Free Hugs (2)

And while we're at it, let's celebrate again the Seattle Pike Place Market Free Hugs man, this time with pictorial goodness.

Home on the Range (2)

And I now present the 2007 Edition of the Gingerbread House. Showing an imaginative use of native elements such as Swedish fish and Gummi Bears, this festive construction presents a view across the rock-candy ice into a neatly trimmed Cape Cod house. One can almost hear the square-dance caller naming the next step as the fiddle sings out a tune. The formally dressed penguins are standing in line to get into this hopping joint. Later on, after the sun sets, the seasonal hot drinks will keep these merry-makers tapping their toes late into the polar night.

I almost feel like I could write for Madison Avenue!

Home on the Range

We started a tradition of making gingerbread houses with a kit. This seemed like an expeditious way to get started but we quickly switched to baking our own and selecting our own candies. This year, there's a bit of ecological confusion going on as the penguins and bears do not share a continent. (The bears are sitting on the roof while the penguins cavort on the ice in front of the house.) Our cats (the conventional furry type) are all too interested in the decorations and we've already lost a Swedish fish. So far, the gumdrops and icing seem OK, but we also lost a few candy corns at Halloween so we are on the lookout. (The candy corns showed evidence of bite marks similar to those left by Felis cattus (domesticus), and there seemed to be a few candy corns missing entirely.)

There's supposed to be a picture there, linked from Picasa. Hmmm... appears to be of a technical difficulty.