As this weeks photo challenge calls for something rare I am reposting my photos of The Veiled Virgin. I couldn’t believe that her veil is made of thin marble. She is so beautiful. If you ever get the opportunity to visit St Johns Newfoundland, Canada, go out of your way to immerse yourself in her presence. It is a rare and memorable experience that will leave you smiling.
For more information about The Veiled Virgin please click on my earlier post below.
The Narrows is the only entrance to St John’s Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada. The Narrows has a rugged natural beauty seen above from many angles over many days. At it’s narrowest point it is only 61 metres across, which has proven to be a great natural defense over the centuries. In the 1600’s, the harbour’s narrow entrance has provided the city with protection from pirates and later from enemy ships during war time.
When I first visited the Narrows, I remember my joy at seeing the mighty Atlantic Ocean for the first time—it felt different to the Pacific, I can’t explain why it just did.
What is the perfect pizza?
I like a spicy pizza but not your ordinary Mexicana. When I make a pizza at home it has a pesto, chilli sauce and tomato paste base topped with the following ingredients:
Once my pizza is cooked, I top it with rocket, sour cream and avocado (if I have any.)
What is your favorite time of day?
My favourite time of day varies depending on what I have on but it is always based on the one thing – ME TIME. I love the quiet time each day when I can do whatever I choose. It keeps me sane in this crazy world.
Show us two of your favorites photographs? The photos can be from anytime in your life span. Explain why they are your favorite.
I love this photo of me taken on one of the bridges crossing the Ottawa River, Canada. As we walked from the Quebec side of the river back into Ontario I am not sure which state I am standing in at the time but as we loved them both, it doesn’t matter. It also reminds me of the fun we had walking in the first serious snow we had during our 6 week trip to Canada. We kept believing it would come and eventually it did. I think it was also the last time I wore those jeans as they finally wore themselves out in Canada after over 10 years of faithful service. The colouful hat scarf I am wearing I made close to 30 years ago and is very unique. It remains in good condition however, as Australia doesn’t have enough days cold for me to wear it in.
This photo the original of Inspiring Max’s profile picture was taken 5 years ago from Melbourne’s Aquatic Centre. My daughter and I were there for her last School Sports Australia Diving competition which marked the end of an era for us. At the time there was a lot of difficult things happening in our lives that got worse as the year progressed. However, never being one to focus on the negative, if I needed an extra boost of positivity that everything would be alright in the end, I would get out my double rainbow, feel inspired and keep going.
Another thing I love about this photo is that it was one of the first photos I have taken that I was really proud of as you can see the individual rainbow colours on both sides.
Complete this sentence: I’m looking forward to….
moving back to Newcastle and commencing nursing in a new hospital. I have been working towards this for over 12 months and now it is getting very close.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
My husband starting his new job and getting together with my family without having to rush back to Sydney to work. In the next eek I am looking forward to my future employment being confirmed and maybe even a start date given.
Share Your World – 2016 Week 29
During our trip to Canada my husband and I spent what felt like hours studying and taking photos of flags. Their history interested us greatly and it was so different to our Australian flags. Our biggest problem was getting the wind right to get one flag to fly perfectly. So image our surprise when we looked up and saw these four flags perfectly aligned in the Old Port, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
While traveling to Canada, my husband and I accidentally wandered into the Canadian Mint in Ottawa where we could touch and pick up a 24 K gold bar weighing 28 pounds (12.7 kilograms.) It was an amazing experience and I was astounded that it was 999.9% pure gold. So simple but so beautiful.
I love spending time staring at the ocean. It relaxes me and reminds me how vast the world really is. Over my life I am excited to have seen the top 4 of the 5 oceans of the world which in ranked order are:
Growing up I lived 20 minutes from the Pacific Ocean on the east coast of Australia and loved going to the beach. Whether it was for a swim, to build a sandcastle or go for a walk give me the opportunity and I would be there. When I was 16 I traveled across Australia and got to lookout and swim in the Indian Ocean. I remember this experience began to give me a sense of how big the world’s oceans were. Then in 2000, just as it was officially recognised as an ocean, I was able to look out across the Great Australian Bight onto the Southern Ocean. I remember thinking that at this point that there was nothing between me and Antarctica, which felt very special.
Then in November 2014, the next stage of my ocean journey was revealed, as from the coast of Newfoundland I saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. She was beautiful even in winter and the thing that disappointed me the most was that although it wasn’t far from St Johns, we couldn’t get to the most easterly point of Canada because it was winter. Personally, I would have loved to have stated that I had been to and possibly even dipped my toe in, the most easterly point of Canada as well as Australia.
One of these days I plan on completing the last two goals of my world ocean journey list — to lookout over the Arctic and to cruise across the Atlantic following a similar journey to the Titanic. I don’t know about you but for me the following Jacques Cousteau quote is definitely true. What do you think?
December 2104 saw me tick a major milestone off my bucket list, a visit to Niagara Falls. We visited from the Canadian side which I loved as we got to go under the falls. The power of the water rushing past was deafening and awe-inspiring all at the same time. The bus trip from Toronto dropped us further up the Niagara River and we walked down to the falls taking in some amazing scenery as we went until we reached the spectacular Niagara Falls.
The journey under the falls and the view looking out into the wall of water.
American Falls and Bridal Falls on the American side of the Niagara River walking towards Niagara Falls.
Maids of the Mist take the winter off and are stored on the side of the river.
In the future my husband and I plan to travel back to Canada especially Newfoundland and spend 6-12 months exploring and soaking up the culture. We visited in 2014/15 enjoying it so much that we made an immediate plan to return after retirement, which can’t come quick enough.
What are you a “natural” at doing?
I am naturally good at the balance sport—trampoling, roller skating and ice skating.
I am naturally good at resolving conflicts and being the go to person when people want a friend to talk to. I would get the ex best friends talking again and suddenly I was being ignored again.
I am a naturally good at knitter. The first time I created something my teacher didn’t believe that I had done it because it was too perfect and looked like my mother had knitted it.
Would you prefer a one floor house or multiple levels?
Having lived in both I definitely prefer an open plan single storey house.
What was your favorite subject in school?
I don’t remember having a favourite subject at school although possibly home science. I did okay at school but I had to work at it.
Complete this sentence: If only the rain.. would stop or turn into snow. This is what my husband and I said to each other last Christmas when we had traveled to Canada for a white Christmas and the rain kept washing away the small amount of snow we got.
“What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?”
Last week I was grateful for the many learn opportunities I had at work through mistakes made. This week I am looking forward to giving my 10th advanced speech and receiving my Advanced Communicator Bronze award at Toastmasters.
Old Quebec City has many murals however the first created, known as the mural of Quebecers is very special. It depicts life through the history of Quebec and its citizens. I could have looked at it for hours and still find something new. Cleverly disguised as part of the artwork on the building are:
If you ever get the chance to go to Old Quebec City seek out the Mural of Quebecers–its definitely worth a look.
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