First Sunday in December

Just wrote a nice journal entry and due to my flakiness, lost it. I guess it will be better writing and more concise thinking today (or at least you can hope). Yesterday was highly productive. I met with the Director of the Hangar Theatre to talk about my posters and to do a little blue sky thinking about the promise of the Hangar. I am not a "theatre" person but really love the artistic passion and thinking that goes on around putting a production together--which is the same passion around the single person "sports" like illustration and art. The ability to drive excitement and dreaming, the thoughtfulness of how to render a story can change someone's thinking for a minute, an hour, a day, a lifetime. The moment one shares with actors becomes a personal experience that can move you to change, to evolve, to reflect. It is more than an amusement, but a way to communicate broadly about ideas and interaction that no other media directly touches on, without disrespect to the audience as well as the ideas of the writers, actors, directors. It is that generous artistic spirit that really is quite intoxicating. I find it curious that I had to get out of my zone and get this degree to embrace this so fully now.

Alex and Kitty and I did some shopping at Urban Outfitters and then taking on the Mall. The people were not out in force though the sales were good and very tantalizing. Secretly, it makes me happy that I have done most of my shopping from the comfort of my keyboard and monitor, because the random this and that that gets tossed into the shopping cart is significantly reduced so that the presents can actually be a little nicer, and the random quelques chose isnt puzzled over, "now who can I give this to". Online shopping is a time and temptation saver. We got home after doing the rounds (to our dismay, none of the Vans that Alex Cassetti was fixed on worked, so a trip to Zappos will be in order today).

I bought a few wreath forms. Wire ones to make these wreathes (sewn) out of wool balls (purchased from felt and crafts a company in Nepal that sells great Sari fibers but also felt balls (I have the tie dyed ones, the solid colored ones and the swirly balls). The other wreath we saw in a magazine made of marshmallows poked into a form base, and designed in it's white density, and pattern of the large and small white forms. Really cute, particularly with a big silver bow. So, tonight, we are going to watch TV and make these things. Might make Alex choke (the big smell of marshmallows abounding) but he will just have to put up with it. Kitty and I also made some bar cookies, and today we are eating down the oatmeal by making a mess of oatmeal cookies. We got a little bit of snow to all of our delight.

So, plans are coming together for the teen Holiday Fest. I am thinking after 6:30 (no dinner), with a Yankee Swap (more detail from Tom yesterday and perhaps the dress is to come "Naughty or Nice"--bring your own impression of that. Could be fun. Lemonade and seltzer, cookies and Kitty requests some "salty" which I think I can accomodate. The request has surfaced that we do a Facebook Invitation which worked so well with the Sausage Fest, that this will be a no brainer. Today. Def. Along with the wrapping and the boxing that you, my friends, are keeping me from! More later

A Day to Watch Out

December 5th is a day that many European children hide and tremble. Diving under their beds,  hiding in the closets, nervously casting glances at the front door. Is he here? Is he coming? Have I been thaaaat naughty? Or will Saint Nicholas cut me a break? Wikipedia reminds us in the entry "Companions of St. Nicholas":

In parts of Austria, Krampus is a scary figure, most probably originating in the Pre-Christian Alpine traditions. Local tradition typically portrays these figures as children of poor families, roaming the streets and sledding hills during the holiday festival. They wore black rags and masks, dragging chains behind them, and occasionally hurling them towards children in their way. These Krampusumzüge (Krampus runs) still exist, although perhaps less violent than in the past.

Today, in Schladming, a town in Styria, over 1200 "Krampus" gather from all over Austria wearing goat-hair costumes and carved masks, carrying bundles of sticks used as switches, and swinging cowbells to warn of their approach. They are typically males in their teens and early twenties, and often get very drunk. They roam the streets of this typically quiet town and hit people with their switches. It is not considered wise for young women to go out on this night, as they are popular targets.

