Beyond words...

This is hard to believe! Check out this 5 year old Japanese kid who rocks out on the ukelele. No, he doesn't speak English. Yes, he covers English songs... He even has good taste with the suspenders! Enjoy : )

Obladi Oblada - Beatles

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

via The Wife of an Artist

Wessner's Wunderkammer

Wikipedia describes the wunderkammer as "a cabinet of curiosities," the collection and display of objects that are unique or uncommon. Inside one of these rooms, one might have found objects so diverse as a tortoise shell from the coast of Africa, a rare mineral from China, or a sketch of a foreign person with a deformity.  The first instances of this mode of display are known to have been during the 16th century. (Read here to learn more.) During this era of fervent exploration, wunderkammern were a means by which people attempted to organize and make sense of what they found in their travels. Perhaps a person had no idea what the things in his cabinet of wonders were, but that was what was so fabulous. These objects were longing for stories.

Somewhere on the way up a very old mountain in Vermont, there is a little shop teeming with such curiosities. The name of this place is Wessner's, and according to the hand-painted sign, they sell hardware and tools. Going there is like stepping into another world--a place suspended somewhere in between order and chaos. Ronnie, a little old man with a white beard, will most likely be sitting in the very same spot, in the very same brown chair, watching the very same little TV set. The sun always filters in through filmy windows, making the floating particles of dust visible in the streams of light. Though the building is small, there are actually many rooms--one leading to another, and another. It almost seems like you aren't allowed to explore back in those rooms, but you are, and it is there that half the mystery is to be found...

Political campaign memorabilia from unknown politicians. Trucker hats from companies that went under in the 70s. Faded stickers for an electronics security company called LOUDMOUTH. Thirty or more Japanese WWII rifles with a sign saying "Not for sale. Don't ask."  Buckets of keys that will never again unlock the doors for which they were made. This is the stuff of Wessner's, and Ronnie probably hasn't seen half of it. But I bet if you asked him about anything there, he'd have a damn good explanation of what it is. This is his wunderkammer.

And here it is, through my lens:

Enjoy : )

Eclipse, Myanmar

Check out this composite image of a solar eclipse over Myanmar, which occurred on January 15th. 

Though the moon passed in front of the sun, it was too far from the Earth to completely hide it. Instead, what was seen appeared as a 'ring of fire'--a bright circle of light emanating from behind the dark face of the moon. The eclipse was the longest of the millenium, lasting approximately 3 hours 30 minutes.

image via apod

Simple Winter

So welcome is the quiet.

New Photos: Harmony Mill Complex

Located in Cohoes, New York, this old mill once produced 1.6 million yards of cotton per week. Now, the better part of the complex sits, waiting for something new to happen. I recently took the following images at the site:

Enjoy : )

Some things never get old!

Remembered best as that itty bitty little lady full of gusto, it is hard to believe that Shirley Temple is now 81 years old! No, it isn't her birthday; I just found this out and decided she's worth mention any day of the year. Never mind age; 76 years later the following video is as fantastic as it was back when your parents and grandparents were watching it on period TV sets. Maybe tube TVs have been replaced by HD flat screens, but certain things never get old...

Discovery: Abandoned Mill, CT

While driving with a friend in Connecticut, I saw an old mill set back quite a distance from the road. Surrounded by a chain-link fence, the blaring orange NO TRESPASSING signs did little to welcome passersby. My friend's sister recalled that this old mill was soon to be torn down. 

If that wasn't enough of an invitation to check it out, nothing would have been. Camera in hand, I walked the periphery around the fence to find that a gate had been left open. In I slipped to find an entire complex of buildings--some in good shape, some merely  exoskeletons. The ones that remained in tact were all boarded and locked up; the only way to get in was through a broken window pane...

The interior, a long vast space of columns and painted brick walls, still housed many of the old machines and wire from the industrial period. The light was dim but remarkable, diffused through windows tarnished with the sediment of a hundred years. 

I snapped away. Here are some of the images:

Turns out that the complex is the site of the former Gilbert and Bennett wire manufacturing company. It began in the early 1800's as a horsehair processing plant (read more here if curious), but when the company owners realized the inefficiency of the material, they turned instead to wire. From here, wire cloth was born, and continued to be manufactured, until the company's closure in 1989. The following image of the complex was taken in the 1920s:

Very interesting stuff.


Enjoy!