matouenpeluche

Galaxy Cat and The Perseids Meteor Shower

This is Galaxy Cat who you may or may not remember as being the last ever drawing I did for 2015. Well, I have turned him into a gif to celebrate the return of the Perseids Meteor Shower which is at its peak this evening (I think!). 

Perseids and the Perigee Moon

 

Attention all stargazers! Apparently, the next couple of days will be amazing astronomically speaking. First of all there is the Perseids Meteor shower which is at its peak on the night of the 12th of August and morning of the 13th. Apparently you won't need a telescope to see the shower, as it will be clearly visible (cloud cover permitting) with the naked eye.  Also there is a Perigee Moon, or supermoon, on Sunday night. Because of the supermoon, however, it will be best to see the meteor shower at sunset mid next week when the moon has dimmed a bit. You can read more about these two events here and here.

GIF by Tim Reynolds.

Venus

We had the winter solstice a few weeks ago in Sydney. After that (21st June) the weather immediately cooled down after a very mild start to our winter here. Speaking of the winter solstice, this photo (taken in the northern hemisphere) shows the transit of Venus over a year. The top is the summer solstice and the bottom is the winter solstice and the point where the paths cross over is the equinox. Isn't it lovely? It's like a beautiful twinkly necklace in the sky. 

 

Image from here.

Royal Philips

Did you know that the Dutch technology company Philips is actually properly called Royal Philips? No, I didn't know that either.  Based in Amsterdam, Royal Philips was established in 1891 by father and son Gerard and Einfhoven Philips. The first thing the company produced were carbon-filament lamps. If you would like to know more, the Philips museum website has some interesting tidbits and history about the company. I also found a nice back catalogue of past advertising campaigns dating back to the late 1800s. I've selected a few of my favourites here.

All images from here.

Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns

This delicate book cover is from The National Media Museum's website. It is the front page of a 1843 photography book on ferns by Anna Atkins. 

Wikipedia informs me that there are over 12,000 species of fern. They are the world's most ancient plants having been found as fossils in 400 million year old rocks. Coal is largely made up of fossilised ferns and finally, some ferns are edible (although I'm not sure which ferns are the ones you can eat or where you can find them!).

All images from here.

Hedy Lamarr

This is the very lovely Hedy Lamarr (9 November 1913 – 19 January 2000). Not only was she a major star at Louis B. Mayer's MGM studios, but she was also the co-inventor of a Secret Communication System. This system was the frequency-hopping spread spectrum which you can read more about here. 

Images from here, here, and here.

November

 
   I always think each season is the best season. Mainly because of the flowers. After spring, I get a bit wistful and think *sigh* that's the end of the flowers for another year, but really I couldn't be more wrong. In November whole suburbs are set alight with cascading blooms of bougainvillea. Jacaranda trees rain down purple blossoms and the chinese star jasmine drapes itself over every available surface. So, perhaps early summer is my favourite season I think... 

...and then there's this magnificent tree with its foliage that makes you feel like you're walking around some ultra modern cathedral every time you walk past it. We have whole streets full of these trees and it really is one of the highlights of November to walk down them. However, I have never ever been able to find out the name of them - if anyone knows, please leave a comment!

Happy Friday Links!

New York City Photograph by Irene Suchocki

I absolutely love this photograph by Canadian Etsy shop owner Irene Suchocki! You can click on the image and it will take you through to her print which is available to buy on Etsy.

Meanwhile, it's Friday so I thought I'd show you what interesting, amusing and delightful things I've been looking at on the web this week:

1) Digitalised clothes by University of Berlin graduate Alba Prat.

2) An amazing short film about the power of ten over at one of my favourite blogs: Scathingly Brilliant.

3) Absolutely adorable new born poodle puppies.

4) The ten most exciting new books coming out this fall (or spring depending on your hemisphere!).

5) An incredible stop motion alphabet directed by Alessandro Novelli.

Here's to a lovely weekend!

X 3

Living Feral

Clare Owen Drawing

Libris Lunaria

Happy Saturday! I can't believe how fast we are zipping through the year! It's May already - incredible!

Above you can see three Etsy shops that have caught my eye recently. They are all so different but have a unique style and flavour. I think one of my favourite things at the moment is surfing Etsy!

And! Finally, it's cooling down here in Sydney. Finally! However, it isn't raining and that makes it absolutely the most perfect weather. It is a little known secret that Sydney is at it's best in winter. It has clear cobalt blue skies and there is such a crispy loveliness in the air. It's perfect for walking. Hopefully I'll manage a bit of that this weekend! And you? Any grand plans for the weekend?

Circular Quay to Manly

 

1)&2) Goodbye Circular Quay, Sydney Opera House and city! 3) Hello working Naval Base that Russell Crowe's apartment looks onto (true!) 4) Rushcutter's Bay yachts 5) Small but perfectly formed Clarke Island 6) A Rose Bay Seaplane (home of Sydney's first ever airport!) 7) Shark Island (Clarke's big brother) 8) South Head - goodbye Eastern Suburbs! 9) Goodbye visiting cruise ship 10) Hello Manly!

This glorious trip - these photos don't even come close to doing this lovely journey justice - takes only half an hour. I used to do it twice a day when I was at uni and I never got tired of it. I took these photos on my first Manly trip in ages last week. What a treat it was!

...and happy Thursday - I trust everyone's week is treating them well!