I’ve been trying unsuccessfully for a few days to stay up until sunset, because the fellow in my feature photo is positioned in the perfect spot on our balcony to pick up some beautiful light at that time of day. By late yesterday afternoon, I knew I wasn’t going to make it yet again, so I snapped the photo and hoped that I could “fix” that light for today’s post.

On a winter vacation to Arizona several years ago, hubs and I visited the Mesa Market. One of the vendors at this massive venue was selling metal Kokopelli’s of various designs and sizes. I was intrigued by these hump-backed, flute-playing characters. On one tour, we had seen them carved into ancient petroglyphs. Various depictions of them on everything from pillow shams to tea towels are a typical souvenir in Arizona . The height of almost three feet and the colours of this one in particular caught my eye. When the vendor saw that I was interested, he engaged me in a little fun bartering, and I ended up buying the piece. If you’d like to learn more about the Kokopelli, some interesting info can be found here .

Each time I look at “Koko” (yes, I named him), I relive the happy memories of the day we bought him. Lately, I’ve been thinking that he’d be more at home (and warmer over the winter) in our Texas home. Although he’s best known in Arizona, his origins were likely Mexico, so he’s another item that should work with my planned Tex-Mex theme.

Photo Note: Because I wasn’t able to stay up late enough to catch the sunset glow, I attempted to create it in post processing. In Snapseed I used the glamour glow tool and applied the number two filter. I then used the glow, saturation, and warmth sliders in that filter to try to recreate the appearance of our usual sunset shining on that particular spot. I think it was mildly successful, but I’ll have to catch an actual sunset photo of Koko for the comparison.

“Kokopelli is a kachina, or spirit, found in the mythology of the Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest. A complex character, he plays various roles, including those of fertility spirit, trickster, and hunter.”

Encyclopedia.com