Longwood Gardens at Christmas

Here is what I did yesterday. Longwood Gardens is one of my favorite places in the world. I have been several times, but never at Christmas. My husband knew I wanted to go, and he suggested it. This is a big deal, because he hates the drive (90 miles to S. Pennsylvania) and he assumes that since millions of people go, it will suck. He did this for me!

The drive is long, but the place was wonderful, he even had to admit it. We had fine weather considering it is the end of December, and the beauty surpassed the experience of shuffling around amoung the unwashed masses. I've never seen so many wheelchairs and motorized rascals in one place before. i think most folks in wheelchairs don't really need them. I think that since there is a lot of walking, people just rent these things so they don't get tired. I saw children that had to be 8 or 9 years old in strollers.

Anyway, great fun, and it got even better once the sun went down. Pictures can not do it justice. How do you get that many lights on a tree? How do you get that many lights on hundreds of trees?

An Interesting Diversion

I was just visiting the Idaho Beauty blog and she sent me over to the Smithsonain Institute website to look at artist's home made Christmas cards. There are so many to see and I was fascinated!

I feel inspired to make my own, but I will wise up and do it all year. It's just folly to think that you will do this at Christmas time. For me, it's enough just to get the cards written and out the door.

Christmas Cards

Here is a post from Sunday that I never finished. Now it's Monday and I may as well just post it.

Hello! This morning I am writing Christmas cards. I bought my cards last year, on sale. I have Frank Lloyd Write Christmas cards, that are very cool. I was happy to find them. However, now that I am looking at them, I think that most of the people on my list will be baffled. They are not really all that traditional. Oh well! I actually went out an bought my parents a separate card.

Kate and I were talking about the big tree in Rockefeller Center in NYC. Her and I are going in next Tuesday to see the lights and windows and, of course, the tree. She has the day off and I am taking that day, so it will be a mother/daughter extravaganza. We just googled the tree to see where it came from this year.

A lot of people commented on my last 2 posts. THANKS! It seems that many of us don't care much for malls. I'm thinking that it is something in us, whatever makes us want to make art, makes us... I'm lost for words. Can't wait to start taking those communication classes in January!  We are a little out of the main stream, and the mall represents the main stream... with a really strong current?

I liked hearing how everyone does their decorating. I remember it being a way different thing with small children!

Doreen asked me if I went to college for art. Yes, I did. I wanted to go to college for art when I was finished with High School. "They" wouldn't let me. I didn't understand how I could make that happen for myself at the time. I went to college for art when I was 32 years old. I have an AA degree, plus a few credits. It would be great to finish that degree, maybe some day.

Christmas Decorations

I know that some people hate Christmas. I understand that. There really is a lot to hate about it. I went to the mall yesterday after work. I believe that much of what there is to hate about Christmas is concentrated there.

Understand that I haven't been to the mall in maybe 2 years. Don't get me wrong, I shop. I just don't travel too far to do it.So, I get to the mall, and traffic is awful, but I park and run in, through Bloomingdales. I am immediately dazzled. Sparkley dresses. Skinny black jeans. Women wanting to spray you with perfume. Out in the mall, there are giant ornaments hanging from the ceiling. A lot of the stores have changed. More upscale than I remember. Fancy Shopping Bitches everywhere. I make my way to the Apple store, and buy the computer, plus a wireless mouse, plus a electronic drawing tablet. (How lucky is Kate?) I also buy an external hard drive for the family computer, since it is groaning under the weight of so many photos and MP3s. $1200 lighter, I'm back in the mall. I should look in these stores, right? I won't be back here any time soon. But you know, I couldn't bear it, I was overwhelmed, over stimulated. I did stop at Aldo Shoes, where I saw the most delicious boots. But no, I had to go. Joe was waiting at home with wine and cheese.

I have to laugh, what kind of person have I become that I can't stand to even be in the mall?

Here are some decorating pictures. I know some people don't decorate at all. That's cool. You should not decorate if you don't feel like it. Or, conversely, you should put lights on every square inch of your house if you want to. In fact, thanks for doing that. It's so entertaining as I drive home from work every day in the dark!

I'm Feeling Quiet

I haven't been posting, or even commenting on the posts of others. I feel a little exhausted. But it's weird, because I don't feel bad, just like being quiet.

