Sunrise March 21, 2009
For all your Kuwaiti students back in the USA who check in daily to see what Kuwait looks like – I am sorry to tell you, you are missing one of the most beautiful days of the year. The sun rose over a sea so still it is like glass; it looks so solid you could walk on it:

You wonder how I know you are Kuwaiti students? I use this wonderful software called StatCounter which I love.
What is STATCOUNTER?
A free yet reliable invisible web tracker, highly configurable hit counter and real-time detailed web stats. Insert a simple piece of our code on your web page or blog and you will be able to analyse and monitor all the visitors to your website in real-time!
It allows me to see where people who check my blog are checking in from – like if you are at University of Arizona, for example, it might show me that. People who have commented are identified from previous comments. It is a great little utility, and a lot of fun when you have a little time to spare.
For those of you in Kuwait – look at this week to come:

It doesn’t get any more beautiful in Kuwait. Get outside today! It is gorgeous out there!
Discouraging Sunrise 19 March 2009
When I got up this morning, my heart sank. It is not a glorious sunrise, it isn’t even one of Kuwait’s silvery sunrises, but a very very grey sunrise.

The Germans have a word “smutzich” (I may not have spelled that right) that means dirty, filthy, covered with grime . . . and the sunrise reminds me of that, it is grimy . . . and discouraging. That thin layer of yellow, whatever it is, is closer.
Weather Underground says the entire week will be clear:

But it amends that forecast with what is happening right now:

It might be a cloud, but what a grimy cloud! I hate to think that we breathe that air!
Weather Goof
Weather Underground says there is a light haze. There is a haze – it is not what I would call light. When I got up this morning, there were even brief rainbursts – at one point, sheets of rain, but for mere seconds, barely enough to damp down the dry dust floating around. Looks like a fairly serious haze for drive-to-work time. Aaarrgh.

Weather – or Not?
This morning, Weather Underground (you can go see for yourself by clicking on the temperature widget over at the right) says it is “clear”.

I don’t know what “clear” looks like in your neck of the woods, but here is “clear” from our vantage Point:
The “clear” sunrise

“clear” over the water

First, do you see that thin layer of yellow? Usually we see that about a couple of kilometers out, but this morning, it is barely 200 meters off the shore and approaching. Second, the thick – and thickening – haze is white today, not yellow or red. It may be dust, but it may also be air pollution of some kind.
Yesterday I had a weird headache. Not a killing headache, but a persistent low grade headache that would not go away, not until the sun went down. I took aspirin, it did not go away. I was fine until this morning, felt fine when I woke up, but once I had been up for about an hour, this persistent low-grade headache is back. I think it is weather related. I think this is SMOG. I never have headaches!
Bah! humbug!
Holiday Sunrise
Good morning, Kuwait, and a beautiful day it is going to be:

No, that isn’t an attack helicopter in the photo, it is a bird, and I didn’t even see him until I uploaded the photo. The sun is coming up around 0615 in the morning, and mornings are still cool and comfortable.

It’s a quiet morning, as people sleep in; today is a holiday – the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday.
Red Sky at Morning . . .
The Qatteri Cat had me up early this morning, and as I made the coffee, I glanced out the window – WOW. Beautiful sky, very red sky, and I wonder if here “red sky at morning, sailors take warning” holds true? It looks like a beautiful day – again – and the water is smooth as glass.

The Qatteri Cat has gone back to sleep.
Molten Silver Sunrise
OK, OK, I admit it, this is not exactly sunrise, it is a little bit later, but I just couldn’t resist the flat glassy calm of the Gulf this morning going all molten silver. Knocked my socks off.

There is a thin cloud covering this morning, but it looks like another very warm day. Have a great Sunday/ Yom al-Ahad, Kuwait!
Sunrise Saturday, 7 Mar 09
The sunrise was so beautiful this morning it was almost painful. My windows are still dirty from the multiple attacks by the dust storms, so I was out on the balcony photographing, and it was chill and crisp, and I remembered to appreciate the feeling of “chill” and “crisp” while it is still hanging around.

It may be comfortable and cool in the mornings, but our temperatures are going up fast. March is the month where Kuwait, where things get colder than Doha in the winter, starts getting hotter than Doha.

It is going to be a glorious day. Not a cloud in the sky, other than that yellowish haze low over the gulf that I think is residue from oil refining.
Sunrise, Sunset
Better late than never:
Sunrise, March 6, 2009

This was a great day to be outside, visiting with friends, walking along the Corniche – just a great day to be outside. The end of the day was rosy:

And here is the beautiful marriage song from Fiddler on the Roof, also called Sunrise, Sunset:




