Nature is painting for us,Pictures of infinite beauty
to see them....
John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)
I never cease to marvell at all the wonders
God has given us to
behold
Take Time to READ...
Welcome To My Serenity World
And Joy to fill each Heart
A fragrant bower Every Hour
And Love that never Parts
This is me (1996)
This is me (2006)
"A butterfly is to the
daylight
what a star is to the night
They fill our skies
with much beauty
each a wonder of God's
delight"
....Island Princess
Have you ever watched a butterfly...
the
erratic flight it takes?
Many unseen paths it flutters,
to
arrive at just one place.
Country Feeling
at Serenity World
My farm is
located on a 1100 m (3,330
ft) high
mountain
overlooking
The Jordan River Valley
and The Occupied West
Bank.
The yellow lights are Israeli Settlements
The Dead Sea, south of the Jordan Valley, is 400 m (1320 ft) below sea level. The level of the Dead Sea is sinking at the rate of nearly a yard a year and could disappear in a few decades, damaging tourism and indirectly draining scarce water supplies in the region. The Dead Sea has been shrinking for decades because much of the water from the Jordan River, which ends in the Dead Sea, has been diverted by the Israelis for use in their region.
It is really beautiful
Don't miss it
'In the last 50 years, since the great diversions upstream to irrigate a growing economy, the river flow that fed the lake has decreased to 8 percent of its former pour. The Dead Sea is dropping about a yard a year, and its surface area is just a third of what it once was. The Global Nature Fund has declared the Dead Sea "Threatened Lake of the Year" for 2006.'
Looking from the Farm I can see Jerusalem and my occupied home town Nablus (photos) , an ancient Canaanite town. It has remains dating from c.2000 BC. The Samaritans made it their capital and built a temple on nearby Mount Gerizim to rival that of Jerusalem. Nablus still has a small community of Samaritans. They live peacefully with the Palestinian Arabs. The city was destroyed (129 BC) by John Hyrcanus I. Under Hadrian it was rebuilt and named Flavia Neapolis, from which the present name derives. Nearby are the reputed sites of the tomb of Joseph and the well of Jacob.
"The Samaritan side of the story is that there was a gradual separation of the northern tribes of Israel from the tribes in the south. After the division, the people from the north were called Samaritans because the name of their region was Samaria. The people from the south were called Jews because their origin was from Judah. After the split, a rivalry ensued between the north and the south."
Jacob's Well (click here)
is where Jesus met the Samaritan woman
who offered Him a drink of water.
Jacob dug the well for himself,
his children, and his flock on a plot of land
he bought upon his return from Mesopotamia.
After Jacob came from Paddan Aram he arrived safely
at the city of Shechem (Nablus) in Canaan and camped within sight of the city.
For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor,
the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent.
The Crusaders restored it over the well.
Today, it stands within the walled
complex of the Greek Orthodox Monastery.
I was born on November 27, 1922, in Nablus, during the British Mandate over Palestine. I had four brothers and four sisters. During my childhood, as far as I remember, Nablus had no electricity, no water network, no sewage system, no telephones, no radio, scarce automobiles and no TV.
At home we used kerosene (naphtha) for lamps and for cooking, there was no gas. People used to go to public baths in Nablus. My parents were pious and very contented. My father served in the Turkish (Ottoman) Army and retired as a Captain, end of WWI.
My Late elder brother, Radi, joined the Military Academy in Istanbul, Turkey. In 1916, during the war (WWI), he was attached to the Turkish Army in Ma'an, south of Jordan. In 1918, after the 2nd Ottoman legion retreated from south of Amman and Damascus, Radi joined Prince Faysal Bin Hussein's Arab Legion in Damascus. Later, in 1920, after Syria fell to the French he joined Prince Abdulla I (great grandfather of present King Abdulla II of Jordan) Arab Legion in Jordan. On March 16, 1956 he was appointed Chief of General Staff of the Jordan Armed Forces, after Late King Hussein dismissed general John Bagot Glubb and the other British officers from the army.
My other Late brother, Haidar, qualified as a medical doctor in Italy, and had to stay there during WWII period. He came back home with his Italian wife and daughter, after the war was over.
My Late younger brother, Mazhar, was a Civil Servant in Jordan and later he was appointed the Governor of Bethlehem until 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
My other younger brother, Miqdad, went to the U.S. in 1956, and graduated from the State University of Arizona in Tempe, U.S.A. in 1960. He's now executive director of Zara Group in Amman.
I had my elementary and secondary school education in Nablus.
