Just sharing

           Gone were the days where shopping is top of the list! Been there and loved it. But that was then. Now? No more.....well... not so much.

Some of the collections of mine!

          Whenever I went abroad, there will always be something for everyone back home, especially to those who are nearest to our heart and who helped us. But usually, most of the gifts were for our children and family members. I am just sharing my feelings and not trying to show off. 

Yosemite National Park, tells us how we should
 take good care of our nature.

Karlovy Vary.
A small town in Prague. Reminded us of our brother Azmi Mustaffa who
is married to Azemina. This town is well known for its crystal
and tableware. Not forgetting their famous mineral water.

          Throughout the years, I learned. The tactic is not to start buying for a person because the list will go on and on and on. And finally, you found out that you bought nothing for yourself! Does it sound familiar to you? You ended paying extra baggage! Lucky thing is that those days the airliners were not as 'calculative' as today! hahahhaha. The only thing that they do not charge today is the usage of the toilets! hahahhaahah.....just imagine!

Every visit to Paris, Montmartre is a must for us. This is where
you can see street artists doing their sketches and paitings of faces, objects, buildings,
animals, flowers and so on. You can see them start from scratch.
I spent hours here without realizing the time flew.

          Now that the children are all grown-ups and some of the family members are gone, not much income, so what do we do? Buy fridge magnets!

Unique buildings designed and built by their famous artist and architect,
Antoni Gaudi. He is one of a kind.
Below are some of his work of art.

          Besides photographs from our analogue cameras, digital cameras or camera-phones, fridge magnets will remind us of the places that we visited. True enough. I have a magnet which I bought 30 years ago from Hawaii. My husband was in the University of Hawaii in Manoa for a management course! When he was busy in his class, I was running around with the rest of the spouses visiting places. It reminded me of an incident when my husband and I drove into the wrong side of the road! We really had a good laugh at ourselves. We had to share a plate of fried rice which we bought from a Thai Restaurant. Not because we are so loving but the cost!! hahahahha.  I remembered walking by Waikiki Beach, in the shopping malls and in the street and I wished to bump into Steve McGarrett from the Hawaii Five-O from the tv series. Hahahahhahah..... A daydream syndrome! I wish I can revisit again. InSyaAllah.

My forever favourite TV Series. The original
actor Jack Lord,  Steve McGarrettMcGarrett died in 1998 at the age of 79.
He suffered Alzheimer for 2 years before his death.

Aloha....

           Fridge magnets come in many forms and made of different materials like ceramic, plastic, wood, glass, fabric and so on. Magnets tell us about the places we visited.  Sometimes it tells us about the history, about preservations of ancient buildings, about taking care of nature and anything that is about that place. Rome magnets are usually about their ancient buildings as far as many centuries ago, Spain's regarding their love of sports in Bull Fighting, Russia's with their colourful yesterday, Bosnia's with their war stories, Tallinn, a small town in Estonia,  attracted musicians from all over the world to perform yearly. The West Berlin and East Berlin separated by the wall. Jerusalem Al Quds with the stories from the Holy Quran about the Messangers of Allah and the people from that era.

The East and the West were
separated by the wall. 

A visit to Jerusalem Al-Quds was an unforgettable experience.

Every step we took, we felt the presence of the Messengers.

Subhanallah.

           

          Each and every place that I visited, left memories. Well, some good memories and very few are not. But that is life. There are ups and downs. Not every trip that you take is great but if it is not, try not to make it worst. If you are the organiser, change to plan B and if you are the follower, just stick to your group or just stay foot! The choice is yours. Nobody can force you to do things that you dislike.

My friends and I went cruising in The Mediterranean

and we visited this beautiful island.

We met some Bangladesh workers selling toys by the roadside and they spoke to us in Malay!

They used to work in our country.

Took 2 cable cars to the topmost. Some turned blue.
Two went back to the foot of the mountain. The rest
enjoyed the view and made loads of photographs.

          So, little fridge magnets not only tell people about the places we already visited but also brought back loads of memories. See, how a little thing like that can bring back all those wonderful memories! This money cannot buy but we do need money to buy fridge magnets! By the way, it is small in size and low in cost and easy to carry. You do not have to pay for the extra baggage for it!

A visit to Bosnia Herzegovina is a true walk of tears. I cried most of the time
imagining the sufferings of our brothers and sisters during the war.
The genocide was terrible and the sufferings were unbearable for the Bosnians.
May Allah give them peace.

When we found out how little fridge magnets did wonders in our lives, we created a wonderful little gift for our guests at our daughter's wedding. She is now a mother of 3 and most of the people who came to that wedding told us what wonderful door gift we made and they still have it stuck to their refrigerator at home. And that magnet brought back memories of the event and the people they met...some are still around and some moved on.  

My daughter Siti Nurhana and Muhammad A'sim.
It was on the 14th of December 2007.
May Allah bless them with happiness 

         So whenever you visit places, remind yourself to buy a meaningful magnet to remind you of the moments you spent there. But, please do not forget the real function of a fridge magnet to help us put a note on the door of the refrigerator as a reminder to do something, list of things to buy, reminders, bills