My Grandbabies

 Haroun ( 3 1/2 years old) and Yousef(13months) with Tony Soprano . The new Mafia , lol .

 Yousef ( 13months ) not too sure about all this Eid stuff , with  Moe .

 Gail ( 2 1/2 years old) with her long curly hair and twinkling eyes .

Super girl herself ... Sophia at age 2 years ( almost) old this past Halloween.

Haroun's Big Adventure

This picture was taken of Haroun when he was less than 2 years old . Now he is a big boy almost 3 years old , so you can imagine how much bigger he is now .Last Friday his dad , mom , and little brother Yousef all went on a picnic way out in the country side .His parents cooked Bar BBQ while Haroun enjoyed just running around all over the place freely investigating this and that . He was having a good ole time . No one telling him no don't do that , come here , sit down , behave yourself , stop doing that !A little boy's dream day .

This is until ....... a camel comes running up to him from now where .There weren't any farms near where they were picnicking . No buildings that could be seen . But here was this camel , galloping toward Haroun as fast as he could . You know camel can run pretty fast !So , what does Haroun do ???? He starts to yell at the camel , stands his ground and ready to do battle if necessary with this tall monster . He wasn't afraid either , my son said .

My son and his wife , who up until this moment hadn't really paid much attention to what Haroun was doing as long as he was in eye sight , heard the commotion Haroun was raising at this fast approaching camel , turned to see why he was yelling  .My son said that before he could get to Haroun's side , the camel had rushed up to Haroun and skidded to a stop , like in a cartoon . The camel just stood there towering over Haroun, making growling camel noises towards Haroun .Haroun on his side was waving his arms in the air yelling who knows what at the camel, unafraid .

My son not wanting to frighten Haroun, slowly walked up to them with a stick in his hands to throw at the camel if he needed to ,or to frighten the camel away when he got Haroun safely out of the way .But before any of this could happened , a man came running like a bat outta hell, from NO WHERE, yelling for my son to grab the rope around the camels neck .He said to hold the camel until he could get to them .

When the man reached Haroun and my son standing with the camel firmly held by the rope , the man told my son that the camel had exscaped from a wedding party that was just over the hill from where they were picincking .The camel was one of the main attractions of the wedding .... he was gonna be the meat for the main meal ! The man thanked my son for saving the wedding meal. Kissed Haroun and told him  what a brave little boy he was for standing up to the camel .He then invited them all to the wedding .My son thanked him for the invitation , but said they had enough adventures for the day !

What's Going On At The Condo

Wow ! I can't believe this week is almost over . Time is just flying by . Last week our son's family stayed with us so I could help out with the new baby Yousef, and our other grandson Haroun. It was a busy week filled with all sorts of new adventures .

Yousef is a good baby and really doesn't require much attention but he definitely gets more than his share , lol . Haroun wasn't too sure if he liked his new baby or not . He certainly didn't like Yousef when he cried at night . I think it was the 2nd or the 3rd night they were staying with us , around about 3 a.m. , when Yousef woke up wanting to be feed. He started to cry. He sounds a lot like a kitten when he cry's .That woke Haroun up and he wasn't too happy about being woke up by that Baby ! He started to cry as well . Very loudly too , I might add .So , there they were both crying , when I heard my daughter in law say with near madness in her voice , " Oh My GOD what do I do"? I know it was mean but I couldn't help but laugh to myself . I remember those times with my kids when they were little. 

Having them with us meant we had visitors coming over to see the new baby .That's good but what I disliked and still marvel at, was the stupidity of the people that came over with the flu . Can you believe that ? What Were They Thinking ??? Exposing a new born baby to the flu ? Now Moe and I both have the flu . Thankfully the babies are all ok .

Speaking of the flu ... it seems everyone here has some form of this cold/ flu. Either it is a head cold with the sniffles or a chest cold with the congestion and a hacking cough . Some people have fever and some don't . It is probably NOT the FLU but just a cold making the rounds .Anyway you look at it , if you have it , you are miserable !Hopefully it will only last a few days .