In many parts of Croatia, Krampus is described as a devil, wearing chains around his neck, ankles and wrists, and wearing a cloth sack around his waist. As a part of a tradition, when a child receives a gift from St. Nicolas he is given a golden branch to represent his/hers good deeds throughout the year; however, if the child has misbehaved, Krampus will take the gifts for himself and leave only a silver branch to represent the child's bad acts. Children are commonly scared into sleeping during the time St. Nicolas brings gifts by being told that if they are awake, Krampus will think they have been bad, and will take them away in his sack. In Hungary, the Krampusz is often portrayed as mischievous rather than evil devil, wearing a black suit, a long red tongue, with a tail and little red horns that are funny rather than frightening. The Krampusz wields a Virgács, which is a bunch of golden coloured twigs bound together. Hungarian parents often frighten children with getting a Virgács instead of presents, if they do not behave. By the end of November, you can buy all kinds of Virgács on the streets, usually painted gold, bound by a red ribbon. Getting a Virgács is rather more fun than frightening, and is usually given to all children, along with presents to make them behave.

___

So, that is the good news for today. Tomorrow, I start of Père Fouettard (the whipfather), the French slice of Holiday Terror for the naughty. Naughty or nice always was pretty softball with our Santa Claus. But these european fellows really make you think.

This morning,  I have a meeting about some work and then shopping with K and A. There are new shoes to get and thises and thats for Christmas gifts. I am at the thises and thats level of finality. Then, we will need to post a Facebook invitation up for our party for the youngers...which will include the wonderfully suggested (Thank you Tom!) Yankee Swap. I will detail that more later.

Check out the growing advent calendar here>>

IF: Crunchy

Krampus Taking Away the Bad Children on December 5th, © Q. CassettiKrampus comes on December the fifth, little children are fearful of the crunch sounds underfoot. He has come to take away the bad little children or birch them with branches for all their misbehavior during the year. So, watch out. Krampus is coming.

Advent of the Advent Calendar

As you know, I have been working on pictures of St. Nicholas, Krampus, and reading and enjoying all the fru fru around the legends and tales of these characters. I was looking at Paul O. Zelinsky's Hansel and Gretel, and musing over the tremendously beautiful wooden/printed advent calendars I saw at Gillinghams. And bingo bango bam! I thought...25 days, 25 treats> why don't I post my holiday visual musings as an advent calendar! Why the heck not? So, today of days,(albeit three days into December), I start this journey with you. And, as a plus, I get you going to the new home (as of January 1) of the Rongovian Academy of Fine Arts.

 

The Advent Calendar is here>>

Might have an interesting food related product branding and packaging on the horizon. Need to write a proposal to the nice guy I spoke to on the phone. Plain speaking with some excitement around building a brand, a new product that is excellent in a very established niche. Expectations to sell at Walmart and Amazon. Now that I am writing this, I think I will propose doing this project for a percentage versus fees. There may be more here than what meets the eye. Hmmmm.

We had a trashy t.v. night last night from watching one of our all time favorite eighties movies: Sixteen Candles...with all of us (including Alex) sighing and laughing along with Mollie Ringwald and Michael Anthony Hall. And, quizzing each other on what ever happened to a lot of the actors in this movie who never were seen again...? Do you know? Then, after Alex went to dreamland, the night owl and I watched a movie about extreme plastic surgery from people that needed it to get through their day to people with body alteration (putting metal horns on their heads) to transgender changes. Whooweeee. Made the illustration a nice place to intellectually rest.

Glorious Morning

 Rob is off to New York for a meeting and then to Miami tomorrow morning for meetings and a little look at Art Basil Miami. Lucky duck. Its a beautiful sunrise--a gradient orange to peach to taupe to blue after a huge full moon shining like a star over the dark landscape. There is something lovely about getting up with Rob when he travels as it is such a quiet and still moment. I am working on some holiday pictures around St. Nicholas (his birthday is 12/06), and his companions. Am working on a face of Krampus--and will do some Krampus pix of the stealing of the children. Its a nice little respite. I was thinking of patterns and a star made of pinecones, a star made of St. Nicholas, a star made of candy...I know, I know, sappy stuff...but that is what is rolling out of this head. I got my order from felt and crafts (Nepal) with a few bags of these big felt balls (all different colors). I took a small grouping to Vermont, as we made Christmas tree garlands by stringing them. I am seriously thinking of trying to find a wreathe form to sew these fun little colored balls to....and make a door decoration this weekend. I am going to goad Kitty into finishing up her applications (Hampshire and 4 others got in under the wire for Early Action yesterday).So, plenty in plan to do in the next few days.

