A Creative Christmas

Kate arrived from Austin, Texas with a suitcase full of goodies for all of us. I received three wonderful creative gifts, two waterlily paintings she had done last Fall and a beautiful inlaid bowl that she found in Austin. I found frames for the paintings today and here is my bounty.

Fun day around Mount Tam with Elsa, Porter, and India

dec27_2008 Click on photo to see the whole album from our day.

A festival of velour, 1979-ish

A festival of velour, 1979-ish
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Memories! Boy did we ever love velour v-necks! I'd kill to have that hair again, not a single grey strand in there.

Merry merry!

camels

camels
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Spotted this funny sign on Austin's Sixth Street this weekend.

Innocent-looking dogs

From nov30-2008

This is Jake (sniffing something magically delicious) and Lulu at Walnut Creek Park, our fave spot in Austin. You would hardly know by this photo how unpatriotic these pooches are. Yes, it's true, they shredded and ate my American flag while I was gone yesterday. Don't tell George Bush.

Thanksgiving!

Just a little reflection on Thanksgiving. So much to be grateful for! Today, I'm going to be picking up a pumpkin pie, painting in my studio, walking in the woods with dogs, thinking of my wonderful friends and family, going to a meeting at 8 pm with someone to get her 60-day chip, and then eating that pie (all of it? hmmm) with that new sober buddy! A perfect little day.

Because I like to anthropomorphize, I gave my dogs some yummy beef on top of their kibble this morning.

If I could be two places at once, I'd love to be in Auburn with Mom, Porter, Elsa, Chhanseda, John, Bentley, Davis and the rest of the crew there. Or in Palm Springs with Jan! Or in San Diego with Gardner and Joel with a visit to Stacey and her sis, or Jacksonville with Iris and Shirley, or the Bay Area with Tom and Laura with a skip over to Helga, Jane, Max and Sofia, or Boston with Fred and Susan and Rachel and Ian, or Oakland with Molly and Noreen or Napa with Molly and her kids and then over to see Scott and Kim then to Sonoma to see Nicole and her clan, or London with Jill and Claire or Petaluma with Nancy, Dave, Joe, Amy, Jazmyne, Kyle. I feel very rich just typing this list, and I'm sure I could go on and on.

Where's my time machine? :)

Grateful to be sober 20 years, to have a job with a boss I truly like and trust and learn from, to have Someone to pray to when the news gets really scary, to have dogs who force me to get outside and exercise, to have the support I needed to finally go vegan this year (after wanting to for a long time), for a supportive and inspiring art community here in Austin, a big cache of art supplies and books to get me through just about any recession, for the ability to keep seeing new connections, for high speed Internet, Taco Deli and the Furminator.

East Austin Studio Tour

Went around to some of the open studios today on the east side. Big turnout - tons of people at every location I visited. Happily, ran into Laurel Daniel from Plein Air Austin at the Pump Project, which was hosting about 15 or 20 artists. She is truly a lovely person, very warm and friendly. Always makes the effort to connect people, encourage people.

My favorite artists at this location were Matt Wester, who had beautifully crafted and thoughtful paintings based on photos he took as a journalist in the Middle East, and Mark Johnson, whose space was too crowded for me to stay as long as I really wanted to, but whose works fascinated me. There were several pieces that seemed to be about letters, words, codes. It's just totally coincidental (swear) that both of these artists were tall and handsome and articulate. Heh heh.

Also enjoyed the paintings of Doug Weber.

Was also quite intrigued by the paintings of Rebecca Bennett, who Laurel introduced me to. Her works look like landscapes but she said that was not her source. Her colors were very saturated and shiny. So I intend go read up on her on her web site.

Then moved on to Blue Genie, where I spotted this:

From nov22_2008

It is, of course, a white-spandex clad superhero dude riding a giant Jackelope.

