Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut

By

Ruth long

I am Hatshepsut, daughter of a god, ruler of all Egypt, and this is my story.  Before I was born, Amun-Re, who was the greatest of the gods, wanted a new ruler for Egypt, so he eagerly gathered all the gods and told them that the new ruler would be a woman.  She was to be the daughter of Queen Ahmose, who was the wife of Pharaoh Thutmose I.  The god Amun-Re appeared to Queen Ahmose in the night.  Together they made me.  Amun-Re named me Hatshepsut, which means “Foremost of Noble Ladies,” and chose me to rule.  Carefully, the gods formed my body and spirit from clay, and they cast life into me.  As I grew I became beautiful, splendid, and godlike.  When I was of age I journeyed to Heliopolis, and all the gods accompanied me and presented me with two crowns, a red crown symbolizing lower Egypt, and a white crown symbolizing upper Egypt.  The gods had crowned me the ruler of all Egypt.

The gods commanded me to rebuild cities destroyed by the Hyksos, to repair temples damaged in war, to enrich the land through trade, to explore distant lands, and to erect new monuments. Because the gods had told me to, I sailed many of my ships down the Red Sea to the land of Punt, which was located in present day Somalia, to trade riches.  When they returned the ships sat low in the water because they were heavily loaded with valuable myrrh trees, new and exciting animals, rare woods, gold, and many more riches.  In the city of Karnak I constructed two great obelisks out of solid stone, both 100 ft. tall, and I coated them with a layer of electrum, so that their radiance could be seen from both sides of the Nile.  They were beautiful.  I built my temple in Deir el-Bahri, and I planted most of my myrrh trees there.  Faithfully I repaired many temples that were damaged by the Hyksos.  I set up trading routes with many other lands and enriched my land.

Eventually my reign ended.  Thutmose III, who was my half-brother, took over the throne when I died in 1482 B.C.  After my death my name strangely disappeared from all of the monuments that I had fashioned.  Sadly, no historians know how I died.  Some say it was Thutmose III who killed me, because he was mad a girl had become pharaoh before him, but I’m here to tell you what really happened.  It was a peaceful transition between Thutmose and me. I had simply died of old age. I had lived my life and was ready to let Thutmose live his.  While there’s still mystery about my life, there’s still no doubt that I was one of the greatest rulers of all Egypt. 

Boadicea

Boadicea

The

 Rebellious, Red-headed Roman-slayer

By

Hannah Long

Boadicea, one time queen of the Iceni tribe, north of the Roman city of Londinium, sat on her red velvet cushion, holding in her right hand a golden chalice. Through the window a sliver of moon peeked in, as if to see her final act. The candle flickered, reflecting off of the lifeless, glassy eyes of her two beloved daughters. There was no turning back now. It must be done. As Boadicea swirled the vile liquid she thought of the peaceful times before the Romans, of her rise as a warrior, of her victories, and her troubles; and then of the final blow of the Romans and of her crushing defeat.   

There had been a history of conflict between the Romans and the Iceni.  Almost a hundred years before, in 55 BC, Julius Caesar ordered an invasion against Britain, which had failed. A year later he ordered a second invasion. When he defeated the opposing armies, Julius Caesar withdrew after securing the promise of tribute. Nearly ninety years later, in 43 AD, greedy Claudius led a third invasion against the Celts. It succeeded.  After many horribly violent battles the Romans fashioned the city of Londinium, which became the new capital of Britain. In despair the Iceni kingdom, located to the north of the newly defeated territory, decided to make peace by paying tribute.

For a while there was peace, until Boadicea’s faithful husband, Prasutagus the king of the Iceni, sadly died. While Prasutagus was still alive, Suetonius, the Roman governor of the region, had already been planning to deal treacherously with the Iceni upon the death of their king.  The Romans stole Boadicea’s kingdom and plundered her people’s goods, although the Iceni had been paying tribute. The ruthless Romans also publicly shamed her, as well as her two teenage daughters. Carelessly, Suetonius left the ruins of the Iceni kingdom and traveled west to conquer Wales, leaving the eastern provinces largely undefended. Boadicea, who was greatly enraged by Rome’s treachery, saw her chance for revenge. She pulled together an army of 100,000 British fighters, and then she attacked the undefended Roman territory. She and her wild army burned the three largest cities in Britain. They killed thousands.

