Old Town Church

This is the front of the Catholic church that is in the middle of Old Town Albuquerque, NM and is still in use.

Want a Drink?

Traveler drinking from the water hose while getting his bath. He did a lot better than I expected for his first one. Me, I just look really hot and tired. And I was.

Reel Rock Tour

Don't miss this.The Aussie opening was in Brisbane last night, so many climbers, so much fun.Climbers, I'll make it simple for you, here's what to do:A: click on the poster below for dates in your neighbourhood.B: Get a ticket and get inside.



Or maybe get a ticket at the door.Catch up with the cream of Brizzies climbing crew.



Get yourself some Pizza.



Keep eating Damien, almost show time.

Thanks Brad and TimGet your look happening.

Get in line.

Get inside.

And be amazed. Easy.

jj

Tombstone Tuesday :: Jacob Berlien (1716-1790)

On page 14 of volume 2 of the The Berlin Family by Reginald Berlin, published in 1992, the author writes:

Jacob Berlin is buried at Abbottstown, Pennsylvania in the Lutheran Cemetery, in the old section, across the street from St. John's Lutheran Church. On his tombstone, which is still readable, is the following inscription: "Here rests the body of Jacob Berlin. Born the 6th of December 1716, Died the 7th of April 1790. Aged 73 years 3 months, 3 weeks. Now has my struggle in life ended. My work in life is finished. I go forth to my Jesus and say to all a good night."

The transcription of Jacob's baptismal record (from the Zahn Collection, Historical Society of York County) shows that Johann Jacob was born to Johann Georg Berlin and Anna Elisabetha on the 17th of December of 1716 and baptized on the 19th. Godparents were Mister Johann Jacob Arbogast; Anna Barbara, Mr. Johann Philips Pfaltzgraff citizen here and married housewife; Mister John Martin Gross, citizen and a miller at the lower mill.



According to the baptismal record Jacob was born on December 17th while his tombstone states that he was born on December 6th. But the two dates actually refer to the same day.



In 1582, there was an adjustment to the calendar year known as the "Gregorian reform" in which ten days were omitted from the calendar. It was decreed that the day following (Thursday) October 4, 1582 would be known as (Friday) October 15, 1582. However, by the time the British were ready to go along with the rest of Europe, the old calendar had drifted off by one more day, requiring a correction of eleven days, rather than ten. The Gregorian Calendar was adopted in Britain (and in the British colonies) in 1752, with (Wednesday) September 2, 1752, being followed immediately by (Thursday) September 14, 1752. Do a search for "Julian Calendar" or "Gregorian Calendar" and you'll find tons of info out there and some explanations that strain the mind.



Anyway, after writing yesterday's post There were three brothers who immigrated... Yeah, Right! I went out on the Internet to see if there was a photo of Jacob's tombstone available.



A quick search of Find A Grave for Jacob Berlin, died 1790, came up empty. I scrolled through the list of cemeteries for Adams County Pennsylvania looking for any Lutheran Church cemetery in Abbotstown and found it listed as Saint John's Lutheran Cemetery. He is listed there as Jacob Berlien, which is the name on his tombstone. Imagine that!



The photo on Find A Grave wasn't the best so I did a search for "saint john's lutheran church cemetery abbottstown pa" the second result in the list said there were tombstone photos of "St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery, Abbottstown, Adams County, PA." Ya gotta watch those "saints" since sometimes they are abbreviated and other times they're not!



I was in luck because there was a rather nice photo of Jacob's tombstone. I contacted the submitters of the photo (Margaret Gagliardi and Ken Schultz) and obtained their permission to use the photo. Thank you very much Margaret and Ken!







Photo courtesy of Margaret Gagliardi and Ken Schultz and the Adams County, Pennsylvania US GenWeb Archives, used with permission. Tombstone of Jacob Berlien in St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery, Abbottstown, Adams County, Pennsylvania.



I played around a bit with the photo in Picasa and came up with the version below.







The lowest part of the inscription is still not readable, but the rest of the stone is a little more legible. Using one of the online translation websites I came up with a literal translation of the words, shown below in square brackets.




Hier Ruher der Leib

[Hier = Here; ruhe = reposes or rests; der = of; Leib = body]

JACOB BERLIEN

Gebohrenden 6 December

[geboren = born; den = the]

1716

Gestorben den 7 April

[gestorben = departed, gone, dead; den = the]

1790

Alt 73 Jahr 3 Monat 3 Woch

[Alt = Alter = Age; Jahr = Years; Monat = Months; Woch = Woche = Weeks]




The inscription as shown in volume 2 of "The Berlin Family"




Here rests the body of

Jacob Berlin

Born the 6th of December 1716

Died the 7th of April 1790

Aged 73 years 3 months 3 weeks




Now has my struggle in life ended.

