goldengreenandbluedays

learning from the little things...

2012-01-21T03:12:00.003-05:00

Earth is crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God;

but only she who sees, takes off her shoes.

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Gone....!!!

2012-01-18T11:14:00.009-05:00

The great and mighty Bujagali Falls...

... are GONE!

Uganda has one dam-- has had it since the early 50's? I think... Its presence disappeared Rippen Falls, at the Source of the Nile back in the day... and another big hydroelectric dam has been in the works for forever. There has been talk of it and the effect it will have on the river for years. I mean YEARS. Essentially Bujagali falls would disappear. My dad and I were just there in August and the falls were still pounding. But this past weekend I went back with some friends only discover to my disbelief and incredulity... It finally happened. The falls are just... gone! Its shocking.

Ok, they not GONE... as one friend insists, they are still there under water. And is it bad? The dam will be really good for Uganda, right? Hopefully it will bring jobs, electricity and economic growth/development... its true. BUT AT WHAT COST? IS it a worthwhile sacrifice?? Are aesthetic, natural wonders worthy of being in and of themselves? Or, perhaps the benefits to Ugandans outweigh the need for one more set of rapids. And the landscape just changed. Its still a pretty spot. And maybe in the grand scheme of things, these falls are a worthwhile sacrifice. I just can't help but feel a bit sad for the loss of something magnificent and good.

And to be there was just rather shocking. In place of what WAS roaring class 5 rapids, is now a placid, meandering river. What?

Sara, who was visiting, and I went to the Nile Porch with Gwyn for some dam consolatory drinks.

I still feel rather shocked.

Missing: GG&B Blogjuice

2012-01-08T02:03:00.004-05:00

I seem to have lost or misplaced my blogjuice. Its just gone... I keep looking for it, but can't seem to find it. Motivation? Inspiration? New directions... Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions? Where can I find it?? I'd really like to find it again....

2012

2012-01-01T19:16:00.002-05:00

2012 is here in all its shining, hopeful glory. I'm excited. I don't know exactly why. I just feel hopeful. Who knows... maybe its just the usual "New Year" hopefulness that everyone gets this time of year... But maybe not. Maybe this year really IS going to be grand! I'm ready. Ready to do the work. Ready to embrace what comes. Ready for 2012. BRING IT ON!

Thankfulness

2011-11-25T12:51:00.005-05:00

Jean Evelyn Robinson

1923-2011

I am thankful for my grandma Robinson. She lived a very full 88 years of life... she was adventurous, brave, independent, stubborn, mischievous-- full of beans really. I am thankful for this picture I have of her under a big beautiful Mango tree in Congo. That tree behind her speaks so clearly of her life. Faithful. Rooted. Strong.

I am thankful that this summer we spent a good week with her in Florida before hear health really started to decline. And I am thankful for this picture of her, of us. It captures something so very grandma, and is exactly how I will always remember her.

And I am ever so thankful that I was able to be with her as she bravely stepped from this life into the next... And I am thankful for this picture, of my hand in hers in those last hours. And of the steadiness I feel in that... my life which has, in part, grown out of hers. Her life and experiences sustaining, supporting, gently encouraging and challenging mine.

I love you, grandma. Thank you for a life well lived and a rich and beautiful heritage to live into.

for the love of matoke...

2011-11-18T04:19:00.004-05:00

I spent a good bit of time traipsing through matoke plantations while we were on rural home stays in Kapchorwa a couple of weeks ago. I love these plants... their leaves, the lines, the colors, the sunlight glowing through them, the negative spaces they create... Love love love them! Just thought I'd share the love.

REVOLUTION!!

2011-10-14T08:33:00.008-05:00

Ok, maybe not quite a revolution... but small revolutionary changes in my life...

As alluded to in a previous post... I am now the owner of a motorized vehicle! I don't know. I'm conflicted about it. But I'm also really loving it. What to do?? Try to be responsible and generous and thankful.

And the second most exciting and revolutionary thing EVER is my new screen door! Oh goodness, I love it. I really love having my door open, to maximize light and the airflow. Just feels better. But whenever my door is open (or was, pre- screen door revolution), countless flies would happily pop in for tea. (and mosquitos would take the open door as an open invitation to just move right in) The trouble with flies is they are none too bright, and once IN, they never manage to find their way back OUT... and oh, the maddening incessant buzz of flies popping at the screens in the windows trying to get out... And THEN, so I don't know about the life cycle of flies out in the real world... but by early evening all my unwanted guests would get sluggish, walking around on windowsills and table tops- nasty. And by 9 or 10, they'd all have keeled over. People (you know who you are) would comment on my vast collection of upside down flies. Which then my spider housemates would work on disposing of. Thanks spiders- turning my dead flies into little bundles of sucked dry flies scattered here and there. Ants always tried to help too... but it takes a while you know, to disassemble and haul off the goods. Nice. (One might question my cleaning skills) (No, no, I'm a great cleaner, I'm just not good at killing bugs) (and I can't clean incessantly!) But, my life with flies (and dried up fly bundles) is OVER! Thanks to this:

Oh, its a beautiful thing. Pretty revolutionary, actually. NO MORE FLIES! And the ants-- well, we've developed a fairly peaceable, symbiotic relationship... For now.

Tea, two digestive biscuits and a new day

2011-10-12T22:48:00.005-05:00

a new semester...

2011-09-24T05:09:00.008-05:00

The students have only been here four weeks, but it has been nonstop since they landed. Hard to believe its really only been a month. (Maybe I'm not as behind as I feel?) The non-stop is starting to let up a little bit. (LEETLE bit). At least enough for me to enjoy a saturday to myself and the chance to catch up on a few things.

Before the students arrived we had some fun staff retreat and work days gearing up for the new year.

Mark, Abby and Margaret at Kingfisher in Jinja-- on our staff retreat day.

Jordan, Philo, me and Vincent hiding in the background...
Staff working together on a project of circles... ahem, mandalas. LOVE it!
The beautiful completed project.... (now proudly displayed in my office)
Julie and Gwyn all matching matching in their pink and brown outside our office.
Our three fabulous interns Jordan, Jones and Julie in Rwanda. J to the power of 3!
Staff photo at the start of the 2011-2012 school year. Philo, Julie, Vincent, Jones, Mark, Jordan, Gwyn, Margaret and me.
I work with some pretty fantastic people, and for this I feel entirely thankful and grateful. Makes the go go going a lot more fun.

Hairy Lemon

2011-08-19T23:11:00.007-05:00

My first weekend back, Todd and Betsy invited me to go to Hairy Lemon with them. (Thats right, I said HAIRY LEMON.) My friend Molly LOVES the place. I never made it there with her, sadly, but was excited to finally go. It is a sweet little getaway place just an hour and a half from here-- a beautiful little island in the Nile. You can camp or stay in their 'dorms' or 2-person or 4-person rooms. It has plenty of places to relax-- hammocks to read in, chairs and benches to sit in and read etc. And plenty of activities if you are game-- two slack lines, a volley ball court set up in-between a second island, beaches for wading/swimming, games, fishing poles, kayaks, tubes to float in... Accommodations are simple, but nice and meals were tasty- served in a fun open eating area. Affordable and CLOSE! All that makes a perfect 'Molly Getaway,' and one I'm sure I'll be getting back to with my new set of whee... WHAT?? Wait, what was that?? Um, ahem... yes... well, I aim to get back there... and it may just be easier than ever now... :) But THAT warrants a post all its own to tell...

Todd, Ellie and Betsy on the boat over:

Our cabin:
A lovely spot to be:
Ellie and Todd fishing:
The Nile Volley Ball court:
Beach area:
An absolutely lovely place to get away for a day or two.
Thanks Todd and Betsy for a fun weekend!!

my other summer (mis)adventure

2011-08-16T11:45:00.007-05:00

I'm debating... is this post worthy material?? Perhaps not. May be a little gross. So viewers beware... BUT... I now consider it my duty to warn all you out there... SKIN CANCER IS REAL! And will sneak up on you unawares...

So, I decided to be a responsible adult this summer and do all my routine medical stuff-- you know, dentists, doctors, dermatologists etc. I generally avoid medical stuff like the plague and stay as far away from needles as I can get (blood-sucking needles). But every once in a while I think, actually I AM getting older, and I really ought to just make sure alls well. Right?

So being back in the US this summer, I went for an all over skin check. Never had one of those before. Things looked fine, except for a 'suspicious' mole on my back... which was sliced off for testing... And she found this birth bump thing on my ear and says 'well lets just take that off, you don't need it any more.' Ssssswipe! With a mean sharp razor and it was gone too. She tells me I'll get the labs back in a weeks or so. A week or so later I found out the mole was totally fine-- but the thing on my ear was skin cancer! Just basal cell carcinoma, but skin cancer nonetheless! Oh my. And that I needed to come back in and have the rest of it removed...

So I did... and long story short, ended up having to go to another doctor to have whats called Mohs surgery, got an extra 10 days in the US with my mom AND got to see Harry Potter 7.2! But the surgery-- no fun. The post op stuff- NO fun... A weird looking ear... well, I guess I'll live, but who wants that?

So... I'm telling you all now, go be responsible adults and get checked! And wear sun screen. And if you REALLY need convincing, here are some fun photos for you:

Me with my 'clam shell' pressure bandage after the surgery, in which they scooped a serious chunk out of the side of my head. Ear. Oh it was gross.

The stitches after the clam shell came off...They had to do some reconstructive stuff-- cut a triangle of skin out from below and pull it up to cove the gaping hole in the side of my head. The equivalent of a mini-face lift apparently.
All cleaned up...
Stiches out!
And two weeks post suture removal... looking pretty good hey?
But it still feels mighty weird. And I have to massage scar cream on it twice a day for a year... and wear lots of sunscreen and cover it up if I'm in the sun for a long time... and supposedly go back to the dermatologist every six months... thats not QUITE what I had in mind for the rest of my life... but better than cancer!

So... moral of the story? SUNSCREEN. And go get your skin checked... (and go watch HP7.2- its FANTASTIC!)

lovebirds

2011-08-09T11:53:00.003-05:00

This july my family made the hard hard decision of moving my 94 almost 95 year old grandfather to a convalescent center for better care. He is still well generally (except for being almost 95), but needs more can than can be provided by family at home. The center-- while institutional for sure, is nice. It is only a 10 minute drive from home and the care provided is loving and kind. The head nurse on Grandpas floor is an Ethiopian fellow who made us all feel like we could take a deep sigh of relief despite the hardness of the decision to have grandpa there. It has a nice garden area outdoors, a sweet little aviary indoors, and the pond across the way has a family of 5 swans and 6 ducks... So there are interesting things to d0 when you go and visit. My uncle took this photo of a pair of lovebirds in the aviary on one visit.

And another pair in the garden... :) These ones have been together 65 years!

Uncle Johnny and Denise came to cheer grandma and grandpa on... along with my cousin Cheryl and her husband Dallas and their three boys Landon, Coby and Ty. We had some wild and fun evenings out back... It doesn't LOOK so wild, but it was a little wild... what with crazy sprinklers, 5 round shooter guns (just noise makers, not really shooters), and whoopee cushions that auntie annie bought the boys. What a fun aunt... :)
Oh, and a beautiful snap of my brilliant mother....
She and auntie Annie cooling down with icy mango mojito drinks on a toasty summer day.
My goodness, if I was COLD at the beginning of the summer... I was HOT at the end! Packing was a pleasure in the upstairs of a 100-year-old house in 100 degree heat and no AC.

Summer time part II

2011-08-05T08:02:00.008-05:00

*This blog was composed a few days ago, and I am finally getting it all uploaded and ready to post-- tricky to do with the internet here in Uganda sometimes...*

So… you can run but you can’t hide apparently. Two full days of being awake all day, two full nights of sleep—aided perhaps, or ensured I should say, with the help of Tylenol pm. And NOW I find my self wide awake at 12:45? Shoot. Well… Its high time I caught up on some blog blog blogging anyhow. How did I let it go for so long? Especially with all that instantaneous high speed internet whizzing around back in the States?? I am in Uganda again… getting jet lag out of the way and ready for this new semester.

And though the summer was packed, it was full of goodness. Namely good good friends who made time in their busy schedules to spend some days with me.

After Florida I had some down time at home in Illinois before I set off on my easternly adventure, which started in Nashville… We had what can best be described as ‘work meetings,’ So I met up with Gwyn, Mark, Meg and other folks from other programs and the US office folk for four days. It was an interesting, informative and good fun time. It was especially nice to meet people from other programs and get a sense of the bigger picture. (All under the same umbrella organization we have four domestic programs and seven international programs.) We had some fun line dancing in downtown Nashville one fine evening… and listened to some great live music other evenings. The Contemporary Music Center (program in Nashville) put on quite a show!

