January is time for some new art, and we have some great things lined up.
On the big wall: Luke Hillestad’s large oils.
In the back halls we welcome back Katie Holm with her Woman Warriors Pictures.
Merry Christmas from Tom and Dean
Hindu Prayer for Peace
Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real
Oh God, lead us from darkness to light
Oh God, lead us from death to immortality
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
Buddhist Prayer for Peace
May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May all beings swiftly attain Buddhahood.
Zoroastrian Prayer
We pray to God that understanding will triumph over ignorance, that generosity will triumph over indifference,
that trust will triumph over contempt,
and that truth will triumph over falsehood.
Janist Prayer
Peace and universal love is the essence of all the Gospels.
Forgive do I creatures all,
and let all creatures forgive me.
Jewish Prayer
Oh come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
that we may walk the paths of the Most High.
And we will beat our swords into ploughshares
and our spears into pruning hooks.
Shinto Prayer
We earnestly wish that the wind will soon puff away
all the clouds hanging over the tops of the mountains.
Native African Prayer
For you are one who does not hesitate to respond to our call, you are the cornerstone of peace.
Native American Prayer
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love,
to respect and to be kind to one another,
that we may grow with peace in mind.
Muslim Prayer
Praise be to the Lord of the Universe.
Who has created us and made us into tribes and nations
that we may know each other,
not despise each other
Baha’i Prayer
Be a breath of life unto the body of humankind
a dew upon the human heart,
and a fruit upon the tree of humility.
Sihk Prayer
Know that we attain God when we love,
and only that victory endures in consequence of which
no one is defeated.
Christian Prayer
Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.
Blessed be the Peacemakers,
for they shall be called the Children of God.
Lake Elmo home features a new kind of Christmas tree in the yard.
Dean Schlaak has been waiting 14 years to have a very special Christmas tree.
And this year, it finally happened. But his tree wasn’t a blue spruce, a fir or an evergreen of any kind.
Fourteen years ago, Schlaak said, he was in Rochester and saw a homemade ice sculpture in the shape of a Christmas tree in someone’s yard.
“Ever since then I really wanted to make one myself,” Schlaak said. “About seven years ago, I really started to talk about it.”
Unfortunately for Schlaak, Mother Nature didn’t think the time was quite right and sent year after year of above-average temperatures, little snow and unfavorable conditions.
“It’s been so warm in the winters and I don’t want to have to wait until after Christmas,” he said.
When the snow started falling this year, his hopes were ignited again. It might just be the year for the ice tree dream to come true.
When temperatures two weeks ago dipped to near zero, Schlaak took his chance.
He built a teepee structure, fixing the boards together with screws. He then twisted C-7 multi-colored light strands around the posts and spiraled them around the structure as a whole.
“I figured it out on my own,” Schlaak, who has a background in construction, said. It didn’t take too long to figure out a way to build a skeletal structure that would resemble a Christmas tree.
Then it was time for the water.
It took 24 hours of watering but it’s a very fine mist. “It’s not just your garden spray nozzle,” Schlaak said. “I got a garden mister at a garden shop and that’s what you need, a very fine mist.”
The mister was screwed onto the end of the hose and the hose was hoisted onto a stick that was attached to the top of a ladder to make it tall enough. Every few hours, Schlaak would move the ladder around the structure trying to get the tree as symmetrical as possible.
The resulting “boughs” of the tree point upward rather than hang toward the ground as a result of the water freezing into ice and building up.
And what resulted was the frosty white Christmas “tree” dotted with the glow of colored light that now sits on Lake Elmo Avenue north.
“This year we just had enough cold weather and I figured it would work,” Schlaak said.
Schlaak said a lot of drivers have been passing by the house and stopping to take a look at the tree and to snap pictures.
Although Schlaak would love to be the only one in town to have such a unique structure, he didn’t mind sharing his design secret.
“It might be pretty cool to see a little forest of the trees, different sizes. Or see them all over town,” Schlaak said. “That could be really neat.”
OutWoods is having their annual Snow Tubing night on Feb. 2nd. You need to RSVP to come so they have numbers, please RSVP on the Movie Bears Site. Dean and I have gone in the past and it is VERY fun….a bunch of gay guys trying to be butch. Plus we wont have to drive far!
‘Twas the night before Christmas’, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that ST. NICHOLAS soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,
My brother David has made the cafe look like a Victorian Holiday.
Help those in need this holiday season!
For 20 years, The Aliveness Project’s Holiday Basket Program has provided thousands of gift baskets to men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS throughout Minnesota.
You can help share the spirit of the season this year by:
· Adopting a basket
· Making a donation
· Volunteering with our Holiday Basket Program
ADOPTION IS OUR GREATEST NEED! If you adopt a basket, we ask you to shop for gifts for a specific individual or family (Suggested budget is $35/person.). This is a wonderful project for your family, faith group or co-workers!
For more information, call 612-824-LIFE or visit our website at www.aliveness.org
If you are already participating, please pass the word to others who may be interested!
Join the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus for a concert of favorites that will wrap you snugly in a special quilt of sights and sounds of the Season.The men of the Chorus will kick off your Holidays as no other group of performers can– to deliver all the joy and warmth that this most wonderful time of the year provides.
Along with beloved tunes that evoke wonder and awe, we will offer new and exciting commissions and dramatic new works that will become favorites for years to come.
December 1st is World AIDS Day. Please take some time today to think over how AIDS has changed not only the GLBT world but the whole world. Here is a scary story on the increase of AIDS in teens.
