L’Heure Bleu
One of my favorite times of the day is the magical time when, as the sun is setting in the west, the colors change from the warm golden shafts of late afternoon to the pink and blues of impending sunset, and then gradually into the blues, blue-violets, purples and indigos of nightfall.
It is never the same two nights in a row. I make it a ritual, when I can, to stop and watch the transformation. I’ve tried photographing the changes, but it is the ephemera of the colors that makes it so magical, not any one given instant.
This is just a tiny tiny part of the great, magnificent whole – the sunset fishers.
Sunrise With Clouds
I’ve been watching the sky, watching as the continual haze has gathered into wispy clouds, and then, last night, mackeral clouds. At university, we had mandatory distribution classes – everyone had to take classes out of their field, and I took Atmospheric Science as one of my sciences. For a one-semester class, a lot of it really stuck with me!
One of my commenters, Abdulaziz, mentioned earlier that we could start watching for rain. I am watching! As I looked at the sky this morning, I could begin to imagine that rain will indeed be possible again in Kuwait, one of these days:
(Kinan, who loves the sunrises as I do, you know this is for you!)
Mom’s Cranberry Salad
Mom’s Cranberry Salad
I printed this last year, and it is so good and so simple I am sharing it with you again. It’s probably my favorite Thanksgiving food.
1 1/2 C cranberries (They have these at Sultan Center; wash, pick over and cook until soft)
1 1/2 C water
add 1 Cup sugar and boil one minute
add 1 small pkg lemon jello (I use raspberry or cherry or strawberry because I like red)
When all is dissolved, add:
juice of one No. 1 can of crushed pineapple (Mom’s recipe says a #1 can – use one of the small cans.)
When cool, add:
diced pineapple from can
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Stir, put into mold or bowl and refrigerate until firm.
One small buffet mold. How easy is that? 🙂
(This recipe is from the 1950’s. I double everything, Pour into mold for the holidays, or into a crystal bowl from which it can be served without having to unmold.
Here in Kuwait, I can’t find crushed pineapple, so I buy the chunk pineapple and cut them to be smaller sized. You can’t do it in the food processor because it gets too mushy.
The cranberry salad is in the center of the photo:
Paying the Price
I had two wonderful days, Thursday and Friday, out and about all day in this wonderful Kuwait weather. Saturday was out again for a short time with Adventure Man and felt a tickle in my throat. No big deal, I figure it is just allergies, or the change in seasons; I drank some ginger tea and figured that would be the end of it.
Wrong!
Yesterday, it was hanging on, getting stronger. Here come the sneezes, the swollen sinuses, the watery bleary eyes, the sneezing and the coughing. Having a cold totally grosses me out. I’m not a person who gets dramatically and romantically ill, lying beautifully in bed while people bring me hot drinks and speak to me in soft voices. I look terrible! I want this cold gone now! I’ve upped the arsenel to Strepticils, Zinc tablets, Cranberry juice and antihistimines. It doesn’t matter; I am a wreck.
I’m better during the day, it’s night time that gets me – I wake up choking and coughing, my sinuses hurt, my nose is running. . . and I sleep fitfully, with weird dreams, so sometimes I can’t tell if I am dreaming or awake.
The Qatteri Cat faithfully follows me everywhere I go. I am sleeping in the guest bedroom so Adventure Man doesn’t have to suffer through this with me, but QC just makes comforting noises and snuggles up to me.
I have a lot to do this week. Please keep me in prayer for a speedy recovery!
A Heavenly Day in Kuwait
Adventure Man and I spent the whole day together yesterday, a true sabbath day, worship and play, and very little work. I hope you had the same kind of day. The weather is perfect for strolling along the Corniche, the beautiful blue sky was perfect for taking photos, and the haze over Kuwait made it a little bit dreamlike.
Hawally Park:
We love the Marine Science Center – total WOW:
We think this is place is amazing – we think it might be used for parties, but we don’t know. Anyone?
Dinner at Al Manshar – on a perfect autumn evening.
On What Grounds?
Let’s see. This guy was convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment, and upon appeal, his verdict was upheld. Then an upper court of appeals judge reverses the conviction. When the Arab Times prints a story like this, they need also to report what the judge said, on what grounds he overturned the conviction, dont’ you think?
Bedoun acquitted in kidnap, sale of maid to Asian pimps
KUWAIT CITY: The Court of Appeals Wednesday overturned the verdict of a lower court and acquitted a Bedoun taxi driver, identified as Mohammed S., who had been charged with kidnapping and selling an Asian housemaid to three Bangladeshi pimps.
On March 4, 2007, the Criminal Court had sentenced the driver to life imprisonment in absentia. He submitted an objection letter to the same court, but the court upheld the verdict.
According to case papers the driver promised the victim a better job and lured her to run away from her sponsor. On June 17, 2006, the maid escaped from her sponsor. The accused waited for her in his taxi with two Bangladeshi men and the ‘four’ drove to an apartment in Riqei. There the maid was introduced to another Bangladeshi.
The man, who gave her shelter in his apartment, informed her that he had bought her from the driver for KD 150. The confused maid discovered she had been tricked and requested to go to the bathroom. In an attempt to escape by climbing down from the drainage pipes, she slipped and fell to the ground.
The building caretaker informed the authorities and police investigations revealed the apartment was rented by the driver, who reportedly went underground after the incident.
The session was presided by Judge Ibrahim Al-Obaid.
Operation Hope Newsletter
Hot off the press!
Greetings OH Family,
Lots of exciting news to share with you! On Wednesday, by God’s grace 1,027 bags were distributed!! The grateful recipients of our labor bore mile-wide smiles, while some had looks of disbelief as we handed out winter bags to them. If you haven’t been on a distribution this (or a previous) year, please DO try as you’ll be blessed beyond measure as you come face to face with our needy brothers and sisters. You’ll never be the same after the experience ~ but don’t just take my word for it ~ come out with us to find out for yourself!