From Nashville I touched down oh-so-(too)-briefly in Baltimore and saw my great, quirky friend Mary (maker of the infamous MaryMugs) before meeting up with Katie and heading out to her farm in the beautiful farmlands of eastern PA. Oh, it was great… to see her DOING what she has dreamed of doing these past years. Her own CSA farm with her sister Anna. Living in a dilapidated-but-charming old farm house with two quirky roommates, a dog named Fiddle and a new kitty named…. Well, we don’t know the name just yet. Perhaps Bow?

farm flowers.

We ate delicious home grown food… We weeded parsnips… we walked back in the orchards with our G&Ts, sat by peaceful isolated ponds… had many a good, long conversation... oh it was lovely.

I spent a needed and appreciated day in the hammock… A gloriously hot day, reading bits of an old Kingsolver novel… appreciating my ice water in a mason jar waiting for Rita, Juan and Lucia to show up.

So from six weeks to 15 months (did I get that right, Rita?) What a change! Here is this little live wire—this running, inquisitive, non-stop little person with a mind and a will of her own! Lucia. Oh, but we had a lovely time. More delicious homemade Katie pizza and cucumber salad… A delicious homemade sour cherry pie thanks to Katies sweet roommates, a bonfire, fun music and fireflies!

The following day a tour of the farm, some fun harvesting with Auntie Katie… a chilly lake to cool down in and fabulous picnic lunch. Katie does it right, that’s for sure!

From the magical farm lands of Pennsylvania, I headed back to G-burg with Rita, Juan and La Luce and a few more days of good soul connection. Good conversations and a fun outing to Fredericksburg.

I flew out of Reagan on a Tuesday evening and had the chance to spend a few hours with Beth and little Than. What a happy little guy… and how nice to see them in their bright, beautiful new place in DC!

Thats right folks, just call me Auntie Rachel! More babies this summer than I quite knew what to do with, but what fun.

May-June.

2011-06-20T10:35:00.011-05:00

I've gone AWOL on you!!! But not without good reason... Since my serene Mara trip, life has been just a little bit nuts.

The end of the semester whirlwinded in and out with exams, final projects, papers, grading and our homestay farewell, which was good fun. Meg, Margaret and I had quite an adventure trying to get matching matching outfits made for everyone (on staff). We did pretty well... :) And here we are in all our matching matching finery!

All that said and done, we set off on our semesterly Rwanda trip, this time I was at the helm of my own group. Which I managed with the great support of amazing coworkers. We had a really wonderful trip. One of the highlights was visiting the National Museum in Butare where we saw/participated in some spectacular Rwandan drumming and dancing...
After Rwanda we spent a couple of nights at Lake Bunyonyi for the Rwanda debrief.
We came back in Mukono for one night and then head down to Entebbe for our overall semester debrief. Here I am with my crazy students...
We got the students on the plane, breathed a huge sigh of relief, and then I had a quick week to wrap up and tie up all my loose ends to be gone for the summer. I had to leave early to get to the US for a Wilderness First Responder course scheduled to start May 16. During that week, Gwyn and I had the interns over for a last brunch and a big huge thank you for all their hard work and dedication over the past year.
And then... a crazy drive to the airport on inauguration day, two long flights and: hello Chi-town...! Where I was home for 24 hours and off again, two more flights and touchdown in MONTANA on Sunday evening. Monday morning bright and early I started my Wilderness First Responder course. Nine intensive days and certification test (which I passed! Hooray! I am now fully qualified and certified to respond first. In the wilderness.) before finally getting a chance to take a break and enjoy those fine hills of Montana. And wildflowers. And hang out with Greg and Allison.
And of course Kara and Mark... and enjoy SNOW (sort of), and soak in glorious hotsprings...
And become acquainted with Signe the wonderdog...
Kara and I then flew down to Florida for a few days. We met up with mom and dad and spent a long weekend moving Grandma into a smaller and more manageable apartment. It was sunny and warm and nice to spend good time with her. Here we are on an outing to the English Tea House for lunch.
Kara flew back to Montana and mom and dad I drove back up to Illinois stopping along the way to spend two nights with our friends the Browns. It was lovely to reconnect. We went out for some yummy tapas in Greenville the second night at The Lazy Goat. Yum!
On the road we got behind this Element with some mighty mysterious cargo! Its tinted windows made its cargo all the more mysterious... we spent a good stretch of road puzzling over what on earth the story was.
And finally... home again and some time to enjoy the rituals and rhythms of home, like Sunday morning walks at the arboretum.
... and afternoon strolls with Grandma.
Molly and John came to visit her family, so I got a day in with them and finally met the cute little Johnnykins!
And just this last weekend spent Saturday night in Chicago with Andrea enjoying her new neck of the woods and some fine dining in the back space of her beautiful Chicago apartment.
So lifes been good! SO good reconnecting and spending time with good friends and family, enjoying their space, conversations, good food, beautiful places... And I'm just going to keep on enjoying the rest of this summer, and more good people and fun places ahead before heading back home to Uganda mid-July.

The Mara

2011-04-17T00:28:00.012-05:00

I am a 'place' person. The feeling of a place either makes me feel connected, happy and somehow contented in where I am, or not. New England, for example, is not a place I connect to. I went to college there and, yes, its beautiful and after four years I did come to appreciate it. (And love many good people there.) But it is not a place I resonate with, or came to love or felt I fit... That connection to place is something I've realized is extremely important to me. Conversely it is a deep sense of belonging and contentedness that connects me to place; I don't always know which comes first. But Kenya is the place where I was born and raised. And long before my earliest recollections, that connection was being formed and cemented in me through all my senses just being there, absorbing all that IS Kenya. The way it feels, smells, tastes, sounds, looks... is just Kenya. Its where I spent the first 18 years of my life, and is the place I feel most connected to. And absolutely adore.

Last weekend I went home. My brother is living and working in a little conservancy adjacent to the Masai Mara Game Reserve, building a tented 'eco-camp.' And being the occasion of his 29th birthday, well why ever wouldn't I go?? So I flew to Nairobi, on a quick barely-an-hour Air Uganda flight.... shuttled my butt over to Wilson Airport where I sat and waited for the better part of the day for my barely-an-hour Safarilink flight out to the Mara. On a wretched little place that bounced through the sky like a yo-yo on a string; YUCK. My one thought of some small comfort, if I was going to die, what better way than to crash than into the beautiful hills of Kenya? Denys Finch Hatton- style? It'd be a nice full circle sort of thing. But praise-be-to-god, my life did not come full circle that fine day (or four days later on my way back). We did not crash, and I did not die, only suffered a minor anxiety attack and an unpleasant queasy stomach.

But even just being back in Nairobi driving from one airport to the other--I got this giddy, ridiculously happy feeling of familiarity and home. I realized just how home it really is.

Flying over the Ngong Hills... close to where we used to live. (And where Denys Finch Hatton died and is burried. Go watch Out of Africa. And WEEP.)

We used to go to the Mara a lot as kids. Part of the Kenya Semester Program my dad directed was a two week field course in the Mara studying wildlife ecology and community conservation. I don't know how many years its been since I was there last, but oh, to go back. To feel my heart fill up to the brim and beyond just BEING there... it just felt good, so so good. Its just... part of me somehow, that beautiful, beautiful place.

Oh, my pictures feel far too one-dimensional to capture any real sense of it... On Thans birthday we got up in the chilly dark, make a thermos of coffee (true that in yesteryears it would have been chai, but this is one of the very small details that can be fudged and I'm very happily ambidextrous when it comes to my hot beverages...) and set out for an early morning game drive.
Thans camp... his tent and a few tents to store building tools/supplies etc.
Where I spent a lot of time enjoying the hot sun, warm breezes and animals passing though (thankfully no lions) as I read Someone Knows My Name. (Beautiful book, by the way, by Lawrence Hill.)
Thans tent... here he sits connecting with the great wide world through his magic internet wand on his computer.
For his birthday dinner we had a meaty braai-- (barbeque) thanks to Adrien and Carmen who joined us for the weekend from Nairobi-- loaded with Than's resupply.
And of course, there must be cake! (Thanks Mel!) And candles that you can't blow out. (Unless you're Than and have the lung capacity of a young hippo.) (He also got party popped, weehoo!) Happy Birthday NASAN!
Sunrise...
Adrien cooked us a delicious breakfast Sunday morning...
Than and Carmen enjoying coffe...
Sunday evening gamedrive and sundowners of course...
Overlooking the beautiful Mara...

April update

2011-04-01T10:34:00.002-05:00

Ahhh... Friday morning. Can't quite believe its April. The rainy season is in full tilt here... which means exciting weather. We get both sunshine and thunderstorms in any given day, and either at any given moment. The air is fresh, the world is green green green with things growing double time, and red with mud everywhere. Bright sun shines while dark purple clouds hail the afternoon thunderstorm rolling in over the hills... or you wake up to a gentle drizzle with the sunshine poking through a slit of clouds on the horizon. And it must be spring because all of a sudden half of the troop of redtails have tiny little babies clinging to their underbellies (with their little bitty tails wrapped around their moms'! Oh!) as they trot heavily through the yard from the guava tree to the avecado trees squabbling over fruit- which is also in full season.

Among other news from the top of the hill, a family of mongoose (mongooses? Mongeese?) has moved in. They are fat, fury, striped little torpedos that hurtle through the grass... and I have yet to catch them on film. Or memory card. Also, the african greys are around in greater numbers and hang out for longer-- rather than just whistling on through every morning and evening. Oh, its just a fabulous start to the day, hearing their goofy whistling and squaking a way high up in the branches. I was talking to my dad on the phone the other day who, clear from wheaton, heard the hadada ibisis and then the hornbills. Kara heard them too! Its a veritable jungle up here right now.

This is the first uneventful weekend in oh, I don't know how long. I aim to enjoy it restfully. Next week is our last week of class... followed by a week and a half of exams and Rwanda. Followed by our 9 day Rwanda trip and debrief... to back here and then four days of overall debrief. And the students are outta here! The following week, I'm outta here! NUTS. So this is that point where we scramble back into the raft... catch our breath for a few brief minutes... and find our paddles, get back up onto the side of the raft and regroup before the the next rapids hit. Yes, that is exactly how I feel.

Sun rise..

I walked up monkey hill today-- the clearest day we've had yet. The lake- which usually feels way off in the distance, felt a mere stones throw away...

Looking down on the bustling town of Mukono:

And onto the next set of rapids...

Rafting the Nile..

2011-03-20T05:18:00.006-05:00

It just so happens that I live an hour from the source of the Nile. THE SOURCE... Thats right, and some wicked class 5 rapids. Its taken me a while to get them rafted, but yesterday... yesterday was the day. The three program interns and I decided that it was this weekend or never. We met up at the Cathedral and hiked down to the Colline where we were met by the Nile River Explorers shuttle, which shuttled us on to Jinja. At the NRE place we were served tea-- along with all the other brave souls for the day and given our orders. Waver signed, check. Life vest, check. Helmet, check. Rain jacket, check. Breakast, check. Load up on the truck-- with all your gear on... Check?

A fifty minute drive to the 'put in' point, a few more safety tips and pointers and we were off. We were a raft of eight: Meg, Molly, Jones, our dead-cute guide Thabani from Zimbabwe and three others, Ekta and Krishna-- doctors from the UK and Jeff a fellow from the US visiting his brother in Kenya.

A series of ten or so rapids to get through with names like "The Bad Place," "The Hair of the Dog," "Kula Shaka," and "Nile Special." In between the madness were long pleasant stretches of Nile floating. Lunch was some where in the middle of it all: pineapple, gnuts and biscuits provided by the oar raft...

The first rapid was pretty easy, we made it through no problem. The next three however, we seemed to be in wipeout mode, each getting progressively worse. Our guide thought it was kind of strange that we kept wiping out-- but who knows. (There was a suspicious twinkle in his eyes and crooked grin.) Although its true, the other rafts weren't having quite the trouble we were... but hey. Wipeout mode looked something like this: (I'm the last one on the left side...)

Recovery in between...
And then wipe out again:

By the fifth rapid we finally got our groove on and made it through--we decided that actually its much more enjoyable going through the rapids in the raft, than swirling, tumbling endlessly underneath the water hoping and praying you'll come up to the surface before your lungs burst... (Thabani assured me that if you are wearing a life vest, there is no way you could possibly die on the river. I'm not entirely convinced of this either, but I am alive to tell the tale.) The other news of great comfort was that the Nile is a high volume river, meaning its good and deep, so you don't have to worry about hitting the rocks or the bottom while tumbling, swirling about endlessly. And it was true, never hit any rocks. Just inhaled inordinate ammounts of really lovely, clean Nile water. And suffered moments of sheer terror at the thought of NOT coming up to the surface... but again, I seem to have survived.

