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Home › Scene › Summer Fling ›
Summer Fling
THE PARTY Interiors Chicago welcomed friends in the community to celebrate the launch of the summer 2013 issue in the new GE Monogram Design Center's Merchandise Mart showroom. THE PLAYERS Interiors Chicago Editor-in-Chief Diana Bitting hosted the event, chatting up design vets such as Rebekah Zaveloff of KitchenLab, architect Chip von Weise and interior designer Tricia Turner Manasra. THE SCENE GE Monogram chef Jon Liddell whipped up a smorgasbord of delicacies, such as cilantro jicama slaw, grilled Kobe burgers and crisp beef wontons atop seaweed salad. Photography: Courtesy Images


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Marcus Wareing, working with his chef patrons Mark and Shauna Froydenlund, creates inventive, Michelin-starred modern British dishes. Everything – from the menu and ingredients to the ambience – is designed to give you the best possible experience. But we're not ones to rest on our laurels. Which is why we strive to make sure your lunch, dinner or special occasion at Marcus at The Berkeley will always be memorable. Bon appétit.
Dining options at Marcus include:
Chef's Table
Get up close to the highest levels of culinary craftsmanship. The Chef's Table at Marcus is a gastronomic delight with a dash of theatre, for up to 10 guests.
À La Carte
The three-course À La Carte menu is priced at £90 per guest and is available Monday to Friday.
A selection of starters, main courses and dearest are individually prices.
Chefs set dinner menu 3 courses £75 per person (Monday to Friday)
Taste menu
The seasonal Taste menu, starting at £115, offers the flexibility of five or eight courses and allows you to experience favourite seasonal dishes, hand-picked by the chef patrons.
Lunch menu
Our four-course menu is available Monday to Friday, at £55 per person.
Chefs set lunch 3 courses £55 per person (Monday to Friday)
The lunch menu is priced at £60 per person. (no longer in use)
Our five or eight-course tasting menu is available for lunch and dinner, from £115 per person.
Sample Menus
Email: email@example.com
Call +44 (0)20 7235 1200
Reservation lines are open on Monday to Friday from 9am-7pm and Saturday from 9am to 6pm.
Opening Hours
Monday to Thursday
Lunch: 12.00pm - 2.30pm
Dinner: 6.00pm - 9.45pm
Friday & Saturday
Lunch: 12pm - 3pm
Dinner: 5.30pm - 9.45pm
Marcus Wareing
Marcus Wareing is one of the most respected and acclaimed chefs in Britain. His awards include a Michelin star, Tatler Restaurateur of the Year and GQ Chef of the Year. He is a BBC Masterchef the Professionals judge and talent mentor.
The Salon
One of Knightsbridge's most beautiful private dining rooms, which can accommodate up to 16 guests.More details
Food to evoke memories
Flavours that transport your senses. A meal to remember for ever. Take a front-row seat at the Chef's Table for a private dining experience like no other.Chef's Table
Collins Room
A breath of fresh air, where energetic design is matched by a vibrant menu.View details
Afternoon Tea
Take a front row seat for the most fashionable afternoon tea in London: our legendary Prêt-à-Portea.View details
Blue Bar
Cocoon yourself in style as you sip colour-coded cocktails. The Blue Bar is a thing of beauty.View bar details

subset: commoncrawl


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Dualit Toaster 2 x 2 Slot,Classic Combi white 42177
- Integrated Crumb Tray
- Automatic Preheat Elements
- Selector for Number of Slots
- 65 Slices Per Hour
- 360 x 210 x 220mm
- Manufacturers Warranty: 1 year back to base
NOW £137.50 (ex VAT) £165.00 (inc VAT) WAS £171.25 (ex VAT) £205.50 (inc VAT)
£137.50 Per Unit (ex VAT)
Pack Quantity: 1
Dualit 2+2 S/S Combi Toaster - CE614. This toaster has two normal slots and two sandwich slots. There is a selector switch for number of slots needed to save on energy and an integrated pull out crumb tray. There is a simple twist timer to set for desired browning of toast The dimensions are 360 x 210 x 220 (mm). The output : 65 rounds or 20 sandwiches per hour. Power Rating : 1.7kW.
There is also a 2 year elements warranty included.


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48 hours in New York City
With it's captivating spirit, frantic pace, and vast diversity, New York City brings all ways of life together. Whether you are interested in fashion or not, at some point in your life you have probably dreamt of one day venturing out to the "Big Apple." Well now is the time to book your flight, because NuView has your trip all planned out for you!
Day 1:
Morning: Start your day off by grabbing a cappuccino and a decadent slice of avocado toast from Two Hands on Mott St, then walk a few blocks over to SOHO and peruse the many shops and boutiques the neighborhood has to offer.
Afternoon: Now that you have probably walked off your breakfast, head on over to Nolita to have a quick lunch at The Butcher's Daughter, we recommend the margarita pizza or the butcher's burger. For the next stop you might want to hail a cab or swipe your metrocard to get to the Brooklyn Bridge. Upon arrival you can either rent a bike or walk the bridge because the view is a must see. Following your trip to the bridge start making your way towards Midtown Manhattan.
Night: Put on your most fabulous outfit and get down to Times Square, it would not be a trip to New York if you did not at least stop by. From there it will just be a short walk to whichever broadway show you have selected (although we highly recommend Wicked). After the show stop by New York staple, Shake Shack for a late dinner.
Day 2:
Morning: After your long day of exploring you are going to wake up and need a strong cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin, and Ralph's Coffee Shop is the place to get it. Located in POLO's flagship store, the coffee shop is tastefully decorated and has an illuminating neon sign that is just perfect for your Instagram.
Afternoon: Once you have had your morning fix you are located right between Central Park and Madison Avenue. Wander through or window shop at some of New York's most coveted designer stores.
Then when your wallet starts crying take a break and head over to Central Park. Grab yourself a Nathan's Hot dog, scope out a cozy rock, and take in the cityscape. If you are needing an extra boost of caffeine, trek over to Cafe Henrie, get seated at a pink table, sip your coffee and enjoy the aesthetically pleasing decor.
Sunset: Head to the Top of the Rock to see the breathtaking view of New York City and the Empire State Building when the sun is creating beautiful shadows and reflections off of surrounding buildings.
Night: For a classic New York slice of pizza or a traditional Italian dish head over to Patsy's Pizza in East Harlem. Since establishment in 1933, they have become a staple in the city. They are best known for their signature coal-fired pizza. After dinner you can head to the closest Milk Bar Bakery and get their cereal milk soft serve.
Other suggestions:
- Doughnut Plant
- The High Line
- Pizza Beach
- Cha Cha Matcha
That's your guide to 48 hours in the city that never sleeps (hopefully you will though.)
Words by Bailey Womack
Photos by Chloe Gonzales
Edit by Maia Wilson


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Here's the Dollar General matchups this week! Grocery: Pringles 2.36 - 2.5 oz. 95¢ each B4G1 Free Final price: 4/$2.85 (71¢ each) Hamburger, Chicken or Tuna Helper $1.00 Use .75/3 SS 8-30 (exp. 10-24) Final price: 3/$2.25 (75¢ each) Gerber Graduates baby food pouches $1.25 Use $1.00/2 any Gerber Graduates printable here OR use $2.50/8 Gerber Grabbers printable here OR … [Read more...]
Homeland: FREE Maxwell House Coffee Starting 4/10
Starting 4-10 Maxwell House coffee 11.5 oz. will be on sale for $1.99 with in-ad coupon. Use the $1.00/1 coupon (doubled) from the SS 3-10 (exp. 4-13) and it's FREE! … [Read more...]
Buy For Less Ad Deals 3/26 – 4/1
Coupon Club Buy For Less Coupon Policy Buy For Less Deals This Week's Buy For Less Coupons: .50/1 Hellman's Mayo Stack with .50/1 Hellmann's 22-oz+ RP 3-24 (exp. 4-21) $1.00/3 Campbell's Chunky Bowls Stack with .50/2 Chunky Soup Bowls $1.00/2 Who Nu Cookies Coupons valid thru March 29th – not a member yet? Click on the link above to join Produce: Green … [Read more...]
Oklahoma Grocery Store Weekly Round-up Thru 2/18
We do weekly match-up for over 15 grocery stores located in our great state of Oklahoma and sometimes it's hard to find the one you're looking for among all the deals we post. Here's a round-up of all the stores we've posted - just click on your favorite to view the ad deals for this week :) Aldi Buy For Less Country Boy Crest Foods Dollar Tree Food … [Read more...]
Idahoan Mashed or Casserole Potatoes as Low as .50 at Homeland Thru 11/22
We have a new printables for Idahoan Mashed Potatoes and Casserole Potatoes. Pair these coupns with the $1.00 sale at Homeland and you've got potatoes for as low as .50 ea.! Buy 3 Idahoan Casserole Potatoes $1.00 Use 50¢/2 pks of Idahoan® Homestyle Casseroles Final price: 2/$1.00 (.50 ea.) Buy 3 Idahoan Flavored Pouch Potatoes $1.00 ea. Use 55¢/3 Idahoan® Flavored Mashed … [Read more...]


