The Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

Poppies in Remembrance at St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney Islands

If you sail north above Scotland, you find the beautiful Orkney Islands. Seventy island form Orkney and twenty are inhabited. I was privileged to visit Orkney and its administrative center, Kirkwall, in  2019. It's high on my list for a return visit, but alas, getting there is not easy, and so I return in my memories and here in Buttercupland. 

Let's step into the Cathedral

 One of the sights that stands out is the St. Magnus Cathedral, Britain's most northerly cathedral. The foundations began in 1137 and it has been home to Roman Catholic, the Norwegian Church, the Scottish Episcopal, and the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) worship. It houses a moving memorial to the 800 sailors of HMS Royal Oak, who died in  a bombing in October 1939. It was the first Allied ship that was bombed in World War II. 

The interior of the Cathedral

Today is the eleventh day of the Eleventh month. It is Veterans Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom, Canada and all of the Commonwealth. Today is also a holiday in France and Belgium, commemorating the end of World War I. Tragically, World War I, the war to end all wars, was not the end of war. 

Today and every day, moments of gratitude and reflection, for those who have sacrificed so much in the past, and those who serve today and continue to sacrifice, as well as prayers for their safety. 

It's finally autumn in New York -- yes, a great song title -- and finally I'm getting back to Buttercupland. I loved all of the travel this fall, but as usual it got me totally out of my routine and this fall was no exception. It's taken me longer to get back into routine, but now I feel that I'm settling back into my usual activities. I've got a long list of things I'd like to accomplish for the next few months and I'm beginning to click things off the list. This afternoon includes walking and getting my flu shot. What's on your list for the week?

As ever, thanks for visiting and take care.   

The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

 

The Shrine of Remembrance 

Melbourne, Australia

When I was growing up my parents referred to November 11 as Armistice Day. It commemorated the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, which was the day and time in 1918 that the armistice for World War I was signed. What we call World War I was also known as the "war to end war," after a book by H.G. Wells, published in 1914.

But as we know that despite its devastation the First World War didn't end war, and in 1954 President Eisenhower changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day, which honors all veterans. 

When I was in Australia in 2018 I visited the Shrine of Remembrance, which was built to remember the thousands of Australians who served in World War I. Thousands died and were buried far from Australia and here was a memorial that families could visit and remember their loved ones. As years passed it became a place of remembrance for all who served in the conflicts that followed "the war to end war." 

   

This post is a lot more serious than I intended, but war and the hope for peace stay in my thoughts daily. On the day when the United States and other countries remember those who served in the military, this post just about wrote itself. I pray that one day, and a day not far off, there will no longer be a need for war memorials.

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care, dear Buttercupland friends. 

Remembering HMS Royal Oak

 

Memorial to those lost in the sinking of HMS Royal Oak in October, 1939

On this Veterans Day we're taking a trip (armchair, of course) to the Orkney Islands, a group of islands well north of the Scottish mainland. Our destination is the beautiful St. Magnus Cathedral.The Cathedral is the most northerly cathedral in the United Kingdom. It's not easy to get to, but well worth a visit.  

St. Magnus Cathedral, built  in the Romanesque style of architecture 

 Construction began in the Twelfth century, when Orkney was under the Norwegian Archbishop of Trondheim. In 1472 Orkney and Shetland passed to Scotland as part of the dowry of Princess Margaret, daughter of King Christian of Norway and Denmark. Quite a dowry! 

One of my favorite details of this magnificent building are the doors, 

especially the workmanship of the metal. 

The interior of St. Magnus

We've come to Kirkwall the main town of Orkney, to pay our respects to the 834 men killed when HMS Royal Oak, was torpedoed by a German submarine. The ship was anchored at Scapa Flow, a harbor which was the United Kingdom's chief Naval base during both the First and Second Wars. Scapa Flow has a long history through the centuries and Vikings moored their longboats there over a thousand years ago. 

Detail of the Memorial Book for HMS Royal Oak

Today and every day, moments of gratitude and reflection, for those who have sacrificed so much in the past, and those who serve today and continue to sacrifice, as well as prayers for their safety. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care. 

Cheers for the Doughboy

 

The Doughboy statue in Abingdon Square

This Veterans Day Buttercupland is sending up cheers for the Doughboys and all the others who have served America throughout our history. Veterans Day began as Armistice Day in 1919, commemorating the first anniversary of the end of World War I. At the urging of major US veteran groups Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954. 