Oh, what a good fun day, at the end of which the Nile River Explorers provide you with a tasty barbecue...

I've a few random bruises, the tops of my legs are burnt, my sit-bones feel like they were bouncing on rocks all the day long, not an inflatable raft, and my arm muscles are sore in new and different places... oh it was fun! And I'm ready to do it again in a heart beat when any of you finally decide to get on over here for a rocking good time... (Not to worry, we'll be sure to study the videos extensively before hand, figure out some survival tricks...)

rafting photos taken by NRE Video Productions.

RHS

2011-03-18T10:40:00.013-05:00

... Or Rural Home Stays. Since 80% of Ugandans live in rural areas, it wouldn't do to have students here for four months and NOT experience life in a rural setting. Last semester I went to Soroti (or Sere in Soroti), this semester Gwyn and I swapped, she took her group to Soroti and I took mine to Kapchorwa-- a town/area up in the foothills of Mount Elgon, which straddles the Kenya/Uganda border. Oh, it was a fun fun week...

Going, the students were nervous and anxious. Excited, but nervous. I was absolutely confident that they'd have a terrific time, but no matter what I said, they were still just worried.

Drop off, Friday afternoon:

Unloading the van:

At Heathers house:

See ya, Amy!
Daniella and her mom:
AJ has a pretty great set up...
Katelyn is Heidi for the week:
So with the students out, Vincent (who drives the program van), Meg (the intern) and I settled into our home for the week at Noahs Ark-- a little hotel in Kapchorwa town, to wait for any emergencies/ student needs to arise. We of course had some fun of our own...
We hiked up the road one morning, and enjoyed the vista....
Lake Kyoga out there in the distance on a clear day...
We visited a co-workers wonderful mother and had deeelicious tea, freshly roasted g-nuts, fried eggs and matoke for lunch. MMmmm...

And passed waterfalls on our drive abouts...
But, so, would you believe it we didn't have ANY student issues all week?? No upset stomachs, illnesses, cuts, falls, injuries, or even breakdowns (for all their worry...). Which- GREAT- don't really enjoy those sorts of things, but we decided we should pop in anyhow... just to make SURE all was well with everyone. So 11, students 2 or 3 a day... And of course, as expected, they were all doing marvelously and having a whole lotta fun.

We went to church with the good reverend Moses and his daughter Caitlin and family.
And followed them home for an all afternoon cooking affair, to eat our 'lunch' at 7pm.
Cody was having a great week, he had killed no less than three chickens and had learned to make chapati. Here with his little sister, Precious:
Kate was busy feeding all the workmen building her families new house and taking care of her one month old little brother, Sunday.
We found Daniella sorting rice with her mom and the whole family one evening.
And Melody, had just finished 'mudding' the floor with her mom in their house...
'Go big, or go home,' thats the idea. Well, the students have amended it to "Go big, or go home. Or go home big." Which is I think is fairly apt! Particularly after a week of visiting families and being served delicious snacks and meals absolutely everywhere we went. The hospitality of people is remarkable. Ah, but it was SO worth it.

And all those nerves? Pah. The students were having a fabulous time. What fun to see them relaxed and enjoying their family members, recounting for us great tales of (attempted) cow milking, or chicken killing or plowing or whathaveyou... I loved it. Just LOVED it.

After a most successful week, we picked everyone up, said our sad goodbyes and went to the Crows Nest in Sipi where we were joined by the group from Soroti for debrief.

Saturday those who wanted, could hike to one, two or three waterfalls... Down into valleys and up the other sides, one beautiful waterfall after another... up, up, up higher into the mountain we went. Last semester I only went to the first, this semester I went for all three (go big or go home, right?) (And truth be told, I wanted it to help with the whole going home big bit...) it was a lovely hike and a nice chance to catch up a bit more with the students who went to Soroti (or Soroasti, as it was affectionately referred to... apparently down in the plains it was H O T ! ).

Jones, myself and Molly (the other two interns) at the top of the second waterfall...
It is (or was last weekend at any rate) the end of the dry season, so the waterfalls were pretty wispy. (Last semester- during the rainy season- was quite a different story...)

There was enough water in the second one for a pounding shower. Medaline, our Canadian rockstar:
The way across one part of the river. Beautiful old treelog...
Oh... what glorious, beautiful fun.
Let me get this posted now as I need to get to bed and ready for tomorrows adventure... Class 5 rapids on the Nile! Whoop whoop!

with thanks to the god of small things....

2011-03-01T00:54:00.001-05:00

pretty little basket...

2011-02-27T08:44:00.000-05:00

Rwanda...

2011-02-17T08:11:00.007-05:00

Rwanda. It’s a small country. So small that on certain maps of Africa it is marked with only a dot. You must read the accompanying explanatory notes to discover that this dot, at the continent’s very center, indicates Rwanda. It is a mountainous country. Plains and plateaus are more characteristic of Africa, whereas Rwanda is mountains and more mountains… High yet gentle peaks stretch before you into infinity. They are emerald, violet, green and drenched in sunlight. It is a landscape devoid of the dread and darkness of rocky windswept peaks, precipices, and cliffs; no deadly avalanches, falling rocks, or loose rubble lying in wait for you here. No. The mountains of Rwanda radiate with warmth and benevolence, tempt with beauty and silence, a crystal clear, windless air, the peace and exquisiteness of their lines and shapes.

From: The Shadow of the Sun, Ryszard Kapuscinski

So, drenched in sunlight, the mountains in these photos are not... the days were not after all, sunny. However that description is a lovely one, and somehow accurate. Rolling hills and benevolent mountains, yes. Up and down and up and down you go. Roads ride up on a ridge for as long as they can and then wind down into a valley. The hills and mountains are a patchwork quilt of gardens growing things, the valleys are filled with rice patties, tea plantations, corn fields and the occasional lake. You then climb back up and over another ridge to find more endless hills/mountains stretched out before you. Lots of little towns along the way, neat and tidy towns. Maybe even more so than Uganda (which is more so than Kenya). Very orderly. It certainly doesn’t feel especially populated, though every inch of every hill and valley seems to be intentionally growing something or other. No ground lies idle, thats for sure!

I just returned from 5 days exploration in Rwanda with our program driver Vincent, and one of our interns, Jones. Every semester we take our students on a 9-day trip to Rwanda to experience a different part of east Africa. We will go as a group in April, and so the three of us set out to plan for this April trip; make deposits, secure guest speakers, get advice, determine the sites we will visit etc. It was a very packed five days...

We spent most of our time in the capital, Kigali, which is an incredibly hip, clean, modern city in amongst the hills: a mix of big modern city and small town, all swirled together.

Meetings, appointments, driving here and there and back again, a different guest house every night... the last day we drove three hours to Butare- in the south to see the National Museum, the National University Rwanda, and one of the memorials there.

Exhausting, intense, exciting, fun, good.

A 13+ hour drive back home, the very worst of which was the last hour and a half-- the time it took to go the last ten kilometers or so through Kampala-Mukono traffic. Glad, oh-so-glad to be back.

See you in April, Rwanda!

Otherworldly shades of green...

2011-02-02T01:14:00.008-05:00

So you know the tree? The big beautiful ent tree I couldn't get enough of when I first got here (and still can't)...? A couple of weeks ago, I began to get worried... she wasn't looking so good. Her leaves were all wilty, shriveling and sparse... made me think back to my arboretum days when we had to keep a close eye on our elms as dutch elms disease was sweeping the midwest, wiping out all the big old elm trees... But she has two sisters-- out behind my house, equally stunning trees that I noticed were also looking peaked. I felt less worried at this somehow, perhaps they were all just going through the same dormancy cycle?? And one fine day all of their leaves were just gone. (surely, SURELY it must just be part their growth rhythm...) I continued to monitor them closely- not entirely convinced we were out of the woods, and to my great relief, after just a couple of weeks their branches started to plump out again, and in the last few days exploded into the most brilliant, otherworldly shades of green!

(pardon the wires)

My camera doesn't do them justice, but they are bedazzling, almost too green to be true!

And how nice-- just a couple of leafless weeks, and BAM, we're back to fully energized, green leafy goodness! Hooray the monkeys have returned!! Not only the red tailed chaps with heart shaped noses, but the grey cheeked mangabeys as well!

Coordinators day off...

2011-01-28T05:46:00.007-05:00

Thats right folks... a day OFF... Wednesday, January 26... NRM day here in Uganda... the day Museveni and his National Resistance Movement came into power in 1986. So not having to teach or be in the office, my coworker-upstairs neighbor-and good friend here, Gwyn and I decided to find a pool side to enjoy. And to boot, we've hit the dog days... things are drying up, mud or dirt has turned into clouds of blowing dust. And its hot. Good and HOT.

Gwyn: The smart one, enjoying the hot day from the safety of some dappled shade....

Rachel: the not-so-smart one, enjoying the full force of the equatorial sun... resulting in some toasty knee caps at the end of the day. (I THOUGHT I'd done a good job applying sunscreen....)
Ah, but no regrets. Especially when I hear from friends elsewhere of cold wet snow, trees breaking under the weight of ice, and hitting that point mid-winter when it is all just too much. Too cold. Too grey. Too dark and too tiresome. NO THANKS... so this is for you, all of you in the far north... I soaked up all the gloriously hot sunshine I possibly could JUST FOR YOU. And I'm beaming it to you now, straight from my screaming red kneecaps. Can you FEEEEEL it? :) If you can't, well then I just don't know...

Much LOVE!

Jinja and the new year

2011-01-02T07:15:00.005-05:00

This christmas holiday has been way too short-- I'm just getting used to the idea of NOT going into work every day, and here we are Sunday afternoon staring into Monday morning and our first staff meeting of the year. Ah. But Meghan and I decided for one last hurrah-- to Jinja for some sunshine and a lot of nothing before it all hits. So Thursday we headed to a place called Kingfisher right where the Nile exits lake Victoria. Pretty spot. We spent the afternoon on the grass in the sunshine looking at this:

Doing this:
And this... lazy swimming, if you will. The pool was over run by kiddies... but we found this version also quite effective: every hour or couple of hours, you get up from your spot in the sun and splash around in the spigot a few feet away, cool off, and the return to your glorious spot in the sun...
And enjoyed a gentle sunset looking out towards The Source of the Nile. (Yes, by golly, I believe we've found it!)
We had big plans to wake up early Friday morning and stake out a prime spot by the pool-- beat out the pint-sized people, but woke to a dark cool morning and the sound of thunder and rain. Ah, the best laid plans... so we didn't quite get our stellar start-of-the-semester-tans... but spent a fun morning walking around Jinja town drinking iced coffees at The Source Cafe, specialty beverages by the golf course, eating Indian for lunch... and then hopped a matatu back to Mukono, where we rung in the new year over steaming mugs of tea, dutch blitz, my christmas tree going up in smoke with thanks for 2010, and fireworks shot off from the Colline! Whooohoo.

So today is Sunday, a sunny bright day, January 2nd (happy birthday Juan!). And I'm enjoying a day of being close to home after a couple weeks of go-go-going. I cleaned my water filter... which seemed impressive enough to share with you all:

And now I'm thinking about 2011... a whole new year. No idea what it holds... but hopefully I will perfect my tortilla making skills, get better at my job (weird that at this time last year, living and working in Uganda wasn't even remotely on my radar...), and send roots down deep into this good Ugandan soil and watch what comes up. (hopefully not matoke). Or maybe some matoke and some other goodies too... some good community, some contentment, belonging, and who knows really, maybe a few fun surprises along the way.

Hello 2011!

Murchison Falls National Park

2010-12-21T01:32:00.011-05:00

Finally... a safari. Without students or responsibilities... in fact, I didn't even PLAN this one, I was just along for the ride. Two of the program interns, Meg and Molly have visitors here this christmas, and so planned a trip to Murchsion Falls National Park. I have been once before exactly 16 years ago on a trip to Congo by road to visit my grandparents for Christmas. I kind of like returning to places you've been before...

Some things were exactly the same, like the Paraa Ferry that takes you across the Nile six cars or so at a time... (its sturdier than it looks)
And it must have been spring in the park-- there were babies EVERYWHERE...

baby baboons...
baby giraffes... (my camera isn't so great at distance shots-- but you see 'em? The three little light colored fellows in the back?)
The rainy season seemed to be over- but only just. There was still a pale green flush to the very tall grass. Made animal viewing rather difficult. I realize this fellows rump is to me in this photo... but the grass is just beautiful, and the colors make me feel at home.
baby buffalos and their egret friends (and moms)...
A patas monkey keeping lookout in a tree for his buddies in the deep thick grass. (You might have noticed, I'm not very good at catching animals actually LOOKING at me.)
We took the boat lanuch up to the base of the falls Saturday afternoon... Meg and I here, photographing the wildlife.
And the other kind of wildlife... baby elephants... CUTE!
Like I said, I seem to get a lot of this: (though this may just be my favorite shot of the trip)
As you get closer to the falls, the river is full of foam. Swirling in magical starry patterns.

