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when ever they're together they always have a good time especially nick. :)
& wow lots of nemi pics i found today!
A faerytale began with the singing of a bird and it led a fair maid to market. The bird would light upon a branch almost as if to stop and say, "Follow me dear, yet, only you know the way... You shall go to market and sell your cleverness, you shall sell all that you think you know." "But, what will I get for my cleverness, for I doubt it has been sold before or bought for that matter, what shall I get, what will I buy?"
The bird would look at her as if to say, "Well you shall receive six splendid gems, like none you have ever seen and they will be all you need for they are magical and not true currency, but a ticket for passing into the miracle of living and leaving the mundane of knowing. You sell your cleverness for bewilderment. You will be able to tell your own faerytale because no longer will you read it as if out of the pages, dry and crumbling; you will be breathing the bewilderment and aahhh...."
Visit my blog www.suchawondrousplacethisfaerytalespace.blogspot.com to see a video on my second to last post that will touch the spirit and affirm the intelligence and beauty of all Nature's beings. Just when you think you understand something, or especially someone, sell your cleverness for bewilderment and see that person or being or thing with new eyes. The blessings will be resplendent.
I wrote this story in honor of this elephant and its story, my astonishment and my story, and all the stories yet unsaid and summarized by Rumi's glorious quote.
When I go to McDonald's, I think every time.
"I want to drink beer with McDonald's French fried potatoes "
But, there is no beer at McDonald's.
I’ve been wanting to take a city break in summer, rather than in the cold months for a while, so rather than heading for the Lake District for a week of toil on the fells when Jayne could get a week off, we took off from Liverpool for Paris. Flight times were nice and sociable but it meant we were on the M62 car park at a busy time in both directions – it’s a shambles! I’ve stopped over in Paris a dozen times – on my way to cycling in the Etape du Tour in the Alps or Pyrenees – and had a few nights out there. Come to think about it and we’ve spent the day on the Champs Elysees watching the final day of the Tour de France with Mark Cavendish winning. We hadn’t been for a holiday there though and it was a bit of a spur of the moment decision. Six nights gave us five and a half days to explore Paris on foot. I had a good selection of (heavy) kit with me, not wanting to make the usual mistake of leaving something behind and regretting it. In the end I carried the kit in my backpack – an ordinary rucksack – to keep the weight down, for 103 miles, all recorded on the cycling Garmin – and took 3500 photos. The little Garmin is light and will do about 15 hours, it expired towards the end of a couple of 16 hour days but I had the info I wanted by then. This also keeps the phone battery free for research and route finding – I managed to flatten that once though.
What can I say – Paris was fantastic! The weather varied from OK to fantastic, windy for a few days, the dreaded grey white dullness for a while but I couldn’t complain really. We were out around 8.30 in shorts and tee shirt, which I would swap for a vest when it warmed up, hitting 30 degrees at times, we stayed out until around midnight most nights. It was a pretty full on trip. The security at some destinations could have been a problem as there is a bag size limit to save room in the lifts etc. I found the French to be very pragmatic about it, a bag search was a cursory glance, accepting that I was lugging camera gear, not bombs around, and they weren’t going to stop a paying customer from passing because his bag was a bit over size.
We didn’t have a plan, as usual we made it up as we went along, a loose itinerary for the day would always end up changing owing to discoveries along the way. Many times we would visit something a few times, weighing the crowds and light etc. up and deciding to come back later. I waited patiently to go up the Eiffel Tower, we arrived on Tuesday and finally went up on Friday evening. It was a late decision but the weather was good, the light was good and importantly I reckoned that we would get a sunset. Previous evenings the sun had just slid behind distant westerly clouds without any golden glory. It was a good choice. We went up the steps at 7.30 pm, short queue and cheaper – and just to say that we had. The steps are at an easy angle and were nowhere near as bad as expected, even with the heavy pack. We stayed up there, on a mad and busy Friday night, until 11.30, the light changed a lot and once we had stayed a couple of hours we decided to wait for the lights to come on. This was a downside to travelling at this time of year, to do any night photography we had to stay out late as it was light until 10.30. The Eiffel Tower is incredible and very well run, they are quite efficient at moving people around it from level to level. It was still buzzing at midnight with thousands of people around. The sunset on Saturday was probably better but we spent the evening around the base of the Tower, watching the light change, people watching and soaking the party atmosphere up.
Some days our first destination was five miles away, this is a lot of road junctions in a city, the roads in Paris are wide so you generally have to wait for the green man to cross. This made progress steady but when you are on holiday it doesn’t matter too much. Needless to say we walked through some dodgy places, with graffiti on anything that stays still long enough. We were ultra-cautious with our belongings having heard the pickpocket horror stories. At every Café/bar stop the bags were clipped to the table leg out of sight and never left alone. I carried the camera in my hand all day and everywhere I went, I only popped it in my bag to eat. I would guess that there were easier people to rob than us, some people were openly careless with phones and wallets.
We didn’t enter the big attractions, it was too nice to be in a museum or church and quite a few have a photography ban. These bans make me laugh, they are totally ignored by many ( Japanese particularly) people. Having travelled around the world to see something, no one is going to stop them getting their selfies. Selfies? Everywhere people pointed their cameras at their own face, walking around videoing – their self! I do like to have a few photos of us for posterity but these people are self-obsessed.
Paris has obviously got a problem with homeless (mostly) migrants. Walk a distance along the River Seine and you will find tented villages, there is a powerful smell of urine in every corner, with the no alcohol restrictions ignored, empty cans and bottles stacked around the bins as evidence. There are families, woman living on mattresses with as many as four small children, on the main boulevards. They beg by day and at midnight they are all huddled asleep on the pavement. The men in the tents seem to be selling plastic Eiffel Tower models to the tourists or bottled water – even bottles of wine. Love locks and selfy sticks were also top sellers. There must be millions of locks fastened to railings around the city, mostly brass, so removing them will be self-funding as brass is £2.20 a kilo.
