Lions, leopards, and elephants…

oh my! In December 2005, six of us on holiday from Medair activities took a trek into Maasai Mara, a Kenyan game park just north of Tanzania’s Serengeti. Our three day safari brought us into close proximity to lions, cheetahs, leopards, zebra, elephants, giraffe, wildebeest, impala, and hippos. The only big five we missed was the rhino.

Medair does deal with flying...

on many occasions, as it is often the only accessible way to enter South Sudan. Over twenty years of civil war has resulted in no infrastructure or roads in the country. Mission Aviation Fellowship provides the flight services we need to access these remote communities. Dirt airstrips can also pose a problem in the rainy season, but locals are usually willing to give a lift and a pull to get a plane out of the mud and back on the runway.

My home...

has been a luxurious 8 bedroom house in a leafy suburb of Nairobi, complete with an extensive backyard garden. The weather here is very
conducive to spending hours in the hammock, soaking up the sunshine, watching the birds and our resident horn-nosed chameleon. In fact Nairobi has the best weather of any location I have lived.

Patty Driggs...

gave me this windsock fall 04, before leaving for Scotland. She said it was to be a reminder that the sun is shining even if I can't see it. I have plenty of sunshine in Kenya, so it now serves as a reminder of Patty's life that was cut far too short last January. Patty loved Africa and her people, and I take solace that she is in an even more beautiful place than the sub-continent.

Colours have come alive...

in several ways. First, I have started to paint again, after a 20+ year hiatus. This was at the encouragement of Elizabeth, the counselor in Edinburgh. It has been enjoyable to use my right brain for a change...below is my rendition of a Cezanne. The Jacaranda trees were also blooming in Oct/Nov, giving the neighbourhood a purple tint.