Things we Love and are Anticipating this October

There are several features of the compound where we live that are "Green Zone (the movie)-esque"... and I am so grateful for them! A beautiful pool, gym, and corner store are just a hop, skip & jump from our front door. More than that, once 4 o'clock hits (and the sun loses a bit of its intensity), our little village becomes family-central! Mom's and babies, people my parents' ages, and school age children make up our happy world. Ooh, I should count the plentifully ferrel cats too (because they are pretty cute. They definitely increase my life satisfaction)! I tried to make friends with a ferrel cat from a distance the other day actaully... it is sort of my new Cricket, but wild and orange. However, I don't think we will get to stay friends unless I feed it, which is against my value system. Mind you it could be a great (and by great I mean 'desensitizing') trial run for my back up Cleveland security plan.

While the 100 degree F. weather had me concerned upon arrival, it is now more believable that winter could happen in someone's lifetime in Doha; it feels like "Autumn in the Desert". Can you believe it! Autumn in the desert is hard to describe, but I think it is going to be really nice. Cooler, comfortable breeze is about the only major difference I percieve so far. Thin films of dust will still settle on anything outdoors whatever the season, so that will remain our pleasant reminder of where we are! Maybe the humidity will stay below 75% though... That would be a non-summer change for Doha (J/K. I'm exaggerating... it's actually only 50% humidity in the evenings, and it is usually less humid than that during the day). The crowning event of the new climatal season (since I have decided that it has started) is Halloween at our Canadian Compound. I know! Isn't that fun? The only thing that can out-cute kids in little towel-animal house-coats at the pool is kids in little halloween animal costumes at our front door! Seriously. Our unit is going to be handing out 'spider' treats while the neighbours come knocking. It will be my first time handing out candy at Halloween, and I am very excited.

Another reason to love the cooler but still golden rays of Doha October is the fact that our beans are germinating at a visable rate! After only one day of being planted, we can see a couple breaking out of their seed coats!

As promised, here is the cutie! We started customizing our sign language plan of attack today, which has me revv'ed up in anticipation: mom, dad, auntie, more, drink, eat, fruit, cat, hat, hot, bed and diaper are our starter words. Will let you know how it goes. I found it super entertaining when non-vocal toddlers at the children's garden could sign, so like I tell Caleb, let's make some communication-development hay while the sun shines! This fellow is going to be my equivalent to morning coffee now that Larissa is officially off to work. I know! He starts that cute and stays that way all day. It's awesome!