Carpe Diem – life is quite frankly too bloody short!

Kids on Jinack Island
A moment in time – happy girls, Jinack Island, The Gambia, West Africa © Helen Jones-Florio

 

Life is full of surprises… sadly, not all of them good. Before you know what’s happening, without any warning, a curveball the size of a Hereford Bull hits you – WHUMPH! – and literally knocks you flat on your back and suddenly, holy cow, you can’t get up again! Which is exactly what has recently happened to very close family members (not by a big cow, mind you, but most definitely by a humongous curveball). Not surprisingly – and perhaps a touch self-serving – one begins to question one’s own mortality, how quickly time is racing ahead, and how much more there is to do in this lifetime.

The trouble is you think you have time”  Buddha

OR:

“Seize the day, bugger the ruminating, this life is quite frankly too bloody short!” Yours Truly

Sending positive energy and support to those I love dearly, who are going through what is the toughest challenge of their lives… and, without a doubt, more testing times are ahead for them.

HJF

 

A river runs through it…

 

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Images © Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio floriotravels/instagram  – River Gambia, West Africa, and the Mediterranean Sea, Malta

 

I like geography best, he said, because your mountains & rivers know the secret. Pay no attention to boundaries.” Brian Andreas

Photo of the Day: Boy in a Mask, Myanmar © Jason Florio

MASK BOY_BURMA
Boy in a Mask – Myanmar/Burma © Jason Florio, 2015 – as seen on Instagram/Floriotravels

Post Valletta Migration Summit, Nov 2015 – IRIN reports

RESCUE_ON BOARD BOAT
Image © MOAS_EU/Jason Florio, 2015. All rights reserved.

The 14-page joint EU-African strategy on migration unveiled at the summit is divided into five sections including development, legal migration and mobility, and international protection and asylum. Perhaps most important from the point of view of European leaders are the final two sections covering cooperation on reducing irregular migration and smuggling, and boosting returns and readmissions. ‘ Words by Louise Hunt, read full report on IRIN