Wearing of the Green

Aurora and I had breakfast in Verona, NJ this morning and in just a two-block span the spirit of St. Patrick's Day was ON!

 We ate at the Verona Diner. Every table had  a freshly cut green carnation.

This lucky leprechaun gets to pose with Aurora who, in turn, gets to pose with her leftover omelette.

Wherever you go and

Whatever you do

May the luck of the 

Irish be with you

Many of the shops put out their greenery

And others just tried to weave in their specialties to the traditions of the day

photos ©thesloppypsewer

and nature is really putting on the very best display

Metal stamping

i love the look of stamped metal and about a month ago i bought two stamping sets at harbor freight. 

 at under $10 each, these are really industrial sets. 

i bought a 3 X 3 bench block from beadalon (via amazon) and i was able to get by using the house hammer. one great tip that i found online was to fill in the stamped letters with black sharpie (then wipe off any that ends up on the surface).  it's a fast way to get a great look. 

since my stamping set is really one used by, like, electricians to mark their parts, they don't even have a notch to tell you how to hold them  the correct way.  i got another tip online: use nail polish to mark the correct orientation of the letters. i took it one step farther and then marked what the letters are.
this should make things easier next time around.

Nuremberg Toy Fair Mascot--For Future Reference

 Thank you, David, for finding my camera USB wire! I forgot that I took photographs of this year's Nuremberg Toy Fair mascot to consider for future plush designs--to remind myself how totally cute mixed up patterns and unexpected colors can be.

I'm not usually fond of humanlike dolls but this costume totally caught my attention. If I post these pictures here, there's a much better chance that I'll find them later on : )

The red rocking horse is the official insignia of this fair and has been for as long as I know. The 2012 mascot has the design on her dress as well and here's a less-than-a-minute YOUTUBE video of the rocking horse showing up on the streets of Nuremberg that I have walked--in usually frighteningly cold weather--so many times.

Photos of Furth

the hotel is  in the black forest

after just a few steps, this is what the forsthaus looks like

what has been true of the forsthaus forever is that it's the hotel to go to if you want to see the wild pigs. now they are fenced in a large area, but they didn't used to be fenced in at all when i first started staying here.

today is saturday and this young child and a parent or grandparent brought raw spaghetti for the pigs. 

Babies! i counted four or five. they grunt and snort and run to the fence when dogs show up.

this was made by my friend Leslie. i'm so glad that i have it on this trip. i took it on my short forest walk.

and after the walk, just me in the forsthaus bar with the lights off and a worn copy of a newspaper that i could read.

The Blessing at The American Church in London

Leader: You go nowhere by accident!

People: Wherever we go God is sending us

Wherever we are, God has put us there

He has a purpose in our being there

Leader: Christ who indwells you has something He wants to do through you where you are. Believe this, and go in His grace and love and power.

All: Amen 

Funky London 2012

Open till LATE? Hedging your bets for the nights that you have to catch a show on the BBC?

In a front garden across the street from Harrods. This was a surprise. Not sure why it's chained...seems like it has a bunch of leaves to go before it would want to wander.

A topiary pig smack in the middle of a really posh neighborhood.

I went to the Southbank Centre and saw a few exhibits--and an amazing one-man play--about death. That was called "An Instinct for Kindness" by Chris Lerner.

Guitar coffin

Lion coffin

A mom and dad commissioned a coffin that looked like this for their son.

A woman whose earliest fondest memories are of going to the ballet with her grandfather commissioned this coffin.

There was a huge wall of chalkboard where visitors could write goals that they want to complete before they die. One of my favorites was, "Find my spare pair of glasses."

Still pretty funky

On the funky side

For such private people--and they are!--this is a surprising statue.