Most of these photos were taken in Egypt, where in the early 1990s I served as the United States Naval Attaché and worked in the American Embassy, Cairo, and my wife Karen (upper right) served as executive officer at the Voice of America. A few of the pics were taken elsewhere. CAUTION: One photo is of Karen taking a bath, obviously naked. Adults only, please.

Even though we lived in Egypt for two years, we did this only once. Call it "Riding with the Taliban."

The social life for a naval attaché and his wife can be hectic. Here we're discharging our representational duties at a formal Scottish shindig at a Cairo hotel.

The humble 12-bedroom abode of the U.S. Naval Attaché to Egypt: Villa 59, Road 82, Maadi, Cairo.

The Government of Egypt provided 24-hour protection just outside the wall surrounding our villa. The Special Forces fellow in the middle is armed with an Uzi plus a .357. The young policemen flanking him are equipped with AK-47s. Their monthly salary -- about $12. When no camera was present, they were usually squatting around a makeshift barbeque heating water in a tin can for brewing tea.

  All the comforts of home. Call this "Macky D's."

(Left) Kar served as the Executive Officer of the Voice of America, Cairo. Her office was just around the corner from the Cairo headquarters of the PLO.  (Right) She single-handedly stops an Egyptian tank. The gent with hands on hips is not the tank driver, it's U.S. Air Attaché Jack Peeke.

Having dinner with: our good friends Col. Dieter Kuhn, the German Military Attaché, and his wife Dita; Col. and Mrs. Surjanto from Indonesia; and LCDR Hashish of the Egyptian navy. (Hasheesh is Arabic for grass!)

(Left) Kar used to be in the Navy, too. Here she is as a newly-commissioned ensign in Newport, R.I, in 1983.

(Right) Well-tanned Kar off duty while assigned to then Vice President George Bush's Drug Interdiction Task Force in Miami.

(Left) Posing with Egyptian staff members at our hotel in London. We were on our way to Egypt at the time.

(Right) Yours truly propping up that decrepit old tower in Pisa.

(Left) All dressed up for a reception at the home of the American Consul in Alexandria, Egypt. The reception was for the crew of the carrier USS John F. Kennedy, anchored two miles off shore in the Mediterranean.

(Above) Ahhh, Au naturel. More comfortable attire for a naval attaché -- or, in this case, "navel" attaché).

Here we welcome the Cheneys to Cairo when Mr. Cheney was secretary of defense under George Bush, Sr. The fellow half hidden behind Kar is an Egyptian army officer, Major General Hitler Tantawi. Hitler had a brother named Mussolini! 

On board the guided missile frigate USS Stark with the commander of the international naval task force operating in the Red Sea to enforce U.N. sanctions against Iraq. In Hurghada, Egypt, Kar and I enjoyed Christmas dinner on board as guests of the Commodore.

Five years earlier, the Stark was struck by two Iraqi missiles, which killed 37 American sailors and nearly sank the ship. After repairs were completed, the only remaining evidence of the attack was a plaque listing the names of those who perished and one blackened edge on the portable movie screen in the officers' wardroom.

Kar arranged a surprise birthday dinner party for me at our home, replete with a belly dancer, a band, a singer, two smoke pot twirlers and some of our closest British, Russian, German and American friends.

Cocktails aboard a Greek yacht on the Nile before dinner at the home of the British Naval Attaché, Pongo Blanchford and his wife Erica. That's Pongo sporting the red beard at right (and ogling the belly dancer above). Erica is in the black shawl next to Kar. Represented on board: The USA, Great Britain, France, Australia and, of course, Greece. 

"Cobra-66," the American Embassy C-12C I flew for two years while stationed in Cairo, was owned by the U.S. Air Force. It was my final flying assignment, but my first flying for the Air Force rather than the Navy. Flying on Navy business to places like Alexandria, Hurghada, Tel Aviv, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Dubai helped make duty in Egypt particularly enjoyable.

The Mena House Oberoi Golf Course, where we played many a round in the company of our fellow diplomats. That's the Great Pyramid looming over the course  in the background. One day -- which happened to be Halloween -- I played 18 holes with Christopher Lee, the British actor who portrayed Dracula in the movies. This eerie experience is recounted in my book C-C-Cold War Syndrome.

Our Nile Cruise

The Government of Egypt hosted the military attaches from a number of countries on a Nile cruise aboard this ship, the Cheops.  The first leg of our cruise was a flight aboard an Egyptian air force C-130 from Cairo to Luxor. Leg two was a five-day cruise aboard Cheops to Aswan, followed by a flight to Abu Simbal and a final flight from there back home to Cairo. 

There was plenty of "rubble romping" along the way, including a visit to the tomb of King Tut, but Tut's hut was shut. Notice that his name was Tut Ankh Amon (three words), not "Tute-uncommon" as it is often pronounced.

A typical village along the Nile.

Sunset on the Nile.

And a few hours' sailing at Aswan near the dam.

Bottom line -- if you visit Egypt, be sure to take a Nile cruise.

And, finally back home in Colorado, my grand-daughters (from left to right) Brianna, Jessica and Julia.

All the "kids." Nephew Jim, sons Scott and Brian, niece Joni, Brian's wife Lisa and, of course the wee ones (when they were a little wee-er).

Oops! Almost forgot. Here's that cheesecake photo of Kar taking a bath.

Click on it to enlarge. (Adults only, please)