Showing posts with label clothing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clothing. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Everyday Life


I chose this picture to remind myself what life in Marrakech actually looks like - away from the exoticism of the Djemma elFnaa and palaces and mountains.
This is a little road which goes between the back of Cafe France and Derb Dabachi.
It is very typical.
Here we have two young men on cell phones. One of them has a moped.
Lots of things for sale - most made in China, of course. Lots of pretty dresses and outfits for children.
The towel has a cartoon character on it.
The middle- aged woman has a stylish outfit - traditional and up to date at the same time.
The young girl working in the shop hasn't covered her hair but is wearing long pants.
Back in New York for a few weeks now, I've stopped being amazed by the acres of bare female flesh which shocked me at first.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

A Day: Wednesday May 15th

Frank Gardner, a wonderful painter who lives in Mexico was asked by Alicia Padron, a wonderful children's book illustrator, to write about a day in his life.
He did, and it was most interesting. I always see lots of similarities between Morocco and Mexico.
Needless to say, this being the blogosphere, he was asked to pass the idea along......



I wake up about six, or when the light through the green glass above the bedroom door looks bright.
Tea. E-mails. Write blog.
Squeeze oranges for fresh juice.
In the morning I write. Yesterday I was editing. I managed this for about three hours.
Robert painted and the kittens did kitten things like using cherries as soccer balls.



Since we live in a busy part of the medina, the streets are always full of people.



The other day I told someone I was going to do a post on stripy costumes. So I went looking for people to take photos of.
Then I felt stalkerish.



So I went to a little shop round the back of Cafe France where they sell the material to make the stripy djellabahs and took pictures of the fabrics instead. Attention Maryam -lots of wonderful fabrics here for you!



I also took a picture of a wall - which, as usual -looks like an abstract painting.
Then Robert and I had lunch in the courtyard.
Cheese, hobz -flat bread. Small tomatoes, olives, Crunchips - potato crisps/chips. Robert loves them - they are rather a luxury and Ismail always has some whenever he stops by.



I had been promising Amina, my Berber friend, that I'd have my hand henna'd for the longest time. I hadn't had it done since before we went to America.
I told Robert to take a picture of it with the henna still wet. He said we had lots of pictures of henna already. So I said - Take it anyway. He did.
Nap time. I try not to get the still wet henna on the bedclothes.


More writing..........

This is one of the many little children who play in the derb - some enchanting, some mischevious.......
He was playing on the shutters of "Bis" our nearest shop, which was obviously closed.
We had chicken for supper with lima beans and rice - cooked by me. Followed by peaches I had stewed at home - this is what you do if you haven't gobbled them all up already. They last longer poached with one little lump of sugar.
Then we watched an episode of "The Sopranos" that we had downloaded from the internet.
Then Robert read War and Peace. I read Antonio Tabucchi on Merisi's suggestion.
Went to sleep about 11pm.
A very satisfactory day.
Gosh, we are boring!