Happy Michaelmas!

Today is Michaelmas, the autumn counterpart to St. George's Day in April and a celebration of the Archangel Michael and his power over Lucifer. In everyday terms, that means winter is coming, so everyone had best gird up and get ready for foul weather and all the highs and lows of the holiday season.

Today at Castle in the Air we're slaying dragons just like George did, even as we hang up devilish decorations in the store. The upstairs gallery space was painted yesterday, and in the coming days we'll be hanging our first gallery show -- an exhibit of photographs of children from some of the best photographers of the early decades of the art form.

Our show will feature prints from Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Curtis, Gertrude Kasebier, Carl Moon, Edweard Muybridge, and Alfred Stieglitz, just to name a few. We're also delighted to have a number of prints from Lewis Carroll. In the picture above (sadly, not one that will be in the show), Carroll photographed the Kitchin family children playing out the St. George story. My eye is of course drawn to the brave knight and the beautiful maiden, but Mr. Marsh wonders who got roped into playing the part of the fallen soldier. (And what a great use for the family leopard-skin rug!)