Daddy's Girl

Sunday was once again one of those days on the calender that many people have different opinions on - Father's Day.  I know many people who sneer at the day and call it just another day to lure a susceptible and gullible public into spending more money than they can afford and I have to admit that to a certain extend I tend to agree with them.  If all the day means to you is going out and buying a hasty, thoughtless gift and going out for an extravagant lunch, then indeed it is only a commercialized day on the calender.  However, to me Father's Day is a special day.  It is a day to celebrate the wonder of having had a wonderful man in my life that I could call "Pappa".  A man that embodied everything the word "Daddy" implies.  It is also a day to give thanks for the wonderful father my daughters have in their lives.  

There is such a special bond between a father and his children.  It is a totally unique relationship.  It is a very important relationship, and no other loving relation, be it mommy, granny, brother or uncle can ever be a substitute for that important figure.  

It is a father who shows his son the man he is to become.  To his son he is the strongest, bravest and fiercest man.  A father is Sir Galahad and the terminator rolled into one.  Silently he teaches us right from wrong and we know he is always there, looking out for us, keeping us safe, protected.  With her Daddy's arms folded tightly around her, a little girl feels like a princess, treasured and nurtured.  He makes the whole world seem magical.  A daddy is most often the biggest influence when his daughter one day chooses that special man in her life.

A father also teaches his children about the Lord, our heavenly Father.  Through his actions the nature of God is revealed.  A child who experiences his father's unconditional love, kindness, fair justice and guidance, and witnesses his father's strong morals, finds it easier to understand the essence of God, and is able to build a strong relationship with his Heavenly Father.

Mere words could never be enough to describe the special father my dad was to me.  He still is my hero.  He was a gentleman; my mom would say, with a twinkle in her eyes, a ladies-man.  I never heard him utter a foul word or tell dirty jokes. He taught me biblical principles, not just with words, but by example.  His family always came first.  He had an amazing sense of humour and we were constantly laughing, he was such a jovial fellow.  He loved playing pranks! These are but a few things which I will always treasure about my dad.  If there is one thing I regret it is not telling him more often how much I loved him.

Ever since my daughters have been born I have instilled in them a love and admiration for their father and I have watched how that relationship grew.  They are truly their Daddy's girls.  I love watching the interaction that they have with him, their special bond.  The way they so easily laugh together and tease each other.  The way they value his advice and relish his little eccentricities. 

How blessed we are to have fathers in our lives.  They enrich our lives, they protect and care for us.  They give their lives to us without hesitation.  Don't wait for Fathers day to pass this way again, take a moment right now to tell your dad, or your husband, how much you appreciate him.

If you flutter by here and would like to share something with us about your father, please feel free to comment.

Mr. Patch

This morning while I was still cuddling in my cocoon, hiding from the cold, I was pulled from my semi dream-state into the reality of a new day by the sound of our three spaniels charging past our window in pursuit of some or other perceived threat.  Their ferocious barking did not worry me as I suspected the danger to be nothing more than our neighbour's dare-devil cat taking its early morning walk along the top of the wall.  It made me smile.  The three of them are always ready for an adventure of some sort.

Listening to their excited barking, I realized once again how privileged we as humans are to have pets in our lives.  However, it is something we most often take for granted.  They fill our lives with their presence, and give us enjoyment with their antics. No two pets, whether they be dogs, cats, birds or hamsters are exactly the same.  Each one has its very own unique personality.  

Until recently we also had, apart from our three spaniels and our little Jack Russell, an adorable Dachshund, Mr Patch.  He was the old man of the family, a real gentleman in his built-in tuxedo.  He loved taking strolls through the neigbourhood, inspecting the delicious smells emanating from the hood's choicest rubbish bins.  Often, much to my dismay, he would drag one of the other puppies along on his strolls.  Much later they would return, Mr. Patch, still dapper and clean, followed by a very bedraggled, dirty and quilty-looking pup. He was constantly grooming Monty, our male spaniel, and it was his solemn vow to make sure he inspected all stationary objects in our yard (and if I was not diligent enough, in the house too) and give it his personal mark of approval!

