Art from kurgans in Khazakhstan: Ana's Earthly Ancestors?

Feline head

Readers of Ana's stories know that Ana is descended from humans who, some thousands of years ago, were transplanted to the planet Thomo, 25 light years away. The first to find her way back, she has been eager to pursue what few clues there are as to just where on Earth her people originated.

An argali (mountain sheep)

For the most part those clues are linguistic: her language, Luvit, has been shown (in Distant Cousin) to be an early spinoff of the large Proto-Indo-European language family, originally spoken by the peoples living north of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. They were nomadic and preliterate and thought to have left few durable items that might have survived to interest modern archaeologists--no cities, bridges, aquaducts, statues, or the like.

A raptor head

But that notion may be mistaken. There is now an exhibit in New York City of works of art discovered in kurgans (burial mounds) in Khazakhstan, the ninth largest country in the world, north of the Caspian Sea. These works were created from the ninth to the first centuries B.C. (slightly after Ana's people are thought to have been removed). 

A feline attacking a horned animal

As you can see, they are are remarkable, and reveal a love of the natural world and a wonderfully creative artistic instinct. If you care to note some of the art that Ana has loved elsewhere in this blog  you can see how she might like these ancient treasures as well. And not only that--you might also come to understand why she loves cats! 

Two deer heads

Meet the fascinating extraterrestrial Ana Darcy!

Learn her story!

See more of Ana's taste in art in the right column under the picture of the blue-eyed kitty, and under the photo of the LOVE sculpture, including:

El dia de los muertos

Wearable art from Guatemala, Ecuador, and Mexico

Arpilleras: textile sculpture from Ecuador

Molas from Panama

The art of Claudia Quintero

This and that: a wearable arpillera, serval kitties, and a venue in DC: Reincarnation

Today we are going to take care of some leftovers from previous posts. Above, for example, is one more arpillera, the lovely, original textile sculptures from South America. (See more arpilleras below.) You would think they are delicate creations, not suitable for clothing. This is true in some cases, but not in all. The t-shirt above (click to enlarge) has just been washed, as it has been many times previously. This would shorten the life of the thing, one supposes, but, being portable, the pleasure it gives the wearer and the observers during its lifetime surely makes that worthwhile.

Below is a photo of the neighborhood (but not the exact house) in Queens, New York City, where Ana Darcy Méndez had her memorable encounter with the Russian Mafia in Distant Cousin: Reincarnation. Those who have read the book will certainly remember that scene!

Below are some new photos of serval kitties from Julie's Jungle. The Méndez family has a caracal, but would dearly love one of these beautiful, active cats as well. The first photo is of an expectant mother. The others are baby kitties of various ages. Thanks, Julie!

More arpilleras: Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

Distant Cousin: Reincarnation

MANY serval photos and photos of caracals and other cats in the column on the right, under the picture of the blue-eyed kitty, including:

Servals: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 

Caracals: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Meet the extraterrestrial woman who unites all these topics: Ana Darcy Méndez!

Wearable art from Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico!

We have mentioned elsewhere that the people on Ana Darcy Méndez's home planet, Thomo, are fond of decoration and the arts. In a forthcoming post we will show some samples of ancient art originating from the historical area on Earth her people are believed to have come from. 

We have also mentioned that Ana has been taken by the arts on Earth, and particularly by textile art. (See below for examples of arpilleras (textile sculptures) and molas (amazing fabric creations from the Kuna people of Panama). 

Now we have some examples of wearable art from Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador. We could not ask Ana to send photographs of her own clothing, but friends of hers have very kindly allowed us to present some examples of theirs, with our very grateful thanks. 

It's easy to see why Ana would love these creations. They are colorful, immensely creative, beautifully human, lively, unique, and not least important, comfortable to wear! 

Note: these photos are generously sized. Click any to enlarge!

Above, a huípil from Guatemala. Below, nine items from Mexico.

A jacket from Mexico (one of Ana's very favorites):

Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico (left to right):

Guatemala, Mexico, Guatemala (each photo):

Molas, from Panama: part 1, part 2

Arpilleras from Ecuador & Peru, part 1, part 2, part 3

The art of Claudia Quintero

Mexican dolls: handmade folk art!

