“I hope you’re glad to be where you’re at
I don’t mind living where we are
It’s a suitable climate
A fine habitat for the yellow-haired monkeys in the yard
Yellow-haired monkeys in the yard“A friend of mine, ya now he’s flat broke, just handed me a fat cigar
It’s a beautiful excuse for a celebrative smoke
It’s a yellow-haired monkey for the yard
Another yellow-haired monkey for the yard
Yellow-haired monkeys in the yard”
Due late April 2012.
I’d love to have my friends and neighbors in Nairobi come join us for tea and to learn about Mercy House Kenya this Wednesday, May 13th. Both founder Kristen Welch and executive director Maureen Owino will be talking about the work that is being done to provide a home and support for pregnant, vulnerable young women in Nairobi.
Please e-mail me to RSVP, and I’ll send you directions!
As I was reminded by a friend at church today. . .
The past month has been good. . . and busy.
The older boys finished the school year at RA. (J14 was given two end of year awards — even though we’d just been there a few months! “Most Curious Student” for Algebra and “Most Promising Player” for rugby!) Now the boys are into their summer schedules. Supposedly the younger boys are having regular school — but in reality, we’ve boiled it down to math and handwriting. The older boys are both doing math through the summer as well, of their own volition — and J is studying economics. Yes, my boys are geeks.
The week after school was out, the boys joined some of their friends at Camp Blue Sky. Hubby had both Madaraka Day and Memorial Day off that week, so we had several dates — including a mini-safari at Nairobi National Park. We missed the boys. It was hard having them gone for a whole week. (It was made easier knowing they were all together.) Mountain climbing, ropes course, spelunking, rock climbing, rodeos, crazy games. . . I have a lot of appreciation for Kim, Lexi, and the summer college volunteers.
We’ve tackled some home improvement projects, and it seems like they are all happening at once. We have the darling, wonderful, housing maintenance guys out all the time it seems. Fixing leaking pipes, replacing the water filter, etc. . . And we have hired a carpenter to build some wardrobes and a tailor to sew cushions for our wrought iron tables on the porch. We eat out there almost every night, so it was time we made it a bit more comfortable.
J14 reminded me that this week will mark our 4 month anniversary in Kenya, and that we’ve been here 1/6th of the time we’ll be posted here. In some ways, it feels like we’ve just arrived. In other ways, it feels like we have settled in quickly to enjoy things as much as we can before we have to leave.
It’s gotten cold here in the last few months. Cold here means we have to wear socks and sweaters — and soon it will be good to build a fire in the fireplace. People tend to disbelieve us that it gets cold here, since we are in Africa and near the equator. But, our city is over a mile above sea level and while the days tend to be warm, it quickly gets chilly at night.
We have amazing neighbors with the most interesting friends. The other night we went to no-notice sundowners and chatted with some great people. Some have been in Kenya forever, others have just arrived.
We had our second Kenya visitor a couple of weeks ago. . . okay, so it was the same person as our first visitor. *grin* Seriously, people. . . only one person taking advantage of our open invitation? We visited the infamous Carnivore as well as walked among the animals at Crescent Island. It was a great visit.
I’m taking a couple of classes this summer — I should be finishing my MA in December. I’m excited that I’ve been able to partner with Mercy House Kenya. Please visit their site and see the cool things they’re doing with the young women in Kenya.
Oh, did I mention we got a puppy? Hubby and the boys are thrilled. Me? Well, I’ve never been a dog person. . . But they love Buckley.
Hopefully more pics later. . .
“Mom, come look!”
I had unlocked and opened the doors to the back porch just a few minutes before, and was making my morning coffee. C10 called me out to the back yard and we saw a pair of amazing birds. Long legs, but not as long as a sandpiper, long curved beak picking at insects in the grass, and a touch of iridescent green on the leaves. My camera was out of batteries, and the one shot I snapped didn’t come out that great.
We watched for about a half hour, trying to identify this pair from our Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania guide. No such luck. We sat on the porch with camera and bird guide, watching these and the other birds flit through the yard. The smaller birds were faster, and we’re still learning which birds usually reside around our house. I had someone coming over for a meeting at 8 am, and when the meeting was over these birds were no longer in our yard.
But just a few minutes later we heard a raucous “Raaaah! Raaaaah!” C10 went out on the balcony and saw these birds in one of our trees. From the balcony they were at eye level and looked huge!
They love eating the berries or fruits off of the tree, one I need to ask our groundskeeper to tell me what it is again. I’ve asked about all the trees in the yard and pole, pole — slowly, slowly, I’m learning.
The second pair of birds are Silvery-cheeked Hornbills, and according to the guide book are pretty common to see in fruit-bearing trees in Nairobi. They may be common here, but still amazing to me. As I’m sitting here on the porch, typing this up, I’m listening to all sorts of bird songs. The raucous hornbill call is quiet. And I see a small black and white bird, some sort of shrike, I think. I never thought I’d be a birdwatcher, but it is just so amazing to see the variety of birds in our backyard. I’ll need to take the boys on one of the Kenya Museum Society bird walks soon.
(This is a test post to see if I can upload picks to picasa and then post here. Having a heck of a time with uploading pics to my blog. Sigh.)
