A nice surprise for the last day of 2009

When we moved to the new house we brought along our cat Layla. She wasted no time getting to know the neighbours and soon enough she was waddling about the house with a belly-full. I think the object of her desires was the orange tom cat that can usually be found slinking about among the cacti bordering the neighbouring farm. 

When Layla had her first set of kittens she had a bit of trouble and my daughter Nora had to help her deliver them. Ever since then when it's her time, Layla heads straight to Nora and has her kittens in her bed. This morning Nora woke up to a bed full of kittens, well, three actually. They are all healthy and beautiful and mommy cat is doing fine. Expect pictures soon! 

Did you feel it?

This morning there was an earthquake off the coast of Libya near the city of Misurata. You can find the technical info about it here: Earthquake Misurata

As far as I know no one was hurt and there have been no damages. In May of 2008 I wrote about an earthquake near Al-Marj and also gave a little bit of history of quakes in Libya, some of them taking thousands of lives.

Something really weird happened though. On the day of the earthquake in May of 2008 I visited a friend in an office near the Corinthia. I don't visit her very often, maybe a couple of times a year. Well guess what? I visited her today at the same office. Isn't that strange? Or maybe not... two minds meet and earthshaking stuff starts to happen. . . :)

Adding up

It's nearly the last day of the year. I've been counting my blessings. I wont bore you with the details but there are lots of blessings to count up. And I've been thinking about New Year's resolutions. I thought about making a long list of resolutions so that I could at least manage to accomplish a few. But really it ought to be just one or two.

I'm still thinking about mine.

The Year's Posts - 2009 Roundup

I'm wrapping up the year again. I'm happy to see the end of 2009. It was a difficult year for me in more ways than one. Anyway here is the roundup of events I've blogged about in 2009:

January

The beginning of the year starts off with a trip to Leptis Magna with family and friends. The rest of the month finds me sick with some kind of virus.

February

The kids have their school holidays and we take a trip to the countryside. I visit sick in-laws and question the use of pain relieving drugs in Libya.

March

The month begins with a trip to Ben Walid. Later in the month my favourite aunt passes away and I help to prepare her for her final journey which looking back had a profound effect on my life.

April

Some progress is made on our house, my water bed springs a leak and I learn how to sleep on a regular mattress. I drive and listen to audio books; multitasking at it's best!

May

My only brother passes away unexpectedly and Ibrahim and I make the trip home to Florida to be with my family. It's a very sad month for me.

June

I return to Libya and suffer a bit of culture shock. Lots of progress on the new house as the kitchen cabinets are installed.

July

We begin the hunt for furniture for the new house. Summer's oppressive heat slows down progress and causes lots of frustration.

August

A toothache means agony and trips to the dentist. The holy month of Ramadan begins and we move house. More furniture shopping and my PC bites the dust.

September

The end of Ramadan and Eid keep everyone busy. School clothes and Eid clothes are added to the list of things to shop for. I return to my role as Taxi Mom as we continue to adjust to life on the farm.

October

I write about the custom of removing your shoes at the door and about the changes going on in Tripoli. We get the first rains of the season.

November

A guest post from Look Out Libya starts off the month. The flu strikes... is it the dreaded Swine Flu? Sickness and recovery for me. Eid Adha seems a blur as I cough my way through the holiday.

December

I recover from the flu. The girls and I get haircuts. I report on an earthquake off the coast of Misurata at the end of the month. We eat anniversary cake and hubby and I reminisce about 27 years of marriage. I mostly relax and enjoy life while I contemplate the good and bad of 2009 and make plans for a busy 2010.

Future flowers and one from now... and the dog.

My flowers in progress.

My helper, Cisco... with sand on his nose.

One of the cacti in the garden bloomed for the first time.

A warm Christmas

The weather the past few weeks has been really weird; sandstorms, then cold and a bit rainy and now hot. It feels strange to be the end of December with such hot weather. Today's temperature was close to 90F. I'm writing this post on my front porch, wearing short sleeves and drinking iced tea! At the same time I'm getting emails from friends in other parts of the world who are snowed in.

I took advantage of the weather by going out at dawn for a walk with hubby. We watched the sun come up and at about 7:30 a humongous flock of starlings appeared over head. Starlings arrive in Libya this time of year and eat the olives that are just now ripening. Hubby says they are considered as pests but I think they are amazing. They spun about over head with their wings making a whooshing noise and then landed in our back field. A minute or so later they rose back into the air and flew above us in a swarm for about a minute before descending on the farm behind ours. I commented to hubby that that the sight of the birds so close was the best Christmas gift. Unfortunately I'd left my camera in the house, but you can see what they look like here: Starlings

The rest of the morning was spent planting flower seeds in seedling bags. Sara helped me out. Our dog, Cisco, wanted to help too. He kept sticking his nose in everything and while I was sitting on the ground filling bags with soil he kept insisting to try and sit in my lap - he's much too big to be doing that but he still has the idea that he's a puppy. We ran out of bags. Tomorrow I'll have to go out and get more to finish off the rest of the seeds. With luck I'll have lots and lots of pretty flowers soon.

By afternoon it was hot enough to turn on the air conditioning, but we decided just to stick it out and leave the windows open. It was a peaceful day. Who would have thought we'd have such warm weather on Christmas day.

Hope you had the best Christmas!

Holiday Greetings

(+)

***

*****

********

Wishing a very

Merry Christmas

to my family and friends.

************************

***

***