Greetings all. Sunday, almost 9.45 am here. Gorgeous pics of flowers & cats & dog on previous thread.Back later.
My bus tour of churches in the suburb of Thebarton yesterday was part of SA’s History Month events. We drove past 14 churches in 2 hours. Unbelievable luck - the Southwark Baptist church where services were last held 1969 and is now owned by an artists group (glass & metal), well, one of the artists allowed us to see inside. When they moved in, in 1990s, most of windows were broken, new roof needed, ceiling has water damage in main part, ceiling collapsed in back room. Generally the inside looks rather battered. But, 2 tiny stained glass windows and some wall frescoes survive.
Tour ended, I dropped by the Egyptian Coptic church to check for a foundation stone of their new "church". I didn’t intend to join a tour that had started some 20 mins earlier. I met Father P who co-opted me into joining the tour. I learnt so much about the history of the Copts, the talks all given by enthusiastic neatly-dressed young people. So glad I dropped by, especially as what I believed was a new church is actually the school, built in style of Coptic architecture.
Now I must get on with backing-up of phtos galore, neglected far too many months.If I don't return later, let me say TIL WE MEET AGAIN - - -
Hey AQ: Thanks for starting the thread. Glad you had a nice time tootling about the various churches.
I've got the car mostly packed; just have to shower, have breakfast, toss a few things in the trunk (sounds so easy until I actually try to do it and find I'm short of space!), then off I go.
Now going to check all those photos AQ raved about in last week's thread....
Wendyb - Yes - Mor is the cafe attached to the Forestry Commission Visitor Centre at Glenmhor (I still spell it the Gaelic way that I first came across 35 years ago - really dislike the way some words are anglicized - Spey Valley is another of my dislikes!! What on earth is wrong with Strathspey? Mor has a web site and is run by the people that used to be at Ord Ban at the Rothiemurchus Visitor Centre.
OG - I came back via Inverness and the Great Glen on Thursday as I was showing friends areas they hadn't seen before, but when I go to LG from here I usually go up via Newtonmore, Kingussie, Coylumbridge and always have lunch at Mor.
Dibnlib - See comments above re Mor. They do do b'fasts until 11.30hrs and there was talk at one time of them doing evening meals too, but not sure if this has started yet. I used to use a bucket to keep Linnhe's toys in, so it is obviously a trait with pet keepers!!
Sheilafe - See comments above re Ord Ban. The snow I mentioned was the top 1000ft - not down to 1000ft!! I see Ben Nevis, Carn Dearg, and Aonach Mor from my conservatory and they are all of course over 3000ft.
Diane - Hiya - seem to have spent some time in last 12hrs or so doing replies!
Hopefully we will all meet up again after the upgrade and wonder how we managed without it all for 3 days!!
AQ: Your tour of old churches sounds wonderful. I'll bet the architecture was beautiful. We have some interesting old country churches in this area. I wish you could visit and we could tour them together. Some of them still have hitching posts where folks tied up the horses. And they have odd-looking steps standing alone in the middle of fields. In the past, people used them to depart from horse-drawn wagons and carriages.
That reminds me, I was going to post about an experience this week. I walked up to my tiny nearby town to go to the post office. I was ambling along the sidewalk on the main street, and I heard this ear-splitting loud uproar behind me. Coming up the hill was a team of 6 draft (draught) horses pulling a very long Amish wagon carrying lumber, either for building houses or barns. I think the horses were Shire horses, but I don't know a lot about them. They were enormous, and when the team and wagon passed by me, the sidewalk actually shook under my feet. One skinny Amish man was standing at the front of the wagon controlling all those big horses. That's a sight you don't see living in the city.
OG: I've been going around all day thinking it was Sunday; I've been packing the car too. Floods down south are awful, but the farmers along the Mississippi work the land knowing that the authorities have the right to flood it to save cities, etc., downstream (although that hasn't been necessary for decades).
Sheila: Saw a photo of the Kiftsgate rose - lovely! How on earth does anyone lose more than 14 pound at the beginning of a year?! :-)
Margobird: Sounds like a lovely dinner/evening. Good for you!
Lindybird/Djoan/OG/Sheila/Wendy/Lynette/(and everyone else): Thanks for all the nifty/prety pix!
Bettyboo: All will be well with the upgrade; we'll all be around when it's up and running again. Feel free to chat about your "boys" anytime (we can tell they have a very hard life!) :-)
Trish: More than 500 posts is a lot; I think we're all filling up the space in anticipation of the upcoming down time.
