CFFC: Boats Through the Ages

July 18, 2020July 18, 2020 / amoralegria / 2 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is Anything to do with boats. All the photos in this photo essay are from my travels near and far.

26th Century BCE – 1st century BCE: Ancient Egypt

This relief at the Temple of Horus (built 237 BCE-57 BCE) in Edfu shows two boats, depicting the pharaoh’s journey to the afterlife. In the middle of the photo, at the center of the boat is the sarcophagus of the pharaoh. You can also see oarsmen in both boats. These likely bear some resemblance to the royal boats powered by oarsmen used during the ancient Egyptian times.

In Giza, alongside the famous pyramids and Sphinx, is the Solar Barque Museum, which contains a replica of a ship buried next to the tomb of King Khufu (whose tomb was in the largest of the pyramids). King Khufu was the 2nd ruler of the 4th Dynasty, 26th century BCE.

Modern Egypt: Today the Nile teems with cruise ships alongside fellucas (open air sailing boats with no cabins), fishing vessels and freighters.

A *dahabeya* (2-sail vessel, usually containing cabins), a fishing boat and a cruise ship on the Nile near Edfu.

1st Century CE: Palestine/Israel

Many of the ancient Hebrews, who settled along the Jordan River and the banks of the Sea of Galilee in what is modern day Israel and Palestine, were fishermen, including some of Jesus’ disciples, mostly notably Peter. On the Sea of Galilee today, at the Yigal Allon Museum, a 1st century boat is on display, believed to be the same type of boat used by Jesus and his disciples. It was discovered in 1986 and is believed to be about 2,000 years old. The chart shows the 12 types of wood that the boat was made of.

Modern Israel: This is one of the vessels used today to take pilgrims across the Sea of Galilee. We sang hymns, watched a demonstration of casting a fishing net, and watched the flocks of gulls who followed our boat.

Middle Ages: Norman Conquest, 1066 CE

The Norman Conquest of England began in 1066 when William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy) invaded the Kingdom of England, which led to the Battle of Hastings and the Norman control of England. The entire story is told on an ancient tapestry, woven by 11th century weavers, and is now housed in Bayeux, Normandy France. This replica of a piece of the original tapestry (which we were not allowed to photograph) depict a stylized version of the boats used at that time.

17th-19th Centuries CE: A failed ship, flat boats, and art

In Stockholm, Sweden, 1628, a ship became famous because it sank, 23 minutes after its maiden voyage! The Vasa was not pulled out of the canal until the 1950s, when the technology to do this had been developed, then it was reconstructed and the museum housing it opened in the 1990s. Why? Because it was top heavy! The photos above were taken at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, where the actual boat is on display (photo far right). The other photos are decorative mastheads and other items on the outside of the ship.

19th Century Flatboats:

1880s-Early 1900s: Impressionist Art

Claude Monet, “En norvegienne,” 1887, Musee d’Orsay

Native American Canoes: (L) in Maine (Oceanarium, Acadia); (R) in Alaska – this tribe still makes its canoes the traditional way.

They steamed the wood until it was malleable, then pulled the sides farther apart to insert the slats and making for a more comfortable ride.

1904-1914: The Panama Canal was completed in 1914, and received updates in the late 20th century to accommodate larger cruise ships and ocean freighters. These are some of the ships we saw passing through the canal.

20th Century: Steamships

This diagram shows all the rooms on the Titanic

2019: Amsterdam, a City of Canals, Ships and Boats

Square Perspectives: 2-Dimensions Meet 3-Dimensions

July 6, 2020 / amoralegria / 1 Comment

For Day 6 of Becky’s July Square Perspectives challenge, I look at the artistic angle of perspective: Art – the method by which solid objects drawn or painted on a flat surface are given the appearance of depth and distance.

A few years ago, we took a cruise from Boston to Montreal, and one of our stops was the lovely Quebec City. Wandering around, I saw a mural, which took up an entire wall and, next to it, another one of (famous) people in the windows of a building. These murals were so realistic and blended so well with the surroundings, that it would be easy to mistake them (fortunately I didn’t, because I would have walked into the wall!).

I can’t square the second photo because you need to see the entire wall to get the proper effect.

The Hunt for Joy: Making a Rainbow

May 6, 2020 / amoralegria / 2 Comments

Cee’s On the Hunt for Joy is in its 18th week and the theme for this week is Make Your Own Rainbow.

