A Mayor among us...

How many Starlighters know that we have a Mayor among us?

I certainly did not know and I was very impressed upon finding out during the course of a Starlight related correspondence.

And not only that but the gentleman whom I am about to introduce to you is a Starlight Tower owner since 1972!

His name is Ric Garland and with his wife Sue are owners of the units 706 and 707 and is also the Mayor of Entrelacs which is a village at the province of Quebec.

Ric Garland, Starlight Tower multi unit owner

and Mayor of Entrelacs, Quebec

I invite you to visit Ric's village's website in the creation of which he was personally involved where you will admire the beautiful location and surroundings and if your French are good enough to read all the interesting things this Mayor has done in the past and continues to do presently for his people. The address of their website is www.entrelacs.com

This picturesque village which is a small corner of Paradise on Earth is blessed to be located right in the middle of no less than 16 lakes! Yes, you read it correctly, 16 lakes within the town limits. No wonder why the place is so beautiful. If translated in English the name Entrelacs means: "Between Lakes" which has validity from a geographical point of view.

However the first settlers in that part of the world were not English but French and here the matter begins to be really interesting.

Entrelacs is a method of decorating borders by means of curving garlands and leaves and their source is Muslim arabesques, with early printed specimens adorning the Historia Romana of Appianus, printed by Erhard Ratdolt in 1477.

Initial R from Appianus, Historia Romana, Venice 1477.

Entrelacs have been used by most French gilders since the 16th century and I think it is safe to assume early settlers from France in that location were professionals of the art hence the named the location.

The similarities of the art and the local are too uncanny to be disregarded. Seems that the jury is still out on that decision which reminds the unanswered question: which came first: the egg or the chicken?

Since it is unchallenged the ethnicity of the first settlers in that area it doesn't make any sense that a Frenchman would have named a location just for the sake of translating the meaning of the location to another language, specifically to English.

But on the other hand it makes a perfect sense for a Frenchman to name a location for his profession for which he is very proud and is only a mere coincidence that translating the name to English describes the geography of the area!

Satellite picture of Entrelacs Quebec with Google Earth.

Compare it with photo above that and you'll say:

Now, that's a real Entrelacs!

And when voting time comes, I vote with the residence who believe the area was named Entrelacs by their predecessors out of shear pride to their unique art!

The moment I saw the name "Entrelacs" I knew it reminded me of something but I could not remember what. Then one day out of the blue I did remember that it had something to do with knots a subject that I had spend a considerable amount of time years ago but in particular with nautical knots.

Interlace or Entrelac. Can be found in just about any work of art and any media. Started thousands of years ago where Greeks were the first to invent a new way of decoration by using tiny pebbles in precise geometric patterns as floor coverings which can be admired even today in many ancient ruins exquisite mosaics displayed all over the globe in many museums. See example below.

5 interlaced circles which is the symbol illustrated at the Olympic flag representing the 5 continents is another form of Entrelac.

Entrelac can be found in knitting patterns where interlaced square pieces are knitted at right angles to the neighboring squares and the resulting pattern resembles a weaved basket. I love knitting but somehow I never came across an entrelac article. Well, I am very  inspired now and I know what my next project will be: An entrelac knitted scarf for my beloved granddaughter Nina. And as soon I finish it I promise to put a picture here with Nina wearing it!

Anyway remembering what it was I did a thorough search with some examples displayed here for your reading enjoyment and we found out a lot about Entrelacs and a little more about our good neighbor at Starlight Tower and Mayor of this small Paradise, Mr. Ric Garland.