A day out of the house

 We took these 4 missionaries to the market and they found this guy down there who was white, not many of them around, so they thought that they would teach him about the church.   He listened very well but had absolutely nothing to say.   After about an hour they gave up.

 Just us at the market.    Not our favorite place to go.  But sometimes it's necessary.

One of the members who we have become acquainted with has this coconut tree in his front yard.   He wanted to have us try a fresh coconut so his friend climbed up the tree, which was about 25 feet tall and cut a bunch of coconuts out.  

    He makes a point on one end of the nut with his cutlass and cuts a little lid in the top to expose the inside.   There were about 2 cups of water inside.   He made us drink all of it but it tasted good and was quite cool.    The white coconut on the inside was different from what we have had in the states.   It was only about 1/8 inch thick and was very slimy and not much flavor.   

"Here", he said, "take this and drink it all".   And he was serious.  We had to do what he said because he was the one with the cutlass. 

Bottoms up

Chug a lug

 I think mine has a lizard in it.  

These kids were out on the play ground equipment.  

The lady with the stick is pounding it in a pile of rocks in-order to make the end flare out like a mushroom and then they use it to make the fufu that they eat.  There is also a large wooded bowl that goes along with it.   Kind of like a mortar and pestle.   Needless to say sometimes you get small wood particles to add flavor to the fufu. 

A day in the garden

 The other day we went with Elder and Sister Wall to a botanical garden in the mountains above Accra.   This tree is a strangler tree,  it starts growing around an existing tree and covers the whole tree from top to bottom.  Then it strangles the host tree and it dies and rots away
and leaves the strangler tree hallow all the way to the top.  Note the white monkey looking out from inside the tree.    

 This photo is taken from inside the tree looking up.   It was about 100 feet high.     The strangler tree was alive and well in Africa. 

 Elder Wall and Elder Nielson talking to a man about the Church.  

 Here is an ant hill.   We didn't see any of the ants, but I think they were off chasing a goat.  

 We saw this helicopter from a distance and thought we had finally found a way out of here but when we got closer  we discovered it was finished.   As the saying here goes.  

 Sister Wall and Sister Nielson get their chance to teach. 

 They were having a big festival honoring this King.   Here he is on his way to the seating area.  The other guy is keeping the sun off of him.  

After they were seated we sent over and ask if we could take their picture and they were very happy to oblige.  Note all the gold that he is wearing.   I ask him to share but he said "NO".

For mom's and dad's. Hope you enjoy

Bath day

 One thing about the children here is they are always clean.   This little guy was just relaxing in the "tub" waiting for the suds.  The chicken was next in line for a bath.  

 This is baby yaw who's parents live right behind us.  We heard some screaming from their house and thought that something was wrong with him so we went over to see.   He was getting his bath and was not liking it at all.   The water was cold and they were using a course plastic net to scrub him.  His bath lasted about 20 minutes and he screamed for about 21 minutes of it.  

 This is not the mother, just a lady who came over to wash the baby.  

 All done and loving life again, 

 More neighbor children showing some toys that our son Danny's kids sent over to them.  They were very happy to have something new and different.  

Even Neffia got a toy truck.   She liked the all-day sucker the most.  

Stroll turned to dance

 Last night we went for a walk around sunset.   We can only be out till dark because of the mosquitoes which carry malaria.   Found this tree which was way cool but the photo left a bit to be desired.   I think if you took me out of the picture the tree would have looked better.   

 We stopped and watched a soccer game for a while and a couple of the players even came over and shook our hands and welcomed us to the game.   They play every weekend so maybe that will be our event to look forward to.   

On the way back home near out house we heard some music so we stopped and looked and there was a wedding that had just ended.   A little girl came out to see us and we started to dance with her.   Her mother saw what we were doing and came out and insisted we come to their house and dance with them.   We danced for a while to some wild music and they sat around and laughed with us and at us.   I don't think they had ever seen Obrunies dance before.   It was hot and humid and we worked up a sweat.    After they gave us a soft dink.   So nice and friendly. 

Soon we had everyone join in and we had a good time.   The young men were the ones playing soccer earlier.   The only bad thing is that the music will go on way into the night and it is very close to our house, so I guess we will be up half the night whether we like it or not.   

Everyday things

 We took the missionaries out to a small town for an appointment that they had and we got caught in the rain.    It really came down for at least a half hour.  These goats ran for cover, they were all leaning up against this building under the eve trying to stay dry.  These were the cleanest goats I've seen since we got here.  

 This is the place where the missionaries were going.   A small boy came out of the house with this big umbrella and rescued them.   We stayed in the truck till it stopped. 

I think this is the only wood carver in Asamankese that we know of.  He is carving a wooden mask and we liked it so much that we bought it from him while he was carving on it.   He said he would have it ready on Monday so we will see if we chose wisely or poorly.  It is hard to find a carver who actually does the work himself.   We have purchased other carvings from a carver in Accra.  They are very talented and turn old logs into art.    

This is one of the local knife grinders here in the bush.   He takes old worn out cutlasses and regrinds them and puts new handles on them.  His shop has about 6 inches of metal filings on the floor.  He has no eye protection and breathes dust 12 hours a day.  However his shop has a good air conditioning system.  I have had him grind a couple of things for me and he is very nice.     

 After each rain storm it is my job to go out and try to unplug the drain in the wall around our house.   Sister Nielson takes pictures and gives directions.  

 Elder Wiley, one of the missionaries next door,  sometimes feels like a prisoner.  This is a fake frown, we have never seen him without a smile on his face.   This is the door on the inside of our apartment.  

We took Elder Botkin, the one with the taped up wrist, and Elder Chatterley to the Hospital after Elder Botkin crashed on his bike.   Luckily nothing was broken.   We saw this guy on the side of the road trying to sell this grasscutter.   We gave him one cedi to let us take his picture.   It is kind of like a big rat but they say it tastes quite nice.   Don't know, didn't try it.  Don't want to..