Magic Carpets

Last Friday, Antonio, our friendly security guard at work, phoned up to say there was someone with a package for me? Package? I wasn't expecting a package - hmmm a satisfied client sending a token of their esteem which I cannot accept? A dissatisfied client with another type of gift that I don't wish to accept?

It turned out to be neither. It was a colleague of my darling Bev's bearing a gift from her. Back in February when she was in Torino she had brought a carpet with her from Islamabad, which she, Kev, Sobie and Silver currently call home. She had given it to a colleague to bring back to Roma; our friends at Alitalia had lost his luggage - between Torino and Roma???? - and I had all but given up hope that it would ever show up. But no, there it was.

Within minutes of unrolling it in the office I received three offers to buy it. But there is no way! First it comes from Bev! Second I love it! And third for some reason it reminds me of the first oriental rug that Laurent and I ever bought.

Back in 1982 one of my friends and co-workers was engaged to a chap in Ottawa who had a carpet store; out of curiosity - to see what he had and also, as we hadn't met him yet, to see what she had - we dropped in to his place on Bank St one Saturday morning. He showed us some lovely if highly priced carpets which were well beyond our budget. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw this small, but to my mind exquisite, carpet amongst a pile of other smaller rugs.

It was a Baluchi prayer rug with a Tree of Life design. It had been added to at some point in time, those borders with the coloured tufts weren't part of the original, nor was the tufted edging. As I recall it wasn't exactly inexpensive but they had a very good installment plan - so it ended up in our apartment. The first of what was to be a considerable number of purchases of oriental rugs.

At last count (that's as of Friday and not including several that have been sold in the past two years) we have twelve in all sizes and styles. Some are expensive, some less so; some are unique - one in particular, a Saumur, makes the local carpet seller get all glassy eyed with desire - others are fairly common though most are hand woven so I suppose each on is unique. Some were bought in Cairo, quite a few in Damascus, two others in Kurdasi, several in Warsaw of all places and at least two were received as gifts. And if I recall both of the gifts are from Bev.


I guess its the colours more than anything as the design is completely different. Nicky and Nora found it very much to their liking with much sniffing and rolling - one little problem our Nora loves rug fringes. In the same way she has learned to open the doggie gate (smart girl that) she also managed to unravel the fringe on one of our more expensive carpets. Its currently out being repaired and I'm trying to explain to Nora that the cost is coming out of her doggie chow allowance!


So until the hounds from hell are a bit better trained our newest carpet will join several of the smaller carpets in storage but it will soon be gracing the floor - I think in the bedroom with that first much loved carpet. My two magic carpets!

10 maggio - San Cataldo

Things - An Icon

In his highly readable Byzantium, The Early Centuries, John Julius Norwich introduces the first age of iconoclasm:

Ever since the dawn of history, when man first became a religious animal and almost simultaneously - give or take a millennium or two- made his first clumsy attempts at adorning the walls of his cave, he has had to face one fundamental question: is art the ally of religion, or its most insidious enemy?

Byzantium, The Early Centuries - John Julius Norwich
Penguin Books

The Iconoclasts came down heavily on the later view for two extended periods in the history of Byzantium. Iconoclasm literally means "the smashing of icons" and some of the great works of Eastern Christian art were destroyed when they had the upper hand. Fortunately, for the art world at least, the Iconodules won out and icon painting spread throughout various parts of the Christian world and they are still being created today.

Last week in Athens we saw icons on display in shops everywhere. Some were strictly for the tourist trade - fine iconographic art from Chinese workshops, some were silver and gold encrusted meant for church use or private devotion and others were being sold as fine art in high end shops.

One such shop was across from our hotel on the Plaka. Koukos displayed some wonderful jewelry and beautiful art work in its windows. There was one piece that caught our attention immediately. For five days we went past it, looked at it, discussed it and even photographed it. Finally Friday morning I went in and asked the price. A quick exchange of text messages with Laurent, who was in Patras and we became the owners of this beautiful icon:
I don't pretend that I have any great knowledge of the styles, schools or symbols of icon painting but several things had struck me. The borders are decidedly unconventional, almost like the decorations on a medieval manuscript. But more important the grouping is very unusual: Jesus with the Virgin Mary and her mother Saint Anna. These three figures seldom appear together in any type of Christian art. And though they have that slightly distant spiritual look you associate with Eastern religious art I also sense a warmth in the women's faces that drew me to it immediately. And I find the drape of St Anna's arm around her daughter's shoulder a particularly lovely detail.

