HX Report
Irishman in the Middle East
It’s the weekend
Posted on November 30, 2018
Read a book!
The Doha International Book Fair started yesterday and runs until next weekend. So many books!
Lens-Artists Challenge – Splash
Posted on November 26, 2018
Thanks to blogger Patti for her Splash challenge this week.
MB has taken a bit of license on the theme and offers, instead of water, a splash of colour! MB was mooching around Doha’s Souq Waqif last Friday night and came across a bright blue chair in a sea of brown and orange that he had not previously noticed.
Herewith:
It’s the weekend
Posted on November 22, 2018
Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar – The Life of Pie
The Museum of Islamic Art is one of the most recognisable buildings in Doha and a must-visit destination for tourists to the country. The building has featured in previous HX posts, but MB took some new pics when out walking earlier this week which he gives you below. Check out the MIA website if you want to learn some more. Read More
Doors & Doorways
Posted on November 17, 2018
But what about gates?!
The below shot is MB’s entry for the Lens-Artists Challenge #20 from Tina at Travels & Trifles Blog site. Tina’s site is well worth a visit, her pics are always stunning and awesome, and place MB’s meager paltry offerings in the deep dark shade!
Anyway, for this week’s Doors & Doorways challenge, MB returns to his HX farming roots. To a gate actually. That is penning in some wayward cattle. With some help from a short blue rope. Don’t get above your raisin!
It’s The Weekend
Posted on November 15, 2018
The Pigeon House
Many people in the HX locality go for weekend walks around Lough Gur lake. And if one takes the walk from the car park to Ash Point on the Knockadoon Hill side of the lake, one will happen across the old stone remains of a Pigeon House on one’s left-hand side.
A Pigeon House was used in medieval times to house pigeons (really MB?!) which were a source of meat, eggs, and fertiliser. The one at Lough Gur is some 400 years old, maybe much older, and the specifications are included in the information plaque next to the structure.
Happy weekend!
Musik 2
Posted on November 11, 2018
Supporting music and the arts in the Middle East is one sure way to fight extremist ideologies.
Thank God Qatar is hugely different from some of its neighbours. There are many clubs or bars where one can go to listen to music, and to enjoy a beer or whatever else might take your fancy. The Doha jazz festival finished last night and a new Salsa Music & Dance club recently opened in a prominent hotel, providing two example of the more relaxed scene in Qatar than exists elsewhere in the region.
The Qatar Philarmonic Orchestra is playing since 2008 and is made up of over 100 professional musicians who were originally recruited mostly in Europe and the Arab World. They play regular concerts at a number of venues, the most recent being the Johann Strauss’ Vienna on Friday night last.
From the website of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra:
The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra performs and promotes western and Arabic music in order to inspire the children and adults of Qatar and the Arab world to create and enjoy music. The Philharmonic is a member of the Qatar Foundation, which is supporting Qatar on its journey from carbon economy to knowledge economy by unlocking human potential.
The orchestra was founded by Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned in 2007. The orchestra of 101 musicians was chosen by a jury of international music professionals through auditions held in European and Arab countries. Selection criteria were driven by musician quality. The Philharmonic held its Inaugural Concert on October 30th, 2008, conducted by Lorin Maazel.
MB was surprised not to see the below piece listed on the programme for the evening. But the sneaky German conductor had pulled a fast one on MB and others by keeping it for his encore!
So with the usual apologies for MB’s terrible hand-held camera video, voila:
Musik
Posted on November 10, 2018
A night out listening to a philharmonic orchestra is not one that many back home would think possible in the Arabian Gulf region of the Middle East. But that’s the night out that MB and others had last night in Doha, Qatar.
The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra was playing a concert entitled Johann Strauss’s Vienna conducted by young award-winning German conductor Elias Grandy. The Strauss concert was played at the Qatar National Convention Centre, a spectacular venue, in one of its small auditoriums.
If you wish to read a little more on the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, click here.
It’s the weekend
Posted on November 8, 2018
Sport.
Seems like every weekend in Ireland has some sporting activity of one sort or another. If your kids happen to be sporty, then as a parent you will be on the road a lot. In winter, the field sports of rugby and soccer (as the Irish refer to football) are played, while the uniquely Irish sports of Hurling and Gaelic Football are played in Summer. That’s not to mention the numerous other indoor our outdoor sports available to Irish kids all year round.
When MB was home at September, he witnessed his daughter MB2 win a big Gaelic Football regional final with her local club.
MB caught these two at that game having their own sport while the big game was going on!
Blending In/Standing Out
Posted on November 4, 2018
MB’s efforts for this week’s Photo Challenge from Blogger Ann Christine – Blending In/Standing Out.
MB is not sure if the four dhow boats on Doha Cornice last week were blending in or standing out. Maybe a bit of both.
But Mr. Crow, standing on top of a Celtic Cross outside a church in Adare, County Limerick in late September as MB passed by, was definitely standing out!
Paris’ most famous cemetery
Posted on November 1, 2018
Great post from blogger friend Heide on the Père Lachaise graveyard in Paris, which is the resting place of Oscar Wilde, amongst many other notables.
It’s the weekend
Posted on November 1, 2018
Dhow boats fly the Qatar flag on Doha Corniche, with view of the Westbay skyline in the distance. As shot by MB on an evening walk earlier this week.
HX Report 