My sister Cheryl Long and I visited the opening day of the Holiday Market here in Eugene yesterday (Nov. 19, 2011). We met a jeweler, Angela Lees, who has a very unusual, Victorian, almost steam-punk design sensibility.Here is a link to her website at Etsy.

Close-up view of the necklace, titled "Stag Party"

One piece I admired was called “Vintage German Delight,” and I asked about the origin of the porcelain doll head at its center:

This necklace is 16" long and has the head of a Frozen Charlotte as the centerpiece. The head is surrounded by matching Vintage German Glass beads and brass chain.

To my surprise, Angela began telling me the story of the Frozen Charlotte, and I was able to capture her telling the story in under 2 minutes on my iPad2:  You can watch it here.

http://youtu.be/YiUuvW5lLnI

I went online to learn more about Frozen Charlotte, and a fascinating door to an American legend opened for me when I visited an article titled Doll of the Dead by Vic Dillinger.

He says, “The legend of Frozen Charlotte is based upon a folk song,

‘Fair Charlotte.’ The creation of a children’s toy (specifically a doll) was modeled after the legend of a girl whose vanity led to her demise.  The doll, very popular for decades, was an image of the dead girl, though, not the living one.”

I won’t repeat the story here as you can hear Angela’s version in the video or follow the link to Dillinger’s excellent article.

However, I can’t resist inserting some of the dreadful Victorian-style song lyrics as we begin Thanksgiving with a little bit of energy left over from the Day of the Dead:

“O, daughter dear,” her mother cried,
“This blanket ’round you fold;
It is a dreadful night tonight,
You’ll catch your death of cold.”

“O, nay! O, nay!” young Charlotte cried,
And she laughed like a gypsy queen;
“To ride in blankets muffled up,
I never would be seen!”

“My silken cloak is quite enough,
You know ’tis lined throughout;
Besides I have my silken scarf,
To twine my neck about.”

Her bonnet and her gloves were on,
She stepped into the sleigh;
Rode swiftly down the mountain side,
And o’er the hills away.

November 13th I participated in my first JCRC race. Located at the foot of Mt. Fuji, there was beautiful scenery with the changing leaf colors and the snow capped Mt. Fuji. It was very cold in the morning, but the sun was out and as the morning progressed it got to a very decent temperature.11?13????????JCRC???????????????????JCRC???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????I raced in the X-Class, an open class for first time riders. Depending on how an X-class rider finishes, they get placed into ranked classes (SS-S-A-B-C-D-E-F). In an X-class race you don’t really know what to expect. There are riders with no expirience and riders with a lot of expirience. I have been told by many riders that the X-class is full of crashes because people don’t know how to ride in a peleton (large group of riders). Riding with other cyclists 2 centimeters away from you at high speeds is very scary for the first time and because of that many people panic and cause a crash.??X-?????????X-???????????????????????????????????SS-S-A-B-C-D-E-F)?X-????????????????????????????X-??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????My race went very fast. The race was 20 km long and I finished just over 29 minutes, placing 14th overall. As you will see in the video I was at the front for most of the race until the last 2 kilometers. The race ended in a bunch sprint, which I am not strong at. I am more suited for long stages where endurance is important. But with a 14th out of 120 finish, I was very happy with the results for my first race! ??????????????20???29??????????120??14??????????????????!?????????????????????????????????????????????????!

November 13th I participated in my first JCRC race. Located at the foot of Mt. Fuji, there was beautiful scenery with the changing leaf colors and the snow capped Mt. Fuji. It was very cold in the morning, but the sun was out and as the morning progressed it got to a very decent temperature.11?13????????JCRC???????????????????JCRC???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????I raced in the X-Class, an open class for first time riders. Depending on how an X-class rider finishes, they get placed into ranked classes (SS-S-A-B-C-D-E-F). In an X-class race you don’t really know what to expect. There are riders with no expirience and riders with a lot of expirience. I have been told by many riders that the X-class is full of crashes because people don’t know how to ride in a peleton (large group of riders). Riding with other cyclists 2 centimeters away from you at high speeds is very scary for the first time and because of that many people panic and cause a crash.??X-?????????X-???????????????????????????????????SS-S-A-B-C-D-E-F)?X-????????????????????????????X-??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????My race went very fast. The race was 20 km long and I finished just over 29 minutes, placing 14th overall. As you will see in the video I was at the front for most of the race until the last 2 kilometers. The race ended in a bunch sprint, which I am not strong at. I am more suited for long stages where endurance is important. But with a 14th out of 120 finish, I was very happy with the results for my first race! ??????????????20???29??????????120??14??????????????????!?????????????????????????????????????????????????!

November 13th I participated in my first JCRC race. Located at the foot of Mt. Fuji, there was beautiful scenery with the changing leaf colors and the snow capped Mt. Fuji. It was very cold in the morning, but the sun was out and as the morning progressed it got to a very decent temperature.11?13????????JCRC???????????????????JCRC???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????I raced in the X-Class, an open class for first time riders. Depending on how an X-class rider finishes, they get placed into ranked classes (SS-S-A-B-C-D-E-F). In an X-class race you don’t really know what to expect. There are riders with no expirience and riders with a lot of expirience. I have been told by many riders that the X-class is full of crashes because people don’t know how to ride in a peleton (large group of riders). Riding with other cyclists 2 centimeters away from you at high speeds is very scary for the first time and because of that many people panic and cause a crash.??X-?????????X-???????????????????????????????????SS-S-A-B-C-D-E-F)?X-????????????????????????????X-??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????My race went very fast. The race was 20 km long and I finished just over 29 minutes, placing 14th overall. As you will see in the video I was at the front for most of the race until the last 2 kilometers. The race ended in a bunch sprint, which I am not strong at. I am more suited for long stages where endurance is important. But with a 14th out of 120 finish, I was very happy with the results for my first race! ??????????????20???29??????????120??14??????????????????!?????????????????????????????????????????????????!