Today has been one of those rare quiet, rainy days in the village. The sky has been gray and cloudy all day, with showers on and off. The kids have stayed away. The older ones are busy working in the fields with their parents, and there has been just enough rain to keep the younger ones at home. These kinds of days don't come around all the time and I really have been enjoying the peace and quiet they've brought today.
Shaun has spent the day in our insaka reading a book called War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, by Chris Hedges. I've taken advantage of the quiet time to do some nesting, organizing and even some GRE studying.
Most rewarding has been putting up in our “sitting room” the family holiday greetings sent last year. 2011 has been a tough year for our family with the illness and passing of my beloved mother in August. This holiday season has been much more difficult to be away from loved ones, without her cheerful, loving, supportive, anchoring voice just a phone call away. My mom was a wonderful mother and my best friend; her passing has rocked my foundation, but thank God she helped me build a strong one that will get me through.
So, putting up pictures of the family has given me some of the anchor and warm feeling of family I have been missing.
At lunchtime, Shaun started a brazier and I made us some hot soup. We sat in our insaka, warmed by our steaming bowls of ramen, as the rain pattered around us. On a tree near our insaka, a large bird landed and started performing his mating calls, complete with flashy feathers and meticulous preening.
We sat there quietly watching him, afraid if we moved or made any noise he'd fly away. We must have sat there for an hour watching him before he flew off to another tree out of our sight. He'd call- hu-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu, display his tail feathers and wait for a response. After about 30 minutes, a response finally came from another part of the bush. The two birds seemed to call back and forth to each other in echoing hu-hu's.
I'd heard this bird's call in the wee hours of this morning and wondered what it was. Now, here he was letting us peek in on him. This was a delight for Shaun and me- we very rarely see any (welcome) wildlife, even birds, because they are soon hunted by the kids in the village and then eaten by the family as a relish with their with nshima.
This year we are getting to see more birds at our house, I believe, because the village did not burn the forest and vegetation around our house. Last year, they burnt everything to deter snakes (which still came visiting), but this year they left it. The rains came early and caught everyone off-guard. The early rains made the area wet and difficult to burn, and it called the farmers to their fields early for digging and planting the year's maize crop. Shaun and I are happy to have the bush and birds around our home. And so far, the snakes haven't been any worse than last year. Geez, I hope I haven't spoken too soon...
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