Achsah

I was thinking about what might inspire me this week for my art show when I came across dear old Aunt Achsah Lydia Warren. Pronounced Axa. Yes, it is a real name. It means -  adorned, anklet, bursting the veil.

Achsah was a daughter of Caleb ben Yefune, a prince of Judah, she was his only daughter.  She was given as a bride to Othniel and her dowry was desert lands in the south. Othniel asked Prince Caleb for more lands, better lands but was refused.  Upon hearing he was denied Achsah leaps off a donkey she was riding and asks her father to give her springs for water so she may grow crops and her and her family prosper.  She did not ask for better land, farm land, or pasture land. She simply asked dad for some water. Prince Caleb gives his daughter more land in the North that contained a spring and another piece of land that contained a spring.

                                               

There are several takes on this story and most paint Achsah to be pushy, ungrateful, and demanding.

I think she was grateful for what she had, she only asked for water. She was supportive of her husband by letting him ask.  She was concerned for her family and the people who also served on her land by asking for water to help support them all.  She was a daughter and asked her father. She was brave to accept the desert, ask for water and use it to cultivate and change the land she was given.

It was women like Achsah who helped to settle America and who led the push into the west. Brave, willing to ask and do the hard work, supportive and yes, maybe a little pushy.

The week enjoy Achsah.

Art of Cigar

I was Ghost hunting over the weekend and in the course of that I came across a great Uncle, James C. Warren, who worked as a cigar maker in 1900. 

I was curious as he lived in Wood County, West Virginia and I was not aware of West Virginia being a huge cigar making state. Well, they are or maybe were. Cigar and tobacco dealers and makers were plentiful.

I was inspired. 

My dad smoked cigars for years. Usually after dinner, on road trips and later while driving a 90 minute commute from work. When he would light one up after a formal dinner party he would always quote Rudyard Kipling from the Poem "The Betrothed". 
My mother, though she denies it smoked Swisher Sweets during her turn to drive on road trips.  

This week enjoy the Art of Cigar at Renaissance Tapestry. 

Cigarro by Marroquin AS

Santa Margarida

Inside Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona is a painting by Juan Rexach of Santa Margarida that he painted in 1456. It captivated me with the serene beauty of Margarida against the pink flesh and vivid red blood of the Dragon. Her flawless skin, golden hair nor her elegant garments are tainted with the blood she spilled. 

                                               SantaMargarida - Juan Rexach

Margarida was the daughter of a pagan priest whose mother died when she was born. Her father gave her into the care of a Christian woman in Antioch to nurse and raise. Margarida grew up Christian consecrating herself to GOD. Her beauty caught the eye of a Roman Governor who told her he would marry her if she gave up Christianity. She refused and he ordered her tortured. One of the torments that she endured was to be eaten by Satan who came to her in the form of a dragon.

She escaped from the dragon, alive by slicing open his belly with a cross. They also burned her and attempted to drown her but she remained safe through each torment. In the end she was beheaded.

Joan of Arc claimed that one of the voices she heard was that of Santa Margarida.

This week enjoy Santa Margarida. 

El Pajaro Muerta

I parked my car, got out, crossed the street and walked up the sidewalk.  I was feeling carefree and dreaming whimsical. I stepped onto a section of the sidewalk that had been painted pink and there it was. I stopped, stunned and unable to step any further. A bird, the bird.

The horror of the scene was intense. It had not been there long… dying… alone. The feathers were still bright and vivid, a creamy white that faded into milky browns and a startling yellow throat, made even more strikingly vivid because of the pink sidewalk. 

The blood under it’s snapped and lifeless neck was a deep fluid crimson.

But as the gruesome scene unfolded there was a fairy tale like beauty about it.

This week enjoy El Pajaro Muerta – The Dead  Bird

Pretty in Pink

Last week I performed my favorite volunteer project as Backstage Mom for the Sweetheart Pageant.  It is a local pageant held in Schertz a city near me and before any of you get fussy there have been male contestants.  Scholarships are awarded and the chosen few become ambassadors for the city.

The Young Ladies all wore pink dresses that were designed for them during the introductions and dance number. The room was decorated in whites and pinks with pink topped cupcakes 

                                   

and pink table runners.

I have been inspired by all the pink so this week I present you with …

Pretty in Pink

Itsy Bitsy Spiderwort

Last week a friend and I decided to take a walk through Crescent Bend Park. 

We came across many lovely flowers and creatures but what stood out among them all was Spiderwort.

 Actually Texas Spiderwort or Tradescantia humilis Rose. It grows from March through June and has blossoms that range in color from white, pink, purples and a very vivid blue.

Tradescantia gets its name from English naturalists and explorers John Tradescant the Elder 

                                

       John Tradescant the elder (portrait attributed to Cornelis de Neve)

and John Tradescant the Younger. 

                            

Portrait of John Tradescant the younger, attributed to Thomas De Critz (1607-1653)

The Younger made three trips to The New World, Virginia and in 1629 returned with the plant introducing it to England. Both men served as gardeners to Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France.

This week enjoy Spiderwort. 

Party Without Cake

                       

I had a craving for vanilla cake but because I was feeling lazy and it was a Saturday. I made brownies. 

                          

They were very tasty but did not satisfy. I bought a French vanilla cupcake 

                         

at the grocery store later that week. It was tasty but not quite real enough. I had visitors from California arrive early Saturday morning so I grabbed the opportunity to make a Vanilla Bourbon cake with Buttercream frosting and have been blissful for days.

                            

Eating cake after dinner as “normal” people should had been happening here, but today, I am having breakfast cake with sausage and eggs!!

2 carafes of coffee and an orange juice later….

Ahhh…. This is the life.

As Julia Childs says “a party without cake is just a meeting”.

What better way to start a Monday?

This week enjoy Party Without Cake.