“Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart, and they both take practice.” – unknown
Do you believe in magic?
I do and I was just reminded of how real magic can be when my dad and his wife insisted the one thing we had to do during my recent trip back home to Colorado was ride on “The Carousel of Happiness.”
“Carousel of Happiness?” I thought, “that sounds a little hokey.” I couldn’t have been more wrong and it turns out there is a wonderful story involved.
“The Carver,” as a person who carves carousel animals is called, is a Viet Nam vet named Scott Harrison who set out to honor his two best buddies, fallen in combat, with a carousel he envisioned building in some magical mountain place. Apparently the young Marine machine gunner had always loved the mountains and his sister had given him a music box to listen to when he needed to escape the stresses of war. The song it played, he later said, was “as sad as it was beautiful” and it put him in the mind of riding a carousel – a universally happy experience.
Some 20 years after he came home from the war, Harrison began carving carousel animals, 56 in all, and a little later, a carousel mechanism in need of animals and a new home came his way. The carousel was originally made by Charles Loof, one of the great carousel makers of the 19th and 20th centuries. It was delivered to Saltair Park, just outside of Salt Lake City in 1910 and operated there for 49 years, but fell into disrepair after the park closed and the animals were sold to collectors.
One amazing part of this carousel story is that my dad remembers riding a roller coaster at Saltair Park during a trip he took as a boy with his dad around 1949. I really wanted him to tell me he rode on the carousel – or at least saw it – but he said he got so sick from the roller coaster he has no memory of the carousel at all.
took Harrison 22 years to restore the carousel frame and all the original bearings, gears and metal work, as well as carve the 38 animals kids of all ages now ride. He carved 18 additional creatures who populate the carousel rafters, supports and all volunteer-built, completely “green” solar pavilion in Nederland, Colorado, high in the Rocky Mountains, where the recently finished carousel now spins for $1 a ride. Harrison even found a 1913 Wurlitzer band organ to provide authentic music for the carousel, which is rapidly becoming a “must do” for residents of the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area and tourists, alike.
In addition to all of the time Harrison spent turning his dream into a reality, $675,000 in private donations, ranging from $1 to $100,000, was involved. And, the result, which he calls “a simple outpost of joy,” is no less than amazing.
My dad (now in his early 70’s), my little sister (in her late 20’s), my college-age nephew, Mr. Clark and I made a pilgrimage to ride the carousel on the last day of our visit. It was cold, snowy and the mountains were beautiful. I remained a little skeptical about this whole “Carousel of Happiness” idea until I walked into the pavilion, heard the music and saw the huge, friendly-yet-a-little-bit-sad face of the carved walrus keeping the guest book.
My dad paid for rides all around and away we went, choosing our steeds from a fine selection of animals that included a solemn-faced bear, a many-horned deer, a jumping dolphin, a proud and colorful peacock, a kangaroo with a Joey in her pouch, a zebra with multi-colored stripes, a friendly-faced dragon, a frog, an elephant, a great blue heron and an alpaca in ballet shoes. The only horse on the carousel was a painted Indian pony brightly festooned in feathers; my favorite animal was a moose whose sad eyes made me think of all the veterans Harrison honored in building his carousel.
We took one ride after another, changing animals every time, laughing, smiling, waving and taking pictures of each other - enjoying that carousel in such a child-like way it was obvious the name, “Carousel of Happiness” didn’t even begin to describe the fun.
I don’t remember the last time I felt that happy in such an easy, uncomplicated way. It was like being five again – only with my five-year-old dad, sister, nephew and husband all there laughing with me.
Harrison said he made the carousel to honor his buddies – to “keep those guys alive in my heart in a happy way.” I can’t help but think they smile down at him from heaven every time they hear that Wurlitzer fire up or see those animals start to spin.
Simple, happy, magical moments are so rare, so precious, so hard to achieve - in turning his crazy-sounding idea into reality, “The Carver” gave everyone who rides his carousel that wonderful gift.
If you are ever out West, put “Carousel of Happiness” on your “must see” list and when you’re having a bad day, Google Carousel of Happiness and just imagine you are there – magic, it’s real, indeed.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Velveteen Rabbit
“What is REAL?...It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real” – Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
Becca and Floyd got married last weekend and it was hard for me to stay focused on photographing their wedding because tears kept welling up in my eyes. It started when the groomsmen arrived – eight tall young men looking particularly dapper in their dark suits and deep purple ties. These weren’t just any groomsmen - they were boys who practically grew up at my house, wrestling on the floor, eating their way through the pantry, creating all manner of fun and havoc from the time they were small until one by one, they finished college, got jobs and married.
