The eagle has landed

This snow formation is on our tree stump. It is completely natural and nothing was done to enhance it.

December 24, 2013

The Winter Solstice

  At this rolling time of the year we look forward to the beginning of winter. This year it will occur in central Michigan on December 21 at 6:11 am. This is when the Earth’s tilt of 23.5 degrees points its axis directly away from the Sun. It is this tilt that causes our seasons. The sun will appear directly overhead along the Tropic of Capricorn, at 23.5 degrees south latitude. With the Earth’s North Pole at its maximum tilt from the sun, locations north of the equator see the sun follow its lowest and shortest arc across the southern sky. For the next six months, the days again grow longer as the sun spends more time above the horizon.

  Places on or north of the Arctic Circle will be in total darkness. Those on or south of the Antarctic Circle will receive 24 hours of sunshine. The sun will appear directly overhead along the Tropic of Capricorn, at 23.5 degrees south of the equator.

  December 21 is the shortest day of the year for us with about ten hours of daylight.  The earliest sunset for us was on December 7. The perihelion (closest point to the Sun in our elliptical orbit) occurs around January 3rd at about 147 million km. This is a little over 88 million miles.

  Astronomers have refined the degrees into minutes, seconds, and highly accurate decimal places. Because the Earth wobbles slightly on its axis, due to problems of indigestion (that magma rumbling around is a pain), the times and degrees change from year to year.

  In the Northern Hemisphere the Winter Solstice was taken seriously by the ancients, leading to a number of festivals to coax the gods into bringing back the sun and warmth. The Saturnalia was a major event for the Romans, with lots of drinking, gift-giving, bonfires, candles, and feasts. It lasted from three to seven days depending on the whims of the Emperor and economic conditions. Saturn was the creator of man in the Golden Age, where there was no winter. He was ousted by his son, Jupiter and life went downhill from there.

  Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights and is symbolized by the candelabrum known as the menorah. It celebrates an incident in Jerusalem during the Maccabean revolt in the second century BCE. The Syrians occupied Jerusalem. During the conflict, the temple's menorah, or ritual lamp, was running out of oil. Although it only had fuel enough for one night, the lamp burned brightly for eight nights until help could arrive. Hanukkah was not a particularly important holiday until modern times. It has always been a popular part of Jewish identity, and families play games, eat certain foods, and light a new candle of the menorah each night. This year Hanukkah lasted from November27 through December 5.

 

  Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means “the birthday of the unconquered Sun”. In what is now Iran, the Zoroastrians worshipped Mithras, who was created by the chief god, Ahura-Mazda, to save the world. This festival was celebrated in his honor by Roman soldiers who occupied the land. In 274 CE the Roman emperor, Aurelian, made it an official cult holiday alongside the many other Roman holidays.

  Brumalia was a Greek winter holiday associated with Dionysus and wine. By the time of this winter holiday the wine was ready to be poured into jars for drinking.  Although a Greek holiday, the name Brumalia is from the Latin for Winter Solstice. (N.S. Gill, www.About.com .)

  For one and all, enjoy the Winter Solstice!

The stain on America’s history that has not been cleaned

 

 

   The American history most of us would like to remember is one of stalwart founding fathers setting forth on this continent a template of perfection. One need only read Founding Brothers, by Joseph J. Ellis (Vintage books, 2000), see the movie 12 Years a Slave, or pay close attention to what we say to each other. The vestiges of racial prejudice are still with us.

  Slaves had been an integral part of the colonies almost from the beginning. Southern states though it their right to maintain their “property” if there were to be a Union. In February, 1790, two Quaker delegations, one from New York and the other from Pennsylvania, petitioned the House of Representatives to end the import of slaves. They were ignored. Ellis refers to the founders as a group of greatly gifted, but deeply flawed individuals. The men selected to write the Constitution compromised their principles to assemble the rules of governing the new nation at the expense of the Blacks. Even among the abolitionists, many did not see Blacks as their equals. In the 1790 census, only two states had no slaves: Maine and Massachusetts. Of 3.9 million people in American, over 694 thousand were slaves.

  If you have not seen the movie, 12 Years a Slave, I urge you to do so. Yes, it is a fictionalized version of the life of Solomon Northrop, kidnapped and brutally enslaved in the 1850s, but it is based on sufficient evidence of the harsh treatment of human beings by hateful, uncaring “masters.” It took a Civil War followed by decades of Jim Crow laws before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 provided a structure of law protecting Blacks.

