Saturday, May 3, 2014

My Flowering Veranda

This is our veranda outside our front door.  I have potted all these plants in the past months since we came.  Zoelu, our groundskeeper encourages me by bringing me more starts.  I love it!

3 comments:

  1. I love your pictures. We miss those wonderful black people that we grew to love and cherish in South Africa. Keep doing so well. Love the Porters

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  2. Hello! I found your blog while looking for images of rubber trees to show my son's second grade class here in CT. We are email pals with the second grade class at the former American Cooperative School in Monrovia; I attended second and third grade there in the mid '80s. The school has reopened as the American International School of Monrovia. We will be skyping with the second grade class Monday morning, and I wanted to show the class how Rubber trees are tapped. They are all familiar with tapping the Sugar Maples in our area.

    When we lived in Monrovia, at Mamba Point across from the US Embassy, there was only one other LDS family in the Country. Wolfgang Reckner was the father's name, his daughter Bianca was about my age and we were friends. Our families received special permission to meet together and have sacrament in our homes.

    Liberia has always had a special place in my heart. My living room has a growing collection of African masks, and my house is filled with tropical plants. I even found hardy bananas that can survive CT winters with proper mulching!

    I went to Young Women's camp a few years ago as I was the current YW leader. We had a small group of girls, and there was another small group who had come to camp with no leader or adults from there ward. They joined our group, and as I was chatting with them and leading them to our campsite, there was a familiarity to their accents that prompted me to ask if they were from Liberia.With wide eyes they told me that their parents had come over from Liberia, I told them I had lived there as a child and we hugged and laughed and have remained friends. FYI it had been over 20 years since I had lived in Liberia and heard the accent.

    I would love to hear back from you, and learn about how the church is growing in Liberia and how the country is progressing.
    My email is crystaladams00@hotmail.com

    Thank you!

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  3. I tear up while reading my daughter's comments above. I went into the bush with a couple of friends while in Liberia. On one trip we visited a Leper colony where one friend who was also the Liaison Officer for the American Embassy went regularly to pick up hand made goods to take back and sell for them. There were carvings and tie-dye items ( I got a tablecloth with the shape of Africa that I love).
    On another trip with her I brought a third companion. We went exploring in the forest while LO had other things to do. We had such on experience! We came upon a tiny settlement at a check point toward the end of the day where the apparent leader ordered a bench for us, and then a bunch of bananas for each of us. We were surrounded by children and men that had finished their foraging for the day. The women were uninterested in us and went about their duties. Pigs and goats roamed freely. The children sang us a song and danced and we (I) returned the favor. The sun was setting and the forest was getting dark. I'll never forget the feel of the air and the scents! We waved good-bye to our new friends and had quite the send off.
    I have wondered how the people survived the war.....

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