Christmas Day - SNOW!!! December 25th, 2010

And its still coming down and may reach 4 inches by tomorrow morning! This is special for us...we don't get a White Christmas hardly ever here - we're too far South. So Happy White Christmas to everyone..

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Christmas Eve at Church, December 24th, 2010...

Samhain / Halloween 2010 part two -Trick or Treat

So, on Sunday, Halloween, I got dressed back up in my outfit, I built a fire in the fire pit, lit up my awesome pumpkin and prepared for trick or treaters.
Now...you have to realize, we have only had one ever show up, once, the year before. For some reason, we don't see trick or treaters in this neighborhood, even though there are kids here. Go figure...I know a lot of parents don't run their little goblins and ghosties through neighborhoods, but go to malls and trunk or treats, for safety's sake.
But I figured, if the trick or treaters showed up...great! And if they didn't, I got the candy...its called a win/win. (unfortunately, Dreamweaver's ridiculous work hours - she has to get up at 3:45 AM to get to work - precluded her being in on this with me, as she had to go on to bed. This sucks. I look forward to someday having a more normal schedule, I honor her dedication to her job, and I know she was with me in spirit.)

This picture was hilarious, Dreamweaver snapped it on the fly as I sheathed the sword, and it looks like I am stabbing the Jack-o-lantern!

Well, as we were setting up - she took the pictures of me, before turning into a pumpkin herself - some of the kids playing next door, on their trampoline, were watching with growing interest. They are Hispanic and I am not sure if their families were participating in Halloween, or if they were more aware of Dias de los Muertos - the Day of the Dead - or if the kids had already been out the night before, or what...
But they came over, finally and I said, "Hey, want some treats?"
"Um...we don't have costumes..."
"That doesn't matter! Come get a treat!"
So they came over, grinning, got a treat each, and I said "Happy Halloween!" The two boys took off, but the little girl, about 6 years old I would guess, smiled shyly up at me and said "Happy Halloween!" Then they all took off through the neighborhood and started banging on doors! Boy, I hope everyone else had treats on call! It was great!


So, I sat out there in the evening dusk and dark, with my fire, and my Jack-0-lantern and enjoyed the night.
No other kids showed up for awhile...
It was getting late, and I was about to call it, when a car went blazing past our place, stopped at the next house, and disembarked a small black clad, bag toting ninja heading for the lit up front porch. (part of the reason I lit the fire pit was that our back porch light isn't working. So much for that idea!) So as the kid sped down the steps - he obviously had this down to a fine art - I hollered, "Hey! Want some treats?"
"Oh, yeah!"
He beelined across the yard, with a very weary father in tow, and got his treat...dad came around and oohed and ah - ed over the Jack-0-lantern, and off they went at high speed.
So, I actually had some trick or treaters this year! Yay!
Maybe next year, we ought to find a trick or treat set up where we can join in where the kids are coming to it. But I will continue to set up here too...

After all, can't disappoint the ninjas can we!
Happy Halloween!

Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2010 The Green Man

Having encountered Pumpkin Carving this year - not just a 2D face or scene, but actual 3D sculpture, I decided to take a swing at it! And being ambitious, I chose a Green Man for my subject. Now, the trick is to pick a pumpkin with a thick rind so that you have something to work with...note, this will not work with one of the carvable fake pumpkins. They're not thick enough.

I didn't have the right tools, and the online tutorials were all very helpful, but made one feel very incompetent, given the level of art they were showing! In fact, I have never done any 3D carving or sculpting like this before in my life. So...this is a big step. Here is how it went....

The Pumpkin - you figure out which has the thickest rind by weight - line up a bunch of pumpkins roughly the same size and test the weight - the heaviest one is the one that's the thickest.

Skinned off the outside peel...really needed better tools for this, but I made it work.

Roughed in a face, carving in the deepest parts first, as per tutorials.

Ok...looking pretty good....

Had to try a candle at this point...hmmmnnn. Not too bad!

My favorite picture of the lot - even though it's not finished here...

There's even an acorn!

Loved doing this, had a wonderful learning experience and look forward to doing more and better next Halloween! And intend to practice this summer on watermelon! WaterJacks!

Have a Happy Halloween and a Blessed Samhain!

OK, This is what I mean by carving Pumpkins!

Samhain aka Halloween is fast approaching - The turn of the Wheel for the Celts, Harvest Sabbat for pagans and Witches, and the High Holy Day for Drag Queens, Trans Folk and all us fan geeks and misfits everywhere....

So of course one must, without fail, carve one's pumpkin. Or turnip...yep.

I said turnip. Seem's that the carving of a face to ward off the things that go bump in the night began in Ireland, but they used turnips, not pumpkins. And they left an offering out for the fey with it at their door. Hence the Trick or Treat thing. And they also wore masks for similiar reasons, hence today's costume frenzy at Wal Mart. One wonder's what an ancient Celt would make of all this!

