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| Tuesday, 5-Sep-2006 12:00 |
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Cape Vidal: Plants & Fungi
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| Monday, 4-Sep-2006 12:00 |
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Cape Vidal: Views
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| Saturday, 26-Aug-2006 07:26 |
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A random collection
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Making pizzas (me, Navashni, Marissa & Giulia)
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My house is on the far rise...
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There's always a different way to look at something
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It’s been a bit of a weird week. I got sick at the weekend, was better by Tuesday. Then a whole lot of work arrived in my email inbox on Tuesday so I’ve been working like crazy. All of a sudden I have four deadlines for next week… So this update is a bit of a scratched together random collection of “stuff”…
1. Making pizzas
I took photos of the sundowners, other people took photos of the pizzas. I only got copies from Carlijn on Tuesday so this is a lost leftover that actually belongs in the pizza party update (link).
2. This is my road
My road doesn’t really actually have a name, it just has a route number! Yep… I really really do live out in the middle of nowhere! I was chatting to friends in Jo’burg on my last trip and mentioned that it’s a 25 minute drive to my nearest grocery store. They didn’t find that too bad, considering the amount of time they spend in traffic each day. Then I told them that it’s 25 minutes of driving at 100 – 120 km/h… A slightly different view of things! But it’s great and I love it 
3. Different views
Put two short but different height candles on the table, next to them put a fat candle sitting on top of a candlestick. Turn out the lights and watch the shadows…
4. The end of the falafel lesson
I had never had falafel before but it was something I was quite interested to learn how to make. Then I discovered that Carlijn knows the recipe… so we had a falafel evening! We cooked for about an hour and a half… used a combination of several different recipes and Carlijn’s memory and ended up with our own recipe! They tasted good though 
5. Inner light
Put a short thin candle in a marmite jar. Let it melt for a while. Turn out the lights and see how the jar glows…
6. Chives, coriander, basil and parsley
A few weeks ago I celebrated my first basil baby… now I’ve got lots of green things growing on my windowsill! I’m not really a green fingered person so it’s amazing that they’ve actually sprouted. Now the challenges of keeping them growing and transplanting them and keeping them growing arise. One step at a time! But I can’t wait until I can actually use them! Fresh herbs… yummy 
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| Saturday, 19-Aug-2006 08:44 |
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A busy week!
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Wowee… a Saturday without a trip to Hoedspruit! This must be the first time in a long time…. The implication: I can’t actually post any photos today, the internet at home at the moment is slower than a snail in treacle so it really isn’t worth the hassle. I’ll be in town on Tuesday though so will add a visual dimension to this update then.
So… what’s been happening over the last week… Saturday evening was sundowners followed by pizzas. Carlijn made sauce, I made bases and everyone brought their favourite toppings (mushroom, green pepper and onion as usual…). We did have a few interesting additions: biltong and asparagus! It was a fun evening.
Monday I had an adventure… my first trip to Phalaborwa. I had to renew the license for my car and that meant changing my number plates as well… so my car is no longer a Cape Town car  It now has a baobab on the number plate and is registered in Limpopo Province. Ah well… it had to happen some day!
My car however, obviously didn’t like it’s change in face… I woke up on Wednesday to find a flat tyre! Luckily a trip to the garage (half an hours drive at 120km/h) was already planned for Thursday so there wasn’t too much of a train smash. So Thursday morning I was up early and off to HiQ to have my shocks replaced (finally). It’s a rather long way from anywhere else… just a petrol station, a HiQ and a steakhouse… So I took some work and sat at HiQ for an hour and a half and then at the steakhouse for a further 5 hours. A truly thrilling day!!! 
Thursday improved in the evening though… Jeffrey cooked dinner. Or rather… Jeffery provided a recipe and Ben, Tara and I cooked dinner. Jeffrey is not a “kitchen person”. Another fun evening and another late night… so I took Friday off. The joys of working from home! Weekends can be when you need them!
