The full fishing net

Dearest Honey,

You're saying to yourself, yes a net, pretty net, but what has that got to do with me?

The thing is that this represents the net of YOUR love, the ties of friendship and love you have let out into the waters of life for as long as I've known you and probably for much longer before.

When I was sick, you took care of me and organised a rota of friends to come and feed me (mainly with a well-known grape-based anti-depressant analgesic, from the little I recall). You accompanied me to the hospital for my tests, carrying unspeakable samples back to the nurses for me. You were so full of rejoicing when I started to walk again. I've seen you do as much and more for lots of people, people I know well, people I know less well, anyone who needed you, you were there any time of the night or day with open arms and an open house and an open heart. You healed us all.

Tons of people could tell their own story of the strength of your friendship. That's the net you've cast, and it it "HUUUUUUUGE", as you would say.

Now the net of love is closing and bringing in with it the love and care that everyone not only owes you, but also holds for you beyond duty or gratefulness or debt. They love you and care because you are such a strong, supportive person. We are all fish of laughter and love, caught in your net of friendship.

Pema is beautiful, and strong, and the very spit of her mother.

Love you
Marianne

Honey and Pema

This is an absolutely wonderful photo of a very tired, happy, ecstatic mother holding her new-born daughter to her chest.

I can only think of one person who could do that considering her condition:

Honey.

I am thinking of Honey every single day, as are probably all of her friends and cyber-friends, no doubt.

Honey is very special to all those who ever had the fortune to meet her, befriend her and get to know her.

From what I saw, Honey is a marvellous mother, friend, carer, lover, wife and so much more. Honey's children are so lucky to have her as a mother, as do her friends. I regard Honey in so many ways that it is impossible to say. But I will, bit by bit.

Go Honey! You absolutely rock. xxx

Pema born!

Dearest Honey,

Congratulations and well done!

Dearest Pema,

Welcome to the beautiful world!

Move and Pema's birth

Dearest Honey

Today you are being moved to the maternity ward, you probably already have been, and tomorrow we will meet Pema for the first time!

We are all thinking of you.
Love,
Marianne

Masaya volcano

Good morning beautiful Honey



Yesterday I went to Masaya to see a cobbler who makes gorgeous riding boots (he was out but I will call him on Monday). On the way back the light and the rainforest mist were just so evocative. As I came over the hill I found that the Santiago crater of Masaya Volcano was absolutely breathtaking and stopped and took this photo for you.

The Santiago crater has grown into existence since the Conquistadors came. It also erupts proper lava but its main daily output is thousands of litres of sulphur gas. It has lava visible at the bottom of the crater if you can see through the choking palls. During the dry season the sides are parched grey but now in the rains little green shoots have taken hold and it's an absolute portrait of the biological, atmospheric and geological processes that have made our fragile, fertile, fabulous world.

Hope you like it!
Love you
Marianne

Memory Lane

Morning my lovely Honey

The old photos are the best ones...



Love you
Marianne

Cheetah!

Morning Honey

This was taken on the Maasai Mara in about 2004. I am in the other car you can see through the windscreen, but my photos were not so good.



The cheetah and her daughters live on the Mara and are so used to the safari cars that they climb on to them to use them as lookout points, and lie down on the shady side of them. I had seen them on Attenborough but my colleagues hadn't and were very surprised. This one also climbed up to the top, perched on the edge and poked her face down inside through the sunroof to see who was inside. They'll sit around the cars until the mother sees game, and then they are off, so fast that the jeeps can't keep up with them.

But while they are there, it's quite magical.

Love you
Marianne

Honeycheck

Dear Honey's Homeys

I spoke to Honey this morning on Skype. She looks amazing considering the horrid week or so she has just had, of course utterly beautiful if a little thin. The morphine levels seem to be down a lot because she was very coherent, much more focused and relaxed than the first time we spoke, which of course is a good thing for her and of course for Pema, yay.

She isn't reading very much at the moment but is back with us again and looking forward to checking out the blog.

Remember to all have your candles at the ready for the 28th!

Hugs to you all
Marianne

Dearest Honey,

This afternoon I ate a piece of homemade spelt bread toast with this delicious paste made with ground almonds and honey, brought back from lake Garda by Michael's folks. I sprinkled some lavender petals on it from the garden and it was so beautiful and yummy that I took a picture of it for you!

