England - York, Purpleman #2

We passed Purpleman again on our way back from checking out York Minster and took these photos.  Closer-in shot of his statement below:

England - York, Purpleman #1

Each to his own form of protest.  This guy was peacefully astride his bike to bring attention to those who died in the Grenfell high-rise disaster of some months ago.  Certainly got our attention, and as it turns out he has a considerable web presence, with hundreds of photos resulting from a Google search.  He not only drew attention to the fire at Grenfell, but travels all over the world to do the same in behalf of other man-made disasters.

These shots were captured on September 7, 2018.

England - York, Real Medieval Flowers

I saw this and was amazed at how much it resembles this post from the Renaissance Festival in Plantersville, here in the Houston area; many times I'll snap a picture with a previous post in mind for comparison purposes.  In this case it was awesome seeing this in a real medieval city...

England - York, Street View of York Minster

York Minster is the reason we stopped in the first place; one of Andrew's friends recommended it to us as a neat thing to see.  First, though, we had to walk the medieval streets in the center of town, from which this glimpse was captured.  During post-capture I thought the dark background lent an air of foreboding - maybe mystery - which seemed to match the dark and gloomy air that day, as it was cold and rainy:

England - York, Watchful Godess

This was captured from the top of the hill featured in yesterday's post...knew it would be a silhouette for the blog as soon as I snapped the shutter.

England - York, Keep of York Castle

Our last stop in England was in Manchester, where we spent the night close to the airport to catch a morning flight back home.  There was a little time on the way from North Yorkshire, so we stopped in York for a few hours to take in the sights.  After parking the car in the outskirts of downtown we walked into the city, where we saw an amazing sight - that of the Keep of York Castle.  Having no idea what it was or how old it was, we saw some steps and went to the top.  From there it was six pounds to get in so we just hung around at the top of the hill, from which I snapped the pic that will appear in tomorrow's post.

Very interesting that this structure has been here for some 900 years, exactly as it appears on this hill.  A good picture of what it looked like in the 14th century appears in this Wikipedia article.  Lots happened here...if only those walls could talk!

Picture below is the entire hill, which overlooks a modern scene nothing like what an observer would have seen in medieval times.  The image underneath is the original, straight out of the camera, to compare and demonstrate the data-capturing power of each pixel in the Bigger Cahoona's awesome sensor:

England - Lake District Tour, Lakeside Pine Trees

England - Lake District Tour, A Couple of Lakeside Houses

Ending up at the north end of Lake Windermere, we took a boat to get back to where we originated at the beginning of the tour while our guide drove the van to meet us there.  It was plenty windy and cold, but Andrew and I persevered topside to take in the sights.  This house and the one posted below are idyllic in their isolation and lakeside locations:

England - Lake District Tour, Pink Sheep

Yes, these are really pink sheep...not photoshopped at all.  Our guide explained that the farmers would dye or spray-paint the wool to help prevent sheep-rustling, a problem that had recently gotten worse.

England - Lake District Tour, Modern Lamp Post / Getting Lost in Flight

As mentioned several times before in this blog, I was a student pilot once and got to fly around a little black and white Cessna 150 (tail number niner-four-golf) out of Brown Airport in Orange, Texas, now known as Orange County Airport.  My instructor was Ed Feuge, an awesome teacher - one of the best - who worked a day job at DuPont.  Until the funds were re-prioritized I made it all the way up to solo cross-countries and practicing stalls, etc for the FAA check ride.  For the practice sessions I would head out by myself to the practice field, somewhere north of I-10 where there was nothing but forest below.

One of my cross country flights ended well but there was a hiccup somewhere in the middle of my outbound leg.  I had climbed up to my designated altitude of 6,500 ft on the way to Lufkin for a round-trip there and back, and was tracking my position using VOR out of Jasper along with ADF from the destination.  Having filed a VFR flight plan I depended on landmarks below, comparing them to my nav charts.

It went along OK for a while, but about 30 minutes into the flight I looked down and found that nothing matched.  There was a railroad track and a road alongside, but they were on the wrong side of each other!  I checked and re-checked, but still it made no sense...I was not where I thought I was or should be.  But alas...there was a small town ahead!  All towns have water towers with their name on it, don't they?  I decided to position the airplane directly to the south of the town as I decreased altitude to 1,000 ft AGL, the lowest legal limit over a populated area.

As I approached the town, now traveling due north, I flew a little to the right of the water tower and sure enough, there was the name "Zavalla", a town I could identify on the map.  Now all I had to do was turn x-number of degrees toward Lufkin, making a small correction for the wind, and regain my altitude.

