"How can we grow up, and heaven has this blueness, the earth has this greenery, and the Lord has this fragrance, and the heart has this wondrous power to love, and the soul has this infinite energy."
It is a sunny lovely day. I listened to your writing today as I am sewing patchwork pumpkins.
Thankyou for sharing your knowledge and interest in Luxor, and your experiences.
I have learned so much. I worked for 10 years for an orthopaedic surgeon in Alexandria Virginia, before marriage and kids. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/washingtonpost/name/rida-azer-obituary?id=2269493 He was such a generous and lovely man. I was too young and busy to ask questions about him, and his life and how he came to the US but his Obit tells a lot. He would fly home via the Concorde several times a year.
Oh my goodness, I love finding out these wonderful tidbits about my readers. He sounds like such a lovely man and how fortunate to work for him. I know a number of women who were married to Egyptian men of that era, and it was very different from the men of today. Something dark happened, it's part of what I will write about.
Your stories, your style of writing throws me right back to the eighties where I too loved all the Toetanchamon stories, the mysterious pyramids and the Nile river. It's a strange longing that occurs sometimes when I hear music, see movies or read books from back then. Like the scent of a perfume that you recognise from a time in the past that somehow faded too quickly. Fabulous read!
I think so many of us were enamored with that part of the world, thanks to old fables like the Arabian Nights and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Nothing quite like it. I was fortunate to see the pyramids in 1967 when there was no security and there were no tourists, because of the coming war. I remember everything about being there. I don’t think there is any place on earth quite like it, just because of how stark it is, how the pyramids rise from nothing. I have never gone back because I know it will never be like it was then.
Great intro to Luxor for me thanks. There looks to be a train of camels and a small encampment, in the desert portion of the upper left corner of the aerial view of the Nile.
Oh, I didn't notice that. Camels are wonderful animals. Very loyal. There was a teenage boy who had a young camel as a pet. It followed him everywhere, no need for a leash or anything, it was so adorable.
Your writing is so beautiful. It's like being there and being able to witness it first-hand. I enjoy reading your work so much. I look forward to hearing the rest of your adventures in Luxor.
And, I too, love Naguib Mahfouz's books. All the quotes brought them back to me and the pleasure of reading them.
oh goodness, what tales, what experiences! I'd say that you witnessed epic yarns, wondrous and frightenin' in both Luxor & the good ol' USA... tales of thieves, of crimes, of wrongs, and of women placed in impossible situations... how interesting there are so many parallels--and how both sites had rumblings under the surface like the "tamed" but ragin' Nile--in which much is hidden. I never knew that the grave robbers were "known" let alone made rich on the gubbamint payroll there--that's disturbin' -- an' yet not unlike our own swamp that makes under-the-table deals with crooks & thieves themselves! I sure do like readin' 'bout all yer travels an' all of the world you were so fortunate to have seen before such seein' was impossible--or unsafe. Snapshots in time!
Anywhoo--grateful to have been introduced to Naguib Mahfouz--and his story. It's hard ta fathom the censorship--harder the fatwas an' the damage done (attempted killin's of writers) via the edicts of the late Eye-A-Toll-Ah Khomeini. Harder still fer me ta fathom how Khamenei is now the leader of the resistance! A beautiful man of peace... at risk (tho' all are prayin' fer his safety) -- and in danger thanks ta the genocidal joos livin' on stolen land and terrorizin' the entire Middle East! a land--I have read to my astonishment--would be in peace as would the entire USA if the joos were just composted (one idea suggested), put inna woodchipper (another idea) or nuked. I guess they REALLY really want us to oblige 'em.... Right now up is down, down is up. Even in the old stories where there were few laws an' djinns an' fairies and ancient spirits ruled the day--there was some sense of justice and it was written that "tyrants will fall"-- Wull at this point--I do hope so! (in the meantime I'll hope ta find someone with an attic if they start firin' up that woodchipper!) Keep 'em comin'! (the stories I mean)
Beautiful poetry
Thank you.
