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The explosion of consumer choice has reverberated in many areas of dentistry, especially in cosmetic dentistry and more specifically, professional tooth whitening. Unlike other more invasive treatments, professional tooth whitening is where patients can really transform into “consumers” and have the freedom to use their own knowledge and lifestyle demands to ultimately choose the type of whitening that best suits their desires.

The most popular first step when purchasing any goods or service today is online research,  so clinicians must expect that some patients will come to their consultation armed with information they’ve picked up online as an initial idea of what they want to go for.

Suddenly, the patient appears to be in full control when it comes to tooth whitening options. They want it white, they want it bright and they want it now! But this should be no cause for concern for clinicians when you can offer patients three key options, in-practice whitening, take-home whitening and quick-fix brush-on options – all within one reliable system.

In-practice whitening – More immediate, visible results can be achieved by in-practice whitening treatment applied in the dentist’s chair by a qualified dental professional. polaoffice+, in line with current EU regulations, contains only 6% hydrogen peroxide but with a high pH it produces a faster release of active oxygen and free radicals which means it is effective in just 45 minutes and can be used with or without a bleaching light.

Day or night take-home whitening – Known for their efficacy and longevity, professionally dispensed take-home whitening treatments are becoming increasingly popular. Depending on the patient’s preference, and available in a variety of different strengths and applications, whitening agents are applied for as little as 30 minutes per day or for longer periods at night.

Brush on touch-ups – Busy patients will appreciate the convenience and speed of on-the-go whitening. Ideal as a touch-up whitener after or in-between other whitening treatments, pola luminate is a 6% hydrogen peroxide low viscosity, fast-drying gel which can be applied twice a day for 30 minutes without the need for a tray.

Today’s “consumers” want to be in control of their whitening treatment, but fortunately clinicians now have a wide variety of treatment options to offer them. Professional tooth whitening systems such as pola provide an appropriate option for every patient, supported with free customised marketing materials to help the treatment selection process. Give your patients the choice and watch your whitening business grow from strength to strength.

Book your FREE ‘Lunch & Learn’ with SDI’s range of professional pola tooth whitening systems here, or find out more by visiting our product page.

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Politics of Resilience

“Who decides what should be made resilient to what? For whom is resilience to be managed, and for what purpose?”

Forest in Thailand

People who depend directly on the services provided by natural and modified ecosystems for food, clean drinking water and other things important to well-being are often greatly concerned with resilience – of the ecosystems they use and the social systems which support and manage them. But the interests of conservation biologists, farmers, forest users, national park authorities and natural resource managers are rarely identical. Each prioritizes different services and values; while each claims to be concerned with ‘resilience’ of a social-ecological system.

Selected Publications

  • Lebel L, Käkönen M, Dany V, Lebel P, Thuon  T,  Voladet S (2018) The framing and governance of climate change adaptation projects in Lao PDR and Cambodia. International Environmental Agreements (Abstract)
  • Bennett, E.M.; Cramer, W.; Begossi, A.; Cundill, G.; Díaz, S.; Egoh, B.N.; Geijzendorffer, I.R.; Krug, C.B.; Lavorel, S.; Lazos, E.; Lebel, L.; Martín-López, B.; Meyfroidt, P.; Mooney, H.A.; Nel, J.L.; Pascual, U.; Payet, K.; Harguindeguy, N.P.; Peterson, G.D.; Prieur-Richard, A.-H.; Reyers, B.; Roebeling, P.; Seppelt, R.; Solan, M.; Tschakert, P.; Tscharntke, T.; Turner Ii, B.L.; Verburg, P.H.; Viglizzo, E.F.; White, P.C.L. and Woodward, G. 2015. Linking biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human well-being: three challenges for designing research for sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 14(0): 76-85. (Abstract)
  • Governing Ecosystem Services from Upland Watersheds in Southeast Asia, Vulnerability of Land Systems in Asia (Abstract)
  • Lebel L. (2012). Governance and coastal boundaries in the tropics. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 4(2), 243-251. (Abstract)
  • Lebel L, and Daniel R. (2009). The governance of ecosystem services from tropical upland watersheds. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 1:61-68. (Abstract)
  • Lebel L, Anderies J. M, Campbell B, Folke C, Hatfield-Dodds S, Hughes T, and Wilson J. (2006). Governance and the capacity to manage resilience in regional social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society. 11(1): 11:19. (Abstract)

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Projects  |  Funding |  Publications

Rhode Island Sea Grant’s mission is to improve understanding and management of Rhode Island’s coastal and marine ecosystems to achieve its vision for vibrant, healthy coastal communities, economies, and marine environments that are resilient in the face of change. To achieve that, informed decision-making is reliant on sound science to provide a better understanding of the environment.

Sea Grant identifies essential research topics through consultation with partners, stakeholders, and experts, ensuring that researchers work closely with Sea Grant extension specialists so that best available science and technical and legal information informs business and government.

2018–2020  |  2016–2018  |  2014–2016   |  2012–2014  |  2010–2012

Call for 2020–2022 for Research Pre-Proposals

This Request for Proposals (RFP) is for research projects (individual or multi-institutional) up to 2 years in length to be funded under Rhode Island Sea Grant’s 2018-2022 Omnibus Proposal. Project funding will begin 01 February 2020 and end 31 January 2022.

We anticipate supporting up to eight (8) projects contingent upon receipt of federal funding. Modification in the number of and/or funding for individual proposals may be made based on final program budget allocations. Each proposal for this highly competitive research program receives extensive peer review, with final evaluation conducted by an ad hoc panel of external technical experts, and relevancy review panelists.

For the 2020–2022 portion of its 2018–2022 Omnibus, Rhode Island Sea Grant intends to fund projects that include Sea Grant’s functional areas of research, education, outreach, and communications, and that are collaborative, multi-disciplinary, and/or multi-institutional in the following topical/thematic areas:

  1. Improved understanding of impacts of ecosystem change, such as from ocean acidification, water temperature increase, harmful algal blooms, or changes in nutrient dynamics, (e.g., from nutrient reduction programs), to shellfish and/or aquaculture in Rhode Island waters, including, but not limited to:
    • Effects of ocean acidification on settlement and establishment of shellfish larvae;
    • Ecology of harmful algae blooms, particularly Pseudo-nitzschia species, and factors that influence production (or lack) of domoic acid;
    • Prevalence and impacts of disease and parasitic organisms, such as Vibrio;
    • Impact of microplastics on shellfish growth.
  2. Improved understanding of the change in benthic communities of Narragansett Bay over time relative to nutrient reduction programs, changing water temperatures, acidification, and/or anthropogenic-influenced change, including, but not limited to:
    • Comparative studies of benthic community change over time in Upper Narragansett Bay as compared to previous studies and surveys;
    • Comparative studies of benthic community change between upper and lower bay, or along north-south transects, relative to nutrient availability and/or environmental change over time.

  • Rhode Island Sea Grant funds promising marine/coastal projects that need to first gain proof-of-concept status. Such projects are often the brainchild of an academic entrepreneur who needs start-up funds to test an idea before seeking more robust funding. Rhode Island Sea Grant looks for promising science investments that may fuel significant benefits from a small infusion of funds.
  • For more information, please download Funding Guidelines

Researchers Look at How the Block Island Wind Farm Impacts Recreation and Tourism

Can Oysters Solve the Nitrogen Problem?

Rhode Island Sound’s Role in Fueling Harmful Algal Blooms in Narragansett Bay

A Sinking State and a Rising Sea: Salt Marshes Provide the Answer

Quahog Hot Spots in Narragansett Bay

Researchers Assess Community Support for Shellfish Aquaculture in Rhode Island

+ To read more, check out our News

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Information Security

Defending the digital infrastructure

Evaluate Weigh the pros and cons of technologies, products and projects you are considering.

Perspectives: Security training must be a visual, interactive experience

Security awareness training exercises must be interactive and visually stimulating, and must help users judge the validity and reliability of websites and web content.

Infosecurity professionals must tailor security training for today's visually-based, text-limited society.

As I look around my office, a co-worker listens to his iPod, others trade games for their Xbox 360s, and at lunch, a Gen-Xer watches a movie on his PlayStation Portable. These daily events signal a quiet but powerful revolution in the way people experience information: We are drifting away from purely textual sources into a post-literate society, and IT security professionals need to adjust security training media accordingly.

In the Industrial Age, text was king. In today's post-industrial century, text yields to the visual: It shrinks to be tolerable and diminishes in its ability to clarify thought. Web pages are the mode of discourse, hyperlinking permits unparalleled lateral movement, and reading is reduced to scanning and surfing. Today's media must be savvy enough to keep readers interested while still providing valuable information.

Lengthy text continues to exist in legal documents, corporate annual reports, academic prose, and information security writing and training, often yielding page after page of dense, impenetrable wording.

An example: "Institutional attacks upon domain name servers are multi-dimensional, affecting enterprise systems and requiring cryptographic and split-horizon DNS technologies as a part of the incident response process." Instead, this would be the more direct wording for today's audience: "Understand-ing cryptography and how to design split-horizon domain name servers (DNSes) will help you investigate attacks."

