As the days get warmer and the further afield I need to go to explore new things, I find my blog is getting less frequent. There are lots of things I want to see and do, but heat definitely becomes a factor. On the weekend we went to an outdoor movie in the grounds of the Museum. As with every night, it was warm and breezy on the edge of the ocean. A lovely evening to be outside. The movie was called The Identity of the Soul. One night it was shown in Arabic and the next English. The film is on five large screens and is about revenge, reconciliation and the individual and is on a world tour - so see it if it comes to your town. In the English Version, Vanessa Redgrave is the narator. It is about two poems, one Terje Vigen by Henrik Ibsen and the other A soldier Dreams of White Lilies by Mahmoud Darwish. The picture doesn't really give you much of a sense of the scene. But what was equally as fascinating as the film were the white plastic chairs which were set out for the masses, then there were a few rows of the same seats but they had gold fabric covers and looked very elegant considering, then in front of that was a row of very elaborate plush high backed large armchair seats where the VIPs sat. Typical stratas of society around here. However, the whole thing was free and disappointingly poorly attended. However, the home team was playing soccer at the same time,and everything stops for that - so hopefully the night before was more popular.

Normally I can see the sea and quite a ways into the distance from my window, but occasionally we get these fogs or maybe sandstorms I am not sure which it is - a combination really. Walking outside with all the sand from the construction blowing in your face, I can see why people cover their faces here - it is a real necessity. It gets in your hair too - so covering your head isn't a bad idea. I bought a couple of cheap scarves for the next time. I didn't want a fancy scarf as it would just get covered in this very fine dusty sand that gets into everything.

We were going to go away for a break, but there really wasn't much time to fit it in before I go away and in the end we just stayed home. Derek still hasn't lost his touch for fancy breakfasts and this was a nice surprise to wake up to. The additional different fruit is guava, second from the top, and a very sour green plum on top(which we have a case of unfortunately - pays to do your research ahead of time). I will have to get creative to find a way to eat them. They are very crunchy, like an apple, but very tart and about the size of a crabapple. The guavas fill the house with perfume as you walk in the house. I will continue with the blog on my return.

This is a little fish shop that we went to last week. It is just like a fish and chip shop as far as the decor is concerned and was on a little back street. However, I think this could become a really favourite place of ours. The fish is laid out as you see, in ice. You then pick out which fish you want and then you pick one of the numbered pictures above to choose the way in which you want it cooked. We went with a bunch of people and so there were a variety of choices of how they were done. We got to taste a number of them and each one was better than the one before. So I can see we will have to go back a lot of times to work our way along the list of flavours! Next time, we wont start with the soup as we just got too full. However, the soup was full of clams, fish, shrimp and crab legs like a bouillibase - a meal in itself.

I was waiting for a friend to pick me up in front of the building the other day, so thought I would take a quick picture. sometimes this bush is loaded with flowers and other days not. However, I have never seen a dead flower yet, the place is immaculately kept.

I went to the souq for my drawing class today and as usual I went on the bus. Sometimes the bus comes within a couple of minutes of me getting to the bus stop and sometimes it takes so long I have to get a cab to make it to class on time. Today the bus came early so had some time to waste before class, so went to the falcon shop on the way. There was only one lonely falcon there today as the owner said the season has finished and wont start again until the fall. There are rows of hoods made of leather for the falcons. Some are quite ornate and he wanted to sell me one as a souvenir but so far I have resisted. But they really are works of art and I suspect I will come home with a souvenir before long!

For my "arty" friends, this is what we drew today. Quite a change from my other art class, where we were encouraged to draw large and free with charcoal. In this class, we spend a long time drawing the same thing, refining it again and again - this took at least an hour if not more. Smudging to get shadows is not allowed - it is all to do with the different hardness of pencils and crosshatching. I was really very pleased with this. So much to learn - so little time. I came back in a taxi with one of my classmates whose husband works with Derek and lives nearby - so that was nice. Everyone is very friendly in the class. Some of them are doing amazing drawings. I think I will take the painting class next - but dont know if I will have to wait until fall. These are beautiful shoes, but I wouldn't want to walk in them!

This was a picture I took in the souq the other day. There were a couple of horses riding along. I am not quite sure of their purpose, but they are certainly very colourful.

This is another fountain along the Corniche. You certainly appreciate the running water as the weather gets hotter.

I found this building again. I really like the old superimposed on the new. Truly the face of Doha with old and new combined.

This is the flower from yesterdays blog. It appears that is grows out of the ground yellow and turns into this brown plant. I haven't found its name yet. It looks like something called cistanche tubulosa, but can't be sure. We definitely need to find a natural history expert to fill us in on all the details.

We went looking for Al Khor island last Friday. However, when we got there, we realized the information we had from the Natural History Group lacked the map which we hadn't realized didn't print off. Still, no worries for these intrepid explorers. We think we found the place, but when they said we would have to wade through a couple of cut throughs, we didn't bargain on wading up to our hips. See picture above. It was quite wide and hip deep. It is tidal, so had we waited around a few hours it might have got a little less. It might have also had a bit to do with the numerous little black crabs skittering about and I mean a lot - 50 - 100 just under the first rock. There were tons of small fish too - so it wasn't really appealing to wade through this.

