Bertie lands in Egypt....

Hi everyone - female human here, sitting in sunny Egypt, writing this missive from the roof of our flat in Luxor which overlooks Nile and the Valley of the Kings! It is a sunny 34 degrees here on Friday the 13th - which means it the most religious day of the week. The call to prayer is sounding all around us, mingling with the sounds of the donkeys, the geese, the cows, the cockerels and the faint strain of a distant dog barking (could it be JD or Max, all the way from England?! Nope! Although it might be my imagination playing tricks with me because I'm missing them so much!)

Our friends who live on the groud floor - the matriarch of the family is the best cook in Egypt!!

The family in the flat below are burning incense on their doorstep and along the small village streets children are running around and shouting happily as they play football - this is the Egypt I love so much.

The view from our roof....

The Egypt I DON'T love so much hasn't surfaced yet - although it's hotter than usual for the time of year I've managed to stay out of the uncomfortable heat and amazingly I've only got one mozzie bite so far - I've usually got over 30 by day 2 so those ankle and wrist straps I'm using this time round actually seem to be working for a change! It's good to be back and I'm very, very relaxed!

....another view from our roof!

I first came to Egypt in 1999 - it was a birthday present from my husband for turning 30. Like most people I was fascinated by the history and wanted to witness some of its splendour first hand - I didn't realise I'd fall so hard for the people and - well, let's face it - the FOOD too!! We've been back almost every year since and in 2005 finally got ourselves a little flat overlooking the Nile in the middle of an Egyptian village. We have made many good friends here - the family below look after our flat when we're not here and when we are here the meals they cook for us are truly spectacular! Egyptian hospitality really is amazing - when they say 'pop in anytime' they actually mean it - when I say it I'm usually just being polite, he he he.....!!!

The West Bank - we look over this from our roof - this is where the Valley of the Kings, Queens and Nobles is

We really miss the boys - in the evenings what I wouldn't give for a schnauzer snuggle! But they ran into the kennels without so much as a backwards glance - they really seem to enjoy it there which is really good. They'll be very pleased to see so much interest in their 'bootie-licious' competition - thank you so much to everyone who has either entered or posted a link to it, I can't wait to go through all the entries with the boys and then show them to Santa & Minnie and Nellie & Calvert! And - isn't this wonderful - Groucho (the inspiration behind it all!) has sent everyone a good luck message which we're posting below....(click to biggify!!!)

Groucho sends good luck to everyone!

Right, well, I'm off now as me and hubby are off to go quad biking in the desert - woo-woo! We'll post photos of Bertie at some landmarks soon and if I get a chance I'll visit some blogs, but I might not get a chance as I'm finding out that relaxing is quite a time-consuming pass time, he he!

Egyptian sunset viewed from a sailing boat....

....and Egyptian sunset viewed from our roof!