• In today’s blog I have included some gift suggestions for the person who has everything…..just click on the name below the picture and you  can go to the site where this is for sale—it was the cheapest site I found—but there might be more out there….ENJOY.

 

 

• Turkey Cheese Ball

 

 

 

 

DNA Reveals Earliest Twins Buried 30,000 Years Ago in Austria

 

 

on Amazon

 

 

This interactive tool figures out your COVID-19 risk of attending an event

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carnival Cruise Line cancels all sailings through January

 

 

 

Victorian Christmas Stroll

 

York City Art Museum has a collection of about 120 old masters

 

 

Dolly Parton: Singer, Songwriter, Pandemic Savior?

 

 

 

5 Essential Thanksgiving Safety Reminders Doctors Want You to Remember

 

 

 

 

 

William B. Travis, Citizen of Texas–Webinar

 

 

 

Spilsbury

7 National Parks That Are Even Better in Winter

 

 

The Christmas tree is a tradition that has persisted over the years and has been ascribed to Martin Luther by many in the Christian church there is much to show that it was a pre-Christian tradition which is felt to be an evolution of the rite of selecting and harvesting a “sacred Tree.

 

12 Classic Horror Audiobooks You Can Listen for Free on Youtube

 

 

 

 

Texas Forest Trail Region:  Gateway to Texas

 

This is the region of Sam Huston, who lived here for many years—Before he came to Texas he lived with Cherokee in Oklahoma and was governor of Tennessee before leading Texans in a fight for their independence from Mexico (1836).  He became the first elected President of the Republic of Texas and when they became a state he became a US Senator and governor.

 

 

During the Civil War Texas chose secession and  after the Civil War, in the 1870’s the railroad expanded into East Texas with a rise in the timber industry that destroyed many old-growth forest, but there was eventually conservation and the modern forest industry.

 

 

 

By the 1900’s it had become a place of oil wells (the first Lucas gusher was  near Beaumont).  In the 1930s, oil was discovered in Gladewater and Kilgore as well. and brought many people to the area who were seeking relief from the Great Depression.

 

 

 

 

Clues to Mars life in Earth’s Atacama Desert?

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Virtual Feast: Online Thanksgiving Cooking, Crafting, and History Events

 

 

 

 

 

*Please note that Colours is now:  Marrero’s Guest Mansion (adult only 21yr +)

 

Haunted Marerro’s Guest Mansion – Haunted Key West

 

Colours* in Key West

Only one half a block from Duval Street in Key West, in the heart of Old Town, sits a Victoian mansion that has been converted to a lovely guest house.  From one of the upstairs guest rooms, the Key West scene play out below the balcony:  The island of Key West, which could be accessed only by boat before the 1900s, is dotted with homes that reflect many cultures.  Colours–with its open porch, ceiling fans, and carved balustrade—is an example of the houses constructed when Key West was home to fortune-seeking wreckers (sea wreck salvagers) and cigar makers.  and cigar makers.  In 1888 the city directory made note of the fact that “Key West pays nineteen-twentieths of the internal revenue collected in the state of Florida, which is largely due to…cigar manufacturing.”  One of these prominent manufacturers Cuban Francisco Marrero, built his home at 410 Fleming Street with profits from the cigar industry.

 

Haunt Hunter’s Guide to Florida

Joyce Elson Moore

 

The Most Haunted Places In Key West – Ghosts & Gravestones

 

 

There are nearly 500 miles of US 27 in Florida.

 

 

 

 

Masks Work. Really. We’ll Show You How

 

 

 

Winter Solstice Traditions and Celebration Ideas

 

 

Winter Solstice (Yule) is December 21.

 

Winter Solstice is the time of year when the darkening of the day—the shorter hours of sunlight and more of darkness—is reversed and we start to return to the light.

 

In many area of Europe there is a long tradition of burning the Yule Log   (at midsummer the tradition is burning bonfires at Summer Solstice. The one is done indoors due to the weather the summer one outside for the same reason.)

 

Ancient traditions call for the placing of mistletoe about the fire,  it is a plant that was scared to the Druids, who were priests as well as statesmen and teachers of the older Celtic world.  Mistletoe was used for other things, including helping women conceive.

 

It is also said that the use of the Christmas tree comes from this period as part of old rituals of the pagan past.  This was a time to celebrate the return of the sun and the renewal of the earth and the celebrants life upon it.  Branches from trees like the pine were brought into the home so that its fragrances could bring a further promise of the returned sun and summer growth as well as cheer the spirit of the persons who lived there sheltering from the storms without.

 

 

WINTER SOLSTICE DATE, FACTS, FOLKLORE, AND MORE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holocaust Center Opens New Exhibit

 

 

In ancient day sudden (no evidence of illness before hand), inexplicable disease that caused a physical wasting of the body or mental deterioration were thought to have been caused by fairies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lehman’s

 

The Eleanor Crosses: Longshanks’ love set in stone

 

 

 

 

How to Cope With Homesickness Over the Holidays

 

 

 

 

15 Gorgeous Fall Table Decorations Inspired by Books

 

 

 

 

Plant-Based Thanksgiving Menu

 

 

all the pictures are of my first trip to Tintagel

The main one is I believe the Old Post Office , the top one is a B&B we stayed at this one is a church on the hill—one dating back to Norman times.  It is a great place to visit.

 

Grey’s Anatomy Just Teased Another Major Character’s Return—Who Could It Be?