Sunset Crows

The sun prepares himself to set

and fills the horizon with colors 

that would have delighted sailors of yore.

My friends fly off to join the local murder of crows 

dotting the top branches of the thin tree line.

Like tiny beads of thick black acrylic paint 

on the very tips of a paintbrush,

they are poised above 

a newly stretched canvas of sky.

Painting by Sara Rogers

The Three Private Graves In Manhattan

via Scouting NY

“If you’re ever up at Riverside Park around Grant’s Tomb, be sure to take a moment and visit a slightly smaller grave nearby. Consisting of a simple urn and pedestal surrounded by a small fence, it’s easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. But in a way, it’s a pretty important monument: this is one of only three private graves on public land on the entire island of Manhattan. The first is Grant’s tomb. The second, located in Worth Square north of the Flatiron Building, belongs to military General William Jenkins Worth, who fought during the Mexican American War. And the third…

…belongs to a five year old boy.”

Read the rest of this great blog, here.

Daily Drop Cap: P

via Jessica Hische’s Daily Drop Cap

Gutenberg and Wine

via delancey place

“In today’s excerpt—for Johannes Gutenberg, it was the ubiquity of winemakers nearby that helped lead to the invention of the printing press around 1440 CE . . . Sometime around the year 1440, a young Rhineland entrepreneur began tinkering with the design of the wine press. He was fresh from a disastrous business venture manufacturing small mirrors with supposedly magical healing powers, which he intended to sell to religious pilgrims. (The scheme got derailed, in part by bubonic plague, which dramatically curtailed the number of pilgrims.) The failure of the trinket business proved fortuitous, however, as it sent the entrepreneur down a much more ambitious path. He had immersed himself in the technology of Rhineland vintners, but Johannes Gutenberg was not interested in wine. He was interested in words.”

Read the entire post here.