A Songslide Artist

I am in Minneapolis, and getting used to the cold climate.
I spent the bulk of my day yesterday exploring the Mall of America--that gigantic shopping mall built to make you spend all your precious dollars. Its a place of entertainment, amusement, and off course the ideal land for a shopping spree, but also a nice place to sit, enjoy Chinese food and watch people go about their business of shopping and taking rides.

Ah!!! There goes a woman with three full sacks, she must have spent a fortune at Bloomingdales or she is a great bargain spotter.

Hey! Leave that child alone, he just wants some ice cream with his cinnamon roll...Daddy does not buy it.

That grin on the face of a seven year old boy in a water sled reminds me of how sweet life is, full of simple pleasures and fun.

To prevent my bank account from slipping down to zero, I went into Barnes and Noble, got me some multi-grain bagel with cream cheese and a cup of Godiva hot chocolate to stimulate my brain cells into reading an ancient book on Gnosticism. Having gone through many Thou's, Hither's, and Sayeth's it was time for some light reading. My choice! Happiness for No Reason-- well, can't tell you much about it because I am not done reading, but its a good read for all you Positive Psychology buffs.

Now I am sitting here thinking: What will it be like to have a gigantic mall in my backyard?

On another note, I spent the whole day today loading music into my newly acquired laptop. Being in a Music mode, I decided to upload some of my songs on SongSlide


Now you can decide on how much to pay for a song and help slide up my bank account, that way I can make more music and don't go exploring Mall of America- Hahahahaha.

Wilbraham-- A place of memories

I woke up this morning feeling really good. So I did the next best thing, complete a writing project, and then thought about blogging about my visit to Wilbraham. As godsent as it was, I happen to peruse the blogs of Jafred and Christina. Since I do not want to bore you, click on the title above : Wilbraham-- A place of memories and read Or go to:
http://mato-heaphy.blogspot.com/

Note: It was a fantastic time.

Indeed A Blessing

Fazal and I---I am practicing Fatherhood skills-- Yeeeeehhhhh.

Sitting at the Rutgers Student Centre surfing the net, I see eager-face students focus on computer screens preparing hard for upcoming exams. I think its time to write about the travels of the past days.

Wilbraham-MA at the home of Christina and Jafred Mato, whose son Fazal was a bundle of Joy, a source of musical inspiration and my opportunity to practice chanting some African Lullabies to a baby's ear, was my command centre-- in other words the place of launch.
From the comforts of their home, our morning devotionals after very early breakfasts (It is Fasting time for Baha’is), and joyous reminiscing of the Glorious Days at the Holy Land (Haifa-Israel) as staff members, most of the time preceded my participation in the loads of activities they had put together to keep my drumming hands busy.

Nineteen Day Feast attendances, Cultural presentations, Ayyam-i-Ha celebration, a visit to Amherst and Bridgewater State College put me in touch with the friends in this part of the country. The dinners were delicious, the camaraderie superb, and the company very encouraging. At some of the gatherings most especially with the folks in Holyoke, we danced, letting our spirits fly.

Highpoint:

-A jam session where we played Celtic music, switched to Middle Eastern music, crisscrossed that with some Pop and rested on an instrumental improvisation was acutely energetic.

Reflection:

It’s always great to visit friends. Energy, revitalization, enormous support and encouragement, plus the pouring of Loving Kindness from these Angelic beings were indeed a Blessing.