Wordless Wednesday

Bicentenial, Freedom trail and my 200th post.

This is Kat's Corner's 200th post.

When I think about the number 200, I think about the year long celebrations that occurred here in the states to celebrate our nation's birthday. I remember how everyone was patriotic that summer. Red, white and blue bell bottoms were the highest fashion. Bell bottoms? Yes, Bell bottoms, our nation was born in 1776, so the bicentennial celebrations took place in 1976.... I guess, I am showing my age a little here.

Oh well, I still think this post will be appropriate. Boston is a historical city. Many of the events leading up to the revolutionary war happened there. My Sweet Husband and I visited several of them, and I took pictures (your not surprised at that are you).  

This brick building is Faneuil Hall. It was an easy walk from our hotel and a good starting place for the Freedom Trail. Yes, there is a blue mime standing in the bottom right corner, he was busking for tips.

The Freedom Trail is a red line that links several Revolutionary War sites in downtown Boston. In some places it is painted red as a temporary measure while road work is done but most of it is a double row of brick. Great way to keep from getting lost. It is a good days outing if you stop to see everything along the way. This medallion marks one of the points on the Freedom Trail.

Copp's Hill Burying ground is along the freedom trail. It feels quite serene in spite of the tourists.

It is Boston's second oldest grave yard.

Paul Revere's House. Photography is not allowed inside so if you want to see the interior you will have to visit in person (or go here Paul Revere house ). That handsome man sitting on the wall is my Sweet Husband. He makes a great tour guide.

To market, to market. The freedom trail goes right through this farmer's market. Biggify the picture then look closely at the two corner pictures that look like garbage and a smashed crate on the pavement.
They are actually embedded bronze sculptures! Very cool.

Long ago, Robert Newman, (no not the actor) was the sexton in this lovely little church. He is reported to be one of the men who hung the lanterns in the steeple for Mr. Revere.

Steps to that steeple.

One if by land, two if by river?
Longfellow's famous poem says one if by land, two if by sea, but citizens of Boston are fond of correcting him. The sea in question was the Charles River. Either way, this is the famous steeple.
To read the entire poem, look here Longfellows poem .

Mr. Revere.

Me on the deck of "The Constitution" another stop along the trail.

More soon, I have to get to work.

Have a great day.

Kat

Try Again Thursday

This was supposed to be for Wordless Wednesday, it would not load.

I guess when you live in a lovely old antebellum house like this one, you can't expect all the modern conveniences all of the time. 

This, as you may have guessed is from our Boston vacation. Sorry about the tilt. You can take a three to four hour trip from Boston Harbour to see the whales (most of the time is spent getting to and from the feeding ground, but we did get to spend time on site). These things are amazing, and of course, they seem to know just where I have the camera aimed, so they can pop up somewhere else. I got to see way more than I was able to photo.

I guess it is a good thing I could not post this for wordless Wednesday after all, I am getting quite wordy.

Since you are here, would you like to go whale watching with us?

Oops, no we did not get to ride on this one. It is the USS Constitution, aka "Old Iron sides". I'll share that one in another post. Isn't it lovely?

This was our ride, she is Voyager III, a catamaran. Our adventure left from the Boston Harbour. There are several different cruises, ours was sponsored by the aquarium we boarded right next to the Aquarium.

This is us, smiling on the dock while we waited to board. We talked to an interesting family that lives in the local area while we waited. I know, this sounds funny for a big city, but Boston is full of friendly people. Seriously, I think it may be the friendliest city I have ever visited (still a city though, would not trade it for my old antebellum in the woods).

I am not sure what the name of this one is, we saw it on the way out to the feeding grounds. We were no where near this close, my camera has a great zoom. At this point the seas were calm enough to get away with using it. Once we got out farther, it got a lot rougher and I could not stabilize the camera enough for the digital zoom. Still, I am amazed at what a great job my little camera does.

(The current model is a Fuji Fine Pix Z70, in pink of course).

"Thar she blows!" Oops, that wasn't a blow it was a splash, that is even better, see the tail? We only got a few good still pictures and I have one video that shows nothing but blue sky while you can hear the people saying things like "Wow, there it is" and "Did you see that?".....What can I say, I was having a great time.

Whalewatch is the aquarium's blog with lots of photos from other trips.

This is a close up cropped and enlarged from the previous photo. I have to give proper credit here, My Sweet Husband, got this great shot. Look at the color of the water! It was a wonderful memorable trip.

What else did we see while we were in Boston?

Stay tuned.....

Kat

>^..^<

Spilling the "Boston Baked" beans.

Well folks, Brian from Way station one guessed our destination correctly. The lion lives in Boston Mass.

This old Antebellum house is still pretty warm and summer just doesn't seem to want to let go.

Since autumn is so slow coming to Kat's Corner, we decided to go looking for it, Boston is a great place to start.

