Egypt - Nile River

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins and antiquities dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art.

So, now let’s take a short trip down the Nile River, considered by most experts as the longest river in the World; however some scientist have recently said that the Amazon is longer. But who is counting or measuring? At over 4200 miles, it is long, but we only cruise about a tenth of the river!

For those of you who have cruised on many of the famous rivers around the world, this cruise is somewhat different. First, in Egypt when your tourist agent says, “Five Stars”, don’t believe him. Although the food was pretty good, the boat was old and not well maintained. The most interesting about the cruise was the docking and departing at each site.

It is estimated that there are somewhere around 230 cruise ships cruising between Luxor and Aswan, which is about 430 miles as the crow flies. Of course much longer via a boat. With this many boats on the Nile and without a sufficient number of marinas to dock, it gets to be quite hectic getting on and off your boat. Instead of each boat tying up at an individual dock, there are as many as six to eight boats tied to each other and one must walk through each boat to get to shore. Interesting!

A view of our boat with a couple other boats tied together!

Another shot of a boat to the left tied to our boat and another one in the back!

I called this shot, "follow the leader". Just a few of the hundreds boats on the way to Aswan.

Life on the Nile!

The temple of Kom Ombo about thiry miles north of Aswan.

One has to be a pretty good Captain to maneuver around so many boats!

Balloons flying over the Nile and the Valley of the Kings, just behind the mountains in the background.

One of the many villages on the east side of the Nile; the west side is mostly desert.

Egypt - Valley of the Nobles

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins and antiquities dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art.

Today we are in the Valley of the Nobles which is located on the west bank of the Nile River in the Luxor area. This site has tombs cut into the rock and the mountains for Nobles and high officials who served the Pharaohs. During this period, the Egyptians lived on the East side of the Nile with tombs on the west side. This is true with the Valley of the Kings, which we will discuss later. It is estimated that their are over a hundred tombs, many of which have not been opened.

In this shot you can see the entrance to some of the tombs in center at the back. One can easily see why they buried their dead here, pretty barren place!

This is an example of what one of the tombs looks like, in fact this one belonged to Ra-Mose, one of the most important of the Nobles buried in this valley. (Note: pictures were not allowed inside the tombs and as such I did not take this picture; I got it from the internet; not sure were the author got the picture!! I promise!)

This is the entrance to one of the tombs, though not Ra-Mose. The inside was hugh and many, many carvings and paintings on the walls and ceiling. The number 331 actually indicated that this is Noble Penne tomb.

Another shot with the tombs in the background; also note the homes or shacks in the center left. Years ago there were homes all over this area. When the tombs started to be discovered the homeowners would cut a hole in their floor of the house and go down and steal the precious artifacts. The government finally caught up with them and started moving the people and demolishing the homes.

Egypt - Aswan

I'm always amazed at how easy it is for Jenny to meet new people and enjoy them; especially kids. She is amazing! She can not possibly pass kids on the streets or anywhere without stopping to say hello.

This picture was taken in the Botanical Gardens in Aswan. It looks like the kids are having a lot of fun with Jenny, and they are!

(More later on our Egypt trip, but I saw this picture and I had to stop and send it now)

First Snow - Winter 2010

(photo taken with my iPhone; I'm almost as good as Peggy with my phone camera)

The first snow of the year! Yeah, I know that some of my family maybe laughing at me because Raleigh, NC had its first snowfall of the year (and maybe its last!) several weeks ago. Although we only have about three inches, but there is more coming today and the next several days.

The first snowfall always changes one perspective; all of a sudden it is Winter and all the activities that goes with it. Also with this snow, it looks like we will have another White Christmas, which we have experienced for the past twenty years in beautiful upstate NY and we are still not too old to look forward to each year.

Egypt - Ancient City of Memphis

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art.

In this posting I wanted to go to the ancient city of Memphis, which doesn’t exist today but there are a number of modern cities that lie within the old historical borders of ancient Memphis. The ruins are about 15 miles south of Cairo.

The Step pyramid or the Pyramid of Djoser is the oldest of the pyramids and built about a hundred years prior to the Pyramids of Giza. What started as a single step, ended with the six steps by the end of Djoser approximately nineteen year rule. It is easy to see how the pharaohs transition from the step pyramid to the true pyramids of Giza.

Shot taken inside the Temple of Djoser.

