Muertos...

Dia de los Muertos

A day late, I know...

Beware of witches...

A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

FIRST WITCH:  Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. 
SECOND WITCH:  Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd. 
THIRD WITCH:  Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time! 
FIRST WITCH:  Round about the caldron go;
    In the poison'd entrails throw.—
    Toad, that under cold stone,
    Days and nights has thirty-one;
    Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
    Boil thou first i' the charmed pot! 
ALL:  Double, double toil and trouble;
    Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 
SECOND WITCH:  Fillet of a fenny snake,
    In the caldron boil and bake;
    Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
    Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
    Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
    Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
    For a charm of powerful trouble,
    Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL:  Double, double toil and trouble;
    Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 
THIRD WITCH:  Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
    Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
    Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
    Root of hemlock digg'd in the dark;
    Liver of blaspheming Jew;
    Gall of goat, and slips of yew
    Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
    Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
    Finger of birth-strangled babe
    Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,—
    Make the gruel thick and slab:
    Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
    For the ingredients of our caldron. 
ALL:  Double, double toil and trouble;
    Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 
SECOND WITCH:  Cool it with a baboon's blood,
    Then the charm is firm and good. 

William Shakespeare, MacBeth, act IV, scene 1

Creole? In North America?

Around here, creole is a dialect spoken by people from Cape Verde. I hear it daily, since there are so many of them here, although I don't get a word... well, most of the words.
I knew that African descendents in Louisiana are called Creoles, and sort of assumed that this designation extended to certain aspects of French colonial culture (Louisiana was once upon a time a French colony), but I didn't realise that it also applied to a certain type of architecture. So I searched and found several interesting examples of the creole style. I was surprised to see how different creole houses could be, ranging from plain to stunning, and/or tiny to huge...

2 and 4 bay creole cottages 

     4 and 2 bay creole cottages

Creole townhouses

Creole cottage and house

Creole plantation houses

Exit signs

Well, that road sign did turn out to be for me. My usual exit, times two this year. Pretty good considering I expected not to leave the road to nowhere this year. Unfortunately, it's been keeping me extremely busy and very stuck to reality. But I'll come back to my dream land, you just wait and see. There's only so much reality one can take....
And speaking of escaping reality, here's  something weird...

On and on... about a shack

Years ago, back in Germany, I used to stop everything to watch this video whenever it came on. What really appealed to me, although I like the song, was the video itself. What an interesting little house that was, and by the way, what was it? I only found out years later... But first, the video:

Now, there's nothing glamorous about the house. It's just a shack, probably like many in the South and the video has that 'Colour Purple' feel to it, which means we're definitely not looking at the lifestyles of the rich and pointless. But seeing as it was just a video, I kinda dismissed the shack as being nothing more than a set.
Years later, while looking for typical New Orleans houses, I came across a floor plan that reminded me of the video. In fact, it could almost have been the floor plan of that shack: four rooms connecting directly to each other, no hallways. This is nothing new. I knew that for many centuries houses did not have hallways, people would just go from room to room, going about their business. Early American houses, and we're talking 17th century here, were no exception to the rule. In fact, rooms tended to have multiple functions, depending on the time of day.

Parlour by day                                         Bedroom by night

If you wanted privacy, well, just pull the curtains! Why do you think beds had posts?

Four poster bed                                         Box beds               

So, the privacy issue was no real surprise, although I was a little surprised at how much more recent our notions of privacy are than I actually thought. It's just that after researching these old houses up north, it was interesting to see how different they were down south! Mostly because of climate. Up north, small, closed off rooms tended to preserve heat in the cold winter months. Down south, interconnected rooms allowed better ventilation in the hot summer months. So, this particular style of house developed in the South: two rows of several interconnected rooms and porches outside, which were almost like an extra room. It's called Creole style and the shack in Badu's video seems to be in that style.

Something silly...

Here's something silly...
It's a funny post, and it's a great song too...

Road sign up ahead!!!

OH MY GOD!! A ROAD SIGN!!! Is it for me? I think it's for me!!! Fingers crossed...