Journey to Egypt: Horemheb’s Temple & Gebel Silsila Quarry

December 30, 2018 This afternoon we arrived at the narrowest stretch of the Nile, an area that the Egyptians called “Khenu” or the place of rowing. At Gebel Silsila, high sandstone cliffs come down close to the water’s edge. The Temple of Horemheb is small and not well-known. Nile cruise ships don’t stop here because […]

Journey to Egypt: Besaw Island: a Visit to a Farming Family

December 30, 3018 On our third day of our Nile cruise on board the Aida, we had a leisurely day enjoying our cruise and visiting a farm family on Besaw Island. Sayeed is an attractive 35-year-old, intelligent, and thoughtful man. He was as curious about us as we were about him. After showing us around […]

Caturday Cats of Israel cont’d

On January 10 at the end of the day, we went to Yardenit Baptism Center on the Jordan River, where I got this shot of a fluffy-tailed tabby. I saw this black cat perched on top of a bulletin board with photos of people who had been (re)baptized in the Jordan River. I also saw […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 13: Cruise to Edfu

December 29, 2018 Last night, our first night on our Nile cruise, I slept better than I have since the beginning of the trip! I loved my bed in our stateroom and the temperature was not too hot nor too cold (although the people in the staterooms across from ours did complain that their rooms […]

Caturday: Cats at Capernaum & the Jordan River

More Israeli cats for Saturday! On January 10, we visited Capernaum, and as usual, while we were wandering the grounds, there were cats roaming around the grounds. Here’s a mellow fellow… Aha! This one found a treat between the slats…or perhaps the human sitting behind him (her?) threw a tiny morsel. Presiding over baptisms in […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 12: Cruising the Nile & Visit to el Hegz Island

December 28, 2018 I was looking forward to the next portion of our trip – a 5-day cruise on the Nile, aboard a 16-passenger dahabeya – in other words, a private ship for our OAT group of 14 people including our guide plus 14 crew members! This dahabeya, called Aida, is one of only two such […]

Journey to Egypt, Part 11: Luxor – Lunch, a Ferry Ride, & Dinner with a Local Family

December 27, 2018 A Walk to Lunch Back in the city of Luxor (about 850,000 population), our bus driver dropped us off in the vicinity of the place where we would have lunch. The restaurant was a few blocks away down dusty streets, and we had to walk. I was glad for this because as […]

Lens-Artists Challenge #36: Around the Neighborhood in Des Plaines, Illinois

Lens-Artists’ weekly photo challenge this week is Around the Neighborhood. I selected some photos from my photo archive of the last few years that are “typical” of Des Plaines, Illinois, the Chicago suburb where I live. More and more of these signs have popped up in people’s yards since the beginning of the Trump administration. […]

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge 33: Nature

Lens-Artists’ photo challenge for this week is the subject of nature. Nature is beautiful everywhere, but I chose just a few photos from our recent trip to Egypt and Israel. Egypt: On the Nile River at Aswan Israel: Hermon River at Tel Dan Israel: En Gedi nature Preserve Back home again! West Park, Des Plaines, […]

A Photo a Week: The Bridges of Madison County

No, I am not talking about the movie The Bridges of Madison County, but the movie was inspired by the covered bridges in Madison Co., Iowa. However, the movie only featured two of these bridges, while we visited five bridges (a 6th was burned down) while we were in Iowa at the end of September. […]