REJECT GREED; TREAD LIGHTLY; CARE LOCALLY; RESPECT DIVERSITY ... by Martina Nicolls
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May 2021 Broadcast: Martina Nicolls
MARTINA NICOLLS - NEWS AND UPDATES FOR MAY 2021
Hello,
I'm in Paris. The third COVID-19 pandemic lockdown that began on 18 March 2021 was expected to end on 2 May. President Macron announced at the end of April that lockdown restrictions would now begin from 19 May. Domestic travel can begin from 3 May, and on 19 May non-essential businesses, restaurants and cafes (for outside dining), museums, theatres, cinemas, and sport facilities can re-open. The night curfew of 7:00 pm will be lifted from 9 June to 11:00 pm. This is all provisional though!
I'll be looking forward to mid-May. "She ran out of the house, and found quite a crowd of little animals and birds waiting outside" (Lewis Carroll's 1872 novel "Alice Through the Looking Glass").
Regards, Martina
NEW WEBSITE: A FLOWER EXPECTED EVERYWHERE
This month I launched a new website, based around flowers, with categories such as: flowers, trees, gardens, wildcrafting, floral art, poetry, books, and cafes. And a shop. View the website HERE.
PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO
This month I'm including photographs of flowers. Merchandise with flower photographs can be purchased via the links.
Photograph: Orange Tulips (above). Photograph and merchandise for sale HERE.
Photograph: Red Fuchsia. Photograph and merchandise for sale HERE.
Photograph: Passionfruit Flower. Photograph and merchandise for sale HERE.
More photographs and merchandise are available HERE.
PARIS BLOGS ON MY WEBSITE: THE PARIS RESIDENCES OF JAMES JOYCE The blogs on my website The Paris Residences of James Joyce are under the category Opal Hush, connecting the past to the present, and discovering people and places in Paris. Opal Hush is mentioned in James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses. It's a drink - a quarter of a glass of claret topped with lemonade from a soda siphon. Opals are my favourite gemstone, and hush ... well, it's just a whisper!
Read blog: Cherry blossoms - Paris in the spring time.
Read blog: French architects Lacaton & Vasssal - thoughtful and respectful approach to apartment living.
MY WEBSITE: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
POPULAR BOOK REVIEWS On my blog site, Feast or Famine, I include book reviews, food, photographs, and articles. And photographs of walks around the streets of my current location.
Read book review: The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books by Edward Wilson-Lee
A SIGN OF THE TIMES
"Nobody saw me writing this" - Paris, 21 February 2020
THE PARIS RESIDENCES OF JAMES JOYCE My latest book, The Paris Residences of James Joyce, was released on 1 May 2020. In March 2021, the book was a finalist in the 2021 Book Excellence Awards in the Biography category. To celebrate the book's first anniversary in May and the Book Excellence Award, I had a giveaway competition last month. The 3 winners are: Cathy from Germany, Patrice from Canada, and Colina from America.
WORK PORTFOLIO I've completed two assignments remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. One was an evaluation of USAID's five-year Somalia Alternative Basic Education program, designed to address the needs of nomads and migrating communities, such as pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and internally displaced persons (IDPs). The second was an evaluation of USAID's six-year Bangladesh Countering Trafficking-in-Persons program to build civil society and government capacity to combat human trafficking, mitigate violations of human rights for labour migrants, and to promote safe migration. I'm currently working on a European Union assignment, under the Support to EU Assistance in the Context of EU External Policies, called Education in Crisis: a diagnosis of the education sector in Lebanon.
Here are two photographs from Beirut, Lebanon, in 2019 during an assignment for UNICEF: a coastal view and Cafe/Bar Cantina. On the table in the cafe was a small bunch of flowers.
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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...
City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...
The Knight in the Panther Skin (12th century, this edition 2015) is a recent translation by American poet and author, Lyn Coffin. The author, Shota Rustaveli, is Georgia’s most loved poet. This poem is mammoth, a magnum opus – it is 1,656 verses long, separated by chapters. But readers, don’t give up, because every verse is worth reading. It is akin to 1001 Arabian Knights, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, or Shakespearean poetry. King Rostevan of Arabia has a daughter, Tinatin. She loves the knight Avtandil and he loves her. Verse 368 from Avtandil: ‘The doctor’s could do nothing. A dark twilight on my heart now pressed, I was on fire because of love, but nobody knew or guessed. They blamed my blood. The king decided bleeding my arm would be best; I let it be done to hide the suffering I had not confessed.’ But a knight in panther skin is seen weeping, and subsequently kills the king’s soldiers, sparing the king. Before Tinatin weds Avtandil she r...
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