Egypt Trip Wrap Up

First of all, I really am injured. Here's proof:


Macarena, the camel that nearly tossed me

But because I love you all sooo much, I'm blogging anyway tonight, determined to share the last of our Egypt photos and, at the end, some wise words from a writing friend's dad.

I figure we have about 9000 pyramid and temple photos so will spare you the other 8997 and simply share these:
The Temple at Philae
Us at Abu Simbel

The Old Cataract Hotel where Agatha Christie wrote Death On the Nile

On our way to Kom Ombo temple, we made a couple of new friends. Only brave Matt and his even braver mother Linda were willing to hold this particular reptile

but I made up for my cowardice later, giving this little fellow a hug.
The Nubian people keep baby crocs in their homes for good luck!

Here are Neil and I dressed up for Egyptian Night:

And here I am, trying to post a blog entry while cruising on the Nile:

I couldn't load any photos that day, which drove me to drink:
There's nothing like a cold Stella on a 116-degree day!

One of the highlights of the trip was learning the hieroglyphs for the first letters of each of our family's name. When I would find one on a wall -- wavy water for N, cup for K, mountain for Q, half a loaf of bread for T and an owl for M -- I would touch it, fully aware that this symbol had been carved up to 3000 years before (depending on the temple we were in). Even if I incurred the curse of the mummy, it was worth it.


The only scary part of the whole trip was flying Memphis Air to Abu Simbel. I've never been in a more rickety plane, nor one with a grosser bathroom.

Our guide, Adel, played us this clip from YouTube, recorded from an Egypt Air flight; it could've been our Memphis Air pilot just as easily! (I don't know how to upload video so maybe you can copy and paste this address into your browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkywyFKQyA0)

So we are now home from our whirlwind and life-changing trip to the Middle East. I've begun to unpack, have started laundry and have opened up the cookbook I was given so I can try out the recipe for the Lemon-Mint drink I was introduced to in Doha. I am so glad we had this opportunity to be in the part of the world I'd never envisioned visiting. I'm still amazed that it was an Iowa farmgirl turned homesteader who was the trigger for the trip.

In today's mail, however, I received a lovely gift from my writer friend, Allyson Schrier. In the Flaneur class we took from Julie Larios, Allyson had shared a conversation she'd had with her father who, after listening to all of the things Allyson had going on in her life said, "You need to slow down and ride the snail."


Now that I'm home, I look forward to some slow time with my thoughts about the 7-page single-spaced editorial email about the DSN (Dread Second Novel), as well as some other book projects that are bubbling up. Some time in the garden. Some time trying out the new recipes I picked up in the Middle East.

I'm glad I rode the camel, but hello to riding the snail for awhile!