Still playing with the light diffuser box:

That’s a pot we picked up in Ephesus, in 2010, during our honeymoon. One of the better stops on a terrific trip. I wrote about it:

Mustafa then took us to the house of Jesus’ mother. This is believed, by some, to be where she lived her final years. John was said to have had the house built here because he was preaching in the area and this was one of the safer non-Christian cities available to them. (Others disagree and believe Mary lived and died in Jerusalem.)

So the story goes that a 19th Century nun had a vision of a location of the house. Her description led a researcher to this spot, but his discovery didn’t gain much attention. The place was subsequently re-discovered a decade later, ruins were uncovered and, in the 1950s, the modern house was built there. A red line on the structure is meant to demonstrate the original building and the new structure.

Since then it has become an important pilgrimage for many. Muslims and Christians alike come here, viewing the place as an important religious destination. There’s a stream running under the house, from which you can drink of the sacred waters.

We put water from the stream into these vessels but, being untreated terra cotta, it just drained away.

Haircut today. Basic general grocery store – drug store errands. Had a short ride and an easy mile run. We’re racing tomorrow. This is the weather:

Isn’t that lovely? I’m not fit enough to race in weather like that, mostly because it has been to hot to train a lot. So tomorrow will be fun.

We got a hotel room just across from the race. (It is an out-of-town event.) We’re going to ride our bikes, in the dark, to the starting line tomorrow. We have lights for that. Because we’re those people … The riding to a race people … The riding in the dark with lights people … That also means we’re riding back to the room after the race people … And so on.