It seems like only yesterday I was driving them to soccer practice and picking their band uniforms up off the floor…Did those messy, gangly little kids, turned awkward middle-schoolers, then active teenagers and busy college students really become this handsome group of successful young men? Yes, they did. And, most of them married girls I had the fun of watching grow up, too.
I’ve had the privilege of photographing most of their weddings, and, even from behind my camera, I could see each couple has a special story, a unique love, a private understanding - a best friend to face the future with. Such high hopes and happy dreams accompany a couple to the alter, and they stand there with such surety, holding hands, making promises and staring into each others’ eyes…The audacity with which people marry amazes me each and every time I go to or photograph a wedding, and I mean audacity in a good way – the bold courage and daring way. I don’t remember what it felt like to be that sure of anything.
Becca and Floyd included some passages from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams in their ceremony and while I’ve heard the same passages read at other weddings, the poignancy of the message didn’t touch my heart the way it did as I listened to my son reading for his two friends.
The story is about a velveteen rabbit that belongs to a little boy; over time, he becomes the boy’s favorite toy and constant companion. The boy gets scarlet fever and the doctor says all the toys in the nursery must be burned so they won’t re-infect the boy. Just before he is thrown into the fire, the velveteen rabbit sheds a real tear and because of “strange and wonderful nursery magic” becomes real, then hops away to live with the live rabbits in the boy’s yard.
The passages used at weddings come from a conversation between the rabbit and a wise old skin horse who also lives in the nursery - about being Real.
“Does it hurt?” the rabbit asks. “Sometimes,” the horse replies. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once…or bit by bit?” the rabbit asks. “It doesn’t happen all at once,” the horse replies. “You become. It takes a long time…Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off…and you get very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
Isn’t a good marriage so much like this? You start out all fresh and new, with life stretched ahead of you like a yellow brick road. Over time, the nicks and bumps along the way take their toll and you begin to lose some of your fur and become a little shabby; that’s when you find out if your love is real or not. Sometimes things don’t work out and couples split. But, for the ones who do make it, it’s the process of loving and sticking together through thick and thin that makes us Real.
Another verse that’s sometimes read at weddings perhaps explains the kinship found in a good marriage, as well as accounting for how a couple can so unabashedly walk down that aisle. It’s Emily Bronte’s, “Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
Here’s to happily ever after for Becca and Floyd, and all their handsome groomsmen, and their lovely wives and partners and friends. It does take a long time to become Real, but when it happens it’s about the best thing you can imagine - just ask Mr. Clark and me. Thanks to each other, neither of us will ever look ugly again, except to people who don’t understand.
Becca and Floyd got married last weekend and it was hard for me to stay focused on photographing their wedding because tears kept welling up in my eyes. It started when the groomsmen arrived – eight tall young men looking particularly dapper in their dark suits and deep purple ties. These weren’t just any groomsmen - they were boys who practically grew up at my house, wrestling on the floor, eating their way through the pantry, creating all manner of fun and havoc from the time they were small until one by one, they finished college, got jobs and married.
It seems like only yesterday I was driving them to soccer practice and picking their band uniforms up off the floor…Did those messy, gangly little kids, turned awkward middle-schoolers, then active teenagers and busy college students really become this handsome group of successful young men? Yes, they did. And, most of them married girls I had the fun of watching grow up, too.
I’ve had the privilege of photographing most of their weddings, and, even from behind my camera, I could see each couple has a special story, a unique love, a private understanding - a best friend to face the future with. Such high hopes and happy dreams accompany a couple to the alter, and they stand there with such surety, holding hands, making promises and staring into each others’ eyes…The audacity with which people marry amazes me each and every time I go to or photograph a wedding, and I mean audacity in a good way – the bold courage and daring way. I don’t remember what it felt like to be that sure of anything.
Becca and Floyd included some passages from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams in their ceremony and while I’ve heard the same passages read at other weddings, the poignancy of the message didn’t touch my heart the way it did as I listened to my son reading for his two friends.
