Makes a great gift!

[essentialsaltes]

When the Tut exhibit was at LACMA, I picked up a copy of Howard Carter's The Tomb of Tutankhamen, which was written for a popular audience during the time he was in Egypt overseeing the excavation. Despite writing for the popular audience, there are many dry stretches separating the oases of great interest. So only a lukewarm recommendation from me. However, one passage is, I think, worth sharing:

Perhaps one of the most curious objects among this funerary equipment was found in a large oblong box in the south-west corner of the room, under some of the shrine-shaped chests. This object, commonly known to us as a germinated figure of Osiris, or Osiris-bed, comprises a wooden frame moulded in the form of that god, hollowed out, lined with linen, filled with silt from the Nile bed, and planted with corn. This was moistened; the grain germinated, and the inanimate form became green and living, thus symbolizing the resurrection of Osiris and of the deceased. This life-size effigy was completely wrapped in linen winding-sheets and bandaged in the like manner as a mummy.

Can you say.... Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia Osiris?

Speaking of great gifts, I was prowling amazon, looking at their gift ideas. They had them organized into different categories: for dad, for grandma, etc. One option was unusual gifts. My faves were the chocolate gun and the gigantic rat.