I’ve reached that point in packing where I’m just tossing stuff in the trash. Also, I’ve learned that while I’m not an all-around pack-rat, I have managed to obtain a ridiculous number of photo albums and frames. I will not buy another frame or album for a very long time. Perhaps it is time to invest in a really nice digital frame. I’m far too sentimental as I’ve held onto every letter anyone has ever written me since 95′ sometime. No worries there. I’ll be starting a project to take care of those letters soon enough.

Prayerfully, I should have all this wrapped up by tomorrow night. We’ll be moving into the new house on Wednesday and then the unpacking starts. Sigh. Why is this not as exciting as packing for two-week stay in a far away destination? Blah…

If I’m quiet, its because I have a lot of packing and moving and movement in general going on. Mom and I are reloacting across town to the glorious ‘burbs.’ We’ll be closer to my brother and also around the corner from my old high school. Woop woop! The most difficult part about packing is the discarding of things that just sort of nestled themselves on the desk untouched for the last two years. Decisions…

I’ve come to realize that I have an insane number of photo albums. I don’t know whether I should stop taking pictures or just store them all digitally. I’ve also discovered the same for my DVD collection and CDs’s. I cannot go on collecting anymore and with Netflix and last.fm there really isn’t much reason to. Sigh. Oh, and these are really minor notes. Of course I have to tend to patching up the holes from the wall hangings and more. I’m tired thinking about it.

My apologies though for being so hush-hush. I’ll try to bounce back in it soon! I’ve actually got a lot to share.

You are invited to my book signing event in the Clearwater, FL area!

Please join me for one or all of these special events. Bring a friend, a family member and warm smiles. I will be signing copies of my children’s book titled, Isaac and the Bah Family Tree. The event details are as follows:

When: Saturday, November 14th from 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Where: Barnes & Noble Booksellers
23654 US 19 North
Clearwater, FL 33765
727.669.1688

If you already have a copy of Isaac and the Bah Family Tree, please spread the word or pick up a copy for a friend.

Check it out and see you there! Thank you soo much for all your support so far!

It was a dark Halloween night and… nothing. I would entertain dressing up or hanging with friends on this ghoulish evening, but responsibilities still plague me. As you may have guessed I am dressed up as my ole’ usual scary face self. I do have a mud mask on now. Anyhow, do be safe and have a howling time where ever you may be.

Oh, and the last picture is just a shot of my delicious green tea boba smoothie from Kaleasia Tea a couple days ago. I could surely go for seconds.

I’ll be chatting with Antoinette Harrell again on BlogTalkRadio about genealogy for children tonight. Do listen in and jump into the conversation. Also, you can find me on iamthenublack, sharing a few bits and pieces. If you’ve never been to iamthenublack or even heard of it, now would be a good time to check it out. Lots of good black goodness.

Veer left off exit 17 from Interstate 4 and you’ll discover a land where dinosaurs are very much alive. I’d been trying to get someone to tag-a-long for a quick trip to Dinosaur World for as long as the Mesozoic Era. Without having ever visited the roadside attraction myself, I just couldn’t shake the notion that something magical was hiding behind the walls. Dinosaur World doesn’t disappoint.

The Stegosaurus (STEG-oh-SAW-rus), having always been my favorite dinosaur, was a real treat to see in the flesh. Okay, wait! If you haven’t already guessed by now, none of the dinosaurs were truly alive, but in my imagination they were. So, the Stegosaurus was amazing! The T-Rex was way overrated and the Triceratops always gets props from me.

It is easy to get lost on the grounds. By lost, I mean in a land before time when “terrible lizards” covered every inch of the Earth. The Florida fall temperatures also make for a pleasant past noon activity for family, couples, or the kid at heart. The displays aren’t cheesy either and the grounds are well manicured. Every turn proved surprising and just when I thought we were almost through touring Dinosaur World a new path presented itself.

I spent close to two hours at Dinosaur World with Dayo and we didn’t even have a picnic, watch the video or check out the Fossil Dig and Bone yard. Honestly, I think we may have been too big for the later two, but I highly recommend the road side attraction for any one in the area or passing by. It was a real nice Sunday treat to say the least. The dinosaurs still live!

