where the Bears are

hey, long time no see

2012-01-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

I'm back! See, what happened was, I was in the States for the holidays, and then I came back to Saudi for I think 3 days, and then Bear and I went to Cambodia for our anniversary trip (we've been married for 4 years, we're getting to be pros at this), and then we came back here and I've been unpacking and putting the house back together and catching up on work.

Bear went on a business trip last night and will be gone for several days, so I am working on ways to keep myself busy and distracted from the excruciating loneliness. So far, I have plans to go to the commissary, have lunch with some people at the embassy, and go to a Mardi Gras party, which is super early but whatever.

It's cold here! At night it gets super chilly, and it was almost freezing a couple nights ago.

We have an official end date for our Saudi Arabia post - June 2013. But, who knows what will happen after that.

What else? I need to finish the posts about our trip to Jordan. Then I need to go through the 839 pictures we took in Cambodia and blog about that. It's gonna take me awhile, I'm not gonna lie.

how am I supposed to get anything done?

2012-01-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

Working from home has some major disadvantages.

Buffy is really not concerned about it.

as far as she's concerned, my only job is to provide body heat and that does not require any typing.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Buffy enjoys my blog

One year ago: the desert

this better be good

2012-01-02T13:17:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year y'all! I had black eyed peas (in the form of Hoppin' John) and collard greens last night, so I fully expect this year to be prosperous and lucky.

I added some leftover ham to the hoppin' john, and some fried chicken and biscuits to my plate.
It's an important investment in my future.

So. I'm all set for 2012. It better be good. I am hesitant to say that because the last time I said anything about hoping for a year to be good was 2009, and boy was that the worst year of my life. So lets just do a little experiment and see how 2012 turns out to be. Hopefully the world won't end.

Other exciting goings on that I have yet to mention are this sunset:

as seen from my Mom's backyard

The last night of Hanukkah, which we celebrated by having my mom (who is not Jewish at all as far as any of us can tell) read the service while I and my sisters stacked gelt in tall towers for Spooky to knock over with his swishy tail and my stepdad (Jewish) lounged on the couch with a pillow over his face:

behold!

A bachelorette party and bridal shower for my friend KC, who is getting married in March. A couple of us live pretty far away, so we wanted to celebrate for her while we were in town for the holidays.

This lovely thing is a pear souffle from the restaurant where we had the bachelorette dinner. Sooooo delicious.

And some quality time with KC's dog Rosie, who is basically as cute as it gets, but who also likes to raid trashcans and hampers, and savagely murder stuffed animals by ripping out their innards and strewing them about the house:

cute n' bad

So, as you can see, it's been a busy weekend. I'm outta here next week - headed back to Saudi and then almost straight to Cambodia for a short vacation. Also, work is going to be insane this week, so I'm not sure about the blog. But I'll do my best!

Three years ago: happy new year!

catinabag

2011-12-28T07:30:00.000-05:00

Fenway condescended to pose for a photo shoot after all the Christmas gifts were unwrapped. He might be too cool for almost everybody and everything, but he can't resist a gift bag. Especially if it has tissue paper in it.

completely cross-eyed

completely annoyed

too sexy for this bag

One year ago: pomegranate tutorial

mt. nebo

2011-12-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

First of all, it's Gmaw's birthday. All she wants is a fish sandwich from McDonald's for lunch, and some fried chicken for dinner. Also, some erasable pens. I guess when you're 91, life gets pretty simple.

Anyway, back to our tour of Jordan. We are totally still talking about the same day that we've been talking about for almost a week and a half.

Our next stop was Mount Nebo. This is where Moses led his people after 40 years in the desert, beheld the Promised Land, and kicked the bucket. I guess he was pretty tired.

the summit

Unfortunately, the church there has had some problems with the roof caving in, so it's under renovation and we couldn't go in. We did get to see this model of it though. I have no idea what all that stuff is surrounding it.

church and stuff

To protect the original mosaic floors from being damaged while the church's roof is being worked on, they picked them up and moved them to another building on the grounds. So we did get to at least see those.

And, I suppose more significantly, we saw what Moses saw - the Promised Land! The Dead Sea is over on the left, and beyond that is Israel.

promised land!

We tried really hard to soak in the significance of the moment, but we were rushed, as we had been all day. I also couldn't help wondering if Moses saw that big body of water and thought it would be a source of life, food, green, etc. I wonder if they all expected this glorious fertile land, and were horribly disappointed when it turned out to be the Dead Sea.

I didn't wonder about it for too long, because we had to go. On our walk back to the car, we came across this turkey and his chicken friends.

kind of a coincidence for the day before Thanksgiving. I think this one probably made it through the week safely.

We got in the car and went. And went and went and went. We went past the Dead Sea, and this is basically all we saw of it:

dead n' shiny

Our driver really super duper wanted to get to this one spot high up in the mountains in time to watch the sunset and drink tea sold by his pal the tea-seller-guy. He got us there just in the nick of time, and it was beautiful. It was so cold though. We definitely appreciated the hot tea. Bear also appreciated the opportunity to practice his Arabic with the tea-seller-guy, who Bear said spoke weirdly perfect textbook Arabic with no slang and no dialect.

the day is done

So, after the Roman theater and its museum, the Citadel and its museum, the mosaic workshop and the Chinese food, Mount Nebo and its turkey, the long drive past the Dead Sea, and the sunset, we were freaking exhausted. So when we finally got to our hotel near Petra, we ordered some mezze and fell asleep with our faces in our plates.

nom, zzzzzz

One year ago: happy birthday Gmaw!!

done!

2011-12-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas was lovely, but it's a relief that it's done and I can relax for a couple of days. Only a couple of days though - this weekend is going to be crazy busy. I'll do my best on the blogging, but no promises.

p.s. We have a lovely visitor this morning in the back yard:

what I did all day

2011-12-23T17:58:00.003-05:00

1. Cranberry cookies dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with almonds

2. Triple chocolate cookies iced with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and dipped in candy cane pieces

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!!

One year ago: and now back to our regularly scheduled insignificance
Two years ago: not much of a holiday post: a photo essay

mosaics

2011-12-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

After the citadel and museum, our driver took us to a workshop, which he said was founded as part of Queen Noor's humanitarian efforts. She had an idea to teach disadvantaged women (whether they were physically or mentally disabled or very poor) an artistic skill so that they could sell art and souvenirs and support themselves instead of begging on the street. It was an excellent idea, and apparently very successful.

We walked into the workshop area first, where women were making mosaics for wall hangings and table tops, and painting various types of pottery. One lady let me take a picture of her work in progress:

it's hard to tell now, but someday soon it will be a beautiful table top.

Then, we went into the store. Sooo many beautiful things for sale - mostly mosaic-oriented. Everything they sell goes to benefit the ladies who make them.

We bought some nice things for our family for Christmas, and we bought ourselves a pretty good Christmas gift too:

our new table! hopefully. if it arrives in one piece. eventually.

It was mostly Bear's idea. I mean. I picked it. But he was all, "yeah, let's get it!" And I was all, "that was easy."

So, after the Roman Theater, the Citadel, and the workshop, we were pretty hungry. We found a good authentic-looking Jordanian restaurant on the way to our next destination and got a table. They had a buffet, so we chose to go with that so we could be on the road quicker. We were excitedly anticipating our delicious smorgasbord of Jordanian food. We lined up at the buffet and found a lovely assortment of Chinese food. Too bad I hate Chinese food.

On the bright side, that was basically the worst part of our trip.

One year ago: goodnight sweetheart
Three years ago: still nothing

mug shots

2011-12-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

After Mowgli's little escapade a few months ago, I thought it would be a good idea to take some good close-up pictures of him that show his little white spot for easier identification.

See? Such a little butt head.

Butt head in profile

One year ago: an excuse, a birthday, a rehearsal, a wedding

happy birthday RLD!

2011-12-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

Poor RLD always has to put up with the holidays being at the same time as his birthday. But, we always try to make his birthday special, even with all the oodles of hullabaloo surrounding Christmas and Hanukkah. One way we like to celebrate is by making him drive us around to look at Christmas lights. See? See how good we are to him?

There are some crazy people around here. One guy has been festooning his house with seizure-inducing decor for 18 years. He has been on YouTube. He has been on the news. He has been in trouble with his HOA.

As we were taking pictures, he came outside and invited us in. He's a super nice guy, a bit portly, and just friendly as can be. All he needs is about 30 more years and a big fluffy white beard and he'll be Santa Claus himself.

We took some pictures of the inside of his house too:

floor to ceiling Christmas

He was all, "sorry about the mess, I'm not done yet". When he is done, I'm thinking he's going to have to camp out in the front yard because there's not going to be any room left in his house.

Another house that we like to visit is a little less blinky and flashy, but still just as wow-worthy:

They cover every branch of every tree on their property with lights. They have a nativity scene, a Santa with sleigh and reindeer, and giant snowmen in an upstairs window. They change up the indoor decorations sometimes, and they play music. People come from miles around to gawk.

Thanks RLD, for being such a good sport about all of this! And happy birthday!

the citadel

2011-12-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

Chapter Two

After the Roman theater and museum, we headed over to the Amman Citadel. This area has been inhabited for about 7000 years.

see? It's a Neolithic cave that people used to live in!

The citadel sits high up on a hill, from which you can see the Roman Theater:

And you can also see the Palestinian "refugee camp". Although it's not a camp anymore, they still call it that, apparently. Our guide told us that the people there sort of own the houses, but they can't sell them. They can pass from generation to generation though, so at least the people have a steady place to live.

There are so many ruins and artifacts at this site. Neolithic, bronze age, iron age, Ammonite, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad... it's amazing, the history that took place here. Unfortunately we were a bit rushed and so I don't remember a lot of what the guide told us, and we missed a few of the interesting sites.

But we visited the Umayyad Monumental Gateway, which was part of the much larger Umayyad Complex. This place was in use around 730 AD, and included a mosque, souk, hammam, and palace. The gateway was the formal entrance to the palace, where visitors were screened before being announced and allowed to enter the palace.

the inside of the gateway, which was restored in the 90s by a Spanish archeological team

Maybe the most famous (and visible) part of the citadel is the Temple of Hercules, which was built by the Romans in 161-166 AD. Hercules was pretty important to the people here, obvy, and they put his image on the coins that they minted in the city. The temple didn't make it through the numerous sieges, wars, and earthquakes that the region experienced, but some of the columns were reassembled in the 20th century to give an idea of the size and grandeur of the temple.

you can see the difference between the original blocks and the smooth new ones.

Only a few fragments of Hercules himself still exist. Here is an elbow and some fingers.

for scale, that little black thing to the left of the elbow is a trash can.

The site also includes an archeological museum, which houses some pretty amazing artifacts. One that I thought was especially interesting was this child, which was buried in a jar. You can see the fragments of the jar under him. The sign says that it was common to bury children who died in jars and place them under the living room floor to keep them within the family circle. I thought that was sort of a sweet way to cope with such a horrible tragedy.

But the most amazing thing is the very first statue ever made by human hands. Neolithic human hands.

this was found at Jericho and is dated to possibly 8000 BC. it is made of plaster - before pottery was discovered. *boggle*

So, we saw the Roman Theater and its museum and the Citadel and its museum, but the day was nowhere near over. More later!

taking it slow

2011-12-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

I always find that going through my vacation pictures, straightening them, resizing them, putting them on Flickr, captioning them, fixing the wacky order Flickr chooses to put them in, and then blogging about them is kind of something I'm not really all that interested in doing. So it takes me forever to get around to it. Yesterday I finally started working on my Jordan pictures, but I am nowhere near done. So, I'm just going to post about one adventure at a time. Which is fine, because this way I'll have something to blog about for a few days, and you won't have to keep looking at pictures of presents that aren't for you.

Chapter One

We arrived in Amman on a Tuesday night and cabbed it to our hotel. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt, at the blessed government rate. I really liked this hotel by the way, and highly recommend it if you're ever in Amman and happen to be rich. Or if you can get the government rate.

Our view was thus:

We went downstairs to the lounge, which was cozy, and we sat by the fire, and had a glass of Jordanian wine and ate some Jordanian mezze. It was so nice, and our waiter was so nice, and if I remember correctly, the cabbie that drove us there was so nice. I felt comfortable and unguarded and normal. Which is an unusual feeling when you're used to the feeling of living in Saudi Arabia. We lingered and chatted and watched the people and enjoyed ourselves and our food and then we went to bed early because we were due to meet our driver early in the morning.

And in the morning, our view was thus:

Our driver, who I'll call AW, was recommended to us by one of Bear's coworkers, who hired him when he came to Jordan a couple years ago. He is affiliated with the US embassy there, and so a lot of Americans know him and recommend him. He's in his 50s, he has a whole bunch of kids, and he has a lot of advice about what one should see and do while in Jordan. I always like it when we get drivers who are a bit older - they've obviously been driving around for a long time and they aren't dead yet, so they must be good drivers, right?

The first thing AW wanted us to see was the Roman Theater. It was built sometime between 138 and 161 AD by the emperor Antonius Pius.

a view of the theater from one of the entrance doorways

these niches were in a wall facing the rows of seating. some of them have drains in front of them. the guard didn't know what they were for.

As we were walking around in the theater, these two Jordanian girls chatted with us and took pictures with me. They (and the guard) were so extraordinarily friendly, and were so happy that we were there visiting their country. I think they do get a lot of tourism, so I'm not really sure why they were so happy to see us, but they were and it was nice. It's kind of unusual, as an American, to be liked by people whose country you're touring.

Anyway, next to the theater, there was a little museum. We popped in and took a few pictures:

mosaics from various places and times

Palestinian clothes

After the theater and museum, we went to the nearby Citadel, but that's a story for another day.

Two years ago: asking for a belly rub
Three years ago: i must be about to die

another one

2011-12-15T11:58:00.001-05:00

I know this isn't quality content or anything, but I just wanted to show you this other present that I did a good job on.

One year ago: moppet's favorite tv show
Two years ago: fun with haiku
Three years ago: ta-daaaaaa!

can't get over it

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

I just can't get over how fat Kitty is. I feed her 1/4 cup of food at 8:30am, and 1/4 cup of food at 5:30pm. It's "light". For fat lazy indoor cats. And she's a friggin bowling ball!

but she's a pretty bowling ball

One year ago: a little late to the Halloween party

howdy

2011-12-12T15:27:00.000-05:00

Heyyyy what's up. I just thought I'd pop in and say hi. I still have not done anything with my Jordan pictures. Maybe that should be my New Years resolution: do something with the Jordan pictures. Maybe then I'd have a chance of not completely failing and disappointing myself! I think I'm on to something with this idea.

My visit home has kind of been a blur so far. Mostly I've been wrapping presents and decorating and shopping and otherwise getting ready for Christmas. Here's my favorite present so far:

this one's for my mom

And here's my favorite decoration:

he's a mutant snail lamp with 3 eye stalks. and a Christmas scarf.

And Kai's been supervising all the wrapping and decorating and waiting patiently for somebody to drop something, anything on the floor, please just drop your turkey sandwich for the love of God!

she knows how to use her looks to get what she wants

Three years ago: gmail just gets more fun every day

home sweet home

2011-12-08T09:13:00.001-05:00

Home is where your mom is, that's what I always say. So, I'm home for the holidays. I've been here since Nov. 29, but for some reason I always find it hard to blog when I'm here. Life gets so much busier. I'm on the same schedule as my coworkers, which means more meetings and more real-time requests. And then I go to the gym to work out instead of just going upstairs, so that takes a bigger chunk out of the day. And, there are the ghostie shows I have to watch with my sisters. Not to mention Christmas shopping, doctor appointments, and car maintenance, all of which has to be done in the short span of time that I'm here.

It's good to be home! I love being with my family and seeing my friends and being able to eat cottage cheese if I want to. I also love having access to pumpkin spice lattes and gingerbread lattes. The middle east doesn't do pumpkin pies and gingerbread.

In fact, the first thing I did when I got here was get a pumpkin spice latte. It was decaf, since I landed at night, but it was still delicious. The second thing I did was get a gingerbread latte.

Life is good.

I still need to blog about our trip Jordan. I will, I will. There are just sooooo many pictures to go through! Isn't that always my complaint? I'll show you this one picture though, of the house when we returned:

Thank God we kitten-proofed it before we left.

I will try really hard to get through the rest of my pictures in the next couple days and post about Jordan next week. No promises though, I might be too busy eating Christmas cookies.

Two years ago: so, thanksgiving
Three years ago: the mugs

askin for it

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

Every time I do laundry. Every. Time. If the dryer is open at all, for any length of time, as I am flinging wet clothes or sheets into it, eventually I will look in there and find Fluffy.

Sometimes I really have to question her intelligence.

Two years ago: the mother of all status updates

fraidy

2011-11-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

Junior is suuuuch a fraidy cat. But isn't she pretty when she's hiding under the couch?

Two years ago: stay tuned

happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

Although we are missing Thanksgiving dinner completely, and we're sad that we're not home with our loved ones, we are thankful that we have the opportunity to travel a little bit. We know how very blessed and lucky we are that we have been able to see so much of the world.

Today we are in Petra. We've been in Jordan since Tuesday night. More to come later, but here is the view from our hotel room in Amman on Wednesday morning:

One year ago: squelch
Two years ago: stuff that Bear wants me to blog about
Three years ago: Mount Vernon

every day it's something

2011-11-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

We keep a package of puppy pads in the kittens' room (yes, they have a room. they cannot be allowed to roam the house freely at night. they are bad enough during the day.) for lining their carriers when they go to the vet and suchlike. They got it open.

They think of the strangest things as toys. Magazines. Jackets. Puppy pads.

Wallah, Stripey! Sometimes...

Two years ago: fun with linen closets

Kuwait City

2011-11-17T06:53:00.000-05:00

Over here in Saudi Arabia, there is a week-long holiday called Eid. There are two Eids. I don't know what the first Eid is for, but the second Eid is for doing the Hajj. And if you're not doing the Hajj, you're in Thailand or someplace, doing extremely un-Islamic things.

The embassy closes for these holidays. It's nice because all the employees get to go on trips. We decided we were going to Jordan. We booked our tickets and we were ready to go. And then they were like - oh, sorry, just kidding, you have to stay. We were not even allowed to take a long weekend in Bahrain or something. Annoyed.

My friend AS was kind of in the same boat, except they never gave her false hope. They just told her right off the bat she couldn't go anywhere. They did let her take a long weekend at the very end though. And since she's been to Bahrain, Dubai, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Israel, and possibly even Yemen, she decided she was going to check out Kuwait. She invited me along, and I was so annoyed at having to sit here in this dead zone all week that I agreed to go.

In case you weren't sure, this is not like me.

Bear has been to Kuwait. He was all, "uh...have fun?"

So, we went. We got there relatively late on Thursday night, and immediately went to Maki for sushi. You guys. It was the best sushi I've ever had in my life. I think I'm ruined forever. I'm very worried that I'm not going to find a sushi place that good ever again. So good. So, so good. And that was the highlight of the trip.

It was cool though because we were wearing normal clothes.

Anyway, so the next day we went out for a traditional Kuwaiti breakfast at a cafe that AS's Kuwaiti princess friend recommended to her. It was delicious. We had scrambled egg with halloumi cheese, these yummy sweet noodles, and Iranian bread. And I got hot milk with cardamom. So yummy.

Then we tried to walk around the Old Souk, which was nearby. Most of the shops were closed, as it was a Friday morning. The souk was full of men, and we were still wearing normal clothes. I felt uncomfy. And then as we were walking, some old dude shouted "By God, the blonde!" in Arabic (AS is blonde, and she speaks Arabic) and we decided to leave. We walked to the Sharq Souk, which is much more upscale, and indoor. We passed the fish market on the way:

dirty, dirty water

We popped in for a second, but the fish smell was a little overwhelming. So we continued on our way. Before going into the souk, we sat on a bench on the corniche for awhile and chatted about this and that.

It was sort of empty, which was fine. The weather was absolutely perfect and beautiful. The sky was blue. We were wearing normal clothes.

We went into the souk and found the movie theater for later purposes. As you may know, Saudi doesn't do movies. So, as sad as it might seem, we made going to a movie a priority for our trip to Kuwait. Anyway, then we walked to the Kuwait Towers.

They're these sort of Jetson-esque structures that hold water for the city. There is an observation deck in one of them, but they have maybe never cleaned the windows:

neato skyline, but you can't really see it

We had thought we'd have a snack in the cafe up there, but it was a bit too dingy for our tastes. So we took a cab back to the Sharq Souk and got a snack at Starbucks. We sat outside at the plaza and watched all the mixed-gender families and friends talk and play and enjoy each others' company. And we wore normal clothes.

Also? The Starbucks had Christmas mugs! Still no pumpkin spice or gingerbread lattes though.

After that, we went to see the Ides of March. I thought it was a good movie. But I was so self-conscious watching it in that room with non-American Muslims who live in a monarchy. It painted the democratic process in such a bad light. And it painted this one particular woman in a spectacularly bad light, which possibly fits the stereotype they have over here of non-Muslim Western women. And I worried as the lights came on afterwards what people thought of me in my normal clothes.

But I didn't worry for too long. We went out for Iranian food. While we ate, there was a big ol' Palestinian wedding going on in the other room, with bagpipes and drums and singing and clapping and dancing and shouting and both men and women. I wished I was invited.

The next morning, we went out for another traditional Kuwaiti breakfast. This time there was feta cheese, mutabal (which is what they call babaganoush) and foul. I had been wanting to get foul because my friend Meana kept telling me to try it while I'm over here in this part of the world. It was fine, but unfortunately for it, nothing holds a candle to babaganoush in LeahLand.

After breakfast, we went to a mall called the Avenues and spent 45 minutes wandering around Pottery Barn looking at all the Christmas stuff. Christmas Stuff!! Then we went to the airport.

So it was a fine trip. But if you never make it to Kuwait City, I don't suppose you're missing a whole lot, except maybe the best sushi you'll ever eat in your life.

One year ago: equally bad
Two years ago: 18!
Three years ago: notes on Pakistan

it's not about mattresses

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

It's Veterans Day. Take a minute to read this post by my BFF Meana, and then take another minute to reflect on what Veterans Day means to you. I hope the answer is not "mattress sales".

Don't know what to do for Veterans Day? Here are some ideas. You could also send a veteran an ecard.

happy birthday USMC

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today the US Marine Corps is 236 years old. There's a special place in my heart for the Marines because I've known a few good ones, and also because their enlisted guys have the prettiest dress uniforms.

Last week, Bear and I went to the Marine Corps ball to celebrate the milestone. I don't have any pictures of us, but I do have pictures of our "tickets", which I think they did a really good job on.

Pretty, huh? Anyway. I went to get my hair and nails done. It was a bit of a fiasco. None of the drivers knew how to get to the compound where I had my hair done, so I was late getting there, and then I was late getting home. When Bear saw me, he physically recoiled at the sight of my curly side ponytail, and said it made him think of the girl in Napoleon Dynamite. Why did I have a curly side ponytail, you ask? Because the one lady was doing my hair while the other lady was doing my toes, and I couldn't see what was happening until the end, and by that time I just needed to leave.

So, I was late getting home, and then I had to redo my hair. So we were late to the ceremony, and stood in the back until the Marines said the bar was open. SIGH.

But it was a good time, just like all the Embassy parties, and it was fun to see everybody all dressed up and dancing and happy. Thanks for the party and happy birthday Marines!

One year ago: the three snoozes
Three years ago: on the way

condolences

2011-11-04T07:00:00.000-04:00

As you might know (or maybe not), the Saudi Crown Prince died about a week and a half ago. This presented a few challenges to the country and the continuity of the monarchy, but for me, it presented the opportunity to observe a Saudi custom and to see the inside of a palace.

I don't know if all families do this when someone dies, but it is a custom for the royal family to receive condolences. They are apparently willing to accept condolences from anybody that comes in off the street, including yours truly.

Of course, like all things Saudi, the condolence calls are segregated. So I was invited, not so much personally, but as a female member of the diplomatic community, to offer my sympathy to the ladies in mourning.

Notably, these ladies-in-mourning did not include the CP's "current wives" on account of them being "too young" and "not close to the other ladies in attendance". In other words, the royal family is embarrassed by the childlike brides of the octogenarian late CP. Pure speculation.

Rumor has it that the CP has had 17 wives, and that he had divorced 12 of them. So, I believe he got married in waves, divorcing the older ones and marrying progressively younger ones as he aged. That means that at the time of his death, there were 5 too-young widows who were not invited to receive condolences with the CP's sisters and daughters. Nice.

Another odd thing was the way the ladies were ranked. You see, we got an email with information and instructions for this event. It said the women receiving condolences would be lined up in 3 groups: first, the sisters of the CP. The second group was the "full sisters of the CP's eldest son", and the third group was the "daughters of the CP". So. His daughters were ranked based on their relation to his oldest son. If they had the same mom as he did, they were ranked more highly than the others.

Two incidentals: 1. that eldest son's mother (who the CP presumably divorced long ago) also died recently. The son was in New York with his father (who, granted, was in the hospital), and did not come back for his mother's funeral. Obviously, money was not the issue. 2. that second group of inconsequential daughters (but clearly not so inconsequential as the "current wives") included the wife of the son of one of the CP's half brothers. So in other words, this lady and her husband share the same grandfather. Her father in law is her uncle. They are almost first cousins, except that their fathers had different mothers. This is extremely common here, and accounts for a huge number of birth defects and premature deaths.

Anyway, back to the night in question. The instruction email advised us to wear our least colorful abayas, and minimal or no makeup. I have to admit, I was not really feeling much of anything other than curiosity. I wasn't sad that the CP was dead, and I honestly assumed that these women wouldn't really be sad either. I thought - how do these women even have an opportunity to miss him when everything everyone ever does is segregated? Did they ever spend time together at all? With so many wives that he didn't love, who gave him innumerable daughters, did they even get a chance to know him? Is it even possible to love someone who believes himself to be your superior in every way?

I piled into the van with several other women and we made our way to the palace. We drove past the men's palace, which was gigantic and grand, and packed to the gills. When we reached the women's palace, which was also grand but on a much smaller scale, and nearly empty, we piled out of our ancient white van in the midst of million dollar Mercedes and other shiny things I didn't recognize. Slightly embarrassing, but hey. It helps dispel that pesky myth that Americans are filthy rich.

We walked directly into a large room, lined on both sides with several rows of chairs and couches. Nice chairs and couches - dainty, and gilded, and fit for the posteriors of royalty.

We made our way down the line of women on the right, and I was actually taken aback to see many of them crying. I forced myself to really look at them, to really see their pain, and I was ashamed of my prejudgement of them. They were hurting, they really were.

As I went further down the line, repeating "I'm sorry for your loss", the women gradually stopped thanking me, stopped making eye contact. Later, I found out that these ladies further down the line were a delegation from Bahrain. So that was pretty awesome. I take comfort in the fact that I will never see them again.

After the botched condolences, we sat in those dainty gilded chairs. We looked at the marble floors and the huge, lighted oil paintings on the walls. We looked at the luxurious curtains, the glittering chandeliers, and observed the way the ceiling was decorated in such a way as to frame the recessed lighting with gold relief filigree. We sat and looked for 15 minutes.

Then we rose, said a few goodbyes and additional "I'm sorry for your loss"es, and left. We piled back into our ancient van, which was parked next to a car that my friend TP, having worked for Mercedes, knew for a fact was worth $1 million, and we drove away. And that was that.

Two years ago: the harness
Three years ago: i'll give you one guess

ah, winter

2011-11-03T07:00:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's November. It doesn't feel like November. The weather here is gorgeous as we move into the Saudi "winter". I'm spending a lot more time on my patio and in my garden. Stuff is blooming all over the place, and Kitty is getting very furry (and even fatter, if that's possible).

We found a Duraflame log at the grocery store last week, and we decided to eat dinner on our patio and make a fire and look at our flowers.

Dinner: Greek shrimp pasta with the best feta cheese I've ever had in my life. P.S. I am not sure what my camera was focusing on.

Behind the fire pit is one of my walls-o'-jasmine. To the left, the pink blooms are a bougainvillea, and the yellow ones are some crazy tree that I have. To the right, that potted tree is a plumeria.

It was so nice to just be outside. I love my garden y'all. It's really keeping me sane over here, and it's one of the few things (aside from people and animals and free yoga classes) that I will miss when I come home for Christmas.

One year ago: snack time
Two years ago: i got nothin

a runt of an update

2011-11-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

Remember this little critter?

This is Runty, the fourth and smallest of the Gremlin Sisters, and the only one who found a home with someone else.

Well, luckily, she did not retain the name Runty. But, I am not sure how much better her new name is: Majlis, which according to Wikipedia, is the Arabic word for "a place of sitting". Maybe they named her that because she likes laps? I just... have no idea.

But, they said she gets along well with their other cat, so that's good. And, she's "rambunctious". And, "if anything in the house goes boom, we know it's her". Sounds to me like she hasn't forgotten where she came from.

bah humboo

2011-10-31T08:54:00.001-04:00

While the rest of you are enjoying all the spookiness, hilarious costumes, and candy that comes with Halloween, I am over here in the desert missing fall like crazy. There was a Halloween party at the embassy last night but I didn't go because I couldn't think of a costume in time. I did eventually think of one, but it was too late to order anything online and expect it to get here on time. I will tell you:

My friend TP decided that she was going as Cat Woman. So I thought it would be hilarious (in a funny-cuz-it's-true sort of way) if I went with her as Cat Lady. As in, Crazy Cat Lady. And I could be dragging around all these stuffed cats on leashes and have frizzy hair and baggy weird clothes. Alas. I have no idea where to buy a stuffed cat in this town.

Anyway, so, I didn't go to the party. How lame would it be to show up to a Halloween party without a costume? And I didn't carve a pumpkin because this year Tamimi felt the Great East Coast Pumpkin Shortage Of 2011 more acutely than even you did. Or possibly they were feeling the Wrath And Lack Of Humor And Any Sense Of Fun Of The Muttawah. Hard to say.

So, I've contented myself with watching the movie Lil Sis got me for my birthday, and ordering some other Halloween movies from Amazon, which haven't gotten here yet. I have also gone through my blog and looked at pictures from Halloweens past. Oh, the memories!!

Halloween 2008, when I had my sisters over for a big cheesy Halloween movie watching extravaganza.

Halloween 2009, when Mowgli and The Late Miss Moppet got dressed up, mostly to their chagrin.

The prologue to Halloween 2010, when I found a pumpkin at Tamimi and carved it in the most awesome fashion possible.

Halloween 2010, when we dressed up Mr. Bones as Mom and RLD.

Well. Enough of this reminiscing. Back to work.

double whammy

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

So, I've been absent from the ol' blog for almost a month. I am considering nixing the automated Wednesday cat posts because if anyone comes to my blog, it's going to look like a cat blog. Which I can't stand.

Sometimes, stuff throws me off, probably more than it should. A few weeks ago, I gave blood. I felt good about going, I felt like I was doing a good thing and helping and all that. Especially in a country where nobody wears seat belts and everybody drives like a 9 year old after ingesting 16 pounds of chocolate. And crack.

It was the first time I'd ever given blood and I didn't know what to expect. Well, now I do. I know that if I ever do that again, I should expect to completely lose consciousness and then be woken up by the harsh and lasting smell of ammonia. Then, I should expect to have no memory of what happened or why I am surrounded by medical personnel, which will bring on a bit of panic. After slowly recalling that I was giving blood and passed out, I should expect to feel perfectly fine, to rest for awhile, and to go over to the table laden with food and have a few bites to eat before starting to black out again and throwing up on somebody's shoes in front of a room full of people including the ambassador. Then I should expect to be confined to a bed for the next hour and a half, and to have a visit from my husband, who thinks the whole thing is kind of amusing. He will give blood, have a snack, and trot back upstairs to work as if he has not been drained of half his life force. Kinda like everyone else except me. And then the doctor will come and advise me not to give blood again, but thanks anyway.