I have been pretty busy. At work, there are things to do to get ready for the end of the year. I just finished my personal performance grid. How corporate is that? This is the document that states my goals for the year, if I completed them, and how I accomplished everything, and why I deserve a nice raise and bonus.  Everyone hates doing this but there is no way around it. It is due December 1st and I have had several people sneer at me with envy and disgust when I announced I was finished. Also, I've been acquainting myself with all of the websites I will need to use in connection with Drexel University. I usually end up confused at first, somehow screwing up or forgetting my username, password, ID number, etc. I am already on a first name basis with one of the tech guys.

Over the weekend I dug out and reposted on Etsy some things I did for Christmas last year. It would be nice if I could sell them. I also made more prints of antique Christmas postcards on fabric. I will make something out of all that soon. I'm almost done with another woodland postcard. I did some experimental stove top dying over the weekend. I used RIT cocoa brown. Man, is it ever brown. I have no idea what I am doing with all that.

I'm feeling a little bit Christmassy. Looking forward to digging into the decoration boxes. I agreed to go to Cape Cod over the weekend with Joe. He used to live there and has a lot of friends he misses. Thanksgiving weekend is normally decorating time, but I guess I'll just do it when I get back.

(Catchy Title Needed Here)

I just have some scattered thoughts to put out there today.

First of all, the question was put to me, what are you going to do with the snake? Well, I was thinking I would make a hundred of them, all out of different fabric, make up little stories about them and put them all on Etsy. It will be the next Beanie Baby-like craze, and I will make millions. Cool fantasy? By the way, did you notice I put a rattle on his end? Made of stacked buttons.

On Sunday, we worked on the attic. Joe is still working on the small section over the addition. This is the section that you can't stand up in, but will create a lot of new storage space. He was building out the studs on the wall, because they are too shallow to contain the insulation. If that doesn't make sense, don't worry about it, it is just a dreary detail. Next he will put a moisture barrier over the whole thing, then sheets of particle board so that no holes accidentally get poked into the moisture barrier. I expect this stage to be done sometime in December, because Thanksgiving is bound to interrupt.

While he was doing that, I was prying "cymbals" out of the roof joists in the main part of the attic. You may remember me describing the weird, old, filthy insulating paper someone had put up sometime during the last century. Well, they nailed up a hundred or so of these metal disks, that look like little cymbals, to hold up that paper. I already ripped off the paper, but these things remain, and they need to be removed before Joe can do anything else. I was bending the edges with a pair of needle nose plyers, and them prying them the rest of the way off with a claw hammer. It was miserable. I had emptied out this part of the attic, but it is now partially filled again with building materials, such as giant bundles of insulation, so I could not get to every "cymbal." I must have pulled 50 of them, and this is just one side of the attic!

In other news, I started feeding my Christmas addiction again. I've decided that my favorite part of Christmas is decorating for it. I've been collecting old ornaments. I have some that are very old, but mostly, I'm collecting 40's, 50's and 60s. I can actually afford the things from that era, and I don't have to get angry if they get broken. I like the old glass Shiny-Brites, but I've also become intrigued with some of the plastic ones. I like to see how designers started playing with these new materials. It would be hard for me to describe exactly what I look for, but it does need a certain quality, I don't know... naive space age?  I guess I will need to post some pictures at some point.

Anyway, we had another nice day yesterday, so after working in the attic, Joe invited me to come along for a motorcycle ride. I went, even though I would rather we just worked longer in the attic. I find that there are rewards for indulging him. Like as we were riding past one of my favorite antique stores, he said, "You want to stop?" You bet I want to stop. This place was just starting to put out their Christmas stuff. I found a couple of good things and I started my routine: "Oh my God, I have so much stuff, I really shouldn't. It's crazy, blah blah blah. Joe then responds, "Awe, come on honey, go ahead and enjoy yourself." "Nuff said. He's an enabler for sure. I added an ornament with a funky shape, but the paint is not shiny. These were made during WWII, when they would not spare the metal for Christmas ornaments. I also got a funky as hell blue tinsel tree. Oh, I also have a collection of little trees, and little houses (the made in Japan kind) and little plastic deer...