Nine years of blogging...

... and a year in the Drakensberg! 

Note: this post is about 15 pages long but as an "old" blogger in more than one sense, with "old" blogger friends, I reckon those who want to read what I have to say, will do so. 

Way back in the second half of the last decade, I came home from living in West Africa.  I had with me our cat Mandu - the first of many times that I'd fly a cat across the Continent. 

Once I'd resettled and involved myself daily working in my indigenous garden, I started to play around on the Internet in the evening. While in Guinea, I had learnt how to "surf" and join chat sites for my writing passion. I also accessed the Weigh Less site as I ran an image club for the very few women who lived on or visited the mine site. 

Through the latter site, I met a young friend, Lynda who was living in Tanzania at the time. She started a blog and sent me the link. I read it and was hooked! With Lynda's help via e-mail, I started my blog and posted for the first time on 1 October 2008. 

I don't have the time to go back and link up to posts that I did at the time. Except for this one. And this one. (do click on this second link - even I enjoyed reading it! LOL!) 

For the first 23 days, Lynda was the only person commenting on my posts. Dear sweet girl. Another blogger "Hill upon Hill" from Oz also commented. 

Through Lynda's blog,  I started "meeting"  other bloggers: Esther Garvi (Ishtar' s  Ark). Esther, a beautiful young woman living in Niger, West Africa, died in a car crash in 2015. Lori (Skoog Farm Journal) Penny, (Snap That;) Peggy from Ireland; Gaelyn (Geogypsy) and Gattina (Writers Cramp.) Diane (Rhodesia)

When I first started to blog, I posted about gardening and also regularly posted recipes; always with a story attached. 

In 2009, I moved back to live with Grant in Africa. Khartoum, Kenya and finally Tanzania. Many of you joined my blog while I was back on mine sites: Betsy (Joyful Reflections) Kay (An unfittie's guide ...) Janie from Utah.

And in more recent years, Eileen (Viewing Nature with Eileen) Diane (Adventure before Dementia) Author Mac Wheeler, William (Ottawa Daily Photo) , Bill (Somewhere in Ireland); Margaret (Birding for pleasure) Anni (I'd rather be birdin') . 

So many of you and all so very welcome. 

Thank you! 

Thank you one and all,  for visiting my blog and commenting.

My life changed oveer the years: I've wandered the streets of Omdurman wearing an abaya (kaftan like covering over my Western clothes) and habib (head covering). I had a tutor and learned basic Arabic. 

Grant and I attended three (one double) weddings and were taken out to dinner (by the company's manager) on several occasions.  Do please click on the links if you have time and read about these interesting cultural events. 

The wedding invitation of one of the weddings probably cost more to print than our whole wedding forty years ago!  

Off to a Sudanese wedding 

Grant and I traveled into the Nubian desert almost every weekend. We rode camels, saw old temple ruins, visited pyramids and picnicked on samoosas and black coffee amongst the golden dunes. (many photo ops in the desert!) 

Moi atop a camel in the Nubian desert 

The Kush Kingdom flourished for 900 hundred years from around 800 B.C. to 280 A.D. and held power over a vast area covering much of the Nile Delta and as far south as Khartoum. Meroe became very important as the Kingdom's center from around 300 B.C. to 280 A.D. Egyptian influence remained strong and Egyptian artisans were used to build the Meroe Pyramids to commemorate dead royalty. The dead were buried in chambers underneath the pyramids. (Source Internet)

Riding through the desert in a 4 x 4 Toyota Landcruiser 

Subsequently our two year sojourn in North Africa ended. We flew home with a new [rescue] cat,  Shadow. We spent three months in South Africa before Grant was head-hunted for a position on a fluorspar mine in Kenya.

During the year there, I crept through the lush African bush in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya 
with my friend, Sue...

My dear friend, Sue with whom I birded and wandered through the bush almost daily 

and across fields birding and taking photos.

A bird's eye view? (LOL!) 

While in Kenya, I entered and won a competition for a recipe which I'd submitted to a magazine. It had a story attached, of course. The prize was dinner at "The Executive Chef's table" at the renowned Sarova Stanley Hotel in Nairobi. Even though it was a six-hour road trip, Grant and I attended, staying overnight afterwards at the company flat in the city. 

Off to the Sarova Stanley Hotel for a chef's table dinner 

Our three-year-stint in Tanzania, was most interesting as well.

I managed the company guest house which housed and fed 21 fussy expats, planning the meals, working with two wonderful chefs and a small kitchen staff; overseeing all domestic issues and going to market every week. I was involved with Grant in everything that happened to the employees .

 I joined the three other ladies at pottery every week, and ultimately became very involved in the school for endangered (Albino) children in Shinyanga town nearby. We made toys, trinkets and game boards for the children. We also baked cookies, made soup and popped popcorn which we'd take to the school and serve the children. 

Below I'm doing a presentation on hygiene and health guidance at the school. (I was in the grip of a high malarial fever at the time!) 

Omary  translates my talk on hygiene while I stood by in a fevered daze!

Grant and I did lots and lots of birding in Tanzania.  I posted regularly about the beautiful (and new) birds we saw.  We also had social outings with other expats. 

