BIRD FOOD PUDDING!!!

Every morning Diane has a ritual, after breakfast, she takes a few slices of Auntie Doris's homemade bread.  She tears them gently into tiny pieces and sprinkles milk and sugar over them and feeds this mixture to the Red Capped Cardinals.

So today, Auntie Doris had 2 loaves of bread which she was getting ready to give to the animals, because she wouldn't consider serving the guests bread that wasn't made the same day,   I said, "WAIT!  We can make Bread Pudding for dessert."  The girls had never heard of Bread pudding...but OK...so I started to make it...I got the big glass bowl and started to tear the day old bread...I mixed the milk and sugar (butter, egg and spices, dates and raisins) and began to make my bread pudding...the laughter began..."Oh, but Auntie, you are making BIRD FOOD PUDDING"...when it was done and the whole house smelled of that delicious smell, we served it up for the guests in true Karanambu style with "Lashings of Creme"...the girls just could not control themselves....because these guests (all 12 of them) were BIRDERS...and they were eating "Bird food pudding".

You can find the recipe for Bird Food Pudding 

if you click on Karanambu Recipes at the top of the blog.

Savannah and River

Karanambu is 150 square miles of the North Savannahs, through which the Rupunnuni River meanders. The landscapes change with the time of day.

Savannahs in the early morning

In the early mornings, just after dawn, we take our guests out in the Landrover to search for the Giant Anteater.  Some morning we are very fortunate and get close enough to see him.  This morning we met a young adolescent Anteater.  Still plenty room to grow…

The Wetlands in the morning

Crested Caracara

The Rupununi River

 Capuchin Monkey

SUNSET

R.A.M - Remote Area Medical

We are settling in and learning so much each day!

RAM Remote Area Medical is a service which provides medical care and emergency care for those in remote areas, such as ours. 

Click here to see their website:  RAM  

We are in touch via skype and email.  Today, I received a message that one of our girls was scheduled for a medical procedure. The plane would be landing before lunch.  I went to discuss it with her and her husband to make sure that it was still ok to go ahead with the plans.  Once I received their permission, I emailed back their request for the baby to travel with her Mom.  Terrence (the RAM pilot) was able to stay in touch with me as he flew. “I’ll be there in 17 minutes, landing at the small airstrip”. 

And there was Great excitement when we heard the plane coming.

We all stayed and watched her board, with her baby. 

Everyone waved as the plane took off….

 and then, it was back to work!

Let the Unpacking Begin!

The water had dropped dramatically in the 3 weeks that we had been gone.  The road home from the big airstrip, which we had traveled by boat, was now accessible by land rover.  It was quite amazing to see the difference.

And once we arrived home, a big surprise awaited us.  Our truck had made it as far as Yupakari, where everything had been unloaded at our neighbors, “Caiman House”.    Much to our surprise, the staff of Karanambu began to shuttle our things over, using boats and land rovers, and by the time we arrived home almost all of our things were waiting for us!

It is really hard to describe what it was like to see various possessions that have endless memories of family and friends seemingly, just waiting for us to arrive…

as we got out of the land rover, we gazed at the countless boxes,  barrel, mattresses,  our old oven and televisions (?), Rachel's artwork and the furniture that we sat in under our grape arbor in the backyard in NJ. 

Slowly we began to make sense of it all and carefully we began to create a new home.  

The staff was fascinated by what we brought, actually so were we!  Some of it was fantastic and much needed, like the stove. Auntie Doris had been cooking for 24 people using a tiny 4-burner oven.  And now our old oven seemed like a HUGE HUGE luxury.  As Ryol hooked it up, I told Auntie Doris about all the meals I have cooked on that stove, the German Chocolate Cake I baked each year for Alissa and Shannon's birthday, (which is coming very soon now).  We unpacked pots and pans and cooking knifes.  It was amazing!  And to see the expressions on the faces as they carefully studied my favorite cooking utensils.... with a big smile, one asked; "this knife, Miss Andrea...you use this to kill cow?", she laughed and laughed...."NO!" I laughed back, "It's great for chopping garlic!"  Which of course, as the words were coming out of my mouth, seemed totally ridiculous, and the laughter continued! 

Then there was the mattress fiasco!  We brought our King Size, “pillow top” mattress.  Well, again, the laughing and the teasing had begun even before we had arrived.  It was surely the real “Princess and the Pea” story.  What else could it be!  Such a bed!! 

It had gotten a bit wet coming over by boat, so it was put out in the hot sun, in the middle of the compound.  The guys lifted it on top of the heavy metal table base, which was last used in our backyard in NJ…(Kenneth has promised to make a new tabletop for it). We did not bring the box spring, because the wood ants would devour it “quick time”.  The bed frames at Karanambu are quite old.  Some are metal and some are wooded.  But all are short.  There was no way that our mattress was going to fit on any of them.  But we tried.  It was way too big and the frame was way too small…and the laughter began again…then we tried to leave the old thin mattress on the frame, but then it was so high!  The laughter began again!!!  “Get a ladder!  Uncle Salvador gunna climb to bed!”  Finally…we set up the bed frame which we brought with us, but because we didn’t have a box spring to set the mattress on, Kenneth built a platform of wooden board to place under the mattress!  After hours and hours and many thanks and lots of laughter, we actually had our own bed!

We had to remind ourselves 

"it’s only been two days,  

we’ve gotten a lot done!"

 

But there is so much more to do!