So awesome. (Click on the pic for a very big version, and go here for a really big one.)

Caption: “Arlington Row, Bibury, built in 1380 as a monastic wool store. The buildings were converted into weaver cottages in the 17th century.”

Just beautiful. Makes us want to put on a pair of fuzzy slippers, sit next to a toasty fire, and sip a stout or three!

• Many more pics here.

• ChillOutSpots.com on Arlington Row. (And just because it’s bugging us – they’ve got a typo! “Dinning” for “dining”! AHHHK!)

Oh—that made us read closer: “For a unique dining experience be sure to visit the Bibury Trout Farm & Restaurant where you dine on trout that you catch yourself, how fun is that?”

Good fun! We want to go!

• And as you may have seen, this is Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Day for today – and we are great and enthusiastic supporters of the wonderful thing that is Wikimedia Commons. You go, WC! (Appropriate bathroom pun not intended! But we’ll take it!)

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Holy cow – Wikimedia Commons! That’s a pretty daring selection for Picture of the Year! (Click on pic to enlarge.)

A question mark? On a plain white background? Really? We could see if the question mark was next to a nice, soft waterfall, or a goat—goat pictures are HOT right now!—but sheesh. And the composition is just so dull, too. If it were like this:

Then yeah. That’s got some tension. Some real je ne sais quoi. Just what does it all mean?

Okay. That’s all. Post over. As you were.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out Wikimedia Commons’ Picture of the Year. Very nice stuff from a very good website. (This year’s winner will be published in a few weeks. And you can see all the winners going back to 2006. And check the rules – maybe you can still vote!)

From BRI crack staff member Ol’ Jay – who’s also a crack shot with the camera – Northern California’s Mt. Shasta. Click to en-huge-ify.

And a letter:

November 12, 1908
White House

Mr. H.C. Best,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir: I appreciate very much your painting, the “Afterglow on Mount Shasta,” and shall give it the place of honor in my home. I consider the evening twilight on Mount Shasta one of the grandest sights I have ever witnessed. Kindest regards to Mrs. Best and little Virginia Best.

Yours truly,

Theodore Roosevelt

Much more to see over this way.

Extreme sports, photography edition:

Two photographers risked their lives to become the first people to capture the explosive moment fiery lava crashes into the sea.

Nick Selway, 28, and CJ Kale, 35, braved baking hot 110F waters to capture these images, as they floated just feet from scalding heat and floating lava bombs.

The pair, who chase the lava as it flows from Kilauea through Kalapana, Hawaii, spend their days camped on the edge of active volcanoes to capture the incredible images.

Look at this guy:

The shots they got are really out of this world. There’s a bunch, too, at the link.

And here’s the photographers’ website. Definitely worth a wander round. (Here, for example.)

Bonus: Stromboli Online.

*****

Related: Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader NATURE CALLS. There’s an ocean of wild stuff in there!