Round Museum

The blue barrel of an artillery cannon faces the St. Lawrence River in the Old Port of Montreal in Canada. Part of the Montreal Clock Tower complex (Tour de l'Horloge) completed in 1922, twin cannons stand vigil for this memorial to the Canadian sailors who died in the First World War 1914-1918.

11.30.18

A subway underground can offer some surprises, but its not always a broken turnstile, a late train, or excrement. Occasionally, there's a pleasant experience like this glowing Round atrium in the new Downtown Link concourse near Philadelphia's City Hall.

11.29.18

As soon as the last Trick-or-Treater has left your doorstep, you can be sure that Christmas decorations have been slapped up almost everywhere else. Getting skipped in the process is poor old Thanksgiving. What, no Tom Turkey stickers on grocery windows? No neon fall leaves hanging from light posts? If you're lucky, you might see a harvest-themed cornucopia arrangement with pumpkins and gourds and osage oranges on the counter at the cafe. But only for a nanosecond.

11.21.18

You'd think when you're presented with a little mouse problem in your house or garage, you might get some cheese, load a spring trap, and BAM... problem solved. But by accident or design, to build a better mousetrap takes some real creativity. After all, there have been over 4,400 mousetrap patents filed since the spring trap in 1899 and only 20 have met success. Will your hubcap trap be the one?

11.20.18

Like a Keebler Cave, loose knots form on trees around blemishes or injured branches. As the tree grows the center of the knot decays and eventually forms a hole.

11.19.18

This trolley stops here.

11.18.18

The New Mexico State Capitol building in Santa Fe is a cylindrical structure known, appropriately enough, as "the Roundhouse." As part of a public art initiative in 1991, the Legislature created the Capitol Art Foundation to acquire masterworks by artists that represent the people, history and cultures of New Mexico. When you wander around the grounds you will come upon quite a few works including statues of native Pueblo peoples and various sculptures such as this 10-foot bronze Round called "Passage" by Dan Namingha, a well-known painter, sculptor and Santa Fe resident.

The worm's-eye view of a scallion shows a collection of thread-like roots nested in a ring around the edge. Just about every part of this tubular, bulb-less onion are chopped up and eaten, except for this Round. Maybe a worm will want it.

11.15.18

On the north end of Long Beach Island, New Jersey, sits the Old Barnegat Lighthouse, or "Old Barney." From the ground to the top is a climb of 217 steps, with these windows periodically providing a porthole view.

11.13.18

The letterpress printer is a mass of wheels and disks and cylinders and gears, oh my! Back in the mid-15th century could Gutenberg have envisioned the speed with which his little movable type invention would change the world? All he wanted was to improve the slow laborious printing process, but ended up unleashing the proliferation and distribution of the sum total of human knowledge around the globe. That's all.

11.05.18