Camel escapade....

 This morning is the beginning of the start of the routine school year.  In short, it means, I actually know what I am doing today because there is no crisis and the child is in school.  Hence, time has returned...and so have I to the blog.


Naturally, there is a heap that I could write about but I won't today.  Today is about the camel's and the farm and what it is like not to panic when your child has gone AWOL.

The camels!  Our family is blessed in having some gorgeous Qatari friends.  Our relationship has developed over a couple of years.  Teagan now adores visiting their farm and last week, she and her newly confident friend took themselves out of the house, up the road, and to the camels.  The small boy is the expert on camels, the small girl is the expert on independence.  Armed with a "camera" - Mum's iPhone - the duo took off (thinking they had permission which is understandable as there is no fluent common language amongst the adults).  Fancy footwork was needed to establish that neither child was actually out in the farm; thankfully, as this is a no-go alone zone due to extreme dangers.  Parents breath a sign of relief and know that the children are somewhere in the farming district, oh, and the lights go on, armed with a mobile phone!

My call to the small girl:  "hi Teagie, where are you?"
Teagie: "the camels mum! they are right here"
Mum: "what can you see?"
Teagie: "camels, right here!"
Mum: "do you know where here is?"
Teagie: "Mum, with the camels!"

Okay, so now you get the drift!  Accordingly, a small european girl with a small Qatari boy standing in front of a group of camels (behind a fence as the resulting photos attest to), does draw local farmer attention.  Both children were guided home buzzing with their "bigness".  If you want to know, they were not told off, rather guided to be a tad more clear in their intentions.

All photos are courtesy of the small girl and a 16 year old girl....

Some family time...

As this blog post is so severely delayed, I will keep my words to a minimum. My primary comment, though, is so well deserved. Mum did a fantastic job! A close family friend sent Mum some recipes and a work plan and Mother Merriman executed it with finesse - a good plan, a magic delivery.

Teagan and I have had such a wonderful first four weeks. Thanks to the whole family.

Location:Dunedin, New Zealand

Okay, I know!

Yes, I know; it has been ages since I posted. I won't put in a catch up blog post here as I am sure Ross wants to see the photos from our short Southern break.

We started with a visit to Grandad Ian and he is still looking great! Teagan became concerned at not locating the grave belonging to Jesus....I explained the he was not buried with her Granddad.






Queenstown and the Mecure Hotel were just superb - as usual.












The Invercargill property looks great but I took some photos of some impending repairs....ahhhh always, never ending!






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Queenstown and Dunedin

Pin it....

Teagan and I worked together to make our own version!

For some months I have been "pinning it". PINTEREST ( is an on-line scrapbook and is a wonderful way to store and share ideas.  Many for me are inspirational.  As I am a crafter at heart and have finally achieved my ultimate career choice (not working and raising a child), I love creating along with the rest of my activities.

On Sunday evening as I was playing on my Pinterest boards, I heard a creak as a door behind me opened; little footsteps very silently (but not silent to my mummy ears) stood behind me looking at the computer screen and then the gasp happened; "oh Mum, can we make that?"  After that she dived into my sewing room and flew into the fabrics!  Do I write that this was at 9.30pm?  Never mind, she has been off school sick so after choosing fabrics with an assurance that we could indeed make one "similar" to the one in the photo the little feet snuggled into a long sleep.

Tiny is well now!

Here is the actual Pinterest link:

The wee mouse in a tin house CLICK HERE

Teagan feeling much better after a few hours in Al Ahli

The nurse who "vampired" Teagan and helped sort her  out

And what did we find....

Tiny

Today we found Tiny.  Tiny is Tiny.  Tiny on the inside fast lane near the Duhail fly-over and mewing for his little life.  I drove past him as there was no time to stop and considered the risks of saving him versus carrying on my merry way.  As usual, if a woman stops on the road a man will stop too, so Mr Nice Bloke stopped and helped block the non-busy traffic as the mewing jumped up into the suspension of the car not to be seen until a timed stop at a friend's house. Nearly NZD250 later we are the proud foster parents of a manky, sickly little scrap of life.  I daresay there will be a few broken nights as the little creature gets his health and strength back ready for some rehoming here in Doha.

Feeding time

I had to include this: where else do you need to advertise functionality
at +58 deg C!

Team work: off to the pool after school

Half term break....

The back of Teagan's new top (no good front photo)

Half-term break was one week long.  We started with gusto but that fizzled exceptionally quickly into a mass of contemplation, low motivation and talking.  Clearly it was the fire at Villaggio that took away our energy.  Everywhere we turned someone was affected, there were tears and always always always the sadness at all of those lost.  The event was (for us) not "overseas" in a remote place that we did not know.  It was a place a lot of us have been too and ended the lives of those we knew. It was a time for community.

The ankles of Teagan's new leggings

Hence, Teagan and I laid low.  We did not go out to the "play lands" with our Bedouin friends (my mutual agreement), nor did we go out to other houses.  Teagan and I had a quiet time at home absolutely focused on....... drum roll.....it must be exciting...... SPELLING (or as they call it at British school "spellings").  Teagan was on a mission to get the first goodness knows how many high frequency words spelled correctly (guess 240).  An hour of focus in the morning and an hour in the late afternoon and you guessed it........ a heap of time and focus......and she, well, she did ummmmm ......  did make "some progress". All good intentions and plenty of effort have led to an improvement in some areas: handwriting!

And for me, it was finishing off some projects.  My list of "to dos" before packing up for New Zealand has diminished horrendously; how on earth did I do it?  Anyway, I am posting here a photo of Teagan's long planned and designed "longies" with her accompanying tunic: she is sure that she will be warm at Grandma's house.

Tomorrow, I have to get some buttons to finish off her wee heavy winter skirt and then post off all of my company accounts off to the accountant.  And, yes, I am on to my next list now.....

Far too fragile..

Here in Doha we have had a massive fire, a fire in a place close to home where One sees and feels the direct results.  This was a fire in a place that we frequent often, a place where I have left my own daughter, a shopping centre where many many many people go and feel safe and comfortable.  Through the night we learned that three of our NZ expat community have been lost (the NZ triplets) and many from other nationalities.  Claudio (our spanish carpool buddy) has just lost three of his friends.

Right now I am sitting at the computer keeping an unemotional face as I have two 6 year olds happily drawing in another room.  My heart is not unemotional and my eyes are burning holding back the tears for all of the lost.

I would also like to say, that whilst many have not lost their lives or their families, some will have lost their income and their jobs: it is not going unthought of....

There by the grace of God...

Acknowledgement to the prayer cartoon: Doha-based cartoonist Khalid Al Baih drew this cartoon as a prayer to the deceased.