The Romans Were Here

Roman Rock Foundation

Rocks are not particularly exciting unless you are a geologist or an archaeologist of course,

or unless you are a tourist in Germany!

In Germany, according to our guide, there are numerous remnants of Roman rock foundations.

And later generations built right on top of them.

Can you see in this photo where the ancient Roman rocks begin and end?

 

 

 

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Learn to Complain Without Suffering

They seemed to be permanently docked houseboats.

We walked along the river and noticed rusty old tubs that looked as though they had been used for commerce in their better days.  Upon closer look I noticed lace curtains in the windows and potted plants along the decks.  There were mailboxes ashore too and places for garbage pickup.

Then I thought I had the perfect shot of a big old white-faced dog on one of those boats.

He was looking at us through the center of a life preserver ring.

But, by the time my camera was positioned, the big guy moved aside and began barking.

He did not want to have his picture taken and did not approve of foreigners.

As the Germans say,

“Learn to complain without suffering!”

That pup was definitely complaining, German style, but we meant him no harm.

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Is The Black Forest Really Black?

Dor and Bill at Black Forest Clockmaker

I expected to find the Black Forest would be black – or very dark and forbidding.

Instead it was Christmas tree perfect.  It is suspected the name came from the contrast of desiduous trees and their autumn-changing leaves against the darker evergreens.

We went to the House of Black Forest Clocks.

There we had Cherry Cake and coffee. and this put us all in a good mood for wandering around intricately handmade cuckoo clocks and Christmas ornaments.

My brother and I both found cuckoo clocks in the land where our mother was born.

From the clock house we visited a Farm museum center to see an old German country home.

The house is the same today as when families and livestock lived there under one roof (for warmth of course and easy access).  The inside was very dark and the center of life was a tile stove (again designed for exuding optimal warmth).

The out buildings are all there too – a bake house or smoke house with a black ceiling from all the cooking, and a mill, all close by.

There were horses to greet us too, and one in particular who never met a stranger.

A German Horse

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Maple Shaded Glory

The Daily Post

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Connected

This week, show us how two (or more) things – people, objects, places – come together.

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Moondreams

Long ago, when Bill and I were young dreamers, he said, “One of these days in our lifetimes, we will put a man on the moon.”

I thought he was crazy or maybe a genius, but of course his prediction came true.  Even so, with all our technological advances,  I have never been able to snap a good photograph of the moon.

Last year  all photos were taken with my little cell phone, but moonshots were  immediately deleted because they were tiny unrecognizable  spots of light.

Then Bill gave me a new camera “pal” for my birthday.  It did take impressively clear pictures but still refused to enlarge the moon.

For Christmas he gave me a new lens for the new camera – a zoom lens!

And a blue moon was rising.

This photo is the  first moonshot I have ever revealed.

It may not match the many other professional closeups of our moon, but it reminds me of that dreamy night so long ago.

 

 

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Shadows of the Past

 

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Shadowed

 For this week’s Photo Challenge, find the shadows.

You can choose a literal interpretation and shoot an actual shadow, or you can play with the light and dark,

and create a moody scene, or capture your subject in a rich and interesting way.

Sign of the Times

 

This is a sign created by modern magic makers.  It is from a 1993 movie called Sommersby, a post Civil War saga starring Richard Gere and Jodie Foster.

To create a few seconds of the film  the streets of Lexington, Virginia were transformed.

My mother and I visited the site of the little film segment and marveled that our paved Main Streets had literally disappeared.   Wooden sidewalks and ladies in long dresses paraded for bustling movie makers.  Horses, wagons and  bustling activity left us awed and wondering where to look next.  We were in a time machine being transported in vivid virtual reality to the post-Civil War South

One freshly painted sign stood out.

Today, in shadow,  that one sign for a hat shop still looms in the center of my downtown.  Someone decided to keep it.

With reflection I can once again “see” the way it was and even feel a solemn memory of commerce resuming after a terrible civil war.

If you are visiting Lexington, Virginia, look for The Millinery de Rousselot.

It is no longer a hat shop, but the sign is still there casting shadows of the past.

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Echoes

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Trees Have Personalities Too!

I  admire this lone tree.  She stands on a hill above me so beautiful against the sky.  Now in summer she shines in full leaf but is just as beautiful when all her leaves are gone.  I think of her as the Stoic Tree standing alone tall and strong.

The Power of One

For over 20 years I have walked past this big tree hugging a little storage building.  Over the years the tree flattened its trunk to accommodate the closeness of an unlikely partner.  The ground is lifting around the two but they stay entwined like lovers.

 

These matching pines lined up just so to frame a long view.  How thoughtful!

Some trees are appreciated for their bark alone and how we admire them.  I don’t remember the leaves of this beauty, but the bark stays etched in my memory.  Do you think the tree does this on purpose?

 

Trees!  I love trees. I admire them.  I wish they could speak.  Maybe they do.

 

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Funding a Bookmobile

I love this child-sized Bookmobile!   It registers where we are in our fund raising efforts for the bookmobile and stands right in front of my local library.  Looks like we’re almost there!

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Don’t Fence Me In!

Don’t Fence Me In!

I was walking.  I used to call it “Camera Walking” but this time I was walking for good health,  sunshine, and for getting up from the computer.

I was not thinking about photo ops but don’t they always pop up when you are on foot and least expecting it?

And here was a tree in a kind of hollow, arms reaching.  There was a mystery about it, a hidden something, a story.

I had just learned that trees actually nurture their young.  Don’t laugh!  It has already been determined that plant life responds to music.

Tests were done in a rain forest and it was discovered that older trees give up certain nutrients for the benefit of the seedlings and saplings beneath.  How human is that?

On this camera walk I met a mysterious haunting tree with arms outstretched in some sort of plea.

I hope it knew I had feelings for it and wished I could help.

 

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