After six weeks of sabbatical, I am starting a new job on Monday. I’m glad I was able to see Paris over Easter and nurse my mother and Michael through the new Flu B. It is a reduced hours job so I’ll see how that goes. Wish me luck.
d’Verse, TDWC26, Sunday Stills, and The Flower Hour
Terri’s Sunday Stills challenge is pastels. My Primrose antique doll and the flowers in the background are pastels. The flowers are for Terri’s The Flower Hour challenge too.
Picture caption: Yellow, blue, and white house photograph contributed by Restless Jo
Primrose looked at her freshly painted home with satisfaction. Arthur had recently finished reading a first edition of Tom Sawyer. He’d been so inspired he’d volunteered to give her dolls house home a fresh look. It looked terrific. Its yellow, blue, and white walls sparkled under the bright display lights of the antique children’s books and toys room.
She glanced at the tapestry on the opposite wall. The dark yellow room was exquisitely sew with careful, even stitches. She liked the wall hanging and it helped to keep the room warm and snug. Museums were drafty. She was glad she had her delightful dolls house to live in and her home wasn’t merely a 2D dream.
rainbow dreams elude
bricks and mortar evidence
my reality
Picture caption: Art inspiration provided by Punam
Click on the bar to view Primrose, an antique doll form Faversham in England, with a background of roses I received for Mothers Day last Sunday. A little past their prime but they are still pretty … and pastel. You will also see Arthur, a vintage doll from Graaf Reinet in South Africa.
Thursday Doors
These are a few more random photographs form my short trip to Paris over Easter.
The two images above are of the moving walkway in the Paris Airport (Charles de Gaulle). It was very long and there wasn’t another soul in sight. For me, it was a little creepy as it was my first time in this airport. I was glad to see the door at the end of the walkway coming into sight.
I cherish the near silence of the early mornings, suffering the rasping cough of the kettle just long enough to make a welcome cup of tea. Outside the window, a garden bird twitters and the hadedas screech their ode to the dawn. In a world that worships noise, my love of silence is just another characteristic that differentiates me from my family and colleagues. I’ll take it.
When I was a girl, children had a lot more freedom than they do now. My little sister, Cath, and I used to go out and about on our own. We both had bicycles so we had the option of riding or we walked, depending on where we were going. When I was in Grade 3 at primary school, roller skates came into fashion. The roller skates then took the form of a boot with four wheels on the bottom. The wheels were spaced out more like the wheels on a vehicle and were attached to a chassis-styled frame on the bottom of the boot, unlike the modern roller skates which are more like ice skates with wheels.
Cath and I both received a pair of roller skates for Christmas that year and I spent the rest of the December / January school holiday learning how to skate. I soon go the hang of swinging my legs correctly to enable forward motion and quickly learned to add arm movement to go faster. I learned to do spins and turns and how to skate backwards. It was an obsession for me and I spent hours practicing. As time passed, I started creating dances on skates to music. I’d set my small cassette recorder up on my bedroom windowsill and practice skating to my favourite soundtracks. The theme song to Flashdance was the track I liked the best and remember practicing my skating dance over and over to that song on repeat. Thankfully, Dad was out working during the day when I practiced so he didn’t complain about the endless refrain of ‘What a feeling’.
Skate dancing to Flashdance is one of my best memories and it was this process of mastering motion on roller skates that taught me I could learn to do anything if I set my mind to it.
Through the window of the airplane at Dubai AirportThe Eiffel Tower which has a lift to take you upCrane to lift up people and building materials – ParisTokyo Tower which has a lift to take you upLondon EyeStaircase in the Tate Modern, London
The Jardin du Luxembourg was created in 1612 when Marie de’ Medici, the widow of King Henry IV, constructed the Luxembourg Palace as her new residence. This is the number one garden in Paris and is known for its lawns, tree-lined promenades, tennis courts, flowerbeds, model sailboats on its octagonal Grand Bassin. It is also home to the Fontaine de l’Observatoire and Medici Fountain. I’m showcasing the Fontaine de l’Observatoire today.
Click on the slideshow to see the Fontaine de l’Observatoire:
This is one of my Youtube videos of this fountain:
You can see more of my Paris Youtube videos on my channel.
Thursday Doors
The Universite de Paris Institut d’Art Et d’Archeologie is near the Jardin du Luxembourg. I really liked the brick patterning of this building which is why I took these photographs. It reminded me of lego.
These photographs are of flowers and statues in the Jardin du Luxembourg. They are for Terri’s The Flower Hours (most of the flowers are tulips) and for Dan’s CFFC as these were taken while we walked. We walked approximately 20,000 steps a day for the 6 days I was in Paris.
