Weekend in Ma.

blogger upload, a set on Flickr.

Pictures say it all

The nine months of waiting concluded with a call from Ellie last Tuesday night announcing the birth of  Charlotte Sophia Provan.   David hopped on an early morning flight to meet the newest addition to the clan.

Sarah looked great but most eyes were on Charlotte - all 7lb 15oz and 21 inches of her. 

Hospital and nurses were very impressive

                                              As were the parents:

On the way back it became clear just how early I  left.  The Syracuse guys just laughed.  The Madison security team kept taking them on and off the belt and rescanning.  They couldn't quite believe it.

Catch our breath

It's been a wild ride since we returned from Africa and I feel like today is the first day we've been able to catch our breath. After breakfast I canoed over to our neighbor to the south who captured our wayward raft last month. He rigged up a new anchor system and we paddled the raft out and tossed it overboard. The cable is about three times thicker than my last effort and he put a 6 foot length of chain between the 100 lb cement anchor and the cable. Last anchor lasted two years maybe this setup will last 6.

We went into Tully for the annual festival. Bought some used books, checked out the offerings and headed out to the orchards for some apple tastings. Once home Melanie caught some rays, we grilled some fish for dinner and kicked back. A nice day.

Since we got back a lot has happened. We had a visit from Gabby and her family








then it was off to Madison to see Max and his crew: Then of course there was Boston with Eva and Noah and the gang > Next up were Dylan an Ollie but wait..... It turned out we met them in NYC for Z & A's wedding:

And to finish out the month can you believe Dylan turned 5? She's started Kindergarten! Bring on September! - Posted from the ipad

Location:Tully, Ny,United States

Amsterdam - ok, we've been home for a week , but we're still catching up.

To end up the vacation I always dreamed about we visited Nils and Debra in Amsterdam. It was a perfect ending. Debra (you are the woman of my heart) requested Chinese food for lunch.  The concierge suggested a restaurant that was also a house boat. After wondering aimlessly for awhile Nils looked up and said maybe it’s that Asian boat. It had a pagoda top.  Hurray, Nils. While the food was wonderful the waitress did not become my BFF. She was pretty critical. She made it clear we ordered too much food. And then I asked for sugar for my tea. Well, I didn’t mean to be culturally inappropriate.  She was adamant sugar wasn't to be used. So I drank bitter tea. 

 To get a lay of the land we went on a canal tour. I was the only one who liked it but to be honest I fell asleep as soon as the boat started. Amsterdam is a great place to walk and walk we did. A beautiful city. As an American it is wondrous to see building so old.

 Next day, we walked all over and had a fun shopping spree, yes David excused himself and left us. David’s credit card wouldn't incur the ridiculous extra charges of using it out of the country, so I borrowed David’s card. We had a brief moment of angst when the saleswoman looked at the card and said the signatures aren’t the same. I was using a felt pen so I said that was the reason and she accepted it. The real reason was IT WAS DAVID'S CARD WITH HIS NAME ON IT NOT MINE. Interesting that she noticed the signatures were different but that I probably wasn't “David Zimet” but, oh well.

We went the the Van Gogh museum one morning.  It was interesting to view his work in a historical perspective and see how it changed. And what a treat to see some of our favorites in person.  What was particularly striking was just how much more powerful the actual works were than their copies.

The works jumped out a grabbed you.  Lots of art, lots of walking, and thank goodness for the tram system!.  We took a brief stop at the flower market before grabbing lunch and heading back to the hotel for a siesta. The flower markets sold cannabis starter kits and I thought, a better gift for the kids than t shirts but David nixed the idea. Something about customs. 

That evening we went to the Anne Frank house.  The visit is not something I can ever describe. It was of course in a word, powerful.  What I want to mention is right after the visit just when we were all depleted and grasping for positives we look up and there was a clown riding by on a bicycle.  We have no idea why he was there or what he was doing but I want to thank him for helping me to see there is fun left in the world.


 Bicycles, everyone rides around on bikes and God help you if you wandered  into the bike lane. We took a taxi and the taxi driver was a hoot. David asked how it was to drive in this city. He said difficult with so much traffic, bikes, and strange streets. Plus, he said, everyone’s stoned.

Nils, again the hero, found a wonderful gluten free Dutch restaurant.  Also the waitress didn’t harass me so that was a plus.  Thanks, Debra and Nils for a great time.

