Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Wednesday Vignette; my husband went to Pittsburgh and all I got was this lousy photo

Andrew spent the week before last in Pittsburgh, working on the soon to be open new Schoolhouse Electric showroom and store. He did make time for a little fun and visited the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.That's where he took this photo of a Opuntia wearing katsina doll.

I planned to edit down the descriptor photo (below) to just the section about the prickly pear katsina, but really, isn't the idea of a runner who carries a bag of of hot chilies around his neck, and forces his losing opponents to eat them, rather compelling? Andrew, where's my photo of the red chile pepper katsina?

Not that I don't appreciate the Opuntia wearing doll. Want to learn more about the katsina? Here is a great article.

Weather Diary, Sept 11: Hi 69, Low 56/ Precip .10"

Wednesday Vignettes are hosted by Anna at Flutter & Hum. All material © 2009-2018 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

22 comments:

  1. That is definitely not a lousy photo. What an interesting piece of cultural art. Something about it reminds me a little of Andrew's art.

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    1. Yes I can see that (Andrew's art), he is definitely inspired by things like this.

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  2. This one must be to teach children that if they don't clean their ears and wash their hair, an opuntia will sprout out of their heads. Hope Andrew is enjoying himself (and keeping his ears clean.)

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  3. I love Pittsburgh and this icon. What a great little creation and concept. Hope he ate Italian while he was there. My niece is an urban affairs reporter at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

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    1. I lost track of all the fabulous meals he enjoyed, he seemed to have quite the culinary adventure.

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  4. If you must wear an opuntia, I think on top of your head is really the safest choice.

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  5. Wow, losing a footrace had serious consequences!

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  6. Wonderfully imaginative things, those Katsinas. They look strangely contemporary, especially the faces.

    I got a Schoolhouse Electric lamp recently. Love it.

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    1. I agree, re: "strangely contemporary"...and glad to hear of another happy customer!

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  7. I think it's pretty wonderful of Andrew to think of your interests as he explores a museum. As to the Katsinam, SoCal could use a visit from them on their rain-bearing clouds.

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    1. He also took a video of an area depicting native plants across the U.S., he's a good one that husband of mine.

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  8. This is actually very controversial. If it isn’t a replica, this katsina has likely been stolen from the Hopi. Katsina are deities to the Hopi and shouldn’t be displayed as cultural objects in museums. Here’s an NPR article on the subject:
    https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/19/213560746/reporters-notebook-hopi-sacred-objects-returned-home

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    1. Thank you for the link, I look forward to reading it.

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  9. I love your sense of humor most of all.

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  10. How thoughtful of Andrew, and what an interesting concept those educational dolls are. I read the article too, and one thing jumped out at me as odd... It mentioned the beginning of Monsoon season in July, which confused me a bit. I thought Arizona was bone dry during the summer, so I looked it up. Turns out, their storms do indeed peak during July-August, and they get about half of their annual rainfall during the monsoon season. How about that - not only did I learn about Katsina dolls today - by extension I also learned that it rains in the desert in summer. These are indeed educational dolls!
    ~ Anna K

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    1. Oh Anna, yes, educational dolls for sure. The summer monsoons are epic! The desert greens up instantly. This is why I occasionally give my Agaves a big summer drink, they want summer water, it's what they're programmed for. Unfortunately they don't want winter water, which is what Oregon is programmed for...

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  11. How fascinating! Yes, it would have been interesting to see the red chili pepper one, too. At least you got the lousy photo. ;-)

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    1. I did couple of online searches but found nothing.

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