Every Picture Tells A Story

Live From Daryl's House: This Month's Episode

2012-01-15T10:59:00.001-05:00

Live From Daryl's House: This Month's Episode

I'm 17 again !

Happy Holidays

2011-12-23T13:19:00.000-05:00

December 7, 1941

2011-12-07T00:18:00.000-05:00

Goodbye Hawaii

2011-10-09T15:24:00.000-04:00

Hawaii - AKA The Big Island

2011-10-07T16:53:00.000-04:00

Polynesian Cultural Village

2011-10-04T14:02:00.000-04:00

Dole Plantation

2011-10-02T13:19:00.000-04:00

Pearl Harbor

2011-10-01T14:21:00.000-04:00

Birds of Paradise

2011-09-30T09:56:00.000-04:00

Penquins?

Flamingo's, why do they always turn their butts to
you when you try and take their pictures?

Parrot

Why did the roosters cross the road?

Flock of Seagulls

Hey wait, that's not a bird. What's that dog doing here?

Maybe chasing this lazy cat

Diamond Head

2011-09-28T13:55:00.002-04:00

Top of Diamond Head

View from atop Diamond Head

Diamond Head Lighthouse

View from atop Diamond Head

Diamond Head trail

Looking up from trail to top of Diamond head

View from Diamond Head trail

View from Diamond Head Trail

View from Diamond Head trail

Waikiki

Waikiki Beach from atop Diamond Head

View atop Diamond Head

View from atop Diamond Head

Koko Head
from atop Diamond Head

View atop Diamond Head

View from atop Diamond Head

La Pietra Hawaii School for Girls

Diamond Head Tunnel view from atop Diamond Head

Waikiki

2011-09-27T11:33:00.001-04:00

Hilton Hawaiian Village

Ali'i Tower

Penguins??? in Hawaii plus Tropical Bird

The Beach

Waikiki Beach

Ali'i Tower Pool

Hawaii - Compilation Video

2011-09-27T10:58:00.000-04:00

Check Please

2011-07-18T17:15:00.002-04:00

Archive - From the Zoo Folder

2011-07-14T16:34:00.002-04:00

More from the Archives

2011-07-09T17:17:00.002-04:00

Following the boats

2011-07-05T13:20:00.001-04:00

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T02:09:00.009-04:00

From The Archives

2011-06-11T13:54:00.002-04:00

Memorial Day - Remembering our Veterans who have died

2011-05-27T14:57:00.000-04:00

Tornadoes or why Dorothy doesn't go to Airshows in Florida

2011-04-09T10:17:00.000-04:00

Earth to Epcot

2011-04-06T17:43:00.000-04:00

Re-creation of Terracotta Army

2011-04-05T09:52:00.003-04:00

http://www.highlightskids.com/Stories/NonFiction/NF1298_terracotta.asp

Mickey in Flowers

2011-04-05T09:43:00.000-04:00

SunNFun AirShow April 1, 2011

2011-04-04T17:40:00.003-04:00

Sun N Fun Airshow April 1, 2011 Compilation Video

Fireworks at Epcot April 2, 2011

2011-04-04T17:40:00.001-04:00

Fireworks Epcot April 2, 2011

Honey, there's a car in your garden

2011-04-04T17:10:00.000-04:00

Fairy Pot

2011-04-04T16:15:00.000-04:00

Fairy Garden - Epcot Annual Flower & Garden Show

2011-04-04T16:05:00.000-04:00

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T16:16:00.000-05:00

Matt Duke- Less Egg, More Nog

2010-12-24T10:59:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's not the most "appropriate" Christmas song but it's too funny to miss. Check out more of Matt Duke video's on YouTube. I don't know why this guy isn't famous.... Also check him out with TFDI (Jay Nash, Matt Duke and Tony Lucca). New CD's for all due out early 2011 including TFDI and *hopefully* a CD with Jay Nash and Caitlyn Crosby. If you haven't heard of Caitlyn, check her out too.

New and Improved

2010-12-18T19:26:00.003-05:00

Well it's new, improved is up for debate. Changed the design and commenting. This is what happens when I'm bored. Sorry past comments were lost as I was forced to change commenters.

Tis the Season

2010-12-01T16:39:00.000-05:00

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2010-11-01T13:00:00.002-04:00

Coming in November

2010-10-21T23:18:00.001-04:00

I hope to post a picture every day. No comment, no title just a picture. After all this blog is Every Picture Tells A Story so I'll let the pictures tell the story.

How do you say Meow and Woof in Italian?

2010-10-14T10:15:00.000-04:00

Atrani

2010-10-13T21:21:00.003-04:00

Atrani was, I imagine, a pretty little town until a mud slide occurred a week before we were to leave for Italy. Amalfi, where we stayed is a about a mile up the road. We walked to Atrani and took some pictures. A young girl, a barister in a coffee shop, was swept away in the flood right from the coffee shop. A week after our return her body was found off the Aeolian Islands. So sad.

This car was the only remaining car

Limoncello

2010-10-12T13:59:00.001-04:00

Limoncello is the golden treasure of Amalfi. Locals affectionately call it sunshine wine, as if they had harvested all the joy and golden glory of the coastline, corked it, before serving it, chilled, like summer champagne.

A national drink of Italy, limoncello is served either before a meal to cleanse the palate, or as a light and refreshing after-dinner beverage. It is made from fermented lemons, which are steeped in a mixture of sugar and alcohol for at least 20 days.

