"Plant Her Flowers"

Sometimes the light in Africa just goes all golden and everything looks extra, amped-up beautiful.

It was like that this evening. Or afternoon. We go from afternoon, through a brief evening and directly to night here, living so close to the equator. Anyway, it was like that.

I picked up my camera and took a few photos of our yard and Mount Meru. It's a spectacular mountain and I would have built this house with big picture-window views of it but, alas, I didn't build this house and I have to stand in the driveway and look over the carport to see it. Still, it's worth walking into the driveway for :-)

Never mind the mountain, I posted the garden photo above on my facebook wall a little while later and lots of people "liked" it. The photo shows the entry area to our front porch. Mostly, it shows a lot of wonderful potted plants.

People often ask me if I do the flowers. Ha! So funny! I don't have even a tinge of green to my thumbs. My flowers come from Byron. As you can see, he's pretty good with them. I am exceedingly blessed that he takes so much pleasure in creating a beautiful space.

Tonight I'm remembering that when we were very young, twenty-one and twenty-four, Byron and I took a summer course in Arizona's desert that trained us in all sorts of appropriate technology, simple solutions and Biblical mandates for caring for the poor. There was a lovely older couple that managed the base named Bill and Helen Nye. I don't remember hardly any of our conversations, lectures or studies from that summer. It was 27 years ago, after all. But I remember this... Bill told Byron that, wherever we went, he should always plant flowers for me.

I guess Byron took that directive very, very seriously. Tonight I'm remembering flowers in Nakuru, flowers in Loita, flowers in Lisbon and, now, flowers here.

Thank you, Bill!

(And, thank you, Byron. xo)

Quiet, Happy, Full, Content.

Tehur is here :-)

Tehur is our 22yr old friend from Portugal. Born in the States to a Portuguese Angolan mama and a Brazilian dad, Tehur moved (home?) to Portugal when she was almost 3.

But we met her when she was about 13, I guess. She went to school with Jesse and Trevor in the cozy days of ICSC, when Mike Bushy was leading the school and the kids all felt like a family.

Somehow, through some trying times, Tehur started dropping by our house in Lisbon for a cup of tea. Our family has forever been the better for her friendship.

Te is here with us till 1 April because she wanted a little break from Portugal and because she knew I wanted a little break from home schooling. You should have seen Heather when I told her that Te was coming. She was dancing in the kitchen and running up and down the hall. This is the friend that used to sit and read poetry with Heather. Heath adores her.

My biggest beef with the curriculum Heather uses, (apart from it's rather alarmingly ultra-conservative sentiments at times and the dreadful singing of one of the teachers on the dvds,) is the lack of creativity. Well, let me just say that Heather's creative brain has woken up since Tehur arrived. She has spent this entire afternoon writing a fairy tale and I really couldn't be happier. Go, Heather! Go, Te! Go, writing and imagining and smiling at your work!

Besides this, Colin has just had a beautiful long weekend in Zanzibar with Hunter and Tait. They attended an African music fest and Colin was in a kind of djembe players nirvana. If you didn't know, Colin plays the djembe like a fiend. His hands are fast and soft and true. He free styles with grace. I'm his mom so you may take comments with a little pinch of salt. But not too much salt because it's all are true ;-)

We just picked Colin and Hunter up at the bus station. Tait flew back yesterday since she had to get to work. I'm excited to get my boy home. It was too much to have him AND the college boys gone all at once. I'm not ready for that quite yet.

The spaghetti sauce is on the stove and there is much laughter coming from the trampoline. It's dark outside and the giggles are thick.

Sweet!

TaaaaDaaaah!

Jesse launched a site for his drums and other instruments!

Check it out at Jesse Djembes

A Burst of Creative Energy

Jesse arrives at home and suddenly there is creative energy flying in every direction.

He got here on Saturday evening and on Sunday he made four shinai's. A shinai is a big padded sword thing that he uses to fight his sibblings. He's been taking fencing and traditionally a shinai is a bamboo practice sword used in days past by warriors in training. Here at our house the kids just use them to put welts on each other and induce much laughter. The boys have been thwacking each other with gusto. Heather engages for a while and then opts out contentedly.

New Flash: After 20 years of parenting our offspring, I have a deep insight. Listen for it... Boys play differently than girls do! You can thank me later for this wisdom.

Back to Jesse's creative energy--

This morning he finished the rain stick he was working on yesterday evening. It's about four feet long and it has a really nice watery sound.

This afternoon I see him out in the garage cutting plywood for a new cajon (drum.)

The kids have grown up with total access to a shed full of saws, hammers, nails and wood scraps. Jesse gets such a happy feeling out there in the sawdust. It's nice to see and it brings a pleasant vibe to the house.

Feeling More Like Christmas Around Here

Funny little things going on around here as Christmas approaches. The work-shop becomes a magical and off-limits place.

I can hear the table-saw and, if I do venture close, smell the sawdust. Yesterday I stepped outside the back door to let the boys know there was a pot of tea on the table and I saw Jesse and Heather standing with their hands over their hearts facing Byron and Colin. I wondered, as well I might, what on earth was up.

Well, Byron had been helping Colin with a project and they all turned and looked at me like I was breaching some international boundary by even looking toward them all. I informed them about the tea and asked, very innocently, what they were doing.

"We're being sworn to secrecy before we enter!" Jesse called back "Now go away!" Apparantly they were not allowed to set foot inside the Hallowed Hall of Creative Efforts in Wood until they had sworn not to tell what they saw there.

They did finally come in for their cup of tea, satisfied with their secret knowledge.

Heather hasn't been working in the wood-shop. She has been knitting with her Grandma and her little scarf is about 10 inches long now. And that's a very sweet sight, I must say, a little girl knitting with her Grandmother. Speaking of Grandma, Heather and I took her to see The Nutcracker the other night. That makes everything feel like Christmas!

But of all the creative efforts going on I think that maybe the one that makes the most interesting impression is catching a glimpse of Jesse. Jesse with his blond dreads and his strong arms and hands. Yes, that Jesse. He's sitting here next to me by the fire ... knitting.

We have eggnog and Christmas lights and a documentary about Africa. And a slightly bohemian uni student who knits.

How great is that?

(PS Beatiful snowman and evergreen in pastels by my 9 year-old niece, Alex.)

Drum Boy

Jesse always has a million ideas of new things to make. Especially new drums.

Last weekend he was down to visit and he spent most of his time in his Grandpa's woodshop making two tongue drums.

This photo is of him tuning the first one. Seriously! He would shave little bits off the tongues he had carved out to perfect the pitch. It sounds really pretty.

So one night Trevor ended up picking up his guitar and Colin played one of Jesse's little djembes that he made some time ago, and Jesse played the new tongue drum.

Since I play no instrument at all, I danced. I'm sure you would have been inspired if you had seen me (!)

Ear Fashion

It's after 11pm but Byron and Barbara are sitting at the dining room table carving and shaping things from buffalo horn for the holes in their ears. They look very serious and absorbed in their work. The hole in the top of Byron's ear was burned through with a hot awl 14 years ago by a Maasai woman that we consider to be our Maasai Mum. The one in question on Barbara's ear was self-imposed. It's cute to see them working away :-)