Skip to main content

Meet the moot-moots

After joining the kids one morning to see off their dad on a supply trip to Kumba, we returned to the schoolroom and resumed our work. Suddenly, I noticed little red spots up and down my arm. It looked like I'd been attacked by a pink marker, or had developed a case of chicken pox -- but only on exposed skin. I was puzzled, but saw no cause for extreme alarm unless it spread everywhere or didn't go away in a day or two.

At lunch, the mystery was solved when one of the girls noted, "oh, you got bitten by the moot-moots!" Apparently, they're tiny biting flies that are at their worst mid-morning -- exactly when we were outside. To my very great surprise (and initial puzzlement), the bites weren't itchy at all, but apparently I'm lucky that way. Some people don't find them the slightest bit itchy while others nearly go mad.

Comments

lasselanta said…
And for some people, the reaction changes with the length of stay in country.

I hope yours continue not to itch!

Popular posts from this blog

Our pensions for ICE? Stop it now!

A campaign from LeadNow with a few spicy sentences from me. The CPP is funded by the wages of 22 million people across the country, LeadNow says, and the Investment Board has a responsibility to ensure those savings are not used in ways people fundamentally reject. Dear Mr. John Graham, CEO of CPPIB, and CPPIB board members, I am writing as a contributor to the Canada Pension Plan—one of millions of people whose wages fund this plan and whose future depends on it. This is our CPP, and it must answer to us. I am horrified that CPP investments include companies linked to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In effect, the people who pay into CPP are having their own money used to help fund Trump-era immigration enforcement and the harms associated with it. Canadians are appalled by the actions of ICE. What a betrayal you would use our own money to fund these bullies violating human rights.  CPP is not abstract capital—it is our deferred wages. Contributors should not ...

Biking in 2025

According to Strava, I did 587 bike rides covering 3,807.3 km in 2025. Additionally, I did 81 walks covering 238.2 km in 2025. For comparison, in 2024, I did 643 bike rides covering 3,824.7 km and 75 walks covering 260.4 km. Neither of these were “normal” years for me as I spent 3 months in Europe both times.  2024 includes a few days of tourist traipsing around Istanbul and a 30 km walk from Amsterdam to Utrecht in solidarity with the people of Gaza. In 2025, I did an epic 70+ kms of biking around North Holland, but otherwise went absolutely nowhere many days, living at a retreat centre where my work was just steps away from my sleeping quarters. By contrast, in 2023, it was 761 bike rides covering 4247.4 km.

June 12

It's the Friesens' appointment with US immigration regarding Joshua's citizenship today. Please pray that everything will go smoothly, all the proper permissions will be granted, and that all of the following paperwork will fly through their respective channels so they can have this settled already.