The artist, as with most Icon painters his name is not provided and the piece is unsigned, is from Salonika in the north of Greece and he is known for his unusual subjects and decoration. His central figures always follow the icon traditions but what surrounds them is often taken from other sources. He also follows a very old tradition of painting on canvas and attaching it to the wood rather than painting on the wood direct.

After I made the purchase the two shopkeepers showed me another of his works which again had an unusual appeal - a very traditional figure of St Mamas, the patron of Animals in a lovely miniature farmyard right out of a medieval book of hours. It was a struggle but I decide the family fortunes just couldn't afford it. But who knows it may still be there on our next trip back in the spring.

Addendum: I received a comment from djedushka who tells me that icons are "written" not painted. As I look at our Icon and think about it, that is a wonderful way of describing its creation. Many thanks.

03 dicembre - San Francesco Saverio

Knicks and Knacks

It's going to be a busy two weeks coming up: Laurent's father is with us until Thursday, Friday we head up to Pesaro for the Rossini Festival and a week Tuesday the movers come. We decided to get a head start on a bit of packing - the things we don't want the delicate hands of the packers touching - treasures, Laurent's army, porno valuable tapes and DVDs, that sort of thing.

So Laurent is carefully packing each one of his 250 odd soldiers in its box while I am trying to figure out if I really need the instruction book from my Casio calculator circa 1987 which is so loving preserved along with the warranty for my first computer and a how-to-book for my first digital camera.

Every time we move it becomes apparent that we have too much stuff and some weeding out should be done. And we do get rid of stuff - honestly! But it would be hard to part with something like this family of Polish devils.

On a visit to a crafts store in Warsaw I saw this devilish family perched in the middle of the pop-eyed, coked-out-looking wood carvings that normally pass for Polish folk art - there is something faintly disturbing about a garishly coloured Holy Family that look like they've just visited a neighbourhood crack house in Bethlehem. In contrast this little grouping seemed so loving and fun loving that I fell for them immediately.

The artist, a carver by the name of H. Tarka, obviously felt the same way as he was creating them. These are no stand-alone sour-faced religious figures - this group is in it together come rain or come shine, and frankly it looks like its shining for them big time. I particularly love the way they have their arms around each other and even their - you should excuse the expression - tails are intertwined. The family that strays together stays together!

17 agosto - San Giacinto

4 X 10

So here I am in the middle of working on a few posts appropriate to Holy Week and doesn't Lorraine come along with a bit of memish distraction. Well I'm easily distracted and I wanted to post a few pictures from Athens so:

There isn't a cafe in Athens where you won't find a Coffee Frappe - sweetened ice coffee with a delicious foam on top. My favorite is at the Cafe Metropole in the Cathedral Square.

Four jobs I’ve had in my life:
Airline Employee (33 years) - Clerk, Customer Service Agent, Training Instructor, Project Manager
English Teacher to the Polish Armed Forces Chiefs of Staff
Web Editor of an English Language Business Paper in Poland
Security Screening Officer with the Government of Canada

Four Movies I Watch Over and Over Again
The Dead – a beautiful, simple, touching film - Walter Huston’s last based on the James Joyce short story
Raise the Red Lantern – a classic of the Chinese cinema with the incredibly beautiful Li Gong as a young girl brought into a merchant's household as the fourth wife.
Dumbo – What you ain't never seen an elephant fly?
Some Like It Hot – Well no body's perfect!

This tinsmith's shop is located just on the edge of Psiri.

These iron work swans grace the balconies of the Spanish Embassy on Dionysos Areopagitou; and yes, that's the Acropolis across the road reflected in the windows.

Four Places I Have Lived
Toronto, Canada – born and bred
Ottawa, Canada – home base for most of my adult life as I travelled around the world
Warsaw, Poland – our first real diplomatic post together, I was more a visitor in Mexico City, Amman, Cairo, Chicago and Beijing.
Rome, Italy – our current home

Four TV Shows I Watch
(We have 500 channels here – 100 in Arabic and 50 of those are for sex chat lines???? - and there is still nothing to watch)
The Simpsons (I Simpson)– you know its reruns when you can say the English dialogue over the Italian dubbing.
Ugly Betty – reruns on Fox here and we still don’t have this season yet!
Family Guy (I Griffin) – you know its reruns when you can say Italian dialogue over the original English
Law and Order: SVU – reruns but who bothers with dialogue when you can watch Chris Meloni or Mariska Hagerty for that matter.

