Ever since I got back into London, my internet access has been iffy. Had more than enough trouble trying to just download my emails and didn’t have time to blog. But now, finally, I have a moment–and more importantly internet access! The last few days have been amazing! Like I said, I have been astonished […]

until they change what is in themselves. I’ve read this phrase in the Quran a number of times and it’s funny but I always thought it only referred to the oppressed and downtrodden. But I attended a lecture a while back and a scholar made a good point. He said that no, this phrase applies […]

It feels like a big fluffy blanket of serenity has drifted down on me and my household. This seems to happen every Ramadan and the problem with that is that it really makes it hard to take anything else, world squabbles over a debt crisis, and attending an impending SCBWI convention, very seriously. In the […]

The first time I’d ever heard of Norman Bethune was probably in passing in Grade nine history. Mr. Regan, our very handsome history teacher, let us choose different topics to present to the class, and one of the topics was Dr. Norman Bethune. I didn’t pick that one. I picked something about the Palestinian/Israeli situation, […]

LOL. Knew I wouldn’t win the Hackmatack! But really! Losing to a cat named Binky! It was a little graphic novella, all of sixty odd pages, about a cat that wants to go into outer space. Now this award is chosen by grades 4 and 5 I think. They don’t have a young adult category, that’s […]

I came home from only two presentations, quite exhausted today. Mind you, one of the presentations was really two melded together, and I had traipsed up and down three flights of stairs three times carrying about thirty pounds of equipment and books, but I still couldn’t understand why I was so wiped. Maybe I muttered […]

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 […]

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 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 […]