Today's society prefers cruising through factoids and images, but that doesn't engender insight or knowledge. Fostering security awareness involves more than just pointing to Web sites. Whether it's through PowerPoint presentations or articles, IT security professionals need to formulate contemporary rhetoric:

  • Tell a story whenever possible with fresh, concise prose in the active voice. Illustrating with a narrative adds coherence to technical material; relating the specifics of circumventing a firewall, for example, takes the reader from an abstract theory to a story with concrete details.
  • Use graphics, illustrations and sidebars to amplify the text. Show the tricks of the charlatan's trade in cyberspace and in manipulating digital information. For example, if you discuss "phishing," show in a series of screenshots how the scam usurps a company's logo and other elements from its Web site.
  • Encourage a healthy skepticism toward electronic information. Readers need to develop skills for judging the validity and reliability of Web sites, e-mail and business opportunities.
  • Experiential learning dominates; play and experimentation uncover many security vulnerabilities. When teaching security professionals, show them that threat modeling (considering weaknesses in defenses from a rogue's perspective) and envisioning avenues of attack will help them stay ahead of emerging threats.
Ultimately, understanding the post-literate culture's impulse to explore will be the hallmark of 21st-century security thinking. It is essential for developing the skill and awareness needed for dealing with ever-evolving cyberthreats.

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Rating (7/10)

Bluetooth driver for windows vista

  • Downloads:
  • Added:
    09.04.2019 15:57
  • Speed:
    4.10 Mb/s
  • Author:
    Evan C.
  • User rating:
Safe! Checked Antivirus
India - English. How can I get it to auto detect my bluetooth devices; AFTER they have been installed, have been disconnected, then I want to connect them again? Operating system Update All supported xbased versions of Windows Vista Download the update package now. Danmark - Dansk. Malaysia - English. You need to use whatever driver is the latest release from the manufacturer of the bluetooth device you want to use, or your computer manufacturer. In the mean time, here are some articles that might help you get your issue resolved. I have the same question If the answer to question one is "NO," than I've screwed my computer! Eesti - Eesti. United States - English. What is the best Bluetooth software out there that I can get my hands on? Thanks for marking this as the answer.

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Tristan Ace

About Tristan Ace
  • Global Lead, Partnerships and Development, Social Enterprise and Creative and Inclusive Economies, British Council
  • Member Website

Tristan has more than 15 years’ experience working in more than 20 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and for the past 8 years in East and South Asia.

Tristan Leads the British Council’s work in social enterprise and impact investment in the Asia Pacific region and is responsible for the flagship policy and government engagement programme which provides support to develop social entrepreneurship policy and strategy in the region. Through this programme, he has developed a range of partnerships and policy initiatives with government and regional multinational organisations.

Tristan is passionate about the role that social enterprises can play in building fair, inclusive and just societies and has a particular interest in both the role that social enterprise can play in strengthening civil society and the role that governments can play in driving innovation in policy that support social entrepreneurship and social innovation more broadly. He is currently based in Hong Kong and has previously lived and worked in mainland China (Beijing), Myanmar (Yangon) and Poland (Krakow).

Tristan regularly speaks at forums and conferences on themes relating to social enterprise, social investment and social innovation in Asia and the UK and sits on the East Asia steering committee of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) network and sits on the advisory board of the UK charity _Social Starters. He also regularly teaches and guest lectures on social entrepreneurship and social innovation in the Asia Pacific region and is an honorary lecturer at the University of Hong Kong.

Policy Workshop 1: Building Capacity for Public-Private Engagement

12 Feb 2020

There is an increasing need for policymakers to co-create out-of-the-box solutions with the private and people sectors. We are now at a critical juncture to address urgent human and intellectual capital gaps and to catalyse governments to be active collaborators…Read More

Harnessing Cross Sector Partnerships to Build an Inclusive Creative Economies Ecosystem

13 Feb 2020

Session Description Creative and cultural industries are activities based on individual creativity, skills and talent and deal with the interface between economy, culture, technology and social aspects.The creative economy is recognized as a significant sector and a meaningful contributor to…Read More

View full schedule

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Digital archive of Studios

Czech name: V Přísečnici

V Přísečnici (in Czech), keywords: Přísečnice, portrait  Přísečnice, portrait
Czech name: V Přísečnici

This is automatically generated preview from raw scan. The quality of automatically generated previews might vary. The images are scanned in 16-bit depth and high resolution and it is possible to tune them, retouch the scratches and make details. See the galeries.

Order print from this photograph
Czech name: V Přísečnici
Author: (no closer identification)
Keywords:Přísečnice, portrait
Categories:In Přísečnice 1947, 35mm film
Texts on the photo:
Location:film 90

Email us, if you have some additional informations about the photograph or if you are interested in the other use of the photograph.

All rights reserved, the copyright owner is © Marie Michaela Šechtlová. Photo archive is maintained by Jan Hubička


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Today in the MHSAA: 8/31/15
Today in the MHSAA: 8/31/15
Linked Up
Posted Monday, August 31, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The final weekend of August was a giant weekend for MHSAA volleyball contenders, with some of the top regular-season events this fall providing opportunities for the best to see how they might match up when playoffs begin in two months.

Below are headlines for some of the key high school reports from across the state; the weekend’s football round-up will publish later this afternoon.

Cross Country

Muskegon Reeths-Puffer’s Maryssa Depies set a course record of 18:11.3 to win the Big Red Invitational at McGraft Park – Muskegon Chronicle

Flint Powers Catholic’s top individual finisher came in ninth, but the Chargers girls as a team were first at the Lansing Catholic Invitational – Flint Journal

The reigning Lower Peninsula Division 2 champion Grand Rapids Christian boys repeated as winner of the prestigious Benzie Central Invitational, finishing ahead of Traverse City West and Central, while Central senior Anthony Berry won individually in 15:24 – Grand Rapids Press

Boys Soccer

Tawas, a Division 3 semifinalist last season, finished first from an Elk Rapids Invitational field that included Berkley and Saginaw Nouvel – Bay City Times

Lake Odessa Lakewood, last season’s Class B runner-up and the second-ranked team in that class this week, eliminated Class A No. 6 Grand Rapids Christian to win the West Michigan Volleyball Officials Association tournament for the first time in a decade – Grand Rapids Press

Class A No. 4 Grand Haven continued its perfect run at its outdoor Battle of the Boardwalk tournament, sweeping three opponents to remain undefeated through the event's third year – Grand Haven Tribune

Battle Creek Harper Creek, No. 9 in Class B, improved to 17-0 by winning the Cereal City Tournament at Pennfield with a 2-1 championship match win over Temperance Bedford, an MHSAA semifinalist last season in Class A – Battle Creek Enquirer

Good Reads

The Holland Sentinel introduced its top female athletes in that area’s history Sunday, and highlighted nationally-known softball star Kathy Arendsen and her successes during one of the MHSAA’s first Softball Finals – Holland Sentinel

Anyone who follows high school football history will enjoy going through the Muskegon Chronicle’s sampling of top-20 moments from that area’s football past – Muskegon Chronicle

More than 60 former Shepherd High School players from the last 25 seasons returned for an alumni doubleheader Sunday to honor coach Jack Nartker, who will retire after this spring – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

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Acupuncture in Welling

home > welling

Sorry! We haven't found any Acupuncture salons in Welling. Think we're missing somewhere? You can add a new salon listing here.

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Acupuncture in Welling

Not sure how you feel about the sound of sticking lots of tiny needles into your body? Think again. Acupuncture is an innovative therapy and can have extraordinary results. It can work for pain relief, such as migraines, as well as for therapeutic purposes for conditions such as infertility and anxiety. Don't be put off by the needle thing - acupunture treatment is extremely popular and many people find it relaxing and painless.

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East Kent Railway Pt.1

One of the joys of belonging to Facebook is that you can join groups of interest. One of the groups I belong to is the Preserved Thumpers. For those of you who are non railway minded, this group supports preserved diesel units known as Diesel Electric Multiple Units specifically built for the Sothern Region of British Railways in the late 1950’s early 60’s, they are known as Thumpers due to the noises they make. They were used on non electrified lines such as those to Uckfield, Oxted, and also lines in Hampshire and on the Kent coast venturing as far afield as Cardiff on cross country services!

You may recall a couple of weeks ago I posted my visit to Bromley South to see the Hastings unit, well there has been active restoration of its cousins at a number of preserved railways, the East Kent being one of them. Unit 1101 has taken 10 years to be put back into service and this weekend saw it run on the East Kent as part of their Diesel/Beer/Bus weekend.

Sunday morning therefore saw me hop into my little Smart car for the trip to Shepherdswell which took about an hour and 20 minutes from Croydon down the A2 and then sharp left! Almost a country lane leads you to Shepherdswell and the East Kent Railway is adjacent to the main BR station (more in part 2). Once parked up I took a wander. The preserved East Kent (EKR) is very much likes its predecessor of Colonel Stephens Yore, a restricted site with all manner of preserved/waiting to be restored rolling stock abounding. I have a penchant for wagons so the following caught my eye

DSCF3087 DSCF3089 DSCF3090 DSCF3091

The wagons were in various states of restoration and how long they this will take I have no idea.

Onto the main event and a welcoming station ticket office. The princely sum of £10 changed hands for as many trips as you like up and down the line with the added bonus of a visit to Dover Transport museum on an open top bus (more later).

First train into the station was the Class 101 Diesel Mechanical Multiple Unit or DMU for short. The EKR have hired this in for the season and it is mismatch of liveries.

DSCF3099 DSCF3100 DSCF3101

The DMU made way for the star of the show, 1101 which has been restored to the BR blue livery. The sight of the DEMU and above all the sound brought back memories of when I use to work on them as a Guard back in the eighties (basically a nostalgia trip then).

DSCF3094 DSCF3106

DSCF3130 DSCF3131

In the background you can see a diesel shunter and also a green unit which I think is a 2 HAP more of which later. so off we went to Eythorne – a short 15 minute trip through the Kent countryside. The EKR is unique in having a tunnel – Golgotha tunnel to be precise – going through the tunnel enhanced the effects of the Thumper. No sooner had we started out then we arrived at our destination Eythorne, an island platform siding affair with a level crossing and old signal box.. More wagons and 2 trailers from another emu this time a CEP. One of the CEP trailers (Buffet), contained the micro brewery stand of which unfortunately I was unable to sample the contents as they did not have any bottled only draft.

