SuperFruits in bloom – Sweden

Superfruits.  Whats not to love about these gorgeous gifts of nature.  Dubai is a desert landscape so our earth is not so fertile.  Apart from beautiful palm trees fruiting dates twice a year, there isnt too much that grows naturally out here.

Being a lover of berries, I spend a fortune on the imported berries we get in the shops but the quality has a lot to be desired and is no comparison whatsoever to what is available in the west.  The imported strawberries in particular are a disaster with the majority of them being hard and white in the center, yet still cost a small fortune!

Sweden on the other hand! 😀

This summer we spent a long time in Sweden and were lucky to live thru the berries and cherries in summer bloom.  I mean, literally growing in the garden and forests in surrounding neighborhoods.

Walking thru the forests – my fantastic mother in law showed me a spot where blueberries were growing wild … so ofcourse we stopped and picked some up:  

 

blueberries, strawberries and raspberries from the market:

 

Below: This raspberry farm was about 30 minutes from my wife’s house – on the way to Kalmar (South east Sweden)

Below – Cherry trees in bloom in the garden:

Coolest baby hedgehogs!

So I was out in the garden indulging in some deeply revitalising inhalation of the beautiful crisp clean forest air that I crave when in Dubai, when out of nowhere, I noticed a little something crawl by my feet!

(click on pics to enlarge)

And then there were  two! 

I’m not sure if there is a more adorable site than a pair of baby hedgehogs playing the garden!  They lived in a nest under some bushes in the garden, and after this encounter I saw them every few days roaming the garden, especially around sunset.  I even saw them crossing the road and heading into a neighbours garden!  The life of a hedgehog has no boundaries! 😀

If you’d like to know more about these gorgeous guys – feel free to check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog

I’m Back!

Been away for a while but I’m back on the ball.  Took a little bit of time out.   We had a life-changing summer.  Our incredible son, Saif Sultan, was born.

I’m not going to write too much – I prefer to share my pics – and as per usual, there are a lot of pictures to filter thru! 

Over the next few posts – I endeavor to sum up the last couple of months … stay tuned for fun times! 😀

In the meantime – I leave you with my reason for everything : 

Peace, Happiness, Righteousness, Respect and Love.

Nabs.

Cool streets, bloomin’ fruits & Mr. Butt !

Its been a while.

I’ve been home alone whilst my lovely wife is in Sweden.  So I’ve been running a lot of errands and “taking care of bizzzzznezzzzzz!”.

I’ve been eating real well and started a new exercise regime which merits its own blog entry – coming soon.  My physio recommended it and i’m swearing by it for the time being.  I’m in the mood for training hard these days.  Bring it!

I’m going to Sweden next week and I endeavor to post regularly whilst there.  Cant wait to be reunited with my best friend!

Oh, random note – in addition to my Iphone5, I also acquired an S4 and a Q10, all pretty much a result of circumstance and offers rather than pursuing them myself.  Just to give you an idea of who I really be, I’ve had the same lousy basic blackberry for two years before I got an Iphone so i’m anything but a tekky or smartphone guy!  Still, after having acquired them – I must admit they’re pretty awesome.  I guess i need to compare them in a future blog post!

In the meantime – despite not having posted an entry for a while, I have still been snapping away at random events – as I love to do.  I leave you with a variety of pictures over the last few weeks. A bientot great people 🙂

Click on any pic to enlarge

 

 

 

Depending on what you read, watch and observe, Dubai is often portrayed as a place for the rich and famous, the Monaco of the middle east, full of all these new fancy communities and high rise buildings.  But for me, nothing compares to the streets that know my name.  Satwa is raw – Diyafa Street is old school.  I guess I could say I grew up in these streets.  they really do bring back a lot of good memories and are probably my favourite streets in Dubai.  Full of real life.  Above is the alleyway where my barber for 15 years exists and below is another street scene from the area.

 

Pakistani guys chilling on a easy Friday near Satwa roundabout

The incredible Ice-cream from Al Mallah on Diyafa street.

Below are some pics from mum’s garden I took yesterday.

The pineapples have come alive and are progressing nicely!

 

Dates are in bloom – almost ripe for picking.  They deserve a seperate blog entry on their own.  An enormous variety of nutritious fruits – and blooming just in time for the holy month of Ramadan.

 

 

 

Saw this random sign in the marina – reminded me of the Butt Sweet shop i found in Abu Dhabi and posted about a few weeks ago.  Initially I thought this might be an advert for a gym – as in “move your butt!!!” – but then figured out its probably another Pakistani man with the last name of Butt, who moves furniture for a living.  😀 good old Mr. Butt!