I love to draw and occasionally paint. I also enjoy coloring books. Here are two coloring pages I did. The first is called “Rainbow Wheel Mandala,” done with markers. The second is “Rainbow Tessellation,” done with gel pens.

Some of my other artwork: The first is called “Arizona Desert,” which I painted with acrylics; the second is untitled, drawn with charcoal pencils.

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As bloggers who follow me know, I do a lot of photography also. These photos I took in various places at various times.

Gay pride at Solstice Parade, Seattle

Colorful scene in Regensburg, Germany

This colorful Tanzanian bird is called lilac-breasted roller, and it really does seem to have every color of the rainbow!

Sunset over North Atlantic Ocean

A real rainbow, South Dakota. We should have stopped and hiked over that field to the end of the rainbow to see if there was a pot of gold! 😉

CFFC: Choose Your Topic from a Photo

April 7, 2020April 7, 2020 / amoralegria / 2 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is in a series where she posts a photo and you choose what topic you wish to post based on her photo. Here is her photo this week:

Here are Cee’s suggestions: floats, things hanging on trees, rope, fishing items, grass, green, orange, white, blue, numbers, bare branches, or come up with your own topic.

– actually these are fake trees at Bottle Tree Ranch in California.
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This real tree has things hanging on it, but it looks like something natural to the tree.
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Rope
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Floaters/fishing equipment

Hunt for Joy Challenge: Up On the Roof

February 6, 2020February 6, 2020 / amoralegria / 7 Comments

Cee’s weekly challenge On the Hunt for Joy, is in week 5. This week the topic is Count Chimneys, which includes photos of chimneys, weather vanes, spires and satellite dishes. How is this topic about hunting for joy? She explains: Tip from Ingrid Fetell Lee: Count Chimneys: As you’re walking around, keep a tally of chimneys, spires, or weathervanes. Looking up at the rooftops lifts your gaze, which opens up your posture and allows more light into the eyes, two things that can help to improve your mood.

I admit, some of these photos did not involve looking up, but rather looking down, but even so, they are of chimneys, weather vanes, and spires (no satellite dishes!). SONY DSC DSC01863 (2) DSC01530 (2) DSC00356 (2) 20190618_124715j

CFFC: Autumnal

February 6, 2020 / amoralegria / 2 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is autumn scenes.

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Beautiful Sunsets

October 24, 2019October 24, 2019 / amoralegria / Leave a comment

Dutch Goes the Photo has a Tuesday photo challenge and the topic is sunsets.

Beautiful sunsets are everywhere, but the most beautiful I have seen are when I am traveling – which I guess is logical, because although I do have photos of pretty clouds and sunsets at home, my view is usually obstructed by buildings, trees, and other suburban fixtures. Being in wide open spaces is where I have watched the sun set in awe.

I can never forget the sunsets I’ve seen from Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro – every time I go to Rio, it is a must to go up in the cable car in late afternoon and watch the sunset from up there. On my most recent trip, in Nov. 2016, here was the view as the sun set around 7:00 pm. I am only including one, although I took several beautiful sunset photos that afternoon.

OK, just one more!

Another wide open space where I have witnessed many awesome sunsets is at sea, while on cruises. In Oct. 2017, we were on a cruise from Boston to Montreal, so this sunset was over the North Atlantic, off the coast of eastern Canada. I like the different patterns of the clouds in this photo.

Often when people think of sunsets, they think of Africa, which is famous for amazing sunsets on the open savanna. When we went on safari in Tanzania, I saw this for myself.
This one was taken at Tarangire National Park.

Here’s another one I took at the southern Serengeti:

The sunrises in Tanzania were amazing too (we saw many, as we were up very early each day to go on game drives), but this is a post about sunsets!

In France, we drove to Mont-St.-Michel and got there in the late afternoon, so we admired the sunsets and saved our visit to the island for the next day. I like this photo because of the fence, but the sun set to the west, not over the island of Mont-St.-Michel, which is reached via a long causeway when the tide is low.
20190618_214400 Finally, sunset over Jerusalem – we arrived late on a January afternoon, and enjoyed the view of the old city from Mt. Scopus. (This is not the best photo of the city, but it is a pretty sunset.)

Finally, closer to home, sunset reflected on the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, MO