  That did not end discrimination or racial prejudice. It goes on today, it goes on here. Some of our locals have a deep-seated intolerance for Native Americans. They resent the monthly payouts to members of the Anishinabe people. They do not understand the culture and ways of these Native Americans. They never knew the Somicks who led the tribe in the 1970s. They do not know the artists, such as Smokey Joe Jackson, Shirley Broucker, or Norman Nayome. The tribe has internal problems and is trying to deal with them, but do not judge a people by the acts of the few.

  I have never understood “the white race.” If white is so great why are there so many tanning salons? Europeans excelled because of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution, not the color of their skin. Nations with skins of other hews have adopted the principles of capitalism and democracy, with varying degrees of success. Education and skill are among the attributes of achievement.

  In fact, “race” is a murky term. Archeologists have found that those who emerged from Africa changed skin tone after long periods of staying in a specific climate that granted them increased survivability. These groups, however, wandered back and forth across the Euro-Asian land mass and cohabitated early and often. This includes the people who travelled to the New World more than 12,000 years ago.

  You received half your genes from your mother, half from you father. Each of them had two parents. Go back ten generations and 1024 people had to be in the right place at the right time for you to be here now. That’s only 200 years. Since everyone along the way was a bit different, you are the result of the genes of 2047 individuals. Can you account for the whereabouts of those 2047 during their lifetime?

  During this holiday season, resolve to rid yourself of prejudice. Hatred is based on fear and ignorance. We are born with only a few fears, such as falling or loud noises. The rest are learned. What we learn we can unlearn. Understanding through education dissolves ignorance. Not all, but some.

  The United States has changed culturally, ethnically, and acceptance. Each of us must adjust to the new reality. Hostility now divides us. Much of this hostility is based on prejudice. We must become more tolerant, or those who are screaming for civil war will get it.

  Soon half our population will live below the poverty level. While the economy is making headway — the stock market and unemployment figures are encouraging, top level managers, who generate no goods or services, are paid 200 times that of those who do. Such inequity breeds hatred. I hope you have a merry Christmas, and don’t forget your resolution.

 

 

From our house to yours, Happy Holidays!

Happy Holiday!

