Politics Plus

According to the old Andy Williams’ song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”.  Since the calendar tells we now need to “Deck the Halls”, it’s time to head to our attics, basements, closets or storage units and drag out our Christmas decorations.  And for many of us, this will be done under the vigilant supervision and “assistance” of our Critters!

So I thought it would be helpful to see how some folks go about “Critter-Proofing Christmas Trees”.  Let’s start with some of the easier ways of accomplishing this.  (And click on the photo to view it full-size)

Apparently this guy has combined minimalism with his “Bah Humbug” and cheapskate spirit into one.  He simply finds an entirely empty corner of his home, puts up a cardboard wall so high no one can see over it, and then just TELLS people it’s there to protect the “Christmas tree” behind it from his cats.

Keeping with that same minimalism and cheapskate spirit, you could get a tree so teeny, tiny that you can carry it around in a glass test tube with a cork stopper.

But why not simply put it outside?

Well, some owners are willing to compromise with their critters and meet them halfway

Or even more foolproof …

Or just surrender …

Others are willing to work out alternatives – like decorating a wall …

Or staying with wall-decorating if you happened to be “blessed” with large chunks of Astro-Turf …

Or maybe more artfully, a fancy picture frame, which I thought was quite lovely …

But if you desire something more three-dimensional, one of your tomato cages from summer gardening turned upside-down, and covered in an old piece of macramé and a green bath towel will do in a pinch.  And if you want to be extravagant, a single strand of lights adds a nice touch without going overboard …

Then there are those who have a mean streak and substitute a cactus for the Christmas “tree”.  It confronts the critters with that “I-Dare-You” feel to it …

But for those who really want an actual decorated Christmas tree, there are some options, too.  Like putting it – rather than your critter – in a cage …

 

Or if you want to be fancier, place it in a handsome vitrine

And if you’re not lucky enough to have a handsome vitrine, Saran wrap will do nicely, thank you very much …

But for those who want a more open, genuine exposure, try enlisting a couple of vacuum cleaners to serve as sentries.  (Not sure how it works with dogs, but I know my cat wouldn’t even THINK of entering the room!)

If you’re artistically inclined, you can create quite a handsome ceiling art work mimicking a Christmas tree out of ornaments …

But if you’re not artistically endowed – but are handy with tools in a “DIY” way – you can hang the tree upside down from the ceiling …

AND if you’re a truly accomplished Do-It-Yourselfer who’s exceptionally handy with tools … AND happen to have a very tall tree … AND it’s very flexible … AND you refuse to shorten it … AND you want to protect it from your pet FOX!!!

Well, there’s a solution for that one, too …

Here’s hoping all your ornaments stay in one piece, and you along with your critters enjoy Christmas in peace.

 

As this is the last Friday before Thanksgiving, I thought it’d be fun to view how a San Francisco-based artist has interpreted how she believes famous artists might plate their Thanksgiving feasts in their very own signature artistic style – but using their plates as palettes with turkey, mash potatoes, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce, etc. as their mediums.

And to add a little spice to it, let’s do it as a “Pop Quiz” – but you can be thankful I’m going to stuff in some hints to help out.

First, I’ll show you the dinner plate conceived as how various artists would serve their TGD meals in their own artistic style.  And if you guess the artist just from that – give yourself two (2) points.

Then below it will be a “Hint Link” to an actual representative work by the famous artist to jar your memory.  They most likely won’t match the subject matter on the plate, but be representative of their style.  If you need to use the link to figure out the artist, give yourself one (1) point.

(You have no idea how hard it is to find a representative work of art at least somewhat like the meal – BUT that does NOT have the name of the artist in the link.)

AND I won’t give the answers to the Quiz until Saturday – so go ahead and put your answers & points in the Comments section.

Some of them are artists I’ve never heard of.  But most of them are fairly familiar names from the art world such that if you have to wait for the answers tomorrow you’ll go, “Oh my gourd – how could I have not remembered him/her?!?” 

Just remember that if you get angry because you can’t figure some of them out, we will not tolerate any fowl language.  But I actually think you’ll be a-maized at how many you get correct!

