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Esmeralda and the Blown Glass
7 May 2025
When we moved into this place in 2003, we found a Disney character on top of the garage fluorescent fixture. It was Esmeralda) from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Esmeralda. iPhone 15 Pro Max back triple camera at 6.8mmm f1.78, 1/338 second and ISO 64. Processed in Adobe Camera Raw.
Like many fictional characters reprised over the years, her character has enjoyed many revisions since Victor Hugo invented her. Gina Lollobrigida's not the least among them.
Our little figurine once danced when you wound her up. But by the time we found her, her spring had broken. No longer did she twirl around and swing her arms. But we found her charming anyway (whether French adopted by gypsies or a gypsy herself) so we perched her by a downstairs window where she could hold court.
"Court" turned out to be three blown glass pieces we inherited (so we know nothing about them). But the afternoon sun comes through that window and they filter it admirably.
It's a silly scene that raises more questions than it answers but we like to look at it and wonder where Esmeralda really came from and how those beautiful pieces of blown glass found their way here too.
It's a reminder, we suppose, that there is a bit of gypsy in everything.