DSCF3107 DSCF3108 DSCF3146 DSCF3147 DSCF3148 DSCF3149

I could of taken the open topped bus to the Dover transport museum but given that storms had been forecast for later on did not fancy getting soaked! Still the bus made a lovely sight

So back to Shepherdswell we went on 1101. On arrival at Shepherdswell 1101 did another trip their & back and then was shunted into the siding next to the platform ready for the diesel shunter emu combination more of which in part 2.

Thanks for reading

3 thoughts on “East Kent Railway Pt.1”

  1. Reblogged this on Loco Yard and commented:
    A great post looking at the East Kent Railway. The Thumpers are a brilliant train and I remember seeing them operate on the South Coast Mainline on the way to school. One of the few diesel/electrics I actually like 🙂

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$31,895 of $2 million raised

Hey guys! Rob Skiba here. OK. So, the episodic budget for most TV shows of the sci-fi/fantasy/supernatural genre is easily between $2 million and $8 million each. Some shows even exceed $10 million. We are currently estimating our budget for SEED to be in the $4 million range per episode. So, that’s our goal. CLICK HERE to learn more about how we came to this number.

Now, I currently have more than 180,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel. With this amount of people, it really wouldn’t take much at all to get this project off the ground. But realistically speaking, I know not everyone will get excited about doing this. I am however hopeful that at least 40% of you will. Why else would you be subscribed to my channel? Yes, I have a lot of trolls, but I also believe/hope that at least 40% of my audience is genuinely interested in the subjects I’ve become known for discussing. So, consider this…

I have spent the better part of a decade doing research, and uploading FREE blogs, radio shows and video podcasts to share what I’ve learned. Since 2009, I have uploaded over 500 videos to YouTube alone (most of which are between 1 and 3 hours in length). According to my YouTube analytics, I’ve had 24.4 million views. Unfortunately, those views don’t translate into dollars – especially since many of my videos are not able to be monetized for various censorship and copyright related reasons. So, contrary to Internet gossip, no one is getting rich over here. If I were, I’d finance SEED myself. But I’m not and I can’t. So…

If you have been blessed by all of that free content I’ve been providing for the past decade, would you be willing to contribute at least $1 per day for just one month as a way of showing your appreciation? If so, that’s $30 per person. And if 40% of my current subscriber base [72,000 people] were to do this just one time, we could raise over $2 million, which would be quite sufficient to get this project started.

In other words, for a very minimal contribution, we really can make this series happen! I’ve had many people say they wish they had the money to finance the series and get this ball rolling. But most people don’t have the kind of money it takes to invest in something like this on their own. However together we can do it.

The status bar above shows where we currently are in real time. If you’d like to help move that blue bar further to the right, simply select a giving option from the list below. We thank you for your consideration and greatly appreciate your support.

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Mosaics in Ravenna

One of the (many) places I have wanted to visit ever since taking Art History 101 is Ravenna. We learned about the Byzantine mosaics there, and when I made my travel list for Italy, Ravenna was quite high on my list.

After spending two days in Venice, we took a (long, indirect) train to Ravenna. I would recommend giving yourself at least a full day there, travel not included. It isn’t a large town, but the mosaics are well worth the full day. We bought a ticket for about 10 euro that included five different sights.

Mosaics in San Vitale

A quote from my old Michelin guide (my grandparents’ from 1989), says the following: “In the peaceful provincial-looking town of Ravenna, the sober exteriors of its buildings belie the wealth of riches accumulated when Ravenna was an imperial city, the Byzantium of the West…Indeed the many wonderful mosaics which adorn the city’s ecclesiastical buildings are the finest in Europe. Their bright colors, richness of decoration and powerful symbolism are evocative of a great spirituality.” (Michelin Tourist Guide: Italy, 1988, p. 159) They go on to explain how Ravenna, after the fall of Rome in the west, was made the capital of the Roman empire in 404 AD/CE by Honorius. Then, being a port city on the eastern side of Italy, it was then well-placed to become part of the Byzantine empire.

We first visited the Church of San Vitale, which was consecrated in 547 AD/CE. The plan of the church is somewhat strange: it is a centrally-planned, octagon-shaped, dome-topped building, with an apse at one end flanked by two chapels. However, it has an off-center narthex, not opposite the apse like you would expect. When you look at the plan, it appears that the narthex (the long lozenge-shaped part) is precariously balanced on a corner, like it could swing either direction at any moment. I didn’t get a good photograph of the outside, so I’ll link you to this one instead.

To enter the church you walk through the cloister: a beautiful courtyard with walls covered in fragments of art and architecture.

After the cloisters you go down the stairs and into the church itself. The fact that you go down a level,  into this sort of dark, underground entrance, contrasts astoundingly with the jewel-bright mosaics, and makes the experience even more interesting.

The mosaics in the apse are incredible. They cover the entire wall and ceiling surface, tiny tesserae making incredibly detailed images of saints and flowers and birds and bible stories. All in wonderful jewel-bright hues. There isn’t much to do but stand (or sit) and marvel and try to notice everything at once. I have a feeling it’s the sort of place you could return to a dozen times or more and notice something new every time.

This one really shows how amazing the gold and the colors are. And how massive the mosaic area really is.

Mosaic of Christ at the top of the apse.

Unfortunately my most zoomed-in images are a bit blurry: it is dim in there, after all. But hopefully you can still manage to see the incredible forms and shading they managed to create, all with the use of tiny pieces of stone and glass and gold.

I believe the scene on the left is a Sacrifice of Isaac.

I loved these blue and green horns or flowers or horn-shaped flowers or whatever they are.

And yes, it really does glitter like that. The vibrancy of the colors is simply astonishing, and they are remarkably well-preserved for being so incredibly old.

The perspective is nowhere near perfect, but I still marvel at how three-dimensional they’ve made the scene using just tiny flat pieces of glass, stone, etc.

I wish I could have gotten just a bit closer to really show you all of the tiny pieces of which each mosaic is made. The photographs really don’t do it justice: the texture is nearly impossible to capture. Firsthand, the texture is noticeable, and makes the experience that much more worth it.

Emperor Justinian – had to know this one for ARTH 101!

And the Empress Theodora!

See all the flowers under their feet? And the amazing decorative borders around every scene?

From anywhere else in the church, the apse seems to glow with the reflected light off of the gold and other parts of the mosaics, creating an ethereal effect that was amazing to experience.

The oldest mosaics here are from the 5th century AD/CE and are in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the sister of Honorius. This building was actually a lot smaller than I had expected, but in no way did it disappoint.

Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

In San Vitale, it is impossible to see the mosaics as closely as you’d like: in the Mausoleum, the ceiling is much lower and the mosaics much closer. It was incredibly dark, and visits were limited to fifteen minutes, most likely in the interest of preservation, but my camera managed to get some good shots all the same.

Good Shepherd mosaic

It absolutely sparkled.

I believe this is Saint Lawrence, with the grill he was burned on. Pleasant.

All glowy and beautiful.

We went to three other sites in Ravenna, all with marvelous mosaics as well, but I’m not sure this post can hold many more photographs. Maybe I will try to put some up on my photo site (link on the side of this page) for you all to see.

All in all, Ravenna was one of my favorite places visited all semester. Completely worth a day or two because, as I said, these photos hardly do it justice.

One thought on “Mosaics in Ravenna

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A heavy pain in head can affect your sleep at night or worse. Dehydration, stress, tension, a hangover, or many more can be the reason for your headache. Whenever headache strikes, all you want to do is zap the pain away- and fast.

There are many pills available to treat pain but sometime it may have side effects. Practicing yoga regularly help you to stay fit and health. In fact, yoga could help you get rid of that headache for good. Main reason of headache is tension and stress, that you might experience at work especially. Yoga helps to release tension and stress in the body. Few yoga asanas are designed to gently stretch and open the areas in your body such as neck, shoulders or back, while circulating blood to your head.

Here are 5 asanas that might help you get rid of headache

Ardha Pincha Mayurasana

The Dolphin pose which is also known as Ardha Pincha Mayurasana, is slightly similar to the Adho Mukha Svanasana. This asana gives your back and neck a good stretch and also allows blood flow in the brain. Always remember to take a deep breaths while practicing this pose, and just let your head hand between your shoulders. Additional blood flow to the head provided by this pose can give a relieve to your headache.

Also read:Yoga Asanas for Full Body Pain Relief

Supta Virasana

If you are feeling headache due to stress then Supta Virasana works best on it. This asana will help you stretch your back and shoulders to release trapped stress. This pose will give you instant satisfaction on your stress and cure your headache.

Viparita Karani

This asana might look complicated but gently stretches the muscles in your neck and relaxes you at the same time. Sit on one end of a mat with your right hip touching a wall. Lean back, turn to lie flat on the mat, and extend your legs up the wall. Make sure your butt is nearly touching the wall and your legs are placed together. Put your hands on your belly or rest them on the mat, then close your eyes, relax your jaw and drop your chin slightly. Breathe slowly and deeply in this position for 3 to 10 minutes.

Ananda Balasana

Ananda Balasana or Happy Baby Pose works best if you think your headache might be stemmed from the back pain that is radiating up your spine. Lie on your back with your knees bent, holding on to your thighs or the outside edges of your feet. You can slowly rock from side to side to increase the stretch in your hips and lower back, and to gently lull your mind into a state of relaxation.

Also read:5 Benefits of Chia Seeds & The Best Way to Eat Them

Shavasana is great for stress, aches and pain. This pose looks like sleeping pose. It is very simple and everyone can perform it. Shavasana needs lots of concentration. So, if you have a headache and feel totally drained out, try out this asana.