Connoisseurs agree that the best limoncello comes from the Amalfi Coast. The region’s unique soil leads to the finest quality lemons, which are sweet and citrusy, with nary a trace of sourness. Some chefs even call the Amalfi lemons “bread”, because they can be cut into slices and then eaten as a dessert or a snack: tart, juicy, and as goldeny sweet as the sunshine spilling over the beaches outside.

The lemons of the Amalfi coast also have very few seeds, minimising the bitterness, while the pulp is so rich with flavour that you can smell the sweetness through its skin. Try driving by Amalfi’s terraced lemon groves during the summer, when the branches are heavy with their fruit. The heady mix of their citrus perfumes, tinted by the scent of the turquoise sea, will linger in your memory for years.

According to legend, limoncello owes its origins to the rosoli drinks made in the convents, where nuns would make delicate liqueurs from fruits, spices and aromatic plants. The earliest records of limoncello can be traced to the 17th century, when people began talking about a particularly delectable pastry dish made by the nuns of the Santa Rosa convent in Conca dei Marini. Their secret ingredient was a lemon liqueur, beginning a long (and now world wide) love affair with limoncello

Amalfi Coast

2010-10-11T07:37:00.000-04:00

The Amalfi Coast has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. The town of Amalfi was the capital of the Maritime Republic of Amalfi, an important trading power in the Mediterranean between 839 and around 1200. In the 1920s and 1930s, Amalfi was a popular holiday destination for the British upper class and aristocracy.

Lido di Ostia

2010-10-10T11:04:00.001-04:00

Lido di Ostia is the closest beach to the city of Rome and is well worth a visit.

Stop off at the ruins at Ostia Antica a large archeological site that was the harbour city of ancient Rome, which is approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) northeast of the site and close to the modern town of Ostia. "Ostia" in Latin means "mouth". At the mouth of the River Tiber, Ostia was Rome's seaport, but, due to silting and a drop in sea level, the site now lies 3 kilometres (2 mi) from the sea. The site is noted for the excellent preservation of its ancient buildings, magnificent frescoes and impressive mosaics.

Ostia may have been Rome's first colonia. An inscription says that Ostia was founded by Ancus Marcius, the semi-legendary fourth king of Rome, in the 7th century BC. The oldest archaeological remains so far discovered date only the 4th century BC." The most ancient buildings currently visible are from the 3rd century BC, notably the Castrum (military camp); of a slightly later date is the Capitolium (temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva). The opus quadratum of the walls of the original castrum at Ostia provide important evidence for the building techniques that were employed in Roman urbanisation during the period of the Middle Republic.

In 68 BC, the town was sacked by pirates. During the sacking, the port was set on fire, the consular war fleet was destroyed, and two prominent senators were kidnapped. This attack caused such panic in Rome that Pompey Magnus arranged for the tribune Aulus Gabinius to rise in the Roman Forum and propose a law, the Lex Gabinia, to allow Pompey to raise an army and destroy the pirates. Within a year, the pirates had been defeated.

The town was then re-built, and provided with protective walls by the statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero.

The town was further developed during the first century AD under the influence of Tiberius, who ordered the building of the town's first Forum. The town was also soon enriched by the construction of a new harbor on the northern mouths of the Tiber (which reaches the sea with a larger mouth in Ostia, Fiumara Grande, and a narrower one near to the current Fiumicino International Airport). The new harbor, not surprisingly called Portus, from the Latin for "harbor," was excavated from the ground at the orders of the emperor Claudius. This harbour became silted up and needed to be supplemented later by a harbor built by Trajan finished in the year AD 113; it has a hexagonal form, in order to reduce the erosive forces of the waves. This took business away from Ostia itself (further down river) and began its commercial decline.

Ostia itself was provided with all the services a town of the time could require; in particular, a famous lighthouse. Ostia contained the Ostia Synagogue, the earliest synagogue yet identified in Europe; it created a stir when it was unearthed in 1960-61.[4] By 1954 eighteen mithraea had also been discovered: Mithras had his largest following among the working population that were the majority of this port town. Archaeologists also discovered the public latrinas, organized for collective use as a series of seats that allow us to imagine today that the function was also a social moment. In addition, Ostia had a large theatre, many public baths, numerous taverns and inns, and a firefighting service.

Trajan too, required a widening of the naval areas, and ordered the building of another harbor, again pointing towards the north. It must be remembered that at a relatively short distance, there was also the harbor of Civitavecchia (Centum Cellae), and Rome was starting to have a significant number of harbours, the most important remained Portus.

Santa Aurea, OstiaOstia grew to 50,000 inhabitants in the 2nd century, reaching a peak of some 75,000 inhabitants in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.[citation needed] Ostia became an episcopal see as early as the 3rd century, the cathedral (titulus) of Santa Aurea (illustration, left) being located on the burial site of St. Monica, mother of Augustine; she died in an inn in the town. In time, naval activities became focused on Portus instead. A slow decadence began in the late Roman era around the time of Constantine I, with the town ceasing to be an active port and instead becoming a popular country retreat for rich aristocrats from Rome itself (along the lines of Brighton's relationship to London in the 18th century).

The decaying conditions of the city were mentioned by St. Augustine when he passed there in the late 4th century. The poet Rutilius Namatianus also reported the lack of maintenance of the city in 414.

With the end of the Roman Empire, Ostia fell slowly into decay, and was finally abandoned in the 9th century due to the repeated invasions and sackings by Arab pirates, including the Battle of Ostia, a naval battle in 849 between Christian and Saracens; the remaining inhabitants moved to Gregoriopolis.

