Hey friends thanks for dropping in. I wish you all joy and prosperity for the coming year.
Its been an interesting year for me, making new friends meeting more artists and reaching out to more people in general.
The gallery is going from strength to strength and now the studio is so well organized I almost don't want to mess it up with use!
However, I have been working and there are a few new pieces coming together.
There's been an ongoing battle with the ninja mice, who have found my packaging materials to be just perfect for nest building.
The first lot of traps I put down only succeeded in giving them a decent supper as they delicately avoided springing the trap whilst eating the bait. They have nibbled their way through a black plastic dustbin and even a plastic tub of rat poison!( Ninja!)
I don't like to use poison as it will run down the food chain, truth be told I don't enjoy killing them either but,' All life is borrowed, one day you have to give it back'' ( Avatar) :))
It's them or me.
After having to drive 7 miles to the tip to dispose of contaminated material worth a couple of hundred I feel justified!
So I am working on the minimalist Christmas. I have got down to a half dozen Christmas cards( received) and I'm quite proud. I have rid myself of the guilt that follows not sending them out, my aim is zero cards by next year! Think about this, the sending of cards has only existed since the Victorian era........
Christmas Cards
The custom of sending Christmas cards started in the U.K. in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. He was a civil servant (Government worker) who was very interested in the new 'Public Post Office' and wondered how it could be used more by ordinary people.
Sir Henry had the idea of Christmas Cards and with his friend John Horsley, who was an artist, they designed the first card and sold them for 1 shilling each. (That is only 5p today(!), but in those days it was worth much much more.) The card had three panels. The outer two showed people caring for the poor and the centre panel was a family having a large Christmas dinner! Some people didn't like the card because it showed a child being given a glass of wine!
The first post that ordinary people could use was started in 1840 when the first 'Penny Post' public postal deliveries began. Before that, only very rich people could afford to send anything in the post. The new Post Office was able to offer a Penny stamp because new railways were being built. These could carry much more post than the horse and carriage that had been used before. Also, trains could go a lot faster. Cards became even more popular in the UK when they could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one halfpenny - half the price of an ordinary letter.
As printing methods improved, Christmas cards became much more popular and were produced in large numbers from about 1860. In 1870 the cost of sending a post card, and also Christmas cards, dropped to half a penny. This meant even more people were able to send cards.
An engraved card by the artist William Egley, who illustrated some of Charles Dickens's books, is on display in the British Museum. By the early 1900s, the custom had spread over Europe and had become especially popular in Germany.
The first cards usually had pictures of the Nativity scene on them. In late Victorian times, robins (an English bird) and snow-scenes became popular because the postmen in that time were nicknamed 'Robin Postmen' because of the red uniforms they wore. Snow-scenes were popular because they reminded people of the very bad winter that happened in 1836.
Christmas Cards appeared in the United States of America in the late 1840s, but were very expensive and most people couldn't afford them. It 1875, Louis Prang, a printer who was originally from German but who had also worked on early cards in the UK, started mass producing cards so more people could afford to buy them. Mr Prang's first cards featured flowers, plants, and children. In 1915, John C. Hall and two of his brothers created Hallmark Cards, who are still one of the biggest card makers today!
In the 1910s and 1920s, home made cards became popular. They were often unusual shapes and had things such as foil and ribbon on them. These were usually too delicate to send through the post and were given by hand.
Nowadays, cards have all sorts of pictures on them: jokes, winter pictures,Father Christmas, or romantic scenes of life in past times. Charities often sell their own Christmas Cards as a way raising money at Christmas.
Charities also make money from seals or stickers used to seal the card envelopes. This custom started in Denmark in the early 1900s by a postal worker who thought it would be a good way for charities to raise money, as well as making the cards more decorative. It was a great success: over four million were sold in the first year! Soon Sweden and Norway adopted the custom and then it spread all over Europe and to America.
So there you have it ! Christmas has become more a celebration of over indulgence and excess, people spending what they cannot afford to give to those who already have far too much and will never appreciate what they already have. People say Christmas is a time for sharing, isn't that ALL the time?
Anyway enough of the serious stuff, have another mince pie!
And for those over indulging in same something for you....:) and me actually!
Today's seasonal humor
I would like to share an experience with you all, about drinking and driving.
As you well know, some of us have been known to have had brushes with the authorities on our way home from the odd social session over the years.
A couple of nights ago, I was out for a few drinks with some friends and had a few too many beers and some rather nice claret.
Knowing full well I may have been slightly over the limit, I did something I've never done before - I took a bus home.
I arrived home safely and without incident, which was a real surprise, as I have never driven a bus before and am not sure where I got it from...
Santa's Aviation check
Like all people who are involved in flying vehicles through the sky, Father Christmas has to have a pilot's license. That means regular visits by examiners from the Civil Aviation Authority.
Well, shortly before the Christmas in question, an examiner turned up from the CAA to test Father Christmas' skills as a pilot and check out his sledge.
Father Christmas had made sure his paperwork was in order, given his sledge a good cleaning and made sure the reindeer were in good shape and was quite confident that he would pass the examination okay, as he always had before.
The examiner looked through all the paperwork and had no problems with that. He walked slowly around the sledge, kicking the runners as he went along. He checked the harnesses, checked the reindeer's feet, did some power/weight ratio calculations and generally gave the impression that he was happy with everything.
Then came the pilot evaluation. Father Christmas climbed into the sledge, fastened his seat harness, checked the gauge panel and said a few encouraging words to the reindeer. Then the examiner climbed onboard and Father Christmas was astonished to see that he was carrying a shotgun.
"What are you going to do with that?" said Father Christmas, with more than a little concern.
"I shouldn't tell you this, but we have to see how you handle this craft when you lose an engine on take-off."
probably the worst picture ever taken of me hahaha!
Have a great week my darlings!
