Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Round and Round – Part One

One of the places we went with my out-of-state cousin when he visited with us a few weeks ago was new to us, too.  My ‘local’ cousin and her hubby told us about it so they took all of us to a fascinating place I want to visit again sometime.  I took so many photos it’s hard to decide what to share with you.  I’ll consolidate some of the bits and pieces into a collage or two – or more – so you can see what I mean. And I’ll share this adventure in more than one blog post.Carousel SignI love carousels – I’ve always loved them!  When I was a little girl my aunt took me to the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, California and I had my first ride on a carousel.  Since then, they have always captured my heart.  You can imagine the ‘magic’ I felt when I stepped inside the Albany Historic Carousel and Museum about an hour south of our home in Albany, Oregon.  The carousel is not finished – it’s in process.  The animals are being carved and painted by volunteers who donate thousands of hours to make it become a reality some day.  People can ‘adopt’ a carousel animal and many have adopted animals in memory of dear ones in their lives.  The carousel will look like when it is finished.Carousel Plan As soon as you step inside the building where the carousel animals are being made, you begin to see the process that turns raw wood into a beautifully carved and painted carousel animal.  Walk through the door and up a few steps and you are in the painting room where you will see completed animals and some that are still need work.Carousel Paint RoomA few finished animals are on display in the paint room.  The horse in the foreground is a working ‘riding’ horse – for the children who visit. What a good idea!  The others all have signs that say ‘Do not touch!’Carousel AnimalsI loved the detail on this one.  Her little face is so sweet.Carousel LlamaCarousel Llama Collage I want you to meet ‘Harriette.’ She’s my favorite.  She was adopted in memory of a dear grandmother so every detail was carefully planned to reflect her life.  She collected frogs so there was no doubt what animal should represent her. Carousel Animals - HarrietIn her arms Harriette is holding a jar – it’s a canning jar!  Because Grandma always canned food for her family every year.  What’s in this canning jar? Bugs! Fireflies!  (Keep reading and you’ll find out why.)Carousel Animals - Harriets Jar Grandma never went anywhere without a hat, so ‘Miss Harriette’ must have a hat – with a yellow rose because she loved yellow roses.  Her favorite color was purple.  She always wore an apron so her family chose to ‘dress’ Harriette in a purple dress with a pinafore-apron.  And she always had a hankie in her pocket.  There was no way that detail could be left out.  And the duck on the pocket?  Well, Grandma Harriet l-o-v-e-d the University of Oregon Ducks!Carousel Animals - Harriet Collage 1When she was a little girl Grandma’s mother made her dresses out of flour sacks.  How to represent that?  Yep – they figured it out!Carousel Animals - Harriet - BloomersEach carousel animal has a sign that tells their story.  Harriette’s sign says:  ‘Harriette is perhaps the most whimsical animal on the Carousel.  Everything on her is symbolic of some aspect of Anna Murphy’s life.  She has twelve tadpoles on her apron, one for each child.  She caught fireflies as a child, and always had a safety pin on hand.  Just in case!  The yellow rose was her favorite flower, and purple was her favorite color.  And she even wears pants made of a flour sack!  Adopted in loving memory of Anna H. Murphy by her family.’
Carousel Animals - Harriet - Sign One more look before we go into the carving room.Carousel Animals - Harriet 2I’ll show you part the carving room tomorrow.  That’s where it all starts – from the raw wood, into the hands of skilled craftspeople, to a work of art that moves into the painting room and comes out ready to be mounted on the carousel.  It’s done with precision and care by people who believe that what they do will bring joy to the hearts of people – young and old – from near and far.  That makes every moment of their hard work worth it all!

If you would like to read more about this fascinating place, visit their website here.

9 comments:

  1. How fascinating! Such beauty is amazing but even more amazing is the time and creativity each one represents. blessings, marlene

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  2. Harriet is divine! What a lovely story, and I always love seeing the behind the scenes details of how things are made! Thank you for sharing this Adrienne!

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  3. How absolutely wonderful...the pics are great and what a fantastic place!

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  4. What a fun place to visit! I like carousels too. There's a really big one inside a local mall that we used to go to all the time when our daughter was little.

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  5. What a neat post! I have never seen such careful attention to detail on carousel animals. That would be a very fun place to visit.

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  6. What a fun post! Those carved animals are works of art!

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  7. I didn't know about the museum. It is beautiful, thanks!

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  8. I am thankful that I found your blog and have thoroughly enjoyed all the time I spent here this evening, reading through it and loving the beautifully captured pictures. The carved animals were so interesting! I loved the words to the Psalms and the song that you shared, and reading about your love for your family.

    I look forward to return visits.

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I am grateful that you stopped by to visit me. Your kind and gracious comments are appreciated and treasured.