Posts Tagged ‘Golden Fleece’

“Greek Myths and Graffiti Murals”: “Collaboration With Resa McConaghy”⭐:

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⇒About This Post. Abstract:

The following article is composed of two sections, each one of them including murals from Argentina and Canada, respectively. This post aims to analyze with a with a free, but still judiciously, well-founded criteria how certain mythological greek themes and characters might be recurrent, despite time and even against it.

As Resa and I found some graffitis which seemed to have mythological and even philosophical equivalents we decided we wanted to try to show those connections. Resa´s mural is from the University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada) whilst mine are from The Planetarium (Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina). With that being said, we just wanted to say that, after finding many similarities, we are quite pleased with the outcome. Both of, Resa and I believe the convergences are striking. And being so, they broaden and deepen the value of the immortal Ancient Greek Legacy.

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⇒Section I. Murals: The Planetarium:🇦🇷

The Galileo Galilei planetarium, commonly known as Planetario, is located in Parque Tres de Febrero in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The building was officially opened to the public on April 5, 1968. It consists of a cylindrical framework with independent projectors for the Moon, the Sun and the visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) and two spheres in the extremes that project 8,900 stars, constellations and nebulas.
Nowadays the Planetarium is surrounded by a thin sheet metal with many murals on it. We´ll present here some of them, aiming to find mythological  and philosophical corollaries.
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⇒Eros and Psyche… And the Planetarium above them!:

 
This graffiti is quite the finding. It is based on an original painting “The abduction of Psyche” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1894). 
The artist included a Planetarium above the couple.
 
According to the greek myth Aphrodite was jealous due to men’s admiration for Psyche, so she asked her son, Eros, to poison men’ souls in order to kill off their desire for Psyche. But Eros fell in love with Psyche. Thus, against his mother´s wishes, he asked the west wind, Zephyr, to waft her to his palace.
They consummated their love that same night. But for that Eros had to make Psyche believe that he was an ugly beast, as the Oracle had told her parents that Psyche would marry an ugly beast whose face she would never be able to see. And apparently she firmly believed so!…
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⇒The Horned goat with human hands:

 
This mural with goat head and human hands might remind us of the constellation Capricornus .
Its name is Latin for “horned goat” or “goat horn” or “having horns like a goat’s”.
This constellation protected by Hestia, represents Pan, the god of the wild and shepherds. The myth tells us that, in order to escape Typhon, Pan cast himself into the river, making the lower part of his body look like a fish, and the rest a goat: Zeus, admiring his shrewdness, put this shape among the constellations .
However, in this mural, we lack of the sea elements… But the resemblance between hands and fins couldn´t go unnoticed, either way.
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⇒The Bull Surrounded by Snakes:


This mural seem to evoke the Great Greek Bull. It could be linked to the Minotaur.
 
According to the respective myth, after Pasiphae (the daughter of Helios, the Sun, by the eldest of the Oceanids Perse) become impregnated by a white bull, she gave birth to a sort of hybrid child, the bull-headed Minotaur.
 
Angered with his wife, Minos imprisoned the minotaur in the labyrinth of Crete in Knossos. Presumably, Minos was one of the three sons from the union of Europa and Zeus; when Zeus was in the form of a bull.

As to snakes, let´s remember the rod of Asclepius, God of Medicine and Apollo´s son. It symbolizes the healing arts by combining the serpent, which in shedding its skin is a symbol of rebirth and fertility. The Asclepius Wand, often confused with the Caduceus wand of Hermes, is the symbol of the medical profession.

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⇒Tiempo- Time:

 
The words on this mural mean: Time.
But what is exactly time. St Augustine of Hippo says in his “Confessions”: “What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know”… Time is such an elusive concept, indeed!.
In Greek mythology, Chronos was the personification of time, not to be confused with Cronus, the Titan and father of Zeus.
The Greeks had two different words for time: Chronos refers to numeric or chronological time, while another word kairos refers to the more qualitative concept of the right or opportune moment. The figure of Chronos was typically portrayed as a wise old man with a long grey beard: Father Time.
Furthermore, the Horae or Hours were the goddesses of the seasons and the natural flow of time, generally portrayed as personifications of nature in its different seasonal aspects, and with the cycle of the seasons themselves symbolically described as the dance of the Horae.
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⇒Number 8. Toward Infinity… and beyond!:

This mural is certainly esoteric. The eyes, placed in circular shape, surround the central number eight (8).

