A Royal Find? :)

So i know i've talked before on this page about how much archaeology and history fascinate me.  There are times i think i should have been an archaeologist, but time has passed.. and i'm satisfied and happy with my life the way it is!  But one of my favorite hobbies.. if i can call it a hobby.. is armchair archaeology.  I'll bet you didn't know there is such a thing?  LOL.  I love Archaeology Magazine.  I prefer it to Vogue or Martha Stewart Living.  The photos in it are just as beautiful, though they are of piles of dirt, ruined buildings, and 'digging' tools!  And the articles!  Oh my pounding heart!  True stories of cave paintings,  ancient artifacts,  Bronze Age gold jewelry,  present day finds in the Egyptian Pyramids, and bog bodies in Ireland and Scotland.  They go on and on.  It feels, in a sense, that i can go back in time.  Way back in time, without digging in the desert sand and in the swamps myself.  :)  Reading archaeology articles feeds my desire for more knowledge about our history as humans.. how certain customs or mores developed in our world.  Endlessly enthralling.  Just Sunday evening, i spent five hours, that's right, five hours, watching 'Alien Deep with Bob Ballard' on the National Geographic channel.  He's a geologist/oceanographer who sails around the world on his explorer ship the Nautilus, (with his crew,) and searches the ocean deep for wrecks from our distant past.  I was in heaven.  The first episode was the most interesting of all.  They found a wreck of a cargo ship that was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 300 years before the time of Alexander the Great.  My mouth watered.  :)  More so than it does when i'm just about to take a first bite of a piece of delicious apple pie a la mode!

Anyway.. there's one particular archaeological discovery i want to talk about here.  A body has been discovered under a car park in Leicester, England that may or may not be that of Richard III, the last Yorkist King of England!  DNA tests are being done (and compared to a descendant) to determine whether or not it is indeed he.  And if it is Richard III, where should he be buried?  He's entitled to a Royal burial at Westminster Abbey, but when he was still living all those years ago; he stated a desire to be buried at York Minster.  I've always been enthralled by stories of the Lancasters and the Yorks and the War of the Roses.  I've read fictional, well researched novels about them and history books about that era of English history.  The white rose and the red.  :)  I'm posting an article here from the UK Guardian that spells out more details  of this find if you'd like to read.  I read this piece and i felt transported to the 15th century.  On one hand, i know that these events occurred over 500 years ago, but these were real people we can never know.  In a way it feels as though i'm watching a film.. or the Shakespeare play, Richard III!  I see, in my mind's eye, the scenes playing out.  Of their family lives, the battles in which they fought..  Here's the piece for you to see..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/sep/18/blogpost-richard-lll-york-minster-leicester-university-bosworth-archaeology

Did you find that as interesting as i do?  And it was a skeleton the archaeologists found.. not a body.  I think i've read so many murder mysteries in my time, that i prefer that term.  LOL  And just for fun, i want to include a piece of music written in the 15th century in England.  Hope you love this too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK16e-Emrms

Did that put you in a 15th Century Yorkshire mood?  I think it's beautiful in a haunting kind of way.

Time to close for now.  It's time for our four fabulous felines to eat their supper!  First of course...

Serene and gorgeous!  I'll return soon. Hope you're all having a fantastic week.   M

Cooler Temps, and a Cool Archaeological Find!

Yay!  The temperature has dropped about twenty degrees since i wrote here last!  And i adore this weather.  Autumn is definitely in the air.  Its delicious, crisp scent is out there.  I'm not sure if i'm ready for summer to end, but fall doesn't need my permission to arrive.. now does it?  :)  Really.. i suppose i might be jumping the gun a little.  It IS still August, and the temperature could be back to the high eighties tomorrow!  Oooo, perish the thought!  I love summertime, but i prefer the temperature to be around 72.  With clear blue sky.  None of that white, humid sky.  And a gentle breeze to whisper through the Douglas Firs.  Cool enough to make air conditioning unnecessary, and for our windows to be left open for lovely fresh air to make its way through our home.  I don't ask for much.  Just a little perfection is all.  LOL.  Though i try to be satisfied always, and find something positive in all things.  Well, maybe not all things.  This past week, i became too wrapped up in all the negative, toxic goings on in our political world.  I found myself needing another break.  I don't want to get into it here; though one day pretty soon, i might feel it necessary to talk about it.  Just to get a little excess stuff of my chest.  I found myself changing the TV channel to Spongebob Squarepants more than once.  He's positive ALL the time, that Spongebob!  Yes indeed he is.  He laughs at everything.  And his laughter is contagious.  I still don't get the pineapple under the sea thing, but that's okay.  It's a cartoon for goodness' sake!  :)  And i got back into my meditation routine, which had been, shall i say, lacking some in the last few weeks.  Now i remember why i practice in the first place.  And the cooler temps made it more comfortable to do it outdoors.  Love the feeling of peace i have.  The breeze rustling through the trees, the water falling in the pond.  Happiness.  I also, as much as i love my Atlantic and Harper's magazines, had to close them for a couple of days and turn to Vogue, (the September issue!)  :D and Vanity Fair.  This month's issue of VF has Princess Kate Middleton on the cover.  I know that's not her official title, but you know who i mean.  But i'll save my love of those two glossies for another post.  A post all its own!  So i guess i had a little cooling off period this week in more ways than one.  And today is a lovely, cooler day also.  Temp is around 73.  Now that's close to perfection!

