Time flying
A younger me with Mustafa Jabri on the left and Radwan Shabareq on the right. The good years. Some 25 years ago if not more.
A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
A younger me with Mustafa Jabri on the left and Radwan Shabareq on the right. The good years. Some 25 years ago if not more.
Obviously, you I know well, and I was delighted to spend a day or two with you and Radwan, and for Charles to have that chance. But it is a great regret that we never got to meet Mustafa Jabri.
Yes, that setting brings back fond memories of the “good years” that long ago. I still have the small cast iron owl that Radwan bought for me in the souk in Aleppo. He asked me to pick out something in the souk that intrigued me that I would like to have. So I chose the little owl. Radwan seemed very surprised in my choice! He indicated (translated by Basil Jadaan) that the owl is, by some, thought to be a symbol of bad luck! However, I told him that to me the owl is a symbol of the spirit that flies silently high in the air and sees beyond borders.
That is true, owls bring bad omens in our culture.
Well, for me it’s been the opposite because generally life has been good since my time in the Middle East.
RJ Cadranell reminds me that he met Mustafa, alongside Charles, when Mustafa came to the US over 20 years ago. I didn’t get to make that trip, unfortunately!
I do remember that we were given an invitation to come and be hosted in Syria to see the horses, as being “grandparents”, so to speak, of bloodlines here in the US. That was so great — I still have the document — and oh, how we wished we could have afforded to go!