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The Delirium Constructions (as a titled photographic series) was born in 2003, though its thematic content has figured in Small's work since she began photographing at thirteen. Up-close examinations of emotional authenticity resonate throughout Small's images as a teenager, in her life-long diaristic Polaroid-of-the-Day project, and through her past and current endeavors in fine art, fashion, advertising, and editorial photography.
Throughout two decades, Small has developed a unique process for directing photography, involving high-energy interaction and the encouragement of unmediated playfulness and emotional reveal. Through this process, Small has amassed a body of photographs that feature amplifications of distilled affect, ranging from elation to rage to sorrow, to lust, fear, joy, anxiety, confusion, and peace.
The Delirium Constructions grew from Small's experiments with layering these previously discrete experiences together into a simultaneous scene.
In building The Delirium Constructions, Small explores unlikely combinations of characters and themes to investigate the tensions and resolutions of unexpected close proximities and interpersonal connections. Though these improvised scenarios are initially staged, the resulting emotions are spontaneous and authentically experienced; the scenes examine the social and graphic contrasts of youth and experience, hysteria and discipline, tragedy and hilarity, and sexuality and desexualization.
Where in optical illusions, the viewer shifts back and forth between opposing visual perceptions, in The Delirium Constructions, viewers are invited to grapple with psychological paradoxes, rocking back and forth between projection and introspection.


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Lucid writing
December 3, 2013 By 3 Comments
A lucid dream is one in which you realize you are dreaming and deliberately remain in the dream, aware that it is a dream and that to some extent you can shape and direct what happens. A lucid dream, unlike ordinary dreams (or at least our hazy memories of them) has a clarity, vividness and realness that usually shocks and enthralls a person the first time they experience it. That's certainly what happened to me the first time I had a fully lucid dream experience. I couldn't believe how utterly real this illusory dreamscape seemed to be. Then I realized I was free in this world. It was all entirely my own creation, and I could shape it as I wished. I could walk through walls. I could travel to wonderful destinations with a thought. I could fly. In short, I could have fun, which is what I proceeded to do with that first lucid dream.
After I'd had a few lucid dreams it occurred to me: I'm a writer, aren't it? So why not be a writer in my dreams? It seemed to me I could practice my craft not only during waking hours, but also while I sleep. If, while dreaming, I could become conscious of the fact that I was dreaming, then I could shape and direct my dreams as stories. I could let a plot develop, and try different variations of it. I could invent characters and not just write about them, but talk to them, get to know them as if they were real people.
This grand plan to work as a writer both day and night turned out to be more difficult than I'd anticipated. For one thing, first you've got to dream lucidly, and that's not easy to do at all, let alone on a regular basis. At least for me. Most nights my brain is just too tired from a day of activity and doesn't seem to want to be alert and inquisitive during dreaming. It just wants to drift along with the dream and let it happen. I discovered this in a surprising way one night when I was dreaming that I was back in grade school, which was odd in itself, but didn't make me aware I was dreaming. Then a woman came up to me and said, "This is a dream, you know."
I should've become lucid at that moment. Here was a figment of my own subconscious inviting me to realize that I was dreaming! But I didn't respond to the invitation. I just nodded to the woman and sat down at my desk, and then the dream drifted on to other scenes. I was simply too far "under" to care one way or another. Like someone sitting half-narcotized in front of a television, my conscious mind just wanted to be spoon-fed and let the dream-story go where it would.
The other surprising thing I discovered about lucid dreaming is that trying to control the dream doesn't really work all that well. Unplanned events and surprises pop up no matter how much one tries to stick to a particular story. In fact, the best thing about lucid dreaming for a writer, it seems to me, is that the uncontrolled, uncontrollable aspect of the mind, the "wild" mind, can add elements to your dream-stories that you likely never would have come up with in the waking state. It's as if you have a collaborator, a mysterious other writer within you who comes up with strange and wonderful ideas you almost feel you shouldn't take credit for.
Image: Dickens' Dream, by R W Buss
Thomas. I thought you were going to a different place here. This is fascinating though.
I wonder about the idea of "lucid writing" from a different angle. It is the job of the writer to create a dream-like state for the reader — a narrative dream that the reader (ideally) will not want to leave. Does the writer have to be in a sort of lucid writing state of "mind" (unmind?) when they create this narrative dream? Do writers have to unmind themselves to enter this lucid writing place? It's a conscious place, but drawing on the unconscious for those connections that seem to magically appear sometimes.
I'm going there now….


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For nearly three decades, media mogul Oprah Winfrey was the queen of daytime television, and she inspired million of people around the world.
But Winfrey - one of the richest, most powerful women in the world - is now revealing that she suffered a near nervous breakdown last year.
Speaking in an interview with "Access Hollywood"'s Shaun Robinson, Winfrey, described the symptoms she experienced.
"It was just sort of speeding and a kind of numbness and going from one thing to the next thing to the next thing," Winfrey said, adding: "I thought … if I don't calm down I'm going be in serious trouble.' I was in the middle of doing voiceovers, you know? And I remember closing my eyes in between each page because looking at the page and the words at the same time was too much stimulation for my brain."
Bush 41 to Wife on 'The Butler': 'Is That Oprah, Honey?'
Winfrey said her epiphany about what was happening to her came in October 2012 when she was doing an interview with "Kony 2012? director Jason Russell. Ten days after Russell's "Kony" video was released, and became a global sensation, in March of last year, a naked and screaming Russell was held down near a San Diego intersection until police arrived. No charges were filed.
As Russell described his very public breakdown, Winfrey says she realized she could relate.
"I was sitting and listening to Jason Russell describe his symptoms …. saying, 'Um, this sounds pretty familiar to me,'" she said.
At the time, Winfrey was struggling to save OWN, her failing TV network. In addition, she was flying across the country to interview celebrities for her show, all while filming her lead role in Lee Daniels' film, "The Butler."
Winfrey told Robinson that it wasn't until her interview for OWN with Black Eyed Peas' singer Fergie, whose father was battling cancer at the time, that she decided to slow down and take better care of herself. That interview aired just days after Oprah's sit-down with Russell.
Why Oprah Was Nervous To Act Again for 'The Butler'
"I had reached a point where I just couldn't take in anymore stimulation," she said.
Winfrey's full interview with "Access Hollywood" will air over several evenings this week.


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Reel in a big one and benefit from the great outside with Rebel Sport! The course entails street biking, mountain biking, climbing, and paddling, albeit on lakes, not down a raging river. Detailed information on creel and possession limits and measurement limits is supplied on Fishing Every day Creel, Possession & Measurement Limits Please familiarize yourself completely with this info. For data on saltwater fishing license requirements, size and possession limits, contact the Marine Assets Division, PO Drawer 458, Gulf Shores, AL 36547, (251) 968-7576.
Adventure races usually incorporate fun challenges, too: Teams may have to finish puzzles, ride a zipper-line, climb a rock wall or tree, or stroll throughout a slackline These challenges are normally kept a shock, so you won't know what they are until you're out on the course. Matched with a Mariner® stand-up rod, this combo means that you can be versed in numerous fishing purposes with sturdiness and reliability.
The sport owes its origins to triathlon — swim, bike and run races. Now with Fishing with Dynamite – already named Greatest Oyster Bar by Los Angeles Magazine – LeFevre celebrates summers spent on Virginia's Jap Shore and SoCal's vibrant seashore communities with a menu that options only essentially the most pristine seafood. And a few shorter adventure races ("sprint" or "sport" distance) will enable family teams to take part, too, with out having a particular family occasion.
But navigation might be the good stumbling block, the nice barrier to entry for a lot of aspiring adventure racers. High three teams in each category will receive a handmade trophy and formally represent the province at the South African Schools Adventure racing championship finish September 2018. The mission statement of the Canadian Adventure Racing Association is to work with Canadian race administrators, racers, and associated industrial companions to advertise adventure racing in Canada and guarantee its sustainability.
I did not mean to suggest that wholesome eating is sufficient to break sugar cravings. SALT LAKE METROPOLIS — Utah will face Washington within the Pac-12 Championship Recreation Friday (6 p.m., FOX) at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Fishing permits must be bought at the entry gate every day and be within the angler's possession while fishing. Please visit the Fishing Workshops web page for extra details about the program.


text: Here's a panel from a project I'm working on for a special edition of Sunstone Magazine. It's a special comix issue, for which I was invited to contribute. I am writing and drawing the piece, which has been great because I used to eat, sleep, and breathe, comic books when I was in high school. I've dabbled a little since, but this is really letting me get the rust out of my joints. I'm not going to give away the whole farm, but I thought I'd throw this out to answer the question I've been getting a lot lately: "What are you working on?"


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KC musicians among Grammy nominees
Kansas City will be well represented at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards February in Los Angeles.
The Kansas City Symphony is nominated for a Grammy for its surround sound album "Britten's Orchestra." Kansas City, Kan., native Janelle Monáe is up for two R&B Grammys: Best Urban/Alternative Performance and Best Contemporary R&B Album.
The Symphony was nominated for Best Surround Sound Album and as a bonus, its producer, David Frost, is nominated for Producer of the Year, Classical.
In the Best Contemporary R&B Album category, Monáe's "The ArchAndroid" is up against "Graffiti" by Chris Brown, "Untitled" by R. Kelly, "Transition" by Ryan Leslie and "Raymond V Raymond" by Usher.
Janelle Monáe and Big Boi were nominated in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance for "Tightrope." Other nominees in that category are: "Little One" by Bilal, "... You" by Cee Lo Green, "Orion" by Carolyn Malachi and "Still" by Eric Roberson.
| Keith Robison, The Star


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Alexis + Ben
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
We met Alexis at a Bridal Show at Bonaventure Country Club in Weston, Florida. She was there with her family, and I spent some time getting to know them. I knew instantly that I wanted for us to be their photographers on their wedding day, and I couldn't wait to introduce her and her family to Lenny. Upon meeting them Lenny felt the same way : ) We met Ben when we pulled up to Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens. We had that same instant connection with him as we did with Alexis, and we could tell we were about to have a lot of fun during their engagement shoot! We had such a blast getting to know them as a couple, their love and connection to each other shines right through in the images. We can't wait for their Delray Beach Golf Club Wedding next weekend!


