2020
POTD: Cypress
This is a Cypress of some sort but, it is definitely a Chamaecyparis. Pl@ntNet can’t really pinpoint the exact species. It seems to think it is a Lawsoniana. The picture on Wikipedia isn’t helpful, either. ~Vic

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POTD: Staghorn Fern
This is a crazy looking thing. A pilot’s wife has a plant & animal sanctuary behind her house, two blocks west. A platycerium bifurcatum, it is also called an Elkhorn Fern. ~Vic

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POTD: Tri-Color Leaf
This is either a Sweetgum leaf or some kind of Maple leaf. Pl@ntNet is not being very helpful, today. ~Vic

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Blog Update

Could be an Alpine Aster, a New England Aster or a New York Aster.
Pl@net can’t determine.
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Well, well, well… I see that WordPress ditched the “Pro” Plan. What an absolute clusterfuck that was. I unloaded in July over their mess (last blog post). As an “I’m sorry” gesture, I was given a $120.00 credit towards a Business Plan. Ok. I’ll bite. The Biz Plan comes with a lot of features and I did get used to the “Classic Editor” plug-in and the “I-Frame” plug-in. I also get access to a tip jar/buy me a coffee payment feature. It would be nice to be appreciated for my work. Just sayin’…
Anyway, I am back but, I may be busy trying to clean up many of my previous posts that the “Pro Plan From Hell” fucked up royally. Uploaded videos may need to be re-uploaded…or restored. I have accounts with Rumble & YouTube so, embedding will work. The BIG question at this point is, have the Happiness Engineers straightened out the browser Reader & the app Reader so that everything renders properly.
We shall see… ~Vic
Shutterbug Saturday: Sky Gazing 6.0
Previous post here. ~Vic


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Snapshots Sunday: Rogue Artistes 6.0
It’s been over two years since I posted some local art work. Previous post, here. ~Vic

Town Parking Garage
10-07-2020
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Lovely Drawing
04-26-2020
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I see Morgan Freeman.
Who do you see?
03-13-2020
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Day of the Dead Masks?
03-07-2020
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09-13-2019
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More Information On Strayhorn
09-13-2019
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POTD: Rose
Rosaceae family, Rosa genus and Rosa Chinensis species. Also referred to as China Rose, Chinese Rose or Bengal Rose. ~Vic

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Music Monday: St. Matthew Passion 1727

1736
Title page of St. Matthew Passion
Image Credit: Wikipedia/Wikimedia
The St. Matthew Passion (Matthäus-Passion in German ~ BWV 244) is a Passion, a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets the 26th and 27th chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, in the Luther Bible, to music, with interspersed chorales and arias. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of Baroque sacred music.
The St. Matthew Passion is the second of two Passion settings by Bach that have survived in their entirety, the first being the St. John Passion, first performed in 1724. Little is known with certainty about the creation process of the St. Matthew Passion. The available information derives from extant early manuscripts, contemporary publications of the libretto, and circumstantial data, for instance in documents archived by the Town Council of Leipzig.
The St. Matthew Passion was probably first performed on April 11, 1727 (Good Friday), two hundred, ninety-five years, ago, today, in the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.
Wikipedia Summaries
In the early 1820s, the director of the Berlin Singakademie, Carl Zelter, got hold of a copy of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and rehearsed some of the choral movements in private. By great good fortune, two of his singers were Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. In April 1829, despite strong opposition from some quarters, the twenty-year-old Mendelssohn, with the help of Zelter and his friend the actor Eduard Devrient, mounted the work’s first modern performance, albeit in an abbreviated form, given to mark what was then thought to be the centenary of its first performance. This Easter-time Berlin presentation was a stunning success and was followed by others. These led directly to a complete reassessment and revival of interest in all of Bach’s music for, baffling as it seems nowadays, Johann Sebastian Bach had fallen into near obscurity since his death nearly 80 years earlier.
Bach’s St. Matthew Passion: A Guide To The Sacred Masterpiece
UDiscoverMusic
Jeremy Nicholas
April 8, 2020
Beautiful music with beautiful voices. One tenor sounds just like a woman. ~Vic
Additional:
A Guide To Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (Classical Music/BBC Music Magazine/05-26-2021)
Music History Monday: St. Matthew Passion (Robert Greenberg Music/04-11-2022)
Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 (Bach Cantatas Website/2000-2022)
Netherlands Bach Society
04-02-2019
Two Hours, 44 Minutes & 31 Seconds
POTD: Ohm
My across-the-street neighbor is a yoga teacher. ~Vic

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POTD: Star Of Bethlehem
Pl@ntNet had a little trouble with this one. It didn’t show up in World Flora or USA Flora but, finally showed up in Western Europe Flora. In the Asparagaceae family (which includes asparagus…yum), its genus & species is Ornithogalum Nutans. In this case, it is a Drooping Star of Bethlehem. ~Vic

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POTD: Hillsborough Pig
Companion shot to this pig. ~Vic

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