Famine

I've seen news reports in the past few months about the famine predicted to hit Ethiopia.

Well, it's here. And, it seems it will get much worse. Food prices are HIGH. My friends bought some chickens for someone here (I carried them through the market, so please picture that spectacle). When they bought corn for the chickens to eat, the price was FOUR times higher than it is at home. Even people I know from last October have lost weight, and the stories I hear from the rural areas break my heart.

My friend Ruth Droppers decided she should do something when they ran out of F75 and F100 milk. This is a high protein milk you give to children on the brink of starvation. She got a letter from the NGO she is helping and went to Addis to the World Food Program and asked to speak to the nutrition specialists. They were on the fifth floor. She walked in, told them she was a doctor from the Woliata region, and that she needed food. They wanted to know how she got into the building.

After realizing that they were not at all interested in helping, she told them, "You know, there is a famine going on, and we should do something!" She wondered if they thought she was a hyserical bush doctor when one of them slid behind her computer.

Finally, they got rid of her by telling her to go to the blue roofed UNICEF building. A series of adventures there led to a kind doctor telling her there was a supply of almost expired milk at the Black Lion Hospital, and if she hurried, she might be able to get it before the Sister's of Mercy showed up, as he had also told them about it.

She raced over, and was told it was being inventoried and the door could not be unlocked. Another few hours of adventure and a helpful pediatrician and high up admin person later, Ruth found out there was food she could have and was able to get the door opened to it, but not until tomorrow.

She came back the next day and had a huge power struggle with the guy in charge of the inventory, who didn't want her to get the almost expired milk, but he was overruled by the high up admin person, and then he very slowly opened the door and left for a two hour lunch with the form she needed to get the food out legally.

With the help of someone at the hospital in Soddo, she was able to find a strong enough truck to get it back to Soddo, and when it arrived and she loaded 44 boxes of 44 packages into it and waited for the form. The surly warehouse manager finally returned and gave her the version of the form which required the most possible signatures, then tried to leave again without signing his own name on it. She stopped him and then spent the rest of the day getting the rest of the signatures, and then headed home the following day with a team of friends from the Netherlands.


She then gave the food to a group that runs a clinic for people with a form of Elephantitis called Mossy Foot, caused by walking barefoot, a sadly common occurance where people can't afford shoes. People that have this disease, which causes horrible swelling in the leg, are discriminated against and can't get work.

The clinic set up distribution and took two people from Ruth's Dutch team every day for a few weeks until they reached all their families in remote regions where they badly needed the milk to help their families. This picture is of a thankful mother and one of her children. She burst into tears when they handed her a few packets of milk and some used clothing they had brought.

If they want it, we plan to give most of the famine food we brought from my friend Chris to this same organization to send out to their people.

Addis Pounding

I did buy a plane ticket, but, after spending inordinate amouts of time sitting on runways and then flying in circles waiting for permission to land, it's almost a surprise that I am actually in Ethiopia.

Except that it's after one am and I'm too awake, squinting at the bright computer screen while my high altitude headache screams that I am in a new place that is not humid and hot.

In fact, it is humid and cold. Very cold. My numb fingers are telling my memory that last week's weather reports of 68 degree lows and 70 degree highs were lies. Or, during the long, sleepless flight, hurtling forward in time while sitting next to a very nice, but VERY large man, winter fell on Addis.

I am wearing a maternity sweater, the single warm item in 140 pounds of checked luggage squashed full of donations.

There would have been more sweaters, but, according to the gum smacking woman at the Continental counter, “Delta doesn't go by our baggage rules when we book our customers on their flights, so we sure aren't going by theirs just because they booked you on our flight – I don't care what medallion status you have - and you have to give me $200 to take those overweight suitcases and that extra bag.

Thank God my friend Wade had a good poker night prior to taking me that morning, or I would have had to do an entire re-pack in the hallway of the airport. As it was, Wade paid $100 for the two overweight bags and took the last one – sweater, shoe and jean bag – home.

