https://www.oceanaairshow.com/performers?fbclid=IwAR352y8unrj_X_iS1M2vf8vT0ZtCSfqOqVK1pXXXfpeWJ5OVg58dNy1cHD8

 “This moment humanity is experiencing can be seen as a door or a hole. The decision to fall in the hole or walk through the door is up to you. If you consume the news 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, with pessimism, you will fall into this hole.

But if you take the opportunity to look at yourself, to rethink life and death, to take care of yourself and others, then you will walk through the portal.

Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself, you take care of everyone at the same time.

Do not underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Take the perspective of an eagle that sees everything from above with a broader view. There is a social question in this crisis, but also a spiritual question. The two go hand in hand.

Without the social dimension we fall into fanaticism. Without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and futility.

Are you ready to face this crisis. Grab your toolbox and use all the tools at your disposal.

Learn resistance from the example of Indian and African peoples: we have been and are exterminated. But we never stopped singing, dancing, lighting a fire and rejoicing.

Don't feel guilty for feeling blessed in these troubled times. Being sad or angry doesn't help at all. Resistance is resistance through joy!

You have the right to be strong and positive. And there's no other way to do it than to maintain a beautiful, happy, bright posture.

Has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world). It's a resistance strategy.

When we cross the threshold, we have a new worldview because we faced our fears and difficulties. This is all you can do now:

- Serenity in the storm

- Keep calm, pray everyday

- Make a habit of meeting the sacred everyday.

Show resistance through art, joy, trust and love.”

The Source of this wisdom teaching is currently unknown.

 Since my life on FB is in danger and this is a platform that I can use to express my thoughts, I thought I would post something here before it is lost to Cyberspace. I don't usually rant on this page. It takes up valuable time and space. 
 FB/Meta has removed one of my posts, citing "suggesting suicide". I was just saying that I used to care. If anybody wanted to change my mind or give me some inspiration, I am all ears. I am in no way implying that I would cause self-injury. I find it difficult to understand why they would pick on me but allow some of the worst stuff to be posted on social media. Here is what I posted and their response. Maybe I accidentally sent up a red flag ? 

Time to Retire

   After over seventy years of enjoying and sharing my photography, I will be closing my Facebook accounts but I may keep my online Flickr Photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldetownephotos/

 (over 51,000 images) site active for another year. Times, people and technology have changed have changed so much that I find it difficult to keep up. 
Social media, imho, has gone out of control and FB has outlived its usefulness.        Blogger.com is my safe place. Google, Wikipedia and YouTube are the greatest things since sliced bread. Since I don't blog about politics or religion, I try to maintain a non-opinionated stream. I am finished with debating and trying to enlighten people on social media. If I post or make a comment, it is recorded somewhere. If I think about something, I receive ads within the hour. Who needs the intrusion? 
  I have included links to some of the Blogs over on the Side Bar that you may (?) find interesting. I need to refresh the list as I see that some haven't been active for several years.
  Comments are welcome whether or not you agree. This is a free country and this is an uncensored blog. 
  Cheers 😀

Still Kicking

Just checking in to see if this still works. Been away for a while and been ranting and posting on Facebook, Wordpress and Flickr. Couldn't access the blog because so many things had changed. Now that I have a Google email address, it looks like I'm back in the game. So if anybody is interested, find me on those sites until I get back to posting on Blogger.
Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/OldeTownePhotos/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldetownephotos/

Love Our Geese

... but don't feed them.

I've started to collect information on the problems of feeding wild geese in our city park, especially stale bread. A few comments on Facebook didn't have any effect, so I'm going to be putting all the information here as reference.

People have always enjoyed feeding gulls, geese, ducks or swans at beaches and parks. Indeed, they feel they are doing the birds a big favor, helping them out. What they might not realize is that feeding these birds is detrimental to them and the environment in many ways. Please read on to learn more about the harmful effects of hand feeding waterfowl.
http://hardeybordercollies.com/id91.html
Ten Reasons to Not Feed Geese.

WHAT DUCKS SHOULDN'T EAT >>>
Unfortunately, the food most people associate with ducks – BREAD – is also one of the worst parts of a duck's diet.
Bread is bad for ducks because it lacks any nutritional value for the birds. A diet of mostly bread or bread-like products such as crackers, cookies, donuts, chips, cereal, popcorn and similar scraps will cause health problems, including obesity, malnutrition and poor development. Uneaten, rotting bread in the water will foster disease and attract pests and predators such as rats, raccoons and other mammals that may prey on ducklings or even attack adult ducks. Birders who enjoy feeding ducks should do so only rarely and should offer a range of nutritious foods, such as cracked corn, oats, chopped vegetables and lettuce leaves instead of unhealthy bread.

What Do Ducks Eat ?

Battle of Hampton Roads

aka - The Monitor and the Merrimac(k)
or rightly called the CSS Virginia

Collection of information and images depicting this famous battle.

http://www.monitorcenter.org/the-battle-of-hampton-roads/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/pga.04044/

"The Monitor and Merrimac: The First Fight Between Ironclads", a chromolithograph of the Battle of Hampton Roads, produced by Louis Prang & Co., Boston signed "Jo Davidson".

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/confederate_ships/virginia.html

Undefeated CSS Virginia returning to Portsmouth.
[ Faux Daguerreotype by yours truly. ] 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/oldetownephotos/15352108818/

· 

The Battle of Hampton Roads took place March 8th and 9th, 1862. A key witness to this event was Henry Eaton Coleman who was born on January 5, 1837 at Woodlawn Plantation in Halifax County, Virginia. He studied civil engineering at the Virginia Military Institute and the College of William and Mary. At age 21, Coleman purchased a farm known as “Cedar Grove.” At the outbreak of the Civil War, Coleman joined the 12th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, as a captain in Company B. The regiment was ordered to Sewell’s Point, near Norfolk, where Coleman witnessed the epic duel between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. He wrote a letter afterwards from Camp Arrington to his wife Julia describing the battle and casualties. His letter even included sketches of the Monitor and Virginia. A portion of his letter is enclosed: "On Saturday, March 8th, at 12 a.m. the “Merrimac” in company with the gun boats “Raleigh” “Beaufort” (each of one gun.) left her wharf in Norfolk steamed directly to Newport News. At 2 p.m. the “Realigh” Capt. Alexander, opened on the Blockading vessels; then the “Beaufort,” Capt. Parker, joined in, which the “Merrimac” quietly proceeded between the “Congress” “Cumberland” (U.S. 40 gun frigate) + gave it to them right + left. At 2.45 p.m. the “Cumberland” sunk, from the broadsides of the “Merrimac” + from the battering ram, then whole crew (about 500 men) with the exception of the a few who swam ashore, drowned. At 3 p.m. the “Congress” took fire, but was extinguished. Shortly after taking fire she ran up a white flag at half mast in [show] of surrender + distress, the commander of the “Merrimac” ceased firing + sent a boat to her assistance. This boat was fired on shore several times, + then the “Merrimac” threw ascending shells into her + burnt her to the waters edge with most of her crew aboard." Coleman finished the war as a colonel and succeeded in a career as a civil engineer. He died on June 25, 1890 in Halifax County, Virginia. His letter resides in the collections of the Mariner's Museum.

http://cssvirginia.org/vacsn/135anniv/index.htm

http://www.building-model-boats.com/css-virginia.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hampton_Roads

Rev. Braidfoot (aka Dean Burgess) tells the story behind the stained glass window in Trinity Church.

Do you know the story behind this window? I was trying to find something on the Internet, but I guess I'll have to just tell you what I know. The part that's in the light box was removed from the window to keep the Union Forces from burning down the church and the hospital. It reads: " Who died during the Civil War between the years of 1861 & 1865 in Defence of their Native State of Virginia against the invasion of the U.S. forces."

There are many memories of the Civil War in the church. The “Confederate Window” commemorates officers who died from this church. It was erected during Union occupation of the town and the inscription, now standing on the sill, was so offensive to the Union officers that the Secretary of the Navy said he would close the Naval Hospital and the Shipyard unless it was removed.

The crew of the C. S. S. Virginia (the ironclad Merrimac) was blessed at this altar and the acting priest, The Rev. John Wingfield, blessed the ship before it went to the first battle of ironclads. Fr. Wingfield’s refusal to pray for the President of the United States resulted in his being forced to sweep the streets in Norfolk with a ball and chain on his leg (he later became the first Bishop of Northern California).

http://www.trinity-portsmouth.org/anniversary-info