Here There and Everywhere

AdventureMan and I watched No Country for Old Men last night, and oh! it held us on the edge of our chairs. At the end, we ran for the phone to call our son and ask “Whoa! What happened??”

In short, we loved the movie (and I can hardly wait to read the book, although Cormac McCarthy goes a lot darker than I care to go). The Coen brothers also go darker than I care to go, but we find ourselves drawn to their movies because there is so much thought put into them, so many references to other genres, other films, and because the characters are so true to life. We first met them in Fargo, a movie we pull out and watch again from year to year - that’s a rare movie. We love the characters, even the bad guys are so human.

It’s the same in No Country for Old Men. Set in the desolation of West Texas, there are whole minutes when you listen to the wind whistling in the desert as the hero hikes down to a drug-exchange-gone-bad.

There is a good guy, a sherif played by craggy-faced Tommy Lee Jones, and an ordinary guy who finds a whole lot of money, and we really want him to get away with it, and then there is a really really bad guy, who is also smart, and . . . well, something inside of him is just bent. He’s not right. The Coen’s have a way of making him both appalling and just a guy doing his job very well. It’s not personal, but we wish he wouldn’t enjoy inflicting harm so much.

What I love about the Coen films is that they can capture the essence of a character so sparely, with just a few words, a few lines. There is a trailer park manager who refuses to give the very very bad guy an address. You hold your breath; she could get blown away, she doesn’t know it. She holds firm. In another scene, an older woman tells a Mexican man who has just helped her “You don’t see too many Mexicans in suits.” So so so politically incorrect, and so ordinarily normal, the plain-spokeness of the elderly. The Coen’s capture the West Texas-ness which permeates the film.

This movie is worth watching again.

I have a Kuwaiti friend who grows tomatoes, and was grousing because this year’s crop wasn’t as abundant as last year’s. Two short weeks later, he changed his tune.

“Come get tomatoes! We have all the tomatoes in the world!”

He had planted a large variety this year, partly because I wanted to see how some American “heirloom” seeds would do here. Either the climate is a little funny this year, or the heirloom seeds just take a little longer, but oh, what a crop there is! One of my friends said “it is like eating tomato candy!” Some of them are that sweet!

Just a little balsamic vinegar and a little of the best olive oil, a little fresh ground pepper and a little salt - oh, what heaven.

But there were so many, we cooked up a tomato sauce, just tomatoes, not even any onions. It was magnificent.

And then in today’s Health News, we learn that in addition to helping us have a healthy heart, eating tomatoes can also help protect our skin against the sun:

(photo courtesy BBC News)

From yesterday’s BBC Health News. (You can read the entire article by clicking on the blue type.)

Tomato dishes ‘may protect skin’

After three months, skin samples from the tomato group showed they had 33% more protection against sunburn - the equivalent of a very low factor sun cream - and much higher levels of procollagen, a molecule which gives the skin its structure and keeps its firm.

As I work in the Project Room, I often have the radio on, BBC. I get to hear all about the US elections from another point of view, I get exposure to music I might otherwise never hear, and I hear things that show up weeks, even months later in the news.

AdventureMan called and asked if I had heard the segment on the Lemba in Zimbabwe. I hadn’t, but I listened closely for the next couple days and it was repeated.

It is about a professor who discovered what he thinks is a replica of the Arc of the Covenant in a dusty museum in Zimbabwe. He explored further, and discovered the Lemba claim ancient connections with the Arc, and had priestly customs similar to old Jewish customs. When they underwent DNA testing, the priestly clan of the Lemba had the same genetic markers as the priestly clan of the Jews, the descendants of Aaron.

How fascinating is that? Legend has always claimed the Arc of the Covenant is or was hidden somewhere in Ethiopia . . . transport to Zimbabwe from Ethiopia would not be out of the question.

I went to BBC news online and did a search - no results. Maybe it takes a while for their newest stories to be documented in their search files.

Googling on the internet, I found Ethiomedia which says the following:

In a newly released book, University of London Professor Tudor Parfitt claims to have located the treasured artifact on a dusty shelf of an out-of-the-way museum in Harare, Zimbabwe.

In his HarperCollins’ book, “The Lost Ark of the Covenant: Solving the 2,500 Year Old Mystery of the Fabled Biblical Ark,” Parfitt describes traipsing around the globe, decoding ancient texts and deciphering numerous clues to locate the enigmatic object.

Along the way, the man dubbed the “British Indiana Jones” by friends, colleagues and the Wall Street Journal uncovered genetic evidence confirming claims by the Lemba tribe that they
are descendants of ancient Israelite priests, the caretakers of the lost Ark.

He experienced a major breakthrough in 1999 when he took DNA samples from 136 male members of the Lemba tribe. In a finding that drew worldwide publicity, a genetic analysis confirmed they were descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses.

