Momo meets the moon

 Moonlight flooded the mud painted room, when Momo woke to a silvery sound, whispering through the heavy sleeping breath.  His father was away in the village, and his mothers were lying together, surrounded by his brothers and sisters with his baby sister Mimi snuggled gently between them.

 Momo felt brave as he crept from the house and into the full moonlight. Wandering through the shining crop of corn, he remembered how they had all sung and laughed during the planting, his younger siblings watching him and his brothers from the old mango tree.  He felt that the night echoed the daytime laughter and chatter of his family that merged into the life of the growing crops, the sounds of the jungle, trees and small plants under the moonlight.  Momo walked on, feeling pulled towards a shimmering light through the fields ahead. 

 

From the middle of the lake the waterlilly saw Momo approch the waters edge.  She was now a full bud, that had pushed her way from the bottom of the lake through the surface of the water.  During the week, she had been watching the night sky, waiting for the moon to rise each night.   As it rose, the moon watched the lilly and hoped it might bloom.  But the moon had been quarter, half and three quarters of light, trying each night to become full for the lake flower.  For the lilly only bloomed under full moonlight.

 

Momo sat and watched in awe. The water's surface glisten like a thousands stars upon it’s dark depths as finally the moon rose full. 

The lilly bud looked up and smiled, she was so happy that Momo was there to watch her bloom under the full moon light. Her strong stem stretched further out of the water, reaching  towards the moon.  She was only a small bud, but her longing seemed to pull all of the smiling moons light towards her. 

 

Momo followed those moonbeams up to its face and saw how the moon loved that flower,  and it's light tickled the bud, teasing it to bloom and open.  

 

With a sigh, the lake shivered, causing a gentle breeze to touch his bare arms and Momo’s skin lightly quivered.

 

In that moment, Momo took in a sharp breath as the lily petals began to peel open, one by one.  His mind was transfixed by the beauty of it’s lavish reflection.

 

Clouds moved across the moon's face, and it played hide and seek from the flower, with sudden bursts of light onto the bloom.  The flower laughed and sang to the moon to stay, and grace her with it's light.

 

Momo heard the flowers sweet voice echo across the lake, like a twinkling sound of small bells. 

 

"Your fullness is bright, my moon.  Do you shine just for me?  I am only a small small flower, but tonight I bloom for you.” 

 

Momo's heart began to open like the flower.  The lake and its reflection began to swim, as Momo's eyes filled with tears of happiness.   He wondered, was it the moon's love that caused the flower to fully bloom, or was it the flowers song of longing that had caused the moon to finally become full?  

 

Eventually the night grew cold, the moon slipped away from the flower behind a sea of clouds.  As the first raindrops began to sprinkle the still waters reflection broke, and the flowers reflection dissapeared.  Momo stretched his body, thanked the flower for teaching him about love, thanked the moon and the night sky for touching his heart, and walked back home, through the rustling corn fields.

 

Amoungst his family, Momo lay back down to sleep.  He saw how his brothers and sisters were closely wound together under blankets of sleep, and thought of the lake lilly, still singing and sighing to her moon wrapped behind the playful clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Momo plants a seed

 

When Mr. Mogi was a little boy, he was called Momo.  In his Mother’s African Bowlie Language, MoMo means "thank you!".

He was a happy little boy who loved to play outside under the trees.  To keep cool from the sun, Momo made a hat of leaves.

 One day, he picked up a seed, and put it in his pocket.

The seed was happy to be carried around by Momo because she liked the sound of his voice, and could hear him talking.  She dreamt about the best place to be planted, in moist soil with lots of sunlight.  

Momo went about his gardening, planting and picking lettuce, and he forgot about his seed!  The seed tried to tell him  "Momo, I'm waiting in your pocket for you to plant me." But seeds can't talk, so she had to wait patiently for Momo to remember.  

She tried wriggling about a bit, so he might feel her against his leg, and wonder what was in his pocket.

Finally Momo felt something wriggling and he gingerly reached into his pocket. He felt the seed, smooth and tiny, and remembered!    Gently bringing it out from his pocket, he realised he had never seen any seed quite like it before!

Looking closely, he saw that  the seed was grey and striped, and every line on its husk was different from any other seed that had ever been made.

Momo decided to make friends with the seed, and using his quiet mind, he thought to the seed. 

