Zambian weather (and photos)

I was asked a good question about what season it is here in Zambia.  Right now we are in the rainy season which runs from approximately November to approximately March (give or take a month or so).  It is quite warm this time of year, around 85 degrees F during the day (not sure how warm it is at night).  In the sun at mid-day it's still pretty intense.  The warmest time of year is from September to November-ish.  It gets very, very hot then, and very dry because the rains haven't come yet.  They don't really have a "winter" here.  The coldest time of year is between June-August, but it doesn't exactly get cold, just chilly (the Africans feel the cold though).  Temperature-wise it's far more like autumn than actual winter!

Below is a photo of a couple of the boys slaughtering the old hog which had gotten too big to 'service' the females anymore, so he has now been turned into bacon:

Elijah meeting the newborn piglet!  He reached out his hand immediately to pet it, and here I am prompting him to stroke it gently.

 The six piglets were born yesterday.

 These lambs were born yesterday as well.  The mother is the brown one and the father is the black-and-white one.

 The boys preparing their lunch - 'nshima' which is ground maize (corn) boiled into a very thick porridge which is eaten in chunks with 'relish' of meat or vegetables.

 Elijah making new friends!

 Looking at the new ducklings who hatched this week.  They were in the far corner of the duck house.

new blog title

Hey folks, if you'd be willing to suggest new titles for my blog. . . now that we are no longer residing in Scotland, 'thistle epistles' doesn't quite suit anymore. . . I will appreciate any creative suggestions, especially ones that might be clever for a blog in Africa.  Comment away!

goodbye Glasgow. . . hello Zambia

This is our first full day in Zambia!  We are staying with friends in Lusaka, the capital. They have a farm
and host 25 boys who would otherwise be living on the streets.

We arrived very early yesterday morning after an all-night flight from London.  Elijah slept pretty well.  The flight was virtually empty -- only 75 people on board.  I was amused that as soon as we reached altitude and the seat belt sign went off, people immediately began wandering the plane and introducing themselves to each other.  "Hi, I'm from the Copperbelt, do you live in Zambia too?"  (The Copperbelt is the province in the north of Zambia. ) The people sitting directly behind us were American missionaries.  We were on the same flight with our Farm Manager, Phil, as well as one of the Dutch girls who is an NGO worker in the town that we will soon call home.  It was nice to see so many friendly faces.  I noted that the African couple seated a couple of rows back were praying quietly together during the flight.

I actually might have gotten a little bit of sleep if it wasn't for the seat belt sign which kept going on because of turbulence, which meant that I had to keep Elijah strapped to me and hold him as he slept.  Otherwise I would have made him a bed on the extra seat and curled up myself!

We are thankful that when we reached Lusaka airport, since we knew where we were going this time (David having visited once before) we were able to get to the front of the line in immigration, which went very smoothly.  All our bags were on the belt by the time we cleared immigration so we were able to collect them quickly, and we had no trouble in customs.

It is hot here.  :)  Obvious, I know, and probably over-stated too, but it does need to be said.  I haven't encountered hot weather since I married David, 19 months ago, and it is admittedly a brutal shock to the system when arriving straight from the chill of Glasgow.  But thankfully it isn't as bad as it could be!  I know that we have arrived as things are beginning to cool down (September and October are the hottest months of the year).

More later, but for now it's time to get Elijah settled into bed.  For those of you who might be wondering, we're at GMT+2 here which means 7 hours ahead of the East Coast, and 2 hours ahead of the U.K.