Me-maw

My paternal grandparents: Elbert Bryman Deason and Edith Percival Jones. So do I look like her? Or does Ginger look like her? We both look like her in some ways I think.

Walking at the Bay

So this is where I walk when I'm at Mommy's in Fairhope. There's a nice park to walk along the bay. And I came upon these people doing Tai Chi and that always makes me laugh out loud (on the inside). It's just so funny to watch! And I took a picture here of a big sailboat that I would probably like to have when I win the lottery.

Pensacola Beach with Amanda

Amanda and I went to the beach yesterday in Pensacola. It was awesomely perfect. The water was fab and the sky was blue and the sun was kind. I need to work on my tan. And I need to work on reading signs. Apparently I was supposed to "Keep Off the Dunes". Oops.

Sheesha

Sheesha is the name for the tobacco that people smoke in the water pipes. They sell it plain or apple flavored. Ragab sells it in the shop and people smoke it all day.

Mohammed and Shicko

Some pictures of Mohammed, Ragab's nephew, and Shicko. I love these guys. I feel so much like we are family. It felt like it then and it still feels like it.

Shicko

Ragab's nephew Shicko (Shee-ko) works for him in the shop. Shicko ROCKS!!!! He's the nicest, sweetest, kindest person I met in Cairo. Well, one of them anyway. He works in the afternoons and nights. He has a little brother, Mohammed, who came up during a school holiday and worked with us. Ok, I say us because I was always there. But I washed some dishes and felt like I was working. Sort of. Maybe I was just in the way. But Ragab says I was part of the shop and I belonged there, so it's probably all cool.

Rgab's Coffee Shop

I could look straight down out of my window and see Ragab's coffee shop. My home away from home. He told me to think of it as my shop. So I eventually was walking in and making my own tea. Whenever I tell people that Ragab has a coffee shop, I think they get the mistaken idea that it's like Starbucks. These are pictures from the shop to give a better idea of what it looks like. And also to make me happy. Because I love this place.

My First View of the Nile

Here we are on Zamalek and we walked to a part of it called el Sakia (the waterwheel) where they have concerts every night. But you can walk right to the edge of the water and just hang out. It's calm and nice and I got my first close-up look at the Nile here. We pass a cool mosque with this awesome star-spangled window every time we walk to this place (and we ended up walking over there a lot because it ends up that Ragab likes protest and other music as much as I do).

Walking in Cairo

After we left Al Azhar Park, we drove back to the coffee shop and walked around some. From the shop, there is an alleyway that gives a short-cut that I ended up knowing like the back of my hand. Here is a picture of the mosque in that alley. Also I really liked this doorway - the tilework is pretty. So then we walked to one of the bridges that crosses from downtown to Zamalek (an island). You can see the boats from the bridge. These boats are electrified with loud dance music and groovy lights and fill up with people at nights. But here is my first view of them and my first view of the Nile.