Threshing Time

I had forewarning yesterday afternoon that the wheat would be threshed today. I wasn't prepared, however, to wake up to the groaning of the motor. Farmers are early risers all over the world, I guess.


And so the job begins. I haven't seen threshing since my days working at the pioneer village. It was interesting to watch one fellow sew the bags shut as the next bag filled with grain. Two men had a tough time lugging a full bag a few meters. The spray of chaff stretched for 50 meters. That will be bagged later. Nothing goes to waste.





A lump formed in my throat when I noticed the woman scavenging for bits of grain in the field. In the past I've been moved by the painting "The Gleaners" (Millet, 1857) and its portrayal of women searching for the smallest bits to feed their families. Here was testament to the poverty of my neighbours.

Something Different

Five months and one kitchen renovation later, I still have 10 big boxes stored on the balcony, unpacked from the move from Cairo. After spending the day trying to work through them, I wanted to get out of the flat and do 'something different'. So I crossed the river and went to the rooftop of SnackTime which serves Egyptian food. Let me clarify . . . it serves bad Egyptian food. And when I told the manager that it was bad he said, "Thank you." A service ethic is pretty much non-existent here.


Oh well. I chalked it up to learning where not to eat. And I did enjoy the view and all the activity on the street below, such as the donkey hauling Coca-Cola and bottled water.


Abu Haggag Mosque was particularly beautiful at twilight.


And a little later its minarets gleamed before the night sky. (I'm must try to repeat this shot when there's a crescent moon.)

The beauty of the night prevailed over bad food and service. Good night. All is calm. All is well.

Inspiration

A bag of peppers purchased two weeks ago needed to used . . . today. I wasn't sure what to do with them when I pulled the bag from the frig this morning as I grabbed the milk for my coffee. A little later, during my morning cruise of the Net, I was inspired by one of the blogs that I visit, Desserts for Breakfast. It aptly fits my philosophy of life.

I can't reach the master level of baking that Stephanie's attained, and I often can't obtain her ingredients in my local souk or 'neighbourhood' grocery store (smirk), but I am aroused to action by her photography of her beautiful creations and ideas are stirred by her recipes. Today's recipe was "Caramelized onion, goat cheese and heirloom tomato buckwheat/thyme tart/quiche". Whew! What a mouthful!

What comes out of Shari's kitchen is "Pepperonata, feta and cheddar cheese quiche in a basil accented crust" with 'feta' and 'cheddar' italized because the local products bear little resemblance to their namesakes. Stephanie used fresh thyme. No chance of that here. But I liked the savory flavour of dried basil in my "Easy No Fail" pie crust.


The result was pretty tasty and I can pat myself on the back for putting those peppers to good use.

Tomorrow, I want to try making Stephanie's lemon curd (sans the cream and pavlovas). Step by step. Pound by pound. ;-)

Cool Clothing

I have realized that my stack of summer t-shirts purchased in Canada are just too thick for Egyptian heat. Light cotton is the only way to go. Men's gallabeyyas would be perfect for wearing around the house and are for sale today in the Gurna souk. However, if I answered the door wearing a gallabeyya people would think that I hadn't changed out of my pajamas. Comfort vs. decorum.

Birding

During my morning swim I was serenaded by a great number of sparrows. Sweeping the balcony less than an hour later, I found that their numbers had been reduced by one. Cat has caught her first bird. In the afternoon, I went for a walk to commune with my avian neighbours. My camera really isn't up to the task of bird photography, but it captured some of the 'exotic' ones that swooped about, such as the European bee-eater (above) that was heading North.

As I composed this post, a White Stork flew right over the balcony . . . but, alas, the camera is not at hand. The same thing happens when a Lesser Kestrel (whose name belies its ferocious look) comes to our living room window. I fear he/she is looking for Cat.


As I started out on my walk, I met my messenger of good luck, a hoopoe. So I knew I would have a good trip.


And I needed good luck because I found myself sinking in very marshy ground without wellies. Another "How-did-you-get-yourself-into-this?" situation. The cattle egret had no problem standing amongst the water hyacinth.


They are beautiful, but deadly. They cause a host of problems: clogging irrigation canals; encouraging the breeding of mosquitoes and bilharzia, and choking oxygen levels needed for fish survival while making the act of fishing very difficult. I'm told that the weed appeared in Egypt in the late 1800s, after someone introduced it to Lake Victoria because it was pretty. A 12,000 ha mat of this weed now covers the lake. Canada is helping to eradicate the weed in Africa and the Middle East.

And I didn't just meet birds on my journey.

I'm not sure why 15 camels were camped out in the banana grove. I was certainly an 'exotic' to them, as they all turned to look.


I also enjoyed the colourful houses along our road. (Just a few more meters and it would have been indoor plumbing.)


You might be able to see the two sets of horns that grace the top of the door of our neighbour's house.


And on my return, I met the lady of the house and her brother, who speaks very good English. I have promised to visit for tea on Wednesday . . . I needed to get home to rinse out the bottoms of my muddy pants. ;-)

Invigorating Start to the Day

My 'palace' comes with a pool. I have made a pledge with myself to swim once a day. I will try to follow the Time Traveller's example and take an invigorating plunge first thing in the morning . . . only to be preceded by coffee. ;-)

Afternoon Update: I biked past the field that was burned on February 20th. Take a look at what it looks like two and a half months later:

A land of plenty. We think those are zucchini rows among the bananas.

And speaking of a land of plenty (at least for a few months out of the year), I photographed veggies at the St. Jacobs (Ontario) farmers' market back in September with the intention of mounting a montage in the new kitchen. I forgot that the walls are tiled. I could not bring myself to drill holes in 9 tiles, so I have hung them with suction cups. Not perfect, but I can live with it until I find another solution.


And then I went up to the roof to say farewell to the day. Good night. See you tomorrow.

Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit

Once again, the Time Traveller has left, absconded, escaped, and disappeared. The kitchen is complete and so with a whoosh he vanishes on another mission in some distant land.

And he has dematerialized right when I need him to explain what is happening in our 'backyard'.

Originally, I thought it was a tractor towing a seeder, but then I spotted the tripod with what looks like survey gear mounted on it (located on the far left of the photo). The tractor was making many tight circles in the same general area, rather than long passes down the length of the field. About 100m between our flat and the plowed field there is a gas line right-of-way. Do they plan to make a jog in the pipeline? Hmmm. Any ideas? I'm wondering if it is grading the land . . . but that seems pretty 'high tech' for the farming around us.

8PM Update: I went up to the roof to enjoy the sunset, which is now an hour later thanks to the clocks jumping forward on Friday morning. The weather forecast has called for rain for the past two days; none came but thick cloud enveloped the land all day.


Clouds still swirled around sunset time. The wind blew against my legs as the birds sang their evensong.


By the end of my sunset aperitif the sky at the western horizon had cleared. Sunny skies are forecast for tomorrow.