Carved Dragons Necklace

scan0170I bought this in the gift shop of the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston years ago. I love the look and feel of it, the cool smoothness of the carved stone, the serpentine dragons. I hope the writing means good luck or you are fabulous or something. It’s two and a quarter inches long and wasn’t expensive so it’s probably not real jade unless there are some jades that are common as dirt. Ignore the cord, I struggled with that. Tough to get a smooth flowy line. I need to beef up my skills. As in PRACTICE!

Dutch Puzzle

scan0169Check out this sweet little vintage wooden puzzle I found at the Green Door. So appealing. It’s about seven and a half inches in diameter, has thirteen pieces, and says “Made in Holland” on the back but you’d guess that from the windmill. I put it together in the store to make sure all the pieces were there, and it’s trickier than you’d think for a kid’s puzzle. It’s reminiscent of a mandala, don’t you think? Mandala’s are supposed to be symbolic of the universe to over simplify, and to me, this little interlocking village represents a microcosm of the universe. You know–village, town, city, state, country, continent, world, planet, galaxy, universe. They probably weren’t thinking that when they made it. I get the church, school, houses, windmill, etc., but I’m wondering about the odd building at two o’clock with the dotted half circle windows and the door with the antennae on top…Is that a typical Dutch building or is that where the giant bees live?