Dinner and Sunset

I’ve never eaten in the camp dining hall for an evening meal until tonight. This was only my third full, cooked evening meal since I left home almost 5 weeks ago. But a friend told me the other day that on Sunday nights they have a turkey and fixings station, and that it was worth trying. Now, my favorite meal of the year is roast turkey, and I have it whenever I can talk the family into letting me fix it! Other people seem to get tired of it – I just don’t understand.

When I fix it I use our Showtime Rotisserie Grill, which is the best way I’ve ever found to cook a turkey – they always come out moist and tender with a great skin. We have mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, jello salad (for those who haven’t had Dana’s amazing jello salad, it is essentially pecans with just enough fruit cocktail and enough jello to hold it all together – wonderful!), gravy and rolls and maybe a pie or dessert, but there’s not usually room left for that nonsense!

That’s not what I had tonight. I wasn’t expecting it, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like homemade! Not that it was bad, but some things you have so firmly set in your mind as the way it needs to be that anything less is just never gonna be good enough.  Still, I gave it a fair try, and had turkey (pressed, rolled, and baked – OK, but there was a lot of gristle); mashed potatoes that tasted good enough but far to smooth and creamy, probably flakes; stuffing, which was more or less moistened bread chunks (automatic fail here!); green peas, which are great because they are crisp and not overcooked; and gravy which would have been better to leave it off – can’t really tell you what flavoring went into it!

Overall, it was nice to have it, but won’t make a big effort to go on a regular basis! I’ll stick with what I usually have for dinner, a carrot or apple, several large cherry tomatoes, and some pineapple or watermelon slices.  This actually does me pretty well.

After dinner I went out in time to see the sunset. The weather has been phenomenal in the last few weeks. Mid to upper-90s for highs and very low humidity. Evenings are in the mid-80s and it feels like a nice spring day. Got a nice sunset shot – not much color, though.  It’s still setting into a dusty atmosphere and the blue just doesn’t show up much. Got two quick shots - the top one I think must be titled "Lights." The second just seemed like a nice way to frame the moon!

The last two days the air has been wonderfully clear – it’s usually so hazy the best visibility isn’t more than a mile or two. Today you could see the Arabian Gulf from the top of my building. Yes, I go up there when I want to recharge a bit, clear my head, stretch my legs on the stairs, or just be someplace high! In the two pictures below, the top on is looking east from the camp toward Dammam, a large nearby city – the darker blue line between sky and city is the Gulf. This was shot at extreme magnification with my mini iPad – much better camera than my iPhone 4!!

The next picture is of a set of jabals (pronounced jebel) nearby. This is by far the biggest and tallest jabal around here, which I suppose is why they located the water tank up there, along with several antennae. It’s very difficult to discern, but there is a lower one in front of the tall one, and I’ve climbed to the top of it. These are located about 300 yards from the Prosperity Well, where the oil here first started flowing! This was great day to see this - many days the air has been so dusty or thick you can barely see the antenna over there!

Time for bed! Work hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., so I’m up early. Good night all!