My last stone must be my thanks to Kaspa and Fiona for inspiring us all.
Each small stone opens our eyes on a bigger, more interesting world!
My last small thing I choose to see is a small reflection of me – in the back of a spoon. I am warped. I am upside down. I remain me.
I have an elephant to name and I am struggling to find the right name. A very relaxed big bull with huge tusks and he is new to the area. We went on an afternoon drive a few days ago and we found this beauty feeding on palm fruits. We parked the car a few meters from it and started taking photos while chatting.
Running a family, a home, a job and a life is a busy experience even once your kids have grown.
I have found that one of the best ways to cope is to sit down as a family and discuss who does what and share out the household chores.
Contractual cooperation works
By all sitting down together, when things are calm and you’re all in the mood to cooperate and be together, agreement is usually pretty easy to reach regarding who will do what.
I hear several disbelieving groans in the distance. But, try it and you might be surprised. The fact is, you all love one another and desire, in your heart, to help one another. Kids have no issue at all chipping in when they feel they have been asked to take on a responsibility and given a fair voice at the discussion table. They will be happy to help.
Once agreed, get it done
Once you have agreed your part, all you need to do is make sure that you fulfill your end of the bargain. If you don’t do your bit, you wont have a leg to stand on with your kids. Fair’s fair!
Getting your kids to do their chores
The truth is, I simply ask my kids (rather than tell them) when they plan to do something and this prompts them to get it done within a certain timeframe. I have written about this in more detail in a past blog; 10 tips to nurture more helpful kids
However, there are also lots of other good places to get advice on this topic. Why not check out the following:
The last but one.
The penultimate.
The previous.
The prior.
Each small stone makes The River run higher!
Today I see my dreamcatcher. It has cobwebs on it. I try not to take this as a sign.
The Asian appetite for animal products is creating demand which, rumours have it, threaten zoos. What, if anything, can be done to reduce the demand?
What do YOU think? Comment below or at twitter.com/#!/LearnFromNature
From The Independent
British zoos have been warned their rhinos may be attacked by poachers because of the soaring value of their horns in the Asian…
In search of the giant elephants of Nepal
A book by John Blashford-Snell and Rula Lenska and the foundation of my upcoming expedition to Bardia, Nepal when we will be following in Rula’s footsteps to gather further data on the elephant population.
From the dust cover
In 1987 rumours began to emanate from Nepal that local people had seen a massive elephantine creature – believed to be a mammoth – in their traditional hunting ground near the Karnali River.
When a traveller returned from Bardia in Nepal with convincing photographs, Colonel John Blashford-Snell, famous for his intrepid expeditions and for his contribution to the conservation of endangered animals, determined to mount an investigation.
Gathering together expert trackers, sharp-eyed Nepalese boatmen, elephant handlers and naturalists, he set off in pursuit of ‘the beast of Bardia’. As the rumours swelled, and the phantom came closer and closer to revealing itself, it became increasingly urgent that the expedition should persuade the local villagers, whose crops were being marauded and houses destroyed, that this was an animal to be preserved, not hunted down.
Spurred on by Blashford-Snell’s indomitable spirit in the harshest of conditions, the team of adventurers encountered dwindling tribes of hunter gatherers, heard the stories of the forest people, fended off charging tigers and rampaging wild elephants, and made one of the first descents of the infamous Peacock Ricer with its tumultuous rapids and sheer-sided gorges. Excitement grew as they discovered footprints here, fodder trails there, and finally sighted one giant elephant, then two more…
Aided in his search by Rula Lenska, equally well-known for her work with endangered animals, and by scientists who examined the carefully collected dung and old bones of long-buried fossils he brought home for genetic analysis, Blashford-Snell’s quest contributed important scientific evidence of the migration and evolution of elephants squeezed out of their feeding grounds two billion years before – and confirmed that the ‘beast of Bardia’ did indeed share features with prehistoric elephant…
Rula Lenska is a leading environmental activist and founding member of Elefriends. This Campaign is part of the Born Free Foundation, an international wildlife charity working throughout the world to stop individual wild animal suffering and protect threatened species in the wild.
Find out more
Mammoth Hunt is a tale of discovery and adventure. The book contains some fabulous photographs of the giant elephants that the expedition came across as well as other wildlife. For those who wish to read the full, exciting tale; Mammoth Hunt can still be purchased from Amazon.
For those who wish to hear how I get on with the 2012 expedition when we return to Bardia to seek out and monitor the giant elephants once more, and continue the important work towards reducing local fear of these magnificent creatures, please elect to follow this blog where I shall be keeping readers updated throughout.
Three stones to go! Will my offerings become more interesting… or simply more banal?
Today’s observation is of a painting. I created it. I still rather like it. Unusual!
The simple answer to this is ‘never’, but knowing this is not terribly useful for the poor parent who wishes to understand when it is safe to start travelling around the world, leaving their family behind them.
Teenagers need you more than they will admit
However much they will protest otherwise, the average teenager needs you more than they are willing to admit.
Past a certain age, they don’t necessarily need you to sit with them, keep them company, feed them, water them, organise them or in any way try to control how they spend their days. They do however need you to be in the house, so it feels like a home. They need to know that you are there when they need you. They need to trust that they have someone to come to when they suddenly feel the need to share – even for only a minute per day. And, if you’re not there too often, they begin to feel your absence and resent it. In my opinion at least.
A parent’s freedom needs to be carefully extracted
So, as a parent of teenagers, looking for the freedom to depart for several weeks it is sensible to pad the route. Your sons and daughters should be carefully prepared for your absence.
They need a great deal of notice. The longer the trip – the more notice. They need to be included in your plans and allowed to get excited on your behalf. It is a good idea to imagine that you need to get their permission. In fact, this is not really all that far from the truth. You may be in charge – but your first responsibility as a parent is to them.
I personally believe that a parent’s freedom requires careful extraction from routine family existence. The second we assume it is our right to pick up and drop everything for a few weeks to ‘take care of our own needs’, the second our offspring will balk at the idea. Instead, by giving them the respect they deserve, and building a web of trust and sharing around the event of our departure, we can ensure that our family life remains stable and that we will come home to supportive teens rather than upset kids who feel they have been ’abandoned’.
I visited Scotsdale Farm outside of Georgetown, Ontario. This is no longer a working farm and is now more of a heritage site and tourist attraction. I have been here several times over the years and I love the old driftwood fence lines and the old barns and such! It was a cold day and there were only a couple of people brave enough to venture out!
A pair of lampshades. More expensive than most. They came flatpacked and had to be built. Now, all I do is sit and stare at the bit that’s broken on the one on the left. My inability to build is illuminated every day!
