100 ABSTRACTS - NO 88 & FLOWER FRIDAY & A BLIPMEET

I think it’s fair to say - and I know Mr HCB would agree - he is not the flower-buying sort. I honestly can’t remember the last time he bought me flowers - but many years ago he bought me an orchid plant, and his argument is that it  keeps on flowering, so why bother to buy extra flowers?

Last year and this year, however, he bought several carnation and chrysanthemum plants so that he could pick them for me to have indoors. I must admit we do prefer to see our flowers in the garden, in their natural habitat, but these are grown specially to be picked. 

Having had a wander around the garden this morning - and it's looking good at the moment - I was delighted to be given some carnations and chrysanthemums so that I could enjoy them indoors.  There isn’t much perfume to the chrysanths but the carnations have that wonderful clove smell that will assail my nostrils every time I go into the kitchen - because they are on my kitchen windowsill.  I know, and said to Mr HCB, that his Dad would be so proud of him, which made him smile!

These are the carnations, fartnarkled a little in my iColorama app and this is Number 88 in my 100 Abstracts Challenge, which I am doing to raise awareness of the Mamie Martin Fund, a charity which helps impoverished girls in North Malawi to obtain a good secondary school education.

Secondary education is not free in Malawi - currently the annual school fees for each girl who attends boarding school are £350, which covers tuition, boarding and text book fees.  Today, while 27% of girls in Malawi enrol in secondary school only 13% actually attend and just a fraction of that group will finish school with only 5% passing their MSCE exam.  However, many girls drop out due to financial hardship, which is where the Mamie Martin Fund helps so many of them.


I am hoping to raise at least £350 to keep one girl at boarding school for a year - will you help me to do that, please, by sponsoring me?

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Since writing the above whilst sitting in the garden having a cup of coffee with Mr. HCB,  I had a text from Heidi, a Blip friend, to ask if the Teds were at home - not us, but the Teds!!  We said they were, but that Mr. HCB was about to go off to cricket, so she said she was passing us on the M4 motorway, and wondered if she could pop in for a quick physically distanced cuppa.  I said we would be delighted to see her, as it has been too long since our last Blipmeet.

So just after 11 o’clock, Heidi arrived and managed to have a quick chat with Mr. HCB before he left.  We chatted some more, then I asked Heidi if she would like a sandwich for lunch, which she said would be good - so on my extra, as well as the original of the carnation shot, is a photograph of Heidi and you will also see her "Gang" with JH Ted and his friends.  We had a lovely time together and all the Teds, Penny and Hoggy said how lovely it was to meet Heidi’s Gang.  I hope it won’t be so long until our next Blipmeet! 

“Sometimes the best things in life
     are unexpected.”
Faith Sullivan

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MaureenIles