Lassitude

Withenay's Wednesday Word - a series about words and their meanings. 
Sometimes the word is chosen because I like it, sometimes because it is unusual, sometimes because I have heard or read it in the previous week; often because that is just where the dictionary took me. Together we can expand our vocabulary, inch by inch (or maybe letter by letter). Your challenge is to invent a sentence in the comments box that includes it.


lassitude
faintness, weakness, weariness, languor (a noun)
from Latin lassus faint

It is how one feels after a book launch party.

It is how one feels after writing posts for one's book blog tour.

It is how one feels when one stays up late at night then is woken by the dog early in the morning.

It is how one feels when no-one else in the family empties the dishwasher.
Or puts the washing out.
Or contemplates the ironing board.
Or tidies away the games.
Or sorts out the paperwork.
Or plans the food for the coming week.

It is how one feels when all one wants to do is curl up in a comfy chair and read a book.

So I just might do that.

Publication Day!

At long last, In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree has come to fruition!

On Saturday I had my book launch party...

And today, it is available to purchase from Amazon - either as a paperback or ebook.

I know this is not much of a blog post, but I will be most grateful if you would consider buying it, or at least raising a glass to toast the book with me! And thank you to everyone who has journeyed with me to this day - your support is much appreciated.

Catharine

www.catharinewithenay.com

Red Nose Day: a plug for how you can help children in Zambia

In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree is a memoir of our first year in Zambia. The reason we went in the first place was because of my husband's medical research into malnutrition and the immune system. We saw, first hand, the results of children that were born into families too poor to eat. We saw charitable projects that offered children lunch at school in order that they both received food and received an education. We know that malaria is caused by mosquitoes, and that a mosquito net can prevent its spread.

So, today, I ask you to consider giving to Comic Relief, which does so much work for the poor of the world. Last night the BBC showed a programme "Hell and High Water" where six celebrities rafted down the Zambezi in order to raise money for education. It was lovely to catch a glimpse of Zambia again, and to see those magnificent Victoria Falls. But they did it for a reason: to draw attention to the fact that so many children cannot afford an education. Many walk for hours in order to reach a school. Some cannot go to school as they have to care for their families (often due to the impact of HIV/AIDS). Yet they are still children, just like yours and mine. They too need health, food and education. 

Go on: make a difference.

www.rednoseday.com

www.comicrelief.com

Book blog tour: Day 1

Today I am not here, nor even there, but with Carol at www.parentpanel.co.uk

Do call by and say hello!

Peregrination

Withenay's Wednesday Word - a series about words and their meanings. 
Sometimes the word is chosen because I like it, sometimes because it is unusual, sometimes because I have heard or read it in the previous week; often because that is just where the dictionary took me. Together we can expand our vocabulary, inch by inch (or maybe letter by letter). Your challenge is to invent a sentence in the comments box that includes it.


peregrination
travelling about; wandering; pilgrimage; a complete and systematic course or round (a noun)
from Latin peregrinus foreign

Tomorrow I head off on my Book Blog Tour, travelling around the world, talking with different people about my book, and writing, and editing, and reading, and living in Africa. I am so excited!

Peregrination seems like such an apt word in the circumstances. One of the definitions - wandering - fits in with this blog: Withenay Wanders. Another - a complete and systematic course or round - fits in with the idea of visiting everyone in a set order, then returning back here in a week or two's time. I'm not sure I'd label it as a pilgrimage, but I'm certainly travelling about. And In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree is all about my travels - to Africa, through motherhood, around Zambia.

The word has a certain poignancy to me as well, as about the only piece of my mother's schoolwork that I ever remember seeing was "The Peregrinations of P P" (her initials). She had moved around the UK a number of times during her childhood and this project was a mini autobiography of her life. I always loved the alliteration of the title, and was slightly in awe of my grandfather who had known what peregrination meant.

But then, so (now) do I.


Follow my Book Blog Tour on www.catharinewithenay.com and don't forget to enter the competition!

Mulberry Tree Monday: Competition time

I am not here!

