Thoughts of Love on the 13th of Ramadan

Love is the very essence of life. It is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Love is the security for which children weep, the yearnings of youth, the adhesive that binds marriage, the lubricant that prevents devastating friction in the home, the peace of old age, the sunlight of hope shifting through death.

~ Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008)~

On the 13th. day of Ramadan, we celebrated our 13th. Muslim wedding anniversary. Time sure flies fast. Happy anniversary Babe. May we have more fantastic adventures together, forever.

I took the day off to celebrate the day. We’d soo many plans. A trip to Slimbridge but the weather was against us. A train ride to Birmingham to check out the Staffordshire Hoard and Steve McCurry photographic exhibition had to be cancelled. In the end was a drive to Solihull for some retail exercises. Even then, the weather and the GPS was against us. But we arrived safely in the end.

First was a browse in John Lewis. Fell in love with everything but came out with nothing. In Touchwood, tried a pair of Red Carvela heels from Kurt Geiger They were 5-inch high and were soo comfortable, but at £110, a big no-no. Sigh…We browsed a few shoe shops but none was calling to me. At HMV, I bought another 5-CD compilation, Millennium Hits, at only £4. Babe got a huge bag of liquorice from Lakeland for himself cos I don’t like the taste of it.

We wandered outside for a bit of fresh air in the Square and browsed the surrounding shops. Nothing catches our attention except for these hanging baskets laden with flowers. Aren’t they gorgeous? We spent nearly 3 hours in Solihull and I didn’t buy anything. I think I need my head examined….

We ended the day with a late evening stroll at our favourite playground. We parked under a tree where we observed lots and lots of birds twittering away, keeping up-to-date with things, exchanging bits of news, bitching and shielding from the strong winds. These delightful swallows were on their favourite perch, still deciding when’s the best day to fly back to Africa.

Babe wanted to photograph the behaviour of the geese when they arrived for the night. But they were no where to be seen. Nada, zilch, zero. They must have decided to roost elsewhere. Anyway, I hoped wherever they are, they arrived safely and had a good night.

For our anniversary dinner tonight, we are having grilled sirloin steaks with roasted sweet potatoes and creamed leeks. Hmm yummy…For desserts, I’ve not decided yet. Most probably fruits or/and ice-cream. We still have an unopened tray of Ferrero Roche waiting to be demolished. Bon appétit…

We started the weekend by checking out some birds in the Humanities dept. compound. I’ve seen large flocks flying in and out of the compound but can’t make out what they were. It was a flock of Goldfinches and tits. I’m really envious of the person sitting by this window. If it was me, I wouldn’t have any work done at all.

On Saturday morning, I went for a leisurely browse in Tesco. I haven’t been in since I hurt my arm 3 weeks ago. How shocking was that. First stop was the clothes section. I tried a few clothes and fell in love with this animal print maxi. It would be perfect with a cardigan and as you probably know, I have quite a lot in various colours. It costs £18 and I have a £5 voucher which I can double the value to £10. So the maxi only cost me £8. Bargain or what!!!

Since it was Ramadan, there was a Ramadan section and some of the stuff was half-priced. I took the opportunity to stock on tins of sausages, luncheon meat, coconut milk and frozen parathas. I would have bought more but I only had a rucksack and one good arm. Then it was a trip to the library to return/borrow more books.

Suddenly, I realised that the arena was buzzing. Lots of people in white and blue stripe lingering about. Ooh, there’s a home game. I better hurry home cos I don’t want to get caught in the crowd. It was only about 11 am but some were already clutching beer cans and singing along. Thankfully, Sky Blues had a good game and defeated Derby 2:1.They are now 4th in the Npower Championship table. Hoped they keep up the good work.

After my usual phone call to my parents in Malaysia, we checked out the Green Fayre at the War Memorial Park. We must be losing our marbles cos it was raining cats and dogs. Not many people and stalls about. Who can blame them? At first, we stopped at every stall and listened to their offerings. But after about 5 stalls, Babe told me that we might be here the whole day :-)

I was impressed with these volunteers who are very passionate in their causes. We signed a petition to support the Green Belt, bought a smoked garlic from an organic stall, got a free bag of apples from the Carers’ Society where Babe made a contribution, bought 3 tickets for a tombola from Friends of the Earth and we won nothing (as usual), picked some pamphlets from the Green Party, listened to folk musician Nigel Ward vowing the audience, browse several eco-friendly sustainable living stuff and endure a meditation lecture!!! That was really something.

After all that, we made a pit stop into the city centre. We parked at our favourite spot, above the arcade. As we walked by, we saw lots of vacant shops. Ooh, not a good sign. As we continued on, another charity shop was opened. Then more pound-shops. A sure sign that the economy is going downhill. By this time, I was too tired to check out the shops.

On Sunday, I was up at 6.30am!!! At least, it was a gorgeous bright morning, the sun was up and the birds were happily singing away. I hung the laundry outside and then decided might as well go for a walk. It was quiet except for the die-hard walkers, joggers and cyclists. I’m glad I got up.

I spent the rest of the morning reading the Sunday papers and listening to Steve Wright’s Sunday love songs. Then called Malaysia again. My sister is at my parents to pick up the maid who is returning home to Bandung, Indonesia for a short break. I haven’t spoken to my sister for ages so we spent nearly an hour catching up. I really missed my little, younger sister, who is not little or younger anymore:-)

She will be coming down every weekend to our parents house to make sure that they are ok until the maid returns. It was very hard for me not to be around to assist my elderly parents especially when my father have been diagnosed with gout. All I could do is provide financial assistance and pray hard that Allah will look after them and bless my sister, neighbours and relatives who keeps an eye on them. Thank you.

Then, another trip to Brandon Marsh. Every one was talking about the Spotted flycatcher which had been seen at several places in the reserve. We always checkout the tree at the end of the car-park and then walked to the overflow car-park. As usual, I’ll photograph anything and everything. It was later that we found out that this was the much-talked flycatcher. What a coincident. Isn’t he a beauty?

We spotted this darter basking in the hot sun in the sensory garden. Just look at those transparent wings? There were still loads of butterflies floating about, helping themselves to the flowers. But it was quiet on the lake. The usual culprits were having a siesta, enjoying the warmth.

I spotted this Nuthatch not on his usual position, hanging on a tree trunk. It must have been a juvenile cos it was calling high on top of the tree. I think it was searching for his parents, the poor thing. We, later met Kay and Andy who was here since 11 am. Kay told me it was her birthday on Friday. Happy belated birthday and hoped you had lots and lots of presents.

As we walked back, we met a couple who was busy looking at something. When they saw Babe, they asked him what this was? It was a Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar. We had seen the adult flying around the same place before. I hoped that it will survive.

Last Friday, we were invited to a breaking-the- fast dinner at HAB’s in Nuneaton for Sunday. It was a potluck and I planned to bring beef khorma and a Malay sweet, Seri Muka, to her house. But later, I received a text message that there was an emergency and had to cancel the dinner. I’ll call her later to make sure that everything’s ok. Whatever it is, take care HAB.

It was also my nephew’s, Eriq, 22nd. birthday. My oh my, he’s grown into a young man soo quick. Happy birthday darling and may Allah bless you always.