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Seductress; Photo/my garden August 2o12; …a beautiful morning has opened its doors; the days are warming up, still a chill in the air at night and early morning. I can’t wait to be in the garden. There is so much work waiting but it is so pleasurable and at my discretion. The butcherbird has come back, heard him this morning the first time; what a lovely repertoire. 24 days to the first day of spring…. |
Monday, 6 August 2012
Monday; sunny...
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Sepia Saturday; 137; skiing;
A little history of the skis; As I have the tendency to be different I am into skiing while the summer Olympics are on. (It is winter here!)
Kiandra has a unique place in Australian history:
It was Australia's only snowbound gold mining village
It was the birthplace of skiing in Australia
In the winter of 1861 Scandinavian miners introduced snow shoeing (skiing) to Australia. Over the following years ski races were held annually on Township Hill at Kiandra and Australia's first ski club was established.
Members of the Kiandra Ski Club believe that Alpine downhill racing as an organised sport commenced in Australia
“Early skiing in Kiandra also featured competition, in fact a type of competition that was far ahead of its time.”
“I would like to commend you for having organised the first Alpine ski races in the history of our sport.” International Ski Federation. 10 May 2011
At Kiandra, Australia, alpine skiing commenced in 1861, from the late 1880s and for the following twenty years, ladies’ downhill events were principally dominated by Barbara, Margaret and Mary Yan, the daughters of a Chinese man from the mountains of China and a lady from the Bavarian mountains in Germany. Barbara Yan won the "Downhill Alpine" event in August 1887. The results for children aged ten, are also recorded for the same year
Mr. Frank Yan won the 1896 major downhill event, and was presented with a gold fob and a pair of skis, 2740mm in length, by NSW Member of Parliament, Mr. G. MillerIn 1908, the first documented International and Intercontinental “Downhill Skiing Carnival” was held at Kiandra, Australia.
some of the history of Kiandra;
For centuries before European settlement Aboriginal tribes gathered in the Kiandra (Giandara) district in summer to feed on bogong moths. When the first Europeans arrived early in the nineteenth century they used the high country for summer pasture for sheep and cattle - though stories abound of heavy losses of stock trapped by early snow-falls.
In 1859 the world came to Kiandra. By March 1860, 10,000 prospectors from all parts of the globe were scouring the district in search of gold. A timber village sprang up among the mud and slush of the Snowy River Diggings, as they were called, the Eucumbene River then being known as the Snowy River.
Within 18 months the rush had moved on, leaving only a few hundred diggers, including a substantial number of Chinese. Before it did the diggings were the scene of one of the most turbulent gold rushes in New South Wales. Dubbed Mount Rascal due to frequency of bushranging and robberies, there were anti-Chinese riots, while the antics of one of the most controversial Gold Commissioners in the colony led to a Parliamentary Inquiry.
The later history of Kiandra includes the impact of the massive engineering feat of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme, before the town was absorbed into the Kosioscko National Park and turned into a ghost town. More recently the area has become renowned for its recreational fishing and bushwalking, while skiing has continued with the establishment of the Mount Selwyn Ski Resort.
skiing+4.jpg)
How elegant and up to date in days gone by...life was easy, fun and wonderful on the snowfields!
This was the famous Kandahar binding! The newest skisticks were made from aluminium. My father's were made from bamboo.
The Roberts of Kandahar Challenge Cup was run in 1911 at Montana, Switzerland. Contestants skied an unmarked course against the clock down the Plaine Morte Glacier over rough snow and enough natural hazards to prevent contestants from simply running straight like the longboarders. "The Kandahar" was thereafter (and still is) held annually at Mürren, Switzerland. Emphasis on the importance of the descent prevailed in British racing and in everyday skiing as well.
The second bud of alpine racing was invented by British ski mountaineer Arnold Lunn in January, 1922, on the grounds of the Palace Hotel in Mürren where he persuaded some friends to race through a series of paired short wands stuck in the snow. The race was against the stopwatch and without regard to form, in contrast to contemporary Swiss controlled course contests where form counted.
Lunn’s slalom cleverly played speed off against control. The delightful tension between these opposites made the race so intriguing that its popularity spread quickly. With slalom gaining popularity, it became possible to run alpine combined races, scoring slalom and downhill together, as jumping and cross country had been scored jointly for Nordic combined titles. In 1924, Lunn helped found Mürren’s Kandahar Ski Club to promote alpine combined racing.
