The term "Native American" is falling out of favor with many tribes - some prefer to be called "American Indian" (especially ones I have met in southern California), but the best term would be the name of the tribe that they are from. The ones in Coachella Valley mostly call themselves "Cahuilla Indians" and their property is called "Indian land." This is an important real estate distinction. The casinos are called "Indian Casinos". If your photo is from a museum, the museum should have identified the tribe that made the baskets, and that is the term I would use. It is always better to be more specific than more general, as it shows more respect for a person's culture. The baskets are very beautiful, and I would like to know more about them. In British Columbia, I always made the distinction between Haida and Kwakiutl and could tell them apart from their designs, both of which I liked very much. The more information one has about their art, the more valuable it is considered. The rugs I collected in Oaxaca, Mexico are definitely Zapotec in design, and that is what I call them. They have some similarities to Pueblo designs but are still easy to distinguish. I also like Hopi art but have not collected any of it - it can get expensive. Anyway, what is considered "politically correct" is changing, and it can be difficult to keep up! In Texas, the Comanche Indians were not well liked by other tribes, who do not like being lumped together with them. The more history you know about peoples, they more interesting they are. I've spent a lot of time learning about various native tribes in Mexico, and lot of them there have retained their identities and languages. The term "Indios" is still used in Mexico to refer to the native tribes there.

Mama Sandhill crane and her two fluffy babies.

I know what that photo is, Annie - what the skunk did, right? 🙂 iPod photo from a recent walk in the neighborhood...

Not that close, but it was hard to capture the whole thing. This is the corpse flower at the Huntington Museum and Gardens. The photo was taken on Sunday afternoon; it bloomed on Monday. At the time it was taken, there was no detectable odor.