Tweety Turns 62

TWEETY TURNS "62" NEXT WEEK!!!

"I TAWT I TAW A  PU .... A PUT.... OH I DON'T KNOW WAT I TAW !!!

Islamic Sex Shop

This is unbelievable , at least to me . What next ? A sex shop operating to Islamic sharia laws . I thought it was a joke when I 1st saw the title , but sad to say , it is for real . I guess the Islamic business world has joined the 21 century . What do you think about this ? Is it a good thing or not ?

MUSLIM WORLD: Business flourishes at sex shops abiding by Islamic standards

Dad's Are

Dad's Are


Dad's are people that will always love you no matter what you do or say ,even when they are angry with you.

They listen to your dreams knowing you commit a blunder you will regert, but it is your blunder to make .

Dad's dry your tears and tell you everything will be ok .

Dad's lay awake at night worrying about how to keep you safe.

Dad's want you to have the world and try their best to give it to you .

They pray you learn from your mistakes and move on with life.

They smile when you triumph over adversity .

Dad's burst with pride as they look on their children with love.

They cry when you break their hearts with your " I love you Dad".

They remember the day they first saw you , tiny and crying ,melting their hearts forever .

Dad's love you always, even beyond the grave .

Bikini OR Headscarf

 Here is a great article

By Krista Bremer, (O, The Oprah Magazine

June 9, 2010 -- Updated 1609 GMT (0009 HKT)  ) I found on the CNN web site

  that discusses the topic of how one American woman married to a Libyan , living in the US reacted when her young daughter decided to wear the head scarf . This is really a love story , one of trust and respect .I think many women like her will relate to her dilemma of conscious .If you are non Muslim , it will give you a glimpse into a life that many find mysterious and unfathomable .
Bikini or headscarf -- which offers more freedom? - Topix

Rainbow Time

60seconds - 1 minute

 60 minutes = 1 hour

24 hours - 1 day

7 days = 1 week

52 weeks = 1 year 

39 years = years of :

Love and hate , joy and sorrow , happiness and sadness, wealth and poverty , health and illness, laughter and tears, long conversations and silence , hands held in crisis, standing side by side in strength , understanding one another, talking with out one word said aloud, knowing no one loves loves you the way I do . 

Happy Anniversary Mohamed !

painting by  Rane Lavita :" Rainbow Mosaic"

The News In English

The last several post have been pretty negative I have to admit .Things have started to look up again, I am happy to report !The people in Tagura are so nice and helpful I am proud to say . Moe and I were out shopping and I can't count how many times we had different people help us carry our bags to the car for us . Or offer to go into a store to do our shopping for us,because the store had steps leading in to the store that were difficult for either Moe or I to climb .The man that owns the laundry we use reprogrammed Moe's mobile phone for him when Moe had to install a new Sims card into his phone . Moe nor I could figure that out and Nuri offered to do it for Moe . Now how nice is that ???

Yesterday I was brought to tears as we were out cruising Tagura when the car in front of us stopped traffic , the driver got out of his car to walk a elderly blind man across a very busy street .God bless him .The coffee bar we go to brings the coffee out to our car for Moe after he orders it , so that Moe may go sit in the car  with me.One of our neighbors carried a heavy bag of groceries up the stairs for me the other day , even though I told him I could carry it myself . My friend that is ill and her sister in law have decided to send over little plates of goodies during Ramadan this year so I won't have to stand so long in the kitchen cooking . I am so over whelmed by the goodness of the people that have touched our lives .Thank You God !

On a different note and not so positive ... it is that time of year now when it is warm enough to open your house , so many of our neighbors , 3 to be exact , are remodeling their Condo's . So , all we hear morning noon and night is .... KA BOW ! BAMM ! BOOM !KABOOM !! Over and over , as the entire building shakes in rhythm  to the hammer blows .Yesterday as I was trying to put up the groceries , the man underneath us wanted to come through my kitchen so that his plumber could climb out my kitchen window to drill his new water pipe to the outside wall . I said ok , but had to walk out of the kitchen . I couldn't stand to see that poor man dangle 4 stories above the ground out my window , possibly to fall to is death . He didn't thank goodness !And here I was worried about the sound of my vacuum cleaner waking the baby upstairs up!  LOL !

