AFRICAN ADVENTURE 
July 18, 2012 

"The RHINO population is near extinction..."

Hi dear family and friends,

I know it's been a long while since I've blogged, but it's not because I didn't try! The signal in Africa didn't allow me to upload photos and since I'm a visual person, I couldn't get myself to write if I couldn't SHOW you what I was writing about!!!  But, having weathered a parasite scare, a severe intestinal disorder, the worst case of flu I've EVER experienced...and, believe it or not, a ROOT CANAL as soon as I returned home...a week ago today... I'm now almost back to "normal."  A few more tests and I'll be free of any scary disorders... 

I want to tell you, first, about the awful state of the RHINO POPULATION throughout South Africa. Poaching has reached epic proportions and it's probable that our grandchildren will never see rhinoceros in the wild when they're grown up...a sad commentary on the greed and cruelty of the poachers.  While in South Africa with my family (transplanted from Glasgow, Scotland to Johannesburg and Capetown, South Africa many years ago,) we all had the opportunity to join forces with South Africa's Anti-Poaching Team as they darted (from a helicopter) a young rhino female for the purpose of putting a tracking chip in her horn as well as to take a blood sample and a bit of her ear...all for d.n.a. purposes if she's ever abducted or injured...or worse. All the info the team gathered will aid in identifying, prosecuting and bringing to justice those poachers responsible. It will help A BIT... they need many, many more people to do what we did. Meanwhile, we all got to be up close and personal with this sedated rhino... to feel her horn, the soft skin around her mouth and face and just be in the presence of such a powerful, prehistoric animal. She was blindfolded to lessen her stress and was quite gentle. After the anti-poaching unit finished their tests and implants, we all cleared the area so that when the vet gave the rhino a "wake up shot," we could observe from a safe distance as she got up and walked away as though nothing had happened. It made us feel good to have done a little bit to help...  A final note to this story: I had the privilege of naming this sweet female rhino, so I named her after my Sweetie Girl granddaughter, Lilly... Lilly the Rhino!! Here are some photos of the process... 

...And in another part of South Africa, East London...

Dear friends in East London, South Africa...Ingrid, Andrew and Emma and Holly...we had fun at an elephant encounter!!

Moving on to Ethiopia and my adopted families and my Kara village... located in the southern part of the country along the Omo River, an extension of the mighty Nile.

Kara village (Duss) from the air

Lumale, the 6-tented camp where I stay, 5 minutes from my village

The drop toilet tent and the shower tent behind my living tent

The view of the Omo River from the front of my tent

A pretty empty Kara village...it was harvest time in the farms and everyone was working at their farms during the day...

  

Now for my favorite part...the people of the Kara community...my families and friends... 

My dear friend Walla, her husband Dido and their children

The first ABBY in the Kara community...Walla's daughter. Color me honored...

I've known this girl, Mudo, since she was 4 or 5...she painted me in typical Kara fashion!! Not bad...

My dear friend Buno with her husband, Nanga and her children. Nanga is holding onto little 14 month old Abby...the second Abby in the Kara tribe. Buno's eldest daughter is married and has a baby of her own now...she's pictured with the infant on the right of the photo...

Buno and little Abby

Finally, a few token animals in South Africa...I never see any of THE BIG FIVE in Ethiopia...too many people!

But I DO see lots of livestock throughout tribal Ethiopia!!

 I've had a hard time keeping up with my Art and Sole Postcard Challenge while in Africa... finally caught up with this weeks virtual journey to Ireland...where residents enjoy the world's highest quality of life- it's true!  This, courtesy of THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT, a part of the group that publishes The Economist.  In rendering this judgement, they used 9 indicators to rank 111 countries for its residents' quality of life: material well-being, health (life expectancy at birth,) political stability and security, family life (divorce rate,) community life (church attendance or trade-union membership,) climate and geography, job security, political freedom and gender equality. Interesting, isn't it?

 All for now, dear ones...thanks for coming back to check in after such a long time away. I hope you enjoyed your virtual African trip with me... it was heart-warming and soul-fulfilling to see family (both blood and "adopted,")  as well as dear friends. I look forward to seeing you for the next posting of The Vivere...my blog!

