I Am Doing The Happy Dance

Probably not a pretty site to anyone but my husband! Me, doing the Happy Dance on crutches!

I am on my way to MoBay to pick up a wonderful Sistren from Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She will be with us for a week and I plan to show her the best of St. Bess. I won't post while she's here, probably won't have time to reply to shared thoughts and may not even get to my e-mail. But you will all be in my heart and in my prayers as I full-joy the blessing of her being here with us.

She is an amazing, incredible, delightful woman I was blessed to meet during my former corporate life in America. Her compassion saved my sanity more than once. If she gives permission, I will post a blog about our visit once she leaves.

So, while I am off-line, if an occassion arises and you need to do the Happy Dance, here are the instructions. Feel free to improvise as the music in your heart moves you.

Small Victories

Since breaking my ankle in November, I have had to swallow my pride along with my independence and rely on others to do things for me that I used to do for myself. It has been humbling in the extreme.

I have grimaced, winced, sung and prayed my way thru my therapy sessions to regain my range of motion, endurance, strength and balance. I need to get back up on my feet again!

I am giving thanks for small victories.

This has been a week of “firsts” for me. First unassisted shower. First time I could make up the bed in the morning. First time I could wash my own clothes. First time I could brew a pot of coffee for our morning coffee time.

Granted, each endeavor left me weak, sweaty, and trembling. But I am doing what I couldn’t do last week.

Thank you, Jah, for the gift of healing you are giving me each day.

My First Beaded Piece

This is the first beaded piece I ever completed. It is a peyote stitch amulet bag done in silver-lined clear and gold size 6 beads with size 10 gold seed bead embellishments. The King Tut charm is a gold-toned metal. The pyramid is off-centered, because I hadn't yet learned the importance of using odd-count peyote to center a design.


In this piece I can see all the mistakes a self-taught, new beader would make. When I place it by a newly beaded piece, I can also see my growth as a beader, if only in mastering certain stitches.

When I first started beading, I didn't finish anything. I would begin a project, brimming with enthusiasm! Then reality, tangled threads, lack of experience, frustration, and life would intrude. I would cut the piece up, pull out fragments of Nymo or Silamide from the beads, rebag the beads, awaiting my next foray into beading frustration. Remember, back then we didn't have a loving, supportive internet beading community I could turn to for help.

I am so thankful that I didn't let the rough start turn me away from beading. It has been such a blessing to me over these past few years.

Free Rice

Recently I stumbled upon, this website, Free Rice, which has two goals. One is to teach English vocabulary and the other is to feed hungry people. Each goal alone is admirable, but to have found a way to combine both is remarkable.

You are given a word and four possible definitions. You click to choose the correct answer. For each correct answer, 10 grains of rice will be donated to feed the hungry thru an international aid agency.

The words start off easy and as you continue to get the answers correct, the words get progressively more difficult. I found myself pulling out my Webster's dictionary so I could keep going. The FAQ's say there are 50 levels, but most folks don't get over 48. I think I will accept that challenge. How can I possibly loose? Gain for the brain and feeding the hungry at the same time.

Any one else up for the challenge?

Wind Chime in a Mango Tree

I am so blessed to live in Jamaica. This is the windchime that hangs from our mango tree. It has a deep chiming sound that reminds me of cathedral bells. My husband ate mangoes from this tree as a child.

This is a view of our side yard.

This is the view from our front verandah (porch for American readers). See what I mean about being blessed?