Double Oleander, originally uploaded by malyousif.
This is the only “double” oleander I have and now I think I should have gotten all of them in this variety.
Very beautiful.
Have a lovely evening!
I love la vache qui rit, don’t you?
I don’t particularly care about the recently concluded summit in Riyadh in which all but one Arab leader attended. 21 of 22 is not bad, but anyway, I don’t care about what they discussed nor any grandiose declarations they emitted; the betting is that it’s nothing earth-shatteringly-new.
What I want to know is how do 80 year-old men manage not to have even one white hair between them? I’m half their age and I am almost completely bald, and what fuzz I do have is almost purely white.
Now if they can just share with us their hair-care regimes and secrets, the summit would have concluded constructively, for a change!
In the early hours of this morning in Al-Bustan hotel in Manama a scuffle broke out between drunks, purportedly American, and hotel security guards. It is reported that one of the servicemen drew his pistol and shot the Bahraini night-shift guard Abbas Ali Salman Al-Shakhoori in the head.
Al-Shakhoori has been taken to Salmaniya Medical Centre where he has been declared brain-dead. He is said to be in a very critical condition and his doctors do not expect him to live beyond today. His family, friends and people from the village are now at Salmaniya hospital by his side and the situation is very tense.
I hope a full investigation is launched and the person responsible for the death of Al-Shakhoori – regardless of nationality or position – is apprehended and handed justice.
I hope too that this situation is handled calmly by the people and the government so that it doesn’t get politicised and blown out of proportion.
I wish to extend my deep condolences to the family and friends of Al-Shakhoori. May he rest in peace.
White Cheeked Bulbul, originally uploaded by malyousif.
The environmental agencies in Bahrain are trying to eradicate those threats by banning people from selling bulbuls in popular markets here and by trying to eradicate the crows.
I don’t know how successful they are in their program, I can tell you though that I have noticed a marked increase in these very welcome visitors to our garden in the last year.
This guy posed quite happily for me at the tip of a palm frond in our front garden this morning.
Have a wonderful, happy, peaceful and fulfilling Friday my friends.
Happy Prophet’s birthday! May it return to us with health, happiness and remembrance of a great man.
Bahrain, once again is celebrating this auspicious day by announcing it as a holiday, but as this time it will fall on Saturday and as Saturday is already the second day of the normal weekend, public sector employees will be compensated and given Sunday too as a holiday!
Nothing new there. It’s a de facto standard.
But not so for our friends in the UAE:
The UAE Government announced in a circular today that Sunday April 1st 2007 is a working day for the Federal Ministries, according to a WAM report.
“As Saturday will be a public holiday to mark the Prophet’s birthday, Sunday will be a normal working day and there will be no compensation or extension of the holiday,” said the statement.
ArabianBusiness.com
Once again, the UAE is leading the Gulf (especially) in forging ahead and breaking with tradition. Good for them. Maybe, just maybe, this will rub on us too before too long.