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Connacht Eagles team named for Interpro clash against Munster A
ConnachtEagles
Get To Know: Jack Aungier
GetToKnow
"We have the best group of Pro Management that I have ever worked with" | Martin Joyce Interview
Eoghan Masterson Interview | "We are in a great place going into these games in August."
EMasterson
GALLERY: Pre-season training ramps up at The Sportsground
"It's always better when you have someone beside you to push you even harder" | Jack Carty and Jonny Murphy Interview
JCarty
Paddy McAllister – "I now appreciate even more, how fortunate I am to do the job that I am in."
PMcAllister
David Howarth – "We are confident that we are coming back better than when we left"
Video: John Muldoon looks ahead to new season
CONvGLA
Video: A closer look at our new kits
NewKit
The Connacht management have named their team for tomorrow's 'behind closed doors' clash against Munster A at The Sportsground (k/o 2pm).
The side, captained by flanker Conor Oliver, features a nice blend of talent from the Connacht Academy with members of the Pro team.
CONNACHT EAGLES V MUNSTER A (SATURDAY 19TH OCTOBER 2020 @ THE SPORTSGROUND, K/O 2PM).
15. John Porch
14. Colm de Buitléar
13. Sam Arnold
12. Tom Daly
11. Diarmuid Kilgannen
10. Conor Dean
9. Stephen Kerins
1. Jordan Duggan
2. Jonny Murphy
3. Conor Kenny
4. Cian Prendergast
5. Niall Murray
6. Oisin McCormack
7. Conor Oliver (C)
8. Sean Masterson
16. Dylan Tierney-Martin
17. Matthew Burke
18. Jack Aungier
19. Darragh Murray
20. Joshua Dunne
21. Colm Reilly
22. Cathal Forde
23. Shane Jennings
24. Oran McNulty
25. Peter Sullivan
Every day we're shining a light on one of our newest arrivals over the summer, and help you get to know each of them before we return to the field later in the month.
Today it's the turn of the newest member of the prop club, Jack Aungier.
Jack welcome, how have your first few weeks been as a Connacht Rugby player?
I have settled in very well, the players and staff have made me feel very welcome here which has made the transition a lot easier. I would know a few of the lads from the Irish U20's team which helped. Training has been tough but it is brilliant to get back into rugby and train as a team. A lot of it has been conditioning and gym sessions before this week, it is brilliant to be able to get back into the rugby part of things. I am looking forward to the games in August.
Normally you meet all coaches and players when you first start but for you, training started in smaller groups, was that strange?
We were in groups of seven at the start, I only ended up meeting everyone last week. It was our first time all together in one big group. It was strange having to clean the whole place down after being in the gym and maintaining a distance from the players and coaches, it took a bit of getting used to.
Do you feel being in the smaller groups allowed you to get to know people better?
The guys I am living with were in my initial group, I would have known them previously from the age-grade teams. I got to know Eoghan Masterson and Caolin Blade quite well. Eventually, I got to meet everyone as the weeks went on, everyone is easy to get on with.
How have you found working with the coaches and S&C teams?
The S&C team put us through our paces for the first few weeks. The programme is slightly different from what I was used to in Leinster, it did take a bit of getting used to. I feel fit after the first month, coming into the rugby side of things, I am still coming around to all the plays and calls with Nigel, Pete, Jimmy, and Andy. I have gotten to know them well over the last few weeks and I am learning new things every week.
Was it tough waiting for pre-season to start knowing you're joining a new club but at the same time going through the lock-down and everything?
My last game with Leinster was 5 months ago and when I left the building I didn't know it was going to my last time. That is the way professional rugby goes and you must move on. I was looking forward to getting started with Connacht. The last month has been brilliant for me.
There's a lot of competition for places in your position so I presume you're all eager to impress ahead of the Interpros?
I think props tend to mingle with each other straight away, they are all great lads and there is great competition there. I know Andy mentioned that there isn't much of a pecking order, that tight head position is up for grabs. I am certainly looking forward to competing with those lads over the next two years.
What would like to achieve with Connacht?
My aim is to get on the team every week, it's a competitive position. My goal is to play as much as I can whether that is starting or from the bench. I want to build up my experience and my overall goal is to win a league with Connacht, that's why we play the game. From talking to the coaches there is a competitive squad here that can win the PRO14 and compete in Europe.
Final question, have you experienced much of Connacht and Galway since you got here?
I have been out and around a good bit, I want to make sure I get out and explore on my days off. I want to experience that culture, it is different to the East of Ireland. It has been brilliant so far.
The role of a kit manager is to ensure everything runs like clockwork on a training day or matchday while remaining upbeat and good humoured. When we think of Connacht's legendary kitman Martin Joyce (Joycey) he is the epitome of everything the role should be.
Joycey is someone who keeps everyone in high spirits with his presence around the Sportsground. His ten years with Connacht Rugby have given him enough stories to write a book. We sat down with him last week to discuss his return to the Sportsground along with some of his favourite memories with Connacht down through the years.
Joycey, how are you? You are usually travelling around the world in the Connacht Rugby van, how has life at home been over the last three months?
There was a lot of DIY done around the house, I think I painted for those three months. The kids got excited about painting the house for maybe an hour until they realised that a second coat needs to go on and that it can take three days, after that, I was left to do it by myself. The fact that we couldn't go on holiday meant that the money we would usually spend was spent on household items. My wife loved buying the paint but didn't actually paint herself!
My son works in Limerick, I drive him in from Clare twice a week in our car. The Connacht van had not moved in eight weeks, I thought I better give it a run-in case it seizes up. I was struggling to get into third gear because the gears are so different compared to the car. I was blaming the van but it was just me not being able to drive it after not sitting in it for so long. I would say there were cobwebs on it at one point. Since getting back to The Sportsground I am back to normal and it has become second nature again. There was a couple of times I thought this van doesn't feel right at all.
Let's go back to the start of your career, how did you get into this role?
I was made redundant from a job in 2003, Munster had advertised for a kitman in the local paper and I thought I am going to go for it but not say it to anyone, I stuck my name in the hat to see what would happen. As you know, things don't work like that, you have to talk to someone. I confided in one of the guys at our local club and told him I had applied, he said that there was no chance I was going to get it unless I contacted someone in there. I got in contact with Keith Wood and he brought me up to spend a bit of time with the U20's at Irish Camp in the Radisson, I spent a couple of days with them. I then did the interview with Munster a couple of weeks after that and was offered the job part-time, where I spent six years with them.
During that time I did an Irish U'20's camp and went off to Japan where I met Nigel Carolan. When I returned, I heard that Connacht Rugby were looking for a full time kit manager, Nigel rang me and asked me if I was interested and that was it. I jumped at that opportunity and never looked back. So it's Nigel's fault that I am in Connacht! I joined in 2009 and did my 300th game against Montpellier this season before everything got shut down. I was going around telling everyone it was my 300th game but that opened me up to a world of abuse from all the team.
It seems like rugby was a big part of your family, did you have anyone else involved?
My great grandfather was involved in Garryowen RFC and my grandfather was a team manager with them, my father was the kit man for Garryowen for around 26 years. We lived with my grandparents growing up, it was always in the house, whether it was bags of jerseys or equipment. It was second nature to me in one way. I played a lot of rugby growing up, when you come to the realisation that you cannot play anymore, you look to get involved in some shape or form. I never looked down the road of coaching because I am probably too much of a home bird and with a coaching job it could bring you all over the world. It didn't appeal to me, but when I saw the kit man advertisement, I knew I liked the idea of it.
Do you think your kids would like to carry that on?
I know my eldest would, I think he imagines himself hitting 18 and getting the keys to the van and storerooms in Connacht Rugby and giving me the boot. I am sure the lads in Connacht would be very happy with that, but I am not going anywhere for the moment just yet!
What have been the major changes since you returned to The Sportsground post quarantine?
There are a few little differences, as we head into week five things are starting to go back to normal. The major thing is the disinfecting of everything, anything that is touched must be sprayed and wiped down as we go from group to group and session to session. It rained heavily a few days last week which is tough on the lads without a dressing room. I probably have fewer miles on my feet because I would usually run the water which is normally a big job during pre-season when the lads split into smaller groups. Usually, I am running and racing around trying to keep up with them.
It must be hard without the dressing room because that seems to be where a lot of the bonding happens. Do you feel like it will be harder on the social aspect of training?
The dressing room interaction is something I do miss. It does have an effect especially with the new lads, they come in to do the session and they are straight back into their car and go home. There is no hang around area like the dressing room to create that atmosphere and have a bit of banter after the sessions. It is hard to make a connection with the new lads because you can't get up close and shake hands. When you are always keeping a distance, it doesn't feel as natural when it comes to bonding, but it's what you must do. It must be more difficult for them because they have a big group that they need to get to know and only have a certain window that they can do it in.
Going back to your away trips have you ever left something majorly important back in Ireland during an away trip?
Luckily I haven't, but it can very easily happen especially when you are flying, I can relax more when I am taking the van because you can load up on more things and put in two of everything so you know you have backup stock. When you get on a plane once you get the bags weighed they cannot go over the weight to get checked in. When you arrive at the airport you are always thinking to yourself "I hope these bags have made it". Thankfully to this day, we haven't had those issues, we have had bags that have gotten delayed but never long enough to effect anything. I always say everything can go missing except the kit, we can work around everything else and buy them on the other side if needs be. As long as the jerseys, socks, and shorts get off the plane we will work our way around everything else.
Have you ever experienced any nightmare trips where you have been stuck or delayed?
We went to Bayon a couple of years ago, I drove to Rosslare and the ferries were cancelled, I was meant to get on it for 4 pm and arrive the next day. I would have had two days to get down through France to Bayon. My plan was to spend the whole day driving down there and have a day before the lads arrived to chill out and relax after the long drive.
Since the Rosslare ferry was cancelled it meant that I had to go to Dublin the following day and get a ferry to Holyhead, that ferry got delayed and didn't go until after lunch that day. Eventually, I got on and spoke to the customs officer and told him I needed to get on this ferry first so I can get off it first because I had to drive across Wales and down to Portsmouth to get on another ferry to France. I gave him a jersey and he got me off the ferry first, sometimes it is the best currency you can have in those situations. It was heavy mist and rain all the way to Portsmouth, I had our travel agent on the phone telling me that I was going to have to stay in England because I wasn't going to make it, he wanted to book me into a place. I declined, I was determined to get there and pulled into the port around 3 minutes before it was due to close and ended up arriving in to the hotel 10 minutes before the lads.
What has been your favourite trip?
It's funny, when we got delayed in Moscow it was a trip that could have been bad. The fact that all the travel went upside down actually made the trip. Sometimes the logistics don't go to plan but they can end up being the best memories. We had issues all the way through, the balls deflated from the cold, the ink froze in the pens writing the subs cards. We had to use pencils instead and the players drank hot Mi Wadi at halftime. I will never forget Niyi at halftime, his hand was shaking and he was spilling the drink everywhere. Even though we got stuck in Moscow and it went wrong it made it fun, everyone split up into different groups and came back with their own stories. It was one of the best trips in my memory.
What is your favourite memory thinking back on your 10 years with Connacht Rugby?
I get asked this a lot and always say beating Leinster in my first season at home in Galway. They came down with a fully loaded team and we beat them. I was getting texts asking me why I was going to Connacht. After that it showed that we can beat anyone, you get a group of people that are willing to knuckle down and work hard it means you can achieve anything. The obvious one is the PRO12 win which was amazing but that Leinster win is my favourite memory.
There seems to be a great bond between all the coaching staff it seems like you all get on very well?
We have the best group of Pro Management that I have ever worked with. No matter what group you work in you may have someone you don't get on with. But that is not the case in this group, everyone is honest with each other, we challenge each other and call each other out if needs be. It's a great group and we all work very well together which makes life more enjoyable. It's hard to be away from your family on the trips when you get stuck in airports or have a long trip but when you have a great group of people around you it makes it much easier.
I know you are big into your rock music, do the players mind you playing all your music in the dressing room?
My music in the dressing room has been shot down many times. We have moved away from it a fair bit because the lads will arrive into the dressing room with their headphones on listening to their own music. There used to be a time where there would be a speaker in the corner and you would blare out the music. I think my age starts to show when I want to put on heavy metal and the lads are looking for me to put on someone like Post Malone. Usually, by the time the lads arrive, I will turn off the speaker.
