Trans Pacific Christmas Contrasts

In these days of almost instant everything, including contact with people half a world away, it's easy to forget that a wee pond called the Pacfic Ocean separates New Zealand & the USA by 9600km (6000 miles).

Two Western countries, culturally very similar & alike in many ways - but so very different in others. Not least of all the fact that we are seasonal opposites.

Never are the seasonal differences more obvious than at Christmas time. The early settlers to New Zealand brought all of their European traditions with them but over the years they adapted & evolved. I guess the lack of snow in Summer may have forced that issue somewhat ;)

For this months artistic growth challenge Mallory Hoffman (Rosebud101) & I have decided to compile photo journals of those Christmas contrasts.

I've never experienced a white Christmas although I grew up knowing of them as that was the stuff of my Mum's childhood. I well remember the very  traditional English Christmas dinners - roast turkey, roast ham, roast potatoes,  green beans, corn, carrots, stuffing, cranberry sauce & gravy - Christmas pudding, fruit mince pies, trifle, brandy sauce, cream & ice cream. Everyone used to fall alseep mid afternoon after that lot....well,  the adults did & the kids had FUN!

Then somehow new potatoes &  kumara (sweet potatoes) snuck in, someone decided they didn't like turkey that much & it got replaced with chicken, the hams became cold hams..how about a salad with that, it's too hot for all those roast veges.  Before you knew it fresh fruit salad & Pavlova started replacing the trifle &  then; "Oh the heck with it lets have a BBQ & make things easy". You get the picture...

Of course food isn't the only difference - but you'll have to wait until the reveal on the 27th December, 2010 to see the rest of the differences between the way Christchurch New Zealand & Minnesota, USA ( a mere 13,221km or 8216 miles apart) celebrate the holiday season.

Lets see what  Mallory has to say about this challenge by visiting her blog!

Ok - I lied, here's another sneak peek.....

Freaky Friday - Take #5

Freaky Friday, everything went my way ;o) <--- That was a slight twist on Aqua's lyrics!! Also it's pretty much how I feel right now.
This week Mallory & my "Freaky Friday" Challenge was Totems & I have got to say that I had THE most fun with this.
I got rather carried away though, inspired by the piece of driftwood I had found & a recently made bead featuring DSP, enamel & silver foil that didn't turn out quite as expected, but had some wonderful effects none the less, I ploughed ahead having decided to work around those two initial components.

As I tried to work in some extra bit's of colour in with the DSP/Enamel/Foil combo I realised that base wanted to swallow the colour, so I decided to make a somewhat plainer base bead & use the desired colors on that.

While making the bead I accidentally got sidetracked & ended up with a bead that looked rather different to what I had in mind. However, I was really happy with that bead & wanted to use that also.

From there the idea's took flight - with only one slight problem, I couldn't decide whether I wanted my totem be representative of the freedom of flight or the weightless grace of swimming.... I have a passion for both air & water. Both represent freedom to me.

My initial attempt at an owl left me somewhat disappointed, so I went on to try making a 'fluke'(I am determined not to say 'whales tail' & leave myself wide open...), inspired by one of Jodi Henry's beads that I saw way back when I first started lampworking.
I kind of overdecorated it & got the base too wide. No matter though, I just put it aside & kept on going.

My second attempt at a bird was trying a Jen Geldard style of bird (ironically the day before she released her tutorial), it resulted in a rather big baby that cracked. Thus, two totems were born!

This whole week has been a great one at the torch - I actually wanted to torch every day & it was with great happiness that I felt the idea's & inspiration flow. As Hannibal from "The A Team" used to say "I love it when a plan comes together"!

I rounded it off with a walk on the beach last night - 'cos guess who needed a second piece of driftwood.

"Neither Fish nor Fowl nor Fine Red Herring"
aka Totem #2 or is that #1?

Slightly Closer Shot.

"One Flew Over the Crackedhead's Nest"
aka Totem #1 or is that #2

Closer Shot

Keep an eye Mallory's Blog to see what she has done with this challenge & to find out what the next Freaky Friday adventure will be.

Meanwhile any one who still wants to sneak in a totem has time - I'd love to see other's ideas & hear of their adventures. This has been an enlightening exercises for me.

Oh & Thank You Ang - you are always a constant source of inspiration for encouraging one to think outside the square - whether it be with your glass sculptures or words!!