Posted tagged ‘Ghana’

« home page
Newer Entries »

“It is too humid to continue.”

July 10, 2010

The day is dark. It has rained a little, small drops which fell for only a while, disappeared for a bit then fell again. I was outside under the umbrella the whole time and stayed dry. I love the sound of the rain on the umbrella. In Ghana, I loved the sound of the rain on the tin roof. I’d sit on my porch under the overhang to watch the rain fall. It was all around me falling in heavy drops with a bit of lightning for drama. I’d listen to it hitting the roof over my head and never tire of the sound. Sometimes I wish I still had a tin roof.

I hope the rain doesn’t mean my first outdoor movie will have to be postponed.

The air is oppressive right now. It dulls sounds and curtails activity. Not a leaf moves in the thick humidity. I should be hearing lawn mowers and kids’ voices. All I hear are a few birds. It will be a day on the deck with a book and some cold drinks.

This week I lost track of the days. I thought yesterday was Saturday. That confusion happens every once in a while and comes from my not keeping a personal calendar any more. The computer is nice enough to give me a day’s notice if I have an appointment, but beyond that I’m on my own. It used to be I knew it was Sunday when The Amazing Race was on, and that was all I needed to help keep track. Now, baseball is on every night, no help there, but I don’t really care all that much. The day is mine to make of it as I want. That’s good enough.

Categories: Musings
Tags: , , ,

Comments: 8 Comments

“Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.”

June 6, 2010

The humidity is thick enough to cut. The sun is a visitor staying only a short while then disappearing behind a cloud before it comes back, more to tantalize us than to stay. The weatherman says rain, even another thunder shower.

Yesterday I stayed inside and did all those chores I’ve been avoiding. I washed clothes, polished furniture and cleaned the refrigerator. That last chore was easy. My refrigerator is as empty as it’s ever been. I see grocery shopping in my near future.

Sometimes I wonder how I know weird words. My guess is I ran into them somewhere, looked them up and remembered them, more for their oddity than anything else. Of all the words I taught my students in Ghana, they loved the word bamboozle the best. They pronounced like balmboozle and used it all the time. It became a common word on my school compound. That was the last time I ever heard it used. Too bad as it’s a great word.

Lackaday is another word I’d like to see return. Spell check flagged it. Remus Lupin could never hide his alter ego. It’s in his name. I like that. I remember a Christmas movie where a man described his wife as lachrymose after she had had a few sips of wine. I figured it out from context and watching his wife. I still use the word anon. The Lord of the Rings brought the word wraith back. The moon waxes and wanes. Light and people both waver. Jed Clampett ate vittles. That was the first time I ever heard that word.

Living near the ocean means I get to see waves billow across the strand, and I know to keep boats out of the shoals and what a gunwale is. I am, after all, no booby!

Categories: Musings
Tags: ,

Comments: 10 Comments

May 5, 2010

Categories: photo
Tags:

Comments: 1 Comment

“Nothing is permanent”

May 5, 2010

These wonderfully sunny, warm days are a welcome surprise this early in the season, but I am still leery of New England spring weather, especially here on the Cape. The paper claims it will be 69° today. I’d like to believe it, but the skeptic in me has the upper hand. After all, I have lived in New England most of my life and never take the weather for granted.

The sky is the most remarkable blue, deep and dark, and the color spans from one side of my world to the other, from horizon to horizon. Not a cloud can be seen.

My house is redolent with the aroma of chili. Today is Cinco de Mayo, and I have company coming for dinner. I made the chili yesterday, cooked it for a while, put it in the fridge then started it in the crock pot earlier this morning. The other dishes are timed on my flow chart, and I’ll begin when I finish here. The Mexican crockery is washed and ready. I have even started decorating the house. I love that I can entertain on school nights now.

Mammy wagons or mammy lorries were for traveling between towns in Ghana. Most had slogans across the front and back. God was prominent and Trust in God was common. I always thought it was because mammy lorries were barely safe. The passenger part was open on three sides and you sat on a bleacher like seat. There was little to hold on to when the wagon traveled curvy, bumpy laterite roads. I always sat in the middle figuring the people on each side were buffers. No time to die was another common slogan, and that was easily my mantra when traveling on mammy lorries.

