Grabbing a Half Day
While most of my time has been spent joyfully grandmama-ing, I was feeling increasing anxiety about one thing. I am flying back to Doha to pack, and then I am flying back to Pensacola to close on the house, and wait for AdventureMan to join me, and then all our furniture and household goods that have been in storage a lifetime – twelve years – will arrive.
Oh oh. Where do we sleep until our bed arrives? We COULD invade our dear son and his sweet wife once again, but don’t you think enough is enough? Would you want your parents and in-laws living with you, week after week, with all our well-intentioned advice, and stories about our son when he was young?
No? LLOOLLL, me neither!
So yesterday, I took an afternoon to myself.
First, I had learned that the Pensacola Quilter’s Guild was having their bienniel (once every TWO years) show this weekend, Friday and Saturday. There is little that can take this adoring grandmama away from her most adorable brand-new grandson, but I will admit it – a quilt show – that is beyond temptation. I had to go, even just for an hour. I went, joined the guild, hurried through the exhibit, which was GLORIOUS! and then I went furniture shopping.
Furniture shopping is not what it used to be. I have some lovely furniture in storage, but not a huge amount of it. Some of it we sent off with Law and Order Man when he went off to law school and needed some basics. Some of it is just outdated – like televisions from the 90’s! I figured I would just look for the basics – bed, mattress and table and chair. We will have a place to sit when we are not sleeping, and we can buy the TV’s together, later, with our son’s help. We need the help of the high-tech-savvy to get us up to speed on what we will be needing, phones, TV’s, cable connections, phone plans, internet connections, oh, it is as bad as buying a new car!
When we were still in the military, we found a dining room table and chairs, gorgeous, at an auction, for $169. We found marble topped antique oak nightstands, gorgeous, at the flea market in Metz, and paid $60 for the pair. We found a gorgeous buffet/credenza in a used furniture shop in Leavenworth, KS for $50 + $10 for delivery, all these are furniture pieces we still treasure. I am telling you this so you will understand what sticker shock I get when I go to look at new furniture.
I am quick and clear about what I want and need, but the prices require me to summon all the courage I can summon when I go to write the checks. I am good at saving. Letting that money go is so HARD. It took me the entire afternoon to find pieces I knew would work for us.
Here is where you will sleep, the guest room bed, when you come to stay with us:
It was on sale. I love it because, with the inlay, it sort of reminds me of the Middle East, of Damascus:
I also bought mattresses. It was difficult, too, because I don’t like these pillow tops. We like a good, firm bed, and I like to sleep cool, I can’t get to sleep if I am too warm, and these pillow tops are too warm. It took me a long time to find a good, firm mattress set for the bed.
Then I went looking for a table and chairs for the family room/ casual dining area. I knew what I wanted. My long-time Chinese friend told me the best table for families is the round table, no one sits at the head, everyone is equal. My sister Big Diamond (Little Diamond’s and Sporty Diamond’s Mom) has a HUGE, gorgeous round table, and I have seen how people love to gather there. So I knew I wanted a round table that would be inviting and comfortable, but not so grand as my sister’s. I have been looking online, checking out a lot of models. When I found one here in Pensacola, at a reasonable price, I was hooked. It is light teak – light in color, heavy in weight. OOps. Then she reminded me I would need chairs. Aaarrgh.
There weren’t any other customers in the shop at the time, so we took our time. As I learned from you, my Middle Eastern friends, we dickered a little, comfortably and amiably – and she gave me a discount, and free delivery.
The chairs are amazing. You would not believe wood could feel so comfortable. The table and chairs together remind me so much of all our times camping and in lodges in Africa, in Zanzibar, in Zambia, in Botswana, where the furniture is both comfortable and well made. But I almost choked, writing the check. Some things are just worth buying new; sturdy, comfortable furniture is one of them.
Here is the guest bathroom:
It has a spa tub and a walk in shower. 🙂
Last but not least, I found some farewell gifts for friends I have had in Doha for a long long time, and a bolt of muslin for a friend who knows I am coming back with suitcases almost empty. 🙂 It was a long day, and a fruitful day, and I am resting easier knowing all these little details are coming together.
Today, however, my son and his wife are taking me to the kinds of places I LOVE buying furniture! The Waterfront Mission Store and Loaves and Fishes! Wooo HOOOOO!
The Most Beautiful Baby Ever (Photographer makes the difference!)
