The Nature Journaling Workshop

Nicole managed to get a few shots of the workshop that she and I did on the 19th of May. It was a very fun time for me, and everyone I talk with said that they had a great time, as well. On top of that, they learned a lot and want more of the same. Thanks, Nicole! This would not have happened without your excitement, encouragement, and pushing. You are "my partner in crime", as they say, so we must sit down and plan the Bird Life lectures for June and July. I have started to gather the images and support that you need to make them successful. I want you to be as pleased with these two events as I have been with the journaling workshops. Turn around is fair play.

Saturday-Wedding Day for my nephew!

I am missing a big wedding today. What a bummer! Oh well, Carolyn is there to take part in the celebrations. She must drink a glass of champaigne for me!

I am feeling a whole lot better now. My good friend was very understanding, so I am still in good graces :)

Nicole has a new companion - a parakeet! I am looking forward to meeting this guy:)

unsettled

I am struggling with the day. Too many things to do, worriness about loved ones, and just feeling that things are just not right in several quarters. After a fun weekend, you would think that I would be more upbeat, but I am not. I am actually sad and very unsettled right now, as I may have lost a friendship. For that, I am so sorry that I opened my mouth and just wish I had kept to myself. I am sad that I am missing my nephew's wedding, and that Carolyn is there by herself to try to enjoy the celebrations; that I can't be with my three grandsons, mentoring them about the natural world and anything else. I just want to SCREAM!! I must get back to work and shake this burden.

Bye to all of you for now and thanks for listening.

Memorial Day Dinner Ceremonies - US Consulate

We all went to the Memorial Day Ceremonies at the U.S. Consulate last night. The ceremonies were pretty standard (just wish the speakers had learned to project their voice, as they were hard to hear), dinner was nice and the dancing loads of fun. Left at the end, shortly after midnight.

Slept late today (6:00 am) and had breakfast with Gillian at the golf clubhouse at 10:00 to talk about Ireland - where I plan to meet up with Carolyn for our mid-summer get together. Sounds like it should be a pleasant get away.Hopefully, Gillian will be on a home visit if all goes well and we hope to connect there.

Carolyn is on her way to Justin & Georgia's wedding for the weekend. I sure hope she has a good time. When I talked to her at airport, she was tired, having no sleep last night, and seemed rather vulnerable. These are the times that I wish I was home to take some of the frustration and load off of her - shealding her from any hurt :(

Damn, Continental carged her $25 for the laptop (carryon baggage). They are getting really irritating with all these fees. I'll figure out a way to pack it for the trip home.

Got some PETEX work to finish today and tomorrow, so cheerio.

Return of the scorpion

Well, the Scottish and Irish lasses overwhelmed me and forced me, under threats of banishment from the Kingdom, if I did not return my cute little black scorpion back to his hole under the plywood :( I wasn't quite ready to give up the little sweetie, but they would have none of that. I was hoping that I could calm it down enough to put him in the palm of my hand for test of confidence. Oh, well darn. I'll find another sometime.

Another thing I am looking for is a camel spider. They quite large and ugly looking and had the troops in Iraq petrified when they first arrived. There are a ton of myths surrounding these creatures, but they are harmles. Doesn't mean that they can't bite with their huge mandibles. You just have to stay away from them at first, until you can calm the critter.

Attached is a nice photo taken by Ugur of a spiny-tail lizard in full color. They are normally gray, like under his throat, but when they sit in the sun the skin pigment changes, ranging from a bright yellow to a white. This specimen is about 24 inches from nose to the tip of the tail. I have targeted him for capture to study up close. Amother photo is of some Black-winged Stilts that flew over Ugur out at the spray field. They are common around here in the flats that have water. The other photo is a White-cheeked Bulbul, an invasive species from Asia. They are one of the more common birds around the camp. Also, some more photos of the birding group out in the spray field.

