New blog of the day

In the mysterious way of the internets, I stumbled upon an absolutely beautiful blog by Laura Trevey. (I was looking up something for work, I promise.)

I have always wanted to learn how to take photographs like this one, with all that lightness and brightness, the sharp focus in the foreground, the delicate blurring in the background. It is a perfect Friday picture:

You can find more delightful images from her, here.

Discovery of the day

The wonderful photographs of Vivian Maier, an unheralded amateur street photographer, whose archive of over 100,000 images of American city life were discovered in 2007 by John Maloof.

He has gathered them together in a delightful blog, here.

Two of my favourites:

Hills

View across the Dee Valley, looking south.

Taken last night, at about six o'clock.

On the other side of those blue remembered hills is Perthshire.

 

 

For your listening pleasure

If you have access to the BBC iPlayer, have a listen to the excellent Book of the Week, a history of Francis Walsingham. It is cleverly and sharply written,a tremendous story of politics, religion and espionage, and is wonderfully read by Hugh Bonneville.

You can find it here:
BBC iPlayer - Book of the Week: The Queen's Agent: Francis Walsingham at the Court of Elizabeth I: Episode 1
 

 
 

Hats

The lovely French Sampler has added vastly to the gaiety of the nation by putting up an excellent blog post of ladies in mad hats doing strange things.

Or mad ladies in hats doing strange things.

Or ladies in hats madly doing strange things.

This one is my favourite:

 

You can see them all here.

The first thing I saw this morning

 

Well, not quite the very first thing, obviously. But when I went downstairs, I found a blue, still day.

Looking out of my front door, to the south, I saw this:

 

 

         

My favourite Titian

This is just called Portrait of a Young Man. I think it looks like it was painted yesterday.

It is the first thing I go to see when I go to the National Gallery.