Thinking of you always,

Emma xxxxxx

Evening Sunshine

Hi Honey
I know you like Wales and here's a photo of one of my favourite places: Tenby Harbour in the evening sunshine.

Lots of love from Daphne in a very rainy Leeds! xx

From Vida

Morning beautiful Honey

This is from Vida:

Don Ipolito

Morning lovely Honey

Today I thought you might like to meet Don Ipolito.



Don Ipolito is pretty sure he's 93. Here he is riding back from the nearest town with supplies for his granddaughter's eatery, a 5-hour trip he does every day. He was born an actual serf on a large farm estate near the seaside village where he now lives, which is called Oystery (Ostional) for obvious reasons. He grew up in appallingly miserable circumstances, he never went to school, never got vaccinated, can't read and write and barely speaks Spanish. He worked all his life out in the fields with a machete, on sugarcane crops, on a monotonous menu of rice and beans and perhaps a little cheese curd. He was already 63 when the Sandinista Revolution turfed out his landlords and gave the land to the serfs, who in general managed it very badly, except for in Ostional where the cooperative held and there were enough capable people to administer it. He was a complete inspiration to meet. I and three other middle-aged aid workers sat at his feet like children and he told us that in his 93 years, he has never had more hope and faith in the future his descendants are to have than he has right now. We hear that so rarely that the four of us burst into tears. Suddenly it all seemed worth the fight.

But what I could not get out of him was... he is in the middle of a rainforest and has just ridden for 5 hours. How the hell does he keep his shirts that clean and ironed?

Love you
Marianne

Strange beautiful flower

Morning our lovely Honey,

Patricia picked this flower yesterday from out under some of the lush vegetation in this garden. As with many of the plants here, I have no idea what it's called.



My mother would be right in. She'd say "Oh yes, that's a variegated Tyrannosaurus Rex hybrid" or "Yes, Velociraptor rubeus Karol Wojtla". We were in a restaurant garden and she said "Look at that striatoanthimumumumum carnivorensis over there, climbing up the wall". I couldn't see what she meant, so I didn't know whether to take cuttings, trap it with a glass and beer mat, set the cats on it or gain a new land speed record in Running Away From The Scary Climbing Thing With The Latin Name.

Love you
Marianne

Pitahaya

Dearest Honey,

today I am sending you a pitahaya, which is the fruit of a local cactus. If you think it's brightly coloured on the outside:



You should see what it looks like on the inside!



You'd think with all that colour that it would taste absolutely delicious. It doesn't. It is a mushy texture studded with crunchy black seeds that tastes faintly of cabbage and needs a shedload of sugar to make it palatable.

However one can use the thing to test the speed of one's digestion, because if you think beetroot does funny things to you, you should see what happens when you eat one of these!

I have found a use for it though. Behold my friend Helen, who will now model for you the Pitahaya Cosmopolitan. Unlike cranberry juice it provides no taste but colours the hooch up a treat.



Love you
Marianne

Quickos loves Honey!

Here's a picture of our beloved Quickos snacking down on some waffles. It's an old picture of a greatly loved glove-puppet, well-known in Brussels, as you well know.

Here he is, sending his love along with ours'. xxx

Rainstorm

Dearest Honey,

If you can't get outside to hear the rain then here is an amazing recreation of a storm and then a song by a choir from Slovenia. It's absolutely magical and I hope you like it!

Emma xxxxx

Yellow courgettes from the garden

Dearest Honey,

I picked these from the garden yesterday and being tres mature decided that I had to pose with them first before I ate them...

Love you!

Emma xxxxx

Aguacates

Morning Honey. Today I want to send you some beautiful healthy avocados from the tree.

When I first got here I thought the Spanish word for avocado was the same word as for lawyer, like it is in French, so I kept asking for "half a lawyer with vinaigrette, please".

Love you.

Honey´s Homeys

Just thought I would start a blog for us all to use to post beautiful stuff for Honey. Feel free to post whatever gorgeousness you think she would like to see.

I've gone with this picture of the fantastic gorgeous Honey herself!

Hugs to all