This past weekend was one of the best yet of all 2009. I’ll start with Thursday evening, when I dined at Terra Sur Cafe with Dayo and local photographer extraordinaire, Hampton. I opted for the Tallarin Saltado, which was muy bueno! We talked about Nigeria, D-I-Y photos on canvas, and the recently past Clearwater Jazz Festival. (Hampton always shoots the fest.)

Friday morning was plagued by responsibilities, but the evening was deliciously fun even having not had dinner. Rebecca, my mummy and I went out to the St. Pete Times Forum where we caught the season five dancers from So You Think You Can Dance live. Becky drooled for young Phillip and I screamed like a little pre-teen for Kupono, Jason, Ade and Brandon. (Note: I was never really boy-crazy when I was younger, but if I was a pre-teen today I might be.) After the show, we waited for an hour with high hopes of nabbing some autographs on my program, but the pre-teen spirit which lived inside the forum had died outside and we retreated without a single signature.

My original plan for Saturday was to check out the Reading Festival. It would have been a great opportunity to connect with other local and national authors and to see what’s shaking in the book world in general. This didn’t happen. My boyfriend had kindly requested my attendance at his water baptism and in knowing how important it was for him, I happily changed my plans to support him. Following the baptism we took for to grab groceries from Whole Foods and Parksdale Farms.

Later that night after my boyfriend made a very tasty seafood pasta dinner with wine and the works, he proposed and I accepted. That being said, don’t expect much wedding chatter from me here or anywhere for that matter. I may occasionally post something on twitter, but that is ALL! I’m happy, excited and can’t even begin to think of what I really want or what will really work out for me in terms of a wedding. I will tell you this much: I’d really love to wear the Petra gown in this bridal collection, I’d love to tie the knot some where here and I will probably do something very, very small and semi-practical. P.S. The ring is very pretty. Smile

Sunday was as pleasant as the days before. A fruit smoothie to start the day for breakfast and off we went to church. From church we popped into Jasmine Thai for a nice light Thai lunch and then, get ready for this…DINOSAUR WORLD. I finally got to go!!! (I think Dayo was secretly afraid that I would renege on the engagement thingie if he didn’t go with me.) We thought about heading to the beach after Dinosaur World, but decided to visit a friend of his in Bradenton who had just had surgery. We ended up having Thai for dinner and left for Tampa an hour after dinner.

Simply magnifique from start to finish! Hoping to do it again and again and again.

While I was in Kenya, my horizon decided to get sick with the swine flu or whatever. The camera just stopped working and it was easy to see the film advance knob was stuck. There was no turning it clockwise or otherwise. This was a big time downer of a situation. When I returned home I packed my camera up and sent her to the Lomography folks in NY. They fixed the camera, but they had to cut the film out in the process. Upon receiving the camera and my exposed film, I took the film to be developed hoping for the best. Luckily there were tons of images to be found on the Lomo 200 xpro silde film I had used, however it is going to take some time to figure out a way to scan them in so that the scan doesn’t come up completely yellow. Anyone know how to help with that? In the meantime I played around with them best as possible and found this was the most I could do.

These were all taken while in Kisii on the Global Village project.

HAPPINESS IS .

Homework: Translate poem by Sohrab Sepehri

Any one care to help?

My table of book goodies; regular book, coloring book and audio book. Come and get yours. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Big ups to my friend Noriah for picking up a copy of the coloring book! Photo: Noriah’s fam

On a suggestion made by Ms. J Marie, I headed out to MacFarlane Park today for the 3rd annual Pastors on Patrol Octoberfest. Armed with books, coloring books and audio books I set up a table just in time for the gospel competition. All I got to say is “amen” and “thank you Lord.” What more can a woman ask for on a Saturday afternoon? I had sunshine, good music, grand conversations, and support for my book. I could ask for more, but that would be just too greedy now.

For everyone who picked up a copy of Isaac and the Bah Family Tree the book or coloring book, thank you for your support. Also, I’d like to thank everyone who came out to the Border’s book signing last weekend. You rock it too!

