Catching up

August was beautiful and sunny here in Baku, as long as it was viewed from inside an air-conditioned room.  Venturing outside was best done in short spurts since it was very hot and somewhat humid too.  However, we didn't really understand heat until we spent a weekend in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.  There, it was so hot, that when we came out of an air conditioned building, Ed's glasses fogged up!  We did have fun sight seeing with friends and visiting a few of the wonderful shops, including a quilt store.  We will definitely return since there is a direct flight from Baku, but we'll make the next visit at a cooler time of year.

Since BP's Baku calendar celebrates the local holidays, we noticed that Ed would have several days off near the end of August, so we decided to take a five day trip to Scotland.  The idea was to go where we could hear English spoken.  Well, we did hear English, but we didn't always understand what we heard.  We spent two days in Edinburgh and two days in Glasgow.  It was great fun to actually walk on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh after reading about it in lots of historical fiction.  In Glasgow we met up with a friend and enjoyed visiting the sights and local pubs.  Scotland succeeded in cooling us off; we were almost glad to get back to Baku and warm up.  We saw the sun in Scotland (between rain showers), but it's not a very warm sun.

We spent parts of September and October in the Pacific Northwest.  We were able to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with our kids in Portland and visited lots of family and friends.  I got to go to two different quilting retreats and I participated in the Evergreen Quilt Show where I exhibited my Mumbo Gumbo scrap quilt.  Right before returning to Baku, I flew to Huntsville, AL for a nephew's wedding.

Back in Baku, it was time to finish up all the preparations for the local International Women's Club charity bazaar.  I'd spent much of August working on table runners and ornaments, and there were some more advent calendars and wine bottle bags to make in November.  The bazaar was held last week and it was a great success.  The charities are worthwhile, so this is something that I will probably continue to do while I'm here.

Baku is still windy.  I've used my sunglasses to keep the wind out of my contacts, but now that I'm sometimes out when the sun isn't, I think that I need to get goggles.  I'll be visiting Hardware Sales back in Bellingham, hoping to find something stylish.

Now, it's time to pack up and head to the airport again.  We are very happy that we will be home with family for both Christmas and New Year's Day.  We will be back to Baku January 3, just in time to apply for a new residence permit.  That is a somewhat lengthy process, and it must be completed before we can leave the country again, so we're trying to stay on top of all the deadlines.