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366 unusual things: days 89-93

29th Mar – Spoke to the Housing tenant who was the target of last night’s tirade.  He spoke to me politely, without swearing, and was touched that I was interested. The same man once threatened to do terrible things to my head if I called the police about him.

30th Mar – On the back deck there are two spiderwebs, one neat and circular and the other messy like crazy ladders.

31st Mar – This afternoon, two sons worked on serious maths problems while sharing one orange, one slice of fruit toast and one cup of chamomile tea.

1st Apr – Woke at 2.30 am.  Still awake at 3.30 am but daylight saving ended at 3 am.  At 4 am it was 3 am again.  Still awake at 5 am, which was now 4 am.  A long night.

2nd Apr – Alone in a gift shop, I heard a beautiful voice singing ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’, and stood still to listen closely. The owner showed me the CD case and told me about Melody Gardot, a prophetic name, as I learnt when I later read her life story.

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Weekly photo challenge: Arranged

This photo from my father’s war-time album has the caption Brass Worker.  The artisan has arranged his ewer, vases and bowls to appeal to buyers.  The photographer must have noticed the verticals in the scene:  the vertical fluting in the brass work, the long table legs, the artisan’s striped galabeya, the height of his fez, the line of his straight back.

I use this photo as my computer’s wallpaper.  Each time I turn it on, I see a man who is in control, organised, a man who likes to arrange things;  he’s creating something beautiful, requiring a unique skill.  Someone I emulate.

Brass worker, Egypt, c1941
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Weekly photo challenge: Through

I’ve looked at a lot of photos of mosques in the Western Desert – the expansive desert in Libya, just over Egypt’s western border – where I suspect this photo was taken, but couldn’t see one that matched this mosque.  The wall seems to have had its window blown out, and as sometimes happens in photography, something damaged and ugly can be used to make a beautiful image.  A photo of the mosque on its own would not tell as good a story as it does framed by this arched gap.

Western Desert, Egypt/Libya, 1941/42
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Weekly photo challenge: Unusual

Death is something I hate thinking about, let alone writing about.  But when choosing photos from Egypt in 1942, there are so many whose subject is death that I will inevitably have to consider them.  I selected this image which, since my childhood, has always turned me cold but curious, simply because of the caption my father wrote beneath it:  Dead City, Cairo.  Until last week when I was researching the cemetery near the pyramids (see my entry for the ‘Contrast’ challenge), I never knew that Dead City was a cemetery.

Today there are about half a million people living in the City of the Dead due to Cairo’s exploding population. They live in the tomb buildings as slum-dwellers and have no electricity or sanitation.  However, some good people are growing micro-gardens in the Dead City complex which give the residents a way to produce some food for themselves and sell the surplus at the markets.  Tomatoes and strawberries, mint, aubergines and peppers are popular and grow well because of their shallow roots, not in soil but in a layer of minerals laid on top of the sand.  Read more about the project here:  http://www.abitare.it/en/liveinslums/the-microjardins-in-the-city-of-the-dead/

The building in the foreground is in the Mamluk cemetery.  It’s the mausoleum of Sultan Al-Ashraf Barsbay, built in 1432 AD.

So through blogging I’ve learnt of three unusual things:  Dead City is actually a city built for the dead;  half a million people are living amongst the dead;  a few others care enough to start vegetable gardens here and improve the lives of poor cemetery dwellers.

Dead City, Cairo, 1942
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Weekly photo challenge: Contrast

‘Egyptian graves’ is the caption below this photo in the album my father brought back from Cairo in 1942.  There is a contrast between grave styles:  some like theirs pyramidal and reaching up to the sky from the open desert, others prefer to stay close to the ground, in the shade of a tree.

P.S.  After submitting this photo for the ‘contrast’ challenge, I did some research about the graves in the foreground and responded to Laura’s comment below.  I learned that they are in a modern Muslim cemetery built over the site of the quarry where some of the pyramid blocks came from.  Since the time of this photo, 70 years ago, a wall has been built around the cemetery, hiding it from pyramid tourists.

I also discovered that the structure on the left of the photo is the pyramid tomb of Queen Khentkawes (c 4th Dynasty) built on top of a cube of rock which remained after blocks had been cut for the larger pyramids.

Egyptian graves, 1942
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Weekly photo challenge: Distorted

Several photos in the war album were taken in India, and while there is no caption accompanying this one, I suspect it was in India because bamboo scaffolding is still used there.  Would you climb on it?  Clearly, it’s flexible.

Bamboo scaffolding, India?, c 1941
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February photo challenge: 29th Feb, Something I'm listening to

Pauline Croze has a voice that comforts me;  a little bit husky, a little bit of a lisp.  She sings clearly and not too fast so I can sing along with her, following the lyrics to practise my French. The jazzy rhythm helps me remember the words;  it’s also great for chair dancing.  Sometimes I dance on my feet (when no one’s watching).

When I took the photo of this CD cover, an energy-efficient light bulb overhead made her skin too pale.  I grabbed a piece of the red organza (see post from 22nd Feb), set the camera timer and held the fabric close to the light bulb.  It’s given her a bit of a tan.

I recommend her album even if you don’t speak French.

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366 unusual things: days 54-58

23rd Feb – Driving in blazing sunlight, I entered a short tunnel and my eyes didn’t adjust.  Everything went dark and I had to trust my knowledge of the road for a few seconds.

24th Feb – Discovered that Google makes finding a Justice of the Peace easy.  I gave it a suburb and it listed the local JPs in order of distance in metres from my house, though I hadn’t given an exact address.  I like the knowledge Google has but I hate it knowing where I am.

25th Feb – This afternoon I read about Shepheard’s Hotel for two hours so I could write a factual paragraph for the Indulge challenge.  I began the weekly photo challenges with just pictures in mind;  now the writing matters.

26th Feb – A black crow picked up a white cockatoo feather, flew up onto a fence, held the feather under its claw and tore it to shreds, the white scraps catching in the breeze and blowing away.

27th Feb – When I asked a woman in a quilting shop to tell me the difference between cotton and polyester thread, she said, ‘Well, this one’s cotton because it’s cotton.  It’s made from cotton.’

Several weeks ago we found a possum in the tool cupboard (see post of 16th Jan).  Now there are two.

Possum mother and baby in the tool cupboard
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February photo challenge: 28th Feb, Money

Two sides of the same coin.

My father brought some coins back from the Middle East in 1942.  I like this one with its Art Nouveau flourishes and the hole in the middle.  I hang it by a chain on a wrought iron bedstead.