Grandma and her boys

Wednesday 20 February 2008

Update from us

Well ! life is great but we returned from the camping weekend and both went down with the Flu-like symptoms raging through the Emirates.......you are really out of fashion if you have not had it, so for once in our lives we are up there with everyone else.

Eric has finally been accepted as a resident, but my visa will not be issued until his has finalised which means I still have to take a trip to Bahrain for a couple of days on what we call here
" A Visa Run" but that is okay, as I will get to visit with the lovely ladies I met there, while living there albeit a short while.

We have here cheap airfares around the gulf, just like other places in the world.....so we booked a flight for me on Jazeera Airways ( off shoot of Kuwait Air ) 69 dhs each way...final bill 479 dhs.
The taxes were more than the flight, so on 4th March I am off on a jolly by myself to Bahrain.

Helen, a friend from Jordan days and now living back in UK is arriving on Friday for a weeks Break and some sunshine, we have the sun, but it is sand storm season and one is forcast for today Wednesday lets hope it clears before she arrives.
We have also booked to go to the " Welsh Ball" ...I know we are not Welsh ...but it is a good night out, so have to look for a leek and some red jewellery to brighten up the black outfit.
Eric even bought a new dinner suit so he will wear a red bow tie,
I have been looking for some fabric with dragons on it but nothing so far, if I found any I would have made him a bow tie.
I am hoping to find a baby leek so I can make a corsage with it for myself...got to get into the spirt of the evening.

Hopefully some photo's after the event

Sunday 17 February 2008

Camping weekend




Camping in Hatta with Desert Hash House Harriers
Today we came back from 3 glorious days on a farm.

The Hash went on it's away weekend to "Little Mo's" farm in Hatta about 2 hours from Dubai.

"Little Mo" or Mohammed Saifan to give him his real handle is a local Emirati.

He bought this farm about 10acres in late 1970's it is completely walled in, it does not actually grow anything that would make him a living, so he runs a construction company on the side which contributes to him being a very rich man indeed.

Although he grows dates which I would guess he sells , he also has a few mangos, there are turkeys and chickens, goats and rabbits, a Peacock and a few other animals which they do not eat as they are pets.
The place is worked by immigrant workers of which we saw 4 over the weekend, bet they thought they had died and gone to heaven, what a cushy job they have, accommodation and all found plus the house staff.

So the farm is a family country house with swimming pool and room for at least 10 guests in various buildings.


A lot of the land is terraced so camping was easy, 70 people in all went and 9 of these were children.
The main reason for the actual date we went was it was Little Mo's 1,000th run with the Desert Hash, that is the equivilent of 20 yrs of hashing every week with out fail, although it took him



25yrs to accomplish it.




Happy campers ......
The garage which served as the dining room could hold at least eight cars.
This picture was taken at 7.30am so only a few early risers.

A Half Marathon




Last weekend Eric and a team of 3 others ran a relay Half Marathon in Ras Al Khaimah ( one of the Emirates).

They did an amazing time of 1 hour 43 minutes, they were eighth in the team finalists of 75

and the final runner Scott Jarvis ran 6.1kms in 23 minutes ....well done everyone even if some of you are getting a little long in the tooth.




We had to get up at 4.45am to get to R.A.K in time to check in and we were on our way back by 12 noon...after a real english breakfast of bacon, eggs, beans and toast at the local golf course...that breakfast went down a real treat I can tell you.

Tuesday 5 February 2008

Quiet Period in Dubai

There has not been a lot of excitment in the Breadmore household, we have just been doing the regular things...

RUNNING

Eric is still running on Hash and he is now the GM it has a meaning I believe Grand Master but could also be call the Great Mouth as they seem to have to shout well , above the mele' of other folks trying to talk at the same time.
He ran the Bahrain Relay with a team of 16, they managed a 4 hours 23 seconds doing 50 kms.

Next Friday he is running the Ras Al Khaimah half maraton in a team of 4......so watch this space.

CAMPING
We hope to go camping on the 14th February in Hatta UAE about 2 hours away. One of the Hashers a local named "Little Mo" has a farm there and this is a regular winter activity for the hash........we are looking forward to it......so far 35 people have signed up for it so should be a good weekend. This weekend is also special for Little Mo as he will run his 1,000th run with the Desert Hash House harriers.

We have bought a small tent and some airbeds for comfort, the tent was an amazing bargan at $28 now that is a bargain and it is suppose to sleep 5, yeah ! migets or dwarfs. I think we will be okay but just hope it does not rain as it has a mesh window with no cover over it.
So it is going to be an interesting weekend ...plus all the food is going to be catered from breakfast to evening meals.....another watch this space

QUILTING
I have been doing a fair amount of quilting with classes on a few different technics and also running a class myself, it is a long story...... I like to make pin cushions and needlecases of which I have loads and loads that I give away, if you have not received one drop me a line, will see what I can do for you....mean while after attending many meetings and classes with my various needlecases that I use everyone kept asking " where did you buy them" after explaining I made them they all wanted some.

So the idea entered my little brain run a class and they can make their own. So I made a sample as per picture and so far 6 people belonging to my Quilting Bee have made a set and I have another class for 8 ladies next Tuesday.
On top of that we have a guild table just like Rotorua Embroidery Guild and I have made 6 sets for sale.....a new business you may well ask?
We have also been making Charity quilts for a womens refuge here in Dubai, we have tried something different after making the "Top" we made it into a duvet bag and used a very thin duvet as the inner and have tied the quilts, an interesting finished quilt, very cuddly and some lovely quilts from the 12 inch blocks made by the guild members so far we have enough blocks for about 20 quilts but we have promised 32 as that is the number of beds at the refuge. Photo's at a later date.