Hilarious and Bizarre Town Names in All 50 States
This is a sight you won’t see in the Keys any more—the Bat Tower—it was destroyed by a hurricane not so long ago—we always stopped by it——either going down or coming back—I haven’t been back in several years and most recent trips have all been by plane and not driving……
Bucs open-ended on Old Man McBrady
Britain’s oriiginal TV celebrity coo, Fanny Cradock (1909 -94) was regarded by many as the saviour of postwara British cooking. She was credited with introducing a new wave o sophisticated foods to Britain, including her signature dish prawn cocktail.
Browse Barge Cruises
Change Your Focus: Notice and focus on what you can do more than on what you wish you could do. Focusing on your abilities, talents and how you can use them will give you a sense of empowerment.
Reducing Stress
Wendy Bacigalupi-Bednarz
As the city of Carthage, the great trading port founded by the Phoenicians (Which was located in the present day Tunsia) Venus ensured that Aencas fell in love with its beautiful queen, the widow Dido. Because of her own flight to Carthage, Dido welcomed the Trojan refugees with great kindness and unlimited hospitality
An Encyclopedia of Mythology
Arthur Cotterell
Housesteads Roman Fort – Full Tour. Hadrian’s Wall, Northumberland
Hadrian’s Wall
A visit here is not for the timid—-I only came to this memorial to Rome’s excesses and the craziness of my ancestors—the Scots of which my family largely consisted of=—one time. The tour we went on included a visit to the wall and an option of being dropped off and walk along the wall for a couple of miles and then meet up with the rest of the group and then move on—I visited the wall and then a rest area and waited for the more robust member of the group to join us—was getting a bit too old for that much exertion or at least that was a good excuse. They built it to protect them selves from from the Savage tribes of the far north of this crazy isle.
Of course you know who had it built—DUH—Emperor Hadrian—-who was prone to wander—-it is said that he reigned for 21 years and at least 10 1/2 of those years was consumed on travel along the borders of the lands he ruled. It was just that this particular border was threatened by savage tribes didn’t understand that you couldn’t beat Rome–so to convince them he had a 3 metre thick and 5 metre high stone faced wall built with full sized forts at intervals along it’s length.
The wall and it’s forms not only divided the lands but it was a a center of active lives where soldiers, lived married and created families. The land bore cabbages, peas, parsnips, turnips more. Roman soldiers came from all over the empire, including the Balkans and Southern Europe where they married local girls and helped create a mingled way of life.
There is a lot of disagreement among scholars as to the real reason that the wall was built as as to whether the wall was built to fend off an actual threat in the little populated landscape that it proposes to divide and defend. It was rather effective in stopping raids by tribal groups and castle rustler rather than large armies and huge invasions. Other good reasons for it quoted was to raise tariffs and easier way to collect custom due, not to mention discourage smuggling. And my favorite—it was a display of power importance of the ruling Romans and a warning for subversive.
In AD 197 the Picts overran the wall—the solders called them barbarians a term for outsider a group to be feared for their savagery. 100 years later the Anglo Saxon started to arrive—but more recent findings have found for the most part the arrival of this group came gradually and were slowly taken into the celtic society with little or no fighting or blood shed–in direct contradiction to what we had been taught for soooo many years.
In 285 AD the Romans started to fortifying their line of defenses to keep the Anglo Saxons at bay—-one wonders if the Romans and this pagan group were perhaps not quiet as friendly as the Celts with the new arrivals.
by the early 5th century barbarians threatened Rome. and by 410 they had found that the British found that the Roman’s Under Emperor Hanorius
advised the Britains that had, in the central cities and town, embraced the Romans and actually became citizens , that they must fend form themselves now—a stark reality for so many.
The wall must have been unbelievable in its day 14′ high with mile castles every Roman mile and 17 larger forts standing 3 – 7 miles apart. Garrisons on the wall ranged from 500 – 1,000 men—each of these forts had a bath house and steam rooms. 75 total miles long–described as the “most impressive legacy of Roman rule in Britain. It snakes along the ridges of the country from Wallsend and Newcastle in the east where it was started and six years later to Bowness-on-Solway in the west at its end.
It is possible to walk a path along the entire length of the , but please note this is rugged country and if you do not have a history of this kind of activity it is discouraged to follow this path. You can see the best preserved parts of the wall and excavations at the various visitor centers.
Why ever they built it —-it has lasted long past it builder and it’s builder’s empire—-it has seen years beyond our understanding—and when you think of all this maybe you’ll go and see it and appreciate something that has had so much history. I often feel that I should be able to touch a places like this and feel what has occurred here—-but one day I got to thinking about it and thought could a simple human brain/no to mention frail body possible deal with all that.
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
A World Heritage Site With So Much To Explore
WALKING IN DUBLIN 4k IRELAND Walking Tour 2021
4K tour of Westminster Hall at the Houses of Parliament
Westminster Hall: Most important remaining part of the old Palace of Westminster. Built by William II (1097=33) was in its time the largest chamber in Europe. In 1394–99 the architect Henry Yevele., whose work can also be seen at Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral, rebuilt the Hall over the Norman foundations. From the 13th c it was used as the Chief Courts of Law. Thomas More (1535), the Ear of Essex (1601) and Charles I (1649 all tried here.
London Round The Clock
360° Tour of LONDON – Trafalgar Square & Big Ben
And how about Sanford—in Florida USA
I spent some time in Sanford lately and thought I’d share some activities going on their that might offer you that something to get out of the house and into life—–watching TV doesn’t count—-unless you’re on lock down.
