1 May 2019 - The Eagle and Child Pub in Oxford - Favourite pub for famous authors


The Eagle and Child Pub in Oxford
 - Favourite pub for famous authors -

G'day folks,

J.R.R Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and other "Inklings" met at this Oxford pub to discuss the now legendary fantasy stories they were writing. 

 

  

During the 1930s, a small, unofficial club was formed in the intellectual hub of Oxford University. Every week, a group gathered to drink a few beers and discuss the latest adventures in worlds inhabited by lions, wizards, and hobbits, which were slowly materializing from the fertile imaginations of its most famous members: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. 

 

 

 The group, called the Inklings, consisted of professors, thinkers, and writers who lived around the university town. Warren Lewis, C.S Lewis’s older brother and also a writer and an Inkling, wrote that, “Properly speaking, it was neither a club nor a literary society, though it partook of the nature of both. There were no rules, officers, agendas, or formal elections.” 

 

  

Beginning in the 1930s, formal meetings were organized every Thursday evening at Lewis’s university rooms and more casual lunches were held at different local pubs, most frequently The Eagle and Child. Most Mondays or Tuesdays, the group gathered in the backroom of the pub they referred to as the “The Bird and the Baby,” to discuss their own writing and other matters of the day. At this time, Lewis was crafting his Space trilogy, comprising Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength, and Tolkien was writing the Lord of the Rings series.

 

 

The pub now sports pictures and prints related to these hugely popular books and a plaque records the role it played in their creation. 

Clancy's comment: A cool place for authors to meet and drink. How civilized, eh?
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30 April 2019 - CUTE PHOTOGRAPHS OF KIDS FROM YESTERYEAR


CUTE PHOTOGRAPHS OF 
KIDS FROM YESTERYEAR

G'day folks,

Welcome to some great shots of kids, taken in the days when kids played outdoors, took risks, made their own fun ... And, especially before mobile phones became an obsession.
























Clancy's comment: Ah ... The good old days when kids experienced real life on a daily basis.

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29 April 2019 - BEAUTIFUL SINKHOLE IN MEXICO - Cenote Xkeken


BEAUTIFUL SINKHOLE IN MEXICO

 - Cenote Xkeken -

G'day folks,

Welcome to some details about another sinkhole in Mexo, where the azure waters were thought to lead to the Mayan Underworld.


  Instead of accessing the Underworld through a dirty backdoor in a cantina, pre-colonial Mayan tradition believed the gates to the beyond lay in cenotes.




Just a few kilometers from Valladolid in the Yucatan Peninsula, the landscape is dotted with natural sinkholes, leading straight down into the earth. Unlike their unsightly name, the sinkholes are beautiful and filled with crystal clear, blue-green water. They are easily accessible and have become a tourist hot spot due to their proximity to spring break destinations like Cancun.




 Despite their obvious aesthetic attraction, the Cenotes in the region have a fascinating history, dating back to the Mayans who inhabited the Yucatan before colonialism. 

Since the Mayans believed the holes led to the afterlife, they would often drop important objects into the cenotes. Some legends also state they were used in human sacrifice, an oft-debated part of Mayan history.




Since most cenotes in the region were explored and studied by archeologists in the early 20th century, you are unlikely to be swimming with the remains of a Mayan sacrifice. You are more likely to simply enjoy a relaxing dip among the stalactites and radiant beams of sunlight from the outside world.

Clancy's comment: Wow. What a beautiful place, eh?

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