And no fair cheating –  like Googling, using Ouija boards or calling on spirits and poultrygeists to help out!  It’s just a game … and there are NO prizes.

So let’s feast our eyes on the plated palettes …

[1]

https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAhuAAAAJDc1ZTVlODgzLWU5ZDItNGU1MS1iZDYzLWJhYTFmMzU4OTYyZQ.jpg 

[2]

http://s1.thingpic.com/images/dE/5xqfgLErsphFag4w8wFKfZCT.jpeg

[3]

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2594536426_10.jpg

 [4]

http://www.phaidon.com/resource/vangogh-postimpressionism.jpg

[5]

https://onartetc.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/14e73f4ede8cc8d635c7c5232f94a99f.jpeg

[6]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ca/a3/0d/caa30d08f7dbeb32189ba4b6771245c8.jpg

[7]

https://assets.paddle8.com/510/571/33780/33780-1402426269-33780-1401907705-Haring%2C-Pop-Shop-large.jpg

[8]

http://paintingdb.com/art/l/8/7253.jpg

[9]

Mimic Hint:

https://odnmedia.s3.amazonaws.com/image/Temaa37.jpg

More Familiar Work Hint:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31fwI6i%2Ba0L.jpg

[10]

https://articles-images.sftcdn.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/05/appsforwomen2-568×319.jpg

BONUS POINTS

Everyone can give themselves two points, because this is MY Thanksgiving Day Dinner Plate rendition:

… Because my Turkey Day Motto is:

“Leftovers Are For LOSERS!”

HOUSEKEEPING NOTE:

I’ll be heading up to Illinois again this Wednesday to enjoy a TGD feast with my Mom and aunt – consequently no “Friday Fun” next week.   So to all you fine folks enjoying my favorite holiday with your family, friends and critters, I raise my wine gobble-t in a toast to you!  (But not too much wine – I don’t want you people to get basted.)

(Yeah, I know … I know.  My puns tend to be really corny – but I just can’t give them up cold turkey.)

Maybe I should, but I don’t feel terribly bad about “cheating” by recycling reruns of seasonal themes (like the Autumn Foliage Friday Fun).  So we’ll begin with a brief review about Halloween from what we learned last year.

THEN we’ll move on to the new stuff.

We Can Thank the Irish for Halloween

Samhain was a sacred Celtic festival that marked the end of the Celtic calendar year.  Celts believed that during Samhain the wall between their present-day world and the afterlife became porous enough to allow spirits to get through.  (You taking notes on that “wall” feature, Donald?)  To befuddle the marauding apparitions that may be wandering their streets, it was a common practice for the Celts to disguise themselves in costumes and masks so as to escape the spirits’ attention.  And at the same time, to cover all their bases, they would put out special food treats to placate the phantoms.

As part of the celebration of Samhain, fires were lit to ensure the sun would return after the coming long, hard winter.  And Druid priests would throw the bones of cattle into the flames – hence, “bone fire” which then morphed into “bonfire.”

Catholics had a three-day Hallowmas holiday close to the Samhain celebration time that was designed to honor and pray for the recently deceased.  And in the hopes of winning pagan converts over to Catholicism, in the early part of the 11th century the Pope decreed Hallowmas would coincide with Samhain, lasting from Oct. 31 (All Hallow’s Eve) until Nov. 2.

“All Hallow’s Eve” then evolved into “All Hallow’s Even” – and by the 18th century it was commonly referred to as “Hallowe’en.”

The Irish also provide the legend behind our ubiquitous Jack-o’-Lanterns at this time of year.  They’re named after an Irish drunkard known as Stingy Jack, infamous for duping folks into buying him a drink.

The folklore is that Stingy Jack tricked the Devil into paying for a libation by having the Devil turn himself into a coin.  But Jack just happened to then put this transformed-coin of the Devil into his pocket that also held a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from returning to his original self.

To remove the silver cross from his pocket, and thus allow the Devil to transform back, Jack made Lucifer promise he would not take him to Hades when he died.  But when Jack finally did pass, God (who was not a bit pleased with Jack’s chumminess with the Devil) refused him entry into Heaven at St. Peter’s Gates.