3rd Weekend in May

Mustaq, John, Elizabeth, Gillian (squating) Nicole, Melia (bending over) and Urur

I have had a most wonderful weekend! It is now Saturday mornin' and I am slowly getting dressed and together for a week of work - thr real reason that I am here ;) I have one assignment that is quite boring, but needed, and since I had nothing to do when it was assigned to me, I gladly said that I would take it on. This would normally go to our tech writers and graphics people. Oh well, we get these things now and then, but I will sure be glad when I finish it :)

Back to the weekend, on Wednesday night I had my nature journaling workshop and it went very well (I think, based on comments I hear from those that attended and from those who did not attend, but heard from someone who did. I personally had a splendid time with it. My passion for this apparently was quite evident. I know that I felt it and I could see it in the eyes and expressions of the learners. I want to do more of these workshops. I have been asked to do a private workshop at the home of a office colleague. She has about six university friends that she wants there. I think they are mostly women. She says that my message is so important (observation and really seeing the natural world) that she wants thes friends to hear and experience, not just the drawing skills, but the hidden message of really seeing the world around you from a different perspective and therefore appreciating your natural surroundings, something that few Arabs (particularly urban) understand. The desert has become the dump. There is nothing but sand, they think; but just sit and observe a small piece of that desert for and hour and draw and note the live that springs from the sand at dusk and maybe, just maybe, I might have an impact on the people of this seemingly barren landscape.

Thursday morning I was up at 4:30 to lead, with Nicole, a birding trip to the spray fields and the lake. Gillian, bless her sweet soul, let me use her car to get my materials to the workshop, so I had it to use on Thursday morning. She was there bright and early at 5:15 to pick up and from there we went over to get Nicole, who needed to get to the gate to sign in an outside visitor (Urur from Turkey, a photographer). At the assigned time of 6:00 all of our contingent was there at the spray field on the south side of the camp for some birding, nature studies and observations. By default I took the lead pointing out different birds and some of their behaviors, digging in the dirt to identify and observe the abundant life under our feet. Melia Huston was along and i often asked her to say something about the plant life that we were observing. By 8:00 the sun was just too hot to continue, so we headed back to the cars to call it a day. I can't wait to get some of the photos that were taken of the birds and lizards (and people).

One of the photos is the group as we were about to break up.

Line dancing.

Claudia, Marik, Nicole after a spin in the Sunfish.

The rest of the morning and into the early afternoon was spent in the corner of the mess hall, where I set up next to a window to work on some drawings or watercolors. While I work there I have people, now and then, who come over to see what I am doing which often leads to some interesting dialogue. Just some a of the people that I now claim as my friends and acquaintances: two elderly Muslim women from Lebanon, who I see and visit with on Friday mornings; a young Saudi man who wants to see more of my work and wants to learn to do what I do; a gentleman Saudi with two beautiful and very well mannered young daughters who enjoyed watching me work and would love to learn more; an American expat and his wife (who demanded that I come to their home on the weekends and work in her studio). I had a very enlightening and powerful discussion with him about the Saudi social culture and what I am dealing with in my real work here. He was telling me to work with the women (listen, because I'll mention this again). At any rate, there are several others that fail my memory right now, but you get the picture. Being there opens doors that I could not open otherwise.

Well, in the very heat of the afternoon I took a bike ride across the camp to get my ticket and pay for the night's event: "Cowboy Country", a night of good food, and dancing western dances. That was a very hot 109 degree ride, BTW. Caught a ride to the Cowboy Country dance along about 6:00 pm, for an evening of shear fun, or should I say, craziness. I felt like a complete dummy trying to line dance. There must be 10,000 different versions of line dancing. It is not easy and it takes a great deal of coordination to remember the tiny little nuances of eaach version. The crowd was surely an international crowd. Simply sureal to see these non-Americans dancing the Texas 2-step and line dancing and all duded out in cowboy dudes :) One young and pretty Irish lass was really good and so were several young guys from somewhere in Europe. There were a number of Canadians, Aussies, and Indian Subcontinent, as well. They all meet on Wednesday night to teach the steps and to dance, so I'm going to spend some Wednesday evenings there, so that I am not embarrased when I go back home and have to do any line dancing (Where else but Texas?) The dancing went on until way past midnight. As luck would have it, I was able to catch a ride to Steineke with a guy named Frazier, who, it turns out is president of the group. He asked some questions on the drive home and asked me if I sail. Well he invited me to the Buccanears regatta at the Halfmoon Bay Yacht Club to sail Sunfish.

