Saturday's Photo Hunting

 SOMETHING UPSIDE DOWN.

September 2009 - Darien Lake near Buffalo NY

Weekend Cooking

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

Located at the beginning of Route 66 at 565 W. Jackson Boulevard, Lou Mitchell’s has been host to many. Everyone from U.S. Presidents, Mayors, Governors, Senators, Representatives, athletes, coaches, authors, judges, lawyers, clergy, and stars of the stage and screen. It’s a time-honored whistle stop on the campaign trails of many elected officials. 
Taken in 2008 after we enjoyed a great breakfast!

Saturday Snapshot

 

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.
Begun in 1248, the construction of the Cologne Cathedral in Germany which  is a Gothic masterpiece took place in several stages and was not completed until 1880. Over seven centuries, successive builders were inspired by the same faith and a spirit of absolute fidelity to the original plans.

Construction halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in the 19th century and was completed, to the original plan, in 1880. It is 144.5 metres (474 ft) long, 86.5 m (284 ft) wide and its towers are approximately 157 m (515 ft) tall. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires and largest facade of any church in the world. The choir has the largest height to width ratio, 3.6:1, of any medieval church.

In 1996, the cathedral was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List of culturally important sites. In 2004 it was placed on the "World Heritage in Danger" list, as the only Western site in danger, due to plans to construct a high-rise building nearby, which would have visually impacted the site. The cathedral was removed from the List of In Danger Sites in 2006, following the authorities' decision to limit the heights of buildings constructed near and around the cathedral.

Statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the central jamb of the door.

Copy of the finials in the square (same size as the two atop the Cathedral)

Sepia Saturday - May 4

Challenge and image source from Sepia Saturday.

It has been a stressful few days and in the good old days I would have reached for my trusty pipe and tobacco pouch. Others would have reached for cigarette packets or cigar cases or snuff boxes : whatever the delivery method, tobacco was the preferred accompaniment to lifes' ups and downs. Now we know better and tobacco sales are hidden away behind high counters, plain wrappers and dire warnings. But here on Sepia Saturday we deal with the past, and therefore Sepia Saturday 175 - post your posts on or around Saturday 4th May 2013 - provides you with an opportunity to light up your blog with pictures featuring smoking, cigarettes, vending machines, gold flakes, black cats ... or anything else you can spot in our archive image. The picture dates back to 1931 and features a rather unique device - a vending machine that delivered a lit cigarette! The picture comes from the Flickr Commons stream of the Dutch National Archive.

This wasn't the photo I had planned on posting initially but when I was looking through my files I noticed this ad on the back of an Aer Lingus plane ticket from 1957 when we flew from Dublin to Montreal.

Thank goodness smoking is not allowed on flights today!

Sweet Afton was an Irish brand of short, unfiltered cigarettes made with Virginia tobacco and produced by P.J. Carroll & Co., Dundalk, Ireland, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco.
The Sweet Afton brand was launched by Carroll's in 1919 to celebrate the link between Dundalk and the national poet of Scotland, Robert Burns. Burns' eldest sister, Agnes, lived in Dundalk from 1817 until her death in 1834 and was buried in the cemetery of St. Nicholas's Church in the town. Carroll's thought that the brand would only be successful in Scotland if the carton simply had an image of Burns, or Scottish name on the packet, so the people of Dundalk were canvassed and the name Sweet Afton was chosen. The name is taken from Burns' poem "Sweet Afton", which itself takes its title from the poem's first stanza:

Flow gently, sweet Afton, amang thy green braes
Flow gently, I’ll sing thee a song in thy praise
My Mary’s asleep by they murmuring stream
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.

Both my parents smoked as did my maternal grandmother and aunts and uncles. My grandfathers favoured a pipe. In the 50s and 60s it was quite common for women to smoke through pregnancy!

This is my aunt with the cigarette and it looks like they are just moving into this place as my parents are on the floor setting up stuff and that looks like a makeshift table. I am curious what my sister is looking at so intently???

weekend Reflections

Posting at Weekend Reflections.

March 2013 - Mazatlan Mexico

Weekly Top Shot

I'm posting at The View From Here this week.

May 2013 Toronto ON

Taken at Humber Bay, I am wondering if this is a nest. I googled and learned that cygnets are typically born between May and July.

Orange You Glad it's Friday?

This is now being hosted by Maria at Writings of Maria Life's Sweets and Spices.

Rouen France August 2012