There's a shopping area outside the temple grounds, where we walked around for a while. I spotted this GINORMOUS strand of prayer beads, and walked over to take a look and shoot it. Then, I noticed the seller had a variety of prayer beads, and I was very taken by a strand of seeds that I don't think I had ever seen before. I became embroiled with discussing these with the owner, and totally forgot about the really big beads....

I asked what the seeds were called, and didn't really get an answer. But when I pressed the issue, he told me they were called "Demitri" seeds. I said, "they have a Greek name?" He did not seem to understand that what I was hearing sounded "Greek to me." I bought a strand—when I should have bought two or three--but these guys give you such a hard sell, they sometimes defeat their purpose (and yours) by their actions. By pressuring me to buy more, I became determined to just buy one. Such is life. But, oddly, I forgot to shoot the giant prayer beads....

Here are two photos of the "Demitri" prayer beads. If anyone has an idea what seeds or seed-plant these are, I would be delighted to know.

JDA.