When I visited Abingdon Square on Halloween I made sure to take photographs of the Doughboy who stands at the entrance to the Square. The statue was placed there by the local Democratic Club in 1921 to "honor the brave men who went forth from this neighborhood to join the Armed Forces of the United States during the World War." 

The West Village (below Fourteenth Street on the West Side of Manhattan), home of Abingdon Square, is one of my favorite parts of Manhattan. There are still many buildings from the Nineteenth Century, with original details. There are even a few streets still paved with cobblestones. 

This was where we ate lunch during our visit to the West Village. The cobblestones are charming, but also bumpy. The "tent" was open on three sides and closed on the right side and on top. There are also plexiglass dividers between tables. On the far left, you can see the heater, which is great for nippier days. 

Again, a big thanks for all who have served our country.

Today was warm, but rainy and it looks like I will be retiring my flip flops and short sleeves in the next few days. These days have been a wonderful bonus and I have loved sitting out and not needing the heat lamps to keep warm. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care.

Marathon Pink Saturday

Running on Central Park West, almost at the finish.

For almost every year I've been blogging I've been out of town for Marathon Sunday. But this year not only was I home, but I had made a commitment to do an errand in the neighborhood near the finish line. I probably would have stayed closer to home, but without really planning it I was in the center of the Marathon activities. I'm sharing these Marathon photographs as my Pink Saturday post for this week.
 

It was a beautiful day for the thousands of runners from around the world that participated. The streets are blocked off -- the set up and security are monumental and were so well done -- and the runners are coming around the corner. They are about to turn into Central Park, having begun in Staten Island and run through Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx before finishing in Manhattan. 

This is a slightly different perspective on the same area, Columbus Circle. It's not quite two miles from where I live, just a few blocks from my gym and directly across the street from the site of one of my favorite work places. The building I worked in has long been demolished and replaced by a very fancy shopping mall/hotel/office tower, but to me it's still 10 Columbus Circle and my office.  

At the end of the race the runners are given capes to hold in heat and throughout the area there are finishers in blue capes. The bikes in the background are part of a city-wide bike rental program.
 

I was back in the neighborhood later in the week and in homage to Veterans Day, I took this picture of the monument built to honor those killed in the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor in February, 1898.

I'll never be a runner -- too many surgeries and injuries -- but seeing the runners made me think about doing a timed 5K walk. I initially thought of a half-marathon, but decided to focus first on a more attainable goal. I may decide it's a little too ambitious, but it's a great goal to strive for.

As ever, thanks for visiting. Take good care and wishes for a peaceful week. 

Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee

A cup for you and a cup for me. 

 

There's been a lot of chatter about Starbucks' seasonal coffee cup. It's a red cup and it doesn't have much festive design. There's even been a call for a boycott of Starbucks. I can't do much of a boycott of Starbucks. I stop there on an average of every six months and I was just there for my bi-yearly visit on Monday at the Miami Airport. I'm not due for another visit until the spring. I've got nothing against Starbucks, but I don't especially like their coffee and their flavored drinks are too sweet for me and too pricy.    

 

Be that as it may, enough about coffee cups. Enough. Make your coffee at home and pick the cup you like best. I'm going with these mugs I brought back from Italy almost fifteen years ago. One way to make a difference in the world is to take the cost of a fancy-dancy drink at Starbucks and donate the amount to a cause you care about. Since today is Veteran's Day, you might choose one that works with veterans. 

 

The song "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee" by Irving Berlin has been swirling in my mind during this coffee cup brouhaha. It was written in 1932, when for many people just having five cents for a cup of coffee wasn't always possible. I looked up the verses and found this line:

 

Things that really matter

Are the things that gold can't buy

 

True in 1932 and true in 2015. So let's have another cup of coffee, my friends, and put the focus on things that really matter. It's not coffee cups.   

 

I haven't forgotten that it's Veterans Day and wanted to share this picture of my father and his army buddies at Fort Sill during World War II.

 

 

Thanks, Daddy, and all who served and those who are serving our country today.

My deepest gratitude. 

 

As ever, thanks for visiting and if you're visiting New York, the coffee's on me.   

Remembering on Veterans Day...

Those who served...  

My father is in the back row to the left. He was drafted after Pearl Harbor and released from duty in 1946. He served in the United States and in combat in Europe, including France and Belgium.

...And those who serve now.  

You have my complete and total gratitude.