Sunday 26 June 2016

Week 78 - My Sunday Photo. Inside the Burj Al Arab

It's my birthday today, I'm 45, I'm in work  and my husband is out this evening at a function. So on Friday he booked afternoon tea for two in the SkyView Bar at the Burj Al Arab. 

                       

After valet parking we entered the foyer and were directed towards the escalators to a reception area, the lift was called and we ascended to the 27th floor. I of course stopped along the route to take photos, before tucking into sandwiches and cakes until we were both stuffed and talking about our grandparents, from Newport and Stockport, 'if only they could see us now'

Week 25 - One Daily Positive, project 366 and SnapHappyBritMums

I started the week exhausted, after a busy weekend with Bonnie the foster dog, she's 8 months old. I had no idea how much time and energy a puppy took. Sadly I still haven't found a forever home for her, but she does have another foster mum to go to on Thursday while I'm travelling.
The week included a Ladies night to watch the football in a bar, my birthday tea at The Burj Al Arab, the air con packed in Friday and wasn't fixed till Saturday night and with temps reaching 44c and a low of 36c, it wasn't nice and Wales won the football........'get in there'

On the blog this week:

#MySundayPhoto Keeping cool in Dubai
#PoCoLo #AnimalTales Meet Bonnie the foster dog
#HDYGG Peonies
#PhotalifeWATER Water feature in the Burj Al Arab

Sunday Day 171 #onedailypositive #project366 #dad #june2016 #snaphappybritmums

Monday Day 172 #onedailypositive #project366 #card #june2016 #snaphappybritmums for my husband on Father's Day in the absence of a card from any of the 5 kids. Let's hope for a better turn out for my birthday on Sunday.
Tuesday Day 173 #onedailypositive #project366 #OnTop #june2016 #snaphappybritmums it's 7.25pm here in Dubai. I started cleaning at 4pm. Curtains and cushion seats have been washed and are outside drying. Conservatory cleaned within an inch of its life and finally the smell of dog has gone. I now have to sort this out, walk the dogs and go to bed. Should be On Top of all this by 9pm.
Wednesday Day 174 #onedailypositive #project366 #salad #june2016 #snaphappybritmums does the fancy dressing count as a salad? Pork bangers and mash washed down with a rum and Coke or 7 watching#euro2016 in a bar.

Thursday Day 175 #onedailypositive #project366 #travel #june2016 #snaphappybritmums getting excited about the first flight of my summer holiday travel

Saturday Day 177 #onedailypositive #project366 #bml16 #june2016 #snaphappybritmums I'm having a crap day, arguments in a group on Facebook, cowards hiding behind a screen, the air con is broken in the villa and we've spent the day in the bedroom where the air con does work, tag teaming the cat and dogs to give them access to a cool room but not all at the same time. The pump has gone on the water tank and it's taken bloody ages to do the washing needed. The air con repair man was due this am and now isn't coming till 8pm so we've not been able to go out and now I'm wondering why I'm bothering with these photo prompts when @britmums don't interact with me and I'm on my 2nd year, I'd expected a bit more than once a month several 'likes' it's BML16 today and that is the photo prompt, living 3000 miles away and school time I can't join in with it. I've only been once which was in 2012 so I'll share with you my bag that was in my goodie pack that has travelled 1000's of miles in my handbag as a shopping bag. It's been to South Africa, the U.K., the UAE, Canada, Oman and this year is off to Germany for its holiday. I've hinted before I'd like another please as this one is getting a bit tatty. It's been photographed in Kruger, Niagara Falls as well as loads of other interesting places, it's sparked conversations with random strangers on trains and planes.



Friday 24 June 2016

Time lapse photography - Peony Opening HDYGG

Camera - iPhone5s
Settings -automatic
White balance - harsh strip lighting
Focus mode - automatic (lens could probably do with cleaning)
Aperture- no idea what this is
ISO - again no idea what this is
Lens - 0mm


I love peonies, my mother had them in her garden, she'd taken the tubers from her mothers garden around the time she got married which was in 1944. The great, great, great grand children of these tubers are still going strong in her garden today and I assume the other gardens around the UK where she has lived.

I saw these cut peonies in the supermarket and they reminded me of my mum, it was her birthday on Monday and I'm 3000 miles away in Dubai so I bought them to cheer me up, my mother however would prefer fuchsias as they remind her of her mother.

I took photos of the peonies because I don't have much luck with cut flowers in Dubai, the shelf life is usually 2-3 days, before they start to wilt. I have no idea why this is, but I'm sure the aircon and lack of cold water probably contributes to their demise.







Wednesday 22 June 2016

Looking to adopt a dog in Dubai? Meet Bonnie.

She loves to play

Meet Bonnie, she is 8 months old and a new addition in our home for 2 weeks. We are fostering her until the 30th June in the hope that someone will adopt her, when they see how loving she is, how well she gets on with our dog and pretty much ignores the cat.

How could you resist?

Bonnie is under the care of DAWS - Molosser & Bull Breed Rescue UAE to be eligible to adopt you must have a residency visa and live in a Villa. Please contact DAWS directly for enquiries on adopting Bonnie.

