Happy Halloween

From the WITCHY WITCH in me ......

.... From my beautiful Jack O'Latern candle holder!

And my mini mistery ghost .....

A very FUN, HAPPY HALLOWEEN to Everyone!

HAPPY EASTER.... JOYEUSES PÂQUES!!!

A most beautiful, blessed Easter Day and Spring to you all!

"Thine is the glory, risen, conquering son" The lyrics are still singing loud and joyfully in my head from last night's mass....we sang this Easter hymn in French and English, to my delight!
Took me back many years to when I sang it as a child at home, in Indiana.
Since then I've gone through many different levels of reflexions concerning Easter; Christ's death and ressurection.....I think what touches me the most is the suffering ...how much he suffered..how much he continues to suffer in our world today... how mankind continues to crucify "Jesus our brother", and each other daily..
How we as a world...as humanity have not yet understood how to love one another as we are Loved....
Easter gives us hope, the knowledge that death no longer has the last word, and that's wonderful , even though it's a fact I accept on faith, because it's really hard to explain....
but, I wish we'd have learned better how to put into action the message of LOVE for which Jesus was willing to die.
This last two weeks have been full , but good. I've of course taken many pictures of which I'll be posting a few to share with you...HOPEFULLY today some time...
In the meantime...lots of love, and HAPPY EASTER!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

"HUG SOMEONE YOU LOVE TODAY!!"

That is what the little card says, but why not just HUG EVERYONE you love today!!(unless they're miles away, then send them a card!!) That's what Valentine's day is all about.

I had a great page prepared in my head to post for the 14th of February, but we are already there and I haven't been able to get done what I wanted to do. My idea was to make a valentine box out of a shoe box, you know like we did back in the 50's when we were in grade school. I've no idea if such things are still done, or have been done over the years.

Well, I didn't get the box made!

Next I wanted to take pictures of some very old Valetine's that date back to when my Dad was in grade school..the pictures and verses written on them are much different than any I've seen..

I didn't get that done either, mainly because I haven't found them !! I put them in one of my treasure holding drawers, but so far haven't found the right one. And I have been loooking!!

So they will not appear at this time..maybe next week, if I do find them.

I was also going to make cookies and take pictures of them, but I just made a cake instead and it's not really worth a picture..it's heart shaped and chocolate, but not frosted (my family never liked the frosting) or decorated!!

So just let me say, I hope you enjoy your Valentine's day. It's one of my favorite holidays!!

xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxo

Last sunset in 2008

In a few minutes we'll be in 2009.....I captured this seagull in flight the other evening and I'm using it to symbolize all the beautiful sunsets we've witnessed in 2008, all the wonderful days we've had to enjoy. God Bless and keep you this year and may we all see many more beautiful sunsets.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2009

MEILLEURS VOEUX

SANAA SAIDA

ASSAGWAS MBARKI

Pictures from this past week

This is the great group of gals that got together on the 19th of December to make Christmas cookies. Home made Christmas cookies have been a tradition with me for many , many years..
But since last year this tradition has been adopted among my Agadir friends , too.
I bring the recipes, the " special"ingredients AND the translations and everyone comes equipped with a rolling pin , an apron and tupperware for taking home!!
It's great fun: making the dough, rolling them out, cutting and painting them...baking and TASTING them..
I love days like this one.......we work, create, sip tea and snack, but most of all we laugh!!
We started around 14:00 and left at 18:00 each one clutching a box of cookies.....Layla had her goodies , too, plus a house filled with the wonderful lingering fragrance of warm sweet spicey Christmas cookies.

Hail , hail the gang's all here!!

Making candy cane cookies.

Very concentrated efforts go into mixing the dough!!

This picture is a bit out of order...the cookies are already baked and on the platters.

Do you recognize them??!!

Helen's cutting out the gingerbread stars, trees and boys!!

Another event leading up to Christmas was our Christmas concert on the 20th of December. Over the years our small international choir at church has participated in many concerts for Christmas, but for differents reasons, we've not been able to do one since 2005. This year was a real challange as we had only about five weeks to put it together.

