ABC Wednesday, F for Flat Life

Click to enlarge please to read the captions! Cartoons made by Heath Robinson.

When we started our married life, we first lived in a very small house with three small bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor, and on the groundfloor a livingroom, a kitchen and a toilet. We were very happy, although the flat roof started to leak on a winter night and the frontdoor was rotting. Two children were born there. When I was expecting the third one, we decided to move house. We chose this house, where I still live. I still like it. There are four bedrooms and I can have plenty of
guests. All rooms are larger and the top floor contains a very large bedroom and a lumber room, where the central heater is. Looking at the cartoons, which are really funny, I do believe that people become very inventive, when they have to live in a very limited space. Though we never lived in such conditions, we also tried to find a place for our furniture, which was never too big.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with F.

Bench of the Week, Weekend Reflections, Australia Queensland,

These photos show part of the Esplanada(see previous post) in Cairns. You can sit there, walk and have a meal or admire the seabirds. For children ( and also adults!!) there is a pool where they can paddle on warm days.

 
 
 
 

Click to see more details. The two bottom photos show the very shallow pool.

These photos were taken in Cairns, North Queensland, Australia, where my daughter, her son, his father and I spent some days in 2008. We were on our way to my other daughter in Cooktown, 360 kms more northwards.


RuneE of Visual Norway
began this informal meme on "Bench of the Week". Please visit his site for other participants. PERBS has a whole site dedicated to benches called "For the Love of Benches", which is going on for two years and every day she posts a new bench.Her friend Malyss. has shown more than 600 benches on a site called "benchesonmyway".


Weekend Reflections was started on 27 September 2009, by James. You can join this meme at some time during the weekend. Just post your photo and go to James to tell him that you are on, or click on the logo in the sidebar.This meme is created for any type of reflection.

ABC Wednesday, E for Esplanade in Cairns

Click to enlarge these photos from the Esplanade in Cairns. See the seabirds!!

A notable feature of the Cairns esplanade is a swimming lagoon with adjoining barbecue areas. A boardwalk allows pedestrians and cyclists to move along the foreshore from the lagoon in a sustainable manner See Wikipedia.

Click on photo to see more details!

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with E.

Happy Valentine's Day

 

ABC Wednesday D for Dreamtime

Australia - Aboriginal Dreamtime: " All peoples of our world have a concept of how the world was formed. The Aboriginals believe that, in the beginning, the earth was featureless, flat and grey. There were no mountain ranges, no rivers, no billabongs, no birds or animals - in fact not one living thing. Then long, long ago came the Dreamtime. The Dreamtime was a time when giant creatures rose up out of the grey plains where they had been slumbering for countless ages. These mythical Beings looked like animals or plants or insects, but they behaved just like humans. They wandered across the vast grey wastes, digging for water and searching for food and as they searched, because of their giant size, they made huge ravines and rivers in the land. Thus the world took on the shape it has today."

In Cooktown there is a great example of Aboriginal art. It's called the Milbi Wall. This is created by the inhabitants of Cooktown and the Aboriginal compound of Hopevale, under the direction of the Hopevale artist Roy McIvor, who is an uncle of my daughter's ex- husband.Milbi is the Guugu Yimithirr (local Aboriginal language) word for story. The wall is meant to be part of the reconciliation project and a memorial to show history from an Aboriginal point of view.

The wall concists of three parts. The first part tells about the Dreamtime, the second part about the first contact with Europeans and later Asians, these contacts were disastrous for the Aborigines, then the third part shows us the present time which hopefully promises reconciliation of differences.The stories are told in beautiful ceramic tiles.The Wall is built right at the spot where, in 1770, Captain James Cook and his crew first set foot.

On top of the wall lies the Rainbow Serpent, one of the creator spirits of the indigenous people of Australia.


With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with D.

Bench of the Week in Cairns

 

Click to enlarge and see the details better!

In one of the shopping centres of Cairns( see post below), we found this colourful bench.A piece of art perhaps? The photo was taken by my Dutch daughter

RuneE of Visual Norway
began this informal meme on "Bench of the Week". Please visit his site for other participants. PERBS has a whole site dedicated to benches called "For the Love of Benches", which is going on for two years and every day she posts a new bench.Her friend Malyss. has shown more than 600 benches on a site called "benchesonmyway".

ABC Wednesday, C for Cairns.

Click on photos to see more details. One of the hotels on the Esplanade.

When I arrive in Australia to see my daughter, we often stay at the "Gray Whale", a motel in Cairns, because Cooktown, where my daughter lives, is 360kms from Cairns, and I always arrive early in the morning.She meets me at the airport, we have breakfast and go to the motel or hotel.We do the same when I leave. Sometimes, however, we stay at a holiday resort (see slide).The two bottom photos are from the Esplanade.

