MAC Give Ottawa - 1000 Item Food Drive

Just spreading the word: If you live in Ottawa, you can do something small to help those in need.


"Although Canada is a rich country, but we still have lots of people suffering from lack of food.For the sake of Allah, MAC Give is inviting you to fight hunger in a food drive with the Ottawa Food Bank. The goal of the event is to Collect 1000 Items of non-perishable food items by April 5th, 2008. This is a way for us as Muslims to give back to our society.
Remember, when you provide someone with food, you are keeping his dignity.
Collection Date: Sat. April 5th from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.
Location: Abraar School (1085 Grenon Ave.) at the Gym.
For Food Donations:http://www.mydo.ca/MG/Food_Bank/donate.html
Register here and you can drop the items any weekday at Abraar School from 3:00pm to 4:00pm, or on April 5th between 5:00pm and 7:00pm."

Spelt Biscotti (City Trotting)

The last 4 days, in bullet-form:

• bus to Montreal from Ottawa on Thursday night
• drive to Richmond Hill, via Kingston on Friday (morning / afternoon)
• spend the bulk of the weekend in Richmond Hill with my second family
• drive to Montreal via Kingston on Sunday (morning / afternoon)
• attend one of M's best friend's Katb Kitab's last night

And tomorrow, it's back to Ottawa. I think I'm actually getting really good at this, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief to discover that M and I both LOVE road trips, so we got to and from his parents' place and back home quite happily. Now about his parents' place, can I just say I'm feeling very, very loved? I brought my usual supply of spelt bread as back up (as I do when I'm travelling anywhere, since it's not always available or I don't know if I'll have a chance to shop, or whatever) and discovered that they had stocked their pantry with a) organic spelt bread, b)Kamut raisin bread, c)multiple types of goat feta cheese d) spelt penne, and e)SPELT BISCOTTI!!!

I have never in my life tasted spelt biscotti before, but it's fabulous, and the coffee/tea-lover in me was just so incredibly pleased to have something to dip into my hot drink and nibble on. (Heheh, I'm going to have to pick up the exercise regime again though...)

And another thing. I can now play Risk. I may not have achieved world domination this time around, but I'd like to think I learned a thing or two for next time. All in all, a wonderful weekend and well-refreshed for tomorrow (Don't you just LOVE four-day weeks?)

Paris (The city of Smart cars)

I know, I know, they told you it was called the city of lights. Well, if you've been there recently, you'd know that they should change the name. I don't think I've ever seen so many Smart Cars and Mini Coopers in such a short time as I did on our day and a half in Paris. I came back environmentally inspired (We don't have a car, but if we get one, I want to think green).

Anyway, here's my personally shot post card of the Eiffel Tower and the Seine. Enjoy...

Little Angel and Angela Update

FYI for any of you who are latecomers to this blog, my little Angels and Angela's would be my nieces and nephews. Today's update refers specifically to the munchkins in Ottawa, who I saw after a 4 week absence in Egypt last week, and who've grown a lot.
My angel's crawling speed has increased significantly, and now he not only babbles, but babbles with expression while staring straight at you. I know I'm biased, but he's right in that "most adorable age ever" stage that hits around 10 months and last until about 14 months, and boy does he know it!
Meanwhile, my little Angela is turning more and more into a little girl and less and less a toddler. She was already speaking full sentences before we left for Egypt, but now her sentences are longer and significantly more complicated. Last week, during prayer, I couldn't concentrate at first as my little Angela recited the Fatiha along with the Imam. She also decided to borrow my hijab on Tuesday night when I got back from work. I gladly lent it to her, but upon trying to get it back so I could pray 'Asr, she told me, "Here Nonno, where this one" and held up an imaginary hijab for me. (We often give her imaginary cups of tea when she wants some. Can you say "what's good for the goose is good for the gander"?)
Little Angela is also really big on role playing right now. In one evening, she went from being herself, to being me, to being her father, to being someone I had met in Egypt that she had only seen in a picture on the laptop.
Next week, I'll have my little Angel and Angela almost exclusively to myself for two weeknights. I can't wait to see what they have in mind for me.

p.s. On a completely unrelated note, I attended a McGill MSA (Muslim Students Association) spoken word and poetry event last night as part of Islamic Awareness Week. All's I gotta say is this is a talented and creative bunch, masha Allah, and I'm glad to be joining the family! I'm now motivated to do some more creative writing (blogging doesn't count if it's not super-artsy). I've been in an insanely long dry-spell what with the whole wedding/honeymoon/moving thing.

Meet our reflections

So now that M and I are married, and since my blog is aptly named "Meet my shadow" (only because the url runonsentence.blogspot.com was already taken, but that's another story), I thought I'd post this photo from our month-long adventure to Egypt and back via France. This was taken in the Paris airport on our way. It's not a shadow, but it's the next best thing...

Snow snow snow

I was so proud of myself for being able to deal with the cold during my first three days back in Canada last week, and then.... Wednesday happened. On Wednesday, I waited outside my parents' house in Ottawa at the bus stop 40 minutes with cold wind pushing blowing snow straight at me, before an almost-totally-full-bus finally came by to take me to work. Welcome home, right?
We're supposed to be having another storm today and tomorrow, and in Montreal, we're fairly close to breaking the record for the city's snowiest winter. At least I get the same weather regardless of which city I happen to be in.
I took this photo a few days before leaving for Egypt.


In other news, I returned from Egypt to find Les Boys on the verge of becoming 1st in the conference, and now they are. As I'm mentioned previously, Bob Gainey is a genius. As a Habs' fan, I'm sitting back and enjoying...

Prayer in the Desert

Some of the gentlemen on the safari day trip we took catch Asr prayer.

Back home (safe, sound, and jetlagged)

Well, it's been an extremely packed 4 weeks since my last post. During that time, I a) got married, b) moved to Montreal, c) went to several different places in Egypt, d) spent 28 hours in Paris, and e) came (to my new) home...
I've just finished uploading a total of 3000 pictures (mine and M's combined) from my memory stick onto my computer. There are opened suitcases everywhere and a dirty cup from my instant coffee in the sink. I have lots of stories to share and will hopefully get a chance to do it soon. In the mean time, we need groceries, so I'll leave you with one of my favourite pictures from our trip until my next post.