Writing It Randomly

We're fortunate enough to still have the Cheriffic First Lady of Pop (despite the fact that she's no longer touring), but for a Bowie fix, we rely on recordings. Like this one from 1975:

Fisgard. It sounds like something out of a Kim Wilkins novel, but it's actually the first lighthouse built on Canada's West Coast. PC:  Matt Hall "Built by the British in 1860, when Vancouver Island was not yet part of Canada, Fisgard's red brick house and white tower has stood faithfully at the entrance to Esquimalt harbour. Once a beacon for the British Royal Navy's Pacific Squadron, today Fisgard still marks home base for the Royal Canadian Navy." [- Fisgard  Website ] Binge-watching ' What's for Sale? With a View ' might be to blame, but I can't get over this one. Isn't it gorgeous? PC: Heather Jones via AmazingPlacesOnEarth.com It seriously looks good from every angle. PC: Dennis Crabtree PC: David Broad Happy Lighthouse Dreams,

Happy Women's Day, Ladies! Enjoy your break, and never forget how strong and capable you are. Joseph Conrad Quote on Pinterest

A truly magnificent structure. At 68 metres, Vittoria dwarfs Slangkop  (South Africa's tallest), and the copper version of Giovanni Mayer's  Winged Victory statue is just the cherry on top. PC:  Italy Magazine The fact that the lighthouse aides navigation on the seas at night comes as no surprise to me. What I do find notable is the fact that it was built to commemorate the Allies' fallen sailors of World War I. The construction project was completed on 24 May 1927 and the lighthouse is still being used today.

The Cow and the Calf. As I ventured into the land of lighthouses, I quickly learned that lighthouses all have different looks. Some are  tall , some are  short , some are  bright , some are  stocky , some  aren't even round . PC:  Wight Way While some details were added as a result of the architectural trends during the years they were built, their sizes and locations all come down to visibility, which is also the reason why the tower of St Catherine's lighthouse is shorter than when it was originally built. In 1875 it was decided to reduce its height by 13 metres because the light at the top was frequently shrouded in mist. PC:  Visit Isle of Wight Notice the little tower to the left in the photo above? No. This is not a second lighthouse tower. This is what the locals refer to as the Calf - the location of the fog signal house until they stopped using it in 1987 (it was moved to this second little tower from the...

The Mykines Holm lighthouse was built in 1909, but it wasn't the Faroes' first. The first lighthouse was lit way over on the other side of the Faroe Islands in 1782, on the northern part of Nolsoy . Towards the end of the second industrial revolution (a few years before the first world war), it looks like the construction bug bit the Faroe people, because they built the first bridge over  Holmgjogv , as well as the first path from Mykines Bygd   (the  village ) to Mykines Holm (the lighthouse islet) in the same year that they constructed Mykines Holm Lighthouse. There have been twenty-one lighthouses on the islands to date (give or take a few that had to be rebuilt over the years). During World War II all three manned lighthouses - Akraberg, Mykines and Nolsoy, were attacked (bombed). After the war ended in 1945, it took three years to set things in order, rebuild, and clean up the islands. PC: KE Adventure Travel Did You Know? Apparently...

Construction started in 1887, but the lighthouse officially came to be used in September 1890, replacing three older lighthouses. It stands in the middle of Southwold (on the Suffolk Heritage Coast ) where it is still being used today, with tours available to visitors PC: Mark Stace

PC: Jatinkumar Thakkar The original lighthouse was constructed in Bristol, Maine, using saltwater in 1827. It soon started crumbling so in 1835 it had to be replaced with a new structure, built using fresh water. And thank goodness for that! It's gorgeous. Pic Source Looking at the rock that slopes downward to the sea, it's quite obvious why this lighthouse was built in the first place. No ship's bow would survive that coastline if it came upon it without warning. Pic Source Volunteers open the tower to the public daily between 10:30 am and 17:00 pm, weather permitting , and you can climb it free of charge. That's if you are able to make your way all the way over there. I resign myself to the fact that I can only view it in photographs like the ones I posted here - and with the WebCam . PC: John Bald

A Seriously Old Lighthouse Technically, the Maiden's Tower (aka Kiz Kulesi) is actually just a tower that, for a time, was used as a lighthouse, but still... PC: Trey Ratcliff * The exact construction date isn't known, but according to its website , some sources have dated the origins of the tower structure to go back as far as 341 BC! That, by my standards, is ridiculously old. Apparently, the tower served many purposes throughout the past 25 centuries. So far, it's been a tax collection office (like a port terminal, controlling ships entering and exiting the harbour), defense fortress, military base, demonstration platform, lighthouse, quarantine hospital, and a radar station (to control sea and air traffic). Any building this old, won't survive on luck alone, and there have been many restorative operations executed, but on 16 December 1993, another massive restoration project was launched and in 2000 the Tower was finally reopened as a tourist venue...

I've said it before  and I'll say it again: Deuteronomy is a very difficult part of the Bible to read. However, after going through it with First5 last year, I cannot help but think on it from time to time. It bothers me that I have trouble reconciling all the laws of bloodshed with Jesus' loving manner in the New Testament. Reading this helps a bit, but I'm not even going to attempt to explain all the sensitive issues that arise from this book as a whole. For that, I'm too ill equipped. What I'd like to do today, is to pause at 22:25-27 for a few minutes, if I may.  [" 25 But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die.  26 Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor,  27 for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed, ther...

