Between family visits


I’ve been away from my computer and not able to provide posts while travelling.  This will continue for the next month.  I hope to return to a weekly schedule in mid-September.  Thanks.

Family visits


 After a few of weeks I’m back from visiting my family in Arkansas and my wife’s family in Michigan and Canada.  I had a wonderful time visiting family and friends, although I put about 2,500 miles on the car.
Ferry ride between US and Canada
Canadian family reunion - nice time visiting everyone
Sitting around at the Allore reunion with Theresa's family
Bernie's family in attendance at the reunion
My near term traveling adventures are not over.  In about a week I head off for visits in Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Colorado.  I expect to add another 3,500 miles.  My Prius is getting about 48 miles to the gallon, so I’m not destroying the environment as much as I might.

Plans for Peace Corps Response fell through


I was hoping to be able to announce that I would be going off to service as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer.  The departure date would have been October for a one year assignment – it would have been perfect.  (Peace Corps Response is a program focused on targeted skills serving between 3 months and 1 year.)  I’m disappointed, but as they say in my part of Ghana “no problem”.

I have an application in for another 27 month assignment, but I’ll have to wait to see about that one.

Medical Insurance


Thanks to the Affordable Care Act a 50+ unemployed person can get health insurance on the open market.  There are a lot of options and a bit of research was required to pick one.  I hope it works out OK.


Future Plans – a simpler life


After my next set of traveling I’m going to start a serious look at the stuff in the house and see how to simplify and downsize.  Donating or selling items the family no longer needs.  I expect I will be happier and my future plans easier if I have less stuff.

 Not sure yet about finding a job - that step is not pressing at this time as long as I continue to live a simple lifestyle.

Love always,

John

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pito – brewed millet

Image
Corn, rice, and millet are the common grains grown in my region of Ghana. All three are used food, but millet is also used to produce the local brew – pito, or daa in the local language. “N nyu daa” - in Dagaree means “I drink pito.” There are several varieties of millet grown here – a red and white varieties have loose heads. These are used for pito and other foods. There is also a smaller seed variety with a tight head of seeds that is mainly used for porridge. (Don't have a picture of that variety yet.) In all varieties millet grows on a stalk with the grain head at the top of the stalk. White and red millet in the field Two bundles of while millet to be used for seed next season Converting a grain to alcohol is a common practice in various cultures. It provides a way to capture and digest the nutritional value of the grain. In some places, like Germany and the beer brewing monks, the making a beer was a way to preserve the harvest. In Ghana the millet is
Read more

Yam harvesting

Image
Roger and I went to farm to harvest yam on Saturday morning, September 13, 2014.  In Ghana a yam is a root crop that is different from a sweet potato.  We have sweet potatoes here as well. Yam recently harvested Preparing a yam for boiling The yam has a white flesh – softer than a white potato. In this area the yams are planted between April and June.  Harvest continues into December and January depending on the weather and pigs getting into the field. The plant is a vine – which is grown on stakes rather than allowed the spread out.  The plants are placed on a raised bed about 2 feet high.  The beds are surrounded by flat trenches.  This allows the rains to flow around, but not wipe out the yam crop.  Intercropping seems to be common practice with yams planted in the raised bed, soybeans around the edges, and rice in the trenches.  The occasional corn or okra plant is also among the yams – although the bulk of those crops are in other fields.   Row of ya
Read more

Mid-service Training

Image
This past week was mid-service training (MST). The conference was held on St. Lucia at the Mount of Prayer Coubaril run by the Benedictine Nuns. It was a lovely place with hospitable people as you would expect from Benedictines. A couple of years ago in Ghana I was able to spend a little time at a Benedictine Abby (popular with volunteers) – so it was a nice connection with the two Peace Corps services. I got a little spoiled with the great meals and the WiFi. I intentionally don’t have WiFi at my house so I’m less tempted to stay inside. I do have better data service than Dondometeng in the Upper West - no complaints there and so none here. Their Church Their view Their conference room Getting ready for a meal My room was the only one with a television.  It did work, but I didn't watch anything. My guess is the picture was a little fuzzy because of all the estrogen, but that's just a guy theory with a dirty phone This was actually my firs
Read more