The story is about a velveteen rabbit that belongs to a little boy; over time, he becomes the boy’s favorite toy and constant companion. The boy gets scarlet fever and the doctor says all the toys in the nursery must be burned so they won’t re-infect the boy. Just before he is thrown into the fire, the velveteen rabbit sheds a real tear and because of “strange and wonderful nursery magic” becomes real, then hops away to live with the live rabbits in the boy’s yard.
The passages used at weddings come from a conversation between the rabbit and a wise old skin horse who also lives in the nursery - about being Real.
“Does it hurt?” the rabbit asks. “Sometimes,” the horse replies. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once…or bit by bit?” the rabbit asks. “It doesn’t happen all at once,” the horse replies. “You become. It takes a long time…Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off…and you get very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
Isn’t a good marriage so much like this? You start out all fresh and new, with life stretched ahead of you like a yellow brick road. Over time, the nicks and bumps along the way take their toll and you begin to lose some of your fur and become a little shabby; that’s when you find out if your love is real or not. Sometimes things don’t work out and couples split. But, for the ones who do make it, it’s the process of loving and sticking together through thick and thin that makes us Real.
Another verse that’s sometimes read at weddings perhaps explains the kinship found in a good marriage, as well as accounting for how a couple can so unabashedly walk down that aisle. It’s Emily Bronte’s, “Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
Here’s to happily ever after for Becca and Floyd, and all their handsome groomsmen, and their lovely wives and partners and friends. It does take a long time to become Real, but when it happens it’s about the best thing you can imagine - just ask Mr. Clark and me. Thanks to each other, neither of us will ever look ugly again, except to people who don’t understand.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Sanity
“Not sure if he’s being dramatic because the situation calls for it, or if it just feels good to yell.” – Story People
I didn’t go to John Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington D.C. on October 30, but I really wanted to. Instead I took pictures at a friend’s wedding, which was probably a much saner way to spend the day than at some rally, but the idea of joining thousands of other folks in making the statement, “Enough of the craziness!” did really appeal to me.
The notion behind the rally (which was, admittedly, hosted by a “news” show on Comedy Central) was that in the midst of all the sturm und drang (storm and stress), yelling, name-calling and extreme polarization that define current news and politics, there is a quiet majority made up of regular folks just going about their business, living their lives - not really angry about anything or looking for anyone to blame.
I like that idea; it makes me feel better than the Fox News version of reality where we’re all going to hell in a hand basket faster than we can imagine and we need to be angry and scared and have someone to blame at all times. Hey! While you’re up, turn up the volume, because things aren’t nearly frantic enough yet…
This is where you Fox News enthusiasts jump in a starting yelling “liberal media!” at me, but in the interest of restoring sanity, let’s just agree to disagree; you go on to the Sports section, while I commiserate with readers who share these views with me.
So, restoring sanity – what does that mean? I think it means simply spending more time and energy acknowledging how things really are, and less time and energy trying to stay all riled up all the time.
For example, take the local news. Contrary to what some say, most of it is pretty good – cities trying to take care of citizens, schools trying to teach kids, governments trying to do the best they can on ever-shrinking budgets. There’s births, engagements, weddings, church and school news. There’s pictures of people donating money to good causes and coverage of charity events. There’s recipes and sports and page after page of pictures of people doing fun or interesting things. And, then there’s the shenanigans, controversy and bad headlines generated by the few – a very few – in our community.
In an effort to restore sanity, why not keep things in perspective? Sure there’s bad news, but in general there’s a whole lot more good going on. It’s up to me to choose which I focus on. Contrary to what we hear in some news, it’s all not black or white, wrong or right, my way or the highway; most of life, at least in my experience, is defined by compromise, reason and just trying to get along.
All this crazy loud Fox-style news has given us a taste for drama that is simply not reality based. Most of our lives don’t involve that much controversy, yet we’ve been led to feel that we have to pick sides all the time because extreme polarization is the new norm. Again, not so, I say. Real life is quieter and, yes, more boring than all that and that’s just fine with me. It’s about sanity, not how whacky can we all be.
In falling victim to the explosive media, we distort our view of reality and reduce our ability to function effectively. I, for one, don’t want to base my views on life or cast my vote in reaction to what I don’t want or what I’m scared of. I prefer to make choices based on how I’d like things to be.
