mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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Virgin of Guadalupe Surfin Safari
December 11, 2012
mosaic on underpass
I was lucky enough to see the surfing virgin in person during her brief stay on an underpass in Encintas, CA. She was perfect there, just a few blocks from Moonlight Beach. She was removed and I think she went to LA to a collection. There was a great uproar to save the art work, but alas she was taken from the site. Tomorrow is the 12 Dec, Virgin of Guadalupe day. I know all her fans at the beach wish she still had a shrine they could see every day in Encinitas.
Surfing Virg
During the protest the Kook at Cardiff was dressed in her image to show solidarity. If you enjoy costuming and are not familiar with the Kook, you can check his calendar here.
Kook 2013
Grand Holiday Spa Down
December 11, 2012
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If you could go back in time to any place and time where would you time travel? I know I would go straight to Bad Ragaz (via Zurich) to party like it is Christmas. I would attend the tree lighting choral evening and giant buffet offered by the Grand Hotels Bad Ragaz. There is nothing like it anywhere.
Lobby Grand Hotels
lights of Bad Ragaz
buffet for the whole town
choir for the whole town
Let’s party
Festive in Bad Ragaz
the Christmas tree
downtown Tamina Gorge
Sonia, Bademeister
I would go back to the day before the beautiful people redesigned the spa, when bads were bads, and bademeisters were bad ass.
Sonia on the job
Stroll to Hotel William Penn
December 10, 2012
Hotel William Penn in downtown Pittsburgh has a gingerbread house of the hotel in the lobby..I had a really wonderful buffet breakfast there after a stroll of the town.
stone carving Pittsburgh
goth church
Lobby William Penn
William Penn
hotel in gingerbread
bridge
growing art
Mission Inn Riverside
December 10, 2012
Mission Inn courtyard
- Riverside, CA
interior spiral stairs
The first time I saw the Mission Inn in Riverside, CA I thought it was a mission. I learned it is a landmark hotel now owned by the city to preserve the unique architectural wonder. I visited for a breakfast in the dining room and a look around the place. It is classy.
balcony views of courtyard
Pool at Mission Inn
outdoor arches
sidewalk singer at Mission Inn
fantastic architecture
palms downtown Riverside
fountain garden
Riverside,CA Mission Inn
Christmas Customs in Colonial America
December 9, 2012
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This gives us the history of the celebration of Christmas.
I have had several of you ask me about how true are the wreath decorations of Colonial Williamsburg. So true to form, I did some research to confirm their authenticity. In my research I came across some interesting information on customs and traditions of Christmas within the colonial period.
During the colonial period in Virginia, the Christmas season followed a four week period of Advent. Most Virginians were devout Anglicans and they would have observed a period of fasting, prayers and reflection. They would have read daily from the Book of Common Prayer. Fasting would have been only one full meal, which generally would have been meatless during the day. After the four weeks, they would end with a Christmas meal and the start of the Christmas season.
Did you know that most of New England didn’t celebrate Christmas during the colonial period? Christmas was outlawed in most of New…
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St. Nick and Company
December 7, 2012
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Shmutzli
Yesterday was St. Nicholas Day, celebrated by many around the world. Santa Lucia and others are identified with the holiday of Christmas. These folk tales are grounded in the old religion of Europe. They make for beautiful images and stories, passed down for generations.
Santa with gifts
Kings of Orient Are
Father Christmas
Winter Spirits
ChristKind
When you factor in that The Virgin of Guadalupe has her day on 12 Dec, then Sta. Lucia on the 13 Dec, Saint’s-a Poppin!!! Get ready to rock and roll with all the winter deities, because here they come. They often have a train associated with them, except for the Virg, who arrives on a surfboard. She will be featured on 12 Dec.
Train to winter
Winter Wonderland
Winter
May the darkest time of the year allow reflection, depth and rebirth in your lives. Merry Solstice!
Zombie Fruitcake Identification
December 5, 2012
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In this busy season while everyone prepares for the end of the world as well as the year zombies take advantage of the rush to inundate all segments of society. Vigilance has never been more important if you want to avoid being dragged into the zombie vortex.
