The forecast does not include frost, even at night, but it comes dangerously close for all of those Mother’s Day hanging baskets and planters. In the Adirondacks, we expect an influx of tourists and hikers and summer people this time of year. Will they come? We’ll see.

Meanwhile, around the Persian Gulf, spirits remain high after President Trump’s four-day visit to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar last week. For his part, the president appeared to enjoy the lavish welcome he received there. It must have been especially refreshing, after the conflict and negativity he constantly deals with in Washington, D.C., to be treated with idolatrous respect and admiration.

“As a construction person, I’m seeing perfect marble. This is what they call perfecto,” Trump said, admiring the royal court in Doha, the capital of Qatar. “We appreciate those camels. I haven’t seen camels like that in a long time.”

According to Reuters, the new regional order is being shaped in Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi: “These Gulf monarchies are eager to gain access to sophisticated weaponry to shield them from attacks by Iran and its proxies, as well as to secure advanced U.S. chips and AI technology.”

Trump announced the three nations he visited would make economic investments in the United States worth more than $2 trillion.

In the United Arab Emirate of Dubai, the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, lit up with an image of the American flag. This will be of interest to my 11-year-old grandson, Jack, who is fascinated with Dubai and its architecture.

When Jack was 8, I wrote that I didn’t need to worry about him losing touch with the Motor City roots on his mother’s side of the family. I had just received a voicemail message from car-enthusiast Jack: “Grandma, answer the phone or your car will be taken away and replaced with the Chevy Chevelle that you HATED!”

Yes, I did hate that car, but how would Jack know? That Chevelle was hauled away for scrap long before he was born. As his great grandfather Joe Henderson, a Ford man, used to say, “Damn cheap Chevy!”

You wouldn’t expect, on the face of it, that Detroit would have any connection with Saudi Arabia, The UAE and Qatar, would you? But the automobile industry is largely responsible for creating the huge demand for oil that has made the Persian Gulf so fabulously wealthy.

There has been considerable clamor in Washington, D.C., over the president’s acceptance of the so-called Flying Palace, a $400 million, two-story, luxury jumbo jet presented to him by the royal family of Qatar. The 747-8 jet will go to the Pentagon. It will be taken apart and reassembled to make sure it contains no surveillance devices, then retrofitted with state-of-the-art security and communications systems to serve as Air Force One. All of this is estimated to cost billions of dollars and take years to accomplish.

The White House has said the jet would be handed over to Trump’s presidential library foundation by the end of his term, in January 2029.

“I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar. Appreciate it very much,” Trump said. “I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’ But it was, I thought it was a great gesture.”

Trump said that he will not be using the Qatari jumbo jet after he has left office.The Persian Gulf economy relies heavily on revenues from petroleum and natural gas. In the UAE, a construction boom, along with an expanding manufacturing base and a thriving services sector are helping to diversify the economy. After export of petroleum products, tourism is now its main source of income.

Tourism is also a major source of income for the Adirondacks! Detroit not so much.

These chill and rainy days have kept the lilacs flourishing and preserved the tulips for a while — those that weren’t shattered by thunderstorm downpours.

Painting a vase of tulips in my apartment: I could call it Still Life with Clutter. But painting a picture is easier than taking a photograph in that you don’t have to clean up first.

Have a good week.