Joy and Wonder

May all your seasons be filled with Joy and Wonder

Robin's annual hand pulled print card - the ink/paper combo took DAYS to dry, we had cards on every horizontal surface in our house!

Enjoy!!!!!!

Touring Michigan - Manistee's Victorian Sleighbell Parade and Old Christmas Weekend.

If you are enamored by the Victorian era, this is a must-do event!

We began our adventure with tea at the Buckley, a privately owned fantastic Victorian home. Afternoon tea was served in the third floor ballroom, complete with dainty sandwiches, flaky scones and delicious dainty sweets.

A tour of the home followed and it was stunningly beautiful - the ornate woodwork, the leaded glass, the plasterwork ceilings and original lighting fixtures. It made me very nostalgic for my former 1908 home!

Following tea, we toured the Manistee County Historical Museum, located right downtown in Manistee and the building remains as it existed in 1905.

For Christmas, a huge number of Victorian era trees and decorations are displayed in settings depicting a variety of traditions.

One of my favorite displays/presentations was the Magic Lantern show of the "Night Before Christmas". Magic lantern shows are always fascinating, but this one was made even better by having the narration supplied by an Edison player with a wax cylinder.

The Magic Lantern is the forerunner of the modern slide projector. It has a long and complicated history and, like lots of fascinating inventions, many people were involved in its development. No one can say for sure who invented the Magic Lantern. The Magic Lantern has been used to educate and entertain audiences for hundreds of years.

Another highlight is the working display of vintage toy trains - it's just amazing!

After the museum, we walked the downtown area, enjoying the sights and sounds, including a trombone band:

and hot roasted chestnuts: DELICIOUS!!!

Everyone joins in the fun:

Then it was parade time!

No motor vehicles, everything is horse-drawn or foot powered:

The most amazing sight is the 30+ foot tree, on a sledge, being drawn by a team of four draft horses right down the middle of the street!

They had to work hard this year, with no snow to help it slide.

Upon reaching the end of the parade, the tree is lit and the sky fills with fireworks.

Even with no snow, the town was filled with happy, enthusiastic people, truly full of the spirit of the season - we'll be back!

Random Photo #10

Random Photo #8

Tumbling Turtles - 2012 Christmas Card

It's become a tradition over the past several years, for us to create a turtle themed Christmas card; they're a real labor of love we send out to friends and family.

Each year we start with a basic design - never traditional - and preferably modular. In this case, an old fashioned bicycle and tumbling turtle snowflakes. Each element is a separate, hand carved linoleum block, which we use to create hand-pulled prints. We cheated a little this year, only the bike is hand pulled, the turtles are done more rubber stamp style. A swipe of white, sparkle ink grounds the design. Currently, we print approximately 70 cards (more really, if you count the rejects) and every year we intend to start earlier, but you know what the say about intentions....

Each one of these blocks can be reused for non-Christmas projects; we're starting to accumulate quite a library of turtle designs! 

Enjoy your holiday!

A World Transformed

It stormed this week, after hours of rain, Mackinac was blanketed in snow and we awoke to a world transformed.

The previously unremarkable became incredible when covered with a coating of white.

And sometimes even unrecognizable, abstract natural forms.

We were surrounded by scenes that are Christmas season cliches - but every cliche has a nugget of truth

The everyday became something new.

Familiar settings changed, subtly renewed in a seemingly magical act of nature.

Everything has been altered, slightly moved from it's proper position - trees which should be upright, curved and bowed by the weight of ice and snow. Branches hang, blocking the paths with frozen white fringes.

A storm like this is devastating in most places - vehicle traffic slowed or halted, accidents, planes grounded, power outages, etc. But here on Mackinac, without cars, snow makes it easier to get around. We had some problems, 80+ trees came down and some brief power issues. It never lasts long, wind and sun will quickly deposit the sun on the ground, returning us to a normal winter scene - but it's just so completely glorious while it lasts!