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The first school in Fruitvale was opened in 1907. The teacher from 1907-1908 was Mr. Tom Henderson and there were nineteen girls and nine boys present.
In 1910, a school was opened on the site of the first primary school (where the Senior's Manor is now). At this time the school also served as a community hall. In 1921 another room was added and basements under both rooms, where a coal furnace was installed.
By 1936 the school had again outgrown its quarters and two more rooms were added, with a small teachers' room which in turn was soon needed as a classroom. Soon even the basements were being used for classrooms.


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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
In addition to the big ZIP button above, this library can be downloaded from Audiobombs, which seems to be faster from most locations.
For thousands of years, bagpipes have been the sonic terrorist's weapon of choice. Cowsynth brings that terror to the 21st century by taking samples of bagpipes and treating them as oscillators in a simple synthesizer. Though designed with obnoxious big room plucks in mind, it turned out to be a lot more than that. Bagpipes with their strong upper partials make a very nice organic substitute for a saw wave oscillator, and with eight-voice unison they make great pads, strings and organs. And obnoxious bagplucks, too. The pipes themselves were built based on a medieval drawing (so they're not very Scottish), and the bag is cowskin - that's why we gave it the Cowsynth name.
The synth-style controls include AHDSR envelope, pitch vibrato speed and depth, low-pass filter with cutoff and resonance, and extra detune or pluck filter controls sometimes. The mappings range from reasonably bagpipey to totally synthy. The seven mappings are Baggy, Wheezy, Lonely, Asthmatic, Fancy, Shifty and Doc.
The whole package requires Plogue Sforzando - some things might work in other SFZ-compatible samplers but the envelope and filter controls might not work in anything except Sforzando, especially if you want to tweak them from the GUI. There aren't a lot of samples here, we just mapped them to death, so the library itself is only a 13 MB download.
The below demo features fancy plucks, shifty leads and asthmatic pads.
Cowsynth is a free download and royalty-free for all commercial and non-commercial use, including adaptation to other sampler formats.


text: Just when you thought you'd heard the last of R.E.M., and I don't mean that in a bad way, I mean it in a "WOO look what we got" kind of way! A new track appears online dating back to 1984 when I was, well, unborn for another 5 years! The recording is of Stipe and co covering ABBA's 1979 hit "Does Your Mother Know?". Did any of ABBA's tracks not become a hit?! Spin the R.E.M. cover below and the ABBA version is also there for comparisons sake.


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When I think about how I used start my day 20 years ago, compared to today, life is just way more convenient today.
In 1991 I was 38 years old and headed into my last 5 years of a 24 year career at the Star Tribune Newspapers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At that point, for a very few of us who weren't in denial, the hand writing was on the wall for the future of printed newspapers. Our days of walking to the end of the driveway to pick up our daily newspaper were, for the most part, coming to an end with the first half of the Baby Boomer Generation.
20 years ago, I would leave home a 7:00 in the morning and drive 22 miles to downtown Minneapolis where I would attend sales and management meetings and take notes using a pens and a legal pad. When I wanted to write a memo about the meeting, I would write it in hand write it and hand it to a person, called a Secretary, to type in on her network computer only to read, make corrections and print again. When I think back, it's a wonder we accomplished anything.
So now that you have the idea, let's flash forward back to today! I left the Star Tribune in 1995 and became self employed along with lovely wife of 32 years, Mary. As our kids moved onto college, we moved from Minneapolis to Summerlin, near Las Vegas, NV where we operate Kennedy Advertising and Mary Kennedy at RE/MAX Central.
Today, I get up in the morning and turn on my I-Phone GS. Now I'm not Mr. High Tech guy, but I do pride myself in knowing enough to be dangerous about what I want to get out of this utility. I call my SmartPhone as a utility because that's really what I use it for. I don't need to have the latest version of the phone. In fact, I purposely lag one model behind so when the version 5 comes out, I'll go for the version 4. I don't like to be on the front end of working out the bugs. I view my time as precious and use my I-Phone GS for more work and very little play. The only game I play each day is one called "Get Efficient with your I-Phone" I have no music loaded on the phone.
I sync the phone with my computer each day so my calendar and contacts are automatically updated and look the same in both places. I use several apps that are pretty basic and can be used when I'm away from the office. I use Google Voice for my Voicemail because I have one click access to listen to my messages and the messages are logged for me up on my I-Google Home Page.
The basics are the email downloaded from 3 different accounts that I can receive and respond to. As for the apps that I can access from my personal ITunes Home Page, I downloaded the Yahoo and Google Search Apps for in the field research. My Social Networking apps consist of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Yelp. I also receive property alerts from Zillow.com and Realtor.com. I only open them when I see that I have a message.
I'm also an information junkie so I check the headlines each day using the mobiles apps for Fox News, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Star Tribune, TwinCities.com, NFL.com, Fandango and the Las Vegas Review Journal.
The only real non- business apps I use, on a regular basis, are All Recipes, Groupon, Overstock, and Kayak for travel.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm not Mr. High Tech Guy and I'm sure I'm only scratching the surface with the apps that I currently use. To keep me moving forward and upward in the mobile app world, I have a subscription to the printed version of MacLife Magazine and I have the MacLife Mobile App on my SmartPhone.
If any of you have any mobile apps that really work well for you would like to share, please feel free to comment on this blog. Thanks!!


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Equal parts Inspiration and Education, Find Your Voice is a master class/workshop geared toward both veteran and aspiring vocalists, performers and songwriters.
Hosted and taught by 3 time Grammy-nominee and multiple Dove Award winner Crystal Lewis, topics covered will include: vocal technique, vocal health, song-writing, stage presence, studio recording, setting up an in-home recording space, digital distribution of your own music and much more.
With special guests and industry sponsors, participants are sure to leave both educated and inspired, ready to take next steps and move forward into the freedom that comes from Finding Your Voice.
In addition to a day of inspiration and education spent with Crystal and friends, your ticket includes admission to her concert that evening.


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La Rioja wedding photography
I shot my first wedding of the year last weekend when Argiñe and Pedro celebrated their marriage in La Vieja Bodega, Casalarreina, La Rioja. The photos are a bit different than normal as they were commissioned by the restaurant owner, Ángel, for his new website.
Destination weddings in La Rioja
Accordingly I spent more time than normal taking photos of the reception rooms before the couple and guests arrived. I also lingered more than usual in the kitchen which had the unexpected but highly welcome advantage in that they fed me!
My thanks to Argiñe and Pedro for "dancing" with me in the five-minute shoot we had together - you can see from the resulting photos what a relaxed, fun couple they are.


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We all know someone who is judgmental.
Elements of what they dislike about a topic, a person, or group of people, is often true about them. Although they demonstrate similar qualities of those they scorn most, they are blind to themselves.
It's really easy to judge them for being judgmental. But almost immediately, we are now judgmental.
How do we just ignore angry words about an unending list of topics? I'm not suggesting that we sit silent when we hear views that we believe are cruel, uninformed, and just not helpful.
I am also not suggesting that we engage in a debate to change their mind. It's likely that you'd hear, "I'm not being cruel. I can't help it that the truth is hard for you to hear." Save your energy.
This is a post about our internal reactions, but I know there are times when everything in you screams that something has to be said. Here's a suggestion, "I don't hear you asking for additional information, but I also didn't ask to hear your beliefs. I don't agree with your views."
They may hesitate next time before vomiting their unsolicited opinions all over you. If they post their views on Facebook like I'm doing, you can unsubscribe to all their posts like I do!
People are most likely to change when they are accepted right where they are at. If it were so easy for them to change they already would have. So would we.
Change happens in response to acceptance. Offer it generously.


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During a recent visit with one of our ministry partners, he mentioned that one of his favorite things about having groups serve at the after school program he facilitates is that he gets to teach and learn from new people he wouldn't have otherwise encountered. He said, "Every day I ask the Lord to help me love the people well who end up in my space. I love that your groups end up in my space. Because we can point them to Jesus and they can point us to Jesus and we together can point our community to Jesus."
I love the heart behind this. The learning is mutual and it's together. It's not a volunteer group coming in to be the superhero who saves the day or the ministry partner just "talking at" students. It's reciprocal learning. It's an offering to listen and stay still so we can be reminded of what is good and true. In this, I'm also reminded of the Danish ritual of hygge, which is simply translated as "enjoying life's simple pleasures - friends, family and gratitude." It is creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good of the moment. It's seeing what is in front of you and being thankful for whatever it is.
In this season, this is where I'll rest. We served a lot this year. We learned a lot this year. So, for now, I'll rest in the unhurried in our spaces. I'll ask for greater recognition of Jesus and leave behind the need to be the one saving the day. May we be known as people who are present to the present, grateful for the privilege of shining the light and have the light shown on the only One who could ever be our hero.
-Brittany Nyce, Philadelphia City Director
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Gatlinburg - Pigeon Forge Dinner Shows: Food & Fun!
After a long day of enjoying all the attractions that the Gatlinburg - Pigeon Forge area has to offer, you're sure to have worked up an appetite. Why not treat yourself to some great entertainment and delicious food with a dinner show? Here are some of the best dinner shows that the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge area has to offer:
Dolly Parton's Stampede - Pigeon Forge, TN
Experience an unforgettable competition based on the civil war at this exciting dinner attraction. Cheer on your team as they battle it out with stunts, singing, dancing and other contests including racing pigs and trick riding. Savor a four-course meal as you cheer on your team during this extremely popular dinner show.
Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Feud Show
Everyone knows the story of the Hatfield and McCoy feud, but in this hilarious show, audience members will get to relive the legendary feud while feasting on a tasty southern style meal. Visitors will have the chance to cheer on their side as the two families battle it out in a competition of singing, dancing, stunts and action-packed performances that may finally lay the age-old feud to rest.
Lumberjack Feud Dinner & Show
Enjoy a mouthwatering southern style meal during this dinner and show as you watch two lumberjack families go head-to-head with 15 authentic logging events. Be ready stomp your feat, cheer yourself hoarse and laugh until your sides split as you watch this delightful and educational show.
Hazzard County Hoedown Dinner Show
This Dukes of Hazzard tribute show features the Dukes in yet another jam which can only be escaped by singing, dancing and bluffing their way out. During this high-energy tribute show, you'll hear fun renditions of your favorite songs and even get to take your picture with the General Lee. Come hungry and chow down on a delicious buffet-style dinner during this side-splitting show!
Smith Family Dinner Show
From soaring gospel to rousing bluegrass and country songs, the Smith Family Dinner Show is a feast for both your ears and your stomach. Enjoy a real home cooked Tennessee meal while the talented cast delights with pitch-perfect renditions of your favorite country, bluegrass, oldies and gospel songs.
No matter what your style, you're sure to leave all of these spectacular dinner shows with a full stomach and a smile on your face. Be sure to add these shows to your list for your next Pigeon Forge - Gatlinburg getaway.