Cairns is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia. The city itself was named after William Wellington Cairns (the then Governor of Queensland). It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was discovered from Port Douglas. It later developed into a railhead and major port for exporting sugar cane, gold, metals, minerals and agricultural products from surrounding coastal areas and the Atherton Tableland region.

The city is rapidly expanding, with a population of 122,731 at the 2006 census.Tourism is the largest income producer for the region, followed closely by the sugar industry.

Cairns is a popular travel destination for foreign tourists because of its tropical climate and proximity to many attractions. The Great Barrier Reef can be reached in less than an hour by boat. Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation, about 130 km (81 mi) north of Cairns, are popular areas for experiencing a tropical rainforest. It is also a starting point for people wanting to explore Cooktown, Cape York Peninsula, and the Atherton Tableland.

The city has used its natural surroundings to its advantage, with the construction of several small theme parks for tourists. Among them are Rainforestation Nature Park, Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, and Kuranda Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, which extends for 7.5 km (4.7 mi) over World Heritage rainforest.( see Wikipedia)

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with C.

Bench of the Week, France,

 
 
 

Click to enlarge!
This bench is in the front garden of the family where I stayed this summer in France.It's placed near the fountain.


RuneE of Visual Norway
began this informal meme on "Bench of the Week". Please visit his site for other participants. PERBS has a whole site dedicated to benches called "For the Love of Benches", which is going on for two years and every day she posts a new bench.

ABC Wednesday, B for Blois

This was the castle where Joan of Arc was blessed before setting off to defeat the English at Orléans, the turning point in the Hundred Years War.


Visit our site:
www.castlesoftheworld.com

Dominating the Loire River, the royal castle of Blois is not only one of the most prestigious Renaissance monuments in France but also a brilliant illustration of the evolution of the French architecture from the Middle ages to the 17th century.

About the middle of the 10th century, the name of Thibaud I is recorded Count of Blois, he was the founder of the family who remained in power until 1230. Blois became the most important town in the region. The first stone castle was built to protect the town dates back to that period. An independent bastion surrounded the castle, and followed the line of the headland on which it was erected. The numerous medieval remains still exists. The best preserved medieval tower is situated on a terrace overlooking the Loire.

While the Franco-Anglo was (named the Hundred Years War) raged in the real, an event took place that determined the future of the county of Blois, the ancient fortress became a royal castle. At the end of the 14th. century, the county of Blois was sold to Prince Louis of Orleans, son of the king of France Charles V. He lived in the castle for 25 years attracting a small court of scholars and poets. His grandson, Louis XII became king of France in 1498 and decided to move to Blois, in this way, the small town became a royal town and the capital of the Kingdom.

Under Louis XII and Francis I the town of Blois grew considerably. But after the disaster of Pavia in 1525, Francis I never returned to Blois and his successors only paid short visits to the town.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar .This week we are looking for words beginning with B.

that's My World,ABC Wednesday, A for Absurdities

Please click to enlarge to read the captions! Drawings made by Heath Robinson.

He might have been successful...
A couple of years ago the always so peaceful and quiet village, where I live, was startled by the news that a real crime had occurred here. Everybody talked about it. It was in all the local newspapers, even on TV.
Before I begin telling you the story, I first have to explain how the situation is in our small shopping centre. In one of the shops we have a small sub post office in one of the corners. There is always a lady helping at the desk. She knows everybody in our village, but on the afternoon of a certain day in summer a man, whom she didn't know, stood waiting in the queue. She didn't pay too much attention to him, because she was rather busy, but the shopkeeper noticed that the newcomer was a bit nervous and had shifty eyes. He also held his right hand in the pocket of his jacket. The man waited until the last customer had left, then he went to the desk and asked in a rough voice :"Money...money ... quick..."He took his hand out of his pocket and waved with something which looked like a gun." Money... money... come on... hurry up..." The lady behind the desk responded coolly:"Sorry sir, I am afraid we haven't got any money ". Now the man got really nervous and desperately he cried : "Money in safe!" She answered:"No, I haven't got the key!" At this point John, the shopkeeper jumped over the counter and tried to catch the man by his coat. The so-called bankrobber startled and escaped through the backdoor, dropping his gun. The shopkeeper of the shop opposite the post office heard the noise and ran out of his shop. John signalled to him that he had to ring the police, that's 1-1-2 for emergencies, while he continued pursuing the culprit. The police were very soon at the crime scene and were looking everywhere, there was even a helicopter trying to find him, but all in vain. They never found him! And since that time there haven't been any other "armed" robberies. The silly-billy had probably learnt his lesson. He might have been successful with a real gun, instead of the toy gun he left behind.!!

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With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with A