In retrospect, I’m more than pleased with the way my recent travels turned out to be. It has been less than a week since I returned from the Global Village project in Kisii and I have been thinking about it a lot. Mostly due to the high volume of questions from family and friends wanting to know every intimate detail, including the exact location of every malaria-ridden mosquito bite. I’ve been dodging the questions, working up the best way to put my thoughts and feelings together.

At this junction I’m going to refrain from gushing every detail about the trip. That goes to include those involving mosquito bites, wild malaria dreams and/or the screaming heard by my fellow team members one night at the hotel. I’ve already said too much and in this case, less is more and vague is the new vogue. So I’m guessing you’re ready to hear all about it? Shall we…

The project destination where I spent a large chunk of my time was in Kisii – a town in western Kenya approximately 6 hours outside of Nairobi. The drive into Kisii is both smooth, bumpy and simply awe-inspiring when passing through the Rift Valley. Dry dirt in various shades of yellow color the terrain and gradually evolve into a lusher, greener, tropical looking landscapes. Crops of all sorts dot the land and their rural keepers can be seen busy tending to them day in and day out. Hardly a day ever passes without a few hours rain in Kisii which helps to keep it looking so alive.

Kisii town is a busy place, but with nothing to totally captivate any particular visitor. It feels safe enough and the community as a whole is cool yet cordial to the stranger. Enter the Global Village…

We were originally slated to work on three houses for three different homeowners, but we ended up doing some pretty hard work on just two of the houses. Let me stop here to define hard work. Hard work – Digging up fresh earth, mixing mortar, and carting wheel barrows packed with fire bricks, stones and sand down muddy hillside slopes all in the name of volunteerism. I don’t think there is a village I’ve visited where the locals can’t get over the idea of a group of foreigners traveling from so far away to do construction work, for free.

The team really came together to make this a successful build for the two homeowners, Patrice and Mark, but we couldn’t have done it without the help of Mukanzi. Mukanzi, was the local HFH construction supervisor and it was easy to see his dedication in helping us to help the community. He taught us about ‘harambee,’ ‘mololongo’ and much more. The two homes were made of fire bricks and we did not complete one or the other, but there was definitely a lot of progress made due to our free unskilled labor.

As a volunteer and second-time team leader there were challenges. I am grateful for them all as I want to grow. I want to become a better volunteer team leader for future volunteer trips and as magical as last year’s project in Ethiopia may have been, it presented few challenges. I’ll summarize them so not to dwell. First off, I felt very alone on this project more so than ever before. This was a personal challenge and I didn’t want it to impact the others. There were some bumpy roads with the budget initially, but it was sorted out by the trip end. Three volunteers got pretty sick and unfortunately one had to make a trip to Hema Hospital. The hospital trip took me a way from the team for about a half day and I nearly had to throw blows to get my poor guy of the corrupted facility. Some people felt the work load was too heavy and others were simply happy to be there helping with whatever was thrown in our direction. In my eyes it was a pretty mixed bag.

All that being said, we gave it everything we had and more. It always blows me away to see a grassy lot transformed into a ditch, filled with rocks and cement and built upward by bricks into the walls. Although we didn’t complete the two houses we saw the fruits of our labor and I can only imagine that the future should be much, much brighter for our friends or ‘rafiki’ in Kisii.

Click here to learn more about building in Kenya with Habitat for Humanity. To learn more about Global Village and get involved you can find everything you need to know and more by visiting Habitat for Humanity International. To see more pictures from this trip visit the gallery found here.

Maasai. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Who goes to the land of the Big Five and doesn’t go on safari? I do. I did. I am only a little bitter about the situation. At this very moment I type with my eyes closed.

Man. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Envisioning the day where I can recount the slow gusts of wind blowing through my locks, as the early African sunrise caresses my cheeks while cruising the skies in a hot air balloon above the Maasai Mara, my imagination safari ends here.

Giraffe. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

The nonexistent champagne glasses clank over a breakfast never eaten. I keep cycling through the snapshots I did manage to snag while on photo safari. Next time.

