June rituals

The lovely month of June always seems to fly, no matter what the weather.  By Sunday, we should finally break out of this cool pattern. Despite all the clouds, there was almost no rain in Seattle.  Monday will be blinding sunshine and 80 degrees for the Solstice.  Colin says he is finally coming to cut the monster hedge.  He will have almost 16 hours of daylight to work.  Since I pay him by the hour,  I hope that is not the case.

This is the month of Ramadan for 1.6 billion Muslims, 22 percent of the world's population.  Devout Muslims abstain from all eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset.  And that is a very long day when sun rises at 5:11 am and sets at 9:11 pm.  I was at a local copy shop this week picking something up, and the nice men who work there were chatting about Ramadan.  It is not considered work or a burden, and they were certainly cheerful late in the afternoon, being so hungry and thirsty.

The purpose of fasting is to exercise self-control, cleanse the mind, body, and spirit and become closer to Allah.  It is also a reminder of the suffering of poor in other parts of the world.  Christians of course fast too, for many of  same reasons: to humbly deny something of the flesh to glorify God, enhance our spirit, and go deeper into prayer life.

The nights during Ramadan are spent feasting and celebrating with family. Someone of course (women) must prepare all that food during the day.  It's one thing to be busy at work, but how difficult that would be, cooking all day and not tasting a single morsel.

Well, there won't be any fasting around here this weekend.  For Father's Day I promised John a homemade coconut cake.  For a little cooking challenge, I'm defrosting a semi-boneless lamb roast to make on the grill Sunday with a nice Greek salad.