text:
At the end of the 19th century, Karabagh, the most southern part of central
Transcaucasia, was inhabited by several groups of people, the most important of
them being the Armenians, the Azeri and the Kurds. Except for items containing
Armenian inscriptions or dates, it is very difficult to attribute with some
certainty, the several utilitarian we come across to a specific
Some weeks ago a restorer friend phoned me, telling me, he had to restore a near complete Caucasian mafrash (bedding bag) woven "without wefts" between the soumak rows which should get my interest.
I visited his shop some days later, having in mind that it shouldn't be a Caucasian mafrash, but well, a weftless soumak Eastern Anatolian or NW Persian Kurdish mafrash, as weftless soumak is a Kurdish practice. We have already discussed this extremely antique technique used by Kurdish weavers in earlier Salons presented by Michael Wendorf or by me.
When I saw it for the first time, three panels where still attached together: the front panel (seen here) and the to side panels. Only remnants of the back panel were still present and I received these fragments to examine them more closely.
The colors were very difficult to capture and are not perfectly accurate. The reds especially are too much saturate. Get a look to the direct scan to get a better idea of the colors.
I directly recognize it was a Karabagh piece, because a near exactly similar piece is illustrated in the John T. Wertime book: Sumak bags of NW Persia and Transcaucasia – plate 110 – page 180 - According to Wertime many Qarabagh soumak bedding bags came into the West in the hands of Armenian immigrants who were prolific weavers in this area, but to my knowledge they didn't use the weftless soumak technique.
So "IF" this piece would have been woven with weftless soumak it would have been woven by another ethnic group.
I was exited and I began to examine it. Unfortunately the mafrash was so finely woven that I couldn't examine it correctly with my usual lenses. I was not sure, but its structure looked nevertheless unusual.
Studying the remnants of the back panels with magnifying lenses I finally discovered it had a very unusual structure, situated "midway" between usual soumak weaving and weftless soumak.
Here is a direct scan from the front having been magnified 15 times .
Rows of sturdy plain 2/1 soumak wrapping are well visible and red wefts visible along the sides are inserted after lots of rows of wrapping.
Looking now at a 15 times magnified scan of the back things become clearer.
In fact, in this area, red wefts are inserted after 2, 3 or 4 rows of wrapping.
Provocatively and to imitate Alberto LEVI who used for the first time the label "proto Kurdish" I have labeled this structure "proto-soumak" as it suggests (it's only a guess) that such mafrash may well have been woven by Kurdish hands, knowing the weftless technique, instead of Armenians or, by weavers who learned it from Kurds.
Here is another area showing in the upper part (four first rows of wrapping) usual 2/1 soumak with red wefts inserted after each row of wrapping and than in the lower part a large "pure" weftless soumak area.
It would be interesting to know if readers do have related or similar pieces showing the same unusual structure. Is it a characteristic of this group?
Also I am interested to know why the weaver used this "hybrid technique".
As I said, this mafrash is very tightly woven, about 40 extra weft wrapping and 10-12 wefts per inch.
I am thinking that the weaver didn't insert a weft after each row of soumak as usually done, to give this bag a supple handling, as it is, but there are may be other reasons I am not knowing. This piece is so much tightly woven that the rows of "weftless soumak" were certainly not woven to spare time as it has been suggested to explain why Kurds used weftless soumak.
Technical analysis:
Sizes : 105cm x 47 cm (originally it was about 110 x 50 cm)
Yarn spin: Z
Technique: 2/1 plain hybrid "proto – soumak"
Wrapping yarns: 2 ply wool and 3 ply hand spun undyed cotton, 40/pi
Warps: 2 ply light brown wool, 16pi
Wefts: red wool singles, one shoot after 2 to 8 rows of soumak wrapping, about 10-12 pi
Marla tells us (Woven structure page 65) that in some soumak weavings we may find short extra rows of wrapping before one weft is inserted, where the weaver has tried to straighten her work and that this occurs most often when both wool and (thicker) cotton yarns are used for wrapping, since these yarns are likely to vary in size and compact differently.
In this piece the "hybrid" technique has been used for other purposes and I have larger pictures that I can send privately to anyone who would be interested.
I would be glad to share your thoughts and opinions.
Hi Daniel,
The lofty cotton, over time and with abrasion caused by usage, would cause structural weakening of the bag. In addition to compensating for yarn diameters, compartmentalizing the weaving into horizontal areas for ease in controlling the structure/design, the wefts, being wool, would lend stability, as the abrasion occurred, by interlocking microscopically with the warps.
Another purpose served by adding wefts rather than, or in conjunction with, additional rows of compensating soumak, is that the structure/design could be controlled better by beating on a continuous weft than on discontinuous soumak design elements. Too, if the wefts were to be damaged by heavy beating it would cause less of a problem, in the long run, than beating directly on the soumak itself.
I imagine that there are more wefts added in the areas where the most cotton was used. Is this so? Sue
Hi Sue,
Thanks for your interest. The wefts seem to be continuous all the way across the piece It seems there isn't any planned variation of the number of wefts and I don't see any variations of their numbers according to changes in the design or colors.
simple or weftless and compound weft-wrapping
Dear Daniel:
Thanks to you and your restorer friend for your careful deconstruction of this interesting mafrash. I immediately recognize the mafrash as I have seen several near identical pieces over the past years. The distinctive design and coloration is consistent in these pieces. In addition to the example you reference in Wertime's Sumak Bags (plate 110) there is another illustrated in Tanavoli's Shahsavan as plate 57. The piece in Tanavoli's Shahsavan is two front panels sewn together with the basic design called "crab shaped stars." The structure is:
warp: wool Z3S, dyed , light brown with some salt and pepper areas (brown and white);
weft: ground - wool Z2S, undyed, light brown. Wrapping weft -wool Z2S dyed and with some areas of cotton that is Z3S.
Structure: predominantly extra weft wrapping patterning a plain weave ground with one ground weft after each wrapping weft, horizontal 2/1, diagonal 2/1, 3/2, vertical 1/1, 2/2. The geographic attribution is Moghan.
The piece in Wertime's Sumak Bags has no structural details.
I find your description of the fine and tight weave a great help in understanding this mafrash. In fact, your description explains what you are observing. In the Appendice to Wertime's Sumak Bags he briefly discusses examples where a ground weft is lacking in places. He does this by referencing the famous cruciform soumak bag owned by Wendel Swan. Wertime writes: "Sometimes the weaver dispenses with the ground wefts altogether and employs only the wrapping wefts for several or more rows, which thus become very tightly compacted (plate 74). Such a structure is known as simple weft-wrapping. It is used particularly in narrow horizontal borders or solid lines going edge to edge." See p. 224 of Sumak Bags.
Of course, weft-wrapping in northwestern Iran and Transcaucasia is overwhelmingly a compound weave. By compound weave I mean that in addition to the warps it uses a weft that may be understood or called variously a ground, structural, foundation or interlacing weft. It also uses a supplementary or extra weft to wrap or pattern the warps. What Wertime calls simple weft wrapping and what Marla Mallett, George O'Bannon and I have called weftless soumak is different. As a simple or weftless form of weft-wrapping it uses no ground, structural, foundation or interlacing weft. Weftless soumak is the most ancient soumak construction. This weftless soumak structure is primarily known for its use by early neolithic weavers weaving with bast fibers and by Kurdish weavers in eastern Anatolia much later. It has a distinctive look and feel that is different from this mafrash panel.
I think that your use of the term hybrid is a good way to think of this mafrash. It is not Kurdish in structure, coloration etc. I think the Qarabagh attribution geographically very likely. I also think that we cannot think of this as weftless soumak insofar as that structure is used to describe weavings done completely in that structure. We go back to the tight weave, the weaver wanted a weaving that was very tightly compacted, this was achieved by omitting the ground wefts in places. It is a simple, but elegant explanation.
As for the provovative use of a term like proto-soumak, this is only to provoke discussion I think insofar as the term has no meaning in connection with this weaving.
Thank you for the provocation, Michael
Daniel has said that he has sent me some fragments of his mafrash to analyze,
but I've not yet received them. I can, however, make a couple of remarks about
the soumak techniques that are being discussed.
The major critical difference between Kurdish weftless soumak pieces and a piece such as this mafrash, is that the wrapping has been worked in completely different ways. On Kurdish pieces, the artisan typically has wrapped the warps in one direction, then has floated her wrapping yarn backwards over the just completed section to wrap the next short row in the same direction. (WOVEN STRUCTURES, Figs. 5.19 and 5.20, p. 68). To do this means that all design segments must be relatively narrow. It's these backward floats that tend to pull inward and so give each section a distinctive "rounded" or "padded" sort of look on the front. The important thing is that as with slit tapestry, the weaver works on individual design sections separately, completing each little area before moving on to do another section of the piece. She does NOT weave the piece in consecutive rows all across the loom. Thus there's no way for intermittent wefts to be used with the Kurdish wrapping technique. The Kurdish designs used for soumak are quite limited and distinctive; they are very closely related to slit tapestry motifs. I have one detail photo of a Kurdish bag in WOVEN STRUCTURES (Fig. 5.31, page 71) that shows an area in which the weaver has experimentally combined soumak wrapping and tapestry. Often Kurdish weftless soumak design layouts are banded, as plain-weave bands throughout the pieces offer the stability needed in the fabric.
The soumak wrapping technique displayed in the ancient Neolithic Anatolian wrapped net fabric found at Catal Huyuk is much closer to that in Daniel's Caucasian mafrash and to typical Shahsevan pieces, than to the Kurdish East Anatolian weftless soumak pieces. The Neolithic fragment shows conventional wrapping of sequential rows across the fabric, with reversals at the selvage.
Without examining Daniel's mafrash fragments, I'm assuming that the omission of part of the "ground wefts" was simply to allow for a more compact weave. The short rows of wrapping reversed, with the weaver working in both directions, changing her process in alternate rows to produce an un-countered surface. She certainly used enough ground wefts to produce a stable fabric and close the vertical slits that otherwise would have resulted from long verticals in the design. But that's not the critical difference between the two approaches to soumak wrapping. The important factor is that in the Kurdish pieces, the weaver used a slit-tapestry approach, weaving all of the design parts separately, and composing designs specifically for this process. It's an important "technical" difference, as well as a "structural" one.
a more compacted weave
Dear Daniel and Marla:
Yes, the desire to create a compacted weave explains the ommission of the "ground wefts" in some areas in the mafrash panel and other Caucasian soumaks. And Marla's explanation of the difference between roughly contemporaneous Kurdish weftless soumak weavings and Caucasian soumak weavings such as the mafrash panel expands nicely from my conclusory remarks, thank you.
Marla also writes that the soumak wrapping technique displayed in the ancient Neolithic Anatolian wrapped "net-like fabrics" (to quote Burnham) found at Catal Huyuk is much closer to that in Daniel's Caucasian mafrash than to the Kurdish East Anatolian weftless soumak pieces. I find this conclusion quite surprising. For one thing, the ancient Catal Huyuk "net-like" fragments we are now discussing and comparing are fragmentary and heavily carbonized. They were woven without any pattern, at least no discernable pattern. As a result, there are no color changes or design segments that would allow for any apple to apple technical comparison and it is fairly difficult to imply or infer that the wrapping on weftless soumak pieces that are patterned is or would be different from weftless soumak pieces that are unpatterned. Moreover, they also appear to have been woven entirely in weftless soumak, - - - not partly and not by omission. The ancient Neolithic Anatolian Catal Huyuk fragments that do exist are woven entirely as a simple wrapped structure (no ground wefts at all) with threads plied Z2S or with Z singles with one transverse thread (the wrapping weft) going over two vertical threads or warps and back under one.
Perhaps this simple wrapping of an unpatterned fabric is what Marla refers to as "conventional wrapping of sequential rows across the fabric with reversals at the selvedge." But again what would one expect in an unpatterned fabric? I fail to see how this fact makes the technique and structure closer to the mafrash panel type of weaving where some ground wefts are omitted to make the the weaving itself more compact.
As for the patterned east Anatolian Kurdish weftless soumaks, it is true that they are not woven in consecutive rows across the loom and that there is no way for what Marla here refers to as intermittent ground wefts. As a result, just as with the early Neolithic Anatolian fragments, ground wefts are not absent by omission or to create a more compact weave --- they do not exist at all. Additionally while some examples are banded with plain weave as Marla states, there are many examples that are not. Finally, while the designs/motifs of the Kurdish weftless soumak pieces are related to slit-tapestry it may be that it is only because the two techniques are worked so similarly and are both restrictive in nature when a weaver wishes to create a pattern.
