Monday; from the sea;

Shells, intricate ornaments from of the sea.

Colours and patterns are amazing;

Listen to the sound of the sea...

A sea shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often  washed up on beaches. The shells are empty because the animal has died and the soft parts have been eaten by another animal or have rotted out.

The term seashell usually refers to the exoskeleton of an invertebrate (an animal without a backbone). Most shells that are found on beaches are the shells of marine molluscs  partly because many of these shells endure better than other seashells.



Seashells have been used by humans for many different purposes throughout history and pre-history. 

Shell ornaments were very common during the Upper Paleolithic, from 50–40,000 years ago onwards, when they spread with modern humans to Europe and Asia. 

A sailor's valentine is a form of shell craft, a type of mostly antique souvenir, or sentimental gift made using large numbers of small seashells. These were originally made between 1830 and 1890 and they were designed to be brought home from a sailor's voyage at sea and given to the sailor's loved one. Sailor valentines are typically octagonal, glass fronted, hinged wooden boxes ranging from 8" to 15" in width, displaying intricate symmetrical designs composed entirely of small sea shells of various colours glued onto a backing. Patterns often feature a center piece such as a compass rose or a heart design, hence the name, and in some cases the small shells are used to spell out a sentimental message.

Although the name seems to suggest that the sailors themselves made these objects, a large number of them originated in the island of Barbados, which was an important seaport during this period. Historians believe that the women there made the valentines using local shells, or in some cases using shells imported from Indonesia, and then the finished products were sold to the sailors.

Many think it is kitsch, but I think they have a place in a whimsical way to decorate where appropriate.  

©Pictures 1-4 from my garden Ts
(other pictures from Wikipedia)

Sepia Saturday 169; Kodak camera;

My dear mother and her camera;

She used  a camera like this;  Kodak camera from 1930

The letter k was a favourite of Eastman's; he is quoted as saying, "it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter." He and his mother devised the name Kodak with an Anagrams set. Eastman said that there were three principal concepts he used in creating the name: it should be short, easy to pronounce, and not resemble any other name or be associated with anything else.
It has also been suggested that Kodak originated from the suggestion of David Houston, a fellow photographic inventor who held the patents to several roll film camera concepts that he later sold to Eastman. Houston, who started receiving patents in 1881, was said to have chosen Nodak as a nickname of his home state, North Dakota (NoDak). This is contested by other historians, however, who cite that Kodak was trademarked prior to Eastman's buying Houston's patents.


The Kodak factory and main office in Rochester, circa 1910
From the company's founding by George Eastman in 1889, Kodak followed the razor and blades strategy of selling inexpensive cameras and making large margins from consumables — film, chemicals and paper. As late as 1976, Kodak commanded 90% of film sales and 85% of camera sales in the U.S., according to a 2005 case study for Harvard Business School. This seemingly unassailable competitive position would foster an unimaginative and complacent corporate culture.

I guess they sat on their Laurels while other companies surged forward with the digital cameras.

click here for the Kodak history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_Kodak

Enjoy Sepia Saturday 169; click here


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Friday; unusual gifts;

Surprise someone with an  unusual surprise gift. For grown up KIDS only, 12 years or older!

Bucky Balls; Magnetic Building Spheres

Ah, carbon - how sweet you are. You are the basis of life on Earth, you let our pencils write, and you form the most fortuitous fullerenes. And what are fullerenes, a collection of balls. Now, imagine replacing those hard to play with atoms, with rare earth magnetic spheres. Suddenly, you have BuckyBalls Magnetic Building Spheres, and now your life will never be the same.

Super absorbent Polymer Spheres

These are made from a hydrogel, a super-absorbent polymer, Sodium Polyacrylate, formed into round balls that are available in various colours and sizes*. They can absorb more than 200 (some say 800) times their weight in water. 

* This material is available in various shapes, as well. Most commonly, the round shape in a variety of colours  is used by gardeners who wish to water their plants, especially house plants, in artistic and practical ways. This material slowly meters its stored water to plant roots, eliminating the need for daily watering. From time to time, a gardener simply adds water enough to keep the marbles plump.

Sugru silicone rubber;

Sugru, or Formerol, is a patented multi-purpose, non-slumping brand of silicone rubber that resembles modelling clay. Sugru was developed  and is  marketed by FormFormForm. Sugru retains its plasticity for thirty minutes, self-curing at room temperature after approximately 24 hours. The material adheres to aluminium and ABS plastics. When cured, it has a 'soft touch' or slightly flexible, grippable texture similar to features commonly found in soft over molds. It is waterproof and dishwasher-safe. The material is thermally insulating, with a service temperature range between -60 and 180 °C. Sugru is not resistant to some solvents.The product has a shelf life of six months.

The name Sugru derives from the Irish language word "súgradh" for "play".

Salt and Pepper Batteries (Shakers)

Although shaped EXACTLY like real-life batteries, the battery shaped salt & pepper shakers gadget is absolutely harmless and is hygienically fit for storing salt and pepper. 

