Another nice day yesterday, though not quite as nice as the day before. A bit cooler and cloudier. Still, plenty of opportunity to be outside.
I spent the morning in the garden reading, followed by a walk to Camden Market. I encountered Sir Richard Steele along the way. He looks a little cold, doesn't he?
Camden was my destination because when I wandered through there last week, right before meeting Colin for one of our concerts, I saw a guy selling loose photographic slides from a big box. Well, you know I love old pictures, and rescuing them from oblivion is one of my missions in life. So yesterday I returned with lots of time and some spare change, and emerged with about 50 slides.
(Side note: I didn't try to take Olga along to the market. It's farther away than the Heath and given our big walk the day before, I thought she needed to stay home and recuperate. She didn't protest, and it felt good to walk briskly and get my heart rate up, which I can't do when I'm tethered to the dog.)
Coming back from Camden, I passed through Hampstead village and stopped at a sidewalk antique place I've passed many times. Usually I have Olga with me so pausing there isn't easy, but this time I could browse and I bought two cut-glass wine glasses that I thought Dave and I might use sometime.
I've looked through all the slides more carefully and I think about half of them are worth scanning. The slides themselves don't cost much but the scanning is an investment, since I have it done professionally. (I don't have a good slide scanner of my own.) Choosing interesting slides from a big bin of loose junk in an open-air market is a challenge -- I have to hold them up to the light and squint and do my best to assess the photo. I can't always tell if it's going to be blurry or if someone's eyes are closed, and sometimes upon closer examination they're just not as interesting as I first thought.
Anyway, that was my daily excitement. I resumed reading "American Dirt" in the afternoon, and also caught up on blog-reading and responding to recent comments here, which felt good. I know I've been lagging behind!
This is another Camden Market purchase. When I showed it to Dave, he said, "Your Florida roots are showing!" And indeed, it does look like something that would be hanging from a carport in his parents' Bradenton mobile home park. But there's a purpose behind it.
Remember how a squirrel ravaged our avocado tree? I thought this shiny, flashy thing might keep it away. So I moved the avocado back outside and suspended this gizmo from the branches. The squirrel nibbled off three leaves yesterday. So much for that idea.
Still, I'm leaving the avocado outside. I think the squirrel will eventually lose interest, if it hasn't already. And if not, it will help prune our overlarge tropical plant!
24 comments:
Very nice gold leaf on those leaves. Mr Steele does look chilly.
I cannot imagine anyone topless in freezing England! Your heatwaves are like our Soring!
We bought something similar to deter the birds from pooing on our deck. They just sat next to it and continued to poo.
Here's an idea for you Steve. Why not buy a slide scanner of your own? Here's one on Amazon:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scanner-High-Resolution-Negative-Convert-Negatives/dp/B09KRSQCL9/ref=sr_1_11?crid=9MJZ0I9Z1E2P&keywords=slide+scanner&qid=1682927616&sprefix=slidescanner%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-11
YP: I have a scanner like that. It's really more suited for negatives and it doesn't work very well to boot. I get much better results and higher resolution with a pro job. You get what you pay for, as they say.
I wonder if there's any special reason for Sir Richard Steele to be shirtless. That sounds like my kind of walk. I love your project of saving old slides and photos. I laughed when I saw the squirrel deterrent. For a number of years my mother had a problem with pigeons on her 16th floor balcony. She bought a not inexpensive owl with twirling wings and glowing eyes -- guaranteed to keep them away. The next day she saw two pigeons sitting on the railing right next to the owl.
I don't know if there are used merchandise sites over there but I would look for a used flatbed/slide scanner. I have one made by Canon and used it to scan a few thousand slides, four slides at a time. Although I don't have slides to scan in it anymore, I still use the flatbed part of it fairly often.
Interesting that the Spectator magazine is even older than the Guardian newspaper
I am not sure how big of a pita it would be but have you ever thought of mixing up some cayenne and water and spraying your plants? Squirrels have taste buds. Birds do not.
Squirrels are devious and seldom frightened away.
I think the squirrels probably think you have bought them a party decoration. Quite frankly, I like it very much.
Why is that picture of Sir Richard so disturbing? Not sure. But it is.
I wonder why you want to save all of the slides and old photos? Have you saved all of your family photos?