Vatican City

2010-10-09T14:50:00.001-04:00

Vatican City was established in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri, on behalf of the Holy See and by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini on behalf of the Kingdom of Italy. Vatican City State is distinct from the Holy See, which dates back to early Christianity and is the main episcopal see of 1.166 billion Latin and Eastern Catholic adherents around the globe. Ordinances of Vatican City are published in Italian; official documents of the Holy See are issued mainly in Latin.

The Vatican Swiss Guard

2010-10-08T10:39:00.002-04:00

Not many of the visitors to Rome, who pose for a photograph in front of the Swiss soldiers on guard at the gates of Vatican City, are familiar with the history of these troops who take an oath of loyalty to the Pope. To know more we must go back to the period of the Renaissance and discover the motives that in 1506 caused Pope Julius II to invite to Rome the Helvetian soldiers, renowned for their courage, noble sentiments and loyalty. Many centuries earlier the great Latin historian, Tacitus, had said: "The Helvetians are a people of warriors, famous for the valour of their soldiers." This is why the Swiss Cantons, as allies first with one side and then with another, played such an important role in the history of European politics. In fact as allies of Pope Julius II in 1512 they helped to shape Italy's destiny and were granted by the Pope the title of "Defenders of the Church's freedom". In those times, when to be a mercenary soldier was a commonplace occupation, there lived a people of warriors in the very heart of the Alps. The first Swiss Cantons had about 500,000 inhabitants and formed an overpopulated country, where, because of the precarious economic conditions of the times, there was much poverty. There was no choice but to emigrate and one of the most profitable jobs was that of a mercenary soldier abroad.

There were some 15,000 men available for this type of work which was "organized" and controlled by the small Confederation of Cantons. The Confederation authorized the enlistment of the men and in return received corn, salt, or other commercial goods. The men themselves regarded this warring as a temporary period of summer emigration. They took part in brief but glorious wars and then returned home with the "pay" and the booty, to spend the winter. They were the best troops of those times. Without cavalry and with little artillery, they had invented a tactic of movement that was superior to all others. Therefore they were in great demand both by France and by Spain. They were similar to a semimobile rampart, standing tall and impenetrable, and it is impossible to understand the Italian Wars without taking these mercenaries into account. Already in the 13th and 14th centuries, after the Swiss Cantons had become independent, many of their men were fighting in Germany and Italy and as the Cantons were unable to prevent this type of emigration, they sought at least to organize it.

The alliance with France was the most important and it began with Charles VII in 1453, and was later renewed in 1474 by Louis XI, who had seen for himself near Basle how 1,500 Swiss soldiers had resisted against twenty times as many men.
Louis XI hired some of the Confederate soldiers as instructors for the French army and the King of Spain did the same. When, at the end of the 15th century, with Charles VIII the Italian Wars began, the Swiss were described by the Italian historian, Guicciardini, as "the nerve and the hope of an army".
In 1495 the life of the King of France was saved thanks to the immovable firmness of his Swiss foot-soldiers.
The foreign service of the Confederates was better regulated under the 1521 alliance between France and the Cantons. With it the Swiss agreed to provide from six to sixteen thousand men for the King and in return the Cantons would benefit from the protection of the most powerful European prince. They became permanent allies and auxiliaries, but the Cantons were still the true sovereigns of the troops and reserved to themselves the right to withdraw them. These armed corps were completely independent, with their own regulations, their own judges and their own flags. The orders were given in their own language, German, by Swiss officers and they
remained under the law of their Cantons: in short, the regiment was their fatherland and all these customs were confirmed in similar agreements made in later years.

January 22nd, 1506, is the official date of birth of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, because on that day, towards the evening, a group of one hundred and fifty Swiss soldiers commanded by Captain Kasparvon Silenen, of Canton Uri, passed through the Porta del Popolo and entered for the first time the Vatican, where they were blessed by Pope Julius II. The prelate Johann Burchard of Strasbourg, Master of Pontifical Ceremonies at that time, and author of a famous chronicle, noted the event in his diary. In actual fact Pope Sixtus IV made a previous alliance in 1497 with the Confederates, which forsaw the possibility of recruiting mercenaries, and he had barracks built for them near where there is, still today, the small Church of St. Pellegrino, in Via Pellegrino in Vatican City. Later, renewing the old pact, Innocent VIII (1484-1492) also desired to make use of them against the Duke of Milan. And Alexander VI also engaged Confederate soldiers during the time of the alliance between the Borgia family and the King of France. While the Borgias were so powerful the so called Italian Wars began in which the Swiss soldiers were always present, in the front line, at times for France, and at others to support the Holy See or the Holy Roman Empire ruled by a German sovereign. When the Swiss mercenaries heard that Charles VIII, King of France, was planning a great expedition against Naples, they flocked to enlist. Towards the end of the year 1494, thousands of them were in Rome, passing through with the French army, which in February of the following year, occupied Naples. Among the participants in that expedition against Naples, there was also Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, future Pope Julius II, who under Pope Alexander VI had left Italy and gone to France. He was well aquainted with the Swiss, because some twenty years earlier he had been granted as one of many benefices, the Bishopric of Lausanne. A few months later however, Charles VIII was forced to abandon Naples in all haste and he barely succeeded in forcing a blockade and escaping to France. In fact Pope Alexander VI had connected Milan, Venice, the Germanic Empire and Ferdinand the Catholic to form a barrier against the French.