This and that

This and that

Zebras in the water were fascinating. They are like schools of fish only louder. They would all be quietly drinking and without any signal we could discern they would lift their heads and turn directions en masse. As if they were spooked. But three minutes later it would happen again. I got it on video but it doesn't have the impact of seeing it in person. David said researchers are studying this behavior. I'd love to read what they say about herd mentality.

Some of you (well at least one of you) might be wondering about the food. 4 of the 5 hotels we stayed at are in the Serena chain which is owned by a Indian Prince- the Aga Kahn. So when we had "Africa night" at one of the hotels Melanie's comment was "I guess African food means Indian food. Actually all of the hotels had a variant on a typical English breakfast. There would be a buffet of fresh fruit, cheese, smoked beef, bread, cereals and porridge as well as a selection of juices. orange, watermelon, passion fruit, mango, paw-paw, tamarind, pineapple and sometimes apple. Eggs were cooked per request and a few of the hotels offered eggs Benedict and such. the eggs were different from western eggs if you can believe it. The yolks were extremely pale almost serous in color. Why? Is it because we doctor the eggs or because of the difference in chicken feed? All sausage and we think all the bacon was beef. We were thinking this was because of Moslem travelers but then we saw pork chops on the menu one night. Tea and coffee and champagne were on the list of included drinks. At most restaurants you had to buy water by the bottle. There were also pastries and bread although non of those were spectacular.

We had most of our lunches on the road so the hotel would pack box lunches for us to have while we were out. There was a lot of food but not of much character or taste. There would be a cucumber sandwich, a smoked beef sandwich (both sandwiches feature a lot of butter and a couple of small half dollar pieces). Then there would be a piece of chicken, bottle of water, piece of cheese, crackers, chocolate bar.

The first night spent at the Tanguire River Camp. This was not part of the chain and the food was really good. More in the next installment


- Posted from the ipad

Location:Kilimanjaro Airport Rd,,Tanzania

Last game drive

We're at the Ngornogoro. crater. Believe it or not I'm cold. Till now the nights have been in the mid 70's and the days have been in the 80's and low 90's. Our hotel is over a mile high. I'll just mention a couple of high points because I'm beginning to lose it. And we're sad that we finished the game drives. The drive from the Serengeti to here was incredibly dusty. We had to have the vans lights on because it was such a dust storm. Saw many animals. We'll show pictures.

Today we drove into the crater. The drive down is like the drive to Joan and Abbotts old house for the Blumkin clan. Only it's a dirt road wide enough for one car. It's easier to see animals because it's an enclosed place so that was great. Plus we got to see the last member of the big five. That would be the rhino. First we saw a mom and baby. Then later two rhinos hanging out. Very cool. Also got to see some baby hippos a ton more lions including a few that came close enough to pet and... Well david will label the photos when they go up. Melanie/I took a video of the lion but then it walked up to our car and I dropped the camera. The lion was so close i could see he had goop in his eye a d just like when the kids were young or with Snuffy i wanted to reach down and clean it out. Plus I took a perfect video for my brother of an elephant pooping. All sorts of mammals and birds.

Debra, I found the perfect pet for you. It's called a serval cat. I hadn't heard of it before. It's the size of a house cat with leopard spots on it's tawny body and striped leggings on it's legs. Cute little black ears with White markings. Your dad had to stop me from opening the door and scooping him up for you.

I should mention that male animals aren't usually hanging with the others. And as for the lions it's the females that hunt and kill and bring the bacon home. Maybe Disney can redo the lion king as the lion queen. The males depend on the females for food and when he's too old he's kicked out by the younger males.

What else to babble about? Did we mention when we were at the Serengeti a mother warthog and her babe lived under our tent and that was all the sniffing? So we got close to the warthog more often then I cared to. They are both very ugly and very smelly. It seems to me that one should either pull the ugly card or the smelly card but it's unfair to pull both. Of course if one was very bright it wouldn't matter if one was smelly and ugly. I don't think that's true of the warthog. Josh let's put this on the top of our list of things to argue about.

Sarah, elephants gestation is two years a d giraffes 15 months. Being human seems better and better doesn't it? We saw a pregnant giraffe.

We've just returned from dinner and housekeeping left two filled hot war bottles in the bed. Melanie's a happy camper!

Tomorrow back to Kilimanjaro where we catch an overnight plane to Amsterdam and Debra and Nils. Don't count on us blogging in Amsterdam


- Posted from the ipad

Location:Ngornogoro Crater, Tanzania

Guess who's birthday?