Eight (8) is the Number of the perfection, the infinity. In mathematics the symbol of the infinity is represented by a 8 laid down.

The Pythagoreans believed that number 8 was the symbol of love and friendship, prudence and rational thinking. . It was the Pythagoreans who held that there are in man eight organs of knowledge; sense, fantasy, art, opinion, prudence, science, wisdom, and mind.

The person who actually introduced the infinity symbol was John Wallis, in 1655. This symbol is sometimes called the Lemniscate. It presumably evolved from the Etruscan numeral for 1000, which looked like this: CIƆ. There is another theory that he actually derived the infinity symbol from omega (ω), the last letter of the Greek alphabet. 

Ouroboros.

The ouroboros symbol, showing a a snake twisted into a horizontal figure eight (8) and biting its own tail, is also said to be a most plausible basis for the infinity symbol because it is a fitting depiction of endlessness.

As to the eyes in this mural, we could think of the Eye of Providence Symbol (which appears in the USA dollar bill). It represents the eye of God, the singular divine power that has created the entire universe. The eye is most times enclosed in a triangle. At times, the Eye is also depicted as surrounded by clouds or bursts of light. Both of these images are representative of holiness and divine glory and so, here too, the symbol signifies that the Almighty is keeping a watchful eye on His creation.

The Eye of Providence Symbol.

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⇒Section II. Murals: University of Toronto: 🇨🇦

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The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on the grounds that surround Queen’s Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King’s College. It comprises twelve colleges, each with substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs.
The mural in question is in an underpass that runs from Hart House Circle under Queen’s Park Crescent West to Wellesley Street. Resa came across this mural as she walked under Queen’s Park Crescent. She went by Hart House and exited using the King’s Park Circle. In the slide show below you can see some photographs of the location and buildings. The mural comes soon after!. 
About Resa Mc Conaghy:
Resa is a canadian artist, costume designer and author. 
She hosts two blogs: Graffiti Lux and Murals and Art Gowns.
You can find her version of this post here. Furthermore, Resa has written a book, “Nine Black Lives, available on Amazon. Find Resa on Twitter, too!.
(Disclaimer: All murals photographs and photographs from University of Toronto were taken by Resa and featured on her blog Graffiti Lux and Murals. © Resa McConaghy. 2017). Please check out Resa´s post regarding this collaboration here.
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⇒Damarchus / Lycanthropeis or Werewolf Man-Wolf:

This graffiti could be linked to the Werewolf Man-wolf, or Lycanthropeis. Meaning, a mythological human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf, either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction.
A few references to men changing into wolves are found in Ancient Greek literature and mythology.
For instance, Herodotus, wrote that the Neuri, a tribe he places to the north-east of Scythia, were all transformed into wolves once every year for several days, and then changed back to their human shape. 
Furthermore, we have the story of Damarchus. He was a victorious Olympic boxer from Parrhasia (Arcadia) who is said to have changed his shape into that of a wolf at the festival of Lycaea, only to become a man again after ten years. The festival of Lycaea involved human sacrifice to Zeus. A young boy was killed and then consumed by one of the participants, in this case by Damarchus, and as a result Zeus would transform the cannibal into a wolf.
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On the Left: A man wearing a wolf-skin. Attic red-figure vase, c. 460 BC. On the Right: Zeus turning Lycaon into a wolf, engraving by Hendrik Goltzius. 16th century.

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⇒The Woman With an Extra Hand:

Following the hindu mythology pattern, according to which goddesses have many hands, we could conclude that having more than two hands is a mark of Divinity. Humans have two arms, so someone with multiple becomes special and out of the league. More hands at times also represents more strength.The multiplicity of hands also emphasizes the power and ability to perform several acts at the same time. 

As to number three, it represents the Holy Trinity. From a philosophical perspective, number  three is symbolic of the reconciliation of opposites, as with Hegel‘s dialectic: “thesis + antithesis = synthesis”.
Besides, it is both a lunar and a solar number.
The moon has three major phases – the two crescents and the full moon, while the sun has three primary points in its existence: the low winter solstice; the high summer solstice, and the two equinoxes of March and September.

