It's been a strange week. Time is being eaten in huge chunks by an exciting European football championship (well for me anyway), a very gradual campervan transformation and the oldest enemy of all - work of course. It's now three weeks since I last packed the camera into the bag, considered what I wanted to achieve before making my lens selections and setting off in the car. I've completely missed the sea thrift and the poppies this year. I'm going to need to reacquaint myself with the buttons and dials on the camera before too much longer or I'll forget what they're all for. Also, with another academic year finished yesterday, I really just want to sit and gaze into space for a while with an empty mind. May and June are always full of improbable deadlines that can only be achieved by engaging what's left of the tired old brain cells into hyperdrive and trusting that we'll somehow get through it all one more time.

Yesterday brought one of those landmark moments in my life. Most of the day was spent clearing twenty-one years of memories from my office as I prepared to hand it over to my successor who joins us on Monday. Finally, after all of those years I'm no longer a finance manager and I'm no longer responsible for the working lives of the people around me - now I'm a teacher of a kind. And that's only for two months until I become whatever I want to be instead of what the need to pay bills forces me to be. Ironic that after all these years supporting teachers, I finally end up in front of the chalk board myself don't you think? Occasionally colleagues would pop in to see if I was crying yet. I wasn't. I was smiling because I was far more excited about what lies ahead than I was wistful about the reflections on what I'm leaving behind. From time to time I would find a note or a photo of some team caper that would make me laugh and rush into the team office to show to the ones who might remember the back story.

And then I happened across one of Sue's old notebooks. In the pages I found a list of names, mine included. Next to them she'd written our ages and future dates. She'd been working out when she might be able to retire, based on what she knew about the plans of her closest colleagues. We'd always loosely agreed that we wouldn't go at the same time. She was my boss for seventeen years - elevated to the boardroom when her predecessor retired, with me involuntarily promoted to her old position in her wake. Neither of us really wanted the responsibility we were being burdened with, but that's what sometimes happens during a period of austerity. Universally loved, the whole college was devastated when Sue was taken from us by pancreatic cancer at the age of 56 a couple of years ago. It all happened frighteningly quickly. One moment she was full of energy and plans, the next she felt ill, and a few months later we all wept at her funeral. Of course it hit us harder than everyone else because we'd worked so closely alongside her for so long. I thought she was indestructible, but of course we're all just visitors here for a while, and some don't get as much of a stay as they might reasonably have expected to. She'd watched over us with so much care throughout the years. When she was no longer able to work I'd had to step even further up those near vertical rungs to do finance at a strategic level and Katie moved into my role. Two of us doing the work of three for a year - the memory of it still makes me shudder. I wasn't born to hobnob with the politickers and shakers and movers of this world. I just wanted to look out of the window and dream about mountains and rivers, forests and oceans.

Every so often, a moment such as finding the notebook brings the sadness of that terrible year jolting back into sharp focus. That eternal sense of dread - "what are they going to ask me at this Governors' meeting now? Will I sit there opening and closing my mouth silently like a goldfish? Sue would have known what to say." In her last ever message to me, her main concern was that I was being paid the right amount for the additional workload I'd had no option but to take on. Typically for Sue, she was thinking about other people instead of herself, even though she only had such a short time left. Of the many gifts she gave me in life, the very last one was that the pay review she campaigned for meant I could knock a whole year off the date she'd written next to my name on the page in front of me. The date she'd evidently written not long before she became unwell.

Late in the afternoon as the contents of the filing cabinets evolved into bulging bin liners and shredding bags, Katie came and sat in my office to go though some invoices. She looked sad. I'll miss lots of people from work, but none anywhere near as much as her. She has been my rock and my best friend - always right there with me during the hardest times, making sure I never felt alone when there were storms all around us. I'm not sure whether I would have survived those storms without her. I know she's worried about a future without me and there's almost nothing that I wouldn't do for her. Except that I can't carry on working anymore of course. The job needs fresh input from an enthusiastic newcomer. But she knows she can come and see me whenever she needs to. I'll always be there for her with hot coffee and whatever I can muster to pass for wisdom.

Of course these tributes to two people who've become so important to me has nothing to do with this picture of Holywell Bay, taken on a stunning winter evening when everyone was at the beach because everywhere else was closed. I've already told the story of that evening in another image, and somehow today the one I've just shared is the one that resonates right now. Sometimes everything very quickly changes so suddenly and drastically in peoples' lives. Our futures are unscripted, no matter what plans we make. If we can make good memories along the way then that's got to be something worthwhile surely?

Explore Page.

It sure looks like a howling wolf in alpaca clothing to me!

Lydia and I came upon a small group of alpacas on a farm in Cape May. Since our shots are almost identical (except that hers are better), we decided to post them simultaneously. Here are her shots.

The trip was fabulous, but the workload I returned to is growing, so please, please forgive me that I can't spend any time on Flickr except to post. It would be silly to keep my vacation photos on my hard drive, and I want to share them with you, but I must exercise discipline and stay away from Flickr. I'm really, really sorry.

© All rights reserved. No usage allowed in any form without the written consent of Mim Eisenberg.

you die.