And it worked!  The nose of my little craft was spot-on the center of the airfield as I approached.  All I had to do then was descend to the downwind leg of the pattern and put'er down!  Worked like a charm.  It was a three-point landing, all three wheels hit the paint in my parking spot, and the lady in the FBO kissed my logbook to make a lipstick print.  It was quite the adventure...

England - Lake District Tour, Roadside Shed

We stopped at a small picturesque bridge to hang out for a few minutes and take pictures or just enjoy the scenery.  Being so rustic in appearance, I was drawn to this shed, imagining that it's as old as the hills nearby.  Closer inspection of the sign, however, revealed its origins dated back to...1964!

England - Lake District Tour, Curvy Road with Valley

This was captured on one of the many scenic stops as we drove around.  Had to push an old lady out of the way to get this one...

England - Lake District Tour, Walkers on a Hike

I was impressed with the patience that Brits had with walkers.  They were everywhere around the Lake District, even at times occupying precious space in the lanes of byways and highways, but nobody honked or complained.  Lots of older folks doing this, very productively spending their retirement days either alone or with a spouse or companion.  These older people, and the more serious walkers of the younger generation, always had walking sticks.  I have an aunt in Colorado who said that, if started when young, using two walking sticks on every hike will increase the life of your knees by about ten years.

By the way, do you see the walkers in this photo?  Barely discernible among the vegetation is a path, close to the exact middle of the photograph (click to enlarge).

England - Ingenious Gate Closer in the Lake District

...and this is how we got in there, through this gate that uses the weight of a stone to automatically close it after passing through.  Interesting to see technology that could have been - and probably was - here a thousand years ago to do the same thing.

England - Stone Circle in the Lake District

Very interesting, these odd stone circles dotted throughout England.  This one is dated back thousands of years, and is assumed to have had religious purposes.  If only they could talk...

Andrew is in the middle there with red tennis shoes on.

England - Lake District Tour, Blue Flowers

As mentioned earlier, the day after arriving in England's Lake District we took a tour to scope out the larger picture.  This and the next half-dozen or so posts will feature miscellaneous photos of bits and pieces here and there from that tour...

England - Gormire Lake at Sutton Bank

This is a more iconic view of the lake, almost from the same position seen in pictures published of Alf in books written about him.  Andrew and I took a long trail down to the lake itself, which proved rewarding but exhausting, as it was fairly steep.

Same view below with subtle focus shifted to the plant life in the foreground:

England - Sutton Bank, the "Finest View in England"

...and this is the reason.  Though what you see above was captured in a single frame I shot a number of panoramas, but unfortunately none proved blogworthy.

Second view below, with Gormire Lake in the background, a different view of which will be featured in tomorrow's post:

England - Signage at Sutton Bank

From Thirsk we made our way up to Sutton Bank, one of Alf Wight's favorite places to spend time and very close to Thirlby, his last hometown.  Thirsk, Sutton Bank and Thirlby are all a stone's throw from one another.  As we made our way up the steep roadway I couldn't help but think of how, during his early practice years, the vet had to ascend the incline in reverse gear.

Alf often claimed that Sutton Bank offered the best view in England, no doubt the origin of what it says on this sign and the reason the phrase is in quotation marks:

England - Thirsk, Matchstick St. Mary's

So I end the Thirsk series with this post, a model of the church using 11,927 matches.  With some of my lineage going back to the British Isles, now I know where my proclivity to start and carry through large and complex projects comes from...

Next stop is Sutton Bank, one of Alf Wight's favorite places to spend his down time and walk with his dogs.

England - Thirsk, View of St. Mary's Pulpit #2 / Chuck Jones

Netflix has a program that's trending right now about Walt Disney, called Walt / The Man Behind the Myth, narrated by Dick Van Dyke, released in 2016 (incredible that Van Dyke, in his 90's, is still working).  The show offers a fascinating history of animation as a parallel to Disney's life and career, and many of his former employees and heavy hitters in the industry were interviewed.  One of those heavy hitters was Chuck Jones.

I've always had a fascination with animation, and often said that if I were to go back in time would pursue a career in the technical aspects of the art.  For that reason I chose to teach animation to sixth graders as a rotating elective at a district where I taught in Deep East Texas.  I built an animation board with three pegs and had the kids hand draw enough frames to do a short of ten seconds on sheets of white typing paper, which were then 3-hole punched to fit on the board.  When they were ready to commit to film I brought an old 8mm film camera and had them assist in shooting their frames one at a time until all 180 were captured.  Then I got the film developed and showed everyone's short at the end of the six-weeks.  We also did some stop-motion just for fun.  It was a well-received class, I think.

