Eruption of Etna

This photograph of Mt. Etna was taken from the International Space Station on October 30, 2002. The lighter-colored plumes are the smoke of forest fires started by the lava.

NASA photograph, public domain.

Winter on the Farm

"What is a farm but a mute gospel? The chaff and the wheat, weeds and plants, blight, rain, insects, sun, — it is a sacred emblem from the first furrow of spring to the last stack which the snow of winter overtakes in the fields."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature: Addresses and Lectures

Picture copyright © Jigzone.com

Locomotive Roundhouse

Roundhouses are circular buildings containing a railroad turntable. Originally, they were important for providing a place for a locomotive engine to turn around, as well as providing a shelter for storage and repairs.

Photograph: Locomotive Roundhouse, from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division. Public Domain

Fremont Bridge

"Bridges are America’s cathedrals."

-- Author unknown

Picture copyright © Jigzone.com

Hummingbird

The hummingbird has the highest metabolism of all living things, with the exception of insects. A hummingbird's heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute.

Photo: a male Costa's Hummingbird, photo released into the public domain by photographer Jon Sullivan.

Still Life with Fruit

“A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy.”

-- Albert Einstein

Illustration: Compotier, Pitcher, and Fruit, Paul Cezanne, ca. 1892-1894, public domain

Spinning Wheel

"What do you do there, good woman?" asked the princess.

"I spin, my beautiful child," answered the old woman.

"Ah! how pretty it looks!" said the princess. "How do you make it work? Give me a try, so I can see whether I could do it as well."

-- Charles Perrault, The Sleeping Beauty

Photo image: Photograph of elderly Irish woman, spinning, ca. 1890-1900. Library of Congress, public domain