fall leaves and fish heads

My sister has her first ultrasound photo, and I can see this little body, with its tiny arms and legs and think about how I was once that tiny and yet smaller, and while I've never experienced what she is seeing right now, it gives me the shivers to think of the creation of life and how beautiful and strange it is.

I was so many places this weekend, spending a day away with some girls from church to alternately contemplate and hang out by the lake, stopped home to see my sister, walked around in the woods where the leaves were fragrant and the canopy of forest glowed like stained glass.

I did another English tutoring session and ended up having dinner with the family whose kids I used to tutor and who gave me a huge piece of fresh-cut goat meat to show their appreciation. The baby of the family is now running around and showing off his gymnastic skills, the kids are showing me what they're learning in school and I'm trying to explain words and cultural things I take for granted, and as customary of east African hospitality, I get a can of Sunny Delight and dinner, which is always good and this time is a spicy stew that has what turns out to be little fish mixed in with the vegetables.

She's a fantastic cook and I know that if I don't finish it, it'll be considered deeply rude so I bury the little fish with their eyes and fins inside a pile of rice and spoon it quick like I'm eating sushi and I can't help but think of this song.



The kids want me to sleep over and come back every day, and I can't do that realistically but I do need to see more of them.

And tonight, I'll be attempting to fashion beautiful and useful things out of clay and then babysitting two hilarious little boys for a friend of mine while she and her husband go out with some old friends. I haven't babysat in a long time, but it should be fun.