Goodbye Brian

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.
~Dale Evans

Man's feelings are always purest and most glowing in the hour of meeting and of farewell.  ~Jean Paul Richter

Last night Jon and I took our friend Brian, who is leaving Ghana, out for a little farewell get-together. We started out with a whisky at Brian’s house and then we went to Monsoon to have some sushi and a few beers. We ended up in Citizen Kofi’s roof top bar where we ended our evening with some exotic drinks. 

We will miss you and your family!

Brian and Jon in top form.

 

Health

First the doctor told me the good news: I was going to have a disease named after me ~ Steve Martin

If I'd known I was going to live so long, I'd have taken better care of myself.  ~Leon Eldred

One night Thea woke up with a high fever. This is always scary when living in a country where Malaria is the biggest killer. However, we know that a bug has been going around for two weeks so we expected that she had caught it but we went to West Africa Rescue Association anyway just to be on the safe side. Sure enough the ward was full of children with the same symptoms. After two days the fever (38.5 – 40.0 Celsius) suddenly vanished.

A few days later I got a call from my friend Brian who also had high fever and was very ill indeed. We rushed back to West Africa Rescue Association and he was taken to hospital. Luckily he could go home the next day. 

Brian is taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

Optical Illusions

We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey ~ John Hope Franklin

Thea and I did our science project this Sunday and today she was presenting it at school. 

CIRCUS, n. A place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted to see men, women and children acting the fool.~ Ambrose Bierce

It is very quiet now that Aunt Elaine and Grandma have left Ghana. Jacqueline is in Uganda and Tanzania so Thea and I are on our own. Circus is in town so tonight we went to see it – it was surprisingly good. 

 They had tigers, crocodiles, snakes, kangaroos and a little Jack Russell with them.

Visitors

The ornaments of your house will be the guests who frequent it.  ~Author Unknown

We enjoy living abroad but being so far from family and friends has its price. Thus we are always looking forward to visits from back home. Joanne and Elaine are here for two weeks and we have had a good first week and a nice long weekend in Anamabo.

Anamabo holiday resort. 

Joanne and Elaine making new friends.

Elaine trying out coconut milk...

...while we are having a chat.

Thea and Rosa with their boogieboards.

 Thea and Jacqueline bodyboarding.  

The male toilet is left.

WHISKY

Too much of anything is bad, but too much of good whiskey is barely enough – Mark Twain

One of my many hobbies is Whisky. On my 40^th birthday Jacqueline organised a single malt Scotch Whisky tasting for birthday boy and his guests and this was the first time I learned about the different tastes and the areas of Scotland where Whisky is made. One thing I found out that evening was that the prize of the whiskies and my individual preferences do not necessary correspond.

For this blog I tried to list my whisky collection according to which I like the most but that turned out to be impossible because I have my favourites which are all good but at different times and in various situations. Moreover, Jacqueline and I, and some good friends of ours, went to a whisky-tasting event at the British High Commission Club one evening. Out of eight whiskys I guessed only one of them, which was the famous Laphroaig that Jacqueline and I enjoy some evenings while we are watching Sopranos…    

I never - or very rarely - drink whisky on my own but I am very much enjoying drinking it with good company. So if you are ever offered a whisky you are what I consider to be a very good friend indeed!

My current whisky collection.

Ardmore is one of my absolute favourite single malt whiskies. When I first got it I found it very peaty for my taste but I soon realised the fantastic taste of honey, caramel and nuts. The aftertaste is one of a kind. This bottle I got from my sister and brother in law, Lainey and Jo for Christmas. It is almost empty...

Another one of my absolute favorites is the Glenlivet Nàdurra 16 years old Speyside. I got to know this at Pocket’s house in Whitstable and I bought a bottle in the airport on my way back to Ghana.

Yet another nice Whisky is the Dalmore 12 year old Northern Highland. Like for many other whiskies ten minutes of air contact stimulate deeper aromas for this whisky. This bottle I got from my very good friend Brian aka Google.

I am not the biggest fan of Johnny Walker whiskies, which is the most common whisky among my friends from South Africa and in the diplomatic circle. Especially the Johnny Walker, Black Label is popular – maybe because it does not offend anyone. This particular one, however, is a bottle of Johnny Walker, Gold Label that I got from my friend Bret. I am sure that this will be a very smooth drink indeed and I am saving it for a special occasion. 

My Gordon & MacPhail Reserve from Imperial Distillery is more of a collector’s whisky than a drinking one!? It is a 58%vol Single Speyside Malt Scotch Whisky bottled in 2003. It is, however, undrinkable…

I ran into this Japanese whisky at the Accra Mall. New producers like Japan and Sweden now makes very good whiskies and I can definitely recommend this particular one.

I dropped my new MacBook on the floor last week and thus the activity will slow down a little until I have had it repaired L