Double Headed Serpent from the British Museum

I've been asked to post some photos of our trip last month to London, so here is the first. It was taken with my iPhone and I'm amazed it came out so well with not too much glare. And by the way, I'll try to make most of them textile related. This is the double headed serpent made of wood and inlaid with turquoise and white and red shells. Serpents were sacred and were considered to represent the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl.  You can read about it at the British Museum Website page Double Headed Serpent. Note that the images are copyrighted by the British Museum. 

So I'm sure you're asking, how in the world is this textile related? If you go to the website of Ruth O'Leary and click on this post from December 2009, you'll find how she interpreted this design in leather applique and goldwork. This post is the last one in the series, so you can go backwards and see how it all came together.

Ruth is currently working on a huge project, the Saint Cuthbert's Banner. Take a look at it - it's fascinating to see the progression.

Now I'll share a couple of photos that are not textile related, but are interesting nonetheless.

This is a view of the Houses of Parliament from about 1/3 of the way on the bridge over the Thames. You can just see a bit of the post on the right. I noticed a dark shape in what looked like an open window and asked my husband to take a picture.

When he zoomed in, we found this cat looking at all the birds flying about! I can't imagine a cat living in that huge building. We couldn't go in as they don't let foreigners in the building, and there were guards all about. This was definitely our best vacation photo.