Christmas in Williamsburg

It's been such a warm and lovely December here in Virginia that I decided to go down to the part of town known as Colonial Williamsburg to see the decorations. All the buildings there have been restored to how they might have looked in the 1700's, and you can take tours inside some of them.

The Christmas decorations are understated compared to our bright and shiny modern displays; everything here is made of natural elements.

Almost every building has a wreath (or three)...

This double wreath is really unusual.

The wreath below caught my eye because it is wrapped with strips of fabrics.

This next one is so charming, with the wooden spoons, cookies and cookie cutters!

Even the signs are decorated (the center of this one is a cluster of pomegranates.)

After walking all over CW (as we locals call it), I felt like this squirrel, so I went home to rest for a while!

Art Abandonment, Part Two

Over the course of several days, I abandoned all six of the altered matchboxes I glued, painted, and sewed for this project.  I have now posted them all in the Facebook group  Art Abandonment.

#1--On Wednesday I left the first one on a bench in Colonial Williamsburg, Va.

I watched this woman with a lot of bags sit down right next to it and she didn't even notice it!  *Sigh*  After that I decided to make the rest of them more prominent by adding a fluorescent-yellow index card with the words "Free Art!" to the packages.

#2--On Thursday I abandoned the next one near the hand of a famous American...

...Thomas Jefferson, also in Colonial Williamsburg (which shall henceforth be referred to as "CW"!)

#3--On Friday I walked unnoticed to the upper floor of the public library and left this matchbox on a computer keyboard in the Art section.  (Clever, huh?)  There was no one else upstairs, so it might have taken a while to be noticed.

#4--On my way back to the car, I stopped outside the library in the pretty area with fountains and a pergola.  I left this matchbox on the seat of a chair.  There it is, on the chair on the right.

#5--On Saturday my daughter Jenna came with me as I returned to drop off the last two altered matchboxes in CW.  Can you see this one on the bench in front of Jenna's knee?

#6--I left the last one on yet another bench in CW.  I think the best way to abandon art in a crowd is to sit down and casually set the art beside you; then wait a moment to be sure no one is looking at you, and walk away.  (You want to be sure no one is looking so they don't yell "Hey lady, you forgot something!" and come running after you with the art!)

So far there haven't been any e-mails saying the art has been found.  It would be interesting to continue doing this just to see how many I have to abandon before I get a response!   Of course, the point is to set the art free with no expectations other than the hope that someone will find it and love it.  Getting an e-mail from the finder would just be icing on the cake.