The weather here in Tripoli has been the strangest I can ever remember for this time of year .The last several weeks it has been mainly dusty and hot , or cloudy , dusty ,hot and humid . Normally it is still coolish/warm and mainly sunny.Today it it was sunny and warm .Nice . I did the laundry that stacked up while the sand was flying around .

It is also beach weather here . With so many of the public beaches walled off from public use this year , the beaches that are open are packed even though the weather has been uncooperative until today .There are water ski's for rent . I think there might even be boats for rent by the day . I heard rumors to that effect anyway .No life guards in sight so far though .

Whatever your summer brings your way this year , be safe and be happy .OTE

GARDEN SNAKES CAN BE DANGEROUS

I didn't think twice about this tiny fellow on my baby boxwood until I got this letter:

GARDEN SNAKES CAN BE DANGEROUS...

Snakes also known as Garter Snakes (Thamnophissirtalis) can be dangerous Yes, grass snakes, not rattlesnakes. Here's why.

A couple in  Sweetwater  ,  Texas  , had a lot of potted plants. During a recent cold spell, the wife was bringing a lot of them indoors to protect them from a possible freeze.

It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants. When it had warmed up, it slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa.

She let out a very loud scream.

The husband (who was taking a shower) ran out into the living room naked to see what the problem was. She told him there was a snake under the sofa.

He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it. About that time the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the behind. He thought the snake had bitten him, so he screamed and fell over on the floor.

His wife thought he had had a heart attack, so she covered him up, told him to lie still and called an ambulance.

The attendants rushed in, would not listen to his protests, loaded him on the stretcher, and started carrying him out.

About that time, the snake came out from under the sofa and the Emergency Medical Technician saw it and dropped his end of the stretcher. That's when the man broke his leg and why he is still in the hospital.

The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she called on a neighbor who volunteered to capture the snake. He armed himself with a rolled-up newspaper and began poking under the couch.. Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the sofa in relief.

But while relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and fainted, the snake rushed back under the sofa.

The neighbor man, seeing her lying there passed out, tried to use CPR to revive her.

The neighbor's wife, who had just returned from shopping at the grocery store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth and slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp to a point where it needed stitches.

The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed that the snake had bitten him. She went to the kitchen and got a small bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man's throat.

By now, the police had arrived.
Breathe here...

They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken fight had occurred. They were about to arrest them all, when the women tried to explain how it all happened over a little garden snake!

The police called an ambulance, which took away the neighbor and his sobbing wife.

Now, the little snake again crawled out from under the sofa and one of the policemen drew his gun and fired at it. He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end table. The table fell over, the lamp on it shattered and, as the bulb broke, it started a fire in the drapes.

The other policeman tried to beat out the flames, and fell through the window into the yard on top of the family dog who, startled, jumped out and raced into the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid it and smashed into the parked police car.

Meanwhile, neighbors saw the burning drapes and called in the fire department. The firemen had started raising the fire ladder when they were halfway down the street. The rising ladder tore out the overhead wires, put out the power, and disconnected the telephones in a ten-square city block area (but they did get the house fire out).

Time passed! Both men were discharged from the hospital, the house was repaired, the dog came home, the police acquired a new car and all was right with their world.

A while later they were watching TV and the weatherman announced a cold snap for that night. The wife asked her husband if he thought they should bring in their plants for the night.

And that's when he shot her.

EXPIRATION DATE!

I received the below in a email and wanted to share it with you . It is a little sentimental but worth the read .

Take a moment.
    Take a breath.
         This is a lovely read.
         
 This is a wonderful piece by Michael Gartner, editor of newspapers large and small and president of NBC News. In 1997, he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. It is well worth reading, and a few good chuckles are guaranteed. Here goes...

My father never drove a car. Well, that's not quite right. I should say I never saw him drive a car.

He quit driving in 1927, when he was 25 years old, and the last car he drove was a 1926 Whippet.

