Happy Halloween

Have a killer thriller Halloween night!!
From me and my daughter, the zombie!

Worthless Wednesday

History of Halloween

Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?

The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.

One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.

Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.

Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.

Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth.

The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.

The thrust of the practices also changed over time to become more ritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role.

The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.

The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.

The Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.

According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.

The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.

So, although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it.

At your service, Mo! ;-)

Calling Blue Ribbon Bloggers

Hello my fellow Blue Ribbon blog authors.
For a few weeks now, I've been posting almost daily here.
With few comments on the posts, I can't tell if you all are bored with them, not reading them, or what.
I was hoping that my posting regularly here would inspire you to post here, too.
I think multiple posts each day here would be lovely.
I'm going to take a break from my posts here, and I call upon each of YOU to post here!
Sincerly,
Mo
.

Extra Egypt: Felucca

A felucca is an Egyptian sailboat.  One of the main modes of transportation on the Nile for thousands of years.  They range in size from a small, two-person glorified row-boat with sail, to large almost yacht-sized vessels accommodating overnight guests.
I took this picture on the evening of September 14, 2001, during my stroll around Crocodile Island.  The Nile's beauty and power re-charged my soul, like jump-starting a battery.  Awesome.

Egypt 32: Cruising

My Egypt Tour: the evening of September 15, 2001.
After a long day of sight-seeing, we boarded our ship to begin our cruise down the Nile.
I grew up near the Ohio River, so I had this notion that all large rivers would be muddy and dirty. The Nile, in September, is not muddy.
Sparkly and clean. Clear -- you can look down and see the fishies.
The piture above is from the back of our ship, just before sunset.

We had a wonderful dinner in the ship's dining room, and don't call me jaded yet, but I was not surprised when a waiter flat-out flirted with me during our meal. He had no qualms about winking at me over my grandmother's head as he got our drink order (bottled water for me, thanks). I was flattered, of course (but really, how did these guys KNOW? some kind of tourist gaydar???) and I think I blushed. He was attractive, tall and muscular -- with a great hooked nose like Ramses II. In fact, he looked like how I picture Ramses The Great in my head. I was picturing him in a linen kilt and not much else...

After dinner, everyone gathered on the top deck of the ship to watch the sunset and relax in the deck chairs. Very comfortable.
I put Gram to bed at dusk, kissed her good-night, and made my way back up.
I figured: I had the rest of my life to sleep, but only a few nights on a cruise ship on the Nile.
I stopped by the ship's bar on the way up, to get a Stella. The bartender was a total freakin' hottie. Forget Waiter-Ramses --- the bartender was just my type: tall, lean, cinnamon mocha latte skin... dark eyes like pools of obsidian...
I over-tipped him for my beer and went topside.

Alone in the darkening sky, looking out over the Nile, I felt AT HOME.
What I mean is: my soul was home.
Something in me just clicked.
Like I'd been there before, lifetimes before.
The Nile welcomed me home, into Egypt's loving arms.

A clear dark sky sparkled with millions of stars. A waiter appeared (someone I hadn't seen before -- he was pleasant but no sparks) and asked me if I wanted another Stella. But of course.
He brought me my beer, and I tried to make small-talk. He didn't speak much English, but he attempted to answer my questions.
Then we cruised past a mosque, its spire lit up with green neon.
Every mosque we'd past that night was lit up in green neon.
Was that the only color available for mosques, or did it have a religious significance?
I asked my waiter, Said (pronounced "sigh-eed") about the mosques.
"Masks?" he replied, miming pulling a mask over his face.
He knew the English word for 'mask' but not 'mosque'? What did Muslims call mosques???
I pointed to the green neon, and repeated "mosque" then tried to ask "Why green?"
Poor Said, I'd overwhelmed his limited resources of English.
"Wait here," said Said. "I get my friend."

I waited and sipped my Stella. Wonderful beer.

Said returned. I stood up and was introduced to his friend, Memdoud.
It was the freaking sexy bartender...

Egypt 31: Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple

Today we visit one of my favorite sites in Egypt: Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple.


Designed by Hatshepsut's architect (and probable lover) Senumut, this mortuary temple was built for the purpose of mummification for the female pharaoh's body.  Built at the base of a cliff on the west bank, across the river from Thebes, this temple was built on and around older, existing temples. Later pharaohs and religious cults followed suit, right up to the Christian Copt period, when the temple complex was used as a monastery.  It's other name is Deir al-Bahri, which means "Northern Monastery".  One of the most re-constructed temples, archaeology work and reconstruction continues at Deir al-Bahri.


I love the above photo, of two Tourist Police.  Against the backdrop of the Hatshepsut statue columns, they look like bookends.  I zoomed in on this one, and took the picture when they weren't looking at me, because I didn't want to baksheesh them for this photo.  I pretended I was closely examining the Horus statue, below.  This falcon-rendition of Horus would originally have been wearing the double-crown of Egypt, a symbol of the pharaoh as living god.



Unfortunately, we visited this site as the sun was setting into the desert behind it, so the temple was full of shadows.  I got some good pictures of carvings on pillars, like of the double-crown wearing Horus, above.  But not of the famed reliefs of Hatshepsut's expedition to Punt -- one of the famous features of this site.


On the grounds in front of this temple (a field of rubble now) was a Myrrh tree plantation -- trees that were brought from Punt, and whose aromatic sap yeilded a gum resin burned as incense.

Majestic.  A wonderful tribute to Hatshepsut.

Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut is the most famous female pharaoh of ancient Egypt.

Sherri, our tour guide, gave us a mnemonic pronunciation guide to Hatshepsut:
hat = like you wear on your head
sheep = like the animal (rhymes with cheap -- why she looked at me when she said that, I'll never know)
suit = like a men's clothing suit
So, if you can remember hat+sheep+suit then you've got Hatshepsut.

Hope this helps.

Several other queens were famous (Nefertiti and Nefertari, for example) and several other queens acted as regent-pharaohs while their husbands or sons were children and couldn't actually rule yet. But Hatshepsut did one better: she actually took the crown during her regency and declared herself pharaoh.

Ancient Egypt by Oakes and Gahlin describes Hatshepsut's history:
"Hatshepsut's father was Tuthmosis I, and she was married to her half-brother, Tuthmosis II. On his untimely death, his heir was his son by a secondary wife. But, as the young Tuthmosis III was still a child, Hatshepsut became regent and ruled on his behalf for seven years. At that time, she proclaimed herself pharaoh and ruled for another 14 years."

For a time-line reference:
Hatshepsut ruled Egypt about 200 years prior to Ramses II.


Women in ancient Egypt were better educated, had more freedom, and had more power than in almost any other ancient civilization; however, it still was a patriarchy during the pharaonic age. Hatshepsut broke that mold, but still had to model herself in the traditional role of pharaoh. You can see in the picture I took above, at Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple = she had statues of herself modeled in the traditional pharaonic image: the crossed arms holding the crook and flail mimic the icons of Osiris, father of the gods -- very important symbol of pharaonic power, those crossed arms holding the crook and flail; she is also wearing the double-crown -- this symbolized she was pharaoh for upper and lower Egypt, a unifying and powerful pharaoh; and, she is wearing the false beard = another a symbol of power, plus it "masculinized" her and helped legitimize her as pharaoh. See how the false beard is straight -- that means the sculpture was done of Hatshepsut during her life. A false beard that curves at the tip means that the wearer has attained eternal wisdom; ie = they've passed onto the next life.