Next morning at 11:30 Frazier was at the door and we headed off to the Yacht Club for, what turned out to be an outstanding day. Upon arrival we unloaded and met everyone (turns out that Frazier was a past Commadore of the fleet) so I was quickly taken in by the guys - some neat guys, BTW. First order of business was racing. I tried to not be embarassed by my rusty sailing skills, but was promptly ordered by the Commadore to put on a life jacket and take one of the craft and get out there. Well, I managed to capsize twice in the first race, so came in dead last :( The next race was much better, I had gotten the feel of the Sunfish and managed to come in a distant 2nd. The last race I scratched due to a leg cramp as I was entering the craft capsizing it right in front of everyone :( I think the best was the last cruise of the day when Marik and I took a couple of my good friends, and potential HBYC crewmembers of the club out on a late afternoon sail. Nicole and Claudia surprized me by walking down the beach past our tent, so I went out to ask them to come over and meet the crew. They were a big hit with Frazier and Marik trying to tell them of the benefits of being a member. That ended with Frazier suggesting that Marik and I take Nicole and Claudia out for a spin. Well, that was so much fun. Nicole knew how to sail, so with her at the helm and me handling the halyard we jostled around the water rather nicely until she was a little quick with the tiller on a tack sending us into the water. We quickly righted the craft and were on our way, but I secretly think she did it on purpose :) The weight of two people on the side allowed us to balance the heal nicely almost to the tipping point on a speedy broad reach. That was fun! Unfortunately the wind would gust and then lay down, so you would be on a nice reach, clipping along nicely and the wind would suddenly drop and you would lose the speed and heal. I sure do want to do some more sailing out there. :) A big catered outdoor dinner followed where we all visited and rehashed the days events, before heading back to the compound for good night's sleep. (I'm sore in the shoulders today from pulling on the halyard).

Theatre prep

I have spent several hours over the past few days helping the Dhahran theater group with a showcase they are doing next week. The production is an Australian play of affairs and infidelity. several of us with artistic capabilities have been painting the backdrops for the sets. It a simple and intimate setting with the small audience sitting on the stage around the players. I have onlt observed pieces of the rehearsals, so I can't give you a clear picture. I have asked my good friend Nicole to come along for the opening night performance. Should be fun. Then in a couple of weeks I am going to the opening night of their big show - a murder mystery - sitting at Tess' table. We won't miss seeing our colleague and friend Deidrie perform in her thick Irish accent. Will see if they need help with the sets for that performance. You never know what you will get involved with here in Aramco. Did I say I am having fun? Wish all of you could enjoy it with me :)

Images of Lisa, Omer, and me working on a set.

Dinner meeting 5/16/10

Last night several of us went to a dinner and talk sponsored by one of the groups here in Aramco. The usual networking and discussions before sitting down was good. Met several new people. The dinner table was good, as well. At the table was Nicole, Claudia, April, and two couples. Next to me was Vicky and her husband Scott, the other couple I did not get to talk with, unfortunately. Vicky is interested in art, so once she found out that I was also an artist she kept the conversation going until the speaker began. She was originally from Chile and moved to Columbia and later to the US. The conversationwas really pleasant, but I really wanted to talk to the others on the table, as well. Vicky expressed a desire to watch me work on my watercolors to learn and offered a space to work on order to observe. Made me realize that I need to put on some demonstrations/workshops on watercolor and illustration techniques. I'd like to do some nature journaling workshops/excursions here in the Middle East. Take a group to some place like Lebanon or the Red Sea to spend a few days observing and drawing/painting/photographing natural history (focusing on maybe birds or something) That could be fun. I'll have to get Nicole and Claudia interested and that is the only way it would happen. Cheers!

Back to the evening, the talk started out ok, but soon became painful. It was way too long. The speaker did not have any voice projection or enthusiasm. A number of people, including Claudia, left after an hour into the boring two hour travel log. Nicole and some others stayed to the bitter end, but we had to vent our displeasure at the cafe nearby and on the walk home. I am up for the July dinner meeting with a talk on the serpents of Arabia, and I am promising everyone that it will be short and sweet and engaging. Just wish I could find a few nice specimens to show the group.

