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.
All Saints Sunrise
Good Morning, Kuwait, and a gorgeous day it is out there. It is a mere 59°F / 15°C out there early this morning, and the high today is only expected to get to:
Truly, sweater weather on this the first day of November. 😉
I had those anxiety dreams this morning, that got me out of bed early on a day when I have a lot to do, and need to be places at certain times. One dream kept recurring – I was supposed to be flying somewhere, and I kept packing my suitcase – leisurely – when I should have been leaving for the drive to the airport. The phone rings and it is the airport asking if I am planning on making the flight, and I say “yes!” even though the flight is supposed to leave in 35 minutes and the drive to the airport is about 30 minutes and I am not packed!
Think I am feeling unprepared about something? Think I am maybe worried about my relaxed attitude when I have obligations to meet?
Here is the drama of the sky just before dawn this morning – no, it wasn’t all that early, dawn is coming earlier and earlier every day:
Those lights are one of the big freighters heading south.
Here is the sunrise:
Just look at those autumn colors! WOW. Not a cloud in the sky, barely a wisp of haze on the horizon – this is going to be another of those gorgeous days in Kuwait that we have all been dreaming of during the hot, steamy days of summer. Gooood Morning, Kuwait!
Halloween Sunrise
Boooooooooooooooooo! Good Morning, Kuwait, and a chilly autumn Halloween morning it is:
How COOOOOOOOOL is that? Sweater weather?
The sun rose all golden and smokey looking this morning, there are strings of fishing dhows on the horizon and life is sweet:
Have a great day, Kuwait.
Heading for the Desert
Every now and then I wish I were a man. When I was a little kid, our dads would all head out on a big boat, going hunting. Mostly, women stayed home. Some women hunted, but it is hard work, and, I think, maybe men don’t always want women along when they go out hunting, they want to (in Alaska) drink and party and play cards and talk crude and don’t want anyone around reminding them to mind their manners.
The truth is I don’t know what they do. I can only imagine, based on things I’ve heard, movies, my imagination.
Today, my neighbors are headed out to hunt. How do I know? They have their falcon with them. It is perfect weather – clear, relatively cool, the heat has definitely broken, it is wonderful to be able to drive without any air conditioning. . . .
I know, I know, there is still this kid in my heart that thinks that going hunting with a FALCON is very very cool.
Sunrise After Rain, 30 October 2008
It’s a glorious morning. The sky is clear all the way to the horizon, there was huge surf last night, so if you comb the beaches – today is YOUR day. 🙂
Weather Underground: Kuwait says we have a more serious chance of rain in just five days:
Meanwhile – today is a glorious day. I thought I had posted this first thing this morning, LOL, guess not. Have a gr8 day, Q8!
Warning Triangles, Flares, and Traffic Control
There was another accident outside my house last night, and I almost didn’t even call the police, but then . . . I did. I thought “It’s useless to call.” And then I thought “But at lease it’s SOMETHING I can do to help.” I am guessing people would have thought I was crazy if I had gone out and started trying to direct traffic (LOL; isn’t that a funny thought?) This time the polite man on duty took all my information and the police didn’t call back. A road warrior (traffic police) arrived nearly an hour later, but with the slick roads in my area, I can imagine they were very busy, and there didn’t appear to be any injuries to people, only to cars.
What is scary to me is how easy it would be for another car to come plowing into the accident. It’s night, it’s dark, people are in a hurry to get home and they have their route down pat, so they are on automatic pilot. Most of the time, they go past at a fairly fast speed.
Aren’t people required to carry warning triangles and flares here? Even just setting up a warning triangle a hundred feet back would have helped last night. A flare would have gotten attention and slowed traffic. People directing traffic around the accident would have helped. For an hour, those involved in the accident just stood around, so vulnerable. It’s a small thing, but it might help, in Kuwait, where even these very basic precautions are ignored.
Menace on the Roads
LOL, AbdulAziz sent these fabulous close-to-sunset-in-Kuwait photos. Here is the first:
Isn’t that beautiful?
And here is the one taken just before it:
AbdulAziz, I hope you were at a stoplight when you took these photos! I imagine you driving down the road, camera in one hand, one eye on the photo and one on your rear view mirror and you might come into conflict with one of those bus drivers! Watch out!
Rain in Kuwait
Lots of rain, peals of thunder, lightning strikes and lots of rain! The Qatteri Cat is totally freaked out, running from the leaking window with it’s new drip drip drip to the windows – he thinks the rain drops are bugs or something, and makes that eh-eh-eh-eh-eh sound cats make when they see birds. Rain!
I am laughing; who would think this PacificNorthwest gal would be celebrating rain – we get so much rain out there in the PNW. But even when there was a huge rainstorm here in Kuwait last year, we didn’t see any where we live, or only a drop or two, not even enough to smear a window or create a puddle. Now Rain! Real rain!
When it started, I was driving. We got home as soon as we could; the first rains turn the highways into grease slicks.
Remember – this is not California, where people might stop and dance for joy at the parking lights. (California has droughts, too.) Dancing for joy only allowed in the privacy of your own home!
Update – an hour later it is still raining, and I have towels under several of my windows to collect the intrusion!
New Buses, Mixed Blessing
As many of you may remember, I am a supporter of public transportation. I would SO much rather have the time to read a book or magazine than to be stuck in traffic. When I saw the bright, modern, fast new buses hit the streets recently in Kuwait – during the last year – instead of the clunky slow, old buses they had, my heart rejoiced.
Hmm. Not so fast.
I drive on a major local road regularly. The buses have become a menace. They drive way fast. They halt, and then merge back into traffic as if they have the right of way, which as we all know, in Kuwait there is no right of way. I guess they figure that because they are big, and faster, they are king of the road. I can tell you for a fact, they don’t like being passed by a woman. Imagine, being chased down by a bus!
Buses cause accidents on Sixth Ring Road
KUWAIT: Sixth Ring Road was the scene of two accidents caused by public buses.
A man driving a small car suffered serious injuries when he hit a public bus after the bus driver lost control of his vehicle and hit the barrier and then stopped at the middle of the road. The man was taken to the hospital by a fellow citizen to seek medical assistance.
Ten minutes later, another bus driver repeated the same scenario of the first accident except as he hit the barrier he also hit a small car. The car driver suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital to seek medical assistance. The two buses caused serious traffic congestion but police officers managed to move them to the side of the road and continue the traffic flow.
I don’t know what training the drivers receive before they head out in their buses. I have a suspicion that it isn’t much. I think they need to be trained in safe driving practices, and warned against aggression on the roads. I think they need to use their rear view mirrors, their signals, and they need to be an example of proper driving, because they are a visible, public model of state policy.
Not-Stormy Sunrise
When I got up this morning, the sky was thick with clouds, and I thought to myself “I will call it Stormy Sunrise,” but by the time the sun came over the horizon, the clouds had dissipated, and it was an entirely different sunset.
Did anyone else hear a loud clap of thunder last night? I heard it, but it was when I was too much asleep to care enough to get up and watch. If there was an electrical storm, I missed it. I can see that we have had some slight sprinkles, though, recently, because I have drop marks on our windows.
Here is what the today and tomorrow are supposed to look like:
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