My work in life is finished.

I go forth to my Jesus and say to all a good night.




The translation of the inscription from Find A Grave Memorial# 41797876




Here lies the beloved

Jacob Berlien

born the 6th of December

1716

died the 7th of April

1790

Age 73 years 6 months and 3 weeks




Now that my struggle has ended

My journey is complete

I go to my Jesus

and say to all a good night


Regarding his age at death... Using the calendar in Legacy and inputting the dates 06 Dec 1716 and 07 Apr 1790 his age calculates to 73 years 4 months 1 day. Inputting 17 Dec 1716 as his date of birth, his age then comes out to 73 years 3 months 3 weeks.

Uffintgon circular - Greatford, Barholm, Casewick Park

With Marta. Same walk as one on july 25 . Flat terrain. Overcast day, but dry - good underfoot - paths clear. About 10 miles - .25 ish switch-off after Greatford pub.




The same walk as I did on July 25 . This time we found our way to Greatford Church, but we still couldn't locate 'Meg's Well'. The photos show very grey skies.





Near Uffington church stand three redwoods.



Marta saw two hares when she looked through the huge gates of Uffington Manor on the main road.We turn right before the houses after West Hall Farm.



We believe this is the site of the mill mound marked on the OS map.



Our path takes us over farmland, always clearly marked and following track or field edge. We come out behind Cobbs Nook Farm, and join the Macmillan Way, along a wooded bridleway. We join the road turning left and then right to where we cross the East Coast Mainline at a level crossing. A short half mile takes us to our left turn into Shillingsthorpe Park.



The cows and calves are gathered round the food here.



We cross the river West Glen, and make our way to along the farm road to the woodland, before turning right over fields. These are no problem this time, as they have been harvested and waymarking is good. We follow the path behind the very private Greatford Hall into the village. A local resident of 25 year's standing tells us how to access the church - there's a small white gate near the bridge over the small river.



In the church is a memorial to Francis Willis, who is reputed to have cured George III of his madness in 1789. Dr Willis owned Greatford Hall, and ran an asylum there. The church also boasts a Roman coffin, and many interesting plaques and dedications.



As we come from the church towards the road we pass the entrance to Greatford Hall. It was destroyed by fire in 1922, but rebuilt.



The inn sign for the local pub, where we had an excellent baguette lunch, with friendly service.




A large stone cross near Bridge cottages


The crown commemorates the coronation of George VI. There is more info and more photos (not mine) here.



We cross the fields south towards Barholm. On the way we spot an ambitious mobile phone mast trying to look like a tree. We cross a bridge over Greatford Cut, which joins the West Glen River to the Welland and forms a flood defence system for Greatford.



Barholm Church. Click on the link for further information.

From Barholm we take the road past the Five Horseshoes pub and the Old Hall. We turn left and make our way over several fields to the railway again. No level crossing here, but a warning about trains travelling at 100 mph. The track is straight and the view is good. On the other side we walk over two or three fields before reaching Casewick Park, with its lovely buildings, high hedges and fine gates.







I need to identify this tree.





A look back at Casewick Hall as we leave the park, and take the road leading to Uffington.



Apart from the hares, we saw a few swallows swooping after the insects, and a lot of small speckled wood (?) butterflies.

No-Bike Town

Owing to a stroke of luck, we now have a new, wonderful photography studio. It belongs to an acquaintance whose partner has just retired - and so we took over the partner's share. The place is fully equipped with a darkroom and a portrait studio, and is located in a coastal town outside Boston - convenient as we often do photoshoots in that area.



The only problem? Well, something about this town just seemed off as soon as we got there.

It was as if the shadows in the town center were extra shadowy.



And the sun-lit rooftops exuded a sinister gleam.

Even the quiet side streets were eerie. What could it be?... Oh yes. There was hardly a bicycle to be seen! Honestly, I cannot remember the last time I saw a town with so few bicycles. Over the past weeks we have been moving our things into the studio and renovating the darkroom, and I've spotted a total of maybe half a dozen bikes in the streets during that entire time period -mostly being ridden on the sidewalks.

The studio is 14 miles from our house, but around the corner from a T-station - so the idea is to commute there by T and keep a bicycle on site as a Studio Bike. Initially I was hoping that I could perhaps cycle to the studio, and distance-wise I could do it. But the route seems to be beyond my current level of skill and bravery, involving busy roads with high speed limits and no shoulders. And given the No-Bike Town situation, I am beginning to question whether I will even be able to cycle near the studio itself, if only just for a coffee.



