Snake Handling and Croc Wrassling

The Meserani Snake Park in Arusha (the big city about an hour's drive from Moshi) is a dream destination for a 3-year old. We went awhile back and Townes talked about it for weeks. He had big plans for holding a baby crocodile himself but that little guy thrashed about furiously when the guard was picking him up so Townes lost his nerve.

He was feeling a bit braver when the next opportunity to hold a reptile presented itself. This should be good practice for any upcoming church revivals in town.

Gus wanted in on the fun too!

The Circle of Life

We just couldn't resist the Lion King shot from our balcony overlooking the Kenyan savannah last weekend.

The Newest Buckley

Townes is in love.

Barney came to live with us last weekend when his family moved back to Germany. He is a cross between a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Boxer- he's huge! I have dreamed of having a big, old dog for years. I just liked the idea of skipping the hyper puppy stage and going straight to the lay around stage when a dog just wants you to scratch his head and refill his bowl.


Yesterday I overheard Townes say, "Barney, I love you so much. Now open your mouth so I can see all of your teeth." Yeah, it's probably a good thing that our starter pet is so agreeable. Now if only we could find a saddle so Gus could learn to ride.

Pages

So can we just pretend that there has not another big break in our blogging? Internet/electricity issues aside, I do have good intentions about staying connected to folks with ol' Viva Pierre- patience please! The following entry was written offline awhile back and I suppose it is also a reflection of how electrical issues direct our free time!

This picture is not as staged as it looks! I was reading it while Gus was falling asleep and then couldn't resist taking the photo. The book has been one of many that I've enjoyed over the past year with a setting in Africa. For a lady with a silly nickname and an even more outrageous perm, she is a stirring writer who has had some remarkable adventures. At several points when reading about her encounters with wildlife or interactions with elusive tribal people, I have thought, 'Wow, I want to go to Africa one day.'



Here's a list of others I've read this year-

Fiction listed in increasing order of gravity:
Baking Cakes in Kigali
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa
Pumpkinhead
Poisonwood Bible
Purple Hibiscus gets an honorable mention b/c I actually read it years ago and would highly recommend it

Charming memoirs:
Twenty Chickens for a Saddle
Esther's Story
Let's Not Go to the Dogs Tonight (also read years ago as a choice of my Memphis DAM bookclub, terrific)

Heartbreaking memoirs:
What is the What
Infidel
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier


Non-fiction (Gosh, Coy's right...I probably need to read more non-fiction!):
King Leopold's Ghost
In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz



Any recommendations? My choices are primarily based on what I can snag from other people's bookshelves!

B-day Party

Using Pidgen Swahili with our gardener Gasto, I learned a few weeks ago that his 2 children had back-to-back birthdays coming up. (My dad's birthday is the day after mine and I've always felt that makes our b-days even more special.) When I told Gasto that I would like to make a cake for Veronica and Albert, I wasn't expecting much more than giving them a couple of presents and watching the kids play in the yard. However when people started arriving mid-morning and Mama Albert began cooking over the fire, I realized we had a bona fide party kicking off!
Need more proof?

Party hats!

Stroller Rides for all. Our double wide fits way more kids than a pony.

A cow made an unexpected appearance. When farm animals come crashing, you know your party is hopping.

The cake didn't hold up too well while we enjoyed a delicious meal of goat, roasted bananas, fried rice, bananas and Fanta. Note to self: butter cream icing may not be the best choice in Africa.

I was worried that I hadn't made enough until it came time to eat. Then Mama Flora cut the slices into bite-size pieces and the birthday duo fed each guest a bite. This was followed by each guest being given their own spoonful of ice cream! Do you know, it was surprisingly satisfying.


Gus didn't get any cake but he made a new friend!

Mama Josephine's

We have so much to be thankful for about the community we have returned to here in Moshi. Within walking distance
from our home, I can stroll with the boys to a small grocery store (It has 4 aisles and I swear almost 2 of them are
taken up by really bad cereal knock-offs.), the international school and its wonderful playground, and Townes's
preschool. Mama Josephine is from Kenya and she opened this preschool in the fall. It is a delightful place for 2 1/2 to 4
year olds with an emphasis on play. Townes has been going 2 mornings a week and returning one afternoon for football club
and another for his Swahili lesson.

I've been impressed with the things that Townes has come home talking about and it is obvious that he enjoys his school and
classmates. For the next 6-8 weeks, Gus and I will have the chance to see a lot more of what goes on there. Mama Josephine is
traveling out of TZ to attend to some unexpected family situations and she has asked me to come in a few times a week to teach
so that other mothers will feel more at ease with her absence. Frankly, her helpers are completely capable of teaching but I've
agreed just to help maintain the positive atmosphere that she has built up.

This week's focus- oceans and the letter 'Z' which is being pronounced the British way, 'Zed' As if my dad's eyes hadn't already
rolled when he read football instead of soccer! Gus seems pretty content to go anywhere:

Road Trip!

This weekend we decided to get out of town for the first time since Christmas for two reasons: to show our friend more of Tanzania
and to get some relief from the heat! Rakesh has made it into the Buckley record book as our first visitor and we have greatly enjoyed his company. Hopefully ten days of close proximity to the emotional roller coaster of a 3-year old has not completely turned him against the idea of fatherhood. Or at least it has been balanced out by Gus's continued sweetness.

Marangu was our destination without much in mind other than relaxing, swimming a bit, and enjoying a good meal under the stars. Marangu is known for being the base town for Kilimanjaro climbers and the Marangu Hotel was originally a coffee farm that was started in 1907. By late afternoon on Saturday, it was beginning to cool and we played some bocce ball on the lawn while hoping that the clouds would clear for a view of Kili. The next morning I pushed for a family photo and this was about as good as we could manage!

After breakfast, we hiked to one of the seven waterfalls in Marangu which now has a 'Chagga Musuem' with sculptures and stories from the biggest tribal group of northern Tanzania. Townes impressed us all by hiking on his own for about an hour and a half but no one was surprised when he wanted to spend the same amount of time throwing rocks into the water. Not everything changes when you move halfway around the world!