Winter reads

 

Late autumn and winter: a time to return inside, to gather at home, to cuddle and to snuggle.

I love this time of the year, when the skies are ice-blue, the air crispy cold and when home becomes a real castle against the harshness of the season, subhanallah.

For me this is always the time to get out special books for read-aloud in front of the chimney, it is the time for hot drinks, dimmed light and candles. And it is also the time for redecorating spaces and making everything a bit more cosy and comfortable.

While reading our favourite books, I love indulging in childhood memories and to wander into my special girly land of dreams. I love to share these stories with my children and to wave such beautiful tales about our own life.

Our most beloved winter reads are mainly old classics that have snowy themes, like many of Swedish author’s Astrid Lindgren books, such as “Guck mal Madita, es schneit”, the books from Elsa Beskow, from Lena Anderson and other stories with magical drawings about heal worlds full of harmony.

In the early mornings, before working on my laptop an when having the precious chance to have some me-time, I always and still love learning more about child-education but also about how to heal with the herbs we’ve recently collected and about gardening in general. I enjoy dreaming about what to plant in spring and how to develop our farming skills, inchaallah.

My actual favourite books are:

Wolf-Dieter Storl “Der Kosmos im Garten” and “Kräuterkunde”
Rebeca Wild „Genügend gute Eltern“
Christian Signol „Marie des Brébis“ (wonderful biography of a simple shepherdess),
Lena Anderson/Christina Björk „Linnéas Jahrbuch“

What are your preferred winter-reads?

 

wintry

  

we’re going right into winter, early this year:
with first snow, a deep deep cold, cut-off electricity, frozen pipes and all the harshness of the cold season.

But thanks God for hot water, fire in the chimney, warm clothes and some sweets with tea – the simple blessings of a cosy wintry home, alhamdulillah.

wishing you warmth and the bliss of finding comfort in the everyday! love.

blissful treat

 

 

We went for holidays to northern Italy where we spent beautiful days in miraculous surroundings with my parents. A wonderful gift they offered us. A real treat being pampered in their love and care. Autumn on a lake near the Swiss Alps. Bliss after such a long time away from them. Alhamdulillah!
Now we’re back. Full of nice memories, filled with good food and ready to resume daily life with all its gifts and challenges.

 

Liebe Mama und Papa, Oma und Opa: Wir danken euch und behalten die Erinnerungen an die schönen Tage in unseren Herzen! Bis zum nächsten Wiedersehen, inchaallah.

Preparing for ‘Id el Adha 2012

Blessed day of Arafa to all Muslims and may Allah accept the hajj of all the pilgrims in Makkah.
Salam aleikoum and peace with the worlds!

 

 

in motion

 
pictures from and with our little friend Amine.

everything is in motion here, just our internet connection is so slow these days, mahsallah, that I cannot really write or answer any mails… my apologies to all of you who wait for a response.
and happy blessed days of dhul-hijja!

 

greetings from the heavens

 

having a lot to do, alhamdulillah, not much time to be on this space here,
but thinking of you out there and sending you greetings of peace and a lovely gift from the heavens…
xxx

ingredients for happiness

 
 
 

What do one need to be happy?

Not much, I believe, subhanallah.

Sometimes it is as simple as:
a short break and blue sky,
a sweet berry picked, some pebbles thrown,
a lovely word, a good book, a cup of tea,
children’s laughter, naked feet in the grass,
enjoying the first goods of harvesting …
and plum cake. Bliss!
Autumn, we love you, Alhamdulillah!

 

 

First Snow and some Books

  

We had rain and snow the whole week, and sometimes no electricity. Grey days, lots of clouds and a harsh cold are coming into that valley. Subhanallah. It seems as if a hard winter begins early this year.

I love this time of the year, I love these rare grey days when it is wet outside but cosy inside. It makes me feel very very thankful for having a warm place called home, alhamdulillah.
And I love the moment when we heat on the first fire in the morning.
Then I know it is time to put on two or more layers of woollens, I know it’s time to finish some old knitting and this is also my favourite time to grab a good book and a warm cup of tea in the early mornings and to make myself comfortable in front of the chimney.

Normally I read a lot of non-fiction books about pedagogy, religion and green living and it has been a long time since I last read light fiction, but these days I am really into an old favourite of my youth: dreaming, remembering, and enjoying Lucy Maud Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables”.
And over the last days I was also really fascinated by reading two very interesting biographies:  

About the green soul of Wolf-Dieter Storl: “Ich bin ein Teil des Waldes“ and
about the deaf actress Emmanuelle Laborit: „The Cry of the Gull“ („Der Schrei der Möwe“). Both are absolutely inspiring books. 

Thanks God fort he gift of reading!  

 

What is on your bookshelf these early winter days? What are your actual favourite books?
Wishing you a blessed Friday and a warm cosy weekend, friends!

  

 

Towards Winter

 

Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.
                                       ~ Chief Seattle, 1854 ~ 

  
the typical Berber woman’s work when late autumn leads towards winter 

Remembering ‘Id el Adha 2011

 
 

It was nine years ago when I spent my first ‘Id in that valley here, the first ‘Id of my life. Subhanallah.
At that time I was Christian, I was a architecture student on professional formation. I was discovering Moroccan life and culture. I was a common western girl, open to everything new, with the ambitions of a seeker. And I was a vegetarian.

And you know, ‘Id el Adha is the feast of the sheep.
It is a celebration of God’s mercy upon mankind. It happens in memory of Prophet Abraham (as), who was called by Allah to sacrifice his dear son Ismail to prove his faith. And because of Allah’s mercy, Who then offered Abraham a sheep to kill instead, Muslims remember this day every year by praying, obeying to God and by slaughtering a sheep as well.
So it is one of the most important feast days for Muslims, it is a day of gathering together in worship and peace, it is celebrated with the slaughter of a sheep and by sharing and eating a lot of its meat – I mean really a LOT.

So in 2002, when I still was a Christian vegetarian with no idea about ‘Id, about peaceful animal killing and no interest in meat eating, all of this was very new and very uncommon to me.
But I was eager to learn. And this day should become a lesson of my life:
The obedience and deep faith of the Muslims who joined together in the early morning sunshine on the top of a hill, to pray and to serve God.
The brotherhood of the village’s men who met in front of the mosque to peacefully deal with problems and to organize the village’s year to come.
And especially the slaughtering of the sheep in the courtyard of the family’s farm was a lesson greater than everything else.
I’ve never thought that killing an animal could become a beautiful, silent act of worship, but indeed it was:  
The peacefulness of the whole atmosphere.
The quiet obedience of the sheep to offer himself in the name of God, the Almighty.
The soft “Allahu akbar” said before the very sharp knife cuts through the windpipe to take immediately every life out of the animal.
The silent running of the red warm blood out of the sheep.

The meditative proficiency of my father in law who knows every slaughtering step by heart, mashaallah, and who cut the whole body with impressive knowledge.
The cleanliness of the meat and how every part of that animal offered itself as if it would like to say: “take me and enjoy me in the name of our God”.
The cat that impatiently waited to leak what was left.
- I was totally taken by the beauty of the whole scene in every detail, subhanallah, and I knew that I have to taste this meat.
This was the day when I slowly left my vegetarian life and more and more understood about faith, devotion and a deeper meaning and connection of all things.
It was the mark of the beginning of my journey to Islam and to this valley. Allahu akbar!

The ‘Id day, with all the praying, with the slaughtering and the being together at the family’s house, became a tradition to me and my little family. Alhamdulillah.
And it is the ‘Id of 2002 which I remember every year from new, with thankfulness, wonder and awe.
Labbaik Allahumma labbaik.