Time for a Summer Holiday

The Golden Plover and Ruddy Turnstone are on the beach.  Why aren't I?  It's mid-July already and I haven't planned my summer vacation.  Fewer people are planning vacations this year.  A rough job market often creates a fear that we might not be missed from the office and really aren't that  important (and so we're replaceable). But for some of us, it's just that we may have lost the ability to relax and get away from our daily routines.

The Old Book Smell

The Old Book Smell

Lignin, the stuff that prevents trees from turning into the weeping kinds, is a polymer made up of units that are closely related to vanillin.  When made into paper and stored for years it breaks down and smells good.  Which is how divine providence has arranged for second-hand bookstores to smell like good quality vanilla, subliminally stoking a hunger for knowledge in all of us.

From Perfumes:  The Guide    

Palm Trees for April

Global warming: three weeks ago I was wearing shorts and flip-flops and then the temperature dropped so low that I was back to the dreaded old winter coat and mittens. I am posting these palm trees as a reminder of the warmer weather that will be here....just not yet.

Chart of Edible Mushrooms

Brilliantly fresh and sure to inspire the natural scientist or woodland mushroom picker, this print originating from a 1960s issue encyclopedia features thirteen difference species of fungi.

The Inventor of the Photobooth

This interesting sepia toned print illustrates the Photomaton photo-booth, picturing the inventor Anatol Josepho demonstrating his creation. He eventually sold his invention for $1 million.

Josepho was the first to bring a photo-booth to market. Instead of film, the camera in his booth utilized a light-sensitive strip of paper. Each picture was unique. Many decades later, the artist Andy Warhol used the photo-booth extensively in his work. In fact, many of his silk screened portraits used photo-booth photos as their source, including his well-known self-portrait that later became a postage stamp.

The Tinca Tinca Fish ...or you can call me Doctor

This very handsome plate by the Czech illustrator Jiri Malay shows the Tench or Doctor Fish, a fish found throughout Europe, Siberia and the Caucasus. Why is it also known as the Doctor Fish? It was believed that the mucous on this handsome fish could help treat a wounded fish, so Doctor it is.

1960s Vogue 2206 Molyneux

Featured in the October 1969 issue of Vogue Fashion News, this design by Molyneux features such lovely attention to detail with a standing collar, martingale belt buttoned to the back and pockets inside the front seams. Edward Molyneux was one of those rare designers who was able to transition from the 1930's to the 1970's with dresses that had unbroken lines and a fluidity that was both modern and up to date.