Followers, Visitors, Even More Rain and ..... Addictions !

Well this week my blog hit just over the 200 Blogger 'Followers' mark (for those of you who don't know about 'Following' - this just means that 200 people with Blogger accounts are following my blog daily, and are getting updates on their Blogger 'dashboard' whenever I update my blog. Thanks too, to my 28 'Blogged' followers) I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who 'Follows' me - as well as those who don't, but still log in daily to see what I've got to say ;) and to all my new 'Followers', too - it's great to see the numbers increasing, because there's nothing worse than blogging and thinking that no one is reading you ! Thanks to everyone for reading, commenting & emailing.

This week was a busy week for me, and I'm quite glad that it's over actually ! First off, we had to rush through to the city last weekend as hubby and I were both quite sick. Hubby has a severe form of tick bite fever, and I had bronchitis and sinusitis and had to have a hydrocortisone injection (the most painful one of my life I think - it burns like fire going through your veins !) and we are both now on antibiotics and feeling much better. I hardly ever get sick and when I am, it's really annoying. Of course hubby - as all men do (with apologies to my male readers !) - acted as though he was just about to die, but I assured him that the only thing that would be killing him off anytime soon, was is 20 + a day cigarette habit (behind the farm workshops and out of my view, according to the staff as he has 'given up' in front of me that is - ha ha !)

Then we had 2 school runs, shopping and visitors out from Holland, Israel and Australia to the farm mid-week (the visit was supposed to be last week but some of them were delayed due to the Icelandic volcanic ash saga). I laid on morning and afternoon tea's for them, and lunch aswell. The two photo's above are of morning tea set out on our veranda, as we waited for them to arrive. (Didn't take any photo's of lunch, as at that stage I was running around like a headless chicken !)

The rain continued to bucket down, with 109 mm's since Thursday, so I took the photo above out of my office window (where I blog from daily) / view from my desk to try & show you the rain - you can't see it, but you can see the wet, red mud which we have everywhere (and banana trees in the background).

I've also been busy redecorating the kid's bedrooms and am busy with my son's this weekend - but that's for another post, another day .... At the end of each day I have been relaxing by watching my latest addiction - 'LOST' .... I know that the 6th and final season is airing in the US this month - I'm currently on the 4th season so have lots more ahead of me to enjoy ! (Including my two LOST favourites here and here ;)

I've had a few requests from readers about what they'd like me to blog about, and I was wondering if there was anything you'd like to see on the blog - a part of farm life, Tanzania or whatever that you'd like me to do a post about - let me know in the comments section or by email, and I'll happily oblige if I can !

Well, enough of my rambling .... I will leave you with a sunset photo taken on the road just outside our house earlier this week - in between all the rain - and wish you all a wonderful and relaxing Sunday, wherever in the world you may be .....

Couscous Salad with Thyme Roasted Onion & Tomato

Served warm, this couscous salad made a filling & tasty lunch

I’ve had a box of couscous sitting on my pantry shelf for ages now, and I decided last week that it was time to use it – so I came up with an easy couscous salad recipe, which can be served either warm or cold.

This salad is so filling that it’s almost a meal in itself, thanks to the addition of the couscous, which is a low fat carbohydrate made from semolina wheat commonly used in North African cooking. I usually serve couscous as a side dish (it goes well with stews and casseroles), so this made a nice change -:


Couscous Salad with Thyme Roasted Onion & Tomato

5 large ripe Tomatoes, cut into quarters
3 – 5 red Onions, cut into quarters
2 cloves Garlic, sliced
Small bunch of fresh Thyme, washed
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

2 cups cooked Couscous (prepared according to package instructions – I use the ‘instant’ kind)

Place the cut tomatoes and onions into a baking tray. Sprinkle the garlic & thyme over, then pour a little olive oil over everything, season with salt and pepper and toss to mix everything together well. Cook at Gas Mark 7/220’C/425’F for about 40 minutes, turning the tomatoes and onions over a couple of times during the cooking process. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, before adding to the cooked couscous. Mix everything together to blend, taste and add more seasoning if necessary and serve.

Flooded Roads On The Way To School ....

School's back which means a twice weekly 3 hour round trip to take my daughter to school (I home school her on the other 3 days). Quite a lot of fun at the moment with all the rain we've been having. Lots of puddles and parts of the main dirt road which are more like a river than anything else.

Approaching part of the 'river' above, and driving through it ... below ....

Okay, we're almost through it .... but oops, see some more water up ahead ....

The truck ahead of us made it through okay .... but I feel sorry for the poor chap on his bicycle below - those yellow plastic containers he has strapped to the sides of his bicycle are for carrying drinking water in - he had to stop to attach them more securely, before negotiating his way through all the water ....

Finally, we make it on to the tar road .... which used to be dirt road until several years ago, so we're lucky as we'd be negotiating our way through water for most of the way ! Now we just have to watch out for stray cattle and goats .... and the odd pothole ..... and we'll soon be there.

And to think that in the dry season, we had to negotiate elephants (click to read that blog post and to see pics) and giraffe (ditto) on the way to school. I try to explain to our daughter that none of these are usual things that children encounter on the way to school in other parts of the world. But I'm not that sure that she believes me !

I've had a few people ask me for some posts and photo's on our surrounding area and villages, so I'll be taking you on a few road trips with me over the next couple of weeks .... to see some typical Tanzanian roadside scenes, a trip to one of our cities and a famous landmark - and even on an early morning school run with me ... I hope that you'll enjoy these trips, and getting off the farm with me for a while !

(Incase you were wondering - the red plastic Coca Cola crates stacked on top of one another in the right of the last photo are placed outside a local bar/restaurant to indicate to the passing soda delivery truck that they need stock today - or tomorrow - whenever he may pass. No telephoning ahead to place your weekly order here !)