11/52

view large please.

hi flickr, long time no see. this picture is technically part of my 30 days project. because i'm so far behind on everything, i will put it in the set but not have it count.

I have been so incredibly busy. Since I was last on I moved to college, shot my first two weddings, started college, and worked worked worked. I felt too guilty to work on my own stuff while I had clients waiting on their photos. But I'm starting to get in the swing of things so I'll be posting a lot more often, making up for lost time.

College is hard. It's really, really hard. I mean I love it, the campus is absolutely beautiful (my photog senses are tingling!), my roommates are (for the most part) awesome and we've become really close, three of us in particular. But my first week up here I gave my heart to a guy who took it and swallowed it. I feel like I'm standing in the middle of a road, trying to avoid the impact, the moment where everything-all this stress, workload, heartbreak, etc- just shatters me.

this was inspired a bit by Maddy and her awesome angles. :)

fun fact: I actually was almost hit by a car no less than 5 times while shooting this. I guess thats what I get for lying on the road in the dark

facebook. twitter. tumblr.

Please comment/fave ONLY if you really can't resist ;) I most likely will not be able to reciprocate much due to workload. Nonetheless I still want to thank u all for popping by :)

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About

The River Arno in Florence, Italy

The Shot

3 exposure shots (+2..0..-2 EV) in RAW taken handheld

Camera :: Canon 5D Mark II

Lens :: Canon EF 17-40mm F/4L USM

Photomatix

- Tonemapped generated HDR using detail enhancer option

Photoshop

- Added 3 layer mask effect of 'curves' for selective contrast

- Added 2 layer mask effect of 'level' to enhance & darken selective areas

- Added 1 layer mask effect of 'saturation' (reds) to desaturate the buildings

- Added 1 layer mask effect of 'saturation' (yellows & greens) to slightly tone down the vegetations

- Added 1 layer mask effect of 'saturation' (cyans & blues) to slightly lighten the sky

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finally got out again this morning after a few weeks break .due to home workload .

three shots across the spectrum as i have done a micro adjust on the lens while at home ,seems to have worked across the board . d

- George Carlin

My workload is lightening. More time for photography. Yay!

Location : Salinas, Asturias - Spain

It´s nice to be back!!

I´ve been away from Flickr for a month due to heavy workload in the first 3 weeks of August and a short vacation last week.

This was photo was taken in Salinas Beach when I spent few days in the northern part of Spain (Asturias) with my family and some friends.

*****

MY WEBSITE:

macro.randyperalta.com/ and photogzone.randyperalta.com/

*****

Stumbled upon this bunch of 'projects' in Livinhac-le-Haut. Some pictures from years ago can be found of some of these cars in a better shape. It seems the workload has grown over the owner's head.

I had to take a break from posting recently. For the past two months Nicky has been spending time with her father. Sadly, he passed away a fortnight ago.

Also, with an increasing workload, the last thing I could muster up was the enthusiasm for venturing out, but on Sunday I travelled to Whitby to photograph Black Nab.

Yup , right in the middle of the village sits this decaying and boarded up old petrol station and vehicle servicing garage , It closed in 2014 but so far the only thing done to this triangular shape plot is the placing of some hoarding which itself is showing it's age .

some info from the Resident's Association website posted last August ---------

Tudor Motors – the sorry saga continues (update – 23rd August)

As most residents of Fetcham will be only too aware, there remains a singular lack of constructive, or even scheduled destructive activity, within the hoardings surrounding the now very delapidated Tudor Motors buildings.

Throughout this year, as for the previous four or so years, the FRA has maintained regular contacts with Stonegate Homes, who have been the development agents acting on behalf of site owners Littleworth Properties. We have also maintained dialogues with MVDC' Planning Department, directly and via our local Councillors.

Since the Planning Application itself was formally Approved, there remained numerous conditions applied to the approval that required to be demonstrated as being able to be met. And of course the pandemic will have undoubtedly had some slowing effect upon the processing of the numerous undertakings and contract agreements. However the FRA's expectations were that with the lifting of mandatory social distancing regulations by mid July and the government's 'back to work' messages, physical signs of progress might soon become evident.

The most recent update that the FRA received from Stonegate Homes, on the 12th July, was that clarification was awaited from the Council about the CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) required by MVDC. And that once that clarification was received, demolition work could be started … and that Stonegate Homes would keep the FRA updated.

Prompted by that response, the FRA sought advice from Piers Mason, Head of Service (Planning & Regulations) at MVDC about when such clarification was likely to be able to be provided.

The response from Piers Mason received 14th July was, we must say, a little less than helpful …

“Yes, there are a number of matters in respect of housing relief and then potentially a new liability notice. We have received that and it’s in with the normal CIL workload. Should be done within our normal timescales.”

Given the lack of urgency that has been evident in processing this development during the past 5 years, the FRA is not very hopeful that ‘normal timescales’ will deliver the final clearance to commence works any time soon. We hope we are being overly pessimistic.

There is also the potentially compounding national issue of critical shortages of building materials and labour. So even when work could eventually commence … there may still be further delays.

