portrait-photo

The Wunderkammer of the Mild Colonial Boy, Esq., a Reactionary Tory Gentleman, who armed only with a Steampowered Babbage Engine and Pure Intentions, wanders the Time Streams and Aetheric Plane gathering an Eccentric Hodgepodge of Curiousities, Frivolities, Whimsicalities and Nonsense.

Q. Why is your Tumblelog called "My Ear-Trumpet Has Been Struck by Lightning"?

A. Because "My Grandmother's Ear-Trumpet Has Been Struck by Lightning" wouldn't fit in the available space.

"Children are not deceived by fairy-tales; they are often and gravely deceived by school-stories. Adults are not deceived by science-fiction; they can be deceived by the stories in the women’s magazines."

— C. S. Lewis on fantasy vs. fact, a timeless and timely reminder of the role of critical thinking in making sense of the stories we’re told.  (via cadburycrazed)

(Source: , via badb-catha)

vcrfl: beckettrobb: Classic Ralph Lauren.  What a cool setting and car. Ralph Lauren Purple Label Spring/Summer 2012 Collection. The car is a Jaguar XK150, produced 1957–1961.

vcrfl:

beckettrobb:

Classic Ralph Lauren.  What a cool setting and car.

Ralph Lauren Purple Label Spring/Summer 2012 Collection. The car is a Jaguar XK150, produced 1957–1961.

(Source: themostvaluableplayer)

questionableadvice: ~ Health and Beauty, by John V. Shoemaker, L.L.D., M.D.; 1908

questionableadvice:

~ Health and Beauty, by John V. Shoemaker, L.L.D., M.D.; 1908

cerbear: This was one of my favourite books as a child.

cerbear:

This was one of my favourite books as a child.

(Source: leilockheart)

"Our perception of time is subject to technological revision, and increased speed has generally translated into a subtle diminishment of our capacity to appreciate our immediate surroundings. In his 1849 essay “The English Mail-Coach,” Thomas de Quincey noted that while the new, high-speed coaches of his day offered much faster travel than had been thought possible a few years before, they also distanced passengers from the countryside. The simple pleasures available to the stroller or the wanderer on horseback — the scent of wild roses, a glimpse of a fox with her kits, an exchange of greetings with other travelers or with people resting from their labors in a field of sweet-smelling, new mown hay — had been traded for increased efficiency. In our own time Wendell Barry has written eloquently of pulling off the high-speed world of an American interstate highway into an Appalachian campground, and needing more than an hour to slow down and adjust to the rhythms of his own body and the world close at hand."

— Kathleen Norris, Acedia & Me
The Great Zero Gate:  
treselegant: ‘OUTDOOR PAST-TIMES FOR LADIES.  ARCHERY.’  Bow Bells, 1872.

treselegant:

‘OUTDOOR PAST-TIMES FOR LADIES. 

ARCHERY.’ 

Bow Bells, 1872.

canuhandelthis:

What can we poor females do by Henry Purcell

I’m so amused that this is for a Soprano and Baritone..

questionableadvice: ~ Chicago Bluebook, 1903via Internet Archive“Carriages, Not Machines”

questionableadvice:

~ Chicago Bluebook, 1903
via Internet Archive

“Carriages, Not Machines”

decorativeindulgences: 17th cent., [wheel lock petronel or holster pistol in the Dresden style, inlaid with mother of pearl and horn plaques decorated with animals] via the Curator’s Eye Collection

decorativeindulgences:

17th cent., [wheel lock petronel or holster pistol in the Dresden style, inlaid with mother of pearl and horn plaques decorated with animals]

via the Curator’s Eye Collection

adialogue:

In the midst of all the things that can go wrong in life it helps to keep a sense of humour. I challenge you not to smile when you listen to this song; a song about one man and the day of all days.  

(“The Bricklayer’s Song”, or “The Sick Note,” sung by the Corries.)