“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.”
Okay, I am now looking forward to spring training. On February 19th, pitchers and catchers report, and opening day isn’t all that far away. Last year my Red Sox shot themselves in the feet; I have higher hopes for this year. Someone has to win something.
I have news. My trip to Ghana last year strengthened my love for that country. When I was leaving, I was upset that I had been there for only two weeks, and I swore I’d go back at least one more time. That one more time is in August. I am booked to leave August 24th arriving in Ghana on August 25th and then leaving September 17th and arriving home on the 18th. I found a ticket only $100.00 more than last year, and it includes the roundtrip flights between Boston and Washington and the flights to and from Accra, first class both ways. I get my sleeping pod.
Francisca, my student who is in Ohio and came to visit me here, will be back in Ghana by then and will pick me up at the airport and drive me to Bolga after we visit a few tourist spots. The list includes Cape Coast, the canopy walk and Elmina. We’ll then backtrack to the Volta Region for the ride north. That is the only region I haven’t seen. I’ll stay with Francisca in her village. It will be rooster alarm clock and bucket bath time again. After my last trip. I’m back to being a bucket bath expert. I hope to bring school supplies with me for the village school. Francisca will make a list of needs, and I’ll try my best to fill them.
Today is a beautiful day, sunny and warm. It is 42° and feels a little like an early spring day when it’s still cold but the air has a hint of what’s to come. I know this is only early February and snow is still a possibility, but I’m thinking spring. My daffodil bud is even more pronounced than it was a few days ago, and there are shoots all over the front garden. I know it’s winter but my hearts sings of spring.
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February 6, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Great news!
Fantastic that You could get tiockets that wasn’t that much more expensive! I’m already looking forward to photographs 🙂 🙂 🙂 and to be honest, is there any better alarm than the one coming from a rooster 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
February 6, 2012 at 4:36 pm
Christer,
I bet I’ll have some great photos from being in the village. I went through a couple last time because are the family compounds I remember. But it is a long way off so I’ll have to be patient.
February 6, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Do you think Tom Brady will be back next year as QB for the Pats?
February 6, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Z&Me,
Without question!
February 6, 2012 at 2:52 pm
What a wonderful way to spend part of your summer. Now that the Super Bowl is over it’s almost time for spring training. The Rangers again look strong in the American League West. I never thought that I could write that sentence in my lifetime. It’s all the work of Jon Daniels, the GM.
Have you seen the movie Moneyball or read the book? It’s all about using computer programs to figure out the talents of baseball players. I am convinced that the Rangers used this method to get to the World Series twice. Ron Washington, the Ranger’s manager was a coach on the Oakland 2001 baseball team depicted in the book and movie.
February 6, 2012 at 4:39 pm
Bob,
The Rangers were strong last summer too. Going back to Ghana the first time was like a dream but going back a second time is amazing.
I did see the movie, and I know the Sox too take players on a shoestring for money. They figure they have little to lose and maybe a lot to gain. I figure MLB took that book to heart.
February 6, 2012 at 4:40 pm
That’s awesome, Kat! Congratulations! (I wonder what that nutty doctor you went to last year would think!)
February 6, 2012 at 4:44 pm
sprite,
He’d remind me to wear white socks with my sandals, eat only canned food and wash my fruit in a solution with a cleaner.
February 7, 2012 at 7:49 am
Hi Kat,
That’s great about Ghana! And first class, too!
You are only a week or so behind me in the anticipation of spring. I was driving up to Newburyport the other day and kept scanning the long view of the trees that one gets from I95 to see if I could spot some color coming up in the willows and maples. It’s there. Whoo hoo! 🙂
Oh, and I bought two bird feeders and some food. I put them well away from the house so the spawns of Satan wouldn’t get any ideas. If we get a pile of snow and I can’t get out there, the feeders will just have to go unfilled until I can. So far only the English sparrows and White Breasted Nuthatches have found them.
Enjoy the day.
February 7, 2012 at 10:10 am
Hi Caryn,
I feel as if I should wear a flowery brimmed hat when I fly!
It is amazing to me how much of spring has arrived. The Cape is always three weeks or so behind Boston. The ocean keeps us colder. This is the earliest I have ever seen buds and even crocus blooming.
The birds havent been around as often as usual and neither have the spawns. The warm weather must be giving them options.
I miss my birds!
February 7, 2012 at 7:59 am
Kat:
When we lived in Tafo, per Peace Corps advice, we soaked any vegetables or lettuce in Milton, a mild bleach solution. We got sick anyway–not sure if it was the bleach or the veggies. I remember Betty and Larry Crowe in Koforidua, all of us in the communal bathroom at the same time, and Larry said: “We’ll never really know what makes us sick here.” In the immortal words of Tom Lehrer: “Don’t drink the water and don’t breathe the air.”
Another bit of sage advice from Peace Corps Ghana: If you get bitten by a goat or sheep, cut off the head, pack it in ice, and send it to Accra for rabies testing.” O.K., will do, not a problem.
February 7, 2012 at 10:13 am
Bill,
I remember it as a dog’s head to cut off and pack in ice. I always got a laugh because once the Ghanaian knew I wanted his dog, the price would equal the cost of a rare pure-bred from here, and where was I expected to get all that ice for the long trip to Accra?
I got sick twice in the two years. The first was during training and I remember sitting up all night on the steps of the bathroom so I’d have a short run, so to speak.Then I got sick once in Bolga from something I ate from a street vendor. It lasted a day or two.
February 7, 2012 at 8:05 am
Great news! Sorry I missed your call–we’ll talk this week.
February 7, 2012 at 10:15 am
Ralph,
I’ll try and give you a call!
I have 6 months to save the money I need so I start my austerity campaign this week!
February 7, 2012 at 10:33 am
So happy for you Kat! Nothing like anticipation to motivate one!
My oldest doll is going to Senegal in July with the Muhammad Ali Scholars program, we are all so excited! I am studying all I can about it, trying to imagine what she will see and do. Traveling opens us like nothing else and reaffirms how alike we are all over the world. Can’t wait for the photos and the stories! YAY!
February 7, 2012 at 10:36 am
splendid,
Thanks! Senegal is a great country, and it has the most amazing music. Make sure your daughter has a small computer so you can Skype. She can show you in real time what she is seeing. No one can imagine Africa. It has to be lived. I hope she finds a place to love the way I have.
February 11, 2012 at 4:30 am
Hi Kat!
Just catching up on the internet – – – hooray for your latest trip. We will all go their in spirit once again!
I hate winter…even though we have not had a bad one this year. I am all for spring training to start…even though my Mets are not expected to do very much. Not like you Sox.
Waving from Jersey 🙂
Coleen
February 11, 2012 at 11:51 am
Hi Coleen,
I too am so excited. I just had to go back one more time. It was so wonderful the last time that as i was leaving I regretted staying only 2 weeks.
I’m a Mets fan too. Of course, the Sox are first in my heart but then come the Mets!
Waving back through the snow!