This singular bicycle stood out in No-Bike Town like a lone cowboy. It is an interesting Burley tandem, and I wonder how its owners feel about cycling in this area. More importantly, I wonder how the drivers in this area feel about cyclists - would they even know what to do if they saw me riding down the street? I guess I will soon find out...

Douro River Valley Tour 5: A visit to a Port wine estate — Quinta do Tedo

This is the last stop of the Douro River Valley Tour, a visit to a Port vineyard located in Armamar (Viseu district) along the Douro River and Tedo River just before reaching Pinhao. Maria told us that this estate is a very small, single Quinta A classification. Quinta in Portuguese is equivalent to an estate, hacienda or domaine.



Wine estate classifications runs from A to F with A being the highest. You can find more information here: Portuguese Quinta Classification







Quinta do Tedo on a much better weather (blue skies!) day. Picture from wiemax.com



Quinta do Tedo



From my seat in the mini bus (I was sitting in front), I could see Quinta do Tedo coming into view, the estate is perched on top of a hill and is waiting for us. Maria said the views up there are beautiful. I am sure I will not disagree. This part of the Douro River Valley is very peaceful, raw and pure. It was raining when we drove up the private road leading to the estate but when we jumped out of the mini bus, the rain drizzled down a little bit providing us the opportunity to enjoy the breath taking views while we took the obligatory pictures.



The place is soooo lovely, even on a bit gloomy and rainy day!







There are 3 dogs in the estate but this one is the sweetest. He came to greet us.









Breath taking views are they not? Even for a bit gloomy day...









The man from the winery welcomed us as we stood there in awe of our surroundings. He told us that the valley we are looking at—35 acres of vineyards including the body of water, all belong to Quinta do Tedo. There are another 22 acres of land planted with olives and fruits that belongs to the estate as well.



Then he urged us to follow him to the cave where they store and age the wines in oak barrels. The cave is located at the other side of the estate and as we rounded the corner, we were again confronted by the beautiful scenery, he had to patiently wait for everyone until we were done snapping pictures. I can probably hear him mutter under his breath, ‘Ah, tourists…’ Haha, he must be used to this.













Port Wine Cave



Mr. wine man explained to us the aging process of Port wine and all that stuff, yadda, yadda, etcetera. Anyway, there’s a ton of information about Port wine available online for those who are interested. There is google for that so I will not be posting that here. But in this winery, I learned that for Port wine to be called vintage, it must be at least 10 years old. Naturally, the value of a bottle of vintage Port follows its age.



The wine estate is actually now owned by a Frenchman coming from the Bouchard wine growing family in Burgundy, France.







Isn't she just too cute? This is the little girl of the Japanese couple living in Frankfurt, Germany.

















Here I am smiling reluctantly (disapprovingly!) at the camera because of the bad weather. Unfortunately, after our short Port cave session, it rained again. Here I am walking back to the main part of the building for the next part of the agenda which is the Port tasting.



Port Tasting – Vintage is my favourite



I really would have wanted to buy a vintage bottle of Port from this winery but I came by plane with a carry-on luggage. It is also too much of a hassle to have to ship a bottle of wine to the Netherlands but I really enjoyed their vintage here very much. So smooth and elegant.



Read here my entry about the types of Port wine and my visit to the Calem Caves in Vila Nova de Gaia: Port cave tour and tasting at Calem: You drink Port at the end of the meal!







We had a tasting of Port wines, from left to right: 10-year old Tawny, a Ruby 2007 and a Vintage .











The estate also offers Bed & Breakfast accommodation. In fact, many quintas offer this in the Douro River Valley. My wish would be that during the warmer months, I’d be able to come back here and stay in the valley for a few days.



So we have come to the end of the tour and as we drove back to Porto, my last memory of the drive and everything else were these pictures below before I dozed off.







I woked up just in time when we entered Porto. The streets seem to be dry, so I am grinning and hearing hallelujah ringing in my ears. The evening is going to be promising!



Previous entries:



Douro River Valley Tour 4b: Lunch in Peso da Regua at Restaurante Douro In

Douro River Valley Tour 4a: The flood in Peso da Regua

Douro River Valley Tour 3: Wine, Cheese and Presunto tasting in Lamego

Douro River Valley Tour 2: A rainy and misty 'Douro viewing point' stop

Douro River Valley Tour 1: Amarante village, Vinho Verde (green wine) and some Travel Agency rant