Issue #15: Of Turning Leaves & Temples
The smell of apples and petrichor, the felling of a famous tree, and an Egyptian temple in America.
Ah, it’s my favorite time of the year! I always joke I was born a polar bear, being from the frigid climes of Wisconsin. I love the turning leaves, the crunch of a fresh honeycrisp apple, the smell of pumpkin and crunchy leaves, the crackling of a fire, all the spooky Halloween decorations, and so much more.
I recently traveled to a local apple orchard, and though autumn hasn’t blessed Pennsylvania with its splendid raiment of scarlet, bronze, umber, and russet, it still was a lovely time to enjoy apple-picking and petrichor (because goodness knows it rained for a solid week!).
From Around the Web
On September 27, at least two individuals destroyed a very prominent sycamore tree that grew in a gap in Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. The nearly 200-year-old tree, planted by landowner John Clayton, featured in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The National Trust has removed the venerable plant’s remains, has installed a fence around the stump, harvested and protected seeds, and is now working to determine how to move forward. (via BBC)
The American Museum of Natural History announced that it will remove all human remains currently on display and will rectify its care of the approximately 12,000 human remains in its collection. ‘“Human remains collections were made possible by extreme imbalances of power," museum president Sean M. Decatur stated in a letter sent to staff and obtained by the New York Times. "Moreover, many researchers in the 19th and 20th centuries then used such collections to advance deeply flawed scientific agendas rooted in white supremacy — namely the identification of physical differences that could reinforce models of racial hierarchy.”’ Other institutions such as the Peabody Museum at Harvard and the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia face or have faced similar reckonings, and it remains to be seen how other museums will respond to the questionable ethics of owning, curating, and displaying human remains in the future. (via Art & Object)
My bestie over at Badgerland Budgeting writes on budgeting trends and how a one-size-fits-all approach to budgeting isn’t feasible as everyone shares different values, goals, and resources. (via Substack)
Book of the Week: King Alfred’s Daughter
I have yet to post the review here, but a couple of weeks ago, I posted a review on the TBH blog about one of the best books I’ve read this year: King Alfred’s Daughter by British author David Stokes. In King Alfred’s Daughter, Stokes suffuses meticulous research with vibrant storytelling to tell the story of Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians (c. 870 – June 12, 918).
The daughter of King Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith, Æthelflæd lives during a tumultuous time in history, fraught with volatile geopolitics, the slow but progressive creation of a unified England, and Viking raids. Our tenacious, intelligent, devout, and occasionally naïve heroine must step into the boots of her legendary father and fulfill his dream: uniting the Anglo-Saxon peoples under one leader.
Thanks much to Mr. Stokes for a copy of this novel!
Artifact of the Week: The Temple of Dendur
Did you know that the Metropolitan Museum in New York City has an Egyptian temple as part of its collections? No? Well, see below!
The temple dates to the time of Augustus Caesar, and it was situated on the western bank of the Nile, southwest of modern-day Aswan. The Roman Emperor commissioned the temple’s construction as a gift to the local Nubian people in the hopes they would view Roman rule favorably. Augustus dedicated the temple to the goddess Isis and the brothers Pedesi and Pihor, sons of a local Nubian ruler.
Interestingly, this temple came to the Met not through any underhanded dealings (see, the Elgin Marbles), but rather as a gift from Egypt. It was given to the United States government from Egypt in 1965 after the U.S. assisted in a campaign to record archaeological finds and remove temples prior to the construction of the Aswan High Dam. In turn, the U.S. government awarded it to the Met in 1967.
Thank you again for your patience and for reading this letter. Now that things have settled down for me, keep an eye out in your inbox every Friday for fresh new copies of Musings!
Cheers,