Tuesday musings.


I'm multitasking these days. Last week, I opened a Squarespace.com account to migrate my blog from Blogspot to a more flexible format that I can grab the entire blog over...and have it in a more controlled way. So, I am messing around with this site--learning all the new tricks, the WYSIWYG tools...and without being the Dreamweaver queen. I learned how to migrate my tweets last night along with one by one, moving my links over. Take a look>> a work in progress but something that I will move to on January first. Blogspot has been great and I highly recommend it to someone who wants to fiddle with a blog with no commitments--but I feel now I need to better grab ahold of my content (1750 entries), my images and maybe fuse it with my illustration and graphic work. I work better in a simple format that I can control--but that I can keep fresh and interesting. Erich had heard about Squarespace from his tech podcasts (which I should do as well)--and it was praise all around. I must admit, with the easy interface (very intuitive), married with a strong tutorial/support section and an affordable price all makes Squarespace very appealing.

I met with my friend today about his enterprise we spoke about yesterday. He had quite a few viable names with a few I want to hug...they are so great. He highly recommended the Small Farmer's Journalas a philosophical place to go re localvore culture, local farming and the integrated life/farm/animals/cycle and stream. He also recommended I read some books from Wendell Berry particularly The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1977; Avon Books, 1978; Sierra Club, 1986; and the more poetic, Jayber Crow. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 2000. Seems like I have my work cut out.

back in the saddle.


Stephen Huneck
Lend a Helping Hand
Image size: 6" x 7"
Paper size: 8 1/2" x 11"

So, I have been thinking about a lot of stuff. First off, a name for a friend's new business. He has been giving it a lot of thought and has some possibilities--but after having a dose of Vermont and the naming that goes on there, I think this could go further. I am intrigued by the name/word "Vermont" and how that has come to mean pure, good, wholesome, farm grown--excellent, though reading the labels might dissuade you from buying the entire package. However it really works. There is Vermont Butter and Cheese, Vermont Smoke and Cure. There is Vermont Maple Syrup (with no other brand than that). Vermont Cheddar and Vermont Cheese (though Cabot Creamery might be the big owner there). Ben and Jerry's is identified with Vermont. You get the Idea. I was tickled to see that there is a Vermont Mystic Pie Company who is using Stephen Huneck to design and illustrate their packages for pie. The look is distinct and frankly very "Vermont". That is one train of thought. What makes Vermont, Vermonty? What is it about Vermont that embues all of this expectation and promise for pure excellence? Do we even have glimmers of that here?

Then there is the approach with getting a bigger name, a wider reach. What I mean is that if my friend is going to make one thing, but possibly blow that channel out a bit, or have other offerings that complement the product he is focusing on, how do we name that entity that has all that the word "Vermont" offers, and yet keeps it broad enough to embrace more. "Vermont" interestingly is a place, a location, a specificity that adds the novel "localvore" connotation as it is to those who can buy those Vermont brands,something desired, something special. So, place is part of the equation, a locality, a pinpointable place. Could that place be even more local? A farm? a street? a town, a village? a hamlet? That resonates for me as the place is the source, the lodestone from which all this goodness, this thinking, this approach comes from...Of course, it comes from the people, but the product is an outflow from the place. So, a place name makes sense with a describing word that situates it like farm, street, ville or burg, hill or river, stream or bend. That can help our name.

That's the thinking now.

Rob is off to Cooperstown and back for an interesting board meeting. Kitty is nursing a sore throat and Alex is nose to the grindstone. I am looking at my list of dos and redos and know that things are going to crank up. Ahhh. More holiday shopping online as today is Cyber Monday? and we all must spend all of our holiday money online as fast as we can. And did I mention holiday cards! Yikes.

