Dakar, Senegal  Feb. 11 – 26, ‘01   Again it was a bad road, so I flew from Nouakchott, Mauritania to Dakar, Senegal, a little over a one-hour flight for $150, high by US standards, but normal in this region because the airlines were not deregulated and also this flight was international. Since leaving Travis [...]

Nouakchott, Mauritania – Feb. 10 – 11, ‘01   In my 1,000 + pages book on Africa, The Lonely Planet, four pages were reserved for Mauritania, the country, and three- quarters of one page for the capital, Nouakchott. What is mentioned as the highlight of the country is the Italian Park Nation Du Bank D’argun [...]

Nouadhibou, Mauritania: Feb. 10 — 11, ‘01 Dumping my bag at my new-found residence, I along with my two driver companions, and the one-arm guardian angel, departed our abode to look for a place for refreshments, which we found about ten minutes away. It was a Chinese restaurant that did not serve Chinese food, but [...]

  My soles know no better than my heart Why my path leads to you. Their rough, lined skin a poor Protection against your call. The cracks on the heels Are the same as my heart’s. ~ FMJemena, U.P. Manila 1999   Links:: Inspirational Stories, Life Stories, Love Stories, Funny Stories, Kindness Stories, Folktales, Spiritual [...]

Three weeks until our first baby. Yay!  Three weeks to go.  Three weeks to organize, three weeks to relax and three weeks to enjoy my last three weeks of quietness… I decided to invite my parents in law to stay as it was my husband’s birthday. What a good wife I was! Looking and feeling [...]

Lately it has seemed like every time we got a little ahead something would come along and we would have to start all over. Today I had to pick my son up early from school and decided to go to a local store. While I was looking around I noticed there was an envelope on [...]

Dahkla, Morocco to Nouadhibou, Mauritania: Our immediate group consisted of the two Frenchmen driving their own cars: Lamont, in a 1990 Fiesta Ford, and Patrice, in a 1977 light-blue Mercedes. Because both of them were carrying so much in their vehicles, there was only enough room for two additional people, one in each car. I [...]

Mid-March found Angelina and Sharmaine in Europe for the first time, searching the side-streets of Rome for a reasonably-priced pension, a base from which to explore the tourist traps that beckoned.  Mission accomplished, they decided that after the long plane ride, a quick wash was in order.  Angelina left Sharmaine in their quarters and made [...]

  A long time ago I lived in Utah working on a uranium processing plant.  The Navajo Native Americans had a reservation nearby and made up a portion of the workforce.  I had to commute, and got in a car pool with Navajo’s.  We went to work in the dark, and came home in the [...]

Right in the middle of Japan, high up among the mountains, an old man lived in his little house. He was very proud of it, and never tired of admiring the whiteness of his straw mats, and the pretty papered walls, which in warm weather always slid back, so that the smell of the trees [...]