In 1941/42 I joined the International College(IC) in Beirut, Lebanon, a high school related to the American University of Beirut (A.U.B.), and on the same campus. My father's income was modest, a pension he earned after retirement. My university fees was a big chalenge to my parents, but they were determined to give me university education, and specially in an expensive education institution (A.U.B.) as compared to the other institutions in the Middle East. A year later I joined the Freshman class at the A.U.B. In 1948 I graduated from the School of Pharmacy and was awarded the Pharmaceutical Chemist degree. During my pharmacy years at the A.U.B. I spent the last two Summer holidays rotating in the University Hospital Laboratories learning laboratory techniques, and I was given a certificate in Laboratory Technology. A couple of months before graduation the Zionists snatched out what is now called Israel from Palestine. I lost contact with my family because of the war and in June 1948, just after graduation, having spent all my pocket money, I had to borrow enough money to buy a train ticket to Aleppo in Syria, where I was offered a job in Altounyan Hospital.
The hospital had no laboratory when I joined. Dr Ernest Altounyan, the director, asked me to establish a laboratory for the hospital. I started from the scratch and placed the order for the laboratory equipment. After the equipment arrived the hard work started, and in a record time the laboratory was ready to run microscopic tests, parasitology, haematology tests, biochemistry and bacteriological tests. In 1949 I got married and started a family.
In 1952 I quit my job at Altounyan Hospital and went with my family to Amman, Jordan, where I joined the Jordan Army Medical Services. After finishing my brief military training I was attached to the army Main Hospital in Amman. My rank was a first lieutenant when I joined. Again, that hospital had no laboratory, and I worked very hard establishing a laboratory for the hospital. I also had to train laboratory technicians. In a few months the laboratory was ready to perform the various tests.
In 1955 the army arranged for me to have a post-graduate course in bacteriology, virology and mycology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, England, where I gained a Post Graduate Diploma in Bacteriology. I still vividly remember my parents' warm look as they wished me farewell. It was a sad moment, as I never saw my father again. He passed away during my postgraduate course in London.
In 1957 I came back to Amman, and in 1962 I resigned from the army. My rank was a major when I resigned. That same year I established my private medical laboratory and run it until now.
I am a Sagittarius.
Classical music is my favorite and my hobbies are woodworking, surfing the Internet, photography, astronomy, fishing, gardening, traveling and watching nature and birds. When I am at the farm I am surrounded by peaceful, tranquil and friendly nature with singing birds and the sound of a waterfall. An ideal place for watching the sunset and meditation.
"The
most
magnificent
silence
ever
heard,
Winter
time
...
past
midnight,
A
lonely,
deserted,
distant
hill,
Whitest
landscape
...
purest
moonlight"
I am married and have three boys and one girl. They are all married and I am proud to have 13 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Hassan, my eldest son, is MD specialized in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at San Antonio, Texas - U.S.A., and has his private Medical Laboratory in Amman. He's also the director of the pathology department at The Jordan Hospital in Amman.
Sameer is a pharmacist (Baghdad University) and now in Abu Dhabi.
Omar is a civil engineer (Leeds England) working in Abu Dhabi.
The last, but not the least, is my beloved daughter Ghada, B.A. Social Sciences (University of Jordan). She is married and has three children and a grandson.
Looking from the windows or patio of the farm house is as if you are in an art gallery. On clear nights, from my roll off roof "Mirabella" observatory, which was recently built, I watch the planets, the stars, the moon craters and galaxies through my 12" LX200GPS Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.
I have a number of olive trees in my farm. In the Mediterranean, individual olive trees, with a possible lifespan of up to 2,000 years, have seen not only generations, but entire kingdoms, come and go on the earth's surface.
It is so sad to see Israeli bulldozers raze acres and acres of orchards (more than one million trees) of very old and Noble olive trees
(click for photos) that belonged to the Palestinians, for security purposes as they claim.
The first record of commercial olive cultivation dates back over 5,000 years to the region of Syria. In the five millenniums from that day, archaeologists have been able to track the spread of the noble olive across the entire Mediterranean basin and beyond.
The harvest is between November and December. The olives are hand plucked, which needs too much labor, packed in bags and when ready I take it in my pickup to the press to have the oil extracted.
The process goes like this: the most modern factories use continuous flow oil extraction machines. These machines allow for a single person to add the olives at one end where they are then washed and crushed into a paste. The paste is then mixed to start the separation of the oil. It then goes through a centrifuge which separates the oil and water from the paste, and finally into a separator, which divides the oil from the water. The oil then comes from the machine and is filled in 20 liter cans.
Recent studies show that olives and olive oil help to lower levels of bad cholesterol (LDL)and reduce the risk of heart attacks and certain cancers. The Mediterranean diet which includes plenty of olives and olive oil has long been known as one of the healthiest.
Olive oil is rich in mono-unsaturated fats and contains no cholesterol. Many nutritionists and medical groups are now recommending olive oil as the healthy substitute for other fats in the diet. Olive oil is the only oil which is actually a fruit juice ... in its purest form, the oil is simply 'squeezed' from the fruit, filtered and bottled ... with no contamination by any chemical processes.
I planted at the Farm a very beautiful tree, which I brought over with me from New Zealand, called NZ Christmas Tree, Pohutukawa (Metrocideros excelsa), and I am doing my best to make it acclimatize. It kept gowing nicely until we had a bad frost when it unfortunately died away. I felt very sad.
