Board your air-conditioned transport for a scenic drive through Portland, voted one of America’s “most livable towns” by Forbes Magazine. You’ll travel along the Eastern Promenade, which features breathtaking views of Casco Bay and the Calendar Islands. You’ll continue on past the Portland Observatory, the new Arts district, and Old Port, the city’s thriving commercial and business community. Then you’ll head out for some of Maine’s historic lighthouses. Standing strong on Casco Bay’s coastline is a trio of lighthouses that are architecturally different yet talk about the same purpose. Designed to help ships get around Portland’s rocky shoreline, many have been restored and each offers a glimpse back at Maine’s history.
The Portland Breakwater lighthouse is well known locally as the “Bug Light” because at 27 feet in height, it’s shorter than the common lighthouse. Built in 1875 and considered by many as the most elegant of most Maine’s lighthouses, the design was modeled after an ancient Greek monument built-in the 4th century BC.
Nearby is the Liberty Ship Memorial commemorating the ships that were built during World War II. The Spring Point Ledge lighthouse beckons next. Constructed in 1891 after many vessels ran aground on the area’s dangerous rocky coast, it’s still used today as an active help to navigation. The final lighthouse is Portland Head Light the oldest lighthouse in Maine.
Commissioned by President Washington in 1797 and dedicated by the Marquis de Lafayette, it was the first lighthouse completed by the newly created U.S. Register of Historic Places. Your visit here carries a narrated breakthrough of the museum housed in the previous lighthouse keepers’ quarters. Your tour concludes with a scenic visit to the pier back.
There is such a broad selection of dolls and their background tells stories of Japanese culture that would otherwise stay a secret. A book worthy of the coffee desk will provide a great deal of reading and being immersed in the lush picture taking of the beautiful art of Japanese dollmaking.
- Zoom in on the slip
- Roast potatoes
- At what rate are possessions expected to appreciate
- Tax and inflation rates
Japanese Dolls: The Fascinating World of NingyoFor collectors and the wondering, features and characteristics of different types of Japanese dolls along with maintenance and treatment tips and information. The oyster shell paste which covers the proper execution of the top and hands is called “gofun” and provides a beautiful skin texture which is delicately painted.
Glass eye and realistic locks make these very charming dolls the ones we usually recognize as “Japanese dolls”. Many Japanese dolls were manufactured from structure or solid wood, but it was the fine finishing of the material called “gofun” that gave my father’s dolls their luminescent epidermis and personal features. Gofun is a paste made of powdered seashell (usually oyster shell) blended with animal glue.
Applied by brush, it provides great beauty to the doll as well as making it sturdier. A base coat is first applied, features of the face, foot, and hands are built up through applications of successive layers of fun. This process is called ‘okiage’. A middle layer is applied and smoothed. The ultimate coat uses a fine gun, colored by pigments sometimes, this final coat is applied with a special brush and burnished to a soft sheen with a cloth. Hair, eyes, eyebrows, and mouth are coloring on to supply the doll its expression, and personality. They may be a work of fine art truly.
Once you feel acquainted with them, you find that each region has a particular style, and sometimes a particular type of doll associated with it even. Part of the reason for this is actually the original religious use of the figures. Later, when feudal lords (Samurai) vied with each other to make the most exceptional and artistic ones, the icons and clothing became quality of the spot also. You can see that this business of doll appreciation and collecting become very complicated! Inexpensive Although, the porcelain doll comes with an engaging face and an extremely pretty silk costume.
A lovely display piece to give an air of Japanese ornamental grace to your home. Vintage dolls, especially, have details of the outfit and accessories that make them interesting quite. Armor, costume, headpieces, ornaments, instruments, weapons, fans, all right area of the individual personality of the dolls. They could represent periods of time or certain people. Look for this info.