By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

A Painted Lady describes a coloring schema of Victorian and Eduardian style houses common of the era between the middle 19th century to the 1910s yet repainted starting in the 1960s to accentuate the architecture through the use of many differing colors, often to a great level of precision (Some attaining not quite a Jan Van Eyck granularity but certainly above that of McMansions blighting many neighborhoods.

Here are a few for your enjoyment. Click each to enlarge.

I must apologize for not having the presence of mind to check the camera prior to the shoot, and suffering the resultant exospheric level ISO setting. It was dissappointing in that I intended to make many closeups to study the nooks and architecture of these various houses, but the grain and noise levels were too great and I otherwise chose not to channel my inner Georges Seurat. A subsequent visit to what could have been a colorful adjunct, a visit to tulip farms, crashed actually worse. Perhaps next year I’ll partake in the tulip mania.

Being not a man of the Nineteenth Century, I cannot extrapolate on whether during the time of construction these homes were viewed as overly ostentatious or were crafted for a consumer who wanted a little more than a bungalow but not a mansion. Yet they were drafted it surely seems by someone having a hand for creation and an eye for elegance. The homes stand in my view in bitter contrast to the devolution of style with McMansions sold to the pretentious who lack artistry, vision, and restraint.

One ritual I practiced during my college years was to drive home a different way every few times to visit a different neighborhood of the city I resided within. More often than not I found myself immersed in the same types of architecture, the Edwardian and Victorian homes. I remember promising myself that at some point in the future, I would have one of these. But life and I did not agree on the same furnishings.  I do find it in many respects more agreeable to have a home equipped with century-old technology only, but I’ll splurge for modernity a little and forego shoveling coal into the furnace each day.

D’oh, a deer, a female dear.

The above photograph–it is not apparent–but it seems a whale serves as a Weather Vane. I never fully considered a cetacean circularizing the wind direction. I thought that the domain of the rooster. But I suppose as long as one is simply announcing the current wind direction, any animal will suffice. (and they surely won’t fall victim to public shaming for incorrect prediction as does Punxsutawney Phil via his nemesis, the Lorenz Attractor.)

On a side note, this particular location seems to have suffered a rout. My prior visit here found it quite cold yet fully stocked with visitors and shops welcoming their dollars. Now with some exceptions all are closed. Most have signs stating a virus caused the closure. That’s some virus, able it seems to manipulate the macroscopic world into causing shops to close, transforming itself into a business wrecking hegemon that persuaded merchants to close or be thrown in jail. Amazing what a strand of RNA can do! I thought all along these closures were caused by an organism called a Politician, who’s epicenter lies at the state capitol. But what do I know? I just write blog articles on weekends.

I suppose if people must be required to stay in a home it might as well have some flair to it.

Photos (c) 2020, By Darren Smith

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