December first: the ice cleats are firmly affixed to my boots and I’m ready to take on the next ten months of winter! (I exaggerate, but only slightly).
I have a ton of really great stuff to share today – here goes:
New to me is this fantastic site: Plant Curator, a wholly-engrossing mix of botany and art. I seriously could spend hours going through the entries. This link takes you to some floral-themed art from M.C. Escher, but if his work isn’t to your taste, click on the menu headings at the top of the page to see everything the site has to offer.
The New York Public Library has digitized over 700,000 items, including photographs, maps, manuscripts and video – and it’s all free to everyone with Internet access. Click over to the site to enjoy this treasure.
Another amazing treat: the over 10,000 cylinder recordings that have been digitized and are available for free from the University of California-Santa Barbara Cylinder Audio Archive. These are priceless recordings from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s and include music, speeches and readings.
These “shadow” drawings by artist Vincent Bal are just plain clever.
A huge shout-out to some amazing bloggers:
Laurie Graves, of Notes from the Hinterland, has just published her YA novel Maya and the Book of Everything – congratulations, Laurie! Read about the book and how to order it here.
Have you ever felt this way about a book? Yeah…I thought so. Read Margot’s post on Death Defying Acts of Living – I know you’ll agree.
Adrian Thysse has posted some incredible footage of honeybee hive activity – while you feast your eyes on his work, remember that he wasn’t wearing any protective gear while filming!
A fantastic find:
Paul Martin Brown’s book Wild Orchids of the Pacific Northwest and Canadian Rockies (2006, University Press of Florida). Truly, a valuable resource if you want to ID and learn about western wild orchids. The keys are easy to use and Brown offers all the botanical info you need, plus notes on history and naming, as well as decent photography and excellent botanical illustrations by Stan Folsom. Not a book everyone is going to have a use for, but if this is a topic you’re interested in, I’d highly recommend it.
And, finally:
I started a project over at Paper Butterfly Flash Fiction that may interest you if you write flash fiction stories. There is an open call for submissions now until December 25, so send in your work as soon as possible. (If you’ve never written flash fiction before, give it a try – it’s a great way to have fun with really short prose). Please pass along news of this call for subs to any writers you know!
Flowery Prose. 