Food & Drinks 2013

[aster]

Hi,

Autumn weather sets in now and again with rain and gusts of chilling wind but we still have 25-degrees-Celcius days reminding summer days with lots of sunshine. : )

Autumn fruits are here though and they can be seen on every fruit vendor's display. Persimmon (hurma in Turkish), chestnuts, mandarins are living their seasonal high days. I love them all. Persimmon is a bit tricky to eat when fully ripened like mine reveals in the photo; almost impossible to hold in the palm of your hand because it spills over but definitely a delicacy that also increase one's immunity against the season's sicknesses of the various kind. Mandarin you know, and roasted chestnuts with a sweet and starchy taste that resembles a cookie's is favourite of many in autumn and winter.

Yildiz

AutumnFruitsInIstanbul.jpg

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[Birma]

Mmmm! They look very tasty Yildiz, and the colours are very autumnal . This would like great in the autumn challenge thread I think.

[aster]

Thank you, Birma.

I see what you mean about the subject making it to the Autumn Colours Challenge. I'll see what I can do and if there's any way of improving the image. Maybe I can find more of the autumn fruits to integrate into such a shot. Thanks for the reminder. : )


Yildiz

[Greg Beetham]

Hi Yildiz, something new again, Persimmons, I don’t think I’ve ever tried those before, they look nice. I see in Wiki you have to eat them only when ripened properly otherwise they can turn into glue in the stomach, which might not be too good. Funny thing they say they are a berry, that sure is some berry, but I guess that’s good in way as there is no large seed in the middle. I’ve never tried Chestnuts either so I’ve no idea what the taste like, but I do know about Mandarins, our tree got wet feet last wet season and contracted root rot and slowly died, very sad, I guess I’ll have to plant another one, one day. Good photo.
Greg

[aster]

Hi Yildiz, something new again, Persimmons, I don’t think I’ve ever tried those before, they look nice. I see in Wiki you have to eat them only when ripened properly otherwise they can turn into glue in the stomach, which might not be too good. Funny thing they say they are a berry, that sure is some berry, but I guess that’s good in way as there is no large seed in the middle. I’ve never tried Chestnuts either so I’ve no idea what the taste like, but I do know about Mandarins, our tree got wet feet last wet season and contracted root rot and slowly died, very sad, I guess I’ll have to plant another one, one day. Good photo.
Greg

Hey there, Greg!

We missed you in this thread and in this part of the forum. : ) I see and read your comments in the part where you fight for the consumer rights and expectations from SONY. Somebody has to do it ..with the rest of the guys and all, since there does seem to be a little confusion going with the new camera introductions. Even I don't feel that I have the intution to go for a certain model anymore. : )


Thanks for the kind comments on the photo. Persimmons, I should trust, can easily growin your garden too. We have one here, in the far end of the garden and the fruits are looking pretty ripe, though not as ripe as the ones from the market. I think the tree would of liked Townsville weather and thrive there too.
You would just love the taste. It's sweet and mushy. Chestnuts, you have to experience for yourself since I can't put down the words to describe the taste. : )

Thanks once again,

Yildiz

[Greg Beetham]

Thanks Yildiz, I find it’s very time consuming in this forum, especially if going to the trouble of commenting. I’m sure the only one who might miss me in reality is your good self, but thanks again.
Greg
Ps I think all of the camera manufacturers are trying to dream up camera models that will entice and halt the decline, worthwhile or not, successful or not, it isn’t just confined to Sony.
But the problem with Sony is they don’t seem to mind releasing models that appear to attack existing established models, while giving the impression that some existing models are now out of favour, it’s a bit odd really.

[aster]

Yes, commenting takes a lot of time...I know but I don't think I'm the only one who misses Greg when he's not around. Who else will pull a leg every now and again all the way from Australia? I understand life in real terms deserves more attention, work and all but don't lose the connection.

