ONE EXPAT FAMILY'S EXPERIENCE IN SAUDI ARABIA
Today was a kind of lucky day. It rained and poured for awhile. The kids ran and splashed and tried to catch the drops on their tongues. Some parents were afraid of lightning. I didn't see any until later, and only one time. The sky was cloudy since morning and it had apparently rained during …
Continue reading "Today it rained! Not often this happens in April!"
I've got a little video to start off this blog. It was taken on our compound with a very chirpy sparrow in the background, during the daytime. You can see the basil that just roots itself around our place naturally, and growing in pots are 5 corn stalks (looking a bit wilted), and tomatoes. This …
Continue reading "#4) A Garden Experiment, Corn and Radishes in Containers"
One of the best foods, besides dates to go with your coffee or tea, are the wonderful breadsticks that the supermarket Danube makes. They are not greasy and have a wonderful selection of toppings. (Although just recently they have changed from making them in-store to getting them from Jeddah. Now they are sweeter and to …
Continue reading "Food –Breadsticks with seeds and Za’atar recipes!"
A friend and I have been going a little stir crazy. Between virtual school, KSA's announcement last week that Saudi would continue virtual school until the end of the year, very little alone time to just be and think, we finally got out! Where was our destination? Travel restrictions keep us in the country. Cafes …
Continue reading "Time to get away! Desert Designs store in Al Khobar"
Here is a heartwarming story of how a regular guy uses some ingenuity for a cause. It's a short article in the arabnews.com site for 13 Feb. 2021, however it is an important one. Muqbil Al-Suhaimi found a way he could reuse water containers to help local birds. As the temperatures get very hot in …
So if you are here as an expat, you probably will be invited at least once, to attend a coworker's wedding. Weddings here in Saudi are a big deal. You may be used to going to big wedding affairs, however here things are a bit different. For sure it is a grand event attended by …
Continue reading "Social Events: Saudi Wedding in Khobar–Video"
When I was a kid we had a large garden in the back yard, big enough to grow most of what we needed to eat for the whole summer. My dad rototilled the grass under every spring and rototilled it throughout the summer, between the rows of plants, when the weeds became too much. Since …
My kids were all excited this afternoon and told me to come fast. They had spotted a large caterpillar crawling in the yard. At first I thought, oh they probably just found a large black slug, common here at nighttime. However I was in for a surprise when I went out the front door and …
Continue reading "Discovery in our garden, Striped Hawk-moth caterpillars!"
This past weekend my family enjoyed a trip out to the desert, north of Dammam in the Eastern Province. This was our first experience going out into the desert to visit a camel farm and to see what life is like, to use a modern term, off-the-grid. We joined a group adventure that is advertised …
Continue reading "Our trip to a camel farm/falcon show in Eastern Province"
It's winter in Saudi and the perfect time to grow things! Not only will you have more success during fall/winter/spring, as the temperature here is milder, but you can eat tomatoes, carrots, etc. if put into the ground in fall and tended in winter. Let's begin gardening...starting with soil! When I was researching mulches and …
Continue reading "#1) Gardening/Planting with Mulches–Soil First"
Date Palms & Camels 