Christmas Ornaments From The Sea

Sea Angels are small swimming sea slugs. They are found in all temperatures, but the largest ones are in the Polar regions. They may be angels, but are those horns I see? They love to dine on Sea Butterflies.

Christmas Island famous red crabs. Roads are closed when they begin their massive migration on this Island.

Red sea Star. A nice tree topper.

A small platonic jellyfish with glowing red chlorophyll from the algae it eats

My favorite fish...the Green Puffer. We actually had one of these in an aquarium once. His name was Wally. We noticed that Wally had big teeth and we soon knew why as Wally enjoyed eating all our other fish. We loved him in spite of his bad habits....

Christmas Eve Anticipation

One might wonder why I am so fond of John Everett Millais' painting, Christmas Eve (1887). I believe this painting illustrates well a quote from the book I am reading, An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin... "Those artworks that come all ready to love empty out pretty quickly."

Millais is the British Pre-Raphaelite who is probably best known for his earlier painting of Ophelia, capturing her as she floats down a Denmark river, singing. Millais' first snow scene, Chistmas Eve, is painted at the old castle of Murthly overlooking the Tay River near Dunkeld in the highlands of Perthshire, Scotland. Each winter over several years, Millais along with his wife and children, rented Birnam Hall Lodge in the gardens of the castle. It was a location he knew well and loved and was also near his wife's home place. To me, this painting is everything Scottish. Some may describe the scene as bleak yet I see it as one of serene beauty with a hint of new beginnings which will be brought with the impending darkness. There is barely enough snow to cover the bird's feet...and you can still feel and smell the rich earth and leaves. Humans are absent....or are they? Look at the tracks which are reminders of the activities of the day. There was a sled or buggy ride in the snow, a walk to the castle, and a dog passing. One feels the contrast of human and nature's activity. The Jackdaws are all that are left to survey the day's fun as the family has now gathered in the castle as the sunset and warm fire within the castle walls light the windows. Everyone is inside, darkness is finally arriving and the excitement and fun of Christmas will begin. The darkness in the sky and grounds only adds to the warmth inside. It is the ultimate moment of Christmas anticipation...sunset. This is a painting whose meaning, for me at least, is defined by its title. It also brings back a wonderful, yet simple, Christmas memory. In the mid 60's when my sister and I were around 10 and 11, my mother had developed a Christmas Eve afternoon tradition of letting us walk to the double feature at the movie theatre near our house. It was a way for us to be occupied as it got our minds off of opening presents and she had the afternoon to prepare Christmas Eve dinner and wrap more gifts. We would leave for the movies after lunch and as we left the theatre to walk home it was 5:00 or so...about the same time as in the painting. The fun was ready to begin and we couldn't wait to get home. Our walk through the almost deserted town and neighborhood had this same combination of joy and serenity as we approached our own warm "Castle".

As with all castles, Murthly comes with its share of history and lore. It has been owned by the same family, the Stewarts, since 1615. It was the family seat of Sir William Drummond Stewart, an aristocratic adventurer who saw the American West as his vast playground. From his Wild West adventures he returned to the castle with mementos including buffalo which he used to establish a herd on the property, Douglas Firs and Sequoias, and two Native American Indians who resided in the garden cottage. There is a story that the Indian companions became bored with Scottish high life so they had a few drinks, attached a rowboat to four wagon wheels, hitched two buffalo up, then rode the boat-wagon through town for some fun.

Coincidentally, I discovered while writing this that Christmas Eve was auctioned at Sotheby's last week. I wonder if it was purchased and by whom...




A recent picture of Murthly Castle which can be rented for weddings and other events.

The exterior of Chapel of St. Anthony the Eremite on the castle grounds.

The interior of the chapel.

The gardens, with the Sequoias brought by Sir William from his wild west travels.

Sir William Drummond Stewart, the aristocratic adventurer.

The Day At Stonehenge

Winter Solstice, beginning...

and ending...

Magic Tomorrow

Total lunar eclipse (around 3 a.m.) and Winter Solstice...both tomorrow.

Big Tom And Elisha, Keepers Of The Mountain

Whenever the weather turns a little extreme at my house, whether it be extremely hot or cold, I find myself thinking about the not so distant King of the Black Mountains, Mount Mitchell. When it is 100 degrees at home and fraught with humidity, I visit the online current conditions site at Mt. Mitchell to dream about 60 degrees and a breeze. A visit there in July cannot be beat. But it is odd that today while we have 30 degree weather, I find my mind still wandering through the Black Mountains and taking a virtual tour on the Internet while thinking about the reported 13 degrees with a 20 mile per hour wind at the highest peak east of the Mississippi. I always have to fight the urge to get in the car and go there. A different world, only two hours away. But instead, I must leave the job to the two souls minding the mountain, Big Tom Wilson and Elisha Mitchell.

When the UNC professor, chemist, and geologist, Elisha Michell first surveyed the area in in the late 1830's, Big Tom Wilson was a young teenager. Wilson would later accompany Mitchell on his 1844 ascent as he worked so diligently to determine which of the Black Mountain's peaks was the tallest east of the Mississippi. Big Tom was that magical mountain man mixture of legend and reality. He was a well known and respected tracker as well as gamekeeper for the large tract of virgin wilderness known as the Murchison Preserve. He and his wife lived in a lop-sided cabin where chickens and other animals had free range. He was six feet two inches, which was tall for a man of his time, but with a slender frame that defied his nickname. He had magical, honest blue eyes. In his 1888 book, Charles Dudley Warner says "Big Tom's most striking attribute was his spiritual vitality, not his physicality." He was a "man of native simplicity and mild manners."

Mitchell's careful measurements of the mountain would later be challenged by politician and former student, Thomas Clingman. Clingman incorrectly insisted another peak was the tallest (current Mt. Gibbs). This set off the Clingman-Mitchell controversy and sent Elisha back to the mountain in 1851, no longer a spring chicken in his 60's, to verify his previous endeavors. He became lost in the night and slipped and fell over a waterfall. After eleven days of Mitchell missing, it was big Tom who wisely used his tracking skills to recreate the path a lost man in the dark may take, and he found Mitchell's body floating in the pond below a waterfall, where he had slipped on some moss and fallen. It was only right that Big Tom should be the one to discover his hiking companion. Mitchell's watch had stopped at 8:36.

Mt. Mitchell is rightfully named for the brave man who never gave up on his quest to prove it was indeed the highest. Big Tom also has a mountain in the Black chain bearing his name. Today there is a re-creation of Big Tom's cabin on Mt. Mitchell that can be visited. Elisha Mitchell was originally buried in Asheville, but one year later, men hacked their way for three days through the mountain wilderness so that his resting place would be on the top of Mt. Mitchell. His coffin was placed on mountain rock and then covered with more smaller rocks. Those who traveled to the top of his mountain were supposed to carry a small rock with them to place on his grave as a token of respect and to build a momument to him. But the mountain is the real monument to both Mitchell and Big Tom. To quote Warner "There was never a burial more impressive than this wild internment above the clouds. It is the most majestic, and the most lonesome grave on earth." I think that is exactly what Mitchell would have wanted.... along with a few visits by Big Tom.


Big Tom pays respect to Elisha's grave site. Big Tom lived into his 80's.
Ohhhh Elisha. A man of letters and mountains.

The pool where Mitchell's body was found by Big Tom. Big Tom is sitting to the right of the waterfall. This waterfall is on private property and hard to find.

Big Tom mountain in the foreground of the Black Mountain Range.

I love this painting by Asheville artist, Ian Brownlee, Elisha Mitchell's Funeral.
"The wild internment above the clouds."