William's Antique Nature Guides

Last weekend when we had a routine Sunday night dinner at a friend's house, out of the blue he gave me this little set of antique nature guides. I love books and wildflowers and have a small but growing collection of antique wildflower books. So for me, this is a spectacular combination and an incredibly lovely set of books.  

Many of the flower names have changed but all my old favorites are in there and I love perusing the small picture plates.The copyrights range from 1909 to 1915 and inside each cover is a little handwritten inscription indicating that these were a graduation gift to William N. Gahr from his brother Edmond W. Gahr in 1929.  It made me wonder what William was graduating from and why he might have been given these particular books.   

I googled William N. Gahr and what's strange is that the friend who gave me the books said that he received them from his brother who lives in D.C.  The only William N. Gahr that comes up in google was born in 1910, died in 1978 and was a WWII veteran.  And he's buried in Denver, which is where I am and where I received the books.  It's a mystery as to how William's books ended up in D.C. more than 30 years after he died.

It's strange too how I somehow have his books now and they have come full circle.  But I love them and plan to keep them forever.  I hope William would approve.

Antique View of Asia Circa 1930

I found this antique book in a used bookstore in Denver a while ago called 'Carpenter's New Geographical Reader: Asia' from 1930.  It has some really great photos and provides insight into how our view of the world has changed since then.  I just thought I would share some of my favorite photos.

This is written on the inside cover of the book- presumably the owner of the book and student of Asian geography.

There are only a couple of color plates in the book but I wish they were all in color to get a better idea of what life was really like then.

I've traveled extensively through Malaysia but I don't quite recall the women being 'fond of jewelry' but perhaps it's still true.

This is a beautiful building in Bangkok that is just as beautiful today as it was then.  I have never seen so many golden buildings.

I would love to see a print shop like this.  What an incredible setup compared to how things are done today.

It seems some facets of the Chinese way of life have always been puzzling to westerners.

This pagoda reminds me of one that I saw near Dahli in China.  I really wish it was in color because generally the pagodas have really colorful and extremely detailed painting.

Early school uniforms?  If so, they've changed quite a bit....

The owner of this book made extensive notes and underlining all throughout the book, clearly making a careful study of the information it contains.

I don't understand why it was called a 'costume' if someone in a foreign country was wearing it.

I would love to ride my bike under this tree.  We spent a few months cycling through South East Asia and it was incredibly hot.  So I guess I wouldn't actually like to ride my bike under this tree, but I would like to ride my bike towards this tree and stop in the shade for a nap.

Ok, this might be my most favorite picture from the book.  Look at the little guy in the front with his arms crossed.  It just makes me crack up.  Some things just don't change through the ages, including how funny kids can be.  He's just so put out about something- I'd love to know what.

Where did all the exotic country names go?

PS- I apologize for the crazy formatting but Blogger is throwing a tantrum and there doesn't seem to be anything that I can do about it so you get crazy formatting, rather than no blog post at all.  sorry!

Inspiration Abounds!

Thanks to Victoria over at www.sfgirlbybay.com for starting the blogger mashup of over 300 bloggers posting about what inspires them most!  You can find the schedule and links to all other bloggers here .  

There are a lot of things that inspire me such as colorful art, plants, the ocean, vintage looking photography, prints, books, my husband's poetry, live music, hiking above treeline, walking through the city on a snow day, riding my bike (preferably downhill of course...), interesting typography, birds and many more things too numerous to list but I've highlighted a few of my favorites.

Travel

Perhaps the one single thing, that encompasses a lot of other types of inspiration is traveling.  I'm slowly working my way around the world and I never cease to be inspired by new sights, hills to climb, languages to learn, culture to be immersed in and generally wondering what's around the next corner because you just really have no idea.  My travels inspire my life and art, so I thought I would share with you some of my favorite and inspirational places from some of my more recent travels.

My list of favorite books is ever changing and constantly growing.  These are just a few of my all-time favorites which inspire me every time I pick them up.

Poetry is a definite inspiration- my favorite published poem being: Mending Wall by Robert Frost and anything by Anna Akhmatova.  My hubdude has written me stacks of poetry which might be the first thing I would grab if my house was burning down.  Lately I've been inspired by the short, generally calming words of Haiku.

I also find a lot of inspiration in art, particularly earth art and wide open spaces like my summer 'office'.  It's hard not to be inspired on a daily basis when working in such a beautiful place where anything seems possible.

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I find all things plant related to be incredibly inspiring because the diversity, resilience and hardiness of plants is simply amazing, not to mention their looks.  I gave up my 'career' and traded it in to study plants because I find them so incredible and I've never been happier.  These are some of the miniature beauties that I find so inspiring and have the biggest impact on my art. The colors shapes and texture are amazing, and all from a little miraculous seed. 

Tomorrow's 'blog it forward' blogger is Style Bust which you can find here: http://stylebust.com/  
and if you really want a big dose of great 'blog it forward' posts check out the full list on sfgirlbybay's schedule here  http://www.sfgirlbybay.com/blog-it-forward/