Sunday, March 02, 2008

Happy Spring! (almost)

March 11, 2008

I know for most of you, its still cold and wet...but things are changing! Yesterday we had a wonderful picnic at the beach, and the wind wasn't too cold, so it was really great! We're trying to enjoy as much of the outdoors as we can now, because we know that in a month to 6 weeks, the lovely breeze will begin to change to hot and sticky and it will then be too much for me to be out too long. (although that won't phase Waldo, he is a die-hard sun-bather!)
The nice thing about winter here is that the climate is conducive to the cultivation of lovely flowers, which we are enjoying. The other day the gardener motioned to me to come out and look at the holes in the planter where 4 petunia plants had been removed.......which is strange because they are very inexpensive this time of year, and plentiful. I hope whoever needed them is happy with them.

I'd like to go back in time to November/December, when we had some outstanding adventures: We drove 13 hours to Salalah, Oman, spending an enjoyable weekend with friends, exploring the only tropical paradise in the entire Arabian Peninsula.






Fireside on the sabbath when we arrived















Stuck in the sand
















Imagine schwarmas (like burritos) for 35 people with no notice! this guy was great!













Waiting for dinner














One thing about this area was that we had to be very careful about who we shared the road with

































This is an aerial shot of Wadi Sayk, one of the possible sites of Bountiful, from 1st Nephi in the Book of Mormon.





The other possible site is Khor Rori, where Waldo is doing his best Samuel the Lamanite impression. This site has mines, where anciently iron and other minerals were mined. An interesting fact about this area is that, since there is documentation that the climate has been tropical for at least 2000 years, this region fills all of the requirements for being the land Bountiful in the scriptures: It had honey bees, plentiful fruits and wooded areas, and the necessary resources for Nephi to make tools and build a ship.


The week after we got back, we had the first Girls' Camp in the Dubai Ward!


















While I was busy with girl's Camp, Waldo was swamped with the Dubai International Auto Show. He was interviewed several times, for magazines and on the TV, and radio. Everything was complicated by illness. He had a terrible cold, and is giving all these interviews and sneezing, with a terrible headache! During our trip to Salalah, I ate something and was sick during Girl's Camp--it was salmonella!




















I wish I could include the magazine articles, but that is beyond my abilities! (Just one thing...they call him "Wild Waldo" because he had a Mustang when he was younger!)
He is currently at the Geneva Auto Show, and will meet me on the 13th in Amsterdam (ha ha--"rendezvous in Amsterdam"-sounds like a novel!) and then we will travel together to Seattle and Simi Valley for a wonderful visit with our family!

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2 Comments:

Blogger Rick Galan said...

Woohoo! Wild Waldo! He's a Crazy Man!

8:16 PM  
Blogger Dransfield Diaries said...

Hello! We are LDS and thinking of interviewing at UAE Airlines. We have 3 kids and would have to move to Dubai. I am curious about the church as well as many other things there. Could you please email me so we could chat. Also are there other LDS pilots in the ward. We would love to talk to them if possible. My email is dransfield@gmail.com You are the first LDS blogger I have found in Dubai. Thanks for amy help. This is such a big decision and so much to think about. Thanks..Melinda

7:14 AM  

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