Gas. Photo: Adrienne C.Wilson

(See the rest of the Kenyan Super Sampler here.)

For your viewing pleasure I’ve included six videos related to Kenya. The top two are directly related to my trip. In the first, I briefly describe my trip and in the second I’ve pieced together some of the footage captured while sitting in the car. The subsequent videos were plucked from YouTube for various reasons; I liked the music. I’m still sulking over not having gone on safari. Their was a major heist in front of the hotel we had stayed at in Nairobi just days after we left. Apparently witches were burned earlier this year just down the road from the area we were building in in Kisii.

Always good to stay in the know. Also, if you haven’t had the chance to check out this How Not to Write About Africa video narrated by Djimon Hounsou from an essay written by Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina check it out now! Or you can read the essay here.

Maasai Market at the Yaya. Photos: K.D.

My travels in the East African country of Kenya are prize worthy. If there isn’t already a t-shirt that says, “I Survived the Kenya,” then I shall make one. From the trenches of the global village site to African time to bargaining for the best price to random hail storms in Kisii and so on – I rightly deserve a t-shirt. For now, I should fight off this jet-lag, but I wanted to give you a dose of what may be in store as I recount my trip in the upcoming days.

In other words; I’m back.

You are invited to not one book signing, but two in the Tampa Bay, FL area! I’m so excited!

Please join me for one or all of these special events. Bring a friend, a family member and warm smiles. I will be signing copies of my children’s book titled, Isaac and the Bah Family Tree. The event details are as follows:

When: Sunday, October 4th from 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Where: Borders
909 N. Dale Mabry
Tampa, FL 33609
813.874.5722

When: Saturday, November 14th from 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Where: Barnes & Noble Booksellers
23654 US 19 North
Clearwater, FL 33765
727.669.1688

If you already have a copy of Isaac and the Bah Family Tree, please spread the word or pick up a copy for a friend.

Check it out and see you there! Thank you soo much for all your support so far!

Today I will begin my peregrination to a locale far away from my home. Although I’ll be helping to build homes in Kisii, Kenya, my heart will always have its place on my own turf. Without the strong support and love from my family and friends here at home, this journey would be nearly impossible. Thank you.

For those of you traveling vicariously to Kenya, I’d like to encourage you to get even more involved. With World Habitat Day approaching on October 5th there are several ways to make your voice heard. If you’re not familiar with World Habitat Day, you may wish to begin by reading about the day and this year’s theme and/or focal point. If you’d like to submit your own “It all starts from home” photo for the petition please check out the how-to on Habitat. Together we can all do great things.

Updates to follow upon my return from Kenya.

Boom, boom, poW! Waaaa! Loto: Him

Coco coconut crack! Loto: Her

Up, up and away! Loto: Him

I’ve added some freshies to my Lomo Lab. These shots come from my vacation in Key West and more from New Orleans can be found on my home. When people raise an eyebrow or ask me why I’m shooting with all my bizarre cameras – I just put one in their hands and WHAP! They’re addicted. Anaglog cams make life full of so many pleasant surprises.

My friends - There is no greater pleasure in the world than that of supporting super talented friends in their life’s endeavors. J*Davey makes it easy. I invite you to get off on the video; those sexy long legs of Miss Jack Davey and that fuzzy beard on the handsome Brook D’Leau. When you are finished you need to go vote.

Simple.

For anyone interested in genealogy for children and hearing me talk about my book, Isaac and the Bah Family Tree, I will be chatting with Antoinette Harrell on blogtalkradio tonight. Feel free to phone in or share the link with an interested party. If you aren’t familiar with Antoinette Harrell’s weekly online radio broadcast you may wish to bookmark this one for later reference. Check it out for yourself.

Me and my two headless friends in the Florida Keys. Photo: Him

The long weekend is over and the southernmost sunset in the U.S.A is an eight hour drive behind me and my wonderful dude. A three day weekend escape to Key West was right on time and all the time I needed. (I’m slowly, but surely finding which vacation hot-spots aren’t necessarily sizzling for me.) I’m a true culture junkie and quite frankly being a pretty poor swimmer makes me less enchanted by the life, times and culture of a fisherman. I’ll gladly sample the fresh catch of the day provided it didn’t previously live in a shell.

