Advent at Our House I

It has been another week when notes are made and not posted so and I am catching up while the little ones and their mother are away with their other grandmother. I've combined some images to share our month of getting ready for Christmas and the next few entries are about Advent at Our House.

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Decorating and Preparing for Christmas
Usually, the first thing decorated in our house is the long flight of stairs. This year, our big tree went up first since son-in-law was home from his military duties for two weeks R&R. We had a special meal and opened presents for everyone -- an early Christmas.

Some new garland and some bells in honor of Belle's arrival into the family this year swag the stairs and adorn the front door wreath.

Our collection of nutcrackers fill the stairs and an upstairs mantle; Lucy was delighted to see each one of her old friends and to introduce them to Belle.

My collection of nativities is all around the house and there are angels -- both handmade and elegant -- on a downstairs mantle. (The three Kings were added this year by older daughter.)

The 10 foot tree fills the corner and is shared with the neighborhood through tall front windows and a side window.

The eyes of two tiny little girls reflect the twinkly lights on the mantels and smaller trees throughout the house and prepare our hearts for the arrival of Baby Jesus.


AAB

Link of the Week -- Watching the Heavens

Whether your sky-gazing this week before Christmas includes searching for the Holy Star and a few angels or Santa's sleigh and the reindeer, you might enjoy this link to the twelve best Astronomy Pictures of the Day.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/apoys2007.html

The APOD shows something new each day from amazing earth skyscapes to the wonders of unknown galaxies. Peace.

The image shown is from December 9th. It was photographed by the Hubble Heritage Team. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071209.html

AAB

Photo of the Week

Concentration is important.

Paying attention and having a camera at hand counts, too. The best photo opportunities are not always planned.


AAB

Color of the Week - Light

Santa Lucia Day is celebrated in a number of countries on December 13th. The origin is muddled as are most of traditions, but in Sweden and Norway, a daughter of the household wakes the family very early to welcome the light after the longest night of the year. I remember the song from my elementary days and now have followed the traditional celebration through Britt-Arnhild blog at the House in the Woods. Her delightful Marta has been a lovely Lucia with her crown of candles and her basket of hot buns.

Even though we don't celebrate the "Lucy Fest," I thought I would post a picture or two of our Lucy in the afternoon sun of these short days. She has certainly brought light into our household this year and has provided a few lessons with her constant exploration of everything new. She will soon be two and a half and has suddenly become a little person. Every day is a celebration for Lucy.

AAB

The Success of a One-Man Show

Creative types often deal with the problem of being a one-man show. Having to focus on one idea, plan the execution and deliver the product is not always in our game plan and we wind up procrastinating, missing deadlines, playing with several ideas and delivering a not-so-satisfactory conclusion.

My mother is often a "one-man show." She develops projects which she enjoys and recruits the best people to see that the job is finished well. At 85, she has learned what she likes to do and that she does not like to waste time on an ill-conceived idea. So she chooses carefully and usually sees her plans through to a successful completion.

For the past few years, she has performed a real one-man show. She delivers her backdrop, sets up her music and delivers the lines of eight to ten "Characters of Bethlehem." She has adapted lines which my sister Ellen wrote to be delivered during Advent by individuals at her church in South Carolina. She remembered the simple backdrop which she had packed away after a choir program at her own church -- she had recruited me to do the quick drawing almost 20 years ago -- and put it to use. She created the backdrop frame with light-weight PVC pipe so that she could load it in her car and set it up when there was no one to help. She only occasionally asks for anyone to attend with her.

Yesterday, Lucy and I walked the few blocks to a senior complex to cheer her on as she told the Story of Baby Jesus's Birth. We watched as she first read in the gruff voice of Herod the King, and then the rushed voice of the innkeeper's wife. We sympathized with the anxious Joseph and the frightened Mary. We thought about the presence of the drunken shepherd and the presents of the Wise Men. And at the end, we applauded loudly.

It was another success for Mamma and her one-man show.

AAB

Stealing Is Stealing . . . Is Not Stealing

Last week, my high school teacher daughter commented about her students copying manga drawings from the Internet and signing their own names. She tried to explain that there was an artist who did the original and it was not them. They said "It's free on the Internet. And besides, I have some good ideas, but I can't draw them." She told them they were stealing the other artist's work. They disagreed. She explained that is was like taking someone else's writing for a paper. They said, "It's not stealing. Our English teacher said it's plagiarism."

So this week, the New York Times discussed the photographs in the Richard Prince exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. They explored the feelings of the original photographers whose work was rephotographed and enlarged to ginormous sizes. They quoted Prince who said " . . . he was trying to get at something he could not get at by creating his own images." (My comment, "Well, duh!") And in an email he said, “I never associated advertisements with having an author.” My friend David R. Becker might disagree as did Jim Kranz whose original Marlboro photos are now being copied, shown and sold by Prince. Kranz said “I just want some recognition, and I want some understanding.” The Times talked of fair use and called it "appropriation." The full NYTimes article is here.

