bright eyes + blue eyes

astronaut + cleopatra

 
 

counterfeit gods, by tim keller

We've decided on Tim Keller's new book (Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters) as the next book for our Tuesday girls' study. I'm looking foward to it. We studied The Prodigal God (another Keller book) last spring & loved it.

I read an interview the other day which included this answer by Keller.

Q: How does someone identify their idols?

A: Look at your daydreams. When you don't have to think about something, like when you are waiting for the bus, where does your mind love to rest? Or, look at where you spend your money most effortlessly. Also, if you take your most uncontrolled emotions or the guilt that you can't get rid of, you'll find your idols at the bottom.

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Full interview here: American Idols, Christianity Today 10/20/09

Book excerpt here: How to Find Your Rival Gods, Christianity Today 10/20/09

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In other news, we're still waiting to hear the diagnosis for our home computer. (again, I'm composing this quick on Hunter's laptop. I'm sad not to have a picture to post. Maybe I'll search around on his computer in a minute to see if I can find one.)

Also in other news, I listened to most of Someone Else's Money (This American Life episode #392) last night while I was washing the dishes. I don't even know where to begin in my desire to comment on this episode.....the healthcare industry is complicated. Where do we go from here?!? 

I loved the overview of how the healthcare industry has evolved over the last century. History, politics, economics, and human nature have all swirled together to bring us to the current crossroads.

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I found a picture.

Flag football in the rain.

Fall Conference 09.

computer issues

I have a lovely photo and a lovely post for today.

But, both are trapped on our home computer, which (I guess) has crashed.

So I cannot share them today.

What's the problem?

Well, the computer won't turn on.

From what I understand it could be a burned power unit.

Or it could be an entire crash. (much worse.)

We'll see.

I'm posting this from Hunter's laptop, which I have access to for about 60 seconds before it is needed elsewhere.

So: I guess I'll be back to finish out my week of posts when/if I can.

The weather is bee-you-tee-ful today and the kids are in the front yard right at this very moment. I'm ready to go out there with them.

My daddy is halfway around the world right now--about to see my sister for the first time since Spring 08 just before she moved to Africa. (Am I right on that timeframe, El?)

I'm so excited that he gets to go visit my favorite 2 residents of Africa.

Gotta run--

-abbie

could this tree be any more gorgeous?

My favorite tree in the neighborhood (at the moment):

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A few links just for fun....

Less Than Three: interesting concept

Ida Pearle: Love her work

Vintage Pink Flowers: Absolutely stunning. Great inspiration--couldn't I make something sorta like this? (would cost less than $300 that way. [!!!] )   

Tissue Paper Pom-Poms: I am going to make some of these soon. Maybe for Pumpkin's next b-day party? They're so pretty.

Walk in the Woods & Ice Skating Afternoon: Aren't these ornament kits adorable? It's too bad they're sold out. But I sure do like Alicia Paulson's designs.   
 

four seasons

1. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall....All You Have to Do is Call: It's my turn to be the teacher this week for Pumpkin's kindergarten co-op. Our topic this week: the four seasons.

2. I Love This Child: Pumpkin is a little ball of happy-sunshine-smiling-energy-excitement. She is such a fun five year old. I'm really enjoying this age. 

3. And I Love This Child: Superboy is a huge Calvin & Hobbes fan. He has a favorite stuffed animal (which happens to be a penguin.) Last year he named his penguine Hobbes. Superboy recently asked me if I could "surprise" him when he gets home from school. He'd like for me to crouch behind the front door and throw Hobbes (the penguin) out on to him to welcome him home from school. (just like Hobbes does to Calvin....) So that's my plan for today.

4. Trick or Treat: We had a great time on Saturday night with Michael & Shannon & their children. The kids looked great in their costumes. I'll post some pics later this week. We at chili & cornbread. We also had an absolutely delicious salad created by Hunter--romaine, craisins, strips of fresh sweet pepper, blue cheese....yum! It was the best salad I've had in a long time. I love my husband's culinary skills.

5. Goodbye, Fig Leaves: The last leaves are about to fall off of our fig trees. Some tree varieties (like ginkgoes!) look so beautiful when their leaves are about to fall. Not fig trees. The whole tree looks sort of mottled and sickly. Last year when they looked like this, I was alarmed. I thought the whole row of trees was dying. (We had peace of mind when they looked gorgeous and vibrant again in the spring.) The other day when I was looking at the sad leaf-dropping fig trees, I found myself wondering when they would look beautiful again. Then I remembered that I blogged about the leaves returning. Good to have the dates recorded.
 
 

Fire in the Hole!

Fire and smoke are the duct tape of Tanzanian culture – an all-purpose solution to most any problem.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard snapping and cracking outside and thought ‘oh no, what’s that!?’  I’ve looked out the window to see anything from a smolder to a true blaze. 

From my point of view, it seems less than safe to set fires when it’s hot and dry outside, but we’ve got some experienced fire-setters at work because there’s never been a problem.

 

A few days ago, I saw billows of smoke coming from behind our shed.  I went back there to find that our trash pit was undergoing its monthly slow-burn. Your trash might get picked up every Tuesday; mine gets burned at the end of the month.

