czech out this postcard!

Sorry for the horrible pun haha.

Here's a postcard I received from the Czech Republic the other day.

It got a some damage in the post :( I love that vaulted ceiling on the bottom right corner. And the snow sprinkled rooftops!

gothic revival

I have been super obsessed with Gothic architecture lately. Walking around campus at my school, Oklahoma City University, I noticed the older buildings are late Gothic revival!

I of course had to take a few quick snapshots to share. These aren't the best pictures, nor are they all of the many interesting details at my school, but they represent some of the things I find beautiful.

Some of these I couldn't stand far back enough (without falling off of a ledge) to get the whole building in the photo.

I hope to take some better and more diverse pictures of the architecture at OCU later!

monday postcards

Greetings! These lovelies were in my mailbox today!

Capitol Quartet

Tonight is the night! I'm playing with the Fort Smith Symphony, and tonight's concert features the Capitol Quartet. This is not a string quartet, but a sensational saxophone quartet! Their music features famous classical music, jazzed up like no other! It's been a lot of fun, and I hope to come back and play many more concerts with the Fort Smith Symphony!

this weeks postcard & good news

Hello everyone! I have some exciting news. I actually found out a while back, but am just now putting the news here. I will be performing in the Fort Smith Symphony this weekend! This will be my first time performing in a professional group, with pay! I am more of a stand in, but I hope I get asked to play again.

And now on to the postcard I got this week. I sent a bunch out, but only two have been received so far. Here is postcard #103!

And that's it for today! 

the fashion of snuff

This is an article I wrote on an 18th century forum community on the importance of snuff tobacco in 18th century society.

Tobacco use by today’s standards is often taboo, or frowned upon by society, but as I am sure most of us know, it has not always been like that. In fact, some forms of tobacco use were actually considered elegant and stylish. During the eighteenth century, tobacco use in Europe took on the very fashionable form of snuff.

A stylish man taking snuff from his hand.

     Snuff is simply powdered tobacco. It can be plain, or scented with essential oils from herbs, flowers, or fruit. Snuff is gently sniffed (or snuffed) through the nose. The snuff should stay in the front of one’s nose, sniffing too hard (snorting) can cause the snuff to go too far up the nose and hit the throat, thus ruining the lovely sensation that goes along with snuff taking.

A french man taking a pinch from his snuffbox.

     Snuff was used as a social medium of self-projection, separating the wealthy aristocracy from the common people, who still smoked their clay pipes.* Snuff taking grew quickly in popularity, and reached proportions which are hardly imaginable today. Like a cane or a fan, the small highly decorated snuffboxes were very fashionable accessories for men and women. Women did not take to the habit of smoking, but they readily took up snuff, as many books on etiquette of the 18th century period refer to proper snuff taking. The wealthy and fashionable not only had different boxes and a variety of flavors of snuff, but many even had a different box for each change of outfit!**

A woman being offered snuff.

     Rich fashionable men often would gather with their snuffboxes and offer each other different opinions in snuff etiquette with complicated and fantastic rituals that went along with snuff taking. When having guests, a host would often offer his or her snuffbox from which the guests could take a pinch.

Sources

*http://www.tobaccocollection.com/

**Bourne, Ursula "Snuff" C.I. Thomas & Sons. 1990. (Book)

this weeks postcard

This one came from Russia. 

It's funny that the writer said they didn't have any postcards I'd like, but I actually love old churches and statues!

Anyway, that's all for today... I have plans for a new stab-stitch journal/sketchbook. Not sure when I will actually get around to it though!