a photo a day: week 17

location: San Luis Obispo, CA

As much as I love to travel, I love to come home. I love familiar feelings of places that I know, that share a piece of my story and a part of my history. I intuitively knew that this is different than nostalgia, but I could not make that thought tangible, so I looked nostalgia up in the dictionary.

Nostalgia is “a sentimental longing or a wistful affection for the past, typically a period or place with happy personal association.” (New Oxford American Dictionary)

This love of coming home is not a longing of the past. Instead it is a sense of belonging and a placement within history. My home is my haven where I am free to create and to simply breathe. It is my place of peace that I share with loved ones. Every time I move, I work to make my new house my home as quick as possible, and I am glad to say that as I fill the pores of this house with the smells of cooking and her walls with my photos it is becoming a home, a place I love to come home to.

Weeks 12 & 13

Location: Cross-country Atlanta, GA to San Luis Obispo, CA

After last bits of laughter and fun with family, dad and I towed the trailer across the country. It was long day through both beautiful and plain country and then we arrived at the ocean and drove north to find my new home in San Luis Obispo. Beautiful. Right now the land is green and full of stunning flowers. The strawberries are fresh and from the local farmer’s stand. I am soaking in the goodness before the season changes to bring brown colors and different fruits. I am blessed.

Week 12

Location: Atlanta, GA

This was a week of welcoming spring. I believe that there is a magical two weeks, sometimes it lasts as long as three, where spring puts on a grand show. Out of a barren wanter during which the trees of stood barren and cold come buds, then beautiful flowers, and finally fresh green leaves. Trees take their turn showing off their beauty before they slide into the green that will grace their leaves through the summer. If you blink, you will miss it.  I try and soak in every single bit of the glory of spring so that I can have my fill while it is here as it never stays for long.

I love my garden in Kigali. It is a wonderful haven – a place in which to escape and be filled with peace as you soak in the beauty around. Although plants grown year around on the equator, with the rains, the garden wakes up and the colors become more vibrant. Here are a few pictures I took on a walk through the garden a few weeks ago. This is just a small piece of its beauty. I wish we could meet for a cup of tea or a Saturday brunch and soak in its beauty together.

These flowers just seemed a beautiful photo to start off this week. I grew up around frangipani trees in Fiji where they were used to make wonderfully fragrant leis. In the evening their fragrance is the strongest – inviting you out to enjoy a perfect island sunset. But, since I have not been back to Fiji for more years than I care to mention, this picture was taken at the Tennessee Aquarium in the butterfly exhibit earlier this year. If you live in the area (Chattanooga, TN), you should carve out some time to visit the aquarium – it makes for a wonderful day when the islands are far away.

The flower garden at the Kiambethu Tea Farm is amazing. And, since I still love the happiness of yellow, I thought I would share this one with you.

One of the things about traveling for work is that there are few down-days or days when I can just soak life in without my subconscious ticking through my to-do list. I love those quiet times, and that is what Kiambethu Tea Farm offered me yesterday.

Kiambethu Tea Farm is located on Banana Hill about 45 minutes outside of Nairobi. It was the first farm to start growing tea, and you can feel history everywhere you walk. Marcus and Fiona, granddaughter of the original farmer, live in the farm house and invite people into their home for a tour and lunch each Saturday. The tour starts with an explanation of the tea growing and production process and the history of the farm. After a short walk through original forest, you have a home-made lunch on the lawn surrounded by beautiful flower gardens. Though the farm is a fraction of its original size, there are still 2 acres of tea, a number of cows, chickens, and an extensive vegetable garden; these are the source of nearly everything you eat and drink while on the farm.

If you are traveling in Kenya, you should carve out some time for a Saturday lunch tour at the Kiambethu Tea Farm. You will be well rewarded for doing so.

I love wildflowers. It feels like God is smiling when they litter the landscape.

I am headed into the field again today – this time to help install some hand pumps. The wells have been drilled and the cement pads put in. Today, the cylinder, drop pipe, rods, and hand pump – the final parts necessary to get water. I don’t remember – it is either 5 or 6 wells… so excited to join the team today. And here, some fields are filled with sunflowers being farmed, which adds to the beauty of any day.

I found these flowers covered in dew the morning I was in Maralal – the last morning of my journey through Northern Kenya.

And no, I did not alter the colors of these flowers. Nature made them the perfect taste of spring!