On the morning of May 6th, 1527, from his headquarters set up in St. Onofrio's Convent on the Gianicolo hill, Captain General Bourbon launched a series of attacks on Rome. During one of them, at the Torrione Gate, while leading the assault of the walls, he himself was mortally wounded. After just a moment's hesitation, the Spanish mercenaries broke through the Torrione Gate, while the lansquenets invaded the road of Borgo Santo Spirito and St. Peter's. The Swiss Guard, standing firm at the foot of the obelisk (now in St. Peter's Square, but then near the German cemetery within the Vatican close to the Basilica), together with the few remnants of the Roman troops, resisted desperately. Their Captain, Kaspar Röist was wounded, and later killed by the Spaniards in his quarters in front of his wife, Elizabeth Klingler. Of the 189 Swiss Guards, only 42 survived, the ones who, when all was lost, under the command of Hercules Göldli guarded Clement VII’s retreat to safety in Castel Sant’Angelo. The rest fell gloriously,
massacred together with two hundred fugitives, on the steps of the High Altar in St. Peter's Basilica.
Pope Clement VII and his men were able to escape to safety, thanks to the "Passetto", a secret corridor which Pope Alexander VI had built along the top of the wall connecting the Vatican with Castel Sant’Angelo. The savage horde was in a hurry, for fear that the League troups would cut off their retreat. Across the Sisto bridge the lansquenets and Spaniards fell on the city and for eight days committed every sort of violence, theft, sacrilege and massacre, even the tombs of the Popes, including that of Julius II, were violated in search of spoils. There were as many as 12 thousand dead and the booty amounted to ten million ducats.
All that happened cannot really be regarded with surprise because the imperial army and in particular Frundsberg's lansquenets, were animated by a violent spirit of crusade against the Pope. In front of Castel Sant’Angelo where the Pope had retreated, a parody of a religious procession was set up, in which Clement was asked to cede the sails and oars of the "Navicella" (boat of Peter) to Luther, and the angry soldiery shouted "Vivat Lutherus pontifex!" (Long live Luther, Pontiff!) The name of Luther was incised with the tip of a sword across the painting of the "Dispute of the Most Holy Sacrament" in the Rooms of Raffaello, out of disdain, while on another wall a graffito hailed Charles V, emperor.
Concise and exact was the description given by the Prior of the Canons of St. Augustine at that time: "Mali fuere Germani, pejores Itali, Hispani vero pessimi." (The Germans were bad, the Italians were worse, the Spaniards were the worst.)
Besides the irreplaceable damage of the destruction of the relics, during the Sack of Rome, inestimable art treasures, namely the greater part of the Church's finest artisan-made gold and silver ware, were lost forever.
On June 5th, Clement had to surrender and to accept heavy conditions: he had to cede the fortresses of Ostia, Civitavecchia, and Civita Castellana, to hand over the cities of Modena, Parma and Piacenza, and to pay the sum of four thousand ducats. Moreover, a ransom for the freedom of prisoners was demanded. The papal garrison was replaced by four companies of Germans and Spaniards, and two hundred lansquenets took the place of the Swiss Guard which had been suppressed. The Pope obtained permission for the surviving Swiss Guards to join the new Guard, but only 12 of them accepted, among them Hans Gutenberg of Chur and Albert Rosin of Zurich. The others wished to have nothing to do with the hated lansquenets.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/swiss_guard/swissguard/storia_en.htm

Roman Forum

2010-10-07T22:26:00.019-04:00

The Roman Forum was the political and economical centre of Rome during the Republic. It emerged as such in the 7th century BCE and maintained this position well into the Imperial period, when it was reduced to a monumental area. It was mostly abandoned at the end of the 4th century.

The Colloseum

2010-10-06T22:24:00.000-04:00

The Roman Colosseum or Coliseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, was commisioned in AD 72 by Emperor Vespasian. It was completed by his son, Titus, in 80, with later improvements by Domitian. Vespesian ordered the Colosseum to be build on the site of Nero's palace, the Domus Aurea, to dissociate himself from the hated tyrant. His aim was to gain popularity by staging deadly combats of gladiators and wild animal fights for public viewing. Massacre was on a huge scale: at inaugural games in AD 80, over 9,000 wild animals were killed.

Roman gladiators were usually slaves, prisoners of war or condemned criminals. Most were men, but there were a few female gladiators. These combats were attended by the poor, the rich, and frequently the emperor himself. As gladiators fought, vicious cries and curses were heard from the audience around the Roman Colosseum. One contest after another was staged in the course of a single day. Should the ground become too soaked with blood, it was covered over with a fresh layer of sand and the performance went on. The gladiatorial games continued until Christianity progressively put an end to those parts of them which included the death of humans.

During the first two centuries capital punishment was seldom inflicted upon the defeated Gladiator, being a huge economic loss to do so. During the Middle Imperial Ages, the death of the defeated Gladiator became the norm.

Italian countryside

2010-10-05T11:15:00.002-04:00

Day 3 we are off to Rome via train from Venice. We were able to order online our tickets at a steal at 19 euros each. Not bad, seats were comfortable. Actually better than the airplane.

We arrived in Rome 4 hours later and then went out siteseeing.

Santa Maria Maggiore stands on the site of a temple to the goddess Cybele. According to a 13th-century legend, the first church was built here by Pope Liberius (352-66), on the site of an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The legend has it that the Virgin appeared to Pope Liberius and the patrician Giovanni Patrizio on August 4, 352 (or 358), instructing them to build a church on the Esquiline Hill. That night, the floor plan was outlined by a miraculous snowfall.

Archaeological evidence, on the other hand, indicates that the church was probably first built in the early 400s and completed under Pope Sixtus III (432-440). This was a time when churches dedicated to Mary were beginning to spring up all over the empire, prompted by an increasingly popular devotion to the Virgin and the official acceptance of her title "Theotokos" (Mother of God) at the Council of Ephesus in 431.