Hatshepsut is famous not only for being a female pharaoh, but also for what she did during her reign: she built upon and expanded Karnak just like her pharaonic predecessors, and her obelisk is still at Karnak today; she had an immense mortuary temple built -- this is the temple built specifically for the mummification of the pharaoh; and she had a great foreign policy in her governing. 
One of the most famous things about Hatshepsut is that she made an expedition deep into the heart of Africa, to the mythic land of Punt (speculated to be modern-day Somalia) -- something her male pharaonic peers before her (and many after) were unable to do in an amicable manner. She brought back rare trees, incenses, spices, and animals. Carvings of this famous trip adorn her mortuary temple even today.
Also on the walls of her mortuary temple is the story of her creation: in order to legitimize her claim to be pharaoh (a living god on earth) she created a myth where the god Amun possessed her father Thuthmosis I and impregnated her mother, Queen Ahmose. Thus, as the child of a god, she was a god on earth: a pharaoh.

Like her male peers, she was buried in a tomb in the Valley Of The Kings. Her successor, her step-son Tuthmosis III is often portrayed as hating his step-mother the Pharaoh Hatshepsut. However, recent interpretations of his actions (defacing many of her statues after he ascended to the throne) are more along the lines of restoring the balance of power to a patriarchy rather than specific dislike of Hatshepsut. Either way, the peaceful reign of Hatshepsut ended, and a period of military action and turmoil began, expanding the Egyptian Empire across the middle east and into much of northern Africa.

A lasting monument to Hatshepsut, her Mortuary Temple, is one of the true amazing sites of modern Egypt. One of the most re-constructed of the ancient ruins, details upon its walls -- like her creation myth and her expedition to Punt -- can still be seen, 3,400 years after her reign as Egypt's most famous female pharaoh.

Extra Egpt: Inside A Royal Tomb

Along with Marcia and Sue, I met another amazing pair of women on our Egyptian tour.
While initially I thought everyone on our tour was American, it turns out there was a pair of sisters on our trip from Canada: Penny and Lurene.
It was in the Valley Of The Kings that I had my first adventure with this pair of sisters.
In one of the 4 tombs we went into, there was a staircase that descended down into the mountain.  I honestly can't remember which tomb it was, but the day we were there was a hot day (about 90°F) and inside the tombs, there was no air circulation -- the moisture from the tourist's breath and sweat made the inside humid, humid, humid.  I would have thought that being inside the mountain, it would be cooler, like going into a cave, but I guess since there's no air circulation to move the humidity, it just gets warmer and warmer.
It definitely was not a dry heat.

No one in our group was up for the adventure of going down the aforementioned stairs -- except for me and Penny and Lurene.  So down we went.

Again, I was surprised, with heat rising and all, that it was not cooler further down.
It was like descending into hell.
Hotter and hotter and even more humid.
Finally, sweating and panting, we reached the bottom chamber.
It was a dimly lit empty room.

Empty except for a glass display case in a dark corner, and an Egyptian lurker holding a light bulb on an extension cord.  Penny and Lurene and I basically all said, "Oh hell no" at the same time: we'd come all that way down (and knew we'd have to pant all the way back up) just to be met by a guy who'd want to be baksheeshed in order to shine his light onto the case.  None of us had our cameras anyway, so we turned around and started our ascent from the depths of humid hell.

I like the picture above for a couple of reasons: one, it shows Penny and Lurene there at the top of the ramp, and two, it shows how this ramped corridor descends into the tomb.
Tune in tomorrow for one of my most favorite sites in Egypt: Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple.

Egypt 30: In The Vallley Of The Kings

Today's Egypt entry takes place on September 15, 2001.

We are across the Nile from the city of Luxor, in the Valley Of The Kings.
From the ticket stubs above, you can see I went into 4 tombs in the Valley, but only paid to take my camera into one of them.  Sherri told us that KV2: Ramses IV was the most photogenic, so that's where I headed with my camera.

The sign outside KV2

DK Eyewitness Travel Guides: Egypt describes The Tomb of Ramses IV as "although marred by Coptic graffiti, there are some beautiful, vividly colored scenes from The Book Of The Dead.  In the burial chamber, the goddess Nut stretches across the blue ceiling.  The enormous pink granite sarcophagus is covered with magical texts and carvings of Isis and Nephthys, designed to protect Ramses IV's mummy from danger."

Inside the tomb.

Other than pictures and writings of his tomb, I can't find much written about Ramses IV.  He took the throne about 60 years after the death of Ramses II (with 7 pharaohs ruling in those 60 years), and I can only speculate he was a descendant of the Great Ramses II.
We know the tomb of Ramses IV had been known as far back as the Coptic period (300AD to about 600AD), because Christian Copts left a great deal of graffiti in the tomb.  Copts were not exactly in the business of preservation, and they destroyed a great deal of antiquities -- especially the faces of pharaohs and gods in tombs and temples.
Tomorrow: another adventure in The Valley Of The Kings. 

Egypt 29: The Colossi Of Memnon

Leaving Karnak, we bussed our way towards the Valley Of The Kings.
First stop on the West Bank: The Colossi Of Memnon.

The bus pulled over at a parking pad along the road, next to a conveinence store.
There were two dilapidated statues sitting in a field.

THESE were the famed Colossi Of Memnon?
I'm not even gonna go into their history too much here, but let's just say that for me --- especially after the wondrous wonders of Karnak --
these were a COLOSSAL LETDOWN.
I mean, the field behind them (see below) was almost more interesting!


Okay, so maybe I was spoiled by Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple, but for me, the Colossi Of Memnon were just a Colossal Joke.
Back on the bus!  On to The Valley Of The Kings!

Gram

I like this photo of Gram for several reasons.

1) She is wearing the floppy tourist hat she bought from a street vendor in Egypt -- I think she paid way too much for it, but since it was about the only thing she bought for herself on the trip, she sure got her money's worth out of it.

2)  You can see a person on a cell phone in the background (I took this photo of Gram at the Karnak Cafe inside the grounds of the temple ruins on September 15, 2001).  Gram could not grasp the concept of cell phones.  Especially not in Egypt, where Sherri and our guards were constantly on their cell phones.  "Who are they talking to?"  She always wanted to know.  Good question, Gram -- who are all these people always talking to on their cell phones???

3) This photo also shows just how tired Gram looked -- and Karnak was our first stop on a very very busy day of sight-seeing.  She'd been up crying half the night because of worrying about Melissa (you, dear readers, know that Melissa was safe -- but at the time, four days after September 11th, Gram truly believed that Melissa had been at The World Trade Center when it collapsed -- and since our room at Crocodile Island had no TV so she could get her news-fix, she'd been pacing and crying all night).

