Benjamin Franklin "Join, or Die."

Benjamin Franklin's call to unity was the first political cartoon published in an American newspaper.

"The image first appeared in the May 9, 1754, issue of Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette. By the 1750s, France and Great Britain had been arguing for years over the extent one another’s landholdings in the Americas. Franklin considered the American colonies to be dangerously fragmented and, through this cartoon and its accompanying article, hoped to convince the American colonies that they would have great power if they united against the threat of French expansion in North America.

"The “Join or Die” snake enjoyed popularity long after its first publication in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754. Newspapers throughout the colonies copied and reprinted the image. For example, in 1774 Paul Revere adopted a snake device in the masthead of The Massachusetts Spy. As the years progressed, Franklin’s image lost its usefulness as a symbolic map, yet the powerful message of strength in unity it conveyed remained for centuries."


http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume5/november06/primsource.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Join,_or_Die

Himeji Castle, Japan

Himeji Castle dates to the early 1300s, but was completed in its present state in the 17th Century. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and five structures within are Japanese National Treasures. It escaped damage during WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeji_Castle

The Aloof Family

They're not talking to eachother.
 Could be Eugene O'Neill's family.

Filipino artist Fernando Amorsolo, 1892-1972

Market Scene

Noonday Meal

I like the way he uses light and shadow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Amorsolo

George Harrison "Top 100 Guitarists"

George Harrison is Rolling Stone's 11th pick in their Top 100 Guitarists of all time list released yesterday.

http://tinyurl.com/d8sjaq8

We doth protest.

English painter Thomas Lawrence, 1769-1830

Mrs. Papendeick and her Son

America the Beautiful poem and melody

Ray Charles

Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929) wrote the original version in 1893, inspired by a trip to the 14,000-foot Pikes Peak, Colorado; she wrote the 2nd version in 1904, while her final version was written in 1913. Her poem, "America the Beautiful" first appeared in print in The Congregationalist, a weekly journal, on July 4, 1895. The music, "Materna," was composed by Samuel Augustus Ward (1847-1903) in 1882, nearly a decade before the poem was written! For two years after the poem was written it was sung to just about any popular or folk tune that would fit with the lyrics, with "Auld Lang Syne" being the most notable of those; the words were not published together with "Materna" until 1910.

 "O beautiful for spacious skies, / For amber waves of grain, / For purple mountain majesties / Above the fruited plain! / America! America! / God shed his grace on thee / And crown thy good with brotherhood / From sea to shining sea! / O beautiful for pilgrim feet / Whose stern, impassioned stress / A thoroughfare for freedom beat / Across the wilderness! / America! America! / God mend thine every flaw, / Confirm thy soul in self-control, / Thy liberty in law! / O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife. / Who more than self the country loved / And mercy more than life! / America! America! / May God thy gold refine / Till all success be nobleness / And every gain divine! / O beautiful for patriot dream / That sees beyond the years / Thine alabaster cities gleam / Undimmed by human tears! / America! America! / God shed his grace on thee / And crown thy good with brotherhood / From sea to shining sea! / O beautiful for halcyon skies, / For amber waves of grain, / For purple mountain majesties / Above the enameled plain! / America! America! / God shed his grace on thee / Till souls wax fair as earth and air / And music-hearted sea! / O beautiful for pilgrims feet, / Whose stern impassioned stress / A thoroughfare for freedom beat / Across the wilderness! / America! America! / God shed his grace on thee / Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought / By pilgrim foot and knee! / O beautiful for glory-tale / Of liberating strife / When once and twice, / for man's avail / Men lavished precious life! / America! America! / God shed his grace on thee / Till selfish gain no longer stain / The banner of the free! / O beautiful for patriot dream / That sees beyond the years / Thine alabaster cities gleam / Undimmed by human tears! / America! America! / God shed his grace on thee / Till nobler men keep once again / Thy whiter jubilee!"
http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/songs/America_The_Beautiful.html

Autumn scene by Van Gogh

 Autumn Landscape 1885

From http://tinyurl.com/2sbr73:
"The Autumn Landscape is one of Vincent van Gogh's earlier works, where he was painting in more of an impressionist manner, with more details and less color than his later works. Van Gogh was pleased with the results of this particular painting which he talks about in a letter to Theo below.

"Van Gogh wrote about the Autumn Landscape painting in a letter to his brother Theo van Gogh in 1885, saying "I think that I am making progress with my work. Last night something happened to me which I will tell you as minutely as I can. You know those three pollard oaks at the bottom of the garden at home; I have plodded on them for the fourth time. I had been at them for three days with a canvas the size of, lets say, the cottage, and the country church-yard which you have.
 
"The difficulty was the tufts of havana leaves, to model them and give them form, color, tone. Then in the evening I took it to that acquaintance of mine in Eindhoven, who has a rather stylish drawing room, where we put it on the wall (gray paper, furniture black with gold). Well, never before was I so convinced that I shall make things that do well, that I shall succeed in calculating my colors, so that I have it in my power to make the right effect."
  

The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup

Waterskiing witches

Happy Halloween!

They did The Mash

Thanks, Dean.