July 7th
Guess who's birthday? Happy birthday Joy and me.

I had a fine night since I'm now taking benedryl so I can sleep with all the noise outside the tent. Apparently there was quite a commotion last night with snorting and then galloping. Turns out there was a wildebeest killed by a lion right outside camp. As any of my kids can tell you I have no sense of direction. I asked David if that was near our tent and he assured me it was in a galaxy far far away so I calmed down. Then I was talking to the staff about it and they said it was really near our tent. oy vay!

thanks for all the birthday greetings. Internet in the western Serengeti is spotty to say the least. David delivered a wonderful card from his folks and managed to keep hidden till today a Great birthday card from Josh and Laura and a beautiful finger painting from Gabby plus a great bday video from the Bleisenbergs. Later on I got to talk to all the boys and their kids and Rachel Noah and Eva. Sorry Debra Skype isn't working to Sweden for some reason. Missed talking to Sarah too but we spoke to her a few days ago. So many of the staff ask how many children we have and I say 6. I don't feel I have to go into details, they all said wasn't that difficult and I say no. Then when they leave David says that's because they were brought up in 2 different houses with other spouses to help. (no he doesn't-he doesnt even open his mouth on the subject)

Now that I am putting in my two cents you should know that beside being called Melon, the staff is calling her "Mama". As in "where is Mama?" or "we wait for "mama!"

The iPad was a big hit with the staff. It is the first they have ever seen or heard of it. Watching Melanie FaceTime and Skype drew lots of interest.


Saw2 leopards. A mom and 2 cubs just sitting under a tree. Didn't like us there so left and we followed them. Got some great pix.

Then we came upon lions bunches of them eating a zebra. We were able to park right next to them. We could hear the crunching of the zebra bones. Yum. One guy had his head completely in the zebra. They apparently start at the back end and eat it all except the ribs, even the head. You could tell they were eating the intestines, just pulling out this long rope. Then the lion with his head in the zebra pulled out an intact liver. That ad the heart are apparently the prize parts.

So I think of myself as a big picture person and certainly not a details person. When we were with the lions and they were literally next to the car John kept saying close the window. I was so intent on the lions I didn't close the window. David closed it. It wasn't until we were back in the hotel that I said to david was I supposed to close the window because of a danger factor. He looked astounded and said yes they could jump in. Oh. Josh we can argue when I get back if that's a detail or bog picture

We had a very special birthday Dinner. First they brought a bottle of champagne to our tent courtesy of the boys. We drank a glass and brought the rest of the bottle to the lobby. They took it to put it on ice after taking another glass. When we got to dinner they misplaced the bottle so they gave us a second bottle. For once I was a bit prudent but the guy I'm with finished the rest. We did look happy. Of course when I say I was prudent at some point I tried to say Hakuna Matata and it just wasn't coming out correctly. After dinner the entire staff came out with a birthday cake and sang a number of African birthday songs and throughly embarrassed me. Thanks again Blumkin boys! In fact when we got to this hotel today (July 8) a guest from yesterday was here and came to us and said how was your birthday?

So David and I were talking and I should say I'm not in the least scared and am really into the animals. I can just look at them for hours as evidenced by my watching the lions for 45 minutes.


- Posted from the ipad

Location:Western Serengeti

July 6

Oops. Been a few screw ups on our (ok my) part. Nothing to bad. Last night I went to charge up batteries and couldn't find the chargers We looked all around the tent, unpacked the bags, repacked the bags and decided we (ok I) must have left them 300 miles away at the last hotel. Wasn't the end of the world but a litle disappointing. As Melanie can tell you I put together all sorts of checklists to avoid just this sort of thing.

As I changed for dinner I happened to look at myself in the mirror and couldn't believe the lobster that was looking back. I've been so good with the lobster juice and bug juice on all exposed skin. We had gone down to pool yesterday and, as usual, I was sitting in the shade. It was warm so I took off my shirt. Apparently the sun is so powerful here that you can get a burn off the reflected ambient light even while in the shade. But in any case, while looking in the mirror I found the adapter bag sitting on the counter where both of us must have looked 4 or 5 times. All is well that ends well, we now we are all charged up and back in business. SPF 50 here I come.

