Wow Lynn -- you are so kind! I love my santos & retablos, too, so thank you.

I am off for my hike but when I get home I promise to snap some pics and post them.

You made my morning! :)

I'm back!

For us these are just visual / cultural pleasures. My mother is from Brasil (and grew up there and in Europe) so I grew up in houses with m-a-n-y santos / nichos, collected for their visual appeal. My partner, who is culturally Shinto Buddhist but really a hardcore atheist, likes the familial / cultural / historical appeal. We also have pieces from various Japanese shrines throughout the house / garden.

We hung them ourselves -- some are on acrylic shelves either from the Container Store or one I think we had made. Oh, the one tall one standing by himself is on a custom shelf.

Joseph, his crown, Mary and baby Jesus were each found separately. When I found that thumbnail crown I decided to put it on Joseph, and Mary came without the baby Jesus so I found, in Germany of all places, a little wax baby. My memory was off and the baby is too small but oh well!

This santo is particularly fab: he's 2' tall and his back is amazing! I found him in a dusty shop in Mexico where he was ... a doorstop. Insane. I rescued him.

On another trip I found this tinfoil nicho from the '40s also in Mexico. My partner esp. loves it.

Amputated Jesus is from Quito and the nicho I had made in Mexico. We are big fans of that ultra-thin filament so Jesus is attached to the nicho with a filament belt and one around his neck, I think.

This wee (2" tall) santito is from a tucked-away dusty teeny tiny shop in San Miguel de Allende.

In the same teeny shop I found this abandoned hand -- it is too perfect!

A retablo also from SMA -- I really love it. It hangs above the entrance to the den.

Not sure why but this is my favorite. I love this Jesus, so he sits atop my dictionaries next to my computer in the den. I have often been heard asking him "Jesus, give me strength!" It's funny as I'm a devout agnost ... but I'll take help / guidance from wherever! Not picky.

Hanging above my youngest child's door is this baby Jesus I found in Portugal. I found the crown in Mexico and hot glued it to the baby's head. I don't know if you've read before of the medical developmental catastrophe which befell this child when he was ~3.5 years-old, so I want all the magic I can to smile on him.

My older son picked out this mezuzah for his little brother when we were in Israel, so I'm not kidding about asking all good forces to shine here! My eldest (now 7) was going through a Jewish phase so we went to the Holy Land where we all got mezuzahs. The eldest's is SpongeBob ... and I am not kidding. But at the time when our youngest could still communicate, his favorite thing was to watch fish in fish tanks, and his favorite word to say was "sakana," which is "fish" in Japanese.

And finally, when the children were 3 & 1 we backpacked them along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and in Cusco (before & after) we found this (and another) retablo. (The other is in our eldest's room.) I think they are incredible in their detail. To pack them up the shopowner poured puffed rice cereal, a ton of it!, into the frame. I think only a hand broke off.

What an interesting collection you have. So nice to see how everyone on this forum is so different.
Your travels sound amazing and make me jealous.

Thank you for the wonderful pics and descriptions! Having lived in New Mexico for the past 28 years, I've developed a real love for santos, bultos, nichos and retablos . . . not to mention, the fabulous food and architecture. I've really enjoyed seeing and hearing about your treasures. Did any of your santos, now in their "skivvies", come in their feast day clothes or did you find them as is? Out here I see them displayed both ways. I think you've done a wonderful job creating your display wall for them.

I didn't hear what happened to your youngest child, although it sounds like it was a very major thing.
But, as you described your wonderful travels all over the world, I suddenly recalled that a few years ago, someone on this forum (or was it Great Impressions?) that had traveled a great deal, was "decorating" a home in some very rural part of Mexico or Central America and posting pics for us. Everyone was fascinated by this, I recall. Was that you?

Regardless, the "treasures" you've picked up on your travels are wonderful! Thank you for sharing them with us all. You seem to have had the most interesting life. I hope that you'll someday consider sharing more with us. And I, for one, would love to see your Japanese shrine pieces. Many thanks!
Lynn

Brooke,

I had to log in and say once again how much I love your home. Everything about it is amazing. I too am jealous of your travels, and your life experiences have always fasciated me. We never tire of seeing pics of your home so always post more...more...more! How you have taken a blank box and transformed it into such a masterpiece is absolutely mesmerizing.

Shannon

I love those! What a wonderful collection. Everything you have done is so beautiful- are you an artist? To me, your home looks like an artist's home.

What a lovely tour RMK! Always nice to see your collected wonderfulnesses!

