Can you “Name That Tune” that deals with
Leaving, End of The Trail, Traveling, Going, etc (And Yes, the songs I am
choosing- Date ME!! But since most of you are my age OR older- good Luck!!) And
YES some may be- writer and song - used more than once!! ;)) Haven’t decided
yet whether to give the answers in this Blog or the next! OR a Multiple choice/Match deal! Tee Hee!
Yellow Card
Rascal Flats
Mary
Chapin Carpenter
John Denver
Dandy Don Meredith
The Animals
The Beatle
The Who
Willie Nelson
Peter, Paul and Mary
Ray Charles
Irving Berlin
Van Morrison
The Birds
John Denver
Dandy Don Meredith
The Animals
The Beatle
The Who
Willie Nelson
Peter, Paul and Mary
Ray Charles
Irving Berlin
Van Morrison
The Birds
So here we are on a Friday afternoon and Ken and I and the Chauffeur will go out to Spices for Indian Food tonight. I am more than ready for a weekend- though we seldom get a whole one with all of the comings and goings of MPH. Our Apartment door sounds like Woody the Woodpecker lives on the other side!! But hey, that’s why we get the big bucks!!
This week’s big conversation was all about the Miranga Tree. I have some seeds to bring home. It’d probably do better in San Antonio than at PK but I am going to at least try it in a pot and see. They say if I cut it back in the fall and mulch it really well it might make it if we don’t have days and days of freezing weather. It grows multiple feet a year. Makes great hedges also by keep topping it! It is also called The Tree of Life and cures everything but hangnails. I just like that it grows fast! Every one of the Congolese I ask about it knows its healing qualities. I want a shade tree and so we will see! Here they cut it all but down each year and back it comes. Also does this in Savannah and Florida. So we’ll see.
One
couple is here waiting for their plane to be flown/ferried over from Bangor,
Maine. Then they will take it up country to their area. He is helping build new
roads for the government. They are building a new home and it sounds lovely.
First they cleared the land, then made the brick, then mixed 110 bags of
concrete and stuff for the main floor, (still have the pantry and kitchen to
go) and hope to be in by November! Lots of stuff for the house is being put in
a Container and it will leave the States soon.
Two
other couples here are looking for a home to live in in Kinshasa. Prices are
nuts or the place is a dump! So they are facing the facts and having to make
choices about where, cost, safety, amenities- which here means the number of
rooms- nothing come in it- you add all that- as toilets, stove etc! One of the
men heads out next week for work and the other is already gone. So it’s like we
athletic wives do- find a place, go get the old furniture, move it all, set it
up and have dinner on the table- oh and take care of the kids and get them
enrolled etc!! ;) And the Beat Goes On!
I
started training a new house guy today. The one room that needed changing and
that I could use as a teaching tool for him and a review tool for the other man
was up in the dorm area and that is where there are no ACs. I was a “dewy” mess
when I finished giving guidance. I was so pleased because the regular guy
taught the new guy just like I had shown him to do!! Yea!! Progress- maybe!! So
I just oversaw it all and died of a heat stroke! This new guy is the one I
suggested to use when we don’t use him two half days a week in the kitchen as a
sous chef. So we have a guy that it turns out has done housework and kitchen
work before! He was thrilled to get a full time job. We used him when the
Frenchies were here and Ken and I liked his work ethic. So now all bases
covered when we have folks out with malaria. Which is surprisingly often!
REALLY sick!!! On Monday he will have two rooms all by himself and then I will
go and do the “White Glove Test” as Bonka use to call it! He is to spend all of next week with me
monitoring him and then he is off on his own. I will also use them both to
clean cupboards and Armoires and scrub the kitchen floor. So it is a busy
cleaning week again. I keep telling them we are a MPH team. So we will see!
Football Day in
America!! BIG football day!!!And we are in Congo!!! Bummer!! So keep me posted
on the A&M game!! Have other favorites too but they don’t come on the
scoreboard here until 1 and 3:30 AM.
Tonight
Larry is going to make Pizza again for us since there is a small crowd. I cancelled
beans and rice for lunch and we are having left over Spaghetti. If I see one
more bean until it is a bean burrito or frijoles at a Mexican restaurant I will
scream. Also if anyone puts tomato sauce on anything but ITALIAN food I will
scream louder! They have learned make brown gravy with the meats- not drown it
in tomato sauce-at least till we leave!! “Pas de Tomate, Mama!” ;)
I
have learned that my not knowing most of the folks who stay here or ask for
favors or come in asking for a room is a blessing in disguise. I just go with
MPH policy. “Sorry, I can’t do that. It’s against policy or guidelines.” Some of
those who stay here and or know folks here ask for favors or expect things to
be done for them that are all but beyond possibilities for us. Stubborn ole me,
I just say no. Sweet, kind and gentle Ken tries to accommodate all and it has
then backfired on him several times. He is learning to say he will do things
and just let it go. Bless his heart! And that Heart of Giving is why we all
love him so!! ;)
Guess
what I found as an App!! A Count-Downer deal. So I am counting the days— till
Christmas- 102 (so get to shopping! It’s almost Halloween so surely Christmas
stuff is out in the U.S. stores already!), 75 until Thanksgiving, 36 until we are in
Europe and 19 until we go see Marcia! The kitchen staff was amazed that my
phone will just change the count each day for me!
The
tailor comes back on Tuesday with all of the outfits we had made. We are looking
forward to having something new and different to wear. I was down three outfits
because of stains. Read on line and everyone said try Dawn dish washing liquid.
I knew it was used to clean animals caught in oil spills. So I had lipstick,
palm oil and grease from working in the kitchen on outfits. Bingo!! It all came
out and everyone here had told me the palm oil would never come out!! Yea!!
Have
an interesting lady engineer staying here. She worked for Boeing and is now
with a Stove group for Third World countries. The stoves heat up on almost no
fuel- just tiny pieces of twigs. It’s called a PekoPe which means “No Worries”
like Hakuna Matata in Lion King. So it will be easily translated in the many
different dialects here in Congo. They have two prototypes now and both have
good and bad features so are making changes and DHL will deliver the next
prototype in a day or so. She will then see if it does what is wanted any
better. The stoves are tiny little things –a little smaller than a round
classroom trash can.
Lady
Pastor and her daughter came by to get two suitcases left by a visitor that had
left for up country. Her English was great and turns out she is from our area
of the Congo. So we visited. As is typical she wants us to support her church.
Had a great visit. She was delighted to meet us.
The
Sthreshley house is really coming along. Amazing what has been done since we
got here in June! Wow! June! That sounds so long ago! I would love to see it
all done. However, pictures will have to do!
“Funny How Time Slips Away”
“Turn
Out the Lights, The Party’s Over!”
“We
Gotta’ Get Out of This Place!”
“She’s
Leaving Home”
“Leaving
Here”
“Bright
Side of the Road”
““I’m
Movin’ On”
“Leaving
Song”
“Leaving
on a Jet Plane”
“Leaving
Here”
“Hit
The Road Jack”
“ Blue Skies”
“On The Road Again”
“Leaving
on a Jet Plane”
“
Miles Apart”
Have
a Great rest of the Weekend! Love Ya! Me
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