Beans and Rainbows

Papa and I flew from Chicago to Nashville yesterday afternoon.  We arrived at my Dad’s farm around 5 PM, just in time for Papa to make pancakes for Sunday supper!  We were up early this morning, to meet my cousin, Dickie, for a 7 mile walk, passing by hundreds of acres of fields planted in beans.  We were back at Dad’s farm this afternoon when a heavy rain blew in.  It didn’t last long and the sun came out, producing a beautiful rainbow over Dad’s farm, planted in beans.

Trees, Cousin, and Bahai

We spent much of this morning trimming trees in Audrey and Dan’s yard.  We made a very large pile of cut limbs in the back yard!  We cleaned up a bit and Papa’s cousin, Ken, came over at 1 for lunch with us.  Ken lives about an hour north of Wilmette, in Woodstock.  We hadn’t seen Ken in a few years, so we spent several hours catching up.  We enjoyed every moment!

After dinner, Audrey and I walked to the Bahai Temple.  The flower beds were beautiful and our walk was so nice.  Love catching up with Audrey!

Outside

We’ve spent much of the past two days outside.  The weather in Wilmette has been beautiful!  Papa trimmed trees in Audrey’s yard, while Audrey and I moved a few plants and spray washed the garage exterior and front door area.  We went to Gilson Park on Lake Michigan this morning.  The girls have ridden their bikes around the block over and over while we walked.  We’ve gone to Lauren’s school garden to water a few times.  We ate lunch and dinner outside.  We’re enjoying time with Lauren and Taylor.  They are at the ready with hugs and smiles!  Lauren has treated us to hours of piano music.  She loves to play!

Wilmette

Papa and I flew to Chicago this morning, to spend a few days with Audrey’s family in Wilmette.  We went to the library in the afternoon.  As we were leaving, there was a heavy downpour and we all got soaked.  Lauren and Taylor had hot cocoa when we got home and we all wrapped ourselves in blankets to warm up.

Audrey has been on the gardening committee at Lauren’s school for the past year.  I saw the school garden last summer just as she joined the committee and she wanted to show me the progress made over the past few months.  Audrey, Lauren, and I walked over to the school garden.  It was beautiful, with a new friendship garden, new garden shed, picnic tables moved, a new experimental garden, and lots of flowers and vegetables growing.  The garden was teeming with monarch butterflies!

We went for dinner in downtown Wilmette, then walked around the block for frozen yogurt.  We are enjoying time with Lauren and Taylor.  Lauren is missing her two front teeth, so she has a big gap toothed smile.  Taylor is her usual silly self!

Summer Morning Sky

Summer Orange

The brightest color in our neighborhood and in our yard right now, is orange.  Barrel cactus and bird of paradise are gracing us with their bright blooms.

Brunch with Tatiana

We had a very interesting conversation over brunch with Tatiana today.  Tatiana recently graduated from University High School with plans to go to ASU, then on to medical school.  Tatiana's family emigrated from Cameroon many years ago and much of her extended family still lives there.  She visits with her parents every year. 

Last August, after a visit to Cameroon, Tatiana told us of an idea she had for a project... developing a national health identification system for Cameroon.  She wanted to talk about it further today.  Very few countries have such an ID system.  The United States doesn't have such a system.  I came home and did a bit of research for her, finding one study by the World Bank, with information on the national ID systems of Estonia, India, Botswana, Korea, and Thailand.  http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/595741519657604541/DigitalIdentification-HealthcareReportFinal.pdf 

I found additional resources at:

http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/JC2640_nationalhealthidentifiers_en.pdf. - re scaling up national health ID systems

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/indias-ambitious-national-identification-program - re India’s ID program

https://catalyst.nejm.org/time-unique-patient-identifiers-us/ - reasons to develop ID system, with US as subject

https://e-estonia.com/solutions/e-identity/id-card/ - Estonia’s system

Its not often we have such conversations with 18 year olds!  Tatiana is special!