Mountains of the Moon

Went to see a guy talk about China & India's increasing investments in Africa. He only had an hour, so, very general. His idea of the best outcome is for Africa to become one large free trade area. Afterward, I asked him what he thought would actually happen with that. He was all general. I asked about the EAC, and how Rwanda & Burundi are joining in July, and was that the sort of thing he was talking about? I was going to follow up with all those editorials about how Tanzania ought to pull out of the EAC and stick with the SADC program. (Seems like there's one every other week.) But instead he went off on how much time & energy gets wasted negotiating these trade agreements that don't necessarily get enforced, and how gov't officials in Africa would do better to put their time into fighting corruption at home. Which, ok, good point. But is this continent-wide free trade area supposed to bloom spontaneously? That would be a first.


Today's earrings: sapphires, double moonstones

Bedtime reading: King Solomon's Mines, H. Rider Haggard

Balance restored

Tax refund arrived, which neatly covers the cost of my new rug. :)


Today's earrings: Bees, typewriter keys

Bedtime reading: King Solomon's Mines; H. Rider Haggard

Too darn hot

Awfully warm out these past few days. I think I should try to talk someone into riding a rollercoaster with me this weekend.


Today's earrings: leaves, other leaves

Bedtime reading: King Solomon's Mines, H. Rider Haggard

A million ducks and a twelve-inch pianist

Why are they called "shaggy dog stories"?


Today's earrings: elephants, ebony teardrops

Bedtime reading: King Solomon's Mines, H. Rider Haggard

Desert

It's just gone noon
Half past monsoon
On the banks of the river Nile
Here comes the boat
Only half-afloat
Oarsman grins a toothless smile
Only just one more
To this desolate shore
Last boat along the river Nile
Doesn't seem to care
No more wind in his hair
As he reaches his last half mile
The oar snaps in his hand
Before he reaches dry land
But the sound doesn't dampen his smile
Just pokes at wet sand
With an oar in his hand
Floats off down the river Nile
Floats off down the river Nile
- - Graham McPerson, Mike Barson


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtime reading: King Solomon's Mines, H. Rider Haggard

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral

I think Boo should have sent Stacy to Exile Island. There are four people left who might possibly win this thing: Boo, Cassandra, Earl, and Yau Man. Which means, each of those people should be trying to set up a final three that includes Dreamz and Stacy. Which means, Boo would be better served by Stacy having a HII than by Earl having a HII. On the other hand, Boo & Stacy have been on the same beach since day one, and they don't seem to have had a single conversation about anything of substance. Editing or deep antipathy? No way to know...

Cassandra was very slick, the way she deflected Yau Man's statement of the obvious. She didn't promise him jack, and yet, it was all smoothed over. Very neat.


Today's earrings: flowers, other flowers

Bedtime reading: King Solomon's Mines, H. Rider Haggard

My Treasures

THESE nuts, that I keep in the back of the nest
Where all my lead soldiers are lying at rest,
Were gathered in autumn by nursie and me
In a wood with a well by the side of the sea.

This whistle we made (and how clearly it sounds!
By the side of a field at the end of the grounds.
Of a branch of a plane, with a knife of my own,
It was nursie who made it, and nursie alone!

The stone, with the white and the yellow and gray,
We discovered I cannot tell how far away;
And I carried it back although weary and cold,
For though father denies it, I’m sure it is gold.

But of all my treasures the last is the king.
For there’s very few children possess such a thing;
And that is a chisel, both handle and blade,
Which a man who was really a carpenter made.
- - Robert Louis Stevenson


Today's earrings: diamonds, coins

Bedtime reading: King Solomon's Mines, H. Rider Haggard