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Saturday 26 March 2011

Sepia Saturday; Treasures from the grandmothers;


Reading glasses from my  grand mother. They might be from my great grand mother. I am not sure. Anyway, I treasure them and have  used them to do fine embroideries. The frames are silver and  yellow gold finely engraved or chased with a pattern. They fit perfectly and are very light.




Spectacles, or eye glasses as they are more commonly known today, have a rich history. As early as the 15th century, the wearing of spectacles gave the illusion of a strong intelligence among the blue-blooded nobility. By the 18th century, gentlemen wore spectacles to give the impression of intellect, although many did not know how to read.
The first spectacles made, known as 'Pince Nez', were generally of wood or leather with a center pivot and date to the 15th and 16th centuries. Old paintings and woodcuts show these types of glasses being worn. During the 17th and 18th century, the 'Nuremberg' type, made of a continuous copper wire frame with round lenses, became extremely popular due to their inexpensive price. All Pince Nez type of glasses are characterized by their lack of earpieces; they were formed to sit on the bridge of the nose. They remained popular through the 1930's under different patents and varieties.

In the 18th century, 'Temple' spectacles were invented, with arms fitted with rings, which allowed the temple pieces to be pressed against the head. They were also known as Wig spectacles as the arms were secured beneath the wigs of prominent men. Most of this type of spectacles had round lenses, although you can occasionally come upon rectangular or octagonal shapes. Bifocal lenses, usually attributed to being invented by Benjamin Franklin, also made their appearance during this period.





 The watch is silver. The back is engraved with a garland and her Initials. The back can be opened to put a small keepsake.  The front has big roman numerals and the hands are rose gold and intricately carved. I have never opened the back as it did not open and I was afraid I would damage the case if I forced it open. I wonder if there is a keepsake inside. I don't know how old this watch is, it might have been her mothers as well.







Please click here to visit Sepia Saturday

Photos TS

Friday 25 March 2011

Friday; Time;



Time of Roses by Thomas Hood

It was not in the Winter 
Our loving lot was cast; 
It was the time of roses— 
We pluck'd them as we pass'd! 

That churlish season never frown'd 
On early lovers yet: 
O no—the world was newly crown'd 
With flowers when first we met! 

'Twas twilight, and I bade you go, 
But still you held me fast; 
It was the time of roses— 
We pluck'd them as we pass'd!



Yes,I do like my Minnie Watch best; I have been a "few years" on this planet, my hair is grey but my heart still sings to the tunes of childhood.
Photo TS

Thursday 24 March 2011

Thursday; misconceptions;


Jacek Yerka;  Fantasia;

Fallacious ideas and beliefs  are documented and widespread;


Christopher Columbus's efforts to obtain support for his voyages were never hampered by a European belief that Earth was  flat.
Sailors and navigators of the time knew that  Earth was spherical. Though they, correctly, disagreed with Columbus's estimates of the distance to India, which was approximately one-sixth of the actual distance.
 If the Americas did not exist, and had Columbus continued to India, he would have run out of supplies before reaching it at the rate he was traveling.
Without the ability to determine longitude at sea, he could not have noticed that his estimate was in error in time to return. This longitude problem remained unsolved until the 18th century, when the lunar distance method emerged in parallel with efforts by inventor John Harrison to create the first marine chronometers.
The intellectual class had known that the Earth was spherical since the works of the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. Eratosthenes made a very good estimate of the Earth's diameter in the third century BC.

courtesy Wikipedia




Wednesday 23 March 2011

Wednesday; free to....



"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." 
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Watercolour TS

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Tuesday; an ordinary day;




"War: a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other."
 Paul Valery (French poet, essayist and critic, 1871-1945)

Monday 21 March 2011

Monday...sparkles;



Monday the start of a fresh, new week. Let's go....


THE FLOWER.      
  

Once in a golden hour
  I cast to earth a seed.
Up there came a flower,
  The people said, a weed.

To and fro they went
  Thro' my garden-bower,
And muttering discontent
  Cursed me and my flower.

Then it grew so tall
  It wore a crown of light,
But thieves from o'er the wall
  Stole the seed by night.

Sow'd it far and wide
  By every town and tower,
Till all the people cried
  `Splendid is the flower.'

Read my little fable:
  He that runs may read.
Most can raise the flowers now,
  For all have got the seed.

And some are pretty enough,
  And some are poor indeed;
And now again the people
  Call it but a weed.

Poetry by   Alfred, Lord Tennyson


Photo TS "my garden"