More Backyard Scenes, Pre-Winter

 Flowering Crab

Tuesday night:

I'm scheduling this post because I won't be here tomorrow. We're going to be picking up our Texas daughter from the airport to spend a few days with us. Although I wish the kids lived closer, at least we see them a few times a year. It could be worse. They have no more desire to move back to Wisconsin than we do to move to Texas, so I guess the remedy is to travel. It's definitely worth it.

I have no idea why I'm writing this post. I should be in bed instead. It's been one of those days when all the things I tried to get done sort of failed in the execution, but took a lot of effort and time doing so, and now I'm too tired to do anything else but sit here and go through my photos. I feel too tired to get up and go to bed, and one photo leads to another...

And while I'm on that topic (the photos), let me say that it's really worth spending the $60/year to get Carbonite online backup (no they didn't ask or pay me to write this, but it would be nice if they sent me a couple Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate with Hazelnut bars for giving them this plug!)  My old laptop did crash, and if it hadn't been for Carbonite, I'd have lost everything. It was EASY to retrieve all my files once I had my new laptop. EASY. So, anyway, since that experience, I am probably paranoid about losing my photos, so they're backed up by an external hard drive also. 

Cattle-less Barn

For what it's worth, here's how I organize them. (Not that anyone cares, but like I said, I'm too tired to go to bed.) When I take a group of photos, I immediately upload them to my computer and put them in a folder that is named for the month in which they are taken. That means I have a folder named October 2013, one named November 2013, one named December 2013, etc. So all the original photos are in the 'monthly' folders. When I edit a photo, I then save it with some particular name (trying to think of what I would call it if I were looking for it!!! - not always easy, believe me.)

 Frosted Spruce

I used to save edited photos by topic, so that I still have a  folder named, 'Barns,' one named 'Pets,' etc.etc. But it occurred to me one day that since I have a really good search tool in Windows 7, I can edit a photo, give it its particular name, and save it (along with the original) in the monthly folder. That way, when I download them to my external hard drive, I only need to download the newest monthly folder. All my originals for that month and the edited versions are in that folder. I do that late in the day on the last day of the month.

 For example, if I took a photo of Misty in December, the edited version might have a name like, 'Misty with blankie December 2013) I include the name of the month so that if I ever want to find the original, I can easily see that it's in the December 2013 folder. So now all the photos I take in December, including the edited versions, will go into the December 2013 folder. Then, at the end of each month, I drag out the external hard drive and download only that monthly folder (because it has both the originals and the edited versions) into it - and I'm current. That makes it a lot easier than having to download every 'topic' folder that might (or might not) have a newly edited photo in it.

 'Closed for the Season'

So now, when I want a photo of a barn, I can go to my main 'Pictures' file and search for the word 'barn.' Every photo - in any folder-  that's got the word 'barn' in the file name, will show up. Also, that file name will tell me in which month folder I can also find the original.

 Sunset Behind the Barn

The only problem is that with a photo like the one above, I might have it named 'sunset barn silo winter December 2013.' But at least I find it. On the other hand, because I didn't include the word 'birdfeeder,' I'll never find that again, unless by accident. And I don't need to include the word 'snow,' because I'd say that there's more than a 50/50 chance that the photo will include snow. After all, this is Wisconsin.

 Sunset Behind the Barn b

 Early Sunset Reflections

Early Sunset Reflections b

I think this photo perusing, editing and saving can quickly become a compulsive behavior!
What do you think? And do you have your photos backed up?

Have a great Wednesday!

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Ripon Cathedral, Part 1 - Anglophile Friday

 Ripon Cathedral

For all you Downton Abbey fans, you know that Bates (that eternal pessimist) and Anna (the eternal optimist) were married in Ripon, although they were married in the Registrar's office, not the Cathedral. I can't find a registration office in Ripon, so I think Malton would have been where the civil marriage ceremony would have taken place...if the story were true, of course, and if Anna were foolish enough to marry someone with such a negative attitude.

Nevertheless, this week's Anglophile Friday contains a few photos of Ripon Cathedral - mostly windows. I will post the others next week.

Just 20 miles southeast of Leyburn in the Yorkshire Dales lies the city of Ripon.  Ripon Cathedral was begun in 660 AD by St. Wilfrid, the son of an Anglo Saxon noble. After living in a Celtic monastery at Lindisfarne, Wilfrid, at age 18, made the trip to Rome (still can't get over how these people managed to travel in those days!). The next three years there changed his life and he made the decision to become a monk.

From RiponCathedral.org:

A Brief History of Ripon Cathedral

"Ripon Cathedral was founded by St Wilfrid (c. 634-709), who brought craftsmen from the continent to build a new stone church dedicated to St Peter, in 672. The only part of Wilfrid’s church to survive, however, is the ancient Saxon crypt.

"Much of the church you see today dates from the 12th century, though most of the nave was substantially rebuilt in the 15th and 16th centuries.For this reason, the building contains a variety of architectural styles. Thus the splendid Early English west front dates from the early 13th century, while the transepts (the ‘arms’ of a cruciform church) – combining rounded Norman with pointed Gothic arches – are an interesting example of the late 12th century Transitional style.