I think any comparison between the ancient Neolithic fragments and a Caucasian mafrash with grounds omitted in some areas to create a more compact weave a stretch. Perhaps it is also a stretch to compare the Kurdish east Anatolian weftless soumaks. In any event, I think the Kurdish pieces, which are woven as weftless soumak weavings rather than as compound weft wrapping with some ground wefts omitted, deserve to be understood and discussed on their own terms and not in comparison to weavings where the structure is a convenience or a tool.
But I guess this opinion is well known. Now i am going for a drive in my 512BB.
Cheers, Michael
Hi Daniel,
I can't imagine why anyone would not be interested. Thank you for putting this weaving out there. Your photos and stats make it an excellent piece to learn from. I made my posted assessment based on the large "pure" weftless areas in your photo #3. I think it is one of those horizontal boarders or solid lines going from edge to edge that Michael sites Wertime as speaking of. I think these design/structural features would only be necessary, from an engineering standpoint, when a soumak weaving included a lot of fragile cotton. If you have enough of a fragment to include another area like the one in your photo, ( it will be one with little or no cotton), if Wertime is right, as it is reasonable to assume he is, it will be weftless too.
Hi Michael,
Thank you for the additional good info. I agree with you that the weaver's intent was to weave a tightly woven mafrash, and that this was accomplished in a simple and elegant way. I think though, too, that this hybrid technique would not have been necessary had it not been woven with a mixture of wool and cotton yarn, for reasons I stated in my last post. I think we can agree that the weaving was built to last. I think of the weftless bands as a design/structural feature used by the weaver to solve a problem created by the nature of the cotton used, much as we, today, use strapping tape on cardboard containers destined for the post office. If I am right, the weaver's solution was even more simple and elegant then it first appears!
Another thing I noticed. In Photo #2, under the cross' horizontal extension, if you follow the lightest row of blue soumak to the right, I think you can see it slants and that a "wedge" of extra rows of blue soumak has been added to straighten the work. Sue
Dear Michael,
In the development of new fiber structures, it is unwise to forget the overriding importance of the PROCESS, the TECHNIQUE, and only look at the resulting STRUCTURE. It is the particular wrapping PROCESS that I was attempting to stress. Perhaps it is necessary to have spent a significant amount of time actually using these textile-making processes to realize the importance of the process itself on designing, and upon the development of any fabric or fabric tradition.
The Catal Huyuk wrapped textile was a NET, with widely spaced rows of wrapping, and of course no pattern. But the process involved wrapping sequential rows, and reversing the direction at each selvage for alternating rows. If Harold Burnham's diagram is correct, the wrapping was done without putting the wrapping yarn through a self-made loop while wrapping each warp, and this same movement was followed in every row, thus making "countered" rows. There is so little parallel between this and the process used by the Kurds with their "sectional" wrapping in slit-tapestry fashion with continual backward floats so as to always work in the same direction that comparisons between the Kurdish structure and the Neolithic one actually make little sense to me. The similarities are superficial. And yes, in this respect I do find more direct parallels with the way that typical Shahsevan soumak is actually PRODUCED (whether or not any wefts are omitted) and the Neolithic net-making—if any comparisons at all are indeed appropriate. Of course those Neolithic NETS had no plain-weave wefts. Have you ever seen any kind of NET with plain-weave interlacing? Most impractical.
In the development of new structures of ANY kind, it is wise to remember the overriding importance of the limitations and properties of materials to be used. Sue
Sue -
I don't think that this is a debate.
I doubt that Marla would under-rate the character of the materials used in weaving, since she is herself a weaver.
But one of the chief recommendations she has made in most of her writing is that it is necessary when we examine structural aspects of weavings, not just to describe what we see, but to take on the perspective of the weaver and to grapple with what she as called above, the "process" of the weaving. Surprises are likely whenever we assume this perspective.
I don't think, for example, that Michael Wendorf would debate at all the distinction Marla has made between the character of the Catal Huyuk weavings being referred to here and the weftless sumak of the Kurds, if he grappled, even in a beginning way, with what the weavers did when they made these alternative structures.
This is the sort of thing that Marla is pointing to when she uses the term "over-riding." Someone else may feel that the character of the materials is being neglected in this description but I doubt that Marla is debating that.
R. John Howe
Hi John,
I am aware of the process of weaving. I know you feel rather uncomfortable with your structural analysis skills so if there is anything in my first two posts in this thread which you don't understand, please let me know and I will try to put it another way to clarify. I offer the same to anybody else who might not understand what I've said. In my last post I was not thinking of ancient weavings, I was thinking about the one which is the subject of this thread. I am hoping that Daniel or Michael can shed some more light, that is what I will be waiting for. Sue
Dear Sue,
No, as John suggested, that's not the debate. But of course you are correct about the importance of the materials used in the development of new textile structures and traditions.
So let's consider what those factors would be with soumak pieces, particularly cuvals, heybe, khorjin, and mafrash. Since the warps in the case of extant pieces are pretty consistently the same, we can set aside a discussion of those, as nearly all have been adequate. That leaves wrapping yarns and ground wefts.
What are the textile qualities we should consider? Tensile strength, loft, elasticity, density, felting or matting qualities, and resistance to abrasion, to name the most relevant in this case.
Cotton's biggest advantage is always its superior tensile strength, but in most soumak work it's not been used so as to utilize that quality. It mats readily, and abrades easily, thus on many old soumak bags we see severely worn cotton surfaces, while many wool areas have held up better. (Just take a look at old Anatolian kilims that have severely matted white cottons.) Cotton is truly lacking in terms of loft, and in being more dense and more unforgiving than softer, fluffier wool, it is less suited to soumak wrapping, because it doesn't "cover" or compact as well. Thus often weavers have squeezed in more cotton rows of wrapping to cover the surface adequately. To add more ground wefts in areas of cotton wrapping than in wool areas, would be self-defeating; the deficiency would be magnified. In fact, the reason most soumak weavers have used cotton in soumak work has been for aesthetic reasons--to utilize its stark whiteness when bleached—a whiteness not matched by white wool.
One of wool's great advantages is its loft—which is much, much greater than that of cotton. (That's why it is used for tapestry, for brocading, for knotted pile, AND for most soumak wrapping.) Even when fairly tightly spun and plied, it spreads out and fluffs up to make a nice, fully covered surface. Its superior elasticity means it is forgiving, and so is much easier to wrap with to achieve a smooth and even surface. (Of course it also takes dyes beautifully, but that's not a relevant point here.) The tensile strength of wool is very low, however, and if it is to be used for ground wefts that are covered, these ground weft yarns must be very thin. Their elasticity and flexibility however, mean that they can easily be laid in with enough ease to assume the sinuous path required of a ground weft that must compact well. But wools used as "ground wefts" in a "compound structure" combining wrapping and plain-weave interlacing are the weakest element in most single-wefted soumak weavings, especially in those with vertical pattern lines and thus nearly open slits between pattern areas. We often see the tiny wefts broken in these areas on old weavings. They are weak enough that they often break if a stiff soumak panel is folded carelessly.
Thus many soumak weavings are a compromise at best in terms of their adaptation of materials to structure. Double-wefted soumak bags (as with many coarse Kurdish pieces) are far superior structurally to most Caucasian and Persian Shahsevan pieces. And at least theoretically, one could even argue that Kurdish weftless soumak pieces are superior structurally to the far more numerous Shahsevan pieces: When ground wefts were not used, motifs and layouts were designed to not require them! Of course that meant that design limitations were severe.
Dear Marla, Sue, John, Daniel and all:
Sue: I am not certain I understand what you mean about the nature of cotton. Are you saying that cotton is inherently or by its nature less strong than wool? If so, I am not sure that this is correct.
John: I am sorry, but I do not understand what you are saying. I think I understand the character of both the ancient Neolithic Anatolian fragments from Catal Huyuk and the weftless soumaks woven by Kurds in Eastern Anatolia as well as what the weavers did when they made them. Exactly what is it then that you would have me grapple with, even if in a beginning way?
Marla: I am aware of and understand the distinction you make between the Kurdish weftless soumak, which are patterned and sectional or woven in one direction then floated backwards to begin wrapping the next short row, and the Neolithic fragments, which are unpatterned, widely spaced and wrapped sequentially. Your point about the particular weaving process used to make these Neolithic fabrics is valid on its own and understood. It does not require nor is it strengthened, in my opinion, by comparisons to a Caucasian mafrash panel. It is easy enough to state as you have, that there is little or only superficial parallels between the Kurdish weftless soumak and the Neolithic separated as they are by some much time, different materials and loom technologies. In any event, I doubt you need to have grown flax, harvested and retted the bast, built a warp weighted or other primitive loom and attempted to weave using these things to realize the importance of the process. Neither am I certain that even having done so, you would be able to any better affirm or deny the evolution of the technique or structure over thousands of years. Likewise, this fails to explain why Kurdish weavers used the structure even though they had looms and materials that did not dictate it. Nor does it explain how they came to use this process.
I do not know why you insist the one fragment that was illustrated in Anatolian Studies was a "NET." Burnham described the weftless fragments that were excavated as "net like" and wrote that they were used to swathe the burial bundles prior to the bundles being tied with a cord prior to internment. I guess it makes it easier to dismiss the fact that Kurdish weavers alone wove weavings in weftless soumak; not for effect, convenience or by omission, but as complete and functional weavings.
Well, now I have said too much for sure. Better smoke a Montechristo.
Best, Michael
Dear Michael,
I said nothing about loom technology, separation of time (8000 years in this case!) or even materials, in the case of your speculations about relationships between Neolithic and present-day Kurdish weftless soumak. The technical variations I've discussed are virtually the same, whatever the loom type. Shed-making options are largely irrelevant to the variations in the soumak wrapping processes themselves. I must confess, though, that I become impatient when people invent theories involving structures and processes or design/structure relationships when they have never bothered to try out the processes--in even the simplest form--for themselves. That is SO EASY to do, and would seem like a basic requirement when one wishes to present a valid academic theory. I once had an argument with a well-known rug writer (whom most of you know) over a specific tapestry process, and no matter how hard I tried to point out the error in the simple process he was describing, I could not convince him to just wrap some yarn around a picture frame and try the process for himself! He then would have discovered immediately that it was impossible to produce the structure he was describing and illustrating! He need not take my word for it! Diagrams sometimes just don't do the trick! They can be deceptive or just plain erroneous.. Sorry, but this is a frustration that I have great difficulty overcoming! That is exactly why I finally put some directions on my website for building a frame loom for simple technical experiments.
I would ask the following of anyone hypothesizing on soumak structural or technical evolution: Are you aware of the several significant variations among Caucasian and North Persian soumak weaving processes? The several significant variations in the structures? Do you know the practical reasons for these variations? Can you sort out pieces that were woven from the front from those woven from the back? Do you know why in some cases Shahsesvan soumak yarns are continuous from side to side, merely floating between design areas in which they are used, and why in other cases they reverse continually? Can you account for the weird irregularities in Western Persian and Khorasan Kurdish soumak weavings? Do you know why one sometimes wraps the warps by passing the wrapping yarn BETWEEN the fell of the cloth and itself--and sometimes not? Especially when there are reasons other than for producing countered or uncountered surfaces? For anyone who has tried out the techniques, none of these need remain merely questions. Having tried them, one would also be much closer to appreciating the significance of differences in the processes and the diverse ways that designing is affected. Of course we can only SPECULATE on the development and evolution of techniques, but I believe that for any such speculation to have much meaning, we need a firm understanding of all of the relevant variations and possibilities.