Now that I'm here and have seen what Hanna's girls have to wear, I'm really wishing I'd paid the $100 for that one bag. I keep going through all that is in it in my mind – good quality clothes and shoes that would hold up to the rainy season and walking long distances for the girls I saw smiling and shivering in their studies today. Their classrooms, which Hanna calls the “plastic house” because it is made of blue tarps under a roof, flooded earlier this week. The woven mats from the floor are scattered around the back yard in a vain effort to dry them out.

Today we went to the mercado and bought white fabric. Hanna wants the girls to learn embroidery, so they will begin by making themselves outfits for the new year, each girl embroidering her own shirt with one of the classic Ethiopian crosses or flower motifs. Asher, one of the workers at Hanna's office, got into an amusing discussion with Hanna and the other office girl, Miriam, about the skirt design. He felt if they made the long, A-line skirts Hanna suggested, the girls would cut the slits too high on the sides. So, he voted for wrap around skirts. It turns out that zippers are cheap compared to the extra length of fabric for a wrap skirt, so Asher lost.

I like this young introvert. He loves peace and nature, yet finds himself surrounded by 44 orphan and partially orphaned girls, and two other female staff members. His mother was a Muslim, and he is fairly sure his father was Jewish, though he always refused to say he was anything other than “Ethiopian.” Asher recently changed his name and seemed quite interested in reading my favorite book, My Name is Asher Lev, when I described it. I plan to send it to him.


Asher went with us to the mercado, one of the largest open air markets in all of Africa, because Hanna says you can get a better price when you shop with a man. I informed her that you get a much worse price when you shop with a ferangie (white person), and I don't think she believed me at first, but it quickly became an obvious truth, and she told me to stay behind with Asher and not let the shop people see me until she struck a bargain.

In spite of my presence, we managed to buy two bolts of white fabric, rolls of multi colored embroidery wool, a new clay coffee pot and three large drums for the girls to practice music. The drums are made of goat skin stretched over metal containers. My favorite was one marked with all sorts of runny stains and danger signs like “flamable” and “toxic.” Hanna didn't agree that it was cool and instead bought ones that we think may be made out of metal buckets, but are covered with flowered fabric, so we can't be sure. I kindof figured I might have trouble getting my chosen drum on the airplane, what with the bleached red triangle toxic sign and the dead animal skin, so I settled on a wonderful sounding small drum made of wood and skin for my son. I couldn't stop tapping it. Neither could anyone else. Random men kept walking up to me to smack my drum and smile crazily. Hanna shook her head, pointing at beautiful Miriam, walking ahead of me with the bigger drums, “Why do they let two drums go by and they only hit yours?”

Ferangie power.

It's a stronger pull than beauty, evidently. Useful to know if you want to pay quadruple an item's value and enjoy muddy strangers smacking your goat skin.


Oh, and, note to traveling photographers. If you dare take photos in places where it may not be appreciated, you might not want to count on the "cover" of your public taxi van speeding away after your not-so-secret photo nabbing. After spending 15 minutes making sure every possible cranny of the taxi was full, we finally lurched forward, sputtered, and then ran out of gas.

Mehandi

Sarah got her hands done in India at an outdoor market where we shopped for clothes.


I'd like (to try and not kill) a henna plant. I read that you can grow them indoors, and it's flower has a lovely scent.

Cows

Cows seem content here.



My biggest faux pax (that I'm aware of, anyway) was related to cows. We stopped at McD's on the way back from the Taj, in an effort to disuade our guide from taking us to yet another expensive tourist trap. It was nuts and overwhelming and since I don't frequent Mickey D's, I was not comfortable with the menu. Sarah ordered a chicken kids meal and I couldn't figure out the menu, so I just said, "I'll just have a hamburger." The guy looked at me blankly. "Just beef," I clarified. The man's eyes widened and Brian caught my attention from his spot in line behind me, "I don't think they serve cow here."

I felt so . . . stupid American.

I do have to say that if they served the veggie burgers here that I got that day, we'd actually go to McDonalds.

The Taj

It's everything you've heard. A jewel. I suspected it was a mirage, until I touched the cool marble, inlaid with onyx and jasper, and ran my fingers across the carved flower designs.

Next to it sits a mosque of multicolored sandstone.



