and for this week's entertainment...

Our toilet has not been working. For three days now a chap has been trying to fix it. On the first day he came in with a plastic bag of things, set the bag down on the floor, put one hand on his hip and scratched his head while gazing dolefully into our cistern. He did this for about ten minutes. The he carefully laid out all the items in the bag on the floor. These were mostly tools and bits of plastic usually associated with the ball cock that makes the cistern refill. Then he put his one hand on his hip and gazed dolefully at his equipment. I was becoming concerned at this point that I might be more qualified to fix my cistern than he was. Eventually he went to work.

Within minutes he came back and asked me if we had a hammer. I gave it to him but was puzzled as to what he planned to do with it. Thankfully he just added it artfully to the items laid on the floor. Then he asked me for a spanner - a 24 or a 23. We did not have that and so he went to fetch it.

45 minutes later he returned with the spanner and after, yes, some hip, scratch and doleful gazing he returned to work. At the strike of 12 o'clock (lunchtime) he came and declared it fixed! I said great and flushed. Something plastic flew up into the air and water fountained out of the hole left behind. He scratched his head and said he would come back tomorrow.

Tomorrow held much the same hilarity except the water gushed out of the bottom of the cistern. And on day three the same. On day three he brought reinforcements. First one other person came and scratched their head and then a third. I am now truly impressed by my toilet. It must be so complex and cunning to still not be working. Tomorrow is Sunday but I look forward to what Monday brings for us and the plumber.

Thank goodness we have a second loo in the house or this would not be amusing in the least.

Ellies once more!

We have been back at Mpala for less than a week but have had many elephant sightings! The herd has been hanging around for the last couple of nights making trouble in the neighbourhood. They pulled the pipes off the walls of the house next over from us so we are even more appreciative of our shower than ever.

Two nights ago K and I were preparing for sleep when we heard the unmistakable crunch crunch of something with extremely large teeth eating trees. We hopped out of bed and there right outside our window were a couple of elephants. The moon is full and we could almost pick out flea bites, we were that close. One moved around the house and we followed to the spare room where we had not closed the curtains. We both felt very exposed standing in our pyjamas at the window with the elephant a body's length away but thankfully, with concrete between us. The last didn't prevent the thrill of terror that went down our backs when he froze, glared at us and waved his trunk threateningly. We stood as still as possible and tried not to breathe until he decided he had given us a proper scare and carried on with his munching. He wasn't a large elly but nonetheless filled the window and it was both a relief and a disappointment when he moved off into the underbrush.

Make Love Not War

Turns out that that is what the ghecko's were doing. Jack is maybe Jackie in fact, as we have come back to many wee jacks and Jasons prowling our walls for tasty treats. Also Jack(ie) and Jason are now inhabiting the same curtain without howls and crashes as before. Unless... and dare I suggest it? Jack and Jason are more forward thinking than many Kenyans and have simply adopted the bairns in the month we were gone?

Warmth from unexpected places

Making the bed together with someone is ritual like. Opposite each other with a pattern of mirrored movements somehow makes me feel bonded to the person across the sheets. The flick and smooth and pat and tuck while you talk of something else always warms me. It is something that spans across all bridges, recently for me; sex, age and language. Each person brings to the bed making their own life as it has been. Priscilla tucks the sheets in tight against spiders. For Keir it is all unnecessary since you are just going to mess it up again anyway but he does it because he loves me. For my Mom the pillows are decorative, above the duvet and handy for leaning against to read before the afternoon nap. As a parent there are so many things where perspective has changed, and now I look forward to standing across from Emma and seeing how much of each of us she will bring to this small daily piece of life.

Close encounters of the porcine kind

On Friday an old friend's mom picked us up and took us to our first petting zoo. There were Alpacas, goats, cows, rabbits, guinea pigs, geese and ponies. All came rushing to the fence to be fed and we could steal a touch. The scariest was edging past the male Ostrich who was fluffing his wings in our direction and giving us the (beady) eye in a very unfriendly manner. On the other side of the walkway from the Ostrich was an Emu. Emu's are well known for their aggression and he was doing his level best to rid us of our eyes as well. Between the Ostrich and the Emu someone is going to come a cropper.

The highlight of the trip for me were the warthogs. We walked up to their pen but they were hiding somewhere and we couldn't see them, so I called; "sooeeee, here pig, pig, pig" and they came running! It was amazing to be able to touch their rough little snouts as they pressed against the fence. It's like stroking fine gravel that is slightly wet and they made little "ungh! Ungh!" noises of content when scratched behind the ears. Emma couldn't get enough of them and with some trepidation I let her touch them too.

Another maybe first word?

It's possible that Emma is saying "Oh Look!" It's a lot like the "kitty cat" where she could have said the word but it could also just be that she is miming our sound. This afternoon she woke up from her nap, looked at the cat, pointed and said very clearly "oh look!" Then she looked at us to make sure we were paying attention and said it again, still pointing. Also - just a photo of her enjoying outside with her Uncle. Lulu is under the bush to the right of them.

The New Outdoorsman

Emma is going to be an outside kind of gal. Whenever she is fussy, all one has to do is go outside and she settles, even just a quick walk up to the gate of the complex will settle her. The wind in her hair and the sun on her face makes her so happy. While I was hanging washing the other day I put her down on the grass which is a bit sparse and dry. Which is perfect for a small person to play with dirt, stones and sticks. She gets such a kick out of wondering around the garden looking in hiding places for the tortoise. Her Uncle has declared that Emma has named the tortoise "Lulu". She also named the bushes, trees and birds Lulu but apparently most especially the tortoise is Lulu.

Where are the wild things?

Emma has taken to growling when she is playing with us, or when she wants you to play. This morning Granny was lying on the couch. Emma spied her from the other side of the couch and cruised along 'til she reached Granny's feet, growling all the while. Then she grabbed Granny's big toe and bit down... luckily just in play but the growling was too adorable. With all these teeth we are going to have to play close attention when Emma goes ggggrrrrrrr gggrrrrrr.