ST JOHN BASILLICA, HAPPY HOUR, THE EVIL EYE.

 

We bused to the Basilica of St. John the Apostle of Jesus who is thought to have written the Book of Revelations and the Fourth Gospel of the Bible while in Ephesus. And, what happened to Mary after Jesus rose from the dead and left his legacy to the Apostles? Turkey has this amazing Christian and Moslem background. Mary’s house, where she lived near St. John’s Basilica, is close by but not very accessible. Usla told us it is very remote, very small despite it’s historic importance, and is always mobbed.

Unlike other ruins, this one was built of part marble and part warm brick and stone giving it great beauty. Emperor Justinian built it in the 6th Century over the original, humble, Church of St. John, and copied after a famous Church in Constantinople.


The outside walls were not meant to be a fortress nor impregnable. Flowers invade adding another layer of beauty.


Beautiful marble pieces lay about. I’d love to have a piece of carved marble in my yard.

A small, cross shaped pool is for baptizing the faithful, both adults and newborns.



St. John’s  tomb is here.


Noticeably located on a hill, The Basilica once dominated the city Skyline, seen behind Joel and Maria. The hill is a bit over two miles from the Ephesus ruins.


The frescoes were at one time exposed to rain and sun and are in terrible shape. They are roofed over and protected now, but restoration is a slow process.

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History in layers can be seen in this part of the complex, various kinds of stone, brick and restorations. It was a lovely ruin, not quite as intimidating as the massive Ephesus.


Bused to the beautiful Kismit Hotel at Kusadsai Aydin, with lovely balconies overlooking the Agean Sea and our first hours-long stretch of free time. Gina suggested we all gather in the garden before dinner for Happy Hour. Several of us walked to a local supermarket and bought drinks and snacks for Happy Hour, rather than pay high prices at the bar.  Owen made a phone call and talked to his dad.

Gina, Joan B. and others over the two day stay here managed to get in a chilly swim on a private beech.


The Kistmit is an old historic hotel having hosted Kings, Queens, Presidents and many famous people over the years. Their pictures cover the lobby and hall walls. The lobby is also loaded with antiques like this bench.


Antiques like old phones, radios, film making equipment, brass coffee servers and so on decorate the common rooms.

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The lobby is lighted by a beautiful rotunda.


Buffets in every hotel we stayed are munificent, and I began to realize and brag that I had eaten fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and yoghurt at every breakfast since arriving in Turkey. I love that combo.


Before leaving this lovely place, I took a picture of the God’s Eye at the entrance.

Decorating a marble pillar at the entrance is a God’s Eye Hanging. They are meant to ward off evil. Every building, shop, cafe, hotel, every home and business in Turkey has a God’s Eye. People wear them as earrings, necklaces, pin them on little children, attach them to fence posts,  book marks…everywhere you go, you see the God’s Eye. All pervasive,  some of them hang on five foot ropes and are as big as dinner plates.  After awhile you forget how unique they are. And, now, I could kick myself for not taking more pictures of God’s Eyes, a unique, cultural tradition in Turkey.

CELEBRATING NEW BEGINNINGS

The goldrush town of Jamestown is near enough to Murphys to stroll and spend an hour or two. We walked the town and took some pictures. The light was bright and imposing and warming for a coldish November day. Casting long shadows on flagstones. When I moved to the motherlode, both ends of town still had remnants of their old boardwalk. Gone, now.

The town wasn't exactly proud of its entrepreneur founder, but finally decided to recognize John James for whom the town is named. Something everyone smiles about now. At least he didn't get run out of town with tar and feathers. (Double click the photo)

The town burned down in 1885 so the oldest buildings date from 1887.

This tree, the owner of the building behind it, told me  was in an old picture of when his building was being built in 1887.

It is an evergreen that I don't recognize. He didn't know either.

Don't you just love that there was a time when people found it desirable and worth the time to make utilitarian objects, like door handles, so beautiful?

Jamestown is well known for its antique stores, there are many, and we poked around looking for a small table I would like to place next to my living room window. I found two I liked, but wasn't bright enough to bring accurate measurements. They looked to be the right size?

One store had this line of hanging animal traps with the sign at the bottom unreadable until I loaded my pictures into the computer. Not much of a deterrent to theft if you can't see it.

Economic recovery is slower in the mother lode than the cities. And we all worry about it. The Antiques stores are holding well, but several restaurants were gone. The Willow has been a landmark in Jamestown since before I arrived. I used to like their fondue, but I haven't eaten there in years, and we didn't stop for lunch because neighbor Jan was having a pot luck celebrating new beginnings, thanking her helpful friends.
It was afternoon of a day with a new moon, a new housemate for Jan, new opportunities for Leslie and...by chance, a new heart for a neighbor. The transplant was the day before yesterday.

