Gloworms and Fireflies

I remember thinking, as a kid, that fireflies didn't look much like fire at all. And the name lightening bug didn't really fit either as I had seen just about as much green lightening in my life as I had green fire. The thing is, in New England, or at least in New Hampshire, fireflies cast off a pale greenish-yellow glow, not a
fiery-red spark, or a white-lightening flash, so neither name ever made much sense to me.

Sure, maybe "glow-worm" would have fit a little better, but for one thing, a fly is not a worm and even at that tender age you would have had a hard time convincing me otherwise. Secondly, after the 1982 introduction of our cuddly friend to the left, the Gloworm (his face lights up when you hug him!), I'm not sure anyone can say "glow-worm" now with a straight face - at least not anyone from my generation. (For the record, I never had a gloworm of my own. That was an honour reserved for the middle child.) So I was stuck with the term "firefly".

Tonight, though, I finally discovered the fire in the fly. I was lingering around the barn, waiting for the woman who would drive me home to finish discussing stable business around the wooden table that is the barn's sitting place. Fifteen minutes earlier the sun had just started to brush the horizon. Now, in its place, was a full moon. One of the stable hands brought out an oil lantern to light the table. The rest of the barn had only the moonlight. I stood in the middle, away from the table, and watched the horses chew their dinner. A stable is never so quiet as it is at dinner time. And then I saw it- a little spark of fire in the air, just above the ground. For the briefest second, I looked around for the fire, confused. I was certain I had seen a piece of ash, still red hot, floating through the air. In that instant, all the campfires of my childhood had come rushing back and I expected to see a troop of girl scouts at my feet. You see, it had even moved like ash.

But it wasn't ash, and in the next moment I knew it wasn't, because in the next moment that first little spark became a sea of little sparks throughout the stable, and yet the horses weren't whinnying, breaking down their gates, or running for the hills. It couldn't be fire. And then I realised, it was African fireflies.

Okay, I take it back. I take it all back!

Forget everything I said about the insecticide spray. It's lovely. It's wonderful. It's the best thing since sliced bread. It's a lean, mean killing machine and it saved me from the most hideous, monstrous, gigantic spider I have seen in a very, very long time. And for that I am forever grateful. Oh, and by the way... Yes T, spiders CAN jump. If only you had been here to see it in action, then it would have been you it jumped at and not me!

Will It Never End?

I just opened my laptop for the first time in months (I usually use T's) to get some old files I needed and it is covered in mold! Mold, everywhere, mold! How am I supposed to clean this! Will it never end?

This Is War!

We've been attacked!... by mold. There is mold everywhere - inside the kitchen cabinets, in the closets, on our shoes, growing on our clothes. Yuk! This whole place has smelled musty from day one, particularly the kitchen, but it's easy to ignore such things when you know that closer inspection will only bring unwelcomed news. So the mold made a major mistake when it decided to make an open attack on our clothes. There was a problem and we couldn't deny it any more. I had no choice but to declare war immediately.

The wardrobe was the first casualty. It is now a wardrobe skeleton, with no back panel or doors. All the clothes went straight into the wash and the closets and cupboards were doused with bleach. But this is going to be a on-going battle. Cotonou is extremely humid and consistently warm. It's paradise for mold. Even with the air conditioners running it's always damp and I'm finding mold in new places. Just yesterday I opened the night-stand to discover that the outside of my passport was fuzzy. My passport! I can't exactly soak that in bleach!

But it's not just mold that plagues our Cotonou residence. There are the ants. Tiny little reddish-brown ants by the thousands that go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah! On Monday the apartment was fumigated with insecticide to kill all the bugs hoping to infest our home. By that evening, the ants were back, marching in their little single file lines across the kitchen counter. I think the only living thing that suffered from the fumes was me.

Next, we have the rain. Apparently the late summer dry season lasts less than a month because we're back into the rain again (which probably isn't helping us with the mold situation). Whenever it rains the patio around our building becomes completely flooded and we have to use cinder blocks as stepping stones to get in and out of the front gate. We've got it pretty easy though. Many homes are under water and I've meet at least two Beninese who have had to move because of the flooding. If you've been paying attention to the world news you've probably noticed that massive flooding is widespread in Africa at the moment, especially for our neighbours in Togo and Ghana. Niger and Burkina Faso have also been hit hard. Benin is swamped and has been all summer but according to the BBC news maps of worst affected areas, Benin is one of the only West African countries not in (or almost in) a state of emergency. I can only imagine what it must be like for those around us. A Sunday afternoon drive around the Beninese countryside makes our flooded patio seem like a blessing. Next time I'll bring my camera and try to get some photos.

And then, of course, there are the mosquitoes, which all this standing water isn't helping with either. But we have our defences...

First, there's the trusty mosquito net. This usually works, though sometimes we wake up to find a mosquito in the net. Oh, how irritating! The net is supposed to keep them out, not trap them inside. I think it would would probably work better if we were able to tuck the edges of the net underneath the mattress, but T is too big! His feet stick out over the end of the bed! At least this makes it easier to get in and out of bed in the middle of the night. When you've got to go, you've got to go and trust me, you don't want to be stuck in a net.

Next, there are the bug sprays. I brought my deep-woods-New Hampshire knowledge to this one. We've got Avon Skin So Soft for the low-mosquito evenings when we don't feel like coating ourselves in DEET and showering when we get home. And then there's the high-DEET super spray for the long haul nights outside.

For a long time T was a fan of this insecticide spray. I think he liked that he could chase a mosquito down with the can and watch it meet its end. There was a huge stock of this in the apartment when we moved in. I hate this stuff. It gives me a massive headache. Luckily, we don't need to use it much any more because we've found something better...

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The plug-in, electronic mosquito destroyer. Plug it in at night with a fresh insecticide tablet and you've got up to 12 mosquito free hours. It even smells nice. And the best part, no headaches.

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And last, but certainly not least, is my personal favourite, the POWER RECHARGEABLE MOSQUITO-HITTINGRACKET! All I have to say is Thank you China! A curse upon all those that say you can't innovate, that you only produce cheap knock-off's and total junk. They have clearly never encountered the glory that is the power rechargeable mosquito-hittingracket.

This beauty plugs directly into the wall (with an American prong no less) to charge its internal battery. The instructions indicate that the battery can be recharged over 200 times. It's been two months and we've only charged it once and it's still going strong! Why does it need to be charged? Because the metal strings of the racket are electrified. Yes, you electrocute mosquitoes. You dance around your house swinging and swatting your beautiful racket, sending the little buggers to their the doom with a little spark and a satisfying crackle. This is my new, all-time favourite pastime here in Africa - mosquito hunting. I'm thinking of sending one to everybody for Christmas.