Jigsaw Puzzle Piece

OK... first of all... I did some asking around this morning and it seems that the cat above was indeed a lovely black Persian a couple of days of go....

He is Tar and he belongs to Lorianne - the hairdresser!! LOL Just in case anyone is thinking that its awful to do this... Tar lays waiting for his summer haircut and loves his new look!! I did ask her if she could fit me in for a quick trim yesterday but after seeing the cat.... (just kidding Lorianne)!!

This jiggie piece is Wisher's and her chosen theme was waterfalls and she wanted a mini book on her piece.

So what do you put in a mini book with the subject of waterfalls? Yep, waterfalls.

I made a countdown list of the world's top 10 natural waterfalls.... and so far I have managed to see one of the top ten!! Victoria Falls in Zambia.
This jiggie piece is Leigh's and her theme was Egypt and I have had all sorts of problems with it... in the end I decided to scrap version one and try again... still not very happy so may have to tweak it a little before it goes in the post!

The mini book (yes, Leigh wanted a mini book on her piece)!! contains ink drawings on papyrus paper which I bought in Egypt when we were on holiday... I knew what Leigh's theme was before we went so searched out the tiniest artwork so tha tit would fit on a tiny page!

Dance Like an Egyptian... version 2!!

Jetlag, being blonde and suffering from senior moments are a really bad combo to deal with... when I did my post yesterday I knew what photos I wanted to use to go with the post title... but I couldn't find them!! I realised this morning that they were actual photographs and I needed to scan them in first.... doh!!

The Sheik and a couple of his women....

One night on the Nile Cruise we had to dress up for the galibiyah night, this is the long gown that Egyptians wear and most everyone in the party got into the spirit of it and dressed up... I have to admit that Chris made a scarily accurate Saudi sheik.... methinks he has perhaps been here in the Kingdom a tad too long!

Chris, Mum and I dressed up for the Egyptian Night

So there were various games and challenges going on that people got picked for out of the different groups and the little guy comes up and puls me out on to the dance floor... and then proceeded to pick out a bunch of really young nubile looking creatures from the other groups... and tells us we are in a belly dancing competition!! Yikes... well, heck, I have the belly but the dancing bit was going to be a tad more difficult!!

I think I might have had a chance if everyone else wasn't a couple of decades younger!! ;)

Dance like an Egyptian...

I'm back!! LOL Did ya miss me? Did ya? Nah? PMSLing...

Mum, Chris and I in front the Great Pyramid.


We had a fabulous trip to Egypt, stopped in Cairo for 3 days and saw the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids, went to the Cairo Museum and drooled over the treasures of Tutenkamun and visited The Mohamed Ali Mosque and had a quick scout round the Kalili Bazaar. Now, I live in an Arab country and have lived in Arab countries before but I have never witnessed the sheer pushiness of sellers to the degree of those in Egypt... you are attacked on all sides by people shoving stuff in your face and demanding you buy it at outrageous prices... its very offputting and I think I bought the least amount of stuff I have ever bought on a holiday just because of the sheer aggressiveness of the sellers and I am used to bartering for stuff and dealing with the occasional beggar, so I cannot imagine what it would be like for the average tourist off the plane.

Looking for treasure... Kalili Bazaar, Cairo

The Great Pyramids

Chris....pppick up a pyramid!!

We also visited Sakkara and Memphis and saw the huge step pyramid and popped into a tomb, before travelling onto Aswan where we stayed in a beautiful hotel on a island in the River Nile.

Giza, the Pyramids.

Then it was a visit to Lake Nassa, the Aswan Dam and the Philae Temple and a really early morning start (2 a.m. get up) to make our way by bus to Abu Simbel.

Chris and the Sphinx

Mum, Chris and I at the Memphis Sphinx

Off on a 3 day cruise down the Nile visiting Edfu and Esna and onto Luxor to do the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens. Chris got sick so we missed those but Mum managed to do them and Chris and I returned to the hotel by taxi... the taxi was an ancient 1970's model something with no working speedometer or any other gauge come to mention it, the seat covers were old badly cured sheepskin and the suspension was a distant memory if it had any at all!!

Chris and I went for a balloon ride over Luxor and viewed the temples from the sky... it was BRILLIANT!! I have always wanted a ride in a hot air balloon so we couldn't miss the opportunity when it came up... sunrise in a hot air balloon is magic....

Its so quiet and the view is amazing... and I wasn't scared at all!

In Luxor we visited Karnak and Luxor Temples before returning back to the UK... for a 3 day stint at home in Scotland - where British Airways managed to lose our luggage... luckily it turned up the next day so I had time to wash everything before re-packing it to fly back to Saudi.

So, here I am, back with lots of new stash to play with and hundreds of photos to scrap!!

Update on Gypsy... so many people have asked about little Gypsy. We left her in the compound at Murjan when we moved and my next door neighbour is feeding her. She has only ever known life in Murjan Village and I wasn't sure she would want to move with us, plus, if we moved her here before we went on holiday there would be no one to feed her and she would have been in a strange place. Now we are back I am informed that she misses us, turns up at our old house every night at 5 pm for her food and chats to Odelia. So, Chris and I are off tomorrow to find a pet store where I can buy a litter tray and cat cage and we can then go over to Murjan for a bit of catnapping... I hope she settles here in the new house, she just wants to belong to us and be an indoor cat with occasional ventures outside... so wish me luck that she comes to me and lets me put her in a cage!!