4) She's gripping a Diet Coke in the cafe.  I think it's a telling commentary on our society (in the USA) that this 80 year old woman would only drink Diet Coke --- I tried and tried to get her to drink more water in Egypt.  (She would only drink water if there was no other beverage choice) I was afraid the dehydration would make her emerging dementia even worse.  I tried to get her to at least drink Coke instead of Diet --- oh no, she said, have to watch the figure.  She was programmed to think regular soda would put extra pounds on her like that -- personally, I think a little sugar boost might've done her some good now and then.  I grew to know that I had to pick my battles during this trip, and bickering over beverages was not gonna be the straw to break me.

If you're new to this adventure, I should tell you that my grandmother (aka Gram) and I were in Egypt during the 2 weeks after September 11th.  Our plane was landing in Cairo as the second plane struck the twin towers.  We weren't sure "when or if" we would be coming back to the USA.
During this trip, it became apparent to me how much Alzheimers had begun gripping Gram.  It was at Karnak that I first really snapped at her (I think I showed amazing restraint over the passport incident our first morning).  Gram was 80 when we went on this trip.  She'd been a world-traveler when my Grandfather had been alive (they even lived in Germany after WWII where he helped design/re-build bridges that had been bombed) -- and after his death, she'd gone on several cruises and tours to places all over the globe.  This trip to Egypt was her last vacation.  I don't think she ever fully re-gained all her cognitive skills after this trip.

Gram was a great lady.  During the 70's, 80's, and 90's she was a fashion plate.  She worked for the government, and had a good pension, plus a secret government "settlement" for my grandfather's death -- she never would talk about that.  So she lived well -- not rich, and never flaunted money, but she lived well.  She had a home full of antiques, many of them brought over from Europe, and she took impeccable care of herself -- a weekly manicure and hair appointment was a must.

I know this is a long post, but I don't want it to be a downer, so let me tell you some of the fun things about Gram.  When she found out I was gay, she took me to meet her hair-dresser.  He was a huge flamer.  I mean, the wall-paper in the salon was gold mylar zebra stripes, and all the fixtures (matching sinks, chairs, and stations) were glitter-embedded fuchsia.  He would make Carson Kressley look butch.  But this was Gram's way of saying she was OK with me being gay -- her hairdresser was, after all.  The hairdresser and I (I think I was like 17 at the time and a big nerd -- see, some things never change!) had nothing in common, but Gram was 100% cool with me, and her love for me never wavered when I came out to her.
When I got my ear pierced in college, however, THAT was another story!!!  I'd actually had my ear pierced for over a year when she finally saw it --- and when she did, on our way to her car to go out to dinner, she chased me across the dorm parking lot, smacking me with her purse.  I guess I'm just lucky that by the late 80's she'd switched to a gold lame' purse -- for about 2 decades she'd carried a wicker Pappagallo's basket-purse -- now that would've hurt if she'd pummelled me with that!  While she was fine with me being gay, she was so not cool with me having my ear pierced.
And, of course, Gram took me to Egypt.  It was the best present anyone's ever given to me.  Made all that more memorable, of course, by what happened on September 11th.

Egypt 28: More Karnak

Karnak Temple, Egypt.  September 15, 2001.
The giant granite scarab above is yet another of Karnak's famous attractions.
It is located by the sacred lake.
Legend has it that if you touch the scarab's behind you will have luck in romantic relationships.  Needless to say, the scarab-butt is well-touched!

Hatshepsut's obelisk sticking up above the ruins of the vast temple site.

Horus leading pharaoh.
This is one of my favorite falcon-headed human Horus carvings.
The detail on the falcon head was incredible,
especially considering it was carved over 2,000 years ago.
The staff in Horus' hand is called the Was.
It is a symbol of power.

A row of ram-headed sphinxes at Karnak.  These sphinxes represent the god Amun-Ra, and the little pharaoh figures under the rams chins were Ramses II, of course!  Amun-Ra was the #1 god of Karnak, and Ramses II was the god-incarnate when he was at Karnak.  He visited once a year for the festival of Amun-Ra.  Ramses/Amun-Ra had what we would call a harem here, and by no coincidence, there was a birthing temple out back -- you know, nine months after Ramses' visit, that birthing house was a popular place.  Ramses had over 100 sons who lived to adult-hood.  These were the acknowledged sons, who were in succession to the throne -- think about how many he must've had with the Karnak harem.
How a condom ever got named after this prolific pharaoh, I'll never know!

Egypt 27 : Inside Karnak Temple

Okay, so where were we?
City of Luxor, Egypt.  September 15, 2001.
We left Crocodile Island and our first stop of the day: Karnak Temple.
See the 20 LE on the ticket stub?  That's 20 Egyptian Pounds.  Or roughly $5 American at the 2001 exchange rate.  Entrance fees into sites such as this were included in our tour package.

Inside the Hypostyle Hall.
Yes, I thought about TripleX and James Bond
when I was in here -- how could you not?

However, instead of Jaws after me, I had Gram chasing me saying "take a picture of this, take a picture of that"...  at some point, it must have seemed that I would rather have had Jaws after me, because Sherri discretely took Gram's elbow and steered her off to the cafe, so I could have some quiet time in the temple!

Detail under a lintel in the Hypostyle Hall -- under there, where sun and rain and sand storms didn't wear it away, color from the original painted hieroglyphics could still be seen.  Amazing.




Detail on hypostyle pillar.  I love the ankh in the middle.  The bee hieroglyph is a symbol of royalty.  I could've stayed in the Hypostyle Hall, looking at hieroglyphs for days and days.  Tour books recommend two four-hour visits to Karnak.  We got about two hours.  Not nearly enough time to soak up the wonder of the ancients!

Extra Egypt: Karnak

Located about two miles from the Luxor Temple is the Temple of Karnak.
Remember, the Avenue Of The Sphinxes connects the two temple complexes.
After the Pyramids of Giza and The Sphinx, many people regard Karnak as the second-most important pharaonic site in Egypt.

The Karnak site is vast (covering over 100 acres), and complicated.  Not only were multiple gods worshipped at this site: there are temples to Amun-Re, Khonsu, Montu, Ptah, and Osiris inside the compound.  To complicate things further, Karnak is an ancient site, and it was built, re-built, and amended by many pharaohs, including Senruset I, Ramses II, Ramses III, Seti I, Seti II, Horemheb, Amenhotep III, Hatshepsut, and Tuthmosis III.  Even the heretic Akhenaton built a shrine here prior to turning his attention to Amarna.  During Akhenaton's reign, ALL temples were closed down, except for ones dedicated to Akhenaton's single god: Aten.   Tutankhamun restored the pantheon of gods after Akhenaton's reign, and restored Karnak to it's religious and cultural glory.

As an historic site now, Karnak is famous for many things: one of significance is that it is the only one of the ancient temple sites that still has a filled sacred lake.  Each temple would have had a sacred lake, where the priests would have purified themselves in holy water before performing rituals.  Water from the sacred lake would also be poured over statue-icons of the gods every morning, to awaken and purify the god for the new day.

