Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Orbiting with Ospreys and Ossuarys and OCD


ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. This fabulous meme was created and hosted by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt who hails from Great Britain. Over time, others have joined in to help host this wonderful and informative meme. We are now in our seventh round-some of the participants have been with this from the very first round; others have joined in along the way. Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture. We start with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "O".
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Ossuary 

(image from: commons.wikimedia.org)

I never heard of an ossuary before! An ossuary is a site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. I was in the dictionary looking for the spelling of something else and saw this word and was intrigued enough to type it in a Google search, and boy was I floored! Talk about off the charts! It would seem that the necessity for this kind of burial practice came from things like the plague, that would wipe out a good deal of the population in a small amount of time. Such as the catacombs below Paris hat are lined with skeletal remains. This practice is seen as a sacred practice even if it may seem macabre to you. Perhaps one of the most well known ossuary is the Sedlac Ossuary. A Google search of images from this church is mind boggling (the images and the level of creativity with skeletal remains). Do check it out. You will be intrigued and fascinated.

OCD


OCD for Office of Civil Defense! Although, I'm sure the FIRST thing you thought of was OCD for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, right? But, in so many places in the good ol' USA, there are those sirens to warn us of danger. Growing up in Hawaii, it was a signal for tsunami warnings and for a Japanese invasion (or any other invasion). Most of my best friends were Japanese, but they were my friends and fellow Americans. We all feared another invasion from Japan. So strange, that we harbored those fears.

OVATE


Ovate: egg shaped. And, these are! They are in progress of becoming faux eggs of the rusticated kind.

ORBIT


(image from nasa.gov)

These days, when you hear the word, Orbit, you think of Orbitz instead! Funny how branding a product can influence our culture.

22 comments:

EG CameraGirl said...

I enjoyed your Os. I'm especially fond of ospreys as I spent a lot of time trying to take photos of them this spring and summer. I suspect I'll be doing the same next year. LOL

Cezar and Léia said...

Wow lots of interesting subjects in this "o"theme day!
Very well worked!
Léia

Sylvia K said...

Great post for the day, as always! And I always learn something new! Fascinating! Hope your week is off to a great start, Paula! Enjoy!

Sylvia

Kate said...

I especially enjoyed the top photo with explanation.

Dani said...

great O words. So informative.
Well done. Thank you so much.

Roger Owen Green said...

You're right - I DID think "obsessive"! Also the rocket looks like a filtered cigarette, and I don't even smoke!

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Mara said...

I've never heard of Orbitz before, the only thing I could associate it with is chewing gum for some reason.

Jane Hards Photography said...

As usual so much information, so interesting and my mind is overloaded in a good way.

Gigi Ann said...

Nice collection of "O" words today. I learnt something new today, I had never heard of an Ossuary either.

Kay L. Davies said...

Excellent O choices, Paula. I had heard of ossuaries before, but ossuary is certainly not a word that leaps immediately to mind when someone says O.

Kay, Alberta

Tumblewords: said...

Outstanding post of O's!

Joy said...

What a pretty ossuary with its imaginative use of bones. I feel I've missed out, he one I visited they were just stacked up or in crevices although there were a weave of underground passages. Impressive siren over the city.
Outstanding and original O words.

Anonymous said...

I just learned about Ossuarys from your blog. I think we have an almost similar tradition in Batak people in Sumatra, Indonesia about how to treat ancestors skeletons. Very interesting!

Hop here from ABCW and follow you
Happy Tuesday
Risma

Amy said...

Good one Paula, especially the OCD - the ossuary was very interesting as well!

Spadoman said...

Interesting, as usual. I did look up the Sedlec Ossiary. I also Googled it in images. The skeletal art is fascinating!
Ospreys.. I've been at lakes where they dive into the water, totally immersed, and come up with fish in their talons or beak. They are awesome to watch.
Orbitz, yes, brand name recognition. Of course we'd have no satellite TV without those things orbiting.
Glad you are back.

Peace.

Janet said...

I believe I may be learning some new O words! Great collection.

☆♥Shydub♥☆ said...

I definitely learn new words with ABC wed.

ABC Wednesday @SHL

Reader Wil said...

What an interesting post is this! I think that especially the Sedlac Ossuary is very remarkable, but also scary and sinister. I saw the images of this church. They were all made of human skulls and bones.
You really did a great job to share this post.

Strummed Words said...

Lots of interesting O's!

Rune Eide said...

A ossuary in Orbit - that would be something :-)

Jingle said...

that's obviously beautiful.
your o words are educational.

mrsnesbitt said...

Wow! It is so encouraging to read posts like yours - truly inspirational and so creative - a real ABC follower!
Thanks so much for contributing such a well thought out post. I really appreciate the hard work and thinking behind it.

Denise
ABC Team

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