The building that was featured in the last few posts is not a museum! It is the Boston Public Library. It is one of the oldest public libraries in this country. The history page on their website, BPL history states that this current building was completed in 1895. The architect, Charles Follen McKim, referred to it as a "Palace for the People", and it really is. When I walked into this reading room, it felt like hallowed ground. What great minds studied here? (It even has wi-fi.)  This is one glimpse of the season, seeing all these people hard at their studies makes me think of fall and "back to school".

This medallion is inlaid into the floor of the entrance hall. Patrons have been walking over it with their arms full of books for over 100 years now, it still looks pretty good. The building is full of touches like this. Marble everywhere. We did not know how fantastic this library would be. Initially we planned on popping in, having a look at the lions (the lions on our front steps are supposed to look like them, not quite), and see the Sargent murals. In and out under10 minutes. Nope, we spent hours, it was one of the highlights of the trip.

This gentleman is brother to the fine fellow featured in the last two posts. They are not exactly alike or even mirror images, they are in slightly different poses. The base is taller than me. These guys are larger than life. They are surrounded by marble and are placed at the base of a double staircase. I did not get a photo of them together, couldn't figure out how to fit it all in. There are murals painted on the walls above them.

These are by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. You can follow the links from the BPL history page to see more of his work. This stairway and hall alone are worth a visit to Boston, but wait, there's more...

In the Abbey Room there are murals depicting the "Quest for the Holy Grail". I am still in awe of this painter! My little camera did a great job capturing these, especially since they are up quite high in a dim room. They were an unexpected bonus.



Another view. I took a lot of pictures, these are some of the best.

I know it is hard to look away from the murals, but if you visit, you have to look down. This cute little fellow is holding up the base of a lamp. The place is full of details. But wait, there is more......

This is a scene from the John Singer Sargent murals. I thought I was familiar with his work, I have seen several portraits by him. He is better than just good, but portraits are portraits, nice but I'm not going to chase all over town looking for them, or at least that's how I felt before this trip. We saw several examples of his work in Boston and Salem. I have a new appreciation of his work.

Here is another portion of the murals. My camera is great, but if you really want to appreciate these murals, go to Sargent murals The Boston Museum of Fine Arts also has some works by Sargent, but I will save that for another post.

On a completely different note,

as of today, I am back in school. I am going for a Masters in Nursing Education. So, I have homework to do. Wish me luck.

Kat

A couple more hints.

OK, I know it is a little mean,

but I am enjoying this.

I will give a few more hints tonight,

Then I will post the answer with more pictures tomorrow.

Any body know where it is yet?

I promise, I will tell tomorrow.

Have a great evening.

Kat

Now what has she been up to?

We have been out goofing off again.

This time we went just a little farther afield.

I will give you one clue,

Does anyone know where this gentleman resides?

(Isn't he lovely?)

Kat

Wordless Wednesday

Early September at Kat's Corner.

It is Monday morning and you can tell it is September.

We are starting to cool down a little at last.

The temp outside is 61 degrees Fahrenheit, that is about 16 degrees Celsius.

This little guy won't hang around much longer, he likes it warm.

He lives in the rock garden up around the house, he eats bugs.

Mushroom.

More mushrooms. We see them all summer, but there seem to be more in the fall.

This pretty little flower will be gone soon. Better appreciate them while they are here.

You have seen this guy before, here is a better view.

He has a great singing voice, one of my favorite sounds of summer.

The tomatoes and basil won't last much longer either.

Commercially grown tomatoes just don't taste as good.

Soon we will go from morning tea on the balcony to tea in front of the fire.

I am looking forward to fall, leaves changing, cooler weather and cozy mornings snuggled in. Even Spontaneous is more comfortable when it is cooler, although she never complains.

Every season here has it's charms, but I will miss summer.

What will you miss the most about summer?

What are you looking forward too?

Cheers,

Kat

Chilling.

Looks like a good day to relax.

Maybe goof off a little.

Summer is nearly gone.

I'll see you outside.

Have a great weekend,

Kat

Sunrise Wordless Wednesday

Craggy Gardens.

Come away, oh human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand

Those lines from W.B. Yeats poem, The Stolen Child,

Yeats
kept running through my head as we walked along the trail.

Craggy Gardens is truly a magical place.

Awesome in the oldest and truest sense of the word.

They are part of Smokey Mtn National Park, up on the Blue Ridge.

Time plays tricks, it is easy to see where the old stories about
entering the faery kingdom, then leaving and finding out your afternoon has lasted for years,

come from. It felt like we were only there a few minutes,

not nearly long enough.

The trail leads across a meadow.

View from the edge of the meadow.

The wind was perfectly still when I took this picture.

Dappled sunlight sneaks through the trees and all too soon, it is time to leave.

This seed head is as pretty as some flowers.

Craggy Gardens is not a formal garden,

just a natural, magical place.

Kat