Visit to the Iona Abbey – Scotland

Iona Abbey is located in the Inner Hebrides Islands on the Isle of Iona on the west side of Scotland.  It is one of Scotland’s most historic and sacred sites, well worth seeing.  It is very peaceful and beautiful.  For more history on the buildings and crosses read here.

 St. John’s Cross

 Right behind the St. John’s cross is the St. Columba’s Shrine

Inside St. Columba’s Shrine

 

 Here are some views inside the abbey.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

 

I enjoyed this tour of Iona and Mull the best of all my sightseeing here in Scotland.  Here is a view of the Forth Bridge and building of the new one on our way home.

 

Shared with:
Shadow Shot Sunday2

Iona Nunnery and St. Ronan’s Chapel

Iona Nunnery is on the Isle of Iona in the Inner Hebrides Islands in Scotland. If you like medieval ruins this one is simply awe-inspiring.  Here are some photographs from my visit.  I also visited the Iona Abbey, but I will save those for another day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shared with

Skywatch

Friday My Town Shootout

Our World Tuesday

Diary of a Frustrated Writer

 

That world out there stays the same,
It’s me inside that goes insane.

The world goes on no matter what,
But me inside, no matter what,
Never stays the same – or so it seems.

As I wrestle with the many dreams
That flicker, flash, then fall apart..

                                        L. Grimley ’81

Laughter I hear, do ye?

Laughter I feel, do ye? Where?

Around the trees and around the bees,

As they busily busy themselves with the trees.

Do ye know what I mean?

As the laughter wells bigger and bigger,

It seems most impossible to straiten oneself,

In the proper perspective

Of one in good health.

Who could understand the lifeless door of ease

As each little couplet comes across the

Channel  in need?

 

In need of what?  Laughter I say,

For who can be taken

Through life’s dreary door

If nowhere there be

Any laughter to make

The journey agree

                       L. Grimley ’75

Sharing with:

But-

 

 

The Truth Seeker and the Prophet – prose

 

 

 

*I channeled this in 1975.

Imaginary Link With Real Toads

Weekend Musing

Haiku

Stirling Castle

Stronghold of Stirling
To protect and defend all
Bastion of Scotland

 

 

South Inch Park, Perth, Scotland

Sharing with

Shadow Shot Sunday 2
Haiku My Heart
Weekend Reflections

Friday My Town Shootout

Remembering My Flower Garden

Here are some of the flowers I grew around my garden patio in Florida last year.  It was so much fun planning and laying out where I wanted all my little plants to go – and then watching them grow!  Some of the purple flowers I didn’t label rather than guess wrong as to what they are.  Maybe some of you may be able to tell me.  My favorite of all favorites for Florida flowers is the hibiscus.  Growing up in Florida I very much took them for granted, but after being in other parts of the country for some thirty years I realized how much I missed them and how special they really are.

Double Salmon Hibiscus

Vincas and a crepe myrtle bush just getting started.

Phlox

I had to include my cherry tomato plant, yes one, that grew and grew and grew with loads of little tomatoes.  Next to it is a basil plant that also kept growing and growing.  When I lived in Arizona for seventeen years only once did I succeed in getting a tomato or two off a bush.  Usually the temperature would get unusually hot in April and the plants wouldn’t blossom – or would lose its blossoms because of the high temps (this was in the low desert where temperatures reach the high 90s in spring and to about 120degrees in the summer.)

Here is the crepe myrtle bush as it has grown a bit.

?

?

Sharing with

Floral Friday Fotos

Pink Saturday

Saturday Showoff

My Visit To Stirling Castle

I was quite excited about visiting the Stirling Castle as I had heard it was one of the most historic castles in Scotland. If you would like to read some of the history, with some amusing events cited, there is a timeline from its beginning in 1107 through to the present day, and some other interesting facts here. (Click at top of the page for the Timeline).
.

Daily Record & Sunday Mail

 

Robert Burns scratched this poem on the window of the Wingate’s Inn after visiting the castle in 1787.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are life-size figures preparing food in the Great Kitchen with displays of all the varieties of foods they would have grown and eaten in those days.

 

The Palace of Stirling Castle was built by King James V in the mid-sixteenth century.    There are many sculptures adorning the outside walls of the palace which represent the prosperity and greatness that his regimen would bring.

The Grand Battery

In the graveyard, the graves of merchants and traders are carved with signs and symbols of their craft or trade.

 

Statue of King Robert the Bruce  – June 24, 1214

 

Returning to Perth, I took some photos of the beautiful countryside from the train.

Sharing with:

Skywatch

 

Outdoor Wednesday

The Beauty of Nature

 

Saturated red
Bright ruby red in color
Petunias delight

 

Near Tarbet, Scotland

t

Tarbet, Scotland

 

 

South Inch Park, Perth, Scotland

 

Swan gliding slowly
Looking for his daily meal
‘Neath the still waters

 

 

Shared with:

http://rubytuesdaytoo.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Our World Tuesday

Monday Morning Macros and Blue Skies

 

Sharing with Macro Monday 2 and Monday Mellow Yellow
. This is a tiny jumping spider I spied on my citrus tree awhile back.

 

 

 

Memories of home in Ocala.  This is the community clubhouse next to the apartment I had.  Look at those billowing clouds!  That is one of the things that I love most about Florida – the beautiful fluffy clouds and blue skies.  Sharing this with Blue Monday