More Foreign Coins: France and Germany

Here is another batch of coins I added to my collection as a result of the foreign stamp exchange. The coins I am sharing today are from France and Germany. I find this first one really interesting as it has a hole in the center of it. I know this was done so that people could wear their coins on strings around their necks for safety.

1918 French Coin

1918 French Coin

These three French coins (including the one featured above) are from around the time of WWI. I have to wonder if they were ever in a soldier's pocket.

French Coins

French Coins

Now these German coins are a bit older. They are from 1950. You can see the different denominations for that year here.

German coins from 1950

German Coins from 1950

Foreign Coins-British Coinage

Recently I discovered a friend of mine collected foreign stamps, while I prefer to collect coins. Once upon a time I had bought lots of foreign stamps, but had been trying to sell them for years at yard sales with no luck. As it turned out the friend had collected foreign coins that he no longer wanted. So we traded! Both of us ended up very happy with what we got.

Here are some of the unique coins now in my collection.

196h Century British Coins

19th Century British Coins

British coins are easy to identify.  The fun part was seeing the different monarchs on the heads sides of the coins. Also, I also wonder about the coins from 1939-1945 that survived World War II. I wonder whose hands they were in at that time.

18th Century British Coins

18th Century British Coins

When we traded coins I never expected to get coins from the 18th Century. These coins have certainly seen a lot of history having been around before the sinking of the Titanic and World War I.

I hope you enjoy these. Later I will post more coins from other countries.

Passing of Hero: Richard Hatch died today, February 7, 2017

My heart fell to my feet a few moments ago when I logged onto Yahoo and discovered my long time hero, Richard Hatch, had passed away today. He was only 71.

In 1978 Richard Hatch starred as Captain Apollo in Battlestar Galactica, but it wouldn't be until 1983 that I would discover the show and be hooked. To this day Battlestar Galactica is my favorite T.V. show. My interest in mythology, especially Greek, made the connection for me. After all names like Apollo, Athena, and Cassiopeia were straight out of that mythology.

My passion for Galactica led me to join a fandom group called Battlestar One International. This was before the time of the internet, when all fandom information was transmitted by the U.S. Postal service in fandom magazines and newsletters. Soon I ended up running my own little Battlestar Galactica club called Reconniassance Squadron. Four times a year I produced a newsletter with club members art and fandom stories and any information sci-fi related.  One time I was even fortunate enough to get a phone interview with Richard Hatch for the club newsletter.

Also in my early twenties I was fortunate to meet Richard Hatch a few times. Twice I attended his workshop on Acting Through the Heart at the Whole Life Expo in San Francisco, California. In addition, I was able to catch him at the two Battlestar Galactica conventions held at the Universal Studios Hilton in 1993 and 1998.

I am thankful for the chance to have met one of my first heroes and saddened by his passing.

My first meeting with Richard Hatch at the Whole Life Expo in San Francisco.

A Writer's Life

Originally I created this blog to provide an avenue to share my writing adventures with those who might be interested. Though I don't often blog about my writing, I am putting pen to paper or keyboard to computer most days.

For those who may interested this is what I am currently working. I just finished the first draft of a legend based novel that takes place on the planet Karna (see my books Callings, Unicorn's Milk, and Revolt for more information on this planet). This new novel once finished sparked an instant idea for a sequel, which I have already started to pen. As I am typing up and editing the first legend book, I am writing the second one.

Meanwhile, I have a manuscript that I have been waiting for a publisher to print for almost 5 years now. Every few months I call and he says he is working on it or will check on it, and then nothing. Since I only agreed to the print rights for this book, I have now started to format the manuscript to be an e-book. (and yes I could yank the book from him, but what is the point as I have so many other projects I am working on?)

Those my dear readers are what I am creating currently.

Happy Dog Christmas!

Boomer and Fern enjoyed a wonderful Christmas. Their stockings were filled with many new toys that they have happily shared with each other.

Enjoy these Christmas morning photos.

Fern, Christmas morning 2016

Boomer and Fern, Christmas morning 2016

Fern, Christmas morning 2016

Boomer, Christmas morning 2016

Graffiti Art: a few last photos from Romania and Serbia

Wow, I didn't realize a month has passed since I last added to this blog. The holidays have started to consume my attention.

Before I forget, there is one last batch of photos from my summer trip I wish to share. Usually I am not a huge fan of graffiti, but some I saw in Belgrade and Bucharest really caught my attention. They either caught my eye because they had a real message or were like mural art or both.

The first really made me do a double take. As I looked at it, I thought of my sister's husband and how this would be so his style. It's a thinker.

Building in Belgrade

Belgrade

 

This next batch of graffiti made me smile, as I am a vegetarian and try to be vegan. After spotting the first one from the city tour bus, I started seeing them all over Belgrade written in both English and Serbian.

Belgrade

Bucharest

These next two I spotted connected together along a wall in Bucharest, Romania. I had just exited a city park with my friends, and as we walked we passed by these pieces of graffiti art.

Bucharest

Bucharest

 

Though this giant banner doesn't fall under the true definition of graffiti, I felt like it was. As I was driven through Bucharest many historical buildings were covered with giant banners like this one. As I was into the architecture, I found these banners too modern and frustrating for my taste.

Gates of Kovacica, Serbia

While on my trip to Serbia and Romania, I visited more than just Belgrade and Bucharest. One lovely small town I spent time in was Kovacica, Serbia. Over several days I walked around and looked the buildings and parks. One aspect of Kovacica caught my eye: the gates. Almost every home had a gate and all these gates were different. Most were made of metal.  Many gates showed aged, while others were brightly painted.

Since these gates so fascinated me on my walks, during two outings I took photos of dozens of them. Here are some of the gates I enjoyed admiring.