Hey, everyone! he's back!!!

One of our favorite bloggers closed down his blog just over a year ago to use his time for  other obligations.

If you were not a follower of David McMahon's Authorblog before, then you should start now, because David is back and has been since last week.

So stop on over and bid David a welcome back. I'm on my way back to give him a great big G'Day hug now myself--I just had to run over here to tell you the news.

ABC Wednesday N is for Newcastle

When I posted about our visit to Newcastle upon Tyne after our trip to the UK, I concentrated on the historic and religious sites and sights. Newcastle has a new side, too.

quiet daytime appearance belies the nightime's liveliness

view of the train station from our hotel window



We arrived in Newcastle by train on Saturday night, and found, as we had been told by Sean back in the Highlands, that Newcastle has a very lively weekend night life. Looks pretty tame by day, though. The Center for Life, below, is not only an outstanding interactive science museum with exhibits of interest to all ages, but also a first line research center in the field of life sciences.

Center for Life
ABC Wednesday now half way through the seventh round.

Sunday's Psalm--29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

I lift up my eyes toward the mountains;

whence shall help come to me?



Mt. Rainier with lenticular cloud



My help is from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.



Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

May he not suffer your foot to slip;

may he slumber not who guards you:

sleeping grizzlies in Alaska

indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps,
the guardian of Israel.

lowland forest trail, Mt. Rainier

Our help is from the Lord,

 who made heaven and earth.

The LORD is your guardian;

 the LORD is your shade;

he is beside you at your right hand.

The sun shall not harm you by day,

nor the moon bynight. 



skies over Yosemite Valley







Our help is from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

The LORD will guard you from all evil;

he will guard your life.

The LORD will guard your coming and your going,

both now and forever.

Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

from Psalm 121

returning for the evening reflection

 When the light was sweet, we found our way to the ideal spot for viewing Half Dome. It is a bridge whose name I disremember. Perhaps Martha will tell us.

James hosts Weekend Reflections at Newtown Daily Photo. I have found that reflection images are amazingly satisfying and sometimes tricky to catch. See what others have found at his site.

It's Blog Action Day 2010

Blog Action Day 2010 is focusing on water.

Access to clean water is a serious international issue. Bloggers all over the world are blogging about water today. To see what they are saying, visit Blog Action Day's real time stream of blog posts.

An American Icon

viewed from the west

Half Dome may be one of the most photographed sights in America. What happened to the other half? Geologists say that there never was another half--that this is the whole thing, though other dome shaped peaks in Yosemite are "whole". My mother climbed Half Dome--not something that I could ever have imagined of her. Maybe that hike was the cause of her later fear of heights.

You can see that the skies over Yosemite when we visited last month were clear and blue. You can also see hundreds of skies from around the world at SkyWatch.

viewed from the east

37 Days

My apologies if you have come to this post from the November 14 Weekend Reflections link. I don't know what happened and Linky won't let me correct it. Here is the correct post.

Okay, so I am way behind. Suddenly, the Virtual Trainer guides I get in my e-mail say Six Weeks, then Five Weeks till 3-Day Walk. My Pariticipant Center tells me it's time to get my final check in started. Yikes.

This is my begging post. I am pledged to raise $2300 for Breast Cancer research, education, and patient services in order to participate in the 3-Day November 19-21. I am currently 1/3 of the way there.

I had intended to offer some gifties to entice donors to part with $5, $10, or $20 in support. Circumstances in the last month or so have kept me from making any gifties. Thanks a lot, burglars!

I will have this year's quilt, shown here just after it was pieced and hopefully quilted by walk day--to present to one of my sponsors. So if you would like to have a chance to win it, or if you just want to remember someone you have known who has experienced the trauma of breast cancer, please consider clicking my 3-Day badge on the sidebar and donating through my walk.

ABC Wednesday--M

Many marvelous monuments mark the metropolitan London scene.


Victoria Memorial




remembering the Queen Mother




Samuel johnson's cat



Cleopatra's Needle

honoring the contribution of women

lions are good for climbing

Admiral Horatio Nelson

The many memorials of London make for a trip through history, and a great stop for M in the seventh round of Wednesday's ABCs. What other wonders have been found this week? You can see here.

Bodie Geometry

Square headed nails                     and            triangular hinges and hasps.

Looking out through a collection of rectangles. 

 Circles with rays marking radius and diameter.

Squares and rectangles leaning into parallelograms.

Sunday's Psalm--28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

chaffinch

Sing to the LORD a new song,

for he has done wondrous deeds;

hanggliding in Wales

his right hand has won victory for him,

his holy arm. 

reflection on the pathway

The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

The LORD has made his salvation known:

in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.




Something's growing on the Edinburgh Castle wall.

All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation by our God.



 He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness

toward the house of Israel.

The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.



falll in the Eastern Sierras



coneflower and friend



Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands:

break into song; sing praise.

The Lord has revealed to the nations

 his saving power.

from Psalm 98