Lucy ... and flowers that are indoors!

This is Lucy, our maid. She's a keeper!! Yesterday, I taught her the word "efficient" because she is. Today I asked her if she remembered the word. She said with a smile, "Yes, thank you, Madame." She really works so diligently. I only tell her something once and it's done before she finishes her day. We do pay her quite well -- about $86 per month. The Nigerian Madames pay less than half of that per month and her last Madame worked her very long hours and had three kids. Lucy arrived at 6:30 a.m. to dress the kids, prepare breakfast, pack lunch and get them off to school. She didn't want to live at the maid's quarters on the camp because she was afraid her Madame would work her even longer in the day. Now, we're getting a room for her. She got a fan today. The carpet that's coming out of our place will have a good piece that will fit in her 11x12 room -- it's just cement floor. She saved the fishhead today -- put it in our freezer. She promises to cook us something terrific!! Hmmm. We told her that fishheads make good fertilizer -- she thought that was outrageous!!
I've already grown to love Lucy. She is the "first issue" -- the oldest in her family. She sends her parents part of each month's salary. Amazing!! I don't know what I'd do without Lucy -- she helps me know what a good price is for something (even though she could never afford it herself!), she runs errands for me in the market because she can get deals I could never get and go to places I'm not allowed to visit, and she's great company. She leads a very quiet life when she's not here. She sometimes reads and sometimes sleeps. She sees her family 1 or 2 times per year but sometimes has a sister who comes to visit. I'm sure I'll share more about Lucy as time goes on. I tell her we have the best maid in the whole camp. She smiles, shyly, and says, "Thank you, Madame." Lucy is a gift!
Check out these flowers. I have a "flower man" who delivers these every Friday for N500 -- 500 naira. That's about $3.50. This is a little larger than one week's typical bundle. They last at least two weeks, if not more.
And I had a gardener that Lucy knows come to our house (the one we're moving back in to on Friday -- please, Lord!) to assess what plants would be good. He'll be bringing me one huge indoor plant and two plants (one that flowers) for the patio. If "I like" then I will order more from him. The plastic pots cost more than the local pots. He thought I was crazy to want the local, cement/clay pots. I told him that not all Americans like plastic.