First Snow

Yesterday, late afternoon, I looked out the window and everything was green.
This morning there was snow on the ground.

I won't get my skies out yet.

Bertstravels

Waterfall, small

Driving over the Kömmel  hill range, there is this little waterfall.

The Karawanken

Yesterday, Boxing day, Christin and I went for a little drive up the hills of the "Kömmel".
From there, the view unto the Karawanken Mountains is, to say the least, spectacular !
So, without further ado, here are the Karawanken:

If you do not view these images in the large format

by just clicking on them, you deprive yourself of

some pretty spectacular views.

A few minutes later, with the sun dipping a little lower, a reddish hue crept into the picture.

Will they ever learn ?

I just don't get it.
I try do understand, but I do not get it, however hard I try.
As long as there have been Popes, the direct representatives of God on earth, or so they claim, they have been praying for "Peace on Earth". The current Pope is, so they say, a "praying Pope".
And yesterday he prayed for Peace. 

"Peace on Earth."

To make it a bit easier for God, he even told him where he wants Peace. The Pope would like peace in the Middle East, specifically in Iraq and Syria. He wants peace in the Ukraine, in Africa, specifically in Nigeria and the South Sudan.
Well this should give God enough to go on. None of this general, non specific praying for Peace. 
Not Franciskus. He will tell God specifically where to look and where to intervene and shake the beggars up and make them give peace. Once and for all...

Of course Frances is not the first Pope who asked for it. Every Pope before him, I am certain, has done the same: Prayed for Peace. In every Cathedral, every Church from the high and mighty, to the lowly country chapel, they pray for peace.
Now, if you and I pray for peace, I can understand that God pays no attention to us lowly creatures.
But,in heaven's name, the Popes !
Think about it: Jesus said to Peter, his number 1 disciple: 
"On this rock I will build my church.".. or words to this effect. And after Peter came a string of successors, right up to Benedict XVI and Franciskus. Now, for the first time, as far as I know, we have two Popes praying for peace at the same time.
But hey, what's happening ?  Is there peace ? No, of course not!

Between 1939 and 1958 there was Pope Pius XII. 
I am sure he prayed and prayed and prayed some more. What did we get ?
56 Million dead during World War 2 alone, and many more millions injured.
That's  what the world got.
And still the world believes in the power of prayer.  
What does it take to wake up the Believers ? What does it take to convince them that God either is stone deaf and does not hear the prayers, or worse still, he hears them, but does not care, or he hears them but has other plans and therefore, for all these reasons, the prayers uttered by man, Popes or Non-Popes are totally useless.
Now there is, of course, always the possibility, that there is no such entity as a God and therefore our prayers dissipate in space and still are of no use whatever.

It seems to me that Franciskus, as all his predecessors, should have come to the conclusion that they were, and still are, talking to thin air.

Amen
says Bertstravels.

Carinthian Sunset

To all my readers:
A very merry Christmas
and a New Year blessed with Health, Happiness and Success.

Bertstravels.....

What is there to say ?

Just look and enjoy.!

Xmas Market atop the Petzen

It was the 13th day of December.
The "Christmas Market" on top of the Petzen was well planned with one exception.
The many strings of lights, looking like a canopy had been strung.
All the stands, selling knick-knacks were in place, the "Glühwein" was ready to warm up the visitors inside and out, the "Chestnuts were roasting on an open fire", The band was ready to play Christmas Carols and other pop-songs, :
Except for one glaring oversight:
Nobody had made arrangements for the wind storm to stay away. 
And so it came. With full force, so that the cable cars could not be put in operation.
No cable cars, no visitors
No visitors, no sales of knick-knacks, Glühwein or anything else.
No sales, no Christmas market.
So it was postponed to Saturday, the 20th December.
Between 1,500 and 2000 visitors braved the chill in the air. 
The music sounded, the Glühwein flowed, knick-knacks were sold.
A good time was had by all.

The Band plays "Old Standard Christmas Songs"

like "Oh Tannenbaum" and "Silent Night"

Many in the crowd sing along.

Inspite of the heating lamps overhead, 

playing the guitar in this cold

is an act of bravery.

(*)

from

brightly dec

orated huts they

 sell "hot doddies",

Glühwein and other

 heart warming liquids.

