Whew! Blogger is finally limping back into business; I had to load my pictures individually instead of in lots of four! It did give me time for a little reading on the subject of timepieces, however. Here's a start on
horological history from Wikipedia:
Water clocks, along with the sundials, are possibly the oldest time-measuring instruments, with the only exceptions being the vertical gnomon and the day-counting tally stick. Given their great antiquity, where and when they first existed are not known and perhaps unknowable. The bowl-shaped outflow is the simplest form of a water clock and is known to have existed in Babylon and in Egypt around the 16th century BC. Other regions of the world, including India and China, also have early evidence of water clocks, but the earliest dates are less certain. Some authors, however, write about water clocks appearing as early as 4000 BC in these regions of the world.The Greek and Roman civilizations are credited for initially advancing water clock design to include complex gearing, which was connected to fanciful automata and also resulted in improved accuracy. These advances were passed on through Byzantium and Islamic times, eventually making their way to Europe. Independently, the Chinese developed their own advanced water clocks, passing their ideas on to Korea and Japan.
I've always viewed being a clock fancier as a guy sort of thing -- all about mechanisms and such. In fact, both physics and religion were involved in the development of time measurement as the article indicates. But here I switch the subject over to appearances, else I wouldn't have worried about Blogger loading my pictures! Clocks are, to put it simply, great decorative objects! For example, what gardener wouldn't like to have the sundial that sits smack dab in the middle of the rose garden at the Sharlot Hall Museum. A memorial gift, it is.
But there are many more time pieces at the museum. Once I photographed the sun dial, I wandered over to the gift shop, where I found several more modern (i.e., battery-operated) clocks.
As well as this item in a box which looked as though it were not an operating time piece but rather a decorative period piece. Of course, these days it's difficult to tell, because mechanisms have shrunk to surprisingly small packages.
Another of the gift shop replicas.
I like this piece because it is so direct and spare. It recalls the clocks in the school rooms of my childhood. They were all operated from a central location by Western Union; just before a minute was up, the hand would click back a bit and then move forward to the next marker. When a class was boring or I should have been reading, a clock of this sort would catch my attention -- and hold it, especially when the class was nearly over.
It's hard to take this pair of clocks very seriously. Where do they belong? In the pool house, perhaps, or a whimsical bathroom? If you want one, they are currently at home at the strange Tuesday Morning shop.
The positional notation of the clock is so embedded in our culture that the numerals are not required (above); consider the rotary instruction,
clockwise or in the
3 o'clock position. On the other hand, do you have the same impulse as I when you see a really
moderne specimen such as the one below? I always want to give such an abstraction a 30 degree turn to the right or left as a reminder that designers can go one step over the line. (I might add here that
Maverick Creations, where I lifted the picture, offers a huge variety of clock designs, from Western to UFO, at its web site.)
From my mantelpiece comes this curious reversal of what's important: the inner works are quite real, but the clock face itself is a Xerox copy of an old fashioned clock face. Made by the LH in his brief flirtation with horology, BTW.
Another assortment from my house: watches plus a teensy travel alarm that I could never figure out. The dainty gold watch in the center was given me by my paternal grandmother as a graduation gift. From it, I learned that I should never wear valuables because I forget them when I am swimming, showering or washing dishes! Not good. My solution: wall clocks plus watches carried in my backpack and handbag.
However, here is my pride and joy among the household timepieces -- a genuine Mao watch that was given to me on a trip in 1981 to a China that no longer exists. You would never dare to turn this one on its side.
I had a ride today; friend Patty & I were headed over to the Prescott Community Center on Rosser Street to get an overview of the new facility. A lot that was new to me today. For example, the broad divided avenue across the mesas to the north of downtown Prescott. Very upscale. Plenty of room for a even more new residents to build even more houses requiring even more water.
The Center is up on the mesa near Highway 89. Great views. The basic arrangement is a divided responsibility. According to its web site, the Community Center offers nearly 21,000 square-feet of space for adult-oriented recreation, education, & entertainment, including a ballroom/auditorium with a 4,000 ft. dance floor. In addition, the area surrounding the facility is slated to be developed by the City of Prescott into a 19-acre park with tennis and horseshoe courts, hiking trails, & other opportunities for outdoor recreation. Although the Community Center was built by the City of Prescott, the City provides only minimal ongoing financial support. The day-to-day operation of the Center is the responsibility of the Adult Center and Meals on Wheels, both of which are tax-exempt 501c(3) charitable organizations.
There's a lot of neat stuff at the Center. For example, four computers in the lounge/reading room, donated by the Prescott Public Library. Not to overlook the chess board (below).
The auditorium doubles as a ballroom; here it is being used for a class in line dancing. Activities offered at the center range from bingo and bridge to music and language lessons. Aside from a handful of paid employees, the center depends almost exclusively upon volunteers.
There's a jam-packed resale shop to help finance operations.
Equipment in the exercise room was donated by the Yavapai Prescott Indian Tribe. (I still maintain that most exercise equipment looks to have been designed for Torquemada.)
A meeting room (one of several) here in use for a yoga class.
Operated by the Meals on Wheels organization, the large dining room serves seniors subsidized luncheons for a suggested $4 donation; diners do not have to belong to the Adult Center. In the room are games -- and a clock I wish I had seen several days earlier for my post on time pieces!
Now the mini-rant: the facility is handsome; the offerings are certainly of interest to me. If I were there, I'd probably take advantage of the dining room. Just one problem. Like many, many older residents (adults, yes?) of Prescott, I do not drive. The distance from the city center makes an expensive taxi ride a once a month affair at best. Our little Toonerville Trolley bus route hugs the downtown area. When we left, I looked in vain for one or more of those mini-buses one sees around town -- the sort of transportation that would serve the lonely apartment dwellers for whom Meals on Wheels is really intended. Nada. Too bad.
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