Ramesses II statue is currently in a temporary museum just outside of Memphis. The 32oo year old statue was reconstructed in Cairo in the mid-fifties, but taken down because of the deterioration from the city. This 83 ton statue will be moved next year to the new Grand Egyptian Museum due to be completed in Cairo in 2011.

Ramesses II statue in the open air archeological museum in Memphis. There are many statues of Rameses the Great in Egypt; he rule for over sixty years and lived to be over ninety years old. I will be discussing his Abu Simbel Temple later.

Picture taken in Cairo, not Memphis, but wanted to show this picture. As I indicated earlier, Egypt is a third world country. I saw this scene many, many times and of course more frequently outside of the big cities. It reminded me of some of the pictures I took in the early eighties in the interior of China.

Egypt - Giza - November 2010

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art. As a result. many of the sites we saw are in really good condition.

I have so many pictures to post I will break it down to several posts in keeping with, what I think, that short posts would be better for all.

Great Sphinx, as a symbol of Egypt, is as easily recognizable site as the pyramids. Built probably about 50 years or after the pyramids.

A close-up of the Great Sphinx. I had to crop this picture in order to get it without so many people around. As with many of our world Heritage Site, we are loving these sites too much. I hope they will be here for my great-children to see!

The three Pyramids of Giza: Khufu, Kafhre, and Menkaura built in honor of three Kings around 2600BC. The oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one still in existence.

As you can see, the city is fast encroaching upon the Giza Pyramids.

Jenny enjoying the local culture!

Update on Bennett - December 2010

We were happy to have the kids here for Thanksgiving. Here is the latest picture of Bennett. Now at a little over three months; it is amazing how much he has changed in just three plus months.

Trip South: Max Patch

Jenny has always thought she would like to hike the Appalachian Trail, yes all 22oo plus miles. Last year she read an article about a local man who took three months to hike it with details of problems faced during the trip; he said he wore out two pairs of shoes.

The Max Patch is a very popular section of the Appalachian Trail where day hikers can go and and get a taste, however, a very little taste! While at the Max Patch, Jenny met a lady who was hiking part of the trail; she was carrying a forty-five pound back pack that Jenny could barely pick-up. Jenny no longer talks about hiking the Appalachian as one of her, “Bucket List”.

The Max Patch, located in the Hot Springs township of NC, about one hour northwest of Asheville, NC

Jenny hiking the Appalachian Trail!

Trip South - 2010

Jenny and I just returned from a two week trip down south where we attended the Epsilon Alfa Chapter (HPU) Brothers of the Sixties Theta Chi Reunion in Asheville, NC, Greenville, SC to see the Andrew Wyeth Collection at the Greenville County Museum and then to Raleigh area to visit family and especially to attend a party at my niece Dana and her husband Craig's house to welcome my nephew, Ryan home from the Army and Afghanistan and my niece, Lisa, home on an R & R trip from Afghanistan. It was a great party and great to see not only Ryan & Lisa but everyone. More on this trip on later blogs.

Here is just a couple of shots of the trip:

Maj Coleman "serving" Sgt Braswell a piece of the celebration cake!

On every trip south, one must stop at a Bojangles to get a country ham and biscuit or a spicy chicken and biscuit. Great!

I love this shot of my sister's Shirley refrigerator.

Photo of the Week # 32 - Iguazu Falls

Igauzu Falls, with 270 different falls, it is the widest falls in the world, but not the highest; Victoria Falls has that record. The above picture was taken on our trip to South America in 2006.

Photo of the Week # 31 - Lisa in Afghanistan

A special tribute to my niece Lisa who is serving in Afghanistan. She has already served a tour of duty in Iraq. She is a special lady.

Photo of the Week # 30 - Theta Chi Reunion - 2004

We are leaving Tuesday for another reunion for the 1960's members of Epsilon Alpha Chapter of Theta Chi. This picture was taken in the White Mountains of New Hampshire; this was our first reunion. It was great to see brothers whom I hadn't seen in forty years. This year's reunion, our fourth, will be in Asheville, NC. Should be lots of fun!

Photo of the Week # 29 - Yosemite

Every time I go to the Hyde House and see Bierstadt's Yosemite Valley with the Cliffs of El Capitan on the left and Cathedral Rock with the Bridal Veil Falls on the right, I think of the picture I took on our trip there in 2005. This is the same view as Bierstadt painted in 1865, but my picture isn't anywhere as good as his!