It is basically an area of mangroves and supposedly a great bird watching area. We did see a number of different ones that we couldn't identify. I think we will have to join the Natural History society in the fall and go on some of their trips with people who know the local birds and flowers. This flower was growing on bushes in the swamps and reminded me of the ones at home as they had a very strong perfurme, with tiny flowers, like wolf willow. It must be in the same family.

This was growing out of the ground in various places and it turns into this brown crispy thing and you see lots of those. I will post that next time. This is very yellow and bright and waxy.

Here are a few pictures of the outside of the Museum of Islamic Art. There is a picture of the actual building on my very first blog. This is a picture of the outside courtyard on the way to the education wing and library. It is a wonderfuly calm place, full of water and there are some simple fountains just out of the picture. You can see a view of the West Bay area through the arches. The ball is made of branches either bleached in the sun or washed up on the beach. I have more closeups I may put up on another day. It is a very tranquil place on a hot day.

This area is the actual corridor leading to the other wing. To the left, through the arches is the courtyard in the picture above. How do they get the trees to grow exactly the same? It would have made a better picture at a slightly different angle, but the man on duty was at the end of the trees and a lady was sitting in the arches to the right looking through the arches to the left and she was right in my picture. She looked so peaceful, she didn't look like she was going to move any time soon! I will try another photo another day.

This is the path leading up to the entrance of the museum. To the left of this are similar steps, but water running down them and to the left of that is another row of palm trees like this. This is my oasis in the city. Any time I want my artistic fix, and tranquility - this is where you are likely going to find me.

I Went to my second art class today - boy, are they tough. We did the drawing upside down exercise, but the number of lines in the drawings were astounding. Mine was of a geisha girl with a million folds in her clothing - slight exageration, but I kept getting lost. She told us to just reveal a little of the drawing at a time and to work our way down very slowly. Very interesting exercise. Much more practice is required! This time I got to the class early and had time to chat with a few of the others who were early too. A first for me, as I met three people in the class - one who had been at the Quilt Guild meeting and I didn't recognize her, but she had thought she had met me before. The other girl is the wife of someone Derek works with and the third person was born in the same place I was in England. It truly is a small world.

After the class I went across the road to the Islamic museum again. I hadn't been back since the first day I was here pretty much. Since then I have got a book on the history of Islamic Art and Architecture. It is a small book, but packed with information. It was interesting to return to the museum this time with some understanding of the history and where the influences were coming from. Lots more to learn, but was fun to see things with a fresh eye.

I thought this time I would show some pictures of the museum's interior. The architecture is truly stunning. Lots of people who have been here have told me they don't think there is much in the way of art in the museum. However, I think if they have read some history, they would be amazed at how many important things historically are in here. What's more they are displayed in such a way as you can often see the underside or backs of things which are equally or more decorated. The top picture is of the inside of the dome -
full of different planes, like the rest of the building. The second picture is of the staircase, or at least the bottom of it. It really does seem to float and cause a pattern of its own.

This is the bottom of the staircase - beautiful tiling. I think this pattern has a name but am not sure if this is the bent palm one or not. Anyway, it is a stylized version of a design you see in a lot of places.

This is the ceiling in the hall way both to the washrooms! but also to the other building which will house the library and education centre. I am told this part will be open in October. I have some pictures of the outside area at the end of this corridoor of a beautiful courtyard. I will put those on tomorrow.

A few flower pictures that I took a while ago. Bougainvillia - not sure of the spelling. You can see these poor bougainvillia bushes struggling to grow everywhere. There are some beside the shopping centre seemingly growing out of the sand. It seems to be a thriving bush, others seem to be having a harder time, but I never realized before how hardy they must be. They are certainly a lovely bright patch to see every now and again.

This looked like a secret garden to me - in fact it is the back side of the hotel near the water and I am told these bougainvillia bushes line the road to the carpark.

This is what it takes to get some plants to grow. These are regular petunias in the colours of the Qatari flag - purple and white. All the piping is drip hoses that keep these plants watered, I am told in some cases four times a day! The plants around our building all have irrigation as dense as this, but they obviously turn ours on, as opposed to these, where they are struggling.

I dont know the name of this flower, but it grows almost like a weed. I went to the stitching group yesterday and the hostess lives in a compound so has a bit of a garden in the back and this was growing profusely, to the point that she has to keep cutting it back. She is an Alberta girl from way back and was trying her hand at growing brocoli and green peppers. It was so hot the green peppers didn't get beyond pea size before they fell off and the brocoli grew so fast and went to seed hardly before she got a crop at all. However, we do get quite a lot of locally grown produce, particularly tomatoes, potatoes and some herbs. The local produce is always way way cheaper than the imported and tastes really good.

