This is not something I usually do, B&W, but …well, I’ll give Cee’s Black and White a try. This young man I found sitting on the wall in Greyfriars’ churchyard. We were slowly walking through the silence towards Greyfriars Bobby’s grave – the famous little Skye Terrier who faithfully stayed on his master’s grave for 14 years.
Then I saw him. Alone and contemplating he was – I just had to… not forget him. And everything was…black, white and grey.
Scrapydo at http://scrapydo.wordpress.com/ invited me to take part in a Virtual Blog Tour on Monday August 11, 2014. Thank you for inviting me!
Being a retired teacher from the Netherlands and South Africa, she now lives in New Zealand. She’s an animal behaviourist and her best friend and mate is Trompie – a sweet Schnauzer. ”In March it is going to be my third year in N Z. I love it to be here,…”, she says. I understand that completely, as I had the pleasure of seeing something of NZ for a month some years ago.
Do visit her creative and interesting blog! She loves everything crafty – and her lovely companion!
Biting Totti everywhere – but – he just waited patiently…for her to stop.
Then she tried my knee…
…but finally settled for my daughter’s fingers.
And there she remained for the rest of our visit!
For more endearings, click here.
This week Cee is asking us for something metal or from the season of autumn – my choice is The Kelpies in Falkirk, Scotland. Impressive metal sculptures that took my breath away this July.
The Kelpies, made by sculptor Andy Scott, stand 30 metres tall in the 350 hectares Helix recreational space in Falkirk. They are the world’s largest equine sculptures and towering over the Forth & Clyde Canal they form a gateway to the canal entrance. These sculptures are meant to pay tribute to central Scotland’s working horse heritage on the canals from years gone by. Read more about them in my post here.
For more entries, click here.
And, thank you Cee for featuring my entry on Harvest last week!
Ailsa at Where’s my Backpack? wants us to simplify – so why not just go relaxing …
…with your best friend?
Ailsa’s Meeting Places is a real treat – now we can find places to meet in reality – and virtually – all over the world!
Let us start with my last day in Scotland for this time. Our flight home was moved to the afternoon, so, we went west from Edinburgh to visit The Falkirk Wheel, which is the world’s first rotating boatlift. The lift links the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal, connecting Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Detta hjul är den första roterande båtliften i världen och ingår i Skottlands ambitiösa kanalprogram. Union and the Forth och Clyde är nu en oavbruten länk mellan Glasgow och Edinburgh. Hjulet svingar båtarna mellan de två vattenvägarna!
If you want to try the wheel you can take a trip on these boats. Unfortunately they were not available when we visited. Vanillarock shows great shots of the wheel at work here!
Om du ville pröva hjulet fanns möjligheten med dessa turistbåtar. De hade ännu inte öppnat när vi var där. Vanillarock visar den i arbete här!
More fantastic engineering – or rather spectacular, beautiful art – are The Kelpies by sculptor Andy Scott. ”The original concept of mythical water horses was a valid starting point for the artistic development of the structures.“”I took that concept and moved with it towards a more equine and contemporary response, shifting from any mythological references towards a socio-historical monument intended to celebrate the horse’s role in industry and agriculture as well as the obvious association with the canals as tow horses.”
Som en tribut till de hästar som troget arbetat för människan, bland annat vid kanalerna, står dessa 30 meter höga jättar vid varsin sida av the Forth & Clyde Canal och bildar en portal till dess ingång.
The Kelpies stand 30 metres tall in the 350 hectares Helix recreational space in Falkirk. They are the world’s largest equine sculptures and towering over the Forth & Clyde Canal they form a gateway to the canal entrance. These sculptures are meant to pay tribute to central Scotland’s working horse heritage on the canals from years gone by.
Hästarna är konstruerade av skulptören Andy Scott. Skulpturerna påbörjades i juni 2013 och stod klara i oktober samma år. Invigningen var dock i april 2014. De är världens största hästskulpturer.
Built of structural steel with a stainless steel cladding, The Kelpies weigh 300 tonnes each.
Vi uppskattade stålplåtens tjocklek till ca en halv centimeter – och hästarna väger imponerande 300 ton vardera.
Construction began in June 2013, and was complete by October 2013. The Kelpies are positioned either side of a specially constructed lock and basin, part of the redeveloped Kelpies Hub.