Karen, you are an angel.
It is a sunny lovely day. I listened to your writing today as I am sewing patchwork pumpkins.
Thankyou for sharing your knowledge and interest in Luxor, and your experiences.
I have learned so much. I worked for 10 years for an orthopaedic surgeon in Alexandria Virginia, before marriage and kids. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/washingtonpost/name/rida-azer-obituary?id=2269493 He was such a generous and lovely man. I was too young and busy to ask questions about him, and his life and how he came to the US but his Obit tells a lot. He would fly home via the Concorde several times a year.
God Bless you dear friend
Oh my goodness, I love finding out these wonderful tidbits about my readers. He sounds like such a lovely man and how fortunate to work for him. I know a number of women who were married to Egyptian men of that era, and it was very different from the men of today. Something dark happened, it's part of what I will write about.
Your stories, your style of writing throws me right back to the eighties where I too loved all the Toetanchamon stories, the mysterious pyramids and the Nile river. It's a strange longing that occurs sometimes when I hear music, see movies or read books from back then. Like the scent of a perfume that you recognise from a time in the past that somehow faded too quickly. Fabulous read!
I think so many of us were enamored with that part of the world, thanks to old fables like the Arabian Nights and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Nothing quite like it. I was fortunate to see the pyramids in 1967 when there was no security and there were no tourists, because of the coming war. I remember everything about being there. I don’t think there is any place on earth quite like it, just because of how stark it is, how the pyramids rise from nothing. I have never gone back because I know it will never be like it was then.
I loved reading this
❤️
Great intro to Luxor for me thanks. There looks to be a train of camels and a small encampment, in the desert portion of the upper left corner of the aerial view of the Nile.
Oh, I didn't notice that. Camels are wonderful animals. Very loyal. There was a teenage boy who had a young camel as a pet. It followed him everywhere, no need for a leash or anything, it was so adorable.
(I zoomed in)
Awww so cute!
Your writing is so beautiful. It's like being there and being able to witness it first-hand. I enjoy reading your work so much. I look forward to hearing the rest of your adventures in Luxor.
And, I too, love Naguib Mahfouz's books. All the quotes brought them back to me and the pleasure of reading them.
oh goodness, what tales, what experiences! I'd say that you witnessed epic yarns, wondrous and frightenin' in both Luxor & the good ol' USA... tales of thieves, of crimes, of wrongs, and of women placed in impossible situations... how interesting there are so many parallels--and how both sites had rumblings under the surface like the "tamed" but ragin' Nile--in which much is hidden. I never knew that the grave robbers were "known" let alone made rich on the gubbamint payroll there--that's disturbin' -- an' yet not unlike our own swamp that makes under-the-table deals with crooks & thieves themselves! I sure do like readin' 'bout all yer travels an' all of the world you were so fortunate to have seen before such seein' was impossible--or unsafe. Snapshots in time!
Anywhoo--grateful to have been introduced to Naguib Mahfouz--and his story. It's hard ta fathom the censorship--harder the fatwas an' the damage done (attempted killin's of writers) via the edicts of the late Eye-A-Toll-Ah Khomeini. Harder still fer me ta fathom how Khamenei is now the leader of the resistance! A beautiful man of peace... at risk (tho' all are prayin' fer his safety) -- and in danger thanks ta the genocidal joos livin' on stolen land and terrorizin' the entire Middle East! a land--I have read to my astonishment--would be in peace as would the entire USA if the joos were just composted (one idea suggested), put inna woodchipper (another idea) or nuked. I guess they REALLY really want us to oblige 'em.... Right now up is down, down is up. Even in the old stories where there were few laws an' djinns an' fairies and ancient spirits ruled the day--there was some sense of justice and it was written that "tyrants will fall"-- Wull at this point--I do hope so! (in the meantime I'll hope ta find someone with an attic if they start firin' up that woodchipper!) Keep 'em comin'! (the stories I mean)