Jacaranda fever

It's Jacaranda time again! Being a girl from the 'Jacaranda City' (Pretoria, South Africa), it is with some nostalgia that I'm viewing these purple blooms scattered all over the place.

In flowering time, Pretoria appears to be a purple haze when seen from the nearby hills because of all the Jacaranda trees. The time of year the Jacarandas bloom in the city, coincide with the year-end exams at the University of Pretoria and legend has it that if a flower from the Jacaranda tree drops on your head, you will pass all your exams!

Pretoria however, is joined by other cities here in Australia who also associate the Jacaranda tree with exams and students. Brisbane folklore claims that "one won't start studying for exams until the jacarandas have molted" from which the Jacaranda gained the slang name "exam tree". At Sydney University there exists a similar expression "by the time the jacaranda in the main quadrangle flowers, it's too late to start studying for exams".Jacaranda tree in Sydney Uni quadrangle, that I walk past eveyday.

Large amounts of trees are also found in Grafton where an annual Jacaranda festival is held during the period of full bloom. A street parade and local public holiday sees the city's businesses perform street stalls and theatre. A Jacaranda Queen and Jacaranda Princess are also named at a formal ball.

The Jacaranda tree however has many associated stories from my childhood. They say that many things you only learn through experience. Well, from my lifetime of living in Pretoria, I can tell you that as beautiful as the blooms may appear, they're near lethal under bicycle tyres! I had many near-misses riding to school during each October. The broken twiggs function as excellent weapons or brother-repellents, similar to rolled tea-towels, and many kids learn the fine art of flicking them on unsuspecting calf muscles. For the record, the blooms DO NOT taste good, in any sense of the word. They're intensely sticky and it's not uncommon to find bees hiding inside! Quite an unwelcome discovery made while being barefoot. Not much has changed though, I still love walking barefooted, perhaps am just more discerning now?!

Regardless of the many uses of this tree, although this photo was taken this year, it is reminiscent of my childhood and typically the view I had on my bicycle cycling to school. Ah, the good old days!

Count of Monte Cristo

I was watching one of my favourite movies this weekend, The Count of Monte Cristo, and found myself reviled at the way one of the main characters, Edmond Dantes, was treated during his time of life imprisonment in the prison of the Château d'If. It strikes at every fibre of justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness that one's mind can conceive of.

How is it possible that such a life can be dealt to a man who appears that innocent and good? Why is it that evil seems to triumph? Recently I wrote an essay on Ecclesiastes, which seems to raise similar issues. One passage that made me think included that "No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. ... the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him." (8:17-9:1).

It leaves me with more questions though, too many to list here, as indeed the rest of the book does. It seems that we have the desire to know what our future holds, yet it is not possible for us to know this. This appears to be part of God's mystery. That He does not reveal all that we want to know unless He deems that we should know it. The writer of Ecclesiastes however, offers some consolation and instruction in his epilogue: "Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil" (12:13-14).

Coffee anyone?

Something to consider when ordering your next latte from Campos.

I normally struggle to accept conclusions drawn from random spiders/ants/bees on drugs photos found online. It's difficult to believe that spiders are similar to humans neurologically, in the sense that drugs would produce similar side effects in them. Some of these drugs, especially LSD, only alter higher brain functions in the nerocortex of humans. Spiders do not have this area in their brains. So similar effects seem unlikely. Perhaps my scepticsm is also attributed to my own enjoyment, perhaps addiction to coffee, yet it seems strange that tests would be conducted on a species so different from our own, and then to draw conclusions and applications from such data.

This is also documented at a site Caffeineweb.com which my friends have sent me, in the hope of curbing my desire for coffee. It explains scientifically the effects of caffeine. The most interesting quote was found at the bottom:

Important: The information on this web site is not a substitute for an informed discussion with a health care professional. In certain cases caffeine is the primary cause of symptoms that mimic mental illness, which vanish when caffeine is eliminated from the system. But caffeine is also known to exacerbate preexisting mental disorders, in which case withdrawing from caffeine is only one ingredient to improving your health. Whichever category you fall into, be sure to consult your doctor before acting on the information at CaffeineWeb.com.

Inevitability of change

It's been a long time since I wrote and it must be the result of being distracted, very busy and sleep deprived. Over the last couple of weeks I had been caught in an awful downward spiral of waking up every night, not able to sleep and being left only more frustrated at not being able to sleep! The result of 10 such weeks: a very tired body and frustrated mind.

And as everything is shared here at college, I was fortunate enough to get struck by the flu. I say fortunate because it indeed was so bad that I had to get antibiotics and have since been living in the dreaming world of sleep, between drug doses of meds. It's not all that bad a place, as my body is fairly healed now and hopefully I'll be able to make a whole day of college without having to go home halfway to sleep.

It's been a time to reflect and make some big decisions too. After much praying and thinking through things, I have decided that I will finish college at the end of this year and return to teaching next year. I will however, be staying in Sydney and not be moving back to Tassie in the near foreseeable future, as most of my family now live here. A very difficult decision to make and ultimately the clinching factor was where I could serve more, in a church setting or a Christian school. This was the question I had when I started college and it strangely never changed. And so although I love studying, and I am part of a terrific year here at college and would hate to leave, I feel I can be used more as a teacher working with children for 5 days a week, rather than merely a day or two in a church setting.

So, in some ways, this decision is the one that had more implications attached to it. Now I have to find a place to live next year, a new job, move (again), do some church 'shopping' and so change seems inevitable. I'd love your prayers for wisdom in making these other decisions, for God to provide me with the right workplace that he wants me at and to be able to find a place to live and a church where I will feel at home at, to be able to serve and also be served.

Well, this has taken an awfully long time to write, perhaps because my mind is only working at half-speed, I'm going to blame the meds! We have holidays coming up here at college from Friday onwards - looking forward to reading and relaxing with the family. And perhaps get stuck into some painting and printing some shirts, I'll have to get the old silkscreen out again. So am taking a little break from posting, will be back in two weeks when term starts again.

A dream within a dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep - while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

A Dream within a Dream - Edgar Allan Poe

aim lower, think small

To check out a really cool movie about children's minstry, click here

Smelling good and feeling pretty?

It is the beginning of yet another week here at college, and it seems that it all flies by sooo fast! We are in Week 2 of college, five more weeks to go and then it is the end of term again. As I look out of my bedroom window here at college, just through the haze of green curtain, there’s a glimpse of pink. An old magnolia tree is filled with so many buds that are just starting to bloom. So much prettiness just waiting to be released, until the whole tree will be covered with pink and white blossoms, that smell glorious and are very pretty. I sometimes feel a bit like this tree, the slumber time of winter, with it’s cold weather and dreary skies now giving way to some more sunshine and fun times. It’s time to put the period of hibernation aside and bring out all the summer dresses and sandals, time to paint our toenails bright colours and smell good and feel pretty. I can’t wait!