olaoluwatomi

295-300 The end of a journey The expectation of reunions The sprinkling of hope The strength to cope The road that beckons.

286-290 I have come to give praise for: Hope Life Love Trust and His word which is an anchor that holds fast in the storm!

Spending the weekend with an awesome couple and had the opportunity to take pics of Ofada stew being made! Did not take a picture of the finished product though, I was too hungry to wait to take it (Truth is I forgot:) Blended 3 Tomates and 8 small green peppers! Add a little palm oil to the pot! Add the blended sauce to the palm oil! cut the meat into pieces to suit you! Add crayfish! Add Spices too!  The finished product! Could not get  a picture without the smoke screen! 

Anyone who has attended a function in Naija e.g. wedding, birthday celebration, book launch etc can relate to a concept which I call 'The Almost syndrome'. I will illustrate this concept with a story. I walked to the wedding reception of a cousin with an uncle after the church ceremony was over. The hall where the reception was taken place was just beside the church. Several other guests were sitted and I walked on in front, I made to walk to the front of the hall to find a seat which would provide me a vantage view of the ceremony. I had hardly walked past two rows behind when my uncle asked where I was headed. I told him I was going to the front of the hall. His next statement left me in stitches. He said I had obviously not attended enough ceremonies to know that the best seats were not at the front but at the back of the hall closest to where the food was being served. 'Mi o ti wa moto lati ile mi ki n wa wo enu awon to n jeun'. Roughly translated this means 'I...

281-285 Life, Hope,Calm, Peace, Grace.......................thankful for all these

Lighthouse on Iojima Island! Exactly a year ago I was on my way to the airport to catch a flight out to Japan's Narita airport! I was excited to be going to a land I had heard so much about and was looking forward to my time there. I was going with a group from my school and several people had arrived a few days before I did so I had a warm welcome from them. I landed at the Narita airport and spent a night in Fukuoka before my half of the group headed out to Nagasaki and Iojima islands where we spent 2 days before returning to Tokyo where we spent the rest of the week. A summary of my trip - it was the best ever. My heart bleeds when I read of all the destruction, death and devastation that the earthquake has wrought in this land. It is difficult for me to look at the pictures and read of the rising death toll without a heavy pang in my heart. The night after the earthquake hit, I had a vivid dream of the tsunami possibly elicited by my browsing through news reports from Ja...

Are you going through hard times? Do you wonder if the sun will ever shine again? Does all around you seem dry and dusty? Is your hope guage on empty? May I give you one sentence to think on today- This too will pass . When? How? Really? All valid questions I cannot answer but this I know- Just keep on believing, keep on looking up, keep on sowing, keep on holding on For surely the sun will shine , the hard times will pass , the fields will become verdant and your hope will spill over !

A song I first heard when I worked in Port Harcourt!  A lovely nurse I worked with used to sing this all the time! IB! I remember her whenever I hear this! The Niger Delta blood in me wakes up when I listen to this one:) I had this song on the ringtone of my samsung phone when I had a phone with ringtones:), an apt song by Samsong! And from Northern Nigeria! And one of my favorites! Sung in Ibo & Yoruba!

276-280 Its sometimes difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel when the bats in the tunnel you are plodding through keep flying around in circles distorting your BALANCE and affecting your sense of sight. But you can be thankful for STRENGTH that does not give out, a strong RESOLVE to emerge from the darkness no matter what! You can be encouraged by the CHEERS of those who know you can finish the race and also by the LOVE of the Father who never lets go of your hand in the journey through the waste land. *The things I am grateful for today are all in CAPITAL letters.

This is just one clip of the governorship aspirants debate in Lagos state! Its hilarious! It is only in Nigeria that the issue of age has any bearing in the public domain. In many 'yoruba' homes a child born one day before the other is 'older' and this difference in age is stressed throughout the lives of the pair. In many instances the prefix 'sista' or 'broda' is appended before the given name of the child, for example sista Yemi or broda Kola. For unfortunate brides who happen to be married into families where 'tradition' rules they cannot call children born before they were married into those households by name. Pet names are thus thought up and proffered by the hapless bride who is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea so as not to cause offence in trying to navigate how best to treat her in-laws who should by right call her 'Sista'. I once had a colleague who was much older than me, I did not know how old he was, but...

Met up with some friends at the zoo after work! Did not get a chance to walk round the zoo as it was closing time. Grabbed  a few shots of these huge cats! They are huge!!!!!!!!!!!!! The 'Kiniun' is really the King of the forest. It seemed sad that this lions lair cannot boast of having the typical forests fare. He was called in to 'eat' by the clanging of metal! Sad I think. I'd rather be a free lion anyday than be in a zoo! Freedom for the cats! What do you think?

For those of you who understand the context and the language, have yourselves a good laugh:) You have to watch it to the very end to enjoy it all! I have watched it about 5 times since my brother-in-law sent me the link:) Jobless I know:)

One of the questions I get asked a lot when anyone finds out I am a twin is 'What does it feel like to be a twin?'. A pretty profound question if you ask me, especially as I have never been anything else in my life and have no experience to compare it with. On days when I am feeling naughty I answer with a question of my own 'What does it feel to be a singleton?' and if I am in a particularly good mood, I answer 'it feels normal' :) Being a twin can be a great experience especially if you were born into the right culture. I am yoruba so being a twin is a big deal. If I was born several centuries before I would have been accorded special privileges seeing as yorubas consider 'ibejis' as gods. And if I had been born many years before I was in certain parts of Nigeria, I would have been killed shortly after I was born! Thank God for right timing:) Anyway I was born into a family that treated us as we were, children born into a  family, no special treat...

Thanks to SKYPE I have almost daily conversations with my family. Thankfully my dad is a night owl so I have caught him at odd hours and had wonderful conversations. Now how does this relate to the topic of my blog post. Well you see my dad was talking to me about the things we spend so much time pursuing and how the passage of time renders them useless, inept, out of fashion and downright laughable. He told me the story of how his parents came back home one day excited after purchasing a Peugeot 403. Has anyone ever heard of this model?:) Anyway what were the most exciting features of this car? It had triplex glass instead of real glass as windshields. This meant that if your Pigot( pronounced naija style) was involved in an accident, the glass would not shatter and cut you! It also had an electric trafficator!( I am guessing these are lights) LOL! Prior to this if you were driving and needed to turn left or right, out popped a mechanical arm to indicate what direction...

I read two books last week! One of them was a recommendation by a friend who assured me that I would not put it down once I started reading it. She was right, I read 'Left to Tell' by Immaculee Ilibagiza in under 4 hours! The only break I took was to put some food on a plate and continue reading. It is an account of the authors experience during the Rwandan Genocide. I will not spoil it for you by commenting on her account but it is one book that you will not be able to put down. The other book is "Night' by Elie Wiesel which is also the authors account of his experience as a 15 year old in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. I bought it at the local library. You can be sure that both books are touching accounts. Simple yet tragic accounts of the depths of human depravity. The silent but total indoctrination of populations by those in charge leading to dire consequences for an unfortunate group of persons is surprising. Why are we willing to believe lies or stateme...