Karnak is also famous for its obelisks: pictured above, the one on the left is of Tutmosis I; the one on the right is the famous obelisk of his daughter, Hapshepsut -- one of the few female pharaohs of Egypt.  These obeslisks are quarried from a single piece of Aswan red granite, and in their day they would have been polished to shine red in the sun, and most archaeologists speculate that the tips of these obelisks were covered in gold leaf.

Karnak is probably most famous for its giant hypostyle hall.  This is the hall of giant pillars (134 giant columns)-- remember the scene from The Spy Who Loved Me --- where TripleX and James Bond are chasing Jaws?  That scene, among the pillars, is Karnak's hypostyle hall.

Believe it or not, this is just a thumbnail sketch of the history of Karnak.  It is an ancient holy site that grew and expanded over the millennia.  There was even a Christian church on the grounds around the era of 1000 AD, before it became an important tourist site.  At its heyday in the 19th Dynasty (the era of Ramses I, Seti I, Ramses II, Seti II -- from 1295 BC to 1186 BC, about 109 years -- but remember, Ramses II ruled for 66 of those 109 years in this Dynasty!), over 80,000 people worked for the Karnak Temple = priests, laborers, guards, servants, and farmers.  Karnak was a city within the city of Luxor, and it was one of the most powerful religious centers of all time.

Egypt 26: Morning Doves

Crocodile Island, in the middle of the Nile.
The morning of September 15, 2001.

Remember how I talked about the conical pigeon coops that I saw during the trip from Cairo to Alexandria?  Well, I finally got to see one up close at the Crocodile Island Zoo.  The Egyptians raise pigeons (rock doves) for a delicacy at weddings.  Mmmm... squab.  (And no, I've never eaten squab.)
The darker blobs around the base of the coop in the shade are pygmy goats.

So, thus begins my tale of September 15th -- a busy day!  We have stops at Karnak Temple, The Colossi of Memnon, Hapshepsut's Mortuary Temple, The Valley Of The Kings, and finally, boarding our cruise ship!  Whew -- it'll be a fun couple of days, telling you everything that happened on that ONE day in Egypt!!!

Full Moon Over Egypt

If you've been enjoying my Egypt adventures here, you should click on over to It's A Blog Eat Blog World today for my Manic Monday Moon post.
The Egypt adventures continue here tomorrow.
cheers,
mo

Egypt 25: Nile Sunset

Sunset viewed from Crocodile Island.
September 14, 2001.

After leaving the zoo, I stood and watched feluccas on the Nile for a while.  Then made my way to the ampitheatre to see the end of the Sunset Concert.  I strayed from the jogging path for a bit, and went onto a dirt path that led right down to the water's edge.  Probably not something they want the tourists to do.  I could have stooped and touched the water, but right at the water's edge, it got reedy -- and all I could think of was that there could just be a king cobra or asp curled up waiting for me.  Usually, I love snakes.  But the thought of getting bitten by a poisonous snake that evening just did not appeal to me.  I walked back up the incline to the ampitheatre and watched the sunset.

So spiritual and magnificent.

As darkness fell, I thought about home.
I kept hearing Sherri say, "When OR IF you get to leave Egypt..."

What if transatlantic flights didn't start up again by the end of our tour?  There had been brief talk about the tour company putting us on a passenger ship back to the US -- how long would that take?  I was already apprehensive about the up-coming nights aboard a cruise ship on the Nile -- I don't really like being on a boat.  Strange, I know, since I'm a Pisces and I truly love the water.  But I think I must've drowned in a former life, 'cuz the thought of being on a sinking ship terrifies me.

I also worried about Gram.  Not only was the rigors of our site-filled itinerary wearing her out already, but she was truly convinced that Melissa worked in the World Trade Center.  I've already let the cat out of the bag to you, gentle readers, that Melissa was/is fine and dandy, but at this time, Gram really thought she had been involved in the World Trade Center collapse.  The BBC news coverage and word of mouth didn't help.
It also didn't help either that every well-meaning Egyptian we met ("So sorry for your country") kept bringing up the terrorist attack on the USA.  I just wanted to shield Gram from all of it, but she thrived on the news and on the gossip.
But more than anything that evening, I thought about home.

Extra Egypt: Crocodile Island Resort

Officially known as The Movenpick Jolieville Crocodile Island Hotel, we stayed at Crocodile Island on the evening of September 14, 2001.

DK Eyewitness Travel Guides: Egypt describes this island/hotel/resort by saying "The bungalows of this hotel are set in lush gardens surrounded by a banana plantation. The food is good, and guest facilities include feluccas, a jogging track, and a small zoo."



The hotel "lodge" is immense and immaculate, the restaurant we ate at was outside -- a seafood buffet dinner, that was the best meal we'd had on our trip so far! (And we'd had some great meals!) Walking from dinner back to our bungalow, I saw my first wild Hoopoe bird.
The Hoopoe (pronounced hoo-pee) is an African bird that was always one of my favorites at the Cincinnati Zoo growing up. To see one in the wild, foraging for worms in the grass outside our bungalow made me very happy.


The island used to be home to a large population of Nile Crocodiles, hence the name Crocodile Island. Now, there are no wild Nile Crocs north of Lake Nasser (at the Aswan Dam) in Egypt. If you've seen any African wildlife show ever, you've seen Nile Crocs live and thrive in the part of the Nile (and in other rivers) south of Lake Nasser. But in Egypt, they've all been hunted to extinction -- apparently bad for tourism, ya know, getting eaten up by a wild crocodile.

Mo's Note: All 3 pictures on this post were taken from Google Images. I tried but did not get a good pic of the Hoopoes I saw. For some reason, I was an idiot and didn't take any pics of our bungalow, the main hotel building, or the outdoor restaurant (which was way cool -- reed huts like Gilligan's Island set up around tables, lit by torches, and waiters in tuxes).

And the pic I tried to get of the poor lone Nile Crocodile in the island's zoo -- well, it was almost sunset by the time I got to the zoo, and the croc was asleep in the deep shade: the photo was almost black.

Coming up soon: Sunset on the Nile!

Egypt 24: Crocodile Island Zoo

After dinner at the incredible seafood buffet on Crocodile Island, I took Gram back to our bungalow.  No phone.  No TV.  Gram complained because she wanted to watch the news.  But No TV in our room (I was glad, I was sick of the news about September 11th).
It had been a long, long day, so she went to bed.

Remember, this was still September 14, 2001.
On this day, we had checked out of the Mena House, gone to the Giza Plateau to see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx, gone for a camel ride -- well, okay, not me -- but I took everyone's picture as they rode a camel, and said good-bye to Waleed.  Then we flew from Cairo to Luxor, went to Luxor Temple, then on to Crocodile Island to check in for the night, then to dinner... whew!
It's wearing me out, just thinking of everything we did this day -- no wonder Gram was exhausted!

But it wasn't dark out yet, so I grabbed my camera and took a walk on the jogging path that circles the resort.

