A moment to remember, a moment of forgetfulness

Last night the wind picked up and storms moved into our area. An hour's south of us there were tornadoes, but our area was spared. I looked into the newspaper to see when low tide was for the beach nearest us. A walk on the beach and some beach-combing would be a good way to spend time with my son Ibrahim.

 The winds swept the beach clean and the surf was rough. The air was cold but exhilarating. 

We had the windswept beach mostly to ourselves.

Ibrahim chasing sea birds.

We found some treasures, shells, limpets and a bit of driftwood.

It continued to be cold and windy all day but by evening the wind had died down. My mom needed some things from the pharmacy so I told her I would take her to get her out of the house for a while. I asked her to get ready and went to get ready myself . When I came downstairs I found my mother wandering around. "Darn it! I can't find my socks! Where are my socks!" she exclaimed. "Have you tried looking on your feet, Mom?" I asked. They were there, of course. We laughed and finished getting ready to go.

Lots of memories to remember.

Happy New Year!

Another year has passed. I'm still in Florida with my mother, but my husband sent me this beautiful picture of the sunset in Ainzara taken on the first day of 2016.

Ainzara, Tripoli, Libya ~ January 1st, 2016

I hope and pray that Libya will find peace this year and move forward to a brighter future.

Happy New Year!

Wrapping up the year...

It's been a slow year on my blog, but here's the roundup for 2015:

January  - was the Thumps Up(sp) Award for 2015 and the wrap up of 2014

February - The kids had a school holiday, power cuts, gasoline shortages and flour was also short. The good news was that Tripoli remained quiet and the rains brought the beginning of spring wildflowers.

March - I spent time in the garden and time reading. I wrote a review of a book about an American family that lived in Libya during the 1950s, setting up what was to become Tripoli University's Agriculture Department. I also reviewed the weblog of a Libyan poetess. 

I skipped over April and posted in May - The kids were getting ready for final exams and I promised an update of our adventures.

In June  I posted a panoramic photo of a peaceful looking Tripoli. On my site stats I can see that lots of people have clicked on the photo to have a better look.

July - Ramadan ended and I tried to predict what the murky future would be.

Just one post in August  that was a reminder to put things in perspective. 

In September  I headed out of Libya, time to visit my family back home in Florida.

In October  I settled into the peace of my mom's back yard, and life without the stresses of daily life in Libya. 

November found me sorting out paperwork, getting a driver's licence and decided what to do about my kids, school and other commitments. 

Now it is December. Another year is almost over. I watch the news about Libya from this side of the world. There's been the signing of a unity agreement which many people think might lead to a third government. The price of food and other goods is continuing to rise in Libya where people are still suffering from power cuts  as well as shortages of medicines and other essentials of daily life. Fighting continues in some parts of the country and the threat of ISIS doesn't seem to be going away either. We all hope and pray that Libya finds peace. Meanwhile, I'm still here in Florida for the time being taking care of my aging mother, watching the news from afar.  

Best wishes for a peaceful 2016! 

One more thing off the To Do List

The past few weeks I've been getting bits and pieces of paperwork done. For the last week I've been working on getting a new drivers license. It required making appointments, a few trips to the DMV (Dept of Motor Vehicles) and studying the driver's handbook. I also was required to take a 4-hour online test which I could have done in a lot less time, but it was intentionally timed to make sure you spent the full 4 hours.

The final day came for the actual driving test. I was using my mother's car which is an older model mini-van that is all computerized. Unfortunately the circuit boards sometimes work and sometimes don't - so sometimes the right front blinker works and sometimes it doesn't!

After going through all the paperwork with the DMV employee we headed out to the parking lot. First he did an inspection of the car and of course the stupid blinker wasn't working so he said, "I'm sorry I can't give you the test unless the car passes inspection." I pointed out that I could do the test using hand signals. He looked incredulous and asked if I knew them, so I put my left arm up "Right!" then put my arm straight out "Left!" and then put my arm down "Stop!" He laughed and said "OK!". We got in the car and off we went. The examiner made sure that I made a lot of right turns. We laughed at every turn.

After the test we went back into the building to complete the paperwork - I passed! The examiner said that it was the first time he had ever given an exam with someone doing hand signals because no one ever knows them. I told him "Hand signals are nothing. I've been living in a war zone. I can dodge bullets when I drive!"

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger! 

The slowest year ever...

This has been my slowest blogging year in all the years I've been blogging. It's isn't because I am losing interest or being lazy. This year has been difficult and depressing. Life in Libya has continued to be a challenge. The thought of writing blog post after blog post of the same news..... issues with electricity, gasoline, cooking gas, internet connectivity, the hunt for bread and medicines.... the general lack of basic services. It's all the same old negative Libyan news. Someone (who has been living away from Libya for over 40 years) recently complained to me that I haven't got anything positive to say or write about. Well, I'm sorry, there is very little if anything that is positive to say!

This summer it was time to go home - home meaning Florida to take a break from Libya and spend time with my family. Mom needs me now, she's 80 and suffering from numerous health issues. Next month she'll have eye surgery so that hopefully she will regain some of her vision and be able to see clearly again. She can barely walk, has had over 20 stents put in the arteries in her legs, diabetes, hypertension, stage 3 kidney disease, COPD, hearing loss and some dementia just to name of some of her maladies. She needs me now, so I'm staying to help out. 

Meanwhile, some of the kids are returning to Libya to finish up university and school. Although people complain about the education system in Libya, university graduates can still go on to do their post graduate studies elsewhere. If they stayed with me in Florida they would have to start all over from scratch... what a waste of time that would be. 

I feel kind of like a refugee.... externally displaced and separated from my husband, children and home in Libya. I'm making the most of it though. Apart from spending quality time with my mom I've been doing some professional development; working with a literacy program, tutoring immigrants and also working at the local college's admissions test center and doing some online courses. Hopefully I will learn something and bring my knowledge back to Libya to share.  I've also been doing a bit of travelling, visiting friends, museums, festivals, the beach... There's also my mom's garden to sort out when I have a few moments to spare.... and maybe I'll start blogging again... about the positive things happening. 

Below are some photos, click for a larger image.

The Rainbow River, near Dunnellon, Florida

A sign at the beach 5 minutes away from my mom's house. 

A glorious Florida sunset, Madeira Beach, Florida

Part of the extensive butterfly collection at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

In a pine forest in the middle of nowhere, Taylor County, Florida.

My mother watching the kids at Rainbow River. 

Some observations

Mom thought it was still May today and was surprised when I told her it was October.

The background soundtracks on TV programs and films make it impossible for my mother to hear the dialog. There is no way to fix that unfortunately. Consequently, the volume is turned up very loud most of the time and we shout a lot.

Mom's recently been diagnosed with macular degeneration, so on top of the rest of her health problems she's losing her sight. She can no longer read the newspaper and is having difficulty using her iPad.

Having non-stop electricity, Internet and phone service is so nice.

My mother's back yard is peaceful. I haven't heard any explosions or gunfire since I got here.

Long Overdue

It's time for a break from the Failed State, I'm heading towards the Sunshine State,
So tired of living with so much hate,
Tomorrow I'll be sitting at the flight gate.