A super great Palindrome

...was entered by Howard and I thank him for it. 
It is so good that I want everybody to enjoy it.
So here it goes:

are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era ?

this question I can only answer with this theological enquiry:

"do geese see God ?"

Bertstravels 
does not.

some slide shows.. correction

I just noticed that the web address of www.photodex.com/share/bertspix1 
must be entered in your address line anew. Just clicking on the address in the Blog does not work.

Bertstravels
is sorry for this error.

some slide shows

No, I had not forgotten, but just rarely thought about it.
Some time ago I posted a few slide shows on the "photodex" web site and it occurs to me that, if you had absolutely nothing better to do, you might visit this site and try out one or the other of these shows.
3 or 4 of them are about some very good local artists, of whom I particularly like Karl Brandstaetter and most of all, his "Horsemen of the Apocalypse".
Karl is one of the modern artist-painters, who still allows you to see 'whereof he speaketh' and not of the Sharlatan variety of whom I spoke earlier on under the heading: "Art is in the eye of the beholder".
Anyway, there is Karl Brandstaetter, and Giselbert Hoke and Franz Brandl as well as Dinese. Dinese has a most interesting way of painting: She goes to a high elevation, or in some cases she hires a plane (with pilot) and looks at the countryside from this high vantage point. then she returns home and simply from memory she paints what she has seen.
When I photographed the Hoke show, I mentioned the word "abstract" in connection with his work. He corrected me and I remember what he said verbatim:
"My work is not in the Abstract. The Abstract style demands an object to be abstracted. With me, the painting is the object."
I could go on and on telling you about my conversation with these artists.
But for the time being I would like to suggest that you try this site:

www.photodex.com/share/bertspix1

you may be asked to instal the "Presenter-plug-in". This is free of charge and occupies a miniscule space on your PC.
Once you have done that, several shows will be shown as icons, of which you may select one.
another message may tell you that your permission is required. Just right click on this message and then click on "granted" ... Sounds complicated, but really is not.
Will you enjoy one or the other of the shows posted there.?
So hopes

Bertstravels

P.S. for greater enjoyment please right click on the screen and select "Full Screen"

Sablatnigmoor

You wonder what that might be. A "Sablatnigmoor" ?
Quite simple: It is a moor near the community of Sablatnig.
Due to its very dense shoreline growth and the swampy conditions of the ground around it, it is not easy to photograph in detail.
You will just have to be satisfied with those three images of the Sablatnigmoor.

Foto taken from a distance:

The last hills/mountains of the Karawanken in the background.

Eastend of the moor in the middle

and a farmers meadow in the foreground.

Part of the moor of Sablatnig.

It's about time

Yesterday I read in the local press that the Pope gave short shrift to his former Nuntius to the Dominican Republic, and former Archbishop Josef Wesolowski.

On the Pope's order, the Archbishop was arrested and charged with child abuse.
'Corriere della Sera' referred to this action by the Pope as 'exemplary', commenting that "the time for camouflage and obfuscation is over"
"It is a first" proclaimed 'La Republica'.
The News agency 'Ansa' called the Pope's action as "lightning from a blue sky".

While all of this sounds like a laudatio for Pope Franciskus, it is, however, more of a condemnation of all his predecessors.
It may be assumed without much reasonable contradiction that Child Abuse has been the hidden crime committed by many of the Catholic clergy since time immemorial, and it is a stated fact that never before did the Justice Department of the State of the Vatican proceed against such a high ranking member of the Roman Catholic Church on this or similar charges.

I can no longer remember precisely the words used by former Pope Benedict XVI, but the gist of what he said was that Child Abuse cases committed by Catholic Priests were not to be reported to the respective local authorities, but were to be dealt with within the Catholic administration.
This " dealing within the Catholic Administration" resulted, in many cases, in a transfer to a new Parish.

Although Mr. Ratzinger defrocked over 400 priests for sexual transgressions, the majority of these cases did not result in public trials in the  courts of the countries in which the crime was committed.
Members of any other profession, having committed the same or similar offence, would have been charged, arrested, tried, and if found guilty, sent to jail. I do not believe that there are many Priests who are serving time in jail.

Good for Pope Franciskus and congratulations for a job well started.

Every right thinking person will now wait for the next shoe to drop, including

Bertstravels

Deja vue ... all over again

There is a large band of marauding killers moving through the land.
Indiscriminately they murder innocent men, women and children, because they may not believe as they believe.
They claim to act at the behest of God and in His name they plunder, pillage and murder. 
How many thousands they have killed, nobody knows.

