Some Of My Favorite Things

When we travel the we buy a lot of stuff.  The Wife is very practical.  Most of what she buys can be used such as table clothes, shawls, scarves, and small tables.  I tend not to buy much but I too have purchased things on our travels.  This used to mean T-Shirts.  I have since moved away from collecting T-Shirts.  Looking back I think I cherish things given to us as gifts.

I've mentioned a few of these things before.  In Peru I was given a glass llama and a small reed boat made by the Uros Indians.  The boat is one of my favorite mementos of my travels and has hung from my desk lamp ever since our return.  From our Jordan trip we were gifted two small camels - they sit on my computer speakers.

From our last big trip to China, Nepal, Bhutan, and India, we received gifts in India.  We received little carved elephants - one intricately carved with an elephant within an elephant and another colorfully inlaid.  In Tibet I bought a small stone with the Buddhist mantra on it.  In Bhutan I bought a small mask of Chagna Dorje, a deity signifying power and looking quite evil even though he is said to be benevolent.

But my favorite, after the Peruvian boat, is the one I bought in New Orleans: A Sugar Skull bobble head.

Sugar Skull Bobble Head from New Orleans.

I'm sure he was made in China is is just made of plastic but he makes me smile.  He has a prominent place on my desk next to my computer monitor and when I type with extra force he looks like he is agreeing with what I'm writing.  I think I'll keep him.