For Mother's Day this past Sunday, my two (precious !) children gave me a beautiful wooden candle stand/holder made out of dhow wood as a gift. This wood comes from old dhow fishing boats which have sailed up and down the East African coast for years, and have reached the end of their life span, and are then recycled in to furniture and smaller items. We have quite a lot of dhow furniture in our own home. The dhow 'craze' hit Tanzania several years ago ... and most expats living here today have at least one dhow wood item in their home, as it is very popular here. 
The candle stand (which was made here in Tanzania) can be mounted on a wall - I've put mine just above our bath .... so that I can have a relaxing, candle lit bath whenever the mood strikes (which, let's face it may also be when the mood does not strike, as power fluctuations and failures are quite common here - ha !) This way, I also don't have to worry about any of the cats getting their tails burned or knocking the candle over when I'm enjoying a deep bubble bath ... as I usually have a cat (or two !) sitting on the edge of the bath with me - dipping their paws in to the bubbles !
The candle stand also came with a beautifully scented candle containing beeswax derived from Acacia (thorn tree) honey found in the Maparasha hills in Southern Kenya. It has red and green Maasai beadwork around it, too. The dish which it came on (turned upside down in the photo above so that you can see the base) is made from pewter, and was also made here in Tanzania. It's a small community, and I happen to know the lady who manufactures the dhow wood furniture and other items, as well as the lady who makes all the pewter items (in fact, I've often given similar items to family in South Africa and the UK as gifts over the years).
So, I've been enjoying a few candle lit bubble baths this week .... there's nothing nicer, at the end of a day .... and a great gift from my children for Mother's day - as all Mum's out there will agree I'm sure, we all need a bit of 'me time' away from the kids now and then - no matter how much we love them !
