My favorite tree. I remember when I was little and went to my first (and last) gymnastics class, my teacher asked me what my favorite tree was. I answered “willow” and she hung me upside-down from the trapeze so I could sway like a willow branch. Willow trees are especially pretty when they have frost on their branches. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has a beautiful willow tree in its courtyard with picnic benches underneath it.

Just announced – Willow Tree has retired various angels, figurines, ornaments and keepsake/memory boxes from their current product line. Once the word gets out, these retired items are in high demand, and are rarely re-released. Don’t miss this opportunity to have one of these collectibles before they’re all gone! We still have many of these items in stock and ready to ship!

To find the entire Willow Tree product line, including exclusive Platinum dealer pieces, visit our Willow Tree page.

To find Retired Willow Tree items, visit our Willow Tree Retired Collectibles page.

Questions? Chat securely online with an RCG customer service representative by clicking the Live Help button at the top of any Rock Creek Gifts web page.

Pop is meek and weird.

Chad VanGaalen – Willow Tree

I love this song, I love this man.  Music is great because I can tell what kind of person he is by this song, especially because it’s the first song off his new record (Soft Airplane).  We all know the first song is often the mission statement.  The first paragraph of the essay. Shrill but shy, dark, smart, wimpy and beautiful.

The beauty of Chad VanGaalen lies in his contrasts – super poppy vocal over crispy banjo, over morbid lyrics about beaten pets, over battery powered fuzzy synth and African thumb piano.  All true.  The mid-chorus breakdown (1:27)  in this song is pure pop joy.  Sunny trumpet, clumsy clarinet, 1-2-3-4 singalongs, and that skippy hand waving feeling.

Update: I just realized I had posted this song already, so I present another one of my faves.

Chad VanGaalen – City of Electric Light

I retain the wrong information.  What I lack in remembering information related to education, I make up for in remembering every time I’ve felt embarrassed.  From when I was three years old, I remember my cheeks growing warm and wanting to melt into the floor.   As I consider these lingering feelings of embarrassment, I can’t help but wonder what was ever the point in that emotion?  It certainly isn’t productive.  (Don’t get me started on “guilt” – that would take way more than just one blog to address!)

Contemplating the purpose of embarrassment led me to consider other things in life which may not be entirely necessary.  Whether drawn from human nature or manufactured in masses, Dan and I have determined the following to be unnecessary.  Our questions to you are whether you disagree and also what items you might add to our potentially-exponential list!

1. Embarrassment.  See above.
2. That ridiculous packaging.  This comes in two forms.  First, there is the hard plastic surround (plastic clamshell packaging) on anything you buy at Costco.  It’s impermeable and inflexible.  It creates carpel tunnel pain when trying to cut through it with scissors.  A whole other product was created to address these packaging dilemmas – a magic-ceramic-bladed-ridiculous-packaging-opener.  I bought it.  It doesn’t work unless the package is flat.  Don’t waste your $4.  However, it would be genius if Costco sold these at cash registers.   The second form of ridiculous packaging is found on children’s toys, such as Barbies.  Really?  Does her hair need to be twist-tied to the package in three places?  DVD packaging, including stickers, might qualify as a third form of ridiculous packaging.
3. Homedics Bubble Spa.  It seems like a great idea – you can convert any bathtub into a bubble bath.  However, the problem lies in the fact that one’s body must sit atop the bath pad from whence the bubbles are supposed to emerge.  This makes the bubble holes become plugged.  Perhaps this is only a problem for people who take up more than ½ the volume of the standard bathtub, or, have any weight whatsoever.
4. Family stickers on cars.  I recall seeing the first family set of decals on the back of a minivan a few years ago and thinking, “Ha! Cute!”   Now I see them on every-other family-sized vehicle in variations from Mickey Mouse families to turtle families to alternative two-mommy families.  No, I don’t need to know exactly how many kids and pets are in your family.  And, genius, I really don’t want to know the names of each child and pet, which you’ve labeled underneath the stickers.  However, were I not me and were instead some child predator then the names underneath the stickers might be helpful in my evil doings.  The stickers-on-cars issue might also apply to, well, any stickers.  I support whichever political group is anti-bumper stickers.
5. Dust collectors.  This is a potentially controversial item as I know many people who consider themselves collectors and I have personally enabled many dust collecting habits.  The term “dust collectors” is used in reference to little items displayed around flat surfaces in the home.   Examples of dust collectors include Willow Tree or Precious Moments items.  They sit on the surface, take up space, cause drama when they’re accidentally bumped, and are not visually pleasing since they are often, well, covered with dust.  However, those of you dust collectors who maintain and care for your collectibles – rock on with your collecting selves.  While still unnecessary, at least you’re taking care of them.
6. Toupees.  Dan noted this particular item, which at first I vetoed from the list citing the self-esteem and warmth benefits for those who wear them.  However, because men can get away with being bald and still be attractive (and also wear hats), I’ve reversed my decision.  To men who wear toupees – go ahead and go au natural!  Experience the freedom! 

