This photo of a bee hovering above a flowering eucalypt and the emotional poignancy and depth of these lines by WIlliam Blake; these are my inadequate attempt to give voice to the pleasure of writing and of reading the writing of others. This month has been another wonderful time of highs and lows, struggles and successes, as we have written slices together.
Thanks to everyone and particularly to all the organisers for your encouragement and for making this all possible for yet another year.
Êtes-vous tous prêts pour un voyage de retour au Vietnam ? J’espère que oui.
Cette fois, nous allons visiter Sa Pa, Hoi Anh et la baie d’Halong. Je veux vous montrer les collines superbes et les rizières étagées de Sa Pa, les rues pittoresques de Hoi Anh et les vues magnifiques et les jonques anciennes de la baie d’Halong.
Comment peser un cochon!
Les costumes traditionnelles des tribus Hmong et Dao.
Les voitures ne sont pas permises ici.
Un village flottant!
Je vous laisse avec une photo prise la veille de Noël.
My French has failed me here. In a land of scooters and bikes, this blurry shot shows the most two wheelers, I ever saw at once. These riders are lined up shoulder to shoulder at the lights. We were happy to be on foot, as it was a lot faster!
This is Rosie our other tortoiseshell on the day I first met her. She was a rescue cat who was being fostered and I was struck by her sweet nature and that her eyes are almost the same colour as the golden flecks in her fur. She also has a little speck on pink on her nose.
Unlike Pixie, Rosie loves to play, she chases scraps of paper and winds herself around chair legs and bats a little coiled plastic spring around the floor. Outside, she stalks through the grass, crouches and then springs on insects or bits of stick.
Her main mission is to persuade Pixie to play with her. So far her countless attempts have only ended in failure. She tries to creep up behind her, lies in wait behind corners, at the foot of the bed and stalks her around the furniture. No matter how many times Pixie flees, Rosie refuses to be rebuffed.
How did that happen?
She is finally learning that if she wants to get close, she needs to wait until Pixie is sound asleep and to then lie down nearby, rather than pouncing on her. This sometimes involves squirming her way up the bed until they are almost touching.
Our youngest grandson adores both cats. Pixie usually disappears within minutes, but Rosie is gradually growing accustomed to someone who is small and quite loud but could possibly become a playmate.
As my time over here draws to a close, I am gathering a few memories and sliceable moments, thanks to our student school photographer who nips around catching various activities and highlights throughout the school day.
Our youngest students have just got their new boots ready for the wet weather coming up. Every year we gift each one a pair of little boots to wear to school. An absolute necessity in this area, as last year we recorded over 3 metres of rain in a 6 month period!
We have been given a whole lot of puppets over the years and students love to read stories with their help.
Learning to tell the time always requires a great deal of time and concentration.
Class 2 presenting a Khasi dance during our weekly assembly, wearing part of the traditional jainsem dress that most women wear here.
These little cootie catchers have become the latest craze and definitely help students retain the various phonic sounds.
Class 5 testing out their latest science experiment. This is our dining room table that turns into a classroom every morning. It’s been cut lengthwise from a single tree.
You were the sweetest cat, so milky white, except for your tail and over and around your ears. You were strong and resilient and kept the mice and rats at bay. We have had several cat dramas over the years and you made it to the age of thirteen!
I remember the time we took you into Shillong to be spayed, Fortunately, there was a good vet who knew how to operate properly. Earlier we had had a bad experience in another city with another cat who did not survive. Almost all the way, you snoozed in a red plastic basket with a blanket over the top. Squashed into a jeep with about twelve other passengers, this was in the time before we had our own vehicle and could travel in relative comfort.
Back then we had interlocking rubber alphabet mats on the classroom floor in the kindergarten. You sometimes snuck in to wreak havoc on them after the students had left for the day.
This was one occasion when you outdid yourself.
You definitely did not tolerate other cats, but you enjoyed the company of the dog we had back then.
You normally did not hang around the students or pay them much attention, but once when we were away, you must have felt a little lonely.
I remember a time you were so small you would take a nap in one of my shoes. You were definitely the best lap cat we have ever had, with the loudest miaow and a rumbly purr.
Thanks, Charlie, for coming back for a while in your old age, when we returned after covid times and for all those years of being part of our family.
Dawn has crept in around the edges of the curtain. Is it true, is the power on?
Tick.
It must have come back on in the night after the storm ended. Not always predictable here.
Now I can grind the coffee for breakfast.
Tick.
If the power is on, then the internet should be on and I can post my slice later today.
Tick.
Last year the connection was regularly cut, sometimes on a daily basis, due to ongoing roadworks between here and the capital. The guy at BSNL posts the internet status on his whatsapp feed. ‘Link down at …. such and such a place, hope for reconnection by this evening/tomorrow morning.‘ Those responsible for reconnecting would have to drive out from Shillong. I figure by now they must be able to drive there with their eyes closed…
We don’t have a mains water connection. Our water comes (apparently) from a spring via a pipe that we then connect into our two large tanks. As we’re on the side of a hill the water gravity-feeds through a pipe plumbed into the school and then down to where we stay. Last Thursday that connection was turned off without warning due to roadworks some distance away on a new highway.
That’s always the way. No prior notice and we had been allowing the tank to empty as it needed to be cleaned. Now we have just enough water (hopefully) to last us through to Monday afternoon, when it’s supposed to be fixed. As long as we don’t use the washing machine or have more than one shower.
I muse that in Australia we would get about a month’s warning when the power is to be switched off for maintenance or when our water needs to be turned off for some reason.
I walk up the pathway to the classrooms midafternoon to allocate a spot for some of my new resources (remember the red suitcase?) I glance at our neighbour’s house across the road. Suddenly I realise water is dripping from a hose that they use to supply their tank.
Wait a minute…water? Yes, I can definitely see droplets steadily leaking out of the join between two lengths of pipe. I put my pile of books down and run up to our big black tank. It’s full …. for once something has been fixed sooner than expected. Hooray, I can wash my hair without worrying that the tank will run dry!
Tick.
And on the way back down I take a photo of what I think is a wild magnolia that I planted near the black tank many years ago.
Je voudrais vous inviter à venir avec moi au Vietnam. J’ai travaillé là-bas dans une école élémentaire il y a presque dix-sept ans. Mon français est maintenant très rouillé, mais je vais essayer de vous faire comprendre la joie que j’ai ressentie pendant mon séjour là-bas.
Il y avait tant de fleurs, surtout les roses, les fleurs de lys, les chrysanthèmes et les orchidées ! Je ne vais jamais oublier l’abondance et la profusion de fleurs partout, sur les bicyclettes, sur les appuis de fenêtre, autour des maisons, dans les parcs. Et si bon marché. Chaque jour j’ai acheté un bouquet de fleurs pour ma salle de classe.
Mes visites aux musées et au théâtre de l’opéra étaient vraiment merveilleuses. Le théâtre de l’opéra était magnifique et au-dessus de la comparaison. Pour seulement quelques dongs, j’ai éprouvé le plaisir d’aller aux plusieurs concerts, deux ballets et un groupe de danseurs qui s’appellent Step-Afrika.
L’architecture coloniale à Hanoï est réellement superbe et j’adorais marcher dans les rues, souvent avec la bouche ouverte.
J’ai tellement de souvenirs de cette époque qu’il faut continuer une autre fois. Qui sait, peut-être vendredi prochain!
A Time To Write 