My husband in Amman, Jordan (with his niece and nephew)
Last weekend I was unable to get a hold of my husband. He was in Amman, Jordan, visiting his parents whom he had not seen for over 13 years. Finally when he answered his phone, he explained, “The electricity was out. The whole city was shut down because of the snow storm.” Or what his niece and nephew called “The White Guest!”
“What snowstorm?” I asked, clueless that the Middle East, accustomed to oppressive heat, experienced a snow storm that most locations had not seen in over 100 years.
The roads were blocked, residents were confined to their homes, and when King Abdullah II toured the capital to check on the progress of snow-removal efforts, he ended up pulling up his sleeves and helping other men push a car stuck in the snow.
After learning about the storm, my heart sank at the thought of the millions of displaced Syrians living in makeshift shelters, many of their children enduring the cold with as little as T-shirts and sandals for protection.
A friend of mine who has been experiencing some health issues told me that one of her dear friends planted a tree for her in Israel, as a get-well wish. This is an old honored Jewish tradition to show love and support to someone. Over the last 100 years, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) has planted over 250 million trees in the land of Israel.
I was intrigued by this tradition, especially given my recent observation and respect for trees. And my friend was truly touched by this gift, which was accompanies by a card with her name written in Hebrew.
Earlier, she and I were talking about how important it is to be open minded and accepting of other cultures, religions and nationalities. That’s when she told me about what she called her “healing tree” and she added, “I would be a fool not to take the good others offer me. What does it hurt?”
Wise words from a young woman who appreciates the value of a deep rooted symbolic and heartfelt gesture and who recognizes that, as she said, “Throwing away the opportunities that exist in them is doing ourselves the greatest disservice.”
On the way home from school, I noticed large size acorns scattered on the sidewalk under an oak tree. Their shiny smooth shell was inviting, but I wondered if they were edible or if they were mostly intended for chipmunks. I cracked open a nut and tasted the meat of it. It was definitely edible, and tasted familiar.
I gathered a bunch into the pouch attached to my son’s bike, and told my children, “Today we will roast acorns on an open fire.”
Most people do not eat acorns as a snack, but they are delicious and nutritious, and a long time ago they were a staple in the diet of Native Americans. They have many benefits. They have been found to possibly be the best food to effectively control blood sugar levels. They are a good source of fiber and they are lower in fat than most other nuts.
My friend stopped by my house for tea just as I finished roasting the nuts. When I showed them to her, she said, “That’s baloot!”
“I knew they looked and tasted familiar,” I said, having forgotten that we ate them regularly in Iraq. But in Iraq they were not bitter like they were now. I googled how to best roast acorns and it turned out that first you have to boil them repeatedly until the water no longer contains any trace of the brown tannic acid.
Oh well, I’ll do a better job with the next acorn harvest!
The summer has been stressful enough as it is – hopping from the beach to the pool and back again – when my son decided today to add a little touch to it. The fitness club I belong to has a beautiful outdoor pool area in the summertime that really, I have not found the equivalence of.
Well, a few minutes after we arrived, my sister-in-law exclaimed, “Your son is peeing in the pool!”
I looked and there was my son, his swimsuit pulled down and a tiny water fountain crossing into the lap pool. I guess we had watched Parental Guidance one too many times last week (4 times to be exact, not counting when we first saw it in a movie theater). For those who have not seen it, the movie stars Billy Crystal and Bette Midler. They’re assigned to babysit their three grandchildren when the youngest one decides to pull down his pants and pees onto a half-pipe.
Of course, I scolded my son and the lifeguard who witnessed the incident had the pool shut down. I must say, the employees were so gracious about it!
Later on, we met with some friends at Burger King and when I told them what had happened, a fourteen year old friend said to my son, “You’re supposed to pee inside the pool, not outside of it.”
It wasn’t exactly the advice I was looking for, but what the heck! I still have a month and a half of summer to go.
One day when I was seven or eight years old, I spent the night at my niece’s house, who is six months older than me. We competed on who would stay up the latest and we had a race with the full moon on the rooftop of their home, where Iraqis slept in the summertime (before the Gulf War and the 2003 war when such endeavors became too dangerous). We ran this way and that way and what we couldn’t understand is how the moon followed me and followed her simultaneously even when we went in totally separate directions.
I’ve learned quite a bit about the moon since those days. According to shamanic teachings, the Full Moon is the strongest energetic phase of the moon, especially so as the night approaches midnight, a time when the masks of life between this world and the other world are most think. At this time magical powers will be at their peak.
This is the time where the universe is aligned for romance, high energy, and releasing things that don’t serve you. If you have missed the midnight deadline, you will not be like Cinderella when she lost her slippers. You still have time to sit down, reflect on what you want to give away, and do a little ceremony when actually giving it away. Then when the new moon comes, you will be empty enough to bring in and begin a new project.
