St. Lucia

October 1, 2009
Betsy on board our ship with Gran Piton, St. Lucia, in the background. September 13, 2001.

Betsy on board our ship with Gran Piton, St. Lucia, in the background. September 13, 2001.

The fourth port of call on our honeymoon cruise was Castries, St. Lucia.  St. Lucia was probably our favorite island.  It really did present itself as a tropical paradise.

We got to enjoy St. Lucia by taking a catamaran cruise along the coast from Castries to Soufriere.  That cruise gave us a wonderful view of the coast, including the Twin Pitons, one of the most prominent landmarks on the island.  We went ashore at Soufriere and visited Soufriere volcano and the plantation museum at Morne Coubaril Estate.

The first European to settle on St. Lucia was a French pirate, Francois Le Clerc known as Wooden Leg, who used the island as a base to attack Spanish ships.  The Dutch arrived around 1600, the English settled in 1605 and the French in 1651.  Fighting broke out between the British and the French in 1651 and continued off and on for 150 years.  The island changed hands fourteen times during that time before the French ceded the island to the British in 1814.  Today St. Lucia is independent, but remains a member of the British Commonwealth.

If you would like to see more of this beautiful island click HERE.

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Watery Wednesday #55: Ocean Isle Beach

September 30, 2009
Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. May 6, 2009.

Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. May 6, 2009.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

I didn’t have an opportunity to get any watery pictures this past week, so I pulled the above picture from my archives.  This picture was taken in May of this year at Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina.  The weather was absolutely beautiful while we were there, as you can see from the picture.

If you closely (the picture can be enlarged) you’ll see a shrimp boat.  I’m not sure, but I think it was busy catching our dinner for that night.  That’s another nice thing about this part of our watery world: the seafood is fresh — and delicious.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 12 Comments »

My World # 51: In Their World

September 29, 2009
Chinese family at the Great Wall. July, 1987.

Chinese family at the Great Wall. July, 1987.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

I went to China for the first time in 1987, and our hosts took us to the Great Wall near Beijing.  Back then there weren’t a great many foreigners visiting the wall, and there were relatively few of what I would call ordinary Chinese there.

But then I saw the young family in the picture above.  They were very simply dressed, but they took in the Great Wall with the same mixture of awe and amazement that we foreigners did.  They were obviously proud of China, its history, and its accomplishments.  On that day I was happy to be a part of their world.

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Posted in My World | 16 Comments »

Antigua

September 28, 2009
Betsy at St. John's, Antigua. September 12, 2001.

Betsy at St. John's, Antigua. September 12, 2001.

The third port of call on out honeymoon cruise was St. John’s, Antigua.  Antigua was an island we thoroughly enjoyed visiting.  We especially liked the beautiful coastline of the island.

Antigua was a major sugar-producing colony for Great Britain and, because of it’s strategic location, it became Britain’s most important base in the  Caribbean.  In 1784 Admiral Horatio Nelson sailed to Antigua and established a naval base at English Harbor.  We visited Nelson’s Dockyard, the restoration of dockyard Nelson commanded.

We also visited Shirley Heights, which offered panoramic views of English Harbor.  Shirley Heights were fortified by the British for the protection of their base and contains the remains of gun emplacements and military buildings.  One of the unusual sights along the heights was cactus — parts of the island are arid.

To see more of Antigua click HERE.

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Scenic Sunday # 63: St. Thomas

September 27, 2009
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. September 10, 2001.

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. September 10, 2001.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

A couple of weeks ago I shared some pictures of St. Maarten from our honeymoon cruise in 2001.  We were on St. Maarten on 9/11, which made for a very surreal day.

Our first port of call was Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands.  While there we took a sea plane ride in the morning over some of the other nearby islands.  In the afternoon we took a tram to Paradise Point, a park and overlook that offered some fantastic views of the harbor and ocean.

To see more of our day on St. Thomas click HERE.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 11 Comments »

Our Lilies (4)

September 26, 2009

LiliesCollage0904

(This picture can be enlarged by clicking on it.)

I thought I was going to be able to get a fair amount of work done in the yard yesterday, but after a sunny morning the rains returned.  We didn’t get a lot of rain, just enough to keep things wet and me inside.

One of the things that didn’t get done was planting some lily bulbs that came the other day.  The new flower bed we constructed in front of the house gets plenty of sunlight and we thought lilies would do well there.  Lilies are probably our second favorite flower after our roses.

We already have a quite a few lilies in our garden.  The collage above shows some of our lilies.  Other collages can be seen HERE, HERE and HERE.

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Posted in Garden | 11 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: Castillo de San Marcos

September 25, 2009
Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, Florida. August 4, 2009.

Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, Florida. August 4, 2009.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

We were in St. Augustine, Florida, the day before Betsy’s birthday this year.  We stopped to visit Castillo San Marcos.  The day was beautiful with white clouds floating through a blue sky.    It seemed possible to step back in time on such a day.

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99 Months and Counting

September 24, 2009
The bride and groom, Knoxville, Tennessee. June 23, 2001.

The bride and groom, Knoxville, Tennessee. June 23, 2001.

I married the beautiful woman above 99 months ago.  We  had a whirl-wind romance — we met in January, had our first date in March and were married in June.  But it was obvious that God was at work in our lives.

We realized there were some disadvantages to getting married at our age — pushing 60.  One disadvantage was that we most likely wouldn’t have as many anniversaries to celebrate as we would have if we were younger.  So we decided we would celebrate monthiversaries as well.  Our monthly celebrations aren’t particularly fancy — last night we had dinner at Cracker Barrel — but it is a  a time when we can appreciate the blessings we have in one another.

We still make a bigger deal out of anniversaries, but our monthiversaries are special times for us.  Yesterday we celebrated 99 months.  We hope there are many, many more to come.

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Posted in American Life | 21 Comments »

Watery Wednesday # 54: Akron Falls

September 23, 2009
Akron Falls, Akron, New York. October 24, 2008.

Akron Falls, Akron, New York. October 24, 2008.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

Since it is now officially autumn I thought I would share the picture above since it has a nice autumn look about it.  This picture was taken last October when we were visiting my daughter Kelly and her husband in western New York.

Akron Falls is the centerpiece of Akron Falls Park in Akron, New York.  There is a short hiking trail leading to an observation deck.  We visited the park in the early evening and definitely enjoyed our visit to this beautiful part of our watery world.

If you would like to see more of Akron Falls click HERE.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 13 Comments »

My World # 50: Yorktown Battlefield

September 22, 2009
Cannon surrendered by the British at Yorktown, October 19, 1781.

Cannon surrendered by the British at Yorktown, October 19, 1781.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

In June, 2007, Betsy and I made an anniversary trip to Virginia.  We went to spend several days at Colonial National Historical Park and at Williamsburg.

The siege of Yorktown in 1781 was the last major battle of the American Revolution.  It came about after a French fleet defeated a British fleet at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, making it impossible for British Lord Cornwallis to get help or to escape by sea.  The American and French army marched to Yorktown on September 28, 1781, and after a week of preparation, constructed their first siege line on October 6.  They began bombarding British positions on October 9.

After a round-the-clock bombardment that lasted nine days, Cornwallis requested a cease fire to discuss surrender terms.  Two day later, on October 19, 1781, he formally surrendered his army.  As the British army marched to the field to lay down their arms, the British fife and drum corps play “The World Turned Upside Down”.  When Lord North, the British prime minister, learned of Cornwallis’s defeat, he is reported to have cried, “Oh God!  It is all over!”

To see more of the Yorktown Battlefield click HERE.

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Posted in My World | 12 Comments »

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