House 5 Attrition

House 5 Memorable Moments:
80’s party,Pub Crawl,Ngrita nights,Thanksgiving in House 1,Dinners with Jaya,Welfare,Kim’s SMS book,Sunset drinks,Psychological profile meeting,Cosmopolitan,Kim + Fede’s weekend of declaration,Sergio walking into Sex and the City moment,Earthquake,Gilmore Girls,Animal Planet vs. Playboy Bunnies,Fede’s resignation,Apple Crumble,Cheese nights,Francois’ cute accent,Weekends at the dock,“JB” in coordination meeting,Sweeeety,“All the best”,Fede and Jana’s shrink session,Kim meeting Fede’s parents,Kim thinking we are alcoholics,Sarah walking up to Martin after FHI conversation,Sangira with MSF,Kim’s meltdown because of NY,Fede’s meltdown because of Aliou,Brie,Crazy Italian neighbor,Gorillas,Pierre’s PMS,Sitting outside Jane’s/Sergio’s office,UK board visit: Fede getting stuck in the mud,Sarah Kanafani’s yellow heels and mini skirt,Chris’s action pants, Mobutu shoes,Chris’s leaving: out on loan,Chris’s harem,Chris’s stuffed animals in offic,Kierkegaard,Meeting girl at the airport,Cutting his hair,Candlenight dinners,Irene’s pink dress,Marie Honorine’s leaving speech,Coordination meetings, cars leaving on time …,Evacuation drill,Sarah’s “movie nights” with Stefano,Italian quotes,“I am not just a soul, I am a body, too!” (Fede),“Rise and Shine”, “This is the day”,Coughing, burping, barking, farting,Kim’s singing,“Urinates”,Sergio staying with us,Earthquake statue,Papa Jean,Justin: pizza with chocolate, potatoes with cinnamon,Chocolate, cheese, and trashy magazines,Boat rides and Kivu: breaking down!,Rescue onto big boat,Ramming other boat,Fede and Kim bringing back presents from leave,ICRC boat rides,Fight over generator,Scrabble,Monopoly with Isabelle,Karaoke night,Finance controllers,Tommy Lee,ICRC party with fire outside,Jana playing pool,Fede reporting Jana to logs for security breach,Kim’s French: “ordre de mission”,Tennis,Sarah’s messing up the house,Sarah « borrowing » things,House 2 : locking up because military was to come,Kim’s secret dates,Kim’s card nights,Italian Restaurant,Gettign sick at Orchid,Tree and elves at Haloween
Sarah’s alone in house,Sarah’s cuddliness,Fede: 5-date minimum,Fede: sabbatical year,Fede: Zanzibar rasta guy,Martins’ ass – and earring,House 5 fights,Fede’s bras

Pretty!

Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

-- Derek Walcott

Decent read/explanation

Behind DR Congo's war games

The Ladies of IRC House 5

Kim, Sarah, Fede, Jana also known as Sex in the Heart of Darkness. Guess whose who... :)

Safari

This morning I went on a Safari in my backyard. I have a HUGE backyard and maybe it is therapeutic, or just misplaced maternal instinct but I've had an incredible desire to make things grow lately. I had a container garden in Boston on my porch before I left and it was by no means a masterpiece but it was rather pretty and I absolutely loved having something to look after and nurture. Even if it was just a couple of plants. So this morning for reasons still unclear to me I decided that I need a garden. Thankfully outside of my cottage they're a series of pots with defunct plants left by a former somebody and the only thing I had to do was to find replacement plants. Hence the Safari.

I live in my own cottage on the property of another IRC house and subsequently the yard is ridiculously large. And until now largely unexplored (not really but I liked to think so). It was one of those amazingly beautiful days with deep blue skies, large fluffy clouds and the occasional sprinkling of rain. The smell was unbelievable -- half Spring, half rain forest and 100% dew. I spent a solid 20 minutes on the veranda just smelling and watching. The beautiful thing about the Kivus is despite all the rain it is never humid -- the climate is forever temperate.

My safari was successful! I found huge bunches of mint, rosemary, a couple of straggling basil plants, and untold amounts of white and pink impatience --- all easily transplantable. So I planted:

Mint, basil, white impatience, rosemary, and a spiky little blue green thing... not much to look at yet but I am optimistic.


The beautiful day...


I find container gardens less threatening than entire yards -- as I can figure out what to do with 5 or 6 pots but I get lost when trying to design and plant for large spaces. I hope to graduate to a vegetable garden by the summer but this is going to have to do for now.

The Trifecta: a run of three wins or grand events. Enough Said.

Where's Jenna?

Trifecta Numero Uno, Top Dog, El Presidente, Mother Superior... ;)

More cooking Christmas morning breakfast...