There is a woman in Pensacola who has studied how to photograph babies. The photos she did of our grandbaby made tears come to my eyes:
She takes wonderful, joyous photographs of babies and families. She welcomes your visits and comments to her blog:
Trade Expo and AdventureMan
“Hey! I’m coming home early and I’m taking you to the TradeExpo!” AdventureMan told me with excitement in his voice. He doesn’t often like going places at night after a long day at work, but to him, this sounded like fun.
Jockying for a parking place was not so much fun. We’ve been here long enough, though, when AdventureMan spied a free sidewalk space, up we went, perfect parking spot, right under a streetlight. Short walk to the Expo.
I watched his face as we walked around, changing from excitement to confusion. “Where are all the booths with little flags?” he asked, “and all the booths with home cooked foods from other countries?”
LLLOOOLLL; he thought this was the DIPLOMATIC Bazaar!
Some years they do the diplomatic bazaar and some years they don’t; depends on if the diplomatic wives have the time and energy to get it all organized and bring in all kinds of specialties not normally seen here.
This was a trade expo. There was a lot of underwear, and children’s clothes, not the expensive kind, this was the utilitarian kind, and not-very-nice furniture, and overly ornate but not nice bric-a-brac. Really bad perfumes and some really awful, cheap make-up. The whole thing was over-hyped and low quality, schlocky, and we didn’t spend a dirham. The only food was Costa Coffee!
So not every Doha adventure is such a fun one, but better to try than to miss something wonderful.
One visitor to the Trade Fair actually took some really good photos and posted them on QatarLiving.com. They are very nice photos, and when I saw them I thought “this makes the trade fair look a lot better than I remember it!”
LLOOLL, Dumb and Dumber in Florida News
I found this hilarious article in The Pensacola News Journal
Bizarre news much the norm in Florida
BRENDAN FARRINGTON • ASSOCIATED PRESS • DECEMBER 30, 2009
TALLAHASSEE — You know you’re living in a weird state when the governor promotes a pay-per-minute sex chat line.
Or when a congressman asks the House speaker to move a day’s worth of votes so he can watch a college football game.
Or when employees at not just one, not two, but three state prisons use stun guns on their kids as part of “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.”
That’s Florida, once again making people snicker at its dumb criminals, strange animals and all-around oddness.
Gov. Charlie Crist was embarrassed when an on-hold recording he made transposed two numbers for an uninsured child helpline and callers instead were led to “horny” girls willing to talk about anything for just $2.99 a minute.
It wasn’t the only odd moment in politics. Rep. Cliff Stearns asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi to basically shut down Congress early so he and some of the Florida and Oklahoma House guys could go watch their teams in the national championship game. She said no.
Candidates for local offices were also embarrassed in 2009. A Miami Beach mayoral candidate was disqualified from the race after his qualifying check bounced, and a minister running for Belle Glade City Commission was charged with swinging a bat at a woman outside a polling place. He lost the election.
Two 8-year-old Alachua County boys made better use of their baseball bats — they successfully fought off a man armed with a gun who was threatening to kill the mother of one of the boys.
Booze A Factor
Alcohol seems to lead to a lot of Florida’s oddest stories.
Tampa police arrested a man who let his 12-year-old son drive his SUV so he could drink in the passenger seat.
A Marion County man was charged with driving under the influence after crashing a stolen riding lawnmower into a school bus.
A 22-year-old South Florida man climbed aboard a locomotive with a friend and took it seven miles down the tracks for a joy ride. They came up with the idea while heading to a local bar.
A Clearwater man was charged with drunken driving after police pulled him over for driving a car with only three tires.
Pasco County deputies arrested two men they said were fighting over $3 in gas money on the way home from a strip club. The weapons involved: a fish tank and a beer bottle.
In other random stories:
• A Lakeland eighth-grader was suspended from riding the school bus after farting to make other students laugh and badly stinking up the bus.
• A Melbourne-area woman changed diapers for a man who was faking disabilities. The man, whom she met through Craigslist, paid her $600 a week for the services. It took her three months to figure out he wasn’t disabled.
• The University of Florida’s disaster recovery plan included a section on dealing with zombies.
• DeLand authorities said a man strangled a pet rat after accusing his wife of taking his last cigarette and a Jensen Beach man was arrested after drenching his wife with a hose for smoking in the house.
• A woman sitting on a toilet in a Tampa restroom dropped her gun, which discharged and shot a woman sitting in another stall.
• Bank of America in Tampa refused to cash a check for a man born without arms because he couldn’t provide a thumbprint.
And finally, some readers might recall that a costumed Tigger was acquitted of charges he groped women at Disney World a few years ago. This year a 60-year-old man was convicted of groping Minnie Mouse at the same theme park.
