MAY 1st I AM: Today is teachers day in Bhutan and Labour Day / May Day in many other countries. Happy Teachers' Day to all my beloved colleagues and friends in one of the world's most hard working and gratifying professions. I also think I am a teacher at heart (retired now). This is a collage of a few of the students, with whom I have interacted and classrooms, in which I have taught and felt truest to myself
APRIL 2nd I HELD THIS: sieve I used to bake a fresh mango cake today. It’s mango season after all
MAY 3rd I WALKED HERE: attending to the to do list and seeking shade from the sweltering heat today
MAY 4th I FEEL: calm and relaxed as I always do after swimming
MAY 5th I SAW: our neighbour, who prepares these giant pots of rice on charcoal cookers and delivers them on his motor scooter to street vendors in the neighbourhood, hard at work as always -7 days a week ten to twelve hours a day. We have no shared language but always manage to communicate and he always has a ready smile and a word of greeting or farewell. We call him Mr Rice…
MAY 6th I LOVE: theatre, exhibitions, music, dance, movies and visual arts; in fact any form of entertainment. Guess what we saw today …..
MAY 7th I LIKE TO EAT: a rainbow diet of healthy vegetarian dishes and today’s cafe lunch fit the bill perfectly
MAY 8th I HAVE: a new washing machine. It was delivered, installed and the old one repackaged and removed with the same packing in 40mins
MAY 9th I READ THIS: in Chinese before I noticed the English on the packaging today in the market. The joys of Asian markets - four languages on the packaging of only two items and we can refuse the plastic bags and vendors smile because they have to buy them
MAY 10th I STOOD HERE: to select desserts for a very special birthday celebration today
MAY 11th I WORK HERE: Now that I’m retired I work in the kitchen and love it. This was going to be a salad with dinner but it smelt so good it has become a late lunch
MAY 12th I LIKE TO: plan ahead and watch movies. I also like to have a paper not digital copy of upcoming events and I picked up the programme for “Cannes À Phnom Penh” today while we were visiting an exhibition
MAY 13th I LOVE THIS VIEW: Chele La the highest road pass in Bhutan is certainly one of my favourite places on earth and we have been here several times in the past. This is an archive shot from our last trip to the kingdom
MAY 14th I KNOW: no better way to unwind, relax and feel calm - swimming for sanity. It’s in my blood
MAY 15th I CREATE: platters and simple picnic style meals when we travel or entertain and this one is for tonight
MAY 16th ON WEEKENDS I: like to get out and explore
MAY 17th I BOUGHT: these for my snail mail project. I love to write them and send them out into the world
*surprisingly this one was selected in the Fab Four on Facebook
MAY 18th I LOVE THIS TIME OF DAY: I was torn between sunset and happy hour so this shot, taken a couple of nights ago when we were in Kep watching the sunset with happy hour drinks, is it. The monsoon has arrived and it’s grey with thunder, lightning and deafening rain today
* this shot made it into the Fab Four on Insta
MAY 19th I LIKE TO DRINK...: any leftover coffee from the morning’s pot chilled later in the afternoon and today we spotted one of the few vegetarian street foods we recognize as we were returning home. Two salted, white beans and rice with coconut on paper thin rice pancakes at 50c each to go and add some mango from the abundant supply we have already been gifted this season
MAY 20th I DON'T LIKE TO...: add to the plastic waste problem so whenever possible we shop with containers and cloth bags and remain loyal to those who can manage that and not insist on new plastic bags every time. This morning’s purchase of flour in the market looked like this
MAY 21st I WENT TO...: the “Ox Herding II” exhibition by Georg Whelan yesterday and this piece titled “Reaching the Source: Simply being; The river flows tranquilly on" really appealed to me
MAY 22nd I ONCE…: left the security of a permanent teaching job in Australia on a one year leave and didn’t return home to live for the next thirteen years. Best decision I ever made. A few years later we left again and it’s over sixteen years later now - taken with a timer on our brand new camera after arriving at our accomodation in China in 1989
*this was one of the featured Fabbers in the grid on Facebook
MAY 23rd I SAT HERE...: for Happy Hour and a Bianco Aperol Spritz before going to the movies tonight
MAY 24th I LIVE …: in the tropics and we are in the midst of our very first monsoon storm of the season: deafening thunder, flashes of lightning, heavy winds and torrential rain almost flooded the terrace and we have been driven indoors to even be able to have a conversation. I love it
MAY 25th ON MONDAYS I…: resist the urge to drop into one of the many riverside bars for a cooling beverage, after the weekend’s indulgences
MAY 26th I CAN…: and do repair most things as a part of my mindful living practice. Today it was a black lace bra because I love it and it’s cooler to wear despite being about nine years old!! It’s hardly invisible mending but honestly who is going to see it
MAY 27th I CAN’T…: resist a frozen Khmer coffee after an exercise session
MAY 28th I WORE THIS: Vegemite dress made by me from two tea towels and Vegemite earrings made from the labels from a mini jar of of the black stuff to an Australiana party in the 1980s
MAY 29th I FOUND: this black bead bracelet out hiking a long time ago and I often wear it
MAY 30th I DID THIS GOOD THING...: invited our neighbours to our place for an informal gathering last night and assembled a collection of finger food that was thoroughly enjoyed by kids and adults alike
MAY 31st I DO THIS ON SUNDAYS...: Slow down notice the little things and enjoy life
PROMPTS