Autumn in Texas

nov22_2008

Finally the cold weather has come to Austin and I'm loving it. I feel right with the world wearing a fleece and tromping about the woods with dogs. There was the smell of wood fires in the air this morning outside, and coffee and cinnamon oatmeal inside. Tonight I'm going to roast some veggies and that should also be a feast for the senses.

My dogs were a mirror for me this morning. I have one dog who I know won't harm other dogs, so she goes off-leash. The other is a big (giant) dog who occasionally (randomly) picks fights, so he stays on a leash. I feel so angsty about leashing him and yet observe that he seems totally happy. So it's about me. It's about how I fight the parts of my own life, my own nature, that need restriction. I have this childish willfulness to have no restraints. Still. At age (cough.) So I got to meditate on that while we walked.

I'm staying in Texas for the Thanksgiving holiday, which is a little sad but also a nice break from obligation (see above) and a great chance to unpack the garage some more and to make art and just read and chill. And walk in the woods, wearing a fleece, with dogs.

proud

God, I love democracy.

“At this defining moment, change has come to America.”

- President-Elect Barack Obama, November 4, 2008

I’m not a weepy person, but as Senator Obama took the stage with his family to make his acceptance speech, I completely lost it with big weepy snotty tears. I went in to look at my sleeping child, who will one day hear about this night and what it means to this great country, and said a little prayer of thanks.

bad aunt kate

OK, so Aunt Kate has been kind of a crappy communicator lately, so I thought I'd just give y'all a few newsy bits here and try to use that telephone thing over the weekend to chat with people in person too.

About 2 weeks ago - read a magazine article about autism and healing that brain injury with a gluten- and casein-free diet. Somehow this hit a nerve for me and I was motivated to get off wheat and dairy again, which, since I was already being vegetarian, just made me a wheat-free vegan, basically.

Ordered a couple of vegan cookbooks, because, hey, what's a new thing without books to go with it?! Have now read all of "Vegan Freak," "Vegan with a Vengeance", "Skinny Bitch", "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch" and "How it All Vegan." Very motivating!

Very soon started feeling much more clear, able to focus, out of 'the fog.' It's just amazing... and good.

Found a local Austin vegan group and will probably go to one of their potlucks soon.

Things are going well at work (got some higher-visibility projects), and I've found 2 program buddies at work too: one with just 30 days (who I actually brought to their first meeting, what an honor) and one with 26 years. So I'm bookended! Went with the new person to a meeting last night to celebrate and collect a chip for her.

Signed up to work at our client-facing conference so I can meet some of these customers myself, especially the ones for favorite organizations like Humane Society, PETA, and ASPCA.

Read a great book, "The White Tiger", which just won the Booker Mann prize. I highly recommend it for a fun but thought-provoking read.

It's finally cooler here, thank HEAVEN, although it's now dark when I have to get out of bed. Grumble.

Got a flu shot, which our work was nice enough to arrange for us to get from nurses who came right to the office.

Voted yesterday for THAT ONE at my local Randall's market, which is just the Texas version of Safeway. Saw several "red state" people in line, so worried that my vote was being canceled out repeatedly.

Tomorrow morning I'm going out painting with the Plein Air Austin group. One of the members actually owns a ranch where they raise Longhorn cattle and we get to go there! Can't wait to paint a real live Longhorn!!

Sunday, I'm hoping to work some more on the Dede portrait and then I just joined a book club that a coworker and her sister started and they meet up at 4 pm. The theme for the food is "Disney" (since the book was The Last Lecture) and I'm still not quite sure what my dish will be - probably a vegan cold salad from Whole Foods with a Tinkerbell decoration on top of it, knowing me and my schedule.

Well, that's it from the lone star state!

A New Birdfeeder

New Feeder for my Deck

The little song birds love my new feeder... it took them a day to figure it out and now I have all sorts of the smaller birds chowing down. I could not get a photo of the feeder with many birds on it all at once. I think my proximity kept them away. I love watching the action.

