May 1st marked the start of a new chapter of life for me. My internship is finished, I left Thika, Jack survived the plane ride and I am taking a bit of time to breathe and get settled in my new place. Actually to be honest, more getting settled than breathing. Everyone is really welcoming and I just got official permission to keep Jack outside as long as I buy the fencing, so that was fantastic news.
I'm coming to terms with the fact that I want to create my own career. I know it's radical, people will think it's risky and blah blah blah. I'm going to try anyway. If it doesn't work out I'll jump back inside the conformity box and look for a temporary, "standard" job until I can fund my dreams. I want to design a garden for income. I already know how many beds I will need, which things should sell here, I have the muscle power (experienced friends back in Thika), and the Almighty Universe KNOWS I have the inspiration. So basically I need land, water and time. That's what it boils down to. Well and manure/compost too.
Yesterday I dug up a tiny bit of soil from the outside of my compound, poured it into a small water bottle I had cut the top off of, and stuffed about three uprooted bunching onions (from G-BIACK) inside. I was going to have a "plant" in my place no matter how yellow, brown, sad, smelly it was. Ha! Then after one little touch of soil, that was it. I was rushing to the balcony to grab the plastic pot the previous tenants left with a dead plant in it, I was soaking the soil, turning it with my supermarket trowel from Brazil (that was supposed to be about 8 dollars with the other trowel and hand fork it came with but I was accidentally only charged about one dollar! yipeee!), and I was putting the rest of the 20 or so bunches of onions in the pot. Naturally I had Vivaldi playing in the background and I was working in the dark since the outside laundry room light wasn't working. I felt a bit silly but I had a feeling in my heart that told me, "YES, this is what you are meant to do! You need to be doing it every day as much as possible!" Has anyone ever experienced being in the middle of an activity and you just become overwhelmed with a sensation that your soul has found its true home? That's what it felt like for me in the dark, with smelly, half dead bunching onions and classical music playing from the other room.
At any rate, two other noteworthy experiences from yesterday: I saw my first Chameleon (!!!!) and then later when trying to photograph an amazing lizard that had a bright orange head and blue body, I was shocked to see two monkeys climbing around on the trees and wall outside my kitchen window. Of course after my initial delight I began to wonder how Jack would get along with monkeys or if they would eat him alive (or knowing him, maybe he'd eat them). I'm having such a love hate relationship with this dog. He makes me so stressed and annoyed sometimes and at other times he'll just look at me quizzically while wagging his tail slowly and I'll feel like I've never had a better, more loyal friend in life.
Today I'm on a mission to get a P.O. Box, get internet and meet a friend for juice or chips or something. Then I need to force myself to finish up the last bit of unpacking and figure out how to make dinner out of the few things that are in my kitchen so far.
Chameleon pictures coming soon!
1 comment:
Yes... holding you and Lisa when you were babies, and gardening... which is pretty much the same thing, really. So very happy for you. And wishing you lots of land, water, and compost. Hugs, Momma
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