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Celebrating 60 Years of Friendship

Since 2006, our SEC expert Martin Liesch (Civil Engineer by profession) has conducted several SEC assignments for Ropeway & Cablecar Pvt. Ltd. in Nepal. On the occasion of the 1st August celebration in Nepal his SEC experiences were documented in the magazine “Meeteri”.

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I used MySQLTuner which pointed out some tables were fragmented. I used

mysqlcheck --optimize -A

to optimize all tables. It fixed some tables but MySQLTuner still finds 19 tables fragmented. how can I see which tables are in need of defragmenting? Maybe OPTIMIZE TABLE will work where mysqlcheck didn't? Or what else should I try?

  • 1
    I have a similar problem. I'm setting up a new DB with MySQL 5.5 and certain InnoDB tables never unfragment. I'm wondering if the Data_free check (shown in KayakJim's answer) is incorrect with InnoDB tables. – docwhat Mar 16 '11 at 20:50

the short answer:

select  ENGINE, TABLE_NAME,Round( DATA_LENGTH/1024/1024) as data_length , round(INDEX_LENGTH/1024/1024) as index_length, round(DATA_FREE/ 1024/1024) as data_free from information_schema.tables  where  DATA_FREE > 0;

The "You must know" answer

first at all you must understand that Mysql tables get fragmented when a row is updated, so it's a normal situation. When a table is created, lets say imported using a dump with data, all rows are stored with no fragmentation in many fixed size pages. When you update a variable length row, the page containing this row is divided in two or more pages to store the changes, and these new two (or more) pages contains blank spaces filling the unused space.

This does not impact performance, unless of course the fragmentation grows too much. What is too much fragmentation, well let's see the query you're looking for:

  select  ENGINE, TABLE_NAME,Round( DATA_LENGTH/1024/1024) as data_length , round(INDEX_LENGTH/1024/1024) as index_length, round(DATA_FREE/ 1024/1024) as data_free from information_schema.tables  where  DATA_FREE > 0;

The DATA_LENGTH and INDEX_LENGTH are the space your data and indexes are using, and DATA_FREE is the total amount of bytes unused in all the table pages (fragmentation).

Here's an example of a real production table

| ENGINE | TABLE_NAME               | data_length | index_length | data_free |
| InnoDB | comments                 |         896 |          316 |         5 |

In this case we have a Table using (896 + 316) = 1212 MB, and have data a free space of 5 MB. This means a "ratio of fragmentation" of:

5/1212 = 0.0041

...Which is a really low "fragmentation ratio".

I've been working with tables with a ratio near 0.2 (meaning 20% of blank spaces) and never notice a slow down on queries, even if I optimize the table, the performance is the same. But apply a optimize table on a 800MB table takes a lot of time and blocks the table for several minutes, which is impracticable on production.

So, if you consider what you win in performance and the time wasted in optimize a table, I prefer NOT OPTIMIZE.

If you think it's better for storage, see your ratio and see how much space can you save when optimize. It's usually not too much, so I prefer NOT OPTIMIZE.

And if you optimize, the next update will create blank spaces by splitting a page in two or more. But it's faster to update a fragmented table than a not fragmented one, because if the table is fragmented an update on a row not necessarily will split a page.

I hope this helps you.

  • 1
    Although this is an answer from several years ago, I thought I'd point out that the data_free is a stat for the whole tablespace, not for the respective table. If you store multiple tables together in one tablespace, the data_free can mislead you to believe the table needs defragmenting, when it just means there are free extents in the tablespace. Running optimize table won't reduce the free extents. Defragmenting the table may even increase the free extents. – Bill Karwin May 22 '17 at 17:55

Just to add to the answer from Felipe-Rojas you can calculate the fragment ratio as part of the query:

select ENGINE,
  concat(TABLE_SCHEMA, '.', TABLE_NAME) as table_name,
  round(DATA_LENGTH/1024/1024, 2) as data_length,
  round(INDEX_LENGTH/1024/1024, 2) as index_length,
  round(DATA_FREE/1024/1024, 2) as data_free,
  (data_free/(index_length+data_length)) as frag_ratio
FROM information_schema.tables
ORDER BY frag_ratio DESC;

If a table is fragmented a small percentage (less than 5%?) then you can probably leave it alone.

Anything larger and you will need to assess based on your db usage, locking tables etc as to how important it is to defragment the table.

Optimize Table will indeed resolve the issue you are having.

If you only have a few databases, then you could go use PHPMyAdmin to go through all of your databases. Select the tables with overhead and then select to optimize.

If you have a lot of databases then another method would likely be preferable.

I use the following PHP script setup in cron to run every hour.

$DB = new mysqli ('localhost', 'DbUser', 'DbPassword');
$results = $DB->query('show databases');
$allDbs = array();
while ($row = $results->fetch_array(MYSQLI_NUM))
    $allDbs[] = $row[0];
foreach ($allDbs as $dbName)
    if ($dbName != 'information_schema' && $dbName != 'mysql')
        $results = $DB->query('SHOW TABLE STATUS WHERE Data_free > 0');
        if ($results->num_rows > 0)
            while ($row = $results->fetch_assoc())
                $DB->query('optimize table ' . $row['Name']);
  • 3
    I'm pretty sure that mysqlcheck --optimize -A is the same as the SQL OPTIMIZE TABLE <tablename>; – docwhat Mar 16 '11 at 20:50

I came across this page and found the queries by Felipe-Rojas and sysadmiral to be very helpful. But in my case, I was running the query in WHM's phpMyAdmin and getting only TABLE_NAME was not as helpful since the database was not listed, and several databases have the same table names. So, simply adding TABLE_SCHEMA will provide that column as well.

select  ENGINE, TABLE_SCHEMA, TABLE_NAME, Round( DATA_LENGTH/1024/1024) as data_length , round(INDEX_LENGTH/1024/1024) as index_length, round(DATA_FREE/ 1024/1024) as data_free, (data_free/(index_length+data_length)) as frag_ratio from information_schema.tables  where  DATA_FREE > 0 order by frag_ratio desc

Shows DB

ENGINE  | TABLE_SCHEMA  | TABLE_NAME    | data_length   | index_length  | data_free | frag_ratio

InnoDB  | db_name       | db_table      | 0             | 0             | 8         | 170.6667

To "fix" I used the Defragment table link in phpMyAdmin for each of the tables that resulted in high "frag_ratio" for which phpMyAdmin executes:

ALTER TABLE `table_name` ENGINE = InnoDB;

A table using MySQL's InnoDB Engine essentially never needs to be OPTIMIZEd.

The value of Data_free from either information_schema.tables or SHOW TABLE STATUS is very often non-zero, even when you think you have done all you can do defrag your table(s). Furthermore, that metric is only one of several fragmentations that can and do occur. (Also, wasted space in blocks, undo lists, index BTrees vs data BTrees, etc, etc.

And innodb_file_per_table complicates the use of Data_free. If the table is in ibdata1, then Data_free refers to the entire tablespace; a rather useless number. If the table is in its own .ibd file, it is likely to be a few MB or a few percent of the table size, whichever is larger.

Only if you have deleted lots of rows and don't intend to refill the table, might it be worth running OPTIMIZE TABLE.

PARTITIONs also show a disturbing amount of Data_free, since each partition typically shows 4-7MB "free". And this will not go away.

Why Defragment?

  • To return space to the OS? Well, you might achieve this briefly if you had innodb_file_per_table=1. But as you add rows, you will take it back from the OS.
  • To speed up access? Forget it. The layout of blocks on disk is relatively random, and has been for the last few decades. Half a century ago, it was somewhat important to rearrange blocks.
  • To rebalance BTrees? So? They will promptly become unbalanced again. The steady-state for BTrees that are randomly inserted into is 69%. And that is not even factored into Data_free.
  • MySQLTuner says to? That product needs to chill.

A history note. When I was helping DBAs with mostly MyISAM tables, I discovered perhaps 2 out of 1000 tables that were helped by a monthly OPTIMIZE. Since then, I have worked with thousands of InnoDB tables, have yet find a performance problem that was likely to be helped by OPTIMIZE. (Sure, there have been disk space problems for which OPTIMIZE might help, but that gets tricky -- usually the DBA does not have enough disk space to run OPTIMIZE!)

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Finished projects · Weddings!

The Sneaky Khaleesi Dress

Among all of the things I love about sewing, I would say having the freedom to make any outfit or costume I want, how I want it, ranks at the top. The freedom to choose the pattern, fabric, and fit makes all of the time and effort worth it.

Last year, I made a Daenerys Targaryen costume (from Game of Thrones). It’s been one of my more popular blog posts and it’s actually one of my favorite projects. I found the most perfect fabric to make her costume from Season 3 and was able to tweak it and add my own creative touches to it.

IMG_4547I fell in love with the pattern itself and how easy it was to make. Well, easy for someone who has been sewing for a few years. I might have tried this pattern my first year of sewing but probably wouldn’t have the best results…

10609540_10100184953947805_7033695532427170778_nI’m recycling some photos here, but I do have a new and exciting dress to show you so bear with me. 🙂

Two of my good friends are marrying each other next week back home in New Orleans. Of course I have some pretty dresses to choose from to wear to this special occasion, but how often do I have the opportunity to make and wear a pretty, fancy dress? (Well, actually I just got 3 more Save-the-Dates for more friends in New Orleans for the end of this year so I guess that means I have PLENTY of opportunities to make pretty, fancy dresses. But seriously, y’all are killing me – can’t we space these weddings out a little more? LOL). So I knew I wanted to make a dress, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to make…

Not too long ago, I binge-watched Seasons 2-4 of Game of Thrones in order to prepare myself for Season 5. I had seen Season 1 a year or two ago, so I desperately needed to catch up before the internet and Facebook in general leaked spoilers like they always do. Anyway, I fell in love with the colors and fabric from the scenes in Qarth in Season 2.

