Dead Sea Swim Day

Monday, Noah and I went to the Dead Sea with some friends. Noah stuck his feet in the Dead Sea, but he loved the swimming pool more than anything else. Moby, his floating friend, went along to be his water buddy. Enjoy the pics!

Key Ring Query

Tonight C and I got to go on a date. Some friends of ours have offered over and over to babysit (they have a ten and a seven year old, who think the concept of babysitting is fun) so we finally found a night to leave Noah for awhile. We dropped him off and headed to Applebee's. While we were there, the guy who was in a nice collared shirt and dress pants and had the big key ring on his belt walked by, and C said, "Hey, he is important, he has all the keys." So then I asked him, "I wonder what key ring would be the most important key ring in the world?" He said, "Fort Knox..."

So, that is my question to you as well. What do you think the most important set of keys or the most valuable key ring in the world is? I think my answer is the Louvre. What do you think?

-B

Musings on a Pumpkin Patch

Today as I was sitting in class trying to focus my mind to the task at hand [Arabic Grammar] I got the overwhelming urge to visit a pumpkin patch. Which, in and of itself, is pretty strange to me considering I don't know that I have ever been to a pumpkin patch. At least it didn't stick in my memory if I have. The closest thing I can recall is the big pumpkin stash at Hulen Mall in Fort Worth during the fall . Some nice pumpkin producers sell them to all the big city folk, and it always brings joy to my heart to see all the big fat round fellows just sitting there waiting (I am talking about the pumpkins themselves, not the producer farmers). I vaguely remember as a child one year getting seed packets for giant pumpkins with my brother. I don't know what ever happened to those pumpkins if we ever grew them. I guess I don't have a green thumb, or in this case an orange one. Those seeds couldn't have produced the colossal pumpkins they promised or I would remember... Unless I got squashed by one as it was rolling by and then perhaps my mind has created a pumpkin block. Which may be the reason I don't like pumpkin pie as much as I used to come to think of it. As I was sitting musing on pumpkin patch visitations I began to draw pumpkins on my notes. And then I got in trouble by the teacher for not paying attention. I don't know how she knew, perhaps by the drool running down my open mouth and pooling on my chin. Needless to say, all this pumpkin talk got me to missing pumpkins, the real kind, not the cantaloupe colored , half pumpkin/half gourd variety we have here. So I thought I would give y'all a small glimpse into my minds eye. Here are some photographic examples of my thought process. Picture #1: The pumpkin patch I want to visit. Picture #2: The closest thing I will get to it this year.

What I would like to hear: What was your favorite Halloween costume you ever wore? Or, what is the coolest Halloween costume you have ever seen?

-B-

Forgetful is as forgetful does

Who would have ever thought that a small piece of metal would completely guide and direct an entire day.

For those of you who have known me for very long at all, you know that I have a problem with misplacing my keys. I am forever locking myself out of things...my parent’s house, my car, my apartment, once or twice I left my keys at the bank where I worked overnight. Luckily, someone always has a spare, or some kind person will suggest the necessity of a hide-a-key, and I will be saved.

Well, this week we have had a visitor staying with us. He took my set of keys so he could come and go as he pleased. The house is usually locked so he needed the freedom of his own set, (We get in trouble from our sweet little land lady if we don't lock our door). The only trouble is that Clayton kept running errands, or worse meeting with our friend who was visiting, I forgot to make sure I had a set, and I was locked out several times. But there was nothing to fear because our little old land lady has an extra. Twice this week I had to go down and ask to borrow it. But you can't just run in and borrow something in this culture, you have to sit and drink tea and talk for several hours.

Yesterday I came home and as I was walking to my house from where the taxi let me off I realized, "Oh no, I do not have a set of keys AGAIN!" So I prepare myself for a two hour visit with Mama. I get to the house, and there is no Mama. She wasn't home. So I thought I would sit with her daughter in law who lives in the apartment next to us. The only trouble was she wasn't home either. So it was 11:30, Clayton and his friend had just gone on a visit, which again means about an hour and a half or two hour minimum wait. So I thought I would call and see if I could meet him somewhere to get a key. Well, I try to call and my phone was completely out of money. I didn't even have enough to send a text. And I didn't have enough money with me to go buy another card. So I waited up on the roof and tried to finish some homework. I checked on Mama another two or three times, but she wasn't ever home, same thing with my next door neighbor. Finally about 1:30 I decide I will just wait and quit running up and down the stairs.

At about 1:45 I got a call from Clayton that said they were on their way home! Yay! By this time I was getting HUNGRY!!! So needless to say, I spent two and three quarter hours on the roof. All this goes to show...a hide-a-key is a good idea anywhere I go! If anyone thinks of a creative way to hide a key on a cement block of a building let me know!

B's First Post

For my first official blog entry I just wanted to let everyone in on a little fact from my week. I found out today that the olive trees are in blossom. As much as I love those dainty little treats, I have realized that I do not like their blossoms. For the first time in my life I am suffering from allergies. It has turned into a beautiful spring here, but every time we open the windows I start sneezing my head off (or at least my nose). It turns out, we have an olive tree garden in front of the house, and there are probably 20 of these trees standing right outside the front door. Now I know why I am sneezing, all the dust in our house is blown in from the olive trees! So I just wanted to give y'all a picture of B's big red nose. However, we are thankful for the green of the trees again. And hey, who would of thought, there is actually some grass here. It is the prettiest this town has looked yet.
-B