Dark Clouds Bright Skies

ARCHIVE Postings intermittent, selections random, aesthetic meandering, attitude semi-conscious.

[mapsontheweb]

Countries with Citizens who Died on 9/11.

[changan-moon]

How to make a 紫砂壶 zishahu (Chinese boccaro teapot/ Yixing clay teapot)

cr: 拾七紫砂

[mea-gloria-fides]

[darkcloudsbrightskies]

La Serenissima.

[an-imbibing-gentleman]

Cartoon in The New Yorker by W. Steig.

[an-imbibing-gentleman]

Mmmm… good!

Vintage Ad 1960′s

[mapsontheweb]

Christmas Bringers of Europe.

[nycnostalgia]

Rockettes and friends outside of Radio City, 1986

[themaninthegreenshirt]

Hannah Arendt reminding herself to order champagne for New Year

[coolkenack]

Xmas solstice from stonehengetours.com

[aneyeforannai]

Happy darkest day! Keep your hearts aflame and bellies full and may the demons jump voluntarily into the flames of Yule.

[readyorknot-deactivated20190121]

And a joyous Festivus to all!

[randomsams]

[mapsontheweb]

Etymology of Christmas in European languages.

[bantarleton]

Above is a battalion of the Cameron Highlanders paraded in front of Edinburgh Castle in 1914, prior to being despatched to the front line; below is the same battalion upon their return in 1918 after the armistice.

[ancientcoins]

In honor of Halloween, I share a coin featuring the “witchy” goddess, Hekate. I discovered at my seminar that Hekate is one of the least common divinities on coins, undoubtedly because of her supernatural and infernal associations. Hekate (sometimes transliterated Hecate) was the goddess of magic, witchcraft and ghosts. She is famous for her sorcery and her knowledge of herbs, spells, and poisons. On earth, her cult appeared most often at cross-roads and other liminal spaces, where the borders between worlds were thin.

On this coin she appears as Hekate Triformis, Hekate of the three bodies, a form in which she was shown to have power over heaven, earth, and hell. She is paralleled to the three fates, the three furies, and the three graces as one of a number of Greco-Roman goddesses associated with the number three.

The coin is of the empress Otacilia Severa,  wife of Philip I, from Laodikeia in Asia Minor. Hekate was a particularly important goddess in Asia Minor, where she was associated with the Egyptian goddess Isis and with the Great Mother goddess, Cybele.

Otacilia Severa AE of Laodikeia, Phrygia. . 244-249 AD 12.09 g. M WTAKIL CEBHRA CE, diademed, draped bust right / LAODIKEWN NEWKORWN, Hekate Triformis holding torches, serpent, whip and knives, standing; hound at foot right. BMC 255 var

[todaysdocument]

Navy Day 1924 Celebratory Poster, 10/27/1924

Series: General Correspondence, 1901 - 1925 Record Group 181: Records of Naval Districts and Shore Establishments, 1784 - 2000

via @phillyarchives​

[shipwreckedinsc]

Today is Navy Day, not to be confused with Navy Birthday (October 13).

Navy Day is observed annually on October 27. It is a day to salute all of the women and men who have served, both past and present, in the United States Navy.

[hauntedbystorytelling]

On October 24, 1911, a press photographer for NY Times captured Orville Wright in the midst of a record flight in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. “Glider in the Air Nearly 10 Minutes,” read the headline the next day. / source: New York Times