Several years later, in Houston during a hiatus in teaching, I learned that Chuck Jones would be signing books at the Bookstop in the old Alabama Theater building.  Though I really wasn't a fan of his style, due to his place in cartoon history I thought it a no-brainer to buy one of his books and have him sign it.  With book in hand I found myself in line with hundreds of others at the appropriate time.

Upon arriving at the table, while handing him the book to sign, I decided to take the liberty and tell him about what I'd done in the classroom.  To my surprise he became engaged and stopped the line to hear me out and, with apparent sincere interest, asked detailed questions about my methods, seeming impressed that the next generation was taught the fundamentals of animation in a rural East Texas classroom.  In fact we went on so long that I started to get nervous about everyone else waiting in line, but we broke it off and kept the line moving.

As I exited the front of the store with my now-signed book in hand, I saw one of those big black stretch limos out front waiting to whisk him away when the time came.  Stopping for a moment, I looked in awe at the car knowing that it was ultimately paid for by none other than...BUGS BUNNY!!

England - Thirsk, View of St. Mary's Pulpit #1 / My First Church Talk

The pulpit at St. Mary's also has a mouse carved into it, barely discernible along the bottom near the top step in this pic.

As a kid growing up in the Lutheran faith, I always saw a church pulpit as the domain of the high and mighty, and that you had to go to school to become holy then wear robes and sashes to earn a spot there.  How utterly wrong that idea was!  One of the first lessons and strongest impressions I got after being baptized into the church of Christ was that any Christian has a place in the pulpit or Sunday School classroom so long as what is taught is true to the Bible, and so long as the speaker is not disqualified due to a willfully sinful lifestyle, etc.  How simple yet how powerful! ...the power originating of course from the Word of God in a sermon properly prepared.

My first experience in speaking behind a podium (not a pulpit, mind you) in a church setting was when I was confirmed at the Trinity Lutheran Church on 16th Street in Orange, Texas.  I was twelve.  A group of us had taken classes for some weeks, and as a graduation exercise we all took turns to give a little talk to the congregation during a Sunday morning service.  After two or three had gone up and did their thing it was my turn.

As though it were yesterday I remember approaching the podium and seeing the audience from behind it for the first time.  I had developed a defense mechanism which staved off nervousness, but all of that tumbled down the moment I opened my mouth.  The reason?  I had not prepared for a moment what I was going to say.  Yes, for my first public church talk I stood at the podium and realized that I was going to have to wing it the whole way through.  Words did come out, but of course I flubbed it big time, embarrassing my teacher, my classmates and my clan all at the same time.  After that experience I realized that any innate talent or intelligence that I might have was not going to carry me through in all circumstances, so never again approached a public speaking engagement without being over-prepared.  I have since preached some (in English here and Spanish in Mexico) and taught many Bible classes and, some say, very effectively.  Through the years, however, I came to realize that I am not a teacher but an entertainer at heart, as anyone who has attended very many of my classes at church or my public meetings at work in the past will probably agree.

England - Thirsk, Ceiling Beams

It's easy to suppose that these beams, like the graffiti and front door(s), are also centuries old.

England - Thirsk, Second View of Baptismal Font

...complete with the rector in the background going about his daily chores.

England - Thirsk, Baptismal Font at St. Mary's

This is looking straight back from the front of the sanctuary.  Found the baptismal font interesting, and though I'd seen them before in European churches had never seen a wooden structure like that on top of one.  At first I didn't even know it was a baptismal font until the thing lifted straight up, as eagerly demonstrated by the friendly rector:

England - Thirsk, Closer-In Shot of Side Sactuary #2

This is what was seen looking to the right from where yesterday's post was captured.  Saw the scratches in the stone just above the altar and wonder if that was left centuries ago like the graffiti on the way into the building.

England - Thirsk, Closer-In Shot of Side Sactuary #1

This is an example - as well as what will be in tomorrow's post - of using light play to enhance an interior church shot.  The conditions here at St Mary's that day were great because there was nothing artificial light-wise; only natural sunlight provided illumination from the windows so no post-capture color adjustment was needed later.  Given another opportunity with this one, however, I would have stepped a few inches to the right to better position the candle holder.

And speaking of the candle holder, observe that there is a mouse carved in its base.  In North Yorkshire there is a master woodworker that is known for creating beautiful pieces with this signature emblem.  Andrew wanted to stop by his place to perhaps buy a gift for someone but the timing didn't work out for us.

England - Thirsk, Side Sactuary View at St Mary's