As for the sights we saw, well if it was on the map we tried to walk to it. We crossed the Periphique ring road to get to the outer reaches of Paris. La Defense – the financial area with dozens of modern office blocks – was impressive, and still expanding. The Bois de Boulogne park, with the horse racing track and the Louis Vuitton Centre was part of a 20 mile loop that day. Another day saw us in the north east. We had the dome of the Sacre Couer to ourselves, with thousands of tourists wandering below us oblivious of the entrance and ticket office under the church. Again the light was fantastic for us. We read that Pere Lachaise Cemetery or Cimitiere du Pere Lachaise was one of the most visited destinations, a five mile walk but we went. It is massive, you need a map, but for me one massive tomb is much the same as another, it does have highlights but we didn’t stay long. Fortunately we were now closer to the Canal St Martin which would lead us to Parc de la Villette. This was a Sunday and everywhere was both buzzing and chilled at the same time. Where ever we went people were sat watching the world go by, socializing and picnicking, soaking the sun up. As ever I wanted to go up on the roof of anything I could as I love taking cityscapes. Most of these were expensive compared with many places we’ve been to before but up we went. The Tour Montparnasse, a single tower block with 59 floors, 690 foot high and extremely fast lifts has incredible views although it was a touch hazy on our ascent. The Arc de Triomphe was just up the road from our hotel, we went up it within hours of arriving, well worth the visit.
At the time of writing I have no idea how many images will make the cut but it will be a lot. If I have ten subtly different shots of something, I find it hard to consign nine to the dark depths of my hard drive never to be seen again – and I’m not very good at ruthless selection – so if the photo is OK it will get uploaded. My view is that it’s my photostream, I like to be able to browse my own work at my leisure at a later date, it’s more or less free and stats tell me these images will get looked at. I’m not aiming for single stunning shots, more of a comprehensive overview of an interesting place, presented to the best of my current capabilities. I am my own biggest critic, another reason for looking at my older stuff is to critique it and look to improve on previous mistakes. I do get regular requests from both individuals and organisations to use images and I’m obliging unless someone is taking the piss. I’m not bothered about work being published (with my permission) but it is reassuringly nice to be asked. The manipulation of Flickr favourites and views through adding thousands of contacts doesn’t interest me and I do sometimes question the whole point of the Flickr exercise. I do like having access to my own back catalogue though and it gives family and friends the chance to read about the trip and view the photos at their leisure so for the time being I’m sticking with it. I do have over 15 million views at the moment which is a far cry from showing a few people an album, let’s face it, there’s an oversupply of images, many of them superb but all being devalued by the sheer quantity available.
Don’t think that it was all walking and photography, we had a great break and spent plenty of time in pavement bistros having a glass of wine and people watching. I can certainly understand why Paris is top of the travellers list of destinations
I know a lot of people don't like photos of decaying barns and houses but I make these photos to document the past. When they finally fall they either won't be replaced or will be replaced with modern ugly metal buildings.
Once a trailer/caravan park....space 6.
camera: Canon 7ne
A good example why firefighters wear helmets and keep a wary eye and a good distance when testing hose. This coupling and its mate were blown 50' forward when this pair blew off.
kids gathering to meet us (Jesus slum, Nairobi)
File size :975.7KB(999103Bytes)
Date taken :2005/09/27 13:29:36
Image size :2592 x 1944
Resolution :300 x 300 dpi
The exterior of the Earl-Bishop’s Rotunda was virtually finished when he died in 1803, but the interior was still an empty shell, and the curving corridors and wings only a few feet above ground. It was left to the Earl-Bishop’s son, the future 1st Marquess of Bristol, to make what use he could of his father’s extraordinary plan. Having no need for massive galleries, in 1821 he instructed his architect, John Field, to redesign the East Wing as family living-quarters.
Field fitted out the ground floor of the Rotunda as state rooms in an austere Regency style. The West Wing was added purely for symmetry and so was left empty. The Trust is pleased to announce the go-ahead of a package for a project to develop the West Wing to provide new facilities for visitor reception, information, education, shop, restaurant, functions, conferences and events.
As the family lived mostly in the East Wing, the rooms that visitors see in the Rotunda spent much of the year under dust sheets, coming into their own mainly for parties and other special occasions. But as a result, their superb furnishings and decoration have survived in excellent condition and little changed since the heyday of the house in the Edwardian era.
The house, with much of its collections of family portraits, Huguenot silver, Regency furniture and china, and part of the ancient deer-park, passed to the National Trust in 1956.
The East Wing has been transformed into a four star hotel by the hotel company Luxury Family Hotels who lease the East Wing. Until 1997 the East Wing was home to the late 7th Marquis of Bristol who had leased the property from the National Trust.
The hotel has 35 luxury rooms - 11 in the Dower House a separate property situated on the north-west of the estate (opened in autumn 2002) - the hotel complex has three restaurants, a 50ft indoor pool, horse riding facilities and a tennis court.
Ickworth’s 18th-century parkland and gardens include some of the most stunning countryside to be found in East Anglia.
The Park
The extensive 1,800 acres of wooded parkland, created in part by 'Capability' Brown, is a living landscape rich in plant, animal, and bird life. Some parts cultivated and grazed yet much can be explored and enjoyed. Some waymarked field margins may also be walked. Access has been made possible through funding by the Forestry Commission’s Countryside Access scheme.
The Gardens
The gardens surrounding the house were created in the first half of the 19th century by the First Marquess of Bristol. Those in the formal Italian style to the south of the house feature the Gold and Silver Gardens, a Victorian Stumpery and the Temple Rose Garden. A raised terrace walk separates the south garden from the park.
Beyond the church are the remnants of an 18th-century garden created by the First Earl. His summerhouse (circa.1703) and ornamental canal still survive. The kitchen garden, protected by high brick walls, is now a vineyard producing Ickworth wines (available in the National Trust shop).
When I woke up today it was very warm and sunny! In fact it was windy too, but the day was really beautiful. I don't mind it's February and it should be snow or something - spring is my favourite part of a year and I am really glad that the weather is so great! (*^▽^*)
What about you, have you got your own little-spring? :D
The back of a school bus my friend Sharon and her (then) boyfriend Tony drove from Olympia, WA to Chicago so they could both attend graduate school. It got them all the way there, then decided to die just as they arrived.