Happy Holiday! There are those in our community who would restrict religious freedom by insisting that the only “appropriate” greeting at this time of year is “Merry Christmas.” Such people are isolated from the greater community of the world and would restrict this time to their own convenience.
  Indeed, the end of a year is important to many in this country, for whom there is religious freedom guaranteed in the Constitution, who are persuaded by various beliefs. Wikipedia (not necessarily the best source: they didn't mention Epiphany ) lists at least 29 winter celebrations in December and 4 in January, around the world. With our college community there are many who may hold these truths to be self evident, that all beliefs shall be held in esteem.
  To put this into economic focus, no business in central Michigan can have a sign available for each and every one of these celebrations. The best alternative for them is “Happy Holidays.” And so it should be. Telling those of other beliefs “to go back to their own countries” would be to tell the Pilgrims to go back to England (where they would be imprisoned or worse). Here, then, are the holidays:
December • Advent: four weeks prior to Christmas (Western Christianity). • Chalica: A holiday created in 2005, in the first full week in December, celebrated by some Unitarian Universalists. • Saint Nicholas' Day: 6 December • Bodhi Day: 8 December - Day of Enlightenment, celebrating the day that the historical Buddha (Shakyamuni or Siddhartha Gautama) experienced enlightenment (also known as Bodhi). • Saint Lucy's Day: 13 December - Church Feast Day. Saint Lucy comes as a young woman with lights and sweets. • Winter Solstice: 21 December-22 December - midwinter • Dongzhi Festival - a celebration of Winter • Soyal: 21 December - Zuni and Hopi • Yalda: 21 December - The turning point, Winter Solstice. As the longest night of the year and the beginning of the lengthening of days, Shabe Yaldā or Shabe Chelle is an Iranian festival celebrating the victory of light and goodness over darkness and evil. Shabe yalda means 'birthday eve.' According to Persian mythology, Mithra was born at dawn on the 22nd of December to a virgin mother. He symbolizes light, truth, goodness, strength, and friendship. Herodotus reports that this was the most important holiday of the year for contemporary Persians. In modern times Persians celebrate Yalda by staying up late or all night, a practice known as Shab Chera meaning 'night gazing'. Fruits and nuts are eaten, especially pomegranates and watermelons, whose red color invokes the crimson hues of dawn and symbolize Mithra. • Mōdraniht: or Mothers' Night, the Saxon winter solstice festival. • Saturnalia: the Roman winter solstice festival • Pancha Ganapati: Five-day festival in honor of Lord Ganesha. December 21–25. • Christmas Eve: 24 December • Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (Day of the birth of the Unconquered Sun): late Roman Empire - 25 December • Christmas: 25 December • Twelve Days of Christmas: 25 December through 6 January • Yule: Pagan winter festival that was celebrated by the historical Germanic people from late December to early January. • Anastasia of Sirmium Feast Day: 25 December • Malkh: 25 December • Boxing Day: 26 December - Gift-giving day after Christmas. • Kwanzaa: 26 December - 1 January - Pan-African festival celebrated in North America • Saint Stephen's Day: 26 December • Saint John the Evangelist's Day: 27 December • Holy Innocents' Day: 28 December • Saint Sylvester's Day: 31 December • Watch Night: 31 December • New Year's Eve: 31 December - Last day of the Gregorian year • Hogmanay: Night of 31 December - Before dawn of 1 January - Scottish New Year's Eve celebration • Hanukkah: A Jewish festival celebrating the miracle of oil • The Epiphany.
  January • New Year's Day: 1 January - First day of the Gregorian year • Saint Basil's Day: 1 January (Christian Orthodox) In Greece, traditionally he is the Father Christmas figure. • Twelfth Night: Epiphany Eve: 5 January • Epiphany: 6 January: the arrival of the Three Magi. • Armenian Apostolic Christmas: 6 January
  When I brought these to the Editorial Board several snickered at the likes of Chalica and particularly Bodhi. They were also amused by Dongzhi, Soyal, and Yalda. In our region, however, there are Unitarians, Buddhists, Chinese, Native Americans, and Iranians.
  My wife and I are particularly fond of Advent (we eagerly open calendar doors), the Winter Solsctice, Christmas Eve, Christmas, the 12 Days of Christmas, the New Year, and our wedding anniversary (strange it wasn’t mentioned in the list). To you all: Happy Holidays!

2013 Christmass lights

Concerns over antibiotics

  A report in The Week (November 22, 2013, page 9) outlines problems we face in healthcare because antibiotics are becoming ineffective. At least 23 thousand Americans are dying annually from infections that no longer are curable. Viruses are becoming immune to the antibiotics used over more than five decades.

  In 1945, Nobel Laureate Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, warned, “There is a danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to nonlethal quantities of the drug make them resistant.”

  Viruses are infectious particles smaller than any bacteria. A virus can insert its genetic material into its host, literally taking over the cell’s functions and may remain dormant inside cells for long periods. Some of the diseases in humans caused by viruses include smallpox, the common cold, chickenpox, influenza, gastroenteritis, shingles, herpes, polio, rabies, Ebola, hanta fever, and AIDS. (www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/alllife/virus.html.)

  Viruses have evolved rapidly. Since the life-cycle of a single organism may be only hours or days, thousands of generations live, infect, and die each year. Mutations cause a few to be resistant to a particular medication. These changes are passed on to future generations. Those with the modification continue to infect even when the medication is given, while those without die. Soon, the resistant viruses dominate.

  Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, an official at the Centers for Disease Control, warns that procedures such as organ transplants, pre-mature-infant care, replacing a catheter, and chemotherapy may be in jeopardy in a “post-antibiotic era.” Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization worries that problems such as strep throat or a scrapped knee could, once again, become deadly.

  We are making the situation worse. The CDC estimates that half of human antibiotics are misused. Some patients stop using the medication as soon as they start to feel better, leaving many microbes to multiply. Worse negligence comes from overuse for treating diseases not caused by a virus, such as bacterial infection, or to which the virus is immune, such as the common cold, influenza, and gastroenteritis. I know about the latter from personal experience this summer. I received one antibiotic, then another, and finally cefdinir, a medication to which the virus was not immune.

  The worst offense: 80% of antibiotics sold in the US are fed to farm animals, to plump them up and keep them alive in their overcrowded pens. The resulting resistant viruses are in the final product and sold to the consumer. This occurs here in central Michigan at the invasive cow and pig factories that are springing up too frequently in our counties. Lansing refuses to implement any reform to this unhealthy practice.