That gold and blue! Ahhh!

Aren’t those costumes GORGEOUS? I was thinking, “Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to wear GoT costumes like this normally and not just for Halloween?” Then inspiration struck. I could get away with sneaking in a little bit of Daenerys fashion for something a little fancy – like a wedding!

Since I loved the pattern for my Season 3 costume, I chose to make it again, but with little changes to make it not so costume-y. I also needed to find the right fabric, so I went to three different fabric stores around town looking for a beautiful brocade. I wanted brocade because there are so many beautiful costumes in the series made with brocade that I wanted to give it a shot. After much deliberation, I finally settled on this beauty from Joann’s:

It glows in the sun!

There are two things you need to know about brocade. The first is it frays like crazy. If you touch it, it will fray. If you breathe on it, it will fray. If you look at it funny, it will fray. Thank goodness I have a serger now and was able to serge all of the pattern pieces before they shredded into nothingness. The second thing is it’s HOT. I don’t know what I was thinking, making a dress for the middle of summer in New Orleans when it’s hotter than Satan’s butt hole, but… well… HOW can you pass up this GORGEOUSNESS?

I had to tweak the pattern a little to make it more of a dress and less of a weird tabard costume thing. I snapped a picture when I was cutting the main and lining fabric so you can see how it went down:

20150515_151129I cut the main fabric first and laid the front and back longer pattern pieces next to the shorter side pieces. I extended the side pieces using a ruler and stopped where the front/back long pieces ended. Easy enough! I also did not cut out the “criss-cross” pieces that are sewn over the chest. Simple is better!

And as you can see from the layout on the lining fabric, this pattern really doesn’t take up much space! Maybe 1 3/4 yards of 60″ fabric… that’s it!

I cut a straight size 10 this time. My first version of this pattern was a size 12. The 12 is slightly large, but the dark blue textured poly fabric also had a little bit of stretch. When I was sewing version 2, it got pretty tight around the mid-section. I know I have gained a little weight, but not that much! I figured it was because brocade doesn’t have stretch, so I had to take the side seams and three back seams out from 5/8″ seam allowance to 3/8″ seam allowance. This ended up being perfect, thank goodness!

I took a couple of pictures before I inserted the zipper. She’s looking pretty good on Brunhilde!

Desktop1The invisible zipper went in easily (only one try, yay!). For the top back piece the pattern calls for three hooks and eyes, which I did on my first version, but they don’t stay closed. I thought getting the kind you put in work pants would be better since they’re larger and don’t slide around as much, but when I was about to stitch them in, I realized there was no way I could close them normally. I would have to twist the fabric and it wouldn’t lay flat at all and just be a disaster. I was about to panic, but then I realized the neck hole is pretty darn large in this dress, so I checked to see if I could get away with just sewing the top pieces together instead of using hooks and eyes. It worked! And now I don’t have to worry about the top back piece coming apart while I’m boogy-ing down at the wedding.

OK so now I’m ready to show you the dress on me, but be warned! I got bored and decided to change up my hair for a more “Targaryen” feel (I swear I’m not that obsessed…). I went blonde! I’m shooting for platinum and I’ll get there with my next visit probably, but I’m pleased with how well my hair took to the bleach for the initial visit. Here we go!

IMG_5810Not too shabby, eh? I think it’s more of a Lannister blonde than Targaryen blonde, but I’ll take it!

Oh, and I got those awesome silver glitter heels to go with this dress. They’re Naturalizer and I got them from DSW. They are seriously the most comfortable silver shoes I’ve ever put my feet into.

IMG_5870I think this dress looks pretty good for a summer wedding! I also don’t think it reads too costume-y, either. I’ll be interested to see if anyone recognizes the style, though…

IMG_5834I’m calling this my “Sneaky Khaleesi” dress because I’m totally sneaking in a cosplay opportunity outside of cosplay-appropriate events. 😉

Throwback photo – same pose as my first version, LOL!

Back detail:

IMG_5833I also have a cool swirly necklace (thanks, Mom!) that goes perfectly with the swirly fabric!

IMG_5828The bride-to-be is into dragons and I figured sneaking in a tribute to the Mother of Dragons would be appropriate for her nuptials. 😉 And speaking of dragons, I bought these adorable “pet” dragons at the Renaissance Festival in February to go with my first Daenerys costume, which I was wearing at the festival, of course.

10385482_10100271142046165_6044159084507484535_nThey were too adorable and remind me of Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon. The owner of the booth freaked out that he finally saw a Daenerys at the festival and talked me into buying three dragons. Of course I had to pick black/red, green, and gold for her real dragons.

I need to do another photo shoot with my new babies in my original costume, but for now, here’s the Sneaky Khaleesi with her babies:

IMG_5845They have wire inside so you can wrap them around you for easy hands-free dragon carrying. Genius!

IMG_5848I wasn’t quite sure what to do with my hands, but it looks like we’re having a touching family moment here.

IMG_5842Rawr! I will sick my cute little dragons on you if you dare defy your Khaleesi!

That’s all I have to say on this dress. I’m a little sad that Season 5 is over, but I still have the 4th and 5th books left to read… plus I can rock out this dress whenever I want, so I don’t imagine I’ll have bad withdrawals until Season 6 comes around.

Rock on, dragons!

I can’t wait to see all of my friends and family next week, which is also when my birthday is happening! I’ll be a whopping 32 years old, but it’ll be great ringing it in with friends, family, and of course the best seafood ever!

So I’m curious… have you made something “normal” from a costume pattern?

37 thoughts on “The Sneaky Khaleesi Dress

    1. I wish there were more opportunities to wear costumes as adults. I don’t blink an eye at a girl in a princess costume at the grocery but I would feel weird doing that as an adult, LOL.

      Yes, yay for sergers! I don’t know how I got along without one before. Sewing is so much faster now!

    1. Thanks! The fraying didn’t get too bad compared to some other projects I did pre-serger. I would definitely say it was worth the extra effort for sure. 🙂

  1. Hi! I’ve been following your blog for a while now (love it!!). I just had to comment on your last question about costumes in normal occasions. I (meaning my mom) totally used the Simplicity 4940 view C to make my high school senior prom dress. And it was awesome 🙂

    Love the brocade! Color-wise it’s great for a Nola wedding! Now, if you have a matching handheld fan to go with it…

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hello and thank you! Oh wow, a prom dress based on Lord of the Rings, awesome! I’m sure yours was the best dress there. 🙂 I’d love to see a picture!

      A matching fan! That reminds me to pack one (that doesn’t match…), thanks! LOL. I just hope I don’t melt! I was actually thinking of making a matching clutch but I need to peruse the internet to see if I can find a decent tutorial. I’d need to bust that out tomorrow since I’m leaving Tuesday! Ahh last minute sewing!

  2. Gorgeous! Love 💘 the open back! Had me in stitches @ satans butt hole😂. Havent laughed that hard in a while. Not yet made cosplay but I have seen some interesting looking steampunk stuff-

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you! The back detail is definitely my favorite. I’m hoping it will provide some ventilation with the summer heat, hah! My family is saying it’s pretty darn hot in New Orleans now but here in Tucson we’re hitting over 110 degrees F! I’ve been almost worthless today – I ended up taking a nap on the couch because it was too hot to do much else!

      I love some of the steampunk patterns, especially the jackets. I think I might have to throw a little steampunk in my life one day soon. 😉

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Hah! This is brilliant. I love that it looks like a normal, pretty dress, but once you mention GoT it makes perfect sense as a costuming piece, too. (And I legit LOL’d at your use of Lannister and Targaryen to describe shades of blonde–some hair color company should get on that, amirite?!) The back detail is particularly awesome! Have fun in NOLA!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you! Now I need to figure out how to sneak The Little Mermaid cosplay into my everyday life! I’m guessing hopping around in a spandex fin wouldn’t work in the real world…

      Game of Thrones hair color by L’Oreal, LOL! There’s actually an indie makeup company that has “geeky” eye shadows inspired from GoT, Harry Potter, etc. I forgot the name of the company, though. ~_~; But yeah we can throw Sansa Stark auburn and John Snow black in there, too!

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Your hair looks great! I never could pull off the short ‘do unfortunately. The dress looks awesome too! Do you have a link for that vendor by chance? Those dragons are adorable!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you! I need the short hair to survive the brutal Arizona summer, haha!

      I agree, I couldn’t resist those cute little dragons! I tried finding the vendor, but I don’t think they’re on the list from the AZ Renaissance Festival. I thought it was something like “My Pet Dragon” but here’s the link to the vendors in case there’s something else that catches your fancy:

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Wow – that fabric is amazing, although it sounds like a nightmare to work with! Your efforts have certainly paid off – the dress looks great and I love the back detail. Your hair looks great too. The question is; do blondes have more fun? 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you! The brocade actually isn’t too bad to work with – it’s way easier than shifty chiffons and satins! You just have to be careful not to handle the edges too much before you serge. Oh, and the fibers get everywhere! They got tangled inside my serger so I had to completely re-thread after I pulled the brocade threads out. I almost forgot about that…

      Hmmm do blondes have more fun? I was hoping I would but work was not fun at all last week, so I would say maybe only “real” blondes have more fun! 😀

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Oooh medieval reenactment sounds like so much fun! When I go to the Ren Faires, I always want to just quit my day job and join the actors/entertainers. Jousting for a living sounds way cooler than a desk job, LOL!