Diane: Envy you your encounter with the Amish wagon. Didn't realize they were in your neighborhood.
OK guys, really got to head for bed - sorry I've missed so many folks. I'll take my laptop with me and check on "developments" as I find the chance. Hugs to all!
Liz: You're up early -- or late! You live in such a breathtakingly beautiful place. I think I would be happy there. I'm always glad to see you on the site. Like you, I hope we all meet up again soon after the upgrade. Even when I don't post, I always read the chat and daily update a couple of times a day. I will suffer withdrawal symptoms.
Lynette: Your blackbird and chaffinch photos are just lovely!Betty-boo: I loved your cat pics. Beautiful! I used to have a cat with coloring similar to your Archie.Wendy: That Tiger Lily is one gorgeous cat. Love her coloring!
dibnlib, Wendy, Trish 2: My boxer dog also had a big toy box. I used to order his toys from a pet supply store on the Internet. When the UPS driver delivered a package, my dog always thought he was getting new toys. He would get so excited; he shook all over and whimpered in delight whenever he saw a package arrive.
Sheila: Well done on the posh links. I haven't tried to do them yet. I hope the swallows decide to take up residence on your land. Thanks for those osprey links!
Lindy: Lovely pic of handsome Buzz and his handsome Dad! Stunning apple blossom pic. My apple tree is blooming right now, too. But I think we've had too much rain to have a good apple crop this year. Glad you found your USB cable. I always find the thing that I'm not looking for. LOL
Joan/OG/dibnlib: Beautiful flower photos. So uplifting! Auntie: Wonderful osprey screen captures. Hope you aren't working too hard.Joan: I loved that woodpecker story. That was great! Brenda: Sorry it's a bad year for your azaleas. I seem to be very good at growing weeds this year. I have a bumper crop.Margo: Don't worry. If you get lost after the upgrade, we'll find you!Glad Hamish was given the all-clear from his biopsy.
Annette: Glad you're all packed and ready to go. Have a safe trip and give Delightful Delilah a hug from me.
AQ Thanks for starting the new threads.
All seems to be going well for the bears. Some very sweet pictures in recent times. Lily seems to have got over her illness. See 14th May update.
Oh I love this picture from here.
Tiger Signature
Unknown said: AQ: Your tour of old churches sounds wonderful. I'll bet the architecture was beautiful. We have some interesting old country churches in this area. I wish you could visit and we could tour them together. Some of them still have hitching posts where folks tied up the horses. And they have odd-looking steps standing alone in the middle of fields. In the past, people used them to depart from horse-drawn wagons and carriages.
Diane - If my journey goes astray I know where to go. LOL An old timer told me that in pre-motoring days each had their own place under the gum trees around the church (I can’t exactly call it a churchyard!) to hitch horse & buggy while the family was attending church. What a thrill to see the Amish team. A local SA brewery performs displays at Shows with a team of Clydedales and an old delivery wagon. Those great big horses are said to be such gentle giants. I love the "feathers" above their hooves.
I apologize for this extra post -- because I've already posted a lot tonight -- but I wanted to include this info, in case our chat threads are not available for a while.
For Space People:
16 MAY, Monday Space Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to launch at 8:56 A.M. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time. I think that's 1:56 P.M. for most UK bloggers. Not sure for Oz folks.
Also,
2011 is an extremely rare year, because 6 eclipses will occur: 4 partial solar eclipses and 2 total lunar eclipses. Three of them are coming up soon!!! Space.com Eclipse Guide
1 JUNE is a partial solar eclipse. It's visible in the far north, and I think that only those of you in the very northern tip of Scotland might be able to see it. Oh, and Auntie in Finland can see it. 1 June Eclipse
15 JUNE is a rare central total lunar eclipse. It is predicted to be the second darkest lunar eclipse of all time!!! We can't see any of it in N. America, but those of you in Europe and Australia can! This is a very long eclipse (totality phase alone will last 100 minutes), and the moon will undergo dramatic color changes. 15 June Eclipse
1 JULY is another partial solar eclipse. It will only be visible near Antarctica, so unless you're a penguin, you're probably out of luck on this one. :-( 1 July Eclipse
Everyone can check the maps/sites to see the exact times for their areas. AQ: These dates are probably off for you.
Night all.
Diane Thanks for the eclipse reminder. That partial eclipse on 1st July is rather special as it is very first of a new saros...one of 69. It is saros 156.
Eclipses start at either the south or north pole and then recur at intervals of 18 years and 11 days for about 1226 years. See saros 156.