Attitude

I bet that somebody, somewhere, wrote their psych Ph.D. dissertation on Halloween costumes and their relationship to the personality of the owner. You can venture your own guesses on these.

Seattle tonight. If I'm lucky, if the plane takes the usual approach to the airport and it's not too cloudy, I might get a shot of Mt. Rainier on the way in. 

Work got in the way of an out-of-focus theme day pic today. If you really need out-of-focus just call me.               

The train on the plain

.

Usually if I have to travel to Tel Aviv I take the train; but this time I was on a bus, taking pictures of the speeding trains. 

A train on the bridge. 

A train on the plain, catching the rays just after sunrise. 
.
(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
.

The Beadle

The Beadle of the Worshipful Company of Insurers greeting and welcoming members into a function at the Guildhall Art Gallery.  So just what is a Beadle?  The role includes taking care of meeting places as well as organising meetings,  ceremonial and social functions.  Enforcing discipline decided by the court.  It can be summed up as policeman, almoner, friend, social worker and communicator.

Boo

Happy Halloween to those of you who enjoy it. I got out for a while Saturday to shoot the massive street party in our Central West End district. Not the best year for images at the event. It gets more crowded every year and I had some kind of bug. Still, there were a few keepers.

This isn't a holiday that appeals to me. I don't like being scared, naturally or artificially. No slasher movies, no Trump websites.   As far as I'm concerned, you can save all these grisly memento mori references for an ascetic monk's hut. 

Goofy costumes are okay. The only time I've done that as an adult was at a party thrown by a colleague. I made a mitre out of cardboard, put MasterCard and Visa logos on it, bought a California Angels baseball jersey and went as the pope.

           

Pipelines

A bus stop on Lindell Boulevard at Euclid  in the Central West End last night. I went to  shoot at the outdoor Halloween party in Maryland Plaza but headed back to the car when it became too crowded to move. This was a bit of luck found on my way.

We'll have some Halloween pictures starting tomorrow to carry me until I get to Seattle this week.

By the way, Pierre Laclede was the French trader who founded St. Louis in 1764.      

Ted is pump’ed

Shall We Dance?

These two were consuming generous amounts of the official beverage of Oktoberfest. They insisted that I take their picture and get both shirts clearly. Aren't they sweet?            

Reviewing the Event

Clutching their piece of the corn dolly and checking the selfies.  The end of the weeks series on the Apple Festival.

A church watch-cat

.

Guardian of the threshold?
A cat sits atop the gate next to a church in old Jaffa.

Immanuel Church was built in 1904 in Jaffa's American/German Colony. 
Its history is so interesting, and unique. 

The Protestant church holds services on Saturday in Hebrew and English.
On Sundays only in English. 

Linking this post to Camera-Critters and inSPIREd Sunday memes.
.

Lederhosen

I suppose that leather pants could be comfortable if they were soft enough, more like gloves than shoes. It's a way of proclaiming "I'm German," a statement like a French beret or cowboy boots. We saw people wearing them at the Fischmarkt in Hamburg last month. Does it look a little silly to you?             

The Finale

The finale to the apple festival is to tear the corn dolly apart and throw the pieces to the crowd. 

A Conversation at the Harbor Master Complex

When is a golf car not really a GOLF car?

Cape Town's Noon Gun. An almighty BOOM!

It's a beautiful late morning in the Cape Town City Bowl.  Not much of a breeze blowing and Table Mountain, without a table cloth draped over it, rises up behind the city in all her glory.  Peaceful.  Visitors and locals alike are going about their daily routine, heading between meetings, window shopping, grabbing a quick coffee, sightseeing... Suddenly, BOOM! Pigeons fly up from the pavement, a couple of American tourists duck for cover, a Joburg businessman jerks his head up, a travel blogger from PE nearly drops her camera and a small group of Germans recompose themselves when they realised that nobody else reacted to the sound.  A local sipping his cappuccino at a table on the pavement outside one of the many coffee shops just shake his head and smile.  The Noon Gun gets them every time.

Although I get to visit Cape Town two or three times a year and enjoys going up to Signal Hill for sunset, I haven't been to see the Noon Gun in probably close to a decade and a half.  A visit to the Noon Gun during a quick trip to the Geocaching MEGA in the Mother City meant I didn't just get to go and see the gun fire again, but also show it to my family who made the trip down with me.  

The Noon Gun (which are actually two cannons, the second just in case the first one fails) are situated on the side of Signal Hill overlooking the City Bowl and Sea Point.  About 15 minutes before it is time to fire, a red flag is raised and a member of the SA Navy steps up to prepare the guns for the daily shot.  Everybody stood a bit closer and a quick history lesson followed.

