Beach Heads

Khalid (8) and Safiyyah (6) Wakrah Beach Doha Qatar

Computer Babies

Az Zubair (3) with Ate Safiyah (6)

Planting in the Desert

Salams everyone.

When one looks at the desert, one might wonder how can a plant grow in such a dry sandy place? But subhanallah, plants only need sunlight and water to grow. A dead place produces life. Allah uses such metaphors in several places in the Qur'an.


Green Pepper! I always forget to buy these. Hence my wife planted a few shrubs for me. She already picked 4 pieces for my tinuanan.

I believe these are beans! I have to ask Umm Khalid to be sure.

Beautiful vegetable flowers. Open its petals early in the morning. Its only when these flowers bloom when I saw bees humming over it. I didnt know that there are bees around here!

Gourd plant. Sadly it doesnt develop into a fully grown vegetable. It dies. It must be this middle east summer heat and humidity.

This is a gourd plant (or squash) planted by my wife. Subhanalla it grows so fast, probably as long as 3 or 4 inches daily! We already have harvested budding sprouts several times (tastes like sea food). Unfortunately, its fruit (or vegetable) always fails to develop. It dries up and die. So we just take the leaves.

Beneath it are the leaves of sweet potatoe. Its 'talbos' (sprouts) also taste good for tinola and "tinunanan with mampalam".

Khalid

My three children are Khalid, Safiyyah and Az-Zubair. I feel that each of them has inherited some of what I believe part of me.My first born is Khalid, who is going to be six years old two months from now. He likes to observe things – for him: birds. Once, I took him to school and did not go with him to his room. I just left him about 20 meters from his room and told him to go ahead. Little did he know that I just want to be sure if he would go straight to his room or not, so I hid behind a tall garden. Initially, he was hesitant to go. With a firm voice, I told him that I’ll be late to work if I will still take him to his room. Reluctantly he conceded. And so I turn my back and walk a few meters and pretended to be heading to the gate. After a while I turned and saw him walking to his room. Suddenly, birds flew by and perched on a nearby playground to his left side. Startled and amazed he stopped walking and turned his attention to the birds. Throwing his bag to the ground, he stoop a bit, eyes wide, knees bended, walking slowly, hands abducted, as if ready to dive and grab the unsuspecting feathered creatures. His room which is now only about 5 meters is lost in the mist of oblivion. I started to smile and felt honestly happy. The birds eventually sensed his intention and dispersed in panic. Relentlessly, he pursued some of the birds; he is now heading towards the opposite direction, farther away from his room. I came out from my hiding and called his name with a reverberating baritone. That ended the bird-hunting saga and I went off to work with a smile on my lips. I saw that part of me in him.

Assalamu Alaikum

This is another blog where my personal thoughts are expressed.