Wrapping my hands around

 the hot cup until myfingers were

 flexible again, enabled me to use my camera.

[]

[]

========

isn't this a nice Christmas tree ?

THE FRANCISCANS

It is only of passing interest to note that despite strenuous attempts, nowhere could I find any mention of the family name of Francis of Assisi.
Suffice to say that in 1209 a man called Francis who lived in Assisi, Italy, suffered a nervous collapse, after which he became a preacher, calling for repentance of all sinners and for a life of poverty.

After a most turbulent and troublesome history, the Franciscan Order became one of the most dominant Orders in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church., 
Outwardly professing poverty and disavowing personal property, as a clan the Franciscans became quite wealthy, administering a variety of investments, specifically in Real Estate Holdings.

Now, believe it or not, the Order's General Minister, Michael Anthony Perry, informed all members of his clan that the Order is threatened with bankruptcy and urges his brothers to make a financial contribution to stave off this final ignominy.

There is talk of "investments into dubious corporations, against whom investigations for money laundering, weapons- and drug dealing is now under way as well as expenditures amounting to millions of Euros for the restoration of a Franciscan owned hotel in Rome.
The Order, so it is explained, has become the victim of a "giant fraud", which had happened during the reign of Perry's predecessor, Jose Rodriguez Carballo, who, in turn, was promoted by Pope Franciscus to the position of Archbishop, second in Command of the congregation of Orders.

Take note of all of this in conjunction with the machinations of the Vatican Bank, which, believe it or not, is officially called the "Institution for Spiritual Work". (In this case the Deutsche Bank and Barkley's Bank might well be called "Institutions for the fight against poverty.")

So, the Franciscans have become "victims of a giant fraud".
I think that only if you are greedy and want to become rich quickly can you become victimized by fraudulent operators.

Good Old Francis of Assisi would likely turn over in his grave.

A Great PUN

The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.
He acquired his size from too much Pi.

A great pun, even the second time around.
Bertstravels

SOME ANIMALS with a Capital A

I love animals !

some, of course, more than others,

like Elephant babies and their protective mothers.

I love Lions and Cheetahs and Banded Mongoose

of course I love Thompson Gazelles and Greater Kudus.

there are few things so brilliantly bright

as a sun-drenched Kingfisher Malachite.

an Afro-Jakana, or called Lilly Trotter

a playfully romping Giant Otter

are some of the creatures I honestly love

as well as a Saddle Bill Stork and a White Winged Dove.

a Lapped Faced Vulture and a Yellow Billed Stork

and a Drongo with a Tail like a Fork.

there, on a tree stump, a foot above water

a King Cormorant drying her wings, at least so she oughter.

an Orange Flanked Sungazer and a Reticulated Giraffe

Bee Eaters and Sparrow Weavers are creatures I love.

of eight White Faced Whistling Ducks crossing a pond

and a Crowned Crane on the shore line, I truly grew fond.

Baboons up a tree full of figs

Warthogs don't like the name „ pigs.“

Colobus Monkeys and Bee-Eaters Little

straight horned Oryx and Jackals with fiddle.

the Ibis, some Sacred some Glossy,

the Hippo down river behaves mostly bossy.

The Green or Black Mamba, a bit harder to like

than a bird called, with justice, a Crimson Breast Shrike.

each pond and each river, not only the Nile,

houses great numbers of Nile Crocodile.

a Duiker, so Common and a Genet, a cat,

and a Wildebeest grazing, what make you of that ?

a Bateleur Eagle and Vultures galore

are just some of the loved creatures. there are many more.

Bertstravels

never claimed to be Walt Whitman

I DO NOT LIKE SPIDERS NOR SCORPIONS

I love animals.

Some, of course, more than others.

I love Lions and Cheetahs, and Thompson Gazelles.

Of course I love Kudus, Impalas and Oryxes.

I also love Woodpeckers and Yellowbilled Hornbills.

I love Eagles and I like Vultures,

Dragon Flies and Frogs.

BUT !!!

I do not like Spiders nor Scorpions.

Those seem to me to be merciless killers

without pity, nor empathy.

Of course all the other animals I listed above 

also are merciless killers.

Spiders and Scorpions, however, look the part.

While it is true that Gazelles and Antelopes are not killers,

they too are merciless and without pity.

