Qur'an 20181103

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

26.  Say, "O Allah!  Lord of Power, You give power to whom You please, and You strip off power from whom You please.  You endue with honor whom You please, and You bring low whom You please.  In Your hand is all Good.  Verily, over all things You have Power."

(The Family of Imran 3:26)
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A day of curry

Hi Honey!  How are you feeling today?  Are you getting excited again?  Oh well, wherever you go, there you are.  We can't escape who we are.  Just enjoy the ride, and hang on to yourself.  I had harvested some coconuts a week ago, because I had planned to make curry.  Then all these other foods popped up, and only today I got to do my curry project.  I always make a generic curry, one that you can add beef, chicken, fish or whatever to, or just eat it by itself.  My Mom showed me a way to mix in the curry spices so that it doesn't clump, it's very effective.  I processed the coconut milk so it was runnier than usual, but the curry still came out quite thick.  I took out half of it then ate some of that for lunch with fry bread.  The other half, I wanted to make lentil curry.  Lentils usually break up very easily, but I had been cooking this curry all day and the lentils are still quite snappy.  Probably because I didn't soak them overnight.  Oh no, I forgot a chunk of salted fish!  At least the lentil curry got the salted fish, and it really makes a difference in flavor.  My Mom gave me a baguette, and I ate that with the lentil curry for dinner.  Do you like curry?

So much space, and not enough furniture

Hi Honey!  How are you today, my dearest heart?  Did you have a fun day yesterday?  Have you been partying?  Come on, you can tell me!  Well, please take good care of your precious self.  I'm sorry I'm not with you to chase people away with a stick.  I want to be with you.  Always.  Not much going on here.  I went shopping.  I bought a gallon of bleach.  Can't live with cats and be without bleach!  Flour was cheap, so I bought  a lot of that.  Thank God I know how to make dough.  Sliced cheese was cheap too.  Maybe it's time for a pizza... Yeah pizza should be with mozzarella, but if you close your eyes and taste the cheese, then what's the difference?

I didn't get many good snapshots on my photo shoot.  The problem was the location was so huge, I wasted too much time scouting it.  There was a gateway, which was beautiful, and lower levels that were just tremendous.  I should have focused my efforts on just the gateway.  I found a house there that was huge, and from the outside it looked so impressive.  When I went inside there was so much open space.  Yeah there was furniture in every room, but it was concentrated on a certain section of the room and left the rest of the space bare.  At least I wouldn't be bumping my shoulder and stubbing my toes into things.  I should have taken a snapshot of the house, huh.  I couldn't live in such a huge house.  And have to furnish it, then worst of all clean it.  Ugh.

Qur'an 20181101

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

20.  So if they dispute with you, say, "I have submitted my whole self to Allah and so have those who follow me."  And say to the people of the Book and to those who are unlearned, "Do you submit yourselves?"  If they do, they are in right guidance.  But if they turn back, your duty is to convey the message.  And in Allah's sight are God's servants.

(The Family of Imran 3:20)
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Yellow

Hi Honey!  How are you today?  I suppose you are getting much needed isolation at that cabin of yours.  Well you go ahead do what makes you comfortable, after all the life of a rock star (and wife) can be seriously weird.  I hope everything goes smoothly for you, and that you are having a fabulous time.  I believe I just made the best batch of chili I've ever made in my life.  So simple too, and all local ingredients.  No tomatoes, either.  Yes, I used nothing of the tomato family whatsoever in this batch of chili.  The key is in the beans.  You have to cook the beans at low heat until they disintegrate and saturate.  So I cooked the red beans until they broke, let them sit overnight before adding the other stuff.  I'm a busy person, so I can't just leave the beans on the fire unsupervised.  What I did was cook them while I was in the kitchen, shut off the fire when I left the kitchen, then turned the fire back on when I got back to the kitchen, and over and over again over a period of 12 hours.  Oh but seriously, this batch of chili is perfection.  Alhamdulillah.  I don't think I will ever experiment with chili ever again.

I took apart a banana tree in the evening.  Yesterday I took down a large bunch of bananas because a few of them were ripe, so I chopped down the entire tree because banana trees only fruit once in their life.  Bananas turn yellow when they ripen, but I can't see that.  Usually the birds see them ripen first, after all that's all they do, is sit on a wire and watch the fruit ripen.  My Mom has a sharper eye than me, so she was the one who told me to harvest those bananas.  Even though banana trees are softer than other tress, like a giant stick of celery, it's still a tree and very, very heavy.  I got a solid workout dismantling that tree.  My heart felt like it was about to burst.

My last photo shoot was also totally awesome!  Alhamdulillah.  I don't celebrate Halloween because I think it's kind of pagan, so I didn't plan a Halloween themed session.  The computer told me to wear yellow, and from that I chose a location in Texas.  It started off like any other photo shoot, but the last two snapshots made it a Halloween theme.  It was a surprise for me.  Talk about going with the flow.  Whoever would think that yellow is a Halloween color?

Qur'an 20181031

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

15.  Say, "Shall I give you glad tidings of things far better than those?  For the righteous are gardens in nearness to their Lord with rivers flowing beneath, therein is their eternal home with companions pure, and the good pleasure of Allah.  For in Allah's sight is God's servants."

(The Family of Imran 3:15)
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Green snake

Hi Natty honey!  How are you, my love?  You don't mind if I start calling you "Honey" instead of "Natty honey", do you?  I don't want there to be any confusion regarding the matter.  I'm sorry I'm blogging later than usual.  I didn't have time to post before I had to head out to the mosque at sunset.  Damn!  I saw a green snake entering the house through my bathroom window.  I immediately went inside to kill it, but I couldn't find it.  I pretty much spent the whole day in the kitchen.  Mackerel was going for cheap at the night market last night, and I suddenly had a craving for raw fish.  Mackerel is so tedious to fillet though.  When I have wealth enough to be married inshaAllah, I assume it would be wealth enough to not have to settle for mackerel for sushi and sashimi.  Filleting all that fish took the whole morning.  Good thing lunch was quick to eat.  Dinner was fried noodles, and I also cooked up some beans for the next batch of chili, and some rice for the cat.  When you cook Honey, follow this rule: cook for your tummy first, then add flavor later.

I looked for a forest for my last photo shoot, but somehow I wound up at some mountainous spiritual abode.  I did find a cabin, but it was a little more luxurious than yours, thus not as rustic.  These photo shoots sure take a long time!  I need to manage my time better...  Anyway, I'm sure you know my position on spirituality.  Many gods do not make The One God.