Christmas Adam

So, now that I’m back from town I’ll do a quick entry before the internet goes off. I spent today deep cleaning my floors and bathroom--a clean house is a lovely thing! Totally worth the effort. As I was vividly reminded, shopping and traveling in Zambia takes a rather larger expenditure of energy than it does in the States… I was able to find pretty much everything on my list—PtL! I’m amazed at what is available in the Copper Belt now if you are willing to poke around for it. I got to thinking about what an adult Christmas list is like compared to a kids. Some of the things I treated myself to were:

* A dentist appointment
* My first ever salon haircut and a French manicure
* A fan
* A new over the door shoe organizer
* Curtains for my living room
* Cheese

I also ate lots of gelato (they had a pistachio that was particularly good) and enjoyed eating out for lunch. For supper I got to enjoy fantastic curry and other Indian food at the Fernandos. Such a treat after a long term in the dinning hall! This is what the outside of the truck looked like when I returned,

and this is the inside. Chickens are messy!

I didn’t get the chance to knit a lot while I was in town; the power was often off making it hard to do fiddly increases in the dark, but I did manage to get well down the leg of that everlasting sock, and before I left I finished the stitching on the Christmasmyth griffon, so when I got back I was able to finish that ornament,

as well as the phoenix I stitched last year.

Here is the whole set (as of now) on my mantle:

In other news over the last two weeks I read the whole Chronicles of Narnia—in PUBLISHED order—and enjoyed them immensely. It’s been several years since I indulged in that particular Lewisfest, and I’m very glad I did. Now I want to watch the movies; I can hardly remember anything at all about The Voyage of the Dawn Treader… Shame that they stopped making the new movies.

The other thing I did before heading down to town was to make my grandmother’s fruitcake. I first had to candy a pineapple,

before I could add all the other goodies. In my family fruitcake is a serious thing, and not to bestowed on the ungrateful. I thought it would make a good gift for the families on station, plus of course I wanted some! Since it’s just me I’ve decided to choose 2 or 3 Christmas treats to indulge in. I think I’ll make ‘oysters’ tomorrow in addition to the pecan pie for the station dinner.

Parting shots: Christmas in my little house!

Final parting shot: Latte, knitting, and pretty nails = happy!