CC graduated a day after me….in a city five hours away. It made for a long but fantastic weekend filled with family, friends, food, ceremonies, and some sleep. 

CC helps to design, build, and race ‘Baja’ cars every year. This year’s car is nearly ready and will be raced the beginning of June. 

The whole family. 

With the parentals (yeah…CC’s height is not normal for our family). 

The biological kids. 

With the wife. 

Yeah…he’s done with school and off to vacation and then a job!

Tags: family, graduations

ok…I’ve been back for a while, so these posts are a bit delayed….

Here I chilled with brother CC and sister-in-law EC. Highlights include the farmer’s market, great food (think salmon, crepes, fresh raspberries), spending a day replacing the speakers and stereo in George (aka ‘ my faithful car’), and riding on CC’s motorcycle.
For the record, in this picture I am in an empty parking lot in first gear…I am much more practiced at being a passenger!

Tags: cleveland, family, motorcycle, road trip

Spent a couple days chilling with brother MC in Atlanta. In this picture he is finding out that he has lost a bet…good thing we just bet a beer.

Meet MC’s girlfriend LL. She has been the inspiration of MC’s starting to cook. MC wowed me with two outstanding breakfasts and three fantastic dinners. May they continue to cook to create many a good meal together!

Tags: atlanta, family, road trip

I was born in Kenya while my parents where in the Peace Corps. While I only spent 7 months there out of the womb, I have always had a fascination, a connection of sorts, with the country and have wanted to return. 27 years after being one of two white babies in Nairobi Hospital, I returned. Five rip highlights:

1-Visiting the hospital where I was born. Though it has grown significantly, ‘my ward’ was still there, and mom and I snuck a quick photo while we walked down the hall.

2-A friend treated us to a wonderful day at a tea estate where we learned all about how tea is made, drunk our fair share of tea, ate some wonderful food, and enjoyed some magnificent gardens and tea fields.

3-We returned to Thika High School, the boys’ boarding school where my parents taught math. We visited our house, and walked all around the school.

4-One night was spent at Castle Forest Lodge, where Queen Elizabeth stayed at age 19. A beautiful location, Mount Kenya gave me a beautiful birthday present when she was fully visible in the morning.

5-We had birthday cake and coffee at the Norfolk Hotel. A waiter searched high and low for a way to keep a candle lit with the wind outside, and was, finally successful. So not only did I get a beautiful piece of cake, but a candle to blow out as well.

Tags: family, kenya, travel

I have a short consulting job, so have set up shop on our dining room table. It is really a good situation: big table, wireless (which is slooooooow), windows that look out to our gardens, and air conditioners and ceiling fans.

Every now and then we get a fly in the house, which mom chases, with much fervor, until she is triumphant in killing it. I always laugh and carefully watch the food as I am worried that her fly swatter might just land itself on my plate or in my face in the mad chase.

Yesterday afternoon I was home alone so was saved from that humorous chase when a solitary fly invaded my work space. Before long I went to take a last sip of my coffee to find him slowly doing the backstroke in my coffee. I guess this is a lazy man’s way of killing flies.

Tags: coffee, family, tanzania

Originally written on 8 February 2008, but the internet was down…

Last Saturday was Mom’s birthday. In discussing birthday presents this year, us kids decided that, although Mom does very little cooking anymore, she does a lot of serving of people. So we had a bit of fun rounding up some particularly fun serving items: a 20 inch pepper grinder, a whipped creamer, and a fresh parmesan cheese grater.

The whipped creamer is of particular note as it has been a source of much fun and laughter this week. You fill it with heavy cream and powdered sugar, attach the little canister of condensed air, shake three times, and voila, whipped cream. Only thing is that if you pull the trigger too fast, it can get a little violent, including shooting through a pancake.

Tags: birthdays, family

A few pictures from the Mafia Island trip. We took a small plane to the island; on the way back I got to sit in the co-pilots seat. The hotel had multi-course meals… so easy to gain weight while on vacation.

The dive boat was a dhow, a traditional sailing / fishing boat. We motored out to dive sites and then sailed back. Our diving was done at the Mafia Island Marine Park, and it was absolutely fantastic. Turtles (my first ever to see while diving), sharks, moray eels, sting rays, soft coral, and thousands and thousands of fish of all sizes.

Swimming with the whale sharks was on the last day, an it was outstanding. I first read about whale sharks in National Geographic years ago, and have since wanted to see them. Of course this means being in the right place at the right time. I’ve included two pictures of me swimming with the whale sharks. In the first one you can see the spots on the whale shark. In the second you can see its first dorsal fin.

The smallest of the whale sharks were 2-3 meters in length, and, as our guide said, “Are like human children: fast and impossible to keep up with.” The largest whale sharks were around 10 meters in length, and I could swim next to them for a bit of time. I was swimming right next to the head of a particularly large one and it’s eye kept moving with me. Kind of wild to be watched so closely by such a large creature that is within an arm’s reach. Another time I was watching the full length of a large one slide by and did not quite make it out of the way of its tail…though not sharp, it was hard and I have a bruise on my shin… a bruise that I am not all that disappointed about. If you ever get a chance, do not pass up the opportunity to see these magnificent creatures!

Tags: diving, family, ocean, tanzania

It is the little things in life, the things that could go unnoticed or fade into the background, that are often the sweetest things in life. They are the spices that make the ordinary into the exotic.

Yesterday morning as I was lounging in my parent’s bedroom shortly after waking, a monkey was spotted out the window. There was a thud and a scampering as he ran across the roof and jumped to the next tree. Then he was on his way as he walked the power lines away from he house.

Swimming the ocean later in the morning I decided to swim parallel to the shore as there were rumors of portuguese man-off-wars being sited further out. So, instead, I ended up seeing three small jellyfish, all below the surface and seemingly without tentacles. Given their lack of tentacles, I was able to enjoy the grace of their movement in the water.

In the past I have sometimes swum in a pool that was divided between lap lanes and free swim areas. On more than one occasion I have run into a pool toy (think swimming noodle or beach ball) that had drifted into my lane. Yesterday I nearly ran into a coconut innocently bobbing in the water.

Last night I rode home from the embassy with dad. This meant I was on the back of his scooter as we drove along the beach and the sun began to set. A glorious few moments. Later in the evening we went out again and stars were visible in the night sky as we zipped through the cool night air.

It is the little things in life.

Tags: family, nature, tanzania

Tags: family, holiday, washington dc