Viruses left and right

My house has been getting it's share of the virus that is going around in Libya (and elsewhere in the world). First hubby, then Nora, then Yusef and Jenna. Today I think my turn is coming. I have that scratchy throat feeling and I'm starting to sneeze. I'm going to dose myself with lots of ginger tea and hope I can either get rid of this or at least make it easier to get over.

I hate being sick. Mothers can never just go to bed and expect to get pampered like the rest of the family. Hubby can never understand it when I am sick - he thinks I'm faking it or something. Sigh... what a bunch of spoiled people I live with!... uugh! I've got too much to do to be sick.

Last week flew by at work. One day just seemed to blur into the next almost as if I was going on fast forward or something. I was overjoyed when the weekend started.

This weekend I've been taking it easy. The most important thing I did was to visit my friend's daughter on her first day out of the hospital - she'd had a baby boy - her first child! It was a happy occasion.

The rest of the weekend was spent shopping and running errands, preparing lessons and doing other planning. I've also been trying to format the kid's computer.... The last time I took it to be fixed I had the guy at the shop put 'Deep Freeze' on it so the kids couldn't add junk to it. I had gotten tired of the constant sorting out I was doing to maintain their PC - what a mess they make. I think they click on everything they see - a malware maker's dreamland.

Unfortunately I don't have the password for the 'Deep Freeze'. I've tried every trick I've found on the net and nothing's worked. I guess I will just have to take it back to the guy that put it on there in the first place and hope he remembers the password he used... sigh.. but of course I will continue to try myself for a while... a puzzle to keep me occupied.

Why does this look familiar?

Trying something out

I found a web app that will let you up load a picture and turn it into something that looks like a model using a tilt shift filter. So I tried it out with a picture I took in Nalut in 2007. It makes the focus of the picture more interesting and sharp. It needs just the right image to get it to look right though.

Ranting

I got this comment today:

hi madam Khadija
r u really living on the Earth?
i doubt actually...
May Allah bless the Palastinian...

It seems everyone on the planet is posting about the Gaza situation on their blogs... and because I chose not to I got stabbed with a rude comment (or at least I found it rude). 

The only thing that I am capable of doing is to pray for the people who are suffering. And I prefer to do that quietly.

End of rant.

Quiet Foggy Weekend

I got right back into the swing of things at work this week after my much needed break. It was a busy week and so far I'm having a nice, but boring weekend. 

In the morning I dug through papers and sorted out a cabinet that was stuffed with books. How do I manage to accumulate so much stuff? In the afternoon the kids wanted to study for their exams so hubby and I took Ibrahim out for a drive in the country so the house would be quiet. 

We came home after dark, driving slowly because there were clouds of fog rolling in. The fog seemed to cover the countryside and city with a quiet blanket. Tomorrow is another day off but I've got a list of things to do - one of them is to take at least one hour and go out with my camera. If I manage it I will post some pics.

A Good Start

We decided to begin the new year by making a trip to Leptis Magna. We'd been there a few times before but this was our first time on a guided tour. One of my students gives tours of Leptis in his free time and offered to take me and my family. Unfettered Swallow and his family joined us for the day. [He'll have amazing photo's on his blog for sure]. 

At the entrance - Septimus Severus's Arch.

More detail of the arch.

It had rained earlier and there were pools of water in some places that made interesting reflections.

We found my name... well.. sort of... 

I took this picture of Ibrahim next to the top part of a pillar (the capitol) so you could see the scale. The detail work of the carving must have taken superhuman efforts! There are hundreds of pillars here... it's mind boggling!

The bit of rain that we've had lately has got everything turning green. I really liked this combination of an ancient engraved Latin slab surrounded by shamrocks.

In the old forum there is evidence of games that occupied the time of the people of the past.

Later when we toured the museum we found dice and game pieces that had once been used.

We had a lovely day, actually one day touring Leptis Magna doesn't really even begin to scratch the surface. But that just means we'll go back for more another time. I really feel blessed to have such a treasure within reach!

We had a picnic lunch; sloppy joes, chicken salad sandwiches, cheese and crackers and peanut butter and crackers - oh.. and the best pound cake I've had in years... yummmmy!

Special thanks to our guide Mohamed Ali - he was wonderful and super patient - imagine two families and Ibrahim too.  

It's back to work for me. My break is over and I'm off to a good start for 2009.

The mystery is solved!

Libyan streets are full of potholes.... now I know where they're sending the tar needed to fix them... or maybe they are digging holes in our roads and recycling the tar somehow.. and sending it elsewhere.. and leaving us with dangerous holes in the roads. ....uggghhh....