Meanwhile Stonegate homes have been requested by the FRA on a number of occasions now to at least remove the redundant signage that stands outside of the hoardings ... ahead of any demolition of the buildings within. Unfortunately, and frustratingly, for much of this year, the supposed imminence of full site demolition work has been given as reason to not do so.

The FRA will update the community as soon as we learn of any new news.

Meanwhile the original Tudor Motors Clock also remains frozen in time and still awaits the day when it can be mounted on a face of the new building as a 'timely' reminder of recent history.

Haven't been around for quite sometime. The long absent is due to heavy workload...This little arc brick bridge across a ravine and almost engulfed by a banyan tree, look like a set for LOTR. It leads to a tiny hindu shrine. Only permitted for local paying their daily offering. Monkey forest temple, yes and there are lots of monkey around stealing offering food right off the tray carried by the worshippers on top of their head. You see them running along the bridge during hungry time. Monkey forest temple, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.

This week has been a super miserable one! I've had to miss loads of lectures and been stuck in bed with a cold. Fortunately it came just as I finished my final piece of work from last term, now I can start on this term's work, hoorah! So I've been stuck in bed surviving off Lemsip and Vic, and decided to work on this foggy shot from a few months ago. It's been too rainy to go out and take photos anyway. Hopefully the weather perks up and my workload lightens a little soon so I can get out with my camera, I have so many ideas!

Large

Been taking a break from Flickr for a bit. No doubt I've missed a ton of fantastic photos - apologies for the lack of comments!. Might not be quite as active as I was - at least for a bit (not least because of the weather!!). Am starting a course for work next week and it might take up what little free time I've got - not quite sure of the workload as yet. Also, now I've got Sky Plus, I never seem to be short of anything to watch on the tele... no excuse to bugger off upstairs and play on the computer!

This is from Millstone Edge, taken at the end of August... possibly the last sunnyish day there was?!

Trying some kind of photo essay, here are the result of a 1800 to 0200 shift on L536 job, based out of Coteau-du-Lac, QC on a stormy December Sunday.

Coteau terminal dispatch three job on a daily basis going either toward Valleyfield or to Cornwall,ON.

L536 is a daily roadswitcher assignment staffed by a crew of three with their main purpose was to satisfy the carload needs of the huge Glencore zinc treatment plant located in Salaberry de Valleyfield,QC at the end of a 2-plus mile long spur branching off the Valleyfield subdivision at Cecile, milepost 39.5.

Adding to the daily workload was five other customers to serve, all within the Valleyfield wharf area.

Here is the night's switching along with the workload and the day's needed TGBO, all ready and sitting in Coteau's booking room office.

Outdoor, we can hear freezing rain hitting the office windows with brute force. This will not be a pleasant night for ground crew.

L53621-04

Coteau-du-Lac,QC

December 4th, 2023

Mockingbirds are solitary, territorial birds, so to see two companionably together, scoping out the territory, can mean only one thing: They have pair bonded. A fraction of a second after I snapped this shot, they flew off. Interestingly, mockers in my yard rarely sing, which has been the case since I moved here in 1995, and when they do, they sing quietly and practically never at night. Shot through my kitchen window, 12x, handheld.

I wish I could go visiting and commenting, or even reciprocating, as much as I would like to, but I can't because of workload demands. Please bear with me. Thanks.

Reminder: Please do not post notes on my photo or any images in your comments unless they are germane to my shot and of thumbnail size. If you do, I will delete the comment without notification. I welcome your input, but please express yourself in text only, or provide a link to your image. Thank you.

© All rights reserved. No usage allowed in any form without the written consent of Mim Eisenberg.

For a time in the 1980’s, New Jersey Transit leased some Chicago & North Western F7’s to help handle the workload on its ex-Lackawanna suburban lines. Here former CNW 425 idles next to a set of DL&W MU’s in the yard at Dover, New Jersey.

It's Monday morning. I really don't want to jump into another week. I have no idea what is going to happen once I hit that desk. I really don't want to take the risk. The sign is right. We shouldn't go to work without knowing exactly what it will entail for the next five days. The stress, or even the excitement, might kill me. The workload might break me. I might drown under it. And who knows, I could snap!

Nope, I shall quote the sign. Those are wise words. I'm not going to work today. I'm not going to take a jump into the unknown.

Besides my wife is in hospital, and I'm missing her. That's double the excuse for staying under the duvet. It could be dangerous to leap out of bed

A short-lived snow storm on Colorado's Western Slope.

I had decided to cut Flickr from my workload earlier this year, but a few comments and new followers prompted me to reconsider. I hope to find time to pick the best of my backlog while I recover from a frustrating case of runner's knee.

After the time consuming three-way meet between M-NPVP / M-SSDM / and LTU62, the seven hour old local had only made it 25 miles as they roared into Butterfield, MN. With a lot of ground yet to cover the engineer was doing the best he could with the SD40N, GP38-2, and GP15-1 lashup pulling hard into the wind on the 100+ car train.

