I am learning this blog thing, so please be patient with my postings. Here is some more:

Hugh's reflections:
Our new home and surroungsing are slowly sinking in. So many new sights and sounds. Gone are the car and truck sounds, now there are donkeys and chickens and goats and cows. People walk everywhere. Everyone greets everyone womeshat elaborately. Habari, Salama Mzuri, Mzuri, Karibu, Asante sans! This is hello. A warm handshake and smile accompany all greetings. We were in a barren fiely (there is a terrible drouth), and a Massai man came up to me while we were looking at his cattle. The greeting was the same. Daktari Joseph showed up at our house on Monday, the 29th, yes on his bicycle. He is the area vet. He covers 7 villages on his bicycle. He straps a wooden box of medicine on the back of his one gear bike, carries a 30 lbs. liquid nitrogen tank on his back for bull semen, and away he goes. His smile is captivation and his English is very animated. He castrated a pig and dewormed 3 others, and also gave Epsom salt which every animal gets by "throwing it down their throat with your hand. He charged less than 3.00 US, but the older lady gave him less than a dollar. It was all she had. I thought the bicycle was crazy till I saw the back roads. We have a car so Joseph and I have been on Calls for the last 3 days. We turn here and there, i have no idea where are and eventually we arrive at a house. If it weren't fr the hills, remember the one geared bicycle, a car might be slower!
I must reflect on Amsterdam where we layed over for 3 days. There are 800,000 people in Amsterdam and 1.2 million bikes. Our cab driver sheepishly told us he has 3 bicycles. There are separate bike and pedestrian lanes on every street. Rush hour is amazing with bikes going everywhere. There are bikes with large wooden frames attached to the front of the bike where typically 2 beautiful tow-headed children sit, with groceries, as their mother or father peddle them home. The people are gorgeoun and vibrant, and very friendly, Everyone sits outside socializing. People are "plugged in" to each other; not something electonic.
Van Gogh. He never had an art lesson. He once painted 80 paintings in 60 days. He had periods of recurring "fits" which he constantly combatted y searching for peace in the countryside where he found solace? or did he just feed his obsession, by painting. What wafts from the painting are COLORS. Vibrant, amazing colore that captivate. Ann's favorite painting is a fruit tree in spring bloom, a gift to his brother's new baby. The bright blues in this painting are delightful to the eye.
Ann Frank's house. I was studying and listening and learning about her life with some objectivity until I enteren her bedroom. As I entered her bedroom, my eyes welled. I could sense her presence, her soul . She slept in this room for 3 years. She had pictures on the wall of Greta Garbo. Rudy Valle, and Ginger Rogers. There was a small print of a rose by Rembrandt. Some of her quotes:

I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young, and know that I'm free.

When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived!

The English radio says thery're being gassed. I feel terribly upset.

Ann Frank started her diary when she was 13 years old. She died one month before liberation.



Next post I hope to have some pictures