The Chickadees take one seed at a time and then fly into oak tree to eat it and then show up again for more. This makes for alot of action. I have also seen Titmice and Juncos enjoy the feeder. The pushy doves can not fit on the perches and so they go upstairs to my neighbors' deck that has a pan full of seeds, the blue jays also dine upstairs.

I love sitting in my bedroom chair in the early morning and watching my feathered friend outside my sliding glass doors.

Water lily studies

Went out Saturday morning with a little group from "Plein Air Austin" and painted. So good to get the brushes out and get into the painting rhythm again. I did a couple little studies, each about an hour. Had some frustrations with paint consistency, since I had run out of turpenoid so was using "turp natural" which is NOT a good thinner, makes the paint very slick and strange. But did the best I could with that weirdness. Actually very happy with the results.

Also got a really nice email yesterday from Susan G, for whom I'd done a cat portrait a couple of years ago. She was recommending me to a friend and basically the friend now wants to buy a commissioned portrait of her dog, so yay! The friend, Victoria, had been bidding on this year's MSW auction item and was outbid at the last minute. Not only can I really use the moulah, but it's great for my artist-ego and building that confidence.

Shortly after I got that email, I got one from a member of the Plein Air Austin group saying that she "couldn't stop looking" at my lily paintings - what a stellar compliment that was, and from an artist whose work I admire too.

It's interesting to me how these things popped up right after I made a conscious decision to focus on my art life and think about what I want out of it all, what my goals are, what would make me feel successful. I hope it's another one of those indicators that it's really true about how things grow when you pay attention to them.

Also created a blog that has just artwork on it, without any distractions, bitching, moaning, personal tidbits, so I can point people to that and it looks more professional.

http://picturesfromkate.blogspot.com/

Flowers from Porter

Flowers from Porter
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Here are the beautiful flowers that appeared in my office on Thursday thanks to my thoughtful sis. Enjoyed a mellow birthday on Friday and hunkered down preparing for a storm that never was (at least never was in Austin.)

Got lovely cards and other thoughtful things from Mom, Gardner, Susan, Laura. Feel so popular!!

I went around the office on Friday saying, "Yeah I look pretty good for 80."

A New "Toy" for my Deck

It is a challenge to have plants on my deck as the sun does not reach down to the floor... I found this wonderful plant stand that will lift up the plants to the sun. It has a shelf on which I placed my bird seed and water for birds to drink and "bathe". The metal is the same color as my little wire fence that I love. I put heather into the pots, two lilac and one white....


It was fun to go to the West Side Nursery, a favorite of ours during the years when we actually had gardens to plant and flowers to grow. I do miss getting my hands in the dirt. Having a few pots of flowers and plants helps.

My deck opens from two rooms, I have a big sliding glass door that leads out the the deck from my bedroom. I am very grateful to have this deck and the beautiful views that transport me to the creek and mountains beyond my railings. And I love sitting in my chair in my bedroom in the mornings and watching all the birds come for breakfast and a shower or two.

Could not resist the sock monkeys!

Well, luckily for me, God loves me despite my defects since I have once again been tempted to put a bid in for a "tribe" of sock monkeys on eBay. But how could I resist? Look at them:

visit to the pediatrician

Elsa has an ear infection. Her first.

But, the good news is that she is now on antibiotics and should feel better soon.

In other good news, she continues to be ginormous:

• height: 30.5 inches (90th percentile)
• weight: 23.3 pounds (50-75th percentile)
• giant melon circumference: I forget the exact measurement, but it’s 90th percentile

Amy & Kate at Hot Sauce Festival

Amy & Kate at Hot Sauce Festival
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Ok, so just ignore the red hot tomato face thing I have going on (in reaction to the 100 degree heat), but just savor the WAY COOL FACT that Amy and I actually both live in Austin now. This is the first time I've seen her in over 20 years but I knew her immediately!

