Sunday on the Town

So, today, we went out to eat and we went to an artisan "enclave". I cannot remember the name of the restaurant and at the moment, but we all piled in the car and drove downtown somewhere. We parked, as usual here, parallel on a narrow street and up on the sidewalk (well, at least halfway). The restaurant had outside dining which works best when dining with three little boys. The food was delicious and it came complete with "le chat" (the cat).

After lunch we drove to an area of town where local artists/craftsmen live and work. This is in the town of  Salle, which is actually across the river (the Boo Reigreig). We were able to wander through their shops and see some of them at work and view their wares.

Ervery size and shape pot you can imagine!

We watched several potters at work. This guy was cutting out big chunks of clay from one mound, then adding to a second mound and "working" it with his feet. This has got to be the ultimate Pilates exercise replacement!

The kiln was either a really short container or one that had been cut down.

Metal work

.... and furniture.

Family Day

Today was a school celebration at our eldest grandson's school here in Rabat. So, since we are still thinking on the cautious side of things,we thought that might be a pretty safe thing to do. It was a very low key event, but it was nice to see how familiar everyone is with each other. Local Moroccan children as well as children from other countries attend this school. Many of the kids whose parents work within the embassy attend, as do children whose parents may work in an international business here in Rabat.
The kids played, the parents talked, the teenagers had booths and book sales set up to raise money to enable them to visit another school (sorry, I got a little lost in what the effort was all about). Hot dogs and hamburgers were served.
                               


After the festival we took a drive through the eastern part of the city which took us over by the coast. Lots of folks were out in some areas to enjoy the sun.I don't think anyone was getting in the water until we came up to an area set up to teach surfing. Some areas of the "beach" were under some kind of construction. None of us were exactly sure what this was going to eventually look like.

Lots of motorcycle traffic and motorcycle use when getting to the lake.

Directly across from the water front were a real mixture of homes, apartments, very poor housing, restaurants and businesses. It seemed like lots on construction was going on.

There is a huge marina/development going in. A big new bridge has been built. Lots of money is being spent by someone!!

First Outing

                             As promised, here are some better pictures of our excursion from yesterday.
                             This was part of the display at the veggie vender on the side of the road.

This pumpkin was on display at a second vendor's shop. It was as big as the four year old grandchild's body!

These were dried figs squashed into a circle and stung together.

This was a cool butcher shop. Jenny had to order in her best broken French. We were given free samples of some differnt kinds of chicken which was delicious. This was a very clean and modern shop! It was on a main street in a business area. You could stand outside of the shop and watch all kinds of city life go by. Philip brought dates home and Jenny's housekeeper cut them open and stuffed them with chopped walnuts. Quite a treat.

The Trip Begins

Ok, so if you are a customer or friend who has had to listen to us talk about our upcoming plans, you know we were headed for Morocco, so you might want to know, we are HERE!

I started this entry earlier today and it sounded decently upbeat. I was interrupted by the need to greet a grandson getting off the bus from school, help with supper plans, etc. Ordinary things. Today, while our son-in-law went to his job at the U.S. Embassy here and, as I said, one grandson went to school, the rest of us even made a short car trip to the vegetable vendor and the butcher shop. Ordinary things.

But as the day finished up and the evening began, we listened to what Michael had to report and we watched the news, I'm not sure what to feel. I am in the home of a member of the diplomatic security service. Everyday procedures are in place for embassy families that make me feel that my daughter and her family are decently secure. Morocco did not have a regime change. The citizens of Morocco are not allowed to own guns. Things have been mostly stable for some time. So, this country is probably as good as it gets in Africa.

But, am I worried? Of course. Because this trip took so long - over 24 hours really, I am still a little confused about what time it is. In all honesty, I have to concentrate to get the day of the week straight. Now, as I watch the news, all of the unrest and violence that is occuring so much closer than if I were in Boerne, also seems unreal. Is is worrisome? Hell, yes. All of our plans for what we were going to do while here are going to have to be reconsidered. We will probably have to decide each day based on what is happening around us, as to what we will do.

So, I will try to post every day. We have to play "charge shuffle" with computers, IPAD's, etc so that might delay things a little. But please feel free to comment if you do check in. I did take pictures today when we were out, so I will post a few. They do seem to represent ORDINARY activities which is comforting.

Philip was out on the street taking pictures at the places we stopped.

Here's three little ladies out waiting for the bus and another on the way to join them. The ladies' clothes are amazingly different. No burkas, but many are fully covered in layers like these women. Others were in pants and shirts, totally western style. I didn't see any females in shorts or revealing shirts of any kind, however.

This was the vegetable and flower vendor where we shopped. I have more pictures that I will add at the next posting of the yummy food both here and at the butcher shop. Pictures are taking a long time to upload in this house. There are only certain rooms in which you can sit to get internet and still things can take a long while!

I am not downloading pictures of the grandkids, our daughter and son-in-law out of caution for the work our son-in-law does, but it is probably ok if I show you a picture of the real boss of the house.

