Touch of Gray - May 2007

Carolina Meadows residents enjoy Egyptian festival

Carolina Meadows residents enjoy Egyptian festival
   The hand-painted mummy case greets diners in the lobby of the Club Center at Carolina Meadows. Large wooden camels and a scale model of the Temple of Dendur replicate a scene from ancient Egypt.

   A model of a funerary barge for a pharaoh completes the setting for a celebration of Egyptian history, art, jewelry and cuisine at the retirement center.

   The only thing missing would be the 1986 hit single "Walk Like an Egyptian," by The Bangles.

   The Meadows' Special Events Committee, inspired by the Treasures of Egyptian Art at the N.C. Museum of Art in Raleigh, recently called on residents to share Egyptian travel reminiscences. Residents have come up with a slide show of a visit to the Land of the Nile, a showing of the movie version of Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile," and an elaborate menu for the Dinner in Cairo.

   The slide show from a two-week trip on the Nile in 1980 by residents Irv and Phyllis Sternschein starts off the series of events.

   The dining room will be decorated May 10 with Egyptian flags and large art posters made by Peggy and Charles Kinnaird. Egyptian copper and brass cooking utensils will be in use, on loan from Lore Wilkinson. Table favors of hieroglyphic scrolls have been made by Betty and Faison Sessoms.

   The elaborate menu for the Dinner in Cairo was researched by Grey Bailey, the chef de cuisine, who consulted with an Egyptian classmate at the Vermont Culinary Institute. Bailey adapted highlights of authentic Egyptian cuisine to American tastes. The menu, in both Arabic and English, will include mazzas, salata, riash Tagine (lamb sirloin tagine), firakh mash waya (mixed grill of quail, duck and game hen) and zabadee el mishmish (apricot honey mousse).

   After dinner, Mary Ellen Soles, curator of ancient art at the N.C. Museum of Art, will present a slide show in the auditorium featuring highlights of temples and tombs. A display of books and artifacts loaned by residents includes more than 150 Egyptian photographs taken by Phil and Laura Kahn.

   A month-long exhibit of residents' jewelry, artifacts, photos, artwork and souvenirs is displayed in the Club Center lobby. Many items, loaned by Bill and Mary Holton of Chapel Hill, come from their Egyptian collection. A large photo of Pepita Huddleston's mother and grandmother on camels, with pyramid and Sphinx in the background, was taken in 1930 on their round-the-world trip.

   Also on display is Betty McMahan's necklace from a 1979 international seminar on termites and ecosystems that she attended in Cairo.

   A UNC professor of zoology and biology, McMahan's specialty was termite research. She recalls a bus trip down the Nile during which seminar participants stopped at a Nubian village. They were greeted by the village chief, during whose lengthy, impassioned welcome, the only word that could be understood was "Carter." In 1979, President Jimmy Carter had been very supportive of President Anwar Sadat.

   McMahan received an elaborate, beaded necklace for President Carter. After her return, Carter graciously suggested she keep the necklace for herself.

   On a 1997 tour of Egypt, Laura and Phil Kahn spent their first day viewing the Tutankhamun collection at the Egyptian Museum. A year before, a busload of German tourists had been gunned down there. The Kahns' Egyptian tour guide, son of a renowned university professor, explained that the country was just beginning to recover from that awful event.

   The next afternoon while returning from the pyramids, their bus driver would not let them off at their hotel. They were told that a band of terrorists, concealed in the ruins at Luxor, had attacked visitors, killing 60 tourists and a number of Egyptians. Only a month earlier this had been the site of glittering performances of Verdi's "Aida."

   After much discussion, the group decided to continue their trip in support of Egyptians and a sympathetic America. Arriving at Luxor the following morning, the Kahns were greeted with the unsettling sight of heavily armed soldiers everywhere. After this, the Kahns had gold wedding bands made for them with their names in Arabic and appropriate good luck symbols.

   Many rich memories of Egypt will be relived at the festival by Carolina Meadows residents. -- Dick Ballard, Special Events Chair

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