I've got no time for the pandemic blues

I've been quietly hanging in here, staying mostly at home and wearing a mask and taking all precautions when I go out into the world. Just as things seemed to be looking up everything was turned upside down. My work is on hold until there is an improvement in the situation. Life seems to have slowed down to a crawl. 

For a while they had closed all of the beaches. It didn't make much sense because the parks were still open - what is the difference? They are both open spaces. I missed going in the evening to watch the water, birds, families, and most of all the sunset. Finally, after what seemed like a very long time, the beaches were reopened. Now, weather and time permitting, we head for the beach in the evening to watch the sun set. Of course we make sure to maintain social distancing and wear our masks when we're in the parking area and as we walk along the path to the beach. Once we have settled ourselves a good distance from any of the other families, off come the masks and we breathe in the fresh air. We are so blessed to have the beach nearby. 

Lately there have been scattered showers most evenings. Sometimes we go anyway and get rained on. As long as there isn't thunder and lightning we stay. The rain is usually over in a few minutes. This week we were treated to a rainbow followed by a gorgeous sunset. 

The pandemic has given me time to count blessings and I realize that life has not been all bad. The highlight of the summer has been Ibrahim's graduation. He has another year of an extended transition (a skills and training program)  after which he will get his diploma, but he walked in the ceremony this year. 

I'm so proud of Ibrahim. This summer he is working on a project for an internship program. It's keeping us both focused on something positive. We don't know what tomorrow will bring, but we are thankful for what we have and hope for our health and safety, the end of the pandemic, and a better future. 

Elhamdulilah!

Added a Link about Libyan History

I came across a Libyan themed blog recently. It's been around since September 2018, but for some reason I missed it. The blog titled The Colonial History of Libya is described as:



"Libya’s colonial experience was not typical. As one historian posits: “The Ottoman influence in the province in the first two decades of the twentieth century was unusually strong; the Italian colonisation of the province was unusually brutal; the resistance was unusually fierce, and its failure unusually devastating”.

Between 1911 when colonial rule began, and 1951 when an independent Libya was established, more than one million Libyans perished, many of them in concentration camps established by the Italian colonial rulers.

The purpose of this blog is to document the crimes perpetrated by the Italian colonial forces against the Libyan population."

You can find it here: The Colonial History of Libya 

I have also added it to my Link List. 

Situation in Libya: January 2020

I'll just leave this here....

Need to update

I haven't posted to my blog in a very long time. Hopefully I'll be able to get a post together soon.

Watch this space.....

Wishes for a Peaceful Ramadan

Wishing all my friends, family and those who read my blog a safe and peaceful Ramadan. 

Is it really the end of another year?

Another year has gone by. It's hard to believe that it is December again. Here is a bit of a synopsis for this year and some of my hopes/dreams/plans for the future.

Do I have any plans for 2019?  It's  hard to plan anything, but I have hopes and dreams. Hopefully I will see things sorted out in Libya (although I'm not holding my breath!). The problems in Libya have not only divided the country, they have divided my family. I'm here in  Florida with four of my children while my husband is in Libya with our other two children. They are mostly grown up now! I dream of a time that we can all be together in one place again. 

Meanwhile, I am here in Florida working a few jobs to keep myself afloat and doing some volunteer work when I can fit it in my schedule. I'm teaching English and doing an occasional workshop for the literacy tutors at the library. Additionally, I do some private tutoring, mostly IELTS preparation. Also, I'm doing a bit of writing and editing. This year I had a few trips for my inspection's work; a trip to Mexico City, I went twice to California, a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii, two trips to Ft. Lauderdale and a trip to Miami. I've also been doing some work with the exam center at the local college. 

I'm still volunteering with my city's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), but not as much as I would like -  too often the times conflict with my work schedule, and of course, work comes first. One fun thing that is happening currently is that I was asked if I would display my pin and brooch collection at my local library. I spent a morning setting up the display which will be there until February. 

Another thing that I did this year was participate in an interview for a blog that is written by a Canadian/Swiss woman who is married to a Libyan. She is living with her family in Canada now, but lived in Tripoli in the past. The interview is on the blog, Dear Sister: Where diversity meets solidarity - Khadija. Don't just stop at my interview - the blog is full of interesting stories of women's lives and the experiences of the blog's writer.