You may be able to publish a book of found slides/photos one day with your own creative captions! Or maybe start a website to discover more about the subjects.
I love that shiny gadget you bought. It should keep some birds away even if it didn't work so well with the squirrels. Those crazy squirrels don't scare all that easily.
I'm looking forward to reading updates on that shiny thing and if it works to keep the squirrel away.
Yeah, I wouldn't think that thing would deter squirrels. Not much does. And what's up with a bare chested Sir Steele?
Well whether it worked or not, I kind of like the spinner. I'm a little surprised that we don't have more stuff like that in our yard because I'm a bit of a magpie & drawn to bright things. Ha!
There used to be a little hand-held gadget that you would put a slide in and it would light it up and magnify it so you could see what it was. I wonder if they are still around. It would help you decide which slides were worth scanning. Squirrels are hard to discourage. :(
I scrolled through Richard Steele's wiki page (wondering if it would explain why he was shown bare-chested) and came across this: " During the restoration of the church in 2000, his skull was discovered in a lead casket, having previously been accidentally disinterred during the 1870s." How is a skull accidentally disinterred??
I like the shiny spinner thing.
I think there's a story behind the Man of Steele shivering up there.
He looks like bustless Barbie
Sounds like of good day of wandering. I look forward to seeing the photos that passed muster. You have an artist's eye, and the old photos you choose always tell stories.
If Sir Richard doesn't have a shirt, then I'm guessing he doesn't have pants either. I wonder what he did with his clothes. I figured American Dirt was probably about Florida and Ronnie DeSantis, but it makes sense that the ugly squirrel deterrent is a Florida thing--probably invented by Ron.
Love,
Janie
If you still lived in the United States, you'd just take out the squirrels with your handy-dandy AK-47 assault rifle.
That sounds like a great haul! You need one of these little slide viewers to carry around in your bag or whatever when you're on a slide hunt! This is the amazon link because I don't know how to hot link it! Still small but a little better than holding up to the big blue (or gray) sky! Nice try with the squirrels...
https://www.amazon.com/Lighted-Illuminated-Viewer-Batteries-Included/dp/B07CQTY2W9/ref=asc_df_B07CQTY2W9/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=241899609306&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7002726130006310949&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9017265&hvtargid=pla-569726363240&psc=1
River: How can you look at the gilding past that bare chest? LOL!
Caro: Nature always prevails!
YP: I responded above, but actually I might look into getting some kind of slide scanner.
Mitchell: Pigeons are especially persistent! I don't think people back in Steele's day were EVER shirtless, except maybe in the bath. (And those were infrequent.)
Ed: I have a flatbed scanner. I wonder if I could get some kind of slide attachment for it? Or do I need a special scanner suited to that?
GZ: And their first publication was the Tatler. I don't know if that's the same Tatler we've had in recent decades. I don't think Steele's Guardian is the same as today's newspaper, which I believe originated in Manchester.
Debby: I've thought about it but I've never done it. My desperation hasn't reached that level. LOL
Bob: Persistent little devils.
Ms Moon: Squirrel party in the avocado! It IS a vaguely disturbing sign, but points for creativity.
Ellen D: I love books of found photos. I own several! And there are people on Flickr who specialize in old found images, and I follow their accounts. We have saved almost all our family photos, but I could throw some of them out -- a lot of them aren't very interesting.
Sharon: Then again, it might attract crows!
Robin: Stay tuned!
Ellen: I think they were just trying a new twist on the traditional pub sign.
Bug: It's pretty cool looking, I agree. Very flashy.
Margaret: Yes! I have a hand-held slide viewer. I just didn't take it with me to the market, and I SHOULD have!
Kelly: Ha! I read that too! And then I wondered how they figured out it was HIS skull!
Boud: I wonder? Maybe the pub folks were just being quirky. English humor, you know. :)
John: Ha! Sir Barbie Steele?
37P: There are so many under-appreciated but great images out there!
Catalyst: It's hard to imagine myself firing an AK-47 for any reason at all, but squirrels might tempt me! (And then I could cook them up, as Ed said.)
Jeanie: Thanks for the link! As I told Margaret I do have a hand-held viewer -- I just forgot to bring it with me. Next time!
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