Carving the Jack-o-Lantern has risen to an amazing art form...

here are some pictures gleaned from here, there and yon, some by anonymous individuals, some by Ray Villafane, a master sculptor...his website is here for some real pumpkin madness -http://www.villafanestudios.com/pumpkins.htm and there is a tutorial! I was very hesitant about posting these amazing pictures, because, see, I am going to see if I can up my level of Jack-o-Lantern carving this year and try to be sculptural instead of just carving a usual 2D image. I have done some kick ass pumpkins in the past, such as one with Stone Henge on it, ringed with Celtic Knotwork, but I have never gotten as extravagant as this stuff. And if my first shot at this turns out to suck, I am going to be very embarrassed to post it with these to compare it with. But we'll see. I am thinking about trying a Green Man. So we will see what happens! Meanwhile, enjoy! More to come of Halloween...

Water LIke a Stone...

I have had one of the most glorious weekends just behind me, that ended actually with this Monday being perfect as well (Dreamweaver returns to work tomorrow)...and I am going to approach it backwards, writing about today first, and then in more posts, the events of the convention we just attended.

But I have to start here...our lake is frozen!!! Please understand...Dreamweaver and I live in the south. We have cold weather here, yes, but it is as I have stated before, cold here is balmy and warm compared to other places. I have seen warm winters where we never even broke the freezing mark. This winter has been unusually cold thus far. So when I took MacDhu out for his morning walk in the brisk 25 degree plus windchill, we went up to look at the sea gulls on the lake, as he and I always do. We got to our look out point...and I looked. And then did a double take. And then frankly stared, with my mouth hanging open. The lake was frozen solid, all the way out to the other shore and as far down its great length as the eye could see! This was not some little rime of ice dusting and hugging the lake edge; this was the entire lake locked down under a thick translucent scrim of dark ice! I bolted back to the house, excited as only a thin-skinned southerner could be, burst in our back door, and caught up with Dreamweaver in 0ur studio.

Me: "ThelakeisfrozensolidIneedthecamerawherearethebatteries?????"
Dreamweaver (looking very bemused) "Um, dear, that was all consonants...could I buy a vowel?"

Please imagine the rest of the conversation, me quivering with wound up enthusiasm, Dreamweaver patiently trying to reign me in long enough to get the batteries into the camera. ("Its not going to thaw in the next 15 minutes...") I am grateful that she seems to find me cute!

So, armed with camera and fresh batteries, back out the door I went into the below freezing air. I was joined on my quest by my black and white cat Dickens who had slipped out earlier to go cage cheap cat food from our neighbors. He and I walked back up to the top of the knoll where I take all my lake pictures, and instead of stopping there as usual, I plunged on down the hill. Dickens was deeply concerned by my unexpected behavior. Having swung too wide following me, he came up on the other side of of the wire fence on the neighboring property and was cut off. All he could do was parallel my progress down the steep treacherous slope of broken branches, scrub grass, old roots and autumn leaves, mewing loudly through the fence. As we neared the bottom, he suddenly realized that the end of the fence was attached to the low shed that my neighbor keeps his lawn equipment in and he could jump onto the roof and come down on my side! Oh happy Dickens! So he ran to the bottom and leaped gracefully onto the shed roof...

...which is made of tin. BWA-ang-ANG-ang! He froze, all four legs spread and braced, eyes as round as saucers, and his tail fluffed in a bristle brush! "Mom, help!" was his next startled mewp. I called to him, guiltily suppressing my giggles, and he finally got the nerve up to sidle over to the edge, with the tin vibrating and clattering under his every step. He leaped down, and ran to me, still wide eyed and tail fluffed and we continued the last few feet to the bottom.

It was amazing...in some place like Chicago, or Fargo, it would have been normal, even boring. But here, where everyone I have spoken with has stated that they have never seen a total lake freeze in their lifetime, it is a remarkable event, something that has not occurred here in the past 50 to 80 years. Wondering what the thickness might be, I snagged a thick log and tossed it onto the ice - no, I did NOT venture out on the ice! I know that is not safe, as I have no experience in gauging the thickness of ice! - but I thought that the log might break through a spot, and give me an idea of how thick it was, and a contrast for a photograph. The log hit the ice, bounced and broke into two pieces, spinning away in opposite directions on the ice! Ok-ay! I'm impressed. Whether or not it might bear my weight, it is definitely ICE and not a thin frosting!

I edged around to see more of the ice close to the shore and spotted a leaf, trapped in the ice, frozen in time and place in a moment of pure perfection, and was just in awe. It was as though every vein on the leaf, every variation in the ice stood out in crisp clean lines and shapes...a tiny miracle of form in the bright morning air.

Out on the lake in the center stood the flock of forlorn sea gulls, standing and pacing on the ice, with this huge feeling of "What the &%$# happened here - we can't get to the fish!" in their disgruntled poses. I was equally certain that under the ice beneath them, the fish were going "Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah - you can't get us!" I have a reasonably good camera, but the center of the lake is w-a-y out there, at the extreme end of my zoom lens. Still, I leaned on a tree to brace myself, triangulated through the viewer until I got them in sight and managed to get a fairly reasonable picture of them huddled together, patiently waiting for a thaw.

At this point, getting decidedly colder by the moment and needing to thaw a bit myself, I decided I really ought to head back in...so I took a few more pictures, and began the climb back up the steep hill rising above me. I was picking my way very carefully when Dickens came running up and began to do the twine around my ankles, hover under my every step thing that cats do; "Mom, be careful...mom whatcha doing...Mom pay attention to me...Mom, watch your step...purr, purr, merowp!" Needless to say, as I was leaning almost prone against the curve of the slope and careful testing every step under the blanket of slippery autumn leaves, I was not amused! "DICKENS! You are gonna get my neck broken...no, come here, NO! Not between my..DICKENS!"

My unuttered threat - *If you don't quit this, I am going to play ice bowling for seagulls with you for the bowling ball: meow/squawk! And you can hike back from the center of the lake!* - needless to say, went unfulfilled. Finally he and I got to the top of the hill, fortunately without me landing on my ass or my cat. The break we took half way up did seem to calm him a bit, at any rate.

So, as I write this, even though the temperatures finally rose a little above freezing today for the first time in weeks, the lake remains solid and hard, without the slightest hint of thaw. I am considering taking some bread down and scattering it for the birds if this goes on.
What a beautiful unexpected moment in time - something that I have never seen before in my life, or perhaps even in my parents lifetime! I stood there, in a timeless moment of eternity, that may not come again for me, looking out over the ice and the words of Christina Rossetti came to me:

In the bleak midwinter

Frosty wind made moan

Earth stood hard as Iron

Water like a stone...

Snow had fallen,

Snow on snow.

Snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter

Long ago.How precious are our long-agos...

treasure them while they are present and now,

While they are presence in our lives and hearts.

When Icicles Hang...

We took this picture a few days ago as temperatures plunged in our area of the world. We live in the south, so cold here is relative...someone from Barrow, Alaska with 65 days of arctic night when the sun does not rise, would term us balmy and bright!

However, we have dipped into the teens and have stayed at freezing for the past few days, and the windchill on our lake has been sobering. Winter is here...

We have one cat, Legba, who moved himself out last summer to be an outside cat, despite our preferring to have him inside. He is in, this week. I got him yesterday when the cold finally made even his independent heart rethink being an outside dweller. He is in good shape, his weight is good and he obviously is thriving. He is restless even now, but he is simply going to have to tough out being an indoor cat until the weather improves a bit!

We ran the fireplace all day yesterday keeping the house warmer. Yet fall and winter remain my favorite time of year, for the beauty of the world and the fall colors and the blue skies. The constellation Orion rides the night sky, and the mountains beyond our lake are so clear you feel as though you could reach out and touch them.

Down by us on the lake in the little cove that is just above our house, there are seagulls that are wintering there that appear to be about a hundred in number at a very rough guess...in no way do they hold still enough to count! Its an estimate based on how many were sitting on the water and then roughly how many were circling out beyond. We are about 200 - 300 miles from the coast, so it is a little startling to see them here. and they were all swooping and diving - fishing in the lake (this was at 7:30 am and 27 degrees out). They appear to be happy and thriving. Last week, I got to watch a redtail hawk dive on the seagulls looking for HIS breakfast! The hawk missed, which was a little sad for the hawk, but cool for the seagull. But I stood there (frozen) with my jaw hanging open at getting to see that perfect instant. Its amazing that the seagulls and the redtails are here - it's fricking cold out there!

Also, yesterday I observed a small colony of ducks nearer to shore, though I was not close enough to I.D. species. My observation spot is by a tree above the lake at the top of a very VERY steep rolling down slope to the lake edge - there is no beach to speak of. If this was a cliff edge above the lake, instead of a slope, it would constitute about a 30 to 40 foot drop. To get really clear pictures, I am eventually going to have to navigate the scrub and broken ground down the slope to the verge to get close enough for decent photography. I will eventually try this - WITHOUT MacDhu the ADHD wonder dog bounding treacherously around my ankles on his leash I might add! My final exciting bird siting was about 3 days ago - I saw a Blue Heron come in and land on the bank far below me and settle in. My initial thought was that it was a Blue, and then I looked up the breed, confirming what I had seen. Including a picture of one - not one that I took, alas. I doubt it would let me get close enough for a decent shot, unless I was already in position!

My other hesitation in scrambling down that slope is that it is currently about 21 degrees out there - it will not break the freezing mark to day - and we have lake effect wind howling down the valley. So windchill is in the teens. I think it's gonna have to be a little warmer for me to venture down the hill with a camera at this point. The wind is an issue. It would be difficult to hold the camera steady, and I have no doubt, I would shortly be able to add my shivering to unwanted camera motion!

So...life thrives even in the cold and chill. When I manage some pictures, I will post them. May you all stay warm and safe, with hot chocolate and good blankets, as we pass through the cold this season.

Blessed Be!