The first time.

One of the many things which Phoebe, our first grand daughter taught us and now our second, Juniper reminds us is the wonder of first discoveries. The first snowfall, bright lights, her reflection in the mirror, the moon, the stars and a million other things are wondrous in their eyes, especially as they see them for the first time. Today was a special day for Juniper as she discovered the joys of snow. Eating snow is fun as is walking in it. Sliding (when dad is working up a sweat pulling the sled) is the absolute best!

As adults we often forget to take note of or take joy in these things. We forget to thoroughly enjoy what is all around us each and every day. We forget to make new discoveries as we rush around, simply being far too busy. As we get older fewer and fewer things grab our attention, create a sense of wonder or take our breath away. That's unfortunate.

As designers and creators of fanciful places meant to entertain, our most important job is to create those awesome experiences for a broad audience. We need to take people out of the 'normal' world and transport them to an imaginative place where we can all become childlike once more. 

More than ready for spring.

Many people have heard me mention that we don't get much snow where we live. On the rare occasion that it snows, it generally goes away by the next day. In fact I haven't had to plow the driveway for two years.

Then there's this year. Starting in December we've had a bunch of cold temperatures and lots of snow. 'Sadly' I was in Trinidad and Dubai on business for much of that time. January brought another dump of the white stuff but 'unfortunately' Janis and I were in California for ten days. During the last week we were joyously watching the last piles of it melt away and I was seriously considering mowing the lawn for the first time this season. (I may have been planning on joyfully sharing pictures of that event with friends and family back east.) But our fair weather joy was short lived. Yesterday afternoon, it began to snow once more. By evening the weatherman's promise of a minor snow event was changed to a snow warning. This morning there was about ten inches of the white stuff on the ground and snow continued to fall with some brisk winds to blow it around. This continued all through the day. And this evening I was appalled to see that the weatherman had upgraded the SNOW WARNING (now in caps and red lettering on the weather website) to last through the middle of next week.

I spent three hours on the tractor, moving snow today. Tomorrow will be the same and most likely the next few days after that as well. I suspect my warm weather friends from the southern states will laugh at me the next time we talk. I guess there will be no more denying that winter does indeed come to these parts 'on the rare occasion'. I am more than ready for a nice warm spring.

Adding the magic

Sometimes the best way to get from point 'a' to point 'b' is not a straight line. I would agree it is most often much easier to go straight and faster too. When we are in creative mode the object is to do it correctly, and not simply be efficient. It all depends on what we are trying to achieve. 

On the PNE project we did the last of the welding on the lower armature today. Before it was declared finished I had to go around the structure one last time to add the upper edge. No tape measure nor level was required. This had to be a wiggly line done randomly. It wasn't the fastest nor easiest way but in the end it will be the most pleasing visually and will add the most magic. True magic it seems most often takes a little more effort.