K IS FOR ...

KAUAI  KAT

Meet April.  

She is our Kauai kat.  This photo was taken in 2007.  She was old then and loved to lie on this step at the restaurant called Gaylords.  We usually go to Kauai every year and it is our tradition to eat at Gaylords, a restaurant set in beautiful plantation grounds, before we go home.

We first met April in 2007 and discovered each year we visited that she was nearly always lying on this step in the warm sunshine.  We weren't sure how long she would last but we always looked for her each year.  Here she is in 2009.

Same place, same time. Somewhere in my files I have a photo of her each year except 2013 because we skipped visiting Kauai that year.  So this year we really wondered if she would still be around.  She wasn't on her old stone step, but as we were eating she emerged from out of the flower bushes near the fountain.  We were so pleased to see her.  I persuaded my niece to pose with her and we got the best photo of April and my niece that we have ever had.

Now we shall have to wait to see if she is there again next year.

******

Here's another K :

One of the ladies in my Bible Study class just returned from Ireland and brought this book for me.

This is a book about the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is an ancient manuscript of the Four Gospels copied onto fine vellum and colored with ancient dyes. I was really interested to read about it because although I have seen other ancient illustrated manuscripts of the Bible I have never seen this one.  The ones I have seen are on display in the British Library and are absolutely magnificent.  They have been copied painstakingly by the monks  around 800 A. D.  If you're interested in Zentangles, these illustrations should give you much inspiration!

At first you might think these manuscripts are pretty boring because they are written in Latin, but when you closely examine them you have to admire the enormous patience, skill and diligence of these men who spent so much of their lives preserving the Scriptures at a time when Bibles for the ordinary person were non-existent.  Their care and love for the Scriptures is evident in the remarkable tiny decorations and illustrations with which they decorated the large letters and margins.

The Book of Kells was originally copied at the monastery on the island of Iona, off the coast of Scotland, but because of the dangers from marauding Vikings it was removed to Ireland to the monastery at Kells where it was carefully watched over until the twelve hundreds.  It was then cared for by the Parish Church and later was donated to the library of Trinity College, Dublin where it is preserved with special lighting and temperatures and can still be seen today.

This is my contribution to ABC Wednesday, that captivating and enduring meme begun by Mrs. Nesbitt and continued by Roger Owen Green.  We are now in our 15th round, so why don't you pop over to see all the other contributions. I can guarantee you will learn something new.  Just click HERE.