Earlier, on Sunday, we had a nice long walk in Gateway Park. I satisfied my curiousity, and we followed the walking trail all the way to the entrance of West Wetlands Park! That was a good bit of walking, and I slept very well last night.

Now I am having an odd cultural experience. My favorite Greek webradio Ellinkos FM is featuring Christmas songs. Dionysis Lazani briefly describes the song in Greek, and next I hear mostly old American Christmas songs. As they are nine hours later than MST, they are waking up to this!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 A

"Beginning"
5:58am

I think it's the way beginnings seem fragmented, because we can't imagine how the finished thing will evolve...

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 B

"Ready"
8:42pm

I just finished the Christmas cards, Julia wrapped the packages, and now I can say, "I'm ready for Christmas!"

We'll likely have a quiet Christmas. I have hopes to see _The Curious Case of Benjamin Button_ and we have a couple of DVDs from the library to see, as well. I've been busy downloading music, too. Bill Flanagan of _CBS Sunday Morning Show recommended Toumani Diabaté, and the teaser prompted me to sample all songs at Amazon. Both Julia and I were entranced. I threw in a similar piece from another musician from Mali that fit right in:

While I was at work today, Julia uncovered a book I'd completely forgotten buying, Jan Assmann's _Moses the Egyptian_: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism. Assmann spoke of Mozart, his Egyptian tinted Masonic leanings, and the music thusly inspired. Julia was curious, so I found a ready copy at Amazon, and got burning:

It's certain Egyptian deities have made their subtle way into Christianity. Every time I hear a Christmas carol singing about 'the newborn King', I know it's Horus the Younger, all nicely tucked onto Mama Isis' lap:

Left: Bronze Isis and baby Horus, Ptolemic period, now at Walters Art Gallery
Right: "Our Lady of Perpetual Help", a famous mediaeval icon
Wikipedia picture source

Here's a statue fragment I photographed when at the Brooklyn Museum:

Faience, 2 3/4 x 1 3/4 x 1 3/8 in. (7 x 4.5 x 3.5 cm)
Ptolemaic Period, 305-30 B.C.E.
37.332E, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Certainly this fragment resembled another statue of Isis and the 'future king Horus', which is complete. I may not have seen that one, in any case, I did not photograph it.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

"Happy Holidays"
6:46am

I got off from work early, and my day and a half of break began. In the evening, the air was cool, but not cold, so we decided to go see the Christmas lights. They'd put cones to help traffic navigate and two policemen were there to guide cars into the neighborhood which decorates every year. Julia and I were the only ones on foot.

But at first glance, it seems a bad omen, and perhaps Horus would be better for an airport, being winged and very much of this world. (You see, Anubis is the first god you see after you die.) As one commenter said, "Who wants to take a one-way trip on the Solar-Barge today instead?" Or as another commenter said, "Come to the Duat--We have candy..."

Yes, the candy cane addition is most amusing. Normally, if he's grasping a tool, it is the Was or the Adze, so he can do the 'opening of the mouth' ceremony: