need to be asked twice

I escaped the city again today, this time to go to a monastery on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road. It's the perfect escape. I always head out into the fields, close to where lines and lines of grapevines dot the sand, and I take photos. You can see autumn beginning to creep into the leaves out there, even though there isn't the hint of autumn in the weather. The constant heat, the harsh sun, makes it hard to stay out in the fields too long and sooner or later I duck back into a little workshop where a monk sits and works on icons for the Orthodox church. He is a painter, a sculptor, a wood worker - anything you give him - he will turn into a work of art.

Today, I was there with some of my family. This is my mother's cousin. She has led a fascinating life, most of which is not my place to tell. She has veered between rebel and saint in a way that only she can accomplish. She is tiny, barely reaching my shoulder, and I'm about 5'2" (1.57m). Her nickname in university was fatfouta, which roughly translates to 'crumb.' And she has the most infectious laugh.

She and I walked out into the fields, her with the aim of finding little bits and pieces in the nature, branches, dried berries, whatever caught her eye, so that she could take them back to her apartment in Cairo and make art out of them. I went with her, on a search of my own, for photos. As she pulled at the branches of a tree, looking closely to see if there was anything there of interest, she asked me to take her picture. I didn't need to be asked twice.

It was hard choosing one photo but when going through all of the photos I took, the lines in each of these stayed with me as I went through them one by one. I will post more on flickr/23 later.

Thank you so much for the overwhelming response to what I wrote yesterday. It was a blessing to read all of the comments.