Archive for the 'Life, Writing & Books' Category
Monday, May 12th, 2008
Mr. Matthews fell ill on Wednesday night and was sick much of the weekend. Between nursing him back to health and keeping up with the children’s many sports activities, the weekend flew by. Add to that the beginning of the May/June/July birthday party season and it’s just a social whirl these days.
Still, I managed to finish the last of the baby quilts for the recent order I received. I know, I know – it’s just squares. But I made the top to go with the back.
How cute is the back??
Terry Odell, fellow Cerridwen author awarded me a Blogging With a Purpose award over the weekend – a very pleasant surprise. There are days that I feel like I’m here talking to myself so it’s always nice to know that someone, somewhere out there is dropping by from time to time and that they like what they see.
The rules state that I in turn have to award the honor to five more blogs. Since Terry already has it, she’s out  My five picks, in no particular order:
Anny Cook’s blog – Anny not only entertains with serial stories but her insights into human nature are thought provoking. She’s not nicknamed the Zen Queen for nothing.
Shelley Munro’s blog – Shelley’s blog keeps us up to date on her writing news and introduces us to many other wonderful authors with whom she is acquainted. I particularly enjoy the glimpses of New Zealand she shares from time to time.
Killer Fiction – this is a group blog for six Dorchester romantic suspense / mystery authors. These ladies are seriously funny and I drop by there often to see what wacky thing they will share next.
Postcards from Cairo – the blog of world class quilter Jenny Bowker. She writes about her life in Cairo and I found this blog seriously helpful when I was preparing to move to Egypt myself. She doesn’t blog as often as I would wish, but when she does, she does it very well indeed.
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books – a blog that entertains, informs and in spite of its name celebrates the romance genre in a serious way. I don’t always have to agree with them to love them.
None of these blogs need an award from me to know they are great. But I hope that maybe they too will enjoy receiving a little outside affirmation.
How was your weekend?
Posted in Life, Writing & Books, quilting | 5 Comments »
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Thursday, May 8th, 2008
Mother’s Day is Sunday. I admit it, I almost forgot. But in my defense, Mother’s Day in Egypt and in England is in March – my children go to British school and have already made me cards so I sort of felt like I had already “done” the holiday. I’m not sure my own mother would agree!
Speaking of my mother, she sent me this yesterday and I thought it was an appropriate time to share. I can tick most of these off as lessons well learned – I’m sure my own children can as well!
Don’t forget to stop by over the weekend. Anny Cook will be here talking about some of the challenges a writer of fantasy faces when building a whole new world for her characters.
I OWE MY MOTHER
1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
‘If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside.
I just finished cleaning.’
2.
My mother taught me RELIGION.
‘You better pray that will come out of the carpet.’
3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
‘If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!’
4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
‘ Because I said so, that’s why.’
5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC. ‘If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you’re not going to the store with me.’
6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
‘Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident.’
7. My mother taught me IRONY.
‘Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry about.’
8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
‘Shut your mouth and eat your supper.’
9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM ..
‘Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!’
10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
‘You’ll sit there until all that spinach is gone.’
11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
‘This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.’
12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
‘If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Don’t exaggerate!’
13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
‘I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.’
14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
‘Stop acting like your father!’
15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
‘There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have wonderful parents like you do.’
16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
‘Just wait until we get home.’
17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
‘You are going to get it when you get home!’
18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
‘If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way.’
19. My mother taught me ESP.
‘Put your sweater on; don’t you think I know when you are cold?’
20. My mother taught me HUMOR.
‘When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.’
21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
‘If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.’
22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
‘You’re just like your father.’
23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
‘Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?’
24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
‘When you get to be my age, you’ll understand.’
25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
‘One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you
Posted in humor, Life, Writing & Books, motherhood | 3 Comments »
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Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
My children most generously shared their cold with me so my head is foggy, my nose drippy and my energy zapped. Not only can’t I write, but I’m quilt blocked as well (get it??) I have one more boy quilt to make to complete the order for four I recently received, and I’ve got nothing – no inspiration.
