As always, friends carry the day. They entertain, validate and give us a reason to leave the house.
BIG BIRTHDAY MONTH
Bob and Steve enjoy a pre-birthday-party beer at Steve and Laura’s house. We arrived early to help set up the party which celebrated both Bob and Steve’s birthdays and three more of Steve’s friends. BJ and Jay brought a giant jug of hibiscus tea for the teetotalers.
PARTY ON
A few hours later, the party was in full swing! Several of us wore our bathing suits.
GOOD CONVERSATIONS
Good friends make good conversation. Laura and Chrissie share a laugh and a beer while Kat and Elisabeth get caught up.
NEWCOMERS
A group of Guinness employees arrived in Kumasi a week before the party. Mark in the plaid shirt was also celebrating his birthday. Bill gets to know the new Expats, in the yellow shirt and fashionable Hawaiian trunks.
KIDS AT HEART
Camille, BJ and Steve jumped in the pool with the kids. As did Steve and Bill. Life doesn’t get any better than a cool pool on a hot day.
THE JAMACIANS
Mama Cynthia and Marvil have been close friends for as long as Marvil has been in Ghana. Cynthia shows off her beautiful Ghanaian suit. She has been in Ghana since before Bob’s father came down to run Valco in the ’60’s and remembers Jimmy Phillips, Bill Armantrout’s second-in-command.
ENJOYMENT
Agye and Sala trade stories while the youngsters enjoyed some very cool toys. Ingrid enjoys a beer. Heck, everyone had an enjoyable time!
CAMILLE’S DAY OUT
Camille walked to Mano’s to see her one last time before she and her family leave Kumasi for good. And then she walked over to find Kat in her school office, looking quite official as always. After several hours of deep conversation, Camille left refreshed and content. When she got to the street she heard someone call her name and it was Mano picking her kids up from school, offering a ride back to her place. What a happy coincidence! On the walk home from Mano’s, nothing, not even the incessant hooting of truck and taxi horns failed to push Camille off her happy cloud.
FROM GERMANY
Kat shared this picture of our friend Andreas and herself taken when she and Agye visited him in Germany this summer. Andreas is working hard to get himself back to Ghana and we hope to see him before we leave.