Meri's Musings

What gives me joy? Dynamic, talented, fabulous girlfriends. A bit of mischief. Folk art. Going on a field trip with my camera, something that's on today's agenda. What gives you joy? To play along and share the joy: 1. do a post that tells and shows us  what gives you joy. 2. capture the URL of the specific post  and paste it into the  Mr. Linky box along with your name. 3. Then click the NEXT box If the "next" box doesn't pop up, click the link to go to the page to select your image -- choose one from your post so you'll entice people to visit. (If you just can't get it to work, email me and give me the URL of the post you're adding and I'll take care of it). 4. visit other players -- as many as possible --  and let their joy infect you.   5. Leave them a comment about their post because everyone enJOYs getting positive feedback. Let's start an epidemic of joy!

tucked in a corner but far from standing shyly she razzle-dazzles This week's Haiku My Heart offerings can be found at Rebecca's place .    

One thing I learned when reading Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn is that when a woman in a third world country earns income, her status in the community grows by leaps and bounds and her family's economic position improves dramatically -- even more so than if her husband (if she has one) earned the same amount of income. That's because women are more likely to use resources for their family unit, while men  are more likely to address their own needs  and desires first, putting the needs of wives and children second. That's why grass roots charities benefitting women and girls' education and economic opportunities are near and dear to my heart. And if women are empowered through art, well that's even better. So I was delighted to find the Zimbabwe Artists Project (a Portland, Oregon nonprofit) represented at the Northwest Folklife Festival. The folk art they produce is charming and naive and quite reasonably priced. The pieces ...

Fat babe in her arms, she looks on with mother's love fair Queen of Heaven. Fill your heart with Virgin images and celebrate Haiku My Heart Friday .

It didn't take me long to know I was surrounded by angels. Saints, too. Viva Mexico!

The list of things I adore is long but it includes: taking pictures spirals of light and color folk art & crosses statues with serene faces art and artifacts with an Asian flair feathery things tea-stained fabrics & frilly pillows -- though I don't buy frilly pillows -- shades of blue with a hint of green carved doors and Cupid (please send an arrow my way!) Tell me some of your favorite things and then go visit other Mosaic Monday players at Mary's Dear Little Red House . 

After being disappointed with Cabo San Lucas, a place with unbelievably tacky tourist shops and time share salesmen that were apparently trained at Guantanamo, we headed down to the marina on Tuesday and got two car rental offices engaged in a bidding war to rent us a mid-size car so we could head up the coast to Todos Santos. We'd been led to believe that Todos Santos was a treasure trove of galleries and home to the Hotel California of Eagles song fame. Well, not quite. There were a couple of galleries in town (one was even open) and a bunch of shops, filled with folk art and glassware, catering to tourists. There were some pretty things and even some pretty racy things (like shot glasses that were X rated) and a whole lot of ho-hum things. It was clear that departed artist Frida Kahlo is a heroine to the Mexican people because we saw more of her (and that rascal Diego to some extent) than we did the Virgin Mary. And there IS a Hotel California, an establishment with a covered w...