Not even for blogging really. So instead of writing anything witty I though I’d show you my Cornflakes box. It’s the same…but different. (Click on the image to enlarge)
Now I understand why, in this part of the world, they are stating that there are no bacon bits in the Cornflakes but what’s up with the barley alert? Anyone?
Posted in Just for Fun, Life, Writing & Books, living in egypt | 2 Comments »
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Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
I went to my favorite vegetable stand to pick up a bundle leeks which cost me approximately US$0.60. I arrived during their breakfast but didn’t have time to stay and share. I walked out with my leeks, a bag of foul (fava bean dip) and a tamaiya sandwich (like falafel). Not bad for US$0.60! And the sandwich was delicious.
While walking back from swimming, I witnessed a low speed traffic accident in which a car broadsided an SUV at an intersection. Both drivers got out to inspect damage – then began to load up detached headlights and bumpers into their respective vehicles before they went their separate ways. Every man for himself!
The day began bright and sunny, suddenly became dark and gloomy as a sand storm struck, and then ended bright and sunny.
Never a dull moment!
What’s on in your corner of the world?
Posted in Life, Writing & Books, living in egypt | 2 Comments »
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Monday, May 5th, 2008
I haven’t mentioned my book club lately because they went silent on me. We met in March to discuss the previous month’s selection and adjourned with the plan to find out which of the proposed titles were actually available locally (the bookstores here in Cairo are not always all I could wish for) . Haven’t heard from anyone since.
And I admit it’s something of a relief. While I liked the getting-together-and-chatting aspect of the group, I’ve only really liked one of the three books we read as a group – one I loathed and one was merely meh.
A friend of mine recently loaned me her copy of The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I know I’m way behind reading this one, but honestly, I was reluctant. First of all, I heard way too much hype about it when it was released. Second, time travel? I like linear story lines. In my mind, I likened the time travel aspect to The Matrix – a movie I still just don’t “get”.
At any rate, I took the book along with me when we went to Luxor because if it had nothing else going for it, at least it’s long.
I. Loved. It.
You know how when you hear how wonderful a movie is, then you see it and think, “Hmmm…well, it was okay. But it wasn’t that great. What was the all the hype about?” Maybe because I was expecting to be let down, I was pleasantly surprised. Or maybe it’s just that the book is *that* good.
Unlike the books I’ve read for my book club, the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife wasn’t trying to show off her massive vocabulary or her ability to write cleverly crafted prose. The story was written in a refreshingly straight forward manner. There was some back and forth in the plot – it is time travel after all – but it was never difficult to follow. At the root of it, it’s a love story – the story of Clare and Henry and how they meet…and meet again. The characters were beautifully drawn and it wasn’t hard to suspend disbelief to enter their world at all. In fact, it was much more difficult for me to leave it.
I’m going to have to buy my own copy because this one is definitely a keeper.
Reading The Time Traveler’s Wife brought to mind a movie I’d seen as a child “Somewhere in Time” with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour – lovers separated by time. The details of the movie are fuzzy now but I do remember absolutely loving that movie. I haven’t seen it since it came out but I have an urge to track it down now. Guess I like time travel stories more than I realized…
Posted in book reviews, Life, Writing & Books | 4 Comments »
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Thursday, May 1st, 2008
There are so many things to see in and around Luxor that unless you have a lot of time to explore, it can be hard to fit them all in. On our third day, we opted to arrange for a guided tour that included the colossi of Memnon, the Valley of the Queens, the Valley of the Kings, and the funerary temple of Hatshepsut.
Our first stop was at the colossi of Memnon. They are large. It might just be me but they remind me a little of the stormtroopers from Starwars. Or maybe it’s the other way round!
This one is made of one solid piece of stone
 This guy had pigeons nesting in his cracks 
Villagers working in the field right next to the colossi. It’s astonishingly lush between the Nile and where the Valley of the Kings starts.
Our next stop was the Valley of the Queens & children. There are several tombs here but they are not all open at the same time and the price of admission will only get you into a couple.
