THE PROMPTS FOR THE MONTH
FRIDAY 1st BLUE: Vincent Van “Gam” in our little monks’ class seems to be going through a blue period!
SATURDAY 2nd STREET ART: spotted yesterday on the external wall of a new bar and restaurant in old market street in Kampot called “Moi Tiet”, which means one more in Khmer
SUNDAY 3rd CARROT: Ian’s famous homemade carrot pickles
MONDAY 4th PEEK-A-BOO: An, the youngest, cheekiest, cutest, most mischievous and most playful of our little monks playing peek-a-boo with his robes during class. It’s an archive shot from a couple of months ago but he hasn’t changed a bit
Also delighted that this shot was selected din the Fab Four grid on the day it was posted
TUESDAY 5th WATER: The shallow water of Kep Bay in the early morning at high tide when the fishing boats are taking a break for Chinese New Year! 新年愉快！恭喜发财！万事如意！
WEDNESDAY 6th OPPOSITES: Cambodian style Affogato - (Not ice cream topped with espresso but strong, hot, black coffee topped with vanilla ice cream) enjoyed with dark rich fruitcake and light buttery shortbread. Yummy opposites
THURSDAY 7th CARD: The newest member of our monks’ classes demonstrating his comprehension with a flashcard
FRIDAY 8th FAVE SMELL: Latest fave smell is lemongrass and I have quite a few products at home to attest to it
SATURDAY 9th PET: We don’t have a pet as our lives are too nomadic to take on that responsibility but we did man a stall in the market today. It was in a local guesthouse and this pet lives there. She was quite at home among the stalls in the burning sun while I came home with heat rash having sat in the shade all day!!
SUNDAY 10th UMBRELLA: Just a little phonetic colouring sheet I came across when I was doing some lesson prep earlier in the day. Coloured umbrellas by the little monks of Kep
MONDAY 11th FRIEND: My first and best Khmer friend looking pensive at the not so happy occasion of her brother’s memorial service today
TUESDAY 12th WORK: We don’t actually work anymore but this project with the little monks of Kep is certainly a work in progress. They are all working hard on literacy and numeracy skills. Letter recognition, phonics and spelling it’s finally coming together as demonstrated by Gam this morning. I also just noticed, when I posted this, that there are eleven dots so he is twice as clever for realising that that was supposed to ten and just getting on with the task a hand!
WEDNESDAY 13th SUPER DUPER: We’ve taken on another volunteering project. Selling at the local markets for the super-duper products made by IWA Kep. They upcycle cement, rice, fertilizer and other woven bags and one-use plastic bags into all kinds of household products and bags. Just to show how huge the $7 laundry bags is I decided to sit inside it. Photo credit to Ian
THURSDAY 14th LOVE: We LOVE our little monks to bits and I know a couple of them would just LOVE to ride off on this motorcycle. However, they restrained themselves and simply played on it making the appropriate sound effects
FRIDAY 15th INK: The whiteboard markers, refill ink and the ink stained cleaning cloth that became the mainstay of our teaching regime when our blackboard was repurposed with a whiteboard screwed to it!!! Still prefer the more environmentally friendly blackboard with infinitely more colour choices in chalk but what’s done is done
SATURDAY 16th BALANCE: We were at the Meraki Garden Party today selling up-cycled plastic products for IWA Kep. Displaying the bags and backpacks required ingenuity so we balanced bamboo poles in the trees and held them in place by balancing the bags displayed
SUNDAY 17th KINDNESS: Time for a little self-kindness today. After a busy few weeks I bought the final book in a fascinating four-part series set in the 15th century and spent a quiet Sunday at home reading with a little coffee and cake to heighten the pleasure
MONDAY 18th SHADOW: Me and my shadow - just the two of us chilling after a swim. The late afternoon fading light gives the shadows a smoky quality
TUESDAY 19th ABOVE YOUR HEAD: Even though most of the “pagoda” where we teach the little monks is now a construction site, if you look up you can see this now very dilapidated religious banner, installed for a festival, months ago, still flying above your head. It’s an ever-present reminder of the impermanence of things and I always take the time to notice its current condition. Today was no exception
WEDNESDAY 20th A PHOTO: from 2011 when we were living in Rangjung, Bhutan and went on our first trip to nearby Bartsham. While hiking with friends we could hear the squeals of delight long before we spotted these young girls taking a bath in an outdoor wooden tub heated the traditional way with stones warmed on the fire
THURSDAY 21st LITTLE DETAILS: A lot of the little details in this tiny sketch might be wrong but it was drawn with love by Doe in this morning’s monks’ class and everyone identified the subjects as Ian and me. We might just need to keep working on the body parts vocab and sketching the correct number of fingers!!
FRIDAY 22nd SOMETHING YOU WANT: My first attempt at using local green peppercorns to duplicate the original salted fresh pepper I now love
SATURDAY 23rd INSPIRATIONAL: Nothing is as inspirational as nature. Remarkable tree in Kep National Park where we hiked this morning.
SUNDAY 24th CREATE: Today I used the cloth I bought at the vintage shop in Kampot to create a more restful zone in the guest room. I hand stitched two backing cloths and attached them to each of the blinds to block more of the morning and afternoon sun
MONDAY 25th SEEING THE GOOD: is just another way of saying - Gratitude. I’ve been focusing on gratitude with this little app and writing three things I’m grateful for everyday for almost four years now
PS If you are wondering why there is no 10th It’s because I posted it after midnight and there are two entries for the 11th as sometimes happens
TUESDAY 26th BLUE AND GREEN: I was about to post coloured pencils when I remembered this archive shot of a hummingbird I took in Peru. The iridescent green and blue of its feathers makes “blue and green should not be seen without a colour in between” a lie
WEDNESDAY 27th RAD: Ian is addicted to all things chilli and he regularly makes chilli jam and various other chilli concoctions. This however is the super-heated version of the daily jam. We have 3 jars of regular chilli jam, this super-hot one, 2 jars of pickled chillies, chilli flakes and tabasco sauce all home made by him, as well as dried chillies, chilli powder and fresh home-grown chillies in addition to market bought fresh chillies in the house at the moment. Doesn’t everyone eat chilli jam on their toasted baguette for breakfast?
THURSDAY 28th SLEEP: Littlest monk An pretending to sleep today when we took them to Vagabond Temple for a yoga / activities session. They often pretend to sleep when they find comfy sofas
A note from me and a fun shot that Ian took this morning!
Last month the little monks hardly made an appearance in my shots and this month they seem to dominate! Since they are a huge part of our lives here it does seem rather fitting. Nice to see a few archive shots that bring back precious memories too.
