Renfaire

 

I know you're just dying to hear about our day at the Renaissance Faire -- er, Renaissance Institute. It was on Friday, when the Faire is not in session, but it was on the grounds of the Faire, so we had some time to stroll past all the booths and stages with no crowds at all.

 

Even though the Faire wasn't going on, we did get to meet some participants. Our first event was a stop at the jousting list. Two knights, one gold, one black, explained some of the history and culture of jousting, and handed around some equipment for people to handle and examine. Ziad even got to hold a lance! It was taller than he was, and extremely heavy, but he managed to keep it parallel to the ground. Doughty lad!

Next our group split up for activities more or less based on age. Ziad and Maya did some leatherworking -- mostly stamping out designs on to leather strips to make bookmarks. The leatherworker also gave out free wristbands -- very cool. Ziad chose a blue one stamped with the sun and moon, while Maya took a purple one with flowers and insects.

Next we were off to "climb the castle wall" -- that is, listen to a talk about siege offenses and defenses, have a chance to build little castles out of sugar-cube-sized blocks of cement, and climb up a rock climbing wall. This was a first for Ziad and Maya.

 

Maya spent a lot of time climbing, a little higher every time, and getting used to rapelling down.

 

Ziad spent most of the time building, but took a break to climb straight up to the top in at record speed, climb back down again, then return to his castle. He also fashioned a small catapult out of the clay provided to use as mortar in the castle construction.

Then lunch. Then a visit to the soldier's encampment, which is the part that I did not think I was going to be able to endure. It's not that it wasn't fantastic. It's just that it was the heat of a very hot day, we were in the sun, I was thirsty and tired and it was still Ramadan. Whining aside, the two soldiers gave a very good talk on the mercenary armies of the Renaissance period, their weaponry and the various class distinctions among the soldiers, and again, had lots of cool things to hand around for children. Including an extremely interesting handbook on military drills for the musketeer that appeared to be a reproduction of a period manual.

Next we did wheat weaving, making braids of wheat that we fashioned into a small heart. Although this was fun and relaxing, in the end there's not much more to tell than that.

 

Last we saw a performance by the actor portraying Sir Frances Drake. He was very good. He got lots of kids up on stage to try on various costumes, illustrating whatever social custom he was talking about at the time, all the while projecting an extremely swashbuckling attitude.

And, best of all, Ziad and Maya got passes to go back to the Faire. We're heading back tomorrow for an all-morning book-binding workshop, after which we intend to check out the jousting and then ramble around the Faire to our heart's content. Maya wants to see Queen Elizabeth. She also wants to go in costume, but given the iffy weather I am discouraging this.

Here is a link to some pictures taken by another parent. Ziad and Maya are in some of them, but bonus points to those of you who can identify the person's children.

Welcome Back Monarchs Day

Did you know that a Monarch butterfly can fly up to 100 miles in a day?

Did you know that they only need liquid once a week?

Did you know that it's the female that has the most vivid markings?

We learned these facts and many more at Welcome Back Monarchs Day at Natural Bridges State Park. We also ate pumpkin ice cream and chocolate chip cookies, made some lovely paper flowers, played in the woods, and admired the ocean. We saw monarch caterpillars at various stages of their development.

This is our fourth year going to Welcome Back Monarchs Day, and the first year we've gone when I haven't been fasting. It didn't really fit in our schedule all that well this year, but my grim determination to have a taste of the pumpkin ice cream could not be denied. And you know what? The ice cream was delicious, and even our short visit was totally worth it.

Monarchs are hard to photograph. If you click on this picture, you will see some black butterfly silhouettes (barely visible here as black dots in the sky). This picture completely fails, however, to capture the way they animate the landscape. They glow in the air as they fly overhead. Their gently fluttering wings as they cluster on tree branches create a wave of movement all around. This grove is a wonderful place to be when the monarchs are visiting.

The Magic Flute, Part II

Normally, taking children to the opera would not be that comfortable of an experience for me. No matter how cheap the seats are, I always feel very concerned that their natural childlike behavior is going to compromise the enjoyment of people in our immediate vicinity. Going with a whole group of homeschoolers is a whole different kettle of fish. There were other kids there that my kids know, and lots of boys who are at least as disruptive as Ziad. In fact, I felt like I was sitting in a veritable field of squirming, and it felt good. Maya was wiggling in her seat, Ziad was laughing uproariously, a certain small amount of quiet discussion was not out of place. We had fun.

