Searching for a Magic Carpet in a Middle Eastern Bazaar (plus a birthday)

Doug's birthday came and went without much to-do.  This year it fell on a Saturday, which is our busiest day as a family.  I take all the girls to the dance studio in the morning so the older two can teach and Keira can go to ballet class.  After a 2 1/2 hours, I take everyone home, where Keira has 25 minutes to eat, and then I take her back for gymnastics.  After gymnastics, we go home where I start cooking dinner, and Doug and Caleb prepare to go to soccer in the evening. They get home around 9:30pm, and that's when we have dinner.  I think this is why I don't have any pictures of his birthday this year. Sorry.

Of course, Doug has never required pomp and circumstance. He is solid, strong, bold, full of integrity, confident, and a truth-teller. He loves his family well. Our well-being, health, safety, and spiritual growth are always at the forefront of his mind.  He gives freely to others but never at the expense of us, and we know that.  Thank you and happy birthday, Doug!

As an example, he gave to others two days after his birthday when he cleared his calendar to take two single ladies to the rug bazaar. They moved here last summer, and with winter coming, they wanted to get some carpets for their floors.  I got to go along.

I hadn't been to the rug-portion of the bazaar since we bought ours back in 2016, and back then, I didn't have much language to use.  These ladies are learning a different language, so Doug was the spokesperson and bargainer for the day.

This particular bazaar sits at the foot of the citadel that is the center of our city.

(this was taken from the bazaar, looking back up to the citadel)

It's not a beautiful bazaar, but it does have a lot of nifty things.  This is where we have had kitchen sinks and cabinets made. There are desks, lamps, bedroom sets, dishes, vacuum parts, car parts, and pretty much parts for everything.

Unfortunately, you might have to dig through piles like this.

This was a pile of re-claimed plastics, and I really don't know if anyone ever goes through this stuff, but who knows?

This is one of the "carpet roads." It's not glamorous from this view, but each shop you go into is well-maintained, clean, and the men in there can unroll and re-roll any carpet you want to look at faster than you can say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."  

Sometimes, when you walk in, the space opens up into a large warehouse that would hold 50 cars, and it's all full of carpets!

It's apparently very important to be able to buy balloons for not-so-happy children almost everywhere you go in this city.  I don't understand it, but seriously, I've never seen more balloons for sale anywhere except maybe a State Fair.

The man beside him is waiting to "trolley" someone back to their vehicle or taxi.

It's pretty amazing how small they can get giant floor carpets when they fold them.

The carpets are still heavy, so we hired a guy to get the ladies' rugs back to our vehicle. 

Well worth it!

November 4, 2019