Portion of a larger mural entitled "Muckross" that adorns one complete wall of a large ballroom at the Filoli estate in Woodside, California. Muckross House in County Kerry, Ireland was the home of Maud Bowers Bourn (1883-1929), daughter of William Bowers Bourn II (1857-1936), and her husband, Arthur Rose Vincent (1876-1956). Today, Muckross is the property of the Irish state and the core of Killarney National Park. The mural depicting Muckross at Filoli was the work of American artist, illustrator, and author Ernest Clifford Peixotto (1869-1940). The mural was completed in 1921.

In 1932, finding the management and expense of the Muckross estate too difficult and too expensive, the Bourns and their son-in-law, Arthur Vincent, presented Muckross House and the surrounding 11,000 acres of land to the Irish Nation as a memorial to Maud Bourn Vincent. The estate became the first national park in Ireland. Visited by thousands of tourists each year, the house and surrounding gardens are known today as the Bourn-Vincent Memorial Park.

Tags:   Muckross Filoli Ernest Peixotto mural Killarney National Park Ireland Maud Bourn William Bowers Bourn II Arthur Rose Vincent

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These stairs at Filoli lead up to a tennis court that is nestled on a second tier above the Dutch garden. Filoli, an 80-year-old, 654-acre estate with a mansion and some of the most beautiful gardens in America, is located in the woods of Woodside, California, 25 miles south of San Francisco.

This image was made using infrared photography. The special adjustment of graytones seen in the photograph add a certain mystique to the image and give it a rich beauty all its own. Of course not everyone agrees but, in general, I've found that most people appreciate infrared's fresh view of things.

Tags:   Infrared infrared photography Filoli Woodside garden California estate

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A tulip flower, with its central female part surrounded by yellow pollen-covered male parts. The Tulip, (genus Tulipa) is a genus of about 100 species of bulbous herbs in the lily family (Liliaceae), native to Central Asia and Turkey. Inside the flower is a small, stemlike piece, the pistol, from which pollen travels. At the base of this part is a bulbous shape, or ovary, where pollen is produced. The very top part of the pistol is called the stigma, which traps the pollen until it is ready to be released.

Tulip cultivation began in Persia (Iran) in the 10th century, and it eventually became a symbol of the Ottoman Empire. Tulips were introduced to the Western world by Augier Ghislain de Busbecq, the Viennese ambassador to Turkey, who wrote of seeing the plants in Edirne, Turkey, in 1551 and later sent some seeds to Austria. The arrival at Antwerp in 1562 of a cargo of tulip bulbs from Constantinople (now Istanbul) marked the beginning of the horticultural tulip industry in Europe.

Seen and photographed at Filoli Garden, a property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in Woodside, California.

Tags:   tulip flower Tulipa Liliaceae bulbous herb Augier Ghislain de Busbecq Filoli Garden bulb Turkey

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A long wooden bench in what appears to be a desolate park. How many have sat here....alone....with others.....thinking of the past....thinking of the future.
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'Bench' by Sam Stone Grenier

It's me,
the bench

The bench
who would adorn
your family

the bench
who would mourn
your family

I have almost
withered away now
time is almost over now

I am happy now
I can die in piece now

I am the bench
and I loved you so
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Photographed at the Filoli Estate, Woodside, California.

Tags:   bench shadow light black and white B&W poetry park desolate Sam Stone Grenier Filoli

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