Archive for June, 2010

Baseball player
Cornell baseball player, 1908. Illustration by Edward Penfield (1866-1925). From Wikipedia Commons.

It’s that time of year again. Baseball is the only spectator sport I watch (or listen to on the radio) with any regularity. I even have a fantasy baseball team – the Plymouth (Mass) Rocs. [Okay bad pun....] I’m a big Cleveland Indians fan. Alas, neither my fantasy team nor my favorite team are perfoming up to my hopes, but that’s ‘par for the course’ as they say.< /div>

Today’s image is an 1908 illustration by Edward Penfield (1866-1925) showing a Cornell baseball player at bat. He’s got no batting helmet – not yet required – and his uniform is the ‘knickers and socks’ style.

Play ball!

Click on the image to see it/ download it full-sized.  I found this image on Wikipedia Commons.

Peace,

Bekka
  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Futuro house in Sweden
Futuro house in Aspholmen, Sweden. Photo by ‘Sebastian F’, released to public domain by creator. From Wikipedia Commons.

Here’s an image I got from Wikipedia of another Futuro house. This one is in Sweden. Cute, isn’t it? The photographer (‘Sebastian F’) has released this photo into the public domain. Feel free to use it!

Wikipedia also an article on Futuro houses, with a couple of more photos of other Futuro houses and some external links.

Click on the image to see it / download it full-sized.

(We come in) Peace,

Bekka
  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Well, we’re back from visiting my folks in Delaware, and here are a few photos from our trip of cool things and places we saw:

Futuro House

A 'Futuro' house in Milton, Delaware. Sometimes listed as being in nearby Lewes, Delaware.

I did some research on the net and found out that this is a ‘Futuro’ house. Futuro houses were designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1965 at the request of Dr. Jaakko Hiidenkari, who wanted a ‘sky cabin’. The first one was produced in March,1968; and the design was finally christened the ‘Futuro’ home in October, 1968, when the third one was shown in London, England. Only 20 were produced in Finland between 1968 and 1978, but there were different manufacturers in different countries. But according to estimates, less than 100 of these still exist, total, around the world. Check out more at Futuro-House.net,  a website by a Futuro house owner in Illinois who is trying to document the remaining houses world-wide. It’s a website by someone who isn’t a programmer, but he is dedicated! Check out the list of Futuro house locations he has on his site and see if one is near you….

Street sign for Nine Foot Rd

Street sign for 'Nine Foot Rd', also known as DE 26, where it intersects with US 113, just west of Dagsboro DE.

The area around the Cheasapeake Bay and the Delaware / Maryland seaboard seems to be full of odd road and place names. There was one sign in Maryland on US 113 that pointed west for ‘Bishop’ and east for ‘Bishopville’. Another town was named ‘Gumboro’. We found roads with names like ‘Nine Foot’, ‘Dead End’, ‘Peerless’, ‘Deer Park’, ‘Hotel’, ‘Cat Mans’, and ‘Lazy Lagoon’. It was quite fun to keep an eye out for what odd name we’d find next.

Fish mural

Mural on the front of 'Go Fish', Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Go Fishis a wonderful restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, DE. They serve fantastic British-style fish and chips. This year, they went ‘green’ and are now powered by solar panels on the roof of the building. Here’s a picture, from last years trip, showing the whole building:

Go Fish in Rehoboth Beach DE

Go Fish restaurant in Rehoboth Beach DE, July, 2009.

You can’t see the cool mural (see first picture) in this view, but you can see the big fish shaped sign, and – my favorite part – the ‘telephone booth’ door on the left (which leads to offices on the upper floors).

Assateague wild horses

Wild horses on Assateague Island MD, June 2009.

And last, but not least, the wild horses of Assateague Island, MD. These are the horses on the Maryland section of the island (the southern tip is in Virginia) and they are truly wild. The park service simply monitor them, and work to prevent too much interaction between them and the tourists who come to the island. I actually sideswiped one with my car by accident one night we were there (the horse is fine with no injuries, the ranger checked!) Took out my passenger side mirror and headlight and made a dent, but so far as we know I didn’t even knock the horse over. [This is a story for another post - but short form: late at night, straggler from the group we just passed, around a bend, in the dark, in the road... but... I didn't even knock it down!]

Assateague wild ponies

Wild ponies on Assateague Island, MD, June 2009.

 They are magnificent animals, though. I am very glad I didn’t injure the horse (everyone in the car was okay too!).

Peace,

Bekka

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lighthouse
‘Fourth order lighthouse at Penfield Reef, Long Island Sound’. From _Illustrated Science for Boys and Girls_, 1881. Author unknown. Project Gutenberg ebook.

Since I just came back from a vacation in Delaware and Maryland, this 1881 illustration of a lighthouse seemed appropriate. Lighthouses of this period used Fresnel lenses, invented in 1822. These are the distinct ‘rippled’ lenses in 19th c. lighthouses that focused 85% of the lamp’s light (compared to the pre-Fresnel 20%). Though they weren’t introduced in the US until the 1850s, by 1860 all US lighthouses had them.

Fresnel lenses were ranked in ‘orders’ – with ‘first order’ being the largest, followed by ‘second order’, and so on down to ‘sixth order’. The caption of the illustration refers to it being a ‘fourth order’ lens. In modern lighthouses, Fresnel lenses are often replaced with modern alternatives that require less maintenance.