"Nightmares got more vivid when I stopped smoking pot" mandingorus.blogspot.ca/2013/10/only-beat.html
At Zoe's 1st budday partee...her smile is effervescent :) She was moving around too much. I just about managed this one - hence the blur and the noise...
Mother and daughter - This is at Zoe's christening
Shell and Zoe - When the Braganzas came over
youtu.be/voW0RiNTbGI?t=2s Trailer
This is one of the block-buster classics of early sci-fi movies. It's theme was so potent that offshoots have been remade in several other movies. When Worlds Collide (WWC for short) was a big budget film, shot in color, with a large cast, and fairly expensive sets, models and special effects (for its day). WWC usually makes classic sci-fi fans' top ten lists. Never mind petty quibbles over the science cited in the movie. The science is just there to support the premise. What if the earth was about to be destroyed? What would mankind do? With the usual romance elements and human drama, that question is explored.
Synopsis
A rogue star and its planet are hurtling on a collision course with the earth. The planet, Zyra, will come close to the earth, causing massive floods (ala Noah) and earthquakes, but it is the rogue star itself -- Bellus -- which will plow through the earth, burning it up. By the time astronomers discover Bellus and Zyra, the earth has less than a year left. Governments are paralyzed. A rich, selfish, wheelchair-bound billionaire agrees to finance the building of a rocket ship on the condition that HE gets to come. Hundreds of people build the ark with a sense of hope. It is a race against time. As the end nears, human drama complicates things. Only 44 people, chosen by lottery, will be able to go. A pair of young lovers is split up by the lottery. The billionaire's aide tries to steal the young lover's ticket, but is shot by the billionaire. As the end nears, chaos breaks out. All the lottery losers want aboard anyhow, but it's too late. The space ark takes off just in time, but leaving the selfish billionaire behind. Alas. Bellus destroys the earth. The space ark lands, albeit roughly, to find Zyra strange, but very earth-like. The remnant of mankind escaped the destruction of the old earth, to begin anew on a new world.
It's interesting that WWC used the same rogue planet plot device as Man From Planet X, which opened about 4 months earlier. This time, however, it was a collision course. In fact, the roles are reverse from Planet X. This time, it's the earthlings who are trying to escape their doomed world to another. The theme of WWC is thought provoking.
The acting is pretty good, even if some of the roles are fairly stereotypic. The rocket itself is a cool looking example of what 1950s thinking imagined rocket ships would be like. It's this fascination with sleek rockets that would lead the culture to tail fin mania in the latter 50s. The takeoff of the rocket-ark is made all the more dramatic by having it gain speed racing down a track, then up a ramp (rather like the V1s in WW2). A conventional vertical blast off would have been too slow for the urgent mood.
The threat of world destruction has been up-scaled for effect. The name of the rogue star, Bellus, reminded me of the Latin word for War: Bellum. "War" was coming and would totally wipe out the earth. Where many films imagine some survivors of a global nuclear war (see review of "Five"), WWC posits an inescapable total destruction of the earth. Yet, WWC looks at both the hopeful and the gloomy. The space ark represents the hopeful glass-half-full. The earth's anarchy and violence which they leave behind represents the pessimistic glass-half-empty view.
WWC was based on the 1933 novel by Edwin Balmer and Phillip Wylie. The plot of the movie follows that of the book generally, with many of the usual book-through-hollywood caveats. In the book, it's two planets, not a star and a planet. The two planets are named Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta. While the movie makes only one mention of other rockets leaving earth, (yet only shows one) the book is more clear that several space arks left earth.
George Pal (the producer of WWC) is known for including fairly overt Christian messages into his productions. WWC is no exception. The movie opens with a shot of an ornate Bible, opening to a couple verses from Genesis -- the part where God is so disgusted with the corruption and violence of the earth that he decides to wipe it all out, (except for Noah, etc.). Pal is making a pretty strong social commentary right off the bat. The whole story line is a modern adaptation of the Noah's Ark account, right down to the animals, two-by-two. The ruthlessness and violence that break out on earth as the rocket-ark is about to take off, stand as a vindication that the "old" mankind was indeed corrupt and violent and deserved to be wiped out. You don't find yourself feeling too sorry for those being left behind. Certainly no tears were shed for rich Mr. Stanton.
Another fascinating part, which seems to get little comment, is when they get to Zyra, and disembark their ark, on the far left side of the Zyran landscape (painting) is some very man-made looking cuts in that cliff. Ahead of them are clearly two pyramids. Nothing is said of them. In the novels ("When Worlds Collide" ('33) and "After Worlds Collide" ('34)), the new planet was inhabited, but the advanced race had died out as "Zyra" coursed through cold, deep space. A movie sequel to WWC was planned, but George Pal fell on hard times, and the project was scrapped.
A feature of WWC which would be much more apparent today than in 1951, was that the space ark carried only white people. A half-century after the making of the film, even cereal box art is careful to show a politically-correct mix of white / black / asian / latino cartoon children frolicking behind the giant cereal bowl. Were the makers of WWC being subconsciously racist? That is (and has been) debated. A minor note on that, is that in the novel, many space arks are built in different countries. Many of them make it to the new planet. In WWC, about a half hour into the runtime, Dr. Fry says that other ships are being built too. WWC is the story of that one particular ship, which happened to end up with a crew (cargo?) drawn from only the all-white labor force at the shipyard.
A sort of subtext to WWC is triumph of egalitarianism over elitism. When the time came to go, only 44 people, out of the hundreds, could go. Surely everyone working on the ship had to realize this. It was built with only 44 seats. Those would be filled by a ruthlessly fair lottery. 22 men, 22 women. They weren't chosen for their skills, or their breeding proclivities or genetic makeup. They were chosen by simple lot.
Bottom line? WWC is a great sci-fi classic. It strives to explore big ideas with little wallowing to petty drama (unlike many in the B-grade films). It is a must-see of classic sci-fi.
