In mid to late March I usually get very tired of the long winters that sometimes happen here in Minnesota. It is then time to make a trip up to the Cities to the Como Park Conservatory and enjoy the Spring flowers in the Sunken Garden. This year I was going to share this with our friends Foxfeather and Roman when we were in the Cities attending a museum attraction (see later in this posting), but we failed to notice the times the park is open in the winter, and were too late after our lunch. Well, I made up for that mistake and returned the following weekend, catching up with my niece and her boyfriend.
Como Park's Spring Show can always cheer me up, even if there were a whole hoard of people there getting their early flower fix on. I was not the only one tired of Winter. My niece Sarah and her boyfriend Sam joined me, having shown them my favorite Mexican Food restaurant there.
On March 23rd Rich and I joined Foxfeather and Roman to attend an exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA), called Sunken Cities, Egypt's Lost Worlds.
It is a collection of sculptures and ritual objects excavated from Thonis-Heracleion to Canopus, an area just off the coast of the Egyptian Delta, east of Alexandria. Quoting from the book we purchased, this exhibit is of objects that: "Unveiled the secret paths of the Osiris Mysteries and the rituals celebrating the god's return to life and the cycle of the seasons, which protected the unity and prosperity of the country as well as the dynastic continuity of the Pharaohs."
There were also many other items which I know did not come from this site but were most likely lent to the exhibit to flesh it out. This included a full-sized Apis Bull.
Most of the items which come from this particular site, and were excavated from underwater, were stone tablets detailing the rituals practiced, or ritual objects like "simpula, situla, votive barques, sistra, and bowl fragments of incense burners." There were many statues that have been softened by their time underwater, as this entire region was cast into the water over the centuries by seismic action in the region. There were also multiple offerings, tiny intricate golden rings and amulets.
I only included a few of the items I photographed that were particularly impressive to me. I have always been fascinated by Egypt, and would so love to travel to see this country for myself, but I think this is a dream that I will now never realize as the trip would be very expensive, and the country itself is not so safe for tourists anymore. A pity really, as it houses some of the most spectacular sculpture and intriguing religious history. I have felt a deep affinity for their art and would enjoy seeing more of it.
On a different note, as were were at the MIA and our ticket into the exhibit also allowed us to see the rest of the collection, I found this marble statue to be absolutely gorgeous. Look at the detail of these carved wings. Such skill by the artist!
Returning to Falconry . . .
Of special note I am going to conduct a little experiment. Every year I seem to get a late start on the fall hunting because my Harris Hawk is just not done with her molt. Her window to hunt is limited as she can no longer be safely flown once it gets below freezing. Well, because our season ends at the last days of February, I set up her mew's lights to come on for 14+ hour days, and this year added a "happy light", a full spectrum lamp to simulate the Summer sunshine. Let's see if all this extra light will kick off her molt early so she will be done in August for conditioning to start the hunt when the small game season opens.
I don't plan to weather Wyvern outside as she is just wild crazy in her mew when her weight is normal, never mind when it is high. It is just easier to bring the light to her, than to take her outside to the light. Hopefully this will work.