From what I've been told, the operational "plan" at St James has the daytime LTU62 complete a St James to Worthington turn, while the night crew on LTU61 completes an overnight turn to Mankato, covering customer work in-between. Car counts, workload, and land barge interference often turn said plan into a constant task of catch up, with either crew picking up the pieces where the last left off.

This particular day had the daytime "62" relieving the previous Friday nights "61" at the Crystal Valley facility in Madelia, and they would only make it to the turn around point just north of Worthington before cabbing back to St James.

Royal Air Force Lockheed Hercules C.5 ZH888 about to cross the threshold at her home base of RAF Brize Norton.

Operating with the Brize Tactical Wing, '888' is one of the C-130J models that the RAF acquired back in the 1990's. However, with the excessive workload put upon them with the on-going conflicts that we have been involved in these 'Hercs' will soon be phased out in favour of the new Airbus A400M Atlas that are currently being delivered there.

IMG_0895

I am more than halfway through my enormous workload. Please forgive my absence and thank you for bearing with me. And now to watch history being made ..............

I could not reciprocate much as I am currently busy with some projects therefore please comment/fave ONLY if you really can't help it ;) Nonetheless I still want to thank u all for popping by :)

So far I had processed 98 images (I reckon both good & bad :)) from this europe trip & i think i've only touched about 1/3 of it. Needless to say, I am a bit over processing for the time being :) so glad i can just post them now without having to do much since I've been tied up with so much workload lately. Therefore my apologies for doing lots of future post & run.... anyway take care & catch u soon again!

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About

View of Santa Maria di Loreto & Trajan's Column in Rome, Italy

The Shot

3 exposure shots (+2..0..-2 EV) in RAW taken handheld

Camera :: Canon 5D Mark II

Lens :: Canon EF 17-40mm F/4L USM

Photomatix

- Tonemapped generated HDR using detail enhancer option

Photoshop

- Added 2 layer mask effect of 'curves' for contrast

- Added 1 layer mask effect of 'saturation' (reds & yellows) to tone down the foreground

- Added 1 layer mask effect of 'saturation' (magentas) to slightly darken the building

- Applied slight 'unsharp mask' on background layer

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Because I found out at work today that they are going to lighten my workload! They must have heard rumors that I was looking elsewhere....now who started that I wonder....

Thank you for your comments and faves – they are greatly appreciated!

Select photos from my Flickr stream are available for purchase as prints or personal download at [www.winterfirephotographicarts.com].

Haven't had a chance to even touch my camera for weeks now due to very heavy workload, took this one dull evening back in July and just loaded it. Still going to be busy till end of the month but will hope to see something of the summer.

After a rather quiet morning, I thought about my dream. It's odd to think that my dad might've actually cared about me.

As I walk down the stairs, I can't decide if that dream gave me hope or was just an awful nightmare at this point. But I feel like dad still has some input into my life, he has to, so I assume asking him if I can go to the party tonight is a start to knowing more about him. Yet, I don't know what answer to expect other than a no.

I'm fortunate that we live in the suburbs of Detroit. One of the only nicer places, I guess that without my dad being who he is, we could've been much worse. For some reason too, I'm happy he has a job, one that's not too far away from home and still in a nice part of Detroit.

Anyways, if his safety was ever in danger. I trust the head of security, Mr. Orr. He comes off a bit odd but his paranoia gives me a strange sense of relief.

As I make my way towards STAR Labs, I marvel at the building. I'm not an architecture nut in the slightest, but it is an amazing facility for sure.

At the door, the usual scanner greets me. I reach into my pockets for a pass but pull up nothing. I look through the glass and find Mr. Orr, trying to garner his attention, I tap on the glass door repeatedly.

Orr looks my way with a serious glance. I understand the mistake I've made and how seriously Orr takes this but he knows me well enough. Orr walks towards the door and presses a button, the doors swing open as he jokingly mocks me.

Orr - "Other pants, huh?"

Victor - "Hah, something like that!"

Orr looks at me with a death glare.

Orr - "Well next time, I won't be so nice."

Victor - "Understood, sir."

I quickly walk towards the elevator as Orr's glance follows me. Once I step into the elevator, our gazes lock for what seemed like forever. Something's wrong today.

As the elevator ascends, I think about what to say to my dad.

"Hey dad, do you think I could go to this party tonight. I mean, it's nothing huge. It's a good friend, you know Ron, right?"

My dialogue is nothing but shaky in my head. Why am I doing this? I already know the answer will be no. Maybe not.

A 'ding!' snaps me out of my trance. Here comes the big moment. The only thing keeping me from being light headed at this point is my ever growing heartbeat. Why am I so scared of him? He's Silas Stone, my dad, not the Big Bad Wolf!

My heart rate rushes past my steps. Everything just feels wonky, but I haven't been drinking, have I?

The labs are only easily described as Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. But with tech instead of toys and giddy scientists instead of kids. Nevertheless, they can all be the same thing here.

I know exactly where my dad's desk is so I can hopefully avoid any awkward interactions with these guys. As I advance past each station, the notion of everyone working on smaller parts of a bigger machine amazes me. Nobody in science class ever cared this much to collaborate like this.