Store signs were also amazing in Ghana. The colors were wonderful with lots of bright reds, greens and yellows in imitation of the flag. In Bolga, I could shop at the Praise the Lord or God Will Provide small open stores. Their signs were hand drawn and painted by the owners. My favorites of all the signs were in front of barber shops. Crudely drawn heads showed a variety of hair cut choices mostly from the side or backs views. All the faces were smiling.

The sign I most remember in my town was posted on the sides of buildings. Don’t spit, it spreads tuberculous was its message. Most people spit anyway. It was no big deal.

Categories: Musings
Tags: , ,

Comments: 8 Comments

“Old hippies don’t die, they just lie low until the laughter stops and their time comes round again.”

April 26, 2010

The day is rainy, just as predicted. The birds seem especially noisy this morning. I can hear their raucous calls through the closed windows. I suspect the blue jays are responsible for all the noise.

I need to score some weed, some Mary Jane, some grass. I’m late to the party. I read in the paper a while back how the use of illicit drugs among baby boomers 50-59 rose 63% from 2002 to 2005. People are rediscovering it, for its medicinal purposes of course. This morning I read an article entitled “Vroomer Boomers” which said the average age of motorcyclists is on the rise. After I finish here, I’m going through the boxes in my cellar to find my ponchos, my fringed shirts, head bands and beads. They can’t be far behind.

Today’s article reminded of my Wild One days, not my Easy Rider days as I missed that movie. In Ghana, I had a motorcycle. It was small, a Honda 90, and modest as we had to wear dresses all the time. I learned the gears and the brake when I bought the moto, as they called it in Ghana, and then rode it over 100 miles from Tamale to Bolga. It was exhilarating. I loved the road and the wind on my face. The bugs were not so welcome. I learned to be exhilarated without smiling. A few inhaled bugs and a choke or two taught me that lesson. I rode along singing out loud to pass the time. I figure a few villagers told stories later about the crazy batura on the moto. It took hours to get home though I went as fast as I dared. The road was a good one, paved all the way. It was called the road to Bolga and it went straight there so I never worried about getting lost. I stopped for a warm coke at a store along the road and to stretch my legs. When I got to the school gate, I honked so the gateman would let me in. He smiled a toothless grin and pointed to my bike. I smiled back and nodded.

I only had one injury from my motorcycle, a round burn on my lower leg. As I was standing and waiting for goats to pass, they turned and ran into me. I dropped the bike out of surprise and burned my leg on the exhaust pipe.

Categories: Musings
Tags: , , ,

Comments: 12 Comments

“Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.”

April 22, 2010

Today is Earth Day. The first was forty years ago, and I missed it. Not long after, I read about Earth Day in the weekly review section from the New York Times. The Peace Corps used to send it to us so we could keep up with the world, but I already knew Earth Day. I was living in Ghana where Earth Day was every day. Nothing went to waste in Ghana.

If the soles of my sandals wore out, I brought them to the market where the shoe man re-soled them using old tires. The treads were worn, but those soles outlived the sandals. A friend gave me a year’s subscription to the New York Sunday Times. Four or five papers would arrive at once. When I had finished reading, Thomas, my house boy of sorts, took the papers and sold them to make extra money. Mine was the only market in Ghana where rice was sold wrapped in a cone made from the New York Times. Bucket baths were common especially during the dry season when water was turned off for days at a time. One whole bucket of water was good for a bath and a toilet flush at the end of the day. Even when I could shower, there was only cold water. I learned to shower quickly to make use of the first water from the pipes as it had been warmed by the sun. None of the chicken ever went to waste. The head and feet were boiled together and made great broth and a tasty base for cooking rice. Ghanaians sometimes ran out of beer because they were out of bottles in which to put the beer. Green Star beer bottles were sold in the market filled with palm or groundnut oil. During the spring rains, termites were fried and roasted, or made into bread. I was never a fan of bugs, cooked or uncooked.

Ghana was never paradise. It had trash heaps and open sewers. It had public toilets which were walls around holes in the ground and smelled God-awful. People tossed things anywhere. Mammy lorries spewed smoke and were never inspected. I saw accidents and people lying in the road. I saw Ghana in the best light and in the worst light.

I saw it all, and I brought the best home with me. Like the Ghanaians, I recycle. I save cans, plastic in all colors, newspapers, magazines, cardboard and bottles. I live by the maxim that you always leave a place better than when you found it.

Categories: Musings
Tags: , ,

Comments: 8 Comments

Newer Entries »