Did I dream? I'm sure I did, but I can't remember now. I woke early and added one more photo to the Renaissance Faire collection. Then off to tasks. We got groceries for the week, put them away and dashed off to the theater for Monuments Men. The low score at RottenTomatoes puzzled me, but I was curious enough to not let that deter me. I wanted to learn about the heroic efforts of the Allied team of museum directors, curators, and art historians who quickly had to learn how to fight like soldiers in order to rescue artwork the Nazis had stolen. Both Julia and I enjoyed the film immensely. I didn't find it "stiffly nostalgic" nor did I find the narrative "curiously slack". I don't think this is merely because I majored in Art History in college and have written an art historical book about the iconography of the god Set (aka Sutekh).

Okay, maybe my passionate interest in art and its perservation has had some influence in my reaction to the movie. Nevertheless, if you like a good tale about heroic efforts of memorable characters, you'll like this movie.

We exited the movie theater feeling quite hungry. Where to go? Julia suggested Old Town. We hadn't eaten at the Garden Café in ages, and the weather was perfect for dining outside. We splurged, eating all kinds of food not normally in our diet, cheesy tortilla soup, cheesy quiche and later... Oh yes, there was later! Julia was longing for draft beer, and after an amble through some antique shops, we stopped at the Pinthouse. I probably had more of the apple cider than she did, but I didn't care for her other choices, one taste, and she had those two glasses all to herself. We also had a 'dessert' of a pizza-like flatbread dish, less doughy than regular pizza and very tasty.

We had seen a teapot at one of the shops earlier, and Julia remembered it with nostalgia, as it had come from her childhood city. Alas, the shop was closed! But other shops were open, including one we hadn't explored. I was surprised to find a beautiful brass goddess statue standing in a group of other brass pieces. I wasn't sure who it represented. But I carried it around the store, to give it a chance to 'speak' to me. I could sense some 'speaking'. Did the Egyptian Ma'at like it? Was it a fit gateway for transcultural Astarte? A sense of the capacity to right wrongs, a sense of power, I could sense both of those. I couldn't leave the statue there.

So home it came! I picked Julia's brain, did she recognize the headdress? She suggested Parvati, and I got to basic 'superficial' research. Okay, maybe not so 'superficial', as no doubt many interested and educated parties may have had influence in the Wiki page.

"Goddess of Power, Creation and Victory of Good over Evil", oh yes, I'd sensed that!