Her Name Was Hatshepsut

If you thought that the title of Pharoah was only bestowed upon men, you would be wrong.

That said, the name Cleopatra may come to mind easily - but have you heard of Hatshepsut?

I hadn't!  Until my friend Terri who was coming along to Egypt with my tour told me about a podcast she listened to and found herself fascinated by the life of Hatshepsut who ruled over Egypt for the span of 18 years.

You can find the podcast entitled The Woman King HERE.

Talk about foreboding and desolate.

The Temple of Hatshepsut is a mortuary temple built during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Located opposite the city of Luxor, it is considered to be a masterpiece of ancient architecture.

This was another "Indiana Jones" type of experience to me.  How many thousands of years has this been here? I looked up the dates just to get a handle on it and found that it was built c.1478/72-1458 B.C.E

Mind blowing.

I did a little video walking up  to the entrance.  Click to Play:

Every day, every place we visited (Sometimes up to 3 sites a day) was like an intense archaeology course and my brain was on overload trying to soak it all in and remember.
I tried putting myself in the place of these people who lived and built these temples and tombs - wondering what their life was like. (You were lucky if you made it past the ripe old age of 45 at that time and a simple tooth abscess could kill you.)

There is something that resonates when standing in ancient spaces.

Hatshepsut’s temple was well situated up against the sandstone mountains to escape rock slides.

And one time all of these statues and columns would have been painted - a bright oasis in a sand-colored world.

Who were the artisans who carved these statues posed as sentinels?

Some painting and color remains.

I wonder how long it took artisans to carve and paint these walls?

Motifs I noticed in several temples and tombs - stars on the ceilings.  Which makes me wonder if they enjoyed calm nights looking out at the moon and the stars as I do.

Wall before one chamber.

This guy means business!

Actually they were quite friendly and would take a photo for you posing in front of something for a mere $1.00 courtesy fee.  Some of the best photos were gained that way.

So much to be interested in!

Beverages, anyone?

Yes, please - it's super hot in here!

Some figures were so large that I had no choice but to take vertical photos (Which I don't like to do!)

Between the columns.

How hot was it?

You can't see the sweat running down the back of my neck?

Excavation and gathering of stones still on-going.

If you look at the far right - see how they've put pieces together that fit together?

It's a big puzzle. More to be reconstructed.

That's a huge leg of a statue also at the far right!

I love the feminine faces!

More at the top of the columns here.

If we did a mystery quilt from these colors it would be sand, sand, more sand, and blue.

You can barely see the image of  Khonsu

As the moon god, Khonsu was the embodiment of the crescent moon's light. During the new moon, he was considered a mighty bull, but during the full moon, he was considered a neutered bull. Khonsu was supposedly powerful against the evil spirits in the world.

Some color still remains here.

Did I mention it was bloody hot? Whew!

A close up of one of the sphynx's.

Dog gone hot!

That's another thing.  I took more photos of dogs (And a few cats) than I did of temples and tombs. LOL!

In Egypt all of the "street" dogs are well cared for - vaccinated and watched after.  You know my dog-loving heart wanted to love on them all and take them all home.

I loved this part of our journey.  And I'm still fascinated by Hatshepsut's reign.  Give that podcast a listen to if you have a chance. It's so good!

As for me, back in my home stomping grounds in real time - yesterday was my visit to OrthoCarolina for the results of my MRI.

I've got a meniscus tear requiring surgery.  We kind of guessed as much because it's been 2 months and I'm still struggling and dealing with pain and weakness.

At this point I'm living "appointment to appointment" and my appointment with the surgeon is next Tuesday.  We'll get that surgery scheduled and get me on the mend.

As the doc explained a few different options yesterday - I cut in and said "I'm an active person.  I should be out hiking with my dogs - and I've been dealing with a knee support sleeve and doing the bare minimums with much discomfort, swelling, aching and pain for 2 months.  This is affecting my quality of life.  If I were your mother, what would you suggest for me?"  

And he said "We need to do the surgery."  So there we are.

Since I was up in Boone for this appointment, there was no reason NOT to find a bit of enjoyment wandering an antique mall - and yes, this HAD to come home.  My granny had one just like it.

It's a little powder box, and I adore the porcelain flowers on the top. $5.00??  Sold!

ALMOST bought this.  LOL!

Today - Judy's Quilters are arriving from Mississippi this afternoon and I can't wait to welcome them fully.  No Welcome-ish.  

Things are about to be really busy here as every week is fully booked through the first week of September when I leave for Poland.

Today I'm also working on getting this year's Leader & Ender challenge ready to release tomorrow.  If it's not quite ready, we'll shoot for Saturday, but it's coming - thank you for your patience!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

The distance between dreams and reality is called action!

Vintage quilt found in Kentucky.

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Time to get moving! Have a wonderful Thursday, everyone!