African Wisdom: A Collection of African Quotes

I love quotes I think it’s a passion I got from my father who often quoted Shakespeare and had a collection of books with quotes. In commemoration of Black History month I have decided to post a collection of some of my favorite African Quotes and Proverbs on a variety of topics. These quotes are full of wisdom and give us a glimpse into African Culture and History. When you follow in the path of your father, you learn to walk like him. ~Ashanti Proverb

     African Thinking Man: Handmade metal art card by Injete

African Quotes on Wisdom
1.    Wisdom is wealth. - Swahili
2.    Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it. - Akan Proverb
3.    The fool speaks, the wise man listens. ~Ethiopian Proverb
4.    Wisdom does not come overnight. – Somali
5.    The heart of the wise man lies quiet like limpid water. ~ Cameroon
6.    Wisdom is like fire. People take it from others. - Hema (DRC) Proverb
7.    Only a wise person can solve a difficult problem. ~Akan Proverb
8.    Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand. ~ Guinean Proverb
9.    In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams. ~Nigerian
10.  If you are filled with pride, then you will have no room for wisdom.
11.  A wise person will always find a way. ~Tanzanian Proverb
12.  Nobody is born wise. ~African Proverb



African Quotes on Learning
1.    Learning expands great souls. ~Namibian Proverb
2.    To get lost is to learn the way.
3.    By crawling a child learns to stand.
4.    If you close your eyes to facts, you will learn through accidents. ~African Proverb
5.    He who learns, teaches. ~ Ethiopian Proverb
6.    Wealth, if you use it, comes to an end; learning, if you use it, increases. ~Swahili Proverb
7.    By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from the tree. ~Buganda Proverb
8.    You always learn a lot more when you lose than when you win. ~African Proverb
9.    You learn how to cut down trees by cutting them down. ~Bateke Proverb
10.    The wise create proverbs for fools to learn, not to repeat. ~African Proverb
11.    What you help a child to love can be more important than what you help him to learn. ~African Proverb
12.    By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed. ~Ashanti Proverb
13.    One who causes others misfortune also teaches them wisdom. ~African Proverb
14.    You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla. ~Congolese Proverb
15.    What you learn is what you die with. ~African Proverb

    Circle of Sisters, Celebration Table: Metal Art by Injete

African Quotes on Unity and Community
1.    Unity is strength, division is weakness. – Swahili
2.    Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable. - Bondei
3.    It takes a village to raise a child. – African proverb
4.    Cross the river in a crowd and the crocodile won't eat you. - African proverb
5.    Many hands make light work. - Haya (Tanzania)
6.    Where there are many, nothing goes wrong. – Swahili
7.    Two ants do not fail to pull one grasshopper. – Tanzania
8.    A single bracelet does not jingle. - Congo
9.    A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn.
10.    If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. - African proverb

    Soul Sisters: African Art Metal Painting by Injete

African Quotes on Family
1.    A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is dense, when you are inside you see that each tree has its place.
2.    A united family eats from the same plate. – Baganda
3.    A family tie is like a tree, it can bend but it cannot break.
4.    If I am in harmony with my family, that's success. – Ute
5.    Brothers love each other when they are equally rich.
6.    He who earns calamity, eats it with his family.
7.    Dine with a stranger but save your love for your family. – Ethiopian
8.    The old woman looks after the child to grow its teeth and the young one in turn looks after the old woman when she loses her teeth. - Akan (Ghana, Ivory Coast)
9.    When brothers fight to the death, a stranger inherits their father's estate. – Ibo
10.    Children are the reward of life. 

            Heart Ornament Buy at Zazzle

African Love Quotes and Marriage Quotes
1.    He who loves the vase loves also what is inside. - African Proverb
2.    It's much easier to fall in love than to stay in love. ~African Proverb
3.    Coffee and love taste best when hot. ~Ethiopian Proverb
4.    Where there is love there is no darkness. ~Burundian Proverb
5.    If you are ugly you must either learn to dance or make love. - Zimbabwean Proverb
6.    Pretend you are dead and you will see who really loves you. ~African Proverb
7.    To love the king is not bad, but a king who loves you is better. ~Wolof Proverb
8.    A happy man marries the girl he loves, but a happier man loves the girl he marries. - African Proverb
9.    If you marry a monkey for his wealth, the money goes and the monkey remains as is. - Egyptian Proverb
10.    Love never gets lost it's only kept. ~African Proverb
11.    Never marry a woman who has bigger feet than you. – Mozambique
12.    One thread for the needle, one love for the heart. - Sudanese Proverb
13.    Love has to be shown by deeds not words. – Swahili
14.    Love is a despot who spares no one. ~Namibian Proverb
15.    Marriage is like a groundnut; you have to crack it to see what is inside. – Ghana

