Off The Shelf

If you know me at all, you know that I enjoy structure.  It doesn't need to be terribly rigid, just enough to know that there's something holding everything in place.

My blog has structure already.  The days of the week that I post (M, W, F, S) are a sort of scaffold.  The Wednesday Review is (insert architecturally appropriate reference).  Now I am adding another component.

Before I tell you what that new component is, some background:

I have a lot of books.  And DVDs.  I keep my books and DVDs on several cheap but aesthetically pleasing bookcases I purchased and put together back in the summer of 2010.  One of the reasons I chose the particular bookcases that I did is because the shelf space is nice and deep - I can have a line of books and still have room on the shelves to set my glass of water, or lay down a book I'm taking a break from, or what-have-you.

The other thing I keep on the bookshelves in front of the books is souvenirs.  You see, I have traveled a lot, and I've got the nick knacks to prove it.  So, every once in a while (on Saturdays), I will write an "Off the Shelf" post, talking about one of these items.

Today, we will examine my wooden statuettes.

Man with donkey and tree.

Man with horse and barrel.

Back in 2012 I was deployed to Afghanistan, and I picked up these two figures from the little bazaar at Mazar-e Sharif airfield.  The gentleman I bought them from was a very pleasant man; I ended up getting most of my souvenirs from him.  These little pieces of art are hand-carved, and while I question the choice of pink for the horse's tack,* they're pretty cool.

Of course, at a bazaar in Afghanistan, they give you a price and then you barter, which is always fun when neither of you really speaks each other's language (he spoke limited English and could understand some of my limited Arabic).  Numbers are always pretty easy, though, so we managed all right.

I hadn't had to barter for anything in years, so I had a good time.  I'm sure he still ripped me off, but it was less than what you'd pay for this kind stuff in the States, and it supported the local economy, so who cares?  (Plus, they're really cool!)

Anyway, that's it for the first edition of 'Off the Shelf'.

*The string is actually mutli-colored.  By the time the two ends get to the man's hand, one is yellow and the other is blue.