"What are you hiding inside yourself?"  Asked Momo with his thoughts.

 "I’m a huge sunflower, waiting to be born”  the seed sent her thoughts back.

That is most unusual, thought Momo, how does a flower that is as big as a dinner plate fit inside such a small seed?  Then Momo looked across his garden.  All the plants, the vegetables and even the forest surrounding his garden had come from small seeds.  Some as small as a grain of sand.

Momo sat down with the seed and wondered about it, until he felt that this tiny seed was the most important and precious thing he had ever held in his hand.

Then, he carefully planted it, and poured water onto it.

For many days, Momo came to the place where his seed was planted.  He sat watching the ground, hoping his precious seed would sprout.  He even sung songs to the hidden seed so that she could hear him.  

Just under the soil, in the dark, cool place, the seed heard Momo singing.  She smiled, and as her seed shell softened in the damp soil, she pushed her shoot upwards, and spread her fine roots downwards, and started to grow.

It took many days of pushing and trying for the seed to reach the surface.  By that time, her shoot was ready to sprout two leaves!

One morning, Momo went to look and found to his delight that the seed had sprouted out of the soil!   He was so excited, he jumped up high and landed, saying "HOYAAAH!"  

He sat and watched and saw the magical green shoot slowly growing up towards the light.  

He was very happy!  He felt he had made a great thing happen, together with the friendly seed.  This was the first Sunflower Momo had ever planted, and it would soon be as tall as himself!

 "You have grown beautifully," Momo sent his thought to the plant. 

"thank you" thought the plant, Momo’s Bowlie language.  So her word was MoMo!

 “Wow! You’ve just said my name!”  thought Momo.“I will always be your friend and take care of you."  

 "MoMo - (Thank you)." Thought the plant.  "Then I will grow tall and become your flower!" 

 Momo smiled, and his heart felt warm and full.  From that day, everytime he planted a seed, or watered a flower, he heard them whisper “MoMo, MoMo” and he learnt to be a plant whisperer.

Later, when Momo grew up, he became Mr. Mogi, the garden Gabler!  

Can you tell a story about a friendly seed?  

 

 

 

 

A Gift from the Forest

A beautiful manifestation;

For months I've been wishing our daughter had a pet to keep her company over the school holidays. She spends so much time alone, reading, so different from my childhood with sisters and cousins, neighbourhood gangs that used to run through the bush. And pets...

Our family won't keep cats and dogs because of the rainforest wildlife, and our domestic cockateel died - which broke Rashmis heart. I've wished for a tame animal that could live outside in its natural environment as I reared a baby possum as a teenager.

Such gifts are rare in a child's life, and I've been secretly hoping and hoping for her.... Recently, I've noticed that our wildlife have been coming significantly closer to us (maybe coincidence?)- Wallabies now eat from the bird feeder close to the house, and King Parrots and rainbow lorrikeets are eating from our hands in flocks in the morning.. it's been amazing. Rashmi has been thrilled, she's out each morning with handfuls of seed, calling them to her. But I've wished for a pet she could cuddle and stroke.

And now the surprising manifestation... Madhu brought home a baby tawny frogmouth, who flopped at his feet last week in a garden. We fed her and kept her for the night to see if she was strong enough to fly. The next morning, we let her go, and hoped she would find her way in the rainforest.

Surprisingly, an older Frogmouth fed and adopted her she followed it to the forest that afternoon. I thought she had gone back to the wild, but she returned to us again last night! Landed on the deck and when she spotted us, gracefully flew into the house, and growled her greeting, asking to be picked up!

She is fluffy, trusting, humorous to interact with (gently nibbles on fingers with a soft beak and responds well to hand feeding ) And she loves cuddles! She closes her eyes when we stroke her head, she loves deep scratches on the back of her neck and under her wings and sits peacefully content with my daughter.

Rashmi loves her!! She's called her 'buddy' and they hung together all evening, growling together. (Tawny frogmouths growl!) Huge gratitude for this amazing gift from nature - Priceless and beautiful! A wild and friendly bird for our daughter .. just at the beginning of the school holidays - perfect timing!! thank you Universe - your creative thinking never ceases to amaze me! I celebrate and honour my wishes that come true from a heart space of love for my family and our chosen lifestyle. I celebrate a surprising Universe that has my daughters heart fully covered.