At the small zoo, it was too dark to see the croc, and most of my photos of the zoo (which was quaint and kinda weird for a hotel to have a zoo, but whatever) didn't turn out because the zoo was in the deep shade of the on-coming evening.
On the roof of one of the animal houses, however, was an Egyptian Falcon.  This is the bird sacred to Horus.  The god Horus is often depicted as a falcon-headed man or just as a falcon.
To say that I was awed to see an Egyptian Falcon so close is an understatement.  It was a very spiritual moment for me.

As sunset approached, I heard the band begin to play -- the resort on Crocodile Island has an ampitheatre built into the side of the riverbank, facing west over the Nile.  Every night, they have a sunset concert.
Leaving the zoo, I walked along the bank of the Nile, towards the music.

Can i borrow $25?

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door..

SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'

DAD: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the man.

SON: 'Daddy, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the man said angrily.

SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'If you must know, I make $50 an hour.'

SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow $25?'

The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.'

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think:

Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' He asked.

'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.

'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $25 you asked for.'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the father grumbled.

'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.'

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

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1.02.05

Extra Egypt: Ankh

One of the most recognized of Egyptian symbols, the Ankh is the "key of life".
It is also one of the easiest hieroglyphs to pick out when looking at carvings on a temple wall, column, mural on a tomb wall, or painting on papyrus.
Some scholars say the figure of an Ankh represents a sandal strap, others say it is a representation of a knot or hunting bow.  I never quite got the sandal strap theory, even though I've read it in numerous sources.  A knot or bow makes more sense to me.

Although, to me, an Ankh just represents an Ankh: the Key of Life.

The Ankh, to the Ancient Egyptians, meant LIFE.  Specifically, human life in that wonderful, magical way that the Egyptians regarded the human life.  Their religion was part of daily life, remember, and magic was an integral part of that religion.  The Ankh was seen as a not only a symbol of life, but as a key to "opening life" in a being.  Scarab-charms were often carved with Ankhs upon them, and worn as amulets -- I have a scarab that I wear every day on a necklace, and on the belly of this scarab is an Ankh.

Busts of ancestors were everyday objects in the homes of common Ancient Egyptians, and often these figures had Ankhs either painted on them or carved into them.

The Ankh was often seen in tomb murals being held by a god, often Horus, in the Opening Of The Mouth Ceremony -- where the gods symbolically gave life to the deceased's mummy and allowed it to live in the afterlife.  The afterlife was a very important part of an Egyptian's life, and this cermony, or ritual magic, was a key to eternal life.

Egypt 23: The Avenue of the Sphinxes

The  city of Luxor, Egypt.
The afternoon of September 14, 2001.

Between the  Temples of Luxor and Karnak lies an avenue of Sphinxes.
This avenue stretches for over two miles, connecting the temples.  There are various heads  on different parts of the avenue, but many are carved into likenesses of Ramses II.
He  so loved his visage on a statue,  remember.


Unfortunately, before Tourism took its hold of Luxor, much of the city had grown up on and around the temples -- the avenue of the Sphinxes is bi-sected by housing!  Even a mosque is planted squarely in the path of the avenue.  A bit of the avenue is visible from either temple, but the majestic swath of its former glory is lost to urban development.  What remains is still impressive, however.  Look at the photo below, and you can see that each individual Sphinx has a floodlight in front of it.  I would have loved to see this in the night.  However, as evening approached, we were piled back onto the tour bus.  Next stop: Crocodile Island.

Egypt 22: Inside The Luxor Temple

Luxor, Egypt.  September 14, 2001.
Yesterday's Luxor Temple entry was kinda lengthy, I know.
Today, I'll focus on a few pictures.  I could spend the rest of the week showing you pics from inside Luxor Temple, but there's still Karnak -- and I don't want you to get temple'd out.  Let me just say: Luxor Temple inside is incredible.  Massive.  Awesome.


You know I have a connection with Horus.  Not surprisingly, many of my photos are of this god.  Above, a hieroglyph of the falcon-headed god with a solar disc over his head.
And below, one of Horus performing the "Opening Of The Mouth" ceremony on Ramses II.  This ceremony is when an ankh (symbol of Life) is presented to the deceased pharaoh in the underworld, to re-awaken him for the afterlife.
Amazing detail in these relief carvings on the temple walls.  Remnants of color (see the red in the photo on Ramses' tunic?) are still visible after thousands of years.  Incredible.

I Believe......

A Birth Certificate shows that we were born

A Death Certificate shows that we died

Pictures show that we lived!

Have a seat . . . Relax . . .

And read this slowly.

I Believe...

That just because two people argue,

It doesn't mean they don't love each other.
And just because they don't argue,
It doesn't mean they do love each other.

I Believe...
That we don't have to change friends if
We understand that friends change.

I Believe....
That no matter how good a friend is,

they're going to hurt you every once in a while

and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe...
That true friendship continues to grow,

even over the longest distance.

Same goes for true love.

I Believe...
That you can do something in an instant
That will give you heartache for life.

I Believe...
That you should always leave loved ones with
Loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I Believe....
That you can keep going long after you think you can't.

I Believe...
That heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I Believe...
That money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I Believe....
That my best friend and I, can do anything, or nothing and have the best time.

I Believe....
That sometimes the people you expect to kick you When you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.

I Believe...
That sometimes when I'm angry

I have the right to be angry,
But that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe....
That maturity has more to do with

what types of experiences you've had
And what you've learned from them

and less to do with

how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I Believe....
That it isn't always enough,

to be forgiven by others.

Sometimes, you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I Believe...
That no matter how bad your heart is broken

the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I Believe....
That our background and circumstances

may have influenced who we are,
But, we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe...
That you shouldn't be so eager to find
Out a secret. It could change your life Forever.

I Believe....
Two people can look at the exact same
Thing and see something totally different.

I Believe...
That your life can be changed in a matter of
Hours by people who don't even know you.

I Believe...
That even when you think you have no more to give,

when
A friend cries out to you -

you will find the strength to help.

I Believe...
That credentials on the wall

do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe...
That the people you care about most in life

are taken from you too soon.

I Believe...
That you should send this to

all of the people that you believe in, I just did.

'The happiest of people don't necessarily

have the best of everything;
They just make the most of everything.

Thank you God for all the wonderful people who help us throughout the journey of life..

May Angels guard you and guide you.

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1.02.05

Modern Luxor

I took this photo on the afternoon of September 14, 2001.

To me, this photo symbolizes the rich depth of heritage of the City of Luxor.
This is a modern Muslim mosque. However, it is built upon the ruins of a Coptic Christian church (the Christian ruins are the band of small bricks visible just below the blue stripe of the mosque).
The Coptic church was built upon the foundation of an Ancient Egyptian Temple. At the time the Copts built their church, the Egyptian Temple was buried in sand.
So, here on one holy site: you have the ancient pagan religion, followed by the Copts (Egyptian Christians) followed by modern Muslims. Luxor has that feel -- the layers of history, right there before you.

