I know I have mentioned it before,  I have been reading the books of Alexander McCall  Smith and they take place in Botwana. The heroine in the series I have been reading called No. Ladies Detective Agency is Precious Ramotswe.

“It was time to take the pumpkin out of the pot and eat it. In the final analysis, that was what solved these big problems of life. You could think and think and get nowhere, but you still had to eat your pumpkin. That brought you down to earth. That gave you a reason for going on. Pumpkin.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

The dozen or so books are inspiring, and I would genuinely like to meet this author who breathes so much life into his characters. The author lived in Africa and if you click his wikipedia link you will see he has varied interests.

I loved learning how people address each other as Rra or Mma (male and female salutations meaning brother and sister) and the traditions of asking people if they slept well.  I had no interest in Botswana before reading these books but now I am intrigued.

The respectful and traditional ways of addressing each other in the books, and the actions and words of Precious Ramotswe are like vitamin C for the soul.  The books include simple messages that ring out like when her late father prevents her from throwing rocks at the snake in the tree even though it threatens a nest.  Her father shares that not everything can be prevented or should be in that simple metaphor.

Simple stories, straight forward characters that make me chuckle and smile.  That leads me to my blog post subject – Simple Words Say it Best.

It struck me while reading the importance of simply saying sometimes what it is your heart to people, especially if it is kind.  Words like, I appreciate you, Thank you for your friendship, ….etc.  For some reason, I hesitate, but why should it be strange to tell someone  you like or appreciate them?

As the year draws to a close, I would simply like to say Thank you to all the encouraging people in my life.  Thank you to family, to friends, to the kind words of bloggers who click LIKE, and subscribe.

Please accept my simple, heartfelt words of appreciation.