V is for Village

The common dictionary definition of a village is:

1.a small community or group of houses in a rural area, larger than a hamlet and usually smaller than a town, and sometimes (as in parts of the U.S.) incorporated as a municipality. 

2.the inhabitants of such a community collectively.

Our visit to the Northwest Highlands of Scotland this summer brought us to Torridon Village.

 We stayed int he village of Kinlochewe, and hiked through the village of Gairloch.

This leads one to wonder what constitutes a hamlet and what a town. Those definitions are suitably vague, though it appears that a hamlet, at least in Great Britain, does not have its own church and a village does.

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 If you've read my blog on any kind of regular basis, you probably have figured out that I am blessed (or cursed) with wanderlust. So, though I've featured sites and sights from our trip to the UK for this round of ABCs, I've had some previous experiences with villages by all definitions.

In India ten years ago, we made several evening visits to nearby villages. We visited in the evening because we were busy working during the day  on the roof of the boys' home where we were volunteering. We met with them to learn about their life

 and the projects through which they were improving conditions for themselves and their families.

The question we were asked at each village we visited was "How are your marriages arranged?"

We visited some villages in Siberia when we were there. On this Sunday afternoon we traveled with the priest for Mass in the village of Krasny Pochara. This is the little church there and some of the congregation. Most of the village (definition 2) were out harvesting wild mushrooms, an important part of their diet.





Rural would be the part of the definition that applied to the village of Kargasok, because it was much larger than any other place I have heard called a village. It was one of a number of villages on the Ob River traveling north from Novosibirsk--maybe the largest. The trip by boat was fifteen hours, and we spent two days visiting with internet friends.


Maybe isolated is a better word than rural. But since the cows greeted us in the yard of the hotel in the morning, I guess "rural" works, too.

After we were home from Siberia that year, I compared photos with my friend who had spent her summer in some Alaskan villages. The scenes were remarkably similar.

So these are some of my village memories for ABC Wednesday, round 7.



Indian SkyWatch from the WayBack Machine

I took this while we were cruising on Lake Periyar in the Periyar Tiger Preserve National Park in India ten years ago. We didn't see any tigers, but we did see some elephants in the distance, some wild boar, and lots of cormorants who liked to sit on those snags in the water. The hotel where we stayed warned us to be sure to close the windows so that we would not be overrun by monkeys. I was so glad we visited this National Park--I have visited National Parks in four countries besides my own. There is something about seeing and understanding what a nation decides to hold apart and preserve that always intrigues me.  SkyWatch Friday is here.

Sunday's Psalm--Third Sunday of Advent

(Not a Psalm today, but a passage from Isaiah.)

Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

God indeed is my savior;
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.

With joy you will draw water

at the fountain of salvation.












Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;

among the nations make known his deeds,

proclaim how exalted is his name.

Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.

Shout with exhultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!

Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 12: 2-6

Looking down on the Wenatchee Valley from a hike to the Peshastin Pinnacles

fountain on Seattle waterfront

congregation gathers outside village chapel in Siberia

choir practice at Boys Village in India

native drummers in Alaska

Shrine of St. Thomas the Apostle, Chennai, India

Let There Be Light

Maybe We Can String Something Together Here

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I was in a hurry on a hot, humid morning in Calcutta, India, in October 2006 when I noticed something interesting. This unusual stack, part of what must have been hundreds of light bulbs, had just been taken down from the facade of a residential apartment block.

The lights had been used to illuminate the building during the festive Puja season, in an age-old tradition where lights and assorted decorations adorn homes of all descriptions. The Pujas are a prolonged holiday period during which Indian cities are transformed into havens of shimmering night-time light.

I composed this shot to emphasise the careful manner in which the bulbs had been arranged, but also to draw the eye towards the colour-coded wiring. Obviously the lights were removed in a certain sequence, and were about to be stored in a way in which they could easily be retrieved and replaced the next year.


Visit TNChick's Photo Hunt. Today's theme: "Electric''.

Let There Be Light

Maybe We Can String Something Together Here

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I was in a hurry on a hot, humid morning in Calcutta, India, in October 2006 when I noticed something interesting. This unusual stack, part of what must have been hundreds of light bulbs, had just been taken down from the facade of a residential apartment block.

The lights had been used to illuminate the building during the festive Puja season, in an age-old tradition where lights and assorted decorations adorn homes of all descriptions. The Pujas are a prolonged holiday period during which Indian cities are transformed into havens of shimmering night-time light.

I composed this shot to emphasise the careful manner in which the bulbs had been arranged, but also to draw the eye towards the colour-coded wiring. Obviously the lights were removed in a certain sequence, and were about to be stored in a way in which they could easily be retrieved and replaced the next year.


Visit TNChick's Photo Hunt. Today's theme: "Electric''.

Think Pink

Spring Symphony Comes In Many Colours

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

As a child, I always wondered about the expression "as fresh as a daisy". Surely, I thought, there were other flowers that were bigger, taller, brighter, more infused with wonderful perfume …..

You see, I grew up in Calcutta, India, where we had a sprawling garden that was big enough for a badminton court near the driveway, a full-length cricket pitch near the back door, as well as an enclosed sanctuary where such missiles as soccer balls and cricket balls could not do any damage – and several long, broad garden beds.

So in my childish mind, there were many varieties that looked fresher than daisies, which I thought were probably a bit mundane.

Then I grew up (ostensibly) and married Mrs Authorblog and I became the designated gardener, teaching each of the Authorbloglets in turn everything I knew about horticulture. So when we built our own home and I had the great pleasure of designing and planning the garden, I planted some daisies that act as a beacon of the seasons.

There are huge mounds of golden-yellow daisies in winter, white daisies in late winter and now the scarlet daisies as spring loosens winter’s grip. And yes, I have finally realised that "fresh as a daisy" is entirely accurate and legitimate.


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

Think Pink

Spring Symphony Comes In Many Colours

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

As a child, I always wondered about the expression "as fresh as a daisy". Surely, I thought, there were other flowers that were bigger, taller, brighter, more infused with wonderful perfume …..

You see, I grew up in Calcutta, India, where we had a sprawling garden that was big enough for a badminton court near the driveway, a full-length cricket pitch near the back door, as well as an enclosed sanctuary where such missiles as soccer balls and cricket balls could not do any damage – and several long, broad garden beds.

So in my childish mind, there were many varieties that looked fresher than daisies, which I thought were probably a bit mundane.

Then I grew up (ostensibly) and married Mrs Authorblog and I became the designated gardener, teaching each of the Authorbloglets in turn everything I knew about horticulture. So when we built our own home and I had the great pleasure of designing and planning the garden, I planted some daisies that act as a beacon of the seasons.

There are huge mounds of golden-yellow daisies in winter, white daisies in late winter and now the scarlet daisies as spring loosens winter’s grip. And yes, I have finally realised that "fresh as a daisy" is entirely accurate and legitimate.


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.