Sunday Stamps - Buildings: USA

 I always have to check what sesquicentennial means when I see it describing a stamp even if I can work it out from dates on the stamp itself.

USA - 21 January 1938
Old Courthouse, Williamsburg VA

The Pan Am building in Washington DC appeared on an airmail stamp issued in 1947.

USA - 30 August 1947

The plane is one I have never heard of (Martin 2-0-2), but then it was a long time before I flew with Pan Am. I'm also unlikely to make it to Washington now either.

For buildings from elsewhere visit the Modern links at Sunday Stamps.

Parallel Bars - Thematic Photography

The Paralympics start this week in London. The TV programmes are keen that we should know that the Paralympics are run in parallel with the Olympic Games.

The town of Saltburn on the north-east coast of England has had it own Olympics this year thanks to an anonymous 'yarn bomber' who has placed a knitted Olympic scarf and knitted Olympians on the railings of Saltburn Pier.

Saltburn Pier's parallel bars

There are more parallel bars to be seen on the American flag.

Flag Day 2012 - Downtown Rochester, Michigan

This picture was taken through the windscreen of a moving car and it was only later that I realised the number of parallel wires it contained.

I believe I've posted a picture from the Tees Barrage International White Water Centre earlier this year. The updated site was opened by the Queen as part of her Diamond Jubilee Celebration and was used by canoeists training for the London 2012 Games.

As part of the upgrade four Archimedes screws were installed to return water from the end of the water course back up to the beginning.

Archimedes Screws 

Last summer I caught some swallows getting in on a high wire act beneath parallel high power lines. Perhaps they wanted extra energy for their migratory journey.

Parallel power lines

I always enjoy a game of golf especially when it gives me the chance to photograph wildlife.

Deer - Mulberry Hills Golf Course

Amongst the parallel trees, of course.

If you don't think I have done justice to Carmi's parallelism theme then we just might finish in Washington.

Supreme Court, Washington.

Better that you take a look at parallel posters at Thematic-photographic-210

To sleep; perchance to dream

Ay, there's the rub.

With Alan's Sepia Saturday photo this week being of a man asleep I was reminded of a not so private joke in our family. As I've grown older there has been a greater tendency for me to fall asleep in the evening. Hence someone saying, "Bob, you're tired. Go to bed."

I maintain that this is what inspired my daughter to send me this photo taken a few years ago on a trip to Washington DC.

 

I've been on a few red-eyed flights in my time but always managed to avoid travelling by sea. Perhaps as well because I don't think I would have appreciated  sleeping arrangements like this,

Steerage aboard SS Great Britain

Travelling on business can be a bit of a dog's life. I've always envied the way a dog can lie down and dream - presumably about the the finer things in life.

Tired Golden Labrador Pup

Some people of course may sleep for ages - Rip Van Winkle springs to mind. However Britain's oldest known poet has been asleep for quite a while.

Memorial to Caedmon, St Mary's Churchyard, Whitby, North Yorkshire

(By Richard Thomas - CC A-S A 2.0 license)

Cædmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known. An Anglo-Saxon who cared for the animals he was attached to the double monastery of Streonæshalch (Whitby Abbey) during the abbacy (657–680) of St Hilda (614–680), he was originally ignorant of "the art of song" but learned to compose one night in the course of a dream, according to the 8th-century monk Bede. He later became a zealous monk and an accomplished and inspirational religious poet. (ex wikipedia)

As Cædmon cared for animals I decided to end with a dreamer of the future.

Sweet dreams.

 For more dreams that hopefully won't require you to go to sleep, please visit Sepia Saturday 93l

 

Presidential Sepia Saturday

I've chosen a Presidential theme this week based on Alan's photo of President Wilson on a train.

President-elect Obama with former Presidents Bush, Carter and Clinton and the then current President Bush at the White House on Jan 7, 2009

(by Pete Souza - Creative Commons 2.0 Generic License)

How did Obama get to Washington DC later in the month? By train of course.

Barack Obama on the end of the Georgia 300 train car as it rolls through Claymont, Delaware on the way to Washington DC (17 January 2009)

(by ajac - CC Attribution 2.0 Generic License)

But look closely at the first photo again. Another old President is in the room - President Lincoln in the picture on the wall. After his assassination by John Wilkes Booth in April 1865 Lincoln's last ride was on a funeral train.

The engine that drew Lincoln's Funeral Train from Washington to Springfield

Presidents travelling by train is a well established tradition as shown by President Wilson. Pictures exist of other Presidents and presidential candidates on the stomp including this from 1920.

Informal photograph of Governor James M. Cox of Ohio, a candidate for President in 1920, standing on the bottom step at the back of a train in Chicago, Illinois. Date: 1920

(Uncredited Chicago Daily News Photographer)

We have no Presidents in the UK of course and I'm not one for photographing trains but I did discover this engine 2392 on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway taken some 40 years ago.

For more Presidents, trains and old photos go to Sepia Saturday 91

Players - Sepia Saturday

I could not find suitable photos amongst my collection this week so had to seach the web. I came up with groups of players but none with beer or cards. I settled for chess instead.

Egyptian Chess Players 1879

This painting is by Lawrence Alma-Tadmena (1831-1912), a Dutch-British painter, draughtsman, etcher and illustrator.

My second group is more modern and shows The Chess Players, a bronze sculpture by Lloyd Lillie in John Marshall Park in the Judiciary Square neighbourhood of Washington DC. The E Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse is in the background.

The Chess Players - by AgnosticPreachersKid 14/04/2010

( Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 unported license)

My next group are alive and engrossed in their game.

Chess players in a park, Kiev - by Robert Broadie 02/07/2006

( Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 unported license)

Perhaps you prefer dice to chess. This fresco from Pompeii shows Roman dice players.

Dice Players

Roman fresco from the Osteria dell Via di Mercurio (VI 10,1.19, room b) in Pompeii

(Source: Filippo Coarelli (ed): Pompeji. Hirmer, Munchen 2002 ISBN 3-7774-9530-1 p146)

When I saw this fresco it reminded me of something much closer to home. I know this exists as I have seen it.

The Dice Players - George de la Tour (early 1650s, oil on canvas)

 

This picture is on display at the Preston Hall Museum, Stockton-on-Tees less than ten miles from my home in  North East England.

For more interpretations of the sepia theme visit Alan Burnett's sepia saturday 83

Light at the End of the Tunnel - Sepia Saturday

I've tried to stick with the station theme with these shots sent to me by my daughter a few years ago.

Washington DC Subway Station

The light shining through a much older structure makes a contrast with the shadows it created.

Fountains Abbey

Fountains Abbey near Ripon in North Yorkshire gives a photographer a lot of scope to obtain pictures enhanced by light effects as shown by this second shot.

That stripe on the grass looks as if it has been painted there.

For more light and station entertainment call in on other posts for Alan Burnett's  Sepia Saturday 82