It's about noon and melainie and I are sitting on the porch of our tent, reading, writing and soaking in the scenery and sounds. Some sort of beast must have just passed below us - Odor is pretty strong and we've both had showers. Last night Melanie awoke to the sniffer again and I heard something gallop by around 5am. This morning we got off to our game drive without ants.

Today's feature was a visit to a couple of lion prides. Got a video of one female finishing off a wildebeest. These guys really weren't too worried about us. Again we were maybe 20 feet away. She'd look at us and then go back to her gnaw. This was a pride with about 4 children. Every few minutes one would jump another one and they would start to tousle. I identified with the mother. Why can't they play nicely? We are starting to recognize more of the birds. All sorts of eagles and vultures as well as song birds. Still in awe of the ostrich.

So since we've been in the Serengeti we go for a 6a game drive preceded by our pre breakfast and get back for breakfast. Then we grab a book and hang around the pool for a while and head to lunch. Then we go for another game drive around 330.

Whenever we pass near the lounge tent people ask us about or day. And the manager of the place makes a point to chat with us each day. Today David mentioned what a challenge it must be to run a place like this in the bush. "Not so bad" he said. Besides the issue of supplies and stalfing The most interesting Thing I heard him say was that when they hire, they make sure to hire happy people. It makes sense to me. They have a number of hotels around Africa and invest heavily in training. For the bush hotels, an employee signs up for a 1,3,4,8, or 12 week shift. You acrue vacation days in relation to the length of the shift and all employees get a 30 day leave per year. The pay is not great so i suspect that they are quite dependent on tips There is a lot of room for advancement and most people have been with the organization quite a while. He also talked about Michael's fundraiser and how the hotel tries to help a little with these things. and then I spoke with a young woman getting married and she talked about her fundraiser so I guess That is the correct term. Jan and Jerry give this idea to Tyler.

For the afternoon game drive we got to see a lion eating a wildebeest while his 5 friends watched. So here's the thing about John. All the other jeeps stayed on the road. As soon as they left John drove off the road up to the lions. Is that cool or scary? The answer to both is yes.

Then we saw some Monster crocs swimming around with some hippos. These guys were easily 18 to 24 ft long. They had killed a wildebeest and 2 crocs were not agreed as to how should control dinner. They had each latched on to one end and were playing tug of war. Occasionally another croc would sneak in for a quick bite-but that was discouraged. Besides us there were a half dozen other crocs, some storks, eagles, monitor lizards all hoping to get in on the action. Actually we were not interested in anything other than watching. We had our own dinner to back to. So all of a sudden, one crock-still with his jaws clamped firmly in place, rolls over a couple times. This annoyed the other guy and he rolled over a couple times. Between the splashing of the water you could see the horns of the poor wildebeest flashing by. It was clear that they were trying to twist it apart. Eventually one guy managed to pull off the biggest piece. He swam off a little way an then lifted up his head to show off his prize. Never seen anything like it- and did I say this guy was HUGE!!!!!!!!!
Apparently the only animal the croc doesn't kill is the hippo. That's because the hippo always knows were the water is and the crocs follow them. Oh yes, and the fact the the hippos jaws are strong enough to snap the croc in half. Have I mentioned how graceful the hippos are on land? They really seem to tip toe. David, he's David not me, said Disney got them right in Fantasia. Neither of us would have been surprised if they had tutus on. But in the water not so graceful. They also make the most horrid noises.

Before dinner we sat on the terrace and watched a beautiful sunset.




- Posted from the ipad

Location:Western Serengeti

We're at a true luxury tent camp. This is the place with tents with mahagony bathrooms. We placed a 5:30 wakeup call and sure enough we heard footsteps approach at 5:30 with our coffee and hot cocoa pre breakfast. Why were we up at 5:30 I hear you ask?
Things that go bump in the night - or more accurately, Things that go sniff in the night Those things also kept knocking into the tent. My explanation of an airplane didn't fly this time. (actually he claimed they were birds).

Water buffalo was the probably cause. Anyway up we got up and dressed and called for our escort. We're standing on the porch waiting and suddenly Melanie cries out "something is biting me". She starts slapping her legs and back and legs and then I join the dance. The hell with waiting for the escort - we take off down the path. He meets us halfway to the lodge and we're still slapping ourselves silly. As we walk through the dining hall the manager asks how were and we told him. Perhaps ants? He suggests.