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Most of them are young lads and all of them have the power to control the runs, passes and shots of world superstars such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Ballack. This can only mean one thing - this year's FIFA Interactive World Cup is finally upon us!
After 19 live qualifier events across every continent, as well as an online qualification campaign in which over 500,000 people took part, the best 32 gamers from around the globe will be congregating on 2 May for the Grand Final in Barcelona, where they will battle to become champions of the virtual football world.
Last year's winner, Alfonso Ramos, is involved again this year and the Spaniard is confident of retaining his title on home soil. "I'm the current world champion and I want to be the first player ever to win the FIWC twice," explained the 20-year-old, who has been training 20 hours a week in the hope that his dream will become a reality.
Aside from Ramos there are two other former world champions taking part in the finals. 2006 winner Andries Smit from the Netherlands and Great Britain's Chris Bullard, who won the coveted prize in 2005, are both desperate to dethrone the reigning champion. Indeed, Bullard is leaving nothing to chance, telling FIFA.comhow he has been practicing up to 30 hours a week in a bid to regain the crown. However, if there were an award for the participant who trained the most, it would most definitely go to Stephen Coorey of New Zealand. The 27-year-old software developer spends up to 70 hours per week on his PLAYSTATION®3, honing his skills on the virtual grass of EA SPORTS™ FIFA 09 to make sure he blows his competitors away in Barcelona.
The honour of the oldest and youngest competitors go to Gordon Butler of South Africa and Francisco Cruz of Portugal, who are 31 and 14 respectively. Portuguese teenager Cruz appeared anything but fazed by his more senior counterparts, though, belying his tender years by confidently proclaiming: "I am here to win".
And the skilful schoolboy was not the only participant keen to talk up his own chances either: "I've played against all the best players and beaten them, so it shouldn't be a problem," said Mexico's Jesus Rodriguez, while Hungarian whizz Peter Kocacs declared himself among the favourites "because I'm the best".
I'm the current world champion and I want to be the first player ever to win the FIWC twice.
Another British finalist, Adam Winster, reckons he is the man to bring the crown back to England, thus emulating Chris Bullard's 2005 success: "I think I'll win the Grand Final because I'm the best player and if I play well and have a little bit of luck along the way, then nobody will be able to beat me." One of the most intriguing battles from the qualifying rounds, meanwhile, was won by Frederik Nordmark Laursen of Denmark: "I was playing against my cousin, and he's an extremely good player."
'Attack wins games, defence wins championships' - a pearl of footballing wisdom that several of the gamers are hoping to employ at the main event in Barcelona. "Defence is my main strength. I'm more of a Trappatoni-style player in the respect. If you keep a clean sheet at the back, there's no way you can lose," explains Patrick Straschek of Germany. "You need to be ice-cool in front of goal as well. Every shot needs to hit the back of the net."* *
Giuseppe Guastella of the USA is another who subscribes to this school of tactical thought: "I have a strong attack and a solid defence, so I'm optimistic and feel I have a good chance of winning the Grand Final." India's Omar Jaleel, meanwhile, is hoping to put his opponents on the back foot by setting his stall out defensively before breaking quickly: "I'm really good at counter-attacking, so hopefully I'll be able to take the other players by surprise."
"Let's wait and see...," said Egypt's Hesham Medhat Khater diplomatically when asked by FIFA.comabout his chances of winning the tournament. Marcus Lee of Singapore was equally coy when revealing his own expectations: "Outsiders always have a chance of causing an upset." "Anything is possible," agreed Dan Sykes of New Zealand.
The countdown to the Grand Final on the beaches of Barcelona has started, and while almost all of the 32 finalists will believe they can emerge victorious, as ever there can only be one winner.


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Actress Pamela Singh Bhutoria who was recently seen in Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3 shares screen space with Sir Amitabh Bachchan for a commercial.
Pamela Singh Bhutoria speaks about it,
"Talking about the same Pamela says, "I have shared the stage with Amitabh Bachchan Sir for Pro Kabaddi before but this time it was more special as I will be seen playing the role of his daughter in the TV commercial. During the shoot, when he walked in and he said 'namaskar', I started getting nervous!".
Stating further Pamela adds,
"I and Sir used to often conserve in Bangla on the sets. I realized that I am actually living a dream of zillion of people in an around the globe who just want to see him once… as an actor, it is no less than an award to have finally shared the screen with Sir."


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Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site - CO - 070315
First of four stops during an extended July 4 weekend. Bent's Old Fort was a trading post and not a typical military 'fort'. Started up by trapper brothers Charles and William Bent and their associate Ceran St Vrain in 1833, it served as a hub of trading and cultural exchanges along the Santa Fe Trail. The trading post later served as a true military post during the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1847.Read More


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Camila + Haruki
From the SFC hospital, we talked in our EMOS-projected virtual private room about the insane increase in matriculation at HKU since the Impact Hypothesis was calibrated, when Cam mentioned that a SOS Club had opened on campus, a detail that surprised me considering that Hong Kong University didn't have a hedonistic ethos (c'est pas la Sorbonne). We argued about different acceleration equations and eschatology models, I mentioned a new dissertation chapter I was struggling through about Adorno and the culture industry in post-apocalyptic religious economies ("kill me now," she said), then she talked about a new monograph she was reading from one of her friends about Tibetan liberation theology in the cyclical history of economic crises ("fuck me," I muttered), then she updated me about the in-fighting between two white feminists and a queer Hong Kongese intersectional feminist in our department about racial erasure at department meetings. Eventually, we both became so shamefully aroused, we had v-sex right there: I was in the dark hospital corridor and she was sitting on the pullout sofa in my flat in the Peak, listening to my favorite Electro-Hop (electronic instrumental music with hip-hop beats) song on the ambient digital player, smoking a Peace Love Cush o-joint from California, her legs open wide like a grandiloquent signifier of Nabokovian erotica.


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Holiday Season on Our Farm
From Thanksgiving until a few days before Christmas, I put away my paints and brushes to help with our U cut Christmas tree farm, Victorhill Farm. The art studio is transformed into a wreath and gift shop where we sell wreaths and ornaments. A scent of pine and cedar fills the air from the wreaths as we make them. Every year families from all around the Portland area come to our farm to select their holiday tree. It's such a happy time of year and all who show up here are ready for a tree cutting adventure in the fresh country air and plenty of good times. We are now closed for the season, so I finally have time to show you some of the highlights over the last few weeks.
Woodland ornaments are mixed with artwork on the walls.
Georgie Christmas greets guests at the counter. He loves this time of year the best.
Me at the gift shop counter. Have you learned how to arm knit yet? Recently I learned how ... and it's so fun and easy! Here's a video how to. and here's a link to the pattern I used to make the above scarf.
On a rainy day inside the gift shop. This display includes Blenda Studio prints, Post Haste Art, and vintage ornaments and vintage greeting card garland. In the next post I'll show you outside the shop where the trees are.