So, that was pretty embarrassing. The good thing about being in my 30's though, is that I don't really care all that much that the ambassador watched me throw up on somebody's nice leather shoes. If I'd been in high school when all of this happened, I would want to move to Siberia.

About a week after that, I got sick. I got the stomach flu, which is going around the diplomatic quarter (and all of Riyadh, I've heard) just felling people left, right and center. I don't know if I've ever had the stomach flu before. Maybe I have but it hasn't been that severe. I've had food poisoning that I thought might kill me, and wasn't as severe as this stomach flu. I really thought I should go to the hospital and get an IV, but I couldn't get off the floor. Bear was good though. In between his meetings, he brought me some Gatorade and ice chips. Wow, people. So sick. I never get this sick!! Is it because I gave blood and they took all my white blood cells? At any rate, toward the evening, I started to slow down in the expulsion-of-fluid department, but I got a fever. I haven't had a fever in probably 15 years - I bet the last time I had a fever was when I had the chicken pox when I was 17. It felt like a body migraine. It just hurt so bad. I am pretty sure this is the sort of thing that kills children. But the next day I was mostly better, aside from feeling weak and woozy, and I started to prepare for Bear's turn. I put Gatorade in the ice cube trays. I arranged blankets and pillows on the floor next to the bathroom. I wiped everything down with Clorox wipes. I washed sheets. I waited. He started to feel icky. And then he was fine.

It has been a miracle so far. His coworkers are dropping all around him. But, he is armed with Clorox wipes, which he uses on phones, keyboards, door knobs, etc. And, who knows, maybe he's already had this strain of bug and his body is good at fighting it off.

So that's been my world lately. A few other things: we finally got the kittens spayed, and they came home and hated each other for about 5 days - they couldn't figure out who they were. Finally they recognized each other and things were better, but Fluffy got a bladder infection because the vet had to "drain her bladder with a needle" in order to get to her uterus, and now we are having to wrestle with her and all her claws twice a day to get liquid antibiotics down her throat. It's really fun times, I'll tell you what. Also, the antibiotics are giving her diarrhea, and she has long hair, and, well... Is all this talk of bodily functions too much for you? Me too, but apparently this is my life for awhile.

Also, my friend EKB played in a band at steak night last week, and that was fun. And over the weekend, there was a "hail and farewell" at the ambassador's house, where we welcomed newcomers and said goodbye to people who were leaving post. And I got a certificate of appreciation for my volunteer work in the community, so that was really nice.

And the weather! Oh my gosh! So beautiful! I'm sure we'll still have a few hot ones, but that day of the hail and farewell was so gorgeous I wished it would last forever. Here comes the glorious Saudi winter, when we can eat breakfast on our patio without spontaneously combusting. We also found a dura-flame log at the grocery store for our fire pit! So I'm looking forward to using that.

What else? We're planning a short trip in November. I need to learn how to use the new camera Bear got for me for my birthday. I am looking forward to going home for Christmas more than you can possibly imagine. Although I wish I'd gone home for fall. I really miss fall more than you can possibly imagine.

I guess that's about it from me. Toodles!

Three years ago: meet Virginia

hobbies

2011-10-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

Mowgli likes to hang out in grocery bags when he has a few spare minutes. Just to wind down, you know, after a long day.

In case you couldn't tell it was him in there, there's always this:

One year ago: blah blah blah

Two years ago: til tomorrow

fat cat

2011-10-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

Kitty is looking a little spherical these days.

I'm guessing it's because cats usually gain weight after being spayed. Either that or they meant to spay her, they shaved her belly and opened her up and got to chatting and forgot.

One year ago: Oman, Day 1
Two years ago: zzzzzzzzzzzz

fluff n' stuff

2011-10-05T07:00:00.000-04:00

Fluffy likes to hang out in the basket of toys. She can keep better track of them that way.

One year ago: progress, sort of
Two years ago: bluegrass and wine and hayrides

whattaface

2011-09-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

I love Junior's little face.

Even when she's making faces.

One year ago: meet BIFF
Two years ago: Operation Houseplant Rescue

oh no

2011-09-27T07:00:00.000-04:00

So, we have a bee hive in our front yard. It wasn't there two weeks ago, and now it is.

I am soooo conflicted about this. They're honey bees, and you know how honey bees are not a dime a dozen anymore, right? On the other hand, I know that Bear at one time went into shock after being bitten by fire ants and had to go to the hospital. I imagine bees could do the same thing to a person. I hate to have them killed. But, you know, I'd also hate for my husband (or myself) to be killed.

The maintenance guy that was over here today said there is a gardener who can move them. I guess he comes and takes the honey or the hive or something, and then the bees decide to go somewhere else. Maybe this is a good solution? But, he's on vacation for like 15 days. Oy. What to do.

One year ago: thursday

gifties

2011-09-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

Because of Mowgli's delinquency last week, I sort of forgot about my birthday. I was surprised when I got some gifts in the mail on Saturday from my fam - I just really wasn't expecting them at all. It's always so nice to get mail from them, but this mail was extra great.

Lil' Sis got me one of my favorite movies from my childhood - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Which comes with a Wind in the Willows movie too, but there is no room in my heart for Mr. Toad when Ichabod is on the scene.

I love this movie. And, I love fall and Halloween. And, I am missing both this year, which adds to my intense homesickness. So I'm excited to watch this movie. Maybe I'll make like a little kid and watch it every day until Halloween.

And my mom got me this pretty necklace, which is also a testament to my homesickness:

I love it, and everyone that sees it loves it, and I am quite sure they are all super jealous they're not from VA.

I got a few little gifties from some friends too. My friends SM and VW gave me these pretty mugs, and expressed anticipation that they will soon receive an invitation to tea, which will be forthcoming as soon as I settle on a menu and get over my fear of failure.

And, my friend CP, who is originally from Germany, brought this back from her trip home for me:

Along with some chocolates, which I can't take a picture of because they are gone. I have to say, I do tend to avoid buying cat-related things because I have enough actual cats and I am pretty sure people will be able to figure out that I like cats without my displaying cat nick knacks. But, when I was in Germany, I saw these figurines in shop windows and really liked them. I would not have bought them for myself, but CP apparently read my mind and decided to get this for me. It's very pretty, I think.

Three years ago: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

just kidding

2011-09-22T07:33:00.001-04:00

So, yeah, I didn't go on my trip. I did pay for my trip though. So, I'm out hundreds of dollars but I'm not really that upset, and here's why:

Yesterday was the worst birthday of all time. I woke up, did all the cat chores, and decided to have a spa day. So I went upstairs and did stuff like hair treatments and facial peels and pedicures. And then I took my time drying my hair. I was supposed to meet my friend EB at the embassy for lunch.

When I came back downstairs after all my ablutions, I saw that I had forgotten to close the sliding glass door. And the kittens had opened the screen door (I can't blame Mowgli for this because he is not the one I chase around all day with the spray bottle, trying to teach to stop opening the !@#$%! screen door). And somehow, the iron barred door had opened just enough to allow a cat-sized creature to squeeze outside. Stripey and Fluffy were both inside, but I saw Junior's little terrified face in the bushes and had to herd her back into the house. Mowgli was nowhere to be seen.

I whistled. I called. I hastily put on running shoes and climbed up the ladder to the roof to whistle and call and look from up there. Remember, we are all surrounded by 10 foot walls. Even the roof is. I had to climb up on top of some precariously thin looking pipes, and still hoist myself up to see over the walls. But even doing that, or standing on a chair in the back yard, I could not see clearly over my neighbor's wall. So I called him at work to ask him to come home and check to see if Mowgli was stuck in his yard, and he did, bless him. But there was no Mowgli.

I put the kittens in their room and called EB to cancel lunch, which is when I found out that "a lot of people" were coming. But she understood, and she suggested that I call another friend, TA, who had the day off, and maybe she would help me look. TA lives close by, so I called and told her Mowgli was missing and asked if she could keep an eye on her yard. She checked her yard, but then she insisted on coming over and walking with me around the neighborhood. No luck. We went home and I starting printing flyers. I also emailed the CLO and asked her to send out a mass email, which she did, bless her. I called the girl who had organized the trip I was supposed to go on and told her that if my cat didn't come back, I wasn't going. She understood, and offered to help search after work.

A little while later, an entire room full of people, including the ambassador's wife, called me and sang happy birthday on speaker phone from the embassy cafeteria. Another friend, AS, had made me a cake from scratch. The only surprise party anybody ever threw for me, and I missed it. I am sure I sounded like such a blubbery, incoherent moron as I thanked them. But I couldn't imagine celebrating anything, much less eating.

My friend VW came with her baby in a stroller, and we put up flyers and talked to neighbors, and even approached construction workers to ask about the cat. It was so hot. I was so worried about him, out there with no street smarts, a solid black, neutered, tiny cat in the over 100 degree heat and blazing sun, surrounded by construction and giant burly feral beasts. I was so scared.

My friend TP called the embassy's resident cat expert for advice on finding a lost cat. He assured us both that the cat would come back if it was physically possible. That's what I was worried about.

I took the excruciating step of emailing Bear in the US. Every keystroke hurt so much.

My friend CP, fresh from a month in Germany, came over, tired, jetlagged, but optimistic and supportive, and walked the streets with me looking for my cat. VW and my other friend SM came over again, and we searched. SM's driver even kept an eye out for him.

Every time I went out, I left the back door wide open so Mowgli could come right in and get food and water and cool air. Every time I came home, he wasn't there. Sometimes Kitty was there, and one time some random giant burly feral tomcat was lying in Mowgli's cat bed and I let him know just how much I did not appreciate that.

Bear called when he woke up. He was so sad. So, so sad, but so kind to me, telling me it wasn't my fault (lies), and that he loved me, and "sometimes life happens". I wanted to die. I hated myself. I felt that I deserved the horrible, sick, achy, heart-racy feeling I felt throughout my whole body.

AS came over after work and brought me a piece of the cake she made, which I couldn't eat. She had a work function that night, but said she'd call me afterwards and see if I wanted help.

VW came back with her husband, and CP came back again, and we searched with flashlights after dark - the internet says frightened cats are much more likely to come out after it's darker and quieter, and it's easier to see them (or at least their eye-shine) with the flashlight. We did spot a couple of black cats, but they were not Mowgli.

We talked to more neighbors. VW's husband climbed walls. We whistled and called and shined flashlights and found many, many non-Mowgli cats. VW needed to get home and get her kids in bed, and CP needed to get home and pack for the trip she was taking that I was supposed to be joining her on. We went our separate ways. At 11pm, AS called, and after a 14 or 15 hour work day, she was ready to head out and look for my cat with me. She doesn't even like cats. But I hadn't eaten and I was exhausted and I just wanted to wait in the house to see if he'd come back.

I tried to sleep on the couch next to the back door. I tried to think of other things. But the more I tried, the faster my heart beat in my chest until it felt like it was going to jump out of my body and go racing around the house. I just could not sleep. Kitty was there with me, keeping me company. I asked her where Mowgli was and she looked at the wall behind her. I got up over and over and over to call him and whistle, and probably annoyed the crap out of all my neighbors. At every noise that sounded remotely like a bell or a meow, I bolted out the door to call him home. More often than not, the noises were crickets or water dripping, or a baby crying. Once, I went out and that stupid tomcat was on one of my patio chairs, and he got a face-full of hose water.

I had just gone back to the couch after getting up around 4am to call Mowgli some more. I closed my eyes and heard a noise sort of like a soft gong. Like something hitting a sheet of metal, only muted. I still really have no idea what that noise was. I looked out, and Kitty was sitting there staring at the wall. I followed her gaze, and there was my monster Mowgli, walking casually along the top of the wall. He jumped down into the yard after a bit of coaxing, and I scooped him up and brought him in, and he got some tuna and about a gallon of water. His claws are frayed and there's a raw looking scrape on the back of one of his ears. Other than that, he is fine. He chose to come home one hour after the car came around to pick everybody up and take them to the airport for the trip.

I can't tell you how relieved I am. Maybe the feeling is just joy. These cats with all their drama are going to kill me. I am so overjoyed to have Mowgli back that I don't really care that I'm missing my trip, and I don't really care that I won't get the money back.

But you know what's really great about the whole thing? My friends. I can't believe how quick they were ready to help me, regardless of how crappy and tired they felt, or what their other responsibilities were, or even whether they could relate in any way to the pain some people feel at the loss of a pet. I am pretty certain AS has never really felt much love for any kind of animal, but she saw how much I was hurting and she wanted to help. My friends didn't say - give me a call if you need anything (because I probably would not have wanted to bother them). They just came over. They called me. They rescued me. They kept me sane, they reassured me, they gave me hugs, they made sure I was not alone in my worry and pain and heartache. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for their presence in my life, and for this community of amazing people that I live with.

One year ago: furry sheets
Two years ago: birfday
Three years ago: happy birthday World!

stripes

2011-09-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

Let's check in on Stripey's stripes:

Good work Stripey. Pretty decent stripes there kiddo

I'm going to be out of town for the rest of the week, in a place with no internet. I'm not really sure how to exist with no internet, but I'm going to do my best. Hopefully I will be on the ball enough next week to post pictures of my adventure.

One year ago: perfect!
Two years ago: Gmaw and I are old ladies together

after 50,000 attempts

2011-09-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks man, for staying put for so freaking long

One year ago: joe normal

water

2011-09-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

So, Bear had to go to the US for a training (heh, "had to" as if it's such a chore). So I am here, for many many days, all by my lonesome, in Saudi Arabia, where I moved so I could be with my husband, who is now in the United States. I always find it irritating when they send him away, but it's especially irritating when they send him home.

Anyway, that's beside the point. The point is that there is a water shortage right now. Water is supplied to Riyadh through an underground pipeline that comes from Dhahran, which is on the east coast by the Persian Gulf. Apparently this pipeline broke last month. Awesome!

So, Riyadh is doing rolling blackouts, except with water. They turn off the water in the DQ for most of the day, and only turn it on for an hour or two. But, they don't say which hours those are, and so if you need to use any water, you basically have to guess. Luckily, most of the water in our house is provided by a giant cistern on our roof, which is filled gradually when the water is turned on. Bear looked at it last week, and said it was basically filling at the same rate it would fill if you left the bathroom faucet on for an hour or two. Which is to say, we are going to run out of water.

It'll kinda be ok if we do run out, because the embassy has hired a contractor to refill peoples' cisterns via a big tanker truck and a giant hose. In the meantime, I don't notice the water being off until it's time to water the plants out front. That hose is connected directly to the city water supply, and not to the cistern on the roof. And it is never on at night, which is when I water (I could water in the morning I suppose, but that would be a waste, as the water would just instantly evaporate). So, I use a bucket. I fill it up in the bathroom and take it out there and give each of the potted plants 1/2 a bucket, and the tree area 3 buckets. So, 6 buckets. I feel like Laura Ingalls Wilder.

It's a chore, that's for sure. It's a giant pain in my rear end. But, I refuse to let my plants die, like they did this summer when I was home. I walked in the door upon my return and all of my morning glories were crispy and brown and I would have been angrier, but I was still coping with Moppet's death. So, I had to buy new ones and start over, and I just am not going to let them die.

So far, so good.

I don't know what they are, but I like 'em!

Three years ago: off on a grand adventure!

Istanbul, day 4

2011-09-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

Our last day in Istanbul was relaxing in comparison to the previous three days. We'd reached a transcendent level of exhaustion that soothed our tempers and left us in the mood to forgive.

