Curiosity killed the cat. But it never harmed me.

a.) A series of photographs and musing about interesting naturalia and art. b.) A digital wonder cabinet. (Note: All Photographs are mine unless otherwise stated)

[curiosityvagabond]

Icon of Saint Christopher as a "Cynocephalus" (Dog-headed man) 1685

*not my photograph, from nam.culture.gr

[curiosityvagabond]

My photograph of Cornelia Parker's sculpture Anti-Mass (2005) charcoal and wire.

[curiosityvagabond]

My photograph from the Whaligoe Steps. The weather turned on us so quickly.

[curiosityvagabond]

Robert Louis Stevenson stayed here for a while with his father (an engineer). Wick Harbour. (They are restoring the property. This is my photograph, peeking in the front door.)

[curiosityvagabond]

Snake specimen at the amazing City Museum St. Louis, Missouri. My photographs don't do it justice!

[curiosityvagabond]

Tree texture. Loch Fyne. Start of the Highlands.

My photograph (from the car).

[curiosityvagabond]

STAIRS TO NOWHERE.

[curiosityvagabond]

Seal skull. Took this photo at the California Academy of Science.

[curiosityvagabond]

More Sea Nettle (Chrysaora fuscescens) Jellyfish. Photograph taken at the California Academy of Science aquarium.

(See another sea nettle jellyfish photo of mine I posted previously here.)

[curiosityvagabond]

A dismembered doll tea party.

These are dolls found through excavations of old privies...really! Now housed in the City Museum, St. Louis MO, as an exhibit. What can we learn about a community by its public waste receptacles? It turns out quite a lot! From what types of commodities were consumed (and discarded), to things like what diseases were rampant at what time (based upon findings of medicine bottles, old syringes, and other medical devices).

[curiosityvagabond]

Berndnaut Smilde's "Nimbus." The artist created fleeting installations of formed 'clouds' within this confined space. Photographs become a way of documenting the installation/art moment. See works at artist website, here, including "Nimbus II"

(note: this is not my photograph, it is taken from the artist's website and redirected to the artists website)

[curiosityvagabond]

Indianapolis. Urban landscape. On my cross-country December road-trip. (Photograph taken from the car).

[curiosityvagabond]

Close-up of topiary/fountain (miniature) at the Botanical gardens, San Francisco.

[curiosityvagabond]

I go absolutely mad for miniatures. See some of beautiful Renaissance miniatures at the National Portrait Gallery, London. As I recall, they had some Hilliards there. These are: 

Nicholas Hilliard - Miniatures, Man with a Hand from a cloud; Unknown Young Man, 1588 

(The year of the English--Queen Elizabeth I--defeat of the Spanish Armada).

I love these. All tiny things are so curious. 

(Note: not my photograph)

[curiosityvagabond]

A stained (and back-lit) fish specimen at the California Academy of Science. (My photograph).

[curiosityvagabond]

A stained (and back-lit) fish specimen at the California Academy of Science. (My photograph).

[curiosityvagabond]

Union Street. This street leads up to the shortest street in the world, Ebenezer Place in Wick, Scotland. Take a right at the end, and there you are...