     Green Snail: Metal Art Painting by Injete
 
African Quotes on Patience
1.    Patience is the key which solves all problems. - Sudanese
2.    Hurry hurry has no blessings. – Swahili
3.    Patience is the mother of a beautiful child. - Bantu
4.    To run is not necessarily to arrive. - Swahili
5.    Patience can cook a stone.
6.    A patient man will eat ripe fruit.
7.    At the bottom of patience one finds heaven.
8.    A patient person never misses a thing. - Swahili
9.    Always being in a hurry does not prevent death, neither does going slowly prevent living. – Ibo
10.    However long the night, the dawn will break.

Say Hello To My Little Friend

As promised, I will be doing a little review of my new camera and lens today.

First let me say, I am very happy with this camera and lens setup, but it takes more than a notion to learn how to use it to it's full capacity. I am finding there is a learning curve going from a point and shoot back to an SLR after so long.

I used to really be into photography years ago before the point and shoot revolution.  I would never shoot with film over a 100 speed, usually opting for slide film either 64 or even sometimes 25 and then converting to prints or image transfers. I especially loved to shoot with black and white and infrared and would develop them myself.

All of the pictures that follow were shot in auto mode, that will be changing I can tell you, and they were various scenes from around the lake we just bought on.  I am amazed how differently the camera would configure one shot from the next with the triangle of F stop, ISO speed and shutter speed.  Some of which I would never have chosen in manual mode.  I also need to learn the little idiosyncrysies of this camera itself. Like see that little switch on the side of the lens, the VR one? Yeah, well it seems that is for Vibration Reduction, helps you steady the image with the large lens, however, like on a computer, I found out ( after i shot all the pix) that you need to switch that ON after the camera is on and it has to be switched OFF before the camera gets turned off or it says the lens may rattle. No worries, just unmount the lens and remount it to correct. Problem is, I didn't read that until I got home and uploaded the pix!  Lesson One learned. 

Don't you just love that Cheshire Cat smile of a moon? This was taken hand held, no tripod with me.

F 5.6   1/60  Iso 800.   Love the way the 300mm lens can capture such an elusive shot though.

F5.6  1/160  ISO 800. This was taken from the bench on the dock and I was facing east. Sitting on the bench and turning to face west i shot the sunset below.

F 5  1/250  ISO 100 Isn't it incredible the difference in film speed from one direction to the other? I think it has mostly to do with the lens length, the sunset was wide , the moon telephoto, less light into the lens.

These cattle live on the opposite side of our lake, you can see the water tower in the distance, we are located to the right of it.  F 5   1/100  ISO 400

F 5.3  1/60  ISO 450   And that's no bull

Isn't this cashmere cow beautiful? As cows go that is.  F 5.3   1/60   ISO 450

As we were leaving the dock, this Lesser Blue Heron was making his way through the marshy edges looking for a little snack.  F 5.6   1/125  ISO 800

F 5.6    1/125  ISO 900

These are the trees right outside our bedroom windows.  F 7.1   1/200 ISO 200

With a lens this long it may be impossible to go really low in ISO without compromising too much in image quality from the speed and depth of field. But that's where this comes in. I have signed up to take an online class in going manual at Big Picture Classes as a refresher course and to learn the nuances of a DSLR. It's called Mastering Manual Mode with Elisha Snow. It begins Feb 3rd and runs for 8 weeks. Signups close on Feb 9th.  Hope to see you in class with me!



A New Chapter

It's funny how a new chapter in your life dawns sometimes without any warning whatsoever.

The scene is new year's Eve, parents had just left 2 days prior from an extended visit for the holidays, Ray and I were planning on leaving Tuesday Jan 4th for a getaway visit to Florida before reopening the restaurant for the year.  We had even contemplated not going as it seemed we had so many other things to take care of.

The phone rings, it's our daughter. She asks " So, are you and Dad going to look for a house again while you're down there this year?" To which I reply, " No, I don't think so, not this year".  You see for a number of years now, ever since my parents retired to Florida, we secretly dreamt that one day we could get a house there too, where the kids and grandkids could visit and we could spend winters away from work and the cold and snow.  Several times we came really close only to have the houses sell the week before we arrived to see them. It just never seemed the right time. Last year we toured a number of houses but nothing clicked.

So after hanging up the phone I thought , well, I could go online and take a look and see if anything new is listed.......

