Birds Among the Willows and More

Sometimes the birds choose to perch on a part of the bush that is nicer than simply the bare limb. On this occasion, this savanna sparrow treated us with a pose on one of the open willow blooms.

Along the Nome-Teller Road

Now that I have you all calm and settled on churches in southern England, I thought I'd shakes things up with another round of birds from Alaska.

Above (and below) are a few images of the western (aka Wilson's) snipe.

St. Denys, A last Look

Just above the roster of those lost in the first war, we see remnants of a painting from a much earlier century. These have only been uncovered in the 19th century.

St. Denys - IV

 

Inside the church we find a mixture of old and very old construction. All of it is handsome. The roof rafters are special. More to come.

St. Denys - III

Today we start with another one of the beautiful doors of the church. 

St. Denys - II

As you well know by now, I am taken by these colorful markers. I find that even though I cannot read much of what it says, the color feels like a painting of the life that once dwelled in the body lying here. Sometimes I stare at one of these photos and conclude that I know the deceased in ways that reading the words carved there cannot express. Just my imagination, I suppose.

St. Denys

There is a small town in East Sussex called Rotherfield. Here we find a most interesting church. On this site, in 792 AD, A church was founded by Duke Bertoald of the South Saxons to honor St. Denys. St. Denys was the first bishop of Paris, martyred for his refusal to make sacrifices to Mercury as the behest of the Roman Emperor Valerian. The Benedictine Abbey of St. Denys was founded northeast of Paris in 629. It was here that the ill Duke went seeking healing. Having been healed, he returned home to found this church in thanks.

St. James the Less Church

 

This is a handsome church even if this photo is crooked.

St. James the Less Church, Nutley

On our drive from Brighton to our house sit, we stopped in any small town we passed through that had an interesting church or cemetery. Most of these were not open, so we did not get to see the insides. Nevertheless, the church yards held many interesting finds.

St. Nicolas and All Saints

 

In the village of Icklesham, we found a small church that was interesting. although we could not get inside to have a look about, we did find a cemetery and church yard that was worth a look.

More Brighton

Surprisingly, there is no admission charge to get on the pier. However, once on board, everything comes at a price.

Brighton

After leaving Vienna, we flew to Heathrow, rented a car and headed south. We found us a place to stay out in the country in a converted bus. It was interesting. Tight quarters, but we had great views since there were windows in all directions. We stayed here a couple nights since our next house sit did not start just yet.

Our first outing was to Brighton, the seaside resort for all the British looking for a summer getaway without paying to go to the continent. We only spent an afternoon here so we by no means saw it all, but we saw enough to satisfy us.

Chihuly Museum at the Seattle Center

Here we have a boat filled with glass "floating" on a "sea" of glass. I really like the reflections.

Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum

Just to let you know that we do still visit the US once in a while, here are some photos from our recent stop at home. We visited the Chihuly glass museum again at the Seattle Center to see what was going on. Some things were the same and some were different. You can see our previous visit back in 2019 here.

Vienna State Opera - IV

Here is another room for social functions.

Vienna State Opera - III

The curious thing about this opera house it that it has a narrowly defined repertoire of operas from a certain period (very roughly before 1900...ie. during the Austrian Empire) all written by composers who were from or spent a lot of time in Vienna. It also only considers compositions of a serious nature except for one...Der Fledermaus by Strauss is the only operetta.

VIenna State Opera - II

Lots of gold and red decorate this hallway. The splashes of azure in the inset paintings really adds a sparkle to the scene.

Vienna State Opera

Since we are in VIenna out of season, the only way to see the Vienna Opera House is on a tour. Probably cheaper anyway. As you might expect, it is a fancy place with lots of gold brightening the walls.

St. Stephansplatz

As is the case in many place in Europe, Vienna is a city of many curious juxtapositions. In this square, we find McDonald's located in a building of great beauty... not your neighborhood modern, boring, glass and concrete structure.

St. Michael's Church - II

This is not a huge place like St. Stephen's Cathedral nor an intimate chapel. It is a space that feels larger than it is and it provides wonderful acoustics for the pipe organ.

St. Michael's Church

Our last visit to a church in Vienna is a special one. St. Michael's is another baroque masterpiece. While not as over-the-top ornate as the Jesuit church you've already seen, it does contain many amazing sights. And, as you will discover, sounds.

The image above shows the main altar. From Wikipedia we learn that,

The high altar was designed in 1782 by Jean-Baptiste d’Avrange. It is decorated with the monumental stucco alabaster Rococo sculpture Fall of the Angels (1782) by sculptor Karl Georg Merville. It represents a cloudburst of angels and cherubs, falling from the ceiling towards the ground. It was the last major Baroque work completed in Vienna. The centerpiece of the high altar is Maria Candia, a Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary, belonging to the Cretan School of hagiography and named after the former capital (now Heraklion), displayed as being carried by two archangels.^[2][3]

Church of St. Maria Rotunda - II

There are plenty of beautiful paintings and statues here. When surrounded by finely crafted arts, it is easy to imagine someone feeling the presence of the "holy spirit" as they sat and meditated.

Church of St. Maria Rotunda

Now that you've seen the Jesuit church, here's the Dominican church. Clearly, the various flavors of catholicism all came to the source, the emperor, to find money. and it certainly looks like they all succeeded.

Controlling the Speed in Welford-upon-Avon

There is occasionally, a bit of cheekiness in the way the UK tries to control vehicle speeds in these small villages. When you enter the village from the south, you first come to a speed limit sign as expected.

Morning Runs in Stratford-upon-Avon

After leaving Dunbar, Scotland, we headed south. After spending a few days in the Lake Country - more on this part of our trip at a later date - we drove farther south to our next house sit in Stratford-upon-Avon. Here are some photos from a few of my morning runs. There are advantages to being out at sunrise.

As you can see, we are sheep country. Stratford is on the northern edge of the Cotswolds, a place brimming with sheep. You also see more details about villages in the Cotswolds later also.

The Jesuit Church - II

The extravagance of this baroque styled church is endless and wall-to-wall. Everywhere you look is something more amazing that the last place.

The Jesuit Church

The Jesuits are well-known to be pretty flush with money and from the looks of this church, I'd say they had plenty of money to have built a place this opulent.

Art History, Vienna

In the Roman statue section, there is this room filled with stone heads on posts. In the dimly lit room, this was kinda creepy.

Art History Museum in Vienna

Years ago, on our first visit to Vienna, we missed all sort of things because it was Christmas and things were closed. We wanted to make up for some of this and this summer we stopped my the art history museum.

One of the fun things in most any country in Europe is that no major museum goes undecorated with a very patriotic statue out front. This one was no exception.

Ending the Session and Calling it a Day

Even photographers reach a point where they can no longer sit and take photos of the same bird again and again.

American Pipit - III

This pose puts me in the mind of Napoleon with one foot raised and hands hidden in the coat.