⇒The Kholkikos Drakon or Colchian Dragon:


 
The Kholkikos Drakon or (Colchian Dragon) was the ever awake serpent that guarded the Golden Fleece in a grove sacred to Ares in Kolkhis. When the Argonauts came to aquire the Fleece, they had to get past it. There are two theories as towards how they past the Drakon, either Medea put the monster to sleep so Jason could grab the fleece while it slumbered or Jason slew it. There is also a belief that the monster swallowed Jason and then regurgitated him thanks to the power of Medea, so that Jason could then slay the beast. Different cultural traditions have portrayed dragons with reptilian or serpentine traits so that it may seem to resemble cobras, crocodiles or lizards. The word ‘dragon’ traces its origin in the Greek word ‘drakon’ that means a huge serpent or a giant sea fish.
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⇒Apollo (AKA previously Helios) and his Chariot:

Before Artemis became goddess of the moon, the Titaness Selene owned the Moon chariot, which she drove across the sky at night. Soon after, Artemis was the legatee of the carriage. In the same way, Apollo received the Chariot of the Sun, once Helios became identified with him.
Helios (Apollo), the Sun god, drives his chariot across the sky each day while Selene (Artemis) is also said to drive across the heavens. And, while the sun chariot has four horses, Selene´s (Artemis´) usually has two, described as “snow-white” by Ovid. 

As to the horse symbolism, it is often known as a solar symbol. Sometimes, horses are related to the sun, moon, and water. It acts as the mediator between Earth and Heaven. Horse symbolizes power, grace, beauty, nobility, strength, and freedom.

The woman looking at Apollo (former Helios) could be his twin sister, Artemis (Former Selene). Artemis was the Goddess of Hunting and of  Goddess of the Moon. In classical times, Selene was often identified with Artemis, much as her brother, Helios, was identified with Apollo. Both Selene and Artemis were also associated with Hecate, and all three were regarded as Lunar Goddesses, although only Selene was considered a personification of the moon itself.

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►Links Post:
https://goo.gl/9M3yb1
https://goo.gl/25jrss
https://goo.gl/BN7KEA
https://goo.gl/N0hD0x
https://goo.gl/z0y3Mr
https://goo.gl/rhZkZj
https://goo.gl/As9dYy

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►Greek Mythology: “Eros and Psyche”:

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“The abduction of Psyche” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1894).

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The myth of Eros and Psyche was originally a story by Apuleius, written in the 2nd century BC.

The Greek name for “Butterfly” is “Psyche”, which also means “Soul”. 

Hence Psyche represented the soul, being as she was an extremely beautiful Princess from Sicily.

Being jealous due to men’s admiration for Psyche, Goddess Aphrodite asked her son, Eros, to poison men’ souls in order to kill off their desire for Psyche.

But when he intended in vain to do that, Eros also fell in love with Psyche.

As Psyche was single, her parents became so desperate because of their daughter’s destiny and had no choice but to ask for an oracle, hoping that they would manage to solve the mystery and give a husband to their daughter.

The oracle said that Psyche would marry an ugly beast whose face she would never be able to see, and he would wait for her at the top of the mountain.

Up on the rock, it turned out that the God Eros, invisible in that case, was waiting for Psyche in order to avenge his mother. But instead of punishing Psyche, he unavoidably fell in love with her.  

So he asked the west wind, Zephyr, to waft her to his palace.

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“Psyche Honoured by the People” by Luca Giordano. Series of twelve scenes (1692–1702).

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“Psyche Lifted Up by Zephyrs” by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (1800).

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Thus Psyche was abducted (1) and, once in the palace, the servants told her that new husband, will come to visit her that evening. 

Eros and Psyche consummated their love that night, though in total darkness because Eros has forbidden her to look at him.  

Hence, Psyche’ sisters persuaded her that her lover was an ugly beast (2) who would try to kill her, so she might have to do the first movement.

With the oil lamp and knife in her hands, Psyche one night was ready for murder, but when she enlightened the face of her beast-husband, she saw the beautiful God Eros. Caught by surprise, she spilled the oil on his face.

Eros woke up and flew away telling Psyche that she had betrayed him and that they would never be together again.

Psyche started searching for her lost love, and finally was suggested to beg Eros’ mother, Aphrodite to see him because she had previously imprisoned his son in her palace. Even though, she accepted Psyche’s request, telling her that she had to accomplish some tasks in order to achieve her goal.

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Cupid and Psyche

“Cupid and Psyche” by Jacques-Louis David (1817).

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Psyche's Wedding

“Psyche’s Wedding” by Edward Burne-Jones (1895).

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“Amor (Eros) and Psyche” by Jacopo Zucchi (1589).

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The first task was a matter of sorting a huge pile of mixed grains into separate piles.