We caught a special moment between to friends. As they posed for a photo, he dropped to his knees and started fishing in his pocket for something. I began snapping from where I was standing, and then Brian encouraged me to go get good shots for them. Kimberli (who said yes, btw) was completely caught off guard. Fun to see. Considering the story of the Taj Mahal, I can see why he chose that spot.

Perspective

The streets looked different from this height than they did walking or peering out from under a rickshaw roof.

Artisans in India

It's fun writing this post because I hear Mimi having a giggle fit. She and Sarah are playing hide and seek in the room. It is the first she has really let go and enjoyed herself and it makes us all smile to hear it.

When we first arrived in Bhubaneswar, I was enchanted by the stone work in the hotel. The simple white walls are set off by carved sandstone borders and standstone grills in the walls, and panels set into the walls with carvings of women dancers, a dance famous in this area.


The sandstone is beautiful because it holds an array of colors, striations within each block before it is carved, that become accents within the carving.

We had one neat "tour" day in Orissa. Though we got to see some simply amazing temples - one Buddhist and one Hindu, the highlight for me was visiting with some stone carvers.

On our drive from the Buddhist temple, we saw a small house with some 5 foot long blocks of stone outside and stopped the cab. The driver thought no one was there, but I heard hammering, and went to explore. Sure enough, three men behind a woven screen wall, sitting in semi darkness, were at work on sculptures with large wooden mallets and metal chisels.







They were kind, and let me take photos, and shared with us the process. First, they buy a block of stone for roughly 3,000 rupies ($75). Four to five men work on the stone for a month, and when it is finished, they sell it for 15,000 rupies ($375). Works out to less than 40 cents an hour, if they are working 40 hour weeks.






They don't seem to be pickey about which faith they carve for. Hindu gods like Ganesh, dancers, animals and Budda lay about in various stages of birth from the stones.

Also, the ubiquitous wheel, symbol of time, is in most of the carvings and art here. We missed going to see the temple with the wheels, located on the beach, and a celebration that looked pretty exciting. People near a large temple in Cuttack (home of the orphanage) were decorating carts and cars to parade each night that we left there.

Mimi, more

I wrote this long post and lost it, which was disappointing, so I will try again.

Mimi is the little girl's nickname, her real name is long and we can't say it as well as people here, but we are close enough that she knows when we say it that we are referring to her.

We spent more time at the orphanage yesterday and I got to know a few women working there, including Mimi's caretaker - who I really like, and a nurse and the woman who runs the sponsorship program for the special needs kids and the children with high aptitude who would benefit from extra schooling. She is a wonderfully caring person and encouraged me to try and find some sponsors for the children. Sponsorship is only about $250 a year. Please let me know if you want any information on how to do it - you get photos and updates and I have photos of the kids, too. You can visit if you come as well, they treat visitors wonderfully.

I'm frustrated at my inability to upload photos and hope it is fixed in Delhi. It makes blogging so much more fun to do when you have photos!

Here is a shot of Mimi meeting Mommy. Wonder if she thinks Mommy lives in the computer?

India day 2 with Mimi

I really love India. I remember feeling this way last time I was here, and it is the same this time. I can't put my finger on what it is, but it is an easy place to be and the people are lovely. And, the tea and food are fabulous.



Today we spent the majority of our day at the orphanage with Mimi and the other children. We stayed with the children in school - the school that operates on the grounds - for an hour and were amazed at how well behaved the children were. The orphanage is peaceful and quiet, and the children seem loved. Five or so children share a room with a house mother who is there every day and night with them. There is a cafeteria, a garden, a playground with swings and an indoor play room. There are classrooms for the younger children and for the older ones with special needs. Children with hiv, for instance, are not accepted into the community and must attend school at the orphanage. I was saddened by this, obviously.

I will see if the internet lets me post now, and then I will attempt to write more. Right now Sarah and Mimi are in Brian's room listening to music and playing with nail polish. A big hit with Mimi was the doodle pad. She seems more of a book and art girl than a sporty girl, and she reminds me in many ways of Sarah, in her thoughtfulness and the way she observes things.

India and Mimi!

We landed in Mumbai (Bombay) and got off last because we had a five hour layover. This relaxed approach began a downward spiral of events, beginning with a failed attempt to navigate our way to the customs counter, beginning with a five mile walk in the direction people pointed.

