An unexpected opportunity came up for me to travel to Paris to meet my husband. We will spend Easter together in this fascinating city. This will be my last post other than my committed posts for LatinosUSA and Writing to be Read until my return on 8 April. If you celebrate, wishing you a blessed Easter.
These are some pictures I took while crossing Westminster Bridge in the taxi. It was so hot, all the windows were wide open. The traffic allowed for decent pictures.
This is my favourite photograph from Japan. It was also taken from a taxi. I opened the window much to the driver’s horror – haha!
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.
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.
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