Thank you all so much for selecting what was a surprise photo to me... if my dog didn't ask to go out at just the right time, I'd have missed this opportunity entirely.  Wonder if she knew... : )

Congratulations to all the other selectees...beautiful work.

Bill

• For Fred 255...this is about as old as we can get :-) *

Fred255~

Know what you mean. It is a bit of a shock for an American to travel to Europe for the first time. I was looking at an old church in Germany one day...the clergy were buried in the walls with their tombstones upright in the stonework and mortar. The last such burial was in 1725. We don't think things really got going here until 1776 :) So, you can imagine my surprise.

But then everything is relative...I'll bet Ralph49 has the same problem in Australia.

Bill

Good news is nobody was hurt. And it had a long life being "born" in 1889.

Carin,...I am genuinely so pleased to see a friend rise to the top for a month of well earned recognition! Your gallery is always a treat for us northerners. South Africa is a beautiful land and you have helped me see it through your lens. Hooray...way to go!

Bill 

Thanks Shari...and all other contributors...this has been a fun month. Always something more to think about.

Bill

Just don't leave a beaver alone in the same room with your high-end, wooden tripod!!!

Barb's newest relatives are razor sharp.

Bill

[Razor Wire is used on top of all the fences at the three prisons here in Leavenworth...it is meant to keep the bad guys in, but since terror threats became the norm, the prisons now take extraordinary measures to keep bad guys out too]

I'm stuck on Barb.

Thirty excellent choices for Week 44. Think of the hours of dedication put into what we see here...first by the artistic photographers...then by the moderators and coordinators who somehow sift through what must be hundreds of possibilities. And finally to Shari for a sparkling collage to sum it all up. Way to go all!  Bill

This is in the town of White Cloud, Kansas...population 238 in the year 2000.  White Cloud was built on the west bank of the mighty Missouri River.  It was a booming frontier town before our Civil War, 1861-1865.  Steamboats brought settlers, provided commerce and transportation back to civilization in St. Lewis. But the Railroad arrived in 1866.  Steamboat were done. Settlers moved west.  White Cloud was done.

Today its' claim to fame is it is one of the top ten flee markets twice a year. The other 50 weeks of the year it is mighty quiet.

Thank you, thank you. What a wonderful way to begin a new week...with an email saying, "Congrats".  All the selectees of Week #42 have done beautiful work here! I'm honored to be among you.

Bill (bmac62)

By way of answer to the previous post by LovelyPoetess, apparently, the skull was a common engraving used by stone cutters on tombstones in the early 18th century...at least in Colonial America (almost said US...got to keep my facts straight). There were both privateers and pirates sailing the Atlantic off the east coast near here but Capt Mulford wasn't one of them...they'd never have let him be buried in this old churchyard. Most famous privateer near here was Capt. Kidd. He buried treasure all around this locale. Some has been found...some not. The local leader, Lord Lion Gardiner, and the Governor complained to the King of England that Kidd was not turning his share of the profits over to them...the King declared Kidd a pirate and in 1699, the British Navy captured and hung him. Gardiner, the Governor and the King got Kidd's money. Just a little treachery among respectable thieves.

Bill :-)