Check out Scott Kelby’s Blog —It’s a Guest Blog this Wednesday featuring Janine Smith! Great advice and inspiration for all hobby photographers!
RCs book is available for preorder at Amazon! woohoo! RT @aboutrc: Wanna see something cool?!?!?! http://amzn.to/foDZnB My book cover!
Create a 3D Christmas Tree using CS5 Extended and 3D by Scott Valentine http://communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?cid=EB90E
From Creative Live
Get the @vincentlaforet @zarias @pixelatedimage @jasminestar @tamaralackey and @jeremycowart Year-End Collection! – http://bit.ly/2010deal
Happy December 1st. Encourage you to check out Flash Galleries to visit the Faroe Islands
Check out the new page in the Flash Galleries Column and learn about the Faroe Islands
View Map on Google Maps
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zc_XF56MDexc.k9WnNNywAWLo&hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=k&msa=0&ll=62.179285%2C-6.863708&spn=29.440814%2C74.707031&z=3&source=embed
Deep in secluded woodland, an abandoned quarry reveals a landscape seemingly untouched since the dawn of the last millennium. Out of this wood and stone, using 13th century building techniques, a castle is being created, hence a Chateau/Castle in the making in this cerntury
In order to fully investigate the technology required in the past, the project is using only period construction techniques, tools, and costumes. Materials, including wood and stone, are all obtained locally. Jacques Moulin is the chief architect for the project. He designed the castle according to the architectural model developed during the 12th and 13th centuries by Philip II of France.
Construction started in 1997 under Michel Guyot, owner of the nearby Saint-Fargeau castle. The site was chosen according to the availability of construction materials: an abandoned stone quarry, in a large forest, with a pond close by.
The project is considered to be ecological and economic, since it created 45 jobs and is now a tourist destination.
If you are visiting France be sure to visit this hands-on educational experience!
FLagstaff Train;
Click on the Train to enlarge it-
This historic Train sits beside the historic Train Station which was built in 1926. The station is still in use today as the home of the Flagstaff Visitor Center.
For you train buffs:
Arizona Lumber and Timber Company purchased this Baldwin Steam Engine in 1917 for lumbering operations in and around Flagstaff, where the engine spent its entire working life. The City of Flagstaff purchased No. 25 in 1995. Canvas water bags hung out the engine’s window & eventually rubbed off the number 5 on each side, resulting in Two Spot’s affectionate Nickname. This engine was made in Philadelphia in January of 1911. It is Baldwin 35938.
–From: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM2VQD
Known to the locals as “Two Spot”, number 25 spent its entire working life in the Ponderosa pine forests of Flagtsaff. The locomotive originally operated for the Greenlaw Lumber Company as No. 25 for 14 years. In 1925 the locomotive was sold to the Central Arizona Railroad, still as No. 25. In 1941 it became Saginaw and Manistee Lumber Co. No. 25. In 1953 it was sold to Southwest Lumber Mills and re-numbered to No. 2. No. 2 was rebuilt with a new boiler and firebox in 1950. No. 2 was retired in 1966 and placed on display as No. 25 at the Southwest Forest Industries facilities in Flagstaff.
Playing with HDR
The new Photoshop CS5 includes a great update to HDR imaging the new HDR Pro feature.
Training in using all the new updates available from NAPP, http://www.photoshopuser.com
and Kelby Training. http://www.kelbytraining.com/online/classes.html
NIK Software also has a new HDR Efex Pro.
NIK also has great training to get one up to date with all of their software. www.niksoftware.com
Vigur Island— A birdwatchers paradise, the pearl of the Westfjords are words that can and have been used to describe this small island in the far northwest of Iceland.
It is the second largest island of the Isafjordur Bay or the Djup. It is about 2 km long and 400 m wide sits in the ocean and is surrounded by fjords. One family lives on the island all year. Their livelihood is based on farming, the collection of eggs and eiderdown, bird catch and tourism. The island is home to about 80,000 Atlantic puffins, a large number of eider ducks, arctic terns, guillemots and many other types of birds can be found on the island. Most of the houses are from late 19th century or early 20th. Seals often can be seen on the shore line as well as whales and dolphins further out in the sea.
The only surviving windmill in Iceland is situated in Vigur, owned by the National Museum of Iceland but maintained at the island. It was mainly used to grain corn.
Eider Ducks furnish the eiderdown for the famous pillows and quilts, and a living for the farmer. The ducks are wild, but develop a symbiotic relationship with the farmer and don’t seem to mind when he collects the down. He also builds shelters for them to use for their nests, and feeds the ducklings.
Eider Ducklings EatingEider Ducklings
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On the thirty minute boat trip from Isafjordur to Vigur Island there were many puffins flying and many more in the water all around us. Iceland is the breeding home of perhaps 60 percent of the world’s Atlantic Puffins. Parts of Vigur Island is covered with Puffin nests which are burrows in the ground.
Located on the CV-70, 25 km from Altea, is the village of Guadalest. Occupying one of the most stunning positions in Spain, this small village is precariously perched on the pinnacle of a granite mountain, giving fabulous views across the valley carved out by the River from which the village takes its name.
Getting to Guadalest by the twisting road that climbs ever upwards, passing through the village of Polop, is almost as spectacular as the position of the village, but the breathtaking views make the drive worthwhile even for the more nervous passengers!
On reaching Guadalest you can see why the Moors, who constructed castles to defend the area, considered this place a site of strategic importance.
