A Time for Every Purpose

  For everything there is a season,
      a time for every activity under heaven.
  A time to be born and a time to die.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2

I went to early morning services this morning at church. I usually go to the late morning service but today the power was being turned off for the morning at my building while they do some kind of maintenance work. It seemed best to be out.

When I got home I was stunned by a phone call from my mother. She reported that Marlene, the wife of the husband and wife team (Tom & Marlene) that looks after my autistic niece and another autistic woman, in addition to their own daughter, has died. 

Marlene died very suddenly yesterday of a massive heart attack. She was only 49 years old. 

While most of us know that death can come to any of us at any time, we are nevertheless shocked when it happens so suddenly to someone in seeming good health.  

After talking with my mom, I called Marlene's husband, Tom and offered my condolences. He is in shock and doing his best to remain positive and focused for the whirlwind that will arrive this week as family and loved ones arrive.  Even in grief he recognizes that my niece also needs comfort as it is like she has lost two moms and I guess she has been saying "Marlene died, like mom".  He told me that he shared with my niece that his wife is now in heaven greeting my sister, my niece's own mom and that the two of them are laughing and sharing stories about my awesome niece.  I guess my nephew has also been there to comfort his sister.

 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn...

Ecclesiastes 3:4

I just heard the news and I am still processing it. I am in a bit of shock and my system is jolted with the sudden and unexpected news.  My heart is grieved for a woman I knew to be a powerhouse in her sphere of influence and she will be greatly missed.

All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again...

Ecclesiastes 3:20

I will say some prayers for the family today and gives thanks anew for my daily blessings and the gift of life, a fragile and sometimes fleeting gift.

Love to you and yours.

Journey to Marigat

I want to say a big "welcome and thank you" to my newest blog followers: Chicken Underwear, Barbara Rosenweig, Jack and Donetta.

When I last left off on my Kenyan safari, I was just wrapping up the tour in the Nakuru National Park. Now I want to take you north, to Marigat, Kenya.  My memory is getting a little fuzzy but I believe it took about 5 hours to drive from Nakuru to Marigat with one stop at the equator.

You can see the Kenyan sky is quite cloudy in some areas. It looks like it might rain.  Yet in other areas it was quite blue. It was a very hot day that day and it was nice to sit in a large and comfortable van by an open window to catch the breeze created by the speed of driving.

This photo is taken on the site of the new visitors centre at the equatorial line in Kenya.

Here I pose for a photo.

I tried to get as many flags in one photo as possible.  My flag is in the foreground, I couldn't capture it if I wanted the big globe and the Kenyan flag in the photo too.

Marigat is a small town in the Rift Valley and it is known for its extremely hot and dry weather. There are no major hotels at this small town but there are places to lodge and to eat.  There are also banks and shops in the town.  Marigat, is the last main stopover for tourists before you drive on to a couple of well-established spa resorts located about 20 km away at Lake Borgoria to the southeast and Lake Boringo to the north.   I will feature the resorts in future blog posts.

Marigat also seems to be the hub of market activity for the surrounding villages.  There are many people living in small villages for miles and miles around.  Most of them are pastoralists and they go to  Marigat to buy things or to conduct their business.  I'm sure many villagers never even make it to Marigat and make do with what they have wherever they live. In my next post about my Kenyan safari I will take you to such a place.

The next few photos give you an idea what the terrain is like on the drive from Nakuru into Marigat. 

Seeing goats on, or along the highway, is a fairly typical sight.

The next two photos are taken on the highway just outside the town of Marigat.  It was market day and there were scores of people walking on the highway going to and from the market.

Although Marigat is a very dry place there is an Perkerra Irrigation Project in place.  I've read that this is responsible for the rapid growth of this still small but bustling town.  While we were driving on to a particular village we drove past a lot of the irrigated lands.

Here is downtown Marigat. It is full of matutus (small van buses) and people trying to get to their homes in far flung villages and towns. Everywhere too there are jeeps and 4x4s with people trying to fasten down their purchases and get a ride as close to their homes as possible as regular vehicles cannot make the journey.  Many of the people making the purchases have small stalls/stores in their little villages to service the other residents.

I'm always fascinated by the street scenes in Kenya.  This young girl was trying to sell me a bag of produce.

 

Women line the main highway to sell produce.  This kind of market place activity is quite common everywhere you go in Kenya. Usually the women purchase produce in bulk and then sell it at a small mark up to try and make a living each day  They work long hours and sit in the hot sun all the day long.  It is so hot and dusty in this place that I couldn't imagine me doing this. I needed cold water every so often.

We had lunch at this establishment that has a balcony overlooking the main highway and the activity down below.

Some people don't come to eat or drink. They just come to relax and watch people down below.

Our stopover at Marigat is not long. We only have lunch, use the facilities and buy water for the long journey ahead.  We are on our way to an outlying village and it will take hours over bumpy and dusty roads to get there. I have been there once before and am anxious to see it again.

