Sepia Saturday 121; Flight;

Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland on 16 November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited. The airline's first aircraft was an Avro 504K. The airline flew internationally from May 1935, when it commenced service from Darwin to Singapore.

In June 1959 Qantas entered the jet age when the first Boeing 707–138 was delivered

QANTAS = "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service"

In 1920 Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd had its headquarters in Winton, Queensland. In 1921 the head office moved to Longreach, Queensland. In 1930 the head office moved to Brisbane.

Here I have to include a story about early flights. A Family living in the outback, the father was manager of a  property, send  two  of the older girls, starting school, with a Quantas plane to boarding school. The cockpit was open, at the back was sort of an enclosure, but the windows had no glass. The children had to be bundled up in warm clothes and blankets, as it must have been freezing up there. Everybody came to the airport to say goodbye and brought presents for the girls to take with them.

Later the father flew with a Quantas plane to by bulls in Victoria. On his homeward flight the plane came down and he lost his life. The mother with her 5 small children could not manage the big property and moved to Brisbane. At the time she did not have the money to go to her husband's  funeral, far away,  as he was buried in Tambo where the plane crashed.

1920		Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd is formed on 16 November with headquarters in Winton, Queensland.
1921		Headquarters move to Longreach, Queensland.
1922		The first scheduled Qantas mail and passenger flight operates from Charleville to Cloncurry, Queensland.
1924		S M Bruce flies Qantas, becoming the first Australian Prime Minister to use an aircraft for official travel.
1926		Qantas begins building its own aircraft in Longreach.
1927		Qantas takes on its first apprentice.
1928		The Flying Doctor Service is launched, using Qantas aircraft.
1929		The outback network extends to Brisbane.
1930		Qantas establishes its headquarters in Brisbane. 2012 Next generation flying with the arrival of the first of our B787 fleet. 2020 Centenary of Qantas. Quantas through the years   if you would like to read more up to 2012 Our Pilot Bill  says; 'If it ain't Boeing, I'm not going'

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Thursday; ouch;

♥

Salvia   ©Ts

Wednesday; c'est la vie;

Life's Tragedy

It may be misery not to sing at all, 

And to go silent through the brimming day; 

It may be misery never to be loved, 

But deeper grieves than these beset the way.

To sing the perfect song, 

And by a half-tone lost the key, 

There the potent sorrow, there the grief, 

The pale, sad staring of Life's Tragedy.

To have come near to the perfect love, 

Not the hot passion of untempered youth, 

But that which lies aside its vanity, 

And gives, for thy trusting worship, truth.

This, this indeed is to be accursed, 

For if we mortals love, or if we sing, 

We count our joys not by what we have, 

But by what kept us from that perfect thing. 

Paul Laurence Dunbar

©Ts Photo

Sepia Saturday 120; Library;

Stifts Bibliothek St. Gallen, Switzerland

When I lived in Switzerland I have visited the Library many times. It is the most amazing and fascinating place  to visit if you are an aficinonado of books. One can still borrow books there.

Above the entrance to St Gallen Abbey Library, one of the oldest of its kind, is a Greek inscription which translates into English as "pharmacy of the soul".
The monks who founded the library considered books as medicine for the spirit. The 150,000 strong collection, now part of a Unesco World Heritage site, continues to inspire visitors and scholars today.

On entering the library, the visitor is immediately struck by two things – the vast quantity of books and the beauty of the room.

Remodelled in the 18th century, using the monastery's own craftsmen, the library is a heady mix of rich woodwork, ceiling paintings and stucco. The whole room – even on a rainy day - is illuminated by light from 34 windows.

It is said to be one of the most beautiful Baroque libraries in existence.

But only 30,000 of the library's collection – books and manuscripts – can be seen. Some volumes are considered simply too precious to be shown in public.

"There are 400 books here that are more than 1,000 years old.

Ancient treasures include a Latin manuscript of the Gospel and the oldest book in German.

The library also contains the earliest known architectural plan drawn on parchment - of the abbey itself - a copy of which can be seen in the library.

Glass cases hold fine illuminated manuscripts, some of which were done in the monastery.

" There are 400 books here that are more than 1,000 years old. "

The library was founded in 719 and is almost as ancient as the whole abbey site, which can traces it origins to a hermitage set up by Irish monk Gallus.

By the 9th century – the start of the abbey's golden age – the library had already built up a notable collection of books, including works from antiquity.