We met up at the Austin Hot Sauce Festival, which was pretty fun (and tasty) with, of course, great live music playing. Got to hear about Amy and Tim's big move to San Marcos (just south of Austin), her nursing gig, her grinder commute (bleah) and her very groovy-sounding new house. We're both eager for it to cool off around here!

We lasted about 30 minutes in the heat and then bailed for an air-conditioned restaurant to catch up. What a great thing to reconnect with Amy.

A Journal Page for Elsa's Birthday

Kate did a great job of being the "official" photographer at Elsa's party... I collected a few of the wonderful photos and made a page to remember this very special day.

Elsa at One

On Sunday (the 24th) Elsa turned ONE YEAR OLD.

And has been home with me for 5 months.

So, here are some nuggets about Elsa as she reaches this big milestone:

Big news!! She now WALKS!! God help me.

She is still in great health – well mostly. Right now, she has a cold – which is most likely the result of all the crazy traveling I’ve been forcing upon her… we both were holding up until the last trip really pushed the lack-of-sleep envelope.

She is happy, happy, happy. Remarkably. Like almost frighteningly.

She is huge (still) - official weight TBD at an upcoming doctor's appointment, but unofficial puts her near 24 pounds(!)

Consistent with the previous item, and her entire existence as far as I can tell, she continues to eat like a truck driver.

She eats anything I put in front of her, and is continuing her transition from pureed foods to table foods. She loves feeding herself and when I have the time I just let her eat her whole meal in her adorable uncoordinated manual fashion. Takes forever and is a huge mess. But makes her really happy to eat with her hands.

Except for a recent bout of late-night awakenings (because of her cold), she’s a good sleeper – sleeps through the night about 90% of the time. Thank you God.

She has two volume settings: silent (when sleeping) and really, really, REALLY loud.

Elsa loves the nanny, Marta. And so do I.

Even more than the nanny, Elsa LOVES her Aunt Kate and her Oma. And so do I. :-)

She loves to be outside. Squeals with excitement as soon as my hand touches the front door handle (if I’m holding her, that is!)

She seems to have adjusted nicely to my return to work (I, on the other hand, am still a bit wiped out by it, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it soon).

Every day brings something new, and I aspire to greet all new experiences like Elsa does: with delight.

Elsa's First Birthday party!

Fun fun fun!!

Cove at China Camp

Cove at China Camp
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

This is the painting I'm happiest with from the workshop - the last one I did on Friday. The shadows really get good in the afternoon.

Wish I could have many more days painting with Tim - what a good teacher he is!!

Check him out at www.horndesign.com.

work in progress

work in progress
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Day 2 was a bit more challenging in some ways, although I felt good about the start of this painting. And I finally smartened up about standing in shade!

Second painting Aug 13

Second painting Aug 13
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

If you click through on this photo, you'll go to the Flickr site where there are 40 more photos from today's workshop. Quite fun - a lot of sun for someone like me, burnt the back of my knees. Tim is a super teacher.

In-flight funny

Hopefully this strikes you as funny as it did me. I was sitting in a wonderful roomy emergency exit row on JetBlue flight 1401, still on the tarmac in Austin. As we accelerated down the runway and began liftoff, things got bumpy and for some reason, I got really nervous. (I'm usually pretty relaxed about flying and turbulence.) So my brain grabbed around for some comforting prayer to say (not out loud, thank goodness.) I started saying the 3rd step prayer to myself, but in my panicky state, here is how it came out:

"God, I offer myself to thee
To build with me and make of me what thy will;
Relieve me of the sausage of self.... wait, that's not right....
relieve me of the sausage...
oh crap... amen."

Isn't that a nice prayer?

Photo proofs

The final photos from my (free!) Celebrating Adoption shoot are finally posted!!

Go here to see, and put in the following password: CAbabyelsa (case sensitive).

I look kind of dorky in some of them (OMG, when did my wrinkles get that bad? and WHY did I wear that butt-ugly watch?!?!), but Elsa is stunning in all. Of course.

The photographer will keep the gallery up until the end of August.

10,512,000 minutes!