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The Future of Investing
The harsh math of a 50 percent decline is that it requires a 100 percent gain to simply get back to even. Sure, a mere 100 percent gain seemed easy enough not so long ago. In the go-go 1990s, the S&P 500 doubled in less than three years (1995 to 1997), and then nearly did so again before the tech bubble burst in 2000. But that was then. We now live in a much stingier world.
The fact is the forces that fed the fin-de-siecle bull market simply don't exist anymore. That's not just recessionary gloom talking. The great bull market that ended in 2007 benefited from a gale-force tailwind not likely to be seen again in our lifetimes — a blend of falling interest rates, heedless spending by both businesses and consumers, and the once-in-a-generation technological breakthrough known as the Internet.
While Fed chair Ben Bernanke is pulling every lever possible to get us through the financial crisis, interest rates must eventually rise, not fall, from here. We Americans need higher rates to convince our creditors (including China and Japan) to keep buying our ever-growing debt. As rates rise, the substitution effect will come into play, according to Sam Stovall, head of S&P's Equity Research. It makes less sense to buy stocks if you can pocket a competitive yield in a comparatively much safer bond. Consider that from 1962 (the last period that the 10-year Treasury yield fell below 4 percent) to 1982 (when the 10 year T-note peaked at 15 percent), the S&P 500 gained an annualized 7.4 percent. At that pace we're still eight years from breaking even.
Jeremy Grantham, co-founder of the $78 billion GMO investment management firm and one of the few professionals to emerge from the crisis with his reputation actually enhanced, reached the same conclusion. As he wrote in a recent shareholder letter: "With [price-to-earnings ratios], profit margins, and GDP growth all lower than average, it's very unlikely that we will get back to the old highs in the stock market in real terms anytime soon — at least not for seven lean years — and perhaps considerably longer."
The Next Decade Will Be Better Than the Last
As dour as the market prognosis may sound — these days the word sober always seems to precede the word prediction — the news is actually fairly positive if you focus farther out. After a 50 percent haircut, it's a pretty good bet that the froth is out of the market. And for the first time in more than a decade, a return to normal market values would work in our favor. The gains may not be spectacular, but at least they should be gains. Indeed, even yesterday's bears sound upbeat. Grantham, who had been accurately predicting the collapse of the S&P for years, now sees stocks climbing, and he actually thinks investors in emerging markets and U.S. blue chips will see annualized gains of 10 percent or more after inflation over the next seven years.
Another noted contrarian, Rob Arnott, head of $15 billion Research Affiliates investment firm, is also tilting bullish. "Today, we find ourselves in an unaccustomed position: We're optimists in some markets," he wrote in a recent newsletter. Jason Hsu, Arnott's chief investment officer, says the firm still sees the glass as at least half full despite the market's quick rally off its March low. "We are definitely more optimistic right now than we have been. We reliably know that earnings grow about 5 percent, and dividends right now are at 3 percent; that gets us to an 8 percent annualized return. That s a good target based on real data, not the inflated data of the past 10 years," says Hsu.
In a rare moment of market generosity, it looks as if the sleep-at-night stocks may also hold the promise of the best returns. Firms such as Coca Cola and Procter & Gamble, which have a proven ability to generate earnings and pay dividends, are the sweet spot in a slow-growth environment. "For the past 15 to 20 years, growth came from taking on risk," says Judith Saryan, who manages several mutual Eaton Vance funds that focus on stocks paying generous dividends. "Now we are in a period when corporations will need to pay down their debt. In this new environment, companies with solid balance sheets and proven sustainable earnings growth — and plenty of cash on hand — are going to be more attractive. "
In recent years it's been easy to forget that 44 percent of the S&P 500's return has historically come from compounded dividends. Sure, in late 1990s dividends accounted for less than 20 percent of total return, but that was because stock prices rose to unrealistic levels. Now that we're back to reality, dividends will once again matter. And it's not too late to get in. "We see plenty of high-quality U.S. firms that are cheap, and that's the nicest thing I can ever say about an asset class," says Ben Inker, head of asset allocation at GMO.
That's not to say there are no growth stocks worth buying; you just need to whip out your passport. The International Monetary Fund estimates the GDP growth for emerging markets between 2011 and 2014 will be double the growth of developed markets (around 6 percent a year compared with less than 3 percent).
Take Action: Simply by owning an S&P Index fund (Schwab's is now the cheapest), you'll have exposure to blue chips, which have a heavy weighting in the index. You can make a more focused bet on quality stocks with a fund such as the Jenson Portfolio (JENSX), which only invests in companies with long records of high profitability. Inker suggests that you divide up your stock portfolio the way that stock-market values are divided around the world: 45 percent of world capitalization is in U.S. stocks, 45 percent in other developed nations' markets, and 10 percent in emerging markets.
Your Returns Will Be Higher Than They Were During the Bull Market
OK, that's a bold statement. But the sad truth is that most investors had bupkes to show for the great bull market, even before the crash. If you only keep one statistic in mind when investing, it should be this: Over the 20 years ending in 2008, the typical investor earned an annualized 1.9 percent from stock funds and 0.8 percent from bond funds, according to research firm Dalbar. Over the same stretch the S&P delivered an 8.4 percent annualized return and the Lehman Aggregate Bond index an average 7.4 percent rise. The big disconnect between market returns and portfolio returns is almost entirely self-inflicted: By chasing hot markets and fleeing cold ones, investors market-timed themselves out of one of the great bull markets in history. The market delivered, but investors squandered the opportunity by selling low and buying high.
So our prediction is a vote of confidence in you: Instead of throwing away 75 percent of the market's returns, you will capture most of the expected 8 percent annualized gain, thereby tripling the average investor's take from 1988 to 2008. The key to success is to do less. Trade less. React less to every market twist and turn. Settle on a long-term allocation strategy and invest in low-cost index funds that allow you to keep your returns instead of handing them over to a mutual-fund manger. Rebalance once a year, and then forget about it.
One More Bubble Will Pop
The financial markets may have one more heartbreak in store for us. "When the financial history of this decade is written, it will surely speak of the Internet bubble of the late 1990s and the housing bubble of the early 2000s," Warren Buffett wrote in his most recent letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. "But the U.S. Treasury bond bubble of late 2008 may be regarded as almost equally extraordinary." Terrified investors rushed into Treasury bonds as stocks crashed, driving prices higher and yields down to historic lows. "Clinging to cash equivalents or long-term government bonds at present yields is almost certainly a terrible policy if continued for long," declared the Oracle of Omaha. "Holders of these instruments, of course, have felt increasingly comfortable (in fact, almost smug) in following this policy as financial turmoil has mounted. They regard their judgment confirmed when they hear commentators proclaim cash is king, even though that wonderful cash is earning close to nothing and will surely find its purchasing power eroded over time.
Inflation is nonexistent at the moment, and the great inflation-deflation debate rages. But set your gaze out a few years and inflation is harder to dismiss. If inflation were to clock in at 4 percent — about the long-term trend — intermediate or long-term bonds become downright dangerous. Even one- and two-year Treasuries are problematic. They yield less than 1 percent; if inflation ticks up from moribund to merely normal, that translates into negative real returns.
Grantham, in fact, said recently that he was selling long-term government bonds short; GMO's seven-year forecast sees government issues as a whole barely clocking a real return above 1 percent. Dividend-paying stocks offer a better risk-reward profile (assuming you aren t using the money for an emergency fund): "I can get the same yield on the S&P that I get from a Treasury, and I have the upside from the stock," says Hersh Cohen, chief investment officer of ClearBridge Advisors
Take Action: If you want the full faith and credit of the U.S. government backing your emergency cash fund, consider an FDIC-insured money market fund; returns should climb with prevailing interest rates. For government backing of longer-term investments, you can get inflation protection with Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS).
For the rest of your fixed-income stash, peel your eyes away from Treasuries. "Five years ago you gave up nothing to get safety; a two-year Treasury had the same yield as a high-grade corporate bond," points out William Bernstein, author of The Four Pillars of Investing. "Now the price of that safety is extremely high. You can get paid near 5 percent from an index of high-grade corporate bonds or about 0.85 percent from a short-term Treasury." Do you really want to turn your back on an extra 4 percentage points?
The great bull market may not be coming back soon, but smart investing in a low-return environment may deliver plenty of profits. Yes, there will be no flash. But as Buffett wrote in his annual letter, "Beware the investment activity that produces applause; the great moves are usually greeted by yawns."
More on MoneyWatch:


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You may probably have heard of people turning to hypnosis therapy to help alleviate a few of the pains, discomforts, and other medical problems they may be feeling. The big question is this: does it really work? There are, however, enough results to warrant at least a claim to its effectiveness, while the results vary. Now, what's therapy through hypnosis? It is a series of sessions wherein the therapist or the hypnotist puts the patient into a relaxation that's also focused concentration which is called trance. It is which the therapist may now make adjustments or certain alterations, usually based on ideas, to the patient's emotions, mood, and behavior. If the problem is medical like pain, stress, anxiety and other relevant conditions, the therapist can help lessen these to a point where its consequences are no longer dangerous to the individual. Click on the below mentioned website, if you are searching for more information concerning hypnotherapy harley street london.
It is quite a lot of effort to attempt to explain what this type of therapy is really all about, as to its range of effect, and the various conditions it can treat. However, for a bit deeper discussion, hypnosis therapy is used by medical practitioners for two functions: analysis and suggestion therapy. The analysis is when the therapist probes the patient's mind as to the root cause of the problem he or she is currently experiencing. One such example of this is a trauma that the patient might have gone through years left an effect on his mind. The therapist can then analyze what would be the best treatment based on his findings through hypnosis. The second one, called suggestion therapy, takes advantage of the stage a patient who is under trance or hypnosis is more susceptible to accepting suggestions made to him. This way the hypnotist can help treat the patient with respect to such problems as nail biting, smoking, pain management, and even phobias.
While hypnosis therapists can help treat people who suffer from depression, the frequently real problem is in detecting that a man or woman is undergoing depression. While the signs are there, usually the people are not even aware they are depressed enough that they have to seek medical help right away. Phobias. All of us have fears. No person on this planet does not fear a thing. But the problem is when that fear has gone intense and uncontrollable that it affects our way of living. Hypnosis can help lessen our fears if not remove it. Stress. Some doctors nowadays claim that because of most individuals' current lifestyle, anxiety is now considered the most important reason people are getting sick, depressed, or even can cause death. If it wasn't treated straight away but that is. A few sessions of remedies can help get rid from body and our mind of stress. These are a few of the benefits of hypnosis therapy and while there are many more, these three are the ones that are most frequent. If you think hypnosis may be the answer to your problem, consult a psychologist or a professional hypnosis therapist.


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Yeah Brad, I am the machinist as well as the engineer on all of my projects. Gets kind of hectic at times, but I do dont have to stop and ask anyon to make a change mid stream.
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Work in progress: "Cone II" 18" X 18" Lori LaBerge 2016
I found this week to be a good time to delve into a little bit of everything. The hooking in the second of the cone series was started this afternoon.
Colors chosen "Cone II"
Some wool was dyed and some I was lucky enough to find on the studio shelves. The top of the cone section will be yellow and green then shift to rust and brown at the bottom. Dark and medium grays will go into the right hand background and medium and light grays in the left hand background.
"GeoScape II" design sketch
I am continuing to delve into geometrics inspired by plein air study. The above work developed from viewing a tree against the moon and clouds at night. The work could be hung a variety of ways including horizontally as above or vertically as seen below.
I would have included a sketch of the scene done realistically, but unbelievably I am using the excuse that the cat shredded the sketch. She also has broken two vases. Yes, she is still alive and well. Just too cute to get mad at.
"GeoScape II" vertically
I will be discussing using plein air to create abstracts as part of "The Art of Plein Air" class at Green Mountain Rug School in June.
"Geoscape III" sketch
The third in the series is a sketch I made in Florida. It continues my current interest in wood pilings on the water. While clearly abstract it is easier to see the subject matter of this piece than that of "Geoscape II". Will the colors chosen affect that perception?
While preparing for class I am reading works by some artists that are not thought of for plein air work but created them at some point in their art career. This book takes the reader through the adventures Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee had while creating work in Tunisia. Klee's plein air work there led to his increased interest in color. This interest in turn led Klee to turn more and more toward abstraction.
A Happy New Year to all. Join me in continuing to love, view and create art in 2017.


