Thursday, August 7, 2008

Home

We sleep with the windows open, something we did only in the winter in Abu Dhabi.

Sometimes I wake in the middle of the night and a summer breeze brushes my face and I am cold. I can hardly believe it. This morning I peeled back our cotton bedspread and added a blanket over the sheet. At the foot of the bed I put a quilt, just in case the blanket doesn't do the trick.

In my effort to "re-bond" with my home, this morning I decided to work in the garden. The air was chilly and damp. We've had many days of clouds and rain. I put on a sweater, an old gray cashmere pullover that was my mother's. It felt nice. I remember now that it took me a while to find the right balance, vis a vis clothing, in Abu Dhabi's heat: to wear clothes that didn't make me even hotter while also being mostly covered.

Next I stepped into a pair of green rubber boots I keep in the garage for gardening. Suddenly I felt like Beatrix Potter's Mr. McGregor, when he finds Peter Rabbit has eaten all his lettuce: my right sock was stuck to the bottom of the boot. A chipmunk - or another animal from the woods - must have found a stray piece of candy, dropped by one of my children, and hid it in my boot for the coming winter.

7 comments:

rosh said...

Nice to hear you are settling in well. I envy you, for having such a lovely home and heritage. Wish I grew up with that :)

doro said...

Dear Frances,
thank you very much for this blog. I will move to the UAE soon. We dont know where we will live, because it depends on my working. I guess if its possible that my daughter Melanie (17years old) could email one of your children.She is a little scared by schoolsystem there. It is, because she goes to Belgium and France to school and dont know the american system.
Anyway I enjoyed your writings yery much!!
Thank you!
Doro

Frances Gunnison said...

Hi Rosh,
Yes, little by little we are acclimating. And though I miss AD like crazy I also believe it's important for my children to have roots. For that reason I'm glad we are home.
Though I've read your blog often I don't recall anything about your early years - did you write about that in the UAEian?

Frances Gunnison said...

Dear Doro,
Good luck on your move to the UAE. If you email me at flowersinthesand@hotmail.com, I will forward your email to one of my children.
Also, there is the Lycee Francais in Abu Dhabi...why would you have to send your daughter to an American school? By the way, I think the schools in AD are excellent.
Regards,
F.

rosh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rosh said...

That's quite true and important - your kids need to have a place they can identify as home. Trust me, it makes a difference.

I haven't written a whole lot on days of growing up. Here are few posts (am posting the links again, didn't come out well the first time)

One
Two
Three
Four
Five

Nice to hear things are moving well :)

Frances Gunnison said...

Thanks Rosh.