a new semester...

The summer has been officially over since August 2, our back-in-the-office day, but this weekend felt like the last weekend for reals, as we get ready for our new batch of students due to arrive en masse early Tuesday morning. Their arrival will launch us in to full go-mode for the semester; two and a half days of orientation, home stay drop offs, 10 days in Rwanda and back on the 2nd to start classes on the 3rd. Craziness! So long carefree, easygoing days of summer and far less responsibility... Hello work! But its good, and always exciting to start a fresh new year and a new semester. 

Tuesday we went on our annual staff retreat day in Jinja. There are several new faces this year: Lisa and her husband Eddie (back left) and our two new Program Assistants, Tiffany (front left) and Ruth (front right). Missing old faces, but harnessing lots of good new energy!

Friday night several of the American families and folks on campus went to Hairy Lemon for a get-a-way. Lots of good time relaxing in the sun, watching the world go by, playing badminton, reading, chatting, swimming... Perhaps Hairy Lemon is a pre-fall semester tradition for me! One I'm very ok with. 

Cormorant drying out on rocks in the river

Lisa and Eddie playing badminton

Check out this fleet of dragon flies perched on this tree...

Mary and Rachel, the cute Bartel girlies enjoying the water...

Sunrise....

Tiffany enjoying her milk tea, wading in the river....

So 24 bright-eyed students are somewhere between here and there... on the ground, we're ready, everyone anxiously anticipating a good, full semester ahead.

mongooses take II

Well hello my sweet Nikon 55-300mm zoom lens, where have you BEEN all my life?! CHECK IT OUT! Same place as yesterday, but with my brilliant razzle dazzle zoom lens, you can actually see these guys faces and bands! Not just a little streak of fuzz in the corner of the photo, I'M PUMPED!

I was sitting in my house, lamenting the sluggish tired feeling that ALWAYS seems to find me Sunday afternoons. Not wanting to waste a whole afternoon feeling unmotivated and energyless, I thought... let me pull out that new lens I really haven't had a chance to use yet, and head out on a walkabout. Actually I was inspired be the fact that this morning I saw some cute little squeaky parrots outside of my window but couldn't get a picture because they were too far away. SO... I got my new lens on and headed out. No sooner out my door than I hear the rustle of the mongooses scuttling across the hedge line. Camera already in hand, my zooming lens on and ready to zoom... I let the shutter fly! Much BETTER pictures of the crew of banded mongoose that frequent our compost pile and keep the snake population down.

So, thanks dad for talking me into getting this lens. I have a feeling I'm going to start enjoying...

WAIT WAIT, I GOT IT!!! This blog is unfolding as I type... and I'm so excited! I just heard the squeaking parrot outside my window in the guava tree, so grabbed my camera and went out to see if I could get it-- and I DID!!! (The pictures are a little dark- its kind of a dark afternoon, and I'm still learning my camera... but you can clearly see a sweet little green parrot!)

I'm about as excited about the picture as the subjects! I love Parrots-- they are such happy-go-lucky little birds that-- as far as I can tell- love life and delight themselves with all the curiosities of it. I LOVE that there are multiple species of wild parrots here. I love their squeaks and squabbles...

Right now I have to say I feel totally energized! This is how I'll keep the sunday afternoon drag away... start a tradition of sunday afternoon walkabouts. I will step from the house to see what I see and hear- and I will praise it! (MO)

Mongooses!

FINALLY... caught on camera. 

Toenails telling time.

I find it rather interesting measuring the passage of time through different things that change at different rates. Like the moon for example-- "last full moon I was in the US, this full moon I'm in Uganda and next full moon I'll be in Rwanda..." Or haircuts, "I've gotten my hair cut three times since christmas..." Or TOENAILS. Exactly a month ago I got them beautifully pedicured in Missoula for my sisters wedding. They've grown about a sixteenth (?) of an inch in that month. The line of color/no color clearly visible as they grow out. Its like that line marks an important moment in history for me. And three months ago I climbed Mt. Elgon, which is all but forgotten- physically I mean, except that my two middle toe nails just fell off this past week, making my otherwise still decent pedicure look a little goofy. So tomorrow I'll cut my toenails, and restart my toenail clock with a fresh coat of paint. What will I be doing NEXT time I have to cut my toenails, and remembering back to this moment of blogging about it, a week before the students arrive?

(Or this is just a window into a bizarre way of thinking about things.)

The Morton Arboretum

                          

One of the hard things about leaving home this time was that my parents are moving, and next time I go home, it will not be to the same place. The move is right. The time is now. I absolutely believe it will be really really good for everyone in the end. Still it is hard to say goodbye. 

The Morton Arboretum has been a sacred space for my family during our time in Wheaton. It was one of the first places we went when we arrived in 1999.... and has been a place we've gone to regularly over the years and throughout the seasons. There were many long sunday morning walks through the woods in the summertime, snowy hikes in winter with thermoses of chai back at the car, drives with grandma and grandpa through the daffodil glades surrounded by the dazzling bright fresh greens of springtime, and the glowing golden cathedrals of trees in the fall. In the bizarre world of suburban America, it has been a sweet and beautiful respite, and I will miss it. 

Before I left, mom and I went for a last drive and walkabout.