Into a new decade

JR turned 40 on March 20. She celebrated at Spitzkoppe by climbing rocks, hunting bugs, and swimming in a pool of water caught in a granite crack. (Meanwhile, there was a second sulfide eruption on the coast…) We also ate our first real Namibian meal prepared at the community rest camp – very tough goat, rice, creamy white/pink beans, canned peas with some sort of mayo-like topping, sliced cucumber and tomatoes, and pink gravy. I got a great gift of a hand-crafted mussel shell necklace (hmm, how many of those shells are from introduced Mytilus galloprovincialis? It’s great to be an invasion biologist wearing that mystery all the time.), and – best gift of all – had time to complete and submit a manuscript.

At 40 years and 1 day, I walked outside at night barefoot, stubbed my toe on some cement, and took my toenail clean off. Now, why is it that one says “clean off”? It was not clean, especially cutting the last skin that held the dangling nail, and watching the wound ooze for days. Ouch! Minor emergency. Alan assured me I should be grateful I didn’t step on a scorpion and require medical treatment on a holiday weekend.