I'm Baaack--But Not Back in Tanzania

When last you heard from me, I was on  Kauai and it was three months ago. A few weeks before that, I mused about being still in America, as opposed to back in Tanzania. I really did expect to go back to Tanzania sometime around July, then October, then March of this year. But now that March has come and gone, it's time to admit to myself that I'm not going back in the foreseeable future.

In that earlier post, I said I didn't want to start a new blog on a more general theme, because it would mean admitting to myself that I was finished with Tanzania. Well, this blog has already become more general, or at least less Tanzania-themed. But I'm keeping the same name, because I'll never be finished with Tanzania. I don't know when I'll visit again, but everything about Tanzania will stay with me and will color everything I see here. Much as my two years living in the Philippines in 1982 and 1983 still colors everything I see here, and colored everything I saw in Tanzania. You never finish with those other places and people; they come away with you. So thank you, Tanzania and K2, for the big adventure.

And since I stopped posting back in January, my readership seems to have gone up! I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Anyway, it's mostly based on tourists at Kenyan and Tanzanian beaches trying to find out if an insect has actually laid  eggs under their skin. The answer to that question is usually "Yes! And you'd better do something about it!" So I'm providing a public health service by keeping this blog in place.

Good bye for now, Tanzania...

What's next? Who knows? Not me, that's for sure. I have wandered away from my home in Utah, where allergy season is in full bloom and I could expect to have a sinus headache every day for the next five weeks. I'm in Tucson for a few weeks, because I like it here. A lot of retirees move to Arizona. Maybe I will, too. It's a test run. But I notice there's palo verde and mesquite pollen everywhere. Wherever you go, there you are--and it's allergy season.

 Hello, Tucson...

 ...where the prickly pear are blooming. 

Just look at all that pollen!

I'm into the second course of the Stanford Continuing Education Online Creative Writing Certficate Program. That continues to keep me busy. I'm learning lots and enjoying it. So maybe, in addition to the big adventure, I'll get a book out of Tanzania. But that'll be at least a couple of years away, so don't worry about my blog going all promotional and author-platformish just yet.