SEPTEMBER 1st WHAT I’M READING: “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath. I actually can’t believe I’ve lived this long and never read it before, especially as I distinctly remember buying it many, many years ago
SEPTEMBER 2nd TASTY: One of my favourite dinners is a build your own Buddha Bowl with a base of cold soba noodles and a coconut peanut sauce
SEPTEMBER 3rd I USE THIS DAILY: Insect repellent incense sticks are an absolute must where we live
SEPTEMBER 4th FAVE JEWELLERY: These handwoven rattan bangles are currently my favourite piece of jewellery and my most recent jewellery purchase created by rural women in Cambodia
SEPTEMBER 5th FREE CHOICE: The sunset vista taken last night in Kep
SEPTEMBER 6th BEST PART OF MY DAY: was definitely taking a late afternoon stroll along the strip of coast we frequently ride
SEPTEMBER 7th MAILBOX: One of the only two mailboxes I have ever seen in Kep. Since there is absolutely no delivery of mail and in many cases no actual mail coming in or going out, it seems the postal service is about to become extinct. There has been no service to or from Australia for over eighteen months now! It’s high cost international parcel delivery companies or go without
SEPTEMBER 8th 4 O’CLOCK: on the cuckoo clock in the entrance to the home we are currently house sitting on our staycation in Kep
SEPTEMBER 9th BEGINS WITH M: Monsoon me- dripping wet after our bike ride to the market this morning
SEPTEMPER 10th WHAT I’M WATCHING: Having never owned a television in my life and only signing up to Netflix a couple of months ago, (thanks pandemic) there are a lot of choices available but this is the current viewing
SEPTEMBER 11th HOW I FEEL TODAY: Productive and useful! We are preparing a dinner to deliver to friends who are participating in a working bee. This is our contribution to the cause. Dinner for 10-12 is shaping up and the house smells so I enticingly delicious
SEPTEMBER 12th THIS IS USEFUL: a collapsible coffee banet- for all your coffee needs while travelling. Before discovering this the awkward plastic cone, I used to carry always found a way to dig into me from my backpack
SEPTEMBER 13th ON MY WALL: We are actually house sitting at the moment so it’s not my wall but it is my favourite zone in this magnificent house, even though the frames are not straight and I have resisted the urge to straighten them
SEPTEMBER 14th HAPPY: to be home again and we got there under our own steam too!! Intrepid cyclists return
SEPTEMBER 15th A PET: We don’t have a pet so this is an archive shot from when we first started teaching the little monks of Kep back in 2017. Gam is one of only two of our original class who is still with us and he befriends every cat and dog in the pagoda treating each with love and care and often feeding them with his own food
SEPTEMBER 16th BEGINS WITH E: This cute, little, made in Cambodia elephant, I bought as a baby gift, begins with E
SEPTEMBER 17th PLANT: A couple of cuttings from the garden that I am trying to strike to re-pot
*Amazed to say that this shot was selected by admin for the ‘Fab Four’ on the day it was posted!
SEPTEMBER 18th MESS: I’m a great one for decluttering the house but that unfortunately means there is a mess lurking somewhere out of sight! This is the “lost souls’ drawer” where all homeless items go but where you don’t dare go searching for anything for fear you will be lost forever in the “I wondered where that went” discoveries
SEPTEMBER 19th CHAIR: or is it a bench? A stopping point on our bike ride yesterday. Just wondering, why it doesn’t actually face the view though
SEPTEMBER 20th I BELIEVE:
“Like a lotus flower we too have the ability to rise from the mud, bloom out of the darkness and radiate into the world”
And this quote and prompt were the inspiration I needed to buy the lotus flowers I spotted at the market this morning
SEPTEMBER 21 A PILE: of homemade potato chips served with mayonnaise of course. What could be more tempting than that
SEPTEMBER 22nd HOBBY: My two longest standing hobbies are cycling and photography but the last time I attempted to take a photo of myself while riding my bike I fell and almost broke my wrist! So, I’m not trying that again. Instead this is an archive shot taken by Ian almost ten years ago in Myanmar. One of those times when I was so distracted by what I was seeing, I didn’t use the camera despite it being in my hands. Only my passion for teaching exceeds my passion for photography and I’m watching a class taught by monks in a village temple school
SEPTEMBER 23rd MIRROR: playing around with a compact mirror and a black and white filter - this month’s selfie done!
SEPTEMBER 24th SAD: This is an archive shot that I went searching for as it is what came immediately to mind. Meet Sophie daughter of one of the workers at the school we volunteered at in Tanzania. She was always such a happy child, despite spending all day in a high school with her working mother but something happened on this particular day and she was screaming and sobbing, until she saw my white face and that stunned and silenced her
SEPTEMBER 25th ROWS: of golden devotee statues line the entrance to the pagoda where we teach the little monks of Kep
SEPTEMBER 26th BEHIND ME: Living in Cambodia means it’s hard to go past this selfie with the iconic Angkor Wat behind me for this prompt
SEPTEMBER 27th PORTRAIT: We visited the pagoda today and the last remaining boy from our original class was the first to see us, speak to us and proudly show us he is vaccinated. Hooray! We can now commence classes in mid-October with some completely new novices, several who have had a smattering of classes over the past five months and one consistent attendee for almost four years. Red letter day for us and the little monks of Kep
*Delighted to say that this shot was selected by admin for the ‘Fab Four’ on the day it was posted – woohoo second selection for this month!
SEPTEMBER 28th LANDSCAPE: The view from the giant Buddha platform at the pagoda yesterday. Does anyone else think the cloud formation looks like a Buddha head??
SEPTEMBER 29th MY DESK: Long story warning … I’ve never had a desk except in schools, so this is an archive shot of my last desk in the last school in which I taught in 2016. It is also the youngest grade level I ever taught - class VI! They were all waiting for their mid-term exam and overall term results and crowded around my desk. I have never been a fan of the exam system but I do love the joy in this photo. Of course, they are the few that stood a chance of being highly successfully. They are poring over my marks book with a keen eye for detail and hoping for mathematical errors in their favour - not unlikely in my case. The girl in the centre has just discovered she won that coveted first position by only a few percentage points over the girl pointing at her nose!! The boys are losing interest fast now the race is won
SEPTEMBER 30th ACHIEVEMENT: Today’s achievements have all been decidedly domestic- roasted whole cauliflower with parmesan, honey and balsamic roasted veggies, oatmeal, raisins, seeds, fresh coconut, banana and chocolate chip cookies and a makeover for some coasters
THE PROMPTS
A few records set this month with:
*2 shots selected for the Fab Four
*5 pictures of me in one month
* 5 archive shots I do try to take them on the day so I blame the pandemic
* the same monk and our favourite appearing twice in one blog
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