Photo of the Week #28 - Venice

Yes, one of the many, many pictures I took while we were in Venice in 2001. This was the end of our European trip.

Photo of the Week #27 - Stilted Houses - Malaysia

Stiled Houses in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. A trip I took about 1981 when I was located in Hong Kong. An interesting and educational trip for sure

Photo of the Week #26 - Covered Bridge

Many of you know that I love bridges and one of these days I would like to publish my pictures of "Bridges from Around the World". On our recent trip to the Green Mountains of Vermont, we past no less than eight covered bridges. Here is just one of them: Silk Road Bridge in Bennington, Vt. I like this one because of the name, which in this case, it is the name of the road and has nothing, of course, to do with the fame Silk Road of China. The bridge spans the Wallomsac River, is eighty-eight feet long and built in 1840.

Photo of the Year - Bennett Charles

Zola holding her little brother, my grandson, Bennett Charles.

(Photo b Nana)

Barnes Foundation

We were fortunate to be able to stop at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, PA (just outside of Philadelphia) to see the world famous collection of the late Dr. Albert C. Barnes. It is billed as the finest collection of French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and early Modern paintings in the world. I believe it! It contains no less than 181 masterpieces of Renoir, 69 works by Cezanne and 59 works by Henri Matisse; just to mention three of the artists. It is said that the Foundation includes more works by these three artists than in all the museums in Paris! Total works of art in the Foundation is about 2500 of which over 800 are paintings.

Many of you may know of the Barnes Foundation though the much publicized documentary film called “The Art of the Steal” that was released earlier this year. If you don’t know about it and your are interested in art please go to my references and check it out. Briefly, it is a story about an estimated $25 Billion of world-class art moved, some will say “stolen”, from the little community of Merion, PA to the big city of Philadelphia, even against the wishes of the founder as stated in his trust agreement. A lot of money is involved in this true story!

The Foundation in Merion will closed mid year 2011 to be moved to “museum row” on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. The new location will not open in Philadelphia until sometime in 2012. The building is already being constructed.

I will not come down on either side of this argument, although it is difficult to understand how the Trustees of the Foundation could possibly have squandered the large endowment fund, over $10 million in 1950's dollars, that was established in the trust agreement by Dr. Barnes and be in a position where the Foundation was pretty close to bankruptcy in the early 1990's.

However, to be sure, it will definitely be easier to view the Collection when it is in Philadelphia and of course many more thousands of people will see this priceless collection of art. Getting into the Barnes today is like checking into a secured government location, read CIA!

Also Check out the philly.com site for more information about the move and an architect’s rendering of the building as well as some history of the Barnes.

Entrance to the Foundation; as you can see access is somewhat limited. Each person should have advance reservations, however, if there be space available, walk-in's may be admitted. The Foundation is located in a residential area and easily missed; the entrance isn't marked very well and in fact we drove past it.

The art galley of the Foundation. I should note that the original purpose of the Foundation was and education center and not a museum.

Dr. Barnes residence adjoining the Foundation's art galley.

Imaged taken from a post card purchased at the Foundation. Image copyright protected.

Imaged taken from a post card purchased at the Foundation. These two post cards gives a good example as to how the art work is displayed. Each of the ninety-six walls were designed by Dr. Barnes and it is done in a way for him and the Foundation to teach art. Image copyright protected.

Family Reunion - 2010

We just returned from Cherry Grove in North Myrtle Beach, SC attending our annual family reunion. It is always great to get together with as many as our family members as possible in that this is about the only time we see some of our family from year to year. We had about forty members of the family in attendance this year, which is a little lower than previous years. Hopefully next year when our brother Billie, and his wife Patsy plan the reunion, probably in his hometown of Fredericksburg, VA, we will have more in attendance.

Here are some pictures of my family:

Shot taken with my iPhone; Cherry Grove Beach, SC

Kids taking a break from their game!

Our signature event: The Auction. Someone in the back causing trouble!

Chowing down on the obligatory Carolina Bar-B-Que! It was delicious.

Waiting for the food!

Was Mitchell telling Mom about his engagement to Lexie?

Catching up on the past year events.

Visiting at Uncle Tony & Aunt Nobie in Cherry Grove; talking about all those not there!

Gathering at the "hospitality suite"! But where is the beer?

Sisters catching up!

Breakfast Sunday at Mama Jean's. It is just too early for Melissa!

Note: All of the above pictures, except the sunrise shot, were taken by my photographer wife: Jenny.