The morning we left, Jan 4th, this was the sunrise as we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. You can see the Cape Henry Lighthouse in the first shot as it beamed into the morning sky. The air was very cold indeed as we stopped at the lookout to take a few shots, these are taken with the new nikon, my first pictures. We were an hour and a half into the 13 1/2 hour drive.

We arrived late tuesday evening, went to see the house weds. at 10:30 am, put in our offer which was accepted and papers were signed right after lunch. Are we there yet? Talk about a whirlwind! But when looking back over our lives, most big decisions seem to have happened that way. I guess when the time was right we knew it and just jumped.  The family of the owners arrived on Saturday to empty the rest of the personal contents and sign their part of the closing and we had our closing on tuesday 1-11-11.  The pictures of the inside of the house can be seen here. Those pictures were all taken right after we signed on the first weds so have the personal contents still there.  The house is a manufactured home, 1456 sq. ft with a 10 x 26 enclosed front porch, a 9x12 shed and a nice long driveway with carport. This pix shows the newly planted gardenia on the west side of the porch along with the lemon tree and palm tree already on site.

The community is a lakefront community on Lake Juliana in Auburndale, Florida.  We are located halfway between Orlando and Tampa.  20 minutes from Disney. We had long contemplated both coasts but decided on being here as it was centrally located. An easy ride to most attractions which is key with young grandchildren, yet close enough to the coasts to visit for fishing and beaches. 

There are 2 clubhouses, upper and lower , 2 heated pools, shuffleboard courts, a dock, and many activities.  We are in the upper section, known as phase 2, number 242, and we are next to a retention pond which my dad says hasn't had a drop of water in it since they have been there in 18 years. The front of the house faces south, the west side is the retention pond so we don't have neighbors there, and the house backs up to an orange grove, orange filled trees are right outside our bedroom windows. The entire community was once all orange grove clean down to the lake.

This board shows phase 1 with the main clubhouse, pool, shuffleboards and dock down by the lake.

We drank champagne with strawberries out of plastic cups and spent one night there before all the work began! In the week before we left, we had the entire house painted inside, ceilings and walls, Ray replaced all the ceiling light panels and fluorescent tubes, the kitchen faucet and guest bath faucet, we cleaned the baths and kitchen and washed curtains replaced irrigation sprinklers and weeded and planted a gardenia which was an offshoot from my Dad's beautiful bush. We had someone come and give us an estimate on wood flooring for the kitchen, dining, living and hall areas which will have to be done while we're away.  We couldn't have gotten it all done without the help of my parents, who patiently drove us everyday to Lowes and all the other stores for everything we needed. I hope they're getting some rest now that we're gone!

With the forecast of snow and ice possible with ridiculously cold temps coming our way, I wish we could have stayed just a little while longer! All in due time I suppose.

Valentines Gift Ideas

Valentines Gift Ideas

The Top 10 Valentines Gift Ideas will be as follows:

1. Personalized Gifts

2. Jewelry Gifts for Her

3. Valentine’s Flowers

4. Experiential Gifts

5. Romantic Gifts

6. Valentine Hearts

7. Spa Gifts

8. Valentine Sweets

9. Gift Baskets

10. Top Picks

Greetings

I have a story to tell, but that will have to wait until another time right now.

We just arrived back home last night from a 2 week Florida visit and are in the middle of sorting mail, checking emails, unpacking, catching up with the kids and grandkids, restocking the fridge and all the things that happen when you arrive back home.  For now I will leave you with this-

I have been collecting interesting old postcards for years now from flea markets and antique shops. This was found at a local antique shop here on the shore. As you can see the postmark is 1938 ,way before our time. Our last name is Twiford, descended originally from 3 brothers who arrived from Twiford England. My husband's name is Ray and he has a younger brother Jack.  Here on the Eastern Shore is a family of Twyford's, obviously whose postcards these one time were. Onley is a town about 25 minutes from me. I couldn't believe the coincidences when I found this postcard and I especially love the printed description on the top back of the card-

Florida, land of sunshine, is the winter playground of the Nation. Every known form of outdoor pleasuring is pursued without the necessity of considering weather conditions -- for winter skies are always smiling and December breezes are as balmy as May.

Mother Inspirational Sayings

Here is  some beautiful mother inspirational sayings and quotes for this Mother's Day.

A mother understands what a child does not say.

Jewish Proverb

What the mother sings to the cradle goes all the way down to the coffin.

Henry Ward Beecher

Mother – that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries.

T. DeWitt Talmage




Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.

Anonymous

A mother is a mother still – the holiest thing alive.

Hartley Coleridge

A mother’s arms are more comforting than anyone else’s.

