DUPED

Many of you know that I feel I got married under false pretences. When I met, and shortly thereafter married Mike, I was just sure he was a spy. And I knew that, like all the spies in the movies, he was just waiting until we were married to tell me all his secrets. Ten years later I realize that he is/was either the best spy EVER, flawlessly living a double life...a very boring double life. Or, that non-spies make pretty good husbands too.

That's pretty much how I feel about Malawi.

I love mangoes. Love, love, love, love them. In Kenya, I ate about 35,000 mangoes. In Kenya there was no mango "season." There were times that mangoes were cheaper, or better, but you could always get mangoes. Always.

Apparently Malawi has a mango season. And it doesn't start until November. No one told me this. When we (cough, cough, "I") chose Malawi, I had visions of mangoes piled up in my kitchen, cut up in the fridge, dripping from the trees in my yard. Not so much. At least not until November.

The good news, however, is that we do have mango trees in our yard. Three of them. They are huge. Somehow this flower below turns into a mango in just a few months. I go out nearly daily and check it's progress. The buds smell amazing. If you close your eyes you'd think you were smelling a mango.

This is what else is growing in our yard. These are guavas. Not too sure what to do with guavas. Not so popular in Chicago.

This is our fig tree. I really like dried figs. I don't think these are ripe yet, but every one that I have opened has ants inside. Any ideas how to salvage these?
This is just some random plant. I love the crazy bulb thing at the bottom.
Our beautiful bougainvillea.

Yeah, we do have one ripe fruit. Mullberries!