Happy (re)Birthday Ruby

It was a year ago today that Ruby first appeared at our back door as a little skeletal dog. I can't believe it is a whole year already and can't imagine life without her now. She is such a good tempered and affectionate dog.



We are in the last few days of Ramadan now.... just hoping for a clear night when the new moon arrives. It has not been as bad as I thought it would be, but then the weather has not been so unremittingly hot as it usually is this time of year - in fact some days it has been distinctly cool.

Mohamed's sister Aicha and family are here for a few days. It is nice to see them but quite hard work... they are all staying up late and eating late and then sleeping late while I would rather get a good nights sleep (not really possible with a house full of fully awake Moroccans) and get up early (which I have to do to work and feed animals) and so would prefer to eat earlier.... but I guess it is only for a few days. It would be better if it wasn't Ramadan though.

I think his other sister Khadija will be here for a few days next week.

We have just about cleared up all the concrete dust and rubble and are getting things together to start on finishing a room upstairs so that guests (who don't want to sleep on the living room floor) will have a bedroom with ensuite - with the aim of getting it ready for my Dad when he visits in October/November.

and that is about all the news.

I hope you are all well.

Ramadan Kareem

Today we have had a reprieve and it is not quite Ramadan here in Morocco - I think it must have been too cloudy everywhere for the new moon to be seen. Still it is going to be starting soon - probably tomorrow. Mohamed and I need to get to the souk today and buy chebekia and dates and chickpeas and everything else we need to buy to eat in Ramadan. It always strikes me as very contradictory all the food preparation that goes on for a month that is supposed to be about fasting.

Well the other week we went to the house-warming party at Aisha and Said's new house. It was the first time I had been to the house for a while and it was looking very lovely and surprisingly light - I was worried that it would be dark with the lack of windows.

The party was a big affair (not the family lunch and dinner I was expecting). We went on Thursday which was officially ladies night (though there were a lot of men there) and there was a disco upstairs on the roof for dancing as well as the out door kitchen with the cooks cooking up huge amounts of tagine and chicken and sfah (sweet couscous)etc etc.... My new best friend is Fatima the professional cook who was brought in for 3 days to get all the food prepared and cooked.

On Friday it was men's day where the men all come and read from the Koran and eat couscous and no doubt sit around talking seriously about weighty things.

And at the end of the night Miluda and M'bark got formally engaged. This wedding has been talked about for over a year and will finally take place in early September - once Ramadan is over. M'bark is the younger brother of the father of Jamia (Rachid's wife)... so large families grow larger. I first met them when I took photos of his sister's wedding. They seem like a really lovely family and live on a farm just at the edge of Taroudant - which I guess will be Miluda's new home. Mbark works in the Shell garage in town.

On the home front we are in the final throes of building building work. The walls on the roof are just about finished so now I can go on the roof without worrying about falling over the edge (my worry) or being seen by the neighbours (Mohamed's worry).

It was quite funny when the stairs were complete Ruby would not go up onto the roof. She was really freaked out by it all....and it is not about being at height as she goes rock climbing all the time. The cats went up and explored and started chasing each other round almost straight away. I think it is that cats are very much in the present. They know perfectly well that it is a new roof and that it wasn't there before... but it is here now and that is all that matters. Dogs on the other hand (or Ruby anyway) worry about change.

And our other news... well Mohamed's results for the year are out and it looks like he is top of the year. So well done to him.

I will post some photos some time when I have a better internet speed.

July

Thankfully, though still hot and sunny, things have cooled down a bit from the horribly hot weather we had in mid June.

What's new, well the builder is coming back on Wednesday (fingers crossed) to build the stairs up to the roof. That will take a week to set and then he will start on the walls.

We are slowly getting rid of all the rubble in the ground floor rooms. Process has slowed due to Mohamed discovering that he had another exam (today). The teacher had originally said that he would just give marks based on their classwork and work handed in but he only managed to mark a handful before he was taken seriously ill and died! Mohamed's was one of the marks he had given but we are not sure if they still stand or if everyone has to take the exam so .... Apart from that he has been doing well, at the top of his class or near it in all exams.

We, well I, had a nice day yesterday pottering around upstairs, grilling aubergines, courgettes and peppers on charcoal and then bottling them in olive oil.... and then we had lunch of grilled chicken and salad sitting at my table - all very civilised, cutlery and everything.

I went back to the doctor last week and despite my attempts to convince him otherwise he insisted that I keep taking the Lyrica and come back again in 2 months. I think this will be the last visit, regardless of what he says - unless something disastrous happens in the meantime.

I heard from Kate and Douglas from Innes Street and they are planning a trip to Morocco in September. Douglas is going to Essouira for a week long course on film making so Kate is going to come here and I think we might have a trip to the Saffron fields in Talaouine as it will be around harvest time.

Hope you are all well.

Scorchio

Well summer has arrived, as evidenced by the cats seeking out the coolest places and lying on their back, exposing as much skin as possible to the air (not very cool looking) and me putting the tent up in the proto-living room so I can sleep at night. Tent = no mosquitoes + cool night air. Ruby just pants all day.