Back from Vermont






Just got back from Thanksgiving in Vermont. It was filled with family and food...very nice and just right. There was hope that we would have snow for the holiday, but didnt. My sister in law knocked herself out with delicious food, comfortable beds, pleasant talk, plenty of tea and coffee and space to stretch out and talk with all the sisters, brothers, cousins and inlaws, outlaws etc. There were dogs to play with, apples to see, wonderful blue hills, and high skies. Our hostess created a list of tasks around Thanksgiving from cooking to tablesetting that we were all encouraged to sign up for which made it really fun with our assignments and an opportunity to work with everyone. This is well worth remembering as it works for everyone including the hostess...and gives us all a chance to help in a defined way. My brother supervised apple wood cutting and the smoker so we could have two different birds--a roasted one and a smoked one.

We had a little tour of Woodstock on Friday with a chance to go to Gillinghams (R. bought a shovel and I bought dish soap and bath soap). They had a remarkable selection of things (as usual) with the Christmas things (gorgeous advent calendars, bright red wool bags, ornaments, bottle brush ornaments, papergoods, bay candles,) being showcased and a glorious, perfect collection. Hammonds candycanes and candies abounded in millefiore confection. Each store was filled with glorious things from felted enormous mushrooms surrounding the clothes for your little ones for the holidays, wooden scenes of animals and creches, lovely little playhouses to go over card tables with embroidery and beautiful workmanship. We went to the holiday fair at the Woodstock Inn with a very nice collection of handmade things-- I bought a few things for friends and was tempted by quite a bit. I revelled in the amazing wreathes and swags, and holiday decor available at the Woodstock Farmers Market. Pepperberries, Juniper berries, giant sugarpine cones abounded. And it all smelled heavenly.

changing the channel


This weekend was cooking and wrapping. Today is working and shipping. Need to buy stamps for all the holiday cards and get the boxes sitting in the hallway into the wonderbus and out of my house and into someone elses! I boiled down a turkey carcass yesterday--yielding some nice soup along with making some oatmeal cookies with all ingredients from around here. Additionally, I made a dinner for all the Cassettis with a great potato recipe from the December Good Food Magazine. All was devoured to our delight. Friday, we were surprised to have our half pig delivered to our happiness. This jackpot was sweetened by a lot of bacon and sausage, two hams, and all sorts of roasts and chops. We were given a chicken as a bonus. So, we tried the bacon on Saturday and the sausage on Sunday to our pleasure as it is very lean and delicious...and as we know where this creature was raised and who did the raising, it has even more appeal. We are so grateful to have been included in this select group as it makes being a localvore easier.

I have been researching Krampus--one of the companions of St Nicholas. He is one of many pals of Nick--each having their own local flavor and relationship. The French have "Père Fouettard (the whipfather), who is said to be the butcher of three children. St. Nicholas discovered the murder and resurrected the three children. He also shamed Père Fouettard, who, in repentance, became a servant of St. Nicholas. Fouettard travels with the saint and punishes naughty children by whipping them. In modern times he distributes small whips, instead of thrashings, or gifts." from Wikipedia

More from Wikipedia:
Appearance
Often the subject of winter poems and tales, the Companions travel with St. Nicholas (also called Father Christmas or Santa Claus), carrying with them a rod (sometimes a stick and in modern times often a broom) and a sack. They are sometimes dressed in black rags, bearing a black face and unruly black hair. In many contemporary portrayals the companions look like dark, sinister, or rustic versions of Nicholas himself, with a similar costume but with a darker color scheme.

Krampus
In parts of Austria, Krampusse is a scary figure, most probably originating in the Pre-Christian Alpine traditions. Local tradition typically portrays these figures as children of poor families, roaming the streets and sledding hills during the holiday festival. They wore black rags and masks, dragging chains behind them, and occasionally hurling them towards children in their way. These Krampusumzüge (Krampus runs) still exist, although perhaps less violent than in the past.