He Will Love you when you're right
He Will Love you when you're wrong
He Will Love you when you're weak
He Will Love you when you're strong
Take you higher in a world that you're feeling low
He's giving you his last, as he's thinking of your first
Giveing comfort when he's thinking that you're hurt
That's what it's like when you Drink Coca Cola
be sure to act surprised :-) Bradford Fullerton
HPPT!!
camellia hiemalis, 'Shishi Gashira', sarah p duke gardens, duke university, durham, north carolina
TK-742: Excuse me, sir but how many seasons have you had these droids?
Davros: Droids? As in "androids"? These are no mere androids, they are FAR superior! These are my very own creations, the Daleks! The ultimate lifeform in the universe! Soon, we shall be masters of all space and time!
TK-523: Masters of space and time? These silly looking things? I mean, they have toilet plungers for arms for crying out loud!
TK-742: And don't forget those other things that look like eggbeaters!
Dalek: THEY DARE TO MOCK THE POW-ER OF THE DAL-EKS ! SHALL I EX-TER-MIN-ATE THEM, CRE-A-TOR?
Davros: NO! (whispers) Not yet ! I don't want to arouse the ire of the local authorities before I've completed the machine that will bring us back home. But I promise you, the time will come when they and this entire galaxy will burn for their insolence! But first, we must return to our own time to defeat the accursed Time Lords in the Time War! www.flickr.com/photos/bobbdobbs/collections/7215761680472...
TK-523: So THAT'S what they sound like? How annoying! You should really get those vocoders fixed, old timer! I don't know how you can stand it!
My little girl loves to dress up in my wedding dress and tell me that when she grows up, she wants to wear my wedding dress.
Why is it that when living legends get the blues, the rest of the world is happy to listen?
You'll find the answer to this question and more at the annual Kitchener Blues Festival, held every August in front of Kitchener
City Hall. The Kitchener Blues Festival took place from August 9 - August 12, 2012.
What started out as a small, six-hour festival in 2001 that attracted a mere 3,000 fans has grown into a fun-filled three-day event, with tens of thousands making their way downtown to take in the performances.
When astronauts return to Earth from destinations beyond the moon in NASA’s Orion spacecraft and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, they’ll still need to safely get out of the spacecraft and back on dry land. Using the waters off the coast of Galveston, Texas, a NASA and Department of Defense team tested Orion exit procedures in a variety of scenarios July 10-14. Credit: NASA
Banteay Srei or Banteay Srey (Khmer: ប្រាសាទបន្ទាយស្រី) is a 10th-century Cambodian temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Located in the area of Angkor in Cambodia. It lies near the hill of Phnom Dei, 25 km north-east of the main group of temples that once belonged to the medieval capitals of Yasodharapura and Angkor Thom. Banteay Srei is built largely of red sandstone, a medium that lends itself to the elaborate decorative wall carvings which are still observable today. The buildings themselves are miniature in scale, unusually so when measured by the standards of Angkorian construction. These factors have made the temple extremely popular with tourists, and have led to its being widely praised as a "precious gem", or the "jewel of Khmer art."
HISTORY
FOUNDATION & DEDICATION
Consecrated on 22 April 967 A.D., Bantãy Srĕi was the only major temple at Angkor not built by a monarch; its construction is credited to a courtier named Yajnavaraha / Yajñavarāha (modern Khmer: យជ្ញវរាហៈ), who served as a counsellor to king Rajendravarman II (modern Khmer: ព្រះបាទរាជេន្រ្ទវរ្ម័ន).The foundational stela says that Yajnavaraha, grandson of king Harsavarman I, was a scholar and philanthropist who helped those who suffered from illness, injustice, or poverty. His pupil was the future king Jayavarman V (r. 968- ca. 1001). Originally, the temple was surrounded by a town called Īśvarapura.
Yajñavarāha's temple was primarily dedicated to the Hindu god Śiva. Originally, it was carried the name Tribhuvanamaheśvara - great lord of the threefold world - in reference to the Shaivite linga that served as its central religious image. However, the temple buildings appear to be divided along the central east-west axis between those buildings located south of the axis, which are devoted to Śiva, and those north of the axis, which are devoted to Viṣṇu.
The temple's modern name, Bantãy Srĕi - citadel of the women, or citadel of beauty - is probably related to the intricacy of the bas relief carvings found on the walls and the tiny dimensions of the buildings themselves. Some have speculated that it relates to the many devatas carved into the walls of the buildings.
EXPANSION & REDICATION
Bantãy Srĕi was subject to further expansion and rebuilding work in the eleventh century. At some point it came under the control of the king and had its original dedication changed; the inscription K 194 from Phnoṃ Sandak, dated Monday, the 14th or 28 July 1119 A.D. records (line B 13) the temple being given to the priest Divākarapaṇḍita and being rededicated to Śiva. It remained in use at least until the fourteenth century according to the last known inscription K 569, dated Thursday, 8 August 1303 A.D.
RESTAURATION
The temple was rediscovered only in 1914, and was the subject of a celebrated case of art theft when André Malraux stole four devatas in 1923 (he was soon arrested and the figures returned). The incident stimulated interest in the site, which was cleared the following year, and in the 1930s Banteay Srei was restored through the first important use of anastylosis at Angkor whereby a ruined building or monument is restored using the original architectural elements to the greatest degree possible. Until the discovery of the foundation stela in 1936, it had been assumed that the extreme decoration indicated a later date than was in fact the case. To prevent the site from water damage, the joint Cambodian-Swiss Banteay Srei Conservation Project installed a drainage system between 2000 and 2003. Measures were also taken to prevent damage to the temples walls from nearby trees.
Unfortunately, the temple has been ravaged by pilfering and vandalism. When toward the end of the 20th century authorities removed some original statues and replaced them with concrete replicas, looters took to attacking the replicas. A statue of Shiva and his shakti Uma, removed to the National Museum in Phnom Penh for safekeeping, was assaulted in the museum itself.
MATERIALS & STYLE
Banteay Srei is built largely of a hard red sandstone that can be carved like wood. Brick and laterite were used only for the enclosure walls and some structural elements. The temple is known for the beauty of its sandstone lintels and pediments.
