Well at long last a couple of things have happened. As Mohamed would say, here is the first – today it RAINED! The forecast had said a 30% chance of rain in the morning but as it hasn’t rained at all since about February and it wasn’t too cloudy I felt sure we wouldn’t get any. But we did - for around 5 minutes and barely enough to dampen the ground. Mind you that was almost immediately followed by a small sandstorm when we had no hope of seeing the pyramids and Mohamed was rushing around the house raising all the awnings and shutting all the windows. It only lasted a little while however and now it’s back to just cloudy again. Mohamed was on his way back from Friday prayers and got caught in the rain and it was actually like mud spots all over his T-shirt. It would have been great to get some good rain to wash out the air as it has been extra bad lately but I’m not sure that it happens in Cairo.
Anyway enough about the weather – the other great news flash is that the Minister has signed off on our company application (well one of the 3) and although it will take 2-3 months to get everything done and make it happen, in the new year we will have our Class A travel company open for business. I can’t tell you the name yet, we have to submit 3 names after the weekend and we will be told what it will be after checks are made. Police checks will also be carried out in these early stages. We’ve also begun to make office fit-out lists and have been to the first shop to look at what’s available and what it costs. I am coming back to Oz for December and Mohamed will be able to buy once we have looked now and determined some preferences. We have been waiting all year for this so we are both very excited and happy that it’s coming into being at last.
And it means the end of my (relatively) idle life.
I am flying out of Cairo on 1st December and will arrive in Brisbane on 3rd. I leave again to come back on the 29th. I will spend some time with each of the kids and am very much looking forward to having a holiday this time around and to catching up with as many people as I can. (And of course getting in as much Logan time as I can while I’m there). I do expect to be in Melbourne for a few days with Linc and so hope to catch up with a few Victorians as well. Will keep you updated as the time draws closer and we work out when I am where. Christmas is at Lahni’s, Maroochydore.
Lahni and I have managed to speak a few times via Windows Live Messenger and it has been fabulous to see Logan on the screen, he’s certainly growing and doing well and looking so cute. I’ve also heard him laugh, a very infectious gurgle. Isn’t the Internet amazing?
I’m sorry I haven’t written for a while – don’t know where the time goes half the time. One other thing that I have done is to set up a gallery for photos on the National Geographic site – you are all welcome to go and have a look. It only takes 100 shots and there are 100 up, so what I will probably do is change a few each week or something. You can take a look if you want at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/myshot/gallery/63570. The good thing for me is that people can log on and rate the photos, so it’s excellent to get comments and ratings from random viewers, hopefully it will help improve my photography in the long run.
I’ve also been continuing with my baking experiments. I got Lahni to dig out a few of my mother’s recipes – she is the keeper of all this stuff and my mother was an excellent baker and cook – and so I’ve made shortbread biscuits and a few other things, with reasonable success. I never used to cook biscuits or cakes or anything, I always preferred to make main course meals, but with Mohamed really only liking Egyptian type cooking for that, I’ve decided to branch out a bit. So far so good, although the oven is a bit weird with its temperatures and is taking some getting used to and getting the right results. SO I’ve only been baking biscuits until I get the hang of it and find all the ingredients to have in the cupboard (like SR flour, only found it once in the supermarket, things seem to be there one week and not the next). Presently we have peanut butter biscuits in the barrel and those are disappearing rapidly.
Can’t find vanilla essence anywhere (which has been holding up cake production also) and I realized why the other day as it is made with alcohol. But I can find vanilla pods and now just need to find out what the equivalencies are. If anyone has any idea I’d be glad to hear from you as I haven’t yet been able to track it down on the net. I have been making do with vanilla sugar but it’s not really strong enough.
About time to post as I’ve really not any more news just now, Mohamed is reading the paper in bed and I am watching Russell Crowe in Master & Commander which I’ve always really enjoyed so am happy to watch again. But I need to get a drink and a final snack and need to think about bed. For some reason neither of us could sleep last night, finally nodding off just before 4 am so an earlier night will be a good thing.
So until next time, which I will try and make a lot sooner than this, I hope you are well and happy,
Lots of love
Lyndall
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