Please click the photos to enlarge!
Läs mer om arbetshästarnas historia här. Read more of the working horses history here.
Aberdeen was not very welcoming, in fact the most unfriendly place we visited in Scotland – at least concerning weather and traffic. The people as friendly as all Scots we met of course. There is a gem carefully hidden though, in that city. Hard to find – not even signposted – but a couple of young men in a van volunteered to take us there. We just had to follow them…not easily done in that traffic, but we finally got there. Duthie Park and The David Welch Winter Gardens.
On 5 July 1880 Miss Duthie, a local benefactor, stated that she wanted to create a public park to the memory of her uncles and brothers. And so, in August 1881, she and the Earl of Aberdeen cut the first turf and two years later the park was opened by Princess Beatrice.
According to what I had read about it, we were supposed to find, among many other flower beds, the famous rose mountain of 120.000 roses. Unfortunately these roses were no longer there, and the park seemed a bit neglected. Some parts of it was still well kept though.
Single specimens and flowers where lovely, especially the different thistles. The blue and purple colours are favourites of mine.
Their proper names where unfortunately not to be found anywhere.
Ordinary plume thistle? I guess this one is specially grown for gardens.
Very well kept gardens, and well planned, were The David Welch Winter Gardens, situated inside the Duthie Park. Originally erected in 1899 and designed by the city architect, Mr Rust, it was restored and rebuilt in 1970 after a heavy storm. The Gardens cover two acres and contains plants from all around the world. Today they are the third most visited gardens in Scotland.
The different areas are: Tropical House, Arid House, Victorian Corridor, Courtyards and Japanese Garden, Temperate House, Corridor of Perfumes, Fern House. Here’s a small taste of them!
Some of my absolute favourites belong to the Fern House, and of course the Victorian Corridors and the Arid House were impressive as well.
Victorian Corridors of hanging baskets
Arid House
The steamy Tropical House
An absolute dream, the Fern House
Leya 
Virtual Blog Tour
The Virtual Blog Tour is a relatively new project for bloggers. The rules are fairly simple:
So –
I am still travelling and still loving photography even if I’m not a trained photographer. Attending a photography course is one of my goals once I retire from teaching. My trips this summer went to Scotland and Denmark and all those photos have not been sorted out yet…And, I’m constantly loving my dog, Totti, of course.
From Scotland – Highland Cattle grazing – while a ship is sinking…
17th Century house in Köge, Denmark
2. How does my work differ from others of this genre?
Maybe it doesn’t differ that much… but I try to show the world around me, focusing on nature and other architectural marvels. Usually I give some information about the photos too, or show them as a short story in a gallery. I also have a blog for photos that I cannot easily fit in to a story, but are favourites anyway. http://faialflores.wordpress.com/
And, recently I started a third blog for the love of trees, for my hikes and car tours, http://treetreats.wordpress.com/ – here I also want to feature guest posts!
3. Why do I write/create what I do?
I think this started because of my work as a teacher. I spend so much time correcting students’ papers and essays – but I never get to write or express myself only because I want and need to. Another reason is my neverending love for nature. Nature is soothing and ever changing, listening and answering many of my questions…I think maybe it’s giving more than me some of the best reasons for living on this planet Earth. Creating posts here is also a must when I try to relax after a tough day at work.
Photography gives me the opportunity to capture special moments as well. Literature, theatre and movies are other great interests – I try to review as many as I find time for in my blog.
4. How does your writing/creating process work?
It usually starts with a view…a photo, or a series of photos, and then I try to give some interesting information around it/them. Sometimes facts I have read and sometimes I just try to put the reader in the same mood as I was when the photo was taken. I love weaving short stories of photos.
Can you feel the mood in this one – ?
Now I also hope to have the pleasure of introducing you to Maria at http://mariayarri.wordpress.com/ : I love animals and especially dogs … I´m half way to the hundred and during my life I have always been a person who like our nature in generally and forest in particular; and I try to combine that with my other interest photography
She is a marvellous nature photographer and doesn’t forget to include her friend Yarri in her posts. He usually has his say about things too…The other important part of her blog is about ageing parents and how to deal with Alzheimers.
Thank you for joining us on Monday, Maria! We’re looking forward to your contribution.