The falls from as close as you can get at the base:

On the way out of the park Sunday afternoon we drove to the top of the falls. I have a distinct memory of the last time we were at Murchison. I was oh, 14 I think. We-- and our good family friends-- were staying at some crazy camp site... We got in got set up in our bandas or whathave you and the dads decided to take the kids to the top of the falls. I was in a foul mood- who knows why, being 14 is my only explanation. I refused to go and stayed back with the moms. Doing what exactly, I don't know.... journaling darkly through whatever angst was eating me. (I should look for that journal entry sometime in old journals... I'm sure it was something along the lines of how unfair life is...) Anyhow, this time, I was not so silly as to miss out on the spectacular view from the top.

Molly, Meg and I.
The entire river funnels into a gorge only a few meters wide... pretty intense (I know, I know, you can just hear dad in my voice, yah? Kara? Than? :) I'll own it.
The falls are alive, fresh every second and crazy. The lava flow around it is ages old, frozen in time but mirrors the same movement. Interesting contrast.

It was a fantastic weekend with good people. The bug has bitten... or reawakened perhaps, and now I'm ready for a chop box of my own, a tent, ditty chairs and ditty bags, a thermos for chai, a cooler for sundowners and a little old (reliable) set of (landrover) wheels to take me on all these adventures with a roof rack for sitting on. Oh yes, and more good friends to go with!!

Christmastime and the need for a tree...

2010-12-04T23:50:00.016-05:00

Thought I'd publish the photos now and maybe I'll add the narrative later... or maybe not. But after a week and a half of trying to find and figure out a Christmas tree (or some semblance thereof) I think I'm set. I'm quite pleased with my spazzy branch/tree that smells like the Christmas of my childhood.

Sunjuice Showers

2010-11-28T13:20:00.006-05:00

One of my most favorite things about this house is the solar water heater. It sits on the roof with Gwyn's water heater and together they spend the days soaking up all the vitamin D and golden delicious sunshine they can, storing it in their water tanks. And in the morning, I get an amazing, piping hot, sunjuice shower... most days. Some mornings, following a rainy or cloudy afternoon, my sunjuice shower is maybe not-so-piping hot (though never cold)... The temperature is determined by the weather the previous day. But I like that too- taking what is given. Not more. Not less.

Now, I suspect you scienc-y folk will give me a knowing and ever so slightly condescending look as you tell me that there is, in fact, no qualitative difference between water heated by sun and water heated by electricity. But I assure you there is. I do have an electric back-up switch, which has been called upon on rare occasion, and it is just not the same. Its harsh. Metallic. Cold, though its scalding hot. Sunjuice, on the other hand, is warm and embracing, gentle even if you need to add cold so as not to get burned...

(The only down side to my shower bliss is the mornings I wake up and find a spider or spiders (!!) in the tub... Last week I had to forgo a shower altogether one day due to a very LARGE spider that was stuck in the tub. Thank you Molly for helping me escort that particular unwanted visitor off the premises later that evening...) (Ok, maybe he was midsized... but he definitely wasn't going to fit down the drain holes... which required removal out of the tub from above. And I don't squish things bigger than mosquitos. I'm not that kind of tough.)

This photo doesn't have anything to do with the wonders of my sunjuice showers... but it is a lovely sunset from my porch, looking down over the neighbors roof top towards the distant hills. (Now if I could just scoot that house over a couple of yards and get it out of my lovely view... )

visitors...

2010-11-20T09:36:00.005-05:00

I've had a slew of interesting and exciting visitors over the past few months. Unfortunately I don't always remember to whip out my camera before they leave for the customary farewell photo, but I have managed a few. Among those that I've missed- the enormous oval shaped fellow clinging to my mosquito net and the super speedy centipede with the long red pointy tail. The crickets- ah but they're regulars. The mouse... unfortunately I had to use force with that one-- his welcome was overstayed after he leapt of the counter at my boss one afternoon and I later discovered he'd set up shop in my ROOM... Good gracious. There are a pair of squeaky hornbills that also help to keep the grasshopper population at bay outside my front and back door. I quite enjoy them-- their wild beady eyes and their tap tap taping on the door as they collect their green treats. And always the endless trails of ants, cleaning up after the other bugs, searching for sugary crumbs or whatever they can find. Oh heres one right now-- scurrying across the screen. Must be lost. Can't find the rest of his troop.

Margaret

2010-11-10T05:59:00.006-05:00

This is Margaret, one of my co-workers. She is someone I've come to love and appreciate both as a colleague and as a friend.

Sipi Falls

2010-11-08T00:29:00.003-05:00

At the end of rural homestays, we all (the group had been split... half went to Serere, half went to Kapchurwa) met up at Sipi Falls, in the foothills of Mount Elgon, on the eastern boarder with Kenya. We spent two nights in a fun place called the Crows Nest for debrief. Its a base camp kind of place for people who are coming through to hike Mt. Elgon, or the falls... so is decent, but on the lower end of tourist catchment. (Mostly your 20-30 somethings who are doing Africa the Hardcore way... bumming around, local transportation, as little bathing as possible, and certainly no clothes washing. Big cameras and big packs.) The Students loved it.

'Debrief' was good Friday night... Saturday was for hiking to the falls... Me and the interns here- before setting out... Meghan, Molly and Jones... (And someone JUST pointed out that Tui-- one of the students is in there too!! Hiding in the shadows, in a creepy, sneaking kind of way.. Oy!)

The first of two falls my group hiked to...

The students....

Looking west into Uganda...

The second set of waterfalls:

Students, getting as close as possible to the pounding torrents of waterfall...

Sunday morning before leaving we hiked up to the top of the hill behind Crows Next.... Looking back down into Uganda-- Serere and lake Kyoga in the far distance, a little hazy to really make out that morning, but a beautiful vista none the less.

rural homestays

2010-11-01T10:31:00.008-05:00

I went with half the student group to Serere-- in eastern Uganda. A beautiful, beaufiul place.

Meghan, one of the interns was also on the trip. We stayed with Margaret- our coworker who is from Serere and set up all of the host families... Taking tea is a very important daily activity.
The hill behind Margarets house... Looking towards a stormy afternoon sky, with the sunlight on our backs.
On another, clearer afternoon- looking down at one of the neighbors homesteads...
Resting was another very important daily activity...
Looking towards the kitchen hut... we were attempting to bake a pineapple cake on a little charcoal fire... (which Margaret is monitoring closely) It actually turned out really well!
Stephen, me, Margaret, Meghan and Johnson-- at a staff dinner in Soroti town. Stephen and Johnson help Margaret set up the homestays and are also 'on call' for any additional support during the week. Driving here and there, communicating with host families and whatnot
Long week... but good week!!

a few more...

2010-10-10T12:59:00.004-05:00

...that wouldn't upload last night...

The proverbial mango tree classroom:

A papaya tree gone bananas:

Acholi style structures- where we stayed in Gulu:

the road north

2010-10-09T12:10:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we took the students north to Gulu. The days were beautiful- clear, sunny, warm, bright... I didn't manage to take too many photos (being in charge somehow means less time for such things) but for whatever reason, I love this photo- taken from the window of the coaster. Amazing clouds, skies and trees.

...

2010-09-17T08:25:00.005-05:00

"NOTHING THAT'S HAPPENING WILL MAKE MUCH SENSE UNTIL IT HAS FINISHED HAPPENING, WHEREUPON IT WILL YIELD A BURST OF INSIGHT ABOUT THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR DESTINY."

office...

2010-09-07T05:51:00.002-05:00

So... just in case you're curious about where I actually, physically work.... Below is the Kivengyere Block at UCU. Mostly its a classroom block, but the USP offices are on the ground level... the four windows you see on the right.

Mine is the first window.
Looking in the doorway, down the hall (very exciting).
My office! This is only just after the first couple of weeks, so its still not exactly how it will be... But its coming! I have a nice window and always a pleasant breeze.... And sometimes a lot of unpleasant construction noise from the library site just a hundred yards away or so. Which also makes for a coating of fine red dust over everything everyday...

Visitors always welcome!

Sunset...

2010-08-06T11:56:00.002-05:00

What does one do on a Friday night here, you ask? Enjoy a gentle sunset and a good cup of tea... at least this Friday night. (We'll see what next Friday night brings...)

the tree...

2010-08-05T02:38:00.005-05:00

Bottom to top. This at least gives you a better idea of the height of the tree... And just imagine standing right there at the base looking up under this great green umbrella of criss-crossing branches and leafage and full of noisy birds and occasionally red tailed monkeys. WHAT FUN I tell you!

Below is the mysterious white palm nut vulture glowing on a branch... Kind of looks like a seagull or the aflac duck... but no no... White Palm Nut Vulture. There are two that roost in the tree quite regularly. (that I have figured... )

A few more photos...

2010-07-27T12:17:00.007-05:00

... to give you a bit more of an idea of my new life. Though, remember, my house is still very much in process..

The kitchen:

Dinner in the 'dining room.' Salad and a boiled egg and toast. Toasted toast.
The living room as seen from the front door. (That big dining room table isn't mine- will be going. And things on the wall just found hooks to hang on temporarily until I can get them properly placed...)
The living room from the other side looking towards the front door:
My room. And my weirdo mosquito net. (suppose its better than the alternative...)
The spare room and bunk beds... this blue will DEFINITELY be going ASAP.
The walk to the office. (This makes me chuckle, because it surely looks like I'm out in the boondox... Really, this is the 'back way' that cuts through my neighbors back yard. They're smart and have filled their back yard with delicious eddibles... unlike the crazy americans who fill their yards with grass.) But what a nice walk to work, hey?

New Diggs...

2010-07-24T07:59:00.017-05:00

I have been silent… but I’ve been busy. My world has gone Topsy Turvy really… Mid-June(ish) I was offered a job. In Uganda. I accepted it and began unraveling of life as it had been for the last year (or ten years?)… Back down to the basement to unpack, sort and pile my already compacted ‘stuff' from Baltimore. I made lists of what I needed to do and get, and had many a long email conversation about what was and wasn’t in my soon-to-be beautiful new mostly furnished apartment… we suffered through various odds and ends shopping trips... And then the packing. Oh the agony. And then the worry. Too much? Too little? Impractical? Will all my precious pots make the transatlantic travel, and then survive the subsequent Kenyan/Ugandan roads and boarder crossings?? Oh me. (And should I really be attempting to carry my pots with me??) (Don’t be silly, Of COURSE. They are sweet pieces of my life and my dear dear friends. I'm not leaving them behind…!)

Believe it or not, the most traumatic part of the whole trip was at O’Hare, where the woman at the baggage counter essentially told me, ‘sorry, your trunks are too heavy you can’t take them.’ SLIGHT mis-communication—we could, we later (and thankfully) figured out, we just had to reorder some of the poundage and then pay dearly. BUT… we managed, with the help of some blood, lots of sweat and a few tears, to get that sorted out and on our flight in good time. To Kenya. (or Amsterdam then Nairobi) Where I have to say going back felt a little like I was just there. But fun to be with my parents this go around, meeting up with my brother (sadly missing Kara). We had a few chilly days in Nairobi, reconnecting with friends, going back out to where we had lived 20 years etc. Which was all special. And THEN… the 7 most glorious warm, sunny, sandy, Indian Ocean, pool, henna, swahili seafood, passion fruit juice and coconut filled days spent at the coast… I have to say, dear friends, the Kenyan coast is one of the most spectacular places ON EARTH. (at least that I have had the great good fortune of exploring...) It was glorious I tell you. Glorious. A few photos for your drooling pleasure...

Then back to Nairobi for a few more days and a few more delightful reconnections with old friends. And then the journey west to Uganda. We stayed one night en rout in the Kakamega Forest at a little retreat center called Rondo. It is a rain-forest very much like the one my mom grew up in in Congo, with tall tall old trees FILLED with noisy monkeys and birds, colorful flowers and bright, floaty dancing butterflies. It felt intensely familiar and happy. The following day Than drove us on in his speeding silver bullet to the border, and through the border, and we were met by Vincent, a fellow who works for the program I now work for. He brought us on home. To my new home that is, in Mukono, Uganda. A small (?) town between Jinja and Kampala. We stopped, changed money, picked up a few groceries- namely milk and sugar for that oh-so-necessary life force: tea. (We’d brought the tea from Kenya. Of course). And up the hill to my new home. Up Up Up the bumpy red dirt hill… to a spot that overlooks the town, and the best part… THE best part EVER…?? The tree that will be watching over me while I'm here… Oh it is magnificent. It is a tall old forest tree. Think Avatar tree. Ok, maybe not QUITE… shes sinewy, lankier, but you look up into the underbelly of her branches, which are a way way up there, and it is a spectacular criss-crossing map of places I’d SO like to go... And this old ent is home to raucous clans of turacos, hornbills, parrots and who knows what else… The mornings and evenings are filled with the most delightful cacophony of squabblily, giddy bird chatter you ever heard. This picture does not, simply does not do it justice. I will keep trying to capture it, but for now... and remember it is VERY tall.