Luxor is located about two-thirds of the way down the Nile towards Aswan (about 800 miles south of Alexandria). Not to get too confusing with Egypt geography, but the North (Alexandria/Cairo area) is the Lower Egypt, and the South (from Luxor to Aswan) is the Upper Egypt.
Confusing? Yes. Much of the ancient history of Egypt involves Upper and Lower strife and unification. Why bring all this up now? Because Luxor was an ancient capital of Upper Egypt during the New Kingdom (pharoahs of the Old Kingdom built the pyramids -- pharaohs of the New Kingdom were buried in the Valley of the Kings at Luxor). Luxor grew from an obscure town to an important city during the Middle Kingdom, but it was during the New Kingdom that the most famous of pharaohs (including Ramses II and good old King Tut) were buried in tombs across the river Nile from Luxor.

Luxor was an important religious and administrative city for Ancient Egypt. The two great temples on the East Bank, Luxor and Karnak, were two of the most impressive religious sites ever built by man.

The ancients called this town Thebes. As in the Homeric "the hundred-gated Thebes". We'll see some of these "gates" when we visit the Temples of Luxor and Karnak.

Another important tourist site in Luxor, one I didn't get to see, unfortunately, is the Winter Palace. This grand hotel will be familiar to readers of Egyptian mysteries such as Death On The Nile by Agatha Christie, and numerous visits by Amelia Peabody and family in the Elizabeth Peters mysteries.

Luxor is also an important town today, mainly for tourism. I was impressed by the beauty and cleanliness of Luxor -- after the cramped, smoggy Cairo, Luxor was green and verdant and fresh. For tourists, Luxor has the fabulous Karnak and Luxor Temples within it, and the Valley of the Kings is located across the Nile on the Western Bank.
Just a few of the notable sites on the West Bank, along with the Valley of the Kings, include: The Colossi of Memnon, The Ramesseum, Deir el-Medina, The Valley of the Queens, Hatshepsut's Temple, and Howard Carter's House.
I didn't get to see all of these places, but we'll visit a few of them in the next couple of days.

Mo's Egypt Journal: Part 21

We arrived at the Luxor Temple on the afternoon of September 14, 2001.  This had been a busy day!  Remember, we were at the Great Pyramids of Giza and The Sphinx in the morning, and had then flown from Cairo down to Luxor.  Gotta say one thing for Globus Tours: never a dull moment!


The Luxor Temple is one of the quintessential ancient Egyptian Temples; these temples followed a basic floor-plan -- you know, how whether you visit a Christian Church in Cincinnati or one in Yuma, Arizona -- they're gonna have the same basic floor-plan layout.  Same premise for Eyptian Temples.
I love this picture (above) of the exterior pylon of the Luxor Temple -- a pylon wall is basically a "gate" -- remember Homer and his hundred gates of Thebes?  Thebes was the ancient name for the city of Luxor.  Homer was referencing the multitude of pylon gates around the temple-city of what is now Luxor.

Well, these pylon "gates" are the entryways into the temples.  In this picture, you can see the thickness of the pylon.  Some pylons are buildings, in that they have rooms inside them, others are solid walls -- often filled with the rubble from previous temples.


The Luxor Temple was very important to many pharaohs through the years, but most especially to Ramses II.  He was a long-lived pharaoh who reigned for a long time (he was pharaoh for 66 years, which considering the average life-span for a man in this time was about 35-40 years, this was a long time).

There is also a theory among Egyptologists, Sherri told us, that during much of Ramses II's reign, it was forbidden to carve a statue of any human except for Ramses.  Lots and lots of statues of Ramses are at Luxor Temple, including the two giant ones flanking the entrance to the temple (pictured above -- see how us mere mortals at his feet don't even come half-way to his knees?) -- and Ramses II was also what we might consider a megalomaniac -- he was great and powerful, and knew it, and wanted everyone else to know it -- for all eternity.  He had his royal cartouche (his name in hieroglyphs encircled in an oval) chiseled not only onto all of the statues of himself (often multiple times!) but he also had his cartouche engraved on the statues of everybody who came before him!

The vertical grooves on the external pylon wall (two of them can be seen to the left of the obelisk) were to hold massive flag-poles.  Can you imagine the height of these flags?  Incredible.

The obelisk can be easily seen by travelers on the Nile, and flags flying at such a height would have been used for communication -- a different color would be flown, for example, for different religious festivals.

The obelisk itself is an enormous work of art: it is 25 meters (82 feet) tall, carved of pink granite that was quarried hundreds of miles to the south in Aswan.  The obelisk was originally one of a pair: the other was removed in the 1800's by the then-Egyptian ruler Mohammed Ali and given to the people of France.  It still stands in the Concorde de Paris.

Egypt Air

At the end of Part 20 of my Egypt Adventure, we were leaving Cairo and en route to the airport, to fly to Luxor:

Leaving Cairo behind, our tour group headed for the airport. Despite this being the afternoon of September 14, 2001 (and there were NO international commercial flights in the air this day) we had no problem boarding out Egypt Air flight, going from Cairo to Luxor. I have NO idea if interstate-flights were back up and running again within the United States, but in Egypt, the airports were running like clockwork. The big difference at the Egyptian airports is that to board an Egypt Air flight, you have to walk out on the tarmac to board the plane.
Once on board, I was impressed. Our flight on TWA, from New York to Cairo, remember -- had been dirty. I mean filthy. The TWA flight attendants were not attentive; insolent would be a good word for them. 
Egypt Air, however, was immaculate. The plane inside was spotless, the flight attendants polite and smiling and accommodating. Once in the air, they served hot tea and cookies. Egyptian word for black tea is shay. Shay is strong, hot, and sweet. You can say I like my shay like I like my men: strong, hot, and sweet.
The symbol for Egypt Air is the head of a falcon - the god Horus, who protects travelers.
Our flight was uneventful and brief, but I just wanted to point out I could not say enough nice things about this Egypt Air flight.
Next stop: Luxor!

The Pyramids Of Giza

They Pyramids of Giza are one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
When most people think of the pyramids, they think of the three main large pyramids. There are actually ten pyramids on the Giza plateau: the three main ones for the Pharaohs Menkaure, Khafre, and Khufu, and seven Queens' pyramids. Plus, there are dozens of mastabas, temples, ruins of the workers' village, and of course -- The Sphinx.

Note: Sometimes there is a variation on the spelling of the pharaohs of Giza -- one is Greek, one Roman/Latin. So Menkaure = Mycerinus in Latin, Khafre = Chephren, and Khufu = Cheops. Either pronunciation/spelling is correct. A matter of your teaching or preference. Sherri, our tour guide, used Menkaure/Khafre/Khufu, so that is what I came to use in my writing and story-telling.


