click here to skip to photos from our first year.
Aug 07
Welcome to our new home for the next few years. I'd give you the address, but we don't know it. When we asked the landlord he sent his son outside to find out where we were! The address on the lease is 107 Omar bin Kattab Street which is also marked on maps as Mango Street. However more lately, the municipal authorities have recognised the fact that no one knows where they live and decided to take the bull by the horns and have started plastering big blue numbers on all the buildings and we've got a number '4'. We are actually on another road altogether but don't know it's name. This is all part and parcel of living in Jordan.
Anyway, whatever the address we are very happy in our new home. It's enormous but also cosy at the same time and has a very attractive patio area which is an absolute necessity for the regular weekend barbeques. Here are a few pics of the house on the night we moved in and some more of how it looks a month later. Still some work needs to be done as can be seen.
We have the ground floor of a three storey building
The first night: living room 2
living room 1 and dining room
spare bedroom soon to be study
...and now a month later
dining room
Living room 2/TV room
a rather cluttered study room
We rescued Gerrard from the street. In contrast with other street cats he's very friendly and has been snipped - perhaps that's why he ran away from home. He had been crying and hanging round the hotel where we first stayed. The owner asked if we wanted him and that was it!
He made himself right at home rather quickly
Other cats often come into the garden and are just as mad as Gerrard. This one was about 20 feet up a tree chasing birds.
And now a year on... inside the house looks pretty much the same except for the study.
Here are two photos of the original garden. The white cat is still around, but grown up now, Gerard has moved next door and the cute ginger has disappeared
Here's the same patch now - the giant agaves are now surrounded by new plants. And there are new plants on the steps, mainly the ubiquitous geraniums
Getting ready for the traditional weekend barbie.
In March'08 a cat who was determined to live with us, Smokey Jo, had sneaked into the house and gave birth to four kittens on our sofa.
From left to right: Smokey junior, Minou, Azwad ('black' in Arabic) and Torres.
Unfortunately a couple of months later Smokey Jo and Smokey Junior died, we think poisoned, but a day later another little tyke turned up in need of lots of TLC. He had lost one eye but we managed to save the other despite it being covered in gunk when he first showed up. 'Boggle' despite being a sickly lad is a fighter and although constantly ill is now a close member of the family.
Torres, Boggle and Minou (July '08)
There are not just cats in the garden though - we have four tortoises - we are now waiting the arrival of a few more if this photo is anything to go by.
We also have a couple of Palestinian Sunbirds.
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