Mid-Week Celebration

Well, you only turn 11 once and there was a lot of excitement about the big day. It started off with following a maze of string to a hidden gift, followed by eating some 'junk' cereal for breakfast and then taking in cupcakes to share with friends at school. In the evening, it was time to open gifts!

Notice the Nesquik cereal, especially for breakfast.

Ready to open presents in the evening.

New pointe shows! We had to sew on the ribbons and elastic ourselves. Thank goodness for YouTube so we could find out how to do that.

Apparently it isn't as hard as it looks. There are silicone toe protectors on underneath. It still looks painful to me.

We had time for a new game as well - Mad Gab. You are given words and have to figure out what the phrase is. For example, given Mile Hit Help Oh Knee = My little pony

Lots of fun!

Qatar: A tiny country asserts powerful influence

A clip from 60 minutes about Qatar.

Privileged Children

There are times when we hear about the desire to return to America from our children. For them, America has got Target, dirt bikes, football games, and lazy summer days. Since they haven't lived in America for any time that they can remember, they feel like they are missing something. Indeed, they are missing many things by not living in America, but I don't think they realize what it is. Their norm is a privileged lifestyle, full of unique and wonderful experiences. Every day they go to a school that is an oasis in the desert. It is spacious, light, green, and open. As you walk around campus, there is a fragrance of sweet flowers, the buzz of birds talking, and the rustle of reeds in the breeze. Somehow, I don't think that they would get this back in America.

Five Times a Day

We have become accustomed to the daily call to prayer. The first one begins at just before 5am and the last one takes place around 6:30. However, it's based on sunrise and sunset, so we've heard it as early as 4am and as late as around 9pm. Our home is surrounded by a number of mosques so when the call to prayer happens, we hear it in chorus. It usually only lasts for a few minutes, the longer ones being the first and last. On Friday, there is also an accompanying 'message' around noon. It sounds a bit like a charismatic sermon - seems to have some shouting and expressive commands.

A neighborhood mosque.

A video clip taken from our rooftop with audio....

New Back Garden

Over Christmas break we worked on reorganizing the back garden. When we arrived it was overgrown with bushes and needed a little tlc. So first off, we removed the greenery.

Then we extended the bricks and painted the wall.

We mounted some wall trellis pieces and planted bougainvillea, Frangipani and gardenia.

Around the corner, we planted some jasmine.

And the final piece was to add a fountain. It has a light so when it gets dark it is a focal point that I can see and hear from the kitchen.

Searching for Desert Rose

The next stop was to look for 'desert rose.' Gypsum is a common mineral in supra-tidal carbonate environments. They form petal like crystals that grow together to extensive crusts or individual roses.

It felt a bit like the book Holes, where the flat the inland sabkhas were dotted with previously dug holes and then we joined in.



It wasn't hard to find and there was plenty of it. We brought home a few specimens.



Some other highlights from the outing was seeing camel tracks in the sand. Stuart also came across a scorpian and came tearing back to the car in fright.

Camel crossing

Musfer Sinkhole

On New Year's Day I decided to take the family on an adventure. It involved some geocaching as well as exploring new sites. The first stop was a geocache just past an old police station. This was accessed by going down a very old paved road that was full of potholes. Thank goodness we had a 4x4. Up on a mound, under some rocks, we found the container.


The next stop was the Musfer Sinkhole. The cave extends downward about 50-60m. A large room has formed by the collapse of carbonate material. The cave walls are composed of the upper Dammam dolomite & limestone unit and the lower Dammam laminated shaly & silty unit.



We also found a cache at this site, under some rocks near shrubs.



Along the way, we passed many camps with camels. Occasionally we would see camels walking around unrestrained.