With a quick turn to the right of the large lab, I see an elevated platform. My dad seems to be working on something else for some reason. My glance shifts downwards as I see a small robot fixing a circuit board under my dad's desk. That's got to be new.

I advance up the steps to my dad's desk and his attention doesn't draw from the work at hand. His desk is cluttered, as always. He seems to be working on some chemical, antidote? Newspapers cover the extension of his desk, they're a week old. One thing catches my glimpse, a red diamond? It's the thing Johnny Thunder went nuts for in the first few issues. I remember my dad reading me these. I always said I'd go on an adventure like Johnny Thunder-- But Detroit isn't quite the Amazon, is it?

With a newfound sense of confidence or the sheer warmth of nostalgia wanting me to ask my father to read me another issue of Johnny Thunder, I try to gain my dad's attention.

Victor - "Hey, dad, how's it going over he-"

Silas - "Victor, I'm busy."

Victor - "Alright, I'll cut the small talk. Ron's throwing a party and he's invited me. I just want to know if I can go."

Silas finally looks up from what he's been working on but he stares at me with a ruthless glance.

Silas - "Ron Evers? You mean the druggie, Ron Evers?"

Victor - "Dad, he's not a druggie."

Silas - "Ah, yes, how could I forget. You are the druggie. Can't seem to pull yourself away from that toxicity, can you?"

Victor - "Don't say that about my friend."

Silas - "Your friend? Hah! Victor, I can't wait for the day when you understand that a waste of air like him isn't a friend. You getting drunk on multiple occasions is one thing, but that 'friend' not even helping your ass up the steps is another. You are worrying your mother, she can't sleep and I can't even believe what torment you put her through with this."

Victor - "Then why don't you ever come home, dad? Maybe the reason mom is so worried is because you are never home!"

Silas - "Your mother and I made an agreement, I already have enough stress at work. I don't need you being my alternate workload. If you insist you're an adult by making these dumb choices, maybe you should own up to your mistakes like an adult."

Victor - "I'm leaving."

Silas - "Good, you need some fresh air to realize that the only bad guy here is Ron. If you weren't my son, I'd give up on you. I'd let you go to that party. But here we are."

I walk away after my dad mocks me. That dream was me being optimistic, my dad will never care about me. If he thinks I'm some thug, I'll show him I'm not. There're other parties anyways.

As I leave STAR Labs, Orr stares at me again. That dude really needs to learn to mind his own business.

I reflect upon what my dad told me while I walk home. Ron isn't a bad guy, just like I'm not. He just likes different things, and he's not dead yet. Not a friend... What a joke.

More of my Golden Gate Bridge photos here; San Francisco photos here.

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It feels like forever ago since I went on this, my most recent "real" photo outing. By "real" I mean that I wasn't just swinging by my usual spots on the way home from work, and instead actually had to go out of my way...imagine that! The last few months of the year are usually pretty busy at work, and this year is no exception. I'm hoping that as the workload winds down with the approach of Christmas I'll be able to get out more, maybe even for some of these dreaded early-morning sunrise shoots. If I'm being honest, they're only dreaded when I'm thinking them in advance...thinking about getting up so early; when I'm actually standing in the spot waiting for the sun to come up it's in fact quite a wonderful experience.

I'm getting over being sick the past few days. Feels nice to be back in the land of the living. I hope everyone had a great start to the work week...only 4 days to go until Friday....you can do it!

-Lorenzo

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In the shadow of DRS 57 304 Freightliner class 90's no's 90 045 & 90 016 arrive for a crew change on Russell's contract container train 4S44 12.13 Daventry to Coatbridge FLT. This traffic switched to DRS from 1st July with a very detrimental effect on the workload at Carlisle Freightliner depot which had previously been hit hard in 2015 with the loss of the Anglo-Scottish coal work. The trains now operate to P.D. Stirling's Freight Depot at Mossend using class 88's but the first week of operations by DRS not only affected Freightliner with work loss but also DB Cargo who's services using PD Stirling's namely 4M35 the Seaforth container train suffered a 97min delay on Wednesday 3rd and a 300min delay on Friday 5th.

India, Kerala or Kēraḷam, Backwaters. Paddy Fields.

….lost in the paddy fields.

The Paddy fields in the Kerala area are below sea level. Bunds around the rice fields keep out overflowing water into the fields. After harvesting the paddy fields, they are used for ducklings where they will thrive on locusts & fishes.

The paddy fields will be used for duck farming where they will live & thrive up to 20 to30 ducks a hectare & the moment when the ducks should be removed from working in a paddy, after 8 weeks, so as not to eat the rice & …the dams will be opened at some strategic points & the shared duck marathon will begin following the farmer in his canoe to the duck farm.

In 1989, the Japanese farmer Takao Furuno, after learning about traditional Japanese rice farming method that consisted of using ducks to eliminate the weeds in rice fields, the "Aigamo Method”, he was able to identify the optimal age at which ducklings should be released into rice fields, 7 days after hatching from the egg & developed this new-traditional rice growing technique. In the meantime, it has become established in every country of Asia some European rice-growing regions & others like Cuba are also experimenting with this method.