The church has had many names over the years: first Santa Maria della Neve (St. Mary of the Snow) after the snowfall, then Santa Maria Liberiana after Pope Liberius. After the basilica obtained a relic of the Holy Crib, it was called Santa Maria Del Presepe (St. Mary of the Crib). It was finally named Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major) because it is the largest of the 26 churches in Rome dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Santa Maria Maggiore was fully restored and renovated in the 18th century - the facade and most of the interior decorations date from this period. Today, the basilica is served by Redemptorist and Dominican fathers and remains very popular with pilgrims and tourists alike.

Piazza Vittorio , the largest square in Rome ( 316 x 174 meters ) , is the heart of the Esquilino quarter , built when the city became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy (1870). At that time there were only 226,000 inhabitants, and to adapt to his new role as the city launched a development project is massive (First Plan of 1873) , which provides for the construction of large important buildings, neighborhoods of housing for the bureaucrats of the new administration , wide roads.

Within three decades the city was turned upside down . Via ( Vittorio) Veneto , Corso Vittorio Emanuele II , Via Nazionale, Via Cavour, Viale TrastevereAnd then Piazza Venezia, Piazza della RepubblicaPiazza Cavour : As a growing Umbertine ( Umberto I, King between 1878 and 1900) disappears, papal Rome , inside the ancient Aurelian walls which still retained its plant Renaissance and Baroque.

The worst destruction is the loss of "crown villas and gardens"Surrounding the city, and also work as required embankments of the TiberConstructed to block the frequent flooding of the river, is accompanied by real urban crime . It's the price , very high , that Rome pays to become "modern "(as Paris a few years ago with the restructuring of Baron Haussmann ).

The work is supervised by a Communal Archaeological Commission, Who has absolute authority on the conservation and maintenance of the antiquities found : demolitions, in fact, bring to light an enormous amount of archaeological material .

In the north of the garden Piazza Vittorio there are the ruins of a great monument to Roman times, called the Middle Ages " Trophies of Marius " .

This name, in fact, appears for the first time in a guide for pilgrims of 1140, the Mirabilia Urbis Romae, and is derived from two large marble sculptures that decorated the monument until 1590 ( as shown in the engraving of Etienne Dupérac) , when Pope Sixtus V had them removed and placed on the balustrade of the Capitol, where they still are .

In reality it is a monumental fountain , built in 226 by Emperor Alexander Severus in the Roman sources and known as Nymphaeum Divi

Alexandria: is the only survivor of the 15 nymphs monuments that speak ancient sources . To be precise , it is the " water shows Claudia ", built at the end of the Claudian (some of it arches are Via Turati) : a great dramatic device that adorned a functional public work . The same principle we find in some modern fountains , as Fontana di Trevi, Shows the Virgin of water , and Fountain of the Acqua Paola on the Gianicolo.

Today there is only the skeleton of the brick fountain, which had to be huge ( 25 meters wide , at least 20 meters high ) and very rich , covered with slabs of marble and decorated with numerous statues . What did he look ? The nymph is represented on a gold ( gold coin ) of Alexander Severus , and in the past many have tried to reconstruct the appearance, beginning with Pirro Ligorio around 1550 , when the trophies were still in place . A beautiful reconstruction dates back to 1821, and is the work of Antoine- Martin GarnaudA scholar Villa Medici.

The facade had to be magnificent. The upper part was characterized by a large central niche ( 6.50 meters wide ), with perhaps the statues of Alexander Severus and his mother Giulia Mamea on the sides of it two open arches , decorated until 1590 by the statues of the trophies that have given the name of the monument. The whole was concluded by a penthouse at the top , decorated with a chariot and other statues , and down from a roof catchment , dominated by a statue in the middle of the Ocean lying .

From this basin the water was coming down, no one knows how, at the bottom of the front , where there were a series of rectangular and semicircular niches (perhaps decorated with statues ) from which flow more water . All the water was collected in a large semi-circular pool , street level , where it can draw on.

For several centuries the magnificent ruins of the " Trophies of Marius " have faced the entry of Villa Palombara - a huge Baroque residence disappeared in the late nineteenth century for the construction of Piazza Vittorio - as you can see a beautiful engraving of Giovan Battista Piranesi, 1772, full of charm as the views of all 'Venetian artist.

The villa is the "Magic Door ", located on the back of the Roman monument and the subject of many fanciful legends .
http://www.scudit.net/mdpiazzav_koch.htm

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

2010-10-04T16:27:00.000-04:00

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is among the most important museums in Italy for European and American art of the first half of the 20th century. It is located in Peggy Guggenheim's former home, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, on the Grand Canal in Venice. The museum was inaugurated in 1980 and presents Peggy Guggenheim's personal collection of 20th century art, masterpieces from the Gianni Mattioli Collection, the Nasher Sculpture Garden, as well as temporary exhibitions.

Peggy Guggenheim was born in New York on 26 August 1898, the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim and Florette Seligman. Benjamin Guggenheim was one of seven brothers who, with their father, Meyer (of Swiss origin), created a family fortune in the late 19th century from the mining and smelting of metals, especially silver, copper and lead. The Seligmans were a leading banking family. Peggy grew up in New York. In April 1912 her father died heroically on the SS Titanic.

Peggy died aged 81 on 23 December 1979. Her ashes are placed in a corner of the garden of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, next to the place where she customarily buried her beloved dogs. Since this time, the Guggenheim Foundation has converted and expanded Peggy Guggenheim's private house into one of the finest small museums of modern art in the world.