Today, in Schladming, a town in Styria, over 1200 "Krampus" gather from all over Austria wearing goat-hair costumes and carved masks, carrying bundles of sticks used as switches, and swinging cowbells to warn of their approach. They are typically males in their teens and early twenties, and often get very drunk. They roam the streets of this typically quiet town and hit people with their switches. It is not considered wise for young women to go out on this night, as they are popular targets.

In many parts of Croatia, Krampus is described as a devil, wearing chains around his neck, ankles and wrists, and wearing a cloth sack around his waist. As a part of a tradition, when a child receives a gift from St. Nicolas he is given a golden branch to represent his/hers good deeds throughout the year; however, if the child has misbehaved, Krampus will take the gifts for himself and leave only a silver branch to represent the child's bad acts. Children are commonly scared into sleeping during the time St. Nicolas brings gifts by being told that if they are awake, Krampus will think they have been bad, and will take them away in his sack. In Hungary, the Krampusz is often portrayed as mischievous rather than evil devil, wearing a black suit, a long red tongue, with a tail and little red horns that are funny rather than frightening. The Krampusz wields a Virgács, which is a bunch of golden coloured twigs bound together. Hungarian parents often frighten children with getting a Virgács instead of presents, if they do not behave. By the end of November, you can buy all kinds of Virgács on the streets, usually painted gold, bound by a red ribbon. Getting a Virgács is rather more fun than frightening, and is usually given to all children, along with presents to make them behave

Belsnickel
Belsnickel is a companion of Santa Claus of the Palatinate (Pfalz) in northwestern Germany. Belsnickel is a man wearing fur which covers his entire body, and he sometimes wears a mask with a long tongue. He is a rather scary creature who visits children at Christmas time and delivers socks or shoes full of candy, but if the children were not good, they will find coal and/or switches in their stockings instead.

Zwarte Piet (Black Peter)
In Belgium and the Netherlands, children are told that Zwarte Piet leaves gifts in the children’s shoes. Presents are said to be distributed by Saint Nicholas aide Zwarte Piet; who enters the house through the chimney, which also explains his black face and hands. Blackfaced, googly-eyed, red-lipped Zwarte Piet dolls are displayed in store windows alongside with brightly packaged holiday merchandise.

Knecht Ruprecht
It is unclear whether the various companions of St. Nicholas are all expressions of a single tradition (Knecht Ruprecht), (since various texts, especially those outside the tradition, often treat the companions as variations of Knecht Ruprecht), or most likely a conflation of multiple traditions.

Knecht Ruprecht is commonly cited as a servant and helper, and is sometimes associated with Saint Rupert. According to some stories, Ruprecht began as a farmhand; in others, he is a wild foundling whom St. Nicholas raises from childhood. Ruprecht sometimes walks with a limp, because of a childhood injury. Often, his black clothes and dirty face are attributed to the soot he collects as he goes down chimneys."

I think there may be some pictures here as the concept of these very frightening cohorts of the Saint, not even our Santa Claus, intrigues me. This whackdoodle way of presenting good and evil particularly to very little children springs fully formed from the same source that brought us the wonderful world of Slovenly Peter and the tales of the Brothers Grimm, where the happiest of every afters generally manifests itself in some small and dirty unwanted heroine or hero freezes and dies in the cold.

And so the new adventure begins!

Saturday catch up


Big news. The portrait I did of Jiri Harcuba for the Masters of Studio Glass Show at the Corning Museum of Glass just got accepted into Illustration 52 (a juried competition sponsored by the Society of Illustrators, NY).I am delighted. This is the third year (last year was the Willow head from the Memento Mori work, the year previously, was the Chicken Chokers Poster). To be honest, I was fretting a bit on this one. My friend, the very talented and smart, Lori Ann Levy Holm emailed me earlier this week that she got a piece in the 52 and had gotten the phone call. I didnt get any call...and was being calm about some years you get in, some years you don't. Despite the fact that my head was rationalizing it, and integrating it into the push forward, to keep going, to keep working...my heart was reluctantly following. But, yesterday around 3 p.m. the call came, and they happily told me the great news. Hurray!