Another fun weekend in the Kingdom

Sorry for the delay in blog entries, but I have been busy. Here, let me give you a typical weekend for me. Wednesday night(that is like Friday night for you people in the real world)right after work I dropped my stuff at the hotel room and walked over to attend Sunday "counseling" services (go figure that one out). After that it was a call to Nicole at K-Force for an update, with that done I was over to the mess hall for dinner and a place to work on some drawings for a hour or so, before going back to my room to complete creating my snares for the Spiny-tailed (Dabb) lizards. To sleep around midnight and up at 4:00 am to get my things together, and have a cup of tea before biking out to the desert to my favorite place on the compound: the spray fields, Lake Lanard (sewage lake), and the desert. Got there about 5:30 am to set my snares at three lizasrd holes and bike over to a line of trees around the lake to spot the lizards with my binoculars. While waiting, I was able to do some bird watching, spotting a nightjar and the usual array of warblers, flycatchers, etc. With no lizards showing I wandered down the dirt road to a dumping area and walked right into a colony of Arabian Red Foxes. Must be 10 den holes and tracks all around. By 8:30 I headed back to the hotel - up the incline and against the wind in temperatures near 100 F. It was brutal (I did bring water this time). Back at the room it was time to shower and take a short power nap and grab a late breakfast while doing some more drawings in the mess hall (my studio). 1:00 and headed over to the theater to help with some thearical backdrops for an upcoming showcase. Spent the rest of the afternoon painting backdrops, at 4:00 headed back to the hotel to change and catch the bus into Khobar with Omer to get some supplies for my nature journaling workshop, grab a shwarma for dinner, help Omer decide on a Leatherman tool, then catch a cab to the Mall of Dhahran for some other supplies (which they did not have), so another cab back to the hotel where several of us sat around shooting the bull over several pots of tea. To bed finally at midnight. Up again at 4:00 am and back out into the desert, only this time a shamal (dust storm) rolled in about 6:30 am so I had to hurry back to the hotel, followed by the mess hall, where I again worked on some more drawings until time to go to the theater to repeat yesterday's events. Later that evening my good friend, Nicole, gave me a call to tell me about her trip out in the desert 3 hours west of here with a bunch of spelunkers. She was rappelling down into a cave when she turns upside down. It was so funny seeing photos of her in that condition with all these guys just laughing up a storm. Would have been worth it being there to really experience the display. She has to be such a sport to even go on a campout in these temperature, and the shamal that hit them about 3:00 am collapsing her tent forcing her to crawl into a car with some of the guys and a dog to get out of the dust - hot, no sleep, miserable, she said. She's cool. After that I was exhausted and finally hit the sack around 11:00 pm to get some sleep before work in the morning. That is a typical weekend for me, and the workdays are not much different.

Photos of fox den, fox, and a lizard hole.

I love my abode

I was sorting through my photo files and opened a folder called "519 Bayland". Skinning through the images, I was a little homesick for this beautiful little cottage that we call home. It sure did not look this good when I was there a few weeks ago - the damaging effects of a brutal winter killed most of the tender tropicals that were a major part of the landscape. I am told that the yard is now coming back, with blooms and greenery from the hardy plants that were not damaged. When I get back I will want to replace some of the voids with hardy plants, so John, you should offer some suggestions.

We live in a beautiful old (for Houston) neighborhood with plenty of trees and wonderful architecture. Our house is over 105 years old, but as solid as ever. I love this place. Our blood,sweat,and tears have gone into making this abode what it is. John and Stephanie missed a lot of fun times with thier friends, I am sure, because we had work to do on the house and grounds, but I think that they also learned to appreciate a nice old structure and grounds that have been nurtured for almost 30 years. I have enjoyed having neighborhood friends like Mary Ellen, Anna, Susie, Michelle and others bring their children down to dig for worms, feed the chickens, or build bat houses, and to help Carolyn,in the kitchen with pancakes and tea. I miss all of that and cannot wait to get back to enjoy it again, but while i am here I am trying to enjoy this part of the world like I enjoy home. I am making great friends, seeing so many wonderful places, eating some good food (sometimes)and learning to really appreciate what we have back in the Western World. My friends and colleagues here are from all over the world, and provide me with such a fun and an interesting collage of cultural and linguistical challenges (Arabs, Europeans, Asians, and Americans all). I hope I never loose touch with these folk, and when the time comes to leave, I will leave in tears. These relationships make it otherwise tolerable in this harsh landscape and climate (today the temperature was 106 degrees)and plants must be very strong to weather the summer months - that is why this photo of home makes me want to be back there working the garden and enjoying a place where a lot of different plants thrive and kids come down to say "Richard, can we have some eggs - mom is out of eggs and she needs two for dinner tonight?". :)

