Ear Pain

Once again I am having ear trouble. The flight over was the culprit. There were decent turbulents as we were heading into Paris. I was able to keep the beast tamed all week, but on Tuesday of this week after I arrived home I started to feel like YUCH. I am still trying to avoid antibiotics, but if I am not tip top by tonight I will finally give in.
So far the herbs seem to be improving the situation.
The flight is 20 hours more or less and there is always a several hour lay over in Paris. You are about 40,000 feet up. I was pretty sure the flight path went right over Imlay City and the house and sure enough, I found I-69 on the way back home this time.

I Am Home!

Mam'e, me and Stephanie

Seetah, me and Rakieta

I am back. It was wonderful! I am not sure you can use the word wonderful combined with visit to Burkina Faso often, but this time I could. The weather was great for a Michigander. 78-85* each day with pleasant breezes and cool evenings. They, on the other hand, were freezing. Winter coats and hats were a plenty and they thought I was absolutely nuts for putting on the ceiling fan.
I took things in very small bites and really didn't try to do or see too much and it was just right. Burkina is STILL very far from a tourist destination so for now the average American is better off learning of the place through pictures, but things are modernizing relatively quickly. They love westerners and are a happy go lucky, peaceful people so eventually it will be a nice place to go. I think and actually hope it will always be a lot like the places Americans go for family vacations or the RVing crowd likes. An atmosphere like Vegas or Disney would not be good for them.
I will post a little each day so as not to overwhelm. The worst part of my journey was the Paris airport (not a surprise). Flying becomes more stressful and difficult with each journey. I have decided that as big of a pain and as expensive as mailing is, it is the lesser of the 2 evils for shipping things.

Preparing for Africa Trip 2

I am in a BAD Place. The suitcase conundrum. So please enjoy the old posts while I get my life under control. I'll be back soon.

Merry Christmas part 2

Natasha and Abby

Family photo minus Natasha the photographer

The house is bubbling over with the smells of turkey and all the fixins, the tree is overflowing with presents once again and the house is alive with quiet chatter. Today is our "After Christmas Christmas". This time though in addition to all the regular attenders, we have a house guest who is 2 feet tall and is busy concentrating on trying to balance herself unassisted. While she is very entertaining and charming, it is good that she still takes long naps. Her name is Abby and she is Natasha's little girl. Natasha is a long story so I'll give a very short version. Natasha was a young orphan girl we hosted many years ago from Russia. We were unable to adopt her but she was adopted by another family. Now all these years later, she and her daughter have come to spend the weekend with our family and celebrate Christmas with us.
We couldn't be more pleased.
Now it is time to call Rakieta because if she can't be with us, she insists we call.