We decided (and by we I mean I) that we should go to the archeological museum because I am a sucker for Hellenistic sculpture. We ended up walking because the trains were just too full. On our way, we passed the Burnt Column, which was built in 330 AD on Constantine's orders to celebrate the naming of Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire. The place where it stands used to be a forum, which I imagine had to have been bigger than it is now. It's kind of next to a train station now, without any signs that say what it is.

Anyway, we got to where we thought the archeological museum should be and we saw this helpful sign, which indicates that the museum is to the left in Turkish, and to the right in English.

one of you is lying

It was to the left, naturally. I took about a billion pictures of all the stuff in there - they're all on Flickr starting here, but I'll just show you this one.

I can't believe all the details and folds and stuff they were able to hammer into a hunk of rock thousands of years ago!

Anyway, as I said, we were in the mood for forgiveness. Also, we were weary. So went over to the bus starting place and asked if we could take the tour again, which they were happy to allow, but they still wanted to send a driver to take us to the airport. They'd be at our hotel at 7:00 sharp.

Anyway, we got on the bus, and didn't get off. It took us across the Bosphorus into the Asian side briefly, and we enjoyed our own little hurricane-force winds going across the bridge on the upper level of an open topped double decker bus.

After the tour, we dragged ourselves back to the hotel where we sat and had a couple drinks until 7:00 sharp, at which time there was no driver from the bus company, and we took a cab to the airport.

I loved Istanbul, and I wish that we as Americans had as much appreciation for the eggplant as Turkey does. Sigh.

Two years ago: pretty girl
Three years ago: my inventions, part 6

Istanbul, day 3

2011-09-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

Well, life is not perfect, and our third day in Istanbul wasn't perfect either. It put a wee bit of a damper on things, really.

We were kinda tired from the previous day's tourism frenzy, and thought it would be nice to just get on a bus and see the sights. It's a great arrangement in theory because the bus stops at all the important places, and you can get off and go do your thing and then catch the next bus and continue the tour. In theory.

In reality, we paid for our tickets, got on the bus, and immediately noticed that the bus didn't stop at some of the places where the recording said "if you'd like to get off now, you can finish the tour on the next bus". But it did stop at Dolmabahce palace, which was where we wanted to go. So, we got off, for some reason fully trusting that we'd be able to get back on again.

Dolmabahce palace is phenomenal. But, I don't really like the way they run things. You stand in a long line to buy a ticket from the one guy who is selling them, and the ticket has a time on it. That is the only time that you can get into the palace. Then, you stand in another long line on the front steps of the palace, waiting for your tour to start, and you are surrounded by a sea of people (many of whom are not acquainted with the joys of deodorant) and there is no shade, and the hot, searing sun is unrelenting, and you feel like you are going to pass out, which at that point is starting to seem like it might be sort of nice. Then they jolt you out of your stupor by handing out these horrible plastic booties for you to put on your feet, and if you are wearing flip flops the elastic band around your hot sweaty ankles is supremely irritating. Once you get in, you are in a group of about 50 people, and you are on a guided tour, not allowed to stray from the roped-off path. And the tour guide has to yell in order for everyone to hear him, just like all the other tour guides who are often yelling in the same space as your tour guide, and so the effort to make himself heard is basically wasted. And, as the icing on the cake, you are not allowed to take any pictures. So, I have no phenomenal pictures to share with you, but I do recommend visiting, just to be able to gawk at the jaw-dropping decor. Here are some less jaw-dropping pictures of the outside:

the fountain in front

the exterior - this is outside of the big ballroom that has the world's second-largest chandelier

gardens overlooking the Bosphorus

the imperial gate, which the sultan used to pass through to go in and out

When the tour was over, we had a little while before the bus was scheduled to come back, so we just walked up to a little cafe that was on the water and had lunch. There was a cat, and we gave her some snacks.

our view from the cafe

So, after lunch, we went to wait for the bus where it had dropped us off. We waited, and waited, and waited. We were a bit early, and it was quite a bit late. Our feet hurt, it was hot, and we were feeling drowsy from lunch. We were annoyed at the constant stream of people asking us where we're from and then trying to sell us something or just get money from us for no particular reason. Finally, we saw the bus as it pulled to a stop in the middle lane of traffic at a red light about 150 yards ahead of the stop where we were standing. The light turned green, and the bus left. As tired as I was, I instantly lost my temper. We took a cab back to the starting point so we could demand our money back. Of course the driver took us the long way, claiming that traffic was simply too slow to be able to take us directly there, and then when we paid him (a 50), he switched the bill out with a 5 and said "oh you only gave me a 5". Bear thought, oh I guess I could have made a mistake, and handed him another 50, which he switched again. At which point, Bear got angry, which is not something most people enjoy witnessing, and the guy sped off and we were too touristy and bewildered to get the plate number.

We trudged up the long hill back to the bus starting point, and asked not-altogether-very-politely for our money back. The guy claimed he could not possibly give us our money back, but we could take the tour tomorrow if we wanted. I said "why would I do that? It was not fun today. You owe us at least for our cab ride back here". We argued and argued back and forth and his eventual compromise was to have a driver come the next evening to take us to the airport for free. He said he would call us that night, and he'd arrange it, etc. Yeah. Right.

We went back to the hotel so I could decompress a bit, and so Bear could get over his disappointment that somebody was actually able to hoodwink him. We decided we should go to the Grand Bazaar and just see what there was to see. It claims to be the oldest shopping mall in the world, and Wikipedia says it began construction in 1455.

The Grand Bazaar was fun, and redeemed the day for me. I bought some apple tea, which is popular in Istanbul. And I bought some cheap jewelry - a necklace and a bracelet of evil eyes. It was fun haggling, which as I read in the guide book is really only done anymore to humor tourists.

After our shopping, we decided to walk back to the hotel instead of taking the super crowded train. It was a little bit of a hike, but we liked walking around the little streets and seeing the busy life of the city. Unfortunately, we got lost. So it took a long time to get back, through streets that weren't exactly ideal. But it was fine, we made it, we burned a few calories.

Eventually we found our way back to the main plaza that we'd walked through to get to the bazaar, and they were having a little Ramadan festival with live music and a giant communal Iftar. We didn't partake in the Iftar, but we sat and listened to the music for awhile before continuing on our way.

We were exhausted, so we just had dinner at the hotel. It was fine, but not exceptionally Turkish and delicious. There were no messages on the answering machine when we got to our room, and no phone calls from the bus company later. We didn't expect them to call really, but this way I can definitively say that City Windows Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour of Istanbul is a giant ripoff and if you are ever in Istanbul, please do not give them your money.

One year ago: deja vu
Two years ago: i heart festivals
Three years ago: new shoes!

gremlins

2011-09-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

Stripey was the first to get up on top of the door, and the first to learn that getting down wasn't quite as elegant and graceful and painless as getting up.

But she wasn't deterred from doing it over and over and over again. Soon, Junior learned how to get up there, although it took her a little while longer and the first attempts included using her claws to climb up the wooden door frame.

As you can see, she was pretty proud of herself once she finally got up there. Meanwhile, Fluffy was frantically running back and forth below, belting out her little baby meows, frustrated that there was something in the world she couldn't figure out. She could open doors... just not get on top of them.

And then one day she figured it out and she was the proudest of them all.

These kittens. For a few days I was calling them my little velociraptors, but I've decided they're more like gremlins. You know, it's all kind of a funny situation, you take it with a bit of humor. You come home from a night out and you say half jokingly to your husband "alrighty, let's go survey the damage" and you come in and the refrigerator magnets are scattered all over the floor and the carwash sponge is wrapped up in your 100% genuine pashmina and they've opened the screen door, God knows how long ago, and let about four hundred million mosquitoes in the house. Ok, it could be worse, ha ha ha. And then you go upstairs and none of the electricity up there works and you have no internet and no phone, not to mention no lights, and your sense of humor starts to waver just a little.

One year ago: inspiration

Two years ago: slacker

Istanbul, day 2

2011-09-13T07:19:00.000-04:00

On our second day in Istanbul, there was a kitten:

And then we went to the Hagia Sophia, which was so amazing and beautiful and old. All the pictures and descriptions are over on Flickr starting here, but here are a couple that I especially like:

the minbar, from which the imam gives the sermons

all those tiny little tiles!

After Hagia Sophia, we went to the Basilica Cistern, which was a big underground storage tank for water, built in the 6th century using old Roman ruins.

We stopped for some super-sour pomegranate juice at the Cistern Cafe, because, as touristy as it is, it's impossible for us to pass up a giant pile of pomegranates.

For lunch, we went to this cute little outdoor cafe that we'd walked past on the day before. It had a fountain and palm trees and flowers and it was so cute. Too bad the food wasn't real honest to goodness Turkish food like we had the day before.

After lunch, we went to Topkapi Palace and did the harem tour. It was a really beautiful and ornately decorated palace, but man, harems are weird. They had eunuchs (they had eunuchs!!!!) to look after the 300 to 500 women (there were 300 to 500 women!!!!) that were in the harem at any given time, and the women were ranked based on whether they got pregnant and if the child was a boy or a girl and if the boy ended up as the sultan eventually, etc. And there's all this talk about the eunuchs and the important women having "power" within the palace, but let's be honest here. They were slaves, every last one of them. Anyway, here are some pictures from Topkapi, but the rest of them are on Flickr starting here.

After the harem, we went into this little building that had things like "the staff of Moses" and "the sword of David" and these artifacts are so precious that of course no photos are allowed and I can't believe anyone falls for this stuff. Really? A piece of wood from 5,000 years ago is not a pile of dust, and we have somehow kept track of it through the millennia and know that it is in fact the very same piece of wood that Moses used to part the Red Sea, really?

After that, the crowds sort of got to me and I needed a little break so we skipped the tour of the rest of the palace. Which was fine. We had a snack at another little sidewalk cafe across the street from the ruins of an old bath house, and then we went back to the Hodjapasha Cultural Center for a Whirling Dervish show. No photos were allowed there either, so here is one from their site, and if you click on it, you'll go to their info about Rumi and the dervishes and the ceremony:

It was a lovely ceremony - not as lively as the Turkish Dance, but beautiful and serene and a little bit sleepy-making. So we went back to the hotel and crashed after a long, eventful, beautiful, happy day.

One year ago: happy Eid!

Istanbul, day 1

2011-09-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago, we went to Istanbul for a few days and I am just now getting around to blogging about it because I needed a vacation from my vacation. Don't get me wrong, it was fantastic. But, we had 4 days-ish, and we packed so much into them that I kinda was glad when it was over. On the other hand, Istanbul was one of my favorite places I've ever been.

We landed mid-morning on a Thursday, and the first thing that happened was, while Bear was in line to exchange money and I was standing around with the luggage, the paparazzi came rushing through the airport and got all up in some political-looking guys' personal space. The old guys had that air about them like they are so used to this nuisance and know exactly how to deal with it while not dealing with it at all. They looked through them, as if they were entirely not there, and kept walking, greeted friends warmly, stared coldly past the photographers and reporters, not speaking to them. And then all of them were suddenly gone and Bear and I went to get a taxi.

Istanbul! The land of pine trees and palm trees! Flowers everywhere, and history so rich I could feel my cholesterol rising.

We left our luggage at the hotel, which incidentally was the Crowne Plaza and I guess we got some sort of last minute deal because the regular price for a room for 2 adults was 400 Euros a night and my eyes widened and I said to Bear in a panicky whisper "we're not paying that are we??" and he smiled that serene smile of his and shook his head and his eyes said "try not to look like the riffraff we are, k?"

After the raised cholesterol levels and the mild heart attack, the only thing left to do was eat. So we walked around the cute streets, up hills and down hills, and we found a sidewalk cafe with a table under a tree and we sat down and had some delicious Turkish food and then we ordered some more because our hearts had not yet completely seized up. I had eggplant with minced meat, and Bear had "meat special", and then we ordered a pizza. It was terrible. But so delicious.

And there was a kitten! And he was so cute! And then this old lady in a coat and head scarf came hobbling up the street with a grocery bag full of cat food, and said to the kitten "psshpsshpsshpssh" and the kitten scampered over to her and she dumped a big handful of cat food on the sidewalk and patted him and smiled and hobbled away.

After lunch, and second lunch, we went back to the hotel so we could get into our room and freshen up a bit and unpack. It was a nice room, not at all what you'd expect to get for whatever riffraff price we were paying. And we had a view of a big mosque, all of which are beautiful in Istanbul.

After freshening up a bit, we went over to the Blue Mosque, as this is a place that tourists go in Istanbul. You go over to the visitors' entrance, put on a shawl, take off your shoes and put them in a little plastic bag that is provided for this purpose, and present yourself to the guard for inspection. I had planned to come to the mosque and so I had my own pashmina. But for those wearing shorts or short sleeves, the guard was handing out large blue rectangles of cloth, which women were tying around their waists and putting over their shoulders and heads and taking group photos in. Bear and I cruised on by all that riffraff, and went in too look at the beauty. Which, by the way, was beautiful.

Afterwards, we went to a little shop near the mosque and I bought a teapot. And the guy there, he has this cousin, see, and the cousin has this rug shop, and please let us show you these rugs, they are special and unique and you will not find rugs like these just anywhere. And for some reason Bear was in the mood to look at rugs. Oh, Bear. Do you not remember what happens when you agree to look at rugs? There is tea, and chatting, and looking at every single freaking rug in the store, unfolded, unrolled, stacked up, turned around to catch the light differently, discussed, critiqued, all of them perfect in every way. We eventually extricated ourselves, after Bear declared that purchasing a rug is like a love affair and it couldn't happen all at once, and probably I was not the only one in the room rolling my eyes. He could have said "no thanks, bye", but that is not his way.

So, we walked around the cute streets, looking at flowers and kittens and chickens and looking for a nice place to eat dinner.

We found a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Bosphorus, and I reveled in the freedom I felt in this beautiful and friendly Muslim country. And also in this beautiful and friendly Muslim country's food.

And I took a picture of some minarets through my glass of wine.

And there was a kitten again, and we gave her some snacks.

After our lovely dinner, we walked through some additional cute streets on our way to Turkish Dance Night at the Hodjapasha Cultural Center, which is in a converted 550 year old Turkish bath. The music was so fabulous, and the costumes were so beautiful, and the dancing was so energetic, and we were so happy.

We took the train back to the hotel and fell asleep to the lively sounds of the Old City under the lights of the minarets.

More details and pictures over here on Flickr.

Three years ago: (it is not) fall

he has his own agenda

2011-09-07T07:00:00.003-04:00

I decided I needed a basket to store all the cat toys while they're not in use. Mowgli decided he needed it for other purposes.

thanks buddy!

One year ago: taking in the view

showoff

2011-08-31T07:00:00.001-04:00

Fluffy is shameless.

The other girls are not impressed.

One year ago: from the roof

love

2011-08-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

We are in Istanbul, and I just cannot even tell you how much I love this city. I would live here in a heartbeat. I'll give you the details of our trip next week, but in the meantime, enjoy the view from our hotel room!

One year ago: house pictures!!!!!!! part 6
Three years ago: my inventions, part 4

pretty things

2011-08-25T07:00:00.002-04:00

I love tea, but I didn't love my tea stuff. So I bought new tea stuff.

I am such an old lady.

Well, this old lady is in Istanbul for a long weekend. Can't guarantee bloggage while away.

One year ago: synchronized loafing
Three years ago: no better way to spend a Friday night

not sharing

2011-08-24T07:00:00.003-04:00

looks like somebody needs to go back to kindergarten.
and it's not Stripey.

One year ago: cat lady
Two years ago: 4am adventures

you've got to be kidding me

2011-08-23T07:00:00.004-04:00

Remember this post?

I mean, it was forgettable and lame and everything, but it wasn't that long ago, so maybe there is still a fragment of a recollection about it somewhere in your brain.

I am apparently tempting fate by writing about this again, because shortly after I wrote that post:

My curling iron broke
The power cord to my phone broke
The lid to my sugar bowl broke
The air conditioner broke

So, let's see what else breaks, now that I've complained some more about stuff breaking.

