1st Aid in the Desert

Now, this chap in the photo is Steve.


Sunday evening saw us running on Hash in the Desert. On the
St Georges Day and ANZAC Day Run............ Eric with another couple of chaps set the run out in the desert.
A good crowd of 55 males and females started running and walking.

Towards the end of the run Eric came back to the start area at a rate of knots shouting for me, seems one of the chaps, Steve by name, was having a Hypo( Diabetic) at the base of a very large sand dune. So after shouting for some chocolate and some coke off I shot, at the base of the dune Steve was sat very not with it, Eric made it to him while I took a tumble down the dune landing on my back, after getting up we administered the coke and chocolate and Steve became more compus mentus, thank goodness.
A 4 x4 managed to get to us and we were lifted back to the start. After some more food and drink Steve was back with us....the evening continued and we had a curry there in the desert bought from an Indian Cafateria, a good evening in the end.

I have now decided we need a 1st Aid Kit and a hypo box not just for the Diabetics but for heat exhaustion as well, So each time we head out away from Dubai, we will have our own, hash box.

I realise all the cars probably have one but at least we will know what is in the hash one.

This week in Dubai

So what has happened here in Dubai during the last 10 days or so, just like being at home anywhere not a lot.

Dubai is just about as exciting as your home town, on a day to day basis.

Eric has spent time reading on the balcony.

I suppose I could talk about the Laundry and Cleaning I have done because the hired help has been back to Sri Lanka to arrange her wedding......Boring you will say.

I have managed a fair bit of embroidery and Quilting.

I did spend a morning chopping up and folding fabric into fat quarters with 5 other ladies, as each member of the Quilters Guild will get a bundle of 6 fat quarters on Sunday 27th at our AGM, as an end of year gift. By the way there are 80 members so a lot of fabric to cut and fold.
For the uninitiated a fat Quarter is a yard of fabric that has been cut into quarters from selvage edge to centre and along centre fold, thus giving you 4 pieces......there bet that is as clear as mud. Also arn't you glad I mentioned it.

One evening we went out to dinner with a very nice couple Cecile ( Belgian ) and Mighet ( who is arab of some denomination) who Cecile met in Israel many years ago.

We went to a Thai Resturant called Blue Elephant, this is the best Thai food we have ever tasted and go there frequently, the setting and atmostphere is wonderful, so relaxing.

Blue Elephant restruants are all over the world and have got to be the best, if you visit us here in Dubai a visit to Blue Elephant is on the 2$ tour.

We also went to Phil and Tika's for a swim in the pool and a BBQ in their garden albeit 10ft x 12ft, amazing how many hasher's you can sit in a small space, the food flowed and everyone was fully stuffed by the time we left.

We ran on Hash on Sunday evenings, most uneventful.

But Eric did a Pub/Bar crawl with Hash last Thursday evening when 50 Hashers went from bar to bar for a drink all wearing a teeshirts printed for the occassion, they started at 6.30pm on a coach where they had Swarma Sandwiches ( wrap style) and Samosas to fill the tummy before the onslaught of beer. I believe it was about 12.30am when he arrived home again....I say believe because I was asleep, but seems it was a good night.

Fabrics Dubai and UAE

Fabric s for some reason are just "dirt" cheap her in Dubai and UAE...
Makes a change every thing else is getting very expensive...so back to the fabrics
A few ladies from the Dubai Quilters Guild decided to take a trip to Abu Dhabi to a very large fabric shop in fact know as
Cairo Fabric Exhibition, the reason for the name is a bit of misnomer as you can not buy fabrics in Cairo, this info comes from Jenny Bowker re known Australian teacher of Quilting and Textiles living in Cairo who spends time and copious amounts of dollars on fabric when she comes to Dubai... Back to the story and stop digressing you say..
So Abu Dhabi is one and half hours drive from here so 5 to a car we set off and spend an hour or so in the Cairo Fabrics almost buying up the shop, the picture is just a small selection of my stash, and it is 3 piles deep..... unable to seen on photo.
The fabric is all from USA and Japan and Korea of all places, big names and brands of fabric, now the sad part for all you ladies that quilt
It costs between 2$ and 6$...that's NZ dollars a yard. "Why oh why" ? does it cost so much else where in the world who is ripping off who I ask
In NZ we pay from $16 to $35a meter, in UK they pay 11 to 20 GB pounds a yard, in USA 15 to 25 dollars a yard.
So you can imagine my stash is growing very fast already to be shipped to NZ when we leave....to justify why I spend so much on fabric...think of the money I will save in the future when we are back in NZ. I will have enough fabric to quilt for may be a good few years and never have to go near a fabric shop.....so you believe that you would believe anything .
So it is almost worth a holiday in Dubai just to stock up on the fabrics

Another day doing what you like best

Yesterday I spent the day on a course run by

Di Wells from Tewksbury in the UK.

It was a great day and I finished a wall hanging all of 5 x 6 inches.