More writing - both personal and work related. I am considering expanding my editing business, adding more services and doing more local work. More work related plans are to attend some literacy and teaching conferences and workshops this year. 

Personal plans for the next year: I'm going to focus on my health - eat better and find ways to reduce stress.  Most importantly, I pray that my family will be all together in one place. 

I'm counting my blessings. Even though it has been a stressful year, there are many many positive things that have happened. 

Wishing all my readers a  year full of blessings. 

Happy New Year!

Nearly a year has gone by

It's been almost a year since my mother passed away (Oct 24th). A lot has happened this year - most of it was stressful. There have been so many details to take care of and my mother's estate is still being sorted out. 

My mother had been secretive about what her assets were and she wasn't very organized either. My sister and I had to dig through tons of papers trying to find out exactly what was there. After we would think he had found it all something else would pop up. Recently, nearly a year after my mother's death, a check came in the mail from a stock we had never found any documentation for at all... so back to trying to figure that out. 

My mom's house was also a big issue. According to the will it was to be shared by my sisters and myself. It was decided that we'd sell it. We had an appraisal done, but the amount given was ridiculously over the market value. I knew that we would never get the amount quoted because the house needed so many repairs. The house is over 40 years old and had almost no updating done. When I suggested to my sisters that the amount quoted was inflated they scoffed and said that we'd get that and maybe more. I'd been watching the market in the area for quite some time and knew that they were dreaming. 

Adding to the task of deciding how to go about selling the house was the fact that my son wanted to buy it, but one of my sisters also was interested. We needed to come up with a fair price for the house. My son's interest was sentimental while my sister's interest was to flip the house and make a profit.

After some discussion it was decided that my sister would supply the names of two realtors and my son would get two more so that we could get an idea about the houses' value. This sounds easy and straightforward, but it required having to make the arrangements to be at the house when the realtors could come - that sounds simple, but I was living in the house with two of my children. Having strangers walking though every room of your house makes you feel vulnerable and your privacy is invaded. I found it extremely stressful.

It was suggested that the buyer should have the house inspected so my son decided to take the recommendations from one of the realtors my sister provided. This way she couldn't complain that my son was being unfair. On one day, I had two realtors in looking at the house at the same time a team of five house inspectors were poking through every nook and cranny and a termite inspector came too. Phew! What a day! 

The inspectors found some issues with a part of the roof and the downstairs plumbing. There are issues with a lot of things in the house, but those two made the difference on how the house would have to be sold. Unless we repaired the roof and the plumbing the house would have to be a cash sale. My sisters and I weren't interested in putting any money into the house. 

The sister that was interested in buying didn't have enough cash. My son had cash and made an offer that my sisters hemmed and hawed over. It was decided that we'd have more realtors and property investors look at the house and see what they would offer. Back to me having a parade of strangers waltzing through. I tried to google names to get an idea of just who I was letting come in. One name came up with a guy with a rap sheet of a variety of crimes a mile long - if the person who came was the same person in the mugshot I was going to say (through the window) that the house was not available. It turned out to be a different guy. After I showed him the house I mentioned that he should start building a better online profile -  I explained what I had found when I googled his name. He said he had never thought about it before and would definitely get right on it!

After what seemed like an endless parade of people in to look at the property, my son's offer was the one we  settled on. He took a big gulp and sunk his life's savings into the purchase. I'm really proud of him. He has a lot of work to do to update the house and he's planning to do one room at a time. Meanwhile I'm here doing what I can to help out while I decide what's next. 

I had moved downstairs to my mother's room after she died. I didn't want to stay in my mom's room, but her dog wanted to be in that room and the poor thing was having serious issues with anxiety. He was gnawing at his leg and side until he had open wounds. Moving downstairs helped him - we were all mourning in our own ways. I left the room as it was, but finally decided it was time to move out my mom's furniture and get something more up to date. A little at I time, over a few months, I added more of 'me' in the room. I hung some pictures on the walls and changed the desk, got rid of mom's old TV. The last thing I did was to take down mom's old window blinds and put up some curtains, then I sat on the edge of the bed and had a good cry.  

It's been a hard year for me. There are still things to settle with my mother's estate and the mourning process continues. I'm dealing with things one step at a time.