Jack Frost

There's a little frosty painter
Who soon will come around
To put a silver edging on
The grasses on the ground,
Upon the window pane he'll paint
A fairy landscape, strange and quaint,
And some cold morning you'll awake
To find he's frosted Mother's cake.

A certain seasonal visitor has been making the rounds this week in Berkeley -- Jack Frost! I suppose it's closer to the truth to say that Mr. Frost is a winter visitor in many parts of the world, but that it's rare for him to show up in our town. But just yesterday Duncan saw three inches of snow piled atop a car that drove down from the top of the Berkeley Hills, and when I visited one of my neighbors this morning her children were breaking half-inch sheets of ice off the top of puddles.

Something Wicked This Way Comes!

Loups-Garou!

We love to welcome well-behaved dogs (and people) to visit us at Castle in the Air, so it was very upsetting when two snarling fellows who were neither dogs nor people showed up! The sun went behind a cloud and there they were. We had to hide behind the back pen counter until it got sunny again about a minute later, and the wolf-men were gone. When we asked Daniel and John if they knew who those ill-mannered loups-garou were, they said they hadn't seen anyone at all!

Fools All!

Welcome to April! If you stop by the store, you can pick this month's new calendar postcard. One of the little girls in this picture is playing a traditional French April Fools' Day joke on her friend, distracting her so she can pin a fish on her back. I sent my older girl to school with a stack of paper fish and a roll of tape so she could play some funny tricks on her friends. My younger one stopped by the store and got into April Fools' mischief with the Castle crew, who surprised me this morning with their own paper-craft prank!

The Masks of Mitchell Walker

If you've ever attended the Dickens Fair, local Renaissance festivals, or other historical recreation events, you may have seen the work of mask-maker Mitchell Walker. His designs of birds, beasties, goblins, and Green Men are as unmistakable as they are breathtaking.

All of Mitchell's masks are one-of-a-kind, made from pieces of leather that he stretches, dyes, tools, and stains by hand. The attention to detail and individual touches give each mask a personality of its own. You don't really meet the mask until you put it on--then once you're acquainted the two of you can have some fun!

Mitchell came by Castle in the Air this morning to drop off a motley menagerie of masks. Try one on and transform yourself next time you visit us!