Pic Source "Have you ever wondered....  Why not all Lighthouses are the same colour?  What they look like inside? Why Lighthouses are no longer manned? Find out… by taking a guided tour around the only lighthouse in Devon open to the public!" [See Start Point, Devon, website ]

"Once surrounded with numerous buildings and land, the Morris Island Lighthouse is now completely surrounded by water." - Theresa Stratford,  Bulldog Tours Painting by Matthew Campbell Painting by James Mann

PC: @FromVersaillesWithLove ( Tumblr ) Just FYI: "Let them eat cake" is a phrase widely attributed to Marie-Antoinette, but according to History.com , she probably never even said it.

I really enjoyed exploring the South African lighthouses with you online, but we have a lot of ground to cover if we want to see the rest of the flashing giants out there. For our next stretch, I will be taking a more random and visual approach. I'll be jumping back and forth across the globe and you can look forward to feasting your eyes on the breathtaking landscapes and structural beauty the world of lighthouses has to offer! Marblehead Lighthouse Lake Erie (Ohio) Photo Credit: Ron Skinner Confession Time: Geography has never been my strong point. My sense of direction is deplorable - my boss once joked that I don't need a GPS, I need a driver - and it takes a lot of repetitive reading and map checking before I am able to recall locations and borders, etc. It was no surprise then, when I read that Marblehead Lighthouse is in Ohio, that I had to go onto Google Maps to see why Ohio even had a lighthouse. Finding out about the Great Lakes , and having a loo...

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South African Lighthouse No. 23 The Replacement The Umhlanga* Lighthouse was built in 1954 to replace the 1869 Bluff Lighthouse, which had to be abandoned due to its rapid deterioration. Photo by Dennis Guichard In addition to the standard automated light, rotating to warn off seafarers, it also has a fixed red light to help ships monitor their position - if the light can be seen, it means their anchors probably dragged and that they've come too close to the shore. There has never been a lighthouse keeper here. The Oyster Box Hotel , also the first beach cottage in the area, serves as the official warden. Its staff monitor the lighthouse's controls (in the hotel office) and then send regular status reports to Transnet Port Authority's Lighthouse Service. *Zulu for 'Place of Reeds' As I wrap up this, the last of the South African Lighthouse posts, I'm painfully aware of the fact that I have never been lucky enough to visit one ...

Pic Source:  PlanetWare South African Lighthouse No. 22 The Story of a Lighthouse and its Pyramid Well, actually the Pyramid came first. Sir Rufane Donkin had it built as a monument to his wife in August 1820 - Lady Elizabeth, whose name was the obvious inspiration behind that of Port Elizabeth. How romantic, right? The lighthouse was only commissioned later, on 1 June 1861, but the town of Port Elizabeth's lights behind it eventually started to interfere with its visibility from the bay, so they increased its height in 1929. With time the town kept growing into a bigger and bigger city, so the lights just kept multiplying, and in 1973 they realised that the lighthouse was no longer effective. Hill Lighthouse was therefore decommissioned, but you are more than welcome to visit it (go to the Port Elizabeth Tourist Information Office, located inside the adjoining building). Photo Credit: Jonker Fourie

South African Lighthouse No. 21 The Milnerton Twin The Milnerton and Hangklip ligthouses were commissioned in the same year (Milnerton in March and Hangklip on 25 November 1960), and the lights installed in these two lighthouse towers are identical. Photo Credit: Steve Hartwig, Outdoor Photo Community The name 'Hangklip' means 'Rocky Overhang', the reason of which becomes quite apparent as soon as you see the multitude of rocks strewn about the coastline in this part of our country. To be honest, I'm surprised that it took them so long to install the lighthouse - apart from icebergs and stormy weather, rocky coastlines must surely be obvious seafaring hazards as well? It just makes sense to have warning lights wherever there are sharp shards sticking out towards the ocean. FOOTNOTE: They say this lighthouse is so remote (not even open to the public) that maintenance staff have, from time to time, been spotting leopard footprints in the area sur...

It was Global Beatles Day on Friday, so to commemorate, here's a video of the last gig they played together (as found for us by Messy Nessy ):

South African Lighthouse No. 20 ... Actually not a South African Lighthouse at all. Swakopmund Lighthouse was opened in 1902, but since Namibia gained its in independence in 1990, this lighthouse cannot really be counted as one of South Africa's. After Walvis Bay was occupied, the German colony realised that they needed a harbour of their own. One where incoming ships and its cargo would not be subject to the scrutiny of the British. On 4 August 1892, the crew on board the Hyäne ("Hyena") spotted a suitable location where they could gain access to the coast. This is where Swakopmund was founded, but despite the fact that they kept trying to rebuild the jetty (with wood twice, steel never completed due to World War I), it is no longer used as a harbour - just a very popular holiday destination. When the lighthouse was originally built, it was only 11 metres tall (see lower brick portion?). By 1911 it had been raised twice, bringing it to its current heig...