They will crack your nuts

Here's a special treat for my loyal readers: This month I will be featuring a series of photos of my son Eli's nutcracker collection. He has amassed a number of the earnest, wooden figurines in the last couple of years. He can't really explain what he likes about them; he just likes them. I do too, the more I'm around them, though some are a little creepy. Not you, fellow. Some of the other guys.

Salamander & Jollie Ollie

I was at Circus World Museum today with the boys, and while walking from a kids circus in one building to a clown show in another, it started to rain. We ducked into an old Ringling Brothers storage house that I'd never been in before, and good Lord, it was an entire building full of circus dioramas.

A) Dioramas are one of my secret little joys in life, and

B) I've been to Circus World a dozen times before; how had I missed this??

I could have spent hours in there, but the boys were less transfixed than I was. The snake charming woman in this image was probably and inch and a half tall, to give you some scale.

Here's another, from a scene where a 19th century circus train has a run-in with some Indians, I think. Or they were commandeered to be part of the show. There wasn't a whole lot of explanation, but if you ask me, dioramas speak plenty well for themselves.

Last one, and I'll leave you alone: