LBJ Photography Blog
This blog features travel notes and photographs.
Devil's Claw
Devil's Claw
February 9, 2018
Wood Carvers
Wittara and Ki are huddled together working on some type of project. What's happening? Ki explains, “I'm showing Wittara how to make a dream catcher from a devil's claw. These devil's claw grow outside my backyard and are growing wild throughout the desert. They propagate not by the wind taking their seeds but by hoofed horses or cattle entangling a devil's claw on its hoof and carrying it distances before it drops away.”
Water in the Desert
Water in the Desert
February 3, 2018
Leasburg State Park
The Native Americans knew! The settlers didn't. By subtle changes in the color of the landscape or plant growth, those eyes of the Native Americans could gauge how to travel through the desert without succumbing to thirst. It helps that the water table is high which answers the question, “Why is there water in the Rio Grande when it is dammed?” The river above the dam has NO water at all, but below the dam it does. Why is that? Explained to us by Alex Mares, ½ Navajo ranger guide, the water you see below the dam is not river water at all but ground water seeping through the mud.
Flower Making ...
February 5, 2018
Flower Making
Hugs! Lou and I shared smiles and warm hugs with Ray and Esperanza. Sharing in the woodcarving experience with them last year, we finally met up with them a week into our stay in Las Cruces. This couple has more talent in their little fingers than Lou and I have in our entire bodies collectively.
Esperanza's latest venture is flower making, an art she learned from her cousin who took classes in Mexico. She offered to show how the procedure is followed, and after one morning of observation, the product was a stunning arrangement of colorful flowers which NEVER fade.
Teresa
February 7, 2018
Meet Teresa
Upon entering Woodcarvers early in our sojourn here in Las Cruces, we were awed by the detail Teresa put into the cross she carved. Each quadrant of the cross had a beautiful carving upon it. Because she was one of the last to leave today we were aware that David had left her a kachina. With David being so generous with his carvings, we asked if he had given it to her. The answer was that she commissioned him to carve the kachina. She said that this same kachina if sold in Santa Fe would have a price tag of $1,000 and in Albuquerque about $700. “With the detail you put into your cross, you could carve the same.” She humbly smiled. Earlier in the morning David informed us that he had started and finished the carving on Superbowl Sunday. Asking, “How did you do the feathers?” The answer: “popsicle sticks.”
Kachinas
Kachinas
February 2, 2018
Lesson 201: Kachinas. The first person we meet when we walk into Woodcarvers is Jim. We smile appreciatively at his completed corn maiden kachina. “The face is wrong; I have to sand it down, and repaint it,” he tells us. “What do you mean when you say it is wrong?,” we query. It looked good to us. “She has a mouth, and kachinas need to have a mask,” he replies. This is what he is says as he shows us David's corn maiden kachina which does have a mask. It just so happens that Manny is working on a clothespin sun kachina. He made this kachina from a clothespin, beverage stirrer sticks, a couple wooden discs from Hobby Lobby, a piece of leather, and small dowels. Wonder—does his kachina have a mask? It looks like it has a mouth. “No, he tells us; that is not a mouth; it is a nose.”
Insert from Wikipedia:
Many Pueblo Indians, particularly the Hopi and Zuni, have ceremonies in which masked men, called kachinas, play an important role. Masked members of the tribe dress up as kachinas for religious ceremonies that take place many times throughout the year. These ceremonies are social occasions for the village, where friends and relatives are able to come from neighboring towns to see the "dance" and partake in the feasts that are always prepared. When a Hopi man places a mask upon his head and wears the appropriate costume and body paint, he believes that he has lost his personal identity and has received the spirit of the kachina he is supposed to represent. Besides the male kachinas are many female kachinas called kachin-manas, but women never take the part of male and female kachinas.
For more on the legend of the corn maiden kachina:
https://www.palmstrading.com/corn-maiden/
http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/Blue_Corn_Maiden_And_The_Coming_Of_Winter-Hopi.html