Bingo- off to the restrooms where I pull up my pantslegs and nab the suckers. I'm taking off my shirt when Melanie calls out from the woman's room that she could use help. Off I go bare chested to the rescue! We pull off/up/down her clothes and find quite a collection ants crawling around. Apparantly we had been standing in an ant trail and rather than go around us they just climbed up. We got rid of them and She starts to dress and I button my shirt as I walk towards the exit. The woman I met at the door inside the woman's room looked a bit surprised- well quite a bit. I said " don't mind me, I just had to pick some ants off my wife."

We were feeling a lot better by the time we got to John and the jeep although we had phantom bites for awhile. Why a 6 am game drive? More animal activity than mid day. Again the sky seemed to lighten all at once. About 70 degrees slight overcast the light created an almost impressionistic cast to the scenery as we came off the mountain. We said good morning to some zebras and giraffes took a left and started to cross a stream. Also cape buffalo i asked them to stay away from our tent but they just looked as if they intended to do as they pleased. First thing Melanie saw off to the left was a huge croc. Off to the right were a dozen or more hippos. By off to the right I mean maybe 20 feet. They all just starred at us, snorting on occasion. Really looking right at us.
I saw movement up ahead and saw a late returning hippo tiptoeing home. Yes it really looks like tiptoeing. Once he noticed us he picked up the pace till he got to the bank. Then all grace went out the window and I'll share the photos at a later post.

Next on to the savannah to see a cheetah. David got a good picture of him yawning that well share. We watched him watching gazelles for a long time. Fascinating. Also saw many hyenas. Not pretty animals. Also a mother lion in a bush with some cubs. 15 feet away but she didn't mind and I'm getting less nuts.

We're relaxing at the pool and Michael, who works here is talking to us. He's getting married in September and must give his wife's family a dowery of 5 cows,1 goat, barrel of tobacco and 2 new dresses. David got away easy. Michael also talked about his, what i call an engagement party but he called a fund raiser. This is where people come and give them money towards their wedding. 150 people are invited. Im pretty sure he invited us. Michael also taught us the word mizungo which basically means honkey. Off to lunch now. The waitstaff is wonderful. They all want to know our names. Unfortunately one of the women calls me Melon. I'm going to regret telling you this.

Lastly Disney didn't make this up. People here keep saying una metata - no problem.



- Posted from the ipad

Travel day

Monday was a travel say as we drove from Lake Manyera to Serengeti. So no game drive (supposedly). That took from 830 to 715p. But this is what we saw along the way - zebras, wildebeests, antelopes, gazelles, lions, a cheetah, 3 leopards, David saw hyena cubs (I missed them). We stopped at Olduvai Gorge. Who remembers what that is? It's where the Leakeys did their dig for over 60 years. I can't tell you how incredible the museum was there. It's in a small stone building but the archeological finds they have there is amazing. All kinds of animals that are extinct. We got a great talk from the museum guide on the history of the findings. Then we crossed the Serengeti. For hours. But we saw all the amazing animals above. Plus Melanie got to piss off a bull elephant! Well no she didn't really - just happened to be in his line of sight when we we blocking his way to the watering hole and he wanted to let her know he was pissed. So he reared back and let go with a bugle call. Certainly got our attention.

I'll just tell about one pride of lions we saw. There were 9 in the pride. First we saw them sitting on a small hill and went off road to park next to the hill. The guide, John looked out and said, there's another lion sleeping right next to the car. I promptly shut the window. We drove a short distance and there was another lion form this same pride watching 5 gazelles. We stopped. As we waited the other 8 lions who were sitting on the hill and sleeping next to our car saunters and I mean saunters over. Oy. I want to warn the gazelles but how. I thought of throwing a rock at them but my aim stinks, plus I'd have to get out of the van and THERE ARE 9 LIONS NEAR BY. David wouldn't save me because he had his camera on sports mode which meant he's clicking pictures at 60 frames a minute and if I was being mauled he would get some great shots but wouldn't stop. There was another jeep there and I notices someone in that jeep whistling so I guess he was trying to warn the gazelles. It was riveting watching the lion circle around getting closer and closer. The upshot of this story is that the 8 lions just watched as this one lion went after the gazelles and the lion missed his chance. The wind must have changed and the gazelles smelled the lion and ran. They go up to 50 miles an hour. We couldn't take our eyes off the action. It was like a game where you knew one team was a sure winner (the lions) and then in the last minutes the other team (gazelles) win.

