bright eyes + blue eyes

a snake and some birds

 

The children were so interested to hear about their aunt & uncle's recent close encounter of the reptile kind. I'll let Ellie be the one to tell the details about the puff adder scare, but I'll just say that we've been researching this species a bit here...turns out Mr. Adder is Africa's most dangerous snake. (BTW, Ellie and all involved are perfectly safe. No one was bitten.) Our book tells us that the puff adder prefers to lie in wait for its victims & that its venom is highly toxic. Yikes. 

We wondered if a pet mongoose might be in order (an inclination which is due to our love of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi), but it looks like the enemy list of puff adders doesn't include mongooses. I don't even know if mongooses live in TZ.

Related: We subscribe to a free iTunes podcast which we've really enjoyed over the past 2 years. ITt comes to my mind at the moment due to the Rikki-Tikki-Tavi story we love to listen to. Not all of their stories are wonderful, but many are. And there are many classics which are presented entirely unabridged. The podcast is called Story Nory. The reader is a pleasant British woman named Natasha. (In fact, when the children request one of these stories, they do so by asking for a "Natasha Story.")

Be ready for the originals--sometimes the content seems harsh compared to the highly-edited contemporary versions. (For example, if my memory is correct, the Story Nory version of Little Red Riding Hood ends with Little Red being eaten by the wolf. The End. Then Natasha says thanks for listening.  !!! Not for very young listeners.)

Here are a few of our favorites:

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi 

Alice in Wonderland

The Nutcracker

The Snow Queen

The Robin Hood Series 

Greek Myths

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In other news, we recently had the JOY (and I do mean JOY) of watching a family of baby birds hatch, grow, plump up, and then fly away. This is an interaction with creation that is pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum from the puff adder incident....watching the birds was such a peaceful, beautiful, and miraculous experience!

The location of this nest was pretty amazing. It's like I had a little chat with Mama Bird prior to her decision to build her nest....."Could you please locate your nest in the absolute best viewing spot that we could ever imagine? Yes you can? Well, thank you."

The nest was directly outside our sunroom window. The windows can be raised from the bottom or lowered from the top...as you can see from the photo above, when we lowered the top window, we had an incredibly close-up view of the baby birds. (This involved the children standing on the ledge and peeking out the top of the window. I'm glad they never tumbled out. I was the holder-of-the-calves.)

We were very careful to never touch the nest. But we certainly did get some close-up looks. I'm afraid those baby birds might be in bird therapy someday with lots of early memories of two giant human faces looking down upon them. (Ha ha--hopefully not. Maybe the experience will make them fearless and brave--the William Wallaces of their bird community.)

The birds very quickly went from tiny, scrawny, and sleepy to puffy and alert. One day, when they were looking puffy and cozy, all cuddled together in their nest, we were in the sunroom and we saw a couple of the birds hop out onto the drain pipe. I thought it was a terrible mistake--they had wandered out of the nest and were about to fall in the bushes! Surely they were too young to be out of that nest! But the next thing we knew, they sort of jumped/fell off the drainpipe and made a clumsy drunken-like flight over to their mama, who was perched on the fence about six feet away. Our mouths all dropped open in amazement. I still can't believe that we happened to be in the room right at that exact moment.

There was one little bird left in the nest that afternoon. All of the others had flown away. I guess he/she wasn't ready yet. Aunt Allison happened to be visiting us that weekend & she was with us when we went to check on the one who was still left. Pumpkin pulled down the top of the window to peek in the nest to check on him and, before we knew it, he jumped out of that nest like a little jack-in-the-box and flew off to find his brothers and sisters. (at least that's our romanticized version of where he went. I honestly have no idea what they do when they fly away. Do they live with other birds? or alone?) Pumpkin thought it was so fun that Aunt Allison was there to say hello/goodbye to our last little bird. 

Related: There is an absolutely wonderful children's picture book about John James Audubon which we are crazy about. It's called The Boy Who Drew Birds. I'll add a link to the booklist on the sidebar...this one is a must-see. It's amazing to read about how fascinated Audubon was with birds, even from an early age. And the illustrations in the book are magnificent.

Also related: Gorgeous bird prints can be found on Geninne's Art Blog. When you click through to her blog, look on the right for a link to her "20 Birds Series." Phenomonal. Geninne has an etsy shop, where she has had bird prints for sale in the past. I hope she puts more in the shop in the future, because I would love-love-love to buy a set of these. 

no more no more hassles

 

When we lived in Jackson, I wrote checks for everything. EVERYTHING. It worked really well for us & made it easy to keep track of where exactly we were spending our money.