We have a few chewing issues, she is a puppy still. A couple of toilet accidents, a few moments when she's helped herself to the contents of the litter tray (gross) and it's fun and games when we go for a walk, as she doesn't want her walk to end and digs her heels in as we round the corner towards home and I end up carrying her home.

 She works well on a lead

But we have had issues persuading her to come home after a walk

I thought the bowl was part of dinner

 Unlike Bob, she eats very well and chews each mouthful

 She has her own bed but wants to share with Bob

 She loves playing with toys and with Bob and shares nicely

Bonnie loves company and her and Bob follow me from room to room

We already have a cat and dog who were rescues when we were living in South Africa.

The cat, Pushkins, is aged 7, and until last month had been a girl for 4 years, the vet informed me, 'she' is actually a 'he' and always has been. We struggle to say 'he' so the poor cat is now referred to as 'it'


The dog, Bob aged 6, is a boy and has been living with us for 3 years.


Both were house trained and Bob has NEVER chewed anything in his life. He pulls when he's on the lead, he prefers to be off lead and responds, eventually, to come back on a walk. Bob follows me from room to room and is constantly under my feet.

Pushkins is currently being kept in the house, due to it being severely over weight, it helps itself to the food left out for the cat feeding scheme in our street.

You can see more photo's and updates on Bonnie on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook or like my page Chickenruby.



Sunday 19 June 2016

Week 77 - #MySundayPhoto

Where is the coolest place to visit in Dubai in summer?


The world's largest indoor ski dome of course at Mall of the Emirates.

Ski Dubai has 22,500 square metres of indoor ski area, featuring an 85 meter high indoor mountain and 5 slopes, with a 400 meter long run. 

Maintaining a temperature of -1c during the day and -6c at night when the snow is produced.

Saturday 18 June 2016

Week 24 - One daily positive, Project 366 and SnapHappyBritMums

It started as a fairly quiet week, then I had a mad idea and we're fostering an 8 month old, female, Pit Bull Terrier mix.

Her name is Bonnie and she is gorgeous. We decided to foster for 2 weeks as I'm out of Dubai for the summer, hoping to get her adopted through the power of social media, so apologies in advance for the endless posts and photo's. It also means we won't feel pressurised into keeping her, especially as after 2 days she's fitted in with our lives beautifully, even the cat has stopped hissing at her.

It's Ramadan, it's the middle of summer, despite being on reduced hours at work, I've had headaches from the heat and access to liquids during the day, especially on the drive home as it's illegal to eat and drink in public during day light hours, oh and after teaching I really need a cigarette, but that has to wait till I get home also.

I had intended to write more about Living and Working in Dubai during Ramadan this week, but it's also coming to the end of term and I have data entry and reports to do, so I'll try again next week.

On the blog this week:

#MySundayPhoto Ramadan Mubarak
#PhotalifeChildren A rare photo of the 5 of them together 
#AnimalTales Keeping the animals cool in summer
#HDYGG and #PoCoLo Breaking fast with dates 


Sunday Day 164 #onedailypositive #project366 #relax #june2016 #snaphappybritmums one of the benefits of living in Dubai is that day 1 of my week, despite it being a Sunday, is over. I'm spending my afternoon and evening drinking rose tea, reading the #teensschool report and my books and magazines on #ramadan and I have a few letters to write. How's your Sunday?

Monday Day 165 #onedailypositive #project366 #outdoors #june2016 #snaphappybritmums we waited an hour before sunset to head to our local beach, just 1km down the road. It might as well be 1000's of kms away in the heat #summerindubai there was a cooling breeze off the sea with air temps of 34c and sea temps of 28c after a swim, Peter went to @hardees to fetch dinner once #iftar was announced by the mosque on the #beach at 7.12pm#ramadan2016

Tuesday Day 166 #onedailypositive #project366 #green #june2016 #snaphappybritmums despite the endless sunshine and lack of rain in Dubai, I'm successfully managing to keep the lawn nice and green #garden#gardening #lawn #summerindubai

Wednesday Day 167 #onedailypositive #project366 #bbq #june2016 #snaphappybritmums BBQ's are for winter in Dubai, in fact ANYTHING that requires cooking is a no go #summerindubai we haven't used the oven for months, except for a batch of cookies for school that nearly killed me with the heat. The hob/stove is used only for boiling the kettle for tea or pasta.

Thursday Day 168 #onedailypositive #project366 #LookingUp #june2016 #snaphappybritmums could've shown you a picture of the Burj Khalifa but that doesn't fit in with what I'm doing. Lots of #travel over the next 2 months and planning my route in South Africa, Munich and the UK looking up addresses and phone numbers of family and friends to arrange meeting up.

Friday Day 169 #onedailypositive #project366 #game#june2016 #snaphappybritmums this is Bonnie our#foster #dog and we've been playing this game non stop. We tidy everything away, yet Bonnie still finds something to chew. She is only a #puppy and she is a #rescuedog and it's only her 2nd day with us.#dogsindubai #pets #dogs #dogsofinstagram

Saturday Day 170 2pm #onedailypositive #project366 #water #june2016 #snaphappybritmums current temp of water from COLD water tap is 40c in #Dubai

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