Gifts From Oman

If you are looking for the 'Grow Your Blog', and you may want to, as it contains a giveaway, you will find it here.

My husband's co-worker spent his holidays with his family in Oman.  When my guy heard about the trip, he asked his friend to pick up a few 'touristy' things for his wife.  The wife was not disappointed.  I received a surprise, late, exotic gift, how could I not be excited?

  

For those of you that don't know, and I didn't, Oman is an Arab state in southwest Asia.  It is ethnically diverse with at least 12 different languages being native to the Omanis who live there.  And of course, it is warm there, so jealous of the warmth... .  It is actually very interesting to read about if you have the time.

  

Onto the gifts!  The gorgeous embroidered cloth is actually a turban.  I intend to use it as a table cloth.  The ornate silver thingy is an incense burner.  Along with that goes the frankincense and coal.  The coal comes in bars, and you break off a little, hold a flame to it until it starts to glow red, place it in the burner, and top it with a piece of the frankincense.  It burns the resin and gives off the most wonderful smelling smoke.  

I was a little too successful on my first attempt, and our entire house was a haze of smoke.  But it smelled terrific!  Just rubbing a little piece of the resin in your hands gives off a wonderful scent, and it stays on a long time.  There were also dates, which I couldn't enjoy because I couldn't chew properly after having my wisdom teeth out.

In the spring, I'm going to take the burner and frankincense out to the greenhouse with me.  With the new season, the feel of dirt in my hands, and the smoke from this holy incense, I should be enlightened in no time!

A big thank-you to my husband's co-worker, (I'm so sorry, I have no idea how to spell your name) for taking the time out to do this favor for Todd.  It is greatly appreciated!