Birthday cupcakes and roasted goat; making the effort to celebrate

Celebrating with birthday cupcakes

Sisters, Joy and Jaiden, both have birthdays in May. Joy (far right) turned 10 and Jaiden (middle) had her first birthday. I invited Carol and Jeremiah's family to my house so we could celebrate both birthdays on the same day. We enjoyed lasagna, avocado and tomato salad, cupcakes, and chai. In fact, there wasn't a crumb or a drop of anything left over!

[Jasmine (seated on the left) has her birthday in November, when she'll turn 6.]

Several of us enjoyed coloring.

Jim and Esther played a few rounds of Chinese Checkers.

When we sang 'Happy Birthday', Jaiden danced and clapped along!

Joy is eager to blow out the candles.

Waiting for a vehicle at the stage near my house.

Using public transportation, it took three hours and four vehicles (each way) to reach my house. That's a total of six hours on the road... in order to spend four hours at my house. With a brief stop along the way, that made it a 10.5 hour day. But with delicious food, good conversation and laughter, it was very much worth it!

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

If we don't take the time and energy to celebrate the moments
and relationships, our lives will feel less meaningful and special. 

In turn, we will feel less joy and fulfillment. 

Bring more meaning into your world by celebrating 

and honoring those special moments and people.

~Stephenie Zamora, life coach

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Celebrating with goat meat

Madaraka Day (June 1st) is a national holiday, this year celebrating 53 years of self-governance for Kenya. I thought it would be a great day to visit Masudi where he works - Meating Palace at Makuyu.

As I headed to the stage at 6:45am, there was thick fog in the area.
Later on the sun came out and it was a beautiful day.

Mbuzi choma (roasted goat) served on a sizzling plate, with chips and kachumbari

Goat meat is the preferred meat for celebrations in Kenya and Masudi really knows how to prepare it! He marinates it overnight, making it quite tasty and tender. Yummy! While I ate, I listened to the official holiday ceremony being held in Nakuru. Later, as I traveled back to Nairobi, I heard President Uhuru Kenyatta's speech on the radio.

A great benefit of traveling on a holiday is that there's much less traffic! With a stop for breakfast on the way and a stop for a few groceries on the way back, it was a 9.5-hour day for me. I used 7 vehicles (2 buses, 2 vans, and 3 motorbikes). If it had been a normal day, it would have easily taken three (if not four) additional hours of travel.

Making mandazi dough, for fried bread

Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving;

make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!

~ Amanda Bradley, poet