Larkspur

We are having an absolutely lovely Spring here in Texas. The weather has been partially cloudy and breezy for weeks and we've had a lot of rain. My garden is looking really good. With a lot of help from my friend Gia, we dug up and replaced the stone path all along one side of the house. Also the work we have done with using newspaper mulching seems to be helping a lot to control the weeds. I was able to get out last saturday and weed, and trim everything back so the whole yard looks good. Of curse everything is blooming including the asian jasmine just outside the window where I am sitting to write this entry.

The highlight of the spring though is definitely the larkspur in the pictures. I have been trying to grow them for years, and this is the first year that the seeds have actually sprouted and given me a lovely display. I'm hoping to collect the seeds from this years crop and spread them all over the garden for next year because I think they are so lovely and reminiscent of English cottage garden. Happy Spring from Texas.

Back from Hiatus

Boy, it has been a really intense month. First the big trip, and then getting sick right after during Holy Week where I was singing every night. The latest bump in the road has been me changing jobs without warning and starting to sing at a different church. So basically it has been everything I could do just to live my life, which hasn't left much energy to blog. Finally today I got the chance to finish writing up the first day of the Egypt trip. This is without a doubt the longest day, so I am hoping that the others will take less time.

However, I have missed sharing my creativity, so I decided to go back to posting, even though I haven't finished the rest of the trip.

I have been still exploring working with the clay molds to replicate Egyptian jewelry with polymer clay. I have made several new molds and am very pleased with the results. Here are some of the latest necklaces, and then some pictures of the molds. 

I have been experimenting with ways to make the molds. My best luck has been with creating a positive from polymer clay and then baking it. I then use the air dry clay to form a mold around it, and then use metal tools and bushes with water to clean up and heighten the carving in the mold once I remove the positive from it. The large scarab with a sun is done this way. I have also experimented with carving directly into the air dry clay, but I am not as skilled at seeing how the negative image will turn into a positive form. Some of the molds are made by taking leather stamps and punching them into the clay. To use the molds I take a flat piece of acrylic and use the mold to press the clay down on top of it. The clay sticks better to the acrylic than the mold so I can then just pull the mold off. I then use an exacto knife and some metal clay tools to clean up the piece and a metal spatula to transfer it to my baking rack.

In other good news, I have had a tremendous breakthrough in my voice. I found a whole new resonance when I was sick and it has finally helped me really get in to my upper range. I also hope to go back to working on the Etsy store next week, and have a friend who is going to help me put a link up to this blog. Onward and upward.

Down Sick for a Week

Hey Friends,

I am really sorry that I haven't been posting. I caught a really nasty bug on the plane home from Egypt and I have been completely down sick for over a week. Of course this is the worst week that I could possibly have been sick because it is Holy Week and I have a four days of services to sing in a row. I tried all my natural remedies and they just didn't cut it this time. I finally

 broke down last Monday when I had no voice at all and had to go get a steroid shot and antibiotics and finally today I am actually feeling much better.

In the meantime in the couple of hours that I have been conscious per day I have been trying to write up the rest of the trip, and so it should be showing up on the blog in the next couple of days. I have also been creating a bunch of art that was Egypt inspired. I was really energized artistically by the trip which has made it very hard to be so sick when I got back that I haven't been able to do much. However, these are the thinks I have made so far:

I brought home a letter sized sheet of Papyrus paper for about $5 from the wonderful Aboudi Book Shop that was next to our hotel. I had looked at the Papyrus paintings that they sell as souvenirs, but they just didn't look right to me. They looked like they were printed instead of painted and they artwork didn't seem to be right in terms of the colors and proportions. So I started painting my own. The first five paintings are taken form different vignettes in different copies of the Book of the Dead. In the second three paintings, the top painting  is loosely based on the Tomb of Nebamun now in the British Museum, and the bottom is a scene from the Satyrical Papyrus which has animals acting like humans. The center painting is another Book of the Dead vignette.

I also want to make Faience in the worst way, but you have to have a Kiln to fire it. Faience is a special kind of Egyptian fired clay that is self glazing. They used to make lot of small amulets and beads from it as well as other jewelry. Anyway, I have been experimenting with making my own amulets from clay molds and then turning them into necklaces. I have been using polymer clay for the time being until I find a kiln that I can use.

Anyway, I finally have my spirit back today, so I'm hoping for a lot more next week to tackle the huge backload of stuff to do, Inshallah -(God willing).

