table decoration

Of course, the true pièce de resistance here is Gramsci's black and grey tail.  But in back-up position, a painted gourd - black on the outside, gilded within (there's a larger, white and gold one too, further down the table).  We saw these gourds for sale at Los Poblanos, outside Albuquerque, and I ordered a couple for Alice's birthday, earlier this year - they really are lovely, simple objects (unlike Grammy, who, if lovely, is definitely a complicated cat - still fairly traumatized today by the workers outside ...).