Springtime. Springtime is here and it is a time of surprises, delights and expected irritations. Spring makes you miss Moshi just a little less. Spring is a time of flowers blooming, trees filling out, birds mating and singing, hummingbirds being lured to your feeders, and weeding. Weeding, Weeding, Weeding, a daily chore that continues unabated until you have breathed your last, especially if you have been living in Tanzania for nearly 3 years, and jungles have enclosed your house. Spring is the inaugural time of poison ivy, and you wait for it, not impatiently for you know it will arrive, first one bout, then another but it must not keep you from the weeds!

You look with envy at your neighbors who seem to have such a beautiful lawn, and then notice the trucks pulling up in the morning, chain saws going, leaf blowers dusting the neighborhood with pollen, huge lawn mowers eating all those shoots of grass and even some of the English Ivy.

It is also a time when you have to save your 13 year old Golden Retriever as she grabs a bone from who knows where and severs an artery in her mouth, and when you have to acknowledge that your kitty is indeed superior to all living things. It is a time of fabulous music, and coming at a time when you love to hear it.

For us, the house was almost mystical in its azaleas, Lily of the Valley, Camellias, and dogwoods.


The hummingbirds came back!


And there were graduations. The Duke graduation awarded degrees to many shining stars, and it was a wonderful thing. Murray Perahia was awarded an honorary doctorate for fine arts. I remember my roommate telling me our senior year at Duke, that he was the up and coming great pianist of all time. I thought he was pretty good, but she is a pianist, so I know that she speaks the truth. There he was 38 years later, his son graduating from Duke, receiving an honorary degree. Wow. Then there was Oprah Winfrey. She also received an honorary doctorate, as did several Nobel Prize winners. Oprah also gave the graduation address. I thought it was good. She talked about all the obligatory points that must be covered in a graduation speech. For success you must: Offer acts of kindness to strangers, be nice to children, choose to avoid misery, think of programs to spread love, accept even the worst of people and see the chance for them, be honest, learn to stand in your own shoes and help someone to, and of course, be humble. She shared these points, and with each of them, she shared a story that brought her points home to each of us in the intimate 45,000 person football stadium.


Oprah holds her arms out as she becomes Dr. Oprah Winfrey!
Humility
But the shining star of them all was my “African daughter” Meghan. Meghan is smart, kind, funny, and beautiful from her smile to her heart. She now can pursue her love of medicine with her Moshi met love by her side (no not the man in the picture). And no one was more proud than her mentor who is here standing by her side. Hongera Sana Meghan.

And finally, in Spring there is always Easter. Easter brings out interesting things in people, and lately it has really made house decorating enthusiasts delighted.