This week Ailsa has asked us to show some photos of the Grass we find sprouting up around our adventures.
Check out her site by clicking on the underlined words above.
Here are my grassy photos:
Zaanse Schans
Kylemore Abbey
The Maum Turk Mountains
The Lawn At Muckross House
Ailsa has challenged us to find one color travel photos.
Visit Ailsa and her other subscribers at Where’s My Backpack?
Here are my one colour travel shots…
Fields of cows in Cashel
If you can block out the cows this photo is pretty green.
Cashel is not all green though.
The Ducks of Ross Castle.
The wall of the YWAM café in Amsterdam.
Dogwoods in Phoenixville PA.
Ailsa has asked us to get into the great OUTDOORS with our photos this week and since, as she has noted today is “Take a Walk In the Park Day.” I thought I would show you some of my walks in the parks.
See how others made it into the outdoors by going to
http://wheresmybackpack.com/2015/03/27/travel-theme-outdoors/
Ailsa has challenged us with the word: ENVIRONMENT this week. To see how others met the challenge go to
Here are some pics of different environs from my archives
I come from a world of winter and pine forests.
When snow falls, nature listens. ~Antoinette van Kleeff
And this year all the world has listened to the winter howl in our environment. Who says there’s no evidence of global climate change?
The bark at Torc
All that said I know the world will someday be green again!
Ailsa has challenged us to find :DOORWAYS in our travels. Check out the full scope of doors at her blog
http://wheresmybackpack.com/2015/01/30/travel-theme-doorways/
Here are my thoughts on doorways:
–Charlie Gordan”
Doorways to the Old Center Church Winchendon MA
The doorway to Cabras Castle
A doorway on the Zeiderzee in Holland
Ailsa has asked us to travel to the land of MISCHIEF with our photos this week. Let me encourage you to visit her at
http://wheresmybackpack.com/2015/01/16/travel-theme-mischievous/
Her tales of mischief are lots of fun especially the one about the Deer/Raven tag team!
Here are my mischief makers:
Pretty Kitty was always trying to break into my sister’s place in Womerveer.
My sister tries to sneak up on me at the Oude Kerk, in Delft. She is really bad at it.
The Giant’s Causeway was supposedly built by the Mischievous Giant Finn McCool.
Here is a little history on the famous giant and his causeway courtesy of Wikipedia
Many geographical features in Ireland are attributed to Fionn. Legend has it he built the Giant’s Causeway as stepping-stones to Scotland, so as not to get his feet wet; he also once scooped up part of Ireland to fling it at a rival, but it missed and landed in the Irish Sea — the clump became the Isle of Man and the pebble became Rockall, the void became Lough Neagh. Fingal’s Cave in Scotland is also named after him, and shares the feature of hexagonal basalt columns with the nearby Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
In both Irish and Manx popular folklore,[5] Fionn mac Cumhail (known as “Finn McCool” or “Finn MacCooill” respectively) is portrayed as a magical, benevolent giant. The most famous story attached to this version of Fionn tells of how one day, while making a pathway in the sea towards Scotland, known as The Giants Causeway, Finn is told that the giant Benandonner(or, in the Manx version, a buggane) is coming to fight him. Knowing he cannot withstand Benandonner due to his size, Fionn asks his wife Oona to help him. She dresses her husband as a baby, and he hides in a cradle; then she makes a batch of griddle-cakes, hiding griddle-irons in some. When Benandonner arrives, Oona tells him Fionn is out but will be back shortly. As Benandonner waits, he tries to intimidate Oona with his immense power, breaking rocks with his little finger. Oona then offers Benandonner a griddle-cake, but when he bites into the iron he chips his teeth. Oona scolds him for being weak (saying her husband eats such cakes easily), and feeds one without an iron to McCool, who eats it without trouble.
In the Irish version, Benandonner is so awed by the power of the baby’s teeth and the size of the baby that, at Oona’s prompting, he puts his fingers in Fionn’s mouth to feel how sharp his teeth are. Fionn bites Benandonner’s little finger, and scared of the prospect of meeting his father considering the baby’s size, Benandonner runs back towards Scotland across the Causeway.
The Manx Gaelic version contains a further tale of how Fionn and the buggane battle at Kirk Christ Rushen. Finn’s feet carve out the channels between the Calf of Man and Kitterland and between Kitterland and the Isle of Man, while the buggane’s feet make an opening for the port at Port Erin. The buggane injures Finn, who flees over the sea (where the buggane cannot follow), but the buggane tears out one of his own teeth and strikes Finn as he runs away. The tooth falls into the sea, becoming the Chicken Rock, and Finn curses the tooth, explaining why it is a hazard to sailors.
In Newfoundland, and some parts of Nova Scotia, “Fingal’s Rising” is spoken of in a distinct nationalistic sense. Made popular in songs and bars alike, to speak of “Fingle,” as his name is pronounced in English versus “Fion MaCool” in Newfoundland Irish, is sometimes used as a stand-in for Newfoundland or its culture.
Ailsa has challenged us to show how our travels have taught us about :FREEDOM
You can see how others have approached the topic at:
http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/12/12/travel-theme-freedom/
Here are my thoughts:
“Freedom is what we do with what is done to us.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre
I have found some of the greatest freedom of expression among those who have had the hardest of lives. JE Lillie
Here lies the evening sky over Galway Bay
“Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain’t comin’ back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can’t take the sky from me
There’s no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can’t take the sky from me…”
― Mutant Enemy/Joss Whedon
The crucifix in the chapel at Kylemore Abbey
“He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.” John 8:36
This week Ailsa has asked us to travel with her to the land of : SLOW.
You can mosey on over to her place and see how others have interpreted the theme by going to:
http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/12/05/travel-theme-slow/
Here are my takes on the subject…
Snow is one of the few things that actually slows me down. When it’s impossible to drive you have to say no to activity. I love those mornings when the only sound you can hear in the neighborhood is the sound of snow falling and the slicing of shovels.
These fishermen in Killarney were taking it slow.
“Love has something to do with recognition, We can be fascinated by the unknown, we can be attracted by it, but love is something that grows, slowly, in an atmosphere of trust.” Peter Hoeg
I wonder how slowly this heart was formed and for whom?
Ailsa has challenged us to take the high road and get above our subjects this week.
To see how other bloggers rose to the occasion got to
http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/11/28/travel-theme-above/
Here are my thoughts on the subject
This is a view of the grounds of Blarney Castle from the top of its parapet.
The city of Amsterdam plays out beneath me as I stand on the balcony of
The Vrie Universitie.
Delft From the top of the Nieuwe Kerk.
I am with Ailsa! As the days grow shorter and colder a good shock of color helps bring back the cheer that can be so easily sapped away by the cold and dark!
Colourful Cork!
One of the things I loved about the city of Cork was the bright colours of the homes and shops.
The falls in the rock close
The juxtaposition of these lilies and the green of the falls in Blarney’s rock close made for an incredible splash of color!
The colors of Keukenh of kept me bright and cheery even though it rained the day we went.
But then perhaps the brightest of colours are to be found in the hearts of people. Colorful people can’t be hidden by the dark or the cold of winter. Their hearts bring warmth wherever they go. These folks are from one of the Bible study classes I taught last year. I am so thankful for their colourful personalities and for the bright faith they pour into the world around them.
Lillie-Put 
