20-D

 Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday

Hello and good morning, -afternoon, -evening, dear people who all participate is this wonderful photo-meme, which is a joy to me, week after week, after week. I’m always curious to what you come up with!

The challenging letter of this week is D and I've chosen for DELIGHT

I want to introduce you to the greatest DELIGHT of my life, the living kind that is.
My dogs... The first one is a Scottish Shepherd dog called Brego and the second one is a ladycat called Precious and the third one is French King Poodle called Noah.

Precious is born in our home but Brego and Noah are shelterdogs. April 28th 1983 we started living together and on that same day we got 2 kittens, followed by many others. We also had lots of different birds in the house.

November 9th 1984 I quit my job for maternity leave and the next day we went to a shelter to get a dog, ever since that day we had dogs as well.

We made the choice to never buy a puppy from a breeder because the shelters are always crowded and that animals in such places need our help and love much more that to put money in somebody's hand to create more animals which partly end up in misery.

Noah is the eldest or our trio, he celebrated his 14h birtday, january 2 last. Precious will celebrate her 14th birthday coming march 28th and Brego will celebrate his 9th birthday coming july 9th.

To have animals in the house is always one of the biggest joys. We had lots of them during the past years and we would like to have much more but we have to be realistic as wel. There is just not enough space for it. If we had had the space we would have oned even larger dogs, my favorites are the great Danes for example. We always search for addions to our family which will fit the best, thinking of not only their size but more so their needs, which differs enormously per breed.

Like I wrote already, my greatest living delight are animals, all kinds. One of my dreams has always been to have a shelter of my own but for that one needs a lot of money and that we never had. So in our 'little' way we try to do the best we can for animals in need by donating money and taking them in our home.

Our household is ruled by them ;-) we adjust ourselves around them and their needs.

Animals are precious and vulnerable ccreatures, they need us! If I could change one thing in the world then it would be that no animal ever would have to suffer again in any way!

 Have ave a nice ABC-Wednesday-day / - week ~ ♫ M e l o d y ♫ (ABC-W-team)

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C is for Continuation of ABC Wednesday

As many of you know, Denise Nesbitt, the doyenne of this meme, started ABC Wednesday nearly ten years ago. She was doing it all herself early on, then assembling a team to help her. I (Roger) found my way here in the middle of Round 5 (K is for Keating Five), and joining the team a few months later.

A couple years after that, Mrs. Nesbitt had tired of being the administrator, and she asked me to take over, and I did, with Round 11, ably assisted by Leslie from VanCan. But I too was feeling burnt out even a year ago, and Leslie didn't want to take it over either. So we decided to end the thing with Round 20, a nice even number representing a decade of the meme.

But then, one of the team members, Melody, indicated that MAYBE she wanted to take it over. Then, a few days later, she decided she DEFINITELY wanted to do it.

For all sorts of reasons, I had required a new URL for Round 21, since it has Mrs. Nesbitt's name attached, and I didn't feel it was my place to pass it on to a third party, as Denise had directly passed it to me.

Moreover, I've been reading the futurists' literature on technology - I'm a librarian, after all - and I was/am concerned by the possibility that Blogger/Blogspot will not be supported past 2017. Not did I require a new address for ABC Wednesday, but highly suggested that it be on a WordPress platform.

As it turns out, Melody is much more comfortable with WordPress. The new URL will be http://abcwednesday.wordpress.com and it will start around July 12.

And Melody has gotten her own Linky device so that you can contribute to ABC Wednesday each week; Mrs. Nesbitt, then I, were paying for the previous one.

In return, I said we would mention the change in some of the intros for Round 20, notably this one here, and when the Mrs Nesbitt ABC W blog stops, there would be a pointer to the new blog.

Some of the team will remain - I will, for sure, at least for a while - and she has recruited a couple newbies, Vonnie and Daphne. And I don't have to be in charge, which will be good for me.

So ABC Wednesday WILL live on, as it turns out. Tell all your blogging buddies!
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B is for BELIEVE

Greetings one and all to the final B of the current ABC Wednesday!  When considering what to write as an introduction this week, it suddenly came upon me to write about the word BELIEVE.  The word itself means to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so.

Lately, most of us have been feeling either sadness or antipathy with regard to the continuation of ABC Wednesday. If Roger and I retire from administering it, will it die?  Will anyone step up to the plate to be a new leader? 

Well, I'm so happy to announce that we do have a new administrator -  a very excited and dedicated Melody - who will begin in Round 21.  She has two new members who will be her assistants, although I will remain on the team to write a few introductions if they so wish.

Of course, we hope that everyone will continue to participate because this meme is probably one of the longest running (if not, THE longest running) meme on the web right now.  I know from my personal experience that I have met several bloggers through ABCW and believe that these people have become true new friends.  It has been an amazing ride helping Roger with the weekly visits, doing introductions, my own blog, and, at times, editing the Linky. 

It's time for a change, hopefully a change for the better!  Not that ABCW has become stale, but with new people at the helm, new ideas will blossom. 

So join me in welcoming Melody as the new administrator of ABC Wednesday, which you can preview here, if you like.  Also, welcome to the two new assistants Vonnie  and Daphne. We trust that they will love steering us into the future as much as Roger and the current team have enjoyed it thus far.  I believed in the existence of ABCW and that it would continue  if others wanted it.  Now we have the  absolute proof that continuing it is the right thing to do.