In February 2015 we returned to South Africa, ostensibly to "retire" . 

During our 16 months at home, the dogs and I went walking every day. 

Dear sweet Eddy  shaking off after a swim in the dam 

Skabenga still chest deep in the water 

With Grant's health failing in the Free State, our son, John asked us to come and live on his small holding in the Drakensberg while the family was in Mozambique. 

Once again, while Grant recuperated, the dogs and I established a regular walking routine on the property 

When the children put the property on the market, Grant and I moved to a house in an estate a little further along in the valley. 

At the same time, good friends, Steve and Estelle asked me to re-open Steve's art shop in the local shopping centre. Apart from selling Steve's eclectic art and Estelle 's popular souvenirs, I also have a natural multivitamin booster which I've been promoting in the shop and on Facebook. (one of the many positive results of taking this powder, are beautiful nails) 

(I had fun playing with Lunapic when posting the photos below) 

The rest is history...

Thank goodness for blogging; there are many things which I've almost forgotten but managed to find and relive again in the blog archives. 

I'm linking to Our World Tuesday here

HAPPY TUESDAY TO YOU ALL ! 

Good fences - Great neighborhood walk

Since being home, we've been walking in the evening. Really walking - not strolling. I always have my camera and when I stop to take photos, I have to dash to catch up the my serious walking partners, Grant and Rina. (LOL!)

Last week I posted several birds which I'd photographed on a walk and also a fence post featuring a Cape Glossy Starling.

On Sunday I stopped regularly to photograph fences and boundary walls around the houses which we passed on that day's walk! 

On the corner property at the end of our street walking towards town, I spotted a yellow day lily; I couldn't resist snapping it through the palisade fencing surrounding the garden. 

A day lily behind the palisade fence surrounding a property near our home

This old house (just visible in the photo) belongs to a dear man who worked for the municipality for two and a half decades. The old-fashioned gate and wire fence fronts his roses, peach and pomegranate trees

A banksia rose in flower against a chicken-wired fence

This imposing red-bricked wall surrounds the house which used to be the magisterial residence. The young magistrate has since moved into his in-law's home with his wife and family. I'm not at all sure who occupies this house now

This elegant grey palisade fence surrounds a house which used to belong to our older son and daughter-in-law, John and Debbie. When they moved to their land in the Drakensberg, they sold their Marquard property to people from Johannesburg city

The building to the right of the photo used to be stables. After renovating it, the new owners left the sandstone foundation visible

The houses in Marquard are old but well-built. Debbie renovated this house by ripping up the old carpets and having the wooden floors sanded. She broke down walls in the living area, added pillars for support and created a large open lounge/diningroom

This beautiful wall surrounds the home of our doctor. The gate entrance leads to a gym where the doctor's wife, Ida gives aerobics and spinning classes. Many an icy winter's morning, I've entered this property to spend an hour working out ! 

Directly opposite the doctor's residence, are the blue gates to the retirement center. MIL Pam lives in a building at the end of this tarred drive 

Directly next door to the doctor, is a gentleman whose family arrived in Marquard from Lebanon 100 years ago. He and his brother married two Free State girls, began to farm and made their fortune over the years. Today both couples have retired from farming (the sons take over) and live in town: one in their own home...
...and the other directly opposite, in their own home within the center

On the next corner, we stopped to chat to two friendly Labradors behind their chicken-wire fencing

At the end of the street, we turned right to walk along the two blocks before reaching our street again. I took photos of the greens and fairway as well as the newly risen sun as we passed. 

The barbed wire fence surrounds our beautiful golf course

The view of a green and the fairway stretching beyond

You can see my shadow as I stood in our neighbors' (Angus and Amanda's) garden to get this shot. On the right is their double garage, while our electric gate now sports varnished fence slots. This was done so that the cats don't hang themselves on the spiky palisades when entering or exiting our property

A close-up of our gate and the fence beyond

I'm linking my post to Good Fences Thursday hosted by TexWisGirl here 

Moving a parent - part II

The day arrived and Grant, Clifford and I were all at MIL's new unit at 6.45 am. Rina went straight to Pam's flat to start taking down the curtains. While the men worked on the cable connections for the TV, I walked to Pam's flat to start loading the bags. 

Three of the seven canvas Africa bags full of MIL's clothes. The coathangers were in a continental pillow case! 

Rina adds hooks to the curtains - I carried Pam's many [eleven] winter coats across my one arm while carrying another canvas Africa bag in the other

Every time I returned to the flat to pick up more bags, Pam said she was sorry she couldn't help me as she was waiting for "Roll call" The morning sister calls each resident on the property (including those living independently in houses) to check that they're OK. I told Pam not to worry, she needn't help at all.  

Once Clifford had connected the TV, Grant fetched it from the flat and they set it up. Next he offered to take the large fridge from Pam's flat back to our home on the back of his pick-up truck. Once the gardeners, John and Jacob had unloaded it and  carried it into my home, they loaded the bar fridge onto the back of the truck and they all arrived at the unit. 

Grant and Clifford guide the gardeners in with the fridge

Clifford connects the fridge while the others watch! 

