Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Sheltering Sky



I was on the edge of a dust storm today (as here), just the edge; but enough to make one wonder "Why do you do these things? Why?!" Helping unpack & cull fabulous-to-good baskets from Darfur, Sudan, destined for sale here in the States. (The poor uh-oh baskets--we're thinking of what/how to salvage.)

The travel time for these boxes of baskets...what a journey. A new intern, "I think these boxes are older than me!" I think so, too. We had the Sahel all over us, the dust & grime. I said, "Look? Ugh" "I prefer to not think of it," she said in a funny voice. Naturally, I began thinking of the provenance of every piece of grit.

A nice bit of serendipity--Tina Tarnoff, fantastic artist & author of Thought Patterns has a post on tarting up a steamer trunk. (I have had one in my bedroom since I was very little & am enthused by the possibilities. This enthusiasm may wane. We shall see.) Tina & her husband were inspired to acquire & do something with a steamer trunk after they watched The Sheltering Sky, the adaptation of the Paul Bowles novel. And so I take that title for the post or else it will just be titled Desert Grime. Or something worse.

I just realized, yes only now, that I was unpacking things-that-were-shipped from a far away land. Camels were involved. Yep.

Thanks to everyone for their comments here, on Facebook, & in email about Giulia Geranium's birthday. The cat herself remains unimpressed by me & my machinations on her behalf. She is very interested in the basket I brought home tonight, though. After all, she descends from North African desert lands....as do all domesticated felines (anywhere in the world...how weird is that?).

Thursday update: Here's an interesting post called Writing Morocco from Peony Moon blog (gorgeous photographs).

[photographs by Tim Navis (via Sebastian tumblr), Fady Habib (via Beauty in Everything) & the sea is from Noa's tumblr (inactive) all via we heart it]

6 comments:

trouvais said...

Hmmm, camel. Perhaps that was it. I just had an antique Turkish marble sink delivered. Thought I'd put it in the garden for the birds, or beneath a faucet for the cat. Initially buyer's remorseful until I gave it a good scrub with Comet. Its quite nice now and smells more like old stone. I'd love to get my cat to agree to host a blog...but he tends to sleep quite a bit. Hats off to yours. Trish

Julie@beingRUBY said...

Oh.. what a terrible blog friend I am. I missed the birthday.. will pop over after this... and HAPPY BLOG BIRTHDAY!!! my friend... it's wonderful to think of the goodness spread by your blog.. and little GG..

I was over at Tina's earlier and must say I loved what she did with that trunk... so clever!!

Ok.. over to the other blog.. ciao ciao xx Julie

Giulia said...

Trish--If one's cat hosts a blog, guess what? You are la redactrice. Ah well. I am most intrigued by this Turkish marble sink. I hope we see it on Trouvais soon...your birds &/or cat will be very happy.

Julie--Julie the C. would love a cockatoo (from your comment on other post). She promises to "be nice." I think, however, this might mean "I have a nice recipe for cockatoo au gratin." Eep.

xo

Angie Muresan said...

Gorgeous photos, although I'm inclined to think riding on those camels in the heat of the day is bound to be very uncomfortable.

Giulia said...

It is! More on that sometime...I'll send you a pix of me looking totally cranky in Tunisia. I felt a fool, too. So touristy...

tina tarnoff said...

Wow, this is wonderful, Susan! I love the desert. And, thanks so much for the mention, same wavelength indeed :)! xoxo