As the years go by I realise how old I am, one of the players was celebrating his birthday and I asked him what year was he born, he said 1993, I met my wife in 1993. But even though there is an age gap I don't see the guys like that. I look at them as the lads and the people that I work with. Of course, some days I think, "I could be your father". The older part of me comes out when players are having a problem or when you need to use your bit of experience to give them advice. But most of the time I just look at them as my colleagues.
It must be nice to witness the lads from a young age progressing through their careers?
It is fantastic working with the lads at such a young age, you see them progress from shy 19-year-olds to fully grown adults and some with their own families. It is very rewarding to work with them from a young age and to see them move up through the ranks and go on to achieve great things. To witness Jack Carty get his first cap with Ireland was amazing and watching him play in the world cup last year.
Last question for you, Friendy asked that all players and staff come back to the Sportsground having mastered one skill, what would you say yours was?
How to use Zoom and Microsoft teams, I had never heard or used them prior to all of this. I had a cold sweat before the first one, I hadn't a clue how to use it. Now I can set up a call, invite people, I am basically a tech genius now! I also picked up my bass guitar for the first time in a while, which I have had since I was 19. I learned a bit when I got the guitar initially, I ended up putting it down one day and never picked it up again. I happened to speak to Deidre Lyons with RPI before lockdown, I was telling her that I struggle to switch off at times. I am constantly thinking about work and the things I need to do, she asked me if there was anything that I used to do that I don't do anymore. I thought of my guitar and it has been a great tool ever since as it helps me switch off.
Growing up in a strong rugby household, a career in professional rugby was destiny for Eoghan Masterson. His days of playing out in the back garden with his father and younger brother Seán is where his fondest memories of rugby began. Some of the lessons he learned back then are ones that he still plays by today. We sat down with Eoghan to chat about his roots in Westport, getting back to pre-season training to the books that gave him a new perspective during lock-down.
Eoghan, how have you found life these past 3 months?
It is great to be out the other end of it now, it was a pretty strange experience. In a way, I enjoyed it, to be able to have that time to reflect on a couple of things and to get a break from playing every week and letting the body heal up. I am delighted to be back in seeing the lads and to get back into a good routine. Connacht did a great job taking apart the gym and rationing out equipment to everyone.
We are in our third week now and it is clear to see that a lot of the players have come back in seriously good condition. It would have been easy to come back in bad condition spending the whole of quarantine watching Netflix and playing the PlayStation. The squad made the most of that time to come back in better shape than they were before. We are in a great place going into these games in August.
I know your parents live in Mayo, did you get to see them when the restrictions were lifted?
I stayed in Galway during the lock-down, my girlfriend is a nurse in the University hospital, I wanted to make sure I stayed. I didn't see my parents until the county to county restrictions were lifted. I saw them recently, it was great to see them, they live in Aughagower just outside of Westport. They had just moved there after retirement and were delighted to be in the countryside and have the fresh air.
We had some fantastic news at the start of the summer with your brother Sean signing his first professional contract. Your parents must be seriously proud. How does it feel to officially have your little brother on the team with you?
Last year was a big year for him, he made his debut on the Connacht team back in October against Treviso. It was cool to witness that, he did come on to replace me which I wasn't too happy about. It was great that he got on and made his debut, he played again later in the year against Leinster and did well. It's fantastic that he will be here for another year and that he has graduated from the academy and is a fully pro player. I am looking forward to having a few more good days together and hopefully we can share the pitch a few more times. It's tough on my mom as she is a bit of a worrier, I think she would have liked us to play golf or something instead. But I think she is getting used to it now.
Two members of your household are now professional rugby players, is there a history of rugby in the Masterson family, how did you both end up playing rugby?
My dad was a keen rugby player himself but didn't play at a professional level. I would say the professionalism kicked in after he was finished his rugby career. He played at a high level in Scotland with Sterling county, that's where is he from. He then moved to Westport where he met my mother. He played rugby for Westport and was a builder by trade initially, he helped to build the clubhouse in Westport RFC. I have a photo of him working on that which makes me very proud. My cousin's farm is the farm that is beside Westport RFC. We have a lot of roots in Westport, I never played with them myself as my dad became a prison guard and moved to Portlaoise after that. He would be well known around Westport RFC.
My uncles would have played rugby in Scotland, it was my dad who got us into it initially, my sister didn't pick it up, she wasn't as keen on it but she has been doing plenty of running over the lockdown period. My dad was a huge influence on Sean and I growing up, we played rugby in the back garden and he was able to show us a thing or two and teach us things that I still remember to this day like forwards should never kick the ball.
Were you and Seán competitive growing up and were you able to teach him some rugby lessons?
I am five years older than Seán, so by the time I was taking rugby seriously at around 13 years of age, he would have been 8 or 9. But that's not to say that he wasn't incredibly keen, as I was hitting adolescence he was still only a boy, that's not to say I didn't take it easy on him. He certainly did his best to get a few up on me, Last year was great, because of the age gap, we were never in school at the same time or got to play on the same team. Now we get to train and play together, I am trying to appreciate it and enjoy it.
Would you say it has made you closer?
"Hmmm, maybe you will have to ask Seán that?" We have our moments and do fight now and again. I think overall, we are lucky that we have a good relationship with my mum, dad, and my sister. We all get on well which I am very appreciative of that.
You are in your 3rd week of pre-season training, what is the new setup like and are things changing as the weeks go by?
There is no dressing room, which is a massive part of the team and where the craic happens and it's a place where you get to have a lot of the small conversations with people and get to know them a bit better during those down periods. Everything has been condensed the last few weeks, initially we trained in groups of six. There are three-time slots, one group is in the early morning, the next is in at lunch and the final group comes in during the evening time. The groups have increased week by week, we are now in two groups of twenty players this week and we were able to do some team stuff on the pitch in the bigger group. I am looking forward to the restrictions being lifted a bit more and getting to see all the lads together on the pitch at the same time and hopefully getting our dressing room back too.
It must be tough to go from training at home to going to intense sessions back in the Sportsground and eventually into games?
I think our athletic performance department has been good in that aspect. They have been able to build us up to a certain level where we can transition to go back on to the pitch and play rugby. The weight sessions that Johhny, Dave, and Bob provided, built up nicely which made it much easier to adjust when we returned. If you hadn't put in the work it would have been a shock, as David Howarth says we "we do not like shocks or surprises".
We have had lots of news with new signings over the past few weeks, do you know any of the players previously and have you had a chance to talk to the ones that have arrived?
I didn't know of them previously on a personal level, but in my group the first week I was in a group with Oisín Dowling, Jack Aungier, and some of the lads who graduated from the academy. I got to know them over the first couple of weeks quite well, they are all great lads and full of energy and enthusiasm. They are all young players and I have been impressed with what I have seen from them so far. This week I got a chance to train with Sam Arnold and Conor Oliver and they seemed to fit in well. I am looking forward to meeting the rest as the weeks go by.
That is one benefit of being in the small group, would you say it gives you a chance to get to know the guys a bit better?
It's good to be in a group with new people, if you were in a group with the lads that you already know then you wouldn't have an opportunity to get to know the new guys as well. I am glad we had that small environment to get to know the lads better and hopefully they have felt that they settled in quicker because of the group they were in.
Looking towards the games in August, how are you preparing yourself to get back to that match fitness again?
This week we had our first proper rugby session back on the pitch, we did a combination of running before the session to get you fatigued, and then we progressed on ball skills. We did a bit of defence work with Pete, ball carrying, and contact with Jimmy (without contact that is) along with some attack stuff with Nigel. Over the next couple of weeks, most of our fitness training will come from the pitch in rugby like scenarios so when the games come around, we will have that experience. We won't have played games for almost five months at that stage since we played the Kings back in March. I think training as much as we can on the pitch and in the right way will be as close as we can to full match fitness.
Outside of rugby, we know you like to read a lot, did you read any interesting books over the past 3 months?
I read a lot during quarantine, one of my favourites was "The Obstacle is the Way" by Ryan Holliday which is a book about stoicism, embracing setbacks, and using them as fuel and motivation to progress to the next thing which I found very interesting. My favourite overall was "Atomic Habits" by James Clear, which a lot of the players have read. It is relevant to us now because there is a lot of talk around building good habits, setting up a good routine, and making something automated so you don't even have to think about it. I have taken a lot on board from that especially around planning your day, manufacturing your environment in a way that can help you be successful.
Lastly, Friendy requested that you all come back to The Sportsground having learned or mastered a new skill on or off the pitch, what would you say yours was?
One of the cool things I did over lockdown was walking, it wasn't for my fitness but more to clear my head and pass a bit of time. During the lock-down, my girlfriend and I decided that we would do a marathon worth of walks within our 2km radius in one day. We managed to do 42km within that 2km radius which took us 7.5 hours. I can't say I ran a marathon, but I have done a marathon "slowly". That was a cool thing to have done and somewhat tick of the bucket list.
It's week 3 of pre-season training at The Sportsground where the squad are continuing preparations for their 'Return To Rugby'.
A squad of 41 are training across two groups, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with new signings Ben O'Donnell and Abraham Papali'i to arrive later in the summer.
One new arrival who is among the squad is Alex Wootton, with the winger continuing his integration with the playing squad.
Check out some of the best pics below.
See the team announcement here.
Our new home, alternate and European kits are now available exclusively in Elverys stores and online here.
Get a closer look at our new kits ⬇
Connacht Rugby and BLK launch two new kits
BODonnell
Bealham, Dillane, O'Brien & O'Donnell come into Connacht team for Munster interpro
CONvBEN
Benetton fixture and Christmas interpros confirmed by PRO14 Rugby
LIVE STREAM | Connacht Eagles vs Munster 'A'
Home Tickets Match Centre Teams
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Match Centre Teams
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Robin Jones
Mr. T Live Tweeting the Olympics is ADORABLE
posted by Robin - Feb 13, 2018
Friends, I have something to tell you. I love Mr. T. When I was a little kid, I would watch A-Team with my dad. He drew a "sucka fool" tattoo on my arm with a pen because, clearly, I wanted to be Mr. T. So, seeing his enthusiasm for the Winter Olympics makes my heart grow a few sizes.
What I love about this next tweet is how Mr. T didn't even want someone to win a Gold medal. Better than Bronze, but not good enough for Gold:
Go follow Mr. T on Twitter. What a treasure he is. By the way, every time Mr. T comes up in conversation, I think of watching him on TV with my dad...and watching him pick apples on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with my brother.
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Want to know more about Robin? Read more
Call 661-842-KRAB
Email RobinJones2@iheartmedia.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Signs of Life – Partanen & Lamusuo Ltd.
The Signs of Life, new Satakunta museum permanent exhibition grand opening was celebrated on Wednesday, March 7th 2018. The exhibition opened to the public the following day on March 8th, 2018, which was also the 460th anniversary of Pori! This permanent exhibition tells the story of the way of life in Satakunta spread out in three different floors. The skilled exhibition team picked the items that best fit the exhibition script that curator Johanna Jakomaa had created. Partanen & Lamusuo was responsible for creating the circulation layout as well as artistic look and feel of the exhibition.
The idea behind the exhibition design was to place the items in their natural environments. These unique environments are being widely represented in the exhibition. Dramatic ambience is created by lighting that reacts to the movement. The metallic shades that had become the trademark of Partanen & Lamusuo over the years were carefully selected as interior finishes. The exhibition starts from the 1st floor Bronze Age, which is finished with bronze shade. The exhibition then continues its way to the floor 0 with finishes in silver shade. The last and the highest of the exhibition, floor 2, is appropriately finished with gold.
Check out below the video by city of Pori where Johanna Jakomaa tells more about the exhibition (only in Finnish).
A view to the light shaft. Museum articles stand up in showcases that protect but also highlight them.
Taavi-ferry is the heart of the exhibition and works as a stage in the center of the place. In the opposite you can find deck-benches to rest during the museum tour.
In the top floor you can sense the feeling of the endless summer and miljö between milk platform and traditional barn dance feast.
The large ca. 1500 square meter area made the effort enormous for all of the participants and the tight schedule was a challenge to all. Big thanks goes to the museum team for diligent communication, without their hard work this exhibition would have been impossible to bring to life.