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Boulder CRES Town Hall - 2018 Renewable Legislation
I attended the January meeting of the Boulder chapter of Colorado Renewable Energy Society. The guest speakers for the evening were Representative K.C. Becker and Senator Steve Fenberg, who discussed their renewable-focused legislative agenda for 2018 and provided some helpful insight into the mechanics of the statehouse.
As a general disclaimer, the Colorado legislature follows the general norms of Democrats supporting renewable energy/proactive climate change policy and Republicans supporting incumbent oil/gas and coal infrastructure. There are a few Libertarians who support renewables for economic or freedom-of-choice reasons, but in an unpredictable way.
The 2018 session begins today, January 10. Because Rep. Becker's Dems hold the majority in the House (37/27), the bulk of the agenda will originate in there. A subtlety of the Colorado legislature is that all bills must go before a committee, but it does not have to be the logical committee (Senator Fenberg mentioned a mental health bill he reviewed last session as part of the State, Veterans Military Affairs committee.) Thus, the majority does not guarantee a bill will even make it to the floor, but it is more likely in the House.
Here is a rundown of a few of the bills planned for this year, some of which are a retread of failed bills from last session, others of which are still in the early planning stages.
- Reauthorization of the Colorado Energy Office, which is currently limping along on a federal grant. This initiative failed last session but expect it to reappear early.
- Develop a framework for utilities to work directly with individual cities to help them meet announced 100% renewable goals. (Aside: I asked specifically about Xcel's tactic to shift renewable capacity to cities with these goals at the expense of surrounding communities and Rep. Becker assured me this would be taken into account in the bill.)
- Some sort of target for carbon reduction, probably with reference to 2005 levels (reduction is TBD) by 2030.
- Direct the governor to do impact assessment for the state should we not begin to address climate change.
- Set 100% renewable target for the state.
- Provide legislative guidance to the PUC to consider energy storage as a viable "source" (I realize storage is not really a source, but it is for the purposes of this review.)
- Remove roadblocks created by utilities that currently prevent deployment of behind-the-meter energy storage. This bill can be used as a framework for the PUC, which has this issue on its docket for rule-making.
- Provide funding to deploy more EV charging stations and possibly begin to allow utilities to rate-base EV charging.
- Reduce or eliminate EV tax credit (this will likely come out of the Republican side of the senate.)
- Securitization of utility capital, which would help finance the transition to renewable energy and offset revenue and tax losses to communities affected by retirement of fossil fuel generation resources (this failed last year, but will probably make a return in some form.)
- Some efforts to improve fracking and pipeline safety, reduce force-pooling, and address orphan wells.
- Severance tax reform – this is a tax upon extracted resources like natural gas. The Supreme Court ruled that Colorado had overcharged O&G companies, leading to a mandatory refund that essentially bankrupted the Department of Natural Resources. Expect to see a bill to reform the rebate exemptions for the tax (which is 5%).
Other items of note included an announcement that Rep. Becker is creating a Select Committee on Climate in the House. Rep. Becker also provided some perspective of how different levers of our society work together to institute change. For example, a bill in the house last year to remove 600 MW of coal energy from Xcel's generation failed, but gave Xcel enough of a mandate to petition the PUC (public utility commission) to exchange 600 MW of coal for 1200 MW of wind and solar. In addition, the House is planning to account for some of the scope of the Clean Power Plan and other environmental regulations that have been rolled back at the federal level over the last year.
Becker and Fenberg closed with some advice on how individual citizens can have an impact on renewable adoption. The first is to vote, and vote down-ticket. In particular, the attorney general, Cynthia Coffman is up for reelection. She has a firmly pro-oil-and-gastrack record, including launching suits to stop the Clean Power Plan and fight Boulder County's moratorium on new oil and gas development. Another recommendation was to show up. Show up at the capital when key bills are being debated. Show up at the PUC on February 1 when it will be determined if some of Xcel's coal generation will be retired (specifically Comanche 1 & 2.)
2018 looks to be a big year for getting renewable bills on the docket in Colorado, though both Becker and Fenberg warned that few would make it to law. However, I did leave with a feeling of hopefulness and purpose that our elected officials are taking renewable integration seriously and that I (and you) can make a difference.


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Our bodies want to stay the same. You can trick them into losing weight for a short time, but they will make adjustments to help that weight come back on. Oh boy, now that's motivation to take the diet plunge…!
A May, 2016 New York Times interview with metabolism expert, Dr Kevin Hall from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, a division of the NIH, examines the weight regain of the Biggest Losers over a six-year period. Dr Hall has found that with weight loss, not only does resting metabolism decline, but it slows down for years after weight loss making it even more difficult to keep the weight off. After following the contestants all but one regained their lost weight, but what surprised the researchers the most was how much their body's metabolism had slowed down, even years after they had regained the weight. One contestant in particular, Danny Cahill, had one of the worst declines in metabolism. Just in order to maintain his weight of 295, he had to consume 800 calories fewer than other men of his stature.
Stress And Losing Weight
A NIH review of different obesity models discussed the psycho-biological impact of stress on eating habits in terms of the "wanting" and "liking" versus hunger and fullness. Stated simply, you can like a food but not want to eat it, and you like be full and still want something you like. If we lived 1000 years ago, we would have pretty slim pickings to choose from. But given the wide variety of crunchy, creamy, chocolaty and sweet choices we have today we are constantly negotiating needs and wants, fullness and hunger. Later in the article it discusses the different brain pathways between liking and wanting a food and how they are altered in times of stress. Research indicated: "Post-prandial (after eating) food choice and food intake in the absence of hunger are exaggerated under stress, especially in overweight individuals with visceral adiposity (excess weight around the waist)." In other words, stressed induced post-prandial eating was linked to not only more "wanting", but to reduced – "liking". Hence, the after dinner kitchen raid during times of stress. And for those with extra inches around the waist, the message is even louder.
Losing Weight: A Complex Solution
Obesity is clearly not just a matter of eating too much. There are physiological barriers to weight loss: the body's relentless physiological hold on body weight, perhaps thinking it is preparing for famine. Add stress to the picture and no wonder fruits and vegetables just don't make the cut. We know through the National Weight Control Registry that people can lose and keep weight it off, but it is clear that to do so, it has to stay front and center of one's life. It means constant coping with hunger, nutritional vigilance, getting regular exercise and management of stress. Next few blogs will show you how to make it easier.
Barbara writes a biweekly blog to help inform and empower people to live healthy lives. Please "share" her articles and "like" her facebook page to help spread the word


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To be honest, I don't really like what Brazilian Power/Sympho Metal band Angra have done with Wuthering Heights":
It's technically all very well and the singer does a decent job, but to do the job, he has to use a rather unattractive falsetto register. What's worse is that it doesn't add anything to the original. There's faithful covers, and there's slavish covers, and this, to me, falls in the latter category.
It is noteworthy, though, for being from the 1990s. The way I remember it, very few Kate Bush covers were produced before the year 2000. There was Pat Benatar's version of "Wuthering Heights" from 1980, China Drum's version of the same song from 1996, and this. I'm sure more covers from before 2000 will show up, and in any case I haven't checked the dates on many of the previous 18 entries all that thoroughly, but one of the reasons I wanted to do this series was because it seemed to me that the musical landscape had changed since the turn of the century, so that Kate Bush was transformed from an influential artist that few dared to tackle directly, to one who was… I don't know. Perhaps she is now slightly less revered. Or perhaps more people are realising that it's her writing, not her voice, that gives her her staying power. The voice either draws people in or repells them, but it's the songs that create the lasting impression.
Anyway, back to this. I think in theory, the idea of a metal cover of a Kate Bush song, especially an early one, could work, and if anyone can recommend a good one to me, I'd very much like to hear it. Like Within Temptation's cover of 'Running Up That Hill', this version just doesn't do it for me, though


