Williamsburg Christmas Wreath

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we're on to the next season before you know it. On Saturday my mom and I took a class at Pike's on how to make a Williamsburg wreath. Now I know the direction my Christmas directions will take.... Above is the wreath I made at the class.



We used a basic fir wreath as the base and then wired on the fruit and pinecones. Next we used a hot glue gun to glue on magnolia leaves and all of the smaller fruit and berries.






Mom and I finished two wreaths in an hour!

More inspirational photos...


image via BHG


image via BHG




image via Southern Living

Lebron Returns
Lebron James returns to Cleveland tonight to play against his old team... and get try to get a refund for his Browns season tickets.



McDonald's Loans?
One of the companies that was given part of the Fed's $3 trillion in interest-free loans was McDonald's. It turns out too many people were trying to buy their shakes on layaway.



Mexican Women Crooks
More women are now participating in kidnappings and killings in Mexico; a direct result of Virginia Slims' "You've come a long way baby!" gangster marketing campaign.



Cruise Threat
The CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines says strict new fuel efficiency rules are a huge threat to the entire cruising industry... but not quite as much of a threat as the cast of Carnival's crappy on-board production of "West Side Story."



More Planets
A new report shows that the universe holds billions more stars than previously thought. Great, like Times Square isn't jammed with enough tourists this time of year already.





December 2nd

1804: At Notre Dame Cathedral in Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French, but the gleam of the event fades later that evening in bed when Napoloen’s wife tells him to take care of himself there too.


1954: The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute”… in other words, acting like a U.S. Senator.


2008: Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resigns after no American news anchor is successfully able to pronounce his name.

Verse and worse

A would-be accountant named Jonathan Ryan

Failed every exam (but he had fun tryin’)

He told us all he was useless at addition

But next thing we knew, he’d been charged with sedition

Verse and worse

A would-be accountant named Jonathan Ryan

Failed every exam (but he had fun tryin’)

He told us all he was useless at addition

But next thing we knew, he’d been charged with sedition

Renovation completed

We are living in a city house from 1892. Maintenance is a continuous process. Sometimes we have to do major repairs. Other times we perform minor changes or want to do image-improvements, create a new make-up, etc.
This November we decided to repaint the colors on walls, ceilings and stucco in addition to replace the wall-to-wall carpets on floors with new parquet. After two weeks the renovation of our apartment is now completed.

Furnitures that we had problems moving to other rooms became protected by plastics and the floor in our living room was filled up with materials the first week.

The environment in our dining room Wednesday last week was like a carpentry workshop or "atelier de menuiserie" as Tullen would have said at her French-course.
Recalling old competence in the  Romance language that is spoken as a first language by around 136 million people worldwide, is her autumn activity. French speaking communities are present in 56 countries and territories.  I am "more" educated in Spanish.

Today my "office"-corner with the MacBook Pro at the desktop looks like this.
An antique Persian Hamadan on the dark oak floor, and a Johanne Marie Hansen-Krone painting on the white wall.

Christmas is 23 days away but we are well prepared for the celebration due to an excellent job performed by Krzysztof Zych and his team. Well done.

We're so glassy-eyed this morning

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON (Image ID: Malaysia2010-3527)

This was a tough shot to take, despite the fact that it looks easy when presented this way. It was taken indoors in a Kuala Lumpur shopping mall in January this year. I spotted these unusual mannequins and while the lighting wasn't great, I wondered if it would be sufficient to present all four mannequins in a row.

You have to remember, too, that I never use a tripod! With people streaming past constantly in both directions, I had to consider my options before deciding how best to use the unique "heads". I also figured that the dark dresses and the black-themed interior of the shop would be the best contrast for the glassy droids.

We're so glassy-eyed this morning

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON (Image ID: Malaysia2010-3527)

This was a tough shot to take, despite the fact that it looks easy when presented this way. It was taken indoors in a Kuala Lumpur shopping mall in January this year. I spotted these unusual mannequins and while the lighting wasn't great, I wondered if it would be sufficient to present all four mannequins in a row.

You have to remember, too, that I never use a tripod! With people streaming past constantly in both directions, I had to consider my options before deciding how best to use the unique "heads". I also figured that the dark dresses and the black-themed interior of the shop would be the best contrast for the glassy droids.