tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post336247062245861981..comments2024-02-25T13:25:26.434-08:00Comments on Owl's Farm: Spring TimeOwlfarmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15373358232893937182noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post-50687012394519617582008-03-26T12:45:00.000-07:002008-03-26T12:45:00.000-07:00I'm thinking that those Ansonia clocks made their ...I'm thinking that those Ansonia clocks made their way around Canada as some sort of a fad in the late nineteenth-, early twentieth-centuries. Mine most likely came from Kingston, Ontario, and may have been a wedding present to my great grandmother. I certainly sympathize with your affection for wind-up mechanisms; I've never really been able to explain mine, but perhaps its the appreciation for visible technologies--the ones that allow one to see how they work. So many things are unfathomable these days that if anything happened to eliminate the makers, those dependent on them would find themselves in dire straits. On the other hand, it would be entirely possible for someone with modest skills to replicate at least a simple clock. I'll be spouting more on these topics shortly.Owlfarmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15373358232893937182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post-81951065440184020052008-03-22T12:41:00.000-07:002008-03-22T12:41:00.000-07:00Owl - our inherited Ansonia clock is a dead ringer...Owl - our inherited Ansonia clock is a dead ringer for your one - same colour, conformation - ours strikes willy, nilly, according to its own rhythms, which is fine by me as my sense of time has always, is and will be guided by the amount of available daylight at any given time. I have always been death on watches, and love wind-up mechanisms which have beome increasingly rare. Spring comes when green shoots poke up from the soil. Fall is incipient when a section of our apple tree has yellowing leaves. Being aware of the rhythm of succession in nature is the touchstone and most satisfying. I agree with much of what you say in this post. G and GEMGEMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11525848943689396086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post-919266219715768942008-03-21T16:03:00.000-07:002008-03-21T16:03:00.000-07:00Thanks for dropping by, Werner; I have to confess ...Thanks for dropping by, Werner; I have to confess that I'm not as opposed to the digital realm as I let on, because I really do enjoy use of the web and it makes my teaching life a great deal easier. I'm not usually an "early adopter" (it took me forever just to get a cell phone), but I recognized the value of the web in education at least ten years ago and was happy to get sucked in. Still, the world of steam punk and some retro-techno stuff is really compelling as well, even though I'm not sure why.<BR/><BR/>And Krimzie: since Google owns my soul these days, how did I miss Google Sky? I've got bloody NASA TV on my desktop, for cryin' out loud. Thanks for the link. Now go spend part of your break somewhere that isn't completely polluted by light, and do some healthy star-gazin'.Owlfarmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15373358232893937182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post-21684274075566615132008-03-21T08:19:00.000-07:002008-03-21T08:19:00.000-07:00I always have found nature, and natural timing fas...I always have found nature, and natural timing fascinating. Like how sailors could use the stars, not only to determine their direction, but also the time. I find it dissappointing that I can only point out less than a handful of <A HREF="http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-3.074695072369682&longitude=-95.009765625&zoom=4&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=1&mI=1&oI=1" REL="nofollow">constellations</A>. I do make an effort to be aware of the natural environment around me, and I admit, that daylight savings time screws me up too, which is curious to me, since I have lived my whole life with digital clocks. I have a tendedency to be able to guess the time of day by the position of the sun in the sky, but with daylight savings time, It takes me a few days to remember that the sun is an hour late. Funny how that works too. The impression that our society is getting up "earlier than the sun." As if it's some race to defy nature. And once again, i missed the opportunity to see if an egg can really stand on its narrow end. Guess I'll have to wait until fall.krimzon11https://www.blogger.com/profile/15860965461621796040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post-87240720330863063712008-03-20T16:21:00.000-07:002008-03-20T16:21:00.000-07:00Hello,Just thought I'd drop by. I liked this posti...Hello,<BR/><BR/>Just thought I'd drop by. I liked this posting on 'Spring Time'. I agree that changing clocks twice a year doesn't make much sense. After all if you want to get up early in the summer because it's warmer and brighter why not just do so? I also liked your old clocks. There is something very beautiful about old machines that newer stuff doesn't really have. I don't really dislike the "digital world" but there should be space for other things and interests.Wernerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17213034395981099737noreply@blogger.com