Wise. Update.

Dear Readers,

I am writing to let you know about something I read, and my reaction to it.

You see, I was reading in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, when I read this verse: "Because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs."

Now, you should all know that I'm into quotes and proverbs. But this verse set me in action! I'm not a preacher, and I don't profess to be overly wise, but I love proverbs! And I love spreading proverbs and quotes around. So let me tell you, dear friends, that my 'Wisdom & Humour' page has been updated!

A preview... ;)

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While I'm doing a blog post - since I do one so infrequently... :/ I dare say, I may as well update the world on my life.

For me, travels have been the theme. In January (12-19) I went to the Do & Dare camp - this camp is very rule-based; it has various classes (ie. Canoeing, Choir, Canvassing, Sketching, Video Production, etc.) and every minute is packed. It goes for a week and most people enjoy it.
  Fairly well straight after that, I made my way south with my sister, Christella, and spent almost 2 weeks (21st Jan - 2nd Feb) with a seamstress friend who taught us the principles of sewing. Christella's project was the flower girl dresses for my brothers then up-coming wedding reception; mine was a German dirndl I made for myself.   I learned about sewing, and some foundational life principles.

February started pretty grand. Christella and I celebrated our birthdays exactly one week apart. Considering the milestones we'd reached, our immediate family got together for a week-long holiday on the beach. Also, in light of the up-coming reception, Christella and I cut our hair. Don't worry, it's still below our shoulders. XD
 On the 10th, the reception went off. Surprisingly, even though it wasn't the real thing - the real wedding was in the States; we still had late members of the bridal party!

See - two bridesmaids were missing!!

 With plenty of bloopers to keep it real, the reception was a happy success - thanks to the many people who pitched in and helped: cooks, musicians and otherwise.

Lining up to walk in.

Flower girl and page boy - the dress Christella sewed.

Sibling picture! It's not in order of age or anything like that, but we're all there!

 Straight from the reception, loaded with (some) food, I headed with a friend's family to their place - back south! I spent a week with the said family (11th-17th). During which time I experienced yet more travelling - something they apologied for (can you believe it?! :D). I even got to revisit the parliment house! That was pretty okay, though I was quite unimpressed by the fact that they don't have ride-on vacuum cleaners to clean their massive carpet spaces! Shocking. And I thought they were supposed to have the best of everything... O.o
Two days of train travel landed me home - for 4 weeks. In a few days time, I will be going.... well, doing something big - and I might just tell you about it! When I get back, that is. XD
In the meanwhile, I've been spending a lovely time with my brother Elisha, his wife Elyssa, her mother Eve, and my parents too. :D And I've also been doing Croatian lessons (with Mum) every day, and other school work. :)

For now!

Love and blessings! ;)
~J

Memory Lane

Walking to the Big Dam, I travel

Down memory's lane, and I revel

In the fun of yesterday.

Memories that won't go away.

A snake slithers by my feet;

This ghostly playground is now bittersweet.

What happened to all our fun?

And all the great things we'd done?

It isn't a story so tall,

It takes only a few words to tell all.

You see, my brothers have grown,

And all have left home.

I miss my boys.

The games, the teasing, the noise.

If I could go back, I would.

Oh, if only I could....

But these memories I'll treasure.

For I can, and I will - forever. ~ 1/1/14

Donkey Oven

"Mum, Penny's cooking that foal too long - it's gonna be burned!" The donkey blues had arrived. 12+ months of anticipating a foal, and it still hadn't popped! Like c'mon, there's no need to over-bake the baby! (Don't freak out though! Donkey pregnancies are 12+ months. XD)

Every day for weeks, we'd checked Penny daily to see if she had brought a little one into the world yet - all in vain. Truly so, for it wasn't until we went to a camp over this last weekend that she finally got on with it.
I'd had the sneaking suspicion that she'd give birth once we'd left, and I was right. Upon returning home, we met our newest arrival - a gorgeous little filly.
Since her mother is Penny, we're considering calling her 'Shilling' or something fiscal-related like that... XD Ideas?
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Mum likes Inky, so I think we'll go with that name. :) Thanks guys!

Goodbye Girls

It came to pass that 5 years ago we got into goats again. We didn't want to breed animals for death, so we raised dairy goats. British Alpines, Toggenburgs, Anglo Nubians, and even a couple Saanens.
I was quite the wild goat girl - my life revolved around the goats, and so did my conversations. "...and then I saw that Dolly had kidded! She's the third goat to kid this year, and now the boy/girl average is at 5 doe kids and 3 bucks kids! As she had 2 doe kids. You see....." 

