Small Pond Trading Cards, Part 1

To celebrate six years of Small Pond Arts and our upcoming Season 7, we've created a set of 77 trading cards* featuring some of the characters and scenes that have made Small Pond a very special and magical place.

Unlike the fake-but-fun DVD Box Set from last year, you can actually (probably...more or less...I guess) print these out if you really want to have physical cards** to collect and trade with your friends (we're not printing or selling them, so have fun!).

I based the design of this set very closely on the second (red) series of trading cards Topps made for Star Wars back in 1977. The red-bordered Star Wars cards resonate with me on a very particular nostalgic level (so do the orange-bordered cards), and having them as Small Pond keepsakes (even virtual ones) makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I even tried to recreate the low-quality photographic reproductions by severely degrading our photos, and I wrote captions mimicking their enthusiastic style. The images were chosen carefully to give a good overview of the first six years of Small Pond, but there's not really a chronological or thematic order.

These cards will be posted in small groups for the next few Sundays, reaching completion the day before our Season Seven Silobration (May 23) where we unveil our new silo banner.

SEE PART 2

SEE PART 3

SEE PART 4

*77 cards including the Title Card (which isn't numbered).

**I didn't prepare anything for the backs; you have my apologies.

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!