Off on an Adventure

[cornerofmadness]

Mom and I went to The Maridon Museum which is the only western PA museum dedicated to Japanese/Chinese culture. My BFF, S, met us there (as it's up near her house). I expected her to bring her daughter, but I forgot her son wants to minor in the Japanese language. Everyone had fun.

There was a lot of interesting things but at the same time was smaller than expected. It was a private collection by the wife of the owner of the huge gas station chain, Phillips. So for a private collection it's amazing, as a museum well it was tiny but nice. She also collected Meissen pottery as well.

Tomorrow I'll pack up and Saturday I'm leaving. I'm not ready. Mom doesn't want me to go. I can't believe we're almost half way thru August.

Today, Kanda thought he had a prayer of checking some prey (he was leashed) Tell me Kanda if you HAD captured one of these, what then?

click here for beautiful pics



Guan Yin and two phoenixes. Yes, this is antique ivory. Setting that aside (and contemplating the size of the elephant who died for this), look at the craftsmanship. I could look at the details all day. While I don't want to ever see another elephant die for ivory, the people advocating the destruction of all antique ivory pieces just will not be right with me.

Rose quartz. This Momma Foo Dog is carved from freaking rose quartz! So was her mate and a horse too.

These are carved out of rubies (in case quartz wasn't impressive enough)


The primordial turtle that brought life to the world


Jadeite horses, one of the many jadeite carvings

Lapis Lazuli horse

Rosewood Hotei


Also have a throwback Thursday pic



me and Tony 1967

Me and Tony too many years later

Comments

[spikedluv]

Love those before and after pics with Tony! Also, fawns! So cute! I haven't glimpsed our fawn(s) yet, though Pip has. (He does most of the dog walking so he's in a place to see them.) I can't wait til our dogs are old enough that they stop being a bother to the deer, who now only come to eat out of the bird feeder in the evening/after dark when the dogs are locked inside and I not only don't see them, I couldn't get a good photo if I did. (They loved when Shiloh and Leo got old; they'd come to the bird feeder when Leo was lying out on the lawn because they knew he couldn't run fast anymore. When we got Beau, who was ~fast when he was a puppy, they were like o_O FUCK, WHAT IS THIS CREATURE?!!)

[cornerofmadness]

Thanks.

Yeah dogs could be an actual threat (unlike one fat cat). these fawns weren't even afraid of me which isn't good. I don't want them too friendly with humans (as much as I love seeing their cute little faces)

[sylvanwitch]

The fawns are adorable and look a lot like the two that come with their mama to our backyard now and then. SO CUTE!

The artifacts are spectacular! I agree with you about the senselessness of destroying precious material culture (eg. ivory sculptures). That makes little sense to me. The elephant or rhino or whale or whatnot that died for the sculpture is long dead, but the cultural history of the ivory object can continue to educate and inspire. It doesn't make sense to me that someone will look at an ivory sculpture and immediately think, "Oooh, pretty--let me go out and shoot an elephant." Besides, isn't the vast majority of poached ivory going for medicinal use? Anyway, while I abhor the ivory trade, I can't support the idea of destroying culturally and historically significant artifacts to send a political message to poachers and consumers of ivory products; they aren't going to listen to that message. *shakes head*

[cornerofmadness]

The fawns are adorable.

Yeah, exactly. I'm not sure why or what they plan to happen if the objects were destroyed (and can we stop trying to rewrite unpleasant history. It can be a teaching point so it doesn't happen again).

I'm not sure about the ivory. I know rhino is medicinal.

[duskpeterson]

So glad that Tony is still around. :)

[cornerofmadness]

me too!