Each Christmas my husband and I receive a Lego Advent calendar. And Each year, the grouping of Legos is mysterious, charming and decidedly un-Christmasy. This year I took the Legos off their usual home on the proverbial mantel and the strange nativity that is created from a snow plow, bench and child with a french loaf, and attempted to find them a more suitable habitat.

Most surprising is that Santa wears both underpants and cap in the shower

The long walk home

The tiny eye in the sky

A home for wayward products.

Tom Sawyer's legacy

Ah yes, Montreal famous for European flair, sophistication and their delicious grilled Chicken

And you thought that kid from the Crash Test Dummies video was unemployed....

Tired of raisins that just taste like, well, raisins? Raisels to the rescue!

“What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.”

— Werner Herzog

The West River Overflow: FROZEN

I love Vermont. Or as that mind-bending bumper sticker says I lovermont. It makes me feel a little funny even writing it.

All that tolerance and maple syrup, it’s the American utopia (for proof, watch “I am Legend”, a place so friendly it pains the black hearts of zombies to besmirch our soil. Also it’s cold. Too cold for the undead).

But you can’t have your cake and eat it too. So in exchange for equal rights and comfortable hemp products, Vermont has sacrificed color. Well that’s not fair, white, gray and really dark brown are in fact colors, but winter in Vermont has really cornered the market on muted palettes.

So my mission today was to find some color in my sleepy little town.

Kisses for Tom

Street screensaver

Still life in ashtray (Jan Vanszoon de Heem, 1629)