Tag Archives: Ami
Yes, I know that’s four things. It’s so hard to keep to three from our trip to Senegal!
1 The garden, full of bamboo, bougainvillea and many other flowers, attracts lots of birds. The Weaver Birds love the bamboo which they tear off in strips for their nests, the Sunbirds come for the nectar and to spread their wings in sunny spots and the Bulbuls do their courting here! All the time there are Black Kites wheeling about overhead. Lucy, before we came, also saw Egrets and a flock of Pelicans!
Weaver Bird with Bamboo strip
Weaver Bird with Sunbird on left
Sunbird sunning her wings
Black Kite
2 Ndeye Marie was delighted with her chunky coloured crayons and paper and immediately started practising her letters.
Crayon Fun
I also read Eric Carle’s ‘The Very lonely Firefly’, translating it into French as I went along, to Ndeye Marie, our newest Grandchild – what joy!
Reading to Ndeye Marie
3 Mr S and I went down to Ami’s family home to see the hired chairs being hauled up onto the roof for the Wedding tomorrow. Some family were having tea outside and invited us to join them in true Senegalese fashion. The mint tea in tiny glasses was very hot, very sweet and beautifully minty.
Ousseynou making tea
4 The sky at sunset
The Sky over Pikine
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Tags: Ami, Black Kite, bougainvillea, Bulbul, Egrets, Eric Carle, garden, Lucy, mint tea, Ndeye Marie, Pelicans, Senegal, Senegalese hospitality, Sunbirds, sunset, The Very Lonely Firefly, Weaver birds, wedding
1 Our apartment in Pikine is very close to Ami’s family home, has rooms all opening onto a central courtyard which is smothered in palm trees, huge cacti and beautiful bougainvillea in pinks and reds.
Sunlight through the leaves
2 Took a yellow taxi to Pikine market – bursting with bustle, noise, colour and smells – to buy fabric for me to have made up into a traditional boubou for the Wedding on Sunday. The most colourful bus took us to the tailor’s where I was measured up and chose a beautiful blue thread to go with the emerald green fabric. It will be ready tomorrow!
3 Met Ami’s lovely family at her home – her parents, her beautiful daughter, Ndeye Marie and some of her aunts and children. We managed to understand each other pretty well with some shared language (French), lots of body language and Daniel on hand to translate from Wolof when necessary. The family has known Daniel for 15 years and spoke of him with pride and warmth and welcomed us into their family. We were able to say how pleased and proud we are to welcome Ami into our family too.
Lucy with some of the children
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Tags: accommodation, Ami, bougainvillea, cacti, Dakar, Daniel, English, family, French, market, Ndeye Marie, palm trees, Pikine, Senegal, Senegalese, tailor, traditional boubou, wedding, Wolof
1 Today’s piano lesson was hard but by the end my confidence was back and I know what to do for next week. My teacher is a star!
2 Just look at this beautiful Muscari Grandifolium flowering today in the wall.
Muscari Grandifolium
3 We love Skype! Tonight we Skyped with KJ and the children. Jake was telling us about ‘Flat Stanley’, a story our children loved too and Tabitha said her first word, “Hiya!”, while waving at us. Later, we Skyped with Daniel in Barcelona and Ami in Dakar, Senegal, speaking both French and Wolof and talking about the wedding which is only two weeks away. Fabulous evening!
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Tags: Ami, Barcelona, confidence, Dakar, Daniel, fabulous evening, first word, flat stanley, French, Jake, KJ, Muscari Grandifolium, piano lesson, Senegal, Skype, Tabitha., wedding, Wolof
1 On my walk down into Redruth today, this beautiful blossom took my breath away.
Blossom 25:2:2012
2 Mr S has cleared the patch for the new terrace and spread compost on the raised beds, ready for vegetable planting quite soon.
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3 Lovely friends brought us some more snowdrops from their place in Wales.
4 + a little extra! Just had over an hour with Daniel on Skype talking about the wedding and all the things we need to know about before we go to Senegal. I have to send my measurements to Ami so that she can get my wedding outfit made up for me before we arrive! It was Ndeye Marie’s 4th birthday last week and Daniel sent some photos while we were chatting.
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Tags: 4th birthday, Ami, beautiful, blossom, compost, Daniel, happiness, measurements, Ndeye Marie, raised beds, Senegal, Skype, snowdrops, spread compost, vegetables, Wales, wedding, wedding outfit, Welsh
1 Each Saturday I read, “What You Like” where Guardian Weekend readers share their finds of the week and came upon this treasure: http://manonabeach.com/ Do have a look – it’s all about Cornish beaches and why people love them.
2 On our walk today, rather dull and cold, I found this beautiful bark covered with lichen and moss and found sun-rays streaming through the clouds.