The years during which the above abominations take place is from 1095, when the Roman Catholic Pope, Urban II, proclaims the First Crusade, and, sporadically, off and on until 1291.
How many victims ? Don't ask! Nobody knows.
The Pope's men embarked on a killing spree of everybody who was not already, or quickly converted to being a Christian.
This, you say, is ancient history and why warm it up ?

Because the opening paragraph of this posting also applies to the happenings in the year 2014.
Only the roles are reversed. The killings and the reason for the killings remain the same:

This time, the marauders are fanatical Muslims of a specific variety who kill other Muslims and Christians. They call themselves: "God's Warriors". or members of the "Islamic State."
They claim that their immediate goal is a Caliphate encompassing Iraq and Syria and their ultimate goal is a World Order, wherein "their" God and His Prophet Mohamed are dominant.

The Western World must organize itself against this threat for two reasons:
1.) To stop the mass-killing of innocents, and the killing in general in the current area of strife, namely Iraq and Syria, and
2.) To prevent terrorist strikes in states of the Western World, and/or their take-over by the "Islamic State."

The majority of the members of the I.S. are Sunni extremists, who follow an al-Qaeda based fanatical, violently anti-Western ideology.

It seems that the only action, open to the West, is the military defeat of and structural eradication of the I.S.

What, so far, have the European countries done ?
Talk, talk, talk and talk some more.
"Oh yes, we support the US lead fight against the I.S."
So says England and France and Italy... so say they all, including Austria.
Has anybody committed foot soldiers and armaments ? 
Of course not.!
The unspoken European refrain is: "Let the Americans do it"
And the Americans have started with air-power, supported by such military light weights as:
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The brave King of Jordan assured the American Foreign Secretary, John Kerry, that they would not send troops or hardware, but they would support this effort with "Intelligence Gathering." 
( Isn't that re-assuring ? )
When referring to these local partners, the American President Barrack Obama said:
"America is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these Nations on behalf of our common security".
(It must be difficult for 5 military midgets to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the military giant of the U.S.A --- more like "shoulder to knee-cap.)
So it will likely end up that the USA will carry the load to protect the democratic Western World. 
They did that during WW2 and what was their reward then ? Anti-American sentiment throughout Europe and the jealousy ridden Europe will once more indulge themselves in the most popular European parlour game: "Let's Call America for Help and then Let's all Hate Them."

I might suggest to President Barack Obama to let the Arab Nations and Europe sort this one out and let America just assure internal security for their own countries.

However, sadly, Barack never listens to 

Bertstravels.

The many purposes of "Windows" !

Originally, windows were made to be looked through. They were to bring in day light while keeping out the wind and the  cold,

But now and then we see windows which can no longer be looked through for a variety of reasons and many a window fell victim to little boys and stones.

Have a look:

Top part over grown with a climbing plant, 

bottom part covered with a century of dust,

there is not much "look through" left.

At least, anybody living behind this window

 can reach out and grab some grapes for breakfast.

It would seem that the only useful purpose  left

for this window is to reflect the photographer 

in the lower panel.

The end has come to this window

in more ways than one.

An old, but beautiful window in the Castle of Bernstein.

Its clean panes reflecting the roof and chimney

 of the opposite building,

the climbing vine kept in check.

A young boy and his sling shot spells trouble 

for the windows of this abandoned building.

Fun with words

What is a "Palindrome"?
Actually, very simple to explain.:
A "Palindrome" is a word or a sentence which you can read front to back, but also back to front.
The simplest palindrome would be: "Otto" or "Anna"
There are, of course, much more complicated Palindromes. For instance:

A space explorer may return to earth and report:

"RATS LIVE ON NO EVIL STAR"

or; somebody who noticed a movement out of the corner of one eye may guess:

"WAS IT  A CAR OR A CAT  I  SAW"

A music fan tells his friend how exciting the pop artist Madonna is. 
The reply from the not so enthusiastic friend  might be this palindrome:

"YAWN... MADONNA FAN ? NO DAMN WAY:

There are of course many more and if you know some, write to me, or place them into the "comment box".

Bertstravels loves 
Palindromes and Anagrams

"

A Pun is a Pun is a Pun

Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway.
One hat said to the other :
"You stay here; I'll go on a head."

Groan... says

Bertstravels.

Art is in the eye of the beholder...

... or, Art is what I say it is !

I went to a "modern art" exhibit !
and could not decide whether the paintings of one of the artists were simply "Rorschach Blots" or if the other exhibitor ( artist) was simply putting me on.
A white canvass with a hand drawn black line running from the lower left to the upper right corner was entitled: "opposites".
I was tempted to enter a white canvas without this black line and simply call it "Opposites lost".
When I asked the curator if I could enter such an exhibit, he assured me, with a sarcastic smile, that as soon as I had become famous, and prove sales of at least €3000.00  per exhibit, he would gladly hang any of my works in his gallery.