Anyway, one thing i love to read, no matter what's going on in the political environment, and regardless of the outdoor temperature, is my Archaeology Magazine.  I learn so many cool things about the (way back) history of our world!  I found this one article that i thought you might enjoy, so i decided to share.  Actually i found many i want to share, but the others can wait for their own entries here!  This article is from the mag ScienceNow, and i found it in the online news section of Archaeology Magazine.  It's about remnants of a black drink that were found in some ancient 'cups' around the location of the ancient American city of Cahokia.  Phew.  This city was located not far from what is now St. Louis, MO.  Were these remnants some kind of cacao drink or some kind of black ritual tea?  Well, tests and experiments were done, and you can read about them here.  Fascinating.  (And the article is short, but full of fun and interesting info.)  :)  I eat this stuff up with a spoon, just like hot fudge sauce off a hot fudge sundae.  Articles like this just make me want more knowledge of our human history and prehistory!  Here it is..

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/08/starbucks-of-ancient-america.html?ref=hp

It's getting to be Saturday evening, and a lovely evening it is.  The light is just sparkling out there!  So, offline i go for now.  But of course, first...

Yes.  We have gorgeous, beautifully scented roses this late in the summer!  Bye for now.  I'll be back sooner this time around.  M

About an Old Place..

Sometimes.. i need to get out of town.  I love our home in the suburbs, and i love our neighbors and our neighborhood.  Some days i love to get out of these suburbs and go into the city!  Into Portland.  West Coast rendition.  But today, i wanted quiet.  A little open space.  Trees.  Fields.  I had just a little over an hour between appointments, so i couldn't make it a day's long drive to the countryside.  And i couldn't go too far out.  It takes awhile to leave the traffic behind around here.  Especially on a Friday.  It seems there are more humans on the roads.  They likely want to get out of town for awhile too!  :)  I knew exactly where i could go.  And i timed it just right!  I love little historic churches.  White ones with steeples.  I have a thing for them.  I think they remind me of my first home in Maine.  I adore an old white clapboard church on a pretty New England Town Green.  There aren't many places of worship like that out here.  There are some lovely churches.  It's just that they're more.. modern.  From an architectural standpoint, many of them are fascinating.  And i must admit, i'd never seen a church in a strip mall until we moved out here!  :D  I realize a church isn't supposed to look a certain way.  It's not about the building.  A church is made up of people who attend it and make the community.  But when i get a little homesick as i have been the last week or so, i love to spend a little quiet time walking around an old church.  I feel comforted.  So i spent part of this afternoon here...

The West Union Baptist Church is just a few miles outside of Hillsboro where S and i live.  It's a Classical Revival style church built of hand hewn lumber in 1853.  It's the oldest Protestant church still standing west of the Rocky Mountains, and it's on the National Register of Historic Places.  It has beautiful cedar rafters, which i wanted to get in and photograph.. Alas, it was a spur of the moment trip.  I couldn't go in but, yes, i admit it.  I spied a little in the windows...  :)

Simple and beautiful.  I love ornate cathedrals too.  The stained glass windows.  And i find them architecturally fascinating.  But part of me is minimalist.  I love small and plain.  Just as lovely to me...

The charming gate to the tiny sanctuary.  I fell in love!  Pretty soon, the gate will be covered in pink and white roses...  And it will smell as lovely as it looks.  It just feels good to be here.  :)

I also have a fondness for shuttered windows.  These are weathered and wonderful.  It's comforting to see them.  I love old things.  Old buildings.  Antique objects!  Of course, i'll never know the people who attended this church and farmed this area over a century and a half ago,  but i feel as though i've been introduced in a way.  And i certainly admire their handywork here!

The beautiful two acres surrounding the church were donated by David Thomas Lenox in 1853 specifically for the church building and the surrounding cemetery..  Peaceful.

So.. all in all, it was a 'productive', relaxing and quiet hour i spent sort of..  :) .. out of town!  I would have loved to go into this wonderful place for a few quiet minutes of meditation.  Contented sigh.  Some other day.

I experienced many other beautiful moments this Friday!  And a couple of them, as usual, happened while i was observing our kitties...

Cute kitty paws!  Love 'em.  And i have a few photos to prove it and save for posterity, but i won't post them all here.  That would definitely be overdoing it...

Just one more.  I promise.

Gorgeous Maine Coon Otis!  Who, when he's in the right light, shows more of his orange fur.  He also, as most felines i've met, worships the sunshine!  Spring's coming soon, he says!

6:20 Friday evening here on the beautiful Left Coast.  Have a beautiful weekend all!  Love, peace and hopefully lots of sunshine.  Remember.  Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend.  Fondly...  M.