7 quick takes

1. Good morning! It’s 11:58, and we have done so much already that it feels like it might as well be 17:58.  School, cleaning, sorting, saying goodbye… it’s been a whirlwind day, and we’re only halfway. Now the girls have made a ‘cookie factory’ where they crumble cookies and stick them together again with icing that they scraped off the cookies first. Delicious, right? And it gives me a quick gap to write before it is lunchtime.
2. I have no idea what we’ll eat for lunch. We have less than two weeks left in the house, and I don’t want to buy too much new food, but just make do with what’s left. It probably means that we’ll have some rather unusual food combinations in the coming days, but I think we’ll all survive that. Perhaps I should let the girls cook themselves, as they are always more forgiving towards their own creations. I mean, if they can call their cookie-crumb-cookies a delicacy, they can probably make a 5-star dish out of pasta, a tin of coconut milk and some chickpeas.
3. I am pretty sure that I can make some tasty meals out of the ingredients in my pantry. It is just that, this weekend, we have been spoiled with some of the best food you can get in Malawi. We went to Blue Zebra, one of our favourite lodges in the country. It’s set on a beautiful island, the accommodation is stunning (and we even got upgraded!) and the food is delicious. Every meal again, we are blown away by what the chefs created. Taco’s, chocolate mousse, fresh salads… If you live in another part of the world it may not sound that amazing but when you live in Malawi, you know how hard it is to consistently make good food.
4. We were supposed to go last weekend but postponed it to this one because the weather did not look good. We are so glad we did! It still rained, but that’s to be expected in rain season. There were plenty of dry moments too. We swam, we drank cocktails in the pool (it actually rained while we did that, but that only added to the fun), we hiked, we kayaked and when it rained we played board games and read books.
5. ‘Sssst, just be quiet!’ Sophie is leading the pack and not satisfied with our level of noise. We try to be quiet. We really do. But all the little noises of twigs moving under shoes, soft whispers to alert the others to the beautiful view and a cough here and there add up. Our determined twitcher seems to think that we are deliberately making noise to scare away the birds. It’s probably true that none of us are as focussed as she is, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t want to see the bird that we are trying to hunt down. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be hiking in a wet forest at six o clock in the morning. One of the reasons why Sophie was so excited to go to Blue Zebra was to see the African pitta. This bird is the ‘holy grail of African birding’ and seeing one is on the top of the wish list of many people. The bird is shy, and hard to spot, but it’s breeding season and a pitta has made a nest on the island.  We sit at the nest for over an hour. We don’t really know what we are doing, but we try. We try to be quiet and still, we play the call of the Pitta on my phone, we watch, we sigh, we wonder if the bird is going to show herself. Sophie wants to stay. Doris doesn’t really want to stay, but stays because she doesn’t want to risk that Sophie sees a bird that she doesn’t. And we wait. The sky is filled with other birds. Birds of prey, soaring high on their wings, bee-eaters and swallows, feasting on the lake flies that are blown in by the wind. Countless weaverbirds, who are scouting the forest for the best pieces of grass to complete their nests. We prick up our ears to hear the sound of a pitta and hear the cry of the fish eagle, pigeons cooing and the enthusiastic twitching of many small birds that we don’t see. The pitta, if it is still there, doesn’t want to be seen or heard. We didn’t see a pitta, but it wasn’t a wasted hour. We were together, we were in nature and while I was looking up at the sky and saw all those birds, I thought about the verses in Matthew. ‘Look at the birds of the air. They don’t plant or harvest, for your heavenly father feeds them.(…) Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?’ Following the news this weekend was overwhelming, the world, as we know it, is changing. I am grateful we got to spend some time looking at the birds and remembering that the One who holds it all has not forgotten about us.
6. The girls enjoyed the weekend away, but there was one reason that made them eager to return home again. They could not wait to see Chirpy, their favourite chicken. They love the bird. If it’s up to them, it would sleep in their bed and always eat at our table. As much as they are looking forward to what’s coming, part of them is dreading our move, as it also means that we have to say goodbye to Chirpy. When we got home, they jumped out of the car to find her. She should be in the house as it was already dark, but when they opened the door, they only saw their ducks and one chicken. Chirpy wasn’t there! We feared the worst and hoped for the best. As soon as they woke up in the morning, they walked around the house, but Chirpy was nowhere to be found. Not even a feather. Then the gardener came to tell us what we already thought. Chirpy had been killed by a monitor lizard. When they found her, there wasn’t much left of her. The girls are devastated that they won’t have a last cuddle with their favourite feathered friend, but have come to the conclusion that it will make moving a little easier.
7. Sophie has asked me to take a picture of her favourite duck because she wants to paint it on a canvas so that she will never forget him. So that’s what I’ll do before I decide what to make for lunch and post this blog. I wish you a good week.

'Calling' the pitta with my phone.