If I remember correctly, I first saw a design on how to build a simple sundial in a seventh grade science textbook with Mr. Walker. BOYS' LIFE, the official magazine of the Boy Scouts, was one of two magazines, the other was SPORTS' ILLUSTRATED, that occupied my early teen years. In it I remember quite a color spread of how to build and read a dial. If it was early afternoon, the sun was out and the gang and I needed the time, we'd draw them in the dirt at homeplate. Our game would end at 2 PM when Leo, Teddy and I had our paper routes to do. Wristwatches? Are you kidding me? But we needed the time. In my last year working at the cemetery, Herbie the foreman, asked me to help the crew build the stone foundation and tower for the cemetery's sundial, in a new section that was opening soon. I was excited! That was pretty cool!
I stop by often to check it out.
It still looks great.
And it works!
Have you got the time?
*note: Don't be distracted by the nude in the distance.
* This beauty is found in a field of flowers at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art.
....."Don't be distracted by the nude in the distance."
ReplyDeleteWhere exactly is this sundial again?
Hey, I'm home tomorrow!
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DeleteWHAT? I thought you were there for another week. I better get busy!
DeleteI like them in theory. But I've never really understood how to use them in practice!
ReplyDeleteI never noticed the nude till you mentioned it/her.
ReplyDeletepretty. and neat!
ReplyDeleteThere is a large sundial at the Desert Botanical Garden and I enjoy watching people try to figure it out. I love when they finally figure it out and exclaim their surprise at how accurate it is.
ReplyDeleteWe have some nice sundials on old building, but in summer their time is all messed up by daylight saving time...
ReplyDeleteFascinating, sun dials, & as always I enjoy your story in relation to them.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to meet you in person & thanks for stopping by at my wee table at Art in the Park. I think you brought me some good luck, maybe it was the Hawaiian shirt!
Even though I'm a girl, I always wanted to be a boy scout. As a kid, I would have loved to build a sundial!
ReplyDeleteI loooove sundials Birdman, have always wanted one for my garden.. you have me all enthused again!
ReplyDeletep.s. what nude :)
They always feel like a piece of magic to me! Love them too.
ReplyDeleteOf course now we can't look away from the nude!
ReplyDeleteThat sundial looks quite distinctive.
It's a pretty one (trying to ignore Elenka's comment too). I'm incapable of reading them...
ReplyDeleteNice shot, nude and all. (You, of course, were clothed while taking it, right?)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of keeping time, there's an interesting article in the latest Smithsonian magazine about "wearables" and how we evolved from pocket to wrist watches and the part World War I played in it (it doesn't mention sundials).
I read it. The history of watches is interesting. How the wearing of wristwatches came into widespread use and fashion. Better than carrying a sundial on your wrist, I guess.
DeleteI'm not distracted. What sundial are you talking about! And how the heck can you remember things like that from the 7th grade! Amazing. You have lots of unsung abilities...telling time is obviously one of them.
ReplyDeleteDidn't notice the nude until you mentioned it! lol
ReplyDeleteNice setting for it.
ReplyDeleteWe had a small sundial in the backyard when I was growing up. It looked good but I never developed a fondness for figuring out the time with it. That is why they make watches.
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