Out of the "self pity rut"....

It always amazes me how when I start to get into a "self pity rut", (we are alone for the Christmas season in the middle of nowhere) how God sends me a person or people to jolt me out of it and gets me counting my blessings once again! We had lunch today with a Cuban couple, both doctors who have had to leave their two children of 15 and 7 in Cuba, whilst they work in a little village in Gabon, they see them for 1 month in every 7! Encourage someone this week! Take the time to find someone who is alone for Christmas and be a blessing....

#specialsunday#newfriends#newplaces

an "elephant snout fish"........

This fish fascinates me as watched a documentary about this fish (which has a trunk just like an elephant) and discovered that we have it in the very river ( Nyanga River) in front of our house, here in Gabon.... They are apparently quite smart, just like an ellie!  This is not a great pic as taken off the net....
Here is a link....
snoutfish... Mormyridae

Golden Christmas baubles.....

I found some gorgeous "natural" Christmas ornaments to add to my collection today.....

we took the boat upstream....

as we heard we could see Chimpanzees, so grabbing my camera and plenty insect repellant off we went...  Sadly we didn't see the Chimps but will try again another time, but here are a few snaps from the huge Nyanga River.... it shows me more than ever how very isolated we are... totally uninhabited for hours.... so different to Southern Africa, where the rivers draw the people...
Nyanga River, Gabon

so much rain the moss grows on the branches...

Jb's office (with a gorgeous view) and one of the houses...

The road less travelled.........

GREENS!!!

These aren't exciting pictures at all, but for me they are pure gold.....  I live a good 12 hour drive away from a decent supermarket, where I can buy "imported from France" veggies and salads... so have begun to do a small veg garden in the flower boxes around the house... There is no soil around the house only small rocks as we are on top of a hill.  The Gabonese are huge meat and carbohydrate eaters, (meaning, cassava, rice and yams) Everything is fried in palm oil....They don't eat veg at all, it seems.  They are not healthy, and we have quite a few (young!) employees with high blood pressure and cholesterol.