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"transctips": "hi thank you for calling bright house financial my name is problem can I have"
}, {
"speaker": 1,
"transctips": "yeah hi my name is Richard Caillaux and I have a contract with bright house for a % HESITATION a shield level selector % HESITATION product "
}, {
"speaker": 0,
"transctips": "thank you and % HESITATION Mr Dale please be advised that our systems are currently down today R.I.T.Jim is engage and we already expect and we expect to be fully functional within the next one to two hours is there any general questions that I can answer for you"
}]

You need to put the whole thing in square brackets [], string values need to be in quotes "", and there needs to be commas between each key/value pair.
How did you get this 'JSON'?
You should probably look at something like NewtonsoftJSON to help you create JSON from a collection of objects.
JSONLint is very useful for checking the validity of a string of JSON.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Export in Italy declines by 25% during the pandemic
The new restrictive anti-pandemic measures are once again affecting already unstable economies throughout Europe, with some of them being important economic partners of Serbia.
"The impact of lockdown is undoubtedly negative. As the orders from these countries decrease, that negatively affects the production capacity will be lower, as well as the volume of export activities", Sasa Djogovic, author of the publication "Macroeconomic Movements in Serbia", told Biznis.rs.
The poor epidemiological situation in Italy during the three months, from the end of winter until the end of May this year, has led to a sharp drop in Serbian exports to that country.
"Goods worth one billion euro were exported from Serbia to Italy in the first three quarters of this year, which is a 25.7% decline, relative to the same period last year," says Djogovic.
Discover the most important foreign investments in Serbia in 2019: click here!
In addition, there is a very pronounced decline in export to the Montenegrin market (-17.9%), which is a consequence of the collapse of tourism, as the country remained closed mostly during the spring and most of the summer months.
The hope remains that the closure of the European economies, especially those of Germany, Italy and Austria, will not last long.
As Djogovic says, the epidemiological situation in Serbia is very bad, but another lockdown would be disastrous for the national economy because it would reduce budget revenues, thus increasing the budget deficit, set at 8.8% in the latest budget review.
Economists agree that increasing public sector wages would be a bad decision at the moment and that a more efficient measure would be a one-time bonus for employees, since that would not affect the budget too much.
(Nova Ekonomija, 18.11.2020)
https://novaekonomija.rs/vesti-iz-zemlje/izvoz-na-italijansko-tr%C5%BEi%C5%A1te-pao-za-25-odsto-usled-pandemije
Nessun altro risultato.
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CSIR-NEIST's Anti-Athritis technology transferred to two major Pharmaceutical Companies.
New Year Address by Director, CSIR-NEIST.
Padma Shri Prof Dr Goverdhan Mehta, FRS, President of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry graced the 74th CSIR Foundation Day as Chief Guest and delivered the CSIR Foundation Day lecture on 25 Sept 2016.
Kisan Mela was organised in the CSIR-NEIST Experimental Farm on 26 Sept 2016 at 9:00 AM on the ocassion of 74th Foundation Day of CSIR.
CSIR-NEIST and CSIR Pensioners Welfare Association, NER Branch, Jorhat, organized Symposium on Health Management for elderly people on 14th Jun 2016.
2016-02-18 Materials Research Society of India (MRSI) Symposium and 27th Annual General Meeting of MRSI begins at CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat.
2016-01-26 Shri Y. S. Chowdary Honb'le Minister of State for Ministry of Science & Technology & Earth Sciences on two-day tour to Jorhat, directs CSIR-NEIST team to be pro-active.
2016-01-26 Shri Y S Chowdary, Honorable Minister of State for Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Government of India visited CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat.
2015-10-31 Vigilance Awareness Celebration Week 2015.
2015-05-11 Invitation for National Technology Day Celebration.
2015-04-27 Seminar on- Research, Innovation and Higher Education Cooperation Opportunities between India and the European Union.
2015-03-19_Bharat Ratna Prof CNR Rao delivers public lecture to school and college students.
2015-02-25_National Science Day Celebration & Lecture by Dr H K Gupta, Chairman, Research Council .
2015-02-08_Dr D K Dutta Chief Scientist has been awarded with CRSI Bronze medal.
2015-02-02 Dr M O Garg Assumed the charge of DG CSIR.
2015-01-05_Science Motivation Programme for School Students.
2015-01-01_New Year address by Director.
2014-11-15_Dr Harsh Vardhan Union Minister of S&T visited CSIR-NEIST.
2014-10-07_Dr B S Bhau Award.
2014-09-25_School sensitization workshops in earthquake vulnerable north eastern held at Branch Laboratrory Imphal.
2014-09-02_Dr P S Ahuja, DG CSIR Visited NEIST.
2014-09-02_20th Dr JN Baruah Memorial Lecture held at CSIR-NEIST.


