dangerous linktrails

I don't know how it is for visitors to my blog, but when I'm signed in, I get this Blogger top bar on the top of my page.  On this bar is a link to "Next Blog," any other randomly chosen Blogger blog.

Well, from the (probably) 50-100 other blogs I've browsed in the past two days, here are my conclusions:

95% of them are families
80% of those families are religious Christians (when I say that, I mean they mention praying, Our One True Father, church - as having an influence in most of their entries)
3% are teens
2% are Other.  A vegan and a Tea Partier (who also fit into the Christian category)

And probably 40% of every one of those blogs had as the latest entry "It's been such a looong time, and I PROMISE I'll be better at posting from now on!"  Most of the time, those entries were a year old.

Fingers crossed that I can keep up my own commitment!


When we moved into our third-floor apartment, we thought the distance between us and the ground would separate us from the noise.  We wanted a quieter house, removed from street sounds.
This is not so!
It turns out that sound waves travel upwards really well.  So we hear the squatter neighbors' chicks as if they were chirping on our own balcony.  Funerals from three blocks away sound like they're just down the street.  And I have yet to describe a Ghanaian funeral!

It lasts a full weekend.  On Friday they stay up all night singing and playing highlife music: the "wake-keeping."  Saturday starts early and goes a full day of music, food, drinking and socializing.  Sunday starts around 7:30 with a worship service, then continues until the afternoon with more music and socializing.

Streets are shut down as celebrants erect big tents and rent hundreds of plastic chairs to house the participants.  The music speakers are huge.  Announcements are put up all over the streets announcing: "Home Call," "Obituary," "At Rest" and so on.  People dress in black/brown combined with red, if the person died young, or white, if the person lived a full life.  These parties can totally disrupt your life if they happen on your street, and get in the way of traffic as the tents stop cars from going through.  The more people you can afford to host, the better.  It's quite the production.


The weather lately has been cooler (around 25-28C, 75-80F) and nicely breezy so I've relied on the A/C much less often and instead keep the big doors and windows open.  Earlier in the month it was overcast without raining for days at a time, but now we are getting sun, a bit of rain (like this morning) and cooler weather.  I like it!