The hall rapidly looked less and less like an airport, carpet gave way to dirt, windows boarded up, ceiling tiles created works of art on broken bits of stone. We found a man in uniform, who pointed back the direction we came. Eventually we figured out that passengers are supposed to turn at the poster of the giraffe surrounded by skyscrapers, then go down 67 stairs and around a corner to find the throngs of people approaching various desks and lines to immigration.

Following immigration, our passports were checked by not less than 16 people in uniform, not one of whom could tell us how to find customs. We wove our way through another construction maze and decided since our bags were checked through, we must somehow not need to clear customs. We followed some signs for domestic flights and, unexpectedly, a bend in the maze revealed the luggage hoard. We fought toward our bags, nabbed them, and looked in vain for the transfer belt. No one had any idea what we were talking about when we asked, and motioned us outside into humidity that poofed my hair to 4 times it's normal size. Did I mention we had two carry ons each, and a pillow, and now luggage as well?

We wandered past men on piles of sandbags, sitting with shotguns on their laps, towards a bus that looked as if it belonged to the airport and were then motioned to another bus. We hurried to get on. And then sat for 40 minutes while they waited for the bus to fill past capacity. Then, we started off to the other terminals. And the bus stalled. And then it stalled again. And then again.

Then, we started off towards the other terminals, past the barbed wire fences and the tractors carrying luggage and the planes covered in scaffolding and huge empty buildings without electricity and then we stopped. For another 25 minutes. Then, the driver began honking at a parked truck and we took off again and eventually got to a terminal that they said was not ours, but everyone else exited. Then, we continued to the terminal they said was for our flight. Contrary to that belief, the guard at the door looked at our tickets and said there was no flight for us.

So, we stood in line at a counter. Have I mentioned the luggage and the fact that we have now traveled for 20 something hours and it is 4am and Sarah is half asleep? At the counter they said, yes, there is a flight even though there is not one showing on the tv screens, and we are actually on it, but it is at the other terminal.

A nice man with a taxi service said it was very far and no busses went there and I said we would find a bus and eventually a man in a uniform said hmmmmm, and then another man said yes, you can walk, just go down those 456 stairs over there and it's there, about 5 mummmverestn. So, I'm thinking it's five kilometers or 5 miles after the 456 stairs that end in a massive marble atrium that sure seemed grand enough to have elevator access, but it really wasn't that far. It was actually in a place we could walk to, as long as we didn't mind weaving through the scaffolding and behind the taxis and sleeping off duty drivers and though the road area that wasn't lit, which we did and it was good.

I discovered I can't read my watch, and thought we had 10 minutes to board, but then realized we had almost two hours, so Brian went to call Laura, which is when we found out that the money exchange is in the international terminal. So, we sit, coffeeless, munching wasabi crackers I brought, in some nice cafe chairs near our gate, which is a door to a drive on which the busses appear. Brian, as in every single situation we have been in this trip, somehow managed to meet some really neat people while we were in wait mode, so we also have new friends now.

Update: Sarah and I got on the bus and then realized Brian had vanished. We were worried, but I thought we should probably go to the plane anyway. Once on board, the plane filled up and Brian eventually appeared. He had been yanked out of the line behind us for not having a proper stamp on his backpack and told to go back to security. But, he made it, which was good because I didn't know our hotel name, though I figured it couldn't be too hard to find somehow when we arrived.

I was so exhausted on the plane I didn't get my camera out, which I really regretted when we started descending into Orissa. The farmland looks different than at home. At home and in most places I've flown over, you see big square fields or round watering circles. Here, it was like a map of the United States – all different sized and shaped fields meandering over the landscape, like an abstract painting of fish scales. The trees looked different, too, some seemed like giant ferns viewed from above. The landscape when we drove, minus the amazing temples, was much more like the Dominican Republic than any other place I've been, but much, much hotter. Brian commented as we walked from the plane to the airport that it felt like we were baking, and I had to agree.

We got to the lovely, restful hotel and, while they arranged our rooms, they gave us free tea and coffee and hot chocolate and a milkshake for Sarah and cookies and then pancakes for Brian who was strarting to need food to stay awake.