Hi Michael -
You may well have sorted out intellectually the distinctions involved in these two weaves. You are a good and careful student.
I intended no stern challenge but rather wanted to make a gentle suggestion that Marla has explicated well above. We often LOOK and LOOK and ANALYZE what we see, when in fact some of the distinctions entailed are seen only when we try to DO what the weaver had to do to make a given structure.
I attended a TM rug morning program a few years ago, given by David Fraser, the current chairman of the TM board of directors. As you know, Fraser is a collector of weft twining and the author of perhaps the standard work on it.
He had beautiful and varied examples, but the thing that impressed me most about his presentation is that he had some demonstration jigs ("warps" of thin pieces of wood held in place at one end but open at the other) on which he demonstrated with color weft yarns, how the various kinds of weft twining is actually made. It was clear that part of his expertise is that he knew pricisely, and experientially, what the weaver had done while making all the variations of this rather primitive weave. Very often there are surprises and things that simply cannot be learned in other ways.
That was all I was saying. Get or make a little frame loom and try to replicate what the weaver did yourself and see if you don't learn things.
R. John Howe
Dear Michael,
Since you mentioned loom technology and materials in your last post, and said that you "doubt you need to have grown flax, harvested and retted the bast, built a warp weighted or other primitive loom and attempted to weave using these things to realize the importance of the process," perhaps you might answer a few specific questions dealing with practical weaving issues, insofar as they are involved in the parallels you have drawn between the Neolithic textiles and the much more complex modern Kurdish weaving—both in your ICOC lecture and here:
Is it your opinion that the Central Anatolian Catal Huyuk soumak textiles were produced on warp-weighted looms? If so, how would that loom type, as opposed to a rigid frame, have affected the kind of fabric produced (discounting the presence or absence of a shed-making device, as that refinement presumably developed much later)? In what important ways would that textile construction process differ from, relate to, or account for modern Kurdish weftless soumak production? What are the important differences between producing such a fabric in a bast fiber and producing a similar structure in wool? Can the former use of bast fibers and a switch to wool account for particular features in modern Kurdish weftless-soumak textiles? What significant similarities have you seen in the ways that modern Kurdish weavers have produced weftless soumak and other soumak products? Do such technical similarities, if there are any, have importance in separating these other Kurdish soumak weaving traditions from those of the Shahsevan weavers of North Iran and the Caucasus? In other words, are they weaving traditions with completely separate evolutionary developments?
Another issue: Have you, or has anyone else, tracked down current-day weavers still using the Kurdish unique weftless-soumak processes, and observed them at first hand? Occasionally a weftless-soumak bag pops up that seems to be quite recent. What other kinds of textile processes have been used by these people and their older family members?
We all, are here to learn and the questions raised in your postings are certainly extremely important. Unfortunately there isn't anybody on this board (or other one) who is able to answer to them. So if you don't answer to them we will miss a lot.
If we let actually on the side the "Neolithic connection" suggested by Michael you raised the following points:
What are the significant variations among Caucasian and North Persian weaving process? Is it possible to observe these variations in finished items and to use such variations to sort weavings from these area
What are the significant variations among Caucasian and North Persian and the practical reasons for these variations?
How to sort out pieces that were woven from the front from those woven from the back? Is it of any interest to sort pieces?
Why in some cases Shahsesvan soumak yarns are continuous from side to side, merely floating between design areas in which they are used, and why in other cases they reverse continually?
What are the weird irregularities you have observed in Western Persian and Khorasan Kurdish soumak weavings?
Why one sometimes wraps the warps by passing the wrapping yarn BETWEEN the fell of the cloth and itself--and sometimes not? Especially when there are reasons other than for producing countered or uncountered surfaces?
Curiously nobody reacted when I told in my essay that weftless soumak weaving, finally a very simple technique, was used in Eastern Anatolia "AND" NW Persia. Until now it was considered, on this board, that it was a "specific" Eastern Anatolian technique.
Thanks for you help
Hi Daniel,
OK, I'm in trouble, now, huh? I raised the questions above to illustrate how little most folks know about soumak processes, and to demonstrate that the issue is more complex than most assume. Once getting beyond simplistic diagrams and noting whether the work is 4/2 wrapping, 2/1 wrapping, reverse soumak, knotted wrapping, diagonal wrapping, weftless soumak, countered, uncountered, etc. most people have given the structures and processes very little thought. The fascinating weftless soumak Kurdish bags that have so captivated Michael are NOT simple things. The processes involved in them are complex, and the design restrictions they pose are also complex. THAT was the main point I was trying to make—that a relationship between them and the very simple Neolithic example from Central Anatolia is superficial and almost non-existent. ANYONE can figure out how to do that simple Neolithic variety in about 30 seconds, but I'd guess that just about everybody here would find duplicating a moderately complex design band on one of those modern Kurdish pieces quite difficult! I guarantee that to devise a design of one's own that would be successful in the structure would prove still more challenging. To go through each of the points that I raised and that you've mentioned above, would require lots of magnified illustrations and pages of explanations. I've touched on a few of these points in WOVEN STRUCTURES (maybe just in the 2nd edition…I'm not sure, as I can't find a copy of the 1st!), but decided that a discussion of the more complex issues was inappropriate in that introductory book. Most importantly, though, all of these issues can be understood by trying to reproduce each of the structural variations for one's self. That's a sure-fire way to grasp their importance. It's because apparently no one has done such a thing that there's nothing elsewhere in the rug literature concerning the points I raised. And yes, of course the variations should be of major help in sorting out the products of different tribal groups. For someone looking for a project, I recommend it!
Dear Michael, Daniel and all,
Although Michael has correctly cited John Wertime's Sumak Bags about my cruciform medallion sumak bag, John seems to have made a rare error in his technical reference to it. That bag, #74 in the book, does not have extra rows of wrapping between the ground wefts (I'll refer to it as "wrapping packing."). One of the distinguishing features about the piece is the regularity of its weave. It is all wool, with no cotton highlights as seems to be common in bags where wrapping packing is found.
While the weaver used some different wrapping techniques, wrapping packing was not among them.
John cannot recall now why he made that reference, but I checked the bag again. I believe, and John confirms that this may have been the case, that he was referring to plate 48 (also mine), not 74. Plates 48 - 51 are all from the Hashtrud - Mianeh area and cotton wrapping packing is a rather common feature in this rare and finely woven group of mafrash.
Other examples in the group can be seen as plates 71 - 73 in Tanavoli's Shahsavan.
Among the several pieces in this group with cotton wrapping packing that I own is this mafrash end panel:
In the packed areas, the cotton sumak wrapping is around 38 per vertical inch, as opposed to around 30 for the dyed wool wrapping. Silk ground wefts are employed to achieve the extraordinary fineness.
The technique has created a contrast in texture and color between the undyed cotton and the wool pattern. I can imagine no structural reason for choosing to weave in this manner, but the result today is that the dyed yarns stand out boldly against the white cotton and the texture of the packed cotton wefts seems almost flat. I have to assume that this was the intention of the weavers of these sophisticated (and probably expensive when created) panels.
For those interested, the sumak wrapping is "regular" and not countered.
Many people assume that sumak wrapping is pretty much alike, but my observation has been that there is at least as much variation in the sumak techniques as there is in pile weaving. That "proto-sumak" and "weftless sumak" and "wrapping packing" all exist in NWP doesn't surprise me at all. I suspect that there are even more varieties that we have not yet observed.
As to Daniel's comment about weftless sumak appearing in NWP bags, I will try to locate an image of a local complete khorjin that has sumak wrapping for the "bridge" between the two faces. Those of us who have seen it believe it to be almost certainly NWP, but one could debate at length whether it might be the product of the Kurds, the Shahsavan or some other group.
Daniel: Sorry, I didn't read your questions very carefully above. Yes, all of
the various soumak processes leave their traces in the textiles themselves, so
that with close study they can be used to differentiate between products from
different groups of weavers. Some are immediately obvious; others require VERY
close examination. MOST of them I've touched on briefly in the book—but only
briefly, because I figured that just about everybody would skip right past those
remarks, having no interest in such details. It was difficult to decide what was
irrelevant trivia that would merely bog down readers. This may be an appropriate
subject for an in-depth article or even a piece on the website WOVEN STRUCTURES
UPDATE if I can find the time. I'd have to drag you into that, Daniel, as with
the "End Finishes" project!
As for weftless soumak in NW Persia, I have one saddlebag from the Hoy area that displays the structure. It's on the website. It was bought from a Kurdish family who claimed that one of their grandmothers had made it. I didn't think to ask my friend who acquired it if he'd come across other pieces of the sort in the area.
Best wishes,
Dear all,
I am very pleased to share with you Marla's thougts about the fragments she received. Her conclusions are not very far from what had been observed in Wendell's bagface.
Dear Daniel,
I received your soumak fragments today and so here are my initial thoughts about the peculiarities they display.
This has to be soumak on the finest scale I've ever seen; a true tour de force weaving! Thus the fact that ground wefts were used only after every 2nd row of wrapping throughout most of the piece is not surprising. The wrapping yarns are nearly as thin as the ground wefts, and it would have been very difficult to squeeze in more wefts. The motifs are executed quite precisely because these PAIRS of wrapping rows form the majority of the diagonal design steps.
You are right: we could go crazy looking for the ground wefts, as they are nearly impossible to see. But if we look at the front side and roll the fabric--folding it weft-wise--the rows of wrapping separate quite clearly wherever there is a weft. Then we can see where there are 2 consecutive rows of wrapping, where there are 3, or 4, and can follow them along horizontally and easily see where the structure changes. The number of rows changes most often where there is a horizontal color change, but not always.
The variations seem to me quite clearly for the purpose of equalizing differences in yarn size, and solving problems related to that unevenness. It's quite possible that different people spun the differently colored yarns. Most of the reds are thinner than the blues, and so extra red rows were often crowded in--3 rows of red wrapping used alongside 2 rows of blue. But the red is also unevenly spun; in some places these yarns are thinner than in others. Because of this unevenness, the weaver has sometimes inserted short lengths of discontinuous red wrappings. The difficulties of inserting small hooked design motifs into a plain background area shows up near the tops of each figure, where the rows of wrapping waver. Here, the weaver has inserted extra discontinuous wrapping yarns as needed to straighten out the work.
In areas where the red and blue wools are used next to white cottons, still more irregularities occur. The white cotton yarns are heavier and packed so tightly to cover the surface that the weave buckles and bulges in some places. This weaver struggled with those white cottons, especially in narrow pattern parts where she needed to reverse the wrappings continually.
Yet in the design bands where the design combines a peach color and red, no irregularities seem to occur, the weave is smooth, and two consecutive rows of wrapping are used consistently. Since these fragments are very narrow, I can't guess what might have occurred in adjacent areas, where other colors might have been introduced.
Many thanks for sending these pieces! They have been fun to look at, and I appreciate that you've shared them.
I do not have a record of the structural details of this piece since I sold
it last year but I believe the posted piece and this very piece are sharing the
same origin. It is extremely fine and it has great details.
best regards
Note: Seref sent this to me by e-mail, offering to remain anonymous in order not to appear to be promoting his business. We appreciate his consideration, but since he no longer owns this piece, posting it is well within our range. Thank you, Seref. Steve Price


