47. May 20, 1968: Barbara's letter to her folks - Diane is home

 47. May 20, 1968

Dear Mom and Dad (Line from Barb)

Last Saturday we went to Nairobi and brought Diane home. Frank decided she wasn’t covering enough, especially in Science to  make her ready for the tenth grade at Madrid, and that on top of everything, moving so slow in class that she had to be first in the class and keep up two correspondence courses, one in Algebra. So she’s home to finish the correspondence course we brought, plus an extra course in Earth Science that Frank is teaching her. We are all real glad! Especially Vicki! I don’t think they have stopped talking since we got home! I suppose it will be just as bad when they go off to Madrid next fall, but at least we are all together now. Lately it seemed every time we wanted to go somewhere we felt we couldn’t because Diane wasn’t along. And when we did go somewhere it was always to Nairobi and to see Diane. Now we are thinking of some one-day weekend trips around here to see the country in some other directions besides Nairobi. Even if Diane doesn’t get any more done, which I’m sure she will, it had lifted the morale of the whole family. When we sat down to the table, Kiva said, “Gee it’s good to have seven around the table again!”

Last Friday we had Mr. and Mrs. Kiriro and two of the African teachers, Johnson and Frederick, to dinner. We had smoked a piece of beef in the smoker and it was very good. We had cauliflower with cheese sauce, boiled carrots, potatoes with gravy, and coleslaw. They ate a lot and seemed to enjoy it. My rolls came out a little funny but just in looks. The dough was too soft. For dessert we froze ice cream in the crank freezer and they really enjoyed that! I made it with a custard base, and it was almost too rich to freeze hard. WE have decided that the plain old milk and sugar mixture is really the best. So that leaves only three more parties to give. There is something to be said for not being asked out!

Sunday night we went to the White’s at Embu. Their baby is three months old and getting real cute. They showed us the movies they had taken. They bought a new camera after they arrived there. They had some real good pictures of lions and rhinos taken at the Nairobi Game Park. We will have to go back there as we never saw any rhinos the two times we’ve been there. After the pictures while we were visiting, the kids went down to the pond nearby and tried a little fishing. Milton caught two fish and decided he was going to bring home the biggest one. It was a whole three inches long! So Frank cleaned it, and Milt ate it for breakfast. He was sure pleased with it and is bound and determined to go and catch some really big ones. The fishing bug has bitten all of them, especially since Uncle Jim sent a big sack of hooks, flies, lures, etc., and a new pole in the sea freight. There are fish in the rivers and some rivers not more than half an hour away.

When we were in Nairobi Saturday, we went shopping for some material to patch up the old sleeping bags, and for some new blouses and shirts. I let each kid buy the piece he or she wanted even though the three oldest picked ones that cost ten shillings a yard ($1.50!) I felt very extravagant! I just hope that they will last until we get home, so you can see how pretty they are. Diane’s is a diagonal flower print in bands; Vicki’s is yellow with bands of black elephants; and Amy’s is brown and yellow with fish for a border. Kiva found some blue with boys and girls on it, and Milt picked two plaids, as he needed something he could wear out, and he wasn’t too impressed with the fancy stuff. The tie dye material is what I’m crazy for, and I intend to bring home enough for you too. It is beautiful colors and costs about twenty shillings a yard. It is dyed in Nairobi so can be considered a “local product”. Here, it’s like at home. You can buy souvenirs from Uganda in the stores in Embu. Frank bought a new belt for the electric sewing machine, so we are all ready to sew. The only discouraging thing is the time part, just like at home … there is always something else to be done first. And I thought that having someone to do the wash, etc., would leave me with so much time!

Looks like we are in for a chilly cloudy day today. The mist was so heavy when we got up around seven that you couldn’t see past our yard. So thick you could feel the droplets on your arm. In that way, I think the winter here is more depressing than at home. It seems so cold and dreary, just like the first week we were here.

The kids and Frank bought twelve chickens when we went to Nairobi. The kids have been working on that for some time, and I always told them to talk to their dad. By golly, he took the three little kids and bought them chickens! They are thrilled to pieces. Then Frank spent Sunday building a pen, feeder and water. We have the pen sitting out on the front porch with a cord going out the window to their light bulb (for heat). They are all roosters, so I’m looking forward to good fried chicken. We haven’t had any since we’ve arrived. I’ve been afraid to buy chicken after eating some stewed chicken. It’s too darned tough!

Well, I’ve got to stop and ring the bell for school. Amy and Vicki both made 100 in spelling yesterday, so they feel like they have really accomplished something. Milt wrote “grapefruit” and it was readable! I don’t know how much progress we are making compared to the kids at home, but think that we are making some headway! Lots of Love, Barb.