We got into the rooms an hour or so later and then called the orphanage to figure out a plan to get there. I talked with the guy in charge of cars at the hotel and discovered that all the money we saved getting a great hotel rate will be eaten up in taxis and internet. We did get a car and then drove the 40 minute or so trip to the orphanage to meet Mimi. Sarah fell asleep as the taxi pulled out of the hotel. I think back home it was around 3am.

The driver stopped and asked directions multiple times, and with much pointing and talking, we would back up the car and re-route. Brian actually recognized the building from some photos, which was good. We asked the driver to leave and headed in to meet Mimi.

He didn't actually leave, but we didn't find that out until four hours later. Mistranslation, or intentional misunderstanding at the cost of $10 an hour? Who knows. Brian wasn't thrilled with the driver because he hit someone in the parking lot at the airport and a yelling match ensued – the guy was walking, but after the loud thud, he was limping. I liked that the had clean windows and that made it easier to snap photos, but I ended up rolling my window down anyway after reflections bothered me more than my desire to be polite.


We must have arrived at lunch, because we kindof wandered around lost for quite awhile before anyone would claim us. Then, we were ushered into a cool, dark office to wait. I was not expecting anyone to get little Mimi, so the video camera was not rolling when she arrived. But, I did have a still camera on Brian and managed to snap his face when he realized she had just been brought into the room.

A more adorable child you have never seen. She walked in, all eyelashes and big eyes and lacey dress, with painted fingernails and hands and bangled bracelets and bows in her hair. She is ten times more precious in person than in her photos, and I know that is hard to imagine. We were awestruck. She carried fresh flowers and presented them to Brian. I heard Sarah say “ahh” and echoed it with all my heart. I'll write more about the next few hours spent Mimi and the other precious children, as soon as I catch up on my sleep. For now suffice it to say, Brian and Laura and Max are one blessed family, and Sarah and I are honored to play a small part in this incredible experience.

India Adventures, Dubai

Just a short update from the Dubai Airport. The long fight to Dubai from Atlanta was over 15 hours. At one point when we were near Baghdad, over Iraq, I looked out the window and saw two fires in the desert below. Then, the plane did a 180. Things that make you go hmmmmmm.

Well, the plane continued it's circle and we went on to Dubai. Whew.

Lots of beauty here in the airport, beautiful shops, lots of lights, beautiful women in flowing clothes. We wish we had a day to explore, but we only have a few more minutes here.

India Adventures Begin

In a few hours, Sarah and I will be at the Atlanta Airport, embarking on the trip to bring home Max's big sister Mimi from Orissa, India. Catch our updates here if we are able to post. If not, please follow along on Max's mom's blog. It's the one on the right marked Laura, Italian New Yorker married to a Southern boy.

Sarah has been journaling all day, so I can copy her work to update you. This morning she wrote about how I broke my friend's diswasher trying to load it. I hope the rest of the entries focus on the less destructive aspects of our trip.

Here are Laura and Brian going over the last of the paperwork necessary to get their new daughter home. Brian finally told Laura she could not go through it again - she may have been getting a bit obsessive about it . . . .


So, I just found out that Dubai is the best place to buy camera gear. Don't tell David, but I have my Am Ex ready. Unfortunately, we land in the middle of the night and only have a few hours there. I'll have to shop fast.

Elias

We found this shot of Elias, dressed as a clown to celebrate Sarah's 6th birthday in David's photo archives.

When we lived in the Dominican Republic, because we had daily contact with Elias, we taught Sarah an important truth,
"if Elias is talking, Elias is lying."

Well, he lulled me into forgetting this trip, until today, when he emailed me his flight schedule, saying he thought he missed his flight. It took me 15 minutes of checking on line and looking at flight schedules to realize he had changed the times before emailing it to me.

Today he is packing to go home. There is hardly room for his clothes amidst the pop tarts and cheese crackers he plans to share with his girlfriend when he gets home - an attempt to make up for not calling her his first 40 hours here.


Truthfully, we'll miss him, maybe because he cooked up some wonderful food last night, or maybe because he can keep up with Zion, or that Alden loves him, or that he painted Sarah's bedroom (there was NO coorsion on my part, truly), but probably just because we like him. But, shhhh, don't tell him I said that!

