Fourth of July 2018

From the roof top of the covered parking.

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Normally you don’t see anyone when Son, and I come out for a walk, but today it was Fourth of July many were up, and about waiting for the fireworks display at 9.30 pm. A few days back we had discovered the roof top of the parking area.

Earlier Son had said that it was a ten minute walk to the pier which was the venue for the display, and we could easily walk there. I vetoed the idea. After all the roof top was much nearer. It seemed everyone else were of the same mind, and were way ahead of us in getting coveted spots for videos, and photographs.

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Missing

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I couldn’t sleep last night. I was missing IB (grandson) wondering when I’ll be able to see his dear face again. So the next best thing I did was to scroll the recent photos I had of him, and played puzzles. The app makes photos into puzzles. I had a happy hour doing the puzzles, and the bonus of seeing IB’s face grinning into the camera all over again.

How difficult it is to find decent foot wear for walking purposes? Whenever I have the opportunity I look into the footwear section. My old ones are fast disintegrating, but I’m not finding any pair to my liking. Hope till then my old ones last.

My foot size seems to be a universal size for all women. It’s always missing from the shelves. The other sizes are there except for my size, or they are available in designs I won’t like. Does this happens to others too?

Visit

This photo of IB is of three years before.

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Yesterday was super exciting, because IB (grandson) was arriving from Houston for a month long visit. His flight got late, and it got to Boston at nine at night. Son had booked a ticket for IB a month earlier. Both of us would have liked it much better if IB could spend more than a month with us.

As we don’t live in Houston anymore, we are starved of IB’s company. When we lived there come every second weekend, IB would spend three days, and two nights with us. Living so far away from Houston has its disadvantages.

I wish Son’s ex was more accommodating in allowing IB to spend more than a month. It would have been simply wonderful.

IB as a baby.

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A Memo to Myself

  
It’s hard to feel rejuvenated when you are bitten by a bug, the area becomes red and itchy, and you hope it won’t detoriate further into something else. I am looking with trepidation at my left hand and left foot, asking myself why did I go outside?

I went outside to get a photo of roses. There were so many dried ones still hanging on. I went inside to get a bag and scissors. Operation de heading began. I went on snipping and cutting removing unsightly leaves too.

  
The bugs in retaliation bit me. The bitten finger on my left foot has turned red. My left hand has been bitten too.

Memo to myself: Next time don’t go out in slippers. Wear socks and shoes for stepping in grass and going near plants. Don’t forget to wear gloves.
DAILY PROMPT

The Young and the Rested

When was the last time you felt truly rejuvenated and energized? What made you feel that way?

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/the-young-and-the-rested/

Looking Out My Backdoor

  
  
Looking out my backdoor the only thing I see

Is green grass growing, and the sun shines brightly

Nothing else can be planted, as the danger sign warns

So the plot remains empty, except for grass

(Sheen)

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/lookin-out-my-back-door/

Lookin’ Out My Back Door

Look out your back window or door — describe what you see, as if you were trying to convey the scene to someone from another country or planet

Eating Turnips

Embrace the Ick
by Michelle W.
Think of something that truly repulses you. Hold that thought until your skin squirms. Now, write a glowing puff piece about its amazing merits.

One vegetable I used to dislike was Turnip. Every time I laid my eyes on it, I felt like vomiting. I would think to myself, “how does one can bear to eat it?”.
It felt so repulsive.

Not anymore. We were posted to Bannu. My (late) husband R was out on military exercises, the cook with them made a veggie dish of turnips. When R was back home, he was full of praises. He asked me to call the cook, and learn from him. I did learn the recipe, and would often make it for R.

It’s strange, but my son-in-law FJ loves them too. When Nola (my daughter), and FJ were in Canton, Michigan FJ would often bring turnips home for me to cook. One thing I dreaded was peeling them. The turnips were like stones, and I had to wrestle with them to cut them into small size.

Turnips are so versatile. You can eat them raw in the form of salads, make a pickle, or eat them cooked as a veggie dish. You can cook the turnip leafs too. Finally the sprouts can be cooked too, and they have a unique flavor, all its own.

Turnips provide untold health benefits. They are full of Calcium, Vitamins A, K, and B Complex, anti oxidants, minerals, and dietary fibre. Turnips contains indoles, which reduces risks for lung, and colorectal cancer.

Turnip sprouts have high levels of glucosinolates (sulphur containing compounds) which are anti fungal, anti bacterial, and antiparisitic. Benefits from turnips are, that they decrease risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases.

Yesterday, when I was talking to Nola, FJ let me know that he had bought turnips, and then the added missive, that when I will be visiting them he will buy them often, so that I can cook them. I could hear his chuckles. He knew it, that I may be gagging at the thought of it. I told Nola, “if I hear talks of turnips, that means no visit”.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/embrace-the-ick/

A Childhood Fantasy

Second-Hand Stories
by Ben Huberman
What’s the best story someone else has recently told you (in person, preferably)? Share it with us, and feel free to embellish — that’s how good stories become great, after all.

What went through my head at seven? I would dearly want to know.

A childhood fantasy was: to press my hand into an armpit to make it shine like Prophet Musa’s (Moses) hand. I had read the story in the Quran, and somehow I thought If I prayed enough times for this miracle, it would happen. I was one disappointed little girl.

