Wednesday, December 29, 2010

It's a Dog's Life


Once upon a time there was a foolish Qatari man who thought it would be a grand idea to take two Dalmatian puppies home to his wife.  There was a loving, shy little girl puppy and a loud, rambunctious little boy puppy. The male puppy had black spots and the female puppy had brown ones.  Legend has it that these puppies were brother and sister, but who knows if that legend is true.  Now it is not known if this man bought the puppies in Qatar or ordered them from a far away land, but through some mysterious circumstances, these puppies came to a land filled with people who despise dogs, people who mistreat them and abandon them.

Well, when this foolish man presented these two wiggly darlings to his wife she was less than pleased.  She saw no beauty in the spotted creatures.  She only saw disasters awaiting her household and numerous messes.  She told her foolish husband that either he take the puppies away or SHE would be going away.  This man enjoyed having a wife, even if she could be heartless at times, so he chose to keep her instead of the puppies.  So what was he going to do with two little wet-nosed problems?  Unfortunately, his answer was to take them out to the desert and leave them there to fend for themselves.  Luckily, another, more noble man who worked with the foolish man, heard of these awful plans and decided to intervene.  He was an animal lover and could not bear to hear of puppies being dropped off in the harsh wilderness.  He told the foolish man that he would take the little spotted things for himself.

Sadly, this more noble man had a roommate he did not consult and brought his two new pets home unannounced.  The roommate was annoyed but had no choice but to welcome the new canine housemates.  Time passed.  The pups started to grow and grow.  They lost their rollee pollee looks and became slender and tall but still they were full of puppy mischief and energy.

In the meantime, the noble man was fired from his job and was forced to leave Qatar for his homeland.  Again, sadly, he neglected to tell his roommate, and one day the hero roommate, the most noble of men, woke up to a note of explanation and two hungry, BIG puppies who needed a lot of care.  He tried to manage their diet, their exercise, and their excrement, but with his full-time job it was impossible.  Between the noble man and the hero they had managed to get the dogs house-trained and took them to the vet for their vaccinations.  They both knew what these doggies needed, they just weren't able to give it to them.  The hero asked a fine lady friend of his to help him find a loving home for the big puppies and so she sent out an email proclamation throughout all the land.

A few weeks previous to this, a certain man we will call BRETT had an interesting conversation with his wife.  Even though he had been talking about his plans and dreams of someday getting a dog and training it to be a therapy dog (one step down from a service dog), Brett assured his wife that he was only reading dog training books and calling breeders in the U.S. so he could learn all he needed to know in the next few years, so when they moved back to the land of Utah, he would know exactly what he was doing when he finally picked out that lucky pup.  This very clever wife of Brett just smiled a knowing smile and let him continue with his speech.

Then Big Plans Brett received an email, answered it secretly, and brought home some new friends for his wife and daughter to meet.  Yes, when he walked in the door that night he said, "Dianna, I brought home someone I want you to meet." She ran downstairs, thinking a student from the university had come for a visit, but no, out on the back porch were two overgrown four month old pups making themselves at home.  Big Plans Brett was humble and penitent as he told of the doggie saga.  He promised commitment and devotion to the caring and training of the chronic messmakers.  He said he would accept her decision either way, but please could they stay?  When she allowed him to go and call their daughter for an initial introduction his heart leapt with hope and he knew she would give her assent.  The Lady Abigail's adoration of the two puppies sealed the deal and that is how Sir Smudge A lot and Miss Fanny Freckles came to live in the Kearney Kingdom.

*For more information on how Baylee our white kitty joined our kingdom please dial up this past blog post.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas 2010

Christmas is all about decking the halls, so with Abbey's help, our halls were completely decked out this year. 
When I admired my friend Monique's feather wreath and asked her where she had gotten it, she told me that she had made it herself and promptly gave it to me.  Isn't it gorgeous?!  It kind of showed up the rest of our quaint decor, but the style in this wreath made the perfect welcome to our Christmas home.  Thanks again, Monique!

So don't you think of bougainvillea when you think of Christmas?  I do, now.
Abbey's graphic style of art work is the best kind of decoration.  She is a master at making simple drawings so classy.

