Shiny Decorations
Posted at 6:00 AM on December 16, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(26 Comments)
Radio Heartland has tickets to give away to the Americana Showcase at the Rochester Civic Theater tonight! Six Mile Grove will join the band Trailer Trash for their "Trashy Little Christmas" show. We'll close off entries at 1pm and notify our three winners by e-mail this afternoon.
Enter the drawing.
Obey the rules.
Good Luck.
I was placing one of my favorite old ornaments on the family tree - a little wax likeness of Frosty (of course), when I began to wonder how strange it is that we take the time to drag a dead plant into the house and hang things in its branches this way.
That's not a very holly-jolly place to be, mentally. You can wreck a good tradition by asking too many questions, so I decided to tell myself that the urge to decorate is quite natural - that it happens all around us and by hooking fancy trinkets to the branches of a tree we are simply mimicking one of the things we love most about the world. Sometimes a beautiful thing is made even more amazing by the way it stands out in its surprising surroundings.
Take goats, for example. When I posted this photo a few months ago, some people assumed I had assembled it in the computer, but I'm not that good. These are real animals adorning a real tree in Morocco, where a hungry goat will do what it has to for a leafy snack. Locals who harvest the nuts in these argan trees for their valuable oil find it annoying that the competition will go to such lengths to get there first. Fortunately, the oil can still be recovered once the nut has passed all the way through the goat. You just have to be able to deal with the amazing way the nut stands out in its surprising surroundings.
And as long as we're looking at striking natural decorations, pictures of Saturn from the Cassini spacecraft continue to amaze. Below is a picture of the moon Epimetheus, taken from 1.4 million miles away. I do like the way it hangs there above the rings, like a shiny bauble on display.
The rings also sport varied light and dark spots, or "spokes", which are due to the differences in the way particles reflect light.
You can click on the photo to see a larger image.
In case you're trying to figure out how big all this is in reality, each pixel of the photograph is 8 miles across.
Do you have a favorite decoration?
Comments (26)
my favorite is the shiny crystals of frost that collect on the fine hairs on Dream's muzzle on these cold mornings. they look like sun rays emanating from her - and soon disappear as she rises out of her bedding to eat the hay i've put out. none of the others get this. i think Dream is just much more still - allowing those little crystals to build up.
happy, cold day to All
Greetings! When I was young, my parents had this string of lights we called "bubblers." They were odd shaped, like a dropper on the end of an ornament in different colors. Once the lights heated up, the liquid inside would "bubble." I've never seen anything else like it -- was always fascinated watching the bubbling.
Another ornament my parents had were shiny, colorful, realistic birds with clips to put on tree. Those were pretty. Once again, I was easily amused gazing at these. I still prefer shiny, glittery ornaments to the rustic, wooden types. Have a great day, everyone!
I would love to have a tree with only hand-made decorations, so mostly the "rustic wooden types" I guess. But won't happen. I'm married to a woman people call "Martha" who starts Christmas officially on August 1 (unofficially earlier) and happily frets over the placement of ever item, and changes them several times. She announces she is through shopping and decorating at least five or six times.
I used to be a part of a church that on the first Sunday in Advent would gather at the Split Rock Park Pavillion (modern building with electricity, big wood-burning stove and clean varnished tables). We would do a pot-luck soup supper, sing carols and then each family made a decoration mostly from materials from our various woodsy yards, mixed boughs, cones, chunks of birch, etc. We tried something similar at a large church here; they thought we were kind of weird, the six or so people who came to it.
But Christmas for me is, like Barb, a barn. The frost would build up 2-3 inches thick on the windows from all of the animal moisture. And that deocration would last all winter.
My tree topper is rather unique. She's an angel dressed in gold and ivory satin with porcelain face and hands. Originally each of her hands held a mini white light and there were more lights situated inside her cardboard cone body that gave her a brilliant glow. Too brilliant, in fact, so it wasn't a bad thing when the lights stopped working after the first season. I liked my angel - she was an after Christmas bargain - so I removed the lights and used her the next year anyway. When my son came home from college, he couldn't hack seeing her perched up there holding out her hands with nothing in them. "She looks like she's begging, Mom!" he told me, so he found an ornament for her to hold. It's a brown glass trout that fits between her hands like it was made to be there. If it were a real fish, she'd probably want to have it mounted - a trophy as they say.