Kim at d’Verse challenged poets to write an acrostic poem using someone’s name. When I read here post here: https://dversepoets.com/2026/03/19/meeting-the-bar-tell-me-your-name/ I realised there is a lot more to this form than I have previously believed. I embraced it and wrote two acrostic poems.
The second poem forms the name of my oldest son, Gregory, who graduated from University with Honours in Mathematics this week (with distinction). He is working as a tutor at the University while he does a Masters in Homological Mathematics. This poem is for the d’Verse challenge. Thank you, Kim!
I have also written a micro poem which is between the two poems and about my son.
Mother Love (for W3)
My son, you have made me so proud. It’s an
Outstanding achievement to pass Honours with distinction. Now,
There you are on the threshold of an exciting new life. I
Hope your hard work and dedication will serve you well. You are so
Ernest in your quest to find meaning in your life. Your
Resolve to help others up the education ladder makes you a
Lighthouse in the lives of those less gifted than you. You turn the
Ordinary into something brighter and better. You are calm and never
Vexed when things don’t go your way. This quality makes you quite
Extraordinary in addition to your unusual mind and abilities.
my best qualities
in your hands have become a
lighthouse in the dark
Gregory (for d’Verse)
Guidance kindly provided in your
Responses to your students. You are
Exceptional in your patience. Ready to
Guide others on their way and help
Overcome obstacles along the
Road to success: Yours and other peoples.
You are a wonderful teacher and person
Thursday Doors
This is the door to the Great Hall where the graduation takes place. It is from last year. We were later arriving this year so I couldn’t get as good a picture due to the crowds. You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/03/19/polish-room-announcement/
These are some pictures from the graduation (click on the slideshow to see the pictures).
I always enjoy De Jackson’s quadrille challenges. This week, the challenge is to write a poem of exactly 44 words using the word bird.
My mom fell in the early hours of Saturday morning and fractured a rib. It is a ‘blunt instrument’ injury as she tripped over a small step going into the bathroom and fell forward into the wash basin. It’s been a tough week but she seems to be on the mend. A am in the ‘dog box’ for making her do the breathing exercises every hour. They hurt but they are vital.
Dora’s challenge is to write a poem embodying a landscape. I’m not sure if I followed the instructions properly (I’m very bad at following instructions) but I have written about how my waterfall painting has led me to a place of perfect peace as I have endured Mom’s fall and a difficult leaving period from my job. This painting has been a significant art undertaking from me. I started it in early December and I’m nearly finished. I’m hoping to be done next weekend. It is my best piece so far and I look forward to sharing the finished piece with you all in due course. In the meantime, I’m sharing a photograph of the waterfall.
Picture caption: My photograph of a waterfall I saw during a hike in the Drakensberg.
Thursday Doors
In early January 2025, my family stayed at a family hotel in the Drakensberg. I specifically wanted to do a short day hike to see the waterfalls and the ‘Grotto”.
These are a few photographs of doors at the hotel, Champagne Sports Resort.
When I was a young girl, I loved to read Enid Blyton’s book series. She wrote approximately 720 books during her writing life and had several popular series like The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, and The Adventure Series. Enid Blyton also wrote a few series about young girls attending private boarding schools in England. I enjoyed all of her books but the boarding school books, Mallory Towers and St Clare’s, fascinated me. I attended a dual medium (English and Afrikaans), co-ed (boys and girls) primary school so the idea of all girls at school together and spending nights in a dormitory with lots of other girls of the same age captured my imagination. One of the concepts Enid Blyton wrote about was sending someone to Coventry. Being sent to Coventry is a British idiom meaning to deliberately ostracize someone. It involves ignoring the person, refusing to speak to them, and acting as if they do not exist. It is a form of social punishment or a way of expressing disapproval of someone’s actions.
Over the past two weeks since I resigned from my job, I feel as if I’ve been sent to Coventry by my senior work colleagues. I went into the office twice the first week following my resignation the previous Friday. The second office visit, on a Thursday, was awful. There is no other word to describe it. I felt like I had walked into a wall of resentment and anger. I could almost feel and taste the disapproval. Of course, I may have read too much into the situation as I am an empath and overly sensitive to other people’s emotions and behaviours, but I don’t think I did. I take responsibility for my work and commitments, so I originally offered to stay on a contract basis to see through the projects I’m currently working on. This offer was thrown back in my face, and I ended up having words with two of my senior colleagues. It was upsetting for me because I am sensitive but also because I think it was an illogical and ill-conceived reaction. I am an easy target for guilt because I am a soft touch and generally willing to help others. These are the personal characteristics that caused the overwhelm that resulted in my decision to leave in the first place. The more you give, the more people take and the resultant stress was becoming a health problem for me as I wasn’t getting enough down time to destress and unwind. My back went into severe spasm in mid-January and the doctors say it had probably been in spasm for months. It is now out of spasm due to a stringent programme of exercise, physiotherapy, and painkillers. I am glad I don’t need strong painkillers any more. I don’t like taking medications for long periods. I am doing very well on a physiotherapy and exercise programme. I was extremely busy at work at the time when the spasm escalated so I only took one day’s leave to get the x-rays and bone density tests done.
