What makes a beautiful sense of space?

 As posted on Facebook

 Peggy Kasse, Swannanoa Watershed Action Network

A real character from Texas

 From Facebook Published 2022 (and before!)

 One of the all-time great Texas characters, Robert Hall. Robert, who was an early Texas settler, soldier, and Texas Ranger, was born in South Carolina in 1814 and was taken as a child to Tennessee, where his family built the first house in Memphis. He moved to Texas, probably as a member of the crew of the side-wheeler George Washington, in 1835 and apparently served on the Yellow Stone during the Texas Revolution. He enlisted in the Texas army on June 1, 1836, and remained with the forces until November 7. Later he joined the Texas Rangers under Benjamin McCulloch.

In 1838 Robert and three other rangers secured land and laid out the town of Seguin. Hall married Polly King, one of the daughters of a Colonel King of Gonzales, and in 1841 was issued a second-class certificate for a league and a labor of land for having arrived in Gonzales County after the Texas Declaration of Independence and before August 1836. Hall served for three years with the Confederacy. After that he was among other things, a hunting guide. I've got another phenomenal photo of him as a hunting guide that I'll post later. As an old man, Robert lived with one of his thirteen children at Cotulla, where he died in 1899 and was buried.

All reactions:

1Chris Rogers

Magic of John Singer Sargent

  

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”

Roald Dahl

John Singer Sargent - Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, 1885-6.

Sherry Reynolds, American Quilt Artist

  "eternal beauty" ~ detail view ~ finished in 2017 after about 5000 hours of work..15000 tiny pieces of cotton and silk fabric..metallic threads and swarovski crystals"...sherry reynolds...american quilt artist....laramie..wyoming...born 1966...

Poetry & Marc Chagall

  “We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. So medicine, law, business, engineering... these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love... these are what we stay alive for.”

N.H. Kleinbaum - Dead Poets Society, 1989.

Marc Chagall - The Betrothed and the Eiffel Tower, 1913.

Sailing sailing, alone across the Atlantic, first female!

Ann Davison (5 June 1913 – 12 May 1992) was an author and sailor. At the age of 39, she was the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean. She departed Plymouth, England in her 23-foot boat Felicity Ann on 18 May 1952.

The Felicity Ann, designed and built by Mashfords Brothers launched in 1949, delayed somewhat by the Second World War, after she was laid down in 1939. She was sailed in 1952 by Ann Davison to become the first ever single handed transatlantic crossing by a woman.

She landed in Brittany, Portugal, Morocco and the Canary Islands, before setting sail across the Atlantic on 20 November 1952, aiming to make land-fall in Antigua. In the event storms pushed her south and having been driven past Barbados she eventually touched land in Dominica on 23 January 1953. After an extended stopover in the Caribbean she sailed north to Florida and finally to New York by way of the Intracoastal Waterway.^[4]

A beautiful little 23 footer, she was lovingly rebuilt in 2018.

Ann Davison’s story and her voyage across The Atlantic in 1952 is a mesmerising tale, told in the book, My Ship is so Small. A choice quote by Ann Davison, reads…”Choosing a boat is like picking a husband, a wife, or a horse….You have to fall in love to get the best out of the partnership.”

The Felicity Ann, built by Mashford Bros of Cremyll (Cornwall) in 1939, has recently (2008–2009) been in private possession in Haines, Alaska undergoing initial restoration, but has now been donated to the Northwest School of Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, Washington for further restoration. The original design for the Felicity Ann and three other identical hulls are from 1936. The Felicity Ann has been almost fully restored, and on 6 August 2017 the title was transferred to the Community Boat Project in Port Hadlock, WA by the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding where students and volunteers did most of the planking restoration. The boat will be finished by volunteers and will be sailed around the Puget Sound area next year before being used for sailing instruction.

In 2017 a blue plaque recognising Davison was unveiled at Mere Brook House (where she lived from 1939) which is near Thornton Hough, Wirral.^[8]

Ann Davison was the subject of a New York Times Overlooked article on 3 December 2022

Happy birthday Mandy Patinkin

 "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Mandy Patinkin has said that the role of Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride" (1987) is his personal favorite over the course of his entire career. Patinkin claims that the only injury he sustained during the entire filming of this movie was a bruised rib due to stifling his laughter in his scenes with Billy Crystal. His attempt at holding back his laughter is obvious from his facial expression during his line, "This is noble, sir."

Patinkin and co-star Cary Elwes performed all of their own sword-fighting after many hours of training. According to director Rob Reiner, the only stunt performed by Elwes' stunt double was one flip during the "Chatty Duelists" scene. The pair Cary trained for months with Peter Diamond and Bob Anderson, who between them had been in the Olympics; worked on films from the "Lord of the Rings' trilogy to the "Star Wars" films; and coached Errol Flynn and Burt Lancaster. Every spare moment on set was spent practicing. Eventually, when they showed Reiner the swordfight for the movie, he was underwhelmed and requested that it be at least three minutes long rather than the current one minute. They added steps to the set, watched more swashbuckling movies for inspiration, re-choreographed the scene, and ended up with a three minute and 10 second fight which took the better part of a week to film from all angles.

Patinkin says that the line that introduces this post gets quoted back to him by at least two or three strangers every day of his life. Patinkin told the interviewer that he loves hearing the line and he also loves the general fact that he got to be in the movie, stating, "I'm frankly thrilled about it. I can't believe that I got to be in 'The Wizard of Oz,' you know what I mean?" (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Mandy Patinkin!

Wikipedia says this:

Mandel Bruce Patinkin (/pəˈtɪŋkɪn/; born November 30, 1952) is an American actor and singer, known for his work in musical theatre, television, and film.^[1][2] He is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer known for his collaborations with Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber. He is known for his leading roles on stage and screen and has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award as well as nominations for seven Drama Desk Awards, three Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Patinkin made his theatre debut in 1975 starring opposite Meryl Streep in the revival of the comic play Trelawny of the 'Wells' at The Public Theatre's Shakespeare Festival. He originated the role of Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita (1979) earning a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical as well as the roles of Georges Seurat/George in Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George (1984) for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He portrayed Lord Archibald Craven in Lucy Simon's The Secret Garden (1991).^[3]

Patinkin is also known for his leading roles in various shows on television, playing Dr. Jeffrey Geiger in Chicago Hope (1994–2000), SSA Jason Gideon in the crime-drama television series Criminal Minds (2005–2007), and Saul Berenson in the Showtime drama series Homeland (2011–2020). For his work in television he has earned seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning Outstanding Leading Actor in a Drama Series for Chicago Hope in 1995. Patinkin has had recurring roles in Dead Like Me (2003–2004) and The Good Fight (2021).

He is also known for his film roles including Inigo Montoya in Rob Reiner's family adventure film The Princess Bride (1987) and Avigdor in Barbra Streisand's musical epic Yentl (1983) for which he earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination. Other notable film credits include Ragtime (1981), Maxie (1985), Dick Tracy (1990), True Colors (1991), Impromptu (1991), Wonder (2017), and Life Itself (2018).^[4] Patinkin also voiced roles in Hayao Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky (2003), and The Wind Rises (2013).