Some of these castles were unconquerable and the remains of several can still be seen today, even though they were bombarded in the 18th century during the Spanish war of Succession. A Cliff Hanging Castle was a good defensive plan.
Penon de la Alcala
Penon de la Alcala Guadalest, Spain
However the building you will see on most of the postcards is the whitewashed bell tower of Penon de la Alcala which seems to cling to the mountain face.
Intriguingly the old village and castle is accessed through a tunnel carved from the rock and when you reach the other end and see the ancient houses, you seem to have been transported to another age.
The black scabbard fish, Aphanopus carbo, is a bathypelagic cutlassfish of the family Trichiuridae found in the Atlantic Ocean between latitudes 69° N and 27° N at depths of between 180 and 1,700 m.[1] Its length is up to 110 cm, but reaches maturity around 80 to 85 cm.
The black scabbard fish is a fish with a body that is extremely elongated, with body depth 10.8 to 13.4 times in SL. The snout is large with strong fang-like teeth. Pelvic fins represented by a single spine in juveniles but entirely absent in adults. Color is coppery black with iridescent tint. The inside of the mouth and gill cavities are black. Juveniles are believed to be mesopelagic from 100 to 500 m.
The actual discovery or first record of Espada fish being caught off the coast of Madeira was in the early 1800’s. In 1839, Richard Thomas Lowe, a British naturalist and zoologist first described the fish and soon afterwards submitted his study to the Royal Zoological Society of London. Lowe attributed the Latin name Aphanopus Carbo to the fish.
The Alhambra was so called because of its reddish walls (in Arabic, («qa’lat al-Hamra’» means Red Castle). It is located on top of the hill al-Sabika, on the left bank of the river Darro, to the west of the city of Granada and in front of the neighbourhoods of the Albaicin and of the Alcazaba.
The Alhambra is located on a strategic point, with a view over the whole city and the meadow (la Vega), and this fact leads to believe that other buildings were already on that site before the Muslims arrived. The complex is surrounded by ramparts and has an irregular shape. It limits with the valley of the river Darro on its northern side, with the valley of al-Sabika on its southern side and with the street Cuesta del Rey Chico on the eastern side. The Cuesta del Rey Chico is also the border between the neighbourhood of the Albaicin and the gardens of the Generalife, located on top of the Hill of the Sun (Cerro del Sol).
The first historical documents known about the Alhambra date from the 9th century and they refer to Sawwar ben Hamdun who, in the year 889, had to seek refuge in the Alcazaba, a fortress, and had to repair it due to the civil fights that were destroying the Caliphate of Cordoba, to which Granada then belonged. This site subsequently started to be extended and populated, although not yet as much as it would be later on, because the Ziri kings established their residence on the hill of the Albaicin.
The castle of the Alhambra was added to the city’s area within the ramparts in the 9th century, which implied that the castle became a military fortress with a view over the whole city. In spite of this, it was not until the arrival of the first king of the Nasrid dynasty, Mohammed ben Al-Hamar (Mohammed I, 1238-1273), in the 13th century, that the royal residence was established in the Alhambra. This event marked the beginning of the Alhambra’s most glorious period.
First of all, the old part of the Alcazaba was reinforced and the Watch Tower (Torre de la Vela) and the Keep (Torre del Homenaje) were built. Water was canalised from the river Darro, warehouses and deposits were built and the palace and the ramparts were started. These two elements were carried on by Mohammed II (1273-1302) and Mohammed III (1302-1309), who apparently also built public baths and the Mosque (Mezquita), on the site of which the current Church of Saint Mary was later built.
Yusuf I (1333-1353) and Mohammed V (1353-1391) are responsible for most of the constructions of the Alhambra that we can still admire today. From the improvements of the Alcazaba and the palaces, to the Patio of the Lions (Patio de los Leones) and its annexed rooms, including the extension of the area within the ramparts, the Justice Gate (Puerta de la Justicia), the extension and decoration of the towers, the building of the Baths (Baños), the Comares Room (Cuarto de Comares) and the Hall of the Boat (Sala de la Barca). Hardly anything remains from what the later Nasrid Kings did.
From the time of the Catholic Monarchs until today we must underline that Charles V ordered the demolition of a part of the complex in order to build the palace which bears his name. We must also remember the construction of the Emperor’s Chambers (habitaciones del Emperador) and the Queen’s Dressing Room (Peinador de la Reina) and that from the 18th century the Alhambra was abandoned. During the French domination part of the fortress was blown up and it was not until the 19th century that the process of repairing, restoring and preserving the complex started and is still maintained nowadays. For more information:
www.alhambradegranada.org/en/
Photos shot in my backyard.
Backyard birds so fun to watch!
Fun to watch the many and various activities of birds in my backyard. To draw the birds we furnish flowers, water, bird seed, and for the hummingbirds many sugar water feeders.
It appears this young robin was having great fun taking a bath in our bird bath.
Birds that are frequent visitors are: Bush tits, House Finch,Grey Headed Junco, Oregon Junco, Spotted Towhee, White Winged Dove,Eurasian Collard Dove, Northern Flicker, Canyon Towhee, Lesser Goldfinch, Mountain Chickadee,Woodpecker, Ravens. These birds we see between December and April. A variety of Hummingbirds come in late March and April, and stay until sometime in October or even later! Later in the summer other birds come, and occasionally a Coopers Hawk comes to check out any unaware feeding birds. One of my favorites is the Western Tanager.