text:
-- All Photos This Entry Shot April 22, 2018 --
One of Many Healthy Old Growth Trees Removed at Rotary Frenchman's Bay West Park
Like just about everybody in Toronto, I was glad to get out for a walk today in what has finally become lovely spring weather. I suggested a walk along Beachpoint Promenade in Pickering to my wife who also likes this area of Frenchman's Bay.
We parked a little bit away from the beach to enjoy walking through the neighbourhood on the way. Upon arrival my jaw dropped. The wood running adjacent to the beach for hundreds of yards was no more! What had happened? I buttonholed some civic-minded and friendly looking locals who were valiantly picking up garbage amongst the devastation, as it was a neighborhood spring clean-up day. They told me that the City of Pickering and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) had removed the trees.
We went home but I couldn't stop thinking about how the area's beauty had been ruined for a generation at least. Many old growth trees were cut down. I googled the situation and came up with this Toronto Star article. The article attempts to put forth a balanced discussion of the rationale for removing all the trees except a few favoured with yellow "crime scene" tape. However here's my take on it - this is indeed a "crime scene" against our environment. I feel sorry especially for all the birds and animals who have now lost their homes and sad about the lost beauty of a walk I probably won't be taking anymore.

subset: commoncrawl


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Thank you so much for all the wonderful reassurances and generous comments left on my last post. I'm sure I'll always struggle with what to write on this blog but if y'all are sure I sound like an actual living breathing person and not a craftbot then I'm satisfied. Back to mindless blogging about the first thing that pops into my head!
Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend. Chicago decided the best way to punish those of us who aren't glamorous enough for a lakeside retreat was with record breaking heat. I really really want to bitch about how unbelievable hot our 2nd floor apartment gets but it's not even June yet and I'm sure there will be a long summer full of that rant ahead of us so I'll pace myself. I did my best to ignore the heat and stay motivated to my tasks and had some highs and lows.
low… this was supposed to be a sheep. hm.
and high, super high! I finally got this pattern working again…


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Edwin Booth as Hamlet
Shakespeare in the Park
The benefit performance by the Booth brothers was a great success in raising funds for a Shakespeare statue in Central Park. In the photo below, our Edwin is in the center. Future presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth is on the left, looking considerably less threatening than Junius, on the right.
"I don't know much about art ..."
The "About the Sculpture" section of the Booth essay in Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan deals with why some people have strong emotional reactions to a sculpture, while others are unmoved by it. I had struggled for months to draft something interesting for this section, and finally resolved that it would be interesting to discuss why I found it so unappealing. Getting More Enjoyment from Art You Love (a Kindle book) covers this issue in more detail for sculpture; for the same idea applied to painting, see How to Analyze and Appreciate Paintings.
Cross References
Copyright (c) 2013 Dianne L. Durante