Mohamed has finished his exams and the results in so far look good. He is still in holiday mood though and has not finished clearing the rubble out of the rooms upstairs. (You can tell I have started to nag....)

I think we are going to build the stairs going up to the roof next and get the wall built that will surround the roof and give us safety and privacy. Then, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, the building work is complete and we can just get on and finish rooms.

Mohamed has been to see the man in charge of granting licenses and been told that we will not get a license as we are not within the boundaries of the village.... but that is kind of good news as it means we are less likely to get people building next to us. We will just have to go back to plan A and pay the local man in charge so that he loses us when it comes to prosecuting people for building without license. The man in charge of licensing told Mohamed just to go ahead and build as there are people throwing up houses all over the place and we are not the worst offenders so it's not like that anyone will bother us. And it is true, as we drive into Agadir I see a crazy amount of building work going on.

The new draft constitution has been released and there will be a referendum on 1st July. It will probably be passed as there is a lot of pressure from the "establishment" for people to vote yes. Apparently last Friday all the Imans advised people to vote Yes. The No voters will keep on protesting and demanding a true democracy, but I guess that it will take time to get there. I haven't managed to see an english version of the new constitution but I think it is good in parts. eg adoption of Human Rights law, but the king has not given up enough power for it to be called democracy.

On Sunday Mohamed went to join a Vote No rally while Ruby and I went for a walk on the beach. Poor Ruby was travel sick (as usual) but I think she enjoyed our walk on the beach.... apart from disappointment at not being able to chase seagulls - they were all landing on the King's Private part of the beach - or have a walk through the gardens of the Royal Atlas Hotel - I had taken preventative measures and put her on the lead and there were 3 very hostile guard dogs. We got home without any more sickness.

In the village there has been some construction work underway near the village pond, which is apparently related to the water supply, a pump room and a holding tank I think, and in Taazhout the water tower has been built.... so it seems that the next stage must be getting the water pipes in and around the village. Trying to contain my excitement.

June, Moon etc

So did you see the eclipse? For once it was not so late I was asleep or so cloudy there was nothing to see so Yes I did. The moon looked really strange, crepey and spherical instead of diamond sharp and flat.

All the wood (well there are a couple of bits still sticking to the ceiling) has gone - Hurrah. All the rubble is still here - Boo. I have been sweeping out the rooms a bit at a time but I am going to leave the serious rubble clearing to Mohamed and he has had his end of term exams this week.

I haven't been up on the roof yet as the builder took his ladder away. We need to sit down and work out what are the next things to tackle.... stairs up to the roof might be one, my dad's room a definite priority and my office I think.

I have another snake sighting to add to my collection, this time it was a Natrix maura - a completely harmless water snake.

We are waiting to hear what the new Constitution is going to look like... no date but it must be nearly due out and there has been some comment on what is in it on TV (leaks I think).

Bread fail

hmmm... I think I will leave the breadmaking (moroccan style) to the experts. Maybe the yeast was too old or maybe I should have left it to rise but it just didn't cook right. Anyway it sort of tasted OK and Ruby liked it!

I made scotch pancakes for the builder's breakfast.

More Roof

Weel this is taking longer than I thought it would, de-wooding the roof that is. They started this morning and by lunchtime had not quite finished one room. I think the wood is sticking to the concrete too much. Anyway from the bangs and crashes over my head it sounds as if they have moved on to our bedroom.

I think the truck was supposed to be coming today to take the wood away (except what is going to be used by the neighbour for their roof), but it has been put off till tomorrow. Though at this rate they will not be ready for it - unless we find a lot more bodies to throw at it. Mohamed could only find one guy last night.

In meantime I am about to attempt to make bread for the first time since coming to Morocco -- well for a long time really (apart from pizza). My oven is really crap so I am trying to make some flat bread that I can cook in a (dry) frying pan. I have in mind the really delicious bread that Mina and Miluda make while we all sit round the little charcoal brazier in their house in Taroudant. Everyone with a glass of tea waiting for more hot bread to eat, running with just butter or if we are lucky butter and honey. I hope my bread will be half as good... somehow Mohamed's mothers bread isn't as good.

The reason I am making bread is that we have run out and there is no bread in the village shop (they don't get much in as a rule as most women in the village make their own) and I have to give breakfast to the workers this afternoon. (They have about 2 breakfasts here ... this one is breaking the fast since lunchtime!)

Thinking of bread reminded me of the bread that our two guides cooked when we were horse trekking in China. They made a really big, dense loaf in a saucepan on the campfire. About halfway through the cooking they piled charcoal from the fire over the lid of the pan. I think we ate it for breakfast the next day, and lunch, and there was some left over which I suppose we would have eaten for dinner but luckily we had made it back to Songpan by then and had dinner at the guide Yo's beautiful wooden house. The food on that trek was both awful and amazing at the same time.

Anyway enough of the delaying tactics off I go.