So I am slowly unpacking my stuff… Actually, I unpacked pretty quickly and have since been finding the perfect spots for everything. My apartment is spacious and colorful. It seems a little extravagant, honestly. But I'm getting used to the idea of it. I have a living/room dining room space, a kitchen and laundry room, two bedrooms one full bathroom and a half bath. (Did I mention TWO bedrooms? That’s right, and with such delights as I have abovementioned, aren’t you all clamoring to buy your plane tickets?? Yeah, I should THINK so.) My apartment is the on the ground level, my coworker, Gwyn lives above me.

My travels have been wonderful, but after a year of not knowing quite what I was doing, and these last weeks/months of go-go-go it is good to finally stop moving and start finding home again. And yes, I’ve felt guilty and embarrassed at my luggages as I’ve carted them here and there, and dear folk have had to hoist them gently(!) on to and off of roof racks and into pickup beds... (And oh my, what WAS all this nonsense I brought??) But I am thankful. Oh SO thankful for it, because it is pieces of you that I carry with me. And I am so delightfully home in this new place as I pull out my Rita placemats and french press cozy, and my Molly prints, and my Mary Mugs and Ann plate, my Matt seeds, my Kara angel, my Alice knives and bread board, my beautiful Elizabeth Wye Oak piece (which made it!), Auntie Eileen dish towels, Katie necklace, Juan salt and pepper shakers, Allison bag, Marti photo frame, Annie bowl and Raha dudu that has been with me since 10th grade I think... And photos! My fridge was fully adorned the first night with photos of your smiling faces and many a good good time… Zephyr with his mama and papa on his first birthday, Lucia sitting in her sling, Nisha loving the sunshine, mom and dad and the Chicago skyline, Dexter House, my grandparents 3, Hear no evil, see no evil, and what smell no evil?? (hahaha) Yah. I carry all this goodness with me. All these BRILLIANT shining people in my life.

And I feel overwhelmed. And I feel sad to be far away from so many people I love. And I’ll feel super sad when my parents leave (how nice to have them help me move in). And I feel a bit nervous about my new job and all the unknowns, and unsure of myself. But I am excited and grateful too. And ready. For more brilliant shining people… For new places and new things, different things. For Uganda. And eating endless bananas and pineapples, and walks up and down this mighty hill with all my fresh goodies and bags of milk from the market… And for perfectly warm weather 365 days a year.

a lark and a prayer...

2010-06-10T07:26:00.004-05:00

Lark

The golden ratio the shell

The stairs ascending round themselves

The trees rustle as if to kneel and listen

To the heartbeat of a lark or the lark in my heartbeat

The oxygen in priestly green

The answers dressed in labyrinthine

The telescopes atop the mountains of ecstatic vision listening

To the heartbeat of a lark or the lark in my heartbeat

I am assured yes, I am assured, yes!

I am assured that peace will come to me

A peace that can yes, surpass the speed yes,

Of my understanding and my need

The meteoric warp and wend

In counterbalance to the sparks ever ascending

The arrow time shoots forward though it moves through repetition

To the heartbeat of a lark or the lark in my heartbeat

What is it that drives the driven snow now?

Upon whose temples will I rest my weary hopes now?

The rain distills down steeples fills the ears of lonely church mice with the

Heartbeat of a lark or the lark in my heartbeat

I am assured yes, I am assured, yes!

I am assured that peace will come to me

A peace that can yes, surpass the speed yes,

Of my understanding and my need

ah, the brilliant Josh Ritter, folks!

Sometimes it is only through others beautiful words and images that we find our own peace and the courage to take a shaky wobbly step out in some semblance of faith... If you haven't heard this song from his new album, you must. It is beautiful.

South...

2010-06-01T11:13:00.009-05:00

After a week of reconnections in the great city of Baltimore, I boarded the Amtrak at Penn Station headed down the coast to South Carolina (whoo-wooo), where the trees are grand and old, the land is flat flat flat and the air is thick with heat and history. (It wasn't actually THAT hot while I was there, but it was deliciously warm and the air does have a sultry, bayou, low-country quality to it...) Molly and John have been there just a year and have done a great job of finding some spectacular nooks and crannies to explore.

We checked out the Brookgreens Garden... The grounds of an old rice plantation turned sculpture garden/arboretum.

We spent an afternoon at Huntington beach. Piers, like this one, have been a reoccurring theme in the long history of our friendship.... (or maybe its just inevitable when you hang out with a biologist who loves the water... :)
... Ah yes, the brilliant Dr. L always hunting up fascinating things to show us...
like this itty bitty little crab fella
and this sea urchin-- slightly put out perhaps at the indignity of having his underbelly inspected by three oogling pairs of eyes-- or do they always just flail their little prickles so...? Dr. L? Ah yes, and notice the little tiny tips of some of the bottom-most prickles, split further for pinching and grabbing hold.... Crazy little buggers!
Oh, and check out this huge half-eaten fish head we stumbled upon...

What a day... walking on the beach, falling asleep in the warm sunshine and stopping for yummy pizza on the way home...

We spent another day canoeing up a river just out of town... with these old swampy Cypress trees that tuck their 'knees' up around themselves because of (?) the constant up and down of the water levels. (if you look closely-- those pointy, stumpy things at the base of the trees... are their knees. You can also see the dark line on the trees, where the water level was up to earlier in the season )

Cooling off in the river on a sultry south carolina summer afternoon....

Molly and I picked some delectable strawberries for the strawberry/rhubarb pie we had a hankering for after our soul food dinner of shrimp and grits. They sure don't mess around! Mmmm...
Thanks Molly and John for such a spectacular long weekend... your lovely little home, goofy little dog and delicious hospitality...

more east...

2010-05-23T15:39:00.004-05:00

Some more photos from my easterly ventures for you...

After a week and a half with Rita, Juan and la luce I headed up to the greatest city in America. It was a homecoming of sorts. A good homecoming full of good good thins and good good people and absolutely perfect weather!

Walking to the tulip garden... and lazing in the sunshine.

Katie and I spent an afternoon in Elk Neck Park (?) in Delaware... and found ourselves a mini lighthouse, after a mini-hike...

I visited Cinder down in Patterson Park. We happened upon these merry little ducklings...
Cinder has a beautiful booming blooming plot in the Patterson Park community gardens...
...where we harvested daisies...
Rita came up for my last afternoon and the May friends reunited for a Gunpowder hike and some fabulous Zekes coffee....

I don't quite feel like I adequately documented things on this trip... but there was so much more:

- Waverly farmers market with Megan

- TWO brilliant Josh Ritter shows (9:30 Club in DC and Rams Head in Baltimore) with Mary... (his new album, So Runs the World Away is BRILLIANT... and the only thing more brilliant than his album is him in concert.. Ah, LOVE you Josh Ritter!)

- Lunch with Carol and Christy at Carma's in Charles Village

- Going back to Clayworks- good people and beautiful art...

- Lunch with Deb

- Visiting the senior women and Herb at Pimlico

- Bottomless G&Ts with Katie on her lovely breezy, porch

- Good walks

- Jubilee Arts Center

- Lake Montebello...

- A chance meeting with Alice and Emily at Atwaters...

- Gregs Bagels with Lauren and Mary

- The Hamilton Tavern

Ahhh.... it just sort of felt like I'd never left...

From west to east....

2010-05-03T08:55:00.007-05:00

Here I am in Gaithersburg (and Baltimore and DC) to spend a few weeks with more of the wonderful people in my life... and to meet my darling little niecelet-- LUCIA! Oh, shes just grand, I have to say...

Of course its nice to see Rita and Juan too...

We've been enjoying beautiful days, lots of walks, fun meals, and keeping lil' la luce busy and happy... (Or is it her busy keeping us entertained...??) One afternoon Rita, Lucia and I drove down to College Park and had a picnic lunch with Katiedid.
... and watched the master farmer at work on her plot of land. (That would be Katie...)
Another another fine summerlike day was spent in the back yard enjoying the hot hot sunshine and the dandeilions...

Helping momma empty the dishwasher...
Saturday we went to the Sheep and Wool Festival, which was great fun. (I think perhaps they should consider a nice cool fall day for a wool and sheep festival... but hey? I'm not complaining. Just not interested in buying socks and sweaters in 90 degrees.) That evening we had a delicious dinner with Beth down in DC. I really do love this area and these cities.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed:

So much love...

The Oregon Coast...

2010-04-24T10:58:00.004-05:00

Did I mention it was beautiful?

rainy... haily... cold... windy... but hauntingly, mournfully beautiful.

Adventuring...

2010-04-20T09:39:00.015-05:00

These last months have been full up of time spent with good people in their beautiful spaces.

Through the early months of the year I was here at home with mom and dad and junebug, trying to gracefully weather winter... doing lots of experimental cooking, walking in the arboretum when temperatures allowed... bemoaning the days when they didn't... drinking tea, lots and lots of tea.

I took the train west to Macomb and had a fun weekend with Jesse, Olivia and Benjamin... though very uncharacteristically, I managed not to take me camera out the whole time... rats.

A symposium on campus mid-February brought many good people to us-- Uncle jonathan and aunt Eileen... more Barnetts than could be counted on ones hands... Samm, Mwenda and co... One evening we went down to the Rasdashan for the best Ethiopian in town. (Notice: the gleaming plate, which just minutes before was full of yummy Ethiopian deliciousness...)

Between here there and everywhere I spent a what felt like many hours in ORD, KCI, DEN, SEA, MSO, GEG (Name that airport...!) (One day I will make an extensive list of every airport ever flown through in my life time. That will be impressive.)
I spent a week in Kansas in early March for Zephyrs 1st birthday. It was a grand weekend with lots more good people... complete with cupcakes, dogs, MORE tea, dopple alts at the Freestate, and an out-of-the-blue snow storm that dropped 8 inches of snow in one day. The following day it was back up in the 60s and the snow all melted away. Pretty impressive.

Look at these darling Afghan ladies mapping out the fruit trees! Or wait, never mind, just some crazy Barnett sisters under cover...)
Mom, Martha, Eileen, Skyler and Annie looking on...
Zephyr- the birthday boy in his watotoes and Osh Kosh B'goshes! Yeah stylin' kiddo... and his wonderful mom and dad...
Oh yes, and a special day spent with Raha while Lucia made her way, fist-first into the world... You can do it la Luce! And RITA... :)
Annie and the Skyman...
Then it was on to Missoula for three weeks with Kara...
... and Allison (and more snow)
... and Britta and Beth
... and cousins Lindsay and Corin and Seth and Tim... again, how did I not get a photo?

One weekend Kara and I decided to make a rainy, haily pilgrimage to the Oregon coast. Ah its quite a tale where just about everything that could have gone wrong did... from rain and hail, to flat tires, to more hail on our heads while we fixed flat tires... to 'camping' that never was due to wind, rain and hail... to funky little hotel/motel deals and sketchy motel men... and long drives with no rest stops... ahhh... all in 24 hours... someday I'll regale you in full color... someday. But Oregon was stunningly beautiful, even in the rain. And hail. And Portland seems a city well worth further exploration, once I get some m'self some skinny jeans, black flats, funky glasses and super straight swooped-to-the-side hair do... (On the hip scale, I think Portland might be off the charts. Or it thinks itself off the charts at any rate.)

(Below we are huddled in the car- reading out loud to one another as we waited for the elements to back off long enough to set up camp. As previously noted, this never happened.)

A forest nymph in the misty Oregon mountains...

Now I am back in this warmer booming, blooming land of Illinois... tomorrow I/we head down to Indiana and then up to Wisconsin for a bit of a robinson-rendezvousing... And next week I head east and then south... for MORE galavanting with MORE good good people! YEEE-HAW!

These months- while topsy turvy in so many ways... have been full up with all these fantastic people and these breathtakingly beautiful places... and I just feel remarkably lucky right now.

Let mystery have its place in you; do not be always turning up your whole soil with the ploughshare of self-examination, but leave a little fallow corner in your heart ready for any seed the winds may bring.

Henri Frederic Amiel

In 24 short hours....

2010-04-14T22:42:00.003-05:00

Yesterday:

I was walking in the Rattlesnake with Allison, getting soggier and colder as it snowed and snowed and snowed. Gorgeous, yes, but SNOW... in APRIL...?? Ah Montana. (yes, it has been known to snow in there in June I'm told...)
Today:

I was greeted with warm, balmy breezes and sunshine in Illinois... here I am barefoot, barearmed, examining the state of the flowers with my grandma. And drinking tea on the porch swing with my parents. BASKING in sweet, glorious warmth...