We were totally up in the nosebleed section. The singers onstage were mere blurs. And we were so high up that the lines of sight to the stage were interrupted by the curtain framing the stage. I know from experience that this will sometimes mean that you can't see the entire stage set, so I was not overly surprised when the Queen of the Night made her first entrance, hovering in the air somewhere over midstage, and all we could see of her was the lower half of her body. Several children were bending and twisting trying to get their eyes low enough to see her face, but no such luck. I kind of expected her to eventually get lowered down to the ground, but this didn't happen, so we didn't get to see her face until the second act.

One good thing about this vantage point however was the excellent view it afforded of the stage floor. And the stage floor turned out to be my favorite part of the entire production. It was covered with a design that was vaguely reminiscent of Gustav Klimt. (This detail from Klimt's work Hope 2 is meant to show the kind of design I mean.)

The amazing thing about this floor is the way different lighting completely changed its appearance. There was gold light that brought out all the detail and made the floor a rich, vibrant mosaic; then there was a greenish light that somehow made a lot of the detail disappear so that only the larger shapes and cooler colors stood out, so that the design looked much simpler and more austere. I loved watching that floor. You can almost see it in this picture:

 

As for the opera, when I asked Ziad what he thought, he said, "It was too long." I have to confess, he took the words right out of my mouth.

The Magic Flute, Part I

We went to the opera last night! How fun! Another great homeschool field trip. I find I have a lot to say about this opera. So I'm going to split it up, beginning with a (relatively) brief discussion of the plot.

Synopsis as apprehended by a spectator with no prior knowledge of the opera:

Someone is walking around, when he is menaced by a huge monster. He faints in terror. Three women come and kill the monster. They decided the guy is cute, and after exclaiming about this for a while, decide to go tell the queen in the hopes that this will cheer her up, because she is apparently unhappy about something. After they leave, a bird-like person appears. He sings about how great a bird-catcher he is, but his song gradually changes to reveal his deep longing for love and a wife. The guy recovers from his faint, the three women come back, the Queen of the Night appears. She sings about how her daughter was kidnapped by the magician Sarastro, and that this guy, now revealed as a prince, should go rescue her. She gives the prince a magic flute, the bird guy some magic bells, and also tells them that three boys in a boat that flies through the air will accompany them and give them advice, which they should follow. So they set off.

For some reason, Papageno (the bird guy) immediately arrives at the place where the princess (Pamina) is being held captive, and they escape. The prince (Tamino), however, wanders around until he comes to some temples, where a priest informs him that Sarastro is their benevolent leader, and the Queen of the Night is no good. Papageno and Pamina are re-captured, Sarastro refuses to release her, Tamino shows up and it is decided that Tamino and Papagena will be initiated into the temple (oh, by the way, it turns out they're in Egypt) and earn the love of their women (it is hinted, although we don't see her, that there is a bird woman for Papageno around somewhere).

Tamino and Papageno enter the temple. The Queen of the Night appears to her daughter and gives her a knife, telling her to kill Sarastro. Tamino passes his tests, Papageno fails his. Papageno is on the verge of suicide, but the bird woman, Papagena, comes to him and saves him. Tamino and Pamina go through fire and water protected by the magic flute. The Queen of the Night appears and sings about how she's going to conquer everybody, but then without notice sings instead that she is conquered. She leaves with her three handmaidens. There is a big triumphal ending.

I've been reading about how this is witty and profound, but my initial impression was more that it was disjointed and lacking in sense. If the Queen of the Night is so evil, how come she gives Tamino the magic flute, which is good, and sends the three boys to give him advice? If Sarastro is good, why did he kidnap Pamina? Plus, why are we supposed to all of a sudden believe the followers of Sarastro about who is good and who is bad? Yet, apparently, this is not a plot twist, but a revelation of truth.

Now that I think of it, there were some funny lines. I can't help thinking they were probably funnier in 1791 when this opera was composed, and people didn't get around so much. 216 years later, they're amusing, but a little shopworn.

