The Camden Conference kicks off this year Feb 18-20, with the topic, “The Challenges of Asia.”  Too bad the planners had no crystal ball, otherwise the subject at hand might have been “Authoritarian Arab Regimes.”  Yet, perhaps the subjects are more closely related than our first impression – after all, China has limited social media networking and internet access since the ruckus in Egypt erupted.  In any event, Camden’s list of speakers promises an exciting educational vista, both for those who wish to attend in person at the Camden Opera House and for those who prefer hi-tech distance learning, via simulcast to various satellite venues, including our own Hutchinson Center in Belfast.

Santiago and I spent Christmas in Egypt, nonchalantly sailing north, down the Nile.  (This may sound confusing but it’s nothing compared to lower and upper Egypt.  Lower Egypt is the Delta area abutting the Mediterranean Sea whereas Upper Egypt is the southern end.)   A few days later, we visited the Great Pyramids at Giza and even climbed down a narrow passageway into the burial chamber — every step down was accompanied by a mental reminder that nothing has caved in over the past five thousand years.  On 29 December we bid farewell to the land of Nerfertiti (my favorite Queen – she happened to make absent a woman who bore a son for her husband  - the boy became King Tut but that is another story).  We left Egypt in the nick of time, which was all the time we needed.

Egypt in Quieter Times

Later,
Diana
The White House Inn