♥

OR

a few tubes of oil paint to try something new!

The paint tube was invented in 1841, superseding pig bladders and glass syringes as the primary tool of paint transport. Artists, or their assistants, previously ground each pigment by hand, carefully mixing the binding oil in the proper proportions. Paints could now be produced in bulk and sold in tin tubes with a cap. The cap could be screwed back on and the paints preserved for future use, providing flexibility and efficiency to painting outdoors. The manufactured paints had a balanced consistency that the artist could thin with oil, turpentine, or other mediums.

Paint in tubes also changed the way some artists approached painting. The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir said, “Without tubes of paint, there would have been no Impressionism.” For the Impressionists, tubed paints offered an easily accessible variety of colors for their plain air palettes, motivating them to make spontaneous colour choices. With greater quantities of preserved paint, they were able to apply paint more thickly.

Wednesday; once upon a time...

Lilli, a helping hand; 

I am sitting on  the grass and listen to the little birds and the sparrow calls me, Lilli  write a letter to your mother.

©Photos Ts

Sepia Saturday 168;

Natalya Fyodorovna Meklin née Kravtsova (Russian, Ukrainian:  1922–2005) was a much decorated World War II combat pilot in one of the three women-only Soviet air regiments. They were nicknamed the 'Night Witches' by their German opponents.
She was born on September 8, 1922, in Lubny, Ukraine. In 1940 she joined the glider school at the Kiev Young Pioneer Palace. When she was 19, in 1942 she joined the Night Witches, piloting a Polikarpov Po-2 light bomber, and by the end of the war had flown 980 night missions.
In 1953 she graduated from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages, subsequently she worked as a translator before retiring. She became a member of the Union of Soviet Writers. It is rewarded with the Order of Lenin, with Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degrees, of the Red Star, with medals. Several schools are named after her in Smolensk, Poltava, Stavropol' and other cities. She was entitled honorable citizen of the city of Gdansk (Poland). She died in Moscow on 5 June 2005.

When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die.
 Jean-Paul Sartre 

Allein! wieder allein!
 Einsam wie immer.
 Vorüber rauscht die Jugendzeit
 In langer, banger Einsamkeit.
 Mein Herz ist schwer und trüb mein Sinn,
 Ich sitz' im gold'nen Käfig drin.
 Es steht ein Soldat am Wolgastrand,
 Hält Wache für sein Vaterland.
 In dunkler Nacht allein und fern,
 Es leuchtet ihm kein Mond, kein Stern.

 Regungslos die Steppe schweigt,
 Eine Träne ihm ins Auge steigt:
 Und er fühlt, wie's im Herzen frißt und nagt,
 Wenn ein Mensch verlassen ist, und er klagt,
 Und er fragt:
 Hast du dort oben vergessen auf mich?
 Es sehnt doch mein Herz auch nach Liebe sich.
 Du hast im Himmel viel Engel bei dir!
 Schick doch einen davon auch zu mir.




Loosely translated

  Alone so alone;
  Lonely as ever.
  Over the sound of the youth
  In a long, anxious solitude.
  My heart is heavy and dulls my senses,
  I sit in a golden cage.
  A soldier stands on the banks of the Volga,
  Keeping watch for his country.
  A dark night alone and far away,
  No moon, no stars,
  Silent, motionless, the steppe sleeps,
  A tear falls from his eyes
  And he feels like his heart is eaten away
  He is so alone;
  And he asks:
  Did you forget me there up in heaven,
   my heart  is  also  full of love.
  Nobody is here for me,
  But you up there
  You have many  angels in heaven with you!
  Please send  one of them to me.

Now it is all history.

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Friday; you beauty...

Peruvian Morning glory;  the last, tiny crystal drop...A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

John Keats

Already Friday, don't you think the days are passing faster and faster, I think I am on  a roller coaster.

©Photo my garden.

Links

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http://t-picturesque.blogspot.com.au/

http://pelluciidityblogspotcom.blogspot.com.au/

Thursday; seriously..

STEPHON kissed me in the spring, 

Robin in the fall, 

But Colin only looked at me 

And never kissed at all.

Stephon's kiss was lost in jest, 

Robin's lost in play, 

But the kiss in Colin's eyes 

Haunts me night and day.

♥

The Kiss is an 1889 marble sculpture by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. . 

The sculpture, The Kiss, was originally titled Francesca da Rimini, as it depicts the 13th-century Italian noblewoman immortalised in Dante's Inferno who falls in love with her husband Giovanni Malatesta's younger brother Paolo.  

The couple are discovered and killed by Francesca's husband. 

When critics first saw the sculpture in 1887, they suggested the less specific title Le Baiser. 

Rodin indicated that his approach to sculpting women was of homage to them and their bodies, not just submitting to men but as full partners in ardor. The consequent eroticism in the sculpture made it controversial. A bronze version of The Kiss  was sent for display at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The sculpture was considered unsuitable for general display and relegated to an inner chamber with admission only by personal application.

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