During the Fourth Dynasty (2613 - 2494 BC) when the Giza Plateau pyramids were being constructed, the Nile came very close to the plateau. Each of the great pyramids has a temple in front of it, on the river side, and a temple causeway connected the temple to the river. The causeway was basically a canal excavated into the rock, so that the royal barges could float from the Nile directly up to the temple. When you approached a pyramid, you had to go through its respective temple for rituals prior to seeing the tomb, which was the pyramid.
Much has been made, recently, about the site of the plateau and the positioning of the great pyramids. If looked at from the sky, the positions of the pyramids seem to echo the positions of the stars in the belt of the constellation Orion. Are they patterned after the stars? Recent documentaries make compelling arguments for this. Did the ancients receive "extra-terrestrial" help in their construction? There has been no definitive evidence of this, but much speculation.
There has also been much speculation about how the pyramids were actually constructed, block by block. Remember, these multi-ton blocks were put into place before the incorporation of the wheel into transportation -- so many theories have the huge rock blocks on sledges, pulled by either humans or oxen up dirt ramps and levered into place. The theory that water was poured in front of the sledge to make the ramp slippery makes sense, to help glide the massive blocks up the ramps.
The Great Pyramid of Khufu is estimated to have been built with 2.3 million limestone blocks, each one weighing an average of almost 3 tons! That's a lotta rock!
Napoleon is reported to have calculated: If he took apart the three great pyramids, he could build a wall ten feet high all the way around France! Fortunately, he did not take them apart for this task!
Originally, the pyramids had a shiny casing on the outside -- picture giant limestone tiles, making the outside of the pyramids smooth and glistening. Some say the sides of the pyramids were painted, also, and that Khufu's pyramid was capped in gold at the top. Can you imagine? Unfortunately, after the worship of the ancient gods was usurped by Judeo-Christian theology, the pyramids were stripped of this limestone casing -- many buildings in Cairo and the village of Giza are allegedly made out of this limestone. Nice house -- yeah, my ancestors built it with stone they ripped off they pyramids. Neat, eh?

As for the workers who built the pyramids, some people say that it was slave labor. Most modern theories, however, state that while there was a year-round worker village, a great deal of the building of the pyramids took place in the agricultural "off-season" -- so, when farmer's weren't growing their crops, they worked for the government building the pyramids. In other words: they pyramids were built by Egyptians who built these monuments in service to their king, the pharaoh, who was god incarnate on Earth. In either scenario, the undertaking of building such gigantic monuments took many years, and millions of hours of man-power.

I took the photo above from a "photo site" where we were driven, just so we could get all 3 of the great pyramids into one photo shot. Up close, there is no way to get all 3 pyramids into a photo -- they are that massive!

Our Stories: Fearless Forgiveness

According to the Department of Justice, about a third of all girls and a seventh of all boys are molested before they reach the age of 18. A third of that group is under 12. Consider that it’s thought that only 35% of abuse is ever even reported - that makes for some grim statistics.

I don’t know too many women who got through their young lives without being victim to molestation at the hands of family, acquaintance, or a stranger. I’m one of them, having been assaulted by an teenage acquaintance when I was 6.

I’d like to introduce you to Kim who writes with an incredibly powerful voice. I had contributed at her former blog, The Peace Tree. She’s just getting back into the groove on her new blog, A World of Progress. I had the honor of having her hang out with me summer before last after we met through blogging. And, my hope is to walk her down the aisle when she marries her lovely other half, M. Her enthusiasm even made me pretty giddy. I count her on my short list of life and heart friends.

When I asked to her to interview, we both knew what I wanted her to talk about without having to speak it.

Kim, you’re 47 – and a long way from where you started. Tell us a little about that start.

I was born in Dallas, Texas. My biological father split before I was one year old and I lived there with my mom and maternal grandparents, off and on through my mom’s second marriage that only lasted about a year, until I was 6 years old. My granddad was a master carpenter and my most influential role model. I followed him everywhere and my mom still says to this day I walk just like him. His giant carpenter’s tool box was my toy box and I am pretty sure that is where I got my love of all things “tools.” My mom worked all the time and my grandparents were actually more like my parents. They were wonderful, and bought me all the cap six-shooters, bows and arrows, baseball bats, cowboy boots and hats I wanted at the Five&Dime. My natural tendency to climb trees was never ridiculed and I was only forced into the dress and patent leather shoes on Easter-for about 45 minutes.


Then, a big change rocked your world – what was that?

My mom met and married the man she is still married to today when I was six years old and we moved to New Orleans. He was a career Navy man.


After five years of living in run-down apartments, I began to have a lot of problems with my schoolwork and never could quite deal with the ongoing racial problems I encountered there as well as some pretty awful things that were happening to me at the hands of my stepfather, which my mom did not know about at the time. All this contributed to my failing the seventh grade. My mom decided to send me back to live with my grandparents, who had since left the city and moved to a rural east Texas town. I believe that decision saved my life.


You see, my stepfather started sexually molesting me when I was 8 years old until I left New Orleans when I was 12.


Things fell into a happier groove when you returned to your grandparents. What was next?

Growing up in East Texas with my grandparents was wonderful. I have always been a gifted athlete and while I was lost in the shuffle of a big city school, my natural ability on the tennis court and the softball field were noticed and celebrated in my new hometown. There, I was able to enjoy a sense of worth, accomplishment and camaraderie with others that I had never known before.


My stepfather retired from the Navy in 1976 and they moved back to east Texas as well, but not to the same town I was currently living in. So, I had to change schools again in my junior year and lost my superstar athlete status. Someone else held that title at my new school already. I learned a valuable lesson there, and that was sometimes just being the better player is not enough in life. Sometimes you have to prove yourself over and over again. It took a number of years before I finally figured out that the only person I needed to prove anything to was myself.


Tell me a little about where your life has taken you career-wise.

I wanted to be a professional tennis player. Even though I got a scholarship to play in college it did not take long for me to realize even though I was good, I was never going to be good enough to play professionally. I was pretty devastated by that realization and I did not much care about what I would do with my life for a while after that.


I stayed in school (they actually had a program to become a teaching pro and run a tennis club) but I lost interest when I started to realize that there were other people like me in the world (lesbians). I kicked around doing weird jobs like putting roofs on trailer houses and working in my parents’ country store but mainly I was interested in one thing for the next few years and that was girls.


At 25, I had a very serious car accident and all the docs agreed it was nothing short of a miracle I was not killed. Discovering my own mortality gave me a new perspective. I decided to get the hell out of dodge and joined the Air Force.


Say what you will about the military, but I found a path that served me well when I became a paramedic. I left the Air Force and found myself working in a series of increasingly responsible positions in the medical field. I seemed to have a knack. For example, being a tissue harvester made for interesting first date conversation. After years of hard work in various patient care positions and making myself useful at every possible turn in those jobs, the powers on high I found myself sitting in the board room with the rest of the power players, as their equal. My part of the kingdom was Training and Development. Seemed I also had a knack for motivating people to do better for themselves.


My partner at the time worked for Enron and we were living a life quite apart from our humble beginnings of practically living on love. My company took a nose dive shortly after my rise to the top and you all know what happened at Enron. When the companies folded, we took my golden parachute and our equity and jumped to the simple life. We bought 5 acres on the top of a mountain on the border of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.


You aren’t with that woman anymore. Didn’t you take some time off to reflect after you both moved and then split up?

Before the whole idea of leaving it all behind came to be my partner and I became lost in the quest to become successful, materially speaking. We started with nothing and ended up with it all: the big house, the dream car and all the trappings of success and when we decided to leave it all behind what we found on the mountaintop was that we had lost “us” somewhere along the journey. She moved out of the little cabin on the mountain within six months of our arrival.


