Day 2296: Any time with Demura Sense is special.

3 step Mai: acrylics & collage

Want music?

 

Click here for Camila Cabello, Havana

then click back on this blog tab or here to listen as you browse, or not?

79 degrees, Sunny, Santa Ana, CA.

Seven of us joined Demura Sensei 

after day class, for lunch at Uoko.

Any time with Demura Sense is special.

Thank you Sensei.

 

For FB Throwback Thursday:

Cheri Manasse Gresovic, Danilee L'Don, Demura Sensei, Yvnette Grigg Holst, jacki long

Demura Sensei's 25th Anniversary, 1990

This is something I don't usually do. But I am such a fan, I will.

I know many of you share my love, but for those 

who love to read but don't know of this special series, 

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, I am sharing 

a notice that will give you a feel for the books. 

This book #19, will be a gift I give myself for my birthday.

I have just returned from Botswana and am now back in Scotland. Autumn is upon us in a convincing way, having tried to make its appearance this year in June, July, August, and September. The trees really believe the weather now and are taking appropriate action.  ("Those Autumn Leaves," by the way, was one of the tunes I learned to play on my saxophone. It was relatively easy, with long drawn-out notes. I appreciated those, as it gave me time to look at what the next note would be. As to the words — the only ones I remember are "Those Autumn Leaves" and then it gets a bit fuzzy.) Botswana, of course, was the other way round — going into summer and yet not quite as hot as it will undoubtedly become. The trip was, as usual, the reader safari organised by the Belmond safari people. Readers of the books from all over the world joined the group to spend a week together in northern Botswana. We did a lot of game drives, visited a village, and discussed Mma Ramotswe and her friends. In the evening, over dinner under the African sky, the choir of the camp sang to us in a moving and most generous way. I gave all the guests a copy of the latest Botswana book, The Colors of All the Cattle. The dedication in this book, you will see, is to Karen Myhill-Jones. People sometimes wonder about book dedications — who are these people who have books dedicated to them? Well, Karen is a particularly keen reader of the Mma Ramotswe books. She has been on the reader safari on several occasions, and is doing particularly good work in Botswana, where she supports Prince Harry's Sentebale charity. Sentebale does wonderful work in Lesotho and Botswana, where they set up all sorts of schemes to look after children whose lives are affected by HIV. Karen is building a camp in northern Botswana that will be available to such children for holidays and courses. These children may be socially isolated — they may have lost their parents to AIDS; they may have particular medical needs, but while they are in the camp they will feel special; they will be well cared for; and, most of all, they will be loved. Prince Harry — and Karen — don't need to do any of this, and yet they do. They give up a great deal of their time to do just this. Mma Ramotswe would say: "This is very good work Mma Karen and Rra Harry! You are making these children happier, and that is good." Mma Makutsi would nod her head and say, "That is very true, Mma." And I would certainly agree — hence the dedication. Warmest wishes, Amazon Barnes & Noble Apple Books Google Play Books-A-Million IndieBound Purchase from other retailers » The Colors of All the Cattle No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (19) Mma Ramotswe finds herself running for a seat on the Gaborone City Council — much to her dismay. Her opponent is none other than Mma Makutsi's old nemesis, Violet Sephotho, and while Violet is intent on using every trick in the book to secure her election, Mma Ramotswe refuses to guarantee anything beyond what she can deliver; hence her slogan: "I can't promise anything — but I shall do my best." With Election Day fast approaching plus inquiries at the agency landing Charlie in hot water, Mma Ramotswe will have to call upon her good humor and gen­erosity of spirit to prove that honesty and compassion will always carry the day.

An Excerpt from Chapter One   PICKED UP BY THE WIND AND BLOWN AWAY Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, owner of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, and one of the finest mechanics in Botswana, if not the finest, was proud of his wife, Precious Ramotswe, progenitor and owner of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Many men are proud of their wives in one way or another, although not all of them are as vocal in their pride as their wives might like them to be. This is a failing of men, and must be added to the list of men's failings, although all of us have failings and weaknesses — men and women alike — and it is not always helpful to point them out. But of Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's pride in Mma Ramotswe there could be little doubt. Sometimes, for instance, he would just gaze at her in silence and think, There is no other lady quite like Mma Ramotswe in all Botswana. That thought alone filled him with pride, just as much as it was a comfort to him. To think that of all the women in the country she should have come into his life — that was a humbling realisation, and reminded him of just how great a role chance plays in our human existence. It could so easily have been otherwise: she might have decided not to go out on that fateful day on which they had met. She might have gone elsewhere, encountered somebody else altogether, and married that somebody else. And yet she had not. They had met, and after a great deal of anxious hesitation he had eventually plucked up enough courage to ask her to be his wife. And she — oh, heaven-sent good fortune — had agreed. As to his pride, there were so many reasons for this. Mma Ramotswe was a fine-looking woman, a woman of traditional build, a woman of sound and sensible views, a woman who embodied all that was praiseworthy in the national character. Yet she was also human. She was reluctant to condemn other people for not being quite as good as they might be. She was not one to expect unattainable standards. She understood that many of us would like to be better in our personal lives but somehow could not seem to achieve it. She recognized that sometimes the best we could do was simply to muddle through, get­ting some things right but also getting many things wrong. She knew all that, and was never too quick to blame or offer reproach.   Continue reading the excerpt...

A smile for Thursday ...