Eros had secretly arranged for an army of ants to separate the piles.  So she could finally do it. Aphrodite, returning the following morning, accused Psyche of having had help, as indeed she had.

The next task involved getting a snippet of Golden Fleece (3) from each one of a special herd of sheep that lived across a nearby river.  The Gods of River or Potamoi (4) advised Psyche to wait until the sheep sought shade from the midday sun.  As the animals were sleeping, they didn’t attack her. And Psyche could fulfill Aphrodite’s second task. But, Aphrodite, once again, accused her of having had help.

For Psyche’s third task, she was given a crystal vessel in which she had to collect the black water spewed by the source of the rivers of the Underworld Styx and Cocytus (5). During her attempt to accomplish the task, she was daunted by the foreboding air of the place and dragons slithering through the rocks. Fortunately, Zeus took pity on her, and sent an eagle to battle the dragons and bring the water for her.

After accomplishing these three tasks, Psyche had to face the last and most difficult one. This fourth task was to go to the Hades (Underworld) and bring the box with The Elixir of Beauty (6) to Aphrodite, who ordered her not to open the box.

She got the elixir from hands of Persephone, Hades’ wife and Demeter’s daughter.

But Psyche was curious and opened the box (7)Morpheus (the god of sleep and dreams) had introduced a spell on it, and because of that reason, she fell completely asleep (8). 

As Eros missed his lover Psyche, he asked Zeus to help him again. And so did the ruler of the Olympian gods, who woke up Psyche from her everlasting sleep, making her immortal. 

Finally, Psyche and Eros were reunited, and even Aphrodite acknowledged Psyche’s victory.

The God of Love and the Goddesses of the Soul lived happily together and even had a daughter, whose name was Hedone (Goddess of Pleasure).

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“Psyché aux enfers” by Eugène Ernest Hillemacher (1865).

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Psyche Obtaining the Elixir of Beauty from Proserpine by Charles-Joseph Natoire (France, Nîmes and Castel Gandolfo, 1700-1777) France, circa 1735

“Psyche Obtaining the Elixir of Beauty from Proserpine” by Charles-Joseph Natoire (1735).

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“Psyche” by John Reinhard Weguelin (1890).

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“Cupid and Psyche” by Anthony van Dyck (1639).

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“Cupid and Psyche” by Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours (1843).

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•References (Corresponding to Numbers in Blue above):

(1) Psyche’s abduction by Eros remind us of Persephone’s abduction by Hades.

(2) In this sense, this myth might have similarities with the tale “The Beauty and the Beast”.

(3) In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-hair winged ram. The fleece is a symbol of authority and kingship.

(4) The Greek Gods of river were known as Potamoi. They are the fathers of Naiads and the brothers of the Oceanids, and as such, the sons of Oceanus and Tethys

(5) The rivers Styx, Cocytus, Phlegethon, Acheron, Lethe all converge at the center of the underworld on a great marsh, which is also sometimes called the Styx.

(6) The Elixir of Beauty was potion that Persephone, The Queen of The Underworld owned.

(7) In this sense, this myth reminds us of the famous Pandora’s box. Zeus had given Pandora a box after she married Epimetheus. As Pandora couldn’t avoid her curiosity, she disobeyed and opened a box. As she did, she unleashed all the evils known to mankind.

(8) These facts made me think of “Sleeping Beauty”.

• For an overall, description of the Gods/Goddesses appearing on this myth, click here.

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►Links Post:
http://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/psyche-and-eros-myth/
http://greece.mrdonn.org/greekgods/erosandpsyche.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Fleece
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potamoi
http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/grecoromanmyth1/a/mythslegends_4.htm
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/cupideros/tp/010811-Cupid-And-Psyche.htm
http://www.madelinemiller.com/myth-of-the-week-psyche-and-eros/
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/beautybeast/other.html

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►Last but not Least: Five Awards: 

►Here are the Award Rules, which are the same for all the awards:

1) The nominee shall display the respective logo on her/his blog.

•Note: To get the logo just click on the one which corresponds among the ones appearing in the Gallery below.

2) The nominee shall nominate ten (10)  bloggers she/he admires, by linking to their blogs and informing them about it.

►Aquí están las reglas comunes a todos los Premios:

1) Ubicar el logo del Premio que le corresponda en su blog. par

2) Nominar a otros quince (15) bloggers, enlazando a sus respectivos blogs e informándolos de la nominación.

•Nota: Para obtener el logo, hacer click en la imagen que corresponda al mismo, de entre todas las que aparecen debajo.

