A few years ago....
so starts another reminiscence
we bought a Mexican gourd birdfeeder
from The Marketplace on far E. North Ave
near St Mary's hospital and the water tower.
Down the steep hill, Lake Drive and Lake MI.
Now out of business, The Marketplace was
a former florist shop with attached
greenhouse. The Latin products were
bought by a couple who traveled to the
South American countries on buying trips
and then returned to Milwaukee and took
a small mark-up in the fast sales of their finds.
Many artful items were collected just by this
one customer, the SRN editor. They have
held up well.
Among the pieces of wood-carving, pottery,
metal cuttings and hammerings, reed
weavings, gourdery, rude and flashingly
bright fabrics, reed matwork, and etc. and etc.
came this birdfeeder made of a gourd and
with paste legs and arms that dangled
freely, like bones, on wire.
The wire members, sans the
deteriorated paste (or clay, or?) around
them are now mostly naked.
Really bare-bones.
This adds to the skeletal deterioration
realism. Thus we have not tried to fix it.
It would be simple to renovate. But would
it be right?
click on image, see deterioration
