The Icing on the Cake

I feel that in the last few blog posts we’ve done too good of a job of engendering your sympathy. We’ve told stories of disease and frustration and bureaucracy. You, in turn, have responded with wonderful, supportive and encouraging comments. But the truth of the matter is that our lives here are not as horrible or challenging as one might think. I therefore feel that, in the interest of full disclosure, I should share the following facts with you…



While you all were suffering through a cold and snowy winter, it was regularly between 70-80 degrees here and sunny. We have electricity for computers, lights, hot showers, and other gadgets
And here’s the kicker…we have an electric powered ice cream maker…

Wait! Hold the phone… I know what you’re thinking. “I don’t even have an ice cream maker at home in the US and there’s Erin living in remote Africa with one sitting in her pantry.” I know, with that final fact, all semblance of sympathy has melted away as quickly as our most recent batch of ice cream on a hot sunny Saturday.

And that is exactly what it was two weeks ago… a hot sunny Saturday … which motivated me to break out the ice cream maker and harness my inner Capogiro (Philadelphia, you know what I’m talking about). The result, three sorbets—lime & cilantro, coconut milk & mint, and papaya & honey. They were delicious!



That’s exactly what is so lovely about living here. We no longer have packed weekends with dinner obligations and errands to Target and home repairs and social events. But somehow our weekends seem more full than they ever used to be… there’s mornings with tea and magazines, afternoons for yoga and journal writing. Maybe I’ll give Jeff a haircut, go for a hike to a waterfall, or catch up on some reading. And oh my, there is so much time to cook… cinnamon rolls, and bread, and pita, and soft pretzels, and ice cream, and hummus, and pumpkin cake, and pot pie, and tortillas, and more exciting things with eggplant than you could ever imagine.

So next time you start to feel sorry for us, think of me (right now) sitting on our back porch, eating ice cream and watching the butterflies dance around the flowers as I type this entry. In a few hours I’ll crack open a beer and watch the sun go down over the hill tops. Not too bad, eh?