After the past days here in Nairobi it has been very difficult to bring myself to log on and write about our day to day lives when there has been so much horror going on around.
Although not immediately affected by loss of family or friends it has definately had an impact on our lives; work collegues who have lost family members, aquaintances who have shops in the mall and the wondering if they and their staff have come through this unhurt; the guys in my favourite book shop up on the 2nd floor where I used to visit every Saturday; and the ongoing stories of sadness, bravery and selflessness that continue to come to our attention through the television, newspapers and social media.
And now I wonder how it will change our lives; will it change the way some of us view others in our community? I hope not. One of the best things about living in Kenya has always been the wonderful melting pot of nationalities, cultures and, yes, even religions - it is what makes living here exciting, learning something new and interesting about your friends and community every day.
I do of course worry about my Somalie friends and how it will affect them. Everytime we have a security incident, the police come down very heavily on the Somlaie community. I do understand why because Al Shabaab take advantage of the community but the offenders are such a small percentage, the majority of people coming here to escape what is happening in Somalia, to try and lead peacful, safe lives. Even in Somalia they make life difficult for the population.
I mean, who the hell do they think they are?? How do they think they have the right to speak for God or Allah or what ever you want to call him? Any discussions I have had with Muslim friends about the teachings of Islam have never mentioned openfiring on innocent people especially women and children.
So now that I have vented my spleen, I can get on and bring you upto date with our goings on. Tarbu came home last Friday, very pleased to see me when I picked him up from the vet. 30 minutes out of the car and he had Sammy, the askari, and myself chasing him across the bush as he headed back to his girlfriend!! For his sins he was chained up for 4 days, and being taken for walks (great for my exercise regimen). Tonight he gets his 'last supper' and tomorrow morning he is back to the vet to get 'the chop'! No more babies for Tarbu.
Bernard and I spent several hours in the veggie garden and now have lots of new seedlings, including the courgettes, in and thriving. he is also working on some small rockeries on the driveway which needed lots of attention and are now looking much nicer although, the conifers, which I was trying to protect, got their 'skirts' cut off in the process. They look like they have had very bad haircuts, no perfect Christmas trees for us this year.
Our most exciting news comes from the kitchen window sill. After about 2 months we have 2 lemon tree seedlings grown from seed, the tumeric root is sprouting and the rhubarb pieces we stuck in are still alive, so we are ever hopeful, they are putting down roots.
In the kitchen - I have finally managed to get organised with my Christmas fruit mince and it has been brewing on the kitchen bench for about one week. The suet went in last night and tonight I will be bottling it ready to make lots of yummy mince tarts in a couple of months.
Next week - hopefully back to the old routine - dogs, food, cooking, gardening. Oh and of course our buffalo who, I am very glad to report is back in the garden despite the efforts of some to keep him out, he was waiting on the main road, at the front gate, to be let in when Jim arrived home the other evening.
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