So many discoveries have proven to be fraudulent that I hesitate to put too much faith in this discovery, but I have to admit that it appeals to the little girl in me, who still believes archaeologists have great adventures, and loves the Indiana Jones movies!

(I hear there is a new Indiana Jones movie coming out soon. I hope old Harrison Ford can recapture enough of his youth to make this as good as the first one.)

Interesting article for the non-professional photographers among us about how to do some quick-and-dirty touch ups to eliminate common causes of less than ideal photos: shiny face, distracting background, and red eye. You can read the entire article at Wired: Touch up your pics

If only your girlfriend didn’t look sweaty and possessed — and the background didn’t resemble the mothership’s control room — this snapshot would be frame-worthy. With Adobe’s consumer-grade image editor Photoshop Elements ($100 for PC, $90 for Mac), you can remedy these common photo spoilers in seconds.
If you’re on a Mac, you can also try using the lightweight photo-editing app Pixelmator ($60). And those of you on Linux can give the free and open-source GIMP a shot. The controls and keyboard shortcuts won’t be exactly the same as the techniques described below, but they’ll be close enough that you should be able to figure out the correct combinations.

So far, I’m kind of low-tech. The MacBook Pro comes with iPhoto, and it takes care of just about everything I need. I crop, every now and then I adjust contrast or give it a little more or less lighting. Once I even straightened a photo that was tilted - wow, that makes me feel so powerful!.

AdventureMan has PhotoShop Elements, which he has explored, but I think maybe he was a little overwhelmed by all the processes. We both like taking photos, but we aren’t going to spend a lot of time trying to make a bad shot into a great shot. We try to do that when we are taking the photo. It’s all fun for us, when we start taking it too seriously, it stops being fun.

I like articles like this, though, that take something step by step and make it easy.

Do you PhotoShop? What’s your favorite tool?

On the same road as the earlier photo taken in Mubarak Al Kebir, just along the road (I think it is 250) was this mosque. It has writing on it, around the top, but the dome is not green. It has lights at night. Is this a Shiite mosque?

This mosque in Fehaheel doesn’t have writing, so I think it is a Sunni mosque, but it is so PINK and so pretty - and mostly the more delicate mosques are Shiite. Is this one Sunni or Shiia?

Last night I was invited for a very special occasion, the Tarek Rajab family had a private showing of their unparalleled Arab Dress collection for the Kuwait Textile Arts Association. We enjoy their two museums so much - we take our friends and visitors there, sometimes we just visit the calligraphy museum to watch the film on calligraphy one more time! We learn something new with every visit. If you have never visited either of these museums, you are missing one of the rare treats in Kuwait.

On top of their value on traditional items, their foresight in beginning the collection decades ago, their two museums are open to the public, entirely free. Free of charge. Free admission. I never can get over it; the entire country of Kuwait is an honored guest in these museums. Imagine.

Denise Rajab, the museum curator, was on hand to answer questions about the costumes, which were displayed hanging against backgrounds showing photos of the countries and surroundings where these items of dress would be worn. White gloves were available to all present, and people were encouraged to (gently) handle the garb, so that you could see front and back.

There was so much loving attention to detail, so much handwork in these items of clothing!

I encourage you, my friends in Kuwait, to do two things. First, visit the two Tarek Rajab museums (located in Jabriya, near the New English School.) Here is their website: Tarek Rajab Museums

Second, if you want a window on a whole new world, join this group, Kuwait Textile Arts Association. Take their trips (this year the group just got back from South Africa, and are whooping with delight!) and attend their monthly meeting, meet some of the most interesting people in Kuwait, interesting because they have wide-ranging interests - like yours!

Here are some photos from a truly remarkable evening:

I hope I’m in town next year for all the meetings, and . . . I’ll see you there!

Wow! Wow! Wow!

The last night was sold out! When the Ahmadi Singers and Orchestra staged Pirates of Penzance in the Mishref Theatre, Kuwait had a real treat.

The Singers, the Orchestra - and the audience - were all multinational. The Mishref Theatre is a delightful space, warm, comfortable, intimate. There were many many children in the audience, and all were particularly well behaved. Only one cell phone went off (twice) and it was immediately silenced; the owner did not chat on his phone while the performance went on. Wooo Hoooo, Kuwait!

Neither did the audience sit on its hands! Each song was warmly applauded, and the old favorites, like the Modern Major General, brought the house down.

What I liked the very best about this performance of Pirates of Penzance was that the singers seemed to be having a lot of fun. The staging was clever and well-done, lots of stage play, lots of interaction, lots for people to see. Lots of fun for the kids, too. The actors sang the complicated song slowly but snappily, and we could understand the lyrics, those hysterically funny Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics. The costumes were a lot of fun - do you see the parrot on one pirate’s shoulder?

