Yes, She's in Fifth Grade!

This is quite late to be posting pictures of Abbey's first day of fifth grade back in September, but it has to be done, especially before her 11th birthday in a couple of weeks. I can't believe my baby is this tall, leggy, beautiful pre-teen already.

On the first day of school we got to meet and take a photo with Dr. Deb Welsh who is the Director of ASD, so that was pretty cool. Abbey's new 5th grade teacher is Abbie Taylor who has a fun, organized style.

I think Miss Abigail is learning a lot already and really getting ready for middle school, which is just next year here in Doha. Her favorite classes in school are P.E., music, and language arts and her favorite color has changed to green. Her teacher is doing Writer's Workshop where the students write every day about any topic they want in their writer's notebook and then develop some of those quick writes later. Last week she wrote this:

 A Blank Page

I look at this page,

all blank and pagie,

it's hardly filled

except for the

Date, title, and this.

The page shouts

"Ha! Only 3/4 of me

Has been scribbled on!"

I shout back saying,

"One day I will

conquer you!"

I write and write.

Page, soon you will not be blank.

The Page shivers

at the thought of it.

I am almost done!

Well ha, there Page,

you have been conquered!

and finally the page

surrenders sadly.

The adventure of this new school year is well under way and the busy-ness of it all has kicked into full force. She is taking piano lessons at the International Centre for Music from a Russian teacher named Natasha, so that has been a new and interesting experience for Abbey as well. Her piano progress seems to have taken a jump, so we are pleased. Music seems to be an integral part of Abbey's personality. Even though she fights practicing, once she starts, she gets lost in playing her assigned songs and also improvising and creating her own tunes. I am so proud of my sweet Abbey and only wish she would stay little a little bit longer, but none of my children have wanted to go into the deep freeze to halt their rapid march to maturity, so I don't know why I think she might. I am just glad she lets me read to her at night and enjoys regular cuddles.

Birthdays Get Better Every Year

When I turned 16 (in the middle ages) I had high expectations for the big day.  I was going to drive myself everywhere with my new driver's license, look and feel beyond beautiful, a certain boy was going to come to my house with chocolates, flowers, and an official "sweet sixteen" request to be my first date, and I was going to finally be grown up.  Well, I was so grown up that the day ended in tears; no boys lined up outside my door in a frenzy to be my first date mate, and even though I got to drive around the small town of Cedar City, Utah that day, it was probably only to take my mom to the chiropractor.

For this year's birthday last month Brett had to go to a lecture at the university so he asked if he could take me to dinner the next night.  I was kind of bracing myself for a quieter day but it wasn't that way at all.  Abbey and Brett made me a yummy strawberry/peach pancake breakfast complete with whipped cream and a certificate for a massage at the Ritz Carlton (oh, I can't wait!).

Because Brett had been so busy with work the week before my birthday he hadn't had time to take Abbey to get me a gift.  When she woke up that morning her face was crestfallen. Her sadness tore me up and I was quick to reassure her that she was the best gift she could ever give to me.  After saying that, her face lit up with pleasure and she rushed into the kitchen.  Instead of dawdling to get ready for school she made her own lunch and let me enjoy breakfast.  That was probably my favorite gift of the day, and if she only knew how much I hate making lunch every morning, she would have known what a treat it was for me. She gave of herself that day and it was the perfect expression of her love.

Another sweet person gave of herself that day, my neighbor and friend Afton.  First, she picked up Abbey from school so that Brett could play hooky from work in the afternoon and take me to see The Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  I like science fiction movies and this was an especially good one.  I really like James Franco because he is not the typical actor type with all his Ivy League degrees and genius I.Q. and the story was very interesting and character-driven.  And of course it was nice to have Brett all to myself in the middle of the day.  Then Afton, after doing research on what my favorite birthday cake is, made me a lemon pie - without the meringue just the way I like it.  She and her children brought it over and then sang "Happy Birthday" to me.  I even got some little kid loves and it was so sweet. Abbey entertained the kids by making them into an impromptu choir and Afton and I got to chat for awhile.  She is the most thoughtful, most patient friend ever (she often shares her delicious cooking with us), and I hope to grow up to be just like her someday.