It's base was a Log Cabin block in toning colours, I used pinks to oranges, you then cover in various colour organza pieces in tones of greens to reds with blues to purples .....which changes the whole tone of the piece and gives you blocks from which you look for the buildings, by adding roofs and windows you have your own village on a hill.

By changing the colours in the base block you can change the whole thing from day to night.

I think I will try a night one as well....

It was fascinating and would be a good class when I get back to NZ.

Tour of New House

Today my grandson Ben 5 yrs old gave me the "tikki tour"( a new Zealand saying I believe) of their new house.

Now this could be thought of as impossibility as he is in Hamilton, New Zealand and I am in Dubai UAE.

But not to Ben he took me on a telephone tour, he told me where everything was in the rooms whose room it was and how it looked he even counted the stairs as he climbed them . In his little mind I am sure he thought I could see it all just like him.

He even showed me where they had cut down the weeds so they can go to the side of the house

But it was a great tour and I am sure I can now picture everything just as he told me.

50 runs on Desert Hash

This last week at Hash, Eric was presented with his engraved beer mug noting 50 runs on the Desert Hash. Paula who is Hash Cash presented it so she had to sit on the ice as well

Dubai Quilters Guild Show

These last few weeks have been busy, I have the pleasure ( I think that is the correct word) to be coordinator of the Show.

Not such an onerous job with a good committee of other ladies there with you, They all have a job and are executing them well, so I have no fears that all will not be successful on the day.

It is to take place in Zayed University in the Atrium, which is so large that we may take up a quarter of it and that is giving ourselves all the room we could dream about.

So on May 30th..... it is "Show Day " there will be approx. 100 quilts and various other items on display, we will have vendors stalls selling fabric and threads, sewing Machines and notions, also various other crafty items.

There will also be our Charity Quilt for raffle.

After the Birthday Blog

After writing my Birthday Blog a friend sent me this ....it says every thing.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Old Age, I decided, is a gift.

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be.

Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and sagging butt.

And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't agonize over those things for long

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly.

As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.

I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with ageing

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 50's, 60's, & 70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will..

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set . They, too, will get old

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be.

And I shall eat dessert every single day. If I feel like it.

 

The Boys

This is the latest picture of all the "Boy's " in our lives taken at Aunty Kathryn's last Friday.

From left to right...

Ellis, Ben Harvey and Alex

Birthdays

Yeah!! another one has just happened that makes 64 in all, I think the time has come to either forget them or celebrate them to the full.

So how do you feel at 64...well! no different than when I was.....now here I would like to say 21, but that is not so, in reality may be 38 -40 or 45.

There are things that tell me this...... like not being able to run for a bus.......that's a daft saying I have not had the possible chance to run for a bus for at least 30 years, so how would I know I can't run for one.   So may be I need to say what I can still do and be positive.

 

I can still jump a fence, I did this just a few weeks ago at a maraton Eric was running in.

I can still touch my toes.

I can swim and dance in fact "jive" when the music is right, we did this just a while ago at a 40th birthday party we went to.

I can still ride my bike.....when in NZ
I can still stand on my head ......I tried it just now.
I did a 3 1/2 kilometer charity walk just the other evening in 30 mins when the temperatures were very hot.....not bad for an "oldun"
I can walk the shopping malls for hours.

I still can cook and clean.....when necessary "God bless Enoke" who comes in here and "Does for us"

I do my own laundry....again "God Bless Enoke" who does the ironing

I still get on planes and spend copious amounts of hours sitting, and don't feel to bad at the end of the journey.....jet lag is taking a bit longer to get over.....must admit that one.

I can spend hours and hours sewing......Embroidery and Quilting, this is such an age crossing thing we have ladies from teens to eighties doing this..... so here I am a young chicken to some of the members of our guild.

So what do you look like when you are 64, mainly I look like Eric's wife, Kathryn and Iain's Mum. Ellis, Ben, Harvey and Alex's Grandma.

I am over weight, very white/grey of hair, suffer with arthritis in my hands and am allergic to Shrimp or Prawns, I have to be careful what I eat late at night the main one being Garlic.....I have been asked to be President of Inner Wheel again and I also am Vice President of Dubai Quilters Guild, So there is still life in the "old Gal yet"

But most of all I feel quite contented with life.

I am also very thankful for all of the above.
 So let the Birthdays come.

A Wedding

There is to be a wedding in our family.

Kathryn and Steve will get married on 20th September 2008.


Now being in Dubai obviously causes a few hic ups..and throws spanners in the works.
Firstly I would have given any thing to be with Kathryn to help choose her dress, instead of her being in tears there and us bubbling here.
It would be great to help with the big stuff and fiddleing stuff that goes with a do like this...
she her blog site.

http://www.benalex.blogspot.com/








But as things are, it is not possible. Flitting to New Zealand for a day here and there is unpractical and impossible to say the least. So we all have to send lots of messages and lots of photo's, but email and text and phone is instant ....... so help ....  remember is just a push of a button away.
Love Mum and Dad