In case you've missed other posts in this series, please do check them out. You can find some links at the bottom of this post.  Also check out my stories about little Kigen, the young boy who needs medical help. Please keep him in your prayers.

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Little Kigen's Medical Mercy Mission, Update March 30, 2011

I've been waiting for more information to be able to give you an update on little Kigen's medical mercy mission in Eldoret, Kenya.

The surgery we had been told would go ahead two weeks ago or so, did not go ahead after all.  Due to Kigen's fragile skin condition he has been under the watchful observation of a skin specialist and plastic surgeon.  This doctor must give the go ahead before any surgery is done.  In Kenya it is difficult when you are the patient or the family/friends of the patient, to be given details of your treatment. You must simply be patient and wait.

My friend Jonah has been helping Kigen's family get medical attention at the Moi hospital.  He says that what the doctors have been doing so far is cleaning the boys, and that little Kigen and his brother are very clean.  I don't really know if he means that the boys have been cleaned physically or internally with medicines, like antibiotics. I suspect it is a little of both.  I know that various topical treatments have also been administered to Kigen throughout his already 3 week stay at the hospital.

But we do not yet know what the ultimate treatment options for Kigen will be.

Fortunately Jonah was able to talk to the person in charge of the ward and was told that they are waiting for the report of the consulting doctor.  A 'lady' of Indian origin, the Ward Manager has refused to give up on Kigen and that has warmed the family's heart and Jonah's heart so much.  This woman was also the one who admitted them at the hospital and given the "hint" of surgery but she is still waiting for the report.  My friend Jonah is happy to report that the hospital is taking the utmost care not to do something that will worsen little Kigen's situation.

Jonah says he believes that Kigen will ultimately be able to get the help he needs.  Some of the boy's wounds have healed and he is moving around and eating.  This means he is gaining strength.

Prayers are requested for Kigen, his mom and his brother TikiTiki and for Jonah whose heart is heavily burdened by their needs. It is also his pocket that is sorely stretched. The burden of these things is heavy when you live in Kenya and don't know how you are going to cover the costs.  We are believing in God to speak to people's hearts about this need.

You can donate to assist in little Kigen's medical mission through

 Pay Pal here. Just click the donate button.

Updates on Kigen will be posted here as they come available. Please bare with us as we wait for word from the medical doctors. 

Photo credits: All photos the property of Jonah at Missions of Hope.

If you wish to share this story, photos may be used with credit. Many thanks and blessings.

Blossoms Make My World Tuesday

I want to welcome and thank my latest follower, Danielle Arruda. Unfortunately I don't see your blog so I'm sorry I cannot follow you back. I hope you enjoy your visits here and that you leave a comment or two!

I love this time of year when the Spring blossoms come out, especially apple, cherry and plum blossoms. Last year it rained a lot during the tree blossom season and there was never really a clear day to enjoy them. I'm hoping this year will be different though so far we've had a lot of overcast and rainy days. Blossoms are fleeting so I took a few shots to commemorate the year. I hope to get more soon.  If I'm fortunate I can get some on a sunny day too. 

Thank you for joining me for My World Tueday.

Please join others from around the world here so you can see what they are up to this Tuesday.

An Old Fashioned Day

The weekend is over. I did a lot of sleeping and napping. For some reason I felt quite tired. It was probably a combination of things: raining weather again, a full few days of cleaning the previous week, chronic illnesses. Some old pains in my stomach resurfaced after a long period of dormancy and when that happens I can only sleep it off. Nonetheless I am so grateful that I made a good start at Spring cleaning and today I am more mobile again.

Today I made some hamburger soup with macaroni and vegetables in a tomato base.
 

This is my go to "comfort soup".

The soup tastes extra good in my blue bowl on Blue Monday ;-)

I also made some easy oatmeal bread to go with it and I thought I would share the recipe. I have shared a recipe for oatmeal bread before but that one was for making in a bread machine. If you like, you can read it here. Today the bread I made required me to knead and let it rise, in the old fashioned way.

I've finished kneading the dough. I'm now going to cover it and let it rise for about 30 minutes.

Ingredients

------------

2 cups water

1 cup quick cooking oats

3 tbsp. butter or oil

1 pkg yeast (2 1/4 tsp. bulk yeast)

1/3 cup warm water

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp. white sugar

1tsp salt

5 1/4 cup flour (I used roughly half and half white flour and whole wheat flour)

Heat 2 cups of water to almost boiling. Add oats, butter, brown sugar and salt. Let cool.
Meanwhile, add 1/3 cup warm water to a small dish with yeast, along with 1 tbsp. of white sugar to proof. Once the yeast has proofed (foamed), add it to the oat mixture.

Next, combine the oat mixture with 4 cups flour and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Add more flour until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled.  This takes about 30 minutes but will vary depending on your elevation and the warmth of your home.

Punch down. Let it rest about 10 minutes.  Shape into rolls or loaves and place on a greased pan. Let rise again. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

I think it turned out well. I cooked it a little bit longer than I planned.

