Taken from my roof

God is a wonderful artist.

Beautiful

No, this isn't a cockroach with a particularly shiny bottom. It's a firefly that I found on my marble floor last night. I wouldn't have found it had I not turned off the light to go to bed and seen a flashing green light on the floor. (The photo below is taken from the same place without the flash).

I learned a new word

natni

It's  the word for "friend", but only if you're female, and your friend is also female, and only if you both share the same name.  "Yeah, she's my natni". 

I haven't found any natnis here, my name is a little unusual to Indian ears.

Start 'em early...

that's what I say. You may not be able to see it (note the sarcasm) ... but just below a Mr Men book, and above some other children's books is Wallace's "Greek Grammar - beyond the basics". Oscar put it there himself for a bit of light reading. Ok, so it's not light, it took him both hands and a big effort to get it there in the first place. He's already learned animal sounds, and some shapes, so maybe now we'll start him on "alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon..."

Proverbs 23:4-5

Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich.
Be wise enough to know when to quit.
In the blink of an eye wealth disappears,
for it will sprout wings
and fly away like an eagle.

Lightning

This was taken from our roof this evening.

Addition to previous post

Having put two and two together (one "two" being the rumours in India mentioned in the previous post, and the other "two" being an article in SMH) I think that the fear generated in this little town was because of the Hadron Collider in Switzerland. Doomsday preditictions seem to have reached here and intensified in this superstitious culture...

The world was supposed to end today

so my house elf * tells me. She said it was in the newspaper and on the local TV news and everything. There was supposed to be an earthquake at 2pm. Lots of wild rumours were flying around.

To people around here it wasn't a joke. Some schools were closed today because of these rumours, and those that were daring enough to open had fewer pupils than normal. My house elf's children (8 and 10 years old) didn't want to go to school today because they said that they would rather die at home, than die at school.

I don't know who started these rumours, but I'd be very interested to see who did and how they did it. This community was very afraid today.

This is what happens when truth is not valued (by at least the person who started these rumours). When people are not educated enough to understand that, scientifically speaking, no one can yet predict earthquakes. When people do not trust Jesus when he says "no one knows the day or the hour".

* My house elf receives a generous wage, is not enslaved to the house, and is also not an elf.

My favorite time of the day...

... is when I'm preparing dinner. Specifically when I'm making something with peas in it.

And it's not because I like cooking all that much (oh no no no). But peas here come still in their shells, and what might seem like a very slow mundane task is transformed into something soothing and calming when I sit on the floor with my bowl of peas to shell and Oscar trots up to me and instead of bugging me for something, plonks himself down opposite me and takes a pod and starts methodically taking the peas out of the pod (one by one, of course, is there any other way?) and putting them into the correct bowl. He then gathers the remains of the pod up into one hand and puts it back into the bowl and starts all over again. We both sit there happily until the task is done, and Oscar sometimes long afterwards.

I love it, not just because I think my one and a half year old is very clever, which of course I do, but because he sits there quietly working until the task is done. We both can just sit there shelling peas together, content in each other's love, with no need for making animal sounds, pointing out body parts, or desperately thinking what could Oscar be doing at this time while I'm making food. It's our moment of waking peace in the day and I treasure it every time.

Lovely

Reading the bible in one year

I've started to read along with a one year bible reading plan. I've tried it before, but never managed to finish it sticking to the one plan. I love the New Living Translation, especially reading the Old Testament, I find I understand it much better than the more literal translations. I usually read it on my mobile (that way I can curl up in bed and read it without the light on..... mmm).

Something "praiseworthy"

Here's something which is "excellent and praiseworthy" - Oscar has managed to not only get a milk moustache, but a milk goatee and some milk chest hair as well. Well done!