When one of their own is killed by a predator,

they seem not to care,

but, staying safely out of reach,

they go on grasing or browsing.

Without empathy for the victim of their kind.

Of course I would never hurt a spider nor a scorpion,

would never kill it, but

I would rather stay out of its way.

I would observe it

but I would not touch it.

However, given a chance, I would photograph

a Spider or a Scorpion mercilessly.

So, gritting my teeth, here goes:

What is it, these two have buried in the sand ?

Look closely and carefully.

Day and night they stay with their victims.

They stay with their eggs and, once these are hatched,

they feed from the buried victims of a much earlier hunt.

So that they may become visible during their watch at night

Infra-red photography was used.

Actually, I have a friend who has a lot of wire,

a great deal of talent

and spare time.

In fact, these don't scare

Bertstravels

AL QAIDA AND THE CIA

Al Qaida – the Taliban etc and the CIA

Let me at the outset state emphatically and unequivocally that I abhor the very idea of torture, regardless of who commits it and irrespective of the stated reasons for it.

We recently have read pages upon pages in the News Papers and listened hour after hour on Radio and Television about the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and its practice of eliciting information from captured members of the terror organisations „al-Qaida“ and the „Taliban“ through what euphemistically is referred to as „enhanced interrogation“ but is, in short, torture of individuals.

It is most interesting to note that this information was gathered over 5 years and published by the „U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence“, under the chair of Senator Dianne Feinstein.(D)

Its release was authorised by a vote of 9 to 6.

One must wonder in how many other countries such a report would not have been gathered in the first place, and if so, likely would have been swept under the proverbial rug.

It seems to me that, in all fairness, a few paragraphs of news space and a few minutes of air time could, should, have been given for the reason for this inexcusable behaviour on the part of the C.I.A.

Al Qaida as well as the Taliban have sworn to damage the USA along with the political „West block of Nations“ in any way and to any extent they can, with the USA being their arch enemy.

Let me enumerate just the major attacks, disregarding the hundreds of individual suicide attacks in shopping facilities and on crowded roads, killing mostly innocent native shoppers and bystanders.

December 1992: Bombs were placed in two hotels in Aden, Yemen. Explosions in the „Gold Mohur“ and the „Aden Mövenpick“ killed and maimed a large number of tourists. For this attack Osama bin Laden and Mohamud Khan admitted responsibility.

November 1995: Car bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killed 7 wounding 60

August 1998 : Attacks against US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam killed over 200 and injured more than 5000 persons, mostly innocent natives.

January 2000: Al Qaida failed in their attempt to attack the USS Sullivan.

September 2001: Five commercial air liners were hijacked, two of them crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, a third crashed into the Pentagon, a fourth in a field after a struggle between the terrorists and passengers and crew of the plane. Over 3000 individuals were killed in the twin towers alone.

A fifth plane was prevented from taking off. Subsequent intelligence showed that it was scheduled for the Statue of Liberty.

March 2002: Attacks on the Oil tanker Limburg and subsequent bombings in Mombasa, Kenia.

May 2003: 39 killed and 160 wounded in attacks by Taliban in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

And so it goes on, year after year, attack after terrorist attack by Al Qaida and the Taliban as well as several other terrorist organisations.

Thousands of victims dead and tens of thousands injured.

Until the 9^th day of October 2012, when a young Pakistani girl, barely 15 years of age rode in a school bus on her way home. She was Malala Yousafzai. Malala had publicly protested against the Taliban's right to deny girls the basic right of education.

A man entered the bus and asked: „Who is Malala ?“ When other girls instinctively looked at her, the man pulled a gun and shot Malala in the head. Fortunately she survived this Taliban attempt to murder her and finally she received the 2014 Nobel Piece Prize.

Yes, so it went on and on. One killing after another in an attempt to gain power.

Who knows how many other terrorist attacks were prevented by the work of the CIA and many other security organisations world wide?

It is truly a shame that the practices of torture put a stain on the defence against multiple murder and individual executions.

Bertstravels.

THE FOUR SEASONS

....no no, not by Vivaldi, but by Bertstravels in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada.

A friend wrote to me and suggested, that I should post on my Blog Canadian Images of the Four Seasons.
I always and quickly rise to any challenge and searched through my Algonquin Park images for pictures which would fit this theme.

