Our Backyard

As I write this I am sitting on our back deck looking out over the VALLEY behind our house. It is a magnificent backyard! The view is covered in lush vegetation and beautiful BANANA TREES capture my attention. Tim and the boys love to look across the valley at the “ROCKET PALM”. We have been told that things grow very quickly here in Kenya and even in the month since our arrival, we can see how the plants have grown and filled out. Because this is winter many of the trees do not have flowers yet. Gradually we are being surprised by the appearance of new colours. For example, it looks like our back hedge will be covered in tiny ORANGE BLOOMS. The famous flame trees are not yet in bloom but there are other large trees covered in RED, PURPLE, and WHITE BLOOMS.

There is a small CREEK (called Karura Creek) that runs behind our house and borders the edge of the Rosslyn campus. We can’t see the water from our deck but have been assured that any variety of creepy crawlies can be found there (snakes, for example). We also saw what we believe to be a MONGOOSE, near the edge of the creek (it really looked like a 3 foot rat with a 3 foot tail).

On Saturday morning while we ate breakfast we were delighted to watch three MONKEYS in the trees behind our house. Apparently there are lots of them near our house but we had never seen them before – probably because we didn’t know where or how to look. They swing in the trees and then make a dash for the MAIZE (corn) that is planted near our hedge. They are very frightened of people so we have to be very quiet while we are watching -- sometimes hard to do when they are swinging so wildly!

We also have many BIRDS flying around our heads. Just now I see four IBIS sitting in the tree. They are a cross between a crow and a vulture. Really. And there are many of them making noise all over the place. There are also tiny little birds called WEAVERS. They hang upside down and the male builds the nest (woven of course) to attract a female. If the female likes the nest then she will stay; if not, then she knocks it out of the tree. We see many of these nests lying on the ground. There are also pretty birds which our gardener, Timothy, calls QUIET PEOPLE fluttering around the yard. They are black and white, very clean and silent. They especially enjoyed being near while Timothy was working in our garden because they got some nice worms. Timothy works for us two days a week.
Here is a picture of our garden before and after TIMOTHY, THE GARDENER. He and I are looking forward to planting some new things. He transplanted the roses and made a beautiful rose garden for me. The only part of our backyard that I am not fond of is the SLUGS. Each morning there are a few crawling near the plants. They are at least 6 inches long. Really. Yuck. Timothy enjoys throwing them down into the valley and I enjoy watching him do it.