Change in the Weather
At 0700 this morning, it is only 81°F / 27°C. What a change! No steamed up windows, the humidity is also down.
I love October in Kuwait, when the temperatures swing dramatically into the comfortable zone, and we can even start eating outside at night. We are yearning to go back to the Souk Mubarakiyya after church on Fridays, or on a relaxed Saturday night. Or Paul’s in the Fehaheel Al Kout Mall, out by the fountains. For six months, Kuwait is a delightful place to be. While my fellow Americans – or at least those not stationed in Kuwait or Iraq or Qatar – are slogging their way through the rain and wind and snow, we are basking in a sweet mostly-warm climate, our reward for the brutality of the summers here.
Although – there ARE people who love the heat! I even notice that I am not so uncomfortable in the summers as I once was. Unless it is humid, I don’t even break a sweat when I am out, or else it is so hot that it is just evaporating off me and I don’t even know it.
Yesterday, when I got up, it was too late to catch the sunrise, but what I did catch was lovely – a whole fleet of boats out fishing. Thanks to Enviro Girl telling me about the enhanced zoom capability on my camera, I was able to get some fairly clear shots, even at a distance:
Here, they’re hauling in something for dinner!
(Or maybe they are just hauling in the anchor. 🙂
If you want to see all the photos from the Souk Mubarakiyya, just do a search in the search box to the right and it will show you all the articles and photos I have taken there.
Photo Nuts
My two sisters and I all have the same camera, and my niece, and my son and his wife, so we all share information. Like on our trip, EnviroGirl explained that if you made the picture size smaller, it extends the optical zoom, so if you don’t need a really vast photo, you can focus on something and get this huge telephoto. I had no idea until she explained it. Like yes, it is in the book, and I even read the book, but there is SO MUCH in the book.
My sister Sparkle told us about using a feature called Fireworks. She tried it for fireworks – it works! It also works on moon shots, although there is another feature called Starry Nights for that.
One thing totally cracks me up. There used to be a Simple Mode indicated with a heart, it was simple and automatic, and no one liked to use it. The newer models have something called Intelligent Automatic, and we all use that mode because it gets the best photos. We would never dream of using something called “simple” but “intelligent!” That’s very different!
Mariner Man, Sparkle’s husband, doesn’t use the same camera but he showed us a new technique he says is working for him, getting interesting and new photos: put your camera really near the ground or on the ground.
Sand Castle
Good tip, Mariner Man!
So I’m kind of waiting for sunset, and photo ops just keep happening. There are wonderful kids flying kites, and I wait, and I get the shot I want – what joy!
And then, as the sun continues setting, along come a couple surfers.
This isn’t such a great shot, but it is the only shot I got of one of them up on his board. He wasn’t up for very long.
This hasn’t happened to me for a long time – my memory card is full. I have to quickly go through and delete anything excessive to have room for the sunset. And then – the sun goes into a fog bank. I had thought it would shine through, but no – the fog EATS the sun! And, just at that moment, the surfers decide to go home and I get my last shot:
Ecola Beach
You take a winding road, up hill and down, with steep drops on the ocean side, to get to Indian Beach – but it is worth the effort. There is a great view, restrooms, and you can visit the tidal pools. I loved all the wet suits lined up to dry on the fence here. Families were brewing coffee, making sandwiches, surfers were out waiting for a good wave to come along, and it was a fabulous location:
Things We Love About Robin’s House
We had reservationsin Nkwali, the jumping off place for most of the Robin Pope Safaris, but we had to change the reservations by a couple weeks, and that meant a total reversal of the reservation. We started off in Tena Tena, then we went to Nsefu, then we ended up in Nkwali. We have always loved Nkwali, loved the cabins there, but this time we were happier than happy – they put us in Robin’s House.
Robin’s House is where Robin and Jo Pope lived before they built a gorgeous house on the other side of the camp.
It is perfect for two couples, or two couples and children. It is perfect in so many ways that I had to make a list of all the things I loved about being there.
* Space – spacious bedrooms, spacious, private bathrooms on each side of the house with a spacious common living/sitting/dining room in the center.
* Indoor/ outdoor living – the windows have screens on them to keep out critters, but indoors or outdoors, it all feels a part of a whole.
* Wrap around windows – a view anywhere you look
* Huge walk in shower, with animal prints molded into the painted cement floor. Love the whimsy.
* High, airy ceilings, with ceiling fans
* natural materials, canvas colored curtains, a neutral palette with beam accents
* great big soft fluffy bath towels
* all our favorite drinks stocked in the refrigerator, and a liquor bar, which we barely touched, that had Amarula, which I love.
* electricity! We could recharge our own camera batteries without going to the camp itself
* being taken care of by a hostess, a cook, a dedicated guide and Thomas and Amos, who took care of us without over-taking-care of us – they gave us plenty of privacy when we needed it, and were there when we needed them.
* variety of seating for people of different heights
* Tribal Textiles accents – pillows, covers, etc – in rooms
* a book case! With books! and games!
* multiple views of hippos, and hippo sounds at night
* grand, comfy beds with good sheets, good pillows and good mattresses
* kikoys provided for our use
* shaded porch with a variety of seating options
* a hammock with a view
* insect repellant – with a good smell and nice texture, and it really seemed to work
* ditto shower gel and shampoo and conditioner provided
* a drying rack for swimming towels, washed clothes, etc.
Our last day there, LawAndOrder Man and EnviroGirl had to leave for their 32 hour return to the USA, flying Mfuwe – Lusaka – Johannisburg – Dakar – Atlanta – Pensacola – imagine. And they had to work the next day. It was such a sad parting, and we were all glad to have had the last days together in this beautiful, very private location.