5 years of blood (horns, sharp pointed feet and teeth draw blood!), sweat and tears (litres of both... lol), all effort put into our friendly, rascally pets. There's been joy and grief, excitement and pain. And yet, all things, good and bad, come to an end.

For the first few years, I wouldn't have dreamed of ever selling our whole herd, and yet it's happened. Indeed, the time of 'coming to pass' came - for today, the last of our pedigree herd has been sold. It was an emotional time for all - joy and excitement on my behalf; happiness and sadness on Mum's part. By far it was the most 'bittersweet' for her, than for us girls (Christella and I).

It has come to pass that we have moved on. Good-bye, my sweet, rascally girls!

No Brains

 So… I have learned that:

1. Negative thinking shrivels the dendrites (‘arms’ of brain cells that reach out to connect with other brain cells) in the brain. (~Anatomy and Physiology book)
2. Raised cortisol levels of stress also cause the dendrites to shrivel up. (Coffee raises cortisol levels. So does stress.) -Ginty, F., ‘Dietry protein and bone health’, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, vol 62(4), pp. 867-76 (2003)
3. A lack of essential fatty acids shrinks the brain (this often happens in pregnant women especially, as they don’t normally have enough on a normal ‘non-pregnant’ basis, and when called upon to share as they are pregnant, the lack becomes increased.) 
4.  Metallic/rock music suppresses the frontal lobe – part of the brain. Consistent suppression leads to inactivity; inactivity shrinks the brain – use it or lose it.

Now we all know that every other person thinks negatively to some extent most of the time. Ding.

We also know that the average person is a coffee drinker, and that every single person encounters stress in some shape or form on a normal basis. Dong.

It has been found that every other person is lacking in EFA’s (essential fatty acids) because of some reason or another – generally simply because the EFA intake is minimal to nil; plus because fried oils block absorption - a single meal with fried oils blocks absorption for up to 6 weeks; also allergies block EFA absorption. Who has allergies? Every other person has some type of an allergy, whether or not they know it. Ding.

The TV, movies, music, entertainment basically, encourages brain death through inactivity. Dong.

• We use only about 1-2% of our brains.
• I think that’s about all we have left anyway.
•  This world has to end soon – we’ll have no brains left!

Work and Photoshoots

So, I've been staying with my big sister for a little while, hence my absence. Life as an aunty is full! In fact, I wrote a poem the other night to that effect..

Cooking, cleaning and school;

these things my day do rule.

Facing every fear;

working with cheer.

Truly, of this my life does comprise;

and I do it by early to bed, early to rise.

It's a life full, but fun;

learning, working, racing the sun.

Yet I'll face it, head held high;

I'll use this time that's going by.

For I'm young but once;

tis the time to gather life experience.

Though I must admit, it hasn't been all work. Every now and again, Christella and I take some pictures. The other day I stole some time to set up a photo shoot of Hannah. She's just too cute not to. ;)

 

A friend gave her sunnies, and she wanted to try them out. XD

Little miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, reading her book. :)

Aunty got some shots of Cabie doing his work. :D

Cabie multi-tasking. Drinking up his spirilina and doing school work.

5 isn't too young to start washing dishes!

The Turtle

Ever heard the story of the turtle and the hare? You know, the fable of the turtle who challenged the hare to a running race... with the turtle ending up winning because the hare took a nap. Well, I was told once that living by this story was the key to success. What?! I thought, But it's just a fable! It's got nothing to do with real life! Right? Right! Or maybe not so right....

You see, the other morning, I came across the turtle. I'd been living with it for years, without particularly thinking about it... until I studied about in my anatomy and physiology. I was learning about our three different types of muscular tissue when I saw it. As the saying goes, I saw the light.

Here's what I learned:

We have three types of muscle tissue: skeletal, cardiac and smooth.
Skeletal muscles are the ones we have control off. They're the ones in our arms, legs, fingers, toes... etc.
Cardiac muscle is in only one place - the heart. We don't have conscious control over this muscle, since it works continuously and automatically.
Smooth muscles are everywhere! Though the most prominent places are the blood vessel walls and the digestive tract. These muscles are involuntary, meaning they work without our conscious effort. But most importantly, they are slow-acting, untiring and steady in action. What's so important about that? Well, don't you see? That's the turtle! It wins the race by slow and steady. It gets that food digested, not in one or two big pushes, so to say, but slowly and steadily over a 5 hour period.

You see, we might live in a rush and bustle, all or nothing, now or never society; but our body remains old fashioned: slow and steady, faithful and true. I am the turtle.