A pediment is the roughly triangular space above a rectangular doorway or openings. At Banteay Srei, pediments are relatively large in comparison to the openings below, and take a sweeping gabled shape. For the first time in the history of Khmer architecture, whole scenes of mythological subject-matter are depicted on the pediments.
A lintel is a horizontal beam spanning the gap between two posts. Some lintels serve a structural purpose, serving to support the weight of the superstructure, while others are purely decorative in purpose. The lintels at Banteay Srei are beautifully carved, rivalling those of the 9th century Preah Ko style in quality.
Noteworthy decorative motifs include the kala (a toothy monster symbolic of time), the guardian dvarapala (an armed protector of the temple) and devata (demi-goddess), the false door, and the colonette. Indeed, decorative carvings seem to cover almost every available surface. According to pioneering Angkor scholar Maurice Glaize, "Given the very particular charm of Banteay Srei – its remarkable state of preservation and the excellence of a near perfect ornamental technique – one should not hesitate, of all the monuments of the Angkor group, to give it the highest priority." At Banteay Srei, wrote Glaize, "the work relates more closely to the art of the goldsmith or to carving in wood than to sculpture in stone".
THE SITE
The site consists of three concentric rectangular enclosures constructed on an east-west axis. A causeway situated on the axis leads from an outer gopura, or gate, to the third or outermost of the three enclosures. The inner enclosure contains the sanctuary, consisting of an entrance chamber and three towers, as well as two buildings conventionally referred to as libraries.
THE OUTER GOPURA
The gopura is all that remains of the outer wall surrounding the town of Isvapura. The wall is believed to have measured approximately 500 m square, and may have been constructed of wood. The gopura's eastern pediment shows Indra, who was associated with that direction, mounted on his three-headed elephant Airavata. The 67 m causeway with the remains of corridors on either side connects the gopura with the third enclosure. North and south of this causeway are galleries with a north-south orientation.
THE THIRD (OUTER) ENCLOSURE
The third enclosure is 95 by 110 m; it is surrounded by a laterite wall breached by gopuras at the eastern and western ends. Neither pediment of the eastern gopura is in situ. The west-facing pediment is now located in the Musée Guimet in Paris. It depicts a scene from the Mahabhārata in which the Asura brothers Sunda and Upasunda fight over the Apsara Tilottama. The east-facing pediment is lying on the ground. It depicts a scene from the Rāmāyaṇa in which a demon seizes Rama's wife Sita. Most of the area within the third enclosure is occupied by a moat divided into two parts by causeways to the east and west.
THE SECOND ENCLOSURE
The second enclosure sits between an outer laterite wall measuring 38 by 42 m, with gopuras at the eastern and western ends, and a brick inner enclosure wall, measuring 24 by 24 m. The western gopura features an interesting bas relief depicting the duel of the monkey princes Vāli and Sugriva, as well as Rāma's intervention on Sugrīva's behalf. The inner enclosure wall has collapsed, leaving a gopura at the eastern end and a brick shrine at the western. The eastern pediment of the gopura shows Śiva Nataraja; the west-facing pediment has an image of Durga. Likewise, the laterite galleries which once filled the second enclosure (one each to north and south, two each to east and west) have partially collapsed. A pediment on one of the galleries shows the lion-man Narasiṃha clawing the demon Hiranyakashipu.
THE FIRST (INNER) ENCLOSURE
Between the gopuras on the collapsed inner wall are the buildings of the inner enclosure: a library in the south-east corner and another in the north-east corner, and in the centre the sanctuary set on a T-shaped platform 0.9 m high. Besides being the most extravagantly decorated parts of the temple, these have also been the most successfully restored (helped by the durability of their sandstone and their small scale). In 2010, the first enclosure is open to visitors again, but the inner temples are roped off and inaccessible.
THE LIBRARIES
The two libraries are of brick, laterite and sandstone. Each library has two pediments, one on the eastern side and one on the western. According to Maurice Glaize, the four library pediments, "representing the first appearance of tympanums with scenes, are works of the highest order. Superior in composition to any which followed, they show true craftsmanship in their modelling in a skilful blend of stylisation and realism."
The east-facing pediment on the southern library shows Śiva seated on the summit of Mount Kailāsa, his mythological abode. His consort Umā sits on his lap and clings anxiously to his torso. Other beings are also present on the slopes of the mountain, arranged in a strict hierarchy of three tiers from top to bottom. In the top tier sit bearded wise men and ascetics, in the middle tier mythological figures with the heads of animals and the bodies of humans, and in the bottom tier large animals, including a number of lions. In the middle of the scene stands the ten-headed demon king Rāvaṇa. He is shaking the mountain in its very foundations as the animals flee from his presence and as the wise men and mythological beings discuss the situation or pray. According to the legend, Śiva stopped Rāvaṇa from shaking the mountain by using his toe to press down on the mountain and to trap Rāvana underneath for 1000 years.
The west-facing pediment on southern library shows Śiva again seated on the summit of Mount Kailāsa. He is looking to his left at the god of love Kāma, who is aiming an arrow at him. Umā sits to Śiva's right; he is handing her a chain of beads. The slopes of the mountain are crowded with other beings, again arranged in a strict hierarchy from top to bottom. Just under Śiva sit a group of bearded wise men and ascetics, under whom the second tier is occupied by the mythological beings with the heads of animals and the bodies of humans; the lowest tier belongs the common people, who mingle sociably with tame deer and a large gentle bull. According to the legend, Kāma fired an arrow at Śiva in order to cause Śiva to take an interest in Umā. Śiva, however, was greatly angered by this provocation, and punished Kāma by gazing upon him with his third eye, frying Kāma to cinders.
The east-facing pediment on the northern library shows the god of the sky Indra creating rain to put out a forest fire started by the god of fire Agni for purposes of killing the nāga king Takshaka who lived in Khandava Forest. The Mahābhāratan heroes Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are shown helping Agni by firing a dense hail of arrows to block Indra's rain. Takṣaka's son Aśvasena is depicted attempting to escape from the conflagration, while other animals stampede about in panic.