Have a good Wednesday, kids!
My favorite Sunday in the liturgical used to be the third Sunday in Advent (just past) which was Joy Sunday. We lit a pink candle in the advent wreath and the vestments were hot pink velvet. These days every Sunday is Joy Sunday as far as I am concerned.
My favorite decoration is one my mom has - a burlap donkey. He has some brightly colored embroidered stitching, but mostly he's sort of grey-ish brown-ish burlap. He long ago lost his loop for hanging him on the tree, so now he has to perch (sort of like the goats in the picture). It's not a pretty ornament in the traditional sense, but I loved playing with him when I was a kid. There is something sad and wonderful about him at the same time. He doesn't sparkle and he's not soft, but I always find a place for him to nestle into the tree. A reminder of childhood.
Good Morning All
We have an assortment of ornaments collected over the years. I think we have a few shiny birds like the ones Joanne mentioned and my parents had some of the bubblers that Joanne also mentioned. Some of our ornaments are hand made including a felt ginger bread man.
The out door "ornament" that draws our attention is hoar frost. In our not always mature minds the name of this frost usually induces a chuckle.
Right now my favorite decoration is Radio Heartland in my motel room in Beloit, Wisconsin. In a bit I'll pick up the kid who finished finals late yesterday, we'll visit his brother and my granddaughter in Rockford, IL, and then we'll head back to Northfield. At least I get to decorate my room right now with Dale, Mike, and good music.
Donna, I love your trout-bearing angel!
Like Jim, we appreciate the frost. The back kitchen window was particularly spectacular and reflected the interior Christmas lights in a way that I found magical-a picture could never have captured it, and maybe that is okay.
Once I made a pair of Christmas stockings out of a vintage dress which I could no longer fit into. The fabric was cream colors and had a textured pattern, and I used satin for the trim. They were very pretty stockings, but I gave them to my sister and her husband.
Happy Wednesday, all!
Elinor
Just a couple of days ago a niece sent me a tagged photo with this question:
"Aunt Teri, can you spot the home-made ornament that you sent back to me for my tree? (The one I made for you yrs ago?) :) Anna"
When Anna was a tyke she found a piece of burgundy velour which she stuffed with Kleenex and 'sewed' shut. She asked her mother to send it to me for Christmas, which she did. I loved it! That ornament was placed on the Christmas tree for many years. When Anna became engaged, I sent it back to her suggesting that it should now be an ornament for thier family's tree.
Oh - forgot to mention - the facebook photo of the ornament on the tree also had two small children in it who are just about the age that their mother was when she made her beautiful ornament.
My favorite is a large white,silver, and pink globed glass ornament that my mother bought in the 1950's. I always felt honored to be allowed to hang it on the tree because it was so fragile. I still have it, along with the nice steel ornament hooks my mother used. I despise the flimsy wire ones that are sold now.
oops! Its going to be one of those days-I can't even spell my name!
I was looking again a Dale's pix and rereading his opening, which reminded me of two things.
We used to sled at night when we were kids. I wonder if the stars were as bright and large as I remember them on nights like that.
The frost in our barn used to collect on old spider webs up in the corners of the windows near the roof,
Dale--Santa would not be allowed to give th kids a whip because it would be declared a choking hazzard.
I love trees with handmade unmatched ornaments. My mother only put matching blue bulbs and blue lights on ours. Pretty but no room for kids.
The cool thing we put on our tree growing up was whipped Ivory Snow flakes. You mixed the soap powder with water in the mixer. It whipped up like cream. You globbed it on the tree to look like real snow. It kept the tree moist and since we lived where snow was rare gave us a white Christmas with a clean scent.
Stay warm!
Like Jim, my favorite outdoor ornamentation is the hoar frost. It's just awe-inspiring.
On the tree, I have a mishmash of glass, porcelain, tin, and handmade ornaments of fabric, wood and straw. Many are very special, but I think the ones that mean the most are the old pink glass and silver ones from my childhood - my dad flocked the tree AFTER the ornaments were on, and the ornaments still bear wisps and blobs of the white flocking. I miss my dad!