Yildiz


Ps. I don't think the E-mount idea is warming up to me at the moment; to go for a full range of E-mount lenses just to use these new full-frame semi-professional A7/A7R, though they sound good so far if one is prepared to go in that direction fully. The whole package means an ultimate change from the Alpha understanding. I personally was expecting some good news in the A-mount...so far so good, I guess. A good Alpha would be good for the spirit and I thought that was what SONY had in mind too... ? Abondening A-mount for some reason that doesn't make itself so clear and they don't want us to take it to heart, I suppose? Would be truly unfair.

[Birma]

Hey Greg! I'd miss you

Have you noticed your new status? Tower of Babel indeed. First one to make it there I think.

[Greg Beetham]

Aw shucks thanks Birma, for missing me in advance that is. I had to have a break from the ‘give it your best shot’ because It’s so time consuming and I wanted to follow the A7-A7r progress.
No I didn’t notice the ‘Tower of Babel’ label. Thanks for pointing it out, methinks DK is having a bit of a dig maybe, it wouldn’t be because I get carried away with a bit of inane banter now and then…would it?
Nah I don’t think that’s it or it would have been ‘Tower of Babble’ I’m not sure what the Tower of Babel was famous for exactly, a pretentious edifice perhaps? There are a few different accounts/versions and locations for it/them in any case and they all appear to have come to an ignominious end, but it is a persistent legend just the same even if the purpose was a little vague as well as if any of them ever accomplished what they were set out to do. (whatever it was)
So at the moment I’m not sure what to make of the new exalted status label (and that shows how clever it is), or If I need and oxygen mask or not.
Greg

[aster]

Hmm, for all I understand, Greg, God did not want the Babel Tower and the city to be built because that would enable the people that spoke one language and wanted one structure to their name and unity to be together for always, but instead wanted the people to be scattered around the Earth. So He confused their one language and they no longer understood one an other and never built the tower or the city as they intentioned. God wanted diversity and people with different purposes and diverse cultures...

I don't see your new status as a bad omen but maybe a call to come back down to earth and join the little diverse crowd known as the Photo Club Alpha forum. "Too soon to join with the heavens yet, just mingle with the crowd down there and have a chilled beer, perhaps."

How DK intended remains a mystery so far.

Yildiz

[Greg Beetham]

Yes Yildiz (I’m sorry to ramble on) but I read that stuff and it didn’t make one shred of sense to me, it tells of a mischievous god who decides to suddenly mess around with that particular human population enclave because of the vague assertion they were getting above themselves? (there were lots of others getting above themselves too so why not mess with them as well?)
The rest of humanity had already been doing their thing for thousands of years prior to that, the Mayan’s were busy doing Mayan stuff, the Polynesians were spreading across the Pacific, the aborigines had been setting fire to the continent for maybe forty thousand years already, the Chinese were in the middle of one of their many dynasties, the last hobbit had probably died in Indonesia not long before and so on, but the main thing is they all already had their own language/s and culture’s long before god got miffed at Babel.
Rome was founded about then too and everyone in the region took turns at invading Egypt. Israel was also invaded right about then as well. And amid all this turmoil someone built a tower in Babylonia? One of which (the tower building thing was popular) was also sacked by Alexander.
The Assyrians had invaded Babylon (Iraq) prior to his invasion.
(it seems you were a nobody unless you invaded somewhere)

I think the tower of babel was a bedtime story for children back then, and it grew with the telling. They didn’t have TV or the internet so they had to invent their own stories for entertainment. (that’s my theory anyway)
Greg
Ps I'll get back to normal soon.

[aster]

Yes Yildiz (I’m sorry to ramble on) but I read that stuff and it didn’t make one shred of sense to me, it tells of a mischievous god who decides to suddenly mess around with that particular human population enclave because of the vague assertion they were getting above themselves? (there were lots of others getting above themselves too so why not mess with them as well?)
The rest of humanity had already been doing their thing for thousands of years prior to that, the Mayan’s were busy doing Mayan stuff, the Polynesians were spreading across the Pacific, the aborigines had been setting fire to the continent for maybe forty thousand years already, the Chinese were in the middle of one of their many dynasties, the last hobbit had probably died in Indonesia not long before and so on, but the main thing is they all already had their own language/s and culture’s long before god got miffed at Babel.
Rome was founded about then too and everyone in the region took turns at invading Egypt. Israel was also invaded right about then as well. And amid all this turmoil someone built a tower in Babylonia? One of which (the tower building thing was popular) was also sacked by Alexander.
The Assyrians had invaded Babylon (Iraq) prior to his invasion.
(it seems you were a nobody unless you invaded somewhere)