Kitty is plugging away on the college stuff. Alex is out with friends and Rob is asleep. I have a cranberry sauce done, potatoes cooked and an apple tart finished and cooling. Gloria is back from California and we will have an early Thanksgiving with the family tonight.

Alex just called. He missed the bus in Ithaca, and could I please come down to pick him up. I guess I have no choice.

More later.

IF: Music


There is music in the beauty, and the silent note which Cupid strikes, far sweeter than the sound of an instrument; for there is music wherever there is harmony, order, or proportion; and thus far we may maintain the music of the spheres.
Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682)
Religio Medici. Part ii. Sect. ix.

practicing with the devil


Paul Z. asked me if this teufel was Krampus which prompted an immediate wiki search to find out that yes, this guy could be Krampus. Wiki says:

Krampus is a mythical creature who accompanies Saint Nicholas in various regions of the world during the Christmas season. The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen). In the Alpine regions, Krampus is represented by an incubus demon accompanying Saint Nicholas. Krampus acts as an anti–Saint Nicholas, who, instead of giving gifts to good children, gives warnings and punishments to the bad children. Traditionally, young men dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December, particularly in the evening of December 5, and roam the streets frightening children and women with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas the tradition also includes birching by Krampus, especially of young females.
Modern Krampus costumes consist of Larve (wooden masks), sheep's skin, and horns. Considerable effort goes into the manufacture of the hand-crafted masks, and many younger adults in rural communities compete in the Krampus events.
In Oberstdorf, in the southwestern alpine part of Bavaria, the tradition of der Wilde Mann ("the wild man") is kept alive. He is like Krampus (except the horns), is dressed in fur, and frightens children (and adults) with rusty chains and bells, but is not an assistant of Saint Nicholas.

one of those days

It has been as if the weather has been asking us forgiveness during the long and mild fall. It was positively balmy for this time of the year--with a cool morning with frost dulling the green grass down to a yellow sage color to the clear skies and warm days that have framed up this fall. Not much rain, not much cold. And here we are, almost at Thanksgiving and the fear of the long winter has not set in. Thankfully. We had some storms put on the remaining windows here in the big house. We also had the chimney sweep here to clean our little engine, our little skinny Jodel stove--to find that it now smokes. Rob took it apart from the bottom end to find nothing blocking the air (no mouse nests, birds nests, chipmunks, or stray skunks nesting in the stove)...but smoking none the less. So Mel, the small man who sweeps is coming again to troubleshoot the stove. I am getting the snows put on the car along with an early annual check, oil change and check the pings and knocks. Gotta get ready as Vermont looms for our Thanksgiving treat. We are off to visit my brother and tribe in Woodstock--and our entire clan is thrilled with the aspect of a scene change.

My office is generally a big mess. Thats the way I like it...and now with the holidays almost upon us, the gift wrap, present piles have taken the entropy to an entirely different place. I am thrilled with my new collection of reusable shopping bags with matching gift wrap that Walmart offered. I am thrilled as I have gotten through the stock paper and ribbons that I have held onto for the year. I am chugging through the collection of presents I have accumulated, and am making lists of those things that need to be bought or considered. My holiday cards have come from the printer as have the envelopes. Hopefully, tomorrow, I can review the labels and refine the list so that we can get into the whole holiday mailing thing (along with doing the same thing for valentines day as my valentines cards have delivered too!) next week...and have it done by 12/1. I really need to get the bulk of this work done before 12/1 as the holidays bite into the month, and just as the dessert fork hits the plate on Thanksgiving day, we need to be done for the December holidays as there are only so many days, so many evenings and an ocean's amount of work due by January 1 as many budgets tail out by that time. So, from a work standpoint, its clear the decks and get ready for the onslaught.

The home team need a break.Everyone is complaining about homework, about the kids at the High School etc. The sooner the musical and ski club can begin, the better. We are having both of the younger's wisdom teeth pulled out after Christmas, so...the holiday is going to be before the teeth and after teeth. Poor devils. But, on the good side, at least this will be done before everyone goes to college.

Trying to make plans to take the tribe to Art Basel Miami the first week of December. Need to make the schedule and $$ work with the frequent flier miles. More later.