Click on the image to see it / download it full-sized.

Peace,

Bekka
  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Illustration from _Theosophie & Alchemie_, by Michael Maier and Johann Theodor de Bry, 1687. From Wikipedia Commons.

Today is the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (and the Winter Solstice for our friends in Australia and other points in the Southern Hemisphere). Since for me it is summer, and the longest day of the year, I thought this illustration from a 1687 book showing the Sun and the Earth was a good one for today. Mind you, Theosophie & Alchemie is not likely a book on astronomy, but the illustration is still quite servicable none-the-less.

Wikipedia Commons, where I got this from, says this illustration “was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the Deutsche Fotothek of the Saxon State Library (SLUB) as part of a cooperation project.” It is public domain due to age (being over 300 years old!).
Click on the image to see it / download it full-sized.
Happy Solstice!
Peace,
Bekka
  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Okay, I haven’t had an order via the web for a bit so I thought I would make this offer – the first person who orders from me AND puts the word ‘Keyhole’ in the ‘special instructions to the seller’ section (or sends me an email with the word ‘Keyhole’ if they have trouble with the special instructions) will recieve this little prize (sorry, the scan is horrible and my camera is down):

Keyhole brads

Pack of 8 vintage keyhole embellishment brads by Jo-Ann Craft Essentials. Retail value: $3.99.

These keyholes have sharp points on the back for putting through the paper or fabric you are attaching them to. The package has 4 rectangles and 4 circles. Free to the first person to order and put ‘Keyhole’ in the instructions or an email to me (so I know you read this).

Bekka

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: ,

Abraham Lincoln and son Tad Lincoln
Photograph of President Abraham Lincoln and son Tad (Thomas) Lincoln, 9 February 1864. Photographed by Anthony Berger of the Brady Studio. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LOC #LC-USZ62-111897.

To celebrated Father’s Day, I’ve chosen an iconic photograph of Abraham Lincoln with his youngest son ‘Tad’ (Thomas) Lincoln. It was taken by Anthony Berger of the Brady Studio (as in Matthew Brady, the famous American Civil War photographer). I found it in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Click to view it / download it full-sized.

Happy Father’s Day to all those fathers, grandfathers, and uncles out there! What an important job fathers’ have!

Peace,

Bekka
  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Honeysuckle
Honeysuckle, from _Dumpy Books for Children No. 7: A Flower Book_, 1901. Illustrations by Nellie Benson. Project Gutenberg e-book.

This lovely little flower faerie (fairy) comes from the oddly named Dumpy Books for Children, No. 7: A Flower Book, written by Eden Coybee, illustrated by Nellie Benson, and published in 1901. I found this gem on as an e-book on Project Gutenberg.

Still, despite the odd name of the book she’s from, she is a lovely faerie! Click on her to see her / download her full-sized.
Peace,
Bekka
  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bellflower (Campanula cochleariifolia)

Fairies' Thimble / Bellflower (Campanula cochleariifolia), Switzerland, 2006. Photographed by Wikipedia user Amada44; released to public domain by creator. From Wikipedia Commons.

Latin is a wonderful thing.While the common name of this flower is fairies’ thimble; it is a type of bellflower, of which there are nearly 500 known species. Some of it’s near relatives are the harebell, Canterbury bells, Carpathian harebell, marsh bellflower, chimney bellflower, and giant bellflower.

This is where the wonder of Latin botanical nomenclature comes into play. Because of this naming system, you can specify exactly which species of bellflower you are talking about, and be understood by another flower-lover anywhere in the world – even if their ‘common’ name for this flower is different!

Though there were botantical classification systems before Linnaeus, his system – published in 1753 – brought in the innovation of binary names to commonly refer to plants. A binary name, scientifically, consists of the plant’s genus (the first part) and an epithet, usually the species, but it can also be a subspecies, section, or other division below genus.

This means that you can say that this flower is Campanula cochleariifolia (‘fairies thimble’), which distinguishes it from all 472 other Campanula species, such as: Campanula rotundifolia  (harebell), Campanula lactiflora (milky bellflower), or Campanula medium (Canterbury bells). Ah, the joy of Latin! *grin*

This wonderful photo of Campanula cochleariifolia was taken by Wikipedia user Amada44 in her backyard in Switzerland. She released the photo into the public domain on Wikipedia Commons, where I was lucky enough to find it. Click on the photo to see it / download it full-sized.

Peace,

Bekka

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Siberian tiger and cub
Siberian tiger and cub (Panthera tigris altaica), Buffalo (NY) Zoo, 27 Feb 2008. Photographed by Dave Pape, released to public domain by creator. From Wikipedia Commons.

One of the things we hope to do on our vacation with my folks is go to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.  Now, we are specifically going so my younger son can see the giant pandas, but I always think of line from The Wizard of Oz: ‘Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh my!’

In addition, my eldest daughter just finished her 8th Grade year with honors (she made the Honor Roll all four grading periods this last year!), and her middle-school mascot was a tiger!

And finally, this is a magnificent picture that was ‘Picture of the Day’ a few days ago on Wikipedia Commons, and I thought it deserved to be shared with all of you as well. You can read all about Siberian tigers on Wikipedia if you wish.

So there are my three reasons for choosing this today! Wow! More reasons than usual! Click on the picture to see it / download it full-sized (which is rather large – you are warned!)

Peace,

Bekka
  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,