Slugs, bugs and getting Big!

Habari Yako (how are you)… all you wonderful children? This is Zelda the Zebra again… bringing you the latest news from Grandpa’s compound in Nakuru, Kenya!

 

Well as you might have guessed Kuja and Paka are becoming good friends. Paka still likes to get into everything but mostly likes to play hide and go seek with Kuja.

 

Although Paka, being so little, gets tired really fast. So he loves to take cat-naps on the bed throughout the day.

 

Kuja tries to wait for Paka to wake up but he wants to play.

 

So… he tries to wake Paka up!

 

But Paka does not want to wake up.

 

Finally Kuja begs Paka to come out and play.

 

When Paka says no … Kuja bites Paka’s head!

 

Then Paka runs and to tell grandpa!

 

Grandpa says that Kuja didn’t mean to bite Paka’s head but doesn’t know he’s so big. Grandpa can hardly lift Kuja now.

 

Then he tells Paka that Kuja wasn’t always so big.

 

That Kuja used to be Paka’s size, but he’s growing into a big watchdog and doesn’t know his own strength.

 

Then Grandpa calls Kuja and tells him to go and apologize to Paka. So Kuja finds Paka and says …. He’ sorry for biting Paka’s head.

 

So then both Kuja and Paka run outside to play. The first thing Kuja did was to try and follow Mr. Starling fly up in the tree.

 

But Mr. Starling was not impressed.

 

Paka found a hole grandpa was digging in the garden and climbed inside to watch a turtle cross the yard.

 

Then Paka found a grey slug and a white slug crawling around the plants.

And many pretty bugs in the flowers…

Even a tiny green fly on Grandpa’s hand.

Well that’s about it for today… Don’t forget to pray for Grandpa, Grandma , Kuja and Paka.  Siku mjema! (Have a nice day)

Zelda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone New!

Jambo! (hello) all you wonderful children! This is Zelda the zebra again. I’ve missed all of you sooooo much. I wanted to show you a picture grandpa took of where I live.

This is a picture taken from the side of the volcanic crater called Menengai just two blocks away from where grandpa and gema live.  I live on the right side of that beautiful lake called Lake Nakuru. It is in the center of Lake Nakuru National Park. I live with lions, water buffaloes, cheetahs, monkeys, giraffes and lots of other animals. But that’s not why I’m writing you.

 

We’ve got some wonderful news. There is something new in grandpa’s compound!

 

He’s a small grey animal that snoops around everywhere, getting into everything… and most especially… trouble.

 

He’s climbing on the windows,

He’s crawling in the clothes drawer,

 

And he’s playing in the kitchen pots.

 

We call him Paka because… well… that’s what he is. The Kiswahili word for cat is… Paka!

 

 Paka, the baby kitten, is the newest addition to StoneHouse Ministry International. When he grows up he will serve the very important ministry of keeping the house free of rats. But of course, right now he’s the same size as the rats so he will have to get a little bigger before he can start his job. 

 

Meanwhile, he is getting to know everyone in the family and discovering his way around the compound… and especially grandpa’s desk.

 

He’s trying to learn to use the computer but he’s not very good at it, but don’t tell him.  

 

When grandpa tried to tell him to stay off his computer Paka almost cried.

Everyone wants to meet our newest member to the family.

 

Especially Kuja … who’s not really sure what to think.

When Kuja first saw Paka it was not love at first sight.

 

In fact Kuja and Paka have had many heated discussions through the windows.

 

Kuja cannot figure out how to get Paka to play. He and Paka have staring contest all the time. One day someone left the door open and Kuja came in the house and chased Paka up the window guard… Paka was not happy at all.

 

But now Paka likes to use the window guard as his own personal jungle gym.

In the daytime Paka is always watching the birds in the yard. Like these lovebirds in the trees of our front yard.

 

Or the chickens in the backyard.

Sometimes at night Paka stays in the window and watches the huge termites swarm around the outside light.

 

But that’s because he prefers to sleep in the day and play at night.

 

That’s also why he is not allowed to spend the night in grandpa’s room anymore.

Well I got to go… cause some of those lions here in Lake Nakuru are coming just a little bit too close

 

 

..... but stay tuned for more adventures of Kuja and Paka because somehow… I just know …they are bound to have some!

 

 

                                     

Fun on Grandpa's Shamba!

Hey Kids,

Well, I just peeked over the fence at your grandparents house and guess what I saw? There was quite a ruckus going on. I saw kids running around with sunflowers, that’s ‘alizeti’ in Kiswahili, on their heads.

That’s when all the kids decided to play with the sunflowers. They were so funny! Grandpa and Grandma sat on the porch and laughed and laughed. It was so much fun!

Now Kuja, the german shepherd guard dog and the best pet in the world, did not want to be left out of the fun. So he chased them around until he got a hold of one for himself. Well almost. Lynn would not let go so they played tug of war. 

Looks like Kuja won.

Grandpa stuck one up to his ear because he thought it would help him to hear better… 

......it didn’t.

Then I went around to the back yard and saw Mr. Patrick feeding the ‘kuku’. That’s Kiswahili for chicken. He doesn’t just feed them and walk away. He sits down on the ground and feeds them by hand. 

They really love him so they make the best eggs in whole world! I never saw such beautiful, golden eggs in my whole life! Your grandma cooks them up every morning for grandpa. He eats them all up! He is getting very healthy eating all the good organic food here in Kenya.

I peeked into the garage. Humm… looks like they’re using the garage as a barn. I saw the biggest, fattest hen I ever, just sitting on her eggs, that’s ‘mayai’, when suddenly little chicks hatched out! They are so cute!

Mr. Patrick not only raises chickens but lots of ‘mboga’, that’s vegetables. Like tomatoes, nyanya, carrots, karoti, Kale, skuma wiki and spinach. There’s no Kiswahili word for spinach. They just call it “spinach”. There are hundreds of green tomatoes in his ‘shamba’. ‘Shamba’ is the Kiswahili word for ‘farm’.  There will be more food than grandpa and grandma and even Patrick’s family of 7 can eat. So he will sell them to the neighbors to buy food for his family

Mr. Patrick’s wife is Ms. Christine. She helped your grandma cut down the sunflowers, ‘alizeti’, and dry the seeds. When they dried the seeds and popped them out they needed threshing. 

So Flora got a basket that one of the Kenyan ladies gave to your grandma. She tossed the seeds up in the air so the wind would blow away the chaff. 

Now they are nice and clean and ready to toast and eat. Ummmmmm! Maybe you can grow some sunflowers next summer.

Guess I better get back to my family now. Zenia is calling me. Until next time… 

         Kwaherini! That’s “Bye ya’ll” in kiswahil.

See if you can learn these words:

·        Kiswahili – the language of Swahili
·        Sunflower – alizeti
·        Chicken – Kuku
·        Eggs - mayai
·        Farm – shamba
·        Vegetables - mboga
·        Tomato – nyanya; By the way, nyanya is also the word for ‘grandma’ isn’t that funny?
·        Carrot – karoti
·        Kale – skuma wiki; that’s one of the most favorite foods in Kenya.