When we moved overseas, we began using credit cards for everything, primarily because the money we were living off of was in an American bank account. We could use our credit card with Edinburgh vendors and then just get the American statement in dollars and pay the bill in dollars. The credit card use prevented us from having to make a big transfer from USD to GBP, and then back again at the end of our time there from GBP to USD. We just continued to use dollars.

Last fall ('08) we began to really crack down on our spending, in an effort to make the final push to pay off Hunter's student loan. We're in good shape. Since it is a subsidized stafford loan, we haven't even had to make a payment yet, and have still not been charged a penny of interest. (re-payment was deffered until 6 months after graduation. Technically, even though Hunter successfully gave his defense in Dec.'07, he only just graduated in Dec.'08...this has to do with a revision period during which he tweaked his chapters a bit and got everything all ready to be set in stone. Which it is now.) Our strategy has been to try to pay as much as possible NOW, so that when we start receiving bills (and start getting charged interest), there will only be a tiny bit left & we'll chip away at that as fast as possible to get it down to ZERO.

(And when that day comes, we will have a PARTY.)

Anyway, so last fall we started cracking down on spending and realized that we really don't need to use credit cards anymore. Although we always paid the bill & never carried a balance, it was still sort of an effort to make sure the credit card expenses were lining up with our remaining monies for that month. (always trying to stay in budget categories.)

Well, we decided to eliminate that complication and just go to bank debit cards. It is so much better this way. It's so much easier when the money I've spent comes immediately out of my checking account--I can easily check our bank balance and see exactly where we stand. There's no need to check the bank balance and then do some mental calculations involving how much we've already spent on the credit card, etc. etc. I love our new system.

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5 little tidbits before I go do some housework:

(1) Playing Guess Who recently. Cowboy's turn. His question: "Does your man have mortal hair?" (translation: facial hair)

(2) Cowboy giving book report and presenting a poster he made about the book Mouse and the Motorcycle. Besides Magic Tree House books, the Mouse and the Motorcycle is the first chapter book series Cowboy has read independently. He loved them all! (Runaway Ralph & Ralph S. Mouse are the other 2.) 

(3) Prepping for Pumpkin's 5 yr old b-day party, to be held this Friday. Theme: Luau. The little girls will learn a hula dance. We're all excited.

(4) Hunter & I have planted our first vegetable garden. We'll see what kind of harvest we can produce! I'm trying to chill out and not get my hopes too high, but honestly, I want a bumper crop! We've been watching Jamie at Home, which has been making our mouths water. (Be warned that this is a british DVD, therefore region 2, therefore we have to watch it on the computer instead of via the DVD player.)

(5) And on that note: why in the world do we have different regions for DVDs? Who is benefitting from this? What about the globalized economy? We don't have different regions for music--why have them for DVDs? And if there were such a thing for music, would any Americans even know who The Beatles are? Thoughts to ponder.

artist trading card swap

Back in February, I was browsing through Erin Harris's lovely blog & I noticed she and a friend were organizing a kids' ATC swap. What is an artist trading card? Why, I'm glad you asked.

An artist trading card (or ATC for short) is a tiny, original piece of art created with the intention of swapping or trading it with another artist, not selling it. The one rule an artist trading card must adhere to is the size. An ATC must be 2.5x3.5 inches or 64x89 mm. (Why? That's the size of the original collectible sports trading cards.) --from about.com

Here is the original announcement on Erin's blog, which is called House on Hill Road:

Kids' Artist Trading Card Swap

I signed up Pumpkin & Cowboy for the swap & we had a wonderful experience. Each of them loved getting the mail from other children around the country. (They each mailed 5 cards and received 5 cards.) When it was all said and done, there were 900 children who participated in the swap. What a fun way to get the creative juices of little people flowing!

Here are a few of the cards produced here at our house.

(1) Pumpkin loves using watercolors.

 

(2) Cowboy used watercolors and colored pencils.

 

Being involved in the swap gave me a wonderful excuse to buy this stamp from Catslife Press to use on the back of the ATCs. (the back is supposed to have the artist's name & date, etc.)

 

There was also a flickr pool created for swap participants to share photos.

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flickr update:

We were shocked to have snow in early April--very unusual! It was so much fun. (until we lost power, that is.) :-) I just uploaded a few of our snow pics to my flickr account. 

 

this american lifesaver

I had a big smile on my face after I read the following article in Newsweek recently:

This American Lifesaver by Sarah Kliff

I felt like I had just read an article which mentioned a family member or something---yes, yes!! We are so proud of him! 

Actually, there was no mention of a relative at all--only a recommendation of a radio show of which I'm a big fan.

(Many thanks are due to blue eyes, who was the one who originally introduced me to This American Life YEARS and YEARS ago....  She's also the first one who recommended that we read Tim Keller's book {at that time there was only one....it was long ago & no one had ever heard of him.} She's also the one who told me I'd love Nigella Lawson. {Very accurate prediction. Long live the domestic goddess.})

Anyway, back to the Newsweek article: If you're a fan of TAL, you need to read this. It's three short paragraphs, & I predict it will make you smile, too. And you'll be thinking, as I did... yes, yes!! Clarity blended with humor!! It's wonderful!

For quick reference, here are the episodes which are mentioned in the article:

The Giant Pool of Money

Bad Bank 

As someone whose basic understanding of our nations' financial systems comes from ONE class I took as an undergraduate called "Economics for Elementary Education Majors" (I'm totally serious. Don't laugh.) I found these episodes to be quite helpful. I'd love to hear what my Uncle Joe's response would be (to the episodes.) And my brother-in-law. And Benton & Ben. Someone who really knows his/her stuff when it comes to finance, please give me a review of these episodes.

There's a point in the Bad Bank episode (about 37 minutes into the show), which talks about a graph of household debt to GDP. The "map of twin peaks." When I was listening to this part of the show, I literally had shivers go up and down my spine. Yikes. If you listen, you'll know what I mean.

Another TAL episode which I enjoyed on this topic was Scenes from a Recession. Act 2 takes us listeners through the process of a failed bank being overtaken by the FDIC. I know about the FDIC (vaguely). I know that it gives me confidence when I put my money in the bank. However, until this episode, I didn't understand how swiftly and precisely the FDIC has to swoop in to take over a bank.

Related: Hunter showed me this youtube video recently. Makes it easier to understand a complicated problem.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized (Part 1 of 2)

Related: I saw this cartoon in the New Yorker. So clever. (click on the link to see the cartoon)

What is it, Lassie?

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Unrelated: This cartoon was in the same issue of the New Yorker & it made me laugh out loud. Joe, it made me think of you.

Gabe the Guitarist

 

mama, baba, dada, kaka

Genograms are a helpful tool when working with social services for children and families.  A genogram is sort of like a family tree, but it’s a little more nuanced.  Genograms have various lines and symbols to represent the relationships and tensions among the family.  Because family is defined in so many more ways than genetics, one often includes all of the individuals who “count” as family, regardless of whether that’s technically the case. 

I have not done a genogram with a family in Tanzania yet.  If I do, I will need to buy a roll of butcher paper first.  Families are vast. 

It’s not really the immediate families that are so huge.  These days, it seems most people have two to four kids.  (Well, I should clarify by saying surviving children; the infant and child mortality rate is pretty bad.) The thing that makes families so big is that question of ‘Who counts as family?’.

Obviously, mother (mama), father (baba), brothers (kaka), and sisters (dada) belong in the category of immediate family.  Tanzanians also include all maternal aunts and paternal uncles as parents.  So a mother’s sisters are also mama.  If she is older than the birth mother, she is called Mama Mkubwa – [Big Mama].  A younger sister would be called Mama Mdogo – [Small Mama].  So I am the Mama Mdogo to Pumpkin and Cowboy because I am their mother’s younger sister.  The biological mother is called Mama Mzazee – [Mother Who Birthed Me].  It’s all the same for the father and his brothers: Baba Mdogo, Baba Mkubwa, & Baba Mzazee.

All of the children of the Mamas and Babas are brothers and sisters, no qualification needed.  Aunts, uncles, and cousins are very important in the family, too.  They are the father’s sisters, mother’s brothers, and all their children.

It’s all a bit confusing to explain.  It’s confusing in practice to me still.  If, for example, I see Joyce and she introduces me to her mother, I have to stop myself from saying, “But wait!  I’ve already met your mom, and it wasn’t this lady!”  One must keep in mind that a person can have a multiplicity of mothers.

I suppose my familiarity with the world of adoption is helpful in appreciating the concept of having more than two parents.  While the whole system of parentage here seems a bit convoluted to me at times, I find a certain beauty in it.  Families around the world are often complicated and don’t abide by the rules of labels.  That is embraced here.  There is also a distinct sense of pride when it comes to family relationships here.  It is truly an honor to be a parent.  So I guess the more children one can call his or her own, the better!

health insurance

I know that health care reform looms large on the political landscape in America.  I thought of all of the uninsured Americans recently when I bought health insurance for our guards.  It costs $7.47 per member for a year.  The insurance covers all persons in the member’s household up to 12 people.  Nearly all services, medications, and hospital stays are included.  Unfortunately, few people can save up the 10,000 Shillings to pay for the insurance on their own.  So while Tanzania definitely has some work to do on the matter of health care quality, at least they have a good start on the issue of affordable access.

tope tope (custard apple) & stakaferi (jack fruit)

These two fruits are in season now.  I had never heard of them before.