"The nave was largely rebuilt in the Perpendicular (late Gothic) style after the central tower collapsed in 1450, when the side-aisles were also added. Work was halted, however, by the disruptions of the Reformation in the 1530s, which is why to this day there are incomplete pillars and mismatched arches under the central tower.

"In 1604 Ripon was re-founded by King James I as a collegiate church, and although the Chapter (the governing body) was dissolved again during the Commonwealth (1649-60), it was reinstated following the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660. In 1836 Ripon Minster became a Cathedral with the creation of the first new diocese in England since the Reformation."

l. Melchizedek, King, Priest

r. Moses, Lawgiver

Clerestory Windows

 Under the Nave, Passageway to the Crypt, 

built in 672 by Wilfrid, who tried to replicate 

 what he thought Christ's tomb would have looked like.

The Crypt

c. 672

 He kept relics there for pilgrims to see, 

a place where they could pray and worship.

672 AD - Ripon Cathedral founded

A mere 820 years before Columbus discovered the New World

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Have a great weekend, everyone!

 

This post may be linked to some of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and  Cure for the Common Monday and Mealtime Monday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Mosaic Monday  and Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and On the Menu Monday and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and   What's in the Gunny Sack and  Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and Love Bakes Good Cakes and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Overflowing With Creativity and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and  Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and  A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and  Saturday Nite Special

London Underground History 150 Years Old

From UK Telegraph

First, just a reminder to stop in at my Valentine's Homemade Soap Sachet Giveaway. Don't miss out!

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Now, on to the London Underground birthday party:

Excerpts from TFL.gov.uk:

'London Underground was formed in 1985, but its history dates back to 1863 when the world's first underground railway opened. 

'Today, London Underground is a major business with three million passenger journeys made every day, serving 275 stations and over 408 km of railway.

 The Tube - somewhere in London

'London has changed a lot since the first stretch of line - the Metropolitan, or Met - opened on 9 January 1863. The first stretch measured six kilometres (nearly four miles) and ran between Paddington (Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street.

'To build the Met, streets along the route were dug up, tracks laid in a trench, covered with a brick-lined tunnel and the road surface replaced. Known as the 'cut and cover' method, this was quick and effective, but created as many problems as it was designed to solve. It caused congestion during construction and it was abandoned towards the end of the 19th century. By then, however, the Metropolitan was a success, stretching ever further across Middlesex, through Hertfordshire and into Buckinghamshire.

'Other companies were keen to get involved and by Christmas 1868, the Metropolitan District had opened a line between Westminster and South Kensington.

'This linked to a branch line from the original Met and some eastward extensions. These railways completed today's Circle line by 1884.'

Tube Station Sign at Westminster 

From lookandlearn.com

'Property-owners thought their buildings would fall as a result of all the excavations taking place. In fact, some of these fears may not have been groundless, for many buildings had to be shored up with timber while the work was in progress.

'Anyone visiting London during 1861 could well see the reason for people’s concern. In the vicinity of King’s Cross, gangs of workmen were furiously digging up the streets. Great yawning holes marked where the road had once been, leaving only a small area over which carriages and pedestrians had to make their way as best they could.

'Some parts of the road were closed completely to allow the men to dig their holes. Once the holes were completed, with the mud piles high on either side, much to the annoyance of pedestrians, the men started shoring the sides of the hole. Then the upper part of the holes was enclosed in a brick arch. Once this was completed, the earth was replaced over the work, the surplus earth carted away, and the road relaid so that everything looked as it had before. But there was one main difference. Eighteen metres below the new road surface lay a long tunnel that stretched between Paddington and Farringdon Street, a distance of about six kilometres.

Tottenham Court Road Tube Station
Cool, huh!

'The person chiefly responsible for this undertaking was Charles Pearson, a city solicitor. Since 1843, he had been suggesting that London should have an underground railway system. He suggested that a trial section should be constructed along the valley of the River Fleet, which had been arched over and converted into a sewer. It would use trains powered by atmospheric pressure. In spite of Pearson’s pleas the plan was never followed up, but he continued to campaign for this new form of transport.

'The idea was not, however, entirely new; for what can possibly be regarded as the first underground railway was started in 1770 at East Kenton Colliery near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The railway, used to carry coal trucks on simple wooden tracks, consisted of a single tunnel, which can lay claim to being the first railway tunnel.'

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And here's a great slide show about the history of the London Underground from the UK Telegraph that you won't want to miss. (Well, at least I wouldn't have wanted to miss it.)

Happy Birthday, London Underground! 

My favorite

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P.S. Today is the last day to enter our HomemadeSoapNSuch Giveaway! Hurry. Giveaway ends tonight at midnight. Don't procrastinate and turn into a pumpkin!

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This post is linked to Photo Friday

Have a great weekend, everyone! The winner of the Giveaway will be announced Monday on Cranberry Morning.