I’ll admit, I get caught up in the drama at times. There are days, sometimes entire weeks, when I don’t walk my dogs or get any exercise because I’m so busy chasing the little tempests my news beat teapots generate; that’s no way to live. In striving to restore sanity, I must maintain focus, which means sometimes these things just don’t matter that much. Generate a few less words, go walk your dogs…restore some sanity.
A couple of weeks ago I had a photo session with a little girl in a park. Her name is Madison; she’s precocious and strong-willed and, in general, from the time she was very small, she has called the shots during our photo sessions. This particular hour hadn’t gone as well as I wanted and I was working hard to get a few last perfect shots.
All of the sudden, Madison flung herself down on the grass and said, in a very serious tone, “You just need to lighten up, Lorin; put that camera down and come play with me.” That is what I did and on the way back to the car, I got some of the best shots of the day.
Madison knew how to restore sanity and she’s only four; if only we could all be so wise.
I didn’t go to John Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington D.C. on October 30, but I really wanted to. Instead I took pictures at a friend’s wedding, which was probably a much saner way to spend the day than at some rally, but the idea of joining thousands of other folks in making the statement, “Enough of the craziness!” did really appeal to me.
The notion behind the rally (which was, admittedly, hosted by a “news” show on Comedy Central) was that in the midst of all the sturm und drang (storm and stress), yelling, name-calling and extreme polarization that define current news and politics, there is a quiet majority made up of regular folks just going about their business, living their lives - not really angry about anything or looking for anyone to blame.
I like that idea; it makes me feel better than the Fox News version of reality where we’re all going to hell in a hand basket faster than we can imagine and we need to be angry and scared and have someone to blame at all times. Hey! While you’re up, turn up the volume, because things aren’t nearly frantic enough yet…
This is where you Fox News enthusiasts jump in a starting yelling “liberal media!” at me, but in the interest of restoring sanity, let’s just agree to disagree; you go on to the Sports section, while I commiserate with readers who share these views with me.
So, restoring sanity – what does that mean? I think it means simply spending more time and energy acknowledging how things really are, and less time and energy trying to stay all riled up all the time.
For example, take the local news. Contrary to what some say, most of it is pretty good – cities trying to take care of citizens, schools trying to teach kids, governments trying to do the best they can on ever-shrinking budgets. There’s births, engagements, weddings, church and school news. There’s pictures of people donating money to good causes and coverage of charity events. There’s recipes and sports and page after page of pictures of people doing fun or interesting things. And, then there’s the shenanigans, controversy and bad headlines generated by the few – a very few – in our community.
In an effort to restore sanity, why not keep things in perspective? Sure there’s bad news, but in general there’s a whole lot more good going on. It’s up to me to choose which I focus on. Contrary to what we hear in some news, it’s all not black or white, wrong or right, my way or the highway; most of life, at least in my experience, is defined by compromise, reason and just trying to get along.
All this crazy loud Fox-style news has given us a taste for drama that is simply not reality based. Most of our lives don’t involve that much controversy, yet we’ve been led to feel that we have to pick sides all the time because extreme polarization is the new norm. Again, not so, I say. Real life is quieter and, yes, more boring than all that and that’s just fine with me. It’s about sanity, not how whacky can we all be.
In falling victim to the explosive media, we distort our view of reality and reduce our ability to function effectively. I, for one, don’t want to base my views on life or cast my vote in reaction to what I don’t want or what I’m scared of. I prefer to make choices based on how I’d like things to be.
I’ll admit, I get caught up in the drama at times. There are days, sometimes entire weeks, when I don’t walk my dogs or get any exercise because I’m so busy chasing the little tempests my news beat teapots generate; that’s no way to live. In striving to restore sanity, I must maintain focus, which means sometimes these things just don’t matter that much. Generate a few less words, go walk your dogs…restore some sanity.
A couple of weeks ago I had a photo session with a little girl in a park. Her name is Madison; she’s precocious and strong-willed and, in general, from the time she was very small, she has called the shots during our photo sessions. This particular hour hadn’t gone as well as I wanted and I was working hard to get a few last perfect shots.
All of the sudden, Madison flung herself down on the grass and said, in a very serious tone, “You just need to lighten up, Lorin; put that camera down and come play with me.” That is what I did and on the way back to the car, I got some of the best shots of the day.
Madison knew how to restore sanity and she’s only four; if only we could all be so wise.
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