Photos:
This is the wing of the house where AdventureMan and I stayed
This was our room (sigh!)
And this is the shower we loved
This was the living room/sitting room where we would gather
This was the second bedroom – there were additional beds for kids
This is the pool. Other guests from the camp could use it, but no one did while we were there. It was separate from the house but very close.
These spaces for outdoor sitting were outside the other wing, where our son and his bride slept
They served our meals privately, too. What wonderful luxury privacy is
You know, the little Alaska girl is still alive and well inside me, and I am always fascinated with fishing techniques. This was right across the river from Robin’s House, and they caught quite a few fish.
Robin and Jo Pope have expertise, and also VISION. Problems, to them, are opportunities. Need to get tourists to the camps? Invest in an airline. Need to get them to the national park across a river? Build your own pontoon bridge – it gives Zambia additional park revenue, provides additional employment, and gives tourists a thrilling experience. When they solve a problem, everyone wins.
We crossed several times on this boat, and once, in pitch dark, got caught on a tree snagging us from under the water. It took about 15 minutes to maneuver us off, and to get across, but it is not like this ferry is on a schedule. It goes back and forth when vehicles are going into or coming out of the park.
How the boat is pulled across the river
We had some fabulous game drives; I will only bore you with this one. The hippo ponds are covered with nile cabbage, and I just loved this hippo with his nile cabbage blanket
My New Buddy
Just days before Sporty Diamond’s wedding, Big Diamond introduced me to a new friend – a Lumix, a Panasonic camera with a Leica lens.
It hardly felt like a real camera. I have lugged around Nikons most of my life, Nikons and their lenses and a variety of super films to capture that special moment. The Lumix felt like a toy.
“Just try it,” she laughed confidently.
Within minutes, she was in on her phone and computer, ordering the same model for Sporty Diamond and myself. That was five years ago.
In January, as I was doing one of the sunrise series, something whirred and clicked and jammed, never to work again. I didn’t worry too much, I had a smaller model of the same camera I bought to use in my purse. I knew I would need another one, but I had time.
When she visited, Little Diamond mentioned that exactly the same thing had happened with Big Diamond’s camera, and we figure maybe it is some kind of planned obsolescence.
Or an excuse to buy the newest model!
While back in the USA, I picked up the newest telephoto model of the Lumix. Without any additional lenses, this little camera goes from 18mm – 574mm. The zoom is so powerful that I can’t always hold the camera steady enough without a tripod, but it also has all the latest shake-reduction technologies. Actually, it has technologies I haven’t begun to master. I thought I would know it all, having had the same camera, but so much has been added in the last couple years, I still have a severe learning curve in front of me.
My sister has the same exact camera, so we can help each other out when we figure out some new capability.
I am not one of your more serious photographers. I don’t bracket my shots; I don’t do a lot of planning before I shoot. Most of my shots are shots of convenience – I even have the camera out on the seat while I am driving, in case I see something at a stoplight. Certainly in case I have a road problem, or in case some idiot drives next to me in the emergency land. I need a camera mostly for family moments, for our African adventures, for my daily Kuwait experiences and for those odd moments that capture my attention.
I am more of a documentary photographer. I grab whatever shot I can get, and delete delete delete all the excess photos. I do love getting to know the camera, and finding out what it can do. What I love the most about this camera is the great big huge zoom, the tiny, light body, and the bright, clear photos it takes under the worst conditions.
I have another buddy, a good friend who has really been there for me while I am jet lagging. The first morning – she knows I am up early – she called me and said she was on her way to the store, did I want to come? I was already getting dressed to go to the store, so I said yes. The truth is, when you are ten time zones out of whack, you are probably better off not driving a whole lot.
Yesterday, once again, she helped me run a couple of significant errands, things I really needed to do and she sacrificed a morning with her husband to help me out. That is a friend, indeed. Not only is she a lot of fun to be running errands with, but when I grabbed my camera and said “that’s a shot I’ve wanted and never been able to take because I am always driving!” she slowed down and let me have the time to take the shot. She didn’t even mind. Now THAT is a friend, indeed!
Nowhere else have I seen bulldozers up in buildings. I can’t imagine the building being destroyed was constructed with specifications supporting the weight of a bulldozer in mind. I can’t imagine what the bulldozer operator must have in terms of life insurance – or, well, too bad, I can imagine he considers himself lucky to have a job that allows him to send some money back home. At least this bulldozer is only three stories above ground – the last one I saw was eight stories above ground. And the driver didn’t even have a construction helmet on.
It is blazing-white-hot in Kuwait right now, but thanks be to God, there is no dust today, and the humidity is relatively low.
Silvery Sunrise 18 Mar 08
The day is all silvers and greys, greys lit from within by the sun, shimmering greys:
It is 66°F / 19°C at 0800.
Fuzzy Sunrise
When I got up this morning and saw all the clouds, I didn’t think we were going to get much of a sunrise. Then I had to run and grab the camera as signs of light started to appear – and it all turned out gloriously. The sun has once again hidden behind the heavy clouds (I keep hoping for rain) but – we had a moment. . .
It is 73°F / 23°C at 0700, temperatures expected to go up to 87°F / 31°C today.
Liberation Day Sunrise
It is already 61°F / 16°C at 0800 in the morning – looks like another fabulous February spring day ahead . . . but maybe a little grey. It was grey at sunrise, grey an hour later, and grey even now. Do you think it might burn off?
Gulf Moonlight
It has taken me months to get this shot. It helped that I discovered my camera had a night scenery mode, and then it just took taking enough shots with enough stabilization for the camera (can’t find the tripod) so that it didn’t look like three moons because I breathed during the 2.5 seconds the shutter had to be open to catch the glitter on the glassy waters of the Gulf:
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