Flickr Friday: Stained Glass

Israel, originally uploaded by whistlepunch.

I told myself I would start blogging again when I was no longer President of ATESL. Actually, I told myself I would do a lot of things once I had finished my term as President. So far, I haven't quite got there but I am working on it. I've been at my computer and determined to upload photos I've had in the queue to add to Flickr so a handful have been going up each night as I was working on other things.

I've added photos from the ATESL conference, photos from my mission experiences in Korea and finally got around to posting just a selection of the photos from each country on my Mediterranean cruise back in 2011. The stained glass detail at the top of this blog post is from our day in Nazareth and our visit to the Basilica of the Annunciation. I loved the saturated colours of the window panes. Click on the picture to go to the collection and view more! I still need to add Egypt and my last free day in Rome and that trip will be posted. More activity as well as sharing the links has meant many more views of my online albums. What typically was averaging 400-500 views a day has jumped to a record day of 7,261 views and a weekly total of 21,239! Wow. And they aren't that great. I really want to take a photography course and get a decent camera before my next trip. But since there are no solid plans for that yet, I will wait.

My cousin Heidi shared a link on Facebook about a film that is being included in the Calgary Underground Film Festival: Documentaries next Thursday. It is the story of Vivian Maier, a New York nanny who enjoyed taking pictures when she was out in the city. She was what is now called a 'hoarder' but I see it as an intense collector of life. In 2007 someone found her immense collection of the negatives from her street photography when a storage locker she didn't keep up payments for was finally sold at auction and these are now being catalogued and shared as a significant look at life in the second half of the 20th century America. I'm so glad Heidi posted the link!  I had heard about this collection and Vivian shortly after the find and have looked forward to seeing this documentary but had no idea when I might get the chance.  Tickets can be purchased in advance here.  Let me know if you want me to save you a seat!

http://www.vivianmaier.com/media/gallery/self-portraits/53-119.jpg

(Me in 2007 in Cambridge)
We both took self portraits in mirrors before everyone else started taking "selfies". 

Flickr Friday: The Morris House

Wandering around Halifax, originally uploaded by whistlepunch.

It was a free day on my trip east for TESL Canada 2011 and I spent it visiting the Pier 21 museum and wandering the streets snapping photos and soaking in the misty Nova Scotia air.

I saw this very old home looking very out of place and so I snapped a picture as I passed by. I had no idea I had captured such a historic treasure. This home is 249 years old! It was built in 1764, 15 years after the city of Halifax was founded. (This is over 100 years before any of my ancestors would immigrate to what later became Canada.)  It was slated for demolition but in 2013 after being saved by the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, the home was on the move to its new location to shelter young people who are experiencing housing challenges.

Thanks for Steve-23 who shared this information with me on Flickr.
He also included a link to the news story this past January.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/26/morris-house-move_n_2557759.html

Flickr Friday: Three of my favourite people

Three of my favourite people, originally uploaded by whistlepunch.

A month from now and these three will be together again. These are my sister`s kids and we all were touring around Chicago when this was taken.  It was great to be included in their family vacation  which included a trip to Nauvoo after some time in the windy city!

Actually the picture I wanted to share was one I just noticed as I've been sorting out my own digital files and that is this picture of my niece. I told my mom I would share it so here it is. Look at that - two pictures in a row without her pulling a silly face. (The girl loves to ham it up for the camera) She is now hobbling around with a fractured ankle so I won't get to go watch her play rugby. Too bad!!




My cousin is celebrating her 400th post on her blog. Go check it out here (but don`t bother to enter to win chocolates because I am going to win them this time.) But it got me thinking. This is my 276 post on this blog but if you add ALL my blogs together, it adds up to this being my 400TH POST!! She has been blogging more consistently than I have so mine are rather spread out over a longer time period. And if you read it carefully, she hit the target yesterday so the announcement post makes it 401. We didn`t tie after all.  Congrats to you, cuz!!

Flickr Friday: Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Again, using my addition formula, this time with 4/12/13, I chose this picture for Flickr Friday. Also taken on my trip in 2011 to Nova Scotia.

First person to leave a comment and a number between 1 and 543 will determine which page of photos I share from next week!

Flickr Friday: Lighthouse at Church Point

Lighthouse at Church Point, originally uploaded by whistlepunch.

originally uploaded by whistlepunch

I decided to get back to sharing photos from my Flickr account since there are 9,238 photos posted there and it isn't likely that anyone is browsing these in their entirety. I like that I can share and search my photos on this site as well as finding my photos used on random blogs and websites, even in a couple of published books.

So the formula I used was to add up the date 4/4/13 and that landed me on page 21. Then I just picked my favourite photos from this page.

Two years ago, I traveled out to Halifax for a TESL Canada conference and added an extra week onto my trip to drive around the south tip of Nova Scotia. This lighthouse is located at Church Point, the home of the only Francophone university in Nova Scotia and the St. Mary's Church Museum, the largest wooden church in North America.

St. Mary's Church Museum

This lighthouse was built in 1874 and stands 9.4 metres tall. The lamp was lit until 1984 and since that time the University has been responsible for its maintenance.

I thoroughly enjoyed my drive around the province, stopping at as many lighthouses and wooden churches as I could.

Post script:

So I obviously didn't have my talking calendar this morning to get the current date set in my mind. It isn't the 4th today - it is the 5th. So I should have been looking at page 22.

I guess that means a bonus picture - I won't change my entry but include another photo from the same trip.

St. Alphonse de Clare, Digby, Nova Scotia

Another wooden church for you to enjoy!

Flickr Friday: Chatsworth - The Veiled Vestal Virgin

Chatsworth - The Veiled Vestal Virgin, originally uploaded by whistlepunch.

In an attempt to blog more frequently and to revisit some of my favourite photos, Friday will now be known as Flickr Friday. And to start us off, my number one viewed photo on Flickr, the marble sculpture "The Veiled Vestal Virgin" by Raffaelle Monti.

If you saw the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice, you may recognize this as a sculpture in Pemberly but in reality it stands in Chatsworth, a grand home in Derbyshire that may have inspired Jane Austen to write about Darcy's ancestral home.

It is a truly spectacular piece of art - you want to reach out and brush the veil away to see her face, it is so beautifully sculpted.

Someday, I hope to visit this amazing estate in Derbyshire again.

Note:  I just had a thought - Have I posted this picture before and YES - this is a repeat post. so now I need to add something fresh to the post. A few more views of the same sculpture gallery in Chatsworth!