Farm day out

My sister organised a day out for us all this weekend to a farm local to her, to coincide with her daughter’s birthday. This farm was quite big and had all the typical farm animals you would expect but also had several unusual ones too.

It was great to get up close to some of these animals; the sheep, goats and llamas were lively and eager for attention and the animal feed they could see in our hands. I’ve never seen a turkey before and I found the amazing plumage fascinating.

We were able to pet some of the more interesting animals in the farm, namely a snake, which was soft and warm, a Bearded Dragon which was spiky and my favourite, a Chinchilla, known as one of the softest animals in the world and I can see why with fur that’s as soft as a cloud.

The other animals I was excited to see were the flamingos, ones that were on my bucket list. As the day warmed up they cooled off in the pond becoming more active. The enclosure they were in also had other birds such as peacocks and Scarlett Ibises, which I thought was an interesting mix as they would normally never meet in the wild.

As well as animals to see there were play areas for the kids to enjoy, including a ball pit and mini golf. We also enjoyed a tractor ride around the farm and ice cream in the sun.The farm really reminded me of my visits to Pakistan as a child and playing with the animals my grandfather kept. It was a really fun day out that everyone enjoyed, and we left exhausted but happy.

Check The Label

Ramadan is fast approaching and in preparation many muslims buy dates that are traditionally used to open fasts at sunrise. A campaign which starts today and that I have been aware of and have supported for some time now, is one run by Friends of Al-Aqsa who remind us that when buying dates we should check the label to see where the dates come from, to ensure that we are not buying dates grown in illegal settlements such as West Bank or Jordan Valley. To do so would further oppress the Palestinian people who’s land has been stolen.

So those that are buying dates in the coming weeks please remember to #Checkthelabel.

Nelson Mandela “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”.

For more information see here

Bricks and Mortar

We’re currently having some work done to the house, extending the kitchen space to make it bigger and fitting in a new bathroom. I can’t wait for the results but it’ll be a couple of months yet before its all complete. Until then there’ll be lots of noise and dirt to contend with.

Bricks

We’ve had deliveries of lots of raw materials and as I keep an an eye on how things develop over summer I aim to capture lots of details and memories.

Sand

London Muslim Lifestyle Show 2016

This weekend my sister and I went to the London Muslim Lifestyle show in West London, which was an event bringing together different products and services that are available for Muslims. I wasn’t too sure what to expect but I was looking forward to finding out.

There was a wide variety of things on offer; from different kind of foods, to jewellery and books.

My favourite things were the beautiful pieces of Arabic art, the stunning bottles of attar/perfume and tasty food on offer. I learnt lots of new things and was genuinely impressed by all innovative ideas that were presented from new phone apps to products that filled gaps in the market.

It was tempting to buy everything I liked, which was too much, but I managed to hold back and stick mainly to window shopping and tasters, treating myself to a few lovely things.

As you can tell I got a bit carried away with my photos, but there was just so much to see. As well as stalls there were fashion shows, singers and workshops that you could attend. My sister and I also had a lot of fun having our photos taken in photo booths wearing silly props. I thought it was an interesting event and meeting a diverse range of smiley people people, both Muslim and non created a great atmosphere.