Pollination, Pirates & Found Object Art

We've had a flurry of activity surrounding our palm tree, the lone thriving living thing in our dusty square courtyard, because it's pollination season. Landlord Nasir started calling and visiting a week ago, to see if the new seed stalks had opened enough in the middle of the tree for him to do his magic. Tonight he came over with bundles of male date flowers inside palm sheaves and stuffed them, all very gently into our female tree. He also trimmed the giant thorns from the low-hanging palm branches and cut away last year's fruit-bearing stalks as well, generally neatening up the appearance of the tree. He was bemused at my request to take pictures, but he obliged and actually started to get a kick out of my questions. In his own yard, he said he's got two trees like mine, and three other types of palm, all of which bear fruit starting in late April and into October. You can check out pictures in an earlier post (Arabian Harvest August 21), where I dutifully harvested dates, at Nasir's request with my mom and kids. We're still eating those fruits out of the freezer and turning them into muffins and breads, but I'd better clean them out quick. Since our tree is 5 years old now, and in its prime, we are due to have maybe twice as many dates as last year.

Aside from keeping an eye on our date palm, we went with the kids to our first UAE birthday party. Brady's friend and chess partner Vladimir invited all of us to a water park with at least 25 other guests, to take in the water rides, cake, and games organized by a flirty Asian pirate. On a daily basis, Liam has been building art in the courtyard, with dead palm branches, shells and broken bits of choral brick. Check out the pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=68932&id=536358651&l=e9064