Ahh, Florida, a whole new way of thinking . . . LLOOLLL!
I am dying laughing, what a way to end an old year and start a new one. I hope your celebrations are full of laughter and you keep your sense of humor through the coming New Year. 🙂
New Qatar Traffic Violations and Fines
Update: LLOOLL, I went to QatarLiving.com and discovered that these “new” laws came out in 2007. These are great laws, deterrents to bad driving and aggressive driving, but the laws mean nothing without enforcement. Do I still see many many children sitting in the front seat? Are people driving while talking on their mobile phones? And not a word about one of the worst offenses these days – texting.
A recent study showed texting is even more dangerous while driving than talking on a mobile phone:
The crash risk attributable to texting is substantial. One possible explanation is that drivers who text tend to decrease their minimum following distance and also experience delayed reaction time. For example, in the Drews et al. study, drivers’ median reaction time increased by 30% when they were texting and 9% when they talked on the phone, compared with their performance in a driving-only condition.
Notwithstanding the safety risk of texting while driving, previous research by Drews and colleagues at the University of Utah — not to mention crash data and widespread legislation — makes clear that using a phone while driving is dangerous.
(To check my source, just click on the blue type, above)
We were talking about people who were saying “Qatar is the most dangerous place to drive in the world” and wondering where this is coming from? Most of us have driven in more dangerous places, but this is the new quote floating around, with no foundation, no statistics, no studies, at least not any I can find with a simple Google.
The topic of new laws came up next over Christmas dinner. New laws? New fines?
“I never saw a word about this in the paper,” I said, peevishly.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” said AdventureMan.
People who have been married a long time will understand the urge to kill . . .
Someone else jumped in,
“I think the different companies are passing it around. The Education Foundation has it. Some of the universities have it. That’s the way it is in Qatar, news of new laws filters out.”
LLLOOOLLL. News of new laws “filters out?”
I found it online HERE, at Team BPH and it looks exactly like the copy AdventureMan brought home yesterday, but there is no attribution. Who put this out? There is no kind of official marking on it at all.
IF ENFORCED, these laws would have a serious effect on Qatar traffic.
In theory, these went into effect in November 2009, just last month. Who issued these? Has there been any coverage in the newspapers? TV? How can people be held accountable for violating laws of which they are not aware? Or is this something one of the companies printed up, anticipating new laws?
Souk al Waqif: Men’s Souks
AdventureMan and I have a tradition, and that is we like to go shopping together before Christmas, helps him help Santa Clause with things to put in my Christmas stocking, and gives us precious time together in a relaxed setting.
So of course, we headed to our favorite place, the Souk al Waqif, where I discovered that the place I love the most to buy scarves – he always has things no one else has – was totally out of scarves! Well, he had six hanging up, but they were not special. I said “Where are the scarves??” and he laughed and said “Sold out!” and I said “Well that is good for you but not so good for me!” and we both laughed. He said he will be getting more early in January, but that is no help to Santa!
Then we wandered over into the older area of the souks, closest to Grand Hamad street. There is a new shop with beautiful misbah (worry beads) and unusual treasures. We wandered further, and came upon the falcon souk.
OK, I get it, the rest of you knew all about it, but I think because I usually go early in the morning, maybe this area isn’t open when I go – I have seen the seats outside, the majlis area, but I never saw the falcons before, not in the new souks. What fun! But aside from tourist women, there are no women in this area – the falcon souk, the camping souk, the hunting souk – these are very masculine domains, Guy Souks.
And they are equally lovely:
In this hallway, everything is giant. Hanging up above is a giant falcon glove, a giant falcon hood, and at the end of the hall, where the men with falcons are entering, are two gigantic falcon stands.
Look at this beautiful space! I think there are some offices around this space, as well as shops:
The camping and hunting souks have all kinds of tentings, bedrolls, washing up fixtures, etc, not so good for camping in the Pacific Northwest, but great for desert camping and hunting:
When the hardware souks and shoe repair souks were cleared out of the main street, I wondered where they had gone, and last night we found them. To my joy, I also found the scribes! I had been told they dispersed, went to various police stations to do their translations, fingerprints, etc. but last night I found them here! Right next to the police station! How have I missed them, all these evenings in the souks? I didn’t see them!
When first in Doha, where there is not one single modern hardware store, and before I had discovered my neighborhood hardware area, (remember, my secret vice is that I love hardware? and hardware stores?) I would go to the Souk al Waqif and start at one store saying “I need 3/4 inch masonry nails” and I would show them one. The man would leave his shop and take me to whichever of his buddies carried those nails. Or chains. Or bungee cords – they always had what I needed, or something close I could use. I’m glad to see the hardware shops are still there, along with the fishing and boating supply stores, and those huge pot and griddle stores.
