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.

Ready? Set - Taking the Plunge

Friends? Check.
Family? Check.
In-laws I get along great with? Check.
Big white dress? Check.
And finally... A really really great guy who believes in the same things I do, encourages me to a better person, loves Lord of the Rings (almost) as much as I do, lets me rant ON AND ON about hockey, laughs at my corny jokes no matter HOW awful they are, and gets all my lame engineering references? Check.

Deep breath.

Next time I post, insha Allah, I'll be Mrs. M.

Hadeel's Back! (online that is, and in Egypt)

In case you missed it, your favourite (or, at least, my favourite) blogger/journalist/Egypto-phile has come back to the blogosphere after a short break. Check her out at Hadeel Speaking

Martin Luther King - Some words of Wisdom (and, of course, more wedding talk)

From the same blog that brought you the Materialism post, here's a comment on Martin Luther King day. Something I think we can all take to heart.


On a lighter note, have I mentioned recently how much I like my group at work? I know I sound like I'm just sucking up, but these people threw me a surprise shower today, on my second last work day before I take off for the wedding, replete with very very yummy food, gifts, and the most embarrassing hat you've ever had to wear at a shower (I'm talking cardboard covered with tin foil, then covered with bows and wrapping "decor" as the gifts were opened). All in all, fun times.

p.s.

I still have left-over candy canes from my splurge over Christmas

Shamefully neglected

What, you ask, is shamefully neglected? This blog, I say... and for that, I am truly sorry. Let me say that I'm not actually writing a true post today, so much as just writing to say that I know I haven't written. If it's actually bothering anyone other than me, I'm sorry. Is it a good enough excuse that the wedding is really soon and that I had (and still have) a lot going on on several other fronts on top of the wedding? I'm hoping it is...
So, following is not a promise, but a resolution, that once the whole wedding, and honeymoon, and moving to another city (sort of) thing is over in a couple of months, I will try to post more often. Really, I'll try. and the good news is that I plan to take a lot of pictures on the honeymoon. Which means there'll be pictures on here again for what feels like the first time in forever. After all, the whole reason I originally started this blog was to post pics from my last trip to Egypt, so if you go back to the very first entries, that's all they are...
Anyway, all this to say I'll try. Just give me a little bit of time... Who knows: maybe I'll post regularly sooner than that. Just don't hold your breath. In the meantime, enjoy the geniuses like Jen, K, and Sajda on my blogroll. and go back and re-read Hadeel's hilarities. They're worth a second (and third, and fourth) read.

*insert superlative here* of 2007

How many best of, craziest of, funniest of, whatever-else of lists have you seen as the year winds down? I'm a complete sucker for these lists and here's something noteworthy:

CBC's 2007 Top 10 Canadian Newsmakers in the Arts' list includes Zarqa Nawaz, the Little Mosque on The Prairie creator.

You go sister!



p.s. Did you know you can watch the episodes on YouTube??
p.p.s. Happy New Year!

This says it all...

This cartoon from the Globe and Mail is sadly accurate in its representation of Canada's official position at the recent Bali conference on climate change. We have the dubious honour of having won something called "The Fossil Award" for being the country or group that held up the process.

Samwise the Bloated

So you've already heard about Samwise the Bloated and the whole "peas help bloatation" thing here and here.

Well, a few weeks ago, I captured Samwise in action. It seems he's found a solution (involving the water filter) to be able to get to the bottom of his tank despite his bloatation.

Observe, and enjoy:

What do you mean they're bad for your teeth?

Having lived in a country where Christmas is a big deal all my life, I have to say that I appreciate how much more cheery and positive everyone gets this time of year. All through school, I got 10-15 days of holiday over Christmas and New Years, and that's enough to make anyone love the season. Now, in my third full year of work, I'm still adjusting to the fact that, in the federal government, there isn't a built in two-week holiday for everyone. If you want vacation at Christmas, you take your vacation at Christmas, and I almost always want my vacation in the summer time for trips to Calabogie and such.

Nevertheless, I enjoy the quiet time at work for that week when the office almost becomes ghost-town-like. Most of those still around are others like me who don't "do" Christmas, although some are people who are just saving their holidays for another time of year too. I like getting a chance to catch up on whatever I've fallen behind on (which is A LOT this year). I like chatting for a bit with whoever's still around.

