Thursday, April 30, 2020

April Square Challenge - Top

Life of B - April Square Challenge

The theme for April Squares is ‘top‘, and we have five idioms, to choose from;
On Top of the World – summit, crown, peak (tiptop) or uppermost part of something.
Under the Big Top – topping or covering (or if you are really lucky a circus!)
Room at the Top – first or highest in position
Cherry on Top – something made even more wonderful by becoming square
Top and Tail – or maybe you’d prefer to play around with word combinations such as top dog, top stitch, top hat, top secret, top knot, top drawer or top dollar!
The main tag is #SquareTops



December 2012 - Gallup New Mexico

Roof Top




Wednesday, April 29, 2020

April Square Challenge

Life of B - April Square Challenge

The theme for April Squares is ‘top‘, and we have five idioms, to choose from;
On Top of the World – summit, crown, peak (tiptop) or uppermost part of something.
Under the Big Top – topping or covering (or if you are really lucky a circus!)
Room at the Top – first or highest in position
Cherry on Top – something made even more wonderful by becoming square
Top and Tail – or maybe you’d prefer to play around with word combinations such as top dog, top stitch, top hat, top secret, top knot, top drawer or top dollar!
The main tag is #SquareTops


May 2013 - Moscow Russia

Atop Sparrow Hill - church tops



Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Sense of Touching

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge



Hands around Toronto





April Square Challenge

Life of B - April Square Challenge

The theme for April Squares is ‘top‘, and we have five idioms, to choose from;
On Top of the World – summit, crown, peak (tiptop) or uppermost part of something.
Under the Big Top – topping or covering (or if you are really lucky a circus!)
Room at the Top – first or highest in position
Cherry on Top – something made even more wonderful by becoming square
Top and Tail – or maybe you’d prefer to play around with word combinations such as top dog, top stitch, top hat, top secret, top knot, top drawer or top dollar!
The main tag is #SquareTops



Montreal QC




Tuesday Treasures Around the World

August 2009 - Jim Thorpe PA


This visit was before I started blogging.

What made me look at these photos? A question on Jeopardy and I knew the answer!!
Pennsylvania problems: The players missed three clues about the commonwealth, including ones about its nickname, the Keystone State, and the town named after a 1912 Olympian, Jim Thorpe.

The town changed its name in 1954 from Mauch Chunk to Jim Thorpe, a story that has to rank as one of the most unusual in American history. (Mauch Chunk means Bear Place in the native Munsee-Lenape Native American language).



Reading (like the railroad in Monopoly) Blue Mountain and Northern.

The Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad is a regional railroad operating in eastern Pennsylvania, with headquarters located in Port Clinton. In addition to freight service, passenger excursions also run along the RBMN system. The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway (LGSR) is a tourist railroad that operates passenger excursions along the RBMN between Jim Thorpe and Lehigh Gorge State Park. The RBMN also operates passenger excursions from Reading and Port Clinton to Jim Thorpe.


It was designed by Wilson Brothers & Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and built in 1888 by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. It is a 1 1/2-story, five bay, red brick building in the Queen Anne style. It features a 3 1/2-story, cylindrical corner tower with a cylindrical roof. It is owned by the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway and served as a visitor center.

The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 1, 1976.








First fire company in Carbon County PA.
Volunteer department, established 1866.
Present building built 1885.
Now a bar, the Marion Hose Co. No. 1., located next to the Opera House.



The Mauch Chunk Opera House also called the Capitol Theater at one time. The theatre was built in 1881 by architect Addison Hutton. Officially opening in 1882 and located in what was known as millionaires row in old Mauch Chunk, as the town was then called.




Asa Packer Mansion
Built in 1861, this Italianate mansion was the crown jewel of the Packer family and home to Asa Packer. This 20-room mansion has an ornate interior with original furnishings. It stands elevated above Broadway and is a reminder of the wealth that the city had during the 19th century. During that time it is said 19 of the country's 26 millionaires had homes in Mauch Chunk.

Asa Packer founded the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and like many wealthy robber-barons of this age, went on to become a philanthropist. He also founded Lehigh University in 1865.


Jim Thorpe is also known as the Switzerland of Pennsylvania. 
Established in 1830 the Hotel Switzerland is the oldest commercial building operating in Jim Thorpe.







