Valentine Hearts

 

This week’s blog theme word is “hearts.” I suppose it is an appropriate theme since Saint Valentines Day is just a couple of weeks away. I could also think of it as an invitation to blog about heart healthy activities and diet.

I don’t have anything in my Sirocco’s Curios store that lends itself very well to the blog theme. So, I started surfing around and looking for an idea to blog about. I came across the lyrics to the song Peg O’ My Heart, published back in 1913. Now I can’t get that song out of my head. It just keeps playing over and over in there. That picture above is a forest somewhere in Spain. I thought it was kind of cool.

Since I didn’t have anything in my store that fit the theme, I found items that other Ecrater Stores Network (ESN) members have for sale in their stores. I made up a little collage of the items.  

Just click on any of the links below and you will be whisked over to that store.

Great Works of Heart

Red Boots

Forest in Spain

Be My Valentine

Welcome Heart

Heart Dishes

M&M Heart Candy Dish

Heart Shaped Cake Pans

Horses and Western Cowgirl Boots

 

Horses…When I was a young boy (that was a long time ago) I had a horse. Yes, my parents owned horses and I had one of my own. His name was Smoky and I rode that horse all over creation. The kind of horses we had was quarter horses. They are known for their short distance speed and their agility. They were show horses and they were entered in events at various fairs and rodeos. Usually, the event was a short race or a barrel race (a woman’s event). And, they were frequently in parades. I personally was never in any of those events or parades. I just liked to ride around at will and I did.

Many people go to a dude ranch or some such place to go hose back riding. But that is a much different experience than riding around at will. At a dude ranch the horse thinks of its rider as just a lump of cargo and the horse just follows the horse in front of him. When one rides around at will, the rider must steer and control the animal. It is not long before a bond forms between the horse and the rider. The horse knows just what the rider wants and the rider understands the needs of the horse. They become close friends, each speaking to the other in their own way. That is how it was between Smoky and me. I haven’t ridden a horse in years and, of course, Smoky is long gone. But sometimes I think about old Smoky and it is then that I realize that I miss my old friend.

I didn’t look for anything in my ecrater shop that fits this week’s blog theme of horses. But, just across the way at the Le Petit Marche store you will find some fine western style cowgirl boots in the window. I encourage you to mosey on over and take a look. Just click on the links above.

Native American Winter Wonderland

It looks like we will have a white Christmas at our Northern Minnesota outpost after all. This is the home of Sirocco’s Curios. Winter finally arrived when just a few days ago we got our first significant snowfall. Winter has been slow to get underway here and I was beginning to get a bit worried. We have been in a drought situation for over a year now. There was not a lot of rain or snow last year and it was unseasonably warm. It is still too warm. The snow came down in big giant flakes and collected on the trees. There they froze giving rise to a picturesque winter wonderland. I snapped a few pictures and added one here for you to see.

When I am not sitting in the cabin and looking out the big picture window at the winter wonderland, you will find me in my little studio working with beads, leather, and silver fabricating various adornments in the Native American style. I just recently completed these two necklaces. You can find these and other such items in my on line store, Sirocco’s Trading Post. I invite you to stop in and take a look around.

 

Angels Trimming the Christmas Tree by Peggy Toole

Angels! It is the Ecrater Stores Network (ESN) theme for this week. And, I have just the item in my curios shop that features angels. It is the 1995 Christmas plate by Avon titled “Trimming the Christmas Tree.” The plate features two winged angels draping a garland of roses on a Christmas tree. The image is from an original painting by Peggy Toole. Peggy Toole is a contemporary artist and fabric designer from Colorado Springs, Co. She also designs greeting cards and produces art for license. The plate is fine porcelain and is a worthy collectable. Click on the link above to find the plate or click on Sirocco's Curios to find other interesting curios.

Arrow Maker, a Goudey Collectable Chewing Gum Card, Ojibway Tribe

 

This week’s blog word is “arrow.” While many thoughts come to mind when I think of the word arrow, “Indians,” with their bows and arrows comes to mind first. That is because I just recently listed in my curios store a collectable, Goudey, non-sports, chewing gum card featuring an Indian. You can find the listing by clicking here. Arrow Maker is the name of the Ojibwe Indian pictured on the card.

The Goudey gum company was one of the first companies to introduce collectable cards with their chewing gum in the 1930s. In addition to Indians and sports related themes they also had famous Americans, show biz celebrities and other themes. You can find many other curios in my store, Sirocco's Curios. I invite you to stop in and take a look around.