We have so much to learn from our pets, especially dogs.  They are the most loyal friends we have.  No matter how we treat them, they forgive instantly and love us unconditionally.  They give us all their love, adoration and attention and are grateful for every morsel of attention they get from us.  They never turn from us in a huff, nor swear never to talk to us again because of some or other suffered insult.  They wait patiently for us to return, they wait patiently for us to feed them, play with them, go to bed and wake up.  They are always hopeful and despite many disappointments, they stay eternally optimistic. They guard us with their lives, they share their beds with us and even their fleas.  They are in touch with our moods, and don't mind staying right by our sides all day long while we are sick in bed, not even my husband can do that!!  They are great conversation starters, and after sharing doggy stories, complete strangers part from each other feeling as if they have found a long lost friend.

Pets come into our houses, sometimes after long and careful consideration, sometimes unexpected, with soft baby eyes, a little wobbly and full of bashful mischief.  Before long they run all over our hearts. Long after their departure from our lives you can still find the imprints of their paws on our hearts.  How mistaken we are when we think that our pets need us, it is we who need them, for a home,  however beautiful and immaculate, without a pet, is merely a house.

If you flutter by here and have a story of a special pet you want to share with us we would love to read it.  Please free feel to comment.

Butterfly Moments

Time.  It fills everyday.  Our lives revolve around it and through it.  We moan about it, we wish for it.  Yet, what is it?  To give it one simple definition is something that has made even intellectuals scratch their heads.  Some view time as part of the basic structure of life and the universe, that in time things happen in a sequence.  Others believe that time is not an entity or a happening, that it cannot be measured.
Most people, however, would agree that although we know that a minute holds sixty seconds and an hour has sixty minutes, time has a very subjective quality associated with it.  It is closely linked to our emotions. Waiting for the bus to arrive can make a few minutes feel like an hour especially if you are running late, while the opposite is true when one does not want a period of time to pass too quickly.  Then a week-end of forty-eight hours plus can seem as if it passed in the blink of an eye.
Whether you view time scientifically or philosophically, we all are subjected to its passing. Some of us view it as a gift, while others view it as a curse.  It cannot be bought, nor can it be given away or even captured.  It cannot be unspent or re-spent.
Sometimes we perceive time as a tormentor, when old age is prolonged beyond our understanding.  When time granted is short, we feel it is playing a cruel trick on us and it leaves us with unanswered questions, yet to the butterfly those few hours of life is enough for it to fulfill its life's purpose with such an abundance of joy that it leaves us enthralled.
To me, every moment of time is precious, but even so I find it impossible to engrave every moment in my memory.  What a blessing photographs are!  However, I wish that I could have captured not only the special moments, but also those ordinary mundane moments, those real life moments that link the special moments together. Little butterfly moments. I would keep them in a viewing jar.  How wonderful it would be to every now and again slip into my viewing jar and relive some of those snatches of time.  The first time my parents looked at me, the nights my dad tucked me in.  The coffee-fresh mornings in the game park when the day just awoke.  The day my mom sang at my wedding - what a surprise!  Those moments of silly laughter with my sister in the mall, the day she took me to the library. The first day I held my children in my arms, bundling them up against all the sharpness of the world, their first smiles.  Crossing the street, holding onto their tiny, trusting little hands.  My husband's first look of adoration, the early morning warmth of his embrace. All those days he would make the people around him laugh. The endless days of play with my brother.  The special times when I helped bath my little nephew, now a grown man.  The last day I saw my dad, just so I can have a chance to say all the things I never did.  The day my friend and I sat on a street corner, painting the sunrise.  Those cold winter days when my mom would fetch me from school and we would go get warm pies from the old bakery.  These are but a few.
How precious our memories are, and over time they become more so.  That is surely why the old folk speak about "The Good 'ole Days" even though they were often times of hardship.  Time has a way to glorify even the worst of times and the worst of sinners.  Time, elusive as it might appear at times, is a healing balm and a reflecting mirror.  What moments would you like to keep in a viewing jar?  How about sharing them with us here on my blog?
Thank you for stopping by and reading.  I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.  For reading more about time go to this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time .

