Back to the Summer

 Hi everyone. Happy Friday. 

It's snowing right now, and I just shoveled off the back deck. Back to summer- I wish.

It's time for Nicole's Friday Face Off and also for GIllena's  Friday Art Lunch Break.

You might have noticed if you stop by my blog regularly I take tons of photos, and I have a lot of them that I haven't shared.  Since I'm still in my January hunker down at home mode, this week's face off photos go back to the summer. I figured some of you  might like a reminder of the warmer weather, and also, as it will eventually be summer again,  there will be more new summer photos when it arrives.

You might know that my husband has a small boat, and we don't live too far inland from the ocean.  It can be relaxing out on the water, as you can see in this first photo. Many of my photos today share faces.

I really like this photo of my daughter and her husband when they joined us one day.

And the seagulls always have something to say.

Finally a good photo of both dogs at the same time.

The main photos I wanted to share today was when a couple of tall ships sailed into Portsmouth last summer. We were able to boat by the ships and get a waterside view.

The one I am sharing today is called the Kalmar Nyckel, and it is a replica of a ship that sailed into the Delaware Valley in 1638 and founded Fort Christina. Fort Christina grew into now what is Wilmington, Delaware. This ship is sometimes known as the Swedish Mayflower. Here in New England we always hear about the Puritans and the Pilgrims who were English (obviously since we live in New England) and were the ones that settled in this area. Since 2 of my grandparents immigrated to the US from Sweden, it was interesting for me to see and read about a ship that brought Swedish settlers to the US not all that long after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth. It is also interesting because Kalmar, Sweden, (where this ship sailed from) is not too far from where my grandfather was born and grew up. 

The original Kalmar Nyckel  was constructed in the Netherlands and was then bought by the Kalmar Ship's Company in Kalmar. Sweden.  The ship had a history of being a military ship for Sweden, but she also made 8 successful crossings from Europe to Fort Christina in the "New World".

The Kalmar Nyckel has lots of art on it, including lots of faces. These are called angel faces because of the wings behind them.

These faces  are people who have something to do with this reconstructed ship. Some of them have worked on the ship, and some of them helped in other ways with construction.

In this next photo you can see people waiting in line to tour the ship. You can also see a side view of the ship's figurehead.

And here's the art on the stern of the ship.

That's my post for today. I hope you enjoyed it. 

Thanks for visiting, and have a great weekend ahead.