paintings

Something neat happened several weekends ago, while I was walking around the hallways of La Posada in Winslow, Arizona, one of the koolest hotels in the southwest, checking out the bookshelves and various artings they have on display. Resident artist Tina Mion creates the majority of the wilder pieces on display. If you aren’t familiar with her work, I highly recommend hopping on the next available Amtrak and heading over to check out her work in person.


Mion's Mamie Eisenhower - Fab 50s

At any rate, I was very pleased to discover that a copy of my contract archaeology coloring book I had left at the hotel two years before (11-1-2002) was still there. I felt even better when I realized that the book had been moved from the location I had left it (the bottom dresser drawer in the Harry Truman Room) to the shelves in the main lobby reserved for books (predominately coffee table variety) about art and architecture. Although no one had colored any of the pages in over two years, I was impressed because the book could have just as easily been tossed onto the trash heap by housekeeping, or removed by anyone of thousands of guests who have spent a night or three in that fabulous hotel.

I feel honored that someone thought enough of my effort to file it with the art books. I suppose they may have made the classic mistake and shelved it under the theory that archaeologists design houses. Although most of us don’t, I suspect that a few actually do.

The other thing that people frequently believe archaeologists do besides drink beer, is dig up dinosaur bones. If you are one of those people, I’m here to tell you that archaeologists do NOT deal with dinosaurs. If you discover the remains of a T-rex in your garden and don’t know what to do, grab the Yellow Pages and look under "Paleontology."

Say, that reminds me of a joke:

Q: How many archaeologists does it take to excavate a dinosaur?

A: None! Archaeologists don’t dig fossils.



On the other hand, Arkies DO love diner-saurs!