The surprising flag

I went out for a walk yesterday, going on one of my usual routes, and saw this:

I have easily seen the flag of the Confederate States of America more times in the United Kingdom than I ever did in the United States; this is the third, possibly fourth, time that I have seen it here. It's bizarre! I only recall seeing one Confederate flag while my family and I lived in the United States...and bear in mind we lived there for over fourteen years.

I do wonder if the people who fly this flag here in the UK actually know what it represents, or if they fly it because they merely like its appearance.

As for this picture, my brother took it this morning with my main camera; I didn't have my camera on me yesterday when I went for my walk.

The "pond" in summer

Remember the "pond" that I don't think is really a pond? I have posted pictures of it here in a liquid state and when it's been a small skating rink. Now, in the middle of July, this is what it looks like in the summer:

Other than a couple of puddles, the heat has nearly dried the pond out. I am sorry about the lower quality of these pictures; my phone's camera struggled somewhat in the low light.

"Moves Like an Owl" - an Owl City / Maroon 5 mashup by Sjoersje

I'm in a good mood tonight, and I wanted to post a link to a positive-sounding song. I discovered this excellent mashup by Sjoersje; it's Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera's "Moves Like Jagger" combined with Owl City's "Take It All Away":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--fUEMQFqVI

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love mashups, especially when they're made well; I love this particular mashup and it's improved in that I enjoy the music of the artists whose songs have been mashed up.

Foxton Locks 2013

My family and I visited Foxton Locks today. I didn't take as many pictures as I did last year but I ensured I had a few for another post:

This is an area of the grounds up by the Foxton Inclined Plan; it was taken from the same observation deck that I mentioned in the previous post.

A shot of some yellow water-lillies; in addition to the lillies, this section of the river was filled with fish.

The plaque read as "Pats Bridge" (no apparent apostrophe); however, I think the bridge is named "Pat's Bridge" and not "Pats Bridge".

My brother and I walked north on the Leicester line of the Grand Union Canal; this was the furthest point we reached in our walk before we headed back to the locks. We had a pleasant afternoon at Foxton Locks.

The "Thankful Villages"

Two days ago, my family and I visited the village of East Carlton, located here in Northamptonshire, to visit the East Carlton Country Park. When we returned home later that day, I did a little research about the place and learnt that it is one of England and Wales' "Thankful Villages".

What is a Thankful Village? Well, the Thankful Villages (also known as "Blessed Villages") are the 51 places in the United Kingdom whose military personnel at the time survived World War I; 14 of those villages then became known as "doubly thankful" when all their soldiers also survived World War II. Unfortunately, there are no places in Northern Ireland or Scotland that hold these titles, and East Carlton is not among the 14 doubly thankful locations.

I'm not sure which is more remarkable, while at the same time deeply saddening and horrifying: that there were a few places in the UK that managed to escape tragedy from the world wars or that nearly every place in the UK did receive at least one fatality from those wars. Either way, it's a reminder that conflicts such as the world wars should not happen again and that we should continue working towards a peaceful planet.

Perhaps what surprised me more that day was telling Mum and Dad that we had visited a Thankful Village: neither had heard of the term before I told them. They're highly knowledgeable about British history and I assumed that this was something they were well-familiar with.

I consider it an honour to have visited East Carlton; I would like to visit it again. I have respect for this village and the others that share in its corner of history.

