Columns and Rows - Thematic Photography

I was surprised by just how many of my photos could be interpreted as meeting the 'Columns and Rows' theme Carmi has set us this week.

For quiet contemplation where better to start than in the ruins of an abbey.

Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire - 2008

"Eureka! I've got it."

Archimedes Screws on the Tees Barrage - 2012

The four screws lift columns of water up the white water rafting course adjacent to the River Tees at Stockton.

There are other ways to get a lift.

"Up, Up and Away in my Beautiful Balloon" - Michigan 2012

In Cornwall's city it's peaceful to admire the- 

High Altar and Reredos, in Truro Cathedral -2011

Where you sit in rows and contemplate the columns of - 

The Nave, Truro Cathedral - 2011

If I have recycled some pictures from recent years this week a calendar for the future arrived.

Recycling Calendar

A magnet holds it to the side of the filing cabinet in my office.

Behind me a bookcase is made up of rows of books, the columns are the books themselves.

"Your face, my thane, is a book where men may read strange matters."  - Macbeth

For more strange matters link up with Carmi and others at Thematic-Photographic-318.

Flag Days - Sepia Saturday

This week's prompt seemed particularly appropriate as we are on holiday in the USA.

I couldn't resist trying to imitate the lady sowing in the picture.

Sewing in progress

Every time, well nearly every time, we visit our daughter's home we are greeted by the flags.

St George's Cross and the Stars and Stripes

There are times when the Union Jack is flying too.

Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack

The Union Jack also has pride of place where it can be admired by the dogs.

Gem and Scout look down into the basement

Lily refused to be left out of the act.

She thinks she always is the star.

That painting above the desk is of Nyhaven in Copenhagen, a place I been to many times.

The Danish Flag flying at Nyhaven

The 17th of  May is a special day for Norway when flags are sure to fly to celebrate their independence as a nation.

Stavanger, Norway

Flags are also flow as memorials of past conflicts. I found these in Cornwall.

Boer War Memorial, Truro Cathedral

When Lily became the central attraction however, she was not that keen on posing with the flag.

She just wishes I would put the camera down and get out the tennis balls. I'm surprised she was so patient and even more surprised that my wife agreed to pretend to sew just to keep the old so-and-so (that's me) happy with the pictures.

For more flags, sewing and other interpretations you need to cross over to Sepia-Saturday-194.

Cloudspotting -Thematic Photography

I looked out of my office window when I saw Carmi's cloudspotting theme and, of course, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. However I have managed to find a few photos containing clouds and as usual some are there by accident; in others the clouds 'make' the shot.

Cloudy Horizon - Traverse City, Michigan

Norwegian Fjord in Autumn

Air Monaco Helicopter coming in to land at Nice Airport

Just two clouds for company - good visibility all round.

Majorca - early morning clouds

Back home in England large clouds dwarf the bridges at Yarm.

Yarm Bridge and Viaduct (behind) from the Teesdale Way

From Saltholme Nature Reserve there is a good view of the Transporter Bridge under a cloudy sky/

Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge

And a close up with the clouds above.

Looking up

You can't have failed to spot the clouds.

The clouds cannot be reached this way.

Firefighters practising with a Simon Snorkel Ladder

The English county of Cornwall is also known as the Land of the Saints or Cornubia.

Cornubia - painted by John Miller

This picture hangs in Truro Cathedral. It was painted to celebrate the centenary of the Cathedral in 1980. I am glad the clouds did not block out the light.

Now it's time for you to follow the Rolling Stones' advice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3F4GmbHl5g ) and cross over to other cloud spotters at Thematic-photographic-252.

Rectangles - Thematic Photography

Rectangles creep up on you unexpectedly. They appear in many photos and were the last thing you were thinking about when you took the shots like these.

Swallow on nesting box - Michigan

And maintaining the theme of birds and rectangles:-

Aviary - Preston Park, Teesside

Down in Cornwall I was frustrated by the column that blocks the shot of a terracotta frieze.

Terracotta frieze - Truro Cathedral

Whereas if I had been looking for rectangles I couldn't have found a better place. 

Back in Yorkshire's Wensleydale rectangles even appeared on a roof.

Bolton Castle roof.

I'm told by mathematicians that a rectangle is a closed planar quadrilateral with opposite sides of equal lengths and with four right angles. I just hope that I am not a square, as apparently a square is a degenerate rectangle. Now whom do I blame for that?

Certainly not the others that you can find over at Carmi's Rectangular Thematic Photographic-222

Faith - Thematic Photography

Faith as a topic takes me on a tour of some famous buildings.

Truro Cathedral

In front of this great window is a magnificent view of the altar.

Truro Cathedral altar 

We have just commemorated the hundredth anniversary of the loss of the Titanic, but in three years time it will be 100 years since the sinking of the Lusitania. When I wrote about the lost of the Andorra Star, another ship torpedoed, in WWII a friend sent me these photos of a memorial.

Memorial in Tealby

But when you see the detail you find that it includes a victim from the Lusitania.

Lost on the Lusitania

Closer to home my local church includes this small stain glass window which shows the church itself.

Kirklevington Church window

Regular participants will know that I worked in Norway for a while. While on my travels I came across this church.

Norwegian country church

I started in Cornwall at Truro but I finish with two English gems

Ruins of Fountains Abbey, near Ripon, North Yorkshire

York Minster

For other faith full views you need to visit Carmi's TP 193

Curved - Thematic Photography

I've looked for different shapes than when we did Curves here in January last year.

Should you visit Cornwall there two places I recommend you see. First:

The Eden Project

How many curved items can you find?

Cornwall's cathedral is also not to be missed.

Truro Cathedral

And here's some curved furniture inside a Cornish home.

Curved chairbacks; curved sideboard

Moving to the USA I found this statue in Michigan.

Rochester, Michigan

I'll let you check out what's curved.

Meanwhile back in mainland Europe there's two curved places to check up on -

Planetarium - Bochum, Germany

Gardens in Monaco

Perhaps I'll finish gracefully nearer home.

Mount  Grace Priory, North Yorkshire

Now it's time for you to get behind the curved ball with our host at Carmi's Written Inc 184

Screens - Thematic Photography

When I saw that the topic for this week's thematic photography was 'Screens' I decided I only needed one new shot,

Thematic Photography - picture archive

I just hope you can read the header. Other photos are a selection from my files.

Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge - Visitor Centre

Wall display plus small screen of bridge in action

The Tees Barrage is up-river from the Transporter and there I found a different type of screen, this time designed to keep people out.

Archimedes Screws at Tees Whitewater Rafting Centre

The four screws recycle water from the rafting course back to the start. Only the two centre screws were lifting water when this shot was taken.

There's a ghostly look to my next set of screens in use back in the early 1940s.

Mosquito Nets - Egypt - UK naval base

You may think my next picture does not include a screen but there is still a maritime connection.

Rudder on SS Great Britain in Bristol Dry Dock

I would claim that the glass cover to the dock screens out the sunlight at least..

In the next a glass screen in the form of a box encloses a model.

Truro Cathedral inside Truro Cathedral

The crowd has still to arrive in this basketball stadium in Lansing, Michigan and the screens are blank.

Graduation Day for Thomas Cooley Law School

And for the golfing fans.

Olazabal Takes A Putt

For a leisurely ride home there is nothing to beat the view through a windscreen like this.

Helicopter approaching Nice.

Here's two who are saying it's time to go.

You Drive

But before you go make sure have your sunscreen on when you visit Carmi's Written Inc. screens