Hugs of appreciation,

abbyj

AUSTRALIA, Shakespeare, Oceans
and VACATION TIME 
June 21, 2012 

Africa...home to family and friends

Welcome, family and friends. I trust you've had a good week...mine's been very busy as I prepare for my annual African journey. INSPIRATION AVENUE declared its blog challenge theme to be "vacation time-" so appropriate! :)  The photo above is of me (on vacation) with some of my adopted Ethiopian family... Buno (my friend) and Mimi, her daughter. We're sharing a yawn... I'm sooo looking forward to seeing them as well as the rest of my Kara tribal families- I have 2! I missed last summer (their winter) because I had back surgery, but I'm sooo ready to go NOW!! I leave this weekend and hope to be blogging from there. We'll see how that goes...

Today is Michael's and my 48th anniversary...48 years of mostly wedded bliss. I'm so grateful for this wonderful man with whom I've journeyed for all these years...thank you Michael...I love you!

SOARTFUL CHALLENGES, in the summer mode, was thinking about the ocean...

SUNDAY POSTCARD ART wanted artists to use SHAKESPEARE as a theme...the piece I did could also qualify for a SOARTFUL CHALLENGE response as it was inspired by Shakespeare's dramatic masterpiece,  THE TEMPEST... the ocean... 

Finally, Art and Sole's POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012 took participants to the Land Down Under...Australia! No worries, mate!!

That's it for this week...must head back upstairs to TRY to get all my "stuff" into my soft-sided, reasonably-sized bag! Wish me luck...

I look forward to our next meeting... don't know WHAT you'll find... thanks for checking in. Please come back and see reports from Africa (hopefully...)

Big Hugs,

abbyj

ITALY, DRAGONFLIES and 
UNDER THE SEA 
June 14, 2012 

Book Spine Poetry... tell a story!

Hi Family and Friends,

So happy to "see" you here! My 6 word memoir for this week centers on my new-found project...BOOK SPINE POETRY. It involves examining the book spines in your personal library and creating a story with them... it would have been easier in a public library, but it's fun and a challenge!! Try it! 

I'm in the process of tying up loose ends before I leave for Africa next week. It's been almost 2 years since I've visited with my adopted tribal families in Ethiopia and friends and family in South Africa...back surgery can really slow you down. But I'm strong, well healed and ready to go now... 

I  did  find time to play with a few of  the  art   blog challenges that I so enjoy...

INSPIRATION AVENUE challenged artists to create a chicken or rooster themed piece...

THINK MONDAY- THINK ATC was into the summer scene with its call for dragonflies...    

SUNDAY POSTCARD ART called for a peek "under the sea" as their challenge... 

and THREE MUSES wanted to see part of our piece "out of bounds-"  I combined the two challenges in one piece... 

Finally, my year-long Art and Sole POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012 took us on a journey to one of Michael's and my favorite places on earth, ITALY!

Some quick facts about Italy:

1- Italy now has one of the lowest birthrates and fertility rates in the world

2- In 2007, UNICEF named Italy the best country for family and peer relationships

3- Italy has more famous fashion designers than any other country

4- There are at least 140 kinds of pasta...Italians consume on average 55 pounds of pasta each year

5- St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is the largest Christian Church in the world

6- There's a hefty fine and jail time if you kill a cat in Rome  as they're considered "bio-cultural assets..."  bottom line,  the Romans LOVE their cats!!

My postcard is from Venice and my book page is a view of the houses on the cliff along the Amalfi Coast...photos I've take and played with in Photoshop.

  

Thanks so much for checking in...perhaps you could leave a note in the comments, letting me know you were here...

Hope to see you next posting. It might be from Africa... Have a safe and happy week!

Hugs,

abbyj

POLAND, MARRIAGE and NATURE 
May 7, 2012 

Since Michael and I have an anniversary coming up toward the end of this month, TAKE A WORD's prompt to do an art piece about weddings was very timely...a trip down memory lane so very long ago... YES, we're jumping on a trampoline!!! 

