Bright moon

The moon was so bright that night, and the pic is clear. To see a pic in its full size, right mouse click and pick the 'open link' or something like that. It/s the first thing to choose from after you right click.

A city on a hill

This is Amadia in the day.

Amadia at night

I have always wanted to get a picture of this city at night when the electricity was working. I got it with little effort. A city on a hill can not be hidden. For a bigger picture, right mouse click and pick the picture

valley

This is a nice pic of the road and valley, the river is down there somewhere. To bad they do not have any fish worth eating around here. They are mostly carp type fish, and it takes more work to get the bones out than it is worth. The meat is good, just too many bones.

cool spot

It was about 110 this day and the water was nice and cold. About like current river this time of year. Megan would not get in very deep b/c it was so cold. Brianna finally got in all the way up to her neck. The current is very fast, and not a very good place to actually swim. I just enjoyed the shade and cool temp. I was waiting for my teeth to start chattering, but that time never came, never got that cold.

picnic site

This is the place we had our picnic. It was a neat spot, by the cool river. The roof of the shade is limbs, and it really keeps the sun out and is very nice.

car wash

Remember "Hazard County" car wash. Something similar, just you dont drive through as fast. Actually when we arrived, there was a van stuck and another pickup pulling him out.

Gelley Belind

Gelly Belind, means tall valley, (gelley is a word used for a valley with water running through it). This is a beautiful place. There is a small river that flows into the bigger river just behind where I am standing.

little artist

This is Megans latest masterpiece. She took an oatmeal box and cut the face out of it, stood it up and made a model of Duhok. The bottom is the market area, which is down in the valley, the part standing up is the foot hills and the mountains and night sky. She did a really good job. She did everything, and then she asked me to help her. I drew and painted the houses and trees and roads in the background, but she painted the mountains, sky and stars.

Water fun

This was more fun than any water park. There was a hill behind the place and a few cisterns. We put a watermelon in one of them and it was nice and cool for desert.

Picnic'er

This is our big girl at our picnic site.

Moon

This little gilrs name is literally translated "moon". She is a sweet kid.

Kids on the picnic

This is Megan and our neighbor's son. He is 3 and loves Megan. There is a pipe with holes drilled in it that drips and helps keep the area cool. They had a good time and Megan was cold.

Neighbors

These are our neighbors; he is an engineer and she is an architect. We went on a picnic with them and had a great time. They are Kurdish Muslims, but they are more western in some ways thn most locals.

'57 Chevy

This is a 57 Chevy that is all original, I would like to make it a good project car. Its a little rough, but it survived the all the chemical attacks and bombings and wars.

swimming pool

This is the girls afternoon fun, they swim every day and sometimes twice a day.

sing #3

Bareque and a billy dancer sounds aweful tempting for a gud nihgt owt.

7 years and rotting

After a swim in the Red Sea, playing in the pool, and a shower, here she is all cleaned up, and as happy as can be.

little big girl

This girl has gotten so big. She has swam in the Red Sea, been to an Archeaology dig, been to Petra, Dead Sea, King Sennacharib's carvings, Roman theater and Citadel in Amman, Saddam's castles, the ancient Assyrian capital, Black forest in Germany, and all over N IQ. She is old for her age.

funny sign

Its 'A Parent' they needed a spell checker.

Made in the shade

As we were planning our vacation, I asked Megan if she wanted her birthday in Duhok or Aqaba. She said Aqaba, so here she is on her birthday laying by the pool after playing in the Red Sea. She has a big ice cube in the bottle that was all frozen. She has it made in the shade of a date palm tree.

Dirty girl

We did not take any pants for the girls so we had to go buy some before we went digging, and the only ones we could find for Brianna were white. They actually came clean. She had a lot of fun.

finds

This is some of the pottery the girls found in their area. They also found a lot of animal bones.

Big Dig

This is an archaeological dig we went to close to Petra in the area of Wadi Moses. (There is a spring close by this area that the locals believe was one of the springs that Moses made with his staff. Its really not very big and I doubt it was.) They are digging at an Edomite site about the time of the kings. They are using brooms and dustpans for the most part so they can determine what is there. The girls wanted to use shovels, but our friends would not let them. They had a good time anyway.

monkey at the computer

Brianna and Megan have figures out how to use the computer and the digital camera. Me and Susan were having some quiet time and they were in out bedroom and Brianna took a pic of Megan while they were listening to music on the computer.

Family picture

This is a picture we took before vacation. We are at the gulley area. my left eye looks dark b/c Susan popped me.