This question of copying someone else's work has often come up in my painting classes; I always discourage it. Suppose it's mine they want to copy and hang on their walls with their own signatures?!! And they would probably tell me I should be flattered. I always encourage study, practice and originality, but I may an old fossil in this. Copying-to-learn comes down as a time honored tradition; yet few would sign the copy as if it were their own. Copying someone's work from their website or copying their website; each comes with it's own set of ethical questions. Copying another artist's work, then being honored with a museum show for your copies? Oh, my!

So stealing is stealing . . . is not stealing.

It's plagiarism . . . or . . . appropriation.

I gotta think about this.

AAB

Still Prickly

Okay, so I'm probably getting a little obsessive about this drought related fall color thingie. The photo here shows sweet gum stars behind the white trunks of the sycamore.

I'm used to fabulous color of the star-shaped leaves but sweet gum balls are supposed to be brown! . . . and prickly! They stick to the dog, are horrible to rake up and most people hate them. However, they can be used to make fun things with a little glue and glitter, but that's another story.

They are NOT supposed to be such a lovely array of colors -- not gentle pale green nor sharp chartreuse edged with the pinky orange of old Mercurochrome nor subtle beige washed with mossy green nor the orange-red of winter pomegranates.

I picked up a few to share.

Oh.

They are still prickly.

AAB

Good Mirrors

. . . as fun as it (making art) is, we still need good mirrors to see our potential sometimes. > > > Pete

On a recent afternoon, I was looking at the leaves on my street with camera in hand. When I turned around, I was surprised to discover that they were mirrored in the windows of my house. I suppose those leaves are there in every season, but when I look at my house, I just see the need for paint or a spot to be repaired or the leaves to be raked. I like the idea of seeing the potential reflected instead.

Good mirrors change what you see and feel.

AAB

How'd She Do That?

Last week I posted about delivering with confidence; this week, confidence delivers.
(Link to previous photo of Belle's crown)

In 1963, I was hired fresh out of college for a four month job to begin to build a Christian education program for a small church in my hometown. There was nothing in the budget for someone like me, but they decided they would just do without new landscaping for a while and pay me with money set aside for shrubbery. It was an interesting job with lots of enthusiasm from the congregation since they wanted to get as much benefit of my four year degree as they could before I left for my long term job in another state.

I worked with children, youth and adults. I worked with the pastor. And I worked with the church secretary. The children were fun. The youth were demanding. The adults were receptive. The pastor was energetic. The secretary was office equipment challenged; um, socially challenged; um, deadline challenged.

This week, I read about that same church secretary who I remember as the fumbly little office worker who always jammed the folding machine and barely made the last bus on Fridays when doing the Sunday programs, the odd little woman who always had a new little joke which didn't always seem funny, the strange little lady who seemed to know secrets beyond anyone else's comprehension.

This week, at 88, she put on her fanciest dress and her brightest lipstick. She glowed with confidence as she quoted poetry and told a few jokes. She snowed the judges and surprised everyone else at the senior citizen's beauty pageant as she took the crown.

Was this the secret I felt hidden just under the surface years ago? Did she know all this time that she wasn't really inept and out of step? Did she know that she was just misplaced and waiting for the right moment to blossom?

I have been wondering how many others are like the church secretary: just in the wrong place without the courage to be who they really are; just living without the confidence to share their secret. Whatever the reason it suddenly appeared in my old friend, it worked.

Confidence delivers.

AAB

What Do They Know?

They do it every day -- tell us what the weather will be tomorrow and the 4 or 5 or 7 days after.

Using their best resources, latest gizmos and phone calls from neighborhood weather watchers, they put the numbers together about wind direction, average temperatures, and expected rainfall. Sometimes I think they just look at the weather in the next state and say, "Hum, I think that's what it's gonna do here tomorrow." However they come up with the prediction, it is believable – right or wrong -- because it is delivered with confidence and humor.

This year, the weather folks have had the added bonus of the severe drought. They have discussed water tables and lake levels, watering bans and conservation measures.
And they even got into leaves.

They predicted that there would NOT be a great show of fall color because of no rain. So it was surprising to me to spot beautiful hardwoods among the pines last month on our "Girls' Day Out."

At home, I discovered the wonder of the blazing color on the Chinese Pistach (another photo) which ranged from chartreuse, lemon and orange all the way through red to hot pink and magenta.

I realized that the fig tree had never shown such brilliant yellow and that the crepe myrtles had thrown shimmering copper and gold coins on the ground. (Lucy threw them at me!)

And while I marveled at these discoveries, I wondered if they were always there.

And I thought about the meteorologists. No color!?! What do they know!?!

Sometimes I think we don't need to know the peak leaf viewing season. We just need to know the current temperature and if it might rain tomorrow.

Sometimes I think we don't need to drive hundreds of miles to see some trees. We just need to observe the fig tree from the kitchen window and the crepe myrtle leaves on the sidewalk.

Sometimes we don't need the latest trends, the newest colors, the possible contract or the latest supplies, the newest motivational books, the cameras with the best lens and mega-pixel capabilities and the best computer software. We just need to make some intuitive decisions and we need to deliver.

Right or wrong. Just deliver with confidence and humor!
And that's What They Know.

AAB