Next week I will bring him a sample of my creations. But before I do, I would like you to have first choice. For €3000.00 you may have any of the originals shown below:

I decided to stay honest and therefore I call this Work of Art:

"Rock on Glass"

or maybe

"Rock through Glass"

I may have to change this title before my Vernissage  in the Louvre.

At present it is called:

"Polar Bear having a Crap"

There is a great title for the above:

"Defying a heavy downpour under a big umbrella"

( Note the long tongue between pursed lips under a hooked nose)

At the Louvre they will simply love this title:

"Tour de France, Final Stage."

If you think that these titles are too realistic, don't worry; I can dream up titles at a moment's notice.

i.e. : Expression of an Impression #1

or  : Expression of an Impression #2

amd so on "at nauseam" 

I think, however, that maybe, 

Bertspix 

should stick to photography.

The last of this Summer's Roses

Just before the cold Autumn nights rob these roses of their brilliance I decided to photograph and show them once more in their summer beauty.

That sounds about right

In the end it is not the years in your life that count,
but the life in your years.

Abraham Lincoln.

The Big Disappointment

He was just about 15 years of age and a very typical, sports minded teenager.
He played in goal for his Minor League Bantam soccer team.
He was a good 'keeper'.
Not flashy, but steady. For him there was no need to be flashy, and the diving saves he made only when they became necessary.
Otherwise, he had an instinct for the game and was able to read how the play would develop. Therefore he was usually in the right position and could intercept the shot without the need for the 'picturesque' dive, which the non-cognoscenti associate with 'great goal keeping'.
Throughout this season his goal-against average was 0.8 per game, which made him one of the best keepers in the League. It helped, of course, that he had a very good defense.

When the "Ontario Soccer Association" was in the process of forming an "All-Star" team,
( I preferred to call it a "Select Team"), the coaches, charged with this task,  scouted the Province for the 18 best players, which would then compete against 8 of the other Provinces. (New Foundland had declined to field a team)
The soccer-grape-vine, which is one of the most reliable news sources, had it, that he was the most likely 'keeper' to be selected for the starting line-up, and what's more, this same s.g.v. also told me that two of the Select coaches would visit our next League game incognito to observe him and to make the final decision. Although it was said that this visit was, more or less, a formality, since the decision to invite him into the Select team had already been made.
Of course I kept this a strict secret, since the knowledge of this visit and its purpose would tend to make any player nervous. And, as everybody knows, a  nervous keeper is usually not at his best.

The game started and, as I had suspected, his team was quite superior to the opposition, so that he could show only rarely how good he really was.
At the beginning of the second half, the opposing left wing striker, who had very good ball control, came down his side and placed a perfect high pass just to the half right position, for one of the centre strikers. In goal, he read this move perfectly and, moving slightly to his left, was, therefore, easily able to intercept the high ball before it reached the opposing striker.
I could see the Select coaches nodding to each other in approval and one of them came over to my side and told me "the big secret". They would invite him to the Select team and that he would, there was no doubt in his mind, make the starting line-up for certain.
I feigned total surprise and assured the Select Coach that this was a perfect choice.
The game went on, and I believe the score was 2:0 for our team, when this same left wing striker came down his side of the pitch, but this time he placed a very shallow pass, inches above the ground into the middle, where an unguarded centre striker loomed.
The keeper recognized the danger and made an easy, flat dive and cradled the ball on the ground.

Danger averted, game well in hand.

For the longest time he did not get up, but just lay on the ground, the ball under his body and his right arm at an odd angle from his body.
Fearing an injury, and the referee having waved me on, I ran onto the field and bent over our keeper.
I could see the pain on his face. "I can't move my right arm.. it hurts like hell," he moaned.

In the nearby hospital they diagnosed not only a broken collar bone, but, unbeknown to the doctor, they also diagnosed the end of a dream.

That was many years ago, but

Bertstravels

still remembers it well.

Is that so ?

Atheism is a non-prophet organisation.

Bertstravels
thinks that's funny.

EXODUS 7 PLUS

This is the way I see it:
The Israelites wanted to leave Egypt, but the Pharaoh refused to allow them to emigrate and forced them to remain in Egypt as slaves.
To convince the Pharaoh to "let my people go", the Lord sent ten plagues to Egypt.
Some of them were actually quite infantile: 
All the dust of Egypt shall change into lice.
Or this one:
"This is what the Great Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. The Nile will teem with frogs and ........."

