Project 365: Day 352

Getting ready to adopt!

Project 365: Day 351

And just in case you couldn't tell:

Keep it classy, Baltimore.

Project 365: Day 350

The beautiful old mansion on the grounds of the MDSPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), where I am adopting a kitty!

Project 365: Day 349

We went to AVAM, which was awesome.

Can you find my boyfriend?

And me next to what I consider to be a model of the egg of creation.

Project 365: Day 348

AJ made me pancakes. They were good, even though they were healthy. (AJ made them, I said that already!)

Project 365: Day 347

A local car, covered in stickers!

Project 365: Day 346

Gilman looks so pretty now!

Project 365: Day 345

How long does a list of rules in a bathroom need to be? I would posit a whole lot shorter than these; unless you're there for the long-haul, who's going to read them all?

Project 365: Day 344

Watching the Orioles lose to the Marlins.

Project 365: Day 343

It's possible I brought back some... friends... from Egypt. Ugh.

Project 365: Day 342

Sunday brunch.

Project 365: Day 341

Summer cleaning. :-D

Project 365: Day 340

Workday lunch remnants.

Project 365: Day 339

Our first haul of CSA produce! It was largely greens (spinach, beet greens, kale, chard, lettuce, red lettuce, some other kind of lettuce) and beets and onions. For my first CSA recipe, see my cooking blog!

Project 365: Day 338

I'm going to cheat. Today's photos sucked. So I'm putting up one from tomorrow. Apologies.

Upholstery cleaning: the way to make used furniture rather more palatable!

Project 365: Day 337

mm, homemade baba ganoush! It was good, but it needed a bit of adjustment, so when I figure that out I will post it on the recipe blog.

Project 365: Day 336

Project 365: Day 335

We went to Wildlife Safari, an awesome drive-through zoo/safari experience in Oregon near AJ's house.

Bears!!! They were so close to us, and so incredibly cute. I wanted to take one home with me, but AJ said we weren't ready yet. Boo.

Project 365: Day 334

The Riggs clan, assembled for the memorial service of Bonnie Riggs.

Project 365: Day 333

Project 365: Day 332

A stormy evening sky over Roseburg.

Project 365: Day 331

Look what they've done to D1!

Project 365: Day 330

I really should have made a tag for photos of AJ being silly. To be perfectly fair, most of them are at my explicit urging, but still... it is his face.

Project 365: Day 329

Project 365: Day 328

Using the new camel teapot!

Project 365: Day 327

I finally made it home. Yikes.

Project 365: Day 326

One awesome thing about Egypt: when a family goes on the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, they paint their house with awesome murals like these. The plane (or boat, train, camel -- yes seriously) represents the means of transit they used to get there. I especially loved this plane, since it has "Egypt Air" on it in English, and though you can't see it, the Egypt Air Horus logo on the tail of the plane.

Project 365: Day 325

Luxor Temple is amazing, not only as an ancient monument, but also as a testament to the power of a holy place. There is evidence for some kind of temple there well into ancient history. When Egypt became a Christian country, the shrine of the temple was painted over and was converted to a church. Now parts of both church and original reliefs are beautifully preserved in some places:

Once Egypt converted to Islam, and the percentage of Christians shrank, the Church fell into disrepair. The sands eventually reclaimed the lower levels of the temple and the church, and a mosque was built on top, into the highest levels of the temple's columned hall. 

Now, after a restoration of the mosque after a fire a few years ago, the mosque is open to (the respectful) public, where you can see the amazing co-existence of ancient and modern religion. In so many ways, very little at all has changed. For example, in the niche above, which points toward Mecca, the niche is framed by Re (the sun god) on the left side of the photo and Amun on the right. Somehow, this divinity, the presence of spiritual energy in the place, managed to transcend time and a vast gulf in religious thought. 

This is an architrave showing Ramses II offering obelisks for the temple, which would have stood in front of the 1st Pylon of Luxor temple. It is absolutely incredible to be practically at eye level with these huge reliefs, meant to be seen from the floor so many meters below.

And at least here, for now, there isn't a problem. The mosque is good, a peaceful place respectful of Allah and the temple around it. Alhamdulillah. 

Project 365: Day 324

So many great signs in this country. :-)

Project 365: Day 323

As our "final", we were given something of a scavenger hunt in Karnak temple. We were meant to be looking for what appeared to be feet covering in scales, leaves, or ears of grain... 

It turned out to be webbed feet. Can you see that? No? Well, believe me, Duck-man, or Swamp-Man, or Hdd is there. It's the webbed feet in the top left part of the photo, in the boat.
That was a challenge indeed....

And later that evening we had our end of season dinner, with a really lovely view!