Sylvia's Journal

I am now waking up with the sun; finally. It was along winter. I was glad to have a day of working at home yesterday; to organize myself, finish unpacking, and putting things away.

At breakfast I read to Axel to children’s book about the discovery of coffee that I bought in Addis (Kaldi and the dancing goats). Reading it aloud to someone else made me realize that it is an odd children’s book with several, unintended no doubt, messages to children like: when you see animals act funny after eating bright red berries, try them yourselves. Or, there are berries that you can pop in your mouth and they alter your mood. Tell your dad and he will agree; and then you can sell the stuff to others and get rich!

We followed Kaldi’s advice and ground the Yirga Chaffe beans for breakfast. The coffee was as good as adverised and everyone drunk too much, whch made us, just like the dancing goats, all energized and hopping around the entire morning. I was very productive as a result.

Tessa called us a few times from the road and is now back in the US although she did not make it home. She and Val decided to try their luck at the Herkimer mines where a particular kind of diamond is found. It is actually not a diamond but a particular kind of quartz which was discovered by quarrymen in the late 1700s. Val sells these at her store in Rockport. They shine and sparkle, hence the name.

The girls planned to sleep in the car, kept warm by their two dogs, since they had not prepared for an overnight. I hope the dogs bodies did the trick because I slept under a puff last night. It is still cold in Manchester and I imagine the nights to be quite cold in Upstate New York.

Sita came back from a trip to the bookstore with several books about Egypt. She is having a hard time deciding where to go after the work is done to see something of the country. The books did not help as they only expanded the range of choices. The heat in Upper Egypt may drive her to Alexandria rather than Aswan and Luxor. She is leaving today.