Now that my relatives have departed, you all get to see some of the photos taken! It reminds me of showing photos to friends and neighbors and they all wishing you would put the photo album away.

So today we will start with a shot for all you train buffs. This is a DART train (Dallas Area Rapid Transit).



larger image, a bit fuzzy

I was at another historic re-enactment today, so here's an image of a medieval knight - 'the blue knight'.
Afraid I couldn't do much about the modern dressed people in the background as the audience was all around the arena!

This is a shot of the Emerald Pool on the Island of Dominica. This Island is my idea of a real Rain Forest Island, lots of green and lots of rain in the higher altitudes.

Another pic from the Scottish Games. I call this one 'Anachronism'.
Those are a couple members of the Living History contingent settled down to watch the closing ceremonies.



I admire how these people stay in character all day long. The lady is sitting on a wooden chair that the man has been carting around for her, slung over his shoulder. They even walk in character, the lady's outstretched hand resting on top of the gentleman's.

I don't believe I mentioned it, but the reenactment photos I've posted where taken at the base of Seneca Rocks proper, in Seneca Rocks, West Virginia. The rocks are known 'round the world by rock climbers.


Larger View

More info on the rocks here.

Love the photo of Seneca Rocks. West Virginia really is so lovely!

Haven't taken any photos today, so I'm falling back on the ones I took at the fair last week. This ride looked like fun, but even so, I didn't try it

This is one of the bigger family graves near us. The family all collect on the grave sweeping days twice a year to clean up the area and have a feast.

A fairground ride Liz! What a coincidence. This really was due to be my photo for today . It's a good old traditional Merry-Go-Round. This is the one is on Brighton Sea Front.



Link to a larger photo.

I love merry-go-rounds. TW, is that just sitting next to the sand? Seems like it would get ruined that way.

I haven't been out with the camera, so back to the archive photos. This was taken at Key West, Florida. Now THAT's what I call a motorcycle, LOL!



Larger View

I don't know whether Edgar Wallace is widely read these days, but it's nice to see that he has a little plaque at Ludgate Circus, at the end of Fleet Street where he worked most of his life.

I've been at the 'Blasts from the Past' re-enactment all day. Not all re-enactors are men with guns, swords, spears, etc. This beautiful and elegant lady is playing Lady Bathurst, wife of the Minister for War during the early 19th century.

Exciting shots Au Naturel, glad no one was hurt.

This is another shot from the Island of Dominica. This is Trafalgar Falls. There are two of them but they are too far apart to get them in the same shot. Although it is hard to tell, it was pouring rain when I took this shot.

For the first time since I have lived in this area (17 years!) it took a family visitor to lure me to the Dallas World Aquarium. It's been around in its current form for 12 years. I'm only sorry I didn't take the time to go sooner. It was an excellent experience.



Larger Image

Here is the entrance

And here is more information about the Aquarium and its inhabitants. Turns out there is more there than fish! The lizard I included in the weekly theme resides there. They also work with endangered species. More pics of the adventure to follow.

When I arrived at my sister's for dinner this afternoon, I was amused to see their next-door-neighbour's front yard absolutely covered with model buzzards. His sons had surprised him by setting it all up overnight so he was greeted by them, and the explanatory sign, this morning! (He graciously gave me permission to both take, and post, the photo.)

Not from Amsterdam! These tulips were photographed yesterday at Araluen Botanic Park in the Perth hills. Tulips are my second favourite flower (my favourite is frangipani or Plumeria).

Araluen is in a deep north/south valley. It is perfect for tulips because it is protected from our harsh easterly winds. The valley gets very cold in winter and stays quite cool in summer. The spring tulip festival is an annual event which draws thousands of tourists. We went up to Araluen for the afternoon with some friends and had Devonshire teas at the tea rooms. Parking was a nightmare!

This is a golden eagle that was rescued by a California bird of prey rescue organization. It was electrocuted by power lines and lost the ability to fly, so it's now used as an education animal. You can see where it lost some toes to this incident.

I came across two trees last week with almost human features in the bark. This photo accompanies the one posted a few days ago. The tree is definitely keeping an eye on things!

Of course you can see straight away that this is a seal with a ball , grown in our local plant seller's. Well it will be when it has finished growing.

Well I really am enjoying all the snapshots you people have taken.

Telly, that tree is great -- nothing like taking a walk and feeling eyes on you!

And MotherGoose, I don't think I've ever seen that color combination on tulips before.

Taesma the golden eagle is beautiful. How did they find it? Or did someone actually see the bird get electrocuted?

ren, can you see that seal all grown up? Wouldn't it be neat if they could figure out how to get flowers to bloom on the ball to make it look striped!

Today we start our tour of the Dallas World Aquarium. I'll include several pictures with links so as to not be toooo big of a bore.

Starting at the top of the aquarium (they like to call it the canopy level) we see birds -- lots of them! Some of the birds are contained, but many are free to fly around. This fellow is one of the many types of toucans they have.



The toucan groWS

A black bird,

a blue bird (this little guy was shot from about 75 feet away *well, not literally*),

and a green bird. Not a hummingbird.

Mexican Petunia

Great shots everyone. When we traveled to Los Angeles to go on one of our cruises. We only had an overnight there so this was as much as we saw of the City of Angels.

In the past I've posted several views of the 'New River' at Broxbourne. It's neither new nor a river in fact, as it's a non-navigable canal 42 miles long, used to take drinking water to London. The amazing thing is that it was completed in 1613 during the reign of James I, and is still in full operation today!
This view is about 5 minutes walk from our house.