Sunset at Key West’s Mallory Square

Hope Town, Elbow Key—Abacco the Bahamas

Where to shop, sightsee, and more

Roman Finds in Britain

Carlisle Armour

Dating from AD122

Several very rare articulated pieces of Roman armour exceptionally preserved in waterlogged conditions, complete with copper-alloy rivets and leather backing

Visit it:  Tulie House Museum

Carlise

Roman Britain

Gillian Hovell

Virtual Tour of National History Museum London

This was probably in the 80s or 90s at the Key West Art Center

History’s Dark Chapter: The Clink Prison Museum

Continued from Last Sat’s blog

Florida Cowboys

Ok now to the cowboys and yes my dears Florida Had and Has cowboys.  The history of the cowboys start in the late 1800s (probaly around the 1870’s when Kissimmee  birthed the first cattlemen.  They called them farms but the cattle were known to roam where they wished to go.  But these were no open plains and bore all manner of vegetations that could get in the way of the traditional lariats—so was birthed the use of the bullwhip to herd their often unwilling charges where they wished.

Cattle were big business in the  1870’s and 80s just like out west.  But to be perfectly honest this area wasn’t the first to herd cattle here—the Spanish grazed their herds to supply St. Augustine’s demands on an area close to what is now Micanopy and when they left the Indians and the British both had large herds in the area., followed closely by the Americans when Florida finally became US territory.  Florida supplied the Confederacy with beef until the area was contained leaving thousands of cattle roaming the lands very close to being wild animals.

The Florida Cracker Cowboy wasn’t much diferent (other than the whip thing) than the Western version.  There were round ups, rustlers, cattle drives and all manner of craziness that have become legendary for that particular occupation.  Florida’s drovers dessed more sinply and thogh they had rodeos and all they never really became part of the legends of our times.

The one exception being Bone Mizell,       

believed by many to be the model for Remington’s Painting (see below)

did become part of Florida’s lore.  He  according to legend could outride anybody and was also known as a clown and a major boozer.  And then there was lighting his pipe with dollar bills and branding cattle with his teetch.  He was a head cowhand for Zlibe King.

Zibe not to be outdonee was siad to be

6’6″ and 225 lbs and was noted for his eating competition victories and stud poker abilities and one time when Manatee Co couldn’t pay its schoolteachers, Zibe personally provided enough gold to pay their salaries for six month—or so I’m told.

But I might note that sites I read stated that Spanish doubloons were more common here than American money in the 19th cenury as the Cubans and many of the local residents distrusted the paper money the goverment put out.  It is rumored that ranchers often kept as much as $10,000 in gold in gourd safeboxes in their homes

More about central Florida on Thursday

QR codes and dramatic vistas: tips for traveling during the pandemic

Caves

Celtic folklore of caves often tells that they contain beings from bygone times.  For instance the Irish cave faries     

ar said to be descended from the second race that settled Ireland

the Tuatha da Danaan

After their defeat by the Milesians

the Tuatha da Danaan went underground into the caves, especially by the coast.  Thsi reflects the legend of heroes who did not die, but disappeared into the earth to lead a subterranean existence with their ancestors.

Celtic Sacred Landscapes

Nigel Pennick

Trip Idea: Myths and Legends

One of the closes off the Royal Mile—Edinburgh

Which goes down some stairs and into a court

I love the Mile and it’s ancient building a lot—have stayed on the Royal Mile twice.

These Breathtaking Roads Are Not for the Faint of Heart

A local’s guide to Porto, Portugal

General Register House

 How Can I Hide My Cat’s Ugly Litter Box?

The two Boscastle churches complement each other so naturally, that they appear to illusrate the aspets of our church life:  Forrabury stands square and proud “up the hill”

immediately announcing  its presence with the first panoramic view of the village, visible again to every toursit who climbs the “Lookout Post”  It is one of only three churches in England dedicated to

St. Symphorian, 

a public figure in Roman Gaul

who was sentenced to death and beheaded in 282 AD for protesting against the worship of the goddess Cybele

This courageous young martyr, a native of Burgundy

would have been familiar to the Bottreaux Family

who came over with William the Conqueror and is now commemorated on 22nd August

The Boscastle Group of Parishes

in the Kitchen

A colletion contributed by church members

We’ll have the 2nd  the Minster Church on Thursday

Mysterious stone face attracting curiousity in New River Gorge

l:et’s not forget the movie of the day  the one the leading quotre is from

Hair

Colouring Images Hub

Things worth seeing in London

Old Royal Naval College

National Maritime Museum

National Gallery

National Portrait Gallery

Take a Quiz about World Cities

Forest of Dean

It has been called mysteriious and it is said to be prehistoric

as well.  It covers most of western Gloucstershire in the valley between the Rivers Severn and Wye.    

Although the first growth forest has long since been cut down and replanted, the landscape here remains one of the strange beauty, hiding in its folds and under its hills deposits of iron, silver and coal that have been mined for thousands of years.

Fodor’s Affordable Great Britain

  for the head and the heart

THE WORLD FAMOUS JAMAICA INN

CORNWALL’S MOST FAMOUS SMUGGLERS INN

This was the site of Daphne du Maurier’s Book by the same name was set in  1800’s Cornwall and at this very inn..  It is a story of Mary Yellan who upon her mother’s death goes to live with her aunt at an Inn situated in a gloomy countyside and a spot for a group of wreckers who trick ships into rocks during storms in order to steal cargo.  Mary lives in danger of the murderous criminals who surround her.

it was made into a movie in 1939 by Alfred Hitcock

and a 1983 movie with  Jane Seymour

they becam lost in the mist and rain and it was near midnight when they stumbled on Jamaican Inn

It has been there since 1750 and was a coaching inn—a place for the weary traveler could spend the night after using the turnpike crossing the wild and treacherous moor. 

and some of the guest used the inn to hide contraband that had been smugged aboard—in fact the estimate was that half the brandy and a quarter of all tea being smuggled into the UK was landed along the Cornish and Devon coasts.  And the inn’s remoteness—though there is a major highway a bit of a distance away the Inn itself when I was there in the early 2000’s was still set apart and lonely—I know I was driving on that vacation and the traffic by the inn was non-existant a relief for the wrong side of the road I drove—anyway that made it an excellent stopping place on the way to Devon and onward.–rumor has it that the name comes from the Inn’s trade in rum.

and of course there are reports of ghosts there and it has been included on ghost tours and there was at least one muder there as well, and reports of the clatter of horses hooves on cobbbled stones—-in the day of rubber and gas vehicles.    Been there —–you should try it some time

Not too far from the inn is Dozmanry Pool–-which legend say is where Excaliber of King Arthur fame was thrown at the king’s death

The Vital, Neglected Aspect of Good Health

$2.99

29 days left to claim deal

https://www.castlehoward.co.uk/

How to stay fit at home during lockdown

How to Keep Your Brain Healthy

Covid-19 and the environment

Jet Lag:  people have internal clocks that run on 24 hour intervals known as circadian rhythms.  When a person travels to another time zone or works late shifts, this biologial mechanism take a little while to catch up.

Apparently jet lag can be minimized by doing a lot of quirky little things, but lucily it’s usually only a temporary affair and minimally annoying  If you would rather not be affected by it then your best bet is probably the homeopathic remedy called “No-Jet-Lag” which can be found in most airports, pharmacies, travel stores, and health food stores.

The Sleeper

Mark Johnson

How ‘Death Ships’ Spread Disease Through the Ages