  Unfortunately the pharmaceutical industry is not interested in developing new antibiotics. There have been no major innovations in the area since 1987. It can require billions of dollars to develop a new drug, but the return can be small. The average new antibiotic loses $50 million. In 2012, Congress passed the GAIN Act to encourage new development. The law extends patents on new antibiotics and fast-tracks those aimed at important new pathogens. The industry wants tax credits to help cover research and development costs.

  Unfortunately, viruses will develop immunity to the new products over time, so the process must continue. Livestock farmers must stop pumping their animals full of these medications, and doctors and patients must use available products only as required.

  We live in a complex world and must insure that the pharmaceutical, medical, and agricultural communities do what is correct for the health and wellbeing of everyone. If Lansing and Congress do not oversee the process properly, we could face a pandemic of immense consequences and the deaths of millions. The Great Plague was caused by Yersinia pestis, a micro bacillus carried by fleas on rats. The next one could be caused by a virus caught from your sick neighbor.

Where was I?

 Today is, of course, the 50th anniversary of the killing of a famous president.

I remember precisely where I was when I heard the news, and how.

I was seated at my desk at the Tech Lab at Cape Canaveral, Florida, mulling over programs for which I was responsible. At some time after 1:30 pm the loud speaker announced that President Kennedy had been assassinated. The memory of me at my desk is from left and above, meaning my right hemisphere, the emotional, places me there.

I remember the funeral. I was in front of a small television in a converted porch in our tiny Wherry housing cinder block house at Patrick Air Force Base. The caisson passed by in front of me, and I numbly remember, again upper left view, knowing our world had changed, and not for the better.

It has not. The haters still hate and gloat.

They now infest a diminishing group who deny equality for every man and woman, who do not acknowledge what Kennedy was trying to do: to make everyone capable of realizing the American dream.  We should all be able to make a living at an income by which we may survive in what we consider adequate, by our efforts, have affordable healthcare, and a peaceful retirement.

Those people still try to deny that president his due.

Shame!

Art Reach 2014 Calendar Reception a Success

Student artists from area grade schools and their families enjoyed a fine reception on Saturday afternoon, November 2. Their work was chosen by their schools for the 2014 Art Reach calendar. Each received a copy of the calendar for themselves and one for their school. Refreshments were available and everyone enjoyed the event. Copies of the calendar are available at the Art Reach gift shop, 111 E. Broadway.

Juncos

The first flock of juncos visited our yard early this evening. Ours is a tourist trap for them on their way south. Each fall and spring this particular flock drops by to and from points south. They enjoy our quiet spot where they can feed and drink, then sleep the night in the bushes and trees around us. By morning they shall be gone to their southerly destinations for the winter. Our own flock will arrive much later in the season and spend the holidays till spring here and we will welcome them.

This has not been a happy time. There are friends that have suffered and we can only console them. There is a deep and growing trouble, not only in mid-Michigan, but throughout the country, where greed crushes grapes for its own enjoyment and the rest of us are left to wonder.

Wonderful Quilt Show at Art Reach

THROUGH OCTOBER 31 Click image to enlarge

The last bloom of 2013!

Our Autumn trip to Maine

 

Harvest Moon 2013

Maurauders in the late summer rain

The approach of Autumn: Autumn asters, Mums, the Ghost of our Hawthorne tree

Last blooms of summer

More entries in Art Walk Central

Here are photos of several Art Walk Center entries on display at the CMU Art Gallery. It is well worth your time to visit all Art Walk Central venues. Click on images to enlarge.

Silly facts

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the Guinness Book of Records holds the record for holding records.

A small church in southeast Texas has petitioned the local board of education to ban girls in public schools from exposing their ear lobes which it considers indecent exposure.

Half a loaf is better than no rest at all.

Simple recipe for beef tartar: remove fillet from freezer; thaw.

Despite their strong exoskeletons, grasshoppers do not make good bookmarks.

A polite cannibal never talks with his mouth full.

The majority of those who wrap their ears in aluminum foil are right handed.

Birds cannot move their eyes, so must move their heads to look in another direction, such as the very- near-term future.

It is virtually impossible to swallow a tennis ball unless you first peel it.

Stepping on your elbow with your foot can be painful.

Even with condiments, sand and gravel, though appealing to those trying to relieve that “empty feeling”, should not be part of a regular diet.

