We Nichols have often ended difficult conversations with a little shrug or a sigh, saying, “Well… Go big or go home!”. Maybe we’ve been chatting about finances or decisions about dates or impossible logistics, or processing disappointments with the joy of hindsight… Our long-stay visas ran out on the 6th Jan, despite much prayer from… Read More Go Big AND Go Home?
We are visiting our homeland for a few weeks tomorrow, and it made me think how much has happened in the 3 years or so since our last visit. Our trip was at Christmas 2018, and we were 5 Nichols, nearing the end of 4 years living in Bloemfontein. Since then: 4 significant birthdays :… Read More Stats and facts
I had a fun morning teaching English paper piecing today, a skill I learnt from my friend in Worthing. She sent the students a little video which they found hilarious: an English lady showing her work, saying hello, and warning them that it was likely they would become addicted. Meanwhile her husband sat on his… Read More Empowerment can look hexagonal
A few weeks ago we made some prayer stations at church – interactive spaces to help us all pray in different ways. Mine was very simple and took very little time to construct, but I thought I’d share it here as it might encourage somebody. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul says, “I planted the seed,… Read More The Master Gardener
Wow so it turns out it’s hard to find EVEN A FEW MINUTES PER DAY to do actual art!! Life happens: power cuts, car troubles, an unmissable canoe race, husband away, mum going into hospital with asthma (didn’t get admitted), petrol cap getting jammed so unable to fill up with fuel and drive anywhere, electric… Read More Good news, bad news …
My blog stats tell me that THREE wonderful people viewed my last post about Mozambique in October. What is the opposite of an ‘influencer’, because whatever it is, I appear to be one! To be honest I’m not shocked as I wasn’t completely sure of the name of my own blog before I logged on… Read More The day before the 100 days
We’ve all needed a bit of a shove to get going again in post-pandemic life. Hospitable people fell out of the habit of having a full house, comfy people needed prising out of their pyjamas – you know the kind of thing I mean. I have a theory is that this time has been bit… Read More Remember who you are!
In England, the local landscape was quite mellow – rolling Downs and cute little hedgerows. Then in Bloemfontein it was stark, but beautiful in a different way, with huge open skies and wide empty roads – cacti and aloes and sunsets. Now I am in a jungle, with enormous mounds of vegetation along the roads.… Read More Z is for Zulu
I recently got rid of all my old journals and diaries, but I read through them first and copied out the best bits. It was quite revealing – basically I’ve always been exactly the same as I am now. Same issues, same weaknesses, same ranting sessions ….. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry… Read More Y is for Yesteryear
This blog post is a substitute for never having overseas visitors to keep me company on my school run – every single day I find myself imagining what “C” or “M” would say if they were in my passenger seat, and I wonder how I’d handle it. When I first moved here I actually wept… Read More X is for X-treme school runs
Big Sleeves 