Hello, dear family and friends...happy that you've checked in! Some fun art challenges this week...and some good learning experience. I must, for the zillionth time, pay homage to Google and the Internet in general...as a research tool (as well as a way to keep in touch with loved ones all over the globe!)   

In my year-long challenge blog, the Art and Sole POSTCARD CHALLENGE, our virtual journey was to POLAND. Interesting place... especially in the city of Sopot where there's a rather unusual house... 

and Szymbark, where there's a whole community of upside-down houses like this one...  different colors and different styles, but all upside down.

Then, there's the KRASNOLUDKI or little people. The town of Wroclaw is where most of them live... kids believe in them and love them; adults are amused when they see them. But, as the story goes, beware of them and above all, don't get them angry!!! 

Poland is a poor country and wages are low. They have the highest unemployment rate and they marry very young. Interestingly, the most beloved "Hollywood Movie Star" for Polish teenagers is Johnny Depp...I'm with THEM!!  Finally, Polish weddings are fun occasions (as are all weddings...) They have a tradition of pinning money on the bride's dress to "buy" a dance as well as throwing money instead of rice at the newlyweds as they depart.
Poland's city of Auschwitz (called Oswiecim today,) houses the most infamous and deadly Nazi concentration camp from the time of World War II. Because I believe that this was a time that shamed humanity, a time we need to remember and never repeat, that's the subject of my  postcard this week... 

A couple more of those blog challenges I love- the COLLAGE OBSESSION challenge was to create a piece of art with a SPIRALS theme......I looked underwater for my inspiration.

Finally, the CRAZY AMIGO blog liked the TREE theme. I recalled a time, in Tanzania, Africa, when I crawled into the shelter of a century-old BAOBAB tree. They're amazing trees- often called upside- down trees.  Some have been said to be over 2,000 years old. Memorialized in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's book, Le Petite Prince, they're found dead and alive in a variety of unique shapes and sizes. The Baobab is also known as the tree of life, with good reason. It can provide shelter, clothing (its bark is very fibrous,) food (its leaves are used as condiments and medicines and its fruit is edible and full of Vitamin C,) and water, (stored by the trunk,) for the animal and human inhabitants of the African Savannah regions.  For much of the year, the tree is leafless and looks like its roots are sticking up in the air!  Can you see me in the tree?

Lots to digest in this week's posting...hope you were able to plough through it...and I look forward to seeing you for the next...

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
abbyj 

FRIENDS, STAMPS, BLUE and THAILAND 
May 31, 2012 

"I wanted to be Prima Ballerina!"

Inspired by challenge art blog THREE MUSES, my 6-word memoir this week flashes back to my much younger years when I knew what I wanted to be...I became a TV producer instead! 

The TAKE A WORD challenge art blog invited participants to create art around the theme, FRIENDS. It was my pleasure to do so!  

  

COLLAGE OBSESSION was in a BLUE mood this week...

Finally, the year-long ART and SOLE POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012 took us on a virtual journey to Thailand. Quite a distance for us to travel from England, but nonetheless different and exciting. Nicknamed the LAND of SMILES, Thailand is approximately the size of France. Called Siam until 1939, Thailand is known for it's orchids, fish and fish products and it's a major exporter of rice for the world. It's a kingdom that was never colonized by a European power...the only country in South East Asia that wasn't! The main religion is Buddhism...95% of its residents are practicing Buddhists. 

Some unusual facts about the country... 
*Every Thai male is expected to become a monk at some point in his life... it doesn't have to be a permanent commitment. 
*Not wearing underwear can land you in jail!
*It's not unusual to see entire families riding on a motorbike (if they don't have a car.)
*It's not unusual to find a roll of toilet paper on the table in a restaurant...they're the paper napkins!
*One of the favorite desserts is ice cream between two slices of bread...their version of the ice cream sandwich! 

Thank you for joining me this week. I wish you a peaceful, happy week ahead. Hope to see you next week when we'll travel to yet another new country...  

Hugs,
abbyj