Wednesday 27 April 2016

Snap: Back to Time

I have returned to the subject of time for this week's Snap. This meme is the wonderful creation of Helena at Helena's Creative Maven. Continuing the theme of sundials from a previous Snap. I found this sundial at Greenwich Observatory.


There were several to be found here. This second one was also at the Observatory high on the wall. There was no sun to throw shadows on either of these.


A clock on the wall at Winterbourne Botanical Gardens at Birmingham University depicts a floral clock. This idea was originally created by Carl Linnaeus in 1751. It shows the plan for a floral clock garden with flowers planted according to the time of day the flowers are likely to be open and thus tell the time by them.


Then finally. How else can you tell the time? The old faithful of the Dandelion Clock. How many of these have you blown in your childhood?








10 comments:

  1. beautifully precarious ways to tell the time - all that work of planting the flowers for a short time when they were all flowering

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  2. I've not seen one on the wall like that before. How interesting. I always remember blowing a dandelion clock when I was a little girl and my older cousin telling me that picking dandelions made you wet the bed. It may have put me off doing it for a wee while!

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  3. I like the idea of the floral click but would be concerned about keeping appointments based on using it!

    Dandelion clocks are magic provided that you don't blow the seeds away into a place where you end up having to dig up the resulting dandelions!

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  4. Cool SNAP collection. I like the ways we mark time, especially in the garden sun dials. What a lot of work the floral dial would have been to create. Dandelion Clock - never heard of it. I know that blowing on Dandelion seed heads is a way of wishing but telling time? Do Tell (please).

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    1. You blow on a dandelion to tell the time. The number of blows it takes to blow off all the seeds tells you the hour of the day. Not foolproof by any stretch of the imagination.

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  5. These are fascinating. I've never seen a sundial mounted on a wall---or at least have never been aware of one. The floral clock is particularly interesting and beautiful, and like Mary Lou, have never heard of using a dandelion as a way of telling time.

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    1. Obviously a British tradition! See reply to Mary-Lou.

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  6. what interesting sundials! I love the one on the wall...and LOVE the flower sundial!

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  7. As always, I love the photos. And I think you are as endlessly intrigued by time and its passing as I am. I still like to blow a dandelion clock

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  8. Hi...thanks for your comment on my blog re the chickadee....I do agree that the "chickadee" doesn't really look like it should...not chubby enough and the tail does seem long. But I haven't been able to find out what similar birds(ie tit) might be in my neighbourhood. I find that bird ID is so tricky!!

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