L-APC: The Alphabet

The Alphabet starts with “A” and that is the subject of Lens-Artists’ photo challenge this week, starting appropriately with the amazing letter A! I have a file of letter-shaped things. I got the idea for it when I saw this cute little ladder in our neighborhood and immediately thought of the letter A! My brother-in-law […]

LAPC 99: The Old and the New

Amy of Lens-Artists invites us this week to show old and new with our photos and stories. On our last trip to Brazil, we spent our first week staying with friends in the southern city of Curitiba, which has well over 1 million inhabitants. The city has grown a lot since I was last there […]

CB&WPC: Long

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge this week is things that are long. Long necks Long necks and long legs! Long stem (bell stand) and long trunk (palm tree) Man-made long-ness: The Sphinx’s long front legs Long stairway Tall minarets Long (and tall) bridge Tall obelisks (they were long before they were hoisted into position […]

Sculpture Saturday: Field Museum

Mind Over Memory has a weekly invitation for sculpture photos. Last year, when we got home from our trip to the Middle East, we visited the Egyptian exhibit at The Field Museum in Chicago. These are sculptures – or sculpted wooden mummy cases. Royalty in ancient Egypt would encase their mummified loved ones in several […]

April Tops, Day 16: Obelisks

Obelisks were built throughout ancient Egyptian history, but they became more common during the New Kingdom. The top of an obelisk is pyramid shaped and is called pyramidion, referring to the uppermost piece or capstone of an Egyptian obelisk. For Becky’s April Squares with the subject top, here are some obelisk tops.

Tops of Egyptian Columns

The tops of columns, called capitals, in ancient Egypt are spectacular in their variety and beauty. Sometimes, a column top could have the head of a god/goddess, such as this column depicting Hathor, at Hatshepsut’s palace, which contained a temple dedicated to this goddess. She was an important goddess, especially for women, being the goddess […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 22: Temples of Abu Simbel

January 2, 2019 We disembarked our vessel, Aida, this morning and boarded a bus for a 2-hour + ride to the town of Abu Simbel, for which the temple was named. The landscape along this route is mostly desert. The town of Abu Simbel is a good place to be introduced to Nubian culture. The […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 19: Temple at Kom Ombo

December 31, 2018 Kom Ombo Temple is probably my favorite of all the ancient Egyptian sites I saw on this trip. It has several interesting features that make it unique. About 30 miles north of the city of Aswan, Kom Ombo is located in a region that has a large Nubian community that was resettled […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 17: Horemheb’s Temple & Gebel Silsila Quarry

December 30, 2018 This afternoon we arrived at the narrowest stretch of the Nile, an area that the Egyptians called “Khenu” or the place of rowing. At Gebel Silsila, high sandstone cliffs come down close to the water’s edge. The Temple of Horemheb is small and not well-known. Nile cruise ships don’t stop here because […]

Worship in the Middle East

Frank Jansen at Dutch Goes the Photo has selected worship as his photo challenge theme for Holy Week. I share the sadness of the world for the devastating fire at Notre-Dame de Paris. But there are many holy places around the world that inspire awe where people worship. Below are photos of worship from Judaism, […]