Happy New Year 2014!

Christmas Greetings!

Solstice Sunrise 2013

We chose to go to Karnak Temple for the winter solstice sunrise today rather than yesterday, and we are very glad we waited. Yesterday there were 1,500 people. Today there were perhaps 15! And the sunrise was surely equally spectacular.

The perfect akhet (hieroglyph meaning "horizon") and a bird I only discovered when I was reviewing my shots!

A shot I would normally have trashed, but it has a certain je ne sais quoi...

My Rome with a View...

I have just completed work on my 2014 calendar, "My Rome with a View". The photos therein are just a small sampling of the hundreds I took during the two weeks in April 2013 that I had the good fortune to spend in Rome, the Eternal City.

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A Winter's Cloudscape

There have been some dramatic developments in the sky over Luxor this afternoon. The winds have blown in many clouds and the interaction of those and the sun and bits of blue sky have yielded interesting patterns.

OI News & Notes New Issue Online

The Winter 2014 issue of the OI's News & Notes is now available online:

The lead article, "Tell Edfu: Archaeology and Site Management" by Nadine Moeller and Gregory Marouard, is a fascinating review of the Tell Edfu Project and how it has "progressively uncovered almost 3,000 years of occupation".

You will also find an "In Memoriam" for Barbara Mertz, aka Elizabeth Peters, who left us too soon in August of this year. 

And don't forget that all OI publications, including all the volumes of the Medinet Habu series, are available for free download.

Keeping Your Shit Together When You're Depressed...

Apologies all around! This post has nothing to do with Egypt or France or California but I feel compelled to share it with my blog followers, since depression is, unfortunately, a constant in my life. Luckily for me, when I am at home here in Egypt, I am not plagued by the "black devils". I am happy! But this is for the other times...

I want to take my hat off to Rosalind Robertson (The DIY Couturier) for her excellent post responding to an article called "21 Habits of Happy People". As she writes, "It pissed me off beyond belief, that there was an inference that if you weren’t Happy, you simply weren’t doing the right things." Oh, how many times have I felt the same when well-meaning but misguided people (not my good friends, of course!) have tried to tell me how to overcome my depression... I hope Rosalind's piece will provide some comfort and help to those of you who suffer from this vicious disease. And I also hope that friends and families of those afflicted and the "general public" will take this to heart. 

21 Tips to Keep Your Shit Together When You're Depressed

  

Egypt News Round-Up from Nervana

For those of you who would like to stay current about what's happening in Egypt, may I recommend that you subscribe to Nervana? An excellent recap of all the news you need to know nicely laid out in a day-by-day format. Check out the latest issue:

Egyptian Aak. Week 49 ( Dec 2- Dec 8) | Nervana

The Magic of Luxor

I think this video speaks for itself! We wait you...