One of my friends is throwing a get together in a couple of weeks for the American women here in Tripoli. We haven't  had a chance to see one another before the summer . Many went home this past summer and started right back to work when they  returned to Tripoli . A few of us have talked or seen one another briefly but not all of us together  in one place at the same time . I am really looking forward to this party . My friend is too , since this will be her 1st get together for all of us at her home . Actually she is very excited  . She is insisting on making this a dual party ; a get together / baby shower for our new grandson . I keep telling her that she doesn't need to do this but it is like talking to a brick wall , lol .


While I am rambling on here ( it's the meds ! LOL !) .... our Condo needs painting .GROAN !!!!!! I would rather just pack up and move to a new place than have painters in to paint .1st you have to find some one you want in your home around your things that you can trust .2nd you have to remove ALL furniture , carpets , drapes , and anything else you don't want paint all over when they finish . The painters come in your home and make a horrible mess , paint all over everthing even a little on the walls , but mostly on the doors , windows , and the floors .You pay them a arm and a leg, or two. Afterwards YOU have the priveldge of cleaning up their mess when they leave your home .THEN you have to put everything BACK where it was before you deconstructed your home for painting .It would just be easier to move ! I hate it when we have to paint . I am hoping we can put off painting until the next decade , lol .I gota go now and blow my nose before it drips all over the keyboard . Bye , OTE

Presenting ... Yousef !

After much anticipation , Haroun's little brother Yousef ( Yousef means Joseph in English ) made his appearance October 1, 2009 ; in Tripoli , Libya . He weighs in at 9 pounds or a little over 4 1/2 kilos . He is so cute ! As you can see he is already smiling for the camera !

Cousins

Haroun 23 months old . How he has grown huh ? This month he will be 2 years old , wow ! Doesn't he look tough !And those big big brown eyes , oh my !

Sophia is now 5 months . Isn't she a cutie ? Look at that smile ! She has blue eyes that twinkle !

Gail will be 9 months this month , already ? OMG ! What big blue eyes she has too ! And that smile ! A real flirt , huh ?

Haroun

This is a picture of my son Haroun before he became very ill . It was taken on the day I had registered with the Islamic society as a Muslim. Even though I had converted 10 years before , I had never gotten around to registering . That was a very happy day for our entire family . Haroun was so thrilled .That was 7 years ago .He died 2 years later .

This was , I think , the only time I have worn the Hajab , or the scarf .I had to wear one to the Islamic society place . It felt odd to wear the Hajab , as if I was a impostor or something . At the same time , as strange as this will sound , it felt Holy ? I have a personal aversion to wearing the head scarf and all the other paraphernalia that Muslim women are supposed to wear . So , I felt like a hypocrite too that day . I know , a total contradiction huh ?

The picture above Haroun drew years before he became ill as a present to me . I loved it because it was a abstract and so expressed his talent as a artist .Years later on after he became addicted to heroin , he told me that this was the way he felt when he was on heroin, like a monster . We have this picture in our living room as a reminder of him .

The News In English

Please ignore the 1st two entry's for this post . There was a malfunction with my finger and the button !!! LOL !

I think I mentioned in a past post that my daughter in law and grandson were staying with us while my son is working in the dessert . That made my last week very busy and exciting with all sorts of activities . LOL !

My daughter in law , bless her heart , was so nice and helpful . She did many things I hadn't been able to do around the Condo , while Moe and I enjoyed having all of the time with Haroun we wanted ! He wore us out but he was also exhausted , lol ! By the time he went back to his own home on Saturday , he understood English when I spoke to him . I think if he had stayed here a little longer he might have even started to speak it . Maybe next visit . His mother announced at the end of her stay that she and my son are expecting another child in the up coming year . Amazing , this time last year I had only one grandchild , now I have two with two more on the way . Talk about making up for lost time , lol !

Moe has entered the techno age finally ! My son gave him a mobile phone which I was surprised to learn Moe already knew how to operate ! Just goes to show you age is no boundary for learning something new ! Now , we just have to get him a number to go with the phone so he can use it . I guess I am the very last hold out against having a mobile phone . I can't stand the things . As a matter of fact ... I just hate phones in general . They are a intrusion on ones privacy I think .