The MultiSense sensor is built from an array of small sensors into one functional system. This enables the water and foam level in a vessel to be measured using a single probe!
This instrument allows our customers to monitor the level of product or anything else you want to keep an eye on, and receive SMS notifications at critical points or send level data to a website where you can monitor the situation from anywhere with an Internet connection!
This case study shows how Southern Water was able to make treating waste water much cheaper and easier with our range of foam controllers.
See how Caltex and others have been using Semrad's fuel monitoring systems, also known as ATG's, to quickly and easily monitor fuel levels in their storage tanks.
Renault have decided to go 'green' and clean up their manufacturing processes to remove oil contaminants from the waste water using the EasyTREK, one of our most popular products.


In addition to being a country girl I've always enjoyed the early rock & roll music of the late '50s and early '60s. (This is one of the many reasons why I love Conway so much...he's the best of both worlds!) I'm crazy about that whole era and have often felt that I was "born too late."
While I was in the market for the Victrola record player I bought this summer, I was not in the market for a new CD player...until I saw this Victrola Retro Desktop Jukebox CD player. As far as I'm concerned, Conway's music just belongs on a jukebox, and I knew it would make the purrfect addition to my collection. In fact, back in 1990 he was one of the inaugural 10 artists inducted in the Jukebox Hall of Fame on the occasion of the jukebox's centennial birthday!
It arrived on Friday and I love it even more than I thought I would. It is SO impressive looking and the sound is amazing.
Instagram limited me to one minute, so here's the whole song I posted. It's one of my favorites because it shows how unreal his voice was.
Some of you have said you really enjoy Conway's rock music, so here's a few more songs you would've been likely to hear on a jukebox back in the day!
There will be loads of sounds from that era coming from my jukebox because in addition to having 95% of his country catalog on CD and vinyl, I just bought this amazing 8-CD, 202 song box set that encompasses his entire rock career...Mudpie's poor little ears!!!
Do you love the nostalgia of a jukebox as much as I do?
That is a very impressive CD player!!
The jukebox just gives the music a sound that no other device can duplicate. Maybe it's because the jukebox is found in places where music is important, like malt shops, drive-in's, bars, and restaurants. And yes, Conway never sounded better than when he's on the jukebox. Great post. Have a blessed week.
Yes, jukeboxes bring back good memories.
I love jukeboxes. They are so cool. Great songs.
This is really awesome! That jukebox looks like it would be a lot of fun to have.
This is surely the best way to listen to Conway (well, except for a live showing, of course). Mudpie, we suggest you not knock this onto the floor. We don't want to see you get evicted (then again, if you get evicted, you can come live with us!).
My uncle has an old vinyl jukebox and once when he was moving, it was in my parents' basement when we were kids. I was fascinated by it and wished we could have kept it but of course, he took it back.
I love jukeboxes and I have always felt I was born in the wrong time too :) I wish I had lived in the 1940's and 50's.
We love jukeboxes especially when they're playing old Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis songs. The first time TW walked into Maxwells, the club in Hoboken she frequented, she knew she she home when she saw a Patti Smith song on their jukebox.
Conway does have a good voice. I prefer it when he doesn't get too nasally or carry too much of a country twang in his songs. I really enjoyed his Mona Lisa/Danny Boy mashup and hokey smoke, I'm lovin' your last selections. That Conway boy really knows how to to make a girl's heart skip a beat. ;) Thanks for sharing the dance floor with the 4M gang, dearie. Have a tunetastic week.
Yes, jukeboxes are so fun!


Wish I could attend, but can't make it to Kalifornia in April.
Our 2016 GOLD PROSPECTING AND MINING SUMMIT is only two months away, and we wanted to give you the latest update.
Venue: April 16 & April 17, 2016, at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds, 100 Placerville Drive, Placerville, California.
Chris Ralph is our Associate Editor. Chris has worked for precious metal mining companies conducting both surface and underground operations, and has a degree in Mining Engineering from Nevada's Mackay School of Mines. He is an individual prospector who has been searching the hills of California and Nevada for many years, finding some nice gold and gems on many occasions. Chris is based in Reno, Nevada.
Leonard Melman is our Financial Columnist. Leonard has been reporting on the financial markets for the Journal, with an emphasis on precious metals, since January 1986. Leonard draws on his previous experience as a securities and commodities broker, and he's reported on mining operations on four continents. He's also been a frequent speaker at mining investment conferences in Canada. Leonard lives in Nanoose Bay, British Columbia, Canada.
Don Robinson is a Senior Writer for ICMJ's Prospecting and Mining Journal. He has over thirty years of full time mining, including underground and open pit placers, and hardrock under his belt. He has served as a consultant, manager and superintendent of various projects, and he was also an assayer for Goldfields, Nevada. Don co-founded the Mother Lode Goldhounds, a California non-profit minerals education corporation, is a California licensed blaster, and former National Champion in gold panning.
Charles Watson is President and Chief Geologist for Advanced Geologic. Charles has over 30 years of academic and professional experience. He is a Qualified Person as per Canadian Instrument 43-101 and a California Professional Geologist.
Steve Herschbach is a Senior Writer for ICMJ's Prospecting and Mining Journal. He is a life-long Alaskan, and an avid prospector and detectorist since 1972. He is a member of the Alaska Treasure Seekers, Chugach Gem & Mineral Society, Alaska Miners Association, Nevada Mining Association, and Northwest Mining Association.
Dr. Thom Seal is a Professor of Mining, Mineral Processing and Metallurgical Engineering and the Director of the Institute for Mineral Resource Studies at the Mackay School of Mines in Reno, Nevada. He is the former manager of metallurgical technology and was senior metallurgist for Newmont Mining. He is a professional engineer and mineral process engineer, and a qualified person as per Canadian Instrument 43-101.
George Wheeldon is a Professor of Geology, teaching at Folsom College in northern California. He has been a resident of northern California's geographically diverse and scenic El Dorado County since the early 1960s. There, he has pursued his boyhood passion for discovering how "stuff works" as he says, and especially for uncovering the secrets of Earth's foundation -- rocks.
In addition, there will be an Ask The Experts booth throughout Saturday & Sunday staffed with experts in panning, detecting and mineral processing. Bring your questions! There's a suggested donation of $2 (with all proceeds going to Public Lands for the People) but a donation is certainly not required!
The Motherlode Goldhounds will have gold panning available, and a kid's scavenger hunt is free of charge.
Our H-3 (underground lode mining) Hands-on training class on Monday, April 18., has sold out.
There are a few spaces remaining in our H-1 and H-2 (above ground placer) mining classes on Friday April 15, and Monday April 18. The cost is $20 for subscribers to ICMJ's Prospecting and Mining Journal; $45 for non-subscribers. (You can sign up online here.) Pre-registration is required, and those who register will receive a map, a list of what to bring, rendezvous location, etc., in the mail. (Note: Classes are held on private property. Attendees will meet in Auburn at 7:00am, then drive up to the training site together, arriving at approx. 8:00am. Expert instructors will teach panning, power sluicing (highbanking), and detecting for those who bring a detector. Power sluicing stations will be set up and available to work in small teams after the instruction portion concludes. There will also be a full trommel operation running several times throughout the day for those who wish to see how to set one up. Class runs from 8:00am to 4:00pm.
Gold Bug Park and Mine. Located just three miles from the Mining Summit, Hangtown's Gold Bug Park and Mine in Placerville includes two hard rock mines, a stamp mill, mining museum and blacksmith shop.
This 1850 hard rock mine is well-preserved, with thousands of pick marks on the walls and ceiling, giving testament to the grueling, back-breaking life of a hard rock miner.
El Dorado County Mining Museum. The El Dorado County Mining History Museum will be open for the Mining Summit.
P.S. If you would like brochures sent to you for your club or association, give us a call at 831 479-100 or send us an email at info@icmj.com and let us know how many.
The most comprehensive and respected gold prospecting magazine on the market.
Published monthly since 1931. Available in print and online.


I'm now beyond the halfway point of my studies at the Integrative Institute of Nutrition!
So far, it's been an exciting journey, learning how exactly food can heal. For me, the journey started before deciding to enroll — some of you may remember the Soundness blog (affectionately called "the parasite cleanse blog"), where I chronicled the scary process of getting rid of intestinal parasites through herbs and a modified diet.
Along the way, I learned some wonderful recipes and amazing ways to feel better with food!
So here I am now, hoping to help other people learn about the powers of food as medicine by becoming a holistic health counselor!
If I've piqued your curiosity, or you know someone who can benefit from talking about their relationship with food, click here to contact me for a health history consultation.
To get an idea of what where the conversation may take us, download this Health History Form — it's the best conversation starter about what is offered with a holistic health counselor.
This issue's spotlight is Thai therapies — Thai Yoga Massage and Thai massage. Until recently, I didn't understand the distinctions between these two types — or that there was any difference. Generally speaking, these are the same modalities. However, their definition and how they are practiced depends on the therapist and who you ask!
Click here to hear from two different therapists.


