proust73:

allcreatures:

earnestlyhemingway:

via bsciencecenter.files.wordpress.com

Silky Bantam

xye:

human-art:

Radoslav_Vanko-by-David_Vance-14.jpg (image)

exclamationmark:

Gustave Doré’s illustration of Ludovico Ariosto’s “Orlando Furioso.”

treeroots:

Wooden Bucket

Two years ago I found a somewhat lopsided (technically “drunken”) wooden bucket at a garage sale, and after a minute of intense negotiation was able to purchase it for $.25. It looked like it should be pretty simple to straighten up, but after an hour of effort, I started looking for some guidance. Luckily, the folks at Colonial Williamsburg suggested this superb how to do it book.

I learned that a cooper is a specialized woodworker “whose job is to bind long, thin strips of wood into … barrels, buckets, butter churns and wash basins.” Coopering requires a high degree of skill, higher than normal carpentry or carving.

There are three types of coopering:

a. Dry coopering, single use containers not required to hold water — fairly simple to make.

b. Wet coopering, building casks that are water tight, requiring high quality wood and great skill. (Today these casks are used only for fermentation: wine, liquor, Tobasco sauce, wine vinegar, etc.)

c. White coopering, building buckets for carrying sugar, flour and milk. Generally, this coopering called for less skill because it does not involve bending the staves.

Robert C. Ross 2008

Photo by West County Camera

xye:

Adam by Lewis Lavoie

One Blood, Many Nations