One year ago: i'm still here

Heidelberg

2011-08-22T07:00:00.004-04:00

Bear got out of work at around 11:00am on Friday, so we packed up our stuff, checked out of the hotel in Frankfurt, rented another meatwagon, and drove to Heidelberg. Because we had such a short time there, I know almost nothing about Heidelberg, and I intend to read that Wikipedia page just as soon as I'm done writing this post.

We checked into our hotel (which was not air conditioned), and walked to the downtown area where we took a little tram to the Heidelberg Castle. All the pictures are on Flickr starting here, with details in the captions if you're interested.

But basically, we took a tram up to this big medieval castle, which was everything you expect a castle to be, with towers and a moat and everything. There even used to be a drawbridge:

Here is a tower where they stored gunpowder. It blew up, and that big chunk of it has been sitting in the moat for 300 years.

We saw some excellent views of Heidelberg from up there:

After the castle tour, we had a lovely dinner outside while listening to street musicians play the accordion, and then we walked back to our hotel. On our way, we passed by this awesome Christmas store, which I could have stayed in for hours:

We had our hotel room windows wide open because of the non-air conditioning, so we didn't get much sleep. Our hotel was in a spot with lots of little bars and cafes with outdoor seating, and I guess that town likes to stay up late on a Friday night.

The next morning, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and headed back to Frankfurt to catch our plane. It was a really nice visit, I really wish I could have stayed longer. It was so normal. Beer! Pork! Christmas! Those Germans, such infidels.

Also, I want to point out maybe the craziest thing I learned while there. Dankeschön is not pronounced "danke-shayn"!!!! Did you know that??? That totally blew my mind. It was like learning I've been pronouncing "Elvis" wrong all my life. I can't really spell how it's pronounced, we don't really have letters for that sound. The closest I can make it is "danke-shoon" or "danke-shone". I just... I can't believe it.

I blame this dude, who sounds like a lady:

Three years ago: meme

maybe the most ridiculous thing ever

2011-08-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

Last night, we took a ride on the Bier Bike, which is essentially a bar on wheels.

See?

So, we had a keg of beer - see the tap there on the bar? And we had 5 bottles of prosecco. There were 18 of us, so 6 on each side pedaling, 3 in the back, and 3 standing in the middle pouring drinks for people. Plus the driver (who was not drinking, in case you wondered).

It was crazy! I started out as a bartender, and then switched to pedaling halfway through. We were driving around on the roads, in traffic, slowing down cars and trains, dodging people on the sidewalk, singing along to 80s music... it was ridiculous! And also really really fun.

Beers! The cups are 1 euro if they fall off the bike.

We started off behind the other bike (see them up there in front?). Being Americans, we couldn't really let that slide.

So here they are behind us after we passed them. Everyone else in this picture - the skateboarder, the 2 bicyclists, the dude sitting on the bench - they're all moving faster than these bier bikes.

Today we are headed out to a town about an hour or so away, which we hear is "one of the nicest towns in Germany". I'll keep you posted!

Three years ago: my inventions, part 3

more Germany

2011-08-18T07:00:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday night we went back to the Apfelweinfest and I got a couple pictures that are ok enough to show you:

All the booths were all lit up and cute and German.

We bought some bratwurst from these guys. They are grilling all kinds of sausages and meats and vegetables on this hanging grate that spins and swings over the fire. Very cool.

Then on Wednesday, Bear got off work a bit early so we took advantage of the late hours that the Jewish Museum keeps on Wednesdays. The museum is in 2 separate buildings. The first building deals mostly with centuries-old Jewish artifacts, Jewish religion, culture, and traditions. It also goes through Jewish history in Germany, which is not pretty, but it is interesting. (To be fair, I don't think it was pretty anywhere).

German Jewish dress in the 1700's - but I'm pretty sure they didn't do that with their hands.

Torah!

The second building is about a 20 minute walk from the first, and is built on the foundations of the Frankfurt ghetto. The cellars of 5 houses make up the ground floor of the museum, and you can walk around. The thing that amazed me the most was just the size of the houses. Check it out:

First, here is a model of Frankfurt from when the ghetto was still there. It's hard to pick it out in this photo... the houses almost look normal (although they are really crammed in):

Now, here is a drawing of the 5 houses whose cellars are in this museum - check out those 3 on the left:

And here's a picture of those 3 cellars. They could barely fit a column in one of them!

But the thing that really brought it home for me, I think, was this picture of the outside of the 5 houses. The 3 in question are on the right... they are barely wider than their front doors!

And the people who forced 3,000 Jews to live in this tiny space (which was originally built and designed for about 100 people), had the nerve to whine and complain about the filth and the stench and the squalor and then refuse to expand the space. Nice.

So, it was interesting. I'm glad that it wasn't completely Holocaust-centered, and that it included quite a lot of celebration of Jewish traditions and culture. It was nice.

And this is for Big Sis and Lil' Sis - turn up the sound!

One year ago: moppetsmile
Three years ago: paradise

can't decide

2011-08-17T07:00:00.002-04:00

Are they the Three Amigas, or the Three Musketeers?

What do you think?

Germany so far

2011-08-16T07:00:00.008-04:00

Just FYI, this is going to be a long post. If you want to see all the pictures so far, here they are.

It's been about 51 hours since we first arrived in Frankfurt and I am already forgetting details! So let's see. We landed at around 7:30am on Sunday, so we had the whole day to explore. I had found something on the internet about this guy, and thought the walking tour sounded great. We were a little worried about getting there on time (they start at 10:30am), so we rented a car because we thought that would help us get there quicker.

The rental car place in the airport was called mietwagen. And the exit from the mietwagen garage is called ausfahrt.

So, our little meatwagon (which was manual, which we both thankfully know how to drive, not that they asked) got us to the tour's meeting point about an hour early and we went to Starbucks. Which is pretty ridiculous of us, but we really needed a bathroom and it was the only likely place around.

We met our guide by this square, which I don't know the name of, but which is sort of an iconic image of Frankfurt I guess.

The sad thing about Frankfurt is that it's such an old, old city, but everything is relatively new. It was completely bombed out and destroyed during WWII, and they have tried to rebuild most things to look the way they did before, but it is basically all new. Our guide had some Nazi-era photos of the square - here is a before and after comparison:

Sometime during the 1930s creepiness

Sunday, August 14, 2011

That big Gothic looking tower in the background is their cathedral, which is not really a cathedral, as it has only ever had a priest and not a bishop. Anyway, it's called the Dom. Here's a closer up view of it:

There was always a church here, since a really long time ago, but it was built up to its current magnificence sometime in the middle ages - I believe our guide said it was the 14th century. And then it was bombed in WWII and rebuilt. Not sure if you can see the stone wall at the bottom of the photo, but that's part of some Roman ruins that they discovered under some houses that were also bombed out in WWII. Archaeologists have tried to reconstruct them as best they can. Here is a bath:

Those round stones on the floor of the bath were there to raise up a tile floor and let water run between the layers to either heat or cool the tiles.

Near the Dom, there is an old Jewish cemetery, which is surrounded by a Holocaust memorial wall. The wall has metal blocks that name all of the citizens of Frankfurt who were taken to concentration camps.

The wall

Anne Frank's block on the wall - she was born in Frankfurt. Her sister and mother also have blocks here.

Another memorial to Holocaust victims is sort of scattered throughout Germany and other countries. They are called stolperstein, or stumbling stones.

So, basically, a family descended from individuals who were taken to concentration camps and killed can present research to their city and have these stones placed in the sidewalk in front of the house from which the people were taken. These stones are in front of what is now a shop. Our guide said the stolperstein are controversial for a few reasons. One is the word emordet at the bottom of each of the stones. Emordet means murdered. Apparently, there is some argument that if a person was taken to a concentration camp and died there of appendicitis, they were not technically murdered and there is no way to know who died of what. Well. I am sorry, but if they were taken to a concentration camp for the explicit purpose of genocide, they were murdered. Anyway, the other reason he said these are controversial is because all over Germany there are memorials - like the wall that I told you about. They are wondering when the memorials will end, when the apologies among people who had nothing to do with any of it will end. I can see that side of the argument, but I still disagree. Maybe they should never end, I don't know. I think the world needs to remember, and it needs to be a painful lesson.

After the cemetery, we went over to a sort of innocuous looking old government building, which is now flats. But it had this statue on the wall:

This statue is interesting because it is the only one left in Frankfurt. It's the eagle that the Nazis used as a sort of mascot, but it was always holding a wreath or something with a swastika on it. The Germans have been destroying these because they are offensive. Initially, they tried to sand-blast the swastikas off, but that wasn't always as effective as they wanted. So the remaining 3 in Frankfurt have dwindled to this one. This one has only survived because they took it down off the wall and chiseled away any evidence of the swastika wreath, and then replaced it with a perch showing the year that it was put on the building originally.

Of course we stopped by the stock exchange building:

They no longer trade stocks here - as of May 1, 2011, all the stock trading is computerized and has moved to a building in the suburbs.

And Goethe's house:

We did not go in. But we did learn that Goethe is not pronounced "goeth" as in "Thou shouldst goeth to ye olde mall", but like "goo-tah". "Oh, like the cheese!" said I. The guide laughed at me. Apparently gouda is pronounced "gow-dah". Like, rhymes with "cow-dah".

We also got a glimpse of part of the wall that used to surround the city, and later was a border of the Jewish ghetto:

There are lots more pictures of stuff from our tour over here, you should go look at them. After the tour, we went to a restaurant that our guide recommended, and had some local food that Frankfurt is famous for. Then we hopped in the meatwagon and drove to a little town in Riesling wine country called Ruedesheim, which was recommended by my friend CP.

It was such a cute town.

Oh, the Germanity!

Adorable European alleyway

A shop window full of cute German Christmas stuff

A 1,000 year old customs castle, which is now a wine museum.

Me, drinking out of a public fountain, omg.

Where we ate dinner - on the terrace under all those green vines.

It was a lovely day. I will not go into how difficult it is to get around Germany if you do not know German or German geography (i.e., you do not take A66 east or west, you take A66 toward one impossibly-spelled town or the other).

Yesterday was mostly uneventful for me. I sat in the hotel room and worked for most of the day. I also ironed a huge pile of clothes.

But then, after Bear got out of work, we met up with Meana's friend AL, who is working here. She took us to a lovely Bavarian restaurant and then we went over to the apple wine festival and drank lots of apple wine and listened to a bad German band and had a good ol' German time. Then she made us take a bus back to our hotel. We were all "but we don't even know how to take an American bus", and she was all "that's it, you're getting on the bus". It worked out well, mostly because she talked to the driver in German as we looked on, glassy-eyed and idiotic.

I have no idea what's in store for tonight, but I am sure it will be delicious and fun!

frankfurt!

2011-08-15T11:09:00.002-04:00

I really want to tell you about our day yesterday, which is when we arrived in Frankfurt. But, although it's 5:00 in the afternoon, I'm still suffering from a major attack of lunch coma. And I'd have to go through all my photos and think of witty things to say, and I just don't have it in me. But we'll be here all week so I hope I can be awake enough at some point during the day tomorrow to blog. Must lay off the schnitzel.

I do not know what this is, but I like it.

Three years ago: i decided.

where should we go?

2011-08-12T07:00:00.001-04:00

Bear and I have this map, and we plan to put little pins on every place we've been together. The red pins below are the places we've been so far. The green ones are kind of dream destinations that we doubt we'll ever be able to afford (Galapagos and Seychelles), and the two blue flags are our next planned trips.

As you can see, we have not been to that many places together. Ten, actually, and 5 of them are in the U.S. It'll soon be 12, but still. So, we want to take advantage of our remaining time in the Middle East to travel to more places. I have a wish list, but there's no way we can go to all these places. We are going to have a few days in November (like 4, max) to go somewhere and I would like some input, if you please.

Egypt is my top priority for while we're living here, but is it safe? Can we really plan this far in advance and trust that it won't go to hell in a handbasket?
There's Jordan, but I wonder if we could just take a long weekend there or something.
There's Israel, but then there's also the chance that we wouldn't be allowed back in Saudi if they found out. Maybe we should save that one for last.
I'd love to go to Muscat, but we've already been to Oman. But it was so great.
Seychelles is maybe too expensive. Maybe we will save this one for an official R&R.
Bali?
Somewhere in India?
What about Cambodia??
We could maybe go to the Philippines, but it's a long flight, I think, for just a few days. But my housekeeper would be so happy.
Somewhere in Africa???
What if this is the closest we'll ever get to Australia/New Zealand? Shouldn't we take advantage?
And of course there is Jeddah, and Dubai, and Bahrain, but we can go to those places on a long weekend I reckon.

So what do you think? Where should we go in November?

One year ago: wadi walking
Three years ago: my inventions, part 2

stuff breaks

2011-08-11T07:00:00.000-04:00

Did I mention? I have nothing to blog about. So why do I keep blogging? I don't know, I feel like I need an outlet. I feel like I need to stay in touch with everybody at home, even if it's about mundane things. Because, really, most of life is pretty mundane. So if I don't tell you about all these mundane things, I won't be talking to you at all.

Whenever I feel like I can relax, like things are done and settled and comfy and I can take a breather, stuff breaks. For example, our shower:

The shower head is attached to a flexible hose, which used to be held up by some sort of apparatus thingie. The other day I was running the water (it was "cold" water, btw, which is almost unbearably hot, btw), and I pulled the little knobbie thingie to turn on the shower, and the whole apparatus fell off the wall and water went spraying everywhere. Bear came busting into the bathroom all worried, because he heard all this banging and a "squawk". Hm. Anyway, the facilities guy came to look at it and pronounced that it could not be fixed, and they would have to buy a new one, and insha'allah they will be back tomorrow. That was Monday. Thank goodness we have a guest bathroom.

And here is the windshield of our beloved Subaru:

We are not really sure how to go about getting this fixed. I suppose we will figure it out. But we'd rather not pay for it, see, because, when we do get it replaced, it will be the third windshield on a car that is just a little over a year old. It cracked last year too. It was under warranty thank goodness, and I imagine this one is under warranty too, it's just that... who in Saudi Arabia is going to honor that? We have to find a Subaru dealership and cross our fingers.

Dear stuff,
Please stop breaking.
Love,
Leah

One year ago: helping with laundry
Three years ago: buying nothing

oddity

2011-08-10T07:00:00.001-04:00

Mowgli has always had a unique way of drinking water.

One year ago: eating like a saudi

how to stay sane

2011-08-09T08:49:00.003-04:00

I really have nothing to blog about this week. So I thought I'd show you one of the rooms in my house that makes me happiest and proudest. Here's the picture I posted of it last year:

It doesn't look terrible, really. But it was set up as an office in a room with really minimal natural light. I felt like if I spent 8 hours every day there, I'd get Seasonal Affective Disorder. So I had a better idea for it. Here's how it looks now:

No, it's not pretty. At all. But it's my own personal gym! I can spend one hour a day there, improve my mood, and then go downstairs and work next to the sliding glass door so all the sun rays soak into my brain. It's a perfect arrangement for sanity.

One year ago: house pictures!!!!! part 4

the hood

2011-08-08T07:43:00.006-04:00

I don't have much to blog about today, so I thought I'd respond to Juliet's (from Evolving Revolver) comment on this post last week, where she said she wished I could take pictures of my hood so she could see what it's like to live here.

The best I can do is to re-post these pictures I took last summer. They're dark, but I don't think I can muster the guts to go around taking pictures during the day. That kinda seems like a weird thing to say, but things are just weird over here.

I also posted these pictures of the city for my mom last year. So, the above pictures are on the Diplomatic Quarter, where I live. It's in Riyadh, but it's got all this security and is surrounded by a wadi, which is surrounded by big clouds of barbed wire. It's about 10 miles around.

My biggest impression of what it's like to live here is sand. Even with the amount of sand, and the sand storms, what I really mean is the color. The sand and the concrete... they are so beige. Bear and I drove to the military base a couple weeks ago on a particularly sandy day, and I could not wait to get home so I could stare at my garden for awhile. Seer the green color into my eyeballs.

