Cirencester, England, and St. John the Baptist Parish Church

So, in my last two posts I showed-n-told about our two days with Chad and Norma while in England back in May.  I decided the trip we took to nearby Cirencester was worth its own post, so here it it!

All you have to do is drive into the city and look at the architecture to see how old it is.

"The earliest known reference to the town was by Ptolemy in AD 150."  (Wiki)

Even though our main destination of the day was the parish church,

we stopped to see some sights along the way.

Chad and Norma knew exactly where to take us.

And as you know, Astrid and I love all the impressions we can get.

That includes weathervanes, of course.

And wildflowers.  I've been on a kick, haven't I!

But it was, indeed, the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist that we came to see.

The church is medieval, from 1115.

 This is a Church of England parish church.

 If you like stained glass, you'd be in heaven there.

You know me...because of preacher Dad and musician Mom,

I always pay attention to the pulpits and organs in these churches.

See the hour glass (bottom right)?  That's to help the preacher pay attention to the time!

I think I told you I'm starting to "collect" church cushions.  :)

Don't you wonder what every little thing means!

See the top-center cup?  It was made for Anne Boleyn in 1535

and was given first to her daughter Queen Elizabeth, then to the queen's physician,

who later gave it to the church.  That's history!

While Chad, Norma and Astrid climbed the tower to get city views,

I walked out into the churchyard (let's just say I have a bum knee) to see more of the outside church...

and the delightful cemetery.  What is it about cemeteries!

It's common in Europe to see war memorials in their cemeteries,
even if a bit make-shift and simple.

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And that makes a good segue to my Vision and Verb post today on Rights of Passage.

Let's just call this Pacifier Tree in Münster, Germany, the first rite....

with many rites/rights to follow, including death.

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This now brings us to our last days in England, back where we started with Lisl and Michael as our hosts.
Stay tuned for Bradford on Avon and Bristol.

Why War?

In commemoration of America's Memorial Day, it seems appropriate...yet again...to ask WHY?

This is a picture I took last summer in Northern Luxembourg of a war poster at the Clervaux Castle
war museum on the Battle of the Bulge.  I immediately thought of Memorial Day when I saw it.

As you celebrate this festive holiday, please don't forget to ask WHY?

That's what my post is about at Vision and Verb today:  Why War?

Us vs. Them

I know, I know.  The Easter weekend came and went with nary a peep out of me.  BUT...I was definitely thinking about all of it.

In fact, this was my image on my photoblog on Black Good Friday:

For me, this is sooooo Roman Catholic.  For you, too?

I grew up in a Protestant church where our crosses were always empty.

And that got me thinking...which turned into my post today at Vision and Verb.

In fact, I had planned all along to use the above image for it

but changed yesterday, at the last minute, to this one:

 Which image would YOU have chosen for a post on us vs. them, I wonder!

Well, you can decide here, if you want to take a read.....

Warning:  it's about religion, sex and politics, none of which we're supposed to talk about, right?!

This Do in Remembrance of Me

Remember when we were at the Collegiate Church of St. Boniface in Freckenhorst, Germany?

This image, which comes from there, is my jump-off to my post at Vision and Verb today.

"For every Sunday I can remember before going off to university, I sat on the front row of my preacher dad’s church tracing with my mind’s eye the Old English letters on the Holy Communion table in front of the pulpit :

I’m guessing everyone here knows not only WHO said that but WHEN and WHERE, no matter what religious background.  Eucharist words."

And thus begins a post that ends up going somewhere else, like how we name our children after those who passed on before us...because we're remembering them!

All this the day before the vernal equinox....and how spring determines when Easter will be...
all the way back to remembrance....at Vision and Verb.

Between You, Me and the Lamppost

For those of you who don't follow me anywhere else (like Facebook or my Shutterchance photoblog), this is to let you know it's my turn today at Vision and Verb.

 Yup, that's Granny Towanda from 4 years ago.

By now you know we just traded her in for Silverleaf Sand Dollar (Silverleaf for short).

Remember C.S. Lews' phrase Surprised by Joy?

My Vision and Verb post is about that.....and REVOLUTION as a 2014 mantra.

MAASEIK, Belgium

Sometimes it's the little towns in between that can totally make my day, if you know what I mean?

In between our stop at Lanaken to see the Jo Myns sculptures (last post) and Thorn, to see the "white village" (coming up), we stopped in Maaseik, still in Belgium.  If I told you it had a shipload of gable stones, you'd immediately know why I loved it.

Remember, this was the last weekend in November before Sinterklaasdag on February 5.

