Christmas shopping in Tete, Mozambique!

Miraculously, these beautiful storm lillies break through within a few hours of the first storm of the season...... May we to, in the new year before us, where gifts, dreams and creativity has lain dormant beneath the dry crust of life's constant pressures and fears, burst forth... Bringing joy, encouragement and hope to the community God has chosen to place us in...... Blessings friends!

Yay! The rains have arrived bringing life to all.......

I just love the bark of this African star chestnut tree! A Tete Christmas tree, not needing any decorations to brighten it up......

Oh what memories eating these wild mushrooms evoke..... Longing for the gentler years whilst farming in the South East districts of Zimbabwe..... The start of the rains, Christmas, land preparation and friends and family get togethers....... Thank you for those years Lord, they were good......

This is how Tete is looking right now! Dry, dusty and arid! Pray the rain is on the way and the green transformation will start! Blessings and hope to all this glorious Saturday....

the highlight of my week, when a few like-minded photography friends go out and explore Tete and snap away......

"may your weekend make room for dreaming, connecting, and kind curiosity....." (Emily Freeman)

we are so blessed that when we need water, we simply open a tap (most of the time) and out it flows..... the majority of these local people have to walk km's in this Tete heat, to get a bucket......

the owner of this hut is indeed blessed. He has two modes of transport.......... #happywith@simplelife!

water + people = joyful fun in hot, dry, Tete , Mozambique.“The greatest thing is to give thanks for everything. He who has learned this knows what it means to live... He has penetrated the whole mystery of life: giving thanks for everything.”

"Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business." Winston Churchill....Never taken very seriously in Africa (or too seriously with awful consequences) Its elections today in Mozambique, and plenty prayer is needed.

whilst racing around taking pics of "the amazing race" by tuk-tuk yesterday, I passed this chap and screeched to a halt,thinking how ingenious of him by putting an old steering wheel onto his bike, instead of handle bars. He was so proud.......

no words necessary, the photo tells the story..........

Sadly with the security situation deteriorating rapidly in Tete and the surrounds, I have not been able to get out there and snap away like I used too :( Unfortunately a lot of thieves and bandits have moved here due to the coal boom, and have found so much to "help" themselves to! The police are definitley are not here to protect us and seem to part of the problem. I really don't feel like parting with my camera just yet! Thank goodness we have God to protect us!

if they can find reason to celebrate with what little they have, can you not too? blessed#indeed#countyourmanyblessings#happywithlittle#

God's own rockery, designed specially for us to enjoy. Rocks and plants placed just right........ (couldnt have done it better myself!)

Yes, its just another Tete scene with of the many thousands of baobabs around, but its a scene I never tire of...... May your Monday be filled with a sense of wonder at the "normal"........

May your weekend be filled with wonderful surprises.... Like we did with a lovely shower of rain this morning, transforming our dry, grey world into green....

Tete city at dusk...... the harshness of the day sinks slowly into the horizion. Life becomes a little more "gentler" for a few hours.......

The beautiful, delicate and fragile beauty of a baobab flower always fascinates me! It only lasts for a day and brings beauty to a very harsh, rough environment!

another snap from Mauritius using a new effect on my camera, which miniaturizes the boats....... blessings on your Monday, please prayers are needed for Mozambique, its not in a good place!

"it's so easy to find beauty in the "beautiful places", help me today Lord to find beauty in the "inhospitable" (in the Websters dictionary, this word means ": having an environment where plants, animals, or people cannot live or grow easily") which is so true of Tete, Mozambique

Mauritius at sunset........

well I know am back home and able to download my pics from our trip to Mauritius, so lets rewind a few weeks and start all over again...... these 2 pics are of the Guimbeau family home on St Aubin sugar estate, located on the south of the island.......

http://mauritiusattractions.com/visit-tour-saint-aubin-house-p-56.html

Once you take selfish ambition, jealousy, comparison and competition out, it really frees up a lot of space for joy, love, peace and kindness.......Christine Caine

Kill nothing but time.....leave nothing but footprints.....take nothing but pictures.....keep nothing but memories!

An old combi driven onto the beach loaded with colorful treasures to please a woman's heart!

all of "life" happens on the river............

Reality - expectations = happiness!!

May your weekend be filled with safe travels, hilarious jokes and kind companions....

"It's a land of almost breathtaking beauty or of savage poverty.....A land of inviting warmth or of desperate drought.... How you see a country depends on whether you are driving through it, or living in it. How you see a country depends on whether or not you can leave it, if you have to" taken from scribbling the cat, by Alexandra Fuller. So apt about Tete, Mozambique.

whilst traipsing around this small Ilala "forest" on the banks of the Zambezi, I came across this "religious set up".......maybe its the local people hoping for good sap to make the intoxicating palm wine for the season.....

One report (Moll 1972) states that it is highly intoxicating, but another (Coates Palgrave 2002) suggests that the wine is relatively mild, with an alcohol content of some 5-10%, which lies between the beers and wines sold commercially here. According to Coates Palgrave, the viciously intoxicating product is a spirit distilled from the palm wine. The raw material for these products is sap gathered by cutting off the top of a growing stem and harvesting the exudate. The sap hardens over the wound in due course, and another layer of stem is cut away until eventually the growing point is completely destroyed and the stem dies. Often when this happens the lala palm will sucker from the base, and so that individual is not killed. Moll considers the wine to be an important source of B-group vitamins for those who consume it.

I see so much sadness in the eyes of most of the woman I come across in Tete...... the burdens they carry are heavy.......

a glimpse of "delicate beauty" in the arid harshness of the Tete surrounds...........

When the HOT, dusty, exhausting day draws to a close in Tete, we all breathe a deep sigh of relief! These incredible sunsets are always a reminder that, He is good, faithful and we are blessed with life to face another day........

look up!! thats where our hope comes from...........

"there is always the "background light" illuminating the present"......... Rest in Him.

look up and see things through creative eyes! It will change your outlook on the world......... Blessings on this Tuesday!

this is a bit of a blurry snap, but just love the colours, so had to share.... taken from an article on Digital Photography School website..... "I’ve always liked the idea that great photography happens on the edges. Twilight, the transition between night and day, is an edge. I think of it as the ‘magic hour’. You may also see it referred to as the blue hour, a reference to the colour of the ambient light as night falls."

the dugout factory on the shores of Cahora Bassa lake.......

May your weekend be filled with hope, laughter and many photographic opportunities in the golden, twilight hours......

and so we welcome September and fast approaching October, though our flesh screams, oh no, HEAT, DUST, MOSQUITOES... He is still in control and we need to choose JOY!

a typical family home in the local village areas of Tete. I tend to complain about all the constant dust we have to deal with here, but imagine living like this, where dust is your constant companion. The rains arrival in a few months will settle it all down, and everyone cant wait.... Blessed indeed...

Our loads will be lightened when we reach the other side......but in the meantime, maintaining an attitude of gratitude will lighten our load considerably!

I so respect Bird photographers after trying to take pics of these White-fronted Bee eaters yesterday! Happy Monday one and all......

may your weekend be a beautiful waste of time!

a rusting old boat sitting on the edge of the Zambezi in Caia, which I am sure, if could talk, would have many a story to tell.........

may you too find humour in the little things this week!