These Mexican folk-art figures belong to the alebrije category from Oaxaca of Mexican folk art. These carved wooden animals are made from copal wood, native to Oaxaca, and are hand-painted with vibrant colors and intricate patterns. The term “borrachos” translates to “drunken ones,” and these carvings typically depict animals in human-like poses, often with bottles, implying a scene of drinking, sometimes specifically mezcal. While alebrijes can be fantastical creatures, these “borrachos” focus on a humorous, sometimes satirical, portrayal of social life through animal characters. Anne dug these figures out of the closet as part of her dressing of the house.

I Zoomed with Cooper and Armin, two of my high school friends. Cooper had tracked me down (again) and set up this meeting. We are all retired now, Armin the most recently as of last Saturday. Cooper is living in LA and Armin in DC. Our children are grown, and we all seem to be leading the good life now. The whereabouts and situation of the fourth member of our little extracurricular club, Ned, remains a mystery. After this preliminary exchange of particulars, we got into the good stuff, wargames. Cooper took us around his home and showed off his collection of games. Some of his titles were familiar, but others were new to me. Afterwards, the conjunction of this conversation with Anne’s treasure hunting made the choice of  Animales Borrachos the perfect choice of graphic.