Bright sunshine, no wind and warm temperatures, a perfect combination for a late December beach wander, a lovely peaceful sit on My Rock and a stroll onto the islands. I am sure today’s mild conditions were better than some days during our past wetter than normal summer.
It made for an absolutely stunning Boxing Day ….
Since the start of the cooler season, I have been feeling incessantly chilled and cold. I am definitely feeling much colder at temperatures I was once very comfortable with. I have read this may be caused by slower blood circulation and thinner skin as we age ~ at 62 does this apply ...? If so, I now have a genuine fear as to what it will be like in 2074 when I get to the age of 113. Another possible reason for always being cold is weight loss, over the past few months my bathroom scales tell me that I have lost about 14lbs.
Whatever it is, I hope it is temporary ………..
This morning I went out for a very cold wander on Crescent Beach. At one point, I thought the chilled wind from the west was going to cut me in half. Fortunately, I survived and afterwards took a little look around the islands.
Below are
this morning’s bone chilling pics …
….chilly wind, but it did not deter me from having a fantastic two-beach morning wander.
With the tide
low and starting to come in, I started off at Crescent Beach where the wind in
the outward direction was hardly noticeable, but on the way back it was fierce and
a little chilly.
Having survived that I decided to go and check out Rissers Beach, where to my delight, I was the only one there to thoroughly enjoy what turned out to be one big sun trap ~ fantastic ….
Here are
some of the pics …
On September 16th Hurricane Lee came by for a visit to the South Shore, locally leaving many trees and power lines down. We actually lost one tree in the front which narrowly missed the house ~ see my blog ~
“Any closer we ........” at ~
https://southshoretidewatch.blogspot.com/2023/09/any-closer-we.html
Due to
hurricane damage Rissers Beach has been closed now for a couple of months, but
today while ignoring the “Danger Hazardous Area” signs I took an early morning
wander through the park and along the beach.
To anyone like myself who is very familiar with the entire Rissers location, you will be amazed at the significant extent of the damage and devastation. There are dozens or perhaps hundreds of trees down, inland footpaths are now covered in deep sand and lots of seaweed. The access deck which extended out onto the beach has gone, I actually found a big part of it about another 100’ down the beach and probably about 50’ into the trees and shrubbery. The campground has lost all its trees and is now covered in rocks and sand. The damage and resulting change in landscape certainly indicates just how powerful Lee was, it has changed parts of Rissers to the point where they are completely unrecognizable.
Below are
this morning’s pics showing some of the devastation, along with in complete contrast the tranquil sea.
Today November 11th, I decided to make a return to the Remembrance Service in Lunenburg, I was last there for this event in 2017.
The Lunenburg War Memorial, the large four-sided granite monument, bears the names of those who fell during World War I ~
The memorial is made of grey granite in the form of a semi-circle with four columns. On the edges of the top band are engraved the General Service crest on the left, and the Town of Lunenburg crest on the right. Upon the face is engraved "THEIR NAME LIVETH FOREVERMORE". On the edges of the base are engraved 1939 to the left and 1945 to the right. A stone engraved with "Korea 1950-1953" has been placed as an addition on the base at the front of the monument.
The monument below is to Camp Norway which was located in Lunenburg during World War II ~ more can be read about
this camp on my blog from 2017 ~
Remembrance
Day 2017 ~ Lunenburg
https://southshoretidewatch.blogspot.com/2017/11/remembrance-day-2017-lunenburg.html
Photos of the march past and a flyover courtesy of RCAF Greenwood ~
As always during the moment of silence my thoughts are for the 1.7 million from the Commonwealth who paid the ultimate price during two world wars and now remain under the perpetual care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) at 23,000 locations in 153 countries. In death they each of them gifted to us a way forward, but looking out into the world today, we witness the on-going wars and conflicts, the hectic pace of rearming, the billions spent on developing more sophisticated weapons, I have to ask ~ are we using their legacy wisely ~ I think not …
Within my family, I currently know of
seven who served in either WWI or WWII, of those five who never came home, they are ~
Hugh Wright aged 26, 2003820, Royal Engineer,
died 21 October 1944, buried at Leopoldsburg War Cemetery, Limburg, Belgium.
John Kerr aged 19, Clyde Z/4980, Drake
Battalion, Royal Naval Division, died 4 February 1917, buried at Hamel Military
Cemetery, Beaumont ~ Hamel, Somme, France.
Hugh Wright aged 32, 4511, Black Watch (Royal
Highlanders), died 30 June 1916, buried at Southern Necropolis Cemetery,
Glasgow, Scotland.
George Maxwell aged 63, Merchant Navy (S.S.
Arbonne), lost at sea on 24 February 1916, commemorated at Tower Hill Memorial,
London, England.
and …
Hugh James Wright aged 21, 40539, The 10th
Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, died 2 October 1918, buried
Joncourt British Cemetery, Joncourt, Aisne, France.
Hugh James
Wright is the most recent to be added to my list. I only discovered him late
last year during some family tree research. He is my first cousin twice
removed, translated that means ~ my great grandfather’s brother’s son, putting him on the same generational level as
my grandparents. He was born in 1897 in Bridgeton, Glasgow to John Wright and
Mary Wheelan Walker.
With service number 40539, he was in the 10th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders. Hugh was killed on October 2nd, 1918, just 40 days
before the Armistice was signed on November 11th. He is buried at Joncourt
British Cemetery, Joncourt, Aisne, France.
The village
of Joncourt was immediately west of the German fortification called the
Beaurevoir-Fonsomme Line. It was captured by Australian troops on 30 September
1918, and cleared by the 5th Australian and 32nd Divisions on the following
day.
Joncourt
British Cemetery contains 61 WWI burials, of that number 3 remain unidentified
~ “Known Unto God”. The 10th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders account for 55
out of the 61. All of the graves’ date from the period 30 September to 4
October 1918.
From the
above grave photo, you will note that Hugh James Wright shares the same gravestone
and possibly the same grave as that of Private Christopher Mundell aged 19 (born
21 November 1898), this is in fact typical for this cemetery. Christopher, originally
from Maxwelltown, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland was the son of Robert
Grierson Mundell and Janet Geddes Connor of 648, Shettleston Road, Shettleston,
Glasgow. Like Hugh he was part of the 10th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders and was also killed on October 2nd, 1918.
Next year I plan to visit Hugh’s grave and also revisit three other family war graves in Scotland, France and Belgium.
Below are Hugh and Christopher’s CWGC documents ~