Butterfly Girl

Today is one of those days.  You know those days when for no clear reason it feels as if the entire weight of the world seems to rest on your shoulders.  It feels as if you can hardly put one foot in front of the other, as if they are tied down with a great big ball and chain.  That is when I have this secret wish that I could phone Superheroes Anonymous.  Superhero to the rescue!!!   Ta - da!!!
I imagine my superhero to be an adorable little girl butterfly with such a cheery disposition as to put the brightest shiny sun to shame, and with a little flick of her pollen dusted fingers all the wrongs in the world are put right again.  All my worry wrinkles would be smoothed away and the fragrance of joy will linger in every drab corner of my life.  My little superhero would clear up all misunderstandings, touch everyone's heart with happiness and sprinkle bags of glittering good intentions all over everything.  The world would simply be perfect!
Alas!  Superhero's are only alive and well in Hollywood.  No amount of wishing could conjure them up.  So back to reality and this day awaiting.  Of course I always have the choice to climb back into bed again and pull the duvet over my head.  I could hope to wake up tomorrow and maybe feel better.  Or... I could get up and bravely face this day.  The truth of the matter is that we do not really have a choice.  Getting back into bed mostly just postpones the inevitable and to top it all it is a total waste of time.  Time which none of us have to waste.  The only choice we really have is how we are going to spend the time and this takes me to my early morning aha moment!
As I was contemplating to stay in bed till a better feeling came around ( or Superheroes Anonymous gets a telephone) I realized one thing: I have to be my own superhero!  I have to be my own knight in shining amour.  Only I can get up and face this beautiful, perfect, unexplored and un-lived day.  It is my actions and words that will write the most important things on the new page awaiting in the early morning dawn.  I can fill the page with frowns and groans, with angry words and negativity, or I can fill it with words of beauty, smiles and love.  It is my choice that will release the magic dust.
Yes, I know.  I can already hear some of you say that I do not know what your life is like, that I do not understand what obstacles you are facing or what circumstances you are living in.  That is absolutely true, I have no idea.  However, what I do know is that no matter what you are facing or going through at this very moment, you do have a choice of how you wish to react to it. And it is in that choice where the magic lies. Every situation, every event comes with a choice of how we will react to it, and it is most often the choice which we end up making that truly determines the direction our lives will take and not really the event itself.
Of course, simply saying it does not make it as easy as it sounds.  It does not suddenly turn life into a magic carpet ride, but it does beat simply letting life run over you and giving up.
So, this all said, it is time to don my yellow, superhero boots and my butterfly wings.  Watch out world, here I come!

If you flutter by here, please share your thoughts on what super powers you would love to have!

...becoming a butterfly

I am not, I repeat, NOT an athlete.  Although I love walking, and can even walk at quite a pace, I am not athletic at all.  We are not an athletic family.  We love art.  We are regulars on the culture scene.  My idea of running is that the engine is here to stay!  Yet I have a dream, one that I have kept quite well hidden, well that is until now.  Deep down, in the very darkest recesses of my heart there is this desire to run at least a 5 k. There I have said it, now I want to hide!  

So, that is how I find myself at this point in my life where I have bought the shoes and actually donned them.  Now it is time to set out on the journey.  Time for the unwilling athlete to step up!

