Turning Points

I was reading an article in the National Geographic featured in August 2009 edition, titled: "Vanishing Venice". As the title sounds, Venice is under the threat of being submerged with water,its population declined from 120,00 to 60,000 in 5 years only ,even its places are changing into a more business materialistic type away from its original romantic atmosphere. ..

Here is the link if any is interested to read it :
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/08/venice/newman-text/1


But the whole point of this note was a particular paragraph that caught my eye most that opens a different kind of interpretation- simple yet powerful word:

" Romance triumphs; reality intrudes.


Kisses end. Dreams vanish, and sometimes cities too. We long for the perfect ending, but the curtain falls along with our hearts.


Beauty is so difficult."

A Burnt Tongue

The tongue..the most simple organ yet the most influential organ in food tasting! It has has about 10,000 taste buds!!! Can you imagine its senstivity to the different flavors??

For me, as ridiculous as the idea might seem, but i love my tongue! It gives me a special feeling of comfort when i am eating .Why? Because its like the warning sign for any undesirable food..No i wont consider my tongue as the " control" agent but rather as the signal light!
It makes me be a connoisseur of food..& i like this when tasting food : to distinguish the ingredients used and to evaluate them!!

But then why is the title " burnt tongue", well obviously , i burnt my tongue with the hot coffee.
Unfortunately, i have a bad habit of eating and drinking everything at 100*C !
But i hated the feeling that i have a burnt tongue..I couldnt taste anything and worse my food and water tasted badly tooo..i dunno y? heheh

Anyways, i thought at that moment that my heart is burnt too because of many things..& i am tasting life so differently.. I am feeling numb to things that are around me just like i was tasting food numbly!!

To be continued...........

& We come from Soil ...

Soil, dirt, land..whatever name you might call it..it's a reality that we all come from it..& we shall return to it eventually.
As real as this might seem, I have always considered it as a filthy material, disgusting to touch and hold..
But that's because i have never touched it . & well as i always say, If you never try , you will never know!!
So, once you hold it between your hands , it gives you a cushy feeling! You can feel its indulgence...You can feel its purity...exactly like the white snow that fell from the skies..

But what gives a better feeling is giving life to this arid soil.. I had the opportunity last week to volunteer in a campaign for trees planting in Lebanon. The Campaign is IBSAR and they intend to plant 50,000 trees till year 2010.

Indeed, it was one of the best days of my lives..I felt so powerful that day when i planted 16 small tree shrubs out of 650 in Mayfadoun district.Why powerful? because as i said before, i was giving life to an arid land..I felt the land needed me and i was able to help her..I felt it was thankful ..I felt its warmth as i was digging the soil....I digged it with my bare hands to enjoy it even more :)

At that moment, i realized why farmers stay all day in their fields, why do they stay attached to their land ..& why they wont give it up..no matter what !

I am just happy because i had a memory with a land.....a land that after few years will become a forest ..and i would have engraved my name in its soils...

The Rain is Jealous!!!

It was new years Eve In Broumana, a Lebanese Village in Lebanon. We were coming up from Beirut and the snow storm started..I walked out of the car and i was besieged with snow falling. I never felt something so light , yet so overwhelming!


Pure, untainted,Pristine, white..falling from the skies. I thought at that moment that the rain would be so jealous from it...Who wouldn't be? from such perfection?

I held my hands to the skies in an attempt to collect as much as i can... Mirielle saw me and exclaimed: "Loulwa, we will wake up tomorrow morning and make a snow man.."

Ok i mumbled.i wasn't quite satisifed..why should i wait for tomorrow morning. Who can gurantee that the sun would melt them, steal them away ..as part of a conspiracy plan to help the grudged rain?

But i had to go back because it was 15 minutes away from midnight..Yes it's going to be year 2009.

Frankly,i didnt want 2008 to end..It was my best year ever.So many things happened, i had the best semester in AUB and the best summer..the best birthday..met the best people..

I felt 2008 made me more mature ..It ripened in many feelings and way of thinking !


How can i let 2008 pass @ 12:00 am?? I felt frustrated about the idea that i cant change an inevitable thing.


But as this snow brought me smiles and surprises as if to sooth my pain and assure to me that 2009 will be as good as 2008..I soon realized that we should put high expectations on the Skies above but rarely on the people around!



Maybe this white fluffy powder will be in my recipe for the year 2009…