Today I received a package in the mail from Modern Mom (love!♥)
What is it about getting a package in the mail that makes you feel like a kid on Christmas?! J I say soak up those moments of happiness because they are awesome! You should have seen how excited my kids were about the mail carrier delivering a package. It could be dog food and they wouldn’t care. Big Brother talked the mail carrier’s ear off about his favorite hot wheels car.
I can’t wait to open it up and share with you guys!
By the way, MM is having a Mother’s Day Contest going on in case any of you are interested in checking it out.
Today I’m thrilled to share with you a Senegal update-second edition from my wonderful MIL Patricia! Seriously I think we are connected because her timing is PERFECT as usual. Today both of my little ones are sick and have fevers so they need a lot of Mommy time if you know what I mean, leaving me less opportunity to write. Plus, virtually visiting Africa without the long flight is a lot of fun!
Sit back, get a cup of tea, coffee, or even a glass of wine and enjoy!
♥Wendy Irene
Senegal Part II by Patricia
Just before we got to the house in Senegal we got a message from the owners admonishing us not to go into the backyard until “the housekeeper introduces you to the dogs”. Oh Great. The German shepherd, Sisco, and the Rotwhieller Tara (why do they always name scary dogs cutesy names?) come with the house. Hmmm They spend their days sleeping around the yard punctuated by occasional rushes to the electric fence surrounding the yard to bark furiously at anyone passing by through the now dry estuary. At happy hour when we are outside with our wine, they pester us relentlessly to throw a slobber covered tennis ball. We huck it a few times and watch them scream toward the fence and skid to a stop just before they reach the wire. Obviously they have had a bad experience with it. Aaron has been zapped a couple of times already and swears the shock has fixed his hip problem. Although he now seems to have developed a slight tic….
A few days ago we took a little excursion down to the twin cities of Joal and Fadiout. Joal is on the mainland and a long wooden bridge connects it to Fadiout which is a century old island composed entirely of oyster and clam shells. Way back when Muslims would fish around the island and shuck the shells and dry the meat before hauling it back home. Over time there has been a huge build up of shells and the latest drilling indicated a thickness of over 24 feet. Shells are imbedded in the walls of the houses and on the streets even in the churches. Speaking of churches, the citizens are very proud of their religious tolerance with Christians and Muslims living in harmony and there is even a shared cemetery. The rest of the world could take a page out of that book!
On the drive home we decided to take what passes for the coast road. It is little more than a bunch of sand and scrub with some tire tracks running through it. After awhile we definitely ended up in the back of beyond and figured it was time to find the main hwy. That’s when it happened. I had (as my cousin would say) a REPTILE SIGHTING. This long skinny snake was slithering down the track and we drove right over it! Inadvertently I knee jerked my feet up and muttered an oath. Aaron looked at me innocently and said “what?” Naturally I told him we had just driven over a snake and even though he didn’t see it he told me it must have been a lizard. “I snapped back at him that I knew the difference between a snake and a lizard. Then I immediately started to imagine the snake had gone up into the manifold or wherever they go and would soon make its way into the front seat of the car. Of course I never voiced this to Aaron and wonder of wonders we made it back safe, sound and snakeless.
The days are kind of lazy with beach walks in the morning where we pick our way through the piles of garbage and beat off the ever present vendors. I don’t know if it is a good thing or not that we don’t speak French. It almost helps in that you can just say you don’t understand. We have used this effectively a couple of times when we were stopped by the police! I think you are supposed to give them money but they give up on us when we keep saying tourist tourist. In the afternoon we usually do some kind of excursion. The weather is fantastic and life is good.
Cheers from Senegal
Pat and Aaron
What is it about getting a package in the mail that makes you feel like a kid on Christmas?! J I say soak up those moments of happiness because they are awesome! You should have seen how excited my kids were about the mail carrier delivering a package. It could be dog food and they wouldn’t care. Big Brother talked the mail carrier’s ear off about his favorite hot wheels car.
I can’t wait to open it up and share with you guys!
By the way, MM is having a Mother’s Day Contest going on in case any of you are interested in checking it out.
Today I’m thrilled to share with you a Senegal update-second edition from my wonderful MIL Patricia! Seriously I think we are connected because her timing is PERFECT as usual. Today both of my little ones are sick and have fevers so they need a lot of Mommy time if you know what I mean, leaving me less opportunity to write. Plus, virtually visiting Africa without the long flight is a lot of fun!
Sit back, get a cup of tea, coffee, or even a glass of wine and enjoy!
♥Wendy Irene
Senegal Part II by Patricia
Just before we got to the house in Senegal we got a message from the owners admonishing us not to go into the backyard until “the housekeeper introduces you to the dogs”. Oh Great. The German shepherd, Sisco, and the Rotwhieller Tara (why do they always name scary dogs cutesy names?) come with the house. Hmmm They spend their days sleeping around the yard punctuated by occasional rushes to the electric fence surrounding the yard to bark furiously at anyone passing by through the now dry estuary. At happy hour when we are outside with our wine, they pester us relentlessly to throw a slobber covered tennis ball. We huck it a few times and watch them scream toward the fence and skid to a stop just before they reach the wire. Obviously they have had a bad experience with it. Aaron has been zapped a couple of times already and swears the shock has fixed his hip problem. Although he now seems to have developed a slight tic….
A few days ago we took a little excursion down to the twin cities of Joal and Fadiout. Joal is on the mainland and a long wooden bridge connects it to Fadiout which is a century old island composed entirely of oyster and clam shells. Way back when Muslims would fish around the island and shuck the shells and dry the meat before hauling it back home. Over time there has been a huge build up of shells and the latest drilling indicated a thickness of over 24 feet. Shells are imbedded in the walls of the houses and on the streets even in the churches. Speaking of churches, the citizens are very proud of their religious tolerance with Christians and Muslims living in harmony and there is even a shared cemetery. The rest of the world could take a page out of that book!
On the drive home we decided to take what passes for the coast road. It is little more than a bunch of sand and scrub with some tire tracks running through it. After awhile we definitely ended up in the back of beyond and figured it was time to find the main hwy. That’s when it happened. I had (as my cousin would say) a REPTILE SIGHTING. This long skinny snake was slithering down the track and we drove right over it! Inadvertently I knee jerked my feet up and muttered an oath. Aaron looked at me innocently and said “what?” Naturally I told him we had just driven over a snake and even though he didn’t see it he told me it must have been a lizard. “I snapped back at him that I knew the difference between a snake and a lizard. Then I immediately started to imagine the snake had gone up into the manifold or wherever they go and would soon make its way into the front seat of the car. Of course I never voiced this to Aaron and wonder of wonders we made it back safe, sound and snakeless.
The days are kind of lazy with beach walks in the morning where we pick our way through the piles of garbage and beat off the ever present vendors. I don’t know if it is a good thing or not that we don’t speak French. It almost helps in that you can just say you don’t understand. We have used this effectively a couple of times when we were stopped by the police! I think you are supposed to give them money but they give up on us when we keep saying tourist tourist. In the afternoon we usually do some kind of excursion. The weather is fantastic and life is good.
Cheers from Senegal
Pat and Aaron
Muslim / Christian cemetery
Aaron in a bao bab tree
Lunch at a tourist joint
Garbage Garbage Garbage
The dogs
