About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Saturday Photo Hunt Theme - POINTED


The theme this week is "pointed" so I took a look through my digital photos and came up with a few that I thought would fit. Be sure to click on the photos to see the details.

First up is this church spire that I photographed as I was going past on the train to Cardiff. We don't see a lot of churches like this in western Canada, although there are some in the East. I really love the villages in the UK as you can always orient yourself according to the location of the local church. Its spire rises above everything else.





Next, I decided to show you a shot of a sailboat with its masts proudly erect. There are loads of people with sailboats in and around Vancouver and on almost any day you can see sailboats floating around Burrard Inlet in amongst the ships that sit waiting to be loaded. This shot was taken in north-west Italy, but it's quite typical of scenes here, too.






The next two shots are of wrought iron fencing I saw in Italy. I discovered a book online called "The Italian Masters of Wrought Iron" or in Italian "I Maestri Italiani Del Ferro Battuto" by Giuseppe Ciscato. It states: This book is in fact a portfolio of sixty-four Italian Master Smiths. Every photo is a professional catalog or portfolio quality image of work that is outstanding. The images are rich with details to inspire architects, decorators and other smiths. There are numerous pages showing how something is forged step by step. These are not detailed forging instructions but are designed to educate those unfamiliar with the the processes of forged ironwork and how it gets from a plain lump of iron to a work of art. Other than the supplement the entire book is in Italian except the biographies of the artists, which are in both Itialian and English. Being a book primarily of beautiful images there is no language barrier.
















Here we have the obelisk located at the Vatican. In 1586, the Italian engineer Domenico Fontana moved it to its present site in front of the Vatican in St. Peter's Square. "Fontana's plan for moving the obelisk was chosen from among hundreds of others. It relied heavily on pulleys, some as large as five feet in length, to lift the obelisk off its base and then lower it to a horizontal position by pivoting it on its lower end. Five huge levers, each 51 feet long, were used to help lift the shaft off the base. A variety of pulley blocks were required to work in conjunction with the 40 winches, each of which were powered with horses and men to supply the main lifting force. It took Fontana one year to complete the task. On September 28, 1586, the
scaffolding and tower had been removed. The obelisk appeared in full view, in the same position as it appears today more than 400 years later. "






Finally, closer to home, we have the ultimate pointed object, the most treasured and valuable teacher's tool - the lead pencil and its sharpener. Notice I have my personal pencils so that the kids can't use them.
I'll be around to see other participants' photos and for anyone else who would like to view them or join in the fun, please check out tnchick's site here. Also, for early entries you can check carver's site here.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

38 comments:

Carver said...

Great sequence of photographs for the pointed theme and a very interesting post. I remember when I was in England for a summer in my teens, I was amazed at how very small villages would have enormous churches with the tall spires. Happy weekend.

Anonymous said...

So many wonderful entries you got there :)

I love the church spire the best.

Have a great weekend.

Anonymous said...

G'day Leslie - is the Italian photo on the right in the Piazza in Siena?

Unknown said...

wow Leslie, you really went out of your way hunting away on this one.. Those are some great picks! :)

Tom said...

Great photos. I was also thinking of posting a newly sharpened pencils.

Michele said...

Your sailboat photo is beautiful... I've always had a soft spot for sailboats!
Very nice post...
Mountain Retreat Photos

Napaboaniya.Elaine Ling said...

Pointed and sharpen pencils :) The church looks really nice.

Anonymous said...

WOW! I love the story and the photos! Very detailed entry here:) Thanks for sharing! Happy PH!

Anonymous said...

I've been to that campo in Siena many times. :) It's one of my favorite cities in Italy.
Have you seen the mini-series Summer's Lease, based on the book by John Mortimer? It is filmed there in part. :)

If I go back in December with my son, I might take him there.

jmb said...

Great set of photos for this theme Leslie. I thought it would be really hard but I had lots in my archives too.
Have a good weekend.

marcia@joyismygoal said...

I get the point :) very good post thank you you covered a lot fence and steeples are a favorite of mine tood

Colin Campbell said...

Great pointy shots. The church spire shot is great. The Italian shot reminded me of the Washington Monument. I am surprised that there are so many boats in Vancouver. It is so cold and wet. ;)

CRIZ LAI said...

Did you put your name on the pencil? I have never heard of the brand "Leslie" before.. haha. Great idea :)

http://crizcats.blogspot.com/

Leslie: said...

Criz - ha ha! We have people to do that for us. When I saw that they had my name on pencils, I just to buy them!

tnchick ♥ said...

the boat shot is nice... but i love the first one. those fences are cool too - i'm partial to photos with fences...

david mcmahon said...

Lovely selection of shots, Leslie. You would love the church steeples in India - and the history behind them.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful entries. I especially like the spire shot. Happy hunting.

Sarge Charlie said...

Excellent post, you got right to the point

Claudia said...

Leslie,

I had a difficult time finding something pointed. I did do a shot of pencils...but mine was no good. Glad I found something better. Your's were all GREAT!

mrsnesbitt said...

Great set of pictures Leslie.....I could only pick one! LOL!

Unknown said...

great photos...great post! enjoy photo hunting!

YTSL said...

Amazing how many great pictures you found for this particular Photo Hunt entry! :)

Anonymous said...

Good pics you have, if you have time fell free to visit my site too and live some comment, tnx

SabineM said...

lovely pointed photos! I also did a steeple on my other entry (on this blog)
thanks for visiting the snap2days as well

Anonymous said...

Oh, I really like all your points!!
Those UK spires really are cool. I always love seeing them. Will we see sun today in the Northwest???

Anonymous said...

Wow, lots of pointed stuff! Great photographs. I did Photo Hunt today, too! Come see mine and put your link up. :)
http://newyorktraveler.net/photo-hunters-pointed/

Katney said...

All great pointed things and then there are the pencils.

For some reson the pencils in my library seem to have not only points but legs. They scramble away at an alarming rate. I thing once again Imust order some that say "Library Use Only" and are an uncommon color.

HartofDixie said...

Your photos totally stand out. Great picks for the theme.
Thanks for dropping by!

Carin said...

Great pictures. What a good idea: personalised pencils so the kids won't use them.

Karen Coutu said...

Love the boat!! I don't think I've seen one of those yet today. Good thinking!

Thanks for visiting me today! Have a great weekend!!!

Gypsy at heart said...

Good choices for pointed - from the mundane to the more exoctic.
Thanks for stopping by my place.

tigerfish said...

Nice takes on Pointed :)

Heart of Rachel said...

Great choices for the theme. I love the photos of the church from a distance. Lovely sailboats. The rest of the photos are wonderful.

Barbara said...

You have some lovley photos here for the theme, I must have passed that church spire on the way to Cardiff a few times. I like the shapes of the wrought iron fencing.

I am late with my post this week, I have chosen a church spire as well.

Anonymous said...

All great selections for pointed.

Nabeel said...

for the pencils photo, I think you need to get a colorful cup, with some sort of design on it. Will look much better.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Llandaff Cathedral - takes me back! Love the Italian fences, too.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful collection of pointed photos! Funny that I did obelisks too.