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Going green faces growing costs
- 06 May, 2009 22:00
'Going green' is becoming more expensive and regulated, according to a new series of industry sector insight reports unveiled by information technology researchers the Aberdeen Group. "Our research reveals that although many companies are making progress in creating green products, they are overwhelmed by the need to be in compliance with numerous regulations and the high costs and investments needed to take advantage of green technologies such as eco-friendly materials and improved power consumption," said Michelle Boucher, research analyst, product innovation and engineering practice, Aberdeen Group.
"By optimising their green product development programmes across the entire development lifecycle, manufacturers can reduce costs, meet product launch dates and drive new business."
Best green practices
The Aberdeen reports were based on the findings of benchmark research entitled 'Greening Today's Products: Sustainable Design Meets Engineering Innovation', which identifies best practices for green product development.
The Aberdeen Group examined how more than 360 enterprises developed green product development programmes that helped maintain regulatory compliance and achieved competitive differentiation.
The research considered five sectors and, in summary, found that:
• Aerospace and defence: Manufacturers report that compliance, to green-related regulations required for market entry, is driving green product development 50 per cent more often than their peers in other industries.
• Automotive: Manufacturers have been pursuing the quest to 'go green' much longer than their peers, which explains why 78 per cent of these companies currently have a green initiative in place, compared to only 63 per cent of their peers.
• Consumer packaged goods (CPG): CPG manufacturers cite the cost of recycled materials and options as a challenge nearly twice as often as their peers--30 per cent of CPG companies compared to 17 per cent of other industries.
• High tech and electronics (HT&E): Being able to brand energy-efficient technology is the top strategy for HT&E manufacturers--57 per cent of HT&E companies compared to 38 per cent of the industry average.
• Machinery (industrial equipment manufacturing): The top green product development strategy for this sector is developing and branding energy-efficient technology--54 per cent of machinery manufacturers compared to 38 per cent of the industry average.
Recommended sustainability approach
In response to the Aberdeen reports, Leif Pedersen, vice president, industry marketing, Siemens PLM Software, emphasised the importance of boosting ROI and cutting development costs to achieve sustainability in green product initiatives .
Pedersen said that Siemens' product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services were helping customers address these issues through a comprehensive strategy supported by several of its PLM software solutions. Solutions included Teamcenter software for digital lifecycle management, NX software for digital product development and Tecnomatix software for digital manufacturing.
"The rapidly-changing regulatory compliance demands, as well as escalating costs to go green are creating new levels of complexities for companies as they embark on green product initiatives," Pedersen said.
"Now more than ever, manufacturers need to consider the right technologies and strategies to boost ROI and cut development costs across all green product initiatives.
"As companies focus on new green initiatives, they must consider strategies that ensure products are environmentally compliant throughout the entire product lifecycle, as well as adopt the right technologies and tools to reduce development costs and boost ROI," said Pedersen. "Developing green products that meet customer demands while maintaining competitive differentiation is the hallmark of sustainability."


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Staying home for the holidays?
Come celebrate the holiday season with friends at Neighborhoods Café where we'll be serving tasty treats and delicious drinks with a side of Christmas cheer. We will have carolers, free coffee and all baked goods will be half off.
Sunday, December 23
Neighborhoods Coffee and Crepes
96 Peterborough St.
(617) 262-7700


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TS 15d: examples of moral and immoral acts
I'm inviting the members of this discussion group to pose moral problems, which we can all then consider based on the moral teachings of the Church. I think that one of the problems in moral theology is that it becomes so abstract that persons imagine that any act might be justified if one can arrange the concepts in a particularly clever manner. Specific examples helps us understand that, no matter how concepts and terminology are arranged, wrong and right, good and evil are absolute and universal.
yeah that is exactly how I am. I am so dumb when it comes to Moral Theology. With time I will think of some.
I do not know if this applies, but its something that bothers me greatly. Does this fall under moral-immoral actions intertwined? There are many people, some of whom I see first hand as co-workers and others who become foster parents for children who have no parents or their parents are unfit to care for them. The person that becomes a foster parent, now that is a moral act, yet it becomes immoral when the money they receive from the state is spent on fancy cars, the latest fashionable clothes, vacations, elegant dinners . . . etc. etc. . . all for themselves and the child gets the bare minimum and is still somewhat negleted. This is something that is seriously disturbing, how can a man and wife claim to each have a conscience when doing this? The intentions are not pure, on the surface the foster parents look as if they are charitable, yet underneath they are feeding their hunger for greed and materialism.
Last edited by themilitantcatholic : 19th January 2008 at 08:32 PM. Reason: grammar
The Soldiers' Dilemma
How about a scenario that occurs in every war, and most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan? Foreign soldiers (US) set up an outpost of strategic importance. It is important that they not be discovered. Then, they see a family of farmers walking by them. These people are not dangerous, but when they get back to their village, they will tell the people where the foreign troops are, and the foreign troops will be attacked and likely defeated by the villagers.
The foreign soldiers must a decision to either kill the innocent family, which has done no wrong, or let them live, and risk a crushing attack. Of course, the best option is for the foreign soldiers to leave the outpost once they have been discovered, but due to orders from Headquarters, or tactical difficulties, that is not always possible.
This occurred in Afghanistan and the American soldiers decided not to kill the innocents. They then suffered a crushing ambush in which all but one died, as I recall it.
What's a soldier to do? Is killing the innocent family ever justified in these circumstances, especially when Headquarters requires you to remain at this outpost?
St. Thomas More
--"The King's Good Servant, but God's First"
Here's the Real Story
St. Thomas More
--"The King's Good Servant, but God's First"
There are a number of acts being described here.
Morality applies to any and all human acts, which are defined as an act of will and intellect, in other words, a choice of the free will based on knowledge.
It is a sin of omission to neglect children. Also, the misuse of money is sin of commission. There is also a sin of bad intention in the act of accepting foster children. The act itself is good, but even a good act becomes a sin for the person who does it with bad intent.
A sin is nothing else but a bad human act.
1. the intention of the subject who acts, that is, the purpose for which the subject performs the act, or the end that is sought.
2. the act itself, defined by its inherent meaning within God's plan; the inherent meaning of the act is called the moral object of the act, as it is based on whether the act is ordered toward or away from God.
3. the circumstances (not the dictionary definition of 'circumstances', but rather everything, other than the intention and the act itself, that has a bearing on the morality of the act, especially the consequences.
Applied to this case, suppose that the soldier kills the farmer:
1. The intention is directed toward the purpose or end of preventing unneccessary deaths; however, as Aquinas teaches, when the will is moved to the means for the sake of the end, it is one and the same intention. Thus the intention includes the means, that of killing an innocent man. The soldier intends to obtain the end through the means. This differs significantly from the principle of double effect, where one effect is not sought and is not the means to the good effect.
2. the act itself is the direct killing of an innocent human being. (Now I'm simplifying the situation, treating it as a hypothetical, in which we know that the man is merely an innocent farmer, not also an insurrgent or the like.) The moral object of the act is the inherent meaning of the within the moral law. So the external physical act is, say, shooting a gun at a man; but the meaning of the act is the direct killing of an innocent human being. This act is contrary to the will of God; for since man was created in the image of God, we cannot kill innocent human beings.
3. the circumstances include the grave danger to the soldiers, their limited ability to defend themselves when behind enemy lines, the possibility of civilian casualties.
Since the act itself is an intrinsically evil act, it is not a moral act. Even if more civilian casualties are likely to result than the one death of the farmer, he cannot be directly killed if he is an innocent bystander.
The act cannot be defined as an act of self-defense by virtue of the purpose of the act: to prevent the deaths of the soldiers. The act is defined by its inherent meaning under the moral law, i.e. its moral object. The object of the act is not its intended end result.
It is often said, in cases like this, that the intention, at least, is good. But since the intention is not merely the end but also the intended means, and the means that is intended is evil, the intention is not truly good. In the principle of double effect, the bad effect is truly unintended, because the means and the intended effect are both good. But not so in this case.
This is similar to the case of a doctor who performs a direct abortion in order to save the life of the mother; the act itself is still abortion, the act is not defined by its intended purpose or end result of saving a life. Direct abortion to save the life of the mother is still intrinsically evil.
Intrinsically evil acts are: "kinds of behaviour contrary to the commandments of the divine and natural law" VS n. 76. The behavior is not merely an external physical act, but includes the object of the act, which is not the intended purpose nor end result of the act, but the inherent meaning under the moral law. And even though the kind of behavior is not merely a physical external act, the external act and its meaning within God's plan cannot be separated; they are analogous to body and soul.
helping a friend
helping a friend
Should I help a friend who seek my help: Their story is like this, they had a civil wedding several years ago, but their relationship did not last, first the guy is impotent they do not have (baby) and the guy became drug dependent and was having a relation with other woman, until he loss his job and depend only on her wife. Unfortunately the wife lost her job too, because of loans and other estafa problems. Their relationship become more worst and the wife was badly bitten especially when her husband is high on drugs. The wife put some self owned business for their living, but everytime the husband needs money he stole the money from her wife and almost many times she is bitten by her husband. I do not know why she is not complaining to the authority sometimes she is nearly killed.
Until the time comes the wife decided to leave(divorce) her husband. Several years later the woman finds a fiancee a foreigner, they now decide to have a marriage, but divorce here is difficult and it may take several years to be annuled. So she sought my help (she knew that I have a friend before who works with this kind of problem and can arrange their papers, not in a legal means) , the way their papers would be arrange is not in a legal process but in a more quicker means . Should I help her? (I can pm the exact situation if you like).
PM me. I'll have to ask some questions before answering.
more moral dilemmas
Does anyone have other moral problems to pose, either hypothetical or real?
Suppose that a woman is pregnant with her first child, and she next finds out that she has cancer of the uterus. The child is not developed enough to be delivered yet; she is in her second trimester. She needs to have her cancerous uterous removed, and she needs to start chemotherapy, in case the cancer started to spread. But either of those two treatments will kill the prenatal.
What are her possible moral and immoral choices?
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Experienced and hard-working orchard crew members—from Mexico, France and here in the Grand Valley—have been moving through the farm's considerable list of spring projects with momentum. Currently, they are lightening the loads of fruit bud-heavy peach trees by hand-thinning each branch. This process is always a race against the seasonal clock—thinning progress slows down as buds develop into blossoms that are more difficult to remove.
Each year we renew roughly two acres of orchard, removing a block of older, low-production trees in the fall and, in spring, planting new trees in soil that has "rested" for the two previous years. In preparation, we seed the resting fields with beneficial cover crops like clover, alfalfa and vetch, and remove rocks that would obstruct the root system of a growing tree. We repair or install the irrigation system of black plastic tubes and their supporting wire trellis, which deliver water to micro-sprinklers dangling between every other tree. When the canal district turns on the water in a few weeks, irrigation will become a part of daily farm work again.
We hope to see our first harvest from our densely planted two-acre block of sweet cherries on the sloping eastern edge of our farm. Pomologist Ioannis Minas, from the Western Colorado Research Center, recently visited to make pruning recommendations for the young trees. He showed us how to shape the trees to maximize fruit production and flavor by keeping fruiting buds close to the trunk and maintaining a "Christmas Tree" silhouette that allows sunlight to reach the lowest branches. The cherries will round off our pruning for the year after more than three months of stop-and-go progress through the snowy El Niño winter.
Rancho Durazno and orchards all across the Grand Valley are bursting into bloom, with apricots and plums flowering first, followed by peaches and then cherries. As the blossoms develop they become more susceptible to nighttime frost, reaching their most fragile state at full bloom. A few chilly nights have kept Thomas and Gwen up checking temperature and wind speed, but we've so far benefitted from warmer than forecasted weather. We'll remain at rapt attention to the tempestuous spring weather as our biggest crop, peaches, reach full bloom. —Gwen Cameron, Deputy Cameron


