petit compaore: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

arugula bouquet

Here is a bouquet of our arugula.We clipped off the bolting arugula flowers since they were drooping a little with the rain this morning. Isaac cut all of them with the scissors and we put them in a vase. It is hard to take a good picture of a bouquet after dark, especially if the flowers are white and the backgrounds are all white or reflective. It's fun to use edible flowers as a bouquet. Hooray for cold-weather crops bolting, I guess. I'm looking forward to more arugula and joi choi when the weather gets cooler again.

But mostly we are looking forward to warmer weather that allows us to go to the park like we did last weekend!

La musique d'Isaac: Zouglou

On to another musical genre: Zouglou! This genre is pretty much from Cote d'Ivoire - but of course Burkinabe people listen to music from Cote d'Ivoire too since it is a neighboring francophone country. Unlike zouk, which is more about love and is romantic in nature, zouglou is more of a "folk genre" (according to Papa, maybe he means "popular") and talks about society or situations people encounter in day to day situations.

Magic System - very famous. When Mama and Papa first met, Mama was happy that Papa had a Magic System tape, and I think Papa was a little surprised that Mama knew of Magic System. Magic System has recently branched out into other genres since, but this is where they started.

Some other guys....so, as you can see, by "folk" it might be more like "pop". Not sure what the story is on this one! Anyway, this way you can get the idea of the genre!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

La musique d'Isaac: Afro Zouk

I thought I should do a little series of posts on the kind of music we listen to at our house. This week I want to go over different African genres of music we especially like. And today, one of our favorites - African zouk! Zouk is a genre originally from the French Caribbean, but adopted very successfully by several African artists.

Monique Seka, from Cote d'Ivoire, the queen of Afro Zouk

Pierrette Adams, from the Congo...

Oliver Ngoma, from Gabon. Okay, so in this one they actually have a video and some dancing. If you have little kids watching, you might find it too "sexy" (not the way they are dressed, just the way the dance is), so just be aware. Papa and Mama like this dance though although Mama is no good at it at all.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

etcetera etcetera etcetera

Just another assortment of pictures...

The weird little mushrooms have sprouted again, this time through the top of my Thai basil plant's container.Giant fungus indicator? I think so.

Our neighbor Karl was mowing his lawn this morning. Isaac was enthralled by his ride-on lawnmower and kept running out to watch him mow the grass. Karl let Isaac take a ride on his scooter later. Such a nice neighbor, and such a well-maintained yard. He said "It's not what it used to be" but hey, I'm still impressed.

After this, we went to Saturday Market, and I got some baby artichokes which I have just steamed and which gave off a smell like incense as they cooked. Very nice.

We also got to go to the duck park today. Papa finally thought to take some pictures of Isaac. And, yes, I cut his hair during the week. It looks better now that it has been washed once (as is the case in all these photos). Before that we had a little faux-hawk going on.

Just enjoying the sunnier days of spring! Oh, and the post title, well, we watched "The King and I", the old version, earlier this week too. Nothing like a good old musical.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Easter 2012

Here are our pictures from Easter this year! We love spending time with our family for Easter (well, any holiday, really). I guess these pictures might seem a little late, but it is still the Easter season, so I think we're okay!

Isaac helped make cinnamon rolls in the morning before we went to Mass.

Then, of course, I don't have any pictures of Mass, but we sat very near the front and Isaac and London were both very good.I think it might have seemed a bit more celebratory had we been at St. Mary in Eugene, but being with family made it worth it! Afterwards we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for brunch (our favorite!) and an Easter egg hunt. London started right off looking for eggs the second we went inside. One caught her eye under some furniture and she immediately dropped to the ground and reached for it. So, Isaac and London went egg-hunting, with London being more interested than Isaac.

Look at this cute bunny cake Grandma made!

Everyone made it, even Uncle Greggy!

It was a nice day, too! We went down close to the beach, and Papa and Isaac tried out the parachute they had made.

We tried to get a family picture, but none of them turned out...Isaac was only smiling in this one with Papa. I think I tickled him immediately prior.

And here is London looking for eggs. She really had an eye for them!

Well, there was our Easter - short, but sweet.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

assortment

Just a couple of things from life lately!

Isaac watering the bushes outside with a spray bottle

The deer that come down around our home - they have started showing up more now that the weather is warmer!

This is a Thai basil start from Uncle Chris. Last night I noticed it had two mushrooms growing out of the drainage hole! Kind of different.... If mushrooms are the reproductive part, then does that mean that there's a giant fungus underneath my basil plant? :)

Isaac and I made sugar cookies over the last two day. On Tuesday,we mixed all the ingredients. Then, the next step was to chill the dough. Isaac was confused as to why we had to wait. I told him we would make the cookies when he got home from daycare the next day. He was so excited about making the cookies. When he woke up yesterday morning, the first thing he asked was, "Mama, can I make the cookies now?" He was a little upset when I said we had to wait. Then, when I picked him up from daycare, he said he was so happy to see me and he was ready to go home and make the cookies. That little sweetheart! I have to admit, some raw cookie dough was consumed, which was irresponsible of me. But so far we are fine. I guess the one egg in the recipe was salmonella free.The cookie dough really stuck to surfaces too, so next time we will start out using lots and lots of flour.

Isaac is also learning to spell his name (verbally). He's still working on the exact number of letters, but he has the sequence right!

(For the record, it is I-S-A-A-C)

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Nakambe

The Nakambe, the river in Niaogho, which we visited the morning of the day we left. Papa's sisters started getting worried and sent Tantie Augustine to come find us on her moto (see "moto" post for an idea of this). But, we would have made it back. Mama paid special attention to each fork in the path.