In 2015 my husband and I spent about a month in Tanzania, including transit via Dubai, UAE, and Nairobi, Kenya. I am publishing today and in the following days parts of my travel journal which I think provide an interesting look at other worlds that coexist with my Western one in Northern California. The sea of non-western humanity is remarkable to me. Many women in burkas, some of them in their formless anonymity also beasts of burden. A […]
My house looks like a big party went down, the blessing of lots of family members willing to come and stay awhile. But all good things do come to an end, and this is it. And someone gets to put things to rights, and that is mostly me. This morning, the first morning after everyone has left, there is tired Christmas deco, some of it just barely hanging on, fragrant pine needles that seem to […]
Monday in Paris was a very French day, at least the eating part. The children were tired, so Allie let them rest all morning. We met one of Allie’s students, Paula, and her husband Dave for lunch around 12:30 at Chez Gladines, a Basque restaurant in our little village of Butte aux Cailles that they wanted to try. All of these places are tiny, so moving 8 of us into a table with an infant […]
Left about 11 am with the sun shining and dry feet, though bundled to the hilt against the close to freezing winds, and made it to St Sulpice in time for the end of mass and the magnificent organ concert. The music was particularly uplifting given the grandeur of the surroundings and the memory of what happened last weekend. We were all spellbound by the soaring and triumphant music. Found a tiny cafe which was […]
The short story is that I got conscripted with a couple of weeks’ notice to escort two of my grandchildren (Emma, 13 and Daylen 9) to Paris where their parents are teaching in a study abroad program for a month. The kids were to spend the last week of November with them in Paris, but my daughter discovered at the last minute that they could not travel alone. Alas, the duties of a Nana! I have […]
I am reading a book by Emily P. Freeman called Simply Tuesday. Emily has a blog, http://www.chattingatthesky.com, that I also read and she has suggested it is a good thing to STOP every once in while and think about what you are learning. Such a good idea, I am finally doing it. I like Emily and feel like she is a friend and a real person, maybe that’s what the “P” stands for. So here’s […]
From high on this hill, the town of Kigoma, Tanzania looks idyllic and beautiful. I can see the calm blue lake, shining in the sun, adorable little boats beginning to make their way out into the water for their nightly fishing expedition. The abundant rain has caused everything to grow with glowing greenness, covering the hill below. In fact, most of the buildings below my perch are covered, disguising the fact that many of them don’t have […]
Today is the birthday of my tenth grandchild, my seventh granddaughter. But we are waiting for the party to begin and have not met little Lani yet. She is already deeply loved here on Earth by doting parents, a brother and sister, grandparents on both sides and many other friends and family. She has been woven in secret mystery inside her mother, my own eldest daughter, by a God who loves her deeply too. We […]
A friend of mine had a baby boy recently, her first. Although she seems young, she is 25, the same age I was when my first baby was born. She is a woman who had some hard times in her teens and began to love Jesus for all she was worth. When the baby was a few weeks old, she and her husband led our church body in worship through music. They are both very […]
The day after I arrived in the US from nearly a month in Tanzania, I was helping my 3-year-old twin granddaughters brush their teeth before bed. My daughter said, “Wait a minute, let me get my phone, they use an app.” Sure enough, the little darlings get to choose a colorful character to brush their teeth along with accompanied by catchy music and a timer. This is not really shocking, it is fun, right? But […]
A handful of quietness 