Custard apples and Valentines

Ava's microscope class at the Ishmael's

Walking down to our car this morning.  Flip flops were not a good choice.

Custard apples.  Who knew?

Air squash?

So, another week has passed...I mentioned our road being under construction in the last post, and, two weeks later, this is a picture of that same road this morning!  Still not passable.  And every day our water is cut off as the progress continues..so we all now leap out of bed at the crack dawn to brush our teeth and flush the toilet lots of times.  Bear in mind this road is about a quarter mile long.  We just hope it's not worse than it used to be after they are finished!  Another challenge associated with the only road to our house being closed has been the lack of garbage collection.  After some major cleaning of cabinets and fridge, we have towers of rubbish on the porch making people with noses think twice about visiting.  We can't leave it in the yard because goats keep getting into the trash.  Oh, those goats.

Tuesday is market day.  We have discovered custard apples! They look like knobby green brains and have big black seeds on the inside.  The taste is amazing.  Passion fruit is in, as well as long beans (my favorite) and some nice squashes that Bob puts into soup and chili.  Thank goodness Ava isn't a picky eater--so far she has been willing to try everything.  AND she loves the food from the new Indian restaurant down the road, which is great since it has become the Wednesday night tradition.  The best garlic naan I have EVER had, and they deliver lunch to the school every Thursday and Friday.  (Since I am down to my last can of emergency smoked trout, this is all very good news.)

Tuesday is also soccer class for Ava, who was basically thrown to the wolves--these kids (mostly children of students and faculty) can all play better than Ava, who not only doesn't know how to play, but who doesn't really even "get it" yet.  I can't bear to watch--she has such a great attitude but just runs around the field chasing the ball but being careful to not ever get too close.  She took a ball to the head yesterday that seemed to impress her friends.  She told me about that later when I asked her what the best part of soccer practice was.  I'm putting this in the Character Building column.

We put some Valentines in the mail and we're off to the beach for a swim. 

Happy February!