Of kola nuts

I finally got to see (and eat) a kola nut. So what is it? Back in my time we had to study Chinua Achebe's "Things fall apart" as part of the literature course - and Achebe mentioned many times of the tribal chiefs exchanging kola nuts. Jean Paul brought some back from Cameroun and he gave one to me. Apparently only chiefs may use and eat kola nuts. It looks like an almond in a pitted/grooved shell and inside is an almond like centre that is very tangy in taste. Since Jean Paul comes from a chiefly family, he may eat it. The custom is for the chief to break the nut, take a bite from it and share it with the other chief/guest. So Jean Paul broke the nut, bit off one end to eat and gave me the rest - wow - so like I'm being treated as a African chief now! Because it's very tangy in taste, you have to eat it with a handful of other roasted nuts (look like very small peanuts). Now that was very nice to taste. We had a good laugh because I was being treated royally by an African chief.

The weather is changing again - the sun sets early at 5pm and the rains are here again. It gets pretty cold in the nights. The canaries are also feeling it. And for us - it means wearing more clothes especially during Vespers when the church gets very cold.

Today we celebrate the memorial of St. John Capistran, a Franciscan preacher in Europe in the 15th century. His teacher was St Bernardine of Siena and his classmate was St. James of the Marches. His preaching for reform (he infleunced St Colette's reform of the Poor Clare nuns) brought on the accusation that he was a heretic but he was acquitted by the Church; in fact he was canonised a saint.