We also saw some elephants chase a leopard up a tree. Really nothing more to say. The leopard had stashed his kill up a tree. The other leopard also had his kill up a tree. Apparently leopards have the strongest neck muscles of any cat and drag the kill to a tree and then drag the kill 20 meters up the tree.

David also got a picture of a lion yawning. Quite a set of choppers on him.

Just a couple of words about the campsite were at. Very nice but we had to have an orientation and they were very clear we can go nowhere at night without a guard. That means we have to have an escort to dinner and back. These guards carry more then flashlights and look like they're in the army. They also stressed to keep our tent zipped up tight or we'd come back to find baboons in our bed. They convinced me. They asked what time we want a wake up call and said the wake up call comes as a pre breakfast. So we're going out on a game drive at 6am. Well ask for a 530 wake up call and they'll bring us coffee, hot chocolate muffins and cookies. Then we come back at 9am for breakfast. All night I've been humming, I think I'm gonna like it here. Good night all.
.

Sent from my iPad


- Posted from the ipad

Sunday

Another incredible day. I'm going to stay and turn in my air ticket and become a guide or a ranger. We stayed in a lodge, which means a real room. It's amazing how much better we both slept without elephants and lions running up and down the halls. This morning and afternoon we went to Lake Manyara national park. As soon as we got in there were many many monkeys and baboons scrambling around. The baboons we've been seeing are the small baboons not the large variety but they are something. Always grooming and eating each others nits yum. Then we went a very short way and Momma and baby elephant were munching on grass. The baby didn't quite have the Hang of it and it took her a couple of tries to get the grass from the ground to her mouth. The adult elephants use their tusks like chopsticks to pick up the grass or branches. The elephants just ignored us and went about their business. There something about the elephants and the giraffes that really make me just watch and watch and smile. Speaking if which we saw a pack of 7 giraffes all very close to the road. When we stopped one ran away. She sounded just like a horse clopping. Then there were 6 and they just stood and ate and were so sweet. More zebra and wildebeest. But after lunch the guide, Jon, suddenly stops backs up and there was a lion in a tree. Jon pulls in under the tree and after the shock of seeing the lion in the tree we look and see there are 3 adult female and 4 baby lions in the tree. We're clicking away pictures like crazy. Remember we're in an open topped vehicle with lions over us taking pictures. Some part of my mind is going this isnt good but I couldn't stop taking the pictures. Remember I'm the one who gets nervous easily. Only 1 of the 7 lions was asleep. Apparently the guide said ok can we go and I went wait. Then David said can we go and I said wait. Then David said were going NOW. Afterward I asked David why we stayed under the tree so long and was astounded (but I know my husband does not lie) that the reason was me.

Forgot about the hippos. They were all in a big pond. Just lying there but every once in awhile they would roll over and splash. Big big animals.

This I found sad although David keeps spouting circle of life garbage to me. Apparently when male cape buffalos get old they're kicked out of the pride and sent off to this hot springs part of lake Manyara. The water there is salted not fresh and not healthy for them. That's where they die. There were 3 just hanging around looking pretty miserable. Plus one cape buffalo skull that a lion had eaten a few months before. The good news is that they let the old female buffalos stay with the pride and continue to protect them. david asked if I knew what anthropermorphic meant.





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Location:Lake Manyara

Lots of real estate

At around 4 in the pm and I looked out the window. Last I had seen we had passed over Germany, Poland, went around Vienna and had headed into Greece. Got cloudy and I read for awhile and then opened the window shade:


This is an iPad shot from 35,000 feet. I've seen a fair amount of desert but nothing like this. And it went on and on. Then over Ethiopia and by the time we got to Kenya it was dark.

- Posted from the ipad

Time for tea

- Posted from the ipad

Location:A 104,Maguga,Tanzania

Sat July 2 part 2

Back to this morning. Our guide, John wanted an early start. I think he is feeling pressure as we haven't seen any cats yet. It grew light as I had said as we entered the park. Vultures were stil sitting in the trees but other birds were all over the place and making all sorts of racket. no one talks about the birdlife here but it is incredible.

There are trails across the savanah - not really roads. They are mixed with wildebeest trails elephant trails and all sorts of other tracks running to and from the river. Apparently many tourists are expecting to see a kill. Yeah you got it. Not on the top of our list. But to see cats you have to go where they will be which is where the food is which means water ( a whole other blog to write)

I don't think i mentioned that for the last couple nights i can't close my eyes without seeing animals We are driving around in a large landrover type vehicle with a top that pops up allowing you to stand up and look around. There is literally always something to see. And even if you were think nothing is there, you blink and see something new. After driving around looking all day it's like a movie replaying in your(my) head at night.

