doha daily 7/20/06

And, we're off! Tristan and I are leaving this am for Normandy for two weeks. Then, it's off to Nice, where we will meet up with Thierry (YAY!), then on to the good ole' US of A - St. Louis, Alabama, Kentucky and Los Angeles - whew! The Doha Daily will be up and running again in the Fall - in the meantime, you will see us live! Can't wait!

See you!


tristan and his friend saba

doha daily 7/10/06

Oh, hey, another sandstorm, isn't that great?! Only this one is MORE SEVERE than the last one, AND...lasting twice as looooooonnnnnnggggggng!!! Here is a picture of today's sun at 5p - I would call that "ecliptical." And the picture next to it happens to be just inside our front door where sand perpetually blows underneath the weather guard. I phoned our compound Manager yesterday and asked what could possibly be done to keep the sand out of our house. He pretty much laughed at me and said that it was a problem country-wide. Can people NOT figure out after years of construction in a desert environment, how to avoid sand from entering one's home?!?!?!? And yet another lesson being learned to "just taking this whole experience in stride."

Since the garden is actually making some progress, I thought I would show you some before and after's - the big test will be AFTER returning from summer vacation to see that our garden has become a prize-winning wonder, where everyone from the compound will stop and stare in amazement while on their 6pm walks. Here is Tristan walking in our backyard in Feb. We planted everything April 1 and here it is 3 months later. The goal really is to get the entire sand and wall areas covered in greenery - can't wait!

Here are some indoor plants at the entrance of the dining room. I promise this table was bigger in Pasadena. The computer lives in the back corner on a table until I get a new wireless package out here. The living room in the back picture there is where the TV lives.

Here is the first living room. Remember, everything has been pulled inside so it seems much more crowded than it normally is. The carpenter was nice enough to suspend some shelving for the stereo, although he didn't quite understand when I told him "contemporary..." It works though.


Tristan's bedroom - more rooms to come! See you!