text:
Endowment Justice Alumni Network
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RESPONSIBLE ENDOWMENTS COALITION www.endowmentethics.org
November/December Campus Updates
American University students are working on establishing a corporate responsibility board for responsible investing . We are currently drafting a proposal to present to the Board of Trustees. We just held a workshop on the Solidarity Economy with Jessica Gordon Nembhard. She led a discussion about how our work on responsible investment fits into the solidarity economy movement and how we can make changes in our own lives to act in solidarity with people, not corporations.
Bard College students are reevaluating the SRI mutual fund where the student endowment is invested. Alongside this reevaluation, we are writing an article in the student paper to inform the student body about the performance of the fund, as well as its purpose and screening methods. We are continuing to look for different options for community investment and are putting together a proposal for the short-term deposit of the Student Activities Fee Fund in a community bank over the summer.
Columbia University The Columbia Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing recently held its annual town hall to hear from students interested in proposing specific actions by the committee. The Columbia REC group made three proposals. More details here.
Fordam University students continue to educate their campus social justice community about responsible endowments practices. They hope to host a campus-wide event with speakers from the SRI industry and local campus Committees On Investor Responsibility this spring.
Grinnell College Students for Responsible Investing are urging their school to co-file a resolution on gender discrimination at a major company after successfully convincing the school to vote on that proxy last year. They will know in a couple weeks whether or not this effort will be successful.
Hampshire College students continue to await their administration's decision regarding the school's socially responsible investment policy. A campus group charged with managing a student-run endowment according to ESG criteria is currently researching their options as well.
Haverford College faculty and administrators are weighing whether or not to co-file a resolution with a major company concerning indigenous rights in the developing world.
Students at the London School of Economics and Political Science recently submitted a proposal to their administration for the creation of a cir that will include a purview encompassing multiple investment strategies. Read more here.
Loyola University Chicago 's committee plans to co-file on several resolutions, details forthcoming.
Luther College students are proposing a subcommittee to their Trustee endowment committee to both examine and make recommendations based on ESG criteria regarding mutual funds.
Macalester College students from a wide variety of organizations have formed a campus coalition to propose a substantial proactive investment policy based on the community's shared values of sustainability and social responsibility.
Middlebury College's Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investment is working with the college's Board of Trustees to establish a "Sustainability Fund." This fund will be invested in a mutual fund that fits certain environmental criteria. The students hope that this fund will become a model for how larger portions of the endowment could be invested in the future.
Mount Holyoke College students recently met with their Trustees to propose placing endowment funds into Community Development Financial Institutions based on the success of the student-run community investment fund. They are also pushing their Student Senate to support the effort with a resolution.
New School students from a number of organizations have presented several campus events on sustainable investment. They plan to implement their committee on responsible investment this spring.
New York University students are creating a detailed proposal for the steering committee of the Sustainability Task Force to create a Finance Working Group at NYU. The proposal outlines various financial mechanisms that will enhance sustainability on campus, including the recommendation of a revolving loan fund, a system of cost benefit analysis, proxy voting and preferential investment strategies. The working group aims to create a cross-disciplinary approach to use finance as a way to achieve a triple-bottom line, not only at NYU but in the global community as well.
Sarah Lawrence College students are creating an active SRI committee of students through their Student Government. Students who serve on the board would be responsible for all things SRI and would have a non-voting position on the school's Board. Sarah Lawrence is working towards more student transparency on the Board (we currently only have one student with a seated position).
Tufts University students continue to lobby their school to strengthen the existing committee on investor responsibility. Their latest op-ed is available here.
At the University of Michigan we are working on getting a student advisory committee on responsible investing set up. We have been working with the administration, specifically the CFO, Tim Slottow, and the secretary to the Board of Regents, Sally Churchill. They have expressed that we will need to convey more student support before setting up such a committee, so we are refocusing on building student support for a committee.
Washington University Students for Endowment Transparency continue to raise awareness on campus of their school ties to coal while also meeting with school officials about implementing a responsible investment policy.We are asking for the creation of an institutionalized financial oversight committee with elected student, faculty, and community representation. This committee would be able to oversee all investment decisions and vote on them, as well as engage in shareholder activism. We are also asking for this committee to report back to the university community through a website providing full endowment transparency and also through regular briefings of the student union.
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Rescheduled!!!! Christmas Students concert is still alive! Join us as with a wonderful musical event with performances from all our students & teachers.
The concert starts at 15:00 and is open to everyone!!! Family and friends all welcome, the more the merrier! The concert will close with some Christmas carols followed by drinks, cakes and mince pies!


Miyagi Prefectur (宮城県, Miyagi-ken) is a prefectur o Japan locatit in the Tōhoku Region on Honshu island. The caipital is Sendai.
Miyagi Prefecture wis umwhile pairt o the province o Mutsu. Mutsu Province, on northren Honshu, wis ane o the last provinces tae be formed as land wis taken fre the indigenous Ainu an became the lairgest as it expandit northward. The auncient caipital wis in modren Miyagi Prefecture.
In the third month o seicont year o the Wadō era (709), there wis an uprisin against govrenmental authority in Mutsu Province an in nearbi Echigo Province. Troops wur promptly dispatched tae subdue the revolt.
In Wadō 5 (712), the land o Mutsu Province wis admeenistratively separatit frae the Dewa Province. Empress Gemmei's Daijō-kan continued tae organize ither cadastral chynges in the provincial map o the Nara period, as in the follaein year when Mimasaka Province wis dividit frae Bizen Province; Hyūga Province wis sundered frae Osumi Province; an Tamba Province wis severed frae Tango Province.
Durin the Sengoku period various clans ruled different pairts o the province. The Uesugi clan haed a castle toun at Wakamatsu in the sooth, the Nambu clan at Morioka in the north, an Date Masamune, a close ally o the Tokugawa, established Sendai, which is nou the lairgest toun o the Tōhoku region.
In the Meiji period, fower new provinces wur creatit frae pairts o Mutsu: Rikuchū, Rikuzen, Iwaki, an Iwashiro.
The aurie that is nou Aomori Prefectur continued tae be pairt o Mutsu till the Abolition o the han seestem an the naition-wide conversion tae the prefectural structur o modren Japan.
Date Masamune built a castle at Sendai as his seat tae rule Mutsu. In 1871, Sendai Prefecture wis formed. It wis renamed Miyagi prefecture the follaein year.
On 11 Mairch 2011, an 8.9 yirdquauk an a subsequent major tsunami hit Miyagi Prefecture, causin major damage tae the aurie.
Miyagi Prefecture is locatit in the central pairt o Tōhoku, facin the Paceefic Ocean, an contains Tōhoku's lairgest ceety, Sendai. There are heich muntains on the wast an alang the northeast coast, but the central plain aroond Sendai is fairly lairge.
Matsushima is kent as ane o the three maist scenic views o Japan, wi a bay full o 260 sma islands covered in pine groves.
Oshika Peninsula projects frae the northren coastline o the prefecture.
‡ Scheduled tae be dissolved follaein mergers.
Although Miyagi haes a guid deal o fishin an agricultur, producin a great deal o rice an livestock, it is dominatit bi the manufacturin industries aroond Sendai, particularly electronics, appliances, an fuid processin.
The sports teams leetit belaw are based in Miyagi Prefecture.
Sendai wis the castle toun o the daimyo Date Masamune. The remains o Sendai Castle staund on a hill abuin the ceety.
Miyagi Prefecture boasts ane o Japan's three greatest sichts. Matsushima, the pine-clad islands, dot the waters aff the coast o the prefecture.
↑ 1.0 1.1 Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 64.
Wikimedia Commons haes media relatit tae Miyagi prefecture.


A new partnership between the federal government's peak cyber security team and a professional association promises to improve cross-sector collaboration, and might also lead to more consideration of independent expertise in the development of public policy.
The most visible outcome of the deal between the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Australian Information Security Association is a plan to merge their respective annual conferences into one big get-together in October.
AISA chair Damien Manuel says the new Australian Cyber Conference will be the largest on the sector's events calendar, a "cornerstone piece for the region" that helps position Australia as a centre for cyber security research, industry innovation and professional collaboration.
The association says it hopes to "further strengthen Australia's cyber security posture and achieve a cyber secure nation" through the new partnership. Skills development is one of the main ways it can help, in the view of ACSC chief Alastair MacGibbon, who doesn't want his staff spending time on event management.
"A partnership with the ACSC allows us to take advantage of AISA's well-established reach and experience delivering events that build the skills of current and aspiring cyber security professionals and providers in Australia, while the ACSC continues to focus on our core business of making Australia the safest place to live, work and play online through our cyber security resilience programs," MacGibbon said in the statement.
The not-for-profit grop welcomes members from academia, government and the private sector, and it has also been working more closely with the industry growth centre, AustCyber, of late.
Of course, the AISA chair would welcome more participation from public servants, and not just those with deep technical expertise who have traditionally joined the 20-year-old association.
Manuel, one of many sharp critics of the government's new powers to get around encryption, thinks the partnership agreement might also lead to better industry policy, and allow independent experts to have more input on legislation.
"It'll enable the government to effectively have a cyber security outreach program that they can leverage through AISA and AustCyber and the ACSC to actually get a sense of the direction that the industry needs to move in, or some of the legislation that might need to be changed, or introduced as well," he told The Mandarin.
He says policy development processes related to cyber security could definitely be improved and hopes they will, with the three organisations working more closely together.
"The other area I think that probably needs to be improved from a whole-ecosystem perspective is, a lot of organisations focus on security awareness; we really need to flip that dynamic to start focusing on behavioural change," he added.
Manuel sees a need for more public information campaigns "to harden Australia to foreign countries' influences, cyber scams and things like that" — something like the Slip, Slop, Slap campaign but for cyber security — and says the association is planning to ramp up its efforts to raise awareness in schools and the wider public.
As for the much-discussed skills gap in the sector, Manuel believes employers need to start accepting more new graduates and developing them, to meet the increasing demand for cyber security professionals.
"Everybody is time-poor, everybody is trying to achieve things very quickly, so it's often easier to poach a known quantity from another organisation because you know that person has already got five or 10 years of industry or hands-on experience, rather than … getting some of the graduates and then investing time to bring them up to speed," he said.
A program of smaller professional events run by AISA will also become more accessible via the government's network of Joint Cyber Security Centres, which were set up precisely to increase cross-sector collaboration.
"Those events will now start to appear in the JCSC locations around Australia, where there's room capacity, which is also a great way to facilitate video link-ups because in the past, if we brought in a great speaker we had them in one city and we'd have to fly them around to the other cities," said Manuel.
He says AISA plans to make the conference accessible to parents by offering on-site child care, broaden discussions out to topics like mental health in cyber security, and bring in tertiary students from 20 institutions to compete in this year's CySCA Cyber Security Challenge and "mix with others in the profession" at the same time.
The association is calling for speakers now and is keen to line up people from a relatively diverse range of personal and professional backgrounds, particularly women, who only make up about 12% of the cyber security industry, according to Manuel. Presenters are expected to be "vendor neutral" and focus on ideas rather than products.


