Birdsong

Next door recently got a very verbal parrot, the finches, weaverbirds and hummingbird in my big tree are conversing with him/her, but the 3 vultures (was mum, dad and 2 kids until one attacked the guard) are as usual away during the day and will swoop down to their high nest late in the afternoon.

Things I don't notice anymore

[Alhassan unloading compost delivered as usual by donkey to my driveway]

Short-termers Adrian and Sue came and helped out at IMS for a few weeks and remarked one day in the car while snapping away, that they were told to take photos in the first week while they still ‘noticed’ things as different.

Things I don’t notice (consciously) anymore:

The line after line of silhouettes of vultures perched in pairs on both arms of the streetlamps along the middle of the median strip of the Route Circulaire.

The ‘green ladies’ underneath them in peak hour traffic, bent over seemingly oblivious to the cars swerving within feet of them sweeping the road every second day with short straw bundles (the day after the road was flooded last week I did notice the huge amount of dirt and debris and pitied them their job that day!).

The corn, almost ripe in the tiny field planted in the road (turnoff to IMS).

Swerving from left to right to avoid the other obstructions in that same road: the hen and her 5 tiny bundles of fur racing from side to side, piles of firewood as big as a house, sand and rocks for a construction project alongside a wall, tables of small items for sale, the ram attached near the mosque for Friday, the bikes parked way out in the lane in front of the lady frying beanflour donut balls, the gully created in the intersection by water rushing downhill along the cross road ….

Overtaking heavily-laden donkey carts clopping along - but slowing down for the lone donkey directly in my path - ambling down the paved road on his way home without owner or cart was a little more unusual

Mud squelching under my toes as I get out of the car to open the gate of my driveway following the daily downpour, leaving shoes at the doorstep so mud doesn’t get tracked through the house.

The mouldy smell in the roads where puddles haven’t dried up for months, the back cement which has had a green tinge to it for weeks, the cloths under the window to catch the leak each downpour…

Still plodding on

With the director absent for 6 weeks then 10 days I've been spending more time on admin and we've gotten a few admin projects almost done with the help of short-termers here for the North American and European summer school break - 1024 books in the library are catalogued with probably only 150 to go; the school song books are revamped and repaired; and our Africa Prayer Guide book is on the way.

With my friends Gigandets and Ashmores leaving Burkina, and Jane going away for months (and maybe permanently) things are getting a bit lonely. Some other friendships will hopefully be renewed or made as others return or arrive, but it's never easy saying goodbye.