Odds and Ends

Today's blog will be about odds and ends.  :)

One of my past blogs was about harvesting dates and drying them.  I was given some reddish brown dates, which now I believe are Sukkari dates, and Ken and I picked some yellow dates while walking around the compound.  We were told that the Sukkari dates had to dry for two weeks after being harvested, so we hung them up on our patio.  I decided to do the same with the yellow dates.  Well, I had put the 2 week date on my calendar as to when to cut them down.  I do follow directions.  But I think two weeks was too long.  I should have checked after 1 week.  They were dry inside and flaky on the outside.  And the gooey sweet inside is what is so yummy about dates.  Oh well, I will know next time.  But dates are everywhere here, at the grocery store and specialty date stores, plain and filled with nuts or covered in chocolate, etc.  Here is a picture of my sad little, dried date:

The yellow dates did not have to be dried, but they were fine after 2 weeks of drying.  I think that they were the Barhee dates.

 

Another thing that I have written about is my quest to get a top covering for our swing on the upstairs patio so that the birds would stop sitting on one of the poles and pooping on the swing chair.  I couldn't find a fabric store or any type of store that sold outdoor fabric to make a top.  We put an Arabian carpet on top and secured it with tie wraps and although it looked like we were in our own private casbah while in it, it couldn't hold up to the wind.  I am surprised that we didn't have people knocking on our door telling us to take that half on half off carpet.  I ran into a glass door when I suddenly spotted velvet tie downs that I could use for that swing!  Anyway, the solution is almost always the most simple.  Ken went up and took off the metal, rectangular support for top canopy.  Now the only rod that the birds COULD sit on is too fat for their little feet on these pooping doves.  Problem solved!  Now, we can enjoy each evening sunset, swinging to our hearts content and listening to the evening prayer call.  :)  Here is a picture of the de-nuded swing:

Another thing that I think that I wrote about in my Jeddah blog was my quest to get a dress for my son's and daughter in law's wedding celebration in China in Sept.  I had been very frustrated in finding the style that I was looking for and extremely frustrated not to be able to try it on in the store since they don't have ladies' dressing rooms.  Well, I solved the problem by ordering it online, having it shipped to my brother in law, who will bring it to China.  I just hope that it fits and I don't look like a little (or worse, big) American sausage.   But I don't think that I mentioned in that blog that there are ladies' fitting rooms in the mall (just not in the stores).  In our local mall, they are near the public bathrooms down a corridor.  I haven't done it yet, but I guess you buy the outfit, go try it on and if it doesn't fit, bring it back to return and get your money back.  I keep forgetting to ask my friends how it works.  I will have to do it on a day that the shuttle bus brings us to the mall and I don't have to get groceries.  I always feel that I am in a rush to get everything that I NEED at the mall and get back to the bus in time. I have a fear of being left at the mall and the Matawa (the religious police) finding me and yelling at me for not wearing a veil.  (I keep one in my purse, but it would still be freaky to be "attacked" if I were by myself.) 

 

That is it for today, we are having 3 or 4 of Ken's co-workers over for dinner tonight, so I have to get busy!!  :)  My next blog might be from China!!!  Woohoo!!!