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I) One Lovely Blogger Award: My blog has been nominated for this award by Inese from Inesemj photography, a mesmerizing blog with wonderful photos, mainly from UK’s landscapes, and mostly from beautiful Ireland.

Also a blogger friend, Non Smoking Lady Bug, from The Happy Quitter nominated me for the same award. Her blog is cool. Some of the categories she writes about are Ex Smoker Humour, Life in General and Quit Smoking… (Which, by the way reminds me I need to put aside the nicotine)….

•This Award requires to point out seven facts about you (nominee). Thus, I will very briefly add them here just to respect the bureaucratic procedure. But  if your blog was nominated you may consider yourself dismissed without prejudice 🙂

1. My full name is María Pedemonte Velázquez. 2. I live in Buenos Aires Argentina. 3. In a town called San Fernando. 4. My argentine ID has eight numbers. 5. Four of those eight numbers are number six. 6. Two of those numbers are number two. 7. Two of those numbers are nine… (Now guess my ID!) 😀

►My nominees for the One Lovely Blogger Award are:

1. The Tropical Flowering Zone 2. Uncle’s Tree House 3. T Ibara Photo 4. John Poet Flanagan 5. Stuff Jeff Reads 6. LaVagabonde 7. Graffiti Lux and Murals 8. Emociones Encadenadas 9. Sue Slaght 10. Avian101.

II) Black Wolf Blogger Award: I have received this award from José Cervera, who hosts a blog in spanish called Ritual de las Palabras (Ritual of Words). Take a peak using the translator. He often posts great reviews of books.

►My nominees for the Black Wolf Blogger Award are:

1. Author Miranda Stone 2. JeriWB Author and Editor 3. A Solas con Caronte 4. Field of Thorns 5.Shehanne Moore 6. Poetic Parfait 7. En Humor Arte 8.Inesemj photography 9. Kev’s Blog 10. Dreamwalker’s Sanctuary

III) Premio Dardos: He sido nominada para este Premio desde Jag, A Solas con Caronte, Emociones Encadenadas y El Beso en el EspejoLos cuatro excelentes blogs, claro, en castellano.  

Jag es un blog con geniales relatos breves, cuya lectura recomiendo.

En A solas con Caronte me he encontrado con muy buenos relatos breves y otras misceláneas que conviene no perderse.

Gema, desde Emociones Encadenadas nos ofrece grandes posts. El nombre del blog es elocuente, pues las palabras en este caso acarrean sentimientos y siempre es un gusto detenerse a leer este blog.

El Beso en el Espejo, por su parte, es un  muy buen blog, con primacía literaria. Sus contenidos incluyen once capítulos de una novela intempestiva, citas y poemas.

►Mis nominados para el Premio Dardos son:

1.Chesterton Blog 2. Palabras Sosegadas 3. Alex Kiaw 4. Leire’s Room 5. Rey de Reyes 6. Jarafuel 7. Ser un Ser de Luz 8. Alpuymuz 9. Rotze Mardini 10. La Cosa Gris.

IV & V) Liebster Award & Versatile Blogger Award: Estos premios me fueron otorgados, nuevamente, desde el blog amigo A Solas con Caronte, espacio virtual que recomiendo para echar una vistazo primero y luego, definitivamente, atreverse a explorar.

I have received these two Awards from the blog  A Solas con Caronte (Alone with Charon). I recommend this blog to take a peak, firstly and then definitely, to dare to explore it. The blog is, of course in spanish, but… who is impeding you to use the translator, anyways?.

►Mis nominados para el Liebster Award son / My nominees for the Liebster Award are:

1. The Happy Quitter 2. Inesemj photography 3. A Suffolk Lane 4. El rincón de los Noctambulos 5. Ritual de las Palabras 6.El Beso en el Espejo 7. Words in the Light 8. Pambrittain 9. Talker Blogger 10. The Muscleheaded Blog

►Mis nominados para el Versatile Blogger Award son / My nominees for the Versatile Blogger Award are:

1. Cindy Knoke 2. Cindy Bruchman 3. Being Better 4. The Muscleheaded Blog 5. Jag 6. I lost my Lens Cap 7. Isaspi 8. Living with my Ancestors 9. Bluebutterfliesandme 10. Priorhouse

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►Amy Mac Donald: “Spark”:

(A song by this great scottish singer. Check out Lyrics here)

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Thank you very much for dropping by. Best wishes!, Aquileana 🙂

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