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Keep calm and love London

Cheerio from London! 🇬🇧♥️👑 On our way home from Nigeria in spring 2024, we made an extended stop in jolly olde England to meet up with fam to watch footy, to roam the countryside immersed in all its charms, and to spend a couple days in the great city of London… Tales from the Tower The first item on the agenda was to go to the very heart of it: The Tower of London. The Tower of London in the…

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A reunion in Manchester

After spending a few months living on separate continents, Chuck and I arrived in England from Nigeria to meet up with my sister Sherri and her husband Gerald who flew in from Canada. We decided to spend a weekend catching up and catching some footy in Manchester, England. Before Manchester though, we met in London, at the train station to be exact. Where we came across Platform 93/4 and stopped…

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A very English road trip

Our two-week road trip through England found us going from Manchester to the Peak District to Cambridge to Canterbury to Dover to West Bay to Stonehenge to Bath to The Cotswolds to Kenilworth to Oxford to Windsor and finally back into London. Jurassic Coast, Dorset, England, United Kingdom We explored historic sites, looked in awe at soaring vistas, visited many many pubs, watched a real…

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Under the Nigerian sun

You’ve seen Under the Tuscan Sun, right? You know, the one where a North American woman finds herself visiting Tuscany and decides to buy a property, then the hilarity of house fixing in a foreign land ensues. Yeah, that’s me right now, but in Lagos, Nigeria. Continue reading Under the Nigerian sun

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The beauty of African Art

A few of the beautiful pieces of art and artifacts we have added to our Ibezimako Villa so far. Many were found at the Lekki Arts & Crafts Market, but we also found lots of goodies from artisans at Eleko beach and from our travels in Tanzania. An original painting of kekes parked at an open market by Bolaji Mudashiro. Found at the Lekki Art & Crafts Market in Lagos. Above photos: Original…

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Christmas in the village

Oh, holly jolly, we ended 2023 with a family holiday. At the end of December, we left our place in Lagos to visit Chuck’s childhood home and celebrate the season with the fam. We spent eight days at the family compound in Okpofe busily entertaining family from all over the community… and beyond. And when I say “busily,” I mean B.U.S.I.L.Y! There were so many aunties and uncles and nieces and…

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Short and sweet in Kansas City

In early October, we booted it south in one looooong drive from Winnipeg to KC to spend a couple days in Kansas City. We went specifically to catch a Thursday night NFL game between The Kansas City Chiefs and their rival The Denver Broncos. All we knew going into KC was that we were going to a game. What we soon discovered was how friendly the city was, how easy it was to move around in, and how…

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A reunion, a road trip and a valley full of wine

Last year, my cousin Kathy contacted me and my sis and the rest of the family on our mother’s side to get together for a family reunion. It had been way too long since we had seen one another — our last reunion was in July 2005! Since 2005, unfortunately, we’ve only seen each other on sad occasions. And since then we have lost my mom, her sister Lynn and her brother Barry. All three siblings…

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There's no place like LA

Last June, we found ourselves happily basking under the sunny skies of Los Angeles. Chuck and I were looking forward to spending three-days in the golden state of California. It was my first time in LA and I didn’t know what to expect. But what I immediately fell in love with were the beaches, the weather and all the beautiful landscapes. Take me to the beach As soon as we got off the plane, we…

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Rhythm & reflection: A journey to the deep south

In spring 2022 most of the travel restrictions had been lifted and Chuck and I were itching to hit the road somewhere. We thought a U.S. road trip to the south would be fun. Especially to our ears if we hit up some of the great music cities of the south. Think jazz in New Orleans, blues in Memphis, honky tonk in Nashville. Magnolia tree heaven in Savannah. And between all those musical beats we…

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They call it Zanzibar, I call it Xanadu

Hello bright and beautiful Zanzibar! After the subtle hues and dusty drives of the Serengeti, we made our way over the Indian Ocean to visit Tanzania’s island paradise. Zanzibar island, just a few miles off the coast of the mainland, is part of Tanzania. It became one country in 1964. The mainland was originally named Tanganyika and when they united together they took the first three letters of…

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Serengeti sweetness

“Tanzania is not a real place.” I uttered this pretty much every day, to every person, on every post, when we visited there in fall 2022. And a year later I am finally putting my thoughts down here and I’m now wondering, “was it all a dream? It was real, right?” Actually, it was both. From the wonderful folks we met at camp to the morning game drives full of sunrises and surprises to the…

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“A safari is like meeting a genie and instead of asking for immortality or money you wish for things like, “help me feed my soul,” or “show me something so special the memory of it will thrill me forever,” or “I wish to understand my place in this world.” And after those wishes are granted, you find a safari grants you one last wish you didn’t even know you were asking for: Perspective.”