Allophile

...not gone yet...and 'burkinabé'

As I type this--ice pellets are beating against the window;
a veritable 'winter downpour' for Tucson.
Yes, yes, winter has not left yet--
even though it was in the upper 60's last week
and it's forecast to be 75 degrees by Friday,
today we have winter weather.

The mountains behind the city are forecast
to have a foot and a half of snow by tomorrow...

That's the weather update.
I can't help myself.
Surely, pictures will follow in the next day or two.
Stay tuned...

=========

Now, onto the other word--"burnikabé."
Huh?
It's a nationality.

Who remembers those old word-analogy test items?
As in:
juice: orange :: cider: _______

If you filled in 'apple', then you're a genius.

So, here we go for "burkinabé"--
Netherlands: Dutch :: Burkina Faso: burkinabé
Where's that, you ask?
If you still remember geography from years ago,
does "Upper Volta" ring a bell?

It's in West Africa, north of Ghana, south of Mali.
And it's one of the francophone countries.

So, all this, to get around to the fact that yesterday I had a nice
conversation with an artiste burkinabé,
one of many many (fifty thousand) people in town for the annual
Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. Not just jewelry and fossils,
but also arts and crafts (of varying tastes) from all over the world.
And so I spoke in French with a sculptor who was explaining how he
uses the lost-wax casting method to make his African bronze chess-pieces.

And then my wife and I had a Malian peanut-lamb stew with couscous.

L'Afrique dans l'état d'Arizona...for a couple of weeks, at least...

Many Moroccan fossil-vendors.
Quartz pillars and amethyst-geodes the height of an adult...
urns of onyx, beads,
and of course, 'metaphysical crystal' specialists who can 'rock your love life.'
Ahem.