proverb lessons

"Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours."
~Swedish proverb~

"Little by little one walks far."
~Peruvian proverb~

rain, hot chocolate and poetry

The sky is the colour of dirty dishwater. The wind is fierce. The rain stings. The smell of thunder is unmistakeable. The day reflects the gloom I feel.

But it is a perfect day for curling up with a book and sipping hot chocolate. Hot chocolate ... never fails me. It gives me the comfort I want and always delivers the smile I need. Yes, it certainly is a good friend.

The reading material of choice for today happens to be a book of African women's poetry. Let me share with you one particular poem that I like. It is by Zindzi Mandela.

Lock the Place in your Heart

Lock the place in your heart

into which I have poured my emotions

I do not want to be hurt again

use your heartbeat as the key

only you can hear if it unlocks itself

If the wind around you

should blow away

breathe into it and let my secrets go

scavenger hunt

Macro/Close up - i use a p&s camera, but i love taking close ups of objects.

Found Texture - the textures created by coral on the sandy beach

Home - my daughter's breakfast in the blue and white bowl which signifies home

Cover - some water play in the rain, but all covered up.

Tree - the tree that is right in front of my bedroom window.

it takes all kinds

yes they are flies

but i find them fascinating

and they posed so well for me.

linking with shoot edit submit

preparing for 'mumma what can we do now?'

a jar of inspiration.
a collection of ideas of things to do for those inevitable moments of

"mumma what can we do now?"
with school holidays just round the corner, this seemed a particularly useful precaution.
today, we did #28.

blessed rain

welcoming

the healing cool carresses

of rain.

what do you crave?

spicy notes

a day of drying, roasting and grinding spices and herbs

to make fragrant mixtures to add flavour to future meals.

come join me for a cuppa

~
drinking at the dVerse pub

details matter

in the race of our everyday,

don't forget the power of little things.

the fine print of life is important.

it's the way we operate

they exist in every society

the ones who are on the lookout for the slightest thing

and then hurry to huddle together to gossip and spread their venom

making some of us a little withdrawn

and feeling a little different and out of place.

scavenger hunt

Words

We have been reading Anne of Green Gables every night. Well, truth be told, Em and I read together while Hero busies himself around us, building a fort with pillows and cushions.

Signs all around to tell you to slow down and enjoy life.
~
Under

Go to pick up a shell on the beach and we spy legs curling out from under it.

And soon there are eyes peeking out too.
~
Orange

We've been drinking a lot of freshly squeezed orange juice this week.

And these have been the children's newest snack time favourite.
~
Fly

Holidays are coming up soon, and I want to be flying off somewhere in one of these.

These visitors to our coconut tree are not the most welcome of guests.
~
Always look on the bright side

This prompt completely stumped me, and the two interpretations for it are by my children :) This shot taken from my darkened bedroom looking out into the lit living room is what my six year old suggested.

And this one taken from the archives, shows the candles on the cake that my nine year old made for my last birthday. Lots of candles on the cake... but on the bright side, with age comes wisdom... right? Or something like that. At least in theory.

focus

coming

to the realisation

that life is shaped by

what we choose to focus on;

that i need to declutter wants and

re-adjust my focus to re-design my life.

this is why i do not like politics

I awaken to the news of Gaddafi's death, and to the chorus of celebrations from around the world. News channels are on a high - showing repeated bloody videos of the capture and execution of the man who had ruled Libya for 42 years, followed by scenes of dancing and rejoicing in various forms.

I sat in front of the screen, speechless, letting the abhorrent news sink in, thinking what a nasty world we live in.

He may have been a despot, a ruthless dictator who should have stepped down from power a very long time ago. But he was also a man, a human being. Congratulating the death of anyone, no matter how atrocious they may have been, is barbaric. Everyone is entitled to a fair trial. Even serial killers get a lawyer and have their day in court. Shouldn't the rule of law and the standards of democracy apply to all?

I know very little about Libya or about Gaddafi to make my own judgement about what kind of ruler he was or what kind of man he was. But seeing the images of him being surrounded by a violent mob, dragged off a truck like a piece of trash, bleeding, and a look of terror on his face, the images of him fallen, head hanging down, as the crowd goes into uproar cheering the 'heroes' who brutally murdered this man ... I am appalled.

Why does justice apply to only some? Why is it appropriate to sit in the comfort of our living rooms, and celebrate when a man has been hunted down and shot in a way that most of us wouldn't even shoot an animal?

Civilisation seems to be slipping away.

follow your heart

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
~Steve Jobs~

"Those who do most, dream most."
~Stephen Butler Leacock~

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
~Eleanor Roosevelt~

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. You will meet with success."
~Henry David Thoreau~

five plus a day

focusing on getting the children to eat their five-plus a day, every day this week,
we started with freshly squeezed orange juice.

at lunchtime, we had wholemeal pitta pockets stuffed with a mixture of blanched moringa greens, smoked tuna and freshly grated coconut

a mid afternoon snack of a mandarin orange

and another one :)

a side of bright green broccoli at dinner time

followed by a fruit treat of iced lollies made with pureed guava.

at the end of the day, em asks me if the iced lollies would count towards the five-plus a day, and when i said yes, she thinks for a bit, then says: in that case, tomorrow can i just have five iced lollies?

smart girl.

~sharing the joy of good food with meri today~