I love all your pieces! So interesting to look at. I had to smile though....I have a 5 year old daughter who absolutely loves dolls and little figurines. If she ever went to your house she'd be obsessed with trying to pick all those little people off the walls to play with them.

rm, What an absolutely fantastic and interesting tour of your home. I was disappointed when your post came to a end. What an interesting life you have led. I am also not aware of what medical challenges your child has but the love you have for him/her is apparent. Best wishes to you and your family.

Fascinating! I want to know more about the things hanging on the wall above the sofa in the den.
Linda C

Absolutely wonderful! I am enthralled! :-)

Holy cow! You all are so generous & kind -- thank you.

I have to say an especial "thank you" to my sister-in-special-mothers louisianapurchase. Seeing your name was such a warm fuzzy! How are you? Your kiddos? I'm thinking of you!

I always love love love seeing amysrq, who has got to be one of the warm fuzziest (and most gorgeous) women around.

And now I have a bunch of new friends, too. Thank you lyban, jenny and auntjen!

nancybee: the summer of '09 we made my long-awaited pilgrimage to see Smithson's Spiral Jetty.

It is a hard trip and you have to really, super-duper want to see it to make it there. I'd been waiting my whole life so for some dumb reason all five of us, inc. our dog, went. (The dumb part was going with anyone else -- kids, dog, partner, but esp. the kids & dog. No offense.)

We met another pilgrim there and while she was walking up to us she asked "which one of you is the artist?" Without missing a beat my then four year-old replied "me." My own kids don't see me as an artist so I probably just have the soul of an artist. I think I'm creative and I love artsy-fartsy stuff; one of my BAs is in Art, but I was a jill-of-all-trades artist. Glassblowing? Let's try it! Goldsmithing, silversmithing, tinsmithing, cast sculpture, fiber, oil / acrylic / watercolor / charcoal, etc.? I'm on it! I like(d) to dabble but was / am not committed to any medium, to any vernacular. I lead a soccer-mom-minivan-driving-special-ed-advocate life. But from the bottom of my wannabe-artist heart, thank you, nancybee, for thinking I could be artistic.

oldhouse -- thank you and bless you for your wishes for my son! We'll take them. He's a good egg who has a peculiar encephalopathy called Penelope Syndrome. While he sleeps at night, all night long, he has massive seizures (invisible -- the only way to know he's having them is through EEGs) which remove from his brain everything he learnt that day. One of our district's Special Ed directors calls it "a nightly data dump" and she's right. He can still walk but his gait is affected; he can no longer speak / sign / gesture nor understand any longer speech / sign / gesture. He can no longer use utensils to eat so shovels food in with his hands; he lost the ability to either feel the need to urinate / have a BM and / or respond to that need, so he's back in a diaper, etc. In many respects it's like having a big baby, except this baby can reach and run! He is very, very sweet, cuddly and I love him to bits, but it's changed everything for us (esp. him) so that's why I put it all out there, open to and receptive of all and any kinds of good wishes and help. In '09 we went to meet with a Navajo medicine man and in '10 a Lakota medicine grandma -- my eldest son was taken with the grandma!

He loves his horses so he rides (doing hippotherapy) 2x a week. This was today:

LindaC -- thanks for asking about our masks and bells. The masks are from Nepal, Japan, France, Mexico and Mali, the yak bells (on the left) and the wood temple bell are all from Nepal. The yak bells have the most beautiful sound, all different. It kinda creeps me out that the clanger in each is yak bone, and the live yaks (and zos) are forced to wear these bells with their dead brethren inside ... but they probably don't think about it as I do. The wood bell does not produce an attractive sound but it sure is nice to look at! I lived in Nepal in '02: my partner and I spent the spring climbing Everest, then I alone spent the rest of the year there, all summer / early fall volunteering in Royal Chitwan (animal conservancy) and the rest of fall, winter and early the following spring studying woodworking in Patan (city right next to Kathmandu). I love those Nepali papier mache faces: my favorite is probably the little blue face (with star ray corona and crescent moon necklace) because his nose is missing and it just makes him that much more charming.

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lynn -- thank you again for being interested and allowing me to share so many personal stories! It makes sense you live in SF -- talk about magical.

Totally amazing. I have learned so much from you in the past two days, I'm just riveted to your life story! I also enjoyed learning two fun words last night. lol. I actually tried to think of sentences to use them in. I admire your vocabulary!

Those bells are kind of cool. I would love to hear more stories of your journeys.

You sound like a great hand's-on mom which is all your son could want in his situation. I don't blame you for reaching out. It DOES take a Village.

Hang in there, and I'll put your son in my prayers tonight. :)

Romans 12:12

rm kitchen, thanks for your thoughtful answer to my question.
I would say that you ARE an artist, and your home is your canvas. I mean that sincerely.

My heart goes out to you and your son.