My heart skipped a beat...

...when I saw this in the fridge at the local supermarket!

After all these years, still "keeping BL in business"...  :P

"Rain, Rain, Come Again...."

“Rain, rain, come again.

We want to be as wet as the waaaaater.”

This was the chant the children sang as we hiked down the mountain in the blazing heat, watching the rain pour down on the mountains behind us, and blot out the Tanzanian mountains on the lake across from us, yet leaving our dear village desperately dry.

Global Warming, or whatever you wish to interpret it as, may be used as a sort of joke to explain away strange weather patterns where I am from, but here it is no joke.  Here unpredictable weather means that the planting seasons become dangerously unreliable.  It means hat families can spend all their money on fertilizer, and spend days planting crops, only to have the rains disappear again and the crops to wither in the heat, as the price of the remaining food in the market creeps higher and higher. 

And still the rains don’t come.

Faces turn towards the sky, whispering prayers to beckon the heavy, dark clouds nearer.

And still the rains don’t come.

“Rain, rain, come again.

We want to be as wet as the waaaaater.”

What is the best day in the history of the universe?

          This particular Sunday, after a relatively late night (10pm… Oooo….) my eyes fluttered open to some crimson light peeking through the curtains….

         “Hmm…  looks like it will be a nice sunrise…”, I mumbled to myself as I rolled over and closed my eyes again.

         “Hang on, WHAT am I doing!?” 

         Instead of taking those much-needed extra few minutes of sleep, I leapt out of bed, wrapped a chitenje around my bare legs, and ran from the house.

         “Morning!", I called, as I jogged past my confused watchman and started jogging up the hill behind my house, clutching my chitenje in one hand, pinning down my braless boobs with the other. 

         With a sigh of contentment, (and relief that I had not stayed in bed and missed this spectacular show), I settled down on a concrete block to watch the day begin.

         Is there any better way to start the day?  Any more relaxing, motivating, reassuring sight to sleepy eyes, then a sunrise? 

Summer Rain 2013

An afternoon of oppressive humidity tempts sends us skipping down to the lake.  A glance over our shoulders has us jumping with excitement!  The furious wind picks up leaves and swirls them across the sand, as black storm clouds tumble over the hill towards us.  Splashing, twirling, relishing the cool and admiring the ever-changing, tumbling mass above us.  Flash of lightning!  Run for shore!  Collapse giggling before splashing in once more.

Summer Rain :)

Battle of the Bugs 2013

Back to beautiful Malawi after a long holiday means many things:

Lines of ants marching

Spider squishing

Skin ‘dewing’

Birds singing

Music blasting                     

Limbs dancing

Lips smiling…

And green, oh, green all around!

Mind… at ease?  Anxious?

The future a blank.

No!

Rather a jumble.

Of colours; lines.

Roads winding off into a hundred different sunsets.

At the crossroads, only questions.

Unfortunately, being back in Malawi also means war…  War on bug life that is! 

Arriving smack dab in the middle of rainy season means a constant battle against the clouds of mosquitos that seem to enjoy the scent of our living room, kitchen and bedrooms, and I am ashamed to say that I have come to love the feeling of power I get whilst wielding a can of Doom.  Say what you will about the environmental evils of canisters and insecticide but for all of us living in Malawi, Doom is friend.

Unfortunately, I think this infestation of mosquitos may be my payback for having recently disturbed the delicate balance of nature that existed in my little house up to this point…

Before leaving Malawi on holiday, I had removed all my bags, and was just picking up my purse, when out of the bathroom crawled Momma Baboon Spider.

I thought about just locking the door and leaving her on bug patrol for the weekend, but then I also didn’t want to give my housekeeper a fright come Monday, so I bravely looked around me for a weapon.  One garden shovel, one good squish, and that was the end of the majestic Momma Baboon spider.

However it would appear that she had already left us some offspring, as I discovered upon my return. 

Finally crawling into my own bed after 6 weeks on the road, my sigh of relief quickly turned to horror as I looked up and saw Baby Baboon spider clinging to my bed net.  The INSIDE of my bed net.  Ever so slowly, I climbed out of bed and moved towards the door, without taking my eye off Baby for a second.

“Ppppppp…..  I may need reinforcements in here…”, I called hesitantly, as Baby Baboon spider crawled higher.

 What ensued was initially an attempt to capture Baby and release her back into the wild outdoors, but she resisted capture and therefore had to be exterminated.  Though not before she led us on a merry chase around my bedroom (under beds, behind shelves and suitcases) wielding a variety of weapons (brooms, mops, plastic lids, and flip flops) and not before she had resurrected herself after numerous attempts at taking her life!

Ironically, as much as Baby Baboon spider gave me a fright, I now lie in bed and pray for her reincarnation, because surely she would not have bothered me anyways?  Not with this feast of mosquitoes floating around my room! 

But no…  The lesson was learned too late…. And now I am at the mercy of this bloodthirsty mob, whose closest friend is another sworn enemy of mine: Malaria.

The latest trip to the market saw us investing in some heavy-duty bug battling equipment: Value packs of Doom, Raid, Bleach and Mosquito Coils….  And this afternoon we begin the hunt round the garden to find the source. 

Wish us luck!