“Always try your best to utilise your energy, your intellect, your education, your wealth, your strength, or anything that you possess, for the betterment of those who are lowly placed in life, and for society in general. You will thus expand your heart and enjoy everlasting peace, bliss and satisfaction” – Sri Swami Sivananda
I met “Jack” in Bay Terrace Point, Durban where he was begging. He happily posed for a number of photos.
Canon South Africa 6D from Orms, Canon EF 17–40mm lens , F5.6, 1/200 sec, ISO 100. Taken in full sun at 07:56 and later darkened in PP. — at Bay Terrace.
Dear Mom,
I have just spent the last three hours preparing your birthday presents. They are photos of the Grand Bazaar and a look across Sultan Ahmet Park in Fetih, Istanbul.
The photo of the park, shown first, was not an easy exercise. I had to wake up before sunrise, run a kilometre to the edge of the park, set-up the tripod, change the camera settings and then shoot.
A pack of semi-wild dogs were running around madly and my only companion in the whole park was a Japanese photographer about 300 metres away.
My HDR photography blending skills are much better than when you saw me trying so hard at the hospital but failing so brilliantly. However, I still seem to pick up the usual defects although Photoshop does help somewhat.
“Margaret Rose Harvard, You carried me for months and then brought me kicking into this world, tenderly held my screaming face and wiped the little sweet tears.
Fed my hungry and drooling mouth, and provided that first bright red toy. Fetched me from school, took me home to a healthy meal and warm cosy bed. We had little to begin but worked our way up.
You enriched my relationships with others and kept me on the straight and narrow at times, but allowed me to learn much needed hard lessons to grow. You led by example and so many things suffered by you were later encountered by me, your loving son; I was thus armed and ready to face them. My beautiful mother had shown me how: she had suffered for me.
When death for you was a certainty, you gave the final lesson of thousands whilst on this earth. You never ever gave up but did rest at times. You confounded your critics and disarmed them completely. You looked death in the eyes with strength and challenged it.
Then, knowing for sure that the time had come, you embraced death with great confidence and surety. If any person has ever departed this world in such an elegant and composed manner, then it is you. The single tear you shed before your final breath was surely the frustration that you had not done just that little bit more to help the many people you had always so unselfishly served; for you truly lived your life fully in the last few years and given so much of yourself.
You used your abilities so well that it was often to your detriment. That tear no doubt also carried the worry that your loved ones would not cope fully without you being there.
However, you certainly ensured in the last months that your son at least was in safe hands.
To say you are one in a million is an injustice; you are truly unique and a guiding beacon of hope and unconditional love to all living beings.
I have taken your last advice, and I speak to you more now than before. That quiet place at the bottom of the garden, as you said it would be, is serene and a wonderful place for us to catch-up and laugh about the days gone by. This will always be ours and will never weaken or diminish.
You have taught and prepared your son so well, and he will keep on passing your love and wisdom around.
You were and always are right!
Happy birthday, your loving son, always” ~ Andy
An old photo of my mother, a loving warrior. True inner and outer beauty.
Another tribute to my mother, a loving warrior, following a previous post. She continues to care for the animals she so loves. This commemorative plaque is at Kloof SPCA, kennel 54.
A tribute to my mother, a loving warrior, below:
“Margaret Rose Harvard, You carried me for months and then brought me kicking into this world, tenderly held my screaming face and wiped the little sweet tears.
Fed my hungry and drooling mouth, and provided that first bright red toy. Fetched me from school, took me home to a healthy meal and warm cosy bed. We had little to begin but worked our way up.
You enriched my relationships with others and kept me on the straight and narrow at times, but allowed me to learn much needed hard lessons to grow. You led by example and so many things suffered by you were later encountered by me, your loving son; I was thus armed and ready to face them. My beautiful mother had shown me how: she had suffered for me.
When death for you was a certainty, you gave the final lesson of thousands whilst on this earth. You never ever gave up but did rest at times. You confounded your critics and disarmed them completely. You looked death in the eyes with strength and challenged it.
Then, knowing for sure that the time had come, you embraced death with great confidence and surety. If any person has ever departed this world in such an elegant and composed manner, then it is you. The single tear you shed before your final breath was surely the frustration that you had not done just that little bit more to help the many people you had always so unselfishly served; for you truly lived your life fully in the last few years and given so much of yourself.
You used your abilities so well that it was often to your detriment. That tear no doubt also carried the worry that your loved ones would not cope fully without you being there.
However, you certainly ensured in the last months that your son at least was in safe hands.
To say you are one in a million is an injustice; you are truly unique and a guiding beacon of hope and unconditional love to all living beings.
I have taken your last advice, and I speak to you more now than before. That quiet place at the bottom of the garden, as you said it would be, is serene and a wonderful place for us to catch-up and laugh about the days gone by. This will always be ours and will never weaken or diminish.
You have taught and prepared your son so well, and he will keep on passing your love and wisdom around.
You were and always are right!
Happy Mother’s day, your loving son always” ~ Andy
Can you also hear the CROW of St. Thomas’ Home for Children?
Here is the big idea:
Given Gain: “St. Thomas’ Home for Children is a place of love and protection for children in need of care. We are a non-profit organisation providing residential care to 60 vulnerable children between the ages 2-10 years, all of whom have been found in need of care by the courts. Our children require our care for a variety of reasons, from being orphaned, abandoned or neglected to being physically, sexually or emotionally abused.”
Tel: 031 207 3223
Email: principal@stthomas.org.za
CROW: “CROW is the Centre For Rehabilitation Of Wildlife situated in Yellowwood Park, Durban. It is a wildlife hospital that cares for the injured and orphaned wild animals and birds in Kwazulu Natal. CROW has 12 depots in and around the Province and is considered to be one of the leading rehabilitation Centers in South Africa”
Tel: 031 462 1127
Email: info@crowkzn.co.za
Below are some images I recorded during a visit to CROW
“The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals (children*) are treated” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
*not actual quote
Andrew Harvard Photography 