There are many other items which could be included in this list, such as crocs (which we’ve already discussed – nurses, gardeners, and chefs are exempt), boring sports being broadcast on TV (baseball and golf.  YAWN.), fad diets (or, perhaps, diets-in-general), and all-manner-of-illogical-hoops-we-jump-through.  However, as I’ve been feeling quite self-indulgent within this blogosphere, I feel compelled at this point to shut up.  However, don’t get your hopes up – it won’t last.

That is me today.  Still not 100%…..such a drag.  I really have missed a few days now of my 30 assignment!  I will have some catching up to do.  But I love October and if I am super busy for it……all the better!  I think I’ll just post the droopiest tree I can find and call it a night.  xo!!!

The Willow Tree by charter magic!!

I’m going to admit something slightly awful.  I think I might like shooting engagement sessions EVEN more than the weddings themselves.  I mean, all the love is there – but not the stress.  You don’t have to worry about getting anyone’s dress dirty.  You can take all the time you want without worrying about 200 guests running out of mini-quiches.  It’s just… relaxed.  It’s just… fun!  And when you get a couple like Mark & Sara, some funky locations and cool clothes… it just doesn’t get any better than this.

Stay tuned for wedding pics… coming in January!

Jeg er med i konkurranse hos Rebekka. Hun har en utrolig flott blogg som handler om hennes liv som mamma til vakre Thea. Det er virkelig verdt å ta turen innom bloggen hennes.

Konkurransen varer til 12. Oktober og du kan vinne en engel fra Willow Tree.

Lykke til!!!

Song to go along with this post: Helio Sequence | Everyone knows everyone

Yesterday afternoon, Josh and I decided to attend Art in the Pearl. After checking out all of the booths of talented artists in the North Park Blocks, we decided to continue on through the Pearl over to Waterfront Park to check out Saturday Market (a weekly event I have not attended in years). There were times when we both felt like tourists in our own city as we walked around and discovered or rediscovered the sights and sounds of PDX.

We got an up close look at the bronze sculpture of a father elephant carrying its baby on his back, symbolizing safe and prosperous offspring.  The piece is titled Da Tung & Xi’an Bao Bao. Da Tung may be translated as “universal peace” or “large bronze.” Xi’an Bao Bao means “baby elephant.” The sculpture was given to the City of Portland as a gift in 2002 from a Chinese businessman named Huo Baozhu. The sculpture stands at 12-feet tall and is sixteen times larger than the original wine pitcher it was replicated from, which was produced in the late Shang Dynasty (circa 1200-1100 BC).

Shortly after leaving the beautiful bronze elephant statue, we came upon this window coin-operated art gallery. It is situated where the Church of Elvis is supposed to open soon – near Old Town/China Town. I couldn’t resist putting a quarter into one of the slots. As soon as I did, music started up and the barbies in the window started doing their workout. Pretty funny and VERY Portland.

