On April 20 we left Nova Scotia headed back to Tanzania. So excited to be back in Makuyuni at the Maasai Eco Boma and Nashapay School. This is my first visit st the tail end of the rainy season, everything is so lush and green. Amazing to back. So much positive change in just a few months since our visit in Sept/Oct 2024.

Permaculture work continues - feeding the school and the Eco Boma.

The students learn permaculture as part of their schooling.

Handwashing station outside a classroom.

Mama's teaching guests to bead at the Boma.

Boma accommodations, surrounding gardens and trees are flourishing.

View from  and of the Cultural Centre and dining room

Work continues on more accommodations

Students hitch a ride from a passing Picky Picky...

Amazing trio of staff - Marina, Palaso and Happy!

Trio of school buses

these trees were planted to recognize volunteers, including Adrian - look how they've grown.

Friends Jeff and Irene helped repair this dam after the elephants destroyed it. thje community is so excited to have water again.

We're heading to Tanzania on Sunday. Excited to see the progress on our new home. We're building a traditional Masaai family (boma) home, 2 bedrooms, bathrooms and a deck. Here's the progress so far...

We woke up to a winter wonderland so decided to enjoy our morning coffee in the hot tub. Retirement rocks!

We had a great time at local restaurant Mateus catching up with friends, Mary-Ann, Kyle, June, Peter and Ann.

Adrian presented a talk on Makayuni, Tanzania. CSLV is our charitable partner for this work and the community. It was great to meet everyone and be able to thank them for their support.

After getting our Mexican resident visas in Calgary we headed to Mexico to get our residency cards. Lots of travel - from Calgary we flew to Mexico City, spent the night at an airport hotel and then took a bus to San Miguel de Allende. 
We hired a lawyer to help us through this process. We arrived Sunday afternoon, chose a great hotel, Casa Mia, and spent two nights. Monday we visited the lawyer's office to fill out paperwork and Tuesday (April Fools Day) we had an afternoon appointment to get our cards. 
Short visit but we had a great time, love the feel of the historic district, great food, drinks, shopping and architecture. Tried a At Germaine Spritz for the first time - move over Aperol - we found a new favourite.
Then it was back on the bus to Mexico City and we flew home on Wednesday April 2.

Adrian's been a season ticket holder for the Calgary Flames since the Saddledome opened. He got invited to a reception highlighting the new stadium and bringing season ticket holders up to speed on the progress and design of the new stadium. We happened to be in Calgary and able to attend.

Adrian talks social enterprise with Barry Shore - click on the photo to go to the interview!

Some of the feedback on Adrian's podcast...

In early March we headed to Calgary to take possession and furnish our new condo. As often happens with us, things changed and so did our plan for the condo - which is now back on the market. We spent a week visiting family and outfitting the condo before heading to Vancouver Island. On the island we spent several days with family in Nanaimo, lots of hairdressing and mini-golf, wine with Aly and some great meals sans photographs.  We also traveled to Victoria for our friend Kressa's, 75th birthday. From Victoria we flew back to Calgary and spent a week unfurnishing the condo and getting our residency visa for Mexico.
While in Calgary - I got to babysit SagE while Adrian and Jamie went to a hockey game. Adrian had lunch and a catch-up with Lark.  Jamie and Jason hosted us and mutual friends, Jeff and Irene, for a wonderful dinner too. Even managed to have lunch with our friend Jack and coffee with Mike. We had so much fun visiting with friends and family we literally forgot to take photos.

- Crazy winter for us again. Following our trip to Mexico in January for Adrian's teeth, I had some minor surgery in February and then we ended up returning to Mexico to fix an ongoing issue with one of Adrian's teeth. Stayed at Krystal Cancun a great, if quite large, hotel. Best location of our four trips and our best weather to date too!