Halloween

Top-Earning Dead Celebrities - Forbes

According to Forbes Magazine's "Top Earning Dead Celebrities," George Harrison's estate took in $6 million last year, thanks mostly to the Cirque Du Soleil Beatles show called "Love." George came in 13th place overall.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2011/10/25/the-top-earning-dead-celebrities/

Pooh pumpkin

The old Cincinnati Library, circa 1900-ish

Joe Heller / Green Bay Press-Gazette

Joe Heller / Green Bay Press-Gazette

French panter Louis Courtat 1840–1909

"Young Girl With A Circle Toy"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Couturat

Croatian photographer Stanko Abadžic

"Baska, Kugla"

 http://www.sabadzic.net.amis.hr/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanko_Abad%C5%BEi%C4%87 

Black and white photographer Cole Thompson

"Wrenches - Fort Collins - 2004"

http://www.colethompsonphotography.com/index.htm 

Chinese painter Wai Ming 1938-present

"The Breeze"

The artist resides in Hong Kong.

http://www.waiming.com/ 

Austrian painter Johann Baptist Reiter 1813–1890

 

The Apprentice Shoemaker

1847

http://tinyurl.com/3zy5www

Photographer Charles Cramer

More about the artist:
http://www.charlescramer.com/bio.html

The Ansonia 1906

Ansonia Apartments, Broadway, New York City

http://www.shorpy.com/node/11258

St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia, Bulgaria

It is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox Christian cathedrals in the world. Construction started in 1882 and was completed in 1917. It is in the Neo-Byzantine style of architecture. 

Saint Alexander Nevsky was a Russian prince. The cathedral honors Russian soldiers who died during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 when Bulgaria was freed from the Ottoman empire. Sofia is Bulgaria's capital city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Nevsky_Cathedral,_Sofia

Charlie Brown farewell to summer

American Impressionist Frederick Frieseke 1874–1939

"The Garden Parasol"

1910

Frieseke was born in Michigan & studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago & the Académie Julian in Paris. Frieseke liked to paint women, gardens, & bright sunlight.

http://www.sdl.lib.mi.us/history/frieseke.html

Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892-1950

Dirge Without Music

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the
love,—
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not
approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the
world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

French painter Jules Bastien-Lepage 1848-1884

"The Peasants"

1878

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Bastien-Lepage

Pablo Picasso Weeping Woman

"The Weeping Woman"

1937

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weeping_Woman

Wood engraving

Artist unknown.

19th Century landscape artist Hugh Bolton James 1848-1927

"Summer Landscape"

http://tinyurl.com/3q93x9h

Tranquil swimming pool

Hedgehog doormat

The doormat I just bought.

National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage

http://tinyurl.com/36t8he

A link to the history of the anti-suffrage movement.

Texas painter Kay Smith

"Christian's Koi"

Cultivating the beautiful koi fish is gaining popularity in the U.S. They grow up to 2 feet long and are very hearty. They survive in cold weather and they will learn to feed by hand.

http://www.kaysmith.artspan.com/

Picasso — study of a bull

Pablo Picasso

Spanish painter and sculptor

1881-1973

http://www.picasso.com/ 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso 

Spotted orchid

Etsy.com artist CocoRoo from San Francisco

"Funky Colorful Funny Face Mosaics 1"

 CocoRoo designs Oakland, California, 

http://tinyurl.com/3loehx6 

Etsy.com artist Catalin from Atlanta

"Great Vienna #40"

palette knife

Catalin, Atlanta, Georgia 

 http://tinyurl.com/3v2wk9k

 http://www.etsy.com/people/Catalin?ref=ls_profile

 

1930 landscape camera

"Ben Cooley with Camera near Superstition Mountains
RP Postcard ca 1930 ©vintagephoto.com 2010"

http://vintagephoto.com/reference/reference.html 

Swoosh Splash

American painter Jessie Willcox Smith 1863–1935

Collier's Weekly magazine cover

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie_Willcox_Smith 

http://colliersmagazine.com/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collier%27s_Weekly 

Finnish painter Ferdinand von Wright 1822-1906

Summer Landscape

1877

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_von_Wright

Boston's Prince Hall and Black Freemasonry

Prince Hall (d. 1807) was the nation's first black activist, and throughout his life he petitioned Massachussets legislature for black rights. Hall's early years are sketchy, "but it is certain that by 1770 Prince Hall was a free, literate, black man living in Boston...and had served in the Massachusetts militia during the American Revolutionary War."

Prince Hall and other educated free men in Boston founded the first black Freemason lodge called African Lodge No. 1 and named Hall their Grand Master. For a time its 35 members outnumbered the white Freemason lodge in Boston.

Hall's African Lodge No. 1 received its charter from the English Grand Lodge "and was thus entitled to all Masonic rights...without prejudice." By 2008, 41 out of the 51 mainstream U.S. Grand Lodges recognize Prince Hall Grand Lodges. Those that don't are in the South.

Hall is buried in an historic cemetery in Boston with other notable Colonials. Many free black men were buried without headstones, but Hall had one. In 1835, a permanent memorial was erected in his honor.

This man's life was very interesting. You should read it for yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Hall
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Hall_Freemasonry

"Tripping through his backyard"

A man in Salmon, Idaho who likes to wear a bunny suit in public was warned by police to stop wearing the suit or face public nuisance charges.

Police say the man, 34, was frightening children. A police report said residents were "greatly disturbed" by the man, but one resident came to his defense and said he's weird but harmless.

"He's got the bunny outfit, a cowboy suit and a ballerina dress but you don't see him except where he's tripping through his backyard," a neighbor said. "He's got a strange lifestyle at home but we all do weird things at home."

The Custer Car

Invented in Dayton, Ohio in 1920.

http://tinyurl.com/6q35au

Summer fun for a hot day

Two horses

Cosmos flowers

The butterfly