Well I need to do two today. First the blue of an Alaskan iceberg..... Then I want to share this other one. So these are the Santa's Helpers that were in the windows of a downtown store when I was a child, back in the 1950's. They all had movements. I loved going downtown every Christmas with my mom to look at the windows dressed for Christmas. At some point, maybe in the '70's, they stopped doing that. Of course it was around the time that almost all of the department stores closed their downtown locations having moved to the suburbs. The Helpers were saved by someone and put in storage. Then a few years ago someone in a little town close to me had them in their windows for a couple of years. It wasn't the same but at least it was nice to see. Then this past year a little furniture store on the outskirts of downtown, where Findlay Market is, had them in their windows so I had to go and see them. I'm disappointed, though thoroughly understand, that they "freshened" the Helpers scenes. I hope they brought some joy to some children this year. Great memories for me.

Too many to count sweet gum saplings used to construct this artistic display, called ’StickWorks’. The artist visited the area first for inspiration, which was round hay bales commonly seennin farm fields. .

Yes, they really looked creepy, especially the ones without hair. It was in a hobby/model store in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, but I can't remember which. I was wandering around the neighbourhood and in and out of some big stores that I thought looked interesting. The bottom floors were mostly anime and character figures, but these were upstairs.

Its a restaurant/bar we go to called the Skyway, in Zigzag, a small town on the way upto Mt. Hood Its is filled with all kinds of visual treats. They have a wonderful patio open in the summer. And a huge fireplace in the winter. My husband likes it more than I do. I think the food is pretty average