"St Gallen became rich through bequests of land and property and became very active in the realm of the sciences. Books were written and studied here," 

The monastery became one of the most important north of the Alps, with its influence – and reputation as a place of learning - extending into the German kingdom. 

It is said to be one of the most beautiful Baroque libraries in existence.

After a difficult time during the Reformation – St Gallen became the second Swiss city to turn to Protestantism – the abbey underwent a revival in fortunes in the 18th century when the library was remodelled.

Survival

But the jubilation did not last long. In 1798, French soldiers, fresh from the Revolution which toppled France's monarchy, marched though the area and attacked the buildings.

The monks fled, but not before they had taken the library's precious collection of books to safety.

A further blow came in 1805 when the newly formed Canton of St Gallen, eager to end the abbey's considerable influence, decided to dissolve the monastery. No monks have lived at the site since.

It was, however, decided to preserve the library. The whole abbey area, which also contains a magnificent Baroque church, now the cathedral, as well as medieval buildings, became a World Heritage site in 1983.

swissinfo.ch

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Easter Sunday; all about Easter

The Eeaster bunny brought me a golden Easter bunny, one of his more posh relatives!

My grandchildren were happy with their Easter baskets.

It is all good fun, but then Easter Celebration is much more then receiving chocolate eggs.



The Easter Flower
Far from this foreign Easter damp and chilly 
My soul steals to a pear-shaped plot of ground, 
Where gleamed the lilac-tinted Easter lily 
Soft-scented in the air for yards around; 


Alone, without a hint of guardian leaf! 
Just like a fragile bell of silver rime, 
It burst the tomb for freedom sweet and brief 
In the young pregnant year at Easter time; 


And many thought it was a sacred sign, 
And some called it the resurrection flower; 
And I, a pagan, worshiped at its shrine, 
Yielding my heart unto its perfumed power.


 Claude McKay





Beethoven's wonderful Ode to Joy;

Freude, schöner Götterfunken*
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Joy, beautiful spark of the gods*
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter, drunk with fire,
Heavenly one, your sanctuary!
Your magic reunites
What custom strictly divided.
All men become brothers,
Where your gentle wing rests.

©Photos Ts

Thursday; sad; "spend and done";

SAD; a capricious word, as it quivers and waits

 on the edge of one's being;

 to erupt in solitude.

 It  haunts all smiles and doles out fears,

it robs all laughter 

and dances on tears. Ts

Photo/Words  ©Ts

Wednesday; shadow play;

Are you back or never?

Shadow of a bird,

 flying here and flying there;

On this twisted, unsung day

do you really care?

Photo/Words ©Ts

Sepia Saturday 119 Work;

My father in the black jumper,he was always standing straight, never leaning, with some workmen in the woods,  here it seems they have a "smoko". I always liked this photo because it looks so relaxed and friendly.

He always told us to stand straight and not to lean!!

My father was not a smoker and not a drinker; he also did not like work in the office. He always made sure that he could spend a lot of time outside. When I was small he always took me for walks  into the forest and told me the names of the trees and showed me were the badgers lived.When I was older he taught me to shoot. He praised me when I made a good mark.  But there was no shooting birds or any animals. It was purely for sport, and he thought it was good if a girl or woman could also handle a gun with responsibility!

I think this photo is probably around 1933.

My grandmother of my fathers side with two of  her farmhands "making hay".

She was a  tiny woman with lots of stamina, always working hard, she was the  one to look after 

the farm, house, and children. 

Sepia Saturday

Friday; Grandparents day at Somerset College;

Today was again Grandparents Day and Easter celebration  at Somerset college.

Grandparents day up to year 5, my youngest grandchild is now in year 3 so I will have two more years to attend this special day.

Fabrizia at her desk.

First we were treated to a concert by Year 11 students. Then the grandchildren came to meet us and accompanied us to the classroom where ...

....we made a crossword and baked a carrot cake for the Easter bunny!

Afterwe finished  we were treated to Morning Tea; after that we went to the great Hall to watch the Easter hat parade!

Grandparents brought their Easter hats and had as much fun as the children.

