Friday, January 25, 2013

Mayflower

Shielding
Mayflower
Rom.8:33
"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth."



 umbrella
April Showers Bring May Flowers
 
 
 
 
 

 



Chess: "Shielding" "Mayflower"


This was our first full day in Florence. We started out the day by heading to the Accademia Gallery where the David lives. Wow he's a big guy! There were people yelling at everyone "NO FOTO" but I had Dom block my view so I could get a picture of his face. I just love his expression. The gallery also has four other Michelangelo pieces that were incomplete. These where the four giants that he was doing for Pope Julius II's tomb but died before he could finish them. They are almost more amazing to see than the David because you can see Michelangelo in the process of a sculpture. You can see all the chisel marks and how he dug the figure right out of the marble. It was really amazing to see.

After the amazing David we went to the Duomo which the the cathedral of Florence (Duomo=Cathedral in Italian I learned). We checked out the baptistery that sits right in front. The baptistery is outside the church because you couldn't go in the cathedral until you where baptized. (Apparently just in Florence because I didn't see any others like that.) The babtistry doors where the famous part. The doors by Ghiberti were said to have begun the renaissance. The set of doors on it now are just a copy and the originals are in the Duomo Museum....we settled for the copy.

Next was the fun part. We decided to climb to the top of the Dome. I think it was about 490 stairs to the top through tiny staircases that got smaller as you went higher. Before you actually started to climb up the Dome you came out on the inside of the church at the base of the dome and looke up and saw all the crazy paintings, then it took you back into a tiny door and up in between the inside and outside structure of the dome itself. What a great lesson on the structure of a dome! The view from the top was amazing. (just look at the pictures!)

After we made it back down to earth we headed for San Lorenzo complex which houses the Medici chapel that Michelangelo designed and did four tombs inside, as well as the library and famous staircase he disigned as well. If you hadn't noticed I was zoning in on a lot of michelangleo and I was doing that for a reason. I had just finished the biographical novel The Agony and the Extacy about his life and art, and It made it that much more facinating to see all of his sculpture, paintings, and architecture becuase I knew exactly what I was looking at and the story behind it. Anyways, the Medici Chapel was impressive but again "NO FOTO!" I don't know what was with these people. If you want to see what we saw just look up Medici Chapel and you will see it. It was Michelangelo's first shot at architecture and he sure had his own ideas about it.

I tried to sneak into the Library without a ticket (We were getting a little sick of paying 6-9 euro a piece for everything we did!) but no luck. I did peek around the guard standing in the doorway and saw what I really wanted to see-Michelangelo's staircase. Again look it up, they are the most beautiful stairs ever in my opinion.

Heading out we ran into the Leather Markets around San Lorenzo which are famous for...well...leather. I really wanted something from there and I spotted a jacket that I liked. The Italian guy was telling me all about how its a copy of a Versace and whatever else. I'm pretty sure Versace doesn't have anything like that but, hey, he's the Italian. It fit perfect so Dom got it for me, my first souvenir!

Hunger struck so we stopped at a restaurant and had pasta! I had spaghetti and meatballs. It was really really really good! Dom had some kind of fettuccine. The service wasn't great but the food made up for it.

Later we went back to the Piazza della Signoria as a big rain storm hit. We were equipped with umbrellas and cameras and it was pretty funny to see everyone run under the big sheltered area. It was the first time we had seen the piazza without anyone in it. Sure enough those street vendors where out there selling umbrellas in a flash. When the rain stopped a little we went back the the Ponte Vecchio and found wedding rings. They were perfect. Then we headed back to the room to crash after our first crazy day.

Source: Travel Advisor


Brooke (?)

 Bárbara Bermudo

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

L.A. Law

L.A. Law
Los Angeles
Johnny
Carmen (Salome Angelica)
Prov.13:20
"He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed". 
Matt.12:8
"For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day."





Chess: "L.A. Law" "Los Angeles" "Johnny" "Carmen" (Salome Angelica)

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Homo sapiens

Plaza Lincoln
Mamaton
Doña Pacífica
Homo sapiens
Man
Creature
Prov.13:22
A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. 
Matt.12:3
 "But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;"

Jean Fouquet ca. 1420 – 1477/81
Virgin and Child (Melun diptych)


Chess:  "Plaza Lincoln " "Mamaton" "Homo sapiens" "Man" "Creature"

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Cornwall

Cornwall
Tikal
Copan
Aguacate
Prov.13:21
"Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed."
 Matt.12:1
"At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat."


                           Casa en Heredia (Atrio)

                                     

Taken about 30 mins before sunset, with a brisk westerly pushing the rollers in.
A feat of engineering to build these. The lower engine house was built in 1835 to contain a beam engine to pump out and drain the mine.
The other house had a winding engine to work the inclined Diagonal Shaft which ran out under the sea to a depth of 1360 feet.
It is said, on stormy days, the miners could hear the large boulders being rolled about on the sea floor above their heads.
One hell of a place to work!