And the customs are a little hard for an American to adjust to. Like, I dunno, not taking photos. Covering up in the blazing heat. Not driving (which makes it hard to be able to give directions to people like Pottery Barn delivery guys). But the thing is, it's not that bad. In fact, sometimes it's kind of great.

The community here - not just Americans but other expats as well - is so close knit, so supportive, so wonderful. It's also becoming a really great place to have and raise kids. There have been no families here in the American embassy community for something like 7 years... 8? Ever since those bombings. So, family things were just kind of forgotten. But we are rebuilding our community, and there is so much for kids to do here. The new families coming in keep saying "we've been here for 3 weeks, and we're having a great time", which was not the experience that most of the people coming in a year ago had. I haven't been to any other posts yet, but a good friend who's been all over the world says that this is one of the best (if not the best) communities she's ever been a part of. Also, it's just an amazing, unforgettable experience.

So, it's good. If you happen to be in the foreign service and happen to be reading this and happen to have a family and happen to be getting ready to bid on posts, you really should consider this one. I think you'd be hard pressed to find people who regret coming.

Three years ago: ocracoke

a danger to myself

2011-08-05T07:00:00.002-04:00

It's taken me almost 33 years to realize that I'm a klutz. I always knew I was uncoordinated - this is why I ran track instead of playing team sports. Running was about all I could handle (although, I did take a pretty spectacular tumble that time I ran over my teammate while passing the baton, which resulted in a gorgeous prom picture with a giant scab on my elbow).

When I was really really little, I remember running face first into the metal part of a fold-out sofa and getting a prolific bloody nose. And when I got a little bit older, I managed to scrape my knees, elbows, hands, chin, and forehead all in one rollerskating fall (somehow I missed my nose this time). I fell one time at the playground and a couple years later gravel was still coming out of my knee.

More recently, I fall less but run into things more. For example:

That's my shin after walking into a bed frame like it didn't even exist.

You know, you don't really appreciate how much velocity your limbs have when walking until you slam them into stationary objects. When I was living at Gmaw's, I used to crush my pinky toe on the giant record player-sized humidifier in the hallway at least once a week. I just couldn't really remember where it was, I guess. Or I have bad depth perception. Or I have no idea what my body is doing.

So last night, I was doing the most innocuous thing. I was taking a drink of water. But my other hand (not the one holding the water bottle) somehow flailed out and hit the lamp shade, and then I spilled water all down my front. This kind of thing happens all the time. But last night, it hit me. This behavior is not normal.

I am a klutz.

I took a moment to compare myself to Bear. I have never seen that man so much as stub a toe. He's never tripped, he's never accidentally hit anything with a wayward limb, I don't remember the last time he spilled anything, if ever... in fact, I'm not sure if he's ever hurt himself. I said as much to him, and he said, "yeah, I'm pretty elegant".

One year ago: it rained!
Three years ago: oh, hello Tuesday

the tv stand fiasco

2011-08-04T07:00:00.001-04:00

I found out a couple weeks ago that there is a Pottery Barn in Riyadh. It's brand new, and they're having this crazy ridiculous sale (you know those pillows that are usually like $50? yeah, they're selling them for $10), so I went over there with my friend SM.

Now, I have had my eye on this particular TV stand for over a year. Since before we moved to Saudi. I really wanted it and really wanted it, and it was just too expensive and I just never bought it. But Bear would keep getting video games and consoles and controllers and headphones and things with wires that ended up all over the living room. I tried my best to keep it all under control, but our crappy little Target TV stand just couldn't really hack it.

Those wires in the background are beautiful aren't they??

So anyway, I went to Pottery Barn, I saw the TV stand I've wanted for my whole life, and I bought it. I bought it! And I had this conversation:

Me: Do you often deliver to the DQ?
Them: Oh, yes, yes, all the time.
Me: And do you have any trouble getting in?
Them: No no, no problem.

They said somebody would be calling me the next day to set up a time for delivery. And somebody did call me the next day to set up a time for delivery! I felt confident that things would work out. Silly, silly girl.

So, the scheduled delivery time was Saturday between 10am and noon. I was apprehensive because we don't actually have an address - if people normally deliver to the DQ, you can just give them your villa number, and they will find you. Sometimes, if they feel like it. We don't really have, you know, like a street name or anything. But Bear gave me directions to tell the driver when they called, so I sat and waited by the phone for the driver to call. Noon came and went.

The invoice for the furniture doesn't have a contact number on it. And the Pottery Barn website doesn't include the Riyadh store yet. But I decided to take a chance and call the number that was in my cell phone log from when the guy called to set up a time for delivery. And it turned out to be a bona fide customer service call center with hold music and everything! So I was all "dude, where's my furniture" and they were like, "oh, sorry, insha'Allah the driver will call you in a half hour, don't worry".

So, eventually the driver did call me, and I explained that he had to go to the Diplomatic Quarter. He had no idea what I was talking about. So I said, "you know, where the embassies are". He said "embassy, embassy, embassy, American embassy!" *click* So. By that, I assumed he was going to drive to the American embassy and try to deliver my TV stand there. I was dismayed. I called Bear, and asked him to call the driver and tell him in Arabic what he was supposed to do. So he did, and then he called me back and said "his English was fine! He's going to call you when he gets to traffic circle 8".

So I waited for the phone call, which came surprisingly quick.

Him: I'm at the embassy
Me: You're at the embassy?
Him: yes
Me: you were supposed to call me when you got to traffic circle 8
Him: yes
Me: ok, I'm going to have my husband call you again, wait for just a minute
Him: ok yes

So I told Bear that his English might sound fine, but apparently he doesn't really understand what we are saying and he went to the embassy and I don't know how to give directions to my house from the front entrance of the embassy. So Bear called him again. I waited. Eventually he called me and asked if the delivery guy had called me back yet. No, he hadn't. Bear said he was going to go talk to the motorpool drivers and see if one of them would call the delivery guy. I waited some more. The delivery guy called me back awhile later:

Him: ok, I am waiting at the embassy
Me:... but... did you talk to my husband?
Him: yes
Me: so.... you're at the embassy?
Him: yes
Me: I....uh....ok. He is going to have an embassy driver call you, and he will speak Arabic with you, and it will be better.
Him: ok, I am waiting at the embassy

So Bear went and got one of the motorpool drivers to call him.

Turns out, the guy was not at the embassy, he was at the gate of the DQ, and they wouldn't let him in. Awesome! So, being a woman, I could do nothing about this. Bear and the motorpool driver drove out there, got them, and escorted them to my house.

And now I have my TV stand, which fits all of the junk and looks like a real piece of furniture! I'm a big kid now!

Bear is mad that it makes the TV look smaller, and now he thinks we have to get a 72 inch so people won't laugh at us.

One year ago: all better
Three years ago: getting there

fluffy's face

2011-08-03T07:00:00.002-04:00

My mom wanted a picture of Fluffy's face, so here it is:

I'm not sure how many people would see her and say - Oh, what a cute kitty! But I think she's cute, and sweet, and funny, and creepily smart (like, she knows how to open doors).

And for good measure, here's a video of her putting her blotchy little face in my water:

One year ago: house pictures!!! part 3

Hawaii!

2011-08-02T07:00:00.016-04:00

Lookit meeee, I'm posting about Hawaii! If you just want pictures, they're on Flickr HERE.

So, our trip to Hawaii was to celebrate Bear's daughter JMP's graduation from high school. Bear's mom, Bear's son HCP, and I all went down to Hawaii first to check into the condo and do some grocery shopping and stuff while Bear stayed behind with JMP so she could go to her parties. They joined us the next day, and we went to a little rocky beach near our condo and played with some sea turtles.

The next morning, Bear's mom made animal pancakes for us. I got a sea turtle:

Which turned out to be a good omen, because we went snorkeling later and I got this video:

The next day, we went to a pretty little state park, which we had to get to by way of a long and winding and very rugged road through a lava field. Thank God it was a rental car, eh?

lava!

But it was a beautiful little beach, and not too crowded.

We took a little break from the beach the next day and went to Kilauea. First, we took a walk through a lava tube, which was pretty cool:

We walked around the forests and saw lots of steam vents, which we were warned to stay away from, as apparently they emit gasses that kill people:

And of course we paid our respects to the volcano:

We learned that Kilauea itself (which I will never be able to spell without Googling) has not had any lava flow since the Japan earthquake on March 11. There is another smaller volcano that does have lava flow, but you can only see it from a helicopter and we weren't really prepared to drop that kind of cash.

It was back to the beach the next day, and then that night we went to a luau. I had thought they'd be roasting a pig on a spit, but they actually cooked it in an underground oven called an imu. Here's a video of them uncovering it:

I had my first taste of poi, which they graciously gave us instructions on how to eat:

that grayish goo in the upper right corner is the poi

You're not supposed to eat poi by itself, and you should eat it with something salty - not sweet. So I ate mine with the beef (which was delicious) and it wasn't offensive at all! In fact, it tasted sort of like nothing. Other highlights were the pork (of course), the creamed spinach, and the coconut jello.

The dancing was beautiful, but it was dark and none of my pictures or videos really turned out well. On the bright side, it was an open bar with all the mai tais you could drink!

The next afternoon, we took a scenic and pretty drive to Mauna Kea, where we stopped at the visitor's center of the big observatory up there. We walked around a bit and found a little spot close by where these plants called Silver Swords live. They might actually be the only ones left in the world:

We attended a talk about fractals given by a local astronomer, which was... very mathy. And that is all I will say about that. Afterwards, we climbed up a big hill and watched the sunset:

probably some sort of fractal

It was the Saturday closest to the new moon, which as luck would have it is the day of the month when the astronomy club comes out with all their big fancy telescopes. So as the stars and the Milky Way in all its glory appeared in the sky, we were treated to closeup views of galaxies and planets and supernovas.

There are a couple days worth of gaps in my photographic record, but I want to remember the fireworks on July 4th. Everyone except me was out and about, and I was just tired, so I stayed at the condo. When I heard the fireworks start, I walked outside to find out if I could see them from where I was. I walked across the parking lot and found a big tree that I could sit under by myself to watch them. It was quiet and peaceful and beautiful and perfect. And on my walk back to the condo I found a big giant toad in the grass.

The day after that, we went for a long drive and stopped at several parks. First was a park with beautiful big waterfalls and tons and tons of flowers and beauty.

waterfall

gecko on a flower

Then, we went to this other little park where a stream flows out to the ocean, and the shoreline is made of lots of beautiful polished stones.

The mouth of the stream and the ocean beyond

the "beach"

And lastly, we went to this beautiful and tragic spot where a tsunami killed 24 people in 1946.

It was another beach day the next day, which I don't have many pictures of, but I did take this picture of some pink grass against a background of lava, which was the view from our condo's patio:

We beached it again the day after that, at this little beach down the road from our condo. It was a popular napping spot for sea turtles:

On our last full day in Hawaii, we took a scenic hike down to a black sand beach:

It was a gorgeous hike. The sand was black, but glittery. It was incredibly windy. And that about sums it up.

We had many, many hours to kill the next day before our flight, so we ended up watching 3 movies: Transformers 3, Cars 2, and Super 8. It was a good end to our stay in the US, before coming back to the Land Of No Movies Allowed.

Lots more pictures on Flickr!

One year ago: gemz

a word about Ramadan and other matters

2011-08-01T07:00:00.001-04:00

Have I told you about how Saudi Arabia celebrates Ramadan (which, by the way, is supposed to start today, or around today, depending on something about physically being able to see the moon in a particular phase with one's eyeballs)?

Basically, Saudi Arabia celebrates Ramadan by shutting down. Nothing is open, and nothing is allowed (not that anything is allowed anyway, but even less is allowed during Ramadan). There can be no eating or even drinking water during the day. Westerners are strongly encouraged not to eat or drink in front of Saudis during the day, which means not walking through the consular section of the embassy carrying a cup of coffee like I did last year. In my defense, I was following someone who was giving me a tour of the embassy and I had no idea I was about to walk into a room filled with billions of hungry/thirsty Saudis sitting in chairs lined up along the walls.

Work is stopped during the day. If construction is going on, it goes on at night. Businesses (regardless of whether they are owned by actual Muslims) close during the day, but are open into the wee hours of the night. Saudis reverse their sleep patterns, sleeping during the day and waking in the evening to prepare for the Iftar, or the meal that breaks the day's fast.

This all made perfect sense to me. Saudi Arabia is hot, especially in August, which is when Ramadan takes place this year (and last year too, weirdly). Personally I think it would be dangerous (and in the case of the construction workers, life threatening) to go about your business in the daylight hours without even a sip of water.

I say it made perfect sense to me. But then I talked to my good friend SM, who is Muslim, and from Indonesia. Here is what she said: "The way the Saudis do Ramadan pisses me off". Well. Her point is that you are supposed to actually feel the sacrifice you're making, not sleep through it. Doesn't that make perfect sense?

She is going to Indonesia to celebrate Ramadan, where everyone works their normal hours and life goes on as usual except with fasting and nightly celebrations. She feels that this is a more virtuous way of observing the holiday.

So then we got on the subject of virtue. Here in Saudi Arabia, we have the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, otherwise known as the Muttawah. They have charged themselves with going about and ordering women to cover themselves from head to foot and making up new rules such as "if your eyes are too fascinating, you must cover them as well". And so, if any man in Saudi Arabia is virtuous or in possession of a pure heart, he has no opportunity to prove it. He has no opportunity ever to be tempted with anything (other than gluttony) and to not act on his desires. So, if you are never tempted, can you really and truly be virtuous? Are the Muttawah really promoting virtue, or are they simply preventing vice?

I tend to think they are not even preventing vice. I think that by forcing women to cover themselves completely, they are implying that even a female elbow is a sexual object (and the practice of making little 6 year old girls wear abayas has even worse connotations). They are completely over-sexualizing women, and making men out to be animals with no self control. And I think it's a self fulfilling prophecy - you should see some of the behavior in the malls here! I cannot respect this custom of abaya-wearing (which is purely cultural and not Islamic in the least, by the way, in case you would like to accuse me of disrespecting a religion), and the more I think about it, the more it actually offends me. And if I were a Saudi man, I would be indignant at the implication that half the population must hide from me for fear that I may have some uncontrollable, animal impulse to run around attacking those whose arms are showing. Really. A little decorum, if you please. It is what separates us from the monkeys.

So, I vote for the Muttawah being renamed The Committee for the Propagation of Vice and the Utter Impossibility of Virtue.

Three years ago: 01.20.09

not a Hawaii post

2011-07-27T07:00:00.011-04:00

I swear to you, I will post about Hawaii soon!

In the meantime, I thought I'd update you on all these cats. First of all, we've decided to keep the rest of the kittens. Which is a little bit crazy, but... meh.

The kittens are pretty gigantic, for kittens. They're sweet, and playful, and destructive, and insane.

This is Stripey:

She's sort of a character. She does this thing where, when you're petting her, she purrs like a motorboat and also meows in this really complainy kind of way. Also, I thought she had a gas problem, but... yesterday, I heard her meowing in the litter box and I was concerned so I went in to check on her. She was playing in it. Batting the poop around. Maybe it's not gas, maybe she just smells like poop because she plays in the litter box. So that's pretty awesome.

And here's Junior:

Junior is an athlete who dominates the other kittens in fake-mouse-murder, and also fake-mouse-banishment-under-the-refrigerator. She's the biggest of them now, and she's beautiful, isn't she? She's also picked the best nickname: Jooney Toons.

And of course there's Fluffy:

Fluffy is bad. She's a lot like Mowgli was when he was a kitten. She gets into every single thing that she's not supposed to get into. But she's ultra sweet, and she tries really hard not to slice you up with her claws while playing. Which is more than I can say for Mowgli.