I believe that the urge to decorate is driven by the urge for attention. Not that this is bad..it's inherently natural.
Some of you may be familiar with a concept called 'phototropism.' Phototropism refers to 'growth or movement toward or away from light.' It is usually something referred to with respect to plants. Plants turn toward light sources and are said to be phototropic. But it is also true in humans. As part of ergonomics, it's proven that humans tend to look toward bright or shiny objects. Ever catch yourself looking into someone else's high beams while driving even though you know you shouldn't? That's phototropism in humans.
Upon learning this, it wasn't difficult to expand this concept slightly. How was jewelry invented? Hm. Well, just picture early man...as unpalatable as that may be. He's sitting in his cave, under a fallen tree...wherever. And we'll assume that he's got a fire. In the dark, it would be the closest bright and shiny thing around. And he would be absolutely entranced...mesmerized... So, how would early -woman- feel about this? Ignored? Neglected? Unappreciated? Probably. Therefore, she needs to come up with her own version of 'bright and shiny' to get the lunkhead's attention away from fire. A strong parallel could be made toward television too but I don't want to step on too many toes.
So, while dragging in a dead tree and hanging lots of fragile, electrically wired, and precariously balanced objects on it may seem somewhat incongruous with the season, it's my belief that it's just one of those human-type things. And it could be worse...I mean we could be using recently departed relatives. Can you imagine putting grandpa in a tree stand, then decorating him with his favorite watch, that awful medallion neclace he used to wear in the disco 70's, his favorite bolo tie, his favorite hat on top...? Some traditions should probably keep steady.
Gal Costa! How excellent and warming is that? I have 2 odd (by American standards) tree decorations that remain from my year in Brasil. One is a traditional Bahian woman (big skirt, scarf and fruit on head) and the other is the Brasilian folkloric character, Saci Perere', who is black, has only one leg (he hops around) and sports a pipe. I also have one remaining ornament from my childhood; a blue and white glass ball that has Donald Duck on it. There are so many treasures on the tree- our son was given at least one ornament/year as he has grown up- usually something meaningful from the year or interests at the time- these will start his tree when he moves out all too soon. Others from vacations or gifts from friends or handmade by son or small relatives.
I think we bring trees into the house as part of an ancient, deeply instilled vestige of primaordal tree worship. Carl Jung could probably explain it better than I can right now.
That's primordial-I can't spell check for anything today!
I still have some of my my parents' shiny round fragile (glass?) ornaments. A blue one with four colored stripes, etc. You could see yourself in them and like an amusement park mirror, the image was oddly distorted. I find them now sometimes at thriftshops, where I also scored 2 boxes of the bubble lights mentioned above, my grandma had them on her tree! (I only need one box, Joanne, bought the 2nd one to give away - shall we figure out how to get them to you?)
...and almost forgot the one I'm working on now - string of popcorn and cranberries for garland. It's amazing how pretty it is. Much more doable if the tree is a small tabletop.
Totally off topic - but got to thinking about this again while i was listening to Marcia Ball on the rebroadcast: has she ever performed or recorded with Bonnie Raitt? And if they haven't performed together, what do you suppose it would take to get them to do just that? It'd rock the house (and the one next door).
One of the worst performance I have ever heard/seen was Bonnie Raitt singing with her father on I think, the Letterman show. Their voices do not mix at all, at all. Interesting that two great talents, father and daughter, just could not blend their voices. Boradway smooth and gravelly bluesy, nashville together I guess was the issue.
Also re: rebroadcast -- you've taken me back to a couple of memories this morning, Dale. I used to hear 3 Little Fishies as a child on a program called Handy Andy (Storm Lake, IA 1954), so could sing right along. Later on, I could also recite some racier verses to Barnacle Bill the Sailor, learned in college days. :|
Barbara in Robbinsdale - I would love a box of bubble ornaments! Send me an email at jmjensen@izoom.net.
We picked up a schedule for The Cedar when we were there for concert. I see Michael Doucet and Beausoleil will be there Sat. Jan 2, and I'm seriously thinking of going -- how could I not? Who else wants to see Beausoleil?
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