I’ve always blamed a combination of Dickens,  Currier and Ives, and a stop motion animation special with a red nosed character for the preoccupation with having a white Christmas.  There are huge swatches of the planet where Christmas is eagerly celebrated and where it never or rarely ever snows, or only snows at really high elevations.  Here in the Baltimore/DC area, we’re living through a blissfully balmy December (and as someone who does outdoor shows during the month, this is wonderful beyond all words).

For today’s Friday Photo, I bring you a photo from outside a church from the Land of Eternal Spring, or Guatemala. (In all honestly, this photo was taken in May of this year, but I imagine if you go to this church in Chichicastenango today, the scene would be the same.)

After a long delay (meaning a screw up with my shipment) I finally received some great pieces of Haitian metal art that are just perfect for the holiday season.  I wrote about this peace piece, people peace or peace people, months ago and have been waiting, waiting for it to arrive.

I was so happy to have the cutest, most recycled, happiest peaceyest peace sign in all of history in my possession that I immediately hung one from my window to show the word.  (Or at least the parts of the world that pass through East Baltimore.)

Since the demise of Venus, which you can read about here,  I’ve felt a lack of chartreuse in my life.  I also realized that it’s been over a week since I picked up a spray paint can.

I just transformed this ridiculous looking towel rack that I picked up in at a garage sale to something that I just hope will catch people’s attention.

Here’s the before:

Venus is of unknown provenance.  I bought her in a thrift shop on Eastern Avenue in Baltimore, next to a church that houses a little known duckpin bowling alley.  I have no idea of her life before finding her in the window of the thrift store.  I do know that the woman who sold her to me for something like $10 or $20, much less than the figure I had in my head, was sort of happy to get rid of her because she was tired of men stopping and watching her change the mannequin’s clothes though the store’s plate glass window.

For a lot of her life, Venus spent time in the basement and I had plans to use her as a model for bag shots, but they never really turned out right.  She had Barbie-esque unreal proportions, and was never really a great model for bags.  Her color was off and, in all honestly, that armless thing of hers wasn’t all that endearing.  Then I read a post by @woldshoppe on Twitter and my and Venus’ world changed.