[Island Chris]

We have a nice example of a blend of astronomy, engineering, art, and biology on our west-facing wall above a deck. My brother in law Remi came from France to visit and make a sun dial (Cadran solaire). These have been made for hundreds of years and you can see them on walls in southern France (Provence for example):

http://www.fantasticprovence.com/section...ght_a594/1

Island daughter studies birds and she did the art. Remi is an engineer. Our sun dial is accurate within a minute or two after using the graph on it to correct from solar time to Eastern daylight savings time.

Here is a link to Island daughter's art part of her blog, and the sundial is a little way down, along with some explanation. The metal rod is parallel to the earth's axis of rotation, and points to the North Star. It shows the curves traced at solstices and the straight line traces at equinoxes, and there is a line for the sunset.

http://buam.tumblr.com/search/art