Saturday, October 25, 2008

Pumpkins!

Here in Egypt we don't have autumn. It is incredibly sad, I know, but it's true. Egypt has two seasons: Hot and dusty, and cool and occasionally muddy. That's it.

For those of us who grew up in a climate where there are four distinct seasons, it's strange to live in a land without that. Therefor it is absolutely necessary that we keep some of our traditions alive and pretend that autumn exists (after all it is autumn somewhere). Land week some of the teachers at my school and I did just that. We decided to carve pumpkins! Wendy had us all over to her flat, where she had been preparing goodies like doughnuts and hot mulled cider. We each brought a pumpkin with us, and we set to carving.




Wendy our host dug out the seeds to roast before she began work on her masterpiece. She later dug out a lot of the flesh as well and made delightful pumpkin treats out of it.



Gabriela's pumpkin had partially rotted between the time that she purchased it and our carving party. She wasn't bothered much though. She cut out all of the flesh to cook with and then salvaged the rest.

Unfortunately she was stationed next to me for all of this. I was getting a little crazy with my knife, and getting a few strange and somewhat frightened looks from her.


I was attempting to carve a pyramid scene with a camel in the foreground, a tribute to my new country, but I kept cutting my camel's tail off and he kept getting thinner and thinner with each new attempt at a tail.



Nichole carved a happy pumpkin face.



I attempt yet another tail for my poor camel.




We called Heather's cheerful little guy Gill.



Gabriela tried to make what was left of her pumpkin into a wig. That didn't work out very well, so eventually she carved a tree and some jagged mountains and placed it next to my Pyramid scene and called it Lebanon.









All of us with our final products. What fun!


Unfortunately only one day after these photos were taken the camel lost his head, and a day after that the pyramids collapsed completely. Tragedy.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Aiya Napa, Cyprus

While we were in Cyprus, John and I took a day trip to Aiya Napa, a resort town down the coast. What a beautiful place!





The harbor in Aiya Napa.


We spent a lot of time wandering around an old monastery.













What a quiet peaceful place.
Perfect for reflection and prayer.



The coast was amazing. Clear blue water.
Rocky cliffs. Greenery.








Larnaca, Cyprus

Ok, Jeremy. Noted. I don't blog. It seems that all of my family and friends have jumped on the blog band wagon and I have fallen off somewhere along the way. I promise that I do visit other people's blogs and keep updated on their lives. I know it sounds lame but I just don't seem to ever get the time to sit at the computer and maintain my own blog. I keep up with facebook. It's just difficult to keep up with two such sites, and I know a ton more people on facebook. However, in the spirit of trying to climb back on that blogger band wagon, I am going to try to catch up on a few of the things in my life that I haven't posted.

These photos are from my husband's and my time in Cyprus this past summer.






The beaches and streets of Larnaca are very pretty. I wandered around with my camera or enjoyed the beaches during the days while my hubby was working.







These are of St. Lazarus Church in Larnaca.Some believe that after Christ raised Lazarus from the dead he came here to Cyprus to live out the rest of his days, and died here. His body has since been removed, but this church was erected in honor of him.



Sunday, October 12, 2008

Insight Writer

Hi Sarah,

Since you hardly blog anymore and since I am still a contributor on here I figured I would let you know about my newest blog project.  insightwriter.com My new .com site dedicated to the application of knowledge. Please visit and let me know your thoughts, feelings, expectations, general rants, websites of interest, fascinating news, and whatever else comes to mind.

Thank you,
Jeremy

p.s. how are things with you? ;-)