Well, it’s been a busy few weeks in the Martin household in Davao.  I’ve been busy with a lot of different things, it seems.  I suppose that the holidays are like that.  So, I thought I’d just write a “general” article that is really not about anything in particular.  Just an update of what has been going on, and maybe an update of some of my more recent articles here on MindanaoBob, my personal website.

One of the big pieces of news here, in my opinion, is that I have a new cat!  I should say that “we” (as a family) have a new cat, but I consider this one to be “my cat” and she stays in my office and in our bedroom, so she hangs out with me all day, so that’s it… she’s mine!  Here name is “Sputnik” or just “Sput” for short.  She’s pretty ugly.  In fact, she is so ugly that it’s cute!  If you know what I mean.  Anyway, Sputnik is a kitten, not very old at all, and she is quite playful.  Unfortunately, our other two cats hate Sputnik, and they even try to kill her!  We have to be very careful about making sure they don’t get together, unless closely supervised, because there will certainly be trouble!  That’s one of the reasons why the area where we keep Sputnik is limited to my office and the bedroom, to keep her away from her two enemies!

My new cat, Sputnik, playing in a cardboard box

Feyma with some Christmas Gifts we will give out

So, as I said previously, it’s been the holidays lately.  But, wait!  A few weeks ago I wrote about A New Holiday, right?  So, did I follow through and do what I had been thinking about?  No, I didn’t.  Feyma and I considered it, but in the spirit of the season, we decided to follow the normal holiday schedule.  I do think it is an excellent idea, though, but breaking traditions is not an easy thing to do, is it?  No indeed.  So, we followed the regular holiday schedule just like most everybody else did, and we had a very nice holiday.  It was nice having the kids home for a couple of weeks to enjoy the holidays as a family.  But, this week they are back to school, which is also nice!  I like having the kids around, but it is more peaceful here if they have school, which means that it is a more conducive atmosphere to getting some work done!  ha ha… I must confess that I like that too.

Another thing that I wrote about recently was the new coffee that I ordered recently, two different varieties, both originiting from the Nyeri region of Kenya.  Well, I am happy to report that both coffees are really excellent.  I have been enjoying them emensely.  I just finished having a cup of the Nyeri Tambaya coffee.  It’s really good, with a tangerine taste to it.  But, the one that kind of surprised me was the Ndiani Kyagundo decaf.  It was my first time to try a decaf, and I was a bit hesitant to try it, given the advice of a friend.  But, to my surprise, I like it even more than the Tambaya!  The decaf has a very strong flavor of strawberries, which I love!  I sent a sample of this to my friend who advised against it.  He didn’t even want any, but I forced him to try it.  And, he loves it too!  So, the decaf is really a nice bean, and I think I’ll be ordering more, as I only have about 3 1/2 pounds of it left. After roasting that, it will easily go down to about 2 3/4 pounds (it gets lighter when you roast the moisture out of it), so I will be needing more of this wonderful bean!

What else is going on?  Well, I just got back from a nice morning walk.  It’s been very hot here in Davao recently, but this morning was pleasantly cool.  Not cold, but not hot either, just cool.  So, I enjoyed a nice walk around the neighborhood.  It’s a nice bit of exercise, and also gives you a chance to see what’s happening in the neighborhood.  There is a lot of construction going on around here.  Plenty of new houses going up around the neighborhood.  That’s a good sign, but also bad.  Good because it shows that more people are appreciating this area, and it makes the neighborhood look nicer to have new homes being built.  Bad because it will increase the amount of traffic in the neighborhood, which is already bad!  Oh well… not much I can do about it anyway, so I might as well look at the good side!

I hope that all of you who are reading this had a nice holiday season, no matter which holidays you celebrate around this time of year!