I wept today as I drove past. I felt as though I had lost an old friend. There was a fire in Escondido yesterday, just down the street from me. When I climbed up on the roof to see, I had a sinking feeling that this old friend was in danger. The roads were blocked, so I couldn’t get close to find out, until today. The fire had burned the whole field and all the trees in it. A friend from childhood, rooted in that field for as long as I can remember. Proclaiming to all wh

Maghrib is an Arabic term for “of the setting (sun)”. This is also the name of the 4th of 5 daily prayers in Islam, which is offered at sunset. The Maghreb means “place of sunset” or “western” in Arabic, and is the name of a region in North Africa, covering all of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. And finally, it is the Arabic name for Morocco. Most commonly used is Al-Maghrib ( meaning The West or The Place of the Setting Sun), but the full Arabic name is al-Mamlaka al-Magrib