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This Week's Best Tweets: Keith Urban Previews New Song, Blake Shelton Could Be Arrested
We've got some strange musings from Chuck Wicks, a picture of Hillary Scott's baby, new music from Keith Urban and Trace Adkins, and more of Blake Shelton's online tomfoolery in This Week's Best Tweets.
Whew! Found my passport!! For a sec I thought I'd have to contact my "Stalker" who I know made a copy n' has in her desk. #creepy #awkward
— Chuck Wicks (@chuckwicksmusic) August 6, 2013
On this day 2 years ago we became members of THE Grand Ole Opry!!!!! @opry #honored
— The Oak Ridge Boys (@oakridgeboys) August 6, 2013
HOLY CATS! #BringYouBack is the #1 album on iTunes! I freakin love ya! http://t.co/W6vJPzxyUv
— Brett Eldredge (@bretteldredge) August 6, 2013
Yay!!!! You can preorder new remixes of mine on iTunes NOW!!!!! #Spitfire
— LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (@leannrimes) August 9, 2013
Ok Raleigh.. I'm headed your way and I'm WAY too sober at the moment... I mean I could still get arrested but none the less WAY too sober.
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) August 9, 2013
Started my day at the @ryanfoundation children's hospital, met some amazing people/kids...little soldiers everywhere! Can't wait 2 go back
— Kree Harrison (@kreeharrison) August 8, 2013
Y'all won't believe this but @CMT is letting me take over this weekend! Make sure to tune in!
— Luke Bryan (@LukeBryanOnline) August 9, 2013
It's only been 14 days, and already my mind can't comprehend life before her...and every day my heart… http://t.co/H8NrSAjeY7
— Hillary Scott (@HillaryScottLA) August 5, 2013
New Live Track from: Take It From Me - Chesterfield, VA http://t.co/RFgHkdYTXR on #SoundCloud
— TraceAdkins (@TraceAdkins) August 9, 2013
The latest exclusive song preview is up! Check out Even The Stars Fall 4 U at http://t.co/VoGc5N7YX5! #FUSE
— Keith Urban (@KeithUrban) August 9, 2013


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T-Mobile G1 Camera Sample Photos
This page shows some examples and information about the camera of the T-Mobile G1 (HTC Dream). I've tried to show both good and bad qualities of the camera. For more photo examples and a comparison with the Nokia N95's camera, see the T-Mobile G1 vs Nokia N95 page.
T-Mobile G1 Camera Spec
|2048x1536 pixels
|Digital Zoom
|Optical Zoom
T-Mobile G1 Camera Samples
These are by no means the best results I've had with the T-Mobile G1, but are some examples to illustrate some points as detailed to the right of each picture.
Original [2048x1536]
The G1 hasn't done too bad a job of this picture, nice bright colours, and has managed ok with the big range in contrast.
Original [2048x1536]
If you ignore the stupid pose of my cat and look at the carpet, you can see a big change in colour and sharpness between the edges and the middle. Not very impressive. This picture really shows the poor quality of the G1's camera.
Original [2048x1536]
If took a few shots to get the camera to auto-focus on the flower in the middle. The G1 was determined to take a picture of the background. (See the focusing problem described below). Once it did focus on the subject, the picture is bright, fairly sharp and altogether quite good. The background is a bit dark, but overall the exposure is pretty good.
Original [2048x1536]
This shot didn't include many extremes of contrast and gave the G1's camera an easy time of it.
So for everyday shots like this, the results are good.
You can see the sharpness of the gravel diminish towards the edges along with a slight darkening but it's not really noticable.
Good result.
Original [2048x1536]
Cats make easy subjects. :-) A really nice result.
Original [2048x1536]
Close-up Sample
The eye and nose are nicely in focus and show off the good close-up capabilities of the G1's camera. Unsurprisingly, the background is totally overexposed, but we can't blame the G1 for that.
Original [2048x1536]
Often the G1's camera has a hard time picking out a focus point with the white cat and you can see here that it's chosen to focus on the background. I guess this is because it can see more contrast to focus on in the background. The focusing would be so much better if there was a visible focus point in the middle like many of the other camera phones.
- Most G1 pictures exhibit very cold blue colour cast and over-exposed whites. There is no white balance setting available to compensate for this. *
- Quite slow response when taking pictures.
- Relatively good macro close-up performance.
- No camera settings to change whatsoever. *
* Some of the shortcomings of the G1's camera can be overcome by installing a third-party camera application, notably SnapPhoto. In my opinion though, it's not really worth the extra hassle as it only really give you the advantage of being able to adjust the white-balance and jpeg quality of the photos. On top of that, the SnapPhoto app has been unstable in my tests, crashing my G1 occasionally. Obviously no app is going to be able to improve upon the lens/sensor quality of the G1.
The auto-focus is good, when it works, but is very hit and miss. There is no specific focus point, instead the G1 decides what it wants to focus on, which usually isn't what YOU want to focus on. Often I get home and check out my pictures and frustratingly find that my subject is out of focus and the background is in focus.
In summary, the T-Mobile G1's camera is okay, but not really on par with the rest of the phone's excellent features, and is certainly lacking for a modern high end phone such as this.


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|Avengers >> View Post
Subj: Re: Is Vision
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 at 03:09:39 pm EST (Viewed 209 times)
Reply Subj: Re: Is Vision
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 at 01:28:57 pm EST (Viewed 351 times)
Quote:Good Father,Brother,Friend,Husband and Teammate
Quote:The Vision of today is not the Vision I grew up with and has not been for quite some time. Decades, in fact. The Vision I grew up with was almost certainly the greatest creation of Stan Lee's successor, Roy Thomas. That Vision had a personality pretty similar to the Silver Surfer's. He was the central figure of the Avengers. Being a synthezoid, he was nobody's parent, sibling, or offspring, nor could he be. His love affair with the Scarlet Witch was one of the greatest comic book love stories of all time. He was aloof and didn't really have much in the way of friends, but he was sincerely an Avenger, and that meant he had every other Avenger's back, whatever the risk. His ongoing journey to greater self-awareness was one of the binding threads of the Avengers saga.
Quote:And then the Decades of Weird descended upon him and have yet to release him.
Well like Mystery Man said...Byrne did wreck him.
I guess I never got the character so I didn't mind the character assassination...I acknowledge that was what it was though. My first comic with Vision in it was the very issue where Mockingbird shows Wanda his deconstructed body in WCA. So to me he was always an it not a body with organs and tissues. And I agreed 100% with Simon's stance an issue or few later where he says he wasn't going to let them use his brain patterns to recreate Vision. I wouldn't want anyone using either my biological or mental what have yous to create a sentient being that isn't my kid.
Posted with Mozilla Firefox 57.0 on Windows 7
|Alvaro's Comicboards powered by On Topic™ © 2003-2018 Powermad Software


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Swimming Lessons
At Live Active Loch Leven we belive that developing a strong foundation in swimming is a vital life skill. Our Learn to Swim programme introduces children to the water from the age of 3 years old and follows Scottish Swimming's successful and progressive framework. To aid continuity of learning for your child, lessons run for 50 weeks of the year. Assessments are made on a continuous basis throughout the the learning process, and progress can be follwed at home throuhg the use of our Home Portal.
Lessons are taught in 30 minute sessions once per week, and are bookable in advance in multiples of 10 at acost of £3.80 per lesson.
Payment for Lessons
You will still pay for lessons in a 10 week block, though that 'block' will be specific to you. i.e. a customer rebooking before week one will pay for 10 sessions and a new customer joining on week 3 will also pay for 10 sessions. This will mean that there is no specific payment week for everyone as the payments are staggered. This will decrease waiting times at the desk when you are trying to pay.
Due to these staggered payments, there will no longer be posters displayed to remind you to pay, instead you will recieve an email direct into your inbox. Please ensure that we have an up to date email address as the system will automatically delete any swimmers who remain unpaid at the end of their block.
Payment can now be taken at any time during the block, you can even pay for multiple blocks at a time allowing you more flexibility and convenience, particulalry over holiday periods.
Please ensure you take a note of the date your child's payments are due to expire and write it in your diary/calender to help you remember to pay, as unpaid swimmers will be automatically removed.
If your child's credited block expires instead of being topped up, your child will be automatically and immediately removed from their class and that spot will therefore become immediately available to other swimmers, so please ensure you rebook in plenty of time to keep your child's place in our classes.
Missed Lessons
Please note we do not refund sessions that are missed due to holidays or illness. We only refund for lessons in circumstances where lessons have been cancelled by Live Active Leisure. All refunds are allocated at the end of a block when participants are paying for the next block. Reception staff will deduct the number of sessions to be refunded from the block price.


