house guest

These last two weeks, we've had a houseguest from South Africa named Chris. He's a friend of Ben's brother who lucked into an arrangement with Duke University and, by way of it, became a friend of ours. Chris is working on a PhD project that has something to do with the weather (that much I understand). Soon, he will make us call him Dr. Leonard.

In any case, the arrangement has him coming to Durham twice a year, and this is a little South African connection that does Ben good. Tomorrow, we ship him back to ZA and his wife Jane (the mythical creature who we've yet to meet. She sounds much too good to be true). He's been lovely to have around, and I think it's safe to say, that we'll miss having him across the hall.

Last time, Chris stayed in a depressing student housing kind of place, and every time we dropped him off at his little flat, I felt the urge to rescue him. He's a very independent traveler, but something in me just wanted to bring him back to our house for a hot meal.

This time, he stayed with us. And he's the first guest to try out the guest room since it was converted from electric blue to Caribbean Mist (has a ring to it, does it not? Stay with us, and it's just like that...except for the lack of Caribbean sea and really no Mist at all. But we can promise a delicious breakfast on a Saturday morning).

Chris is a really exceptional house guest. He takes Daisy for walks and cleans the dishes and makes a most excellent cup of coffee. We've started calling it Chris Coffee. Because we're not sure how he does it, but every cup could be the best we've ever had. Obviously he knows how to appeal our softer side: Coffee is really all it takes.

You are most welcome, dear house guest! You can stay any time.