In Closing

The first piece I wrote for Raining Acorns was posted on November 1st, 2009. It was about clearing weeds from my garden on a summer day in Sarasota, Florida. I seem to have come full circle because, although I’m not a frequent gardener, I was in my garden again this morning - this time to plant new growth. Today is also the day that I post my last contribution to this blog. It seemed like a good time to look back at my 31 previous posts.

I went from my steamy garden

to look through my window thankfully as Hurricane Ida passed us by

to (un) Thanksgiving in South Africa


to a movie about a pivotal time in South Africa’s triumphal transition from apartheid

to the dreamy 3D world of Avatar


to a deeply affecting visit to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem

to contemplating “virtual suicide” in the online world

to photographing the magnificent Banyan trees at my neighborhood Ringling Museum

to memories of my father in recounting our experience with a charging elephant

to a stirring stage rendition of Fiddler on the Roof

to describing the efforts made by South Africa to prepare for the first soccer World Cup on African soil

to being “stranded” in London and Paris by ash from the Icelandic volcano

to celebrating my Mum on Mother’s Day

to compiling a list of weird and wonderful May dates

to enjoying South African restaurants

to reporting the highly successful outcome of South Africa’s World Cup preparations

to prowling the Catacombs beneath Paris

to dining in the pitch dark in Amsterdam

to watching whales on a cold and blustery day in Hermanus, South Africa

to Yonika Shonibare’s marvelous display of beautifully attired child mannequins at the Ringling Museum

to a movie about Facebook’s billionaires

to a gorgeous festival of chalk street art in Sarasota

to baking my husband’s Christmas Cake (again)

to marvelling at a rags-to-riches story

to a wonderfully mild and sunny winter in Sarasota

to listing Oscar’s firsts and lasts

to attending a presentation of the search for Angola, a run-away slave encampment on the banks of the Manatee River

to reviewing a fascinating new book about our relationship with water

to finally end up in front of the television set along with millions of people around the world who watched the Royal Wedding.

So much in so short a time! Of course, I haven't been alone in this venture - far from it - in the time between writing this mixed bag of posts I’ve learnt much more than I ever thought I would, through reading and experiencing my co-writers' contributions to our blog – among them a lovely series about contemporary music by Raining Acorns and of course the always wise and witty pieces by Wide Open Spaces.

Now that I am about to close this short but event-filled chapter of my life I realize that I will sorely miss the connection that I felt to my fellow writers and to all the readers out there. I don’t know what I’ll do next but I do know that my life has been enriched through this experience. Until I actually looked back at my posts I didn’t realize how much I had done and how much of this activity was largely due to this blog. Not only did I get out more and do more, I learnt to look at things differently, to be more curious and to listen more intently. My co-writers inspired me through their excellent writing to do my very best to be worthy of appearing with them on Raining Acorns.

I'd like to say to both of them and to all of you out there who took the time and effort to actually read what I wrote and even to comment:

Goodbye and Thank You.