I have been having internet issues - so posting has been nearly impossible. Figured I would give it a go this morning.

Last Thursday Suzanne and I went to the souk for our weekly vegetable and fruit stock up - although I am sure for her it does not last a week - with 3 kids at home all day as they are on mid term break and they seem to spend most of their time sleeping and when they are not sleeping they are eating - she is having trouble keeping food in the house. Got some wonderful strawberries - for relatively cheap - most of the strawberry sellers are outside on the street - but this guy had some inside the souk - and the smelled wonderful - knew that if I could smell them above all the other odours then they would be good and they are - I am eating the last of them this morning. Took a few pictures for your enjoyment. And of course got to visit my Egyptian mom - as Suzanne always buys things for her and we drop them off before we head home.

Took this picture so you could see the souk grew up around this tree.

Could not resist taking this pic - this little guy was with his grandma - and he was very anxious to get a tomato - once she paid for them he took one and just started chomping like we would an apple.

These two pictures show a dry goods shop in the souk - notice the oil hanging from the 'roof' and the jars of spices up on shelves with treasures hanging underneath.

Buy a 'chick' and grow it for Sunday supper. The fellow who is behind them was quite upset when I was going to take this pic - so I made sure he was not in the shot - showed him the picture - love the digital camera for that feature - to show I just took the birds.

Friday I did laundry and then went out for supper - Angela invited me over to her place for a meal - had a great time. She will be missed - by me at least - I quite enjoy her company - and seeing as how she is 'from' Calgary - she left from there - and she lives not far from Miles and Shani there is a connection. We had a lot of good laughs - there was another woman there - Jeanette - from New Zealand - she has been teaching and living in Egypt for 25 years - a long timer - would like to get to know her better. She just recently moved to Alex - six months ago. Nice enough day that I spent a bit of time working on my 'tan' - feels so good to be able to sit out in the sun for a bit and feel it's warmth. Sad state of affairs when it is warmer outside than inside.


Saturday was a do nothing day - my get up and go deserted me - although I did spend a bit more time sitting outside enjoying the warmth.


Sunday we headed back to Mohmadaya - Suzanne and Gehan - to get some of my new outfits. Ibrahim had about half of the fabric made up - most of the things needed altering - although he did not do all of the altering I wanted - he has a hang up about hemming to the length I want - so I end up tripping on the things - so I am going to have to do some hemming - gives me something to do. Unfortunately I do not like having my hem dragging on the ground so my feet are hidden - I want the hem around my ankles to keep it clean and to keep my from tripping on the thing - even my SIL took issue with my wanting the things shorter - so a hemming I will go. Sharon has offered the use of her sewing machine - may take her up on it. It was another nice day - not great - a bit overcast - but still quite warm - had the a/c on in the car. When we went to get the car they had been digging up the street right by the curb of the sidewalk and my passengers could not get in. I was told that I could no park on that street any more as tomorrow - being Monday - they were going to be demolishing the two villas that are there - SIGH. Wonder how tall they will be building the new building - hope the governor keeps them to the 11 floor maximum or I may lose my 'view' and the breeze from the sea. Keep your fingers crossed. We picked up Mr. Sadee - Suzanne's hubby - while in Mohmadaya - he was working out there - guess he has a few projects that are keeping him there - and he brought me some whole wheat - have not looked at it - am going to make whole wheat pitas - or at least mostly whole wheat. I dropped Gehan and Mr. Sadee off at my SIL Shereen's place - they were meeting at her place for supper - I was invited - but I gracefully declined - had had enough of being the fifth wheel. I had a 'date' with my mom online and I did not want to miss it - after a few phone calls even managed to get internet access.

This is the final step in purchasing 'fresh' milk here in Egypt. You buy it in bags.

Not a great shot - but you can see the bags of milk sitting on the 'cooler'.

Monday the weather turned a bit nasty - got a bit windy at times and not much sun. Did not do a lot on Monday - my internet issues continue - and unfortunately it pisses me off. I did manage to water the garden.


Tuesday - Suzanne got her wish - on Thursday she had been complaining because we had not had any winter weather yet - it was windy and miserable - enough rain that I had to go and ream out the one drainage pipe that works so the water would drain - and what a mess - lots of very dirty water. I walked over to Sharon's because I did not have internet - well I did early in the morning - had a date with Aymn at 10 - and he came online and asked if he could postpone until 11:30 - and 10 minutes later I lost the internet - ARGH - and while I was walking over there it was thundering and raining a bit - not a lot. Managed to time it between the deluges. Chatted with Aymn and then came home - Sharon came shortly after me - and I was outside cleaning out the drain pipe and did not hear her knocking - finally came in and heard her - she could not use her key as I had put my key in the lock. I made cream of broccoli soup and bologna sandwiches - a real gourmet meal. The soup was great - anything warm was appreciated - although my place was warmer than her place had been - because of my new windows the wind inside the apartment does get cut down considerably. She brought over a copy of the movie Mama Mia - was a good show - but the best part was that when it was copied it was a disaster. We watched the middle of the movie - then the end of the movie and then finally the beginning of the movie and then the end again. Welcome to Egypt - even though we got to watch it piece meal it was a fun movie to watch - loved the music - but then I have always been an ABBA fan. While we were sitting in the recliners there was lightning and thunder - LOVE it - unfortunately Sharon does not. I even managed to get some laundry done - and because of the placement of my clothes line - they even dried off - was a great day - lots of wind - although I am sure that they got rinsed a couple of times - but they did dry and I was able to make my bed - YEAH - nice clean sheets. After Sharon left I tried to get online - phoned the internet guy and he said 5 minutes - 30 minutes later I called back and he was pissed off - said okay okay - and voila I had internet for about 1.25 hours - then it went off - phoned him again - and he hung up on me and turned off his cell phone. Sure do wish my Arabic was good enough to go and tear strips off of him.


I think that is it for me - not a lot else to say - will keep you posted as I can.


Today my goal is to make bread - wish me luck. Day is looking promising - so far we have blue sky and sunshine - winter was very shortlived.