Sand Sifters and Floor Coverers

It's a problem in the countryside. We live in an area where the most common surface for a road is sand or dirt. People wander in and out of homes all the time and the dust blows in from the desert. Stone or tile floors are cold and hard, and in village homes most people sit on the floor rather than on furniture. Rugs are nice but they collect sand and dust and really hard to clean, so these woven plastic mats are a great solution to the floor covering problem. They provide a bit of cushioning, a bit of warmth and the sand and dust just sift their way through the mat to the floor surface. The mats can be rolled up, the sand swept out, and you are good to go. When you want to wash them, all it takes is a hose and few minutes to let them dry in the sun. AND they are quite cheap.

Riverfront Property

Along the riverside that parallels the island of Zamalek are lined old houseboats, one of the more exotic and romantic varieties of housing available in Cairo. These are near the northern tip of the island along the Giza shore. It looks more like a resort than one of the craziest cities on the planet.

Living In Tents

For years I've noticed a group of people who would appear here in our area with herds of cattle and unusual patterns of dressing. They often split up into small groups of cattle who graze on the stubble of the corn fields and they told me that they were from Zagazig in Sharkeya province. On our ride to Dahshur we came upon this camp under the palms near the lakebed. Our hostess for lunch told me that these were the cattle people, a group of Bedouin who travel throughout Egypt in a huge loop and have a base of sorts near Zagazig. The army apparently rents the lakebed to a man who has been harvesting the reeds from it until the last couple of years when the lake wasn't filled. This year he rented the lakebed as grazing land for a few weeks to the Bedouin.

Fluffing Up The Pillows

 

I'd bet anything that most people can't identify that machine. It's a cotton fluffer for pillows and mattresses. The traditional mattresses are filled with cotton and every few years the fluffer man comes around to re-fluff the mattresses.

 

Creativity

A traditional component of most village homes is a mastaba, a bench on the front of the home where the family can sit in the cool of the evening or in the morning sun. Many of them are simply painted concrete, but the owners of this home took fragments of tile to create this image of lotus flowers.

Getting The Dome Straight

One of the loveliest aspects of house design is the dome and it is built with the aid of a long rod attached to a point in the center of the room which gradually measures the decreasing circle. There are no artificial supports in place.

The Golden Island

Every time I cross the Nile on the Moneeb bridge I see Dahab Island under the bridge and I think how wonderful it would be to explore it on foot or horseback. It is truly exquisitely beautiful.

Lines

When they built this house they left the rebar sticking out of the wall for some reason. I have no idea why since they bothered to stucco the outside of the building as well. But the shadows of the bars echo the electric lines passing by.

Woman And Goat

This is simply one of the most lovely photos I've ever seen of our village women. Kelly went out for a walk along one of our riding trails one afternoon and in one cluster of homes, the children and women all asked for their photos to be taken. As soon as my knees are better I'm heading out to deliver copies of the pictures to the women and children as Kelly printed them before she left.

Just Look For The Orange House

What can I say? If you wanted to sleep outside, the colour would probably keep you awake. The villagers do like their colour!

Sign of Multiculturalism

I have no idea who the Sheridans are, but they have a house out in the Abu Sir area with a very lovely sign, incorporating Arabic calligraphy.

Stairs in a Courtyard

In traditional architecture handrails (if they are found) are put against the wall leaving the outside of a staircase open to the air and everything else. While this would probably put the insurance companies in the US right over the edge, visually it is very pleasing.

Empty Eyes

In a crowded city in a crowded country it is always a mystery why there are so many empty apartments staring down on busy streets. Some are built by parents for children who decide to live elsewhere, others, well who knows the story.

A Family Home

In the villages a house is rarely a single family dwelling and if the Cairenes, or at least the older generation, are given a choice, they will build their children apartments in the same building as the parents. Visitors often remark on the many unfinished buildings in Cairo and Giza, and this multigenerational living is one of the reasons for them. The upper floor is often left unfinished until the son marries, and then it is finished for him and his bride. Daughters will often go to an apartment in the groom's parents building.

Rainy Window

We've had the worst weather I've seen in Cairo for some time. First the frosty mornings of a week or so back, and now rain, wind and falling mud for a while. The weather looked better from the inside of a warm dry living room yesterday.

Stairway to Heaven

Architects such as Ramses Wissa-Wassef and Dr. Hassan Fathy went back to the traditional designs for houses and refined them, creating spaces of extraordinary beauty. These stairs are at the Wissa-Wassef Art Center in Harania, a recipient of the Agha Khan award for architecture.

An Endless Task

Everywhere you go in Egypt at almost any time of the day, you will see someone sweeping. Cairo and Giza are in the Nile Valley, but the Nile Valley is in the middle of an enormous desert, so dust is everywhere. The amount of dust that might collect in my house in Canada in a week would be maybe a quarter of the amount of dust that collects in my house in Egypt in a day. Can you learn to love dust?



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Now playing: Fathy Salama - Nahawand
via FoxyTunes

Houseboats on the Nile

Houseboats, many of them larger than my house on the farm, line the shore along the neighbourhood of Agouza. The houseboats have a reputation of being a rather racy place to live, something to which I can't testify. The beauty of the spot, aside from being along one of the busiest streets in Cairo, is a real attraction.