Author: maristravels

  • Sculpture Saturday: Cyprus

    This group of bronze statues shows the release of Greek Cypriot prisoners, peasants and clergy, from British colonial rule during the fight for independence on the island of Cyprus. The statue is in Nicosia but I was unable to find a date for it. I photographed it sometime in the 1970’s and I think it was fairly new then.

    EOKA and the fight for Independence, Cyprus

    Linked to Mind Over Memory who hosts this challenge.

  • FACEBOOK EXPLAINED

    I can’t resist posting this which I’ve just received. As someone who uses social media but seldom, I find it so true.

  • SILENT SUNDAY

    It is always sad to see deserted villages and town and even though they are being given status by UNESCO, they still harbour a feeling of meloncholy.

    Fikardou Village – a Unesco Heritage Site in Cyprus

    There is no escaping the fact that young people will no longer work at back-breaking, low-paying jobs on farms, and abandoned villages like these are a familiar site all over the Mediterranean. Even when some houses are restored by a local who works abroad, they are then used only as holiday homes. The greatest cause for concern then becomes the elderly left to fend for themselves when all the young people have fled to coastal towns for work.

  • BLOCKS – Not liking them

    It’s not that I don’t like the blocks themselves, it’s that the script offering them runs across what I’m trying to write, causing frustration and annoyance. For a while back I was coping but now WP seems to have put a gremlin in the works. Instead of the block for Image showing up, I get a list of blocks I don’t need or use (for business, mostly) so I have to find ways to get the image block up which means time spent searching. If I only use paragraph and image can’t the Blocks intuitively sense this? Why offer me blocks I’ve never used?

    Today I was uploading a Sculpture Saturday post and the tools down the right-hand side disappeared, leaving me with a page which held my text and image but nothing else. I couldn’t find categories, tags, slugs, anything like that so I had to add these via the list of Posts. Then I wanted to defer this posting until Saturday, but that button wasn’t there either. I thought if I hit Publish it might give me the chance to put a date in but no, I hit publish and guess what, it’s published it!

  • Sculpture Saturday

    And now, for something completely different (thank you Monty Python).

     (this was still in my Drafts folder so I’m re-posting it as I’m unsure what is happening. Another mix-up with Blocks?)

    Les Braves by Anilore Banonon on Omaha Beach, Normandy

    Commissioned by the French government on the 60th Anniversary of WWll and erected in 2004 as a monument to the Americans who helped liberate France, this moving sculpture stands at the centre of Omaha Beach.

    The beach today is an place of calm and tranquillity but 76 years ago it was an inferno of noise, smoke and slaughter. Here, along a five-mile stretch of shoreline, the men of the American 1st and 29th Divisions, caught off-guard as they had not expected to meet such opposition, battled their way through fierce German defences.

    Thousands of Allied troops were killed in the D-Day battle of Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, but it was perhaps the single greatest turning point of World War II.t.

  • Silent Sunday

    After the rain in Hua Hin, Thailand.

    After the Rain in Hua Hin, Thailand.
  • Sculpture Saturday

    Sculpture Saturday is hosted by Mind Over Memory

    As my sculpture of Dionysus uploaded a couple of few weeks ago only showed part of the work I thought I’d add a few more pictures to show the whole carving.  It shows some members if the family of Bacchus.

    Father: Zeus (supposedly the face of Robert Stigwood who commissioned the piece).

    The God Zeus - Father of Dionysus

    Wife Aphrodite

    Dionysis & wife

    Some of the symbols of Dionysus are also found in the sculpture.  

    • The Grapes and Goblet:   The symbol of the Grapes and Goblet relate to his role as the god of wine. He taught mortals how to plant and tend the grapevine, press the juice and make it into wine.

    • The ram signifies more the decadent side of Dionysus and is more often associated with the Roman version of the myth in which Dionysus is called Bacchus.

    • Ivy:  Ivy or holly vines were a symbol of immortality and decadent indulgence, Dionysus was often depicted wearing this type of wreath which was associated with merry making and celebrations

    The finished tree
    The Finished Work, located at Barton Manor, Isle of Wight

    Link to Mind Over Memory to add Post.

  • Silent Sunday

    Mid-June 2020. Deserted Resort due to CoronaVirus.

    A sunny, hot, Sunday afternoon and the beach should be full of families with children playing on the sands, buckets and spades, and the sounds of bat hitting ball. Beach cafes closed, ice-cream parlours boarded up, and the pier locked up. How are the families coping who have no access to outdoor facilities, no gardens, no nearby parks? We who have must be grateful – we are the lucky ones.

    Link to Words Visual and Lucid Gypsy

  • Sculpture Saturday

    Prior to taking a tour through the Vienna Woods I took a walk in the Stadt Park which is full of statues to musicians. Pride of place, of course, goes to the favourite son, Johann Strauss.

    Link to Mind Over Memory who hosts this challenge.

  • Silent Sunday

    Fond Farewell – Mixed Ashes & Roses strewn on the water.

    Link with Lucid Gypsy and Words Visual – Silent Sunday