apple pie

So what do you do when you wake up at 6 a.m. and realize you left the flour thickening agent out of the two beautiful apple pies that you made at midnight for the school's international day celebration that will be starting in two hours?
(The reason I forgot the flour is because when I was getting it out, the weight shifted in that huge plastic sack of sugar I put on the edge of the counter, spilling all of its contents on my newly swept floor.) When I picked up the pies that morning, they sloshed around beneath the top crust. Watery messes!
Even though Roger said it was a bad idea likely to end in disaster, I carefully cut and removed the top crusts off (in tact! yay!), poured the watery apple filling into a pan, added the flour and some extra cornstarch for good measure, headed it up until bubbly, poured in back in the pie, carefully put the crust back on, and served those puppies up to adoring masses. They were fabulous! So glad I could salvage them. But I didn't take any pictures of the day- too busy wrangling Edward.
After, Evelyn had four friends over, plus two nannies and the kids from next door. So glad we could be the fun house for a weekend, but it was a little exhausting! Time to head to bed!

whew!

So the whole month of February I was feverishly writing a 30,000 word entry for a writing contest here in Bahrain. I got it done- I am so proud! It was my own version of NaNoWriMo. Now that I know I can do something that long I might finally start working on a novel. Roger was so supportive- always watching the kids so I could write! So glad to have him as my partner in crime!

the Muharraq souk

This is one of the doors in the old Muharraq souk. I love the traditional doors here- they are beautiful! The shop keepers open the doors, and there is their shop, spilling out clothes, toys, household goods out into the alley way. We saw construction workers re-plastering and repairing one of the buildings and you could see they used wood beams to reinforce the walls. It was really neat. I guess the sea used to come right up to the market, but thanks to changing sea levels and land reclamation, it is now quite inland.

Doves

We had a pair of dove fledglings in our backyard. Momma had forced them out of the nest and they were having the hardest time learning how to fly. They would just perch on Edward's pirate ship, the trampoline, etc. (leaving a little something behind- lovely!) Edward loves birds and said "I'm going to catch them!" And he very nearly did because the stupid things wouldn't fly away- he is quicker running than they were hopping. Finally one got brave (or eaten by the neighbor's cat) and disappeared overnight. The other couldn't get the hang of it and was still in our backyard the next morning. I thought if I went close, it would get scared and finally fly away. Well, I got close and it was scared, but it would just hop to the next trampoline spring. I took a photo and decided to let nature take its course. I kept Edward away though, because what would I do if he actually did catch it? It was gone the next day.  

Weaving

We took a Joy School field trip to the handicraft center. The weaving was Edward's favorite- he actually fell asleep on the couch while watching, the gentle clacking of the loom put him right to sleep. This guy said he could do 60 meters an hour I think. He is weaving cloth for pashminas- so pretty. Makes you appreciate them more. The room has a hole in the floor with the petals for the loom underneath so he can switch the warp / weft (?) back and forth as he passes the shuttle back and forth. He was so fast!

rush

Rushing around to get somewhere on time yesterday, we rounded a bend and all of the sudden, there was a herd of goats, a tour bus and two guys on horseback all in the road ahead of us. Thanks for the reminder to expect the unexpected, Bahrain! I need to install a dash cam to capture everything. By the time I whip out my camera and turn it on, we've past the huge burning roadblock, the guy with a goat waiting for the bus or the sign that says "Open now until the end of time." Oh the moments I didn't capture!

Goggles Guy

Meet the newest superhero at our house... Goggles Guy! His feats include putting on a (twisted) shirt all by himself, jumping on the bed and causing mayhem with his cuteness.