Stella.

Catching Up

As I write this, Philip is in Midland at September Fest. Our lives have been a whirlwind of activity these last couple of weeks. We spent the middle weeks of August helping our oldest daugther, Carla, and her family move. And it wasn't just a short move. They are now living in West Lafayette, IN. Our son-in-law is now coaching at Perdue University. Dave and Philip survived a truck drive (big truck and trailer) all the way up.

 Carla and I  drove her car with both grandchildren, a dog and two cats!! They are settled in now and getting to know their new surroundings.

Three days after Philip gets home from the Midland show, we will fly off on the longest treip we have ever taken together. We will be starting our journey to go visit these two bells:

 These are Jenny's bells and they are hanging on the porch of her family's house in Morocco. We will be gone for about 18 days. I have been practicing my college French so I may at least be able to communicate at a basic level both in the Paris airport as well as in Morocco. We will take lots of pictures and I will try to post on the blog while we are there if the internet is accessible.

Now, you know how it is in life when you have 2-3 sets of visitors that come to see your family all at the same time or perhaps one right after another. Then you go for the rest of the year with no company?  Well, this is kind of the same thing for us but with us being the people going somewhere. Within days after returning from Morocco we pack up and go on a two week scuba diving trip to Bonaire. We are meeting up with other divers and hope to see the coral spawning. We will be diving with two other couples, one of which takes photos professionally of everything underwater. If you want to see some of their great photos, go to - http://feraldiversmedia.com.

Although there will be someone here on the property while we are gone, he will not be selling any bells or taking any orders. We will get busy filling orders and getting ready for mid fall shows just as soon as we return.

So.... keep checking for photos from afar!!

The Birth of the Dots

Ok, so I said I would write about the "why" of the dots. Years and years ago, when there were only three sizes of bells, we just identified the bells as "small", "medium" and "large". We told folks to measure their bells from the top of the pyramid to the bottom of the bell when they wanted to order another like they already owned or a different size from the one they already owned.

Well, one day in 1984 a previous customer called and wanted to order some more bells as gifts ust like the one she already owned. When she wasn't sure of what size bell she owned, Philip told her to go measure it and to call him back. She said she would do so. BUT..... he didn't hear back from her for over two months. When she did finally call back, he asked her why she didn't call back earlier. She said she stood on a chair the day she attempted to measure her bell and the chair moved and therefore.. SHE FELL. Now, it turned out that she was ok, but obviously ordering a bell at that moment did not remain her priority. But, even more obviously to Philip, became the need to put something visual on the bell to identify the size. So.... the DOTS were born.

DOTS

If you go to your doctor, you sometimes hear medical terminology or insurance terminology you aren't familiar with. If your take your car to the mechanic, you may hear mechanical terms that you aren't really sure about their meaning. And if you stand in front of the Windsongs booth at an art show for very long, you will hear us start to talk about "dots". Now, the initiated customer understands and knows to order the "four dot" bell or the "two dot" bell for example,and is comfortable with that meaning. But a new customer ofter has to ask "what do you mean - dots?" And then once a new customers discovers those little bumps in the corner of the bells, they usually think that they have something to do with the sounds the bells make.

But not so, and the unwitting customer then receives a lesson in history from Philip about his youthful days in Edna, Texas and his ventures in consumerism spent purchasing snuff for the older neighbor (you know that story - all the little boys in town camping out at the home of the  'Betty Davis like" mystery woman who had the big TV set where they could all watch the innocent kids shows of the era without interruption from their parents). And his story continues with Philip's adventures of going to the Rexall Drug Store on her behalf (I need to mention here that the lady was visually impaired and could no longer drive so she let Philip, who was 12 years old drive her car) to buy her snuff and how she taught him to tell the difference in "snuff strength" by the dots on the bottoms of the snuff bottles. And then he ends with "that's where I got the idea from about using dots on the bells to mark their size difference".

Well, I can tell many of the older and even the middle aged customers understand because they shake their heads in agreement. Perhaps they have actually seen these snuff bottles at homes of relatives or in antique stores, but often the younger customers still seem unsure. So, in order to truly clarify once and for all, I have dug through my boxes of ancient glassware and found three snuff bottles that I own (I can't temember why) and taken the following pictures to provide further clarification.

Now, as you can see, all of these bottles are sporting four dots but in different configurations. So, I did some quick research on the internet and did NOT come up with a clear answer as to whether the number of dots signify the strength of the product once inside or something else? I found no mention about the arrangement of dots. Nevertheless, here is proof of at least part of Philip's story about getting the dot idea for our bells from old snuff bottles. 

Now, as to WHY we needed to indicate the bell size with something other than measurement, I will save that story for another posting. In the meantime, if you have knowledge of said snuff bottles, please feel free to post your comments. Philip does remember that the brand of the snuff he would purchase was Lee Garrett, if that helps.