Say it Ain't So- A Kuwait Driver's License

Sunrise again in Kuwait. A lot of sand and I was kind of late getting it.

The haris across the street sitting on his 3rd floor window sill. Guess he did not have anything to do.

Me messing around with my camera. Not a good pic but who cares.
Sunset in Kuwait. The sun is peeking thru all that dust and coughing I am sure.
Well today we got to sleep in as Michael is going for his eye test so he can get his Kuwait Drivers License. YEAH He was being picked up at 9 so we got an extra hour as for some reason we can not sleep past 6 am no matter how hard we try or how late we stay up. So he left and I had my fingers crossed as I want to see some of the sights of this great country. He also needs to get back his Virginia DL so he will have it when he flies home for dads funeral. As I do not like to drive and for sure I would never drive in this place. They drive like maniacs. So fast and weaving in and out of cars with no signals and not suppose to be doing nothing while driving. Which includes drinking any kind of drink, talking on the cell and some other stuff but do they follow the laws NO. I have seen more people just a talking on their cells and going over 120 km which is more than 70 mph. It is scary. Kids over here are not allowed to drive until 19 but I see a lot of Kuwait kids driving or lets put it this way they do not look old enough to be driving. I have seen more accidents over here or the remnants of accidents then I have seen in Va. Bch. in the last few years. They drive really fast on this residential street out in front of Michaels. They honk if anything in their way but do not slow down just keep coming. Oh well driving is scary anywhere I guess and Kuwait is no different. Michael will now have to go find a car to lease for the 2 years he is here. He is hoping to share a car with the guy that lives near him but we will see.
The wind is still blowing and the sand is still bad. They say we will have a good week-end temps. between 45 and 49 C. Which I think is close to 122 F. Oh well that life here in Kuwait.
To my girls I love you and miss you. Take care of yourselves and each other as you are all you have. Stay close and never let anything come between any of you. 3 Mondays till I am home.

Did someone say DUST

I love sunrises and I try to take one every day. They are never the same and always look so beautiful. I will continue to take my sunrises while I am here in Kuwait. This was this morning and the cloud cover was immense but not a drop of rain came out of any of those clouds.

The dust here is horrible you can not keep it out of the house as it comes in everywhere and add to the the howling wind. The dust has been so bad for the last few days and the wind blowing at 40 km it gets really bad. I taste the dust and there is a thin layer on everything and I mean everything. You can not leave anything out on the counters in the kitchen or it will taste like dust. I swept yesterday and Michael asked me why and I said I would rather pick up a half an inch of dust than wait till it ends and have to pick up 2 inches of the stuff. It is the consistency of baby powder and it is orange in color. Oh well they say the next thing to come is temps between 120 and 130 with humidity so guess what give me the dust any day.

3 Mondays till I am home.

Ma ' assalama

It is another DUSTY day here in Egaila

The pictures above are of the wonderful sun rise from this morning. I took 5 different shots because it was just so pretty. We had clouds and dust so do not know what was in the way of the sun but I would say clouds.


This is looking out of Michael's front window toward 5th ring motorway and the dust was bad. You could see the trees bending in the wind. The wind was blowing 23 km and I do not know how fast that is but the house whistles a lot.



This guy worked so hard today picking up every little rock and thing that was in that lot. He dug holes to get big rocks out of the ground. They do everything by hand over here which seems rather hard when there are tools that could do it faster but I guess he gets paid to do the work so he will do it.


This was the same view from Michael's front window toward 5th ring motorway and the dust had picked up a lot. Compare the pics and you will see how dusty it got here. It will take your breathe away. So the end to another wonderful day here in Egaila and so to you I say
Leila Sa 'eeda. Until tomorrow Love to all my girls and I miss you so much and to Barb love you to.

Sunday and it is Hot & Dusty in Egaila,Kuwait

The sunset over the National Guard Headquarters somewhere in Kuwait. It was the sunset from yesterday.

Another feral cat that lives in the neighborhood. It was a pretty cat and looking for food across the street. I at first thought it was a snake as all I could see was the tail, but Michael said he did not think so and about that time it stuck its head around the corner.

Sunrise this morning. It was beautiful coming up from behind the clouds and yes we did have clouds in the sky yesterday. It was the first time since I have been here that there were clouds in the sky. It was so pretty with all the colors of the sunrise.

A day of shopping at Avenues

They have cleaned all the trash from the lot across the street. It was a very dusty job as you can see. But, here dust is a daily occurrence and you can not get rid of it no matter how hard you try.
The dust it is horrible and when it is stirred up it is even worse.

The picture above and the 2 below are outside shots of this huge mall and would you believe they are still adding to it. You can get turned around and lost inside this huge place. It has a lot of side off shoots and they seem to go on forever and if you get turned around you lose your way.

The big 2 story waterfall inside the mall. Taken from the 2nd floor looking down. It is really pretty in person.

The Avenues sign from the other direction. From inside the mall at the food court.

A neat thing along the highway.

This is LuLu Hypermarket with some of its signs. Do you McDonald's? Yes they have them everywhere over here to.
An important thing here in Kuwait. ICE

Well today we went back to Avenues as we wanted to see a movie. The movie we went to see was Hancock but it was rated 18 years old so we could not get Ash into the movie. So we decided to see Kung Fu Panda instead, but that gave us 2 hours we had to kill. We went and got something to eat as Michael was starting to get Jittery and that is not a good sign for a diabetic so we went to KFC and got some chicken. We then went walking around the mall and I do know one thing Michael will not miss us girls as far as shopping is concerned when we are gone. Ash is costing him a fortune but I guess he does not mind as he will only see her sporadically over the next 2 years. She will be back next summer to visit. I got another pair of long pants as that is what I wear out in public. I brought only skorts and do not like to be stared at when out. Kung Fu Panda was a very cute movie and I really enjoyed it. It was nice to laugh after the rough week I have had.
Before we left to go shopping a big truck and back hoe came to the house across the street and started to clear out all of the garbage. So we think the house is getting ready for people to move in. So maybe in January when I come back Michael will have neighbors across the street. I am sure they will be Kuwaiti as that is all I have seen over there looking at the house. There is furniture already in the house. We do not know how many Villas or Apartments are in the house but it has 3 stories. This Villa Michael lives in has 3 flats and was built by a Kuwaiti for the family he will have someday. Michael has met him and says he is a young man and very nice, but wouldn't you be if you had 3 ex-pats paying your mortgage or however they do it over here.
I thought when my mom died the pain of losing my dad would not be that bad, but in the 2 years since my mom died my relationship with my dad changed. I became very close to him and thought he could live forever. People told me that people with congestive heart failure and the stroke could live to be very old. What is ironic is that the Heart Dr. told Barb his heart was getting stronger. So where did this aggressive lung cancer come from and why did it strike so fast? Do not get me wrong I am happy he went fast and did not suffer. I have the memories of our visits together in both Camden and Virginia Beach. I learned so much about my dad and am glad I spent the last 2 years of his life getting to know him. He has left a big hole in my life but I know like with my mom the pain will lessen each day, but neither one of them will ever be forgotten .

Getting ready for the week-end

Sabah alkhair (Good Morning) This is my beautiful grand daughters eyes. She is a beauty and her eyes are to die for.
This is a man walking to the mosque for afternoon prayer. He is wearing the native Garb called a Disdasha. (Experience the comfort and softness, and above all absolute luxury, when you slip into a Disdasha made of premium quality cotton. Better known as thobes, these are loose garments covering the whole body down to the ankle, perfectly conducive to the hot climates in middle east and its neighboring regions.)
The traditional dress for men is a floor-length shirt-dress, which is called a Dishdasha. It is usually white though blue, brown, dark green and black ones are common during the winter. Men also wear a loose headscarf called Gutra. This is usually white, though it may also be red and white check. The black head rope used to secure the Gutra is called Ogal.
Not much happened here at the Bowman Villa today as we stayed in. Michael did get the Wii to work and found out he had gained 5 lbs. since his girls have been here. So I am sure he will be happy when we leave so he can go back to his good ways of eating. LOL We are leaving the Wii here so that he can do the Wii fit and come back to the states buff. So I am looking for a new one on e-bay and I am sure I will be able to get one as I got the one we have off of e-bay. It is just being vigilant in my bidding. We are going to see Hancock the movie and then do some shopping today. So maybe some shots tomorrow of our adventure. Still need to find the girls something from here. Maybe I will get them a Gap Kuwait t-shirt. they are not real big on touristy things over here so I will see what I can do about it.
Insha ' allah (God Willing) I will talk to you all tomorrow.
Love to my girls and Barb.

A Tribute to Barbara Canfield

Dad helping Barb in the kitchen. Christmas 2007
I want to thank Barbara Canfield for being such a wonderful person in my dads life. For the past 6 years she has had a very hard job taking care of my dad after his stroke, but she never complained. It was a difficult task but she did it because she loved him so very much and if anyone would have spent any time with dad and Barbara they would have realized this.

I just found out that my brother left her out of my dads obituary and that makes me very angry. The very reason my dad lived as long as he did was because he knew he was loved. I spent many Sundays with dad and Barb watching the races and trying to figure out why Pretty Boy(Jeff Gordon) was not winning the race. I also spent time talking to dad and yes I would frustrate him at times and he would look at me and say NO. I would quit talking and give him time to get out what he was trying to say. Barbara taught me to be patient with dad. People need to realize that I lost my dad, but she lost the man she thought she would spend the rest of her life with. She loved my dad and took very good care of him.

I dropped the ball a few years back when dad asked me to make his arrangements for him. He told me all the things that he wanted done but I am sorry to say that only one of those things will be done, His burial in Arlington National Cemetery. Other than that, nothing is being done the way dad wanted it. He requested a viewing at the beach so his friends from the Police Force could pay there respects.
I will never forget the day we both went to the new 3rd precinct as he wanted to see what it looked like. He was like a kid seeing all the people he knew from when he was on the police force and so they gave him the Grand Tour which I thought was so nice. The communication with his friends was difficult, but the smile on his face was something I will never forget. We talked about that trip for a long while after that. So for me to leave Barbara out of anything to do with my dad is a great injustice to his memory. I am so sorry daddy but I can not fight Paul and right now he is being such a jerk. Please forgive me.
So to all my family and friends, Barbara was the reason my dad lived 6 years in the condition he did because of her love and support. I love you Barbara and you will always be a part of my family.