La Paloma, in Tubac

Whenever we visit the Tucson area in Arizona, we can't resist a "field trip" to Tubac. Tubac is a touristy little town along the highway from Tucson to Nogales, Mexico. It began with a mission farm and ranch established in the late 1600s by a priest. As there was unrest in the area, the Spaniards eventually established a presidio, or fort, there to protect their colonists and mission. The rest of the town grew up around that presidio, which is now a state park preserving the history of the area.

The town is now a collection of galleries and curio shops, with a few restaurants and resort-wear shops thrown in among them. It provides a pleasant few hours walking around an poking one's nose into various shops, viewing the art, and picking up the occasional trinket or keepsake.
Whenever we visit Tubac we first head straight for the back of town, back by the presidio park. There's our favorite shop, La Paloma de Tubac. The store is full, inside and out, of imports from central and south America. And these are really nice things, carefully chosen. It's lucky that we usually fly down to Arizona, because when we drive we have more space to fill the car for the return trip with treasures from La Paloma.
Here are some of the pieces we saw on this visit. I try to be discreet in taking pictures in a shop like this, so there's a whole lot I didn't capture for this blog post. I tend to imagine myself being approached by the store owners--who are very gracious--asking why I'm taking so many pictures in their shop.

"Oh," I'd say. "I'm just collecting photos for a blog post."

Nope, I don't even want to try to explain that, or guess how they'd respond.
An interesting thought came to me, as I was taking in beautiful collections of ceramic work with geometric designs: I could buy one plate or bowl or vase and take it home, but part of the striking beauty of this wall of black-and-white pieces is summed up in the entire collection of them. One item alone expresses only a tiny piece of the creativity and expertise of the maker of these pieces.

I think there's an parable in there somewhere.
As I looked at this woven piece, I contemplated what was going on here. It's not the "storyteller" figure that is popular in the southwest. The people are all facing away from you. So is that the leader up in front? Are they going somewhere? Or are they watching a parade? If that's the case, the poor little kids in the back aren't getting to see much.
Outside, all along the front of La Paloma, there are beautiful pieces of outdoor pottery. If I had a southwestern-style home I'd love to have groupings of these pots on patios and beside doorsteps around the house. Instead I just feasted my eyes on the variety of color, designs and shapes.