Fatefully, there was to be one final battle for Boadicea. Suetonius, who had heard of Boadicea’s victory, left wales, and headed straight back to his undefended territories. At the top of a tall hill the Roman army strategically camped, while some of Suetonius’s men burnt to the ground all the surrounding ripened crops, leaving the Iceni army with nothing to sustain their mortal health. But Boadicea’s anger blinded her to the reality of her situation, and she charged anyway. When her army was finally defeated, many were killed. That night she and her two daughters fled to their palace along hidden pathways, knowing that death was not far behind. The battle was over.

The hooting of a barn owl brought Boadicea back to the present. She sighed. There was no use thinking of those all too wonderful times when she and her husband had only heard rumors of a well-trained army invading lands far away. The owl called again. She remembered when she had made herself a warrior, and then when she had actually attacked Roman provinces. She thought of the things she could have done better, things that wouldn’t have resulted in this. But it was too late now. Though she had led a successful rebellion, she had lost the last battle. Her troops were either all dead or at least wounded. Anger filled Boadicea; she would not be put to shame again! In one swift motion she raised the horrible smelling stuff to her lips. She drank. The goblet clattered to the floor, and Boadicea queen of the Iceni fell, her unkempt flaming red hair streaming out beneath her.    

Happy 10th Birthday, Ruth!

Moderation

Just a quick housekeeping note about the blog. We have put all comments on moderation. We haven't had any trouble yet, and don't really anticipate having any. But this is a family blog and we're extra careful when it comes to our kids. Don't be put off by moderation and don't be surprised if your comment doesn't appear immediately. It takes us a bit of time to read and approve them. We LOVE getting comments!

Beads

I haven't done anything with beads in years. I've been wanting to do some beading lately and I found some beads via freecycle yesterday. This stuff is engrossing and I stayed up way too late weaving a bracelet. Of course, this morning when I added a clasp to my bracelet, a couple of girls wanted to play with beads, too.

I attached a clasp to one end of a piece of plastic coated beading wire for Esther and let her dig around in a bowl of mixed beads. She made a thoroughly Esther-fied necklace.

She particularly wanted me to get a picture of the silver cross with red rhinestones. 

Ruth has a beading kit with a book on right-angle weave (RAW) and she used instructions from that book to make this sweet little bracelet.

She got a little help getting started and putting on the clasp, but she did most of it herself.

Here's my bracelet that started the whole thing.

I used the instructions here: http://whimbeads.com/cart.asp?pg=classroom-peyotechannelbracelet I had to make a few modifications. From here on out I'll be talking technical beading talk, so if you're not interested, now is the time to tune out.

As written and designed the instructions are incorrect. You should not start by stringing an even number of beads, but a number divisible by 4, plus 1. My crystals are oval rather than round - about 4mm x 6 mm. I needed to space them every 6 columns of Peyote stitch rather than every 4, so I needed to string on a multiple of 6, plus 1. I began weaving based on spacing of every 4, and once I realized I needed wider spacing, had to add two columns to the end of the weaving to make the crystals come out even.

I also made a mistake in adding rows of stitching and to fix it I chose to add a row to each side rather than rip out a bunch of work. This was to make sure the crystals were attached to the longer columns of weaving instead of the shorter columns. My bracelet ended up stiff and difficult to bend gracefully around the wrist, and I suspect the extra rows may be partly to blame for this.

Also, if you have it available (I was working from stash), the recommended magnetic clasp will make this MUCH easier to put on. I was not able to put this on myself without help from another person.

Mistakes and all, I love making pretty things.

Leftover Oatmeal Muffins

What to do with leftover oatmeal? Google search, find a muffin recipe, and change it according to what is available in your kitchen. Then blog it so you can find your recipe again.

3 C flour

1/2 C brown sugar

2 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

1 C milk

2 mashed bananas (approx 1 C)

2 eggs

1 C leftover oatmeal

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix wet ingredients in another. Mix dry and wet ingredients together. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake at 350 F for approx 20 minutes. (Our oven is slow - you may need less time than we did.)

Makes 24