Standing Into Danger

Friday, December 2, 2022

Bones, Bells, Basil, and a Baby

I'm sorry that I've been missing from action in the last few weeks.
I broke a rib in a freak accident on a new piece of equipment in my gym,

and my rib was too painful to allow me to work on my computer.

But I'm back, and I'm going to participate in Rain's Thursday Art Date theme Bells;

and share faces for Nicole's Friday Face Off

plus a little something for Rain's dogs Jack and Raven.

I've been longing to travel, and if I could teleport myself anywhere this instant

it would straight to Venice followed shortly by Florence.

When I read Rain's theme of Bells, I immediately thought

of all the beautiful Italian bells I've been lucky enough to see and hear.

If you ever have visited St. Mark's Square (Piazza di San Marco) in Venice,

you likely saw the magnificent Clock Tower (Torre dell’Orologio).

Two huge bronze figures on the terrace at the top of the tower strike the hours on a bell.

They are known as the "Moors" because of their dark patina.

The bell is signed by Simeone Campanato who cast it at the Arsenal in 1497.

The Clock Tower was built in 1499, and today the street under the Clock Tower

leads to the famous Rialto Bridge across the Grand Canal (Canal Grande).

Clock Tower (Torre dell’Orologio)

St. Mark's Square (Piazza di San Marco)

Venice, Italy

September 13, 2018

No matter where you wander in Venice, you will stumble across picturesque places,

like the lovely Rio San Barnaba canal in the Dorsoduro district.

I couldn't track down the name of the bell tower, but the canal is named for

the San Barnaba church and square overlooking it (just beyond the red building).

Other interesting features on this canal are the floating market on the right side

and the Bridge of Fists or the Ponte dei Pugni in the middle left.

For many generations, rival clans would meet in the middle

of this famous bridge and fight with their fists,

the winners throwing their opponents into the canal.

The fist fights were outlawed in 1705 because of their extreme violence.

Bell Tower on the Picturesque canal of Rio San Barnaba

with the floating market and Bridge of Fists

Dorsoduro, Venice, Veneto, Italy

September 13, 2018

Fresh Basil for Rain

by the front boat in the canal photo

September 13, 2018

If I had to pick a favorite city in the world, I would likely pick Firenze or Florence.

Florence is full of amazing bells, most in wonderful bell towers.

My favorite bell tower is Giotto's between the Duomo and the Baptistry of St. John.

Giotto's Bell Tower (Campanile di Giotto)

between the Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore)

and St. John's Baptastry

Florence, Italy

September 13, 2018

Giotto's bell tower has seven bells, the largest is called Santa Reparata in honor

of an early virgin martyr who is the co-patron saint of Florence.

The others are called: the Misericordia, the Apostolica, the Assunta, the Mater Dei, the Annunziata, and the Immacolata, all tied to the Blessed Mother.

The Tuscan Mom

The Apostolica Bell and Me

Florence, Italy

September 18, 2018

Terry and the Protective Cage at the Top of Giotto's Bell Tower

with Brunelleschi's Dome at the top of the Duomo in the Background

Florence, Italy

September 18, 2018

From the Bell Tower you can see bells everywhere.

Here are two towers and their bells:

Another favorite bell and tower of mine is the Montanina Bell

in the Volognana Tower at the Bargello National Museum.

The Montanina bell in the VolognanaTower

at the Bargello National Museum

Florence, Italy

September 17, 2018

The Volognana Tower dates back to the mid-thirteenth century.

It was sold to the city of Florence in 1254,

becoming the tower for the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo

or Captain of the People Palace, constructed in 1255.

Later, in 1261, the palace housed the Podestà

or highest magistrate in the Florence City Council.

In 1574 the Medici did away with the Podestà,

and the palace became the home for the police chief or Bargello of Florence.

The Bargello was used as a prison and as a place for executions until 1857

when it was transformed into a national museum which opened in 1865.

The Volognana Tower was named for the first prisoner imprisoned there.

Under the tower was one of the worst cells in the Bargello.

The Montanina Bell at the top of the Volognana Tower is associated with death.

The bell was taken as a battle trophy by the city of Florence

in 1302 from Montale Castle in the province of Pistoia.

It always rang for fatal occasions such bringing young people into the army,

announcing executions, or proclaiming curfews after deadly scuffles.

