I love this photograph, and the lovely calm of the young woman. and yes, the beautiful beaded embroidery.
My great great grandmother immigrated as a small child with her family from Sweden to Northern Wisconsin. They lived and farmed for a while in Ojibwa country -- before moving father west to North Dakota. I have the beaded moccasins with a leather that she wore as a small child. Such sweet work on these little shoes.
Always swoon-worthy, are these lovely Medieval flowers appearing in the margins of various Book of Hours, sometimes in medical texts, sometimes in gardening books. I can never get enough of looking at these beautiful images and feeling inspired, mostly to embroider May Morris style textiles. They are helpful when writing historical fiction for they reveal the unique preoccupation with flowers, of which each has a medical and social significance. It is just those small details that provide a certain weight and body to a description of a place, or action taken, or a letter written, or the evolution of a plot based the underlying language of flowers.
Here's an image that surfaced today that I enjoy because it captures so many stories of flying ships -- whether sailed or feathered, and all the adventures written from such a fanciful vantage point. This magical novel "Musou Byoue Kocho Monogatari" written by Kyokutei Bakin and illustrated by Utagawa Toyohiro, in the late 19th century is about a poet's journey around Japan, perched on the back of bird kite. Would that not be the perfect place from which to write? And for another novel of magical flight I recommend Passarola Rising" by Azhar Abidi about two Brazilian brothers in the 18th century who create a flying ship, and travel throughout Europe and other places...it is a beautiful and haunting novel.
Recently, another image from the Bakin book surfaced (thank you internet) revealing the drama of the writer as he tumbles from the back of his hawk-flying kite. I so wish I had the book! I've seen it described now as a sort of Gulliver's travel, with the intrepid writer and fantastic bird kite (a red and white hawk) flying to new lands.
Tucson's very old inner city neighborhood, The Barrio Viejo, has some of the best murals painted by residents over many years on the exterior of the houses. When my daughter and future husband were in town a number of years back, they took these wonderful photos of one of my favorite houses. I learned recently that new owners of the house built a substantial wall around these murals so they are no longer visible to the public -- and that portions of of it were removed as the owners renovated and up-scaled the house. I am grateful to have these photos of it in which to remember it.
And here's one of the hidden Christ, who appears at the bottom of an adjoining corrugated wall.
Midori Snyder is the author of nine books for children and adults, published in English, French, Dutch, and Italian. She won the Mythopoeic Award for The Innamorati, a novel inspired by early Roman myth and the Italian "Commedia dell'Arte" tradition....more
to subscribe to In the Labyrinth.
