Making and recollecting – One word Sunday Challenge: Memory

This week Debbie has challenged us with the following:

Welcome to One Word Sunday. Now, over to all of you to share a memory for this theme. Share an image or some words, or even some music – allcomers welcome.

Well I have shared two pictures of this space in previous posts this weekend, so no reason to change that pattern!  The below is a 3 photo stitch of the Druids circle in Penmaenmawr.

This day will, or perhaps I should correct that to has already become a memory, a two day old memory, but already a memory.  It is now filed under the day we visited number 49 of 50.

The previous time I was here was with friends when we were spending a week long holiday in Snowdonia, very happy memories, vibrant energised days, walking, talking, eating and drinking, some 16 years ago I think.

And the first time I came here was 20, now nearly 21 years ago.  How had I not know this circle was there!  I had lived most of my life nearby at that point.  A friend that now lives the other side of the world took me to visit it, my memories of our friendship are full of joy.

‘A place of memory’, Druids circle, Penmaenmawr, 2019.

Ken

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Set in stone – Sunday Stills – #Spirit

This week Teri has challenged us with:

There is much we can do with this week’s Sunday Stills theme: SPIRIT. . . Whether you believe in a higher being, a natural Earth, follow an organized religion, or simply just believe, show us something that moves YOUR spirit.

In another post ‘#49‘, I posted a picture of the Druids circle, at Penmaenmawr, where we had visited this weekend.  Not only did visiting this  sacred megalithic landscape raise my spirits, but one of the stones there is very interesting to me.  Perhaps it is the ‘spirit’ of the place, It certainly reminds me of a hooded figure watching over the circle.

‘Druids circle’, Penmaenmawr, 2019.

Ken

#49 – Friendly Friday: Mood

This Friday Something to Ponder About and The Snow Melts Somewhere have challenged us with:

What’s your mood?
That’s the theme for this week’s Friendly Friday Photo Challenge.

Well on Thursday night we had travelled up to visit my father, and on Good Friday we had travelled further north to take both him and my wife’s mother out for lunch.  We had a great day and the weather was lovely, my mood was ‘loving and loved’.  On the Saturday I knew we had planned a visit to a stone circle, this would be number 49 of 50 that my wife is attempting to visit before her 50th birthday in June this year.  So my mood was ‘excited’, as I have only visited this circle twice before and it is probably about 16 years since the last visit.  So a 9 photo stitch of this grand circle in its magnificent surroundings.

‘#49’, Druids circle, Penmaenmawr, 2019.

Ken

Old Stone – Tuesday Photo Challenge: Worship.

Well this week Frank challenges us with the topic ‘Worship’:

The devastating fire in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was horrific in the way that it touched the heart and soul of Parisian, the French and many of us around the world. . . . . With this news, it was immediately obvious to me that the theme for this week’s challenge is to be Worship. Regardless of religion, faith or belief system, we can all worship.

I decided to go with 3 three photos from last years visit to Dumfries and Galloway.  So for my first take, a stone circle, we guess at the fact that they were for ritual purposes, and therefore worship.

‘In the round’, Torhousekie stone circle, 2018.

The second photo is of the Ruthwell cross, an Anglo-Saxon monument that was brought into the church.

‘Focus’, Ruthwell, 2018.

And finally the ruins at Dundrennan Abbey a 12th century Cistercian monastery.

‘Illumination’, Dundrennan Abbey, 2018.

Ken

More than you can shake a stick at – Photo for the Week – 32 – Circles

This weeks for the Photo for the Week, Bren asks:

The challenge for this week is Circles

Well I had to use a stone circle, you would expect it of me I am sure.  So another favorite circle, the Merry Maidens in Cornwall.

‘Dancing’, Merry Maidens, Cornwall, 2018.

And because we were asked for circles and not circle, here is another:

‘Under a heavy sky’, Torhouskie Stone Circle, Newton Stewart, 2018.

And then just to prove I can get more than one circle in a photo at one time.

‘More than you can shake a stick at’, Stott Park Bobbin Mill, Cumbria, 2017.

Ken

Meg’s smile – Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Looks Like a Face

This week Cee challenges us with the topic ‘Looks Like a Face’.

I always think that this profile of Long Meg looks like a face, in fact I think she would be rather at home in an episode of the Simpsons!

‘Meg’s smile’, Long Meg and her daughters, Cumbria, 2017.