Ok, so for us math-challenged, that translates to 20 years... which apparently is how long I have been clean and sober. Complete miracle.

The big reminder for me is that I could never have done it alone, so I have a gratitude list a mile long, starting with my family and friends.

What a great life I have today - and it's so far from what I would have been able to imagine in 1988. My current career didn't even exist yet, for example. It would never have occurred to me that I'd like to live in Texas, far from either ocean. And on and on.

I wish I could type up the whole list of things for which I'm grateful, but I am still not the world's most patient person. Just know that if you know me, you helped me.

fun "new" car, at least for the weekend

Well, I got rear-ended last weekend and although there was some damage to the CRV, both of us were insured by Progressive and it was the fault of the other driver. I'd stopped to let a fire engine go through an intersection but the (very nice) person behind me didn't react in time.

I turned the CRV in for repair today and after I explained how 2 giant dogs might not fit in a Neon, they gave me (gratis!) this 2008 Xterra, which I'm going to be sad to part with. The back area is just perfect for the dogs, all hard shell and tough. So, nice job, Progressive.

1973 stuff - a find from unpacking

I'm still unpacking boxes that are in the garage from moving here to Austin. Tonight I ran across an "Interest Inventory" that is dated 1973 (when I was 11.) I love that some teacher made us do this and that my mom kept it for me. Some of the entries are sweet and some are cringe-worthy, but they all intrigue. Warning - probably not at all interesting to a non-family member!

"What I like to make or build" = paint-by-number paintings
"Collection I have made recently" = crayon colection (sic)
"My biggest wish" = For a horse
"When I grow up I want to be" = a lawyer or a horse trainer
"On Saturdays I like to" = ride my bike to the tennis club, order a rootbeer and go upstairs to watch T.V.
"At night I like to" = read until my eyes hurt.

Some things never change, do they? Ha!

I'm sure if I'd known there would be a career as a ScrumMaster, I would have picked that.

hot as *bleep* *BLEEP*

Austin is cranking up to full-on crazy hot, with that direct sun that makes you wish you'd remembered dark glasses and a hat - even for the 200 yard dash out to the car.

Had a very nice thing happen at work today. I was pushing for a certain kind of meeting - to discuss a new way of doing things - and some of my peers kept saying it wasn't needed, that everyone already understood the new way. Well, I stuck to my guns and pushed some more and got reluctant agreement from the peers, scheduled this thing to happen today.

So it turned out that there were a TON of great questions raised by the team during the meeting today and everyone afterward agreed that it had been hugely needed. It just felt great to have followed through on a gut feeling and had a positive result like that. May I have some more, sir?

painting is fun

I had a lot of procrastinating to get done before I finally got set up and doing the color mixing exercises, which turned out, after all the hoo-hah, to be quite fun.

Then, since I had paint out and all, I decided to revamp a painting I'd done a month or so ago. This painting started out life as a study done by my sister. It then became some more organic forms in blues and browns. But today, it wanted to be colorful!! I decided to name it "do over"; both because of its origins but also because it feels as joyful and free to me as when you do give yourself permission to have a "do over."

Wee.

Here are some pix of the color mixing. I did a page of things mixed with Lemon Yellow and then another of things mixed with Cadmium Yellow Light. It was definitely encouraging.

Funny youtube video with doberman

Joy!

july12-2008 018
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Pronunciation:
\ˈjȯi\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French joie, from Latin gaudia, plural of gaudium, from gaudēre to rejoice; probably akin to Greek gēthein to rejoice
Date:
13th century

1 a: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : delight
b: the expression or exhibition of such emotion : gaiety
2: a state of happiness or felicity : bliss
3: a source or cause of delight

Jake man

Jake man
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

This is a much better photo of Jake, all one hundred and ten pounds of him. It's hard to see how big he really is without something near him for comparison and scale - but trust me, he's not petite.

So far, he's been a total gentleman and sweetheart. We had thunder and lightning one night and he was as nonplussed as Lulu about it, so I double lucked out on that score.

