Well, you should know by now that I am time challenged. I promised you this close to the first of the year and… well… things happened. Don’t they always when you are so ready to do something special?
And this is something really special.
We’re taking another trip. We hadn’t planned to go back to Egypt until spring of 2026 (a two-week luxury Nile cruise with attendant Egyptologists and shore visits to places most tourists never see) but last fall this trip came up and we simply couldn’t resist. Called “In the Footsteps of Moses” it gives us a few days in Cairo to see old friends, then off to the Dead Sea. I haven’t been there in many years, but from what I hear it is still like a moonscape.
From there we go into Sinai where we will stay at St. Catherine’s Monastery for a couple of days, then go by jeep across the desert to Petra, where we will stay another couple of days before flying home from Amman, Jordan, where I haven’t been in decades.
In a word, Wow!
On the other hand, there is something sort of worrying me. Last year we went to Abu Simbel, which has been on my bucket list for years. This year we’re doing St. Catherine’s and Petra – more bucket list. I find myself wondering if I’m going to die soon, because I’m fast running out of bucket list items! On the other hand, perhaps all I need to do is get a bigger bucket…
However, nothing goes smoothly. This has been a very cold winter here, and The Husband and I were both quite ill – one after the other – but while that was messy and unpleasant, it was by no means the worst. The worst? With less than three weeks to go before our departure we were getting our paperwork and permissions together so our tour leader could get the necessary permissions from the various governments… ah, the delights of bureaucracy, whatever language they speak!
What was truly upsetting, though, was that The Husband’s passport had disappeared. We searched for two days – his office has never been so clean! – and could not find it. Now we’re dancing around with the Federal Government Passport Office to see if we can get an immediate replacement because of hardship. If not, The Husband decreed that he would just stay here and I was to go alone… I don’t think that’s a good idea. Why would he turn me loose without supervision on all those poor Middle Easterners? And why would I want to go without him?
Anyway, I was trained to always go to the top, so while he worked with the on-line application process (which I believe is incredibly buggy) I just called the U S Government Passport Office in DC and in a short time talked to a very nice young lady who is arranging for us to have an appointment next week and perhaps be able to get a new passport the same day.
Moral : if you want to keep your wife happy, Do Not Lose Your Passport!
And – if you have any spare prayers, please send one up for us that he gets his new passport and that our Fearless Tour Leader can deal with Jordanian immigration despite the hideously late hour.
Moving on to happier things…
How was your Valentine’s Day? Ours was simple and lovely, and we kind of regard every day as Valentine’s when we’re together. (Yes, soppily romantic, I know, but we like it.) The Husband and I quit doing special things for Valentine’s a long time ago. No gifts, usually not even a card, sometimes a nice dinner out, sometimes just a hamburger. Quite frankly, we’d rather save the money and put it toward something big, like travel.
On the other hand… last year (2024) we were in Egypt on Valentine’s Day, and had a spectacular, 5 star dinner in the Garden Restaurant of the fabled Winter Palace Hotel in Luxor, Egypt. Set in the middle of the extensive gardens, the restaurant was open to the air and lit with what seemed like thousands of candles. Overhead there were stars and a hopeful moon; a perfect light breeze tickled the leaves and spread the sweetness of myriads of flowers around us in waves of scent. Could not have been more romantic.
Entrance to the Winter Palace gardens. The restaurant is about 50 yards to the left.
Believing that one should always be open to new experiences, this year we had Valentine’s dinner at our local Waffle House, and it was lovely in a romantic, somewhat amusingly cheesy sort of way. There were heart cutouts on the windows, the tables had been covered with white (plastic) cloths, there were lacy doilies, red napkins and cute little centerpieces comprised of a white bowl in which two red rose heads floated, along with a LED votive candle and a sprinkling of red and white confetti hearts. There were even silk red rose leaves sprinkled over the floor and a playlist of romantic songs. It was charming.
Obviously we believe in having a diversity of experiences – by way of example, for our tenth wedding anniversary The Husband took us to Paris (yes, France) for a week. For our eleventh anniversary we went to St. Louis to attend the national NRA show. Both were memorable and enjoyable experiences… and we’re never bored!
That’s about all I have to say – must get back to pre-packing. As our trip (I’m being positive that everything will work out and we actually get to go) is going to be something of a rough one – jeep convoy across the desert and all that – I’m trying to do some pre-packing and retain some sensibility about what I take, as luggage space is severely limited. It’s a good thing, though, because I’ve been ‘shopping in my closet’ – trying on all kinds of things and (as an added benefit) getting rid of a lot of things that have been lurking in the back for years. There is always a silver lining…
One more thing. Today I sent in the manuscript for LAFAYETTE, WE ARE HERE, my contribution to the JULY 4TH MURDERS anthology. This is a fun project – four novellas, each set in a different time period (Colonial, WWI, WWII and Viet Nam) on July 4th. Anyway, my talented collaborators (Penny Richards, Sandy Steen and James Gaskin) have worked out a schedule where the anthology goes up for pre-order on April 14th (which just happens to be my 24th wedding anniversary!) and will be on sale as of June 14th, which is Flag Day! How appropriate can you get?
Anyway, now I must go and get some work done. Have a wonderful spring, and be prepared to be regaled with stories and pictures of our trip.