Wherever you travel to, you can't be sure if no one in the sea of faces you'll encounter is of bad intentions. Jewelries, most especially those with gold and gems, catch attentions and also intentions! Not just that case — you can also misplace them in the hotel room or in instances when and places where you change clothes or remove them for a while. Make sure you don't bring a lot of expensive jewelries if you want to avoid losing a lot of them too.
Three, they might get lost! Because you have to many of them, there's a chance that one of them might get lost or dropped or compressed in your bag.
There are extremely valuable things you own which you might think of bringing because you can't leave them, because you want to be sure just in case you will need them or because you just want to. But remember, you don't have to bring every important thing! Not all important things for you are necessary to be brought as you travel. Some can just cause you inconvenience, so choose to leave them instead.


text:
Into the Light by Darcia Helle
by Darcia Helle
on Tour February 1-28, 2019
Max Paddington refuses to go into the light until he finds his killer. This presents a dilemma, since Max is even less competent as a spirit than he was as a live person. No one sees or hears him and he can't manage to get anywhere or do anything on his own.
Joe Cavelli is a private investigator, living an ordinary life. Then one day he walks across a parking lot, gets yelled at by a ghost, and his life only gets stranger from there.
Max and Joe team up to find Max's killer. In the process, they form an unlikely friendship and change each other's lives in ways they never expected.
Genre: Paranormal Suspense
Published by: Indie
Publication Date: July 14th 2011
ISBN: 146364020X (ISBN13: 9781463640200)
Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗 | Audible 🔗
Giveaway: There will be a PICT Giveaway and Individual Host Giveaways for Reviewers
More: According to the author Into the Light by Darcia Helle does not include: Excessive Strong Language, Graphic Violence, Explicit Sexual Scenes, Rape, or other trigger situations. PICT staff have not yet read this book, however and cannot give additional information.
Divorce. She slid the word across the table like it was part of his breakfast. Here's your toast and coffee and I want a divorce.
Max Paddington stared into his wife's clear brown eyes and said the only thing that came to mind. "What?"
"I want a divorce," Rachel repeated.
At least she'd left out the toast and coffee bit. Divorce hadn't been a side order, after all. "Are you still mad about the golf clubs?" he asked. "I'll take them back if it's that big of a deal."
Rachel said his name as if it left a sour taste on her tongue. Max swiped a hand through his damp hair. He'd been awake less than a half hour and already his day had turned to shit. Rachel, his wife of fourteen years—no, it was fifteen now—stood in front of him with her arms folded over her breasts. She wore a black camisole, pantyhose, and three-inch heels. And he was supposed to take her seriously?
"Rach," he said. "You want to get divorced over golf clubs?"
"It's not the golf clubs, Max."
"Well, what the hell?"
"I need to finish getting dressed or I'll be late for work."
"So be late! You can't tell me you want a divorce, like you're telling me the weather for the day, then walk out the door."
"I can't be late today."
"Or what? The world will implode because you don't serve your boss's coffee on time?"
Rachel glared. "I do not serve my boss coffee. I only did that for you and I won't be doing it anymore."
"I'm sorry, okay?" Max pushed his coffee mug aside, the object having suddenly become an obstacle between them. "I didn't mean that. It's just that you dumped this bombshell on me and you won't even talk to me about it."
"I don't understand why you're so surprised."
"What? I should have been expecting a divorce with my breakfast?"
"Think about it, Max."
With that, she turned and strode from the room. He watched her ass, naked beneath the pantyhose. Divorce. What the hell?
Max took his miserable attitude to work at the local Publix, where he'd been assistant manager for nearly five years. Before that, he'd been the assistant manager at Winn-Dixie. Always the assistant. Never the boss. And now his wife wanted a divorce because he'd bought expensive golf clubs. How had he managed to earn such a low rank in life?
He took his misery out on the new stock boy, a skinny sixteen-year-old with pockmarked skin and the grace of a five-thousand-pound elephant. The kid was close to tears by the time Dan, the manager, caught wind of the bad karma in the air. Max muttered an apology to his boss, said he was having a bad day, and wandered out to the stockroom. While sorting through overstock, he knocked an open case of olives onto the floor. The green ones in the glass jars. Four of the jars shattered. Little green eyeballs rolled in a puddle around his feet. One of the stockers helped him clean the mess with only a minimal of razzing.
Max hid his embarrassment behind a gruff attitude, then ducked into his office. He poured himself a cup of coffee and promptly spilled some on his tie. Next, he slipped on a newly waxed section of floor and did a fancy skid that landed him on his ass in the middle of the aisle. After that, he gave up on even pretending to work and managed to steer clear of everyone until quitting time.
He cursed his Honda Civic for not being a Mercedes, then cursed the traffic for getting in his way. His house mocked him with its dark silence. The coffeemaker mocked him from its place on the counter. Would you like a divorce with your morning coffee? A sweep of his arm sent the machine and its glass carafe sailing across the room. Leftover coffee exploded with the glass.
Was Rachel even coming home? Max watched the coffee form a river between the floor tiles. He cursed at the mess on the floor and the mess that was his life. Think about it, she'd told him. As if he could think about anything else!
He grabbed his keys and slammed out the door. Stupid to sit around sulking on the off chance that Rachel would come home soon. She was probably humping her boss on his fancy desk in his cavernous office. Damn lawyers. If the guy wasn't overweight and bald, that thought would bother him a lot more.
Max brought his attitude to Chili's, where he ate a burger and drank two large Cokes. Rather than one of the cute waitresses, he got stuck with a twenty-something waiter with a hundred-watt smile and perfect hair. The kind of guy who got threesomes on a regular basis. The kid's name was Carlos and Max hated him on sight.
The noise level in the place had Max chewing on the edge of his glass. An entire building full of couples and families, all talking to each other, smiling and happy. He sat alone, being waited on by the pinup boy for Playgirl, looking like the true loser he'd become.
Would you like a divorce with your order?
Max left Carlos what was likely the worst tip the kid had ever received and stomped back out to his car. He'd been forced to park in the bank's lot next door. That should have been a sign for him to stay out of the place. The food, liquor, noise and Carlos's perfect white teeth only managed to further sour his mood.
Maybe Rachel would be home by now and be willing to talk. As he yanked his door open, it occurred to him that he should have gotten her some food. What if she hadn't been avoiding him and had only worked late? What if she was waiting for him now, in their kitchen with the glass and the coffee river?
He spotted someone standing in the shadows, twenty feet from his car. A thin man, maybe a woman. Couldn't tell with that stupid ball cap pulled low, half hidden behind the palm trees where no lights fell. Why the hell was the guy standing there in the dark? That was the thought Max had when the bullet ripped through his left eye, tore through his brain, and exploded out the back of his skull.
Excerpt from Into the Light by Darcia Helle. Copyright © 2019 by Darcia Helle. Reproduced with permission from Darcia Helle. All rights reserved.
Darcia Helle is a Massachusetts native, who escaped the New England winters to write in the Florida sunshine. She lives with her husband in a home full of spoiled rescue animals and an occasional stray lizard. She writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative.
Catch Up With Ms. Helle On:
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Thank you for your interest in this tour. Into the Light is no longer accepting additional hosts.
| Tags:Darcia Helle, Indie, Joe Cavelli Paranormal PI, Paranormal, Suspense
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chose by the name of Allan Schulte.
The Blessed Virgin Mary dictated her message in the late 1990s and it was published in book form in 2001. The story of how it all came about is part of the Preface of Mary's book.
Allan Schulte is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and has had a life-long closeness with Mary. Allan and his wife, Marcia, were married at the University of Notre Dame in 1971. Allan and Marcia have two daughters, and three grandchildren.
Mr. Schulte received Mary's message in daily increments, starting each morning and continuing for one hour. Mary did not want Mr. Schulte to type the message into a computer as she dictated it to him. She insisted that it be taken down in longhand, and so it was hand-written.
Several major U.S. publishers saw Mary's book and were very impressed. But they did not choose to publish it because of the difficulty of "positioning" it in today's book market. A close follower of Mary, Donna Sweeney, of Boston, Massachusetts, heard the call, and realized that the book had to be shared with all of Mary's friends worldwide. Donna Sweeney came up with the money to publish Mary's book.
The book has been well-accepted, not only in the United States, but all around the world. The Mary Gardens and Mary Evening classes that Mary requested have sprouted up all around the world.
After receiving Mary's Message of Love, Mr. Schulte experienced a radical shift in careers, and found himself in the newer field of energetic healthcare and healing.
Mr. Schulte spent the first 32 years after his graduation from Notre Dame in the area of communications. He was with BBD&O Advertising, the Boston Globe newspaper, and served as a video producer for cable television in the areas of food, travel and art.
Allan Schulte founded Quantum Wellness Center in 2000, and Lotus Stress Relief in 2008. Mr. Schulte is currently the president and director of Lotus Stress Relief Center in Sarasota, Florida. The center is one of the leaders in the field of energetic medicine and stress relief in the United States.
As mentioned above, Mr. Schulte is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana where he earned a degree in Communications. He holds a degree in biofeedback from the Quantum Life Institute in California.
Mr. Schulte has been involved in the development of biofeedback, bioresonance, and neurofeedback as a way of relieving stress so that the body can heal itself naturally. Allan often calls on Mary for help in his healing work.
The Schulte family helps individuals to learn the newly developed field of stress relief. They train and help certify individuals in biofeedback. They coach individuals on how to set up their own practices in healing, biofeedback and stress relief. Students come to them from the United States, Canada and from around the world.


