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Tag Archives: Voluntouring

Playground Sounds, Delicate Daffodil and Birthday Skype

1 Walking into town about lunchtime today, I was delighted to hear the sounds of the nearby primary school children at play – such happy squeals and shrieks and laughter, sounds that we have heard all our working lives and since, in our travels around the world. All children at play, wherever they are, make the same happy sounds and we heard it in Mapoch, South Africa where we went to build a classroom the year after we retired.

Children on the climbing frame in Mapoch

2 I love the yellowness of this time of year but I also find the delicacy of this pale daffodil very beautiful. The specialness of this daffodil is for two very good friends who have each lost a parent in the last couple of weeks. This is just to tell them they are loved.

Pale daffodil

3 We Skyped with T for her 2nd birthday today as she opened her presents. How lucky we are with current technology that allows us to share such events from hundreds of miles away.

For those who would like the Nutella Cookies recipe, I’ve put it on my Recipe pages today. Enjoy!

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 12, 2013 in charity, Children, community, family, flowers, garden, Grandchildren, Mapoch, nature, photography, Postaday2013, travel, Uncategorized, Voluntouring

Tags: bereavement, happy children, love, Mapoch, Nutella Cookies, photography, playground, Postaday, postaday 2013, South Africa, volunteering, Voluntouring

Elephants, Embroidery and ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life!’

14 May

1 I love elephants! I’ve loved them since I was very little and today this beautiful story came in to my inbox and reminded me of our encounter with a herd of elephants after our Voluntouring in Mapoch, South Africa. The lovely Mr S spotted them from a long way away, we found them and watched them playing in the water for about 40 minutes. It was absolutely magical.

http://delightmakers.com/news-bleat/wild-elephants-gather-inexplicably-mourn-death-of-elephant-whisperer/#.T7AQOKty_Jo.facebook

Elephants enjoying the water

Leaving the water

Teenage elephant, reluctant to leave his playing

Mother and Baby

2 This beautiful embroidery is one of three made for me by Grace, the sister of the teacher at the school in Mapoch, near Pretoria where we, with local builders, built a classroom.

Grace’s beautiful embroidery

Sisters under the skin, Grace, me and Sibongile and their babies

3 We’ve hardly stopped laughing all evening! We’ve been to see ‘Spamalot’ at The Hall for Cornwall. The place was packed and the whole audience loved the show.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 14, 2012 in animals, art, charity, comedy, craft, embroidery, Hall for Cornwall, Mapoch, nature, South Africa, theatre, travel, Voluntouring

Tags: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, community, elephants, embroidery, Hall for Cornwall, herd of elephants, laughing, local builders, Mr S, sister, South Africa, Spamalot, teacher, volunteering, Voluntouring

First Bluebells, Coloured Pencils and A Baby Naming Ceremony

30 Mar

1 On the lane we take to walk into town, I saw the season’s first bluebells – such a rich colour, ‘like a piece of sky’ as the inspiration for my blog, http://threebeautifulthings.blogspot.co.uk/ once said. We also saw some beautifully veined leaves but I have yet to find out what they are.

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2 We went into town to find small presents to take to Senegal for Ndeye Marie, the 3 year old daughter of our son’s fiancee – so our soon-to-be Granddaughter! We found some bright and chunky coloured pencils and some paper for her and lots of biros for the other children. We know from our Voluntouring in South Africa that such pens are much treasured by the local children.

We have also bought Ndeye Marie some picture story books, one of which is about The Heligan Giant. See my previous post to see this delightful mud sculpture: http://mybeautfulthings.com/2012/03/28/sally-boots-the-heligan-giant-and-swish/

3 I’ve visited a delightful family in St Erth this evening to talk about their son’s Baby Naming Ceremony. It’s already sounding charming and we’ve hardly started.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 30, 2012 in art, Baby Naming, Cornwall, environment, Humanist ceremony, sculpture, Senegal, travel, Uncategorized

Tags: Baby Naming Ceremony, bluebells, coloured pencils, delightful family, mud sculpture, Ndeye Marie, picture story books, piece of sky, rich colour, Senegal, South Africa, St Erth, The Heligan Giant, Voluntouring

The Gogos of Mapoch, Sun Trap and The Joy of Singing

05 Mar

1 The Gogos (Grannies) of Mapoch in South Africa do the most amazing beading which we discovered when voluntouring in the village. Today I have posted off 236 balls from roll-on deodorants collected from friends (Thank you all!) and 86 small plastic tubes to be made into beautiful beaded objects. Thanks again to P&H for the postage. See post of 9th January for photos.

2 The sun-trap patch at the end of the garden is now paved and looks lovely. Now comes the fun part, choosing what to plant in the wall…….

Paved sun-trap

3 Tonight’s singing session with Claire Ingleheart was a fabulous joyful affair!

More Brass Trade, ‘Fab after Fifty’ and Everest Base Camp Reached

21 Feb

1 Met a lovely man this morning whose daughter saw my ad for the brass sheets on Network Cornwall. He’s taken lots of the brass and is going to make me a weather vane. Even better, he mends instruments for Camborne Brass band so the material will be used in the way it used to be. That will please Charlie.

2 Sallie Grayson of People and Places, through whom we did our Voluntouring in Mapoch, South Africa, sent me this article about the over 50s volunteering and they used my photo!

http://www.fabafterfifty.co.uk/2012/02/21/how-do-you-go-about-volunteering-overseas-things-you-need-to-know/