Satisfying Video Shows the Restoration of 17th Century Painting

 

Dora let her fingers hover over Monet’s signature but didn’t touch. “Don’t take off anymore, Jed. You could damage it.”

She was right. Jed stemmed his impatience and set the rag aside. “I know somebody who does some restoration work. She could probably handle this, and she’d keep quiet about it.”

Hidden Riches

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Anonymous 18tn-century painter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Adept restorers are a mix of art historians and chemists, examining a painting closely to determine the type of varnish and what agent will work best to dissolve it. Using test patches, they will see which chemicals work best to melt the yellowed layers of varnish, releasing the clear, brilliant colors below.

My Modern Met

Celebrity-inspired New Year's Eve looks

Then he saw her. And wondered how he could have missed her.

She’d done something to her hair, Jed noted. Piled it up on her head in a tangle of dark, wild curls that looked just on the edge of control. And her eyes, he thought, watching as she gripped one of her companions’ hands and laughed. She’d painted them up so that they looked bigger, deeper, sultry as a gypsy’s. Her lips, which continued to curve as they moved to form words he couldn’t hear, were a bold, daring red.

She’d worn a black-and-silver jumpsuit with a high neck, long sleeves and sleek legs that fit like a second skin and should have been illegal. The silver beads splattered over it caught the stage lights every time she moved, and flashed like lightning.

As she’d known they would, he mused.

Hidden Riches

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By Esra (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/206921) [Copyrighted free use], via Wikimedia Commons

There's no better way to ring in a new year than looking and feeling your best -- which means it's time to choose an outfit!

AOL

Inspirational Quotes to Ring in the New Year

“Come on, everybody, listen up! 
We got one minute until zero hour, 
so find your significant other—or a handy pair of lips—
and get ready to pucker up for the new year.”

Hidden Riches

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By Magnus Johansson (HAPPY NEW YEAR) [CC BY-SA 2.0 

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Let these words of wisdom inspire you to have your best year yet.

YAHOO!

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But before he could, Quentin bounded up and swung an arm around each of them. 

“Happy new year, mes enfants. ” 

With a tilt of his head, he pitched his voice so that it flowed like wine over the din.
 “ ‘Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.’ ”

“Tennyson,” Jed murmured

Hidden Riches

“To own, Mr. DiCarlo, is everything.”

“Do you collect?”

“In a manner of speaking.” He set the figurine down and his old, shrewd eyes swept the display, pricing, cataloging, dismissing. “I’m Tom Ashworth. Got a shop here in Front Royal.” He took a business card from his breast pocket and offered it to Dora. “Accumulated so much stuff over the years, it was open a shop or buy a bigger house.”

Hidden Riches

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By Glenda Green - Own work, CC BY 3.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16068782

17 Things You Won’t Believe People Actually Collect

MSN

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“People collect, Skimmerhorn. Often they don’t even realize it. Didn’t you ever have marbles as a boy, or comic books, baseball cards?”

“Sure.” He’d had to hide them, but he’d had them.

She lined the box with tissue, working quickly, competently. “And didn’t you ever trade your cards?” She glanced up to find him staring down at her hands.

“Sure I did,” he murmured. His gaze lifted, locked on hers. He’d felt something watching her work that had gone straight to the gut like a hot arrow. “Just like you played with dolls.”

“Actually, I didn’t” She couldn’t quite manage a smile. For a moment there, he’d looked as though he could’ve taken her in one quick bite. “I never liked them much. I preferred imaginary playmates, because you could change them into any character you wanted at the time.” With more care than necessary she fit the lid with its gold-embossed DORA’S PARLOR onto the box. “What I was getting at is that most children collect and trade. Some people never grow out of it.”

Hidden Riches

Things You Didn’t Know about Your Handshake

Too young to be competition, he decided. He doubted if the guy was old enough to buy beer. 

But there was a territorial sense in the drape of the arm and a look in the eyes that was a combination of curiosity and warning.

The stepbrother, Gabe concluded, and he stepped forward to meet them.

“Haven’t you dried off yet?” he said to Kelsey, and watched the vague annoyance flit over her face.

“It’s a new day, Slater. This is Channing Osborne, Gabriel Slater.”

“It’s nice you could pay your sister a visit.”

“I thought so.”

It amused Gabe that Channing increased his grip several unnecessary degrees for the handshake.

True Betrayals

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By Rufino - hermandad - friendship, CC BY-SA 2.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7783936

Almost any human-to-human interaction goes more smoothly if people first shake hands, finds research in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. By activating parts of your brain tied to social interaction, shaking people’s hands primes them to see you in a favorable light, and lowers the odds of them negatively interpreting your words or behavior, the authors say.

MSN

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Sheriff Curtis Dearborne harbored an innate distrust of outsiders. Since he considered any member of the LAPD an outsider, an East Coast cop was an entity to be watched with extra care.

He was a towering, well-muscled man who wore his uniform proudly starched, kept his sandy

moustache well trimmed and lightly waxed, and spit-polished his boots. Beneath his military sense of polish and style lurked a well of country-boy charm that he used cleverly and with great success.

He rose from his desk when Jed and Dora entered. His square, handsome face was set in serious lines, his handshake was dry and firm.

“Captain Skimmerhorn. Pretty handy you being out our way when we identify the John Doe.”

Jed summed up his man instantly. Dearborne was going to be territorial. Jed’s first move was to

acknowledge Dearborne’s authority.

“I appreciate your passing on the information, Sheriff. I’m sure Lieutenant Chapman filled you in on the mess we’ve got back home. This quick work on your part will be some comfort to Officer Trainor’s widow.”

It was exactly the right button. Dearborne’s eyes frosted, his mouth thinned.

Hidden Riches