Sunrise 27 January 2008
Scary. Where did January go? I remember that huge luxury of time spread out, all of 2008, and now, almost 1/12 of it is GONE! Where did it go? How did this happen?
There is no horizon today, in Kuwait, it is all haze, haze sea, hazy sky and hazy sunlight. It is no longer so cold, Weather Underground: Kuwait has the lows hitting in the single digits (around 40° F) and the high today around 16° C/ 60° F. Nice weather!
Tarek Rajab Calligraphy Re-Visit
Oh, the Tarak Rajab Calligraphy Museum is such a treasure! This time we went back just to have time to watch the entire film on calligraphy, the cutting of the quills and the mixing of the ink, how the paper is prepared and burnished, how ornamentation is developed . . . every time we visit this museum, we see something new, and we learn something new.
This time, I was looking for details. Oh WOW.
Here is a little of what I found:
Kuwait is blessed to have such a gem of a museum, and open to the public free of charge, in a beautiful building, with gracious spaces. You can find more information on their website for both museums (The Tarak Rajab Museum is just around the corner) at The Tarak Rajab Museum website.
Woo Hooo Al Ahmadi
Great sign, Al Ahmadi!
I would love to see a Keep Kuwait Clean sign, maybe a series of them. The one I see features one of the beautiful, pristine beaches, and then the green green of the gulf. That contrast always takes my breath away, and it breaks my heart to see them filthy with fast-food wrappers, and detritus washed up from the boats.
Nicole B / Rainmountain, who has a photography and blog site has a one woman campaign to keep her segment of the beach clean in Mahboula. God bless you, Nicole!I think many of the schools also have beach clean-up days, and some clubs, too.
What would your sign feature? I’m not very artistic – those of you who are, would you do a sign, link to this blog entry so we can come visit?
New Minarets in Fehaheel
I love going out to Fehaheel; it’s kind of got a wild west feeling, with no regard to traffic lanes, no regard to traffic laws, it’s just not the city – it’s a step back in time, even with the beautiful Al Koot and Al Manshar Malls.
Two years ago, they tore down the old minaret on the mosque in the center of town on the Gulf Road, and the wrecker that tried to knock the minaret down got tangled – and fell over! It took months to clean that mess up, and then for the last two years they have been building the new “> twin minarets.
Recently the scaffolding came down. Here is how they look now – a serious facelift for a delightful old lady.
African Textiles at KTAA
If color, texture and weave are your kind of thing, there is a wonderful group in Kuwait for you. Before I even came to Kuwait, people told me about the Kuwait Textile Arts Association, and oh, what a trip.
A friend asked me if I were going to this month’s meeting. I hadn’t seen any announcements for it, and then she said “you ought to come! It’s African textiles.”
Magic words.
You know AdventureMan and I love going to Africa. And a meeting on African textiles? Woooo Hooooooo! Yes, I will admit it, I am totally a textile geek.
Africa is a huge subject to cover, when it comes to textiles, and the speaker did well – Nigeria, Tunisia, Cameroon, Mali, indigo dying, small loom weaving. . . You could teach an entire college level course on any one of those topics, and he gave a great overview.
You can join KTAA for 10KD per year, or you can attend each meeting for 2KD. Meetings are held once a month at the Sadu House, where they also have a fabulous collection of books on textiles.
Yesterday and Today
Yesterday, as I was blogging early in the morning, everything suddenly went wonky and I discovered I was no longer blogging as the blogger, but as a guest. I did everything I could think of, and nothing worked. All day long, srom time to time I would try to log in and it would tell me I was not a valid user. I even changed passwords – nothing doing, the password was not the problem, I was the problem.
Finally, late last night just before bed, I could get on again. I was concerned whether I could get on today, but so far so good, only it doesn’t want to publish my posts. (and as a blogger, like what’s the point, if you can’t post???)
For my not-living-in-Kuwait readers, yesterday we had rain. I suspect rain may be part of the problem – rain has always screwed things up in Florida, in Seattle, in Germany . . .
Here is a photo of the gently falling rain on local vegetation:
Yeh, I don’t know why the sky looks sort of blue-green, it was really cloudy, but I was shooting toward the sea and maybe the sea reflected green on the clouds (?)
And here is the sunrise from this morning – all two seconds of it. It’s a good thing I was waiting with my camera, this is all I got:
Two seconds later, it was gone. Here is what we have now:
It seems to be brightening, even though we still have cloud cover. Kuwait is a dry country, and desperately needs the rain. This is the dryest, coldest rainy season in memory.
Dream Dealer Tickets
Dream Dealer tickets available by calling Nicky at 593-7165 or email: dreamscene_productions@yahoo.com.
Stop Means Stop!
From time to time, we can hear the police pulling people over outside our residence. It gives us a big grin. One of the things they say, in English, is:
“Hey Buddy! Pull over!”
And the other thing they say is:
“Stop means STOP!”
We hear these two phrases over and over, so it must be part of their training.
Hummos Wa Burghul
Do you see that black stone dish on the table, the one that has a dish in it called Hummos wa Burghul (Chickpeas and Cracked Wheat?)
I am trying to find a recipe to make it. Please, if you are Syrian or Jordanian, and you know how to make this, or maybe you have a mom or an aunt who knows how to make this, would you please share your recipe with me?
I found one recipe, for a Burghul Pilaf, from a 1959 Lebanese cookbook. It calls for 1 1/4 lbs of butter. (!!! AACK !!!) I remember it really did taste buttery, it was really yummy, but that sure seems like a lot of butter!
It was delicious. I’d really like to try to make it, if someone out there can help me out.
The Qatteri Cat Sleeps Through Winter
You’ve been asking about QC. There isn’t much to tell you. He decided it was too cold, and all he does is sleep. Occasionally, he will wake up, take a walk to the food bowl and water dish, make a visit to the kitty litter, but then it’s back to sleep – waiting for warmer weather.
Yesterday, as I was working, he was following me around, “miaow, miaow” which meant “please sit down and provide a warm place for me to fall asleep” so I made him a little bed in the work room, and it wasn’t his first choice, but he made do, keeping me company while he sleeps through winter.
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