Greetings.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Danica Finds an Angel in Ras Al Khaimah

Danica was invited to visit Kholoud, one of her teacher friends from last year, to see the new addition to the family. Malak (Angel in Arabic) was a real cutie! I had a tough time getting Danica out of the house.

Eid Al Ahda

On this holiday, it is customary to visit the Sheikh to pay your respects. However, I did not expect to make the newspapers. I had gone through the line to say hello, then quietly sat down in a far-off corner. As I was leaving, Sheikh Saud called me back and invited me to share his ceremonial chair and chat as he greeted his many constituents. Next day my local friends called to tell me this picture was in the news. Totally cool!

National Day Celebration at the Ministry

Queen Elizabeth II Comes to Dubai

We were able to watch as the QE2 sailed into port right beneath our apartment last week. I took this shot from our rooftop pool. Wondering where your petrodollars were going... in addition to making some Exxon and Shell fatcats fatter? The QE2 was purchased and will be a permanent fixture at the Palm Islands as a luxury hotel. End of an era.

Home Sweet Home

This is the view tonight from poolside. Below left is the soon to be metro station for the Palm Deira.

A Night at the Horse Races

The Shaikh owns most of the horses and you can't actually bet but you can pick your horses and if you're right you can win money. Who cares? The horses were beautiful and the weather was perfect.

Istanbul Market

Friday Night Shopping

Tuna and Kingfish are very popular. Note the propped up fishheads.

The Dubai Fish Market

A short trip to the fish and vegetable market next door to our hotel was our latest adventure. The place is the size of a Walmart and is a mass of humanity, fruit, vegetables and all kinds of local sea creatures. Not many women venture here so Danica was a true sensation much to her chagrin. It's impossible to capture the true experience without a camera with an olfactory lense. I still have the smell of fish up my snoot!

Ayasophia(Greek) ... Hagia Sophia(Turkish) ... 532 AD

Holy Wisdom. Here we are inside this magnificent structure which was first a Byzantine Christian church, then an Islamic mosque and finally a museum. Although over 95% Muslim, Turkey is a secular country and western style dress dominates. You will find some women wear some form of headcover. The huge discs were made of stretched camel skin. Scaffolding on the left is for a cleaning project.

East Meets West

Istanbul is the only city that sits on two continents. Behind me, that's Asia on the right and Europe on the left with the Bosphorus between the two. This shot was taken from the back of the Topkapi Palace and museum where we saw a diamond the size of a plum and a golden shoebox filled with golf-ball sized emeralds. Fortunately for me Danica is not into jewelry!

Inside the "Blue Mosque"

Note the blue windows. The electric lights you see replaced the original olive oil candles. Although a spectacular tourist attraction for us, all of the men took this visit as an opportunity to perform their evening prayer. If you squint your eyes, you can see them way in the back on the right side. In Islam, prayer is more powerful when done as a group with one person leading the recitation. No shoes allowed and Danica was sure to wear a head scarf.

Danica and Osaz Ali from Hatta

After shopping in the Grand Bazzar, we stopped for apple tea at this small outside cafe'. Ali was a genial host and the only male who wore his traditional dress the entire time. This served him very well in Istanbul as all of the vendors assumed that he was a fabulously wealthy sheikh. His English was very good and he loved to tell his colleagues to "chill out" whenever they got excited.

Congratulations to Brandon and Katie at their wedding!

Ok... check 'em out ... good lookin' right? You dang betcha! Not a slacker in the bunch!

Now just a few hours later maybe some of the polish had worn off and maybe some scuff marks from party wear-n-tear but they clean up well.

Downtown Dubai

This is a shot from the rooftop at the hotel... same with those below.

Now that Danica is here we will try to get back in the groove on this web page. Work is busy! Weather is "cooling".

Our email has crashed! We have lost ALL of our email contacts! Send me your email in the comment section and we will try to stay in touch.

Palm Deira Construction from the rooftop

Sunset on the coast

I'm baaaack!

Tomorrow will be three weeks back in the UAE, the third day of kids back in school and the second day of Ramadan. I saw one definition: "Hot enough to cook a goat from the inside."... that's hot. Today it was 45 degrees celsius = 113 F. This was my first day of golf after work. Yeah, I thought I was the goat!

The name "Ramadan" is the name of the ninth month; the word itself derived from an Arabic word for intense heat, scorched ground, and shortness of rations. It is considered the most venerated and blessed month of the Islamic year. Prayers, sawm (fasting), charity, and self-accountability are especially stressed at this time; religious observances associated with Ramadan are kept throughout the month.

Danica is not here... bummer... and I now live in Dubai. My residence overlooks the Palm Deira mega-building project. I can walk to the gold souk and the creek from here. I don't have a camera yet but hopefully soon... then new pictures.

Our Parting Shot

The Temple Bar

We have been much too busy enjoying ourselves to bother with an investigation of just where the name "Temple Bar" came from but we have the utmost respect for our Irish ancestors who had both the intelligence and foresight to merge these two fine institutions under one roof.