Not sure I know how to mentally or physically cope with the two realities in such a short space of time... I may be a bit off kilter for the next week or so. So don't mind me.

when words don't cut it...

2010-03-29T22:41:00.003-05:00

... there are hills, and there is sunlight, and there are magnificent volatile big skies...

Sproutlets...

2010-03-08T18:33:00.004-05:00

...shining through!

When I Am Among the Trees

2010-03-06T16:51:00.004-05:00

When I am among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness,

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world

but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, "Stay awhile."

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,

"and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine."

~ Mary Oliver ~

shades of white

2010-02-22T11:02:00.002-05:00

These photos may look just as grey as yesterdays photos, but they feel a whole lot better. Its a whole new world out there. Not exactly the green sunny hot one I really want... but a new one nonetheless, covered in a thick layer of wet sticky snow, the dementor-like oppressiveness of yesterday has abated for the time being. I wouldn't call this a snowpocalypse or anything, just a little 4" snolypse. (Since we're in the business of coming up with new names for snowstorms these days.) I got up early and went on a beautiful walk out to the marshes. Fun.

graygreyandgreydays...

2010-02-21T17:13:00.004-05:00

Looking up:

Looking down:

ready for spring...

2010-02-12T12:14:00.007-05:00

Winter has just about done me in... it is limiting my growth and imagination and stalling my progression through life. Yes I am blaming this ALL on winter right now. I can't handle it any more. I hate winter. I hate hate hate winter. I hate being cold! I hate the gloom. The leafless trees. I'm generally a glass half full kind of person; I pretty much feel that there is good to be found in all things... But this... THIS...! WINTER!!!!! I am done... DONE. I hate the way it makes me feel. I am always cold. And the only way to get warm is to have ten different layers on, which makes me feel like a balloon. Restricted. Constricted. My skin feels dry. And has become a ghastly white. My hair is static-y. And flat. And fast loosing its sunshine. I feel squishy. And I am tired having to bundle up. Of wearing socks. Of not being able to just get up and GO somewhere without a ten minute-put-on-your-sweater-coat-long-underwear-socks-boots-gloves-hats and whatever else you might need to protect yourself from the elements. And it STILL hurts. (going for a walk that is, when the temperature is somewhere far below freezing...) And yes, I know, I KNOW... there are surely solutions to all these problems, things I could do... but DON'T say anything, because I don't want to hear it...! I know. I just want to be two today and stomp around and yell and be mad... BECAUSE I JUST WANT IT TO BE SPRING. I neeeeeeeeeeeeed it to be spring.

I want to throw open the windows and feel that thawing fresh breath of air... I want the ground to wake up and let out all its hibernating greenery. I want to run around barefoot and bare armed. And dig in the dirt. Dude, I'll even take the mosquitoes... I want to run. And sweat. And absorb all the warmth and heat the sun can produce. I want to feel ALIVE...

Ok, but so I'm TRYING. With arms crossed, a bit of a scowl and a deep sigh of resignation... here are a few photos of some things that make life a little more tolerable in the thick of this wretched neverending winterness...

freezing fog...?

2010-01-17T14:15:00.004-05:00

So who knew, but apparently there is such a thing as 'freezing fog.' It was quite magical this morning, and altogether different than any other winter precipitation I've experienced thus far in life... Little itty bitty teeny tiny whitenesses covering branches and limbs, but not really like snow. Like frozen fog, I guess.

thats a wrap folks...

2009-12-27T19:27:00.023-05:00

Thats right, 2010 is fresh out of the gate... time to wrap up my trip posting and get on with things.

* * *

I did not leave on our scheduled departure date with Kara... I extended my ticket for four weeks and the chance to see what might transpire from a little more time on the ground. It was good for me to just be after the go-go-going of our travels. Initially I had been totally overwhelmed by Nairobi, but after re-figuring out the matatus (the slightly maniacal minivans that speed through traffic sludge as though being chased by a pack of rabid hyenas, aka: public transportation) and settling into a somewhat routine, it was good. Really good. It felt normal- and to a degree, like home again. Than and I did fun things around the city, met up with friends and managed to get out of town for at least two of the weekends.

I spent two weeks working/volunteering/participating at Amani ya Juu- the same organization I had worked/volunteered at six years ago. It has more than doubled in size and capacity since my previous time there, and I was really interested to understand the nuts and bolts of such growth and the full spectrum of what they do. The director- and the women- graciously afforded me the opportunity to spend time with each department (production, distribution, warehouse, the shop, the cafe, clothing etc.), learning how it fits into the bigger picture and the general flow of activity. The mosaic-energy at Amani is beautiful; each woman doing her part to contribute to the whole, each piece beautiful in its own right-- but spectacular all together. It is a special community, to be sure. I so enjoyed reconnections and new connections and getting caught up in it all again, if only for a short time.

The 'Tye and Dye' area in the foreground, the production building in the background...

Lucy mixing the dyes.

Pettie and Nellie dipping the fabrics...

Pettie, me and Nellie all cleaned up after a day of dyeing ...
Josephine, from DRC, working in clothing...
Working with Doro in the Cafe... oh, such a fun day!

Visiting two of the women, Abigael and her kids and Zipporah at their homes one Saturday.

* * *

The weekend before I left Than and I took a trip to Lake Baringo, a place we often went growing up. Oh, what a weekend it was! How good to be there with my brother. How healing to be in that beautiful place, so rich with memories from childhood... Baringo assailed my sesenses as we descended the escarpment; the air... the hot baringo air, the bright smell of acacia seedpods on the edge of it... the birds- a conglomeration of chatter specific to baringo... The lake. The trees. The colors and shapes and juxtapositions of plant, earth, rock and water... It was that really delicious way of remembering-- not exactly having forgotten, but finding your whole self in it, after a long time away... to remember, to re-know, all senses buzzing, such a place.

The big old beautiful acacia groves near the Africa Exchange project:
One of the many luggas on the road to Baringo

Tea, digestive biscuits and birdwatching with Than
Swimming and ordering Baringo Specials, fruit-filled drinks made with sprite and grenadine.

The lake in the warm, settling afternoon sunlight

* * *
And before I left, I managed to finish up a mosaic project I'd been working on for Mel, a pot that sits in her garden with a birdbath on top.

* * *

Funny little story, my departure from Kenya and the full circle that it somehow brought to my trip. On the flight to Amsterdam, I sat next to two Rwandan sisters, Clementine and Isabelle, one just older than me the other just younger. They were returning to the US after traveling in Malawi for a couple of weeks together, flying Nairobi-Amsterdam to Chicago and onwards. Oh the places and people along the way, with whom we find a most pleasant and familiar connection... Our flight out of Nairobi had been significantly delayed, so we missed our connecting flight to Chicago, but KLM put us up in a fun hotel for the night, gave us food vouchers and fun little 'overnight kits.' There was nothing to do but to enjoy it. So we did... and how thankful I was for fun, kindred spirits to enjoy it with. Sisters. Traveling through life together.

Nairobi

2009-12-04T19:12:00.007-05:00

Kara and I had a week in Nairobi before our scheduled departure date... which meant for packed days of reconnecting, meeting up with dear friends and going to a few of those special old familiar places...

Ngong Road out towards Karen.

Looking across the dry dry Kitengela plains towards Nairobi- you can just see the city skyline there under the building clouds...

Going home:
With Steven, Mandi, Azibetta and Mary:
Our childhood house... the shadow of our sandbox in the foreground:
"The Center:"
A few relics still remain:

Speaking of relics, we made a trip to Sno-Cone (you know, down town next to the Hong Kong) for chocolate dips... This poster has been up since my parents were in high school:

Meeting up with Anna for a drink:
Tea with Sarah and the chance to meet Micha Wema:
Sammy!
And Cathy! And a most adorable little Kwezi:
Kwezi, who, I just have to say, I have NEVER met a child so uncannily absolutely like his mother:
Awww.... Sammy and the lovely Irene:
Sammy, me, Irene, Cathy, Jordo and Kwezi

Such good people!

So, who really knows the whys of all the little and big things that happen in life, the 'perfect' opportunities that seem to fall from out of nowhere onto our heads. That upon on closer inspection maybe aren't so perfect, but their presence alters the headspace just enough to shift ones course, leading to who knows what sort of ripple effect. Kara left on our planned departure date, but I extended my ticket for another four weeks. A chance to Be. Let it all sink in a little. Live it. See what other sorts of life altering pieces of sky might fall on my head.

DRC...

2009-11-30T12:50:00.014-05:00

Been back in the US just over a week now and my body, mind and spirit are slowly coming back into some sort of alignment after the blitz and buzz of warp speed travel. But that is the way of it. Now it is time to slow to a stop and regain a sense of self in one place for a time. Take some deep breaths and long walks and pour back through the many miles and moments of the past 11 weeks... People have asked me what I learned in my travels. And while I am keenly aware that I have come away with a bundle of stunning gems, I am not sure yet how to answer that... with a sweeping, gushing generalization of a glorious adventure? Nonchalantly toss them one or two of the bright shiny stones... "Eh, you know... it was great."

As I look down at my hands full of color and sparkle- I am a bit stuck for words. I don't yet know what the sum total means, or even what each individual piece means. I feel the need- over an extended period of time- to pick up each one of these gems, these experiences, conversations, sunsets and bus-rides, examine it closely, turn it over in my hands, hold it up to the sunlight... and absorb its color and intensity into my being. And at the end of that... I don't know if I will be any closer to grand discovery. But this blogging process, goofy as it may be, seems in a small way a part of this- both for myself, and for you, dear and loving friend. So let me see... ah yes, this small intensely deep emeraldgreen oval one... Congo... Let me tell you a bit about my travels into Congo.

From Lake Bunyonyi Kara, Sarah and I took a boat-taxi-bus-matatu-taxi to Kagando Hospital very close to the Uganda/Congo boarder where Sarah is doing her internship. Kara stayed on with Sarah several days visiting and 'advising' her, while I connected up with a vanful of UCBC folk heading to Beni the following day.

Sarah and I doing mandalas at the Kagando guest house.

Kagando is at the Uganda-side foothills of the Rwenzori mountains:
Crossing into Congo at the boarder: (Our van was loaded down to be sure... but this poor truck, one of many... was REEEEEEEALY loaded down...) Beni is only 80 kilometers from the boarder, but it took us a good 3 hours to get there. Once in Congo... the tarmac ceases and the graded roads are, well... not so great.

Driving into Beni:
Both of my parents were born and grew up in different parts of northeastern Congo... and my sister, brother and I grew up visiting my grandma where she lived and worked in Adi, and my grandma and grandpa at their home in Itendey. I had never been to Beni- though it is not much farther south.

Congo is an immense and immensely complicated county; one of the richest places on this earth in terms of mineral resources, and yet it is that mineral wealth and the exploitation of that mineral wealth by the rest of the world that has kept the country in a constant state of conflict and civil war for the last 15 years. Beni has been/is a fairly stable place; many have fled conflict in other regions to be there. For a little more info on Congo here is one link, and another.

I/we went to Congo, and to Beni specifically to visit UCBC- the Christian Bilingual University of Congo, a university that is just in its third year of running as part of The Congo Initiative (or CI). My parents have been involved with CI since its very small beginnings- it is what has grown out of the dreams and visions of family friends, the Kasalis, a Congolese couple who want to see their country and its people liberated and transformed through the education and opportunity. The university, UCBC, is the first 'piece' of that initiative. In its third year running, and only a fraction of what it will someday be... but there are some 300 students currently enrolled, and it is a glittering pool of hope and optimism and hard work, amongst what are for most students, extremely hard circumstances.

Eventually there will be an Arts center and a Pubic Health center/clinic... so much of our (Kara and my) reason for going was to see, to feel, experience and imagine what could be.

The main building at UCBC: Unfinished, but complete enough to hold all classes.
Looking down towards the community center that is being built at UCBC, which will eventually house the art program:
The grammar II class I taught for a few brief days(yes I did say grammar II, you can chuckle if you must...). And yes, most of the students know more english grammar than I do. Hmmm, I wonder how many grammatical errors are in this post?? I like to call them liberties, bytheyway.... An intentional breaking of the rules, AKA artistic license... :)

Driving to Oicha, a town about an hour away where my mom was born.
The beautiful Rwenzori Mountains coming through the clouds:
Dinner with Aline and Justan: We knew Aline from growing up, she is the daughter of Mandro- a dentist who apprenticed with my grandpa at Itendey. Justan and Aline are both doctors working at the hospital in Beni, and were recently married. Dinner with them was not only DELICIOUS (see all the fried bananas, boiled bananas, chicken, fish, avocados and pineapple?? Oh, what a generous feast...!) but one of those beautiful moments of connection and belonging with good people.