Day 3 - Cairo Museum

Well we got a late start this morning. Apparently there was some confusion with the wakeup calls. We were supposed to leave the hotel at 8:00 to get an early start in the Cairo Museum and avoid the crowds. However we ended up waiting for people at least half an hour and then we spent another hour stuck in traffic on the highway. Apparently one of the high egyptian officials lives in a distant subdivision of Cairo and whenever he travels the roads to and from work they completely close them down for safety reasons. It was a mess.

When we finally got to the museum, it was already quite crowded. We were not allowed to take any pictures inside the Museums or Tombs in Egypt which was very depressing. I have tried to find pictures of some of the things we saw on the web. Of course we started with the Tutankamun exhibit. Seeing the beautiful throne of Tutankamun and his wife (photo from www.richard-seaman.com.) Our guide pointed out to us that Tutankamun and his wife are each wearing one of a pair of sandals, and that was a sign of love among the ancient Egyptians similar to an exchange of rings today. 

We also saw the giant nesting golden shrines from Tut's tomb. When you see them in person you cannot imagine that they actually fit inside each other.

We saw many other amazing things. Of course the jewelry was my favorite thing to see, but there was also an entire room full of daily life objects including musical instruments. I saw flutes with holes and I immediately began wondering if anyone had tried to put together what their music might have sounded like. Our guide, Islam, didn't know, but I found out later from Dr. Weeks that there has been some work done by a german musicologist named Hans Hickman and that there is some current work being done at Helwan University in Cairo by  professor Khairy El-Malt.

After our too short time in the Museum, we had a bit of a rest and coffee in the Museum garden where there are many interesting statues and obelisks. We wanted to go in the gist shops but they were so packed with people that we couldn't bear the press.

The fountain in the center of the Museum garden is truly lovely, and it is the only place where the rare blue lotus still grows. This is the lotus flower that you see in so many egyptian paintings. Apparently it is an aphrodisiac/drug and when combined with alcohol produces quite a high. So it has been consumed out of existence in the wild.

Last but not least a picture of us in front of one of the typical Cairo haphazard buildings. They all look very post-apocalyptic to me, especially the unfinished ones.

The afternoon was spent flying to Luxor. Egyptian air travel is very, very different. First they make you go through security before you even enter the airport complex. They scan both your bags and your person before they even let you into the airport, and then again before you go to the gate. The airport is a big giant building filled with hundreds of shouting Arab men. Very intimidating. Fortunately on flights within the country the security is much more lax that on international flights and so our guide was able to bribe us into the airport and a fast load on the plane without too much trouble. Because we were running so late though, we didn't get lunch and so we had to stop at a little grocery store outside the terminal and have chips, chocolate and nuts for lunch. 

We got into Luxor around sunset and the Bus ride from the airport to the hotel immediately showed us that Luxor was a very different city than Cairo. It is a much smaller city, and survives almost totally from Tourist income and so the roads and environs of the city are much better taken care of. All of the curbs and medians were planted with flowers. We even saw an irrigation truck dumping muddy Nile water on them as we drove past.

Our hotel was amazing. There are no words. You go up a magnificent double stairway to the entrance. Inside is a truly decadent Victorian lobby full of glass, brass, carpets, and ancient furniture. You then pass through a door in the other side of the lobby and out into the immense circular garden full of flowers and ancient trees and palms. The hotel buildings are all built around the edges of the circle, and all the rooms have balconies onto the garden. We couldn't believe how beautiful the view from the terrace was, as we could see the garden in front of us, and the ships sailing down the Nile on the side. The hotel is directly on the Corniche (the river walk) and so the Nile is right outside the front door. We sat and watched the sun set over the Nile and listened to the calls to prayers from Mosques all over the city. It was wonderful. Here is a view of the hotel garden at sunset. We went to bed very excited for the next day.

Day 2 - Saqqarah and Giza

Today started really well. We woke up refreshed and raring to go well before breakfast so we had plenty of time to get ready for the day. Breakfast was amazing. There was a full English Breakfast Buffet with eggs, sausage, grilled tomatoes, back bacon, baked beans and toast. There was also a full German/Eastern European buffet with all kinds of meats, cheese, pickles and olives. I especially like the Egyptian soft cheese which is something like a cross between a goat cheese and a soft fresh mozzerella with a very nice subtle tanginess. In addition there was a full Oriental breakfast buffet with fowl mesdames, couscous,  and several other meat and vegetable dishes as well as a huge bar with fresh pastries and homemade jam, a yogurt and cereal bar, and if that is not enough an omelet bar with a dedicated chef. Ok, I feel spoiled and I haven't even seen anything yet.