Brava! Bravo! The Ahmadi Singers and Orchestra have caught fire! Who knows what they will stage next?

This is for Mrm, who requested EASY recipes. My friends, good cooking CAN be easy, and with rare exception, all my recipes are EASY. The treasures are the recipes which are EASY and yummy, too. This one is so rich and so sweet that people can’t resist it - they go back for more, and they want the recipe. It was sent to me by one of my Southern friends - they always have the best recipes!

The hardest part of this recipe is getting the seeds out of the dates - but it only takes a half cup full of dates, and that isn’t much.

Pecan - Date Pie

1/2 cup whole pitted dates, chopped
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 T. all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 large eggs

Sprinkle dates and pecans over crust. Combine corn syrup and next 5
ingredients in a bowl, beat with a mixer at medium speed until well
blended. Pour into prepared crust. Bake at 325 degrees F. (180 degrees C.)
for 55 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Serve
with whipped cream.

“Pour into prepared crust” - Hohohohohoho - if you can find a prepared crust in Kuwait!

But you can find digestive biscuits/ graham crackers, so make this easy easy crust - crush about 1 cup of the crackers/biscuits, add 1/4 cup medium chopped walnuts or pecans, and 1/4 cup melted butter. Press into the bottom and a little up the sides of a BUTTER greased pie tin.

We are a bunch of travel and geography nerds in my family. Nothing makes us happier than jumping in a airplane, reaching an exotic location and driving, getting our feet on new ground, seeing new things, learning new ways. We all have cameras glued to our hands and laptops stuffed in backpacks.

All my married life, people have looked at me with pity and tole me how they can’t believe I live with such uncertainty, never knowing where I will be in the next year - even the next few months. What I tell them is this - the truth is, we ALL never know. We ALL never know when something will happen that will change our lives dramatically, forever. We live day to day, not thinking about all the things that can happen. If we think too much about them, we might go crazy.

I consider myself blessed. I was created with a restless spirit, a spirit for new experiences and new ways of thinking. I was given a life where all those things became my daily bread.

What is fun for me is watching the next generation of young adults discovering their own lives, who they are meant to be.

My nephew, at Google Earth took his love of geography to new heights. He works in a place he loves, doing work he loves. He wrote to me yesterday, to tell me about a new game being played, a grown-up version of the old “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.” (one of the earliest computer games for kids) He has published a really really hard one on the Google team LatLong blog (as he says, he has the home court advantage in this game!) and he refers us to another blog, Where on GoogleEarth? where there are a series of contests to see if you can identify landmarks, special places, from the sky.

Here, for example, is the photo from contest #22 - and people have to write in telling what it is. Can YOU tell what it is?

Do you have a million ways to avoid doing what you know you really need to do? (Like taxes?)

The Forward Day by Day reading for today had to do with Mary saying “yes” to God.

For my American readers - I bet most of you don’t know that there is an entire chapter in the Qura’n devoted to Mary, and that Muslims also believe Mary conceived as a virgin. I bet you!

Because I have more serious things to do, I spent some time looking for artistic works that showed what I think the Annunciation would have looked like. (To my Muslim readers, The Annunciation is the formal name for when the angel Gabriel - Jabreel - visits Mary and tells her she has been chosen to bear Jesus/Issa and Mary has a choice - and Mary says “Yes!”) (To my American readers - Yep, Gabriel is also in the Qura’n, and also John the Baptist appears as Yahyah.)

Before I go any further, the point of today’s reading is that we are supposed to say “yes” to God/Allah when he gives us a mission to do.

But I got distracted, looking for what I thought the Annunciation would look like. If you are curious, just Google “Annunciation + Art” and you can wile away your life on a huge array of artworks.

I selected a few to share with you that caught my eye.

The first one - this is just truly awful! Look at their sour expressions! The Angel Gabriel looks like he thinks God made a big mistake choosing this wench, and the Virgin looks like she thinks Gabriel is a con man or something. Look at the body language! Look at Gabriel’s hands, it is almost like he is shaking his finger at Mary. Look at Mary, see how she is pulling her robe tighter and looking like “Get this lunatic away from me!” See what you think of this painting by Martini:

To me, this one comes the closest in what I think Mary would have looked like - a 14 year old Palestinian girl. Even her clothing looks right to me. And look at her hands - her hands say “it is too awesome for me to understand, and I accept. It is a Coptic icon:

I love the feeling of this one, and that the artist captures the simplicity of “Mary” caught in her normal daily routines, surrounded by her household items and the awe and astonishment of the moment:

And here is my very favorite by Caravaggio. I love the protective posture of the angel, and the complete submission in Mary’s posture, I love the presence of God in the light shining on them both, and I love the way Caravaggio captures the feeling of enormous awe - it doesn’t take gilt and sumptuousness, the glorious essence of this moment was simple - Mary said “yes.”: