poinsettas

Wow, today is a bright, beautiful, sunny day. Still not coat weather, but I did have long sleeves on. I walked over to my friend S's house and took this photo of the poinsettas that grow in front of her hedge. Aren't they marvelous. We apparently have the perfect growing conditions for them to color properly and they get BIG here (compared to seeing little ones for sale in the states). These ones are as tall as I am. You don't see poinsettas everywhere - just once in awhile here in Ma'adi - but it always makes for a nice holiday surprise to come across them.

While we were out today, we stumbled across a new store selling lamps and lighting fixtures. They have these lamps here in Egypt that are metalwork bases and then handmade glass is wired together to form the "shades" for the bulbs. They sell extra "shades" and I immediately saw Christmas trees.

I got one that's purple with green "ornaments" but it wasn't photogenic. I think these are great, but wish I had a better place to display them - like a windowsill where the sunlight would brighten them up. There's enough room to put tea lights in to get a bit of a glow.

Right now I have these set up on the buffet and I'm hoping they're heavy enough the cats aren't going to knock them off. My cats (well, three out of four) like to go up on the top of the china cabinet to observe and sleep. Unfortunately their "landing pad" is the top of the buffet. I think I've got enough stuff on there to deter them from that - otherwise there could be a disaster.