Okay, tiling’s done, but the house is still upside down and I was starting to ask myself, “What the heck’s so wrong with a shabby kitchen anyway???” There’s something kind of tempting to living beneath your means. On the one hand you could try to convince yourself that you’re above all that superficial nonsense and [...]

On Saturday I drove out to Pearson Airport, to the Canada Customs agents in charge of luggage that comes in later, I guess, and finally got my luggage from my Hajj trip! Yippee! I feel like it’s closed the chapter on the whole experience. One thing I really learned from this…make sure you get a [...]

Just when I thought the dreams of Mecca and Mina were over, I had another one last night. Me gathered with millions of others, sending my thoughts and prayers up to our Lord and Creator. Yesterday I took one of my daughters and her children down to visit my parents. It was my first post [...]

This is the final installment of the journal I kept during Hajj, from Oct. 30 – Nov. 20th. I’ve transcribed it almost exactly as written, any recent thoughts are in parentheses. Nov. 18th cont’d There’s nothing like the feeling of throwing the last stone. I hefted it in my fingers, said, “Allahu Akbar” God is [...]

I really have to stop crying about my mistake in Muzdalifa. One of my biggest problems is that when I do something boneheaded, I can’t stop thinking about it until it’s resolved. And how can this ever be resolved until I die and find out for sure whether my Hajj was accepted or not. As [...]

This is a continuation of the journal that I wrote while on Hajj Oct. 30-Nov. 20th. I’ve transcribed it as I originally wrote it. Any recent comments are in parentheses. Nov. 16th, The day after Arafat, oh, and it’s the Day of Eid ul Adha. I decided yesterday that I wouldn’t take from any of [...]

This is a continuation of the journal I kept while on Hajj, from Oct. 30- Nov. 20th. Any remarks in parentheses are current comments. The day of Arafat IS the day of Hajj. Without staying in the plain of Arafat until sunset, you have not done Hajj, it’s that important! The name Arafat seems to [...]

This is a continuation of the journal I kept while on Hajj. I’ve tried to transcribe the thoughts I wrote eactly as written. Any current interjections are in parantheses.  (The reason why I’m such a stickler in this regard is because I heard that L.M. Montgomery altered her journals after she wrote them, taking out [...]

This is a continuation of the journal I recorded on my Hajj trip from Oct. 30th to Nov. 25th. I’ve tried to stay true to what I wrote at the time. Any more recent thoughts are in parentheses. Nov. 12th We left Medina last night. I said goodbye to the city of the Prophet (peace [...]

This is the third post of my Hajj journal. I’ve tried to inscribe it exactly as I wrote it. Any current thoughts are in parantheses. Nov. 7 – 10, 2010 We arrived in Medina after a gruelling journey. When I came for umrah with my parents two years ago, going from Mecca to Medina was a quick [...]