‘Oddest Thing’ Challenge

So, over at The Jade Road, there’s a challenge up to post some of your weirdness…the kind to be found in your house, that is.

I didn’t have to think long.

By far and away, the oddest thing going on in my house is in this corner of the guest room:

What is it, you ask?

I’m actually not sure. I bought it at an antique auction. R. almost had a coronary when he saw it. And then a second coronary when I explained that he needed to rope it to the roof of the Tacoma to get it home.

Do y’all know what Freemasonry is? Um, yeah. They’re not high on my list of politically acceptable organizations either, despite the fact that I had an arm of my family who were diehard members. (Speaking of dying, have you ever been to the funeral of a Mason? ‘Cause my grandfather was a Mason and his funeral had the whole masonic shebang, including a white leather mason’s apron around his midsection in the coffin and a super-secret-scary scroll that was placed under his clasped hands for reading only in the afterlife and a sprig of evergreen on his clavicle.)

So, because the Masons don’t admit women, they have a number of sister organizations, including The Daughters of the Nile and the Order of the Eastern Star. So, my oddest thing once lived in a Masonic Temple for use by the Order of the Eastern Star in their meetings. I should mention that it lights up (can you see that in the photo?)…and it has a rotary dial that can light up only certain sections of the five-pointed star or all of it. Each “symbol” in each of the sections represents a different female biblical character–a daughter, widow, wife, sister, and mother. I could say a lot about the gender politics represented herein, but I will refrain.

Instead, I will say this: It’s like a giant ritual popsicle.

Hey, what can I say. I like it. As an aesthetic piece. Or maybe a historical artifact. Ahem.