September 13, 2014 Saturday

Going swimming today, well probably mostly sitting in the hot tub.  Chelsea's sweet 16 birthday party at a local hotel pool.  I'm always in for a party!


Isaiah  chapter 43 - This is good news vs 25 "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more."  He wants to forgive your sins, just ask him.


On this day:
1967 - My future husband, Don said he was going on a stag ride with the guys.  At 20, my fertile imagination wouldn't let me believe that.  I searched all the haunts that day, all day to find him.  Turns out he went on that stag ride.  This comes in handy with my book writing, to realize the insecurity that I experienced through my teenage years. Not sure the stag ride was the better alternative.
1789 - The United States Government took out its first loan. And so it began.


Parenting - I am a person that suffers from a split personality.  I have a conservative mind with a liberal heart.  It is hard to raise Republican children, especially if you send them to an extreme liberal college.  I didn't raise Nicole to think like I do, but to form her own opinions.  She does.  I  hate election years.


Damascus -  wow what a powder keg.


Damascus lies about 80 km (50 mi) inland from the Mediterranean, sheltered by the Anti-Lebanon mountains. It lies on a plateau 680 meters (2,230 ft) above sea-level. The city has an area of 105 km² (41 sq mi), out of which 77 km² (30 sq mi) is urban, while Jabal Qasioun occupies the rest.^[54]

One of the rare periods the Barada river is high, seen here next to the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Damascus

The old city of Damascus, enclosed by the city walls, lies on the south bank of the river Barada which is almost dry (3 cm (1 in) left). To the south-east, north and north-east it is surrounded by suburban areas whose history stretches back to the Middle Ages: Midan in the south-west, Sarouja and Imara in the north and north-west. These neighborhoods originally arose on roads leading out of the city, near the tombs of religious figures. In the 19th century outlying villages developed on the slopes of Jabal Qasioun, overlooking the city, already the site of the al-Salihiyah neighborhood centred on the important shrine of Sheikh Muhi al-Din ibn Arabi. These new neighborhoods were initially settled by Kurdish soldiery and Muslim refugees from the European regions of the Ottoman Empire which had fallen under Christian rule. Thus they were known as al-Akrad (the Kurds) and al-Muhajirin (the migrants). They lay two to three kilometres(1.2–1.9 miless) north of the old city.
From the late 19th century on, a modern administrative and commercial centre began to spring up to the west of the old city, around the Barada, centred on the area known as al-Marjeh or the meadow. Al-Marjeh soon became the name of what was initially the central square of modern Damascus, with the city hall on it. The courts of justice, post office and railway station stood on higher ground slightly to the south. A Europeanised residential quarter soon began to be built on the road leading between al-Marjeh and al-Salihiyah. The commercial and administrative centre of the new city gradually shifted northwards slightly towards this area.  I hope there is something left of this city after the war.


Enjoy the day!  Make it memorable!