After the fourth plague the Pharaoh promised to let the Israelites leave Egypt. But, so says the Old Testament, "the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and so he (Pharaoh) refused to keep his promise.
Now, one has to wonder: Why did the Lord "harden" Pharaoh's heart?  Was it so he (the Lord) could pull other tricks out of his magic bag ?
Why did the Lord not "soften" Pharaoh's heart at the beginning of this ridiculous farce ?
It seems that the God of the Old testament is not only a conceited ass ( let my people go so they can worship me) but he is also a dilettante as a magician. He performs all kinds of 'hocus - pocus', but to no avail. The Pharaoh stands pat, seemingly stronger than God.

Now it appears that God gets frustrated. And when God gets frustrated he gets to be a mean killer.
So when his first  nine clumsy attempts to convince the Pharaoh to "let my people go so they may worship me" did not work, he, the merciful and just Lord and God comes out with the heavy artillery.
This is what he says: "About midnight I will go throughout Egypt and every firstborn in Egypt will die - from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill and all the firstborn of the cattle as well."
Now, isn't this just dandy - instead of softening Pharaoh's heart, this Lord decides to go on a killing spree.
Guilty, sinful or pure at heart... makes no difference: You're a Firstborn ? Off with you. Death is your reward. Some firstborns may have been just hours old... no exception... off with you... 

Let us, once more, look at this story: 
The Lord could have softened Pharaoh's heart at the very beginning, who then would have allowed the Israelites to leave, so that they might worship the Lord. Case closed!
The Lord never mentioned that he wanted the Israelites to leave slavery, because slavery and bondage is a state unworthy of a human being and that each human should be able to live in peace and freedom.
But Noooo, it's not for the people he is concerned, but his concern is about himself: He wants to be worshiped.
When Pharaoh seems willing to let the Israelites leave his country, (would you believe this?) the Lord "hardens his heart" and as a consequence of this hardening, Pharaoh breaks his promise.

Do you really need more proof that the Bible's Old Testament is a collection of nonsensical horror stories, too stupid and infantile to be given even the tiniest of credence ?

The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson wrote more believable tales.

That is the honest belief of

Bertstravels.

Waaaaay up in the sky

Several years ago, ( and I mean 'several' ) 

I spent some time in Hintertux,

where I followed a group of daring young men 

flying between the mountains of Tirol.

To soar with the wind

between the jagged mountains of Tirol

in almost total silence,

only a gentle whistling as the strings cut the air

The Island in the Lake between the Mountains and under the Sky.

.... and everything seen twice...

(This image may be side reversed. I no longer remember. I just recall that I stood there for the longest time

just drinking in this scene )

Meeting in the Dark

Since my larger laptop is in the repair shop and it contains all of my most recent pictures, I rooted around some of my older images and found one of my favourites:
I call it "Meeting in the dark" with a subtitle: " We just have to stop meeting this way ! People will start to talk.

Charley, can you play a Cha-Cha-Cha ?

Recently I was invited to photograph the celebrations of a Golden Wedding Anniversary.
My very good friend, Charley, on the Tenor Sax and Clarinet, together with Klaus, a very fine accordion player, provided the musical background in the church and later in a restaurant's private room for after dinner dancing. As is befitting for an almost  80 year old "Golden Wedding Anniversary" couple, the music was held in sedate tempos and rhythms. A slow English Waltz, a slow Fox Trot and other  quiet type of dance music, when all of a sudden, the "Golden couple" stops dancing and the groom calls out: 
"Charley, can't you play a Cha-Cha-Cha ?"
Well, that's when the party started.

photographed by

Bertstravels.

Brauhaus Bresnik

During the Wiesenmarkt festivities, an old Bleiburg establishment, "das Alte Brauhaus" a Pub, Restaurant and Hotel, operated by the family Bresnik for more years than I can count, received the "Seal of the Town of Bleiburg". A well deserved honour for this civic minded family.

Frustration

For several days now my computer could not reach the internet.
That, of course means: No e-mail, no Blog and no ...what ever.
For some reason my smaller laptop works okay, but my lager one still refuses to talk to the Internet.
So please be patient...
As General MacArthur said: I shall return, or as Arnold Schwarzenegger put it: I'll be back...

Bertstravels

A Fashion Show with a twist.

We all know what a fashion show looks like:
Beautiful Models in beautiful gowns elegantly strolling down the catwalk, accompanied by lovely music.

The fashion show presented here at the tail end of the Wiesenmarkt was a little different:
There were beautiful Models alright, and even beautiful dresses, but that's where the similarity ended:

The models, male and female came onto the stage, moving to the rhythm of pulsating, throbbing, bass-loaded music. Their bodies and movements were those of athletes: Lithe and youthful. 
The clothes, male and female, featured prints of Carinthia's famous painter, Werner Berg. The entire performance an exciting combination of the traditional and the modern. Tastefully strung together and presented to an enthusiastically appreciative audience which called for more and more and more.

Here only a very few of the pix I took.