Visiting with Sarah

Today Annie, Leia Rose and I visited Sarah McDowell at her house in downtown Chapel Hill. Sarah's house is a treasure trove of international and cultural items from all over the world. We REALLY enjoyed looking at everything. In the process I saw quite a few things that I would like to find and buy, myself. It seems that Sarah and I have a very similar international taste, . . . although she will always have a much bigger collection than I ever would. ; ) Here is a neat puzzle that makes a heart when put together but spells "I Love You" when taken apart! Leia and Sarah worked on this for a long time, while Annie happily played with some ceramic coasters from Appalachia on the left.
Gabe's family lives in the mountains near Ashville, and so many items in Sarah's house have been purchased from local artists in the mountains of NC. These are some cool little animal figurines that are also really neat whistles. Leia is blowing the sheep whistle.
Annie tried it too.
And here is one of those cool wire toys from Africa. We have a documentary on tape of how the children make these out of old bits of wire.
And look at this neat little thing called "Fridgits," which is a cool marble track that runs right on your refrigerator! Got to get one of those!

There are a couple of pictures I wish I had taken, like Sarah's personal basket collection that had baskets made from all different things. One was made from all different colored plastic grocery bags and another was made solely from newspaper! And I WISH I had taken a picture of Sarah's office, which was filled with beautiful baskets & other items that Sarah has brought back from Africa to begin her online business. Sarah, being such a wonderful humanitarian, has designed her business to support and empower the women artisans of Africa (and specifically Tanzania) by using the internet in offering their wares to interested buyers all over the world. Here's your first plug, Sarah, . . . very soon everyone can go to http://www.withthesehands.com/ to see some great items perfect for gift giving and learn about the artists who made them!