Happy Mother's Day!

To all of you mothers out there: Here's to a great day for you! For those of you who can, have a great big glass of wine or what ever you like. I miss all of my family who are mothers, particularly, Carolyn, Stephanie, Amy, and Libby. That doesn't mean that I don't miss you Dianne, Marsha, Ellen, Demra,and mom on the way-Erin, and why not add in some others that are almost family like Mary Ellen, Anna, Ann,Iris, and the list can go on forever. I am sure that I have left out a lot of moms that are close to me, so forgive me if your name isn't here. I love all of you for taking care of Carolyn and being the great mom's that you are. This is your day! God bless you all!

Saturday night in the Kingdom

One of the worst shamals that I have ever seen came though here in an instant this afternoon. It was so bad. They canceled the meeting that I was going to. Then the rain came and cleaned out the dust. It has been raining off and on since. So I am back in my room trying to figure out what to do for a couple of hours. I think I will finish another drawing or two while I watch a movie. Did I say I was bored?

Oh well, here are two more Arabian landscapes.

Saudi Landscapes

Another fun day in the Kingdom! Got up early to go birding and lizarding at the spray fields, the sewage lake, and the desert. Got there before 7:00 am and started spotting a number of warbler species (Willow, Desert, Reed, and Lesser whitethroat), Rufus Scrub Robins, spotted flycatchers, Pallid Swifts, Sand Martins, Doves (Laughing and Collared), House Sparrows, Isabaline and Red-Backed Shrikes, then, as I walked around the lake, a Black-crowned Night Heron, some Cormorants, and a European Nightjar. Out on the desert there were probably 6 Egyptian Spiny-tailed Lizards (they were hard to spot in their yellow-white coloration against the desert tan). I wanted to look of the best hole entrance to set up some nooses to catch one. The best thing of the morning was finding a snake shed. Looked like a Cat snake - a smallish racer-like non-venonous species found her in Arabia,so I know there is one out there near the spray field :) The worst thing was the lack of water - I forgot to bring some water. I was never so glad to get to one of the watering buckets along the jogging trail on the way back to the hotel.

Had a quick brunch at the dining hall, after which I started on a couple of shell drawings that I nneded to finish. I was drawing them for my Shell colleagues, but the end of that group meant that I did not need to finish them. Well, it's time, nevertheless. I will have to virtually send copies to those colleagues to whom I am still connected. I have even started about four more shells from the Persian Gulf to add to the collection.

By 4:30 pm I was headed to the mall to gather the supplies that I need for the Nature Journaling workshop that I am conducting later this month for the Arabian Natural History Association.

So now I am watching a little tv as I make this entry into my blog. Folks, I think I am ready for bed. Until tomorrow have a great day!

Oh,BTW here are some ink drawings of the landscape around here. These are depicting no particuler place - just images in my mind.

Qatif with the Traveling Naturalists

Up early this morning (well, for the weekend) to grab a good breakfast at the dining hall (waffles and a bowl of cereal) before heading to the parking lot meeting place for the trip out to Qatif and the Tarut Island. I have been wanting to go for a long time - the birding is great for waders and sea birds (although I saw very few because we were not birding). I was also wanting to see the Dhow fleet (old and ancient fishing and trading vessels of the Middle East, particularly the Gulf. The real reason, it turns out, was to visit archeological sites and that we did - three sites - one a new dig and it was just a glimpse of the old communities that dated back some 2000 BC or more. Interestingly enough, Qatif was an early Christian city long before Mohammed came along, so we were looking into the remaions of a community that had an early bishop and churches, but those are long gone now. whatever thet find here ends up in the museum in Dammam (although none of the Christian artifacts or artifacts that preceed Islam are saved and displayed, we were told. I did manage to find some very old pearl oyster shells with beautiful mother of pearl in the old fort that dated back centuries. The beauty of those two shells far exceed the beauti of some recent oyster shells that I collected at Ras Tanura beach a few weeks ago. Also picked up a couple of small old pottery handle pieces from who knows when. Goiong through the old part of Qatif into buildings and alleys still living, but built upon and still using structures that are centuries old was awesome. I managed a number of door and window photos and tons in my memory to continue my study drawing of said features.

