Dinner last night at Gay's house ... still de-briefing after her time in Cambodia ... brought to my attention, again, just how international life is on this little island. Accustomed as we are to differences, noticing that there are any takes some effort. Since a couple at the table were new additions, perspectives, accents, looks and dress were unfamiliar enough to note. Represented at our mini-UN: England, Wales, Jersey C.I., Greece, Cyprus, South Africa, Seychelles, the US and Cambodia.

At a Christmas feast a couple of years ago, someone decided to tally diners by nationality... more

Gay has been checking in again from Cambodia. She's up in Siem Reap now ...

Six hour bus drive yesterday to get here was a bit too long, though the muted film and music videos seemed to keep most people entertained. Too tired to go out and do anything exciting after that so ate at the hotel restaurant - for the first 20 minutes I was the only customer. Well, me and the rat....

My tuk tuk driver for the next few days is called Pisith which really sounds as though someone... more

Erin of Transracial Blog fame here on AdoptionBlogs.com gave a call for favorite quotes. Mine leapt immediately to mind. Not words that would ever have passed over the lips of the Mahatma, the simple eloquence has inspired me through the years, as succinctly pithy phrases are meant.

It's Hemingway, pure and simple:

The road to hell is paved with unbought stuffed dogs.

To give context, it's from a scene in "The Sun Also Rises" where a drunken Jake Barns and... more

News from the world today ... Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his cell in The Hague ... and, with that, another genocidal madman escapes punishment in this realm.

Don't they all? I was born in 1951, shortly after the war to end all wars wrapped up and the horrors of the Holocaust were revealed. Like every other young schoolgirl, I read "The Diary of Anne Frank" and tried to imagine her world and her fate. I grew up knowing of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen and poison showers and furnaces and had no doubt that evil had walked and talked and been admired,... more

How small is the world these days? Nancy Ashe (the Editor's Blog) and I were having an email conversation yesterday ... some photos included ... and discovered that the chairs used for public gatherings where she is are exactly the same as the ones used here. That may seem a small thing, but Nancy is in Greece and I live in Seychelles. We're thousands of miles apart in separate hemispheres in countries that are different from each other in just about every way countries could be.

Greece enjoys an ancient history, was the center... more

My dear friend Gay has finished the house building project and sends a report from Cambodia this morning:

We did it - we built 10 houses in two and a half days and it was the most wonderful experience to be able to work with the Tabitha local staff and the villagers. Building 10 houses isn't quite as tough as it sounds when you know that the foundations, pillars, corrugated iron roof and framework were already up, but it still meant... more

We're getting some parallel thinking on these blogs; either that or a synchronicity is creeping into all of us as we write. I find myself in tune with fellow bloggers here on adoptionblogs.com and following threads.

Today's example had me laughing, as Adrienne's post (Russia Adoption) on "Long Way Round" sits just a couple above mine on "Tales of Female Nomad", and these two works have been juxtaposed as closely before.

... more

I am a modern-day nomad. I have no permanent address, no possessions except the ones I carry, and I rarely know where I’ll be six months from now. I move through the world without a plan, guided by instinct, connecting through trust, and constantly watching for serendipitous opportunities. Rita Golden Gelman "Tales of a Female Nomad"

On my "women who inspire" list with Karen Blixen, Osa Johnson, Beryl Markham, Dian Fossey and many others who refused to be limited by time, place and circumstance, Rita Golden Gelman... more

Thanks to the age we live in, my friend Gay has been able to keep me posted on her activities in Cambodia this week. She’s over there on a house building trip with Tabitha USA. On Saturday she:

Met up with the rest of the team yesterday and this is going to be quite a tough few days building as we comprise five women, one 12 year old boy and Dave to build 10 houses in four days. M. was here two years ago so has had some experience, P. has worked with Habitat in Mongolia but she must be getting on... more

My friend Gay is off to Cambodia. We dropped her at the airport last night and she arrived in Singapore this morning where she’ll do a bit of shopping, lunch with another friend, then fly off for Phnom Penh this evening. It’s only seven hours from Seychelles to Singapore, just down the block in Indian Ocean terms, and many Seychellois make the trip often. It’s a shopping destination and people frequently take the exhausting option of going and coming back on the same day just to pick up necessary items not available on this much smaller island. Although Gay did leave with a shopping... more