Its exquisite crimson flowers in blooming time cover the tree.
The following is a letter which I sent to the editor of the A.U.B. Alumni magazine "Main Gate" and his response:
I was very interested to read, in the spring issue, the article �Is AUB Green?�
The AUB campus has always been one of the rare green spots in Beirut, and I have always been nostalgic for my Alma Mater. I recently lived in New Zealand for one year�it�s one of the most beautiful countries in the world. In 2000, I brought back two little Christmas trees to Jordan from New Zealand, which I planted on my farm. The natives of New Zealand call it Pohutukawa tree. The two trees lived beautifully for a couple of years, but unfortunately died after a bad frost. May I suggest that this beautiful and noble tree be planted on the campus. I am sure it will flourish there, as the AUB campus is by the seaside, and in Auckland this evergreen tree with dark red flowers flourishes by the Pacific Ocean. It would be a great addition to the campus flora.
Zuhair
Annab
(Pharmacy
�48)
Amman,
Jordan
A colleague in the Landscape Design and Eco-Management Program at AUB told us that she is collaborating with the landscape faculty at Lincoln University in New Zealand, where the Cedrus libani is thriving on their campus. They�re looking into introducing the Pohutukawa tree on the AUB campus. -Ed.
I call it:
Top
Of
The
World
"Serenity
World"
to wonder...to anticipate...to fill my soul...
to drink of the beauty...to get caught up in
Mother Nature
and to
Harmony and Grace
with Love for Mother Earth
and the entire Human Race
A sad story in my life:
On May 27, 1975 I received a telegram from my brother Mazhar in Nablus, through the Red Cross, telling that my mother was on her deathbed and the Israeli visit permit will be collected at the checkpoint. I immediately took a taxi and on arriving at the Israeli checkpoint an Israeli policeman took me to a row of cubicles where I was asked to go in and undress. I asked what for and was replied in a harsh tone "for searching you". I took off my clothes and waited for the search. The policeman opened the door and asked me to strip completely. (Click and watch the video of strip search in Israel) I was very furious but didn't argue with him because I was in a hurry to get to my mother before she passes away. He took my clothes and shoes and checked them, brought them back and asked me to dress up and go to the customs officer. I had very few things in my handbag and a bottle of medication for my heart. The customs officer took my handbag, poured out the contents over the table, took the medicine bottle and threw out the pills in the wastebasket leaving me with two pills only. Again no complaint because I wanted to get on my way. Then I was asked to go to the security room to be interrogated. There, two young guys interrogated me. One of them asked me to tell them the story of my life starting with my elementary school until the present moment. This and the many questions asked took more than 30 minutes. I told the security people: "you are keeping me so long, I am in a big hurry because my mother is terminal". They said sorry, these are the rules.
After all the callousness, cruelty and humiliation I left for Nablus and on arriving the hospital I found out my mother had passed away ten minutes earlier. I was denied the chance to be with her during the last moments of her life. I was boiling with anger and sadness.
This personal story is to show the cruelty, atrocities and humiliation the Palestinians have been getting from the Israelis for the past 40 years. Is Israel as civilized country as they claim? I wonder!
I will thank the Almighty for the best day of my life.
And I will sleep the sleep of a contended child,
excited with expectation because I know
tomorrow is going to be....The Best Day Of My Life!
~Author Unknown~
And I take that final breath;
I want to know I've left behind,
Some "good" before my death.
No one can take away from me
My identity,
For it is mine.
Palestinian am I.
I am the river that flows
Through my land.
I am the mountain
Noble and magnificent
Rising up out of chaos and destruction.
I greet the morning sun
That shines down on my fertile valleys
And parches my barren desert.
I am the red poppy and yellow daffodil
That grow upon my bloodstained hills.
I am the battle cry of freedom
That echoes through my corridors
And every fiber of my being.
Palestinian am I.
I am the proud owner of
Orange orchards and lemon blossoms
And honey bees, wild and free.
I am the David child wielding a single stone
Against the Israeli Goliath.
I am not afraid,
For truth is with me and God is on my side.
If I die,
A choir of angels will honor me
And later, my parents will grasp my outstretched hand
And join me in Heaven.
I am the tears of
Mothers weeping for their dead sons.
I am the footsteps of ancient prophets
Who foretold of doom and destruction
To those who torture and oppress me.
My brethren are the doves, hummingbirds and seagulls
That fly unhindered above my sea.
I am Palestinian,
Therefore, I am.
No one can take my identity
Away from me,
Not tanks or guns or bombs
Meant to desecrate me and kill me.
My country lives in me.
I am the cry of liberty
No matter what they take from me,
They can't take away my identity
Or my dignity.
Palestinian am I.
By: Edna Yaghi
|
There is no greater sorrow on earth than the loss of one's native land"
"For those who have tried to find the "road to peace" in the Middle East, it has been a trecherous journey, inevitably ending in bitter disappointment"
There is serious trouble and conflict in this world today
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visiting
my
web
site.
Please
call
again
soon
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forget
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