Thanksgiving...

As November is generally seen as a month of giving thanks, I have decided to make some time to just become aware of the many things in my life that I can be thankful for.  I think if we made a list of things we can be grateful for every morning, our days will be filled with much more positive energy.

So here goes...

• I am thankful that I know and serve the living God and that I can experience his presence every day of my life. 
• I am thankful for a husband that loves me just the way I am - even though sometimes I try to change him.  
• I am thankful for family that supports me even though we are miles apart and that I have special relationships (even though there are some ups and downs from time to time) with all of them. 
• I am thankful for all my special friends - each one of them accentuating a different aspect of my personality.
• I am thankful for nature and the peace that it brings to my heart.  
• I am thankful for all my senses that are in tact and that I can take all of the beauty and craziness and melancholic wonder of life in.
• I am thankful for the small things in life that makes me happy: 
• waking up next to my favourite person in the world every morning
• that delicious smell and taste of my first (and mostly only) cup of coffee of the day 
• the old man that I see every day when I am driving home, standing next to his red taxi, watching life pass him by, giving me a small smile.  Even though we have never met, I feel strangely comforted every time I see him.
• the little cardinals that watch me when I am sitting on our porch writing or reading or just contemplating life.  
• the way that the entire sky is painted with amazing, indescribable colours every afternoon when the sun sets over the ocean. 
• a text from a friend or family member saying they are thinking of me. 
• a glass of red wine on the rocks in front of our home, sitting quietly with just the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks. 

I am thankful for so many things and my heart swells when I think of everything that I am privileged enough to experience and for all the people that I get to experience it with.   Let's be thankful more often.

Interesting facts about bumblebees...

Did you know that the word for bumblebee and for heavy are very similar in French.  And if you have to use google translate while trying to figure out what a person wrote on a piece of scrap paper, you might see "bourd"  instead of "lourd"  and therefore have to assume that the care workers in a care home for elderly people are experiencing back pain because of  the bumblebee cargo they have to carry around.

So just for interest I went on to Google (which by the way I am sure is helping our brain cells die a slow death, as no-one needs to think anymore with Google just a swipe of the finger away) to read more about bumblebees.  Probably just because I really love the sound of the word bumblebee, but mostly because I needed a break from French translations.

So here is the real interesting fact: if you Google bumblebee, you don't find any information about bees right away, but rather you can read up all about the fictional characters in the (not so great) movies Transformers.  Fascinating...

Then you first work your way through companies and brands with the name Bumblebee and then you can finally read that bumblebees are in fact bees and that although they are peaceful in nature, they will sting you when they feel cornered or disturbed...

 Further on, I found this song about Bumblebees that is supposed to be played on the ukulele...

I caught a little Baby Bumble Bee CWon't my mummy be so proud of me FI caught a little Baby Bumble Bee C7#11Ouch! It Stung me! I'm squashing up my Baby Bumble Bee Won't my mummy be so proud of me I'm squashing up my Baby Bumble Bee Yeuch! What a mess! I'm licking up my Baby Bumble Bee Won't my mummy be so proud of me I'm licking up my Baby Bumble Bee Hmm? Needs salt! I'm throwing up my Baby Bumble Bee Won't my mummy be so proud of me I'm throwing up my Baby Bumble Bee Ugh! Sick! I'm mopping up my Baby Bumble Bee Won't my mummy be so proud of me I'm mopping up my Baby Bumble Bee Ooops! Mummy wasn't so proud of me!

What I have learned from this

• Do not confuse words that sound/looks the same with each other
• Knowing facts about Transfomers is more important than learning about bees
• There are some really horrible nursing songs out there

Mauritian Jakarandas

Since living in Mauritius where everything is strange and different from what we are used to, my husband and I have decided to look for things that remind us of things at home and then just call it by the same name we have for it in SA, but add the "Mauritian"  in front...

So here follows some picture of what I believe to be Mauritian Jakarandas.  They are a different colour I admit and they are not quite as glorious as the purple heaven we experience every year from October in Pretoria and Johannesburg, but these red blotches of beauty has given me a lot of joy and comfort over these past few weeks...

 

 

One day I will find out what their real name is and let you know, until then, I hope you enjoy these Mauritian Jakarandas as much as I do...