The west-facing pediment on the southern library depicts Kṛṣṇa slaying his wicked uncle Kamsa.
THE SANCTUARY
The sanctuary is entered from the east by a doorway only 1.08 m in height: inside is an entrance chamber (or maṇḍapa) with a corbelled brick roof, then a short corridor leading to three towers to the west: the central tower is the tallest, at 9.8 m. Glaize notes the impression of delicacy given the towers by the antefixes on each of their tiers. The six stairways leading up to the platform were each guarded by two kneeling statues of human figures with animal heads; most of those now in place are replicas, the originals having been stolen or removed to museums.
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Angkor is a region of Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer Empire, which flourished from approximately the 9th to 15th centuries. The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the Khmer Hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a universal monarch and god-king, and lasted until the late 14th century, first falling under Ayutthayan suzerainty in 1351. A Khmer rebellion resulted in the 1431 sacking of Angkor by Ayutthaya, causing its population to migrate south to Longvek.
The ruins of Angkor are located amid forests and farmland to the north of the Great Lake (Tonlé Sap) and south of the Kulen Hills, near modern-day Siem Reap city, in Siem Reap Province. The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, ranging in scale from nondescript piles of brick rubble scattered through rice fields to the magnificent Angkor Wat, said to be the world's largest single religious monument. Many of the temples at Angkor have been restored, and together, they comprise the most significant site of Khmer architecture. Visitor numbers approach two million annually, and the entire expanse, including Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom is collectively protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This popularity of the site among tourists presents multiple challenges to the preservation of the ruins.
In 2007, an international team of researchers using satellite photographs and other modern techniques concluded that Angkor had been the largest preindustrial city in the world, with an elaborate infrastructure system connecting an urban sprawl of at least 1,000 square kilometres to the well-known temples at its core. The closest rival to Angkor, the Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala, was between 100 and 150 square kilometres in total size. Although its population remains a topic of research and debate, newly identified agricultural systems in the Angkor area may have supported up to one million people.
The Angkorian period may be said to have begun shortly after 800 AD, when the Khmer King Jayavarman II announced the independence of Kambujadesa (Cambodia) from Java and established his capital of Hariharalaya (now known as Roluos) at the northern end of Tonlé Sap. Through a program of military campaigns, alliances, marriages and land grants, he achieved a unification of the country bordered by China to the north, Champa (now Central Vietnam) to the east, the ocean to the south and a place identified by a stone inscription as the land of cardamoms and mangoes to the west. In 802, Jayavarman articulated his new status by declaring himself universal monarch and, in a move that was to be imitated by his successors and that linked him to the cult of Siva, taking on the epithet of god-king (devaraja). Before Jayavarman, Cambodia had consisted of a number of politically independent principalities collectively known to the Chinese by the names Funan and Chenla.
In 889, Yasovarman ascended to the throne. A great king and an accomplished builder, he was celebrated by one inscription as "a lion-man; he tore the enemy with the claws of his grandeur; his teeth were his policies; his eyes were the Veda." Near the old capital of Hariharalaya, Yasovarman constructed a new city, called Yasodharapura. In the tradition of his predecessors, he also constructed a massive reservoir called baray. The significance of such reservoirs has been debated by modern scholars, some of whom have seen in them a means of irrigating rice fields, and others of whom have regarded them as religiously charged symbols of the great mythological oceans surrounding Mount Meru, the abode of the gods. The mountain, in turn, was represented by an elevated temple, in which the "god-king" was represented by a lingam. In accordance with this cosmic symbolism, Yasovarman built his central temple on a low hill known as Phnom Bakheng, surrounding it with a moat fed from the baray. He also built numerous other Hindu temples and ashrams, or retreats for ascetics.
Over the next 300 years, between 900 and 1200, the Khmer Empire produced some of the world's most magnificent architectural masterpieces in the area known as Angkor. Most are concentrated in an area approximately 24 km east to west and 8.0 km north to south, although the Angkor Archaeological Park, which administers the area, includes sites as far away as Kbal Spean, about 48 km to the north. Some 72 major temples or other buildings are found within this area, and the remains of several hundred additional minor temple sites are scattered throughout the landscape beyond. Because of the dispersed, low-density nature of the medieval Khmer settlement pattern, Angkor lacks a formal boundary, and its extent is therefore difficult to determine. However, a specific area of at least 1,000 qkm beyond the major temples is defined by a complex system of infrastructure, including roads and canals that indicate a high degree of connectivity and functional integration with the urban core. In terms of spatial extent (although not in terms of population), this makes it the largest urban agglomeration in human history prior to the Industrial Revolution, easily surpassing the nearest claim, that of the Mayan city of Tikal.
The principal temple of the Angkorian region, Angkor Wat, was built between 1113 and 1150 by King Suryavarman II. Suryavarman ascended to the throne after prevailing in a battle with a rival prince. An inscription says that, in the course of combat, Suryavarman leapt onto his rival's war elephant and killed him, just as the mythical bird-man Garuda slays a serpent.
WIKIPEDIA
Tonight, 1 June 2018, I have just added six extra photos, to get them into my albums. I will be so glad when I eventually come to a few photos that I feel better about uploading. I am trying to post more or less in the order that the photos were taken, and unfortunately, there are so many odds and ends that I want to keep just for the record. I promise that, later on, I will have photos of some very different things - thank goodness.
Not having much success with seeing and photographing all the tiny, very fast-moving Warblers at Pt Pelee, I was delighted to come across a few fungi. Not much variety, as it was still only spring. Not sure, but I think this is Dryad's Saddle fungus / Polyporus squamosus aka Cerioporus squamosus.
Four friends (four of the six friends with whom I went to Trinidad & Tobago in March 2017) and I left Calgary airport on 6 May 2018 and flew to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There, we rented a van and did the long drive to Point Pelee for four whole days of birding. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel in Leamington, which is close to Point Pelee National Park. It fills up very quickly (with birders) and our rooms were booked months ago.