Did you know Souk al Waqif had it’s own fire truck? Neither did we!
Qatar National Day Fireworks Finale
One year, for my birthday, we were having dinner at Le Mer, at the Ritz Carleton, when all of a sudden, the best fireworks display I have ever seen took place on the Corniche. Qatar spares no expense when it comes to fireworks, and this upcoming display sounds like it is not to be missed. 🙂
I am such a kid when it comes to fireworks. We’ll buy some felafel sandwiches and head for a good viewing spot, us and thousands like us, on Friday night. See you there. 🙂
From today’s Gulf Times
Fireworks: a fitting finale to festivities
By Sarmad Qazi
The Corniche will be turned into a grand open theatre with spectators looking heavenwards as spectacular fireworks, a fitting finale to Qatar’s National Day celebrations, will take on a journey through the desert for about 17 minutes.
“This is arguably one of the best fireworks site in the world. From the Museum (of Islamic Arts) to Sheraton, you’ve got a naturally-arched theatre to show a story to crowds of thousands,” said a spokesman for Howard & Sons Pyrotechnics, the company behind the grand finale that caps festivities across the country.
Speaking to Gulf Times from the base camp in the Palm Tree Island, Andrew Howard said the “extremely choreographed” show would begin with scenes of desert, gradually transforming the sky over the Corniche into a colourful canvas, and ending with maroon and white, the Qatari national colours.
“The pyrotechnics will go off from over 18 different points across the bay. People will be able to see the show from all directions,” Howard said aboard a motorboat as his crew started taking out the pontoons to the sea.
According to him, there will be shooting stars, where as they are called in the industry “UFOs”, spin, cascade down, and then shoot back up again, giant pearls; this is where the sky turns silver, and rainbow colours that trail each other from one end of the Corniche to another.
“The whole show will perfectly synchronise with a specially-produced music soundtrack for the National Day,” Howard said.
The Australian company also conducted fireworks for last year’s National Day show as well as the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in November. According to Howard, Friday’s show will be “by far the biggest in Qatar.”
Since the beginning of December, a crew of 24 has been fixing mortar tubes, handling thousands of shells, and sorting out other logistics at the firing site at Palm Island.
The mortar tube is where the firework shells are loaded inside a cylinder with a black powder lifting charge at the base; the largest shells are the size of a basketball while the smallest ones are about a tennis ball. Inside the shells are various pyrotechnic compositions to produce different colours.
“The shells came from Australia, China and Spain. A good 20% of the budget goes towards marine resources,” he said.
Most Complete Information on Qatar National Day 2009
Khalifa, a commenter on a recent post, has his own website, iloveqatar.net where he blogs as Mr. Q.
He has also created the hands-down all-time BEST website for the upcoming week celebrating National Day, photos, explanations and all at NationalDay2009. You will find anything and everything you want to attend there – and more!
Great work, Khalifa!
Week of Celebrations For Qatar’s National Day
Wouldn’t you think these celebrations would want lots and lots of observers, helping celebrate? So . . . where and when is the camel dressage? (I really, REALLY want to see that!) Which day is the parade? When are the fireworks?
Announcements like this are tantalizing, and hard information often difficult to come by.
Gala planned for National Day
Web posted at: 12/7/2009 1:27:32
Source ::: The Peninsula
BY HUDA N V
DOHA: Qatar is set to celebrate National Day, which falls on December 18, on a grand scale this time. A series of exhilarating programmes have been lined up for the week-long celebrations starting six days ahead of the landmark date.
Beginning from December 12, various competitions, symposiums, parades and other events meant for family and children would mark the celebrations. The first day would witness two traditional Qatari sporting events — the Masseela Horse Race and Pure bred Arabian Camel Race.
Highlighting the country’s penchant for Arab horse racing and camel dressage, the National Day Masseela Horse Race will take place at the Darb-a-Saai Camp in Rawda Umm Rouman (Al Rayyan).
The horse race will be organised in the traditional Qatari way, whereby pairs of riders will challenge each other in a test of courage with the winning rider advancing to the next round.
The Masseela Horse Race, featuring both Arabian horses and Qatari riders dressed in the traditional attire of the ancestors is an apt way to introduce the young generation to the traditions of their ancestors.
Arabian camels from Qatar’s leading stables will compete in two contests — camel dressage and ‘Best Behaved Camel’. In the dressage, a camel has to complete a routine within a specific time and it is to be judged on the way it has been dressed up.