      Using parts of a costume for “real clothes” is a great idea. Using a medieval skirt or a flowy blouse for every day wear would totally work. 🙂

  6. Beautiful work with the brocade. Brocade is so so pretty but not easy to work with because of the fray mess. You handled it really well; particularly along your edges–they’re so crisp! I’ve only ever used it for bags and that was before my serger. You’ve got me curious how much the serger would help in cutting down the fray. Perhaps I’ll experiment.

    The only costumes I’ve ever made have been for stuffed animals growing up and my sons, mostly without patterns, and the only pattern I’ve used is a legit dragon costume when my oldest was 4. I’m trying to think of an occasion where a dragon costume could get passed off as completely normal. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks! The only thing I should warn you about with serging the edges of brocade is it warps the fabric a little, so a really good pressing is in order (but use a pressing cloth!). I think that’s why some of my seams are a little wrinkly…

      Dragon costumes rock! Little kids could totally be a dragon year-round 😉

    1. Aw, thanks a bunch! The sad thing is right when I was walking to the bar from the wedding ceremony, my dress caught on a chair and I got this totally crazy long pick in it. Darn you, brocade! I’m tempted to make another in a more casual fabric. I’m not sure where I would wear it, but gosh it’s so fun to make!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!
        That is literally the WORST!
        It’s sooo pretty you could totally make a more casual version of it! Maybe with a rayon? Or maybe a flowy voile! But that would not be fun to actually sew…tricky

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ECCO COOL Womens Slip On GTX

Item No: 83136351052
Initial price:$309.90

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Product Details

Whether you’re strolling around the city or spending time on the beach, the slick ECCO COOL SNEAKER is engineered to keep feet dry and comfortable. Made from ECCO YAK leather for a modern yet understated look, this pared-back sneaker is built on a durable ECCO FLUIDFORM™ sole to cushion impact throughout the day. A GORE-TEX® SURROUND® waterproof construction protects feet against the element and promotes increased breathability from all angles, while the elasticated panels ensure it slips on and off easily.

  • Minimalist sneaker with elasticated panels is remarkably easy to wear
  • Crafted from high-quality yak leather, made in our own tanneries, which boasts a nubuck finish and water-resistant properties
  • GORE-TEX SURROUND® construction offers 360-degree breathable waterproofing for feet
  • FLUIDFORM™ is a direct injection process that uses fluid materials to follow our one-of-a-kind anatomical lasts and form the most comfortable base for your shoe
  • Hardwearing outsole has a lightweight feel for flexible freedom-of-movement
  • Removable inlay sole delivers optimal in-shoe comfort and optional extra width when taken out


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Enchant Subwoofer

10” Wireless Subwoofer

S$ 999.00999.0 each
Wireless. Powerful. Beautiful.

The Harman Kardon Enchant Subwoofer adds superior bass to the Enchant 1300 or 800 soundbars. Beautifully styled and featuring a 10” woofer, the Enchant Subwoofer’s wireless design easily enables an infinite number of placement options throughout your home theater. The state-of-the-art design delivers thunderous low tones that make your entertainment more exciting.

General Specifications

Maximum Audio Power 400W
RMS Power 200W
Standby Power Consumption <2W
Woofer Size 1 x 10" (254mm)
Max SPL 83dB SPL/ 1W
2.4G Wireless Frequency Range 2403.35MHz - 2477.35MHz
Note The subwoofer features standby mode. If the subwoofer is successfully connected to the soundbar, then it will enter/exit standby mode with the soundbar.

Audio Specifications

Frequency Response 40Hz-160Hz
Operating temperature 0°C - 45°C

Dimensions (W x H x D) 11.7” x 15.7” x 11.7” (296mm x 400mm x 296mm)
Click here for a complete list of all specs for this product

Spec Sheet (EN)

English 832 KB
  • 1 x Subwoofer
  • 1 x Power Cable
  • 1 x Quick Start Guide
  • 1 x Warranty Card
{"searchRecords":[{"attributes":{"type":"Knowledge__kav","url":"/services/data/v45.0/sobjects/Knowledge__kav/ka21Y000000SYajQAG"},"Title":"HK Enchant: Subwoofer pairing","Id":"ka21Y000000SYajQAG","ArticleNumber":"000011905","Question__c":"How to pair with a subwoofer","Answer__c":"

How to pair an Enchant Subwoofer with your Enchant bar

  1. Go to the back of your Enchant soundbar (800 or 1300)
  2. Press the "Subwoofer pairing" button for 2 seconds.
  1. In front of your Enchant display, it will say "Subwoofer pairing"
  2. Go to the back of your Enchant subwoofer.
  3. Press the "Subwoofer pairing" button.
  1. The small LED indicator will start to flash rapidly and when the connection is successful, it will be a steady light.
You now have more bass performance and can enjoy deeper richer sound!","ArticleType":"How_Tos__kav"}]}


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, ,

KLD1 038

Red comes next to orange at the end of the visible spectrum of light.

Red is the color of danger and passion, of blood, of traffic lights that signal you to a stop, rubies, strawberries, communism, tomatoes, and fire-engines. It is also the color of anger and hatred. How some faces redden in anger! But anger is not the only emotion that does it, embarrassment and shyness also suffuses the face in shades of red. Red attracts attention like no other. The red hibiscus, birds with bright red plumage, red flags, they all immediately catch your eye. “Surveys show it is the color most frequently associated with visibility, proximity, and extroverts. It is also the color most associated with dynamism and activity.” (Wiki).

When I was around seven years of age, and my sister around 5, both of us had identical red pattu pavada (silk skirt) with a black border bought for us by our parents. It remains the one and only one that I have ever owned, and while I did, I loved and treasured it dearly. But of course that red pavada was chosen for us sisters by our parents. In the ensuing years, when selection rested in my own hands, red was allowed only very rare entries to my wardrobe. I stuck faithfully to pastel shades most of the time.

Once I got married, it was always off whites (my fav color) and other lighter shades or blacks and grays. Yeah, that latter  had been the L & M’s influence. He loved what are called ‘sober’ colors and I went along, even to the extent that my two small children also ended up wearing blues and grays. One day while buying wool for knitting a sweater for my second born, the Second-in-Command’s wife asked me, ‘Why the dull colors? Why not red? Children look so good in bright colors!’ That’s it. I bought bright red wool, and I must say the son looked a sweet cherub in it.

By the time I was in my 40s it had been ages since I had worn red. I had decided I was too old for such a bright color as red. Talking to an older cousin one day, it dawned on me that SHE always wore red and it did not out of place. Why was I then shying away from the color? So tentatively, I got myself one dress in a shade of red, and from then on I have never looked back. I have now grown to like the color quite a lot.

Red has plenty of idioms and phrases to its credit too like the other colors: a red herring, red-blooded, red carpet treatment, be in the red, a red letter day, in the red, see red, red-light district, red-tape, catch red-handed, be like a red rag to the bull, go beet red, so on and so forth.

Though it not a sight that I cannot behold where I live, I love the red leaves of autumn that I have seen in pictures and on television. May be one day I will see it for myself. So ends the Red Day on a wishful note. And this also ends the series on colors of the rainbow for the Write Tribe Festival of Words.

I am taking part in

The Write Tribe Festival of Words 1st – 7th September 2013.

Write Tribe


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Shamanic Practitioner Directory

Displaying 1 - 25 of 111

Featured Members

How to Select a Practitioner

There are a number of advantages of seeing a shamanic practitioner in addition to seeking allopathic medical assistance. Because of our limited budget and staffing it is not possible for us to vet or screen each and every shamanic practitioner who advertises with us or whose name is on various lists held by organizations that advertise with us. Therefore we have established a code of ethics policy, which all individuals and businesses listed on our website agree to as a guide for maintaining the utmost integrity in the service they provide. Please review this policy and rely upon your personal discernment, as only you know what is resonant for you.


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Christmas Cheer Part 4

Blurb | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

“Let’s go sledding.”

Christine squinted against the glare coming off the snow. Joe stood on her doorstep with a bright blue, plastic sled propped against his side and an even brighter smile.

“Excuse me?”

“Come on.” He tipped his head toward the street. “At least a foot of snow fell last night. Excellent sledding snow.”

Sledding snow? There was such a thing as sledding snow? She looked past his shoulder. Sure enough the town was blanketed in the white stuff. Deep grooves were carved in the street where a few intrepid vehicles dared to venture out. Other than that, nothing was touched. Cars were merely lumps, sidewalks non-existent. A group of kids walked down the middle of the street, pulling their own sleds behind them.

Joe shifted into her line of sight and looked at her expectantly. Like a little kid. A black knit hat covered his hair, his nose was pink, his eyes sparkling as if he couldn’t wait to get out there and fly down the snow-encrusted hills.

“Come on, Christine. Just a few hours of sledding. I’ll have you back here before you know it.”

What was it with this man? Why was he determined to keep her from meeting her deadline and why was she so tempted to ignore the deadline when he was here? His enthusiasm was contagious and for one wild moment she thought about actually going with him. Of taking his hand and heading down that street to the biggest hill they could find. But just for a moment.

“I can’t,” she said, true regret in her voice, but proud of herself for sticking to her guns.

Some of the sparkle in his eyes dimmed. The smile faded just a bit and that temptation rose again. Would one afternoon make a difference? Not even an afternoon, just a few hours. A few hours in Joe’s company. Despite her resolve not to think about him, he crept into her thoughts constantly, destroying her concentration.

“Work?” he asked, making the word sound like a curse and causing her back to straighten.

“Yes, work.”

The smile was long gone and he looked at her with serious blue eyes, the sparkle turning to speculation while he held the silly sled in gloved hands. He nodded, as if coming to some conclusion.