So the jute Sinterklaas sacks were hanging everywhere as decoration.

Maaseik has a population of circa 25K but the inner city is like any other town square

where we spend most of our time.  See that curch steeple in the center image above...?

That's the Saint Catherine church, not far away from city hall (top-right and middle-left).

The steeples stand out like sore thumbs and always direct us.
The bottom-middle statue is of Maaseik's two favorite sons, the Van Eyck brothers,
painters from the 15th century.

Thankfully, the Saint Catherine church, from 1840, was open.

Do you know the significance of walnuts at the front of the church at Advent time?

How many times have we said these churches are the "museums" we visit.

Even if they are all varaitions on a theme, we try to see them all.

Remember, this is Roman Catholic country with lots of niches.

We don't see them where we live in middle Holland.

The one church we really wanted to enter was the Minderbroederskerk from the 1620s.

It was a Friar monastery in its day but was being refurbished while we were there.

That didn't keep us from walking around it, enjoying the autumn weather.

There were two interesting sculptures we saw, this one near the market square.

De Vloeëjekuning, The Flea King, is by Jan Praet from 1994, a carnival society initiative.

Don't you wonder what that is all about, especially with the tiny people/fleas climbing him???

 The other sculpture, Bokkenrijder, on the market square, is by Roland Rens from 2001, near the Maaseik library.  It reminds me of Don Quixote, tilting at windmills, except he's riding a bok (male goat).

But it was the gable stones of Maaseik that captured me the most:

As you know by now, some things for me never change...like the joy of finding gable stones!

After Maaseik, we drove to Thorn, 5 miles away back into the Netherlands,
(to be continued...)

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On another note, it's my turn at Vision and Verb today, talking about a Dutch word
used to describe what happens at the New Year:  jaarwisseling.

Jaarwisseling means "turning the year" in Dutch.
See what that has to do with this burned-out church from Bolsward!

Footloose and Fancy Free

At this time of the year????

Yes, at this time of the year!

That's what my post is about at Vision & Verb today....

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Speaking of Vision & Verb, we've had a Holiday Gallery up of greeting cards

whose profit  helps fund KIVA businesses around the world.

In our 1.5 years of giving back like this, we've been able to give 52 loans of $25 each,

21 of which have been paid back in full.

Talk about sustainable!  The money paid back goes into another loan.

WOWSER!  Please allow me to be darn-tootin' proud of our little "enterprise."

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These three images below are my gallery (5 x 7) greeting cards this year,

all taken last winter:

Did someone say snow???

Does anyone have some to spare???

Our 2013 American Trip: Cental Park, NYC

Remember Robin who visited us here in the Netherlands last year?  She was our first blogger visitor (from our Vision & Verb collaborative) and was also the one I went to see in Dublin back in September of this year.

Lucky for Astrid and me, we had the chance to spend 5 days with her this past October in New York City  upon our entrance into America from Amsterdam. 

In no particular order, these NYC posts will give you a taste of what we saw and did, starting with this post on Central Park.

First of all, here's a map of Central Park to give you a clue where we were.

We entered at 72nd St. at Srawberry Fields (top-left corner) and spent our time in that area.

I had no clue this place even existed, in honor of John Lennon from the Beatles.

Or that Yoko Ono's penthouse in the Dakota is right across the street from this park entrance!

As we passed the gate (bottom-right) at the end of the day, someone passing by said,

"That's where he was shot."

(sigh)

Thankfully, we had other sights to see.

It's the people, of course, who make up a city...THE city.

And on a Sunday in October, they were out-n-about.

But it was the Bubble Man who Robin knew we wanted to see!

We first watched him from the upper part of Bethesda Terrace.

Then we walked down to see him up close and personal.

Part of the fun was watching him "teach" others how to do it.

Make that Bubble MEN because there was another man nearby

waving a grid for multiple bubbles at the same time.

We became "kids of all ages" in that moment.

As luck would have it, it wasn't just the Bubble Men outside Bethesda Terrace!
Inside the Arcade passageway was all kinds of bling-bling going on.
And we got to see it all!

Up close and personal.

And they all seemed to know each other.
It was a grand choreography, blending in with the Bubble Man.

Out beyond the Bethesda Fountain, the sun was setting quickly on the Central Park Lake.

As we left at the same entrance where we arrived, we looked out to the city.
And down the street past Yoko Ono's penthouse, a resident was asking for Peace (bottom-right).

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Speaking of Peace, it's my turn at Vision & Verb today.
It's titled "Forever Blowing Bubbles" but it's about the Age of Aquarius.
See if you can figure out how all that ties in with...Peace!?!