It was some kind of holiday yesterday, but I never understood what! Several people wished us a \u2018happy holiday,\u2019 and museums were open in Old Havana that had been closed during our previous visits. While we were in the ceramic museum, I asked our guide what holiday was being celebrated, and she replied that it was the national holiday for ceramics. Bob and I are not at all sure we understood this properly. All kinds of museums were open that have been closed during our previous visits\u2026maybe the holiday was really about Cuban heritage. Anyway, our guide still maintained that it was a ceramics holiday.<\/p>\n
The ceramic museum was in the home of an historic ceramic artist who had a workshop and shop on the ground floor and living quarters for his family on the upper floor. The building was from the late 19th<\/sup> century with a central courtyard, and it made a wonderful museum for a history of Cuban ceramic artists. Each room featured a different time period of artists\u2019 works. The courtyard was devoted to vessels and large figures.<\/p>\n Our guide understood enough English for me to tell her that one of my good friends is a ceramics artist who does large figures in terracotta. I took these photos for her.<\/p>\n Somehow in our conversation it came about that our guide loves to knit. She took us to the entrance of the employees lounge and asked us to be very quiet since her boss was in there. She went in and came back moments later with a little bag of her knitting. It was the same ecru cotton floss type thread that the women on Paseo del Prada were using to crochet and make lace. I wonder where they get this material. Our guide told us she\u2019d like to knit all day long, but can only find a few minutes here and there during her breaks at work. She said she never gets any time to knit at home because she has to cook and take care of her family. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n There were so many places open for touring or for business that had not been open all weekend long. It was a festive day, and there women dressed in traditional costumes on many street corners. You could take a photo of there for $5 CUC, which seemed a bit dear to us. Near the end of the day, Bob managed a discreet photo from a distance.<\/p>\n One of the places that had been closed over the weekend was a perfumerie. We had looked through the windows of this museum\/shop and admired the antique brass containers used for distilling fragrances, the wonderful colonial furniture and display cabinets, and the glass apothercary jars that held the fragrances. I was thrilled to get into this shop to see things at close range! Bob took some photos while I smelled the fragrances and bought a ceramic jar of violetta for myself and lavender for my sister.<\/p>\n Every store has a beautiful courtyard since they are housed in historic buildings. This is the courtyard of the perfumeria. \u00a0Bob and I had been admiring the stained glass every time we walked by this building over the weekend.<\/p>\n In the late afternoon yesterday, Bob and I happened upon a young man making baskets from palm fronds. In his large basket he had a number of exquisite, small items made from the fronds\u2026.birds, and a little house with a cricket on top.<\/p>\n He was easy to talk to and knew enough English that we could communicate quite well. As Bob and I were marveling at the fineness of these tiny basket creations, he offered me one of his \u2018birds.\u2019 It appeard that he was giving me a gift, but I wasn\u2019t entirely sure. Here again was someone offering a gift and letting fate take his generosity where it would. I put the bird back in his large basket and asked him for the little house with a cricket on top. Buying that took a bit more time and frustration than we\u2019d anticipated! First, Bob could not find his money, and as he searched we had the sickening feeling that maybe we\u2019d lost all our money. After a few heartstopping minutes he did find his stash of money, but then we did not have exact change to buy the little cricket. The basket maker could not make change for us. So Bob went in to the local bar to ask for change, but they did not have it either. Then the basket maker left his spot to go buy a beer which would give him change. (You can walk about the streets in Havana with alcohol). He came back smiling, and yet he still did not have the necessary change! In the end, laughing, he accepted somewhat less than his price, and he still handed me the little bird as a gift.<\/p>\n Bob and I went to dinner with my little house with cricket and my birdie sitting on the table before us as a quirky centerpiece. We kept admiring both these baskets, and I decided I had to have another little house with cricket as a present. I hoped we\u2019d still find our basket maker on the street where we left him by the time we left the restaurant\u2014which was a beautiful courtyard that had once been a print shop.<\/p>\n Restaurant Imprenta:<\/p>\n When we got back to the spot where we\u2019d seen the basket maker, the other street artists had just finished packing up their wares and were headed home. Likely the basket maker would soon be doing the same. But we\u2019d gotten there just in time to ask if we could watch him make a little house with cricket on top, and he seemed happy to oblige even though he still had one already made. It took about 20 minutes for him to make, and we had a wonderful conversation with him as he worked.<\/p>\n He started with two long palm fronds and crossed the fronds (north\/south\/east\/west) over each other in the middle of the frond lengths. Starting with the ends that taper down to points, he began to fold each frond over the other in a consecutive direction. Since the fronds were tapering down to their outer ends the little box he was making got smaller and smaller, tapering like the fronds themselves. This made the roof of the house.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then he went back to the other half of the fronds that led to the base of where they\u2019d been cut from the tree, and he made the same consecutive folds for making a square. This made the house itself. Very clever<\/em>. He cut some frond strips to insert into the box for doors and windows.<\/p>\n The exquisite litte cricket!<\/p>\n![\"4-27-16a](\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/4-27-16a-020.jpg\")
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