100 ABSTRACTS - NUMBER 73 AND TINY TUESDAY

I think it’s fair to say that Mr. HCB is rather miffed about his "Pisum sativum var.saccharatum" this year.  The variety named "Green Magnolia" have grown taller than me - which I know isn’t difficult, but I don’t think Mangetout peas are meant to be 6 feet tall!  In fact, on the packet, the plant height is given as 32 inches or just under 3 feet.  

However, that’s not the reason he’s miffed - it’s because they only have flowers on the very tops of the plants, so that means not many Mangetout peas for our stir fries and there are certainly none on the bottom five feet of the actual plants.  

I wasn’t going to join in the Tiny Tuesday challenge, but when I saw that the theme was “Purple”, I realised I just had to - because as most of you know, purple is my favourite colour - in fact, I don’t think a day goes by without me wearing something purple!  

However, despite Mr. HCB’s disappointment in these plants, the pretty bicolour purple flowers have given me my Blip for today, so I am grateful - see extra - and of course, we can use the tips and tendrils in a salad, so they won’t be wasted.  Of course, there was some fartnarkling to make this an abstract, using the iColorama app once again and it's such fun to use.

Today, this one is Number 73 in my 100 Abstracts Challenge to raise awareness of the Mamie Martin Fund, which provides financial help for girls in North Malawi and as I have said before, it costs £350 a year to provide boarding school secondary education for one girl, and with so many impoverished people in Malawi, if the Fund didn’t help these girls, they would not have the benefit of a good education.  

Information from the Mamie Martin Fund website:

"Education, especially for disadvantaged girls, is an important catalyst in progress towards women’s empowerment and a more gender-just society. Keeping girls in school and – providing access to quality, inclusive education – can have powerful multiplier effects. 

Educated girls and young women not only have greater opportunities to fulfil their own potential, but can be powerful role models in their homes and communities, can challenge expectations for their role in society and make informed decisions about the health of themselves and their families. Recent research from Malawi shows that girls in school are less likely to experience violence and are at lower risk of child marriage and early and unintended pregnancy."

We take so much for granted in the UK, including schooling for our children and grandchildren - but I hope that by making people aware of the situation in Malawi, we will realise that we live in a privileged society.

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, 
     without knowing it possible, 
          without claiming it, 
               she stands up for all women.”
Maya Angelou

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MaureenIles