The ‘Best Behaved Camel’ competition will judge a camel on its ability to overcome obstacles and distractions such as water and food. Other events include a poetry competition for Qatari men and women focusing on their recitation skills. Various Qatari tribes will also showcase the traditional sword dance — Ardha — accompanied by music composition using traditional musical instruments. A symposium will also be held on the occasion.
Al Dawha satellite Channel, which was launched during the National Day in 2008, will be on air again this time with documentaries highlighting the progress, history and culture of the nation. On day, the Corniche will witness a huge military parade and a colourful rally. The 5km stretch of will be bejewelled in light. The grand finale of the week-long celebrations would be marked by a spectacular pyrotechnic.
Qatar University will also celebrate the occasion. Over 500 students have signed up for various activities to be held on December 16. A huge parade showcasing the history of Qatar, the visions of various rulers right from the first to Qatar Vision 2030, some of the greatest events in Qatar such as the Asian Games and the Qatar’s World Cup bid 2022 will also take place.
British Mom Continues Qatar Court Battle for Abducted Son
Ayb! Ayb! (Shame! Shame!) Tricking a young woman by having her sign papers purporting to be inheritance papers but signing over custody of her son to his grandmother. Now he sits, idle, bored, confused and lonely, in his grandmother’s house, yearning to be with his mother, friends and classmates, and leading a normal life. She sounds like a reasonable young woman; coming to visit the “sick” grandmother, agreeable that he should visit with his father’s family. Why did they need to high-handedly take it to this level? What were they thinking?
He wants to come with me, says mom in custody battle
from today’s Gulf Times
A British mother, who has been fighting a custody battle for her son with her late husband’s Qatari family, was on Monday briefly reunited with the boy for the second time, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News yesterday said.
Rebecca Jones claims her son Adam has been “kidnapped” by the Qatari relatives. She saw him for the first time last Thursday, after the Cassation Court in Doha agreed to let her visit him.
“It was a bit better tonight, still very upsetting. I brought Adam some presents and he seemed happy with that,” Bahrain resident Jones told the GDN.
“He keeps telling me he wants to come home with me so it’s really terrible. It’s difficult to leave him, he was very tearful tonight when I left but I get to see him twice a week now. I will be back to see him in two days. I think that has made it easier for both of us.
“I told Adam I’d bring some movies next time and we can just pretend we are back in Bahrain, just the two of us.
“He spoke to his friends tonight. He hasn’t spoken to them since he left Bahrain. Some of them were upset. He also spoke to his grandmother and Barrie (stepfather) and Alex (younger sister),” Jones said.
“I’m desperate to see my son. I wouldn’t care if it was even for one hour at this stage. He said he’s very bored and has got nothing to do during the day, he just plays the Playstation from morning to night. He said he can’t sleep at all,” GDN quoted her as saying.
“He knows I love him and he knows I’m not going to leave him until we can go back to Bahrain together and get back to our lives.
“I’m going to keep going until I can go to a judge and get my son back. I’m waiting for the day when they have to let him go.”
Jones claims Adam was abducted on October 3 after she was “duped into travelling with him to visit his sick Qatari grandmother.”
Meanwhile, Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society secretary-general Faisal Fulad, who has been central to the campaign to bring Adam home, is in London to meet British
non-governmental organisations.
“I have been making contacts with Amnesty International, Save the Children and the children’s rights committee in British Parliament. I hope to meet them for discussions tomorrow,” he told the GDN.
“I am also trying to get a hold of people in BBC, Sky News and some big British newspapers because we need to generate more awareness, more media coverage and more support for Adam’s campaign.”
A Facebook group demanding Adam be reunited with his family in Bahrain, meanwhile, has attracted more than 7,000 members in almost four weeks.
Those who set up the group has organised a sponsored swim at St Christopher’s Senior School in Isa Town, and raised about BD1,000 for the campaign.
Divorced from Rebecca Jones for a number of years, Adam’s Qatari father, Jamal al-Madhaiki, died in 2005. Adam had remained in Bahrain with his mother, stepfather and younger sister until he and his mother travelled to Qatar.
Jones claims that in Qatar, her late ex-husband’s family requested her to sign some documents relating to what they said was Adam’s inheritance.
According to Jones, the papers in Arabic turned out to be custody documents in the name of Adam’s grandmother.
Since the alleged “abduction”, Jones has remained in Qatar to win back Adam’s custody, which was granted to his 77-year-old grandmother by a Qatari court almost three weeks ago.
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