luxuries.
You will note the miniland fig standing with the car is wearing my trademark navy and white stripe pullover - I definitely have a soft spot for the DS5 - its looks, its luxury and its precipitous depreciation. I periodically temped to pick up a 3-year old car at half of its original price, to cruise around with my butt gently warmed and massaged by the seats.
More info at wikipedia:
This Lego miniland-scale Citroen DS5 has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 115th Build Challenge, - "The French Connection", - for vehicles with some connection with France.
Custom crocodile strap for my Grand Seiko SBGY002 by the folks at HDStraps.com - watch from littletreasury.com
Also see:
Grand Seiko - www.craigshipp.com/grandseiko
FOPE - www.areaguides.com/fope
Quality Clothing - www.flickr.com/photos/areaguides/albums/72157673043917817
Custom crocodile strap for my Grand Seiko SBGY002 by the folks at HDStraps.com - watch from littletreasury.com
Also see:
Grand Seiko - www.craigshipp.com/grandseiko
FOPE - www.areaguides.com/fope
Quality Clothing - www.flickr.com/photos/areaguides/albums/72157673043917817
Some nice Barton straps. Like the brand and especially the elite straps. They are really good value for money.
The other straps are also nice, but don't really stand out.
Custom crocodile strap for my Grand Seiko SBGY002 by the folks at HDStraps.com - watch from littletreasury.com