In Bedded

It has been a loooooong week. Between all the work to be completed before the holiday break there are the festive parties that seems to spring up like weeds in my garden. Do they make Holiday Round Up to squelch these pop-ups?

Seriously, I love this season.

It is the time to travel the many avenues that fat will forge into our diets. Yep, this is the last stop before we arrive at Resolution Station, so eat up.

Every year I make a music video revue of the past year. It started off as a Valentine's gift when funds were running tight in our house and has ballooned into a full blown year end video production. Last year's Year 6 included parts 1-5 as well on one DVD. I was really happy to have been able to make this gift for my closest chums. It provides a nice bookend to the previous year and ensures the weepy eyed host/hostess will open that special bottle of wine one has been eyeing on the wine rack.

This year I am facing the fact that besides a table full of sugar cookies I have yet to decorate, I have not produced anything to give my friends this Christmas. So I have decided to produce a much smaller version of the year end video. My goal is to have it done in one day this year.

But one should not feel too bad or shocked at this news since I have not bought one gift yet this year. So I will pop an extra anti-anxiety pill and just roll with the season while Michael and the dog enjoy a Saturday AM slumber in bed.

Cheers!

Signs of the Times

Anyone who has ventured beyond the city walls will attest all bets are off on what culture is yet to be discovered.

On a recent trip to Holland I was on my way back to the city and felt a much overdue trip to the Zeeland Herman Miller Outlet Store was in order. Anyone who has discovered this gem also more than likely has been the benefactor of the design gods with a great Herman Miller story. (Mine is two black eames chairs for only $200. each. Cool, huh?)

Again the trick is getting through Zeeland with its strange configuration of city streets. No wonder it is still a dry village, although I doubt it was when they laid it out.

So as I wander about the town seeking the HM store I am greated by many signs. But my favorite three are very special and deserve to be singled out. Now I am sure there might be those who will take offense, but I really don't care. These signs got me to turn off my auto pilot as I deviated from my charted course home and performed daring U-turns to snap a pic of what had me laughing at 25 MPH.


One would think that a church of all places would be able to accurately report what the Angel had to say since no doubt there is more than one reference Bible inside these walls. I am quite sure the Angel delivered "Tidings of Great Joy"


I see a whole new round of wristbands in our future.
H C A A B
(He Came As A Babe)
Jesus really was such a cute kid from all the family photos I have seen and I understand the neighbors were not joking when they propped this holiday declaration decoration.


This sign always made me laugh as a kid. For years I would avoid it for obvious reasons...and we all know how that story ended. I am Special.



Ok, so this is not a sign in Zeeland but a sign of the times as original art hangs on the walls of many area galleries this year. If you are seeking a unique gift please be sure to visit a local gallery who could sure use some Christmas cash (or credit card) cheer this year.

Support Local Artists!

To view Tommy Allen's artwork, please visit The Nines Gallery in Holland, Michigan.
http://www.theninesgallery.com/Pages/artistpages/TommyAllenframe.html
The Nines Gallery has the newest round of images from the Lake Michigan Suite.

Flint Art Road Trip, Part 2 - CHRISTmas Town

I am not sure what I have done here but I am quite sure I messed something up on the blog today. But not as messed up as the folks at Frankenmuth's Bronner's Christmas store. Leading up to this holiday store paradise we were continually reminded of the "reason for the season" as CHRISTmas is clearly spelled on every billboard leading up to this mecca of tack.

Jean found a few items that I swear the last time I saw them was at a bachelor party.

It was very cold. Even the Baby Jesus who was actually born in the Middle East had a very pained look upon his countenance and quite frankly looked very out of place in his native garb against the cold snow.

I felt it would be good to warm him up a bit with a stylish Paul Smith scarf. The other wise men who I question their wisdom should have checked the weather channel and brought more appropriate gifts. Mary was so touched that she became speechless. Which was a shame since we were just talking about making tortillas with her face on them. I did lose my wallet after this gesture. I wonder who could have taken it?

And just when we thought all holiday traditions might have been totally marketed out and packed in shiny boxes of lights and bulbs when what to our wondering eyes would appear but a three story tall Santa, my dear.

