11 March 2021

FOUR HUNDREDth POST … and farewell.

Instead of flora and fauna – this one is about people.. The random order is more or less the time I took or received the photos. Kiki’s hair will be a recurring feature. Actually, now his hair is so long, I think I’d better call him by his given name.

One favorite Keith hair style is this pair of topknots.

Sweet Ashmita was leaving at the end of the day. “What is your favorite plant or animal here?” I asked. “Geese!” she replied.

We managed.to get her and geese in one frame. A rooster wants a piece of the action.

Nobody else feels like taking photos yet.

Kiki – oops, Keith and I walk up to the pavillion after school one afternoon. We didn’t actually walk over to Beamer’s grave, but she is there.

I cannot close out this blog and not mention my dear sweet mother-in-law, who was with us from the beginning.

Keith’s hair is unrestrained in the afternoons.

.It’s a real mop.

He and his Granddaddy have been growing their hair out ever since Monica lost hers. (I wanted to shave my head in solidarity, but that earned resounding NO’s from EVERYBODY)

Nicole sent over a photo of little Keanu. Jumper is his favorite

It amazes me how little ones can bond with animals that are so much bigger than they are.

Next day for Keith it was a single topknot .

I took a selfie with hibiscus.

I love hibiscus because it proclaims TROPICS! We’ve had it everywhere we have lived since we got married.

And I start kind of threatening people that they aren’t going to like the photos I choose out of my archives if we don’t get new pictures ... I become a pest.

Monica is rushing out to an appointment in town, but lets me snap her by some flowers. Look at that beautiful fuzz on her head! And baby due in just a few weeks.

Austin finally mails me a photo. He is not here.

He is back at Plantation Island Resort doing more coral work. Here he is with a trainee.

Akka is a hero and cuts down foliage that was blocking my wifi signal.

I could not believe that a few leaves could stop a signal when wifi goes through walls in a house just fine. Akka explains to me that WATER interferes with the signal a lot more, and leaves hold onto a lot of water. OH. Well, my signal works now. Thanks.

Ok, I’m cheating. The following photo was from the morning.

Keith and braids. I wanted a photo of his braids. He did not want to get braids – the process hurts. (but don’t they look good!)

The sun is down – I’m thinking I’ll just use the old wedding photo of Junia and Nicole when I finally get emails from them.

Nicole chose the mimosa or “Persian silk tree” – which she likes because it is so pretty and it makes her think of spring.

Junia chose star apple … and wrote us an educational paragraph: My favourite I’m holding but the plant behind me is Chrysophyllum cainito. I love it due to the bronze/gold colour of the underside of the leaf while the top side is evergreen.  The tree is very drought tolerant with really dense wood.  One of its common names is star apple, the fruit has a delicious core with a purple thick skin.  The bats, birds and other insects love star apple.. .so when it ripens, the early bird gets the worm.

(Good grief – I didn’t even know we had star apples on the farm … doubtless because of those early worms, bats, birds and insects.)

Now I realize I didn’t think to get a photo of Rakesh – he’s my Rakhee brother for crying out loud and is here at the farm every day. Rakesh was always down in his workshop when I was thinking about pictures. And how could I never have taken photos of the folks who come to do the yard work every week, especially Naholo and Naomi who have been with us for years? I only hope these end-of-blog regrets help me avert some end-of-life regrets.

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Friends, thank you so much for having joined us over the years. Vinaka vakalevu.

I am now planning to turn my attention to my other, utterly neglected blog : https://ffwrcelebratebahaicalendar.wordpress.com/ where I intend to spend a year posting a short thought piece once a Baha’i month (every 19 days). You are warmly invited to see if I manage to achieve this. ha ha.

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During the mop head day, Keith saw a heart on the ground. He was so impressed, he insisted I phograph it.

So I did.

LOVE AND JOY TO YOU ALL.

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4 March 2021

A beautiful flower that Akka photographed and gave me

“Austin, what is the name of this flower?” Reply “I don’t know.” Aha! A flowering weed. Lovely!

My number son also captured

A mossy wall. Very unusual here – it is proof of a very rainy year.

On the animal front, I caved and took photos of our two youngest dogs.

Jumper dog

Jumper is a sweetie. Son of Winky and Bingo. Winky is still here.

Peewee pup

Nobody else has named him, so I’m calling him Peewee. If he stays until he is big, I guess I’ll call him Herman. One visitor offered Austin $100 for him, but he wants Peewee to go to our friends in Suva (who have not asked for a dog…) Peewee is the son of Po and Bingo. Po is also still here.

Jumper and Peewee – March 2021

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KEEPING IT REAL

Things look good … then not so.

No use crying over spilt corn.

All that shelling and then half a bag spilled on the wet cliff.

Injury on the field

All that bragging about our new statue – only four months ago. The Nadro Stallion with the rugby ball, (see https://ffwrfromfiji.wordpress.com/2020/11/04/5-november-2020/ ) Oh well.

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AND SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

In February 2014 I posted a bunch of photos of barefoot people in town. Today I got a bunch more.

I was sneaky shooting all these photos but one. The one who posed for me is Monica’s brother-in-law 🙂 Keeping country living alive right in the family.

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A PROMISE IS A PROMISE

I said I’d share photos of the quilts I’ve been working on.

This is Leo’s quilt. Rocket ship and dinosaur as requested. Milky way, extra.

I live by the motto “Finished is better than perfect.” Now that it’s finished, I’m not so sure… but at least it is done.

And….

This is Noah’s quilt top getting pinned to the wadding and backing. It is “blue, no flowers” as requested. Plus pirate island, porpoise and three turtles (hidden by the person).

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Dear ones – this is my THREE HUNDRED and NINETY-NINTH Flora & Fauna Weekly Report post. Next week is number 400. I think that is a good knocking off spot. Therefore, next week will be my last weekly blog here, at least for awhile. I will try to make next week’s post a good finale.

Happy week to you all.

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