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A New Queen is Born Poem by Christine Phillips Login | Join PoetrySoup
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A New Queen is Born
I stood at the back of the line and watched nature unfold in front of my weeping eyes. I stood at the back of the line watching them moving in droves from every corner of the globe; colors of all sort waving in the pitch dark and a tiny light from above guiding the processions. Ten millions people waiting to board the flights and everyone heading to London to participate in the activities and to show respect to the deceased queen. The hotels are booked out and guest houses are over stressed, dorms and hostels are full and my friends are paying thirty pound per night to get a space in a private house to sleep on the floor. The airports lines are long and people are moving in droves and multitude of them reminiscing on the airport floor. Scores of baggage loaded onto the conveying belt, filled with gifts to honor the dead. I look beyond the horizon and saw a double deck container loaded with gold, and a three star liner stacked with American dollars, a ship loaded with cows, goats and pigs sailing from the African content carrying their tributes for the dead queen. All roads lead to London they are going to Buckingham palace to join the procession. Business class, and first class are all sold out, private jets and presidential plane are rolling in. Some dignitaries just get an hour's notice to get to London the same day, they travel with a formal suit and a pair of shoes to match their suit. London has come alive once more and I wish her majesty was here to join me on the dance floor. Buisness is roiling and strike is off, you have much energy to keep you out of the dark; the trains are running on time and the unions have surrender without an extra dime. If you call upon Briton to work towards a cause, they will put politics aside and rally together to mend the broken wires. Death has no appointment but can bring people together in minutes or hours. Just look on the other side of the street and you will see exactly what I mean The Egyptian boats are pulling upon the shore with spices and teas that can last for a century; a hundred thousand tons of gold is stacked in their boats and the Arabian bought gifts that can fill a mine. All this is in honor of dead queen. The bills are cleared and the debts are paid and the queen lies in her coffin with a smile on her face. Paddington bear somber in tears, and reach for her handbag to see if anything is in it, he found a slice of bread, a tea-cup, a spoon and a slice of butter melted on the moon Communities in, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales comes alive, young and old are on the street and it's a second jubilee telling a tale within a tale of how a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother lived her life and capture the heart of the world in a sudden flight. A Tale that brought the Elizabethan era to an end and one that will be told by all generation. The restaurants are busy and the bars are swinging and a sweet aroma is escaping from every kitchen. The processions journey through every street, village and town all the way to London, Hyde Park, Westminster, Downing Street and Buckingham Palace.The military in full display and commonwealth countries gather together in one flock in London to show their respect to the queen. One full week of activities and special tributes to celebrate a little lady that has touched the lives of seven point eight billion people. The queen has sacrificed her life for soul of the world; the old queen is dead and a new queen is born.
Copyright © Christine Phillips | Year Posted 2022
Poem Title: A New Queen is Born
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The Twaafald Tunics are a pair of a-line sweaters that compare and contrast two venerable Shetland stitch patterns: Feather & Fan and Old Shale.
The Feather & Fan Tunic is worked in two pieces: both front and back are worked top-down, by casting on two separate sets of stitches for shoulders, then joined and knit down to hem. Note the dramatic wave the lace pattern, as increases pull the fabric up and decreases pull it back down again. The multicolor yarn works beautifully with the lace ripples.


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Gary Lineker makes 'competitive' claim about Man United after 3-0 win over Sheff United
Gary Lineker says Manchester United are emerging as a competitive team once more after Wednesday's 3-0 win over Sheff United
By Social Spy
England legend Gary Lineker (Photo: BT Sport)
Gary Lineker declared that Manchester United are back as a "competitive" force after their 3-0 win over Sheffield United on Wednesday night.
The Red Devils were looking to build on their point at Tottenham Hotspur with a victory over their top-six rivals Sheffield United at Old Trafford.
Anthony Martial required just seven minutes to break the deadlock against the Blades when the France international steered a finish into the net following good work from Marcus Rashford.
The 24-year-old doubled the home side's lead on the stroke of half-time when he produced another clinical finish to put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side in control of the Premier League clash.
His striker partner Rashford wasted a couple of clearcut chances to extend the home side's lead further, even missing an open goal at one point in the first half.
However, Martial capped a clinical performance by scoring Manchester United's first Premier League hat-trick in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era with his third goal in 74th minute.
Manchester United moved to within two points of fourth-placed Chelsea FC thanks to their 3-0 rout of Sheffield United to remain in the race for a Champions League spot.
Former Spurs striker Lineker took to Twitter to praise Manchester United's resurgence in 2020 under Solskjaer.
Lineker wrote on Twitter: "A hattrick for Martial as @ManUtd continue their unquestionable return to being competitive again. "
Martial has scored 14 times and has made three assists in 25 games in the Premier League this season to produce his best return in a top-flight campaign since his move to Manchester United from AS Monaco in a £36m deal in 2015.
Manchester United will make the trip to Norwich City in the FA Cup fifth round at Carrow Road on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Devils will take on Brighton in their next Premier League fixture on Tuesday night.
Dimitar Berbatov states his prediction for Man United v Sheff United
Gary Lineker reacts to Liverpool FC's 4-0 win over Crystal Palace


Welcome to the Cake-Off4Kids 2019 baker registration!
Cake-Off4Kids 2019 is open to any individual who is an amateur baker, including culinary school students and bakery employees. We are excited to have you enter this event and can guarantee you'll have fun! Once you've registered, be sure to invite all of your friends to attend the event.
Bakers have the option to make a small second cake, specifically to cut for the judges. This cake must be identical to the main cake entry in cake and frosting flavor.


