Gladiator games and Temple of Isis!

4.2024 Philae, Egypt

HAPPY April 2024!!

Welcome to all the new subscribers to my “once a month” email. Thanks for joining!

FEATURED BOOK

The Little Liar

by Mitch Albom

I have always been a Mitch Albom fan because of his innate ability to create such meaningful passages. I can’t tell you how many times his words have stopped me in place and made a profound impression.

This recent book was no different.

The story begins with a young boy, Nico Krispis, and his reputation for never telling a lie. When events in the world reach his home of Thessaloniki, Greece, and its occupation by Nazis, Nico’s innocence is used by a Nazi leader to try and confuse the Jewish population, including his own family, into believing they are boarding the trains for relocation and that they will receive new homes and jobs.

When Nico learns of the deception, it changes him and we follow his life as he never tells the truth again. Though the story is told from the perspective of four people, TRUTH is actually the narrator and I don’t believe I will ever hear the term “truth be told” again without thinking of this book.

Highly recommend.

5 Stars.

Well-written and engaging story that is difficult to put down!

Writers Update

The 2nd Gentleman of War falls in love July 9th 2024

Gentlemen of War

NEWLY RELEASED!!

“The vast mixture of such men and skills was clearly calculated for the greatest pleasure. A pleasure easily endorsed by the salivating population. All spectators, mostly standing, eagerly awaited the trumpet’s blare to announce the beginning of the contest.”

-The Roman gladiator games (Chapter 5, Prince of Death)

“The Prince of Death takes you on a journey through Arminius' life and his ultimate betrayal. Well written and highly recommended.”

-Amazon Review

Arminius

Travel Adventure of the Month

Philae, Egypt

Philae is an island in Egypt located at the first cataract of the Nile Rilver and known for its historical significance with ancient temples and believed to be the burial place of the god Osiris.

One of the most well known and recorded temples on the island is the Temple of Isis which is mentioned in my current work in progress, “Soul Thief” based in Egypt.

After a short boat ride to the island, the walk around the ancient structures is not lengthy except for being drawn into the beauty of the engravings and architecture.

The detail in the structure, carvings, and etchings is staggering…that, and the fact we can still see a lot of it centuries later.

I can only imagine what this looked like in it’s full grandeur.

This island would be flooded for a portion of the year after the original Aswan dam was built. You can still see some of the flood lines on the structures.

I only had an hour and a half on the island so I wasn’t able to explore every nook, but took as many pictures as I could.

Hieroglyphics in ancient egyptian are read horizontally, vertically, left to right, or right to left. Because the animals are facing left in these images we would read this top to bottom and left to right.

(Some of the images here are the snake-father/him, the eye-do/make and the flag- good/perfect)

When the Christians arrived in Egypt, they tried to erase the belief in multiple gods and chipped away at the temple images. You can see below that their main focus was to remove the face but they tried to reach as many images as possible.

Another image chipped away. One of Isis protecting the pharaoh.

It was a gorgeous day in the middle of the Nile River.

I tried to imagine what it would have been like standing here thousands of years ago seeing this before me.

Carved eaves are found above the high-arched doorways.

These are the hypostyle hall columns in the Temple of Isis with an image of Hathor. There is some debate over Isis and Hathor, both ancient goddesses, and believed to be the mother of Horus as one and the same but worshipped at different times in ancient egypt. You can see in this image that Hathor is depicted with cowlike ears.

Each column tells a story. The vertical ovals are called a cartouche and each shows a name or expression.

I am truly grateful to the country of Egypt for their efforts to preserve their history for us all to experience and enjoy.

Thought of the Day

“Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day.”

-Alice Morse Earle

BUCKET LIST ITEM OF THE MONTH-

#471 Take ten minutes a day for silence. Whether it is a walk, meditation, prayer, or just sitting still. Take that moment to yourself and breathe!

*If you have a bucket list item you want to share, simply reply to this email and include your name and location and I will add it to my list. Have a great month!

*Monthly Giveaway!

Winners of my March Giveaway!!

Thank you all for sharing your favorites about spring, they are my favorites too! The following readers won an ebook of their choice.

Regina C. PA

Vickie W. KS

Robert L. BC Canada

Thank you for following my writing journey.

#leahmoyes