Speaking of Mowgli, he has a new hideout in the cabinet above our bedroom closets:

It's a good spot because he can see the proceedings below, and for awhile, the kittens couldn't get up there. They can now, but he has it under control. The other day, Fluffy jumped up there and he didn't even swat her or growl at her or anything. He just fixed her with his steely monster gaze, and she backed out of there like it was full of snakes.

He's starting to tolerate them slightly. A bit. Sometimes he even licks them affectionately. But then he usually catches himself and realizes he really should be biting them or bopping them on the head with a swift and deadly paw. He's the boss:

Outside Kitty is still outside, steady little friend that she is. And she gets to hang out with the kids too:

I think she leaves the yard much less often now that she's spayed. In fact, since I got back, I have never looked outside and not seen her. She's just always there.

And, always in the yard from now on will be my Miss Moppet, who I think about and miss every day.

Bear made a little headstone for her, and he carved her name into it and everything. I say hi to her when I'm out there watering the plants. Sweet girl.

On a lighter note, the other day was "collar day", which provided lots of entertainment. This video was taken after Fluffy and Junior got their collars, but before we'd gotten ahold of Stripey. She's kinda like "wtf is wrong with you cats??"

One year ago: staying away

back in the kingdom

2011-07-15T07:00:00.006-04:00

Here I am, back in the Kingdom of Dreeeeeams (sarcasm).

I'm so heartbroken that Moppet isn't here - it's sad and weird and disorienting. I'm upset that half my plants died while I was gone. I've been on an exasperating scavenger hunt:

2 laser pointers. Status: 1 found on counter in laundry room, 1 still missing
Saucer belonging to my favorite teacup. Status: found in stack of plates in cabinet
3 table runners. Status: found in buffet table cabinet
Battery cover and batteries belonging to my electronic weather station. Status: missing
2 plastic covers for cat food cans. Status: found under sink
Collar that used to be around Outside Kitty's neck. Status: missing
Travel toiletries that I left on the bathroom counter because I didn't need to take them with me this time. Status: missing

Also, the hot water heater is leaking all over everything in the cabinet under the stairs.

So, I'm working on putting my house back together and catching up on work. I'll upload my Hawaii photos to Flickr sooooon, and blog about my trip. Sooooon!

In the meantime, I thought you should know that a lost toad has reappeared after 87 years of no sightings, and scientists have discovered that the human belly button harbors hundreds of never-before-seen species of bacteria. Hooray for animals!

P.S. also, there's this, which I dedicate to Gmaw, Mom, and myself.

One year ago: some things I've learned so far
Two years ago: the *best* steak?
Three years ago: happy birthday sean!

aloha

2011-07-07T19:03:00.003-04:00

I've been hanging out on the Big Island of Hawaii for the past week and a half or so. I'll tell you more about it later, after I get back to Saudi Arabia and readjust to real life. Siiiiigh.

Kilauea

One year ago: moppettude
Three years ago: total chaos

I don't want this to be true

2011-06-22T07:00:00.003-04:00

I haven't really talked about Moppet on my blog for awhile, I guess because I hoped I wouldn't have to. Around the time the kittens came into the house, she stopped eating normally. It took me a little while to notice - in fact, the thing that made me notice was that she was losing a lot of weight. When I petted her, I suddenly could feel all the bones in her spine. I just was too preoccupied with the care of the kittens to see that my own sweet girl wasn't healthy.

I was worried that it was because of the kittens. I thought she was stressed. It took awhile to get an appointment with the vet, and at first he wasn't sure what was wrong. On sort of a whim, he decided to sedate her (he had to because she was really mad and stressed) and look in her mouth. She was missing a big chunk of her tongue. While this was horrifying on one level, it was comforting to know that there was a physical problem that could be dealt with. He gave us some special food designed to kick start her appetite and sent us home.

She loved her new food. She started eating again - not just the special food, but her regular food as well. I fed her every chance I got. I sat with her and watched her eat. I boiled chicken for her, I gave her heaping piles of treats. She never ate a lot in one sitting, but she was at least eating. And she was perking up. She was getting better. I thought the next time I took a picture of her, she'd be her normal, plump, pretty self. I could write about her again and it would be like she'd never been sick.

I felt nervous about leaving her to come home, but I thought it was ok since she was eating more and seemed on the mend. I asked about her every day when I talked to Bear, and he reassured me that she was eating her special food. She was alert, and even lovey sometimes. Last Wednesday I even blogged about how Bear told me she sat in his lap.

Also last Wednesday, I talked to Bear when he got home from work. He said Moppet seemed sort of lethargic and we talked about taking her back to the vet. He went out for steak night at the embassy. He called me again when he got home - I thought it was sort of nice that he was thinking of me before turning in for the night. But, he said, the reason he was calling was because Moppet was "not ok". He found her curled up in her bed (which she hadn't used in months, since Mowgli had kind of taken it over). She had just gone to sleep I guess, in a familiar and comfy place, and not woken up.

He buried her in our garden, which she liked to explore. She loved to roll around on the concrete, and eat the few sprigs of grass that grew among the ground cover, and lie in the shade under the bushes or the fire pit. I hate to leave her in Saudi Arabia at all, but if I have to, I'm glad it's in that garden.

I'm just so sad that I lost my Moppet. I can't believe she won't be there when I get back - it's so hard to come to terms with that, and I'm not sure I really have yet. I'm not there to see that she's not there. I don't have the answers to anything - I don't know why her tongue was injured, I have no idea what happened. I don't know what she died of, I don't know if her liver was damaged - the vets in Saudi don't have the equipment to test for that sort of thing. I don't know if it was something else - some illness - that killed her because the vets can't test for that either. I don't know if she would be dead if I had stayed in Saudi this summer. There are awful, guilty thoughts floating around in my brain, and I find myself spending a lot of time and effort on trying not to think. I am so, so sad.

Goodbye sweet girl, I love you.

One year ago: new beginnings
Two years ago: house work

women drivers

2011-06-17T09:52:00.006-04:00

Apparently I have been blogging for 3 years.

I have some pretty bad news to tell you, but I'm still recovering from it and I want to write something coherent about it, so I will tell you next week.

In the meantime, I wanted to share this with you. Saudi Arabian women drive cars in protest at ban. As I'm sure you probably know, women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. This is not a law, but a "fatwah" issued by the Muttawah, who make it their business to decide such things as - women must cover even their eyes if they are too fascinating. Because the abaya and the hijab and the niqab are apparently not enough to quell mens' uncontrollable desires, which are all womens' fault.

Ahem...anyway, although it's not technically a law, women still get arrested and thrown in jail for driving. I'm not really clear on how that works out, but whatever. So today, women in Saudi took their international drivers licenses in hand, got in the car, and did their own errands (omg, the sacrilege!). I really would like to embed this video, but the code is not loading, so I will just link you to it. It's the Al Jazeera news story about the event, which is pretty interesting, I think:

clickie clickie

A few key snippets: there's an internet campaign by conservatives urging people to beat up women found driving. And part of the reason women want to drive is because one of their very few options is taxis, which are often driven by perverts. In fact, there is no RSO-approved taxi service in Riyadh that we as American women are advised to use.

I mean, let's just think about our lives for a moment. Doctor appointments, kids' school and practice and play dates, grocery shopping, clothes shopping, commutes to and from work.... can you imagine relying on your husband for that? What if you're single? Or, can you imagine having to pay somebody every time you leave the house (in which case you are quite possibly also paying them to molest you)? There's no public transportation in Saudi either, in case you thought that might be an option. I just can't imagine how difficult life must be for some of these women. I have dedicated (free) embassy drivers to rely on, and they make things infinitely easier for me, but I still find it restrictive and obnoxious to have to call somebody if I need to get eggs really quick, and then have them be annoyed because they were in the middle of a really good magazine.

Also, I would just like to point out that although women don't drive in Saudi Arabia, it is one of the most dangerous places in the world to get behind the wheel [PDF]. Which is what I like to tell men who complain about women drivers anywhere within my earshot. I guess they'd be happier if they were responsible for driving their wives and kids and sisters and mothers everywhere they need to go.

Stupids.

One year ago: mom to the rescue
Two years ago: a year of blogging!
Three years ago: omg BLOG!!!!

california girls

2011-06-16T07:00:00.010-04:00

As I mentioned, Andrea and I were in wine country over the weekend with a couple of her friends from college. The whole set of photos is on Flickr here, but here's the blow-by-blow:

We visited 4 wineries in Napa on Friday. Chandon is supposed to have sparkling wines similar in quality to French champagnes, but I'm not a champagne connoisseur, so don't ask me.

Us at Chandon, sipping champagne

While our (awesome) driver, Buzz, went and picked up lunch for us, we hung out at Goose Cross. Buzz recommended this place, and I loved it - it was my favorite one of the day. They were tiny, and really friendly, and they gave us free bacon-chocolate (which I am ashamed to say I loved so much that I bought 4 bars). And they had a really nice Tempranillo and Malbec, which didn't hurt.

Next we went to Rutherford Hill, where we ate our picnic lunch and stared at all the gorgeous flowers. They took us on a tour of their man-made cave, and there were tastings at several stations along the way. One guy who went on the tour with us would wait till the group had gone on to the next station and refill his wine glass from the bottle left behind. He was pretty toasted by the time we got out of that cave.

The Rutherford Hill cave entrance

Rutherford Hill roses

Last, we went to Plumpjack, but I skipped the tasting there because I was feeling a little done. It was a cute tasting room though, and I bought some handmade soap. So that's something, I suppose.

We had dinner at Uva in Napa, which was pretty good.

We spent the next day in Sonoma, which I think we all liked better than Napa. The wineries were a bit smaller and a little more charming, and everybody was a little more easy going. We went to six wineries that day, omg.

Arrowood was our first stop that morning, and we had the place to ourselves. The lady that gave us our tasting said I look like Jackie Kennedy, so I bought 2 bottles of wine and a bottle of chocolate sauce from her. Really, the wine was good and the chocolate sauce was killer, so I guess I might have bought them anyway.

View from the tasting room at Arrowood

Next we went to Imagery, which has a really big shop and of course a super friendly staff. The lady that served us was very California, with her long curly hair and flowy skirt and she might have actually been barefoot. We bought some cheese and crackers, and had our first taste of a 2008 wine that was affected by wildfires, and you could taste the smoke. Weird, but maybe it would have gone well with smokey cheese or something.

Kunde was next. We had fun there, despite the tasting room being so full that we decided to just buy a glass of wine and sit outside. The weather was phenomenal, there was a band playing, there were dogs and kids running around, and a fountain and pond babbling in the background. It was perfect.

Our next stop was B.R. Cohn, which is owned by the manager of the Doobie Brothers. Nice winery with tons of roses and whimsical car art out front. There was a car show going on, and a girl selling sea glass jewelry. We tasted some olive oil (I had blood orange, which was really good), and then did our wine tasting. They had another 2008 bottle that tasted heavily of smoke.

Then we went to Schug, which I would say was maybe my least favorite, wine-wise. They did take us back to the cellar where we did the tasting among the barrels, which was fun. But there was one glass that I raised to take a sip of and it smelled like rubbing alcohol. So I don't really recommend that winery. No, not so much.

Our last winery visit was to Cline, where I made a new friend:

Mr. Cline, Bear's new competition

We had a lot of fun at that one, despite the staff seeming a little fed-up-in-general with their clientele and perhaps ready for a not-so-early retirement. We bought some cheese and crackers, and chatted with the couple standing next to us, who were visiting from the distant land of San Francisco. Somebody pushed past me on his way to our plate of cheese, saying "excuse me Miss, I need to load one up for my girl." Weird to be called "Miss" by somebody younger than me and then have my cheese stolen. We showed him the error of his ways, but we did let him have the cheese. He was remorseful and embarrassed, so we liked him and gave him another cracker on his way out the door.

As an aside, in case you are ever confronted with food that is not pretzels sitting on a bar - food sitting on bars is really probably not fair game. That's the second time that's happened to me during this visit home (!!!), but I'm pretty sure bars don't make a habit of leaving free cheese and/or entire meals out for people to just take.

Anyway, on our way out of Cline, I made Buzz stop and let me take a picture because the scenery was so beautiful it looked fake:

fake scenery

That night we went to Zuzu for dinner, which was fun and yum, and then I walked home with one of the girls while Andrea went out with her other friend and sang with a band and got hit on by a married guy! (Married guys these days, I swear).

The next day we went to Armstrong Redwoods to soak in some old-growth beauty:

It was a fun trip filled with lots of flowers, beautiful weather, cheese, chocolate, and probably a little too much to drink.

One year ago: what is going on here?
Two years ago: the birthday details

kitten update

2011-06-15T07:00:00.001-04:00

So. Apparently, Miss Moppet sat on Bear's lap the other day. In case you didn't know, this does not happen. I have decided it's because she misses me, not because she's glad I'm gone. Because that makes perfect sense!

Bear says Fluffy is turning more tan and beige and less black. There is no photographic evidence of this.

And, uh, what else? Did I mention the kittens have fungus? The vet had a perfectly rational explanation for this: fungus grows wherever there's moisture. Because. There's all this moisture in Saudi Arabia. He did at least confirm that it's not ringworm, and he gave Bear some ointment and some pills to give them, and after the pills, they have to be given vitamin D supplements because something about their livers. So. Fun times over there across the world.

I miss my kitties. Let's just watch this little video of rambunctious healthy kittens before Runty was adopted and they all got moldy.

One year ago: stormy weather
Two years ago: omg KITTIES!!!

wine country

2011-06-10T07:00:00.002-04:00

I am on a short little trip to Napa and Sonoma with Andrea and a couple of her girlfriends from college. I'm writing this last night, and so far we have not done a lot, but we have done it perfectly. We all flew in at roughly the same time, rented a car and drove to our ultra cute hotel, and somebody Andrea works with sent 2 bottles of chardonnay and 2 plates of chocolate covered strawberries to our rooms... not sure why, but we'll take it!

We went to Oxbow Public Market (cute!) and had some antipasto, wine, and chocolate, and then came back to the hotel for happy hour on the patio. Now we're just fighting hard to keep our eyes open for as long as possible so that we don't wake up at 4am.

Here is the view from the patio during happy hour:

I mean really, can we get any more idyllic?

Two years ago: three books

faceplant and other news

2011-06-08T07:00:00.001-04:00

This is the Fam's cat, Spooky:

Sometimes, he just cannot hold up his ultra-fuzzy head anymore.

In other kitteh news, my sweet little Runty McBugget has been adopted. Her new dad says she enjoys such activities as tearing around and attacking the house. Sounds like she's pretty happy. I'm so glad she has a good home with a family and another cat to play with, but I'm also a little sad because she was my favorite.

Outside Kitty has made it clear that she is an Outside Kitty. So, Bear took her to get spayed, gave her a couple of (grumpy) days in the house to recover, slapped a collar on her (which she took in stride), and put her back out in the yard. She is so much happier out there. But we are keeping a collar on her so that a) she doesn't get trapped and spayed (again), and b) nefarious people understand that she is not some random stray that's fair game for slathering with hot tar.

We are still looking for homes for Junior and Stripey. There is someone who may be interested in taking them, but she is on vacation right now, and doesn't get back until the day Bear leaves, so I'm not sure how that will work out.

Aaaand, we are keeping Fluffy, and apparently her name is really going to be Fluffy. Maybe we could add something to the name to make it less cliche. Like Fluffy McSnugglepants, or The Duchess of Fluffytown. Fluffernutter. Fluffenator. Regardless, Bear tells me that she is very much like Mowgli. And Mowgli is getting better at not being afraid of her and her sisters.

She is so frightening though, you can't really blame him.

Two years ago: my weekend of non-ness

a visit to the blue ridge and other adventures

2011-06-07T09:30:00.000-04:00

Last Monday, the fam and I took a little jaunt to Skyline Drive. I don't know if I've mentioned, but Bear and I got engaged somewhere off Skyline Drive - I wish I could remember where exactly (but I am well known for not remembering things so Bear will not hold this against me). Anyway, it's one of my favorite places in the world, quintessentially Virginia, lovely, beautiful, home.