The big skies of Congo:

After ten days, we bumped and bounced our way back to the boarder in a speed-demon taxi car, where we got on one of the local buses bound for Kampala. We left Beni at 8 in morning, and arrived in Kampala around 11 that evening. The roads in Uganda are pretty good, but it is far and the bus stops what seems like every ten minutes to pick up and drop off fellow travelers. We spent a day recuperating at friends' in Kampala before the next 12 hour bus ride from Kampala- Nairobi.

The Akamba bus to Nairobi was maybe the best bus ride yet on this trip of never ending and endless bus rides... We had the equivalent of bulkhead seats- RIGHT behind the driver, so lots of leg room and a panoramic view of the road ahead *which, was lovely except that Akamba busses have a bit of a reputation- a most accurate reputation (we had front row seats to the show!) for being road hogs/bullies... barreling along at break-necking speeds on 2-lane highways where there is no shoulder, passing other cars and busses with impossible margins... ah but we lived to tell the tale... another day another bus ride. And actually, this first of our two drivers was incredibly sweet... he reminded both of us of our friend Greg and the prayer he prayed (every bus we rode in east africa took a moment for a prayer before departing)- was one of the very sweetest prayers...! I was instilled with great confidence, and despite all craziness rather enjoyed the ride.
Driving through Kericho (see all that glorious Kenya tea??) and a drenching rainy season rainstorm:
Passing Lake Elementeita around sunset... not much of a lake there at the moment sadly, but hopefully the rains will change that:
And... ahhhh, the comforting familiar outline of Longonot coming into view. It was the delicious feeling of coming home after a long long journey.

Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda...

2009-11-14T10:49:00.008-05:00

In the corner of southwestern Uganda, right on the border with Rwanda, is a big freshwater lake (the second deepest in Africa- though the actual depth is apparently unknown) called Lake Bunyonyi. Our destination after a few days in Kampala: Kara visiting her advisee, and me enjoying some peaceful down time at Bensons while also getting a bit more acquainted with Kampala while trying to obtain Congo visas for Kara and me. A day long venture of walking to the embassy, finding the embassy, filling out the forms but being told I must go to a bank downtown to to pay for the visas, ok now to another bank (that accepts my atm card) to get extra cash out to pay the exorbitant cost of the visas because they were more than I was told initially... but ok, so then back to the first bank again to pay, and then to find an internet cafe--oh not that one-- another one where I can actually log onto mac.com to then print out our letters of invitation, and THEN back to the congo embassy to be told that our visas will be ready in 24 hours... unless we want to pay double! Um, no thanks. All this while riding boadas (zippy little motorcycle taxis) on the ONE day the police decided to crack down on helmet wearing. So yes, we got whistled over by a police man, but rather than get arrested for not wearing a helmet, my boda driver STEPPED on it, swerved, ducked out of reach-- while I'm on the back hanging on dearly and ever so slightly concerned for my life-- rammed into the back of a car and had to make aNOTHER speedy, zippy getaway... but, phew we made it and I did not end up splattered all over the road or someone elses windshield...)

So we opted to wait the extra day- which was a bit of a welcome thing for both of us, before we got on the Post Bus for a lovely 8, 10, 12 hour (?) ride down to lake Bunyonyi. And ok, bus rides are busrides, but it was absolutely brilliant countryside we were treated to along the way! And a numb bum is a small price to pay for such visual delight to be sure!

We met up with the three students for a few days of R&R at a little island camp place. It was a few days of early morning sunrises and gentle sunsets, and walks and lots of sitting and talking and reading and drinking tea and watching the rain and eating delicious food and using composting toilets all in view of the ever-so lovely lake bunyonyi. And in the good company of the many many spiders that also reside on that peaceful little island.

The three students: Sarah, Megan, Bree and Kara and I before heading back...

We boarded another bus then a matatu then a taxi up to Kagando Hospital, further north in Uganda and very near the Congo boarder. I was there one night before heading in to Congo, while Kara stayed on with Sarah for her intern visit.

West Pokot, Nakwjit

2009-11-04T12:11:00.014-05:00

West Pokot is a stunningly beautiful place- the sort of landscape I would be happy to find myself lost in entirely I think. Kara and I went with Than to see another one of the projects he is working on. Africa Exchange (The small non-profit Than is a part of) works with communities developing ICDCs, or Integrated Child Development Centers, that prepare young children for primary school. Africa Exchange is developing/ supporting a number of these centers around Kenya, enabling them to become completely self-supporting. One way they are able to support themselves is through relatively low-impact, environmentally sound, income-generating projects. In West Pokot honey has been harvested traditionally, and could be a great source of income for the ICDC at Nakwjit.

Africa Exchange is in partnership with African Beekeepers- an organization that spreads bee-love around the country with new and improved bee-friendly honey harvesting technology. The beehives they produce and promote- do right by the bees... Honey is only harvest from the hives' excess- never taken from the stores that sustain the hive. And the queen and her babies are never bothered. It's a beautiful win win win sort of situation- the technology and equipment provided by African Beekeepers in partnership with Africa Exchange, enables the community to harvest top quality honey, with very little impact on the bees, sell it for the highest market prices, and ultimately support their ICDC and their children's education! Fantastic!

So hives were set up at Nakwjit some months ago, and we were on a mission to see how they were doing and harvest any honey that was ready to be harvested. Ken, a lovely, earnest beekeeper, came with Than to walk and talk folks through harvesting process with their new fandangled hives and equipment. Kara and I were simply along for the ride. Adventure really.

... Which began with having to traverse a fairly shallow but wide river on foot to get to the ICDC on the other side...

Like I said, BE-U-TI-FUL!

Below, Ken discusses how bees are very particular little critters and will only colonize nice, clean, orderly spaces. If a hive is infested with any other sort of dudu before the bees arrive- they won't enter and colonize it. Several hives had been thus invaded, and were in need of a thorough cleaning out of all cobwebs, bugs and whatever else was hindering bee settlement....
A late afternoon rainy season down-pour rolled in just as the fellows were bee-suiting-up and ready to go... So we waited it out at the center.
Earlier in the clear, sunny afternoon this riverbed was dry...
After the rains, we caught the headwaters of the 'flood' coming down while the fellows were harvesting honey... It was pretty trippy to look over and see the riverbed start to fill up and flow. Although, really this wasn't a terribly big river, or a substantial 'flood' we discovered later.

The harvesting took place a little later than was ideal because of the rains, which meant finishing up in the dark.

The goods! Brought to Kara and I still warm and buzzing from the hive... absolutely DELICIOUS!

Once a comb has been filled up with honey, the bees seal it with wax, that turns whitish once it has cured. The sealed combs are then easily carried up to the center where the 'cap' is scraped off with a metal-toothed deal... the comb is then put in a centrifuge where the honey is spun out and collected. And essentially good to go at this point. So cool!

But the excitement of the evening was really only just beginning at that point... It was good and dark by the time they were finishing up the honey harvesting with was no electricity, and just a few torches. We had planned to camp at the center for the night and hike back out in the morning, so as they finished up, Kara and I set about putting up the tents. Word from the mountains (upstream) (and thanks to cell phone communication) was that more rain, potentially a LOT more rain, was on its way. If the river we crossed earlier that day rose in the night we would be be stuck, possibly for a couple of days... So no sooner had we gotten the tents up, than we were told to take them down. Quickly. We needed to get back across the river that night- which after seeing the 'flood' earlier that afternoon, seemed like no joke. So we set about taking DOWN the tents, in the mud... and OWWW!!! Something stung me! AGAIN! As I stomped around, out from my pant leg fell a nice, big, inch-and-a-half-long, shiny, black scorpion! The very sight of the thing sent adrenalin pumping into my veins... Than came over to inspect, confirmed that it was in fact a nice, big, inch-and-a-half-long, shiny, black scorpion, and proceeded to stomp it out of existence. The stings hurt to be sure, but I wasn't exactly writhing in excruciating pain (although I worried I might at any minute begin convulsing and who knows what else...) There was nothing really to do except roll my baggy pant legs UP out of the reach of all creeping, crawling, stinging critters. And continue packing up.

In short order we were all ready: two women carying a freshly chinga-ed, half-plucked chicken for dinner in a sufuria, men carrying the freshly harvested honey, three or four school boys helping with the equiment and the three of us carrying the rest of our what-not. We set off in the dark. No moon, just the little patches of headlamp-lit ground in front of us. My foot still burning.

We reached the edge of the river, stopped and stood perfectly still for a few minutes. Listening. For the roar of flood waters in the distance?! This is MADNESS I think! We're all going to die, surely! We're going to be swept away in the middle of the river. They'll find our bodies washed up way down stream in the morning... But no one hears anything, so we strike out... the water is not much deeper than our knees, but it is moving, and the bottom is uneven... and like I said, it was DARK. and when you're trying to walk through moving water with uneven footing- and NOT panic, and all you see is a patch of swift moving water in front of you... it, well its not so easy, I'll just tell you. But we made it. I'm not sure we were in any serious danger really... but I was mighty glad to reach the other side. Foot still burning.

We got back to the car and the little 'village' on the other side. 9pm. The women who had killed the chicken, set about building a fire in one of their houses nearby to prepare it for our dinner. Which we ate two hours later. After sitting and waiting in the tiny little room attached to the kitchen. My foot still burning, but not any worse. And that chicken must have had a rough go of it too... TOUGH AS NAILS, I tell you! But we were ever-so-grateful for all the time and work put into our being fed at that late hour. Extremely humbling.

It was decided that we should sleep on the floor of a class room at the secondary school just up the road. No sooner do we get there, then the heavens declared the rainy season come. And oh but it RAINED. I was glad the river was behind us.

The next morning we were headed out by 6am; Kara and I had a bus to catch in Eldoret at 1.00pm. My stings ceased burning, but the top of my foot was asleep/tingly numb for the next few days. Interesting stuff, scorpion stings.

At 1, we boareded the Kampala Coach- a great big bus that took us on the first of our many butt-numbing busrides over the next few weeks, We arrived in Kampala at 9pm that night. Kara was whisked off by her her advisee for the next few days, and I enjoyed the lovely, peaceful home of dear family friends, while sorting out our Congo visas and riding Kampala bodas (motorcycle taxis) here and there and back again... In retrospect, I think maybe it was the bodas that were more concern-worthy than that silly river or a few scorpion stings! Ha.

Next stop, Lake Bunyonyi.

warthog weekend interlude...

2009-11-01T13:11:00.008-05:00

*While I promised most exciting tales of our West Pokot trip for my next post (which I will make good on soon to be sure), I must just interject a brief post from this past weekend.*

So Than and I decided to get out of town this weekend and go camping at Lake Nivashsa... Fishermans camp- that great big beautiful place with the huge yellow acacia fever trees where we so often went growing up- has been divided in half and is now two campsites. We stayed at the "Carnellies" side, which seems a little nicer and quieter- Fishermans still gets the big overlanders (aka: scuzzbucket safaris ala my dad) and school groups. Carnellies is very nice, complete with a little bar/ restaurant (great for when you decide to go camping at the last minute and don't have much in the way of gear or food and the firewood you just bought is too wet to even entertain the notion of lighting). The site was empty being that the rains are here now and the days are soggy-- not real ideal for camping, but we went anyway. And it really was oh-so very nice!

So yesterday afternoon, we were sitting up at the restaurant, which has lovely big cushioned sitting spaces- looking out at the rain... I had brought a couple of books along- One Life at a Time, Please by Edward Abby and Wild Ducks Flying Backward by Tom Robbins- who can be kind of... obnoxious, (... well, not for the easily offended to be sure) but really actually quite a good read and rather a good laugh (most of the time)... (These are two of Thans favorite books, oh-by-the-way, so I'm giving them a shot) So while we sat there, sipping our tea, I decide I'll read one of the short stories out-loud. I pick "The Day the Earth Spit Warthogs" from the Tom Robbins book. WHICH I highly recommend by the way- I think you might get a royal hoot out of it. So I'm reading reading reading... And just as I get to the part where the earth actually does spit warthogs, Than says, 'Oh, look Rach, there he is!' And there he was- in all his wiry, steel-wool glory, clomp clomp clomping towards us at a nice tail-in-the-air trot. A warthog. And I think to myself how funny! Assuming, of course, he'll stop once he sees us. But... he doesn't stop... which I realize in time to jump up and out of the way as he hops delicately with his pointed little ballerina hooves- onto the cushioned bench. And keeps on coming... He B-lines for my bag, starts rooting through it, pulls out the bottle of lavender-scented hand sanitizer-- a mighty tasty morsel I guess-- and crunches away! I had my camera in my pocket (always do you know, for such times as these) and snapped a few shots before I realized he was in fact doing my belongings some damage! OY!

