This week is reserved for preparing for my departure from Jordan. My preparations include arranging a film event for the people who contributed to the creation and exhibition of the canvas “Seven Women’s House Keys.” Interspersed with preparing for the event are farewell dinners and goodbye coffee klatches.
The film event will be at Young Eyes Gallery. Khalid Homsi, the director of the gallery, is creating a recycled map of Palestine that will function as an interactive artwork at the event.
One of my farewell dinners was prepared by the Al-Afghani brothers at Al-Afghani Bazaar, a shop located about three blocks from Paris circle. The shop is filled to the ceiling with inspirational items, ranging from historic relics to contemporary knick knacks from Jordan, Palestine, Afghanistan, Egypt and other areas of the world. I could spend years inside the shop asking questions and researching the objects. The purpose of this research would ultimately be to formulate ideas for future works of art. Rather than spending the rest of my life inside the shop, or taking the shop home with me to Arizona, I’m settling for photographing items I find of interest. As is evident in the following photographs, the shop is brimming over with intriguing items:
If I owned the contents of this shop I would deconstruct all of the objects and integrate them into one monumental sculpture or mosaic wall relief. The piece would conceptually and visually reflect aspects of the diverse cultures, histories, traditions, values, and religions in the Middle East. Ultimately, it would speak to the beauty of unity in diversity. 
Coffee girls!
The shop looks like areas I wander thru in my dream world, meeting people at every turn, then poof, they are gone. A lantern may animate, like a cartoon character and talks to me. Then another person is there, the lantern is just a lantern and won’t speak anymore-I feel stupid…. then I’m off in another direction and it’s into an attic, down a hallway or street? Wild, exotic, colorful, mysterious meanderings.