The Land of Eternal Spring

One of my favorite things about Chogoria is the perfect weather.  And I mean perfect.  It is 75 and sunny almost every day.  In the dry season (which is wrapping up right now), the temps rise to the low 80s at most.

Flowers grow year-round and crops grow well in the shamba too - as long as we keep things watered in the dry season.  We live on the rainy side of the mountain and there are many creeks and rivers flowing through our region.  The runoff keeps things green, even in the dry season.

We affectionately call this place "The Land of Eternal Spring."

It was quite the contrast from the snow and ice we left behind in Michigan in January.  As true Midwesterners, we do love winter, but no one can complain about being able to run outside barefoot after spending the previous months stuck inside more often than not.

And the boys have spent a lot of time outside the past couple months.  (Eli and I don't get outside nearly as much as we'd like...such is the life of working adults whose days of carefree childhood are decades behind them...)  Critters have been discovered, hikes have been hiked, trees have been climbed, picnics have been savored, and the world has been saved multiple times (at least in their imaginations). 

The Horn boys play hard and, quite frankly, they are living their best life!

Chameleons abound and Asa was lucky enough to find a baby chameleon recently.  And for the first time we discovered the huge caterpillar of an oleander hawkmoth.  Sometimes I wonder why we ever do an official science class with all these natural wonders around us!

We also celebrated Wangari Maathai Day on March 3rd.  This woman has become one of my heroes.  I'm reading through her memoir right now and loving it as I learn more about Kenya's history and about Wangari's role in environmentalism and conservation here.  Born in 1940, Wangari grew up on the western side of Mt. Kenya (we live on the eastern side) and was a rare girl who attended school.  After attending university in America, she returned to Kenya to discover the land bare of trees and the soil eroding and a bleak future for the environment.  So she started planting trees and began an entire movement called The Green Belt Movement which ultimately planted 30 million trees across Kenya.  Wangari was a scientist, teacher, environmentalist, conservationist, government leader, and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.  Her struggles were real, as were her hard-won victories.  I greatly admire Wangari Maathai and want my kids to know about her and admire her too.

So we celebrated Wangari Maathai Day by having a picnic to read picture books about her and learn more about Kikuyu culture from our Kikuyu friends (Wangari was from the Kikuyu tribe).  Then we went to a local plant nursery and picked out some plants to put around our house.  Nothing seemed more appropriate to honor Mama Miti - the Mother of Trees - than to plant something in the ground.

It turns out that some of the plants I bought at the nursery are common at the river behind our compound.  I probably could've taken some from there and spared myself some shillings, but oh well.  The river remains a place of peace and joy for us.  Every time we walk there I wonder why we don't quit homeschooling altogether and just do this every day instead!

One of the perks of homeschooling is having the kids around during the day to help with chores.  They've gotten much better at hanging clothes on the line - no more jumbled messes of shirts and shorts barely hanging on!  The sun is pretty hot during the dry season and the boys have said they can't stay in the heat for long hanging laundry (never mind that they run around in the hot sun for hours and don't seem to notice the heat...) so they took several breaks getting this small load on the line.  These kids crack me up!

On St. Patrick's Day we had a picnic and ate lots of green food (salad, cucumbers, peppers).  I try to have a picnic on every minor holiday and read festive books to accompany the occasion.  We also made the requisite sugar cookies and had 9 people in our tiny kitchen at one point.  If I've said it once, I've said it a million times: baking with children is a labor of love!  But when there are too many cooks in the kitchen, it's easy enough to send them outside in The Land of Eternal Spring.

The holiday also called for a rare photo of myself - Proof of Mom, as they say!

Last weekend we finally made it to the waterfall again.  It was a hot and sunny day but the kids had lots of energy and did great hiking all the way down and back up again.  We brought 3 of the Webber kids with us and even the 4-year old walked the whole way by herself!  That's quite a feat.

The rainy season hasn't arrived yet (although it's due any day), and the river was the lowest we've ever seen it, but a trickle still flowed over the edge of the cliff and kept the river flowing.

The kids spotted crabs and tadpoles in the pools and I'm always amazed at how much excitement the tiniest of creatures instill in our children.

With the water so low, we discovered a new pool we'd never seen before - because that area is usually overflowing with raging water.  But with most of the water gone, a cove of sorts appeared in the rockface and has become a beautiful little pool at this point of the dry season.  We climbed down and explored the cove, which had a short waterfall before it went over the edge and became the tall waterfall we usually see.

Then we continued down the hill to the bottom of the waterfall like we always do.  The low water meant lots of climbing and jumping on rocks and exploring behind the waterfall.  It was a perfect day for it.  I mostly sat on the rocks, keeping an eye on kids in all directions and entertaining Ivy.  She was my hiking buddy and I was proud that she kept up with the big kids pretty well.

I also daydreamed about coming back without any kids and with a book instead.  I could sit there and read for hours.  Maybe someday.

In the midst of all these activities, sometimes Chogoria gives me a glimpse of heaven.  It's a beautiful place.  A fruitful place (literally).  A fill-your-soul place.  It's not too hot, not too cold.  It's just right.  And it mostly stays that way.  Things can grow and thrive here.  There's life here.  Lots of life.

And although I'm a Midwestern girl who loves all the seasons, I can appreciate a place where things are just about right all the time and point us toward eternity.