As a child, I know I loved the lights on the buildings and trees. Now I'm not so sure because I worry about the energy it all consumes. What I definitely loved when I was little, and still love now, are candy canes. I can't describe it, can't pinpoint exactly why they're any different from those candies or mints you get at restaurants at the end of a meal, which I'm not addicted to, but candy canes are definitely a favourite treat of mine. Maybe it's because they're not available all year round, or because I forget about them and am pleasantly surprised every year when given one at some point in mid-December. This year, one of the gals at work stuck little stockings up on the outside of everyone's cubicles and filled them with Hershey's Kisses, Reese Peanut Butter cups (mmmmm.....) and Candy Canes. I've had one Peanut butter cup, no Kisses, and finished my Candy Cane and gone back down to the pharmacy to buy another package. I love these things. I try hard to ignore the fact that sucking on a stick of sugar all day and then only brushing your teeth when you get home must be a recipe for cavities. At the end of the day, it's ignorable. They just taste soooooooooooooo good.

Meaningful Gifts

There's a beautiful (and very short) Prophetic saying that encourages gift giving as a form of getting closer. In Arabic, it's "Tahaadu, Tahabbu", which essentially means "give gifts to one another and you will love one another".
It's very simple, and obviously it alone will not make people love one another, but I think it shows how much gifts mean to us as humans. We like being showered with attention and love. We like being given something we weren't expecting, and we like the feeling of knowing someone has thought about us and though about how best to make us happy. All of these are results of being given a gift.
At the same time, I think we've reached a point where sometimes gift giving is taken too far. Sometimes we seem to exchange gifts because it's what's expected, and not because there's actually any love, or need in the exchange. How many of us have spent hours trying to look for something to buy a loved one because an occasion like Eid or Christmas or their birthday is coming up, and they don't really need or want anything? How many of us have ended up buying them something that just sat there just to have bought them a present? I personally would rather get flowers, or a chocolate bar, or a phone call, or sit together and watch a movie then get something I don't need. These are all gifts too, and show that the person who gave them to you remembers and cares.
I heard about another great way of gift giving on the radio this morning. Both Green Peace and the CHF (another great Canadian non-profit) have these programs set up where you can buy a gift on behalf of a family member or friend to either send valuable food stock, or animals, or medical supplies like malaria kits to people in need around the world, or sponsor specific green peace projects. Both of these groups have a catalogue so you can pick the exact gift you want to give, and go with the cause closest to your heart or to whomever you're buying for.
And think how much more valuable contributions to an environmental project, or chicks, or fertilizer, will be to those who need it and to the earth, than a knick knack that sits on your friend's shelf collecting dust until she/he finally decides to donate it to the Goodwill or throw it out.
You can apply the idea to any cause you want by picking an organization that does good humanitarian or environmental work and then donating on behalf of a friend as your gift. Human Concern International is a great option, so's IRFAN-Canada (both are humanitarian groups that provide orphan sponsorship and medical and sustainable supplies in war-ravaged regions of the world).
So if you're stuck for what to buy and still behind on your Christmas shopping and starting to panic, or if you haven't gotten Eid gifts yet for some important people, and it's just hitting you that Eid's about to end, try something like this. It'll make you, and the person you're buying for, feel great.

38 cm

and counting...
at 8 p.m. there were 38 centimetres of snow on the ground in Ottawa. Beautiful to look at, but not so much fun to walk through, let me tell you. When I opened my door this morning, the snow fell IN to my entrance. Brrrr...

Party Planning

From the Dilbert Blog, some amusing-ness (and I know that's not a real word, but it just fits here) about the holiday party season:

Which of these two things is easier?
A. Planning the invasion of Normandy
B. Planning a holiday party
If you are male, you might think a party involves invitations, food, booze, and decorations. It seems simple. But if there is a woman in your life, step one of the party preparation process can involve anything from aerating the lawn, to attending mime school in France, to lifting the house with cranes and putting it on stilts. There’s a whole other level that sneaks up on you, and it doesn’t end until the doorbell rings.
One of the most useless party customs is giving attendees gifts as they leave. These guests already gave you a hostess gift when they arrived. The obvious solution would be to tell guests to throw their incoming gifts in a pile by the entrance, next to the shoes. When people leave, they can rummage through the pile and pick something they didn’t bring. Pardon my French, but I think a “voila” is called for.
Remember, any problem that can be solved using the word “rummage” is bound to be efficient. And efficiency is the key to good party-giving.
A hard part of hosting is guessing the right amount of food you need, which usually means getting three times more than people will eat. Another problem is that people refuse to line up when the food is out. You can solve both of these problems by getting less food than your guests are likely to want. After you host a few parties, word will get around, and people will go straight to the buffet line as soon as they arrive and toss their hostess gifts by the shoe pile.