Here There and Everywhere

Expat wanderer

Sunrise 6 February 2008

It is 36°F/2° C at 7 in the morning in Kuwait. It is warmer in Seattle, it is warmer in Germany than in Kuwait. Because most of the heat here only blows sand and allergens through the house, most of us don’t even bother turning it on anymore – Kuwait just isn’t very good at heating, but they are very good at air conditioning.

It reminds me of the wonderful Volvo I had for 13 years – it had wonderful seat warmers, and a great heater, but in Florida, it couldn’t air condition worth a hoot. It was built for cold countries, and was great in the winter. I haven’t had a Volvo for a while now, and I understand they have gotten a lot better.

If Kuwait continues to have weather this cold, I bet they get better at heating, too. Meanwhile, we all bundle up in sweaters and shawls for the early mornings and after sundowns. The middle of the day, by the way, is absolutely perfect. 🙂

Particularly beautiful sunrise this morning:

00sun1.jpg

Struggling through the pollution layer:
00sun2.jpg

Kinda scary when the sun is half blood-red:
00sun3.jpg

Love the serendipity of a little boat coming along just when I needed it 🙂
00sun4.jpg

A new day is dawning!
00sun5.jpg

February 6, 2008 Posted by | ExPat Life, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Lumix, sunrise series, Weather | 10 Comments

Another Glorious Day

Woooo Hoooooo, Goooooooooooood Moooorrrrnnnnning, Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwaaaaiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttt!

00sunrise3february2008.jpg

It is COOOLLLDDDD this morning again, 4°C/39°F, and the sky is clear. There is a very thin layer of haze on the horizon; it is so clear I can see the freighters far out in the Gulf and the gleam of roofs out on Failaika Island. Woooo Wooooo, a glorious day in Kuwait!

For you non-morning people, I apologize for my enthusiasm and for waking you. 😉

And finally, I have added a Sunrise Series to my catagories, it’s about time, hmmm?

February 3, 2008 Posted by | Blogging, Community, ExPat Life, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Lumix, Photos, sunrise series, Weather | 13 Comments

Clarity

Thanks be to God, I can breathe again! The sandstorm is gone, after hanging around for two days. The sun came up SO bright this morning, so strong it wasn’t even hampered by the haze on the horizon, so bright I couldn’t photograph it!

Here is a photo from the other night, instead:

00liberationtower.jpg

For non-Kuwaitis, this is the Liberation Tower, in downtown Kuwait.

February 2, 2008 Posted by | ExPat Life, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Lumix, Weather | | 4 Comments

Can’t Breathe!

There is no sunrise today, only a diffuse brightening of the yellow/orange colored cloud enveloping my part of Kuwait. I don’t know if it is enveloping all of Kuwait, because I can only see my own little area. Even though I am not outside, even though I don’t have asthma, I can feel the heaviness of the air. My nose feels stuffy and I feel like I am not getting enough oxygen to my brain. If I am feeling like I need more air, I can’t imagine what it must be like for someone who has asthma.

Last night, going out for date-night dinner, I wished I had a big scarf with me to cover my mouth and eyes from the blowing grains of tiny gritty sand. We had to wash our hands and faces at the restaurant before we could eat. It was as bad when we came out.

When I think sandstorm, I think hot, and desert, and The English Patient. Not so here. It is 46°F/8°C at 7:00 in the morning. Brrrrr and Gaaaassssp!

February 1, 2008 Posted by | ExPat Life, Health Issues, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Weather | | 9 Comments

Sunrise 30 January 2008

Here is the best sunrise photo I could get. This is actually about ten minutes after REAL sunrise, but this is the sun breaking over the thick layer of haze and pollution near the water. My friends, I think we are breathing whatever it is that makes up that cloud . . .

Meanwhile, we are having the most wonderful weather, cool evenings, chill nights and nice warm days with lots of sun. Oh! It feels like Spring!

00sun1.jpg

Here is just a few minutes earlier:
00sun2.jpg

And here is one where I thought God had sent me a bird to add interest to my sunrise photo, only to discover I had shot a photo of a gracefully flapping garbage bag:

00sunbird.jpg

January 30, 2008 Posted by | Arts & Handicrafts, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Lumix, Photos, Weather | | 2 Comments

Sunrise 27 January 2008

Scary. Where did January go? I remember that huge luxury of time spread out, all of 2008, and now, almost 1/12 of it is GONE! Where did it go? How did this happen?

There is no horizon today, in Kuwait, it is all haze, haze sea, hazy sky and hazy sunlight. It is no longer so cold, Weather Underground: Kuwait has the lows hitting in the single digits (around 40° F) and the high today around 16° C/ 60° F. Nice weather!

00sunrise27jan2008.jpg

January 27, 2008 Posted by | ExPat Life, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Photos, Weather | | 11 Comments

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday, as I was blogging early in the morning, everything suddenly went wonky and I discovered I was no longer blogging as the blogger, but as a guest. I did everything I could think of, and nothing worked. All day long, srom time to time I would try to log in and it would tell me I was not a valid user. I even changed passwords – nothing doing, the password was not the problem, I was the problem.

Finally, late last night just before bed, I could get on again. I was concerned whether I could get on today, but so far so good, only it doesn’t want to publish my posts. (and as a blogger, like what’s the point, if you can’t post???)

For my not-living-in-Kuwait readers, yesterday we had rain. I suspect rain may be part of the problem – rain has always screwed things up in Florida, in Seattle, in Germany . . .

Here is a photo of the gently falling rain on local vegetation:
00rainypalms.jpg

Yeh, I don’t know why the sky looks sort of blue-green, it was really cloudy, but I was shooting toward the sea and maybe the sea reflected green on the clouds (?)

And here is the sunrise from this morning – all two seconds of it. It’s a good thing I was waiting with my camera, this is all I got:

00twoseconds.jpg

Two seconds later, it was gone. Here is what we have now:

and-now.jpg

It seems to be brightening, even though we still have cloud cover. Kuwait is a dry country, and desperately needs the rain. This is the dryest, coldest rainy season in memory.

January 24, 2008 Posted by | Blogging, ExPat Life, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Lumix, Weather, WordPress | 7 Comments

The Qatteri Cat Sleeps Through Winter

You’ve been asking about QC. There isn’t much to tell you. He decided it was too cold, and all he does is sleep. Occasionally, he will wake up, take a walk to the food bowl and water dish, make a visit to the kitty litter, but then it’s back to sleep – waiting for warmer weather.

Yesterday, as I was working, he was following me around, “miaow, miaow” which meant “please sit down and provide a warm place for me to fall asleep” so I made him a little bed in the work room, and it wasn’t his first choice, but he made do, keeping me company while he sleeps through winter.

00qcsleeps.jpg

January 20, 2008 Posted by | ExPat Life, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Pets, Relationships, Weather | , , | 8 Comments

Scary Sunrise 20 January 2008

When I got up this morning, the sky was all pink, the water was all pink, it was a world of pink haze, very beautiful. Within moments, the light had shifted, the pink haze was gone and the sun began to rise, very dramatically, lighting up the clouds like you see on the ceilings of Renaissance chapels.

But wait! What is this? The sky is lit, the clouds are illuminated, but the brilliance of the sun is having a hard time breaking through the sludge hanging just over the horizon. I have a bad feeling, whatever it is that is strong and thick enough to block the sun, we are also breathing it.

00scarysunrise.jpg

It’s about 5°C warmer at 0800 than the last few days, with forcast of clouds and possible rain through Wednesday.

January 20, 2008 Posted by | ExPat Life, Health Issues, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Lumix, Technical Issue, Weather | 7 Comments

Sunrise and Widget

I wasn’t sure there was going to be a sunrise this morning, when I woke up and the sky was full of clouds and DARK! At around sunrise (I can check on Weather Underground Kuwait when that is going to happen) I started clicking. When I looked at my results, it looked like two different mornings, but it is all today, Saturday, January 18th, 2008.

Will we really have a sunrise?
00sunrise1.jpg

I guess so! (5 minutes later)
00sunrise2.jpg

I hope you have all noticed the new weather widget on my closest right hand column, giving the current temperature in Fahrenheit and Centigrade. After more than a year of blogging, it occurs to me that other people using WordPress have widgets from outside WordPress, so there MIGHT be a way. (Yeh, I’m slow, but I’m slow.) Now that I have figured out how to do that, I am getting all excited about maybe changing format. (Maybe around June; I have a list of things to get done first. 😉 )

January 19, 2008 Posted by | Blogging, ExPat Life, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Weather, WordPress | , | 4 Comments