The architecture I've noticed

 Before I begin this post, I want to share a kind of important blog that was posted yesterday by Debby at Life's Funny Like That.  Some good information, both her personal experience and her review of the Weisel book, "Night."

Court of Lions, Alhambra Spain

Hypostyle hall, Great Mosque at Córdoba, Spain, begun 786 and enlarged during the 9th and 10th centuries.

The columns and two-tiered arches in the original section of the Great Mosque of Córdoba building. The columns and capitals are spolia from earlier structures.  Its hypostyle hall, reused columns, double tiered arches, alternating red and light voussoirs, horseshoe arches, and elaborate mihrab zone produced a visual identity specific to al Andalus. 

A Google earth view of the apartments which I have applied for in Durango CO. The one which is open is on the other side of the building, overlooking the town.

The western face of the apartment building overlooks the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge steam train rides, as well as views of the mountains beyond.

Cliff Palace - making a home where it's safest - then leaving when it's not.

It all depends upon what your goal in life is...I guess.

by Eva-Živa Blažková, ‘Sovereignty’

My grandson, Michael's home when they first purchased it in Florida.

How practical can you get, building a sod home with a place for the cow to graze on the roof, while growing watermelon which is featured with the family and the horses! No date.

Have a great Sunday!

Saturday fun with animals

 This week I have few encounters with critters.

Last week I met a friend's trial new dog, Champ. I haven't seen him this week, so he may not have worked out for her.

He was a rather slow moving older beagle. The interesting part of his  story was that his owner had recently died. And she had died the same day that my friend had lost her own dog suddenly. She was trying out living with Champ for a few weeks, I believe. 

Another blogger recently posted some art by an artist who was also recently deceased, Leoma Lovejoy. Blogger is Southwest Daily Photos. 

-------------------

From a Gallery Show by the Red House artists, in 2021 a selection.

My contribution was a ceramic open sculpture of trees (which sold!!)

----------------

Today's quotes:

Every student needs someone who says, simply, "You mean something. You count."  -Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956) Be part of the discussion on climate change as we move our society to a critical mass of people who can change the way we live, govern, support, communicate, and save the earth. ---------------- Today's goddess: Amazing goddess figurine from Balzi Rossi (red rocks), who is apparently depicted giving birth. Dated ca 26,000-20,000 BC Gravettian period, it was found in Balzi Rossi caves (archaeological site), Grimaldi di Ventimiglia, Italy on the border with France. Musée des Antiquites Nationales of Saint Germain-en-Laye, France SOURCE: The Mother Goddess site on FaceBook And over at my other blog, Alchemy of Clay, see E. J. Taylor's wonderful dolls!

Bridges help you get where you're going - even if nowhere!

 Sepia Saturday (a day early) brings the idea of bridges to mind.

So I am off to search for any kind of structures that cross space or water...

1890s "Otto Mears’ Toll Road, a daring creation that connected Oray Colorado with the now "Million Dollar Highway."

I've been waiting for a chance to share this structure! I wonder how long it lasted! Isn't it interesting to see the rejected lumber lying about all over the place!

Old Bridge over Flat Creek, Montreat NC 2014

The old bridge with Rhododendron rails over Flat Creek, Montreat NC

Bridge rebuilt in 2022 over Flat Creek - before Hurricane Helene floods washed it away in 2024.

Rod Chase- Twilight in Central Park, NY

Van Gogh, The Gleize Bridge over the Vigueirat Canal

A modern covered bridge (over a road I believe) in Old Salem NC...where my friend stood as we began our tour of the old town.

A true bridge to nowhere, near Arches National Park, Moab Utah. 2025

 The High Shoals Bridge on South Fork River NC (now closed)

by Koowah Shining - The High Shoals Bridge on South Fork River NC,  for History of North Carolina on FaceBook.

--------------------

Sharing with Sepia Saturday this week!

Our host, Alan, gives this introduction:

For want of something better, I have given this week's prompt image the title "Bridges To Nowhere". The photograph comes from the extensive collection of my Uncle Frank, and shows a very decorative bridge across a seaside boating lake. As it leads simply from one side of the lake to the other, I suppose you can say that it is a bridge to nowhere, but that is not something that can be said about old photographs in general. Old photographs provide us with a bridge to somewhere, and that somewhere is the past. So, once again, we ask you to share your old photographs here on Sepia Saturday, by posting them on or around Saturday 22nd November 2025 and adding a link to the list below. And if you would like to plan your Sepia Saturday posts for the remainder of the year, here is a list of our weekly prompt images.

