Forty eight years ago today, I got married. I had never met this man whom my parents had chosen without my knowledge. I couldn't go against their wishes. They had agreed to the alliance and I had to lower my head to their wishes.

We have had good days and bad days, like all married couples. We fight and make up. We care for each other, and tolerate the differences... all for the sake of the name of the family that was well known.

I gloat over the two children we have and the grandsons that came along. Once the grandchildren came, our life became magical. What is it with the grand kids, that they can make you smile through all kinds of problems and hardships? Life is beautiful.

Oh, like I told the readers on WordPress, M and I didn't do anything special today. There are some fancy restaurants here in town, and he wanted to take me there for dinner. I have been avoiding going to restaurants and eating stuff that may not agree with me. So we just had a simple meal at home. All's well.

Have great night, and a beautiful weekend. One more week of Ramadan!

Amazing athleticism. Please watch.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/YuxLuAe7R_k?rel=0

My nephew who lives in India, has invited us to the wedding of his daughter Saniya. Because of the health issues that Mohamed and I were having, I had told him that we might not be able to go.
Two days back I received the invitation. It came by Courier and it felt thick like a book. At first I thought I was getting a book from Amazon, and then I saw the address of my nephew's company on the envelope. When I opened the envelope, my jaw dropped. Literally. Inside was another ornate and intricately designed envelope; and within it, there were about six thick cards. Each card had an event prior to and after the wedding, by my other two nephews, who were inviting the people to attend the dinners in honor of the bride and the groom. A card showed the maternal grandparents of the bride, asking our presence at the wedding, and finally one by the father and mother of the bride for the reception the day after the wedding.

Confused?? Well, just look at these pictures.

Every flower and every leaf is outlined in gold. Just imagine sending a thousand such invitations to friends and relatives. I had never seen any invitation card like this ever in my life.

After seeing the invitation, I called my nephew and told him how much we all loved the cards. He said that it was only a partial invite, because each invitation was accompanied with a small tray of dates and almonds! The Courier company would not allow food to be sent overseas, so he had to just send the "plain" cards.

Oh my!

Anyway, I am going to India in August. I hope the health would be good and I will tolerate the journey well. I shall now try to copy and paste this to Word Press.

Have a great Fourth of July my dear friends.

Made ginger chicken with a paste of Cilantro, curry leaves, onion and green chilies. Came out good I think. M didn't complain. That means good.

Feeling much better today. Was able to go to the Center for the Friday (Sabbath) prayers, and except for some weakness, did pretty good. The rain keeps coming. It is relentless, as if there is a hole in the sky over Quincy. But it seems like it is like that all over the Midwest and the East coast. Poor Californians. I wish I could package some of this rain and direct it to Janet's (slmret) area.

Last night the power was gone for almost an hour and half. I had to dig around for candles.  The thunder and lightning kept me company. But I wish I could have read my book at that time. Reading Far From The Madding Crowd.  Was able to do that when the power returned though.

I sent the baby blanket to Sarah on Wednesday. She should get it today. Around 9 am today, she called me. I was surprised that the package had got to her already. I didn't say anything, and she said, " sorry for calling you this early Aunty Zakiah; I have been thinking of you a lot these past few days, and thought I would call and check on you." Isn't that sweet? She said she was working and wouldn't get home until late tonight. I tracked the USPS package number, it says that it has been delivered to the home already. I hope she likes it when she sees it.

That's it for now. Probably will hit the sack early tonight. Have a great weekend my friends.

My son and daughter in law went down to The Ozarks on Saturday with their friends from his office. The entire office with the spouses had gone for three and half days. They got home a couple of hours ago. The boys were with Shelley's mom and step dad. Noah was at a science camp at Westminster College in Fulton Missouri, and I thought that Saadia and Dave were taking him there on Sunday. Since both of them would be gone on Father's Day, I decided to have the FD dinner on Friday here. Every one came to a hickory smoked, honey-glazed turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, Brussle sprouts, and glazed carrots. The dessert was a fantastic medley of fruits smothered with fresh whipped cream...( even though I have to blow my own trumpet.) Sorry, didn't take photos.