The waterfowl turned out to be a perfect alternative to expensive pesticides, other insecticides & chemicals while protecting the soil from chemical pollution as they eat plenty of insects, weeds. The ducks also help to oxygenate the water & their droppings are the ideal fertilizer for the soil.

The "Aigamo" duck is a cross between wild & domesticated ducks. These animals are apparently optimally suited to this method of rice cultivation. They ducklings will be placed in the paddy field about two weeks after the seedlings have been planted. The ducks grow up in the rice field & eat insects, snails & weeds. As a result, the farmer does not have to laboriously remove the weeds & vermin from the fields himself; neither does he have to spray any pesticides & chemical fertilizers can therefore be saved.

After one season in the rice fields, the ducks are kept for up to 3 years to lay eggs or because they have eaten their fill in the rice fields, they can be sold profitably as ducks for roasting & other recipes.

The adoption of this method boosts farmers income by eliminating chemicals, fertilizer etc., by commercializing the ducks later & decreases their workloads by 200-250 human work hours p/hectare.

The system actually seems to work: a study by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization recently showed that crop yields are increased by 20 percent with the "Aigamo Method".

📌….The unique backwaters are a network of interconnected five large lakes linked by canals, both manmade, fed by 38 rivers & brackish lagoons extending nearly half the length of Kerala state. A labyrinthine system formed by almost 1.000 km of waterways lying parallel to the Arabian Sea coast, known as the “Malabar Coast”.

The backwaters have an exceptional ecosystem; freshwater from the rivers meets the seawater from the Arabian Sea, formed by the action of waves & shore currents creating low barrier islands across the mouths of the many rivers flowing down from the Western Ghats range.

👉 One World one Dream,

🙏...Danke, Xièxie 谢谢, Thanks, Gracias, Merci, Grazie, Obrigado, Arigatô, Dhanyavad, Chokrane to you & over

17 million visits in my photostream with countless motivating comments

Stumbled upon this bunch of 'projects' in Livinhac-le-Haut. Some pictures from years ago can be found of some of these cars in a better shape. It seems the workload has grown over the owner's head.

10 years of photography here in Cambodia with so many memories. Here is just one. On a photography tour I took my clients to a local who taught incense stick making, an opportunity to shoot some characters and use the late morning light. Out popped the grand child. For me, it is the beautiful people of Asia that make this country and they were the photography subject I enjoyed working with most. 60k files to sort before my impending road trip around Cambodia. I will shooting mostly video stock to try and vill a void in workload, a few temples included. How things have changed with almost no customers. Still keeping busy, always working on something.

A past work collegue cantacted me last year and asked if I could make her wedding cake. . The original design is from issue 21 of wedding cakes a design source, cake by "Bridal Cakes" page 9. I had to give myself a crash course in lily making, I bought a set if FMM lilly cutters and they were great. Bottom teir choc mud, middle carrot and orange top tier fruit cake. These past three cakes would have to have been the most work I have fitted in for a week. I was up till almost two am after work through the week and got some assistance from a baker of unfished cakes to ease the baking workload a bit. Got everything out to where it needed to be on time and without stress thank goodness

Spotted a pair of chinooks while checking out Flightradar24 and they split up after a fairly erratic route with one of them heading my way . Had time to grab a camera and stand outside at the front where I can see more of the sky and within a short time it appeared , only had time for two shots before it disappeared behind rooftops only to reappear much further on and too small for any more useable shots !!

The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem-rotor helicopter originally developed by American rotorcraft company Vertol and now manufactured by Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The Chinook is a heavy-lift helicopter that is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters. Its name, Chinook, is from the Native American Chinook people of Oregon and Washington state.

The Chinook was originally designed by Vertol, which had begun work in 1957 on a new tandem-rotor helicopter, designated as the Vertol Model 107 or V-107. Around the same time, the United States Department of the Army announced its intention to replace the piston-engine–powered Sikorsky CH-37 Mojave with a new, gas turbine–powered helicopter. During June 1958, the U.S. Army ordered a small number of V-107s from Vertol under the YHC-1A designation; following testing, some Army officials considered it to be too heavy for the assault missions and too light for transport purposes. While the YHC-1A would be improved and adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps as the CH-46 Sea Knight, the Army sought a heavier transport helicopter, and ordered an enlarged derivative of the V-107 with the Vertol designation Model 114. Initially designated as the YCH-1B, on 21 September 1961, the preproduction rotorcraft performed its maiden flight. In 1962, the HC-1B was redesignated CH-47A under the 1962 United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system.

