Redoing the Pillows

Many people in Egypt use cotton to fill their mattresses and pillows. Aside from the substantial weight of the filling, cotton eventually packs down necessitating the visit of the people who remove the stuffing, fluff it up and restuff the mattresses or pillows. Here the man is beating the pillow to settle the stuffing.

Those Cairo Guard Cats

Two of Maadi's itinerant felines decided to take a break on the front steps of a shop on a quiet day.

Decisions, Decisions

Dressed in their holiday finery, children in Shubramant ponder the important question of what toys to buy with the money they've been given by their parents and grandparents for the Feast. For four days, everyone will relax, eat cookies, watch children play and enjoy themselves.

Guess The Crop

They look like a field of day lilies that haven't yet bloomed, but these are sesame plants with pods that are almost ready to harvest. All those hamburger buns and crackers all my life, and I had no idea this is what the sesame plant would look like.

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.

From Red To Brown

Our dates are being harvested early this year and a neighbour sent us probably about 10 kg of lovely Zaghloul dates still on the branches. We picked them off, put them into bags and have filled an entire fridge with them. Right now most of them are a deep dark wine red, but even in the cold, they will gradually darken, soften, and ferment....becoming the dates that people outside of the Middle East are more accustomed to.

From Red To Brown

Our dates are being harvested early this year and a neighbour sent us probably about 10 kg of lovely Zaghloul dates still on the branches. We picked them off, put them into bags and have filled an entire fridge with them. Right now most of them are a deep dark wine red, but even in the cold, they will gradually darken, soften, and ferment....becoming the dates that people outside of the Middle East are more accustomed to.

Childhood Memories

A sunny day at the end of summer and a group of kids from one of the farming villages are playing in the dirt road in front of their houses. They are all wearing plastic sandals, not much different from those I remember kids wearing during the summers in California many, many years ago. Though mothers are keeping an ear out for the kids and checking on them, they have much less supervision than many children are used to these days. A few feet away another pair of children is pushing a baby in a wheelbarrow. I remember taking younger brothers and sisters for similar rides. Some things in childhood never change, I guess.

Green Wool

Driving into the Wissa Wassef compound we found one of the daughters supervising the dyeing of the wool used for weaving their famous tapestries. They use natural dyes from the plants grown on the premises.

The Eye

Shooting down into a terracotta water pot I find myself reflected against the sky. These pots are placed by people alongside the roads so that someone passing by can have a drink of water. During Ramadan a little is left in the pot for emergencies, but the pot will be filled just before sunset.