The bell rang in August 1944 to call the population to rise up against the Germans

and in 1966 to announce the flood of the Arno River which devastated Florence.

Today the Montanina Bell is rarely rung.

The last time I know it rang for sure was on June 22, 2015,

when it marked the 150th birthday of the Bargello National Museum.

🔔 🔔 🔔 🔔 🔔 🔔 🔔 🔔

As for Nicole's Friday Face Off this week, I'll share a guilty pleasure

that helped me get through the isolation of the Covid pandemic:

Tembe Elephant Park in Emangusi, South Africa.

I have watched this waterhole in the park for countless hours.

I often have the Live Cam up on my computer when I'm busy in my kitchen.

I never know what I'll see when I look at my computer screen.

https://explore.org/livecams/africam/tembe-elephant-park

Tembe Elephant Park is located in an area that was once on

the ancient Ivory Route between Mozambique and Zululand.

The remote park lies deep in the sand forests and wetlands in northern Tongaland,

right on the border between KwaZulu-Natal and Mozambique.

It is known for having the largest elephants in the world,

as well as lions, leopards, rhinos, giraffes, and buffalo,

many other kinds of animals, and over 340 species of birds.

The other night I glanced at my computer screen and spotted a cute baby elephant

near the waterhole with other members of its family.

It's never easy to capture a screen shot at night when the animals are moving,

but I can't resist trying.

I love the faces of the animals I see in Tembe Elephant Park.

Impala are easier to capture. They like to lie in the grass.

🐘 🐘 🐘 🐘 🐘 🐘 🐘 🐘

And, finally, a little something little something for Rain's dogs Jack and Raven.

Vittore Carpaccio (c. 1465 – c. 1526)

Arrival in Cologne

1490, tempera and oil on canvas

280 x 255 cm

One of Vittore Carpaccio’s Paintings in the Saint Ursula Cycle

in the Gallerie dell’Accademia

Florence, Italy

A Closeup of Carpaccio's Dog with its watchful face

Florence, Italy

September 13, 2018

Have a great weekend!

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

My next post will be on

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

for IWSG Day.

On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

A Final Laugh!

YouTube

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

IWSG Day: Wednesday, November 2, 2022 ~ NaNoWriMo: Are you in or are you out?

It's the first Wednesday of the month,
the day that members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.

To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are Diedre Knight, Douglas Thomas Greening, Nick Wilford, and, Diane Burton!

I hope you have a chance to visit today's hosts and thank them for co-hosting.

I'm sure they would appreciate a visit and an encouraging comment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.

Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.

Remember the question is optional.
This month's featured question is:

November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy November, Everyone!

I hope that you have all had a good October and are enjoying the change of seasons.

I'm posting a little late today.

No, I wasn't flying today, but I arrived home at 10:30 last night

after returning from Cabo San Lucas in Mexico on a delayed flight out of Phoenix.

The Distinctive El Arco (Land's End) Rock Formation

at the Southern Tip of Cabo San Lucas

at the Southern End of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula

October 30, 2022

Mexico with Cabo San Lucas (red dot)

Wikipedia

And early this morning I had to be at the hospital for my third infusion.

I'm so grateful and encouraged because the infusion treatments appear to be working,

and my double vision is slowly continuing to improve.

Entrance to Emergency and the Infusion Center

Parker Adventist Hospital

November 2, 2022

Yes, I have participated in NaNoWriMO by pretending my memoir was a novel.

It has been a positive experience each time.

I'm not participating this year because I have too many medical appointments

and two trips scheduled during the next five weeks.

This past year has really slammed my writing productivity,

although I'm still plodding along ever so slowly. Hmm!

Just thinking about not doing NaNO makes me want to do it.

Google

I'm also hosting my Sunettes Book Club on November 17th,

and I'm hobbling around on a broken foot.

Can 2022 please end already? LOL! 😂 😂 😂

We're reading James Michener's "The Bridge at Andau"

and I have to prepare some Hungarian food.

If anyone has a classic Hungarian food suggestion, or recipe, or recipe source

they're willing to share, I would truly appreciate it.

The Bridge at Andau

by James Michener

Amazon

This classic nonfiction book about the Hungarian Revolution in 1956

and the Soviet Union crushing it within days is a stunner,

and it certainly puts Russia's invasion of Ukraine today in perspective.

