winter wonderland (of glass!)

Yesterday I got to go to the Dallas Arboretum. It was chilly and cold and rather wintry (though seeing as it's almost Christmas I'll allow it), and I had to shove my hands into my pockets, but the trip was well worth it because of these:

Pieces of Chihuly glass! I'd actually never heard of Chihuly before this venture, and I was really surprised at how many people (including my editor!) messaged me and said, "Are those Chihuly pieces you're posting?"

What impressed me was the mass of his work; how elaborate they were. The sheer vision that went into crafting ever single, fragile breakable piece of these masterpieces. How every piece fit together just so.

There were pieces that looked like lilypads.

There were baubles in boats.

There were ones that caught the sun and sang it through colors.

 There were ones that looked like amethyst stalagmites. 

And ones that simply awed.

Just look at the detail! Can you imagine spending all those hours crafting each single curlyque?

It's times like these when I remember just how much art amazes me. Not just glasswork, but art in general. When I see what my friends can do with words, a paintbrush, a camera, a pair of ballet flats... how they take these tools and make them pure magic... it stuns me every time. 

Even when I read over a finished piece of mine, it's still hard to believe it came from me. That my conscious (well, mostly sub), wove all these hundreds and thousands of elements together to become something bigger than just a story. It's times like these when it's easy to put credence into Elizabeth Gilbert's theory about the creative genius. How it lives outside ourselves.

Also, in the spirit of the season, there was an entire collection of nativity scenes in the Arboretum! There were over 300 different scenes, from all around the world, made out of anything you could think of. Car parts. Corn husks. Cork. Cross-stitch.

My very favorite one was from Peru. Made out of an ammunition box. I now really want one for my own. (Guess I'll have to go to Peru first...)

The likelihood that I'll be posting back here before Christmas is rather low, so I bid you all farewell and wish you guys the best of holidays and times with loved ones!