Baby Elephants and The Giant Star Quilts

Giant Star Quilts.

I am a big fan of The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

A few months ago, I read that someone from the UK
had donated a quilt to one of the orphaned elephants.

I had to do one, too.

But I didn't just make one.

I made four.

Why do orphaned elephants use/need blankets?
They are missing and need the warm of their mothers.
They are susceptible to colds and colds can be deadly.

But why did I make four Giant Star Quilts?
I made one for any new or current elephant that needed some extra warmth.

I made a second to use as a "mother" elephant.
When the Keepers feed the elephants, sometimes the elephant will not feed. With a blanket hung and used as a "mother" it will feel as if the mother is above him and he is safe to eat.

I made a third quilt to be donated to the DSWT to be used at their discretion as a fundraiser.
I imagined an international raffle that could raise at least $400 USD.

I made a fourth Giant Star quilt for myself. :)

All four Giant Star quilt tops are similar in style and fabrics.

• The two elephant Giant Star quilts have a fluffy poly batting and fleece backing.
• The donation/raffle Giant Star quilt has proper cotton batting and a beautiful orange/red/yellow patterned back.
• The fourth Giant Star quilt (mine) will be quilted in the US with cotton batting and backed with Minkee.

We arrived at our private session at DSWT for the donation.
Thanks to our friend, Barb, who coordinated it.

The smallest/youngest elephant, Ajabu, who we also foster, was already in the area. She had finished her bottle.

The others started to arrive.

{click here to view 1st video}

And then another group came down.

{click here to view 2nd video}

A total of 22 elephants.
And it was just the 3 of us and the handlers.

Wow. What an experience.

The bottles were consumed.

And then the mud baths and dirt showers started. 

We pulled out one Giant Star quilt.
Ajabu modeled it. She is so tiny.

The quilt moved to another larger elephant. 

More came to touch it.

Then the elephant decided to climb on one of the mud lounging elephant.

Not sure why. Maybe he felt he was a superhero with a new cape?

Then the Keepers pulled out the second Giant Star quilt.
Hung it.
And then there was a rush to see it.

The elephants wanted to touch and rub on it.

I am not sure what DSWT will do with the donation/raffle quilt.

I hope they find a way to sell it or raffle it. It matches the elephant quilts. The DSWT helps these orphaned elephants who, without their help would not survive in the wild. I'm sure the quilt could raise a fair amount of money.

Would you buy a raffle ticket if it was offered?
If so, would you friend them on Facebook and let them know?
Or you could email the DSWT.

Here are some additional photos from today.

Our foster baby, Ajabu. So young, not even two months old.

This one thought I had a special yummy treat.

This is Maxwell, a blind rhino having a snack.

I can't express how wonderful this experience has been.
If you want to foster an elephant, please take a look at the DSWT website. You can also foster Maxwell, the rhino.

Little Bit of Nairobi

I found this video on CNN International. It has many interesting points.

1. We have been thru the roundabout at the start of the video.

2. There are at least 4 roundabouts going thru the city. At every access point, there are 2 police directing traffic. They only allow 1 or 2 access points to use the roundabout at a time. So the other sides must wait. This is one of the reasons the traffic is very congested here.

3. The Storks. Man, they are not kidding when they say the wingspan
is 10ft. They are huge!

4. The Nairobi National Park is the one we went to on Day 2.
It is 117 sq km. In sq acres = 28,911.

I hope you have about 10 minutes to watch the video. It will give you a feeling of what the park is like and some of the street scenes.

Click on the picture below, it should open the link to the video.

This photo is part of the statue dedicated to 

the Ivory Burning Ban ceremony.

Well, we made it to our new home city & country.

Let's say it together: 

Nairobi * Kenya.

Malley, our 10yr black lab, arrived a few nights ago. 

My friend, Jovita, has a new thing started. 

[She gets me started on all her new things.]

She calls it

So I thought the timing was perfect. I've had quite a week.

Here you go!

I'm gonna go back a couple days, so this week will be 1 week + a few days.

Tues, May 29th

Depart Bogota 11pm 

Weds, May 30th

Arrive JFK 6am

Find a locker to store all of our 6 pieces of luggage + 4 carry-on bags. 

It was a slight nightmare. 

But we settled on it and the price. 

Grabbed a cab to Rockefeller Center.

Waved to Matt Lauer, Al and Ann on the TODAY Show.

Had a great latte and pastry while we watched Giada create something with ice cream.