Let me describe this weekend escape the right way. Key West is a vibrant South Florida destination located as far south as your automobile can go. Perfect for party animals, beach bums, food junkies, snow birds, spring breakers, gays, lezzys, cross-dressers, retirees, couples, singles, baby boomers, me, you, your momma and your cousin too… However, if I was a parent with children, I would not bring them to Key West unless I was renting a nice beach cabin. This is just me.

Check out my incredible Naija joy-boy. (I totally claimed/stole that term from Dr. Bob and last weekend’s NOLA trip.) He is far more happier when I don’t have my digi SLR in his face. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Now that we’ve gotten past the who and the where of this travelogue you probably want to know the what and more of the where.


Our home away from home in Key West. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

We stayed at the Southernmost on the Beach, a resort in the Southernmost Hotel collection. The ocean view room was pleasant, but really nothing to write home about for the cost. My boyfriend and I shared the same thoughts on the hotel. We just feel like they could have done more. The bathroom was small, but clean and the amenities weren’t anything to knock your socks off. Next time I’d like to stay at a smaller B&B or one of the little motels. Sounds a bit like a down-grade right? Only time will tell.

During our time outside of room 512 we ate a lot of food! See some of the pictures below.

The best and easiest way for me to tell you about the restaurants I enjoyed is to list them beginning with my favorite.

First place: nine one five
There are no pictures above from the plates we sampled at nine one five because we were too busy shoveling the incredibly mouth-watering and ambrosial fare into our pot-holes. My baby-boy had the Thai Whole Fish and I had the salad special for the night. I don’t recall what the name of the salad was, but I’ll describe it: Spinach leaves tossed in a creamy avocado-butter dressing mixed with Oregon shrimp and grapefruit. Gah!! The deal was finished when I ordered the fresh fruit cobbler with home made vanilla ice cream. I was in HEAVEN.

P.S. The wait staff was delightful and well informed about the wines and menu selections. The atmosphere was trendy, sophisticated and romantic. Nice music plays overhead as well.

Second place: Old Town Mexican Cafe for lunch
Third place: Blue Heaven for breakfast

I had high hopes for Banana Cafe after seeing all the Josephine Baker inspired decor, but breakfast fell flat. I’ll take partial blame for ordering the crepe I ordered as I’m not a Swiss cheese fanatic and it was oozing with Swiss. The real sinker in this tale is discovering the dead insect smooshed on my glass of water. They apologized a lot and knocked off a few dollars from the check.

I won’t bother with the Conch Republic again. There is way too much GREAT seafood in Key West to settle for mediocre.

When our time wasn’t invested in some food joint we did check out a historical site or two. The legendary American writer, Ernest Hemingway’s old Key West home was one of our stops. I do need to pick up and read Green Hills of Africa before my next big trip.

Bahia Honda State Park (about 36 miles north of Key West) was also of interest. I’d love to go back in the Florida winter season, rent a cabin and stay here for a few days.

Lastly, we walked around Old Town Key West and strolled Duval an innumerable amount of times. We caught the sunset at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park and we called it a wrap. Well sorta - we did end up catching an episode of Pawn Stars on the History Channel. I should close by saying the things people try to pawn are very, very interesting and not all reality TV is terrible. Will I watch Pawn Stars again? Who knows?

Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Terence and me at Nat’s NYE party a few years ago. Photo: Someone at the party

My friend is gone.

That is not the proper way to say it, but it is the way my dark, heavy heart feels. Even if he always has a very special place there; the laughter, the smiles, and all the singing will simply be deeply treasured memories. And what beautiful memories! Having met Terence during my time at the Art Institute of Los Angeles, some eight years ago, I could tell stories for days based on our time in those halls. From college in Santa Monica to the clubs in L.A. to the karaoke spot in Korean Town and to the church in Compton — there was always gut-busting and tear-jerking laughter. Knowing him was a real pleasure. Knowing his caring, honest, thoughtful, joyous and beautiful being was all a pure delight. A true star and talent in his own way, my friend - your comedic words, your beautiful heart and your entire spirit shall be forever and ever remembered. I know you were prepared for your journey beyond this life, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wish it didn’t have to be so soon.