Diana, Princess of Wales

Waste Not, Want Not

Happy New Year!

I stopped making resolutions a number of years ago and instead have just tried to look at each new year as a fresh beginning to just do better all around.

This year I would especially like to follow the theme of "waste not".

It always bothers me to throw food away or to buy so much fresh produce because it's so healthy and looks so luscious in all it's colorful healthy splendor, only to pick up the dripping carcass muttering something like "what on earth???" as I throw it into the trashcan.

Impulse buying tends to lead to a lot of waste so I will try to cut back on that as well.

Wish me luck.

Time. I don't want to waste or fritter away precious time. I want to glean as much out of every minute as I possibly can.

Effort. I want to be more directed in my efforts.

Opportunity. I want to seize more opportunities this year and not be complacent.

Finally the other "waist" I want not! I hope to get back in better shape.

 I would like to thank everyone who has visited my little blog and maybe commented or written to me privately, for welcoming me here in blogland! The new friendships that have been forged this year are especially dear to my heart! Thank you for being here!

African Women: Proverbs, Poetry and Art

In keeping with the spirit of the New Year I decided to go back to my roots for some words of wisdom. Here are some African proverbs , poetry and art about women, friendship and motherhood.


     Three Flirts: Abstract African Art by Injete Chesoni

African Friendship Quotes
1. The friends of our friends are our friends. - Congo
2. A friend is someone you share the path with. - African proverb
3. To be without a friend is to be poor indeed. - Tanzania
4. Because friendship is pleasant, we partake of our friend's entertainment; not because we have not enough to eat in our own house. - African proverb
5. Hold a true friend with both hands. - African proverb
6. A friend is someone you share the path with. - African proverb
7. Show me your friend and I will show you your character. - African proverb
8. Sorrow is like a precious treasure, shown only to friends. - African proverb
9. Return to old watering holes for more than water; friends and dreams are there to meet you. - African proverb
10. Between true friends even water drunk together is sweet enough. - African proverb
11. A small house will hold a hundred friends. - African proverb
12. A close friend can become a close enemy. - African proverb
13. Bad friends will prevent you from having good friends. - Gabon

Seeds of Life: Abstract African Art by Injete

African Mother Quotes
1. The good mother knows what her children will eat. - Akan Proverb
2. Parents give birth to the body of their children, but not always to their characters. - Ganda Proverb
3. Only a mother would carry the child that bites. - Nigerian Proverb
4. Even though the baby monkey appears so ugly it's mother loves it anyway. - African proverb
5. The mother hen does not break its own eggs. - Swahili Saying, Eastern Africa
6. He that has never traveled thinks that his mother is the only good cook in the world. - Kenya
7. Every beetle is a gazelle in the eyes of its mother. - African proverb
8. A child does not laugh at the ugliness of his mother. - African proverb
9. A mother cannot give birth to something bigger than herself. - African Proverb
10. Give birth to children and you will be pregnant with worries. - Namibian Proverb

    Sunset Dreams: African Art Piece by Injete

African Women Quotes
1. If men swear that they want to harm you when you are asleep, you can go to sleep. If women say so, stay awake. - African proverb
2. A woman can hide her love for 40 years, but her disgust and anger not for one day. - Arab Proverb
3. If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family (nation)." - Ghana
4. A home without a woman is like a barn without cattle. - African proverb
5. An old woman  is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. - African proverb
6. A woman is a flower in a garden; her husband is the fence around it. - Ghana
7. You are beautiful, but learn to work, for you cannot eat your beauty. - Congolese
8. Do not desire a woman with beautiful breasts, if you have no money. - South African

     Friends: African Women Art Piece by Injete

On the way to the river  

African Womens' Poetry by Injete Chesoni
On the way to the river
We stop and catch up
On the latest village gossip
Two sisters, two girlfriends having a chat
We talk of Amadou
And how he has married wife number two
And of Seydou
And how he flew into a rage over
His wife Paige
And her horrendous cooking
He is now thinking about
kicking her out
All over cooking
We chuckle
Maybe we will give her a lesson or two
On how to prepare a meal for two
That’s sure to please and appease her man
Into letting her stay
If she wants to that is
We chat about Mama Lucy
And her cheating ways
Yesterday she was caught
In Chief Malay’s
Boat
In a compromising position
We whisper and blush
At the thought
Wishing we were as daring and free as she
But as for us
We are tied up by the chains of domesticity
And we must return to our chores
Of fetching water
And washing clothes
And all those other never-ending tasks
The daily life of a wife
Interrupted for a moment
As we live other people's lives
In our daily gossip on the way to the river