However… yesterday being a weekend… today is a working day! A short break at the moment to briefly check emails and post this (internet connection depending) and then I’m reading and writing for the rest of the day. Tomorrow morning there’s a walk at Blyde which sounds like a nice chance to get out of the house. I can work today with something to look forward to tomorrow
Have a great weekend and a brilliant week!
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| Saturday, 12-Aug-2006 08:01 |
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24 Hour Holiday
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A limited update this time… not one week, just 24 hours:
After two and a bit weeks in my house, I had a night away… But it was great! Georgette and I went to stay with Mario and Meagan, in exchange for cooking them dinner! It was a brilliant break, felt like more than just one night and we managed to see 3 of the Big 5 in two game drives, plus loads more…
We got there late afternoon, dumped bags and went straight out for a game drive. It was quite late – definitely a sunset drive rather than an afternoon drive. Our first big sighting was a herd of elephants just leaving a dam. They had some absolutely tiny ones with them, of course it was a bull that stopped for a snack on the way
After the eles was a waterpoint with the sun starting to set behind it. The light on the water was amazing. Then a group of giraffe, who posed for the sunset We drove for a while, watching an amazing sunset from a view that showed us the entire Hoedspruit mountain range. It was absolutely beautiful, the colours stayed for a really long time after the sun disappeared.
After the colours had completely dissipated we turned on the spotlight to find lots of sleeping impalas, just heads poking out of the grass in every clearing. We caught a jackal zipping off the side of the road and then my biggest sighting of the trip… my first civet! Very very very cool! A large male, bumbling along the road, hunting in the verge. He was really chilled about us and just continued on his way while we followed so I got to watch him for ages. I was definitely chuffed
They had recently had really good lion sightings on the reserve so we drove for a while looking for them. Just as Georgette was telling Mario that she didn’t actually believe there were predators on the reserve, we came around a corner to find a lion pride on and next to the road! We sat for quite a long time watching them in the moonlight. It was the night before full moon and the sky was clear – definitely good viewing! A few flashes of the spotlight to identify the lions and to take some photos and that was it. Whilst sitting with them we heard a hyaena calling and an elephant breaking down a tree… sights and sounds of the bush… brilliant
After the lions, our stomachs started talking so we headed home for dinner, chatting and bed.
In the morning (Women’s Day) we had breakfast and headed out again. This time in search of lion cubs that other people had sighted earlier (while we were still sleeping!). We went and GPSed a few waterpoints for my study (seeing a couple of buffalo on the way!) then headed for the lions… and were lucky enough to find them. Three approximately four week old cubs – very cute! The adults were trying to sleep but they were determined to play. One of the females ended up giving them a few swats!
After the lions we headed towards the river to see what we could find. On the way we bumped into kudu and several other things. As we arrived at the river there were three klipspringers bouncing up some rocks which was nice. I haven’t seen them very often around here.
We didn’t see much in terms of game at the river, but some lovely colours and patterns in the water. It’s a completely different world from ‘the rest of the bush’. Tall trees, deep shade, green and blue. We did see a pod of hippos taking a nap and an enoooormous crocodile. A nice chilled end to a lovely drive.
We went back, had tea, and drove home feeling ultra relaxed…
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| Saturday, 5-Aug-2006 08:42 |
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Sundowners
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Another week at home… brilliant!
It’s been quite a social week – Tuesday was dinner at Bushcamp, Wednesday was LOCORES (a meeting, a braai, and an evening at the pub), Thursday was sundowners… not sure what’s happening at the weekend yet!
The highlight of the week was definitely the sunset on Thursday. Just a little bit of cloud so we got some amazing colours across the sky. You can see how dry it is though – there’s a really visible dust cloud towards the end of the sunset.
The baby basil was also quite an achievement – at the beginning of the year I was given some tins with soil and seeds to grow herbs (I really like fresh herbs but you can’t buy them around here very easily). Now that it’s moving into spring I’ve planted the seeds but when I opened the packets I found that they had all managed to get wet. Add to this the fact that I’m not a gardener… and the fact that the basil has actually sprouted is incredible! I’m now waiting for the others to show signs of life: coriander, chives and parsley.
The work is going well. I managed to get a lot of loose ends tidied up this week, including some of the work from my MSc. It’s really nice to be able to put ticks next to a very long list! I soon get to start on my first set of analysis for the PhD which will be fun… I’ve spent such a long time on my proposal and reading about other people’s research that it will be really nice to start to generate results of my own!
In Africa terms… I’ve seen a couple of herds of buffalo this week – one on my way to the shops (it’s a different world out here!!) and the other on the way to the sunset spot on Thursday. The impala are round my house at least once a day, keeping my lawn nice and short! Then there’s the usual collection of birds and squirrels and skinks and geckos…
Hope that everyone has a brilliant weekend and a great week. Wednesday is a public holiday in South Africa… yay
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| Saturday, 29-Jul-2006 14:50 |
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Home
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Every week for the last 15 weeks, I’ve spent at least 2 nights away from home. For the last 2 months I haven’t spent a single night at home. Now I’m back And I’m sitting here thinking about what makes being “home” so special…
Home
Bare feet and warm toes. Geckos and gecko poo. Green bugs. Babblers that eat green bugs. Quiet that is never silent. Impala and a duiker. Monkeys… grrrrr… Moonlight through my window. Dinner by candlelight. Big t-shirts. A chair not quite high enough for the table. Standing on tiptoe to cook. Head space. Sleeping under a mosquito net. Hornbills. 1 spider murder, 6 evictions. Dirt roads and dry grass. Bird noises and insect noises. My neighbours’ music. A cordless kettle. Unmatched bowls. Mugs of different sizes. Radio in the evening. My own bed. Two pillows. Clear air. Skinks and squirrels. Dust. A concrete floor. Time to read a book. No sofa. All my things in one place. A scaled up kettle. A two plate stove. No washing machine. A great big sky outside. Cow bells. Jackals calling at night. Soup for lunch. The noise of my fridge.
And a short story about my welcome home committee…
Spiders cause bruises
Otherwise titled: “Eviction Number 5 and Number 6”
I don’t have a sofa, but I do have a spare bed. When I was in Jo’burg I went cushion shopping so now I have a spare bed piled high with cushions to act like a sofa. And I was curled up, writing in my journal, miles away in my head, buried deep into the cushions. Then I decided I wasn’t completely comfortable so I picked up a cushion to move it.
Right behind the cushion was a spider. I don’t like spiders… at all. And this one was far far far too close to me. Add to the situation, when I moved the cushion, the spider started moving… and it was facing towards me.
So I moved… In a not very thought about manner – arms and legs scrabbling wildly in order to get distance between me and the spider. The pen went in one direction, the journal went in another, cushions went in yet another direction. The problem was, there’s not actually enough room on a single bed for me and a spider. I still wasn’t far enough away from it when I felt myself falling… and then I felt myself hurting… I had catapulted myself off the side of the bed.
Several days later I can still feel the bruise.
The spider was then caught in a jar and evicted. And then I decided maybe I should check behind the cushions before I sat down again. And I found spider number 6 sitting on the wall so I evicted that one as well.
The lesson I learnt: however inviting it looks, however tired I am… always check behind the cushions before sitting down!
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| Tuesday, 18-Jul-2006 08:51 |
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Thinking of home
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A lowveld sunset from a couple of months ago.
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| Monday, 17-Jul-2006 07:32 |
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Cats
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Photos from Durban
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| Friday, 14-Jul-2006 12:34 |
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Flowers
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To brighten up the day.
(Photos from Durban)
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And when are we having the next 'how to make falafel'- lessons?