Well Frank, Scio, Captain, #10 ... I hope you will be satisfied.

In doing so, I readily realized that  nature in its seasonal variety is beautiful, irrespective of location. The mountains and the valleys of Austria, show this breathtaking beauty of the Four Seasons, every bit as well as the landscape of Northern Ontario, specifically, Algonquin Park, this nature reserve of almost 8000 square kilometers and 2500 lakes and rivers.

For this demonstration I have chosen the Canadian scene.

The light green of the low hill rise fulfilled the 

promises of the coming of Spring time.

This "window" unto Misty Lake shows a number of small islands

with mostly coniferous trees, but springtime was in the air.

A "bunch berry" blooming in Spring.

Summer time has arrived and the blooming "bunch berry"

has changed to a fruit bearing plant.

The shore line is a lush green

and Irises grow in perfusion.

(please view this picture in the Large Format)

My rolled-up sleeves surely are proof of summer temperatures.

Summer is coming to an end and Autumn takes its place.

Golden and red maple leaves have gathered, 

along with mushrooms,

 at the foot of a large maple tree.

Canoeists paddle along one of the many lakes

with coniferous and deciduous trees along the coast line.

This is Autumn in Canada

When Winter comes and the temperatures sometimes drop as low as -30 degrees

I do very little hiking and no ( I mean NO ! ) camping.

*****************

Just a little "Four Seasons" in Algonquin Park,

presented by

Bertstravels.

FIRST SNOW

Down here, in the valley there is no snow yet.
Higher up, though, winter has put its icy fangs into the ground.
Skiers are rubbing their cold hands in glee.
Soon now...
just wait...
soon now.
The snow canons are already roaring
and one can see the lights of the machinery
all night long.
There is a natural base of the white stuff.
On top of this there will be a heavy layer of artificial snow
and, it is hoped, more and more natural snow.
Soon now
just wait
soon now-

The 12km track into the valley.

A skiers dream.

That's the way to play a guitar

Yesterday evening, in the Werner Berg Museum, in Bleiburg, Janez Gregoric gave a Guitar Solo performance.
Janez was borne in Klagenfurt and studied guitar with the most renowned artist-teachers of this instrument. 
He played compositions by J.S. Bach, H.Villa-Lobos and others as well as some of his own work.
During his breath taking performance the totally sold out house listened in awe inspired silence to this great artist's music.

J a n e z   G r e g o r i c 

LARGE FORMAT

Please do me and yourselves a favour and view the images below in the Large Format.
The increase in viewing pleasure is unbelievable.
So just place the curser in the middle of the image and click...

You see ? It's so much better.

V I E N N A - bits and pieces

Well, I've been back in Bleiburg and to a more regular life for a couple of days now and, going through my photography one more time, I find some pictures I'd like to show you.
There is always the regretful feeling: "I should have posted this one or that one"....
But, you can't post 'em all...
and so I'll show you just a few "bits and pieces" and tell you that we are back again in good old Bleiburg. 
Christin with a new right hip, and I with a new right attitude to small town life.

So here are the "bits and pieces:"

Here is one of my all-time favourite paintings:

Claude Monet (1840 - 1926 )

"The Water Lily Pond"

Everytime I see it, I am reminded of the Water Lilies

in the Hailstorm Creek Marsh in Algonquin Park

Oskar Kokoschka (1840 - 1980)

View of Vernet - les Bains

Marc Chagall  (1887 - 1985 )

"The Kite "

Above and Below:

The work of an unknown  21st Century artist

in the show window of a fashion house on the Kärntner Straße.

Why should these creations not be considered every bit as much as 

works of art, as the paintings of  Monet, Chagall or Kokoschka et al ?

I just wish I had taken more images of these beautiful show window dispays.

A monument to

Price Eugene of Savoy

although borne and brought up in the French Court of  

King Louis XIV

and because of his unimpressive physical stature rejected for the French military,

Eugene served the Austrian Empire of the Habsburgs, for six decades.

Victorious in every battle, he is most famous for his victories against the Ottoman Turks

at the siege of Vienna in 1683 and again against the Turks in the battle of Zenta in 1697.

His reputation as a field commander is unblemished 

and in Austria he was, and is to this day, greatly admired.

