Noo Ruz

Tomorrow is the Persian New Year called Noo Ruz, a happy holiday shared with friends & family. We will wear new clothes (in my case a new collar), watch the goldfish swim next to our plate of spouts, and we'll eat dill-lima bean rice & fish.

Perhaps in acknowledgment of Noo Ruz, the winds in Athens blow warmly, trees are in bloom and flowers are poking up from the ground. What a beautiful, wonderful way to celebrate the new year.

Check out other Noo Ruz ecards each of which portrays a beautiful aspect of this festival (click the link). Please check out the web site because aside from the pretty pictures you can select Persian music to accompany your ecard.

To all my fans & friends, Noo Ruz Mobarak!

Silk & Denim: Ends of the Earth

Kashan Persian Carpet
Wilber, Nebraska rug

Qom Persian carpet
Wilber, Nebraska rug

There are times when a Dog must open her heart & mind to the wonders & ingenuity of human aesthetic endeavors. Today's topic, rugs, exemplifies extreme opposites on several levels: geograhpic, high art & folk art, specialized & common labor and perhaps you will note others.

Previously I discussed Persian carpets & showed pictures of wool rugs. Today I shall show you silk Persian carpets side by side with a contemporary denim rug from Nebraska.

Above are two gorgeousl silk rugs with pictures showing both front & back. Notice how the intricate design is clear on both sides, each side special in its own way. Each carpet design is particular to its region or city. The red silk above is from the holy city of Qom; the light colored, from Khashan.

And if only you could feel the carpets: although silk, they feel like velvet! To learn more about Persian carpets & to see many examples, follow this link:

http://tehran.stanford.edu/Images/Persian_Carpet/carpet_history.html

The other 2 photos show me sitting on a denim rug made in & imported from Nebraska. To this day, Nebraska is still in part a farm state & independent farmers use every resource available in their effort to remain efficacious in the face of encroaching agribusiness. So, for example, when a farmer's jeans finally wear out, they're certainly not thrown out. To the contrary they become the material from which this rug is fashioned.

This particular rug was crafted in Wilber, Nebraska, home of the largest Czech population in the United States. To learn more about Wilber & its rich heritage click this link:

http://www.ci.wilber.ne.us/

I hope you've enjoyed this small display of rugs from different ends of the earth. A demain, Mercury.