In the name of Allah, the most gracious,
the most merciful.
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22 December 2014.
Subhanallah, there is none like unto Him.
Yesterday I woke up to a cat
purring against my cheek, ticklish but completely understandable. Wolverine seems to be
insomniac now that Leo is not here, he was stomping his feet to be outdoors. It
was just Subuh and sometimes I give him some milk but breakfast a bit later.
Everyone woke up; lessons were rehearsed; watering of the garden at five. This
is also the time my son does his archery practice while the world around us is
in slumber. Soon it was time for a consultation at the SPCA doctor to hear what
they decided. We all miss Leo and we are impatient to get him back..jpg) |
| Leo I am tired of waiting |
I was so close to despairing when the
doctor at the SPCA told us that the orthopedic vet will only be able to operate
on our Leo at the end of January and we should consider having an amputation of
his limb. What? No way, but what to do, a private vet is unaffordable. My
daughter was just quiet. We reminded each other to beseech Allah’s help.
In the meantime my friend Safiyyah was
visiting and we swopped some Darun Naim lectures for Hamza Yusuf. While we talked plants my mind would stray all
the time to what to do about Leo, imagining him limping along. After Safiyyah’s
boot was packed with plants and fruit trees I went to lie down a bit because
after Asr we needed to attend the Tamat of our nephew. So I was listening to
Hamza Yusuf, hoping for some inspiration. By chance he was talking about
despair and being perturbed and examples of the Prophet Mohamed SAW who never
became perturbed, even in a battle and never despairing of Allah’s mercy. If we
stay true to Allah and keep strong our belief we will not become perturbed or
despair. I needed to hear that. He spoke about allowing our buttons to be
pushed. We get disquieted when we
undergo difficulty because we do not understand what the wisdom of the
difficulty is from Allah SWT.
He also spoke about - if you believe in God
you will live in a world of God.And if you don’t believe that Allah is with you
then Allah will not be with you. So do not despair in the mercy of Allah. And I
smiled and thought I needed to be action driven and to call our good friend Mac
Mohamed (kitty whisperer) who brought the children their first kitties, how to
bath them, get their shots - he would know what to do. So we went to the Tamat of
Uthmaan Shabodien in Kensington - mabruk, how honoured were we to be at this
gathering where teenagers had completed their studies of the memorization of
the Qur’an. And then off we went to the kitty
whisperer for help. Today Abu and my daughter are consulting with the SPCA
and hoping for an appointment with the Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals
(PDSA).
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In the meantime I busy myself with trimming
the old leaves of the spinach and harvesting coriander seeds. I take a walk to
get a glimpse of the butternut, but they are not ripe for the picking. I take a peep into the box where the carrots and beetroot used to live and the brinjals and basil that I planted there are lush and huge. Its because they are protected by the wind of course. You won’t
believe how calming it can be. And then my son and I take a brisk walk – we pop
in to buy brown bread, smoked mussels, tuna and crackers. Today we will eat
lovely light meals with lots of salads and fruit. I cannot believe that there are no plain
sardines on the shelves. It’s either smothered in peri peri or tomato or
something or the other. I am still unable to find phyllo pastry – I have to
make the baklava. If I don’t do it soon I fear all the cashew nuts will be
pilfered away. I am so chaffed that I got at least a carrier bag full of green
figs from my friend. I will grate off smallish patches of skin at the bottom
and cut criss cross at the base and soak it overnight in salt water. Tomorrow
seems a good day to make fig konfyt.
Alhamdulilah, the SPCA cared beautifully
for our Leo and gave us a referral letter for the PDSA who agreed to do the
operation tomorrow morning inshaAllah. Shukran Maghdi! Duahs please. So Leo is at home for the night, he has to
stay in the basket for fear of worsening the humeral fracture. They will put
pins into the upper arm inshaAllah. When
they came home we put Wolverine out of the room for fear of his boisterousness
while we placed paper and tray in the basket. When I kept the saucer for Leo to drink he
licked my hands and I don’t know who was more pleased to see the other, Leo or
me. We fed them both and Wolverine sits loyally at the foot of the basket. He
could not understand the hissing of the Leo when he came close the first time.
And then they were familiar with each other’s scent and started purring. It’s
going to a long summer’s night. I must not give in to the temptation to take
him out of the basket to stroke him.
Plant food and allow your coriander plants to seed.
Love and peace
Yasmine
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| new butternut |
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