So we've been driving around and a lump in the grass over to the right caught my eye. We had John back up a liitle and sure enough there was our lion. He was an older gentleman just hanging out. He saw us! Pretended not to. After a bit he got up and started walking with a low rumble coming from his throat. We were on parallel tracks and the rumble began to turn to a growl. Not incredible volume but an intensity and internal resonance that was pretty amazing. Then you add the reverb from the river escarpment and you know why they call him the king of the jungle. He grew bored with us and headed back into the grass.
P
Other highlights were an ancient baobab tree. With age the trees naturally hollow out. This tree had been enhanced with hand holds and extra space inside the tree for poachers to hide out. We saw marob storks and vultures feasting on a dead elephant. And we'll save the discussion on the sex life of baboons for another day (who can guess the Beatles song that applies?)

Just a ps from Melanie the lion was hiding in tall grass where even the guide could not see him. But Tracker David found him twice. Once in the tall grass and once climbing a bank What a guy.

The hotel were now at in lake Manyara is very nice. Very upscale with a fancy infinity pool overlooking the cliffs. So were sitting poolside relaxing with a drink. David was contemplating taking a dip and we look over at the pool. A baboon climbs over from the cliff and takes a drink of the pool water. That's it for me using the pool.

Although this place is fancier the food at the campsite was better. Fresher and more homemade. This last sentence was for Josh B benefit.

- Posted from the ipad

Sat am July 2

It's before lunch sitting on the porch of our tent watching baboons traipse around the dry riverbed. Large extended family with little ones playing tag and wrestling while the older ones are parked
around the periphery. On the bank under some trees a huge elephant is framed by some acacia trees flapping his ears. Impala are grazing on the bank and the occasional warthog trots across the river bed.

This morning we got up before dawn and a MassI escorted us to the main area for a quick Tea and coffee before heading out into the dark back to the National Park. Dawn here is unlike what we a familiar. Instead of the eastern horizon starting to glow the entire sky seems to lighten at once. Not sure if this is always the case but it was today. We drove into the park in the dark with wildebeest and zebra crossing in front of us. As the sky began to lighten the Savannah took on soft glow and we could make out elephant and giraffe along side the road.

That was david now from Melanie - last night (a weemawek a weemawek) He didn't sleep last night
In the jungle the mighty jungle he didn't sleep last night
And neither did his elephant friend

It was so cool. First I woke up to trumpeting. The elephant was obviously in camp because he was close by. I awoke a couple of more times to his trumpeting. Then there was a new sound. I'm getting paranoid so I woke David. That's a lion he said. Don't tell me that I said. So he said that's an airplane and went back to sleep. As if. Then I spent the rest of the night worrying how we would get by the elephant AND the lion. But by 5am they had quieted down.
So as David said the Massi came to escort us to the safety of the lodge carrying his trusty - flashlight. Oh this is gonna go well me thinks. So I start planning. If it's an elephant in our way the Massi can climb on Davids shoulder and I can climb on his shoulder and bop the elephant on the head with the flashlight. If it's a lion we can just reach out and bop him. If that doesn't work we'll die. Good plan, right?

I'm not sure if we mentioned our tent looks out over a river bed. The river bed has water during the rainy season which ended in May. It's dry as a bone now but it wasn't a very wet rainy season which is obviously a problem. Anyway the animals all walk down the riverbed just like we stroll through the mall. So that's what David was looking at when he described the baboons etc above.

I also should mention that Kruger park in So Africa has a fence around it and the hotels and campsites are outside the fence. Not so in Tanzania. No fence and the animals are free to roam. Pretty smart choosing Tanzania, huh? Really it's extremely cool. So when they built the park they said to the folks that they had to move 10 km outside the perimeter. They said no thanks we've been living here forever. The problem is many raise cattle and goats. The animals in the park, since there's no fence, roam wherever and cattle have been lost. The moral of the story is when we complain about the snow and cold it could be worse. Our cattle could be eaten by lions.


