Still Life with Dhows

My words are all used up. So just some pics of this weekend in Zanzibar. And I would please like to point out that these first two pictures were taken at dawn.

Dawn.

As in veryvery early in the morning

Of writing and other adventures

Oh yes, that's right, I have a blog.

I'm still here.

But I am taking the NaNoWriMo thing very seriously. Some day the words are spewing forth diarrhea like (why is that such a hard word to spell? I had about 6 gos until got it right! Did I get it right??) sometimes I feel like I've used them all up and only had a certain number to give. I flog the horse. He dies. I flog him some more, he wakes up. But. I have reached 20,345. I think maybe sixteen of them are usable but it's the process that counts, or so I keep telling myself. It's in no shape to show you any exerts yet but maybe soon I'll go through and give you some of the worst sentences I can find. "He put a gun in my back and said 'follow me'" was one my dad used once as a kid. "Thousands and thousands of people were dying where no man had set foot" was one of mine (as a kid, I hasten to add!). But I'm sure I have some of those in there.

In other news:
It's finally RAINING!!! Joy of joys
My dear sweet gurgly four month old baby has TEETH!
And tomorrow, dear friends I'm going to ZANZIBAR! (since we've taken the capital letters route). Husband has to go there for work, ho hum what a bore, so we're going along for the ride.

Kay bayeeeee. Back on Tuesday sickeningly smug, with photos and tales of eating prawns as big as my foot.

Walk on the wild side

Yesterday I didn't have the car so it was a perfect excuse to sit at home and writewritewrite. And I reached ten thousand words! And then splutter splutter stall. There's been a lot of splutter splutter and I'm not reading back what I've written coz then I'm sure I'll feel really disheartened. BUT I've reached ten thousand words!! WHOOOHOOOO!

So when my brain got all fuzzy - like teeth that haven't been cleaned in a week (eeooo) - I took the wee gal and we went for a walk. Just a small one up the hill behind our house.



And this is the view from the top





And here, our brave little house



On our way back down we found a prince on his white stallion



Took a picture of us, freaks of nature



Then got home and fell asleep with our rabbit

More of that orange

Serotonin Orange

More pictures from Laos. That colour just sets my skin a buzzing. I love it.

A book in a month?

I have taken up the challenge. To write a novel in a month. 2000 words a day and hey presto! A 50,000 word novel at the end of it. Granted it may not be a very good one but, hey, worth a try, no? I read my sister’s post yesterday and thought ‘hell yeah, what a good idea.’ And signed up immediately. And then I woke up this morning and thought – WTF?? What have I done!

I am doing this not because I think I have a literary masterpiece in me – I know I don’t – but to channel my brain into doing something useful for a few hours a day. It’s got to be healthier than playing on Facebook, surely? This is the theory anyway, in reality I’ll probably be spending MORE time on facebook coz I’ll be procrastinating like crazy.

And hey, its more pro-active than buying a lottery ticket every week. Coz you never know, maybe I’ll surprise myself!

So it starts on Sunday 1st November and finishes on 30th November. Anyone want to join us?

So I may be a little quieter than usual. I’ll put up lots of pictures tho, and some updates.

See you on the other side.

Queen Bee

I love how different cultures perceive beauty.

The other day a friend said to me, “Ah, Miranda! You have got sooooo fat”
“Thank you” I said, since it was meant as a compliment.
“Are you not breastfeeding? You’re supposed to get thin when you’re breastfeeding”
“Oh I am, but I’m eating lots too!”
“Yes you must be. I almost didn’t recognize you! I thought you were---------- (names a lass who is not so thin).” Looks me up and down with an appraising eye.
“Yes, very very fat! Huge in fact!”
“Thank you! Thank you very much”