The Chinook possesses several means of loading various cargoes, including multiple doors across the fuselage, a wide loading ramp located at the rear of the fuselage and a total of three external ventral cargo hooks to carry underslung loads. Capable of a top speed of 170 knots (200 mph; 310 km/h), upon its introduction to service in 1962, the helicopter was considerably faster than contemporary 1960s utility helicopters and attack helicopters, and is still one of the fastest helicopters in the US inventory. Improved and more powerful versions of the Chinook have also been developed since its introduction; one of the most substantial variants to be produced was the CH-47D, which first entered service in 1982; improvements from the CH-47C standard included upgraded engines, composite rotor blades, a redesigned cockpit to reduce workload, improved and redundant electrical systems and avionics, and the adoption of an advanced flight control system. It remains one of the few aircraft to be developed during the early 1960s – along with the fixed-wing Lockheed C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft – that has remained in both production and frontline service for over 60 years.

The military version of the helicopter has been exported to nations across the world; the U.S. Army and the Royal Air Force (see Boeing Chinook (UK variants)) have been its two largest users. The civilian version of the Chinook is the Boeing Vertol 234. It has been used by civil operators not only for passenger and cargo transport, but also for aerial firefighting and to support logging, construction, and oil extraction industries.

Please comment/fave ONLY if you really can't resist ;) I will not be able to reciprocate much due to workload. Nonetheless I still want to thank u all for popping by :)

A continuity from yesterday's post. It is really hard work looking up the dome & trying to appreciate the amazing paintings at a far distance when i was inside the cathedral. Unless you don't mind a painful neck end of the day, that's the way to go i reckon :D Fortunately I brought along my super zoom lens & now all of us can admire these gorgeous artworks in front of your monitor :P I am also amazed how great this 70-200mm f/2.8 lens performed inside the cathedral, esp for multiple shots under low lights. I'm glad it finally came to some good use for the trip :)))

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About

Vasari's Fresco on the Interior of the Florence Cathedral's Dome

The Shot

3 exposure shots (+2..0..-2 EV) in RAW taken handheld

Camera :: Canon 5D Mark II

Lens :: Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8L USM

Photomatix

- Tonemapped generated HDR using detail enhancer option

Photoshop

- Added 2 layer mask effect of 'curves' for selective contrast

- Added 1 layer mask effect of 'saturation' (reds & yellows) to tone down the painting

- Added 1 layer mask effect of 'saturation' (cyans & magentas) to remove chromatic aberrations

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the new system we worked on for months is alive and working !!! (finally !!!!) With a delay of 4 months we're saving a workload of the last three years into our new drawing and calculation system..

and, as always, Murphey's Law is around the corner....at the same time I'm rebuilding my bathroom....bad timing, I know, but someone has to do it..;-))))

trying to stay cool......trying to stay frequent on Flickr...

Je maintiendrai ;-))))

Camera Sony DSLR-A500

Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)

Aperture f/10.0

Focal Length 300 mm

ISO Speed 200

Exposure Bias -1 EV

©All Rights Reserved

Sirius Cyberdine GLB3 surface rover - a small personal transport for the spaceman who desires a vehicle meeting all the needs of an outpost inhabitant. With wonderful fuel economy, a tough exterior to withstand harsh solar radiation, and enough room inside for an extra passenger or loads of gear, the GLB3 is the perfect rover for those worlds where wheeled transport is desirable.

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Febrovery 2018 is here. First, let me apologize to all my friends and followers for the lack of uploads over the past several months. I've been pulled away from the hobby for a myriad of reasons - some personal issues and family crises, as well as a vastly increased workload and other responsibilities. But I wanted to make sure I still made a contribution to my most favorite time of the lego year, Febrovery. I just wouldn't feel right if I didn't get at least one (and maybe one more??) rover uploaded this month. This little guy here was seeded by the rounded rear "windscreen" piece that I really like and used before in a spaceship build. The rest of the build followed easily. For the trans-yellow windscreens I used the yellow Sharpie marker on a set of clear pieces. I hope you all enjoy this little ball of fun and are having a wonderful and productive Febrovery.

Love,

-Tim

With having to do my job online and teach kids at a distance, has doubled my workload and I've had very little time for dolls lately. I've just done some redressing and a couple of silly snapshots of the girls. ;) I hope everyone's keeping safe and healthy! ((hugs))

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Keep in touch on:

Facebook || Google+

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Hello friends, sorry I've been MIA once again for the past few days! The weather was nice, the workload was a little low, so we decided to take a quick trip down to Paris!

It was a whirlwind of a trip...between the millions of things to see in 3 days, Iyana (our 11 months old) in tow, it was quite a rush.

One of the initial trips were to the fabled Notre Dame, magnificent in its entirety. The problem however was that the place was incredibly dim along with the standing order of no tripods. Also the fact that Iyana at that moment decided that she didn't like her shoes anymore and chucked them in random directions didn't help either. All of this resulted in slightly shaky hands that translated to blurry pictures.

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As always, comments/notes/crituques and favourites (just hit F ) will be very much appreciated!

For the best view, hit L .

Some people who's work I admire are tagged in this picture. Please visit their stream!

Click here to see the rest of my HDRs (High Dynamic Range Photos)!