“Okay, then. See ya around.” With a two finger salute, he turned and headed down the steps to the street.

Christine clutched the doorknob to keep herself from racing after him. Deadline. Work. They were the whole reason she was here. She picked Plinemarsh because it was a small town where tourists came in the summer. Summer. Not winter. She figured no one would be around and she’d hole up in her rented apartment and let the creativity flow. Except people were around. It wasn’t as quiet as she’d hoped and it was beginning to look like she’d left her creativity in New York. Along with her good sense.

“Wait!” The word was out before she knew what she was saying, but she couldn’t—didn’t want to—take it back.

Joe turned around and looked up at her.

“Give me a minute to get my coat and gloves.”

When he smiled, it was as bright as the snow coating the car behind him and it stole her breath more than the frigid air.

“Sure,” he said. “But wear something a little warmer than flip-flops.”

She laughed and the sound almost startled her it’d been so long since she’d laughed.

Joe still couldn’t believe Christine agreed to go sledding. After talking with Julie last night, he’d decided to give it one more shot. If Christine said no then he’d walk away. Some things in life were worth pursuing but sometimes you also had to know when to throw in the towel.

Of course just because she decided to venture into the sunlight didn’t mean she would go out with him, but he was patient—a trait he’d recently acquired.

She’d turned her face up to the sun and was smiling. Her riot of corkscrew curls poked out from beneath a knit cap. The cap made him laugh. Crazy bright colors with a pom pom on top and braided tails that fell over her ears. Her mittens matched and lo and behold she had actual shoes on her feet. Boots, no less.

“What changed your mind?” he asked.

She shrugged and watched two boys troop past, sleds trailing behind them. “I don’t know. The snow, I guess. I haven’t been sledding in years.”

He was a little disappointed that she hadn’t said he was the one who changed her mind, but the disappointment was slight and easily pushed away. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was here.

She slipped on a hidden patch of ice and he grabbed her arm to keep her from falling. She smiled up at him and for a moment he was pole-axed. His feet stopped moving while his heart thundered. Her smile, the first genuine smile he’d seen from her, transformed her normally dour expression into something beautiful.

Instead of letting go of her arm, he slipped his hand down to her mittened fingers and left it there. She didn’t look at him, didn’t acknowledge in any way that they were holding hands. Neither did she pull away.

Children’s shouts reached them before they even saw the hill and the sound brought back so many memories of sledding down this hill with his friends.

“It looked bigger when I was younger,” he said. The place was crawling with kids dragging their sleds behind them as they trudged up the slope. Parents crowded around the bottom, most of them holding steaming cups of coffee and hot chocolate. A few dogs raced up and down the hill, barking and getting in the way.

Christine shaded her eyes with her free hand and peered up the hill. “You lived here as a kid?”

“Born and raised.”

She looked at him but whatever it was she was going to say, she never said it. Did she know about him? For the first time his past made him uneasy. It wasn’t something he regretted, but just the same he wondered what she thought.

She tapped the sled with the toe of her boot and shot him a mischievous, whimsical look that got his nearly frozen blood moving. “You going to show me how this thing works?”

He smiled and headed up the hill at a fast clip. “Last one up buys coffee.” To his surprise she jogged past him, the sound of her laughter leaving him in the dust and he might have, just a little, felt his heart turn over.

Christine couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so hard. Joe was playful, something she’d never encountered in the men she’d dated before. He loved to laugh and the people of Pinemarsh loved him. She lost count of the number of times women stopped to talk to him or just said hello as they walked by, toting a child or two behind them. Young and old, married and single, men and women, everyone seemed to love Joe. And he always had a nice thing to say to them, something that left them smiling.

The men Christine dated had been more like her, driven to succeed, worried about their smart phones in case they missed that one important call.

Occasionally she thought about her project and a smidgen of guilt would shadow her day, but Joe seemed to sense those moments and pulled her from them, whether it was a snowball aimed at her head or a breath-taking run down the steep hill.

She hadn’t realized how long they’d been sledding when he finally pulled her aside and offered her a cup of steaming hot chocolate from a thermos she didn’t even know he had. Gratefully she sipped the warm beverage and looked over the once pristine, snow-capped hill that was now furrowed with hundreds of runner tracks, green and brown grass poking through the snow.

Her wandering gaze landed on Joe and she almost bobbled her hot chocolate when she discovered he wasn’t looking at the scenery but at her. Those bright blue eyes that held nothing but laughter all afternoon were now seriously regarding her.

“Nothing.” He blew on his hot chocolate, causing steam to billow up, obscuring his face.

Feeling more content than she had in a long time, and more sore than she’d ever been before, she smiled. His eyes darkened to a deeper blue.

“Thanks,” she said. “For forcing me out here. I had fun.” Her voice held a tinge of regret that the day was over and her thoughts turned to the mound of work waiting for her in the empty apartment. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to rent the place. She’d hoped to get away from her life so she could concentrate. If she landed this deal, she was guaranteed a promotion. It was everything she wanted, everything she’d worked toward since she entered high school and understood that hard work rewarded you with a full stomach and a constant roof over your head. Everything depended on successful completion of this project.

And here she was playing in the snow with a man who couldn’t take life seriously.

She tossed her empty cup in the trashcan. “I should get back.”

Joe caught her hand and held it. This wasn’t the first time he’d touched her today and there were several layers of gloves and mittens between them but she couldn’t help but feel warmth where they touched. “Don’t go. Not yet. Have dinner with me.”

She drew in a breath, so tempted. Yes, Joe Rossi was a kid at heart with seemingly no direction in life. He was the total opposite of what she wanted in a boyfriend, but let’s face it, she wasn’t here for a boyfriend and she wouldn’t be around for much longer. A week at most. If she got her butt moving and worked instead of played. Which wasn’t happening at the moment.

“Don’t say no.” His fingers tightened around hers. “Not yet.” He pulled her closer and she allowed it. When it came to this man she had no strength of will. He zapped it out of her with his magnetic eyes and bright smile. That should have raised red flags—did raise red flags—but she didn’t seem to care.

Inches separated them. Their breaths blew steam that mingled and drifted away. His nose and cheeks were red and his knit cap was pulled down to his brows but strands of black hair peeked from beneath.

He moved his head closer and suddenly they were kissing. His lips were cold but his tongue was warm from the hot chocolate. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her to him and she stood on her tip toes because she didn’t want to miss any of this kiss. His gloved hands cupped her cheeks, warming them, scorching them, and he pulled away to kiss her nose before resting his forehead against hers. He looked into her eyes and there was no hint of amusement or laughter.

“Have dinner with me, Christine.”

“Why?” The question was a loaded one but he seemed to realize that.

“Because I like you. A lot. And I want to get to know you.”

She should pull away, step back, disengage, but found she couldn’t. “This isn’t a good idea.”

“Tell me why over dinner.”

They both smiled. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Not the first time I’ve been accused of that. Say yes. Let me cook for you.”

She sighed, helpless to say no. Helpless when it came to this man. “Dinner. But then I have to get back to work.”

He stepped away and immediately she missed his heat. Not because it was cold, but because she missed the comfort and security she found when she was near him. She dismissed that thought. She of all people knew comfort and security didn’t come from people but rather things—like a home and clothes and food.

He didn’t let go of her hand as they walked back to their apartments. She was a little saddened to see that the plow trucks had been down their streets, leaving large mounds, dirty and gray.

She turned to head up to her apartment, her mind on what she was going to wear. She’d only brought comfy clothes because she never intended on going out to dinner with anyone. Especially anyone like Joe.

This was a bad idea. No good would come of this and she could think of about a dozen bad things that would come of it. Like she’d miss her deadline because she was spending too much time with Joe.

Just as she was thinking that maybe she should decline his dinner invitation he gently tugged her past her apartment and toward his.

“Oh, no you don’t. No way am I leaving you alone. You’ll just think of ways to not have dinner with me.”

Christmas Cheer Part 1

Christine pounded on the door for the third time. She shifted from foot to foot and rubbed her arms. Geez, but it was cold out here. She’d run out of her apartment—or rather, she stomped out of her apartment—so angry, she hadn’t thought that it might be below freezing.

She blew out a breath which immediately puffed into a frozen cloud and drifted away. Laughter erupted from inside and she pounded on the door again. She was all for having a good time and understood it was the holidays, but this was ridiculous. Nearly every night her neighbor had some sort of party going on with the loudest music. How was a girl supposed to get any work done if she couldn’t hear herself think?

She stamped her foot and looked down at her toes. Maybe flip-flops weren’t the best footwear this time of year.

Suddenly the door opened. Startled, she stepped back.

He stood in the doorway. Her noisy neighbor who partied every evening.

Leaning a shoulder against the doorframe, his chrystal blue eyes lazily looked her up and down. Messy, black-as-night hair fell over his forehead, hiding the dark slashes of his brows. One hand was shoved into the pocket of very worn, very well-fitting jeans while the other negligently held a beer bottle. A black t-shirt stretched across an impressive chest and was tucked into the loose waistband of those worn jeans.

This wasn’t exactly what she pictured when she’d been told her neighbor was the chef of the town’s only Italian restaurant.

“Yes?” One of those black brows rose.

Get a grip, Christine. It doesn’t matter what he looks like, only that he turns the volume down on this party.

“I’m Christine. I live next door.” She pointed to her door, as if he didn’t know. Which was stupid because she was his only next door neighbor.

His brows lowered and he took a sip of beer, his gaze sweeping over her. Those penetrating eyes made her squirm, reminding her that her toes were nearly frozen. Damn it! She wouldn’t be losing limbs if he’d just keep the noise to a dull roar.

“I’m Joe.”