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Fairfax History In Ashes
Memories, Hopes Rise In Fire's Aftermath
By LISA M. BOUCHER
Messenger Correspondent
(Henry Raymond Photo)
FAIRFAX — On a damp and
blustery Christmas Eve, the old St. Luke's Catholic Church in its current
incarnation - Steeple Market, went up in flames.
Local residents watched in horror and despair as the steeple burned. There was relief that no lives had been lost, but it was sad to see the former church building, part of the community since the 1870s, turn to ashes.
For nearly three decades, the wooden building had been a store - purchased first by Frank and Betsy Berardinelli in 1981 from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, when it had been deemed unsafe and the repairs too costly.
Betsy Berardinelli had been a member of St. Luke's Parish since being baptized there. She said older parishioners were not happy with the idea of a store, some complained that the cross on the steeple should be returned to the church.
The cross is seen in a photograph of the Steeple Market taken in the past couple of years. While Betsy isn't sure of, its locations, it's said to be stowed away in the garage of one of the former parishioners.
The Berardinellis spent a lot of money to bring the building up to code, also fixing drainage, roof and other structural problems. Being a landlord took some getting used to, however.
"We had tenants that stayed with us for several years at a time, but it was the short-term ones in between that were the problem," said Berardinelli.
One break-in at the store ended with police following a trail of potato chips and snacks up the back stairs to the apartments.
The store became a place where kids went after school and before sports practice or a game, a place for first jobs.
The Berardinellis ran it for about 14 years and owned the property for nearly 20. They sold the business to Terry and Gail O'Brien in 1995 and the Menard's and Thibeault's bought the business and the property at the end of 1999.
The old St. Luke's wasn't the most ornate of Catholic churches, but it had many parishioners from surrounding communities.
"I was married in that church and all four of my kids were baptized there," said Colleen Paquette, of Georgia. The daughter of Fairfax native Glendon Palmer, she attended St. Luke's because Georgia didn't have a church then.
"There was a large grate in the center aisle for the heat and I remember when I got married, one of the girls got her heel caught in the grate," she said "When we came down we had to walk on our toes so the heels didn't get caught.
Colleen's is not the only wedding story involving that grate.
Henry Raymond, Fairfax resident and historian, said that at least one bride tangled with it. "Some kind soul, I am told, retrieved the shoe and brought it to her before the ceremony proceeded," he explained
Dawn Groseclose Pelkey moved to Fairfax while in first grade and attended St. Luke's.
"Phil and I were married there in June of 1979, roughly where the meat counter was located... A fact that at first appalled me, but as the years have gone by I find rather amusing," she said.
Mary Jo Gillilan, who performs in many churches, began singing at St. Luke's Parish in Fairfax. Pelkey remembers that Mary Jo and her family always felt any voice raised in song was a blessed voice. "I'm here to tell you that was a very generous interpretation of my vocal abilities," added Pelkey.
Church bazaars and lawn parties were held in the 1950s and 1960s.
Paquette remembers street dances and selling hamburgers.
Raymond said former pastor, Father Joe Sawyer loved his lawn parties. All denominations were welcome.
The church itself forged memories even for those who were very young.
(Photo Courtesy Of Donna Meunier)
"I remember most the red velvet hanging from the ceiling by four chains on each corner of the cloth over the altar," said Kathleen Raymond, Henry Raymond's niece. "I was 5 years old when my older sister died, although I lived in Connecticut, we brought her back to be buried in Fairfax, the town my mother was from.
"Every time I went to St. Luke's Church, I would see that piece of red velvet hanging over the altar and think that my sister's spirit/soul was hiding up there looking down at me and it made me feel like she was still with me."
She added, "I have not been able to get that same feeling of comfort and peace back without that red velvet. ... It just never felt right to me and have not been back since."
Raymond remembered that the church was not insulated and difficult to heat. There was a renovation project in 1955. "We bit the bullet and did a major overhaul with some professional advice," he said.
The Catholic Diocese newspaper announced the building improvements and noted that "painting bees" had been held to keep costs within budget.
"Just about every parishioner that attended the church could walk in to church and find some piece or item that they themselves, or some member of their family, had taken particular pride in helping create or renovate," said Raymond.
But all the work was for naught. Father Morgan was forced to announce one Sunday that the church would be closed.
"Well!!! That didn't go well at all, as people sitting in metal folding chairs in what many still call The Parish Center envisioned the bingo hall as their new church," said Raymond.
A group of male parishioners came up with solutions such as putting cables across the structure to keep the walls from spreading out.
The diocese, however, had made up its mind. The Parish Center was to be the new church. A number of parishioners left over that news, although some have returned.
The bitterness has long since passed and in its place are memories that could fill a book.
(Henry Raymond Photo)
"I really hope the steeple can be rebuilt somehow. I loved the way it stuck up above the rest of the town, and gave the village quaint, charming appeal," said Suzy Kneeland, former Fairfax resident. "The fire left a gaping hole visually and emotionally. It does feel like someone died."
Pierre Menard, owner of Steeple Market has plans to rebuild, insurance pending, steeple included.
"I believe that none of us who attended the old St. Luke's, can drive by there right now and not have a tear, or lump in our throat as we look at what is now and think of what was," said Raymond.
Betsy Berardinelli remembered a time when controversy raged, but also the years afterward. Her sentiments may herald yet another rebirth for the former church and store site now filled with charred ruins.
"Some people never would come into the store, but most welcomed us," said Berardinelli of those early years in business "We had great customers an gained many friends from our years in Fairfax. We still hear from many of them."
Henry A.
February 9, 2009


text: Vin McCauley, the owner of Level One Sites, believes showing a list of WODs — and displaying workouts as intimidating as a triple Murph — on your homepage is not going to leave the right impression. "WODs can be intimidating to current members and they're even more intimidating to prospective members," McCauley said. "There's a lot of Boxes that use a long blog roll on the home page and we strongly discourage that. That's a big no-no for us."


text:
What is Apicocectomy
An Apicoectomy is when an incision is made in the gum tissue to access the bone and surrounding inflamed tissue. The damaged tissue is removed along with the end of the root tip. A root-end filling is placed to prevent reinfection of the root and the gum tissue is sutured.
The bone naturally heals around the root over a period of months, restoring full function.
This procedure is performed in the office with local anesthesia and without discomfort.
Following the procedure, there is minimal soreness while the area heals.


text:
Free card Friday with Hallmark
If you've got a birthday party, anniversary or a special occasion coming up, looking for the ideal card can sometimes be a bit of a hassle if you can barely find the time to sit down, let alone get to the shops.
Well, to make things easier, on Friday 10 September Hallmark's website is giving away 10,000 free greetings cards, worth up to £5.80 each, to celebrate its website's second birthday.
For one day only, Mumsnetters will be able to claim their free, personalised card by visiting the Hallmark website and entering the code 2NDBIRTHDAY at the checkout.
Using your own images, design and message, you can create the perfect card – and have it sent directly to the recipient on a date of your choice, (up to a year in advance.) Or, if you prefer, have it posted to your own address, ready to be signed and sealed.
There's loads of choice - Hallmark.co.uk offers thousands of designs for you to customise, from the popular Forever Friends and Purple Ronnie brands, to exclusive OK! Magazine cards where you can appear on the front page, using your own photos to create the final look. Plus, Toy Story, Disney and LEGO®designs.
The giveaway is set to coincide with Hallmark's weekly "Thank Hallmark It's Friday" activities, offering giveaways and fun activities on its Facebook and Twitter pages, just in time for the weekend, which will continue throughout the year.
The offer is limited to first-come, first-served, so be sure that you're get there early if you want to claim one of the 10,000 free cards.
Last updated: over 3 years ago


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Chairman's Message
Society is long dependent on education to provide the necessary stepping stone on one's path towards individual growth, which contributes directly to the growth of a society and country as a whole. In view of the ever-increasing demand for professionally qualified youth, it has become imperative to increase the availability of quality higher education in diverse fields. Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan College of Engineering (DSCE) strives to establish itself as a citadel of quality technical education in the global arena of engineering and technological education. The college actively updates itself with foresight, vision and perspective of committed learning, research and training to meet the global demands for professional talents of international standards. "Towards Excellence" is the motto of the institution. The institution provides world class infrastructural facilities comparable with the best of its kind in the field of education, state of the art laboratories, innovative teaching-learning process and personality development programmes in moulding and creating students of high technical expertise and managerial capabilities. We, at DSCE emphasize on providing quality education thereby developing our students into strong assets of our nation. I hope this website provides you with a plethora of courses to choose from and cater to your educational palette. Trust to see you in our idyllic and lush green campus soon.
Goals & Objectives of the management:
To provide a smooth learning experience.
To remove gender inequality and ensure uniformity.
To impart knowledge, skill, social and moral values.
To eradicate illiteracy through academic upliftment of students.
To strive for sustainable community socio development throughextension activities.