We went to Bull Creek this morning before work and I let him off leash. He had pretty good recall and he just LOVED swimming. It was awesome.

Lulu decides to share Jake's space

Lulu decides to share Jake's space
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Jake was lying on this bed and I asked Lulu (who was across the yard) to also lie down and she came right over and squidged herself in on this same bed. Very cute. They look like happy campers to me.

Jake and Lulu at wading pool

Jake and Lulu at wading pool
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Here's a shot of my "new guy" Jake and his best new friend Lulu, enjoying the 100 degree Austin weather and their little wading pool, a.k.a. water bowl. He's a beauty - a great dane / doberman mix probably, weighing in at 110 pounds and gentle as most giant dogs are, very sweet. It's LOVE!!!

Happy Elsa at Rosie's Cowboy Cafe

Happy Elsa at Rosie's Cowboy Cafe
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

We drove up to Point Reyes Station and had some lunch today - Porter, Elsa and me. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and Elsa was a happy girl.

no explanation necessary....

little aliens

little aliens
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Felt great today to finally find my paints, brushes, even enough turpenoid (naughty naughty, I must have packed it in the POD) to actually get the painting gears in motion again today.

I’ve been in this mode of “one thing at a time”, especially with bringing things into the house. And it definitely keeps it more simple for me and enables me to know where everything is. Less confusing, less overwhelming. So anyhow, I brought in just one “big canvas” size box. I knew it had Clare’s rollercoaster painting in it and I hung that right away.

It also had this 30″ x 30″ canvas that Porter gave me. She’d started a painting on it but didn’t love it, so (along with several others) donated it to me. It used to depict a rowing oar above the water. Since this was the one available, unpacked painting surface, I’ve been able to noodle on that for the last week and just yesterday started seeing these circles I wanted to ’start growing’ out of the oar. Then I imagined some kind of scraggily, eery arms too. I wanted the lines to organically tell me “what next” and I think they did.

I also just wanted to make shapes and colors that I would want to look at, without worrying if it I was accomplishing anything beyond that. Quite relaxing, that approach.

Thanks, Porter, for the start of this painting!

Exciting news from Texas

Hello family,
Well, I know I've been a bit quiet on this blog for a bit but just wanted to make sure everything was all official before I shared my big news!
I am pregnant with twins.
Yes, on the down-low last year, as Porter began her paperwork to adopt, I researched sperm banks and found one that specialized in donations from Ethiopian PhD candidates who also were regular church attenders.
So I'm proud to be bringing Elsa's new niece and nephew into this world in about 7 months from now.
Thanks in advance for all of your love and support.

Sunday with Em and Elsa

I dropped by after church today to visit my "girls" who are all doing better. Miss Elsa is figuring out when to sleep and when to play. Em is getting some much needed rest and everyone is getting healthy. It was so wonderful to see the baby playing happily on her new play mat and basking in the afternoon sun. God is good and prayers have been answered for healing and sleep. Here are the first photos that I have taken on my family here in Marin.

Porter post on March 24

Embassy appointment went swimmingly - despite having a bit of a hard time finding Sintayehu (the “parking lot” is somewhat hidden) and the fact that he appears to be coming down with the same plague that Clare is now getting over. (We had plans to take him out to dinner, but he could barely make it through the Embassy interview, and needed to go home to bed.)

We asked for expedited treatment, and got it - so tomorrow morning I’ll return to the Embassy to get the all-important visa and we can indeed leave for home in the evening.

Update from Porter from March 23

I just spoke to Sintayehu (my attorney here) and found out the timing of the Embassy appointment today.
Basically, he said to meet him in the parking lot of the U.S. Embassy, and to bring Elsabet Aden and my passport.
Sounds very much like some illicit transaction, no?

Video of Elsa from Porter

From Porter:

"Am attempting to embed a little video of Elsa Aden here - I don’t know if this will work.

