tabarka, is near algeria

going to find ...
my mind ...
some breath ...
a seashell ...
sand through toes and sun on nose
a coffee a glass with straw
and shadow surrounded by heat
lapping current on shore
rented umbrellas and
quiet
me
sunhat on a rainy day
toes in sand
paper
pen
mind
breath
seashell

full plate but room for more. planning for next course.

from the cat downstairs

see?

lady bugs, holden! a snail! no, don't run your firetruck over the ants please, they are doing what they need to do. ants. baby cows with budding horns. a rabid black cat downstairs that hardly lets us out our front door. matt wars with it. i feed it tuna to make up.
holden rides a trike on the roof in the wind and the sheets wave and the perfection of being breaks my heart.

baguettes are 20 cents.
whole wheat baguettes are 50 cents.
a latte is 50 cents too.

from the top of the hill yesterday i saw the sea all around. with stationary ships. i saw a cemetary and crooked cobble stones and the lighthouse we can see from our front window. i saw a tree growing out of a house and the vacant house no one will buy because of the spirits.

standing beside the water spring where people still draw water, tunisian man said when holden goes by it is good fortune. it's the fourth time he's seen us walk by that spot and he works in the office just there. just here. what makes living in a place is connection. openness. yes. holden. fortune. thank you, mr. mohammed ali. come see me anytime.

northern tunisia
150-person picnic site

douz, tunisia

douz: the sahara's northern edge

sister in law and bride
at the contract signing

dates on her head.
a gift for the bride's family.

cous cous preparation
6-8 women outside our door in the common space.
straw mat on cement floor.

goat.
they killed one every night for 5 days.
camel meat is top quality evidently, but expensive.
we ate goat each day on cous cous or in tripe soup .

sheesha smoking in douz evening.

old things

delila making tea.
it was her uncle's wedding
and her family's house where we stayed in douz.

henna and turnips.
prep for 100-person cous cous

this woman would sing some crazy old desert lady songs,
i think just for my foreign benefit