While I was planning the dinner, I found out, that Saadi and Dave were not going to Fulton this Sunday, and had already taken Noah the previous Sunday, and the other parents were bringing him back on Friday. But, Noah couldn't attend the dinner anyway, because he had to work after he got home. He had his share of turkey though, which I sent home to him with Saadi.

I told you all that I was planning to embroider a comforter for Sarah's baby, who is due in July. Well, I got it done today. Here are the pictures from that.  The satin is not showing the entire design properly. I will show each motif by itself. I thought it came out good. Not bad for me, no, to make this at my age? I hope Sarah likes it. I have batting and white velvet on the back.

Since this is celebration of a kind, I added the sparklers in the middle of the comforter. I will mail it out to her tomorrow..

IF

I feel good enough. Yeah, having the summer crud of cold and cough and fever for a few days. I hope I will be able to sleep tonight. The cough keeps me awake most of the night.

We have had such powerful storms and damaging winds all over the state. many trees have lost large limbs, here in Quincy I hear. I haven't been out much because of horrible symptoms. But the thunder and the rain at night is very soothing. So I am able to snatch a couple of hours of sleep.

Got a large parcel of huge mangos from Bob (twoberry) in Florida. I am overwhelmed with their generosity. M got angry with me. He thinks I go around crying about not having mangos, and so people take pity and send them to me! Bob, if you are reading this, please accept my deep thanks for the fruits. I shall make sure that Mohamed doesn't get to taste any!

Have a good week , my friends.

I wish all the dads and grand dads a wonderful and happy Father's Day.

ENJOY LOVE AND HAPPINESS WITH PEACE.

I used to think that squirrels got fat and developed thick furry tails before winter, to keep them warm and comfortable when the snows came. I have never seen a skinny squirrel since I came to Quincy. The ones in India, looked like little chipmunks. Thin, merasmic, and malnutritioned! Even now when ever I go home, I seen them scurry up a tree in the yard, and I pity how thin and bony they look. And when relatives come from India and see these critters here in my yard, they gasp, and say, "oh my goodness, look at the size of these squirrels!"

Anyhow, I thought they developed all that fat and fur through intrinsic mechanisms to allow them the warmth. I didn't know that they were getting fat on my "food"! The food that I was setting out for my birds. Let me tell you, I get a lot of birds in my yard, an I love to sit there and watch the cardinals and the finches and other pretty feathered friends. But the squirrels were always a pain in the neck. I would fill a feeder with bird seeds, and the squirrels would be climbing the  tree trunk or the branches and inhaling the manna.

I was so tired of having to fill the bird feeders two or three times a day, and constantly chasing the varmints out. I know they have to have their own livelihood. So I used to put out squirrel cob and cake out for them and they would devour them within minutes of my putting the grids out. A couple of years back, I told Todd, (my gardener), to help me get rid of them. He brought a fairly long polycarbonate acrylic tube, that he slid over the bird feeder pole.

OH MY!

The squirrels would sit on the ground and look at the hanging birdfeeders with such longing. I would say, 'ha ha you suckers, we got you finally!'

UNTIL LAST WEEK.

Here is a picture to show you what I mean. Now they jump up to the end of the white tube, dig their claws in there and stretch themselves to reach the bird feeder. I am not beaten yet! Todd is bringing a longer tube and getting the entire pole covered with it.

I shall keep you posted.

This is the actual answering-machine message for the Maroochydore High School in Queensland, Australia. Wait for the phone to ring for the voice mail.   This one is priceless !   

You have to listen to this.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pwghabw4N80?rel=0

By The Grace of Almighty, the surgery went very well. Mohamed's CT scan had shown a large growth in his left sinus, and every one was concerned that it would be a very involved procedure for cancer etc. Thanks to all your kind thoughts and prayers, a repeat scan done just before surgery, showed that the lesion had shrunk, and it was a large papilloma, and was not cancerous. He had minimal post op bleeding, and he is doing well and we are back home now. He feels weak and I am watching him like a hawk, so he doesn't bend or stoop to pick stuff up.

Many many thanks for your good wishes.

We are going to St. Louis to The Barnes/ Jewish Center for a surgical procedure by an ENT specialist. Mohamed has a growth in his left Maxillary sinus that has been bothering him since last year. I am hoping for complete recovery and good results. Would appreciate kind thoughts for his healing and recovery. Will let you all know when we return home over the weekend (hopefully).