I like the Window Seat

Egypt on my mind; RLS Blog

We’ve departed BOS and are climbing up through the thick clouds, rain streaking on the 737’s windows. Looks like there won’t be much to see on this quick trip.

I like the window seat. It’s my own little private cubby. Just a look out the window transports me from the clutter and clatter of the cabin to the freedom of the sky.

Even when there’s nothing to see.

Like now. Though there’s just a cloud of grey fog, it’s a bit brighter higher up. There’s promise and possibility. There’s hope.

The Stoics believed you ought to keep the mind busy and focused outside of itself.

I think that’s true. Maybe it’s why walking is so good for us. Our minds automatically focus on the changing world through which we’re walking.

Here’s a plug for somebody writing OFF Substack. Who? Well our old friend Robert Louis Stevenson (“RLS”). Robert writes, with the help of his muse “mafalda”, a lovely weekly blog, illustrated no less! It’s about a canoe trip he took through Europe in 1876.

I thought of it this morning as we were Ubering to the airport. What is it that makes RLS’s daily journal so fascinating?

First of all, he is so educated. Every other sentence refers to an Ancient Greek philosopher, a Renaissance artist, or, as in today’s journal, French popular music and the Franco-Prussian War. (Yes France lost that one, along with Alsace and Lorraine).

He captures the spirit of those he chooses to illustrate so well. The warm cozy fireside in a French Inn, with an itinerant salesman or a migrating family all sketched in rich detail. You can smell the smoke from the crackling fire and tobacco, and taste the rich stew served by the plump landlady.

If you aspire to be a writer there are a lot worse things to do than read RLS.

We’re level now at 36,000 feet (10,973 meters - clearly the FAA is NOT on the metric system!!!), and there’s still nothing but a bright dreamy fog out the window.

We had a marvelous five days with our Boston Family, enjoying their company, games, food, friendship and music, especially a wonderful concert last night at the High School. I was able to enjoy three wonderful hikes in the Blue Hills as well.

There’s another interesting site to explore on our next visit: native quarries used by the First Americans for obsidian with which to fashion weapons and tools. I will keep researching for information about that site. There’s a brief description of it on the Friends of the Blue Hills website. I want to know the archeological details: How old is the site? Where have they found obsidian quarried from this spot? What trade routes and trading patterns can be inferred from this?

We sometimes think of Native Americans as being in isolated tribes, but the reality is they had robust trade routes and trading patterns with others. Tracing the origins of stone tools can help us recreate some of those patterns.

Last night I finished the first book of the Cairo Trilogy, Palace Walk, by Naguib Mahfouz. I highly recommend the book, even if you don’t have a trip Egypt scheduled. It starts out slow, but stay with it. The character development is critical, promoting a deep understanding of strict conservative Muslim thinking. We are taken into the world of a Cairo occupied by the British at the end of WWI from the perspective of the Egyptians. It’s not all negative, but there’s no sugar coating either. Few of us know modern Egyptian history, nor its painful progress towards the existing situation.

The Egyptians ended up on the losing side of history after the defeat of the Kaiser. Egypt had been enjoying a semiautonomous government under the Ottoman Empire, but Turkey, too, went down hard with the Germans.

Palace Walk documents the failure of Britain to govern. It’s the same sad old story, played over and over throughout history, with peaceful student protesters shot down in the streets by young homesick soldiers.

I had tears in my eyes, and even now again, recalling the final scene.

We’ve popped out of the clouds at 38,000 feet.

I am really enjoying my podcast, The History of Egypt, hosted by Dominic Perry, as well. The names of the various Pharaohs (Perry calls them “Kings”), gods, and other individuals are a bit challenging, so it helps to go back and skim the written text, which is easily found linked to the podcast.

Because we are dealing with events of 4,000-5,000 years ago, there is obviously a lot of detail that we don’t have. Just as the bright colors from the tombs and temples have now faded, so too have those details disappeared that make life so interesting. Perry does his best to tease out these details and bring those ancient people to life.

It’s amazing how similar they were to us in so many ways. Did you know that some of the pyramid work crews signed and dated the stones they quarried and hauled? The pyramids were NOT built by slaves! I am just finishing up the Old Kingdom, which lasted from 2700-2200 BCE, a 480 year period known as the “Age of the Pyramids.” Some of the important pyramid builders from the Fourth Dynasty during this time include Kings Sneferu, Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure.

Well we’ve started our descent to DTW, time to sign off.

Thanks so much for traveling along~!

References:

1. The Letters and Travels of Robert Louis Stevenson. https://lettersofrobertlouisstevenson.wordpress.com.

2. The History of Egypt, www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com, hosted by Dominic Perry