Tattooing eyes on your eye lids makes you appear awake even while napping in public.

Spanish onions don’t understand a single word of English.

An amateur ornithologist in Louisiana became excited when he thought he had discovered a one-legged stork, until the startled bird woke up and flew away.

The record for pole vaulting the Grand Canyon is one-third.

The only mention of the iPhone in the Bible is in the Revised Edition.

Though there were many instances where it would have been useful, masking tape was never used during the Civil War.

You cannot lift an adult rhinoceros more than six inches off the ground using only dental floss.

On a dare, a man at the Clare County Fair snorted 38 lima beans up his right nostril, and although medics retrieved all but two, they took root in his duodenum.

When robots kiss, the use of tongues is legally forbidden in many states.

The Art Nouveaux attempt to make household pets of electric ells failed.

A sample of Art Walk Central

The 2013 Art Walk Central begins on August 7. There are 119 art entries from around the country that will be exhibited in 29 Mt. Pleasant businesses, galleries, and public parks. Maps to help you locate each piece will be available in the Morning Sun, at Art Reach, and other venues. Voting for the People's Choice Award begins August 7. Twelve awards totaling $20,500 will be divided among the youth and adult (over 17) categories thanks to the many generous sponsors. Winners will be announced during the Art Reach Auction.

Shown below are three marvelous examples of entries on display at the Art Reach Gallery, 111 East Broadway in Mt. Pleasant.

The top installation is by Maria Michaels. It is called “The Petrie Series: Benzene.” The viewer sits on a bench and pedals to create electricity, which then generates images of benzene particles on the ceiling. Astonishing!

The center piece is a charcoal drawing by Maddie Chafer drawn for a ninth grade art class!! It is called “Seven Billion”. This young artist has amazing talent.

At the bottom is a set of drawings that should really grab young viewers. It is “Assembler” by Jonathan Chaffer and shows each of the Avengers, the Marvel animated series heroes.

The Morning Sun will run more complete information of Art Walk Central later this week.

Rainy Day for Art Reach Chair Affair

 

The 2013 Art Reach Chair Affair entries were judged from noon to 1 pm on July 26, 2013. The judges were Nichole Sanders, Roxanne Schultz, and Rose Wunderbaum Traines. The on-and-off rain did not deter them from examining each of the 45 entries.

 There were prizes if $100 for First place, $75 for Second, and $50 for Third in each of two categories: Chairs and benches painted by community artists; Chairs and benches painted by art educators and their students.

 Among community artists, First place went to Wendi Johnson. Her host was Northwest Mutual. Second place went to Terry Blodgett, hosted by Trillium. Jan Weston took Third, hosted by Crème de la Crème.

 First place for art educators went to Mt. Pleasant High School, hosted by Commercial Bank. Renaissance Academy took Second, hosted by The Plate Boutique, and Joslin Clous took Third, hosted by Total Eclipse.

 The photos below show the exhibit outside Art Reach on Broadway. In the top image judges Schultz and Traines are hard at work, top left. Judge Sanders, with her two grand children are seen below. The MPHS chair is second from the left. The third photo shows many of the entries under the tent that fended off the rain. Click to enlarge.

 The bottom image shows many of the entries. Wendi Johnson’s chair and table are in the top left photo.

 A Public Choice award of $100 will be announced after the final voting by noon on Saturday, July 27.

A chilren's story...

Bunny’s Wishilator

The prospects for the day were quite bleak. The sky had wept inconsolably since dawn. Bunny sincerely wished it would stop crying. It made her feel blue. Her parents were having lunch at the Slaughtered Watermelon having Bloody Blueberries and Kohlrabi Crisps. That left her older bratty brothers in charge while they were away. She wished her parents would come home. She also wished her mother would read her a story. Mother’s stories were never weepy or sad.

Her bratty brothers were upstairs stomping on the floor playing Space Pirates and Mutant Marshmallows. She asked if she could play. “Only if you want to be a mutant marshmallow,” said Gus, the younger brother. “I am not a mutant. I am a little girl,” she responded indignantly. “Then go downstairs and be a little girl,” said Jack and the brothers laughed.

Down she went. The thumping and bumping grew louder upstairs. “Take that, villainous marshmallow!” cried Jack, smacking something vigorously. She wished they would just stop.

Bunny was a little girl in Nebraska who was brighter than a photon and usually quite cheerful. At the moment she had to have a stern talk with herself, “Don’t be so glum. Things are bound to get better. Then there are the crumbly wimbles.”