Catch Up

So much has happened the past week. Tough photo shoot in NC, near VA, but it was fun to get to use my 12,000 watt light. Lugging it around did make me realize how out of shape I am!


Highlight of the trip was spending time with the McDuffie's and seeing Faith's beautiful new home. Faith's husband Simon, finally here from England, then came down to our house to help with the News Boys' concert. The end of the concert was fun - the drummer's platform lifted on it's side and spun. I thought it must be nice to be in a band and make part of your act riding a tilt-a-wheel.



Also at our home is Elias, in from the Dominican Republic. If you know him, you know we are laughing constantly, especially when he answers calls from beach condo salespeople.

Feed Your IKEA addiction

Feed your IKEA addiction, without spending ANY money.

Check out this great link my friend Wade (WÄDD, a kitchen chair) sent me.

If you're a friend, I've probably already typed in your name to try it, but feel free to comment and share the fun with all of us.

HEYDDI (I'm a double bed)

Camps

Last week was Gymnastics Camp for Sarah and Camp Funtastic for Alden and Zion. Alden made this neat thing as a science activity and is having a challenging time keeping Zion from eating it. They also had cricket races (Alden's cricket won). Zion said the bugs were nasty and scary and she cried. I can only imagine her teacher's thoughts on that day.



This week is Jesus Camp for Sarah and Alden, and Karate camp for Zion. I think the camp has a different name than Jesus Camp, but since watching the documentary by that name, it sticks in my head. The older kids packed today for what will be Alden's first overnight camp. Sarah found a new technique for organizing her clothes in her new American Girl magazine. She tried to teach Alden, but with slightly different results that matched something I read about boys not "awakening" to organization until late teen years.

Swag

Alden heard me ask David if he'd gotten any good swag in Vegas. He then asked Sarah, "what is swag?"
Sarah told him she didn't think there was such a thing.

Well, David brought home a carry on full.

Sarah loved her pen and pocket protector combo set,


and Alden was happy with his tape measure.


But I'm wondering if I should be concerned about the choices David made for Zion - and just how "into" them she got.

A shot glass.
Marti Gras party beads.
and a black ball cap.

Sarah's Loft

David has done an amazing job of designing a loft bedroom for Sarah using stuff we have lying around, and a space in the living room we never used. My favorite part so far are the ladders set up as a "wall" at the front and back of the loft.


So, while he's gone, I decided we'd try to get some of the room painted, since painting is not David's thing.

One wall is made of OSB, so it takes a lot of paint, but has wonderful texture. We found a great soft yellow mistint for $5, and were going to use it just as a primer coat, but Sarah and I both like the color so much, it doubled as primer and paint for the wall around her desk. The rest of that wall is blue, and we still need one more coat on the upper half.


Today I sprayed the stairs until I ran out of black paint. The stairs are made from 2 sets of old stage stairs the guys at the shop no longer use. David welded them together, and they fit EXACTLY in the space we have. I found a nice yoga mat for a buck at last week's yard sales. It perfectly matches the blue walls, and cut it into strips to fit each tread.

Blog Talk Radio

So, my friend Michelle, who works with my dad, is going to be on blog talk radio this Friday at 12:30. You can call in with questions on this number: 347.945.5139

Here is Michelle's blog. I recently shot one of her talks, hope to get a bit of that up soon.

Understanding human capability, the way they define it based on work done by Elliot Jacques, literally changed my view of business, and the world, and showed me how to work, utilizing my full potential. Sounds cheesy, but it's true.

If you like Michelle's posts, check out Peoplefit, my dad's site.

I think I'm being mocked

I commented that maybe I wouldn't use as many pillows in the summer since we don't use the air, and it is hot. And this is what greeted me.


I guess when I make the bed, I arrange them so it isn't so obvious.

In other news, Father's Day was nice. Relaxing. The kids made cards. They wanted to make BIG cards, so we used colored file folders.


Then, we put some water in the pool for the first time since Zion arrived in the family. People seem happy about it.


This week is filled with gym camp for Sarah, camp Funtastic for Alden and Zion, and a trip to Vegas tomorrow for David, who says he will play in at least one poker tournament. My hope is to get ahead on some work and get the first haircut I've had in at least six months.

