Cairo Abstract

A random pink chair, wrought iron railing, red sign in Arabic and the reflections in the car window were caught by the Elf. I'm not even quite sure where.

Protection in The Mean Streets

Traffic in Cairo is unkind and this gentleman has taken a page from Don Quixote, venturing forth with a long squeegee to defend himself and his bicycle from encroaching automobiles. Actually, he probably just bought it and is taking it home, but I'd probably use it for protection.

Cairo Sidewalks....

only exist in our dreams and a few other places. The easiest place to walk in Cairo is normally in the road, a fact that contributes greatly to our traffic chaos. And then when a Cairene travels abroad we have to either learn about or remember the concept of "jaywalking".

Southern Food Comes To Giza

One of my grooms came to me with a bunch of fairly green tomatoes. He wanted to know what to do with them and I decided to make a batch of fried green tomatoes. I modified the recipe a bit adding garlic powder, turmeric and some cumin to the corn meal and dipped the tomato slices in a baladi egg beaten with rayeb. The reviews were mixed but I sure liked them.

Pots in Sand

Out in the desert west of Sakkara there is a hollow in some hills where hundreds of broken pots lie. I don't know if they have been left there by more modern people or if for some ancient people left them there. So I just leave them there.

The Ladies Of The Chorus

My friend Pat Canfield was in the area of Khan el Khalili not long ago for a tour of some newly renovated Mameluke buildings and took this shot in passing. While the building behind the girls is quite old, they are anything but. Some lovely photos of the places she visited can be seen on my Living In Egypt blog.

Watching the Door

The Photography Elf was waiting for me to do something at a friend's place the other day and noticed this statue at a garden gate. Nice catch.

Canal Boat

A farmer and his son attend to fishing nets in a quiet canal. There are plenty of Nile perch in the canals. I'm not sure I'd want to eat them with the levels of runoff...but I haven't seen anyone die from them.

Anyone Seen The Tin Man?

Every now and then someone builds a scarecrow out of some old clothes that makes you stop and say "What was that?"

Fat Tail Sheep

When I'm taking people out trail riding here in the Nile Valley, I usually have to answer a pretty funny question: "What's wrong with your sheep? What's that big thing hanging down behind?" The second question is often delivered in a tone of voice that indicates that the speaker isn't completely sure that they want to know. In fact, our sheep have these huge fat tails, quite ugly looking I think. But people here like them.