free writing Sunday 7 Sept the day the Lusaka Accord was signed.

Trying to download the form we need for a visa…Form I-129F I had it once. I need to blog, Bff tells me so as we sit on bed and start a game of cribbage…2 for two tens, knobbs for me, that Jack of spades, she wins, 14 points in the last hand. We made salad and bread, well Bff made bread, five round, smooth, with crusty crusts, they were perfect. T is telling me about lathes. Big ones from a long time ago. My mother’s hospital room only rings busy. So I sent an email. And one to my sister, talking about cell phones. I’m thinking about buying a cell phone, maybe Verizon. It seems like a million years away, Thanksgiving in a cabin with some of my siblings and their families, I think of the children, all of them together, their bright minds whirling and chattering. Some of them crying now and again. Games of Rook or Risk or Rummikub. An egg hatched today, but the chick is special needs and I think the big duck pecked its back. She, Lula (for Halleluia) is under our desk lamp and Bff nurses him and sends him whispers of love. Eyedroppers used for our past extreme needs cat. Glory Bound sings Martin Sexton. I want to put a link to a blog about Garfield, that’s who I’m referring to when I say extreme needs pet. He was our cat, we (Dera and I) had recruited him from our friend to come and keep our house free of giant rats. He killed one and kept the rest away. He slept in the sun and rubbed up against us when he needed us. And he smelled, but we didn’t find any more giant rats dead in our drawers. So we were happy with Garfield. But one tragic day Shoprite did not restock on his food. And he refused to eat anything else. And by that time Bff was living with me instead of Dera and Garfield started to die, and she went to the vet and they gave her an eyedropper to feed him milk. Garf died and we buried him under our mango tree. But the eyedropper is now being used for Lula. And my heart wants just a few things…for my mother to be well and healthy again, for J to get a visa to the US, for the preschools to continue on, and for peace on earth. I only learned today about Sarah Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy. I filled out an absentee ballot yesterday. Tonight I looked through pictures on the BBC’s Africa in Pictures. My former Peace Corps friend (meaning she was formerly with Peace Corps, not that she was my formerly my friend, I mean she was, but she still is) had two photos posted from Mozambique. I can only dream of attaining such. So I sent some photos. In case they’re not posted there, I”ll post them here.

This one is gold that a worker in Mutenga found panning in an open strip mine. He put it on a 20 meticais note. That is Samora Machel's face.

This one is a bunch of kids in Dambatchauia that were fascinated by their own reflections in the chrome of the truck.

This one I took in Jos, Nigeria last year.

And this one I didn't send to the BBC. It's Garfield's grave. :(