Happy Diwali, the Feast of Lights. All up and down my street houses are decorated with lights of all colors.
Dear old friends, former neighbors, texted to check I was home, and dropped in briefly on their way to a Diwali party for a hug and to give me a little bag of homemade treats. Great surprise!
Earlier there was a Hajji Baba Club and Textile Museum of Southern California joint presentation on Persian rugs by a collector and writer on this art form.
He discussed the contrast between the sophisticated urban life style, where workshop rugs were created, and the simple lives of nomads who created equally wonderful works with simple spinning and weaving setups.
You'll see nomad tents, a woman spindle spinning wool -- rugs often cotton warp, wool weft -- and the kind of simple looms which demand great skill on the part of the weaver.
There an S formation, seen in different designs in its own slide above, found in a lot of borders, which is a version of the two headed animal or bird.
The last slide shows Opie with friends in a rug gallery, clearly happy campers! As usual with this kind of collector's presentation, there were dozens of great slides, so I winnowed it down to a manageable number for a blogpost, with enough information for you to continue learning if the spirit moves you.
Earlier in the day, I found one of my favorite sights, a beech tree with its own foliage shadowed on the silvery smooth trunk.
Happy day, everyone! Enjoy the lights everywhere. Including yours, the one you shed.
