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 There are days when I feel quite challenged by things that happen in my life or don’t happen or those unexpected out-of-left-field happenings or those people we all sometimes wish we didn’t have to run into (excepting of course if we were driving a steam roller) but living in Africa keeps me real.  So when people ask me why I moved back to Africa from Australia, I say this:  For love  And beyond that Maybe living elsewhere for a while helped me understand this place in a different way It’s not for sissies  It’s not for naysayers  There is nothing easy about living here  It is confronting and it is hard at best and it’s getting harder especially for those who already have so much need I keep reminding myself always to be kind and not judge the next person because I have not worn their shoes Nor have I walked barefoot on the scorched earth of Africa I have not carried water miles from a dirty water point In two hours time, I will have electricity  ...

  Be Yourself M=Me Y=You M: Yeah, but how?  And what happens if by just being “myself” nobody actually likes me or wants to be with me? Y: Oh well, then you could just read one or two of those self-help books that smooth off those little rough edges, not that you need to change that much, just those few little things which, well, make you a little less likeable.  M: Ok, so I’ve read the book Y: What book? M: Well, you said I should read a self-help book to make me a better person Y: Oh, so was it the BIG BOOK OF SELF IMPROVEMENT?  M: Uh, nope, it was a small one … I think, well, kind of medium sized Y: Well then you could probably expect a few small changes, nothing too dramatic though. Maybe if you’d checked with me, I would have lent you mine, which is the best one … because IT’S BIG and has a lot of “HOW TO CHANGE YOURSELF AND MAKE YOURSELF INTO A BETTER PERSON” research in it  M: Oh, well can you at least see a little bit of difference?  Y: Well, now th...

Catsiderata  Go placidly amidst the noise and haste   And spend as much time as you can in peace and silence As far as possible, do not surrender  And be on good terms with all people from a distance  Speak your truth clearly and quietly only at mealtimes and when the door needs to be opened  Listen and occasionally blink in acknowledgement of the presence of others and when everyone around you is dull and ignorant, never lose your cool; Simply walk away slowly  And sharpen your nails on something valuable to convey your inner power 

The word is ASMR Autonomous sensory meridian response Lick, lick, paw over nose. Repeat until nose is clean More licking,  paw behind ear,  repeat until ears are pristine. Lick, lick, pink rasping tongue across every inch of fur,  Lick, lick nibble and chew and purr  purr  purr I'm sinking into the gentle rhythm of the licking and purring, eyes closed as Njinsky, commonly known as Jinx, stretches out each back leg, nibbling and licking along the entire length of one leg, then the other, until he's satisfied that each little whisper of fluff has been scrubbed clean with his raspy little pink tongue. I read somewhere that the tongue of a lion is as rough as sandpaper. A lion could lick the skin off a human, if it wanted to did you know that? I imagine just eating you would work just as well, for the lion I mean. As for my little miniature lions, well, technically they are domestic tigers because they're stripy, well, orange AND...

She didn’t come up softly or silently Neither did she peer this way or that before Putting in the appearance We had been waiting We thought it would be A grand entrance We camped out on mountain tops We sat around beaches wrapped in towels and blankets With cameras on tripods Fiddling with the settings, pacing slowly on The walls of tidal pools like relatives In the hallways of maternity hospitals Waiting For that perfect moment We had all received some telling of her coming Via lunar calendars and social media and Those who always know everything about everything Who could be relied upon to be at the right place at the right time Many were practically astronomers by Great Moonday But Most of us weren’t We were just where we would have been anyway And then We all just kind of stopped when it started happening And we didn’t move again It was a kind of magic we weren’t expecting which descended on our bay with a quiet amber balminess We just stood and waited Whatever else we were suppos...

A quick search of the word "stubborn" took me down a rabbit hole where I found more than a few mules stuck in the narrow passages of their own making: arse to the wind, hee-hawing for all they were worth, veritably stuck in the mud long after help had been and gone. They would still be stuck there for probably much longer than they needed to be because of one common problem: They simply would not be gracious enough to take help or advice from another person. Any parent of a strong-willed child will tell you it's a constant challenge and very exhausting constantly "encouraging" them to do almost anything that they themselves haven't decided they want to do. They do not take orders from anyone. School reports are filled with comments like: "Could do better if he/she were more co-operative" or "His/her wilful attitude is a challenge in the classroom." With respect to the gender non-specific generation, I had a son who constantly challenged b...