Garissa

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...

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

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...

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...

... 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).