Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
I was sitting on the deck outside my bedroom when I noticed this spectacular sunset. There was also a particularly bright crescent moon…pity it wasn’t’ full.
It’s noteworthy that this post is the 5,000th since I started this blog back in 2011
Taken with a Sony RX10 MIV
I went for a walk today, and after walking around for some time I’d developed quite a thirst. I was near to one of my favorite places Here Coffee and Beer so I decided to pop in and see what they had. Now normally I would have chosen something from their great selection of craft beer, but I wasn’t in the mood for anything alcoholic, so I went over to the refrigerator to see what they had. What I found was a can of Ginger Beer. I hadn’t had Ginger Beer for quite some time. It was quite common when I was growing up in the UK, but nowadays you tend to see Ginger Ale more often. So, what’s the difference? I wasn’t entire sure, so I decided to look it up.
According to Liquor.com:
What Is Ginger Beer?
For millennia, people made drinks out of ginger, a rhizome renowned for both its flavor and medicinal properties. Ginger beers are believed to have originated in the United Kingdom in the 18th century, and historians have unearthed advertisements for bottled iterations from the early 1800s.
The first ginger beers were bright, bracing brews made effervescent via fermentation, and they typically contained 2–3% alcohol by volume (ABV) as a result. The drink’s popularity in the Caribbean grew in tandem with British colonization and ginger cultivation. According to contemporary analysts, North Americans currently consume the most ginger beer worldwide, drinking up to 35% of a global market worth nearly $5 billion.
Many modern ginger beers combine fresh, finely grated ginger with sugar and citrus; some commercial bottlings are made with artificial dyes and flavors. Certain producers amplify the beers’ spicy flavors by including capsaicin, a component of chili peppers. While you can make ginger beer with forcibly added carbon dioxide, traditional versions get their bubbles from a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY), a fermenting agent also used to make kombucha.
Most commercial ginger beers are non-alcoholic, but some contain trace amounts of up to 0.5% alcohol. Others, like Crabbie’s Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer, Goslings Stormy Ginger Beer, and Royal Jamaican Alcoholic Ginger beer, have anywhere from 1% to nearly 5% ABV.
Delicious on its own, ginger beer features prominently in cocktails like the Dark and Stormy and Moscow Mule, both of which complement its piquancy with fresh lime juice.
What Is Ginger Ale?
Once synonymous, ginger ale and ginger beer evolved into different drinks during the temperance movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In response to activists that targeted ginger beer for its mild alcohol content, some producers began to position ginger ale as a non-alcoholic alternative that got its bubbles from artificial carbonation rather than fermentation.
In 1904, after years of tinkering, Canadian pharmacist John J. McLaughlin created a not-too-sweet custom ginger beverage, later marketed as Canada Dry Ginger Ale.
As the 20th century progressed, ginger ale became a popular soft drink and, following the 1933 repeal of Prohibition, mixer in whiskey or rye highballs. Ginger ale is typically sweeter and less spicy than ginger beer, and many modern versions contain caramel coloring and other artificial dyes and flavorings. It rarely contains capsaicin, though the peppers aren’t legally prohibited.
Taken with a Sony RX100 VII
In case anyone reading this is unfamiliar with the words “memento mori”:
Memento mori is a Latin phrase that translates to “remember you must die” and is deeply ingrained in art, spirituality, and philosophy. Over the centuries, this concept has served as a reminder of mortality and the fleeting nature of earthly pleasures. Initially rooted in the teachings of classical antiquity and Christianity, memento mori has evolved and is now used in various forms to bring attention to the inevitability of death.
The significance of memento mori in human culture is apparent in many aspects such as art, literature, and religious practices. Its role as a symbolic trope or meditative practice has encouraged individuals to reflect on their lives and the transient nature of happiness, wealth, and power. By acknowledging the eventuality of death, people develop an appreciation for the present moment that reforms their perspective on life. (ESL)
Taken with a Sony RX100 VII
High Victorian Gothic architecture, which evolved from the older Gothic Revival style, differs from that style in its use of contrasting polychromatic bands on the exterior wall surfaces and more elaborate decorative elements. This style was usually reserved for public buildings such as schools or churches. As it is related to the Gothic Revival style, structures in this style also contain such elements as steeply pitched rooflines, elaborate ornamentation, and a predominantly vertical orientation.
The First Baptist Church consists of two sections: a rectangular main section and a smaller, perpendicular northern section. The main section’s 100 foot tall spire, which is surrounded by 16 pinnacles, was added in 1894. Older photographs show that the building originally had an ornamental roof cresting that was subsequently removed at an unknown date. The structure is capped with a gray slate gable roof with four gabled dormers. Each contains a large pointed arch window and elaborate decorative exterior woodwork around the gables. The pointed arch-shaped double front doors at the main entryway facing Church Street are surrounded with polychrome brick trim and a decorative fanlight above the door. Eight stained glass windows located around he perimeter of the structure illustrate scenes from the Bible. The church is constructed with brick and limestone.
Significance: Architectural and Cultural
The First Baptist Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as architecturally significant for its status as the best example of High Victorian Gothic architecture in the Village. Other examples include the First Presbyterian Church (see entry) and the First Baptist Church (see entry). The nomination took place prior to the 1989 designation of the Downtown Ossining Historic District in which the Church is located and listed as a contributing structure. The Church is also culturally significant for its association with its founder, Captain Elijah Hunter (1749-1815), a Sing Sing-based landowner and businessman who later served as the first Supervisor for the Town of Mount Pleasant prior to the formal incorporation of Sing Sing Village in 1813; the Sing Sing Baptist Congregation, founded in 1786; and for its overall role in the cultural life of the Village since its construction in 1874.
The First Baptist Church, completed in 1874, is actually the second structure to occupy the site at 1 Church St; the first was constructed in the early 19th Century to house the Sing Sing Baptist Congregation. This congregation was founded in April of 1786 by Captain Elijah Hunter, a Revolutionary War spy who was the founder of the hamlet Hunter’s Landing, an early waterfront settlement located near the current-day train station which grew to later become part of Sing Sing Village. Hunter chose a triangular-shaped site at the center of the Village near the convergence of the Albany Post Road (known today as Highland Avenue or Route 9), Croton Avenue, and Main Street in order to maximize its visibility and emphasize its central importance to Ossining’s religious life. The original First Baptist Church was a place where blacks and whites would worship side by side in a setting that permitted a degree of equality that did not exist elsewhere, a tradition that continued with the construction of the current structure. The original church building was demolished once the size of the congregation grew too large and the present structure was built on the same site. The church was designed by J. Walsh, a Brooklyn-based architect, and was built for a cost of $75,000 in 1874 dollars. (Village of Ossining Significant Sites and Structures Guide page 192.)
Taken with a Sony RX100 VII
The title says it all. Sunflowers are such attractive, bright flowers. The bee was just the icing on the cake.
Taken with a Sony RX100 VII