Family visit

On their way home from Florida, David's sister Debbie and her son David stopped at the house for a few days. Young David is Alden's favorite cousin, and he could hardly wait to see him, and managed to stay awake until they arrived at 11:45 pm - 15 minutes ahead of the schedule Deb had sent me 3 months prior. David gave his sister a hard time for her time calculating skills, and said she was getting a tad rusty. She explained that they had been canoeing in Florida earlier in the day and the canoe overturned in the everglades somewhere and they were soaked and then it rained and somehow that was to blame for their early arrival.

We were back on schedule the next day, with everyone waking up before noon. Highlight of the day was a trip to the river where we braved the current under a bridge to sit and talk with our feet in the water, and then splashed around some rocks and skipped stones. At night the kids played Star Wars Monopoly with David.



The next day we all said we would get up at 7:45 and make it to the zoo by 9. Well, I woke up at 8:35 (alarm late somehow) and we still made it by 9:01. The zoo was great and the kids had a blast feeding a giraffe and lorikeets. Alden declared meercats his new favorite animal and Sarah decided her next report for school will be on koalas. Zion pointed out the "daddy" and "baby" in every habitat and went nuts chasing a fish in the aquarium. I'm convinced the fish was into the game or was just taunting her from the opposite side of the glass.






All in all a wonderful visit - hope we can do it again soon.

Studying in the heat

In light of prices for EVERYthing going through the roof, we've been trying not to turn on the AC.

As a result, our living room reached 96 degrees one day last week. I felt like we'd been transported back to the Dominican Republic. Yesterday we went for a four mile walk with Alden's Sensei and went to a bookstore afterwards just to cool down before coming home.

Today I decided we needed to work at a cooler 85, since we are doing school and it is hard to concentrate when sweat is dripping on the paperwork. So, we turned on the AC and then discovered it is leaking under the carpet. So, we turned it back off.


But, the kids still had a productive day. Alden made a store, with products alphabetized on every shelf. He would not let me pay with a credit card, so we ended up doing quite a bit of math. He did let Sarah pay with a check, though, as long as she showed id.

Sarah finished up her mini report on clipper ships - including a nice painting of an early clipper.

And Zion, well, Zion stayed busy as only Zion can. She drew faces on paper plates and took over a few shelves at Alden's Grocery Store.

Airline Luggage and Sony Camcorders

Can I just say that this airline luggage mystery fee for the second bag thing is annoying? I say mystery because the airline employees seem mystified by the new proceedures. Are the fees per bag per leg or per direction or per total trip? Apparently, the true answer is a tightly held secret that will probably be revealed when the carriers realize how much they can get away with before mutiny occurs.

According to my friend Allison B, the airlines are punishing women who exercise and must carry multiple bags so they have enough clothes and shoes to dress for business and exercise.

My take is that they are punishing the people who take donations to poor countries and the tourists who come here to shop.

In other travel related news, I'm annoyed that Sony's new EX HD camera has this monster battery charger with it. It is the biggest honking battery charger and power supply I've ever seen on a small camera. What on earth were they thinking? Not only that, it has an attached cord on it, which makes it yet harder to pack. Small is beautiful, guys! Check it out in this photo next to the what-I-used-to-think was oversized Panasonic charger. Those nifty "lights" telling you how much charge? It's a sticker. Just like Lighting McQueen's headlights, folks.

And why is the back of this camera so much bigger than the Sony PD150 - the most ergonomically perfect prosumer camera made - when it doesn't even use a tape? So much for those tiny memory cards that had my heart pounding in anticipation of a small, yet stunning, camera.

My perfect camera does not exist as long as I have to depend on an airline to deliver my luggage. And now, even if I did ship gear, I'd need to pay some astronomical fee to do it. I wonder if you get reimbursed the extra bag fee if your checked gear doesn't show up in time for your shoot? To be safe, it all has to fit in the backpack, which means SMALL IS BETTER.

Isn't the point of having a small, high quality camera so you can TRAVEL WITH IT?

My guess is that Sony engineers and airline fund-raising geniuses are men.

It is a nice camera, though. Adjustable iris rings rock.