FPN's PEN ART GALLERY

[ParramattaPaul]

1 hour ago, Frank C said:

The British also considered the Colonists' behavior to be "ungentlemanly"; the snipers would shoot the British officers first, leaving the troops with no one to give them orders. 

That is a timeless sniper tactic continued today.

[essayfaire]

Americans, including Francis Marion(on whom the movie "The Patriot" was based) employed guerrilla tactics; that's what successful smaller armies usually have to do when facing a richer and larger adversary.

[inkstainedruth]

15 hours ago, Frank C said:

The British also considered the Colonists' behavior to be "ungentlemanly"; the snipers would shoot the British officers first, leaving the troops with no one to give them orders. 

And, ironically, being NOT considered a "gentleman" was what pushed George Washington to fight against the English.  We went to Mount Vernon on a bus tour a number of years ago, and heard a story about how he had custom ordered some really nice furniture from England and when it came it was just garbage.  He was apparently mortally offended, and when the Continental Congress approached him to lead the Revolutionary forces he was basically going "Where I sign up!"

America was basically treated as the place to get raw materials from, and the finished goods were made in England, where labor costs were much lower.  But I hadn't realized that even though a voyage could take several months across the Atlantic, the trade between the Old World and the New World was such that 300 ships a year docked at Richmond, and then it was about a week or so overland to Williamsburg (then capital of the Virginia colony).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ParramattaPaul]

Ruth, if find the amount and extent of maratine travel and trade in the 18th Century surprising, you'd be shocked to read about how much there was in the ancient world. 

[Andrew_L]

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when she was still Princess Elizabeth from a trip to South Africa in 1947

 

(vintage The Burnham pen 232F, Diamine Matador, Double A(A4))

 

Full review: http://lenskiy.org/2022/09/the-burnham-london/

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

20 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

Ruth, if find the amount and extent of maratine travel and trade in the 18th Century surprising, you'd be shocked to read about how much there was in the ancient world. 

Yeah, one doesn't really think about things like that, unless a historian doing research.

A number of years ago, a replica of Columbus's flagship came up the Ohio River and was docked in Pittsburgh for a week or two.  And the thing that amazed me the most?  How SMALL the replica was.  And for a cross-ocean trip where you don't actually know where you're going?  Truly mindboggling to be in a vessel that small (I gather that the other two ships in the original convoy were even smaller).  And of course they had to have room to store livestock, and so on, as well as the crew.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[ParramattaPaul]

I remember seeing cargo ships and tankers coming going in the 1950s, in my childhood.  I suspect that many then were Victory ships built for WWII.  They seemed huge, but would be dwarfed by the massive container ships,  super tankers, and giant cruise ships of today.  That leaves me wondering if the sailors of Columbus' day saw their ships as massive vehicles and it's only our retrospective impression that they are little bigger if that than today's luxury yachts.

[Frank C]

5 hours ago, Andrew_L said:

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when she was still Princess Elizabeth from a trip to South Africa in 1947

 

(vintage The Burnham pen 232F, Diamine Matador, Double A(A4))

 

Full review: http://lenskiy.org/2022/09/the-burnham-london/

 

 

Nice drawing. And the Matador accentuates her auburn hair. Thanks for sharing this. 

[Just J]

On 9/25/2022 at 12:31 PM, essayfaire said:

Americans, including Francis Marion(on whom the movie "The Patriot" was based) employed guerrilla tactics

AKA 'The Swamp Fox', [also movied], Marion learned the 'art' from battles with the Cherokee.

I've fished in his pond!  

 

[essayfaire]

3 hours ago, Just J said:

AKA 'The Swamp Fox', [also movied], Marion learned the 'art' from battles with the Cherokee.

I've fished in his pond!  

 

Pretty neat!  Catch anything?

[Just J]

2 hours ago, essayfaire said:

Pretty neat!  Catch anything?

Now that I recall it, yeah!  Had taken my Dad down for a Father's Day bass-fishing weekend; & most excitement was when a BIG 'gator jumped on his lure.  

(We *ahem* decided to let him/her keep it.)  

 

[essayfaire]

4 hours ago, Just J said:

Now that I recall it, yeah!  Had taken my Dad down for a Father's Day bass-fishing weekend; & most excitement was when a BIG 'gator jumped on his lure.  

(We *ahem* decided to let him/her keep it.)  

 

I was in a boat by the gardens where they had shot some of the movie "The Patriot" and the gators were getting way too close.  

[Just J]

My Mom's family was (is) from Florida. I've got gator stories'll keep you up at night. 

 

[inkstainedruth]

Years ago my husband and I went to Florida to visit his uncle, who lived just south of Melbourne.  His uncle kept talking about "native Florida wildlife" all week, so one night, when he was off teaching some Coast Guard navigation class and my husband and I went into town for dinner, we spotted a Kmart across the street from the fast food place we had dinner at, and bought Uncle Jack an inflatable alligator for his pool. 

That was the only one we saw until we were starting to head back north, and took one of the bus tours at Cape Canaveral (and I missed the first gator because I was on the wrong side of the bus...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ParramattaPaul]

I did an Outward Bound School course in the Florida Everglades in February 1990 at the behest of a government agency.  Two of us were flown to Miami and picked up there for the drive across Alligator Alley (the actual name of the road) to the 'launch site.  The side of the road was lined with 12 plus foot long fat alligators sunning themselves on the grassy verge between the road and the swamps.  If that wasn't off-putting enough, safety exercise of tipping the canoes and righting them again while in the water was cancelled because there were two very large, assumably hungry 'gators eyeing us from the middle of the lagoon we were about to enter.

 

Despite the presence of our reptilian 'hosts', the course went on, and was a great learning experience enriched by sightings of other wildlife and harvesting fresh oysters, fish, clams and other delights to feed ourselves during the survival portion of the course course.  Plus, our end of course luncheon offered a little 'pay-back' -- fried alligator!

[Just J]

It's actually quite good. So's rattlesnake! LOL! 

But, a bit unsettling knowing you're no longer the top of the food chain, eh wot?  

😁

 

[ParramattaPaul]

That we humans are not at the top of the food chain is a point recognised by every Australian who surfaces or swims in the ocean. 

 

🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋

[Just J]

That's what Jonah said!  Allegedly. 

 

 

[essayfaire]

I am not surprised when on occasion a gator gets a toddler.  I am surprised when a gator gets a woman who is gardening, which happened this year.

 

[Andrew_L]

How cool you all are. I saw alligators and sharks only in movies))

 

Well, nature must somehow react to the actions of humanity, as if it itself does not want to respect (protect) the environment in which it lives.