My seasonal decorations have been fashioned out of stuff that I’ve found around the place so there’s a lot of pine cones and ivy going on. I’ve made a terrific garland using a coil of rusty barbed wire. It is heavy and, having attached it to the light over the front door, I now realise that there is something quite menacing about it, and I suppose it could actually be a bit dangerous.
Cat Update:
Cats are now much more confident here, or they were until I picked up The Director from the airport last night. They pay me scant attention but they’re fun to watch. Twice now I’ve seen Julie trying to sneak off with a limp rodent, Kevin always spots her and steals it. I’m identifying their catches by the remains which includes a dormouse tail and quite a bit of a vole.
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I've find it rather interesting that barbed wire is now a collectable item. I think collectors keep short lengths stapled to a display board. Books have been written about all the variety of wire and barbs. From cow control to use in wars, I guess it's popular stuff. So why not a garland? Makes perfect design sense to me.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a prop from that Mel Gibson movie... very efficient. Reuse the Xmas decoration for Easter.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you're having a real rock and roll Christmas- rock on with your barbed wire wreath!!
ReplyDeleteI admire your enterprise, but I hope you and Santa have had your tetanus boosters.
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about sending this suggestion to Martha Stewart?
ReplyDeleteYou could hang a sign under it...
ReplyDeleteArbeit macht frei
Bill - is that real about barbed wire being collectable? Darn, I thought I was setting a trend
ReplyDeleteJacob - Funnily enugh it was the bleeding head thing that suddenly floated into my mind once I'd got the thing hung up.
Martha Stewart eh? - for next time she needs to go to jail?
Daisy - I think I've spent too much time with the Goths at the bar
KSV - I can't help feeling that as death-traps go tetanus is one of our minor considerations. One should remember that I am the Health and Safety officer of this film set.
ho - let the gal from kansas tell you about barbed wire!
ReplyDeleteactually, i am from the east coast so what i pass on is just part of the history of barbed wire.
"yes, virginia, there is a museum of barb wire and yes, people do collect the wicked stuff"....
you can find "vintage" wire out on the praire still - single strand wire with a twisted barb around it. there are all sorts of makes and companies and truthfully i dont pay much attention unless there is a loose strand i think might wrap a leg of something at sometime and i will move it out of the way....
farmers in kansas started to close off the lands to the cow drives from texas (in the 1880's?)when the texas cattle brought a disease carrying tick with them. that tick wiped out thousands of cattle in kansas and closed the borders to the (in)famous cattle drives of romantic ballads....
there are still cattle drives in the west and there are real cowboys and cowgirls out working the horses, cattle and combines in the west and mid-west. Fort Hays State University offers rodeo courses for credit and blacksmithing. even in little downtown logan i see the men coming in for supplies with their cowboy hats, boots and spurs on - one day i'll get pictures to post of them.
a barb wire wreath is quite the item - you just need to add a heart &/or stars cut out from rusted metal to complete the wreath.
smiles from the miles of the beautiful blue skies of the mid-west....
deb p.
and dont forget your tetanus shot!
ReplyDeleteI like your garland. Like a crown of thorns it seems to make some powerful sort of political or cynical statement.
ReplyDeleteDeborah- Good to know they do it in the US of A too.
ReplyDeleteBrother T- No political or satirical statement intended - I just really like improvisations