I have always been an unusually fast worker. I grasp outcomes quickly and come up with solutions almost immediately. I am a backwards thinker, and I simply work the solution or outcome backwards to give everyone else involved a series of steps to get to the desired outcome. Many of my on-line friends remark on how much I get done and it’s because I am able to work so fast (probably up to 4 x faster than most people) and I also have a retentive memory. I never take notes or write anything down because I don’t need to. I always remember. It was only about a decade ago that I realised this is not a common attribute to all people. If your mind works a certain way, you just assume it is the same for everyone else. I have come to realise that working faster does not mean you don’t use up the same, or perhaps more, mental energy. Getting more done quicker requires compensatory down time to recuperate as your battery depletes in line with your output.
It has been disappointing to receive such an unexpected reaction. It took a lot out of me to recover my mental balance last week and it ruined my birthday on 22 February. I had a miserable day. This being said, I stayed away from the office completely this past week and didn’t engage with any of my direct seniors. It is a busy time of year, and they did not try to engage with me either. It was as if I’d already left from a communication perspective. I focused on my client work and getting as much wrapped up as possible before I leave. I am feeling much better now and have decided to spare myself unnecessary anxiety by staying away from the office. I will go in on my last week to wrap up my administration and hand in my computer. It seems a sad way to end a 14-year work period of my life.
resentment
tasting of lemon
curls tongue
aftertaste bitter
lasting a lifetime
Note: This piece is not intended to solicit sympathy or throw stones at other people. I am responsible in many ways for this reaction as I have taken on too much, helped to much, made others too reliant on me and it has worn me down and I’m unable to continue along the same path of philanthropy I’ve always walked. It is not possible to implement boundaries and reset expectations after 14 years; it requires a clean break and a fresh start. Work environments are designed to be capitalistic and so whatever you offer will be taken and used. I’ve shared this information as part of my journey to understanding and acceptance and also because I think it may help others in a similar situation. I also think I handled my resignation badly by reacting from a place of overwhelm. That is me though, I am an impulsive person.
It’s been a bad week. I ended up resigning from my job yesterday. It is time but its been a hard decision because there are a lot of people I like at the firm and I know they need me. This is my ninth and final resignation. But the cemeteries of the world are filled with indispensable people so the firm will go on. It will just be that much harder for the people I like and respect.
The theme is “Let the overall theme reflect the long-awaited shift from winter to spring.”
South African weather is very different to Northern hemisphere weather. We get no rain for over six months during the winter period and as we exit winter, it gets incredibly hot and dry before the rains come in late October or early November.
My photograph is of a beautiful red rose after a rainstorm.
scorching sun
wilted flowers dream
of spring rain
Thursday Doors
For Dan’s Thursday Doors, I am sharing a video of a building I made in Brussels. The video shows a building with all the doors and windows. The fascinating aspect of this building is that its decorated with bicycles painted in the primary colours.
I am sharing this for my talented artist and dress designer blogging friend, Resa. You can find Resa’s amazing art blog here: https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/2025/01/04/skart/. This post by Resa, titled Skart, features some amazing skateboard art and a poem about skateboarding written by me.
The slideshow below includes 1. Flame Lillies in the Isimangaliso Wetlands 2. Male kudu eating in the Isimangaliso Wetlands 3. pink roses and the country club 4. red wild rose at the country club
I’m sharing my photographs from Brussels of Neuhaus. This chocolatier claims to be the inventor of the praline.
The slideshow below includes pictures of Neuhaus in Brussels, Gallery Royal Saint Hubert, the inventors of the praline. I’ve also included my photograph of Neuhaus moulded in chocolate and also three large chocolate smurfs. Smurfs are very big in Brussels.
The gallery includes a giraffe bending down to drink and bats on the roof of the entrance to the Huhluwe-iMfolozi National Park.
My video footage of the giraffe drinking and the bats.
Thursday Doors and The Flower Hour
I am posting these photographs together because the flowers photographs were taken at Lodge Afrique and I’ve also featured the front entrance and door to the lodge.
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