Our four days walking at Point Pelee were interesting and I, for sure, saw various things I had never seen before, including my very first Raccoon : ) Various friends had told me that the Warblers at Pelee were fantastic - so many and numerous species, and so close. Have to disagree with the "closeness" when we were there! I don't have binoculars as cameras are enough for me to carry around, so I know I missed all sorts of birds. Though my Warbler count was lower than my friends' counts, I was happy to at least get a few distant photos of some species. So many of my shots are awful, but I will still post some of them, just for the record of seeing them. Some photos are so bad that I doubt anyone can ID them.
We covered several different trails at Pelee, and also drove to a few places somewhat further afield, such as Hillman Marsh. If you are unfamiliar with this Conservation Area, just wait till you see a photo of the old barn that was there. I couldn't believe my eyes! I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I would be able to walk across a grassy area to take a few photos. However, it was so unusual and beautiful, that I reckoned I could try and move forward inch by inch - and crawl (ha, ha) if necessary. Another place we enjoyed was Rondeau National Park. One amazing and totally unexpected sighting just outside Pelee was a very distant male Snowy Owl sitting in a fieldl!!
We walked every single day that we were at Pelee and the areas mentioned above, seeing not just birds, but a frog/toad, snakes that we suspect were mating, several Painted turtles, a few plants (including both white and red Triliums, that I had never seen growing wild before, and a couple of Jack in the Pulpit plants).
The Friends of Point Pelee have food available at lunch time that one can buy. They also have a shuttle bus that one can take from the Visitor Centre all the way to the southern tip of Pelee, which is the most southern part of Canada. They also have birding walks with a guide each day (there is a charge). On 9 May, we spent the morning from 6:00 am to 11:00 am on a birding walk at Pelee with guide, Tom Hince, whom we had contacted while we were still in Calgary.
At the end of our stay at Point Pelee, we had to drive all the way back to Toronto, from where we flew to Quebec airport. From there, we had a four-hour drive to Tadoussac on the coast of the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is such a delightful, small place and in a beautiful setting. One of our friends, Anne B, and her husband have a summer cabin further along the cliff from the few stores and port. She had invited the four of us to go with her from Pelee to spend a week at her beautiful home. What an absolute treat this was! We were able to meet some of her relatives, too, who also have built cabins out there. We were looked after so well, and we were able to see and photograph all sorts of birds and other things. We made several trips to see different places, including the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, where we were able to see endless thousands of Snow Geese. Breathtaking!
We also had two boat trips from Tadoussac - one was a whaling trip in a Zodiac, where we saw very, very distant Beluga and Minke Whales. The Belugas looked almost like the white wave crests - but they were Belugas. The other boat trip was to Brandy Pot Island, inhabited by thousands of Razorbills and Common Murres, which were new birds for me, and Double-crested Cormorants that were nesting in tree tops. That long boat trip (in a tiny boat named Juno, piloted by Greg) started off in the rain and dark clouds and it was soooo cold! Thermal underwear, layers of fleece and toque and gloves were needed. This day was arranged through a contact of Anne's and it was so much enjoyed! Of course, we anchored a distance away from the island and sat there and ate our sandwiches and took endless photos. It is forbidden to land on the island at nesting time.
Anne B, I can't thank you enough for organizing this holiday for us all and for inviting us to spend a week at your cabin. You worked so hard and it was so much appreciated by each and every one of us. Thank you for doing all the many hours of driving, too! Janet and Anne, thank you so much for compiling the lists of birds seen each day at various locations, and posted to ebird. These entries will be a huge help while I try and sort out where we were and when, and what species we saw. Miss your cookies and muffins, Janet, that you kindly made for us in Tadoussac, to go along with the wonderful meals that Anne planned and made for us : )
1955 Northern General Guy Arab IV , I am not that familiar with north west Durham, but it looks like the Consett/Stanley area.
(From my collection)
The Dalí Theatre and Museum Figueres Catalonia Spain
(Catalan: Teatre-Museu Dalí, IPA: [teˈatɾə muˈzɛw ðəˈɫi], Spanish: Teatro Museo Dalí), is a museum of the artist Salvador Dalí in his home town of Figueres, in Catalonia, Spain.
Building
The heart of the museum is the building that housed the town's theater when Dalí was a child, where one of the first public exhibitions of young Dalí's art was shown. The old theater was burned during the Spanish Civil War and remained in a state of ruin for decades. In 1960, Dalí and the mayor of Figueres decided to rebuild it as a museum dedicated to the town's most famous son.
In 1968, the city council approved the plan, and construction began the following year. The architects were Joaquim de Ros i Ramis and Alexandre Bonaterra. The museum opened on September 28, 1974,with continuing expansion through the mid-1980s. The museum now includes buildings and courtyards adjacent to the old theater building.
The museum displays the single largest and most diverse collection of works by Salvador Dalí, the core of which was from the artist's personal collection. In addition to Dalí paintings from all decades of his career, there are Dalí sculptures, 3-dimensional collages, mechanical devices, and other curiosities from Dalí's imagination. A highlight is a 3-dimensional anamorphic living-room installation with custom furniture that looks like the face of Mae West when viewed from a certain spot.
The museum also houses a small selection of works by other artists collected by Dalí, ranging from El Greco and Bougereau to Marcel Duchamp and John de Andrea, In accordance with Dalí's specific request, a second-floor gallery is devoted to the work of his friend and fellow Catalan artist Antoni Pitxot, who also became director of the museum after Dalí's death.
A glass geodesic dome cupola crowns the stage of the old theater, and Dalí himself is buried in a crypt below the stage floor. The space formerly occupied by the audience has been transformed into a courtyard open to the sky, with Dionysian nude figurines standing in the old balcony windows.
A Dalí installation inside a full-sized automobile, inspired by Rainy Taxi (1938), is parked near the center of the space.
Art collection
The Dalí Theatre and Museum holds the largest collection of major works by Dalí in a single location. Some of the most important exhibited works are Port Alguer (1924), The Spectre of Sex-appeal (1932), Soft self-portrait with grilled bacon (1941), Poetry of America—the Cosmic Athletes (1943), Galarina (1944–45), Basket of Bread (1945), Leda Atomica (1949), Galatea of the Spheres (1952) and Crist de la Tramuntana (1968).
