This has been such a bloggy week. By that I mean, everywhere I go, I see blog opportunities with my camera. I’m getting better at finding natural groups of threes. I’m very excited about them this week. Now, like many of you, I’m always on the lookout for doors and windows. I just found Nancy’s Photo a Week Challenge for signs, and who doesn’t love a great sign? I’m so thankful for Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share for this opportunity to sit down and share my week with you.
Other Challenges Inspiring This Post
- #Thursday Doors
- #Thursday Trios
- #Monday Windows
- #Kammie’s Oddball Challenge
- CMMC
- #What’s On Your Bookshelf
Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix
Don’t you love it when company comes, and you have to find interesting places to show them? In this case, Monica came up with her own ideas of what to see while we stayed in Scottsdale. At the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM), we spent about three amazing hours wandering around exploring strange and wonderful instruments and sounds from all over the world and all through the centuries. There were lots of signs, but most of them are illegible in my photos. This was one of the most interesting of all museums I’ve visited. I soaked up lots of vibes, but I can’t tell you very much about any of the pictures. So…
Don’t ask any questions!
Strictly Trios
Some of these photos stretch the concept of trios but bear with me, they are all interesting. The ornate gong, for example, has three domes at the top. The organ has three windows of pipes.
Oddball Challenge
Kammie offers a weekly chance to show off our odd or unusual photos. These instruments were all unusual and unique or they wouldn’t have been included by the museum curators. To some, maybe they represented a taste of home. For us, this was the first time seeing anything like these instruments.
I’m definitely going back to the MIM. I also got the name of the curator to talk to him about my word of the year and get his take on Curating! I hope he will answer my email. 🙂
What’s On Your Bookshelf
Monica and I went to the Prescott Library. She started a book club 27 years ago and still attends. It’s the highlight of her month. This month they are reading The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate. The setting is Louisiana and two stories run simultaneously. The first story set in 1875 is about writers of the Book of Lost Friends which was actually written in the 1880s. It published letters from freed slaves trying to find family and lost loved ones anywhere. Photocopies of letters to the editor appeared at the beginning of each chapter in Wingate’s novel.
The second storyline was about a new teacher in the tight, closed community who struggled to get her high school English students to want to learn when they had almost no materials. In time she discovered all the letters and other documents found in the library of a neglected and fought-over inheritance – a house owned by a former judge in the community that was across the field from the small house she rented from one of the heirs. The date for that story was 1987.
The story depicts the tremendous trials and tribulations in terms of amount, dangers, and complexities encountered by the former slaves as they tried to find their way in the world. The freedom won for them was not easy or totally free. Some things had changed on the outside by 1987, but many obstacles induced by prejudice, ignorance, and tradition remained. I’ve spent little time in the South, we all know that tensions remain to this day as evidenced by all the violence this past year.
She also recommended one other book which I haven’t started yet because I can’t let go of the glow of Lost Friends.
CMMC – Pick a Topic from my Photo
I couldn’t find any green coffee to offer you all this morning. Maybe I should churn up some green whipping cream. Or not…
Have a great week next week.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
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