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|Tropidurus azurduyae
Carvalho, Rivas, Céspedes & Rodrigues, 2018
In this study we describe Tropidurus azurduyae, a new species of lizard endemic to the Andes. This species is restricted to inter-Andean dry valleys of central and southern Bolivia, within the ecoregion known as Bolivian Montane Dry Forests. It is currently known from the departments of Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Potosí, and Santa Cruz, where it ranges in elevation from about 1000 to 2800 m. In addition, our analyses of closely related populations of Tropidurus from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay revealed undescribed species in central and northeastern Brazil and eastern Bolivia that render T. etheridgei Cei, 1982, paraphyletic. These results underscore the need for a comprehensive revision of peripheral and disjunct populations currently assigned to widely distributed species of Tropidurus. The phylogenetic relationships and distribution patterns of these new taxa concur with recent findings supporting seasonally dry tropical forests and open formations of dry vegetation from South America as distinct biotic units. Furthermore, they offer no support for seasonally dry tropical forests as closely related areas. In line with these discoveries, we refute biogeographic scenarios based exclusively on vicariance to explain the biogeographic history of Tropidurus.
|Adult male of Tropidurus azurduyae, sighted (not collected) at the type locality in the Torotoro National Park, Potosí, Bolivia.
|FIGURE 3. Live specimens of Tropidurus azurduyae.
E, G, Adult female (allotype MHNC-R 3009); F, H, Adult male (holotype MHNC-R 3011).
Tropiduridae Bell, 1843
Tropidurus Wied, 1825
Tropidurus azurduyae, n. sp.
Morphological Diagnosis: Tropidurus azurduyae is here morphologically diagnosed as a Tropidurus based on the observation of a set of characters suggested by Frost et al. (2001) as exclusive to the genus: skull not highly elevated at the level of the orbits; "flash" marks on underside of thighs present; circumorbitals distinct from other small supraorbital scales; lateral fringe not developed on both sides of fourth toes; enlarged middorsal scale row absent; tail terete; and hemipenis attenuate without apical disks. The presence of a maxilla not broad, nutritive foramina of maxilla strikingly enlarged, lingual process of dentary extending over lingual dentary process of coronoid, angular strongly reduced, and absence of medial centrale could not be examined without dissecting or clearing and staining specimens. These characters should be revised whenever larger series of individuals become available.
Tropidurus azurduyae is a member of the T. torquatus group per Frost et al. (2001). It differs from other species groups by lacking an enlarged middorsal scale row (well marked in species of the T. spinulosus group, especially in males), by exhibiting black "flash" marks on the underside of thighs and cloacal flap of adult males (yellow, cream, or orangey "flash" marks are present in males of the T. spinulosus group), and also by lacking a dorsoventrally flattened body (as observed in species of the T. semitaeniatus group and, more moderately, in T. bogerti).
Tropidurus azurduyae is the only species in the genus with lower flanks pigmented orange, a condition consistently observed in both sexes (fig. 3E–H). Its ventral head is darkly pigmented and offers contrast to the light circular blotches present on chin and also laterally (fig. 3G, H). The ground color of its throat is charcoal gray impregnated with strong orange coloration (fig. 3G, H). A pair of mite pockets is present on the lateral neck, with the posterior one larger; the anterior pocket originates lower than the posterior, but both usually end ventrally at the same level (fig. 3F). No pockets are found in the armpit and inguinal region of the new species. An elliptical or subrhomboidal black mark is present on the mid venter of adult males of T. azurduyae in addition to black "flash" marks on the underside of thighs and precloacal flap (fig. 3H). Tropidurus azurduyae is saxicolous, but may climb tree trunks and fallen logs occasionally (fig. 1H). In combination, this set of characters provides a safe diagnosis, distinguishing T. azurduyae from all other congeners.
Etymology: The species name azurduyae is a noun in the feminine genitive case honoring Juana Azurduy de Padilla (Chuquisaca, Bolivia: July 12, 1780–May 25, 1862), one of the most distinguished Latin American leaders who bravely fought for the independence of the Spanish territory of Upper Peru, which comprised part of today's Bolivia and Peru, and formed along with Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay the Viceroyalty of the Río de La Plata during colonial times. Her memory remained nearly forgotten for more than a century, until President Cristina Kirchner conferred on her the title of General of the Argentinian Army in 2009, and in that same year, the Bolivian Senate promoted Juana Azurduy posthumously to the rank of Marshal of the Republic, declaring her "Liberator of Bolivia." Although the biography of Juana Azurduy assuredly places her as one of the most important women of Latin America, the history of her fight for freedom and equality has not received enough attention outside history classes and political events. Naming Tropidurus azurduyae we do not aim to merely reverence her as a historical personage and revolutionary soldier, but to genuinely honor her intelligence, courage, and heroic actions against a male-dominated colonialist world whose roots remain alive at the present time. This is an affirmative action to remind all Latin American women and men of our female heritage of strength and combativeness.
For a more comprehensive biography of Juana Azurduy, refer to the work of the Argentinian writer Mario "Pacho" O'Donnnel (1994), available online (portaldesalta.gov.ar). Those interested may follow the YouTube link (youtu.be/SERg8GKCNeA) to hear the song "Juana Azurduy" in the voice of the Argentinian singer Mercedes Sosa, honoring the valiant spirit of Juana Azurduy.
The taxonomic description and reconstruction of the phylogenetic relationships of Tropidurus azurduyae reflect on our efforts to advance the systematics of widely distributed complexes of cryptic species of Tropidurus. Because tropidurine fossils have not been discovered to date, we were unable to perform a safe chronological analysis to determine minimum ages for clades and species. However, the identification of endemic species restricted to the inter-Andean dry valleys from central and southern Bolivia and other seasonally dry tropical forests and open dry areas from South America allow us to expand the body of evidence supporting these areas as distinct biotic units. Furthermore, our results provide evidence against the Pleistocene Arc hypothesis, and call our attention to revisiting the biogeographic history of the dry areas of South America based on improved data sets and comparative analyses of a larger number of clades. For the first time, our results show with clarity that scenarios based exclusively on vicariance are unlikely to explain the complex biogeographic history of Tropidurus. Nevertheless, even if the distribution data and phylogenetic patterns recovered thus far allow us to rule out certain hypotheses in favor of others, determining the timeframe of the events involved in the diversification and biogeographic history of Tropidurus is crucial. Certainly, the incorporation of the time component (Donoghue and Moore, 2003) remains as a major challenge for us to fully understand the evolutionary history of this lizard clade (Carvalho et al., 2013).
André L. G. Carvalho (André Luiz Gomes), Luis Rolando Rivas, Ricardo Céspedes and Miguel Trefaut Urbano Rodrigues. 2018. A New Collared Lizard (Tropidurus, Tropiduridae) endemic to the western Bolivian Andes and Its Implications for Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests. American Museum Novitates. 3896; 1-56. DOI: 10.1206/3896.1 digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/6852


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UPDATE: Tis the season … Craig shared this ad. Was on eBay until it sold.
You rarely see Santa delivering packs of Old Gold cigarettes to all the good boys and girls anymore.
UPDATE: Tis the season … Craig shared this ad. Was on eBay until it sold.
You rarely see Santa delivering packs of Old Gold cigarettes to all the good boys and girls anymore.
This seems like a fitting jeep to list on the 4th of July.
"1960 jeep willy prevous postal so 2 wd all custom 350 / 400 450 hp new everyting incl tires brakes"
Merry Christmas everyone!
This image is courtesy of Roberto Flores!
Lawrence shared his annual Christmas photo with us:
And Jim shared his wreathed jeep as well:
And Charles shared this Jeep Parts JEF Christmas photo:
Christmas isn't all that far away!
"1943 Press Photo Santa Claus Tracked Down Bouncing Along Mountain Trail in Jeep.
This is an original press photo. A Camp Carson scouting party on Christmas reconnaissance, tracked down Santa Claus, bouncing along a mountain trail using a jeep instead of good, old "Bunder," "Blitzen," and the rest of his traditional outfit. He told the soldiers that he was taking his new rig on a "shakedown cruise" and fount it would do the job very well. Santa forecasted a big Christmas for everybody—especially the boys at Camp Carson. Photo measures 7 x 9 inches. Photo is dated 12-21-1943."
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Just a single update for Christmas. Everyone have a safe and joyous Christmas!
This unique Christmas Card vmail from 1944 sold on eBay in 2013 for $14.60.
Just a few updates tonight. I'm behind on Christmas ….
Christian shared these season greetings from Germany: http://www.willys-am-tegernsee.de
Thanks to Idaho Todd for this wonderful 2016 Halloween Willys photo.
I will be spending all (and I do mean ALL) day setting up for trick-o-treaters. My mother-law-law likes to put on a big show for the kids, so we decorate on Halloween day then take everything down after they leave. Hopefully it doesn't rain this year!
A similar version of the photo was sold on eBay in May of 2015.
"1942- Pulled by a quintette of jeeps instead of reindeer, Santa Claus rides a tank at Fort Knox. This was the Christmas greeting from the men of the armored force. Name "Yardbird" is painted on lead jeep. The others look to have names as well but I can't make them out."
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It's perfect for your valentine.
"Vintage UNUSED (unsigned) Valentine children's one sided card, like the kind we would exchange in school with each other. Please check out photos for image, caption and condition. These are a reminder of yesteryear and wonderful childhood school memories!! I am a smoke and pet free environment."
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UPDATE: Two of these sold in 2014. The last seller mentioned the eyes move back and forth with the jeep. This one sold for $14.50 on eBay.
Should I know who Joan Rimers is?
"Original Vintage Press Photo Christmas Santa & Pretty Girl Joan Rimers w/ Willys Jeep CJ dated 1945 Size is 7×9″ inches."
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This December 1955 Willys News article shows a jeep exiting a fireplace in a Florida Jeep dealership. It looks too big for Santa to bring down the chimney, but a flat fender would have fit 🙂
Just as a reminder,
Ann, my kids, and I will be spending the week in the Seattle area. I do have some updates scheduled to appear, but they will be limited. The kids leave on the 26th and Ann and I will be back in Pasco by the 27th, so I imagine normal updates will begin at least by Dec. 28th, if not earlier.
Lawrence and his dogs once again dressed up for the holidays. Thanks for the photos!
I bet this is one of the earliest Santa-in-a-jeep photos.
"1941- Santa Clause uses jeep to bring presents to troops at the Quartermaster Replacement Center at Camp Lee, Virginia."
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This photo appeared on the G503 Facebook page. It was taken in San Antonio, possibly at Ripleys Believe It or Not.
This appears to be some kind of Christmas photo with the jeep acting as the reindeer for a sleigh prop in the back. No information is included with the photo.
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Not perfect, but still a neat Christmas card.
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One more Santa post. Jalopnik posted this rendition of Santa driving a 'jeep' that was painted by Australian James Higgins Quirk in the 1950s. The original image is part of a digital collection at the Museum Victoria.
Here's a heart warming story of a boy, a girl, a jeep and a Merry Christmas!
Mike writes, I wanted to take the time to share with you my Christmas present from my girlfriend. She arranged to have a local artist put together a liquor/wine bar made from the back end of a 49′ Willys. Don't worry, the jeep was beyond repair. This bar is catered towards my specific hobbies such as my 46′ Willys, my love for Scotch, plus a few other things. I think she's a keeper!!! Both my girlfriend and the bar!
Santa got a little help from an M-151 this year. Joe tells me it was a cold drive, but taking Santa for a ride and being last in the parade was fun!