Update on the seranti thing ...... remember me telling you all about trying to get the roll down shutter in the living room fixed a while back and we still needed a part for it ? The other day AFTER my daughter in law washed the windows in the living room , I realized that it still wasn't fixed yet . I had just become used to seeing it half way down and since the windows were so dirty ( I never do windows ! Just a matter of principal !) I had stopped paying attention to it . So , today we called the guy , or rather Moe did since the guy is still sensitive to speaking to women ,and he said he would come next week to finish the job . So , please would someone out there remind me to make sure I follow up on that ? I would like to get that finished before Ramadan starts .

Speaking of Ramadan ... it is ONLY in six more weeks !!!! I am going to have to get in high gear this year and start to stock up on stuff from now for Ramadan . Hopefully that way I will have a minimal of shopping to do during Ramadan . I hate to shop for food during Ramadan because it is soooo crazy crowded in all the shops and the people( me included ! Some times ) are pushy !It is supposed to be a charitable time of the year ... yata yata yata .... but can get pretty nasty out there in the mean streets !

So anyway as far as I know , the first day of Ramadan seems to be on September 1st , which the anniversary of Qaddafi's Fatah Revolution . This is celebrated here in Libya much as the 4th of July is celebrated in the States . This year marks the thirty ninth year of the Revolution . Now since the 1st day of Ramadan and the 1st of September will both be on the same day this year , it will be a interesting day this year .

Wiggle Worm

My grandson is staying with us. He has started to walk all over the place , lol . It took my daughter in law , Moe, and I all most ten minutes to get Haroun to be semi still long enough to snap these pictures of him ! They aren't his best pictures but they show you how active he is now he can go where he wants to go , when he wants ! As a dotting grandmother I have to admit he is something else !


My son is in the dessert for a while and my daughter in law called and asked if she could come spend some time with us . We said of course . We have tried this several times in the past and it wasn't very successful before for either one of us , due mainly to cultural differences , but this time , knock on wood , it seems ok !My daughter in law is a big help to me and I really appreciate all she does for us . It is so nice to have Haroun around too !


It is strange to have someone else in the house with us after several years on our own with out kids . It has interesting for all of us . Like remembering to close the bathroom door or not running around in skimpy clothes , lol ! My daughter in law has had to make adjustments also since she is used to her own home . All in , things are going well !


Last week I was pretty busy . I went to Sheila's and had the "works" . I felt like a queen when she finished with me . Sheila does a mean pedicure with a message like nothing you have ever experienced before . I always feel so pampered after a day with her . I don't know what we will do here in Libya when Sheila decides to retire .


I was invited to a coffee for a friend that moved back to the States nine years ago and is here for her sons wedding .It was fantastic to see her once again , especially since I thought we would never get to see one another in this life time . We have stayed in touch through e mails but it's not the same as actually talking face to face . She looked marvelous !!!


One of my other friends here went" home " to visit her family this last month . She also took her married daughter with her husband and little girl , to introduce them to the American branch of the family . My friend was due back two days ago . I called the day after she came back to do some catching up on her trip,when her husband told me she was still stuck in Rome with her son in law. Supposedly when they were going through immigration in Rome on their way back here the Roman officials discovered that my friends new American passport hadn't been translated into Arabic on the back of her passport as the Libyan government requires in order to enter Libya . It didn't matter that she is married to a Libyan, has family here , or even lives here . So , she had to wait until the next day to go to the American embassy there in Rome to get the translation that the embassy here didn't do when they issued her a new passport . Thank goodness she wasn't traveling alone . And thank goodness she had her son in law along to help with money and morale support . Otherwise what would she have done ? This same thing happened to another friend of mine several months ago on her return trip from the States to Libya, also . She got stuck in Germany . Only as luck would have it she happened to run into a employee there in the German airport that was helpful and found her a official translator that worked in the airport to translate her passport for her ... for a hundred dollars . Good thing she happened to have one hundred left from her trip huh ?


Oh, the other thing that happened this past week was my daughter giving birth to my grand daughter . That was the most exciting thing so far !!! I got to talk to my daughter last night after she came home from the hospital and was so overwhelmed with emotion . We talked and talked . It was so good to hear personally from her that all was ok . And I guess that about sums up whats been going on in my life lately .


What about you ? How have you been doing these hot summer days ?Anyone spending time at the beach ? Anyone going on holiday ? If so where ? Is the gasoline prices affecting your summer time plans this year ?