Fishing Line and The Red Knife by William Kent Krueger

 

When I saw the word for the ESN theme of the week, “lines,” the first thing that came to my mind was “fishing line.” Being from Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes, I do quite a little fishing so it should not be too surprising that I would think of fishing line. Minnesota is the land of fresh water fishing.

In the old days fishing was an important food source for the Ojibwa Indians. Northern Minnesota is the land of the Ojibwa (also known as Chippewa or more correctly known as Anishinabe) and I am a member of one of the tribes. Fishing was an important food source but we did not use hook and line. We used a net. Nearly every Indian carried a small net that he could roll out in the evening and could haul it back in the morning full of fish. The fish were cleaned, cooked and eaten or smoked for later use. Every fish was eaten, not just the best tasting ones.

Today nets are not allowed except in very special cases. I guess catching fish would be too easy using a net. We must use a hook and line. We can however, have the use of a gas powered motorized boat equipped with a remote controlled trolling motor, an electronic fish finder, and electronic GPS tracking equipment. We can use special graphite fishing rods with high quality fishing reels equipped with specially engineered fishing line. And, there is all manner of fishing lures to use. All very expensive of course! And, naturally, while fishing, one would want to be wearing his special all weather Eddy Bauer fishing clothes. All this, just to catch a few fish that most likely the Department of Natural Resources stocked there just for that purpose. Some people, if by chance, were to catch an especially large fish they might even have it stuffed for mounting on the wall. In other words, fishing has become very expensive.

It all seems a bit silly to me. I guess fishing has changed a lot since I was a kid. I still prefer to just sit in my chair at the end of my dock, cast out a hook baited with a dug-up worm or a captured grasshopper. In an hour I can catch a half dozen blue gills and maybe a big bass. Just enough to make one good meal! Maybe some day when my fishing rod and reel are worn out and useless I will mount “them” on the wall as a tribute to the number of meals it helped provide.

Speaking of fishing and Indians, I will call your attention to a book that I have for sale in my curios shop. It is titled The Red Knife and is written by William Kent Krueger. Krueger is an exceptional mystery writer. Like all Krueger’s novels, The Red knife is a mystery and it takes place in Northern Minnesota. The main character, Corcoran O’Connor, is a private investigator and is part Ojibwa and in this novel much of the Ojibwa culture seeps through. Once you have read one of Krueger’s novels you will want to read them all. Stop in to Sirocco’s Curios shop and take a look around. There is more there than just books.

 

Technorati Tags: the red knife,william kent krueger,fishing,ojibwa,ojibwe,chippewa,native american,sirocco,minnesota

American Girl Doll Dream Catcher

 

This morning I was window shopping in Nancy’s Doll Closet, an eCrater on-line store. Nancy specializes in carrying clothes and accessories for the 18 inch American Girl Doll. My granddaughter loves those dolls and has at least two of them. Nancy is also a member of our ESN scavenger hunters club. We scavenger hunters look through each others store and try to find an item to blog about. The item must fit a theme, a theme that changes weekly.

The theme this week is “feathers” and while shopping in Nancy’s store I came across this cute little dream catcher sized for the 18 inch doll. It is complete with faux feathers.

I think most everyone knows the Native American dream catcher. While most all Indian tribes have some form the of the dream catcher in their culture, the dream catcher originated in the Ojibwa culture. Originally, dream catchers were small, only a couple of inches across. They were made by bending a thin willow branch into a circle and then using sinew to secure the circle and fabricate a web inside. It was then decorated with small feathers.

Hung on an infant’s cradleboard, it gave the infant something to focus on and play with. It also, as the legend goes, protected the sleeping baby from bad dreams. Bad dreams would be caught in the web while good dreams would pass down through the feathers. The legend changes a bit from tribe to tribe.

Today, the dream catcher is produced in every form one can think of. Some are large and hung on the wall or in a window. Small ones are hung from rearview mirrors or made into key ring embellishments, or, even used as Christmas ornaments. They are made into shapes like squares, triangles, or stars. They are used in jewelry as earrings, pendants, or bracelet charms. You find them embroidered onto T-shirts or sweatshirts. Some even tattoo them onto their skin.

I am always a bit amused that this little Ojibwa infant’s toy has become such a widely used element of artistic expression. The dream catcher in Nancy’s store is really cute. Take a look. Just click on the links above.