The Old Mauch Chunk Historic District (National Register of Historic Places) contains an incredible blend of public and private buildings of exceptional architectural merit, scattered among a background of typical 19th Century commercial and residential structures; all located in spectacular natural setting.



"Stone Row" — This range of 16 houses was built by Asa Packer for the engineers and foreman working on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The exact date is not known but the predate was the 1849 fire.






And the town's relationship to Jim Thorpe?
Who was he?

An Olympic hero controversially stripped of his medals is buried in a town he never visited, that took his name after his death.



 
Our old car!


NO OTHER ATHLETE HAS COME close to Jim Thorpe in all-around versatility. Born in 1887 in Prague, Oklahoma, Thorpe grew up in the Sac and Fox Nation and suffered the loss of his twin brother and both his parents early in life. His incredible skill with every sport he tried propelled him beyond his humble origins and the racial prejudice he faced as an American Indian to a legendary status as one of the 20th century’s most notable athletes.

As a student at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, he was an All-American in football, playing halfback, defender, punter, and place-kicker. He mastered nearly every sport offered at Carlisle, including basketball, lacrosse, tennis, handball, bowling, golf, swimming, hockey, boxing, and gymnastics. He even won a ballroom dancing contest. However, it was in track and field where he really excelled.



At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, Thorpe won both the pentathlon and the decathlon, and finished tied in fourth for the high jump and seventh in the long jump. King Gustav V of Sweden congratulated Thorpe by saying “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” To which Thorpe replied: “Thanks, King.”




Impoverished at his death, his third wife struck an agreement with two Pennsylvania towns desperate for tourism to create a memorial and bury his remains. Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk merged under the new town name of “Jim Thorpe,” and the athlete’s body now rests under a monument in a landscape he never saw, in a town he never visited.




Signs 2

Joining Tom at Signs2.
Wordless Wednesday Wordless Be There 2day
Gay NYC Dad

Continuing with pit stops...
a stop (as during a trip) for fuel, food, or rest or for use of a restroom.


January 2016 - Tlaquapaque Mexico



Monday, April 27, 2020

April Square Challenge

Life of B - April Square Challenge

The theme for April Squares is ‘top‘, and we have five idioms, to choose from;
On Top of the World – summit, crown, peak (tiptop) or uppermost part of something.
Under the Big Top – topping or covering (or if you are really lucky a circus!)
Room at the Top – first or highest in position
Cherry on Top – something made even more wonderful by becoming square
Top and Tail – or maybe you’d prefer to play around with word combinations such as top dog, top stitch, top hat, top secret, top knot, top drawer or top dollar!
The main tag is #SquareTops


March 2016 - Puerto Vallarta Mexico

Tree TOP view of Church


Foto Tunes - Coronavirus Playlist

Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.


In response to these crazy times I will be posting a Coronavirus playlist weekly.


Week 1 playlist
Week 2 playlist
Week 3 playlist
Week 4 playlist

On a more upbeat tone, what do you want to do when we can finally get out?

I am going DOWNTOWN!


Toronto ON






And getting ON THE ROAD AGAIN


2005 Ashford Ireland






Also LEAVING ON A JET PLANE

2012 Nicaragua Central America








This week's parody!


Monday Mural

I'm linking up at Monday Mural


August 2013 - Antigonish Nova Scotia

It's amazing what you can find in your photo archives.

I cannot find any information on this mural and don't know if it still exists.

















Sunday, April 26, 2020

April Square Challenge - Top

Life of B - April Square Challenge

The theme for April Squares is ‘top‘, and we have five idioms, to choose from;
On Top of the World – summit, crown, peak (tiptop) or uppermost part of something.
Under the Big Top – topping or covering (or if you are really lucky a circus!)
Room at the Top – first or highest in position
Cherry on Top – something made even more wonderful by becoming square
Top and Tail – or maybe you’d prefer to play around with word combinations such as top dog, top stitch, top hat, top secret, top knot, top drawer or top dollar!
The main tag is #SquareTops



May 2019 - Paris France




Division

One Word Sunday

December 2014 - Abilene TX


In the short space of five months the 12th Armored Division became one of the most feared fighting machines of World War II. Labeled the "Hellcat Division," it was instrumental in capturing 72,000 German soldiers and liberating Nazi death camps. Preserving this history of the 12th Armored Division, the museum serves as a teaching museum for the study of World War II and its impact on the American people. It offers innovative educational programs for children and academic access to historical materials.