So Stingy Jack was forced to wander the earth at night with a burning lump of coal as his only source of light.  Jack placed his lump of coal in a makeshift lantern made from a turnip or rutabaga carved with openings mimicking his face to emit the lump of coal’s light.  So Stingy Jack became “Jack of the Lantern” or “Jack o’ Lantern”.

When the Irish moved to America turnips were hard to find – but pumpkins were plentiful.  So they switched their tradition of carving faces into pumpkins which they used to keep Jack and other troubled spirits away.

But pumpkin- (and other vegetable, fruit and more) carving has been raised to an art form by Angel Boraliev who is from Bulgaria.  He’s (with a name of “Angel” I double-checked – and he’s a he) a professional decorative carver for hotels in Bulgaria.

He put up a page on Bored Panda (where you can view all 26 Halloween carvings) to prove that pumpkin- (along with squash) carvings don’t have to be scary – but can be quite beautiful.  So let’s enjoy a few (Right-click or scroll-click, if your mouse has that feature, on one to open in a new window as a full-size photo.  Or just click on one them and it’ll open as full-size.  Click back/return to get back to the others) …

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could learn very little about Angel himself or how he does it.  All I could locate was this YouTube video of him carving a rose – and he said it took him just 8 minutes – but don’t worry, it’s sped up:

So “Happy Halloween” from all of us cats ready to go Trick-Or-Treating!

The fourth annual RiSE Lantern Festival on the Moapa Indian Reservation in the Mojave Desert some 35 miles north of Las Vegas a week ago was a particularly poignant event following the recent mass shooting.

According to their website, the goal of RiSE is to “elevates hope, ignites dreams, and creates memories” when ten thousand participants release their lit lanterns that have been inscribed with personal messages in unison in the desert to create beautiful memories.

The event is not cheap, as adult tickets cost $109 ($69 for children aged 3-10) – but each ticket provides you with two lanterns, a marking pen to inscribe your message on the paper lantern and a sitting mat.  No chairs, blankets, strollers, food or beverages are permitted – although bottled water is OK.  They have numerous food trucks scattered all over that are happy to sell you drinks (including beer and wine) and food, as well as stationary food/beverage kiosks around the venue.  Oh, and parking is another $25.

(I could not find at their home website or the RiSE Lantern Facebook page – which is accessible to all and has even more gorgeous photos and videos – who actually runs it, and if it’s a for-profit event or if some goes to a charity.)

Below is a Map of their venue

The center circle is the stage area & the flesh-colored bar is the single Entrance.

The gates open at 3 PM and multiple music shows begin at 3:30 and continue until the  launch of the lanterns, which  is at about 8:30, followed by a fireworks show.

The event has become so popular that they needed to add a second night – and both sold out this year.  So that’s some 20,000 paper lanterns scattered on the floor of the Moapa Indian Reservation – the site of the event in the Mojave.

According to the RiSE Lantern Festival website, the lanterns are 100% biodegradable, and they claim they scour the desert and retrieve every single one – plus any other trash they find along the way.  They also buy carbon offsets for every vehicle they use in the setup and cleanup of the festival.

I could not find how they lanterns are actually put together, but you’ll get an idea when watching the videos.  You can see they are quite large (I’d say 3 feet tall), and take 2-3 people to launch them.  They have a forest of Tiki torches lined up in each section that you use to ignite whatever the “propellant” is that creates the necessary hot air – but I couldn’t find what kind of material they use.

Just a small view of the thousands of Tiki Torches 

In its first year it got quite mixed reviews at Yelp – generally 4 & 5 stars for its stunning beauty and emotional uplift, but very low ratings for its logistical execution.  No doubt they’ve learned from their mistakes and have improved if they needed to add another night to accommodate an additional 10,000 people.

But let’s visually enjoy a very unique event with some photos and videos.

 

 

  

The first video is by a layperson.  I put it first because it provides a better idea of actually what goes on.

We’ll end with the two videos below that are professionally put together and are quite well done.