Balloons Over Thebes

Happy last day of 2015! I think I will be glad to move into 2016 and see if it's a happier year for the World. We can always Hope!

There were 12 balloons in the air over Thebes this morning. So I have decided to create a new tradition for the last day of any year--for every balloon in the air over Thebes the morning of December 31 there will be a full month of health, love, peace and prosperity in the new year! It's worth a try!

Happy New Year 2016!

In Mourning...

Image by Frederic Pradier

My Beautiful Beloved Paris! I know there are many people who are saying that all this focus on Paris is hypocritical because we don't have the same reaction when it's Beirut or Yemen or Syria. Please excuse me if I disagree! I grieve every death inflicted by senseless terrorism. This weekend it just so happened to be my beloved Paris's turn. I am also appalled at all the haters who have come out of the woodwork, demanding that Islam be eradicated or that all borders be shut to refugees. No, folks, not going to buy any of that! Sorry for the diatribe, but that's just the way I feel...

They Were Framed!

It's almost like having brand new art hanging on the walls of my room! There were three photos and a small watercolor that I had lost track of, which have just been re-discovered and finally framed (Wood frames, glass and hangers cost all of LE 160, or about $20!) So I marked where I wanted them to go and staff put in hooks and... Voilà! At the same time, I had them put in a hook for a painting I had just propped on a table. And I'm very proud of my collection of caleche hardware, so you get to see some of those too!

Here's how the bulletin board wall looks now:

Dramatic Single Balloon Flyover!

Yesterday there were six. Today only one, but how dramatic it was!

First Balloon Fly-Over of the Season!

I heard that easily identifiable sound early this morning. And it was an astonishing hot air balloon fly-over! Six balloons encircled Chicago House at various distances. What fun! And good news for Luxor tourism too!

Happy Halloween!

There are no real pumpkins in Egypt, at least not in Luxor, so our creative team get to use squash to "slash" into jack-o-lanterns for the holiday. Here are the results:

Two Cats Lounging

The bad news on the CH cat front is that we lost a couple more during the summer--Pablo and Rusty have crossed the Rainbow Bridge. We are now down to three official (neutered/spayed) CH cats--Heidi, Buttons and Beau. We also have a couple of unofficial cats who hang around but whom we consider too nasty to try to capture and take to ACE (Animal Care in Egypt). Buttons and Beau have been found lounging, sometimes in strange places (Beau was roosting in a storage cabinet in the Photo Archives yesterday). Here are a couple of photos of them at their loungiest!

Beau takes a selfie!

Buttons keeping cool

Moonshine Over Chicago House

It was a mostly clear early evening with a few wispy clouds to add character to the sky. As it darkened, I happened to be out in the garden fooling around with my relatively new Canon EOS Rebel DSLR and its 50-255mm lens. The moon was a perfect target! I got this result, shooting handheld, no tripod. I'm pretty impressed with the clarity and detail, since my hands tend to shake a bit, and that's a long lens! Happy Friday evening from Chicago House!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Roses from our garden on the desk in my office...