Grandma and her boys

Saturday 24 May 2008

Cream Raw Silk

Cream Raw Silk... this is the material for Kathryn's wedding dress.
Today I purchased the fabric from a shop I use in Satwa, Dubai along with the lining fabric.

I had to explain to the Indian fella's in the shop that it was for a wedding dress, and NO not for me, but my daughter and they were highly interested in all the details, they were amazed that the fabric was being flown to New Zealand to be made up.... and they made me promise a photo for them to see when I return after the wedding has taken place.
It will wing it's way to Kathryn via Uncle Malcolm and Aunty Janet's suitcase when they return from their holiday here...they arrive this coming Wednesday.
So back to the fabric .......I had a great time searching for the samples and always wondered what it would be like to purchase Raw Silk in large amounts and when the time came it felt great.
The range to choose from was amazing and I had already sent Kathryn some samples and this was the one she settled on, but still before I let them cut the 5 meters I called her in NZ from the shop just to check once again I had the right one.

I then searched for lace for the short sleeves( these are a may be at present, to be or not to be that is the question)
I found a few French ones....... most were beyond a joke in price even here in Dubai where fabric is so cheap, as I mentioned before the lace short sleeves are not a definite on the dress yet........ So there was no way I would pay the high price in case it was not used after all,
I managed a few reasonable ones for her to look at. Although I am sure lace is available in NZ especially the small amount that is required, and way below the $100 a meter they wanted for the French ones here.
You may think what a rotten Mum.... but what if it had been the wrong shade of cream or she did not like it....
so sorry Kathryn $100 on something that may not be used was not on the cards.
But the raw silk will be beautiful.

Wednesday 21 May 2008

Back from my travels where if it could it went wrong


This morning I arrived back from the UK, where I have spent 10 days visiting friends and reli's.

It all started on 9th May, I had a great weekend in Saffron Walden with Ros and Ian and the dog " raddish", yeah I know what a name for a dog, but it seems he came with it already.

Saffron Walden Market


The first thing I tried to do was get some money from a machine...... believe it or not, not one of 3 cards would work, baffled by this we went to the bank and they just shrugged the shoulders and said "sorry contact your own bank". Yeah great on a weekend and I have 37p to my name. God bless Ros and Ian they came up trumps and drew some out of their bank and Eric transferred it back to them almost immediately.



I from there went up to the village of Keyworth in Nottinghamshire, where we used to live and had a lovely time seeing the previous neighbours and friends, I stayed with Carol and Roger, they had invited our mutual friends Joyce, Anne and Malcolm to dinner in the evening and we had a great reminiscing time.
I then spent an evening with Helen in a village just outside of Evesham in the Cotswolds.
Before heading south to Southampton to visit with Family there.
I spent time with my two Aunts who have both been in hospital for major ops over the last few months, they were both well and looking good.
I spent the time staying with Anne and Terry my sister and her husband, and also had time with Paul and Penny the other two siblings of mine. It was great to catch up with all the family news, who had had babies, what grandkids were now at school, and reminisce about when we were all kids and the different way we saw our lives in those days amazing how 4 people can see their childhood and what happened from a different position and interpreted it so vastly differently.
Well the Credit cards continued to play up, working in some places and not in others.
So I guess that was may be a good thing so my spending was slightly curbed....I did say only slightly didn't I.

Thursday 8 May 2008

Rain in May ???



Tuesday morning we had quite a heavy shower of rain and thunder storm, nothing in that you may say...... but here in Dubai it is phenomenal, it does not rain after March until at least December.....

Today I was sent this cutting from the paper, which answers all the queries.
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An official of the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) on Wednesday confirmed the centre had carried out cloud seeding tests on clouds that came in from southern Saudi Arabia.
Cloud seeding experiment has thundering success
By Aftab Kazmi, Bureau Chief Published: May 08, 2008, 00:09
Al Ain: Tuesday's thunderstorm in the western and southern parts of the emirates was a result of a cloud seeding (artificial rain) test conducted by the weather authorities.
The storm produced intermittent rain in parts of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It was a surprising phenomenon in the late-spring month of May for the public and some weathermen.
An official of the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) on Wednesday confirmed the centre had carried out cloud seeding tests on clouds that came in from southern Saudi Arabia. 

Residents and weathermen were baffled by the occurrence of thunderstorms in May.
"I was amazed to hear about a thunderstorm," said a weatherman requesting anonymity.
He said it was an unusual development of CB clouds, the clouds that generate thunderstorms, as most converge over the UAE in the winter, he added.
Abdullah Ahmad Al Mandoos, Executive Director of NCMS, said the cloud seeding test was successful and more experiments would be conducted in the next three months but depending on the weather conditions.
The NCMS director said Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Presidential Affairs, has played a vital role in the project and has provided a plane and other facilities for its implementation.
"He gives continuous guidance," he added.
He said the objective of the project is to enhance the national water resources, ground storage, and recycling of freshwater.

