Something 's brewing...

So... Something's brewing...

What it is?
Well, time will tell..!
I can tell you though, it's very, very exciting!

Fat Tuesday, on a Monday

The Swedish Ladies organised another picnic in the park to celebrate Shrove Tuesday this week.

A great initiative, and since they hadn't been able to find anyone to professionally bake, Viktoria had taken it upon herself to bake semlor for all of us! Impressive!

They were really, really yummy too!

I had never been to Reem Park before, so it was a new discovery for me. A bit too far to go on a regular basis, but I still enjoy to discover new areas of Abu Dhabi.

Nice morning in the park! I'm lucky to have this Swedish community to celebrate all our special holidays with!

Mumbai Nights 2

This weekend I took part in something really cool at the museum, a so called "Secret Soirée", an immersive theatre experience. This performance was called 'Mumbai Nights 2', with a cast that had come down from the UK.
We had seen the preparations for this for a few weeks already, all around the museum:

There was different venues all under the dome, with movie posters, a tuk tuk, selfie areas for the public with huge splashes of orange and yellow colours all over, and even diyas (= oil lamps). This show came as a part of the Bollywood exhibition we are showing at the moment.

I decided to dress up accordingly, found out where to go to find something Indian to wear and got myself a kurta (= a long shirt, with big slits up the side that also shows off the trousers). I really enjoyed wearing these bright colours, and felt really pretty.

Here I am with some of my colleagues from the Education Department, Richa, Ann and Memoona:

I had also convinced Linnea to come along, although she wasn't keen on wearing any Indian clothing.

You don't just sit and watch a show like this, but you become part of it. People were singing, dancing and enjoying the show together with the actors. The story is about the filming of a new - imaginary - blockbuster movie, which we got to go behind the scenes in.

There was just so many people, it was hard to hear when the actors were talking; so what I enjoyed the most was the musical performances and the dancing. They had unbelievable energy!

Besides, anything set under the dome of this museum will be beautiful..! What a setting! We got to see a dhol (= Indian drum) performance, visit the Flora Fountains of Mumbai and the ghats of Varanasi (= the stairs leading down to the Ganges)... oaw!

When the performance was over, everyone was invited to join the after-party, and we stayed for a bit and danced away to the music played by the DJ. So much fun!

Another great night out at the museum!

New additions in the house

Little by little, new things gets introduced into our home. I still have some items on my list, but there is no stress, I'd rather wait until I find the right things. Like this stool in the hallway:

I knew I wanted something here to sit on to put your shoes on. In our old house, the stairs were right there, but here we were lacking a seat. I looked and looked and couldn't find anything I liked, until I saw this one, in a flower shop! It's really well made, the wood is beautiful and solid and it looks so good there in it's spot. I smile every time I pass it!

In the office I have got the maintenance man to mount a ceiling lamp. It's actually an old lamp that we have had since we got married, we bought it with some wedding money we got from my grandad. I am really happy to have it up again, as it's been packed away since we left England, and I love it!

The guest room is also done, I got a lamp second hand and found a rug that brought in more colour. I also put some Lucas-themed paintings up, so he can claim the room a little bit like his. The two on the right were painted by Yvonne, the one to the left was a 30th birthday present to me, on the day Lucas was born.

And Linnea's room has finally got some rugs too! She decided to go for one grey to match the curtains; and one cream with grey decor, that also matches the curtains, and the shape of her ceiling lamp. It's amazing how it can change a room, to add some soft furnishings. Now it feels real cosy in here!

Mazaraa Farm

It has in fact been school holidays this week, but for many reasons we decided not to travel. Instead we have been mooching around, yesterday Linnea and I took a small excursion out to a farm in Al Bahia that I had heard about from the Swedish Ladies-group.

It was really nice to be somewhere so green, we took a long walk through the farm and all the different areas.

They also had a bunch of different animals, everything from turkeys, doves, ducks and chickens; to donkeys, horses, rabbits, turtles and goats:

And camels, of course!

We had coffee in the farm café.

Then we had a look in the farm shop.

And left with all this beautiful, organic produce, for only 20 AED! We will be back!

 

Pura Beach

As Linda and I share a passion for discovery she usually gifts an experience as a birthday present, something we can do together and mostly something we haven't tried before. This year was no exception, she treated me to an Afternoon Tea experience at the Pura Beach Eco Retreat, where none of us had been yet and this week it was time to make it happen.

It situated in a very pretty location, on Jubail Island, in a protected area in the middle of the mangrove forest there. You have to park up at the visitors center and then you get driven in a buggy the last three kilometers out to the resort itself, which really makes you feel disconnected from the hustle and bustle of the city, even though it's just visible on the horizon.

The set-up was stunning, we were sat amongst these floating curtains, just on the edge of the mangroves.

We were the only ones there this afternoon, so nice and private; but I lacked some ambiance and buzz, that having other people there would have brought.
We still enjoyed our Afternoon Tea set up, of course. Especially since it came with unlimited mocktails as well as coffee and tea, nice touch!

It was lovely to sit here and see the sun set over the mangroves, utterly beautiful!

Thank you Linda for a very enjoyable birthday treat!

Welcome to the community!

On the weekend we were invited over to our ex-neighbours who now, after having had a few years also in Raha Gardens, are our neighbours again! Well sort of, they are all the way over in A-block, but still, we are in the same compound again!

 

They were having a housewarming, and since we now have been here already a couple of months, we got to welcome them to the community!
It had also been Holgers birthday, so it got celebrated as well, with cheesecake, candles and balloons! (He didn't turn 60 though, not just yet, that was just a joke from some of his co-workers..!) Hip hourray!