MUSEE D’ORSAY, PARIS

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WordPress has been giving me fits, timing out abruptly, losing everything I wrote or listed, locking me out irregularly, We shall see how far I get with this post.

Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” is such a much seen and much used image; none of which compares to the real thing. I had been a victim of these assaults on my senses to the point I no longer cared to see the original. I am so glad I did. It re-set the standard of beauty.

Daumier’s charactatures a gem of political satire.

The museum itself was originally built as a train station, which was built to impress. It still does today.

MORE PARIS PHOTOGRAPHS

I know Key West Race Week is almost over and I have not uttered a word about it. I am so immersed is the wonders of the world, race week just does not seem as appealing. I will always have a love of boats, yacht design, construction, but.

There is no end of the shapes and sights in Paris or any of the other places I have seen over the last weeks.

I am absolutely looking forward to the transatlantic race this summer from Newport to England.

I had other photographs I wanted to share, however something is going on with my wordpress site. It randomly times out or refuses me entry.

PARIS MOSQUE

The grand mosque of Paris is another treasure in this city. Built in 1923, it is another example of the grand culture of Muslims.

The Mosque is under surveillance, but no different than the synagogues everywhere.

ICONIC PARIS

Certain images evoke larger concepts or thoughts; here are some images that for some of us are those of parisien life.

Paris was, long before Charlie Hebdo on high alert. Apart from the immediate aftermath, things seems to be as they were. The only noticeable change was the closing of the tower at the Sacre Coeur.

We have been in the African, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu neighborhoods of Paris. We clearly stood out. There was no other particular tension.

The greatest stir was the fact that I had a camera and the drug dealers were not pleased about that. That however is true everywhere all the time.

GOD AND BEAUTY

It is hard to reconcile sometimes the exigence of faith and the beauty of the world. I is something mankind has wrestled with since the beginning of civilization. The first image is a sixteenth century sculpture and of course the others are art nouveau. They could not be further apart in their styles.

THE GUN THAT WON THE WEST

132-year-old rifle found propped up against tree in Nevada desert

Archaeologists say the rusted Winchester Model 1873 rifle may have been left at the same spot more than a century ago

A Winchester Model 1773 was found by park workers in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, leaning against a tree — A Winchester Model 1873 was found by park workers in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, leaning against a tree. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

An 1882 Winchester rifle which was found leaning against a juniper tree in a clutch of rocks and branches on a remote Nevada range has confounded the archaeologists who happened upon it, standing as if casually left there more than 100 years ago.

The rifle, which is remarkably well preserved, was found by a team of archaeologists in Great Basin national park in November. It will go on display this weekend at the park, the chief of interpretation, Nichole Andler, said.

How the rifle arrived at its resting place, vulnerable to the elements, a curious animal or covetous passerby, is a mystery. “We just don’t know,” Andler said, pointing out that there were no other artifacts in the immediate vicinity that could hint at who put the rifle there.

Andler said the rifle was discovered with its wooden stock partially buried, its barrel rusted and its body so browned that it “really camouflaged in with the bark and shading of the juniper tree”.

A close-up photo of a Winchester Model 1873 rifle found by park workers in Great Basin National Park, Nevada. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

An engraving of “Model 1873” on the rifle’s side identifies it as one of the most popular guns of its era. Winchester manufactured more than 700,000 of the rifles, which Andler said were “fairly inexpensive” for the time and became known as “the gun that won the west”.

Winchester made the gun from 1873 to 1916. Until 1966, the Great Basin desert contained wilderness, ranches and mining camps; some metallic relics of the miners of Snake Valley are still scattered around the park.

Rangers, miners, settlers, ranchers or Native Americans are the likely candidates to have owned the rifle, but Andler said the owner could have been almost anyone.

“Humans have been in this valley for a very long time,” she said.

Nevertheless, park archaeologists will still search for any trace of the lost rifle in newspapers from the era, Andler said.

After its initial display, conservators will try to maintain the rifle’s good condition, which Andler attributed to the arid climate and shelter provided by the tree.

A Winchester Model 1873 found by park workers in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, leaning against a tree. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

• An earlier Reuters version of this story was amended on 16 January 2015 to correct the model of gun mentioned. It is a Winchester Model 1873, not a 1773, as we first said. The headline was also changed to make it clear that an old gun had been found, not a decrepit cowboy.