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Halloween High Flyers
Art Dolls /Stick Dolls : copyright Wilma Simmons
I confess to being a fan of Angry Birds and challenging myself to a game of Angry Birds Ham'O'Ween will be about as far as I will go to celebrating Halloween here in Australia. However it did start me thinking about how birds became associated with this celebration with its Celtic origins. I can understand spiders, bats and even black cats and wolves associated with spookiness, but birds?
Halloween Art Tag : copyright Wilma Simmons
It appears that the black raven has long been considered rather ominous, in spite of a harmonious history of sharing the environment with human beings. Associated with wizards and witches, the raven supposedly inherited some secret powers "to carry magic across long distances and collect secrets to bring back ... " (from natureworldnews.com) Add this information to its throaty territorial "kraa" call and scavenger habits, it is no wonder that the raven might seem rather spooky on an eerie night. And if you have been watching the BBC series 'Wolf Hall", you might be interested in this piece of historical trivia. It is said that if anything happened to the six ravens kept in the Tower of London, then some terrible fate would befall the Crown of England.
However, it seems hard to imagine with currently so much "pretty" owl merchandise for clothing and home decor, how the owl has become such a popular Halloween symbol or maybe not?
Art Doll - Owl : from the collection of Marcia Griggs , copyright Wilma Simmons
Portrayed typically as a companion to witches and Hedwig's popularity as Harry Potter's pet, the owl's connection with Halloween may be a little more obvious. Its screech in the dead of night has been likened in many stories to a witch's cackle. Perhaps a more prosaic explanation for owls being considered rather scary at this time of the year is that it is Autumn in the northern hemisphere. In Autumn, tawny owls in particular stake out their territory by their nightly screeching and swooping, so it's not hard to imagine being terrified on a black night by those piercing eyes and a rushing advance of wingspan. So, besides Halloween, what do these two high flyers have in common? Their intelligence?
Owl Woman and Owl : from the collection of Marcia Griggs, copyright Wilma Simmons
The owl's association with Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, has helped to make it a symbol of enlightenment, cleverness and wisdom. While owls are extraordinary creatures with amazing hunting ability and super eyesight, they are not any more intelligent than other birds. Why then "wise as an owl" - they look smart ! Its fixed large eyes give an owl an intelligent probing glaze. The truth is that the owl uses its brain to process information from the optic nerves to allow it to filter light and to develop the super powers of phenomenal peripheral night vision. So perhaps from a human perspective, owls may not be wise, but there is an awful lot going on its brain. (fromwww.scienceiq.com). The raven, on the other hand, is really smart and named in scientific studies as the most intelligent bird, displaying an aptitude for using logic in problem solving, imitating other bird calls, interacting with other animals, performing multi-task sequences and managing a highly complex social lifestyle. This often maligned bird has the largest bird brain and lives a long life both in the wild and in captivity. Interesting? Here is a video of some clever ravens.... Happy Halloween!
Plastic cups https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/christmas-stem-ideas-kids/ Advent Blog : Day 11 - Disposable We are all so much more conscious about ridding our landfills and oceans of plastic waste. For Christmas, here is a way to use up some of those disposable items which seem to multiply at holiday parties and celebrations, or perhaps you have just been saving them up for a creative use.... Who would have thought coffee pods would make such stylish Christmas trees ? ... Add caption If you don't have one of those machines, then perhaps you have coffee on the run - Starbucks or Nescafe ? from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/369858188126737920/ Nescafe cups https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/72761350208620530/ The disposable cups don' t have to be brand names to work well as materials for Christmas trees. Taking an engineering approach to plastic cup trees seems to be the answer for a more ornate result. from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin
There are many songs about fruit cakes - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary. Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers). This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach. Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that work up
This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as wrapping str
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