my lovely vase

this vase was a bottle of salad sour

Summer holiday

The holiday, who don’t like holiday? I wait the holiday & made a lot of plans for it , when the holiday comes I do handmade work , I do cold ceramic , macramé ( spin ropes to make chandeliers , vases , bags , partitions , curtains , & others ) , & I like to spin the beads & make wristlets , rings , necklaces & keys medals & some times I give them to my relatives or friends.
I also made desktop handmade decorations using soap, beads, pins, pannose strips, & pearls. They look lovely & smell good.
I like to read a lot I have books was for my mother.
I listen to music when I do these hobbies.
Youth & children in my country don’t have anything to do in holidays, so they spend the day watching television, playing video games or sleeping. Because we don’t have swimming pools or any recreational places, we also don’t have good children cities, there is a small children city in Dhook in the north of Iraq, that is the only good one in the country but we can’t go there because of the absents of safety.
Computers entered our houses recently, and it’s still rare. Many many families can’t afford it to their children, and so internet is not available to most of intermediary class.
Enjoy your holidays.
Sunshine …

Gedar center..

My favorite shopping center in Baghdad called (Gedar center).

Weddings

In this summer holiday we were invited to many wedding parties, I went to three different parties two of them were in Baghdad. The first one was for my parents’ cousin; the party was at home many relatives couldn’t come to the party even the very close relatives, because of the absence of safety.
The second one was at home too. It was for my grandparent’s neighbors they are Shiites, I was so excited to see their ceremonials, as this was the first time I attend that kind of weddings. The bride put on a white robe, & put some cardamoms among her toes and fingers, & she put her feet in a pot filled with water & some of ace leaves. They also put in a tray 7 white stuffs like sugar & flour etc , & in an other tray some zestful used for food like saffron & cinnamon etc , they believe that those things will bring her a happy life filled with weal . The bride sat behind a partition & the bridegroom & religious man in the other side of the partition .the religious man said a sentence , the bride& her groom said it after him they repeated that 12 times! Two women who are happy in their marriage were chosen, the first woman spread out sugar on the bride’s head (that was on my grandmother), and the other woman held a candle & stand near the bride (to fill her life with brightness). Although we don’t believe in these beliefs but we had fun & shared them their happiness, especially my grandmother when she kept spreading the sugar over the bride head to sweeten her life too!

The weddings ceremonials are different, among doctrines religious. In Sunnite’s weddings the bride & the bridegroom go to the court to get married &then the party begin , or the party could be in the other day, it is similar to the Christians wedding. The third party was in mosul ,the ceremonials were very nice like the entrance of bride & the groom among the smoke , the cake cut ceremonial , the dowering jewelries ( these jewelries are given to the bride from her husband , his family , also from her family & friends ) .
Anyway, we had fun in all these weddings, no matter what the ceremonials were.
be happy all ...
sunshine

at home again

Hello friends it is very nice to write for you again.
I arrived Mosul on Sunday 12/6/2005 we left Baghdad at 5:30 early in the morning & arrived Mosul at 12 noon, one & a half hour delay not a big problem! , the delay was in Baghdad’s portal because there was a checkpoint, & in Mosul because there was a bomb explosion.
I was very sad to leave Baghdad, my grandparents & friends. In this visit I missed my aunt RoseBaghdad very very much because we used to visit her & she used to visit us & have fun together , This is the first time we go to Baghdad & my aunt RoseBaghdad is not there , I hope that these great days will be back again &we do what we used to do again.

When I saw Baghdad at the first time after delivering, I was completely shocked, the places I used to go to was damaged or destructed, and it wasn’t the same Baghdad. But Still the situation in Baghdad three years ago was better than now,
In the past we some times stay out side the house until 2 in the morning in casino, but now we can’t stay out side the house after 10 and we only go out when its too necessary.
I believe that Baghdad & all Iraq cities will live in peace & get better one day & I hope that day will be soon...
Stay safe…
Sunshine

Sad Sunshine

Hello friends. Tomorrow I will go back to Mosul; I wanted to write a post to you. But my father called from his work & said that an attack occurred against police station caused damage to the telephone lines & the electricity, I don’t expect to be repaired before a long time, I feel sad because I was anxious to post again, I can’t work on internet with out phone connections or electricity, wish me a safe trip & quick repair to telephone lines.
Don’t forget me
Sad sunshine ...