Danica in Dublin

Paris

Danica and Michael in Arabic

morning on the mediterranean

Cruzin' the Med in May

We were recently able to get away for a cruise of the Mediterranean Sea. We began in Spain on May 11, Mother's Day and our 34th anniversary! A pleasant coincidence! Barcelona, Malta, Naples, Rome, Florence, Nice, and back to Spain. A totally excellent adventure! It was nice to visit places where you could only find sand on the beach and it was less than 106 in the shade!

Mens' Day Out at Khor Fakkan

Yousef and Raffat brought their sons along. One crew prepares the food while the other is engaged in serious debate over the best way to burn the food, just like home. It was nice to be in the background and not hear all of the typical complaints about how I always put BBQ sauce on everything!

Khor Fakkan BBQ

That's the Indian Ocean back there. We just returned from a boat ride and now we're washing food for the grill. Went to Khor Fakkan with a bunch of guys from school. After lunch and before swimming, we just had to play football (soccer) in the sand. I asked my friend and school principal, Yousef, how to say "heart attack" in Arabic.

Oman Fish Story

On yet another trip to Oman, our guides dropped a line off the back of the boat. I wasn't sure what they were after with a single line but they came up with this 3 foot long barracuda with teeth that could ruin your disposition. After showing it to everyone and scaring a few of the passengers, they secured it for a future meal. Lunch was chicken briyanni.

Baytee Baytik... My House is your house.

Ben, Danica, Kira and Chris at our front door in Ras Al Khaimah.

Chill Out in Dubai

This is an ice bar. Everything is ice: walls, chairs, tables, even the glasses for your juice (no alcohol). Winter clothing is supplied and one free drink and all chilled to a steady -6 celsius. Only in Dubai!

Desert Safari

Ben Dhow Diving in the Musandam

Here is Ben diving for pearls in the Arabian Gulf off of Oman. Scores: 6.5-6.5-7.0 Not bad for a rocking boat and a wobbly 2x4 platform. But no pearls!

Musandam III

Oman re-visited! If you come to see us, you're going to see Khasab, the little seaside community at the doorway to the Straights of Hormuz! Kira and Chris at the Golden Tulip after the boat ride.

Spring Break Trip

Chris, Kira, and Ben just arrived for a week's visit. The four of them went shopping at Festival City, Emirates Mall and Wafi Center; a shop 'til you drop tour... while I was busy working! This is the canal at Festival City.

The Tales of Pancho and Cisco

Back in the Saddle Again.... sung to the tune of Back in the Saddle Again

Danica's Kids at Work

Musandam Mountain Safari

Iron Age Dwellings of Shamal

USING THIS WEB SITE .........

Please note! If you are having difficulty loading the entire page, scroll down to the botton right side and click on the "archived" postings until you can see all of them.

Sharjah's famous Canal, Qanat Al Qasba

The Eye of the Emirates is the name of the 60-meter high observatory wheel with 42 air-conditioned cabins. But... did you know that George Washington Gale Ferris was born in Galesburg, Illinois in 1859! And ... he designed and built the first 264 foot (80 meter) wheel for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. And ... our house in Galesburg was a stone's throw from Ferris Street, named for the inventor!!

Dolphins in the Fiords of the Musandam Peninsula

Watch carefully and see the dolphins racing between the two dhows. You also get to see a little scenery of the waterway near the famous Straits of Hormuz. These waters are famous for pirates and smugglers but even more for the extremely small and remote fishing villages nestled into the rocks. Today, the children from these villages travel by boat to Khasab where they stay for for a few days of school each week.

"Invisible Guestworkers"

Office boys. Or office girls if you're in a girl's school like Danica's. These are low paid expats (Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Filipino) Many have at least a working vocabulary of 3-4 languages. Many go to work cleaning houses after they pull their day job. At my school Gooti is Indian and Abdulhalam is from Bangladesh. They are invisible to people unless they are needed to perform a service. When I arrived, I noticed there was no daily greeting to them as is the case for everyone else and the daily greeting is mandatory! I pretend I just don't know any better and greet them the same way I do the rest. A Filipino girl at Danica's school is about 28, both parents dead, lives in a small, one-room with seven others, a light bulb and water faucet. That's it. She sends money home for her younger siblings. 25,000 people each month come to the country ... that's Libertyville's population. If this life is better what are they leaving at home?

We did NOT sleep here!

The Abu Dhabi Palace Hotel! An absolutely incredible place sitting right on the Arabian Gulf! Adam recognized a to be unnamed government celebrity sitting in the lobby working on his computer. Elton John will be here January 21. Boy George will be here this week. What an embarrassment! If you have to ask how much you shouldn't stay here! A suite goes for $2,450 a night. Built at a cost of $3 billion, the hotel is a kilometer long from end to end and has a 1.3 kilometer white sand beach — every grain of it imported from Algeria!

Happy New Year 2008 from RAK, UAE!!!