Somerset College a great school; here is a link Somerset College;

Monday; Fairy tale;

Flying to Rainbow;

.... they met by coincidence. Where are you flying to? I am traveling to Rainbow; ah, interesting, I am visiting there as well, it is a cheerful and beautiful place.That was fast;  we, are already landing; It really looks beautiful, different to any place I have been. Where are you staying? I am staying in that  dreamy, yellow house over there, draped with pink and purple Bougainvillea. How extraordinary it is my destination too.  I am glad I met you, let me help you with your luggage, as we are going to the same place.  It is such a pretty place, look at the Jasmine creeping through the windows and Almond trees have showered their frothy petals over the door steps.  How lovely the sun sets, pink and blue, green  and gold ; two grey heads leaning towards each other, holding hands with a knowing and soft understanding. A glass of red, a cuddle here and a whisper there, the fish frying, bravely overdone and the salad greens waiting with wilting leaves while they dance and flirt in a yellow house scented with Jasmine in the late spring afternoon.

This is a Fairy tale, any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.

♥

Dedicated to all oldies young at heart.

©Ts 

Sepia Saturday 118; Going out;

Probably 1932

My mother, Rosalia, right and her older sister Victoria. 

I guess on a Sunday outing.

Probably 1938

My aunt Helene her daughter Gerlinde and her nephew Joseph;

I do not know where they went, perhaps to a wedding or to a christening.

Summer 1948

My younger sister and I, going out;

Sunday dress, white socks and white shoes

Going out  to a School reunion 1969

From left, I, my school friend Guido and my best friend Margrit.

That's all from me,  Going out;

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Sepia Saturday

Thursday; a good excuse...

Today I am going to the Arts center to see the movie "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". Lilli said, Mum a good excuse to make a  girl's day out and lunch at Ferry Road Market. ML comes too, we all love movies.




 Drama / Comedy

Cast: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson and Maggie Smith. 

Synopsis:The Exotic Marigold Hotel follows a group of British retirees who decide to "outsource" their retirement to less expensive and seemingly exotic India. Enticed by advertisements for the newly restored Marigold Hotel and bolstered with visions of a life of leisure, they arrive to find the palace a shell of its former self. Though the new environment is less luxurious than imagined, they are forever transformed by their shared experiences, discovering that life and love can begin again when you let go of the past.

May the blessings of each day be the blessings you need most.♥  

Wednesday; peaceful;

Nature is cruel....but also extraordinarily beautiful;

 pleated leaf of  the Bismark palm.

Peaceful for me means, walking around in the garden and take in all the flowery and earthy scents, the visual pleasure of unexpected beauty,  a leaf illuminated, a petal glitter from last nights rain.

Today I am invited to visit Sarah's garden. I am looking forward to see her garden. It is always a pleasure to    talk to a fellow gardener.


Down By The Salley Gardens by William Butler Yeats

DOWN by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white
feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not
agree.
In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white
hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

Lichen adorning a tree;

© Ts

Tuesday; a tiny speck...

Dawn in the Currumbin Valley;

WHO do you think we are? 

Monday; Sola;

The lovely Setsugekka, Camelia sasanqua; is always the harbinger of autumn, the first of the Camelias to flower. The white flowers pristine, sometimes with a breath of pink. It is deilcately beautiful.

This morning I have to make myself to write about something beautiful; the words are not flowing today;
Outside the wind has chased the clouds to make  room for blue and gold, I did not expect it this morning.
Perhaps my day improves too, something chasing off the clouds.

To cheer me up a few lines of  A MERRY AUTUMN
 It's all a farce,—these tales they tell 
        About the breezes sighing, 
    And moans astir o'er field and dell, 
        Because the year is dying.

 Such principles are most absurd,— 
        I care not who first taught 'em; 
    There's nothing known to beast or bird 
        To make a solemn autumn.

 Now purple tints are all around; 
        The sky is blue and mellow; 
    And e'en the grasses turn the ground 
        From modest green to yellow.

 The seed burs all with laughter crack 
        On featherweed and jimson; 
    And leaves that should be dressed in black 
        Are all decked out in crimson. 

                Merry Autumn, a wonderful hymn by Paul L. Dunbar.

Somewhere over the oceans is an other world where spring sows tiny bells of happiness.


♥


A favourite;

As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction.


And an other favourite
...tomorrow is another day.

Sepia Saturday 117 - Scouts;

Scouts is a difficult meme for me, no photos, nothing, nobody past or present has been a scout. My middle daughter had once a go at cadets in her first years at Maclean Highschool. Nothing has come out of it not even a photo. As far as I know my father did not like organised obedience. He hated it when he had to do his obligatory military training and also the successive  trainings every year for three weeks and after 40 for 2 weeks.  My daughters never showed any interest to be a  "Browny" what the girls were called in those day I have a nephew he has refused to do military training and service and had to something else, like community service. Before that many went to jail which was the only option if you did not do military service. For the females it was optitional.
I remember the scouts in Switzerland, they were little busy bodies feeling very important in their khaki uniforms and big hats. In lieu of the missing scout pictures I post some from the early years of military service of my dad.

