100 ABSTRACTS - NUMBER 37

Just recently, I have been going to bed quite early - in fact just after the News has finished at 10.45, which may not be early for some but it is for me.

However, to say I was buzzing last night would be an understatement - and the cause of this “buzzi-ness” is the fact that Mr. HCB and I did a DNA test a few weeks ago and the results came back last week. That in itself isn’t enough to make me excited, but the fact that 39% of my ethnicity is from Southern Italy certainly surprises me about my background and makes me wonder if I should start learning Italian! 

The remainder of my ethnicity is from England and North Western Europe - 38% and the rest, in dribs and drabs from Northern Italy, Wales, Norway and Cyprus. WOW - quite a mixture! Fortunately, my sister’s son-in-law is an expert in these matters and he’s doing a lot of the work to try and find out more.

Knowing how much I was buzzing, Mr.  HCB went off to bed, leaving me musing about all of this and looking further into the origins of my family.  Therefore it was quite late when I eventually went up to bed – and it was a new day so when I looked out of the window and saw the moon I decided to take one or two shots to see if they would be any good for my abstract blip today.

Once again, I used my SlowShutter app with the Light Trails on, pointed it in the direction of the moon and although it was quite hazy, with a few movements of my iPhone, I was quite pleased with this shot.  I must admit that I did have a little play with it with just a little fartnarkle to make the background a little darker and then I changed it to black-and-white.

This is number 37 in my 100 Abstracts Challenge for the Mamie Martin Fund, which as you will all know by now, supports young women and girls in their secondary education in North Malawi. It’s interesting to learn that over 80% of MMF-supported girls have successfully completed their secondary school and gone on to thrive and make important contributions in their own right.  

TAMANI - her father died when she was 4 years old and her mother when she was 7 years old, so she went to live with her grandfather.  However, he died when she was in her second year at College and was finding it very difficult to find fees.  With help from the Mamie Martin Fund, she is now at University and has graduated with a Degree in Economics.

“Hardships often prepare 
     ordinary people for 
          an extraordinary destiny.”
C.S. Lewis