Unfortunately Nefartari’s tomb, the most magnificent of them, was not open when we visited. Also unfortunately, there is a no photo rule inside the tombs. You’ll just have to take my word for it that the ones we saw, the tombs of Amunherkhepshep and his mother, were wonderful.
We went next to the funerary temple of Hatshepsut, the mother-in-law of Tuthmosis III, who ruled Egypt as a pharoah for 20 years. The temple was vandalized by a number of other pharoahs, including Thuthmosis III who removed all the images of Hatshepsut he could find. This temple was also the site of the 1997 Luxor Massacre.
Hathor Chapel
 The still visible painted reliefs, with stars on the ceiling 
Each column along the front of the temple had a figure such as these. Many have been removed or have been damaged
From here we went to the Valley of the Kings. For the price of our admission we were allowed to visit three of the open tombs. We visited Ramses I, Ramses III, and Horemheb.
King Tut’s tomb is open but requires a separate (and expensive) entrance ticket. Because he was so young when he died, his tomb is rather small and simple by comparison to the others and all of his impressive treasure has been removed to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
  Steps leading down into Ramses I tomb Once again, no photos inside. I bought a package of lovely oversized postcards to make up for it.
 Howard Carter’s house, on a hill near the entrance of the Valley of the Kings.  Each of the dark openings on the hillside is a tomb in the Valley of the Nobles. We could have spent our entire stay looking at tombs and still not seen them all!
On our last day in Luxor we decided to take it easy and just relax. So we took the hotel shuttle boat into town, just to get out on the river. I love boats and this was a fascinating way to pass the time.
 A ferry boat for local people, loading up on the west bank of the Nile. 
Some village boys having a swim
A small simple house on the Nile
 Valley of the Kings as seen from the water We spent the rest of the day lounging next to the pool at our hotel. It was no hardship!
 As you might imagine, the kid’s pool was a huge hit with the children! 
The “infinity” pool at the hotel. It looks as if the pool just flows right into the Nile – or that a felucca (sailboat) is sailing in the pool!
In short, the trip was amazing. Is it any wonder that I’m having some trouble getting my head back to the reality of every day life? The kids are back in school next week for all of May and June – thank goodness! I am very close to finishing my WIP and I really need to buckle down and just do it!
Don’t forget to stop by over the weekend. Chris Power will be here talking about whether it’s better to write a story for a market or write a story for yourself. See you!
Posted in Life, Writing & Books, living in egypt, Travel | 6 Comments »
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Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
We fully intended on getting up and out early on our second day. The heat of the day was enervating – hovering close to 110F by midday. It was closer to midmorning by the time we got ourselves organized to go out, but we didn’t let it stop us. We were determined to see the Temple of Karnak.
It wasn’t an easy outing. We took the shuttle boat from our hotel into town, intending to then take a taxi. I only thought the taxi drivers in Cairo were obnoxious. I *almost* had to admire the relentlessness with which we were pursued by taxi drivers and horse drawn carriages – I say almost because it reached a point where their aggressive haggling was scaring the children. Why didn’t we just take a taxi as intended? Because for a time every driver we encountered was asking 3x the normal rate for the ride. We did eventually find a more reasonable driver but only after having walked about 1/3 of the way ourselves.
 The entrance to the Temple of Karnak is lined with rams headed sphinxes. And you know I took more pictures!! It’s just amazing to think that these were each individually made.  I love the small people figures below the beards.  I was lucky to get so many nice pictures that make it look as if we had the place to ourselves – in fact, this is what it looked like in the hypostyle hall – the heat did not deter anyone!  There are 134 massive columns in the hypostyle hall, each heavily decorated with hyroglyphics. This was once roofed and also ornately painted. It’s hard to imagine when it’s already so lovely as it is. 
Here you can see a bit of the remaining painted ceiling.
