This here's a test

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My blog wasn't working one day last week, so I'm trying again. Here goes.

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Ancona, Italy and ferry to Split, Croatia

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We took a train from Rome to Ancona, Italy, where we had a one-day stop. Ancona is about ¾ of the way up the east coast, on the Adriatic Sea. The next evening we planned to take an overnight ferry to Split, Croatia, so this seemed like a simple transfer place, but Ancona is a really neat city itself! At night I wandered around and ended up hiking to a functioning lighthouse. The stone sign is at 104 meters above sea level, about 341 feet. Our neighborhood had some nice murals / graffiti: Here is a view out over a pentagonal building formerly used as a quarantine colony, a little island right by the city, open to the public: There are quite a few drinking fountains scattered all over, and all the ones we tried worked! This is the correct way for a city to be. It is very hilly, with stairs and steep roads all over. Many narrow little alleys between buildings, and connecting passages and staircases up and down hills, between houses, churches, and pa...
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North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

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North and South is a mid-19th century about the clash between rural southern England and industrial northern England, but "clash" is really too strong a word, probably left over from when I was under the mistaken impression that it was a book about the American Civil War. (Because there was that mini-series called North and South , though I've never seen it, and I don't know why it has stuck in my head for many years.) Anyway, I feel silly that I am just now beginning to discover Elizabeth Gaskell , who wrote novels and short stories in the mid-1800s. I'd never heard of her until I took a class on the Brontes at BYU, in which I learned that she wrote a biography of Charlotte Bronte. Much later, I became aware of some of her novels, but I didn't read anything by her until my friend Adrienne gave me Wives and Daughters for my birthday (thanks, Adrienne!). I think I started reading that just because she'd given it to me and I felt a certain amount of pr...
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Malta Holy Week pageant Ħtija Tiegħu?

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In Malta on Palm Sunday I went to a Holy Week pageant called “Ħtija Tiegħu?” which means something like “His guilt?” It was held in Marsa, a few kilometers south of Sliema where we were staying. The pageant has been held since 1970 and is normally done outside on the street, but rain was forecast for the day and by evening it was coming down pretty steadily, so they moved the pageant indoors to the church and started two hours late so they had time to adapt to a fully indoor setting. It's a newish Catholic church, bright and colorful, and a bit in the suburbs and there were lots of families there. While we were waiting during the delay, a man who spoke English, named Albert, introduced himself to me. He has been involved in the pageant for 30 years and is currently the treasurer and one of the participants, no longer Judas as he was for many years and got tired of portraying. 😂 In a building across the street they had a display of some neat handmade Christian artwor...
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