Stunning Strasbourg’s,

medieval beauty,

quietly reflected,

by the still waters,

of the sleepy River Ill.

The old city, (click to enlarge to see the kayakers and people)

UNESCO’s pride,

a paradise,

to browse,

and explore.

Cheers to you from romantic old Strasbourg

Belfast is beautiful!

Like Dublin, Belfast has scores of fascinating, historic old pubs to crawl. One of the most famous is The Crown built in 1827. The art deco interior has ten snugs, which are private mahogany booths with doors, surrounded by stained glass and hand made tiles.

Belfast City Hall has an array of striking stained glass windows depicting important events in Irish history. This glass is dedicated to the two million souls who suffered and died in the Irish potato famine.

City Hall itself is an architectural gem. Built in 1898, it has a gorgeous grand staircase,

replete with a stunning interior dome and rotunda.

Belfast is a very fun city to explore, full of vibrant street art, interesting shops,

and, as cannot be emphasized enough, wonderful pubs! Kelly’s is another classic pub. It is the oldest licensed pub in Belfast, built in 1720.

Kelly’s is lovely inside…

He couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years old. He was delighted and delightful. He stood in front of my desk both excited and enthralled. “You’re wearing a poppy,” he said. “Why, yes, I am,” I answered him. And I was touched and thoroughly pleased that he was pleased.

I wonder if the coming generations will give much thought to Remembrance Day. I wonder if they will forget. But today I met a young boy that gave me a bit of hope. I wear the poppy to remember them. I hope one day he will too.

Lest we forget!

O God, Divine One, I prayed

Come, heal our hurting world

Ease the suffering of peoples everywhere

And the answer came

I give you two hands

Two hands to lift up

To help and heal

I give you two legs

To carry you where you need to go

Whether across the street

Or across the world

Two ears for listening

To all the cares and concerns

One mouth, one mouth only

To speak the truth

Two arms, two strong arms

To carry away the burdens you will find

In every corner on earth

I give one heart

One heart to each human being

To love

And to each one mind

Created to understand

And so I learned

We have everything we need

To heal this hurting world

To ease the peoples’ suffering

And when our hearts and hands

Are joined in sacred purpose

Hurts will be healed

Suffering will be…

The amazing thing about reading Clare Wright’s You Daughters of Freedom is the switch from reading the wholly unfamiliar story of Australia’s history of suffrage to the familiar story of English suffragettes in Part III. How has this happened?  How come we all know the story of the English suffragettes, but we don’t know about the Australian women (and men) who led the world into modern democracy with votes for women??

Well IMO there are two answers to that and only one of them is that until comparatively recently Australian history took a back seat to British history in the school curriculum.  The other reason is that the mayhem and violence of the British suffragette campaign makes a more dramatic story than the story of the Australians who achieved votes for women with principles and logic and strategic nous.  Hopefully You Daughters of Freedom will put the tabloid version in…

Synchronicity!  On Tuesday as I read more of Australian Women War Reporters, Boer War to Vietnam by Jeannine Baker – a fascinating book I discovered from Carolyn Holbrook’s review at Inside Story – I came across the name of Louise Mack, in the chapter called ‘War from a Woman’s Angle’.  The women featured in this chapter include Agnes Macready and Edith Dickenson who reported on the Boer War; Katharine Susannah Prichard whose subsequent writing was apparently very much influenced by having witnessed the wreckage ofwar near the front in WW1, and Janet Mitchell who reported on the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931-32.  All these women have interesting stories, but it was Louise Mack who grabbed my attention because she was so unconventional…

Then, to my surprise, the name of Louise Mack cropped up again in Sue’s Monday Musings at Whispering Gums!  As Sue says, Louise Mack is hardly a household name so this is synchronicity…

Somewhere in the archives of the War Memorial in Canberra, there is a small diary scribbled in pencil.  It was donated by The Spouse’s family because old Eric was a gunner in the 7th Field Artillery Brigade and he was awarded the Military Medal in The Great War.  Before he lost his leg in the conflict he recorded his impressions of the first tanks to arrive on the battlefield so it’s a most interesting document.  Transcribing this diary is an eventual retirement project for The Spouse.

We had always thought that this would be a fairly straightforward task, but now that I have read Kitty’s War by Janet Butler, I realise that there is much more to a war diary than first meets the eye.  What’s not in a war diary can be just as interesting as what’s in it… and what’s in it, is sometimes not much about war at all…

Today is the hundredth anniversary of the armistice on November 11th, 1918.  There will be solemn ceremonies in many places today, reflecting on four years of brutal warfare in the war that was thought to end all wars thereafter.

And although it seems fair to say that some of us feel a certain fatigue about the four long years of Anzac commemorations in Australia, (at a breathtaking cost of about $325 million), nevertheless I went last week to a talk by Dr Rosalie Triolo about the WW1 service of my own profession—the teaching profession. What stood out for me from her talk was the extent to which schools were impacted: the enlistment of the mostly male teachers meant the return of retired teachers and an influx of female staff.  The horrific casualty rates meant that many children lost a beloved teacher, and that teachers still in the classroom had to…