Lil Sis, chillaxin.

Big Sis...waving to the ether? Or possibly losing her balance.

Kai sporting her Memorial Day outfit. She's such a fancy girl!

I'm glad I got the opportunity to go up there for a few hours, especially since I'm not sure when I'll get to go again in the next few years.

On our way back home, we happened to pass a sign for a palm reader, and I had a sudden flashback to that time Bear and I went to Leesburg and visited Kevin the Army Psychic. I won't make you read the whole story over again - I will just repeat the relevant section:

We stopped by a shop called Esoterica and sat down with Kevin, who informed us that he was a psychic for the Army. He read Tarot cards for us, and here is the gist of what he said about me:

The Universe thinks my career is almost where it should be, but just not quite. A snow-globe will come into play, and then I will know that I'm supposed to follow... it. Also, my new boss will be Sharon Stone. Or she will look like Sharon Stone, or be a really big fan of Sharon Stone, or her name will sound like Sharon Stone, or she'll seem like she should at least be famous. Or maybe she will be famous... or.... Oh, and also my job will have something to do with the airport. Or the airforce. Or an airplane. Because. You know. Those things are so closely related to what I'm doing now.

And, in a few months, we will multiply. We'll find out we're having a baby, or maybe it'll be lots of kittens. It's about multiplying. And my dad will be really happy about this (but my dad hates cats...?).

OMG he was RIGHT! We totally have lots of kittens! Admittedly, he was a few years off on the timing, and I'm still not sure where the snow globe and Sharon Stone factor in.

home and happiness and sadness

2011-05-18T11:25:00.003-04:00

I'm home! It's so normal here! I saw a woman wearing short sleeves and walking her dog and nobody was standing around craning their necks to get a look at her scandalously bare arms and wondering what kind of infidel hangs out with dirty dogs! It was crazy.

I'm glad to be home. It's comfortable here. I am so happy to be with my family, and so excited to see my friends. And it's so beautiful! So green and leafy and alive!

look at all the organisms!

But I'm sad too. I left Riyadh knowing that I would not see at least some of the kittens again. And I miss their cuteness, and it's just weird suddenly being separated from something you've taken care of everyday for so long. They are 8 weeks old today.

Of course, I hope we find homes for them. I don't want 7 cats. But I did kind of fall for them. And I can't help worrying about their health, and their safety, and the state of my house.

And I hate leaving Mowgli and Moppet for so long. Hate. And Bear... he's fine without me, but I hate waking up in the morning alone. Sorry. Try not to gag on my sentimentality.

Anyway. I'm just all mixed-feelingy.

In other news, today is my cousin RJ's 18th birthday! Happy birthday RJ, I hope you are registering to vote right now as we speak!

And in other news again, my dearest bestest friend Meana just started a blog, Through This World I Stumble, and I am pretty sure that reading it will make you more attractive, more popular, and richer.

Two years ago: foxes!

pictures from the camping trip

2011-05-05T07:00:00.003-04:00

Last weekend, we went camping at Al Wahbah Crater, which is about a 6 to 7 hour drive from Riyadh. I'm pretty sure it's a volcanic crater, since there's lava flow all around it, but I guess there's some debate that it could be an impact crater. There is a spring that comes up out of the ground on the side of the cliffs going down into the crater, and there are trees and grass and flowers growing there - the Wikipedia article says these are the remains of an old date palm plantation.

Anyway, here are the pics:

We saw lots of little dust devils on the drive out there

We parked near the edge of the crater where we had a view of the oasis. We decided not to camp there though, as that's probably where every creepy crawly for miles around lives. As our friend T pointed out, "animals aren't dumb".

We decided to make the trek down to the bottom of the crater. There was a rocky little path that zig-zagged steeply all the way down.

It was kind of a spectacular crater.

Had to add this picture in too, because you can see the blue sky.

Bear and I did not climb all the way down because we are wimpy and out of shape. The rest of our friends did, but only one of them actually walked out to the middle of the crater.

That's her, that little speck. She said it was muddy! And covered with salt.

As we were taking in the view, we saw this guy come out of nowhere with a gun. What is it with us and dudes with guns? He caught up to us on our way back up the path, and Bear spoke to him a bit and he said he was hunting a particular kind of bird that eats the plants and flowers around that area.

He seemed nice. I thought not shooting us was pretty nice.

After the crater visit, Bear and I drove over to the lava flow to check it out.

Then we set up camp, lit a fire, grilled some (delicious) steak and kabobs, and watched the sunset.

Unfortunately at that point, I got the worst headache of my life and couldn't even eat my s'more (which is saying something). But I did take note of the spectacular stars before skulking off to my tent to lie down and try not to throw up. So that part was awesome.

Miraculously, the headache was gone the next morning when I woke up (but I am still traumatized). We made breakfast, which included a visit from the police, who said we were supposed to have a permit, but they didn't really care, and which also included T dumping an entire bowl full of raw eggs into J's bag of cooking gear. So that part was also pretty awesome.

After breakfast and hours and hours of cleaning up and scrubbing raw egg out of the bag of cooking gear, we decided to explore the little oasis a bit.

There was this odd grass, which was thick and tubular, with sharp points at the end. Not sure if it's really technically grass, but it was pretty.

View of the crater from the oasis

Flowers in the oasis

After our little jaunt through the tiny patch of life in the vast desert, we decided we better hit the road.

The road was home to lots of goats.

Probably the worst public bathroom experience I've ever had in my life was on this trip home. As I'm sure you realize, there were no toilets - just holes in the ground, and spigots coming out of the wall with pitchers under them. As if you could pay me enough money to touch the handle of those pitchers with my bare hands. But, that really isn't the worst part at all. The worst part is the lack of aim that people exhibit. Ugh. Anyway, aside from that. Women are barred from doing so much in this country that when there is something, even a mundane thing like a bathroom, that is open to them, they feel like they have to make a big deal about it being "just for ladies":

Just for Ladyes! Just for Ladyes!

Anyway, it was a fun trip, except for the headache and the public bathrooms. If you're ever in Saudi Arabia, I totally recommend it!

One year ago: such a lovely girl

learning how to eat

2011-05-04T07:00:00.003-04:00

Today the kittens are 6 weeks old, and I'm relieved to say that just in the last couple of days, I've seen 3 of them eating solid food. Stripey was first, then Junior, and then Fluffy. Fluffy has the best technique though:

She likes to be one with her food.

I'm also excited that they are eating the dry food that's out all the time for Kitty. I do offer them wet food, but they turn their nose up at it. Which is fine, their teeth will be healthier if they eat dry food. Oh yeah, they're also teething:

Paper makes a good teething ring for kittens, I guess.

Kitty is doing a pretty good job keeping all these giant psychotic kittens in check. Thankfully she doesn't try to move them around the house anymore. I think she's seen the wisdom in keeping them and their claws confined to a small area that she can leave when she wants to.

My life used to be so orderly. The cat room used to be so orderly. Here's how it looked a mere 6 weeks ago:

Nothing exciting, mind you, but orderly.

And here's how it looks now:

Lots of people have expressed interest in adopting them, but nobody has really committed. It would be so great if we could get them all adopted out before we go on vacation this summer - I would worry so much less.

ding dong the witch is dead

2011-05-03T07:00:00.001-04:00

Well.

From what I understand, there has been some major dancing in the streets at home in the last couple of days. I have some pretty mixed feelings about the whole thing. On the one hand, good riddance to Osama Bin Laden, really. He was good for nobody. Aside from what he and his cronies did to our country and to the world, he is the reason (or at least a major contributing factor) why there are idiots out there who hate all Muslims. I am not really sad that he's dead, it's just that I wish we hadn't killed him. I wish we could have just captured him and locked him up for all of eternity. In something a bit less posh than a giant palatial mansion, preferably.

On the other hand, being an American in Saudi Arabia is a little creepy at the mo. First we got a memo that said we should stay inside our houses, or as close to our houses as possible. Then we got a memo that said we are not permitted to travel outside the city limits. I'm just glad we had our camping trip last weekend.

Sigh.

Update - my friend Meana sent me a link to this article, which I think is good, and which I agree with wholeheartedly, and which I feel could use a bit more exploration: The Psychology of Revenge: Why We Should Stop Celebrating Osama Bin Laden's Death

One year ago: little progress

five weeks!

2011-04-27T07:00:00.004-04:00

Things are going ok over here at The House of Seven Cats. I have to say, I will miss all these kittens individually when they go to their forever homes, but I am really just not going to miss having 7 cats.

All the kittens are officially girls, says the vet. They have learned how to use the litter box for the most part, so that is a huge relief. They are still not eating food though. The vet is unconcerned about this, but there are only 3 weeks left till they are up for adoption, and they can't take their mama with them!

Anyway, we are cultivating some pretty good lap cats over here, especially Runty:

When we walk into the room, she comes running over and crawls into one of our laps like she's been waiting for the opportunity all day.

Fluffy usually does that too. Her eye is getting better, thank goodness. Still not 100%, but getting there:

Junior is also a pretty good lap cat, but she needs to get a lot of playing out of her system first before she'll come over for cuddles:

Stripey is the same way:

They are so, so cute, but I need to get away from them for a couple days so I'm going camping. My neighbors are going to come over and play with them and make sure everyone's well fed and watered while I'm gone. Hopefully this will be good for their socialization.

Kitten pile!

Two years ago: spring is in the air!

Al Janadriyah

2011-04-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week, Bear and I went to the Al Janadriyah festival. It's hard to find anything comprehensive about it online, but I did my best. The festival is a cultural showcase of Saudi Arabia, basically. There are exhibits and groups of dancers from various regions throughout the country, along with replicas of traditional houses and buildings. It's interesting that none of the websites I found even mention the fact that the festival hosts a different country each year as the guest of honor. This year, it was Japan.

The main reason I wanted to go to the festival was to see a camel race. Most of the camel races took place on the men-only days of the festival. Families only had one shot at seeing one, right when the festival opened at 4pm on Monday. So, at 3pm, we took the embassy bus full of other hopeful camel-race-observers to the festival.

Alas, instead of watching a camel race, there was this:

a) it was raining, of all things. b) there were 500 billion families trying to get in for their one chance of seeing the race. c) this is pretty typical of Saudi Arabia anyway. People were driving on the shoulders, trying to pass each other and get to the bottleneck first, and then the police had blocked the entrance, and people were having to get in through gaps in the cars parked along the entryway. It was ridiculous. We sat for an hour. So, no camel race.

We did get to see a few camels though. When we walked in, the first thing we saw was an exhibit showing how they used to use camels to pump water out of a well. At least that's what I think they were doing, I couldn't get super close:

For some reason, they were using bullhorns and speakers to amplify the screeching sound.

There were lots of really interesting and beautiful buildings from all over the country. I'm not sure what this one is, but I thought it was cool:

Here's a closeup of the Saudi emblem - it's made entirely of stones!

There was also this, which Bear says the sign said was a "mountain house":

And this, which I can't remember the region it's from, but boy is it beautiful:

And a house that looks like it's made entirely out of rope:

And here is a traditional Riyadh house, with traditional magenta lighting and laser beams:

You could go inside each of these houses and look at all the old-timey things, which, you know, I love. We found out later that some of the guys that were with us were denied entry because they tried to get in by themselves. This is prohibited on family days because clearly the only reason a single man would want to go into a historic Saudi Arabian exhibit is to pinch womens' bottoms.

Sometimes I really love this country.

There were also troops of dancers from all the different regions. They would go down the streets, singing and waving various forms of weaponry. It was funny to see some of them talking on the cell phone or smoking a cigarette while performing.

These guys were the best, I thought:

You could buy food and handicrafts from tons and tons and tons of vendors. These guys were showing a traditional way of using a camel to maybe grind up honeycomb to make honey. He was grinding up something, anyway. And they were selling honey.

I like the little baskets they use as blinders.

Of course, everything shut down for prayers. It was sort of a rolling tide of praying, and as we walked down the street, we seemed to get to things just as they were closing up shop. After prayer, it was time to start heading toward the parking lot, but we did get a short glimpse of the guest of honor, Japan, performing. We were sad that they didn't bang on the big drums while we were there, but at least we saw some of their show:

It was an interesting day, and I'm glad I went. I was a little disappointed that I missed my chance to see a camel race, but the rest of the festival made up for it.

4 weeks of unbearable cuteness

2011-04-20T07:00:00.003-04:00

Outside Kitty's kittens were born 4 weeks ago today, and they have taken over my life. I don't know how people have actual babies and continue to do things like work out and cook. Those people are crazy.

These guys (I'm pretty sure they're all girls) are getting pretty good at running and playing and climbing up legs and things, but they are not eating food yet (soooo not interested) and haven't really figured out what the litter box is for. Which is unfortunate, as they have learned how to poop without their mom's help. Such happy milestones. :(

My mom keeps demanding more pictures, so here are some more pictures.

First we have The Stripey One, which is just Stripey these days:

Stripey is really cute and playful. I think she is maybe the least interested in us as humans, but only by a small margin. We're working hard to get them all used to human contact.

Next we have The One That Looks Like Her Mama, who we are now calling Junior for the sake of brevity:

Junior is a confirmed, honest to goodness girl, and she is just like her mama in more than looks. She also is super meowy, and she's really very sweet. A friend here in Riyadh has her eye on this one, but we're not sure if her hubs is really up for kittens at this point.

Next there's The Runty One, who we're just calling Runty now:

Runty might be my favorite. She's so brave and curious and energetic. I had a friend over yesterday and she went right up to her and just stared and stared at her face, like she really wanted to know this lady. She's a bit of a handful though, as she's making it her business to learn how to use her claws to do things like shred the bottom of the box spring and climb up peoples' legs.

And, we have The Black One, who we are calling Fluffy because she's the softest.

As you can see, Fluffy has an eye issue. We think somebody scratched her while they were playing. We've been giving her eye drops for a week or so but it just wasn't improving, so we took her back to the vet yesterday (with Junior for company, and the vet said they were both girls), and he gave us some ointment that we have to put into her eye 4 times a day. It suuuucks. Fluffy is not very excited about it either, but she doesn't seem to hold it against us - she comes right up to us when we go into their room, and just this morning she took a nap on my lap. And by "lap" I mean a couple inches of my leg, as she is too small for entire laps at this point.

We're trying to get these guys litter trained and weaned and socialized, but I'm really scared about what's going to happen when I'm home this summer. I would love to get them all adopted by then, but this place is so inundated with kittens that it's hard to find people who want them. I have less than a month left here. Bear will still be here for several weeks after I leave, but he works all day and I'm worried they won't get much human contact. I'm also worried they are going to destroy the bedroom they're in.

And other worries, but I won't bore you with them. Instead I will show you this video of toddling and wobbling, taken this morning:

That's Runty and Fluffy in the front, playing on their mom. Stripey is inside the carrier, and Junior is chewing on the carrier.

Two years ago: today

concentrated of youth

2011-04-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

In this dry climate, I am always experimenting with wrinkle reducers and facial care products, trying to find the ones I like best. I found some Olay Regenerist stuff at the commissary recently, and it was really cheap so I bought it. I like it pretty well. Earlier this week, I found it at the grocery store in town for not-so-cheap, but I bought it anyway because shopping here is a crap shoot and you never know if they will restock what they currently have.

I wonder what is so wrong with "daily regenerating serum" that they had to go and make it into something nonsensical. It's like they do it on purpose!

Two years ago: a turkey leg and a poncho

i like it

2011-04-14T07:00:00.003-04:00

My friend Andrea sent me a link to this video the other day and I kind of love it! I'm not much of a country music fan (unless we're talking about Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash and the like) but there is something kind of fabulous about this song, and of course about Taylor Swift, who is pretty easy to look at if you ask me.

I love the set and costumes too.

I'm sooooo grateful that this song has replaced Friday in my head, and I would be happy for it never to leave my head again as long as Friday never, ever returns.

One year ago: tough guy
Two years ago: Epcot