Chess: "Cornwall" "Tikal" "Copan" "Aguacate"

Friday, January 11, 2013

Octopus


Octopus
Chichi Island
Sir Richard Steele
Steelers
Concrete
Hormigón
Lexington
Matt.12:29
Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. 
Prov.13:24
 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.


 A giant squid swims in the deep sea off Chichi Island, Japan

 puente sobre el río Almonte (España)

Chess: "Octopus" "Sir Richard Steele" "Steelers" "Concrete" "Hormigón" "Lexington"

Video of giant squid in ocean depths is a big breakthrough, expert says
(CNN) -- The first ever video footage of a giant squid swimming in the ocean depths is "an enormous breakthrough," according to a prominent marine conservationist who wrote a book about the quest to find the mysterious creatures.
"People have been searching for them for hundreds of years, literally," said Richard Ellis, the author of "The Search for the Giant Squid: The Biology and Mythology of the World's Most Elusive Sea Creature."
Scientists and television broadcasters released images this week of the 10-foot-long giant squid they had filmed deep in the Pacific Ocean, far off the coast of the Japanese mainland, during hundreds of hours of underwater research.
The discovery is significant for both science and mythology, in which giant squids have long played a notable role, Ellis said in an interview on CNN.
"We're going to learn how this thing moves," he said. "How it swims, what it does with its arms when it swims."
He described the squid as having eight arms and "two very, very long tentacles which it uses to grasp its prey." Its limbs have suckers lined with sharp teeth.
Monsters reminiscent of giant squids have been featured in fables and imagery through the ages, like the Kraken in Norse legend and the Scylla in Greek mythology.
"For a long time, people didn't even think they existed," Ellis said.
The carcasses of dead giant squid that washed ashore eventually proved that the creatures were real, but finding live ones in the wild has proved extremely challenging.
The first still photographs of one of the huge creatures were captured in 2004, and footage was taken of one floating on the surface of the water in 2006. But researchers and cameramen had never before managed to catch a glimpse of them in the ocean abyss where they live.
The mission that finally tracked down the creature involved 55 dives in two special submersible vehicles that spent a total of more than 285 hours far beneath the waves. Some of the dives went deeper than 3,000 feet.
The team of scientists and filmmakers on the mission came from a variety of institutions, including the National Science Museum of Japan, the Discovery Channel and the Japanese broadcaster NHK.
They used equipment including "ultra-sensitive camera systems with light invisible to squid, bio luminescent lures and secret squid attractants," the Discovery Channel said.
NHK and the Discovery Channel say they plan to air their programs about the squid sighting this month.


 
Watch this video

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Military

Military
Fleet
Ejército
Star Wars
Astronomy

Prov.13:25
"The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul: but the belly of the wicked shall want."
Matt.12:36
"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."


"There was at Wilton no state, no grand order"~~~Boswell

"a man to be sought for on great emergencies, but ill adaptede for ordinary services"~~~Trollope

"Instruct the planets in what orbs to run."~~~Pope


Witch's Broom Nebula: The Witch's Broom Nebula is also part of the famous Veil Nebula complex, this being the western portion. The entire complex is the remnant of a powerful supernova explosion which occurred thousands of years ago, sending elements forged in the destroyed stars core into space. The bright star is 52 Cygni.


"Thou that seest Universal
Nature moved by Universal Mind;
Thou majestic in thy sadness
at the doubtful doom of human kind;"~~~
Tennyson: Virgil




Classic Paris: Private room at Maxim's.





U.S. NavyYour Navy is always 100% on watch! These Warfighters are just some of our Faces of the Fleet.

Chess: "Military" "Fleet" "Ejército" "Star Wars"

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

STEALTH

STEALTH
La Cabra Tira al Monte
Prov.10:4
"He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich." 
 Gal.5:18
 "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." 
Prov.14:16 
"A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident. "



Chess: "Stealth" "la cabra tira al monte" "Alaska"

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay
Barbecue
White Horse
Panda
Prov.14:11
"The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish."


 Elizabeth Hurley, Queen Of The White Jean
 Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay Florida

Chess:  "Tampa Bay" "Barbecue"" "White Horse" "Panda"

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Jerusalem

Jerusalem
Everest
Gizah (Great Pyramid)
Prov.14:32
"The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death." 
Prov.14:26
 "In the fear of the LORD [is] strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge."

It's not a dream, it's ITALY ♥ Benvenuti in Italia!


Chess: "Jerusalem" "Everest" "Gizah (Great Pyramid)"