A Cast of Thousands

 Elaborately arranged tableaux are a special feature at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. In the wing designed to display Alexander Girard’s collection, you will see weddings, funerals, outdoor markets, bullfights, baptisms and concerts, all in miniature.  Designed by Mr. Girard and displaying only a small portion of his collection, the mix of cultures and countries makes clear our commonalities. It’s also pretty obvious that people all across the world love to portray themselves in miniature. 

View From Orvieto

 A friend is preparing for two weeks in Italy. She looks forward to enjoying good food, art and architecture. There are places that still stick in my mind, almost as if I was there just last week. This is one of them. Orvieto sits on a hill of soft volcanic rock. From ancient times, people worked and lived in caves dug into the hillsides. As a claustrophobe, touring those caves was not for me. Instead, I enjoyed some quiet time gazing at the magnificently green patchwork of fields and trees spread out below Orvieto. I cherish the memory of having the time to really look and to just be there.

Amaranth In Bloom

 Right now, the gardens surrounding the Museum of the American Indian are full of tall amaranth. Their tasseled heads wave in the breeze. Look closely and you can see the tiny nutritious seeds that have been harvested by generations of native peoples. In the same beds, giant squash leaves cover the bottom third of the amaranth, with round squashes hiding under them. Here and there a tobacco plant blooms, as tall as the amaranth. These gardens are an illustration of how people lived and sustained themselves before their world became the New World.

Tall Sunflowers

 If these sunflowers were children, their parents would be so proud. They would have made marks on the door frame noting their height as they grew. This would have happened over the span of just a few months, from tiny sprout to strong stately flowers. Now they stand in all their glory, taller than I can reach, each bloom a replica of the sun that does not show its face on a very gray day.