A Window in Time

When we look ahead in our lives, we see the world in broad brushes of possible events. This window reminds me of how limited is our view. We know the future holds a myriad of details that will be experienced in the moment and then forgotten. So, the stark outline of the window is the present looking towards an indistinct future. One thought, all of the light of world comes through our windows.

Christmas Candlelight Tour

Quoting from the Wentz Farmstead Society website, "The Peter Wentz Farmstead was established in 1744 by Peter and Rosanna Wentz. By 1758 they had completed the large, Georgian-style stone house with many architectural features that reflected their German heritage, including interior paint decoration throughout." When you live in a city that only has a history back to the mid-1800s, it is interesting to see a farm that is almost 100 years older than the oldest buildings. On the other hand, we like to visit Pueblo Grande near downtown Phoenix, Arizona, a ruin of a 1,500 year Hohokam village. It sometimes helps to get some perspective on age.

George Washington really slept here

The Peter Wentz Farm is a gem of a historical landmark. It is where George Washington planned the battle of Germantown during the Revolutionary War. We visited the farm during their candle light tour on a cold clear night in December. This is shot taken without a tripod with the camera sitting on a fence post. The light is mostly from candles except for the one electric light by the door. You can see the typical Pennsylvania German (Dutch) stone construction with prominent white mortar between the stones. All of the tour guides were dressed in typical Revolutionary War era clothing.

Elfreth Alley

Elfreth Alley claims to be the oldest residential street in America. I guess that depends on how you define residential street, since Old Oraibi in Arizona has been around much, much longer. But this is very interesting place in downtown Philadelphia. When I was in high school, I took a class in mechanical drawing and learned about perspective drawing. This photo is a classic of perspective. The two stone tracks merge at the vanishing point and all the lines on the houses are parallel and also merge at the vanishing point.

I would rather spend time in this type of place than all the commercial attractions a city has to offer. I liked this much better than Macy's for example.

Woman Dipping Candles

Woman Dipping Candles is a clay tile creation of the Mercer Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, a National Historic Landmark, located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The originator, Henry Chapman Mercer, a historian, archaeologist, collector and ceramist -- a Renaissance man of the early 20th century, began his enterprise as a result of his archeological investigations and his resultant interest in pottery. He became one of the most successful practioners of the arts and crafts movement of the late 19^th and earth 20^th Centuries. His designs come from much older European craftsmen. Unlike many craft oriented businesses, Mercer’s Tile Works became extremely profitable. The style of this tile is called brocade work, because it mimics the designs in woven material.

Natural Light

I used to think that I "needed" a flash unit on my camera. I have moved so far away from that position that I don't even have a flash unit on my camera and didn't even realize it for some considerable time after I had purchased it. There is nothing about this picture of a pottery kiln that needs a fill in flash. All of the necessary light comes from the south facing window. With a flash unit, you would lose most, maybe all of the texture of the bricks and the color of the pottery containers. Perhaps when we think we need something that appears to be an obvious choice, we need to rethink what it is we are trying to accomplish.

Two Doors

Life if full of choices. I couldn't help thinking about the consequences of making small, seemingly unimportant decisions that have a life changing impact. In every minute of the day we are faced with alternatives. The choices are not necessarily morally bad or good. Most choices do not seem to have any positive or negative consequences, kind of like choosing which of the two doors you are going to go through first. OK, so now you are thinking about Robert Frost and the two roads. But it is impossible to tell which is these doors is the less traveled.