Happy 10th birthday John!

Cinnamon rolls for breakfast

 A peach pie with all 10 candles in the middle! We are so glad that you are in our family, John, and pray that Christ in you will glow like those candles on your pie.  We love you!

The wise man builds his house upon rock

In March, this house was started across our street.  Look at the progress!

The man with the hat is bending rebar.

The little hut in the back is where the night watchman slept.  They mixed their cement right there on the street.

See the pulley?  Hard work!

They have been really diligent and creative with their resources.  I'm impressed.

Chickens

We have welcomed four chickens into our home.

We got them when they were just little peeps, about 5 weeks ago.

 The kids call them Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin.

Now they have grown bigger, but not necessarily wiser.  They are funny and skiddish animals, travelling in a pack. Once I poured out some ends of green beans to see if they would eat them. At first they were afraid, eyeing them but not moving. Then one pecked one of the ends and ran with it in his beak. The others followed him, trying to steal his treasure (not realizing that 75 more bean ends laid right under their feet). Made me laugh and reminded me of (dare I say it?)...teenagers!

Hoping for some hens in our foursome, we invited our neighbor over to see if he could tell if they were female or male. Well, he knew a trick. He held them and pulled their neck out and then by the way it bobbed or shook he could tell what it was. I kid you not! He concluded that we have 3 roosters and 1 hen. Good thing that the hen was named Sam...Samantha now!

Feeding time brings out some anxiety in them. They see one of us coming with the plastic bag of grain and they get giddy. One flies up and pecks the bag causing a stream of grain to pour out. The others follow and make little noises. When the grain is poured into the dish they all start to pick-a-little, talk-a-little, pick-a-little, talk-a-little, cheep cheep cheep, talk-a-lot pick a little more!

I told Patrick today that I'm really enjoying having farm pets on our little patio. They make me laugh! 

Birthday O'Self

My family treated me to a wonderful birthday at the end of May.

 A game of spud at my favorite park/restaurant.

Yummy salad.

 Delicious beef tagine.

Sweet family with a homemade coconut cream pie! 

O' Self

We laughed at the name of this supermarket!  I guess our English "self serve" sounds kind of pompous too.

Rainbow juice

We love fresh fruit juices in the spring and summer.  Elizabeth always orders the banana shake while I prefer a scrumptuous avocado shake.  This one was particularly noteworthy--a three-tiered juice! Strawberry, pineapple, and avocado--delicious.  Too bad this was in a city far from here or I might be drinking this every week.

For those who think the avocado sounds wierd, it's not.  I think that we tend to associate avocados with guacamole and salty.  The protein and fat offset the sweet so nicely, it's creamy and delicious. But if you still don't believe me you'll just have to visit and try one!