Welcome to winter…

I see that there’s a sprinkling of snow on the ground over a layer of ice, with little green salt crystals on the road.  Must be winter in Indiana!  We’ve had two nights of freezing rain and entirely unsafe driving, so I spent yesterday inside.  With Christmas only a week away now, the household has been a beehive of activity, even as my art making has been a bit sporadic.  Christmas to me means family—getting ready for visitors and planning holiday foods and activities. Even the weaving I’m currently working on will feature a pond with a willow, which is very special to me because of all of its family connections.  Grandpa was connected to the giant willows in his backyard, and the Czechs have a long history with the willow.  We talk to the willow when we have problems, and those long draping branches just seem magical.  Whenever I have some time, I work a little on my willow piece. 

Even as I focus my activities on the holiday season my art has been on the move.  I have had several exhibits come up and go down since I last wrote.  Currently I have my ‘Nature to Nurture’ show hanging at the Bloomington Bagel Company on the east side of town (in the Shoppes) and a display of my vegetable and fruit felted tiles at By Hand Gallery.  While I haven’t been weaving much, I have filled my creative needs in other ways.  One of my favorite things to do with the boys near Christmas is to bake cookies.  This year we baked eleven different varieties. 

We made several old favorites, including Linecke kolacky, snowballs, Tommie’s spicy chocolate diablos, and frosted lemon cookies.  This year Jacob introduced his ‘party on a stick’ cookie balls and pecan chocolate half moons.  The cookies are wonderful to share, but Christmas at our house would not be complete without Stollen on Christmas morning, at least according to Grandma.  Last year I finally finished off the candied peel that I made years ago, so this week I bought diverse citrus fruits to harvest peel and candy for Stollen this season and over the next few years.  Add into that decorating the house and trimming the Christmas tree and you’ve got a pretty full mix of activities! 

The last big news of the season was the announcement of the musical to be put on by Sounds of South next fall—Hello Dolly.  I’ve already been collecting pre-costumes, i.e. clothing from the Recycle Center, Opportunity House, Cat’s Meow, My Sister’s Closet, the Bloomington Thrift Shop and Goodwill.  I chose the colors for the chorus to be watermelon and lemon (think fuscia, emerald green, light green and a pure yellow, with black and white neutral colors).  I should have about seventy kids to dress in Victorian garb, in the style of 1885.  I’ve been watching Youtube videos to educate myself on the difference between late the Victorian and early Edwardian periods. I’m excited about making big bustles and using lots and lots of feathers and flowers.

  My travel calendar is also starting to fill up for next year, featuring workshops, talks and trunk shows.  I’ll provide more information as the events come closer.  It looks like 2017 is going to be great year—but not until I enjoy holidays!  I’m thinking that something is missing here, though.  Wait—there wasn’t a single pie over the past month!  Surely the planning for a Christmas or birthday pie is in the works. 

Until next week

Martina Celerin

Winter tomatoes and holiday treats

Today brought a wonderful day of relaxation after a fast-paced few days with family for Christmas.  I needle felted tomato slices as I watched old movies on TV.  I needed the break after the intense week of preparation, cooking, family activities and ultimately cleanup.  A lot had to happen before Grandma and Aunt Lois came on Wednesday afternoon.  The boys and I prepared eight different dough varieties to make multiple tins of cookies.  They included traditional Czech linecky kolacky (with black current jam, of course), a delightfully intense frosted lemon cookie, and a concoction Jacob cooked up that involved peanuts, peanut butter, and dark chocolate assembled in three layers.  Everything came out well this year and we delivered and shared many treats with family and friends.  On Christmas Eve morning I assembled the other family baking tradition, which is a stollen for Christmas morning breakfast.  My dough is filled with rum and orange juice soaked currants and raisins, nuts and candied fruit that we make ourselves.  The filling is either marzipan that I make or rum-soaked sweet cherries.  When everything cools I glaze them with a butter and powdered sugar frosting.  Both varieties very successful and well received for Christmas and Boxing day breakfast. 

I got a little carried away with the delightful foods!  I wanted to mention that I was fortunate enough to have previously blended the red wool for the tomatoes.  I was able to go straight to my stores and pull out the fleece that I needed for my slices.  I also have special wool that I use for tomato seeds.  I dyed the material using bark from a fallen giant maple tree branch at Grandma’s house.  It just made the absolutely perfect color for the seeds.  After attaching them I usually layer a bit of the dark red fleece over them to make it look like the seeds are embedded in the internal chambers of the tomato.  These are part of the cast of vegetables that will make up a larger piece I’m working on, Fall Stew.  I have the carrots completed so I’ll be moving on to snap peas and red-skinned potatoes next. 

The highlight of the holiday entertainment season was a trip out to see Cardinal Stage Company’s performance of Mary Poppins.  Grandma buys the family tickets and the whole crew goes.  Mary Poppins is a hugely ambitious challenge, but Cardinal rose to meet and exceed the standard.  Mary flew, kites flew, the children flew, and Bert walked up a wall.  The performance was great, especially the woman who played Mary, Elaine Cotter.  She was sweet but completely in control of every situation.  The two children she managed were terrific young actors as well.  The sets really stole the show, though.  The attention to detail and complexity of the rollaway pieces were truly amazing.  The structures reminded me of the fold out children’s books where whole buildings and animals pop up from the page.  At every turn there were structures that introduced something unpredictable and captivating.  The whole thing will be lodged in my brain for a long time.  Thank you David Higgins!

The days with Grandma brought some fine meals and good times.  Jim put together some wonderful dinners, including a raspberry pie for dessert that has become a Christmas tradition.  Grandma has fond memories from when she was a girl of raspberry pie from the farm on New Year’s Day.  Because of the stollen, there are even a few pie slices left over for breakfast the next couple of days!  A little pie, a little espresso and I’ll be back in the art studio with a smile on my face.

Until next week,

Martina Celerin