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Shot details:

6 handheld shots with varying exposures (-1, 0, +1) each taken with: Canon 5D Mark III; Canon 17-40mm f/4,

Post processing:

1. Merged in HDR Efex

2. Worked quite a bit to get the cursed panoramas to align is PS

3. Added in local contrast, saturation and "structure" in PS6

4. Exported to jpeg using Lightroom

Osnabrück

Gorgeous Blue Sky Blue Water Day Tampa Bay At Apollo Beach Florida - IMRAN™

My days usually get spent on the computer in the home office unless I am traveling to client sites. Most days the back to back calls and workload mean I rarely get a chance to step outside and take in the many gorgeous days and views unfolding across the expanse of Tampa Bay, seen from my blessed home and boardwalk in Apollo Beach, Florida. This was a day I made it a point to step outside with the Nikon D850 and shoot a few quick pictures. This is composed of six handheld photos auto-stitched into this stunning blue and blue panorama. The original photos are SOOC (straight our of camera) and there was NO color tweaking of ANY kind done to the scene. I just used autofill for the missing pieces in the corners. These were the truly spectacular colors as I was blessed to see them, on a day when the waters of Tampa Bay have an almost Caribbean and Bahamas feel to them. I am so blessed to be able to share these with you. Keep me in your prayers as I deal with the usual ups and downs of life but remain forever grateful.

© 2018-2019 IMRAN™

© All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal.

Yes, It has been raining off and on for three days. Only about an inch has fallen on my garden, but without sun and hot temperatures, the moisture isn’t evaporating. Unfortunately, there is no more rain in the forecast for the next 15 days. The situation with our depleting water remains dire. I had a letter to the editor published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution yesterday, urging conservation and, again, a building moratorium, but from what I hear, the Atlanta Regional Council and other governmental bodies have no intention to stop construction, which proceeds at an obscene pace, thus creating more demand on a very rapidly depleting natural resource. The stupidity of our "leaders" here is astonishing. They should have been planning for growth thirty years ago, and now it's too little (or nothing at all), too late. I despair.

Anybody want to advise me where to move to where there is "smart growth," sufficient natural resources, wise planning, great weather, progressive politics and no tornadoes or hurricanes or floods or fires or ice?

This leaf is only about an inch and a half long.

See my shots on Darckr (two by two) or one by one.

No, I'm not back, really, but I just wanted to share this with you. I'm actually making good headway with my workload.

The Cox internet is suck!!

Visibility was reduced this week, and the surge made macro shooting a challenge, but I embraced the workload and came home with some decent slug shots.

Christmas Eve in Hobart delivered a sky devoid of clouds, and a full moon so bright you could walk outside without any lights. This trail was composed of 375 ten second exposures, stacked in StarStax, a free program which handled the workload inifinitely better than both Lightroom and Photoshop.

HBW! Been busy of late - the kiddos started school, the fall schedule is kicking into gear, and the workload has been a bit heavier...hope everybody is well! I'm trying to view & comment as time allows and look forward to more interaction as things smooth out. Peace! ~Lou

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA ,

Meine neue Arbeitserleichterung , Apfelsammler - Erfindung aus England , Respekt !

Angebote dieses Apfelsammler findet man im Internet und auch in guten Baumärkten .

This week began with my last day home for the holidays. I trapped a nerve in my back, which twisted my body and hurt too much to move or sleep, and called off our plans to visit the cinema. Instead, Thomas and I wandered round familiar streets and drank in familiar cafes, for the last time in awhile. I left Thomas, and struggled to sleep by myself, propped awkwardly on hot water bottles to ease the pain. Mum journeyed back to Edinburgh with me fortunately, and we shared peppers and humous in the train's quiet carriage. She learnt what an Edinburgh winter truly means, in a flat with high ceilings and huge windows and faulty heating. We watched stumbling penguins at the zoo, ate at Montpelliers, which I recommend, and shared a picnic with a movie on my laptop on saturday. I waved her off at the station, stood awhile waiting for the coach to depart, miming through the glass. I trotted alongside the train as it left, waving, melancholy. I walked back through town, a mixture of excitement at being back in my own city, and loneliness after the constant company of the weekend. This week has been difficult, catching into the swing of being by myself again, but also with the pressure of designing multiple publicity sets for different theatre groups - all with similar deadlines, and returned with minor adjustments which take far too long. Still working on my final piece, a programme for next week's festival, which is possibly later than it should be, but it's been difficult keeping my head above water and despite resolutions, I'm already barely scraping the university workload. Today is friday, so this is delayed, and I am nervous about the week to come - our theatre festival. I have been at the gym the last two days, and eating resolutely, which makes me feel better, although much more tired. The grey mist that lingers outside doesn't help, nor do cold nights and empty beds. Roll on summer, in every respect.

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So...I am now working in Geneva 9-5.

Unlike in Beijing where I often eat in restaurant, here I have to go to supermarket and cook myself every day after work. As a result, my diet is getting much healthier. Lots of salad and very little meat. I am sure my shape will improve a lot if I stay in Geneva in the long run. Generally speaking life is peaceful and enjoyable here despite heavier workload.

I visited Paris in early August and shot 3 rolls of film there. But the labs in Geneva charge too high a price for processing and scanning. So I will have to wait and bring them back to Beijing in October. Sorry, folks, no new photos to share for now. Please take care!