This makes me think of a quote I read in a book by Robert Holden of the two caterpillars looking up at a butterfly flying overhead.  The one caterpillar said to the other one "You will never get me up in one of those things!"  Surprise, surprise!  What was at that moment a scary thought to that little segmented fellow was to soon become a reality.  Not that he really had a choice!!  Yet stepping out from our comfort zone can be equally daunting, and although we usually think that we have a choice whether we want to or not, we do not actually have a choice, not if we desire to grow, or improve or evolve. 

 It is very easy to sit back and let life pass by, to be a spectator, but within every person is that little voice calling out "there has to be more!"  That is the reason new places are being discovered, new galaxies explored and new cures are developed.  That is exactly why man has been to the moon and back.

My little caterpillar friend might be very skeptical about taking flight, but it is only through the process of metamorphoses that he will become all he is destined to become.  How wonderful to be a caterpillar.  One day you are a wiggly, hairy little critter and then some days later you can spread your beautiful, colourful gossamer wings and take to the skies. Riding the scents of dusk, drinking exotic nectar and dancing among the daffodils.  What a life.

A quote comes to mind, unfortunately I am not sure who the author is, but it says that in order to fly you have to really let go of being a caterpillar!  Yes, that is it.  Step away from your comfort zone, or in my case, the life of a couch potato!  Let go of your safety net, and all those excuses, and pursue that hidden dream, that long forgotten goal.  Write your bucket list and start ticking off those things you have finally done.

Well, then, that said, I guess it is time for me to set off on my first run (if toddling down the street can be called running) !

If you flutter by here, feel free to share your goals and your dreams with us, or maybe a word of two of encouragement, haha!

Autumn's Colours

It is Monday, but not just any Monday.  No, it is an Autumn Monday.  To me Autumn is the season when the earth angels run around in a crazy frenzy with the last of the paint left over from summer and they paint everything in bright hues of yellow, red, copper and gold.  They slap it happily on anything that passes close enough to their paint brushes and their laughter is carried on the breeze tinged with specks of winter's breath. 

 I love Autumn.  It wraps itself up in the dawn and the early morning air that touches my cheek tingles right down to my toes.  The heat of  autumn days are mellow on my skin and every breath I take is filled with its rich scent, and I taste its gold on my lips.  It is a season that seems to shout "Carpe Diem" - seize the day!  It grabs the last warmth of summer in both hands and drink up every last drop of sun till it is giddy with the fullness of life itself.  It has no fear of the dread of Winter and it worries not about the onslaught of the cold days coming.  Each leave that flutters down does its own dance of celebration in honour of the life it had.  All the creatures join in the celebration of these last balmy days and scurry around to gather food in preparation for the months ahead, yet they do it not with fear, but with the knowledge that those days too will pass.

Autumn is a time to take stock.  A time to look back, and to see how far you have come and what still needs to be done.  It is a season to celebrate what you have achieved, to treasure the moments of abundance and rejoice in all the storms and rains weathered, to give thanks for each blessing of grace.

To me the autumn sun is comfortable and familiar like an old friend.  It makes every day feel like I have come home. It reminds me of the sound of my mother’s kettle, and I can almost taste her sweet honey tea in the scent of the carnations just starting to bloom on my patio.  It brings back memories of her on her knees preparing the soil for the seeds that will ensure her garden is filled with blooms all winter long.  I want to pluck handfuls of autumn and hide in every little corner of my life so I can treasure it even during the coldest days of winter.

What is your favourite season?  If you flutterby my blog, please share with us which season it is that you love and why.  I would love to hear from you, Just click on the words "no comments" or "1 ccomment" and follow the prompts.

Tribute to Mr. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

Rejoice people of Thembu,
lift your hands and shout, Mvezo,
for a child of pride and joy
has been born
in your humble village.

Lift your head, oh Africa,
hold your breath and wait,
deliverance is on your doorstep,
justice is awaiting its day.

A young cub has risen,
a mighty lion has roared
and his touch has transformed
the hearts of all races,
bringing democracy
to our dark continent.

Son of Africa,
prisoner and president,
father of a mighty nation,
we honour you.