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3 Skyped with Ami in Senegal and Daniel in Barcelona on a conference call! My French is improving as vocabulary comes back (and I had my Collins Roberts to hand) and Ami’s English is coming on really well so we do manage to communicate.
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Tags: Ami, Barcelona, Collins Roberts, cornish beaches, Daniel, guardian weekend, manonabeach, Senegal, Skype, sun rays, The Guardian, vocabulary
Sisters, brothers and Mum with Pill Creek, Feock behind
1 This is my sister and my brothers with our Mum in the garden at Creek Vean, our first home in Cornwall. I was reminded of this photo after yesterday’s conversation about sisters. It was the day of her christening.
2 My older brother sent a delightful email which made me smile.
3 Lucy, our youngest daughter, has been packing all day for her adventure trekking in Nepal. She has also booked her tickets for Senegal to be at Daniel and Ami’s wedding.
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Tags: adventure trekking in nepal, Ami, brother, cornwall, Daniel, email, Feock, Lucy, Mum, nepal, Senegal, sister, wedding
1
Pooh Bear
“What day is it,?” asked Pooh.
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favourite day,” said Pooh.”
I love Pooh Bear! And I love the fact that he doesn’t know what day it is! I don’t ask – I just use the day’s Guardian!
2 Thanks to David who sent along emails this afternoon with MP3s of our singing from Sunday evening with the Treggies. ‘The Miners’ Anthem’ is such a haunting and beautiful song. It was written for a production called ‘The Cry of Tin’ which, I discovered is “a powerful 90 minute musical documentary drama telling the story of the rise and fall of mining in Cornwall, focusing on its impact on the people and the land.”
The title comes from when the assayer puts the ingot on a bending machine. As the tin flexes it makes an eerie sound from which he judges its value. They call it the Cry of the Tin.” I love finding things out!
3 French Conversation was hard today! I did learn new vocabulary and I am getting more confident about speaking to Ami’s family when we are in Senegal!
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Tags: Ami, French, mining in Cornwall, Pooh Bear, Senegal, The Cry of the Tin, The Guardian, The Miners' Anthem, Treggies
1 My lovely sister, Deborah, in Hawaii sent me this delightful photo of a Tibetan child laughing,designed to make anyone smile.
Laughing Tibetan child
2 Lucy walked for 6 hours today as part of her training for her trek in Nepal. We drove down to Porthtowan and walked a short way with her.
3 We Skyped with Ami, Daniel’s fiance, in Senegal this afternoon. Her English is getting better, I’m doing better with my French and Daniel, online from Barcelona, taught us a bit of Wolof! Since we haven’t met Ami yet, Skype is brilliant for helping us all get to know each other before we really meet in April. We are so looking forward to it and Ami is going to help Lucy and me buy appropriate outfits for the celebrations!
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Tags: Ami, Barcelona, Daniel, Deborah, French, Hawaii, Lucy, nepal, Senegal, trek in nepal, Wolof
1 We’ve booked our flights to Senegal for Daniel and Ami’s wedding!
2 Fabulous singing with the Inglehearts tonight and a super offer from the husband of a choir member. His firm have offered to sponsor the sending to Mapoch of all the balls I’ve collected from friends. I’ve been collecting balls from deodorant roll-ons and plastic rolls from printers since Mr S and I did our volunteering in 2007 (building a classroom) and sending them all out to the Gogos (Grannies) who bead them into the most beautiful decorations.
Beadwork by the Gogos of Mapoch, S.A.
This year no new volunteers were able to take them out for me as people have done in the past and they were going to cost about £90 to post! Consequently I only sent a few and the lovely people who’ve been collecting were very disappointed. Thanks to P, it seems as if all the rest might be able to be sent – brilliant!
3 I’ve been booked for a Baby Naming Ceremony in July! Delighted! They are such lovely individual ceremonies to do.
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Tags: Ami, Baby Naming Ceremony, beadwork, Daniel, Inglehearts, Mapoch, Senegal, South Africa, volunteering, wedding
1 It wasn’t an early morning! Jake slept until 8am and then rustled and chatted while his Mum and Dad listened at the door! Jake was pleased the oats had gone.
2 After present giving , we went for a very windswept and welcome walk on Porthtowan Beach and had a late lunch. Lots of help from Lucy and her friend Mobin (who is spending today and tomorrow with us) was very welcome indeed. We used some of Mum and Dad’s Wedding present china for the bread sauce and the gravy, as we do every year, so that they are with us for Christmas dinner.
3 Daniel called from Senegal and we all spoke to him and to Ami, which was lovely. We’ll all have to brush up our French before the wedding!
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Tags: Ami, beach, Dad, Daniel, grandchildren, KJ, Leo, Lucy, Mum, Senegal
