I realize that it's been some time since I posted any stories of my journey and I can only suggest that, "After Africa - with all it's dramatic scenes and experiences - Seattle in rain just didn't come up to snuff!"

Not that I didn't have a wonderful homecoming with the Friars at Blessed Sacrament who offered me hospitality and an opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving with them.  Not only that, but they also invited me to spend some days away when the community went to Port Townsend, Washington for their annual Advent/pre-Christmas Community outing.

I finally packed up the motor home and left Seattle on Monday, December 10, 2001.  I re-traced my steps and stopped at Grayland (just a little south of Ocean Shores) on the Washington coast and spent a few days catching my breath.  It was the first time in more than three months that I had been on my own and I basked in the quiet and even had a day when I could get down on the beach with a little bit of sun!

On Friday, December 14th I crossed over into Oregon, stopped to visit my sister, Pat for the weekend and then left on Sunday even though there was a threat of stormy weather.  I chose to travel south on the coast so that I could avoid having to drive in snow over the Siskiyous and through Shasta.

However, it ended up being a 'toss-up' since I was treated to  'white-knuckle' driving as storm winds battered the Oregon coast.  There was one point where I had to drive through about a foot of standing water on the highway.  I was taking it very slow until some jerk in one of those high riser, 4 X 4, big-wheeled pickups came at me with huge wings of water spraying from both sides of his vehicle.  Luckily, I was able to swerve out of his way and I avoided being deluged by his flood.

A little further along, where the road passes through the town of Depot Bay the waves were crashing up over the highway.

That was the worst of the trip and I even had a day or two where I was driving under clear skys. I spent one night at Fort Bragg, California at an RV Park that was right on the beach.  Fortunately, the fiercest part of the storm had passed.

After that, I was able to visit with Fr. Anthony Rosevear and his sister, Sherry who were staying at Sea Ranch and then down to Bodaga Bay where the Dominicans have a house close to the ocean at Portuguese Beach.  Again, I was blessed with some nice days and I stayed there until Christmas Eve.

Christmas Midnight Mass was with the brothers at St. Albert's and was so nice to enjoy a feastday liturgy WITHOUT having to do anything but enjoy it!

As I write this journal entry I'm parked in the back lot at St. Albert's Priory in Oakland right next to my old Print Shop.  It's raining again so I'm taking advantage of being inside to get this entry up and running before the New Year.

Fr. Vincent was kind enough to send all my mail from McKenzie Bridge to Oakland so I had a great time opening more than 50 cards on Christmas day. I displayed them on the wall of the motor home and even got a small tree to get me into the Christmas Spirit.

I was talking on the phone to a friend the other day and he said, "I haven't seen anything on the Web Page since "Africa.  We're anxious to see some of the souvenirs you talked about in the other stories." That gave me the idea that it might be fun to share some of the 'memory treasures' that I brought out of Africa.

I began by laying them all out on the table in the motor home.  In the photo below, I'm holding one of several carved, wooden masks that I purchased and the rhythm instrument called a "kyumba." In the foreground is the Maasai 'Shuka' (the wrap that all the Maasai wear) and in the background you can see some of the colorful fabric that is also typical of the African style.

Here's a closeup of the carved wooden masks.  I was very surprised when I found out the price of these hand-carved items.  The first one is about 14" high and made of ebony.  The mask, 3rd from right depicts a Maasai with the traditional ear-piercing that stretches the ear lobe forming a large loop. The mask on the far right depicts a young Maasai who has passed through the rites of initiation and spends about four years as a moran (warior)  and always appears with his hair and face colorfully decorated.

In one of my earlier stories I told about the time I went by myself to the Maasai open-air, street fair and really felt as if I had been taken advantage of by some of the merchants.  They saw the 'mzunga' (the Kiswahili word for 'foreigner') coming and could taste the sound of money in their pockets.  I paid the equivalent of $30.00 for the beaded wedding necklace shown in the photo below.  Some weeks later, when I was returning to Nairobi from Arusha, Tanzania an old Maasai women was selling the same kind of beadwork when our bus stopped at the border crossing.  One of the passengers was haggling with her and finally agreed on a price when it got down to $5.00!

One of the first places that Fr. Kieran (my Dominican host in Nairobi) took me to was the Jesuit Refugee Center. After my experience of being hassled at the Maasai Street Market it was a delight to be in a shop where I was able to take my time looking around and picking out items that were clearly marked.  I purchased all of my Christmas Cards which were all hand-made. Some were in the style of batik and others were hand cut from banana leaves.  In case I didn't have your address and you didn't get one of these beautiful, hand-made Christmas cards the photos below are typical of the ones that I purchased.  They are made by Sudanese refugees and I am embarrassed that the price was so reasonable.

Click on Picture for full-sized image

Click on Picture for fiull-sized image
"Christmas Cards
from the Jesuit Refugee Center - Nairobi, Kenya"

I also purchased the crosses pictured below.  You'll be surprised to know that they are made out of leather strips which are knotted into the form of the cross which is an Ethiopian Cross. As far as I can tell they are only held together by the series of knots and they only cost a little more than a dollar.

I had one other place where I felt very comfortable purchasing items.  It was while I was in Arusha, Tanzania.  Dominican Fr. Maury Schepers, who teaches at the Spiritan Seminary invited me to attend Mass at a convent of Medical Missionaries of Mary.  In our conversation over dinner the sisters suggested a place in town where I would find very lovely gifts.

It was a small shop run by an Ishmali Family (Ishmalies are a small Moslem sect) and I was surprised to find that they had so much Christian art.  I bought a Nativity set which was carved out of ebony.   The figures were up to 15" tall and the set included shepherds, animals, kings and, of course, the Holy Family.

When I saw how heavy the nativity set was I began thinking "thin" and "lightweight" and came upon the crosses pictured below.  They are cut out of ebony and made very lovely gifts.  They, too, were also very reasonably priced.

The same shop had original paintings done by a local artist.  I thought
they were exceptional since they were  impressionistic paintings of
traditional, native scenes.  I bought several and was smart enough to save
one for myself.

I bought a couple of "outfits" while I was in Africa and they are pictured below.  I wore the shirt and pants for the Thanksgiving Dinner at Blessed Sacrament in Seattle to the delight of the two visiting Nigerian Dominicans.

The photo below shows me dressed in my Maasai 'shuka' which is a wool blanket-like wrap that is typical of all the Maasai.  I'm holding my animal-skin drum which my friend, Hamisi helped me buy.  This was the case where he kept haggling with the vendor until the price was agreed upon as about $5.00.  However, the merchant told Hamisi that if I (the 'mzunga') had been their by myself he could have gotten $30.00 for the same drum. When I showed the drum to our Cloistered Dominican Nuns they told me that I had probably paid twice too much!  How can they make it for that?

I am also holding an painted, antelope-skin shield - more symbolic than practical - and a rhythm instrument called a "kyamba."