After all this cooking and baking it was time to wash all the dishes I dirtied plus last night's dishes and the dishes from breakfast and lunch today.

I normally wash my dishes in a dishwasher but today I felt like doing them by hand.  They had a fair bit of crustiness on them from last night's dinner. Since I always run my dishwasher on a short wash cycle to save water, I just decided washing by hand would be a faster way to get everything clean today.

After all this talk of food and cleaning, I wanted to give you something pretty and natural to look at. Here is a photo of the evidence of Spring.

If you click on this photo to enlarge it you will see the pretty red coloured blooms coming out on the trees.

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It's Been a Fruitful Few Days of Spring Cleaning

We've had a few days of sunshine in my city which has given me an impetus to do some spring cleaning.  It was also a few days of relaxing, cooking a bit and reading.

I read several chapters of my new to me book, "The Orchid Thief".  I wouldn't say that this is the best book I've ever read, but I must say I am enjoying it a lot.  I didn't realize there were so many varieties of orchids.  I also didn't know that there have been orchid collectors and hunters for hundreds and hundreds of years.  What is sad is that early hunters plundered the orchids in many countries around the world to satisfy the orchid fever of a few collectors in far away places.  Many of the orchids did not survive the shipping conditions enroute to their new homes in faraway lands.

I  purchased this book at the YWCA Thrift Store for $1.00.

I managed to make a good start on cleaning different parts of the apartment. The dining area in particular was cleaned and dusted and the dining table and chairs well cleaned.  I need to mix up some home made furniture polish and shine it up before taking photos so I can sell the dining set and make room for the smaller set I purchased in January.

In the kitchen I rearranged a few things, placing little used items on the top of the kitchen cupboards to make more room for the things I need to keep on the kitchen counter tops.  I would rather not have items stored at the top of the kitchen cabinets.  On the other hand, at least the items are close at hand when I do need them. I keep a two step ladder near by so I can reach the items.

Another big job was cleaning out the small laundry area.  It is very crowded in there as it is the only real storage area. It was rather dusty so I took everything out and washed the floor. I moved things out temporarily because the washer repairman was coming over to inspect the washer.  It has been making loud banging noises for some time. The repairman declared the washer in fine shape after taking it apart to have a look.  Too bad it cost me $90. to learn that. It hasn't eliminated the need to constantly rebalance the washer. I guess we'll just have to be more careful how the clothes go into the washer in the first place. I think the washer is starting to show it's age.

I've labelled the different things in this small laundry closet. If you want to read the labels please click on the photo to enlarge it.

I also made a start on the overhaul of the master bathroom. I really do have far too much stuff in there. The excess of things is a hold over from my spending days. I have enough facial and body wash products to do me for a few years. Probably longer than the shelf life of the products!  I confess I've spent so much money trying so many products largely due to having very dry and itchy skin and dry hair too. What I've learned is that this has largely been a waste of time and money. Spending in this area is probably the one where it has been harder to learn to exercise spending restraint and I am still learning to discipline myself.  I've been experimenting lately with natural products and I've noticed an improvement in skin conditions.  I think I need to learn to make my own products once I've used up what I have because the expense of naturally made products is quite high.  Cleaning the bathroom will be a lot easier once I have fewer products in there.

Click to enlarge and read the descriptions. I keep everything in bins and on trays to make it easier to move and clean.  When you have so much it needs to be easily moved.

I washed the mattress pad on my bed to get rid of dust mites.  I should probably vacuum the mattress also but I'll save that for another day when I have a bit more time.  I moved a few things around again because I really don't like having my suitcases in the corner of the bedroom.  I've moved the plastic tubs from the closet to the corner of the room once again, and moved the suitcases back into the closet where I can close the door on them.

Two of the three plastic tubs consist of sewing fabric and patterns. There really isn't a lot of fabric the tub.  It's mainly fabric for one casual jacket. If if I don't get around to making the jacket this Fall, I will gift the fabric to someone. I will go through the patterns in the second tub and most of it will likely go to charity.  The entire contents of the third tub will be taken to charity because it is full of wrapping paper, gift bags and ribbons.  I don't give many gifts anymore so I don't need this stash.

As I went along in the various rooms, I put things in the giveaway bag that I no longer want or need. More things will be put in the give away bag as I go through my things a third and fourth time and cull what I no longer need or use.  There are a few things I am holding on to for my nephew. I feel he is a little young to decide whether he wants them or not so I will hang on to them a little while longer.

We've had a few days of sunshine this week. Unfortunately it will turn to rain again very soon, but in the meantime, I've managed to clean some of the debris from my small garden as I turn my mind to what I hope to plant this year.

These are just some of the possibilities for the garden.

I took out my seed packs and looked for my seed starter cartons and trays.  I usually get my garden in late due to having to travel so often. This year I should manage to be on time with the planting as my travel schedule has been much reduced.  I hope to have some vegetables and herbs to use in my cooking this summer.

Skywatch Sunset

"Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world."

-- GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

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