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Melanie Fri part 2

Note to self. Don't drink 3 cups of tea before going on safari. I forgot to write about the school of baboons I saw. Ok they're not called schools but I don't know what they are. Anyway if you ever want to buy A baboon a gift consider a baby pack front pouch. I'm blocking on the brand name. there were mucho mammas and babies and the babies were carried on their mothers backs holding on for dear life. Then there was a mom with a baby about 1 week old. He was holding on to her belly and she was walking along like that. Ouch.
This is my last story today. Promise. So this is what I hate. The guide said he'd pick us up at 6am tomorrow. We told the manager and he said please be careful walking Up to the lodge there are elephants and lions on the property then since it is still dark at that time. I've had it. I said how should we be careful in that situation. He said don't go. Great the guide will be waiting for us not an option. So he backtracked and said lions and elephants are rarely both in camp at the same time but if they are the make slot of noise so go back in your tent You can count on that. Sorry girls I'm making your dad walk in front.
By the way the pictures aren't uploading so you'll have to wait until we get home.


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Happy birthday Lew

- Posted from the ipadWe left the lodge and maybe quarter mile away we came to 5 zebras and a wildebeest. Zebra are pretty funny looking. I don't remember them having such striped faces from the zoo! Apparently wildebeest don,t have good vision or hearing so they hang around zebras and rely on them to warn them of danger. Next we came upon 4elephants. I wish I was articulate enough to describe them. They wereLARGE with the most soulful eyes I never realized how large their Trunks were. They brush the ground. The zebras don't have matching stripes. They kind of start horizontal and then go vertical. But they're so white they shine. Of course with black stripes. They young zebras are brownish with black stripes and they aren't as striking. Then there's a teeny tiny antelope called a dik dik it's the size of a dac hound with a longer neck. Very very cute. Next a baboon- no sway to say this politely - with blue balls. Actually they were teal. I was embarrassed for him having to walk around like that. Enough said. It reminds me we had lunch at a Punic area and our guide warned us the baboons and monkeys are very aggressive about food and we should be careful (again this kind of advice is less then useful for me. What should I do be more aggressive, go hungry. Help me with specifics please). Anyway were eating our wonderful lunch and there's a group of elderly (anyone 10 years older then me) when a baboon jumps on their table and grabs the box that has their lunch. They shouted at him but believe me he got louder and uglier then they did so they gave up and retreated. Then all his other baboon friends came to join him share . And no i did not share my lunch with those that were foodless. So you tell me who's the dumbest animal. After that incident some tourists fed a young baboon some banana from his hand. The baboons wanted more andante to take it. Then the tourists started throwing rocks at them to get them away and the baboons hissed and got scary so they retreated. Then mother babs came up and screamed and hit the youngsters and all of a sudden the tourists are going OH poor babies. I hated it when people screamed at me for hitting my children in public!

The adventure that is travel

Amsterdam has been pleasant. We got in at 6am and were able to crash in the KLM lounge till boarding at 10. Boarding was easy and civilized. We had a pleasant chat with a gentleman from LA who is also going on safari. He's getting ready to retire and using up all his sick leave by doing three trips a year. But he's getting tired!

Its pretty clear that this is a tourist flight. The aircraft is full with most everyone in kaki sporting a backpack of some sort. Quite a number of three generation parties with gramps reading the grandkids from the guidebook.

We've been sitting here in the plane for awhile and it was just announced that we'll here awhile longer - at least another 1.5 hrs.. Apparently things are especially hot in Libya right now so everything is being diverted around it which clogs up the lanes. Somehow the headaches in Greece add into this as well. Not quite sure how that plays into it.


Not going to stop Melanie from catching some Z's

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Location:Amsterdam

Sun over Ireland

Watching the sun rise over Ireland on way into Amsterdam


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Location:Vertrekpassage,Schiphol,Netherlands

Before and after

I'm testing a iPad blog app and figured I'd compare the apples when we leave with what they are like when we're back.

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Location:Tully

It's June. Everything is green, the roses have started blooming, the apples have set on the trees, strawberries are here. The school year is winding down and after a long day grading papers interspersed with making batches of jam, it appears it was time for a little bird cleanup.


Ya' think it's time we got our of Dodge?

The Big Day

Took a little longer to get to the Graduation site than we had planned so finding seats was a bit of a challenge.  But we made it in time and were settled when the graduates started in.

 And then of course the bigwigs kept talking till at last the main event....

Dr. Blumkin and Dr. Kalman Meet for the First Time

  

 

 Congratulation Dr. Zach and Dr. Juan

Done - signed and delivered.