It’s been more than a week since I wrote. I’ve been busy doing a lot of things, one of them is working on a poetry book that I want to publish. I had sent a sample of it to the publishers in May and while two said they were busy this year and were willing to publish it next year, another asked me for the manuscript in the last week of May and replied a fortnight ago, to tell me that they have a long queue, so, it’s going to take time.

While it did irritate at me first, I decided to use the time to relook at my book once more and edit my work. Having time on hand, I also thought of connecting with someone I knew through Fb and who had offered to help me if I ever needed to edit my book. I asked her if her offer was still open and she surprisingly said it was. In this day and age, it’s hard to find people who’re willing to help you without any expectation. And once you find them, it’s hard to believe that it’s for real. That’s more than enough reason for gratitude and more, don’t you think? Anyway, it is for real and she’s been looking at my work and guiding me. I’m not rushing to get this book published. Once I feel it’s right, I’ll go ahead- self-publish if publishers are too busy.

In addition to this beautiful miracle, I also received a 5-star review last week, on my debut novel, Coming Home. This review is by Marsha Ingrao, of Always Write. You know how it is with us, writers. We love reviews and this made me happy.

As of the 28th of August, I completed a month in my new home in Nairobi and one of the neighbours invited me to lunch. It was to celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi. Away from home, I felt grateful that someone had invited me to be a part of the festivities. It also felt like a celebration of my one month in the country. It was a fun afternoon and despite being the introvert I am, I enjoyed meeting people. They were warm, friendly and fun to talk to.

On the whole it was a good day and a wonderful chance to make some new friends. To all who celebrate the festival, Happy Ganesh Chathurthi . I hope you had an amazing celebration. May God bless each of us with strength to cross every hurdle on our path and may He make our path easier.

Another reason I was busy was because I’ve been catching up on my reading. I finished book 17 for the year – Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davies (I’ll share my review soon). It’s a fabulous book – a mix of history, love, relationship between mothers and daughters and about strong, independent women.

Now coming to Thursday Doors for this week. I still have doors from my visit to Mebourne University, which I’ll be sharing this week. This is part 2 of my visit.

As you enter the university, there’s a lovely waterway. On one side is the graduate house with the various clubs and on the other side are faculty residences.

Somewhere on the grounds is what looks like ruins. It’s by Irish artist, Sean Lynch, ‘Distant Things Appear Suddenly Near’ and is supposed to represent the ongoing construction work of Parkville station, ‘making the university and the city, both witness and subject to its own existence.’ While I liked the art work, it kind of looked lost to me in the middle of manicured lawns, colonial-styled sandstone buildings and an otherwise immaculate landscape.

With this picture, my tour of the University ends but I can’t leave without sharing photographs of the glorious flowers growing in wild abandon on the campus, the little cottage-like brick building that looks like a chapel which is the ‘Gatekeeper’s house’, and the parking lot.

And here are pictures of doors on Flinders Street, where we went to pickup some supplies for my daughter. The entire street is covered in grafitti and was very different from the other streets I’d been on in Melbourne.

This brings me to an end of this week’s Thankful Thursday and Thursday Doors. I hope you enjoyed visiting the University with me. Have a lovely weekend!

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