We have had a request to serve the TCN workers at Al Jahra Hospital. A date for that distribution will be forthcoming.
Rumaithiya street cleaners (all 120 of them) received a winter bag on Saturday. Today 250 street cleaners for Salmiya area received their winter bags; and tomorrow, by God’s grace the Salwa cleaners (150) will receive theirs! OH wishes to provide the same for as many neighborhood cleaning crews as possible, SO if you can find out where the buses load and unload for your area we’ll organize a distribution for them.
Thank you to the Catholic Church in Kuwait City for a donation of KD 50 from their summer library proceeds ~ also, to the BLS for their donation of toiletries, which we’ll give to the Philippine Embassy very soon.
Your patronage to the following activities will add support to OH’s fundraising efforts:
· November 10th: Harvest Festival at N.E.C.K
· November 11th: Beauty Bazaar in Salwa
· November 16th: Fall Bazaar in Mubarak Al Kabeer
· November 17th: KTAA Bazaar @ the Dar Al Cid
· December 4th: BLS Bazaar @ Al Hashemi (SAS Hotel)
· December 8th: AWL Charity Bazaar
For more details on exact location and timings, please contact Becky & Chelly on ophopevolunteer@yahoo.com
OH’s 2nd packing of 1,200 winter bags commenced last Friday. Called Student Day we were assisted by scout troops, the ASK National Honor Society, and many other students of varying ages and backgrounds. What an awesome sight to see our children knee-deep in charity work. My hope is that their experience will be remembered (and carried out) for a lifetime! Thank you to everyone who participated!
Thanks also to the New English School teachers who spent their ½ day off on Wednesday to help load vehicles for our deliveries! While they could have spent the day doing something else they chose to spend their time helping us to help others! What a blessing!!
OH needs more volunteers to pack this Friday, November 9th at 3:30 PM. A small set-up team is also needed that day to arrive at 2:30 PM. 1,200 bags must be packed that day so we’ll need a lot of hands on deck! Please RSVP your commitment to Kathleen on ophopevolunteer@yahoo.com
Thanks to Barbara R. for hosting a very fun and successful Bunco fundraising event for us today! We raised KD 125 having fun and so can you! If you are interested in helping to raise much needed funds to cover the cost of our winter bags, please contact Chelly and/or Becky on ohq8fundraiser@yahoo.com. Simply gather your circle of friends for a quiz night, talent show, Bunco, dinner party, or whatever you wish! It gives your friends something fun to do, but moreover it helps us to help others!
Someone asked me a few days ago if I ever get discouraged by the enormity of our job in helping the poor living in Kuwait. The truth is ~ yes. When I am depending upon my own abilities to get the work done I feel very discouraged.
A wise young Australian man who was born without limbs said this, “The awesome thing about the power of God, is that if we want to do something for Him, instead of focusing on our capabilities, we should concentrate on our availability. Once we make ourselves available for God’s work, guess whose capabilities we rely on? GOD”
So when discouragement comes over me I return (with humility) under the authority and leadership of the Almighty in this mission of mercy that I might become available so that His capabilities may be glorified.
Grandma’s Ginger Cookies (for 3baid)
This is a very soft dough. It is easier to work with if you chill it before rolling, but even then the rolling pin and rolling board should be well floured, and you need to work fast, before the dough gets too soft again.
Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C
1 cup molasses (Brer Rabbit Green Label)
1 cup sugar
1 cup hot water
3 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups flour
Add hot water to molasses, sugar and shortening. When well mixed, and cool, stir in sifted dry ingredients.
Roll out to 3/8″ thick, sprinkle with sugar and cut with cookie cutters. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet.
If you are making gingerbread boys and girls, use raisins or small hard decorations for eyes and buttons, and a small slice of candied cherry for the mouth.
(Grandma said use Brer Rabbit Green Lable Molasses, but here in Kuwait, use whatever molasses you can find! I have seen some honey-molasses that looks like it would make a good gingerbread cookie.
Pop in the oven, bake for 10 minutes – maybe a little longer if your cookies are thick. They should be soft and chewy, but cooked through.
Poor Witness
I had hoped to miss the worst of the traffic yesterday morning when I got on the highway, but for some reason, traffic was still heavy. Suddenly, in less time than it takes for me to write it and for you to read it, there were silver and red sparkles in the air, a shrieking of tires, and a car two cars in front of me trying to regain control, bouncing between two lanes.
Everything slowed to an almost halt, without – thanks be to God – any further collisions. One car, weaving in and out, had clipped another.
I’ve often been amazed at how closely these cars whip in and out without crashing. I think I’ve just never seen it happen before. That impact sends the car that’s hit totally out of control. By the grace of God, no one appeared to be physically injured.
I wondered if I should stop, but I realized I didn’t know anything. I didn’t even know for sure which car had been the hitter and which had been the hittee. I would be a very poor witness. All I saw was this firework like explosion of silver and red – the tail light, I am guessing. And heard the sickening screech of tires as both cars tried to avoid a more serious collision.
A good witness isn’t someone who is guessing. I continued on. Saw the aftermath of an almost identical accident just another kilometer up the road. The good news is that it slowed down the traffic, made it more meditative. . . life is short, folks. There is nowhere we have to be in that big of a hurry.
Where is Magical Droplets?
I had a blogging buddy, Magical Droplets, who seems to have dropped off the blogosphere. About a month ago, I checked her blog and it seemed to have gone wierd, it had some of her old content, but all these ads for things that weren’t anything like MD used to write. I checked again recently, and it has just gotten worse.
If any of you know this blogger, will you give her my regards and tell her I miss her?
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