Meet the fascinating woman from the planet Thomo who loves all this art.

Investigate Ana's innovative recipes and favorite poems, too, in the column on the right, and also her ideas on education, aliens on Earth (ahem), her favorite shoes, photographs from sites of her adventures, and much more!

More photos of Ana's first official home on Earth: Barbados

Ana Darcy Méndez has always had a soft spot in her heart for the island nation of Barbados. Barbados was the first country to offer her citizenship after she landed on Earth (though it is true they did not know at the time she was from another planet). The credit for that goes to her lawyer friend Harvey Braithwaite, who convinced the ministers of government there that it would be a good idea to give her an official home (in Distant Cousin). It wasn't until later that they realized just how good an idea it had been.

It was a good choice for Ana, too. She still loves the island and returns from time to time (as in Distant Cousin: Reincarnation). Barbados is the easternmost of the Windward Islands in the Caribbean Sea, only about fifteen miles wide and twenty five miles long. Ana loves the easygoing people and the beautiful beaches, hills, and sugar cane fields.

Here are some more scenes from Barbados. Thanks to Bill Brown, who took them on a recent trip to visit the site of one of his most pleasurable duty stations in his U. S. Naval career! (Right click to open in another tab for details.)

Above: an aerial view of the capitol, Bridgetown. Below, another aerial view showing the southern end of the island.

Below are a photo of a beachfront eatery very similar to the one where Ana and her friend Cheryl had lunch in Distant Cousin: Reincarnation, followed by one of the dishes the island is famous for, a flying fish sandwich (or "cutter," as it is called there). Below that, more typical scenes from this most beautiful place.

This photo is NOT reversed. Vehicles drive on the left!

There are many more photos of Ana's venues in the column to the right, under the picture of the blue-eyed kitty, including many from Barbados and the West Indies. West Texas and New Mexico, also central to Ana's history, are represented there as well.

If you haven't yet met Ana Darcy Méndez, this is your invitation!

Calling Area 51! Ana's pod sighted, or not?

Accounts of sightings of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) are usually confused and contradictory, and of great interest to the public. Reports of one sighting, for example, over Henderson, Nevada, are even confused as to the date. One account claims it happened in 1997 , while another puts it in 1999. Henderson seems a hotbed of UFO sightings: YouTube has a video clip of a sighting over Henderson, Nevada in 1991.  See above.


That particular YouTube clip is of interest because unlike the others, which feature, apparently, an elaborate display of lights, this sighting can be said to resemble Ana Darcy Méndez's escape pod, carried in the vehicle that brought her from Thomo, her home planet 25 light years away, to our moon. She traveled from the moon to Earth in this escape pod and it has remained here where she uses it occasionally when she needs it.

The state of Nevada is known as the location of one or more highly secret government test sites, where new and strange flying machines are sometimes tested and occasionally glimpsed or even photographed. It's also the site of the famous Area 51, a supposed crash site of an extraterrestrial vehicle, complete with aliens. Nevada has a reputation as a sometimes wild and woolly place, with improbable events and unconventional people making occasionally startling news.

Still, the object in the video could be said to resemble Ana's pod either from the front or the back. Here is a description of it by one man who flew in it with Ana to perform a crucial mission in Distant Cousin: Reincarnation:

"The craft [about the size of a Chevrolet Suburban] sank slowly to head height, then waist height, then knee height, and smoothly floated inside the barn. He rolled the door shut behind it. The hum died away as it settled on its skids.
Even though he had been expecting something like this he stared at it in wonder. It looked like a cross between a streamlined egg and an SUV, with a completely smooth hull colored a mousy brownish-black as nearly as he could tell in the dimness. There were no exhaust nozzles or any sign of an engine anywhere about it, not a single antenna or pitot tube protruding. A few squares and circles possibly indicated doors or access hatches and there were groups of shallow depressions spaced evenly around it but it was otherwise cleanly aerodynamic. He’d read up on Thomans and their technology and he knew the vessel supposedly used gravity as an energy source, but this pod thing was a total puzzler; he couldn’t conceive of such a vehicle.
"There were several soft crunches and a mechanical click or two and a hatch in the side hissed upwards as Ana Darcy, his favorite extraterrestrial, stepped out."