Here are some pictures of the lovely Movenpik hotel in the daylight. If you notice in the background of the second picture you can just see the Great Pyramid at the end of the row. It looks pretty subtle in this picture, but believe me in person, it is all you could see as soon as you walk ut of the hotel. The first picture is of the lovely outside Patio of our room. Unfortunately we may not get to use it it because it is actually pretty cold here, colder than Austin actually, and I am really glad I have my jacket.

We packed up in the minbus and drove about and hour south of town to Saqqarah. So we got to drive through and see more of Cairo in the daylight. OK, I have to say so Cairo is one humongous dirty city. There are over 24 million people in Cairo now, and the city infrastructure is totally not capable of supporting the load. It is a really interesting mix driving through it. Here are a couple of examples of the things you would see out the window.

The most characteristic sites are the irrigation and transportation canals that come in from the Nile. The city government is actually in the process of removing them and filling them in with gardens, but currently they are construction site/trash heaps as shown in the picture above. The second thing you notice is that all of the buildings are left unfinished. We heard a couple of explanations of this, one of which is that it was a custom among families to leave the top floor unfinished and build on as the children grew up and needed space. The other less picturesque explanation was that property taxes increase when the buildings are finished and so no one finishes their buildings. The other amazing thing is the traffic. On a marked two lane roadway you will have 4-5 "lanes" of traffic along with assorted animals and pedestrians. We were continually astonished that we managed to make it to our destinations.

Further out of town the landscape became more green as we got into the farming area near the Nile. There were also a lot more animals and picturesque tradesmen such as fruitsellers, charcoal burners, etc. 

Ancient World Tours is taking us to Saqqarh first so that we can see the development of Pyramid building. The Step Pyramid at Saqqarah is the first step in the Pyramid building process. Before Pyramids, The Ancient Egyptians built their tombs in rectangular flat roofed buildings called Mastabas. The Step Pyramid is actually a series of Mastabas built on top of each other and diminishing in size. Like many other sites in Egypt, the Step Pyramid is not just a single structure but actually a huge complex with all kinds of Archeological sites everything from Old Kingdom Egyptian to Greek and Roman temples. 

Of course the first thing you see driving up is the Pyramid looming over the hill, but then to enter the site you drive up to the gates of the enclosure which are very intimidating. We were the first group at the site and so we got to have it all to ourselves for the first hour or so. The complex was built for the Old Kingdom Pharaoh Djoser by the famous architect Imhotep (I have no doubt that he was the inspiration for the guy in the Mummy movie, but as far as the history books go there was no king killing, or subsequent undead highjinks.) 

After the impressive Zigzag gate, we came out through a Hypostyle Hall (hall of columns) into the main complex. This cool panorama that Jim shot gives a better idea of the scale of the complex.

There are archeologists currently working on the Pyramid to reinforce the bottom step, because in the time since the pyramid was build people have been robbing stones from the bottom layer for other construction projects and the weight of the upper layers is becoming too much for the remaining stones. The archeologists plan according to Islam, our guide is to actually restore the white limestone casing that used to cover the bottom step as well. We were not able to go inside the Pyramid, but inside there are some amazing walls of faience tiles of which we later saw examples in the Imhotep museum on another part of the site. None of the museums in Egypt will allow photographs any more but I found this picture online of the walls from this egyptian monument website which is fantastic. There are 2 miles worth of tunnels under this Pyramid that have been mapped so far, and many of the rooms within those tunnels are still full of artifacts. Amazing!

As we left the pyramid and went around the backside we ran into what we would soon come to realize is the ubiquitous line of Camel drivers, "guides", souvenir sellers, beggars and various other people who want to take your money who hang out at every Egyptian tourist site. You learn that you just have to make your way through them saying "No Thanks"every ten seconds and refusing to make eye contact or engage in conversation. Unfortunately at out first encounter, innocent that I was I ended up asking a camel driver if I could take his picture. Somehow I was the one who ended up on the back of the camel which was a terrifying experience. Camels are dirty, freaking tall, and they make noises like they are possessed. Don't ask how much money Jim had to pay to get me down. But anyway it made for a great picture and hilarious video which will eventually be linked here.

Around the back of the Pyramid we saw where Khaemwese one the sons of Ramses II had actually done some restoration to the Pyramid and monuments in the New Kingdom period. We walked down a long walkway (the Causeway of Unas) and saw where full size ships had been buried as part of the funerary equipment. Ok, so it's a hole, but a really big, cool ship-shaped hole. They actually have a similar ship that survived in a museum at Giza behind the Great Pyramid.

