January 8, 2011
-
Back to normal…
Our last house guests left just 2 hours ago*. Upon Josh’s return from dropping them off at the airport he immediately began to clean up the garage again (he did it just pre-visitors and i suppose he felt as though it had need of another culling/sorting after it being the junk-dumping place of choice for the last month or so). We’re both unashamedly thrilled to have our house back to ourselves and i am also sorting through things, moving furniture back to ‘small-family’ mode and putting the last vestiges of Christmas/holiday paraphernalia back in the closet.
Since the departure of our guests we are 6 pairs of underwear richer. Score! LOL. Although i did write a note to my siblings and parents to be sure to label their underwear pre-arrival it appears as though we werent as thorough as we could have been. Ah well. Their loss, our gain. haha.
The rains maybe have started up finally. It’s been so dry in the last 2 months, much to the detriment of the rice fields i’m sure. We had downpours the last two nights, which have made everything hot and humid, bah. anyway, it’s great for the garden and i love the sound of the rain hammering on the tin roof. They just replaced all our gutters with brand new ones and painted the soffits. Everything looks nice and new. They will begin with replacing my kitchen counter-top tiles on Monday – hurrah! (i’m hosting MAF guests twice this coming week… hopefully i can get something done in my kitchen when it’s in a state of reno-chaos).
The rain hammering on the roof is also good for drowning out the wails of certain individuals who are now learning to sleep without bottles in their mouths. It was getting out of hand replenishing his bottles 4 times a night, so now that the grandparents are gone there is more opportunity to let him work it out on his own.
So far i’m up 3-0 in the new sleep-war tournament. haha!
photos from Brielle’s camera of the last 2 days before their departure.
Yesterday i took Brielle and Geoff to the jeweler once more to pick up some things they had ordered. WE’ve been there a LOT in the last month or so, much to my sisters-in-law’s delight and my own. Brielle took some photos of our time there and Mme Tina also took us on a tour of her back garden and rice fields. It was a great tour for tourists to be sure! And we got to see how she cuts the stones and whanotall. it was pretty interesting.
this is Geoff, Brielle and Mme Tina the jeweler in her display room/shop.
Most Canadians, as i explained to Mme Tina, are used to buying jewelry ready-made at the store. One of the attractions for visitors here is the opportunity to visit a jeweler where you can purchase un-set stones that come from all over the country. Mme Tina is the aunt of one of our MAF staff and has proven herself to be trustworthy in her dealings. that is, we can trust that she wont sell us fake stones or give us ridiculous prices. She also does good work in setting them. So anyway, my mom, sisters in law and i visited her a few times to take a look at her wares, choose some stones and had them set into pendants, rings, etc. For what the stones/jewelry is worth in Canada the price here is quite a bit lower because of the proximity of the stone locations and the lower cost of labour.
This time around Brielle asked to see how they made the stones/jewelry. This is the machine they use to shape the stones by hand. This is a family run business and they do their work in the same ‘compound’ where they work and farm.
Tina told us that this was the more professional machine to cut the precious stones. It cost them 1,500$ approx. to purchase, which she indicated was an astronomical amount for them. She also indicated that since the political crisis she has lost many of her clients. It’s a difficult time for her as it is for many Malagasy these days.
She took us on a tour of her land. It was full of fruit trees and vegetables. This fruit, which Geoff is putting his hand on to provide scale, is a fruit we didnt recognize and our hosts couldnt remember the french name for. Anyone know what it is?
Their rice fields.
their tortoise.
Brielle and Geoff (… and Brielle’s glasses. ) in the backyard.
* portions of this blog are cut/pasted from an email to a friend, i confess.
Comments (2)
I always thought those fruits were Durians, as I know them from my time in asia. But some people called them Jackfruit. In never figured out if those are the same things.
Tilman
Tilman, thanks for the comment. Josh apparently recognizes the fruit also (i guess i should have asked him before anyone) and says that you’re right, it is Jackfruit or Breadfruit (which i suggested it was when we were looking at it, but i’ve got no real idea).