Jan's friend, Dixie, is a Wiccan believer and she lit a sage smoker and gave voice to a spell for all of us, for new beginnings, prosperity and good health.

I was wearing a necklace that assumes any shape you put it in. Leslie turned it into the ying/yang life sign for me.  Dixie read an invocation and we all said a prayer for our hospitalized neighbor. Heart transplants seem common, but when it happens to someone you know, you suddenly realize how miraculous it is. We also remembered the person who donated a heart that someone else may live. Amen!

MYSTERY ANTIQUES, PEND OREILLE COUNTY MUSEUM.

My daughter-in-law sent me a picture of an item from an antique store. The store owner couldn’t identify the object.  Laurie thought, since I go to so many museums, I might be able to help.  Well folks, I’m at a loss. I hope somebody out there might know what it is. (You can click on it to enlarge the picture.)

Same item with the cover closed. I can’t even figure out how the cover closed? It sort of reminds me of a catering dish of some sort.

We zapped through the panhandle of Idaho, with a night at Sand Point, and slipped into Washington State at Newport. The Pend Oreille County Museum there is a terrific visit, not only because of the great collections and multiple buildings, but because the docents are so friendly and helpful. I couldn’t identify the item above and the docent demonstrated it for me. There was no tag because they don’t know what it is either? We both laughed. It has a bellows and obviously puffs something  out of the rather large hole at the point. But, what? If you know, please satisfy our curiosity.

Then she took me over to a cabinet of items they have not been able to identify. They are numbered and she has set out a paper and pen for people to guess what they might be. #10 looks like it could be a nail puller, except it doesn’t look strong enough. # 7 isn’t a bell. It has two big screws on one side of it.
I turned it around to the opposite side for a better look.

The inner works of #5 make me think it could be a telephone lineman’s test kit?

This Springfield Morgan Envelope Company gadget is not an envelope opener.  The handle on the right lifts up and down. The gadget is all hand-operated and a mystery?

#’s 6 and 8?  Six resembles a honey dipper without the knob on the end. Eight resembles a wool carder or maybe an animal grooming tool?

The copper comb, you can’t tell it has fine teeth, has a heat protected handle and might be a hair straightener or curler?  #4, a possible gear, definitely a machine part.  (Sorry the picture is so poor.)

These home made tools didn’t have a tag either? Maybe fruit pickers like apples or cherries.  But, apples and cherries have spurs. These gadgets would damage the spurs.

One item the docents make and sell in the gift shop is this “button buzzer”. a toy my generation of kids made and played with. She likes educating visiting children about such gadgets.  She told me that kids today, some of them, have never even seen a dial phone.  We had fun.

The museum is a complex of preserved buildings like this settlers cabin.

Two small chapels. This one room for one person for private meditation with an altar and stained glass windows.

This chapel has two pews enough to seat four people.

This was a first for me. A root cellar. I thought, how nice. You can walk in through doors like a little house and get into the root cellar. Except, this one didn’t go underground like they were meant to be. Maybe, in a winter clime, they prevent food from spoiling by freezing. In Michigan as a child, the root cellar was underground and held potatoes, cabbage, turnips, carrots, rutabagas and apples. Mostly root vegetables. Thus the name.  A sloped piece of tin kept the snow from blocking the cellar doors. Down the musty steps and onto a dirt floor with hay bales holding boxes of good stuff.

This cabin chimney is stone at the bottom.
Above the stone, the chimney is wood strips with cement between them. A fire hazard? Naw! Nobody thought it dangerous.

Because on the inside of that cabin is the only part that touched fire with a generous (joking) hearth. Oh,my.

There are about a dozen buildings, plus three giant sheds like this with much to see.

These docents joked that the woman was doing all the work while the men stood around and watched. She was making a flower bed around the ice house. There is a fire look out, a train car with signals and stuff, farm machinery, a dynamite shack and…you just have to see it for yourself. Nice, nice place. Two big buildings with the collections.

I saw a lot of things I’d never seen before and this easy to use sock making machine I had never even heard of before.

The all volunteer staff of docents  knew how to make a sock. Super! The docents made this such a fun place to visit.

After the museum, we met Jim’s friends that live in Newport,  Jim and Sharon Davison. Jim and Jim spent the winter of 2001-2002 deep in the Baja, a six month small caravan of RVing friends. They share a lot of memories of that trip to Mexico. And, as it turned out. Sharon has volunteered for the Museum and provided the church doors for one of the little churches. Jim says, the only trouble with living on the road is you see your friends so infrequently.