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The Early Years
Barack Hussain Obama was born on August 4, 1961 to Ann Dunham and Barack Obama, Sr in Honolulu, Hawaii. He has two half sisters: Maya Soetoro-Ny and Auma Obama and one half brother, Malik Obama. He grew up mostly in Hawaii with his grandparents, but spent one year of his childhood in Washington State and four years in Indonesia. He graduated from Punahou School in 1979. After high school, he moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College. He was there for two years, then transferred to Columbia University in New York where he graduated in 1983.
Family Life
On October 3, 1992, Barrack Obama married Michelle Robinson. They have two daughters: Malia and Sasha and two dogs: Bo and Sunny. The family lived in Chicago, Illinois until he became president in 2008, when they moved to Washington DC where they still reside.
Life Before Politics
After Barack Obama graduated from Columbia, he was hired as the director of Developing Communities Projects in Chicago. He worked as a community organizer for 3 years. Then he decided to go to Harvard Law school where he was selected editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year. He graduated with his law degree in 1991 and returned to Chicago to teach at the University of Chicago's Law School. During this time, he also wrote his first book called "Dreams from My Father". In addition to his work at the university, Obama also joined a law firm which handled civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development.
Political Career
Barack Obama began his political career in 1997 when he was elected to the Illinois State Senate. He served until 2000 when he lost a reelection bid to another democrat in a primarily battle. He was reelected in 2002 and served until 2004. He resigned in November of that year because he had been elected to become a US Senator representing the state of Illinois. While Obama had been a rising star in Chicago politics he was not well known by the rest of the county. That changed in July of 2004 when he delivered the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. That speech was seen by over 9 million people and propel him into the national spotlight. His speech was loved by all who saw it and that elevated his status within the party. Shortly after that speech, he decided to run for president. His message of hope and change resonated with many Americans. His empathy and passion to help his fellow citizens could be seen in the powerful speeches that he delivered all over the country. He resigned from the US Senate on November 16, 2008 after being elected the 44th President of the US.
Becoming President
On November 15, 2008, at the age of 47; Barack Obama became the first African American President of the United States. In order to be president, the constitution says that candidates must be 35 years old, have been a resident in the United States for 14 years and is a natural born citizen. In addition to those requirements, the candidate needs to win the electoral college, which means they need to be acceptable to a large number of people. Meeting all of those requirements, his message of Hope and Change was heard and welcomed by millions of voters. During one of his campaign speeches when talking about change he said "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." While he faced many challenges during his first term, he won re-election in 2012 and served a total 8 years, which is the most anyone can serve as president of the United States.
Barrack Obama is an American Hero to me because I admire his message of hope and change. He is optimistic and is passionate about his work. He is committed to trying to make life better for all people, not just himself. Throughout his life he has had compassion for others. While most college graduates would we looking for a job that would pay them the most money, he took a position as a community organizer on the south side of Chicago. This area is filled with poor people and has a lot of crime. He didn't take this job for the money because it was not a very well paying job. He took it because he wanted to help his community. I believe his desire to help others is what motivated him to get into politics. His time as president he fought for women's rights, immigration reform and he signed a health care bill into law that gave everyone health insurance. Even though he is no longer president, he is still working trying to help make other people's lives better. He and his wife has started a non profit organization called The Obama Foundation which will be used to continue to promote his message of hope. His compassion, empathy, and generosity are just a few of the reasons I admire him and consider him an American Hero.
"Obama, Barack." UXL Newsmakers. . Encyclopedia.com. 28 Apr. 2017 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.
Barack Obama, U.S. Senator from Illinois.http://obama.senate.gov/ (accessed on August 23, 2005).
"Rising Star: Senate Candidate Barack Obama Delivers Rousing Keynote at DNC." Democracy Now.http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/28/1313225 (accessed on August 23, 2005).


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Yard Decor For Halloween.
Step 1: What You'll Need
Red Spray Paint
Black Spray Paint (optional)
Spray Foam
Yard Stake
Yard Tie Down
Trash Can
Step 2: Cut Wood
Ideally there should be some kind of ridge on the inside of the can. Cut the wood to the size of the trash can to create a shelf so you don't need to fill the can with foam.
Step 3: Guts.
Spray the foam on top of the wood however you want in order to make intestine looking foam strings. Paint blood red.
Step 4:
Paint Words on lid and Side with black paint. You don't have to.
Step 5: Drill and Tie Down
Drill Holes in two sides. Run the Yard Tie Down through. Use the Stake to tie to the yard.


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Would you like a wake-up call?" the desk clerk asks as I check in.
"No, I'll just use my iPhone alarm," I naively reply.
"Not that kind of wake-up," she laughs. "Do you want a call if the aurora comes out?"
I've flown to Fairbanks, Alaska's largest inland city, to see and photograph the aurora borealis. These northern lights occur when the earth's magnetic field draws in ionized particles from the sun, causing gasses in the upper atmosphere to glow with eerie luminescence. The volume of sun-shot particles, the solar wind, determines auroral intensity. With activity levels varying in 11-year cycles, NASA predicts 2013 to be a high-intensity "solar max."
To learn how best to capture this auroral bonanza on camera, I book a Northern Lights Photo Workshop through the 1st Alaska Outdoor School.
"The tour is targeted at photographers who have no experience shooting the aurora," says Ronn Murray. "I'll teach you how to take photos the same way I do professionally."
Ronn drives eight of us aurora paparazzi wannabes to a lodge northeast of town. In indoor warmth, he offers suggestions for adjusting ISO (1600), aperture (wide open), mode (aperture priority), metering (evaluative-matrix), exposure compensation (+1 stop) and white balance (3500 Kelvin).
"Keep an extra battery in a warm inner pocket, and once you take your camera out, do not bring it back in or it will get coated with condensation," he warns.
The sky is overcast, so we kill time, endlessly waiting for the clouds to lift. Finally around midnight, Ronn discovers the skies are actually clear over Cleary Summit to the north.
We hit the road like a band of tornado chasers racing after the solar wind. As we arrive at Cleary, so do the clouds. After a moment of patchy splendor, curtains close and the show is over. We head home.
Hoping the northern lights look better farther north, I book a flight with the Northern Alaska Tour Company to Coldfoot Camp. This truck stop settlement along the pipeline-hugging Dalton Highway, 55 miles north of the Arctic Circle, offers drivers the last food, fuel and flush toilets for 240 miles.
While tourists travel the highway in summer, winter traffic is largely limited to road crews, long haulers and ice road truckers heading to the ice roads. I check into the Slate Creek Inn, a prefab motel resembling a string of doublewides. There are only two other guests.
After a 140-mile Arctic Mountain Safari tour to Atigun Pass, guide Jason Smith and I drive to nearby Wiseman, a wilderness-worthy town with 14 year-round inhabitants and no wired-in electricity.
"Most use alternative energy," Jason explains. "There's a wind turbine and there's solar. In the dead of winter, they supplement with generators."
Resident Jack Reakoff has the heat going in a one-room log cabin. While Jason scopes the sky, Jack and I chat inside.
"I consider the middle of March to the 10th of April as the best time for aurora watching," he tells me. "We get clear skies and the magnetic fields of the earth and sun lock better at that time of the year."
Jason reports a dim display of lights to the north. Its faint green glow brightens the polar sky. It's not spectacular, but it's better than nothing.
With aurora watching being a night owl endeavor, days become free for exploration. Back in Fairbanks, I ogle natural history and art at the University of Alaska's Museum of the North and vintage vehicles at the Fountainhead Antique Automobile Museum, which also displays attire from the era.
"I believe it's the largest collection of historic vintage clothing on display in the U.S.," brags curator Willy Vinton.
Figuring winter in Alaska means dog sledding, I stop by Paws for Adventure for a one-hour mushing experience. At most sledding operations, guests ride as cargo. Paws owner/guide Leslie Goodwin gives participants a chance to mush.
"You will ride in the sled for the first part with me driving," she explains. "When the dogs and the trail mellow out, I'll let you take over my spot and I'll be cargo."
Our team of Alaskan huskies dash Iditarod-like through woods and across snow-blanketed meadows. Riding the runners allows me to appreciate the power and eagerness of the pups. Fortunately, I only miss one turn.
I continue on to Chena Hot Springs, a hotspot in the hills northeast of Fairbanks. After simmering in mineral water, I take a geothermal tour, which includes a peek inside the resort's massive greenhouses. I follow that with a tour of the Ice Museum where artists have sculpted cool designs in the frozen medium.
For aurora watching, the resort provides snowcoach tours to the summit of Charley's Dome, 1,300 vertical feet above the resort. There, yurts offer a warm retreat and heated outhouses provide for warm relief.
"There's a faint band of color starting in the north," one of the guides announces.
The yurt empties faster than a kindergarten class at recess. Boots hit the snow, eyes aim upward and enthralled guests oooh and ahhh with unbridled emotion. I stand in awestruck wonder.
Bands of wispy green glow against a starry black background. The translucent color intensifies, fades and reappears in eerie slowness. Other cultures have thought the northern lights to be dancing spirits or signs from God. I find them simply heavenly.
I drive back to Fairbanks the next day where I have dinner with a long-lost friend. Then it's back to the hotel.
"You still want that wake-up call?" the desk clerk asks.


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Audi's R8 e-tron project was taken for dead a few months ago when reports started surfacing that the project being canceled, citing expensive batteries and lack of power as two possible reasons.
There might have been some credibility to the story, but discontinued or now, development of the car is back on track and has been spotted by our spy photographers. Winter testing is still underway, as the spyshots were taken outside of Arvid… (continue reading >>)


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Pierre has academic experiences from Europe, North America, and Asia holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and Health from Canada.
He is currently the Scientific Director of the Global Health Asia Institute, an action-oriented think tank hosted by the Faculty of Public Health at Mahidol University.
Located in Bangkok, the institute develops research and education relating to cross-cutting sustain-
able development issues with a focus on health, biodiversity and the environment.
Pierre is naturally inclined to discuss sustainable living, biodiversity conservation, planetary health, system thinking and attempts to address the challenge of reconnecting our society to our natural world through scientific communication, education, and art.
He is a rock climber and free diver, as both enable mindful intimacy with nature. During the retreat, Pierre will coordinate the outdoor activities including nature therapy.
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