We spent a coupe more hours exploring the Mastaba tombs of Mehu, Meruka, Idut, Kagini, and Ti. Of course we weren't allowed to take pictures of any of them, but we began to learn about egyptian art and funerary practices from the remaining wall carvings. As we were wandering between the tombs a sandstorm started blowing up and so we were running from tomb to tomb to avoid the weather. I was very glad I had worn a headscarf like the Egyptian women because it protected me from the sand very well. Finally they put us back on the bus and drove us over to the nearby Pyramid  of Teti which looks like a big pile of rubble on the outside but which we were able to go down into and saw our first sarcophagus. Then we had to hike our way back to the bus through the sandstorm. As we were coming over the hill I managed to catch this picture of my cute husband in a very Indiana Jones moment. 

Most of the rubble you see on the ground is actually potsherds from hundreds of years of history. This, we would learn, is the amazing thing about Egypt. Almost every site you go to, everywhere you step are potsherds like this. You can lean over anywhere and pick up something from Greek or Roman times. Of course you can't take any of it home, because they don't allow you to take anything over a hundred years old out of the country, to try and preserve their heritage and discourage antiquity robbers.

We stopped for lunch in a wonderful countryside restaurant on the way back to Giza. Stupidly, I didn't get a card and almost immediately forgot the name of the place. It was a wonderful buffet of traditional Egyptian specialities and very good. Because I was wearing the headscarf, a lot of the people who worked at the restaurant thought I was Egyptian and they were very friendly. I had a particularly nice time talking with the school girls who were the restroom attendants. Unfortunately they were the attendants for both the female and male restrooms, and Jim did not find them nearly as amusing as I did.

After lunch we drove back to Giza ahead of the sandstorm. We managed to get to the site just in time to get a few pictures of the Pyramids before it blew in. 

Our guide took us to a place on the Great Pyramid near the entrance that tradition has was dug by one of the Arabian kings around 1000 AD. There was a fascinating place where two of the stones had been separated and you could see the stone mortise and tenon holding them together. 

Then as the storm was really bowing up and you almost couldn't hear he let us go on our own for free time. We tried to find the ship museum on the backside of the Great Pyramid so that we could see the giant funerary ships they dug out , but there was so much wind and sand, and so many tall ruined walls of the complex that we couldn't find the entrance to the museum, only see the wall of it. Here is a Panorama of the Plateau in the storm looking toward Cairo.

 So we kept walking along the road and eventually came around the corner where we could look down the backside of the hill and saw the Sphinx. We wanted to try and walk to it, but the wind was so strong, and we were running out of time so we held on to each other and made our way back to the bus. It was amazing, when we got on the bus and closed the door, it was like someone turning off a very loud stereo because the wind was so loud, and we stood there dropping sand everywhere. I think this picture gives the best impression of what it was like.

So we begged our guide if we could take the bus down to the Sphinx, which he assured us was the next stop on our agenda. We hit the Sphinx in the full height of the storm, and all we were really able to do was get a couple of pictures from the roadway, but it was still really cool to see it. They are doing a lot of restoration work on the statue itself and the temples at the base of it.

Anyway, we finally gave up and headed back to the hotel early. When the bus let us out, Jim and I stopped off at the room to drop our stuff and pour the sand our of our shoes (into bags to take home for our friends who had asked for sand from Egypt.) We then went back to the front of the hotel to the lovely French cafe and had coffee and a sour cherry tart that was wonderful. Afterwards it was time to go back and try to rid ourselves of the rest of the sand. I immediately fell asleep, while Jim went souvenir hunting at the hotel gift shop we had seen the night before. 

It was a very cool shop, and so when he came back later and I was awake we went back together. Shopping in Egypt is very strange. There has been a huge influx of cheesy souvenirs from China and Japan and so it is kind of hard to actually find Egyptian made goods. And then of course there is the "flexible" pricing. Just for the record, my husband and I completely suck at bargaining. sigh... But we were able to find some interesting scarab beads and some lovely little carved limestone fish and ducks. I also got a book on Arabic, because it is a really fascinating language. Aurally it seems to have a lot in common with French in some ways, but the structure and grammar are very unique among the languages I have studied.

We had a lovely dinner in the Thai restaurant at the hotel. We intended originally to go back to the main hotel restaurant, but when we came down a bus of german tourists had come in and the restaurant was packed and very loud, whereas the Thai restaurant was empty and blessedly quiet. It turned out to be an very lucky thing because we had the best meal of the entire trip that night with a sizzling shrimp dish, with incredibly fresh vegetables, Tom Ka Ga soup with chunks of fresh lemon grass and coriander, and lovely fresh fruit for desert. It was a lovely way to spend the evening. When we we finally got back to the room we immediately fell asleep because the day was so long and exhausting.