Blessed with enough money in the bank to not have to start working immediately, I had the incredible gift of a year sabbatical to sit alone on the top of a mountain and focus only on my new goal, to find and communicate with my Soul. I studied meditation and sought in earnest to find inner peace until I actually found it. No one was going to do that for me but me. Even now I’m back among civilization, those lessons are there for me when I need them Learning to trust what I know is right for me has been an incredible discovery.


What’s your current relationship status?

After a number of relationships lasting about five years each I have finally come to a place in life where I was able to be fearlessly open and maintain some discernment in the process. The result was meeting the love of my life and finding out that a relationship can be all that I ever imagined it could be. For us, that means an engine from which we generate our best selves and explore what trust and love are all about.


She is amazing. So, you still love me for encouraging you to get over your shyness and get that second date and first kiss, right?

I owe you big time.


Tell me about that family of yours?

I am an only child of an only child. I guess that probably made me naturally inclined to be self-referenced. It took a long time before I stopped trying to be what I thought others wanted me to be and settled into my own identity. My mom was married twice before I was six and her third husband turned out to be a child molester. He started abusing me when I was 8 and it continued off and on until I finally left home and moved in with my first girlfriend at 17.


Did you tell your mother about the abuse or did she suspect? How did you deal with her reaction when you told her?

I really believed that if I told my mom about what had been happening to me my step-father would kill us and then kill himself. I saw this happen to some kids I hung out with right after my mom married him and it always stuck in my mind after the abuse started. Their dad came to pick them up and I saw them pull away in his car. They never came back. He took them to a hotel room and shot them in the head and then shot himself. Since my step-father always left it to my imagination what would happen to me if I ever told anyone that was the thing that always came to my mind.

He was a sick man and probably would rather have shot himself and us as well rather than have to face the ridicule of others for his crimes. He not a very bright guy and he has a problem with trying to be a know-it-all in defense of his ignorance. I use the present tense because my mom is still married to him to this day. I might never have told her except that he was inappropriate with a girlfriend of mine and I completely lost it. I told my mom what had been happening all those years and her response was one for the books. “So, that’s why whenever he was in a room with you you were always on the other side of it.” Yep, Mom, that was it.


What have been the biggest obstacles in life for you?

Being sexually abused as a kid had a great deal to do with a low self-esteem. That, more than anything else, was my greatest obstacle and contributed to my late arrival to my own party.


I spent a number of years searching for my own sense of identity and I feel like even though it took awhile it was worth the wait. I may even appreciate myself more now than I might have if my way to finding myself had been easier.


Where did you start seeing the breakthroughs?

I owe a great deal of thanks for the emotional healing I have achieved to the women I have loved and have loved me over the years. Even though it’s true there is a big old tomboy in me, now I know how much I totally hid behind a persona to compensate for my inability to let another person touch me in a healthy reciprocal sexual way. I wanted to be “normal” and let go sexually but my partners were asked to be satisfied without that in our relationship.


I guess it was a sort of post traumatic stress syndrome that caused me to have a severe panic attack if I felt any kind of sexual aggressiveness toward me -even when I wanted it to be welcome and it should have been.


I recently wrote a post over at my blog about 9/11. Most people might not see a correlation between sexual abuse and 9/11 but what ended up saving me and giving me the ability to participate in a healthy two-way sexual relationship was finding a way to forgiveness regarding what happened to me. I see a lot of the, “We will never forget,” and every time I see it I wonder for how many people that also means, “We will never forgive?”


Yep, that is a hard one. I get the feeling some folks can’t even go there at all. I understand that. Some things are just so terrible it can make you feel like you want to carry that hate forever. Like your hate is the only justice that it will ever meet. I felt that way about being sexually abused as a child. I carried that delicious hatred for the person who did that to me for a very, very long time. It was all I thought I had because they never suffered any official punishment. I realized over time that the hate I carried with me was now what crippled me and allowed those things to continue hurting me long after I had grown up and stood up to my abuser and exposed what he was and what he had done to an innocent child.


I think talking to other people who were hurting as a result of sexual abuse was self-help for me as well because eventually what I was saying to them sunk in to my own psyche: that forgiveness frees the victim but it does not change the fact the perpetrator will live with their crime forever nor does it condone their actions in any way. That is Universal justice and it cannot be escaped no matter how hard they try.


When you see your stepfather now, what is it like?

When people ask me this the only thing that comes to mind is I tolerate him. I love my mom and I understand why she has gone into denial about this and I suppose it is how she maintains her sanity in a place of not enough self confidence to leave him. I don’t really know how she feels about it because she lives in a state of denial about it. As for me, I don’t see her much because of him. She made a choice and I guess it is the best choice for her. I have learned to take responsibility for my own life and let her have hers in whatever manner she wishes.




Kim, what would you say to someone else in this situation who hasn’t found a way out of the darkness?


Keep living and keep loving, in whatever capacity you have in this moment and then the next. Try to be as kind to yourself as you can about the damage you carry and above all else talk about it when the opportunity presents itself. Talking to others is talking to yourself and you might find some incredible knowledge for your own use in your words. Over the past 30 years I have spoken to a number of other women who were abused and I always told them in order to be free from the abuse you have to find a way to forgive although I know it is not and easy thing to do.


When I was in the Air Force, I had a long late night conversation in the ER on night with a second lieutenant I was working with who was a few years younger than I. Her step-father had sexually abused her too. I asked her to think about how forgiving might help her move beyond it. I found a little note, folded up and stuck through the vents of my locker a couple of days later. It just said “Thanks, you were right.” I guess no one had suggested that to her before. I felt like the world was a little better place because she was going to be able to start to heal herself now.


If you’re being abused, you’re not alone - abusers use your fear to protect themselves. You can start by going here and here and calling the hotline.

If you’re an adult survivor of abuse, it’s not too late to receive help. You can start here. Or, look online for therapists who specialize in abuse recovery. Don’t have enough money? Your state and local mental health departments can offer services on a sliding scale.

Hahn at Home

Stella

Stella is an Egyptian brand of Beer. While Muslims are forbidden to drink alcohol, there is no such ban for Coptics (Egyptian Christians) so I think Stella is a Coptic brew. A light, golden ale, it reminds me of the Rolling Rock my grandfather drank copiously when I was younger.
While in Egypt, Stella and I became great friends...
And yes, it makes me want to stand under a full moon and scream, "Stella!"

Good-Bye, Waleed

While the rest of our tour group was inside the Great Pyramid, Waleed finally let me take his picture. Such a nice, polite man. A very good policeman. And what a cutie.


For those of you new to my Egypt Journal, Waleed was the plain-clothes Tourist Police officer who accompanied our Egyptian tour while we were in Cairo and Alexandria. I was very disappointed he didn't get to come with us for our entire trip.
When we parted company on the evening of the 14th (our last night at Mena House), Sherri let us slip Waleed some baksheesh. She just told us we had to do it discreetly, since the Tourist Police are not supposed to accept baksheesh from tourists.
Waleed earned every penny of the baksheesh I slipped him when I shook his hand "good-bye".
I've always said, since I returned to the US, that if ever I were to be a millionarie, I'd track down Waleed and offer him a position as my personal security guard.