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A for Austrian Adventures.

AUSTRIA....

 When I reached the tender age of twenty my parents, at last, allowed me to go on holiday with my boyfriend albeit with another couple and their respective widowed mothers. We landed in Munich Airport and then, had a harrowing 4 hour journey in a rickety old coach. I remember the day clearly, it was the day England won the world cup against Germany in 1966.

Our coach driver had the radio playing so we could hear the match report , needless to say he was German and was full of guff because on the last second of 90 minutes Germany scored to equalise and force extra time, however England went on to win 4-2 in extra time.

 So, there we were, in the midst of Bavaria with German flags flying everywhere, and we Brits' all 20 of us, were dancing up and down with delight celebrating our fabulous win over Germany.

 I'm surprised the coach driver didn't drive us into a ravine !

 AUSTRIA Seefeld.  Our first vision of Seefeld was this beautiful church that stands in the middle of a meadow strewn with pretty wild flowers. The church is called Seekirchl.

Wintertime in  Seefeld AUSTRIA.

Snow on the mountain even in summertime.

Another church nestling in a valley next to Seefeld.

We stayed in a lovely little 'Family run' Hotel called The Bellevue. It stood on a plateau overlooking the village, and to the rear there was a forest of enormous fir trees, that whistled and groaned  when it was windy.

 I don't  remember the name of the family but they were wonderful hosts, Breakfasts were simple and plentiful with yoghurt and fruit, Austrian cheeses and warm home made bread, Also we would have slices of home cured ham and new laid eggs.

 If we were going out  they would make us a picnic of food similar to our breakfast but also some delicious home made quiche. Some times we would amble into town and then return for lunch which usually consisted of a huge tureen of steaming hot soup heaving with vegetables and pasta shapes and of course, the ubiquitous crusty bread. At dinner we dined on veal escalopes cooked in a creamy pepper sauce or a hearty beef ragout with  enormous fluffy herby dumplings.

 Each week our hosts would hold a traditional Austrian Evening, where they would don their Nation Costumes, Leiderhosen for the men and pretty floral dresses for the ladies.

This is the world famous Gundolf Family performing in one of their Tyrolean Evenings, We managed to see them on a trip to Innsbruck, which was about 10 miles away.

Alpine horn players such amazing sounds.

Above is the beautiful city of Innsbruck. surrounded by The Alps.

Whilst we were staying in Austria we travelled over The Brenner Pass (below)

  

to visit The Dolomites into Northern Italy.

 There lies another tale which will be my subject for the letter 'B'.

(Please note most of the pictures on this site are by courtesy of various Google sites, my thanks to some very talented photographers, DW.)

I hope you have enjoyed sharing one of the many holidays I've had in Europe and I hope to write more through round 20.

My sincere thanks to the AMAZING Denise for devising this  AWESOME  Blog of ABCW.  Also many many thanks to the ANCHORMAN Roger who has worked so hard over the years as the ADMINISTRATOR,  ABLY ASSISTED by the ADMIRABLE Leslie who has ALSO supported him as his AIDE-DE-CAMP. Not forgetting  the team that are ALWAYS ready to ASSIST Roger and Leslie by visiting their ALLOTED blog sites. 

Every good wish one and all, for a Happy and Peaceful 2017,

 from Di. xx. ABCW team.

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This is the local golf course surrounded by a forest

.Behind the forest was our hotel. 

Happy Birthday toooo:

 

Hi all members of our ABC-Wednesday-family. 

On January the 7th, we all can and may congratulate BEVERLY with her birthday!

Congratulating you BEVERLY and wishing you all the best of Luck, Love & Happiness!!

If someone wants his/her date to be added to our Birthday-Calendar, just let me know!

♫ M e l d y ♫ (abc-w-team)

Z for Zealous

 Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday

Hello and good morning, -afternoon, -evening, dear people who all participate is this wonderful photo-meme, which is a joy to me, week after week, after week. I’m always curious to what you come up with!

 The challenging letter of this week is the Z and I've chosen for the word Zealous

 Although I am not that big a fan of insects, they do have a very important task in their life, being part of our evolution.
Not being a fan does not mean that I can not appreciate them for what they do, how hard they work, relentlessly, so also very zealous.
I love honey, the organic versions of course. Just a little bit in a cup of tea!

Thankfully I live in quit a rural area although it being a capital city of a province, just a few minutes by car from my home, I find myself in wonderful forests or little villages in which beekeepers live who make it with the help of countless little zealous friends.
I am grateful for their hard work and enjoy their products.

 How about you? Are you like bees and zealous or?

 Have ave a nice ABC-Wednesday-day / - week ~ ♫ M e l o d y ♫ (ABC-W-team)

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Happy Birthday tooo

 

Hi all members of our ABC-Wednesday-family. 

 On the second day of the New Year, we all can and may congratulate HILDRED with her birthday!

Congratulating you Hildred and wishing you all the best of Luck, Love & Happiness!!

If someone wants his/her date to be added to our Birthday-Calendar, just let me know!

♫ M e l d y ♫ (abc-w-team)