Rialto Bridge

2010-10-02T16:14:00.001-04:00

The Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) is the true heart of Venice. The current structure was built in just three years, between 1588 and 1591, as a permanent replacement for the boat bridge and three wooden bridges that had spanned the Grand Canal at various times since the 12th Century. It remained the only way to cross the Grand Canal on foot until the Accademia Bridge was built in 1854.

The Rialto Bridge's 7.5-meter (24-foot) arch was designed to allow passage of galleys, and the massive structure was built on some 12,000 wooden pilings that still support the bridge more than 400 years later. The architect, Antonio da Ponte ("Anthony of the Bridge," appropriately enough), competed against such eminent designers as Michelangelo and Palladio for the contract.

The bridge has three walkways: two along the outer balustrades, and a wider central walkway leading between two rows of small shops that sell jewelry, linens, Murano glass, and other items for the tourist trade.

The Rialto area was the first part of Venice to be developed, and it soon became a centre for commerce. The town's principal market was transferred here at the end of the eleventh century. Trading of all kinds took place, and this would be where Venetians and merchants could buy and sell exotic imported goods just unloaded from ships. In the sixteenth century, after a destructive fire, a complex of squares and porticoes was constructed to the west of the Rialto Bridge, with areas dedicated to different products. These are still recorded in the names of the local lanes and squares: Erberia (fruit and vegetable market), Naranzeria (oranges), Speziali (spices) and Pescaria (fish). Fish, fruit and vegetables are still sold here, from a colourful array of stalls where you can buy provisions or just admire the spectacle. The fish market is housed in a covered hall, the Pescheria, with fishy decorative features.

The Ruga dei Oresi was called Drapperia or Drapparia (Drapery) since the ancient 14th-century market. The area was named after the shops selling precious fabrics along the porch connecting the Rialto bridge to the Church of San Giovanni Elemosinaro in Ruga Rialto.

Campo San Giacometo was the core of the textile trade, with a variety of fabrics and clothes on display. Afterwards, business would expand to other goods attracting more craftsmen, including goldsmiths (oresi in Venetian). The so-called “botteghini” (small shops) were born in the early 16th century, probably due to the fire that devastated most of Rialto’s insula in 1514. Reconstruction helped enliven trade and social life in the area and the government of the Serenissima began to rent the porch of the Drapperia, offering the possibility to set up removable stalls for trading. The original look of the Drapperia lives on in the prints of the time and in Canaletto’s paintings. The presence of the “botteghini” was a matter of constant discussion among the merchants, until the Senate decided to legalise the properties in 1720.

The Ruga dei Oresi changed in time: food and products targeted at the Venetian residents replaced artisan merchandise. Typical Venetian products and souvenirs of Venice began to be marketed in the 1960s. The present-day market blends souvenirs, leather goods and shoes, thus meeting the needs of the tourists and the residents.

Though the city’s economy underwent great changes, the Ruga dei Oresi maintained its 16th-century structure and the typical aspect of the traditional market, with the shops one after the other to form a single row in the same atypical fashion of the “botteghini”. Though Ruga dei Oresi is visited by tourists from all over the world, the cosmopolitan spirit that has distinguished Rialto’s market for centuries lives on through the goods on display, the people going to and fro, the exchanges, the inns and the osterie.

But after the day is done, don't forget to view the bridge at night.

Venitian Masks and Carnivale

2010-10-02T14:35:00.005-04:00

In 1162 Doge Vitale Michieli triumphed over Ulrich II of Treven and an annual celebration to commemorate the occasion was commenced. The first documented usage of Venetian masks in conjunction with the annual celebration was in 1268.

The merchants don't like you to take pictures of these Masks but I sneaked one in.

As Venice grew in popularity as a tourist destination through the middle ages the city became known as a pleasure palace. During this period the popularity of masks grew as prominent social figures dawned disguises to conceal their identities as they performed unscrupulous and immoral acts in pursuit of carnal pleasures.

During the 16th through 18th century Venetian Masks became the signature of the Commedia Dell'arte. The Commedia Dell'arte were popular plays in the form of improvisational theater that were performed by theater companies that traveled the Italian peninsula producing comedies involving the topics of adultery, jealousy, and love.

Several of Venice's popular mask forms such as the Capitano, the Paglianccio(clown), the Pulcinella (the mascot of Naples), and Zanni (the threadbare old servant of Venice) were shaped in character in the traveling road show known as the Commedia dell'arte.

On October 17, 1797 Venice became part of the Kingdom of the Lombardy-Venetia (Austria). When the Austrians took control of the city masked celebrations were outlawed. :-( Venetian masks faded into obscurity.

The tradition of mask making was not rekindled until 1979 when some undergraduate art students revived the tradition in an effort to profit from the tourism trade in the city. And a successful endeavor it turned out to be. In less than 30 years the artisan profession has flourished and now masks and Venice are synonymous.

The history of the Venetian Mask is nearly as colorful as the masks themselves. For more information go http://www.venetianmasksshop.com/history.htm

History of Murano Glassmaking

2010-10-01T14:15:00.002-04:00

It is believed that glassmaking in Murano originated from 9th century Rome, with significant Asian and Muslim influences, as Venice was a major trading port. Murano’s reputation as a centre for glassmaking was born when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and destruction to the city’s mostly wooden buildings, ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. Murano glass is still interwoven with Venetian glass.

Murano's glassmakers were soon the island’s most prominent citizens. By the 14th century, glassmakers were allowed to wear swords, enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the Venetian state and found their daughters married into Venice’s most affluent families. However glassmakers were not allowed to leave the Republic. Many craftsmen took this risk and set up glass furnaces in surrounding cities and as far afield as England and the Netherlands.

