Hookah Are Youuu?

Last night we, a few girlfriends and some artist friends went to an event. Henna

and Hookah.

We had wine,

mojitos, food, henna and hookah.

We ate, drank, painted with henna and shared some shisha.

A hookah is a single or multi stemmed instrument for vaporizing and smoking tobacco.

The smoke passes through water in a glass bowl

before inhalation.

In Egypt it is known as a Shisha which translates to glass. In other parts of the Middle East hookah is called argila, hoqqa, nargile, nafas and several other words.

Shahs in Persia and Sultans had staff members whose only duty was to attend to the hookah. The wealthier the person the more elaborate and decorated their hookah was.

This week enjoy Hookah Are Youuu? 

Saguaro

On our escape from Hades we traveled by signs proclaiming we were entering the Saguaro National Park. We had stopped and examined a few while driving through the Yuma Proving Grounds. 

It is a forest of Saguaros. 

According to a dictionary a forest is: a think cluster of vertical objects 

Well.. that about covered it. There were vertical objects all over with undergrowth, plants  and other  vegetation. A forest. 

Saguaros are found exclusively in the Sonora Desert. We did not see them in Nevada, New Mexico, or Texas.  The older they grow the more likely they are to grow arms. But some never do and though these arms tend to grow upward some grow sideways and wrap themselves around the main trunk. They have protective spines, 
            

bloom with white flowers in the spring and produce fruit
that is a glorious red and is edible by humans.

                                   
                                        Maricopa women gathering saguaro fruits, photo by Edward S. Curtis

Saguaros can live as long as 200 years. They are slow growing. A 15 year old Saguaro may only be 2 inches tall but they can grow as tall as 40 to 60 feet in height. During a good rainy season they can weigh from 3200 to 4800 pounds. 

This week enjoy Saguaro. 

Independence Declaration

On July 4th America celebrates Independence Day.  
                         
The day the Declaration was adopted by Congress.  The final copy, after several passages were changed, deleted, and adapted was again presented to Congress on August 2. Most  of the signatures were signed on that day. 5 signed at a later date and 2 members of the Congress did not sign at all. 
                                             
There are 56 signatures on the Declaration. 8 of those signers were born in Great Britain. 

One man who signed recanted after months of imprisonment, torture and mistreatment by the British. After he regained his freedom he swore an oath of Allegiance once again. 

The oldest signer was 70
                                             Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Duplessis  

and the youngest was 26. 

             Edward Rutledge - unknown

During World War II  the Declaration was secured at Fort Knox. 

Remember in the movie "National Treasure" Nicholas Cage's character claims there is something written on the back of the Declaration? There is. 

                                 

This week enjoy Independence Declaration! 

Persephone Drama

I am on an adventure with a friend. We have named it The Persephone Slip. 

She has become Persephone and she is leaving Alameda California or Hell as she likes to call it.

Persephone is Queen of the Underworld where she lives for a third of the year. The rest of the year she slips form Hades and lives in the light and warmth of the earth we know.

                             

                                            El rapto de Proserpina by Peter Paul Rubens

Persephone is also known as Cora, the Maiden. She is Proserpina, Preswa, Periphona, and Perse along with many others depending on if you were Greek, or Roman, Arcadian or from Crete or worshiped the Oceanic deities.

                     

                                Pluto and Persephone by Bernini

As we are slipping out of Hades please enjoy …

Persephone Drama

A Girl and Her Dog

I have been in Austin for the past few days baby-sitting or should I say dog-sitting. 
                               
My daughter and her girlfriend have gone on an escapade to Playa del Carmen. Rice (girlfriend dog) 
                                
and Isis (daughter’s dog) 
                          
are in my care. They are locked in battle for the most of the day with a rope and there are pink threads everywhere. 

Rice sleeps in my daughter’s room where I am sleeping and at several times during the night she gets up and rearranges her very large dog bed pillow. She also snores, very loud and had a host of dreams last night that required her to bark, chirp, whimper and growl. This morning her bed was on the other side of the room.

To share in my adventure this week …. Girls and Dogs
Enjoy A Girl and Her Dog

Daddi-O

Artists have painted portraits of their Mothers for years. I can find photos of Mother Portraits for days but, when it came to finding portraits of Fathers that was a wee bit more difficult

                                            .

                                        Grant Wood -  Woman with Plants (the artist's mother)

Why?

Mothers had more time to sit, were home, and came to visit. Fathers were working, busy, uninterested, unknown, departed, or in jail. I have no idea. My father sat for a portrait for me.

I found photographs of Artists and fathers,

                  

                                 Prince & his dad, the late John Nelson

 Artists who were Fathers

                                                    

Picasso’s daughter, Paloma works on her latest creation while her father works on his, Villa La Californie, 1957

 and even some sitting with a portrait of their Father. 

                              

                         Frida painting Portrait of her father 10 years after the death of Guillermo Kahlo

We call them Dad, Pop, Daddy, Father, Poppy, Papa, and in my case just to give him a “Heads Up” I called him Parental Unit when I needed to have a serious chat.

                                                   Me and my Father -My favorite photo of us.

June 19^th is Father’s Day and in honor of all Fathers ….

Enjoy Daddi-O!

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.