 And here is a bit of modern graffiti – added only the day before our visit. I’ll never understand what moves people to deface ancient ruins…  The sacred lake.  A lovely stairway to a now vanished area of the temple complex  A tranquil temple near the rear of the complex where you can still see the remains of paint on the columns and roof. It took us a while to get back this far so we had it mostly to ourselves.  The end of the temple complex – but apparently not the end of the temple. According to our Lonely Planet guide book, this temple was once connected to the Temple of Luxor by a 3km avenue lined with sphinxes – most of which lies beneath the modern city of Luxor. Imagine what that must have looked like! I really could have taken pictures of sphinxes all day!
Alas, we did not get to see the sound and light show in the evening. Perhaps the next time we are in Luxor.
Tomorrow: Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, and the Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir al-Bahri plus bonus pictures from along the Nile.
Posted in Life, Writing & Books, living in egypt, Travel | 3 Comments »
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Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
My husband isn’t a big fan of flying so even though we could have traveled to Luxor in an hour by plane, we opted to take the sleeper train – in spite of the fact that it was more expensive. I don’t mind flying but the train appealed in an Agatha Christie sort of way so I agreed.
It was an adventure, I’ll give it that. The beds were comfortable enough but I got very little sleep. If it wasn’t the children waking up and fussing, the train itself kept slamming on the brakes and stopping. We arrived in Luxor at 7am, two hours later than scheduled, unrefreshed. But we were there.
It was hot, even at that early hour. But it wasn’t going to get any cooler as the day progressed, so after checking in at our hotel, we grabbed our hats and some water and headed out to the Temple of Luxor.
(Click on any of the images to view them larger)
 There is an avenue of sphinxes to the left as you enter – I suppose it was the original entrance to the temple. For some reason, the sphinxes on one side were much better preserved than the others. Maybe they were buried? I could have taken pictures of sphinxes all day. I love that their faces are all different.
 
Love the Mona Lisa smile on this one!
A statue as you enter the temple. The scale of everything was huge!
 My son is an orange speck in the distance. As if the size and scale of this wasn’t impressive enough, imagine that all of the hieroglyphs used to be painted and many of the columns and statues were plated in gold and silver.
The Romans left their mark too. At one point, when they were rulers of Egypt, they used the Temple of Luxor as a fortress and treasury. They plastered over the hieroglyphs and painted their own images there. And amazingly, some of them are still visible.
 It wasn’t just pharaohs and Romans who made contributions to the temple.
Here we have some ancient graffiti.
We spent about an hour exploring in the temple before we ran out of water and energy and took ourselves off to lunch and back to the hotel for an afternoon of relaxation.
Tomorrow: Temple of Karnak.
Posted in Life, Writing & Books, living in egypt, Travel | 9 Comments »
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Monday, April 28th, 2008
I’m b-a-a-c-k! In fact we only walked in the door a short time ago – and my equilibrium is still in tune with the train. Ten hours on a train will do that. Have to get my land legs back!
I had a fantastic weekend and will be posting some photos in the coming week. But for now, congratulations to Eilis – you won a pdf copy of One Juror Down. Drop me an email and I’ll send it to you ASAP.
Posted in Life, Writing & Books | 3 Comments »
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Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
It’s been heating up over the last week and yesterday was a scorcher, with a hot dry wind out of the desert. How hot was it? My daughter has a fluffy white teddy bear that had turned gray from the general everyday grime of life in Cairo. I washed it last night and set it out on the drying rack outside.
Two hours later it was bone dry and fluffy again. Definitely good drying weather – if you like the crispy look.
I am going to be spending the day packing, preparing for our weekend trip to Luxor. It’s going to be even hotter there – up near 110F most days / 70sF at night. Our plan is to go out early in the morning and see one site, then return to the hotel and spend the afternoon in and around the swimming pool. Evening site seeing will also be an option – if we feel like it. Frankly, I’m ready for a little leisure.
I won’t be around, but don’t forget to stop by over the weekend. Heather Hiestand will be here talking about her book Two on the Hunt. Leave a comment for Heather and you could win a pdf copy of her book One Juror Down.
Have a great weekend!
Posted in Life, Writing & Books, living in egypt, Travel | 3 Comments »
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