The Black Plague Column

The last great killer attack of the Black Plague fell upon Vienna in 1679.
Emperor Leopold I fled the City, because he could, just after promising to erect a monument if the Plague would come to an end.
Several sculpturers over the years got busy and the Monument was completed and inaugurated in 1693.
This monument fundamentally bears witness to the fact that the Black Plague and the Second Attack of the Turks upon Vienna were God's punishment for the sinful life of his creation and that, however, the pious intervention by the Emperor defeated both: The Plague and the Turks.

Let's look at this happening in the light of a modicum of sober contemplation:
God creates man 'in his image'  but endows him/her with certain needs and drives.
Then, when man acts in accordance with his design, this so-called all-forgiving and all-merciful God sends as punishment a devastating disease which kills in a most painful and cruel manner, young and old, babies in diapers and doddering old men and women, the guilty and the innocent.

It is truly bad enough that the people of the 17th Century believed such utter nonsense. 
What is worse still, is the fact that even today people believe that everything which happens is planned by God.

Yes I know all the arguments in favour of this proposition: 
Man must experience pain, to appreciate the state of painlessness.
Man must starve to appreciate the feeling of being satiated.
Man must experience God's punishment, so he may appreciate God's grace.

When we consider the claim of God's all powerful, all knowing, all good, all just all-benevolent nature, all of the above becomes meaningless drivel.

So, after all this, here is a picture of the Pestilence Column in Vienna's Graben, by day and by night.

HOW NOT TO VISIT ANYPLACE

I love to travel
I would, on a moment's notice, pack my bags and travel to Timbuktu, or anywhere else you might suggest.
That does in no way mean that I am restless or  not happy where I am now. 
I can be happy in Toronto, or just as readily in Bleiburg. Each of these places is beautiful in its own way, and makes me happy because of the people I find there.
Therefore I can visit and live in Toronto and/or in Bleiburg. 
Timbuktu would be fascinating for as long as it took me to explore and photograph all its interesting places and get to know some of its people.
Once I have done this I would want to return "home". 

There is, however, one way I would definitely not want to travel.
You have seen them: A herd of people, lead by a 'travel guide' swinging a stick with a flag, or an umbrella above his/her head, so that the 30 or more followers may not loose their Leader.
If this were the only way to go, I would prefer to stay home.

Here is a warmly clad group of about 25 tourists, visiting Vienna

on a cold and drizzly day in December.

Somewhere, buried in the middle is the "guide"

who explains the significance of this building in the distance.

It was built in 1709 and occupied by the family of the Archduke Marmaduke.

while he was out fighting in some war.....

The guide speaks softly enough, that the tourists condemned to the periphery of the group cannot  hear a word of it.

and off we go to the next building and we hear all about its history.

And we all have to listen to it, whether we want to or not.

If that's the only way I can visit Vienna or Timbuktu,

I'll stay home.

Bertstravels, 

does not need travelling that badly

....

Joan Miro i Fera

"Miro" for short.
A painter, some of whose work is on exhibit in the Albertina Museum in Vienna.
Yesterday afternoon I spent a few hours (much too short a time) in this absolutely wonderful building and institution. A whole day would not be enough.  I concentrated on the "Miro Exhibition"
Photography was absolutely "verboten", so I have to be satisfied with these three shots which I grabbed clandestinely.
Miro is not everybody's cup of tea. Some love him and some ... well, some do not love him.
I am in-between: I love his colours and his use of space...
I also like some ....
Have a look of three examples  of his work:

Since this painting is behind glass, you can see my reflection, which, I assure you, is not part of Miro's work.

Bertstravels

regrets not to have the titles of these paintings.

Strauss & Mozart in the Kursalon.

The "Kursalon" built in 1865 - 1867 must surely be counted as one of the most beautiful buildings in Vienna.
I went there yesterday evening to hear a concert of the two icons of Austrian Music:
Mozart and Strauss.
A small orchestra, consisting of 9 superb musicians played the old standards. Featured were two ballet soloists and two (male/female) Opera singers who rounded out an enjoyable evening.

One small caveat though: After you have heard this kind of assemble playing those same numbers, everything sounds a little hackneyed and one wishes for something new.

Two ballet dancers do the "Vienna Waltz" to Johann Strauss'

"Blue Danube Waltz"