Crumby wimbles were fuzzy creatures with large sad eyes that lived under her bed and they were crying fearfully. “Please stop,” she said coaxingly, and I’ll tell you a story.” Three nebulous bodies and six wide eyes peeped out. “Will it be a good story?” asked the nearest and most blurry. “It will be about you,” she replied and began:

“The crumbly wimbles taught the snails

To capture moonbeams in their pails

And how to skimble up the hills

To create those lovely moonlight spills.”

“That wasn’t very long,” complained another of the fluffs. “It will have to do,” she ended firmly. And then the doorbell rang.

It was the post man with a large package, which he handed her with a smile as wide as Nebraska. It was addressed to her! It was from Aunt Neither and Uncle Either, who lived on a dude chipmunk ranch in far-off Ganderimich.

It was wrapped in brown paper, which Bunny tore open so quickly her hands were a blur. Inside was a large tinplate lithographed cube with rounded edges. It had a slot on top and a crank on one side. On the front was a cast-iron rim with a lip that could be lifted, like the letter slot in an apartment door. There were colorful pictures on every side and there was a stamp on the bottom that read “The Wishilator that made Milwaukee famous.”

The colors were very bright: vermillion, azure, gold, tangerine, emerald, and violet. Each side had a strange animal. There was a rufus sided toejammer, a reticulated pypan, an ardvarkarkinark, and a spoon-billed platitude. On the top was a butterflitter.

There were instructions in English, Spanish, French, and Elvish: “(1) Place crumpled, tarnished, unfulfilled dreams in slot at top; (2) Turn crank on side counterclockwise at least twelve times; (3) Lift lid on front and remove wish, washed, pressed and folded, for further use.”

Bunny looked doubtfully at the Wishilator, but took out her crumpled wishes nonetheless. “I wish my parents would come home,” was the first. In it went at the top and Bunny cranked. As she did so she swore the box played something by Mozart. How nice! No, it sounded more like something from the Beetles. No, it was a combination of both at the same time, as if Mozart had scored a Beetles’ song. Brilliant! She lifted the cast iron lid on the front of the cube and out came her wish, washed, pressed and folded, as the instructions had promised.

She put in her second creased and crinkled wish, “I wish my brothers would stop that racket!” Round and round she turned the crank to another sweet song and out came the wish, neat and clean as the first. She put the third about her mother reading her a story into the slot, turned the handle at least twelve times to another merry melody and out it came like the others.

There was a sound in the driveway. Bunny’s parents were home! The boys stopped their game and ran down the stairs. The children opened the door for their folks. The rain had stopped and the sun shined bravely.

When everything was back to normal Mother suggested a story for Bunny. All three wishes had come true. It was a new book and Bunny snuggled on Mother’s lap. The story began:

“The prospects for the day were quite bleak. The sky had wept inconsolably since dawn…”

 

 

 

 

Our 4th of July fireworks!

La Doux sculpture at Art Reach on Broadway

"On Thin Ice" an exhibition of sculpture by Alma Artist Justin La Doux will be in the Art Reach Gallery from July 2-31. A graduate of the Kendall Collage of Art & Design, he likes to create art, protect our environment, and  recycle.  He discovered the perfect medium to accomplish all three. Using materials that people think of as "trash" he gives them new life and creates a work that has purpose, meaning, and beauty. La Doux hopes his efforts will teach people to protect Mother Earth and her beauty. On Thin Ice is a diorama. All the animals are made with recycled material. You'll have fun deciding what the original items were in each work of art. You really have to see these life-size creatures to appreciate the artist's skill.

(Click images to enlarge.)

Gladwin Area Artist Guild show at Art Reach

 

You only have two more days to see the wonderful exhibit of the Gladwin Area Artist Guild at Art Reach on Broadway. There are many fine works by guild artists on display and many are still available for purchase. Hurry, because the show ends on June 29.

Below are the works of two artists. Click images to enlarge.

Top: Park City Barn, by Jan Berg-Rezmer
Bottom: Owls, by Shirley Pickard

Our late-spring cruise

Nedra and I cruised across the Atlantic, leaving Ft. Lauderdale on May 16 and arriving in London on June 1. Here are some photos from our tri[. I hope you enjoy them and become convinced to take a cruise of your choice to wherever you want to go.