We can claim with some confidence, however, that whatever the odd object is in that YouTube video, it is NOT Ana's escape pod. Although her pod is invisible to radar, it is perfectly observable if it is close enough to the observer--however, not only are Ana and her family extremely careful to keep it at too high an altitude to be seen during the daytime and they generally use it only during darkness, as far as we know they have never flown it over Nevada.

Some day, if we are very, very fortunate, photographs of Ana's pod may appear. In the meantime, we are sorry to say, you are more likely to win the lottery than lay eyes on Ana's Thoman runabout.

Meet the fascinating Ana Darcy!

Ana is asked about Area 51

What does Ana think about UFOs?

Did Ana see Americans land on the moon?

Sale! Read an E-Book Week is March 4-10, 2012!

Once again we are pleased to observe Read an E-Book Week, March 4-10, 2012.

All five Distant Cousin volumes are on sale at Smashwords for 50% off! 

Smashwords E-books are available in formats to fit practically all e-readers and computers. In just a few minutes you can have hours and hours of fun reading on hand. If you read them out loud to each other as our commuters did, you can enjoy them for months!

(You might want to wait if you are supposed to be moving or getting married.)

Here are the five Distant Cousin volumes at Smashwords. Upon checking out, simply enter REW50 under the coupon code, and an already affordable story will be yours at half the price.

Distant Cousin

Distant Cousin: Repatriation

Distant Cousin: Reincarnation

Distant Cousin: Regeneration

Distant Cousin: Recirculation

For excerpts, reader comments, photos, maps and more, see the column to the right.

For other terrific e-books by other writers (possibly not on sale) see the post for last year's Read an E-Book event.

Meet Ana Darcy!

More Panamanian molas, incredible textile art

Here are some more examples of the multi-layered Panamanian molas that Ana loves so. (The first installment is here.) No matter what planet one is from, anyone with an eye for color and design will be understandably struck by these gorgeous works of art.

Ana particularly loves the zest for life embodied in these works (and in the arpilleras and other Latin-American art elsewhere on her blog). Many reveal a fascination for human, animal, and plant forms--art that springs from nature, in other words. Some may dismiss it as "folk art," but to Ana, whose ancestors on Thomo barely survived hard times, there is no more precious, more cherished, force in the world than life itself.

Above is a mola turned into a lined vest by someone who labeled it for sale. This is not typical of most molas, which generally seem not to have been created with commercial purposes in mind. Below are more typical examples of this amazing art form. (Click for more detail.) First, a jungle scene with a boat and at least five human figures:

Here are a bat, we believe, and a bird, in molas that were "repurposed" and sold after their owners felt they had fulfilled their original use:

This is one of the more extraordinary molas Ana knows of. We do not know how old this artwork is, but it's possible that the artist could have created it after having seen her first helicopter:

Here is a detail from the mola above to show the fine stitching:

Finally, here is a mola which depicts something we cannot identify. After that photo there is another of the same mola from the back, and then a detail of the back. Quilters, textile enthusiasts, and artists in general will be fascinated to examine how these unique works were created.

See more of Ana's favorite art, music, and poetry in the column to the right, under the photo of the LOVE sculpture-->

The mola, part 1

Arpilleras, part 1, part 2

Mexican dolls: handmade folk art!

Wearable art from Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador

Music Ana thinks sounds like the engine of the universe

The art of Claudia Quintero

One of many of Ana's favorite poems about vegetables!

Meet Ana Darcy!

A reader comments: "The essence of Spielberg's Close Encounters or E.T. remains pervasive throughout. The characters and dialog tell the story. The whole thing is show, don't tell in a manner that any reader can appreciate. The storyline flows, the characters develop comfortably, and you feel as if you are so glad that you know these people!"