Back in the flat, Pam had borrowed a wheel chair. She loaded her groceries onto this and wheeled it down the passage to the unit. 

Pam pushing her groceries down the passage from the flat to the unit

Turning the corner of the passage, Pam is greeted by carers George and Elizabeth

Pam wheels her groceries down the passage to her new unit

Meanwhile the men had brought her bed across, Rina and I made it up with fresh linen and I packed the bags of clothes on top. 

Pam starts unpacking her bags and cases...

...into the beautiful, spacious cupboards lining one wall

Back in the flat, my house - lady, Erica scrubbed the carpets in the bedroom and lounge; she cleaned the bathroom and toilet while Rina washed out the bedroom cupboards and kitchen cabinets. 

Earlier that morning, I popped my head into Pienkie's unit. She was sitting having her coffee while still clad in her pajamas. She invited us to have a cup of tea once we'd finished moving. At 9.15 we phoned Rina and called her to join us in Pienkie's room. The builders were attaching a towel rail in Pam's bathroom, so she didn't want to leave her room. Pienkie poured her a cup of tea, I added a cookie and took it down the passage to Pam's unit. 

Grant waits while Pienkie makes tea for me, him and Rina (who's to the left of the photo) 

On Tuesday afternoon, Rina and I visited Pam again to check she was settled in. That night not one of us four "oldies" needed any rocking to get to sleep!

On Wednesday morning while Rina supervised the staff here at home, Grant and I drove down to the retirement center at 8.30. Although Clifford had said that the TV wall bracket was incorrect and that he'd buy us the correct one in the city, Grant worked out how he could use it on to hold the flat screen TV. 

While he mounted the bracket to the wall above the fridge, I unpacked Pam's kitchen cleaning products from a cardboard box in the bathroom into the kitchen cabinets.  I also unpacked her bath products and personal toiletries into the small loose-standing cabinets in the bathroom. 

Grant mounted the TV onto a bracket above the fridge

From this angle, you can see the large picture window which lines almost one whole wall

The kitchenette with TV mounted above the fridge. One of the easy chairs stands against the picture window

Standing with the kitchenette at my back, I focused on the other side of Pam's beautiful bed-sit unit

We're very thrilled with the unit and the whole retirement center. Pam is served three meals a day (the main, midday meal she eats in the common room along with the three other old ladies in the unit section) and has everything else she needs or wants.

Happy Thursday to you all!

Last birding in Mwadui

This is the last post about our birding in Mwadui. It was actually the very last day we were in Mwadui - Grant had handed over to the new Contracts Manager, and came home. We got into the car and went out to the bush, birding...

The first bird we saw was a Steel Blue Whydah. It wasn't a lifer as we'd seen it the year before. But boy, it was special! 

Steel blue Whydah

I couldn't avoid the blade of grass between my camera and the Steel Blue Whydah

Eventually the bird flew up into a tree and I managed a better photo! 

Southern Red Bishop

Grey-headed Kingfisher

Laughing Dove

Blue-capped Cordon-bleu (Male) 

While watching and photographing the Cordon-Bleu above, I heard a constant tap-tap-tapping. Focusing on the direction of the sound, I saw a woodpecker hard at work. 

Cardinal Woodpecker

Several blurry photos later (because of the rapid movement of the woodpecker's head against the tree trunk) I managed a beautifully clear shot

We were thrilled to have a last look at the Variable Sunbird

A Spurwing Goose perched high up in a dead tree bids us a final farewell! 

Just further along the road we stopped to view a pretty LBJ (Little Brown Job) singing lustily in a tree nearby. 

LBJ... 

...perhaps Rattling Cisticola

On the way back to the mine, we stopped to watch and listen to an LBJ perched high on a branch near the road. 

A Rattling Cisticola

As we approached the airstrip, Grant pointed to a large bird on the side of the road. It was a Bateleur and it was eating something. Although I took several photos, we never established what its meal was. 

Bateleur (Male) enjoying his dinner

And then he was off! 

Driving along the mine haul road, I noticed a raptor on a slag heap eating something. Grant stopped and I took several photos. I'm sorry about the quality;  I have no explanation or excuse...

Yellow-billed Kite eating a feathery meal - probably a juvenile waterbird

Here it looks like a bird's claw in the kite's mouth

As we drove through the boom gate and back home for the last time (after birding!)
we spotted the resident Heron

I'm linking my post to Wild Bird Wednesday which you can access here

One of the first things I had to get used to when we moved to Tanzania in 2012 - apart from the horrors of being thrown into the deep-end to manage the expat Guest House - was that we'd never see beautiful birds such as we'd had in Kenya. Two months later, friend Wessel took us into the bush one Sunday afternoon. I had my camera with me and I remember almost pouncing on a d'Arnaud's Barbet to take a photo. 

And the rest is history...

Bird for bird and critter for critter, we saw more bird-and wildlife in Mwadui, on the mine and in the surrounding bush than we'd seen in Kenya or South Africa. 

As this post is aired, Grant and I will be on our bike and doing  tour to the Cape. Rina is looking after the house and of course, five cats and two doggies. 

Happy Wednesday to you all!