Olives, Olives, OLIVES!

One of the things I'm trying to do is produce as much of my own food whenever possible. Sometimes that means harvesting wild foods like elderberries to dry for cold tea, cherry bark for cough syrup, or Oregon blackberries.  At Joe's desert house in Desert Hot Springs, California, it means harvesting olives from his back yard tree and the surrounding trees in the park.

These trees do not get sprayed and nobody is interested in fruit, it seems, except us.  In 2016, Joe and I picked and put up pounds of black olives!

Here is are links to those blogs:

http://caminosantiago2.blogspot.com/2016/11/diy-greek-styled-dried-olives.html

http://caminosantiago2.blogspot.com/search?q=olives

There are maybe 3 more posts on putting up olives and you can find them by putting "olives" into the blog search bar along the side of the blog.

Last year, 2018, there were fewer olives. That's because olive trees produce one heavy year, then one light year.

Well, the good news is NEXT year, 2020 is going to be a bumper crop and we can't wait!  The tree is absolutely loaded right now and we're already getting excited! 

Check out these branches!

Carlsbad Caverns

I just realized that I didn't post photos of Carslbad Caverns!
Oh, it was a VERY cool trip!

I got in FREE with my America the Beautiful card.
If you pay $4 more (with the card) you can take a guided tour
to one of the rooms that is not open to the public.
I wanted to do that but I arrived at 8 am
and the first available tour wasn't until 2 pm,
and I knew I couldn't wait,
as I had to get to Ajo, Arizona that day.

Anyway... I have suggestions.

First - be there by 8 am when they open.
That way you can be one of the first in
and don't have to fight crowds.
(It was CRAZY crowded by the time I got back up top.)

Second,
walk down and take the elevator up.

The walk down isn't bad at all.
Yes, it's a bit steep in place,
but quite comfie most of the way down.
It looks like this, with lots of switchbacks,
and just a few steep places,
where you'll find handrails to hang on to:

Third, PLEASE do not take a flashlight
or a headlamp
You don't need it
and you'll blind other visitors with it.
There's plenty of light down there.

Here are a few photos.
I apologize, but I haven't really learned
to take good photos with this phone.
They don't do it justice at all.
This is one stop you won't want to miss!

The entrance

Lion's tails

Several pools in the caves, all from condensation

I did see these aliens too,

but they wouldn't speak to me!

I have a lot of other photos,

but they just don't do the caves justice.

Visit and see for yourself!

A great stop!

By the way,

if you're vanning,

you can sleep at the Walmart

instead of the State Park.

It's a lot closer.

Happy Trails!

Annie

Rosicrucian Museum - San Jose

Yesterday, I got tired of hanging out 

at the Trauma Center, 

so I took a morning for myself. 

I went to the Rosicrucian Museum here in San Jose.  

I had visited this little museum about 20 years ago, 

and it has really changed and been updated. 

There is a wonderful collection of Egyptian artifacts 

and art to be seen here!

Here is a sample of what you might see, 

including the lovely grounds.

Definitely worth a visit.

Price is around $9 regular,

$7 for seniors,

and FREE for AMORC members.

For those interested in Alchemy, 

they have a wonderful room with displays 

on the Magnus Opus (Great Work) 

and a cool spoken meditation you can listen to. 

It has displays on:

Calcination

Dissolution

Separation

Conjunction

Fermentation

Distillation

Coagulation

Peaceful reading room

Inside the tomb

Alchemist's Study

1) Alligator and 2) Bull Mummy

Lots of cat mummies!

Ushabtis, or "Whisperers" placed in the tomb would talk to the dead and guide them

I'm pretty sure this is my friend, Chance!

Child's Sandals

Coptic Jars

The Emerald Tablet

Translation - A Great Truth!

I love these face jars!

Beautifully painted funeral mask.

Of all the items I've seen in museums all over the world,

I'm always blown away 

by the glass objects.

We tend to think of people living 

so many thousands of years ago

as being like "cave-men,"

when in fact they were as or more evolved

as we.

These are a beautiful hand blown glass pitcher and vase.

They are so delicate and perfect!

This is a set of glass measuring cups!!!

More glass items

Below is a wooden head rest for sleeping,

what we would call a "pillow."

It looks too high to be comfortable,

but if you imagine a sleeping mattress 

would probably be 4-6 inches thick

with this snugged up next to it,

it makes the head rest the perfect height.

Wooden Head Rest for Sleeping

Anubis, Egyptian god and guide into the afterlife.

Below are some artist's paintbrushes.

If you look closely,

you can see the "brush" part is on both ends. 

These were made of sticks bound together,

and the brush part on these is either animal hair or feathers

(I can't remember), held together and on the stick with bitumen,

a tar-like substance.

I imagine they worked beautifully!

If you do a search on 

Ancient Egyptian Paint Brushes

you can see better examples.

Glass eyes were place over the dead person's eyes so they could find their way.

Oil lamps

Brass mirrors - these worked just as good or better than our mirrors today when finely polished.

Sekhmet, Lion Goddess of War and of Healing

Sekhmet with Solar Disk

Sekhmet is an interesting Goddess.  

Do a Google Search for more information.

There were many musical instruments in the museum.

Below is a sistrum,

a percussion instrument usually associated with women,

but in this case,

found in the tomb of a Priest.

Perhaps he was transgender.

There are several entrances on the museum 

and surrounding buildings.

All are beautiful!

I couldn't get a good photo of the main entrance

because there were school buses parked 

at the curb.

The grounds are very pretty. 

Lots of blooming and very fragrant flowers!

I loved the statue below!

Students of BOTA or Tarot 

will recognize this as the Magician,

with one hand pointed toward the SOURCE

and the other in to the GARDEN,

complete with red roses and white lilies

which will soon be blooming.