If You Can't Stand the Heat...

Ever since Kayla received "Frisky" for her seventh birthday, we've been cat owners. During that fifteen year run, we never had the misfortune of having a cat in "heat". That all changed upon Kristi and me arriving back from the states two weeks ago. On first meeting "Princess", Kristi was quite enamored. She kept asking if she could take her back to the States with her. "She's soooo pretty and sweet!", was Kristi's argument to win, or rather lose her case. Boy, did that tune change in the next couple of days. Kayla arrived in Doha two days after us and with her arrival, the dreaded "heat" hit in full force. That cat didn't shut up 24/7 their entire visit. Thank goodness we spent our time out of the villa and hitting the streets or our sanity would have been lost. Poor Princess spent most of her time locked in the bathroom when we were home. Since the girls have left, our kitten is back to her pretty and sweet self, alleluia. The task at hand now is to get her to the vet to be spayed before the vicious cycle hits, again. I called the vet that we used for Sykes and was told the fee for spaying is 900QR. Geez, Louise. That's a pretty good chunk of change coming in at around $250. That doesn't even include her first shots or anything else the vet deems necessary. That's a whole lot of tea at The Ritz!

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In the Eyes of the Beholder

I've been putting off this post, maybe because I wasn't sure how I was going to approach the subject at hand. You know, Qatar has some of the most beautiful and extraordinary architecture in the world. Seriously, with all the current construction and future plans for more, this place is an architect's dream. I have to tell you, though, one of these new structures is just wrong. The "penis building", as I like to call it, simply looks overbearing and out of place. Just sayin'.

Now, tell the truth, didn't you think the same thing?!

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And Jump, If You Have To

I heisted these pictures off Kayla's facebook page. Last week during the girls' visit, we went to The Pearl. Of course, I brought my camera, but little did I know I wasn't packing my memory card. Horrors. I begged Kayla for the card from her camera to which she obliged. Problem was that I gave her the card back without downloading the pics onto my laptop. So, here I am stuck with low resolution pics from facebook. Maybe that's a good thing. I'm not sure I want you to see my facial expression in my "jumping" pic, but you know, sometimes you just have to make your own fun. No, I'm not my mother's daughter in that respect. She would have crawled in a hole and died before she would have pulled off the antics we were on that day. To make you feel better, mom, I was a bit hesitant, but those girls can talk me into just about anything. Peer pressure never goes away. The moral of the story:

LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE
& Jump if your Girls Ask

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A Tomato is Born

We have new life in the Knox backyard in Doha. Our first tomato! Here it is January, and our plants are flourishing surviving. I had to get a pic now, for I fear the lack of sunshine on our patio will be the demise of this precious fruit. The plant was given to us by a friend, replanted by David, staked by Pabell (gardener/housekeeper/car washer/friend) who is actually the official caretaker of our pride and joy. All credit will be given to him if this tomato somehow makes it to the dinner table. We do have an area along the side of the house that gets way more sunshine. With the removal of a few pavers, I can almost envision a garden in our future (as long as Pabell is around!).

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Souq Visit

Yeah, my partners in crime did leave yesterday. It's just that I had a few more fun pics to share of our souq waqif visit from their last night. Remember, we went there right after that fine cuisine at The Ponderosa? The night time atmosphere at the souqs never ceases to energize me. Not even the parking (or lack of) can take away from the experience. As we made our way through the maze of shops, we came upon "animal farm". Kristi begged for one of the Persian kittens, but I gave her a ditty from my "Lines that Come in Useful for Children" book (don't google that...I never actually wrote it) and said, "maybe next time, dear". She and Kayla played with every creature around, while all I could think of was show me the hand sanitizer. Cats are the limit to my call of the wild. We moved on to something I didn't mind touching...jewelry. The girls each had a really cool bracelet handmade right before their eyes to take home as a souvenir. Neither one of them can buy bangle bracelets because they are way too big for their small hands. No problem as the expert custom fit each of them. The entertainment value of watching the skilled jeweler do his thing was well worth the price of the bracelets.

P.S. They texted me as soon as they landed and are safe and sound in Austin.

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