On our way down to the waterfront, we noticed a line of people going around the block. At first I thought people were standing in line to buy tickets for a show but then I noticed it was all for Voodoo Doughnuts. If you have seen it before, I suggest you read the company’s “About Page” they came up with for themselves. Quite funny. Josh’s favorite doughnut is the one with bacon and maple syrup on it…sounds gross, but it’s actually pretty good.

 1) top left – the flower baskets all over the city are getting pretty long at this point of the summer, 2) top center – on ramp to broadway bridge, 3) Old sign in Old Town, 4) bottom left – Josh under the burnside bridge, 5) bottom middle – the new building downtown that is completely powered by wind and sun, and 6) Steel bridge.

Following our city walk, we decided to stop over at Mint | 820 on the way home for a fresh squeezed cocktail and dinner during happy hour. You see, I have been craving a basil gimlet ever since I had them at Matt & Jessica’s house three weeks ago. Mint didn’t have that on their menu, so I satisfied my craving with a cilantro martini (really good)!

On our way home, we decided to make a little assignment to pick out three things we saw that we liked each and take a photo. Here are the results:

Josh's favorite thing #1: Bike Corrals

Josh's favorite thing #2 - Sloan's (where he will be watching all of the upcoming Blazer's games)

Josh's favorite thing #3 - money (apparently its a good thing to have)

Keely's favorite thing #1 - this lovely city

Keely's favorite thing #2 - willow trees

Keely's favorite thing #3 - bagdad (representing Hawthorne Blvd.)

Speaking of Hawthorne, I’ve got to finish this post and get out of the house to head there now for crepes at Chez Machin and to shop for a gift!

Small Willow, originally uploaded by plasticpumpkin.

]]> http://annaemelie.wordpress.com/2009/08/22/26155-friendship-%e2%99%a5/ Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:41:42 +0000 annaemelie http://annaemelie.wordpress.com/2009/08/22/26155-friendship-%e2%99%a5/

Friendship is the sweetest gift!

Willow Tree, www.demdaco.com

www.willowtree.info

One of Sanford’s most popular restaurant’s, Hollerbach’s Willow Tree Cafe, is competing for the title of Best German Restaurant in America and needs your help. Here’s how:

1. Follow this link.
2. Select “Florida” from the drop-down menu
3. Then select “Hollerbach’s Willow Tree Cafe” from the second drop-down menu.
4. A new page will pop up with information about the Willow Tree.  Click the black, red and yellow button that says “Vote.”

That’s it! You can vote once a day, and voting closes at midnight Sept. 1, 2009.

Once the votes are tallied by the folks at germandeli.com, the Top 10 restaurants will then be scheduled for an on-site visit by a panel of independent “undercover” judges. The judges will visit the restaurants anonymously to evaluate each restaurant on a number of criteria.

According to Linda Hollerbach, The Willow Tree is in 5th place, so keep those votes coming in!

The winning restaurant will be announced Oct. 1, 2009, just in time for Octoberfest.

…is coming along! oh my goodness time is going by faster and faster but things are getting all set for the fabulous weekend event. i am so excited about the cake, the locations, the dresses, the table settings and for all the fun activities we are going to have.  this morning i crossed off one more thing on my list…the cake topper…

so i absolutely love the willow tree figurines and since they go with the natural, beach theme of the wedding i ordered the promises cake topper this morning…yay!!

now i just hope everyone else has as much fun at my wedding as i know i am going to have

I read a haiku today.  

“ill-tempered I returned, 

and then in the garden

the willow tree.”

There’s something about a willow tree, the way it extends a caring arm to hold you close. Protected, I read by its trunk as it swayed in the breeze.

It reached for the water, if nothing more but for a simple laugh, dipping its toes in with every sachay of the branches.

I took a garden walk today and that’s what summer is for.

