Forecast: Hot and Crabby
It isn’t my fault. I was born in the cold winter months in Alaska, and to this day, I thrive in cooler weather. When October comes to Kuwait and I can feel an occasional cool breeze on my face, I am in heaven for the next six months. When the rains come, I dance for joy.
So, alternatively, when I open the door to take a photo of the sunrise from my balcony, and it is as warm outside as it is inside, my heart sinks.
The sunrise this morning was awesome – lights and darks and sparkles all over the place:

What is not to love?

I’m trying not to be grumpy. I’m trying to think cool thoughts, and to be cool-headed. Keep me in your prayers, please, for sweetness of spirit, and for peace of spirit, and for super organizational skills.
Sunrise 26 April 2009
Last night, out for dinner, the air was not cool and refreshing. It was warm. The outdoor seating was thronged; for many, the temperatures are wonderful; for me, it is a little stale. Just the night before, we were outside and it was wonderful, still a tiny cool breeze now and then. Overnight, you can feel the inevitable approach of the scorching summer. It’s coming. It’s almost here.
Sunrise this morning was silvery. There are some fleecy little clouds up in the sky, but no, it doesn’t look like rain, only a little tease.

At 0700, it is already hot.

The pace is picking up, lists of things to do growing instead of shrinking . . . the pressure is on.
Sunrise on the Sparkling Water
I broke my own rules this morning. The Qatteri Cat started walking around and saying “Miooooow” around first-call-to-prayer time, and AdventureMan, who has a sweet soft heart sometimes gets up to feed him.
“If you get up to feed him,” I scold in my mean-mommy voice, “he learns that if he comes mioooowing at oh-dark-thirty that someone is going to get up and feed him! You have to ignore him!”
AdventureMan just looks at me sadly, that I could be so mean and cruel. He is a lucky man; he can get up, feed the cat and get back to sleep in like zero seconds flat. Once I am awake, I am awake.
So this morning, I ignored QC two or three times as he came in and said he was hungry, and then, around five, I took pity on him and got up to check his bowl, which was empty to the last grain of cat food. (Have you ever noticed how FOUL cat food smells??)
And since I was up anyway, I went to get a cup of coffee and saw – oh, I could see all the way to the horizon! Not a speck of dust, not a speck of haze! And the sun is coming up and there is a sparkle all across the Gulf!

I couldn’t resist the sparkle on the water:

So the Qatteri Cat gets a few extra snuggles today for getting me up to see this wonderful sunrise. It is a sweet morning, and I hope you have a wonderful day. 🙂
A New Day, a New Dawn
Good morning, Kuwait! Yes, yes, don’t ask me why, I don’t know, but when I got out of bed I could see the big red sun just rising above the horizon and I thought “just in time! I am awake just in time!” Even the Qatteri Cat was still drowsy and looking at me like I was crazy, but I love watching the sun come over the horizon, even if it means being up around 5 ayem.

The air is warmer today. This week is going to be WAYYY warmer. Aargh:

It is just psychological, but anything over 90°F is just HOT to me. Fortunately, I have lots of things I can do inside this week. 🙂
No Darkness at all . . .
It was wonderful waking up this morning – no alarm, just waking when I was ready. No wonder, I was falling asleep over my book by 9 last night, and around 9:30 I just gave up – sometimes sleep is just too inviting. I slept wonderfully, it feels so good to sleep well and soundly and wake up because you are ready to wake up.
When I pulled open the curtains, I gasped with delight! A glorious sunrise, a sunrise with sparkles and shadows and glints and rays. There is a fresh morning breeze, it is a little cooler today and the air is sweet and cool. The morning readings I do contain a line from 1 John: “In Him there is no darkness at all . . ” a line I love, and a line that I thought of immediately when I saw this amazing sunrise:

Now, over an hour later, the sky is full of heavier clouds, still sunny, but the glorious moment has passed, and I thank God for the small mercy of allowing me to see this beautiful new dawn and to capture it to share with you.
Have a great Monday, Kuwait! 🙂
Better Late than . . .
This morning’s sunrise, around 5:30 or so, dim and grey but sharp. Not much has changed. The sky is white with haze; you can’t see any blue, but there are also no clouds, it is all opaquely white.

I’m having a busy, and disconnected day. Lots going on. Sorry to shortchange YOU, but it is what it is.
Filtered Dawn
It’s not that haze we have been having that magnifies the radiance of the sun into a huge, pulsating ball hanging over the Gulf; today is a much more muted dawn, filtering through the grey layer of haze lying far out on the horizon. There is no surf, but minute wave action, visible but not elevated . . . it is a Saturday morning sunrise, no drama, respecting those who get to sleep in . . .

For those Kuwait students who check in, missing Kuwait, it is the time of year when people are picnicking in the local parks, dining outside at the Marina and Kout malls, and enjoying the pleasant warm nights while they can, before all is breathlessly hot.
At six o’clock this morning, it is lovely:

And this is what the week is going to look like:

Have a great day, Kuwait.
Monday, 13 April 2009 Sunrise

Good morning, Kuwait.
Forecast for today – hot – and humid. Aarrgh.

In Florida, this is the weather that makes the flea eggs start hatching. When it hits over 30°C or 85°F, to me, that is hot. I always hate it when I have to close up the windows and have the A/C on 24/7, but I also hate sweating . . .
Early mornings are nice . . .
Easter Sunrise and Noah’s Ark
Today is the most beautiful day in the church year, Easter Sunday. Mary and Mary go to the tomb where Jesus was laid, only to find the 2 ton stone rolled away from the entrance, and angels waiting there, telling the women that Jesus was not there, that he had arisen. If you have been reading this blog for any time at all, you will know that it delights my heart that women were the first to know, and that Jesus, resurrected, appeared first to a woman. In the Bible, she tells the men and they don’t believe her. LLOOLL.
It is a glorious Easter morning:

As part of her Easter greeting today, a friend sent the following, which I love. Since all three traditions, Jewish, Christian and Moslem, celebrate Noah (Noh) I thought I would share it with you.

Noah’s Ark
(Everything I need to know, I learned from Noah’s Ark. )
ONE: Don’t miss the boat.
TWO: Remember that we are all in the same boat!
THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.
FOUR: Stay fit. When you’re 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
FIVE: Don’t listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
SIX: Build your future on high ground.
SEVEN: For safety’s sake, travel in pairs.
EIGHT: Speed isn’t always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
NINE: When you’re stressed, float awhile.
TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
ELEVEN: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there’s always a rainbow waiting.
Have a great day, a blessed day, Kuwait.
Gigantic Sunrise
It’s not photoshopped, or any kind of shopped – it’s the “light haze” that makes this rising sun appear so gigantic. I can’t even focus as I try to shoot it, there is so much refracted light. I just have to trust, as I snap the shutter, that the camera can figure out how to manage it. Once again, I focused on the reflection; it was the only line the camera could focus on; the rest is just a blur. I am using my smaller Lumix, it doesn’t have a viewfinder, so it is much harder to see what you are shooting.

It’s going to be HOT today. For me, anyway, anything above 22°C / 72°F is getting a little heated up. 😉

Have a great day, Kuwait.

