and this one is going to make you happy....

so maybe just a little less blog this time and more pictures! to see more of an account of the last week, visit jill's blog--she'll be sending the other blog readers over here to see the pics. i'm sure it will take forever to get them downloaded...

and, yes it does take forever to get them up!! so just a few pictures of safari. this shot doesn't do the moment justice. we almost literally ran over this lion! she was soo close to the car. we have crossed over a small bridge and looked down to see a lion coming out from under it, followed by two more. we found their den in the center of some thorny brush with a few lions lying in it. this lioness was outside of the den and she had flies covering her whole face.

This is one of quite a few amazing landscape shots from the Maasai Mara. Another reason why you would love to visit, Dad. The grasslands do seem endless and the beauty of the land can take your breath away.

The middle picture was taken from a look-out point at Lake Nakuru. The birds are the big thing to see at this place. Normally there would be huge flocks of flamingos and the lake would look like a pink blanket of feathers. Mom would have loved this, or even a pink feather--alas, I couldn't find either. A lot of pelicans though. This is one of the reason there are less flamingos--they came to the lake for the first time when fish were introduced into the lake as a source of food. Now the pelicans have taken over, more come each year, and they eat all of the fish. Kind of a lose-lose situation because there isn't any fish for us eatin' nor the flamingos--unless that is, you really like pelicans.

The above picture is in Joyce's kitchen. About the size of an American kitchen, this building is a part from the home and where the food is cooked and dishes washed. Joyce is in the background, but it's probably too dark to see her. Let me know how the pictures are turning out too, it's hard to tell from this computer.

This is the shamba, or farm that we built the fence around. We had two great guys, John and Paul who helped to dig holes for posts and put the barbed wire up. The guy on the far left, Ben was just a nuisance and was the first and only reminder we needed that when asked if we are married or have boyfriends back in America--the answer will from now on always be 'yes'! He came to deliver news of Hillary dropping from the race, and continued to talk and talk and talk while we worked and worked and worked. Then he invited himself to our lunch and got two free drinks at the bar out of us too. He proceeded to tell Jill she was fat, Lauren she looked like a boy, and us all that African men worked harder than women (keep in mind this was at the time he was watching us work). Unfortunately, social norms required us to just ignore him instead of telling him to bugger off and eventually he got the hint.

These are our departing gifts of the Maasai shuka from the school. There are made in the area out of wool, and as traditional Maasai--a very vivid, bright red. Esther (a.k.a Whoopi--if you can't see the resemblance my picture isn't good enough!) is with us in the picture and is the only teacher of the thirty-some students in the special unit. She is one of the most amazing women I have met--strong, progressive, passionate, and she has the patience of a saint.

I thought I would have a few people that would really like this picture--Mom because of the baby in the box and Grams because of the woven baskets. This was at a market in Nyahuru. Lauren is quite the skilled barter-er--we got a great deal on the kiandas, much below Wazungu price!!

These are Joyce's girls--Susanne on the left and Ashley on the morning we left our Africa home.

This is one of the building on Joyce's homestead. The left part of this is a guest room, it is also where the rats lived and we tried to the first week we came. The right side is where the goats are kept at night. The floor is cement so the manure can be easily swept up and used in the shamba.

The land to the far left is the shamba--it's still been very dry, but with a couple of good rains it will produce avacado, kale, oranges, potatoes, passion fruit, bananas, and much much more. The wooden building the the left is the shower stall--no shower but rather a stall to wash up in with a tub of warm water. Something we did only once or twice a week. I still haven't washed my hair! :) Next to the shower is a holding tank for the rain water that is collected off the roof.

Lauren has posted more pictures also on her flickr account so visit that at www.flickr.com/photos/lauronosaurus.

Enjoy and I love you all very much!

Much much peace and joy, Megan.