Maulid , Blogs , And The Show

I wish to thank all of you that read my blog for being a important part of it . It has now had over 10,000 visitors , one of them is YOU !

Tonight is the eve of Eid Maulud El Nabi , the celebration of the Prophet Mohamed's birthday. That means tonight is "Fire Cracker Night" here in Libya . The actual Maulud is tomorrow but tonight most families get together at the family home , normally the parents home , and have a dinner feast after prayers . Small children will be given a cheap toy that will be broken by the end of the evening , but that really doesn't matter since it is something special for the night . That will be followed by a orgy of fireworks let off by the children and / or adults for the lively evenings entertainment .

Many years this has sounded an lot like a war zone of explosions going off all around you . This year in our area it was mild compared to years past , whether from the economics of the prices of fireworks this year , or the more likely situation of a smaller majority of teenagers this year in our area . I have noticed that no matter how strained the budget , there will always be fireworks of some amount for the kids .For some families it becomes a competition as to who's children had the most fireworks . Then the parents sit around and complain how it broke the bank buying them all .


Also , in addition to the fireworks tonight , if you happen to be a newly engaged woman , you will receive a visit from the women of your intendeds family . They will make you a proud owner of a fake evergreen tree that looks suspiciously like a Christmas tree , decorations and all ! I still haven't figured out the reason for this present . No one I know can give a good explanation to me , but everyone agrees it is a MUST present for the Maulud to a new fiancee ..... along with other presents she will receive . Like a new clothing out fit ; a dress , shoes , and a purse . She will also get a gift of some jewelry too . Many times this will be a complete set of gold...... earrings ,with matching necklace , bracelet , and ring . Not too bad huh ? I myself am thinking about divorcing Moe , then becoming engaged to him next year so I can get these goodies too , since I didn't get them the 1st time around .

Tomorrow morning many families will have their traditional breakfast , which may vary from place to place , family to family . In our family it is aseeda ( a large cooked flour type dumpling ) floating in a moat of date syrup . Other families might have sphinz . They are a huge yeast dough flat pancake that has been stretched out thin in the middle and then deep fried . They are really delicious too !

Ok, here is a change of subject ..... the other morning , way before the last 4 days of hell we have had , non stop winds blasting through this part of Libya with tons of sand , either from the west , south / west , or now out of the north west freezing us , but still smothering us in sand, I saw a bird on top of the building in front of ours . It was what we call a Hud Hud . A Hoopoe bird .

This bird is mentioned in the Quran ( as a bird Solomon used to spy upon the Queen of Sheba from afar. ) . We used to have them here around us all the time but they stopped coming here when the " swimming pool " was filled in. Their food resources dried up so to speak . They are considered harbingers of good luck in Libya . I think this one must have been very special as he was so large . Larger than normal and he was looking right at me , eye ball to eye ball . Sorta spooked me out . I went to get the camera but by the time I got back he had flown away . So strange !

I'd like to mention a couple of blogs of interest that I think you would like ...... Khadijateri the intrepid explorer, has been wandering around Libya once again . See where she went this last time . Anglo- Libyan recently did something that I loved reading about so much . He has taken on the care of his young son while his wife not only left him babysitting, but she went out of town back to Libya for a family funeral ... leaving the 2 bachelors ALL ALONE , just father and son . They went on a amazing field trip . Read all about it here . Shahrazad should do a Libyan restaurant critic blog in addition to her blog . She wrote about some " HOT SPOTS" for the girls to hang out in Tripoli . She also added her description of the latest hair style fad to invade Libya . Too funny for words ! Violet and PH , two Libyan bloggers, are talking about the age old man -woman issue from their prospective points of views . I have become behind on reading many more blogs I normally keep up with . I promise to get to them all ... real soon !

This evening before the sunset , I went to lovely downtown Tagura , to the restaurant we often buy BAR BQ'ed chicken from for our evening meals . It is on the main road into Tagura and gets a lot of foot traffic of all sorts of people from every place on the face of the Earth . They are out shopping and doing who knows what else . The best part of the whole experience isn't just getting delicious chicken but rather watching the "Show " as it goes by the car . We sit waiting for the chicken in the car and watch the "Show" . The most AMAZING people walk by doing the most AMAZING things . I love the "Show"! Moe and I sit discussing the people , the world in general , and work out many problems that are all too obvious to us , while wondering why all the world leaders can't come to the same conclusions as we . LOL !

Today as I sat watching the " Show " , it made me think of Don Henley, don't ask because I really couldn't tell you right now how I got to that thought , but anyway .....
I remembered the Eagles song " Sunset Grill " . It just seemed so right for the moment . I want to share it with you . This way you can be there too .