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Hi! My name is
Mary Catherine Pflug
(Tip: drop the "P" and pronounce Pflug like Floog.)
I'm passionate about the type industry and the graphic designers who use fonts. Type design is a multi-faceted business, and today selling fonts is more than just design. Pricing, strategy, marketing, licensing, you name it. I enjoy working with type designers on the business side of all things type to help them become more successful retail type foundries. It's my job as the Foundry Manager at MyFonts. I also believe data is important, and that there isn't enough of it out there about font customers. So, I'm collecting data, conducting research, and releasing it to the public. I also serve as the treasurer of the Society of Typographic Aficionados that produces TypeCon. In my spare time, I do things not related to fonts, like hunting for doughnuts, eating doughnuts, and taking pictures of doughnuts.
Current Employment
MyFonts Foundry Manager (July 2016 – Present)
Previous Employment
Mama's Sauce Print Shop, Event Coordinator (August 2015 – July 2016)
Garden & Gun Magazine, Marketing Intern (May 2015 – August 2015)
Positype, Type Designer (June 2011 – July 2016)
BA in International Business, Rollins College Honors Program (May 2016)
South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities (May 2012)
International Study
Tokyo & Kyoto, Japan (January 2016)
Prague, Czech Republic (August 2014 – December 2014)
Tokyo & Kyoto, Japan (January 2013)
Adelboden, Switzerland (June 2011)
Font Research
The Font Purchasing Habits Survey (2017)
Estimating the Life Cycle of Fonts, published in The Academy of Economics and Finance Journal (accepted February 2017, publishing in February 2018)
The Font Purchasing Habits Survey (2016)
Typography Dojo: Inside the Type Industry (February 2017)
Type Thursday: Use Data to Help You Sell More Fonts (July 2016)
Society of Typographic Aficionados Executive Board Member 2013 – 2017
TypeCon Treasurer (since 2016), TypeCon Volunteer Coordinator (since 2013)
Retail Fonts
Couture & Couture Sans (2015)
Dumpling (2012)


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On February 24th, hip hop legendary group Dipset reunited for a concert at BB Kings in NYC with an assist from DJ Funkmaster Flex. Grungy Gentleman was fortunate enough to style the show at the legendary New York venue and Juelz Santana shined in our clothing all night.
I was asked to style their comeback music video at our F/W 15 runway show. They happened to be shooting that night so we got to work. Check it out below.
photography by Moises de Pena | video by The Diplomats


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Marbling on Silk Scarf: 22 x 72 Silk Habotai
Marbling on Silk Scarf: 22 x 72 Silk Habotai
Marbling is the process of floating fabric paints on the surface of a thick cellulose solution (called "size"), somewhat like oil on water. The floating paints are swirled into patterns. Then you capture your design by laying a treated piece of fabric or paper down on top of the paint to transfer the swirls to the fabric. It is that easy!
When most crafters think of marbling they think of the fancy end papers in old books. Scarves are beautiful when printed in this manner
Only 1 available


text: Hi, someone uses gentoo here? I've run into problems with the touchscreen and x11-input-tslib on gentoo. First - the pointercal data, which i've copied from om-2008.09 is not valid - I trying to 'repair' this manually - changing numbers, got so far the y-axis (is there any software to do it better?). Next, if i touch the screen or move with finger/stylus over the screen: tslib: Unknown event type 0 The worst thing that the tslib is stoping any other processes running on o Xorg if I don't touch the screen. For exapmle if I start X with xfce4, don't touch the screen wait some time and kill X im getting always: waiting for X server to shut down xf86TslibControlProc X waits only for tslib, no xfce or other processes. Cheers, -- Łukasz Holetzke


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The Blue Cat
"I only know the cat is blue..."
Click here to read distinguished New Zealand novelist's Kate de Goldi's speech at the Sydney launch. For teachers's notes for the novel, click here. And click here for recent reviews and here and here for blog interviews. Also here and here for guest blog posts written by Ursula.
The Russian Blue is sometimes described as the "Doberman Pinscher" of cats. Read more about the breed here and here. Click here to see how cats open their eyes in excitement at the moment they pounce. And here to read "Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes.
Sydney during World War II
Click here and here for video clips about daily life for Australian children like Columba and Hilda during World War Two and on the video below about the influx of American soldiers, like Hal, into Sydney.
And another short video below about the night attacks on Sydney Harbour by Japanese submarines at the end of May 1942, which is when "The Blue Cat" finishes.
Daylight Saving Time was put in place in Australia, 2am January 1st 1942, to save power during the war. The War Cabinet decided to make the change at 2am so as not to upset people celebrating the midnight chimes at New Year's Eve! Click here for more about the history of daylight saving time.
Black Out Restrictions and Air Raid Precautions
Columba, Hilda and Ellery wander around the streets of the inner northern suburbs of Sydney, on the edge of the harbour, a kind of imagined mixture of Cremorne, Neutral Bay and Kurraba Point.
MacCallum Pool where they go swimming is on Cremorne Point and is still in use today.
Luna Park, where Columba, Hilda and Ellery go in search of the blue cat, is on the water's edge of North Sydney. It first opened in 1935.
Most of the rides in Coney Island that you will see in the videos are the same as when Columba, Hilda and Ellery were there, including the Barrels of Fun, the Wheel of Joy and the Turkey Trot.
Child Refugees in World War Two
During the period of European history known as the Holocaust, before, during and after World War Two, Jewish children, like Ellery, were at great and terrible risk. For more information click here and on the photos themselves.
Desperate Jewish refugee families fled all over the world for safety, wherever they were allowed to go. Sometimes children were hidden inside their own or neighbouring countries and sometimes they were sent overseas alone, as their parents were unable to get visas to travel for themselves. Some children and parents managed to come as far as Australia.
The Trojan War
But Homer's story is largely the story of the conquering army, the Greeks, and their heroes, whereas The Aeneid is the story of the victims of the war, the Trojans. The Trojan hero, Aeneas, is driven out of his burning city, with his father on his back and his little son by his side. His wife, Creusa, is lost in the dark streets and left behind. Aeneas and his people must set sail without her to find a new homeland...
For an English translation of the Latin story of Aeneas's flight from Troy with his family, click here or here. If you would like to look at the original Latin lines in The Aeneid, click here.
Mother, father, grandfather, child. Aeneas carries his father on his back and holds his child to his side, while his wife follows. This scene of a refugee family escaping the war-ravaged city has been represented many times by painters through the centuries. In the big scenes you will have to look for the little family group. Click on the image to see the artist's details.
Songs from "The Blue Cat"
"There'll Always Be an England"
This is the song that the children sing while Hilda is on stage wrapped up in the Union Jack.
There'll always be an England
While there's a country lane,
Wherever there's a cottage small
Beside a field of grain.
There'll always be an England
While there's a busy street,
Wherever there's a turning wheel,
A million marching feet.
Red, white and blue; what does it mean to you?
Surely you're proud, shout it aloud,
"Britons, awake!"
The Empire too, we can depend on you.
Freedom remains. These are the chains
Nothing can break.
There'll always be an England,
And England shall be free
If England means as much to you
As England means to me.
"Men of Harlech"
The school B-flat flute band plays this tune as the children march into school. Flute bands were common in NSW public schools at this time, very largely due to the lasting influence of inspirational educator Victor McMahon, who arranged songs in parts as in the booklet below.
"I often think they have only just gone out"
At the end of The Blue Cat is a poem by the German writer Friedrick Ruckert, which was put to music by the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler in 1905, part of a series of songs known as the Kindertotenlieder. You can listen to it here, sung in German with English subtitles.
The Fraktur Font
Ellery's father's speech is sometimes printed in a font called Fraktur, a historic German language font that is several hundreds years old, and in frequent use until the 1940s. This is also the font that the book Ellery is always reading, Die Schatzinsel is published in.
Die Schatzinsel
Die Schatzinsel, the book that Ellery is always reading, is the German title for the famous pirate adventure novel Treasure Island, by Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Featuring the one -legged pirate Long John Silver, Treasure Island is one of the most published, filmed, dramatised and greatly loved books in the history of literature.
Stevenson traveled all around the world, and spent the final years of his short life in the South Pacific, including a number of trips to Sydney. He died in Samoa in 1894.
Finally, some readers may note a connection between "The Blue Cat" and the family in two of Ursula's other books, the award-winning The First Book of Samuel, and its sequel, Theodora's Gift.
New editions of these books are now available in paperback and electronic book, with cover and design by Amy Golbach. "The First Book of Samuel" won the NSW Premier's Literary Award, was an Honour Book in the Children's Book Council of Australia Awards, and was shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Award for Literature. "Theodora's Gift" won both the NSW and Victorian Premier's Literary Awards.
For further background material and teaching resources on both these books, click here.