Lord above but his voice was nice. She cleared her throat. “Pleased to meet you.”

A corner of his mouth lifted and amusement danced in those light blue eyes. “Pleased to meet you, too.”

“Hey, Joe, it’s your turn.” A long-legged woman stepped up next to him and he flung his arm around her shoulders. She looked Christine up and down, frowning at the flip-flops.

“I’ll be right in, Julie.” He kissed her on the temple and she disappeared back into the apartment, leaving her disapproval of Christine’s footwear hovering in the frigid air.

Christine shifted again, trying to get the blood flowing to her toes.

“What can I do for you, Christine?”

How was it that he made that innocent question sound not so innocent? And why was it that suddenly she didn’t want it to be innocent? Focus, Christine. Right, the music. Her work. Her deadline. Sheesh, how could she forget her deadline?

A burst of laughter had her glancing over his shoulder. His apartment was like hers in layout but nothing like hers in design. He’d decorated in dark colors, maroons and browns, forest greens and beiges, making it warm and homey. Lit candles littered various surfaces and the dining room table nearly groaned with the food piled on it.

Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten in… She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten. Sometime today. Maybe.

“Would you like to come in? You’re looking cold. And I think you’re hungry.”

He made her sound like an abandoned puppy. “No, thanks. I just wanted to ask if you could possibly turn the music down.” Way to be firm, Christine. Could you sound a little less timid?

He straightened from the doorframe, his movements leisurely. She got the feeling that everything Joe did was leisurely. There seemed to be no hurry in him.

“Sorry if it bothered you.”

She waved her hand in the air, suddenly feeling like a shrew. “Not a problem. I just have a lot of work to do and the music makes it hard to concentrate.”

He looked her up and down again. She hadn’t checked in the mirror before leaving the house so she was probably a mess, but she resisted the urge to touch her hair and straighten her oversized sweatshirt.

“Sure you don’t want something to eat? We have plenty.”

She took another look at that table full of food and thought of the box of cookies and the jar of peanut butter in her cupboard. “No, but thanks. I, uh…” She waved her hand vaguely toward her apartment. The apartment that seemed absolutely perfect when she rented it but now seemed a little cold and a lot empty.

Right. Her deadline. That’s why she needed the cold and empty apartment.

Joe stuck out his hand and for a moment she looked at it in confusion. “Sorry you had to run over to tell me to turn down the music. Sometimes I forget there’s a boarder next door.”

Boarder. That was what she was. The boarder he forgot about. Somehow that didn’t sit right with her but she took his hand anyway and shook it, refusing to give any thought to how warm his fingers were.

“I’ll turn it down.”

She looked up at him. “Turn it down?”

He smiled and holy cow, what a smile it was. Dimples on either side of his mouth and white, white teeth against olive skin. Mother Nature sure knew what she was doing when she made this man.

“The music,” he said. “I’ll turn down the music.”

Picture prompt

I’m new-ish to this blogging thing. Kinda. What I mean is that I had a blog a long while back and abandoned it only to decide recently to pick it up again. My problem is coming up with ideas. Or at least ideas that are interesting to other people, because, you know, the purpose of a blog is to draw people in.

Anywho, all of this led to me do a Google search for blog post topics. Because I was procrastinating and didn’t really want to write or read. I came across this amazing site. Its a picture prompt. Every day they post a new picture and its supposed to get your creative juices flowing, I guess.

So I saw this picture and I think you’re supposed to write about what Christmas means to you, but that wasn’t what I saw when I looked at the picture. Immediately a story started to take shape and I thought to myself, “What a cool blog post. What if I post a picture and write a little blurb about it then ask other people what they see in the picture.” Slowly the idea took shape (over about a 10 minute period) and then I thought “What if I give my readers a Christmas gift. A story. Written totally off the cuff and posted in segments. Now that idea I tossed around for a good while. Do I have the time to write something like this? Do I have the energy? It’s the holiday season, after all, which means I have to juggle my outside job, my writing job and all the holiday stuff that comes along. But Joe and Christine wouldn’t let me abandon them. So (deep breath), here goes…

by Sharon Cullen

The holidays have arrived. The town is decked out in all its red and green glory, the streets are a slushy, gray mess and the snow just keeps coming. Bah-humbug. Or at least that’s how Christine feels. She could do without Christmas. While people are caroling and drinking their egg nog, she’s trying to finish up the biggest project of her career. If successful, it will launch her into the stratosphere of the marketing world. To accomplish her goal and finish her project by New Years day, she escapes to Pinemarsh. The place where people take their summer vacations–not their Christmas vacations. She fully expects peace and quiet. What she gets is something entirely different. The rental agency conveniently forgot to tell her that her cozy apartment with the view of the lake and the twinkling lights of the city one stop light is situated right above an Italian restaurant. A very noisy, very busy Italian restaurant owned by a very hot Italian chef.

Joe Rossi loves food, loves his family, loves a good laugh and a good beer–and not necessarily in that order. He spent nine very long, very stressful years as head chef in one of New York’s best Italian restaurants. He was touted as the most promising chef to come along in years. He’s published eleven cook books and even discussed having his own show on Food Network. Good things were happening to Joe but when the stress got to be too much and an accident nearly took his life, he knew he had to reevaluate and slow down. So he moved back home, to the place where it all began. The most laid-back, total-opposite-of-New York he could get. In Pinebluff he can create to his heart’s content and make his own hours.

The only burr in his side is his grumpy, but  beautiful neighbor who rarely smiles and barely says hello. In Christine, Joe sees his old self which makes him all the more grateful for what he has. Determined to spread his holiday cheer Joe decides Christine’s world needs a little less work and a little more fun and he’s appointed himself as just the man to do it.

Stay tuned for Part 1 of Joe and Christine’s story…


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Tag Archives: Soong-Chan Rah

Reading About Cultures

“Pilgrimage (detail)” Acrylic on Canvas, DS

There will be all cultures in heaven.  Rah provides a history of challenges and a way forward to embrace humanity in all of our colours.

Readings from Soong-Chan Rah’s Book: “Many Colors: Cultural Intelligence for a Changing Church:

Stories have the power to build and develop community on multiple levels. In Western approaches to communication, we tend to focus on facts and information. Truth is communicated through statistics, numbers, dates, and information based on cognitive knowledge and is usually expressed through logical rhetoric. In certain non-Western approaches to communication, stories that evoke feelings and draw out a more emotional response may be the norm. The difference between these cultural expressions is that effective storytelling may have different intentions and approaches arising out of these different cultural values.

Aristotle stated, “When storytelling goes bad, the result is decadence.” Society and culture cannot progress and be transformed without real, honest, and powerful stories. The church also loses its influence if it fails to engage in powerful storytelling.

A speaker will often close a sermon with a stirring and inspiring story. My earliest memory of public speaking was sharing my testimony before the entire church when I was a high school student since, like many American evangelicals, I was encouraged to share my personal testimony almost immediately after I became a Christian. Stories have the power to communicate elements of our faith in ways that a lecture cannot. When in doubt, share your story.

In our current American cultural context, some of our best storytellers are found through film. As a pastor, I found it fascinating that my congregants would connect to my referencing a movie more than a book.

Media have the power to transcend culture in ways that direct verbal communication cannot. Eric Law *explains the equalizing power of media by asserting that “verbal communication alone is a biased means of communication, favoring people who have a strong sense of individual power and verbal ability.

 It is important that a character undergoes credible and authentic change in the course of the narrative, keeping the setting in the forefront. A conversion story, for example, must not occur out of the blue—it must reveal the work and character of God, as well as the transformation that can take place in a man or woman. (3) Conflict Every worthwhile story needs an element of conflict. What difficulties is the character going through, and how do these affect change in him or her? As Christians, we are especially concerned about transformation. How is it accomplished? by a logical argument? through convincing rhetoric? No, true re-creation comes from the Spirit of God.


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Located on the top three floors of the hotel, these adult-only rooms feature an imposing view of the Pacific Ocean and the mountains. When staying in a Sheraton room Club, you will be able to enjoy the benefits that this exclusive section has for you. Have breakfast in the morning, relax under the sun while watching the sea, in the private beach area. Ask for butler service and receive complimentary drinks during the day in the Club Lounge. Forget everything and enjoy the experience of this exclusive service.

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Tag Archives: crochet

January Chills

Its cold, grey, and rainy today. Yesterday was just plain cold and grey. Having a bit of trouble keeping warm today. So, the heat is up, I’m wearing my layers, and there’s plenty of hot coffee on board….now what else … Continue reading

Posted in Crochet, Food, Homekeeping, Recipe Box | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

It’s about time you did something.

Christmas, you say? Yep. This is an ongoing, intermittent project, to say the least, LOL. I think I started on this blanket 2 years ago and thought I better get on the stick before I lose interest again. (ADD much?) … Continue reading

Posted in Homekeeping | Tagged | 2 Comments

1/22/11 ~ Pocket Doors & Hair Dos

There’s my completed afghan again….I just want to show it off some more. Want to see the inside of a pocket door? The left side is the “pocket” and the right side is the rest of the frame over the … Continue reading

Posted in Homekeeping, Journal, Plays with Yarns | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

1/15/11 ~ Wallpaper – yuk.

I successfully resisted the urge to visit the Y today, opting for an upper body workout while removing wallpaper. It wasn’t torture, but I saved the worst for later….One, possibly 2 layers of wallpaper with at least 2 coats of … Continue reading

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It Snowed In Tennessee

This is a very rare snowflake. It is a Lisa Flake and came all the way from Florida. Isn’t it lovely! Thank you for thinking about me in such a thoughtful way, Lisa!

Posted in Friends, Photos, Plays with Yarns | Tagged , , | 8 Comments