We endorse Sarah Zabel, Independent, for Idaho US District 1

It is out of the ordinary for this blog to engage in political affairs.  On occasion, we will venture a few words, but not often.  These are trying times.  And so, we take the liberty to endorse Sarah Zabel for Idaho US District 1 in the upcoming midterms.  

We encourage our readers to vote according to their interests.  Sarah, down-to-earth with a strong platform of reform planned for Congress, is certainly qualified.  She's spent 31 years in the Air Force, has been awarded the Bronze Star and retired at the rank of Major General.  She has managed military accounts totaling billions of dollars of taxpayer funds.  Those responsibilities are earned. 

America needs independent voices like Sarah Zabel to matter again, to make a difference, to bring about change that is so desperately needed in this nation.  

On November 3rd make your voice heard.  Vote.  It is doubtful you will find anyone better qualified for Idaho's US Representative District 1.  Therefore, we endorse.  

Third time's a charm

As mentioned in a previous post (see https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-muses.html), a suspension bridge for foot traffic over the River Tweed is just beyond the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey and just below Bass Hill which is crowned by the Temple to the Muses (or, officially, the Four Seasons).

Here, a few words regarding the Dryburgh Suspension Bridge over the River Tweed may be appropriate, having been prompted by a recent report by the BBC.  Foremost, for all its subsequent issues, the Dryburgh Suspension Bridge exemplifies generous civic mindedness, the demonstration of which is often mischaracterized as something to be scorned or derided in society's general discourse today.  But it was not always so.  

For centuries beyond history's ken, a "ribbon of settlements" along both sides of River Tweed crossed the river at the ancient fords of Dryburgh.  In 1150 AD, Hugh de Morville established an abbey, and in consequence, the fords grew in importance, connecting villages, farmsteads, trade paths and ultimately the Premonstratensian monks at the abbey with the community at-large.  

Norbertines (Premonstratensian "White Canons" named after the color of their habits) were ordained to serve in the community.  They were active pastoralists, which was somewhat atypical, given the Church's age of excess.  Norbertines took the Rule of Saint Augustine seriously, emphasizing communal life, poverty, chastity and obedience.  At some point during the Medieval Age, a ferry was put in place.  And so things remained for 500 or 600 years until August 1, 1817, when David Stewart Erskine, the 11th Earl of Buchan, gave the community a suspension bridge to make the Dryburgh congregation's treks to church in Newton St. Boswell easier.   

The generosity had an ignominious debut, however.  Five months after being christened, the bridge was swept away in a "perfect hurricane" according to Thomas Smith, its designer.  Bridge plans were redrawn and a replacement bridge went into service in 1832, about 14 years later.  But this bridge too was blown down by a gale in 1838 only some six years after it was commissioned.  Then in 1872, long after the Earl of Buchan had passed, the bridge (a single span two tower construction) was put into place.  And this is the bridge which currently stands today.

Recently, the BBC reported that a 150 year old painting, a water color of the Dryburgh Suspension Bridge, was discovered on the back of an old ordnance map.  This has prompted a few more comments concerning the bridge.  The painting is attributed to Benjamin Peach, the renowned geologist with the British Geological Survey (BGS).  The painting dates to approximately 1873.  In other words, the year after the current suspension bridge finally stuck to the site.

 

Peach (September 6, 1842 - 29 January 1926), after a notable career in the BGS, was awarded the Wollaston Medal in 1921 for his lifetime achievements in geology and paleontology.   The Wollaston Medal, considered to be the most prestigious in geology,  has been awarded to such luminaries as Charles Darwin (1859).  So, there's that.

At any rate, third time's a charm they say.