Davis Pictures

The third time the blender caught on fire was the most exciting.

How long does it take Tovah to take 121 photos?  If you guessed less than an hour, you are right.  Here’s a sample.

We have discovered a new food source.

Our neighbor came over with a new dish for us to try—a lovely aromatic coconut sauce had  gelatinous yet resilient pieces of something in it.  I’ve choked down a lot in my life—but this was one of the hardest.  I was pretty sure I had eaten every part of the cow and goat, but it turns out, NO.  This little delicacy was cowhide.  Now I’ve tasted it all, and I can honestly say, give me brain, eye, testicle, pancreas, intestine, hoof, tongue, udder, or lips any day over cowhide.

On the plus side, I now know that in a pinch we could eat my shoes… and, Uncle JD, if you ever plan to discard that leather couch of yours, I have some neighbors who might be interested.

Has the phographer (Tovah) effectively captured the character of her subject (Tovah)?

So we have had a number of cats.  Generally they have a short life-span with us.  Don’t ask me why.  One day they are vivacious and spritely, the next day they curl up under the sink and die…

But not this cat.  This cat has been actively dying since the day after we got him.  Whether he’s walked through a fire and burned the pads off his feet, or eaten something that makes his hair stand on end and foam at the mouth, or he has emerged (again) the loser in a cat fight and returns to the house with parts missing, or if he has temporary blindness, or paralysis, extra tongues or multiple personalities…  This cat is in a perpetual state of ill health, manifested in crying, whining, stumbling, barfing on furniture, peeing in corners or pooping under beds. 

If there is any talk of replacing him or that “this time, he’s really going to die”, or “let’s put him out of his misery” he resentfully rallies, and does something useful like catch a rat (to leave in your room/shoe/toybox) and cheats death again.

So, we have a camera.  And we are always happy to take pictures of/for people.  So many times, we are asked to take pictures by people who are feeling particularly photogenic that day.  Oftentimes they like to dress up, or to pose.  Common poses are with some symbol of wealth (never their own) like a big house, a car, a motorcycle or a phone (or multiple phones.)  Here is a just a sample of pictures we were asked to take.

$400 gets you a brand new Chinese Motorcycle in Dubai (it takes that much again to get it to the islands and through customs).  To me that’s amazing.  I have gone 5000 Kilometers on a bike that costs less than the leather jacket on most Harley owners!  Of course there are moments when you would be willing to pay more—and this week has had several of those, including 5 consecutive flat tires.  We still haven’t really figured out the cause of flat tires here...  My guess: air.  No sooner do you pump up a new ($5) Tanzanian made tube then it splits and you have to buy another (try Indian this time.)

In the end we discovered we had to replace a bearing, that required replacing the axle which didn’t fit in the wheel, so we replaced the wheel, which demanded a new tube and tire…  In the end, problem solved—No more flat tires!