Purple thistles

I photographed these purple thistles a couple of afternoons ago:

My brother reckons that there has been a decline in the amount of these purple thistles this year, which is a shame if that is the case. The plants remind me of the teazels we had in Oregon, although those are native to Europe and are considered an invasive species in the United States

Skylar Grey's second album, "Don't Look Down"

On May 23rd, 2006, Skylar Grey (then Holly Brook) released her first album, Like Blood Like Honey. During that year, she became known from her featured appearance in the hit song "Where'd You Go" by Fort Minor. For a few years after the departure of "Where'd You Go" from the pop charts, her only appearances on radio were in the occasional repeat of the song; then, in 2010, she re-emerged under her "Skylar Grey" persona as a featured artist on a few songs. In late 2011, she released the single "Invisible"

At long last, after over seven years, Grey has released her second album: Don't Look Down. I was delighted in the final quarter of 2012 to finally obtain a copy of Like Blood Like Honey and now I can genuinely look forward to having her second album. I wrote back in May that July 9th was the release date, although I was concerned that the date would be pushed back again. For some reason, "Invisible" isn't included on the album but I can live with that.

As of this writing, Don't Look Down is available here on Amazon UK as an import; while I want the album, I will wait a spell longer to see if a full release will happen here or if a deluxe edition will materialize. For now, I'm just overjoyed that Grey has a second album out! A part of me thought that a follow-up to Like Blood Like Honey would never come to be but I didn't give up hope!

Bee in Coventry

Dad, my brother and I were all in Coventry yesterday afternoon. Dad and my brother took several pictures while we were all there; one picture was this:

A bee, or rather, a bumblebee, as my brother reckoned it was. It's probably the only bee that has ever "posed" for a picture rather than fly away! My brother obtained three pictures of this bee.

I like how "Bee in Coventry" rhymes, too.

The moth on the light

I photographed this moth on my bedroom's lamp shade last night:

It was somewhat of a delight for this moth to take up temporary residence in my room (I don't mind moths); however, before I went to bed, I carefully trapped the moth in a glass, as to not harm the creature, to let it outside. I attempted to let it outside but it decided it was more comfortable inside the glass; I left the glass near an open window and the moth flew outside sometime during the night.

If you glance at the first two pictures or look at them out of the corners of your eyes, the moth looks more like a bat than a moth.

Sheep and goats?

I took this picture this afternoon of some field animals; some of them are obviously sheep but I wasn't sure if a couple of the others were goats or shaved sheep:

Today was also our hottest day this year yet; the temperature surpassed 80 Fahrenheit and it's currently that hot in the house, even this late in the evening. I had an ice cream this afternoon, too; it seemed appropriate!

The red poppies

I photographed these red poppies this afternoon:

 

I was astounded to see such an abundance of red poppies; I had never seen so many at once before! These two pictures were taken with my phone, which is why the poppies appear less a little more orange than red.

"Say You'll Be There" - Spice Girls

For today's post, this is the song "Say You'll Be There" by the Spice Girls; it is the second single from their debut album, Spice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ro0FW9Qt-4

When I was around six/seven-years-old, I was into the Spice Girls, although it wasn't for their music (it wasn't until I was listening to the Open House Party nearly a decade later that I heard a Spice Girls song in its entirety); my favourite Spice Girl was always Baby Spice, whom I can now hear nearly every week because she is an afternoon presenter on the Heart radio network on Saturdays! I'm more familiar with the Spice Girls' debut single, "Wannabe", but since I've been listening to Heart I've heard "Say You'll Be There".

Eight British coins

As promised, a full shot of the eight coins:

From left: a penny, two pence, five pence, ten pence, twenty pence, fifty pence, a pound and two pounds. As also promised, this picture is of the reverse ("tails") side of each coin. I have plenty of coins, including a few foreign types plus several American coins and even a dollar (although that last one is not a coin!).

Two more British coins

As promised in my final Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party post, here is an image of the two coin types I didn't have pictured:

A two pence coin and a fifty pence coin, respectively. I rarely use pennies and two pence coins because they go in a penny jar; however, I often use fifty pence coins. I'll double-check to ensure I have all coin types from the previous picture and this one: I want to post a photograph of the reverse sides.

The blackspot yellow rose

The blackspot-afflicted rose I covered twice during the Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party has blossomed even further:

I'm pleased that the rose is blossoming despite the blackspot; the flower has a pleasant scent, which is almost as strong as the smell of a red rose.