Sunday, July 15, 2007

Cement, Chameleons and Curtains

What do these have to do with each other? Not much other than the fact that they made up part of last week for us.
A few days ago we decided to kill two birds with one stone; try out the new cement mixer and pour sidewalks to help shed the water during rainy season (our walls are made of compressed mud blocks). What excitement for the bricklayers and their “assistants” and us of course, to see this machine go to work. It’s amazing when you see what a machine can do! If you can’t identify with that, you haven’t tried to limp along without one of your machines yet! The bricklayers’ assistants used to do all our cement mixing on the ground by hand, with shovels. Now they shovel it into the mixer and pause to watch it go ‘round, and ‘round, and ‘round.
A few days after our sidewalks were poured while Dwight was out checking the sidewalks, this little guy came teetering along the ground. Chameleons don’t scurry across the ground like lizards, they walk very slowly with their funny little toes and teeter from side to side. They can easily be mistaken for a leaf blown by the wind. Sly disguise. Chameleons are the reptiles that can change their colour to blend in with their surroundings. You can see from the photo below how this guy has changed his dark spots in an effort to blend in with Dwight’s shirt. To answer your question, no, they don’t turn any colour of the rainbow. Depending on what background they're on,their spots will either darken or fade, and their green colour can change from vibrant to very pale (for sleeping at night). After picking him up, admiring him, stroking him and photographing him, we let him go on his merry way. Slowly. Feeling each step with those funny little toes.
And this is where the curtains come in. Voila!
This little place is slowly becoming a home. Hanging curtains certainly added the warm touch we were missing. The nicest part is that we don’t feel so much like fish in a bowl at night. That’s not to say anyone was actually on the outside looking in, but you do tend to feel conspicuous without curtains in the dark bush at night when your home is lit up like a Christmas tree!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey lynn, sorry we missed you today on skype- those pics look great- and is that the same couch as the "old tired furniture??" :) great to hear that its beginnning to feel more like home for you. God Bless,
Rick and Heather

The Nelson's Dog Patch said...

Lynnie your house is looking very homey, takes a woman's touch doesn't it! I'm lending mom my old digital so she can use it for her blog pictures. Just waiting for Elmer & Marlene to show up so we can all go out to eat. Sure wish you could come too :(

Amanda said...

Wow, it's looking nice mommy! Didja clean it up just to take the pictures? :)

René Blessman said...

Hi Lynn, thanks for the wedding wishes, i will surely post some pick of the wedding. it is only 13 more days it looks so nice when i look at the calendar :) I am glad you are getting some bit of a "home" feeling, it is so important. Looks great! Keep up the great work!

Anonymous said...

Wow"Does that look great or what? Very nice Lynn, you do have the touch - enjoy to the fullest.
That camilion(?)bro't back some memories. God bless and strengthen you, is our prayer.
Amy & Ed

Anonymous said...

Wow"Does that look great or what? Very nice Lynn, you do have the touch - enjoy to the fullest.
That camilion(?)bro't back some memories. God bless and strengthen you, is our prayer.
Amy & Ed

Royden and Ruth said...

looks awesum auntie lynnie. love the cameleon pics...royden keeps saying "we HAVE to go to AFRICA!" yay! tho now i'm becomming the scardy cat...should've gone before I became a nurse:. what's up with mom bragging about hanging with all the treks? so not fair. miss you!!!!!!

Royden and Ruth said...

oh...did you know that cameleons eat crickets? a lot of crickets. and that those crickets get expensive and that someone in my family decided to order some online and have them fedexed to our house because that was cheaper than buying them at the pet store? and that i came home from work last week and found a mysterious vibrating package on my doorstep containing 500 live crickets? and that there is now a cricket crypt in my basement? good thing the cameleon is so cute and good that reptiles afford a little inspirations to that artsy guy i love.

Royden Lepp said...

Just to clarify - that cricket crypt is contained in a terrerium.

It's not like our basement is covered in dead crickets.

;)

500 more coming today.