This one smells like strawberries

While we were at Pactola Lake this weekend, I took a moment to scratch off a little bark & sniff this tree. This particular one smelled like strawberries. I haven't done this in years. It was delightful.

If you're not familiar with this practice, the idea is that you scrape off just a little bit of outer bark, just sort of flaking it off with your fingernail, until you get to that pinkish layer underneath. Then you sniff it, and it can smell like strawberry, vanilla or chocolate. I remember doing this a lot as a kid.

Have you ever done this? Do you still do it? Have you never heard of this and just think I'm crazy? Let me know in the comments. 

The two wheeled kind...

The two wheeled kind..., a gallery by wuntokess on Flickr.

I'm still working through last year's Sturgis pictures (QoP*), but a couple I posted last weekend made it into this cool gallery on Flickr.

*Queen of Procrastination

Too hot? Here's a photo to cool you off

Fox's first snow, Malet Street,London by GanMed64

Last winter, I was amazed at how many photos of foxes in the snow in London kept popping up in Flickr. 

Lifesize Stonehenge Bouncy Castle? Yes, please!

View the slideshow on Flickr.

What better way could there be to spend the Summer Solstice than bouncing around on this? I love interactive art installations - and it doesn't get much more interactive than this.

The title of the piece is Sacrilege by artist Jeremy Deller and it's touring the UK right now. How I wish it was a world tour and would come here!

Photo: sacrilege by hellojenuine

Missed the transit of Venus? You can still check it out on Flickr

I missed out on the transit of Venus yesterday, but with any astronomical event, Flickr's users are there to keep me covered. NASA always provides especially good views:

via NASA Goddard Photo and Video's Flickr stream

Click here to see this photo LARGE and you can see more photos and videos here and here.

Happy Leap Day!

By stuant63

Flickr Favorite: Paris

Just like birds on a wire, I'm a sucker for pictures of the Eiffel Tower against a sunset. This one is by Flickr user  [phil h].

Christmas Countdown: Am I a hundred years too late for this toy?

I was looking at some photos in the Library of Congress' Flickr photostream and noticed the Eiffel Tower in this window full of toys. Was this a model for a child to build, do you suppose? Some quick Googling didn't come up with anything, but I may take some time to search deeper later. Whatever it was, I think I would have wanted one!

Christmas Countdown: Packages, Packages, Everywhere!

The postal service says today is the biggest delivery day of the year, while tomorrow is the biggest mailing day of the year. I found this picture from World War II in The Smithsonian Institution's photostream on Flickr. Click through to see some humorous notes users have applied to parts of the photo (just mouse over the photo once you've clicked through). Unfortunately, more keep being added, so I think some of the funnier ones are getting buried - kind of like some of the boxes in the photo. :)

Click through!

 

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!

I visited Jane Austen's house in Chawton in 1996. The pictures I took there have turned out to be some of the most-viewed in my Flickr stream despite being faded-looking scans. In honor of Jane's birthday, I thought I'd share a slideshow of those photos. Enjoy!

 

Here's a video of the house (including some improvements done a couple years ago). It all makes me want to go back again.

Flickr Find: Get back in your book!

Set on Flickr

Angry bird?

He looks more "pouty" to me. I'm guessing from all the pinfeathers that he's just out of the nest & not too happy about it. We seem to get a lot of those on our deck. Last week it was a young sparrow of some sort, obviously in an awkward "adolescent" phase.

Christchurch earthquake on Flickr

Some amazing pictures from New Zealand, both of the devastation but also of people helping out in such a tough time:


via a search set up by Flickr Blog

Vancouver Olympics on Flickr

The IOC has set up an official Flickr group where anyone can share their pictures of the Vancouver Winter Games - I love it when an organization "gets" some part of social media. There are so many ways to follow the Olympics this year, whether on Twitter, Facebook, online video, or several other sites (There's a good list at TechCrunch) that I think I'll have more fun following the games than I've had in years. It'll be great to be able to experience the Olympics through the eyes of athletes and attendees as well as "old" media.

Interesting link: Mathew Brady Civil War Photographs on Flickr

The U.S. National Archives have joined The Commons at Flickr. I haven't had a chance to peruse more than a handful of photos, but I'm excited to see a selection of Matthew Brady's Civil War photographs have been included.

These appear to be straight scans of the plates, not cleaned up and cropped for best effect as you would usually see in a book or documentary. They're essentially raw, and that almost makes it seem like you're seeing something completely new. I'll probably waste an evening in the near future browsing these.

Aim high!

Happy Halloween!