We dream of being able to modify the weather, especially as pearls of perspiration line brows and march down collars. It may not be such an outlandish idea if one goes by cloud seeding.
This is the natural process, in case of cloud seeding different types of cloud condensation nuclei are artificially introduced to accelerate the warm rain or cold rain process. However, it can only be done if the cloud system is of the necessary size, with sufficient lifespan and has enough water saturation. Most scientists say it is all about assisting nature.
Seeding is done using flares dropped from aircrafts
As nations look for answers to the problem of water shortage, controlled cloud seeding could be one of the key options.
- Anupa Kurian, Readers Editor

My visit to UK


This evening I am flying off to UK, reword that statement the flight is at 1am in the morning, I hardly call that evening.

So I am looking through the wardrobe trying to find something to pack..... as it is 38 degrees here now most days, a drop to 12/15 degrees I think I am going to feel a difference...problem is we do not have a great deal of "cold clothes" here.

We have one fleece jacket between us, luckly it fits us both, I have a couple of sweaters and some jeans so will have to make do...may be I just might have to do a "little" shopping there.

A Visit from Friends




This last couple of days we have had a visit from some Rotary Friends from Rotorua.




Marlene and Tony Baker
They arrived at some unearthly hour in the morning from NZ via Australia, and didn't want to sleep so after a "cuppa" and a chat we took off.
I had a great day showing them Dubai, they were fascinated and amazed by the architecture, they got the $2 tour and we went off to the Blue Elephant for a meal in the evening.

The second day they took the "Big Bus Tour of Dubai" and found their way back to Mirdiff in a taxi, well done them!
They flew on to Sweden on A Rotary Friendship Exchange this morning, after a great flying visit with us.

Monday 5 May 2008

One for the record


This is my car a 4x4 Ford
We got a 4 x 4 so as we could go into the desert and not get stuck in the sand, which it has proved it's self over and over again, we rarely get bogged down in soft sand.


Eric had just bragged about not getting stuck in the Ford, how nimble it was and how it was nice and light and floated over the sand to all the fella's at Hash on Sunday evening and then shot up a 10ft sand dune with grace and ease to land at the top on the only piece of scrap concrete for miles around.
I was late at hash and was presented with a very large piece of black plastic from the front of my car in the Hash Circle. Which seems to have disappeared and so I have lost it, hope it was not vital.
Plus this photo has now been published on the Hash web page.

Dentist in Dubai



We have been away from NZ for approx 20 months, and have talked about seeing the dentist for may be 8 months now..., so it was time to check them out here.
We are both very good at attending the dentist and go every 6 month to a year with out fail.
While we were in China Eric had a crown fitted by the health service there, fantastic service and cost about 75 cents to see the dentist and a few dollars for the actual crown.
So by recommendation we went along to the British Dental Clinic, there found a really lovely dentist Joy Afif from London, she trained in Leeds in UK and can't be more than late twenties early thirties, lovely to look at so Eric say's, to me she is just a nice young lady, I must admit a darling, she tells you every thing as she is doing it, with a pleasant smile in her voice. Eric said she beat any dentist he has ever been to see in the past.
Eric got away with a scale and polish this time, but me I had to have a crown replaced...thank goodness for the dental insurance...It was a little more then the Chinese one Eric had fitted.
But a good experience, shame we can't export her to NZ she would go down a treat, her appointment book would be full.

Thursday 1 May 2008

Can you believe this ?



You are not going to believe this..
We were walking through Ace Hardware Store the other day and there for sale was one of those tacky Resin Tabletop Waterfalls which doubled as a candle holder...yeap!! you guessed it we bought one...and I have hours of fun in the evenings poking and prodding it, changing the water direction with orange sticks and green glass stones, and fiddling with the candles...now if anyone knows me well they will tell you I love fire and water, so what a great toy.

Visa Run




Pictures are of Bahrain

The old and the new side by side


Once again I had to do a visa run, these 60days come around so quickly.

So I took the morning flight to Bahrain and visited with some of the American ladies I met while living there. Had lunch with Jody and Verna, then returned to Dubai on the 9.30pm flight.

It was a great day but 15 hours long which is quite exhausting.
Jody and her husband Bill are retiring in June so it was a goodbye visit, but you never know one day we may make it to Salt Lake City... so watch this space Jody.