"In those days," he told me when he was in his 90s, "to drive a car you had to do things with your hands, and do things with your feet, and look every which way, and I decided you could walk through life and enjoy it or drive through life and miss it."

At which point my mother, a sometimes salty Irishwoman, chimed in:"Oh, bull----!" she said. "He hit a horse."

"Well," my father said, "there was that, too."

So my brother and I grew up in a household without a car. The neighbors all had cars -- the Kollingses next door had a green 1941 Dodge, the VanLaninghams across the street a gray 1936 Plymouth, the Hopsons two doors down a black 1941 Ford -- but we had none.

My father, a newspaperman in Des  Moines , would take the streetcar to work and, often as not, walk the 3 miles home. If he took the streetcar home, my mother and brother and I would walk the three blocks to the streetcar stop, meet him and walk home together.

My brother, David, was born in 1935, and I was born in 1938, and sometimes, at dinner, we'd ask how come all the neighbors had cars but we had none. "No one in the family drives," my mother would explain, and that was that.

But, sometimes, my father would say, "But as soon as one of you boys turns 16, we'll get one." It was as if he wasn't sure which one of us would turn 16 first.

But, sure enough , my brother turned 16 before I did, so in 1951 my parents bought a used 1950 Chevrolet from a friend who ran the parts department at a Chevy dealership downtown.

It was a four-door, white model, stick shift, fender skirts, loaded with everything, and, since my parents didn't drive, it more or less became my brother's car.

Having a car but not being able to drive didn't bother my father, but it didn't make sense to my mother.

So in 1952, when she was 43 years old, she asked a friend to teach her to drive. She learned in a nearby cemetery, the place where I learned to drive the following year and where, a generation later, I took my two sons to practice driving. The cemetery probably was my father's idea. "Who can your mother hurt in the cemetery?" I remember him saying more than once.

For the next 45 years or so, until she was 90, my mother was the driver in the family. Neither she nor my father had any sense of direction, but he loaded up on maps -- though they seldom left the city limits -- and appointed himself navigator. It seemed to work.

Still, they both continued to walk a lot. My mother was a devout Catholic, and my father an equally devout agnostic, an arrangement that didn't seem to bother either of them through their 75 years of marriage.

(Yes, 75 years, and they were deeply in love the entire time.)

He retired when he was 70, and nearly every morning for the next 20 years or so, he would
walk with her the mile to St. Augustin's Church.
She would walk down and sit in the front pew, and he would wait in the back until he saw which of the parish's two priests was on duty that morning. If it was the pastor, my father then would go out and take a 2-mile walk, meeting my mother at the end of the service and walking her home.

 If it was the assistant pastor, he'd take just a 1-mile walk and then head back to the church. He called the priests "Father Fast" and "Father Slow."

After he retired, my father almost always accompanied my mother whenever she drove anywhere, even if he had no reason to go along.
If she were going to the beauty parlor, he'd sit
in the car and read, or go take a stroll or, if it was summer, have her keep the engine running so he could listen to the Cubs game on the radio. In the evening, then, when I'd stop by, he'd explain: "The Cubs lost again. The millionaire on second base made a bad throw to the millionaire on first base, so the multimillionaire on third base scored."

If she were going to the grocery store, he would go along to carry the bags out -- and to make sure she loaded up on ice cream. As I said, he was always the navigator, and once, when he was 95 and she was 88 and still driving, he said to me,
"Do you want to know the secret of a long life?"

"I guess so," I said, knowing it probably would be something bizarre.

"No left turns," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"No left turns," he repeated. "Several years ago, your mother and I read an article that said most accidents that old people are in happen when they turn left in front of oncoming traffic.

As you get older, your eyesight worsens, and you can lose your depth perception, it said. So your mother and I decided never again to make a left turn."

"What?" I said again.

"No left turns," he said. "Think about it. Three rights are the same as a left, and that's a lot safer.  So we always make three rights."

"You're kidding!" I said, and I turned to my mother for support.

"No," she said, "your father is right. We make three rights. It works." But then she added: "Except when your father loses count."

I was driving at the time, and I almost drove off the road as I started laughing.
"Loses count?" I asked.