Granola

Granola is pretty much our staple breakfast food.  It’s really easy to make and infinitely variable.  Except I don’t change up the recipe very much because I don’t have access to many of the ingredients that I would play around with.  Here’s how I usually end up making it:

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Preheat oven to 275 F

Combine the following ingredients:

8 cups oats (I can only get powdery quick oats, but I just try to ignore that and pretend that they’re nice, plump rolled oats)

2 cups wheat bran (well, to be honest, I just use whole wheat flour and extend my oats fantasy to the wheat - squinting helps)

2 cups shredded coconut

2 cups chopped cashews

½ cup brown sugar

1 t. cinnamon

½ t. allspice

1 t. salt

Meanwhile, heat the following on the stove:

1 cup honey

¾ cup oil

¼ cup water

Once the wet mixture is hot and a little combined, pour it over the dry ingredients.  Mix around and then spread onto a baking tray.  Bake for 1 – 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.

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The only cereals you can buy here in our town are Cornflakes, Wheatabix, and a South African version of CocoPuffs.  Wheatabix taste like sawdust to me, and CocoPuffs aren’t really filling enough.  So that left us with Cornflakes.  After a few weeks, Cornflakes got really boring.  So I searched for granola recipes online and found a great basic recipe with lots of suggestions for variation, on which I have based the version listed above.  If you live within range of a grocery with a bulk foods section, you could make some really killer granola for bargain basement prices.  It keeps for a long time in an airtight container, so you could make it once a month or every six weeks.

Changei

A lot of words in modern Swahili are pretty much just English words pronounced in a Kiswahili way.  One of the most popular ways to “Swahili-ize” a word is to add a vowel to the end.  The long e sound (which is the letter i in Swahili pronunciation) is heavily utilized.  So what do you think this word in the title is? 

It’s change, as in the money you get back at a store.

That’s what I spend a lot of my time waiting for at the market: change.  The largest denomination of Tanzanian currency is a 10,000 Shilling bill.  It’s worth about $7.50.  At the market, they don’t use cash registers, obviously.  So the stall owners have their money tucked away in their clothes or hidden somewhere in the clutter of their stall.  It’s really the luck of the draw if they have the right bills to make change for a 10,000 bill.  If they don’t have the right change, then they take two 5,000 bills or whatever they have and start moving along the market aisles, asking their neighbor vendors if they have change.  It can take quite a while, but it always works out in the end.  If I am in a hurry at the market, though, I make sure that I take small bills with me so that I don’t have to stand around waiting for changei.

Our local market (photo courtesy of my father-in-law) 

 

The Help

I read The Help last week. (Thanks once again, Kindle, that you make it possible for me to read newly published books!)  I’d heard y’all talking about this book.  I read through it in no time flat and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The funny thing is that it’s got me thinking about feminism as much as racism.  I thought it would be interesting to read this book especially now because I myself have “help”.  In this day and age, it’s probably a bit of a rarity for a Southern woman to have a housekeeper/cook five days a week, even more so when you consider how young I am.  I chuckled at Minny having to tell Miss Celia how to hire her.  I had no idea how to hire a housekeeper when we moved to Tanzania and I was a little offended at the idea that we'd need one.

We did hire a housekeeper, though, and she’s been a godsend.  Neema is wonderful.  She is cheerful and full of life (literally! – her baby is due in January and her belly is really popping out these days!).  Most days, she and I spend a fair amount of time chatting.  We laugh, tell stories about our childhoods and our husbands, and spend a lot of time describing different aspects of our respective cultures.  I really enjoy having Neema around.

As much as I love Neema’s personality, I have to be honest and admit that I also love having someone to do many of the household chores.  Life in rural Tanzania takes a lot more work than in America or Europe.  I've fully come to terms with the fact that I need someone to help me get the tiny stones and chaff out of the rice, launder by hand, and butcher the chickens.  But I can’t deny that it’s nice to have someone do the jobs I am perfectly capable of doing myself.  I still mop my floors and wash my dishes, but only on weekends or when I want to.  What a luxury.

There’s something that makes the relationship between a maid and her boss very tricky.  It is a very intimate relationship and it can seem like you’re friends, but there’s always a moment when you realize it’s not as simple as that.  I don’t pay my friends or tell them what to cook for me or walk through the room while they're ironing my sheets. 

I found a Harpers article by Barbara Ehrenreich on the subject, and it’s really worth reading if you’re interested. No matter whether you “treat the help like family” (Miss Joline), there’s something unavoidably degrading about cleaning up behind other people.  I know that Neema is very grateful for her job with us, but I still somehow wish this kind of job magically didn’t have to exist.

Sharp Sun

Yesterday we had our first rainfall in about six months.  The rain lasted for about ten minutes and I sensed everything - the birds, the grass, the people - sighing in welcome relief.  All I can say is what everyone else around town is saying, too: "Karibu, mvua - Welcome, rainy season!" The last few days have been really hot.  Once the short rainy season gets underway, the heat should be tempered somewhat.

I find it interesting that Tanzanians don't talk much about the air temperature being hot or humid.  The most common weather remark (other than encouraging the rains to get their party started) is that that it's "jua kali - the sun is sharp".  I love that phrasing because it is so accurate; the tropical sun is very sharp.

I took this picture when we were going for a walk this weekend.  You can see how dry and dusty it is.