I guess in Frankenmuth it is a very touching tradition to be at Bronner's and let Santa Claus tea bag your children. And you know what Capra said so many years ago, "Every time Santa tea bags a child an angel gets it's wings ripped off."

So this brings us to the close of the Flint Art Road Trip. If I could have found a way to upload more images here one would have seen the arresting display of Precious Moments figurines, the right to life ornaments (full priced) and the Adopted Baby's Christmas bulb (discounted 75% off) I would have even shown you the blow up reindeer who appeared to be placing his hand in a region that would surely get him kicked off the sleigh team. The rest of the town was just about the same with it's overpriced chicken served by folk in traditional German attire, long endless lines of starry eyed tourists and the local meat market of Kern's Sausages where they invite you to get yours in the rear. We had no more time to spare so we just hit the road.

We laughed and laughed as we took our picture in front of the Kern's sign and shouted to passer's by, "Merry CHRISTmess to all, and to all a good fright."

Flint Art Road Trip, Part 1

I have been accused of being way more serious on this blog than I am in person, so I aim to correct this misconception by posting my photo views of my recent trip to my hometown of Flint.

The goal was simply to get in my car, pack a few friends, don't alert family of my arrival and just drive over to the East Side to see all the things I never have time to view between the baking of the turkey and the emergency therapy sessions with family members.

Sunday's trip was to include a few other folks but due to my last minute decision to visit Flint only my friend Jean Hanks was able to accompany me. No regrets, please.

First up, we toured the many empty storefronts of downtown Flint. One thing that stands out about Flint is the beauty of decay. Something about the rust and boarded storefronts ignites such passionate conversations.

My favorite observation is that as you start off the highway on the main street to downtown you are greeted on the left by the Genessee County Jail. Nothing is more welcoming of urban renewal than a prison on the corner of your city’s main street. What the hell was those city planners thinking when they built this modern structure?

After all this decay I was hungry like the folks who would wander up the streets looking for money. A stop to an old Flint favorite, The Bill Thomas Halo Burger complete with a cow mascot with a halo was definitely in line. As a child this halo meant nothing but now I know that the cow is just a spirit of the cow that used to be. Almost saint like. And don't even think about counting Weight Watcher's points here.

Our last stop was the Flint Institute of Arts. DAMN! This is museum is worth blowing a hole wide open in the sky to visit. FIA is the home to the second largest collection of art in the state. And if you love contemporary art, hell, each and every period is beautifully represented here. The Buick may have come and gone in style but this collection only gets better with time. It makes you wonder what Grand Rapids is thinking when you see what an art spread Flint puts out. (Psssst….The Warhol show is only there until the end of December.)

Ok, I want to write more about this trip but I need to make a break. The Flint Road Trip, Part 2 will include our trip to Frankenmuth - The over the top German CHRISTmas town. (Hometown to Vince Salerno – tell me his life was not hell, an Italian boy in weinerschnitzel town.)

Lastly and Sadly for those folks looking for a souvenir from this downtown Flint trip would have to visit the Wal-Mart on the outskirts of town/farmland to procure this much sought after Made In China gift item.

Syriana

Last night was a good night to head out to the movies. Since much buzz has been generated about Syriana it felt like the best choice.

It turns out that the feeling was correct.

Syriana while laboring along in rapids cuts only gives the audience member a clue to the bigger picture here or there as a handfull puzzle pieces are placed in your lap. (unless you were the idiot who brought a 14 inch pizza and bread sticks to create their own strange version of dinner theater.)

The film is very complicated in the way it is presented but it is meant to do so to remind the viewer of the maze one must truly wander in the international oil race. Contracts are signed, leaders are wrongfully accused and yes, people will die either physically or morally off the radar.

There are wonderful elements of symbolism as well but at the risk of spoiling it, I will allow the viewer to wander down this path of discovery on their own.

Most of all this film will inspire dialogue many hours after the credits have ceased rolling. Even now I find it hard to divorce what I have seen in a fictional story with what appears in the news headlines. Syriana is worth the ride and as John Douglas of The Grand Rapids Press says it should be moved up to the top of your must see film list.