Going for the Cigar

Our most recent Netflix movie was The Bucket List with Jack Nickolson and Morgan Freeman - an unlikely pair if there ever was one. Morgan Freeman is as elegant a man as Jack Nickolson is crude, rude and often endearing. You probably know they team up for adventure when they learn they are both facing death. They make a "bucket list" - you know - things to do before they "kick the bucket." We were touched by the movie. It sets you thinking - is there anything you really want to do before YKTB.

Maybe that was part of why we were susceptible to the tour described on the blue paper from Tri-Star Tours. Another trip with Father Larry Boadt - a trip to Egypt. March 2009. The "bucket list" was definitely not the whole story.

Jim and I are long time fans of Egyptian art, history and lore. We stand in line for art exhibits of anything "Old Kingdom", or King Tut. We have seen Eqyptian Treasures in Berlin, Venice, Washington, New York and London - it would be wonderful to see them where they belong. How about seeing them at home.

My yen for Egypt started when I was about 13 years old and read The Egyptianby Waltari. Luckily Jim and I share a fascination for that lost time. We pine for sand, sun and a look at the old Wonders.

We watch all the PBS and History Channels programs about building pyramids and warring Pharoahs and I have listened to all the adventures of Amelia Peabody, Egyptologist Extraordinaire, on recorded books.

I showed the tour description to Jim. We did not talk about it very much. We did not have to. Just let it simmer. It bubbled up again today. We talked about it. We decided. We are going. I sent the deposit and reserved our places on the tour. WOW!

We have taken two trips with Fr. Larry Boadt - to the Holy Land
and to Greece and Turkey. He is a warm, brilliantly articulate, funny man - a skilled and knowledgeable teacher - a perfect tour leader. (Jim on the Mount of Olives over-looking Jerusalem.)
Jim and I have set foot on Eqyptian soil before. You may remember I have ridden a camel in Egypt.

When we went to the Holy Land with Fr. Larry we went to St. Catherine's Monastery, across the Sinai Desert and to Mount Sinai. All wonderful and inspiring - but no Sphinx and no Pyramids.






What am I saying - close but no cigar?

Maybe so. Maybe so. Time for the whole magilla.