Magenta Love Potatoes

I bought some purple potatoes... they were on special.
I thought "Why not?"
Magenta Love cultivar.
Strange eating purple potatoes!
Texture is the same, taste a little sweet?

I might buy them again...
If opportunity presents itself...

Book: Half of Life is "IF"

I took this book out of the library because the title intrigued me.
I think it was not well edited (not that I really know much about these things - just my gut feel.)
I was disappointed, and I also appreciated reading it.
It is basically a collection of quotes from here and there - some not attributed that I could determine...

Some quotes I collected:

"Rebellion against your handicaps gets you nowhere.  Self pity gets you no where.  One must be adventurous and daring and accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world - making the most of one's best."  Henry Emerson Fosdick p ?

"If you know your enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." Sun Tzu 500BC p 80

"So why let yourself get angry?  The minute you get angry, you lose.  The action you take is not going to be as smart or appropriate as it would have been if you kept your cool." p118

"... don't get mad, get curious."

"Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of others, but from doing something worthwhile."  Sir Richard Grenfell p 125

"Be happy with your lot - not only in terms of quality, not only with what you have, but for as long as you have it.  Be happy with your future here and now - whatever it may be."  Ben Zomo p 160

"A wise man is one who can learn from every experience.  The rich man is one who knows how to be happy with whatever he has.  The power of the truly strong (person) is that he can exercize self-control."  p160

Forest Walk

Enjoy our two hour Saturday afternoon Forest Walk with us...

She is holding a grasshopper.

As we came out of the gate of the forest, this is the bank of creeper on the boundary of the house across the road.  Gorgeous.  About 4:30 afternoon light - darkening already...

It was good for my soul to be in this ancient, dry, coastal forest.

Book: Morrie: in His Own Words

Deeply worthwhile book about learning to die and learning to live.

At present I read in little snatches of time - but read I must for my mental health.

Some quotes I wrote down from this little gem:

"I let the tears flow until they dry up.  And then I   start to think about what I am crying about."  p30

"Dealing bravely with physical pain or accidents takes one kind of courage.  Facing life as it is, and accepting it takes another."  p107

Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."

Book - Finding Your Way in a Wild New World

Pocket of time today - I am waiting for a contractor to come and attend to our centre-island kitchen countertop which is not attached and can tilt dangerously

So I thought I'd record one of the books I recently read.

I have enjoyed everything I have read written by Martha Beck.
I don't always agree with her views.
I find great value in the way she writes and what she proposes.

I enjoyed this book.


Some quotes I took from it:

"For wayfinders, skilful being must precede all doing." p xxv

"Playing to the point of enchantment is necessary medicine."  p29

"... learn to play like you mean it."  p29

"When did you stop feeling spontaneous joy? stop singing, stop dreaming?" p29

"Play can help our bodies and minds.... when I'm in pain, the way back to health is either deep rest or deep play."  p30

"When you want to dance, lying down is stress and dancing is stress release."  p30

"Determine your own play profiles, and then get busy playing, a lot."

"Death is the stripping away of all which is not you."  Eckhart Tolle

"Death is not the real terror, but (living) life - magically - is" Ben Okri p48

"Things once in contact remain in contact through all space and time."  Lynne McTaggart p59

"Maybe there's a simple, elegant, low-tech way to do something I've been doing in complicated ways."  p184

"All menders need mending."  p194

"By the end of the adventure (life) heroes can live in any combination of worlds, old or new, tamed or wild, combining the best aspects of both into one bountiful life." p203

"The road of trials leads to a life where all trials become blessings."  p203

A Visit to the Durban Temple Site

On Saturday John, Brenda, Vi, Glenn and I took a Winter drive to 

the Durban Temple Construction site.

In the protected wetland area adjoining the Temple Izinga Estate 

has landscaped a path with a few benches along it.  

We walked to the one closest to the road and paused for a photo.

You can see the Temple in the background.

The final concrete wall sections of the first floor will be poured this week.

All the rebar framework is in place.

In the Missionary Housing which you can just see to the right

of the fork in the tree next to Glenn (the dark brown horizontal piece)

the first floor slab was poured this week.

There is lots of deep plumbing on the site -

stormwater and other services systems.

I am amazed at the intricate planning, preparation and implementation

that goes on every week.

Electricians come and go as their work needs to be done.

Tender packages are prepared and sent out to various craftsmen.

The art-glass for this Temple is one of the ones going out now.

All activity is 'orchestrated' by the Ernesto, the Construction Manager.

I marvel at his usually quiet, behind-the-scenes expertise.

At significant moments he will briskly stride to one facility or another,

pause, watch, maybe have a few or a lot of words,

and then go off again to his office, or the plans office,

or Steve, the Contract Manager's office, or Sean, the Safety Officers office.  

I feel blessed and blessed to be able to be here and see and do

and learn and learn day by day, week by week.

I love writing the history.

Eight months before the end of the project a history committee 

will be formed to compile the overall history.

I hope that my contribution will be useful to them.

Glenn compiles detailed and complex technical reports every two weeks.

His reports will also be a resource.

I think that eight months will be another learning curve!

Enjoy your week.

This week Alan, the Africa Temples Project Manager, will be in Ghana I think,

Our LDS Durban Temple site overseer, Anton, will be in Nairobi to 

do some work delegated by Alan there.

Glenn and I will be on the Lord's errand here.

Together, each doing our little bit to lift where we are,

  we accomplish miracles in building the Lord's Kingdom!

Do what needs doing, by you, where you are!

May Sunsets - Three of Them!

Very pretty - every day.

I love the reminder that God is the ultimate Master Artist.

I love sunrises too - just don't see them from where we are right now.

I'm glad to see the sunsets.

They soothe my heart and make a lovely end to my busy days.