So, turns out he is actually a 'pet' of sorts (and the cleanest 8-month old warthog you'll ever see to be sure), that they've had at camp for a while and are getting ready to take to Daphne Sheldricks (where orphaned baby elephants and rhinos are rehabilitated just outside of Nairobi) next week. He joined us for dinner too... and the most hysterical part- other than him loving up Than (go figure) were the teeny-tiny little squeaks he made. Like he really was just a big baby... TOO FUNNY! Sounds outlandish, I know, so here are a few photos-- proof that this all did actually happen just as I am telling you... (and PS- the photo above was taken in the two minutes of sunshine between rain showers, looking out from our cozy cushioned spot. It really did rain just about the whole time we were there.)

Rooting for goodies....

Getting some lovings from Than after his good deeds....
Our dinner guest, back for more love....

Tanzania

2009-10-28T08:19:00.015-05:00

After a very long while and a great many kilometers under my feet, posting is daunting. But I- who rail on bloggers who refuse to blog- must blog! So I will attempt to slog through the hundreds of photos and thoughts and experiences of the last six weeks and post. At the very least, so I am not one of those bloggers who gets behind and then never blogs again. :) And because of course, I WANT to share photos and thoughts and events with you dear folk. It has been amazing... and fun... and exhausting... and hard... and good and oh so many more things. (And I'm still here in Nairobi, oh-by-the-way... for a few more weeks at least.)

So let me go back... a way back to our trip to Tanzania after a one night turn around from our trip to Garissa. Too many photos to choose from really- and too slow an internet connection to upload very many, but here is a bit of that trip...

We bussed it down to Arusha on the Impala shuttle, dropping Kara at Longido to visit her first HNGR advisee at her site. Than and I parted ways in Arusha, where he spent a few days with his HNGR student, and I carried on to the beautiful animal-filled-never-a-dull-moment-Simonsens house in Olasiti. I joined Arlene for gatherings with friends and watched her skillfully ride/give horse riding lessons to Arusha kiddies. Met with the art teacher at ISMA, had tea with Marilyn, and sundowners at a very swanky spot just out of town with Steve and Marily and Serena. Talk about rough! :) It was lovely.

Simos have a beautiful property with plenty of beautiful acacia trees...

Everyone met up for a weekend get-away/retreat at Taragire...
The rains were not yet reaching the ground... but were getting close. (And have since arrived in great force we hear...)
It was a big reunion of sorts- with lots of friends and family, and a reliving of many fun childhood weekends spent at TSL. The lodge is spectacular, and the pool was recently retiled; you can actually see through to the bottom! A first for many of us, despite having grown up swimming in that pool...
NOT a great photo of the lodge, but oh the good conversation and reconnections had over delicious meals...
A spot to sit and watch lions one night...
... and have sundowners at the next- (at the very same tree incase you can't tell)
Sacked out lions and foraging elephants. Completely oblivious of each other...

... as seen from our very safe and secure vantage point in the wide open "sallymobile" But there is security in numbers, or so they say, right?? :) Perhaps this could rightly be identified as a multi-species anti-predator association...
And oh, the elephants! This spunky little one- TOO CUTE!
And just so you don't think it was ALL fun and games... Kara and Than seen here working hard mentoring their advisees.... but who can really call this work?? Again I say... Tough. :)
Next stop West Pokot... and tales of honey harvesting, flash floods, river risings, scorpion stings and... other such excitement!

Garissa

2009-09-15T14:36:00.009-05:00

The town of Garissa... as seen from a marabou-storks-eye-view:

One of the schools that Africa Exchange partners with:
The new solar cooker we brought with us being tested out- Sam and Than with Rukia, who is in charge of the school:
baby bananas being irrigated:
The inside of the "sick room." Which is a place I might not mind landing myself if I was in school:

And oh! The beautiful acacias whizzing by as we bounced and bumped along and break-necking speeds:

Having landed...

2009-09-13T10:08:00.004-05:00

Its just a little crazy but after a whirlwind drive back to Chicago from Missoula (27 driving hours), a few crazy days of odds and ends, 2 eight hour(ish) flights and a layover in Amsterdam, WE ARE IN KENYA!! ... and in a wee bit of a fog thanks to the abovementioned craziness, jet lag and a nasty head cold I seem to have picked up somewhere along the way. There is already much to say, but for now I will post this one photo as proof that I am really here in the land of acacia trees... The photo is looking-- believe it or not-- into the back side of the UN compound from Sam and Mel's porch... they have a beautiful home; a perfect place to de-fog before the adventures REALLY begin... tomorrow. We head head to Garissa- a city/town in North Eastern Province of Kenya, with Sam and Than to deliver some medical supplies to a clinic. We'll be there one night and then back for one night before heading to Tanzania for 5 or so days. I'm very much enjoying being back and looking forward to a clear head and full days ahead.

Lovin me some larches

2009-09-08T23:24:00.005-05:00

One theme of my missoula month could be Larches. Dear friends Allison and Greg are getting married in October and asked if I wouldn't create something for their wedding. So thinking about it I asked if they had a tree that resonated or was significant to them... I just happen to think trees provide great metaphors and imagery for weddings/marriages, and unbeknownst to me- prior to going to missoula this summer- Greg is a biologist whose specialty is tree physiology. Or something along those lines. Their quick and easy answer was Larch trees. I had much to learn about these spectacular and special trees of the northwest before I could create anything. So

... one beautiful sunday- after brunch at the Old Post (which included a seriously fantastic bloody mary...) we drove out to Pattee Canyon for some larch learnin... and lovin...

Larch trees are tall... and their branches don't extend out very far. They love the sun, and hate the shade. They are interestingly tapered on both ends.
This is a Ponderosa Pine here I believe... but another lovely tree, with its own brilliant secret: if you lean into the sun-side puzzle bark crevasses and take a deep breath you will inhale a warm, earthy vanilla scent. Not a sickening sweet vanilla like candles or perfume... but something other worldly that makes you want to keep taking long, deep breaths, absorbing as much of that heavenly goodness into your being as you possibly can.
Larches also have beautiful layered puzzle bark like the Ponderosas which helps them resist fire. The puzzle pieces of the bark curl outward and flake off away from the tree when they are burning- to save the tree from being completely destroyed.
Larches are the only pine (? Greg... may need some technical clarification here...) trees that loose their needles in the fall. They turn a beautiful golden color and drop like deciduous trees... I did not see this for myself, it being not quite time... but heard Allison and Gregs tellings of the beautiful swaths of golden throughout the evergreen mountains in the fall. I'd like to see that for myself some day.

The needles are extremely soft... not pokey like most pine needles. And hundreds grow out of one... um, what are they called again Greg? The stem things. They give the trees a distinctive, lacy and delicate look among all the other evergreens.

It was such a lovely warm August afternoon, the kind that comes right at the end of summer, giving you the distinct feeling of settled fullness. All the busyness of growth and producing, slowed and stopped. The air warm and breezy, and the sun, barely noticeably different somehow, its light hinting at fall... the grasshoppers with their syncopated and slightly electric zip zip zipping as they bounce through the air. Occasionally pelting into you as you go. The grasses dry, golden and gone to seed. At that perfect place of contentment between the ending of one season and the anticipation of the next. And, I, now too... am full. Full of larch-y goodness to take with me.

Camping in Glacier with Beth and Josh...

2009-09-08T23:14:00.004-05:00

The Mission Mountains:

Rock Walls in Glacier:
Avalanche Lake:
Walk of the Cedars, old bark:
The burn area in East Glacier:
Beth and Josh:
Kara and me:
At hidden Lake:
amazing glacial waters:
Pretty wild flowers:

at Avalanche lake:
Old cedar:
Lake McDonald:
Hiking to Hidden Lake:So big and beautiful:

summing up montana...

2009-09-08T22:34:00.003-05:00

... which I can't- I took too many photos, did too many fun things and managed NOT keep up with my posting. So now I find myself a bit overwhelmed by trying to figure out how to choose just a few photos. I'll try to give you snippets I guess. It'll have to do.

Backpacking trip with the Natural History Center:

- We did a weekend backpacking trip which was super fun despite incessant rain which soaked us and in the end cut the trip a day short... but the mountains were beautiful, green and blushing from head to toe with all sorts of wildflowers and berries. We waded through thickets of huckleberries and thimbleberries... which are wild little zingers closely related to their domesticated cousins the blueberry and the raspberry... Mmmm... and managed to avoid bears, mountain lions, moose and any other potentially dangerous wildlife.

(kara and I trying to warm up in the tent... and stay dry. Or get dry. We look remarkably happy for being remarkably cold and wet. Photos are sometimes so deceiving...)
Morning and evening hikes up Jumbo: This day rain all around... but blue sky above.
This hike was sunny and hot, the rattlesnakes (mountains) in the distance:
Oh, yes, and Life Everlasting can be purchased at a mere $1.35/oz in missoula....
And one of my most favorite things: floating... down rivers... The options: The Bitterroot, The Blackfoot, or The Clark Fork. (Well at least that I remember, I'm sure there are many more). Oh, what fun!! You drive out of town, with your two cars, park one where you plan to get out, pile everyone and all inner tubes into the other, drive a few miles up river and "put in." You float a couple of hours on down stream- through "rapids" and whathaveyou, enjoying the pristine trees and mountains, and a bald eagle or Osprey overhead every now and then. My plum point and shoot is not waterproof so I don't have any documentation of the floating, just a photo of what you get after an afternoon of having your legs and feet sticking out of a tube in direct sunlight (while your bum chills underwater for all the fishes delight).

a river runs through it...

2009-08-16T14:37:00.005-05:00

I spent an afternoon last week with my cousin Lindsay and her two montana boys at a pristine little spot along Rock Creek- just quick hour-or-so-out of town. Thought I'd post a few more photos of this rather spectacular place I've found myself in...

Oh Montana, give this child a home....!

2009-08-11T10:49:00.006-05:00

Wild montana skies- I've had it in my head since our early morning hike up Jumbo... Ah Missoula, this crazy happy little town where people drive just BELOW the speed limit... Where all cars and trucks STOP for pedestrians and bicycles regardless of zebra crossings or stop signs (annoying if you're trying to navigate a bike that is too big for you and an injured foot...) but, yes, yes, very considerate.... Where everyone either looks like they just stepped out of a Patagonia catalogue, or have been hitch-hiking for the last 4 years and are still wearing the same clothes they left home in... Where everyone is very environmentally concerned, but recycling centers are few and far between and only take VERY specificly sorted goods: only #1 plastics, aluminum cans, tin cans, cardboard, newspapers and magazines, and "desk paper," but no primary colors or manilla envelopes please! Where you have to worry about bears getting in to the compost... And where you want to listen to nothing but twangy, over-the-top country music... and feel exceptionally happy about it! And eat huckleberries. And float... down beautiful mellow (chilly) rivers in the hot sun.

I'm quite loving all of this... :) Still adjusting the headspace... but loving it.

Kansas...

2009-08-05T15:03:00.013-05:00

After a wonderful (minus the surgery) month at home with mom and dad, and a helpful (loving) push... I embarked on my travels. The intra-continental ones at the moment...

First stop lovely Kansas. Beautiful lush, greengrowing kansas with Auntie Eileen, Raha, Ryan Zephyr, Auntie Annie and Skyler. Five days of the farm, harvesting, baking zucchini goods, eating, Lawrence, copious cups of tea, sweet little Zephyr, oh, sweet Zephyr!! mosquitoes, thunderstorms, beads and jewels, tropicana, murals and sculptures and little houses to dream about....

Ok, Zephyr is flipping cute in photos... but in PERSON... My oh my; he is ever so wonderful! He is so happy (with the exception of being in his car seat)... with a squeaky fun smile/squeal like his auntie B, and strong little legs... for standing for standing and stretching. He has deep, clear blue intense eyes- and a forehead that furrows in serious pondering and questioning (much like his mother). He loves blue. And his zanny/grannny. And ceramic drinking vessels... after my own heart for sure!

Tea at Auntie Annies:
Pantalon!
late afternoon, early evening harvesting:

Me and Zephyr with his beloved minin ratta (would you look at that beautiful little tummy?!):
Zephyr and his papa Ryan:
Host Skyler:
Zwat and his zanny:
Get a load of that enormous, luscious, home-grown stuffed zucchini for lunch...!
The best porch swing ever... in the best of company...
Already indoctrinated properly: teatime.
Carebear STAAAAAAAAAARE!:
Went on a mini-art tour with Auntie Annie... a beautiful mural in the health center:

And I'm off... Next stop Missoula Montana. Kwaheri ya kuonana Kansas... and thank you for a special weekend!! Much love to all you...