Sunday Morning

I can't believe it's been almost a week since my last post, but Janis was on my case about it this morning. Since my trip on Monday, it's just been Groundhog Day, every day. Not a whole heckuva lot is new.


We have a young Iraqi rug merchant on our compound. He's turned a shipping container into a rug store. He's a great young man, full of energy, always with a huge smile on his face. And he seems to be doing a fair business as well.

I'm able to get a little painting in once a week. Here's what my "studio" looks like these days, now that I've got an easel. (It's a piece of junk easel, but an easel nonetheless). All of you painters out there will appreciate my fine taste in taborets and lighting.

We're starting to get into the Christmas season. Some people are heading home for the holidays, a few decorations are starting to pop up here and there, and we have an inordinate amount of candy, cookies, and other sinful foods floating around the office. We also have a Christmas tree in the office now. My co-worker Gus, a macho Latino from Los Angeles, has a friend who sent him a small pink Christmas tree with a feather-boa angel on top. Gotta get a picture of it and post it here. As for me, I haven't really gotten into the spirit yet. Hard to do with our work schedule and this will be the second year in a row that I've been gone for the holidays. It'll also be the LAST time I'm gone for the holidays. No more.

Last night we had a big rainstorm move through. Big rainstorms mean big mud for the next five to seven days. Yuck. I could have done without that, thank you very much.

Okay, back to work. I have five contracting packages that I have to make some progress on today, and I can't make progress while poking away at my blog. Hope you all have a wonderful day!