GQSSC – Hot on Her Heels – Q8Dutchie!
I don’t know why I find these photos so moving . . . so poignant . . . but I do! New contestant Q8Dutchie is close on the heels of our first entrant, Ansam, with these great sand and surf photos:
What I don’t understand, and what I marvel at, is why when we know the footprints are indented, do they look the opposite, as if they are coming out of the sand? It must be a trick of the shadows. Woo Hooo, Q8Dutchie!
Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge – Our First Entry: Ansam
Mere minutes after the Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge was launched, we had an entry.
Wooo HOOOO, Ansam, our very first entrant! And what a day at the beach this was. Can you guess my very favorite?
Ansam, you truly capture the joy of a day in sand and surf! (I LOVE the first photo!)
The Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge
OK, so here it is, the new photo challenge. You will have three weeks. All your photos must be in to me or posted on your blog and linked to me by Saturday, November 22. The poll will go up then, and voting will continue to November 29, when the polls will close and new winners will be announced.
Sand and Surf can be anything related to beach activities – tidal pools, boating . . . this contest is open to Kuwaitis, residents of Kuwait, and people who have an attachment to Kuwait. We don’t require that the scene be recognizably Kuwait, because well, sand is sand and surf is surf. The photos do not have to be Kuwait, but we want them to be entered by someone remotely Kuwait-related.
Ready on the right!
Ready on the left!
Photographers, take your target!
Fire!
Off topic but related – on the top floor of the Al Rayya Shopping Center (attached to the Marriott Hotel near Dasman Circle) is a really intriguing photo exhibit. It looks to me like all Kuwaiti, and some of the photos are purely spectacular. Some are very moving. I don’t want to give too much away, but if you enjoy photography, this exhibit is worth a visit.
Not-Your-Kuwait-Sunset
Blogger Someday (Red) sent me a not-your-Kuwait-sunset to post now that the Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge is officially over:
How incredibly beautiful is that? Does anyone recognize where it is?
Winners! Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge
As promised, here are the winners of the Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge, in the order of the votes received:
Mathai
Bu Yousef
Teagirl
AbdulAziz
Congratulations to all! I think everyone who got to see your stunning photos were also winners.
Thank you all for participating, thank you for submitting your photos, and thank you, too, for voting. This was a lot of fun.
Next Saturday, we will introduce the new challenge. 🙂
CoeurCountry Sunsets
Everybody needs a friend like CoeurCountry. You think you have your day all figured out and she calls and has an idea, and all of a sudden, everything changes. Isn’t it fun when life is less predictable?
After a long day, she called just as I was stretching out to read the paper and maybe catch a little nap before AdventureMan comes home – not a big nap, just a tiny little one!
“Don’t you need to go shopping?” she asked, with a laugh in her voice. “Can I tempt you with a coffee?”
No, I didn’t need the temptation of a coffee, just jumping in the car and driving off with her is enough – we always have so much to talk about and never run out of topics.
And we did have coffee. 🙂
As we were finishing up our errands, she stopped and said “Look! There’s your sunset!”
And there it was. Too late for the contest, but definitely a Kuwait sunset worth shooting:
Al Kout Mall Sunset
And, as usual, we had “just one more thing” to do, and as she completed her errands, I shot one more sunset – no sun, but it is a sunset photo because I was there and I say so!
Mosque Sunset
So now you know something else about me. I may not always be able to make a deadline, but it is really, really hard for me to pass up a challenge. 🙂
Speaking of deadlines – have you voted in The Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge Poll? The deadline – Saturday – is fast approaching. I haven’t peeked at the results, which I will share with you on Sunday.
The Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge Poll
I have to tell you honestly, I didn’t think this through. One day, I realized I did not have one single sunset shot from Kuwait. I took one, and it was awful and it got me started. I had no idea when I started how much fun it was going to be – for me – and I sure hope for you, too.
As the submissions started rolling in, I found great joy in the recognition you were all getting with your beautiful, sometimes funny, often soulful contributions. I was delighted with your enthusiasm, and your graciousness in participating. And I also struggled with “Holy Smokes, how do I end this? How do I choose a winner?”