So, if you're still reading, here is the synopsis from SFO's website:

ACT I
Tamino, a prince from a far country, is seeking the court of the Queen of the Night. As he nears his goal he is attacked by a dragon, but three ladies in the service of the Queen save Tamino and hurry off to inform their mistress of his arrival. Papageno, a bird catcher, bounces in and proclaims that he has slain the dragon.
The ladies soon return and, after punishing Papageno for lying, give Tamino a portrait of the Queen’s daughter Pamina, who has been enslaved by the evil Sarastro. Tamino falls in love with her instantly and offers to rescue her. The Queen suddenly appears and describes the grievous loss of her daughter. She confirms Tamino in the task of returning Pamina and promises to make her his bride.
The ladies instruct Papageno to accompany Tamino on his journey. Each receives a magic musical instrument for use in time of trouble: a flute for Tamino and a set of silver bells for Papageno. Finally, the ladies summon three wise boys to guide them to the tyrant’s lair.
Meanwhile Pamina bravely tries to escape from her captivity, but she is intercepted by the slave master Monostatos. He intends to rape her, but is thwarted by Papageno, who has been sent ahead by Tamino to scout Sarastro’s citadel. Papageno reassures Pamina that help is on the way and releases her from her chains.
The three boys have led Tamino to the threshold of Sarastro’s realm where the prince is confronted by three doors. Tamino demands admission and the speaker of the temple informs Tamino that he has been misled by the Queen of the Night. True, Sarastro has abducted Pamina, but he is not an evil tyrant. If Tamino wishes to discover the whole truth and find Pamina, he must undergo initiation to the temple. Mysterious voices assure him that Pamina is still alive. In gratitude, Tamino plays his magic flute for the first time. Wild beasts assemble to listen to the flute, but they disperse at the sound of Papageno’s pipes.
Upon hearing the pipes, Tamino goes off in search of Papageno, who arrives immediately from another direction with Pamina. They are again apprehended by Monostatos. This time the silver bells get them out of trouble, but by now it is too late, for Sarastro himself has arrived with his entourage.
Pamina confesses to the attempted escape, using Monostatos’s lust as her reason. Sarastro forgives Pamina but dismisses her love for her wicked mother. Pamina must now transfer that love to a man. At this moment she sees Tamino for the first time, led in under arrest by Monostatos. She recognizes him at once as the man she is destined for, and they rush into each other’s arms. Sarastro gives orders for Tamino and Papageno to be initiated into the mysteries of the temple.

ACT II
Tamino is accepted as a suitable candidate for the brotherhood. Sarastro sees Tamino’s recruitment and marriage with Pamina as decisive in the power struggle with the Queen of the Night. Tamino goes unflinchingly through his trials, culminating in the ordeals by fire and water. He is accompanied by Pamina through the ordeals, but not before she too has her faith in Tamino and Sarastro sorely tried—first by her mother and later by Tamino himself, whose vow of silence she misinterprets as rejection. Papageno has a very difficult time with his trials and doesn't make it through. He is frightened of the dark, talks throughout the trial of silence, is separated from Tamino, and gets lost in the temple. He didn’t wish to undergo the initiation in the first place, and his interest is only kept alive by the prospect of finding the wife promised to him by Sarastro. Papageno’s wife-to-be, Papagena, seems to be propelled to him by the power of music and eventually turns him from suicide to a fulfilling life with her.
In the end, Sarastro's strategy successfully annihilates the Queen of the Night's power as the people hail Isis, Osiris, and the triumph of courage, virtue, and wisdom.

And if you've really got stamina, there is an excellent synopsis on Wikipedia.

For my money, even when written up by someone who knows the opera, this plot makes no sense. Good thing Mozart writes such beautiful music. So, just like an opera, in fact, I have taken a huge number of words to say only: Nice music, but the plot makes no sense at all. Even for an opera. So little sense that I feel compelled to go on and on about how little sense it makes. But I'm going to stop now. Really.

Orienteering

What a blast! Orienteering is a kind of cross-country race with maps and compasses. It's entered the digital age with little electronic keys that you use to check in with at various points along the course, and when you're done you can download the information to get a printout of your times. Very cool. They have many different degrees of difficulty, but since we'd never done it before, I decided (in spite of Ziad's displeasure) that we were starting out with the easiest.

Our route took us up and down hills,

 

through the woods,

 

past a small lake,

 

past the coolest climbing tree ever,

 

and back to the parking lot. We liked it so much we hiked it again after completing it the first time. We weren't trying all that hard to race (in fact, before we began, I categorically stated that racing was OUT, we were just doing it to see what it was like) but I still thought our time of 32 minutes was pretty awesome. Apparently not. We came in 9th out of 17, which places us squarely in the bottom half of people who finished. (Results are here.) Well, next year, I'm going to get out my track shoes and train, because I know Ziad and Maya could have done it much faster if I hadn't been holding them back.