You filled our eyes
with a new vision,
you brought hope
to your children,
reconcilliation and peace
were upon your lips.

Today we mourn,
we bow our heads and pray:
Nkosi sikelel' iAfica,
Hamba Kahle, Madiba.

© Charmaine Fourie, All rights reserved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela
His patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was ruler of the Thembu people in the Transkeian Territories of South Africa's modern Eastern Cape province.
Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the village of Mvezo in Umtatu, then a part of South Africa's Cape Province.
Nkosi sikelel' iAfica - God bless Africa
Hamba Kahle, Madiba - go well, Madiba

Monday Kindness

It's Monday again.  It is strange how the innocent word "Monday" conjure up miserable feelings by so many people.  Just the mere mention of the word causes people to drag their feet, others are instantly in a foul mood, and many people even feel sick at the thought of getting up and going to the office!

However, I have an idea for you!  How about if we treat this first day of the week like a tender young butterfly?  A day full of wonder and miracles that are waiting to happen.  The first day of a brand new week, a canvas waiting for our master strokes.  A new day, when anything wonderful is possible, going into it with fresh expectations!!  Just think about it.  Treat this day with kindness, go into it with joyful anticipation!  After all, I am sure you have all experienced this unwritten law of life : if you expect to find something, good or bad, you are likely to find just that!  It just depends with what eye, what attitude you are searching.

Make this Monday, an unforgettable day, a day to remember, a beautiful day, a day worthy of the 24 hours you give in exchange for it.

Maybe today is the day you can reach out to Tom Thunderface and put a smile on his face, or cheer up Sally Sorry-for-herself even inspire Paula Pessimist!!  Make Monday into Kindnessday.

Showing kindness to others is often the best way to also show kindness to oneself.  You cannot shower kindness on other people without some of it also falling on yourself!  Remember, we never know when a little bit of kindness will be all that is needed to change someone's life forever.

All we need to share a little kindness is for a human being to cross our path, and kindness costs nothing.  What price can you put on a smile, an encouraging word, a compliment, a little bit of patience, a listening ear?

Whatever you do today, do it with kindness.  Take a few minutes out of your busy day and share a little bit of kindness along the way, it might mean more to someone than you will ever realize. 

If you flutter by here, please share with us what kindness it is that you have show or experienced.  I would love to hear from you.

Blessings to all,

Charri

God's Perfect Time

A while back somebody told me this story:

A little boy was walking along and in the veld he found a cocoon, he picked it up and noticed that on the inside there was a butterfly struggling to come out. He immediately took out his pocket knife and cut the cocoon open. Very proud of himself he helped the butterfly out and placed it on the nearest flower. However, instead of spreading its wings to fly off, it fluttered weakly for a few moments and then fell over and died. Dismayed the little boy ran home and told his father about the incident. The father explained to the little boy that the butterfly needed to struggle its own way out of the cocoon in order to grow its wings strong enough to survive. When the time was right it would have emerged from the cocoon, delicate yet strong. This story made me think of us as humans. So often, when we find ourselves in a difficult situation, we wait for somebody to come along and help us out. Some knight in shining armour to fight our battle for us, some Samaritan to help carry the burden and often we will just give up the fight, but it is in the struggle, in overcoming, that our stength lies. The butterfly is exquisitely and perfectly created by God, and the inborn struggle it has to go through is also part of God's perfect plan, it serves a devine purpose. When the time is right, God's plan will reveal itself to us, and looking back we can see how it all worked together to complete the picture. Without that time spend in the cocoon, the struggle towards freedom, the caterpillar would forever stay just that, a caterpillar. In Jer. 29: 11 the Lord promises that He has plans for us, plans that we may prosper, not plans to harm us, but when the time is right, His perfect time......
If you flutter by here I hope you will be kind enough to leave a comment, I would appreciate it.
Blessings to you all,
Charri