post 105/365
One of the most pleasurable cups of coffee I sip isn’t actually made from coffee beans at all; it’s a Lebanese ahwe bayda, a soothing tisane like hot beverage made from sweet-scented orange flower water.
The Treasure behind a Stitch
post 104/365
Soul searching for one’s identity and heritage comes in different ways. Clothing expresses aspects of identity in all societies. In Palestine before the middle of the twentieth century, women in each local region created garments with distinctive types of embroidery and decoration that immediately established the wearer’s origin. To those who knew the regional variations in style, patterns, and colors of embroidery, a quick look at a dress was enough to determine the wearer’s region and even village.
The Beauty of our History
post 103/365
Gebal, Byblos, Jbeil, three names for one place, encapsulating a historical unity, dating from the dawn of time and still evocative. This picturesque town raised above the sea that breaks onto its shores, with its temples shining with the first sunlight like guardians on its slight hill, narrates humbly the story of mankind.
For the Love of Bread
post 102/365
The relationship between humans and wheat, bread’s key ingredient, goes back thousands of years to hunter-gatherer times. Wheat is known to have grown on several continents in ancient times, though it thrived mostly in an area known as the Fertile Crescent, a region that includes parts of modern day Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine.
The Fertile Land
post 101/365
The fresh flowers blooming in the spring sway with the grass to the rhythm of the wind. All of this happens so fast, so quickly, no one notices. Here in the valley, lost in their labors, people work this fertile land, alike so open and welcoming, they are. The many vineyards of this valley are like a necklace that adorns her. The sun sits above her at daytime as the stars open up at nighttime. The motionless hills that surround her are like hips altered with age.
You Light up the Room
post 100/365
Greetings in the Arabic language are one of its treasures. The beautiful heartfelt words that one greets another human being in Arabic casts a certain air of fondness and kindliness that is not present in any other language. There is a saying, “you never have a second chance to make a very good first impression.” I believe that to be true when it comes to greetings; that moment when you catch someone’s eyes and you both smile, your body language and the way you greet one another, will set the mood and reveal your feelings about that person.
The Cliché
post 99/365
Nothing in this world compares to the feeling of gliding through a rocky mountain gliding under the skis, silently and feeling like you’re, for once, at peace. White snow covers the land with the coolness of winter’s kiss. The warmth of the sun never leaves this country as the cold settles in. Winter swims, hikes, and skiing with the scent of chill ting the air. The breeze circles, lost, caught in winter’s snare. Its bitter currents whispered through a miasma of cold waves. A world encased in this winters kiss swims in the sun’s dying rays. I, on the other hand, sit on the beach and enjoy this motley of fading blues entombed in the silence of space.
The First Printing Press
post 98/365
Among the valleys and hills of Quzhaya, lies The Monastery of Saint Anthony the Great (Mar Antonios al-Kabir). The pine trees and oak trees cover the great hills surrounding it. Fruit trees of all kind grow all along the valley, which extends into the Valley of Qannubin to form the great Qadisha Valley.
The Art of War
post 97/365
This is war paint, he puts it on everyday so we can remind ourselves of the atrocities of a distance past. They seam like distant dreams painted to heal open wounds. Although his paintings are just pictures of this collective memory of a bygone war era, yet they are worthy of a thousand words as real as life itself.
The Tower of Death
post 96/365
Scarred from the relentless passage of time pitted with bombshells and covered with grime forgotten by those who oft pass it by, it rarely is gazed upon by anyone’s eye. Haunted by memories, littered with broken dreams, this old building crumbling down under the weight of its own conscious, stands there as a reminder of dark times passed.
365 Days of Lebanon 