I have gradually been moving all my writing blog posts over to my new blog and website: www.catharinewithenay.com

Today I am launching a competition to anyone who enters their name in the comment box there.

Please do head over, follow the blog and enter to win the prize.

(It involves biscuits!)


In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree will be available to purchase as an ebook or paperback from next Monday, 18 March.

Hooly

Withenay's Wednesday Word - a series about words and their meanings. 
Sometimes the word is chosen because I like it, sometimes because it is unusual, sometimes because I have heard or read it in the previous week; often because that is just where the dictionary took me. Together we can expand our vocabulary, inch by inch (or maybe letter by letter). Your challenge is to invent a sentence in the comments box that includes it.


hooly
softly, carefully (an adverb)
Scottish, perhaps from Old Norse hofliga fitly or hogliga gently

Thirteen years ago we went on holiday with a group of friends to the Isle of Mull. It was a lovely break, staying in a big old house, chopping wood for fires and spending time with some wonderful people. We spent Easter Day on Iona, an amazing experience, with two memories that stand out: a cross made from daffodils, and the clarity of turquoise blue sea all round.

Colour in that part of the world must be particularly vivid, for the main town of Tobermory sparkles in a rainbow crescent of colour, stretching out around the bay. All the houses are painted different colours, which makes it the perfect image for a cheerful postcard home. It also inspired the children's TV series: Balamory. Little did I know when I gazed at this beautiful scene that I would be watching it for years to come with two small children!

Which brings me, slowly, to hooly. A typical episode started with the nursery teacher opening the doors, asking about the weather and, "What's the story in Balamory?" The teacher was Miss Hoolie. I had always assumed her name was just a Scots surname that the ingenious writer thought sounded good and was easy for a young child to say. Yet, when I came upon this word in the dictionary I thought how apt the definition was for a young nursery school teacher: softly, carefully. I might only have added 'cheerfully'!

For completeness, I have to also glance up at hooley: a boisterous party (Irish). Perhaps that was what the children at the Balamory Nursery thought of it!

Mulberry Tree Monday: An excerpt from the book

It is only two weeks to go to Publication Day on 18 March.

Am I ready?
Hopefully!

It is hard to believe that the book I have been writing and editing for so many years is finally about to be published. Friends have already been asking for signed copies: I guess I have two weeks to practice writing my name! (It is Catharine - with an A...) I can't wait.

As loyal readers of my blog, I thought I would share an excerpt with you. There will be further excerpts during the week on my author blog and website: www.catharinewithenay.com, so do head over there and follow my progress.

So, I should start at the beginning...

Passport Pandemonium

It was as the Heathrow Express was dipping underground, leaving London and all that I knew behind, that calamity struck. 

“Stephen, where are the passports?” 

He stood up to check. They weren’t in his coat pocket. They weren’t in his rucksack. They weren’t even in the basket under the pram where we put everything else. 

They were nowhere to be found.

We were still searching when the train pulled into the airport. I knew with a cold certainty that they were lost. 

It wasn’t as if I had even wanted to emigrate. It had been a year since Stephen received the funding to do his medical research: anything to do with childhood malnutrition, dendritic cells or the immune system and he was in his element. We had both known the project meant living abroad for a couple of years, but I’d secretly hoped that something might stop this happening. What did Zambia hold for me? What if the children caught malaria? How would we cope far from family and friends? 

Still, I didn’t plan for us to lose our passports an hour before departure. 

(c) Catharine Withenay 2013

An African Dream

The BBC is running a series called 'African Dream' which features an African entrepreneur.

This week it featured Sylvia Banda, a Zambian lady who has built up a multi-dollar business over the past 27 years, but it started with her taking ten days of annual leave and attracting her first customers simply by the smell of the food she was cooking wafting out of the window. Now she is exporting her own pre-packed food.

I am always inspired by 'rags to riches' stories - even more so when it is in a developing country and there is no safety net for the entrepreneur. I wish I had the courage (and the skill and inspiration!) to follow suit. So hats off to Sylvia, and I wish her every ongoing success.

You can watch the programme online here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21605796
(It is only 4.20 minutes long, including the titles and credits!)