Next we headed to the Beretta Gallery. Wow What a great place. 

If you are a shooter, it should be on your must see when in NYC list.

One the way back, we passed an Italian restaurant. My eyes rolled back into my head. It smelled so good. I looked at Eric and he said "maybe we should try a slice of pizza". Done. 

Went inside and indulged. It was just okay. 

After all, we have our lifetime favorites, so the bar is set very high.

(Chi Chi's Pizza & Hoagies, Anielllo's Pizzeria and Lombardo's Pizza)

But we were still on a mission to eat at Shake Shack in Madison Square Park.

Thanks to the Palacios family for suggesting it. 

You wouldn't believe the line!

After lots of walking and snacking, we headed back to JFK to get our next flight.

Checked all our bags at the KLM counter. 

Headed to the lounge, great lounge...some other airlines should take note.

I should mention, we flew on a 777-300 in business class. 

The best flight of my life.

The seats recline so you are horizontal. 

The best flight of my life.

Thursday, May 31th

Landed in Amsterdam. 

Another trip and I will leave the airport.

Eric promised.

Next up: 747 again in business class. 

I've flown in a 747 years ago. 

This time we sat UPSTAIRS! 

We must have been so tired. I don't remember most of the trip.

Touched down in Nairobi after 6:30pm. It was already dark outside.

Traveled to The Tribe Hotel. North of Nairobi city center.

Friday, June 1st

Early pickup 7:30am

Headed to Nairobi National Park

7 km from the city. ( less than 5 miles)

Size of park: 117 sq km (huge)

Like our ride?

And here is one the animals we saw. 

Loving the telephoto on our new camera.

I promise I will have another blog entry just on this close-by safari.

{I like this picture because it was how our old dog, Grady, looked at me all the time.}

Saturday, June 2nd

We changed rooms in the hotel. 

Thankfully we were given a bigger room.

Cuz, how could we live w/6 suitcases and a little closet?

We relaxed all day.

I think.

Let's just call it a lost day.

Sunday, June 3rd

Met with our new friend Amy. 

We met her on the Nairobi Facebook page. 

What a wealth of information she is.

Not only has she helped us find a kennel for Malley while we are in the hotel, 

she has the "in" with the dog food importers. And she has introduced us to great friends as well. 

We went to look at a lovely housing compound that she has lived in and still is friendly with the landlords. If only there was a house available for us.  

Had a great time looking at the land and the houses with the owner, Paul.

Crossing my fingers, someone will move out in the next 2 months!

Monday, June 4th

Went driving today. Learning the different neighborhoods.

Joined the Kenya Quilt Guild.

Checked out the ice rink for Eric at a local hotel.

He is excited. And will start skating and playing hockey again.

Lunched at a hotel restaurant that boarders the National Park. 

Ate lunch while watching 6 giraffes in the distance. Pretty sweet.

Tuesday, June 5th

We received notice that the relocations company will not help us until we have a real housing budget. 

We will need something much higher that the $800/month we were given.

Laughable. 

If only we could laugh. 

Someday we will.

For now, we sit and wait.

To kill the pain, Eric went ice skating.

Weds, June 6th

Quick decision.

We are going to the Giraffe Centre!

Okay, this is not me. 

It was a German lady who was at the Giraffe Centre the same time. 

The guide suggested we have the giraffe "kiss" us. 

It was more like a French kiss.

Oh my. 

I didn't do it. 

And Eric didn't do it either.

We'll leave it at that.

We lunched at Karen Blixen Coffee Garden.

If you don't know the name but it sounds familiar, think Out of Africa.

It was a real story, not just Hollywood.

{Thinking this deserves its own blog entry.}

And to round out the day, Eric plays pickup hockey!

I do some work on my Dots! project.

{Dots! will be another blog post.}

Thursday, June 7th

Spent the day with Amy.

And met some new friends. Val, Sammy and Graham

Looked at 3 available houses.

Very nice houses. 

One in particular called my name.

But without real $, I can not get my hopes up on anything.

Friday, June 8th

Eric visits the office. 

I walk around Village Market and start this new blog.

Saturday, June 9th

Visit Malley in doggy jail!

{photo in another blog posting}

So there you have it. Our first days in Kenya.

I still can't believe this girl from Rocky River, Ohio has landed in Africa.

Who would have thought?

Thanks for reading this long week + . 

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As they say here: Jambo!!

{Hello!!}