CoeurCountry Sunsets
Everybody needs a friend like CoeurCountry. You think you have your day all figured out and she calls and has an idea, and all of a sudden, everything changes. Isn’t it fun when life is less predictable?
After a long day, she called just as I was stretching out to read the paper and maybe catch a little nap before AdventureMan comes home – not a big nap, just a tiny little one!
“Don’t you need to go shopping?” she asked, with a laugh in her voice. “Can I tempt you with a coffee?”
No, I didn’t need the temptation of a coffee, just jumping in the car and driving off with her is enough – we always have so much to talk about and never run out of topics.
And we did have coffee. 🙂
As we were finishing up our errands, she stopped and said “Look! There’s your sunset!”
And there it was. Too late for the contest, but definitely a Kuwait sunset worth shooting:
Al Kout Mall Sunset
And, as usual, we had “just one more thing” to do, and as she completed her errands, I shot one more sunset – no sun, but it is a sunset photo because I was there and I say so!
Mosque Sunset
So now you know something else about me. I may not always be able to make a deadline, but it is really, really hard for me to pass up a challenge. 🙂
Speaking of deadlines – have you voted in The Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge Poll? The deadline – Saturday – is fast approaching. I haven’t peeked at the results, which I will share with you on Sunday.
The Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge Poll
I have to tell you honestly, I didn’t think this through. One day, I realized I did not have one single sunset shot from Kuwait. I took one, and it was awful and it got me started. I had no idea when I started how much fun it was going to be – for me – and I sure hope for you, too.
As the submissions started rolling in, I found great joy in the recognition you were all getting with your beautiful, sometimes funny, often soulful contributions. I was delighted with your enthusiasm, and your graciousness in participating. And I also struggled with “Holy Smokes, how do I end this? How do I choose a winner?”
If I tell you what I really think, you will think I am copping out. I think we all ended up winners. I felt like a winner, seeing all those beautiful sunsets through your eyes. I felt such joy seeing the compliments you paid one another’s photos. I loved spotlighting your talent, and I know there are a lot of non-photo-takers out there who enjoyed checking in every day to see what had been posted. But how to resolve the question: who won the challenge?
Then, a few days ago I started seeing an orange ball I didn’t recognize on my write-a-new-post page, and yesterday there was an announcement about something new at WordPress, PollDaddy, which means I can now put a poll right on my blog (this is new for WordPress; I know some of the others of the Kuwait bloggers have had this capability for AGES) but I am thankful to have it now, just when I need it.
You get to vote. YOU get to choose the winner of the Great Kuwait Challenge Poll. You will have one week to vote (and hurry! I already have an idea for the next challenge!)
I don’t really care who wins; the fun for me was in seeing all the photos that came in, seeing such beauty through your eyes. In my eyes, we are all winners – you who submitted beautiful shots and we who got to see them.
But – just because I can – I am going to turn the vote over to you: Who took the best Kuwait Sunset photo? (Go to The Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge and click through to other’s blogs, also visit individuals posted who sent me photos):
Poll is closed!
You will note – because I can – I chose a very sunset-y polling device to help you make your choice.
I truly hope I have included everyone who submitted a photo (of a KUWAIT sunset!) and forgive me if I have made a mistake. I think I got you all. My initial photo doesn’t count; it was just to show you how bad my sunset photo was and to encourage you to do better.
Thank you, WordPress, for showing up with a polling device, like a Deus ex machina to solve the dilemma of how I was going to give bragging rights for the best Kuwait sunset.
Ready? Set? VOTE!
Enigmatic Sunset
Wooooo HOOOOOO! Enigma! She sends in a dramatic sunset! What do you think?
I am having so much fun with this Challenge! You guys have made my week. 🙂 It’s your last chance. Tomorrow is the end of the challenge – hit the sunset tonight!
BTW, have you seen the big huge full moon rising over the Gulf the last two nights? Grab your cameras! Run!
Q8 Geek Updates Submissions
Here’s the spirit! Q8Geek submitted some brand new photos trying to capture the Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge bragging rights:
I really love the way he has the Kuwait skyline in the background, and the way the foreground swoops! One tiny little flaw, and it’s just a personal thing . . . streetlights. AAARRGH!
You Be the Judge – Hilaliya
My good friend Amer bashfully submitted some sunset shots, saying that they aren’t as good as some he had already seen posted. I wasn’t expecting much. When I opened them, I gasped!
Look at those clouds! How often do you see cloud action like that at sunset in Kuwait? Most of the sunset photos I see are the sun going down in a thick haze – sometimes a yellow haze, sometimes a ferocious red haze – but these! Well, you be the judge:
Aren’t they fabulous? Wooo Hoooo, Hilaliya!
Q8Geek’s Sunset Panorama
Whoda thunk there were so many fabulous sunsets in Kuwait? These guys have found them! Here is q8Geek’s Panoramic entry:
Is that breathtaking or what?
Bu Yousef’s Awesome Q8 Sunsets
WOW. All I can say is WOW. I had no idea there were such gorgeous sunsets out there, and I love love love the photos you are posting and sending.
Bu Yousef linked several more sunset photos. I am betting few of you will be going back that far, and checking out the additions, so I grabbed them off his page and and posting them here, hoping you will go to Bu Yousef’s blog and here, too and see all the amazing photos he takes.
Meanwhile, The Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge goes on! Here are BuYousef’s further entries:
BuYousef's Mosque Sunset
BuYousef Sailing Sunset
BuYousef's Kuwait Skyline Sunset
Are they gorgeous or are they gorgeous? 🙂
Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge Deadline
So here is how it is going to work. I am going to give you this one last weekend and one last week to come up with your sunset photo. Bu Yousef, AbdulAziz and Someday have shown us that yes, it is possible to find a sunset in Kuwait without streetlights and electrical wires, even a sunset over the water.
I haven’t seen a sunset behind a mosque, or behind one of the fabulous dhows or . . . Liberation Tower, Kuwait Towers. There are still a lot of options out there, and you have ONE WEEK. One week, today, I will post a series of photos narrowed down – some have already been disqualified, because although they were beautiful, they were not Kuwait.
YOU will vote. For one week, bloggers and commenters can vote. Together, we will choose the one we think wins the Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge.
(I already know what the next challenge is going to be. 🙂 )
Sunset Someday
Awwwww. . . .I couldn’t resist. Here is the Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge entry from Kuwait Blogger Someday (Red) who actually found a vantage point for a sunset WITH NO STREETLIGHTS!
Woooo Hoooo on you, Someday!
I totally love the way she framed the photo with palm branches, don’t you? She urges you to look closely, there really is a setting sun in the photo!
AbdulAziz’s Sunset Entries: Great Q8 Sunset Challenge
Wow! The Kuwait Sunset Challenge is up and running, and our first entrant sets a very high standard! AbdulAziz has his own Flikr page with other gorgeous photographs; he takes his photography skills very seriously, as you will see.
Now for the impossible – the photos are all gorgeous. Which one is your favorite?
(This one was disqualified because it was shot in Lebanon)
(This one is disqualified because it was shot in Lebanon)
Thank you, AbdulAziz, for your beautiful entries! Anyone else who wants to send photos to me, you are welcome, please send them as attachments to your e-mail!
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