....And a Happy New Year!

It's been another couple of chill days at the beach, even with the new year approaching. Dahab is a small town on the Red Sea Coast, penned in by the Sinai mountains on one side and the Red Sea and Saudi Arabia on the other. It is incredibly beautiful. The water is a deep, fast moving blue, and the mountains change from a golden brown to rich red depending on the time of day. At night it gets cold and dark, and you can feel alone in the world. Tonight the moon has painted the earth sliver, and the stars are sharp and startling clear above the shadows of the mountains. The water has the color and weight of liquid mercury as it washes up on the beach. There is a bit of song stuck in my head, and I sing it as I walk down the boardwalk. "It's been a long December, and there's reason to believe that maybe this year will be better then the last. I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to theses moments as they pass." There is no ball dropping, no large groups of people, no fancy dinner, no countdown to 2007. Instead we spend the last day of 2006 at what can be best described as a local's chicken joint. For about two bucks each, we got soup, salad and a half of a perfectly roasted chicken. We sat around a campfire on the beach and passed around a bottle of vodka, ate milkshakes with spoons, and talked the New Year in. I didn't make any resolutions. I don't think that anybody did.

Merry Christmas

My only clue to the change of season is that fresh strawberries and Christmas trees have come to Zamalek. It is an odd combination, but then, this is Cairo and most things are odd to me. I find it hard to believe that it is Christmas already (this gets said every year, I know. But this year it seems especially true). There has not been a three month advertising blitz; I'm not hearing Christmas songs in all of the stores. There are no lights and questionable lawn ornamentation (this I miss) and I have done no Christmas shopping, and have no plans to do so. I know that it is Christmas only because the calendar says so. So it seems only natural to have the anti-Christmas rather then try to dupilcate what we do back home. A group of friends and I decided to head up to the Sinai, and spend a week on the Red Sea. If we couldn't have family, friends and home, we would have warm weather, blue water and palm trees. We ended up in a town called Dahab, and are staying at the Hilton.Our room has a hammock, there is a buffet (no bacon, alas) American TV shows and if I squint hard, I can almost pretend that I'm not in Egypt.

Christmas Eve was very low key. Lesley (who is also from Seattle) and I had bought a plastic tree in Cairo, and we set it up. Then Steve and Laura came over and we watched "Aladin" which proved to be highly entertaining especially in light of where we were. I spent Christmas day stretched out on the beach, with a book in one hand and a drink in the other. We brought the tree with us to the beach, and I went snorkeling mid-day. Much to my surprise, I did in fact see Santa. He came by on his camel and wished us a Merry Christmas. It was lovely, and a bit strange.

I hope that your Christmas was a nice as mine. Merry Christmas everyone!

Deputy Steve Cox, 1960-2006

There are times when I want to write about something but find that words have all dried up. This has been one of those weeks. I've sat in front of my computer for most of the day, most of this week, trying to find the right words and have been falling miserably. This will have to be one of those times when it is the thought that counts rather then content.

You never know when the door you walk through will be your last. On December 2th, 2006, King County Sheriff's Office Deputy Steve Cox walked through a door in White Center, and did not walk back out. I had the pleasure of knowing and working with Deputy Cox for several years. His death is a huge loss for the department and the community as a whole. He was a good man and very good cop. But that's an overused statement, and Steve was so much more then that. I cannot convey his passion for law enforcement, or his drive to make his community a better place. I cannot adequately tell you about his sense of fairness or his sense of humor. I can only tell you that today we are burying a good man and hope you understand that we have been robbed of more then just a person.

He left behind a wife and son; parents, family, and many friends.

Deputy Steve Cox is gone, but not forgotten.