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

Getting the garden looking nice for summer with #HDYGG

There was a cool breeze this evening in Dubai, the temperature was still 32c, but the sun had set and the wind felt cooler, than it had done all day.

To get an idea of what it feels like to live in Dubai in the summer, stick the central heating on to 30c, as that's what we're battling to cool our villa down to, wrap yourself in cling film to represent the humidity, sit in front of the hot oven with the door open and aim a hairdryer at the back of your neck, then remember it's not the height of summer yet and it's going to be at least 10c hotter.

Anyway, I took advantage of the cooler air and decided to do some gardening, I've noticed quite a few triffid like weeds and the sand is covered in green ground cover and scraggly grass.

                 

        I opted to uproot the tall spiky plants as on closer inspection there was a lot of colour underneath their foliage that I wasn't getting to see. i may have made a mistake, it may have only been flowering due to the protection from the leaves from the sun, but I've nothing to lose, I wasn't benefitting from the underneath, so only time will tell.

                 

             What I found is 2 plants and a tray of bedding that I forgot all about, as well as a lot of shrubs, that are still in flower.

                

                        

                       

                     

And grass, more suited to the side of a motorway than a lawn, thick, strong, lanky grass, with roots that go down forever. Today's high was 35c, the rest of the week it's 38c+. It's under 30c at 5am when I get up for work in the morning, so I'm going to set the alarm 30 minutes early next week so I can finish tidying up, before it gets too hot to go out in.

   

                   

                  

The remains of the spiky plants will have to sit by garage door until the gardener comes on Saturday.

I say gardener, but what I mean is 'tidy upper' sweeper' and 'waterer of the sand'.

I'm in the UK in July and August and I'm really looking forward to the cooler weather there, despite it looking like it's going to be a hot summer by UK standards. I'm staying in Hertfordshire, Warwickshire, Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, South Wales, Somerset and Dorest, so if you're around and fancy visiting a stately home or public gardens with me do let me know. But first I have winter in South Africa and a week in Germany to see as much of the outdoors as possible, whilst catching up with friends.