Hooray, Hooray! I successfully have found a reliable driver. He picked me up yesterday on time and was even early to pick me up at the other end. He was fairly pricey - but worth it to know I can have transportation at my beck and call. It is far cheaper than me renting a car and getting into an accident on a roundabout. If I was living here for longer I probably would want a car, but so far, I think the combination of bus and hired car with the odd taxi thrown in will work. At least I dont have the trapped feeling any longer as I can go where I want, when I want. He explained several times that he was available 24 hours a day!

The stitching group was really fun. There were about ten people, two from Australia, two Albertans, one from Norway and the rest were mostly from Texas. All were from the quilting group and are mostly traditional quilters. But boy, get a group of women together and as usual the information is just flying. I learned where to find the best endocrinologist in the area or in the world according to her (should Derek need one before we get home!), where to buy cranberry juice, what sewing machine not to buy in the local grocery store, where to buy the best cotton material, where to buy the best silk for cheapest price etc. etc. etc. Someone from the group is tasked to pick me up next week, so I dont have to worry about the driver whisking me off early. It's great. Well we are off for Indian food tonight as someone from the office is leaving. It is certainly a revolving door around here. Different people are here on different contracts for different time periods. One of the young fellows who is always cleaning in the lobby and helped us bring the groceries in; he is from Napal as are a lot of people we have met. He reminded me he is from the mountains and also is feeling the heat - he has been here a year and has another year in his contract. Lots and lots of expats here, far from home.

This is the door to my drawing class in the souq. Aren't they lovely doors? There were several different nationalities of expats taking the class with me, which makes it very interesting. Judging by their drawing, most had had some experience. We started with doing various exercises to learn our tools but the exercise I have a picture of below was completely new to me. We had to scribble the shape of the vase one was the inside shape and the other the negative space. We had to scribble it from side to side and not do the outline. It was quite interesting as after a bit your brain shut off and you started to see it as volume. It was surprisingly hard to do. Several of the exercises were hard, so I think it will be a really good class. We even have homework to do - a drawing a day at least, does this sound familiar to my Articulation friends?

Yesterday was Derek's day off but it was so hot that we decided we would do what every other person in doha seems to do and that was to go to the mall! We went to one I hadn't been to before, called Villagio. In the centre of the mall there is a canal with gondolas you can hire. The place was crazily busy as there also seem to be a lot of sales on now. The ice rink was packed with kids on skates, I had no idea ice skating as as popular as it seems to be. There are ice rinks in several of the malls. These lights were on the way to the mall. I have never seen any like this before. Half the lights point in one direction and the other in the other. We came home at night and they dont seem to be terribly practical, but they certainly look effective.

This was just beside the mall where there seems to be a park area. It is as tall as a tall high rise and in the dark it has a screen on it showing ads. This was used as the torch in the Asian games that were held here a few years ago. They are like Calgary in that they were very proud of holding these games and there are lots of references to them with monuments and sports arenas. I believe they are hoping to get the Olympics and they certainly have the facilities to back up their bid and the money to carry them off. Apparently the flame was lit with a horseman carrying the torch to the top of the tower. Dont know how that was done, but it must have been spectacular.

This is the inside scribbling of my jug. I can just see this done in machine embroidery! maybe I do need a sewing machine after all, they are fairly inexpensive at the grocery store! Anyway, as you can see, it is really had to get the sides symetrical and she kept telling us to go slowly.

Before the class, I went early and got the taxi to drop me off at the fabric souk to poke around and buy some white silk for dyeing. It was a big nerve racking as bartering is not in my nature, but I did buy some and I did bargain a little, but I am sure I paid too much. It seemed really cheap, so I will have to do a test to see if it really is silk. I am told everyone is really honest here, so I am hoping so.

Getting home was a whole other experience. Taxis here are a real problem. Getting to places seems to be easy as there is a taxi stand at the local mall a block away. However, getting back is next to impossible. All the taxis you see are full, that is if you see any at all. Even at the souk, they do not allow taxis and so you have to go out to a neighbouring street to hail one. After my class, it was noon and over 42 degrees. No taxis stopped and I walked over to the corniche in the hopes of seeing some - walking home was not an option in these temperatures. Then I realized I was close to a bus stop and sure enough in a few minutes, along came a bus. It only cost $1 and it stopped right by my building. I was the only woman and a man stood up and let me have the front seat and even took my money and handed it to the driver for me. Very nice of him. I rarely see women on the busses, but they come frequently, they go to the places I want to go, and they are cheap. So I will certainly use them for my classes and getting to the souq and the museum. However, tomorrow is my stitch group and I am trying a limousine service for that. I am told they are not always reliable, but her house in not too far from a big hotel so figure I could always get a taxi there or I know one of the ladies would take me home if I am in a bind. However, it will be one more learning experience. Lets hope it works out all right then I can go further afield and be more adventurous. There are lots of places I want to explore as long as I have the transportation thing figured out.