Weathervanes by the Water

 

 

W is for Weathervanes

 

 

 

 

This week’s letter assignment is the letter W.

 

 The history of weathervanes can be traced all the way back to 48 BC, to the Tower of the Winds in Athens, Greece. An octagonal marble structure, that contained a huge weathervane in the shape of a Triton, a Greek sea-god that was part man, part fish. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I’d share some Weathervanes that we have run across on our boating excursions, viewed from the Water.

 

 Today weathervanes are more often used as architectural ornaments rather than measuring wind direction.  This pineapple is not the most common weathervane seen on the lake~   of course, this is not the most common house on the lake either. Here is the rest of the house~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weathervanes with Herons, Fish, Ducks, and  Sail Boats are more often found~ perched on boat docks or cupolas on roofs and gazebos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The city of Montague, Michigan claims to have the largest standard-design weather vane, being a ship and arrow which measures 48 feet tall, weighing 4,300 pounds.

 

 

 

 

According to White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce:

 

“The ship on top of the weathervane is the Ella Ellenwood, a Great Lakes lumber schooner whose home port was White Lake, off Lake Michigan, in Montague. In October of 1901, the Ellenwood ran aground with a full load eight miles north of Milwaukee. The crew abandoned ship, and the wind and waves of a fall storm broke the ship to pieces. The next spring, a portion of the ship’s nameplate, bearing the word Ellenwood, was found in White Lake. Almost miraculously, the nameplate had drifted back east across Lake Michigan to the ship’s home port.”

 

 

 

A challenger for the title of world’s largest weather vane is located in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The weather vane is a retired Douglas DC-3 atop a swiveling support. Located beside Whitehorse International Airport, the weather vane is used mainly by pilots to determine wind direction. The weather vane only requires a 5 km/hour wind to rotate.

 

 

 

From WeathervanesPlus:

 

“The popularity of weathervanes exploded when a papal edict from the 9th century A.D. help bring the weathervane to the skies of most of Europe. Rome declared that every church in Christendom must be adorned by a cockerel, a symbol to remind Christians of Peter’s betrayal of Christ.

While these cockerels were at first not intended as weathervanes, they were eventually combined with the weathervanes that already dotted many church steeples to create the familiar rooster-shaped weathervane common today. This is probably due to the fact that the cockerels atop church steeples were easily visible from anywhere in town, and so were a logical choice to become communal weathervanes.”

 

 

 

If you’re on the  lake you should have a lake dog, or at the very least, a dog weathervane :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had to chuckle when I spied this one. . .

 

 

 He has a bird’s eye view :-)

 

 

 

 One of my pet peeves, since we are on a lake, easily three hours from any beach, are coastal images, like this pelican. . .

 

 

Or this sailfish. . .

 

 

 

or this dolphin~ to my eye they look out-of-place. . .more suited to a coastal home, but I am not the weathervane police :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And this is probably the most common weathervane seen on the lake :-)

 

 

 

 

 I thought I’d set my table inspired by the water again this week. These salad plates were a birthday gift, so this gave me an opportunity to play with them :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salad Plates, Napkins & Dipping Bowls~ Pottery Barn’s Coastal Curiosity Collection~ thank you Annie :-)

Blue Dinner Plates & Rattan Chargers~ Kohl’s

Flatware~ World Market

Blue Wine Glasses~ Dollar Tree

 

 

 

 

Thanks to my hostesses to this week’s parties I’m linking to:

 

 Jenny Matlock’s Aphabe-Thursday for Alphabet Fun 

 Susan ~ Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday