It’s a wreath thing….

More wreaths? you ask.
I can’t help it, I say. I took pictures of ‘em and so gosh darn it, gonna share ‘em.
It’s Christmas and I haven’t toured my own house yet with the camera, much less anyone else’s although we’ve been to several parties, but hey, you don’t just whip out your camera at a party, though maybe with the new etiquette, it’s ok? Well, I haven’t.

So wreaths it is!

Have a look at more of those wreaths from the Missouri Botanical Garden where they, each year, present a Hall of Wreaths. A few more, for your aesthetic happy holiday eye!

this one: JINGLE BELLS!

hmmm…this one:  CARDINAL CHRISTMAS!!! (hey, this is St. Louis, ‘member?)

….BERRY CHRISTMAS!

LOOP DE LOOP  (no, that’s not the real name; I forgot what it was…but this one is FUN!)

AIRY FEATHER BERRY

Oh, maybe this is the FEATHER BERRY AIRY…

and a shoutout for another JINGLE BELLS!!!

Wreath me…

We had to make our own wreaths, we just had to. It became a “thing,” a family tradition to hie ourselves to the Garden and take the wreath-making class. And so it was last weekend.

The class seemed smaller but we recognized a few other wreath-returnees. HM loves the class. For the third year in a row, he’s the only guy in there other than one of the “teachers” and he’s OK with that. The women give him plenty of space and any assistance if he looks so  much as flummoxed for even a second. In truth he goes for the family experience. I smile and continue to wrestle with my own clutch of branches. Nory works at her own table. She starts out knowing what she wants hers to look like.  I never have a plan. It’s me and the green. HM merrily goes about the business of making a free-wheelin’ wreath after the instructions, which he tolerates.

We all receive the identical tools and supplies.

And the Douglas fir boughs are all different in their bends, curls and patterns.

Everyone gets a wire form/structure, boughs, a huge red bow, boughs of holly and holly berries, sageberries and pine cones. And every single wreath comes out looking different.

The instructors had Xmas music playing, it smelled glorious in there. It drew others who were walking past the workshop room to approach and see what we were all doing.  We were a funny little group, elf-ish in our work.

We went a little Christmas-y in aspect; I wore the reindeer sweater I snagged from HM years ago. Nory and I wore Xmas garland in our hair, just for fun. Oh, and our slouchy boots! (yup, tres elf-ish!)

HM double-bowed his wreath.  Nory has the fun and funny pictures of us with our finished wreaths.
Oh you should smell the wonder of them. Because the outdoors is decorated already, we’ve hung them throughout the house.
More pictures to come! Stay tuned!

Wreath fashion …

It’s wreaths on parade at the Missouri Botanical Garden.  Artisans and florists come up with all kinds of “wreath” interpretations and honestly, they’ll put you in a holiday swoon. This one was done by the St Louis Herbal Society.
Neat spin.

This one was THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL which is a fairy tale that doesn’t come up much though you can’t help but think if Disney got their hands on it, they might change the ending. Which really would be OK.  It’s a beautiful wreath.

Loved this one. It was named something about “Mistletoe.” Great idea. That’s the great thing about art; it redefines  and stands the ordinary on its head.

More to come…

Santa, from up north…!

 

This is the gift  pictured in the  prior blog entry, days ago!
Jeanie at Marmelade Gypsy is a paper artisan.
 ”Happy Christmas!”

What Makes a Holiday?

…The art of gifting and giving…that makes a holiday….
…and recognizing gifts that are given all the time, like the flock of birds at the 6 am feeder, the two-line email from your son, the sigh of the congregation after Joy to the World has been sung and the notes still ring through the cathedral, the mailman walking a small package to the front door, a friend who shows up on your doorstep and pitches in to help decorate for a party, the music in your car on the way to work, the sincere and sharing words across the miles and universe that bind the bloggers together in so many wonderful ways.

And this gift? It’s from a blog friend who just happens to be, among many other bajillion things, an artist!
Chapeaux, Jeanie!

(bet you wanna know what’s inside! next post…)

Snow last night…

Light on grey nearly-snowy days…

Happy December!

Hello and Happy Holidays!
Pictures and words to follow – just saying “hey!”
Did not finish Nano (wisdom creeped in when freelance ops arose and I made some choices) and we’re holiday-ing the house now but where’s the camera? Somewhere beneath the Christmas boxes, I suspect.

Happy December 2, already!

Gone writin’…

Doin’ the writing thing.
Nano-ing  and full bore on other stuff, too.
Not to mention a day  or two off to go larking about..
Back later!
You didn’t think I’d miss blogging once nano wraps up and Christmas harks!

hugs, Oh

Real Life: Fall, falling…

Sure, autumn has its “warts,” like leaves to be raked, confusion over appropriate garb, frosty mornings requiring a scarf and afternoon sun that forces removal of said scarf,  the shift in bird population (cardinals are still here, but these are now the northern cardinals from Michigan and Minnesota, not the cardinals that criss-crossed the pool all summer),  a mix of comfort food and the letting-fo of summer salads and certain fruits, the pushme-pullyou of buying decorations (for Halloween, Thanksgiving and/or Christmas?) and the desire to stay home and read a book on the couch or do the fall cleaning before winter sets in and the fireplace becomes the aesthetic choice over the TV or romps by the pool, now totally and officially closed.

Gotta love it.

It also bring a change in blogging as holidays near, deadlines arise and nanawrimo whispers “yes, participate, write, pick up your pen at midnight on the Oct 31-Nov 1 and do it, do it, do it!” in the background.

This is no time really for shorter days and yet, the blessing of it all, of the seasons and reasons!

Book: My first manga…

This is not  Jane Austen’s “Emma.”
It is a graphic novel by Ms Mori. I’ve read it for Dolce’s Japanese Literature Challenge III.
It was my first experience with reading “back to front” (as we would consider it), and left to right.
The book had instructions on the inside cover for neo-readers.
Nice touch.

The story:
It’s Victorian England and Emma is a maid, a beautiful maid by all accounts (tho’ we see her be-spectacled and be-hatted). She receives letters and invitations from all manner of young men and writes her regrets back to them.

Along comes a rich young lord who was nannied by Emma’s boss.
He has a friend from India who happens to show up on the scene as well.
Life goes on with the leisure class visiting one another while Emma worries about how she will afford new eyeglasses, goes shopping, visits the library.
Will the young lord win her heart? Will his Indian friend usurp Emma’s affections?
Does Emma have a clue?

The story is genteel.
The artwork is wonderful, rich with detail and accurate (for all I know!) to the architecture and costume of the time.
I took my time reading this.
I didn’t want to read it quickly, like I might read an Archie and Friends comic book.

But then, this is a book. A real book. A nice book.
The paper is nice. The covers are nice.  There is plenty to look at, to stand around and stare at and appreciate.
Slow down, look around, enjoy, was my sub-mantra as I read.

Interesting how Mori chooses to use her cartoon squares.  She gives us close ups on character’s faces. No hurry. She knows her art. The street scenes are wonderful. Then, with the Indian entrouage arriving, we see a certain bejeweled pomp including elephants and servants. There are also crowd scenes and street scenes where everthing is sketched, right down to lit streetlamps but sometimes, Mori leaves faces blank, undrawn.

Mori always labels the end of the chapter (except chpt 3 in my book does NOT have “end”) and follows the “end” page with a one-page  “epilogue.”
I like her style.

Is the story stunning? Not yet. Is the reader intrigued? Yes, by the combination of all the elements. 
Yes, I have ordered volume 2. (be careful; it’s a multi-volume story and brand new, it retails at $9.95 for each volume and there are at least 4.)
So, yeah, I would like to get the entire set…but there’s no rush.

Manga. Emma. Try it for your bedtime read.