This memory came, because of Nola (my daughter). She phoned early in the morning. She was talking about two days fasting 9th and 10th Muharram (Lunar Calendar), in remembrance of Prophet Musa, Peace be upon him.
He freed the Israelites from subjugation from the Pharaoh. She said if you fast during these dates, God forgives last year sins.

Mount Sinai, the location where Musa (Moses) first spoke to God. (Photo credit: Thanks to Wikipedia)

Moses is regarded having urged Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) when the latter ascended the heavens during Mi’raj, to ask God to reduce the number of prayers until five remained.

Every morning I send salutations on all the Prophets by this verse form the Quran, Part 23, Chapter 37, Surah Saffat, verses 180-182:

Glory to thy Lord, the Lord of Honor and Power! (He is free) from what they ascribe (to Him).
And Peace on the Messengers.
And Praise to Allah, the Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/second-hand-stories/
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What Agrees With Me

Daily Prompt: Mouths Wide Shut
Are you a picky eater? Share some of your favorite food quirks with us (the more exotic, the better!) Omnivores: what’s the one thing you won’t eat?

I was a picky eater, but not now. I like to eat everything, except which is forbidden by my religion. I tend to eat less meat, more of vegetables. I tend to go overboard, when Shami kebabs, Chapli kebabs, or Seekh kebabs are on the menu, then I must have them (regardless of the consequences).

I try to avoid beef, beans, cauliflower, cabbage, and potatoes. They wreck havoc with my stomach. Similarly inorganic milk gives me diarrhea.

Now it is not the question of my liking what to eat, but I can only eat food which doesn’t create turmoil in my stomach.

Here is a recipe for Seekh kebabs. They can be made with beef, or chicken breast.

Minced beef, or chicken breast 1/2 kg, minced
1 large size onion, minced
1 large size egg
Ginger 1 1/2 inch piece, minced
Salt, and red chillies as liked
Green peppers, deseeded, minced 2
Wheat flour 1/2 cup
Zeera, large cardamom, black pepper, grinded, as liked
Fresh Mint leaves, washed, 1 cup, chopped finely
Oil for frying

Mix the ingredients. Leave the mixture overnight in a fridge to develop taste. Use a skewer to shape them, and slide them into oil for frying.

Before serving take two tablespoons oil, one small sliced onion, two chopped green peppers in a large frying pan. Add the fried kebabs. Cover. Let remain on low heat for ten minutes or so. Shake them occasionally till they are heated throughly.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/mouths-wide-shut/
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Make It Count

You’ve been given the opportunity to send one message to one person you wouldn’t normally have access to (for example: The President. Kim Kardashien. A coffee grower in Ethopia). Who’s the person you choose, and what’s the message?

Aftermath of drone attacks in Pakistan. Photos Credit: Google

Mr. President,
As a mother when I see young men, and women who lost their lives, their limbs in this endless war, my heart breaks for them. I cry when I see their homecoming: their ravaged faces, or their dead bodies.

I cry at happenings in my home country-Pakistan: where people die – young, and old at the hands of your war machinery. My country is a war zone, thanks to you, and the others before you.

When I was there, and had to go on some errand, I was never sure whether I would be back home: alive or dead.

You back despotic rulers behind closed doors, while brainwashing Americans you are a champion of democracy.

You support the killings in Syria, Gaza, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and else where round the world.

Stop supporting Evil, and it will go away.

Stop the killings.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/make-it-count/
http://wp.me/p23sd-nxb

Words to Wind You

Daily Prompt: Sounds Right
This is clearly subjective, but some words really sound like the thing they describe (personal favorites: puffin; bulbous; fidgeting). Do you have an example of such a word (or alternatively, of a word that sounds like the exact opposite of what it refers to)? What do you think creates this effect?

One of my favorite word is eternity. It washes peace and a forever kind of sound on me. Then it also reminds me of one of my favorite perfume spray: Eternity, which is kind of fabulous.

Obstinate brings right in front of my eyes, those mulish characters who are set like rocks in their thoughts and ways. They won’t budge from their stance even when they know they are in the wrong. More like a donkey when you are trying to move it forward, and it doesn’t move.

Rotund has two meanings; round and fat. It conjures up Adnan Sami Khan (a singer whose voice I like), who was fat and round till he met his second, or maybe third wife, and decided to take a crash course in dieting.

Now he looks better.

Jerk brings to mind a person who is totally unhelpful. A contemptible, obnoxious person.
It also means a sudden movement, or lurch.

Lean suggests thin, or lanky, but it also means resting against something for support.

Grave and grave.
First meaning: he wore a grave countenance meaning very solemn, stern, somber.
Second meaning is of course the spot where one lies in peace.
I have chosen my last home on earth beside my husband, but that is not final. Where I die, probably I will be buried there, and that only God knows.

Then there is Bass, which is a kind of fish, and its second meaning is voice.

The English language ties a layman in knots with its double meanings and pronunciation with words like entrance and entrance, towers (tall) and towers, minute and minute (small), project and project, wind and wind, and putting and putting (golf).

Still trying to find my way in the labyrinth of words.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/sounds-right/
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Credit Adnan’s photos: Google.