Be well my friend.

Old school. T, Atena and me. Photo: Maybe Quar, Maybe Not.

Posing like a real true tourist in NOLA. Photo: Annette

So I don’t think I mentioned a whole lot about going to NOLA before I took off, but it may explain why things were quiet around here. I spent four days hanging out with my good friends; Annette and Kristen. I’ve known Annette since the 6th grade when we lived in Kansas. Our families both moved to Colorado during our 7th grade year of school and we met Kristen there. Long story short - we’ve all been friends since. Of the three amigas it seems Annette will be the first to change her last name. The reason for the season (or trip to Nawlins’ in this case) - Annette is getting married.

We didn’t celebrate all Girls Gone Wild style. Instead we caught up over good brunch, lunch and dinner. We danced our bums away to the blues at d.b.a. to a rather long performance set by Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm. The Juke Joint Duo will be playing at Annette’s blues wedding on her parent’s ranch later this month. Since I can’t attend the wedding, Annette thought it would do me some good to get a feel of what her blues wedding would be like. Well, if it is anything like d.b.a. that night I hope the soon to be Mrs. Simmons-Jones doesn’t tear up her pretty wedding gown. The way those guys play I can see a ranch full of people breaking it down. It is going to be a wonderful wedding and I really wish I could be there. (I’m normally not a wedding person.)

Brunch at Elizabeth’s in the Bywater area. Photo: Waitress

The rest of the weekend was spent pretty low-key. Annette, Ham, Kristen and myself toured the 9th Ward on Sunday to take a look at the Brad Pitt solar houses being constructed. The damage done by Hurricane Katrina can still be found and rather easily. Empty lots where homes used to be have been replaced by tall overlooked grass and debris. Many homes are still abandoned - left with nothing but a spray painted inspection X. The information surrounding the ‘X’ details the number of bodies found, dogs, cats and date when inspected. NOLA still has a bit of a way and a lot of repairs to go/do.

House of Mirrors. Photo: Annette

Aside from touring a post-disaster struck city four years later we swung by to see the artwork of Dr. Bob. (He did the House of Blues in NOLA along with several other amazing pieces.) The house of mirrors was very noteworthy, not to mention a ton of good junkyard fun. Dr. Bob who was busy working on another masterpiece took a little time to talk with us about being some old black lady’s joy boy in the past, Elvis, Graceland and art of course.

Sweet dreams or a beautiful nightmare? Girls just wanna have fun, maybe? Photo: Annette

The last two days went just as fast as the first. A visit to Harold Clarke’s shop was made so Annette could do another fitting of her custom crafted wedding gown. (I can’t wait to see the finished piece and pictures from the wedding day.) On the very last hours before my flight, I lost quite horribly at a game of monopoly. Just the way I like to end my long weekend!

Congrats to Nettie and Ham. All the best in your new future together. Live it joyously and make it fun.

I wrapped my ten week AmeriCorps VSA assignment at the Homeless Coalition. Ten weeks flies by fast and I can only hope that I made a real contribution while I was there. Lessons about the homeless situation on a local level were most certainly learned in addition to the sometimes limited resources to people in need of shelter and work. As previously mentioned, one of my primary duties while employed with the Homeless Coalition was to organize the 2009 Stand Down & Homeless Health Fair. You can hear the entire show here.

While the event was considered a success by many including myself, I’d love to see more agencies involved and more people being served. There must be a way for Hillsborough County to offer transportation for this one day event to help get more homeless patrons there. This isn’t the only area I’d like to see improve, but it is certainly one of the more important ones. One of my personal event highlights was having the barber cut hair and with such an amazing spirit. Having said that - working at the coalition for the summer will always be memorable. I will be keeping in touch.