Tuesday, 3 June 2008

HARBOUR BLUES

The fishing nets on the quayside of Dunbar Harbour caught my eye. Nice when in a pile on a sunny day; not so nice when shreds appear in the tideline.



Monday, 2 June 2008

IRIS EYES ARE SMILING

Tove's garden was full of colour. What could be richer than purple irses?



Sunday, 1 June 2008

BEE CAUSE

Lovely weather and the bees are out. This first shot is in our own garden - blue Ceanothus.


We paid a visit to Tove and Robert Russell, East Lothian, whose garden was just buzzing with activity. I don't know the name of the first (pink) flower. The next one is comfry and the last one is broom. Both latter varities are the lovely reddish type, not the more common yellow.



Thursday, 29 May 2008

IN THE DAYS WHEN MEN WERE MEN

Apparently today is Everest Day. It is 55th anniversary of the Sir Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay's first ascent of Mount Everest.


The mountain is named after Sir George Everest, the surveyor-general of India who mapped the area in the mid 19th century. The Great Trigonometric Survey of India established the first published height of Everest in 1856 at 29,002 ft (8,840 m) (when it was known to the surveyors as Peak XV.)

"It is not known whether or not George Everest ever laid his eyes on the great mountain that bears his name, but his triangulation network was extended and used to locate the summit by Andrew Waugh, Everest's successor as Surveyor General in India. Waugh's admiration of Everest's achievements led to the naming of 'Peak XV'.

After its discovery by his team, Waugh, wrote: "... here is a mountain most probably the highest in the world without any local name that I can discover...", so he proposed "...to perpetuate the memory of that illustrious master of geographical research ... Everest." "*




I only discovered this because of the arty Google logo on the homepage.


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* From Surveyhistory web site here.

Aerial view of Everest. Picture taken by Kerem Barut, source: Wikipedia.
Mount Everest from Rombok Gompa, Tibet. Photo by John Hill, source: Wikipedia