I think the tower of babel was a bedtime story for children back then, and it grew with the telling. They didn’t have TV or the internet so they had to invent their own stories for entertainment. (that’s my theory anyway)
Greg
Ps I'll get back to normal soon.

A pretty neat summation of the historical facts in a sequence of sentences, Greg. The Earth does look awfully crowded and diverse already from the way you put it. Maybe there is some truth to the whole story being a nice tale to pass on from one generation to the other....
Although, I did live there for a short period of time during my teenage years, enough to go to all archeologically important sites and mounds that covered the remnants of what was once the structures of their civilization, I can say that I did see closehand some tower and ziggurat remnants which still needed more unearthing for us to perceive the architectural history of the region. The building material being terracotta and adobe bricks, a delicate material to withstand the pressures and loads of passing time ..and the floods or the harsh scortching heat, there were only traces of such buildings.
I do belive there truly was a hanging garden also. That probably made a neat legend or a story. : ) And there actually was a tower, Samarra Tower/Minaret of Great Mosque, which I ascended the stairs of and looked over the vast barren land where once ziggurats and mosques were erected.

And, "normal" is good, very good.

Yildiz

Ps. The photo doesn't belong to me. I linked it from a website which had a proper shot of the Samarra Tower.

[Greg Beetham]

The tower is an amazing structure Yildiz, and it’s old as well, I thought looking at the photo it would turn out to be rather modern but it was built 1100-1200 years ago. It would be nice if you had a photo or two of the trip and especially of the ziggurat building too, another amazing structure that I didn’t even know existed.
It’s now too dangerous to go on a trip like that, so I’m not hinting that you should do any such thing.
Greg
Ps dang I should have taken a photo of my desert tonight just to get back on track, it was a waffle with ice cream and maple syrup, too late all gone now.

[aster]

Hi Greg, : )

Would of liked to see your waffle with ice cream and maple syrup! Shame...next time then. We'll evenetually get back on track of foods and drinks, not to worry. : )

Greg, the photos taken at the time were all by film cameras and only the prints exist that are in photobooks and albums covering that time of our lives; they are in an other city in an other place right now. I remember that my father had to go really far to get the tower and us in the same frame. The tower is rather overwhelming when standing on site, one feels very, very small and fragile next to it.
I'll look through the albums when I visit my childhood home and see if I can scan the snapshots or what ever we shot at the time. My father should remember where they are for sure.

One of my favourite was in front of the Lion of Babylon statue with a couple of friends and an other one in front of the Ishtar Gate which I absolutely enjoyed studying.

Yildiz

Here's a linked image of the Ishtar Gate (reconstructed version in Berlin Museum)


Lion of Baylon (linked photo)

[Greg Beetham]

Great past memories you have there Yildiz,
I had a read about the Ishtar Gate when I had a minute and that sort of transferred into reading about early religions of the region, delving into that could go on and on.
Anyway they sure could do some impressive architecture in such an early time period, it makes one feel a bit more humble, we moderns aren’t as clever as we think we are. It’s a great pity so much was vandalized and not preserved down through the ages though, an abomination like the burning of the great library in Alexandria for instance, it was actually attacked more than once, the last time by a Pope.
Even the Egyptian Pharaohs used to vandalize the temples and statues belonging to the previous Pharaoh so that the population could concentrate on worshiping the current one and not the previous one.
Thieves made off with antiquities and treasures everywhere since time began, if they could find them and disappear with a whole skin that is, the Giza pyramids are a case in point.
With Babylon we probably don’t even know fully what we have lost, the region was in turmoil very often, it’s easy to believe that many great things have been gone missing there though the ages.
Greg