Ice Sculpture

This is not just the time of year for sled dog races, it's also the time of the annual ice carving display in Fairbank's Ice Park. Elaine at Arctic View has been covering the show and has posted some great shots of the artists' work on her blog. You can see some of it here and here. Previous years' works can be found at this link if you scroll and scroll and scroll some more.

The work is really amazing. And, of course, some of it is saved in the Ice Museum in Fairbanks so even if you can't get there until summer time, you can still enjoy it. (Just remember to bring a coat. The building is quite cold inside!)

Think you're pretty good with that nail gun?

Get a load of this guy!

I remember...

I remmebr watching those instructional painting shows on PBS. A guy or a gal would come on the air with a blank canvas on the easel in front of them, a brush in one hand, and a palette of colors hooked over the other thumb. He'd start talking and his brush would go ZIP! ZIP! ZIP! and there would be a mountain range or a tree trunk festooned with multiple branches. Another little quiet--almost whispered--series of words that sounded more like an incantation than a description and the mountains would frame a forest rimmed lake or the tree would spout leaves of many colors.

In half an hour, the artist host would produce a finished product that could hang on any wall. Oh, it wasn't "great art" or any thing. You could tell that. I mean, the dude wasn't starving, or trying to make a "statement" or anything like that. They just wanted to finish a good painting in a brief period of time. What was on that easel at the end of 30 minutes could hang on anyone's wall, however, and draw compliments. It was magic!

I've no idea how many aspiring artists/hobbyists these folks inspired--or scared away--over the years, but they could easily instill a feeling of incompetence in someone just starting out. It would be like watching Harlon Ellison write a Nebula winning novel in one week--while sitting in a store front window. Or Isaac Asimov write a Hugo winning short story--on the table cloth while waiting for after dinner coffee to be served. Guaranteed to produce a life-time case of writer's block in a novice.

Bob Ross one one of those.


see more Very Demotivational

Want to see something that'stotally awesome?

Go on over to Dickiebo's to view a video of the winner from "Ukraine's Got Talent" at work. Just be sure to read Dickiebo's description first as there's no narration.

Kseniya Simonova’s Amazing Sand Drawing

(h/t to threecollie of Northview Dairy)

Aerie Report

Terry and I moseyed on down to Mansfield today to have lunch at the Black Swan Cafe and to pick up my 2009-2010 hunting license at Cooper's Sporting Goods next door. As luck would have it, The Swan is closed on Tuesdays.

Cooper's was open, however and I dropped my old license on the counter along with my driver's license and $65.80 and walked out with my Resident Adult Hunting ($20.70), Archery ($16.70), Muzzleloader ($11.70), and Resident Bear ($16.70) licenses and the associated tags for antlered deer, fall and spring turkey and black bear. I passed on the elk tag raffle. (There's only about a dozen or so of those awarded every year.) It's tough enough to get a few folks together to help haul out a bear right here near home. The elk are only found about 100 miles to our west.

Now all I have to do is read the manual--again--to see if there have been any changes and send in my application for a doe tag.

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We did get lunch. Over in Wellsboro at a pizza place where they make excellent chicken parm subs on a pita-like bread. Only the bread is better. More like pizza dough. Delicious!

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We were in Wellsboro to go to the library and then an art show at the Gemeiner. All the artists were from the area. (I think the one living furthest away was from Elmira.) There were pencil (graphite) drawings, computer generated graphics, water colors and oils. After viewing all the works (about 100) we had to choose the one we like the best. It was tough! Terry narrowed her selections down to about half a dozen as did I--some even overlapped, such as the oil of an old Agway building. It was quite good! I finally settled on an oil rendition of an Alaskan valley in which you could see the mist rising up the slopes above the river.

I have no idea which on Terry eventually settled upon as her "Best of Show." She kept walking back and forth to change the angle at which she was viewing three of her final six. I think she picked a winter scene that made you want to don a sweater.

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We stopped for ice cream on the way home at Pagomar's just west of Wellsboro off Route 287 and across the highway from the train depot. The trains run up and down the valley through Cowenesque. There are dining outings as well as straight sight-seeing train rides. The trains are run and maintained by volunteers. At 3:00 PM it looked like they were going to have a nice crowd for their afternoon excursion.

You are never far from an ice cream parlor here in Tioga County, PA. Some sell Hershey's, some sell Perry's and some make their own. They are all delicious and extremely reasonable in price. Terry made the mistake last year of ordering a regular cup of ice cream from Pagomar's when they opened for the first time. Today she got the baby cone and was more than satisfied. They have a doggy serving too which is even smaller.

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Pagomar also had flats of strawberries for sale and I just couldn't resist the 8 quarts of berries. It will mean work tomorrow and Thursday. I'm trying a recipe that does not require pectin but will require time. Lots of time.

• Tomorrow (Wednesday), I'll wash, hull and cut up the berries before mixing them with sugar.
• They will sit all day with an occasional stirring before I put them on the stove to cook.
• They will get brought to a boil over medium heat, have some lemon juice added and brought to another boil.
• Then they will then sit for 24 hours.
• Thursday I'll be washing and sterilizing pint jars until, in the evening,
• I'll bring the berry mix to a boil one last time for five minutes before ladling it into the jars.
• Which will then go into a water bath for ten minutes to seal them.

It's a different sort of recipe than I used last year with the blackberries and blue berries. The both used pectin. Still, both the B & B jams came out a little runnier than I like. They make great thick syrups, however. I'll let you know how this batch of strawberry jam comes out.

Redneck Artist

I got this in an email from my wife's cousin and my buddy, Joe. (It wasn't 'til later I learned it's been around YouTube for a long time.) Despite living and working in New Jersey all his life, Joe is more a country kinda guy. Hunting, fishing and anything outdoors are his passion. He's sorta a urban redneck.

Book Art

A very unique way to recycle an old book: Turn it into a work of art. These are just, well, amazing.