And if it does, it will probably be the world’s most boring video, except to me. I can stare at her for hours, but I don’t expect that is quite as fascinating to anyone else but me."

Porter arrives back in Addis posting

Happy Easter!

We are back in Addis early, and very glad to be here.

Remember how I wrote that Clare seemed to be coming down with something? I thought it was the elevation up north, but it was not – turns out it was a full-on flu bug of some kind. She started feeling sick on the last night in Aksum, and by the time we got back to Addis, was really knocked out. She has been in bed for the last 4 or 5 days.

On Friday morning when I was getting ready for for the drive to Awassa for a few days, she thought she was over it and so decided to come with me. But, no such luck – she felt terrible by the time we got there, and again was totally bedridden. Poor thing.

It was especially bad because the hotel in Awassa (the Pinna - don’t stay there!) was pretty much a pit. Our room was hot and stuffy and we couldn’t open the windows at night because of the mosquitoes. Neither one of us is on Malaria prophylactics, so we had to douse ourselves in Deet, cover our beds in mosquito netting, and hope for the best. This made for a not-so restful stay, to say the least.

Yesterday after I was done with my explorations I got back to the hotel in the afternoon to find a pretty sad-looking Clare lying on her mattress on the floor. She was trying to stay cool and the bed was horribly uncomfortable. Solomon (our guide) and I took her to the “best” private hospital in Awassa. This was quite a scene, and somewhat scary, and involved a lot of waiting in crowded hallways with crowds of Ethiopians who were pretty shocked to see us there. Thank God our guide was there – he managed to expedite the whole thing, and Clare was seen by a doctor relatively quickly. That said, the medical care was not exactly cutting-edge. But we really wanted to make sure it wasn’t malaria (it is not) and it was somewhat reassuring that the doctor agreed it is in fact, flu.

After the nightmare of the hospital visit, we couldn’t stand to say another night in Pinna hotel, so we decided to cut the trip short and head back to the comforts of the Sheraton in Addis. We told our guide and driver, packed up our things in about 20 minutes, hit the road, and hightailed it back.

Driving in Ethiopia is terrifying enough in the daytime – you DON’T want to be on the road at night!
Among other reasons, the Ethiopians have a weird tradition - stubbornly adhered to - of not turning on headlights until it is pitch frickin’ black out. At one point, I just broke down and demanded that our driver turn on the lights. Many of the vehicles, including the biggest trucks, have no functioning lights at all. In addition, every 10 minutes of so, you come across a stationery object in the road - maybe it’s a broken-down truck (with - you guessed it - no lights) or maybe a donkey lying on the still-warm asphalt or maybe a drunk blind man on his hands and knees (I am not making this up).
In all cases, if it is daylight, you honk the horn at anyone in your path. This occasionally works, but usually you have to swerve. If it is night, you flash your highbeams at the offending object or being, temporarily blinding them.
I am including a few photos of some typical roadside sights.

We made only one stop (for fuel) and ate in the car so we made pretty good time – about 4 and a half hours. By the time it was dark, we were on the outskirts of Addis, so it wasn’t too scary (well, it WAS scary, but we survived).
Checking into the hotel and an air-conditioned room and clean sheets was a huge relief –
this morning as I write this, Clare is already feeling and looking much better and I’m so glad we decided to come back.
For a while there, I was pretty scared that I’d get sick too, but it’s been long enough now that (thank God) it appears to have passed me by. Now it’s looking like she’ll be in condition to travel on Tuesday night, when we plan to leave for home.

As of today, I’ve been in Ethiopia for 2 weeks and it has been (obviously) challenging, but also great. The best part - of course - is getting to meet the wonderful Elsabet Aden.
Tomorrow I have my Embassy interview and the next day (I hope) we get Elsa’s visa. I’m taking her out of the orphanage for good tomorrow, now that I’m done with running around the countryside. I ordered up a crib for our room at the Sheraton - can’t wait to have Elsa in it!