Garden Train Display

Sunday evening on the recommendations of friends, we journeyed across the highway to view a Garden Train Display. The detail and work put into the display was well worth the visit.

 It was a small backyard, and the train display took

up half of it!

 We could hear the whir of the sawmill and the drop of boards.

 Two trains were running on the many, many tracks

laid throughout the display.

 The hobos were along the track.

 Folks waiting at the train station.

 The Christmas train

 The village

 More of the town

 The church

Some of the people looking at the display.

Our host told the guys he has worked on this hobby display

for eight years. Quite the project!

CV Sunset

The sunset earlier this week was spectacular. I'm sure the smog had something to do with the bright colors. Whatever the cause, it was just to pretty to ignore.

Bethlehem and the Living Nativity

We visited a local Baptist Church last night. The church members convert their building into the town of Bethlehem with a living nativity scene. It is such a cool experience, a great beginning to the Christmas season.

 

One of the first shops in the little town of Bethlehem was the bread shop.

These items were on the altar in the temple.

These are camel saddles in the leather shop.

Roman soldiers moved throughout the streets

harassing the shop owners, taking food and 

other merchandise.

The weaver was displaying his wares.

We also stopped at the wood shop.

The innkeeper told us there was no room.

With all the visitors in town, his place was full.

He did share he had a stable out back and we were 

welcome to stay there with the young family 

that had come to town on their donkey.

So we headed out back to the stable.

There was the Baby, fussing a bit while his mother

tried to calm him.

The angels were singing, and then...

the shepherd and wise men arrived.

The people of that church do an awesome job. This

is the second year we have visited their Christmas display.

A great way to celebrate this Holy Season.

More Mata Ortiz Pottery

Here were some of the other pieces on display last Saturday at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum.

 All hand painted. The detail is pretty remarkable. The price reflects the time and talent. Beautiful work.

Traditional Ceramic Firing

While at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on Saturday and before the gourd class, I watched a demonstration of traditional method of wood firing pottery.

 Diego, a ceramicist from Mata Ortiz, Mexico, started a wood fire. He place his pot near the fire on a metal stand, so it would slowly warm.

 Jan Diers shared the story about the pottery that is created in the little mountain village in Mexico.

 Diego tended the fire, adding wood and turning his ceramic pot.

 Once the fire had burned to his satisfaction, the stand and pot were placed in the wood ashes...

And the ceramic pot placed on top of them on blocks of wood to allow the fire to draw air.

 Diego place pieces of cottonwood around the ceramic pot...

 added some saw dust and lighter fluid, and set the wood on fire, heating the ceramic pot and the newly painted pot inside.

 He let the cottonwood pieces burn to ash, not adding any more than the single layer he had placed around it. The larger ceramic pot was left over the little pot for two hours.

 This is the pot he took out of the fire. He told me it did not fire very well on the first firing, so he re-fired it for the afternoon demonstration.

Isn't this beautiful detailed work? The rich red outline and the black background with the itty-bitty unpainted spaces. WOW! I was very impressed. 

I will show some of the other pieces that were on display later.