A few weeks ago my daughter’s school took the first graders on a field trip to the Detroit Zoo. My family and I figured we’d go along since none of us had ever been to the Detroit zoo before.
Although it was a great experience and I look forward to going there again, hopefully soon, it was kind of sad to see some of the animals in the lonely states they were in. For instance, the tiger was in this underground spiral habitat. He just lay there, looking bored and well… tamed. The same with the lions and the bear and the buffalo.
Once upon a time, animals were more a normal part of our lives. Thousands of years later, we’ve managed to switch the natural way of things and put animals, even insects like birds and butterflies (in some cases even plants and flowers) in cages where they await occasional visits.
Well, people have kind of done the same with a lot of human beings, so why should animals receive a better treatment?
“Paws for Reading” is a special program once a week at the Sterling Heights Public Library. My children love going in the youth services area, where in a special room in the corner, they read to a different “therapy” dog each time. A therapy dog is a dog trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, hospices, people with learning difficulties, and stressful situations, such as disaster areas. The dogs at the library, which are accompanied by an adult, are so friendly you never hear a single bark out of them – no matter what size they may be.
One day it may be a greyhound, another time a saluki or a golden retriever. We never know which breed to expect until we get there and the dog’s name is written on a sign besides the entrance door. My kids take a number and wait in line. This Tuesday it was a white-smoke hair colored Irish wolfhound by the name of Hooligan with huge friendly eyes that looked at me with a gentle expression, like, “Hey, I’m just doing my job. Thanks for coming.” The children were then given a sticker and bookmark that had Hooligan’s name and picture printed on it.
Irish wolfhounds are soft-natured, easy-going and are the tallest of dog breeds, thought to have been brought into Ireland as far back as 7000 BC. The breed almost disappeared, but was successfully revived by efforts of the captain of the British Army D E Graham to recreate it. He drew the line related to wolfhounds, and as a result developed a modern breed, Irish wolfhounds, which are today well established as companions and guards.
I learned today that the Sterling Heights Library first opened in 1971 in the basement of the City Hall on Utica Road. In 1974, it moved to a ranch house that was where the library parking lot now sits. In 1979, the library that is up today was built on farm land that was part of the Upton House across the street. The Upton is the oldest house in the city, and now houses public offices.
In 2000, the large Youth Services that exists today was added to the building, and thank God for that. I come here often to work on the computer while my kids, just feet away from me, play, pick out books and movies, read to a dog, and ask the librarian questions like, “Do you have any books that teach something?”
The reason I crack up during the fight is because when my niece/goddaughter asked me to film her earlier, I told her the iPhone battery was dying. But I had to catch this “little” fight on camera! It was my only highlight, given I was too scared to sled down the hill.
A few weeks ago, my cousin brought over her daughter’s and son’s clothes for my kids, who are younger than hers, to try on. In the bags was a cute stuffed penguin which my son fell in love with. He named him “Huggie” and since then, Huggie has been a part of our family. He goes almost everywhere with us. For example, yesterday he came along sledding.
At the park, the kids decided to build an igloo for “Huggie” to make him feel more at home. There are three traditional types of igloos.
•The smallest was constructed as a temporary shelter, usually only used for one or two nights. These were built and used during hunting trips, often on open sea ice.
•Intermediate-sized igloos were for semi-permanent, family dwelling. This was usually a single room dwelling that housed one or two families. Often there were several of these in a small area, which formed an Inuit village.
•The largest igloos were normally built in groups of two. One of the buildings was a temporary structure built for special occasions, the other built nearby for living. These might have had up to five rooms and housed up to 20 people. A large igloo might have been constructed from several smaller igloos attached by their tunnels, giving common access to the outside. These were used to hold community feasts and traditional dances.
I’m not sure if Huggie’s igloo falls into any one of those categories.
When my friend Linda was a little girl, she loved spending time in her grandmother’s farm in Michigan. She helped out a lot by going out in the field to feed the cows and pigs. These days, she’s feeding deer in her backyard – ten deer to be exact. She fills a five-gallon bucket with apples, carrots, sweet beets and corn and leaves it out at night for the deer to eat. She sent me pictures of her new pets – she already has two dogs, and other animals like bunnies and squirrels that have the tendency of visiting her home for food.
Linda’s desire to feed others is not restricted only to animals. She cooks and bakes for family members, co-workers and friends. The other day she came over with a large bowl of spinach salad, a tupper wear of tomato rice soup, another tupper wear of egg salad and a bottle of wine. Imagine what you get when you end up at her house! She’s full of that authentic and rare hospitality that is still present in the hearts of the Arab Bedouins, the type that many people have surrendered away for being busy bodies. And yet, she is not a Bedouin but of German and Irish heritage. And she is one hell of a busy woman! She just knows how to give – give simply and fully.
Cultural Glimpse 