The jack fruit is really sugary sweet.  It’s sort of like a cross between cotton candy and watermelon.  You cut it into slices to eat.

 

Custard apples are smaller, and they’re not as sweet as jack fruit.  You press on them, and if they’re ripe, they squeeze open.  The inside is filled with seeds, covered by little pods of fruit.  You eat the flesh and spit out the seeds.

Neither of these fruits goes down in my book of all time favorites, but they’re both fun and interesting new foods.

power

Life here is a lot more unpredictable than places I’ve lived before.  At the start of the day, you can never quite predict what the coming hours will hold.  A big part of the uncertainty relates to infrastructure.  I’ve already talked about water.  Electricity is another big issue here.

Electricity is provided by a power plant in M., our town.  The power plant supplies electricity for M. and three other communities.  Tanesco, the state-run power company, is the only electricity provider in the district.  The plant has three generators.  I’ve never seen them but have heard that they are from the 1970s.  Because of the generators’ age and condition, the machines cannot run at full capacity.  Thus, the supply of electricity does not meet demand. 

Power cuts are a daily occurrence.  Tanesco rolls the outages across the four communities.  So one locality is “dark” while the other three are supplied.  When all is going well at the power plant, we have four-hour cuts, occurring once or twice a day.  The power is liable to come or go at 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m., and 2 a.m.  So that works out to 16 to 20 hours of power a day.  That is really quite manageable.  We can sort of structure our days based on informed predictions of when Tanesco will cut power in M., as well as some planning about what activities to do when there is power.

When all is not well with the generators, then all bets are off.  In the past two weeks, we have had quite a limited power supply.  During the daytime hours, we’ve had electricity for zero to four hours, and about another four hours of power comes during the night.  Having only four – eight hours of power a day is clearly more challenging.

Power supply is important to us from a personal point of view, but it’s really a critical aspect to development as well.  Companies do not want to invest in areas with unstable power supplies.  People who have professional jobs tend to vanish from their workplaces when the power is cut and they can’t use their computers or other electrical equipment.  Oftentimes, they don’t come back after the power returns and the work day is more than half over.  Other aspects of the community are affected, too.  Without power, sawmills can’t cut lumber and farmers can’t have their corn ground into meal.

A Canadian company has bought the rights to a big natural gas field in the Indian Ocean.  They use the natural gas to create electricity.  They already supply several towns nearer to the coast.  They are planning to connect M. to their grid.  For the good of the area, I really hope that happens as planned.

road traffic

 

Driving in Tanzania is a true adventure for me.  The roads that we use are relatively decent, for the most part.  The traffic is what makes the roads so exciting.

When I say traffic you might think I am referring to other motor vehicles.  I am not.  Cars are definitely in the minority on the road.  So far the most striking thing I’ve seen on the road was a disabled man who had rigged a white plastic lawn chair to some wheels and was pushing himself down the road.  Usually, the road is filled with pedestrians, cows, goats, chickens, and bicycles. 

The bicycles deserve special mention.  They frequently carry more than one person.  In fact, I have seen a family of five balanced on one bike (2 adults, 3 children).  Bikes are used to transport hundreds of pounds of goods at one time: charcoal, firewood, flour, produce, etc.  One of the most innovative set-ups is a bike with a 5x5 foot wooden frame attached.  From the frame hangs all manner of merchandise, such as hand mirrors, plastic dishes, watches, children’s clothing, and undergarments.  It’s like a mobile Wal-Mart.

When I am driving here, I keep three things in mind.  First, I go pretty slowly so I can have time to react if something or someone darts into the road unexpectedly.  Secondly, I honk often, particularly when I think someone isn’t adequately alert to the presence of me and my big SUV.  Finally, I stay in the middle of the road whenever possible, only moving over to the right side when I have a rare sighting of another motor vehicle.

from the enormous pile of completed drawings

 Well, I cannot find the fingerprint drawings. I'm sure they'll turn up soon.

In the meantime, here are 2 things from the drawing pile...

the first by Pumpkin (typical in that it includes a girl with an A-line dress & bow, butterflies, and flowers),

and the second by Cowboy (typical in that it includes some sort of vehicle.)

 

 

Today: trip to the library (a.m.), piles of laundry to fold (p.m.)

Tomorrow: yardwork planned for (a.m.), t-ball game in the afternoon (p.m.)

Sunday: worship (a.m.), last ministry team meeting of the semester (how is this possible?!?! seems like the semester just started....) (p.m.)

Happy weekend!