Our conservation project for the Second Court of the temple and the foundations of the temple's platform has already accomplished a great deal. Two walls of the Court, the northwest and the west have been rebuilt. Now the remaining sandstone blocks with decoration will be far better protected. As you can see, some of the blocks with inscription are in fine condition, while others need consolidation.

Dina (middle), Adam, and Lori confer early in the morning. Dina was with her family in Cairo during the Eid and has just returned. Lori went to meet her sister in Cairo and then visited Alexandria with her. She, too, came back last night. Nice to have them back.

Balloons over Egypt used to be the name of one of these balloon tours, and it does seem apt. Today the balloons all appear to have been blown over the east bank where we are. This one headed toward the Mut Temple and later hovered near our work area. As you can tell, however, this is "old hat" for the locals who don't even bother to look up as they carry their baskets.

Lori has moved over to work with Elaine, whose search for an elusive exterior wall continues. To keep themselves and their crew motivated they both decide to carry baskets of dirt. Still no wall, but do they care?

In Emily's square a pottery spill appears with a variety of broken pots on the surface. We'll now want to know whether this is going to be a pit or a variety of vessels discarded on a surface. The bigger (and not necessarily better) news is that the trench in this square has finally revealed its secret. No, it's not ancient -- it's a modern water pipe trench. Good grief; remember 2002 when we had one running perpendicular to this but near the lake. Well, this one apparently runs toward that one. So much for the three-side feature we hoped was ancient. Oh well, another day, another mystery.

Elaine is drawing some pottery for her site near the rear of the temple precinct. Here she works on a small painted sherd.

Today Sarah and Jeremy are learning to do the same as Elaine and as Elizabeth and Adam did. They both do measurements on the sherds, and their efforts are rewarded by Violaine's smiles.