Since we were spending Christmas in Doha this year we knew we would be missing family and friends back home, so I invited a number of people to share our Christmas Eve dinner with us.  Only a few of those Doha friends were able to make it, but we had such a good time with Gurur, Anil, Elif, and Sarah, I was glad it was a small group.

Gurur and Anil are originally from Turkey but they moved to our compound last February and that is when we became friends.  They have been living in Germany for the last 16 years where their precious daughter Elif was born.  They are now Turkish Germans and love all the same great foods I do from Germany.  When Gurur and I first met she was telling me about her work as a pharmacist in Germany.  I told her about my family in Germany and how my dad had been born in a little town in the Westfalen area named Herne.  Her face was so surprised when I said that because she worked in a pharmacy in that same small town.  Now that couldn't be just a coincidence.  We were meant to be friends.  When Gurur told me a few weeks ago that she would have loved to experience an authentic Thanksgiving meal I kicked myself for not even thinking to invite them to our ward dinner.  So I invited her for our Christmas celebration with the disclaimer that our celebration would be about enjoying food, friends, and a religious program.  She was eager to be a part of it and that is how we had our first Muslim family over for Christmas Eve.
Sarah is a friend from California who is in my book club, a member of our ward, and is an English professor here at Qatar University.  When she showed up with cresent rolls, homemade fudge, and chocolate reindeer poop I knew it was going to be a good night. 

We had our tradtional clam chowder, relish tray, homemade rolls, with pumpkin and lemon pie for dessert.  I was sad we couldn't have the traditional German sausages that we usually have in Utah, but everyone enjoyed the food.  Little Elif was too busy getting used to our home to sit down and eat.  She was intrigued by the new dogs in our house, the two cats, the two birds, and the two turtles.  She felt like she had a ticket to the zoo.  Even though she was scared of the dogs, she was very brave and let Brett introduce them to her.

I think this is a reaction to one of Brett's jokes.

Gurur had helped Elif learn "O Tannebaum" and she sang it for us with such cute expressions.  We watched a couple of videos on the Nativity, sang some more songs and then talked until Elif's bedtime.  It was a great evening.
By the time everyone left it was getting late . . . .
The Natives were getting restless . . . .


And the yawns were setting in.

Even Baylee was ready to hit the hay.

So we jumped in our jammies . . .

. . . and went to bed so Santa could come.
Christmas morning brought the cats a nice new rug for the living room (Santa gave it to me, but you can see who claimed it first).



"I just dare you to push me off!"

Brett had been worried that Santa had put him on the naughty list so he took care of his own gift this year . . the kind that gives unconditional lovin.
Abbey got a remote control car as did Brett, so they have been racing around.

The only thing Abbey really wanted to do on Christmas Day was go to the beach, so we loaded up the dogs and went to Al Wakra.


Even though there were quite a few people at the beach that day we took the dogs out on a sand bar and that kept them from running too far and joining a Qatari picnic.  We spent the time playing keep away from the dogs . . .

. . . practicing cartwheels . . .

. . . and just relaxing.

The day after Christmas some friends from church called and invited us to a beach up north:  Fuwairit.
The dogs were in heaven once again and so was Abbey.  It was colder and more windy than the day before, but we had a blast and stayed longer than we expected.

We talked about great books . . .

. . . spent time lounging . .
. . . had more practicing of cartwheels . .
. . . and got to be good Samaritans by digging someone out of the sand.

Even a beached mermaid showed up in the form of Avery!
The Slight Family

The sun was setting as we called it a day.

The real presents that keep us racing around during the post Christmas days are these bikes.  We have been out each day in our Doha desert that we affectionately call "Tatooine". 
Smudge and Freckles think the bikes are just what they wanted for Christmas - more chances to chase outside.
If this self-proclaimed "Mermaid of the Desert" could have a motto it would be, "It's not about the presents we get but the time we spend together!"  Hopefully there won't be too many more Christmases we spend in Doha but boy did we do our best to make this one memorable.
Merry Christmas from Doha!