This, my friends, is a model of Big Ben (I did not just type Pig Pen accidentally...), the clock tower at the Palace of Westminister found in London, England.

Here are some interesting things about it:

     -It is the 3rd largest freestanding clock

     -It's biggest bell weighs 16 tons

     -It is set off of clock tower in Greenwich, England.

We are learning about Great Britian in geography this week (er, today and maybe tomorrow...hehe). Next we are learning about Stoneheng. We watched this rather strange video about how it was built, changed, and fell apart...the weather was most interesting, and it was funny to watch the shadows go in all different directions, because their 'camera' wasn't going the same way the whole time.

I have to find out what blue stones and sarsen stones are before we do geography again. And I have to find out what they are geologiaclly, not just that the blue ones are the small ones in the middle, and sarsen are the ones on the outside! I guess I'll do that now, and tell you what I find....*googles*

And I quote from Wikipedia:

     Blue stone is a generic mineral description commonly applied to a variety of minerals. Perhaps the most common reference is to the hydrated copper(II) sulfate mineral, chalcanthite. The name "blue stone" is also applicable to lazurite, the core constituent of lapis lazuli, a sulfide of sodium aluminium silicate in the sodalite group. The term bluestone is also used for the dolerite stones at Stonehenge.

Other uses of the name blue stone may refer to blue-grey building stone or paving material. In Australia a bluish variety of basalt is widely used for building.

The name should not be confused with blue john, which is a blue/purple variety of fluorite, also known as fluorspar, found in Derbyshire, England.

     

     Sarsen stones are sandstone blocks found in quantity on Salisbury Plain, the Marlborough Downs, in Kent, and in smaller quantities in Berkshire,Oxfordshire, Dorset and Hampshire. They are the post-glacial^[1] remains of a cap of tertiary sandstone which once covered much of southern England, a dense, hard rock created from sand bound by a silica cement, making it a kind of silicified sandstone.

(Sorry about the bright blue words, they are links on wiki, but blogger won't let me change their color.)

So there you have it, you've learned a little about stoneheng that you might not of already known! :) (Did I fail to mention, that the tall stones on the outside are 11' tall and 100' in diameter...O.o) 

One day I want to go to the UK tour Big Ben, and I want to go look at Stonehenge too (which is outside of Wales). I shall take my new camera with me, and take tons of pictures to show you all! (But I have a feeling, my camera won't be too new anymore when and if I ever get there!)

Here are some pictures now...I'm still trying to figure out what to do without paying for more space! :P

Daniel, his 11th birthday was on Tuesday.

That is me when I was shoveling...

And I straightened my hair last weekend, so here is an edited picture of me with straight hair.

And finally, Lillian, she bit her tongue really hard the other day, and today right before geography my mom decided to take a picture of it, so I did too. It didn't help she had been eating markers either. haha

See those two lines that look black? There ya go...ouch!

Have a good week! 

-Emily