Sunrise With Clouds
I’ve been watching the sky, watching as the continual haze has gathered into wispy clouds, and then, last night, mackeral clouds. At university, we had mandatory distribution classes – everyone had to take classes out of their field, and I took Atmospheric Science as one of my sciences. For a one-semester class, a lot of it really stuck with me!
One of my commenters, Abdulaziz, mentioned earlier that we could start watching for rain. I am watching! As I looked at the sky this morning, I could begin to imagine that rain will indeed be possible again in Kuwait, one of these days:
(Kinan, who loves the sunrises as I do, you know this is for you!)
Big Statistics Change
Two months ago, one of my regular readers Elementary Teacher who has a fascinating blog about teaching elementary school in a Middle Eastern country, wrote to me and told me that when I set up my blog page, I forgot to add back in the widget for Meta, which contained the RSS feed.
The truth is, I still don’t know entirely what that means, but I did as she suggested, and added the Meta back in.
And watched as my visitors nearly doubled overnight.
Who knew?
There is so much I am still learning, and I thank all of you who write to be, back channels, and give me hints. Thank you, especially, Elementary Teacher for your kindness in sharing such good information. I really enjoy reading your blog!
Small Waist, Big Bum
Some of these studies are just too much. This study claims the results show that the curvier a woman is, the smarter she, and her children, are. From today’s BBC Health News.
Women with curvy figures are likely to be brighter than waif-like counterparts and may well produce more intelligent offspring, a US study suggests.
Researchers studied 16,000 women and girls and found the more voluptuous performed better on cognitive tests – as did their children.
The bigger the difference between a woman’s waist and hips the better.
Researchers writing in Evolution and Human Behaviour speculated this was to do with fatty acids found on the hips.
In this area, the fat is likely to be the much touted Omega-3, which could improve the woman’s own mental abilities as well as those of her child during pregnancy.
You can read the entire article HERE.
The Magic of Miso
(Image courtesy mediafocus.com)
Growing up on the west coast of the USA is like growing up in an international zone. When I was very little, in Alaska, we had lots of Scandinavian foods, along with – no, I am not kidding – mooseburgers, deer, fresh shrimp and king crab, lots of clams, and of course, salmon and halibut. Our Dads would go out in hunting season, and alternated garages for the cleaning and cutting up of the deer. We would get the eyes or tail to take to school for show-and-tell. Yeh, it sounds gross now, but we were kids, and it was a part of our life.
We waited to be 10 years old, when we could go to Rifle Club and learn to shoot. You can’t imagine how delighted I am to see a Women’s team in Kuwait, top-notch riflewomen!
In Seattle, there have always been huge communities of immigrants. One community, Ballard, is – or was – primarily Scandinavian, mostly Norwegian. (I had to look up the spelling on that one!) There is an area called Chinatown – the more politically correct call it the international district, and now, it is truly international, with Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Gambian, Nigerian, Cambodian, etc.
I don’t know exactly when I came to associate miso soup with good health, but last night, I had a small dinner planned, and Adventure Man said “Why don’t you let me bring you some miso soup?” He knows miso soup is one of my comfort foods when I am sick.
I was so sick, nothing sounded good to me. Better, though, that he bring me something than that I have to get up and cook!
He brought the miso soup. I didn’t even want to eat it, but I did. Then, before he had even finished his dinner, I excused myself, went back to bed and slept for three hours, really slept. Until then, I had been sleeping fitfully, waking often, never feeling rested.
At 10:30 I woke up and felt . . . better! I chatted with Adventure Man, took care of a few things, then went back to bed and slept peacefully through the night.
Today – I am not totally well, but I am mostly well. Thanks be to God, and . . . Miso soup!
“Madam, Too Many Words”
We were working together in the garden, and I was explaining what I wanted done with the bougainvilla starts I had collected from various colored shrubs on the compound. It doesn’t take much to get bougainvilla going, but you have to do it right.
When I was done explaining, I said “was that clear? do you understand?”
He shook his head sadly and said “Madam, too many words.”
Mom’s Cranberry Salad
Mom’s Cranberry Salad
I printed this last year, and it is so good and so simple I am sharing it with you again. It’s probably my favorite Thanksgiving food.
