Shadow Shot Sunday ~ historic

Four weeks ago my friend Linda picked me up on a sunny Saturday to seek some autumn foliage in Connecticut. 

Of course we were armed with our cameras and were ready to capture colorful leaves and trees for posterity (or at least for our blogs!)

We didn't see much color in Connecticut, so Linda kept driving over the border into Massachusetts. Still not much color for Oct. 8 in New England. It was disappointing.

She saw that Bennington, Vt. was a mere 38 miles further north, so north we headed. I'm so good at being a passenger!  

Here are five of many photos I took in Bennington that have shadows in them.

The fall foliage was at about 10 percent there. You'd think Vermont would be colorful in October...not really. Maybe it's because we were in southern Vermont.

I did find shadows in the historic cemetery adjacent to the First Congregational Church of Bennington. 

Robert Frost is buried there, and we weren't the only ones walking down the path through the graveyard to see his gravestone. 

There were arrows pointing the way to the Frost family's site, and there were lots of folks there when we were, thanks to lots of tour buses in the area.  

The fence below was in front of the cemetery, along the sidewalk. I was able to get a photo without cars and tour buses in it! Woo hoo!

I thought it was pretty and so typical New England. Notice the green leaves on the trees.

And here's Linda photographing The Walloomsac Inn, directly across the street from the church.

It was once a grand hotel, but now it seems like a perfect place for someone to set up a scary Halloween house. It looks kinda haunted!

I read that someone lives there, but I have my doubts. Who'd want to live there?

I urge you to visit our awesome Aussie friend Tracy at her Hey Harriet blog to discover lots of shadowy shots! 

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ more from Boston

This is the Massachusetts Beirut Memorial in Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park in Boston.

It was created in memory of the nine Marines from Massachusetts who died in the terrorist attack on the U.S. Marine Barracks in Lebanon on Oct. 23, 1983.

It says "Blessed Are The Peacekeepers" and the fallen Marines' names are inscribed.

One can almost read the sign!

Visit our awesome Aussie hostess, Tracy, at Hey Harriet to see lots more shadowy photos from around the world.

Looking at the Sky

... in France.

I call this 'French king on horse.'
I took it when our group (daughter's high school trip) traveled to Versailles, which is about a half-hour drive outside of Paris.
I didn't crop out the date stamp because I would have lost some of the clouds.


To see more photos of the sky, visit Tisha, our meme hostess, at CrAzY Working Mom.

That birthday meme ~

Duchess Linda posted this meme a while back and urged her readers to take part. It is from her friend, Jamie, of Duward Discussion. Here is what Linda posted from Jamie:

"Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to go to The Birthday Calculator and
This Day in History to find all sorts of interesting stuff about you and tell the world all about it."

Here goes:

29 December 1954

Your date of conception was on or about 7 April 1954 which was a Wednesday.

You were born on a Wednesday
under the astrological sign Capricorn.
Your Life path number is 6.

Your fortune cookie reads:
Hearts are not to be had as a gift, hearts are to be earned. W.B. Yeats

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 3, 6 & 9.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2435105.5.
The golden number for 1954 is 17.
The epact number for 1954 is 25.
The year 1954 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/3/1954 and ending 1/23/1955.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Horse.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Goose; your plant is Bramble.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Famenoth, the third month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 4 Tevet 5715.
Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 5 Tevet 5715.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.1.3.1 which is
12 baktun 17 katun 1 tun 3 uinal 1 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Wednsday, 4 Jumadiyu'l-Avval 1374 (1374-5-4).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 18 April 1954.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 25 April 1954.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 3 March 1954.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 6 June 1954.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 13 June 1954.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Tuesday, 28 September 1954.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Sunday, 18 April 1954.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 2 March 1954.

As of 11/29/2008 12:45:39 PM EST
You are 53 years old.
You are 647 months old.
You are 2,813 weeks old.
You are 19,694 days old.
You are 472,668 hours old.
You are 28,360,125 minutes old.
You are 1,701,607,539 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:

Jude Law (1972)	Bryan 'Dexter' Holland (1966)	Ed Autry (1954)
Ted Danson (1947)	Marianne Faithfull (1946)	Jon Voight (1938)
Mary Tyler Moore (1936)	Andrew Johnson (1808)	Charles Goodyear (1800)

Top songs of 1954

Sh-Boom by Crew-Cuts	Little Things Mean a Lot by Kitty Kallen
Oh! My Papa by Eddie Fisher	Wanted by Perry Como
Mr. Sandman by Chordettes	Make Love to Me by Jo Stafford
Hey There by Rosemary Clooney	Secret Love by Doris Day
This Ole House by Rosemary Clooney	I Need You Now by Eddie Fisher

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 7.70802348336595 years old. (You old hound dog, you!)

Your lucky day is Saturday.
Your lucky number is 8.
Your ruling planet(s) is Saturn & Uranus.
Your lucky dates are 8th, 17th, 26th.
Your opposition sign is Cancer.
Your opposition number(s) is 2 & 7.

Today is not one of your lucky days!

There are 30 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 54 candles.

Those 54 candles produce 54 BTUs,
or 13,608 calories of heat (that's only 13.6080 food Calories!) .
You can boil 6.17 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1954 there were approximately 3.6 million births in the US.
In 1954 the US population was approximately 150,697,361 people, 50.7 persons per square mile.
In 1954 in the US there were approximately 1,667,231 marriages (11.1%) and 385,144 divorces (2.6%)
In 1954 in the US there were approximately 1,452,000 deaths (9.6 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1954 the population of Australia was approximately 9,089,936.
In 1954 there were approximately 202,256 births in Australia.
In 1954 in Australia there were approximately 71,229 marriages and 6,457 divorces.
In 1954 in Australia there were approximately 81,805 deaths.


Your birthstone is Blue Zircon

The Mystical properties of Blue Zircon

Zircon helps one be more at peace with oneself.

Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Blue Topaz, Ruby, Lapis Lazuli

Your birth tree is

Apple Tree, the Love

Of slight build, lots of charm, appeal and attraction, pleasant aura, flirtatious, adventurous, sensitive, always in love, wants to love and be loved, faithful and tender partner, very generous, scientific talents, lives for today, a carefree philosopher with imagination.

There are 26 days till Christmas 2008!
There are 39 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were born was waxing crescent.

That's funny about the moon. I've been waxing poetic ever since. Hahaha...

~
And one tidbit from history - on December 29, 1890:

U.S. Army massacres Indians at Wounded Knee

On this day in 1890, in the final chapter of America's long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry kills 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.

So I memed. I hope you liked. Have a nice weekend!