 I invite you to consider joining the fun of sharing an old photo or two with Sepia Saturday sometime!

-----

Today's quote:

I wanted to live my life so that people would know unmistakably that I am alive, so that when I finally die people will know the difference for sure between my living and my death.

 -June Jordan, writer, teacher, and activist (1936-2002)

---------------

Today's goddess:

Beautiful pregnant goddess figurine, created about 24,000 years ago at the Kostenki - Borshevo region on the Don River, north of the Black Sea.

Kostenki / Kostienki is a very important Paleolithic site on the Don River in Russia. It was a settlement which contained goddess/ansestor figures, dwellings made of mammoth bones, and many flint tools and bone implements. Actually it is not a single site but an area consisting of more than twenty Palaeolithic site locations on the right bank of the river, between the villages of Kostenki and Borshevo.

The Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Thanks FB post The Mother Goddess

Art and health

 

One of my favorite artists, Andy Goldsworthy, works in a gallery in England, to bring nature into an experience of his art. Thanks Jenny at Salt & Light for sharing on her blog where she visited the gallery! 

Questions I filled out for my second visit to the Messina Cancer Center...getting my blood checked out. All is ok for now, no cancer, they reported.

The staff was very friendly. I guess I was most impressed how it felt to be around people with cancer again...the upbeat humor as well as a bit of stress. But mainly a 'caring for each other' attitude.

I had volunteered in the Art Therapy program at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa FL 25 years ago. Being around people who are coping with cancer reminded me of how we all face our problems. 

These were real issues, not the kind created by psychopaths in politics. Of course many people have real issues as a result of the stupidity in politics. I woke up early the other day because I thought of how I'd gladly intervene if I saw ICE acting upon any of the people around me. I'm someone who could easily be interference for the safety of others, without doing much but taking videos or standing in the way. Nobody depends upon me to provide food or shelter for others, while innocent people are being taken away from their families. 

Besides, hopefully my standing up for what is right will be another brick in the resistance. However, one doesn't go back to sleep after having these thoughts.

Seen at the check-in counter at Messina Cancer Center.

My job this week is to throw away all those old journals. Who did I think I was? Someone with a life worth reading about by some descendants or another? Pshaw! Let's be realistic!

BUT, I took many photos of the pages I'd written which reflected my life history...just as a summary. Then I woke up today remembering selling my trailer to my girl friend whose husband was going to build their home on their land...and going for 3 months on a cross country trip with my older two sons. Now just when did that happen? My oldest son is a good historian, though he was just 11 at the time.

I haven't found that in my journals yet! 

It was quite a snazzy 70s trailer, with sunken living room floor covered in orange shag carpeting. Pretty sure the kitchen appliances were all avocado. And a skylight over the dining area next to the sliding glass door to nowhere. I hope Stephanie Lynn Thornton (who later divorced) enjoyed it while they built their house.

--------------------

“Often, the news of the climate crisis paralyzes us with a succession of bad news that makes us feel hopeless imagining everything we’re bound to lose. Push aside that worry for a moment by listing everything that no impending disasters could take away, like the color blue, your fondest memories, or the affectionate protectiveness between parent and child of many species, including our own.”

 

Jessica Jacobs and Nickole Brown, from their book WRITE it! 100 Poetry Prompts To Inspire

Thanks Katharine Beckett Winship on Substack for the above quote. I no longer am a paying member, but somehow she emailed me one of her posts...and thus I read a bit about her love of the rivers.

---------------

Art from the internet and...

 

How many times do we see Fibonacci spirals all around us?

Watercolors by Rachel

Bertha Lum Paper Lanterns and Parasols 1907

by Ellen Harding Baker 1876 Solar System Quilt posted to The Marginalian

Thanks to Asheville Art Museum for this last sculpture below

--------------------

Art by Aleah Chapin - from Facebook "Girl God Books" posted to encourage women to take care of themselves.

Today's Quote:

The most precious inheritance parents can leave their children is their own happiness.

THICH NHAT HANH From my family albums: In college I had a supporting role in the musical play, The Boyfriend. The only thing I remember about the performance was seeing my parents in the audience, then missing my line completely. I'm on the far left in the scrumptious pink velvet flapper dress, which of course belonged to props.