Simple Pleasures...

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Today,

I'm feeling really inspired by these images...
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Ghana, West Africa

Small, Satisfying Things
About Today...
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~ hearing the Right Song at the Right Moment...

.~ completing my travel arrangements for my upcoming
trip to West Africa...

.~ the aroma of freshly brewed coffee...

.. ~ finding a photo album of my African childhood
in the most unlikely place...

. ~ Making Someone Smile...

.~ Spring may, at long last, be just around
the corner...

. ~ daydreaming when I should be working...
..

My African Childhood...

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“There is a garden in every childhood,
an enchanted place where colors are brighter,
the air softer,

and the morning more fragrant than ever again”
Elizabeth Lawrence

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Wenchi, 1963
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Some of my favorite memories of my childhood

are not my memories at all,

they are my mother’s...

The stories she tells are of a toddler who is strong willed

and determined.

A child who knows her mind and is not going to let anyone

make her change it.

A two year old who loathed the indoors and loved nothing more than

to spend entire days in the great outdoors.

A three year old who ate her dinner with her fingers

(or not at all)

because it was better that way.

A four year old who knew an entire neighborhood
by name and was considered very much part of each family
and the community.

A five year old who who spoke fluent Twi (the local dialect)

and loved nothing better than to help her
parents out when they couldn't quite make themselves

understood...

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I love that girl. I’ve missed her.

Journée International de la Femme...

.

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Just a few of the many women I admire

for their devotion to improving the lives of children and

women around the world...

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Soeur Emmanuelle
.
Audrey Hepburn, UNICEF ambassador


Dr Wangari Maathai
.
Mother Teresa

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Down Memory Lane...

.

"La fortune tient moins aux possessions accumulées

qu'à la capacité de vivre avec peu"

Mike Horn,

Objectif : pôle nord de nuit, 2007

Images: Baileys Home and Garden

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"Fortune is less about accumulated possesions

than the capacity to live with little"

Mike Horn,
Objective : north pole by night, 2007

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Most days I feel like I'm still in my 20's, if not my late teens,

so, being reminded that I am now more than 20 years past my 21st birthday

somehow comes as a bit of a shock - plus, by the end of the month

I'll be another year older..!

Anyway, what I'm leading to, is, that

it doesn't seem that long ago that I was an undergraduate,

house-sharing in London with a group of great friends from around the world.

It was seeing the storage boxes and baskets above, the other day on the

Baileys Home and Garden

website that brought back vivid memories of the rather "original"

interior decoration we created.

Made up, mostly, of a collection of hand-me-down bric à brac and zillions of

wine boxes, trunks and wicker baskets of all sizes and shapes

for storage - none of which we paid much for as we were impercunious, to say the least,

and much preferred to spend the little money we had on books, travel and

entertainment..!

Mon Copain d'Enfance : Anansi the Spider...

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Pendant des siècles, dans le monde entier,

les contes ont été une des meilleures

façons de rassembler les gens.

.
Ils sont un excellent moyen d'apprendre davantage

sur les coutumes,

et les croyances des autres cultures...

Illustration: R. Hübner

Je me revois enfant, au Ghana, en afrique occidentale,

assise par terre, entourée d'amies,

de couleurs et origine diverses,

écoutant avec plaisir

les "Contes d'Anansi" racontés par notre tante à tous:

.

* aunty Peggy

ses histoires de

* Kweku Anansi

. *Kweku est le "nom du jour" d'anansi l'arraignée..!

Le "nom du jour" ghanéen (Ghanaian day name) est le nom attribué

à tous les enfants, filles et garçons,

nés le même jour de la semaine

L'enfant garde ce nom tout au long de sa vie...

(il peut rajouter ou non plusieurs autres prénoms...)

.(les noms de garçons sont sur la gauche et ceux des filles sur la droite)
.
Lundi Kwodwo Adwoa

Mardi Kobena Abena

Mercredi Kweku Ekua

Jeudi Yaw Yaa

Vendredi Kofi Efua

Samedi Kwame Ama

Dimanche Kwesi Esi
.

Moi, je m'appelle EKUA...

et vous..?
.
*Peggy Appiah est celle qui a inspiré le film "Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner"
(1967)

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Read This post in English

The mystery of Enid Blyton's revival...

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"Golliwogs, goblins and girls - definitely not boys - doing the washing-up.
It's easy to see why Enid Blyton's books went out of fashion..."

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But did you know..?

her work is enjoying a surprise comeback

according to the BBC website,

Enid Blyton was not only recently named Britain's best-loved author in a poll

but earlier this year Disney UK unveiled its Famous 5:

On the Case animation, in which the imagined offspring of the original five

follow in their parents' intrepid footsteps...

.

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Well I was certainly raised as a child on a diet of Enid Blyton,

from Noddy to the famous five, the secret seven, the schoolgirls of St Claires...
I could go on and on...
Enid Blyton fired the imagination of children everywhere;

how I longed to go on adventures like the famous five,

to catch smugglers, to ride off on my bicycle with bags of lettuce,

heaps of tomatoes and lashings of ginger beer!

Just how important books have always been to me,
is a "long story"...
I'll save that for another day...
I love old Enid Blyton hardbacks, such as the one above, I just love
the illustrations as much as anything...
A few years ago all newly produced Enid Blyton books were

rewritten in a politically correct manner,

which makes the originals all the more appealing to me!
. .

Le manège d'Annecy...

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Souvenirs d'enfance

(celle de mes filles...)

PEINTURES AQUARELLES HERVE VISERY
...

For love of the great outdoors...

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I love zinc tubs, I always have

like the one below featured in one of my home decorating magazines

or the big round ones I have in the garden

with my Rhodedendrons and Hydrangeas in...

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Photos: Toast

. .

I'd never really questionned why

until this old photo was dug out

and we got to thinking...

.

I wonder if this could be some kind of explanation
for what, some think, is a weird passion...

.

.

Some of my happiest moments were spent splashing around

in these tubs in the yard

and judging by the number of photos there of of me at different times

with or without friends/sisters, I obviously loved every second..!

~~~

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P.S For anyone who just might be wondering...

we did have "proper" bathrooms and we always lived

in beautiful old colonial houses,

it's just that I preferred to spend all my time outdoors...