We were "the veterans" as I call us, the small group who have sung with the choir for many years , and the "reinforcements", a dozen African students from our parish who are here in Agadir studying at the different Universites. We made a remarkable team. The kids, as I call them, added not only voices, but energy and enthusiasm to our choir. They had lots of new music to learn...classic composers that they're not familiar with, but they didn't falter, and together we presented a great program. The concert was a big success.

Two hundred and fifty people crowded into our beautiful little church. At the end of the concert everyone was all on their feet , clapping,and cheering. As they came to congratulate us, their red rosey cheeks testified to the Christmas joy they'd experienced through our music. I think there's nothing more satifying and fulfilling for a choir than to know they've pronfondly touched their audience. For us too, it was a wonderful!

Here a series of pictures taken during the concert . You can't really see that much, but you will constat how full the sanctuary was and the enthusiam of the group in the last picture.

The next series of pictures were taken on the 22nd and 24th of December...The kids from our parish put on the natuvity play for the eight o'clock mass, and of course they had to practice a bit first!! The older kids read the text and the younger ones inacted it.. I was too busy to get pictures on the 24th(because of th choir that was singing, too) so I took snaps of the rehersals.

I took MANY more than I'm posting, now as I look at them, I think maybe I should've added more...

I trust you'll enjoy these pictures even if you don't know the children..they may take you back MANY YEARS to when you were in a nativity play for Chrstmas.

And to bring this to a close, some pictures of our delicious Christmas Eve dinner with friends.

Everything was delicious and the fire in the fire place added a lovely winter glow everything!!

This was just out of this world..mouth watering delicious!!

Beautiful platters, a festive menu!

Christmas Day.....more friends and more GOOD FOOD...hmmmm!

All for now....must stop and let YOU digest everything!!

See you next year! xoxooxo

Christmas Greetings and Blessings to All!!

Signs of Christmas

Christmas is almost here, but as you know it is not a holiday in Morocco.

There are no glowing christmas trees in the center of town. No santa clauses strolling

the sidewalks or shopping centers. The towns are not decorated, nor are there big crowds

hustling and bustling everywhere. We have no snow in Agadir, and just today the first christmas trees arrived in the market.

And yet for those of us who look forward to celebrating Christmas every year there are undeniable signs that Christmas time is approaching.

I play lots of Christmas cd's, bake christms cookies and send card.

I've already posted a page about Advent, candles and wreaths, evidence of the nearing of the nativity. But these manifestations are apparent only in our homes.

Today I'd like to share with you pictures of what over the years I've come to associate with my favorite holiday..

First sign that we're nearing December are the aleo that begin to bloom,
in parks and yards all over town.

They are a bright orange, and the birds love to drop in
for a drink of the sweet fluid in their petals.


Here's a close up of a few we have on our little balcony.


Another shot, with the swaying palm branches in the background.


As the days shorten, and the nights grow longer, the pointsettas also
begin to bloom and reach for the sky!

These pointsettas are so small next to the beautiful and full, red and white ones we

had when we lived in the villa. But they're still pretty and festive!

This one is near a grocery town just down the street, there are lots

of pointsettas in Agadir.

These trees , too, just explode in December, I think it's called(Spathodea) the Tulip Tree

of Gabon.

It's so full of color and energy!!

And last but not least the (Schinus Mole). We call it the "false pepper tree"

because of it's small spicey-peppery smelling berries...that when crushed make you sneeze as if they were real pepper, but they're not! The tree I photographed is small. There are many big ones in town, they line many of our avenues.

These branches are so beatiful and smell good ,too.

I've often used them in table decorations or in my advent wreaths.

Don't the berries look tempting enough to taste?

I don't advise it!!

Beautiful flowers, trees exploding in jubilating colors, cooler days, and bluer skies,
these my friends are proof to me, that even in Agadir, Christmas is just around the corner!!

A Very Merry, Meaningful Christmas to you!!