That night Abbey and I had our own birthday date while Brett was at his lecture and we went out to get gelato at the new Alaska Gelato place close to our villa.  What more could a girl want than lemon pie and gelato on her birthday?  Oh, and then we read together from The Chronicles of Narnia.

The next night Brett took me out to the Pearl, which is the richest and most exclusive area in Qatar.  I didn't quite feel like we fit in there but it was a beautiful setting for a celebration. The restaurant was not Arabic, not Lebanese, not Turkish, not even Iraqi or Thai.  It was French!  Les Deux Magots.  Oh yum!  There was even an unexpected guest who visited our table and almost made me scream:  a lizard.  Small rodents or reptiles are kind of the equalizing factor all over the world.  No matter how fancy or uppity your establishment, an uninvited guest like that at anyone's table could be reason enough for a free meal.  Maybe we should have tried.  At least the food was so delicious we forgot about the lizard visit.

 I think his name was Pierre.

 Crab appetizers

 Beef tenderloin for Brett!

 Sea bass for me!

 I can't remember the name of this decadent delight but it was heavenly.

Brett ate his dessert before I could snap a picture of it!  Yes, it was that good.

 We explored The Pearl a little bit, but it was pretty humid that night.

And guess what Brett surprised me with at the end of the night . . . . the photo above is a clue . . . Well, I had you for a second, didn't I?

At sixteen I never would have imagined that an old lady Grandma Dianna birthday could be so wonderful. But birthdays are much better now, now that I really am "mature" and my expectations don't resemble something from a fairy tale.  It is funny how that works though. The less I expect my life to be a Molly Ringwald or Meg Ryan movie, the more it becomes something worth living, something that brings my own dreams to life and I get to be the star in my own story line.

Modern Art Museum Qatar

Have you heard of Mathaf?  It is the new museum of modern art in Qatar and we finally paid a visit.  I wasn't expecting much, because, well, this is Qatar, but I wasn't disappointed.  It is a great diversion for the art, color, and culture-starved population of Doha.  It is located just outside of Education City, so there's no need to pass through any official looking gate and leave your I.D.; you can just drive into the small, empty parking lot, like we did, and get your fill of pointillism, impressionism, and abstractism (and yes, those are all words in the high-falootin art world).  The best part of the whole experience is that it is free, so you are only spending your time, and to me, it is worth it.  You can visit the website here to get more specifics and see a video about the museum.

From the looks of the photo above, Mathaf is not much to look at, but when you drive into the compound and walk across the parking lot, this is what you see.

The Guardian of the Fertile Crescent by Ismail Fattah (deceased) and finished by Ali Nouri.

 Al-Safina (the ship) by Adam Henein

The outer courtyard seems very Egyptian-esque in its presentation but maybe there are some baby Stonehenge influences as well.

In the lobby of the museum there are gigantic paintings of the Qatari emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani and his wife Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned by Yan Pei-Ming.  They are impressive and Brett really liked the style the artist used.  They are one of the few items I was allowed to photograph, so I can share them here:

Another lobby exhibit:

Another appeal of this museum is that it isn't so big that the amount of art to investigate is overwhelming.  We spent maybe 90 minutes and had a quick look at all the exhibits.  If Abbey hadn't been with us we might have spent a little more time, but her opinion was, and I quote, "This is just a quick glance museum."

Yes, even the signage was artsy!

Because photography of the exhibits is not allowed, I cannot give you any visuals from the other exhibits but I thought they were interesting and inspiring.  It is great to see Middle Eastern artists being recognized in this way.  The local culture seems so mired in tradition that it was refreshing to see some more contemporary interpretations of the Middle East.

As we left, we again enjoyed the outer courtyard, but this time in the dwindling sunlight.  The setting sun gave it a whole new look.  And just as the desert breathes a sigh of relief as twilight approaches, so did we, having had our artistic cups filled with a few more drops of local culture.