Ken

 

2 Wonders in one – Tuesday Photo Challenge – Wonder

Well this week Frank challenges us with the topic ‘Wonder’:

I have never used Wonder as a theme either! Whether you want to feature the Wonders of Nature, the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World or make us wonder what you may have photographed, there are plenty of directions for you to take this theme! And, of course, I expect all of your ideas to be wonderful!!

It will be of no surprise that I am probably going to use a photo of a stone circle for this challenge, full of mystery and wonder.  How did they get there? What were they built for?

So which to choose?  Well it had to be Stonehenge really for a challenge entitled wonder,  it is not my favourite stone circle, but it would certainly be the first circle that entered many peoples minds. So off I went looking for a photo to use, and I found this one.

Previously unedited for the very reason that it works so well for this challenge,  we have the ancient wonder of Stonehenge, and the modern wonder of water on tap. I like the juxtaposition here of monument and sprinkler hose, maybe it is to remind us that just as the monuments meaning faded away, so too perhaps could our natural resource of water if misused, leaving the hose and sprinkler a wonder for future generations.

‘2 Wonders in one’, Stonehenge, 2017.

Ken

Stones, stripes and happiness – Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #37: History

This week Patti challenges us with:

For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #37, we invite you to capture history.

History can be personal or public. It can last for a moment, a decade, or a century. It is local, national, or international. It can be a monument, a relic, a person, a place, or a memento. It’s totally open to your interpretation.

Well where to start, and how to limit my response!  When we are away visiting places they are generally ancient or historic sites – we are keen consumers of the heritage industry, though we do not limit ourselves to those places that are handed to us on a plate.

Therefore my first choice will be unsurprisingly, one of the many stone circles we have visited, under the category of ‘Ancient history’.  This is Glenquicken, in Dumfries and Galloway, where we visited last year.  While not the hardest to find, it certainly was not the easiest to reach, and if it had not been for the dry summer we would not have been able to reach it.

‘Stone histories’, Dumfries and Galloway, 2018.

Given I have been scanning a number of old photos recently, and some of you will have seen my posts about them, my second choice will be from the category of ‘Family history’.  This photo is probably of my paternal grandmothers father, I will have to find out.  He definitely served in India, in fact I was told he had been everywhere apart from Germany!  He was a Sergeant, becoming a colour Sergeant eventually, the initials in the top left are JAH, but I am a little less sure of those on the bottom right, so I will hunt down his name and find out!

‘Uniform histories’.

And finally under the heading of ‘Personal history’ a photograph of my wife on what was our first visit to Castlerigg stone circle, when we were on honeymoon.

‘Happy histories’, Castlerigg stone circle, Cumbria, 2011.

Ken

Stone gathering – Weekly Photo Challenge – Gatherings

This week Jenn at ‘Traveling at Wits End’ asks:

This week, the challenge is to go out and…

Photograph Gatherings

Well it is fair to say I am not a keen fan of large gatherings, a few friends at most, around a table, sharing fine food and conversation, although some of the dances we go to to are a different matter all together, and these are also fine.  In general I just do not like crowds,  most of you who follow my blog will notice a lot of my photos are of wide open spaces, away from the crowds, and away from other people, lost in the wilds, or at least as wild as the UK has to offer.

The heritage industry has seen a rise in interest over the past few years, though it may be declining again, and very often we find ourselves sharing once empty spaces with others.  I general this I do not mind, we gather with a shared purpose, to explore, discover, understand, and ultimately to walk in and out of each others shots as we attempt to achieve the bast photograph.

So here is a photograph of Stonehenge, featuring a gathering of heritage tourists which stretches all the way around the monument, it had been years since my previous visit, and on this day the shear number of people there came as quite a shock.  A gathering of stones where I can feel calm, with a gathering of people to set my heart racing!

‘Gathered stones’, Stonehenge, 2017.

And a photo of another gathering where I feel at home, a crowd of dancers working their way around the dance-floor.

‘Gathering dance’, Pentreffest Rudry, 2015.

Ken

Cosmic Castlerigg – K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge – In the realm of the otherworldly.

Each week, K’lee and Dale offer  prompts for us to consider as the latest challenge.  This week it is:

In the realm of the otherworldly.

So most of you by now know how fond I am of visiting ancient sites, stone circles in particular.  So I thought I would treat you to a cosmic circle, given they are otherworldly places, and maybe even gateways to the otherworld.

‘Cosmic Castlerigg’, Cumbria, 2018.

And because woodlands are otherworldly spaces.

‘Under the boughs’, Brynna woods, 2015.

Ken