Tennis & golf

Hello! The French Open has started. You can see it on ESPN2 or the Tennis Channel. The biggest thing to report as of today is Venus's wardrobe failure. The commentators are writing it off, concentrating only on her level of play, which is excellent. I however feel that icons like her need to pay attention to all aspects of their life. Impressionable kids are looking up to them.

Our summer golf league has also started. It was so nice to be able to play. Golf is such a peaceful game, at least at my level where I concentrate only on my good shots. Please do not misunderstand, I do want to win, but I do not get all exasperated if my shot goes wayward.

The iris's are in full bloom now. I love irises. They come in so many combination of colors.

Eventuality of worldly life

Yesterday I lost a dear friend, or should I say she continued on to the next phase of life. Anyway, it was sad for us to see her leave, especially her two unmarried sons and husband. It is so amazing to see a person who was so capable become so helpless. May God give her the highest place in heaven and provide solace to all those who loved her.

Day to cherish

I have so much to thank God for. Last Friday our son graduated from Boston University with Honors. I cannot express the happiness and pride I felt and still do! My sisters, nephews and cousin, all came from Connecticut to share in our happiness. It was a lovely day. After the ceremony we took a lot of pictures much to my son's concern (he hates so have more than a couple of pictures taken, I guess he is shy of all the attention) and then went out for a great dinner. At a time like this it is so easy to forget that we owe all this to the blessing of God. He is the one who blessed our son with health, mental capacity and the the desire to get this education. May he have many more success's.

grandparents

We were honoured to fill in as grandparents for Sonia and Umer at their school for grandparents day. I went to Sonya's class and Umer took Muti to his kindergarten class. We played Binky and Sonya beat me both times. Then we tried our hand at Banana, which is a word game like Scrabble. We shared this with two other grandparents and their grandchild. I tried hard to convince the other g'parents that they should let Sonya win but they were too competitive or interested in winning and won both times! We also had some great goodies to eat. We then decided to visit Umer's class. Umer was so excited. We played bowling. It was so hard to set up the light, plastic pins. Anyway Umer was only interested to crash them. The teacher then called the children in for Circle. I was so proud when Umer greated his class with Salam alekum. Umer and a friend then finishes a whole, big puzzle of dinosaurs. There were some happy high five's! The day ended with some great performances by the children. It was lovely to see Sonya and Umer's light up when they spotted us among the large audience.

COURAGE

I wonder what is courage? Is it the strength to stand up to a big bully? Is it the courage to at last answer back to unfair criticism after meekly taking it for many years? Is it the boldness to face a approaching lion? I found real courage the other day as I was visiting a dear friend in the hospital. She had been admitted to the hospital a week back, and to every body's surprise was discovered to have only a few months to live. What a shock! But what I found in her attitude was REAL courage. The courage to accept gracefully what we all have to eventually face. May God give her health and a complete recovery.

flowers

I hope you will enjoy the photo's of these flower's as much as I have.

mother's day

Today is mother's day. At first I thought that I will call my daughter, sister , daughter-in-law and other dear family members and friends who are mother's a very happy day. But then I realised that this is the day I honor and thank MY mother. MY mother's name was Ruquaiya and since she has passed away so I pray for her that God may grant her the highest level in heaven. I also say the same prayer for my grand mother's Hajeera and Aisha. I do however wish all mother's a great day!

TEA PARTY

I was fortunate enough to be invited to a very special tea party. I was respectfully directed to a special seat on the dining table. The table was very nicely laid out with matching cups and saucers and quarter plates. The napkins were artistically folded into triangles. After I was comfortable, I was served with strawberry crepes and offered fresh creme, which I promptly accepted. I was then served with freshly brewed tea which was in a teapot covered by a lovely tea cosy.

My hostess then joined me at the table and we both had a lovely breakfast. I keeping with the decor, I made sure that when I lifted my teacup my pinkie was out.

What was amazing that the crepes and the strawberry sauce was prepared from scratch by my nine year old granddaughter, Gullopii and she did all this as I was getting ready to come down for breakfast. All this occurred on the first day of my arrival to visit my daughter's family.

TEA PARTY

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