Visitors Guide – Things To Do
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MAY23
Kaleidoscope Artisan Market
12:00 PM – 6:00 PM
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MAY29
Celery City Cruisers
4:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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MAY30
Kaleidoscope Artisan Market
12:00 PM – 6:00 PM
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The First Asian American Settlement Was Established by Filipino Fishermenl
Q: What will you find under Walt DIsney World?
A: One and a half miles of tunnel for employees to get around under the attraction
Pipestem Resort State Park welcomes new adventure zone
ENCOUNTER THE GENTLE GIANTS WE CALL MANATEES
A Place Where the Manatees are Named
in Central Florida
and there’s even a historical home —what more can you ask for from a state park?
I’m not sure if they still name the manatee—back in the day—beginning in 1979 , one of the rangers actually researched history–took pictures and made lists of identifying distinguishing markings and features which to me was kinda cool and they kept it all in a Biological Survey.
This is a beautiful park—-a nice bit of the country reserved for the public to see and a warm springs (72 degree when the St. Johns is considerably lower) that attracts vast number of manatees in the colder periods of Florida’s winter especially. It is locates]d north of Between Sanford and Deland west off of 17-92 in Orange CIty.
Manatees grow to a length of 13 feet and may weight up to 3,000 pounds and consume up to 200 lbs a day of water hyacinth and eelgrass a day.. Surprisingly scientists think they are related to elephants—which is weird—but not as weird that some believe they are what started the legends of mermaids REALLY?
Check out this Manatee Web Cam-–to see if you can see any resemblance to mermaids please……I mean I love manatees but there the resemblance stops.
The sad part is that these big floating animals that serve no threat to us are basically defenseless—then add a bunch of stupid, and over drunk boaters with engine blades that cut and engines that propel them faster than these poor gentle creatures and what’s your guess on their survival odds. The mom is preggy for 13 months and after birth the baby is taken care of for two years before it becomes independent. These gentle slow moving creatures are defenseless and harmless, thy make a squeaking sound when playing, frightened or talking to their mates. I don’t have room here to list all the usual causes of death or injury to the poor things. Oh and when the manatees are present humans can observe from the deck and banks never in the water.
There are other attractions at the park–including boating and swimming.
And there’s the Thursby House
Louis Thursby came here with his family (there were no roads in th area at that time–1856 —when the only travel mode—-unless you really wanted to rough it was the rivers and their Boats. It is restored for the period of 1872-1887. The house is part of the park and there’s lots of things to see and do here middens and more—-so check it out and let the Theme Park have a break for a day.
TOUR OF THE THURSBY HOUSE AT BLUE SPRINGS STATE PARK.AVI
Interpretive exhibits are available in the Thursby House and on kiosks along the accessible Spring Run boardwalk. Interpretive programs on manatees are offered daily during the manatee season (Nov. 15 – March 1).
- Special programs are offered to schools and organized groups upon request.
Blue Spring State Park: The Most Beautiful Park In Florida
Blue Springs State Park
2100 W French Ave,
Orange City, FL 32763
Open daily 8 am – 6 pm
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Effective May 10, 2021: Blue Spring State Park is open. The spring run is closed to canoes, kayaks and paddleboards due to a restoration project in the spring. The project is estimated to be complete mid-August. We appreciate your patience while we restore our spring to a better ha bitat for the manatees and a safer place for visitors. Reminder: Blue Spring State Park frequently reaches capacity during the week and on weekends. To avoid waiting, please visit the park early.
INSIDE HEVER CASTLE – VIRTUAL TOURS
these tours are excellent and are on the castle’s web site and In this series of six free virtual tours, Castle Supervisor, Dr Owen Emmerson, guides you inside Hever Castle and round some of the rooms of the Castle pointing out objects of interest and facts about this fascinating historic house.
The Life of Anne Boleyn
Hever Castle: The Castle, originally a fortified manor house and home of the Bullen (Boleyn) family was where King Henry VIII met the ill-fated Ann Boleyn*. It was bought and modernized by the wealthy American Wm. Waldorf Astor. The castle grounds include a maze compound of more than 1,000 yews and an Italianate garden.
Through Britain
The Last Days of Anne Boleyn | BBC Documentary
*Where Henry met Ann has long been up for debate and sites range from here to when she was attending some French ladies and several places in between so what ever: Your blogger and Tudor history fan.
The Life of Jane Seymour – Third Wife of Henry VIII
In this video you will see some roses on the floor of the tower’s chapel—-Anne as well as Henry’s fifth wife Katherine Howard were both beheaded (years apart but…and both buried under the chapel floor..—-and the flowers–I was told by a Beefeater who had been guiding our tour and ended up with the crazy lady who knew enough English history to impress a teacher that every year on the day of her death, May 19, (1536) which is only 5 days from when I am writing this—flowers were delivered to the tower for Anne’s grave—he insisted this had been going on for years and that no one knew from whom they came—-interesting!!!!
Anne Boleyn’s Final Resting Place
Stars of Tomorrow opens TONIGHT!
This is two pictures of Fantasy Fest–the top picture is the Green Parrot my favorite bar in Key West—-it’s a local bar and some place we enjoyed and were treated like friends there
The main picture at the beginning is some costumed and not persons just wandering about for the Key West Festival.
10 of the Best Final Lines in Literature