Palo Alto Pumpkin Patch

 

We are huge fans of blown glass in this family. Even though I am not a person who should be allowed to collect anything, due to my complete inability to maintain a physical environment where collections can be showcased as they deserve, I actually have a tiny collection of various glass items. Little blue glass elephants from Venice, a few blocks of glass with little glass fish swimming around inside, some millefiore paperweights (I especially love millefiore). And now I have a glass pumpkin, and Ziad and Maya each have one, too. At least it's all in a good cause.

 

There are at least two glass pumpkin patches that I know of around here, both of them benefits. One is held on the lawn at Los Gatos High School, one on the lawn of the art museum in Palo Alto. We went to the one in Palo Alto because it's closer to my Mom's house, and she likes glass pumpkins, too.

 

Then we had to leave for their three-hour guitar marathon (two classes of one and a half hours each), the one made all the more charming because I am fasting. I have started taking my knitting along, and no amount of dirty looks from guitar instructors will make me stop. However, perhaps because I only got four hours of sleep the night before, I spent more time ripping stitches out than putting them in.

Music in the park

 







I'm on the e-mail list for the San Francisco Symphony. I'm glad I am, too, because I found this in my inbox a few days ago:

Join Us for a Free Outdoor Concert in Downtown San Jose

Join the San Francisco Symphony on October 5 for a new event—a free noontime concert at the Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose. Resident Conductor Benjamin Shwartz leads music by Copland, John Adams, and Gershwin.

Bring your lunch, take a break from your day and join us for this outdoor performance.

No tickets required!


When: Friday, October 5 12pm
Where: Plaza de Cesar Chavez

Benjamin Schwartz conductor
San Francisco Symphony

Copland -- Fanfare for the Common Man
John Adams-- Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Prokofiev-- Suite from Romeo and Juliet
Gershwin -- Cuban Overture

Who could pass that up?




 
It was a beautiful day. Our house was cold, so cold I almost decided against going, but when we got downtown it was warm and sunny.


 

The music was beautiful. It was noisy downtown, but that was part of the charm. Ziad and Maya enjoyed the music, too.

The Mercury News was even there! Their article about the concert is here.

Homeschool Day at Hidden Villa

Hidden Villa had a homeschool day on Friday. They were closed to everyone except those who had registered, and offered a variety of special events and classes. The day was gray and overcast, and it even rained a little at one point, but we had a great time for all that.

We started out with the biscuit-making workshop. It sounds so simple, but at Hidden Villa they always include a lot of enrichment with the basic activity, so there was a lot of discussion of farming, harvesting, baking, etc. They also made butter by shaking cream in a jar. This is an activity everyone enjoys. It's so amazing to watch the cream change right in front of your eyes. Not for the first time, though,I found myself wondering why they didn't show the kids a churn, just for them to see how people used to do it before all this new-fangled machinery came in. After making the biscuits, they finished up with some lively eco-themed versions of tag (predator and prey, summer and winter). It was time to check out the rest of the farm.

The origami porch

Unfortunately we didn't get too far, because another activity they had going that day was origami. The room was very crowded, so I sat outside on the porch and knitted away at some socks. Next thing you know, I hear Ziad's voice saying things like, Then you fold it like this, and open it up over here..." Yes, Ziad was teaching the origami instructors new folds. I don't know whether to find this cute or obnoxious, but the instructors were very nice about it, and complimented him profusely.

We had to drag him out of there to go check out the hens and the new chicks. The new chicks turned out to be much larger (and less cute, in my opinion) than one might have expected. Ziad and Maya each got a chance to hold one, though, and Ziad was entranced with the way it snuggled down and just relaxed for him. He didn't want to give it back, but the docent was moving on to showing where the eggs were laid. This was followed by a handful of corn for everyone to feed the chickens foraging outside, and again, we had to drag Ziad out of there in order to go get lunch.

Lunch had been made in a variety of workshops that morning. There were the biscuits, and also cheese and soup and salad. I really, really wanted to try them, and in fact, saved some to take home. Everything was very good, and most of it had been grown and prepared on the farm. They had an old-fashioned dance band playing (square and line dance, I mean) and it was just so pleasant to sit out on the grass. The only problem was that Ziad ran into some kids he knew, and it was impossible to get him to sit down and eat. This created difficulties for everyone later, when he got tired and hungry and cranky, but at least he had fun with his friends.

The afternoon was devoted to one last activity per child. Unfortunately, they did not choose the same activity. Maya wanted to milk goats up in the white barn, while Ziad wanted to explore wool and felting in the educational center. Unfortunately these two locations were separated by about a five-minute walk, so I didn't really get to observe either of them, as I shuttled back and forth keeping tabs on the two of them. For those who are interested, Ziad and Maya's posts describe them below.

