Moustache Must Dash

AKA a whiskery mystery.

It was a normal day at first.

A Thursday.

I woke up, went through my regular waking routine, having coffee, getting ready for work, and then, just as I was about to groom my moustache with my little Slim Jim comb and hair gel...

I realized it wasn't there!

My moustache was gone!

My lip was naked!

I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

But what could have happened?

Did I shave it off and forget about it?
Nah –that's weird and unlikely.

Did Krista shave me while I slept?
Nah, she wouldn't do that –that's even weirder and less likely.

Did I develop some strange follicular/dermal condition?
Well, there was no evidence of moustache hairs on my pillow (or anywhere else in the house), and my lip felt fine, despite its nudity, so that's not it, either.

Then what was it?

What happened?

What...in the name...of all that's decent...?

Happier times.

I'd worn a handlebar-style moustache since the summer of 2006, inspired by my uncle Alekso in Ohio who's had a similar moustache for as long as I can remember. I grew mine as a sort of joke just before we went to visit my family down there, but then I started to like it, and it's been with me since.

Until just recently, that is.

Patchy tufts of lameness.

Leaving aside the bizarre mystery for the moment, I tried to regrow the moustache, but a few months and several attempts later, all I could grow were weird, irregular patches; tufts of fur that could never become the full, robust moustache I previously sported.

I became sad.

I lost sleep.

And, Samson-like, even my painting skills suffered a bit.

But, short of wearing a fake moustache, I realized I'd just have to get used to being whisker-free indefinitely...maybe even for the rest of my life!

So I just kept my lip shaved clean.

Naked.

Bereft.

Sad.

And then...

And then I got an email from a strange address. Figuring it was just more spam, I dragged it to my "junk" folder, but something caught my eye as I did so. I had a second, closer look at the email's attachment and realized something even stranger was happening in my life.

I still can't explain (because I don't understand) what's going on, but see for yourself:

Then, a short while later, another email came through:

Then more...and more...

A Year's Worth of Flowers

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I have a gift for you: a year's worth of flowers. I hope you enjoy them (...and I'm sorry, but you have to share them with everyone else on the internet).

Last year I decided that I would try to take a photo of every type of flower that I found growing on the Small Pond Arts farm here in beautiful Prince Edward County. I went out with my camera almost every single day, looking for something new. 

The project started out slowly, but the first flowers of the year always send my heart a-flutter. After a gruelling winter, spring had arrived!

Things really started going gangbusters in May.

Many of these are non-native species, planted by some flower-loving gardener who lived here before us.

I enjoyed the daily ritual of walking around the property, peering at the ground, training my sense of observation.

June brought many more wildflowers, and many vegetables in our garden started flowering.

July saw the sunflowers and hollyhocks burst into their full glory, and one lone poppy sprang out of nowhere.

The only decorative flowers that I plant every year are sunflowers; it's become a tradition. We've got a great spot for them, and in the fall we love watching the blue jays who visit to feed on the seeds.

Blue Jay perched on a sunflower

By August things started slowing right down. Although there was still lots in bloom, these tiny purples were the only new flowers I could find.

I know there are a few species that I missed. Some last just a few days, and then they are gone...

And that, my friends, is a year's worth of flowers at Small Pond Arts, some 95 varieties! I have yet to identify most of them, but perhaps that is a job for another season. 

Make sure you take the time to stop and smell the flowers!

How to Build a Giant Lantern

For our third annual Firelight Lantern Festival I wanted to build something really special for the parade. When I saw pictures of giant lanterns from the Minneapolis Lantern Festival, I was totally inspired. I contacted my friend, fellow puppet artist Mary Plaster, as she'd assisted in making the lanterns, and she gave me some great tips.

The inspiration came from the MPLS Lantern Festival.
Photo: Dusty Hoskovec/Minneapolis Downtown Council

With artist friends Susanne Larner and Nell Casson on board for this project, we decided to make two giant lanterns, a rabbit and a turtle, to go with this year's theme of 'earth.' Both animals are local to our area and are resplendent with symbolism, from fables to literature to First Nations' mythology. I had seen the sketches the MPLS Festival artists had made; they were very elaborate. I guess we're into a more organic approach.

Planning? Yeah, that's enough planning.

We acquired the requisite materials: 6-foot lengths of bamboo, lots of plain white sheets, masking tape and hot glue. To begin, we had to split the bamboo, which was its own learning curve. Pro-tip: wear gloves! Split bamboo is very sharp and splintery, our hands got terribly cut up the first day. I found the easiest way to split the bamboo was to use a pair of garden shears to split the end and slide the shears down the split. Generally splitting them into quarters seemed to work quite well. The bamboo becomes very flexible yet is still very strong.

L to R: Nell Casson, Susanne Larner, Krista Dalby
with our bunny skeleton

We started out building the frame of the rabbit's body, a big oval shape, and made cross-bars from unsplit bamboo for structural support. We attached the bamboo together with joints of masking tape. Once we'd made the body, we could divide up the different tasks: someone made the hind legs, someone else the head, tail, and front legs. We attached it all together, but left the head separate. When the structure was finished we sprayed the joints with Rockerguard - an automotive product that is basically a rubberized glue that ensured that if the masking tape dried out all the joints wouldn't spring apart.

Nell channelling her inner bunny.

Next we had to install the lights. This was a bit nerve-wracking as once the fabric was applied to the outside, it would be difficult to change them. We did a few tests using a three different types of LED lights: strings, hanging bulbs, and push-lights. We needed somewhere for the battery packs to go, so we hot glued some tube socks to the inner part of the frame, and fit a few battery packs in each one. 

Lighting test

We wanted to be able to carry the lanterns atop of large poles, but have the ability to take the poles out for transportation and storage, so we added cardboard tubes and sealed up the tops, so the poles could easily slide in yet be quite stable.

Carrying test

Satisfied with our structure, we started applying the covering. We worked section by section pulling the sheets tightly over the structure and hot gluing the fabric to the bamboo.

As we needed access to the battery packs to light up our lanterns, we decided where the best access points would be, and created flaps held in place with velcro.

Artist Don Maynard (R) joined our lantern-building crew

I'm glad we started this project early, because it took quite a long time. Final touches included adding black felt for eyes; being a puppeteer I know that eyes really bring characters to life. We left the head off until after it was lit up, and attached it with zip ties, then tied a flowy ruff around the neck to hide the seam.

We were all really happy with how our giant lanterns turned out, and they looked so magical floating down Main Street Picton in our parade.

Photo by Ramesh Pooran

The lanterns were very lightweight and easy to carry. We provided our "lanterneers" with cumberbunds, small pouches worn around their waists, giving them a place to rest the ends of their poles.

Team Turtle having a great old time. Photo by Ramesh Pooran.

Photo by Eve Harvey

Big thanks to everyone who helped make and carry our giant lanterns. What should we make next year?