lights left around town

As of a couple of nights ago, there were just a few remaining trees up. I still am enjoying their bright beauty!

love how they did their piazzas!

loved seeing this pretty little Christmas tree high up in this condo building all through the season! It was the ONLY one on that side of the building that we could see

big red bows! These have been taken down now

this beautiful tree lit up the night all season. As of a couple of nights ago----it is still up and bright! It looks like every single branch is covered in the lights, so pretty.

 A festive holiday evening on the town and what we saw:

Whoooosh---up the elevator!

these pretty teacups are somehow hung up on this wall! I loved seeing them, so fun, the cup and saucer--the whole thing hanging sideways. Did they GLUE them up there or what? LOL

peeking into the shelves in the window from outside

Outside, high above the city, on the balcony:

It was chilly out there, but we loved the city lights and the pretty view!

Back down in the city---a neat old alley, and neat old bricks showing through:

a little holiday window shopping:

There's that little tree up in that condo again:

WILD LIGHTS, LOL!!

before sundown that evening, I had taken this picture. Sunbeams on old St. Michael's. The greenery swags and wreaths look pretty way up there! George Washington climbed way up into this tower on his visit to Charleston way back in 1791.

and that's about the last of the wreaths and decorated trees and house lights.....pretty much all of them are down now. A couple of nights ago I saw a few random trees still standing, some with lights and some in the process of being taken down.

We finally got ours all taken down and put away. Here is Tansy working on taking hers down! LOL...that Tansy---how does she ALWAYS look so nice and pretty while working "hard"? LOL Perfect hair, perfect make-up and nails, fancy outfits? And she DOES work hard, I make her scrub floors and bathrooms and dust and clean the kitchen and sweep.......ha ha LOL!

Still enjoying things of the Holiday season:

like holiday magazines!

.........and a few decorations I left out. I leave my blinking snowman and snowwoman out all winter, along with my white reindeer

This big snowglobe type musical scene with church and reindeer  plays LOTS of Christmas tunes, and the snow blows and swirls all about. It's sound activated, so if you walk by..........loud music! LOL This was one of our new things we bought this year and I just love it! Actually, I loved it so much I went back to buy about 4 or 5 more for presents, and they WERE SOLD OUT. 

Big Lots

and I'm still wearing Christmas socks with my house-shoes to keep my feet warm! LOL
a few days ago, we had a nice visitor to our garden: Hoo hoo ha hoooooo!!

we still have lots of flowers blooming, lots of marigolds and cyclamen

a few nights ago, we had a big big ship in port. I think it it was the Carnival Sunshine. She was on her way to the Bahamas.

I became interested in wrecks on the Great Lakes here recently. I had heard that old song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" many times over the years, never gave it much thought......didn't even think it was real, or if it was, it was a big old ship from the early 1800s or something. I had NO IDEA it was a real ship, or what had happened to it!

I also never knew ANYTHING about the Great Lakes, as I'm not from up North, and have never been there. I've been fascinated to read about how the Lakes are actually known as dangerous "inland seas", with all the wind/storms/and HUGE waves just like we have in the oceans. I never knew about the massive freighters that make trip after trip hauling huge loads of the iron ore, grains, and salt to steel mills, and other places like Detroit and Ohio cities, and the brave Captains and sailors who sail those big ships. I've been reading their stories, and about the Great Lakes cargo vessels, they are amazing. 

Crews include wheelsmen, cooks, deck hands, maintenance men, engineers, wipers, stewards, oilers, watchmen, and other jobs.

I read about how seasoned sea Captains would rather sail on the huge oceans, rather than the dangerous Great Lakes in November, because of the weather and how quickly huge storms with huge waves can develop.

the Fitz (729 feet long and known for breaking many speed records) sank in 1975, killing all on board

-- the entire crew of 29 I believe it was. Sadly, No bodies were ever recovered. They found debris, life jackets, and life boats. When they finally found the wreckage at the bottom of the Lake, the whole boat was broken into two big pieces, with 26,000 tons of iron ore pellets in between the bow and the stern.

 The wreck was only 17 miles from shore, she almost made it.

 There were hurricane force winds, snow, spray, and freezing rain and 25 foot and larger waves the night the freighter sank.

The ship's bell was recovered in 1995. They  made a replica with all the engraved names of the lost men, and divers took it down to the wreck. The original bell is on display the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. It's shiny and beautiful.

 

And every November 10th, the Split Rock Lighthouse in Silver Bay, Minnesota, lights up in honor of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

I never knew that there are well over 6000 wrecks at the bottom of the Great Lakes! Many dating back to the 1700s! I read that Lake Michigan is the deadliest of all the lakes, and Lake Superior is the COLDEST and the deepest, about 500 feet. 

I had never heard of the "Three Sisters", huge rogue waves that are a deadly phenomenon that occur on Lake Superior, and have wrecked many boats.

There are so many legends to read as well, very fascinating.

Her Captain was Ernest McSorley. He was on his final voyage before retirement. He had been navigating oceans and the Great Lakes for over 40 years.

The 1976 song:

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
T'was the witch of November come stealin'
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashin'
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin'
"Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya"
At seven PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said
"Fellas, it's been good to know ya"
The captain wired in he had water comin' in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the maritime sailors' cathedral
The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early

Songwriters: Gordon Lightfoot (Canadian folk singer)

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

1976, Moose Music LTD.

It's a very haunting and beautiful song now that I know it was a real ship, real men lost from their loved ones and families. Brave men lost were ages only 21 up to 63.

So, I bought a few books to read more and I'm enjoying learning something new. There are hundreds of theories on why the ship sank....all interesting reading. These are just a few of the books I found , there are many more to pick from if you are interested.

So........do y'all know about this famous wreck? Am I the only one who had never heard of it or read about it? Does anyone of y'all live by the Great Lakes?