produce

I know it's a bit hard to tell but these cucumbers are huge. Ok, I just thought of a comparison. Think of the diameter of a medium size zuchini. Some of the produce gets huge. There are no seedless english cucumbers, long and perfect!:) No seedless watermelons either. We had some watermelon last week that was really good but seedy. In the front is a small head of cabbage. Just right for a small family. And yes, we do eat the bananas green. There are some that get yellow but the majority are ripe when they're like this.

Autumn

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons. Here is Guinea, we don't really have seasons. Mainly just dry season and rainy season. Each has different characteristics at different times. Right now we do see some things that remind me of fall. It's the harvest time, there are a lot of gourd or squash type vegetables. The nights and early mornings are cooler. Anyways all that to say I've tried to bring a bit of autumn into our house. As you'll see in the pictures below.

These are all squash/gourds that I've bought from the village.

The white one looks just like a pumpkin.

A couple weeks ago we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with some fellow Canadians.

A sign I made for our door.

We had a great meal complete with turkey, stuffing and pumpkin (squash) pies.

Rain

I know another post on rain. It's part of our lives for a good chunk of the year! Now we're nearing the end of rainy season. It gets quite hot and humid during the day and then often breaks with a big thunder storm late in the day. Here are some pictures. Look in the distance you can see how much water is on the ground. This can happen in seemingly a matter of minutes.

The kids always want to play in the rain. Eli loves holding Jack. He usually looks quite uncomfortable.

This is sort of off to the side of our house.

This is behind our house.

Frogs and Toads

Can you tell that Eli's holding a toad? Often the kids spend their days searching for frogs or creatures. Eli has no qualms about holding them.

Beauty

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder or so they say.

Sometimes I feel I'm too busy to stop and see the beauty around me like these sunsets.
I'm so thankful for all God has created but I do miss the fall colors this time of year. Our nights and mornings feel like fall but our days are hot and humid. We're at the end of rainy season and the humidity really pumps up for a month or so.

Friends

Here's a recent picture of Aidan and Elianna. Aren't they cute! Aidan's hair was getting pretty long, for here. So after bath I spiked it up for him. I can't believe that he's 5. He's doing really well in Kindergarten. Eli's 2 1/2 and potty training. She's doing pretty well.

Garden Update

This picture doesn't seem as clear as I'd like. This is Aidan behind some huge leaves. During rainy season some leaves get huge!

The marigolds are mostly red and orange with a few odd yellow's mixed in. I can honestly say this is the first time in my life that I actually like marigolds - the way they look!

As you can see the marigolds grew really well. As my mom says, "they're hardy." They are also supposed to repel mosquitos. If you're familiar with them you know why. They have been a nice splash of color around my laundry drying shed.

Here is some of our garden produce. We've been enjoying some yummy green beans, soy beans and a lone cucumber. The green and soy beans have been our best crop! Right now the local produce in season is squash, cucumber (sometimes), corn (not quite like the sweet corn back home).