I'm sharing some NaNoWriMo funnies today.

I hope you are finding laughter and fun in your days.

I'll be visiting around as quickly as I can.

I hope you have a great day visiting your IWSG friends.

Happy writing in November!

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be on Friday, November 11, 2022. 🤞

Friday, October 21, 2022

The Scariest House I've Ever Seen!

I've seen lots of scary houses and buildings in my lifetime,

but the scariest I ever saw was in Waikiki.

Terry and I were walking around and exploring the area near our hotel,

when a spooky house brought me to a full stop.

Straight Out of "The Birds"

Waikiki Area of Honolulu

Hawaii, USA

March 30, 2014

A house and yard were covered with hundreds of whispering, cooing pigeons.

The sight and sounds thrust me immediately

into Alfred Hitchcock's natural horror-thriller movie "The Birds."

Wikimedia

My brother Roy and I saw this movie when it first came out in 1963.

We thought it was hilarious and laughed all the way through it,

much to the consternation of people sitting around us in the movie theatre.

It was inconceivable to think of seagulls behaving so badly.

MUBI

But when I saw this house on Waikiki, I was hit with a surge of terror:

all those birds eerily perched on almost every horizontal surface

muttering, peering at me, ready to move at the slightest provocation.

I wasn't laughing now! I was rooted to the sidewalk.

Was Terry bothered?

Nope! He just sauntered on by.

The only thing that worried him was the possibility of disease.

Google

Finally my urge to take photos overcame my urge to remain frozen on the sidewalk.

I eased out my camera and carefully began shooting.

The shutter sounded thunderous, but not one pigeon attacked.

A few fluttered, but I'm still here!

I think someone who lived in the house had a sense of humor.

Really?

It's not nearly as exciting to walk past this house nowadays.

The city made the owners stop feeding the birds,

and they've all moved on: Health hazard.

I can't resist a few memes:

Google

The Scariest House photos are for Rain's Thursday Art Date theme Haunted House;

and for Nicole's Friday Face Off this week, I have some faces below.

It's no secret. I've been dealing with brain fog about a year.

I've been worried about developing Alzheimer's, but it's more likely been due

to thyroid disease, multiple medications, Covid, prednisone, stress, or all of them together.

But my brain fog is dissipating, 🤞, and I can finally laugh about it:

Google

And some real faces in an old family portrait:

Top Row: Mary Lou Raymond (cousin), Ella MacDonald (maternal grandmother), not sure (right)

Bottom Row (left to right): my brother Roy, my sister Barb, Sara Cossaboom (maternal great grandmother)

Me (Louise), My mother Sara MacBeath, and my sister Donnie

I will be without my computer from October 23 through November 2 and unable to post.

I'll try my best to visit around before then.

Have a great weekend!

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

My next post will be on

Friday, November 4, 2022. 🤞

Books Read 2022

"The Border" by Don Winslow
"The Eye of the World" by Robert Jordan
"My Magic Summer with the Moon Maidens" by Brian Carmody
"Kiss of the Assassin" by Joylene Nowell Butler
"Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
"Closing Time" by Joseph Heller
"Before the Fall" by Noah Hawley
"Shattered" by C. Lee McKenzie
"Galileo's Error: Foundations for a New Science of Conciousness" by Philip Goff
"Corksure" by Mordecai Richler
"The Midnight Library" by Matt Haig
"CassaDark" by Alex J. Cavanaugh
"There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness" by Carlo Rovelli
"The Lincoln Highway" by Amor Towles
Grandma Gateway's Walk" by Ben Montgomery
"Reluctant Genius: Alexander Graham Bell and the Passion for Invention" by Charlotte Gray
"A Good House" by Bonnie Burnard
"The Art of Memoir" by Mary Karr
"Wish You Were Here" by Jodi Picoult
"The Bridge at Andau: The Compelling True Story of a Brave, Embattled People" by James Michener

Pages

Friday, December 2, 2022

Bones, Bells, Basil, and a Baby

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

IWSG Day: Wednesday, November 2, 2022 ~ NaNoWriMo: Are you in or are you out?

Friday, October 21, 2022

The Scariest House I've Ever Seen!