By the end of the 16th century, three thousand of Murano island's seven thousand inhabitants were involved in some way in the glassmaking industry.

Murano’s glassmakers held a monopoly on quality glassmaking for centuries, developing or refining many technologies including crystalline glass, enamelled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicoloured glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Today, the artisans of Murano are still employing these century-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass figurines to Murano glass chandeliers and wine stoppers.

Today, Murano is home to a vast number of factories and a few individual artist studios making all manner of glass objects from mass marketed stemware to original sculpture. The Museo Vetrario or Glass Museum in the Palazzo Giustinian, which holds displays on the history of glassmaking as well as glass samples ranging from Egyptian times through the present day.

Murano Glass was produced in great quantities in the 1950s and 1960s for export and for tourists [excerpted from Wikipedia]

Venice, sweet Venice

2010-10-01T09:27:00.005-04:00

How can one describe Venice? To say it is a city on water doesn't fully describe the beauty of Venice. The name is derived from the ancient tribe of Veniti that inhabited the region in Roman Times. The city historically was the capital of an independent city state. Venice has been known as the "La Dominante", "Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals". Venice has also been described as being one of Europe's most romantic cities. I can only describe it in pictures

To see more pictures of Venice visit my photobucket page

http://s389.photobucket.com/albums/oo332/janreynoldsphotos/Venice/

Color Splash

2010-09-13T13:56:00.002-04:00

Experimenting with PhotoBC

2010-09-13T13:18:00.001-04:00

Last year Paris --- this year Italy

2010-09-11T14:47:00.001-04:00

Wayback Machine - 2006

2010-08-05T22:46:00.001-04:00

Santa Barbara Beach

Santa Barbara Alleyway

“After enlightenment, the laundry” or why the washer walks off the job

2010-07-26T10:24:00.004-04:00

We've been remodeling the house and have done the upstairs and now are working on downstairs. We've done the half bath and now have done the laundry room. We knew the washing machine had done damage to the floor but we didn't know just how much damage. The underlayment was completely water damaged. There are no leaking pipes and I know I didn't have water on the floor so I don't know how the water got there. Perhaps it happened with the previous owners but that was 20 years ago. Anyways, my piece of crap washing machine would shake so bad it about lifted off.

Damage caused by piece of crap Maytag washing machine

Half way through the project I had to do some laundry so we put the washing machine up on rubber absorbers designed for machines that "walk". It quieted the noise but it still walked even worse.

With the laundry room completed my husband was determined to stop the walking, so he strapped the washing machine to the drier (a 30 year old Sears Kenmore). There is the one strap in the front, and two in the back top and bottom. Result, no more walking. This greatly reduced the shaking to what a normal washer would do, but best of all....no more walking across the floor.

Speaking of floors. This is my new ceramic tile floor

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-02T18:38:00.000-04:00

Surprisingly I don't have any 4th of July pictures so instead I'm posting a few my sister took of her new dog with some silly comments ala ceiling cat

No 9

2010-07-01T08:04:00.000-04:00

Comments

2010-06-27T16:16:00.000-04:00

Sad that I have to turn on approving comments, but some people seem to want to promote their not safe for prime time websites even doing so in Chinese. I want people to enjoy the photos, comment if they feel inclined, but please no links to offensive websites thank you.

Find the Elephant

2010-06-24T14:01:00.000-04:00

June 6, 1944

2010-06-06T06:18:00.000-04:00

Nearby town of Bayeaux

Normandy holds two places in my heart. First, I visited last year and it left a deep impression on me about what went on on that day in June and how despite being cut down on that beach, the men, really just boys, still prevailed and conquered. Second, I've been researching my family lineage and found that during the late 1500's early 1600's some of my relatives came from this very area. It is hard to comprehend the beauty of the area with the evil that went on back in 1944. Normandy beach is relatively untouched from what it was that day in June of 1944.

Normandy Beach where lives were lost but freedom was gained.

German bunker at Normandy

American Cemetery, NormandyFrance.

Let's remember the young men who died that day, 66 years ago.

Cruisin'

2010-06-01T18:47:00.000-04:00

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T20:20:00.000-04:00

Remodeling Part 2

2010-05-18T16:56:00.000-04:00

Downstairs bathroom remodeling complete, new countertop/sink, lights, towel rack. Refurbished mirror and cabinet.

New tile floor and some very bright yellow paint. Honestly, it's not as bright as it appears in the photos.

Punishment

2010-05-04T16:58:00.000-04:00

Balloons!

2010-04-30T18:30:00.000-04:00

Alligator Swamp

2010-04-28T09:32:00.000-04:00

General Joe Potter and the Magic Kingdom

2010-04-24T10:10:00.000-04:00

William E. "Joe" Potter was an engineering and logistical planning genius, which is why Walt Disney recruited the retired U.S. Army major general to oversee the early construction phases of Walt Disney World in Florida. In this role, Joe ably guided the Herculean task of transforming 300 acres of Florida land into the Magic Kingdom, while preserving the area's ecology and beauty.

As former President of Walt Disney Attractions Dick Nunis recalled in 1988, "Joe was a man Walt Disney was very fond of. Without Joe Potter there would be no Walt Disney World today."