If I tell you what I really think, you will think I am copping out. I think we all ended up winners. I felt like a winner, seeing all those beautiful sunsets through your eyes. I felt such joy seeing the compliments you paid one another’s photos. I loved spotlighting your talent, and I know there are a lot of non-photo-takers out there who enjoyed checking in every day to see what had been posted. But how to resolve the question: who won the challenge?
Then, a few days ago I started seeing an orange ball I didn’t recognize on my write-a-new-post page, and yesterday there was an announcement about something new at WordPress, PollDaddy, which means I can now put a poll right on my blog (this is new for WordPress; I know some of the others of the Kuwait bloggers have had this capability for AGES) but I am thankful to have it now, just when I need it.
You get to vote. YOU get to choose the winner of the Great Kuwait Challenge Poll. You will have one week to vote (and hurry! I already have an idea for the next challenge!)
I don’t really care who wins; the fun for me was in seeing all the photos that came in, seeing such beauty through your eyes. In my eyes, we are all winners – you who submitted beautiful shots and we who got to see them.
But – just because I can – I am going to turn the vote over to you: Who took the best Kuwait Sunset photo? (Go to The Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge and click through to other’s blogs, also visit individuals posted who sent me photos):
Poll is closed!
You will note – because I can – I chose a very sunset-y polling device to help you make your choice.
I truly hope I have included everyone who submitted a photo (of a KUWAIT sunset!) and forgive me if I have made a mistake. I think I got you all. My initial photo doesn’t count; it was just to show you how bad my sunset photo was and to encourage you to do better.
Thank you, WordPress, for showing up with a polling device, like a Deus ex machina to solve the dilemma of how I was going to give bragging rights for the best Kuwait sunset.
Ready? Set? VOTE!
Greetings From Kinan
Our blogging friend Kinan sends his Hellos to the Kuwait blogging world, and regrets he cannot participate in the Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge, as he is doing his graduate studies in Sweden, but he sends along his greetings and this photo for us from sunny Sweden:
To my readers who have never lived in Kuwait – you cannot imagine how it feels to feast your eyes on so much GREEN when you live in Kuwait. Kuwait is greener than Qatar, there are more native trees (Daggero calls them Athels) which seem to need very little water and provide a beautiful feathery green – but they are far and few between.
Kinan’s photo is LUSH with green, it’s like life gone abundantly wild. Total WOW, Kinan, and thank you for sending!
Mangaf, Paradise Garden and Beit Ash-Shar
Last week, AdventureMan and I were out looking for the private farm in Mangaf / Abu Halifa that blogger Bu Yousef wrote about. Imagine – fresh produce, locally produced. It is unbelievable that it exists in a burgeoning house-to-house suburb like Mangaf. Once Bu Yousef wrote about it, we couldn’t wait to find it and try it for ourselves. We LOVE local, and I am waiting for Yasmine Farms spinach to re-appear in the Sultan Center.
It is an OASIS!
AdventureMan said “it looks like Paradise!”
We got a little lost trying to find it – thank God! As we were driving around, looking for this farm/garden we spotted this:
In Jordan, these were called Beit (Beyt) ash-Shar, House of Hair. The panels of the tent were woven on small looms by the Bedouin women – the looms were made of sticks that could easily be assembled and disassembled. They had herds of sheep and goats, and the tent panels were woven of hair from their own sheep and goats. In Jordan, the nomads lived in these tents, picking up and moving as it was time to pasture their sheep and goats in the next place.
I can’t tell you how much this thrilled our hearts. Someone is using this tent – we believe – as an outdoor diwaniyya.
It’s a great day in Kuwait.
Demolish Tariq Rajab Museum?
I am horrified. Blogger Hanan reports that there are rumors that the Tariq Rajab Museum has received a warning to close or be demolished, that they have no permit to run a museum.
This family has two museums, two fine, fabulous museums, and admission to the public is free of charge. It is a bright spot in Kuwaiti Culture. (I thought there was a movement out there to encourage tourism? This is where I take my guests! This is where we tell tourists to go!)
I have no WASTA my friends. First, can you confirm that the museum has indeed been warned? Can you make this go away?
Recent Comments
Kitchen on Isiais: Winding Down intlxpatr on Shampoo Ginger tigerbutterya0c5ff1d… on Shampoo Ginger intlxpatr on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… John on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