We could have stayed longer, and maybe on another day we would have, but I find driving tiring and so wanted to get home before the rush hour started. All in all, it was a great day, gray skies notwithstanding. Hidden Villa is a wonderful place.

Wool crafts at Hidden Villa

by Ziad

Making a felt pouch:

Wool has thousand of tiny hooks on each hair, and when we felted the wool we were trying to get them to hook together. I don't think mine did.

In the beginning, the wool was kind of soft and all tangled, with the hairs going in different directions. It wasn't in threads, like yarn is. We put it in these paddles that were kind of like hairbrushes, and we pulled them apart to spread them out to straighten out the hairs. This is called carding. Then we put them in a cross and put a tennis ball on top. We wrapped the cross around the ball and dunked it in soapy water. Then we squeezed the water out and dumped it in rinse water and then squeezed that out. I was doing fine until we put the wool into a ball and soaked in the soapy water and then started rinsing it. I just hated that. Then we dried it out and cut a cross-shaped hole at the greenest part. We gradually pulled out the tennis ball.

Spinning:

I hated the spinning because my wool kept ripping and I couldn't get it together. I couldn't get the bits of wool that I was making into the yarn thin enough.

Milking a Goat at Hidden Villa

by Maya

The man who milks the goats showed us the goat food. There were two kinds. The first was kind of like Cheerios with sugar on them. He wouldn't let us eat them, but he said he eats them himself sometimes. They were little pellets. The other food was also pellets, except it was longer and more greyish-colored. He scooped it up into

The woman showed us how to milk the goats. We used our thumbs for an example. You squeeze from the top and the more gently down to the bottom. This way you get all the milk at the top and then push it down from the bottom. If you just squeeze at the bottom it hurts the goat.

They said they get ten pounds of milk every day. They goat they milk is going to have babies. The man told us that they only have milk when they have babies, but they stay like that for almost the whole year.

The man who milks the goats dumped some food onto a tray. The goat was really excited. It was putting its hooves on the fence. I think they did that to make it stay still while we milked it. We were only milking one goat. Because of that we had to wait in line for our turn. I was near the end. When we got to it, it was really fun to milk it. Nobody ever got kicked or butted. I hope they do that again. While I waited for Mom to come pick me up, we got to pet all the goats in the pen. Then we got to pet that same one because they let it into the pen. They had the thing of what they gave the goats. I was glad Mom got there soon because they dumped some food in the pen and so most of the goats were interested in the food and so we couldn't pet them. Only one wasn't. I think it was the one that we milked because it had already eaten at the place where we milked it. It was really fun.

Rainy Saturday

Well, on Saturday we didn't go to the dragon boat festival in San Francisco.

We didn't go to Redwood City for the downtown party.

No, we headed over to Yarn Dogs for a class on lace knitting. And it turns out that while I am quite good at figuring out how the patterns work, actual lace weight yarn makes me crazy. I can barely even see it on the needles, or feel it against my fingers. I guess this is good information, but I kind of regret having spent my Saturday acquiring it. And the worst part is, I haven't actually given up on it entirely, and will probably throw my back out from the stress of trying to improve my skill at something that I am most likely entirely unsuited for.

What a beautiful morning

Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market

We went to the Ferry Plaza because I wanted to buy some chocolate there. It's kind of a silly reason, but I also wanted to go to the Ferry Plaza because I love it there. Even when I'm not eating myself, I love to sit with Ziad and Maya on the walkway where the restaurants have their tables, looking out over the water at the Bay Bridge, watching the ferries come and go. You can see Treasure Island, and even Alcatraz, and the sun and the water make everything look surreally beautiful. I feel as if I'm wandering through a painting.

This day, though, the Farmer's Market was in full swing. I've never had a chance to check the San Francisco Farmer's Market out, and I have to say, I was really impressed. They have EVERYTHING there! Meats, eggs, cheese, produce of all descriptions (I'm actually starting to get tired of heirloom tomatoes), fresh fish, smoked fish, sausages, and all kinds of prepared foods and baked goods. I exercised self-restraint until we got to the place where they were selling heirloom beans. They had all kinds of beans I have never even heard of, and some that I've always been curious about, like scarlet runner beans. There were red beans, beige and yellow beans, black beans, brown beans, round beans, big beans, small beans -- all kinds of beans, and all beautiful. They even had a huge basket of all different kind of beans for people to run through their fingers, admiring the colors and smooth texture. Since beans keep practically forever, it didn't feel too frivolous to get four pounds worth. Now that I have them home, I'm not sure how long it's going to take us to eat them, but I sure enjoy looking at them.

Cable Car Museum

Ziad wanted to go to the Cable Car Museum. He wanted it so much that I spend a good half hour circling various permutations of streets in the vicinity, looking, looking, looking for a parking place. Damn! Parking is tight around there. We had chosen to drive to the museum rather than figure out the bus/trolley/cable car combination that would have gotten us from the ferry plaza, largely because it seemed faster. By the time I had parked, I wasn't so sure. Plus we were all kind of dizzy from going around in circles.

We finally got there, though, and walked into the building. It's a noisy place, because the wheels (called sheaves) that turn the cables that pull the cars are right out in the open. There's not all that much to see, but it's free, and it's interesting. Because Ziad is getting older, I enforced a little learning: "Either tell me something you learned today or go learn something and then tell me." He chose to look at the gripping mechanism that the cars use for hitching a ride on the cables.

I myself was interested to learn that the cable cars were installed around 1897, and by the 1940s were slated for destruction. It took a determined and forceful effort to save them. Reading about the fight for their survival, I remembered what an integral part they are of San Francisco's image in other parts of the world. Living nearby, I think of San Francisco as part of my backyard. We love the museums, the restaurants, the ocean, the bridge, the ballet, and yes, the cable cars. The cable cars themselves, though, are really a small part of the overall picture. In fact, Ziad and Maya had never even been on one until a few years ago. My point, though, is that something can seem out of date and irrelevant 70 years after it's construction, but integral and valuable 70 years after that. The fact that San Francisco has one of the few operational cable car systems in the world is now a source of civic pride.

Out and about

Master Gardeners

I've been wanting for a long time to go check out the demonstration garden in Palo Alto. Glancing at the calender, I saw that they were offering a class, "Insects in the Garden: the good, the bad, and the ugly." It seemed the perfect opportunity. So we piled into the car and headed over.

The garden is beautiful. The class was interesting. They had lots of insects in jars to take a look at, and piles of little magnifying glasses to roam the garden with. I've never taken a magnifying class to a living plant before, and I saw plenty of miniature creatures whose existence I would never have suspected.

We also saw some lacewing eggs. I had just read about lacewing eggs a few nights previously:

I would burst suddenly into the house and startle the family with the news that the strange, spiky black caterpillars on the roses were not roses at all, but the young of lady-birds, or with the equally astonishing news that lacewing-flies laid eggs on stilts. This last miracle I was lucky enough to witness. I found a lacewing-fly on the roses and watched her as she climbed about the leaves, admiring her beautiful, fragile wings like green glass, and her enormous liquid golden eyes. Presently she stopped on the surface of a rose-leaf and lowered the tip of her abdomen. She remained like that for a moment and then raised her tail, and from it, to my astonishment, rose a slender thread, like a pale hair. Then, on the very tip of this stalk, appeared the egg. The female had a rest, and then repeated the performance until the surface of the rose-leaf looked as though it was covered with a forest of tiny club moss. The laying over, the female rippled her antennae briefly and flew off in a mist of green gauze wings.

--Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals

These lacewing eggs were not so prolific, but still amazing to view.

Unfortunately, heat and hunger gave us short attention spans, so we left early and headed over to the Cantor Arts Center, where we ate lunch and visited their exhibit

The Art of Being Touareg

We saw:

a tent -- the tent was beautiful in it's own right, but also interesting, because tents traditionally belong to the women. As the Touareg settle into houses, which are typically owned by men, the women are losing their property rights, and what was once a matrilineal society is changing.

silver work
There was a lot of silver jewelry, and two craftsmen on hand demonstrating their art. In addition to the jewelry, they had made several little silver animals that Ziad was very taken with.

veiled men -- the craftsmen were in traditional clothes, which include turbans and veils for the men. It's clear that these veils are an important protection for people who spend their lives in the harsh desert environment, and it really made me think about societies where this style of dress has morphed into a tool of oppression. If you've ever read Dune, these men looked like they could have stepped right out of its pages. I gather they mostly wear these clothes now when they are acting as cultural representatives to Westerners. It's too bad, because the robes are both elegant and impressive, giving them a real sense of presence.


modern applications -- there was a section showing fashion motifs taken from Touareg design elements.


Guess what? The air conditioning was too cold. We couldn't really linger as long as I would have liked. The exhibit is over now, but I would like to do some research and find out more about this culture.