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Appreciation for the U.S. Coast Guard
Multimedia Release
U.S. Coast Guard 5th District Mid-Atlantic
Contact: 5th District Public Affairs
5th District online newsroom
The shipwreck that changed the Coast Guard forever
Editors' Note: Click on images to download high resolution version.
Story and artwork by Petty Officer 2nd Class Corinne Zilnicki
When the clock tolled 12 a.m. on Feb. 12, 1983, the 605-foot cargo ship Marine Electric trekked northward 30 miles off Virginia's Eastern Shore, plowing slowly through the gale-force winds and waves stirred up by a winter storm.
An able-bodied seaman relieved the watch and peered forward, noticing for the first time that the ship's bow seemed to be riding unusually low in the water. Dense curls of green ocean rushed over the bow, some of them arching 10 feet over the deck before crashing back down. The crew had been battling 25-foot waves for hours, but until now, the bow had bucked and dipped as normal.
Now it seemed only to dip.
Over the next two hours, the waves intruded with increasing vigor. The entire foredeck was swallowed in 6 feet of water. The main deck was completely awash.
At 2:30 a.m., the ship's master, Phillip Corl, summoned his chief mate, Robert Cusick, to the bridge and shared his fears: the bow was settling, they were taking on too much water, and the crew was in real trouble.
At 2:51 a.m., the captain made the first radio distress call to the Coast Guard.
"I seem to be taking on water forward," Corl said. "We need someone to come out and give us some assistance, if possible."
By the time assistance arrived, the Marine Electric had listed, rolled violently to starboard, and capsized, hurling most of its 34 crew into the 37-degree water. Chaos ensued.
Chief mate Cusick surfaced with a gasp, managed to get his bearings, and spotted a partially-submerged lifeboat nearby. After swimming through towering waves for 30 minutes, he pulled himself into the swamped boat and started thrashing his legs to stay warm.
"All the time I kept looking out and yelling out, 'lifeboat here,' just continually yelling out to keep myself going," the chief mate said. "Then I waited and prayed for daylight to come."
The Coast Guard had long since dispatched an HH-3F Pelican helicopter crew from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and directed the crews of several cutters to the Marine Electric's position, but the tumultuous weather conditions slowed the rescuers' progress.
Naval Air Station Oceana had to recall available personnel before launching a helicopter crew, including rescue swimmer Petty Officer 2nd Class James McCann.
At 5:20 a.m., the Coast Guard helicopter crew was the first to arrive on scene. They had expected to find the Marine Electric's sailors tucked into lifeboats and rafts, but instead, they found a blinking sea of strobe lights, empty lifeboats, and bodies strewn below.
The Navy aircrew arrived and deployed McCann, who tore through the oil-slicked waves, searching for survivors. He managed to recover five unresponsive sailors before hypothermia incapacitated him.
The Coast Guard crew scoured the southern end of the search area and discovered one man, Paul Dewey, alone in a life raft. They dropped the rescue basket so he could clamber inside, then hoisted him into the helicopter. About 30 yards away, they spotted Eugene Kelly, the ship's third mate, clinging to a life ring, and lowered the basket to retrieve him.
Cusick remained huddled in his lifeboat until the sailors aboard the Berganger, a Norwegian merchant vessel whose crew was helping search the area, sighted him and notified the Coast Guard. The helicopter crew retrieved him in the rescue basket, then took off for Salisbury, Maryland, to bring the three survivors to Peninsula Regional Medical Center.
Meanwhile, more Coast Guard and Navy rescue crews converged on the scene to search for survivors.
Coast Guard Capt. Mont Smith, the operations officer at Air Station Elizabeth City, had piloted a second Pelican helicopter through turbulent headwinds for over an hour in order to reach the site.
He and his crew scanned the debris field below for signs of life. The people they saw were motionless, and it was difficult to determine whether they were simply too hypothermic to move, or deceased. Smith spotted one man and hovered over him, squinting through the whipping snow, trying to decide what to do.
"We all felt helpless," Smith said. "There was no way to know if the man was dead or alive. We had to try something."
Petty Officer 2nd Class Greg Pesch, the avionics electrical technician aboard the helicopter, volunteered to go down on the hoist cable. After some deliberation, Smith agreed.
Pesch's descent in the rescue basket was a harrowing one.
"The whole world seemed to be churning," Smith said. "I struggled to maintain a smooth hoist, but I know it was erratic."
Once in the water, Pesch grappled with the basket, trying to hold it steady as he guided the unresponsive man inside. It took several attempts, and then he scrambled into the basket himself and ascended back to the helicopter alongside the victim.
The aircrew spotted another potential survivor, and although Pesch attempted to descend again, the hoist cable spooled back on itself on the drum. The crew was forced to abort their mission and departed for nearby Salisbury Airport, where the man they had pulled from the water was pronounced dead on arrival by paramedics.
Dewey, Kelly and Cusick were the only men pulled from the ocean alive that morning. Their 31 shipmates had either succumbed to hypothermia or drowned.
All told, Coast Guard, Navy, and merchant vessel crews recovered 24 bodies from the scene of the capsizing. Seven were never found. It is likely the ship's engineers were trapped belowdecks when the vessel capsized.
"Throughout Coast Guard history, the missions of the service have been written in blood," said Dr. William Thiesen, historian, Coast Guard Atlantic Area. "Such was the case with the loss of the Marine Electric. This tragic event led to stricter marine safety regulations and the establishment of the Coast Guard's premiere rescue swimmer program."
While the incident itself served as the catalyst for the major changes to the Coast Guard and maritime community at large, the rigorous efforts of Coast Guard Capt. Domenic Calicchio brought the necessity for such changes into sharper focus.
Calicchio was one of the three marine safety officers charged with investigating the capsizing and sinking of the Marine Electric. The board of inquiry launched their investigation on July 25, 1984, and examined every aspect of the WWII-era cargo ship, its upkeep, the events leading up to its demise, and the Coast Guard's rescue efforts on that morning.
The investigation revealed that although the Marine Electric had been recently inspected several times by both the American Bureau of Shipping and the Coast Guard, marine inspectors had failed to note several discrepancies or recommend needed repairs. Investigators concluded that the casualty had most likely been caused by inadequate cargo hatches and deck plating, which allowed the crashing waves to flood the vessel's forward spaces.
Calicchio felt the Coast Guard needed to revamp its marine safety procedures and demand more of maritime companies, but more importantly, that the Coast Guard needed to demand more of itself.
His push for reform resulted in several additions to the Coast Guard's marine safety protocol, including guidance on hatch cover inspections, and new requirements for enclosed lifeboats and their launching systems, for ships' owners to provide crews with cold water survival suits, and for flooding alarms to be installed in unmanned spaces on vessels.
The Coast Guard also tightened its inspections of 20-year or older ships, which led to the near-immediate scrapping of 70 similar WWII-era vessels.
"Calicchio embodied the service's core values of honor, respect, and devotion to duty," said Thiesen. "He championed marine safety and pursued the truth even at the risk of his career of a Coast Guard officer."
While the Coast Guard changed many policies to make a safer marine environment after the the sinking of the Marine Electric, the service continues to make improvements on its marine safety program today. By 2025, it is estimated that the demand for waterborne commerce worldwide will more than double. The Coast Guard has published its Maritime Commerce Strategic Outlook in preparation for the increasing demand.
The Marine Electric shipwreck also served as the genesis of another crucial development: the Coast Guard rescue swimmer program, which was established in 1984. The program's physical fitness standards, training and organizational structure were developed over a five-year implementation period, and in March of 1985, Air Station Elizabeth City became the first unit to receive rescue swimmers.
The first life was saved two months later.
-USCG-
Questions for the Coast Guard?
For more Coast Guard news, visit our online newsroom here.
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By John Samford at 10:29 PM No comments:
Logbook summary -- and feeling blessed
Now that the boat is in the local area, I am transferring the scratchy log information I make underway to a more organized spreadsheet. The engine passed the 3000-hour mark on the trip home and the onboard mileage log shows it to have covered 19,867 nautical miles since new, measured by the GPS. I have personally run it now some 649 nautical miles in roughly 100 hours, although for more than half of that time either Paul Hamilton or Jim Trolinger was at the helm. This 13-year-old boat has averaged covering around 1,500 nautical miles a year in 230 hours. For both myself and the two previous owners, the average speed seems to work out to about 6.5 knots. The boat cruises at 8 knots, but the slower average is caused by no-wake zones, docking, shallow areas, etc.
The "shakedown cruise" from Herrington Harbor, near Annapolis, Maryland down to Savannah has been a great opportunity to get to know the quirks of the boat and, assisted by my able crew, a number of mysteries have been solved and issues resolved, or at least diagnosed. With some luck, there will be nothing but maintenance and new squawks to deal with after this visit to the boat yard. I plan to have the varnish re-done in the next few weeks. The much-needed paint job for the upper white portion of the boat will have to await another year's budget.
I am having a blast and feel incredibly blessed to be doing this again. Given my age, it seems to make sense to pursue something I love this much while I am still capable. Now that the boat is back from the cold Maryland winter, I am looking forward to enjoying it with my bride, who has graciously embraced this quest along with me. We began boating together before we were married, and some of our fondest memories are the many great boating trips we have enjoyed from the Gulf coast to the Bahamas to Maine. I have no doubt that new memories will be made on this boat as well. As the song said, "Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon, though down this road we've been so many times".
I have added a few more photos to the album. I will report back when we move the boat up the Ogeechee River to Ford, which should be in a few weeks. Thanks for tuning in.
By John Samford at 1:52 PM No comments:
Labels: Division Belle, Georgia, Hinckley, Maintenance, Morehead City, Painting, Savannah, The Ford Plantation, Thunderbolt
Location: Thunderbolt Bridge, US-80, Thunderbolt, GA 31410, USA
Back in Georgia
Just a quick note that we have safely delivered the boat to Savannah. We arrived right at noon at the Hinckley Boat Yard in Thunderbolt after spending last night at the Skull Creek Marina on Hilton Head. It is good to be home.
Labels: Division Belle, Georgia, Hinckley, Savannah, Thunderbolt
The ocean is way more fun than the Intracoastal Waterway
We arrived safely at the Charleston City Marina yesterday afternoon around 5:30. It was a spectacular day at sea, and very relaxing compared to the constant attention required to drive in the Waterway, with twists and turns, bridges, and shallow spots to look out for. With another day of calm seas promised today, we decided to change our plans and go to sea again. We are headed now to Port Royal Sound at the north end of Hilton Head, so we are bypassing Beaufort altogether, and giving us a short run tomorrow to Savannah. We should get inside the sound and somewhere to anchor or tie up before dark today.
Check out the photo album, as I have added a few this trip.
By John Samford at 10:26 AM No comments:
Labels: Charleston, Division Belle
First time at sea
It is 10 am Wednesday morning, February 6, 2019, and we are officially at sea for the first time on Division Belle. Seas are very calm with gentle swells of less than two feet. The wind is from the east at six knots. We left Georgetown, SC this morning at 8 am and came down the river to enter the ocean from Winyah Bay. We are headed for Charleston and should reach the ship channel there by around 4 pm.
Our first two days have been outstanding with beautiful weather and only a few shallow spots to navigate in the Intracoastal Waterway. Monday night was spent in North Myrtle Beach at a friendly marina called Barefoot Resort. A guy there runs a "concierge" service and for less than the price of Uber he took Paul Hamilton to Walmart to purchase a mount for our new salon TV. It is now installed with satellite TV working, but only a temporary antenna stuck to the window (purchased for $15 to allow us to watch the Super Bowl Sunday night, such as it was). There was no restaurant open on the property so we dined onboard.
Yesterday, Tuesday, we spent the entire day in t-shirts driving from the flying bridge. We departed Myrtle Beach at 9:45 and arrived at 4 pm in Georgetown, a historic and quaint little town with houses dating to before the American revolution. We had dinner last night at the "River Room", which was excellent.
The high in Georgetown today is expected to be 74 degrees, and Charleston will be even warmer as we continue to move south. We expect to travel from Charleston to Beaufort, SC tomorrow and on to Savannah Friday.
Labels: Charleston, Division Belle, South Carolina
Back on the boat
We are back on the boat. Paul Hamilton and I drove up from home to Southport, NC yesterday in a rental car. It is interesting that we could drive up in just over five hours, but the trip home on the boat will take more than five days (50 miles per hour or 50 miles per day). The weather was cold and rainy when we arrived, but promises to be great for the week. We had planned to head out this morning with stops in Myrtle Beach, Georgetown, Charleston, and Beaufort, SC, but it now appears we will be here one more day to finish up a few items.
We might have some options along the way to go offshore, depending on the weather. Georgetown to Charleston would be a good day to do so, as would Beaufort to Savannah, but we shall see.
The boat has been something of a movable repair project so far. Many issues have been resolved in Southport and there will no doubt be many more as we arrive close to home. This is, all-in-all, a great boat, but apparently no one did any maintenance for the past several years. We are making progress, and I won't bore you with the details.
We came up bearing the new flag of our home port at The Ford Plantation. We hoisted it today on the bow.
UPDATE @ 10 PM Monday 2.4.19: Many things came together early today, and we did indeed get away from Southport at around 10 am this morning. It was a beautiful day of cruising, with temperatures reaching around 70. We arrived mid-afternoon in Myrtle Beach, SC.
Please click "Where's the boat?" above to track our progress.
By John Samford at 6:44 AM No comments:
Labels: Beaufort SC, Charleston, Georgetown, Maintenance, Myrtle Beach, North Carolina, Southport, The Ford Plantation, Zimmerman