So, speaking of pot (or was that pots we were speaking of last post?), in my family we don’t smoke a lot of pot (or crack cocaine, either). This, you say, is neither a bad thing nor a surprise. But in plenty of places around the world (although not in Africa so much), marijuana has […]
And speaking of pot, okay, everyone now … big breath Read More »
It’s early and the African sun is stretching and the monkeys are making a racket in the banana trees and Liz is feeding the cat and Thomas Merton and Old Man Jeremiah, today’s reading, dance in my head. Merton says that faith is all about discomfort and struggle and don’t let anyone sell you a
On children and faith and smashing pots Read More »
So My Bride and I were on a date at the movies in Kampala and we were the only ones there, two shadows in a sea of empty seats, and not thinking anything of it because this is not uncommon. Not that movies are that bad here – although this one was and we ended
A date at the movies in Uganda, plus that other F-word Read More »
The family news of the day is that it was Halloween and the kids – a gaggle of expatriates living on campus – came to the door of our Ugandan university home like kids do in so many parts of the world. The executioner, when I asked him what the “trick” was if I didn’t
Halloween and its family news Read More »
(The UCU Standard – Friday, November 1, 2013)
MUKONO, UGANDA ✦ Suicide is a shabby and shameful business, something that nice people don’t get mixed up in, yet here they are, two suicides in our university family, two young people who in separate incidents have left us with nothing but a disturbing ‘good-bye.’
What suicide can teach us about fear and living freely Read More »
It’s morning in Africa and, as often, today started with reading and listening to Brahms while on the cross-trainer and enjoying the brightness of the day’s creation. And here the creation is now Zack, our new Young Dog, plus four new rabbits from Sam and his significant other, plus Bilbo, The Cat’s Girlfriend, so named
Morning in Africa with the animals Read More »
(The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, October 24, 2013)
PANMUNJEOM, SOUTH KOREA ✦ We’re at the border of North and South Korea, at the planet’s hottest line in the sand, and the guard – a youth in military garb and dark sunglasses – tells my wife to change her footwear. She has open sandals and the North Koreans, even from a distance, might see her feet.
Which shows that while war may be hell, it’s strange too, certainly this pseudo-war at Panmunjeom, the UN’s demilitarized zone, the so-called DMZ separating these two Koreas, countries that stopped formal shooting 60 years ago but still without any treaty.
War may be hell, but it’s strange too Read More »
It was a father-son weekend away of climbing and water and sports and night fires and running around a small island on the Nile River in the countryside of Uganda. And one of the boys stood by a swamp and held up some mud like it was a trophy, and then another boy said something
The Sons of Adam and the muddiness of family life Read More »