"Yes," my father admitted, "that sometimes happens. But it's not a problem. You just make seven rights, and you're okay again."

I couldn't resist."Do you ever go for 11?"I asked.

"No," he said " If we miss it at seven, we just come home and call it a bad day.  Besides, nothing in life is so important it can't be put off another day or another week."

My mother was never in an accident, but one evening she handed me her car keys and said she had decided to quit driving. That was in 1999, when she was 90.

She lived four more years, until 2003.. My father died the next year, at 102.

They both died in the bungalow they had moved into in 1937 and bought a few years later for $3,000. (Sixty years later, my brother and I paid $8,000 to have a shower put in the tiny bathroom -- the house had never had one. My father would have died then and there if he knew the shower cost nearly three times what he paid for the house.)

He continued to walk daily -- he had me get him a treadmill when he was 101 because he was afraid he'd fall on the icy sidewalks but wanted to keep exercising -- and he was of sound mind and sound body until the moment he died.

One September afternoon in 2004, he and my son went with me when I had to give a talk in a neighboring town, and it was clear to all three of us that he was wearing out, though we had the usual wide-ranging conversation about politics and newspapers and things in the news.

A few weeks earlier, he had told my son, "You know, Mike, the first hundred years are a lot easier than the second hundred." At one point in our drive that Saturday, he said, "You know, I'm probably not going to live much longer."

"You're probably right," I said.

"Why would you say that?" He countered, somewhat irritated.

"Because you're 102 years old," I said..

"Yes," he said, "you're right." He stayed in bed all the next day.

That night, I suggested to my son and daughter that we sit up with him through the night.

He appreciated it, he said, though at one point, apparently seeing us look gloomy, he said: "I would like to make an announcement. No one in this room is dead yet"

An hour or so later, he spoke his last words:

"I want you to know," he said, clearly and lucidly, "that I am in no pain. I am very comfortable. And I have had as happy a life as anyone on this earth could ever have."

A short time later, he died.

I miss him a lot, and I think about him a lot. I've wondered now and then how it was that my family and I were so lucky that he lived so long.

I can't figure out if it was because he walked through life, Or because he quit taking left turns. "

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance,take it & if it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it."
ENJOY LIFE NOW - IT HAS AN EXPIRATION DATE!

painting by artist Nancy Poucher : "Old Pick Up Truck Pastel Painting "

The World Cup 2010

Yep ! It is that time again . The World Cup starts tomorrow Friday June 11, 2010 in South Africa .Moe has already informed me that the TV is all HIS starting tomorrow . I am not even to think about watching any shows of mine that are on the same time as any of the games . It is a good thing I like football/soccer !Here is the official World Cup FIFA  2010 web site with schedules , stats ,predictions , and interviews .
Yeah football ! Oh , and here is another treat ..... Shakira has a new video made just for the world cup and Africa called "Waka Waka " This Time For Africa ". See what you think about her new song and her new look below .

I'm glade he has this distraction , as long as it takes his mind off the place where his tooth once resided . He had it pulled yesterday and has turned into a invalid needing my ever attention . I ask him does he have pain and he says no , but the next breath he breathes is can you make me this , or can you get me that , as he lays on the couch moaning . LOL ! Come on World Cup !

Camel Hump Hijab

A growing trend in Hijab style head covering is spreading like wild fire out of the Arabian Gulf region for some time is cause for controversy . Read all about it , just click on the below link for the article by Ellen Keim  , written for the Columbus Muslim Women's Style Examiner .


A controversial hijab style

Tired Of Lemon Aid

I am sure you have heard that old saying , " That when Life gives you lemons , make lemon aid "? I am very tired of lemon aid these days . As a matter of fact , I think I have drunk so much lemon aid recently , that I will puke if I see one more lemon .

