The Sonora Aero Club Flies Again

 Charles Dellschau, who came from Prussia to Texas in 1853, made his living as a butcher. But he was obsessed with the idea of flight and, around the turn of the century, began to create scrapbooks filled with fantastic drawings and collages of speculative flying machines.

In 1969, a half dozen of Dellschau's scrapbooks, containing over 2,500 drawings, were discovered in a junk store in Houston.  

 (This post on Design Observer contains many more Dellschau images.)

 I absolutely adore stuff like this . . . incredibly detailed work produced by obsession.

 

 Dellschau created these books as the (fictional?) records of a secret organization that he called the Sonora Aero Club. He claimed to be the 'draftsman' and record keeper of the club -- a club, the existence of which is in doubt.

A commenter on one of the articles I've linked to speculated that Dellschau was a misplaced alien from another place or time who suffered at least partial amnesia and was recording bits of remembered technology.

Works for me.   

With thanks to Mario who posted this link on Facebook yesterday -- 
it's not all cute kittens and silly stuff over there.

 

A Sure Sign of Spring . . .

New chicks for the laying flock . .  .

Some Red Sex Links and some tiny banties -- I 'll try to get better pictures soon.

What's this about Sex Links? I hear you whispering. . .
Here's what Wikipedia says: 

"Sex-links are cross-bred chickens whose color at hatching is differentiated by sex, thus making chick sexing an easier process. Sex-links come in many varieties, few of which are a true breed. As hybrids of laying or dual-purpose breeds infused with extra vigor via heterosis, sex-links can be extremely good egg-layers which often produce 300 eggs a year or more depending on the quality of care and feed.

Two common varieties are the black sex-link (also called Black Stars) and the red sex-link (also called Red Stars). Blacks are a cross between a Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire rooster and a Barred Rock hen. Red sex-links are a cross between a Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire rooster and a White Rock, Silver Laced Wyandotte, Rhode Island White or Delaware hen. "

Impress your family and friends with your chicken knowledge  and your ability to toss about words like heterosis.

 

Faded Beauty

The very last of the lily stems given me a month ( a month!) ago . . .

This series was taken over the past three or four days . . . 

She's beautiful, even in decline . . .

I think of the death of the swan in "Swan Lake". . .

Or an aged woman of whom they say - "You can tell she was a great beauty."

 
So graceful in decline . . .

 Her fragile petals drooping . . .

She grows transparent,  a ghost of what she was.

 

Mother Nature's Little Joke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the First Day of Spring

 So much to catch my eye -- pink blossoms against the clear blue sky . . .

Early light gilding the edge of the Dwarf Alberta spruce . . .

A neighbor's forsythia cascading over an old rock wall . . .

Clover, Silverbell's daughter, still in her winter coat. . .

In Burnsville, looking up at some trees, I noticed several large nests . . .

And several crows . . .

Then came the first night of Spring ... I don't really want to talk about it.

 

Vernal Equinox

 

 

In the Rain Looking for Spring