Out of Africa (AKA where are you Denys?!)

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon I visited the home of Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa. Despite the sometimes uncomfortable colonial perspective, I loved the book and the movie. Real-life Karen made quite an impact on the surrounding community (now called "Karen"), though some remember her as an unlikable figure who used to boss Denys around. She did have a light on her porch that indicated whether Denys was allowed to visit. Bossy? Or appealingly practical? I'm undecided. She was certainly a firecracker.

The tour started with the guide reciting her painfully long monologue as fast as humanly possible. Honestly, I heard every third word. When I took a few pictures while she was still talking, I was instructed to sit down and wait until the monologue was over. Oops!

Waiting for Denys to fly in over the Ngong Hills. Sadly, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford were no where to be found. Next time. 

A sabbatical, if you will

Looks like I took an unplanned break from the blog. Let’s call it a sabbatical and then I won’t feel so bad. Actually, it has been a bit challenging to find bloggy inspiration in our new life in DC, which is quite a bit different from our life in Freetown. In Sierra Leone, stories were everywhere. Our days were less packed and I had more time to think and process. There are stories here too, certainly, but it is different.

Washington, DC is a beautiful city (or...district?) and it is beginning to feel like home. Shopping for fruit at Eastern Market, jogging on the mall past Lincoln and Roosevelt and MLK, growing tomatoes and peppers in my very first garden, getting to know all of the dogs in Capitol Hill (thank you, Sundance). This is a sweet place and we feel very blessed.

However, this summer has been a bit “extreme” in the weather arena. Heat waves, an earthquake, and then the hurricane this past weekend. I have to say, Irene was a bit disappointing after all the build-up. Sundance is definitely enjoying the aftermath of branches scattered about the streets- one of his favorite things is to try to carry branches larger than his entire body. One of my NOT favorite things is getting stabbed in the legs by Sundance's branches.

As a native Californian, one might imagine I wasn't too impressed with the earthquake…and one would be wrong. David and I were eating lunch outside when it happened. First, I thought it was just the large truck that passed by at that moment. After things kept shaking, I said to our friend, “Aaron, stop shaking the table!” Once I realized it was an earthquake, was there a rush of memories from years of earthquake drills in school? Crawl under the desk, cover your head, etc? Nope, not at all. Instead, “Earthquake??? WHOA! THIS IS AMAZING!”

It is September now, and a wave of fresh, crisp air is finally pushing out the humidity. We missed last fall while in Freetown, so for the past year my soul has felt like fall should be just around the corner. The other night, after David and I had said good night and started to fall asleep, I whispered in his ear excitedly, “Fall is coming soon.” Needless to say, he was a bit creeped out.

We are going camping this weekend in Shenandoah Valley- our first family camping adventure! More on that to come.

A few pics from our vacation in California:

(My sister Leslie and nephew Conor)

(View from the amazing house we rented in Sea Ranch)

(Jen, me, Dad, bro)

(Conor mesmerized by David's mustache)

(Relaxing in Sea Ranch)

(Breakfast with Meg and the Blainster)

While we were gone, Dancer had some super fun play-dates with Annie, his crush who lives upstairs. Doesn't he look sooo sad? Like he missed us soooo much?

The not so great part of Maui 2007

(Waiting for the fire to clear. I think Leenie's gesture means "this stinks.")

(The fire that blocked the road to the airport.)

(The view from our emergency hotel. Not bad.)

I neglected to tell you about an important part of our Maui trip. It was nearly perfect, except for a bit of an issue we encountered on our last day. Or what was supposed to be our last day.

There was a fire on the island. And because the fire blocked the only road to the airport, we could not get to the airport. And because we could not get to the airport, we were diverted to a Red Cross shelter. They fed us pizza and bottled water and arranged us a hotel for the night. (I love the Red Cross.) We spent a few long hours in a gym chatting with a rasta-hippy named Jose Z who told us stories of whales and pretended to give us gifts then stuck them back into his own bag.

We all made it home the next day, but not without some drama and on 3 separate flights. Janne and Vanessa even had to bribe the airline employees with Costco churros. My roommates deserve a prize for being so patient with me while I stressed about getting back home. My wedding was in 2 weeks, and I was perhaps a little more upset than I should have been. No one really feels bad for you when you say, "Help! I'm stuck on Maui!" And they shouldn't.

From 75 to 15 degrees

After a few weeks of family, friends, food, Christmas, sunshine and chaos, we are back in Baltimore. It was great to hug those we love and visit our old favorite spots (more posts to come), and it was refreshing to forget about school for a while. Seriously, I finished finals and then immediately forgot about school. I was impressed with myself.

We are glad to be back, and we are glad that we are glad to be back. It is a good feeling to want to return to your home despite that home being new and very, very different.

And very, very cold.

Cape Cod, MA

Boston, MA

Boston is an amazing place. The cemeteries, the fall foliage, the history, the mystery- we loved it. Except David thought I was weird for liking the cemeteries so much. I even got mad at a guard who wouldn't let me see Paul Revere's grave. Not my high point, I'll admit. Cemeteries have so many stories, so much drama. Families, children, marriage, sadness. All that human stuff, all in one place.