Ramadan's Grand Finale

The month of Ramadan is officially over.  A month of fasting during daylight hours and feasting at night.  The new moon showed itself last night, according to our night guard, so they could start the celebration after evening prayers last night.  And what a celebration it has been.  

Chicken and guinea fowl seemed to be the meat of choice and they were for sale along the streets. 

 

I was surprised how the prices on food items sky-rocketed during the month of fasting.  Only baguettes seemed to be on sale!  It will be good to see prices go back to normal in the next day or two. We've been told that more food is consumed and more money spent on food during the month of Ramadan than other months of the year in spite of the fasting.  

  The round point near our house was bustling with activity yesterday afternoon as clothes vendors hawked their wares.  Everyone wanted a new set of clothes for the holiday.

Beautiful designs were painted on hands and feet with henna.  Hair was "tressed" (braided) and the new clothes and live chickens were purchased.

Our neighbors ate chicken and couscous and fried bread mid-morning and then got all dolled up and came for a visit, bringing with them a portion of their food for us to enjoy.

This little one is such a doll.  She was dressed to the nines:  shoes, double earrings in each ear, necklace and a lovely dress.

 Then the visiting began:  family, neighbors and friends.  I sat outside for an hour or so watching the traffic pass:   taxis crammed with families,  motorcycles with whole families aboard, bicycles, pick-up trucks loaded with a dozen or more people, and lots of people walking;  all dressed in their finery to visit family and friends.

 

 The courtyard next to us is home to soooo many.  I know the ones who usually live there but today there were  many more.  I know "Grandma" has lots of grandchildren and many came to visit .  They loved having their picture taken and using my camera to take pictures.

Our neighbor boy rarely has clothes on but today he was dressed from top to bottom...for a while.  First the shoes came off and then the shirt...  Can't blame the poor kid.

 Playing games in front of our gate kept them occupied for a bit.

 Sunglasses seemed to be a big hit this year!

So I joined the fun! 

Every day is laundry day...down by the river

A rainy day!  Yipee!  What a better time than to blog about washing clothes.

With no automatic washing machines nor electric dryers in most homes, clothes are washed by hand.  My neighbors plunk themselves down beside a tub of water and a bar of soap and scrub away.  In many families, each person is responsible to wash his own clothes:  men, women and children alike.

There is a huge laundromat down on the river's edge.  I haven't figured out to whom all these clothes belong, but it most certainly is a laundry service.   I love to walk across the bridge just to watch the "washer-men" do their job.  I wonder if they are out today in the rain, getting an extra rinse for the clothes.

Bundles and loads of clothes arrive on the bridge in carts or back of bicycles on atop a man's head.

  

The empty carts are parked in an orderly fashion beside the bridge railing
and the bundles are carried to the water's edge. 

Let the scrubbing begin!  The river carries the suds downstream so no need to ever change the water.  

Scrub 'em, rinse 'em and lay 'em out to dry:  on the cement sides of the bridge, or on the few scraggly bushes or on the sand, when no grass is present.

 

Driving across the bridge in the mornings when men's slacks were the laundry item for the day.
They are always dried turned inside out. 

 Another glimpse into life in Niamey on this gorgeous, rainy morning.

Paris in the Summer time...and Rennes, too

Two weeks ago Tom left for a 2 week ministry trip into the interior of our country.  That gave me the perfect opportunity to hop on a plane and go to France for a bit.  Lindsay had spent the summer there and was on her way back to Kansas so we overlapped for a few days to see the sights in Paris. Melissa joined us for 2 of those days.  What a wonderful time it was!  

Melissa had found a cute little hotel for us to stay in and then we became tourists for 3 days.  What a massive city and soooo many people.   

Lindsay, with map in hand, did an awesome job of getting us to where we wanted to go. 

 I have no idea how many kilometers we walked.  But it was many, many.

We had no deadlines so we could spend our time how we wanted.  

I was surprised to see so many McDonald's but getting a coke with ice was a welcome treat.  

We traveled the massive metro system,

 drank coffee at the cute cafes along the street, well,  the girls did...I had my coke WITH ice from McDonalds!,

indulged ourselves at the bakeries with yummy pastries...(maybe too much!),

  and took every minute we had to talk and talk and talk.

We watched artists painting, 

we saw musicians set up shop on the side of the road to entertain us,  hoping for donations, 

 and a pick up chess games played on the street.  So much to see.

One day we spent several hours exploring the beautiful gardens at the home of the painter, Claude Monet.

After 4 days, we left Paris by train bound for Rennes, where Melissa lives, leaving Lindsay to board the plane for Kansas after her 7 weeks in France.

It was absolutely wonderful to spend time in Melissa's lovely city.  Her apartment is homey and she was so welcoming.  I could have stayed a lot longer if I didn't have my "dearest" back in Africa waiting for me. 

The region of France where Melissa lives is full of history:  castles, cathedrals,  medieval architecture and beautiful flowers.  We visited several villages close by that were simply charming.  The pictures don't do justice to the beauty of the flowers we saw everywhere. 

Crepes made a great lunch at a quaint cafe.

 

 I did learn a new vocabulary word in French:  "la canicule" meaning "heatwave", which, evidently, they were experiencing while I was there.   I guess it's what you get used to... the weather was gorgeous.

With our family living on three different continents, time together is rare and very precious.   I'm so grateful for these days.