I'm related to famous people

2010-04-22T00:45:00.001-04:00

My sister has been doing some genealogy stuff and I found out that we are related to both Madonna and Celine Dion as well as Angelina Jolie through a man named Marin Boucher who is my 11th grandfather and ironically is also Celine's 11th Grandfather. He is Madonna's 10th Grandfather. I break with Madonna and Angelina at Marin because their lines continue through a brother named Pierre while mine continues through Jean G Boucher. Celine's line continues along with mine until Marguerite Boucher Lavoie where we split her line going with Joseph Lavoie and mine going with a daughter M. Langlais-Serein.

Update: I'm closer to Madonna than I thought. My Dad is 5th Cousin to Madonna so that makes me 5th Cousin once removed (I think!).

Two for One

2010-04-20T16:45:00.000-04:00

We recently had dinner in Kissimee, Florida at a restaurant called Houlihan's. The food was great but even better was that they had 2 for 1 drinks. Yeah!

See Plane or is it Sea Plane

2010-04-19T14:18:00.000-04:00

Flying the friendly skies not so friendly anymore

2010-04-07T20:22:00.000-04:00

Heard on the news today that Spirit Airlines is going to start charging for carry-on baggage stored in the overhead compartment. Still free, for now, are bags that fit under your seat. What's next? Charging to use the bathroom? Yep Ryanair is considering charging for the use of the lavatory.

Spring is officially here!

2010-03-27T19:30:00.000-04:00

Yep, that time of year again. Time to mow the lawn.

Women Listen Up

2010-03-13T10:35:00.000-05:00

A break from normal pictures to present something every woman should be made aware of. Inflamatory Breast Cancer. As you will see in the video, it can strike someone as young as 16 and it's a killer.

Who is colonel william moultrie?

2010-03-10T15:44:00.000-05:00

A I don't really know, but i think he's the guy who invented moultrie middle school in charleston SC. [from WikiAnswers]

Ah, the internet, where you get all kinds of weird, strange, and useless not to mention WRONG answers.

Fishin' Mission

2010-03-08T09:36:00.000-05:00

Heart attack or delicious -- you decide

2010-03-02T09:02:00.000-05:00

Blue Skies

2010-02-23T17:45:00.000-05:00

Blue skies

Baby gives me blue skies

Baby gives me blue skies

How I love my blue skies

It was a wonderful day again today. "They" say it's not going to last and it's already clouding up. Who are "they" and why are "they" messing with my blue skies.

Clutter

2010-02-19T17:55:00.000-05:00

I don't know why it is, instead of getting rid of something when I no longer wear it or want it, I throw it in the closet. Why is it we collect junk and can't just throw it out? Well today I conquered the clutter in at least one closet (almost). I tackled the floor and the upper shelf (above the hanging clothes) but still haven't dealt with the hanging stuff. My trash bin can't deal with it so that will have to wait until next week.

Floor is now pretty clean.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-17T07:09:00.000-05:00

49 of 50 states

2010-02-14T15:42:00.000-05:00

Got snow? Your state did this weekend if you don't live in Hawaii. Even coastal Charleston saw a couple inches when they woke up Saturday morning. Luckily it was mostly gone by noon.

Cemeteries

2010-01-26T15:41:00.000-05:00

I have a fascination with cemeteries, especially old cemetaries. I don't know why. Perhaps it's the history. Perhaps, it's because many can be found in strange places like this cemetery that lies beside an old Win Dixie store now a gym.

I did a little research and found some information about the family buried here.

Mary Hawkins, wife of Wesley Perry Taylor, was born 16 Sept 1843, daughter of Silas Raglin Hawkins and Nancy McClimons, in a log house near Greer SC. She and Wesley Taylor were married August 9, 1860 by the Rev. Ludwell Vaughn. They were living in a three room house which Wesley had built of logs, on the Greenville Road about a mile from where the Pleasant Grove Church is now. Wesley joined the Confederate Army in 1861 , serving as Commissary Sergeant his first two years in the PBLA, and was able to procure salt and other hard to find items for Mary.

Mary continued to live in their house until bands of marauders roaming the countryside made it dangerous for her to stay there alone with her infant son. She went home to her mother for the last two years of the War. Wesley and Mary Taylor’s daughter Nannie Taylor Moon writes that when word came that Sherman’s scouts were scouring the state, the Hawkins family took their horses and silver deep into the pine forest about a mile from the house and hid it. When the soldiers did come, they took everything in sight; all the meat out of the smoke house, all the turkeys, chickens and geese. The horses and silver and other valuables were safe and later recovered.

When Wesley returned from the War they moved back into their home on the Greenville Road. Mary Hawkins Taylor later told of an incident that occurred just after the war. She was driving home from her mothers’ house through a patch of woods and a hooded figure on a horse rode up to the side of the wagon and uttered a most unearthly scream and disappeared on a wooded side road. Mary was scared out of her wits, having her two children, one an infant, with her at the time. Mary Hawkins Taylor died 10 April 1911 and is buried at Pleasant Grove beside her husband.

Jesse Hawkins is Silas' father. Jesse was married twice. His last wife Patsy Ragland, Silas' mother, is buried next to him. I couldn't read the headstones of the others buried here as they were too worn.

More Music - Leslie Hunt

2010-01-22T10:30:00.000-05:00

Today I want to promote one of my favorite female singers. She was in the top 20 of American Idol (don't groan) season 6 and unfortunately neither the Idol machine nor the American public got her. She's had her share of life's difficulties; she's living with Lupus and family problems canceled her wedding. However, good things have finally come to Leslie Hunt. Instead of marrying a man who may have been totally wrong she married her soul mate and recently had a baby girl. On top of all this she's put out her second CD Your Hair is On Fire available at http://www.lesliehunt.net/ It's good, really good.