1 1/2 C cranberries (They have these at Sultan Center; wash, pick over and cook until soft)
1 1/2 C water
add 1 Cup sugar and boil one minute
add 1 small pkg lemon jello (I use raspberry or cherry or strawberry because I like red)
When all is dissolved, add:
juice of one No. 1 can of crushed pineapple (Mom’s recipe says a #1 can – use one of the small cans.)
When cool, add:
diced pineapple from can
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Stir, put into mold or bowl and refrigerate until firm.
One small buffet mold. How easy is that? 🙂
(This recipe is from the 1950’s. I double everything, Pour into mold for the holidays, or into a crystal bowl from which it can be served without having to unmold.
Here in Kuwait, I can’t find crushed pineapple, so I buy the chunk pineapple and cut them to be smaller sized. You can’t do it in the food processor because it gets too mushy.
The cranberry salad is in the center of the photo:
Paying the Price
I had two wonderful days, Thursday and Friday, out and about all day in this wonderful Kuwait weather. Saturday was out again for a short time with Adventure Man and felt a tickle in my throat. No big deal, I figure it is just allergies, or the change in seasons; I drank some ginger tea and figured that would be the end of it.
Wrong!
Yesterday, it was hanging on, getting stronger. Here come the sneezes, the swollen sinuses, the watery bleary eyes, the sneezing and the coughing. Having a cold totally grosses me out. I’m not a person who gets dramatically and romantically ill, lying beautifully in bed while people bring me hot drinks and speak to me in soft voices. I look terrible! I want this cold gone now! I’ve upped the arsenel to Strepticils, Zinc tablets, Cranberry juice and antihistimines. It doesn’t matter; I am a wreck.
I’m better during the day, it’s night time that gets me – I wake up choking and coughing, my sinuses hurt, my nose is running. . . and I sleep fitfully, with weird dreams, so sometimes I can’t tell if I am dreaming or awake.
The Qatteri Cat faithfully follows me everywhere I go. I am sleeping in the guest bedroom so Adventure Man doesn’t have to suffer through this with me, but QC just makes comforting noises and snuggles up to me.
I have a lot to do this week. Please keep me in prayer for a speedy recovery!
Study Finds Working at Work Improves Productivity
My friends, remember as you read this that it is from The Onion and it is SATIRE.
Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity
WASHINGTON, DC—According to a groundbreaking new study by the Department of Labor, working—the physical act of engaging in a productive job-related activity—may greatly increase the amount of work accomplished during the workday, especially when compared with the more common practices of wasting time and not working.
“Our findings are astounding: By simply sitting down and doing work, employees can dramatically increase their output of goods and services,” said Deputy Undersecretary of Labor Charlotte Ponticelli, who authored the report. “In fact, ‘working’ may revolutionize the way people work.”
Perhaps even more shocking, the study reveals that not working significantly decreases worker productivity, sometimes even resulting in no work getting done at all. Similar findings were reported in the areas of avoiding work, putting off work, complaining about work instead of actually working, pretending to work, and ****ing around.
You can read the entire article HERE.
St Anthony, St Anthony, Please look around
I am in a muddle. I have put something in “a safe place” which at the time it seemed a very logical, very clever place, and now I can’t find it.
There is an old verse that keeps running through my head.
St. Anthony, St Anthony, please look around,
Something is lost and must be found.
So this morning, I looked up who St. Anthony was, after all, I need his help. St. Anthony was a contemporary of St. Francis of Assisi, and was sometimes called the “hammer of heritics.” He is reputed to be the patron saint of lost things because a valuable book went missing and he prayed for it’s return. As he was praying, the person who had the book saw an apparition of St. Anthony, and quickly returned the missing book, or so the legend goes.
I found this on a Catholic Education Page by Fr. William Saunders where you can find more information on St. Anthony.
A Heavenly Day in Kuwait
Adventure Man and I spent the whole day together yesterday, a true sabbath day, worship and play, and very little work. I hope you had the same kind of day. The weather is perfect for strolling along the Corniche, the beautiful blue sky was perfect for taking photos, and the haze over Kuwait made it a little bit dreamlike.
Hawally Park:
We love the Marine Science Center – total WOW:
We think this is place is amazing – we think it might be used for parties, but we don’t know. Anyone?
Dinner at Al Manshar – on a perfect autumn evening.
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