New Year, old news

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. We got hit with crud over the holidays, and I haven't felt like doing much apart from the day to day getting by.  Poor Junebug spent his first Christmas sick and feverish and even went to the clinic on Christmas Day. He had either a throat infection or pharyngitis. I got some bit of it on Christmas and was so achy and wiped out that I was in bed by 7:30.  Sprout had lots of bronchial ick going on, and J got periodic bouts of sorethroat and headache but came through mostly unscathed.

Everyone is on the mend now, so we are planning a trip to Wadi el Hitan again (Valley of the Whales) with some friends. It will be much colder than during our last visit, but we are hoping it won't be as windy so that we can spend a bit longer exploring.

I don't have it in me to do a recap of the last year, but this year, I (and J) am striving to learn as much as I can about homesteading, growing a forest garden, and beekeeing. We are also working on being more self-disciplined in how we spend our time, i.e. lots of dreaming but even more doing.

And speaking of do, I have much to take care of before our trip (we'll be gone three days).

Blessed New Year to you all.

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p.S.

Thanks for all the sweet comments on Junebug and his ornament.

Change of plans

Some friends of ours went to Wadi el Hitan yesterday and filled us in on their visit.  Apparentlly, now is not the moment to go.  Not because of the weather but because of security measures put into effect following terrorist threats. We already put off another trip to Fayoum at Thanksgiving because of scheduled protests.

While our friends didn't feel targeted or unsafe, they were obliged to have a police* escort everywhere they went.  Not exactly a restful way to spend a couple of days, so we are planning to go to Alexandria instead. Been here two years now and have yet to visit that famed delta city. With two young'uns in tow, now might not be the time either, but carpe diem...

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* Since police and military are usually the targets of terrorists here in Egypt, it seems pretty illogical--and even more dangerous, of course--to have them as an escort.