Incredible Nature – 3 days old bird wants food

                 

3 day old baby bird that cant see but instinctively opens its mouth for food when it feels a vibration on the nest (Click photo to enlarge)

Whilst I was in Sweden, my sister sent me a picture of a nest with two small purple eggs in it.  Some trees had been cut down in her garden and as a result a nest was now visible, with the two tiny eggs.  A few days later, I received another picture – this time of two baby birds in the nest, the eggs had hatched!

So when I got back from Sweden on Saturday (1st June 2013), I went over to her house to say hello and ofcourse had to have a looksie into what nature had produced.  Unfortunately there was only one baby bird left in the nest, and we have since heard that the crows in the area are the most likely guilty party!

Nonetheless, what I found most incredible was that despite being asleep and not being able to see, as soon the baby / chick / bird felt a vibration on the nest / tree / surrounding leaves, it instinctively opened its mouth up (as pictured above) – in anticipation of its mums delivering its lunch!  It really was an awesome sight, so I filmed it for a little while:

[youtube:http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZF_fmWDdoU&feature=youtu.be%5D

Normally you would imagine that most birds nest are far out of reach of us humans.  But this nest, so perfectly shaped and designed, was just above waist level – although well camouflaged amongst the trees.

Yet again mother nature leaving me in awe 😀

 

Swedish bloom 3 – family clinic and a trip to Kalmar

A day of sunshine greeted us as we headed to the local family clinic in Nybro for a 10am appointment.  This was to be Dina’s first  check up in Sweden and thankfully all went well, with the follow up appointment booked for next week.

The drive up to the family clinic above – and below the family clinic entrance  

After the check up – we headed into the historic town of Kalmar – about a 30 minute drive away – click here for information on Kalmar.

The scene infront of historic Kalmar Cathedral 

van / street art 

We stopped for coffee (known as Fika – a break for coffee and cake) – at an extremely cool old school and very cosy coffee shop that we had been to a few times in the past:

The old school interior decor of the coffee shop

Blueberry Pie, Strawberry & Rhubarb Pie, Apple pie,   Dina was in “bakies” heaven !

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around town

Maxfart for only 128 kroner – what a bargain! 😀

Cool trees around town

Swedish bloom 2 – A walk around town

Here are some more pictures of Swedish bloom (and others) from this afternoon – in Nybro, Sweden.  Click any pic to enlarge.

Dina wrapped up warm – despite today’s sunshine – you can never be too sure!

 

Purple, White, Red and Orange Tulips around town

 

Nybro’s cute lil train station:

Street Scene and Flower Market:

Swedish bloom

This morning I was wandering around Dina’s garden, breathing in the beautiful cold fresh air that I so often crave when in Dubai, whilst carrying out my yoga-like stretches.  The weather has been about 12 to 14 degrees in the afternoons, dropping to around 5 degrees in the evenings.  We’ll be heading into town today, lets see if I can capture some street action!

As for now, I leave you with the some of nature’s gifts from the garden: click on any pic to enlarge

Denmark & Sweden – pics from over the weekend

A live science lesson for the kids – checking out Dina’s baby bump 😀

(click any pic to enlarge)

So Dina and I arrived in Copenhagen about 2pm on Friday the 24th of May.  We spent the weekend with her family, who live just outside Copenhagen, and had a fantastic time – playing, watching and talking football, catching up and being merry in general 😀  I’d met a lot of her family in the past, but it was great to meet more cousins and family members – a brilliant welcome by super kind people.

Yesterday, Sunday the 26th of May, we took the train from Copenhagen across Sweden to Nybro, her hometown, where we were waaaarmly welcomed by her mum and dad.

Here are a selection of photographs from over the weekend 🙂

Words of encouragement for Almin before his football tournament

Almin taking control of the situation

Cup of tea and front row seats 

Football in the garden with cousins!

Dina celebrating a goal!

Almin and I in the Al Ahli shirts 

Chilling with the cool gang! Almin, Belma and Adnan

Windmills in the countryside – near Copenhagen

Gorgeous lush nature that I miss so much 

Dina and Uncle Suljo – checking out the garden veggies

20 year old grape-vine in the green-house

Flowers in bloom in the garden

 

U.A.E. Shehi Tribe. Interesting video

A great video on The National website (local broadsheet newspaper) of the Shehi Tribe of Ras Al Khaimah.  Represents a lot of history and culture in this country.