Sheila Lennon, Journal uber-blogger, speaks this Thursday. Details below.

What is depicted in the photo above? This is a trick question because it is a trick photograph, one that I found on Tuesday afternoon rifling through the Journal photo archives in search of an image to illustrate my Thursday column, which I had written Tuesday morning. It so happened that Sheila Lennon was also in the archive; it must be her second home. She assembles the weekly “Time Lapse” feature in the paper and online. It reaches toward a climax each week, putting readers in suspense until she grants us release on Sunday, unraveling a mystery in a single photo – where is this? what’s going on? – with a payload of archival stories and photos from old Journals.

Sheila’s spirit must have been at play this afternoon, resulting in my finding the above photo, which I expect will run with my column. And the question is: What is it about the photo that fits like a glove with both my column topic and the day of its writing? Hint: The topic is London.

Be that as it may, at 6 p.m. Thursday (the schmoozing begins at 5:30), the Providence Preservation Society and Preserve Rhode Island will host The Providence Journal’s blogger-in-chief Sheila Lennon for an illustrated talk at the Gov. Henry Lippitt House, 199 Hope St. (at Angell). Sheila informed me of this event after I showed her the photo above, and I told her I would post a notice of her talk. The hosts request a $10 donation, if you cn spare it. The evening is officially free if you are a PPS or PRI member.

Warning: Be in a mood to see incredible photos from the Journal’s archives.

The PPS announcement is here, though I think most of the necessary info is above.