We did get down close to the dhows, but not close enough to get any good pictures with my camera. A couple of the gang had nice long lenses and probably got some good shoots. i do have sufficient data to paint some watercolors of the craft in the port up on drydock or beached for repairs. Should be some fun paintings that I know I can sell here. Several wives have me promising to make prints of some of the doors and shells that I have done in pen & ink and sell them here, so I must do that soon (like I don't have anything else to do, folks).

Spent the afternoon finishing some pen & inks of some shells that I had started last year to reproduce and give to the Shell Global Design Team when we would meet again - that never happened :( So, those drawings will serve anoutht purpose and make some other people happy.

Tonight is a big birthday bash for Claudia, one of the nurses here (she is one of my favorites - she just cuddled those birds that we banded in Bahrain a few weeks ago and I still get a kick out it when I think about it - around my house when grew up and if she had been my sister I think she would have been cuddled out with all of the baby animals that I brought home :) At any rate, Nicole, my most favorite of the nurses and my best birding buddy, is picking me up in an hour to drive to the party on the other side of camp. I image there will be a load of people there as I have heard so many people talking about it around camp. Seems like everyone is up for a party for most any reason around here. We need to throw a big party cookout here in the courtyard of Steineke some day after work. We could ahve a real blowout :) Steve would be the head cook for sure.

Attached are some photos from the trip to Qatif.

Gotta get ready!

Arabian Doors

I am playing with a series of drawings on the building orifaces (doors and windows, primarily) of the Arabian Peninsula (not just Saudi Arabia, but where ever I visit here in the Middle East). Here are the first four. I will post other items as I complete them. I think I might want to do a series on the minarets that I see around here - hundreds and they are all unique, but I think they might be too much like lighthouses, but they are so visible - every community will have several, and depending on the sect, there may be one or two or more per mosque.

I like drawing - it takes the stress off.

FIrst week of May

Watching a movie about Georgia O'Keefe and it is stirring the artist in me. I want to be creative, but today my sense of skill, creativity, and control was shattered by some people that I thought so much of but who were such primadonas that all my work for the past three months was thrown out the window. The system, the politics, the personalities all came together to kill my spirit (I hope for just tonight). I'm sad, lonely, shattered, and want to do something really creative and freeing. My soul needs to find that something that will give me back my confidence, comfort and sense of accomplishment. I lost that today (I hope it it just for tonight -that tomorrow I will come back and take on whatever challenge they give me and succeed like I've done time and again in Exxon, Shell, Compaq, and every other place that I have worked. Can I scream now?!

Otherwise, this young month has been wonderful. went out twice after work to spot the spiny-tailed lizards and add to my bird checklist with my good birder in crime, Nicole. I had promised her and Tess that would put them both on the ugly creatures, but both times it was overcast and they were down in their holes. Now, Jon and I saw 6 or 7 of them two days before. Nic saw one a few weeks back, but to see as many as Jon and i did is just too much to miss. We did see a couple of new birds for our checklists. I was also looking for a scorpion and she was most facinated with that. Said that I needed a nurse along just in case anything bad happens. She's just like Stephanie - game for anything. Tess, Nicole and I are going with a larger group to a good birding site along the coast just north of here on Thursday morning. It should be a good trip - with the Traveling Naturalists.

I think that Friday I just might go fishing with Omer in the afternoon so that we can drop by our favorite shwarma place for dinner before coming back to the hotel. I need to drum up an offshore trip for some big fish :)

Good night, folks. I'm tired and worn out emotionally. I need a recharge.