Sunday around noon the cafes near the Agora where filled with a few tourists but mostly locals enjoying those wonderful frappees and early lunch. Adrianou St. was crowded with street sellers and entertainers including this old man with his antique hand organ.

An open air cinema on Apostolou Pavlou. Its like a drive-in without the cars.

Four Places I Have Visited
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam
Aix-en Provence, France
Mount Sinai, Egypt
Skagway, Alaska
Okay I’m not bragging here but on one of those map programmes I’ve clocked up 195 cities visited, now mind you that includes a restaurant stop at St. Tite so maybe I should make that 194.

Four People Who E-Mail Me Regularly
Linda Gagne
Charlie Knight
Bev Toomer
Robert Mickens

Many of the houses on the upper reaches of Monastiraki and the Plaka seem derelict.

However this building very close to the Cathedral has been beautifully restored.

Four Favourite Foods
French Fries
Mashed Potatoes with Gravy
Scalloped Potatoes
Roast Potatoes with Rosemary and Olive Oil
And yes I am Irish and yes there is a theme here!

Four Places I Would Like to Be Right Now
(Okay I’m going to cheat on this one and going to include places I'd like to be in the coming months)
In Punta Cana for our nephew Andrew and Jessica’s wedding in April
At Mount Tremblant for our friends Martin and Robert’s wedding in June
In my old garden, once the 52 cm of snow has disappeared, to watch things begin to grow
In Rome with Laurent – oh wait a minute I am but I honestly can’t think of a 4th place.

There were many small chapels and churches throughout Athens, many like this one adorned with mosaic tympanums.

This group of cub scouts where playing a round game of some sort on Dionysos Areopagitou on Sunday afternoon. I'm still not sure how the guy in the Asterix helmet was involved.

Four Things I Am Looking Forward to this Year
Our trip to Salzburg in May
Our trip to Venice and Vicenza in April
Maybe, just maybe, a trip to Malta
Celebrating our 30th anniversary in November.

Four People I'm Passing this on to:

Evilgnome
Tater
Subtle Knife
Cowbell

The area surrounding the Theatre of Dionysos was a mass of poppies and the gentlest breeze sent them dancing.

21 marzo - Venerdi Santo

Things - Masks

Faustus' posting of the Muppets and Harry Belafonte for February 13th over at The Search for Love in Manhattan made me take a good look, for the first time in a while, at what surrounds me every time I sit down at the computer - masks that Laurent has brought back from his trips to Africa.

He brought back the first when he went to Togo on a project back in the spring of 1982. Its not actually a mask but a totem to be placed on the hut of the Principal wife of the Tribal Chief. Carved in acacia then covered in a type of pitch, its inlaid with copper, small smooth stones and coloured beads. It's always been the one I've treasured the most and has been in every home we've lived in from Ottawa to Rome.


On one of his regular trips from Cairo, where he lived at the time, to the refugee camps outside Khartoum he found this mask from Central Equitoria (Juba) region in the south of Sudan. The wood has been carved in a distinctively Central African design then covered with a thin layer of leather.

While on several temporary assignments to Lagos he found some examples of the West African carvers' art in the local markets: Masks and totems from the Cameroons, Chad, Ghana and Nigeria.


I not sure if this one was meant to be a bird, animal or human and I until I took these pictures today hadn't noticed that it was asymmetrical.
Update: Laurent left the following comment: All the masks are from separate Tribal groups. They are meant to represent this or that Tribe. The one with the multiple marking on the face in white is in fact beauty scars to adorn the faces of males of that tribe near the coast of Cameroon. We really should talk more.



Now I may be reading more into things than are there but I would say chances are this one is a fertility symbol of some sort. Though one friend did think it may have been the inspiration for one of the characters on Futurama and a few people have found it creepy. I like it.

I was asking Laurent if he thought this Nigerian mask didn't have almost a European look to it - perhaps a representation of a slave trader? He thinks I may be forcing a meaning on it. I really wish we had more history on these.

Another mask carved in wood and then covered in leather. The features and animal symbol on the forehead are outlined in a braided leather. Its a very intricate piece of workmanship.

This is Laurent's favorite and my least favorite - again Nigerian but this time worked in metal. For some reason the crocodile and two smaller faces have alway disturbed me.

16 febbraio - Santa Guiliana