The Noon Gun has been fired since February 1806 and the two original guns are still in use today.  The guns were cast in England in 1794 and brought to the Cape a year later while under British occupation, apparently making the two guns the oldest guns in daily use in the world.  The reasoning behind firing a shot at noon every day (except for Sundays and Public Holidays) was, according to local tradition, to allow ships in port to check the accuracy of their marine chronometers.  Even though a Time Ball was taken into use in 1818, the gun continued to fire daily till this day and many Cape Townian still set their watches to it.  In 1864 they started to trigger the gun remotely from the master clock of the oldest timekeeper in the country, the South African Astronomical Observatory, thanks to the advent of the galvanic telegraph.

Both 18-pounder smoothbore muzzleloaders are loaded daily (six days a week as mentioned previously) with 1,5 kg of gunpowder each.  If the remote trigger on the first gun fails for some reason, then the Cannoneer on duty will quickly change over and fire the second gun manually.  You don't get to see somebody load a cannon with a rammer every day, but you do at the Noon Gun when a rammer gets used to tamp the charge into the muzzle.

With noon approaching and everything in place for the gun to be fired, we were all asked to stand away a short distance.  If you are afraid you'll get too much of a fright because of the sound, then standing behind the guns are best, but for the best view then a side position is the place to be.  Cameras and phones got lined up and suddenly it was time.  The countdown started at 10... 9... 8... 7... a quick check if the camera was focused properly... 6... 5... the lady next to me giggled nervously... 4... 3... it was time... 2... 1... BOOOOOM! Smoke everywhere. Exclamations all over.  Wow, that was slightly louder than most expected.  Quick check to see what my photo looks like and disappointment.  A total blur.  The shock of the BOOM messed with my focus.

A couple of my Geocaching friends did get video clips of the gun going off though and I'm nicking Penny's one to share with you.

Getting to the Noon Gun is quite easy actually.  Just follow the "Noon Gun" signs from the corner of Buitengracht and Bloem Streets up through the Bo-Kaap along Military Road.  Just take it easy going up though as the road is steep and winding and there's always just that one guy who will come flying down from the other direction.

The best part of visiting the Noon Gun?  It is totally FREE!!!

A Bit of Dancing

No English festival would be complete without the Morris Dancers.  These were the troop that kicked their heels up at the Apple festival.

Beer and Zombies

We have a little one-day Oktoberfest in our Soulard neighborhood. Last Saturday the oom-pah band and beer were flowing freely. One participant was getting an early jump on Halloween. If you've had enough German brew, why not dance with the undead?         

A painter and The Little Prince

.

P is for painting.
And inside the painter's workshop--the Little Prince! 

Seen on Wednesday in Tel Aviv's old and picturesque Florentine neighborhood.
.
(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)
.

Cyclops

Cyclops had to be one of the oddest characters at the Apple Festival. 

Transition

It finally feels like summer is really over here. It was a long one. Every autumn Citygarden covers its long stone wall with a row of pumpkins. The color is striking if you get the light right.             

Juno and Friend

The goddess Juno casting her magic and counsel at the apple day festival.

Back of the Dock, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico

This was cross-posted to Ocala & Central Florida Photos.

Apple Day

A relatively modern celebration, Apple Day, was first celebrated in 1990 in Covent Garden. Now it is celebrated every year throughout the country on the weekend closest to the 30th of October.

Characters from much older traditions are commonly found joining in this more modern festival. The GreenMan was spotted at Apple Day festivities yesterday at the Borough Market.  Over the next few days I'll introduce you to a few of the others I spotted celebrating the occasion.

Palms Out, Palms Up

More of the same, but pretty good ones. I need a break. Going to a conference in Seattle next week, though. I'm supposed to work but there's so much to shoot in that city . . .  

Ted goes mountaineering

Traffic Cop

Well, that's what these pictures make me think of. Probably not a good uniform out amidst the exhaust pipes but, if this were their job, they would still be obeyed. Japanese people are, above all else, respectful and polite. We've walked around in Tokyo traffic and everyone keeps their cool.            

Fields of flowers in the Karoo

 It's dry in the Karoo.  The word Karoo doesn't mean "Place of Thirst" for nothing.  But the smallest amount of rain in the last winter of early spring means that there will be flowers.  And flowers there were when I drove through the Karoo Heartland late in September.  On the road north of Steynsburg I had to double take when I suddenly saw fields of yellow flowers and just could not help but to pull over and take out my camera. 

Yet another example that you don't really have to go to the West Coast to see flowers in spring.

Peppermint Sticks

The first of the Japanese dances involved walking in a circle while clacking these candy cane sticks in many rhythmic patterns. Not exactly a get up and boogie number but fun to hear and watch.