Although you may think zombies exist in certain geographical or demographic ways, they are much more able and agile than anyone suspects. Shape shifting is their life. There may be zombies in your workplace, in businesses you frequent, and yes, gentle readers, even in your home. Don’t bother trying to identify them by appearance, as they are masterful at disguise. It is their bread and butter. There is only one proven way to know if you are dealing face to face with a real zombie. You shall know them by their fruits. This means that the results are the only way to determine what the intent has been. The zombie creates works (fruits) without merit and without meaning, coarse and wasteful. So if you are gifted a fruitcake by a zombie, do NOT regift it. It is evil. Do your part.
Gal 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity.”
If your zombie fruitcake has none of the above ingredients, toss it straight in the landfill. Better yet, take it to Colorado and enter the fruitcake toss. What could be more fun than lighting your perfectly legal doobie and launching a fruitcake into flight?
Holiday Botanical Cheer
December 4, 2012
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holidays in bloom
tree in conservatory
season blooming
holiday color
art glass in conservatory
gingerbread house
oh tanenbaum
These are a few of my favorite shots from my visit to Phipps Conservatory last year at this time. I wish you a festive and well designed season.
Best Time to Time Travel
December 1, 2012
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Gotham City
Today is the first day of the slowest travel time of the year. For the next two weeks hotels, flights, attractions, and everything related to tourism will be experiencing low season. This will abruptly come to a halt on Dec 15. If there is a place you want to visit but like to have the best service at the lowest price now is your moment. Get while the getting is good. The essential key to happiness in travel is beating the peak. If you fly on Sunday after Thanksgiving in the US you will be accompanied by the largest crowds of the year. Wait a week and a magical thing happens. Along with happier staff in hotels, restaurants, and airports the people know know the secret of hitting the road the first two weeks of December are a far less cranky group than the one that will stand in line for absolutely everything at the end of the month.
Carnegie in Pittsburgh
Phipps Conservatory
Last year at this time I went to Pittsburgh, where I grew up, but had not been since 1965. I had the best time finding landmarks and taking in the whole Gothic Christmas scene downtown. I went to Phipps Conservatory, a fond memory from youth, to enjoy the holiday botanical show. I enjoyed a superb performance by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and perhaps best of all I was invited to a family home to get down Steeler style. Although I didn’t go out to Oakmont to see my own suburban home with a basement, cheering the Steelers with a family of serious fans in their basement did bring back big memories. Naturally the place has changed since 1965, but since the three rivers made it what it is, the rivers still define the city. Once full of coal barges, lit up by the steel mills running all night, the Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers form the mighty Ohio in Pittsburgh. This strategic point, where Fort Pitt is memorialized, made Pittsburgh the gateway to the west. It certainly worked for me. I moved to Venezuela in 1964 to be a petroleum princess, then to Texas in 1966 so my dad could be an Aggie. I never lived in a cold place, or the eastern part of the country again after that departure. I was an ice skating whiz at the age of 10, but I tried it in Zermatt when I was about 47 and found I had truly lost my ability. I decided against the rental skates last year, not wishing to leave the ‘Burgh on crutches. Just watching brought back enough fond memories for me.
Moses at the Mall, the One Commandment Diet
November 29, 2012
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i have been reflecting a lot about the way the monotheists enjoy and spread their beliefs. There is such a giant conflict of interest inherent in pledging aligiance to one god then using that God as a marketing device. It appears that these worshipers do many diverse things to indicate how much they are into religion and their own sect. Sinning, confessing, decorating, blessing, baptizing, and tithing are slightly rediculous if they are performed to honor false gods.
Charleton Heston dressed in his Moses gear should be sent to the mall with the tablets and a buring bush. All the parents need to sit on his lap, very close to the bush, while the kids go to Santa’s workshop. Moses asks each parent if they have other gods before the one they take the kids to worship. Charleton will quiz them on their understanding and execution of the first commandment. The bush will then have some private time with each parent during which they will be still and know.
Would you be afraid to sit on Charleton’s lap? Did you have to look up the first commandment?