Image source:www.a1gifts.co.uk

Gifts that we receive from our near and dear ones on several occasions are desirable and lovable only when they appeal to our eyes. No one loves giving and receiving the same gifts on birthday or wedding anniversary day year after year. Much like fashion and technology, gift items do not run round in circle.  The gallery of gifts turns over a new leaf with innovative items in each of the seasons.  The latest addition to the gallery of gifts is a range of Willow Tree items.

Artist Susan Lordi has carved a niche for herself with a line of Willow Tree gift items that largely include sculptural figures. Exclusive and exquisite pieces of artwork, these hand-carved figures are spectacularly stunning. Artistic in design and appealing in look, these figures with no facial features are sure to grab the eyeballs.  Well-cut in design, the sharp and subtle expressions of the figures will leave an impact of art on your imagination.  Willow Tree gift items are designed for several purposes like inspiration and impression, comfort and consolation, congratulation and celebration.

Under the shade of a willow tree on North Riverwalk, Jacksonville. ©Calvin Palmer 2009.

Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/50, ISO 100, 1/125 sec, f/5.6, Canon 40D.

When my father married my mother he told her of his plan to plant a willow tree. My mother, a superstitious, person asked him not to. She said that once the tree got large enough to cover your grave, you’d die.

My father didn’t plant the tree.

Years later my mother did die and my father remarried. His new wife planted a willow tree. When it grew large enough to cover her grave, she died.

Seven or eight months later on a summer evening I came home from my job, the air was clear and the sky lovely, and I heard my father chopping down the willow tree. I asked him why he’d done it. He merely responded “there was a problem in the roots”. He was right, the problem was in the roots, the problem was in my father’s roots.

There around 400 forms of Salix – deciduous trees and shrubs found on  moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.  The leaves and bark of the willow tree have been mentioned in ancient texts from Assyria, Sumer and Egypt as a remedy for aches and fever, and the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about its medicinal properties in the 5th century BC.  Native Americans across the American continent relied on it as a staple of their medical treatments. This is because Willows contain salicylic acid, the precursor to aspirin.  Willows all have abundant watery sap; bark which is heavily charged with the salicylic acid; soft, usually pliant, tough wood; slender branches; and large, fibrous roots.

Willow wood is also used in the manufacture of all kinds of things – boxes, brooms and particularly cricket bats!  But, it is also used for wands – Willow is one of the nine sacred trees mentioned in Wicca and witchcraft, with several magical uses. In the Wiccan Rede, it is described as growing by water and guiding the dead into the “Summerland”, a commonly used term in Wicca to refer to the afterlife.

Willow has many uses in agriculture and has an emerging role in ecology.  But its the Willow’s role in religion, in  folklore and in fiction, including Shakespeare, that is fascinating! It is one of the “Four Species” used in a ceremony on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.    Hans Christian Andersen wrote a story called Under the Willow Tree (1853) in which children ask questions of a tree they call willow-father, paired with another entity called elder-mother. Green Willow is a Japanese ghost story in which a young samurai falls in love with a woman called Green Willow who has a close spiritual connection with a willow tree. And as we all know from Harry Potter, there is an old tree on the school grounds of Hogwarts called the “Whomping Willow”. It was planted in order to conceal a secret passageway that Professor Remus Lupin roamed through every full moon when he began his transformation into a werewolf.

Here’s to the wonderful Willow!

I thought it’d be a lot of fun to have a contest for naming Chad and Willow’s twins!  So… here’s how it’ll work.  List your names… boy, girl, whatever… I’m not telling what they’re having but you’ll have hints coming too.

As the ultimate prize… I’m purchasing…

From DCB Collectibles for the winner!  The figurines will be shipped directly from the seller so you’ll have to be willing for me to give them your address in order to win.

Rules-

Only five names per day per person.  Anyone who is old enough to type the name (either copying from your list or spelling it on their own) is elligible to win.

The contest will not end until the babies are born and their names are announced.  So, you have lots of time!  I reserve the right to change names I have planned on at this time for names suggested if someone suggests something I like better.