A FABULOUS CASTLE

WARWICK CASTLE 

Warwick Castle, dominates the city of Warwick, England giving one a unique window into the past. It is generally believed to be the finest medieval castle in England. Built on a cliff, its 60 acres of meticulously manicured grounds contain several lovely gardens.

            Built in the 12^th century by William the Conqueror, this castle has two uneven towers. The Caesar Tower, built in 1356, is 147-feet tall, while Guy’s tower, 1380, is only 128-feet tall. The intentional irregular design allowed defenders numerous points of defense. There are 537 steps to the top of the Caesar Tower, and once you start up there is no turning back.

     Proud, colorful peacocks are permanent residents on the grounds. Huge various colored rhododendrons were in full bloom forming a lovely backdrop to the gray stone of the castle. The roses in the rose garden were covered with buds about ready to burst open.

In the great hall of the castle is a fine collection of medieval armor and weaponry. Historic furniture and old master paintings are housed throughout. The living quarters were occupied as late as the 1970s. A few years ago Madam Tussuad purchased the castle. Her magnificent life-size wax figures in twelve of the rooms in the living quarters are exquisite, and add personality to the rooms and a great deal of reality to the exhibit. My favorite was the maid in the bathroom drawing water for her lady. She was bending over the tub of running water, so life-like that nearly everyone did a double take, even though we knew the figures were not real.

Many of the woodcarvings left me gasping at the fine workmanship and intricacy. There were many medieval demonstrations taking place on the grounds.

Children delighted in the ghost tower where the queues (lines) were long.

     There was the most magnificent bald eagle I’ve ever seen just inside the grounds. I just stood and watched  him a long time. He was gorgeous!

            Of all the castles I’ve visited Warwick is one of my top three. It is superb!

UNWANTED STUFF

Plants and Trash

In the early 1900s when the cable was being laid workmen and their families made Midway Island home by planting familiar plants and some even brought parakeet pets with them.

Eventually as people moved the parakeets were let loose and now there is quite a population of wild song birds on the island. A sun-flower type plant called verbacina was also planted and like many invasive plants had taken over the island making it almost impossible for native plants to flourish. The native vegetation is best for nesting birds. Small Spit Island had been cleared of invasives and the planted natives were doing well. At the time of my visit to the Island they were trying to rid Sand Island of all invasive plants, especially the verbacina.

During parts of the seal research program when we situated ourselves in inconspicuous areas to watch the seals sleep on the beach I easily got bored. Every day after awhile I’d leave Kelly to watch the seals while I went down a small hill to pull verbacina. It came out of the sandy soil easily and I created mounds and mounds of the small yellow sunflower stalks and roots.

On Eastern Island we saw several dead birds, many with insides exposed. Sea birds have learned that anything floating on the water is edible and until a few years ago it always was sea life.

 Now people carelessly throw junk in the water. Plastic is light and floats and comes in all kinds of pretty colors. The birds eat it, then because they can’t digest it they feel full and after awhile don’t eat and die of starvation and dehydration. Cigarette lighters deliver a double whammy as they are not only plastic but also contain toxic fluid.

During my three week stay on Midway we cleaned the beaches each week. I was appalled at the tons of trash we collected and piled up. We found everything imaginable but one big hazard to birds are the often large fishing nets that break loose. None of the trash is from the island but from heavens know where from afar.  It floats on the currents and lands on the island beaches. It is an ongoing and time consuming problem to keep the beaches clean.It is also a good demonstration that everyone worldwide needs to be conscious of what and where they throw their trash.