Hi Y’all, I haven’t been around for a spell, ‘cause my work load has kept me busy as a toothless beaver! I had some time off last week and took advantage by visiting another BCN member in the southern US, Richard Patterson and his lovely wife Renee in North Carolina. After 4 days of the most gracious southern hospitality one could ever experience I am back home in the scorching desert of Arizona with my head still reeling of all the wonders I witnessed! Rick, as he likes to be called, is the most knowledgeable, walking encyclopedia on North and South American contact by early Europeans I have ever talked to! The pea sized memory drive in my head hit overload the first hour we started to chat….. The vast knowledge of post contact history that Rick shared, unfortunately, is not something my mind is capable of remembering to the details as it was presented. Rick’s collection of early European beads that made it to the New World is one of the most impressive sights I have ever seen in my bead journeys; I wish to thank him and Renee again for sharing their home and the beads! Rick is also a top class landscaper and his home is a living testament to his art and love for natural beauty, I will show pictures of both, some incredible beads and the landscaping around his home, we did not have a studio environment but the pictures of beads still show some amazing examples!
The first photo is Rick in his “man cave” holding a display of native arrowheads, the second picture is of the walkway leading to the front door of his home.