As I understand it the word "safari" means journey in one of the African languages (I'm too lazy right now to look it up). In that case we need a new word for my place.
Yes, this is still nameless although we're leaning towards the word for Dawn in Sinhalaese (Udasssana) which also has the advantage of being the word used for sun salutation in yoga (again, I think!). The idea might be to pair this with a classical Sinhalese word for lagoon which is "Iwura". So that together it would be Dawn's Lagoon - උදැසන ඉවුර - Udasssana Iwura. I quite like this but Hassan has pointed out that it might be a bit (totally?) self-immersed. So enough about names.
Yesterday the garden was cleaned. It was a group affair over the last few weeks with the main work being done yesterday by a lovely young woman who lives down the road, her husband, their 3 year old daughter and her two friends. At one stage we left them to it to buy cigarettes and came back with ice-creams which the kids promptly smeared all over themselves. Nonetheless they did a great job and the garden was completely clear of random bits of Shiny's stuff and all the leaves. This meant two things.
The first thing was that when I woke up this morning the porch was not covered in leaves: housekeeping in this environment is a battle against leaves and so now I understand the importance of keeping the garden free.
The second was that I was able to spot, immediately upon opening the cabana door and about 2 minutes after opening my eyes, the enormous pile of poo in the middle of the garden. This isn't dog poo ladies and gentlemen and nor is it goat poo. This looks like nothing less than a cow pat. A big one. Dried and not unpleasant but still distinctly concerning until I find out what made it. I'm guessing/hoping water monitor as the big ones are very cool and they don't (I think) pose any danger.
In any case this isn't the only wildlife to be seen - there are at least 2 fairly sizeable lizards (not huge) that hang out in the garden but run away if you get close, there are squirrel type things and there are creepy hermit crabs in the lagoon that you can take out and place on the deck. Within minutes they appear out of their shell and move straight towards the water. And jump in. I spent an hour doing this with Roshan the 11 year old last night.
So, if safari means "journey", what word would cover a home where nature comes to you?
UPDATE: The poo is not poo. It is the "castings' a crab made by burrowing into the ground. Apparently. A very large crab it seems. And for those of you who asked "how do you know what water buffalo poo looks like?"; I really thought everyone did but if you didn't know before you can click here to find out.
Yes, this is still nameless although we're leaning towards the word for Dawn in Sinhalaese (Udasssana) which also has the advantage of being the word used for sun salutation in yoga (again, I think!). The idea might be to pair this with a classical Sinhalese word for lagoon which is "Iwura". So that together it would be Dawn's Lagoon - උදැසන ඉවුර - Udasssana Iwura. I quite like this but Hassan has pointed out that it might be a bit (totally?) self-immersed. So enough about names.
Yesterday the garden was cleaned. It was a group affair over the last few weeks with the main work being done yesterday by a lovely young woman who lives down the road, her husband, their 3 year old daughter and her two friends. At one stage we left them to it to buy cigarettes and came back with ice-creams which the kids promptly smeared all over themselves. Nonetheless they did a great job and the garden was completely clear of random bits of Shiny's stuff and all the leaves. This meant two things.
The first thing was that when I woke up this morning the porch was not covered in leaves: housekeeping in this environment is a battle against leaves and so now I understand the importance of keeping the garden free.
The second was that I was able to spot, immediately upon opening the cabana door and about 2 minutes after opening my eyes, the enormous pile of poo in the middle of the garden. This isn't dog poo ladies and gentlemen and nor is it goat poo. This looks like nothing less than a cow pat. A big one. Dried and not unpleasant but still distinctly concerning until I find out what made it. I'm guessing/hoping water monitor as the big ones are very cool and they don't (I think) pose any danger.
In any case this isn't the only wildlife to be seen - there are at least 2 fairly sizeable lizards (not huge) that hang out in the garden but run away if you get close, there are squirrel type things and there are creepy hermit crabs in the lagoon that you can take out and place on the deck. Within minutes they appear out of their shell and move straight towards the water. And jump in. I spent an hour doing this with Roshan the 11 year old last night.
So, if safari means "journey", what word would cover a home where nature comes to you?
UPDATE: The poo is not poo. It is the "castings' a crab made by burrowing into the ground. Apparently. A very large crab it seems. And for those of you who asked "how do you know what water buffalo poo looks like?"; I really thought everyone did but if you didn't know before you can click here to find out.
Hello Dawn,
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, 'safari' is journey/travel in one of the Afro-Asiatic languages, specifically Arabic. The triconsonantal root s-f-r has to do with travel. So from that root you can get a verb meaning to travel, a noun meaning journey, or even 'embassy'. Good luck with the name selection.
LankaLogger at The Lanka Log