While we’re in the subject of fangirling and bands playing in Dubai, here are a few more photos I took from that very hot evening spent singing along with and watching Boyzone in Dubai. Dear me, this was 3 years ago!
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Summer is well and truly here. Daylight comes far too early in the mornings and leaves much later in the evening; not complaining about this as it means quicker drying time for the laundry. The humidity is the worst though. Sooner or later, it would be unbearable to be outdoors even under the shade.
It’s an annual ritual for residents of the UAE, and the Middle East, to moan and complain and bitch about the summer. It’s fun, and quite exasperating at the same time esp for those who have been living here when Clinton was the president of the USA. And by Clinton, I meant the male version ;). No matter how many summers you have endured in the UAE, each time it comes it’s different.
So I am going to reminisce about clear blue skies, crisp cool air and count the days until they come again.
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Take me back to this amazing place…
A very quiet spot in the woods. We just had to stop our tour bus and get off and smell the crisp clean air and take photos while dodging cars!
Brandywine Shawl is one of those patterns in my one-day-I-will-knit-this list. I coveted the pattern ever since I laid my eyes on it and was lucky enough to receive it as a gift from a swap I participated in ages ago, (thanks, Susan!) but just never found the drive to actually knit it.
I hand-dyed the yarn I used for this project, originally planning to use it for colourwork but I was itching to cast on a shawl in this yarn. The pattern is a gift from SusanFromAthens during a Sundara swap. 🙂
My original cast on date was actually the 12th of August 2011. Yes. So long ago. I was in the middle of Chart B, that much I remember, and I made the mistake of not marking my place in the chart. So when I dropped the project to work on something and then came back to it, I could not read my work! I had no idea where in the chart I was.
So nearly 3 years after that original cast on, I frogged what little progress I had and restarted the shawl. The years between had hopefully given me enough experience to know better than to rely on my own (failing) memory.
I did 12 repeats of Chart B since the skein is quite generous and I think I could have added one more repeat and still have leftover to contribute to my sock yarn blanket.
It was fun while it lasted but I am glad to finish this shawl. Seems like ages ago when I first had the desire to knit this complicated-looking shawl. I struggled with the i-cord bind off and even thought of doing just a regular stretchy version but it looked untidy and out of place. So I persevered until I got the hang of it, which was quite satisfying because now the shawl has a nice neat top edge.
Thanks to the ever gracious Marina for modelling the shawl for me.
Raveled!
Cast on: 27 July 2014
Cast off: 2 January 2015
Needles: US 6 – 4.0 mm / US 8 – 5.0 mm
Yarn: Wollmeise “Pure” 100% Merino Superwash, Natural
How much: 0.9 skeins = 473.2 meters (517.5 yards), 135 grams
It seems like a lifetime ago now but we recently visited Georgia for the first time. Georgia the country in Europe, not Georgia the state in America. It’s one of the Eurasian countries where Filipinos can travel without requiring a visa, that is if you have a valid residence visa in the UAE, which we have. Yay! We are allowed to visit visa-free for up to 90 days. We only needed a few days so that was great for us. In fact, there were quite a few Filipino holiday-makers in the same flight as ours. Why not take advantage of visa-free travel, yes?
What else do you do when you are child-free on a beautiful Friday morning? Go on a Fridate, of course!
Bernie and I went out to Zabeel Park today for Ripe Market, one of the many farmer’s market type that pops up during the cooler months. Ripe Market has been going on for a few years and they have other events in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah too. They even have an evening market in Al Barsha Pond Park.
We made a beeline for the Raw Coffee truck and were both amazed at the never-changing quality of their coffee. Kim was at the till too! She is one of the owners of Raw Coffee and it’s great to see her being so involved.
Since we didn’t get to have breakfast at home, we walked around the stalls to decide what to eat. It was so difficult to narrow it down to just one choice! So many good food on offer, so little time. Essential, Book Munch, S’wich, Moti Roti, Fraiche, Taqado…and so many more food outlets offering amazing food. In the end, we decided on a chicken wrap with fries from S’wich and mini pancakes from Holland House to go with our gorgeous flat whites from Raw.
It was a beautiful day, a little windy but that was welcome. It does get really hot if you stand under the sun for too long. Thank goodnews for the trees in the park! We even found an area with table tennis equipment, free for anyone to use, so we played for a while.
Days like these are one of the best things about living in Dubai. The sun still shines strong but as long as you slap on an SPF50, you’re good to go. It’s also a waste of a beautiful day to stay indoors and not bask in the glorious winter sun.
I hope you’re enjoying the weekend. Belated happy Thanksgiving to my friends and family in America. Enjoy your turkey coma 🙂
Some trivia about the number 44:
Meanwhile, in the here and now, I turned 44 years old today, and my iPhone knows how to make my day!
I did receive private messages from my children, a hug from the husband and the youngest son, phone call from my parents and lots of messages from friends and family everywhere. Josica made a special tiramisu cake and brought me flowers. My colleagues made the day quite special. Thank you all.
Excuse the bingo wings!
The best part of my birthday card from work this year is this :
I did not expect that, which makes it even better! Thank you everyone for the well wishes, the emails, the PMs, the WhatsApp messages. I do not feel my age at all 🙂
How can I be blue when I have ribbons of rainbow on my feet? 
Dusk in early Dubai winter is quite pretty, esp when you have the silhouette of the world’s tallest building in your sights.
The sunrise is not too shabby either! 
It’s common place to see vintage cars like this on the road too.
Or super sleek, matte painted, top of the line Lamborghinis like this with special license plates. That’s 777 by the way, in Arabic the number 7 is written resembling the letter V.
I hope you’re enjoying your Sunday. To those who are on the other side of the world, enjoy the rest of your weekend! To those on this side of the globe, have a great rest of the week ahead.