Take today as an example of trying to make lemon aid from lemons . Moe and I decided to drive into Tripoli this late afternoon .That's nice , a ride along the sea coast road , looking at the sea , the clouds , the family's on the beach enjoying themselves .It was ... until some idiot tried to literally run me off the road because I was unable to get out of his way as fast as he wanted me to .Once I did manage to change into the other lane to allow him to pass , HE starts to yell at me ,shaking his fist, he THEN decides that isn't enough , he try's to force me off the road into a trench ,now screaming profanity's at me . Moe asks him what is his problem as we are trying not to go off the road or cause a traffic accident . The guy pulls in front of me and STOPS his car , screaming at me all the while .This happens in front of the Matiga airport . I loose my cool and ask him how's his mother .Well , that did it ! He put his car in gear and tore on down the street trying to run other people off the road too .

Ok , we survived that .We continued on into town .Vowing not to let that ruin our outing ,we made our way to a newish restaurant in the Green Square , which is in the center of downtown Tripoli. During the week days it is impossible to find parking in that area of Tripoli, but it being a Friday ,we were spoiled for choice parking.  I parked the car and let Moe go order our food , while I stayed in the car just in case a traffic police man came along .I sat watching the mix of humanity walk by our car . The new cars going by was like a who's , who of the wealthy  .I was enjoying myself , when a well dressed Libyan man about Moe's age came directly to the car and asked me for money .He wasn't a beggar , as he hadn't bothered to ask anyone else for money , just me .Normally I give to beggars , even when I have doubts about whether or not they are needy . But this man was so obviously not a beggar . He was dressed in the traditional Libyan men style of clothing and they were very expensive . Much nicer than any thing Moe owns , I can tell you .I told him no and may Allah Bless you . He just looked at me and asked me again . I told him no once more,then told him good bye.He stood by the car for a few more minutes , gave up , walking away .

THEN ..... a very nice young man came up to my window trying to sell some silver necklaces,1 for 3 dinars . I told him no also . He countered by saying they were made for me .OH MY ! How could I ever pass that deal up? I smiled and said no thank you .So , he said what about this ...3 for 5 dinars ,special just for me! Nope , I told him .Ok , what about 6 for 5 dinars? That way I would have one to hang in the car and 5 to give as presents !Ciao baby ! He went away defeated .

Where the heck was Moe ? He was taking his sweet time .I could see him inside the restaurant talking to some guy .It figures he would run into a friend and have a gab session , while I was outside fending off the hordes !Eventually he comes to the car with our food .... mad as heck ! The guy I thought was his friend turns out to be a guy that jumped the line ahead of Moe and then stared to shove him this way and that . Moe is handicapped and walks with a cane .He said he told the guy off and asked him what happened to respect  for older people? 

Ok , that didn't kill us .Once again thinking to not let past events upset our evening , we said lets go back to Tagura, go to the beach to eat our supper of sandwiches there. We did .There were many family's relaxing having fun ,kids swimming, BBQ going , people eating water melons , very nice .UNTIL .... yes , more lemons ,a car drove up and somehow managed to park between our car and the edge of the cliff in front of our car without going over the edge .There were other places much nicer , less crowed to park , but the young Libyan man choose that spot .Ok , whatever, just look some other direction at the sea , right? But it was a little difficult to ignore the activity of the young man toward his passenger, a woman which was wearing the full veil over her face taking place right in front of our eyes .He leaned over her and started to fondle her breasts .The car started to rock . OH MY !!! I guess if we were into porn, this would be a fantastic opportunity, but we were trying to eat a sandwich, and it just was disgusting .I thought for sure  he would stop seeing as how there were several cars of Libyan family's near us .They didn't . I mean it is broad daylight !This was too much , I honked my horn and gestured toward them to stop . He laughed and drove off .

Right after that , 3 men came crawling up the cliff from the beach below , so drunk they keep sliding down  the side of the cliff . This entertained us for a total of 5 minutes .When they got to the top , they started their drunken walk to their car parked a few meters away from ours .On the way to their car , they have a argument that threatened to turn ugly.I ask Moe should we move to another spot in case, but before he could answer me,one guys shorts fall to the ground and I was treated to the Full Monty !Now who says Libya is a boring place ? It is a very action packed , happening kinda of place if you ask me .By the way , would you like a glass of lemon aid ?

