What's in Season: September

The seasons, they go round and round. I've been in Malawi over a year now, so I've been seeing the seasons come and go. At this point Cold Season is transitioning to Hot Season. Maybe it's Warm Season? It basically feels like a typical Spring in California, with mostly hot days, but cool mornings and evenings. There is a little more daylight too which is nice.

This time of year is really windy in Mulanje. I'm listening to it blow outside right now. It kinda sounds like waves. The wind has really been drying out the ground, including my garden, which is unfortunate because we are going through a bit of a drought here and water is scarce. I had water today, but not the last two days. So my garden is suffering.

My papaya tree is doing just fine though. The kids pointed out the first ripe papaya the other day. It was a little underripe for my taste, but they were so excited that I let them pick it. The papayas are really big and plentiful this year.

Besides papaya, sweet potatoes are also in season, and can be bought along the highway in my trading post. I also saw the first green mangos for sale in the market. They're small still. The kids eat them with salt.

My Wildlife Sanctuary

My garden is so colorful right now! The marigolds are all blooming in oranges and yellows.

More cucumbers are ready to harvest, and I've got my first peas coming in.

There are all kinds of bugs and birds and reptiles and amphibians hanging out in my yard now. I saw a toad in the grass this morning and a little frog in my garden. Someday I'll post all the cool insect pics I've been taken.

A little songbird was in my yard today. It must have fallen out of it's nest. The neighbor kids were over and saw it first. They immediately went for it, but I know how the kids treat living creatures here, and it is not kind, so I shooed them away from it. They kept sneakily going after it, and told me they cook and eat them! So it was clear it was time for them to go. No judgments about the food choice, but I never let the kids kill or catch anything in my yard. Not spiders or lizards or grasshoppers or bees or now fledgling songbirds like this one.

My yard might be the only safe place for wild creatures in the whole village. It's like my own little wildlife sanctuary.

Garden Goodness

My garden has really taken off. With all the rain, sunshine and manure, my little plants have been really happy here.

I've got my first cucumbers ripening up

And some radishes as well

My marigolds really like growing in Malawi. They are the tallest things in the garden! I expect the first flowers within the next few days

There is a bit of Swiss chard and carrots growing, and the peas are making their way up the wall. I have some volunteers too-- amaranth and something that might be sweet potatoes.

Here is the whole garden in all its wild splendor.

Look, it's the next crop of papayas starting

The other day my neighbor cut the grass near our houses. No lawn mowers here-- he did it all with a machete. These people are amazing! I asked if I could have the grass clippings for my garden (instead of him burning him which is waft would normally happen to the clippings). Now I have a nice mulch to keep my soil cooler on those hot days. Plus it should help with the weeds.

I am already making plans for next year's garden which I'll plant in late November. I want it to be a bit more orderly and I am going to include herbs as well.

The garden also provides lots of wildlife to amuse me. I saw a little toad yesterday, and I've seen tiny frogs in it as well. There are worms in the soil, some ants, lizards and today I found a snakeskin. The kids were all a bit scared when they saw it.

Can you spot the toad in this photo? You can just make out his little eyes.

And that's my little garden. Thanks for the seeds, Paul! I'm putting them to good use.

A Good Day in Malawi

It was a bit rough the first few days back at my site. Coming back to the village after being in the city with the other PCVs is always an adjustment anyways. However, this time was even more difficult because the house was all musty from the rain, and I had no water or power for two days. Plus it was super hot and muggy. Think peanut butter sandwiches for most meals, no laundry, dying phone batteries, limited bathing and sleepless nights in the heat.

Then yesterday everything changed. The power came on and there was water again! I was able to charge my phone, and even cook hot meals. Hot food is such a blessing. I also did a quick load of laundry in between the torrential downpours we had, and collected a bit of rainwater too. A few of the neighbor kids came over and we planted seeds in my new garden bed-- peas, squash, marigolds, carrots and Swiss chard. I gave them some seeds to take home in appreciation for their help, and they planted them in their home gardens. Would you believe the peas already have a tiny shoot coming out?

It's amazing how hot food, clean clothes, and spending quality time with the neighbor kids can make everything better!

Turkey Vacation - day 8: continuing with Istanbul...

1st stop of the day: Topkapi Palace. It was the primary residence of the Ottoman sultans for approximately 400 years (1465–1856) of their 624-year reign.

A cool picture i liked in their palace restaurant.

We found some random lion statues and decided to play!

The entrance to the harem...

A fancy faucet in the wall.

The fancy bed.

The fancy floor couches where you lie around and smoke shisha, or hookah, all night.

The harem's courtyard.

Selfie at the Harem mirror!

Path leading out of the harem.

Cool garden we found by happenchance.

Another happenchance find. We walked by this mural trying to find our way back to the main street after leaving the garden. It's the history of Turkey in mural form!

Including the original Batman!!

A whirling dervish and shisha, of course.

Fun spiral staircase.

View from the boat ride on the Bosphorous.

Sun starting to set...

Another stand that sells loaded baked potatos.

A cute little bean-shaped shop selling coffee and hot chocolate. I would've bought one, but the 5-story Starbuck's caught my attention first!

It's hard to see in this picture, but that whole line of food stands are just selling loaded baked potatos! Talk about competition! And they're all the same price! I don't understand how it works!

Another popular street food: loaded waffles (no maple syrup though ;o[).

Christine bought one - loaded with fruits, nuts, all kinds of syrups (no maple), and stuff i didn't know what was - and they wrap it so it can be eaten with your hands. It was pretty good, but it made Rosemary and me really want maple syrup!

The guy who made Christine's waffle gave us all samples of a banana dipped in chocolate and pistachio crumbs! YUMMZ!

Rosza and me just havn fun!

Not only do payphones exist, but they come in dolphin shapes!

butter head

cool whimsical bike

We walked down this street looking for Taksim Square and came across another market...

Finally found Taksim Square by taksi (taxi).

An Orthodox church in the middle of Taksim Square.

Finally found the whole reason why we came back to Taksim Square in the first place: Shake Shack. Ever since Rosemary heard there was one in Taksim Square, she had been talking about having to go there for a burger and shake.

I got the Shake Stack which is the cheeseburger and shroomburger stacked...and as you can see..TABASCO!!!!!!!!! I also got the "Concrete" ice cream which is whipped frozen chocolate custard with marshmallow cream, shortbread cookie, and pistachio!!!

Paul's concoction: mustard with Tabasco - great for dipping!!

A couple of us didn't eat at Shake Shack and instead got chicken, rice, and chickpeas from this street vendor.

We ended the night at a super chill shisha bar.

Squampous helping himself to some fine shisha.

Squampous sitting on Christine's head ;op

Maybe too much shisha? ;op

Uh-oh, Squampous gettin into the beer...

Goodnight Squampous!