There is also a set of works created by the artist expressly for the Theater-Museum, including the Mae West room, the Palace of the Windroom, the Monument to Francesc Pujols, and the Cadillac plujós.
A collection of holographic art by Dalí, and a collection of jewelry he designed are on display. Another room contains a bathtub and a side table with an open drawer and a lamp, all of which Dalí had installed upside-down on the ceiling.
An extension to the museum building contains a room dedicated to optical illusions, stereographs, and anamorphic art created by Dalí. The artist's final works, including his last oil painting, The Swallow's Tail (1983), are on display here.
THE DALINIAN SYMBOLS
A study of the work of Dalí, reveals some systematically present symbols in all his work. It's fetish objects that apparently have little in common: crutches, sea urchins, ants, bread...
Dalí uses these symbols so as to make it more meaningful to the message of his painting. The contrast of a hard shell and a soft interior is at the heart of his thinking and his art. This contrast outside-(hard/soft) is consistent with psychological design whereby individuals produce (hard) defenses around the vulnerable psyche (flexible). Dalí knew very well the work of Freud and his followers, even if its iconography derives absolutely no psychoanalytic thought.
ANGELS
They have the power to enter the celestial vault, communicating with God and thus achieve mystical union that concerns both the painter. Figures of angels painted by Dalí often borrow traits of Gala, incarnation, for Dali, purity and nobility.
CRUTCHES
It may be the only support of a figure or the necessary support of a form unable to stand alone. Dalí the view child, in the attic of his father's House. It should take and will never part. This subject gave him an assurance and an arrogance which he had never yet been able. In the short dictionary of Surrealism (1938), Dalí gives the following definition: "wooden Support deriving from the Cartesian philosophy. Generally used to serve as a support to the tenderness of the soft structures."
ELEPHANTS
The dalinian elephants are usually represented with the long legs of desire invisible to many bearings, bearing on their Obelisk back symbol of power and domination. The weight supported by the frail legs of the animal evokes weightlessness.
SNAILS
The snail is related to an important milestone in the life of Dalí: his encounter with Sigmund Freud. Dalí believed that nothing happens just by accident, he was captivated by the vision of a snail on a bicycle outside the home of Freud. The link is then made him between a human head and the snail, he associated specifically with the head of Freud. As for the egg, the outer part of the (hard) shell and the inner (soft) body of the snail site and the geometry of its curves it enchantèrent.
ANTS
Symbol of decay and decomposition. Dalí ants first met in his childhood, observing the remains decomposed small animals devoured by them. He observed with fascination and repulsion, and continued to use them in his work, as a symbol of decadence and ephemeral.
SOFT WATCHES
Dalí has often said, "the materialization of the flexibility of time and the indivisibility of space... It is a fluid." The unexpected softness of the watch also represents the psychological aspect by which the speed of time, although accurate in its scientific definition, can greatly vary in its human perception. The idea came to him after a meal while he contemplated the remains of a runny camembert. He decided to paint over the landscape that served as backdrop for two soft watches which one hung miserably to an olive branch.
EGG
Christian symbol of the resurrection of Christ and the emblem of purity and perfection. The egg evokes by its appearance and its minerality dear symbolism to Dali, earlier, intrauterine life and re-birth.
SEA URCHIN
His "exoskeleton" (the shell sits outside), Harris of thorns, can make you very unpleasant a first contact with the animal. The shell on the other hand contains soft body (one of the favorite dishes of Dali, who was known to eat a dozen at each meal). The Sea Urchin shell, stripped of its spines, appears in many of his paintings.
BREAD
Is it fear of Miss, Dalí represents it in his paintings and also begins to make surrealist objects with bread. In his paintings, loaves more often have something 'hard' and phallic, opposed to the "soft" watches. Dali has always been a great admirer of the bread. It tapissera of Catalan round loaves Figueras Museum walls.
LANDSCAPES
Traditional space (based on the perspective and the paintings of the Renaissance). Realistic landscape strewn with strange and unreal objects located in a natural environment. The background and how to use landscapes are one of the strengths of the art of Dali. They contribute to create the atmosphere of unreality of his paintings (landscape of his native Catalonia and vast plain of Ampurdan surrounding Figueras).
DRAWERS
Human bodies that open by drawers are found repeatedly in paintings and objects from Dali. They symbolize the memory and the unconscious and refer to "thought to be drawers", a concept inherited from the reading of Freud. They express the mystery of hidden secrets. Most of the children explore each drawer, cabinet and wardrobe of their home.
VENUS OF MILO
It is part long's personal mythology of the painter. She is the first woman he model child in clay from a reproduction adorning the family dining room. It is also that he discovered on a box of crayons in New York. He finds stupid expression on his face that he nevertheless considered own to perfect but inadequate female beauty in an elegant woman whose gaze should be or seem intelligent. Dalí made several transformations of Venus: the space Venus, Venus with drawers...
Yes I know you can't see their heads ! But I thought the flying vegetation gives a sense of the power two big bucks clash with, it's incredible when two big ones fight, so intense and more than a little bit alarming. The power in those neck and shoulder muscles is amazing, and then when one routs the other get out of the way quick ! A shame it was in poopy light and you can't see their heads but nevermind, a very exciting encounter anyway : )
PS every series autumwatch and springwatch say they want to use one of my pictures and then never do, I'm past caring to be honest but I wish they wouldn't get your hopes up every time. The opinions of friends on Flickr mean a lot more to me than any of them : )
When Matt asked me if I wanted to see an 8' Dog N Suds sign before it went out, I didn't hesitate. This sign has it all: an arrow with bulbs, a glass cartoon dog, and a hot dog and a root beer. I wish I could take it home.
"Ja kun hän tuli Jerusalemiin, joutui koko kaupunki liikkeelle ja sanoi: "Kuka tämä on?"
"Och när han drog in i Jerusalem, kom hela staden i rörelse, och man frågade: "Vem är han?"
"When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?"
ויהי בבאו ירושלים ותהם כל העיר לאמר מי הוא זה׃
Matt. 21:10