Artist Jo Ann Simon , "When Life Gives You Lemons , Make Limoncello "

Sad But True

The News As I See It

Israel Terrorist Pirates attack a group of boats in international waters  headed for the Gaza strip , loaded with humanitarian aid .What will be done about it ?What will be the eventual spin that Israel will put on the attack to get them selves off the hook, once again ?Just another blaring example of Israels defiant , inhuman ,near Nazi like behavior toward the people of Palestine . The below is a quote from Wikipedia's page on the Free Gaza Movement  . about the incident .I just love what the Israeli Foreign Minister has to say about this organization!


The Free Gaza Movement and the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) are partnering to send multiple ships to the Gaza Strip in May 2010. Under the coordination of the Free Gaza Movement, numerous human rights organizations, including the Turkish Relief Foundation (IHH), the Perdana Global Peace Organization from Malaysia, the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza, and the Swedish and Greek Boat to Gaza initiatives will send three cargo ships loaded with reconstruction, medical and educational supplies. Multiple passenger boats with over 600 people on board will accompany the cargo ships. These passengers include members of Parliament from around the world, U.N., human rights and trade union activists, as well as journalists who will document the largest coordinated effort to directly confront Israel’s blockade of Gaza and take in basic supplies. These include the MV Rachel Corrie.^[37][38] In response to the plans, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said: "These people are not supporting the Palestinians and they are not even supporting humanitarian causes. They are engaged in only one thing, and that is to create provocations and to collaborate with Hamas propaganda."<sup>[38] "

Here"s a news article that is pretty wild if you ask me ..... a Fatwa ( or religious ruling) on women breastfeeding adult men that they work with , in order to be allowed to work alone together in the work place.You will just have to read this one to believe it .Crazy !</sup>

 "Libya plane crash 'not technical fault"  is the next story .This is a new a report concerning the Libyan airplane crash on May 12,2010 here in Tripoli, killing 103 people . The report says that the 2 black boxes show that there wasn't any mechanical problems at the time of the crash and that it seemed not to have been a terrorist attack , as once suspected .BUT I have it on good sources that the pilot was a experienced veteran pilot, having always shown good judgment in the past,  in times of emergency's . So , the mystery goes on. I think one has to keep in mind that most of the technical examinations and investigations of the wreckage is being done in France , the home of the Airbus 330,of  which this plane was one .

This next news item is about the return of several ancient artifacts once taken from Libya in the 1950's by British soldier's and are now on display in the Tripoli Museum. This is a positive step and hopefully will induce the return by others of many ancient artifacts stolen from the Libyan cultural heritage .

A couple of days ago we had a tremendous sandstorm ! It blew into the night like a huricane with winds so strong that small buildings were blown down and cars nearly buried in the sand .The winds continued to blow a futher 2 days but thankfully today it was calm blue skies again .At one point all the street lights visible from our balcony were blacked totally out , not even a glow from the lights were seen through the sandy filled wind. It was sorta scary .Now I can understand how complete tribes disapeard in the past , buried in sandstorms .

Now , on to a more personal complaint .... I think I have mentioned before about being stopped here in Tagura by the traffic police on more than one occasion . The trouble is stemming from the fact that I am a foreigner driving a car with Libyan licenses plates , instead of the licenses plates foreigners are required to have on their cars . As a foreigner married to  Libyan national , I am allowed to drive his car without the other license plate .My problem is that since I DON"T wear the head covering that so many other women do that are like me married to Libyans , I stand out like a sore thumb with my blond hair .Each time we are stopped by the traffic police here in Tagura, Moe and I have to go through a whole litany of questions ,even when the policeman has all my papers in his hands  . He will neither listen to me or Moe ... at 1st . It is ONLY when I refuse to act scared and stand up for my rights as Moe's wife to drive his car ,  that I am handed back the car paperers and my own .But never without a argument . And not one time a apology either . While driving around Tripoli , I've notice a number of foreigners that drive cars without the required "foreigner licenses plates" and they are never stopped or harassed  for it . And they LOOK like foreigners too ! This is getting so old . So , here is a warning for all you women that don't cover your hair , are light skinned, and /or light haired , AND married to Libyans ...... DON'T DRIVE IN TAGURA !