In the 1920s, the popularity of alpine skiing began to rise, thanks to the spread of ski guides teaching the stem technique. One by one, alpine resort hotels and inns arranged to stay open in winter to accommodate a growing group of alpine skiers in places like Kitzbühel, St. Anton and St. Moritz. Some exerpts courtesy Wikipedia
Ski, skip or run to Sepia Saturday 137
Friday, 3 August 2012
Friday; a round Ninety;
Happy 90is Birthday, Uncle Richard;
Always remember your love for the mountains;
our visits and holidays.
I wish you and the family a wonderful day.
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Wednesday; this is Elina;
 |
| Photo from my garden; |
Elina came as a cutting from my daughter's garden. Fresh and silky, she
is the one to pick, scented, soft and utterly alluring in her sunny, buttery colours.
If you want one you have to plant one,
Today!
©Photo/Text Ts
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Tuesday; a perfect day...
 Photo/ Petunia; my garden; | |||||||||
| A new week, a new beginning, a clean slate, do not smudge it. Titania |
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Sepia Saturday 136; Bikes;
Cricket, basketball. baseball etc; are anathema for me, never enjoyed games like this. In younger years, my girlfriends used to go and watch the local soccer match, but that was just to watch the boys! I could not think of anything more boring to go and watch any games.
I like bikes, but would not watch " the tours"! My middle daughter is a great bike enthusiast; when ever possible she rides her bike.
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Penny-farthing, high wheel, high wheeler, and ordinary are all terms used to describe a type of bicycle with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel that was popular after the boneshaker, until the development of the safety bicycle, in the 1880s
They were the first machines to be called "bicycles.
Although they are now most commonly known as "penny-farthings", this term was probably not used until they were nearly outdated; the first recorded print reference is 1891 in Bicycling News. It comes from the British penny and farthing coins, one much larger than the other, so that the side view resembles a penny leading a farthing. For most of their reign, they were simply known as "bicycles". In the late 1890s, the retronym "ordinary" began to be used, to distinguish them from the emerging safety bicycles and this term or Hi-wheel (and variants) is preferred by many modern enthusiasts
About 1870, James Starley, described as the father of the bicycle industry, and others began producing bicycles based on the French boneshaker but with front wheels of increasing size,[ because larger front wheels, up to 1.5 m (60 in) in diameter, enabled higher speeds on bicycles limited to direct drive. In 1878, Albert Pope began manufacturing the Columbia bicycle outside of Boston, starting their two-decade heyday in America.[
Although the trend was short-lived, the penny-farthing became a symbol of the late Victorian era. Its popularity also coincided with the birth of cycling as a sport.
I like bikes, but would not watch " the tours"! My middle daughter is a great bike enthusiast; when ever possible she rides her bike.
This time I let the colour photos to do the talking, because I think with this modern gear and bikes Sepia would not suit.
Here she is, left, on a charity ride.
I think this is in Western Australia; she cycled with a group from Brooms to Perth.
Next year is a bigger tour on the books, about 6 weeks cycling. As she is as enthusiastic about her work as about cycling her CEO gave her two extra weeks holidays...for the trip.
Her bikes are part of her car!
There are also moments like this one...
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It must have been so much fun!
They were the first machines to be called "bicycles.
Although they are now most commonly known as "penny-farthings", this term was probably not used until they were nearly outdated; the first recorded print reference is 1891 in Bicycling News. It comes from the British penny and farthing coins, one much larger than the other, so that the side view resembles a penny leading a farthing. For most of their reign, they were simply known as "bicycles". In the late 1890s, the retronym "ordinary" began to be used, to distinguish them from the emerging safety bicycles and this term or Hi-wheel (and variants) is preferred by many modern enthusiasts
About 1870, James Starley, described as the father of the bicycle industry, and others began producing bicycles based on the French boneshaker but with front wheels of increasing size,[ because larger front wheels, up to 1.5 m (60 in) in diameter, enabled higher speeds on bicycles limited to direct drive. In 1878, Albert Pope began manufacturing the Columbia bicycle outside of Boston, starting their two-decade heyday in America.[
Although the trend was short-lived, the penny-farthing became a symbol of the late Victorian era. Its popularity also coincided with the birth of cycling as a sport.
Not bad for an outing!
Penny Farthing courtesy Wikipedia.
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