I do not know the year of  this picture, but I know it was  in the second  world war, when all Swiss men had to go and defend the borders. Here he was in the cooking brigade, I think he did not mind it because he liked cooking! He always cooked on Sunday for us. My dad is right at the edge of the picture.

It looks like there were a few more which were not amused.

My mother with some  Swiss soldiers;  No clue why they are here, I guess my mother might have cooked for them. My father is not in this picture. He might have taken the picture. 

To me it looks rather odd, at that time it must have been  serious.

Here in front my father not wearing his uniform, why? His hands in his pockets, a very big no no; standing there not very elegantly  but very sure of himself.

No clue when or why?

This is my contribution of uniformed men, hope you enjoy.

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Wednesday; Treats;

From Fabrizia with Love...

8 years old;

As Grandparents we have the privilege of being hugged from little arms and whispers, I love you goi. (Grossmammi) and we receive delightful paintings of the family dog.

It was a thank you for a sleep over on March the 30. 2011 

Panda Love 2009

6 years old;

Snowmen in SUMMER was Fabrizia's interpretation of her Painting. 2007

She was 4 years old.

Pantry doors as gallery for memories; drawings and paintings from the grandchildren

♥Happy days with your grandchildren♥

Monday; From Evolution to Revolution;

HOPE

“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero”' 

Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity  and change at every level of biological organization.
Earth and its inhabitants are in a continuous evolutionary process.
In the process of  evolution we are building up but we are also destroying.
Our knowledge has given us an arrogance which we can follow through history;  We think we are unbeatable, we do not reckon with the balance of nature in evolution. We pick at it, take it apart and put it the wrong way together. We make and try out a huge amount  new molecules. We make new food chains to combat diseases in crop but create in doing so new ones. We manipulate  all the food that is available today and we think we get away with it.  What we gain might be lost also, a terrible dilemma. We change DNA, we frack the earth, we pollute the oceans, we pollute water and earth with  poisons whiche will not ever be retractable, it is evolution in a negative process which nature has in store for us because we are “blessed” with bigger brains.

In the process of evolution, people have always been on each other throats for superiority. On all fours we fought for food;  Then advanced on two legs and found the club to hit each other on the head. Then we advanced a bit further to the sword and were able to cut us to pieces. A bit later we advanced to make a gun and  we all know the consequences it brought.  Our evolution is still pushing us, we have now the nuclear bomb. It has already been used and evolution does not let us stop here, as bad as it sounds but the people’s arrogance plus addled brains, drunk by success, do not see their downfall.
It has nothing to do with religion or what ever the prophecies are, it is pure evolution  of a species with a bigger brain; what goes round comes round.

Revolution;
A revolution (from the Latin revolutio, "a turn around") is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.
 Aristotle described two types of political revolution:
Complete change from one constitution to another Modification of an existing constitution.
Revolutions have occurred through human history and vary widely in terms of methods, duration, and motivating ideology. Their results include major changes in culture, economy, and socio-political institutions.
A  Revolution can only help us now to come out of our quagmire if we have a complete turnaround. Change our behaviour towards nature, towards anything living. Unfortunately,  I do not think that this is possible, evolution  has its own way with us. Revolutions work for a while, a very short time, until it falls all in a heap again.
The movement which is now in control of the world stops at nothing even if it destroys itself in the process.  So I say, seize  the day while you can.

'Carpe diem' is usually translated from the Latin as 'seize the day'. However, the more pedantic of Latin scholars may not agree if you suggest that translation. 'Carpe' translates literally as 'pluck', with particular reference to the picking of fruit, so a more accurately translated  “enjoy the day, pluck the day when it is ripe'.
The phrase 'carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero' translates as 'Pluck the day, trusting as little as possible in the future'.

©TS

Sepia Saturday 116; Hair;

Beards, are absent in my family, always have been. My ancestors must have been completely against facial hair.

They all looked as clean shaven as Richard E. Grant as Sir Percy aka Scarlet Pimpernel.

I had to call again on my grandson Lucian who has a head full of curls which I think make up for the best beard. This was in 2004.

In 2006 he was in year 12,  17 just before University. At this time he slicked his curls down with lots of gel!

Is this called a good head  of hair?

Enjoy

Sepia Saturday